Power(less) Players

Matt Cherniss and Peter Johnson are classic comics fanboys who managed to do what many fans dream of: They broke into comics writing by selling a pitch to Marvel that lets them write their favorite characters. They’re both TV execs working right here in Hollywood. The result is "Powerless," a six-issue miniseries that hits stores June 30, which explores what Marvel’s top characters might be like if they lived in a world where there were no superpowers. The series is told through the eyes of psychologist William Watts, who wakes from a coma to find that many of the people he encounters on a daily basis remind him of the superheroes he witnessed while unconscious. The series focuses at first on Spider-Man, Daredevil and Wolverine, though there are plenty of cameos for sharp-eyed fanboys. The art on the series is by Michael Gaydos, formerly of Marvel’s Alias, with the first cover by "Daredevil’s" Alex Maleev and the second by "Starman’s" Tony Harris.

Variety: How did the two of you come to work together and how did you end up with a gig at Marvel?

Matt Cherniss: Peter and I are best friends and worked together at the Fox Network for the better part of seven years. I now work at FX Cable Network, while Peter runs drama development at Fox. We have always kicked around various ideas for writing something together, but it wasn’t until "Powerless" came along that we finally got around to pitching and selling an idea.

When the idea of "Powerless" came about, we felt that it was best suited for Marvel because the characters in the Marvel Universe are so flawed, and those weaknesses make them feel very human. That was essential for our idea. We decided that we had nothing to lose by pitching it to Marvel. We met with (Marvel editor in chief) Joe Quesada at the 2003 San Diego Comic-Con and he shared our enthusiasm for the idea. We got the go ahead in March, and have been working furiously ever since.

Peter Johnson: We’ve been working together for almost 10 years now in professional terms, if you count the origin point as the day Matt came into my office and admired my John Woo “Hard-Boiled” poster. That began a long friendship of videogame all-nighters, fanboy laserdisc sales-bin searches, failed movie ideas, comicbook oneupsmanship, and Togo’s sub sandwich consumption. Put that all together, and you end up with a critical San Diego Comic-Con visit in which we stretched every possible connection we had to get a meeting with Joe Quesada – who’s a god to us – in order to pitch an idea to him as we tried not to come across as Beavis and Butthead.

Variety: Were you always comics fans? Are you influenced by any comics writers?

Johnson: I’ve literally been a comics fan for 25+ years, since I learned to steal issues of "Thor" and "Iron Man" from the local corner drugstore in La Jolla, Calif., while my mom shopped for laundry detergent. As such, I’ve been influenced (sadly) by almost no one else but great comic writers, including Frank Miller ("Daredevil"), Brian Michael Bendis (everything), Geoff Johns (fantastic team books), Alan Moore ("Watchmen"), and some dude named Stan Lee.

Cherniss: I have been a comic fan since I was 10 years old, and I would say my enjoyment of comics is as strong as ever, though my tastes have changed. Early on, I was very influenced by "Amazing Spider-Man" and "Secret Wars" (yes, I know in hindsight it was cheesy, but for an 11 year-old that was some cool stuff). It wasn’t until I read the likes of Frank Miller’s "Dark Knight Returns" and "Daredevil," Alan Moore’s "Watchmen" and "V for Vendetta," and Neil Gaiman’s "Sandman" that I truly saw the potential of comics. Currently, anything that Brian Bendis writes is hallowed ground as far as I’m concerned. "Marvels" and "Kingdom Come" were also influential to "Powerless."

Variety: What appeals to you about working in the comics format?

Cherniss: It is a real challenge to be able to tell a story that is compelling with very little space for dialogue. You do have the benefit of the sequential art, and we have a great artist in Michael Gaydos to bring our stories to life, but conveying all the necessary information, and generating all the emotion in 22 pages is an incredible challenge. In a TV or feature script if you need to write a long conversation to get your point across you have the freedom to write it. Try doing that in a comic and there won’t be any room for the art because word bubbles consume the page. There is nothing worse than a comic with too much dialogue.

Johnson: Comics is like working in between the filmed medium, where you’re art directing kinetic scenes that a director, a d.p., and a cinematographer help complete, and a narrative work of fiction, where you’re only relying on prose and composition to make your point. Rather than some compromise between the two forms, comics to us is the beautiful synthesis and/or synergy between them. Plus there are only 22 pages in a comic as opposed to 120 in a movie script. Not to imply we’re lazy, which we are.

Variety: Is this your first comics work?

Johnson: Yes, embarrassingly.

Variety: Where did the idea for Powerless come from?

Johnson: Matt came over to work with me on a movie script idea, and we ended up talking comics as usual. Matt had the initial great idea, and then we worked together in terms of turning the cool one-liner and thematic overlay into something that had an overarcing story engine and a sense of focus among the Marvel characters on which it concentrated.

Cherniss: I had been kicking around the question in my head “What makes a hero? Is it the powers he has or the person he is?” When I mentioned it to Peter we started throwing things around, and the idea for "Powerless" came about. We felt the best way to explore it would be by transplanting the Marvel characters to our world, and watch their stories unfold without super powers.

Variety: Which Marvel character was it most difficult to make work in the “real world” setting of your story?

Johnson: In my opinion, it’s Spider-Man (a.k.a. Peter Parker), since Daredevil and Wolverine are already such human characters with relatable vulnerabilities and emotional dilemmas. Of course, Matt may have a completely different perspective since he’s the guy writing most of the Peter Parker stuff.

Cherniss: Of our main characters, I think Logan (Wolverine) was the most difficult because his past is still shrouded in a fair amount of mystery and he has so many unique attributes that are hard to translate to our world (adamantium claws, a healing factor, and a crazy haircut!). Instead of trying to explain the mystery we had to find a way to embrace it. Readers should also keep an eye on William Watts, a character of our own creation, who is more than meets the eye and plays a critical role in our story.

Variety: Which character did you get to play with that was the biggest thrill for you to write.

Johnson: Well for me, that’s easy. Frank Miller simply made Daredevil my favorite comics character ever. Getting a chance to actually write Matt Murdoch as a normal human being facing incredible challenges in his life — which is essentially what Miller did — has been a mind-blowing opportunity.

Cherniss: Amazing Spider-Man #252 was the first comic I ever bought, so I have to say that to write anything involving Peter Parker was exciting.

Variety: How did you collaborate on the writing?

