Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Merry Kwanza, and of course there’s Festivus for the rest of us. Oh, and if you don’t celebrate any of these, than good day! I hope that you’re surrounded by friends and loved ones and that the day brings you all that you desire.
CBR.com is running a 17 page preview of Rick Remender’s “The Last Days of American Crime”. It’s a mature crime comic, but definitely worth a look if you’re into that kind of thing.
It’s hard to believe I’ve been talking up “The Last Days of American Crime” for years [I first mentioned it in 2003!]. Now it’s finally here. And from the looks of things, “The Last Days of American Crime” was more than worth the wait.
This week we have Dave Wachter’s take on Sly as Cosmo Carboni from “Paradise Alley”. I’d never seen Dave’s art until this year at HeroesCon. I immediately got on board for the sketch above. Since then I’ve picked up two more small pieces from Dave. He’s talented and very reasonably priced. You can see more of Dave’s art at his site. Plan to spend a while!
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!
This coming Saturday I’ll be joining my buddy, John Beatty, at studio as he draws for what he is calling “Super Saturday Batmite Head Sketches”! John will be drawing live on UStream as fans interact with us. Yep, I’ll be co-hosting the event and we’ll have things set up so that I can take phone calls live on the air! The sketches that John is scheduled to draw include The Penguin, Harley Quinn, Ra’s Al Ghoul, Two Face, The Mad Hatter and either King Tut or Louie the Lilac! The fun is set to kick off at 10am EST.
Hope to “see you” there.
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.
I like this poster. It’s just a simple close-up of a helmetless Iron Man, but it works. Don’t ‘cha agree?
Thanks to IMPAwards.com for the link.
If you’re a Darwyn Cooke fan, and you should be if you read comics, then you’ll probably want to check out this interview at CBR.com. Darwyn talks about his work on an upcoming issue of Jonah Hex as well as his sequel to his critically acclaimed adaptation of Richard Stark’s The Hunter.
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.
Later this morning I’ll be at my buddy, John Beatty’s studio co-hosting as he draws, what we like to call $10 Head Sketch Saturday. John will be drawing live on UStream as fans interact with us. It’s always a blast, even for those not ordering sketches. And if you want a sketch, it makes the session even more fun. The festivities kick off at 11am EST.
.Hope to “see you” there.
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.
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.
Great news! Sam Worthington has signed on to produce and star in a big screen adaptation of Rick Remender’s “The Last Days of American Crime”.
I finally had some time to post a few pictures from Tim Gordon’s Tampa Comic and Toy Convention. Those two mugs above are John Beatty and I. We’re holding up copies of the Christmas Charity comic that Tim put together. Big J and I did a story for it. John says that since the last story we worked together on was about 30 years ago, we can look for our next team-up somewhere around 2039.
John did some sketches while at the show…
Some superheroes showed up…
And even one that looked like…
