*************************************************************
*************************************************************
WELCOME
This week’s issue comes to you from sunny
Thanks to everyone who responded to my comments last week
about the absence of DC comics from both the AOL TimeWarner news coverage and
from the Warner Bros. stores. A few people mentioned that the WB stores did at
one time stock the Archive editions. Guess is just wasn't the ones I visited
<g>.
BATMAN BEYOND TRAILER RELEASED
------------------------------
The trailer for the upcoming Batman Beyond video movie is
now available on the net. So check out BATMAN BEYOND: THE RETURN OF THE JOKER
at several sites. Personally I recommend using the excellent Dark Horizons
trailers link page (http://www.darkhorizons.com/trailers/index-n.html)
Have a great week
Alan J. Porter
Millersville
MD 21108
New e-mail: [email protected]
IN THIS ISSUE OF
=====================================
Comics Shipping Next Week
Comics News
TV Show Schedules
Movie News
On The Newsstands
In The Stores
On-Line Happenings
Fanzines & Fan-Clubs
Meet The Bat-Team
================================================================
COMICS SHIPPING NEXT WEEK (January 26th)
***************************************
BATMAN #575
Written by Larry Hama; art by Scott McDaniel and Karl Story;
cover by McDaniel.
The original Nightwing art team of Scott McDaniel and Karl
Story join "No Man's Land" writer Larry Hama for stories emphasizing
high adventure in the streets of the new
BATMAN BEYOND #5
Written by Hilary J. Bader; art by Craig Rousseau and Rob
Leigh; cover by Bob Smith and Terry Beatty.
Leaping from the TV screen: the
sound-manipulating villain called Shriek. Deafened and imprisoned after his defeat by
Batman, Dr. Shreeve has escaped. Now he's developed a device that uses sound
waves to disrupt and disintegrate Batman's equipment...and he's a decibel away
from destroying the Bat-suit and the man underneath. (32
pages, $1.99).
BATMAN: HAUNTED
Written by Doug Moench; art and cover by Kelley Jones and
John Beatty
Elseworlds. As
Batman learns more about the dark forces that control
CATWOMAN #78
Written by Bronwyn Carlton; art by Staz Johnson and Wayne
Faucher; cover by Peter Doherty.
"No Man's Land" is over and
JLA #39
Written by Grant Morrison; art and cover by Howard Porter
and John Dell.
Grant Morrison's ultimate JLA story continues with Part 4 of
the 6-part "World War Three". The JLA Watchtower has fallen and war
rages across the globe as the ultimate enemy, Mageddon, approaches Earth. While
Green Lantern rallies everyone who's ever been a Justice Leaguer to fight the
Queen Bee's invading armada, Superman and Orion battle the unstoppable General
in the Ghost Zone. To make matters worse, the nations of the world get swept up
in the war-fever induced by Mageddon's approach. If our heroes can barely
handle all of this, what hope will they have against Mageddon itself? (32 pages, $1.99).
======================================================================
COMICS NEWS
*************
RUCKA’S BATMAN/HUNTRESS MINI
------------------------------
As part of his interview with the Batman: Defender of Gotham
Site (see “On-Line happenings below for the URL) , writer Greg Rucka outlines
some of the plot for his Batman/Huntress:
Cry For Blood miniseries that will be pencilled by Rick Burchett. In the six part series the
Huntress becomes the lead suspect in a Gotham gangland murder.
“Huntress has to make a choice,” explained Rucka. “She
continues as she has done, and becomes exactly what she pretends to be, or she
is, for lack of a better word, redeemed. The mini retells her origin - with
substantial changes to make it fit into current Gotham continuity - and
re-examines her pathology as a result. I`m working to make the mafia more
believable, closer to The Godfather - or maybe The Sopranos - than before,”
Rucka told Fandom. “Less super-villain, more criminal. All of this is done to
make Huntress more of a Gotham character. “
BATMAN COMICS YOU MAY NOT SEE
-------------------------------
Artist Steve Lightle recently posted on the Suphero News
Mailing List details of several Batman related projects he’s been working on
for DC’s licensing office.
They included:
BATMAN TEACHES YOU HOW TO USE A CREDIT CARD.
