 |
The original comic-book industry rumour
and news column, by Rich
Johnston. |
|
Elmo Health Warning: This column is RUMOUR. Do not take anything here seriously. These RUMOURS are presented here as GOSSIP for their ENTERTAINMENT value. |
| What is Ramblings 99? | Logo by Kirk Kimball, Pop Rocket |
|
Dateline: 31 July 1999 |
|
A few bits went astray this week... sorry for the delay, blame the internet, I do. Marvel's Submission Policy... Look In The Bins Marvel Boy is Grant Morrison's new Marvel Knights title. Except that we've been told it isn't that new and was written 4 or 5 years ago when Millar and Morrison were submitting loads to Marvel. We've been told Marvel rejected it then, but Event were glad to take it. Well if it's something Marvel rejected, it might actually be good then! And because he wrote it so long ago, there's no danger of any infringement of his DC exclusive contract. What's left of it... Morrison's relationship with DC has been the subject of much rumour recently. It looks unlikely he'll work for DC again soon. We're told he's hurt that DC haven't supported him on a number of projects and that work has been drying up. And isn't it great that Marvel could step in? Well, until Stuart Moore's multi-media comics company starts looking for talent, of course... Hulked Out Why didn't Erik Larsen get the Hulk writer contract, aside from one issue? A Marvel source puts it down to his going on the record about Nova's cancellation apparently. The Your Man column of the day was quite critical of Larsen and it seems this was very reflective of Bob Harras' views. So he ain't getting the book. But, in the true spirit of Erik Larsen's beliefs about artists being more important than writers, Ron Garney will be plotting Hulk! Threatened Species? Are Gorilla's days numbered? Negotiations with both Image and Wildstorm aren't holding ground, according to one inside source. Could Busiek find another deal with Homage, DC's Wildstorm's imprint that published Astro City? Smoke And Mirrors. Big rumour time. All rumour warnings go double for this one. Believe what you want, you're adults, we do not take any responsibility for any truth you may find. One of the more bizarre comic book events of the last few years was Rob Liefeld leaving Image, the company he founded after being booted out by the others. Bizarre, and up there with Saatchi & Saatchi doing similar. There have been a number of tales over the years about what actually happened, why it happened, and just what the hell was going on inside Image. Thanks to one individual in particular, we've got a pretty good summary of what might have happened. Any more info would be appreciated though. It all came down to the fact that the image studios had an agreement to not go after each others talent, as that would be bad for the Image partnership. When Silvestri left the Homage/Wildstorm studio, to set up Ballistic, now Top Cow, some of the artists from Homage were asked if they wanted to stay at Homage and work for WildStorm or go with Marc. Except for Billy Tan, all the artists hired by Jim Lee or Whilce Portacio stayed at WildStorm, and all the artists hired by Marc went to Top Cow. The friction later began when Rob formed Maximum Press, because now he had a publishing company apart and away from Image, on paper. From what I've heard this pissed off all the Image partners except for Jim Lee, who basically didn't care, and who was planning his own separate non-Image company. One of Rob's first moves with Maximum Press was to try and lure other artists to come work at his imprint. Art Adams did some work for Rob as well other guys who had yet to work with Rob/Extreme. Because Rob had heard that Jim and Marc had basically opened up the doors to each others studios for a short time, he thought or reasoned it would be okay to woo talent from the other Image studios. Or at least he used it as an excuse, sort of "well its not for my Image comics titles, and besides you guys did it." Top Cow had also previously lured away Anthony Winn from Extreme (Rob Liefeld's Image studio) before Rob ever made overtures to any Top Cow talent. Supposedly, Liefeld offered J. Scott Campbell a deal to move from Wildstorm, which was rejected by Campbell, but eventually Scott Clark left WildStorm and did work for Extreme. Pat Lee and Cedric Nocon left Extreme to work for WildStorm and later both Nocon and Dan Fraga would work for Top Cow as well. So a precedent for talent trading had been set. Like any competitor, Rob wanted to increase his studios talent. The major issue of contention revolves around Randy Queen who now makes the comic book DarkChylde. Randy was a Top Cow guy who was beginning to generate heat and Rob got a hold of him and offered him a better deal at