SPIDER-MAN SEQUEL UPDATE

Tobey Maguire said that he expects Spider-Man 2 to be a better film than the original

"I know what we're doing and I can't wait to see it," during a spot on MTV's TRL on Tuesday. "It was great putting on the Spider-Man suit again. It was like coming home.

"In my opinion, we're making a better film than the first one."

Kirsten Dunst, who returns as Mary Jane, said she has a new wig this time.

"This one's a lot better one," Dunst said. "So I feel a lot cuter in this one."

The pre-show for the MTV Movie Awards on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (ET) will include more footage from the Spider-Man set.

Look for a story on MTV's Spider-Man animated series soon here in The Continuum.

SUPERMAN, BATMAN AMONG TOP MOVIE HEROES

Three DC Comics characters made the cut in the American Film Institute's 100 Years … Top 100 Heroes & Villains Special on CBS on Tuesday night.

Superman was the No. 26 hero, and Batman was the No. 46 hero. The Joker was the No. 45 villain.

"All of us have within us the dual personalities," said Christopher Reeve, star of the Superman films. "We are basically, perhaps shy, we lack confidence, things don't go our way. That's Clark Kent. That's our daily life.

"Within us is the dream to fly, to soar, to do all these amazing feats that Superman can do.

"A life-changing experience happened to me about eight years ago and I had to learn to live a new life, but I'm in a unique position of being able to speak on behalf of us all around the Earth. If I do have anything in common with Superman, I do have a sense of what the job is."

Michael Keaton, who starred in the first two Batman films, talked about the character.

"Batman, he's got this sense of decency, this sense that things aren't right, and if nobody's going to make them right, I'm going to take them into my own hands," Keaton said. "So, in fact, he was borderline vigilante, actually.

"Bullets don't bounce off him. He's got no super-powers. He had to think of things. He had to make things. He was kind of an inventor."

MUTANT X UPDATE

The third season of the syndicated Mutant X television series is tentatively scheduled to start the week of Sept. 29.

Tribune Entertainment has released the schedule for the remaining episodes through the end of the second season, culminating in a repeat of the season-finale cliffhanger.

Following is a rundown:

Week of June 23: "Past As Prologue," week of June 30: "Power Play."

Week of July 7: "Whose Woods These Are," week of July 14: "The Future Revealed," week of July 21: "One Step Closer," week of July 28: "No Man Left Behind."

Week of Aug. 4: "Crossroads of the Soul," week of Aug. 11: "Hard Time," week of Aug. 18: "Final Judgement," week of Aug. 25: "Inferno."

Week of Sept. 1: "One Step Closer," week of Sept. 8: "Reality Check," week of Sept. 15: "Reawakening," week of Sept. 22: "Lest He Become."

IDW'S NEW CSI PROJECTS

IDW Publishing will launch its next series of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation comic books, entitled Bad Rap, in August.

IDW will return the creative team of writer Max Allan Collins and artists Gabriel Rodriguez and Ashley Wood.

Here's how the publisher describes the series:

"Bad Rap injects the CSI team into the world of gangsta rap and murder. Murder is something they know well; rap is one they will soon learn. When famous and volatile rapper Busta Kapp is found dead in his limo, the suspects are many. It seems that Busta had as many enemies as he had gold chains, and when things go from Bling Bling to bang bang, the CSI team will have to separate the blood from the gold."

"Max Allan Collins is a writer who never fails to surprise, delivering great stories time after time," said IDW's editor-in-chief Jeff Mariotte. "Whether he's writing CSI comics or novels, or any of his original work, he really captures the essence of the characters and puts them in unique situations. Involving Gil Grissom and his criminalists in the world of gangsta rap is just the latest brilliant idea from the mind of one of our best crime writers. And we know Gabriel Rodriguez and Ashley Wood will deliver artwork that does his story justice."

Also in August, IDW Publishing will collect their original 5-issue CSI mini-series, CSI: Crime Investigation--Serial. In addition to the story, the trade paperback features an exclusive introduction by CSI TV series creator Anthony E. Zuiker, never before seen story pages, and a new three-page story by Collins and Woods.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation--Bad Rap is a five-issue, standard format comic book with a $3.99 cover price. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation--Serial is a 144-page trade paperback, in full color, with a cover price of $19.99.

KEN LOPEZ DC'S LETTERING DIRECTOR

Veteran letterer Ken Lopez has joined the DC Comics staff as the company's first lettering art director, reporting to VP - creative director Richard Bruning.

"I welcome this new challenge, and I feel confident about our success in this exciting new direction," Lopez said. "I'm sure that in time DC's lettering department will be looked at with pride from within and admiration from the rest of the industry."

"Like all the other major comics publishers, DC Comics is developing a totally digital production workflow to take advantage of the efficiencies and higher reproduction quality obtained by modern methods," Bruning said. "Kenny's been one of the industry's most prolific and talented letterers, and now he's taken on the responsibility for lettering aesthetics here at DC. He'll be working closely with our Editorial groups to develop new lettering styles and fonts as well as hiring a new group of staff letterers."

Lopez comes to DC after 14 years as a freelancer letterer, having worked for publishers including DC, Marvel, and Valiant, as well as lettering the syndicated comic strip Terry and the Pirates. Before that, he was a member of Marvel's Production Department for four years. He has worked with electronic lettering for more than six years. Lopez has designed a number of his own fonts, along with logos for such titles as Green Lantern and Excalibur. His recent lettering work includes H-E-R-O, Fallen Angel and DC's Bionicle custom comic.

BRIEFLY

Coming Thursday: Movie news -- and much more!!!

E-mail the Continuum at RobAlls@aol.com

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