Fan favorite comics writer Mike Millar says he took the unexpected step of teaming up with artist Rob Liefeld on Youngblood: Bloodsport because he wanted to do a team superhero book free from corporate interference.

After what he calls DC’s nay-saying on his Authority series, which lead to its demise, Millar told Comics Newsarama he wanted to a truly rebellious team book.

”Rob called just after Christmas when I think The Authority situation has just reached a new nadir so the idea of doing an extreme superhero comic where I didn't have to worry about editorial or corporate interference was really one of my main reasons for doing this,” Millar said.

Regarding Liefeld: “He's the industry bad boy. I saw a little girl at San Diego Con in 1997 wearing a 'ROB LIEFELD MUST DIE' t-shirt written in fake blood and I swore to myself that I'd work with this guy some time.”

The book is already generating buzz in part because it features “the so-called bad boys put together on one book. People know the gloves are going to be off for this comic. Even our tag-line is 'MILLAR-LIEFELD: LEAVE YOUR TASTE AT THE DOOR'."

Millar describes the book as follows:
"[T]he superhero-as-superstar thing is just being done to death at the moment. Yes, they would be bigger than movie stars or music icons because they save the world on a daily basis, but Bloodsport is about what happens a few years after you're famous and all the other bright young things are suddenly in the newspapers...

"In many ways, it's a commentary on what happened to the book itself as the team was displaced from the number one spot by the X-Men again and the buzz moved on to books like The Authority and, more recently, X-Force. This is what it's like to be a bunch of superheroes on the way down and suddenly being presented with an outrageous opportunity to get the top spot again.

"I can say nothing more at this stage without blowing the main twist in the first issue, but it's going to be a riot. Rob called and said we'd never get away with this. I reminded him that he was the publisher. Nobody could stop us. So, yeah, we're really excited about what we're going to pull off with this series."

Expect the book to have a Mature Readers Only label. “This is all the things I'd never have been able to do in The Authority. It's super-AIDS viruses, fights on planets covered in semen and appalling death and destruction on every page, but all done in the best possible taste, of course."

--Comics Newsarama
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Robert Wagner (Number 2) and Fred Savage (the Mole) are speaking out about Austin Powers in Goldmember which opens Friday.

Regarding the film’s “potty humor,” Wagner told reporters "This is not like any other movie. You've heard all of these jokes. We all have. So it's how it's done, right? It's the way it's dealt with which I think is so humorous and so does everybody else. I mean, everybody's falling on the ground over these jokes. We've all heard them, so I think [Mike Myers] has given another edge to them."

Meanwhile, Savage has a cameo role as a mole in Dr. Evil’s organization who has the sight gag of a very large mole on his face. "As we did more and more, they wrote some more scenes for us to do," Savage said. "So, it did grow a little bit. Like when he beat up Mini-Me in the hotel room, we shot that later, after principal photography was done. Any time you can make Mike Myers laugh is something to be proud of, so I was happy and flattered that they included me more."

--Coming Soon
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Buffy creator Joss Whedon says his new Fox TV series Firefly won’t be typical sci fi fare. For one thing, there’ll be no aliens.

"I believe we are the only sentient beings in the universe," he told Sci Fi Wire. "And I believe that in 500 years from now, we will still be the only sentient beings around.

"I wanted to stay away from the easy science-fiction fixes—the android, the clone, the alien—all the stuff that, for all I know, may be lurking around the corner, but I'm not expecting to see anytime soon," he said.

The human condition will be his subject matter rather than playing off Earthlings against aliens as foils. "That's a great metaphor to play with, but it's not really what I'm interested in,” Whedon said. “I'm really interested in 'You are there.' In 'You are part of this.' And I think aliens, no matter what, take you out of that. I also need to spend some time away from latex."

--Sci Fi Wire
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Writer Chuck Dixon is providing a little bit of insight into his new CrossGenesis series Brath.

The series centers on a Celtic warrior who first appeared in Sigil and launches in January 2003 with art by Andrea Di Vito.

"I brought down eight boxes of books on the Roman Empire," Dixon said on his Dixonverse message boards. "These are books I've been buying for years in the vain hope that I might do a comic on this subject someday. That day is now. Brath is really two stories; the fall and rise of Brath's clan and the intrigues in 'Rome' of the line of Quintillius, our fictional emperor. It's the story of two families. We'll see lots of both.

”I just completed scripting #6 which takes place entirely in an arena during a bloody gladiator fight.”

--Comics Newsarama
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An official production start date and story synopsis has hit the Web for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, based on Alan Moore’s comic series.

