In the last few days I've had the opportunity to download various Aquaman issues from throughout the 1960s.

I just wanted to say the art by Ramona Fradon (I think) and then Nick Cardy (definitely) was unbelievable and years ahead of its time.

There was some stuff artistically going on in this reclusive, overlooked corner of the Silver Age DC Universe that should clearly be recognized.

Just random thoughts for the day.

Anyone here reading the current book?

Glenn Walker

Reported 15/04/2004
Source Newsarama

The other shoe that many feared would, has indeed dropped. Along with the cancellation of Wildcats 3.0 DC Comics has confirmed for Newsarama that StormWatch: Team Achilles has been cancelled. The series' final issue will be July’s #24.

We spoke with series writer Micah Wright for more.

Newsarama: When did you find out the book was being cancelled?

Micah Wright: Well, I started to suspect something was up two weeks ago when I learned that the third trade had been removed from the schedule for August. The series cancellation became official late last week, but I promised Wildstorm that I wouldn't comment on it until it had been made public and I keep my word about things like that.

NRAMA: And #24 is the final issue, then?

MW: Right. The last issue will be #24, on sale July 14th. It's being solicited right now, so be sure you order a couple of copies because you know how hard to find the last issue of a series can be... the retailers cut back on their orders and no one ever gets to read the last chapter!

NRAMA: For a lot of people, the timing of the cancellation news seems odd. After all, like Wildcats, StormWatch got a boost from Coup D’etat, didn't it?

MW: Oh, yeah... we almost sold more copies of the Coup crossover issue than we did of #1. Almost 300% of what we sell on a month-to-month basis. Everyone sold more, even The Authority, which was already the best-selling book in the Eye of the Storm lineup.

NRAMA: To the best of your knowledge, was the decision to end the series made before or after Coup?

MW: To the best of my knowledge, the decision was made after the Coup. I mean, to be honest, the company had known for a while that the books weren't selling all that well and we were steadily dropping month after month after month. Everyone hoped that the Coup D’etat crossover would get people excited about the books and that sales would pick up. I guess sales picked up, but not enough to justify keeping the books around.

NRAMA: Away from sales and on to the story side of things - how will things end? Will you be able to put the team in a "good" place, or are things going to have to be dropped like you’re running out with the house is on fire?

MW: Well, their house is on fire to a certain extent... they're on the run from the WS Universe's strongest group of Super Powered Beings, The Authority. The storyline in issues #22 through #24 was tying up a lot of the loose ends from earlier in the book... the prisoners in Project Entry, whatever happened to Baron Chaos, whatever happened to Citizen Soldier, that kind of thing.

My book will end at a place which feels a lot more organic than the ending to Wildcats, I think. Joe had a big 36-issue storyline to tell, whereas after doing the 9-part Citizen Soldier storyline, I had just committed to writing a series of one-and-two issue stories in order to allow more jumping-on points for the series. That was the big complaint that I heard during the Citizen Soldier run... "this books sounds fascinating, but because 4 issues have gone past, I'm going to wait for the trade." I wanted to get a bullhorn and shout "stop waiting for the trade or there won't be a trade."

Sure enough.

I've already written the last page. It's a callback to a joke from #8 and long-term readers are going to find it a nice moment to go out on.

NRAMA: What kind of support was the book getting from inside DC and Wildstorm?

MW: Well, I really enjoyed working with Alex Sinclair, my Editor at WS. Sinc rode herd on a really complicated book which had 11 artists in 24 issues. He was a consummate professional and we never shipped a single issue late, which I'm proud of. Since Joe announced the cancellation of Wildcats yesterday, I've seen some crazy Conspiracy Theory stuff online, but I think WS really put their all into pushing the Coup D’etat... but retailers and readers didn't order more of the issues which followed it, so what can you do?

As for DC proper, I'm not sure what else they could have done. Maybe if there had been more Eye of the Storm ads in Vertigo books to attempt to reach out to their readership? There were maybe things which could have been done, but I'm not a marketing expert, so I can't speak to that.

NRAMA: Speaking about the art, since you brought it up - from the start, there were some issues with the art on the series. In retrospect, could things have been handled smoother?

MW: Well, first off, I'd like to say that I could have handled things smoother... I'm a big fan of complicated comics... complex storylines, multi-faceted characterizations, heroes who aren't nice guys--I mean my comics creator heroes are people like Howard Chaykin and Warren Ellis... prickly personalities who create great, complicated work.

