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         GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS #64

              Thursday 17th December 1998

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A DAY EARLY

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You may have noticed that GWN arrived in your mailbox a little early this week. This is because I'll be away this Friday and over the coming weekend for the start of my Christmas holiday celebrations. And as the next scheduled delivery date for GWN would be Christmas Day itself, I've decided to take a week off for the holidays and there won't be a GWN next week.  However I am hoping to post the next edition of GOTHAM GAZETTE (#30) early next week - so look out for that.

 

AN APPEAL

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I have a request. Whilst reading an article on the early comics fanzines in Comic Book Marketplace (#64 dated November 98) I came across an illustration of a fanzine called "GOTHAM GAZETTE." The caption  gives the following information: Gotham Gazette #2 (July 1965, the "Official Newsletter of the Batmanians."). Unfortunately the article doesn't give any more information. However it does mention another early Batman themed fanzine called "Batmania". Does anyone know more about these early Batman fan publications, or better yet, have a copy they would be willing to sell or loan as I'd love to do an article on them for a future edition of GOTHAM GAZETTE.

 

ALFRED AWARDS

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Voting in the 1998 ALFRED AWARDS closes at the end of December. So if you haven't voted yet, now's the time to do it. Catergories can be found at http://members.aol.com/gothamajp/alfreds.htm

 

As always have a good week and a MERRY CHRISTMAS. See you all in 1999.

 

Alan J. Porter

[email protected] / [email protected]

 

IN THIS ISSUE OF GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS:

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 - Comics Shipping Next Week

 - Comics News

 - TV Show Schedules

 - TV News

 - On-Line Happenings

 

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COMICS SHIPPING NEXT WEEK (12/23)

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THE KINGDOM: NIGHTSTAR #1

By Waid & Haley

In order to save reality Nightwing's daughter must fight alongside her estranged father to save people that may already be as good as dead. ($1.99)

 

THE KINGDOM: PLANET KRYPTON #1

By Waid & Kitson

In present day Metropolis, Booster Gold has just opened his new super-hero themed restaurant. But the eatery seems haunted so Booster turns to BATMAN for help. ($1.99)

 

THE KINGDOM: SON OF THE BAT #1

By Waid & Apthorp

Heir to the dark legacy left to him by Bruce Wayne and Talia, Ibn al Xu'ffasch must use all his cunning to resurrect his grandfather - Ra's al Ghul in an effort to stop Gog's never ending war with Superman. Will the son of Batman be triumphant or fall to his own inner demons? ($1.99)

 

COMICS SHIPPING THE FOLLOWING WEEK (12/30)

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BATMAN/HELLBOY/STARMAN #2

By Robinson & Mignola

Hellboy and Starman venture to a secret Nazi base in the Amazon jungle to rescue Starman's father, Ted Knight - The golden age Starman. ($2.50)

 

BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT # 115

By Vincenzo & McDonnell

Many years ago a tragic accident resulted in the birth of a strange aquatic creature that haunts the caves that connect to those beneath Wayne Manor. Now the creature's obsession with a locket that once belonged to Martha Wayne brings it into confrontation with Gotham's other cave dweller - The Batman. ($1.99)

 

CATWOMAN #65

By Grayson & Balent

The conclusion of the three-part tale guest starring The Joker and BATMAN. ($1.99)

 

JLA/TITANS #3

By Grayson & Jiminez

The original Titans risk all for the life of a friend as the rest of the Titans team up with the JLA to keep the stellar juggernaut that is endangering Earth at bay. ($2.95)

 

THE KINGDOM #2

By Waid & Zeck

The KINGDOM EVENT concludes as Superman, BATMAN and Wonder Woman from the KINGDOM COME reality arrive in today's DCU to seek the aid of their counterparts here to combat the greatest menace ever known. ($2.95)

 

LEGENDS OF THE DC UNIVERSE: CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS

