Lara Croft celebrates her 10-year anniversary with a new game for the PlayStation 2, Tomb Raider Anniversary (Eidos, $29.99), and a new cartoon adventure series hosted by the Turner Broadcasting System's GameTap, an online digital game distribution and broadband entertainment site.

Peter Chung

The 10-part animated tribute, Re/Visioned: Tomb Raider, involves some of the more famed creators of the animation and comics industries who have a background with strong female characters such as Peter Chung (Aeon Flux), Gail Simone (Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey), and Brian Pulido (Lady Death).

Mr. Chung was the first to animate Lara for the GameTap series in a three part adventure called "Keys to the Kingdom." He offered The Washington Times a few words on the project and how it came together.

What attracted you to this project?
First of all, I was interested in doing a film for release online. The future of film distribution looks increasingly as if it will be internet-based, especially for animated shorts. I was in the process of developing a series of my own for the web, so this was a chance to see what level of production quality might be possible, and whether viewers would choose to watch.

How does Lara Croft compare to Aeon Flux?
Lara's a tomb raider, which is another word for plunderer. She is very much an old-fashioned establishment figure, embodying a nostalgia for old Colonial English values. Aeon is an anarchist, a terrorist, and is more interested in disrupt status quo. Despite being athletic women who wield guns, they're driven by very different impulses.

How much creative control did you have with the project?
Considering that Tomb Raider is a well established title with a loyal fanbase, there were certain rules to follow and expectations to meet. There was some resistance to allowing Lara's character to be as emotionally vulnerable, or demonstrative as I would have liked. Apart from that, Gametap and Eidos really gave me a lot of freedom to tell the kind of story I wanted to tell. In the end, I think we delivered something to make the fans happy, and that was the most important goal.

What were your goals in creating the animated piece?
For myself, I found the character of Tomb Raider to be an opportunity to express my view of problems arising from conflicting religious beliefs. It seems that the real world consequences of discovering ancient relics with mystical powers, as Lara regularly does, would be to upset the prevailing religious organizations. Elaborate tombs exist to express man's beliefs about death, the soul, and the afterlife. All of which are inferred through a belief in various gods.

How has the world of animation changed since the days of MTV's Liquid Television?
When I did Aeon Flux for MTV, it was really the first late-night animated series for adults and it carried a discalimer warning sensitive viewers about extreme content. Since then, there's been a lot of animation for adults on television, the home video market has exploded, and viewers have become more accustomed to a wider range of animated content through video games, Japanese animation, computer animated feature films, and live-action films incorporating CG. At the moment, it's a good time to be working in animation, though the demand for hand-drawn 2D animation is in decline. Maybe the Tomb Raider animated series will attract some interest in 2D.

What are you working on next?
I've been developing several projects for animated features. One is a different subject for me, in that it's aimed at a family audience. I've got plans to do an animated Aeon Flux project, plus an origianl CG feature. These things typically take a lot of time to get going. I'm also involved in a planned series of shorts based on the Terminator movies. Meanwhile, I'm considering offers to work on projects that are starting production at established studios. In other words, I can't exactly say.

— Joseph Szadkowski

This chronic feature lets me review what's recently passed my bloodshot pupils. So pull up a chair, break out the sarcasm filter and welcome to: Mr. Zad's comic critique. Read Zadzooks other reviews in my Saturday column.

'Silver Star,' hardcover trade paperback (Image Comics, $34.99)

Jack "the King" Kirby was a nuclear explosion to a stagnant comic book industry in the '60s. By the 1980s, he was a frustrated creator who could not understand why publishers treated artists like hacks and found it difficult to find a refuge where his creativity could flourish.

The short-lived Pacific Comics gave him that opportunity in the early 1980s as Mr. Kirby turned a pitch to Hollywood into a six-issue epic about gene manipulation and the evolution of man.

"Silver Star” will not be remembered for its fluid plot but rather as an example of the characteristic style of Mr. Kirby and what he could deliver in an unconstrained environment.

