As reported by CBR:

Director Sam Raimi talked to Superhero Hype about plans for the next web-spinning sequel. " I know how quickly things turn in Hollywood and after the third, that will be it ... I'm not supposed to tell and in fact, I can't tell you cause I'm still figuring it out. I don't exactly know." Raimi is plotting the film with his brother, and looking for the "best in the business" to come in and handle the script, naming Alvin Sargeant and Michael Chabon as possibilities.

From Yahoo
BEDFORD, N.Y. - Christopher Reeve, the star of the "Superman" movies whose near-fatal riding accident nine years ago turned him into a worldwide advocate for spinal cord research, died Sunday of heart failure, his publicist said. He was 52.

Reeve fell into a coma Saturday after going into cardiac arrest while at his New York home, his publicist, Wesley Combs told The Associated Press by phone from Washington, D.C., on Sunday night.

Reeve was being treated at Northern Westchester Hospital for a pressure wound, a common complication for people living with paralysis. In the past week, the wound had become severely infected, resulting in a serious systemic infection.

"On behalf of my entire family, I want to thank Northern Westchester Hospital for the excellent care they provided to my husband," Dana Reeve, Christopher's wife, said in a statement. "I also want to thank his personal staff of nurses and aides, as well as the millions of fans from around the world who have supported and loved my husband over the years."

Reeve broke his neck in May 1995 when he was thrown from his horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, Va.

Enduring months of therapy to allow him to breathe for longer and longer periods without a respirator, Reeve emerged to lobby Congress for better insurance protection against catastrophic injury and to move an Academy Award audience to tears with a call for more films about social issues.

He returned to directing, and even returned to acting in a 1998 production of "Rear Window," a modern update of the Hitchcock thriller about a man in a wheelchair who becomes convinced a neighbor has been murdered. Reeve won a Screen Actors Guild award for best actor in a television movie or miniseries.

"I was worried that only acting with my voice and my face, I might not be able to communicate effectively enough to tell the story," Reeve said. "But I was surprised to find that if I really concentrated, and just let the thoughts happen, that they would read on my face. With so many close-ups, I knew that my every thought would count."

In his public appearances, he was as handsome as ever, his blue eyes bright and his voice clear.

"Hollywood needs to do more," he said in the March 1996 Oscar awards appearance. "Let's continue to take risks. Let's tackle the issues. In many ways our film community can do it better than anyone else. There is no challenge, artistic or otherwise, that we can't meet."

In 2000, Reeve was able to move his index finger, and a specialized workout regimen made his legs and arms stronger. He also regained sensation in other parts of his body.

Reeve's support of stem cell research helped it emerge as a major campaign issue between President Bush and John Kerry. His name was even mentioned by Kerry earlier this month during the second presidential debate.

As for the strain of traveling to Hollywood, Reeve said: "I refuse to allow a disability to determine how I live my life. I don't mean to be reckless, but setting a goal that seems a bit daunting actually is very helpful toward recovery."

His athletic, 6-foot-4-inch frame and love of adventure made him a natural, if largely unknown, choice for the title role in the first "Superman" movie in 1978. He insisted on performing his own stunts.

Although he reprised the role three times, Reeve often worried about being typecast as an action hero.

"Look, I've flown, I've become evil, loved, stopped and turned the world backward, I've faced my peers, I've befriended children and small animals and I've rescued cats from trees," Reeve told the Los Angeles Times in 1983, just before the release of the third "Superman" movie. "What else is there left for Superman to do that hasn't been done?"

Though he owed his fame to it, Reeve made a concerted effort to, as he often put it, "escape the cape." He played an embittered, crippled Vietnam veteran in the 1980 Broadway play "Fifth of July," a lovestruck time-traveler in the 1980 movie "Somewhere in Time," and an aspiring playwright in the 1982 suspense thriller "Deathtrap."

"After the first `Superman,' I had the compulsion to do parts that were really weird," Reeve told The Associated Press in 1987. "That freaked people out. I've passed that."

More recent films included John Carpenter's "Village of the Damned," and the HBO movies "Above Suspicion" and "In the Gloaming," which he directed. Among his other film credits are "The Remains of the Day," "The Aviator," and "Morning Glory."

