FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 2007
COMING SATURDAY
300 movie news -- and much more!!!
MARVEL COMICS FIRST LOOKS
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For covers and five- to six-page previews of Marvel Comics titles arriving in stores on Jan. 31, CLICK HERE.
Titles include X-Men #195, Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter in Guilty Pleasures #4, Annihilation #6, Daredevil #93, Ghost Rider Finale, Ms. Marvel Special, Ultimate Civil War Spider-Ham Crisis (Featuring Wolver-Ham) #1 and XII TPB.
SMALLVILLE: "FREAK"
Michael Rosenbaum, who plays Lex Luthor, is making his directorial debut in "Freak," the Thursday, Feb. 15 episode of The CW's Smallville.
Here's how the network describes the episode:
"Clark (Tom Welling) and Chloe (Allison Mack) discover that Tobias (guest star Greyston Holt), a young man who was blinded in the meteor shower and now has the ability to identify 'meteor freaks,' is being used by Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) to locate people with abilities in order to experiment on them. Lana (Kristin Kreuk) finds out about Tobias' gift, and fearing he will name Clark as one infected, offers him a cornea transplant in exchange for his silence. However, she is not prepared for Tobias' shocking news."
The episode was written by Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer.
Look for more Smallville news soon here in The Continuum.
SCI FI'S PAINKILLER JANE
Production of Sci Fi's Painkiller Jane television series is rolling on its fifth episode in preparation of the show's April 6 launch.
The series, starring Kristanna Loken, is filming in Vancouver.
"I just saw the first cut of episode #2 and Kristanna is looking great," said executive producer Jason Netter of Kickstart Entertainment, which recently added The Couriers to its list of film and television projects.
In other Painkiller Jane notes:
* In addition to the previously announced Loken, Rob Stewart and Noah Danby, the cast will include Sean Owen Roberts as Riley Jensen, an evolved computer whiz; Stephen Lobo as Dr. Seth Carpenter, the unit's doctor and scientist; Nathanial Deveaux as the caretaker of the subway; and Alaina Hoffman as Maureen Bowers, Jane's former DEA partner and friend.
* The first episode was directed by Nick Copus, whose credits include The 4400.
* The episode being written by Painkiller Jane co-creator Jimmy Palmiotti probably won't be among the first 10 to air.
* Look for more on Painkiller Jane very soon here in The Continuum.
For more images from the first episode of Painkiller Jane, CLICK HERE.
HERO INITIATIVE OFFERS 100 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN COVERS
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The Hero Initiative, not-for-profit corporation dedicated to helping comic book creators in need, has teamed with Marvel Comics and the industryıs top talent to create 100 covers for Ultimate Spider-Man #100.
More than 80 artists were tapped to do a sketch on the blank cover of Ultimate Spider-Man #100 created specifically for The Hero Initiative. Some artists insisted on doing two covers.
"The artists have created some amazing pieces of work for this fundraiser," said Jim McLauchlin, president of The Hero Initiative. "It's great to see some of the industry's top talent participating, and I'm sure comic fans will love the covers as much as we do."
To best showcase the work, the fundraiser has been split in four different parts: a gallery showing at Secret Headquarters in Los Angeles on Feb. 3 that will start the ball rolling by auctioning off one book; a showing and auction at MegaCon, in which 20 more of the books will be auctioned off; and the remaining 79 covers to be shown at the New York Comic-Con, with 20 more auctions taking place. The then-remaining 59 covers, including some of the prize pieces, will be auctioned off on eBay in March.
* Feb. 3 from 8-10 p.m. in Los Angeles: A gallery showing of all 100 covers will kick off the worldwide tour at The Secret Headquarters, located at 3817 W. Sunset Boulevard in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles. This special event will be the only showing of all 100 covers, as one will be auctioned off on site by one of the local artists in attendance.
* Feb. 16-18 at Orlando MegaCon: The remaining 99 covers will be showcased at MegaCon, with 20 covers auctioned off on Feb. 18.