In the tale, Morgan Miller is just one of the species known as homo-geneticus, a human injected with a gene-altering cocktail that allows him to survive a nuclear holocaust.

Unfortunately one of the others altered was a bad egg named Darius Drumm, a violent religious fanatic who makes the New Gods villain Darkseid (another Kirby creation) look like a Boy Scout.

The reader gets a tale of the eternal struggle of good versus evil with some bizarre extra heroes and villains thrown for colorful measure.

This oversized book offers the restored and recolored complete saga. Hues jump from the page and Mr. Kirby's work has never looked better.

I suggest reading Mr. Kirby's original screenplay of "Silver Star,” included, as well as some text pieces to further demystify the convoluted and kind of corny work.

For an introduction to Mr. Kirby's 1970s work, DC Comics offers Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus: Volume One ($49.99), which not only reveals the creator's ability to generate ideas nearly on demand but the absolute lack of respect publishers gave him while he was being exploited.

Readers get 20 issues, attractively bound in a hardcover format that compiles early issues of the quartet of Fourth World titles: Mister Miracle, New Gods, The Forever People and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen.

By the way, Jack Kirby took Jimmy Olsen and breathed new life into the character, but DC Comics had another artist redraw his interpretation of Jimmy and Superman (for continuity's sake) in his pages. That's explained in the afterword by Mark Evanier.

Could you imagine that happening today? Sorry, Frank Miller, but your version of the Joker is a bit too scary. Or, sorry Brian Hitch, but your drawing of Thor makes him look a bit too unkempt. We need to alter your work.

It's enough to make a comics fan's blood boil.

Enjoy "Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus" but, as the saying goes, read it and weep.

— Joseph Szadkowski

Sideshow Collectibles pays homage to Marvel's famed superhero icon Captain America with a Premium Format, ¼ scale statue ($249, limited to 1,100 pieces). Mixing the mediums of polystone and fabric,  the hand-painted gem is a museum quality work of art and makes a perfect addition to any high-end comics collector's display room.

Two members of Sideshow Collectibles' design team — Creative Director Tom Gilliland and Production Manager Scott Klauder — explained some of the processes and decisions that go into creating a statue of this quality.

How many folks were involved in the design process of Captain America and who were they?
Our creative director, Tom Gilliland, led the charge on designing the Captain America figure. Sideshow has an amazing team of artists, and for Captain America, the whole team was needed to realize this figure. Martin Canale leads a team called The Gore Group, a collection of talented sculptors, illustrators, and painters based in Argentina. Tom and Martin worked together to design the heroic pose for Cap, then got to work on the sculpture. The figure is actually a composite of cast polystone pieces and real fabric, and Martin’s wife, Marissa, helped to tailor the fabric elements. Once the sculpture was completed, the team at Sideshow in Thousand Oaks, CA., got to work, molding, casting, and painting the piece. All in all, over 15 people had a part to play in the creation of Captain America.

How much time does it take to get to a prototype of the final Cap product?
It takes roughly six months from start to finish. After each stage of development, like the design illustration or first sculpture, the piece is submitted to the studio for approval and direction. Changes are made along the way to improve, and hopefully perfect, the piece.

What research went into creating the Captain America piece?
We looked across the entire span of Captain America’s 65+ year existence. With the Premium Format figure line, we do our best to create very realistic interpretation of the characters. So, to get to that realism, we looked to the more recent depictions from artists such as John Cassaday and Steve Epting. Their interpretations really helped us to realize the character’s appearance, as John and Steve’s attention to detail goes right down to the seam lines on the costume, and the individual scales in his chest armor.

There is a special version of the figure that was available exclusively from Sideshow, where the collector can switch out the head, shield, and the robot head on the ground for an alternate version of Captain America – his WWII version. We went straight to the Jack Kirby and Joe Simon’s illustration of Cap punching out Hitler from the cover of Captain America Comics #1 published in 1941. That’s just the perfect representation of Cap, throwing himself into battle and punching out the one guy who, at the time, represented all things evil.

