*************************************************************

         GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS #173

         Friday  December 21st 2001

*************************************************************

 Hi folks –

 As promised here's the pre-Christmas issue of GWN.

Although not our usual layout,  here's a quick you a round up of the latest Bat news that's come my way over the last few days.

And don't forget you still have just over a week to vote in this year's ALFRED AWARDS.

Check out the catergories at http://www.oocities.org/gothamajp/alfreds.htm

Voting closes on December 31st.

Above all have a Happy Holiday Season, best wishes to all our GWN readers.

 Alan J. Porter

 

E-mail: gothamajp@home.com

http://www.gothamweeklynews.com

 GOTHAM GAZETTE – The BATMAN Magazine On The Web

http://BatmanMagazine.com

 

COMICS NEWS

*************

MILLION SELLER BATMAN ?

----------------------------------------------

Comic Shop Insider that preorders of "Batman: The Ten Cent Adventure" were close to a One Million Copies. Other reports I've seen place the order volume at somewher around 200,000. Guess we'll have to wait and see what the final figure is, but with several stores ordering upwards of 10,000 copies a piece, plus fans ordering anything from 10 to 1000 copies each, it's sure to be the largest print run the comics industry has seen in a long time.

Are you doing your bit to spread the word. Remeber for the price of an average comic $2.50 you can buy 25 copies of The 10c Adventure to hand out to friends, family and work mates.

 

STATIC SHOCK CREATORS WRITE BATMAN

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 A Batman Black & White story by Static Shock collaborators Dwayne McDuffie and Denys Cowan will appear in Batman: Gotham Knights #27.

The Comics Continuum spoke to Dwayne McDuffie about the story: "Editor Mark Chiarello called me out of the blue a couple of years ago and asked me if I wanted to do something for the Black and White series and I came up with 'Never Say Die,' a short piece about a working-class criminal's last stand against the Dark Knight," McDuffie told The Continuum. "It was the first time I ever got to write Batman and I had a blast.

"The original penciler was over-committed and had to bow out. My fellow Static Shock crony, Denys Cowan stepped it and as always, turned in terrific pencils that told the story beautifully. I can't wait to see the finished version."

Batman: Gotham Knights #27 has a lead story by Devin Grayson and Roger Robinson that includes Superman. The issue is due in stores on March 20.

 

BATMAN / DEATHBLOW - AT LAST

---------------------------------------------

 Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire, the three-issue mini-series announced earlier this year by DC Comics, will begin in March. The mini-series is written by Brian Azzarello, with art by Lee Bejermo and Tim Bradstreet.

============================

TV SHOW SCHEDULES & NEWS

**************************************

BIRDS OF PREY TV SHOW UPDATE

-------------------------------

 It seems that given the ratings and critical success of "Smallville" Warners is taking a hard look at the idea of another 'no costume superhero' franchise - Birds Of Prey.  Announced a few months ago, things now seem to be on a fast track with 'casting requirements' sheet being circulated on the Net.

 

The document gives Mike Tollin, Brian Robbins and Joe Davola as executive producres for a one-hour pilot show, written by by Laeta Kalogridis. No director is given.

 

The basic premise is given as follows "The series is set in Gotham City seven years after The Joker was locked into Arkham and Batman left in a 'self-imposed exile'. "

 

The casting call then goes on to list, not as expected two - but three female leads:

 - Oracle / Barbara Gordon "who was shot by The Joker and is now a paralyzed from the waist down, who fights crime with her computer skills."

 - 'Black Canary/Dinah Lance', "an Iowa farm girl who is also a 'touch telepath'." - what no Canary Cry?

And most surprising of all

 - Huntress/Helena Kyle - Not the current Huntress but a character from the old pre-Crisis Earth2 described as the "daughter of Catwoman and an unknown father (possibly Batman) who was witness to her mother being stabbed to death and is now a party girl who loves hard drinking and fast driving."


(Thanks to the Dark Horizions website for directing me to this interesting document.)

