Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
One of the benefits of cleaning is finding things you haven’t seen in a while. That’s the case with the drawing above. It was penciled and inked by the great Neal Adams. I had a stat made of it and my best bud, John Beatty colored the stat. This was done in the early 80’s. Over twenty years later and I’m still diggin’ it.
The new Zorro comic that Matt Wagner is heading up is coming along nicely. Francesco Francavilla has come on board as the artist. Francesco is an excellent choice due to his artistic talents coupled with his love of the character. Check out Matt Wagner’s character designs for Zorro as well as his thoughts on the project by clicking HERE.
What do you say to two days in a row of Hellboy posts that include the new trailer? Simple, just say, “Thanks.”
[And thanks to ZONEr regular, Joey for the tip!]
IGN.com has scored three very cool photos from Hellboy II: The Golden Army. This is one of them.
I’m a huge Batman fan. And while I don’t like every comic or movie version ever made of The Dark Knight, when creators get him right there’s hardly any character better. I haven’t seen a Batman movie yet that really nails it, but this one may come closest.
Duane Swierczynski is one of my favorite novelists. Recently Duane got the opportunity to write some comics… specifically the Punisher. In this interview he talks about his first experience with the Punisher:
Proof, the new comic series by Alex Grecian and Riley Rossmo looked to be a lot of fun. I bought the first issue and really enjoyed it. And it looks like the rest of the series will be just as cool.
You’ve heard me talk about how much I’m digging Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips work on their award-winning Criminal. Check out 
About the new Batman movie: I don’t really care for the look of 
The Hellboy II movie website has been plugging along and adding concept art, video updates, first looks at the major characters and more. So why haven’t I been talking it up? I don’t know I guess I just forgot.
Next Sunday, December 9th, my buddy John Beatty will be one of the guests at the Epic Comic Con in Orlando, Florida. He’ll be there along with a bunch of comic book artists, professional wrestlers as well as a couple of actors and authors. Talk about an interesting mix!
John will be sketching and signing autographs. I’ll be there hanging out as well. If you’re in the area, plan to drop on by!
ComingSoon.net scored a first look at the Soloman Kane poster above. Kane was created by Robert E. Howard [the pulp writer best known for Conan].Raf and Chris Mills are our experts on Soloman Kane. My experience with Soloman Kane is from a couple of Marvel comics [written and drawn by the great Howard Chaykin] from the 70’s… and maybe a story or two from one of the Marvel Conan or Savage Sword black and white mags. I enjoyed the character enough to read those stories when I came across them, but never felt compelled to seek out more. Maybe this movie will change that.
Zombies are in. Nearly forty years after George Romero recreated a horror genre, zombies have never been more popular. Let’s take a look a three currently running zombie comics.
The Walking Dead, which single handedly jump started the genre back to comics continues to go strong. I’ve been talking up this series since the first issue and it continues to be the only comic that I must read as soon as I get it home. Issue 42 [43 is on stands now] has the most surprising double page spread that I’ve seen in any comic in years… then there was an even bigger shock when you turned the page. The original issues are hard to find and pretty expensive when you do. If you’re just coming to the series you might want to seek out the paperback trades [Volume 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8] or spend a bit more for the hardcovers [Book 1 2 3]. However you get the stories, I can guarantee you a great ride thanks to the talents of writer Robert Kirkman and artist Charlie Adlard.
Living with the Dead #1 just came out from Dark Horse. Writer Mike Richardson and artist Ben Stenbeck team to bring us a Shaun-of-the-Dead-type zombie series that has just the right mix of humor. Two slackers are making the best of a bad situation. These guys have been best buds for years and if a zombie infestation can’t break up their friendship, surely a cute babe won’t. Right… right?
XXXombies #1 also just hit the stands. Featuring the talents of some of my favorite comic creators [Rick Remender, Tony Moore and Kieron Dwyer] this zombie tale is definitely not for kids [are any zombie tales?] since it follows a group of adult film actors and crew having to deal with, you guessed it, a zombie infestation.
My guess is, if you are a fan of the zombie genre, you’d enjoy any of these comics. If not, then not.
Frank Miller has The Spirit. Yeah, man!
The more I see of the Iron Man movie the more I think I’m really gonna dig it. The international trailer is short but, oh so sweet.
