Isolated Incidents

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My buddy, Raf, is constantly busy. If he’s not training a group of soldiers martial arts, choreographing knife fights for movies, doing conceptual drawings for films or Broadway, working on comic book pages for publication, then he’s probably drawing something for his own entertainment.

Quite often Raf will sketch while listening to music, watching tv or whatever. As the mood strikes him, he will file away a piece and begin working on another — only to return to the first piece later. Working this way has led to some pieces that are truly amazing in their detail. Just as wonderful are some of Raf’s quick sketches — you can see in just a few lines that everything is there. I’ve been fortunate over the years to watch Raf creating and the number of drawings that he’s completed is astounding.

Thankfully, Raf has decided to start publishing the best of these drawings in “Isolated Incidents: The Art of Rafael Kayanan” books. “Volume I” is available now and you can read more about it here. I ordered mine the day I saw it was available. You should too.

The Kingdom Worth a Visit

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The Pitch: An American FBI unit is begrudgingly sent to Saudi Arabia with limited time and resources to find out who was behind a devastating bombing attack on American civilians.

The Good: The opening credits which through voice-over and animated timeline give us a brief, but entertaining history of Saudi Arabia. Peter Berg’s direction. Jason Bateman is surprisingly good — I didn’t realize he could be a tough guy. The kidnapping / shootout / rescue scenes will keep you on the edge of your seat.

The Bad: What happens if you’re even suspected of a crime in the Saudi military.

The Ugly: What eventually happens to most bomb makers.

The Summary: “The Kingdom” doesn’t, pardon the expression, blast out of the shoot. It takes it’s time to tell the story, but once the kidnapping takes place things really move. I enjoyed it.

London After Midnight Found?

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Harry, over at AICN has posted that a print of “London After Midnight” has been found. Long thought to be a lost film, “London After Midnight” starred Lon Chaney and was directed by Todd “Freaks” Browning.

To horror fans and film buffs finding a copy of this film would be like Indiana Jones finding the Holy Grail. This isn’t the first time it’s been reported that a copy has been found, but according to Harry’s sources, this could be the real deal.

I hope that this pans out and that the film is restored and given a theatrical revival before hitting dvd. You can bet that I’ll follow the story and report any news here.

If You Love Crime Fiction

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Darwyn Cooke has just announced that he’ll be adapting Richard Stark’s “Parker” crime series into graphic novels.

Man-oh-man-oh-man! Talk about great news! How can it get any better than the combination of one of my favorite artists [with a love for the crime genre] adapting one of the most iconic characters in crime fiction?

You can read more about the pairing of Cooke and Parker here and here.

Brubaker’s Angel of Death [2008]

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I’m a fan of Ed Brubaker’s crime fiction so I was glad to hear that he has a new live-action crime series called “Angel of Death” set to premiere in 2009. Zoe Bell, best known for her work in Quentin Tarantino’s “Death Proof” will star as an assassin who, after suffering a severe head wound, becomes so haunted by her victims that she decides to go after the crime family that ordered the hits. What makes this weekly series unique is that each episode will be eight to ten minutes in length and air on-line!You can read the full story here.

By the way, Sean Phillips, who teamed with Brubaker for Sleeper and Criminal did the promo art above.

American Flagg Returns

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Howard Chaykin says he’ll believe it when he sees it. The “it” is the release of the first hardcover collection of Chaykin’s critically acclaimed “American Flagg” series. Initially announced over four years ago [I was talking it up back in January of ’04], the series was delayed in order to make the hardcovers the best that they could possibly be.

If you’re a comics fan and you’ve never read Chaykin’s “American Flagg” here’s your chance to jump on board. If you’re already a fan, then head down to your local comic shop or click here. And if you’re still not convinced that “American Flagg” is for you, then check out this interview with Howard Chaykin and see what you think.

You Just Might Get It!

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Today we have a short clip that you have to see to believe. It’s from an old wrestling match that paired Terry Funk with Cactus Jack aka Mick Foley against some mugs that they’d beaten. Funk and Jack decide that their opponents need a little more hurt and so they ask for some chairs from the crowd. Big Mistake!

You can see that Funk and Foley, er, Cactus Jack are shocked at the number of chairs being hurtled into the ring. They move to opposite corners and begin to yell/signal for fans to stop. At just before the 1:30 mark a chair grazes Funk and he stays in character. Too funny!