JUSTICE LEAGUE

------------------------

Schedules for January

----------------------

 Cartoon Network has announced a schedule change for the month of January, and Justice League will be starting the new episodes a couple weeks earlier than anticipated. The network has announced they will air the episode "Paradise Lost" Part 1 on January 21st and January 27th. "Paradise Lost" Part 2 will air on January 28th and Febuary 3rd. The two part episode "Paradise Lost" will focus on Wonder Woman and the island of Themiscyra.

The Friday showing has been dropped in favor of an all Cartoon Cartoon night line-up. Justice League will now rerun every Saturday at
12:30pm (ET). The network will be taking a different angle with the 12:30pm Saturday showing, though. The Saturday showings will restart from the beginning, with "Secret Origins" beginning January 5th. This means that a new episode, which premieres on Monday, will only repeat once in Sunday widescreen, before the next new episode airs. Below is a rundown of the schedule beginning in January:

January 5th - Secret Origins Part 1
January 6th - Secret Origins Part 3 (widescreen)
January 7th - In Blackest Night Part 1
January 12th - Secret Origins Part 2
January 13th - In Blackest Night Part 1 (widescreen)
January 14th - In Blackest Night Part 2
January 19th - Secret Origins Part 3
January 20th - In Blackest Night Part 2 (widescreen)
January 21st - Paradise Lost Part 1 --NEW!!
January 26th - In Blackest Night Part 1
January 27th - Paradise Lost Part 1 (widescreen)
January 28th - Paradise Lost Part 2 --
NEW!!
Febuary 2nd - In Blackest Night Part 2
Febuary 3rd - Paradise Lost Part 2 (widescreen)

And here's the complete list of JL season 1 episodes planned:

 Episodes 1/2/3    Secret Orgins

Episodes 4/5        In Blackest Night

Episodes 6/7        Enemy Below

Episodes 8/9        Injustice For All

Episodes 10/11    Paradise Lost

Episodes 12/13    War World

Episodes 14/15    The Brave & The Bold

Episodes 16/17    Fury

Episodes 18/19    Legends

Episodes 20/21    A Knight Of Shadows

Episodes 22/23    Metamorphis

Episodes 24/25/26    The Savage Time

 

BATMAN VS SUPERMAN ON CARTOON NETWORK

-----------------------------------------------------------------

(From ToonZone) "Batman vs. Superman" is a Cartoon Network event running Jan. 21-26. Every weeknight that week,
Toonami will air back-to-back episodes of Batman: The Animated Series and Superman from
6-7 p.m. (ET/ PT).
All week long, fans will be able to go to CartoonNetwork.com to play an exclusive online game and vote for their favorite superhero.
    On Saturday, Jan. 26, Batman and Superman return for a seven-hour superhero marathon beginning at
1 p.m. (ET/PT). At 5 p.m. on Saturday, the winner of the
online vote will be revealed and the final two hours of "Toonami: Batman vs. Superman" will be dedicated to the victorious superhero.

From ToonZone here are the Batman episodes for the January poll, which will run from the 21st through the 26th, 6-7 pm on Toonami, and 1-8 on Saturday(the remaining 4 hours TBD):

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES

January 21 - Deep Freeze
January 22 - Blind as a Bat
January 23 - Makem Laugh
January 24 - Girls Night Out
January 25 - Avatar
January 26 - Riddlers Reform, Legends of the Dark Knight, Bane, Night of the Ninja.

 

CN SCHEDULE CHANGES

---------------------------------------

Batman: The Animated Series, and Superman: The Animated Series, scheduled to air at 11pm-12pm on Monday thru Wednesday in January , has been pulled from the schedule, to air at a later date.

==========================================

MOVIE NEWS

************

NO YEAR ONE IN 03?

