Saturday, January 17, 2004
SMALLVILLE UPDATE
DC Comics will release the first Smallville Trade Paperback on April 7. The 160-page book will cost $9.95.
The trade paperback will feature nine stories, collecting material from Smallville: The Comic and Smallville #1-4, an introduction by Smallville consulting producer Jeph Loeb and a cover by John Van Fleet.
Contributors include writers by Mark Verheiden, Clint Carpenter and Michael Green and artists Roy Allan Martinez, Kilian Plunkett, John Paul Leon, Renato Guedes, Tom Derenick, Mark Morales, Oclair Albert, Norm Rapmund and Adam DeKraker.
Here's how DC describes the book:
"Witness young Clark Kent's battles with a raptor-like Kryptonite freak in Smallville and another foe he can't even see! Watch as strange things happen at the Miss Smallville beauty pageant, then find out what Chloe did on her summer internship at the Daily Panet! Plus, one of Lex¹s old friends is murdered, and he's the prime suspect! All this, and much, much more!"
In other Smallville news:
* To the left is a photograph of the Smallville banner displayed at The WB's Television Critics Association Press Tour earlier this week in Hollywood, Calif. Click on the thumbnail for a larger and fuller image.
* Look for more Smallville news next week here in The Continuum.
IRON MAN MOVIE UPDATE
Smallville creators/executive producers Al Gough and Miles Millar have turned in a second draft for the Iron Man movie, which is shaping up as a possible 2005 release.
"It's an awesome draft," Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige told The Continuum. "There should be a director soon."
Feige said that he's read the recent reports indicating that Tom Cruise is still interested in playing the title role.
"There have been discussions over the last several years and there are a number of factors involved," Feige said. "All we know is that we're putting all the pieces in place and then we'll find the best Tony Stark that we can get."
Iron Man is set up at New Line Cinema, which is also releasing Blade: Trinity.
Look for more from The Continuum's visit to Marvel Studios all next week, including updates on Spider-Man 2, Man-Thing, Daredevil 2, Namor and more.
ANGEL UPDATE
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The WB has released three images from "Soul Purpose," the new episode of Angel scheduled to air on Wednesday.
Here's how the network describes the episode:
"A mysterious stranger (guest star Christian Kane) approaches Spike (James Marsters) claiming responsibility for recorporealizing him in a mission to guide Spike in supplanting Angel (David Boreanaz) as the new vampire champion. Meanwhile, Angel is racked by intense fever dreams and hallucinations of his worst fears intensifying his worries that he will lose authority to Spike."
Boreanaz makes his directorial debut with the episode, which was written by Brent Fletcher.
Click on the thumbnails for larger images.
Look for a story on Boreanaz on Monday here in The Continuum.
BATMAN: HUSH HIGH-END ACTION FIGURE SET
Fans of Jim Lee's Batman will have a chance to go behind-the-scenes and see an action figure's development in August with the Artist Signature Series: Acion Figure Exclusive Edition Batman: Hush by Jim Lee.
This high-end series from the DC Direct Gallery debuts with a set that features a dramatic new paint variant of the Batman: Hush Action Figure designed by Jim Lee and sculpted by Tim Bruckner, plus a resin replica of the original sculpture created from Lee's designs and an unpainted PVC pre-production "test-shot" used to approve production molds. In addition, all three figures will be numbered.
This deluxe signature series set is packaged in a gold foil-stamped gift-display box with a double-panel lid. A signed replica of Jim Lee's original concept art, suitable for framing, is displayed on one of the inside cover panels. The opposite panel features both a four-color Certificate of Authenticity autographed by DC Direct premier sculptor Tim Bruckner and a mini-booklet that tells the story of how an action figure is made.
"I think it's one of the coolest things we've ever done," said Georg Brewer, DC's VP -- Design & Retail Product Development. "For the first time, we're inviting fans to step inside the creative process and see how we work. It represents everyone's creative contributions to the development of an action figure, including Jim Lee, Tim Bruckner, Ed Bolkus and Shawn Knapp who first came up with the idea."
"We have really high hopes for the Artist Signature Series as it is a truly unique concept," said Syndee Barwick, DC's Director -- Product Management, DC Direct. "Naturally, we're hopeful that building this initial set around Jim Lee's Batman work will be so popular that we'll be able to move into production on more sets in the series!"
