The movie's screenplay was written by Kevin Smith and eventually rewritten by Wesley Strick. The whole thing was set to film in 1999. But after spending loads of cash, the studio eventually dropped the movie, which centered on Superman's demise. This was a good thing, because as much as I enjoy a bad Nic Cage movie, with the yelling on every other emphasis, I don't think I could handle him as America's greatest hero.

[Tim Burton JP via IGN]

But we'll get to that comic soon enough. Instead, let's start with Kevin Smith's return to the Dark Knight, in Batman: The Widening Gyre — the first of two mini-series he's doing with the character in an attempt to make some money in-between making movies starring Seth Rogen.

If that isn't enough movie action for you, then don't worry, Boom! Studios has you covered and then some. The first issue of the official 28 Days Later comic offers slow burn and foreboding, but also some fast-paced action to keep your interest. And the Jennifer's Body graphic novel lets you experience the new Megan Fox horror movie in a way that is completely unlike anything you'd expect, thanks to some great artwork from people like Jim Mahfood and Nikki Cook.

DC offers up some great (and diverse) takes on superheroes this week, with The Authority: World's End, Vol. 1, opening up with the day after the end of the world and providing some suitably dark post-apocalyptic stories from that point on. If you'd rather see a happier version of humanity's dark side, 1950s reprint book Showcase Presents: Eclipso gives you a glimpse at the man who can become his own worst enemy, thanks to a magically-powered evil diamond (No, really). And Gail Simone and Nicola Scott's Secret Six: Unhinged almost grabs the Book Of The Week title with its wonderfully screwed-up take on the former supervillains who now operate in the even murkier world of moral ambiguity and professional mercenaryness; funny, disturbing and gripping, it's highly recommended.

However, very little in the world of comics today can measure up to Brandon Graham, and particular King City, his tale of one boy and his magic cat. After original publisher Tokyopop pulled the series after its first volume, Graham is back with a revised version at new publisher Image. Make no mistake: This comic is entirely individual, entirely enjoyable, and easily the sexiest thing you'll find yourself reading this week. And it also has a cat that can do anything, given the right drugs. How could you even vaguely resist?

If that's not enough for you, you can always check Diamond Distributors' official list of everything reaching comic stores this week for other booty, or just go ask your local comic store what they recommend. Just make sure that King City #1 is amongst your reading pile. You can thank me later.

For once, let's get the superhero stuff out've the way first: Marvel have two hardcover collections out this week that are worth a look. First up, Hulk Vol. 1: Red Hulk collects the first six issues of former Heroes writer/producer Jeph Loeb's weirdly enjoyable comedy about a brand new, psychopathic Hulk running around shooting bad guys and punching good guys, while Mythos Vol. 1 brings together some dully-written, but beautifully-painted retellings of the origins of Spider-Man, the X-Men, Captain America, the Hulk and Ghost Rider. Image Comics launches I Hate Gallant Girl, a new series about what happens to the girl who lost the superhero version of the Miss America contest (Clue: Bitterness). Little beats DC's superhero haul for the week, though; besides the paperback edition of the wonderful Darwyn Cooke anthology Batman: Ego And Other Tails, there's also the first issue of Kevin Smith's new Batman mini-series, Cacophony and, only five years later than you'd expected, a paperback edition of the more-enjoyable-than-it-has-any-right-to-be JLA/Avengers crossover series.

However, there's more to life than capes, you know, as the song almost goes. Dark Horse are leading the non-superhero charge this week with the first issue of The Cleaners, about a forensic clean-up team in LA that has to deal with deaths caused by somewhat supernatural sources... something that Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden would know about; sadly, he's busy in his own first issue of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files: Storm Front, a four issue adaptation of the novel that makes its debut this week (Somewhere, everyone who told me to read the novels is cheering). Urban fantasy of a particularly weird kind can be found in two collections from Image Comics: Bill Sienkiewicz's psycho-serial killer drama Stray Toasters and Ted McKeever's Ted McKeever Library Vol. 1: Transit both return some classic 1980s weirdie comics to print that are well worth your time and money.

Book of the week, however, isn't actually a comic. But don't let that put you off Fables: Covers By James Jean, a new hardcover that collects more than seventy-five of the the most gorgeous creations ever to grace the front cover of anything, never mind just comic books. Jean, who's worked for Prada, the New York Times, Knopf, Target and many, many others, has been creating some of the most beautiful images on a monthly basis for the (very enjoyable in its own right) Fables series for years, and this collection pulls them all together, along with sketches, commentary from the artist and others, and yet another brand new, beautiful cover image. It's the holiday gift that you should get for yourself and others, in case you were wondering.

(All of the images in this week's column are Jean Fables covers, by the way.)

