“Parkland” a New Angle on the JKF Assassination (Updated)

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I’m more impressed with this poster to Parkland than the original that was released.  I’m totally impressed with the cast and story…

PARKLAND is a retelling of the JFK assassination as told by the many affected by it on the day it transpired, including doctors, nurses, cameramen, F.B.I. and Secret Service agents, and the Vice President who would take control of the nation after that fateful day.

JoBlo has more details and stills that make me think that Parkland  is going to be a winner.

Dave Wachter and Jimmy Bobo

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Dave Wachter is back and he brought his take on Sly from the Bullet to the Head. I met Dave a few years ago and became an instant fan. I wasn’t the only one to discover Dave’s fantastic sketches! How can you not like a great guy who is a terrific artist?

At HeroesCon this year I asked Dave to draw Sly from his first major movie, the Lords of Flatbush and another piece of Sly from his latest film, Bullet to the Head.  Last week, you saw Dave’s take on Sly as Stanley Kowalski, so this week we have Sly as Jimmy Bobo.

You can see more of Dave’s art at his site. – Craig

15 Real Life Tough Guys

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Yahoo Movies recently posted their list of 15 Real Life Tough Guys.  Here’s their list and my thoughts…

  • Dennis Farina: was a former cop and came off as a legitimate tough guy.
  • Mel Brooks: served as a demolitions man in the war.  Lacked the size to be considered a classic tough guy and probably had a better chance of killing someone with laughter.
  • Steve Buscemi: a former fire fighter who returned to help out in that role after 9/11 makes Buscemi tough guy in anyone’s book.  However, not a classic tough guy in the movie tradition.
  • Bryan Cranston: He is the one who knocks.  Of course he was also the dad in a sitcom I never watched.  Then again, he was questioned in a real life murder.  Not a traditional movie tough guy, but I ain’t tellin’ him that.
  • James Doohan: a WWII hero.  In his day, I’ll bet Doohan could kick some buttocks.  Never made it big as a movie tough guy, but that’s not what this list is about.
  • Clint Eastwood: would make anyone’s top five movie tough guys.  Glad to see him on a real life tough guy list as well.
  • R. Lee Ermey: Movie tough guy? Check.  Real-life tough guy? Check.
  • Samuel L. Jackson: Cool in the movies and real life.  Tough in the movies, I’ll buy.  Real life — not one of the actors whose name rushes to mind.
  • Dolph Lundgren: Yes, a movie and real life tough guy.  Heck, any man who dated Grace Jones had to be tough.
  • Lee Marvin would be my first or second choice for movie and real life tough guy.
  • Steve McQueen: I was never a big Steve McQueen fan.  I liked him in The Getaway though.  He wouldn’t have made either list for me.
  • Robert Mitchum: is a genuine tough guy — movie or real life.
  • Jack Palance: is another that should easily make both lists.
  • Mickey Rourke: later day Mickey Rourke makes both lists.  Mickey Rourke that started out as the pretty boy actor, was a real life tough guy, but not a traditional movie tough guy.
  • Danny Trejo: has made his career being a tough guy.

I have just one question.  How could Charles Bronson not have made this list?

Edward Zero: Secret Agent, Sociopath, Hero?

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I posted about Zero before.  At that time I said it was a new comic series by Ales Kot [writer] and Michael Walsh [artist] that looked interesting.  Here’s how the advance solicitation described it…

                         SAVING THE WORLD. ONE MURDER AT A TIME.
Edward Zero is the perfect execution machine – a spy who breaks the rules to get things done. When a stolen device appears in the center of a long-running conflict, Zero comes to retrieve it.  The problem is, the device is inside a living, breathing, bio-modified terrorist and there’s an entire army after it.

 I just learned that although the series will contain a series of rotating artists, each doing one issue.  I also discovered a bit more about Edward Zero…

ZERO is a secret agent. Edward Zero. He’s the perfect execution machine, in a sense — throw him at a problem and he wil solve it. Just remember that the way he reaches the solution may not always be to your liking, because he’s a bit of a sociopath.

But what happens when a sociopath realizes ideas and systems he based his life upon are deeply broken and not at all what they were supposed to be?

“New” Theory on Who Killed JFK – “JFK: The Smoking Gun”

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I was just five when President Kennedy was assassinated.  I was on vacation with my grandparents in Florida.  My grandfather had taken me with him on a quick trip to a supermarket.  A man came running into the store yelling that the president had been shot.  All of the adults seemed scared.  We hustled back to the hotel and my grandparents stayed glued to the tv to get the latest updates.

As the years passed, there was always a lot of talk about “who was really behind” the assassination.  Was it the mob?  LBK?  Castro?  With each passing year it seemed another theory rose up to explain how the most powerful man in the world was killed.  I read each theory and filed it away.  None seemed more plausible than it was a lone nut with a high powered rife.

Still, I was always willing to give the next theory a listen.

Now there’s a new documentary that is …

based on the work of Colin McLaren, a veteran Australian police detective who has undertaken a four-year investigation into the killing.

His theories are based on the work of Howard Donahue, who spent two decades probing the assassination and whose work was presented in the book Mortal Error: The Shot That Killed JFK, by Bonar Menninger.

This theory postulates that Oswald fired the first shot that hit President Kennedy.  Then as Secret Service Agent George Hickey drew his weapon and jumped on the back of the President’s Limo, his gun accidentally discharged shooting President Kennedy in the back of the head.  This theory also explains the…

…the different ballistic profiles of the two bullets that struck Kennedy… Mr Menninger insisted that they do not believe that Agent Hickey intentionally fired at Kennedy. Rather, the Huffington Post reported him as saying, ‘this was a tragic accident in the heat of the moment.’

But the pair do allege that the government moved swiftly, with the help of Kennedy’s brother Robert, to cover up the Secret Service’s involvement and save the agency from embarrassment.

While I don’t think that this new theory is more likely than a lone gunman with a high-powered rifle, I am willing to give it a listen.  JFK: The Smoking Gun will be broadcast on the Reelz Channel on November 3.

Thanks to Joey and the Huffington Post for the link.

Dave Wachter & Stanley Kowalski from “Lords of Flatbush”

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Dave Wachter returns with his take on Sly from the Lords of Flatbush. I met Dave a few years ago and became an instant fan. I wasn’t the only one to discover Dave’s fantastic sketches! How can you not like a great guy who is a terrific artist?

At HeroesCon this year I asked Dave to do Sly from his first major movie, the Lords of Flatbush and another piece of Sly from his latest film, Bullet to the Head. Next week, you’ll see Dave’s take on Sly as Jimmy Bobo.

Until then, you can see more of Dave’s art at his site. – Craig