----------------------------------

According to to a post on the excellent Batman On Film site (http://www.batman-on-film.com), the highly anticapated Batman: Year One may not reach the screen in 2003. It seems that with havibg just secured the distribution rights to Terminator3 and with the release of both matrix sequles set for 03, the WB staff are concerned that pushing another high profile franchise relaunch into the mix may be too much. So don't be surprised if we don't see the Bat signal until 2004.

==================================================

 IN THE STORES

*******************

QUICK FAST FOOD FIGURES

---------------------------------------------

ToonZone reports that the Belgian "Quick" fast food chain recently had a promotion featuring DC Animated style figures, including several Batman related items.

The Batman figures were: Batman, Robin, Batgirl, Joker, Ivy, Catwoman, Penguin,

Pictures of the figures can be seen at
http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?s=f0ab61c02a4b823192d35f4bc0e8400d&threadid=14480

 ALFRED'S IN THE CAVE

--------------------------------------

Just in time for the holidays Hasbro has released yet another version of the Batcave playset labeled as the SHADOWCAST BATCAVE.

This time around the colors have been changed and the Bat-computer screen stickers have been redone in the
new animated style. But perhaps the most significant change is that it ships with the ALFRED action figure that was,until now, only available as a Toys R Us exclusive.

This is the sixth incarnation of this playset, still using the molds from the original 1992 Batman Returns playset. It's been retooled over the years to fit Batman Forever and Batman & Robin movie designs,; and this is the third "animated style" redesign. This latest version retails at $49.99
========================================================

  2002 Convention Dates

-------------------------------

February 22-24 – MEGA-CON, Orlando FL. (www.megaconvention.com )

March 23-24 – PLANET COMICON, Kansas City, KS (www.planetcomiccon.com )

April 26-28 – PITTSBURGH COMICON, Pittsburgh PA (www.pittsburghcomicon.com )

May 17-19 – MOTOR CITY COMIC CON, Novi MI. (www.motorcityconventions.com )

June 14-16 – HEROES CONVENTION, Charlotte NC (www.heroesonline.com )

August 1-4 – COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL, San Diego CA (www.comic-con.org )

 ====================================================================

 ON-LINE HAPPENINGS

-------------------------------------

ED BRUBAKER INTERVIEW

----------------------------------------

BATMAN and CATWOMAN writer Ed Brubaker chats about his approach to writing these two icons at the Comic Book resources website.

Check it out at http://comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=714

 

======================================================================

 

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.

 Alan J. Porter
PO Box 3523
 Ramona
CA 92065
------------------------------------------------
GOTHAM GAZETTE - The BATMAN Magazine On The Web
 http://batmanmagazine.com
GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS
http://www.gothamweeklynews.com
 The Unauthorized BATMAN Collectors Guide
Schiffer Books - ISBN: 0764306839
 -------------------------------------------------

*************************************************************

         GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS #173

         Friday  December 21st 2001

*************************************************************

 Hi folks –

 As promised here's the pre-Christmas issue of GWN.

Although not our usual layout,  here's a quick you a round up of the latest Bat news that's come my way over the last few days.

And don't forget you still have just over a week to vote in this year's ALFRED AWARDS.

Check out the catergories at http://www.oocities.org/gothamajp/alfreds.htm

Voting closes on December 31st.

Above all have a Happy Holiday Season, best wishes to all our GWN readers.

 Alan J. Porter

 

E-mail: gothamajp@home.com

http://www.gothamweeklynews.com

 GOTHAM GAZETTE – The BATMAN Magazine On The Web

http://BatmanMagazine.com

 

COMICS NEWS

*************

MILLION SELLER BATMAN ?

----------------------------------------------

Comic Shop Insider that preorders of "Batman: The Ten Cent Adventure" were close to a One Million Copies. Other reports I've seen place the order volume at somewher around 200,000. Guess we'll have to wait and see what the final figure is, but with several stores ordering upwards of 10,000 copies a piece, plus fans ordering anything from 10 to 1000 copies each, it's sure to be the largest print run the comics industry has seen in a long time.