What part of the statue's final look are they most proud of in terms of either sculpting or design choices?
The pose really captures Captain America’s heroism and makes a fine tribute to the character. It’s a stoic, stalwart sort of pose, with Cap victorious over his foes (as witnessed by the Ultron head beneath his boot).

Who hand paints the pieces and what quality control is in place to keep the final shipped product consistent?
The original paint was done by Heath Hammond and Anthony Mestas, and in production, that paint design was reproduced in China. There’s a very stringent quality control process that features several levels of approval, all designed to be sure that the finished piece matches the original prototype as closely as possible.

Are any of the designers avid comic book readers and, if so, what do they think of Marvel's decision to kill Captain America?
Our production manager, Scott Klauder, is a huge comic fan. Captain America is one of his favorite characters, proven by the custom Captain America t-shirt that he had made around the time that Cap died in the comics.

Mr. Klauder added in a separate interview, “He’ll be back. Death and rebirth of heroes are powerful literary tools. When you have a character that is such an integral part of a universe, such as Cap, it’s only natural that you focus on him a lot. In doing this, you have to explore every angle and possibility to make for good reading, and also to help the character go evolve and grow. Right now, they’re exploring the ramifications of removing such a key character from that universe. In the comics, the process in which Cap became the superhero he is was entitled Project: Rebirth, so, I think it is safe to say that it’s just a matter of time before they explore his resurrection.

— Joseph Szadkowski

The comic book permeates all levels of popular culture. This sporadic feature reviews some recent examples from the world of digital video discs (compatible with DVD-ROM-enabled computers and home entertainment centers) and also includes a recommended sequential-art reading list to extend the multimedia adventures. Read Zadzooks other reviews in my Saturday column.

"Space 1999": 30th Anniversary Edition (New Video, $99.99)

An odd, syndicated British science fiction drama from the 1970s starring "Mission Impossible" alums Martin Landau and Barbara Bain returns to television screens via a massive, 17-disc DVD set that will give fans of the show a nostalgic look at the members of Moonbase Alpha and their fantastic adventures.

In the story, life got rough quickly for John Koenig, the new commander of earth's moon station, which doubled as a repository for radioactive waste. About as soon as he settled in, the waste went thermonuclear and became an explosive propulsion system to launch the entire lunar mass into deep space, and turn his base's crew into unexpected explorers of the galaxy as they try to get back to earth.

Viewers get the entire two-season, 48-episode run of the series, over 41 hours' worth, produced by Thunderbirds legend Gerry Anderson. The package clearly reveals the artistic directions taken each season.

While the first season of 24 episodes offered talkative and methodically paced stories, the second season (with help from producer Fred Freiberger, known for "The Wild Wild West" and "Star Trek"), tried to capture the quickly fading attention span of American viewers with more action and humor not necessary a good thing for a serious sci-fi show.

Also, although the package says these are digitally remastered episodes, it is not a digitally restored or cleaned-up set, so any dirt on the prints is still around to annoy the DVD connoisseur.

Best extras: Viewers get a rehash of the bonus content found in the "Space 1999" megaset released in 2002. It includes loads of photo galleries, some old interviews with the cast (most of whom are smoking cigarettes, a real anomaly these days) and some behind-the-scenes featurettes.

Best of the extras are three episodes with optional commentary tracks (one by the other producer of the first season, Sylvia Anderson) and a short episode, only shown at conventions, that highlighted a possible ending to the struggles of Moonbase Alpha's crew.

Read all about it: Charlton Comics offered a seven-issue series based on "Space 1999" back in the 1970s. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, a fan site (www.space1999.org) has actually scanned in all of the issues. Readers can enjoy the series pretty beat up but still very legible in a jpeg or PDF format.

— Joseph Szadkowski