ALAN BURNETT TALKS STATIC SHOCK

Alan Burnett, supervising producer of Kids' WB!'s Static Shock, told The Continuum that the title character will be a little older for the upcoming season.

"He's grown some," Burnett said. "He's less a 14-15 year-old and more a 15-16 year-old and that made a difference for us this season. The villains have gotten more imposing and there are more adult villains than before."

The third season - which kicks off on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 10:30 a.m. -- features several changes, including a new costume for Static, Richie becoming the super-powered sidekick Gear and a new theme song performed by Lil' Romeo, who also guest-stars in a later episode.

The new season begins with "Hard as Nails," an episode that teams Static with Batman again. Static met Batman and Robin in the second-season opener, and that left an impact on the series.

"The palette of the show has gotten darker this season," Burnett said. "especially after the success of the Static/Batman team-up last season. That was a show that went darker than we usually went, with more night scenes. And after that show, everybody went, 'Let's go in that direction.' So we're getting Static out from under the sun."

The season premiere is written by Batman producer Paul Dini. "It's the first Static he's written," Burnett said.

In the episode, Allie Langford (a.k.a. Nails), a teenager at Virgil's school, goes to Gotham City in search of the veteran villains Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy to eliminate her recent problem - she is starting to turn into metal. Teaming up again with Batman, Static must expose Harley and Poison Ivy's nefarious plans so that Allie may get the real guidance she needs.

"It's always fun to go back to Batman," said Burnett, who worked on all the incarnations of the Batman series.

Burnett said that the episode will include Commissioner Gordon, Detective Bullock, Alfred and Bruce Wayne - all voiced by the original performers.

"Robin's not in this one, though. He's off fighting with the Teen Titans," laughed Burnett, referring to the new Cartoon Network series.

Static will have even more involvement with the DC Universe in Season 3. He will also team-up with the Justice League in a two-parter, "A League of Their Own," involving Brainiac, and the season closes with "Toys in the Hood," a Superman team-up involving Toyman.

The second episode on Feb. 1 is called "Gear" and reveals Richie's new identity.

"It's the whole origin story," Burnett said. "Kids will see Gear right off the bat, though, because he's in the new main titles."

Look for more from The Continuum's interview with Burnett soon.

TONY DANIEL DRAWS TOMB RAIDER

Artist Tony Daniel is returning to Top Cow to pencil a special double-sized 30th issue of Tomb Raider scheduled for a May release.

Daniel joins series writer John Ney Reiber, inker Jonathan Sibal and colorist Jonathan D. Smith on the issue.

"I took a year off so I knew that I wanted to return to comics in 2003 with both guns blazing and Tomb Raider is the perfect match," Daniel said. "I've always been a huge fan of the game and the Lara Croft character and I am thrilled that I'll get the opportunity to use my all of my artistic strengths with Tomb Raider."

Tomb Raider #30 tells the tale of a young boy held captive in the Vatican prison that Lara Croft must set free to secure his knowledge of the fabled Waters of Life and Death. She must defeat the deadly robotic Secutor that guards this young boy's cell, survive a parasitic alien's murderous claws in the blighted Siberian wilderness and face the greatest threat to her survival and her sanity when she sees what her depraved nemesis Lord Vymes has done to her lover Tsang.

"Just seeing Tony's cover sketch for Tomb Raider #30 -- not even the finished art, just the rough -- got me excited," said Top Cow editor-in-chief Jim McLauchlin. "It's great that the first new thing I can help do at the Cow is bring one of the best artists in the comics biz back into the comics biz - and on a project he loves as well."

BATMAN DOUBLE FEATURE

DC Comics is collecting Batman #608-609 - the first two issues in the "Hush" story by Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee and Scott Williams - in Batman Double Feature, arriving in stores on Feb. 12.

The 48-page one-shot features a new cover by Lee and Williams as well as the covers to the first printings of Batman #608 and 609.

"As the 'Hush' storyline continues, word continues to spread about the phenomenal work Jeph, Jim and Scott are doing," said Bob Wayne, DC's VP - sales and marketing."The Double Feature will let those who missed out on the first few chapters of the story catch up without missing a beat."

