Batman: The Animated Newsletter
Weeks of September 10 - September 23, 2001
Volume 4, 0
Rated: PG (as with all other things Batman-related)
THIS ISSUE'S SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE: "We'll
keep all of you in our prayers."
Sorry about this issue not getting into inboxes
in time. Not only has school gotten in the way (but yet again), the whole thing with the
terrorist attacks in the USA has sort of taken precedent. I'm not an American myself, but
my heart (and those of others working here) goes out to ANYONE even remotely affected by
everything that's happened - the airplane crashes, destroyed Pentagon, levelled buildings,
and the Twin Towers (to say the least), and all the emergency crews assisting both the
dead and the survivors.
Hell, a good chunk of our Toonzone affiliates
live in the New York area - our prayers are with them, too. With every one of us using the
internet nowadays, chances are we all know at least one person in or around the boroughs
of New York, Washington, Pennsylvania, and any other affected area. Our prayers go out to
them all.
I just wanted to say something. Even though this
is centred on the United States, everyone up here in Canada is feeling the brunt of all
the chaos with the airlines, too. The same goes for the rest of the I do have an idea of
what is going on and my sympathy (and empathy) goes out to everyone involved in any
possible way.
With all that said, we'll postpone our
celebratory 100th issue until we meet again. I'm not really in the mood to party right
now, anyway.
Take care, fellow readers.
Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton
-proud Canadian supporting the efforts of our American cousins in the wake of this
terrorism.
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EAGERLY ANTICIPATING...
New episodes are on the horizon! Here's what we can expect in the near future...
-Finally! UNMASKED will air on the KidsWB on
Friday, September 14, at 4:30 pm.
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NEWS AND RUMORS
(see back issues for older info)
ALL-ENCOMPASSING/OTHER
-Congratulations to the staff at WB studios for the rankings of their superhero shows in a
recent WIZARD magazine "Top #100 Cartoons of all time" list. SUPERMAN came in at
#21, BATMAN BEYOND at #6, and BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES at #2. (The only show to beat it
was, you guessed it, THE SIMPSONS, and that's pretty impressive.)
-The following artists are selling artwork on eBay. The following are their names and
Seller ID's:
Terry Beatty: beatty@machlink.com
Craig Rousseau: cerousseau
Tim Levins: tlevins
Min S. Ku: min3000gt
ANIMATED SERIES (BTAS, STAS, BEYOND, JLA)
-Some stills from the series have popped up on the net!
Hawkgirl: http://www.comicscontinuum.com:8080/stories/0108/24/hawkgirl.jpg
Batman: http://www.comicscontinuum.com:8080/stories/0108/24/batmanleft.jpg
-Though BATMAN BEYOND will soon be leaving KidsWB, it will be returning to air on the
CARTOON NETWORK on October 1st, at 6:30pm as part of the Toonami line-up. UNMASKED is the
only episode that the CARTOON NETWORK will NOT be able to air once BATMAN BEYOND jumps
networks.
-BTAS has been temporarily removed from the YTV schedule, but starting September 15th,
BATMAN BEYOND will begin airing "new" episodes at 10am (starting with PLAGUE).
Go to our YTV schedule section for details. Thanks to news.toonzone.net for the scoop!
ANIMATED COMICS
-Tim Levins is currently co-plotting of BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES with Scott
Peterson. It looks like it will be a Catwoman story; no word on whether it'll be an
extra-sized issue like #1, though. This issue will be out in May 2002.
-Levins also confirmed that he hasn't heard any word on GOTHAM ADVENTURES being cancelled
in the near future just as SUPERMAN ADVENTURES and BATMAN BEYOND have. That's good news to
me!
-Oh yeah, ever wonder what he looks like? COMICSCONTINUUM has posted a picture of him on
their site. Check it out: http://www.comicscontinuum.com:8080/stories/0109/04/timlevins.jpg
-JUSTICE LEAGUE ADVENTURES, the new animated-style comic book based on the upcoming
animated series, releases its first issue on November 14, 2001. It is written by Ty
Templeton, has interior art by Min S. Ku and Dan Davis, and sports a cover by both Bruce
Timm and Alex Ross.
-Other writers for the series already include Chuck Dixon, Paul Storrie, Mike W. Barr, Dan
Slott, Len Kaminski, Fabian Nicieza, and Christopher Sequeira.
-Issues in this series will cost $1.99 US, or $3.25 Canadian, just as with GOTHAM
ADVENTURES and SUPERMAN ADVENTURES.
Issue #1 description: "The JLA faces a deadly alien threat! When a meteor lands in an
American suburb, the League is called on to investigate. Soon they are drawn into an
intergalactic conflict, but it seems as if the real threat may be one of their own - Green
Lantern! Our heroes' adventures may be over as soon as they've begun!"
Cover to Issue #1: http://www.toonzone.net/comics/covers/jla/jla01.gif
-BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES #44
All I know about this one is that Two-Face finally returns; looks like Nightwing and Robin
are in it, too. Here's the cover:
http://www.toonzone.net/comics/covers/bga/bga44.jpg
-BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES #46
All we know is that this is going to feature the Ventriloquist (and Scarface too, of
course.)
-MAD LOVE will be re-released on November 21st to coincide with the release of the Harley
Quinn snowglobe by DC Direct.