Watch it here and remember, be careful what you ask for…

Remembering Estelle Getty

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Estelle Getty, best known as the wise-cracking mother on “The Golden Girls” died today , just two days short of her 85th birthday. Getty’s story is an interesting one. She was born in 1923, and wanted to make it as an actress. Getty struggled trying to get roles and working office jobs to make ends meet.In 1985 she auditioned for the role of Bea Arthur’s mother in the just-being-cast tv series “The Golden Girls.” Everyone knew that if Estelle got the role, it would sorely test her acting skills since Bea Arthur was actually a year older than her. Estelle was brought back to audtion three different times since the producers weren’t sure that Estelle was convincing enough as an 80 year old. Eventually, she was awarded the role, and the rest is, as they say, history. “The Golden Girls” ran for seven years and Estelle was perfect as the fiesty oldest of the quartet.Her popularity in “The Golden Girls,” led to other roles, most notably as mothers to Sylvester Stallone [“Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!”], Cher [“Mask”] and even Barry Manilow in the tv movie “Copacabana.” Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family, friends and fans.


Craig’s "Dark Knight" Review

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The Pitch: Batman done right.

The Overview: Batman has been fighting crime for a year. He’s formed an uneasy alliance with police Lieutenant James Gordon and together they have made the streets of Gotham a bit safer. Harvey Dent, the charismatic and popular district attorney, with the aide of attorney Rachael Dawes [Bruce Wayne’s ex] are putting away criminals through the courts. Together the four [Batman, Gordon, Dent and Dawes] have created a one-two punch taking on organized crime in Gotham.

Without warning and with no explanation, a criminal psychopath who calls himself the Joker appears on the scene and begins to terrorize the city. Batman, Gordon and Dent will have to pay a terrible toll if they are to have even a chance at stopping the Joker.

The Good:

  • Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker is amazing from every little tic and nod to the perfect inflection with his dialogue. Ledger understood that the Joker isn’t a clown, but instead a psycho with face paint.
  • The screenplay by Jonathon and Christopher Nolan provides great action sequences, spot on characterization and grounds everything in reality.
  • Christopher Nolan’s direction.
  • The city of Gotham. This is the first time in any Batman movie that the city seemed real.
  • The dinner scene with Bruce, his date, Rachael and Harvey. Bruce went in not wanting to like Harvey, but comes to realize he is a decent man and leaves respecting him.
  • The use of Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman.
  • Every scene with Heath Ledger as the Joker.
  • Bringing back Cillian Murphy for one scene as the Scarecrow.
  • The use of the right actors for small but important roles: Eric Roberts as Salvatore Maroni, William Fichtner as the bank manager, “Tiny” Tim Lester as a convict. Anthony Michael Hall, Jai White and Nestor Carbonell also appear.
  • Gary Oldman is perfect in his role as Gordon.
  • The effects for Harvey Dent as Two-Face. The way the coin toss; Two-Face name, and new look of his outfit is all worked out for the movie.
  • The Joker telling Batman the opposite locations for the rescure of Rachael and Harvey. The Joker’s scene with the criminal bosses, the Joker being “questioned” by the Batman, the Joker visiting Harvey in the hospital and then the scene right after when he walks out of the hospital. So much of the movie is just plain good. Oh, and did I mention that Heath Ledger ruled in his role as the Joker?


The Bad: I’m not sure Maggie Gyllenhaal was the best person to play Rachael and I still don’t like the look of Batman’s cowl, but with so much to like about the movie, let’s just move on, ok?

The Ugly: What happens to Harvey Dent.

The Summary: I’m a Batman fan. No prior Batman movie had given me a Batman that totally worked… not even Nolan and Bale’s “Batman Begins.” “The Dark Knight” works. It works because the movie is grounded and the characters are treated with respect. Excellent choices were made all the way around. Heath Ledger’s performance is amazing and gives the movie an additional boost. I look forward to having “The Dark Knight” in my dvd collection.

The Ghost of Gargantua

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A trailer for Wild Bill Black’s “The Ghost of Gargantua” is now on-line. “Ghost of Gargantua” is the sequel to Bill’s ever-popular “The Amazing Colossal Woman.” Long-time ZONErs may remember this post where I talked about filming that was going to take place at one of Tim Gordon’s Tampa Cons. It did and much of it appears in the trailer below.

Here’s some trivia before you watch:

* The screaming crowd scenes were filmed on August 20, 2006 using fans in attendance at Tim Gordon’s con.

