Archive for March, 2004
A Little Something for Inkers…
Actually, for anyone interested in comic art and the role of the inker. Check out inker Drew Geraci’s website for lots of cool behind-the-scenes looks at inking projects. His pencil-to-ink studies pages detail the process and are very informative. I like all the details and minutiae that I’d never even consider as a non-artist.
He also has a nice section of rarities and pin-ups that give a glimpse at the history behind certain unpublished projects like a Hellboy 70′s adventure.
And just because we all love a bit of eye candy, here’s a sample of Drew’s inks over Greg Tocchini’s pencils:
That’s it for you
My ex-roommate scored passes to last night’s “Hellboy” preview, and I’m pleased to report it made it to the silver screen more-or-less intact.
Watching it with a non comix reader I was struck by how simple it is. Hellboy faces a menace, he cracks some jokes, there’s some subplot about free will, The End. It doesn’t try to shoehorn in a big a message like “LXG”, it doesn’t get bogged down in exposition like “X-Men” and the jokes aren’t cheesy like in some Schwarzenegger vehicles we could name. Like its title character, “Hellboy” just gets the job done.
One change I notice from the comics: I don’t think the word “Hellboy” is ever spoken, and if it is it’s only spoken once. Other characters always refer to him as “H.B.,” “Red” or “that big red monkey.” This seems to be a concession to non-comic book readers, and it’s a good change. Let’s face it — “Hellboy” is kind of a silly name.
Liquid Fury
Shout out to another small press publisher with a very unusual and cool looking book: Legend of Liquid Fury at ARGHBRAIN.COM, by Kurt Christenson and Chris Chua.
Was The Laughing Ogre robbed?
Newsarama was posted the winners of Dark Horse Comics’ HELLBOY STORE PROMOTION contest. There were 4 grand prize winners. Our own Laughing Ogre came in as a second place winner. Congrats to the Ogre as well as all the other winners.
The cool thing is there are several people on the thread that are saying the Ogre was “robbed” of the grand prize!
A word about comic shops…
_Those who haven’t seen it… Rich Watson did an article on the comix scene here in Columbus. Comic shops always seem to under order or stop ordering comics after the first order. It’s frustrating when one sees just how well the books do just at this one shop (i.e. the Ogre). This could be happening at every shop. Indie books being ‘slow burner’s’ aren’t being reordered at shows or thru distributers. I won’t mention names of certain retailers but they’ll only pick up new books. Some will only buy one or two copies of new stuff and not pick up any back issues. And these are the ‘indy friendly’ shops?? How do they stay in buisness if all they have is one copy of every comic on the rack. At least make a shopping list of the stuff that’s selling when you go to shows. This is (in a lot of cases) our only source of distro. I think if every shop took on the policies of the Ogre we’d have a healthier market for indie’s and self published works. Bust out of the magazine mentality of ordering. We aren’t Good Housekeeping or Maxim (uhhhh bad example in some cases…. Lady Death)
Oval Office Space
ExxonMobil ReHash Theatre presents: Oval Office Space
BUSH: Heeeey Clarke. Whaaaat�s happening.
CLARKE: Uh, hi, Mr. President.
BUSH: We need to talk about your WMD reports. Yeeeeah�we�re really trying to punch up our Iraq intelligence. Did you get a copy of that memo?
CLARKE: Uh, yeah, I got it, right here. I�m sorry. I was going over all the intelligence and I just couldn�t find anything indicating that Iraq had any weapons of mass destruction�but I promise I�ll do better next time.
BUSH: Yeeeeah. It�s just that we�re really trying to make it clear that the U.S. was in imminent danger from Saddam Hussein and everything, and he might have had a connection to al-Qaeda…so if you could just start putting that in your WMD reports, that�d be great.
CLARKE: But I don’t think that �
BUSH: And I�ll make sure you get another copy of that memo, m�kay? Thanks a bunch.