Cherniss: Peter and I charted the entire arc of the series togther. Before writing each individual issue we would get together to break the story and then we would split up the writing of the script. All along the way we would read each other’s stuff and share our thoughts on the other person’s pages. Peter and I complement each other very well, and nine times out of 10 we end up agreeing on which approach to take. All we care about is writing the best story possible, it isn’t important whose idea it is.

Johnson: Matt writes all the consonants, and I write all the vowels. We sit down and break key story beats per issue together, and then he goes off and does the Peter Parker stuff, while I do the Matt Murdoch stuff. We kind of split the Logan story, and all the Watts connective tissue.

Variety: How much interaction did you have with your artists, Michael Gaydos and Alex Maleev?

Cherniss: Alex drew a fantastic cover to issue #1. Tony Harris has drawn the covers to issues 2 and 3. I am absolutely thrilled with the covers. They really capture the spirit of the idea. If I saw these covers in the store I would definitely pick them up. Michael has been better then advertised, and we had high expectations to begin with based on his work in "Alias." I knew he could draw “regular” people well, but he also draws fantastic superheroes. He also conveys subtle emotion well, and that is essential in our story. Wait until you see his Logan!

Johnson: We are relative idiots and thus bow down to the masters we work with, resulting in a minimum of interaction. Maleev in particular is my favorite cover artist in comics, period, so it’s a joke that he’s actually doing this book. Gaydos is a saint to work with us newbie fanboy freaks, and his work consistently elevates us. Thank God.

Variety: How does working in the comics biz compare to working in TV, as far as how much direction you have to follow, how easy it is to overcome obstacles and the pace or general demands of the work?

Cherniss: For me they couldn’t be more different. First of all, as a kid I never day dreamed about being a TV exec., but writing a comic, how cool would that be! They are both jobs that involve creativity, but there is a huge difference between being a development executive and actually creating and writing a story yourself. The most you can do as a good development exec, is have a eye for good ideas and then help to guide the development of these ideas without overwhelming the writer’s vision. Writing presents its own set of challenges.

As far as the work load, I have a day job and it is surprising how much time and effort it takes to just write a single issue. There have definitely been some very late nights the past few months, but it has been worth it.

Variety: What’s the most important thing you learned working in TV that has helped you in writing comics?

Cherniss: That’s easy. It has to be story structure. Understanding how a good story progresses, where and how to introduce key elements to a story, and how to build in satisfying plot points is something that you pick up over the years as a TV exec. I’ve read thousands of scripts, both good and bad, and I learned as much from the good ones as I have the bad ones.

Johnson: You can’t ever escape crappy dialogue. Ever. Ever. Never ever. Ever.

Variety: What comics are you reading today that blow your socks off?

Johnson: I loved the first batch of "Y: The Last Man." Bendis and Gaydos’ "Alias" is great. Bendis and Maleev’s "Daredevil" is ridiculously fantastic. I’ve been a giant fan of Paul Chadwick’s "Concrete" for years and years. Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee’s "Hush" for Batman was awesome. Geoff Johns’ "(Teen) Titans" is my total team-book fix. And Mike Turner blows the doors off everything he draws.

Cherniss: Bendis’ "Daredevil" and "Powers," Geoff Johns’ "Teen Titans," and Judd Winick’s "Caper" are a few that come to mind, and even though it is finished for now, how great was Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee’s run on Batman! I’m also rereading all of the Neal Adams-Denny O’Neil stuff from the ’70s which was way ahead of its time and still holds up today.

Variety: What would you like to do next in comics?

Cherniss: We’re still working on "Powerless" so I really haven’t gotten that far, but we have plenty of ideas that we’re tossing around, including a sequel to "Powerless" if comic fans want it.

Johnson: Earn money.

Whedon stakes his claim

Multimedia Marvel

Variety is reporting that Marvel and Lions Gate have come to another agreement, this time involving DVDs.

The duo will develop and distribute original animated features, with the first of eight (2-D and 3-D) to be released by late 2005.

Each title will have a minimum running time of 66 minutes. Companies said specific details as to which characters will be drawn will be announced in future.

"We want to broaden the demographic for Marvel's characters to include both adults and kids, and to create an ongoing series of DVD movies that people will anticipate and collect like they do the Marvel comicbooks," said Glenn Ross, president of Lions Gate's Family Home Entertainment division.

If they can be on time, and come out with some regularity, they will gain a following. But that's also true about any well-written comic book. The deal seems logical, and could be fun and very profitable.

"Going straight to DVD is the next level of publishing," said Marvel CEO Avi Arad. "We have hundreds of characters whose stories we want to tell but that don't translate well to live-action features."

They've released "Punisher" together and will release "Iron Fist" and "Black Widow" in 2005 and 2006, so good luck.

This whole thing follows IDT Entertainment's acquisition of a minority stake in Stan Lee's Pow! Entertainment in a deal for six animated DVD-premiere movies based on Lee's characters to be released under IDT's Anchor Bay catalog.

Tuning In

The TV nets announced their schedules this week, with the WB slotting "Global Frequency," based on Warren Ellis' comics series, as a midseason replacement. The WB's press materials revealed few new details, but did state the show will focus on the GF's newest recruit, suspended cop Sean Ronin, who is partnered with introverted Kate Finch. The show also will include Miranda Zero and Aleph and the pilot will be directed by Nelson McCormick, whose previous credits include episodes of "Alias" and "Third Watch."

Comics continue to make news on the Croisette, as Media Asia signed a deal at Cannes with Gaga Communications to make a live-action movie of racing manga "Initial D." The manga version spawned an animated TV series and animated features in Japan. The live-action film will be directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, helmers of "Infernal Affairs." The film shoots next month in Japan with a budget of $10 million.

Universal has paid $1 million to option "Earthworm Jim" creator Doug TenNapel's upcoming Image Comics graphic novel "Tommysaurus Rex." The film is being developed for "Bruce Almighty" helmer Tom Shadyac.

And the cast has been filled for Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller's film version of "Sin City," with the final additions being Benicio Del Toro and Clive Owen. Both will appear in the segment based on "The Big Fat Kill" graphic novel.

Via ICV2, WB has signed Swedish directors Simon Sandquist and Joel Bergvall to direct a film based on the comic "Books of Magic." Series creator Neil Gaiman will be an executive producer.

