BORDERLINE #16 PUBLISHED

1/11/02: The first pay issue of online comics Borderline Magazine has just been published. The magazine includes interviews with Marvels’ editor-in-chief Joe Quesada and Oni’s boss Jamie Rich, plus much more. Since August 2001 Borderline has been bringing comics fansa professionally produced magazine about comics every month. Now it’s time to expand and improve in a big way, and the team are counting on your support to help us do it.

For your part it’ll cost you just one US dollar per month, payable in your own currency – and where else can you find a comics magazine for that price? Take a look at the mag today. Go!

SMALLVILLE SETTING US RATINGS RECORDS

4/11/02: ICV2.com reports (29/10/02) that Warner Bros. has announced that Smallville is setting new ratings records in its target demographic groups. Two weeks ago, the show delivered 8.9 million viewers and the highest ratings ever for The WB in adults 18-34. It also set all-time series and time period records with women 18-34, adults 18-49, and teens. Last Tuesday, Smallville beat the World Series in adults 18-34.

These ratings can be translated into sales in pop culture stores. The official Smallville Website has unveiled the “Wall of Weird,” which chronicles Smallville events through the eyes of the editor of the Smallville High Torch. To access the “Wall…,” fans need clues from Smallville: The Comic, available now.

In addition to the comic, action figures, and PVCs from DC and DC Direct, respectively, another merchandising opportunity will present itself when Inkworks releases its Smallville Trading Cards on 13th November. They’ll include autograph cards from six Smallville stars. Inkworks is also producing binders and will be releasing a limited number of uncut sheets.

DOCTOR SMITH IS DEAD

6/11/02: Lost in Space legend Doctor Zachary Smith – actor Jonathan Harris – is dead. The 87-year old actor died on Sunday of a blood clot.

He was a veteran of hundreds of films and TV shows, including The Twilight Zone and Bewitched television series, and films such as A Bug’s Life and Toy Story 2 in which he was the voice of Manny, the Preying Mantis, in the former, and the Fixer in the latter. But he is best known as the bumbling villain Doctor Smith from Lost in Space, which ran first on CBS from 1965 to 1968 and is still being shown on the world over in re-runs.

The actor was working to the end. He recently traveled to New York City to commemorate the 16 October Jupiter 2 lift-off celebration. LostinSpaceTV.com reports that in addition to being interviewed by all and sundry, Harris and the original Robot made a public appearance at the new theme restaurant Television City on Tuesday, 14 October for promote the LIS marathon on the Sci-Fi Channel and the release of the new Trendmasters toy Robot.

WALT SIMONSON SIGNS EXCLUSIVE WITH DC

6/11/02: Walt Simonson, one of comics’ most acclaimed and accomplished writer/artists, has signed a one-year exclusive with DC Comics.

“For the past four or five years I’ve worked primarily for DC,” says Simonson. “Partly, it’s because I enjoy the company of the people I work with there, editors like Joey Cavalieri, writers like Michael Moorcock, and artists like John Paul Leon. And it’s also because I’ve had the chance to draw some personal favourites such as Orion and the New Gods, Green Lantern, the original Captain Marvel, and even a little Batman. I feel I’ve done some of my best work in the last few years at DC.”

“Walt has been one of my personal favourite artists since I was an intern photocopying his Batman/Manhunter story in 1974,” says Mike Carlin, VP – Executive Editor, DC Universe. “And since meeting him at Marvel in 1981, I’m happy to say he’s one of my favourite people as well. No matter what the project is, he comes to the table with tons of unique ideas and enthusiasm. Walt is an great, all-around talent, and DC’s all the stronger for working with this major creator.”
Walt begins a six-issue run as writer on Wonder Woman in February, with artists Jerry Ordway and P. Craig Russell and cover artist Adam Hughes. The six-part story The Game of the Gods” begins in the new team’s first issue, #189, which will be solicited in the December issue of Previews (Vol. XII, #12). This issue is scheduled to be in stores 26 February.

WHY DID YOU DO THAT?

