Filmmaker Kevin Smith, whose Superman script was rejected by director Tim Burton, has confirmed that he has had a meeting to possibly be involved in a Green Lantern live-action film.

“It is so, so premature, but, yeah, there was a conversation at Warner Bros. about Green Lantern,” said Smith, who is following up 1997’s ‘Chasing Amy’ with ‘Dogma’. “I lean toward the other green — Green Arrow — but any comic-book movie interests me.”

Smith did two drafts for the Superman movie, which he said executives at Warner Bros. were pleased with, and it appeared he would be very involved with the movie until Burton signed up to direct.

“They said that Tim wanted to go another way, without my script, which was kind of cruddy because Warner Bros. was really happy with what I had done,” Smith said.

Wesley Strick was brought in to work on the script, and Smith said he does not know how much of his story — if any — will remain. “I haven’t read it,” he said of Strick’s script.

Sources told the Continuum that Lex Luthor and Brainiac would remain the main villains, with Silver Banshee and the Parasite also involved. Nicolas Cage is still attached to star, and the movie is targeted for a summer 1999 release.

Smith also said he probably won’t be involved in the Event Comics’ rumored package with Marvel; he had been linked as the new writer of Daredevil. Smith said he might be doing a long-term project with DC.

Wow, wonder what THAT could be? Hmmm….

According to JOE QUESADA, news of KEVIN SMITH’s departure as writer of DAREDEVIL over the weekend proved to be premature, and that Smith is still in, or more accurately BACK in, as writer of what-will-be a relaunced DD.

Last week, Smith announced to reporters that he was NOT going to participate as has been long-rumored, and left the following explanation at his website. “I wanted to do a storyline about Matt Murdock getting his sight back. About a week ago, Joe informed me that in the lag between the Event pickup and Joe Kelly’s run, Scott Lobdell was going to do 4 issues. In those 4 issues, Daredevil was, you guessed it, going to get his sight back. This left me in a bad place, as that was the storyline I was working on for a few weeks.”

“Faced with this, I had to come up with a new storyline, and guess what? I couldn’t. I didn’t have another story arc in me. I thought and I dwelled, did a bunch of re-reading of my favorite DD storylines – I did my homework. And I still couldn’t come up with one.”

HOWEVER, over the weekend, after a pep talk with Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti, Smith came up with another idea. “A (bleep)in’ brilliant idea, better than his original,” said Quesada. According to the Event co-head, Smith has already finished the plots for the first 2 issues and will now write 6 issues, or at least as many as his filmmaking schedule will allow. “Kevs original idea was really good, this new one is epic, I don’t want to give away any details but I’ve worked with a lot of great writers before but this has to be hands down the best 2 issues of any comic I’ve ever received to pencil, you can tell that Kevin was truly inspired writing this, it’s not an easy task taking a much worn hero and taking him to new horizons but I believe Kevin is going that way,” concluded Quesada.

After Smith departs, writer DAVID MACK (KABUKI) will come on and finish out the year of stories the deal entails.

It’s really nice to see Kevin getting involved with the comics industry. We can’t wait to readthe story and see what the brilliant idea is. Should be interesting! Getting fans of theindustry directly involved in the creation process of the books is an exciting prospect and, inour opinion, could only help get some great stuff out there. Wonder what Kev would do witha JLA scripting opportunity?

So MTV (well, the execs AT Mtv) really loved the eight spots – in a big way. The early plan is to shoot footage for an hour-long premiere show that’ll air sometime in late Feb/early March, and then slip them ALL into rotation. Jay and I will be hosting the (pre-recorded) show from the ‘Stash’, so for the folks that haven’t been there, you’ll get to see what all the fuss is about (and for you folks that’ve seen the place… well now you can see it again… ON T.V.!!!).

Also, as mentioned below, the Oni Double Feature is on stands today. It’s a piece of work (my detractors, I’m sure, will call it a piece of something else… though after plunking down their three bones for it, hopefully), and I’d highly recommend seeking it out (or buying it from the ‘Stash’; we’ll be selling signed copies as of next week).

While we’re on the subject, I’ve seen the ‘Clerks’ comic, and (in all modesty) it’s extremely funny. I can’t wait to hear reactions on it next month.

We’re moving very quickly now on ‘Dogma’, and should be heading to Pittsburgh for good sometime in the next two weeks.

On a plane to LA tomorrow for an Annie Lebowitz photo session to appear in Vanity Fair’s Hollywood issue. That’ll take me away for a few days (roughly until Sunday). Mewes is going to tag-along as well.

After reading posts like this, it REALLY makes you see just how much stuff Kevin’s got on his plate at one time. Do all filmmakers work this hard? He’s a busy man, for sure. It certainly keeps us struggling to find time to write these extensive news updates every day!Never a dull moment…

Now, our agreement was not to divulge any dialogue or plot info, so please don’t write us asking for hints…We’re not talking. What we ARE doing is giving you an exclusive first look at some of the panels from the book (dialogue removed) right here! Click the Clerks cover above or this link to get to our exclusive Oni Press Clerks page! Sofar, we’ve just got 3 panels and 6 characters appearing (Just one shotof each character was our deal with Oni). We’ll let you know if weget the go-ahead to add anything else to the page before the comic’srelease.

As for a review, we can’t talk about the comic without really givingsomething away, we’ll say this much: It’s a very funny, entertaining, and well-drawn book that stays true to the characters you’ve grown to know and love. You won’t be disappointed. Buy the book. Hell, buy TWO copies!

Surprisingly, we haven’t gotten our grubby paws on the Oni Double Feature yet, but we’ll give you a review as soon as we manage to get to the local shop to pick one up.

Again, special thanks to Joe for sending us the goods (including some other cool Oni stuff and the obligatory “snoochie boochie” stickers). It’s scoops like this that make running this site a blast.

The Clerks Comic Picture Gallery
*** A NewsAskew Exclusive ***
Special thanks must go out to Joe Nozemack and Oni Press for sending us an advanced copy of this book.
Killer artwork by : Jim Mahfood

Randal Graves and Dante Hicks

Jay and Silent Bob

Steve-Dave and Walt