November 23rd 1999 - Darick Robertson Chats us up.
PopImage News Editor Christopher Butcher was fortunate enough to talk to Darick Robertson about what's on his plate over the next few months. In addition to the monthly art chores on DC/Vertigo's "Transmetropolitan", fans can look forward to a few new projects from Robertson.

PopImage: Are we going to see any more work from you outside of Transmetropolitan?
Darick: Yes, starting next year I'll be doing a [2 issue] prestige format mini-series entitled Batgirl/Catwoman, Catwoman/Oracle.

PopImage: Interesting, and who's writing the project?
Darick: It's going to be written by John Francis Moore and myself.

PopImage: Do you find your monthly pace on Transmet allows you enough time to take on outside projects? I mean, a 2 issue prestige series will likely be 48 pages per issue. Besides your recent fill in on Generation X for Marvel, you've done nothing but Transmetropolitan for 20+ straight issues.
Darick : They're giving me an extremely generous schedule, only 12 pages per month. That's going to be no strain at all.

PopImage: Speaking of Generation X, now that "Plotmaster" Warren Ellis is tackling it, are you going to be doing any more work on Gen X? It was still without an artist, last anyone heard.
Darick: No one's asked me back for anything to do with Gen X or to work with Warren over there. I am still doing covers for New Warriors at this time though.

PopImage: Oh, well, I'll have to put a bug in Warren's ear about that, won't I?

PopImage would like to congratulate Mr. Robertson for his marriage October 17th to his new wife Meredith. Although Meredith was in fact the model for the head of Spider Jerusalem's wife in Transmetropolitan, we're sure their marriage will be a lot more successful, and hopefully less deadly, than Spider's marriage.

November 22nd 1999 - Big Changes in store for the X-Books.
We reported early in October that Chris Claremont was returning to the X-Books in a big way, but exactly how big a way had yet to be determined as of that time. However, now that a few new major announcements have been made, and the dust has settled somewhat, we thought we'd run down exactly what the face of the X-Books will be in 2000.

First off, Claremont will be writing both Uncanny X-Men and X-Men, with art by Alan Davis and Adam Kubert respectively. If (and when) the monthly schedule gets to be too much for the pair, fill-in issues will be illustrated by former Wolverine penciller Lionel Francis Yu.

Wolverine won't go without though, as former Gambit artist Steve Skroce comes aboard to both write and pencil the book. This is the first time Skroce has ever written a comic, and if you think a first time writer is an odd choice to place onto a top ten book like Wolverine, you're not the only one. Former series writer Erik Larsen was not terribly happy about leaving the book, as he expressed in an interview with Mania magazine;

"I was canned...Wolverine #149 will be my last issue. Despite putting Wolvie higher up in the top 100 than it has been since its inception, the powers that be have decided to shake things up and give me the boot. No reason was given for my firing and the editor said several times that he was quite happy with my work on the book which included making all of my deadlines. Go figure."

So who's doing Gambit? Well, writer Fabian Nieceza is one of the few X-people keeping his job. He'll be joined on the book by penciller Yanick (Wonder Woman) Paquette, and inker Sean Parsons as of issue 15. X-Men Unlimited will also retain it's writer, Joe Pruet, and will be joined on the book by Brett Booth and a variety of artists. Although Pruet will not keep his job over on Cable though. Robert Weinberg, writer of the Masquerade of Red Death Trilogy novels, will be heading up writing chores and former Wildstorm artist Michael Ryan will be illustrating the book.

But perhaps the most surprising set of changes to the X-books is the news that Marvel editor Jason Liebeg's slate of books, Generation X, X-Force, and X-Man will be getting complete overhauls thanks to none other than Warren Ellis.

Yes, you heard me, Warren Ellis. Remember that article I wrote on October 13th? Well, I was right. Warren Ellis will be moving into a semi-editorial position (referred to as "Plotmaster") of this set of books, and will change basically everything about them, from creative teams, to directions, to trade dress.