Frankly, I think I made the first three issues too complicated and didn't go about things introducing all of the characters in a really clear manner... a lot of readers said "this book is too much work" and stopped buying. In addition, a lot of people were offended at the "high testosterone" aspect of the early issues, but there was a reason for that as well... there were nine people on the team who needed to be introduced and fleshed out in 44 pages... so I had to be shorthand with the characterization and slowly round everyone out as the series moved forwards. Readers seem fine with that when you're talking about a team of superheroes, but reacted really negatively when it was nine human beings... probably because although we don't know any superheroes, all of us are surrounded by human beings. Some readers decided early on that Team Achilles were really creepy people and why should they read about human beings they wouldn't want to eat dinner with?

There were several lessons learned on those first few issues, I can tell you.

As for the art, I really liked Whilce Portacio's new style... I know that it wasn't the most popular with some of the internet fans, but I think he did a solid job. We lost inker Scott Williams with issue #4 - he left to go ink Jim Lee on Batman and who could blame him?

Still, some people got really upset and stopped buying the book. Then Whilce needed to take two months off after killing himself on issues #1-6, and we brought in Mark Texiera and Tomm Coker for fill-ins, but I think people thought we were changing the artist issue after issue, not that Whilce was taking time off. So some people who believed that Whilce had left they book stopped buying the book. Then when Whilce returned for #9 and #10 I was seeing people say things like "I thought this guy was gone?" and they stopped buying.

Worse yet, was the fact that although Whilce wasn't doing the interiors, he was still doing the covers up through #15, and while I thought he was knocking it out of the park every single issue, a lot of people who had already left the book thought that he was still doing the interiors so they were missing out on the new artists inside. By the time that Michael Golden came on with #15, we were halfway through a new story arc and everyone who had been missing out said "oh, looks good, but I'll wait for the trade."

That's gonna be a long wait...

When CP Smith came on the series as the new regular penciller, Bill Sienkiewicz - I got to work with Bill Sienkiewicz! inking him on #11 and a lot of people liked it... but then didn't like it a month later when Bill had to drop out as the inker and Eric Nguyen came onboard with #12. I'm proudest of the job that CP and Eric did on issues #12-#20 because they were both doing their first monthly series ever... it was a book by an entire team of rookies, essentially, me included. It was amazing watching the fan reaction online as it went from "I hate these guys" on #12 to "how dare these guys leave, I love them!" on #21 when Clement Sauve came in for two issues. #23 and #24 are being drawn by Carlos D'anda, the man who drew the Coup D’etat crossover issue, and people really responded well to that issue, so maybe sales will be good on these last two issues in June and July.

So now CP is at Marvel, where he's going to be drawing and inking the new Invaders series which comes out this summer. I think in five years, people are going to look back at this series the same way they do with the Warren Ellis/Brian Hitch StormWatch and say "Were we crazy? Why didn't we buy this great book when it was coming out monthly?"

All in all, what I learned the hard way is that consistency is what the fans want to see. Every time we changed a penciller, an inker or a cover artist, the book's sales really reflected it... sometimes up, sometimes down, and it affected how people pushed on their friends or retailers. I wrote the book the same way all through the series... but people say that it's like four or five different books and I guess I can see that. Next time I try this, I'm going with one artist forever and if he tries to leave, I'll cut off his pinkies.

NRAMA: Is there anything that you really liked coming up that you won't be able to get to do?

MW: Yeah... there were a lot of things. I was slowly replacing everyone on Team Achilles with Superhumans, so that by issue #36 Santini would look around and say "hey... I'm the only human being here!" I liked the idea of the change being so gradual that he didn't notice it until it was a done deal... it was my literary critique of the comic book marketplace in a way and the way that superhero books have pushed everything else out of the direct market. I was also going to play with Giant some more... in issue #21 - out today! run forth and buy it! - we see Santini having to make nice with Giant who has been a plague on the team since issue #2. Recently we had Giant "re-brand" himself as "The Hallibastard," a corporate-sponsored superhero who works for Hallibusker Oil. We had some good stories coming up with Hallibastard invading a Middle Eastern country for his bosses and getting really angry when the inhabitants greeted him with Islamist Supervillains and machine-gun fire instead of honey & flowers.

Eventually the plan was to make Giant see the error of his ways and rename himself Born Again, the first really self-righteous uptight Baptist Superhero. Giant was my ongoing commentary on the concept of the Superhero and I was going to just keep having him come up against StormWatch again and again.

NRAMA: From the books' very inception, you made no bones about it making some political commentary, and the characters took some controversial stances, especially in the hyper-patriotism following 9/11. Did you walk too close to the fire, in retrospect, and that could have alienated some readers?

