>It's been simply *ages* since we've gotten an update on the state of the
>Straczynski-verses. So what's happening with (deep breath):
>
>Comics (ALL of 'em)?

The latest issues of Supreme Power and Amazing Spider-Man came out this past
week, and I'm very happy with them, especially Supreme Power. The next issue
coming out has probably the most brutal and realistic fight I've ever done in
this area, it really shows what would happen in this kind of situation, with
these sorts of individuals. The first two trade paperback collections of
Supreme Power have also come out, availble at amazon.com for those who'd like
to catch up on the story.

I've turned in the first issues of two books that Marvel has asked me to write,
which I'll have to wait for them to announce publicly -- one's a regular
ongoing title and the other is a six issue mini -- and we're about halfway
through the art on Dream Police, which Mike Deodato is drawing. (It looks
gorgeous, by the way.) And I'm three issues in on The Book of Lost Souls, also
for Marvel.

>"But in Purple..."?

Slight delay due to a shift in publishers, but I should have some info soon
about when that will be coming out.

>TV (if any)?

Not at the moment. There are two times a year when show-runner types get
hired: in March and April to produce pilots when the scripts have come in, and
in July/August to pitch new series. So that window will open next in the
spring.

Since it's no longer an issue, because the show was not picked up, the series
I'd mentioned that had come to me to talk about coming aboard as an EP was
Warren Ellis' Global Frequency. I'd met with the people involved, been
approved by the network, went by to meet Warren during filming in Vancouver,
who seemed like a very nice sort, and was waiting for the next round of serious
conversations...but the show has not been picked up by WB. I know they're
shopping it elsewhere, so we'll see, but for now, at least, that's that. (I
have to say, by the way, that the pilot script is probably the smartest script
I've ever read. It could really be one hell of a series.)

One last aside, on a long term project...a certain known film writer/director
was recently asked by a particular studio to do a series using an established
character. This person is a big fan of B5 as well as a friend, so a call came
to me to ask if I wanted in on this. I said hell yes. I can't say much else
about it, because a) it wouldn't be appropriate and b) things can still fall
out, though that's doubtful at this stage (negotiations have formally begun
with the studio), but if it does go ahead, the plan is to write the whole first
season over the course of 2005, shoot in the spring of 2006 for a fall 2006
debut. There are reasons why we'd have to write the whole thing first that
will become clear once I can explain what the character is. Again, I dont want
folks to get too excited about this, because this is a weird business and this
is the one town where hope can kill you, but if it goes ahead as discussed, it
could be massively cool.

>Animation (just covering all bases)?

Warners came to me last year about a possible B5 animated series, but I don't
think it's going to go anywhere. This happens every couple of years.

>Shared Universe?

They've picked the first writer for the Distant Stars series of books, but I
don't know where things stand yet on the first novel. That reminds me, I have
to check in and see how that's going.

The preliminary copies of Tribulation (the last of my original novels bring
reprinted by iBooks/Simon and Schuster) came in last week, so it should be
coming out soon. That puts all of my novels now back in print: Demon Night,
OtherSyde, and Tribulations, with Straczynski Unplugged also available, all on
amazon.com.

>and....whatever it is that you're not able to tell us about this week?

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (the Canadian equivalent of the BBC) will
be producing my radio drama series The Adventures of Apocalypse Al. I'll be
co-directing with their people up in Toronto. It's a series of 5 five-minute
dramas per day, for four weeks, recapped in half-hour installments on the
weekends, for a total of two hours. It's comedy/action, very noir, with a
supernatural bent. The script is all done, so now we just get to have fun.
(Like all CBC productions, it'll be syndicated worldwide, to the BBC and
elsewhere, as well as released on CD down the road, for those not living in
Canada.) I'm *really* looking forward to this because I love the radio drama
form, and this could be a lot of fun.

Finally, because there is a lot of stuff that's going to be popping this coming
year, I've decided to end my hermit period and barnstorm a number of
conventions in 2005. I didn't do any this year, not counting the NJ
fund-raiser, and only one or two the last few years before. I opted out
because I'm much more comfortable talking about the work and what's going on
than just appearing as myself, and because I view the cult of personality thing
pretty much the way G'Kar did, with a jaundiced eye at best. Because of B5 and
everything else, it all just kind of got too big, and I had to withdraw for a
while or risk losing perspective.

So there will be FedCon in Bonn, Germany, the Comics Expo in Bristol England,
and a bucket of comics conventions here in the US. I may also do a few
non-comics cons, depending on what comes along, before ducking back into my
shell for another couple of years.

And that's that for now.


jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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