Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
The Walking Dead has been one of my favorite comics since it first appeared. Now, 62 issues later, The Walking Dead is still the first one I read each month when I pick up my comics. Although not many members of the original cast have survived the zombie apocalypse, Kirkman hints that more are about to meet the grim reaper in this interview [with potential spoilers] at CBR.com.
Francesco Francavilla is a talented artist. I visit his art blog and pulp blog regularly.
Here’s Francesco’s take on Freddy from “Cop Land.” The sketch was free since I purchased Francesco’s Chiaroscuro sketchbook. Chiaroscuro is 70 pages full of Francesco’s black and white work. It features everything from quick sketches to more detailed work of characters like Hellboy, Batman, Kong, Marv, and so many others. It arrives securely packaged [which is a major plus knowing my mail carrier] and the last page contains the quick sketch.
Francesco has another sketchbook available. Schermoscuro is a classic horror movie guide in artbook form. Francesco offers the same deal on it. How could I pass up such a bargain? I couldn’t. I love that Francesco tied my drawing to the sketchbook’s theme by making Jack Carter a zombie.
Here’s another vintage piece taken from the ZONE vault. Legendary Batman artist Marshall Rogers did the pencils and John Beatty worked up the inks. Man, this brings memories… good times.
While diggin’ in the ZONE vault I came across this cool Mike Zeck spot illustration of the Hulk that appeared in a fanzine over thirty years ago. Like a fine wine, it just gets better with age.
David Carradine was found dead this morning. He was on in Bangkok, Thailand where he had been acting in a movie called “Stretch.” Although his friends are reporting that he had been in good spirits, and many who knew him are shocked, David Carradine’s death is being reported as a suicide.
Although younger fans will know him best as Bill from Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill”, older fans will remember him as Kwai Chang Caine from the hit series “Kung Fu” which ran from 1972 – 1975. Some may be surprised to know that the series was originally developed to star Bruce Lee. After the series, Mr. Carradine continued to find roles on television as well as films such as “Death Race 2000”, “Bound for Glory”, and “The Long Riders”. There were no real blockbusters in the mix, but David Carradine never seemed to be without a project that he made better simply by being in it.
David Carradine comes from a family of talented people. His father was the famous actor, John Carradine, and his brothers Keith and Robert are also actors. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and fans.
The drawing above is of a character created by Chris Warner called Black Cross. He made his first appearance [Black Cross, not Chris Warner] in Dark Horse Presents #1. DHP #1 was an anthology and the first comic published by the folks who would go on to give us Frank Miller’s Sin City, Eric Powell’s The Goon, Hellboy by Mike Mignola, and on and on and on.
Black Cross was popular enough to spin off into a mini-series, a couple of stand alone short comic stories and a one-shot. At one point, Black Cross was close to becoming a big screen feature with Howie Long in the title role. At about the same time another Black Cross mini-series was in the works called “My War.” Neither it or the movie ever happened.
I always hold out hope that one day Chris Warner will bring back Black Cross.
The photo above of Josh Brolin as “Jonah Hex” is showing up all over the web. They’ve definitely got the look of the character down.
If the movie is half as good as the latest Jonah Hex comic by Gray/Palmiotti and Gulacy we’ll really be in for a treat!
It’s all on Kimbo Slice.
Love him or hate him, MMA fans know the name. Kimbo was the backyard brawler who became a Youtube sensation. Then Kimbo transitioned to cage fighter and instantly began to headline cards. It didn’t matter that he was fighting little known opponents. It was even less of a concern that he wasn’t fighting for the UFC, seen by many as the premiere MMA organization. What did matter was that Kimbo was winning. And those wins made more people tune in, which drove up ratings as well as Kimbo’s paycheck.
Then in his third pro MMA fight Kimbo was knocked out. It was a devestating loss. Suddenly Kimbo was seen as the Emperor with no clothes. The organization that Kimbo fought for went out of business. Dana White of the UFC said that the only way Kimbo would ever fight for him was if Kimbo earned his way by winning The Ultimate Fighter. Most folks thought that Kimbo would take his money and fade away.
Last night Dan Wetzel broke the story that Kimbo Slice will be one of the sixteen heavyweight on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter. Talk about a win-win situation for everyone involved. Kimbo, if he wins, heck, even if he just does well, shows the world that he in’t just a backyard brawler. If Kimbo loses [and odds are he will], he will know how close he is to being able to compete with UFC caliber fighers. Should it turn out that Kimbo was just a flash in the pan, a tough guy who was able to parlay his big fists into a few big paydays, he will still be able to walk away knowing that at least he tried. He had the stones to put it on the line and enter the cage.
Kimbo fans are winners because they’ll get to see their guy mix it up agian. If he wins [or does well], they’ll be able to say, [as my buddy, JB does to rub it in] “I tole you so!” If Kimbo loses, they can also say at least he tried. Who doesn’t like someone who gives it their best shot? The Kimbo haters are winners because they can crow if Kimbo doesn’t win it all. And even if he does make it to the finals and win, the haters will still have tuned in each week hoping to see Kimbo take a whoopin’.