MW: Looking back on the era when the book was running, perhaps I was a little ahead of the curve with making fun of President Bush. It's easy now... I mean David Letterman made several anti-Bush jokes last night and even a 9/11 joke and all I could think of was those first few shows after the World Trade Center was hit and Dave was just a wreck, crying on-camera and all... and for a long time, he would take offense if his guests even poked fun of Bush. He and a lot of the Media held off taking potshots at Bush for the next couple of years and are still being very gentle when they criticize his policies. That press conference on Tuesday night was one softball question after another. So here I am during this "let's go easy on Bush" era and I was out there openly mocking his ideas and policies in the Wildstorm Universe. A lot of people weren't ready for that yet, I guess. They're looking for American Power or something from their comics. I've discovered that comics readership on the whole is a very conservative one. I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised that a 50-year-old who reads Shazam is conservative, but I guess I didn't think about it going in.

At the same time, taking someone like me with a strong opinion and straightjacketing them isn't going to result in a good book that sells well, either. I think the biggest shame of the last month was when CrossGen pulled American Power. I would have loved to see Chuck Dixon's right-wing conservative feelings unleashed on a book like that... but if you took Chuck and made him write Liberal Commie Man, he'd probably chafe under those restrictions and no one would enjoy the book.

Lastly, though, I think a lot of people blew some of the politics in StormWatch way out of proportion. I take a gentle poke a GW Bush's speaking pattern and people online are calling me a traitor? Calm down, fella... it's just a comic book. Him talky funny and it's fun to poke fun of it... Tuesday night he said that one of his jobs as president is "consoling family members who have died." How could you not have fun with a President who says things like that? It doesn't mean I hate him or that I hate America or any of the other garbage people posted online... it was a book which took place at the United Nations... I couldn't very well ignore that simultaneously in the real world, GW Bush was making the United Nations out to be a hotbed of America Haters and Saddam Coddlers... it wouldn't have rung true to anyone, despite their political bent.

NRAMA: But, speaking in terms of approach you’ve publicly wondered about the state of “mature readers” titles in the marketplace, and here was StormwWatch as a mature “something different” than what was being offered elsewhere, and it didn’t catch on…

MW: Yes, and I wonder sometimes if that wasn't a big part of the problem. The entire idea of "Mature Readers Superheroes" seems to be getting a lot of pushback from the audience, the retailers and the companies. I know that there are people in the industry who feel like adding adult themes to superhero comics is some kind of abomination. The comic news sites are filled with stories about Marvel and DC making all of their superhero titles "kid friendly" again... as if that will somehow spontaneously make kids want to read comics. A lot of readers are also just looking for white-hat-black-hat stories where you can tell the good guys and bad guys apart easier.

Again, though, for all of those people who sampled the book and didn't continue to read it, we're still faced with the fact that the most copies StormWatch ever sold in a month was a scant 30,000. When you look at the number that Jim Lee's Batman sold on average versus how many copies of Coup D’etat that Jim Lee drew one month later, it's like 200,000 versus 30,000. It's one month later... Jim's still the same guy, and Ed Brubaker is one of the best comic writers out there, so this isn't a problem with the talent... so what is it? The marketing? Coup D’etat had the cover of the Previews... how can you get more prominent than that? It's definitely a resistance in the marketplace.

There are probably a lot of reasons for this: some retailers aren't comfortable with carrying Mature Readers comics, some readers don't want to read profanity or sexual situations, some people think that comic book violence is cool... but don't want to see what would really happen if someone got punched through a wall. There's also an interesting phenomenon lately... as the economy has gotten lousier and lousier, comic sales have gone down on all of the mid-and-bottom-rung titles and it's really hurt "non-core" books. Your X-Men and Batman comics are as strong as ever, but anything with a New Character or a new idea in it has been taken to the cleaners. I'll tell you something... if Joe Casey had told the exact same storylines from Wildcats 3.0 and he'd used Iron Man and Stark International as the setting, it would have sold 60,000 copies a month. There's a lot of resistance right now to new books.

And lastly, there were just a lot of people who simply never knew that the book existed... I've heard from a lot of fans who found a copy of the trade paperback at their local Barnes & Noble who had never seen the single issue of the monthly comic inside their stores. That's a retailer issue. At the same time, I've heard from retailers that they'd have a lot of issues left over at the end of the month. That's a readership issue. Or a Micah Wright & CP Smith issue.

The whole issue is a conundrum, that's for sure and I don't know how to overcome it... all I can do is push myself to make better and better comics every time at bat.

NRAMA: Can you be handed a cancellation like this, and not become cynical and jaded toward the market?

