Greg S. writes: I just read your column on The Question and surprised to see no mention of Rorschach from Alan Moore's WATCHMEN. At all. This is what we in the Letter to Columnist Business call a glaring omission.

Why?

Well, first of all, I think the fact that The Question went on to inspire a character in what many people regard to be the CITIZEN KANE of comic books is almost like doing a bio on William Randolph Hearst and not mentioning that he inspired CITIZEN KANE. In The Question's case especially, the fact that the character's key qualities were recast through such a critical interpretational prism (i.e, Objectivism into moral fascism) in such an important book is relevant to a fundamental assessment of the character and his impact on comics.

But beyond that, and perhaps even more important to the evolution of The Question himself, Rorschach informed future portrayals of The Question; especially in JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED.

In JLU, The Question's most emphasized characteristic, well beyond any Objectivist tendencies, is his paranoia. You have to admit, this key aspect of the JLU's Question shows more of a reflection of Moore's clearly paranoid, communists-under-every-bed Rorschach than of Ditko's more clear-headedly righteous Vic Sage.

In other words, if it wasn't for WATCHMEN and Rorschach, you simply wouldn't have the JLU Question. And I think this probably needed mentioning.

Otherwise, great column as usual.

Tipton: Like I said above, I’m holding off on Nite Owl and Rorschach until the proper time. And for what it's worth, I would think it fine to discuss William Randolph Hearst without dwelling on CITIZEN KANE. Although that's not even a fair analogy, since Hearst became directly involved in trying to quash the film's distribution, so there's more of a connection there.

Doug M. writes: FWIW, I'm one of those who never liked the Blue Beetle much. I don't care for the way DC got rid of him, but his absence will bother me not at all.

Nice to see the old Ditko Objectivist issues, though. Even if you think Objectivism is a steaming pile of dingo's kidneys, they were pretty interesting.

-- I know Charlton had all sorts of problems, but I've sometimes wondered if it wasn't the lettering that ultimately made the difference. I can remember being seven or eight years old and mildly disliking Charlton comics based purely on that god-awful monospaced font.

Kvetch: you gave awfully short shrift to the Cowan/O'Neil run. Excellent in their own right, they also influenced a generation of young writers and artists. Velvet Underground kinda thing. ("Only five hundred people bought the VU's first album, but four hundred of them immediately started bands of their own.") IMS Vaughan has recently acknowledged it as in influence in his _Ex Machina_ series.

Those books were also mildly controversial, because O'Neil pretty explicitly based his Crown City on East St. Louis, 'the worst city in America'. O'Neil wanted to put the Question in a thoroughly corrupt, miserable and crime-infested city, so he took America's most corrupt and crime-ridden city as his model, right down to borrowing the names of streets and neighborhoods.

You might think that was only reasonable, but ESL was (still is) 80% black, so some hackles were raised.

Grant Morrisson Justice League Watch: Week 17.

Tipton: The mechanical lettering font Charlton used is most definitely reader-unfriendly, no question.

I plead nolo contendre on the O'Neil Question run. I love those comics, and would have covered them more if I could. However, my original set is at my parents' house 300 miles away, and my comic shop didn't have any back issues I could buy, so since I didn't have any images to run and only had a passing memory of the details, I went with just a strong endorsement in lieu of actual discussion. It was that or wait until after Christmas to write the Question column.

And as for the Morrison JLA, you'll get it when I'm damn good and ready. These kids today...

Seriously, though, as soon as I have the time to re-read 'em I'm all over it.

Henry K. writes: While I don't always share your opinions (I have to admit a soft spot for the recent Question mini, even as radical a change from both the O'Neil version and the Ditko original - but even as good as many of O'Neil's stories were, The Question as a Zen Buddhist sat worse with me than he does as an urban shaman for you), you write what is quite possibly the most literate and intelligent regular columns about comics that I have ever seen, and it's one of the only online publications other than eXile that I actually look forward to reading. I'm wonder, do you plan on following up Blue Beetle and Question with a Captain Atom column (and for that matter, what's your opinion of Breach and the planned Wildstorm CA book?), and do you plan on doing a Watchmen one?

Tipton: When I first read O'Neil's Question, I'd never read the Ditko originals, so the Zen stuff didn't seem as out of place as it does to me now.

Don't quite have enough background material for a full Captain Atom column. Maybe when the WildStorm series comes out. Haven't read Breach.

Definitely a WATCHMEN column coming.