Maximum Press. Randy bolted from Top Cow, much to Marc's annoyance. Then Rob made offers to Mike Turner. That was the last straw... Top Cow was relying on Turner for much... especially Witchblade. So Marc made the decision to jump ship, taking Top Cow away from Image. He didn't resign his seat on the board of directors or anything like that, so he still had a sixth controlling interest of Image. At the next formal board meeting, Marc made his case to everyone involved as to why he took the actions he did. Only Erik Larsen and Rob's attorney (voting for Rob) voted for Rob to stay at Image, with the other 4 guys voting to oust him. Since then, Larsen has spoken fondly of Rob and wa sthe only one to actually address the absence of Rob's characters from the Image Universe, allowing his own characters like Superpatriot and Dragon to be used by Rob. A large reason why the other Image founders voted against Rob is because of the rampant allegations from Rob's former employees/studio mates at Extreme complaining that Rob hadn't paid them for work. This included Image founder/owner Jim Valentino, whom Rob was working on Avengers with. Maximum Press was publishing material completely in-line and competing with Image, including a former Image comic, "Black Flag," being a spearhead title of Maximum Press' line of books. Rob had previously said that Maximum Press wouldn't compete with Image. With Rob being ousted, Silvestri came back...however when Jim Lee/WildStorm tried to get Mike Turner for the Cliffhanger line, Marc made no visible motions about leaving Image. However, it did spur Top Cow to also offer Turner a shot at creator ownership with Fathom. Again, much of this is plain rumour. Some may be speculation on individuals' parts, some from embittered ex-employees with anm axe to grind, the usual. If you have any clarification, confirmation or outright denial, twisting@hotmail.com is the place to send it. Wildstorm Studio History While we're in the mood... http://www.wildstorm.com/4/index2.html has a A Brief History of WildStorm Productions... let's have a peek. "About Image: Six of Marvel's most popular artists, Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Jim Valentino, Erik Larsen, Rob Liefeld, and Marc Silvestri left the world's biggest, most profitable comic book company to strike out on their own, publishing their own "creator-owned" comic books." Where the hell is Whilce Portacio? It was reported later that Whilce stepped down after chronic non-production of work, and some have said that he was never financially in at Image. However, he was clearly one of the original seven, given equal prominence in all press releases and news stories. "Tired of the work-for-hire system under which Marvel worked, where an artist could create a character but have no control over the fate of that character, they decided to take the risk of creating all new characters and publishing their own books." We all know this one, buit its interesting to see in print... how soon that vision died. "Image was also different from other companies in that each of the founding members created his own studio and produced his own comic books." The thing is... they didn't did they? Whilce, Jim and Marc were all together in the same studio to to start with... and if indeed Whilce started the studio with Scott Williams first... could this not have been mentioned in Wildstorm's 'offical' history? And whatever happened to Zero Sum Productions? Who owns that one now? Kosovo Update Al Davison is the latest creator who has agreed to contribute a story to the Refugee Relief comic we've been plugging for a while. Star Wars stalwarts Kenny Baker and Dave Prowse will help promote the book too. Wizard's doing a nice publicity splash on them, as will the new Comics International. The book will launch at Galaxion 99, see www.galxion99.com for details. Talking Shop. Stories from around the industry. Remember to take what everyone says with as much salt as you deem necessary. Jeph Loeb's been throwing a wobbly. After some queries on newsgroups, noting the similarity between the Authority 4 cover and the Supreme 2 cover, it was quickly decided that the proximity of publication meant that any kind of swipe wasn't possible. Loeb however, found it necessary to go into publication detail to show how this couldn't happen, also consider whoever runs the Swipe Of The Week as someone he'd 'banish anyone into the phantom zone forever'. Considering the amount of dead-on swipes that page hasd identified from Rob and his ilk, it does seem a little rich... However, Loeb did seemingly go on the record over naming Matt Hawkins as the individual responsible for spreading the Khoo Fuk Long/Alex Ross swipe thing around. We didn't want to print this allegation