GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS #196

Friday 30th January 2004

HALLE BERRY AS CATWOMAN  - WHIP-CRACKING VIDEO NOW ON LINE

The first footage of Halle Berry in costume has appeared on the web - she taped a spot for Oprah's birthday celebrations this week that was aired on both Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood.

You can view the whip cracking Berry here.

According to several news reports Oscar winner Halle Berry was injured on the set of the currently filming CATWOMAN movie this week. It appears that Berry was doing a minor stunt scene Saturday evening when she was struck on the head by a lighting prop.

She apparently fell to the ground and remained prone while being administered oxygen by first-aid attendants, then got up and walked off the set at the Centre for the Performing Arts in Vancouver. She was released from hospital the following morning after a cautionary check-up.

There's also been more rumors and developments surrounding the production of BATMAN INTIMIDATION. Check out our Movie News section for the latest gossip. While you are here don't forget to cast your vote in this year's ALFRED AWARDS.

As always have a great week.  - Alan J. Porter

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IN THIS ISSUE

• Comics News
• Matt Idelson promoted.
• Comics Shipping
• In Stores - February 4th
• TV News
• Teen Titans #1
• JL Finale Delayed
• TV Schedules
• Justice League
• Teen Titans
• Super Friends
• UK Schedule
• Movie News
• Latest on Batman 5
• Catwoman Latest News
• In The Stores
• Catwoman Loungewear
• Meet The Bat Team
• Seattle - Feb 29

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Comics News

DC PROMOTES MATT IDELSON

GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS would like to congratulate Batman editor Matt Idelson, who has been promoted to Senior Editor by DC. Matt is the editor of    BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS, BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT, CATWOMAN, as well as the upcoming DC Focus titles FRACTION and TOUCH and several upcoming projects for both the DCU and VERTIGO.

Quoted in a DC Comics Press release, Matt said "I'm thrilled and flattered by DC's faith in me, and I'm totally jazzed to try and reward that faith with some darn good comics!"

"Working with Matt these past five years has been one of the most rewarding and enjoyable experiences I've had in my entire career," says Group Editor Bob Schreck. "His creative contribution to the Batman line has been enormous."

"Matt's inspiration and expertise have been an integral part of the success of the Bat-group," says Dan DiDio, DC's VP - Editorial. "This promotion is very well deserved."

Comics Shipping (February 4th)

BATMAN: CITY OF LIGHT #5 - Written by the Pander Brothers and Mark Paniccia; art by the Pander Brothers and Alvaro Lopez; cover by the Pander Brothers -
Consumed by his own demons, Batman struggles to hold his fractured psyche together as he faces the deadly Purge. But even as Batgirl and the Gotham City Police Department close in on the melee, Purge threatens to annihilate the Dark Knight! - BATMAN  |  32pg.  |  5 of 8  |  Color  |  $2.95

BIRDS OF PREY: OF LIKE MINDS - Written by Gail Simone; art and cover by Ed Benes and Alex Lei - Collecting the exciting, sold-out BIRDS OF PREY #56-61 by the creative team of Gail Simone, Ed Benes and Alex Lei! OF LIKE MINDS, guest-starring Nightwing and Batgirl, shakes things up for Oracle, Black Canary and Huntress. In a tricky legal and ethical dilemma, the Birds show mercy to a would-be white collar criminal, but their act of compassion brings them to the attention of master extortionist (and one-time super-hero) Savant, a man who claims he can outthink Oracle and outfight the Canary...and can prove it! - BATMAN  |  144pg.  |  Softcover  |  Color  |  $14.95

DETECTIVE COMICS #791 - Written by Andersen Gabrych and A.J. Lieberman; art by Pete Woods, Cam Smith, and Nathan Fox; cover by Tim Sale - Part 1 of the 3-issue thriller "The Surrogate," by the hot new creative team of Andersen Gabrych, Pete Woods and Cam Smith! A pregnant woman bleeding from a gunshot wound collapses in Leslie Thompkins' clinic. Can Batman find her family – and the murderer – before she goes under the knife for an against-all-odds operation? And in the backup, part 3 of the 6-part "The Tailor." The Tailor is on the run from super-powered assassins – now learn how he landed on the bad guys' side! - BATMAN  |  40pg.  |   Color  |  $2.75

