RIP: Peter Graves

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Peter Graves died today from what appears to have been a heart attack.  Mr. Graves was just four days shy of his 84th birthday.

My first memories of Peter Graves are in his role as Jim Phelps, the leader on the Mission Impossible tv series which ran initially ran from 1967 to 1973.   My grandfather loved the show, so if I was spending the night. I’d watch it with him.  In fact, it was my grandfather who made me aware that Peter Graves was brother to James Arness [Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke, another show grandpa never missed].  [On a side note, Mission Impossible was revived from 1988 to 1990 with Peter Graves returning in his original role – the only cast member to do so.]

Peter Graves appeared in scores of movies including classics like Stalog 17 and Night of the Hunter.  Many folks will also remember Mr. Graves best for his role as the pilot, Clarence Oveur, from the comedy classic, Airplane.   Before his starring role on Mission Impossible, Peter Graves made guest appearances in dozens of tv shows including: Route 66, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Branded, Daniel Boone, The Invaders and many others.  I’ve always enjoyed Mr. Graves’ appearances, but it’ll be those hours I spent watching Mission Impossible with my grandpa that I’ll remember most fondly.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Peter Graves’ family, friends and fans.

“Predators” Live

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Since I’ve been out of town at MegaCon, I may be a bit behind the curve on the news that the Predators movie site has gone live.  There’s a gallery, a synopsis of the movie and some behind the scenes stuff introduced by executive producer, Robert Rodriguez.  If you haven’t seen the site already, it’s worth a look… or two.

Crime/Noir: “The Deputy”

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I’m a big Victor Gischler fan.  I’ve enjoyed everything that I’ve read by him and am really looking forward to his latest novel, The Deputy.  Fans of crime/noir can look forward to a worthy read.  I know I do.  Here’s part of the publisher’s summary…

Toby doesn’t have a lot going for him. Twenty-five, a couple of years of junior college, married to a girl he got pregnant and living in a trailer on the edge of town. He’s working part time for the police department, hoping the budget comes through and they can put him on full time, so he can get health benefits. His wife is a waitress at a little crap diner near the railroad tracks. When he gets the call about the dead body, he pins his tin star to his Weezer t-shirt, slips into a pair of sweatpants and grabs his revolver…

As you can imagine, it’s all downhill from there.

If you order The Deputy from the publisher and use the promo code “twitter” you’ll get three bucks off and free shipping!  Prefer Amazon?  Here’s a link for that as well.

Zombies, Nazis, Monsters & Mutations

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You’ve heard me sing the praises [well, write ’em anyway] of Jonathan Maberry before.  If you read his first Joe Ledger novel, Patient Zero, then you’re a fan of his work.  [If you haven’t read it, you should.  Yeah, it’s that good great.]

Maberry’s second Ledger novel, The Dragon Factory, is now available.  [Yes, I’ve already got my copy!] Maberry talks about Joe Ledger, and more in a great little interview over at StaticEchoes.com.  Here’s a bit of what Maberry has to say:

I always loved the thinking hero, so Joe Ledger grew out of that; and I dug the concept of villains who were smart and devious, and who sometimes used the appearance of the supernatural as a smokescreen. In a lot of ways my villains owe more to the pulps than they do to, say, James Bond.

…the second Joe Ledger novel.. deals with geneticists using transgenic science for ethnic cleansing and to complete the Nazi Master Race program. Lots of monsters and mutations…

The Dragon Factory also has about twice the action –and Patient Zero had a lot—but I dial things way up in the second book.

You can [and should] read the entire interview by clicking here.

Messages from Me

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Although if everything goes as planned, I’ll be spending the weekend at MegaCon, that doesn’t mean that updates at the ZONE will stop.  Thanks to the miracles of modern technology not only will the ZONE continue to receive updates, but I will also be tweeting live from the convention floor.

Granted, it’s not like getting transmissions from the moon, but it is still pretty cool.

“The Expendables” Comic Prequel

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If you can’t wait for The Expendables to premiere in theaters later this year, then perhaps an Expendables comic prequel will help hold you over. CBR.com has an interview with Chuck Dixon, the writer of the project. Here’s a bit of what Dixon had to say:

“This is a movie that Sylvester Stallone has been trying to get together for years; an action movie packed with as many well-known action stars as possible…

“Sly’s not re-inventing the wheel here. He’s just built a really bad-ass, killer wheel of awesomeness…

“My job is to tell a story that takes place before the events of the movie without revealing anything that’s to come in the movie’s story…

To read the full interview as well as see some preliminary art for the comic, simply click here.

Dave Wachter’s Rocky

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It couldn’t be more appropriate [since there were several pieces about Rocky and the Oscars in this week’s update] that we have Rocky by Dave Wachter for this week’s Stallone art. Dave’s work has appeared on the SZ before with his riff on Sly from Paradise Alley.

After the recent earthquake in Haiti, Dave offered everyone who made a donation to Doctors Without Borders to aide earthquake victims in Haiti a free sketch. The piece about is what I got for my donation. You can see what others selected, and more of Dave’s art by heading over to his website.

Thanks to Dave for my great sketch as well as his efforts to help the people in Haiti.

Lost Has Lost It’s Way

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I’ve been a Lost fan since the first season premiere.  I’ve never missed an episode and was really looking forward to the final season.  I have to admit that I’ve been disappointed so far.  I still record new episodes, but there’s no longer the rush to watch ’em.

What’s been buggin’ me is the alternate timelines/universes.  Now what happens doesn’t seem to matter as much because it’s just one of who knows how many possible timelines.

Bah!

At least I’m not the only one who feels that way.

I’m still going to watch the final season and hope that it returns to old form.

Survival of the Dead

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FilmFilia scored a first look a the red band trailer and some new posters for George Romero’s Survival of the Dead.  Although I’m not feeling the poster or the trailer like I hoped I would, you know at some point I’m going to have to check out Survival of the Dead.  I mean, c’mon, it’s George Romero and zombies.  Which is, pardon the expression a No BRAINSer.