Archive for July, 2005
Snake Plissken Lives!
July 31st, 2005 | Author: Craig
It was a running joke in Escape from New
York that almost everyone Snake Plissken ran into thought he was dead. Escape from New York was released in 1981 and although it was a fan favorite, it wasn’t a block buster.
Everyone pretty much thought that was it for Snake… that he was dead.
Then 15 years later, Escape from LA was released. It also developed a cult following, but wasn’t a block buster.
Everyone pretty much thought that was it for Snake… that he was dead.
In 2002 CrossGen published the first two issues of John Carpenter’s Snake Plissken Chronicles. CrossGen then folded… but Snake wasn’t dead. Hurricane Entertainment published the last two issues.
Everyone pretty much thought that was it for Snake… that he was dead.
Alias Comics and Hurricane Entertainment are teaming to bring back John Carpenter’s Snake Plissken Chronicles this November when a collection of the original four-issue miniseries
will be published.
Movie and comic fans will love this news since the original mini-series sold “strong from start to finish.” For most comic art fans, the cover alone will be worth the price of admission since
it’ll be by Drew Struzan [and as an added treat don't forget that Tone Rodriguez provided the pencils for the series].
Snake Plissken is my favorite John Carpenter character and translates easily to comics. Who knows, maybe if this collection sells well, we’ll see more of Snake’s adventures.
Anyone here think that Snake Plissken is dead?
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Charlotte Over Atlanta
July 29th, 2005 | Author: Craig
Last Saturday I started hyping Shelton Drum’s Heroes Con for 2006. I did this partly because Wizard had announced that their Atlanta Convention would be held the same weekend, but mainly because I love Heroes Con.
This isn’t news to anyone who’s been reading the ZONE for any length of time. What may be news though, is the fact that Wizard has announced that they will not have the Atlanta Show in 2006, and when they do schedule it, it won’t be the same weekend as Heroes.
And if you think that’s great news [and it is -- I want to be able to support both shows, but if I have to choose, there is no choice for I will be at Heroes!] then wait till you see the guests who’ve already signed up for Heroes 2006!
Man, I can’t wait!
If you’re still not sold on the idea of attending, then check out these pictures and con report from 2005 [some provided by yours truly].
Hopefully, I’ll see you there!
300: Sin City Style
July 28th, 2005 | Author: Craig
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Most of you probably remember that I was pretty stoked when it was reported that Zack [Dawn of the Dead] Snyder looked to be taking the director’s spot for the movie adaptaion of Frank Miller’s epic 300. Harry at Ain’t It Cool News reported today that Snyder plans to film it like Robert Rodriguez did with Sin City - a near shot for shot panel recreation of the comic. The film has been budgeted at $60 million with shooting to begin this fall. And I, for one, am still stoked! |
Bruce Lee Lives!
July 24th, 2005 | Author: Craig
On November 27th of this year, Bruce Lee would have been 65 years old. Amazing isn’t it?
It’s hard to imagine Bruce as ever being older than 32, since that’s how old he was when he died on July 20, 1973. Think about that for a second. Bruce Lee died 32 years ago. Bruce has been dead now for a longer period of time than he lived. And yet, you can say his name to almost anyone of any age and they know who Bruce Lee was.
My guess is that he’s more popular now than he was while alive. I say that because each year a new generation discovers Bruce Lee and his movies [and he only made a handful of kung fu movies before he died].
I’m old enough that my first memory of Bruce was as Kato on The Green Hornet. Man, Kato was cool! Of course, that was because of Bruce’s charisma.
After The Green Hornet, Bruce’s next onscreen performance was with James Garner in Marlowe. Bruce had a small role as a martial artist thug.
I also fondly remember my anticipation to see Bruce in the tv movie “Longstreet.” Lee played the part of a martial artist who trains a blind insurance investigator the art of self defense. When the movie spun off into a short lived tv series, Lee was brought back for four of the 23 episodes.
It wasn’t long after that Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury aka The Big Boss hit the US. It was quickly followed by The Chinese Connection and Return of the Dragon [with Chuck Norris fighting Bruce to the death]. Bruce Lee fever was growing, but it wasn’t until the release of Enter the Dragon that Bruce Lee mania really soared. Sadly, Bruce Lee died three weeks prior to it’s premiere in the USA.
As you probably know, Enter the Dragon is the classic Bruce Lee movie… it’s still the best kung fu movie ever made… and arguments can be made the best action movie as well.
After Bruce’s death, producers sought every way possible to continue to make money from Bruce Lee. Green Hornet episodes were combined and released as features with Kato getting top billing! The Game of Death, the movie that Bruce was working on when he died was completed with a look-alike and bad effects and it was released. Several movies were released “based” on the life of Bruce Lee [but made to look like new Bruce Lee movies], equally as bad were the movies starring guys like Bruce Li or Bruce Le trying to pass as the original. The one excellent documentary that should be in every Bruce Lee fan’s collection is
Bruce Lee: A Warrior’s Journey.
Earlier this year Bruce Lee was named “Chinese Film’s Bright Star of the Century.” This November, in honor of Bruce’s 65th birthday and bigger than life bronze statue of Bruce will be errected in Hong Kong’s Avenue of Stars. You can read the details HERE.
Yeah it’s true that Bruce Lee died 32 years ago… but it’s equally true that Bruce Lee will live forever!
