Search Results for: gravedigger

Crime Comics: What are the All-Time Most Influential?

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Following up on yesterday’s list of 10 Essential Films from the American Neo-Noir Movement, it isn’t much of a stretch to turn our spotlight on crime comics.  Richard Keller at CBR compiled his list of The Most Influential Crime Comics Of All Time.  Keller’s list is a good one.  Before you click over, here are my thoughts on his selections and a few not on his list that are favorites of mine…

Dick Tracy:  As a kid I read Dick Tracy comic strips off and on.  As an adult I’ve read some Dick Tracy comics (notably those by Kyle Baker and Michael Avon Oeming), but Dick Tracy has never been a character I’ve held dear.  I wouldn’t mind someday reading some of the old Dick Tracy comic strips.

The Spirit:  Will Eisner’s The Spirit is considered one of the classic comics by nearly everyone.  Eisner’s work on The Spirit is cited as an influence by many, many great artists.  I’ve read and enjoyed a cross-section of The Spirit comics, but not nearly enough.  I need to remedy that. (Oh, and if all you know about Will Eisner’s The Spirit is the movie… you don’t know The Spirit.)

Crime Does Not Pay:  I’ve never read any of these comics as they were well before my time.  Perhaps I should try to find reprints.

True Crime Comics: Like Crime Does Not Pay, these comics were before my time and I’ve never read any.

Crime SuspenStories: Although also well before my time, I would like to read these EC comics.  I’ve toyed with getting the reprints but have never, uh, pulled the trigger.  I should.

Sin City: As most of you probably know, Frank Miller’s Sin City comics are my favorite series of all-time.  If you like film noir, Mickey Spillane, tough mugs and sexy dames, then these are the comic yarns for you!

Sam & Twitch:  I’ve never read any Sam & Twitch comics.  Reading Keller’s write-up, I need to change that. 

100 Bullets:  A classic crime comic where the story was a great as the art.  I loved that it was always scheduled for 100 issues and when the story was told, the comic ended… at 100 issues.

Powers:  Where the focus is on the cops in a world of super-heroes.  I’m a fan.

Stumptown:  I haven’t read the comics.  That needs to change.

Keller’s list provided me with some crime comics I need to track down.  Here are a few I’d recommend that didn’t make his list…

The Black Terror, Seduction of Deceit written by Charles Smith, Beau Dixon, with art by Daniel Brereton.  If you liked The Godfather and the tv series Wiseguy then this is for you!

Scalped written by Jason Aaron and illustrated by R. M. Guéra,  Scalped is a modern day western where organized crime has moved onto a fictional Indian Reservation.  

Gravedigger written by Christopher Mills with art by Rick Burchett.  Sadly there are only two Gravedigger tales, but they should be in every crime comic fan’s collection.  The stories are collected in the trade Gravedigger: Hot Women and Cold Cash.  

Top 10 Comic Books That Should Become R-Rated Movies

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Alex Maidy and JoBlo.com posted their choices for the Top 10 Comic Books That Should Become R-Rated Movies.  By now you know how this game is played.  Using just their list I present my top three choices…

  • Goon by Eric Powell:  Set in a universe that has all sorts of supernatural monsters and our hero Goon.  Definitely a tongue-in-cheek comic series full of fun.  The Goon was part of a Kickstarter campaign (and I was in!) but a movie hasn’t been made yet.  The promotional video looked great though.

 

  • Pax Romana:  Although I never read this series, I’m going to have to look it up.  Who wouldn’t want to see a “world where The Vatican discovers time travel and sends modern weapons back to Ancient Rome to change the future”?

 

  • Black Widow: A former Russian spy/assassin now in the US.  Think of Atomic Blonde or A Long Kiss Goodnight, now you’re on board, right?

Other series that didn’t make the list but would be excellent candidates:  100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso;  Sleeper by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips; Gravedigger by Chris Mills and Rick Burchett, Polar by Victor Santos and Scout by Tim Truman.

Eduardo Risso’s Punisher and Travis Bickle [Updated]

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I just can’t get enough of Eduardo Risso’s Punisher and Travis Bickle piece.  I love it.

