NEW SMALLVILLE EPISODE

The WB has released 12 images from "Precipice," the new episode of Smallville on Tuesday.

Here's how the network describes the episode:

"After Lana (Kristin Kreuk) is almost assaulted by a college student (guest star), Clark (Tom Welling) loses control and injures the boy. When the KentS (John Schneider, Annette O'Toole) are sued for punitive damages that could cost them the farm, Clark begins to question his powers while trying to find a way out of the lawsuit. Meanwhile, Helen's (Emmanuelle Vaugier) ex-boyfriend arrives in town intent on winning her back, but when she turns him down, he stabs her, prompting Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) to take the law into his own hands."

Thomas J. Wright directed the episode, which was written by Clint Carpenter.

Click on the thumbnails for larger and fuller images.

X-MEN SEQUEL UPDATE

Kelly Hu, who plays Lady Deathstrike in X2, said that her character will be a little different than the comics version.

"We were able to sort of sculpt her and mold her in a different way that we saw fit for the film," Hu said. "It's kind of frightening to do that because I think there are some real die-hard X-Men fans who might not agree with that. But it's amazing for the film, but once they see that in action, I think they'll be sold on that, too."

Hu made her comments this week during an online chat for the film. For an edited transcription of the interview, CLICK HERE.

For a previous interview with director Bryan Singer from the chat, CLICK HERE.

For Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, CLICK HERE.

For James Marsden, CLICK HERE.

For Aaron Stanford, CLICK HERE.

For Shawn Ashmore, CLICK HERE.

For Famke Janssen, CLICK HERE.

For Alan Cumming, CLICK HERE.

Coming soon will be interviews with Winter, Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin, Kelly Hu and producer Lauren Shuler Donner.

FIRST LOOKS

For four-page previews of upcoming titles, CLICK HERE.

Titles include Solus #2 from CrossGen Entertainment, Reload #2 from DC Comics and Wolverine: Snikt #1 from Marvel Comics.

ELEKTRA MOVIE UPDATE

Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner, who wrote a draft for the Deathlok movie, have been tapped to write the Elektra sequel.

Jennifer Garner will reprise her role from Daredevil and filming is being targeted to start early next year.

A director has not been attached yet. Daredevil writer/director Mark Steven Johnson will produce, along with partner Gary Foster and Marvel Studios' Avi Arad.

Johnson is currently working on Ghost Rider for Columbia Pictures - which he will direct - and then will likely move on to Daredevil 2.

Foster told The Continuum that the Elektra movie will continue to hook into Frank Miller territory with The Hand and Stick featured.

CROSSGEN CANCELS FORGE, VECTOR

Citing "the purchasing preference of both retailers and readers," CrossGen Entertainment has announced that the Forge and Vector Compendia will cease publication.

The monthly anthologies, which reprinted CrossGen Entertainment's line of comic books, will end their respective runs after the publication of their 13th issues, both of which go on sale in April.

"I'm proud that we gave this program over a full year to develop," said vice president of sales Chris Oarr. "The Compendia were successful in reaching new readers. However, having been introduced to the entire CrossGen line, these new fans clearly gravitated toward our sequentially released graphic novels and comic books. After a year it was apparent that publishing the Compendia, even at a reduced price, no longer made good business sense."

"The question we constantly ask ourselves is 'What do readers and retailers want?'And in this case, while we delivered an affordable and portable package that many industry voices have asked for over the years, the actual buying behavior revealed that the majority prefers our individual graphic novels and comic books. We want to thank the strong core of fans who enjoyed Forge and Vector, and we hope that they'll continue to follow our stories in our additional formats."

"The Compendia were my gateway to the heroes of CrossGen, so I'm going to miss these handy books," said director of marketing and communications Bill Rosemann. "The good news is, since CrossGen is dedicated to developing innovative multiple formats, readers can still follow their favorite CrossGen characters in other low cost options, including the individual comic books, graphic novels, comicsontheweb.com, and additional formats that we'll be announcing soon.

"And if you like the smaller Compendia size - which feedback tells us that many of you do -- be on the watch for six new portable and affordable Traveler graphic novels in June!"

BRIEFLY

Coming Wednesday: X-Men news -- and much more!!!

E-mail the Continuum at RobAlls@aol.com

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