Yet Reeve always will be known to movie fans as the strapping, boyishly handsome stage veteran whose charm and humor brought a new dimension to the characters of Superman and his alter-ego, Clark Kent. The film co-starred Margot Kidder as Lois Lane.

Reeve said in public appearances promoting the "Superman" films, he tried to get children to better themselves.

"They should be looking for Superman's qualities — courage, determination, modesty, humor — in themselves rather than passively sitting back, gaping slack-jawed at this terrific guy in boots," Reeve said.

Reeve was born Sept. 25, 1952, in New York City, son of a novelist and a newspaper reporter. He in around 10 when he made his first stage appearance — in Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Yeoman of the Guard" at McCarter Theater in Princeton, N.J.

He starred in virtually all of the theatrical productions at the exclusive Princeton Day School. By age 16, he had joined the actors' union.

After graduating from Cornell University in 1974, he landed a part as coldhearted bigamist Ben Harper on the television soap opera "Love of Life." He also performed frequently on stage, winning his first Broadway role as the grandson of a character played by Katharine Hepburn in "A Matter of Gravity."

Reeve's first movie role was a minor one in the submarine disaster movie "Gray Lady Down," released in 1978. "Superman" soon followed. Reeve was selected for the title role from among about 200 aspirants.

Active in many sports, Reeve owned several horses and competed in equestrian events regularly. Witnesses to the May 1995 accident said Reeve's horse had cleared two of 15 fences during the jumping event and stopped abruptly at the third, flinging the actor headlong to the ground.

Doctors said he fractured the top two vertebrae in his neck and damaged his spinal cord. When he finally was released from a rehabilitation institute in December 1995, he thanked staffed members "who have set the stage for my continued journey." He underwent further rehabilitation at his home in upstate New York.

While filming "Superman" in London, Reeve met modeling agency co-founder Gae Exton, and the two began a relationship that lasted several years. The couple had two sons, but were never wed.

Reeve later married Dana Morosini; they had one son, Will, 11. His wife became his frequent spokeswoman after the accident.

Reeve also is survived by his mother, Barbara Johnson; his father, Franklin Reeve; his brother, Benjamin Reeve; and his two children from his relationship with Exton, Matthew, 25, and Alexandra, 21.

No plans for a funeral were immediately announced.

A few months after the accident, he told interviewer Barbara Walters that he considered suicide in the first dark days after he was injured. But he quickly overcame such thoughts when he saw his children.

"I could see how much they needed me and wanted me ... and how lucky we all are and that my brain is on straight."

We got into a discussion about this at work a few days ago. So I thought I'd ask...what's your all time favorite board game?

Mine would probably be Trivial Pursuit. I like something that makes me think and requires some intelligence to play.
After that...I think probably Life.

According to Noel Boeke, counsel for CrossGen in its bankruptcy proceedings, the former publisher’s assets were sold yesterday to Cal Publishing Inc.

According to Boeke, Cal Publishing, Inc. offered the high and best bid of $1 million for the assets of CrossGen and CrossGen IP and CrossGen technologies. The company is an indirect subsidiary of Disney, according to Boeke.

The next step in CrossGen’s proceedings comes Friday with a hearing at 2:00pm when the judge will consider whether or not to approve the sale. If the sale is approved, the deal with Cal Publishing must be closed, and afterwards, the bankruptcy trustee would distribute the money CrossGen’s creditors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Given that Cal is a publishing company (with the clout of the big D behind them somewhere) hopefully this is a good sign for all those fans of CG characters out there

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Marvel Enterprises has signed a deal with France's Antefilms Productions to produce an animated TV series based the Fantastic Four comic book characters. The deal is expected to be announced at the MIPCOM international TV sales convention in Cannes. The trade says the companies would produce 26 half-hour episodes targeted for premiere in the United States and other countries in late 2006.

Under the terms of the agreement, Antefilms will commence production immediately on 26, 30-minute 2D/3D animated episodes. The initial episodes are expected to be completed for worldwide distribution in late-2006.