Are you doing your bit to spread the word. Remeber for the price of an average comic $2.50 you can buy 25 copies of The 10c Adventure to hand out to friends, family and work mates.

 

STATIC SHOCK CREATORS WRITE BATMAN

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 A Batman Black & White story by Static Shock collaborators Dwayne McDuffie and Denys Cowan will appear in Batman: Gotham Knights #27.

The Comics Continuum spoke to Dwayne McDuffie about the story: "Editor Mark Chiarello called me out of the blue a couple of years ago and asked me if I wanted to do something for the Black and White series and I came up with 'Never Say Die,' a short piece about a working-class criminal's last stand against the Dark Knight," McDuffie told The Continuum. "It was the first time I ever got to write Batman and I had a blast.

"The original penciler was over-committed and had to bow out. My fellow Static Shock crony, Denys Cowan stepped it and as always, turned in terrific pencils that told the story beautifully. I can't wait to see the finished version."

Batman: Gotham Knights #27 has a lead story by Devin Grayson and Roger Robinson that includes Superman. The issue is due in stores on March 20.

 

BATMAN / DEATHBLOW - AT LAST

---------------------------------------------

 Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire, the three-issue mini-series announced earlier this year by DC Comics, will begin in March. The mini-series is written by Brian Azzarello, with art by Lee Bejermo and Tim Bradstreet.

============================

TV SHOW SCHEDULES & NEWS

**************************************

BIRDS OF PREY TV SHOW UPDATE

-------------------------------

 It seems that given the ratings and critical success of "Smallville" Warners is taking a hard look at the idea of another 'no costume superhero' franchise - Birds Of Prey.  Announced a few months ago, things now seem to be on a fast track with 'casting requirements' sheet being circulated on the Net.

 

The document gives Mike Tollin, Brian Robbins and Joe Davola as executive producres for a one-hour pilot show, written by by Laeta Kalogridis. No director is given.

 

The basic premise is given as follows "The series is set in Gotham City seven years after The Joker was locked into Arkham and Batman left in a 'self-imposed exile'. "

 

The casting call then goes on to list, not as expected two - but three female leads:

 - Oracle / Barbara Gordon "who was shot by The Joker and is now a paralyzed from the waist down, who fights crime with her computer skills."

 - 'Black Canary/Dinah Lance', "an Iowa farm girl who is also a 'touch telepath'." - what no Canary Cry?

And most surprising of all

 - Huntress/Helena Kyle - Not the current Huntress but a character from the old pre-Crisis Earth2 described as the "daughter of Catwoman and an unknown father (possibly Batman) who was witness to her mother being stabbed to death and is now a party girl who loves hard drinking and fast driving."


(Thanks to the Dark Horizions website for directing me to this interesting document.)

JUSTICE LEAGUE

------------------------

Schedules for January

----------------------

 Cartoon Network has announced a schedule change for the month of January, and Justice League will be starting the new episodes a couple weeks earlier than anticipated. The network has announced they will air the episode "Paradise Lost" Part 1 on January 21st and January 27th. "Paradise Lost" Part 2 will air on January 28th and Febuary 3rd. The two part episode "Paradise Lost" will focus on Wonder Woman and the island of Themiscyra.

The Friday showing has been dropped in favor of an all Cartoon Cartoon night line-up. Justice League will now rerun every Saturday at
12:30pm (ET). The network will be taking a different angle with the 12:30pm Saturday showing, though. The Saturday showings will restart from the beginning, with "Secret Origins" beginning January 5th. This means that a new episode, which premieres on Monday, will only repeat once in Sunday widescreen, before the next new episode airs. Below is a rundown of the schedule beginning in January:

January 5th - Secret Origins Part 1
January 6th - Secret Origins Part 3 (widescreen)
January 7th - In Blackest Night Part 1
January 12th - Secret Origins Part 2
January 13th - In Blackest Night Part 1 (widescreen)
January 14th - In Blackest Night Part 2
January 19th - Secret Origins Part 3
January 20th - In Blackest Night Part 2 (widescreen)
January 21st - Paradise Lost Part 1 --NEW!!
January 26th - In Blackest Night Part 1
January 27th - Paradise Lost Part 1 (widescreen)
January 28th - Paradise Lost Part 2 --
NEW!!
Febuary 2nd - In Blackest Night Part 2
Febuary 3rd - Paradise Lost Part 2 (widescreen)

And here's the complete list of JL season 1 episodes planned:

 Episodes 1/2/3    Secret Orgins

Episodes 4/5        In Blackest Night

Episodes 6/7        Enemy Below

Episodes 8/9        Injustice For All

Episodes 10/11    Paradise Lost

Episodes 12/13    War World

Episodes 14/15    The Brave & The Bold

Episodes 16/17    Fury

Episodes 18/19    Legends

Episodes 20/21    A Knight Of Shadows

Episodes 22/23    Metamorphis

Episodes 24/25/26    The Savage Time

 

BATMAN VS SUPERMAN ON CARTOON NETWORK

-----------------------------------------------------------------

(From ToonZone) "Batman vs. Superman" is a Cartoon Network event running Jan. 21-26. Every weeknight that week,
Toonami will air back-to-back episodes of Batman: The Animated Series and Superman from
6-7 p.m. (ET/ PT).
All week long, fans will be able to go to CartoonNetwork.com to play an exclusive online game and vote for their favorite superhero.
    On Saturday, Jan. 26, Batman and Superman return for a seven-hour superhero marathon beginning at
1 p.m. (ET/PT). At 5 p.m. on Saturday, the winner of the
online vote will be revealed and the final two hours of "Toonami: Batman vs. Superman" will be dedicated to the victorious superhero.

From ToonZone here are the Batman episodes for the January poll, which will run from the 21st through the 26th, 6-7 pm on Toonami, and 1-8 on Saturday(the remaining 4 hours TBD):

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES

January 21 - Deep Freeze
January 22 - Blind as a Bat
January 23 - Makem Laugh
January 24 - Girls Night Out
January 25 - Avatar
January 26 - Riddlers Reform, Legends of the Dark Knight, Bane, Night of the Ninja.

 

CN SCHEDULE CHANGES

---------------------------------------

Batman: The Animated Series, and Superman: The Animated Series, scheduled to air at 11pm-12pm on Monday thru Wednesday in January , has been pulled from the schedule, to air at a later date.

==========================================

MOVIE NEWS

************

NO YEAR ONE IN 03?

----------------------------------

According to to a post on the excellent Batman On Film site (http://www.batman-on-film.com), the highly anticapated Batman: Year One may not reach the screen in 2003. It seems that with havibg just secured the distribution rights to Terminator3 and with the release of both matrix sequles set for 03, the WB staff are concerned that pushing another high profile franchise relaunch into the mix may be too much. So don't be surprised if we don't see the Bat signal until 2004.

==================================================

 IN THE STORES

*******************

QUICK FAST FOOD FIGURES

---------------------------------------------

ToonZone reports that the Belgian "Quick" fast food chain recently had a promotion featuring DC Animated style figures, including several Batman related items.

The Batman figures were: Batman, Robin, Batgirl, Joker, Ivy, Catwoman, Penguin,

Pictures of the figures can be seen at
http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?s=f0ab61c02a4b823192d35f4bc0e8400d&threadid=14480

 ALFRED'S IN THE CAVE

--------------------------------------

Just in time for the holidays Hasbro has released yet another version of the Batcave playset labeled as the SHADOWCAST BATCAVE.

This time around the colors have been changed and the Bat-computer screen stickers have been redone in the
new animated style. But perhaps the most significant change is that it ships with the ALFRED action figure that was,until now, only available as a Toys R Us exclusive.

