The original comic-book industry rumour and news column, by Rich Johnston.

"The Drudge Report of comics..." -- Don Simpson

This column is RUMOUR. Do not take anything here seriously. These RUMOURS are presented here as GOSSIP for their ENTERTAINMENT value.

 Dateline: 18 May 2000

Secret Origins Of The Mad Pulper

Remember the glorious days of DC vs. Marvel mini-series and the Amalgam line that went with it? DC and Marvel characters shoved together into one body? And remember the week they came out late? Ever wondered why?

The books were behind schedule a bit anyway, and staff raised concerns over problems caused by printing such a body of work at short notice over a weekend. However, keeping a closer eye on those books at the printer over the weekend would have cost a few thousand dollars in terms of air fare, hotel and expenses. And this was deemed too expensive.

A few days before shipping, the result of such economical probity was spotted. A run of fake ads meant to reflect the Amalgam world had been replaced with the usual house ads by the printer. The proofs the editors had received over the weekend did not show the ads.

And so all that week's books were pulped, authorised by Paul Levitz, at an estimated cost of $325,000. And thus the Mad Pulper vowed that with great pulping power comes great responsibility. Thenceforth, would only use his power to fix actual mistakes in books, give credit where credit's legally contractual, deeply annoy Kyle Baker ensuring he'll never work for DC and ensure that the words Marvel and Vaginal would never be printed in close proximity ever again!

But seriously Paul, you're doing a wonderful job.

Nuggets From Rumour Mines

Our Ramblings miners have been hard at work all week, hacking (and I use that word deliberately) away at the harsh faces of comic publishers, and collecting in a bag anything that gleams. So let's see what's on display, rumour wise.

RUMOUR: We hear that Richard Starkings, letterer fame, will finally be launching Hip Flask, featuring his hippo detective, as a printed, fully distributed comic book this autumn, followed by other creator-owned titles.

RAMBLINGS: No response from Richard Starkings by press time.

RUMOUR: We hear the combined rumour that Kurt Busiek and George Perez plan to leave Avengers at the end of this year. They will then go to DC to do a new ongoing series featuring DC's golden age characters.

RAMBLINGS: Kurt makes it a policy not to respond to Ramblings rumours, and we have no contact for George Perez.

RUMOUR: Wildstorm will be starting a NEW line of comics featuring characters created by Jim Lee, Joe Mad and J Scott Campbell. But none of those three will write or draw the comics. So we might see them on time then.

RAMBLINGS: No response from Wildstorm by press time. Jim Lee declined to comment. We do not have an e-contact for Mad or Campbell.

RUMOUR: Spawn will meet Kiss in a one-shot this autumn.

RAMBLINGS: No response from TMP by press time.

RUMOUR: Despite statements in the last Ramblings by Warren Ellis, Ramblings hears that yes, Cassidy is doing other projects at Wildstorm aside from Planetary... admittedly just a solo WildCATS oneshot. We're sure he'll be able to fit that in.

RAMBLINGS: John Cassiday's off touring and Wildstorm did not respond by press time.

Comics 2000: Get Your Bristols Out

Alright, alright, I know it's been three weeks... basically, we've been waiting on approval for one big piece and feedback on lots of little pieces. Believe me, the column wouldn't be as good as it is without it. And I reckon this is quite a good one too. Enjoy.

Spring Fling Thing

The Diamond Spring Fling is a retailers-meet-the-distributor-and-publishers event. So I take out my pen and paper and discover that loads of the retailers are fans on the column. Anyway, the following relies on the accuracy of following lots of stuff. Anything wrong, apologies, anything right, it's a bonus.

The retailers meeting is always a fascinating view on the industry as a whole. One point of interest was the attention given to cards and toys... Certainly more prominently than in previous meetings. No wonder, while comic sales were slightly down, the first quarter of 2000's sales on toys were up 88% on last year.

One interesting piece of info is that one problem with importing toys into the UK is that they all have to be tested before being sold by UK officials... which costs money. This is the reason why some limited demand toys have just not been able to be offered.

The move to an easier system of ordering, reordering, tracking, overship, etc. has been taking place at Diamond UK making for a system closer to Diamond US, which means British shops can also take part in promotions and opportunities previously denied them. Shops will now be able to be told if items are available for order instantly. Go Diamond UK!

The publisher presentations kicked off with Com. X who, although they spent a lot of time going on about asking for feedback, presented themselves professionally and while I have qualms with much of the material on offer, they certainly seem to have got their act together. Their work most reminded me of Toxic! rather than 2000AD. Talking of which...

David Bishop was on solid form as usual. From 2000 AD we can look forward to seeing a lot more of Steve Moore, the man who taught Alan Moore to write comics. Not only do we know he's writing some Tom Strong for America's Best Comics, but he's creating an ongoing franchise called Tales Of Telguuth for Fleetway, with artists including Greg Staples telling a series of tales set on an alien world infused with horror and magic.

Judge Dredd goes to the toilet with Chris Weston. 'Nuff said. That and Judge Dredd And The Shirley Temple Of Doom should set the scene for Dredd's direction in 2000AD. Stontium Dog's back, Steve Moore (him again!) is doing a story called Red Fang with Britartist supreme Steve Yeowell (if you haven't got back issues of his, Millar and Morrison's Skrull Kill Krew, do so now you speculating fools!) Then Deadlock spins off from ABC Warriors in a Nemesis-style strip by Pat Mills and Henry Flint. And yes, Button Man, the non-sci fi, non-horror strip by Arthur Ransome returns with Book Three just before Christmas, in another end of year triple sized edition, just before 2001. And then what will it be called?

During the con, we also discovered that David Bishop, editor of 2000 AD and main comics guy at Fleetway, is resigning. He'll be moving to Scotland and will work on a variety of freelance projects, including some packaging work for Judge Dredd: the Megazine. Megazine editor Andy Diggle will take over David's role.

David Bishop has been a good friend to this column, we wish him luck in his new endeavours. And hope he keeps reading...

Steve Buckmaster from Wizards of The Coast got a severe drubbing from retailers over their failure to supply UK comic shops with what the retailers expected, Pokemon-wise. He soon bounced back by taking a cynical view of his product when presenting, which got him a few concilatory laughs. He sold himself as a fellow exploiter, for Pokemon spinoffs. For example, the Pokemon gaming mat, "they don't need it, but we can sell it" being the watchword.

