The “Hellboy” Trailer is Here!
The Hellboy trailer is here and I have real mixed feelings about it. Hellboy looks cool and I like the supporting cast, but the tone looks more like comedy than horror… and the comedy wasn’t that funny.
Category: Comics
New “Hellboy” Posters!
What do you think about the new Hellboy poster above? Yeah, me too. It’s kind of cool but not, ‘Whoa! Stop what you’re doing and check out the new Hellboy poster!’ cool.
There’s a new Hellboy motion poster out today too. You can see it here. Again, kind of cool but not make you move closer to the monitor cool.
On Thursday we get the first Hellboy trailer. I’m hoping for something that’s more than kind of cool.
TKO Studios Offers Free First Issues!
TKO Studios is a new comic publisher and they’re looking to shake things up with their award-winning artists and writers and the way their comics are released.
TKO Studios seeks to redefine the comic book industry creatively and commercially.
TKO Studios was founded by award-winning comic book, entertainment, business and tech professionals. We create unique takes on established genres, promoting diverse and exciting voices that reflect the modern audience.
Our aim is to publish high quality books and expand the comic book audience using modern methods of marketing, distribution, and audience engagement. We proudly offer the premier issue of each new miniseries available for free digital download.
You read that right, each premier issue of a new series is offered up for free as a digital download. If you don’t like what you see, no harm, no cost. If you do like what you’ve read, you can buy the entire series in any of three formats:
- As a digital download
- As individual comics with a collectors box
- As a graphic novel with all issues collected into one volume
TKO is on to something smart. Now fans can check out the stories before committing to a series they may not like. If they do enjoy what they see, there’s no months-long wait to get the whole story and they can get the story in the format that they prefer.
I’ve checked out TKO’s first four offerings and ordered (as a graphic novel) The 7 Deadly Sins by Tze Chun (writer), Artyom Trakhanov (artist), Giulia Brusco (colorist) and Jared K Fletcher (letterer).
Check out the TKO series available now and coming soon — it won’t cost you a cent and you may find something you’ll love.
John Wick by Dan Panosian!
Dan Panosian is back and he brought John Wick with him! (And, yeah, John Wick is thinkin’ he’s back, too!)
How Sly Stallone Made the Cover of a French Graphic Novel
Today we have the Colin WIlson cover to the French graphic novel Du Plomb Dans La Tête written by Matz and illustrated by Colin Wilson. If you think the the tough-guy on the cover looks like Sylvester Stallone, you’d be right.
See, Du Plomb Dans La Tête was the basis for Stallone’s film Bullet to the Head.
What’s interesting to note is the character (that Sly ended up playing) from the original graphic novel was drawn to look a bit like Sly as Jack Carter. When Sly took on the role for Bullet to the Head, Walter Hill (the director) opted for a different look and Sly agreed. So in the movie Sly doesn’t look like Jack Carter but on the Du Plomb Dans La Tête cover he does.
And now you have the rest of the story (as Paul Harvey would say).
20 Walking Dead Easter Eggs Everyone Has Missed
Shawn S. Lealos, at CBR.com, posted 20 Walking Dead Easter Eggs Everyone Has Missed and it’s a great read. Here are my three favorites…
20 THE WHISPERERS
The Whisperers have finally arrived on The Walking Dead but they were hinted at a few years back by a character that isn’t even on the main series anymore. Way back in the Season 3 episode “Clear,” Rick and Morgan met up for the first time since Rick left Atlanta. Morgan was clearly driven mad at the time — losing his wife and son — and he was rambling about a lot of things. However, one thing that he said was clear foreshadowing for this season of The Walking Dead.Morgan said he saw “people wearing dead people’s faces.” Fans of the comic books knew exactly what Morgan was talking about since the books had introduced the Whisperers, who wore the faces of the dead in order to walk among the zombie herds safely.
1 BREAKING BAD CONNECTION
The Walking Dead might be the most popular television series in the history of AMC but it is nowhere close to being the most critically acclaimed series on the network. That would arguably be Breaking Bad and there are a lot of clues that indicate the worlds from the two television series are actually connected.Daryl had a bag of narcotics in the season 2 episode “Bloodletting” that included a blue powdery substance that fans of Breaking Bad will immediately recognize. There was also a red Dodge Charger that Glenn stole in “Guts” that was the exact same color and year as one that Walter returned to a car lot and a general manager named Glenn. Also, Gale’s crazy coffee maker from Breaking Bad showed up in Milton’s lab in season three. These Easter eggs have made some people wonder if Breaking Bad is a Walking Dead prequel.
15 THE SCRIPTURES
On the fifth season episode “Strangers,” the survivors ended up at Father Ezekiel’s church and found an interesting situation. Ezekiel was alone in the church, having refused to allow his followers in, and the group found one man alone surrounded by his belief in God. On the board in the background were five Bible verses. Interestingly, these verses all had an eerily similar theme.A fan on Reddit took the time to look them all up and they involved rising from the dead, returning to life, being unable to pass on, and living among the dead. The books of the Bible ranged from the Old Testament in Ezekial to the final book of Revelations. While not really meaning zombies, they all tie into the themes of the show.