The pieces will include: 1. Chris Bachalo; 2. Joe Benitez; 3. Mike Deodato; 4. Derec Donovan; 5. Dick Giordano; 6. Staz Johnson; 7. Leonard Kirk; 8. Ed McGuinness; 9. Luke Ross; 10. Joe and Tim Vigil; 11. Billy Tan; 12. Sergio Aragones; 13. Jim Hanna; 14. Andy Kuhn; 15. Tim Seeley; 16. Alex Saviuk; 17. Mike Wieringo; 18. Marie Severin; 19. Jim Starlin; 20. Mike Vosburg.
* Feb. 23-25 at New York Comic-Con: 79 covers will be showcased. with the following 20 covers going up for auction on Feb. 25:
1. Alan Davis; 2. Kyle Baker; 3. Joe Bennett; 4. Ron Frenz; 5. Ron Garney; 6. Michael Golden; 7. Fred Hembeck; 8. Scott Kolins; 9. Larry Lieber; 10. Joseph Michael Linsner; 11. John McCrea; 12. Al Milgrom; 13. James Owen; 14. Joe Quesada; 15. Frank Quitely; 16. John Romita Sr.; 17. Arthur Suydam; 18. Jim Valentino; 19. Alan Weiss; 20. Mark Buckingham.
The remaining 59 will be auctioned off via eBay.com in the beginning of March. Remaining covers will include such talent as J. Scott Campbell, Jim Cheung, Frank Cho, Greg Land, Michael Lark, Jae Lee, Todd McFarlane, Terry Moore, and Bill Morrison. Even writers and ace doodlers such as Guillermo del Toro and Neil Gaiman have joined in with covers of their own.
The "Ultimate 100," as itıs come to be called, was largely the brainchild of Hero board member Brian Pulido and Marvel publisher Dan Buckley. Pulido, an innovator of exotic variant covers), conceived the initial concept. "What's cooler than an edition limited to 100, featuring 100 custom drawings of an A-list character?" Pulido said. "Each one is a unique edition." Buckley approved the project and shepherded it through Marvel.
IMAGE COMICS' FELL TRADE PAPERBACK
After several sell-outs and new printings of the individual issues, Image Comics is collecting the first eight issues of Fell, a crime drama by Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith, into a trade paperback in April.
Fell, Vol. 1: Feral City will be 152 pages, cost $14.99 and be in stores on April 14.
Here's how Image describes the book:
"Fell chronicles the life of Detective Richard Fell, a big city detective transferred over the bridge to Snowtown, a feral district whose police investigations department numbers three and a half people (one detective has no legs). Dumped in this collapsing urban
trashzone, Fell is starting all over again and his ongoing story delivers visceral morality tales from the periphery of city life. In a place where nothing seems to make any sense, Detective Fell clings to the one thing he knows to be true: Everybodyıs hiding something."
Ellis praised the work of Templesmith on the series.
"Ben's a mad genius," Ellis said. "His work is a perfect mix of Sienkiewicz's American experimentation, manga cartooning and European perspective. It's a unique-looking book, and writing for someone like Ben is like having eight different artists -- there's nothing I can write that won't be illustrated eight times as well as I imagined."
Click on the thumbnails below for larger images.
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APRIL SOLICITATIONS ROUNDUP
Click on the publishers' names below for solicitations, with images, for April comics.
* Archie Comics.
* Aspen Comics.
* Avatar Press.
* Boom! Studios.
* Dark Horse Comics.
* Devil's Due Publishing.
* DC Comics.
* Dynamite Entertainment.
* Heroic Publishing.
* IDW Publishing.
* Image Comics.
* Marvel Comics.
* Oni Press.
BRIEFLY
* Camilla d'Errico is the new artist of SLG's Nightmares and Fairy Tales, joining writer Serena Valentino with #19 in April.
