Conspiracy Theories Revealed!

By Alan Donald

Well, another week, another column. Wait...have I used that before? Perhaps I should just count up the weeks like another columnist does; I must admit that it would be easier that way, no thought needed...

What have we got this week? Well you’ll just have to wait and see won’t you? As always I promise the usual mix of gossip, rumour, slander, scuttlebutt and the odd bit of news put in just to keep you guessing.

As always we continue to be the first comic book gossip column to run a weekly competition (to my knowledge). This idea of mine seems to be a monster that’s getting a life of its own. Our very good pals at Dynamic Forces, who sponsor this whole dang column on a weekly basis, are responsible this week’s competition. They’re giving away the fabulous Uncle Sam Hardcover, signed by Alex Ross and Steve Darnall. It comes with a certificate of authenticity and everything.

To win just read the column, identify the source of the codenames I have given to my sources (it could be from a TV series, a comic book, a book, a film or anything similar) then e-mail competition@silverbulletcomicbooks.com with your answer. At the end of the week a faceless minion prints out all the correct answers, folds them up, puts them in his grubby little tartan flatcap (that all the faceless minions wear around Rage Towers), takes his cap to the Big Kahuna and lets the just as anonymous big boss pick the winner. Or so I’m told...

Last week’s source was the extremely popular UK TV soap Eastenders, the top rated show in the UK (well depending on the status of some piece of crap on the other side). This isn’t as unfair as it may sound as I know the show has a following on the BBC’s international channels. I don’t watch it normally myself but this week... oh boy, as old Sam Beckett used to say. The winner was message board stalwart AKAntoniou, who wins the choice of The Towers of Bois-Maury or Zachary Holmes – Case Two: The Sorcerer both from Dark Horse’s Venture line, or their very instructive The Art Of Comic-Book Inking 2 by Gary Martin. Just e-mail us at the regular ol’ competition@silverbulletcomicbooks.com address to let us know what you want and where to send it!

And now, on with the show:

No More Marvel Re-Orders in the UK

Following on from last weeks story this is from a note put out by Diamond UK:
    As retailers may be aware, in what has been a successful effort to stimulate timely consumer demand and rekindle collectability, Marvel Comics recently ceased to print significant extras of their comics. For US retailers this has meant that there is usually no longer the possibility of reorders once the initial order has shipped. Until now this policy has not affected retailers serviced by Diamond UK. However, effective with your September Previews orders, the UK will follow the same procedures as the States. Please ensure that you are happy with your initial orders from September Previews. If you need to increase any orders you will need to do so no later than the Order Increase Date shown in the monthly Order Forms. If you order later than that date Diamond may not be able to supply extra copies. Ever since instituting the "no extras" policy in the States, Marvel comic sales have increased strongly. It is Marvel's hope that the same will result in the UK market. Graphic novels are not affected by this policy and the recent strong list of Marvel graphic novels is set to continue.
To be honest, it’s more surprising to find out that retailers in the UK could be serviced by Marvel re-orders than in finding out that’s no longer the case. How was this handled – if Marvel allowed no re-orders in the US, but as many as UK retailers wanted, where did these extra copies come from?

It is hardly surprising that Marvel sales have increased strongly for Diamond and Marvel. But not necessarily for the retailer. The poor little retailers have to over-order on Marvel comics to ensure that they can get enough. Most of the time this will mean dead product but it’s either that or disappointed customers, customers who’ll go elsewhere. This news comes hot on the heels of DC announcing that Batman #608 has gone to a second print. It’s hardly surprising that DC is pushing this as a big deal and as a sign of “their commitment to the readers”.

Many thanks to Mark for supplying us with that info.

This Has A “Not So Marvel-ous” Value Of Four Out Of Ten

Before We Go Too Much Further

As the title says, before we go too much further I’d like you all to read something:
“CONDITIONS OF ENTRY:
I accept that the following material is rumour and gossip, intended to entertain only.
I won't repeat the information inside as fact. I understand if I want the truth, I will go to Silver Bulletins.
I enter freely with my mind open and my blinkers off.”

