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The original comic-book industry rumour and
news column, by Rich Johnston.
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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 2000? |
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Dateline: 28 Mar 2000 |
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Breaking The Cage? There are rumours adrift that the mighty banana raft may be splitting before it's set sail, but Magical Mark Waid is on board to dispel them. The rumour, of which I've heard several varieties states that the original finance behind Gorilla provided by John T. Wells is changing, and although we don't understand the reasons why, Jumpy Joe Kelly may well be leaving the imprint and taking his and Perfect Pascal Ferry's book, GG And The Big Four with him... a comic that tells the story about some kids who find a goddess stranded on a beach and who naturally decide to trap her and get magical powers as a result.. shades of Sandman perhaps? The rumours stem from a recent Gorilla promo at a comic shop in Colchester attended by Jellified Joe Kelly amongst others, and it was from his mouth that these rumours have been reported... though with startling variety and now the rumour is now spreading madly across the net, twisting and turning into cyberspace. Despite being announced as attending, Gorilla founder Mediating Mark Waid didn't show - sparking rumours that he may be involved trying to deal with the problem in the states. But Marvellous Mark Waid was on hand to dispel what we told him, first "Just more wishful thinking on someone's part. All's well in Gorillaland. Books are still coming out as solicited and promised." Further attempts to contact him as new details came in were to no avail. Neither Jocular Joe Kelly nor Dashing Dave Olbrich have replied to our enquiries at time of going to press. Kinetic Kurt Busiek also makes it a point of not talking to Ramblings about anything, so we didn't bother. Anything anyone else has heard, knows or found painted on a wall in Shropshire is welcome, just e-mail twisting@hotmail.com as usual. Not Even A Cover A Month? Looks like Triumphant Travis Charest's commitment to the Wildcats cover every issue is moot. Wildstorm have replaced him with Joshing J.G. Jones according to Sizzling Sean Philips on the DC Message Board. London's Bawling Remember Ramblings going on about the new B-Hive shop in London? Interesting stories grow firstly, reports came from other West End and Outer London shops that sales, far from falling as had been expected due to B-Hive's low prices, have instead been booming. One theory goes that B-Hive has drawn out comic mart buyers and lapsed buyers back into the shops, and when they run out of stock, have been going to other shops to fill up. B-Hive seems to be getting customers back into the habit of weekly shopping at actual shops... which can only be good for the London comics market. However, we've just been told that Forbidden Planet has started dropping its prices for new comics... and that might just cause some real ructions in the London comics market. More to come, we presume. A Real Patsy A freelancer has been hired by Marvel to put together... a Patsy Walker collection. Expected to appear in the Marvel Masterworks format, this is certainly a welcome but bizarre departure from Marvel's usual backlist publishing history. But will the creators get paid? In the past few weeks, I've been raising various issues surrounding the Steranko case (see www.comicon.com/splash for details). Bill Rosemann, your Man At Marvel, treated it as a joke, then promised to look into it (we didn't hear back). When I raised the issue, as well as Mark Waid's similar problems on rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe, Marvel editor and fan favorite Tom Breevort stepped in and helped out Mark Waid... but no news on the Steranko situation. For now, we'll join Steranko in calling for a boycott on this Steranko SHIELD book until such time as a payment to Jim Steranko can be arranged. So don't order the book! Instead, why not order Petra Etcetera 2, from Gratuitous Bunny Comix in the upcoming Previews? It'll have an issue of Sleaze Castle in the back, but the front story will appeal more to retailers as it's full of young partying things having fun and getting drunk. Order it now! |
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Dateline: 14 Mar 2000 |
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Back To The Womb In the very old days, 1992-1994 or such, Ramblings 2000, then Rich's Revelations or somesuch used to just print news and rumours from Comics International, for the US market. It's been a long time since we did that but why not revisit old ground? The new issue reports that Jamie Delano's John Constantine mini-series, previously entitled The Bastard, then The Last Royal, now has it's title confirmed as Hellblazer: Bad Blood. Drawn by Philip Bond (yay!), look for it around May or June. The long wait for this to be scheduled has been due to legal matters, involving the use of royalty in the book. Ramblings hears from other sources that Jamie Delano's "The Great Satan" is also getting a name change, to 'Outlaw Nation'. Dear me, problems with the title? Marvel never seemed to have trouble with Son Of Satan and wasn't that a Code-Approved book too? Heh ho Outlaw Nation will see print in August 2000. I bet DC have their fingers crossed this will be the new Sandman or Preacher. Comics International also reports on the new Black Widow by Grayson series for Marvel Knights, a feature on Lea Hernandez's Rumble Girls, Rob Liefeld reviving his