Ellis will be providing detailed plots for the first four issues of each of the titles, and these plots will be interpreted and scripted by some very interesting creative teams. Ian (Aliens vs. Predator) Edington will write and Whilce (Wetworks) Portacio will pencil X-Force. Steven (Punisher) Grant will write and Ariel (JLA: Paradise Lost) Olivetti will pencil X-Man, with a character re-design and book covers provided by the incredible Tim Bradstreet. Finally, Brian (Channel Zero) Wood will be writing Generation X (with no artist yet named). Further, all three books' trade dress will be redesigned by Todd Klein, who worked wonders on Alan Moore's ABC line from Wildstorm/DC.

So there you have it, the face of the X-books in the year 2000. Looks like it'll be a very different and high-profile year for the X-books, and just in time for the movie next summer.

- Files from Mania's Daily Buzz and Newsarama

November 19th, 1999 - Wildcats Goes Monthly as Charest Departs
Travis Charest is not one of the most timely artists in comics. Although he hasn't reached Madureian proportions of lateness, he does have trouble keeping on schedule, which has made reading the bi-monthly "Wildcats" from Wildstorm difficult for his fans. It was as soon as issue #3 when fill-in artists had to begin making up for the lack of pages from Charest.

Surprising almost no one, Charest has been removed from the book as of the issue # 7. Completing only 8 pages of art for Wildcats #6 which hit the stands a few weeks ago, Charest has been replaced by artist Sean Phillips when the book begins a monthly schedule beginning with the February shipping Wildcats #8. That issue also sees the debut of new writer Joe Casey, taking over for Scott Lobdell. Wildcats #7 will have a fill in team consisting of blank and blank.

Fans of Charest can look forward to him continuing to provide covers to the monthly Wildcats book, as well as the covers to a rumoured DC "5th week event" scheduled for early 2000.

- Files from Mania, The Comic Wire, http://www.jladesigns.com/travis/

November 18th, 1999 - Gainax give us Evangelical Christmas Gifts
Just in time for Christmas, the stunning anime television series Neon Genesis Evangelion is coming to DVD. The long rumoured DVD release of this series is tentatively scheduled for December 21st of this year. Although no official information has been released by North American licensees ADV Films, the first DVD is already available for pre-orders at www.rightstuf.com. The DVD will contain the first four episodes of the series (previously available on video as Genesis 0:1 and 0:2) in English, Japanese, French, and Spanish.

Fans of the series may be interested to know that the studio that created Evangelion, Gainax, recently licensed their follow-up series "Kareshi Kanojo No Jijou" (known as "Kare Kano" to fans) to Right Stuf Entertainment. The series is a radical departure from Evangelion in both tone and content, being an adaptation of a popular girls manga. Fans of Evangelion may have a little trouble acclimating to the series, but if you enjoyed the love triangle that was Shinji, Asuka, and Rei, then you're sure to enjoy at least some of this lush drama. Kare Kano should be on store shelves 3rd quarter 2000.

November 18th, 1999 - Princess Mononoke Update
Positive reviews of Princess Mononoke are still rolling in, but the main problem people seem to be having is finding a theatre where the movie is actually playing. For unknown reasons, Disney decided to give the film very, very limited release in North America. Well, the theatre grosses came in and the movie did very well despite being "buried" to quote a few dis-satisfied Mononoke fans, so the movie will be going into wider release.

According to Miramax Films, North American distributor of Princess Mononoke, on November 24th the movie will show up at over 100 theatres in North America (here in Toronto, it's already showing in like 4 or 5 theatres now). A complete listing of theatres showing the film can be found at Miramax's official Mononoke website, http://www.princess-mononoke.com.

November 18th, 1999 - PopImage News Updates
First reported on October 18th, The Wonder Woman Barbie doll has been solicited for a February release through Diamond Comics Distributors. Listed as the "Barbie As Wonder Woman Doll", the doll can be found on Previews Page 344, item number NOV992193. The doll comes in the classic Wonder Woman costume, a blue cape, separate tiara, armbands, and golden lasso of truth. The doll is going to retail for a suggested priced of $44.95 US.

November 3rd, 1999 - Return to the House of Secrets
Rumor has it that Vertigo´s House Of Secrets by Steven T Seagle and Teddy Kristiansen is due for a comeback next year. The new story is said to be a 2 issue Prestige Format series rather than a return to the monthly series. A source close to the project revealed to PopImage that though no date has been set House of Secrets fans should be on the look out in July/August 2000.