That is the bit of text you click past to get here otherwise known as the rumour barrier. Have a quick read of it, especially certain employees of certain companies. I know you’ve probably got loads to read in your job and it’s so much easier just to send out a nasty e-mail to “teacher” but take the time, read it. I do try to present facts, I do try to check stories but ultimately this is a rumour page, ok?

This Has A “You Know Who You Are” Value Of Ten Out Of Ten

Masters Of The Universe? … Not Really, Just North America

Yet another cock-up on international distribution contracts:
    Image and Diamond Comic Distributors have been informed that the forthcoming Masters of The Universe comic published by Image is not for sale out side of North America. To this end all orders for Image's Masters Of The Universe comics have been cancelled, the forthcoming December Previews will list the items as N/A UK.
What is the matter with these US publishers, do none of them know there’s a whole wide world outside of North America?

Don’t they bother to read the contracts the toy companies ask them to sign? Don’t they care? Once more this is a great opportunity for eBay to make US comic buyers a great deal of money. All you need do is replace the .com with .co.uk guys and away you go...

UPDATE: Speaking to a UK retailer on Transformers comics. The dealer in question managed to get a good deal on the comics, a 22% discount from a US dealer.

Many thanks to Peter for this snippet.

This Has A “I HAVE THE POWER... Well In The US, That Is” Value Of Four Out Of Ten

Green Lantern Corpse

The following arrived in my mailbox this week:
    I have an item for you that may be a little out of the ordinary. Over on the DC Comics Green Lantern Message Board, one of the GL creative staff has thrown down the gauntlet with one of the regular flamers there. A poster going under the name JSA vs INFINITY created a thread called "A Psuedo Apology To All Past, Present And Future GL Hack Writers" Hey folks...

    Well, Rob deleted a thread started by the somewhat slow-witted JSA vs INFINITY. In that thread, a rather scathing diatribe against "Past, Present and Future Hacks" writing GL In this thread JvI went on to demean and insult every writer and editor that's touched GL in the last ten years (needless to say, there was no actual apology). GL Colorist Moose Bauman stepped in and took JvI to task. In his post, Bauman made a serious offer to buy a plane ticket and entry fees to the San Diego ComiCon for JvI. The thought was to see if JvI had the courage of his convictions, and give him the opportunity to tell these creators what he though of them to their faces. The down side was that, if JvI got there and backed down, he'd have to kiss Moose's ass right in the middle of the con. I believe Moose's offer was genuine. He reaffirmed this several times. I think Moose was trying to expose this guy as a fraud and a coward, like most faceless trolls who stalk the message boards. But I've never heard of any other comics creator doing this kind of thing before. I thought you might like it.
I did, so much so that I headed straight over there and checked it out...unfortunately I was too late and one of the threads had gone but I did spot the following summary:
    I threw down the gauntlet to JvI: I will personally pruchase his plane ticket and entry fees to the San Diego ComiCon next summer, if he has the courage to repeat his hate-filled monologue to the faces of the people he's railing against (Marz, Winnick, Rabb, Schreck, Dooley and me). The penalty if he chickened out: He'd have to kiss my lilly white posterior in the middle of the Con floor.

    Shortly before the post was deleted, JvI tried to deflect the heat off of him, trying to blame his "anger" on GL Editorial. He then declined my challenge, in a very weenie-like way.

    Just wanted to give an update to anyone curious. Yes, my challenge was deadly serious. And yes, my challenge still stands. I have no doubt, however, that JvI is hanging his head in shame somewhere, distraught by the knowledge that his cowardice and hypocrisy has been exposed for all to see.

    MOOSE!!!
Moose is, of course, Green Lantern colorist Moose Bauman.

