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View Askew NewsBites™

January 30th, 2002 @ 9:03 pm | No Comments » | Scooped by Nancy Zeider, Alonso Duralde, CliffJUMPer36, Adam, Erik Gaspar & Tony S.

  • Kevin’s University of Rhode Island (URI) appearance that we announced previously has been moved from February 12th to March 26th. Be sure and check out the show, as it’s a rare chance to see Kev do his Q&A thing live! Tickets for the show will be available to the public thru Ticketmaster in early March. We’ll let you know when you can get your grubby paws on ‘em.
  • There’s a flyer going around, stating that Jason Mewes will come to the store “Things From Another World” at the Universal Citywalk in California to sign Jay & Bob on March 2, 2002 at 7:00 PM. Not sure if this appearance is still on or not, though. If we learn more we’ll let ya know.
  • For those of you who have been watching Project Greenlight on HBO (or even if not), you might be interested in this new piece from the Calendar Live website on the show. Greenlight has made its players overnight celebs, and has proven fascinating television in the way that they seem to document all the ups and downs on the set so honestly (and that “Chris Moore Challenge” that the website is currently running is a true classic, it’s really tempting to send in an entry).
  • Speaking of Affleck, Jennifer Garner of the TV show Alias (A damn fine show, by the way, you should be watching) has been confirmed as the femme fatale Elektra in “Daredevil”. Michael Clarke Duncan of “The Green Mile” is Kingpin and Colin Farrell is Bullseye. Nice cast shaping up there.
  • The Feb. 7th Will & Grace show featuring guest star Matt Damon will run four extra minutes.
  • We’re hearing rumors that the Australian print of Jay & Bob is different than the US print – Can anyone in the know confirm or deny this?

  • On “The Screen Savers” on TechTV today, one of the hosts was enthusiastically announcing that J&SBSB is being released on February 26th. We’ve got the mention here in MP3 format (and a screenshot above where you’ll see the Secret Stash web page up on their PC).

Stash Website Closed Today…

January 30th, 2002 @ 8:09 am | No Comments » | Scooped by Ming

  • Just a quick post to state that Jay & Silent Bob Secret Stash website will be closed as of 12:01 AM today (Wednesday) for an inventory count. The site will reopen as soon as possible.

Check back later for more news, including the return of an auction site that some of you know and love. See you then.

Bestselling Author To Take Green Arrow Duties…

January 29th, 2002 @ 6:39 pm | No Comments » | Scooped by Jason Baldwin & Hoser

  • Comics Newsarama just broke another big scoop which annouces who will take over Green Arrow’s writing duties after Kevin leaves the book in a few months:
Today the publisher announced New York Times bestselling author Brad Meltzer is slated to take over as the new writer of Green Arrow with issue #16.

Meltzer’s works include the novels The Tenth Justice, Dead Even, The First Council, and The Millionaires, which is currently #3 on the New York Times bestseller list and #1 on the Barnes & Noble bestseller list. According to DC, Meltzer has also contributed short fiction to USA Weekend, the London Sunday Times, and the anthology The Games We Played.

Meltzer joins series penciler Phil Hester and inker Ande Parks on DC’s best selling monthly series. According to DC, Hester and Parks with remain with the series “at least” until Smith’s Brave and the Bold series is ready to begin production.

That may be a ways away, as Smith recently revealed to Newsarama he’ll launch Marvel’s Black Cat before beginning work on Brave and the Bold.

The status of cover artist Matt Wagner, who Smith previously announced would leave with him with issue #15, is still to be determined.

“I’m sad to be leaving Green Arrow,” said Kevin Smith, “but I’m secure in the knowledge that Brad’s going to take Arrowhead for one helluva ride after I’m gone. I know I’ll still be buying the book on a monthly basis after my run’s finished. I suggest you all do the same. Brad’s not going to let you down.”

“Brad brings tons of enthusiasm about Ollie Queen, DC, and comics in general to the party,” said Group Editor Bob Schreck. “He’s a hell of a storyteller. Both The Tenth Justice and The Millionaires had me biting my fingernails and scratching my head trying to figure out what was going to happen next! Having read his initial plot, Brad’s already off to a fantastic start on Green Arrow, building on the foundation Kevin created for the series. I think he’s going to surprise everybody.”