Wizard World hits Philadelphia this weekend and announcements have already started to trickle out. Comics Continuum reports on the X-Men panel, in which Marvel announced new solo series for "Gambit" and "Nightcrawler." "Nightcrawler" will be by playwright and "4" writer Roberto Aguire-Sacaso with art by Darick Robertson. "Gambit" will be written by John Layman and drawn by Georges Jeanty. This will join writer Peter David's new X-miniseries, "Madrox," announced last weekend at Motor City Con in Detroit. Also, "What If ... ?" will return this fall, and Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. will be taking over the reins on "Wolverine." Newsarama has a peek at Marvel's "Ultimate Nightmares" book, coming later this summer from Warren Ellis and artist Trevor Hairsine. Top Cow, meanwhile, has David Lapham signing on to do an arc of "The Darkness."

Tokyopop has hired Rene Garcia as VP of Film and TV. Garcia is former president of production at Craven-Maddalena. Meanwhile, ICV2 does a little bit of math to find out that American manga publishers plan to release more than 1,000 English-language manga volumes this year.

Fans of 1980s indie hit "Grimjack" will be happy to learn its creators, John Ostrander and Tim Truman, have won back the rights to the book after many years of it being entangled in the bankruptcy of First Comics. Plans are afoot to reprint the original series and launch a new one.

One of CrossGen's recent bright spots, the pirate comic "El Cazador," is going on hiatus after issue #6. Editor Barbara Kesel reports on the company's message boards that the break will let writer Chuck Dixon find an artist to replace the departing Steve Epting, who's signed an exclusive contract with Marvel.

And Dark Horse's new "Conan" series, by writer Kurt Busiek and artist Cary Nord, has proven so popular the company will offer a third printing of the first issue. This printing will feature a new cover by Nord and hits stores June 2.

Excalibur #1

Creators: Chris Claremont, writer; Aaron Lopresti, pencils, Greg Adams, inks

Marvel, 32 pages, $2.99

So? This is another X-revival, though this one bears no resemblance to the Excalibur Claremont launched with Alan Davis in the late 1980s. Where that was the light-hearted corner of the X-verse, this is much more serious and very focused on one character: Professor Charles Xavier. This opening issues finds Xavier in Genosha, which had been a mutant homeland run by Magneto until the Sentinels laid waste to it and killed most of its 16 million inhabitants a few years back. Now, Xavier is there to apparently try to rebuild it. This issue involves a lot of the sort of internal dialogue that Claremont excels at and little hard action. The ending also offers a surprise that makes it hard not to want to see what happens next issue, if only to see how Claremont will explain it. Where the book is eventually heading is almost impossible to guess from the sliver of plot seen in this issue, but it is different and it is the first time that Xavier has been in the spotlight so much. That earns this book at least a tryout, even if it's not the greatest. Grade: B-

New X-Men: Academy X #1

Creators: Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir, writers; Randy Green, pencils; Rick Ketcham, inks

Marvel, 32 pages, $2.99

So? This is essentially a relaunch of the relaunch of "The New Mutants," the original X-Men spinoff that began more than 20 years ago. This time, as before, the idea is to focus on the younger students who attend Professor X's school as they learn to use their powers and deal with normal high school stuff. It's not real clear in this issue if any of these characters are carryovers from "The New Mutants." And while they have some personality, it's at this point still wafer-thin. DeFilippis and Weir's script appears aimed at younger readers, which would make sense if Marvel had that kind of audience. To those already hooked on the X-Men, this is pretty light stuff, that comes in way behind what can be found in Uncanny X-Men or next week's much-anticipated Astonishing X-Men #1 by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday. The art is simple and appealing, but doesn't do much beyond competently telling the story. Given that the previous series of "The New Mutants" only made it 12 issues, this will have to get a lot better real fast to have a shot at outlasting its predecessor. Grade: C -

Spotlight on: Stuart Moore

Stuart Moore has his name on a lot of comic books. But it’s only been recently that they’ve been showing up in the credits box as writer.

A longtime editor at DC/Vertigo, he also launched the company’s short-lived sci-fi line, Helix, which spawned one major series: Warren Ellis’ and Darick Robertson’s excellent “Transmetropolitan.” He soon was recruited by current Marvel editor in chief Joe Quesada to take over the company's Marvel Knights division, handling characters such as "Daredevil," before going to freelance writing. So far, his credits include sci-fi tale “Zendra” from Penny-Farthing Press and the original graphic novel “Giant Robot Warriors” from AiT/PlanetLar. He is currently writing the Dark Horse western-sci-fi series “Lone” (six issues to date) and “Para,” about a girl who investigates her scientist father’s mysterious death, featuring art by Pablo Villalobos and Mostafa Moussa. Published by Penny-Farthing, the third issue of “Para” hits comics stores May 26.

Variety: Were you always a comics fan?

Stuart Moore: I pretty much always read them, yes. I think I gave up once in the ’70s when they dropped to 18 pages of story (and I discovered girls), but I came back a couple years later.

Variety: What led you to pursue a career in comics and how did you end up working as a comic book editor?

Moore: I was an up-and-coming book editor in the ’80s, concentrating on pop culture, science fiction, music … and I did some comics-related books as well. I moved over to DC in 1990, in the stupidest way possible: I answered an ad in Publishers Weekly. DC was expanding, and they wanted to beef up the depart-ment that, a few years later, became Vertigo. Initially, I was hired largely be-cause they wanted to bring more prose writers into the comics field.

Variety: What was the most valuable thing editing taught you about being a comics writer?

Moore: I’ve worked with a lot of the best writers in the business: Garth Ennis, Neil Gaiman, Brian Bendis, Grant Morrison, and dozens more. You learn differ-ent things from each of them: pacing, plotting tricks, dialogue rhythm. Over time, I think I developed a very strong sense of what you can do with a comic page -- how the different kinds of pacing work, how much dialogue you can use in a cer-tain kind of scene, when you can use words to slow things down and when to move things along. The constant close-up exposure to different writers’ work was invaluable.

Variety: What prompted you to give up editing and go it alone as a writer?

Moore: My Marvel Knights position was really unique in the industry, in that it allowed me to write freelance for other companies. Big thanks to Joe and Nanci Quesada for that. I didn’t make a big deal of it, but while I was at Marvel I wrote “Zendra” for Penny-Farthing. When they decided to go ahead with “Para,” it just felt like the right time to stretch my wings. Some other books, like “Lone,” “Giant Robot Warriors,” and a few issues of “Justice League Adventures,” wound up coming together faster than “Para.”