Palle Schmidt’s Stiletto is Coming!
That’s the cover to Stiletto a crime graphic novel by Palle Schmidt premiering in March. I just finished reading The Devil’s Concubine and was impressed by Schmidt’s great story and art. My review will be coming soon, but here’s a spoiler, Schmidt’s The Devil’s Concubine gets my highest recommendation.
Stiletto which was nominated for the Danish Pingprisen award, a rarity for crime comics. Lion Forge is going to release Stiletto, as three 48-page issues, priced at $5.99 each.
Here’s how Schmidt describes Stiletto…
“Stiletto looks like a buddy cop movie at first glance, but you’ll definitely be surprised to see where it goes,” says Denmark-based writer and artist, Palle Schmidt. “This is a gritty neo-noir full of twists and turns, corruption, betrayal, and greed. I spent years working on the book, really pouring my heart and soul into the project.”
You can get more info and see more art for Stiletto at Bleeding Cool.
Jack Carter and John Wick by John Beatty!
On November 23, 2018, aka Black Friday, John Beatty and I met in his studio to do a livestream broadcast of John’s John Wick / Jack Carter drawing for my Stallone Sketch Collection. Click on the photo above to see a much bigger version. We were joined in the studio by Ron Wendt who took the photos below.
That’s John…
That’s me…
And that’s John with his reference working on the art. You can click on the video link below to see and hear how everything went down. We had a blast with viewers texting in questions and even a couple of call-ins to the studio.
John is considering adding tones to the Carter / Wick piece and if he does I’m sure I’ll join him in studio, so maybe you will consider swinging by as well. John draws live most Monday through Fridays and loves to interact with those who tune in. You should give it a go and tell him I sent ya.
Eduardo Risso’s Original Art!
Eduardo Risso is one of my favorite artists. The drawing above is just one example of why. You can see a lot more reasons at Eduardo Risso’s Original Art.
Midnight Mystery #1 / Z-View
Midnight Mystery #1 is part of a four-issue mini-series published by Alterna Comics.
- Writer: Bernie Gonzalez
- Artist: Bernie Gonzalez
- Colorist: Bernie Gonzalez
- Letterer: Wes Lochner
- Cover Artist: Bernie Gonzalez
*** Beware – spoilers may be found below ***
Follow the strange adventures of detective Zeke King as he goes from case to horrifying case. In this issue: King’s latest case goes from freaky to fatal when he’s hired to find the lost son of a deceased horror host! The mystery begins in this new supernatural horror series!
Bernie Gonzalez’s Midnight Mystery is the Alterna series I was most looking forward to and it lived up to all of my expectations. Gonzalez created a fun issue that quickly introduces us to Zeke King’s world and things to come. I grew up watching Sammy Terry introduce late night monster movies and love that Count Karloff (a perfect name for a horror host) is used in the first Zeke King arc. The issue ends with a cliffhanger and left me wanting more. What better praise for a comic?
Gonzalez’s writing, like his art, is clear and supports the story in a lean, efficient way. Many folks compare Gonzalez’s art to Darwyne Cooke and I don’t disagree but I also see the influence of Alex Toth and Paul Grist.
Bring on issue 2!
Rating:
Mike Zeck’s Rarely Seen Charlton Comics Covers!
Today we have a rarely seen Charlton cover created by Mike Zeck for Monster Hunters #9. Ol’ Groove is right when he says when folks think about the…
…art of Magnificent Mike Zeck, we most often think of Master of Kung Fu (and post-Groovy Age Captain America, Punisher, and Secret Wars). Like many other super-stars of the late 20th Century (John Byrne, Joe Staton, Jim Aparo, and Don Newton, to name a few), some of Mighty Mike’s earliest professional color comics work rolled off the printing presses at Charlton Comics in Derby, Connecticut.
If you click over to Diversions of the Groovy Kind you can see the covers Mike produced for Charlton Comics from 1975 to 1977.
John Beatty Livestream: Jack Carter & John Wick Watercolor on Nov. 23rd!
This Friday, November 23rd, starting at 1pm EST, John Beatty will be drawing live on YouTube. I’ll be co-hosting as Big J creates a watercolor painting pairing Sylvester Stallone as Jack Carter and Keanu Reeves as John Wick! How cool is that?
Just think: You can avoid the Black Friday crowds and have a blast with other like-minded fans as we watch John draw and paint! We’ll be talking movies, comics, tv, novels and of course Sly Stallone. John and I will take questions from the folks who show up. These livestreams are always a blast so we hope to see you there!
Neal Adams Cover for All Star Western #2
Sticking with the western theme and following up on Darwyn Cooke’s Lone Ranger sketch, today we have a rarely seen Neal Adams cover for All Star Western #2. Ain’t she a beaut?
Darwyn Cooke’s Lone Ranger
Darwyn Cooke’s Lone Ranger sketch is just too cool not to share. You can see a bigger version at I Can’t Stop Thinking About Comics.
