• We’ve proud to present your exclusive first look at the cover to “Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do #1”, the first issue of the four-part mini-series (1st issue on sale June 26th) that Kevin is writing. This is the cover by Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson, who are illustrating the series.

Here’s the full description of the 1st issue:

SPIDER-MAN/BLACK CAT: THE EVIL THAT MEN DO #1 Cover by Terry & Rachel Dodson Kevin Smith/Terry Dodson/Rachel Dodson * THE SCOOP: King of All Comics Kevin Smith takes the reins of comics’ hottest character — Spider-Man — in an all-new four-part story that will send the wall-crawler on a collision course with his old flame, the Black Cat! * THE STORY: The mysterious disappearance of an old friend brings Felicia Hardy to the Big Apple in search of answers. But, as luck would have it, a certain web-slinger — who also happens to be her ex-lover — is following the same trail! How long will it take before they do some… catching up? * THE CREATORS: You know he’s a famous moviemaker and comics writer, but wait until you see Kevin Smith cut loose on the one-and-only Spider-Man! And is there a more perfect artist to draw the shapely Black Cat than Terry Dodson (Harley Quinn)? * THE FORMAT: The first issue of this four-part series is 32 pages, with ads. Printed on glossy paper with a cardstock cover. On Sale June 26th (MarvelPG)$ 2.99

Thanks to Kevin Smith, View Askew, and Joe Quesada at Marvel for providing us with the scan!

• Every once in a while we get some artwork here that’s SO cool that we just hafta share it – This has to be one of the coolest original pieces from the Askewniverse we’ve seen in a while. Page Branson created this amazing piece, which features pretty much every character to ever exist in View Askew films, and presented it to Kevin at Megacon. She was kind enough to save a scan though, so look above to see what way cool artwork is now in Kev’s posession! This took her over 30 hours to create, and it shows. Click above for a better look.
• A new interview with Bob Schreck has been posted over at the Comic Book Resources website. We recommend you give it a read, as Kevin does come up a few times, but here’s a very interesting bit:

• Just a followup: The Chasing Amy poster (the couch imagine) we mentioned recently has been available for several years. Many stores order it but very few order it more than once, as the image itself is fairly blurry. We recommend you check it out in person before purchasing. College campus poster sales sometimes carry it.
• The official site for Affleck’s “Changing Lanes” is now open with new stills and more.
• The results to WiggyWorld’s poll on your favorite Kevin Smith film are now online, as well as a review for the Jay & Silent Bob Strke Back DVD. Check them all out HERE.
• From Cinescape comes information on 2 Saturn award recipients for this year that are Askew type folks: Lee of course for his Mallrats appearance, and Struzan for his design of the excellent Mallrats poster. Struzan won the “Life Career Award” and Lee took home the “Life Career Award”. Great stuff, and congrats to both!
• The Twisted Kaju Theater is an award-winning web comic, and we hear they’ve got some View Askew references in their archived strips. Check out #111 and #71. Enjoy.
• Another bad review for a non-region one DVD, this one the Australian Chasing Amy DVD.

• Finally today, check these guys out — Yep, they’re for real! They’ve got nothing on Buddy Christ, but perhaps a good example of life imitating art. You can actually purchase ‘em too!

• eJay, the View Askew auction site, is entering it’s record-breaking sixth week of items! This week’s got one of the coolest collectibles yet, Kevin’s very shirt from “Dogma”! In addition to that, there’s more signed merchandise, including a Mewes/Smith/Lee signed Mallrats poster, a Clerks cartoon script, another one of a kind Mooby poster, and more. And yes, Jennifer Farley is back yet again to display all the merchandise, folks. As always, happy bidding to ya, and the best of luck!

• The fourth Arena column has now been transcribed into text format. Those of you who had trouble reading the graphical version can check it out at our Arena Page. Many thanks again to Martin for his Arena work!
• You can find a TON of publicity stills from Jason Lee’s delayed but upcoming “Big Trouble” at the Yahoo Movies website.
• Those of you in the Little Rock, Arkansas area may someday be able to visit a club or restaraunt owned by Joey Lauren Adams. According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the actress is considering purchasing Owens Funeral Home, a historic 1928 Spanish mission-style building in North Little Rock. She apparently would convert the building into a restaurant or club while keeping one of the two loft-style apartments for herself. “I’ve been watching that area,” Adams says. “It’s nice to see they’re starting to do something with it. It’d be nice to be part of the community. I come home quite a bit.” She’s also still looking for casting and financing for her film:

• And finally today, “Attack of the Clerks”? One fan’s re-imagination of the Attack of the Clones one sheet above.