Steve described it like this. “This guy wants to buy tickets
to the movies for all his friends on his dad's credit card... Tim Drake tries
to talk him out of it... But Batman has to
show up to chase away the kid's mooching buddies. Meanwhile... On the cover, the same kid is
handing the credit card to a cashier to pay for a giant stack of CDs. Behind
him, Batman and Robin are lunging forward, in a panic, to stop the transaction.
It's fun. Even if I do feel like I'm drawing Adam West and Burt Ward
sometimes.”
Steve mentioned that he had also done Batman comics that
teach traffic safety and one about, Stopping the Riddler from blowing up Six
Flags Theme Parks which will be distributed in a package with the park maps.
More information on Steve’s work can be found at
( http://sites.netscape.net/stevelightle/gallery") The Steve Lightle's Home Page and (http://www.egroups.com/group/crossplains/1.html?) The Cross Plains E-list.
LATE SHIPPING
----------------
DC has announced the following changes to the shipping
schedule.
- BATMAN/DEMON: A
TRAGEDY will now arrive in stores on
2/16/00instead of the originally solicited 2/9/00.
======================================================================
TV SHOW SCHEDULES
********************
BATMAN BEYOND
---------------
The second season of the new futuristic look at the world of
the new Dark Knight is underway at 9.00am (ET) Saturdays on the KidsWB!
1/21/00 (4:30 pm) -- "Dead Man’s Hand"
1/22/00 (9:00 am) -- "Eyewitness" - NEW EPISODE
1/24/00 (4:30 pm) -- "Meltdown"
1/28/00 (4:30 pm) -- "Splicers"
1/29/00 (9:00 am) -- "The Winning Edge"
From Brian Davis comes news that Batman Beyond is airing in
the UK on ITV every Sunday at 9.25am (starting January 2nd). In the UK the show
has been renamed 'Batman of the Future'.
In Canada Batman Beyond can be found on YTV airing at 2.30pm
Saturdays and Sundays.
In Belgium Batman Beyond shown on Sunday mornings on the
cable channel VT4
NEW BATMAN / SUPERMAN ADVENTURES
----------------------------------
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, and 8:30am Eastern
and Pacific Time on the Kids' WB! ... But DON'T FORGET TO CHECK YOUR LOCAL
LISTINGS FOR EXACT TIMES IN YOUR AREA
1/21/00 (3:30 pm) -- "The Demon Within"
1/22/00 (8:00 am) -- "The Demon Reborn" (Superman
episode featuring Batman and Ras Al Ghul)
1/25/00 (3:30 pm) -- "Batgirl Returns"
1/26/00 (4:30 pm) -- "Mean Seasons"
1/27/00 (3:30 pm) -- "Catwalk"
1/27/00 (4:30 pm) -- "Judgment Day"
NOTE: Shows #1 - 85 are the classic "Batman: The
Animated Series" style. Shows #86 onwards are the "New
Adventures" style.
In Canada The New Batman / Superman Adventures can be found
on YTV at 7.30 am ( all time zones). For a weekly schedule check out
http://www.ytv.com
The Irish TV station RTE2 broadcasts The New Batman
Adventures on Tuesdays around 5pm and on Fridays at 5.30pm
In Belgium The New Batman Adventures is shown on Saturday
mornings on the cable channel VT4
In Italy The New Batman Adventures are now on Canale 5 every
Saturday and Sunday at 11.00am
BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES
----------------------------
The Cartoon Network is running selected episodes airing
Monday through Friday at 6.00 pm Eastern & Pacific time.
Carl Pickles wrote to say that Batman is now on the Cartoon
Network, Europe every day at the new time of 8.30pm UK Time.
SUPER-FRIENDS
-------------
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
-----------------------
The Canadian cable channel Space! is showing selected
episodes from the classic Adam West TV show. At 1.30pm (EDT) Monday thru
Friday.
The European satellite channel "Trouble" also airs
the 1960's show at 7am and 11am every morning.
In Italy the classic series can be found on daily on
"Canal Jimmy" (a satellite network dedicated to cult films &
television) at 10.15 A.M.