until someone would went on the record and Matt Hawkins didn't respond to any of our e-mail enquiries. What seems to have occurred those many weeks ago at a certain comics convention is that the reprints of the Khoo Fuk Long work was accompanied by new work, which seems to have been swiped from Alex Ross. Because it was mostly a reprint, the copyright dates confused some. Matt Hawkins reportedly was the one who showed Mark Waid, among others, the pages and Waid brought the pages to yet more people's attention. Reports differ here... Waid has stated that DC asked him to show them the pages. Others report Waid was keen to show the work to others. Certainly it was Waid who, after investigating publication dates, openly declared that Long was the swiper, not Ross. We've had a report that Kurt Busiek has disavowed any knowledge of the Youngblood: Year One rumour. It's believed to have been restarted by Awesome, but reports say that Kurt never got very far with it all those years ago. It's also believed he didn't even have any script done. Warren Ellis writes to say "Incidentally, someone's bullshitting you; as of right now, FLINCH is making profit for DC, and looks like it'll be around a while." Now, we've never said that Flinch wasn't making a profit. However, we have had reports lacking in confidence in the book's continued success, all reportedly coming from editor, Axel Alonzo talking off the cuff to others in the comics field. It is possible that both these separate reports are bullshit, but one in particular I'm sure isn't lying about what he was told and the other has no reason to lie either that I know of. I've certainly no desire to see Flinch's demise, I enjoy the book and have it on my pull list. But I'm not in the mood to be spin doctored today. Ellis also announced on rec.arts.comics.misc "I've just been informed that the Marvel Books program has been frozen following some kind of difficulty between Marvel and Byron Preiss books. The odds seem fair to middling that the Daredevil novel won't actually happen at all...I'm waiting on further developments, but right now, it's down-tools..." Found Girls Steve Bissette's at it again, this time he's selling Lost Girls scripts. Sadly, the auction has ended with a very low price of $46... sorry we didn't get to it sooner. Check it out at http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=133405641 and read what he says. Or read it here...
|
|
Dateline: 28 July 1999 |
|
Kyle Baker Fails To Get His Own Copy Of DC Elseworlds 80 Page Giant... Until We Step In! It was a sad day when Kyle Baker e-mailed us asking for a copy of the DC Eighty Page Elseworlds book... I'd picked up a stack and had sold them all over two days on the internet. I was auctioning off an additional five copies, getting double what I'd previously charged. Of course, since the book wouldn't have caused so much, I decided to withdraw one copy from auction and send it to Kyle. And in return, the kind fellow will be sending an original Superbaby picture... which we hope to scan in for our loyal readers soon! Note: Mania have done a fairly thorough summary of recent DC policy on withdrawing material. They raise plenty of interesting points... and then fail to pin Paul Levitz down on any of specifics. Moore Stories Stuart Moore, senior DC Vertigo editor, has resigned his position. While never a source, Stuart was quick to reply to this column and was swift when answering enquiries. Comic book wise, he was responsible for the growth of great books at Vertigo. Specifically, after, shall we say, differences of opinion at Vertigo about Warren Ellis, it was he who got Transmetropolitan up and running, something I'll be grateful for. We wish Stuart good fortune in his next endeavour. And hopefully if there's been any juicy in-fighting, bitching and general back stabbing, we'll be able to report it. As for Terry Moore, Strangers In Paradise, like Invisibles, Sandman, Bone etc, the end is well planned, it's just the getting there that is indeterminate and the suceeding comic strip will be previewed in issues 24 and 25. As for Alan Moore, he lives in Northampton. Additional: Check www.comicon.com/splash for a fuller picture behind the scenes at Vertigo. Not as much back stabbing as we'd thought, sadly. Ah well, there's always Awesome... Loose Lips Forget the official announcements (Ellis leaves Hellblazer for reasons of principle, Hitch and Neary leave Authority for JLA , Travis Charest leaves most of Wildcats 4 for other people to draw (apart from 9 pages)), one intrepid Ramblings reader managed to get a Marvel person inebriated in the bar and got a tiny snippet about the oh-so-secret Jenkins and Lee project for Marvel Knights. No name was forthcoming, but the book is about a character supposedly created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby but was 'too powerful to be published'. This is also the reason no one can remember what the book's meant to be called! Sounds a bit like Maximortal territory to me. Of course it could just have been the drink talking after all. |