Anthony B. writes: As always, fantastic job on "The Question." JLU was the first time I had ever heard of the character and you're right...there's a perfect mix of his appearance and the fantastic voice work by Jeffrey Combs that make you want him involved someway in every episode. I remember googling The Question to get more info, but your column was great.

Now if only we could get The Question to :ahem: persuade the powers-that-be to release The Justice League on DVD. I figure if a no-face man show up at some exec's house in a poof of gas...boxed sets on the shelved in time for the holidays.

Tipton: I know -- the lack of proper DVD support for JUSTICE LEAGUE and JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED mystifies me...

Lou W. writes: Great articles on BB and the Question. I learned something shocking from them. I remember having a ‘bunch’ of Blue Beetle and Question comics when I was a kid, and I really liked the characters. When Question showed up on JLU I was really excited since I hadn’t seen him since reading my Question comics when I was a kid (the late-70s, BTW. I’ve recently bought the ‘87 series, but haven’t read it yet).

So imagine my surprise when reading the last two weeks articles to discover that the ‘bunch’ of BB and Question comics I thought I had as a kid were instead…Blue Beetle #3. Exactly one comic. And my fond, and vivid, memories of The Question were based around a single 7 page story. That’s impressive character design.

Tipton: Indeed, Ditko packed a lot of stuff in each one of those BLUE BEETLE issues. And if there was ever any doubt about Ditko’s ability at character design, the Beetle/Question one-two punch is pretty impressive.

Garrett B. writes: Finally, there's someone that recognizes the joy of the Spider-Man album "From Beyond the Grave". That little gem is probably the only LP that I use my turntable for. That album has everything good going for it from the stunning John Romita Sr. artwork, Rene Auberjoinois (sp?) as Peter/Spidey and tons upon tons of quotable quotes. "Who are you to question the wisdom of Dr. Strange?!?" is a particular favorite. If I remember correctly (because I was a wee lad at the time), it gave me the basics of the Spider-man story that the Electric Company didn't provide.

It's about time for another listen. Thanks for the excellent weekly thesis ... theses ... thesises ... Ahh you know what I mean.

Tipton: "It's such a groove to be free..."

The Green Goblin voice at the beginning of that record scared the begeezus out of me as a kid…

Forrest writes: Comics 101 is great, long time/first time, yadda yadda yadda... You've been hinting at a Kingdom Come article for a while now and I thought you might be including it in with your recent JLA entries. I just wanted to refer you to Jess Nivens’ annotations at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/7160/annos.html. (If you didn't already know.) I thought the story in Kingdom Come was going to be confusing with all the characters. The story wasn't confusing, but trying to figure out who some of the characters in the background was. This site was an excellent tool and a lot of fun. It is astounding how many characters and props were pulled from obscure golden age comics. I only wish this were printed in tablet size like the Paul Dini stories to truly appreciate the details Ross put in it.

Oh, the Star Wars Storybook was mentioned in the Mail Shoot on October 18, 2004. I believe my copy is long gone (sob) but I think there was a blooper that I found reading it in 1979. The picture is the scene in Ben's home, C-3PO is sitting and out of the end of his left arm emerges A HUMAN HAND! Am I right? Or is it just a fuzzy memory of a bad dream I had. Like the dream I had of a JLA tv special that looked like a Dean Martin Roast...

I swear to God, for 20 years I thought the JLA roast was a just bad dream until someone mentioned it on a message board that "Challenge of the Superheroes" actually aired. Took me about ten minutes to process that fact in my head. Ok, enough free association. Great site, lotsa laughs, thanks.

Tipton: Yes, Nivens' annotations are well done.

Dan F. writes: I couldn't agree more with the thought that anyone who hung around the mansion could become an Avenger." That "JLA/Avengers" crossover was pretty much "JLA vs. Everyone in the Marvel Universe minus Spider-Man and The X-Men" It never occurred to me until that series how out of hand the Avengers roster got. And now that they've actually added Spider-Man and Wolverine, who does that even leave?

Tipton: Daredevil. But give it a couple months yet, and I'm sure he'll join up too.

Adam J. writes: Loving the JLA articles so far. Growing up almost exclusively on Marvel comics, and currently reading almost exclusively DC comics, the League is something I've always been interested in but didn't know too much about. Although I must say that I always did, and still do, prefer the more open and fluid membership of the Avengers over the JLA. While true there are a few members that seemed to become Avengers just because they were there, I always loved the fact that some of the big names like Spider-Man, Wolverine and Dr. Strange weren't Avengers while Hawkeye, Black Knight and Wonder Man were. Of course Marvel is changing all that right now, which is another matter entirely and will just get me annoyed if I write about it. So great job on the two columns so far, and I can't wait to see more. I hope this is going to be a Batman length series.

