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“Elvis” – Directed by Baz Luhrmann, Starring Austin Butler & Tom Hanks – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

The Elvis trailer did exactly what a great trailer should do.  I had little to no desire to see Elvis until I saw the trailer.  Now I want to see the film.

From Oscar-nominated visionary filmmaker Baz Luhrmann comes Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “Elvis,” starring Austin Butler and Oscar winner Tom Hanks.

The film explores the life and music of Elvis Presley (Butler), seen through the prism of his complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Hanks). The story delves into the complex dynamic between Presley and Parker spanning over 20 years, from Presley’s rise to fame to his unprecedented stardom, against the backdrop of the evolving cultural landscape and loss of innocence in America. Central to that journey is one of the most significant and influential people in Elvis’s life, Priscilla Presley (Olivia DeJonge).

Starring alongside Hanks and Butler, award-winning theatre actress Helen Thomson (“Top of the Lake: China Girl,” “Rake”) plays Elvis’s mother, Gladys, Richard Roxburgh (“Moulin Rouge!” “Breath,” “Hacksaw Ridge”) portrays Elvis’s father, Vernon, and DeJonge (“The Visit,” “Stray Dolls”) plays Priscilla. Luke Bracey (“Hacksaw Ridge,” “Point Break”) plays Jerry Schilling, Natasha Bassett (“Hail, Caesar!”) plays Dixie Locke, David Wenham (“The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy, “Lion,” “300”) plays Hank Snow, Kelvin Harrison Jr. (“The Trial of the Chicago 7,” “The High Note”) plays B.B. King, Xavier Samuel (“Adore,” “Love & Friendship,” “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”) plays Scotty Moore, and Kodi Smit-McPhee (“The Power of the Dog”) plays Jimmie Rodgers Snow.

Also in the cast, Dacre Montgomery (“Stranger Things,” “The Broken Heart Gallery”) plays TV director Steve Binder, alongside Australian actors Leon Ford (“Gallipoli,” “The Pacific”) as Tom Diskin, Kate Mulvany (“The Great Gatsby,” “Hunters”) as Marion Keisker, Gareth Davies (“Peter Rabbit,” “Hunters”) as Bones Howe, Charles Grounds (“Crazy Rich Asians,” “Camp”) as Billy Smith, Josh McConville (“Fantasy Island”) as Sam Phillips, and Adam Dunn (“Home and Away”) as Bill Black.
To play additional iconic musical artists in the film, Luhrmann cast singer/songwriter Yola as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, model Alton Mason as Little Richard, Austin, Texas native Gary Clark Jr. as Arthur Crudup, and artist Shonka Dukureh as Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton.

Oscar nominee Luhrmann (“The Great Gatsby,” “Moulin Rouge!”) directed from a screenplay by Baz Luhrmann & Sam Bromell and Baz Luhrmann & Craig Pearce and Jeremy Doner, story by Baz Luhrmann and Jeremy Doner. The film’s producers are Luhrmann, Oscar winner Catherine Martin (“The Great Gatsby,” “Moulin Rouge!”), Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick and Schuyler Weiss. Courtenay Valenti and Kevin McCormick executive produced.

The director’s behind-the-scenes creative team includes director of photography Mandy Walker (“Mulan,” “Australia”), Oscar-winning production designer and costume designer Catherine Martin (“The Great Gatsby,” “Moulin Rouge!”), production designer Karen Murphy (“A Star Is Born”), editors Matt Villa (“The Great Gatsby,” “Australia”) and Jonathan Redmond (“The Great Gatsby”), Oscar-nominated visual effects supervisor Thomas Wood (“Mad Max: Fury Road”), music supervisor Anton Monsted (“Australia,” “Moulin Rouge!”) and composer Elliott Wheeler (“The Get Down”).

Principal photography on “Elvis” took place in Queensland, Australia with the support of the Queensland Government, Screen Queensland and the Australian Government’s Producer Offset program.
A Warner Bros. Pictures Presentation, A Bazmark Production, A Jackal Group Production, A Baz Luhrmann Film, “Elvis” will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is set to release in theaters in North America on June 24, 2022, and internationally beginning 22 June 2022.

