Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
I discovered Andy Kuhn’s art through his blog. This led me to his DA site. Andy has a unique style which I totally enjoy. I was lucky enough to meet and get the sketch above from Andy earlier this year. Although it was our first meeting and my first sketch from Andy, hopefully it won’t be my last!
Dick Giordano, the comics legend is back! During his fifty plus years in the biz he’s done everything from ink all the greats (including himself) to serve as Editor-in-Chief of DC Comics, to co-founding his own comic company.
I recently had the good fortune to pick up six model sheet headsketches of Sly that Mr. Giodano did before starting work on DC Comics adaptation of “Demolition Man”. This is the fifth.
John Beatty, who’s no stranger to long-time Zoners, created this amazing drawing of Sly from “The Expendables” on Friday while I was hanging out in his studio. John’s been my best friend since junior high and gifted me with this piece since I’ve been serving as his co-host for some of his live UStream sketch sessions.
Although I have quite a few pieces in my collection, and it’s impossible to pick a single favorite, this piece by John is going to be tough for anyone to top. Thanks again to John for going above and beyond the call.
The art above was drawn by my buddy, John Beatty. It’s his take on Sly as Cosmo Carboni from “Paradise Alley”. John has done quite a few drawings of Sly for me over the years and he’s about to do another this coming Friday. Only this time he’s drawing it LIVE on UStream and you can tune in to watch it being drawn.
As an added bonus, I’ll be co-hosting the event. We’re calling it “Black Friday Stallone”. While our wives are out dealing with the holiday crowds, we’ll hopefully have a small crowd of our own watching as John gives us his take on… well, that would be telling, wouldn’t it? We’ll be talking about Stallone, movies, tv, art, comics and more. We plan to get things started at about 11am. John will have a direct link on his site. Hopefully you can join us and add to the fun.
On Sunday, November 8, 2009, Frank Stallone dropped by City Line Pizza in Edgewater, Florida. Store co-owner, Joe V, is a SZoner, and gave me advance notice so I made plans to be attend. It was a totally cool experience. Frank was down to earth and spent the time talking with fans, signing autographs and CDs. You can read part one of my report here.
That’s Mike Tourney getting Frank to autograph his ultra-rare Valentine record album cover. [Valentine was Frank’s band back in the early 70’s.] Mike is a long-time Frank Stallone fan who collects autographs and guitar pics!
That’s me, Frank and SZoner Stephen Isaia. Stephen sent in the photos used last week and has provided us with photos before. He’s a true Stallone and StalloneZone fan and I was pleased to meet him!
We close out with a final shot of my wife, Doralya, Frank and me. It was great meeting Frank and I want to thank him again for all the support he’s provided the StalloneZone over the years. Frank is a great guy, an amazing artist [singer, song writer and actor]. It was a true pleasure to meet him.
I also want to thank SZoner Joe V. of City Line Pizza [great food!!] for the “heads-up”. Hopefully, Joe will be able to have Frank back again some time. If so, we’ll report it here!
I’m a fan of Francesco Francavilla’s art. Usually when Francesco releases a new sketchbook, he offers free “quick” sketches with each purchase. My first piece from Francesco was Sly from “Cop Land”. My second quick sketch was in Francesco’s sketchbook of classic horror movie characters and for that sketch he did a “Jack Carter” zombie.
My most recent Francesco sketchbook was dedicated to a character that Francesco created, “The Black Beetle”. Francesco came up with the idea for my sketch — what would the Black Beetle look like if played in a movie by Sly Stallone. LOL. How could I not go with it? You can learn more about the Black Beetle here. You can see more of Francesco’s art here, here and here.
Friday night I watched my dvd extras for “The Mist” and was surprised to see Eric “The Goon” Powell on set with Frank Darabont. I’ve been an Eric Powell fan for years. So has Frank Darabont. In fact, Eric Powell did one of my favorite Stallone pieces [thanks again, John Higashi!].
Eric’s work on his creation, The Goon is required reading for all comic fans. And since we’re speaking of The Goon [okay, technically we’re not speaking and I am writing, but…} did you know that Eric has created an issue of The Goon without word balloons? The entire comic is made up of silent panels or just shots with thought balloons. The story involves the Goon, a stolen necklace, a fem fatale and a crazy killer… oh, and no word balloons. Sounds cool, right? You can read more about it, here at CBR.com.
Otis Frampton is an extremely talented artist who loves drawing for his fans. Every Sunday [okay, ALMOST, every Sunday], Otis has a live UStream broadcast that he calls the 7×7 Sunday. Lucky fans can get a headsketch of ANY character drawn live by Otis on a 7X7 inch bristol board for 7 bucks postage paid. It’s the best deal going.
I’ve been lucky enough to get four pieces from Otis and the Jack Carter shown above is just one of them. I’ll be showing the rest in the coming weeks. In the mean time, check out Otis’ Gallery. Most likely, after seeing more of his work, I’ll be competing against you in Otis’ next 7×7 Sunday.
On Sunday, November 8, 2009, Frank Stallone dropped by City Line Pizza in Edgewater, Florida. Since the store co-owner, Joe V, is a SZoner, I was given advance notice and made plans to be there. Talk about a cool experience. Frank was totally down to earth and spent the time talking with fans, signing autographs and CDs. Frank has a new reality tv show in the works. Of course we’ll keep you updated as it moves closer to production.
