Where we last left off, Kevin had started to ramp up a worldwide tour, taking his popular Q&A on the road more locations than ever before. Along the way, two major stories were unfolding — Kevin had just started directing duty on Warner Brothers’ “A Couple of Dicks”, starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, and had mentioned that his love for hockey had hit new levels, with plans for a hockey-themed film called “Hit Somebody”. Let’s roll into July.

2009: The Year In Askew, part two, starts now.

July 2009

With a triumphant sold-out Carnegie Hall show, the celebrated Canadian hockey trip, June was a banner month. “A Couple of Dicks” was the theme of July, with as cameras rolled all month long. Fans continued to catch glimpses of the actors at various locations around New York City, prompting few details but a lot of looks at how many of the film’s stars would appear onscreen. Sites continued to express high interest in the film, and Kevin revealed that he had personally already cut together over an hour of footage.

As fall tour dates kept rolling in, fans were happy to hear that despite a busy schedule of touring AND shooting a movie, Kevin would still make it to what was now becoming an annual tradition: An appearance at San Diego’s famed Comic Con. The Fall Tour officially went international with several dates in the UK added to the slate.

The San Diego panel was once again the talk of the ‘Con — Kevin packed the room to standing-only capacity and presented another memorable stint at the podium, where “Twilight” got a lot of attention from him, citing its popularity.

After finally getting enough notice from the Twitter gods, Kevin’s account became “officially verified” at the end of July. To this day, he remains one of the most widely-followed users on the service, with close to a staggering 1.6 million devoted fans hanging on his every 140.

August 2009



After spending past birthdays with fans at various events (a “prom” event, a Q&A in Red Bank), Kevin turned 39 in a more quiet way, as he continued his east-coast based work on the new flick. After lots of fan-shot images hit the web, the director shared a favorite frame of his own.

Following some downtime due to the duties of the shoot as well as its principles living on opposite coasts, Smith and Mosier returned to present SModcast #90 to fans early in the month.

On the 6th of the month, a tragic event felt by film lovers across the world – Director John Hughes, an inspiration to Kevin (mentioned quite often in his works, especially “Dogma”), passed away suddenly in New York City. Hughes was 59.

By mid-August, we learned that the summertime shoot of “A Couple of Dicks” was about to come to a close. The main event concluded on August 13th. While many fans had caught a look at the set here and there, details of the shoot itself, especially from Kevin, remained quite scant. Web critics continued to express excitement for the film, with “Total Film” citing is as one of their “Movies to Get Excited About” for 2010.

With principal photography complete, Kevin triumphantly flew back home to the west coast, where he began work on the first edit of “A Couple of Dicks”. As he put together his latest cinematic effort, his latest effort in the world of comics was also unleashed — “Batman: Widening Gyre” hit shelves on August 26th. It was the second story effort from Smith and artist Walt Flanagan, following their acclaimed “Batman: Cacophony” series.

September 2009

With Fall approaching, two major themes permeated the news of September: The Fall tour and the release of Kevin’s new book, “Shooting the Shit with Kevin Smith”. Calendar dates continued to appear, including an expanding UK tour that would take Smith into new cities such as Dublin and Glasgow in October.

Meanwhile, to kick off the month and celebrate his move back to the home office, Kevin blazed yet another new trail via Twitter – A 24-hour tweet-a-thon, where he answered fan queries non-stop on September 7th and 8th. The event would go on to receive quite a bit of press and attention.

Via those tweets, and some other digging, it was revealed that “Red State”, a 180-degree dark, depressing screenplay Kevin had penned, might have found financing. Rumors like this would circle for the remainder of the year, though by 2010, funding would still be scarce, with no immediate plans for the film to go into production. Could 2010 be its year?

On September 17th, the Fall Tour kicked into gear with the first stop of many on a record-setting globe-trot: Minneapolis, Minnesota, soon to be followed by Ann Arbor, Michigan and Chicago, Illinois.

Less than a week later, on the 22nd, Kevin’s new novel “Shootin’ The Shit with Kevin Smith” (aka The SModcast Book) took to shelves. Kevin took opportunities to hold signings for the book in conjunction with Fall Tour appearances, which had moved from the northern U.S. into Canada.

