Author: Craig Zablo

The Invaders

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I’m not sure how many ZONErs will remember or be aware of the tv series, “The Invaders.” It ran for only 43 episodes in 1967 – 1968. I was 8 years old when the series premiered and since I haven’t seen an episode since it went off the air, I don’t really know how well it would hold up. If it was any where as good as this intro or this promo, I think I’d still enjoy watching it!

Already Dead Gets New Life

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Remember when I first told you here about how much I enjoyed Charlie Huston’s writing? And then here when I wrote that Huston placed 2 books in my top five for 2006? [Actually it was 4 out of the top 7, if you want to get technical about it.]

Anyway, seems like I’m not the only one enjoying Huston’s work. Already Dead has been optioned for a potential movie franchise. 

Just another example of ZONErs being ahead of the crowd!

Which Bot is Best?

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I took the photo above at MegaCon on Sunday. There was a company there that had life-size recreations of famous robots.For my money, these three are probably the MOST famous robots in the world. There’s 3CPO from Star Wars, the robot from Lost in Space, and Robbie the Robot.

Given my pick, I’d take the Lost in Space robot. Of course, I grew up watching Lost in Space. If I was a child of the 70’s, I’d probably want 3CPO and someone a bit older than me would want Robbie.

Would a child of the 80’s want KITT?

One Mega-Great Day

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Usually when I plan to go to a comic convention, I post the news well in advance in case I have friends planning to be there. Much of the fun of cons is hanging with folks you seldom see! I hadn’t planned to attend this weekend’s Orlando MegaCon. Two weekends ago I attended FX and my wallet needed a break. Even though Darwyn Cooke was scheduled for MegaCon [and I really wanted a shot at a Cooke Stallone sketch], I figured to sit this show out.
Imagine my surprise, when at 7:30am Saturday, my good buddy John Highashi called me.  John knew how badly I wanted a Darwyn Cooke Stallone sketch.  Higashi said that Darwyn was sketching, and his prices were very reasonable. Unfortunately, there was no way that I could get over on Saturday since I had plans with my son Chris.
At 11:30pm, Higashi called me again to say Darwyn still had a couple of slots open. If I could get there early Sunday, I might still have a shot! To sweeten the deal, John had come up with two one day passes! [Talk about a true friend!] I spoke with Chris and he wanted to go.

That’s Chris and “The James” Howell looking all gangsterish. Chris and I got up early. I was first in line at Darwyn’s table. Right behind me came Randy Martin who hoped to get a sketch for his Edward Scissorhands collection. A few minutes later and the line behind us was huge! When Darwyn arrived, he said that he had room for just two more sketches. I was in!  As long as Darwyn didn’t run out of time, I’d get my Stallone piece!!

Usually when I hit cons, I have two or three days to hang with friends, set up sketches and look at what the dealers are selling. Since this was the last day of the show, I had to move quickly.  I visited briefly with Cadre and his crew, Alex Saviuk, Joe Pekar and Alberto Ruiz. [That’s Joe and Alberto in the photo above. Alberto’s the one flashing the lettuce!]
Keith and Monica Mallow were there. They joined Chris and I for lunch at the convention center cafe. Chris is pretty reserved the first time he meets someone, so he REALLY didn’t know what to make of Mallow, who’s a joke a minute guy. [Unfortunately his funny jokes only show up every five minutes or so… but I kid…] Keith is planning a one day show in Port St. Lucie, Florida on April 22nd. I’ll post more about that as the date draws near.

After lunch Chris and I hung out with the guys from Tsunami Studios [Gary McKee, Mike Torrance, and Jason Walker]. They’d prepared a studio sketchbook. It was a bargain, especially since they all drew small headshots free with every purchase. I’ll post up mine later this week.

