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Wednesday, August 21, 2002
X-MEN: EVOLUTION UPDATE
X-Men: Evolution's third season will kick off on Kids' WB! on Sept. 14 with an episode called "Day of Recovery."
The episode, which picks up on events from last season's finale, was written by Steve Granat and Cydne Clark. The story is by Greg Johnson and Boyd Kirkland.
After last season's finale, where the characters were revealed to the public as mutants, expect some roster shuffling this season.
"As part of the reactions of how some people respond to some of the pressures, some just won't be able to deal with it and some will disappear," producer Kirkland told The Continuum. "At least for a while.
"We're going to play with who's there, who's not there, who comes and goes. And part of that is just to make interesting story telling. And part of it, too, is that the show can become really unwieldy.
"With the numbers of characters we're juggling here, it becomes a pretty tough task to juggle all that in these 20-minute episodes we have to tell stories. We have to keep it all under control."
In other X-Men: Evolution news:
* The show's time period will be announced this week by Kids' WB!.
* The network has already begun advertising the season premiere, emphasizing a search for Professor Xavier. It was revealed that Mystique had been impersonating Xavier at the end of last season.
X-MEN 2 PREVIEW
The X-Men 2 preview that was shown at Comic-Con International will be available at the official X-Men movie site on Wednesday.
The clip will be at http://www.x-men-the-movie.com beginning at 2 p.m. (ET).
Featuring no special effects and culled from just three weeks of shooting, the footage was very well received at Fox's presentation at Comic-Con, and approval was granted last week to put the clip on the site.
The Continuum had several stories from the presentation.
For a report on the X-Men panel, CLICK HERE.
For a complete transcription of director Bryan Singer's press conference after the panel, CLICK HERE.
For an interview with X-Men 2 star Kelly Hu, CLICK HERE.
DARK HORSE COMICS FOR NOVEMBER
Dark Horse Comics has released its solicitation information for November.
For a complete rundown, with cover images, CLICK HERE.
LADY DEATH MOVIE UPDATE
A representative of ADV Films told The Continuum that the studio will soon be issuing a statement on the Lady Death animated movie following Chaos! Comics' filing of Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
As of Aug. 15, all operations of Chaos! ceased. The company assets will be liquidated and the proceeds distributed to creditors.
ADV has not yet responded to rumors that it will become owners of Lady Death, which was the flagship character for Chaos!.
At the recent Comic-Con International, ADV Films heavily promoted the movie at its booth, selling T-shirts and posters.
At a panel for the straight-to-video film, ADV's Andy Orjuela, a producer and art director for the movie, said that it would be released in 2003.
NEW COURTNEY CRUMRIN TPB/MINI
Following up last spring's mini-series, Oni Press and Ted Naifeh have announced December 2002 as Courtney Crumrin Month.
A new trade paperback will reprint the four issues of Courtney Crumrin & The Night Things. Following that collection, Courtney Crumrin & The Coven of Mystics #1 starts Courtney on a new adventure filled with hobgoblins, evil mages, and a council of the town's most powerful witches and warlocks!
"I wanted people's first taste of Courtney to be something fun. Each issue was a bite-sized portion perfect for just about any palette," Naifeh said. "With the second series, I wanted to keep that same flavor, while at the same time delivering a much larger meal."
This time around, rather than focusing on four separate adventures, Naifeh has decided to take Courtney and readers on a longer trip. Each issue will still stand tall on its own, but the plot thread running throughout The Coven of Mystics will deal with the suburban council of conjurers to which Courtney's Uncle Aloysius belongs. Like any organization, this coven is rife with infighting, maneuvering, and all-out backstabbing. Somehow, despite Aloysius' efforts, Courtney finds herself in the middle of the political conflict.
