Saturday, August 10, 2002

DAREDEVIL MOVIE UPDATE

Gary Foster, producer of the Daredevil movie, told The Continuum there will be two previews of the film in theaters this fall.

"We are preparing a new teaser that we intend to release in September," Foster told The Continuum. "It will show another level of what Daredevil will be. I expect it will highlight his blindness and how he deals with it -- visual effects shots.

"Of course, we will continue to build up the full trailer that should be ready around November."

Foster, along with producer Avi Arad, director Mark Steven Johnson and star Ben Affleck, appeared at Comic-Con International in San Diego last weekend.

"It's my favorite character," Johnson said. "I'm really glad to be a part of this."

Affleck reiterated a desire to make the movie true to the comic book.

"I thought I had, I was pretty sure I had and I then went back and made sure I had read every issue of Daredevil ever published," Affleck said. "It was more about taking what I already knew and had been a fan of since I was a kid and faithfully delivering that to the screen."

Johnson put together a presentation that he said no one, not even anyone at Fox, had seen before.

The clip started with a montage of the origin story. It included a fork lift slicing open a barrel of radioactive materials, causing Matt Murdock's blindness; Matt at his father's boxing match as he wears a robe with red horns; and his father's murder.

It then cuts to present time, with Daredevil uncannily unlocking three combination locks all at once to enter what appears to be a safehouse, with extra costumes and billy clubs. He takes off his mask and opens a cabinet full of pain pills. He takes the pain pills and then emerges himself in a sensory deprivation chamber.

Then it cuts to Kevin Smith's Jack Kirby character saying, "Are you ready to see something really cool?" and the action kicks in. There are fight scenes with Daredevil, Elektra and Bullseye, with Bullseye about kill Elektra as a helpless Daredevil cries out.

Look for more on Daredevil soon here in The Continuum.

CROSSGEN, MARVEL COMICS FIRST LOOKS

For covers and four-page or five-page previews of CrossGen Comics titles reaching stores on Wednesday, and covers and three-page previews of Marvel titles with no lettering, CLICK HERE.

Titles include The First #22, Mystic #27, Way of the Rat #4, X-Treme X-Men #17 and The Call of Duty: The Precinct #2.

ONI/BIG BLAST DEVELOPMENT DEAL

Big Blast Entertainment, the media rights holding and production company for Oni Press, and Circle of Confusion, a management and production company, have announced a multi-year, strategic alliance to manage, co-produce and develop comic-book properties to film, TV, video games and vice versa.

"After meeting the team at Circle during last years Comic-Con International and seeing what a great handle they have on taking comic properties out to film, TV and video games, their passion and respect for the medium - it was a no brainer," said Joe Nozemack, publisher of Oni Press and partner with Bob Chapman of Graphitti Designs and Chip Mosher in Big Blast Entertainment.

"Circle of Confusion, Oni Press and Big Blast Entertainment all have the same brand identity - the anti-brand. We're all purveyors of unique voices and ideas. So this agreement is just a natural extension for all companies," said David Engel, partner at Circle of Confusion with Dave Alpert, Jason Lust and founder Lawrence Mattis.

Under the terms, Circle of Confusion will represent Big Blast Entertainment in a management capacity, as well as a producing partner on some selected ventures. There will also be a Circle of Confusion branded comic book-line published through Oni Press in 2003.

Most recently Big Blast Entertainment successfully negotiated The Coffin comic book to be produced by James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment. Circle of Confusion manages such diverse talent as the Wachowski Bros., the Reign of Fire writers Gregg Chabot and Kevin Peterka, and comic-book creator Brian Michael Bendis.

BRIEFLY

Below are first looks at the covers to Daredevil #38, Master of Kung-Fu #2, Spider-Man: Blue #6, Spider-Man's Tangled Web #19, Lady Death Halloween Special #1, Purgatori: Trick or Treat #1, Skinwalker #3 and Jason & the Argobots #2.

GIVE'EM A CLICK