• We’re happy to announce a 10-issue hardbound collection of Kevin’s Green Arrow run, “Quiver” is now available from the Stash and in comic book shops everywhere! Here’s details:

The book costs a mere $24.95 from the Stash, and is an excellent way to catch up on the story if you missed some or all of the first issues. Quiver marks another excellent superhero arc for Kevin, and this hardcover is a must-have for any View Askew comic collection.

• Here’s a spiffy new fan-made desktop wallpaper that features the Mallrats DVD. It’s very simple, but colorful and a nice addition to anyone’s Windows PC. Check it out here or at Files Askew.
• Jay & Bob continue to perform very well on DVD. The Video Scan DVD consumer sales chart for the week ending March 10 has J&SBSB at #2, and the Video Store Magazine rental titles chart has J&SBSB at #4. Video Scan’s “First Alert” of the week ending March 10 has the title at #5 on the DVD sales chart.
• On the Bravo Canada website, they’re promoting next week’s lineup of 5 of the top Inside The Actor’s Studio shows, followed by a movie by each of the featured actors. On Friday, March 22, the featured Actor is Ben Affleck (8PM EST), and the movie is Dazed & Confused (9PM EST). Their site has more info.
• A music director for a small radio station has alerted us that a new country artist named Brett James from Oklahoma City put out his debut single recently, titled “Chasing Amy”. No real relation to the film itself, though.
• Another site’s running a “Vote for your favorite Kevin Smith” film HERE.
• A pretty cool Chasing Amy poster has been found online for sale. Might be something worth picking up and putting on your wall.

• We’re happy to report that Kevin’s now in Florida, filming some new material for the Tonight Show’s “Roadside Attactions”. He’ll be filming for the next few days. The material will air on The Tonight Show on April 4th, and Kevin will again be on the show to introduce the segment. We’ll keep you posted!

• Malcolm Ingram is scheduled to come into Jay & Silent Bob’s Secret Stash to personally sign Drawing Flies DVDs this week to get out all remaining orders by the weekend. Look for those discs soon!
• Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back is featured at the IMDB’s “Truly Trivial” section with this blurb:

Of course, for us here at the site, the answer was simple! The IMDB’s site itself isn’t that accurate, though – One reader pointed out that their trivia section claims that Silent Bob has never spoken in a View Askew film. Sounds like they need some fact checkers!

• Last week, the Mallrats DVD (Region 2) was released in The Netherlands. The only extra thing on the disc is the trailer. It’s got a 5.1 English soundtrack and a 2.0 German soundtrack. Again, makes us happy to be in Region 1.

• Here’s a scan from the most current issue of Video Store Magazine with a few pics and a quick blurb from the Dave’s J&SBSB signing. Click to expand.
• A rerun of Ben Affleck on “Inside The Actor’s Studio” will air on Bravo tonight at 10 PM EST and again at 1 AM.

• A Mallrats game for the Sega Genesis? It MIGHT have happened, had the grosses been higher! Interesting stuff.
• According to Amazon, the entire Fletch series of Gregory McDonald’s books are coming back into print, with “Fletch Won” due in July.
• And finally today, we have a report from the field stating that they have officially set up the Easter Bunny stand at the Eden Prairie Mall. Hopefully the guy in the suit hasn’t seen Mallrats.

• The fourth in Kevin’s continuing series of columns from the UK’s Arena magazine (April 2002) has arrived, and this one’s even got a cliffhanger! Click the scans above to read it. In this edition, Kev waxes philosophical as he recalls a recent visit to the doctor’s office for a sore throat. This one’s another surprisingly open, honest, and entertaining piece. If you missed out on past columns, check them out in our Arena Archives, along with Word translated versions. Enjoy!

• The Jay & Silent Bob DVD is currently the #1 best seller at Tower Records nationwide, beating out the likes of A.I. and many other high profile releases. At Amazon, it’s the #1 selling comedy DVD #5 overall. Also, all other VA DVDs are in the top 25 with Clerks checking in at #6 (#16 against all DVDs) Chasing Amy at #16, Dogma at #23, and Mallrats at #25. In Yahoo DVD Comedy Sales, J&SBSB ranks at #4 in comedy, while Mallrats and Dogma are #6 and #9 respectively.
• Affleck’s got another possible franchise in the works:

Thanks to Jam! Movies at canoe.ca for the news.

• For you IM fans out there, the website badassbuddy.com has a Jay & Silent Bob icon you can use in your AOL instant messenger.
• May 27th is the date Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back hits the UK, to buy on DVD and rent on VHS. Although no features have been confirmed yet (they have to pass through their censors) it seems as though the DVD will actually be available to buy from that date, which is a bit of a shock as Beuna Vista often release DVDs as rental only for the first few months there.