Category: Art

Mike Torrance Presents: Sly as Dracula

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Mike Torrance aka The Krayola Kidd did this for me last year. I thought I had posted it, but…

Mike Torrance is an artist who does it all — he pencils, inks and colors. You can see more of Mike’s art at The Daily Sketch with The Krayola Kidd and his Deviant Art site. You’re also going to be happy to know that once a month Mike has a contest for someone to win a free sketchcard! Mike is available for commissions and his prices are very reasonable. Check him out.

CigarBox Guitar, Blind Willie Johnson & Thomas Boatwright

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I like something in almost every genre or type of music.  Pop, rock, blues, disco, gospel, oldies… you name it and I can tell you artists and/or songs I like.  Truth be told, I really didn’t know much of anything about cigarbox guitar music.  One thing I do know is if the genre as a whole is a good as “If I Had My Way: A Cigarbox Guitar Tribute to Blind Willie Johnson” then I’ve been missing out big time.

Oh, and by the way, Thomas Boatwright did the very cool CD Cover.  You can see more of Thomas’ art here and here.

Batman: Year One – Feature Length Animation

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One of my all-time favorite graphic novels is Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli. I was pleased to read in The Hollywood Reporter today that a feature length animated adaptation is in the works with Bruce Timm on board to executive produce.  Timm indicates that the production will closely follow the graphic novels story and look when he says:

“The source material is surprisingly cinematic; it’s a pretty straight forward literal retelling… Mazzucchelli’s artwork is beautifully composed and we were able to refer to the comic for about 80 percent of the camera setups.”

Ben McKenzie will provide the voice for Batman/Bruce Wayne and Bryan “Breaking Bad” Cranston will do the same for Liet. James Gordon.  You can read more about the production here and here.

Bring Back Black Cross

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The drawing above is of a character created by Chris Warner called Black Cross. He made his first appearance [Black Cross, not Chris Warner] in Dark Horse Presents #1. DHP #1 was an anthology and the first comic published by the folks who would go on to give us Frank Miller’s Sin City, Eric Powell’s The Goon, Hellboy by Mike Mignola, and on and on and on.

Black Cross was popular enough to spin off into a mini-series, a couple of stand alone short comic stories and a one-shot. At one point, Black Cross was close to becoming a big screen feature with Howie Long in the title role. At about the same time another Black Cross mini-series was in the works called “My War.” Neither it or the movie ever happened.

I always hold out hope that one day Chris Warner will bring back Black Cross.

Lee Marvin, Mel Gibson & Jason Statham

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Variety reported today that…

  • Jason Statham is in negotiations to star in the thriller “Parker” with Taylor Hackford directing… based on the book series by Donald Westlake [aka RIchard Stark], [and] revolves around a thief who, though at times is forced to be a killer, still lives by a code of honor that includes never stealing money from people who need it. His word is his bond, and if he is crossed he will strike back relentlessly.

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Richard Stark’s Parker novels as well as the graphic adaptations by Darwyn Cooke.   I also enjoyed Lee [“Point Blank”] Marvin and Mel [“Payback”] Gibson in movies based on the Parker character.  I have little doubt that Taylor Hackford directing Jason Statham will be welcome additions to the Parker legacy.

Return to Ape Greatness?

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The original “Planet of the Apes” is still one of my all-time favorite movies.  Unfortunately, as with most movie series, the sequels got progressively worse.  And let’s not even talk about the Tim Burton remake.

So, with that said, I have no idea how good the new “Apes” movie, “Rise of the Apes” will be.  I do like the concept art that I’ve seen, so maybe there is hope for a return to greatness.

Matthew Warlick’s Sketchbook Deal

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Want to hear about the best deal in comics today?

It’s Matthew Warlick’s 2011 Sketchbook.  Longtime readers will remember when Matthew drew Jack Carter and videoed the process.  Ah, but I digress, you want to hear about the great deal Matthew is offering on his sketchbook.  Okay, here’s the skinny.  The sketchbook is 48 pages for five bucks, PLUS you get a free quickie sketch in the back of the book!

How can you beat that?  You can’t.  My sketchbook came today with a drawing of Rocky. [I’ll post it soon.]  As they say on tv, get your orders in quick, because this deal is too good to last long!

Cooke, Stark, Parker: A Better Martini

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Earlier today I posted about Hunter: The Martini Edition which will combine The Hunter and The Outfit into an oversized 9×13 package with 65 pages of additional material [344 total page count]  for a very reasonable $75.00 price tag.  At Wondercon, today, the cover of the edition [shown above] was previewed.  In addition, Scott Dunbier, the editor of the project said that Hunter: The Martini Edition will…

“contain both of the graphic novels that Darwyn did — both of them were pretty widely acclaimed. It’ll have a number of illustrations, sketchbook material, a lot of cool little extras. One of the best is, it’ll actually have an original eight-page story that will only be available in this Martini Edition.”

Now, more than ever I think that IDW should print up an edition of extras for those of us who have supported the books from the start.

[Via CBR.com]