|
Dateline: 18 July 1999 |
|
Pretty Windy City News reaches us from the Chicago Comic Convention: As we previously rambled, Garth Ennis is writing Punisher, and then no more ongoing comics series. He wants to do film but is not saying goodbye to the comic medium. As we previously rambled, Grant Morrison is also writing a Marvel Knight book... an old name but a new character. 6 issue, J. G. Jones on art. He's also off ongoing series Terry Moore is also off comics... after SIP ends, he wants to move to newspaper strips. DC Stories Elseworlds Eighty Page Giant What has been happening at DC? The heavily editorial hand has come down on high over a number of titles. Not so long ago, Warren Eliis was boasting that his Hellblazer storyline wasn't being changed after the recent US white school shootings, but recently... Firstly Elseworlds 80 Page Giant got pulled and pulped thanks
to an intervention by Paul Levitz... see Comicon's Splash Page
(www.comicon.com/splash) for more details. I bought a copy from
my shop two weeks ago... apparently the UK doesn't merit the
concern DC has over the US and Canada. And it was the story I
bought the book for that seems to have caused all the trouble,
Superman's Babysitter by Kyle Baker.
Here's the panels that may have caused the bother: Look at all those run over, electrocuted and microwaved babies in the UK and Eire over the last fortnight! Amazing what damage a comic can do... I've got some spare copies, people, and am selling them at outrageously high prices. E-mail me on twisting@hotmail.com if you're interested. And that includes the DC staff who've already mailed me asking for a copy... Finals Finals has also had the heavy hand of judgment passed over it. Compared to a preview copy, the initial scene of a sniper shooting was gutted (although referred to later). Scavenger on rec.arts.comics.dc.vertigo summarised the changes:
We hope to be able to visually show the differences in an upcoming column. Planetary/Authority And Warren Ellis has been having trouble with the DC guys too. When questions were asked about the lateness of Wildstorm books, and why DC hadn't had a positive impact in that regard, Nat Gertler responded " Some of the thing that makes some Wildstorm book late, DC has no control over." Warren Ellis replied further "And some of the things that make some Wildstorm books late, DC is directly responsible for." Curiosity pressed, Ellis was pushed into continuing "Bullshit brainless legal questions over PLANETARY #5 led someone at DC to freeze production and printing of PLANETARY #4 (because the unnecessarily-questioned character at the heart of #5 appears for one panel in #4). And so #5 was frozen too, and then everything had to be pushed back because #4 was on hold for 2 weeks etc etc... and the only people who look bad to the audience in this are myself, John, Laura and John Layman, who've been doing nothing but breaking our backs to get the work out on time. Bryan and I have wrapped AUTHORITY #9. We're futher ahead on that book than any Wildstorm creative team on any book in WS' history. But AUTH #5 has just been bumped back on the schedule. And what will be said? Marvel Tales. Inhumans And what about at Marvel? One user had a question about the recent portrayal of Namor and Sub-Mariner in the Inhumans, posting "And while I'm nitpicking, does everyone remember when Triton appeared fairly regularly in a previous Sub-Mariner run? Namor and Triton were pretty good buds, a fact you'd never guess from reading the last issue of Inhumans. Sure, Namor can be a cold fish at times :), but I thought his attitude toward Triton was completely unrealistic and flew in the face of the long-standing friendship they've maintained." Paul Jenkins replied "You don't know how right you are." Yet more company trouble? Who knows... However, Paul was able to announce "I'll also be working on a new series for MacFarlane soon called the Beyonders." We've also heard some murmurings about Paul Jenkins' big new project for Marvel Knights II but we can't talk yet. More when we can... Cable And what about Rob Liefeld? His new Cable issue, 71 just shipped. Well, Dave Haddy posted to rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks the latest latest Rob Liefeld plans for Cable. According to Dave, a Diamond rep said he was hearing a lot of questions about Cable and its cancellations/resolicitations with different artists. The schedule is now:
Short run from Liefeld there, if it's true. And his studio mate even had to fill in an issue there... Doctor Doom Your Man At Marvel recently posted that a new Doctor Doom TPB will have a Jack Kirby pencilled and Klaus Janson inked cover? With all the fuss about Marvel not returning Kirby artwork for a long period, how were they able to hold onto this? Turns out the visual is from Klaus Janson's personal collection. So who will the art be returned to? Klaus? Kirby's estate? We'll wait and see... Sandman Recently, you'll be pleased to hear, Sandman (Marvel Universe) has become a "baddie" again. Which, for 80's Spidey fans is very strange indeed, especially when he says that he was faking his reformation. Funny, when Sandman was trying to move from convicted con to a good, working man, his thought balloons showing his sincerity, especially when he battled against the lack of trust of people like Spider-Man. This was a positive, optimistic move, showing that people can reform, that the example of superheroes can do good, and was a shift from the simple bash-them-up-and-throw-them-in-prison-until-they-escape-again formula. E-mail Marvel at the usual address if you share my views here. Meanwhile, I'm going to try a little something of my own... I Feel Like A Right Gibbon. Yes of course Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons have worked together since Watchmen... the world and his wife reminded me of The Spirit Adventures issue 1 (a great book) and a relevent 1963 issue. Large hand smacks forehead! |
|
Dateline: 11 July 1999 |
|
Always Remember To Call It Research. John Ostrander e-mails this column to deny the previous story, Sunset. He writes: "For the record -- the story I'm doing for Marvel is called BLAZE OF GLORY. Originally it was simply titled "Sunset" -- as in riding off into the. "Sunset Riders" was a two-part Rawhide Kid story that Fabian Niecieza wrote and was published some time back. I consulted it before writing my story to make sure that I was in continuity with it." "I'm close with several editors, past and present at DC, including Dan Raspler. At no time did I ever read, or have an interest in reading, Howard Chaykin's proposal. The notion of doing a story set in the closing days of the "Wild West" has been done many times before, including -- notably -- the Wild Bunch and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, both of which I've seen and have influence on me in general as a writer." "Again, for the record -- the impetus to do this series was because I was already doing a Western for DC. I then wanted to see if I could sell one to Marvel as well. I wanted to do a story that would combine many of the Marvel Western characters in one story, one that would re-define them ( a common trend in both comics and Western movies) and be of some important. Telling the LAST story of some of them seemed to be a natural, to me at least. Nothing more sinister than that." As to the allegation about a Spectre story swipe, perhaps through editor Dan Raspler, John vehemently denies this giving full and frank detail. "I was unaware that James Robinson, for whom I have high regard as a writer, had proposed any such thing. Raspler was also opposed to MY doing a version of the story as well until I did a synopsis that proved to him it would work as a SPECTRE story as well as tying up an old plot-line. Dan's objection to me (and, perhaps, to James Robinson as well) was that he didn't think enough people remembered or cared about that dangling plot-line." "James also once wanted to use Captain Fear in STARMAN (or so I am told). I was already plotting his use in SPECTRE and so he had to use another DC pirate character. Karl Kesel wanted to do a historical series that would chart the activities of the SAVAGE family through the ages; I had already gotten there with the KENTS. My point is that writers, working independently from one another but often from the same source material, can develop competing projects that run parallel to one another. Nothing more sinister can or should be implied from that." John concludes "I am very careful to give credit where due whenever I work with someone else. I insist on their name being in the credits. I am fully capable of coming up with my own ideas; I don't need to borrow or steal from anyone. I have a policy of not accepting or looking at ideas, plots, stories, scripts that people would like me to read and comment on because I do not want to be accused of even indirectly stealing from someone else. The only exceptions I ever make is when I teach or for friends. People have sent me their ideas and I always send them back unread for the reason cited." John finally gives us a slap. "I have worked hard at my reputation and I regard your ill-considered "rambling" as a