This is the sixth incarnation of this playset, still using the molds from the original 1992 Batman Returns playset. It's been retooled over the years to fit Batman Forever and Batman & Robin movie designs,; and this is the third "animated style" redesign. This latest version retails at $49.99
========================================================

  2002 Convention Dates

-------------------------------

February 22-24 – MEGA-CON, Orlando FL. (www.megaconvention.com )

March 23-24 – PLANET COMICON, Kansas City, KS (www.planetcomiccon.com )

April 26-28 – PITTSBURGH COMICON, Pittsburgh PA (www.pittsburghcomicon.com )

May 17-19 – MOTOR CITY COMIC CON, Novi MI. (www.motorcityconventions.com )

June 14-16 – HEROES CONVENTION, Charlotte NC (www.heroesonline.com )

August 1-4 – COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL, San Diego CA (www.comic-con.org )

 ====================================================================

 ON-LINE HAPPENINGS

-------------------------------------

ED BRUBAKER INTERVIEW

----------------------------------------

BATMAN and CATWOMAN writer Ed Brubaker chats about his approach to writing these two icons at the Comic Book resources website.

Check it out at http://comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=714

 

======================================================================

 

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.

 Alan J. Porter
PO Box 3523
 Ramona
CA 92065
------------------------------------------------
GOTHAM GAZETTE - The BATMAN Magazine On The Web
 http://batmanmagazine.com
GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS
http://www.gothamweeklynews.com
 The Unauthorized BATMAN Collectors Guide
Schiffer Books - ISBN: 0764306839
 -------------------------------------------------

*************************************************************

         GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS #173

         Friday  December 21st 2001

*************************************************************

 Hi folks –

 As promised here's the pre-Christmas issue of GWN.

Although not our usual layout,  here's a quick you a round up of the latest Bat news that's come my way over the last few days.

And don't forget you still have just over a week to vote in this year's ALFRED AWARDS.

Check out the catergories at http://www.oocities.org/gothamajp/alfreds.htm

Voting closes on December 31st.

Above all have a Happy Holiday Season, best wishes to all our GWN readers.

 Alan J. Porter

 

E-mail: gothamajp@home.com

http://www.gothamweeklynews.com

 GOTHAM GAZETTE – The BATMAN Magazine On The Web

http://BatmanMagazine.com

 

COMICS NEWS

*************

MILLION SELLER BATMAN ?

----------------------------------------------

Comic Shop Insider that preorders of "Batman: The Ten Cent Adventure" were close to a One Million Copies. Other reports I've seen place the order volume at somewher around 200,000. Guess we'll have to wait and see what the final figure is, but with several stores ordering upwards of 10,000 copies a piece, plus fans ordering anything from 10 to 1000 copies each, it's sure to be the largest print run the comics industry has seen in a long time.

Are you doing your bit to spread the word. Remeber for the price of an average comic $2.50 you can buy 25 copies of The 10c Adventure to hand out to friends, family and work mates.

 

STATIC SHOCK CREATORS WRITE BATMAN

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 A Batman Black & White story by Static Shock collaborators Dwayne McDuffie and Denys Cowan will appear in Batman: Gotham Knights #27.

The Comics Continuum spoke to Dwayne McDuffie about the story: "Editor Mark Chiarello called me out of the blue a couple of years ago and asked me if I wanted to do something for the Black and White series and I came up with 'Never Say Die,' a short piece about a working-class criminal's last stand against the Dark Knight," McDuffie told The Continuum. "It was the first time I ever got to write Batman and I had a blast.

"The original penciler was over-committed and had to bow out. My fellow Static Shock crony, Denys Cowan stepped it and as always, turned in terrific pencils that told the story beautifully. I can't wait to see the finished version."

Batman: Gotham Knights #27 has a lead story by Devin Grayson and Roger Robinson that includes Superman. The issue is due in stores on March 20.

 

BATMAN / DEATHBLOW - AT LAST

---------------------------------------------

 Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire, the three-issue mini-series announced earlier this year by DC Comics, will begin in March. The mini-series is written by Brian Azzarello, with art by Lee Bejermo and Tim Bradstreet.