In some ways it is nice to see creators standing up to online harassment, they are just people after all. On the other hand dear old Moose has probably scared the pants off some 12 year old... actually that ain’t another hand, hopefully he gave the little shit something to think about.

Many thanks to Francisco, one of our very rare sources who doesn’t want to remain anonymous!

This Has A “Kiss My Lilly White Ass” Value Of Ten Out Of Ten

Strange Bedfellows – Wizard and Marvel

More follow up. Regarding last week’s item, Wizard Out To Destroy The Future, the following was sent to us:
    I don't know if there's a conspiracy against Future Comics or against all the other comic companies out there, but Wizard LOVES Joe and has for quite some time.

    And they've never ceased to show him or his projects favoritism.


Our lovely source, Carrie, sent along the following two articles that he/she had found online to illustrate his/her point:

http://4colorreview.com/papercuts/papercuts/papercuts_blackbull.shtml

http://4colorreview.com/papercuts/paper_blackbull_redux.shtml

And very interesting reading they make too... but as our dear source says:
    Again, all this clarifies is that Wizard editorial likes to give their friends plenty of press. It's their magazine; they can do what they want with it...
Well, after reading those two articles, I think they say a great deal more, and thank you again Carrie and I hope you’ll keep your eyes peeled for anything similar again.

But what about all the small comic companies, what about DC, what about those who aren’t friends with Wizard or more conspiratorially what about those who Joe Quesada at Marvel hates? Wizard has an important role in the comic book industry. It’s no simple price guide anymore. Rumours like this and suggestions that major comic companies may be able to influence the press that others get do not bode well for the industry’s number one magazine, nor for the fans themselves.

A nasty little Rage-mite, Jerry, dropped us an e-mail maintaining Joe Quesada does use his friendship with the Wizard editorial staff to influence their content, specifically to put down non-Marvel books and to bolster his own books. Not a very sophisticated allegation but one worth pursuing. In the interest’s of fairness, and so that no-one could allege that I don’t check things out, I e-mailed both Wizard and Quesada to ask their opinions on the allegation … Joe was kind enough to take time to reply, showing his sense of humour is intact
    I am so flattered to think that people really believe I have this kind of influence in the comics industry that I can actually cause Wizard to direct their editorial policy to bend to my whim!

    Ah, what the hell, lets let the folks that believe that go on believing it.

    So, let's reveal the truth. The only reason any company receives any sort of coverage at Wizard is because I allow them to. Gareb Shamus and his staff are under strict orders to send me every layout for every page of Wizard or I will punish them dearly! Most of the time there is nothing but 100% Marvel coverage and that's when I have to remind myself that I am a benevolent Comic Book Industry Dictator and that's when mercifully I allow other companies to share the magazine. It's tough being me, but this is why I'm so loved by my brethren; they realize that with a wave of my hand I can send oil fields ablaze, march millions to their death and make even Mark Millar a sex symbol!

    Okay, that last part is a lie; even I can't make Millar sexy.

    Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

    Ruler of all he surveys
    JQ
The following was spotted by Luka on the Future Comics website. Nice to know they are readers:
    RUMOR #5
    Wizard is deliberately boycotting any news or promotions from Future Comics. Allegedly, they are afraid of upsetting their relationship with Marvel's Editor-In-Chief, whom Bob Layton had fired while he was E.I.C. of Valiant for constantly missing his deadlines.

    THE TRUTH:
    While it is true that Bob did fire that fellow, we have no evidence that we are being boycotted by Wizard. And though there are many ex-Valiant people at Wizard, we find it hard to believe that anyone there would still be holding a grudge. We think their lack of interest in our projects stems more from the fact that we're perhaps not as trendy as they might prefer.
So there we have it, Wizard doesn’t like Future because they smell, and JQ is god… sounds good to me!