slur. I make my living doing what I'm doing and both my editors and my readers have to be able to trust that my work IS my work. Unfounded and unsubstantiated rumors of plagarism can jeopardise that. There seems to be a desire in fans to print and repeat anything scurrilous about people whose work they profess to admire. It doesn't matter if it is TRUE so long as it is INTERESTING. No one bothers to think if it might hurt someone along the way. Well, maybe you should." My response? Hopefully I credit my readers with more intelligence than that. This story was out there already and I've heard a number of variants. By printing this rumour and exposing it to scrutiny and with your help, we've been able to show exactly what happened with the Spectre story. It is understandable that... certain people may assume that swiping has occurred, especially if they've only heard James Robinson's side. But my explaining the detail, we've been able to scotch that. I still think it's a valid area to explore. Editors work with many creators and editors often suggest ideas or directions to writers. It is quite conceivable under these circumstanmces that ideas may migrate without the final creator knowing about the origin of the idea outside of editorial. That is what some assumed to have happened in this case and you've been able to deny that in detail. We thank John Ostrander for this fascinating peek behind the curtains of a few high profile books at DC. If any other creator would like to pass on personal stories of how books come to fruition, we'd be grateful. We do apologise for any harm caused as it is certainly not our intent but remind readers and professionals alike, that our rumour warnings exist for a reason. That's why we've just added the new rumour barriers to hammer this home.
Yes, that's right the new rumour barriers. A solid and demonstratable way to remind you, the reader, of the contents of this column. We don't feel these should be necessary but as some individuals have taken offence in recent months I'd like to try something aside from just closing the column down.. I'm aware that some individuals take information from these columns for their own websites or other internet distribution. We ask that if you do so, that you install a replication of the rumour barriers in whatever form you can. Spectral Images Talking of Spectre, here's another cover from an upcoming Green Lantern, issue 119. (The above image is copyright DC Comics and features characters copyright and trademark DC Comics. The image is used in an editorial capacity and no breach of copyright or trademark is intended.) More evidence, people? DC Fall My usual rummage through the new DC marketing in October to see what piques my interest. Talked about for a while, DC confirms and dates the new Sandman hardcover by Neil Gaiman and Yoshitaka Amano To be honest, the only Amano connected stuff I've seen was the Vampire Hunter D video, won in some awful UKCAC quiz a few years back now. And it was awful. Anyway, this is a new 136 page Sandman story in hardcover for $30. Probably worth waiting for the paperback in or after June 2000. Who knows, maybe Titan will put one out before. Anyway, it's some 10th anniversary thing. And you know what? It's not even a comic, it's an 'illustrated story'. Like Stardust. And watch out for the bookmark. Veils gets scheduled... and it's sexy! It says it's a "Victorian Englishwoman's odyssey of self-discovery within an exotic realm". Anyone care for a nipple count? Superman gets an overhaul, each book getting its own specific focus. Superman - Faster than a speeding bullet (back to basics). Adventures Of Superman - Leap tall buildings in a single bound. (in the eyes of a member of the public). Man Of Steel: Strange visitor from another planet (sci-fi book) Action Comics: Never-ending battle (it's action and dick jokes (possibly... Kelly's writing this one)). Moorcock's failed Helix series gets collected in TPBs... maybe they'll find success in bookshops. Grant's last arc on JLA starts in issue 36.World War Three, in 5 parts. So that's a definite end on issue 40 then. Hitman sees Tommy and Natt going back to the prehistoric past to fight T-Rex Scarback. Sliding Albion attack our Earth in Authority 8 and Jenny Sparks provides a... final solution? She is getting near the end of her run after all. Where oh where is Danger Girl 6? Resolicited and out in October. More Deathblows appear in Byblows 2, including Judgment Cray! Flashpoint is an Elseworld where Barry Allen Flash crippled himself saving Kennedy from that magic bullet. We get a Transmet shirt with a four-color image shows Spider's smirking face alongside the provocative slogan "Spider Jerusalem: Cheap, but not as cheap as your girlfriend." Lovely! WildCATS