Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
I was looking over the guest list for this year’s MegaCon and was sad to see that Tone Rodriguez wasn’t listed. Tone‘s not only a talented artist, but is an absolute blast to talk to. He’s got a great sense of humor, enjoys meeting [and messing with] the fans… and of course draws a mean sketch. Here’s an example, and another and yet another from last year’s sketchbook.
If push came to shove and I had to name my all time favorite comic character, it’d be Batman.Maybe it’s because he’s grounded in reality. Well, as much reality as you can get in the super hero genre. Batman doesn’t have super powers. Anyone with the same determination, will power and, ahem, bank account could become Batman.
Another reason that I like Batman so much is that there are so many takes on the character that work. Think about it…
Adam West‘s tv Batman was camp.
Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams‘ Batman was the world’s greatest detective.
Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers [along with Terry Austin] explored the struggle for balance between Bruce Wayne and Batman.
Frank Miller brought us the Dark Knight as Dirty Harry.
Doug Moench, Kelly Jones and John Beatty looked at the horror/supernatural aspect of Batman‘s universe.
I could go on and on but the point that I want to make is that each of these takes is different, but they all work.
Currently Matt Wagner is doing a riff on Batman in a six issue mini series called Batman and the Monster Men. It’s a story of Batman‘s first encounter with super villians.
And you guessed it, it works.
My buddy, Rafael Kayanan has started his own blog. Raf‘s a really talented individual. He’s a highly skilled martial artist who trains celebrities and works as a technical advisor in the film industry. Raf‘s also an accomplished artist who has illustrated for comic books, film, games and tv. And now Raf has started his own blog. It’s going to be on my daily read list. Check it out and you may find it on yours as well!
If you’re anywhere near Orlando, Florida from February 24th – 26th, you may want to check out the MegaCon convention.In addition to George Perez, who is the Guest of Honor, there are going to be a ton of comic book artists and movie / tv celebs on hand to sketch and sign autographs. Of course there will be a ton of dealers selling the latest comics, dvds, graphic novels and who knows what else.
I’ll be there looking to pick up a few more Stallone sketches. Big John Beatty will be there as a guest [sharing a table with the incredibly talented Alberto Ruiz]. If you can make it, swing by Big Beatty’s table and at least say, “Hi.”
My buddy, “Wild” Bill Black is a writer, penciler, inker, editor, publisher, chief cook and bottlewasher for AC Comics, an independent comic company that he created over 20 years ago. Bill has been favorably compared to Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Roy Rogers — and that’s just the comparisons that Bill uses when talking about himself!Okay, okay… all kidding aside. Bill has been running AC Comics [the company that he really created] for over 20 years, but now he’s bringing his comic creations to the silver screen… or at least your tv screen… if you have a dvd player.
I guess now Bill will add Roger Corman to his list of comparisons!
Today’s comic book cover features the work of one of my favorite comic artists, Cully Hamner. Probably best known for his excellent work on the Batman miniseries Tenses, my personal favorite Hamner artwork can be found in the Red miniseries that he did with writer Warren Ellis.
I absolutely loved Red… so much so, that I’m going to give you a look at the covers for each of the three issues [ 1, 2, 3].
I was already a fan of Doug Moench‘s work on Master of Kung Fu, but when Paul Gulacy came on board it was obvious that something magical was taking shape. Paul had pencilled several issues before #29 rolled around, but with that issue Paul was also able to do his own inks.
Now there was no doubt that this was a series to watch.
I first met Rafael Kayanan somewhere around thirty years ago. He was a young aspiring artist. But even then he had the talent and you just knew that this kid was going to make it.And boy, did he make it!
Raf‘s had quite an interesting career so far. He’s worked for most major comic publishers, served as a fight trainer on George Clooney‘s “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind;” did the storyboards, served as a trainer, technical advisor and fight choreographer on “The Hunted” starring Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio del Toro; worked on developmental art for the upcoming “Princess of Mars” movie… and so much more.
I recently touched base with Raf and found out he’d just completed art on 250 Lord of the Rings collector cards which will be out in February. He sent me a scan and permission to share it — so click HERE to see the larger version.
