Ron Salas and Jimmy Bobo
Sly Stallone as Jimmy Bobo from Bullet to the Head by Ron Salas. Obviously I’m a huge fan of Ron’s art. If you’re a sketch collector, you should be too!
Check out more of Ron’s art here.
Category: Crime
Duane Swierczynski and a Dynamite “Ex-Con”
Hearing that Duane Swierczynski is writing an new series called Ex-Con for Dynamite Crime had me smiling enough to star in one of those many “happier than“ Geico commercials.
I’ve been a Duane Swierczynski fan since I first read The Wheelman almost seven years ago. Since then I’ve read and enjoyed every one of Swierczynski’s crime novels. Ex-Con sounds like a winner. Here’s how Swierczynski describes it…
As the name implies, we’re going to be following a jailbird freshly sprung from San Quentin after five brutal years… This is a high-level con artist who thought he could out-think the cops, his marks, his competitors — pretty much everybody — and five years later, he’s still reeling. To stay alive inside, he had to promise a favor to a convict who’s pretty much a living nightmare in a cage, and now that our man is out, he dreads having to pay up…
With Swierczynski writing and Tim Bradstreet providing the covers, the only thing left to take this series to the top is the right interior artist. Unfortunately, one hasn’t been chosen yet.
Two artists that came to mind for something like this are Phil Hester and Cully Hamner. I have no idea if Hester or Hamner would be considered or if they would want to do the series, but from this fan’s perspective, they were the first two artists that I thought of.
Thanks and an early parole to Comicosity and CBR.com for droppin’ a dime.
[And if you’re looking for a great crime comic to read NOW, you can’t do better than the FREE webcomic Gravedigger by Christopher Mills and Rick Burchett.]
“The Black Beetle: Necrologue” is Coming!
Francesco Francavilla’s Black Beetle is a comic fans love to love. Part of the reason is that Francesco is such a swell guy. He gracious, humble and talented.
Francesco has a love — a passion — for comics, monsters, old movies, heroes, and basically all the things that we find cool. So it was a real joy to discover that his comic mini-series The Black Beetle: No Way Out combined all of those things into a rockin’ story that was a hit with fans and critics alike.
Soon Francesco will be back with The Black Beetle: Necrologue. You can learn more about it, here thanks to the fine folks at CBR.com.
Gravedigger: The Cover That Never Was
Don’t you dig this Gold Key cover mock-up for Gravedigger?
Chris Mills explains how the faux cover came about:
I had so much fun mocking up that Gold Key Comics-styled Femme Noir cover yesterday, that last night I dusted off the terrific, painted Gravedigger: The Scavengers variant cover by my friend Fred Harper, and knocked out this retro/faux Gravedigger piece. There’s something kinda subversive about seeing the squeaky-clean Gold Key trade dress & logo on this hardboiled title…
Don’t forget that Gravedigger: Hot Women, Cold Cash by Chris Mills and Rick Burchett is available! It gets my highest recommendation.
The Gravedigger Challenge
Gravedigger by Chris Mills and Rick Burchett is the best web comic going. Heck, drop the web comic distinction because Gravedigger is one of the best comics of any kind regularly published these days.
If you’re a fan of crime stories, Lee Marvin, or great comics [as in amazing writing and art] then you should be reading this free web comic. [Keep in mind that Gravedigger is not for children since adult language and situations sometimes appear — it is a crime comic after all.]
I’d like to see Gravedigger and the talents of Chris Mills and Rick Burchett reach a wider audience. So, I’ve come up with the Gravedigger Challenge.
Give Gravedigger a try and if you don’t like it, I owe ya a Coke [or Diet Coke, if you prefer]. If you do like Gravedigger, you owe me nothing.
I would appreciate it though, especially if you like Gravedigger, if you would help spread the word. Send out a Tweet, a Facebook / blog post or, simply tell a friend!
Carlson & Del Rey Have a “Hit” in Their Future
It looks like Bryce Carlson [writer], Vanesa R. Del Rey [artist] and Boom! Studios has a real hit on their hands when they release Hit this September.
Set in Los Angeles in the 1955, Hit tells the story of…
…Harvey Slater, who’s a Hollywood homicide detective by day and an LAPD hitman by night. His life is… complicated. Slater’s a smart detective who isn’t afraid to pull the trigger, so you never quite know exactly how he’s going to handle a given situation. His journey is a personification of how Los Angeles was changing at the time, and how challenging the ever-growing duality really was. Usually there’s booze and cigarettes involved and Slater getting into bed with a woman he shouldn’t.
