“I get my own table in Las Vegas casinos, free this, free that- I totally exploit it.”

–Ben Affleck, costar and coscreenwriter of the Oscar-nominated blockbuster “Good Will Hunting”, on his newfound fame

ONI PRESS GOES BACK TO PRINT ON CLERKS: THE COMIC BOOK

“Well, here we go, again! Reorder activity for Clerks: The Comic Book has been so strong that we are now going back to press for a second printing on it, as well as Oni Double Feature #1 ,” Oni Publisher, Joe Nozemack reported today. “This, only two weeks from the book’s initial ship date, and once again, we ran an aggressive amount of overstock on this book, but it just wasn’t enough for the incredible demand that we’re seeing.

Oni Press has documented that stores, nationwide, are reporting of selling out of their initial orders within hours of its arrival!”

Clerks: The Comic Book showcases the comic book writing talents of Indy filmmaker, Kevin Smith. Kevin is the writer/director/actor of the film, Clerks, that turned independent cinema upside-down, and now he continues to do the same to the comic book industry as both of his comic book projects fly from the shelves. Clerks: The Comic Book is written by Smith and features the interior illustrations of Jim Mahfood (Generation X:Underground, Zombie Kid). Kevin’s other story in Oni Double Feature #1, is a tale illustrated by Mage creator and comic veteran, Matt Wagner, and features Jay & Silent Bob. “Could the news get any better,” Kevin Smith commented. “This is more fun than any movie premiere I’ve ever been to.”

Oni Marketing Director, Shannon T. Stewart, went on record saying, “The public, retail and media response to our books is unprecedented. We will have articles highlighting Kevin Smith’s involvement with Oni Press, specifically, Clerks: The Comic Book, coming up in Premiere, Spin, Playboy, and numerous other magazines, not to mention Kevin’s “Jay & Silent Bob” short features which continue to air in high rotation on MTV (one short showcases an entire wall of Oni Double Feature #1! ). Just the other day, MTV News did a feature on our projects, which ran several times during a twelve-hour period. We are committed to keeping these books in print, and we will continue to do so,” concluded Stewart.

Retailers should be aware that the second printing of Clerks: The Comic Book will sport a different color scheme on Gilbert Hernandez’ cover art that features the Smith characters, Dante & Randall in order to make it easily distinguishable from the first printing.

Congratulations to all the folks at Oni Press! Here’s wishing them more of the same success with all their future projects.

I’ve been rehearsing with Jason Lee for the past two days.

As expected, he’s tremendous. But more than that, he’s doing stuff in this flick he’s never done before. I think it’s much more satisfying for him to be playing Azrael, as opposed to the Loki part he was originally slated to play.

Linda’s here. We hung out tonight, jawed for awhile, grabbed some dinner, and jawed some more. She’s confessed to being a board lurker here. I found that quite touching.

We start running lines on the morrow. I so look forward to it.

There’ve been some schedule hitches with some of the cast over the last two weeks. It looks like it’s all panning out now, but for awhile there, it was hairy. This is what happens when you’re working with a cast that actually has some prospects (in many cases, HUGE prospects) beyond your flick. It’s all new to me.

On the subject of the dual boards: the Other Board reminds me of the heady days of the Rider’s Board. And like the Rider’s Board, I’m staying off it.

Some of seen this second board as a bad move. Quite the contrary, I see it as a gift: it’s your own private playground, on which you can do and say whatever you like to and with folks that you share some stuff in common with. Enjoy it – don’t curse it.

But all the ruckus is a tangible reminder that people fear change.

That’s all. Tomorrow night, I’m bringing Fiorentino on, so please behave like civil chaps.

Sounds like filming can’t be far off now, with Jason and Linda both in town. We’ll keep our eyes and ears open for all the latest rumors on Dogma’s shooting schedule.