Friday, September 20, 2002

SMALLVILLE UPDATE

The WB has released details about "Duplicity," the third episode of the second season of Smallville.

Here's how the network describes the episode, which is scheduled to air on Tuesday, Oct. 8.

"After one of Clark's (Tom Welling) friends discover the spaceship in the cornfield, Clark goes against his parents' (John Schneider, Annette O'Toole) wishes and reveals his secret, but is shocked when the reaction he gets makes him question his friend's loyalty."

"Duplicity" was written by Todd Slavkin and Darren Simmer and was directed by Steve Miner.

The second season of Smallville opens on Tuesday with "Vortex," picking up the cliffhangers from last season's finale, "Tempest."

The show retains the same theme music from Remy Zero, but has new imagery. It also includes John Glover, who plays Lionel Luthor, as a regular cast member.

Also now in the introductory credits is veteran comics writer Jeph Loeb, who is listed as a consulting producer and will be writing episodes this season.

"We're having a blast and the opening episode rocks!" Loeb told The Continuum on Friday.

Click below for images from the show's new opening and the "Vortex" episode and look for more news on Smallville soon here in The Continuum.

X-MEN 2 MOVIE POSTER

20th Century Fox has provided The Continuum with a first look at the new X-Men 2 movie poster.

The one-sheet, which remains consistent with previous imagery involving the film, should be in theaters now.

Click on the thumbnail for a much larger image.

In related news:

A studio representative told The Continuum that the premiere of the second Daredevil trailer has not yet been finalized. It's likely the trailer will premiere in October.

MARVEL FIRST LOOKS

   For covers and four-page previews of Marvel Comics titles arriving in stores next week, CLICK HERE.

    Titles include Agent X #3, Amazing Spider-Man #45, Avengers #58, Fantastic Four #61, Spider-Man's Tangled Web #18 and Wolverine #181.

KELLY RIPA IN ANIMATED BATMAN MOVIE

Kelly Ripa, co-host of Live with Regis and Kelly, is providing a lead voice in an upcoming animated Batman movie.

The movie is tentatively titled Batman: The Mystery of Batwoman and Ripa will be providing the voice of Batwoman, sources told The Continuum.

Representatives of Warner Bros. Animation did not comment on the film to The Continuum on Friday, but it's likely the film will be straight-to-video, like Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.

Batwoman will likely be a modernized version of the yellow-and-red-clad Silver Age character who was spotlighted in Batman and World's Finest comics in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Ripa, who teamed with Regis Philbin on the daytime talk show starting in February 2001, has been a cast member of the ABC soap opera All My Children since 1991. She plays Hayley, daughter of tycoon Adam Chandler and Arlene Vaughan, on series.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ANIMATED UPDATE

The Cartoon Network has announced that Justice League: The Savage Time will air on Cartoon Theatre on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. (ET/PT).

The Savage Time was originally scheduled for earlier this month, but was pushed back.

Here's how Cartoon Network describes the episode:

"In this special feature length presentation of Justice League: The Savage Time, the Justice League returns from a mission deep in space to find a world that has drastically changed - for the worse. A ruthless, repressive dictator named Vandal Savage has seized control. To restore life as they know it, the world's greatest collection of superheroes must travel back in time and team up to with some heroes of the past to re-fight a world war in order to stop Savage from taking power.

"When the Justice League lands back in Europe during the waning days of World War II, they find themselves split from each other and fighting side-by-side with the Resistance on the war's frontline. Superman, Hawkgirl and the Flash join with the Blackhawks, a squad of fighter pilots from occupied nations, and assist in their efforts to destroy a critical enemy weapon before it can be deployed. Green Lantern is trapped behind enemy lines with a tough-as-nails Army squadron without the use of his ring, the source of his powers. Meanwhile, Manhunter heads to Berlin to infiltrate the despot's headquarters and uncover the secret to his power while Wonder Woman teams up with an American spy to break Savage's secret code."

Cartoon Network has also released a logline for the two-part "Metamorphosis" episode of Justice League, which will premiere on Friday, Oct. 4 and Friday, Oct. 11.