6/11/02: KenRadio.com reports that researchers at the University of Western Ontario may be able to explain why we do the things we do – or at least how we decide to do them. The Western scientists have been able to take images of the brain as it was deciding between several options. They put volunteers in a powerful scanner and monitored their brains as they decided between one action and another. They found a specific region in the frontal lobe that’s activated whenever such a decision is made.

It had been assumed that the frontal lobe played a role in deciding whether or not to do things, but this study is the first to actually show that’s where the decision is made.

It’s still not clear exactly how the decision-making centre interacts with the rest of the brain to control what we actually do. 

“We now have compelling evidence that one of the main functions of the frontal lobes is to decide how and when to act,” says Mel Goodale, Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Physiology & Pharmacology at Western and Canada Research Chair in Visual Neuroscience. “Mechanisms in this part of the brain appear to play an essential role in allowing humans to plan ahead and to resist the urge to act impulsively. If we could use the fMRI to look at brain activity in real time, we would be able to predict behaviour before it occurred!”

CONAN THE BARBARIAN COMES TO DARK HORSE!

6/11/02: Dark Horse Comics have announced a new publishing program featuring the legendary adventures of Conan the Barbarian. The monthly ongoing series – which will launch in mid-2003 – will include all new stories based on the classic Robert E. Howard character and also incorporate adaptations of his original Conan tales.

“I am very honoured and excited to bring this classic character back to the comics world,” commented Dark Horse Comics President Mike Richardson. “We will be working closely with Fredrik Malmberg of Conan properties to ensure the highest quality stories and art to do this legendary character justice.”

First introduced as “Conan the Cimmerian” in the 1930’s, Robert E. Howard’s character quickly garnered an enormous following the world over. Over the past 70 years the barbarian hero has been brought to life in books, comics, television, and film. Recently rumoured to be in the works is a new Conan feature film.

“Conan has been a major comics franchise for many years,” Fredrik Malmberg remarked. “Dark Horse was our number one choice when we looked for a new licensee and we are extremely pleased with the creative approach they are planning.”

Marvel Comics originally had great success with their Conan comic, which was written by Roy Thomas – who stayed with the book for 10 years – and initially drawn by Barry Windsor Smith.

Additional details will be posted on Darkhorse.com as they become available.

• Read a history of the Marvel Conan comic on The Greatest Comics site: Go and more about Conan comics on Nikel’s Conan page

RIDLEY SCOTT CALLS T.I.M.E.

7/11/02: Variety (subscription required) reports that film making brothers Ridley and Tony Scott, better known for directing such big-screen movies as Gladiator and Top Gun, respectively, are developing three drama projects for CBS – one of them an SF project.

Under the terms of a two-year pact, the network has bought three scripts from the brothers’ company, Scott Free Productions; at least one is set to be produced as a drama pilot for fall 2003 consideration.

The SF project is T.I.M.E., a science-fact mystery adventure pitched as Raiders of the Lost Ark meets The X-Files meets Sea Hunt (a 1950s sea adventure series that starred Lloyd Bridges). The series will follow a group of treasure hunters turned archaeologists who discover that humankind’s past is not as science has presented it.

The T.I.M.E. pilot is being co-written by Erik Jendresen and Mitch Marken, who will both serve as executive producers. “We’re trying to tell a story that’s never been told before, one that could reinvent people’s concepts of who we are and what we’re becoming,” said Jendresen, who won an Emmy for his work on HBO’s Band of Brothers.

PANTHEON BOOKS TO PUBLISH MYTHOLOGY: THE DC COMICS ART OF ALEX ROSS

13/11/02: Pantheon Books, a division of the Knopf Publishing group, is proud to announce plans to publish a coffee table book showcasing Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Justice League, and other DC Comics icons as envisioned by Alex Ross, who at 32 is one of the world’s preeminent and most influential comic-book painters.

Written, designed, and art-directed by Chip Kidd, Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross marks the first time outside of the comics market that a hardcover trade volume will feature the entire DC Comics universe of super-heroes as imagined by a single visual artist.