I don’t know about you, but I think that someday this kid may go places.
Sure, arguments can be made for Superman [the first with Christopher Reeve and directed by Richard Donner], the original Crow movie [with Brandon Lee] and even this year’s Batman Begins. But for my money, Sin City is the cream of the crop as far as getting to the screen what was on the comic page.
That may change next year when Warner Brother’s releases 300. Interestingly enough, 300, like Sin City is based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller. What’s also interesting is that Zack Snyder, 300’s director, will make extensive use of the same “green screen” techniques employed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller when they brought Sin City to life for the big screen.
Zack Snyder really impressed me with his work on the Dawn of the Dead remake. Not only did he have the stones to take on the job of updating Romero’s cult classic, but he succeeded!
Check out the official 300 web site and you’ll see that Snyder is a huge fan of Frank Miller‘s work. I believe that Snyder will bring the same sense of respect and ability to 300 that he brought to Dawn of the Dead. And if that’s the case, we’ll not only get a great movie experience but also possibly the best comics to movie adaptation ever.
Joe Kubert is a legend. And deservedly so. At 79, Joe is still turning out not just great drawings but great comics!His recently published graphic novel, Jew Gangster, is getting great reviews and soon we’ll see Joe‘s return to one of his signature characters, Sgt. Rock, when the six issue mini-series, Sgt. Rock: The Prophet hits stands.
I had the good fortune to meet Joe Kubert in the early 80’s. He was Guest of Honor at one of Jim Ivey’s OrlandoCons. Joe was there to pick up his Ignatz award. At the time Mr. Kubert was also promoting a series that he was to write and draw for DC called The Redeemer. Sad to say it never appeared.
Another thing that Joe Kubert worked on that never appeared is, interestingly enough, a proposal for a Rocky Balboa newspaper strip. Mr. Kubert told me that he was approached to work on a daily newspaper strip and that he had in fact worked up character sheets, some daily samples, etc. Sadly the strip was never picked up.
You can imagine how excited I was to hear that JOE KUBERT had drawn Rocky Balboa. I asked Mr. Kubert if the art was available for sale, but it wasn’t. I then asked if I could buy Xeroxes but again, Mr. Kubert politely declined. Man, you just know that those pieces look great… maybe someday we’ll get the chance to see them in a treasury of his work…
At any rate, we can pick up Jew Gangster now and still have Sgt. Rock: The Prophet to look forward to.
Here’s a [kind of ]funny con story from an AtlantaCon in the early 80’s.
Bob McLeod, John Beatty and I drove up. Pat Broderick decided to fly in rather than face the madness of an 8 hour ride with Beatty and I.
The first day of the show and the artists set up. Beatty, Broderick and McLeod are all in a row. I’m hanging out with them when not visiting with Paul Gulacy. Anyway…
Up walks a fan and stops in front of Bob. [All artists have name cards on the tables.] The fan proceedes to tell Bob what a huge fan he is of Bob’s work. The fan inquires about the price of a sketch. Bob tells him the amount. The fan says that he wants several figures… all of the Micronauts. Bob calculates the cost and tells him. The fan says, “No problem.”
The fan asks Bob if he can ink it. Bob says, “Of course, but the cost would be more.” Bob tells him how much. The fan says, “I love your work. No problem.”
The fan then asks if Bob could color it. Bob says, “Of course, but the cost would be more.” Bob tells him how much. The fan says, “I love your work. No problem.” They agree on the final price. Bob tells the fan to check back at the end of the day and the fan goes off.
Bob is really happy to meet such a huge fan of his work. He says that he’s surprised that the fan wanted the Micronauts since he could have gone to Pat and gotten him to do it. [Pat was a fan fav for the Micronauts at the time.] Of course Beatty and I start teasing Pat and even Bob joins in [a little].
Bob starts on the Micronauts piece. Other fans come around, but Bob is being careful about taking on more sketches since he has so many figures to pencil, ink and color. As everyone probably knows, Bob gives fans a lot for their money and when he colors a piece — man, is it sweet.
So Bob’s working away… we’re still teasing Pat… more fans are being told that Bob’s sketch list is full… the fan comes by periodically to check on the progress… it is looking soooo nice.