Jim Ivey Christmas Celebration!

That’s me (in blue) and Jim Ivey (in red).  The photo was taken last Friday at our (now resumed) Jim Ivey Celebrations.  Prior to COVID, about every six months I would invite friends to celebrate Jim Ivey (on either his birthday or Christmas).

Jim Ivey is one of our oldest and dearest friends.  Jim was the owner of The Cartoon Museum in Orlando, Florida. At the same time, Jim also worked as a syndicated cartoonist [The Thoughts of Man], a political cartoonist [The Orlando Sentinel], a publisher [CartooNews], teacher [UCF cartooning class] and comic book convention organizer [OrlandoCon].  Jim made a lot of life-long friends through these activities and many of Jim’s friends became friends.

Getting back to today’s celebration… the line-up included Jim, his caretaker Joy, Rob Smith, Steve Martinez, me, Charlie Moffitt, Santa & Mrs. Claus (Joy Underwood and her husband Dennis).

In the second photo you can see (going left to right) Robert Smith, me, Charlie Moffitt, Mike Kott, Mike Sikes, Cliff Weikal and his wife, Steve Martinez, Joy Underwood and her husband Dennis (Santa & Mrs. Claus) and our Guest of Honor: Jim Ivey.  Bill Black and John Beatty wanted to attend but family obligations kept them away. 

Jim received many Christmas cards, lottery tickets (he loves ’em), homemade cookies (he loves ’em).  Jim gave as good as he got, making sure each person in attendance got a Christmas Card and lottery ticket!  There were so many great stories shared.  It was a wonderful time. 

Our next Jim Ivey Celebration will be for his 97th birthday in April!   

The Daytona Beach Comic Book Convention Returns in September!

The Daytona Beach Comic Book Convention will return but at new location on September 18 and 19, 2021. It will now be held at the Tommy Lawrence Arena at the Volusia County Fair Grounds, 3150 E New York Ave, DeLand, Florida 32724.

In addition to new comic books, magazines, pulps, underground comix, original art, toys, action figures, POPs, Disney, and other collectibles for sale, fans will be able to meet comic book artists, writers, and creators. Guests include: Pat Broderick, Bill Black, Sergio Cariello, Jeff Whiting, Javier Lugo, Steve Conley and more to come.  There will even be a small press expo area!

If you can make it, I hope to see you there!

When Cowboys Were King!

I missed the cowboy comics boom.  When I started reading comics super heroes were already king.  Even still, there was an abundance of western comic books.  My favorite was The Rawhide Kid, but I also read many others.

If you’d like to get a look a some of the western comics heroes from the glory days, check out the gallery at Black, White and Bronze.  You’ll see art by Toth, Buscema, Heath, Kubert, Kirby, (my buddy!) Bill Black and others.

Steranko Fanzine Art and More!

Ken Meyer, Jr. presents a monthly column called Ink Stains. In the column Ken (who is an amazing artist) posts a fanzine from his collection.  Here’s Ken…

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!

In Ink Stains 112, Ken shares with us Comic Crusader #14 which is another amazing issue.  Comic Crusader #14 features a cover by Dennis Fujitake and Bill Black, more Fujitake and Black art as well as art by Don Newton, Martin Greim, Jack Kirtby, Steve Ditko,  a full pager by Steranko, articles, stories and more!  What a classic fanzine.

As always, thanks to Ken for bringing back great memories of fandom!

Ken Meyer, Jr. Takes Us into the Realm!

Ken Meyer, Jr. presents a monthly column called Ink Stains. In the column Ken (who is an amazing artist) posts a fanzine from his collection.  Here’s Ken…

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!

In Ink Stains 103, Ken shares with us Realm #5 which features an interview with Ray Bradbury, a Berni Wrightson checklist, a story by Jan Strand, art by Michael Kaluta, Vaughn Bode, Darrell Anderson, Dan Adkins, Alan Weiss, Carl Barks, Roy Krenkel, Barry Smith, Frank Frazetta, Richard Corben, Gil Kane, Bill Black (whose art is posted above) and many others.

