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GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS #153
Friday June 15th 2001
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Hi folks –
A slightly shorter issue this time around as I’ve been traveling this week and have had to compile this issue “on the move.”
Work on the realunch of the GOTHAN GAZETTE web-site is still progressing and we managed to register a new easy to remember domain name this week – more news as the project gets closer to launch.
As always, have a great week, and a Happy Fathers’ Day to all the Dads who read GWN.
Plus a Happy Birthday to legendary Batman artist, Neal Adams who celebrates his 60th today Friday 15th .
Alan J. Porter
PO Box 3523
Ramona
CA 92065
USA
E-mail: gothamajp@home.com
http://www.gothamweeklynews.com
IN THIS ISSUE OF GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS:
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Comics Shipping This Week – In stores June 20th
Comics News – Batman Comics sales figures
TV Show Schedules – BATMAN on SciFi
Movie News – Year One in 2003
In The Stores – Another new Batman game
Meet The Bat-Team - .More guests at SDCC
On-Line Happenings - Gotham Girls Season 2 underway
Fanzines & Fan-Clubs
Order The BATMAN Collectors Guide (Back in Stock)
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COMICS SHIPPING THIS WEEK ( June 20th )
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BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS #18
Written by Devin Grayson, Dave Gibbons and Mick McMahon; art by Roger Robinson, Mick McMahon and John Floyd; cover by Brian Bolland
In "Cavernous," fellow JLA member Aquaman guest stars, helping Batman retrieve some artifacts lost in the cracks made from the quake that started "No Man's Land." As the Dark Knight realizes that he's become more of a loner since the loss of Gordon, Alfred's leave of absence and Oracle's anger with him, Batman finds odd comfort in the company of the King of the Seas. Plus, a black-and-white backup "Fat City," written by Dave Gibbons & Mick McMahon (2000 A.D.) with art by McMahon. (40 Pgs, $2.50)
JLA: GODS AND MONSTERS
Written by Dan Jolley and Josh Krach; art and cover by Scott Benefiel and Jasen Rodriguez
The World's Greatest Heroes race to stop aerial attacks by what can only be called "War Wheels" — destructive flying disks deployed by a cult that worships the JLA and sees them as gods. The Wheels are a wake-up call to the world — and if the world doesn't construct temples of worship for the JLA, the destruction will continue...(64 Pgs, Prestige Format, $6.50)
ROBIN #91
Written by Chuck Dixon and Scott Beatty; art and cover by Pete Woods and Andrew Pepoy
The dramatic conclusion of the Danny Temple saga! Hordes of cultists to the left of him, a big handful of villains to the right, and mini-yetis all over the darn place. Robin's up to his neck in trouble, and it's going to take an old foe in a new guise to get the Boy Wonder out of here in one piece! (32 Pgs. $2.25)
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COMICS NEWS
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BATMAN COMICS SELL OVER 300,000 COPIES
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An unofficial report published on Comincon.com calculates the current direct market sales figures for several of the Batman titles as follows:
BATMAN sells 43,290 copies a month
DETECTIVE sells 42,380 copies
BATGIRL sells 38,850 copies
NIGHTWING sells 38,170 copies
GOTHAM KNIGHTS sells 34,810 copies
LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT sells 34,690 copies
HARLY QUINN sells 29,820 copies
ROBIN sells 28,690 copies
BIRDS OF PREY sells 25,090 copies
AZREAL sells 16,420 copies
BATMAN BEYOND sells 13,440 copies
GOTHAM ADVENTURES sells 13,280 copies
That gives a total of 358,930 books a month.
Assuming and average of $2.50 per book that gives DC a $897,325 income from the core Bat books alone.
JUSTICE LEAGUE ARTIST NAMED
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The Batman Animated Newsletter
reports that “the artist for the upcoming Justice League Adventures series will
be Vancouver native John Delany. He will ilustrate at least one arc in the
comic, which is set to have a rotating art crew.”
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TV SHOW SCHEDULES
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BATMAN 1960s SHOW
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The Sci-Fi Channel is once again running special days with continuous blocks of the classic 1960s Batman TV show staring Adam West.
Next showing is on Monday ( June 18th) with the following episodes
11:00 am Nora Clavicle And The Ladies' Crime Club
11:30 am Surf's Up! Joker's Under!
12:00 pm The Ring Of Wax -pt 1
12:30 pm Give 'Em The Axe -pt 2
1:00 pm Black Widow Strikes Again -pt 1
1:30 pm Caught In The Spider's Den -pt 2
2:00 pm The Spell Of Tut -pt 1
2:30 pm Tut's Case Is Shut -pt 2
3:00 pm Death In Slow Motion -pt 1
3:30 pm The Riddler's False Notion -pt 2
Next block will be shown on Monday July 23rd.
(Thanks to Terry Stead for the information).
BATMAN BEYOND
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Kids' WB! has announced
a revamping of its schedules, effective Monday May 14th and including the
elimination of one Batman Beyond episode.
Batman Beyond will now be shown at 3:00pm only, Monday to Thursday.
NEW BATMAN / SUPERMAN ADVENTURES
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While Cartoon Network continues to run the Superman episodes at 6:30pm Tuesday through Friday, the BATMAN episodes are currently on hold.
BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES
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In Canada, YTV airs Batman: The Animated Series at 3:30 AM EDT, Monday
through Friday. Check out schedules on http://www.ytv.ca (Patrick Furlong)
UPDATES NEEDED
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Are any of the BATMAN TV SHOWS running in your area / country.
BATMAN BEYOND, NEW BATMAN ADVENTURES, BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, SUPER-FRIENDS or the classic BATMAN - 1960s TV SHOW.