MW: Well, it's my first cancelled comic series... so I guess you could say that I lost my virginity on having the book cancelled out from under me... it's certainly not a good feeling, but at the same time, when I look back at what we accomplished on the book, I'm proud of the work. I had a psychic on the team... even after 30 years of X-Men comics, I found things Avi Barak could do with generic "mind-reading" powers that no one had ever done before. I had a lot of fun with the shapeshifter on the team and did some stuff in #24 with his stretchiness that you're never going to see Mr. Fantastic or Plastic man do. Taking superheroes to the next level like that was really fun. Then there was the great mindgames with the audience about what was going on inside Santini's brain... is he or is he not a superhero-hating bigot? Playing Citizen Soldier as both a good guy as a bad guy at the same time... and then revealing his secret identity as the Father of our Nation just made people crazy. I look back on this stuff and I'm just glad that anyone bought it, much less that it lasted twenty-four issues.

NRAMA: Where do you go from here? Do you have your eye on pitching more, or are you going to look at the other media fields you've worked in?

MW: Well, next up will be Vigilante drawn by Carlos D'Anda which comes out in August from the good people at DC Comics. That's going to be a rip-snorter of an all-out action book.

Outside of comics, I normally work with a writing partner, Jay Lender. Jay was a writer/director on Spongebob Squarepants, and we've done all of our film and television work together. We've recently been working together on comics as well, and now we've got four comics in some stage of production: a science-fiction comic titled Lifer that we're writing for Eric Nguyen - my StormWatch inker to illustrate; a graphic novel Duster with brilliant Canadian indy comics artist Kagan Mcleod; a non-superpowers action adventure book called Lucky 13 which I'm still pitching to people, and a comic about a motorcycling stuntman called The Human Rocket which Rick Remender of Blackheart Billy fame is going to draw.

In addition, as anyone who follows online gossip knows, I've always wanted to write a comic at Marvel. So, uh... do you know anyone over there you can introduce me to? I'm throwing my hat into the ring for Iron Man.

Outside of comics, Jay and I have a videogame Shadow Ops: Red Mercury which comes out on June 22nd for the X-Box and a PS2/X-Box game coming out in November; The Dukes Of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee based on the classic TV show.

We just picked up a job recently on a videogame based on a comic property everyone is familiar with and we're up for another game based on a big Christmas 2005 mega-blockbuster. On top of that, we've got two movies which we're trying to finish. It's no wonder that I'm exhausted!

NRAMA: Any final words for your StormWatch audience?

MW: Thank you so much... I really mean that. It's a tough marketplace right now and I'm really appreciative that 11,000 people were showing up to buy the book every month. As for those 3000 book-only readers who were waiting for the trades, if you want to see trades for issues #12-#24, you'd better run out and buy trades #1 and #2 and give them away to friends as gifts or something, because if trade sales don't uptick in a hurry, then we're never going to see those third or fourth trades.

Oh, and for the super die-hard fans, I want you to know that I'm leaving the story in a place such that if the marketplace ever changes again, we'll all be able to step right back into the story without blinking an eye. You know... just in case those trades start to sell really well.

Newsarama Note: Together with the cancellation of Wildcats 3.0, as well as the recent ending of Gen13, there will be only two ongoing series set in the Wildstorm Universe proper this summer, The Authority and Sleeper volume 2. The new Wetworks series by Mike Carey and Whilce Portacio is coming later in the year, as is Joe Casey’s new series, The Intimates.

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

So that's two of the three Wildstorm whichbooks that I started picking up recently going to be cancelled. Fingers crossed Authority has a good grip on it's position.

Here's the idea....List your movie picks (as follows) and the reasons behind them.

Just follow my lead.

Worst Movie You've ever been forced to endure and why you feel it was that bad?
Vanilla Sky I don't have a reason behind why I hated this movie with the passion of 5 firey suns, I just did. I feel it is the worst piece of cinema EVER put out and that if you compared it to.. Scary Movie, I'd say Scary Movie was Oscar Worthy next to this Tom Cruise dungpile.

Movie you've been disappointed in because it wasn't what all the hype made it out to be?
Star Wars Episode1-3 Yes, I'm including the one in there that hasn't even been released or written by George Lucas's dog yet. I'm a Star Wars Purist...I almost enjoying The Phantom Menace, but I absolutely felt sorry for poor Ewan McGregor in Epi 2 for having to endure such HORRIBLE acting around him. I've seen livelier wakes! I hated the fact that you could tell EVERYTHING was CGI. That the backgrounds were all painted and you could tell that too. There was zero dimension to any of these films, cinematically or visually.

Movie that surprised you, it made you like it.
Starship Troopers I got so sick of hearing everyone around me talk about how great this movie was that I didn't watch it for 4 years after it came out. Finally someone gave it to me as a gift. I let it lay in a drawer for another year before I finally watched it. It was an ok popcorn flick. I just hate it when people ruin a movie by hyping it so much.

Favorite Old Black and White Movie
(Ok, I've got about 3 of these!)
Harvey There's somethin' about a 7 foot invisible white rabbit and Jimmy Stewart that just makes for a nice afternoon.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney. Just a nice little romantic ghost story that I grew up watching with my mom. I think that's part of it's appeal to me. It reminds me of being a kid.