This Has A “We’re Off To See The Wizard” Value Of Seven Out Of Ten

Peter David – The New Alan Moore

Well, from the point of view of having a story about him each week in ATR, anyway. This week’s comes from Robert and concerns Peter David’s daughter:
    [She] applied at the cambridge mass new england comics.
    for a reference she used h. ellison
    under special skills, "can gaurantee an instore by peter david"
Man, thought my typing waz badd. I checked this out online at the Peter David website (good site, very up to date). Gwen, Mr. David’s daughter did in fact apply for a job at the said comic shop. The link to her site wasn’t working when I visited, but the following comes from PAD’s site:
    Here's a Gwen update: She had the job interview at New England Comics, which she thinks went well. They asked if she reads my books, which of course she doesn't. That shouldn't be surprising. Putting aside the axiom that no man is a hero in his own home (except, I think, major league baseball players; I mean, how could they NOT be), I think it's tough for the children of a writer to suspend disbelief long enough and buy into characters when they're used to seeing their father sitting there creating the characters on his computer... She'd probably say, "He sells insurance." Which is what my kids used to say about me, particularly when meeting boys, so they wouldn't have to worry that the boys weren't interested in them just to get some free comic books. At any rate, if Gwen does get a part-time gig at NEC, I'll let you know. Because it is, after all, a Gwen world, and we're all just living in it.
From fan reply:
    The real hazard of dating Peter David's daughter is the risk that he may commit character assassination -- for example, make you the bug-eating gibbering cretin who assists the major villain but gets killed in an messy and undignified manner for the sake of an easy gag...

    I walked into New England Comics for the first time (it's near my school) and asked when they were having the Peter David signing. They explained how it wasn't a fact yet, but that Gwen seemed very qualified and knew a lot about comics. I think she'll get the job...”

    And my regular comic shop seemed disappointed she didn't apply there. Pretty cool...
Further from Peter David himself:
    I promised I'd give you guys an update as to Gwen's status with New England Comics. Well, they didn't call, so I guess she didn't get the job. It's entirely possible they simply didn't need the additional help. Still, I seem to recall someone here in the Boston area saying their local comic retailer wished that Gwen had applied at his store. Well, now's your chance.


So Robert’s email may not be a bunch of hooey after all.

Well, that was a fun five minutes. Next week I’m sure we’ll have a story on Alan Moore’s daughters blagging their way into a coven just by mentioning daddy’s name!

This Has A “Can You Really Blame Her” Value Of Six Out Of Ten

Pick Up A Bargain

The internet auction site mastronet has a few items going cheap that you may want to know about (especially if you are thinking about Christmas presents for your favourite columnist, hint, hint).

“The Historically Important Copy of Action Comics #1 that was Used in the Detective Comics, Inc. vs. Victor Fox Copyright Infringement Case of 1939 Current Bid $16,106.00 Next Minimum Bid $17,717.00”

“Original Superman Cape Worn by George Reeves on the Classic 1950's TV Show Current Bid $7,423.00”

“Detective Comics #27 - CGC Apparent FN 6.0 with the Slightest of Professional Restorations, and Absolutely No Color Touches - May, 1939 Current Bid $14,641.00 Next Minimum Bid $16,106.00”

“Amazing Fantasy #15-Spider-Man's Introduction to the World in 1962 Current Bid $1,089.00 Next Minimum Bid $1,198.00”

I can’t see any of these prices staying quite so low and trust me they are low , so bid now!

This Has A “Christmas Is Coming...” Value Of 10 Out Of 10

It Hadta Be

“Where’s the Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman story?” I hear you cry. Worry not, here it is.

Neil Gaiman will be making a "A Short Film About John Bolton" in late November. And...
    ...I'm finishing the latest polish on the Fermata script, about to write the third part of 1602, and, of course, off to Chicago for the Humanities Festival.”
Presumably this is the same Fermata novel by Nicholson Baker, about a chap who can make time stop by clicking his fingers. He does what any normal, red-blooded male would do in such a situation – have a peek at woman’s bits and bobs… Can’t wait for the film.

Just in case anyone wanted to know.