Of course Dana White and the UFC is the biggest winner. Having Kimbo on the show gets them tons of publicity. More press means more people tuning in to see next season of The Ultimate Fighter… and the great thing is it doesn’t matter to White or the UFC if Kimbo wins, does well or loses. If he loses, that just proves that it takes a special breed of fighter to be successful in the UFC. If Kimbo wins, it just means more people tuning in to pay-per-views to see Kimbo.
That’s why it’s all on Kimbo Slice.
This is the splash page to the first Cody Starbuck story that I ever read. In fact it may be the first Cody Starbuck story that Howard Chaykin ever created. It was part of an independent anthology comic called Star*Reach that I picked it up at the first comic book convention that I ever attended, OrlandoCon 77. That’s a lot of firsts, isn’t it?
Cody Starbuck was good stuff. It reminded me of an Errol Flynn movie in outer space, but created for a modern audience. Someone should reprint all the stories in a nice new hardback edition. Then once that’s done they can check back here to see what I else I’d like.
Next week is the Florida SuperCon in Miami. With over 100 media celebrities and comic guests in attendance [including Bruce Campbell, Ted Raimi, Chris Claremont, Tony Moore, Dick Giordano, Dennis Calero, Mitch Breitwesier and scores of others], costume events, video gaming, panels and more, there should be something for everyone.
I’ll be there on Saturday checking things out. Hope to see you there!
Here’s Andrew Charipar’s take on Stallone as “Cobra” and a humorous story that goes with it. I got this sketch from Andrew at the 2009 FX con. Although I regularly visit Andrew’s blog, I’d never met him. A few weeks before FX, Andrew posted that he’d take requests for sketches to have ready for anyone attending the show. I put in for the Stallone character of his choice. A few days later, Andrew posted the Stallone piece you see here and said I could pick it up at FX.
The weekend of the show arrived and I found Andrew’s table. He had art available for sale, his sketchbook, and comics spread out. A small group of folks were around his table ordering or picking up sketches. I waited my turn, stepped up and said, “Hi. I think you have a Cobra for me.” A puzzled look crossed Andrew’s face and he replied, “I don’t think so.” Now I was the one looking confused. Andrew asked, “Are you sure you requested a Cobra from me?”
Now I know that he’s drawn the piece — I’ve seen it on his website, but I can tell by the look on his face that he has no idea why I would think that he’s drawn me a Cobra sketch. I go on, “My name is Craig Zablo. I requested the sketch through your website and you decided to do Stallone as Cobra.” It’s like a light went on and Andrew replied, “Oh, a Stallone Cobra! My buddy and I were just talking about GI Joe and we thought you were referring to ‘that’ Cobra.” Andrew then proceeded to pull out the piece you see above.
Andrew’s a cool guy with very reasonable prices for his sketchbook and originals. Check out his blog and give him some props.
Earlier this month I posted this Howard Chaykin drawing of his Dominic Fortune character. I also spoke of how much I loved Chaykin’s work on the Dominic Fortune stories. The drawing was from nearly thirty years ago, about a little known [at least to the masses] comic book character.
Last night as I was looking through the latest issue of Previews I was surprised to read that Howard Chaykin is bringing back Dominic Fortune in a new story that Chaykin is writing, penciling and inking! That’s the solicitation art above and here’s what they say about the story:
“The depression’s going strong, so when Dominic Fortune is hired to bodyguard Jock Madison, Vaughn Lorillard and P.T. Oakley, three drunk and disorderly Hollywood stars, he jumps at the chance to pick up what looks like a few easy bucks, and maybe have a few laughs in the bargain. But when the trio of old school hambones and horndogs prove to be a bigger pain than he anticipated — and he accidentally stumbles across a conspiracy headed by mysterious American businessman Malcolm Upshaw and Delatriz Betancourt, the recklessly sexy granddaughter of Confederates who fled Reconstruction for South America — Fortune finds himself in hot water…with the fate of the USA at stake. Explicit Content …$3.99 In stores August 5th“
It’ll be fun to see what Chaykin has cooked up. Who knows, maybe if I post some drawings of Cody Starbuck and Monark Starstalker, Chaykin will revisit them as well!
You probably read this blog because we like a lot of the same things. If that’s the case, then you’re probably going to really get a kick out of Doc Monster!
8 out of 10 isn’t bad. There are a couple of tricky ones in there. Can you do better? We will never know since the quiz is no longer available. : (
Hey, if you’ve got some time to kill [and you must or you wouldn’t be here], then you might want to check out Chris Mills‘ latest blog, which he calls the SpyFi Channel. I don’t know which I like best, the name or the header that Chris created.
At the SpyFi Channel, Chris will cover the world of spies — movies, books, tv — the whole enchalada. Be advised that Chris won’t update regularly, but when he does, it will definitely be worth a view. He’s started off with a look at Robert Conrad’s spy series [no, not The Wild, Wild West – one of my all-time favorite shows] A Man Called Sloane.
It’s cool that Chris has another blog going… as long as it doesn’t take away from getting the next Gravedigger story out. And I still think a Gravedigger novel could really work! Until then, you’ll find me at the SpyFi Channel!
