Back With A Vengeance

By Blair Marnell

I’m back, after two weeks in the void of oblivion. Nonexistence ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Luckily, the universe rebooted and thus, here I am… But thanks to editorial mandates, I’m no longer sure which parts of my past actually happened.

[HOMER]Lousy continuity…[/HOMER]

Frequency Lives

Late last month, Warren Ellis posted the following message to his Bad Signal e-mail list:

    It's my current understanding that the bittorrenting of 'GLOBAL FREQUENCY' has rendered it as dead as dead can get as a TV series. It seems that people in high places did not take kindly to the leak. I have no further details, so don't ask.
However, John Rogers, the writer/producer of the GF pilot had this to say:
    Reports of the death of GF have been somewhat misunderstood. Warren is correct in repeating, from his sources, that the show is dead for now in a development sense.

    With ten years of television behind me, I'll tell you that you never, ever get to pop right back into redeveloping a high-concept show. All the same humans who bought it/looked at it are still in the same offices. Add to that the presence of an extent pilot, which actually has a following, and it would be insane to try to create a new pilot based on the property at this time.

    In the context of getting the shot pilot out in DVD/file form, those conversations are still going on. It's only been two months since this whole thing blew up -- the pilot took a YEAR AND A HALF from pitch to final edit. So, (and still with the caveat that the odds of anything happening are still astronomical) things proceed apace. I'll tell you when, in a corporate sense, dead is dead. But for now continue to harbor unreasonable expectations, spread the word, and write letters. The one thing I'll say is that it's useless to write to the WB Network. They have a shiny slate of shows they have faith in, and will certainly (and understandably) consider no wild-ass alternatives to this schedule for the time being.

    Return to your normal madness and as always, thanks for the interest and enthusiasm.
This Has A “Miranda Zero” Factor of Eight Out of Ten

For The Well Dressed Superhero

Complex Magazine, the self described “Original Buyer’s Guide For Men”, recently ran a feature with some of Marvel’s top superheroes decked out in the latest “designer labels.” And for those of you who may or may not have seen them yet, I’ve added a little Mr. Blackwell style commentary…


T'Challa goes hip-hop as Marvel ponders another Black Panther relaunch.


Ladies and Gentlemen, The Abercrombie Hulk.


Guess Daredevil’s not the only blind superhero…


Not bad. Not bad at all…


Sweet Christmas!


Looking more like Affleck everyday…


See… what I don’t get is the hood. Why does Cyclops need a hood?!


And why the fuck is Wolverine wearing a charm bracelet?


Anyway… if you’re so inclined, you can find the latest issue of Complex Magazine on newsstands everywhere.

This Has A “Dakota North” Factor of Nine Out of Ten

My Life… Your Life…

In a recent interview over at Manga Life, manga creator, M. Alice LeGrow (Bizenghast) dropped this interesting tidbit:
    …I'm currently discussing a project with Peter David to do a science-fiction graphic novel series… it's not even certain that we'll pick up the project, but it's based on a television show and I'm really excited about the prospect of TOKYOPOP giving it the go-ahead. I'm a big fan of the show.
And in other Peter David related news, there’s word that he’s finished his book on writing comics and is now actively seeking permission to publish the images he wants to use…

This Has A “Writer of Stuff” Factor of Seven Out of Ten

Shiny New Armor

Across the Pond Studios’ Armor X has jumped from Image to Speakeasy. Early plans call for a trade paperback of the first miniseries to be followed by a second miniseries, some time in 2006.

This Has A “Fear Is Weakness” Factor of Eight Out of Ten

Page 47

A few weeks ago, at the San Diego Comic Con, we caught our first glimpse of the Alias graphic novel, based on the ABC TV series. But further details were sketchy at the time. However, I was able to track down Pierluigi Cothran, the writer of the Alias GN, for some background on how this project came to pass:
    An Italian publishing branch of Disney inquired about the status of an Alias graphic novel and were stunned that one hadn't come out yet. This whole thing came together because of the editor Gianfranco Cordara. He pushed to get one published and I'm happy he did. So that's why it's coming out in Italy first as it is really an Italian property at this point (or I should say a Disney property, but the Italians got it first). As far as I know it's going to come out over there in September and sometime by the end of the year for a US release (sadly, I'm not yet sure who is going to distribute it, but I heard it'll be a top 5 publisher).