This Has A “1602” Value Of Seven Out Of Ten

DK3 On The Way

Many thanks to John who spotted the following interview with Frank Miller on the DC site:
    Walden: Any chance of a DK3 in the foreseeable future?

    Frank: It's certainly possible. A book that goes this well just about always begs a sequel, and I'd sure enjoy revisiting my own pocket of the DC Universe. There is a third story to tell. And it's a damn good one. But it'll take a time to cook. Maybe it'll be ready, once the comic-book traditionalists have recovered from DK2. I hear it shook them up pretty bad.

    So getting to DK3, that'll take a while, should it even happen. In the meantime, I've got plenty of new stories to keep me busy. Since 9/11, I've ditched a lot of yarns I had planned. But new ones are presenting themselves right quick.
Now there’s been a lot of mean stuff written about DK2 (some, I’ll admit, by me) but heck what did Frank, the man, think about it?
    For months I called it my "suicide mission." I knew a lot of fans of DK1 would be offended by the very notion of a DK2, and they'd be horrified when they saw that the new one was indeed new. But once it got rolling, I just plain fell in love with the DC pantheon, all over again. Somewhere in the second chapter I stopped caring much who I was pleasing or disappointing. I was on fire. And there was Lynn Varley [colorist], throwing every page back at me as a study in, and parody of, pop culture. It was a good time, this book. One of the best times I've had.

That’s not all. It seems Frank Miller’s current association with Batman extends beyond the Dark Knight franchise:
    I've got the coolest idea for a new Batman comic. That'll almost certainly happen, and soon.
Now is this good or bad news? DK2-style Frank Miller writing and art: bad news. Batman Year One style writing and art: the best news ever.

So many dichotomies within one creator...

This Has A “Wait And See” Value Of Seven Out Of Ten

Wanna Travel Without A Passport? Write The Next Spider-Man Film

It’s amazing but it’s true Michael Chabon managed to blag his way past Canadian Customs without a passport or other official papers. Mr. Chabon, the Pulitzer-prize-winning author who is currently on a book tour (whilst writing the next Spider-Man screenplay) begged and pleaded his way through according to sources at his publishing house.

Many thanks to Doug for the tip-off.

This Has An “Amazing Spider-Ham” Value Of 8 Out Of 10

TV News

A few bits of TV news spotted by Lucy and Carla.

Apparently Joss Whedon has confirmed that the next series of Buffy will be the last. More bad news for fans is the fact that Amber Benson (who played Willow’s lover Tara) will not be returning to the show as previously reported. It was rumoured that she would return as someone else, a twist that would have been hellish for her “widowed” lover but apparently they couldn’t sort out the contracts in time. There will be a love interest for Willow this season, a girl again: “She’s gay,” said Whedon recently. "We decided it would be unfair of us, particularly considering the circumstances of Tara's controversial death, to say, 'Oh, now Willow's over it.' Or, 'Willow's bi so we can have more storylines.'”

Over in South Park the late and lamented Kenny will apparently be returning from the dead. This once upon a time every episode event will occur in the next series but the creators are playing their cards close to their chest on how, but they promise it will be good.

This Has A “I’m Sure You Watch TV, Too” Value Of Eight Out Of Ten

Mark Miller: Bond Is Old Man’s Wank

What? Well he said it in his latest column:
    MM: I loved it. It's funny, I saw the trailer with Red Dragon for XXX and for Bond and Bond just looked like a lot of old man’s wank compared to it. It's like seeing dinosaurs and people existing at the same time.

    BH: Is Vin Deisel any good?

    MM: He is. There's something about him that reminds me of Bendis kind of mixed with Joe Quesada in a strange way.
Vin Deisel reminded him of Mr. Q?.... Have I said how good Marvel is lately?

Thanks to Elizabeth for scouting out this location.