Variety: After having worked at both DC and Marvel (and presumably having pretty extensive connections at both companies) why have you done your initial projects through small publishers instead of going through Vertigo or trying to land, say, a “Spider-Man” series?

Moore: Well, as noted above, I have done some DC work. I’m currently in discussions with both them and Marvel about new projects. But I was known as an editor, not as a writer … and to be honest, I fully understand big companies wanting you to prove yourself as a writer. Also: Small companies are much more open to original material. Superheroes are great fun, but I’d never want to be writing them exclusively. I love other genres, and my own material, too much.

I’ll also mention that I’d work with Penny-Farthing anytime. They took a chance on me with “Zendra,” and they’ve always been very generous and profes-sional.

Variety: There’s a good chunk of what Alan Moore calls in his ABC comics “science heroes.” Are you interested in science at all and do you think comics is in any way particularly well-suited to the science hero genre?

Moore: Definitely. My science interest comes out very strongly in “Para,” which was inspired by my father, a nuclear physicist who ran the Princeton University cyclotron for years. It’s also about the way our deceased parents come back to haunt us in unexpected ways.

But “Para” is more of a thriller than a hero book. I do like the science-fiction/superhero combination … I’m actually working on an ambitious new proj-ect with Avatar that gets into that territory a bit.

Variety: You’ve covered a lot of genre ground in your writing. Are you inten-tionally trying to diversify and if so why?

Moore: Yes, that’s very intentional. My specialty is science fiction, but I like a lot of different kinds of novels, movies, and comics. I really admire the careers of film directors like John Sayles and Steven Soderbergh who make very different projects at different times, applying varying techniques depending on the film but bringing their basic sense of storytelling and moviemaking to each one. The closest we have to that in comics is Alan Moore, who -- aside from being an amazing talent -- also hops genres a lot. That’s my ideal as well.

I’ve never wanted to get stale in my working career -- that’s why I left a very comfortable job at St. Martin’s Press, and why, after nine years on staff, I left DC rather than just sit around and do the same thing. The same is true of my writing. You have to challenge yourself, make yourself try new, difficult things all the time. Otherwise, you get very bored and restless -- I do, anyway. And then I’d probably just take it out on my cats. Especially the one who keeps try-ing to steal my chair.

Variety: Given the low sales levels of most indie comics, why is Para in color when it could be accepted as a black-and-white book and be much cheaper to produce?

Moore: Penny-Farthing has always been very committed to the highest qual-ity in artwork, printing, and presentation. I’m grateful – “Para” really benefits from the special effects and higher production values. You’ll really see what I mean by issues #3 and 4.

Variety: Do you think at all about how a comic like “Para” may be received in Hollywood when you’re creating it and writing it?

Moore: “Para” was definitely conceived as a big summer movie -- a smart one. But no, I don’t worry about that explicitly. The comic is the most important thing, and it’s very important to me to pace out a complex story like this so that each issue is satisfying on its own, while adding up to a larger picture.

Variety: How did you end up working on “Lone”?

Moore: My friend, the very talented writer Tom Peyer, recommended me, and things grew from there. Dave Land at Dark Horse liked my work on “Zendra,” and “Lone” was also a science-fiction oriented book, so it was a natural fit.

“Lone” was a lot of fun, largely because of Jerome Opena, one of the most tal-ented new artists to come along in years. And you can’t go wrong with a Western. Where else would I get to write an issue titled, “Once Upon a Time in the Wasteland; or, The Midget, the Ape, and the Big Card Game”?

Variety: What would you like to accomplish most in comics?

Moore: That’s an excellent question and one that I wish more people would ask themselves. As an editor, I had a very specific, definable, personal goal: I always tried to find a place for individual expression, for voices with something important to say, within a mass-media context. When I was able to do that, the job was satisfying; when I wasn’t, it was frustrating.

As a writer, my goals are very different. I’m drawn to the places where high and low culture meet, and I love to explore serious issues through the vehicle of thrill-ride pop genres like science fiction, crime stories, westerns, and of course superheroes. Comics don’t have to be either high literary art or empty-headed fluff; they can deal with the future of our civilization, with the dark things human beings are capable of, while hurtling through space, facing outlaws in a shootout, or throwing buildings at the Mole Man. If I can build a body of work that accom-plishes that, and reaches a lot of people, I’ll have done something to be proud of.

Shadows and rage

The Darkness/Hulk

Creators: Paul Jenkins (w), Dale Keown (a)

Top Cow/Marvel, $2.99

Top Cow and Marvel decide to let heroes (if you want to call them that) collide in this vignette-of-a-story chance meeting. This is one of those 'what if?' types of stories that regulars might sit around the comic book shop and debate about, but it played out well when the ink finally dried.

Paul Jenkins' story of how Jackie Estacado, the controller of the monstrous Darkness, spots Bruce Banner, the never-in-control base-persona of the Hulk, on the subway is just coincidental enough to work. His ability to see the Hulk looming despite the fact that Banner is in human form is well illustrated by Dale Keown, as are all of the other 'Sixth Sense' sights that haunt Jackie.

Yes, of course, the battle was not all out, interrupted (and set up) by some way-out-of-their-league freedom fighters. The Hulk, as usual, could not be stopped. Even by the Darkness. Jackie never really let loose, but it seemed evident that even if he did, it would only anger and strengthen the green meanie. There's your answer to the 'what if?' question. I guess.

A fun read, but you definitely want more. Then again, that's what one-shots are all about.

Grade: B+

Solid Show

The monthly Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention was this past weekend, with yet another two-day event held at the Pasadena Convention Center instead of its normal Sunday-only shows at the Shrine Exposition Center.

Among the highlights were:

A giveaway of a "Harry Potter" toy from Lego.

A sneak peek at "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" — which looks very fun — and the DVD release of "Starship Troopers 2."

Actor Val Kilmer, who has played everyone from Jim Morrison to Batman (in 1995's "Batman Forever," with Nicole Kidman!), was on hand to meet fans and sign autographs. Those willing to pay up to $100 could get Kilmer to do the outgoing message on their voice-mail as one of the characters he's played.

The usual combination of high-end collector comics from the Silver Age onward and the bargain bins that offer all kinds of great stuff for the old-fashioned price of a quarter each.