Still there was much interest in what was to come, especially their X-Men movie trading cards game with an exclusive mini-X-Men comic - which may spin off into further sets depending on the success of both the movie and the following cartoon series.

Dusty Miller from Titan had much to promote - interestingly enough was the fact that they sell Spawn TPBs up to 3 months before the US versions are published. Could we get some reverse grey market trade as a result?

Titan are also launching a UK Tomb Raider magazine in the same style as the current Star Wars and Buffy mags, reprinting US comics alongside a lot of interviews, info, posters and other fan stuff. It'll provide info up till the film's release... and then they'll see.

Glenn Fabry is getting the Dave McKean treatment as Titan put out a book with all his Preacher artwork, as well as the two banned covers. Hey Mike, do we still have one of those banned Preacher covers? If so, put it here, copyright DC Comics and all that...

Marvel haven't been present at the Diamond Spring Flings, but prepared documents were available and read out by Nick Parry-Jones of Diamond. These include more Essential volumes, for Iron Man, Thor... and Walt Simonson's Thor is getting the Marvel Visionaries TPB treatment. Marvel have also started committing to at least 12 issues for new series, including both Captain Marvel and the MC2 books.

With the news of the X-Men movie, the Nick continued. "What's a movie without tie ins" before adlibbing "probably... art."

This was very good natured ribbing compared to what came next. Allan Kaplan from trading card giant Inkworks decided to treat the presentation as stand up. First talking about Marvel's Matt Ragone, previously mentioned by Nick Parry-Jones in the Marvel speech. And boy did Allan have issues. "Someday he'll get a good job... he puts trading card companies out of business. He bought the biggest for 450 million and sold it for 26 million." Introducing Michael Martins from Dark Horse, he proclaimed "He's my lover. His wife, she sits there watching, she's fine with it."

Oh go on, he entertained the crowd, here's some plugs for him... Charmed trading cards, Buffy reflection cards, Elvis cards, Titan AE cards... more Buffy bears, Simpsons cards, Sopranos cards, Roswell High cards, Tomb Raider cards, Planet Of The Apes cards... you get the idea.

Jim Valentino, publisher of Image Comics announced a great many projects, including much of the most recent Previews. One thing to note, and it should be said loud because it's easy not to notice. Image don't publish many superhero comics. Savage Dragon, maybe this upcoming Powers series... that's about it. The rest are slice of life, fantasy, horror, action-adventure. Boy that company's come a long way. And Marvel are just about to start publishing Avataars. Anyway...

We can look forward to the painted series Violent Messiah's having its art rejigged to look a little less like Grendel. Again the toys were a main feature, Valentino's phrase "you can sell these to citizens", or real people as opposed to comic buyers was used frequently. The list is long, Akira, Sergeant Pepper, King Kong, Edward Scissorhands... Valentino suggested they could sell that to anyone who liked Sandman followed by a "tut" from Cuddly Bob Wayne. The 18 inch Freddy Krueger got a "sell that to anyone who liked Nightmare Before Christmas" response from Cuddly Bob. The Hockey figures... well Jim Valentino had to apologise about this to the UK retailers "Anyone care about hockey? Todd's Canadian, oh fuck it. Todd's gotta show his balls". On that line, "KISS figures get people in... you might not like those kind of people, but..." Going down the list of books, Jim was in full flow. "Saint Angel sells to people who like tits and ass"... Witchblade/Darkminds was described as "gets the anime audience from Darkminds, and whatever the audience is from Witchblade". This was a sore point for Jim. As Paul Jenkins is announced as the new Witchblade writer, he continued "Witchblade becomes a readable book again, maybe for the first time. She's still got tits. Talking of which... Fathom." A new book called Butcher Knight by Dwayne Turner and Chris Holland looks stunning, Cyberforce Infinity, well according to Jim "Marc's watched Matrix one too many times." As for Aphrodite 9, Jim promised that was the last T&A shot... until the slide showed him another one. "They just do it to me" he whined to the floor. Me, I'll be looking out for a new book Avigon, by Jimmy Robinson is a new style for him, very Burtonesque in fact.

Then it was DC's turn. Cuddly Bob Wayne wasn't feeling so cuddly. A day or two in London when there was a virulent stomach bug going round may have been the cause, possibly the Indian food the night before, it wasn't certain. But Cuddly Bob struggled on valiantly. He started his spiel "I'm under the weather, sorry if I'm not on as sparkling form as I was last year" to an instant heckle by Inkworks' Allan Kaplan, to wit "Come on Bob, you've never been sparkling". An unusual pause followed, then Cuddly Bob retorted "I'm sorry Allan's going back home soon, he won't be able to do the Millennium's Ugliest American tour he's so famous for throughout Europe." Audience laughter, a beat and then "I'm not that sick."

He certainly wasn't. Cuddly Bob Wayne put on a great performance, informing and entertaining the troops. Indeed, he went on "Rich Johnston, there's a trunk call in the Swallow Hotel. I promise not to talk about anything until you get back."

Naturally, I stayed in my seat as Cuddly Bob went through a litany of DC projects. Here's a few that stuck out. "Danger Girl 7. There's a two page spread ready. That's all we know." A new series called Crusade by Steve Seagle and Kelly Jones. Another new series called Adventures In The Rifle Brigade by Garth Ennis and Carlos Ezquerra, looks kind of like Dicks In The Army. It seems inspired by all those British anti-German war comics from our youth. Mind, they're still being published you know. I even know a guy who writes for them.

There were plenty of Elseworld projects looking quite nifty - Green Lantern: 1001 Emerald Nights, JLA Wonder Woman: A League Of Her Own by Chris Mueller and JLA: 7 Caskets by Dan Brereton, a Lovecraftian take on the team all looked interesting. Judge Winnick takes over Green Lantern, Hourman joins the JSA and then gets kicked out, Robin Year One is planned, Wonder Woman gets a year by Phil Jiminez and a year by Greg Rucka, Star Trek Deep Space Nine mini-series will take place after the TV series ended, there's a new book called User coming out by Devin Grayson and Sean Philips with John Bolton on the dream sequences, Warner Brothers' new cartoon schedules will include Zayda (spelling?) from Batman Beyond, X-Men and Static Shock and DC will likely spin off two comic series from these... but Cuddly Bob wasn't saying which ones. Ha ha.