Captian Blood-Charge of the Light Brigade-The Sea Hawk-Against All Flags-The Adventures of Robin Hood ERROL FLYNN! Need I say more? Seriously, I grew up watching old b/w movies on A&E all night on Friday nights with my mom. It was only natural that a young girl would fall head over heels with Errol Flynn (and he had a thing for the young ones, oh yes he did).

Movie that no matter how many times you watch, you just don't get it?
The Matrix Total Recall Sorry again, I don't get the hype behind the Matrix and I found the first movie confusing to try to watch. *Of course, that could be because I had someone who was a Matrix nut trying to explain every single moment of the movie as it was playing.*
Total Recall, I'm still debating on if he was dreaming or not...and that's been HOW LONG???

Actress you think just needs to get over herself?
Halle Berry Yes, you've won an Oscar, you also hit a guy with your car and ran off...doesn't mean Storm should get more crappy Toad lines.

Actor you were surprised by, you thought he'd be worthless.
Colin Ferrell I thought "Ok, he's cool as Bullseye, but let's see him in something else." and sure enough, I didn't give the little Irish bugger enough credit. He's great.

Favorite Period Piece Movie
Oh Brother Where Art Thou? This is another one I just love. We've got a Toad in our garden named "Pete" now...thanks to this movie.

The last movie that made you cry.
A.I. Everyone panned this movie...but I'm sorry... maybe it's my mothering instinct, but I cried my eyes out at the end of this movie!

The movie you love that no one else does?
Super Troopers How many times can you meow?


Your turn!

I was really quite worried. I read that Marvel was doing a RELOAD of all of the X books (YUCK!) I wish Marvel would stop doing crap like this! It's unoriginal and stupid! They shouldn't have to restart ALL OF THOSE TITLES to clean up the mess of one drugged up writer! Enough of the ranting, though and on to the point.

The only thing they are changing about EXILES is the Creative team. I don't mind, because I have seen samples of the art and it looks great. I am a little upset that Clayton Henry isn't the new artist (he did the Fantastic Voyage story arc) but it's definitely not bad looking. By the way, if anyone wants to see some Great Artwork and a humorous story that harkens back to Older Deadpool and the Peter David Original Captain Marvel, Then check out the current ALPHA FLIGHT. So far, it's been worth my money!

Posted 13/04/2004
Source Newsarama

Following the post Coup D’Etat Wildstorm Universe is an unstable place. Unfortunately, this means both within the fictional world as well as in the real. Wildcats 3.0 writer Joe Casey has informed Newsarama that the series has been cancelled. Shortly after he learned of the book’s cancellation, Casey spoke with Newsarama about his run and the series end.

Newsarama: First off, the specifics. What’s the last issue, and what reasons were given to you?
Joe Casey: Issue #24 [August] is the final issue. The reasons were completely financial. I hate it when I see people trying to spin things in their favor just to pump themselves up. Let’s just be honest here… in this particular case, it was low sales that did us in.

NRAMA: But the series got a boost from Coup D’Etat right? Was the decision made after the Coup boost trailed off?
JC: I honestly couldn’t say what the timing was in regards to Coup. I just got the call last week so I’m still kind of reeling from the news. But I knew the writing was on the wall when I heard they weren’t doing any more Wildcats 3.0 trade paperback collections - well, aside from some weird Cyberforce crossover tpb, I guess. As far as those are concerned, what’s out there now is all there is and -- as far as I’ve been told -- all there ever will be.

NRAMA: Where is that in regards to your storyline?
JC: Unfortunately, there’s not much closure for the long term plans Dustin [Ngyuen] and I had for the book. Hell, Dustin doesn’t even get to come back like he’d planned all along. Issue #24 is the final chapter of the “Coda War One” storyline and it was already written when the plug was pulled. I was actually writing issue #25 when I got the call, so when you read #24, it certainly feels like issue #25 is coming after it. But now that won’t be the case.

NRAMA: I got the sense that post-Coup, the WSU was more cohesive, with each title playing a particular, integral role in the larger picture. That wasn’t the case?
JC: I’m not sure if our current readers were actively clamoring for a more cohesive Wildstorm Universe. Quite obviously, I could be wrong about that. But my sense of things was that our readers enjoyed the books for what they were without having to explain how they all tied together. The Coup series was an event meant to throw a brighter spotlight on books we were all excited about, more than anything else.