With the first ever live SModcast celebrating such success in Canada, Kevin and Scott capped September with the first-ever US-based live SMod show in, where else…Red Bank, New Jersey. Lucky fans in attendance were treated to a meet-and-greet with the stars of the show, where their books were personally signed. A highlight of the event, later placed online for fans to enjoy, featured the authors reversing roles for a reading of a chapter of the book. One of the funniest taped moments of the year, by far.

As book promotions continued, Kevin made a rare 2009 TV appearance on the Jimmy Fallon Show . Following the TV stint, he spent the final days of September on a nationwide radio tour in support of the book.

October 2009

We hadn’t heard much about “Hit Somebody” for a while, but that was about to change. In a conversation with the NHL, Kevin revealed detailed plans for the film for the first time. He followed it up with a long sit-down with The Huffington Post, one of the best articles of the year which spans his entire career.

As the second week of the month arrived, Kevin found himself overseas, for a weeklong stint of live shows and promotional appearances. From BBC radio and television to stages in Scotland and Ireland, it was by far the most ambitious and expansive visit he had ever conducted abroad. While there, he confirmed that he still intended for “Hit Somebody” to be his 10th directorial effort, with “Red State” somewhere beyond that.

The fall tour continued, with west coast dates allowing Kevin minimal travel, as he put the finishing touches on his edit of “A Couple of Dicks”. Fans in Seattle and Los Angeles cited the shows as some of the best of all-time with continuing reports and articles confirming just that. As the fall tour dates seemed to be settling, fans without a nearby city to attend were pleased when the news of a Spring 2010 tour appeared, with stops in Texas, Michigan, Kansas City, and more.

In addition to the sold-out live appearances, Kevin Smith the writer also came out to play in October, with a surprise piece for UK’s “Guardian” titled “This Much I Know” that ranked among one of the funniest and most honest of his career.

SModcast continued its march toward a landmark 100 episodes — Kevin and Scott gifted fans with episode #96 at October’s end.

November 2009

With “Hit Somebody” on the brain, Kevin took his love for hockey directly to the people — Via support from the NHL and various areas and teams, Kevin began recruiting Twitter followers for teams around the league — Random lucky followers would be awarded the chance to join Kevin for a live NHL game in a luxury box at arenas around the country. Through the promotion, he’d easily double the Twitter following of his home team, the New Jersey Devils.

Fans anxiously awaiting news on a green light for “Hit Somebody” got a small step closer to that reality, when a video showcasing Kevin’s recent meeting with Mitch Albom, author of the song on which the screenplay will be based, hit the web. In the video, Albom gives his blessing to the project and takes time to show Kevin around Detroit’s historic Joe Louis Arena. Kevin would begin writing the script in December.

In November’s second week, on the 12th, the first top secret screening of “A Couple of Dicks” was held to rave reviews and high scorecards from those in attendance, including at the highly critical Aint It Cool News website.



Then, a historic day for techno-geeks: Bluray releases of 3 of Kevin’s most beloved hit shelves in a single set — The “Clerks”, “Chasing Amy”, and “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back” 3-pack arrived, filled with glorious extras including the long-awaited “Tracing Amy” documentary from Chop Shop Entertainement. It marked the first time that Clerks and Amy were available in high-definition formats.

December 2009

The usually news-deprived, quiet month of December began as such, though thanks to the wonders of Twitter, Kevin remained in regular contact with the fans for mini-chat sessions.

Meanwhile, a major milestone was brewing — SModcast debuted episode #99 on December 8th. With it, Kevin hinted at “changes” to come after the 100th episode, but went no further to divulge details.

On that same day, after much speculation, it was official – we learned that “A Couple of Dicks” did indeed have a new title, though it would be kept secret until Warner Brothers had released the details.

On December 15th, SModcast turned 100, with a surprisingly humble 100th episode, where Smith and Mosier decided it was best to not make a fuss and do what they do best – Deliver the funniest podcast in the land to the dedicated fans. Episode #100, titled “The Yardstick”, clocked it at a cool TWO HOURS.