Michael Martens admitted that Dark Horse had some problems with Star Wars stuff last year, but promises more luck with Titan A.E. They're aiming their Manga line at Pokemon players... and then there's Digimon. Please.

We can all look forward to a Darth Maul Star Wars series, statues of Olive Oyl, Ignatz and another Yosagi Yojimbo. There's a Hellboy computer game and a new series of Mignola's wonderful creation starting in 2001. Not only that but both Concrete and Madman have new series with new reprints of their past stuff. Wooo!

A question and answer session established that Cuddly BobWayne just wouldn't talking about Dark Knight Strikes Back. And after complaints about the recent Batman film, Dark Horse's Michael Martens also hinted at The Dark Knight Returns being the next Batman movie, in an oblique fashion, when sitting next to Cuddly Bob Wayne. Cuddly Bob just put on his stiff face.

Apparently, we can all anticipate a Superman DVD with a lot of footage that was cut for the cinema release now restored. Indeed Mike Carlin made sure I wrote that down. And I'm not arguing with that man, he could break me.

The Show Must Go On

Anyway that's about it, shortly after the show, the party guests arrived in dribs and drabs. The Friday night party went pretty well, and I ended up talking into the wee hours with Marica Allass, Steve Conley and Jim Valentino about life, love, happiness and British traffic.

I took a more leisurely approach this year... I was on only one panel and I wasn't pushing anything, so I spent more time in the bar than usual. This had its upside of meeting as many people as possible, discovering Matt Hawkins to be a regular reader and going over old ground about *that* Alex Ross non-swiping story, as well as picking up a piece of ultra ultra secret gossip that I do hope comes off. On the downside, Glenn Fabry needed a bit of a pick me up, which led to one of those long late night conversations, sat outside the hotel on a small wall. Thankfully Marcia Allass was on hand to deliver a peck on the cheek. Indeed Glenn seemed to have quite a long night, failed to find where he was meant to be staying, and was at one point found asleep in a chair with a sign on his chest declaring various sexual feats of a quite painful nature.

So what titbits did I pick up? Not too many, I spent more time talking about non-comics stuff to friend. Oh gods, maybe I'm growing up. Shouts go out to the Tarts who beat me, to Conley who beat me, to Budgie who thankfully wasn't even nominated for an Eagle, the ex-PopImage guys, the Ellis forum chaps, Hayden, Elaine, and the many other people who kept me awake and bought me drinks. Also lots of people were keen to tell me stuff as long as it was *not* for publication... looks like some people are wising up. There's some ammunition for future columns stored away though, as well as some promises of first scoops. Anyway, there's always a few things of interest.

Rumours being bandied about include Rising Stars - The TV Series. Apparently the comic book series has prompted interest from a number of sources over the fact that Rising Stars could be made as a series without a huge budget.

There seems to be a Marvel Knights series being planned with a heavy British presence, artist names such as Alan Davis, Steve Pugh and Mark Farmer have been mentioned.

Double Image is a split-series coming out in November from, naturally, Image Comics. Half of one book will be by Joe Casey and Charlie Adlard , the other half by Scott Lobdell and Mark Bagley. The Casey/Adlard part will be, reportably, about a normal guy who wants to live the superhero life he sees around him

Actually Adlard was on hand to talk about his troubles with X-Files. Hired with the full knowledge he couldn't do likenesses because his style was considered strong to get the mood of the series across, this later caused problems and indeed on his last story arc, they started changing faces. He rang up to make sure they were changed on overlays not on the art. Assured that they were, he discovered the first issue, after he phoned, didn't use overlays. Oh dear.

Steve Pugh was being very good at being quiet about the Generation X artwork. I've heard that after doing some stunning pencils, seen by some fans previously, in just two weeks, the X-office decided they it wasn't X-booky enough, despite the point of the Counter X line to be a change from what was and to promote new and interesting styles. Anyway, the inker used a technical pen, so bye-bye to depth, feel and, strangely, detail. Steve was staying pretty silent on the subject but looked happier at the news that the inking situation will be changing.

Well I'll Be Bergered

Damn and blast, beaten at every opportunity! Curse the Sequential Tarts and Amazing Space Thrills from stealing my thunder! Egad! Zounds! Gadzooks! Steve Conley had better things to gawmp at when they played the now-familiar Dan Dare live action footage, sneaked away from Zenith's vaults. Anyway, while the results have winged their way around the world many a time now, there's still one moment being discussed up and down the land. Karen Berger's acceptance speech for Preacher.

Assembling some hastily scribbled notes, here's a reconstruction. Preacher wins Best Comic Award, and Karen walks up to much clapping, as top comedy superstar Simon Pegg hands over the award. Karen's head dips towards the microphone and the following words spill out.

"Preacher has already won an Eisner, an internationally recognised award for excellence... I'm not quite sure what *this* represents but... thanks!"

Cue gasps, tuts, lots of "what did she say?", "I can't believe it" from the various tables including, I have to say, the DC collective. And cue lots of people grabbing me afterwards saying "You are going to print what Karen said aren't you?" Well, let's allow Karen say what she actually meant to say. Karen?

"As you suspected, I obviously misspoke when I accepted the award for Preacher. I was a bit nervous and unprepared, and fumbled what I intended to say, which was: that Preacher receiving the Eisner award was a symbol of mainstream acceptance, and that the Eagle awards are even more of an honor considering its history of eclectism and its large voter turnout. The British fan and professional community mean the world to me, and I'm awfully sorry if I offended anyone."

So there we go. And let's not hear any more tongues wagging, hm? Although I will mention that when Dave Gibbons introduced Karen to me, her one and only response was "Oh. You're him."

Made my weekend.

Past Disasters

Right back home, running through new rumours, writing sitcom scripts for Kev Sutherland's Situations Vacant, working on Holed Up! Scripts... but what's this? A few clarifications on recent stories? Well I say recent, we haven't had a decent update for weeks.

