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Tuesday, March 9, 2004

IMAGE COMICS' THE RIDE

Gaijin Studios is launching The Ride with a two-issue mini-series starting in June from Image Comics.

The only common thread in the stories of the series is a 1968 Camaro.

According to Gaijin: "The car simply serves as a familiar starting point for the creators. A character can own The Ride, steal it, receive it as a gift, or be confronted by a nemesis that is in possession of the vehicle. The car itself can be central to a given story or peripheral to it. It could be magical or possessed in one tale, up on blocks and rusted out in another. The stories can take place anytime from the late sixties into the near future. In other words, The Ride is whatever a creator wants it to be."

"It's light on continuity and creator free," said Keven Gardner, who originated the concept. "We're hoping to do little story arcs, 6-8 a year."

Why a '68 Camaro?

"There was a lot of debate about that," Gardner said. "It's just the car I envisioned in my head. It's the ultimate muscle car and was always near and dear to me. Plus, it looks tough and I want to tell tough and gritty stories."

The first story arc is written by Doug Wagner. Gaijin's Cully Hamner and Brian Stelfreeze are penciling the first issue, with Georges Jeanty and Jason Pearson penciling the second. Adam Hughes is providing covers.

Wagner told The Continuum that his story involves a rookie detective, Samantha Vega, who is teamed with "an old-school veteran," Frank Simms. She learns of her brother's murder in a small college town, and the two must survive a fiery road trip to find the killer.

The second issue will ship in July, Gardner said.

Click on the thumbnails for preview images.

SPIDER-MAN UPDATE

Kirsten Dunst, who is returning as Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man 2, will be a guest on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Thursday, March 18.

Dunst will be promoting her new movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with Jim Carrey, but will likely also talk about Spider-Man 2 and Wimbledon, her other 2004 film.

In other Spider-Man news:

* Here's a first look at Peter David's adaptation of the film. Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.

* The new trailer will be unveiled "soon," a source told The Continuum.

* The Spider-Man animated series will not be returning to MTV for a second season, sources have confirmed for The Continuum.

CATWOMAN UPDATE

Halle Berry, who played Storm in the first two X-Men movies and is starring in the upcoming Catwoman movie, has been named female star of the year for ShoWest 2004.

ShoWest, an annual convention for movie exhibitors and distributors, will be held in Las Vegas March 22-25. It is expected the first footage of Catwoman will be shown then.

In other Catwoman news:

* The three women who played Catwoman in the Batman television series -- Eartha Kitt, Julie Newmar and Lee Meriwether -- appeared at The TV Land Awards last weekend.

Said Kitt on Berry playing Catwoman: "Why not? I think she's absolutely marvelous."

The TV Land Awards will air on Wednesday, March 19 at 9 p.m. (ET) on TV Land.

STAR WARS: CLONE WARS UPDATE

Cartoon Network has released an episode guide of Chapters 11-20 of its Star Wars: Clone Wars animated micro-series.

New episodes will resume when Chapter 11 premieres on Friday, March 26 at 9:30 p.m. (ET/PT). Subsequent chapters will air weeknights at 8 p.m. (ET, PT) from Monday, March 29-Thursday, April 8. Star Wars: Clone Wars marathons will air Friday, April 9, and Saturday, April 10.

For the episode synopses, CLICK HERE.

FIRST LOOKS

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

Titles include Ruse: Archard's Agents -- Deadly Dare from CrossGen Entertainment, Super Manga Blast! #40 and Steve Rude's The Moth Double-Sized Special from Dark Horse and Touch #1 from DC Comics.

BRIEFLY

The Sunday, March 21 episode of Smallville: The Beginnings on The WB will be "Heat."

An announcement regarding Ethan Van Sciver going exclusive to DC Comics will be made on Tuesday, The Continuum has learned. Look for more details soon.

The Astonish Factory has announced that its children's book, The Land of Sokmunster, will be released with a slight format change. Originally solicited as a 48-page trade paperback, The Land of Sokmunster is now a printed hardcover (with no dust jacket) and has grown to 60 pages. It will cost $14.95.

Here's how The Astonish Factory describes the book:

"The Land of Sokmunster tells the unusual story of what happens when we all lose something precious. Twelve-year-old Sam takes us on his journey to the Land of Sokmunster where he meets Spike, the lost sok with attitude, King Jacque, the ruler sok of Sokmunster, and the Moth King, the villainous enemy of the soks. Sam will come to find that this is a land of many wondrous things. It is a land that is filled with creatures big and small, good and bad. A land where friends are made and lessons learned. A land...that is closer than we think."

"As we were telling the story, we felt we just had a lot more we wanted to include," said co-creator Mike Kunkel, explaining the format change.

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