Gephyrophillia | Watch This Space #71

Originally Posted on 06/30/2003 by Jeff Harris

On Friday, July 11 at 10 PM EST, MTV finally premieres the Sony/Mainframe/Marvel joint production of Spider-Man. It's been over a year, but hopefully the cel-shaded action series will stay on a little longer than the last MTV animated series, the critically-praised fanfavorite Clone High. Basically, the series takes place where last year's box-office smash ends. Peter Parker is still adapting to life as a college student and a web-slinging, wall-crawling superhero, taking on many different foes as the series goes on, including a familiar villian from one of this year's other Marvel flicks, the Kingpin from Daredevil (voiced by Michael Clarke Duncan). Utilizing the popular cel-shaded 3D techniques, Spider-Man is not your typical action cartoon.

It's on MTV. That's already proof that it's not going to be a traditional super-hero series. It's definitely going for the teen audiences, but it's also going to aim towards younger viewers. Spider-Man is definitely going to be a series that many action fans are going to be paying attention to.

The next week, Teen Titans makes its world premiere on Cartoon Network. You know, I was a bit apprehensive about what the series was going to look like. That hyper-pseudoanime look didn't jive with me when I first saw it, but now, call me crazy, it's warming up to me. 9 PM EST/PST on Saturday nights will be tuned in to Cartoon Network.

Still, CN did kind of rip off a tagline of another teen-oriented animation project, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. My friend Neil would easily remember that TMNT used the tagline "They fight for truth, justice, and the bigger slice of the pizza pie." Teen Titans didn't say "pie."

Mmmm. Pie!

Over the weekend, Marvel also officially announced the plot of 1602, the ubersecretive story penned by Neil Gaiman, world-renowned comic book writer, anime script doctor, and man in dark shades. 1602 is going to be an eight-issue miniseries that is set in a Marvel Universe that starts 400 years earlier than the traditional Marvel Universe. So, I guess that means that the Marvel Universe began last year, eh (FROM THE FUTURE: The previous year was 2002, and considering all the hype was stating it takes place in 1602, that would mean the Marvel Universe began in 2002. Yes, this isn't smart at all on Marvel's part. You'll see. - jh, 7/10)? Anyway, the story involves two understated Marvel characters in this very European world, Sir Nicholas Fury (Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the traditional MU), who leads the Queen's Intelligence bureau, and Dr Stephen Strange, the court physician and magician of the Queen. The "Old World" is currently undergoing the Inquisition, a period which everything that isn't "the norm" nor appealing to those in power is being attacked (the more things change...). Leaders are torturing "witchbreed," people with strange abilities and even stranger attributes. Many of these witchbreed are taking sanctuary in England under the guidance of Carlos Javier (read: Charles Xavier). In the middle of all of this, an ancient treasure, which may be a weapon, is being sent from Jerusalem to England by the last of the Templars. It's not known if this treasure is the world's salvation or destroyer, but Count Otto Von Doom wants to get his hands on it.

Now, the thing about this story is that although it reads like an imaginary tale in the tradition of Marvel's What If or DC's Elseworlds, Gaiman and Marvel are declaring that this is "not" imaginary (they made it an alternate universe, not the core Marvel Universe, thus the whole "not imaginary" note). Hype? No doubt (Yes.). Overpromotion? Who knows (I do, and it was bad.), but I think I got a few people interested in this storyline that will have far-reaching ramifications in the Marvel Universe (it didn't). It's no "Crisis," but it could be a good read (I would talk about "Crisis," but that'd be another conversation, and DC did three of them later on. And they actually did change things in the DCU). It comes out on August 13, so check your local comic shops.

Last, but not least, Cartoon Network announced the fourth-annual Toonami Total Immersion Event. September 15 through the 19 will have a fully-interactive event which will play out on-air and online. There will be approximately 16 minutes of footage playing on-air throughout the week, with a whopping 11 minutes that Friday. There's also going to be an online-exclusive game as well as an interactive comic. It's like they're combining the comic and on-air content of The Intruder and the interactive gameplay of Lockdown. Good plan. Hope the story looks good (it did, younger Jeff, but it's not what you expected, not by a country mile)

In conclusion, I leave you with these last words for today: Communication, creativity, and effort!

T.I.C.A.

*end transmission*

Jeff Harris
The Bridge Creator/Webmaster
June 30, 2003