As he’d already conquered most digital media, it was only natural that Kevin Smith would be among the first in Hollywood to have a dedicated iPhone application, which we had first learned of in November. On December 18th, that became a reality, as Kevin Smith: The iPhone/iTouch Application, went live for sale at the bargain price of 99 cents. The application featured such gimmicks as your own Kevin Smith ringtone, the ability to take your picture with Kevin, as well as direct access to Kevin’s latest tweets and News Askew’s latest stories.



On December 23rd, the title was finally revealed, along with a slick official trailer – “Cop Out”. Warner Brothers would opt for the title change to ensure the freedom to advertise the film freely on all networks prior to 9:00 PM, as the original title was deemed unsuitable for those early hours. The film was set for a February 26, 2010 release, with the official trailer tied to all prints of “Sherlock Holmes”, in theaters on Christmas day. Following the title’s reveal, Kevin would break his silence on the details behind the title change to Entertainment Weekly.

As December drew to a close, and with it, 2009, it was difficult to not imagine what 2010 might bring. Obviously, “Cop Out” would come first, but what next? With only a spring tour on the official schedule so far, we can only speculate. However, with films like “Hit Somebody” and “Red State” not off the radar, we’re prepared for another surprising year in Askew with 2010. And what about that View Askew namesake? To cap the year, perhaps in quite a poetic fashion Kevin made a rare detailed post where he hinted that the Askewniverse is certainly down, but perhaps not out, forever. Clerks III in 2016?

We’ll see you then.

Happy New Year to the fans and our loyal readers and Twitter followers — We’re looking forward to an exciting 2010, as News Askew enters its astounding 14th year of bringing you the latest from the world of Kevin Smith, View Askew, and all the branches that sprout from within. See you next year!

Let’s take a look back at the last 12 months, shall we? 2009: The Year In Askew, part one, is straight ahead.

January 2009

2009 kicked off in an uncharacteristically quiet, low key way. Kevin’s normally regular web presence continued to remain at low-key levels. Interviews and promotions for his latest comic, “Batman: Cacophony”, which he wrote, continued — longtime friend and fan favorite Walt Flanagan drew the book. However, it was obvious that this was a much more subdued press push than the past. We’d soon know why. Meanwhile, as the shrinking home video window continued, a February release date was already announced for “Porno”, which had just hit theaters at the end of October. The Bluray release would be day and date with the DVD, a first for a View Askew flick. Despite a lower than expected box office bow, the film would wind up on many “Best of 2008” lists which were revealed this month.

While Kevin wasn’t posting to the web and conducting as many regular interviews, the great SModcast would not be stopped. Episode #71 hit the webs in early January. Before the year was out, Kevin and Scott would hit a significant SMod milestone. By the end of the month, the guys would have recorded 3 more episodes for the web.

As the month continued, details began to surface for the “Zack and Miri” discs. Thankfully, View Askew would not let us down once again as far as extras go — The package would include a brand new documentary, a pile of deleted scenes, bloopers, and lots more. As Kevin and Scott had discussed the film at length on SModcast, for the first time, a View Askew DVD would not include an audio commentary track (though the extras would more than make up for the lack of one). Kevin made a rare post to explain his feelings on the commentary and how SModcast was an even better replacement. Our extensive review of the film details the greatness of the discs.



His first live appearance of the year took place in Hartford, laying groundwork for what would be the most significant year for Kevin’s stage show yet. Meanwhile, Smith made plans for a major event in Toronto for early February…

February 2009

February 2009 arrived with rave reviews for the “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” DVD. Critics and fans alike praised the film and the disc’s abundance of extras, some who had unfortunately discovered the film for the first time in their homes. Canadians were gifted with versions of the disc that featured exclusive “scratch and sniff” packaging.



While it had now been over 2 years since the last Vulgarthon film festival, Toronto celebrated their own mini-film fest of sorts in early February. With Kevin coming to town for a historic two-night appearance at the beloved Roy Thompson Hall, where every one of his gigs continually sells out, the Bloor Cinema tacked on a 3-night film festival following the appearances. Kevin appeared live for a Q&A session following each of the films, creating Canada’s own mini-Vulgarthon — a bright spot among their normally brutally cold winter. Audience reports raved that the appearances were among the best ever, with Jason Mewes making a rare onstage appearance alongside Kevin for most of the second night.