Tipton: Avengers had a more intimate vibe that I always liked -- it set it apart from the JLA.

Tim Y. writes: It's been awhile since I emailed, so I thought I'd send one lauding your mention of Joe Parry, one of the few bad guys the JLA faced who never really had anything going for him.

I guess I like him because what he did with the alien whatsis is probably what a lot of people would do (given the existence of superheroes on Earth-#). Are you planning on mentioning his remorse scene in JLA 201 (2?) before he meets Ultraa? And the idea that people don't really change? It's a great bookend to his story.

I ask because every now and again JLA allowed complete second-or-third-or-fourth-stringers the chance to rise to save the day, or at least be featured, which is one of the reasons I like the late 70's-early 80's run so much. I mean, Prof. No-one-can-remember-his-name beating the new Royal Flush Gang while most of the JLA is in hospital? Brilliant!

You have no idea how disappointed I was when they mothballed the original and recreated it as a comedy. I actually had to go out and get a girlfriend.

Tipton: I think the JLI run gets a bad rap as being nothing but comedy, when it started out serious and later balanced the yuks with some good action.

Ray M. writes: I really love the column and check the site each week to read it. Anyway, the reason I'm writing is, at the moment I'm collecting the trades of an old Vertigo series called PREACHER. I know I'm a bit late on the bandwagon but I think this is series is some of the best writing I've read in any medium. It's among the greats as far as I'm concerned. I was wondering if you share a similar opinion on this series, and if so, if it were possible for you to feature it in an upcoming installment of Comics 101. I apologise if you receive dozens of emails of this nature.

Thanks for your time, and keep up the great work.

Tipton: Although it's not to my personal taste, there's no denying PREACHER is one of the best realized series of the last few years. I'll be discussing it for sure one of these days.

C. writes: Loving the piece on the Justice League. But I was wondering, since the Crisis, how does Thanagarian tech enter in to the JLA satellite, since it's now Carter, not Katar, who was in the league? Minor thing I'm sure really, just switch Thanagarian tech to Kryptonian, as well as adding some generous donations from Wayne Enterprises, it pretty much covers the Thanagar thing.

Are there any Satellite-era Justice League stories you could recommend? Ever since reading Identity Crisis, I really want to read those stories. The only thing I really have from that era is an issue of Firestorm I bought at a comic shop, showing Firestorm taking out the entire JLA.

Well, anyhow, great articles, and can't wait to see the second-tier members of the league, like Firestorm, get some limelight in this series of articles.

Tipton: Exactly. Replace Thanagarian with Martian/Waynetech/Kord Industries technology.

My favorite JLA era is the run from about JLA #160 to about #230 or so. Writing by Gerry Conway and Len Wein, and some great art from everyone from Don Heck to George Perez. Zatanna and Firestorm join up. The League of my youth.

TV RECOMMENDATIONS

Glen R. writes: Have you seen the 6 Feet Under finale yet? I think they did a good job of walking that tightrope of how to handle the end. The overly depressing ending would have been too much of down note even for that show, but the overly happy isn't life great ending would have been way too cheesy. In the end I think it came down to one of the basic themes of the show. Life is short do the best you can with that time, sometimes things work out and sometimes they don't.

Ryall: I thought it was pretty amazing how a show that had gotten so oppressively dour this season managed to find an uplifting way to end and yet not feel like they were forcing it. Especially with a "big dinner party" scene, one of the mainstay cliches in happy endings, and yet this one rang true. It was also nice to see a show about the fact that everyone dies end with a feeling of hope. That part alone was well done enough, but man, that ending coda that played as Claire drove off into the unknown was just stunning.

Again, that sort of approach, showing what ultimately happens to the characters, can be overwrought, but it didn't feel that way here. And the song, SIA's "Breathe Me In," fit it perfectly, too. What a stellar, resonant ending for the show.

Robert S. writes: Actually, there are two ghosts in The Grudge -- one of whom is a grown woman, the other of whom is a little boy.  Japanese horror movies may be into creepy little kids (and with good reason -- little kids are creepy), but they're not all little girls (as in Ringu and Dark Water).

Ryall: Well... that little boy was very effeminate-looking.

ONE HAND CLAPPING

The OZZFEST 2005 Edition:

Meg writes: I've been following the incident that happened at Ozzfest on the 20th, and it seems that the majority of the blame has gone directly to Sharon and not Ozzy.  (Although some of the Maiden fans on warpath are pretty much blaming all of the Osbournes.)