NRAMA: Under your writing, Wildcats was different than anything out there in the market – it was challenging, mature, cerebral, and made some demands on the reader. In short, it’s hard to find a book like that out there today. Personally speaking, what kind of message do the low sales and cancellation send to you as a creator, and to say, industry-watchers?
JC: I hesitate to say… mainly because I don’t want -- myself or anyone else -- to give up on the kind of work that I personally enjoy in comic books. I’ve been more like a “cult writer” in the mainstream for most of my career and it’s been a relatively comfortable place to be. I hate playing it safe, and I don’t want other creators playing it safe either. Guys like Chaykin and Miller and Moore showed me that you can make demands on the reader in the mainstream and it can pay off, because they essentially created a new mainstream. Maybe Wildcats was a “book out of time”. Either we were ahead of the curve or too far behind it. I don’t really know. I just know I loved it. We all busted our ass on a work-for-hire book as though we owned it, not DC. Part of me takes pride in that kind of commitment. Part of me wonders if I was a chump to care so much…

NRAMA: Editorially, were you still getting support throughout the run, even though the book wasn’t seeing stellar numbers?
JC: Well, there’s two types of “editorial support”. There’s the kind we got from Ben Abernathy, who consistently went above and beyond the call of duty each and every issue. If there’s an unsung hero of this series, it’s Ben. Then there’s the larger version of “support” coming from New York. Obviously I wish we’d had more of that. Frankly, I’m not sure if there was a lot of enthusiasm from DC corporate about Wildstorm attempting a Mature Readers superhero line in the first place.

NRAMA: Speaking of the support though, wasn’t there any kind of Hail Mary that would come in? A return to costumes, Jim Lee covers, more punchin’ & ‘splosions and people getting kicked in the head?
JC: That’s what the whole “Coda War One” story was supposed to be! A big, sprawling action epic before we headed into what was to be the final act of our run. Plus, we were confident that Dustin might bring back some attention with issue #25, coming fresh off his run on Batman. I guess we’ll never know if that would’ve helped…

NRAMA: Well Sinatra, tell me about your regrets, if you have a few…
JC: Like I said, the entire “final act” of Version 3.0 -- as Dustin and I had planned it -- would’ve lasted from issue #25 until around issue #40. The aftermath of the mission to Greece, seeing how Jack Marlowe and the Halo Corporation were going to deal with the world energy crisis and the world’s reaction to that, a controversial Presidential election and its ramifications, the return of the real Ladytron, the “Junior Wildcats”, the last Coda, and really just playing out all the various character threads that began all the way back in issue #1… all of that cool stuff will never see print.

NRAMA: Do you think Wildcats 3.0 would have done better if it was told in larger chunks, given the density of the story you and Dustin were telling?
JC: I don’t know… the density was actually what I liked about doing the series. That and the characters themselves. Actually, I’m insanely proud of how we depicted this cast of characters, the time we took to explore their personalities, the unpredictability of their actions, etc. so I don’t know if I’d want to do it any differently. I basically wrote the series I’d always wanted to read. Maybe if the book hadn’t been called Wildcats… but, again, I liked the brand identity of that name. It certainly tied into some of the themes of the series. But Scott Dunbier told me he was faced with a similar situation a few years ago, when he morphed StormWatch - which was selling for shit, despite critical raves - into The Authority. Maybe we should’ve taken a page from that playbook, but hindsight’s always 20/20…

NRAMA: Personally, how do you work this over and deal with it in order to pitch again another day? It seems almost that, since the series ended, you one could end up with a “They didn’t like it when I tried something dense and a little off, so let’s try something about a guy who hits people. A lot.” – or – are you more philosophical about it – “It pushed the envelope a little more, so next time, someone can walk on the path I carved out and push some more…”?
JC: It’s still a bit of a raw nerve for me, since I had so much invested in this series from a creative point of view, but I have to say that I’d still rather take chances and reach for the brass ring rather than play it safe. The real challenge for future, similar series that aren’t standard fare is how to market them and reach the readerships that can sustain them. So, yeah… at the end of the day I’d prefer to push the envelope and fall on my face rather than just jump on the latest bandwagon and have an easier ride. I’ve worked like a dog for eight years to get to the point where I could take more chances creatively and I don’t really want to stop now.

NRAMA: DC just signed a deal to publish Humanoids’ books. What you were doing with Wildcats always struck me as more European in its approach. There seems to be some irony there – that on one hand, DC is embracing Humanoids, and work of that ilk, but can’t make it work on their own…
JC: If there’s any irony in this situation, I can’t enjoy it yet.