First from Jose Villarrubia, artist on Promethea 7, regarding our reporting of the ABC hardcovers "First of all let me tell you that I love your column. I check it out every week and get my regular dose of industry gossip. Thanks... I am not giving the covers a "photo realistic treatment". I am painting them in watercolor and gouache, to give them a look reminiscent of old adventure books which is what Todd Klein, who is designing the books, is going for. I have already completed the first three: Tom Strong, Promethea and Top Ten, over pencils by Sprouse, Williams and Ha. Thank you for reporting this, and please, do keep the gossip coming."

Mike Murphy fills us in and gives us the correct spelling for rumoured new Stan Lee colleague... "Hmm same artist who did the DNAgents - Will MEUGNIOT - he started at Marvel in mid-70's, created DNAgents with frequent tv animation writer / former Kirby asst. Mark Evanier, then went into animation storyboarding, designing, and creative direction himself. I believe he worked with Larry Houston on the now defunct X-Men toon."

Inevitable Appeal For Cash

It's your half time advert break. Put the kettle on, let the cat out, go do some laundry.

I'm still selling some of my back comics collection and the prices are going lower than ever. If anyone wants to buy lots and can pick up from Putney in London, then you'll get a really great deal. Otherwise, we're at the mercy of the international postal system! Go to Rich Johnston's Big Ramblings Sale to see the goodies. And I'll be giving away free comics and free sketches with every order made.

Tell me what you want, and I'll make you an offer depending on how many books you order.

Quick, quick everyone, it's starting again.

Clearing Out The Drains In A Rock And Roll Stylee.

There are also a number of rumours circulating. Some are pleasant, some sound mean spirited. From people with axes to grind, or projects to plug. So we checked with those involved, here are their responses. Remember one thing, Ramblings readers, and this you can believe. When creators decline to comment on a story, it does not mean this story is true. More often than not, they don't want to dignify it with a response. This is a perfectly acceptable and understandable stance to take, and nothing more need be read into it. Just so you know.

Our oft-ill informed sources are probably making it up as they go along anyway. But have they got a nugget of truth somewhere? Probably not... As Jimmy Palmiotti says "Normally I do not address rumors, but I will help with some of them with simple answers. This stuff sounds like sour grapes from other creators or speculations from fan boys."

But first, let's introduce this week's Ramblings Response Crew, on drums Jimmy Palmiotti, recently of Marvel Knights editorial, co-creator of Ash, inker on Daredevil, Punisher and writer and inker on Gatecrasher. On bass, Joe Quesada laying down strong undercurrents, famed for Marvel Knights editorial, co-creator of Ash, Daredevil and one of my favourite superhero comics ever, X-Factor 87. On sax, his writer for that very issue Peter David, known for his long run on Hulk, his work on Star Trek novels and comics, Babylon 5 everything, and currently writing Soulsearcher and Company, Supergirl, Young Justice and Captain Marvel. On vocals, it's Mark Millar, writer of some of my favourite comics including Swamp Thing, Saviour, Skrull Kill Krew, Aztek, Flash, JLA and currently writing Authority and Jenny Sparks. Mark is joined at the mike by Warren Ellis, writer of Lazarus Churchyard, Transmetropolitan, Planetary and Dark Blue. On keyboards, it's Mark Waid, writer of Kingdom Come, Gatecrasher, Empire, Flash and the recent Silver Age. On electric guitar it's Priest, writer of three of the best superhero comics currently being published, Quantum & Woody, Black Panther and Deadpool. On violin, stamping his foot like a madman, it's Tony Harris of Starman and JLA: Liberty File. Go Tony go! On trombone, it's that hooting, tooting Brian Vaughn of the recent Swamp Thing series. On maracas, doing a silly little dance and with everyone wondering what they're paying him for, it's Mike Collins, of Thunderbolt, X-Men and Transformers fame. Using his head as a disco ball, it's Tom Brevoort, a rarity, a Marvel editor who the fans actually seem to like. Going round, handing out flyers, collecting money from the door and generally blagging their way into various parties, it's DC's Patty Jeres and Marvel's Bill Rosemann. Okay everyone, the warm up band has been and gone, let's go straight into the first number.

RUMOUR: With Jimmy Palmiotti gone from Marvel Knights, could this be the end for new and intresting names at that imprint? It was Jimmy not Joe who got the idea to go after guys like Morrison and Ennis. As well as Jenkins and Bendis.

JIMMY: Both Joe and I have gone after these guys together, and as far as Grant and Bendis, that is ALL Joe. He introduced me to Brian's work. I just knew of him. As far as Joe's thinking, he reads everything out there, that's how he found guys like Bendis, Rob Haynes, David Self , etc. etc. Get real.

JOE: Garth has been a mutual friend of Jimmy and myself for years. His involvement comes out of years of throwing back beers, as a matter of fact, Garth has been staying at my apartment in NYC for the last 2 months. Grant, Bendis and a few sort of started with me making some calls and sending e-mails. Jenks was actually Jae Lee's recommendation. But again it's such an unfair thing to go back and forth and try to figure out who found who. Sometimes it can be as simple as who picked up the phone or who opened the mail that day. The other thing to keep in mind is that whether a creator was approached by Jimmy or me, do you think for a second that they don't know that they'll be working for both of us?

RAMBLINGS: Great drum and bass, guys!

RUMOUR: Also about this FF mini that Morrison wants to do for the Knights. Forget it. They do not have control over those characters. And Marvel proper isn't going to let Morrison fuck with the FF. Or any other character the way DC might. And this goes for Millar too. If those guys think they have found the promised land at Marvel they're nuts. Only the MK imprint allows any real mature style writing and they only have a handful of characters.

JIMMY PALMIOTTI: I don't know.

JOE QUESADA: Utter nonsense. Grant's remarks weren't about what he would write if he ever had a chance to do FF, they were about his impressions of the old stories. Have you ever read Mark Millar's take on Dark Knight Returns? And there are no restrictions. If we have a project that's going to rock, we can most likely make it happen. Will they give us a monthly Spider-Man book? Probably not. Will they give us a mini series? Very possible.