Ryall: Yeah, I saw word that it was actually Kelly Osbourne and friends who were pelting MAIDEN with eggs? No idea if that's true or not, but the fact that it happened is still a bit shocking. Can't remember ever seeing anything so unprofessional at a big show, and I saw the Stones at Altamont. (note: not really, I wasn't even alive for that. But still, this was pretty bad.)

Most people assume that Sharon did this out of envy because Maiden have been getting such good press and also due to Bruce's usual rants.  Bruce makes similar rants all the time about reality TV, the state of the music industry in general today, and similar topics and he has been for quite a while.  (Circa 'Brave New World' pretty much.)  Those rants are probably what Sharon meant by 'disrespecting' Ozzfest.  Admittedly, Bruce's rants aren't aimed at anyone in general, just to get the crowd going.

As I understand it Ozzy and Sabbath had nothing to do with this, it was all Sharon's idea.  According to the rumours flying around on the Iron Maiden forums she had several of Sabbath's crew members sneak down close to the band before "Murders in the Rue Morgue" with egg cartons and that's where the egg tossing began.

All I can say is I know Iron Maiden's manager, Rod Smallwood, is going to be checking Maiden's Ozzfest contract for loopholes and probably suing Sharon soon.  It should be interesting to see what happens.

Ryall: That'd serve her right. Really, whether she thought Bruce was slagging Ozzy, or Slipknot, or the Queen of England (and I never got the impression he was doing any of these things), it should never have spilled over into her cheating the fans out of what they paid to see. I saw people threaten class action suits against Sharon, too. That'd be nice to see as well.

Ijon T. writes: Just read the article, and I have to say that, although I didn't encounter quite the degree of problems that you did, Ozzfest here was rather more dull than I would have liked.

Iron Maiden was definitely on form, and didn't have any of the technical issues described, and was easily the best performance of the night.  Even the best I've seen this year.  Nearly al the other bands were...  well... crap.  The same boring rehashed "oo look how aggro I am" heavy metal and nu-metal that's plagued the scene for about the last 10 years.  The only other performance that I actually enjoyed was Rob Zombie.

Sabbath, on the other hand, was less than stellar.  The did encounter a few minor errors early on; at which point Ozzy threw a tantrum and stomped off stage in a huff.  He returned a few songs later; but I had left by that point.  I was informed by friends who did stick around that the rest of the set was fairly lackluster, and included at least one other example of Ozzy's pissyness.

Oh well, I went pretty much for Maiden and Zombie anyway.

Ryall: From all indications, that seems to have been the problem... IRON MAIDEN was overshadowing the tired SABBATH and Ozzy's wife decided to screw with them during their show. I'm sure that's why all these other generic hard rock bands got slots on the show--no competition.

John F. writes: Thanks for mentioning the travesty on your website. I'm sorry that the show was horrific, you (and everyone else) deserve a real Maiden show for the "Wheel of Fortune" prices Sharon was charging for tickets. I estimate that the average ticket cost was $75 so they would have cleared more than $3.3 million for that show alone.

Ryall: I hear talk that there might be just that, another Maiden show where everyone who had a ticket to that SB show would get in free. We'll see.

I've contacted two people at Billboard.com about purchasing an ad in which a formal letter to Sharon can be printed. The letter will demand an apology to the fans, a full refund for the show to anyone who wants one, and a donation to the Clive Burr Trust. Her behaviour has to be stopped and I fear that the story will be otherwise forgotten by the mainstream.

Ryall: I did hear a mention on Howard Stern (although Robin did what she does best and got the story wrong and blamed Iron Maiden), but yeah, I'm sure since she has more of a mainstream media presence, any mention of it will be given her spin.

As a media figure, a fellow fan and someone in the audience- please let me know if you have any suggestions or ideas on how the fans can make a statement.

Ryall: Well, I did see that some fans at the Iron Maiden boards have started a class-action lawsuit against her. Hope that goes through. Beyond that, the ad is a good idea, and also boycotting that tired-ass tour next year, if it even happens, would be good for everyone to do, too.

John F. writes back later on in the week: I've got a (very) basic version of a website dedicated to getting an apology froom Sharon Osbourne via an ad we're placing in Billboard Magazine. Its a grassroots method and I've used the fan campaign to save tv's "Angel" as a basis. The site is: boycottsharon.com

In related news, check the Iron Maiden forums on IronMaiden.org for information on a class action lawsuit from the attendees of last weeks show. (I'll have a link to it on boycottsharon.com soon.)