Here's how the network describes the episode:

"While on duty, Green Lantern reunites with Rex Mason, a former Marine buddy who is now a successful executive at a large chemical company. But after Rex is exposed to a powerful mutagen that transforms him into a freakish abomination called Metramorpho, he blames his old friend Green Lantern and vows to destroy him."

Look for more Justice League news on Saturday here in The Continuum.

X-MEN: EVOLUTION UPDATE

X-Men: Evolution helped Kids' WB! to strong ratings in its with its second-season premiere episode last weekend.

Kids' WB!'s new schedule outperformed all competition, including cable, to rank No. 1 in Boys 2-11, Boys 6-11 and Tweens 9-14, setting records in key demos for a network launch morning.

X-Men: Evolution ranked among the top 10 overall programs for the morning in Kids 6-11, Boys 2-11 and Boys 6-11. In its time period of 11:30 a.m., the show finished No. 1 among Kids 2-11 (4.4 rating/18 share), Kids 6-11 (5.3/22), Boys 2-11 (6.2/24), Kids 6-11 (8.0/32) and Tweens 9-14 (5.1/22).

Below are screen grabs of Saturday's new X-Men episode, "The Stuff of Heroes." Click on the thumbnails for larger images.

STEVE GERBER'S STEWART THE RAT REPRINTED

Stewart the Rat, a graphic novel written by Steve Gerber and pencilled by Gene Colan in the wake of their work on Howard The Duck, returns in January in a new edition.

The book will be published by About Comics, LLC.

"Gerber took the same cynical, frustrated sense of humor that made his work on Howard a classic and applied it to this tale of a walking, talking rat who faces the craziness of the Southern California lifestyle," said Nat Gertler, publisher of About Comics. "With the amazing Gene Colan pencils being handled by Tom Palmer, the best inker for Colan's detailed realism, the artwork is lovely. Since it was drawn for black and white, it shows the two collaborators at their best.

About Comics is pricing the new edition at less than the original 1980 edition.

"When Eclipse published Stewart in 1980, they took advantage of the novelty of graphic novels to put this in an oversized, squarebound format with a cover price of $6.95, and that was at a time when a typical superhero comic book cost fifty cents," Gertler said. "By putting the same material in a standard comic book format instead, we can put it out for a mere $3.95 for a full 48 pages."

JAE LEE ON DYNAMIC FORCES SHOW

Jae Lee will be a guest on the next Dynamic Forces show on Tuesday.

Lee will join Dynamic Forces' Nick Barrucci at 7 a.m. (ET) and then again at 3 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Lee, who is drawing an upcoming arc of Captain America, will be promoting his Spider-Man vs. Sinister Six acetate Lithograph signed by himself, Jose Villarubia and John Romita and created exclusively for HSN.

Also available will be the Spider-Man Revenge of the Green Goblin Canvas Giclee, signed and remarked by Lee and limited to only 40 pieces in the world (for the 40th Anniversary) with a hand-drawn Green Goblin sketch on each piece by Lee.

Also spotlighted are Spider-Man: Triumph of the Green Goblin lithograph signed by Villarrubia and signed and remarked by Lee; The ultra-cool X-Men Death of Phoenix Acetate signed by Lee and Villarubia, featuring artwork created exclusively for Dynamic Forces by Lee and Villarrubia.

Other collectibles for this show include: The X-Men vs. Avengers Lithograph -- signed and remarked by Tom Smith and Tom Grindberg featuring a Wolverine sketch by either Grindberg or Smith; The Marvel "Fantastic" Lucky 21 package featuring Fantastic Four #60 signed by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo -- plus 20 random books; Alex Ross' Head Behind the Shadows lithograph signed by Alex Ross; The Lucky 7 Signed Set -- with 11 signatures featuring Ultimates #1 signed by Mark Millar, Detective Comics #750 signed by Jeff Johnson, Steve Mitchell and Dan Panosian, JSA #25 signed by Geoff Johns, Amazing Spider-Man #12 signed by Howard Mackie, America's Best Comics #1 signed by Humberto Ramos, Wolverine/Hulk #1 signed by Richard Isanove, and Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #1 signed by Mark Waid and Ron Garney.

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