Late in the day the fan comes by and stands directly in front of Bob. Bob looks up and smiles. The fan doesn’t…
“Sir,” he says, “There has been a terrible mistake…” The fan goes on to say that he thought Bob was Pat Broderick. He’s sorry, but he won’t be wanting the sketch. The fan then moves down to Pat Broderick. He proceedes to tell Pat what a huge fan he is…
Hey Zoners… ok, I’m picking up the tale of our four middle-aged playas after they’ve
arrived at the show. If you want to read more tales of the trip then click HERE and
John “The Dude Abides” Beatty will fill you in.
Tim Gordon’s Tampa Comic Book and Toy Convention is the best one day show
that you’ll find anywhere. There are media guests, comic artists, costumers,independent filmmakers [with a continuously running screening room] , and
dozens and dozens of dealers.
Yes, that’s the look of fear that crossed Mark and Stephanie Heike‘s faces when
they discovered that the Mild Bunch [John “Johnny Star-Warz” Higashi, James
“The James” Howell, John “The Dude Abides” Beatty, and yours truly] had arrived.
Larry Thomas, better known as “The Soup Nazi” from Seinfeld, had a table. He was selling autographed pictures and soup ladles for $20 a pop. I’m a huge Seinfeld fan.
I loved the series and thought “The Soup Nazi” episode was a riot. However, $20
bucks for an autographed picture? Five samoleons and I’m there, heck, I’d have
even bought a couple, but twenty of my hard-earned smack-a-toons for one?
No thanks.
So, I’m waiting for Pat Broderick to arrive and up walks Beatty. He says that every
time he tried to get a photo of “The Soup Nazi,” the “Nazi” turned or raised his hands
to insure that the picture wasn’t a good one. I laughed it off. Later Beatty came up to
say that he’d tried for a photo several more times, but each time the “Nazi” thwarted
his efforts. This, of course, makes me want to get a candid. I did, but as you can tell
from the full shot, Mr. Thomas did not seem to happy about it. If that’s the case, I’m
sorry, Mr. Thomas… and I really would have bought a couple of autographs had
they been cheaper!
Now the guy that I really was there to see was Pat Broderick. I’ve known Pat for
nearly 30 years! We first met at an OrlandoCon back in the 70’s. Pat‘s a great guy
and a heck of an artist. He and Beatty even teamed up on a couple of comic series
over the years! I was curious to see if Pat would be interested in doing a piece for my Stallone gallery. Lucky for me he was! I’ll post it later this weekend with my SZ update.
Higashi and Howell also set up sketches with Pat.
The next guy on our hit list was Karl Moline who was sharing a table with Randy
[Edward Scissorhands Collection] Martin. While John Higashi and I set up sketches
with Karl, The James scooted over to arrange a take-home commission with Pablo Marcos.
Then it was over to the film room where we caught some of Joel D. Wynkoop‘s film
“Lost Faith.” Joel was at the show, and as you can see HERE has made a lot of films.
Joel is very approachable and obviously has a love of film. It might be cool if he and
Bill Black ever hook up for a project.
Beatty got that look in his eyes that said it was time for lunch. Howell said he was
ready for a bite too. Even Higashi said he’d eat [which is a rare thing for Johnny SW
to do at a show]. I wasn’t hungry, but said I’d join them for a Coke. We ended up in the hotel’s sport’s bar. As we were yacking away waiting for the food to arrive, the NY
Giants were on tv playing the Philadelphia Eagles. Howell suddenly blurted out, “I’ve
got five bucks for anyone who’ll yell “Go Giants!”
I immediately yelled, “Go Giants! Go Giants!” and before I could collect my fiver, a
loud chorus of “Go Philly!” “Giants Suck” “Go Philly” erupted from behind me. I
turned to see probably 30 or 40 grown men [most of whom were wearing Eagles
jerseys] looking our way. Of course, this just made Beatty an instant Giants fan who
began to LOUDLY cheer for the Giants way and BOO the Eagles.
Two things saved us from the situation getting ugly. 1] Beatty‘s sandwich arrived and
2] Mrs. Pat Broderick came by the table to say, “Hi.”
