Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Here is the finished sketch of Sly as Jack Carter that Drew Moss did for me for pickup at HeroesCon. This is my first sketch from Drew and it wasn’t my last. I’ll post the second piece that I got from Drew in the near future.
Until then, if you’d like to see more of Drew’s art, you can here. – Craig
The poster for Escape Plan, starring Sly and Arnold Schwarzenegger was released this week and it is a nice one!
Inspired by the Escape Plan poster, StalloneZoner, Ferhat TEMİZ made these three wallpapers. Click on each to get the wallpaper-sized version. Thanks to Ferhat! – Craig
Yesterday I put in my preorder for The Art of Sean Phillips. It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Sean Phillips’ art and have been looking forward to his art book for a while. The Art of Sean Phillips is an over-sized 9″ x 12″ hardcover with more than 300 pages!
Here’s how the book description describes it…
The Art of Sean Phillips is a lavish, career-spanning retrospective of the acclaimed artist behind Criminal, Sleeper, Incognito, and Fatale.
Sean has personally selected the very best, most interesting examples of his art for inclusion, from comic strips assembled with childhood friends in his bedroom, through his work for British girls’ comics and 2000AD, to his role as a key artist in the early years of Vertigo, through his superhero work for Marvel, DC, and WildStorm, and finally from his creator-owned series with Ed Brubaker.
Also, the renowned artist has been extensively interviewed, along with many of his key collaborators, for the book’s in-depth commentary on his work and career.
Here’s where you can see some preview pages thanks to Comic Vine.
The Art of Sean Phillips is available for pre-order now.
The Guns of Shadow Valley by Dave Wachter [co-creator & artist], James Andrew Clark [co-creator & writer] and Thomas Mauer [Letterer] is now available on Kickstarter.
The Guns of Shadow Valley started as a weekly web comic set in 1870’s in the mysterious Shadow Valley where a…
“posse of gunmen with special abilities must come together and defend against a tribe of ghostly warriors, an advancing army led by a deranged Colonel, and the perils of the valley itself.”
It’s more than just a western, it has elements of “science fiction, steampunk, superpowers, mysticism, and folklore.”
The Guns of Shadow Valley was nominated for the Eisner Award for ‘Best Digital Comic’ in 2010, and for the Harvey Award for ‘Best Online Comics Work’ in 2011. Dave Wachter was nominated for the Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award in 2012.
If you’ve never read The Guns of Shadow Valley, why not check it out? Then if you like what you see, please consider swinging by The Guns of Shadow Valley Kickstarter and become a backer. There are backer levels [with cool rewards at each level] to suit every budget.
That’s the self-titled Corduroy Mafia at Heroes Con 2013. From left to right we have Brian Jones, me, Gene Gonzales, John Nacinovich and Royce Thrower. How we gave ourselves the name Corduroy Mafia is a tale for another time. Instead I present my HeroesCon 2013 summary.
The Drive Up:
Doralya and I left Friday morning. We planned to leave earlier, but a late start got us on the road at about 5am. Traffic was terrible, two different wrecks slowed us down and it rained almost the entire way. From now on, we plan to drive up the night before the con starts.
The hotel:
We usually stay at the Weston, but this year it was the Hampton Inn Charlotte – Uptown. What a great hotel! It’s super-clean with the friendliest staff I’ve ever seen. Free shuttle service and free breakfast made the stay even better. I’d definitely stay here again!
Main Goal of the Show:
My main goal was to meet (for the first time) and get a sketch from Rick Burchett. I’m happy to report that Rick is as nice as he is talented — yeah, he’s really that friendly! I hoped to get Rick to draw Jack Carter (Stallone) with Chris Mills/Rick Burchett’s character, Grave Digger (Lee Marvin). Rick said he could make that happen!
I then got Greg Rucka to autograph two of my Atticus Kodiac novels. I’ve been a Rucka fan since before he started working in comics — and was pleased when he teamed with Rick Burchett on Lady Sabre. Eric Newsome was at the table as well. Eric assists with the Lady Sabre website and more. Since I am a backer of their Lady Sabre Kickstarter, I knew the password to get an advance look at a Lady Sabre script! Eric also reminded me that he had done a Stallone sketch for the SZ! It was great talking to Rick, Greg and Eric.
Books signed:
All books autographed — mission accomplished.
Sketches:
Panels:
It’s only been in the last several years that I’ve made a real effort to attend panels. Without a doubt, they have made the con experience even more fun.
Drink and Draw:
Because of weather it was held in the lobby of the Hilton. Jack the Radio provided live music — they’re good! The place was packed, but the Hilton staff was very accommodating and brought out more seats. Patricia, Doralya and I enjoyed watching and messing with LittleJohn312 as he attempted to win some art — and he did!
HeroesCon Auction:
As always the auction was a fun night. LittleJohn312 won a Wizard of Oz piece (as well as the companion piece that was in next day’s auction). The move to have professional auctioneers is helpful, but Alison’s presence as the Mistress of Ceremonies was missed.
Kickstarter:
Some HeroesCon guests had Kickstarter projects that I had backed. I made sure to swing by and congratulate each on their Kickstarter success:
Meals:
The biggest surprise is that we only ate at Fuel once. It was good to keep that tradition alive, but not over do it. The best meal we had was at Fujo Bistro — we will definitely hit that place again next year! Bojangles and Einstein’s Bagels also got our business. Sadly we did not make it to Mert’s.
