Wrightson Unpublished Pencil Sketch Cover for Batman: The Cult
The Bristol Board shared this pencil sketch cover for his Batman: The Cult mini-series for our viewing pleasure.
12 Solid Facts About “Pumping Iron”
Jake Rosen and Mental_Floss present 12 Solid Facts About Pumping Iron. Here are three of my favorites…
1. THE MOVIE ORIGINALLY CO-STARRED A WIMP.
When photographer George Butler was dispatched by both Life magazine and The Village Voice to cover the burgeoning bodybuilding scene in the early 1970s, he was fascinated with its abundance of charismatic participants. Feeling one of the sport’s star attractions, Arnold Schwarzenegger, could carry a full-length film, Butler decided to pursue a feature-length project with collaborator Robert Fiore that he began shooting in 1975. The problem was that Butler was focused on the mass monsters of the Mr. Olympia scene; to balance it out and offer audiences a more relatable subject, he enlisted slightly-built actor Bud Cort (Harold and Maude) and shot a lot of footage of him working out and marveling at the well-developed bodies all around him. The footage wound up being cut from the finished film.
2. NO ONE BELIEVED ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER COULD CARRY THE MOVIE.
While Butler was trying to raise funds, he shot a 10-minute test sequence of Schwarzenegger making a guest posing appearance in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Screening the footage for investors in New York, Butler was dismayed to see that they seemed more horrified than intrigued by the sight of the massive Austrian flexing his deltoids. After the footage ended, playwright Romulus Linney stood, turned to Butler, and said, “I think I speak for all of us when I say that if you make a movie about this Arnold person, we will laugh you off 42nd Street.” (Butler turned to another approach, piecemealing his budget together by petitioning more than 3000 separate financiers until he got the money he needed.)
5. LOU FERRIGNO PREDICTED HIS OWN FUTURE.
The nature of raw footage means that hundreds of hours of film were left on the cutting room floor, but according to Butler, one sequence in particular has never left his memory. Talking to Ferrigno about his future hopes, the actor told the director that “all I want to be is the Hulk.” He got his wish just two years later, starring for five seasons on CBS’s The Incredible Hulk.
Kurt Russell: 3 Essential Films
Neil Mitchell and BFI present Kurt Russell: 10 Essential Films. (Sadly the original post is no longer available.) Using just their choices, here are my top three…
- Escape from New York. Could anyone else have been Snake Plissken? The correct answer is, “No.”
- Tombstone. One of the most re-watchable films of any genre.
- Bone Tomahawk. A cult classic.
Kurt Russell movies that didn’t make the cut, that I through would have: Big Trouble in Little China, Breakdown, Backdraft, 3,000 Miles to Graceland and of course, Tango & Cash.
Gorgeous “Kong: Skull Island” Concept Art
I always enjoy seeing movie concept art. If you’re a fan as well, check out Germain Lussier and io9’s This Gorgeous Kong: Skull Island Concept Art Is Fit for a King.
RIP – Bernie Wrightson
It was announced today that Bernie Wrightson has passed away after a long battle with brain cancer. Mr. Wrightson was 68.
Known best for his drawings and paintings in the horror genre, Mr. Wrightson was a humble and soft-spoken man who appreciated his fans. Wrightson was an artist’s artist. Not only was his work loved by fans, but professional artists were also in awe of his talent. Best known as the co-creator (with Len Wein) of Swamp Thing, Wrightson was also known for…
- Being one of the young upstart talents of “The Studio” (along with Barry Smith, Michael Kaluta, and Jeff Jones)
- His horror work at Warren Publishing
- His Frankenstein project (beautiful pen and ink illustrations for Mary Shelley’s classic tale)
- His work with Stephen King – creating the poster for the movie Creepshow and illustrating King’s Cycle of the Werewolf novella, illustrations for The Stand (restored version), and art for the hardcover editions of From a Buick 8 and Dark Tower V.
- His comics at Marvel (Punisher, Spider-Man), DC (Swamp Thing, Batman) and IDW (The Ghoul and Doc Macabre – both with co-creator Steve Niles)
- His conceptual art for films such as The Faculty, Spiderman, and George Romero’s Land of the Dead, and The Mist.
- So much more
I was fortunate enough to meet Berni Wrightson a couple of times at HeroesCon. He was kind and humble and appreciative of the praise fans (myself included) gave him. On the first occasion, when my wife learned that Mr. Wrightson was a guest at the con she came into the show to meet him. She wasn’t a real comics fan, but she did love Mr. Wrightson’s art, appreciated his talent and wanted to meet him. When she spoke to him, he seemed genuinely touched. As we were leaving his area other fans were coming over to share their appreciation. I’m glad Bernie Wrightson was aware of how much his art positively impacted so many people.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Berni Wrightson’s family, friends and fans.
Paul Gulacy Interviewed at Comic Shenanigans Podcast
Paul Gulacy is the subject of this interview at Comic Shenanigans podcast.