Here’s a press release Fox put out about the movie:
PRODUCTION BEGINS IN PRAGUE ON "THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN"

Sean Connery Leads Crime Fighting Legion Comprised of Protagonists from Classic Adventure Literature

PRAGUE - Principal photography has begun on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, starring Sean Connery, and based on the acclaimed graphic serial strips by Alan Moore (From Hell) and Kevin O' Neill. Directed by Stephen Norrington (Blade) from a screenplay by James Robinson, the film is produced by Don Murphy (From Hell, Natural Born Killers) and executive produced by Trevor Albert and Mark Gordon. The line producer is Mike Nelson.

Set in Victorian England, the film centers around a team of extraordinary figures culled from great adventure literature who are recruited by a mysterious caller to stop a villain intent on turning the nations of the world against one another. This remarkable coterie of heroes is led by Allan Quartermain (Connery) and comprises Dracula vampiress Mina Harker (Peta Wilson), the Invisible Man (Tony Curran), Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde (Jason Flemyng), Tom Sawyer (Shane West), Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah), and Dorian Gray (Stuart Townsend).

Filmmakers include director of photography Dan Lausten (Giselle), production designer Carol Spier (Blade 2: Bloodhunt), costume designer Jacqueline West (Quills), and Oscar-nominated editor Paul Rubell (The Insider). The film's extensive visual effects are being designed by Academy Award winner Janek Sirrs (The Matrix), while Steve Johnson (Blade 2) and his Edge FX are creating creature designs for the characters of Mr. Hyde and vampiress Mina Harker, along with special fx makeup for Dorian Gray and the Invisible Man.

Principal photography on the 17-week shoot will occur almost entirely in Prague, with additional shooting in Vienna and Malta, concluding in late October.

--Latino Review, Super Hero Hype
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Final figures from last weekend’s box office show Tom Hanks’ gangster drama Road to Perdition rubbed out Stuart Little 2 and not the other way around.

Road, based on the graphic novel, got away with $15.4 million while Stuart Little 2 finished with $15.1 million. K-19: Widowmaker at $12.7 million was one of Harrison Ford’s worst opening movies and Eight Legged Freaks also finished weakly with $6.4 million.

--Box Office Mojo, Super Hero Hype
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Scott Speedman (Felicity) joined Kate Beckinsale in the cast of Underworld, described as a Romeo and Juliet with vampires and werewolves.

Director Len Wiseman will begin production in September in Eastern Europe.

Beckinsale plays the vampire lead as Selene, “an elegant warrior with the strength of 10 men.” She forgoes her usual werewolf-hating ways to fall in love with Michael (Speedman). Together they try to stop the war between vampires and werewolves.

Danny McBride wrote the script.

--Hollywood Reporter
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Sneak previews of X-Men 2, The Hulk and Daredevil will be shown at next month’s Comic-Con International in San Diego.

A Daredevil clip will be shown Saturday, Aug. 3 with Bullseye actor Colin Farrell and director Mark Steven Johnson in attendance.

That same day, a clip for X-Men 2 will be shown by director Bryan Singer and Ang Lee’s The Hulk will be teased as well.

--Super Hero Hype
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Although it was implied, it’s now official that Warner Bros. hopes the upcoming Batman vs. Superman film directed by Wolfgang Petersen will kick-start the flagging franchises of the individual characters.

Darren Aronofsky’s Batman: Year One and McG’s Superman may still fly aided by momentum from Petersen’s cape and cowl dust up, Variety said. The studio hopes the film will “rehabilitate” the characters after the abysmal Joel Schumacher farce Batman & Robin and the laughable Superman IV.

Still, Aronofsky’s budget for Year One will only get made if it can pare its budget down to $70 million, according to Variety. Other DC hero projects should keep the studio busy until at least 2010, the trade said, including Batman Beyond, Catwoman (with Ashley Judd) and Wonder Woman.

For the first time, the trade identified George Miller (Babe, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome) as directing the Wonder Woman feature.

--Variety, Super Hero Hype
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The official Daredevil movie site (www.thedaredevilmovie.com) has three new images online.

One shows Ben Affleck as blind attorney Matt Murdock before the bench. Another shows Bullseye (Colin Farrell) plying his deadly skill as an assassin and another shows Elektra (Jennifer Garner) honing her martial arts.

The film opens Feb. 14, 2003 and also stars Michael Clarke Duncan as the Kingpin, Jon Favreau as Murdock’s law partner and friend Foggy Nelson and Joe Pantoliano as Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich.

The movie Web site features the following synopsis of the film:
”Marvel’s legendary comic hero – known as the Man Without Fear – comes to the big screen.
”Attorney Matt Murdock is blind, but his four other senses function with superhuman sharpness.
”By day, Murdock represents the downtrodden. At night, he is Daredevil, a masked vigilante stalking the dark streets of the city, a relentless avenger of justice.”

--Super Hero Hype
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