Kevin capped February with more live shows in New York and Ohio. At these shows, rumors began to circle on what his next project would be. Would it be “Red State”? “Ranger Danger”? Something new? It seemed that anything was possible, though Kevin’s immediate concern was getting out in front of the public, as his love for being onstage continued to blossom, as fans continued to pack seats to watch Kevin spend a few hours taking questions and entertaining crowds with one of the best impromptu shows in the land….A theme that would continue throughout the year. Until…

March 2009

In the most exciting, unexpected announcement of the year, March 2009 kicked off with a bombshell — Kevin had become a director for hire. But not just for any studio, and not just for any movie. Warner Brothers pictures signed Kevin to direct a major motion picture starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, titled “A Couple of Dicks”. The film was one of the great unpublished screenplays of 2008, so to see this script land in Kevin’s lap was a dialogue-lover’s dream. Full of raunchy, hilarious text, the script was the perfect fit for Kevin’s sensibilities. It would also mark the first time that Kevin would direct a feature film that was not from his own script. News agencies across the web picked up the news, and it appeared that we now had our main project/theme for 2009. This would be the year of “A Couple of Dicks”.

Within mere days of the announcement, rumors already started to circle that the title may change, to the more tame “A Couple of Cops”.

In mid-March, “Reaper”, a show with a pedigree similar to “Dicks” (Kevin directed, but did not write, the pilot episode), returned to the CW airwaves for a second season. While building on its mythology and critical acclaim, the program would not survive past its second-season finale.

In comic news, artist Walt Flanagan revealed that he and Kevin were working on a yet-to-be-titled follow-up project to the highly successful “Batman: Cacophony”. Before the year was out, we’d not only know its identity, but have quite a few issues on shelves to enjoy. Astute listeners to SModcast soon suggested that it had slipped that a “Batman” series was being written after the first series was already in the can, prompting us to speculate correctly that the next series would once again feature the caped crusader.

As March “marched” on, Kevin’s signing to direct “A Couple of Dicks” continued to generate quite a bit of press and speculation. In the middle of the month, though, another film briefly stole the spotlight — After a great deal of anticipation due to his praise of an early cut of the film, the world finally got to see “Watchmen”, one of the greatest graphic novels of all time, come to life on the big screen. And as one highly-anticipated geek movie debuted, one of the most beloved geek series of recent memory concluded — Sci Fi aired the final two hours of the incredible “Battlestar Galactica”, a show beloved to Kevin (who had the pleasure of making a set visit before everything was struck and boxed for good).

Around this time, when Kevin was in a particularly introspective mood, journalist Lee Stranhan scheduled what would become one of the most amazing sit-down interviews of his entire career. The interview, which was conducted earlier in the month, would feature the director discussing all aspects of his life and career in an even more open and honest way than ever before (a feat many thought not even possible for the already public Smith).

Since “Clerks”, hockey had always played a role in the films of View Askew. But in late March, Kevin laid groundwork to take his love of the game to a whole new level. After being touched by the story of Wayne Gretzky and his father Walter, Kevin mounted efforts to bring himself, fans, and friends to Brantford, Ontario for June’s Walter Gretzky Street Hockey Invitational. During an appearance in Vancouver, he also mentioned, for the first time, that he had an interest in making a hockey-themed film in the future.

By the end of March, SModcast, still rolling strong, had celebrated its 81st episode of free entertainment.

April 2009

It would become a buzzword on many reporter’s lists of the best of 2009. Twitter. Tweeting. While the service had been active for a few years prior to 2009, it wasn’t until this year that the mainstream embraced this service, burgeoned by the sudden celebrity love for the technology. By eliminating publicists, for the first time, celebs could use twitter as a direct line to their fans. By contrast, this was a practice that Kevin had adopted from early in his career with ViewAskew.com. Still, always being in the forefront of technology, Smith saw Twitter as yet another viable communication vehicle. Frequent use of the service started in early April, when Kevin trekked back to the east coast, where he would live for many months as production on “A Couple of Dicks” took place. The film would shoot in and around New York City, mostly on location.

