October 6, 2000 -

More news today from the wild world of web slinging...

While the search for a Green Goblin continues, The Hollywood Reporter has mentioned today that actor James Franco (Whatever It Takes) is talking with Sam Raimi to appear in Spider-Man as Harry Osborn, the son of industrialist and certified whack job Norman Osborn, AKA the Green Goblin.¿ Franco was one of the young actors that Raimi brought in for the infamous Peter Parker / Spider-Man screen tests just before settling on Tobey Maguire.

It's not easy being the only son of a super villain...
Our pals over at Spider-Man Hype have also uncovered a rumor that Franco and Maguire have both signed two-picture contracts and that Harry will become the Hobgoblin in the second film.¿ While this is a departure from the comics (Harry went 'round the bend due to drug use and the death of his father at the hands of Spider-Man, resulting in his becoming the second Green Goblin), it's not an unwelcome one.¿ The saga of the Green Goblin / Hobgoblin in the comics has been so convoluted over the years that a little streamlining would suit the material just fine.

Meanwhile, over at Marvel Comics (where the actual comics this film is based on are created), the rumor of Babylon 5 creator / writer J. Michael Straczynski taking over the writing on Amazing Spider-Man has been confirmed.¿ JMS addressed the issue this week on the Babylon 5 Usenet group.¿ When asked how long it would be before his version of Spidey hit the stands, JMS replied, "Given the current backlog of scripts and material and how long it takes to turn the rudder on these things, expect the first book under my aegis to be out sometime in April."¿¿

Straczynski also responded to a fan who chided the writer for having "sunk so low" as to take on a job at Marvel, a company who publishes (according to the fan) "low-brow, lowest common denominator rubbish for 10-13 year olds."¿¿

"That perception is what they want to change," Straczynski responded.¿ "Big stuff is going to be happening there."¿

This will be the first time JMS has taken on the task of working within the boundaries of someone else's characters in a comic book series.¿ JMS already writes and publishes two comics under his own banner of "Joe's Comics," the critically acclaimed Rising Stars (which is currently in development as a possible film series) and the new series Midnight Nation, which just released its second issue.

¿ KJB has read Midnight Nation and it has movie written all over it.¿ Which is unfortunate because he hates it when somebody writes all over his comic books.