House of Secrets was an ongoing series from Vertigo/DC that ran for 25 issues. The ongoing series was cancelled in 1998, in order to bring out a number of short, painted mini-series. While many had given up hope on the series returning, this rumour appears to be on the level. Fans might also remember that House of Secrets had been optioned for feature film production, however, as far as we know that deal is dead in the water, sorry.

- Thanks to Arni Gunnarson

November 2nd, 1999 - New Anime on TV next spring, Welcome GUNDAM WING
Bandai America Inc. confirmed last Friday what Japanese animation (anime) fans had been speculating about for weeks - popular Japanese animated TV series Gundam Wing will be making it's North American television debut next spring on the Cartoon Network. Gundam Wing will appear as a feature in the Cartoon Network's "Toonami" block of action-adventure cartoons.

Gundam Wing is the story of five high-school age boys who are chosen to pilot giant robots to defend mankind against an alien threat. Running 49 episodes and 3 television specials, Gundam Wing is one of the newer television series in the "Mobile Suit Gundam" franchise. Largely considered to be the best of the giant robot genre, Gundam as a whole is very deeply ingrained in Japanese culture, spanning 20 years, 354 television episodes, 34 Television Specials (OAV's), and 3 movies (and that's not counting some of the live-action Gundam Features!).

In fact, it's so much a part of Japanese culture that many fans are already wondering how well the series will play here. Gundam Wing involves a number of potentially volatile situations, including lead characters that "threaten to kill themselves and each other all the time, and even better than pointing guns at other students at school (!), make bombs and blow up buildings!" according to one fan. There's actually a great amount of fear in the fan community that large portions of the story may be re-written, or excised entirely (as happened with Sailor Moon upon porting it to the U.S.), to make the show more suitable for an all-ages market. Considering Bandai is marketing the series in conjunction with the Gundam Wing model kits that have gone on sale in California Toys R Us stores, those fears may not be entirely unfounded. However, according to Bandai they do plan on, at the least, releasing the series uncut on videocassette.

Toonami is the highest rated segment of programming on the Cartoon Network. The block already includes classic anime such as Speed Racer, Robotech, and Voltron, as well as more current features like Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon, and Ronin Warriors. Anime fans can take heart, as the Cartoon Network is in the process of spinning off all of their older Hanna Barbera cartoons (Scooby Doo, The Flintstones, Yogi Bear) on to a new Network named Boomerang early next year. It's then hinted at that the Cartoon Network will move to an "all Toonami", action-oriented network.

There are currently a number of Japanese animated shows in development for US television, including Ruroni Kenshin (which may end up being called "Samurai X" in North America), Card Captor Sakura (Card Capture), Vision of Escaflowne, and the Tenchi Muyo Television Series. Of the above, only Card Capture is in active development, and is planned for a tentative fall 2000 television release.

- Special thanks to David Crowe for his help on this story.

November 2nd, 1999 - Princess Mononoke fever begins to grip North America.
This weekend, the limited engagement premiere of Studio Ghibli's "Princess Mononoke" opened in 8 theatres across North America. While I try not to take too much of an editorial position while doing the news, I'd just like to go out of my way to say that Mononoke was a fantastic movie, and one that I recommend to everyone reading this (along with American Beauty and Fight Club, in case you were wondering).

What I found interesting this morning was the proliferation of Princess Mononoke reviews that littered the Internet. While most were on-line versions of reviews that showed up in print, some were exclusive to the Internet. I just thought I'd go through the reviews that I found, and discuss them in the context of well, each other. Generally the reviews were very positive, and very well-informed. There are always exceptions to the rule, either reviews with glaring technical or factual errors, or people who just didn't seem to 'get' the movie, but generally they were interesting to read, and even some of the critical reviews raised valid points.

First and foremost, if you'd like some background on the film Princess Mononoke, or it's director Hayao Miyazaki, make sure to check out Roger Ebert's interview with Miyazaki-sensei. It's makes perfectly evident just how much Ebert loves Miyazaki's work, particularly Mononoke.