This Has A “Old Man’s Wank” Value Of Ten Out Of Ten

Todd Goes Back To Court

Frank for spotted the following:
    McFarlane and Image Comics have filed a motion to overturn the jury's decision in the Gaiman/McFarlane lawsuit.
Not a full appeal as many expected but perhaps the first step in a lengthy attempt to tie up this case in as much legal red tape as possible.

This Has A “Non-Biased (Go, Neil!)” Value Of Nine Out Of Ten

2000AD Film

Those UK residents with money to burn had better get their skates on. The 2000AD film share offer is nearly over. Applications have to be in by the 19th November.

It’s nice to see that the film company is giving a Pinewood studios address - a locale that should warm the heart of many a British reader. I asked a few questions in my first or second column about this offer, some of them are answered with the company prospectus. Check it out yourself at http://www.2000adfilm.co.uk

This Has A “More Than Just Dredd” Value Of Ten Out Of Ten

More On That Bloody DK2 Story

I told you it just wouldn't die... I've had another two e-mails sent in on this. The first is from Brian Hibbs, Head Cheese at Comix Experience. He writes:
    This is how returns work.

    Retailers pay a wholesale price for a comic book. When they return it, they get that wholesale price that they paid back. If a retailer gets a 50% discount on DC comics, then when they return the $7.95 DK2, they'd get $3.98 back. That's what they PAID for it, and that's what they'd get back. You don't think we got full cover back, did you?

    In the case of DK2, yup retailers have to pay shipping back. DC's return policy (from memory, here) says that if a book is $5.95 or over then they have to send the full copy back rather than stripped covers. I wish the policy was otherwise, but then, it's also worth noting that DC is also allowing returns on all printings of #1, which wasn't late at all.
So why are we being told on the one hand from customers that their shops are telling them that there ARE restrictions, yet on the other retailers are telling us that there ARE NO restrictions? Galloping to our rescue is Rick from Famous Faces & Funnies, in Melbourne, FL:
    DK2 IS fully returnable including ALL reorders. Anyone telling you different either just got some error on their invoice (not an impossibility concerning Diamond's recent shipping and even billing problems). DC have been great about the whole situation, letting us cut our initial orders on # 3, and then still letting us return any copies of all three issues. Yes, they are giving us $4.00 credit, but that's at cost, not at retail. So we get back exactly what we put into them.

    I think any shop claiming they can only return so many to their customers doesn't want to refund the $7.95 each when they'll only get their cost back out of it, (and have to wait a few weeks for the credit) which is understandable.

    As far as paying our own shipping, they get sent back to Diamond along with all the other returnable stuff, which any shop worth their salt should be doing returns every other week if they have returnable product they can't sell. If I spend five bucks to UPS a few books back to get a few hundred dollars credit back, I can't knock that. Just thought I'd throw in my take on the situation.
Many thanks to Rick and Brian.

It seems a few retailers have had dodgy paperwork or misread the stuff they got from Diamond or DC, and a few more retailers have been telling porky pies to their customers for whatever reason… why not ask your retailer if he’ll return your book for you and let me know what s/he says?

This Has A "You Can Return Comics?" Value Of Eight Out Of Ten

Parody Posters Spawn A Book

I’ve heard on the grapevine that Micah Wright (writer of Stormwatch: Team Achilles) has just signed a book deal based on his latest t-shirt line. This line (check out http://www.cafeshops.com/cp/store.aspx?s=warposter) features parody posters based on real war-time propaganda art.

These are great fun, and as soon as we hear more on the book deal we’ll let you know.

This Has A "Be A Good American – Wear Micah’s T-Shrts!" Value Of Ten Out Of Ten

Marvel Money Matters

An update on Marvel's financial situation, as was reported here a few weeks back. The following was spotted by Carol:
    Jemas was asked to comment on the publishing division's outlook and responded, "There's a lot of good news in publishing business. After several down years the industry started to grow last year and has continued to grow this year. A significant portion of that growth does relate to Marvel. We don't really see any end in sight. We had a strong year because of Spider-man, but we're not a one trick pony. We're sort of 4,700 trick pony." Jemas pointed out that Marvel's success this year went against the "long standing comic book myth that movies didn't increase comic book sales and that's been shattered."