Batman Double Feature will cost $3.95. Click on the thumbnail for a larger look at the book's cover.

NEW MUTANT X EPISODE

A new episode of Mutant X, "Understudy," is scheduled to air in syndication this week. The episode is written by Darrell Fetty and directed by John Bell.

For a synopsis of the episode, complete with photos and spoilers CLICK HERE.

ONI PRESS' SCOOTER GIRL

Oni Press will launch Scooter Girl, a six-issue mini-series by Chynna Clugston-Major, in May.

Scooter Girl is the first creator-owned work by Clugston-Major outside her ongoing Blue Monday series. Unlike Blue Monday, though, this romantic comedy-of-errors isn't part of a larger whole, but is a complete story unto itself.

Here's how Oni describes the book:

"Scooter Girl is the story of Ashton Archer. Ash is the coolest guy at his school, and well-known amongst the hipster scene in his town. He's pretty much the guy other guys wish they could grow up and be-suave, smart, and successful with the ladies. Then one day, he sees a beautiful young girl on a scooter. It's Margaret, a new student at his school. He instantly wants to have her, but he finds that all his charms disappear in the presence of this otherworldly beauty. Before he knows it, his life is ruined. He doesn't have the girl or his social stature-and he won't give up until he's put himself back on top and won her heart."

"This comic has been a real labor of love," Clugston-Major said. "Blue Monday is, as well, but the focus in that comic is on the overall lifeline of the characters. With Scooter Girl, I wanted to do something that was completely funny and completely dark from start to finish, that took you from point A to point B and did so with reckless abandon. It's Rumiko Takahashi, Buster Keaton, '60s mod culture, old English drama, slapstick, teen sex comedy, black comedy-everything I love smashed into one gooey ball."

"People have been perplexed about the long gestation period of this comic, as we've been talking about it for a while," said editor Jamie S. Rich. "Chynna and I talked a lot about how to approach this. There would be a lot of things hanging on this-it's her first major work since we started Blue Monday, and people would want to see that she could do it while also wanting it to be good enough to postpone Blue Monday for a while. With it being one story, we also had a specific amount of information to impart in a certain amount of space, and so we decided spending more time writing it than normal was the best way to go."

"I think their plan paid off," said Oni publisher Joe Nozemack. "Chynna's work has grown in incredible ways with Scooter Girl -- from the way she puts a page together to her choice of narrative voice. There will be little doubt that this girl is a major comic book force, and that we've only seen a small fraction of what she is truly capable of. In 10 years, her young fans will speak about her in the way her older fans speak about the Hernandez Brothers now."

"The hope is that if I'm having a blast doing the book, fans will have a blast reading it," Clugston-Major said. "Scooter Girl has twisted humor, romance, and even a little bit of soul-searching and action here and there. I think it's a crowd pleaser in the best way a black comedy can be, like Heathers or something Peter Sellars might do."

Scooter Girl #1 will be 32 pages and will cost $2.95. It's scheduled for release on May 7.

NEW SMALLVILLE EPISODE

"Suspect," a new episode of Smallville, is scheduled to air on The WB on Tuesday, Jan. 28.

Here's how the network describes the episode:

"When Lionel (John Glover) is shot, Jonathan (John Schneider) is arrested, but after Clark (Tom Welling) and Pete (Sam Jones III) perform their own crime scene investigation, they realize that more than one person had the opportunity to kill Lionel - including Lex (Michael Rosenbaum). Meanwhile, Lana (Kristin Kreuk) is suspicious after she asks her father (guest star Patrick Cassidy) to take on Jonathan's case and he declines for mysterious reasons."

Greg Beeman directed the episode, which was written by Brian Peterson and Kelly Souders.

Look for more Smallville news on Wednesday here in The Continuum.

BRIEFLY

Marvel has released another image -- this one called The Runaways -- as it continues to tease its "First Wave" project.

Coming Wednesday: DC news - and much more!!!

E-mail the Continuum at RobAlls@aol.com

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