Not ones to shy away from technology, News Askew also began tweeting our headlines and stories as well, giving readers yet another way to keep up with the latest.

Following a pre-production trip into NYC, Kevin jetted to Vail, Colorado, where he was presented with the Renegade Award at the Vail Film Festival, celebrating his entire body of work.

The good news continued, as Kevin made a weeklong visual clue game of one of the biggest announcements of the year: He would bring his beloved Q&A act to the stage of New York City’s prestigious Carnegie Hall in mid-June. To sweeten the announcement, it was also revealed that a new book would arrive in the Fall: “Shooting the Shit with Kevin Smith” would collect some of the best moments of SModcast in print form.

Hockey came back in a big way in April, when Kevin revealed he would be writing a new blog for the NHL to highlight the experience of watching the Devils in the playoffs. He’d also purchased a luxury box at Prudential’s center city Newark arena, The Rock, where he would entertain family and friends and introduce newcomers to the great game of ice hockey, with his beloved Jersey team.

May 2009

With the popularity of SModcast continuing on iTunes and Quick Stop Entertainment, Kevin and Scott decided to try an experiment – It was announced that the first LIVE SModcast would be held next month in Canada, the same weekend that the crew would be heading north for the Gretzky hockey tournament. Dubbed “Stocky Night in Canada”, the limited event would sell out in record time.

We also had a new date to add to calendars – Before film had started to roll on the movie, we had a tentative release date for “A Couple of Dicks” – February 26, 2010. Those brothers Warner sure don’t mess around.



By the middle of the month, Entertainment Weekly announced another newsworthy release — Kevin and Walt would indeed return with that speculated “Batman” series. This one, titled “The Widening Gyre” was already half completed with issue 1 set to debut in August. In addition to this expected news, it was also revealed that Kevin’s “Green Hornet” script ideas would see the light of day in comic form. A new miniseries would be on the way following the completion of “Gyre”.

Movie Trailers – Movies Blog

The month of big announcements continued when on May 14th, Kevin revealed to MTV that he wasn’t kidding around when he mentioned that hockey-themed movie idea in March. “Hit Somebody” would be the title of this one, based on a Warren Zevon song penned by author Mitch Albom. Following the announcement, quite a bit of articles on and by Kevin tied into the sport. It was apparent that hockey was on the brain, and in a very big way.

Followed by all the good news in May, a spot of bad news arrived on the 19th via Twitter – Star Ethan Suplee revealed that he and longtime-Askewer Jason Lee’s hilarious sitcom “My Name is Earl” had been cancelled by NBC. A glimmer of hope via a save by network TBS would come briefly before the official June cancellation announcement.

With filming getting close to rolling, May capped off with the announcement of two more cast members for “Dicks”: Seann William Scott and Adam Brody. By the end of May, the cast would have gathered for the first full read-through of the script.

June 2009



Production might have been starting on “A Couple of Dicks” as of June 2nd, but Kevin wasn’t going back to work behind the cameras without a gift to the fans — He and Scott presented SModcast #87 on the eve of the shoot. Due to the public nature of the on-location summer in New York City set, fans were quick to locate the cast and crew and snapped the first of what would be many looks at Willis, Morgan, and Smith in action.

Though filming had begun, Kevin wasn’t about to let that stop his hockey-themed weekend plans in Canada. Starting on June 6th, he and a large crew of friends and fans took to Brantford, Ontario for the Wayne Gretzky Hockey Tournament and the first live SModcast. The View Askew all-star team name? Puck U.



Then, on Saturday, the first ever live SModcast found Smith and Mosier on stage before a sold-out crowd of 1,100 where history was made.



On June 17th, we arrived at one of the biggest events of the year, and one of the most significant in Kevin’s life — Kevin took the stage to a sold out crowd in Carnegie Hall. Some of the world’s greatest performers have stepped onto that stage, and Kevin had now joined the ranks of a very elite few — Especially from the point of view that this was a one man show, where he’d single-handedly entertain the packed house for almost three full hours. News Askew was fortunate enough to witness this magical and historic event – One of Kevin’s finest performances of all-time.