"I've followed the book since it first came out with FSC as the artist,"d'Errico said. "I was a huge fan to begin with and now after begin introduced to Serena and the staff of SLG, I'm even more thrilled to be part of the team. I'll do my best to make people fall in love with Serena's beautiful stories."
* Ghost Rider star Nicolas Cage has been named Grand Marshall of the Daytona 500.
* According to the Wall Street Journal, Katie Holmes will not be returning as Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight.
COMICS CONTINUUM BACK ISSUES
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In case you missed The Continuum's coverage over the past month, here are some links. Click on the date to get the day's full report.
* Sunday, January 21: BlueWater Productions self-publishers, First Looks and HeroClix's Fin Fang Foom.
* Saturday, January 20: Spider-Man 3, Ghost Rider and Spawn.
* Friday, January 19: Smallville, Boom! Studios for April, Fathom: Kiani, 300 and Family Guy.
* Thursday, January 18: Smallville, Legion of Super Heroes, Devil's Due Publishing for April, Image First Looks and Marvel First Looks.
* Wednesday, January 17: Legion of Super Heroes' James Tucker, Image Comics for April, Iron Man's Gwyneth Paltrow, Heroes, Smallville and 300.
* Tuesday, January 16: Marvel Comics for April, Marvel First Looks, The Batman, Legion of Super Heroes, 2006 sales and Dynamite Entertainment First Looks.
* Monday, January 15: DC Comics for April, Archie Comics for April, Doctor Strange animated movie, December sales, Image Comics First Looks, Dynamite Entertainment First Looks and Painkiller Jane.
* Sunday, January 14: Legion of Super Heroes, DC Comics for April preview and Marvel First Looks.
* Saturday, January 13: Painkiller Jane, Smallville, Flash Gordon and Heroic Publishing roundup.
* Friday, January 12: Fantastic Four animated, The Amazing Screw-On Head and Archie Comics First Looks.
* Thursday, January 11: Painkiller Jane, Legion of Super Heroes, Battlestar Galactica, Image Comics First Looks and Marvel Comics First Looks.
* Wednesday, January 10: Halle Berry talks X-Men 4, Smallville, Marvel First Looks and Civil War collections.
* Tuesday, January 9: Dark Horse Comics for April, Civil War #7 delayed, Smallville, Marvel First Looks and IDW Publishing's Tank Girl.
* Monday, January 8: Smallville's Erica Durance, Painkiller Jane, Bloodrayne one-shot and DC First Looks.
* Sunday, January 7: Dark Horse First Looks, Image First Looks and Masterpiece Comics' Wild Boys.
* Saturday, January 6: Aspen Comics for April, Smallville and Battlestar Galactica.
* Friday, January 5: Smallville, TMNT, Devil's Due First Looks, Archie Comics First Looks and Bluesman movie.
* Thursday, January 4: Marvel Comics First Looks, Painkiller Jane, Justice League Unlimited and Heroes.
* Wednesday, January 3: Smallville, Spider-Man 3, IDW Publishing for April, Marvel First Looks and Zenescope's Return to Wonderland.
* Tuesday, January 2: Smallville's Allison Mack, IDW's Star Trek: Klingons, The All-New Atom, David Mack writes Se7en, Heroic Publishing for April, TwoMorrows Publishing for April and Trials of Shazam.
* Monday, January 1: Smallville's Allison Mack, DC First Looks, Dark Horse First Looks and IDW Publishing First Looks.
* Sunday, December 31: Batman Beyond and Image Comics First Looks.
* Saturday, December 30: Ghost Rider, Heroes and 300.
* Friday, December 29: Diamond Select/Marvel and First Looks.
* Thursday, December 28: Spider-Man 2 on FX, Marvel First Looks and Heroes.
* Wednesday, December 27: 300, TMNT, Archie Comics' new look and First Looks.
* Tuesday, December 26: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and First Looks.
* Monday, December 25: Image Comics' Dynamo 5 and Arcana's Dark Horrors.
Copyright © 2006, The Comics Continuum