If so send me an e-mail (gothamajp@home.com) with the show times and I’ll list them here for all your fellow batfans.
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MOVIE NEWS************** YEAR ONE IN 2003 ?---------------------------------
Comics2Film reports “that the higher-ups at WB are talking about a 2003 release for Batman: Year One.”
The report goes on to speculate that “this sounds like an aggressive schedule considering there's no script and (Director) Aronofsky seems to be leaning towards his science fiction project. However, our source assured us that Frank Miller, who is co-writing the script, has wrapped up his major comics projects (Dark Knight Strikes Back) and is now focused on developing the film.”
This is the opposite of what we reported in GWN last week where we speculated that Miller had completed the Year One movie script and was now focusing on completing his Dark Knight sequel.
CATWOMAN SCRIPT REWRITE-----------------------------------------------
Comics2Film also included a report this week on the Catwoman movie. It seems that screenwriter John won't be making use of the Catwoam script that surfaced last year. Two independent sources- in- the- know told Comics2Film that “Kate Kondell and Theresa Rebeck's take on the character is out and Rogers is starting from scratch. However, both sources agree that the character under the mask will not be Selina Kyle.” Comic2Film’s sources also indicated that the movie will likely have no overt links to the Batman movie franchise. But one source did speculate that filmmakers may leave the door open for such a crossover.
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IN THE STORES
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NEW BATMAN GAME
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The sudden glut of Batman themed video games continues as World’s Finest reports that "Batman: Dark Tomorrow" (Kemco) is scheduled for release on November 5, 2001 for Nintendo's Gamecube console. No other details have been released for it. It is expected this game will be based on the comic books, not the animated series
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MEET THE BAT-TEAM
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SAN DIEGO – CA. July 19-22
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This year’s Comic Con International (www.comic-con.org) takes place at the San Diego Convention Center between July 19th and 22nd. The largest US convention features lots of guests and attending professionals. Among this year’s attendees are: NEAL ADAMS, JIM BALENT, DAN BRERETON, RICK BURCHETT, YVONNE CRAIG, EVAN DORKIN, MARK EVANIER, DAVE GIBBONS, PAUL GULACY, GENE HA, JOE LANSDALE,JEP LOEB, GREG RUCKA, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, PAUL STORRIE, BRUCE TIMM, MARK WAID and BERNIE WRIGHTSON.
Plus your humble GWN editor will be walking the floor, so stop me and say “Hi.”
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ON-LINE HAPPENINGS
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SCOTT McDANIEL ON-LINE INTERVIEW
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A new full length interview with Batman artist Scott McDaniel can be found at the Comic Book Resources website. Check out http://www.comicbookresources.com/features/mcdaniel/
GOTHAM GIRLS SECOND SEASON
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The hit official internet site Gotham Girls is gearing up for a new season of webisodes featuring Gotham's baddest (and best) girls around. The premiere episode of the second season is already up, written by Paul Dini himself. To check out the site and the new webisode, go to Gotham Girls dotcom.
BATMAN COMIC BOOK APPEARENCES
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The listing of all Batman Comic Book Appearances from 1939 to present is now available at http://www.magpage.com/~demes/batapps.htm. Any corrections / additions can be sent to Jim Demes at demes@magpage.com
CATCH UP ON THE GOTHAM GAZETTE FAN-FICS
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Since the GOTHAM GAZETTE web-site went into hiatus I’ve had several e-mails from GWN readers asking where they can find the excellent fanfic stories we used to run. Well writer Lee Barnett now has them posted on his own website at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/budgie so click on by and check them out.
BATMAN DISCUSSION LIST
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BATSIGNAL a new Batman on-line discussion group has been launched at
http://www.eGroups.com/group/BatSignal
Or subscribe direct by sending an e-mail to BatSignal-subscribe@egroups.com
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BATMAN FANZINES & FAN-CLUBS
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(Know of any Batman related Fan-clubs that aren't listed ? Send me an e-mail with details. When contacting any of these clubs please mention GWN.)
KNIGHTHOOD OF THE BAT
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The Knighthood Of The Bat is an online ICQ based fan club which, through the use of ICQ members can contact each other and share in their common interest of Batman. Check it out at the excellent Batman: Defender Of Gotham website at www.fandom.com/batman
GREEN HORNET & BATMAN FAN & COLLECTORS CLUB
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$10 a year for a bi-monthly newsletter. Contact J. Washington III, 321 Gracie Road . Chesapeake VA 23325
HARLEY QUINN FAN CLUB
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Based in San Diego. For more info contact Mike at 4574 Mercurio St. San Diego CA 92130
UNOFFICIAL BATMAN ANIMATED FAN-CLUB
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This club began in September and consists of a quarterly 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 - brian@batmanuk.freeserve.co.uk or for more info see website at http://www.batmanuk.freeserve.co.uk/club
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HOW TO ORDER OUR OWN BATMAN BOOK
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"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 3523
Ramona
CA 92065
* US orders postage free.
* CA residents please add 7 1/2% 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
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Sources used in compiling GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS
Ain’t It Cool News (http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/ )
Bat Signal newsletter
Comics2Film (http://www.comics2film.com/ )
Comic Buyers Guide
Comics Continuum (http://comicscontinuum.com/index.htm )
Comics International
Comic Shop News
Dark Horizons (http://www.darkhorizons.com/news.htm )
Joker Inc Newsletter (http://jokerinc.action-figure.net )
Previews
Wizard: The Comics Magazine
World’s Finest News (http://wf.toonzone.net/wfnews/ )
GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS is a FOREST COMICS Publication.
FOREST COMICS and GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS are (c) and TM - Alan J. Porter (1994 - 2001)
"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 gothamajp@home.com with the words "unsubscribe GWN" in the subject line.