======================================================================
MOVIE NEWS
**********
BRUCE TIMM TALKS MOVIES & TV
------------------------------
Brain Saner-Lamken, editor of the about to be re-launched
COMICOLOGY, supplied GWN with this extract from his upcoming interview with
BRUCE TIMM and the state of the Batman franchise in both movie and TV forms.
“One of the questions that I (BSL) pretty much *had* to ask
Bruce was whether he and the rest of the animated BATMAN gang would be
interested in working on a live-action feature, and whether there was a chance
in hell of that happening. His response:
"I would *love* to do that. Are you kidding? My pay
scale would get a significant bump, so I'd owe it to my *family* to say yes. .
But, no, I don't think that there's a chance in hell. The only thing that's
possible at this point is that Alan [Burnett] and Paul [Dini] have both been
approached by the people on the [Warner Bros. Pictures] lot to submit ideas for
a [live-action] BATMAN BEYOND movie, but it's all speculation at this
point."
Shortly after our interview wrapped, Bruce was headed out to
Japan to oversee some production work for BATMAN BEYOND: RETURN OF THE JOKER, a
direct-to-video animated feature that's scheduled for release in November and
promises to fill us in on what happened to the rest of the Dark Knight's supporting cast between the classic BATMAN
episodes and BATMAN BEYOND.
Many fans have been wondering whether the Warner Bros.
Animation team will turning out any more classic BATMAN episodes, but right now
the team has its hands full with BATMAN BEYOND and many of the creators
involved are looking ahead to new projects. I'd love to tell you what's on
Bruce's personal wish list, but, hey, I have to give folks a reason to buy the
magazine itself. Let me sign off with Bruce's remarks about continuing the
animated BATMAN franchise:
Further classic BATMAN episodes seem "very unlikely at
this point. We had a meeting with a couple of people from the network, Jenette
Kahn from DC Comics, [and] people from Kenner about what we would do *next*
with Batman. "I think that we got
lucky with BATMAN BEYOND. Even *that* ... was a bit of a gamble. Like I said
[earlier in the interview], I'm kind-of a traditionalist myself, and I don't
like when *other* people revamp characters that already work as they are, but
BATMAN BEYOND was gonna happen whether we
did it or not, so I figured, 'Well, I owe it to the character to try to
give it our best shot.' I think that it
really *is* a good show in its own right, but . I certainly wouldn't want to
take a stab at BATMAN BEYOND *BEYOND*." – (Republished with permission)
=================================================================
ON THE NEWSSTANDS
******************
- Batman was named
"#1 Most Important Figure in Comics" by the January 1 issue of the
Washington, DC Times.
- DC's "urban
renewal" of Gotham was featured in the Hackensack, NJ Record's January 3
issue and the January 1 Baltimore Sun
======================================================================
IN THE STORES
***************
NO MORE WB STORES IN EUROPE ?
------------------------------
Rumor has it that all the European Warner Bros. stores,
except for those in the UK, will be closed in the anticipated cost cutting
purge we reported towards the end of last year.
======================================================================
ON-LINE HAPPENINGS
*******************
GREG RUCKA INTERVIEW ON-LINE
--------------------------------
The excellent BATMAN: DEFENDER OF GOTHAM has an exclusive
interview with new Detective Comics writer Greg Rucka at http://www.fandom.com/Batman/Editorial.asp?action=page&obj_id=57999
PAUL DINI TALKS BEYOND
-----------------------
Paul Dini recently conducted an extensive interview for
Mania’s Animated Shorts column in which he discussed BATMAN BETOND and the
upcoming BB video movie. Check it out at http://anotheruniverse.com/columns/animated/index.html
BATMAN RELATED E-MAIL NEWSLETTERS
---------------------------
Batman Animated Newsletter - Tim Leighton ([email protected])
Claw Marks: The Catwoman Fan Club Newsletter - Lynx Delirium
Batman UK - Monthly Newsletter - Brian Davis
(http://members.aol.com/BDavis2613/mailer.html)
======================================================================
BATMAN FANZINES & FAN-CLUBS
*******************************
(Know of any Batman related Fan-clubs that aren't listed ?