In case you need any other reason to hit your local comic store (found, of course, via the Comic Shop Locator Service), then the complete list of this week's new comic releases should be able to provide many. But, seriously; how can you resist that James Jean book? Have you no eyes?

Watchmen:

We already covered most of the details from the secret Watchmen screening that happened on Tuesday, but a few more trickled out. Rorschach is referred to as the smartest man in the world, in addition to having the best fighting skills. Dr. Manhattan takes apart complex engines and reassembles them. He teleports people and "can change the tint of his blue." In the trailer, when you see Nite Owl screaming in the snow, he's screaming about the death of Rorschach at Dr. Manhattan's hands. After Rorschach dies, there is a "stupid moment" between Silk Spectre and Nite Owl, and then the camera pans around a bit more and the movie ends. Oh, and the scene at the end with Rorschach's journal at the New Frontiersman is in there too. [Movies-Spoilers]

And Kevin Smith, who has seen the film twice, more or less confirms the ending is changed from the book. The new ending makes it more about the characters. (Which fits in with the "framing Dr. Manhattan" idea) and works just as well as the original, he insists. [Collider]

Star Trek:

Smith also mentioned some tidbits about Star Trek. Most notably, the movie introduces the familiar characters one by one, sort of the way Blues Brothers brings the band back together — except this time they're coming together for the first time. And the last castmember we meet is Simon Pegg's Scotty. But Scotty is still "front and center" in the movie. [Collider again]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

Writer Roberto Orci went on the TFW2005 boards to throw some cold water on the rumor-mongers. He denies that Soundwave, the robot that turned into a tapedeck in the cartoons, is now a pick-up truck. But he admitted that Soundwave may be a truck of some sort — just not a pick-up. Also, he said the "Fallen" in the movie's title could be the name of a robot, or it could just refer to the defeated side in a battle. The fight scenes will be even longer in the second movie than in the first. And we'll probably meet a Decepticon who is ridiculously loyal to Megatron and the Decepticon cause. But it won't be Tidal Wave, because he's not in the movie. [TFW2005]

As fast as Orci shoots down the rumors, more rumors crop up. An inside source tells Seibertron that Optimus Prime will combine with Jetfire. And Soundwave's alternate form is actually a satellite, but he may turn into a truck as well. Ravage uses biological warfare against the humans. And Jetfire can create wormholes. Also, Scorpinok will return. Also, there's speculation that the female Transformer Arcee dies early in the movie, because those motorbikes haven't been seen on set since the "steel mill" sequences which happen early in the film. [Seibertron]

Meanwhile, sources confirm that three motorcycles combine to create Arcee, and you can see those bikes in the first set video that Wal-Mart released. [TFW2005 again]

Quantum Of Solace:

The new Bond film showed the other day in London, and a bunch of details spilled out. The movie picks up after the last one, with Bond capturing the injured Mr. White, who taunts him that his secret organization Quantum had been so paranoid about the British listening in to its conversations, when all along the spies had no clue that Quantum existed.

James Bond is a "cauldron of burning rage" in QOS, and M puts him on MI6's capture-or-kill list while the CIA threaten to take him out. (For ribs? Ribs are nice.) Matthieu Amalric's villain is a fake environmentalist who schemes to overthrow the government of Bolivia and control the country's natural resources. At one point, Bond and his sidekick Camille are in an ancient plane, being chased by a superjet through the mountains.

[The Mirror and Empire and TheShiznit and London Times via Slashfilm

And here's an interview with Daniel Craig, plus some footage. [SpoilerTV-Movies]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Looks like the bad Terminator played by Garret Dillahunt is getting way closer to tracking down John Connor, judging from this sneak peek and interview with the actor. I think the clips are from next week's episode. [TSCCHypnoWeb]

The studio sent us some pics of Kendra Shaw getting all snuggly in tonight's episode.

And it sounds like Kendra Shaw will be sticking around for a while, judging from the synopsis for the Nov. 3 episode, "Brothers Of Nablus":

The Connors find themselves on high alert and in odd company after their house is robbed. Elsewhere, one Terminator terrorizes Ellison, while another gets dangerously close to John Connor. Meanwhile, Derek and Jesse continue to get reacquainted.

