June
26 'Spirit' rough cut complete, awaits VFX

A few things to catch up on that were impossible to post about last week during a DSL line outage that actually forced me to use dial-up for three days.

We recently spoke with "The Spirit" producer Deborah Del Prete, who says a green-screen cut of the film has been completed and has everyone very excited about the results. The production is now waiting as more than 1,800 VFX shots are coming in from San Francisco-based house The Orphanage. ... Expect to see some new footage from the film at Comic-Con ... Meanwhile, four new posters have been released for the film, each featuring one of the femme fatales from the Frank Miller-directed film. Head over to Yahoo! to hear the actresses speak the lines. Can't say I'm thrilled to see the "keep the mask on" line reappear after All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder #7, but it should work better with The Spirit than Batman.

INTERVIEWS AND UPDATES: "Get Smart" director Peter Segal talks about his planned "Shazam!" movie at SciFi Scanner. ... View and vote on entries in the "Veidt Enterprises Advertising Contest" for the "Watchmen" movie at YouTube. ... Rumors abound that director Zack Snyder is lobbying Warner Bros. for a longer running time on "Watchmen," a trailer for which is expected to be attached to "The Dark Knight."... Guillermo del Toro says he plans to complete his "Hellboy" trilogy with a third film — after he directs the two-part "Hobbit" feature ... Apparently, Frank Miller is working on the screenplay to a prequel to "300."

NEW AND NOTABLE: Time magazine notices that Hollywood likes comics. ... Midtown Comics puts together a funny series of webvideos titled "Kyle Piccolo: Comic Shop Therapist." ... Oni Press has teamed up with 60Frames to produce comics from TV scribes such as Tom Fontana of "Oz" and showrunners of the new "Beverly Hills 90210" series Gabe Sachs and Jeff Juday. ... Webcomics site Zuda is bringing back series that failed to win their month's competition, but that fans wanted to see more of in its "2008 Invitational" event.
AWARDS, EH?: The winners of the 2008 Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards were given out recently in Toronto, with top honors going to writer Cecil Castellucci for The Plain Janes; artist Dale Eaglesham for his work on DC's Justice Society of America; and cartoonist Jeff Lemire for Essex County Vol. 1 and 2. The full list of winners can be found here. ... The noms have been announced for The Harvey Awards. Creators can download and cast ballots here, with the winners to be announced at the Baltimore Comic-Con on Sept. 27. ... A list of this year's Lulu Awards winners can  be found here.

PEOPLE AND ORGS: A scholarship has been established in the name of comicbook artist Mike Weiringo, who died unexpectedly last year at the age of 44. The scholarship is designed to benefit students at the Savannah College of Art and Design interested in pursuing a career as a comicbook artist. ... The Hero Initiative  has published a tribute book to Weiringo, completing the "What If?" storyline he was drawing for Marvel at the time of death and including tributes from artists and writers in the comics biz. ... Hero Initiative also continues to assist former Marvel artist Gene Colan, who needs assistance paying medical bills, selling prints featuring his Iron Man art at conventions and through AtomicComics.com. ... Even more Hero news: all 100 original covers from the Ultimate Hulk project will be on display in a special "green room" at Wizard World Chicago this weekend. Also, the first 10 covers will be auctioned at the show. ... James Perham, a former editor for Valiant Comics, has died at the age of 43 from heart failure.