Read the full story at Newsarama!

View Askew NewsBites™

January 29th, 2002 @ 6:38 pm | No Comments » | Scooped by Rick Peterson, Scott Richardson, Jason Baldwin, Kooties, Brett Deacon & Kevin Apgar

  • According to Movieline International’s latest e-mailing, Vulgar is now slated for a release sometime in May. We’ll keep you posted on the ever-shuffling date!
  • Stephen King’s official website has info up on DREAMCATCHER, starring Mr. Jason Lee. Production started January 13th. The cast includes Morgan Freeman, Tom Sizemore and Donnie Wahlberg. Check out King’s site HERE. The official movie site is also open, but it really doesn’t provide any information that isn’t on King’s site. You can also get a jump on things by reading the book, which is now in paperback.
  • In case you missed it the first time it aired, Kevin is going to be on Howard Stern’s E! show on Wednesday night this week. They have it listed as “Win Fred’s Money with Kevin Smith” on the E! website. Kevin was in the studio to promote the release of Jay & Bob and competed in the contest.
  • In Australia, J&SBSB ranked #6 opening weekend with a total of $734,496 (inc. GST) tracking 101 screens 5 day total $894,316. None too shabby.

  • Some different Jay & Bob door hangers to advertise the Jay & Bob VHS and DVD release are hitting college campuses now, and seem better than the last batch. Check them out above (and if someone finds a bunch, send us some!).
  • That Green Arrow Homer figure we featured last update came from the custom work of a guy named Chad MacDonald (just wanted to give credit where credit’s due).
  • Finally today, from comingsoon.net comes this blurb on a possible upcoming role for Affleck:
Bruckheimer also will team Ben Affleck and Smith in a twist on the buddy flick. “It’s about a Boston cop who is very racist, played by Ben, who butts head with an FBI agent played by Will Smith. They’re a great team.”

Order Those Bluntman & Chronic Figures!

January 27th, 2002 @ 11:34 am | No Comments » | Scooped by Ming

  • The wait is nearly over! You can now preorder your Bluntman & Chronic figures, straight from the Stash to your home! Here’s all the details:

BLUNTMAN & CHRONIC Action Figures

They stormed the box office this summer in ‘Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back’, and now they’ve set their sights on comic book stores! Bluntman and Chronic – the superhero secret identities of Jay and Silent Bob – are ready to set the collector’s market ablaze and give new meaning to the term “blunt”. Use ‘em in the privacy of your own home to recreate the thrilling adventures of the recent View Askew summer blockbuster, re-enact the hilarity of the best-selling Image graphic novel, or create your own, X rated adventures starring these crime-busting (and law-breaking) do(bage)-gooders and their faithful simian companion, Suzanne. Based on model sheets by Michael Avon Oeming, each highly-detailed 8” tall figure is generously articulated and has been sculpted to create all of the details you expect. As with all Graphitti Designs products, we have gone the extra mile so that our figures will be the best around and will stand-out above the crowd. Bluntman & Chronic have arrived and the world of plastic toys will never be the same!! BLUNTMAN Action Figure

BLUNTMAN Action Figure

* Large 8” tall size.
* 16-points of articulation.
* Genuine Synthetic Hair.
* Removable Cloth Jacket.
* Two (2) additional, interchangeable hands.
* Removable Flight Goggles.
* Blunt-Saber.
* Three (3) Marijuana Throwing Stars.

CHRONIC Action Figure

* Large 8” tall size.
* 16-points of articulation.
* Genuine Synthetic Hair.
* Two (2) additional, interchangeable hands.
* Suzanne the Orangutan.
* Multi-functional Banana.
* Odorless Poop-on-foot Prop.

You can get them both, sold as a set for $32.00, right HERE from the Stash! Another must-have View Askew collector’s item.

