Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Merry Christmas!
Several years ago John Beatty and I teamed up to create “Yes, Timmy, There is a Santa Claus!” John pencilled, inked and colored what I wrote. The story was published in a charity Christmas comic by Tim Gordon.
What you see below is the result of our efforts. I hope that you enjoy them.
Matthew Woodson’s Daredevil print is just one of many available at Mondo Gallery’s A Celebration of Marvel Comics. /Film has a look at all of the prints!
The Big Heat is one of my all-time favorite movies. It was directed by Fritz Lang. The screenplay was by Sydney Boehm based on the Saturday Evening Post serial and 1953 novel by William P. McGivern. The film stars Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando (Marlon’s sister) and Lee Marvin. Carolyn Jones even has a small role.
It’s a great film. I just wish it had a great poster to match.
Jesse Schedeen and IGN.com present 7 Ways Frank Miller Changed Batman. Here are three of my favorites [Alert — some profanity]…
2. He Grounded the DCU in Reality.
With aliens, giant robots, talking animals and people who can fly, the DC Universe is a pretty strange and wonderful place. But before The Dark Knight Returns, it was a place several steps removed from the real world.. Miller grounded his alternate DCU in reality. His dilapidated Gotham City was much more like the New York City of the time – dirty, crime-ridden and harsh. Miller also drew heavily on the politics of the time. The Dark Knight Returns presented a world where Ronald Reagan was US President and Superman was the country’s first line of defense in their ongoing conflict with the Soviet Union. Not every Batman story since has taken the same approach, but DKR renewed the emphasis on Gotham being as much a character as the people who inhabit her streets.4. He Made Commissioner Gordon Important.
Miller followed up The Dark Knight Returns with Batman: Year One, a story that offered a more grounded and realistic look at Batman’s first year on the job. However, the most revolutionary element of this story didn’t involve Batman at all, but rather Jim Gordon. Year One focused as much attention on Gordon’s troubled first year in Gotham City. It portrayed him as a character with the same burning desire to save his city as Batman, and it made him a more integral player in Batman’s world than ever before. In DC’s current comics, Gordon himself has taken up the mantle of Batman. Would that have been possible without the influence of Year One?5. He Made Batman and Superman Frenemies.
Before Frank Miller, Batman and Superman were always the best of friends. The comic series World’s Finest chronicled their many team-up adventures, which always seemed to culminate with the two heroes smiling and shaking hands after a job well done. Miller offered a very different view of their relationship in The Dark Knight Returns. In that comic, the two heroes were less friends than former allies turned bitter enemies. The climax of the series featured an armored Batman fighting a bloody battle against the Man of Steel in the streets of Gotham. That rivalry only grew more heated in Miller’s later work like The Dark Knight Strikes Again and All-Star Batman & Robin. Not only has Miller’s depiction of the Batman/Superman relationship influenced countless other comics, it’s pretty much the basis of next year’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Diversions of the Groovy Kind is a regular stop on my daily website visits. You’ll always find something cool like this post of Marvel Premiere #34 which featured Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin’s adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane story Red Shadows.
Frank Frazetta art is rare. Frank Frazetta art is expensive.
Can you imagine how expensive a Frank Frazetta watercolor of Superman would be?
Okay, factor in that this is the only known drawing of Superman by Frazetta and move that price tag up a bit to $35,420.00.
Source: Hawkes.
The very cool Mad Max: Fury Road poster above was created by Christopher Cox as a private commission. If you click over to Christopher’s site he’ll take you through his process for creating this beauty.
Source: /Film.
Roger Cormier and Mental_Floss present 17 Super Facts About The Incredibles. Here are three of my favorites…
9. IT WAS THE FIRST PIXAR MOVIE COMPRISED ONLY OF CG HUMAN BEINGS.
Copies of the medical school text Gray’s Anatomy were given to the digital sculptors to help them figure out how the human body moves. Live action footage of Pixar animators walking was also used.14. THE “A113” EASTER EGG DEFINITELY MADE IT IN.
“A113′ is a classroom number at the California Institute of the Arts, where Bird and several others in the animation industry learned about graphic design and character animation. Bird was the first person to purposely drop in an “A113” reference, when he did so on the 1987 TV show Amazing Stories. It has since been in every episode of The Simpsons Bird worked on (Bird was a creative consultant and director on the series from 1989 to 1998 and directed the “Do the Bartman” music video), as well as every Pixar film. In The Incredibles, Mr. Incredible has a meeting in Conference Room A113, and he’s later held on Level A1, Cell Block 13 on the island.11. BIRD DIDN’T REALIZE THAT HE RESEMBLED THE VILLAIN UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE.
The writer-director admitted if he had noticed the resemblance earlier in the process, he would have asked to change Syndrome’s look.
DC Comics approached legendary artist Neal Adams about recreating 25 of his most iconic covers with different characters. As you can see from the cover above, Neal agreed!
You can see the other 24 covers over at IGN.com.
“Y’all know me. Bet you know how I earn a livin’.”
“No, we don’t.”
“I was under the assumption you’d been briefed about who I am. My name n’ Neon Joe – Werewolf Hunter.”
The Dan Panosian cover caused me to click over. The trailer piqued my interest so I thought I’d share it with you.
I like this Walking Dead variant cover by James O’Barr. It was created as a giveaway for people who went to Wizard World Louisville, that ran from November 6th to 8th.
Source: Bleeding Cool.
James Bond not only has a new movie, Spectre, but 007 also recently made his return to comics with the release of a new comic series written by Warren Ellis with art by Jason Masters and published by Dynamite Entertainment.
To celebrate the release Dynamite Entertainment commissioned several artists to create variant covers for the first issue. The cover above is by Gabriel Hardman and tops my list. You can see all of the other covers at Bleeding Cool and they are worth a look.
The photo above is of page two of the third Gravedigger story that Chris Mills and Rick Burchett would like to complete.
I sure hope they’re able to since Gravedigger is one of my favorite comic characters and the first two stories that Mills and Burchett created are some of my favorite crime, no scratch that, some of my favorite comics of any genre.
If you haven’t read any of “Digger” McCrae’s crime yarns, you can easily and cheaply enough here. The trade paperback is also available through Amazon and InStockTrades. [I don’t make any kickbacks on any of the links, and honestly if I did, I send it to Mills and Burchett to get them closer to more Gravedigger tales.]
If you’re a fan of crime comics, great stories and art, or just want to help out a couple of really decent human beings — please consider giving Gravedigger a go.
Recently io9 posted information and art about the Rick Baker tribute called The Monster Maker which featured art from…
…Star Wars to An American Werewolf in London, Men in Black to Ed Wood,Gremlins, Thriller, Hellboy…
Diversions of the Groovy Kind is a regular stop on my daily website visits.
What’s great about DotGK is that it doesn’t have to be Halloween for them to give us a treat. Although that is exactly what they did when they posted 13 Awesome Berni Wrightson Splash Pages from DC’s House of Mystery, House of Secrets, and Warren’s Creepy!
