• Coming this March from About Comics is a book collecting comic book scripts written by some of the biggest names in the comics field. Panel One: Comic Book Scripts by Top Writers presents nine very different scripts, showing future comics writers, artists, and those just interested in the art form how it is done.The book will include Kevin’s first ever comic script, the famous “Walt Flanagan’s Dog” story. You can check out the full story HERE.
• Variety posted this review of this special, airing tonight and late December on PBS (check your local PBS stations for airings)…They don’t seem to like it too much, but it does feature clips from Kevin Smith and Ben Affleck, so you may wanna check it out. Here’s a list of those appearing:

“The Inside Reel: Digital Filmmaking” is currently airing on PBS stations around the country.

• A reader pointed out that the website www.37.com offers free email addresses, thus if you’re looking for a creative second address with an Askew flair, you might wanna check it out.

• Just a quick summary of all the Kevin stuff in this month’s issue of Wizard Magazine: An article discusses who will replace Kevin on Green Arrow, Joe Quesada discusses Kevin’s possibility working on Dr. Strange, Jersey Girl and the J&SBSB DVD gets a mention, and this amusing little blurb on the upcoming book “Alias”:

Green Arrow #10 gets mentioned in their monthly pics section as well. Get the issue and check all this stuff out, we’re sure there’s even more!

• Laker Jim’s Fletch Won Homepage has conducted a new, exclusive “Fletch” Interview with Kevin Smith, which you can access from their main news page HERE. Find out Kevin’s favorite Fletch quote, disguise, alias, and more! Also, Kevin drops some never before insight about possibilities for the Fletch Won film. Don’t miss it.
• The UK Jay & Bob Stike Back Press continues! “The Movie Chart Show” recently ran a small feature on the film, including junket interview clips with Mark Hamill, Jason Lee, Kevin Smith And Jason Mewes as well as film clips. Also, the UK FHM hits the stands today and features a one-page Q&A with Kevin where he talks George Lucas, supervillains and arcade game fellatio. There’s also a full page pic of Kevin showing off his ‘Jenny’s’ tattoo while Jeniffer sits with her back to the camera showing off the ‘KS’ on her lower back. If anyone’s got a scan to offer up, send it on.
• And speaking of the UK, the Britsh censor’s website shows that Chasing Amy has been passed for DVD release, although no release date is known, and no extras have been classified at this time.
• Kevin is currently nominated in a poll of what different movies series would be best as a marathon at Film Threat. Cast your votes HERE.
• The “Vanilla Sky” website is up, and, while there’s nothing really new on the flick regarding Lee, there’s a nice bio with nods to Kevin, and even Lee’s own featured wallpaper! Check out the site HERE and that snazzy wallpaper HERE.
• Aint It Cool News is reporting that Ben Affleck and former flame Gwyneth Paltrow will star in a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Suspicion”.
• On this past week’s episode of PBS’ “Frontline” series they did an hour-long report on the state of the film industry today, studio conglomerates and how most movies are packaged. While talking about the role of smaller independent studios, they mentioned Miramax, and ran the Clerks trailer underneath. Nothing major, but an interest choice of flicks given the HUGE ‘Max catalog these days…
• Australian readers: Mallrats DVD preorders from Ezy DVD can be had for a mere $AU19.95. Click HERE for more info.

• Sure, Kevin dropped a TON of big news for us today (see below), but now WE can all do him one better – Give him some nods in categories such as best writer, best book, best storyline and the like at the annual WIZARD FAN AWARDS! Wizard have placed an open ballot for all categories on their webpage, with the top five vote-getters in each category will become nominees on the Wizard Fan Awards ballot going into Wizard #125!

With your help, we WILL get Kevin, Green Arrow, and the rest of the team nominated in all their eligible categories. Do it, folks!

Get those nominations in for ALL your favorites at the WizardWorld website by clicking right HERE.

• Well when he talks, he REALLY talks. This post from Kevin’s got enough in the major announcement category to get all of you drooling on this Black Friday. This post not only confirms our suspicious of the Jay & Bob DVD indeed being the Special Edition, but summarizes the features AND touches on more big news. Here’s Kevin with everything:

Quite a TON of cool info…If that Clerks DVD doesn’t sound like a MUST HAVE! We’ll be following that one closely. Great news about the DVD, that’s gotta be a record turnaround time for a View Askew special edition. Great to see the wheels spinning so fast with stuff. Anyway, stay tuned, as we’ll be watching and waiting for the week’s big announcements, and as always have full coverage for you right here!