All Over the World

Comics are everywhere in the film biz these days — even on the Croissette, where "The Passion" star Jim Caviezel announced he will topline an adapatation of French comic smash "M." French helmer James Huth is slated to direct what is expected to be the first of many films based on the comic.

Even before "Spider-Man 2" hits theaters, Marvel is reporting historic finances from its licensing biz. Domestic consumer product licensing led the way as licensing revs grew from $28.8 million in 2002 to $88.7 million last year.

Revolution and Sony have signed on for a second "Hellboy" movie. Director Guillermo del Toro, creator Mike Mignola and star Ron Perlman all look to be back in the mix. The original, which cost $60 million to make, has grossed $59 million at the domestic b.o. and is set to be released in most major foreign markets in late summer or early fall.

Fan's of Todd McFarlane's animated "Spawn" TV show that aired on HBO a few years back will be glad to hear the show is coming back in one form or another. McFarlane made a deal with IDT to produce new episodes more cheaply than the original. If the show can't find a home on HBO or another network, the toons could go straight to DVD.

This week saw an official announcement (via the Pulse) that Cartoon Network is "ending" its "Justice League" cartoon with a 90-minute episode on May 29. CN will replace it with "Justice League Unlimited," which will feature stalwarts Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern and a rotating cast of more obscure DC Universe characters.

Comics franchises were everywhere at E3 this week, with Stan Lee making a pair of appearances to sign at the Activision booth. Activision had large displays devoted to its upcoming, very cool-looking "X-Men: Legends" that included a life-size statue of Professor X in Cerebro, and props and set pieces from "Spider-Man 2." THQ had a great display for its "Punisher" game that included an animatronic Frank Castle dangling a perpetrator from the roof of a building. Marvel put out a press release detailing its upcoming releases. And gamemaker Konami licensed IDW to publish comics based on its popular "Metal Gear Solid" games.

The Tokyopop juggernaut keeps on rolling: the publisher announced the release of 10 new manga series this fall. The titles are: "Crazy Love Story," "Guys' Guide to Girls," "Diabolo," "Dragon Voice," "Flower of the Deep Sleep," "Hands Off!," "Cross," "Hyper Rune," "The Queen's Knight" and "Peach Girl All-New Relaunch." All will hit shelves in October and November.

Problems continue at CrossGen, which says issue 34 is the last for its best-selling title, "Sojourn." The book was previously scheduled to end with issue 41.

Barnes & Noble, which last year published inexpensive and exclusive paperback editions of the pricey (but very pretty) Marvel Masterworks line of hardcovers, is now putting together an exclusive "Ultimate Spider-Man" hardcover that will collect all the material from the three hardcover volumes released so far. That means that for $49.99 (discounted to about $40, of course) you get nearly a thousand pages covering the first 39 or so issues of this series. For Angelenos, it gets even better, as USM writer Brian Michael Bendis, Stan Lee and Marvel Studios' Avi Arad are set to do a Q&A and signing of the book June 11 at the B&N in the Grove at 7:30 p.m.

And writer Warren Ellis announced his newest project this week via his email list, Bad Signal. Ellis plans to create four first issues to imaginary comics series that will try to throw away all preconceptions to design and content about single issue comics. The experiment will be called the Apparat Singles Group and will be published in November by Avatar Press featuring the titles: "Simon Spector," "Quit City," "Frank Ironwine" and "Angel Stomp Future."

The Big Picture

The Ultimates, Vol. 2: Homeland Security

Creators: Mark Millar, writer; Bryan Hitch, pencils; Paul Neary and Andrew Currie, inks; Paul Mounts, colors

Marvel, 192 pages, $17.99

So? If there's one superhero comic that feels like it's already been made into a movie, this is it. The Ultimates is this line's version of "The Avengers," imagining the formation of the team as if it was done today rather than in 1963. The monthly publication of this story, in issues 7-13, was plagued by lengthy delays. But the collected edition, in which the whole thing can be absorbed at once, is more than worth the wait and a much better way to read it. What sets this book apart is that Millar and Hitch give it a sense of immense scale and economy of storytelling unlike anything else in superhero comics. There are no throw-away fights and every scene adds character and moves the plot ahead. The relentless pace of Millar's story is a great fun — almost like a videogame — and even offers some payoffs from the first volume. The faceoff between Captain America and Henry Pym, who tries to lose himself in a bottle after beating his wife, The Wasp, in the previous book, is particularly satisfying. Visually, the book is stunning. Hitch's detailed pencils are expertly inked and Mounts' coloring gives it a superb sheen. As an adrenaline-rush piece of entertainment, this just can't be beat by anything else Marvel or DC is currently publishing. It's a shame that it's unlikely we'll ever see a screen adaptation as the rights to Cap, Iron Man and Thor are all too valuable separately to Marvel. But that's OK, because it's so close to a movie as it is that any attempt to film it would risk mucking it up. Grade: A

Angel ascending, but there's more ...

The final episode of Joss Whedon's "Angel" TV series is coming up, but there's no need to feel abandoned by the undead hero. As Whedon preps an astonishing (get it? I'm sure you do) comics stint, we took a look at one of the Buffy-verse creator's comic book titles. Tales of the Vampires.

For those zealots who followed Buffy and Angel's every move, and who may consequently follow Rupert Giles in the BBC's possible Watcher series, the comic offers interesting looks at events and characters never explored in either show. And the book, like the shows, also follows different storylines with vignettes from various writers.

For example, one story examines how the watchers are chosen at a very early age and instructed on how the world works (well, the world we don't see), what to do to fight it, and what their roles will be. Mentoring watchers take a group of children to interact with a captive vampire. Another storyline revisits Dracula, and explains how he's taken control of Xander (Buffy's right hand man), and how/if she gets him back.

Interesting for those interested. And there's lots.

Just Hit Play

It's not Comic-Con or Wizard World, but that doesn't mean there won't be a comics presence at E3, the huge videogame trade show starting Wednesday in Los Angeles.

Among the comics making the transition to games is Acclaim's "100 Bullets," based on Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's Vertigo comic of the same name, coming to Xbox and PS2 this fall. The game's new website reports that Azzarello wrote the story for the game and Risso was the art director, so it should be fun. Acclaim also has a fall game for both consoles based on "The Red Star," Christian Gossett's take on an alternate Russia, and a PC version of "Turok: Evolution." Turok was first a Gold Key comic decades ago before being revived by Valiant Comics in the early 1990s. Valiant was later acquired by Acclaim, which continued publishing comics for a few years before the market got too tough.