As always, thanks to Ken for bringing back great memories of fandom!

Photo From My Past Turns Up

The picture above was recently sent to me by my buddy, Bill Black.  That’s me and my lovely wife, Doralya at OrlandoCon 1980.  What’s interesting is that until this week, I’d never seen the whole photo before.  

“Wait, what?  The whole photo?” you ask.

Let me explain.  At the show Bill was taking photos.  For this picture he said something to me like, “Look excited.”  I guess I opted for look crazy.  Anyway, Bill used a cropped version of my face on the inside front cover of Bill Black’s Fun Comics #1.  It looked like this…

So I did see the cropped version that appeared in the comic (and so did you if you read this post from 2007) but never the whole version until recently.  It’s weird seeing a photo of yourself from years ago that you’d never seen before.

Breakfast to Honor Jim Ivey!

What a fun morning!  About every six months I try to pull together a group of folks to get with our buddy Jim Ivey for a marathon breakfast session.  This time we belatedly celebrated Jim’s 92nd birthday!  That’s Jim Ivey to the far right, me, Mike Sikes, Bill Black, John Beatty, Cliff Weikal and Jim (missed his last name). Taking the photo was Steven Martinez.

Jim Ivey is one of my oldest [as in been a friend the longest], oldest [as in age] and dearest friends. I first met Jim in the mid 1970’s when he was running The Cartoon Museum in Orlando, Florida. At the same time Jim was working as a syndicated cartoonist [The Thoughts of Man], a political cartoonist [The Orlando Sentinel], a publisher [CartooNews], teacher [UCF cartooning class] and even a comic book convention organizer [OrlandoCon]. I was just graduating high school and into collecting comic books and later original art. Jim’s shop was like heaven.

Going to The Cartoon Museum became a weekly trip [almost always accompanied by my best friend, John Beatty]. When I moved to Orlando to attend UCF, my trips to Jim’s Cartoon Museum became even more frequent. We’d spend the day shooting the breeze and playing cards [blackjack, gin, hearts, poker] and would occasionally stop for lunch or Jim to make a sale. Jim hated it when business got in the way of fun!

You never knew who would come through the store. Sometimes it was other buddies like Bill Black [pictured in the photo above with Jim and I], Mike Kott, Rafael Kayanan, or Robert Smith. Sometimes it was established artists like Mike Zeck, Bob McLeod, Bruce Stark or so many others.

As the years have gone by and we’ve all gone in different directions.  Many of us correspond via e-mail, but Jim doesn’t mess with computers. So it’s snail mail correspondence for us. I love getting my letters from Jim. Just like when we’d go to his shop and you’d never know what would be waiting; it’s the same experience opening an envelope from Jim.

Getting back to today’s breakfast…

John Beatty, Cliff and I went in on stogies for Jim — got him some really nice cigars individually rolled ones from a specialty shop.  Other gifts included a nice Prince Valiant book, a Bill Black movie, a homemade carrot cake and more.  Jim was truly touched that so many old friends made the trip to honor him.  Old stories followed faster that our ice tea refills.  It was a wonderful time for all.  My guess is that our next get-together will be more of the same.  How could it not be when old friends make a point to re-connect?

The Traditional Jim Ivey Bi-Annual Get-Together

Earlier today, I picked up Jim Ivey [the gent getting the finger-point] and we headed to Robinson’s Diner in Apopka.

Once at Robinson’s, Jim and I met up with (from left to right) Rob Smith, Mike Sikes, Cliff Weikal, and Bill Black.  We’ve all been friends since the 1970’s and met through Jim Ivey’s Cartoon Museum.

I try to get the group together a couple of times a year [Jim’s birthday and Christmas] and it is always a blast spending time with the crew and reminiscing.  This time was no exception.  We always bring Jim gifts and this time he received some of his favorites: cigars, lottery tickets, and a Roy Crane book.  After breakfast Jim and I made the traditional trip to pick him up some Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream for him for later.

It’s always a blast seeing Jim [still “full of prunes and macaroons” at 91] and the gang.  Hopefully John Beatty will be able to join us next go round.

If any of Jim’s old friends are reading this — he loves snail mail.  Contact me and I’ll forward you his address!