Over the past decade, Ross’ award-winning, hyper-realistic style has broken new ground and expanded the boundaries of how super heroic figures can be portrayed. In addition to collecting the highlights of Ross’ considerable career at DC Comics, this 256-page hardcover book will include hundreds of never-before-seen sketches and new material, including an original Superman and Batman story written by Kidd, and a re-telling of Robin’s origin written by Emmy Award-winning writer/producer Paul Dini (Batman: The Animated Series).

Geoff Spear, the award-winning photographer (Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schultz, The Little Friend, Seek My Face) shot all of the material from Ross’ original artwork. M. Night Shymalan, the acclaimed director of Signs and The Sixth Sense, is writing the introduction.

“Alex portrays his characters as human beings,” Shymalan has said. “They are affected by the events in their lives in real ways. You can see both the strengths and the weaknesses in his heroes, making them more universal.

“Alex has the uncanny ability to draw and paint Superman so he actually appears to be standing two feet away from you. Or flying, or bending steel in his bare hands, as the case may be,” says Kidd. “He gets it better than the movies ever have, or probably ever will. Anyone new to his work will be amazed, and his many established fans will be delighted by the wealth of drawings they’ve never seen before.

“This book is as much Alex’s story as it is DC Comics’ – an American saga of success gained through a talent honed by a keen eye, hard work, and a life-long love of these classic characters.”

“Alex’s unique style combines the best of the fantastic and the real, creating a world where myths walk…and leave tangible footprints in the sand,” states Paul Levitz, DC Comics’ Executive Vice President and Publisher. “We look forward to this special celebration of his art.”

Ross is also thrilled by the prospect: “Batman Collected, Batman Animated, and Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schultz, all by Chip Kidd and Geoff Spear, are some of the most beautiful graphic works I’ve ever seen,” he said. “I’m hugely overjoyed to work with my good friend Chip. The opportunity to be treated to the care of Pantheon, Chip, and Geoff is an honour unequalled in my career. This book will be my pride and joy.”

NOT JUST A BUNCH OF PRETTY FACES!

25/11/02: Comicraft founders Richard Starkings and John ‘JG’ Roshell have announced the forthcoming publication of a full colour, 64-page book which provides an insight into the processes and inspirations behind the curtain of the award winning studio. If you’re not familiar with Comicraft’s particular brand of “Unique Design & Fine Lettering”, pay a quick visit to their newly refurbished website portfolio – chock full of logos, trade paperback packaging, custom website designs and, of course, fine lettering!

RIPPER STILL GO?

26/11/02: Anthony Stewart Head, who plays Giles on UPN’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, told SCI FI Wire that plans are still in the works for a British spinoff series based on his character, despite reports that the show was on hold. “I had lunch with Jane Root, who’s head of BBC 2, shortly before I came out [to Los Angeles], and we talked briefly about it,” Head said in an interview. “Jane still wants to do it. And still thinks we will do it. But everybody knows, basically, that [Buffy creator] Joss [Whedon] is absolutely strapped at the moment. I mean, bless his heart.”

Head says the proposed BBC 2 series will be called either Ripper or The Watcher and will explore Giles’ background and darker side. “That’s why [Whedon] wants to call it Ripper. Because Ripper is the darker side of Rupert. But in Joss’ words, it’s more about … inner demons than … the guys with prosthetics on their heads. It’s about people coming to terms with their past and with themselves. His concept … I’ve said it before, but it kind of puts it neatly in the box, which is … it’s Cracker, with ghosts.”

PARAMOUNT HEADS FOR RAMA?

26/11/02: Paramount Pictures will decide whether or not to make Morgan Freeman’s long-percolating Rendezvous With Rama, a proposed film adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s 1973 SF novel, Variety (subscription required) has reported. Freeman and producing partner Lori McCreary, through their Revelations Entertainment company, have been developing the film with director David Fincher (Alien 3).

Bruce McKenna is writing the script. Paramount gets a crack at the project under its new two-year, first-look deal with Revelations, Freeman and McCreary.

• Official web site: www.rendezvouswithrama.com