• Naturally, Kevin’s post prompted a TON of questions, a lot of which he was kind enough to answer. You might be interested to know the following:

• Jersey Girl begins shooting in July 2002.
• Kevin will start writing “Clerks: Sell Out” with Dave Mandel once he’s done drafting “Jersey Girl”.
• On the Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back Documentary: “We haven’t even had time to load all the material into the Avid (let alone cut it together), and Dimension wanted to lock up the DVD release of “Jay and Silent Bob” by this week (i.e. – any material on the DVD had to be in by Wednesday). It was either do two editions of “Jay and Bob” (one stripped down and one SE, as Col/Tristar did with “Dogma”), or do one edition of “Jay and Silent Bob” and stick the massive documentary on the already-in-the-pipeline “Clerks” re-release. The latter made more sense, as most people want “Jay and Silent Bob” and couldn’t give two shits about a documentary.”
• And speaking of that Clerks SE: “It’s just going to have the three to four hour documentary, a new, extra-long cut of the flick that’s digitially restored with footage never before seen, and a new commentary track with ALL the leads (Brian, Jeff, Marilyn, Lisa, Mewes, Mosier, and me). The disc is still two years away, mind you.”. The disc will be released in 2004 to celebrate the film’s 10th anniversary, so don’t put those pre-orders in just yet.

• Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating tomorrow, it’ll likely be a day off for News Askew as this update is a small one and catches us up for now. We’ll see you back here on Friday, when we’ll likely all be a couple of pounds on the heavier side…Enjoy your day!

• Bluntman & Chronic comic: Here’s the latest from artist Mike Oeming:

• Both possible covers for the J&SBSB DVD and video are subtle variations of the cover art from the theatrical one-sheet, with different placings for the actors names and the “Hollywood had it coming…” line. Probably the 2 different print ads that ran. So, for the new DVD and video, don’t expect any special artwork. Maybe this won’t be the big SE after all?
• New stuff to buy! This from Dimaond Distributors: A Bluntman and Chronic T-Shirt, A Bluntman and Chronic Poster, And a new Green Arrow T-Shirt! Check them out, we’ll have details if these items become available through the Stash as well.
• If you’re in the area, Southwest Missouri State University of Springfield is having a screening of 3 of Kevin’s flicks on December 7th. That’s all the info we’ve got on that one.
• Finally, UK residents, if you want some View Askew DVDs, albiet stripped down versions, on the 17th of December, according to play247.com, Mallrats will be released. They’ve got them all at good prices now, so check them out for Xmas ideas or to complete you collection!

• We’ve been receiving a lot of mail since discussing the Vista Series possibilities for the DVD yesterday. Most agreed that, due to the flick coming out under the Dimension name, that a DVD would need to be released under the “Dimension Collector’s Series” label. We’ve confirmed this, and this indeed will be the case. So, expect a good solid DVD set, but not under “Vista Series”. Now, Disney’s official stance on recent memo state that the special features on the JSBSB DVD are TBD, though a rep has unofficially said it WILL be the Special Edition. We’re hoping to confirm this information as soon as possible for ya.

• Chalk up another memorable, well-written piece from the folks at the “Whatever Dude” website. This one is about the wisdom of Randal in “Clerks”, and basically goes down the list of his most insightful quips and discusses their truthfulness. Here’s a preview:

Check the whole shabang out HERE.

• Clerks producer Dave “Thanks For Watching!” Mandel will be starring on a TV show about video games tonight! It’s called “Dave and Steve’s Video Game Explosion” and it will be on 1:10 am est/10:10 pm pst Tuesday, Novermber 20, 2001 and 2:00am est/11:00 pm pst wednesday, November 21, 2001. On TBS. In your TV guide or Tivo, the show is called Burly TV (after the College Cable network that produced it). Dave requests you check out the TBS website link HERE and “write letters to TBS and stuff and tell them you love the show.”
• The IMDB has started a top 250 and bottom 100 films list. Clerks is the only View Askew flick to make it to the top 250 but is sitting at 193, listed above such classics as Airplane!, King Kong, MASH, Deliverance, and Gandhi.
• We don’t often mention ebay items, but these little guys are just too cool for you to miss! You may want to bid on these cute little South Park figures, turned into Jay & Bob! Check them out HERE.
• According to the B.C. Film Commision, the flick that Jason Lee’s filming in Vancover is “A Guy Thing” with Julia Stiles. The lensing is scheduled to continue there until February 4th, 2002.
• And finally today, according to this article, Kevin will write an “essay on comics, TV, and the Man of Steel” in the new TV Guide, which features “Smallville”. The issue is scheduled to ship on December 5th.