I must say, this has been one of the hardest and most rewarding projects that I've been involved in. Before I even had the website up, I had recieved donations. One fan went was from Denmark (and he donated an appropiate six dollars and sixty six cents...)

Chasing Kevin

Joe M. writes: A short that I've written/directed/star, is going to have it's premiere at the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival.  People who have seen it say it sort of reminds them of Kevin's work.  I guess I didn't realize subconsciously how much of an influence he was on me.

Here's the info ---

The title is "The Battle of Melnor" it's a piece about two dudes in their early twenties spending 24 hours trying to beat a video game.

You can check out the info at lashortsfest.com Click on films, then schedule, then WED. then program 14 at 9:45

P.S.: It's actually gonig to be playing Sunday September 11 at 1:00pm - they changed the time, but the info is still in the old spot for now.

Remake Shremake

Pat B. writes:I just read the article you guys had on your website about the remake of Rififi, and I'm pissed. Jules Dassin's Rififi is, in my opinion, one of the best crime movies ever made and certainly the best heist movie. It is a near-perfect crime movie that is just as hard-boiled and explicit as most films made today - and better than most films made today.

I admit it will be interesting to see Al Pacino in the role of Tony le Stephanois, but he won't be any better than the original actor (whose name escapes me and I'm too lazy to go to imdb right now). This remake craze wasn't bothering me so much, except for the remake of Manchurian Candidate, but this is getting ridiculous. And don't even get me started on the remake of Ikiru, which is my absolute favorite movie of all time.

I'm supportive of a remake like The Fog, because that movie sucked and should probably be remade, but why remake movies that were great to begin with? A director should know his ego is getting too big when he tries to redo Kurosawa (or even Dassin, for that matter. If anybody remade Night and the City I'd be just as pissed . . . oh, wait . . . ).

Tipton: I was with you until you dissed John Carpenter. THE FOG is awesome.

THIS MOVIE AIN'T GONNA SHOOT ITSELF

James S. writes: This is just a friendly reminder that you have a movie out there using your site as a selling point for themselves. I would seriously doubt that you would give the movie 'Hide and Creep' a rating better then 'Shawn of the dead'. If you cant seem to remember what this movie is it is on IMDB.com. Anyhow, I rented this film souly based on the fact that Kevin Smith and his website said that it was indeed BETTER then a great movie. I personally think you would want to contact the producer of this movie (The Asylum home entertianment @ www.theasylem.cc) and tell them to not use such a fantastic writer's name as Kevin Smith to sell movies. I would think it in your best interest.

Thanks for your time

PS Thank them for the waste of my time and money

Ryall: Well, technically, they used the name of Kevin Smith's Web site and all of us misquoted-but-fantastic writers here. The thing of it all is this--Chance Shirley, who wrote a column here (linked above) detailing his entire efforts to shoot his indie zombie comedy from start to finish, was able to work out a DVD distribution deal for his movie. Ultimately, this was the main goal (at least for me) of the column, to see him not only film his movie, and document the efforts to help other indie filmmakers, but also eventually find a way to get people to actually see his movie.

He found that, in Asylum, the DVD company that put the movie out. But when you're a very indie filmmaker without broader connections, you're at the mercy of these companies' whims. So when Chance told me ahead of the movie's release that the distributor designed the artwork for the DVD and added the quote (an amalgamation of a few sentences of a review I did here) and that it probably wasn't possible to change it... I figured that was fine. It was a bit odd, since I'm the guy adapting the SHAUN OF THE DEAD movie to comics form and I didn't want to rub those filmmakers wrong. But at the same time, Chance labored mightily on his great column, and deserved all the support I could give. So he and I both laughed about the (mis-)quote but figured, eh, what the hell? If it gets people to check out his movie, what's the harm? After all, I DID like CREEP, and even if you don't think it's better than SHAUN OF THE DEAD, well, opinion is very subjective, right? I've read lots of movie quotes in ads or on DVD covers that didn't necessarily echo my opinion of a movie. You trust someone else's opinion, you takes your chances, you know? I don't see the harm in it.

HIDE AND CREEP, on sale now. And I say that "it's BETTER at doing redneck zombie humor than SHAUN OF THE DEAD."