Although Frank and I had exchanged e-mails over the years, it was my first time meeting him in person. Frank was very gracious and thanked me for my efforts with the StalloneZone. He explained that Sly doesn’t mess around on computers much and at first had reservations about someone using his name and creating a website about him. Frank explained to Sly that “Craig is one of the good guys” and the StalloneZone is a positive place for Stallone fans to gather. Frank also wanted to make sure that all SZoners knew how much he and Sly appreciated our support.
I also met a couple of other fans at Frank’s appearance. The first, Stephen Isaia, is a huge Frank Stallone / StalloneZone fan. Stephen flew down to Florida to attend a Frank Stallone concert and come to the store appearance. It was a pleasure meeting Stephen. I also met Mike Tourney who collects autographs and guitar pics. Mike had an original Valentine record album for Frank to sign. Valentine was Frank’s band back in the pre-Rocky days. Talk about rare!
I’ll post more on Frank’s visit next weekend along with a few more photos. The pictures today come to us from Stephen Isaia!
Hey SZoners – I just received an e-mail from Sly for all SZoners:
From Sly
Hi Craig,
This is from Sly to your followers:
To all the loyal SZoners out there,
I’m letting you know that Rambo has changed course and the story about hunting the man/beast will be done using another character in the lead. RAMBO himself will be heading over the border to a violent city where many young women have vanished .
There will be blood.
Best,
Sly Stallone
This is great news since it means that we should get two Stallone movies – a new “Rambo” [back to the concept everyone seemed to dig] and what sounds like “Hunter” based on the novel written specifically for Sly by James Byron Huggins. It’s no secret that I and many SZoners have been hoping that Sly would adapt the novel for the big screen. – Craig
My buddy John Beatty recently did this quick sketch of Sly as Jack Carter. Not too long ago John began doing a weekly Wednesday Night Sketch Session live on UStream. These are full figure pieces and fans have the option of getting them with or without gray tones. Here are a few of examples [with tones /without tones / and again with tones]. Fans get on his list, John let’s them know the date he’ll be doing their piece and they can tune in [along with others] and interact with John as he completes the art. This has been going over so well, that John is booked through the end of the year.
In addition, John set aside a monthly time [usually a Saturday midday] that he goes live on UStream and does Ten Dollar Head Sketches. Because these move at a much faster pace [usually 20 to 30 minutes] and the turnout is so great, I serve as co-host. Here are two of my favorites – Captain America and Two-Face from the last session.
If you’re interested in getting in contact with John, just click here!
This Saturday, I’ll be joining my buddy, John Beatty at Tim Gordon’s Tampa Comic Book and Toy Convention. If you’re a regular ZONE reader, then you’ve probably read about Tim’s shows many times. We try to attend as many as possible because they’re always a blast.
This one should be no exception. In addition to Big Beatty, you can also meet Todd Nauck, Billy Tucci, Tommy Castillo, Dick Giordano, Alex Saviuk, Gene Gonzalez, “Leaping” Lanny “The Genius” Poffo, Santa Claus, and a whole bunch of other talented folks. There will be a film room, give-a-ways, artists sketching and more.
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of movies and books which focus on a small band of people who find themselves up against incredible odds in a life or death struggle. That’s one of the reasons that zombie stories appeal to me. Not because of the gore, but how much more outnumbered and against it can you be then when you’re fighting a world of dead beings? That’s why I love really good zombie stories like the original “Night of the Living Dead”, the remake of “Dawn of the Dead” and the comic series “The Walking Dead”.
Of course the “bad guys” don’t have to be zombies. The could be aliens [“Aliens”], nazis [“The Dirty Dozen”], Mayans [“Apocalypto”], but there’s just something about zombies that kick things up a notch. Maybe because they want to eat you and maybe because anyone in the group could become one. At any rate…
Earlier this year Miguel Insignares told me about a project that he’s putting together called “The Rufnex: Isle of the Dead”. It was such a cool concept that I wanted to start talking it up right away, especially after seeing some of the prelimiary art and names attached to the project. Yesterday Miguel’s Isle of the Dead site went live. If you go there, you’ll learn more about the project as well as see the names already attached. You’ll even learn how you could become a zombie in the comic. What could be better than that?
Bill “The Raytrix” Marimon is back with his take on Sly from “The Expendables”. I got this piece from Bill at the Mini-MegaCon. He wasn’t set up as a guest, but I was able to persuade him to do a couple of Stallone sketches. This is the second. I posted the first here.
I first saw Robbi Rodriguez’s art at a convention. Robbi was set up selling his sketches, and sketchbooks. I didn’t have a clue who he was, but I really liked his art. Since my sketch budget was already shot, I couldn’t hit Robbi up for a sketch. I decided if I ever saw him at another show, I’d definitely try to get on his list.
Lucky for me, Robbi was at this year’s Heroes Convention. Luckier, still was that he agreed to do a Stallone piece for me. I really love the loosenes of Robbi’s style. The kid is talented. You can see more of Robbi’s art here and hopefully again here at the SZ in the future.