Paul Gulacy’s Cover for Americomics #4

This is Paul Gulacy’s cover for Americomics #4.  

I actually played a small role in this piece coming about.  At the time I was buying and selling original comic art.  Through my best buddy, John Beatty, I had met many comic artists.  Paul Gulacy was one.  Bill Black, the publisher of Americomics was another.  I put Bill in touch with Paul and the rest as they say is history.

Ah, the glory days…

Source: The Bristol Board.

Ken Meyer, Jr.’s Ink Stains 3: Steranko, Cockrum, Fujitake, Smith 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 3, Ken took a look at Fantastic Fanzine #10 from 1969 published by Gary Groth (who later went on to publish the long-running month magazine, The Comics Journal) and Alan Light (who later went on to publish the long-running weekly newspaper the Comic Buyers Guide).  The issue featured an Jim Steranko / Joe Sinnot cover as well as art by Dave Cockrum, Barry Smith, Bill Everett, Bill Black and Dennis Fujitake.  That’s Fujutake’s splash posted above.  I always like DF’s work and wished there was more around!

All, the glory days of fanzines.  Thanks to Ken Meyer, Jr. for making these available!

Our Visit with the Legendary Jim Ivey

Had a great visit today with my old buddy, Jim Ivey.  The stars aligned because several of our friends were able to join us.

That’s Mike Sikes in the first row seated next to our guest of honor.  Second row is Cliff Weikal, John [Who is that again?] Beatty, Wild Bill Black and me.  Rob Smith took the photo!

Jim Ivey is a legend… celebrated political cartoonist… author… owner of The Cartoon Museum… one of the founding fathers of OrlandoCon… known in some circles as the Inside Straight Man and all-round nice guy.

We had a great time reminiscing [some of us have been friends for forty years or more] and catching up.   Hopefully we’ll be able to do it again in the not-to-distant-future.

Daytona Beach Comic & Toy Show


Later this morning I’m heading over to the Comic and Toy Show.  It’ll run from 10am to 5pm at the Holiday Inn on A1A in Daytona Beach, Florida.  

The theme of the con is to celebrate the 30th anniversary of AC Comics.  Bill Black the founder of AC Comics will be there.  So will a ton of other folks who have worked for AC Comics over the years. If you live within driving distance, you should come too. 

Celebrate 30 Years with AC Comics


On Sunday, November 18, 2012, my buddy Steve is putting on a Comic and Toy Show [his 11th].  It’ll run from 10am to 5pm at the Holiday Inn on A1A in Daytona Beach, Florida.  

The theme of the con is to celebrate the 30th anniversary of AC Comics.  Bill Black the founder of AC Comics will be there.  So will a ton of other folks who have worked for AC Comics over the years. Myself included.  Hopefully John Beatty will make it.  He should since he got his start in professional comics with Bill Black!

I have no doubt that this is going to be a fun show.  How could it not be with the AC gang coming in for a reunion?  If you’re able to make it, you should plan on being there too. 

Daytona Beach Comic & Toy Show

If you live within traveling distance to Daytona Beach, Florida, you might want to make the trip this Sunday to check out a small comic book convention. It will be held at the Holiday Inn & Suites, 930 N. Atlantic Ave., (A1A), Daytona Beach, Florida from 10 am to 5 pm.

Admission and parking are FREE.
Special Guests are: 
  • John Beatty ( Marvel/DC Inker from 1 pm to 3 pm):  John will be doing 4.5 ” x 6.5 ” head shot sketches on colored paper for $ 20.00.  Proceeds will go to a non-profit organization.
  • Bill Black ( AC Comic Publisher/Director/Artist):  Bill will be promoting his latest DVD releases and selling his line of 200+ page reprint trade paperbacks (SRP: $30.00) for $15.00 each.
  • Rachel Pandich (IDW Writer):  A new face on the comic scene will be promoting the story she did for IDW that will come out early next year.
  • Nick Cuti (Writer/Artist, co-creator of E-Man):  Will be set-up with vendor Tim Gordon and be signing autographs and talking with fans.

It should be a fun afternoon!