============================

TV SHOW SCHEDULES & NEWS

**************************************

BIRDS OF PREY TV SHOW UPDATE

-------------------------------

 It seems that given the ratings and critical success of "Smallville" Warners is taking a hard look at the idea of another 'no costume superhero' franchise - Birds Of Prey.  Announced a few months ago, things now seem to be on a fast track with 'casting requirements' sheet being circulated on the Net.

 

The document gives Mike Tollin, Brian Robbins and Joe Davola as executive producres for a one-hour pilot show, written by by Laeta Kalogridis. No director is given.

 

The basic premise is given as follows "The series is set in Gotham City seven years after The Joker was locked into Arkham and Batman left in a 'self-imposed exile'. "

 

The casting call then goes on to list, not as expected two - but three female leads:

 - Oracle / Barbara Gordon "who was shot by The Joker and is now a paralyzed from the waist down, who fights crime with her computer skills."

 - 'Black Canary/Dinah Lance', "an Iowa farm girl who is also a 'touch telepath'." - what no Canary Cry?

And most surprising of all

 - Huntress/Helena Kyle - Not the current Huntress but a character from the old pre-Crisis Earth2 described as the "daughter of Catwoman and an unknown father (possibly Batman) who was witness to her mother being stabbed to death and is now a party girl who loves hard drinking and fast driving."


(Thanks to the Dark Horizions website for directing me to this interesting document.)

JUSTICE LEAGUE

------------------------

Schedules for January

----------------------

 Cartoon Network has announced a schedule change for the month of January, and Justice League will be starting the new episodes a couple weeks earlier than anticipated. The network has announced they will air the episode "Paradise Lost" Part 1 on January 21st and January 27th. "Paradise Lost" Part 2 will air on January 28th and Febuary 3rd. The two part episode "Paradise Lost" will focus on Wonder Woman and the island of Themiscyra.

The Friday showing has been dropped in favor of an all Cartoon Cartoon night line-up. Justice League will now rerun every Saturday at
12:30pm (ET). The network will be taking a different angle with the 12:30pm Saturday showing, though. The Saturday showings will restart from the beginning, with "Secret Origins" beginning January 5th. This means that a new episode, which premieres on Monday, will only repeat once in Sunday widescreen, before the next new episode airs. Below is a rundown of the schedule beginning in January:

January 5th - Secret Origins Part 1
January 6th - Secret Origins Part 3 (widescreen)
January 7th - In Blackest Night Part 1
January 12th - Secret Origins Part 2
January 13th - In Blackest Night Part 1 (widescreen)
January 14th - In Blackest Night Part 2
January 19th - Secret Origins Part 3
January 20th - In Blackest Night Part 2 (widescreen)
January 21st - Paradise Lost Part 1 --NEW!!
January 26th - In Blackest Night Part 1
January 27th - Paradise Lost Part 1 (widescreen)
January 28th - Paradise Lost Part 2 --
NEW!!
Febuary 2nd - In Blackest Night Part 2
Febuary 3rd - Paradise Lost Part 2 (widescreen)

And here's the complete list of JL season 1 episodes planned:

 Episodes 1/2/3    Secret Orgins

Episodes 4/5        In Blackest Night

Episodes 6/7        Enemy Below

Episodes 8/9        Injustice For All

Episodes 10/11    Paradise Lost

Episodes 12/13    War World

Episodes 14/15    The Brave & The Bold

Episodes 16/17    Fury

Episodes 18/19    Legends

Episodes 20/21    A Knight Of Shadows

Episodes 22/23    Metamorphis

Episodes 24/25/26    The Savage Time

 

BATMAN VS SUPERMAN ON CARTOON NETWORK

-----------------------------------------------------------------

(From ToonZone) "Batman vs. Superman" is a Cartoon Network event running Jan. 21-26. Every weeknight that week,
Toonami will air back-to-back episodes of Batman: The Animated Series and Superman from
6-7 p.m. (ET/ PT).
All week long, fans will be able to go to CartoonNetwork.com to play an exclusive online game and vote for their favorite superhero.
    On Saturday, Jan. 26, Batman and Superman return for a seven-hour superhero marathon beginning at
1 p.m. (ET/PT). At 5 p.m. on Saturday, the winner of the
online vote will be revealed and the final two hours of "Toonami: Batman vs. Superman" will be dedicated to the victorious superhero.