    He also mentioned the success of graphic novels in book chains and mass marketers. "All bookstore chains have at least doubled their graphic novel space in past two years and retailers are very bullish on the category for next year. Marvel has some significant initiative on that end to reach the burgeoning teenage market."
It's always good to hear that a comic book company is doing well especially one that got into as much trouble as Marvel. It's also good to note that they believe the industry as a whole is doing well.

Up until recently Marvel didn't exactly have the best record for graphic novel production, though. The production values of the books were terrible, the collections made no sense and availability was sparse. Joe Quesada then took over and (though I'm sure he won't put it quite this way) decided to follow the DC model (collecting the best stories up into high quality graphic novels quite quickly and having them easily available for retailers to order), although I’m not sure how much credit to ascribe to JQ, as he seems to be questioned on trades on a regular basis at http://www.joequesada.com and his standard answer is he doesn’t deal with them, he doesn’t know what’s in the pipeline.

Marvel has of late been issuing quite a few graphic novels and collecting up stories fans and retailers have demanded for years. On top of this there is also the story reported elsewhere on Marvel's overprinting policy. It has, basically, become easier for fans to collect the graphic novel versions of good Marvel stories as often shops are either sold out of an issue or two or are asking ludicrous collectors prices for them. Perhaps these are the real factors in the upturn in graphic novel sales.

This Has A "What’s Good For Marvel…" Value Of Seven Out Of Ten

Big Surprise… Not!

Gamma has let me know that Bruce Campbell has apparently confirmed that he will appear in Spider-Man 2. Campbell who is known to be good friends with the director Sam Raimi has yet to confirm what his part will be this time.

This Has A "Unsurprising " Value Of Nine Out Of Ten

Fantastic Film News

The following was spotted by Abbey about the upcoming Fantastic Four film:
    ”The change to the origin story, which came from the earlier drafts and I adopted, is that Doom is like the fifth Beatle,” says scripter Doug Petrie (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). “He was on the spaceship with them and in my version he saw this particle wave coming in, they didn’t want to say cosmic rays because they felt it sounded fake, but in fact cosmic rays are real,” he said. ”I wanted to do A Perfect Storm in space, where a giant wave is coming towards them, and Victor blasts off in the escape pod, saving his own skin,” Petrie said. “He crash lands to Earth and becomes Doom because his face is lost in the re-entry process, which is horrible and violent, while the four of them get bombarded by these mysterious rays and become The Fantastic Four.” The origin will be told in flashbacks because the film opens "with a giant action sequence where everyone in New York City is watching The Fantastic Four kick the crap out of a giant monster on Fifth Avenue."
I don't know what the hardcore fans'll think but that doesn't sound too bad and by making the Doom/FF relationship closer it'll no doubt make the villainy nastier. Flashback origin could work well too. The problem with many comic films is getting through the origin to the action. Batman got round this by alluding to the origin in the opening sequence then flashbacking later. Superman spent nearly the whole film on the origin. The X-Men kinda mixed it up but basically did it all in a voice over at the beginning and a guided tour of the school later. Spider-Man, again, spent most of the film on the origin. I personally think it depends on the circumstance. I think it should work and to open on the FF fighting a monster on Fifth Avenue has to be the perfect opening to their film.

This Has A "You Are All Nothing But Pawns Of DOOM, Bwah-Haha" Value Of Eight Out Of Ten

That’s it.

Another week, another column, another summary to make. What to say this time? Don’t have nightmares, mind how you go, until next time I remain, that’s it from him and that’s it from me? Too many choices.

I guess I’ll just ask you to keep a look out for any gossip to send me and to bear in mind you can have as much or as little publicity as you want.

So as always...

TTFN

Alan Donald - Signing of from an island that’s not just cold but cold, wet, windy and downright miserable too.