The cool thing about hanging at the table is you get to see the guys working on commission sketches, you get to visit with other artists who stop by, as well as the folks who come to the show in costume.  Although he wasn’t in costume, I was surprised to see Jimmy Sanders III! It had been about 12 years since I last saw him. He’d made a splash in the comic biz as an inker and was going full bore for a while. Then a lot of things happened and he seemed to have dropped off the planet. He said that he’s hoping to back into comics.
As the afternoon wore on, I began to wonder if Darwyn would get to my sketch. He always had a huge line of fans who wanted to shake his hand, get a photo, and have him autograph a stack of comics. Darwyn was always friendly and took the time to make sure each fan left happy. He was making progress on his sketch list, but the clock was ticking. 
Matt Halloub hung at the table for a bit. He picked up some great additions to his collection. Hawaiian Dave visited and shared some of the great pieces that he scored at MegaCon. John Higashi would suddenly teleport in, and then just as quickly be off again. “The James” rounded up all the sketches that he’d set up. I had come to the show hoping to set up one sketch with Darwyn Cooke.
The show was almost over when word got back to me that Darwyn was drawing Sly! I swung by his table and it was ready! I thanked him then made my way back to table Tsunami. After just a few minutes the end of show announcements started. Before we said our goodbyes, Chris snapped a photo of us. That’s Gary looking proud of his pencil, and Jason to our right. I’m behind Gary, and Mike Torrance is behind me. Hawaiian Dave is directly behind “The James” who seems to be putting the Vulcan grip on Jason.

Before I go… let me leave you with a shot of Darwyn and his take on Sly as Jack Carter!

100 Greatest Love Songs

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Recently Jim Farber, the New York Daily News music critic posted his list of the 100 Greatest Love Songs of All Time. Here’s what it took to qualify:

 

“Eligible songs had to have endured at least a decade in the public consciousness, if not two or three. And they had to have been popular enough to have ranked among the top 20 pop songs in whatever year they were released. These aren’t necessarily the sexiest songs. If they had been, you’d see cuts by James Brown and Prince. But they are all classic serenades to a love achieved, the kind of songs meant to make listeners swoon.”

I took a look at his list and compiled my top ten favorites [ranking could switch depending on my mood]…

“Wonderful Tonight” Eric Clapton
“You Are So Beautiful” Joe Cocker
“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” Roberta Flack
“Killing Me Softly With His Song” Roberta Flack
“(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration” The Righteous Brothers
“When a Man Loves a Woman” Percy Sledge
“This Guy’s in Love With You” Herb Alpert
“The Long and Winding Road” The Beatles
“How Deep Is Your Love” The Bee Gees
“Just the Way You Are” Billy Joel

So ZONErs… do you agree?

What’s Next for Mr. Tarver

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I happened to get a few minutes to talk to Antonio Tarver tonight. Yes, the former Light-Heavyweight Champion of the World. Yes, the guy who played Mason Dixon in “Rocky Balboa.”

Mr. Tarver was at the high school, where I work, to watch his son play in the first round of the state basketball playoffs. We are the district champs and hope to move forward toward the state title. At any rate, Mr. Tarver arrived early and we chatted for a few minutes.
He said that he never did as many interviews as he did while promoting “Rocky Balboa.” He was very gracious about the praise he and the movie received. Antonio enjoyed working with Sly. Antonio’s next fight will be at the end of April and will be televised on ABC. He’s got another movie lined up which will be a comedy. As always Antonio was very cool, very approachable.
And, yes, our team won [and won big]!

"Big" John Checks In

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For all of you following “Big” John Beatty’s trip to Manila… we’ve received our first e-mail from him. He made it [despite a late connection from Japan].

He’s met Bella. John said that the camera did lie to him… but it lied in the “opposite way”… she is even prettier than her pictures! John says that he’ll write more later.
I just wonder if Bella thinks John’s prettier than his pictures?

Don’t Walk, Start Ronin

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It’s time for our hourly “300” update…

Newsarama is reporting that “300” producer Gianni Nunnari, was asked about other comic projects is working on and he responded by saying Frank Miller’s Ronin!

Ronin was a six issue miniseries published by DC after Frank’s initial run on Daredevil. It’s the story of a young Ronin in feudal Japan who seeks to avenge his master who was killed by a demon.

If the story pans out and the producer can get a director with the same passion that Zack Snyder has shown in translating “300” to the big screen, we could be in for another great ride. To check out “Ronin” click HERE.

A MAGICal Night

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This evening I attended the Orlando Magic / San Antonio Spurs game. If you’re a hoops fan, my guess is that you already heard about “THE DUNK.”

Before I tell you about the amazing ending to one of the best comebacks ever, let me tell you that it was a perfect evening. My son is a Magic fan and for Christmas I got him tickets to see them play against San Antonio. Our drive to Orlando was smooth and we arrived exactly at the planned time. I had pre-purchased a parking ticket for the lot directly across from the arena. We drove right in [despite the game and all parking lots being sold out]. Before the game we were able to go down almost courtside and watch the players warm up. It’s easy to forget just how BIG these guys are in real life. At half time, they brought out Chris Leak, the Heisman-winning quarterback for the National Champion Florida Gators [which just happens to be my son’s favorite college team].