The Drive Home:
We left about 5:30 and arrived home at about 12:30am. Traffic and rain were both light and we were exhausted, but in a good way.
In closing:
HeroesCon this year was huge with twice the floor space as previous years. The wider aisles made movement easier. There were also additional sections this year with chairs and tables for con guests to sit, eat and visit. The bigger painting area was also a plus.
I’ve had to rewrite this sentence several times, because I come off like a real fanboy trying to say how “cool” it was to meet Rick Burchett and Steranko. Let’s just say it was great and leave it at that.
Seeing old friends and meeting new ones is always a fun part of the show. I won’t try to list them all because invariably I would leave some out.
Thanks to Shelton and his crew for another great HeroesCon — see everyone next year!
Remember when we saw the Attraction Shadow Group’s amazing performance that made us smile and left us misty-eyed?
Well, here’s another fantastic performance that will do the same.
Francesco Francavilla created minimalistic posters for each episode of season one of Breaking Bad.
You can see them all at Francesco’s site. When you click over, plan to stay awhile. The posters are just the tip of a very cool iceberg.
In just a few hours, Doralya and I will be heading up to Charlotte for our annual pilgrimage to HeroesCon. I can’t wait. It’ll be nice to get away for a “long” weekend… especially since I’ll be spending it at Heroes. There’s always plenty to do. Look at the guest list and schedule of events and you can see I’m not kidding.
Hope to see you there, but if you can’t make the show, don’t worry, I’ll post a full report later in the week.
[And Chris, if you’re reading this, remember: No parties! Be sure to feed Bruiser!]
Image Comics printed blank covers for The Walking Dead #100, and the Hero Initiative commissioned 100 top artists to do an original drawing on each cover to be auctioned for charity. You can see the results here.
Talented artists including folks like Charles Adlard, John Beatty, Chris Ivy, Casey Jones, Karl Kesel, Peter Krause, Jeff Lemire, Shawn McManus, Paolo Rivera, Alex Saviuk as well as so many other turned in awesome art for a great cause.
I posted my favorite of the 100 at the top of this post — it’s by Ken Lashley. Ken’s a new artist to me, but one that I’ll be following.
These are the pencils to a sketch of Sly as Jack Carter that Drew Moss is doing for me for pickup at HeroesCon. This is my first sketch from Drew and I’m sure it won’t be my last. I’ll post the finished piece when I get back from Heroes.
If you’d like to see more of Drew’s art, you can here. – Craig
The Dead Can’t Be Distracted is a fan film created by Mike Pecci based on Greg Rucka and Mike Checchetto’s run on the Punisher. To learn more about it, click over to CBR’s Exclusive Filmakers Tease.
On May 7, 2013, Ray Harryhausen passed away. As a tribute of sorts, TopTenz posted their choices for the Top Ten Movie Monster Designed by Ray Harryhausen.
Here are their choices and my thoughts:
10. The Phorusrhacos (Mysterious Island): I’m a huge fan of Mysterious Island. It starts off as a escape movie set during the civil war (and using a hot air balloon) and turns into a sci-fi/monster movie. I remember watching it late at night (presented by horror host Sammy Terry) when I was a kid staying over at my grandparents house. My uncle came in from a date and watched the rest of it with me. Good times.
9. The Giant Octopus (It Came From Beneath the Sea): The giant octopus is cool, but unless you live near the ocean how scary can it be? Not a big fan of this film.
8. Joe Young (Mighty Joe Young): I love this film and would put it at #1 on the list. I think Joe Young is Harryhausen’s best work.
7. The Tyrannosaurus Rex (The Valley of Gwangi): I saw The Valley of Gwangi at a drive-in when I was a kid. Cowboys and Dinosaurs!! I thought it was awesome. When I saw it years later, I thought it was still fun.
6. The Ymir (20 Million Miles to Earth) and 5. The Beast (The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms): Are both fun films but I often find that most fans of this genre like them better than me.
4. The Cyclops (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad): Harryhausen put his twist on the Cyclops making it a creature scarier than a one-eyed giant.
3. The Statue of Kali (The Golden Voyage of Sinbad): This is one of my least favorite of Harryhausen’s creations. I just am not thrilled with a monster that’s a statue.
2. Medusa (Clash of the Titans): For me, this was the best part of a bad movie.
1. The Skeleton Army (Jason and the Argonauts): Although I prefer Mighty Joe Young, this is the scene that most folks go to when showing Harryhausen’s magic. Who am I to argue? It is awesome.
SZoner, Gerardo Moreno is back with his new Barney Ross Expendables piece. I’ve always enjoyed Gerardo’s Stallone art, and know that I can see more of his art here.
The fact that Brian Azzarello [wrriter] and Eduardo Risso [artist] have reteamed for a new eight-issue miniseries that spins-off Lono from 100 Bullets into his own series delights me to no end. (It makes me so happy that I write sentences that I would never say in public — “…delights me to no end” indeed.) That Dave Johnson is back to provide covers for Brother Lono makes the deal even sweeter.
I can’t wait for the book to drop next month. Thankfully there’s a short interview with Brian Azzarello at CBR.com that features more of Reverand Dave’s art to hold me over.