Activision has plenty of Marvel licenses, including "Fantastic Four" set for winter release; "X-Men Legends," "Iron Man," "Spider-Man 2" and "Infinity War," which is likely based on the cosmic crossover hit of the 1990s.

Eurocomics aren't to be left out, with Atari working on "Asterix and Obelisk XXL" for PS2.

EA takes on the DC universe with upcoming games based on "Superman" and "Catwoman." Midway, however, takes on "Justice League." Sega brings in manga favorite Astro Boy: Omega Factor," and Vivendi Universal plans "Hulk 2" and "Aliens vs. Predator," a matchup that first clashed in the pages of a Dark Horse comics.

Old is New Again

Time, truth and money

Marvel released its first-quarter results this week, showing a 40 percent increase in sales over the same quarter last year. Leading the way were gains in the publishing and toy division, but increased sales put Marvel in a higher tax bracket that actually caused its quarterly net profit to fall to $31 million from $41 million a year earlier. Publishing’s net sales rose to $19.6 million from $15.2 million a year ago. The company also talked about movie projects, which include a sequel to “The Punisher,” “Fantastic Four,” “Iron Man” and “X-Men 3.” The release date for “Blade: Trinity” has been moved from August to Dec. 10.

Sports fans and comics fans have one thing in common: Neither likes anyone mucking about with the basics. After announcing a plan to put ads for the movie “Spider-Man 2” on the actual bases of Major League Baseball games, fans protested so loudly that the plan was quickly dumped.

The big gossip item this week was the announcement on his message board by "Stormwatch: Team Achilles" writer Micah Ian Wright that he lied about his military service. Wright had played up his supposed service as an Army Ranger to great effect in the militaristic comic series, which was recently canceled, and in his book, “You Back the Attack, We'll Bomb Who We Want” which “remixes” World War II propaganda posters into criticism of the Bush administration, the war on terror and the war in Iraq. How this will affect his upcoming comics projects, including his announced "Vigilante" miniseries at DC, remains to be seen. The publisher of “Back the Attack” has canceled plans to publish Wright’s sequel book.

There wasn’t much in the way of announcements coming out of last weekend’s WonderCon in San Francisco. DC/Vertigo talked about "We3," an upcoming miniseries by former New X-Men collaborators Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. The biggest news is that next year, WonderCon will essentially swap dates with the Alternative Press Expo, known as APE, with the former being held in February and the latter moving to April. WonderCon and APE are put on by the same nonprofit organization that runs Comic-Con Intl.: San Diego.

Wildstorm, having recently canceled such acclaimed but low-selling books as "Wildcats Version 3.0" and "Stormwatch: Team Achilles," has announced a plan to brand its titles in three different ways.

Del Rey proves the legs of the manga market by scoring the top two spots on Bookscan’s graphic novels sales list with two of its first four releases, "Tsubasa" and "Negima."

Free Comic Book Day is getting closer, with Marvel, Del Rey and AOL announcing promotional plans. Details at ICV2.com. Dark Horse announced its contribution to the event will be an all-new "Star Wars" comic in the style of the recent Clone Wars animated series on Cartoon Network.

ICV2 also has the details on a new nonprofit trade organization being formed, called the Intl. Comics Arts Assoc.

"X-Statix," the cool X-Men spinoff that drew attention for its plans to add Princess Diana to the team and then backed off after the move was criticized, is coming to an end soon, according to artist Mike Allred in an interview at Tastes Like Chicken.

And Will Yun Lee has joined the cast of "Elektra," which starts shooting this month. He will play the main villain of the piece.

Spotlight on: Joe Casey, Part 2

The conclusion to our interview with writer Joe Casey. The first part can be read here.

Variety: You make the point several times in Kafka that comics seems to be a world that can’t be escaped: Kafka himself can’t escape it, Charlie Brown can’t escape it … is that how you perceive comics as a culture or a biz? Will the established company-owned heroes leave enough room in the market for other ideas to thrive?

Joe Casey: It’s not just about company-owned vs. new ideas. It’s more about individuality and experimentation vs. the same old shit. I have no problem getting my geek on when it comes to superheroes. A bigger "Avengers" fan, you’re not gonna find. However, I’m also indebted to guys like Howard Chaykin, Matt Wagner and Mike Baron who strove to create new mythologies out of whole cloth. Books like "American Flagg!" "Grendel" and "Nexus" are as important to me as the "Avengers" or the "JLA," from a fan point of view. For my own self, I know the value of being a creator that can resuscitate old characters because the direct market is built on that. But I also know that I couldn’t sleep at night if that was all I was known for. But I’ve been pretty lucky in that I have been able to get some of my own ideas out there, from "Kafka" to "Codeflesh" to "The Milkman Murders." Most of what I’ve got coming up is creator-owned material, so I feel like I’m in a pretty good place. I don’t want to escape … not yet, anyway.

Variety: Where do you see comics in today’s culture? Are they just disposable entertainment or is there value in the fact that you can get subversive ideas like "Kafka" published by a major (for comics) publisher?

Casey: Lately, I’ve been content with the fact that if DC and Marvel do nothing but cool, slickly-produced superhero comicbooks, that’s fine. They shouldn’t be expected to be producing Shakespeare every month. Nor should they be expected to reinvent the wheel. That’s what companies like Dark Horse, Image, AiT/PlanetLar, Oni and Tokyopop are here for. Good pop art doesn’t necessarily have to be “disposable” in a quality sense, but it’s the nature of pop to eat itself. What’s “in” today? Let’s see it, let’s celebrate it, then let’s get it out of the way for the Next Big Thing. Now, if you take one step back from that, you can definitely find areas where subversion can occur. And that is what I’m interested in, to a certain degree. But, again, I’m also interested in creating some comicbooks that people can read, enjoy and then toss away. Whether or not they save the book as a piece of “high art” has no bearing on whatever experience they had actually reading the thing.

Variety: What have you not done in the comics biz that you’d really like a crack at doing?