RAMBLINGS: Sadly there seem to be no surviving copies of this famed document. But if anyone has any copies... Still, Mark Millar had this to sing into his wobbly mike before throwing it around the stage:

MARK MILLAR: No company is ever going to be the Promised Land, but I like a lot of what Marvel are saying and doing at the moment. What little I've written for them has been received with enthusiasm and nobody's fucked with a single word. What more can a writer ask? I can't speak for Grant, but I know he's enjoying himself. We're professionals. We understand perfectly the parameters we're working in and genuinely haven't come up against a single obstacle. This isn't the Marvel we were all trained to loathe in the days of Jim Shooter and the Kirby artwork scandal. Like Wildstorm, these guys are actually treating creators with a little respect and you've got to get behind that in these crazy fucking times.

RUMOUR: Oh, and where has Jimmy gone? Well he is now the de facto editor in chief at Black Bull.

JOE QUESADA: I honestly don't know. You would have to ask Jimmy. At this juncture I would be surprised. Jimmy is in the process of taking care of some stuff that's more important than comics, that's why he left MK. Just the fact that people have nothing better to do than to speculate about shit like this is really unfair and mean spirited.

JIMMY PALMIOTTI: Not true, Glen Herdling is the editor up there, and Gareb makes the call on talent. I can suggest people, but freelancers work where they want. There are only two titles so far, and the other one has two new writers and our friend Nelson drawing it.

RUMOUR: Jimmy is already trying to poach some of the Marvel Knights creators to join him.

JIMMY PALMIOTTI: No, I write and ink a book with Waid and Amanda, and help them out. I have nothing to do with other title at all.

JOE QUESADA: When freelancers go to work at other companies that's really their call. As far as I know, I have commitments from all of our guys and some special secret creators ;-) for current projects and yes, future work. J.G. Jones has done some Gatecrasher covers, why is that a problem? That is the essence of freelancing.

RUMOUR: Also I don't care WHAT Joe Queseda says about those MK page rates. I got the scoop from Ennis at San Diego a couple of years ago. That's when he was considering the Punisher and he said he was getting $500.00 per Page! Jae Lee is also getting mega -bucks. Now maybe when this got out Marvel changed their policy but those guys as well as others would not be doing work for MK if they weren't getting that kind of money.

JIMMY PALMIOTTI: Bull again, nobody gets paid that much for writing, and page rates are good, but not that good, LOL. We wish there was a way to pay that much. It is just not real.

JOE QUESADA: Man, if we could pay Garth that kind of money it would be great! Imagine Garth making $500 a page and Steve getting $1000 to pencil and Jimmy getting $300 to ink it. That brings us to $1800 a page or better yet $39,600 a book not including colouring, lettering, editing and production. How do you break even? Completely inconceivable to pay anyone that much in this market. If this was 1994 I could see someone spreading that rumor... I'm sure this is coming from guys who would give their left nut, regardless of what they say, to work for us. But that's cool, better to be talked about than ignored. It just means that we're doing stuff that motivates people one way or another... by the way I did some more math on a Punisher book with those inflated rates. We're talking about a comic costing over $50,000 to produce. Pretty funny.

WARREN ELLIS: Garth isn't and was never on $500 per, that's nonsense. I can confirm that Jimmy's marrying Amanda, though.

RUMOUR: There is going to be a new Priest mini for the Knights. It features a bunch of their second tier 70's characters. It's called "Boogie Knights". No really.

JIMMY PALMIOTTI: Not so far as I know.

JOE QUESADA: We've talked to Priest about doing more stuff, but there is no official book, characters or especially title in mind.

PRIEST: Possibly. There is no deal yet. There is no deal yet. There is no deal yet. Check back in a week,

RUMOUR: Peter David, Mike Collins and David Roach are doing Star Trek comics based on the New Frontier book series by Peter David.

PETER DAVID: The only New Frontier comic in the hopper is a one-shot which I've turned in a proposal for that will tie into NF continuity. We're awaiting Paramount approval on it. As soon as we have it I'll plow forward on the script and, with any luck, we ship in September. I don't believe an artist is definitely assigned.

MIKE COLLINS: Yep-- Man, you were fast with this! Wildstorm only e-mailed me last night to confirm we'd got the go! Can't tell you the story (I don't know yet!) but it's NOT an adaptation....it's NEW Peter David stuff! Should be starting to pencil in about two/three weeks time. It's the Babylon 5 team back again! I'm also pencilling 40 pages of the new Nightwing 80 page giant- I'm half way through now! Written by regular guy Chuck Dixon, it's great fun-- I've wanted to work with Chuck for years!

RAMBLINGS: Thanks Mike, have a plug for your website, at www.freakhousegraphics.co.uk. Now get back to your dancing! Shake those maracas!

RUMOUR: Warren Ellis on Counter X - He got so behind with the Marvel crap that Planetary had to be demoted to bi-monthly status. This means less money for Wildstorm and John Cassidy. Wildstorm is now rushing around trying to give him busy work to do cause of the new schedule. He was having no problem drawing Planetery on a monthly basis. And he asked to get out of his contract. Thankfully cooler heads prevailed. This situation contributed to Wildstorm dropping the Pop Comics imprint. Now it's at Image but won't have DC's deep pockets behind it. Oh, did you know that Ellis and Cassidy OWN 15% each of Planatery. What's better to work on, something you own part of or something you don't?

WARREN ELLIS: Not remotely true. PLANETARY was bumped to bi-monthly mostly to buy John the time to draw it and the BATMAN/PLANETARY book we're doing together. As you'll note by the fact that he's not doing anything else for Wildstorm. It was in fact during this period that John signed his exclusivity. And none of this was related to the Pop Comics deal. This is complete fiction. And I'm getting a little tired of it.

RAMBLINGS: Talking of which, the new copy of Comics International makes similar aspersions in its highly respected rumour and comics speculation column, Movers And Shakers, alleging that John Cassaday is doing the Planetary/Batman book while waiting for Planetary scripts to come in, due to Warren's full schedule. As Warren has made clear, Planetary was made bi-monthly because Planetary/Batman was dreamt up. I'd expect Warren to go discuss this matter with Comics International at the next available opportunity. Oh sorry Warren, you weren't finished...

WARREN ELLIS: And John and I have a creator participation deal on PLANETARY, and we are intending to finish the story on or around #24. I hope you will. This has gone far enough, I think. I'm getting a little bored of having to respond to obvious fiction and daydreams.

RAMBLINGS: Talking of which...

