Gulacy Speaks

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When I was in Junior and High School, Paul Gulacy was without a doubt my favorite artist. Gulacy, along with writer, Doug Moench, created a comic book called Master of Kung Fu, which should be required reading for anyone who enjoys graphic stories.  The drawing above is a recreation of one of Paul’s classic splash pages.  You can see the man can still rock it.

The back issues of Master of Kung Fu are worth searching out.   I wish that Marvel would repackage them in a nice hardback, but due to rights issues involving Fu Manchu [really], that probably won’t happen.  Still, the back issues are worth a look and you can always check out Paul’s official site to get your Gulacy fix filled.

UFC 95 Predictions

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Let’s take a look at my predictions for tonight’s UFC 95 fight card:

Josh Koscheck Vs. Paulo Thiago I’m a bit puzzled by this fight.  Thiago is undefeated but should be severely tested by Koscheck.  Koscheck has been extremely busy working his way to a title shot.  He has a lot to lose should he do so.  Thiago could be pushed right to the top of the division with a win of Koscheck.  So who wants it more?  I’m going with Koscheck.

Demian Maia Vs. Chael Sonnen I think that Maia is going to win this one via submission pretty easily.

Nate Marquardt Vs. Wilson Gouveia I don’t see this going the distance and I’m predicting a win for Marquardt.

Joe Stevenson Vs. Diego Sanchez These are two of my favorite UFC fighters and they should provide us with an excellent main event.  Sanchez is coming down in weight, but I don’t believe that will be much of a factor.  Both are former winners of The Ultimate Fighter tv tournaments.  I’m giving the nod to Sanchez.

Kyle Baker Stays Busy

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Kyle Baker is a busy man.  He’s currently producing, directing, and starring in an animated version of The Bakers for Fox.  He just completed the first Special Forces storyline,  He’s doing a biography of President Obama and is on tap to create two new comic series this year for Image. He also wants to do a new Bakers book to appear with the Fox release.

Whew!  Talk about a workload.  Everything Kyle Baker is involved in, is worth a look.  It shouldn’t be hard to find something he’s involved in.

Big Year for Aliens & Predator

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Chris Warner has been at Dark Horse Comics since their very first issue over twenty years ago.  His Black Cross character was featured in their premiere title.  Warner went on to work on other Dark Horse properties like The American, Predator, Barb Wire and many others.  Occasionally he would even come up with a new Black Cross story.  [It’s way past time for another Black Cross mini-series!]

Eventually Warner moved into an editorial position where he suggested the first Aliens vs Predator mini-series [years before the movie came about].  Chris Warner is now the editor in charge of both the Alien and Predator properties for Dark Horse and boy, does he have plans for them this year!  He tells Newsarama [and you] all about it [if you click here].

American Scary

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Many ZONErs are horror movie fans.  And a good percentage of us are also Horror Host fans.  That’s why every so often you’ll see me post about Sammy Terry.  That’s also why today I’m linking to the first ten minutes of a documentary about Horror Hosts called “American Scary.” If it looks like something that you’d like then check out the American Scary site.

[Thanks and a raised coffin lid to Mark Evanier for the link.]

“The Descent” Rises to the Occassion

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The Pitch: “Charlie‘s Angels” [times two without the comedy] meets “The Cave.”

The Overview: Six women friends on an adventurous weekend of deep cave exploration find themselves in a life or death struggle to find a way out after a cave-in.  Unfortunately the cave-in is the least of their worries… the creatures hunting them plan to feast.

The Good: The feeling of claustrophobia.  The creatures.  There some legitimate scares [and some cheap ones as well].  Juno [Natalie Jackson Mendoza] and Sarah [Shauna Macdonald].

The Bad: Trapped over a mile below the surface, with dwindling food and water, few supplies and no sure way out… and that’s not the worst of it!

The Ugly: The creatures.

The Summary: I wasn’t expecting “The Descent” to be as good as it was.  And while it isn’t a classic, it is a solid horror movie that manages to come up with new creatures and situations in a sub-genre of horror that could have been very routine.  “The Descent” is worth a look.

Z-View: “The Wrestler” is a Winner

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The Pitch: “Rocky” meets Professional Wrestling.

The Overview: Randy “The Ram” Robinson is a washed up professional wrestler hoping for one last shot at the big time, a romance with an aging stripper and a reconciliation with his college-age daughter.