NRAMA: So where do you go from here? Frantic pitching, or do you already have some ins in other offices and editors?
JC: Well, at Wildstorm, I’ve still got The Intimates launching in October, a series that’s certainly different from Wildcats in form and function. Out of all of my industry pals, I’m probably closest to the guys who work at Wildstorm. I think I’ve done my best work for them, so hopefully there’ll always be more stuff to do for as long as Wildstorm lasts. If you’re asking from a financial point of view… this isn’t about money. Sure, I have to earn a living like everyone else but I try not to get “frantic” about anything if I can help it. I write comic books most of all out of love and if you’re going to have a lasting career in this business, you’re inevitably going to take your share of lumps. This is just one more, although I’ll admit it’s a particularly painful one… but that’s for reasons more sentimental than anything else. We had a story to tell and we were still in the middle of telling it when the rug got yanked away. That’s never fun.

NRAMA: Any last thoughts you want to get out there for the series’ readers?
JC: Well, for the readers that have stuck with us, I’m really sorry it went down like this. It’s certainly not the way we wanted it to happen. Okay, so there weren’t enough readers to keep the series going… but I’m damn grateful for the ones we did have. They really seemed to get what the book was all about and they enjoyed it for what it was, not for what it wasn’t - shout out to the various Delphi forums and the Millarworld forum folks, in particular. For me, I really loved this book, thanks mainly to the artistic collaborations that go all the way back to dragging current Eisner nominee Sean Phillips into Wildstorm for Wildcats Vol. 2 up until now with Dustin, Richard Friend, Francisco Ruiz Velasco, Pascal Ferry and Duncan Rouleau. Not to mention colorist Randy Mayor and the brilliant Rian Hughes as our cover designer. It’s consistently been the greatest experience of my professional life so far, much more so than I ever thought I’d have in this business. But beyond the behind-the-scenes stuff… it was the characters, too. I’ve lived with these particular characters for the past four years. It’s definitely tough when you’re so attached to something to see it go away. But this was DC’s call to make and they’ve made it.

Reported 13/04/2004
Source Newsarama
by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

Asgard’s gotten a new Lord in the form of Thor. And the Thunder God is about to get a new creative team.

Mike Avon Oeming is taking over the reigns of Thor for six issues starting this June, as part of the Brian Bendis and David Finch’s “Avengers Disassemble,” an event that also brings Robert Kirkman and Scott Eaton to Captain America, and Mark Ricketts and Tony Harris to Iron Man. "Bendis got me in the door, he has huge coat-tails,” Oeming told Newsarama. “But once I was in, they had to read over Hammer of the Gods and my other books to see if I could handle the job. So far, so good.

Despite being the artist on Bendis’ Powers series (as announced last week, Powers will move from Image Comics to Marvel’s Icon, a new imprint for creator-owned and licensed properties) and having written Parliament of Justice and co-written Bastard Samurai (with Miles Gunter) and Hammer of the Gods (with Mark Wheatley), Oeming believes that what’s important is his storytelling skills and that’s what he thinks has gotten him the gig in the first place. “I think a basic understanding of pacing and story structure can get you a long way. It certainly isn’t my spelling! The fact is, I don’t think many writers, even writers better than I, have a good grasp of pacing and structure. They have great insights, amazing way with words and relying emotions and subtext in ways I never could, but many of the same writers have no sense of pacing. Sometimes, the basics can take you a long way as a writer. Also, I consider myself more of a storyteller than a writer. I struggle with writing and in no way claim to be a great writer, but I think I’m a good storyteller.”

Thor first appeared in the pages of Journey Into Mystery #83. Many creators have stamped their mark on the legend of Thor and his adventures on earth and Asgard. To Oeming: “He's a God who knows what it is to be mortal. I don’t really see him as a part of either world, I don’t see earth really relating to him, and yet I don’t really think he relates to the Gods because of his relation with humanity. I think he's pretty lonely. His dad is dead, his brother is his enemy and his real mother is a force of nature. He probably drinks a lot.” In a way, Oeming’s six-issue arc pays homage to past creators as well as the recent events from departing writer Dan Jurgens’ run. “It’s a touchstone to the series overall, recalling moments from [Jack] Kirby, [John] Buscema, [Walt] Simonson and [Dan] Jurgens. I don’t want to give too much away. Let’s say you’ll see things here that have never been done in Thor before. This is a lot about Thor’s family, his relation to Asgard as its Lord in absence of his father, what does it mean to lead the Gods - to be a god - to rise above the rest and become a god? It sounds grand, but truly it’s a personal Thor story. This is his story. There's lots of ‘cosmic gobbly-gook’ but it’s truly a personal story about Thor.