From ToonZone here are the Batman episodes for the January poll, which will run from the 21st through the 26th, 6-7 pm on Toonami, and 1-8 on Saturday(the remaining 4 hours TBD):

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES

January 21 - Deep Freeze
January 22 - Blind as a Bat
January 23 - Makem Laugh
January 24 - Girls Night Out
January 25 - Avatar
January 26 - Riddlers Reform, Legends of the Dark Knight, Bane, Night of the Ninja.

 

CN SCHEDULE CHANGES

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Batman: The Animated Series, and Superman: The Animated Series, scheduled to air at 11pm-12pm on Monday thru Wednesday in January , has been pulled from the schedule, to air at a later date.

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MOVIE NEWS

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NO YEAR ONE IN 03?

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According to to a post on the excellent Batman On Film site (http://www.batman-on-film.com), the highly anticapated Batman: Year One may not reach the screen in 2003. It seems that with havibg just secured the distribution rights to Terminator3 and with the release of both matrix sequles set for 03, the WB staff are concerned that pushing another high profile franchise relaunch into the mix may be too much. So don't be surprised if we don't see the Bat signal until 2004.

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 IN THE STORES

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QUICK FAST FOOD FIGURES

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ToonZone reports that the Belgian "Quick" fast food chain recently had a promotion featuring DC Animated style figures, including several Batman related items.

The Batman figures were: Batman, Robin, Batgirl, Joker, Ivy, Catwoman, Penguin,

Pictures of the figures can be seen at
http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?s=f0ab61c02a4b823192d35f4bc0e8400d&threadid=14480

 ALFRED'S IN THE CAVE

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Just in time for the holidays Hasbro has released yet another version of the Batcave playset labeled as the SHADOWCAST BATCAVE.

This time around the colors have been changed and the Bat-computer screen stickers have been redone in the
new animated style. But perhaps the most significant change is that it ships with the ALFRED action figure that was,until now, only available as a Toys R Us exclusive.

This is the sixth incarnation of this playset, still using the molds from the original 1992 Batman Returns playset. It's been retooled over the years to fit Batman Forever and Batman & Robin movie designs,; and this is the third "animated style" redesign. This latest version retails at $49.99
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  2002 Convention Dates

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February 22-24 – MEGA-CON, Orlando FL. (www.megaconvention.com )

March 23-24 – PLANET COMICON, Kansas City, KS (www.planetcomiccon.com )

April 26-28 – PITTSBURGH COMICON, Pittsburgh PA (www.pittsburghcomicon.com )

May 17-19 – MOTOR CITY COMIC CON, Novi MI. (www.motorcityconventions.com )

June 14-16 – HEROES CONVENTION, Charlotte NC (www.heroesonline.com )

August 1-4 – COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL, San Diego CA (www.comic-con.org )

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 ON-LINE HAPPENINGS

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ED BRUBAKER INTERVIEW

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BATMAN and CATWOMAN writer Ed Brubaker chats about his approach to writing these two icons at the Comic Book resources website.

Check it out at http://comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=714

 

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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.

 Alan J. Porter
PO Box 3523
 Ramona
CA 92065
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GOTHAM GAZETTE - The BATMAN Magazine On The Web
 http://batmanmagazine.com
GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS
http://www.gothamweeklynews.com
 The Unauthorized BATMAN Collectors Guide
Schiffer Books - ISBN: 0764306839
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