Now back to the exciting climax… Despite being down as much as 20, and behind most of the game, the Magic tied it up with less than a minute left in regulation. Then when Tim Duncan’s attempt at a winning shot was rejected by Dwight Howard, the Magic grabbed ball and called a time out. They had 8/10’s of a second left on the clock to win the game. They didn’t even need that much time. Hedo Turkoglu lobed the ball towards the goal and Dwight Howard soared over Tim Duncan and slammed home a one-handed dunk to give the Magic the lead and the win.

It was an amazing ending to one of the most exciting basketball games I’ve ever had a chance to witness. More importantly, my son said it was the best game that he’d ever seen and he saw it in person. Talk about a Magical night…

9112 Miles to Graceland

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“Big” John Beatty boarded a plane this morning for the start of a journey that may last him the rest of his days. You see, he’s off to meet a young lady that may be the love of his life. John and Bella met nearly six months ago through the internet. They’ve been talking and e-mailing and video conferencing nearly daily since then. So they decided it was time to meet face to face!

This morning John boarded a plane that will fly him from Orlando to Detroit to Japan to Manila. Whew! That’s one heck of a trip. Big J says that he’ll e-mail when he can, and update his blog if possible.

Let’s all wish the big guy a safe trip. If he doesn’t scare off Bella when he meets her after spending all those hours on the plane, this thing may just work out!

FX, Day 2

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FX, Day 2, got off to a much better start. I was able to breeze right in. John Higashi was already there and we met at Jason Palmer’s table. Then it was over to Matt Wagner. Matt said that he had finished my Jack Carter sketch, but wasn’t happy with it and wanted to re-do it. I told him that I didn’t want him to have to do double work, but he said it was no problem.

John and I decided to walk artists’ alley. We visited with Andrew Robinson, Mike Perkins [I set up a Judge Dredd Stallone sketch], Gene Ha, Whilce Portacio, Billy Tucci, Andy Smith, and others.

I swung by Miguel’s booth where I met up with some Stallone fans that were familiar with my site. Miguel and I talked about the Rocky Balboa card sets that he’s putting together. Stallone / Rocky fans are going to love them.

I saw that Matt Wagner was getting ready to have Q & A session and headed over. The 45 minutes flew by as Matt talked about his career in comics. It was interesting to learn that Matt postponed doing Mage when he learned that DC was doing a take on King Arthur with Camelot 3000. Then after seeing what they had done, Matt decided that Mage would still be a new spin on the legend… and the rest is history. It’s hard to believe that Matt has been in comics for 25 years. It’s cool to see how his style has changed and he has matured as an artist. It’ll be interesting to see where the next 25 years takes him.

After the Matt Wagner panel, I swung by Steve Niles’ table to get a couple of books autographed. Steve said that the “30 Days of Night” movie is going to make a lot of fans happy. Of course, I can’t wait to see it! Then I made my way to Mike Higgins’ table to pick up my Stallone Judge Dredd sketch.

Joe Pekar and I shot the breeze over a couple of Cokes. Joe’s a guy to keep an eye on! I hope to get a Stallone piece from him at some point.

Higashi and I met up again. We stopped by to talk to Andy Smith, Gene Ha, Bill Tucci and others. Although Bill is best known for his creation Shi and drawing the female form, he showed us a cool Sgt. Rock piece that he created for a proposed series. We stopped in for a visit for Dave Johnson and then back over to Matt Wagner’s table. Matt had started the second attempt on the Jack Carter sketch, but wasn’t happy with it and decided to take a third stab at it. Higashi agreed to pick up the piece for me since I wasn’t coming back on Sunday.

Then it was over to Miguel’s booth again to touch base. The “Rocky Balboa” card set will be out in March featuring 72 cards from the movie. Originally, the card set was going to cover all of the Rocky movies, but after seeing how well received “Rocky Balboa” was, Miguel worked out a deal for two separate card sets. The second set, out later this year will cover all five Rocky movies. Each will be sold as complete sets in custom binders. I’ve seen mock-ups of some of the cards and the binders. Stallone / Rocky fans are going to love them! I’ll premiere the items and post updates on the SZ as they become available.

FX 2007 was a worthy show. It had something for everyone. If they can get back artists like Dave Johnson and Matt Wagner, I’ll return next year. And who knows, maybe by then they’ll have the opening day kinks worked out.