“Marlowe” rates a C+
“Fists of Fury” rates a C
“Chinese Connection” rates a C
“Return of the Dragon” rates a B
“Enter the Dragon” rates an A+
“Game of Death” rates a C
“Bruce Lee: A Warrior’s Journey” rates an A+
Heroes Over Wizards
July 23rd, 2005 | Author: Craig
As regular ZONErs know, it’s become a Zablo family tradition to attend the annual Heroes Convention in Charlotte. I start talking up the show each year as the date for the convention gets closer and new guests are announced. Usually my hype begins about six months before the show.
This year I’m starting a bit early.
Like NOW.
WizardWorld [a big company that puts on conventions all over the US] has purposely scheduled their convention in Atlanta the
same weekend as Heroes.
Coincidence you say? Nope.
You see, Shelton has made it an annual tradition to announce his next convention date a year in advance [and his show has always been held in mid to late June].
This year, because there were rumors that Wizard was looking at Atlanta, Shelton wrote them to find out the date that they were looking at. Shelton even offered to support their show as long as their schedules didn’t fall on the same weekend.
You can imagine everyone’s surprise when Wizard announced that their Atlanta convention would fall on the same weekend as Heroes. You can read the details here and here.
Well, I’m happy to say that pros and fans have rallied around Shelton’s show. Casey Jones, Tony Harris, Bryan Hitch, Greg Rucka, Joe Pruett, J. Michael Straczynski, Cliff Chiang, Mark Bagley and Ethan Van Sciver all quickly announced that they’d be at HEROES and NOT the Atlanta convention next year. Additionally, Cully Hamner, Brian Stelfreeze and Karl Story who live in Atlanta have announced that they will be at Heroes as well!
Heroes 2006 may end up being the best Heroes ever. My hope is that the folks running the Wizard show will reconsider and reschedule. They’ve already started a bit of backtracking…
At any rate, if Wizard changes their date or not, I’ll be at Heroes in ‘06.
Hopefully you will too!
A Really Creepy Moment
July 21st, 2005 | Author: Craig
Last night I watched “Hide and Seek,” a psychological thriller starring Robert DeNiro and Dakota Fannning. The movie was pretty good, but that’s not the point of this post…
In the movie DeNiro keeps waking up at 2:06 AM. The first time that this happens, he discovers his wife has committed suicide. As the movie progresses 2:06 AM becomes a significant plot point and the audience is left wondering [until the resolution] why DeNiro wakes up at 2:06 AM.
It was pretty creepy. Especially late in the movie, as Deniro searches for a killer in the house and suddenly Dakota holds up a child’s clock set to 2:06 AM. Now THAT was very creepy, but it’s still not the creepy moment I’m leading up to.
Overall the movie was a fun way to spend a couple of hours and I really enjoyed how the dvd set up the alternate endings [there were several]. Ah, but I digresss… so on to the REAL creepy moment…
Later that night I woke up feeling the need to go to the restroom. Now most nights, I sleep through until the morning. Occasionally I’m compelled to get up in the middle of the night for a trip to the john, so it’s not totally unusual that this would happen. Last night when I woke to go, I looked to see what time it was… and you guessed it… the digital clock read 2:06 AM.
Now THAT was creepy!
“Hide and Seek” rates a B
Mariahs’s Fake Abs - You Make the Call
July 17th, 2005 | Author: Craig
Remember when I told you that I thought that Mariah Carey looked like she had painted on her abs for her 4th of July Macey’s performance?
I thought it was just a funny little item and was surprised when it was picked up here, here, here, and a bunch of other places.
The July 25, 2005 issue of US Weekly even has the story in it’s This Minute You Want to Know About section.
The piece, Did Mariah Fake Her Six-Pack? brings everyone up to speed: “Sure, Mariah Carey’s back on top of the charts, but who knew her stomach muscles were also making a comeback?” The author then asks a make-up expert and a rep for Mariah Carey to weigh in on the subject.
The make-up artist [Sally Blenkey-Tchasova, owner of one of the places that started the whole "spray-on" craze] was quoted as saying, “It looks like she was helped by make-up or air-brush tanning. Even if a woman is really ripped, abs are generally not that symmetrical.”
You’re probably as surprised as I am [meaning not very], that Mariah’s rep denies that the abs are fake without every really saying their not. “This is ridiculous. She has been eating right and working out for three hours a day. Mariah has never looked or felt better.
The picture to the right was taken about three weeks before the one at the top of this post. So, ZONErs… what do you think?
Niles and Jones Create a Giant Monster
July 16th, 2005 | Author: Craig
Steve Niles, Rob Zombie and Nat Jones teamed last year to produce The Nail, which was one wild ride.
Niles and Jones had such a fun time working together that they’re reteaming to bring us Giant Monster, a 2 issue [@ 48 pages each] mini-series from Boom Studios.
Giant Monster is the story of an astronaut who, while in space, is infected with a parasite and upon his return to Earth, uh… runs into a few problems. ; )
Want to know more? Click HERE to read a short interview with Niles.
More Body Bags Coming Our Way
July 12th, 2005 | Author: Craig
Way back in April, I posted an
item about the return of Jason Pearson’s “Body Bags.”
At that time Jason said if the response to the reprints was good enough, we’d see the return of Mack and Panda.
Today it was announced that two new Body Bags projects are in the works.
In November we’ll get Body Bags: 3 The Hard Way, which will include a new 20 page story called “Hit ‘Da Switches,” along with two older short stories that will be re-printed in color for the first time ever. Then in January, Jason will follow up with an all new 48 page Body Bags one-shot.
Ah, life continues to be good!