OTHER COMICS
-Frank Miller's long-awaited THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN will finally hit stores on
December 5, 2001. Issues #2 and #3 will come out in successive months. Each issue will
cost $7.95 US.
Cover: http://www.cinescape.com/multimedia/Batman/Images/BatmanArticle274848.jpg
-As of March 1st, 2002, Chuck Dixon will be leaving DC Comics and moving to CrossGen
comics. Dixon currently helms three titles - NIGHTWING, ROBIN, and BIRDS OF PREY - and has
written countless mini-series' and issues for other titles over his many years at DC thus
far.
Check out the full story at CINESCAPE:
http://www.cinescape.com/7/editorial.asp?aff_id=7&this_cat=News&action=page&obj_id=29322&type_id=1130&cat_id=7565&sub_id=0
-Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale report that they have another upcoming project with DC
Comics...but that's all. It might be another Batman miniseries, a Superman mini, or
something different altogether. More as we hear it.
-A new Bat-family comic book is coming to comic stores near you! No release date has been
set, but NEWSRAMA reports that Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker are joining forces to write for
a title tentatively known as "GOTHAM CENTRAL" - focusing on the corrupt Gotham
City Police Department.
-BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS #23
Featuring the Scarecrow out of Arkham, giving speeches on the ramifications of fear.
-BATMAN #597
The final showdown between Batman and Zeiss.
Cover: http://www.toonzone.net/comics/covers/2001-11/batman597.gif
-DETECTIVE COMICS #765 (in December) cover:
http://www.cinescape.com/multimedia/Batman/Comic_Book_Covers/BatmanArticle272867.jpg
-HARLEY & IVY: LOVE ON THE LAM - a one-shot story chronolizing the duo's relationship
post-NML but pre-HARLEY QUINN ongoing series. It's due out in September. Written by Judd
Winick.
Cover: http://www.assignmentx.com/multimedia/Batman/Images/BatmanImages271321.jpg
-A hardcover version of DARK VICTORY, collecting all 13 issues, will be released on
October 24. Don't expect a softcover version any earlier than March 2002.
MOVIES
-Wanna check out the new SPECIAL EDITION BATMAN MOVIE? (It's the one from 1966, by the
way.) Go to this link:
http://www.batmandvd.com
-Paul Dini has come out and said that it is very likely that the WB will release an
unedited ROTJ movie - but with different cover art to differentiate it from the
family-friendly version. It might even be sold only through DC Direct. Expect this as
early as late this year or early 2002.
*BATMAN: YEAR ONE (BATMAN 5) NEWS:
-David Boreaenz is once again at the top of the pile of rumours of actors that might play
Batman. Here's what he might look like:
http://www.comics2film.com/DCG/DispArt.php3?f_id=229
-WARNER BROS. is currently aiming for a 2003 summer release date for YEAR ONE. Frank
Miller has wrapped up all of his comics projects (such as THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN)
so he's focussing his attention on movie production, now.
*BATMAN BEYOND: LIVE ACTION NEWS:
-While at WizardCon in Chicago, Paul Dini implied that the live action BATMAN BEYOND movie
appears to be dead in the water.
*BATMAN BEYOND: THE FOURTH ANIMATED MOVIE
-At the WIZARD WORLD convention, Paul Dini has confirmed that there will be more animated
Bat-movies on the way. Aside from a second BATMAN BEYOND "Nightwing" film (which
is always possible), there could possibly be movies featuring team-ups between Batman and
Superman, Wonder Woman, Plastic Man, and Green Arrow. These ideas HAVE been greenlighted
by the WB.
*CATWOMAN
-No new news on this movie for a while...but yeah, it's still in production.
*WORLD'S FINEST
-No new news here. Don't expect this movie to happen for quite a while.
EXCLUSIVE INTERNET ENDEAVOURS:
-Gotham Girls need your help. Another Batman newsletter, GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS, reports that
traffic has dropped on the Girls' site to such an extent that the WB powers that be are
hinting that no new productions will get the greenlight. So if you enjoy girly hi-jinks of
Gotham's most notable women or just want to check out some cool web based animation click
on over to http://www.gothamgirls.com
-However, these new episodes are still coming out, on the following dates:
Sept. 11: #08 - "Gotham Noir"
Sept. 25: #09 - "Scout's Dis-honor"
Oct. 9: #10 - "I'm Badgirl"
TOYS, BOOKS, AND OTHER MERCHANDISE
-BTAS is coming to DVD in early 2002! Stay tuned for further developments!
-DC Direct is going to be releasing a set of PVC figures based on THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES
AGAIN, to coincide with whenever it comes out next year.
-It looks like Hasbro is releasing a Batman/Joker two-pack based on the new designs of
animated series. No accessories appear to be supplied, though. Here's a link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1631345845
-They also appear to have a Batman/Robin two-pack in the same style, but it looks like the
Robin figure is Dick Grayson in the Tim Drake suit. Yeah. Check it out:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1631345205
-Batman and Superman, too! See?
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1631344582
-All the 85 WB stores across the United States will be closed by October, 2001.
However, there is word that the other 30 locations, such as in Canada and across the pond
in European countries, will remain open because they operate under separate franchise
agreements.
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