[SpoilerTV]

Fringe:

Here's a promo for House and Fringe that I think includes some new footage:

Life On Mars:

In the fifth episode, "Things to Do in New York When You Think You're Dead," a racial confrontation brews between African Americans and Puerto Ricans in the neighborhood, when a young African American girl's body is discovered, flung from a rooftop. Working the case with Sam and the precinct, is the young Fletcher Bellow, who will be Sam's mentor in 2008. The Black Liberation Army is intent on hunting down the Puerto Rican suspect, Angel Ramirez, and exacting their own rough justice. Meanwhile, Sam has to battle the racial attitudes in his own precinct, and in the end there's a tense rooftop confrontation which leads to shots being fired. And here are some promo pics. Check out the special guest star in one of those crowd scenes. [SpoilerTV]

Heroes:

The second half of Heroes season four, "Fugitives," will be huge and epic, promises star Greg Grunberg. All of the heroes are "working together and on the run because there's this looming power that wants us gone." [IESB]

And who could that looming power be? Well, there's one clue. Producer Jesse Alexander posted in his Flickr stream pictures of a cargo plane, labeled "Villain Transport." Who is this villain, and why does he/ she need such a big plane? (Perhaps, through the miracle of filming, the plane will appear to be complete. Or maybe it's just a piece of a plane for a reason.) Also, it sounds as though Arthur Petrelli will be in the show through at least episode 9. [The ODI]

Chuck:

Are you excited about Simple Life star Nicole Richie showing her acting chops on tonight's Chuck? Here she is talking about the role, with a few short clips thrown in. [Multipleverses]

Eleventh Hour:

Marley Shelton talks about her character, tough-as-nails bodyguard Rachel. (U.S. only, I'm afraid.) [SpoilerTV]

Knight Rider:

In the show's 13th episode (time flies!) called "I Love The Knightlife," there's a superserum called HXP serum, which enhances soldier's speed, strength and endurance, developed by Dr. Lawrence Gogol. But a freelance assassin named Victor Galt and his sexy nightclub-owning partner Alexandra Pachinko (really) steal the serum, and Mike has to go undercover to find out what happened. Dr. Gogol's right-hand women on the HXP project is a sexy, sassy PhD named Megan, who is impressed with Billy's scientific knowledge. (Rowrrr.) Colonel Partain is in charge of finding out what happened to the HXP serum, and doesn't trust Mike.

But who cares about some super-serum being stolen? What you want to know is, will there be a hot chick in a bikini, who's raising money by washing cars? And will some hapless thug get "taken for a ride" by KITT and get confused? Yes, and yes. [SpoilerTV]

Smallville:

In the Nov. 6 episode, "Bloodline," Clark's cousin Kara returns, and Lois discovers she suddenly has superpowers. And in the Nov. 13 episode, "Abyss," Chloe's memories get replaced with Kryptonian code by Brainiac, and Clark takes her to the Fortress so Jor-El can fix her up. Davis tells Chloe she's marrying the wrong man. [OSCK]

Sanctuary:

Want to see the new title sequence that this Amanda Tapping show will be sporting soon? Check it out the link. [Sci Fi Wire]

Additional reporting by Katharine Duckett.

The original graphic novel by the fan favorite crime writer marks the start of a exciting time for those wanting to see more of what made The Dark Knight so special; a week after this unofficial sequel to this summer's box office smash - Azzarello says that his take on the character is "eerily similar" to Nolan and Ledger's - hits stores, the Batman RIP storyline finishes in Batman #681 (Again, featuring a showdown between Batman and the Joker - although the grinning one doesn't seem to be the main badguy behind Bruce Wayne's near-death experience judging by what we know so far). The week following that, Kevin Smith returns to Gotham City for the first issue of Batman: Cacophany - offering what may be the last brand new Bruce Wayne adventure for awhile. It may have seemed that DC weren't making their most of Dark Knight fever this summer, but now it looks like they were just saving up their goodies to make sure that they'll own the holiday season...

EXCLUSIVE: Preview Azzarello and Bermejo’s JOKER, the original graphic novel! [MySpace]

According to Smith, his superhero project is still two movies away, following the Rogen-starring Zach and Miri Make A Porno and a horror movie called Red State. Calling the superhero project - which will be an entirely new concept, as opposed to an adaptation of an existing comic book - a " visual-effects extravaganza," Smith then demonstrated a belief in a particularly cruel higher power:

It's stewing right now. I want to do it, though, and, God willing, it will star Seth Rogen.

Of course, this is the man who really wanted to do Daredevil: Target and couldn't manage to get past the first issue, so there's every possibility that the movie will never get made.

Rogen Wanted As Superhero [SciFi Wire]

Ranger Danger is not to be confused with Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers, or the actual Danger Rangers, who teach kids about safety. According to Smith, this project as "My stab at a comic-book/sci-fi movie. It's in the vein of Flash Gordon, something I've noodled with a couple of years. Now I feel we are mature enough filmmakers to tackle it." Smith? Mature? Wha?

So far the film has only appeared as a t-shirt worn by Randall in Clerks 2 (see above for image), and it looks like a Rocketeer knock-off. If Billy Campbell is really trying to bring that property back, then he might have to go head to head with Smith, who has two movies to finish before he could even start this one. Hopefully it'll be fart-joke free, because methane cannot mix very well with a jetpack.

[My Boring Ass Life]