RUMOUR: Did you know that Wildstorm owns a piece of the Cliffhanger books? Not just the name Cliffhanger but a certain % of each title. Now I don't know how much of a %. But it's different for each book. So the only real creator-owned title at Wildstorm is Astro City.

RAMBLINGS: No response from Wildstorm. Anyone know anything about this?

RUMOUR: The real reason that Astro City did not go to Gorilla is that Alex Ross said he would leave the book if it did. Why? Well he HATES Mark Waid so bad that since he is a part owner of Gorilla Ross wants nothing to do with it. In fact it's so bad 'tween Ross and Waid they actually got into a shoving match at Wizard World last year. Gorilla was going to hire Tom Breevort to be their "editor in chief". But that's out now that the financing dried up. In fact the reason no one else wants to finance that line is the outrageous demands of the Gorilla partners. Like: Publishing a book for as long as a partner wants even if it doesn't make money. First class plane tickets to any or all appearances as well as 4 star hotels. Automatic Trade Paperback collections even if sales of the title to be collected are really bad. Also since their money man dropped out look for Waid and Busiek to start writing more for Marvel/DC. As opposed to more Gorilla books.

RAMBLINGS: Kurt Busiek makes it a point not to dignify Ramblings with a response to any rumours. Taken from this month's Comics Journal, it probably applies to this rumour as much as any other we've printed in the past:

KURT BUSIEK: "I have an inkling, in some cases, where some of the rumors about Gorilla came from, but mostly it boils down to some moron in England who'll believe anything anyone tells him, and who'll post it on the net with a "Hey, folks, this is only entertainment" label, expecting that to keep people from believing it. There are people who make rumors up just for the fun of telling this guy and having him report them. I don't want to do anything to legitimize him or his site, so I don't even want to speculate on how some stuff might have reached him and which of it was fabricated."

RAMBLINGS: Thankfully his erstwhile colleague Mark Waid was able to loosen his lips just a tad in our general direction and give us a little tinkle on the ivories.

MARK WAID: I won't comment on the Gorilla stuff other than to say that much if not all of it is horseshit (first-class plane tickets?). But I do feel compelled to say this: I'm sick to death of hearing about a Ross/Waid "feud." If there is a feud, it's purely one-sided--I wish Alex nothing but the best. I have had and will continue to have absolutely nothing bad to say about him in any public venue whatsoever and I wish I were extended the same courtesy. And we haven't been within a hundred yards of one another in years, so the concept of a "shoving match" just makes me giggle.

TOM BREVOORT: Not really, no. It's a very nice rumor.

RAMBLINGS: We couldn't get a contact for Ross. As usual, if anyone actually *knows* something, e-mail me. Now, onto the next number...

RUMOUR: The Batman family of titles will cross over again in December in a No-Man's Land stylee... but a certain familiar figure will be causing all sorts of problems pitted against Superman, running through all the books in July/August. Spoiler Alert! Click here to find out who it's rumoured to be...

RUMOUR: We've heard it reported that James Robinson is ending Starman late 2000 or early 2001.

PATTY JERES: James always saw Starman as a finite story.

RUMOUR: But is that the end of the character? There was a reported parting of ways between James Robinson and former collaborator Tony Harris on Starman, but Tony Harris has proposed taking over the Starman character and starting again with issue one after James is done. The new book "Starman: Jack Knight" would be co-written by Harris and Dan Jolly and drawn by Harris and Dusty Abel. The rumour goes however that James Robinson is not that keen on this situation and has told DC that if they do this he won't for them again. But Harris is co-creator of the Jack Knight Starman and has done good work for DC recently (JSA:Liberty File, Lazurus 5) and DC want to keep him happy. Plus James Robinson has had previous editorial clashes, including group editor Dan Raspler, who oversees Starman editor Peter Tomasi. And considering that Robinson's work is more and more in screenwriting these days, DC may believe that Starman II is worth the risk.

TONY HARRIS: There was a falling out between James and myself, but we have spoken a few times recently and the notion of working together again is something that we have broached. Whether that be Starman or not remains to be seen, but I will say that my association with the Starman character is far from over.

PATTY JERES: The only possible connection this one has to the truth is that there is the possibility that someday James and Tony will do a painted Starman project. No other Starman projects are in development.

RAMBLINGS: We do not have a contact for James Robinson.

RUMOUR: It's been confirmed that Stars & STRIPE finishes with 14, Aquaman with 75... there's a very small flurry of very small axes at DC, less like a Marvel-style execution, more like a pruning.

PATTY JERES: We periodically evaluate our publishing plan and adjust it for a number of reasons, including (but not restricted to) sluggish sales.

RUMOUR: So which books are getting the rumour mongers upswing of the scythe. The rumour states that Impulse goes with issue 70 in January 2001 and Hourman with 25 in February 2001.

PATTY JERES: Can't confirm those.

RUMOUR: But why the long lead times? The rumour goes that this is to give the creative team a chance to tie up threads and aim for an actual ending of the book.

PATTY JERES: It's as much a courtesy to the readers as it is to the talent involved. Even the least popular titles have their followings and since DC, in many ways, is run by long-time comics readers, we have a lot of empathy for readers who have invested in a character and don't like to leave them hanging in mid-story.

RUMOUR: And if sales do increase over that period, the scythe may well be stopped in mid swing.

PATTY JERES: In my experience, this doesn't happen, mainly due to the long lead times throughout the entire cycle of soliciting, creating and releasing a comic. By the time we could see that sales did indeed improve, it's likely all the members of the creative team would have moved on to other assignments. But it's really a "never say never" situation and I'd be interested to see what such a groundswell of support would do.

RUMOUR: So what does that mean? Many people believe that after a cancellation notice, sales fall to the floor. There have been exceptions to that rule though, and the circumstances of these cancellations may well fit that pattern.

Basically, like in Scream 3, all bets are off. If these books are to be cancelled then that leaves the writers free to do anything. Kill characters. Change characters. Play with the form. Experiment. Anything. So here it is. An actual planned for ending for both these books, set to play out over the rest of the year. And who knows what genius twists and turns Todd Dezago and Tom Peyer will have in mind? Well, if it were true that is... Remember, a certain Swamp Thing was heading for cancellation until a bright young Alan Moore started to play...

PATTY JERES: That project was an exception to most rules...

