In addition to the news about Lionsgate acquiring distribution rights to Frank Miller’s film version of The Spirit, we wanted to pass along a couple of casting notes:

Thomas Jane tells Ain’t It Cool News (in a very strange email) that he’s dropped out of the sequel to The Punisher, said to be darker and grittier than the original, if such a thing is possible.

And Slice of SciFi is reporting that Angel and Bones star David Boreanaz has auditioned for the title role in Marvel’s upcoming flick based on the Sub-Mariner comics.  Can a Namor "comiquette" be far behind (pun intended)?

Quoting Phil Foglio in phull:

Late on Saturday, Kaja had to be taken to the emergency room of our local hospital. She was checked in and will be there for some time, apparently.

Kaja suffers from an ailment known as Chrohn’s disease, which is an inflammation of the digestive system and can be life threatening if it is not treated. Here is a link to a site that will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about Chrohn’s disease; http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/crohns/index.htm

She had a similar attack around eleven years ago that almost killed her, and resulted in major surgery, but she healed up, and there’s been no major problems until now.

This time, we caught it pretty early, and she might be able to avoid surgery by the simple method of being given a wide range of experimental and quite powerful drugs. I’m talking about stuff that the administering doctor has to get dressed up in protective clothing for, so that they don’t accidentally splash any on themselves. No joke. She is hoping that she gets mutant abilities or at least a third eye out of the deal, but we’ll just have to see.

The bottom line is SHE WILL BE FINE…eventually, but could easily be in the hospital for several weeks.

We will do our best to continue posting Girl Genius, but as Kaja has to walk me through everything on the phone at this point, if she does have to go in for surgery or if the drugs convince her that she can only converse in Venusian, we may be out of luck.

This was Kaja’s idea, by the way, I was quite prepared to put up a "We are experiencing Technical Difficulties" banner, but she insisted we try to work through it, so I hope you appreciate it.

Nothing would make her happier than to receive a ‘get-well’ card or two. These can be sent to Studio Foglio. The kids and I will visit her every day.

Thanks for your support, and let’s hope that she gets home soon, and if she does get a mutant ability, it’s something useful.

Get well cards can be sent to: Studio Foglio, LLC, 2400 NW 80th St. #129, Seattle, WA, 98117-4449 USA.

Okay, there’s been all kinds of rumors about this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special. People have been fighting about Australian pop star Kylie Minogue, and nobody’s been able to confirm her appearance. That’s fine; the last pop star (Billie Piper) turned out swell, so what the heck.

But Woody Allen playing Albert Einstein?

That’s what the British newspaper The Sun reports. But we’ll believe it only when writer/producer Russell T. Davies sez so… even though Allen’s "people" did the "neither confirm nor deny" thing.

While we’re at it, Outpost Gallifrey notes SyFyPortal is reporting "new interest" in a Doctor Who movie starring Paul McGann, the eighth Doctor who appeared on screen as the Doctor but once in the made-for-teevee movie, against Eric (Heroes) Roberts as The Master. McGann has also played the part in literally dozens of full-cast original audio productions for the BBC and Big Finish.

Whovians would love the chance to see McGann morph into Christopher Eccleston, although I suspect Mr. McGann would rather squeeze out a few more teevee movies before that happens – if he’s interested at all.

Artwork from The Sun. Copyright BBC, Woody Allen, and Rollins-Joffe Productions.

Via Variety: The CW has officially greenlit three dramas and two unscripted magazine shows — but there’s still no final word on the fate of Veronica Mars.

Definitely gone: All of Us, the Will Smith-produced laffer that ran for three seasons on UPN and the CW. Returning shows snagging official pickups: Laffers Girlfriends and The Game and dramas Smallville, Supernatural and One Tree Hill. CW picked up Everybody Hates Chris for a third season earlier this spring.

As expected, CW execs Tuesday called the producers of Gossip Girl, Reaper and a remake of Blighty family drama Wild at Heart to give them the good news. Things are still looking promising for comedy Aliens in America, though as of early Tuesday afternoon , there was no official order yet.

My suspicion: CW is looking to use the FBI option as a way to reduce/restart headcount on Veronica Mars, and if they want to keep it around as a mid-season replacement, then they’d only have to pay the option for Kristen Bell. Everybody else — "hey, sorry, we don’t need you four years in the future, but if you’re available, that would be great…" Saves money and allows them to have a show in reserve for when they have an hour-sized hole in the schedule later in the year. And you know there will be one, sooner or later.

It had been announced previously that this coming season would be the last for Smallville, and Michael Rosenbaum had confirmed it would be his last. Just in time for the next theatrical appearance of the Man of Steel, probably in the Justice League of America movie.

Publishers Weekly is reporting that the actor who recorded the audiobook of 7: The Mickey Mantle Novel is refusing to use his real name. Instead, he’s listed as Alan Smithee, the pseudonym used by writers and directors who want their names removed from movie credits. 

The audiobook is based on the novel by Peter Golenbock that helped lead to Judith Regan’s firing. 

The unnamed actor was the fourth to be approached for the job from Phoenix Audio, the company fronted by Michael Viner. The two first choices turned it down; John Larroquette began to record, and then decided he couldn’t do it, either.  According to Henrietta Tiefenthaler, head of production for Phoenix, “I think it was his agent’s idea to do it anonymously.

The book is being published by Lyon Press. The audiobook will run nine disks, with a 2,000 copy first printing.  The novel, released last month, had a 250,000 copy first printing, and Nielsen BookScan shows it has sold more than 3,000 copies so far.

TV fever is hot this week on the Big ComicMix Broadcast as the Networks play God with who stays and who goes on the all schedule. Our continuing coverage starts with NBC, soon to be known as “The Heroes Network.” Then we hit the racks for this weeks booty of comics and DVDs, shed more light on just what Countdown will mean to DC fans, find out why Michael Chiklis will be forced to have a mike moustache and stop off in San Fran for some early Metal fun!

PRESS THE BUTTON and Tobey Maguire will hit puberty – honest!