JUSTICE LEAGUE ADVENTURES #28 - Written by Jason Hall; art by Min S. Ku and Ty Templeton; cover by Tom Feister - Guest-starring the Legion of Super-Heroes! As society becomes more reliant on technology, the villainous Kilgore escapes into the future to wreak havoc! To catch him, the Justice League must team up with the Legion to put a stop to the rampage of this technological rogue. - DC UNIVERSE  |  32pg.  |   Color  |  $2.25

SUPERMAN/BATMAN #6 - Written by Jeph Loeb; art and cover by Ed McGuinness and Dexter Vines - The first story arc of the hottest new book of the year reaches an explosive conclusion! It all comes down to this, as DC's two biggest heroes take on Lex Luthor face-to-face - DC UNIVERSE  |  32pg.  |  Color  |  $2.95

TV News

TEEN TITANS #1

Last Saturday's afternoon's episode of Teen Titans (Terra) on Cartoon Network as the network's No. 1 telecast of the week with all key demographics. The episode charted its highest-ever delivery and ratings to date since its debut last July 19. The episode posted the best-ever delivery and ratings of kids 2-11, boys 2-11 and boys 6-11 (second-highest ever with kids 6-11).

JUSTICE LEAGUE SEASON FINALE DELAYED

The Comics Continuum reports that "Starcrossed," the three-part second-season ending episode of Justice League, won't air on Cartoon Network until this summer. According to a representative of the programming department at the network, "Starcrossed" will likely air in July. A DVD version of the episode has been targeted for a July 19 release from Warner Home Video.

In the episode, when a Thanagarian force arrives and occupies Earth, Hawkgirl is torn between loyalty to her homeland and love of her adopted planet. The episode is rumored to have major ramifications on the series, possibly the death of a major character.

TV Schedules

JUSTICE LEAGUE (Cartoon Network)

• Monday 2nd Feb - 10:00pm -  Eclipsed
• Tuesday 3rd Feb - 10:00pm  -  The Terror Beyond
• Wednesday 4th Feb - 10:00pm - Secret Society
• Thursday 5th Feb - 10:00pm - Hereafter

TEEN TITANS (Cartoon Network)

• Saturday 31st Jan - 12:00pm - Terra
• Saturday 31st Jan - 9:00pm - Only Human
• Sunday 1st Feb - 10:00pm - Only Human

TEEN TITANS (KidsWB)

• Saturday 31st Jan - 9:00am - Nevermore

SUPER FRIENDS (Boomerang)

• Sunday 1st Feb - 11:00am - Case of the Dreadful Dolls / Royal Ruse
• Sunday 1st Feb - 7:00pm - Case of the Dreadful Dolls / Royal Ruse
• Monday 2nd Feb - 3:00am - Case of the Dreadful Dolls / Royal Ruse

UK TV SCHEDULE

Toonami, Turner's new UK cartoon Network has just started broadcasting. The following Batman shows will be running.

BATMAN OF THE FUTURE (Batman Beyond) :

• Weekdays - 06:30am, 10:30am, 3:00pm.
• Weekends - 07:30am, 12:00 noon, 3:00pm

JUSTICE LEAGUE

• Weekdays & Weekends - 00:30am, 05:10am, 11:30am, 02:30pm, 06:30pm.

Movie News

LATEST BATMAN 5 RUMORS & NEWS

• We have heard this week that there may be a character in the new movie named for Batman's uncredited co-creator, BILL FINGER. Let's hope this is the case. For more on Bill Finger's role in the creation of the Dark Knight click here.
• New script mainly review is on-line here. (SPOLIER WARNING)
• Superhero Hype  has a major "scoop" this week - the full text of which is below. Take this for what it's worth as the source is a new one and hasn't been verfied: "The filming (of BATMAN) begins at the end of next month in Iceland and will continue until mid March before moving to the U.K. Iceland shooting-don't worry, it's not BATMAN on ice skates-more like all terrain vehicles, with Christian Bale not arriving till around March 1st. One of the Cardington hangers being used for the film has large sets of a old train station of some sort, as well as housing the MASSIVE Batcave.
  
