Here are a few of the tidbits from presentations of major comic publishers at the Diamond/Alliance Retailer Summit held in Las Vegas last week. 

 

Marvel

Marvel's Joe Quesada held the mike for the bulk of Marvel's presentation.  He disclosed that he expects to be on the Today Show this Wednesday to discuss Heroes--Marvel's September 11 tribute/charity book.  Cage #1 (featuring Luke Cage -- Powerman) will be drawn by underground comic and Heavy Metal mainstay Richard Corben.  The third Black Widow miniseries, due out in March 2002, will be written by Greg Rucka.  Moment of Silence will feature four silent stories written by Quesada, Brian Bendis, Kevin Smith, and Marvel President Bill Jemas.  John Romita Jr. will contribute art to the book.  And in the previously announced Marvel Mangaverse treatment of Avengers (due in January), when they say 'Avengers Assemble,' they really do assemble into one large avenger, a la Transformers.

 

Dark Horse

In addition to announcing that the Hellboy movie, which is to start shooting in Spring 2002, will star Vin Diesel, Dark Horse also announced some Star Wars news at the event.  Its Jango Fett one-shot (due in December) will reveal the first look at an Episode II character in any medium.  Another Episode II character will be revealed in January 2002.  These revelations should provide consumers additional impetus to buy these books.   

 

DC

Jim Lee will be drawing Everquest, the 2002 DC series based on the online game so addictive it's commonly called 'Ever-crack.'  According to DC presenter Bob Wayne, that's appropriate as Lee sometimes has had to be pried away from Everquest to attend business meetings.  Farscape has been re-scheduled for February 2002.  As one of the strongest science fiction television properties out there, this has a chance to do good numbers if DC is able to execute well. 

 

The JLA TV show will premier November 17, 2001 at 7 p.m. ET, and will regularly appear at 9:30 p.m. Mondays and 7:30 p.m. Fridays, following Samurai Jack in both slots (see 'Samurai Jack Makes a Splash').

 

100 Bullets creators Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso will be doing an original graphic novel starring Batman in 2002. 

 

Presenter Bob Wayne also announced the revised release dates for upcoming issues of The Authority:  #27 on December 5, #28 on January 2, and #29 on February 6.  Apparently upset at the confusion regarding DC's willingness to publish the work and the reasons for the delay, Wayne made the roughest remarks we heard from any of the recently warring comic publishers (see 'Dueling Majors') when he said, 'I would also like to promise, in the future when I don't know the date something will be ready, I will now never again say 'It's to be determined.' I will make up a date so we don't have any stupid people running around saying stupid things.' (Marvel's Bill Jemas had offered to publish the book if DC refused.)  The crowd seemed largely non-plussed.