* At 2:09 in the trailer there is a close-up reaction shot of “The James” Howell. If you look closely at the collar of his shirt, you’ll notice its red. The red was from fake blood. Earlier in the day, we had shot a scene of “The James” being attacked by a vampire in a hotel room. That scene will appear in a future Bill Black release.

* You may recognize the four mugs featured in the trailer and pictured below: starting at the top and going clockwise – 1] “The James” Howell – comic book and art collector, writer and director and all around great guy 2] me 3] John “The Master” Higashi – comic art collector, master of sketches, leader of the pack 4] John “Big” Beatty – comic book artist, king of nonsense, and my oldest friend [although not as old as Jim Ivey or Bill Black].

* John Beatty is wearing a patch in the trailer. It’s a running gag that his character, “Patch,” shows up in several of Bill’s movies. This is his second appearance with a third soon to follow!

* John Higashi gets a close-up in the trailer where he yells “Godzilla.” It was totally ad-libbed and brought down the house.


So sit down, relax, let your mind take you back to the days of drive-ins, Nightmare Theater and watch the trailer for “The Ghost of Gargantua!”

UCF Fight Night 14 Results

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Let’s take a look at the results of last night’s fights:

C.B. Dollaway looked like his was going to have a long night with Jesse Taylor when three-quarters of the way through the first round he pulled off a “Peruvian necktie” forcing Taylor to submit. I busted out laughing while watching C.B. work Taylor into the hold. I’d never seen the move before and didn’t realize what was happening. I don’t think that Taylor did either. Then when it was announced that Dollaway had one via “Peruvian necktie” I started laughing again — the hold sounded like something that Gordon Solie would come up with while announcing Professional Wrestling from Florida in the early 70’s! Hats off to Dollaway for the win.
Frankie Edgar convincingly defeated Hermes Franca by winning every round. for a unanimous decision. Franca’s year off must have really taken its toll. Except for a few brief bursts by Franca, Edgar controlled the entire fight and looked good in winning.

Brandon Vera defeated Reese Andy by unanimous decision in the most boring fight of the night. Andy tried to pressure the much bigger Vera, but was pretty ineffective. Vera was just plain tired, but did enough to win.

Anderson Silva defeated James Irvin by TKO at 1:01 of the first round. Silva landed a strong kick that knocked Irvin to the mat and then followed with several unanswered shots to the head forcing the ref to call it. Silva looked strong and confident while Irvin seemed a bit stiff. Then again, who wouldn’t be when facing the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world? Although Silva says that his main priority is defending his middleweight title, I don’t think that we’ve seen the last of Silva at light heavyweight and he may even challenge for the title before to long.

In the strangest decision of the night: Kevin Burns won via TKO at 3:35 of round three over Anthony Johnson. Johnson was well ahead in the fight and Burns needed a knock out to win. Suddenly Burns swung and appeared to connect with Johnson’s chin. Johnson spun around and went to the mat. Burns hesitated and then dropped down reigning blows on Johnson until the ref stepped in to call it. Johnson immediately and repeatedly complained he’d been poked in the eye. Replays showed that’s exactly what happened. Burns had jabbed with his left and his fingers went into Johnson’s eye and Burns’ followup right totally missed. Johnson went down because of the pain to his jabbed eye. Add to this the fact that Burns had poked Johnson in the eye earlier in the match and was warned if it happened again he would lose a point or be disqualified and you have the makings of a DQ win for Johnson. Nope. Burns was given the victory. Looks like Burns unintentionally took a cue from either Rick “The Dirtiest Player in the Game” Flair or Curly of the Three Stooges.

If you tuned out after the Silva win, you missed the KO of the Night. Rory Markham was on his way to being knocked out by Brodie Farber. We were still in the first round and the two had been exchanging punches like it was the final seconds of the final round that both needed for a victory. Farber landed a couple of shots that rocked Markham. As Markham back peddled, Farber began stalking him. Suddenly Markham unleashed a head kick that knocked Farber out cold!

Overall a good card that opened up the potential for more great fights.

Wild Bill Checks In

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My old buddy [okay, he’s not that old], Wild Bill Black dropped in to say that he’s going to be a guest at Tim Gordon’s August 10th comic show. Tim’s shows are always a blast and having Bill there just adds to the fun. Wild Bill says that he’ll bring some of his comics and dvds for fans to purchase. Autographs are free. ; )Bill said that he’ll also bring some trailers and film clips for the show’s film room. But why wait, you can see the trailer for The Blue Bulleteer Captured by the Cloak by clicking here.

If you’re able to make the show, you should. I can gurantee a fun time.