“My story takes place just before ‘Avengers Disassemble,’ [writer Brian Bendis’ upcoming storyline in Avengers] so if it’s referenced at all, it would be in his run. Cap and Iron Man show up in the second issue, so maybe they'll mention Thor and his troubles in Asgard at some point. And yes, some of Dan’s will carry over. A lot of the characters from Thor’s past will show up, some for old time’s sake, others are too close to Thor and part of his experience to just show up and say hi. There’s a real fellowship with Thor and the Warriors Three, Sif and the cast over the years that I want to explore.” If it sounds like he’s got a solid working knowledge of both Thor and his supporting cast, it’s because, well, Thor and his homeland are something he can still go sort of fanboy over. “One of the comics that made me fall in love with comics was X-Men Annual #9 by Art Adams. Thor wasn’t in it, but it took place in Asgard. Then I got into Simonson’s run and that sealed it. Also, I’m a fan of mythology and Norse mythology is amazing. I’m a big fan of Zeppelin, and they have tons of references to Vikings and Lord of the Rings, so those were also influences.”

As for his favorite stories, “Simonson’s run is my favorite for story content - but Buscema’s work was my favorite in terms of pure fun and joy. They could do anything in there and it was great.” Although he’s an artist himself – one that’s even tackled “thor” in Hammer of the Gods, Oeming’s not drawing his Thor story. Joining him on the series is Brath and Dragonlance: The Legend of Huma artist Andrea DeVito. “At this point I’m only writing. I’d love to draw Thor at some point. Andea is doing amazing work, but the covers are handled by Steve Epting.” What’s it like working with another artist? Does he come up with sketches, designs and layouts for DeVito, or do they throw ideas off of each other and come up with a consensus on the artistic side of their collaboration? “I trust him - he did Brath for CrossGen, so he knows the world,” Oeming said. “I ‘talk’ to him through the text of the script, but I really just sit back and watch him do his thing - the pages are amazing. I get details with the visuals but always preface them by saying he can just do his thing, as an artist, I can’t help but write visually, still Andrea has to do his thing. He's great.”

As for the look of the Thunder God, think basic Asgardian, worthy of worship by the Norse. “We brought back the classic look to Thor,” Oeming said. “I think Thor just needs to look powerful and not too refined - he's very organic. I don’t know Andrea's influences, but it has the feel of [George] Perez with the smoothness of, say, Alan Davis.”

Look for Oeming and DeVito’s Thor in June – both issues #80 and #81 ship that month.

To get to know the creator and to keep up-to-date on the latest news from Oeming, visit his website at http://www.mike-oeming.com and join the Oeming Newsletter by emailing him at <!-- e --><a href="mailto:oeming@aol.com">oeming@aol.com</a><!-- e -->

April 13, 2004...

A great big happy 18th Birthday to Liz and Mandy!

:pink:
You're officially old enough to vote now!



Enjoy the day!

Annette, Jeremiah and the little Kryptonian

For those of you who have any idea of what that means or where I'm going with it....

:pink: :pink: :pink: :pink:

*passes around the celebration cake and beer*


everyone sing with me..
"I'm Free to do what I want...any ole time!"

*doing the happy dance*

Souce Comics International

Wasn't sure if anyone else here was a fan of the whole Earth X, Universe X, Paradise X series, but I was, am and probably forever will be. I was surfing tonight and came across this link to a great page of additional work not published in the comic version of Universe X (although it was in the collected version.) I found these little interludes were a great build up to the next chapter or just gave more insight into what was going on with the world. So here we have author Jim Krueger’s accompanying text to his and Alex Ross’s story, together with examples of the original pencilled artwork by series artist Dougie Braithwaite.

http://www.comics-international.com/Univ...index.html

Click and enjoy.

I have just finished reading the JLA Rules of Engagement trade (issues 77-82, "Stardust Memories","Rules of Engagement","The White Rage"). I must say I wasn't impressed overall. After the kick ass ride that was Obsidian Age and the subsequent loooooong wait for this, the next trade I was hoping for more of the same. I guess the fact that this is Trade #13 should have told me I was out of luck.

Once I got over my initial disappointment at Kyle not being there, I tried to give the book a chance, but the stories just didn't gel for me. The new characters (Major Disaster, Faith and Manitou Raven) I found interesting and enjoyed their characterisations. I was glad to see Atom getting a shot at being the 'Hero' in the "Stardust Memories" but other than that the story was just too derivative for me of many scifi stories and star trek episodes I had seen.

Onto the title story, and finally 38 pages into the trade we get some sort of explanation for the change of Green Lantern, even if it is only a one line speech bubble from John Stewart. The story itself left me cold. I couldn't get involved with a species I had never seen before having troubles with another species I had never seen before. It just seemed like a big set up for a later story featuring Kanjar Ro.

The final story, well if it isn't another secret cabal operating within the government thinking it knows how to run things better than the elected government. A secret society with complex plans for world domination. How many times have we seen this? While it was nice to see a bit of background to Faith's story, i personally would have liked to see something a little more original.

Maybe I have been a bit rash with my judgements here, but these are my first impressions. Perhaps when i reread it I will change my mind. What does anyone else think of these issues/collection?