"Like another child magician we all know and love, Courtney just can't seem to stay out of trouble," Oni Press publisher Joe Nozemack said. "But at the core of all the fairy-tale adventures is a character anyone can relate to--a character who has been thrown out of her natural element into a world of privilege and snobbery, but in the process has finally found a family member who can serve as both friend and mentor. Uncle Aloysius provides a welcome role model to young Courtney and a gateway into a world beyond her wildest imagination."
"It's easy to try and pigeonhole comics into a specific genre or demographic," said series editor James Lucas Jones. "But you don't have to be a goth to enjoy Courtney anymore than you have to fly around in your underwear to enjoy Superman. Ted's created a completely accessible world that readers young and old can hop into with ease. Just be careful-once you're in Courtney's neighborhood, the charming characters and the spooky but gorgeous settings make it impossible to leave."
Both Courtney Crumrin & The Coven of Mystics #1 (32 black-and-white pages, $2.95) and Courtney Crumrin & The Night Things (120 black-and-white pages, $11.95) will arrive in stores on Dec. 26.
REX MUNDI SELLS OUT
Image Comics announced that Diamond has completely sold out of Rex Mundi #0.
"We could not be happier about this," said Image Comics vice-president/publisher Jim Valentino. "Once again Image has been rewarded by retailers and fans alike for taking a chance on something new and different. This gives me great hope for the health of our industry, and we are anxious to begin the Rex Mundi series in December and continue our commitment to promoting diversity in comics."
"We're dedicated to showing readers and retailers alike that Rex Mundi is for real," writer Arvid Nelson said. "The response has been just fabulous, and we want to thank everyone who took a chance on Rex Mundi #0. We've got lots of great stuff planned for the ongoing series."
Rex Mundi #1, the first issue of the ongoing series that picks up where
issue #0 ends, will be in stores in December.
BRIEFLY
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* X-Treme X-Men: X-Pose #1 is the first issue in a two-issue mini-series spanning the gap between X-Treme X-Men #19 and #20. The mini-series is written by Chris Claremont, with art by Arthur Ransom and painted covers by Rodolfo Migliari. Here's how Marvel describes the issue: "From new teams to new threats, last year has turned the X-Men's world upside-down -- now two TV journalists investigate the modern state of mutantkind!"
* Shooting Star Comics Anthology #1 will be in stores on Nov. 6. Creators include Sarah Beach, David Bock, Erik Burnham, Mariano De La Torre, Chuck Dixon, JP Dupras, Todd Fox, Scott McCuellar, J. Morgan Neal, Terry Pallot, Gordon Purcell, Scott Rogers, Lance Stahlberg, Sean Taylor, Carlin Trammel, Enrique Villagran and Bill Wiist. The 80-page book features an introduction by Dennis O'Neil, a cover by Steve Lieber and 11 original stories by nine writers.
* The Tick's Golden Age Comic #3 arrives in stores in December from New England Comics. The 40-page books honors two of the comic genres which dominated the golden age of comics in the late 1940's and early 1950's: romance and crime. The Tick and his super-hero assistants trail The Tick's arch-enemy, Herr Comrade Doktor Skar, from South America back to The City, where the sinister super-villain disappears into the cesspool which is the evil underworld of this huge metropolis. The Tick goes "undercover", as a private eye, in order to track down the wiley bad guy. And then a mysterious---but strangely gorgeous---woman walks into his office, desperate for his help.
* Queen & Country #12, by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez, is scheduled to arrive in stores on Oct. 2 from Oni Press. The pieces of a major terrorist plot are all coming together in this grand finale of the "Operation: Crystabl Ball" arc. Intelligence Agent Tara Chace is off to Cairo to find the group responsible for this potential attack, while her compatriot Tom Wallace is in Sarajevo in an attempt to find another piece to the plan. Will Crocker and his Minders solve the puzzle before the terrorist plot comes to fruition or will the international intelligence community be dealt another devastating blow?
The episode, which guest-stars Jake Busey, was written by Sam Egan and directed by Michael Robison.
Click on the thumbnails below for larger images from the episode.
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Copyright © 2002, The Comics Continuum