Wednesday, April 25, 2001

BRUCE TIMM TALKS JUSTICE LEAGUE: PART TWO

In the second-part of a two-part interview with Justice League executive producer Bruce Timm, he talks about the series' villains, the show's scale and working with Cartoon Network.

For part two, CLICK HERE.

X-MEN NOMINATED FOR MTV AWARDS

Hugh Jackman and the X-Men movie scored three MTV Movie Award nominations on Tuesday.

X-Men was nominated for Best Movie, along with Hannibal, Erin Brokovich, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Gladiator.

Jackman was nominated for in the Best Male Breakthrough category. His competition will be Ashton Kutcher in Dude, Where's My Car?; Jack Black in High Fidelty; Tom Green in Road Trip; Sean Patrick Thomas in Save the Last Dance; and Patrick Fugit in Almost Famous.

Jackman, Anna Paquin, James Marsden, Halle Berry and Famke Janssen were nominated for Best On-Screen Team. Their competiton will be Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu and Drew Barrymore in Charlie's Angels; Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro in Meet the Parents; George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson in O Brother, Where Art Thou?; and Tom Hanks and Wilson in Castaway.

Kirsten Dunst, who stars as Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man, was nominated for Best Dance Sequence for the opening of Bring It On. She will also host the awards ceremony with Jimmy Fallon of Saturday Night Live.

Viewers can vote at www.mtv.com. The awards ceremony will be televised on June 6.

MORE ON CYCLOPS MINI-SERIES

Marvel Comics editor Mike Marts has provided The Continuum with a first look at the cover to Cyclops #1, the four-issue mini-series launching in September.

The cover is by interior artists Mark Texeira and Jimmy Palmiotti. Marts told The Continuum that the cover to the second issue - again by Texeira and Palmiotti - has been completed, but has not been colored yet.

Texeira is working with Cyclops writer Brian K. Vaughan for the first time.

"He's pretty enthusiastic and that's pretty contagious," Texeira said. "I want to give my opinions before the series even started and he was willing to listen. He is allowing me - within reason - to do what I can."

Texeira said the mini-series will have some "major splashes."

DC'S ANIMATED BOOKS UPDATE

DC Comics will be canceling Superman Adventures but will be starting a new series, Justice League Adventures.

It is not clear when the last issue of Superman Adventures will ship, but it will likely be early next year.

The Justice League Adventures title will be edited by JLA editor Dan Raspler, with likely rotating creative teams. The series will likely start in November to coincide with the debut of the Justice League animated series on Cartoon Network.

Superman Adventures #60 will be written by Jordan B. Gorfinkel, with art by Min S. Ku and Terry Austin. It will arrive in stores on Aug. 15.

WEINBERG, DERENICK PREVIEW NIGHTSIDE

Writer Robert Weinberg and artist Tom Derenick have provided their takes and an image from his new creator-owned series for Marvel, Nightside.

Here's how Weinberg describes the series:

"Meet Sydney Taine. She's a woman who walks the narrow path dividing good from evil, the gray line that separates the daytime from the nightside. Sydney's a detective and she knows a lot of secrets concerning the living and the undead. But no one knows very much at all about Sydney Taine.

"She stars in the new Marvel creator-owned series by Robert Weinberg titled Nightside, due to debut in October. Art is by major new discovery, Tom Derenick.

"Comparisons to what's being published today? There are none. Sydney's different. How? Join her in October to find out."

And here's Derenick's take on Nightside:

"The art style I'm using on this series is quite a bit different from what X-Men fans have seen from me in the past year. It's fully rendered shaded pencils. There won't be any inking just computer coloring over raw pencils. This kind of thing has been done on Aria for Avalon studios by Jaye Anacleto and also on the upcoming Vampirella series through Harris by Mike Mayhew.

"The difference is whereas to two incredible artists I just mentioned are going for photorealism in their art I'm trying to go for something a little more exaggerated. It will have a realistic feel to it but with more of the dynamics of Marvel's style of storytelling. I'm hoping to give comic fans something they've never seen before much in the same way Bob is in the story. Just something new and fresh.

"For those who aren't aware of this style, I developed it while doing pinups online over two years ago. The response to it was incredible and I'm hoping comicbook fans will like it just as much.

"When I started working for Marvel last year one of the first assignments I landed was a pinup for X-Men Millenial Visions for editor, Mike Marts which I did in this style. Since then I was kept pretty busy on the X-books and it wasn't until recently that the opportunity arose to apply this style to a project.

"I sent an email to Joe Quesada with a bunch of pieces of art done in this style and he liked it enough to send it around to his editors to see if anyone had anything they could use it on. Then I visited the offices to dicuss the possibility of doing something in this style. Mark Powers asked me if I'd be interested in doing an alternate red cover for "Search for Cyclops" #4, which unfortunately, due to a snafu in the solicitation for the book ended up not getting printed. These things happen sometimes.

"However, after talking with Bob, Mark approached me about whether I'd be interested in doing Nightside in this style. Bob and I had been talking about the series before that and I got a chance to read a draft of the script for issue one and it sounded like an incredibly cool concept. It was a mix of Avengers (Emma Peel), Dark City, Blade, the Matrix, Dracula, etc., and I loved what Bob has been doing on Cable, enjoyed working with him already on said title, so how could I pass. I accepted. I'm going to do my best to make Nightside as fun to look at as it will be to read."

THE CREECH: OUT FOR BLOOD

Greg Capullo is inking his own pencils for the first time on The Creech: Out for Blood, a three-issue mini-series that starts in August.

"It's really cool to challenge myself; this time I tried inking. Although I've never inked my own pencils before, I think fans will like it," Capullo said. "The stuff looks bombastic."