RAMBLINGS: We e-mailed Tom Peyer who declined to comment. We don't have a contact for Todd. But the validity of this rumour may be soured by the following:

RUMOUR: To replace these two series, DC have planned one series featuring a JSA member and another featuring a teenage hero.

PATTY JERES: You're reading too much cause-and-effect here. We constantly have projects in development.

RUMOUR: We're talking Dr Midnight and Wonder Girl.

PATTY JERES: There have been preliminary discussions about projects using both these characters but nothing firm yet.

RUMOUR: Dr Midnight will have a sequel mini-series next year with the potential to become an ongoing series while the long rumoured Wonder Girl mini will be a monthly instead. And we also hear that Brian K Vaughn will be writing Wonder Girl

BRIAN VAUGHN: If it's true, nobody's told me.

RUMOUR: We hear the sales of the Legion Lost mini have started to increase, instead of decreasing like most minis do. Which means it's more than likely that when the current Legion Lost storyline finishes the LoS will return to their own series. The rumours are the execs want to keep the team small, and if the monthly is greenlighted it will most definitely only be ONE monthly, Legionnaires will NOT be back.

PATTY JERES: We're thrilled with response to Legion Lost -- which, by the way, seems to be following the momentum pattern of other maxiseries like Batman: Long Halloween and Dark Victory.

RUMOUR: Despite Bill Rosemann's assurances in YourMan@Marvel, Spider Woman is very dead. But pleasantly surprising, despite god awful sales on Black Panther, Marvel want to keep publishing what many (well, me, basically) believe to be Marvel's most intelligent, thought provoking and plain funny comic.

BILL ROSEMANN: Fact: Bill Rosemann has told Your Man @ Marvel that he just looked at the latest Marvel production schedule (that goes through April of 2001)... and SPIDER-WOMAN is still there! Panther #31 is there!

RUMOUR: And all you X-freaks? Look forward to a Blink mini series for winter 2000. What, you think all those teases from Marvel were for nothing? They just want to keep the buzz going and knock Fathom out of the water.

RAMBLINGS: We e-mailed Bill Rosemann. He did not comment.

RUMOUR: With continuing problems over how much money Marvel owes DC for the crossover projects, DC is looking more at Dark Horse for strategic team ups.

PATTY JERES: Another misuse of cause-and-effect. DC and Dark Horse have a positive ongoing relationship and continually have discussions about logical crossovers.

RUMOUR: And this includes a Spyboy/Young Justice mini series, written by the writer of both series, Peter David. Look for many similar crossovers to come.

PETER DAVID: That is something that is indeed in discussion. Has been for a few months.

PATTY JERES: I can see how such a rumor would start - logical speculation. But nothing happening.

Thank you very much! That was the Ramblings Response Crew, and you'll find them playing over at the Comics Continuum later this week. This replaces the previously announced Mania gig, due to staff shortages.

Stray Projects

Seemingly ignored by all the other comics news sites, Bill Sienkiewicz made a couple of surprise announcements over on www.indyworld.com. He says "On the comic front, I'm working on... a Batman/Joker miniseries that I'll both write and illustrate, two series with my former partner in crime Frank Miller, a special limited edition hardcover version of Stray Toasters, published by Grafitti Designs, with the trade paperback version by Oni Press and a new 14-page story for The Matrix website (www.whatisthematrix.com). I'm also designing a limited edition Gibson electric guitar featuring Wolverine from Marvel Comics, doing a slew of new material (online comics, animation, gallery work, etc.) for my soon-to-be mounted website (www.billsienkiewicz.com) and working on a new comics series of my own. This was not a good time to switch to decaf!"

And if you're not reading Indyworld.com then do so. It's one of the best of the magazine sites on the internet. Better than this one for a start!

Took His Time...

Joel Meadows is selling a copy of the original and pulped printing of The League Of Gentlemen 5. See for yourself and make that bid at: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330868194 And it's a private auction, so even if you work for DC, Wildstorm or Diamond, your bosses need never know.

Millar Time

Wouldn't you know it but vocalist on Ramblings Response Crew has left the group and gone solo? Who does he think he is? Anyway, here's his new single called 'Talking 'Bout Authority 14 (On The Wildstorm Message Board at www.wildstorm.com) Thankfully you can hear Ramblings on backing vocals, taking the part of the Wildstorm posters which brings a little class to the whole sordid affair. There's been major editing, but the original would have gone on for sixty three minutes.

MILLAR: Yes, that was Wonder Man whom Midnighter skull-split on what has to be one of the two best pages of the issue and yes, the red effect was a request by DC to tone down Frank's anatomically perfect head-split. Obviously, we were really annoyed. This, I suppose, is the downside of being owned by a big corporation. Our editor and Group Editor were really terrific, though, and managed to smooth our ruffled feathers. The only thing a creator can do in the end is walk and, the changes being rather small, we didn't feel it was necessary to do so. We believe in this book to much to let it fall into the hands of a couple of hacks.

RAMBLINGS: And as for the Apollo rape sequence that's been getting people in such a blather? Doo bee doo bee doo doo doo.

MILLAR: I've been reading these threads carefully and I'm delighted and fascinated by the response. And you know what? I'm not telling. I want you to draw your OWN conclusions on this one. I'm leaving this open. I wrote the scene (and subsequent follow-ups) to be ambiguous and, like all the best drama and horror, I want the reader to use his or her imagination and make up their own mind.

What intrigues me about this is that we saw The Commander (again off-camera) rape two nurses last issue and Tank Man burn a maternity ward full of sleeping babies. An awful lot of people were very disturbed by this (and this was my intention), but I certainly didn't write these scenes just for shock value. The emphasis on solving real world problems highlighted at the beginning of #13 was given a superhero twist here. Weren't rape-camps and burning babies some of the most shocking things we heard about from, for example, Kosovo. And isn't Kosovo, you might have noticed, where Earth's Premiere Super-team honed their skills (according to Tank Man in #14)?

As for Apollo's situation, think about the last time you were in a fight. I remember myself and three pals got jumped by a crowd as we left a pub ten years ago. I was standing there fighting these guys, worried about my pals and the next thing I knew I'd lost a tooth and my pals were half a mile in the distance, yelling abuse at the guys. Confusion abounds. Even radiotelepathy doesn't help when you've got a Hulk-style guy on your back squeezing the life out of you and your friends are telepathically screaming in your brain.