While the first half of the year would have already celebrated a fairly busy, public schedule for Kevin as far as events, the next six months would set records, as Kevin announced a very aggressive Fall Tour schedule which would take him across the United States, to new cities, and abroad.

Finally, as June came to a close, more confirmed casting reports for “A Couple of Dicks” that built on an already impressive cast: Michele Trachtenberg, Kevin Pollak, and the great Jason Lee were all confirmed for supporting or cameo roles.

Join us later this week as we wrap it up, and cover the last 6 months of 2009. See you then.

News Askew and DenVog, author of the awesome, brand new Kevin Smith iPhone Application (now on sale for a mere .99 cents via the iTunes store), want to give you a shot at ringing in the New Year by winning a contest! We’re going to award 5 lucky, randomly drawn winners a code which will entitle you or a friend to a free download of the App. Best of all, future upgrades to Apps are free, so as Dennis updates the app per Kevin’s (and fan’s) suggestions, you’ll get those, too.

Ready to enter? It’s pretty easy. Just shoot an e-mail off to our SCOOOPS@NEWSASKEW.COM , but eliminate one of the O’s from that making it just SCOOPS (we do this to try and cut down on the spam). You’ll need to use the words App Contest Entry in the subject heading of your e-mail exactly. In the body of the e-mail, we just need your name, first and last, and your return e-mail address. ONE ENTRY PER PERSON. If you double-enter, we’ll throw out all your entries. We want to keep this fair, and the way to do that is not to reward folks who send us hundreds of e-mails. So please, send just one. As always, your e-mail address and name are safe with us, we don’t share it and actually destroy all entries once the contest is over.

This runs until 11:59:59 PM PST on Wednesday, December 30th. We’ll announce our 5 winners on New Year’s Eve, December 31st. They’ll be randomly selected from a bucket of all entries.

Already using the app? Use the code you win to pass it on to a pal. And please, if you’re using the application, we’d love to see you add your positive reviews to the iTunes store. Even if you’re just supplying a star rating. It goes a long way with visibility and sales, among the huge mountain of apps out there.

Good luck!

Me & @smosier sitting down to record SModcast 101 in six hours. No new ep tonight, though. Next week. P.S.-Everything changes with SMod 101.

Via @Choccster “Everything changes with SMod 101? will you start charging?” As long as I can pay for server space, SMod will always be free.

@conantbrian “isn’t there at least the view askew tag?” No – because it’s not a View Askew Production. Peep the billing block and you’ll see I actually have only one less credit than I normally do: writer. Still my flick.

Via @Capn_Midnight “check the tree for wrap-up to BULLSEYE series!” You’ll find an IOU that reads “This year, if Marvel’s still into it.”

Via @FooRay “did you cut the trailer together yourself?” Nah. They have a whole department for that kinda thing.

Via @rtward “You don’t get to edit your own trailer?” Most directors don’t. I’ve cut some online trailers, but filmmakers are not marketers.

Via @jdr822 “proudest moment in your film career?” 8 minute standing ovation for CLERKS II at Cannes: http://clerks2.com/trainwreck/?p=79

Via @Modesix “Why is there only 1 show for Toronto? You know it’s almost sold out already?” Chill: if it sells out, we can just add another.

John Hughes said my name!!! “I saw Clerks, and it made me a little jealous. I wanted to do something similar. I like how he stays in New Jersey and retains that regional flavor. I admire what he’s doing.” Fuck. Thanks Mr. Hughes; the feeling was very mutual.

The full Hughes interview is, one of (if not THE) last he gave.

“done with view askew?!”

I’m 39; my view is no longer all that askew.

Alright, let’s be honest: it still is. But the name always felt too impressed with itself, y’know? If one’s view is truly askew, does one really have to proclaim it? The work should speak for itself; and if nothing else, my work certainly does that.

Think of it like this: my pet peeve is when people refer to themselves as crazy or unusual in some way.