The deal teams Marvel with an animation company with proven success both domestically and internationally. Two of Antefilms' current series -- Code Lyoko and Funky Cops - -are currently broadcast successfully on Cartoon Network and Fox Box, respectively, in the United States.

"Marvel is firmly committed to strongly support its characters in all relevant entertainment arenas throughout the world," Marvel's Avi Arad said. "We are especially excited that The Fantastic Four TV animation will follow the release of our 2005 feature film with 20th Century Fox, and that we are able to work with such a great animation company as Antefilms to make this happen."

Antefilms Productions will fund all of the development costs for the series. Antefilms will produce the content while both companies will oversee the overall creative direction. Marvel will control the U.S. television and subsequent DVD distribution rights, while Moonscoop (Antefilms' distribution brand) will handle sales in the rest of the world.

StarWarsShop.com - More Product. More Exclusives.

Wasn't really sure where to put this since it is a concept that isn't likely to happen any time in the near future but here you go..

CSI: CENTRAL CITY, by Dan Mishkin. "Although I have a couple of projects beginning in winter and spring, the publishers would prefer that I not announce them yet. But I don’t think anyone can prevent me from touting the cool project I’m not doing. The inspiration for this came while watching an episode of CSI I realized that these guys were doing the job that Barry Allen did way back when (though we never really saw much of it, and never in such lovingly gory detail), and that longtime fans would probably go wild over CSI: CENTRAL CITY, a one-shot or mini that teamed one of the TV casts with the Flash. Barry Allen has to work with the finest analytical minds around while protecting his secret identity from them? How cool is that? Not cool enough to convince DC and IDW, unfortunately; maybe they both knew that persuading CBS to go along would be too much hassle."

Maybe it's just me but I think this sounds like a nice bit of fun (with the right creative team of course).

Hello there, Philcon04, a General Science Fiction Convention to be held December 10-12, 2004 in Philly is coming up!! Philcon will have a Movie Room, an Anime Room, an Art Show, a Masquerade, a Game Room, and more!! Philcon has Programming includings Professional Writers, Artists, Science Professionals, Editors and others speak on a variety of subjects. Please check out <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.philcon.org">www.philcon.org</a><!-- w --> for more info. Hope to see you all there!!

I had the wonderful fortune to be able to see the encore showing of the first two hours of 'Lost' on ABC last night. I had been hearing all of the wonderful reviews of this new show, and really wanted to see what the hype was all about. The only problem was that it is up against Smallville on Wednesday nights. Now, while I feel that Smallville is slipping a little in its fourth season, I am not ready to give up on it just yet. And due to an odd fluke in our Satellite system, we are not able to record one show while watching another. So I figured I was doomed to never seeing Lost. But then I read that ABC was rerunning it on Saturday night, and I couldn't be happier.

The show is based on 46 (or so) survivors of a mysterious plane crash that are now stranded on a tropical island. But what we don't know going in is that there is more than meets the eye to this island. There are unseen dangers in the jungle and they have taken at least one victim so far, leaving him dead in the tree tops. I won't give up much more than that.

It is a fairly simple premise actually, but where it comes into greatness is in the writing. The characters, of which there are many, all seem to have fully fleshed out personalities. In a matter of two hours we get to know most of them pretty quickly and learn to love/hate many of them. The show is fairly slow paced, giving plenty of time for the stroies to develop. Between the pacing and the vast amount of charaters to explore, I can see this show sticking around for a while. I now know I will be torn on Wednesday nights when it comes time to decide what to watch.

Great interview and artwork over at : <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.newsarama.com/pages/DC/Authority.htm">http://www.newsarama.com/pages/DC/Authority.htm</a><!-- m -->

Since a few of our users have AOL as their internet service provider I thought it would be prudent to mention an known issue between the AOL Internet Client and phpBB (the engine behind the forums). Due to the way the AOL client handles 'session information' it often passes inconsistent data to the phpBB code, meaning logging in and/or posting can be a bit of a hit or miss affair.

The best way to alleviate this problem is to use an alternative browser such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. The site has been tested extensively on both browsers.

I hope this helps anyone out there who was experiencing this little 'bug'