I tried to make this fight as realistic as possible. Same for the big, BIG fight in #16... although The Authority fair a little better when they're angry and up against the ENTIRE Marv...

Ah, just wait and buy it.

I don't want Apollo to be seen in therapy because this would mean that a) I've made a firm decision on whatever the horrible thing was that was done to Apollo and b) would become a different story. I want these kind of personal details to be happening off-camera sometimes because it's rarely done in comics. I want the glimpses we have of these people to be similar to the people we know in real life. We're not with them all the time and sometimes have a little catching up to do. For example, one of the team gets married to one of the most famous women in the world between issues sixteen and seventeen. They seem so much more real to me when we don't know or see everything or actually read the thoughts in their heads in a little balloon.

Does this mean Apollo's situation is being glossed over? Not at all. We should see subtle, emotional scenes over the next few issues, but letting it swamp the storyline just makes it a different kind of comic.

RAMBLINGS: More familiar super characters to come? La la la boom dee doo.

MILLAR: Oh yeah, there are a LOT more super-sods in The Hangar as you'll see next issue when we find out what the Hell this has all been about. Wall-crawlers, radioactive teenagers, Fantastic Families... you'll see them all gutted by your favourite superheroes very, very soon.

RAMBLINGS: So why choose the Avengers? Scoo de dee do.

MILLAR: I've got a neat twist I'm very pleased with next issue which will explain EVERYTHING, but I wasn't just poking fun at Marvel. I really wanted to SAY SOMETHING about the fact that the Marvel U's premiere super-team are card-carrying members of the Establishment. The same establishment who let people sleep on the streets and don't provide decent medical cover for malnourished kids. The same establishment who let the Third World starve.

The Authority feels like a crusade to me at the moment. Superheroes have been useless for too long. Let's make them mean something again. This is a poke at superheroes at both DC and Marvel. Why should they always fight for the status quo? Sometimes I'd just like to see what Lex Luthor could do for the world, you know?

RAMBLINGS: What projects would you have worked on if the Authority hadn't happened? Ba dam dam doo bee doo wah.

MILLAR: To be honest, I'd already had three adult-oriented projects closed down at DC (Phantom Stranger, Secret Society of Super-Villains and The Saviour) and was seriously planning on going full-time as a TV writer/ director simply because I didn't have a choice.

In the couple of weeks before I landed The Authority, I pitched a horror series to Channel 4 and they accepted it. It's a six episode vampire series called SIKESIDE and I'm writing episode two at the moment.

Or, if my pal John Layman's reading, I'm scripting Authority #19

RAMBLINGS: And what about this top-secret Wildstorm superhero project? Yeah yeah yeah?

MILLAR: I can't give any more details about the new project beyond what Rich printed in Ramblings (which every pro I know swears they hate, but they ALL read and love it really). That said, I really, really want to get started on this as soon as I have time. Planning something with Joe Quesada I can't talk about either for Marvel Knights and will get started on both once I've finished Jenny Sparks and a couple of other things

RAMBLINGS: How's characterisation these days, Mark? Shenang anang anang.

MILLAR: Yeah, fleshing these guys out is really important to me. I love superheroes like I love crunchy-nut Cheerios, but they all seem to talk with the same voice these days. Wouldn't it be nice if they could be cranky sometimes? Petty sometimes? Lecherous sometimes? Or just plain decent, forgiving, pleasant, witty? All the things people are every day.

I just finished the final draft of #18 today and I had Apollo and The Engineer bitching about how The Doctor was really getting on their nerves. He never shows up for meetings, switches off his radiotelepathy when he's watching TV and they think he's even dodged a couple of emergencies because he was at a party.

Isn't it time heroes started GOSSIPING?

RAMBLINGS: And those superhero code names in full? Doo doo doo.

MILLAR: The Commander, Storm-God, Atlas, The Hornet, Tank Man, Titan, Street Panther

Jackflash, Cheeta, Samson, Huntsman and Disco, Phantasm

RAMBLINGS: Tell us more about your vampire series, Sikeside for Channel 4. Yeah yeah yeah.

MILLAR: The big difference between me and Buffy is that Sikeside is going to be the most appalling thing ever seen on TV... and I mean in terms of bad taste. It really, really, really, really is absolutely horrific and a response to all the overseas vampire dross we've been subjected to. I promise you won't have seen this stuff before.

RAMBLINGS: Read this, and more, at www.wildstorm.com. Shoo bop deedoobop wah wah waaaah! Wah wah wah wah wah wah (FADE).

Lost And Found

It's not a hoax. Not an imaginary story. Along with Rick Veitch's last Swamp Things, Big Numbers 3-12, the 1963 80 Page Giant Annual...

Lost Girls, by Alan Marvel-Vagina and Melinda Gebbie will be published by Top Shelf next year. In three eighty-page hardcover volumes. We expect to see it published summer/autumn 2001, during convention season.

To recap, Lost Girls is a series, not unlike League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which takes three classic female icons of fantasy fiction and shows them as adults, a young Dorothy from Wizard Of Oz, an middle aged Wendy from Peter Pan and a much older Alice from Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass. Through a number of themed narrative devices, we see each individual's lifestyle, concentrating on the sexuality, alongside an icon that relfelcts their childhood adventures, whether this be a mirror, shadows or red shoes. It's a very explicit book, but not one that aims to titillate in a traditional manner. It's genuinely erotic, a term much abused today. The book originally appeared in colour in Steve Bissette's Taboo anthology, alongside From Hell, then collected in comic books by Kitchen Sink. But that was a long time ago.

Not only that but Top Shelf are also going to be putting out a 600 page TPB of Alex Robinson's Box Office Poison. Wooo!

LAST MINUTE UPDATE: Chris Staros, publisher of Top Shelf responds to our queries "The contracts have been signed all around. It'll be a 2001 release, maybe summer, maybe fall, released in 3 separate, full-color, hardback volumes, with a slipcase to "collect" the volumes. We're extremely excited about it, and should have some more details posted to our website NEWS section in a couple of days."

Okay Chris, if you think you're so good, go get the contracts signed for Big Numbers. And everybody else, you'll find that website at http://www.topshelfcomix.com

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