The Good: Mickey Rourke.  Maresia Tomei. Both received well-deserved Oscar nominations.  And let’s not forget writer Robert Siegel and director Darren Aronofsky.  The behind-the-scenes before and after the matches stuff.  The movie feels real.  There is no sugar-coating motivations or easily resolved situations.  Did I mention how good Rourke and Tomei are?

The Bad: The “hardcore” match.  Robinson’s relationship with his daughter.  Getting old.

The Ugly: Did I mention the “hardcore” match?

The Summary: I went in to see “The Wrestler” expecting a lot.  I wasn’t disappointed.  It deserves all the honors it is getting thanks to the efforts of Rourke, Tomei, Siegel and Aronofsky.  I look forward to watching this again when it’s in my collection.

Francavilla’s “Cop Land”

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Francesco Francavilla is an extremely talented artist.  His art blog is a regular stop on my internet travels.  I love Francesco’s moody black and white work and was excited to get a copy of his Chiaroscuro sketchbook.  I was even more excited to learn that Francesco draws a free “quick sketch” in every copy ordered through his site.   As you can see from the scan above, he decided to give me his take on Freddy from “Cop Land.”

Chiaroscuro is 70 pages full of Francesco’s black and white work.  It features everything from quick sketches to more detailed work of characters like Hellboy, Batman, Kong, Marv, and so many others.  It arrives securely packaged [which is a major plus knowing my mail carrier] and the last page contains the quick sketch.   Francesco has another sketchbook available.  Schermoscuro is a classic horror movie guide in artbook form.  Francesco is offering the same deal on it and I plan to take him up on it soon.

Art Plans for 2009

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I love attending Comic Book Conventions. It’s great meeting artists that I admire, and seeing friends that I seldom get to see. Getting sketches for my Stallone collection is an added bonus.

This year doesn’t look to be as promising for me getting to shows. Fewer days at shows will definitely limit my ability to get new art for the collection.

What to do then?

My plan is to purchase more sketches through the mail. Several artists offer free head sketches with the purchase of their sketchbooks. What a great deal!

My buddy, John Beatty, got me thinking about the idea when he ordered Derek Fridofs’ sketchbook. Since it came with a free head sketch, and John doesn’t collect art, he thought of me and asked for a Stallone sketch. [John has done similar things for me many times – and this is another chance to publicly thank him!] Derek came through with a very cool Rambo piece.

I saw that Francesco Francavilla offered the same deal as Derek so I ordered his Chiaroscuro sketchbook with a Cop Land piece. In the mean time I had been checking out Derek Fridofs’ site and really dug his work. I ordered his sketchbook and got his extremely cool take on Jack Carter.

Because these transactions went so smoothly it got me thinking about doing more. The prices were reasonable, the artists were people whose work I admired. The books/art were sent in secure packaging and the time between the orders and getting the pieces was very reasonable.

So I’m on the look out for artists who offer similar deals. I’d like to see if I can work out one a month. Any suggestions?

Mood: Optimism
Listening to: 70’s Music
Reading: Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell
Watching: “The Wrestler”
Playing: Internet Spades
Eating: Peanut Butter on a Bagel
Drinking: Skim Milk

Jim Ivey Says, “Slap ‘Em!”

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Although I try to limit political discussion [this blog is supposed to be about fun stuff], I do love talking art [comics, movie posters, paperback covers, etc.].  President Obama had a series of political posters which made such an impact with their design that the style is being copied everywhere.

I decided that it would be cool to create a “Obamicon” using a vintage photo and favorite saying of my buddy Jim Ivey.

Bringing Back a Neanderthal

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According to this article, a leading genome researcher at Harvard says

...a Neanderthal could be brought to life with present technology for about $30 million.

Whoa!  Bring a cave man to life!  At least that’s the imagine that initially ran through my mind.  How cool would that be?

But then I gave it another second to sink in.  We wouldn’t be bringing a cave man back, we’d be artificially creating a life that would then be studied and probed and whose only purpose was scientific research.

Just because we have the ability to do something doesn’t mean we should.  Besides, once the scientists had tired of studying Mr. Neanderthal, what could he do?  Geico commercials?

[Thanks and a raised cave man club to Bill Crider for the link.]