JMS Update

A bunch of tidbits about what JMS is working on right now.

Apr.1.2003
"Will there be more Babylon 5 and what are your new projects?"

To part one of your question, one never knows.

To part two...season 2 of Jeremiah is just about finished in terms of production, and will go on the air sometime probably early or mid August.

Spidey continues to come out regularly.

My new comic, Supreme Power, also from Marvel, debuts July 16, with art by Gary Frank.

Now that Jeremiah is done, I'll be turning my attention to finishing off Rising Stars.

I have a new television series currently in development, we finalized the contract with the company last week, and we'll see where it goes.

The director of Daredevil has said he wants to make Midnight Nation his next film, so we're taking meetings over the next few weeks to see if we can make that happen.

Just finished the commentaries and interviews for the B5 Year 3 DVD set, and I think it's a bit better than the year 2 commentary I did, which I think kinda sucked. Year 2 comes out in April.

I'm doing a new audio drama series which I can talk about more later. We should go into production as soon as I've finished the last of the scripts over the next week or so.

I know there's some other stuff, but I've just forgotten it. (There may also be some strong interest in Polaris from another studio.)

Thanks for that Lyta - lots of interesting stuff there

Be intersted to know what his new TV series is and I hope Polaris gets signed too.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is Rising Stars and Midnight Nation?

Forgive my ignorance, but what is Rising Stars and Midnight Nation?

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Comic book titles by JMS. I am especially looking forward to seeing RS get finished (only 3 more issues left) and even more excited about MN making its way into the theaters. Personally, I think that is a much better story than RS but not sure which one would be better for the big screen.

Speaking of movies ... has anyone heard about the progress on the RS movie?

What are the comics about?

Comic book titles by JMS.

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Ah, thanks. Haven't really read many comic books, still got a few B5 novels on the waiting list I don't really get much time to read at the mo.

Rising Stars is a 24-issue series which has three acts (or chapters) and I shall quote the Great Maker on what it is about:

Rising Stars follows the events after the small town of Pederson, Illinois, is struck by a mass of energy from an unknown, but non-terrestrial source. Everyone who was in utero at the time of the flash is affected, resulting in 113 individuals who develop abilities of a most unusual and highly individual form. (The power is to some degree shaped by who they are, just as they are shaped to some degree by the power.)

It is a new twist to the whole superhero phenomenon and deals with the question, "What if superheroes were real?" It started out quite strong but has been kind of hit and miss of late. However, I am anxious to see how it will all end.

Midnight Nation is a series of 12-issues and is a tale about Police Detective David Grey. A good cop with a good heart, who is trying to solve a murder no one wants, or cares to help solve. In his search for the killer, Detective Grey is more than shocked to find out there are elements to this case which are definately not from the realm of the world we live in.

It wasn't at all what I had expected and initially had a hard time getting into it but it is a very powerful story about a man and his journey to reclaim his soul. I really can't explain it better than JMS did:

But in all honesty, in many respects, from a sheer writing perspective, Midnight Nation represents some of the best stuff I've ever done in the form. It's something that I poured a lot of emotion into, a lot of personal feelings and history and beliefs, covering life, death, religion, god, how we achieve meaning...all balanced against a cross-country quest by two people, one out to reclaim his soul, the other a woman sent to help him or kill him, depending on how the story ends up.

It is also, oddly enough, a love story.

It's one of the things I'm proudest of as a writer, and I commend it to anyone who found the ideas in Babylon 5 of interest. And the art by Gary Frank is just gorgeous, and evocative, and full of emotion.

I have to agree it is one of the best things he has written. But I shall stop blabbering and recommend you visit the JMS Comics section of my web site for more information.

BTW, there are trade paperbacks available for most of the issues that have been published so you don't have to hunt for the single issues which are probably difficult/expensive to find by now. If you want just a rundown of the trades, here is my JMS Trade Paperback page for Top Cow.

Thanks for the description Lyta. Sounds interesting.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is Rising Stars and Midnight Nation?

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Comic book titles by JMS.

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If only there was a "Babylon 5 Crusade" comic book title by JMS......

That would be pretty cool.

I asked JMS about it.


----- Original Message -----
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2003 11:01 AM
Subject: Re: Attention JMS

Is there *any* way that you can get something (anything) going on the
Crusade front (e.g. comics, graphic novels, novels, short stories, scripts,
*anything* in *new fiction* to continue the story), or is it somehow up to
the fans to let somebody (lord only knows who) know that there is still
demand for it? I think we just need a spark to get things going again. I
don't know, maybe you're way too busy to even consider this, or maybe
there's absolutely nothing that you can do. I'm just asking."



Unfortunately he's ignoring my post (answered ones all around it). Maybe he has me plonked, I don't know. If so, so be it.

Later, somebody else asked a similar question, and he appears to be ignoring their post as well.

I guess we're frelled for new Crusade material, in any form. The situation just plain SUCKS. It's sucked for 3.5 years, and the "suckage" (a BtVS term) shows no signs of abating

I suspect that Crusade is still an unheaded wound. JMS will talk about it when he has something to say.

I suspect that Crusade is still an unhealed wound. JMS will talk about it when he has something to say.

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At this point, something (anything) new in the "Crusade" area, would be like a sip of water given to a person who's dying of thirst. A little bit (a little encouragement) offered on that front could result in drastic improvement of conditions.

These are some recent posts on the subject:

January 30, 2003
>Why are there no new B5-novels? And why there where never >any "Crusade"-Books? Why not continue "Crusade" in novels "based on an original outline by J.M.S."?

All that's required is for a publisher to make a deal with WB.

jms

January 25, 2003
>What's the current status of the B5/Crusade graphic novel?

It's in need of some spare round tuits....

jms