View Askew NewsBites™

January 27th, 2002 @ 11:34 am | No Comments » | Scooped by Douglas Fir, Ming, Scott Kramer, Matt, Don, Silent Rhys Witherspoon, Pierre Futsch, Kooties, Charles Peterson, Brett Deacon, Michael Moore,

  • Don’t forget that Sony releases VH1’s “The Concert for New York City” on DVD this coming Tuesday (29th Jan) – RRP $29.98. The 2-disc set features the whole 5 hour show including all of the short films – which of course means this is a must have item for those who want to own Kevin’s short film “Why I Love New #*$%!&@ York”.

Proceeds from the DVD are going to the Robin Hood Relief Fund – a subdivision of the Robin Hood Foundation created specifically to benef families of the missing or injured; the heroic firefighters, police officers, and rescue workers; and others who have been affected by the economic consequences of the World Trade Center attack and its aftermath.

  • Here’s the latest on ‘Vulgar’ – The film should be hitting theatres in April of 2002. No word on an exact release date or locations yet – but it has been moved back a bit from it’s projected Feb 2002 date. So, if you were at Vulgarthon 2002, consider yourselves even more priviledged. On an oddly related note, those of you who have seen the film Vulgar might see a strange similarity HERE. Weirdness, man, major weird.

  • Check it out! Here’s a postcard that was nabbed at Sundance for Brian O’Halloran’s upcoming “Drop Dead Roses”! As far as we know, this is the first we’ve seen any sort of promotional one sheet material for the flick.
  • “Chasing Amy” will be broadcast on the Oxygen cable channel this Monday night @ 8/7c. It’s advertised as part of their “P.M.S. Week”. Those of you who have the channel might be interested to see this, as it’s edited for TV (Oxygen is basic cable) so you’ll get to see all the creative dialogue substitutions and omissions that they made.
  • In the official Playstation 2 magazine UK, Feb 2002 issue, there’s talks of rumors that Jay and Silent Bob will be featured as hidden characters in Tony Hawk’s Pro-Skater 4.
  • Last week in France, a French release of the Mallrats DVD took place, called “Les Glandeurs”. The disc is in a low price collection (79 francs/around $10 US). There are no bonus features, but nice picture and sound. The Amy DVD that was due there about three months ago is still in wait.
  • Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back opened at #7 in Austalia with $171,344 (inc. GST) in takings on Thursday the 24th. We’ll have the full weekend’s figures later.

  • Check out this Homer Simpson figure that someone converted into Green Arrow! Fun stuff.
  • According to Dark Horizons, Matt Damon’s “Bourne Identity” is being moved to new release date due to Affleck’s “Sum of All Fears” (which is set to be released on May 31st). Weird how the two dudes are now interfering with each other, ‘eh?
  • Check out The Geek Portal for a string of new photos taken in and around the Red Bank/Askewniverse area.

View Askew NewsBites™

January 24th, 2002 @ 4:23 pm | No Comments » | Scooped by Sublime, Movie Robb, Matt, Alonso Duralde, BigwigStayAsIeep, Jackhole, A311Mix, Mike Sampson & Andrew Bills

  • The Wizard Edge that features Kevin also features a quick write up on the MONKEY MAN UNLEASHED comic book that Brian Lynch and DJ Coffman are currently working on. And, don’t forget, the Angry Naked Pat movie is coming to the festival circuit! We’ll be chatting with Brian in the coming weeks for more information on his incredibly funny webtoon.
  • Jay & Bob made the Pop Culture Shock website’s list of top comedies of ‘01:
Jay & Silent Bob Strikes Back

Drastically different than those listed above this film was all about fun. J&SBSB accomplished what it set out to do, make you laugh and laugh often. In Kevin Smith’s fifth film he decided to retire his drug-dealin’ hetero-lifemates, Jay & Silent Bob, in an original comedy that’s inspired by the beefs of Smith’s online haters. You had to be a movie fan to get a lot of the jokes and spoofs thrown in with the usual bag of in-jokes for Smith’s legion of fans, and is probably a reason why some didn’t click with the flick. A huge round of applause for the actors who compromised themselves by poking fun at their filmographies such as Jason Biggs, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck. While not as memorable as Smith’s precious films, J&SBSB showed how dick and fart jokes can bring the house down, that Jason Mewes is becoming a fine actor and that audiences still love monkeys.