Each issue of the bi-monthly mini-series will be 40 pages of interlinked stories. Thematically, The Creech deals with such contemporary issues as human cloning, genetic engineering, fetal tissue research, and the ethics of modern medical research.

Here's how Image describes the book:

"The Creech is about a scientific project gone wrong; very wrong. Dr. Battu is a gentle pacifist whose goal is to help the world better itself through genetic research. The pinnacle of his scientific experimentation yields the Creech. Engineered in the idyllic isolation of Battu's laboratory, the creature is born an innocent being with no conception of good or evil. Later, against Battu's will, the Creech is genetically enhanced into a technological fighting machine by a nefarious government bureau simply known as The Agency. In a last-ditch attempt to save the innocent creature from the government's plans to exploit it for military purposes, Battu infuses the creature with his own pacifistic mind patterns just as he is murdered by rogue officers of The Agency. The genetically engineered fighting machine is an innocent no more -- he is now the Creech. The newly self-aware creature is a muddle of internal contradictions as the consciousness of the peaceful Dr. Battu struggles with its genetically engineered instincts for killing and destruction. Before the Creech has much of an opportunity to resolve these problems and discover his nearly limitless potential, he seemingly sacrifices his life to save Earth from alien invaders bent on the destruction of the human race."

"Greg Capullo has become modern comics' best artist with this new mini-series," said Todd McFarlane. "He has turned in one of the most truly inspired writer/artist performances in recent history. The Creech showcases Greg's many other talents, raising them to a new level. His inking alone is truly stunning."

The new series picks up where the original left off when reporter Chris Rafferty sees Agency Director Dross on a TV news shows. Rafferty is certain he saw Dross fatally impaled during the heated battle with the aliens where the Creech sacrificed himself. But now, if Dross is alive, Rafferty questions if anything he remembers actually happened at all.

Dross, who has mysteriously returned from the dead, finds himself in deep trouble for having allowed his genetic engineering program to spin so far out of control. The disappearance of the Creech seems be the triggering event leading to an intergalactic war between two alien races.

"Rest assured, the new Creech will contain all the elements people enjoyed -- action, aliens and annihilation o'plenty -- as well as thought-provoking subject matter as we delve deeper into the mind of the Creech," Capullo said.

FANTAGRAPHICS FOR AUGUST

August solicitations for Fantagraphics Books are in, with information and art coming from the company.

For full listing, CLICK HERE.

CHAOS! COMICS FOR AUGUST

Following are Chaos! Comics' solicitations for August, with information coming from the company.

LADY DEATH / BAD KITTY #1

Written by Len Kaminski, cover by Adriano Batista, Curtis Arnold, and Hi-Fi.

Lady Death, the herald of death, is now mortal and stranded in New York. Catherine Bell aka "Bad Kitty" is a former detective on the run. The Mastrodecasas are a mob family, returned from the dead as poltergeists. When Kitty stops the Mastros from murdering Lady Death's new found friend, all Heck breaks loose in Hell's kitchen. Will Lady Death fire automatic weapons? Can Lucky the cat survive the menace of the Ghost Hound?

32 pages, $2.99, ships on Aug. 17 (Premium Edition, cover by Scott Lewis, $9.99).

VANDALA II #1

Written by Peter David, art by Ed Benes.

Vandala, the last living Valkyrie is intent on erecting a new Shining Realm amidst the harsh squalor of the darklands. Her only ally is Ravenheart, a warrior whose touch means certain death. They face opposition on all fronts, but that is nothing compared to the insidious treachery planned by the diabolical Pagan, The Court Jester of Hell. Will our heroes heed the warning signs or will all of Vandala's hopes and dreams crumble before they are given life? Guest starring the Hells Bells: Demonica and Diabolica.

32 pages, $2.99, ships on Aug. 3 (Premium Edition, cover by Matt Hughes, $9.99).

PURGATORI: DARKEST HOUR #1

Written by Joshua Dysart, penciled by Fabiano Neves, colored by Colorgraphix, cover by Romano Molennar, Phyllis Novin, and Colorgraphix.

The Los Angeles dawn breaks, a mortal woman lays dying in it's golden light. Her name is Sakkara and she carries deep inside of her the sleeping demon Purgatori. Even now, as she struggles to live, fallen angels, powerful vampires and a warrior from a once proud, now crumbling kingdom, are mobilizing to hunt down the woman who would be the Blood Goddess.

32 pages, $2.99, ships on Aug. 10 (Premium Edition, cover by Ricky Carralero, $9.99).

LADY DEATH'S BLACK BOOK #1

Cover by Ivan Reis, Joe Pimentel and Roy Young.

Own the perfect pocket-sized art book for Lady Death! That's right, this "Black Book" contains a miniture gallery of 64 cover images and sexy pin-up shots of Lady Death collected in this flip-through compact, square-bound book! Features gorgeous Lady Death art by Ivan Reis, Brom, Mike Deodato Jr., Steven Hughes, David Michael Beck, and Justiniano.

64 pages, 4 inches by 5 inche, $9.99, ships on Aug. 10 (Premium Edition, cover by Hughes and Jensen, $14.99).

LEGEND OF THE SAGE #2

Written by Brian Augustyn, illustrated by Romano Molenaar, inked by Curtis Arnold.

In the next chapter of the mystical saga, the only way to destroy earth is to find and obliterate the world's mystic axis, which anchors it in time and space. Though no one on earth believes it, they are under secret siege as the forces of Magos search and destroy everything in their path. Meanwhile, under the tutelage of a magical mentor, Victoria learns of her destiny and begins the quest to save many worlds.

32 pages, $2.99, ships on Aug. 3 (Variant Edition, cover by Daerick Gross, $7.50).

BRIEFLY