Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
To celebrate Halloween, artist extraordinaire, Francesco Francavilla posted a drawing a day on on his Pulp Sunday blog. If you missed out, it’s not too late to see every drawing plus the grand finale!
Thanks to Francesco for his great taste in movies and wonderful art!
I’ve been a huge fan of Chris Stevens’ art since I first discovered him on Deviant Art. When I first met Chris, he was pretty much an unknown artist just starting to make waves. He wasn’t even a guest at the show. Suddenly Chris burst on the scene and it seemed everyone loved his style. And why wouldn’t they? The following year, Chris was a featured guest and a line of fans that would make any artist proud!
When I found out that Chris was putting together his first sketchbook, I knew I was going to want one. The fact that Chris included free headshots with advance purchases was a beautiful bonus. I’m hoping that Chris will have a new edition sketch book next year, and will offer the same deal again! Until then, we have Chris DA Art Gallery to hold us over!
Alex Owens‘ art has appeared on the StalloneZone before. He did a cool Rambo piece that I posted. This time Alex is back with his take on Sly as Rocky. I discovered Alex’s art through his Deviant Art site.
Alex Owens‘ art has appeared on the StalloneZone before. He did a cool Rambo piece that I posted here. This time Alex is back with his take on Sly as Jack Carter.
Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation of Richard Stark’s classic crime novel The Outfit is now available. In case you’re late getting in the game, The Outfit is Cooke’s follow-up to his award-winning adaptation of Richard Stark’s The Hunter. Stark aka Donald Westlake gave his blessing to the original plus three additional adaptations. In honor of the release of The Outfit Darwyn Cooke sat down for an in-depth interview with Tucker Stone for the Comics Alliance. Here’s a taste:
Palance was Westlake’s only visual reference. When I changed Parker, the idea was always to use plastic surgery as a metaphor for his emotional regression. He’s meant to look like a rawer, more stripped down version of himself… His jaw, and most importantly, his eyes, are the same. The rest is meant to reflect a man drained of things like remorse and compassion. A loveless, unadorned man.
I’ve got two more of these books to do. My plan is to finish the fourth one for my 50th birthday… I can tell you that it’s not wearing on me, working on this character. I can see him being a part of what I do for a long time. Maybe not constantly, but he’s going to be there.
Again, this is the benefit of having a few exchanges with Donald. One of his concerns was that I understood that Parker doesn’t operate out of anger. He never commits a violent act out of anger. He does it because it’s the expedient thing to do. It’s the practical thing, a survival mechanism.
I could continue to pull interesting quotes from the interview, but why not just read it. You’ll get insight into Cooke’s process in adapting the Stark novels, his [and Stark’s] take on what makes Parker tick, which crime movies were influences [and which modern crime classic Cooke thinks is over-rated], and so much more. Congrats to Tucker Stone and Comic Alliance for a great read and thanks to Darwyn Cooke for bringing Parker back.
CBR.com also has a nice little interview with preview art from Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation of Richard Stark’s The Outfit.
My buddy, Jason Walker, gives a free headsketch with every sketchbook of his that you purchase. This is his take on Sly as John Spartan from Demolition Man. The caption says, “To Craig: Eating at Fuel leads to a need for the three sea shells. best – J. Walker”. Seems everyone but Spartan knows how to use the three sea shells. You can see more of Jason’s art here.
Francesco Francavilla is no stranger to the ZONE. I’ve posted about his art and gotten sketches from Francesco for my Stallone-theme collection. Over at one of his blogs for the entire month of October, Francesco is running what he calls the 31 Days of Halloween. Every day Francesco posts a drawing [sometimes more] of a monster, vampire, werewolf, well… you get the idea. It’s a great idea and a lot of fun. I hope you can join us.
MTV Geek has posted a really interesting video interview with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. Mike talks about breaking into comics, his artistic influences, the development of Hellboy, how Hellboy has changed over the years, the future of comics and a whole lot more.
The interview can be seen here and is definitely worth a look.
Dan Hipp is the immensely talented artist behind Gyakushu Volume 1; Gyakushu Volume 2; Amazing Joy Buzzards; and a bunch of other stuff including his website. Dan must love Halloween because for the month of October he is giving fans a real treat. For the month of October the entire series of GYAKUSHU! can be read online here for free!
So check it out and if ya dig it, let Dan know!
Not only do I like the above Walking Dead teaser poster much better than the last one, but it comes attached to a CBR.com interview with Walking Dead artist Charlie Adlard!
I’ve been talking up Dave Wachter and his art for a while now. Dave Wachter is one of the best kept secrets in comics and an all-around great guy. Seems like the secret is starting to get out thanks to the fine folks at Comic Alliance. So, this post is to help keep the ball rolling because it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy!
Otis Frampton’s art is no stranger to the StalloneZone. I’ve told you about Otis’ 7-7-7 Sundays before. I’ve been fortunate enough to get three previous sketches from Otis — Rambo, Jack Carter and Cosmo Carboni. You can see them here.
I finally got to meet Otis in person at Heroes Con last year. When Otis attends conventions he has sketchbooks that he sells for a buck each. Yep, one buck. And to make the deal even more enticing, Otis includes a free headsketch. For mine he did Freddy from Cop Land. I would have gladly paid a buck a piece to have Otis draw Sly from every movie he’s done, but the idea is to get new fans to give Otis’ work a look. So instead, whenever I ran into a friend who’d never heard of Otis I’d slap a buck down and buy ’em a copy of the sketchbook with a free headsketch. Luckily none of them requested Sly, or I might have had to keep the copy for myself. ; )
Could this be the end of Rick and Carl Grimes? My guess is not, but what do I know? [Via CBR.com]
Dave Wachter joins us this week with his take on Sly from The Expendables. I’m a huge fan of Dave’s art and own several pieces [and hope to get more in the future]. He’s a tremendous artist, but more importantly an all-around decent guy. You can see more of Dave’s art at his site. – Craig
This page documents the first time Batman and Hellboy met. Pretty historic art if you’re a comics fan, right? My buddy, John Beatty actually owned that page at one time. I wonder who owns it now. I hope it’s a fan.