  • Here’s an article from an Australian newspaper on Jay & Silent Bob’s upcoming release there (this weekend).
  • JoBlo.com has scooped that, late last night, Fox announced a February 14th, 2003 for Ben Affleck in Daredevil. More details are up at our Fox Upcoming Movies page HERE.
  • A couple of View Askew spottings on the tube lately – On MTV Cribs, a Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back Poster was spotted in Jamal Anderson’s movie theatre at his home in Atlanta,Georgia. Also, on one of those in-between the flicks things on HBO, as a host interviewed folks at a movie theater, one of those appearing was wearing the “Snoogans” hat.
  • A correction to yesterday’s news: Brian Langsdorf was the Construction Coordinator for the filming of Mallrats, NOT the Production Designer. Dina Lipton was the PD on the film. Sorry about any confusion.
  • Jason Lee appears in the Transworld Skateboarding Magazine Photo annual.
  • Matt Damon is scheduled to appear on Will & Grace’s Feburary 7th episode.
  • Minnesota VA fans: Morris Day and the Time will appear at the Mall of America on Wednesday, January 30th. To know more about the greatest band in the world’s next outing – call (952) 854-LIVE.
  • Believe it or not, there’s ANOTHER band named Brodie, BrodiePUNK actually – This one from Washington (state). You can check out their site HERE.
  • And finally, a must-see for Mallrats fans: The Elevator Escalator Safety Foundation.

Clerks Lunchbox Available Everywhere!

January 23rd, 2002 @ 2:10 pm | No Comments » | Scooped by Ming, Scott & Mr. Elliotto

  • We’ve been receiving reports from all over the place of how folks have started to receive their Clerks lunchboxes and how happy they are with them. This is a high-quality, excellent collector’s item — You want one! Surf over to the Stash website and place those orders now, while they last!

View Askew NewsBites™

January 23rd, 2002 @ 2:10 pm | No Comments » | Scooped by Daniel Zelter, Matt Booker, Jade Walker, Camilian, Anthony, Andy Goldfarb & Nathan B

  • Kevin is featured on the cover of the latest shipping issue of “Wizard Edge”, starting to hit shelves today. The book writes about all of today’s hot comics.

  • The most recent issue of comic “EverKnights” references Clerks in words and pictures several ways…Check out the scans of the cover and some panels above.
  • This website uses a picture of the Buddy Christ in its most recent article.
  • Kevin gets a mention in today’s New York Times “Bold Face Names” column :
Heroes, Comic-Book and Real

KEVIN SMITH, who wrote and directed the comedy “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,” took the red-eye from Los Angeles to New York last week for a party with big names — people he says he admires. Scorsese, Coppola and Spielberg? No, not that business, not those names. Mr. Smith owns a comic book store in Red Bank, N.J., and also writes for some.

“Guys like Neal Adams, who draws Green Arrow, are legends to me, just like Scorsese is a legend in the movie world,” Mr. Smith said before auctioning paintings from “Heroes,” Marvel’s book about police officers and firefighters on Sept. 11, at the party on Thursday night at Club 101 on Park Avenue. The money went to the Twin Towers Fund.

Mr. Smith’s original passion was comics, not movies. “I had to sell my original comic book collection to help finance `Clerks,’ ” he said, referring to his 1994 film, which laid the groundwork for a more recent animated television series. “I’m a huge Batman fan. I had to part with all my Batmans. And I had a Sandman statue. I really hated parting with all that.”

  • Just a quick update on something we mentioned previously: Those Mallrats items on Ebay we mentioned yesterday are indeed legit — The guy selling them is Brian Langsdorf, the production designer for the film!

  • Brodie shows up twice in today’s Newsbites. First, he’s featured in the above comic “Hollowood”, as seen on the Skedoozy website.

Also, Brodie’s the title of another band full of View Askew fans. Check out their website HERE and a scan of their CD cover above. See ya next time.

Kevin’s New Supervillain Revealed!

