“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

Raymond Chandler’s Little Known Cameo in “Double Indemnity”

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Double Indemnity is one of my favorite noir movies.  I’ve seen it a bunch of times.

Raymond Chandler, who wrote just seven novels, is one of the founding fathers of modern detective fiction.  I’ve read a lot of Chandler and knew he co-wrote the screenplay [along with director Billy Wilder] adaptation of James M. Cain’s novel of the same name.

Until recently I didn’t know that Chandler had a cameo in Double Indemnity.  What makes this an even greater find is that there are no known film or television interviews with Chandler!

 

Thanks and a tip of my fedora to Adrian Wootten and The Guardian.

Chris Schweizer Presents Charles Bronson as Wolverine

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This piece was originally posted at  iFanboy as one of their choices for Sketches of the Week.

Cool idea.  Cool exection.

Franchesco Francavilla was listed as the artist.  No surprise there.  Franchesco does neat pieces like this all the time.

Funny thing is, Franchesco wrote in to say he didn’t draw it.  Chris Schweizer did.

 iFanboy corrected their post.  The one thing that didn’t need to be changed is that Bronson as Wolverine is worthy of Sketch of the Week honors.

Chris Flick asks, “Why isn’t Stallone in The Avengers”

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Chris Flick of Capes and Babes makes his second appearance in my Stallone Theme Sketch Collection.  I had the good fortune to sit with Chris, LittleJohn312 and Patricia at last year’s Heroes Con Drink and Draw event.  What a great evening!  Ah, but I digress…

Chris Flick worked up this cool sketch of Sly wondering why he was invited to be an Avenger.  You can learn more about Chris as well as check out his popular Cape and Babes webcomic.



Steven Grant and the Making of “Two Guns”

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Steven Grant is a writer than I’ve written about many times.

Grant is the co-creator of Damned with Mike Zeck.  Grant is also the writer of the first Punisher mini-series [which took the character from a second-tier guest star to one of the most popular Marvel characters of all-time] as well as the best Punisher stories ever told.

Grant is also the creator [along with artist Mataes Santolouco] of the comic mini-series Two Guns.  As, you’re probably aware, Two Guns is now also a movie starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg.  Grant has written an interesting article that he calls Temporary Madness: Lessons Learned from Watching “Two Guns” Get Made.  You can read part one here and part two here.

Thanks and a front row seat to Two Guns for CBR.com.

 

Stark/Cooke: Parker Will Return in Slayground!

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I seldom run a straight press releases, but IDW’s announcement below is an exception:

San Diego, CA (July 20, 2013) – Darwyn Cooke’s acclaimed Parker series from IDW continues to expand with the classic Slayground. In this newest graphic novel, Parker is put to the test against crooked cops and sleazy gangsters after a heist goes south and he finds himself trapped in an amusement park closed for the winter, and embroiled in a deadly game of cat and mouse… a game that slowly starts to favor the mouse.

“A boarded up amusement park was an inspired setting for Parker,” said writer/artist Darwyn Cooke, “and Westlake made the most of it. A great story that I’m enjoying the hell out of adapting.”

Based on the influential novels by Richard Stark, AKA, Donald Westlake, Parker is a coldly calculating master criminal, one with a very rigid code. The IDW adaptations by Darwyn Cooke of The Hunter and The Outfit have received multiple Eisner and Harvey awards. The Score, released last year, is nominated for an Eisner Award at this week’s San Diego Comic-Con International. Slayground will be the fourth Parker adaptation in the popular and much lauded series.

Darwyn Cooke’s distinct style has made him a premier writer and artist in the comic book industry. A former animator, Cooke entered mainstream comics in 2000 with his critical hit Batman: Ego for DC Comics.

Donald Westlake, writing as Richard Stark, was the acclaimed author of the Parker series. He was a three-time Edgar Award winner, as well as being named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, that prestigious societies highest honor.

THAT is awesome news.

I knew Cooke was working on Slayground, but I had no idea I could expect it for Christmas.

[Of course, if you’re looking for a great crime comic to read NOW, you can’t do better than theFREE webcomic Gravedigger by Christopher Mills and Rick Burchett.]

 

Simonson Returns to Thor [But It’s Not Your Daddy’s Thor]

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Walt Simonson is returning to a character that he made famous – THOR!  

Hold on there, Kimosabe.  You see it is not the Marvel Comics version of Thor that we’re talking about now.  In fact, as Simonson points out, this take on Thor has to be different than Marvel’s.

And it will.

As Simonson explains…

Thor will be more a wild god of the north. The situation in which he finds himself in “Ragnarök” is quite different from the space the Marvel comic inhabits. It’s a different world and a different time. My Thor is almost a raging god, so it’s quite different from the Marvel character in vastly different circumstances.