By Wolfman & Ryan

The "missing chapter" of the classic Crisis On Infinite Earths story is presented at last. Fitting between issues #4 and #5 of the original series, this story tells of the last adventure for the silver age Flash and the original Supergirl. ($4.95)

 

ROBIN #61

By Dixon & Johnson

Robin learns who really killed one of his schoolmates, only to find himself battling both the killer and a forest fire. ($1.99)

 

WONDER WOMAN #141

By Luke & Paquette

Wonder Woman is forced to face her darkest fears while trapped in a warped version of reality. Guest starring Superman and BATMAN. ($1.99)

 

COMICS NEWS

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FEB "NO MAN'S LAND" BAT TITLES RESCHEDULED

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Since the publication of the list in GWN # 61 DC has announced a change for the core Batman titles for February release -- BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK

KNIGHT, BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT, BATMAN, and DETECTIVE COMICS -- has resulted in the previously announced stories for those titles (including the

2-part "Mosaic", starring the new Batgirl) being moved into the Batman titles scheduled for March release. The following is the corrected information for the February release titles

 

BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #116 Written by Devin Grayson; art by Dale Eaglesham, Batt and Aaron Sowd; cover by Dwayne Turner and Danny Miki

In stores February 3. In Part 1 of the 4-part "Fear of Faith," a neutral Gotham sector made up of diverse ethnic and religious groups has been organized under the leadership of Father Chris, one of the Huntress's parishpriests. Because of her beliefs and because it encompasses her old neighborhood, the Huntress vows to protect Father Chris's sector from more hostile neighbors. But Father Chris is being pressured by everyone -- including the GCPD -- to choose sides for his sector in the fight for Gotham. And when he offers sanctuary to the Scarecrow, his problems can only get worse...

 

BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT #84 Written by Devin Grayson; art by Dale Eaglesham and Sean Parsons; cover by Dwayne Turner and Danny Miki In stores February 10. Part 2 of the 4-part "Fear of Faith," featuring the Scarecrow and a cameo by the mysterious new Batgirl! Things heat up for Father Chris and the Ark Project Refugee Center when they're assaulted both from outside and inside. Meanwhile, Batman and Batgirl try to keep a handle on Penguin's growing organization while dealing with a splinter group of Black Mask's former thugs.

 

BATMAN #564 Written by Devin Grayson; art by Dale Eaglesham and Jaime Mendoza; cover by Eaglesham and Danny Miki In stores February 17. Part 3 of the 4-

part "Fear of Faith," featuring the Scarecrow! When a reformed Black Mask member is shot for helping Father Chris's Ark Project Refugee Center, Batman and Huntress do what they must to save his life and calm the mounting tensions between the Father's neutral sector and its neighbors. But to save lives, Father Chris must make a deal with a devil, not realizing he already has one living under his roof.

 

DETECTIVE COMICS #731 Written by Devin Grayson; art by Dale Eaglesham and Sean Parsons; cover by Eaglesham and Danny Miki In stores February 24. The explosive conclusion to "Fear of Faith!" The refugee center comes under attack from all sides, as the renegade former Black Maskers, Penguin's troops and the GCPD all invade Father Chris's neutral sector of No Man's Land. With dozens of lives at stake, how can Batman and Huntress keep the powder keg that is the neutral sector from exploding?

 

JLA #27 REVISED

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JLA #27, originally solicited as Part 1 in a 3-part JLA/JSA team-up, will instead will instead feature a lead-in chapter to the story, guest-written by Mark Millar (The Superman Adventures) and guest-illustrated by artists Mark Pajarillo and Walden Wong (The Kingdom: Kid Flash #1). The corrected solicitation listing is as follows...

 

"JLA #27 Written by Mark Millar; art by Mark Pajarillo and Walden Wong; cover by Howard Porter and John Dell. In stores January 27. While the JLA conducts a recruitment drive in anticipation of the upcoming war with the 5th Dimension, T.O. Morrow unleashes a new version of Amazo! Endowed with the combined powers of all the current JLA members (regardless of which Leaguers he's facing at any given time), the League must call on as many former JLAers as they can to join the fight. But the key to victory rests with the most unlikely Leaguer of them all!"

