GHOST RIDER

This weekend, the first TV spot hit the small screen and it's online at Freewebs. Superhero Hype has captured some of the furor over the film, including an interview with actress Eva Mendes from Maxim magazine, a big banner captured here and screen shots from the video game.

HEROES

"The X-Files" had their "cigarette smoking man" and the hit NBC series has "HRG" (for "Horn Rimmed Glasses"), and Wizard magazine did an interview with the actor behind the spectacles, Jack Coleman, where he discussed (among other things) his character's relationship to the show's focus, the cheerleader Claire Bennet. "Well, it's certainly evolving, or maybe at this moment you could say devolving. I can say unequivocally, whether HRG is good or bad, his love for Claire is real and his desire to protect her is real. Now, his idea of protecting her might not be exactly what the ACLU would recommend as a politically correct means of doing it. Let's just say she's not entirely informed of her rights. Everything that he does is fairly clandestine and he's not an above-board sort of guy in any way. The thing that I've always kind of loved about this relationship is that they really do love each other and almost everything that they say to each other is a lie. I mean, even in their sweetest moments they're withholding or somehow obscuring the whole truth. HRG, though, definitely loves Claire. There is no question about that."

Meanwhile, Herosite has the official network description for the January 29th episode, "The Fix."

SMALLVILLE

Wizard also did an interview with staff writer Kelly Souders, who revealed some of what to expect from everybody's favorite chrome dome for the rest of the season. "WhatÕs wonderful about LexÕs character is that he is always on the fence of redemption. Every episode, you are constantly looking at him wondering whether this is the moment where he turns evil for the rest of his life or is this the moment where the good hearts of the people around him save him from the dark side? This season is really about showing both of those sides of him to the extreme. HeÕs getting darker than weÕve ever seen him before, but his love affair with Lana is showing the tender side of him in a way weÕve never seen before."

PAINKILLER JANE

Actress Kristanna Loken told Sci Fi Wire about her excitement playing the Event Comics character. "I read the comic and fell in love with the depth of the comic-book character," Loken said. "It just had so many different levels: the pain and the healing and the kind of eternal question of 'why is this happening to me?' is a very human statement. So then I read [executive producer] Gil's [Grant] wonderful first episode and wanted to come up and work also as a co-exec."

AFRO SAMURAI

If you can stand some spoilers, there's a mountain of screen captures from the second episode available at Kung Fu Rodeo.

PREACHER

Director Kevin Smith told Coming Soon that he was asked to direct an episode of the Vertigo adaptation and ran screaming like a girl scout being chased by R. Kelly. "Yeah, [writer Mark Steven Johnson] asked me if I wanted to direct an episode of 'Preacher'; which I thought was pretty kind of him; but, I don't know if I'm up to that. I love that book so much, and being able to translate one of those books to the screen, I don't think that's me. 'Cause you don't want to be the guy who f**ks it up, and so I was like, 'Well, I don't know, we'll see.' But I'm certainly not committed to do it, only as much of I don't want to drop the ball 'cause I like it so much. But if it was some show I didn't like; I mean, I've never really directed TV anyway, so it's kind of difficult getting my head around it, but since it's an hour-long drama, presumably, I'd be more keen to directing a movie rather than TV -- I don't know, maybe, maybe. The thing that would keep me from doing that would be I'd be afraid of ruining what I like so much about 'Preacher' -- so we'll see if that happens."

HAPPY KING DAY

Today, in 1929, a guy was born who would grow up to suggest that it'd be cool if everybody could just play fair. Nationally, many people have the day off to celebrate his life ... but to be honest, this writer believes that it's more of a tribute to get back to work. So here we are.

Anyway, we can't do any of this without you. The rumors, the scoops, the set photos -- they're all fueled by passionate fans emailing in the goods. The ones who ask, "What do you mean your sister's dating somebody who works for Miles Millar?" The ones who know the code names of movie projects and scour city permit filings for them. The devoted, the involved. Fans, just like you. Whatever you know, we wanna know, and whether you want your name shouted to the web's rafters or kept closer than a classified report, we've got you covered like a comforter. Broadcasting live from Los Angeles, this is your humble scribe Hannibal Tabu (web site, MySpace blog) saying thank you for your time and indulgence, and "enough talk -- let's go make with the 'biff' and the 'pow' already."