Tuesday, October 8, 2002

X-MEN: EVOLUTION UPDATE

The original five members of the X-Men will team up for an episode of X-Men: Evolution this season.

"We really wanted to do an original five episode and we struggled to figure out how the heck we could get just those five characters together, and we did a nice job, I think," Marvel Studios' Craig Kyle said. "You get to see the original team in an episode by themselves. It's pretty cool."

The episode will involve one of the three keys needed to unlock Apocalypse.

Kyle was speaking at a recent X-Men: Evolution convention panel in Los Angeles.

For part two of an edited panel transcription, CLICK HERE.

NEIL GAIMAN TALKS SUIT VICTORY

Neil Gaiman said that he was "hugely appreciative" of the jury's decision in last weekend's victory over Todd McFarlane in federal court.

Gaiman won his federal court suit against McFarlane and his companies. The case centered on Gaiman's creation of three characters that became central to the franchise and McFarlane's alleged failures to pay Gaiman for use of the characters, his reprintings of Gaiman's material without attribution, and McFarlane's falsely claiming Copyright of materials written solely by Gaiman.

The District Court's final judgment awarded Gaiman a joint copyright interest in the three characters he created Medieval Spawn, Cogliostro, and Angela, and in the Spawn and Angela comic book issues he wrote.

A forthcoming arbitration will award to Gaiman half the profits to date from each of those characters and publications since their inception. Gaiman was also awarded $45,000 for the unauthorized use of his name and biography to market Image Comics' 2001 trade paperback, Angela's Hunt.

"I am hugely appreciative of the jury's decision, and of the efforts of the entire legal team," Gaiman said. "But I regret that bringing the matter to Court was made necessary."

Ken F. Levin, Gaiman's counsel, said that the future copyright damage award may be substantial, as the characters Gaiman conceived of appeared frequently as international toys and were featured in the Spawn animated series broadcast for two seasons on HBO television, and in the theatrical feature film Spawn.

Gaiman has been on record since the beginning of the suit that any monies remaining from those he receives from the suit after his attorneys' fees are paid, will be donated to comics-related charities, including the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

McFarlane's attorneys have promised an appeal.

ROCKERS ON THE SIMPSONS

Fox has released two more images from the upcoming season opener of The Simpsons.

The images are from "How I Spent My Summer Vacation," which airs on Sunday, Nov. 10.

The group image features Elvis Costello, Tom Petty, Keith Richards, Homer Simpson, Mick Jagger, Lenny Kravitz and Brian Setzer.

Richards is also featured individually.

Click on the images for larger views.

TOP SHELF/ALAN MOORE PROJECTS

Top Shelf Productions has announced three upcoming projects from writer Alan Moore.

The first two projects, The Mirror of Love and Voice of the Fire, are due out Summer 2003, with the third project, Lost Girls, to follow.

Here's a rundown, with descriptions from Top Shelf.

THE MIRROR OF LOVE

This epic poem recounts the history of same-sex love, revealing a hidden side of Western culture through the lives of its greatest artists. Sappho, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Oscar Wilde, and many others are woven into this rich, visceral piece. Originally written 14 years ago, The Mirror of Love sprang from Moore's activist heart as a reaction to Britain's controversial anti-gay law, Clause 28. In the past, Mirror has been translated into both a comic book and a stage production, but Top Shelf presents it as it was meant to be, a hardcover book illustrated with over forty full-color photographs from artist Jose Villarrubia. Included in the 120-page special edition is an essay about the poem and its previous incarnations, an index of characters and places, a selection of classic poems quoted in the text, and a bibliography.

VOICE OF THE FIRE

Teen Witches, old warriors, mad poets and talking heads. In 13 self-contained stories, Voice of the Fire narrates the lives of extraordinary characters that lived in the same region of England over the course of 5,000 years. These interconnected stories paint the landscape of Northampton in a stunning, dark palette. In the tradition of Kipling, Borges and Schwob, Moore weaves fact and fiction in tales haunted by lust, ghosts and longing. Top Shelf will offer the first printing of Moore's masterpiece as a hardcover, illustrated with Jose Villarrubia's computer-manipulated images. This first American edition will also feature new cover art and an introduction by Neil Gaiman.

LOST GIRLS

Can pornography be art? Can an erotic comic have literary merit? Can both men and women enjoy explicit images? Moore and Melinda Gebbie set out to answer these questions in Lost Girls, a 240-page fully painted graphic novel that has been in the works for over a decade. Like he did in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Moore revisits characters from Victorian fiction, this time children's literature. The three protagonists are the familiar faces from Wonderland, Oz and Neverland, who meet as grown women in a mysterious hotel in 1913 England. There, they embark on a journey through an erotic fantasy world of their own conjuring, all rendered in Gebbie's beautifully painted, full-color art. Lost Girls will be yet another addition to Moore's long list of genre-defining works, as it seeks to reinvent pornography as something exquisite, thoughtful, and human. Top Shelf will celebrate the release with a hardcover first edition, and offer a limited run of books signed and numbered by both Gebbie and Moore.

FIRST LOOK: X-TREME X-MEN #19

X-Treme X-Men #19 will arrive in stores on Wednesday from Marvel Comics. The issue is written by Chris Claremont, with art and cover by Salvador Larroca.

Here's how Marvel describes the issue:

"With the quick pace of life, it's not often that old friends get to take a break and celebrate the simple pleasures of life -- especially if they're the globe-hopping X-Men. But even mutants need to relax, which is why Chris Claremont and Salvador Larroca are bringing together pals like Storm, Beast, Rogue, Nightcrawler and Wolverine for a special party."

X-Treme X-Men #19 will be 32 pages and will cost $2.99.

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