January 23rd, 2002 @ 10:39 am | No Comments » | Scooped by Robert

  • Newsarama broke a BIG scoop this morning, including the first photo and details on Kevin’s new supervillian, Onomotopeia! The villain will first appear in Green Arrow #13 (on the cover no less!). Here’s their story:
A few weeks ago, in a update on his plans for Green Arrow, writer Kevin Smith told us about a new villain he was creating for his final, three-part story arc (issues #13-15) for the DC series before he moved on to launch Marvel’s Black Cat.

Though declining to go into details about the new villain, Smith did tell his creation was featured on the cover of Green Arrow #13, and he called that, “the most astonishingly artistic comic book cover I’ve ever seen”.

Smith also let the artist responsible – series cover artist Matt Wagner – say all he was prepared to say at the time about the villain.

Said Wagner, “The concept was BOLD AND SIMPLE enough that the image just popped right up. In fact, I’m f*****g surprised that no one’s ever thought to call a character that before. Seems like a natural and the natural ideas are always the best.”

Well, that was then, today we know the character’s name is Onomatopoeia, and that he’s been hunting down non-super powered heroes, with so far great success.

For readers wondering, a browse through the dictionary reveals “onomatopoeia” is defined as,”the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (as buzz, hiss)”, or in other words, a concept comic book readers should be very familiar with.

Anyways, click on the image to open a preview first look image of the new villain. The original story on Smith’s Green Arrow and Black Cat plans follow…

When this past summer, DC and Kevin Smith announced his next project for DC would be a Brave and the Bold ongoing series with his entire Green Arrow creative team in tact – artists Phil Hester and Ande Parks and cover artist Matt Wagner – Smith speculated his Green Arrow run would end around issue #15. Last week the writer made it official, confirming for the record his and cover artist Matt Wagner’s last issue will indeed be #15.

As previously reported, issues #11 and #12 will be stand-alone stories, while issue #13-15 make up one final three-part story arc, featuring a new supervillain of Smith’s creation.

Smith declined to tell Newsarama anything specific about the villain, saying, “And ruin the surprise? Heavens no. But I’ll tell you what someone else said about him….

“Matt Wagner (who’s come up with just about the most astonishingly artistic comic book cover I’ve ever seen for issue #13) had this to say about the new villain in our recent email exchange about what the cover image featuring the villain should be…”

“And a cool character he is! Like I said, the concept was BOLD AND SIMPLE enough that the image just popped right up. In fact, I’m f*****g surprised that no one’s ever thought to call a character that before. Seems like a natural and the natural ideas are always the best.”

Smith did not know whether Hester and Parks would also be exiting with issue #15, and a spokesperson for DC was unable to confirm what their last issue would be either. As it turns out, there looks to be some downtime between the end of Smith’s Green Arrow run and his starting on Brave and the Bold, as the writer tells Newsarama the launch of his upcoming new Marvel ongoing series Black Cat (more on that in a moment) comes first, making a timetable for Brave and the Bold too early to say.

Back to Green Arrow, Smith told us he was not aware of his replacement being found by DC yet, and asked if he had any input in the selection process, Smith replied, “They haven’t asked yet, so I don’t imagine they’re going to.”

As to Black Cat, Smith informs us plans for that series have changed slightly as well since its was announced this past summer.

Originally the series was to be launched with a special Spider-Man/Black Cat one-shot leading into the new ongoing series, but as of this moment, that one-shot has been changed to a four-issue Spider-Man/Black Cat mini-series leading into the solo Black Cat ongoing series.

Smith said they’re gunning for a May debut of the mini-series – in time of course of the Spider-Man film – and describes the mini-series as “packed”.

“Aside from our main story, we’ve got something happening to Peter that’s going to rock his world and change all the books forever,” he teased.

Smith isn’t giving away too many details about the ongoing series either, saying just that it will be “darker and edgier” than people might expect, and although the series was recently described by a comics publication as dealing with the mystical/magical aspects of Felicia Hardy’s ‘bad luck’ powers, he said that is not accurate, and that the series will be more in the vein of his work in Daredevil, “at least moreso than Green Arrow was.”

More news later, just wanted to get that one out there for ya.