“Look out for me, ’cause I’m a total lunatic!”
“When we go out, we’re just crazy!”
“I mean, that’s just us, right? We’ll do anything for a laugh!”
“People are always like ‘Look out for THIS guy’…”

I’m certainly not profiling, but women seem to be the worse offenders of this harmless-yet-irritating expression of self esteem. But when guys do it, it’s REALLY tough to watch; you can’t simply smile through it, thinking “If I keep agreeing with her, she might touch my dick.”

So if I feel that way about people who boast, shouldn’t I loathe my own production company name?

Might be nice to box “View Askew Productions” ’til the eventual look back in on Dante and Randal with CLERKS III.

The idea of continuing the story of Dante and Randal every 10 years is quite interesting, especially considering Kevin could potentially continue to do this through his career. While they may not necessarily be actual “Clerks” any longer as they continue on, to visit these guys once a decade to see where their lives have taken them could prove to be a fascinating and original exercise in cinema. Sign us up. Kevin predicts circa 2016.

To usher in the series, issue #1 has 4 covers in total, which have now been revealed (click above for a better look). Several sites have picked up the covers and posted some commentary. GeekTyrant has a nice little summary
of what little has been revealed thus far:

Smith?s unproduced screenplay has been adapted into a 10 part miniseries, that has been illustrated by Jonathan Lau. The series will be fully complete before the first issue hits the shelf, which is great to hear because we wont have to impatiently wait a long amount of unorganized time for each issue to hit the comic shops.

The story follows the original Green Hornet Britt Reid as he passes the torch to his son Britt Jr. who will continue the adventures. And it looks as if his crime fighting Kato type character is a lovely lady sporting a tight leather outfit. I assume this is Mishi Kato who is the grand daughter of Kato. You can learn more about her here.

For more on this story, check out /Film and Bleeding Cool.

Ready to enter? It’s pretty easy. Just shoot an e-mail off to our SCOOOPS@NEWSASKEW.COM , but eliminate one of the O’s from that making it just SCOOPS (we do this to try and cut down on the spam). You’ll need to use the words App Contest Entry in the subject heading of your e-mail exactly. In the body of the e-mail, we just need your name, first and last, and your return e-mail address. ONE ENTRY PER PERSON. If you double-enter, we’ll throw out all your entries. We want to keep this fair, and the way to do that is not to reward folks who send us hundreds of e-mails. So please, send just one. As always, your e-mail address and name are safe with us, we don’t share it and actually destroy all entries once the contest is over.

This runs until 11:59:59 PM PST on Wednesday, December 30th. We’ll announce our 5 winners on New Year’s Eve, December 31st. They’ll be randomly selected from a bucket of all entries.

Already using the app? Use the code you win to pass it on to a pal. And please, if you’re using the application, we’d love to see you add your positive reviews to the iTunes store. Even if you’re just supplying a star rating. It goes a long way with visibility and sales, among the huge mountain of apps out there.

Good luck, and Merry Christmas!

Kevin Smith on why ‘A Couple of Dicks’ became ‘Cop Out’

The new trailer for the upcoming buddy cop comedy Cop Out just hit the internet, but anyone who had been following the project knows the film, out February 26, 2010, had long gone by a more distinctive title: A Couple of Dicks. Fortunately, the film has an even more distinctive director: Kevin Smith, the hilariously profane indie film hero (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Zack and Miri Make a Porno) making his debut as a director of a script he did not write himself. Smith was more than happy to give EW his frank perspective on how A Couple of Dicks became Cop Out in a nutshell, blame the networks.

Kevin Smith: Look, losing A Couple of Dicks was almost akin to losing my own dick. It was a perfect buddy-cop movie comedy title. Everyone knew it. You couldnt say that title to somebody without a fing smile crossing their face. But what I had gone through with Zack and Miri Make a Porno porno had become very problematic, it became tough for us to advertise [the film], blah blah blah. Warner Bros. decided, Hey man, well call the networks and see if were going to get any problems [with A Couple of Dicks as a title], months before the movies ever going to come out. The top 3 networks CBS, ABC, NBC said we cant run one of your spots before 9 oclock.