Casey: I’ve been pretty lucky. I’ve been able to do a lot without being anyone’s favorite go-to guy. I’m not in DC or Marvel’s “inner circle” of favored writers, but I’ve still cultivated relationships with editors I respect. I’m not a “fan-favorite,” but my name is out there enough so I can get things done. I had my “Teen Beat” moment where my picture was all over Wizard magazine (but it was a much bigger deal personally when I was interviewed by The Comics Journal). Like I said, most of what I’ve got coming up in the next two years is creator-owned, so I’ve got no real complaints. When I’ve gotten my mainstream opportunities in the past, I’ve generally taken them. I’m sure I’ll have more in the future, but I’m honestly past the point where I target specific characters or series to do. Although, if I got a crack at the "Avengers" monthly, that would definitely be a blast. But I’m getting to do "Earth's Mightiest Heroes," so in a way, I am writing the "Avengers."

Variety: What noncomics writing and projects have you done and, now that "Wildcats" is ending, what do you plan to do next?

Casey: I’ve written for television, videogames, animation, you name it. Last year I wrote a minimovie for VH1 about the final days of Notorious B.I.G. Man Of Action (the company I co-own with Steve Seagle, Joe Kelly and Duncan Rouleau) wrote the "X-Men: Legends" videogame coming this fall from Activision, not to mention our own creation, "Atom X." We’ve also got a few animated series in development, most notably "Ben 10" at Cartoon Network. Comics-wise, I’ve got the creator-owned horror series, "The Milkman Murders" coming this summer from Dark Horse. From Wildstorm, a new teen superhero series called "The Intimates," co-created with big-time art god Jim Lee. And of course, there’s my fanboy dream gig, the "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" miniseries from Marvel, delving into the first year of the "Avengers." Hopefully, before this year’s out I’ll also be launching a new monthly series through Image Comics and a few new OGN’s from AiT/Planet Lar.

Spotlight on: Joe Casey, Part 1

Joe Casey is one of the few writers who has managed to break into the business with a major presence the past few years. He started out taking over the forgotten "X-Men" spinoff "Cable" and turning it into a fun romp with great Jack Kirby-style art from artist Jose Ladronn. He since has written comics for both big publishers and small, from the miniseries "X-Men: Children of the Atom" to the indie "Codeflesh."

His most visible assignment came when he took over "Uncanny X-Men" the same month Grant Morrison started his stint on "New X-Men." His run was inconsistent and only lasted about a dozen issues. His run on "Adventures of Superman" was more satisfying. But his most fascinating work has been done at Wildstorm, where he took over Jim Lee's flagship book "Wildcats" during its second series. He relaunched the book two years ago with artist Dustin Nguyen as "Wildcats Version 3.0," a comic book that took superheroes into the boardrooms of America with fascinating results. His other Wildstorm book, "Automatic Kafka," done with painter Ashley Wood, was a dark and surreal take on a robotic superhero that was as interesting as it was unusual. Issue #4's encounter with a grown up Charles Brown was a highlight of the year, for those who read it. And low readership killed off "Kafka" after nine issues and just recently claimed "Wildcats," whose planned 40-issue story now ends with #24.

Casey continues to have faith in comics, planning more work at Marvel, Dark Horse and AiT/PlanetLar. This is the first of two parts to this interview, conducted via email; the conclusion will run later this week.

Variety: What got you interested in comics and how did you break into the biz?

Joe Casey: I’ve read them since I was a young kid, and I’ve never stopped. After a few no-money, black & white comicbook gigs, I broke in at Marvel on the "Cable" monthly series thanks to the recommendation of writer James Robinson. Haven’t looked back since.

Variety: You kind of did the opposite of how most people break into the biz the past few years, going from established superhero characters to more alternative projects. Do you approach writing "Superman" or "X-Men" the same way you do "Automatic Kafka" or "Wildcats Version 3.0"? In what ways do each of those types of assignments appeal to you?

Casey: Writing for the big franchises has its obvious benefits, namely money and recognition. Money’s always good, but the recognition part of it can be tricky. Sometimes, it’s the wrong kind of recognition. I took the "(Uncanny) X-Men" gig purely as a career move, and I paid the price. I didn’t have much to say about the X-Men that I hadn’t already said in the "Children of the Atom" miniseries and that lack of vision was unfortunately reflected in the work. Fortunately, it taught me that I have to be passionate about the gigs I take, especially the higher-profile ones, for the fans’ sake as much as for my own. The "Avengers" miniseries I’m doing now, "Earth's Mightiest Heroes," is probably the most “mainstream” thing I’ve done in a few years, but I’m a ridiculously huge fan of the "Avengers" since before I could walk, so it’s much more than just a franchise job for me.

Variety: "Wildcats Version 3.0" is a really modern take on superheroes. How did you develop this approach and why did you do it with this group of characters?

Casey: Basically, I just like writing characters with as much depth as I can squeeze into them. "Wildcats" was rich with diverse characters, both old and new, that I really enjoyed exploring. They were unpredictable in their actions, as well as unpredictable in their relationships with each other. That was what I really got off on as a writer and I think a lot of our readers did, too. More than once, someone would comment on how they could never predict what was going to happen next. How many superhero titles can you really say that about? It was also a series where I could subvert a lot of the inherent clichés of superhero comicbooks. Why else would I put the prototypical gun-toting badass of the cast in a wheelchair for two years or put the “Superman” character in a business suit in a corporate high-rise office and make him more of a visionary speech-maker rather than an action star?

Variety: The outlook of the book is generally optimistic, that someone smart enough and with the right intentions could use the corporate structure to the benefit of the world. Does that reflect your own opinion or do you think people are generally too greedy to look beyond their own needs and do what’s right for the world?

Casey: Well, there was obviously a utopian outlook to "Wildcats," but isn’t that the kind of optimism that superheroes are supposed to represent? We just presented the methods in a different milieu than most books. I do think greed is a prime motivator for both good and evil in the world but I wanted to write a book that transcended the idea of greed and explored areas of true altruism. The other side of that approach was, as I said before, how the various cast members react to that altruism.

Variety: The design of the book is a really nice match to the commercial and corporate themes of the book. How involved in the design do you get?

Casey: As much as I can. Cover designer and logo genius Rian Hughes was one of the first people I pushed to have involved in the series, even before Dustin came onboard. Luckily those two clicked immediately so it was always a blast to see what they’d come up with. I’ve just always been a firm believer that comicbooks -- being such an obviously visual medium -- have to actually look good. They have to look modern. They have to appear relevant if they’re going to overcome the stigma that they’ve been saddled in the wider consumer culture for the past fifty years or so.