Mark thing, and details on the Jenny Sparks mini-series. Who says print is dead? Mind you, they do refer to Jeffrey Jones as 'he'... a quick glance at www.ulster.net/~jonesart should put pay to that misconception. Those interested in Comics International are encouraged to go to www.comics-international.com for further interesting stuff. Nail In The Coffin That DC doom-laden rumour were received a while back (check the February Archives) has some of the denial details clarified. A source writes "Don't quote me on this, but last year all the group editors were offered 3 year contracts--and all but one (who may be retiring soon) accepted. WB wouldn't save money by firing people who will get paid for 3 years anyway. Marvel runs everything for publishing profit--DC lives off licensing, so publishing doesn't matter much to WB. Only the Siegel lawsuit could hurt DC--that could cost real money." Interestingly enough, Stuart Moore ex-Vertigo editor wrote on rec.arts.comics.dc.vertigo regarding the rumour that, although false, it had some details which only someone who worked for DC would recognise. Everybody go "oooooooooooooooooo.." Warren Peace Rumour from inside Marvel Knights aver the now much publicised proposal for Warren Ellis to do a Marvel knights book. Our inside source writes "Quesada and Palmiotti thought it would be cool to have Warren do something for them/ Garth Ennis had been encouraging them to do so for over a year. So about 4 months ago, Quesada called Warren and told him he had Carte Blanche as long as we could get character approval from Marvel. Warren said he didn't want to do any Superheroes, but he would get back as soon as he thought of something else. The next thing they heard is that he's wheeling and dealing with the X-Men office and swings a gig with them Now several weeks ago they heard that he's asking fans what MK project he should do." However, our source alleges that the Knights boys believe Warren should have called them to see if there was even a gig available anymore. The story goes that "Warren, who is a master at getting himself publicity, is managing to get Marvel Knights hype without having to do a thing for them. So far it's worked. We have not heard from Warren and really don't anticipate the call. This is not to imply that there is any bad blood at all. Quesada and Palmiotti barely know the guy." Ellis repled "Well, I spoke to Jimmy via email just the other day, and he didn't mention shit to me about this, and I told Joe on the phone ages ago why I was doing Counter-X. And it was Joe who first mentioned in public that we were talking about Marvel Knights and looking for a character we were both interested in, on an AOL public board. So I suspect someone's just stirring the shit again. Happens to me all the time these days... " Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti had little to say, but that they were definitely not pissed at Warren Ellis. Spruced Sprouse At the same Chicago convention, as previously mentioned, Chris Sprouse was heard to say that he has heard no plans to cancel the line, and indeed with plans about some ABC books extending past the original 12 issue agreement, it seems clear that Alan has signed up new contracts for ABC. Jai Nitz tells Ramblings "Gene Ha and Zander Cannon ARE LEAVING top 10 with issue 12 (Zander was at the show, as a fan, hanging out with Chris and I). Gene is doing a graphic novel titled '49ers' about the construction of Neopolis. Zander is doing a graphic novel tentatively titled 'Smax The Barbarian', which shows Jeff Smax returning to his home dimension for the funeral of a relative. No creative team is continuing the monthly Top 10 title." He continues "Kevin is pencilling the new arc of Jack B Quick. I saw the scripts. Rick will probably leave Greyshirt unless DC prints the Swampy story. The reason I have all this info: in November of 1999 there was a con that I put on in Kansas City. The guests were Rick Veitch, Kevin Nowlan, Chris Sprouse, Mick Gray (JH got sick at the airport on the way) Gene Ha, Zander Cannon, and Scott Dunbier. Alan even got involved and signed some books for the show. I still talk to all the creators and keep up with my favorite line of comics. Incidentally, Chris Sprouse, Kevin Nowlan, and Mick Gray are contributing to an anthology book I am publishing this summer. Kevin and Mick are helping out on the cover, and Chris is doing an ALL NEW creator owned character (his first ever). Other great pros like Phil Hester and Ande Parks are chipping in stories too. Look for it at the summer cons from Jungle Boy Press." Hang on, did Jai Nitz just get a sneaky plug past me? The bastard! (sorry, sorry, the Bad Blood!) Just beforee going to press, we read on Mania's Daily Buzz (www.mania.com/buzz) also reports that after the Wildstorm trip to England, Alan Moore will be continuing ABC projects past his original contract, although the titles making up the line may be shifting. Things That Make You Go 'Oh Fuck' We all probably read Mania's report that a change of editorial direction on Deadpool has meant that Priest is off the book. Palmiotti is on for a three issue arc, and then a mystery writer Priest wrote on rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe earlier this week "I think it's really unfortunate that Mike chose to release this information this soon. It's placed me in the position of having to make a statement about it this soon, which I'm really not prepared to do. I'm a bit stunned to read about this online, when Mike, Jimmy and I could have orchestrated a far less awkward and jolting transition. Mike's a good guy, and you can all credit or blame me for these new