(Personal note – you just know I loved hearing that Paul was doing the storyboards for Stallone’s Escape Plan 2. – Craig)
Rare Poster for “The Usual Suspects”
Check out this rare poster for The Usual Suspects. Click on the photo for a larger view.
Source: Eyes on Cinema.
The 12 Greatest Giant Monster Movies
Owen Gleiberman and Variety turn their sights to their choices for the 12 Greatest Giant Monster Movies.
Their list contains excellent choices. My top three today would be…
- King Kong (the original Kong)
- THEM!
- The Amazing Colossal Man
My most controversial pick would be The Amazing Colossal Man. The argument could be made for several other (better?) movies but TACM has always been a favorite since I was a kid. It’s hard to beat the nostalgia factor.
I was also glad to see Mysterious Island made the list. It’s not normally a movie listed for horror, but it did have some giant monsters so I won’t nit pick. Plus Mysterious Island is a fun movie.
Ken Meyer Jr.’s Ink Stains 45: Sinnott, Eisner, Ditko, Harvey, Black and More!
If you’re a fan of fanzines, then you’ve got to check out Ken Meyer, Jr.’s monthly column Ink Stains. Each month Ken (who is an amazing artist) posts… well, let’s let Ken explain…
I have a collection of over 200 fanzines from the 60’s-80’s that I plan to scan and talk about, one at a time. I hope to have some of the participants answer a few questions. Many of those participants are established comics professionals now, while some have gone on to other things. I will show a few snippets from each zine and give you a link to download a pdf of the whole thing, which I hope all of you will do!
For Ink Stains 45, Ken took a look at Collector #29 from 1974 from Bill G. Wilson.
Collector #29 is a huge issue and features –
- Color Star Trek cover
- Very cool cowboy drawing by Joe Sinnott (dedicated to Bill – Black?)
- An interview with Walter Koenig (Chekov from Star Trek)
- Star Trek art and articles
- John Byrne Star Trek art
- Captain Marvel art and articles (full pager by Bill Black)
- C.C. Beck art and articles
- Ken Barr full pager
- RC Harvey story and art
- Kurt Schaffenberger full page with Captain Marvel, Superman and Lois Lane
- Steve Ditko comic story
- Two full page drawings of The Thing from Another World
- Art and articles about The Shadow
- Art and articles about The Spirit
- Bill Black full page Spirit piece
- Additional art by Bill Black, Clyde Caldwell, John Byrne, Steve Ditko, Will Eisner, Steve Fabian, R.C. Harvey, Don Newton, Joe Sinnott and more.
I’d never seen Collector 29 before but would have really been blown away back in the day seeing so many pros and fans coming together in a fanzine.
Ah, the memories of the glory days of fanzines. Thanks to Ken Meyer, Jr. for making these available!
The 50 Best Movie Monsters of All Time
Oliver Lyttelton and Playlist have come up with their choices for The 50 Best Movie Monsters of All Time.
The great thing about this list is that by going 50 deep they are able to highlight some monsters usually not considered (and in many cases monsters that didn’t star in movies but made appearances).
Iron Man Splash Pages from the Micheline, JRjr and Layton Run!
Diversions of the Groovy Kind has posted the splash pages from the first classic run on Iron Man by David Michelinie, John Romita Jr., and Bob Layton. When these three fellows were on IM it was a special time and the splashes served almost as second covers.
Thanks to Diversions for giving us another look!
SUPERMAN: THE GOLDEN AGE – a free FAN COMIC by Adrien van Viersen
Adrien van Viersen is storyboard artist (X2, X3, Game of Thrones, and The Flash) and self-proclaimed life-long fan of Superman. His favorite Superman is that of the Golden Age.
van Viersen has created a Superman story that’s a love letter to that earlier, more innocent age. In the free fan fiction download (that is as good if not better than most published comics) we learn how Clark Kent discovered bullets didn’t hurt him, that a simple pair of glasses could be a great disguise and where he got the Superman persona.
All in all great fun!
Top 10 Comic Books That Should Become R-Rated Movies
Alex Maidy and JoBlo.com posted their choices for the Top 10 Comic Books That Should Become R-Rated Movies. By now you know how this game is played. Using just their list I present my top three choices…
- Goon by Eric Powell: Set in a universe that has all sorts of supernatural monsters and our hero Goon. Definitely a tongue-in-cheek comic series full of fun. The Goon was part of a Kickstarter campaign (and I was in!) but a movie hasn’t been made yet. The promotional video looked great though.
- Pax Romana: Although I never read this series, I’m going to have to look it up. Who wouldn’t want to see a “world where The Vatican discovers time travel and sends modern weapons back to Ancient Rome to change the future”?
- Black Widow: A former Russian spy/assassin now in the US. Think of Atomic Blonde or A Long Kiss Goodnight, now you’re on board, right?
Other series that didn’t make the list but would be excellent candidates: 100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso; Sleeper by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips; Gravedigger by Chris Mills and Rick Burchett, Polar by Victor Santos and Scout by Tim Truman.