 

MORE JSA NEWS

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Current "Dr Strange" writer Tony Harris reports he is currently developing a new Batman/JSA ELSEWORLDS project for DC entitled JSA: The Liberty File,

 

BATMAN IN THE REAL WORLD

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The Comic Book Continuum reports that Tom Sniegoski and Christopher Golden are writing Batman: Harsh Reality, a 48-page one-shot, for DC Comics and editor Andy Helfer. "They're starting a new branch of the Elseworlds books called the Realworlds," Sniegoski said. "It's pretty much DC characters placed in reality.  "With Batman, it's what if somebody decided to be Batman in this reality? What would he go through? What would his mental state be? What would he have to do? Would people want to throw him in jail? It's a really cool idea."  Batman: Harsh Reality will be drawn by J.G. Jones, who is also drawing the upcoming Black Widow mini-series from Marvel Comics. It could hit the stands by late summer. "We've turned in the pitch for the Batman thing, and already they're saying, 'We could really do a sequel to this thing,'" Sniegoski said. "So, I think they're very curious to see how people respond to this."

 

TV SHOW SCHEDULES

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BATMAN MOVIES ON TV

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HBO is surrently running showings of 1992s BATMAN RETURNS and 1997s BATMAN & ROBIN. Check your local listings for show times.

 

NEW BATMAN / SUPERMAN ADVENTURES

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The new season of Batman/ Superman Adventures is now on the WB Network Scheduled times are posted as Monday through Friday at 4:00 and 4:30pm; NOTE ADDITIONAL EPISODE now on Saturdays at 8:00, 8:30am and 9.00am  Eastern and Pacific Time on the Kids' WB! ... But DON'T FORGET TO CHECK YOUR LOCAL LISTINGS FOR EXACT TIMES IN YOUR AREA

 

Sat 12-19-98 @ 8.00am #084  "Deep Freeze" & @ 9.00am #096  "The Ultimate Thrill"

Due to the early posting I don't have the schedules for the next two weeks..

 

NOTE: Shows #1 - 85 are the classic "Batman: The Animated Series" style. Shows #86 onwards are the "New Adventures" style.

 

For those of you without a WB affiliate you may find the new shows on:

 - WGN  on Sunday mornings at 8.00 central/ 9:00 eastern standard time.

 - Some UPN stations are also running the shows on Sunday at 10.30 ET

A listing of US TV stations carrying the KidsWB! shows can be found at http://www.toonzone.net/brian/stations/index.html

 

The  Irish TV station RTE2 broadcasts The New Batman Adventures on Tuesdays around 5pm. These are the new episodes and sometimes they air ahead of the USA.

 

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES

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The Cartoon Network is running selected episodes airing Monday through Friday at 6.00 pm  Eastern & Pacific time.

 

Mon 12-21-98 ( #26) "Appointment in Crime Alley"

Tue 12-22-98 (#27) "Mad as a Hatter"

Wed 12-23-98 (#28) "Dreams in Darkness"

 

From Brian Davis comes news that Batman is back on the Cartoon Network, Europe every day at 7pm UK Time.

 

Sean Wilson reports that  Global TV is showing Batman: The Animated Series at 7:00 am (PST).

 

SUPER-FRIENDS

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On the Cartoon Network (USA)

SUNDAY 1:00-2:00 am   &  1:00-2:00 pm  

 

Several GWN readers have also reported that showing at 4.30pm (EST) weekdays are a variety of Super-Hero related cartoons including episodes of SUPERFRIENDS and the old 1970's vintage BATMAN shows.

 

BATMAN - 1960s TV SHOW

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The Canadian cable channel  Space! is showing selected episodes from the classic Adam West TV show. At a NEW TIME of  1.30pm (EDT) Monday thru Friday.