Im like, Well what about Inglourious Basterds? And I guess, because of the spelling, they got away with it. So we were like, Can we call it A Couple of D.I.C.s? Because thats the proper acronym for detectives, Detective In Charge. And [the networks] kicked that back as well. It was the pluralizing of any form of dick, whether it was d-i-c-k or any derivation.

So my feeling was like, its an R-rated movie, so who the f are we talking to anyway before 9 oclock? Warner Bross feeling was like, Hey man, the sports audience, dickhead. We have to advertise to the sports audience on Saturday and Sunday and all those sporting events usually take place before 9 p.m. in the evening. At which point, I was like, Oh wow, you guys are way smarter than me.

All credit due to Warner Bros., they tried really fing hard to score that title. It just came down to a point blank choice of run a campaign where youre not going to be able to advertise on the big three networks before 9 oclock, or run a campaign where there are no hindrances. I came from a world where you play the ball where it lays. [The studio execs] come from a world where theyre like, Well if we dont like where the ball lays, well just create a brand new golf green. If I hadnt gone through Zack and Miri Make a Porno, I think I would have gotten my old-school fing angry indie spirit, if you will: Fuck it, we live or die by A Couple of Dicks, or I take my name off the picture! But even my mom was like, I might go see Zack and Miri, but I would never go see Zack and Miri Make a Porno. I feel like Chief Brody in Jaws 2: Ive seen the shark up close. I aint going through that hell again.

And Ive got a lot of people online, on Twitter especially, going, Dont lose this fight! Dont let them change it! And its like, Dude, its not my call. All these people online seem to think I have the almighty juice. I got no juice. I made Jersey Girl. I cant pull any fing strings.

So for months now, theyve always had A Couple of Cops as kind of this fallback thing a placeholder, essentially. And then all of a sudden, one of the producers of the movie was like, Hey theyre locking the title, because the trailer is going to be put on Sherlock Holmes. And I was like, This is an abundance of wonderful and horrible information. I want to be on Sherlock Holmes because everyone on the planet will probably go see it on Christmas, but I dont want it to be A Couple of Cops. That just seems like we didnt even try! We went from a really clever title to the least clever title of all time. I was like, God that title is going to feel like such a fing cop out. And [the producer] goes, We should just call the movie that.

I liked it because it sounds like exactly what we set out to be: An 80s buddy cop movie, without sounding like Loaded Weapon, or some such s. But more importantly, to me, the title tells the story of what happened to our other title. I think its kind of ironic. Its win-win. For 100 percent of the potential audience for this movie, I would say 0.5 percent knows that we were once called A Couple of Dicks. After they read this article, maybe you could bump it up to 0.75 percent. The rest of the potential audience, they have no idea what this movie used to be called. For them it will always be Cop Out. Theyll just never know that there was that one magical moment where it was called A Couple of Dicks. We were making up sequel titles in our heads, dude. Like, you know, Two Bigger Dicks. Or Dicks 2: It Just Got Harder.

Somebody online said you could take Cop Out and vary it with like, Rock out with your Cop Out! Hopefully that will be a tagline on a poster or a trailer. And if it is, we owe that random dude on Twitter like at least a few free passes.

Scooper Kyle even managed a blurry camphone snap of the green-band “Cop Out” trailer in the can as it arrived at his local theater. We’ve given you a peek at that as well as some more screengrabs from the slick new trailer which has just arrived on the webs (see next story). Watch. Download. Repeat!

Synopsis – Two longtime NYPD partners on the trail of a stolen, rare, mint-condition baseball card find themselves up against a merciless, memorabilia-obsessed gangster. Jimmy (Bruce Willis) is the veteran detective whose missing collectible is his only hope to pay for his daughter’s upcoming wedding, and Paul (Tracy Morgan) is his “partner-against-crime” whose preoccupation with his wife’s alleged infidelity makes it hard for him to keep his eye on the ball.

It’s a pre-holiday treat!!! Watch it over and over again, spread the word, and then catch the trailer on the big screen with “Sherlock Holmes” on Christmas. Holy cow…Kevin made a buddy action comedy with Bruce Willis! There’s evidence now! We love it.