Big Guy & Rusty the Boy Robot. TM & © 1999 Adelaide Productions, Inc.

To round out the FOX Kids newbies is Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot. It is based off the Dark Horse comic, created by Frank (Spawn) Miller and Geoff Darrow. Animated by Columbia TriStar's children's division, expect similar style animation to that found in Godzilla and Men in Black: The Series. Fox Kids states that "Big Guy, an electronic colossus designed by the military, is reluctantly teamed with Rusty, a boy robot with human emotions." FOX was so impressed by the first episodes produced that it increased Columbia's order to twenty-six episodes from thirteen. As Roland Poindexter, vice-president of programming at FOX Kids, told Comics2film.com, "There really isn't a story in the comic book other than the notion there are two different protectors with different philosophies It has a Lethal Weapon/Rush Hour comedic feel with the two vastly different personalities." I expect this to be a good show, not great, but good.

Other TV Comics
The list above concludes those comic-to-animation shows that will appear in Fall 1999 with the exception of Archie's Weird Mysteries. Based off the American classic comic Archie, Archie and his pals, Jughead, Veronica, etc., will be featured in forty half-hour episodes. It is being developed by DIC Entertainment and will most likely go into syndication in the Fall; however, Archie comics have been sold to the Pax TV Network of family programming, so that may throw a wrench in the works.

Diabolik: Track of the Panther. TM & © Saban. Underlying property TM & © Astorina. All Rights Reserved.

One thing many do not realize is how great comic book followings are on the international market. For example, an excellent cartoon developed by Saban is Diabolik: Track of the Panther, based off the Italian blockbuster comic. In terms of volume sales, a Diabolik comic would outsell a Spawn one in an average month by about tenfold. Unfortunately, none of the networks in the US have picked up the show. The plot revolves around the protagonist, Diabolik, named after a panther that saved his life, and his quest to thwart his surrogate father, the crime lord King. Diabolik is trained from birth to be the perfect killer, and the show has a Batman meets James Bond overtone with loads of cool gadgets. Best of all, Saban animated the series in Manga style.

Going Long Form
In terms of the foreseeable future, there are several cool feature adaptations in pre-production. First of which is Ash. Based off the numerous comic book mini-series by fan-favorites Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti, Ash will be animated by Dreamworks SKG and will be the first feature length project by the company after El Dorado: City of Gold. Ash features a firefighter, Ashley Quinn, who bonds with an alien symbiote and protects Manhattan from danger. The movie will be scripted by comic veterans Marv Wolfman and Len Wein; though Ed Khmara (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story) wrote the original treatment. It should be awesome! Expect to see it in late 2000 or early 2001.

Another animated feature film, to be developed by FOX Animation, is based on Michael Turner's Fathom comic book. The same basic crew that worked on Anastasia will work on Fathom, though some of the animation may be done in Japan. Michael Turner is renown for his work on Witchblade and his annual Christmas Witchblade/Tomb Raider team-up comic. Fathom tells the story of swimmer, Aspen, who learns of an underwater race along with magical water powers of her own. My explanation of the comic does not do it justice. However, I am skeptical that the comic's plot could sustain a crowd for two hours; it depends on how much espionage Turner would script.

An Astro Boy feature is in the works from Columbia Motion Pictures. Based off the touchstone of all Japanimation, the movie will feature a combination of live-action, 2-D animation and CGI. It is tentatively scheduled for a Christmas 2000 release.

A lesser known comic, but very popular amongst RPG (role playing game) fans, is Warp Graphics' Elfquest. Its eponymous movie will be fully computer generated and is currently in production at the Paris-based studio Sceneries Europe. It will probably be pretty cheesy and I am doubtful that it will hit the big screen in the U.S.

After Wild Wild West, Will Smith has signed on to do The Mark based on a sci-fi comic by Rob Liefeld for Universal Pictures. Writers from The X-Files are redrafting the script. If this movie eventuates, it will be incredible. However, that is a big "if." The big link to the project is that Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett, works for Liefeld at his Awesome Comics' studio. Liefeld is known for creating comics such as Cable and Youngblood and for revitalizing Captain America two years ago. Liefeld is also pitching some other Awesome titles including Fighting American, Re:Gex, and Avengelyne all of which would be heavily cheesy if they get the green light as they are not as original and suitable for animation as The Mark.