This will definitely make my pull list! If you’d like to know more about Hit, check out CBR’s Carlson Puts Out a Cold-Blooded “Hit” at Boom!
Kot + Walsh = Zero
Zero by Ales Kot [writer] and Michael Walsh [artist] looks interesting. Here’s how the advance solicitation describes it…
SAVING THE WORLD. ONE MURDER AT A TIME.
Edward Zero is the perfect execution machine – a spy who breaks the rules to get things done. When a stolen device appears in the center of a long-running conflict, Zero comes to retrieve it. The problem is, the device is inside a living, breathing, bio-modified terrorist and there’s an entire army after it.
iFanboy has more about Zero and Michael Walsh. I’ve seen enough to put in a pre-order with my local comic shop. How about you?
Brother Lono Preview
That’s the special Eduardo Rizzo cover for Brother Lono #1 created by Brian Azzarello [writer], Eduardo Risso [artist], Trish Mulvihill [colorist], Clem Robbins [letterer] and Rev. Dave Johnson [cover artist].
Yep, that’s the same award-winning creative team that brought us 100 issues of 100 Bullets. Seems only right that they’d all return to bring us the spin-off series Brother Lono.
If you’d like to see an exclusive preview of Brother Lono, you can thanks to USAToday!
The Art of Sean Phillips is Coming!
Yesterday I put in my preorder for The Art of Sean Phillips. It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Sean Phillips’ art and have been looking forward to his art book for a while. The Art of Sean Phillips is an over-sized 9″ x 12″ hardcover with more than 300 pages!
Here’s how the book description describes it…
The Art of Sean Phillips is a lavish, career-spanning retrospective of the acclaimed artist behind Criminal, Sleeper, Incognito, and Fatale.
Sean has personally selected the very best, most interesting examples of his art for inclusion, from comic strips assembled with childhood friends in his bedroom, through his work for British girls’ comics and 2000AD, to his role as a key artist in the early years of Vertigo, through his superhero work for Marvel, DC, and WildStorm, and finally from his creator-owned series with Ed Brubaker.
Also, the renowned artist has been extensively interviewed, along with many of his key collaborators, for the book’s in-depth commentary on his work and career.
Here’s where you can see some preview pages thanks to Comic Vine.
The Art of Sean Phillips is available for pre-order now.
Francesco Francavilla Breaks Bad
Francesco Francavilla created minimalistic posters for each episode of season one of Breaking Bad.
You can see them all at Francesco’s site. When you click over, plan to stay awhile. The posters are just the tip of a very cool iceberg.
Michael Corleone’s Revenge Scene Cut from “Godfather II” is Here!
Did you know that a scene was cut from The Godfather II in which Michael Corleone [played by Al Pacino] committed a revenge killing?
This rare deleted scene from The Godfather Part II brings closure to a massive loose end: Michael’s brutal, long-delayed revenge on Fabrizio, the man who planted the car bomb that killed his first wife, Apollonia.
The scene is a chilling display of Michael’s transformation. He ensures Fabrizio meets the exact same fate—a car bomb explosion—confirming Michael’s reign as a ruthless Don who always settles his debts. This clip was cut from the theatrical release but appears in ‘The Godfather Saga.’
Teaser Trailer for “The Bridge”
I’m looking forward to July 10th when FX premieres The Bridge.
The Bridge is a crime drama series set on the US/Mexico border where two detectives (one from the United States and one from Mexico) must find a way to work together to bring down a serial killer operating on both sides of the border.
The Punisher in “The Dead Can’t Be Distracted”
The Dead Can’t Be Distracted is a fan film created by Mike Pecci based on Greg Rucka and Mike Checchetto’s run on the Punisher. To learn more about it, click over to CBR’s Exclusive Filmakers Tease.
10 Entertainment Careers Cut Short by Unsolved Mysteries
10 Entertainment Careers Cut Short by Unsolved Mysteries is an interesting piece by Robin Warder that was recently posted over at Listverse. While the article doesn’t discuss the deaths of George Reeves, Tupac Shakur or the Black Dahlia, the entertainers that it does cover definitely died/disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
Thanks to Bill Crider for pointing me in the right direction.
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints slipped under my radar until I saw the trailer below. You can be sure it is in my sights now.
