The Bum’s Rush #70

WARNING! None of the news or rumors you see here in The Bum’s Rush should be considered FACT until it actually happens. It might never happen. How do you know I’m not just making all this crap up? I could, you know. You’ve been warned!

Neither Snow Nor Rain Nor Heat Nor Gloom Of Night…

Join me for a moment, won’t you, in celebrating the fact that Stumblebum Studios’ number one fan, Rowena, has finally received her very own copies of all the Stumblebum books! She’s been incredibly patient with us as we tried to figure out the complexities of successfully utilizing the United States Postal Service to mail packages to South Korea, where she hangs her hat. Here’s photographic proof that it can be done:

   

It is a real crime that it has taken this long for our books to make it into her hands. Rowena has been one of our biggest supporters since the inception of this little website back in ’04. She’s been a morale booster, a promoter and a cheerleader. I consider her to be an invaluable member of the Stumblebum Crew, so when our second attempt to send the books to her had failed I began to despair.

Were we doing something wrong? Was there some secret “please deliver my package to Korea” handshake with the postal worker behind the counter that we were forgetting to use? Could it have been a plot by nefarious communist forces in the North? At one point I thought I might just have to jump a plane to South Korea and hand deliver them! But as you can see, the third time really is the charm. (Which is good because honestly who wants to fly these days? Not when there’s every chance in the world that your flight will be infested with poisonous snakes. It’s true. I saw it in a movie!)

Rowena, from your number one fan, I sincerely hope you enjoy the comics!


All The World’s Waiting For You

On Monday it was announced that Adam Hughes had signed an exclusive contract with DC Comics. The contract will be in effect through the length of Hughes run as writer, artist and colorist of All Star Wonder Woman. Hughes said that one of the reasons he signed the deal was because he hopes that it will keep him from being distracted by too many other projects while he works on the forthcoming All Star comic. In an interview on Newsarama the artist said that he wants All Star Wonder Woman to be a monthly title and has told DC that he would like to have the bulk of his run on the book completed before the first issue is even solicited.

““I get frustrated too when a book that I want doesn’t come out as regularly as it’s supposed to,” Hughes said, “so I think everybody deserves to have their All-Star Wonder Woman every thirty days.”

The book, like the rest of the All Star line of comics, will feature a continuity free, iconic interpretation of the Wonder Woman character and, according to Hughes, will borrow from the best parts of the Amazing Amazon’s 60-year history.


Meanwhile, Across Town…

Hughes insistence that All-Star Wonder Woman not suffer from delays is an interesting bit of news to come on the heels of Marvel’s recent announcement of delays for upcoming issues of their latest crossover series, Civil War. The fourth issue of the limited series was supposed to hit shelves last week but has since been rescheduled for the end of September and the fifth issue has been pushed back until November! The rescheduling of the series has, in turn, caused Marvel to reschedule almost 20 other comics tied-in to Civil War, with more delays likely over the next several months.

These delays have ignited a furious debate among fans, retailers and creators about the growing trend of late shipping books and their effects on the industry as a whole. I’ll be discussing this trend, and the subsequent debate surrounding it, in more detail in next week’s column.


Spider-Man (artist) No More!

Artist Mark Bagley announced last week that he would be leaving Ultimate Spider-Man as of issue #110. His departure will come just a few issues after the record-breaking Ultimate Spider-Man #103 which will establish Brian Michael Bendis and Bagley as having created the most consecutive issues of a single Marvel Comics superhero series (previously held by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby who produced 102 consecutive issues of The Fantastic Four).

With Ultimate Spider-Man, Bagley proved himself to be one of the most reliable and hard working artists in the industry. At one point Bagley was drawing up to 18 issues of the book a year while still managing to draw other books for Marvel, including the first five issues of Bendis’ The Pulse. I became of fan of Bagley’s work when I began reading New Warriors in the early 90’s and I have followed him from one title to another, continually impressed by the level of consistency and quality he presents with his work. He is one of the main reasons I have been reading Ultimate Spider-Man non-stop since its debut in 2000.

There has been no word yet on what Bagley will be working on next but you can be sure it will be a Marvel book. Bagley has worked solely for Marvel since the beginning of his career in the late 80’s. The new artist for Ultimate Spider-Man is also yet to be announced, though I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Mark Brooks doing at least a few issues of the title.


Superman Returns Again

At his appearance at this year’s San Diego Comic Convention, Bryan Singer seemed to have no doubt that he would be filming the follow-up to Superman Returns and was shooting for a 2009 release date, though some people seemed to think he was being overly optimistic about the chances for a sequel. Over the past few weeks there have been several stories casting doubt on whether or not the film would actually break even and rumors swirled about whether or not Warner Execs would even greenlight a sequel to Superman Returns.

Although the film has already grossed almost $400 million worldwide, Warner Bros. President Alan Horn admitted that this is still about $100 million short of his expectations. However he also believes that the franchise has been firmly reestablished. Horn has announced that he is planning on another Superman installment for the summer of 2009. Hopefully there will be some more solid news about the possible sequel in the near future.


Zod’s Law

If the Superman Returns sequel does go ahead there is a strong possibility that Singer plans on using General Zod, played by Terrance Stamp in Superman II, as the film’s villain. Singer’s choice to play the role of the sadistic Kryptonian general is rumored to be Jude Law.

I don’t know… I can see it. How about you?

Lending some weight to the rumor, Singer had previously tried to convince Law to appear as General Zod in Superman Returns but removed the character from the script entirely after Law declined the role.

November – Good For Comics, Bad For Turkeys

DC Comics Solicitations for November 2006

Marvel Comics Solicitations for November 2006

Image Comics Solicitations for November 2006


The Only Comics That Matter

Last Week –
The Boys #1 by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson

Casanova #2 by Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba

Fell #6 by Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith

Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #7 by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen

This Week –
Batman And The Mad Monk #1 by Matt Wagner

Astonishing X-Men #16 by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday

Next Week –
The Boys #2 by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson

Justice #7 by Jim Krueger, Alex Ross and Doug Braithwaite

X-Factor #10 by Peter David and Roy Allen Martinez
 

If you know of any interesting news, rumors, lies, etc. about comics and think I should know about it too just email me at thesuperleezard@yahoo.com.

Read more dumb crap written by me at www.livejournal.com/users/superleezard.

My semi-daily webcomic, Der Wundervolle Bean, will be coming to an end soon. But you can still check it out here www.livejournal.com/users/der_magic_bean.



End of Line