After lunch we headed back to the show. Pat and Karl had finished my sketches.
They had [independently] decided to draw Deke from Nighthawks! And both did
really, really cool sketches. I’ll post them tomorrow with the SZ update.
I’d been wanting to get a sketch from Derrick Fish for a while. Luck was with me
because when I checked with Derrick, he had a spot on his sketch list open.
Derrick completed my sketch trifecta by doing a really nice cartoon of Rocky
knocking out Dandy.
Soon it was time to say our goodbyes and load up the “Jack Carter” car for our trip
home. As we snaked our way around the con to say we were heading out, we made
sure to let the Heike‘s know that we’d see them at the next show in May!
Have you ever seen a better looking group of middle-aged playas?We stopped at Mike‘s house to pick up copies of his latest sketchbook to have on display at the Tampa show. Mike is one of the coolest, most down to earth guys you’d ever want to meet. Beatty and I have known Mike for nearly 30 years [yeesh!] and Higashi has known him for a couple. It was The James‘ first time meeting Mike. Normally The James is very cool about meeting artists… even big name artists. In fact, The James is friends with some of the best artists in the business… yet something came over him when he met Mike.
Here are a couple of brief exchanges that they had:
The James: Uh, Mr. Zeck it is a pleasure to meet you, sir. I… uh, I am a big, no huge, uh… fan of your work, Mr. Mike Zeck, sir.
MIke: Thank you. And please, call me Mike.
The James: Ok, I’ll do that Mr. Zeck.
Mike smiles as The James goes on.
The James: Uh, Mr. Mike Zeck, sir, I’d really like to purchase a copy of your sketchbook, sir, that is if you don’t mind and uh, if it isn’t too much trouble, sir.
Mike had just pulled out 15 copies which John Higashi had purchased for Tampa. Other copies were easily within reach.
Mike: No problem at all James. In fact, you can have one at the dealer discount.
The James: Uh, no sir, Mr. Mike Zeck, sir. I insist that I pay full retail price, sir, uh… that is if it’s okay with you, sir.
Mike shrugged his shoulders as The James forced a twenty into his hand.
The second exchange took place as we were leaving.
The James: “Wowee. It has been such a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Mike Zeck. I’ve admired you, I mean your work… you know, your art… for a long time. Uh, but don’t think I’m a stalker, sir. It’s just that, it’s just that, you know, sir, you’re THE MAN.”
Mike: Thanks, James. And please just call me Mike.
The James: Yes sir, I will Mr. Mike, sir.
The James then turned to leave, but quickly spun back around and said: “I really dig your shirt, sir!” and then he was out the door.
It was cool to see that even a middle-aged playa like The James can still break into fanboy mode.
Looking for something to do tomorrow and you can make it to Tampa, Florida? Well then… if you’d like to meet a Soup Nazi, a former Teenage Werewolf, several comic book professionals, some independent filmmakers and comic artists, or maybe even Big John Beatty, you should heard over to the Tampa Comic Book and Toy Convention.
I’ll be driving down [in the Jack Carter car] with Big Beatty, John “Johnny Star Warz” Higashi, and James “The James” Howell. The trip looks to have some additional fun since we’re planning to swing by Mike Zeck‘s for a quick visit.
The con runs on Sunday from 10AM to 4PM and is the best one day showing going! Click HERE and see why!
While we’re on the subject of Mike Zeck, have you seen his Damned graphic novel? No, I’m not cursing, that’s the name of it.Written by Steven Grant and pencilled by Mike, it was originally going to be called Lawless. The hitch was that a new tv series starring Brian Bosworth [anyone remember him?] was in the works and they had dibs on the Lawless title. So Grant and Zeck decided to go with Damned.
Here’s what Mike said when asked about how it all came together. “DAMNED is probably as personal as a project can get. Grant and I got together and posed the question “What would we do if we could do just what we wanted, without any outside pressure or direction?” Damned was a result of that. We both prefer the crime genre, and without costumed characters populating it. I hand-picked Denis Rodier (inker) and Kurt Goldzung (colorist) and it became something of a labor of love for all of us.”
Damned is a great crime comic. Give it a try and I’ll bet you agree.
