From "Watchmen"

For a while now, Bleeding Cool has repeatedly linked Eisner Award winner Darwyn Cooke with the hotly rumored Watchmen 2 from DC Comics, driving the world’s Twitterati into a Walter Kovacs-like frenzy.

But if that’s the case, Mr. Cooke is unaware of his connection.

When I spoke with the Canadian cartoonist in a recent interview about his artwork for an upcoming issue of James Robinson’s The Shade, I asked Cooke point blank if he would be working on Watchmen 2.

Cooke responded, succinctly, “Ah, get out, man. That’s like three years old.”

Now if DC Comics was planning Watchmen 2, the publisher would not want the sure-fire hit to be announced as a throwaway line during an interview for an unrelated series, so Cooke easily could have been smoking out CBR News with a red herring.

And his answer did lean toward the question being “old” news and not “no” news, so DC Comics may very well be prepping a sequel to the groundbreaking maxi-series by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. It just doesn’t appear that Cooke will be playing a role.

Which is too bad, because Cooke writing, drawing or even thinking about the characters from Watchmen, especially The Comedian, would qualify as about as pitch-perfect as you could get in terms of a creator getting on board a project that would certainly come with equal parts praise and ire, if and when it is ever announced.

Buffy #32

With word spreading that Logan Lerman is the front runner to succeed Tobey Maguire as Spidey/Peter Parker in Sony’s Spider-Man franchise, Robot 6 reached out to New York Times best-selling author Brad Meltzer (Identity Crisis) for his thoughts on the possibility.

Lerman, who plays the lead in the upcoming Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, starred as Bobby McCallister on the Meltzer-created Jack & Bobby TV series that aired on The WB from 2004 to 2005.

Meltzer told Robot 6: “For all the fuss about how cute Logan is, people forget what an incredible actor he is. Think of it. We based a whole show around him. Most adults can’t carry that. Plus, I wrote his first real kiss, so I’m rooting for that.”

Meltzer is currently writing the penultimate arc of Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 with his first issue out this week.

“I’ve waited 25 years to use the X-Men/Titans crossover. And the Superman jokes. And I deeply love every person who sent me a tweet (@bradmeltzer) about it. This first issue of Buffy was the comedy. The other genres are coming and are not nearly as happy.”

Miracleman #15

While currently this is nothing more than pure conjecture, a quick Google search has led this part-time blogger to believe that the much-hyped, super-secret, forthcoming Mark Millar/Steve McNiven project for Marvel is in fact a Marvelman series.

Millar announced Friday that he and McNiven – his collaborator on Civil War and “Old Man Logan” – are joining forces on Nemesis for the House of Ideas with an expected launch date of March 2010.

“Nemesis” just so happens to be the subtitle of Miracleman #15 , written by Alan Moore and penciled by John T. Totleben.

Considered by many to be the most “shocking,” “disturbing” and “sought-after” appearance of the Mick Anglo creation, the issue features an epic battle between Miracleman and his “nemesis” Kid Miracleman.

Did Millar land the ultimate gig to be the man responsible for folding the classic British hero into the Marvel Universe?

Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada has apparently been listening to pitches since the publisher announced at Comic-Con International that it had purchased the rights to the property. Who better than the Glaswegian scribe to reintroduce Marvelman?

Again, nothing but a late-night musing here, but what do you think?

Brian K. Vaughan

With news breaking that Brian K. Vaughan was leaving überhit television series Lost, Robot 6 contacted the multiple Eisner Award-winning writer to ask one question: “Why?”

In an email response tagged with the subject, “My only official statement,” Vaughan said simply: “I can confirm that I left Lost to become best friends with Olivia Munn.”

He then linked back to an item posted this morning by Munn, co-host of G4’s Attack of the Show!

In the piece, Munn revealed that Lost show-runner Damon Lindelof publicly stated Vaughan had left the show for “greener pastures.” Lindelof made the announcement during a DocArzt Lost podcast posted on July 4.

In the piece, Munn shared that Lost show-runner Damon Lindelof publicly stated Vaughan had left the show for “greener pastures” during a Q&A session presented by Curzon Cinemas on July 3.

DocArzt & Friends Lost Blog posted the transcript the following day.

Munn goes on to theorize that the move might have been made so Vaughan can begin work on one of his movie projects that are in various stages of development: Ex Machina at BenderSpink, Y: The Last Man at New Line/Warner Bros. and his King Arthur movie Roundtable at Dreamworks.

Update: Corrected the source.

Mark Millar

Robot 6 confirmed this morning that writer Mark Millar and Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons are looking to join forces on a possible creator-owned series, as reported by Rich Johnston on his new blog.

However, Millar says the details of the project are off the mark.

“Rich [is] totally wrong,”  Millar told Robot 6. “This series I’m announcing in summer is someone else, though Dave and I [are] talking about doing SOMETHING in about a year. No idea what or where it is yet.”

Asked if the project he’s announcing at Comic-Con International is his long-rumored project with Civil War and “Old Man Logan” collaborator Steve McNiven, Millar said: “No, that’s already semi-official. Have another one we’ll announce, too, which might be even bigger. Should be a big summer.”

For more from Millar himself, visit his forum.