Variety: Did you have any overall plan for the series and where it was going to go? In retrsopect, was there anything you think could have been done differently that might have given it a better chance?

Casey: I’d had things plotted out to around issue #40. In retrospect, I wouldn’t change anything because, despite some people feeling one way or another about the pacing, the characters, etc., I feel much more indebted to the readers that “got it,” that understood exactly what kind of series this is. As far as what could have been done differently to give it a better chance … I suppose if this book had come out in 1986 or 1992 maybe sales would’ve been stronger. Who can say, though?

Variety: How much research do you do for something like "Wildcats"? Are there any particular resources (websites or publications) you find especially useful?

Casey: "Wildcats" was the most research-intensive project I’ve ever done. Luckily I already had an interest in corporate culture so it wasn’t like doing research was a pain in the ass. I actually like reading about this stuff and finding out how the world works. I’d hit the Net for certain, random information but I much prefer reading books, where authors can get more in-depth on the subject and I’m not forced to spend even more time sitting in front of a computer screen.

Variety: Kafka seems to be a meditation on the comics biz itself as much as anything else and it seemed to intentionally defy any pretense of being commercial (aside from its excellent uncomicbooklike design and great covers). Are you pleased with how the book turned out? Are you disappointed it didn’t last longer or did it work better than you expected?

Casey: Again, the experience of "Automatic Kafka" is not one I would change in any way, shape or form. Had it been a huge commercial success, I doubt we’d have been able to get away with some of the stuff we did. The attention would’ve been too much. To be perfectly honest, I have no problem being a “cult writer” (if that is, in fact, my lot in life) because it means that the sales figures accurately reflect the readership (as opposed to something like "X-Men," where you can pretty much count on most people buying it out of habit), and that means that the people who are reading it are really into it. They’re actually reading the book. That’s incredible to me, especially on a book like "Kafka" … the fact that, by the end of it, there were still roughly 10,000 people that were clued in on our mass hallucinogenic trip is still so gratifying to me.

Variety: "Kafka" is pretty dark and much less optimistic than "Wildcats," are they connected in your mind, like two sides of the same coin?

Casey: Well, if I’m the coin, then yes. "Kafka" was meant to read as a hangover, while "Wildcats" is the day after the hangover, when you realize your body has recovered and you feel like a million bucks again, ready to take on the world.

Variety: Is Kafka owned by you and Ash Wood or is it owned by Wildstorm/DC? And if you don’t own it, why did you give up so experimental and unusual an idea as that to them?

Casey: Ash and I have what’s called “creator participation” in "Automatic Kafka." Much like Warren Ellis and John Cassaday own a piece of "Planetary," we get a chunk of money if the property is ever sold into other media. Frankly, "Kafka" couldn’t exist as anything but a comicbook so the likelihood of that ever happening is pretty much nil. But that’s absolutely fine with me. I’m pretty proud of the fact that it was designed to be a comicbook and only a comicbook. Doesn’t happen all that often these days. And, if you recall, the final issue of "Kafka" pretty much insured that the character and the concept wouldn’t be exploited in any other manner. For his own good, I wrote him out of existence.

To be continued ...

Spidey hits the cycle

The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press (courtesy of USA Today)are reporting that ads for "Spider-Man 2" will be placed atop bases at major league ballparks during games from June 11-13 as part of a promotion announced Wednesday.

The announcement of the promotion comes a week after jockeys at the Kentucky Derby won the right to wear ads on their uniforms. (I won six bucks on Imperialism!)

Is it too much? Not sure yet. We'll have to see how the movie does at the box office (in the long run -- it'll probably have a huge opening). It's understandable that baseball is trying to lure more kids to the parks, but I'm not sure this is the way to do it. Especially if it comes at the expense of hardcore hardball fans.

Ronald Blum of the AP got this quote:

"I guess it's inevitable, but it's sad," said Fay Vincent, a former baseball commissioner and former president of Columbia Pictures, which is releasing the movie. "I'm old-fashioned. I'm a romanticist. I think the bases should be protected from this."

They're also giving masks to fans, said Jacqueline Parkes, baseball's senior vice president for marketing and advertising. The ads, about 4 inches long, won't appear on home plate. It'd be funny to see someone slide into a base and come up with a webbing pattern on their butt!

Spider-Man opens June 30, and the weekend in early June was picked because it is during interleague play, which draws higher attendance than usual.

Stan on "Iron Man"

Sometimes, I'm amazed we get paid to hang out at Variety, especially when stuff like this happens: Last week, the following letter ran on Daily Variety's weekly opinion page.

Heavy mettle

To the editor:
I'm glad that "Iron Man" is finally getting a film adaptation ("Hayter shows mettle for 'Iron Man' gig"). When I was a child, he was one of my heroes, and I read his exploits religiously. However, I believe there is an error in the report of the forthcoming project which you printed. I don't recall Tony Stark (Iron Man) having an accident which forced him to put on his red and gold armor to survive. On the contrary, Tony Stark, like Batman and other superheroes, was forced to keep his identity secret and put on his suit whenever the world was threatened. So I really have no idea where the writer got the impression that Iron Man's suit was a kind of life support system.

- Nina Gut
Richmond Hill, N.Y.

To which a number of comics fans on staff said, "wait, that's not right, is it?" But, thankfully, we have some readers with firsthand knowledge to set the record straight. From this week's opinion page:

Behind the Suit

To the editor:
Responding to the letter about Iron Man's armor, since I'm the guy who created ol' Shell Head for Marvel years ago, I can testify that he originally fashioned the armor so that its electronics would keep his heart beating due to a near fatal wound he incurred during the Korean War. Later, the suit of armor enabled him to become one of the world's greatest superheroes.
Excelsior!

- Stan Lee

That doesn't necessarily make up for "The Punisher" movie, but it's still pretty cool.

Unh! The sounds of battle

Pow! Oww! Wurrrg!! And the ever-present Arggh!! You know what they are, and may even sound them out while reading your favorite books. Well, many of them have been compiled, and commented on, by the Unh! Project.

What started out as a webzine has made the online transition. It's not a new site, but maybe one that you've never visited. There's nothing profound, but some of it is funny reading

http://members.shaw.ca/tom.t/unh/index.html