get a PVC set of their very own come January. Sadly, that's only Voodoo, Grifter, Spartan, WarBlade, Maul, Emp, and Zealot... no Tao or Ladytron. Dave Gibbons helps Chris Sprouse out on Tom Strong 6, drawing an 8 pager... the first time they've worked together since Watchmen isn't it? Why haven't we seen Coventry for ages? Proposition Player from Vertigo is why. Hopefully Bill Willingham will make enough money to get back to Coventry where he belongs. Anyway, it's heaven, hell and a casino. Paul Guinan on art. Anarky cancelled with issue 8, but not before we discover that Anarky has learned his birth father's whereabouts: He's an inmate at Arkham Asylum! Is it Two-Face? Joker? Scar Face? Alan Grant? After being booted off Batman and now with this book cancelled, Alan's got twelve proposals around Dc... although apparently three have disappeared! Could this be a case for the World's Greatest Detective? We've also hear that Jim Balent is off Catwoman too... talking of which, what's up with Joan Hilty? Anyone heard anything? Oh and orders for Superman & Bugs Bunny #1 and #2 have been cancelled. The miniseries will be resolicited at a future time. Bastards... first time I've ordered a Superman book for ages and it fucks off. Lovely. The Ascent Of Gorilla What's up with Gorilla? Well, we received some news that we weren't allowed to repeat, but then got the same from another source(who has no problem letting us tell you) and then got some back up from someone at Image. Well, the word is that in order for Gorilla to be published at Image, it had to have the say so from all the founders. And a certain Spawntastic individual couldn't be reached by phone. For weeks. Anyway, we've been told that that news is now old and that the situation is "well beyond the Todd stage". So here's hoping... Blasts From Liefeld's Past. Kurt Busiek is a name associated with Gorilla, and he's also been associated with Youngblood Year One. Admittedly that was ages ago, after Marvels had hit, but could Liefeld be finally bringing the book to schedule? And could Carlos Pacheco be on art? We don't know, could be wishful thinking, as ever that's just what we've heard. Do you remember that time when Top Cow left Image? There was a friction between Silvestri and Liefeld that was reported on at the time. Some old rumour monger has passed on the story that this actually because Liefeld was trying to steal Mike Turner under Silvestri's nose to work at Extreme. At the time, some artists were signed just to work for Image companies, so Top Cow leaving the fold meant that Rob's hands got caught in the till. And soon after that, Extreme left Image and Top Cow came back. Anyone heard any more details on this ancient story? Seems a little... extreme to me. Liquid Flinch The most recent Comics International follows up our Flinch rumour. Despite Alex Alonzo's claim that Flinch is a solidly selling book, CI report that Alex told a British freelance artist that he had inventory material up to issue 12 but that it would be lucky to last more than 6 issues. Sub Version A word to all Alan Moore fans. The first issue of SubMedia magazine, available at all good comic shops features ten pages of Big Numbers 3, drawn by Bill Sienciewicz. Couple that with the recent printing of other pages in Comics Journal and you'll get closer to that complete elusive third issue... D. V. L8 Fresh on the final appearance of the missed Cerebus, 7 weeks late, a number of comic shops in Britain have now complained that a certain last-but-one issue of DV8 hasn't come in. More waiting... The Case For Change Comics Showcase moved the other month and had it's grand opening bash last weekend. Invited along, it was a pleasure to bump into people I haven't met for ages and basically enjoy the new shop. And what a shop it is. Bearing a more than passing resemblance to Nottingham's Page 45, Comic Showcase has reinvented itself to better reflect its own name, a showcase for comics. Wide open spaces, table displays, back issues taken downstairs with the original artwork and organised with an aesthetic and modern flair, and located on Charing Cross road, taking its place along many other bookshops. Located centrally to Leicester Square, it's footfall must have increased too. It's a pleasure to shop there. Gosh! previously corned the market for this kind of shop in London... but Showcase does it better. It's range may be less than both Gosh and Forbidden Planet, but it's suddenly become the most pleasurable place to shop in London. |
There's at least 
Rumour
Barriers|
Archives |
You are rumourmonger
since a heinous counter reset on 31 July 1999. (Y2K when you can do it now?) Logo by Kirk Kimball, |
"Real" Comics News on the Web, for those of you craving a low-rumour diet: |