Send me an e-mail at [email protected] with details. When contacting any of these
clubs please mention GWN.)
BATMAN TOY & COLLECTORS PRICE GUIDE
---------------------------------
Editor John Mack has announced that he has suspended
publication of the BATMAN TOY & COLLECTORS GUIDE. .
GREEN HORNET & BATMAN FAN & COLLECTORS CLUB
--------------------------------------------
$10 a year for a bi-monthly newsletter. Contact J.
Washington III, 321 Gracie Road . Chesapeake VA 23325
HARLEY QUINN FAN CLUB
----------------------
Based in San Diego. For more info contact Mike at 4574
Mercurio St. San Diego CA 92130
LOYAL ORDER OF THE BAT
------------------------
Batman fan-club by mail discusses all versions of The
Batman. $14 per year for a bi-monthly newsletter. Contact T.J. Jones. 1401 St
Edwards Dr #157. Austin TX 78704
UNOFFICIAL BATMAN ANIMATED FAN-CLUB
-------------------------------------
This club began in September and consists of a quartery 30
page newsletter which is mailed out - 'a fan made magazine' with news, reviews,
guides, artwork and basically all that we can stuff in related to Batman,
Batman Beyond and Bruce Timm's amazing artwork. The club is non-profit making
(i.e. - you only pay for paper and printing costs) and it's made by fans for fans.
Based in the UK but USA and other members are always welcome. If you would like
more information on how to join please e-mail - [email protected]
or for more info see website at http://www.batmanuk.freeserve.co.uk/club/
======================================================================
MEET THE BAT-TEAM
********************
ORLANDO FL - March 31st-April 2nd
---------------------------------
MEGA-CON 2000 (www.megaconvention.com) will be held at the
Orlando Expo Center between March 31st and April 2nd. Featured guests so far
include DICK AYERS, DICK GIORDANO and SHELDON MOLDOFF. Also attending will be
Batman Licensed products artist AL BIGLEY.
NEW YORK NY – June 9-11 2000
-----------------------------
The “All Time Classic NY Comic Book Convention” (www.diamondcollectiblesny.com/atc)
will be held at the Westchester County Center between June 9th and
11th. Guests include CARMINE INFANTINO, JULIE SCHWARTZ and SHELDON
MOLDOFF.
====================================================================
HOW TO ORDER OUR OWN BATMAN BOOK
********************************
"THE UNAUTHORIZED BATMAN COLLECTORS GUIDE" by Alan J. Porter
The most comprehensive guide to Batman comics and
collectibles ever collected between
two covers.
160 Pages
294 Photographs
6000 Items Listed
8 1/2" x 11" - Soft Cover.
ISBN 0-7643-0683-9
$30.00
With over 6000 items listed, this is the most comprehensive
guide to Batman comics and collectibles ever assembled between two covers.
Nearly 300 photographs accompany the informative articles and price guide
listings. Highlights include a comics section which lists every comic book in
which Batman has appeared from his debut in 1939 to the end of 1997, plus a
figures section which lists all of the various Batman action figures. Covering
everything from Artwork to Videos, and price ranges from 15c to $150,000, this
book is a must for any Batfan.
As a special offer to GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS subscribers, you
can order a signed copy from the author.
Send a check / money order for $30.00* (US Dollars), along
with your mailing address to:
Alan J. Porter
Batman Guide
PO Box 527
Millersville
MD 21108
* US orders postage free.
* MD residents please add 5% sales tax.
* Overseas orders add $5.00
Unsigned copies can be ordered via Credit Card from either
http://www.BarnesAndNoble.com or http://www.Borders.com
=============================================================================
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/ )
- Comics Continuum
(http://comicscontinuum.com/index.htm)
- Newsrama
(http://www.anotheruniverse.com/newsarama/index.html)
- 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 - 2000)
"GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS", "GOTHAM GAZETTE - The
BATMAN Magazine On the Web" and "THE UNAUTHORIZED BATMAN COLLECTORS
GUIDE" are not affiliated 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 & Bill Finger
If you no longer wish to receive GWN or have been sent a
copy in error just send an e-mail to [email protected] with the words
"unsubscribe GWN" in the subject line.