For the locals::
Deader that Bela Lugosi’s corpse…
_I got on good word that Outland is closing it’s doors. The owner basically told the staff that this weekend would be their last. Always good for people watching this was an okay watering hole back in my college heydays (even after) It always took on a different persona depending on who I was with at the time. It was the only club I felt comfortable in. This is strange to say as at any given time someone is getting whipped out of the corner of my eye. It didn’t have that meatmarket factor. Girls you would meet you definitely wouldn’t wanna ‘hook-up’ with. Most people stayed within their clicks. Visits to that place have been pretty sporatic for me these past few years.
_You always wound up at Outland. I wouldn’t say I’ve never planned to go to the club but they stay open till 4 or 5 in the morning. Friends sober up. Staring at girls in tight tight latex- that’s what I’ll miss the most. Corsets, and other mildly S+M happenings. I’ve never participated in any of that stuff but it was always fun from an outsider point of view. Like Stache’s, another piece of nostalgia… gone.
It’s good to know he can at least joke about it…
It’s like a TV sitcom. Only with war and death.
Enginehead
For some reason, I’m really looking forward to this limited-series by Joe Kelly and Ted McKeever:
Here’s the high concept: “Creation of a new character never is easy, and in the case of Enginehead, it needed six parts, namely, other characters. The six individuals (nicknamed) cylinders who make up Enginehead are: Professor Emil Hamilton (from the Superman series), Automan (an older robotic hero who�s been in mothballs most recently), Rosie the Riveter (from Demolition Team), Dr. Cyber, Brainwave, and Ford Corrado (a new guy, created for the series).
The six are brought together by the Mechanic in order to make the ultimate sacrifice. �These characters go in, and Enginehead comes out,� Kelly said.”
I don’t know any of the characters involved, but i like the concept and McKeever’s crazy art. Plus, I’m digging how DC is actively trying to create new characters (Monolith, Enginehead, the Focus line, more to come) whereas Marvel seems hell-bent on exploiting exisitng X-Men and Spider-man characters ad infinitum.
Separated at birth?
Hey, remember that god-awful, nauseating, opportunistic, exploitative 9-11 “tribute” book from that hack Graig F. Weich called Civilian Justice? You know, the one with the American flag-clad vigilante killing an Arab terrorist? This one:
So…I just saw the list of free comics from the big publishers being offered for this year’s FreeComicBookDay and here’s CrossGen’s new book:
“AMERICAN POWER: PREQUEL
by Chuck Dixon & Greg Land
Superstar artist Greg Land and master of action Chuck Dixon unleash America’s new living weapons in the war against terror! They bomb civilians, hurt innocents, and spread fear. But those that have chosen to inflict pain will reap what they’ve sown! Now, the world’s modern monsters will face a new, devastating and living arsenal! Supported by the technology, muscle and brainpower of the U.S. Armed Forces, the next stage in human evolution will scour the globe and deliver justice! Lock and load for high-stakes, high-explosive military action as the enhanced soldiers code-named Ivictus and Scapel strike!”
Hmmm….
Alan Moore Retrospective/Watchmen Movie
Here is an article about an Alan Moore retrospective in Belgium that also interviews Alan Moore. The author also interview Moore and his opinions on films of his work. Interestingly, the writer mentions that a Watchmen movie will begin filming later this year. I’ve heard rumors of a movie for quite some time, but this is the first I’ve heard of filming. Say it ain’t so.
More stuff for tech heads and 80′s geeks…
This site has pictures, screen shots, manufacturer data, operator’s manuals, and other info for over 4200 arcade machines!
“The KLOV� (Killer List of Videogames), the video-game department of The International Arcade Museum, has provided the Internet’s largest database of coin-operated video-games since the earliest days of the Internet.”
“The International Arcade MuseumTM is the world’s largest museum of the art, inventions, and history of the amusement and coin-operated machine industries.”
For you tech heads…
From an article on Wired.com: “Norman Yee, a professional photographer, has found it’s cheaper to use a hard drive removed from a MuVo2 as a storage device in his camera instead of using a flash card…The Hitachi microdrive retails for about $500 when sold as a storage device for digital cameras. The MuVo2 costs about $200.”
Complete with diagrams on how to cannibalize the MuVo2. Happy dissecting!