developments because I requested Mike as editor for the book and lobbied hard to get the book assigned to him. I'm sure Mike is doing what he feels is best for the title, and I wish him and 'POOL much success. I'd have just much preferred to wish them success two months from now, when it would have been *much* more appropriate to release this kind of information. As for Wade, I don't think I was free to actually write the book as I saw it until issue #37. And, with all due respect to the hard work and earnestness Paco Diaz invested in the book,. there was a language barrier that prevented Paco from properly interpreting the script, which often resulted in storytelling that worked against the writing. Jim Califore's crisp, clean storytelling was and is (we work together through issue #45) a real joy (though he admittedly can't draw Thom Cruz), and I'm sure Jim and I could have evolved into a solid team. Priest then clarified "I did not leave DEADPOOL. This wasn't my idea. I found out about it maybe 6 hours before I read about it online." Mourning fans can be pepped up with this news though. A crossover! "DEADPOOL #44-PANTHER #23". Wahey! As Priest then says "If Marvel had ANY sense of humor AT ALL, they'd advertise the crossover like, "Marvel's 2 LOWEST Selling Books-- TOGETHER!!!"" Well, I'll buy the book until Priest stops anyway. Then I'll see... Final Plug Of The Day Another plug here: I'm still selling a load of old comics (but not that old), click on www.geocities.com/evenwood/sale.html for more details. |
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Dateline: 06 Mar 2000 |
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Chris Mass News is coming in from a recent small comics convention in Chicago that impacts on our previous Wildstorm and Ellis rumours. Fans talking to Chris Sprouse revealed the following. "Sprouse was pretty eager to continue on Tom Strong after issue #12, and said Alan had ideas for the next 12 after that (including 10 new characters and a direction somewhat like Inhumans and Fantastic Four). Sprouse also said that Top Ten will probably end after #12, and Alan and Gene were discussing doing semi-regular graphic novels of Top Ten. Veitch is definitely leaving Tomorrow Stories, and Kevin Nowlan is already drawing the next Jack B. Quick story. The Glenn Fabry ABC book may still happen, but maybe not, since he is kinda slow. And so far, Gaiman has been asked to write back-ups in Tom Strong (and not to take it over), but it doesn't seem like either will happen." Which, again, partially confirms much of the ABC rumourmongering of late. Party Popper Pooper Now, Warren Ellis' Pop Comics line. He recently wrote a column announcing its demise due to publisher problems, and the name being taken by Mike Allred. However, we heard from one professional who recently got an email from Warren Ellis saying that the Pop Comics line at Wildstorm is dead. He claimed that there were problems with Wildstorm over the debut line and a mutual agreement that Ellis may be spreading himself thin. Personally, I think that's bollocks. Ellis has shown an ability to work on many projects simultaneously, and with the X-books raising his profile, now would be the time to strike. Look Who's Scripting Now. Scott Lobdell's been shooting his wad all over the boards.crawlspace.com forums. Stoically defending his work on Gen 13, especially issue 50, the emergenmce of editor John Layman on the boards in light of Lodell recently leaving the book led Scott to say: "I guess I'm a little confused here. Clearly, you read these boards - and yet you're standing by and letting everybody slam me for your writing. While I certainly make my share of mistakes (and while there are clearly people here who did not enjoy my run), I have to say it seems kind of...I don't know,...shameful...to see that you're here and not responding to the criticisms hurled at issue #50's faults." "For the record, I agree with everyone who wrote in and said "Too much talking to the camera is a bad thing..."" "I too was surprised by lines like "This never happened when Alan Moore wrote me..."" "I too wondered what happened to Helspont's motivation that was in the plot but didn't make it into the script." "Now, on the bright side -- you get credit for a lot of the funny stuff too!" "I think we all agree that the Kherabhim seat covers was hysterical. And while SOME people think Helspont's street lingo was a bit over the top -- I thought it was hysterical, and shows that you were right there with HELSPONT trying to trick Caitlyn into submission. I even told you personally that I thought the Lobdellotomy was a funny line." "But to the point of this post, John -- I have spent the last twelve years being slammed for my writing (and there are some people that even -- gasp -- like it!)...and I can take that." "Watching people slam me for the writing I DIDN'T do -- while the writer who DID do it silently lurks...? I don't know, it just seems so...dirty." Scott Lobdell has often been known to be frank about creative collaborators on message boards but it's another thing entirely to be the same about an editor... Hogan's Heroes. Ramblings hears of another Brit recently signed up for the Marvel makeover, joining such luminaries as Morrison, Millar, Ellis and Edginton is Pete Hogan! We hope to hear more soon Static Animation We hear more confirmation behind the rumour of a STATIC animated series from Warner Brothers this autumn, by the BATMAN BEYOND crew. Dwayne McDuffie, mighty Milestone mogul replied "I can't comment on that". Hope there's no conflict with the Space Kidettes... |
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