 

Mon 12/21 - (season 2/show 36 ) "The Cat's Meow"  - Catwoman

Tue 12/22 - (2/37) "The Bat's Cow Pow" - Catwoman

Wed 12/23 - (2/38) "The Contaminated Cowl"  - Mad Hatter

Thu 12/24 - (2/39) "The Madhatter Runs Foul" - Mad Hatter

Fri 12/25 - (2/40) "Penguins A Girls Friend" - Penguin

 

The European satellite channel "Trouble" also airs the 1960's show at 7am and 11am every morning.

 

TV NEWS

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"BATMAN BEYOND" GETS PRIME TIME DEBUT

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ANIMATION BLAST reports that the  BATMAN BEYOND series will have a special premiere in primetime, at 7pm on Sunday, January 10th. The one-hour episode will then repeat the morning of Saturday, January 16th, before the series premieres in its regular timeslot of Saturdays at 9:30am on January 23rd. The network showed its first commercials for the series last Monday during The New Batman/Superman Adventures.

 

ON-LINE HAPPENINGS

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THE "NEW" BATMAN ON AOL

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Will Friedle the voice of the new Batman in BATMAN BEYOND will be on AOL Live on December 30th at 9.00pm ET.

 

AOL WEEKLY CHAT ROOM SCHEDULE

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Monday (12/21)

GOTHAM CITY HAPPY HOUR, 7 PM ET

With representatives from the Batman editorial office..

 

Wednesday (12/23)

WOMEN OF THE DCU, 7 PM ET

Fans gather informally to discuss DC's female characters, past, present, and future from Catwoman to Duela Dent.

 

BATMAN'S PARTNERS, 9 PM ET

Fans gather informally to discuss Robin, Oracle, Nightwing, the Huntress, Azrael, Catwoman, and Black Canary.

 

 

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THE LATEST ISSUE OF  GOTHAM GAZETTE  is now available.

 

Issue #29 can be found at http://members.aol.com/gothamajp (Note the new URL)

 

This month:

 - A personal appreciation of the late BOB KANE

 - News about the delay to the BATMAN BEYOND show

 - A round up of the last month's MOVIE NEWS and rumors.

 - A look ahead to what's happening in the BATMAN COMICS, with details on "No Mans Land" and upcoming Elseworlds projects.

 - A listing of BATMAN COMICS shipping over the next two months.

 - A look a back at a CLASSIC COMIC - This month, Batman #393.

 - A new FAN-FICTION story featuring ALFRED.

 - A look back at the recent NASCAR "BATMAN vs JOKER" promotion race at Charlotte.

 

- THE COLLECTORS GUIDE updates can be found at http://members.aol.com/gothamajp/guide.htm

 

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Sources used in compiling GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS

 - DC Comics On-Line Newsletter (http://www.dccomics.com/newsletter.html)

 - Diamond Previews (http://www.diamondcomics.com)

 - WB Animation Web Page (http://www.wbanimation.com)

 - Space ! Weekly Schedules Web Page (http://205.250.106.39/schedule/)

 - Comic Book Continuum (http://www.detnews.com/comicbooks)

 - Newsrama (http://www.AnotherUniverse.com/newsarama)

 - Hollywood Heros (http://www.Mania.com/Mania)

 - WB Cartoon Episode Schedules (http://www.toonzone.net/brian/index.html)

 - Comics2Film (http://www.comics2film.com)

 - Dark Horizons (http://www.darkhorizons.com/news.htm)

 

GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS is a FOREST COMICS Publication.

 

FOREST COMICS is (c) and TM  - Alan J. Porter (1994 - 1998)

 

GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS is not affliated to, or endorsed by, either Warner Bros. or DC Comics.

BATMAN and all related characters and indicia are acknowledged as Trademark and copyright DC Comics Inc..

 

BATMAN created by Bob Kane.

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