  Casting. First of all, Morgan Freeman is no longer up for Lucious Fox, but is up for Gordon. Initially he was, but when Chris Cooper refused, Nolan turned to Freeman. Cillian Murphy will play Jonathan Crane, and Katie Homes as Harvey Dents assisstant Rachel. Harvey Dent has yet to be casted, having Guy Pearce be the only one test for that. The role of Earle has been brought up to several people, none of them rather big name stars, but lesser known character actors. Same goes for Boss Carime Falcone. Lucious Fox is also still undecided.
  
  The car  (Batmobile) is still being made but is not like "monster truck". Rather it is dark black. If you have the lights shut off, you ain't seeing it. It has twin jet engines in the back, with two small fins over them. It is a two seater and has two tires on the front, that, if looking from the direct front of it, are about 8-10 inches inward compared to the back two, which are slightly larger, but not that noticable. The cars are all going to be equipped with a large variety of gizmos. The jets can burn so hot it creates thick black smoke, and oil slick, all wheel drive, bat hooks, bulletproof windshield, ejection seats, and a t.v.
  
  The costume-jet (is) black as well. It is not spandex, under armor, or even rubber. It is a new material, that can stretch and bend easy, but won't be overly skin tight. Padding in the ribs and chest area as well as the arms and upper legs will be added, with large black boots for the feet. There will be about 4-5 of them.
  
  Batman MAY use other vehicles in the film...but I won't spoil that for you now. Oh and the press conference-lets just say your going to want to be staying in around the 17th (February).

CATWOMAN UPDATES

• The winner of Halle Berry fan site contest to win a visit to the Catwoman set posted her impressions recently on-line here. Its' not exactly objective reporting and is light on details.
• Warner Bros has issued the following Press Release about the apparent injury to Halle berry (reported at the top of the page) : "Actress Halle Berry was taken to the hospital Saturday night (January 24) after being involved in a minor accident on the Vancouver set of CATWOMAN. As it is customary while in production, Ms. Berry was transported to a local Vancouver   hospital, where she was treated and released.Ms. Berry resumed work on the Warner Bros. Pictures/ Village Roadshow production this morning, as scheduled. - -Warner Bros. Pictures."
• According to the gaming site Computer and Video Games a Catwoman movie game might be in development by EA.

IN THE STORES

CATWOMAN SLEEPWARE ON THE WAY

Press Release - Briefly Stated, Inc., an apparel industry licensee recognized by the Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association (LIMA) as 2002 Entertainment Licensee of the Year Award, has been awarded the Catwoman(TM) license by Warner Bros. Consumer Products to create Women's, Juniors' and Tween loungewear and daywear inspired by the upcoming Warner Bros. Pictures film.

The sleepwear line includes cami-tops, boxer shorts, sleep tees, dorm shirts, raglan tops, lounge pants, and tank tops. The daywear line includes cami-tops, boxers, boxer briefs, panties and thongs. The line has a sassy feeling with glow in the dark prints, hints of glitter, and glamour appeal.

"The Catwoman line of sleepwear and daywear offers a new twist on the classic fashion sense of the ever-popular character," said Maribeth Towers-Toth, Vice President Apparel and Accessories for Warner Bros. Consumer Products. "Briefly Stated has captured the feisty feline appeal in all of the new Catwoman inspired apparel."

"The edgy style of Catwoman is a perfect fit with Briefly Stated's overall goal and portfolio," said Alexandra Richmond, Vice President, Licensing & Marketing for Briefly Stated. "We anticipate that the Catwoman line will be a tremendous success."

Briefly Stated's Catwoman sleepwear and daywear lines for Women, Juniors and Tweens will be available in major retail stores beginning June 2004.

Meet The Bat Team

EMERALD CITY COMIC CON - Seattle - Feb 29th

The second Emerald City convention features GREG RUCKA, MATT WAGNER, DAVE JOHNSON and PETE WOODS among many other guests.

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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 - 2004)

 "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