    My involvement started with one of the executive producers on the show -- Jesse Alexander. He's been with the show since day one and the 4th season was my first season working for him. Jesse and many of the other writers on the show are big comic book fans (as am I) and coming back from the weekly trip to House of Secrets in Burbank Jesse asked me if I'd ever thought about writing comic books. I hadn't really, but we started talking about it and he mentioned that they were going to be publishing one soon and would I be interested in pitching a story to him. I jumped at the chance and came up with I think two proposals and the one he went with allowed for not only a stand alone story but also to incorporate some major characters from the mythology of the show. I sent a completed outline to the editor of the book and he liked it so it just took off from there.

    I don't want to give too much of the story away, but I will say that a Rambaldi manuscript that once belonged to Sloane is stolen. Sydney and APO are tasked to recover it -- which causes a bit of friction around the office and once again Sloane's motives are taken in to question. This leads Sydney down a path that she wasn't expecting and comes in to contact with a person from her past -- one that might not be all that pleasant… I tried to make it rewarding for new fans as well as fans who've been watching the show since the beginning. The story takes place in the APO world, but there are no direct seasonal tie-ins to the fourth season, other than everyone on the APO team showing up in the book.



    Alberto Ponticelli (some samples of his work can be found here: http://ponticelli.redsectorart.com/) is the artist. He brought a great sense of style and his own flair to the characters. I hadn't known who the artist was going to be when i wrote the script, but I couldn't have been any happier with his work. He's worked with Brian Bendis on Sam and Twitch. His poster that we signed at Comicon this year got people excited for the book even when they hadn't even heard of the show. That's how good he is.

    I’m hoping this will lead to more Alias graphic novels in the future. I know that everyone at Alias has been wanting to get one done since the first season and I couldn't believe it when one hadn't been done yet. It's quite an honor to be the first writer on it, but damn there's a bit of pressure. I don't want to bury the comic franchise from the start so I hope people like it (fans and non-fans of the show alike) and they'll want to see the comic book adventures of Sydney continue. I'd love to write another one and I've fallen in love with the comic process -- so hopefully this won't be my last comic either! I guess we'll have to see how the sales numbers are and go from there.
This Has A “Suit And Glasses” Factor of Ten Out of Ten

Wayward Son of Krypton

While much has been made about the guest appearances of James Marsters and Carrie Fisher in the upcoming season of Smallville, there’s also a rumor that Dean Cain, the former small-screen Superman from Lois & Clark, is in talks with the show’s producers to make a guest appearance of his own…

This Has A “Great Shades of Elvis!” Factor of Seven Out of Ten

City of Stone

Over on his website, Greg Weisman has announced that Gargoyles Season 2 Volume 1 will be coming out this year, more specifically on December 06 with the first 26 episodes from the second season.

Weisman also gave a brief update on the Gargoyles comic from Slave Labor Graphics:
    A lot is still up in the air, but we're all now fully committed to getting this book out in the first half of 2006 -- i.e. sometime between January and June. I know that's a pretty big window, but we'll keep you posted as we begin to nail things down.
This Has A “Shadows of The Past” Factor of Ten Out of Ten

Gonna Be A Riot

Michael O’Hare recently announced that his Flak Riot miniseries from Image has been canceled due to low sales. However, he also mentions that he plans to release the series as a graphic novel through another publisher in 2006…

This Has A “Chasing Bounties” Factor of Seven Out of Ten

Intergalactic Planetary

There’s a report online that Warren Ellis and John Cassaday's Planetary will return in January 2006 and “run ‘consecutive issues’ until the series conclusion in March or April” which would bring the book to issue 26. The report also mentions that an epilogue (issue 27) would be published later in 2006 depending on Ellis and Cassaday’s schedules.

This Has An “Another Dimension, Another Dimension” Factor of Five Out of Ten

Striking The Anvil

A couple of the artists from Bright Anvil Studios will be debuting Sequence #1 next weekend at the Canadian Nation Comic Expo. As near as I can tell, it’s a three-story anthology. I haven’t seen all the pages yet, but… I like what I see so far...






This Has A “New Hotness” Factor of Seven Out of Ten

And that’s a wrap. Special thanks to John for filling in the last two weeks.

Until next time…

Later,
Blair

PS If anyone has any rumors, stories or news to share, please email me at blairm@silverbulletcomicbooks.com. Thanks to everyone who has been sending stuff in. It’s greatly appreciated.