Once again, Fanboy Planet scours the web and the press releases to bring you the news you might want to read. Or not. It's a desperate bid for attention, really, in an attempt to rival Chairshots in popularity. So far, so good.

Okay. We still don’t have a better name than What’s Happening. Help us out! Send in a better title, and if we like it, you win a copy of Aphrodite IX #1. EVEN IF YOU DON’T WANT IT. Just e-mail Derek McCaw with your suggestion. He’s so lonely.

Comics

Don’t Call Them The Ultimate Avengers

Marvel Comics has announced that their fourth “Ultimate” book will be titled simply The Ultimates. Due in December, this book will feature a group of the same name, who look suspiciously like The Avengers. Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch will chronicle the adventures of the team, consisting of The Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Giant Man, and The Wasp. From hints dropped by Marvel E-I-C Joe Quesada, the versions of Iron Man and The Hulk will differ from those established by Brian Michael Bendis in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up. Character designs will appear in Wizard #121, due August 26.

CrossGen Releases WizardWorld Signing Schedules

Ian M. Feller contacted all of us comics websites so that we could post this information. CrossGen has divided their creators into two teams for booth appearances and signings, and wants to stress that they do not charge for sketches and signatures.

Team A: Mark Waid, Steve Epting, Scot Eaton, Butch Guice, Tony Bedard, Paul Pelletier, and George Perez.

Team B: Ron Marz, Greg Land, Jim Cheung, Barbara Kesel, Bart Sears, and Steve McNiven.

Friday, August 17:

9:45-12:00 Team A
12:00-2:00 Team B
2:00-4:00 Team A
4:00-6:00 Team B

Saturday, August 18:

9:15-12:00 Team B
12:00-2:00 Team A
2:00-4:00 Team B
4:00-6:00 Team A

Sunday, August 19:

9:15-12:00 Team A
12:00-2:00 Team B
2:00-3:30 Team A
3:30-5:00 Team B

Movies

DC Fans, Keep Your Grains Of Salt Handy…

Variety reports that director Wolfgang Peterson (Das Boot, The Perfect Storm) has signed to develop and direct a World’s Finest film, to feature, of course, Batman and Superman for the first time together on screen. While not confirmed, George Clooney does have a contract tying him to two more Batman films, so he could don the cowl for this project. However, this marks the fourth DC superhero project Warner Brothers has “in development,” three of which involve the caped crusader. You’ll notice that none of them has progressed much past the announcement stage.

For the record, we have Boaz Yakim (Remember The Titans) working on Batman Beyond, Darren Aronofsky (Requiem For A Dream) working with Frank Miller on Batman: Year One (maybe), and no one admitting that the Superman Lives project is dead. The good news is that Jon Peters’ name has not been mentioned in conjunction with World’s Finest. The bad news is that Aint It Cool News has run the rumor that John Travolta may play Superman, provided he gets to wear his Terl stilts.

Daredevil Movie On Track

Comics2Film reports that production on Daredevil may commence in Toronto in January. A threat of a looming Canadian actors’ strike had stalled pre-production, but it looks like a waiver will be allowed. No, we have no word as to who, if anyone, has been cast. Ask Rob. He’ll know.

Television

Aquaman To Lose Hand Okay, we admit it. We’re dumber than a bunch of monkeys around here. Last week, the aforementioned Comics2Film quoted us as saying that Aquaman’s episodes in the upcoming JLA series would cover his transformation from the old orange and green short-haired guy to Arthur the One-Handed Barbarian. We did say that. We tipped off Comics2Film. And we completely forgot to run it in the news column. So here it is.

Samurai Jack Takes On The X-Men

Comics Continuum reports that X-Men: Evolution will be pre-empted on Saturday, September 1st, so that the KidsWB! can show an episode of Samurai Jack. It’s corporate synergy at its finest, as the WB lets Cartoon Network pay for a show’s development, then take it for its own. For those without the Cartoon Network, this should give you hope: it’s likely then that sooner or later, JLA will show up on regular broadcast television.

Smallville Gets Premiere Date

The eagerly anticipated teen heart-throb look at the Superman mythos will premiere on Tuesday, October 16 at 9 p.m. James Van der Beek will not be there.

BJ And The Angel

Maybe this has no business being on this page, but David Boreanaz (Angel) has announced his engagement to Playboy Playmate and Son of the Beach star Jaime Bergmann. Readers of both genders may now gnash their teeth.

Derek McCaw

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