You can find Roger Ebert's review of Princess Mononoke at the Chicago Sun Times' web-site. Ebert does gush lovingly over the movie in that review, and it seems that ghost of Gene Siskel, Ebert's old reviewing partner wrote the review at Siskel's old paper, the Chicago Tribune. In typical Siskel & Ebert style, the Tribune reviewer did enjoy the film, but with reservations. I can almost hear their back-and-forth banter debating the movie. At any rate, for a third Chicago review of the film check out the Chicago Daily Herald's review, which despite a few factual errors (Miyazaki did not direct the feature from "American" writer Neil Gaiman's screenplay, Gaiman only adapted the Japanese script. Not to mention that Gaiman is British.) is generally positive.

Boston was another city that produced a three reviews from three different newspapers. The Boston Globe describes the film in possibly the most glowing terms of all the reviews I've read. "Epic, mythic, simply terrific", "breathtaking", "riveting" and "profound, humane, and enormously generous" are just a few of the adjectives contained within. Meanwhile, the Boston Phoenix should be ashamed of what they consider a review. It's barely a plot synopsis. The Boston Herald unfortunately panned the film, although it seemed to be extraordinarily well-researched for a newspaper article. Although I disagree with the reviewer on a number of points (the reviewer apparently thought Billy Bob Thornton's Monk Character was the best part of the film), it is relatively well thought out.

New York City actually featured four different newspapers with four differing takes on the movie. The New York Times review is based on the Mononoke screening at the New York Film Festival, and basically glows with enthusiasm for the film. Contrarily, the New York Daily News panned the film on just about every level, but I think the most telling comment, "But the plot is far too dense," just about sums up the review. The reviewer simply didn't get it. The New York Post chimed in with a generally positive review though, and the Village Voice produced an outstanding article on both the film and director Miyazaki, and is definitely worth checking out.

Los Angeles was a city that seemed to genuinely enjoy Princes Mononoke. The LA Times went a great distance in it's praise of the film, and LA Weekly gave a positive review as well, although it was intermingled with some genuinely valid criticism of the film.

In my home town of Toronto, The Globe and Mail had a hard time with the cultural divide that large portions of Mononoke's plot and style relied on, and as such gave it a reservedly positive review. Not surprising considering the Globe is the city's leading business newspaper, and although it's trying to be a little more hip and relevant it's still very stuffy around the edges. Eye Magazine, a weekly alternative newspaper (akin to the Village Voice) loved the film and Princess Mononoke made it to the cover of the magazine. It's parent publication, The Toronto Star, also gave a positive review of the film, although it's main criticism was the script and voice-acting dumbed down the content of the movie. Surprisingly, the Star's arch-rival, The Toronto Sun, offers up a very similar review. A fantastic movie that, despite it's slightly over-long running time, is fantastic. It's only real flaw is that it's poorly served by it's lackluster voice acting. I always said us Torontonians were an intelligent breed.

Finally, online fandom seems to be the most divided on the movie. MSNBC offered up a review that found the film inconsistent, soaring and fantastic one minute and dragging and crude the next. Slate praises it's complex story line, going so far as to use the film to expose the puerile schlock of Hollywood; "The movie has a scope that makes Hollywood's homiletic, follow-your-dream fables look even more solipsistic." But perhaps the strangest online review is Mr. Showbiz's review. It seems that their reviewer, Michael Atkinson is just totally clueless about the intent of the movie. It's a negative review, but it seems to be an incredibly ignorant one as well. I can't quite figure it out.

Anyhow, that's a round-up of the good, the bad, and the stupid of Princess Mononoke reviews on the web. To add to one of those three categories, you can look for PopImage's review of the import version of Mononoke by Gwen Sato in the October Reviews section, or our review of the current release by me, Christopher Butcher, in next week's November issue update.

PopImage news always strives to be an accurate source of information, so if you're an informed party that would like to contradict or clarify any of the information we've presented, feel free. All correspondence should be addressed to Christopher Butcher at cro2@212.net.

Previous News Stories:
Weeks of October 18th and October 25th 1999- Super Manga Blast!, Authority Outing...
Weeks of October 4th and October 11th 1999- Garth Ennis not Dead, Chris Claremont on X-Men...