Bill H. writes: Bill writes: Hi, I'm Bill, an independent filmmaker from northeastern PA. I saw your great diary of the Hide And Creep shoot and i must commend you for it. Being mid-way into my own feature production, a DV backwoods thriller/horror piece, I found your production articles excellent reading. It's by far one of the most personal and informative pieces I've read online. It's doesn't get too bogged down with technical jargon but it gets to the point. I haven't seen Hide And Creep yet but I did see it at my local Hollywood Video recently and I plan to rent it soon. BTW, I've seen the pics from your site and I must say that Melissa Bush is very beautiful and stunning, just gorgeous.

Anyhow, good luck with your distribution and all the success with your film. What next for you?

Chance Shirley replies: Hello. Glad you enjoyed the "This Movie..." articles -- they were a lot of fun to write, and it's nice to hear that people are still discovering them.

As for future plans, HIDE AND CREEP co-director Chuck Hartsell and I are each working on new scripts. I'd really like to start shooting mine sometime in 2006 if I can pull everything together. The new script is pretty ambitious, so it might be trickier to put on the credit card.

As for Melissa, you're right -- she's a total babe. She's also a very good actress -- I hope I can talk her into appearing in my next flick.

Thanks for writing, and best of luck with your movie.

Bruce P. writes: Hi there Chance. My name is Bruce, I won a screener copy from you back when you were doing the Shoot Itself column. I just wanted to say it was a pretty cool experience reading that column every other Thursday and then to walk in to my Blockbuster and see the finished product on the shelf. That has to be quite the experience!

Chance Shirley replies: Hey, man! Thanks for writing. I, too, get a little thrill seeing our movie on the store shelves -- makes the hard work we put into it seem that much more worthwhile.

You're a great inspiration for all of us out there hoping to get our movies made. I am still trying to get all of my equipment together to start filming my own short movies. Damn it gets expensive.

Chance: I feel your pain. I'm looking at updating the Aaton 16mm camera -- $3500 for some new lenses and $2500 for a video tap. Ouch! If you need any opinions on equipment, let me know and I'll give you my 2 cents worth.

Anyways... sorry for the long read. One final thing, did this open up any doors for you or are you still at your old nine to fiver? Again, thanks for the movie and inspiration.

Chance: Not yet -- I'm at the day job right now. I'm starting to think that making movies the way I like to make movies (shooting on film, longer schedules with a small crew) will never be profitable enough to be a full-time job. But the movie's only been out a little over a month. Who knows, maybe 20th Century Fox will call and offer me a job at some point!

Best of luck with your future projects, Bruce, and thanks again for writing.

X3 Non-News of the Week

Kentuckian dEnny H. writes: My buddy thought you might be interested in this bit of news. I made some edits, not sure if you can use it or would like a larger piece on the Star Trek Convention. I did the fastball special, he had X-Men-sized bombshell. Would you go with Wolverine or Colossus???

Ryall: Colossus did the fastball special. Wolverine just played the part of the ball.

Patrick Stewart made an appearance on August 14, 2005 at Creation's Official Star Trek Convention at the Las Vegas Hilton. Stewart's stop was brief as he is currently involved in the filming of X-Men 3 reprising his role as Professor X. Fans were treated to a 30 minute talk by Stewart followed by a short Q&A session. However, instead of leading the discussion with Star Trek: The Next Generation, Stewart dropped a Colossus sized Fastball Special! Stewart stated he had just finished filming a scene for X-Men 3 that was SO SECRET, no written information on the scene existed to preserve confidentiality. The actor did not elaborate any further, but did look pleased with himself that he had left the audience stunned in less than 30 seconds.

Ryall: No WAY! I heard that Stewart also shot a scene so secret, it wasn't even THOUGHT ABOUT yet, and that no one else was in the room when he shot it, AND that there was NO film in cameras!

Of course, this bit of news(?) is still better than the news I've heard about the movie and the fate of Stewart's character. And a couple other characters...

Was the audience really stunned by that "news"? Maybe they were stunned that Stewart said nothing at all and expected them to react. "I did something today and can't tell you what." You don't say.

All of you with real scoops, don't let my ribbing of dEnny H. (an old friend) stop you from sending us news or information. Just, you know, do like Steve Martin's character tells John Candy's character in PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES and "try to have a point!"

Love you, dEnny.

TV Shows on DVD

Joe R. writes: I know there's been disscusion about when the next batch of these shows will come out, and now I've got a date - December, 6th. Check the links for more info from TVshowsOnDVD.com....

BATMAN : The Animated Series V4
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=3968

SUPERMAN : The Animated Series V2
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=3967

THUNDERCATS : V2
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=3966

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