"It's an honor to be the first in this prestigious new line," Lee said. "Tim did some of the best work of his career on the Batman: Hush Action Figure and the fans responded. This set is something that hardcore toy collectors would kill to have in their collections."
"One of the cool things about this item is that it gives both knowledgeable and novice fans a look at the process, and gives them a sense of why it takes a year from the time someone says 'Let's do this,' to when an action figure arrives in stores," says sculptor Tim Bruckner. "The more a fan knows, the more he or she will appreciate the tremendous amount of time and effort that goes into the DC Direct action figures."
The product will arrive in stores on Aug. 18.
FIRST LOOK: TRANSFORMERS GENERATION ONE #1
Transformers Generation One #1 will arrive in stores this month from Dreamwave Productions. The issue is written by Brad Mick, with art by Don Figueroa.
Here's how Dreamwave describes the issue:
Dreamwave kicks January's Transformers Month into high gear with the all-new ongoing series based on the timeless Generation One. While Starscream and his band of rogue Decepticons make their way towards Earth, Prowl struggles to hold things together as Cybertron teeters on the brink of destruction. All that and the debut of a brand-new Generation One character! Issue #1 features two covers by Don Figueroa and an incentive cover by Pat Lee.
Transformers Generation One #1 will be 32 pages and will cost $2.95.
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BRIEFLY
"At Cracked, our primary goal is to make people laugh using humor that appeals to kids and the kid inside all of us," said Dick Kulpa, publisher of Cracked. "I'm proud to see Cracked reach an exciting new level that will surely thrill our generations of readers, as well as bring our unique style of humor to a whole new audience. With our roster of high-profile artists and writers and DPS Film Roman's enormously talented creative team and reputation for high-quality, successful productions, we have the ideal partnership to help Cracked reach its full potential."
COMICS CONTINUUM BACK ISSUES
In case you missed The Continuum's recent coverage, here are some links:
* For Friday, Jan. 10, including Marvel news, CLICK HERE.
* For Thursday, Jan. 9, including a feature on Image Comics' Patient Zero, as well as Marvel news, CLICK HERE.
* For Wednesday, Jan. 8, including Punisher movie news, CLICK HERE.
* For Tuesday, Jan. 6, including Smallville news, CLICK HERE.
* For Monday, Jan. 5, including Mutant X, Smallville and Justice League news, CLICK HERE.
* For Saturday, Jan. 3, including Transformers news, CLICK HERE.
* For Friday, Jan. 2, including Justice League animated news, CLICK HERE.
* For Thursday, Jan. 1, including Mutant X news, CLICK HERE.
* For Wednesday, Dec. 31, including Static Shock news, CLICK HERE.
* For Tuesday, Dec. 30, including Hellboy movie news, CLICK HERE.
* For Monday, Dec. 29, including Catwoman movie news, CLICK HERE.
* For Saturday, Dec. 27, including X-Men movie news, CLICK HERE.
* For Friday, Dec. 26, including Hellboy movie news, CLICK HERE.
* For Thursday, Dec. 25, including Marvel Comics news, CLICK HERE.
* For Wednesday, Dec. 24, including IDW Publishing's solicitations for March, CLICK HERE.
* For Tuesday, Dec. 23, including Spider-Man 2 news, CLICK HERE.
* For Monday, Dec. 22, including Marvel Comics' solicitations for March, CLICK HERE.
* For Saturday, Dec. 20, including Mutant X news, CLICK HERE.
* For Friday, Dec. 19, including CrossGen solicitations for March, CLICK HERE.
* For Thursday, Dec. 18, including New X-Men news, CLICK HERE.
* For Wednesday, Dec. 17, including Image Comics solicitations, CLICK HERE.
* For Tuesday, Dec. 16, including DC Comics solicitations, CLICK HERE.
* For Monday, Dec. 15, including Spider-Man movie news, CLICK HERE.
* For Saturday, Dec. 13, including Justice League animated news, CLICK HERE.
* For Friday, Dec. 12, including Dark Horse's March solicitations, CLICK HERE.
* For Thursday, Dec. 11, including movie news, CLICK HERE.
* For Wednesday, Dec. 10, including DC news, CLICK HERE.
* For Tuesday, Dec. 9, including Snake Plissken news, CLICK HERE.
* For Monday, Dec. 8, including Hellboy movie news, CLICK HERE.
Copyright © 2004, The Comics Continuum