Also it makes me think about potential commissions of Sly as Jack Carter with…

  • Digger McCrae from Gravedigger
  • Marv from Sin City
  • Bolo from 100 Bullets
  • and although not a comic character, John Wick

Source: Cool Comic Art.

 

Update: I’ve pulled the trigger and commissioned Drew Moss for  Sly as Jack Carter with…

  • Digger McCrae from Gravedigger
  • Marv from Sin City
  • Bolo from 100 Bullets
  • and although not a comic character, John Wick

HeroesCon 2016 / Z-View

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HeroesCon 2016 was, as are all HeroesCons, a blast.  Read on and I’m sure you’ll agree.

The Pre-Show:

Doralya and I left Thursday morning.  Several of our friends were going up early and so we decided to meet them for dinner the night before the show.  We met at Merts Heart and Soul.  By we, I mean Doralya, John Beatty, Little John and his bride Patricia, Mike Cross, Richard Cox and his wife.  The food was good, but the company was even better.

The Convention Hotels:

This was the first year that we stayed at two hotels.  Usually we can either be found at the Westin or the Hampton Inn Charlotte – Uptown.  This year, depending on the night we could be found at either.  When we decided to go up early the Westin (our main hotel that we had already booked for the con) couldn’t fit us in.  Thankfully, the Hampton came through.

People:

  • Hung with John Beatty at his table on and off throughout the con.  Joined by Doralya, Little John & Patricia and Mike Cross while John sketched in his room on Friday.  A lot of laughs.
  • Went to the start of the HeroesCon auction.  Saw a lot of nice art.  Happy that Little John won a few pieces!  It was cool seeing DMC from RUN DMC take the podium and get the crowd rocking.
  • Even cooler meeting DMC in the hotel gift shop later that night.  What a nice celeb!  Very gracious and willing to pose for photos.

Sketches:

  • Picked up HeroesCon Black Panther by Brian Stelffreeze t-shirts for me, John Higashi, The James and one of his friends.
  • Picked up sketches from Mike Torrance: 1] Jack Carter and Lono from 100 Bullets, 2] Jack Carter and Marv from Sin City, 3] The Specialist Card, 4] Capone (Sly as Frank Nitti) Card and two Sly Artist’s Choice Cards.  Mike came through like a champ and selected Rocky from Creed and Judge Dredd for the Artist’s choice cards.
  • Picked up Jack Carter sketch from Uko Smith.  Iconic.  Second year in a row for an Uko piece!
  • Picked up Jack Carter and Lono piece from Megan Levens.  First time commission from Megan but will not be the last.
  • Picked up Bullet to the Head mugshot by Dave Wachter.  The HeroesCon/Dave Wachter sketch streak stays alive.
  • Picked up Rocky sketch by Shamus Murphy.  Dug it so much, I went back for a bigger sketch by Shamus and he came through with Sly as Jack Carter.
  • Saw Casey Jones, who was drawing for Heroes Initiative, and was able to serve as the middle man to get John Higashi the Audrey Hepburn piece he wanted.
  • Commissioned and got a head sketch from Joe Delgatta.  I love Joe’s art and the Cobra sketch he did for me is a real highlight!
  • Met Reid Beaman and got a Jack Carter sketch from him.
  • Met (after many mail commissions) Thomas Boatwright and got a Rocky and Apollo watercolor sketch from him.
  • After hearing Little John talk about a sketch he got of Gargoyle on Batman on a Gargoyle all weekend, I got Chris Flick to do a Rocky with arms raised in victory on a gargoyle.

Autographs:

  • Danniel Warren Johnson – my Space Mullet trade.  So happy for his success!
  • Eric Bonhomme – his pinup in my The Package trade
  • Vanessa Del Rey – my Hit 1955 and Hit 1957 trades
  • James Harren – my Rumble 1 and 2 trades
  • Jason LaTour – his new sketchbook, my Noche Roja hardcover, my Southern Bastards 1 hardcover, and my HeroesCon 2016 Southern Bastards print.

Panels:

  • The Inkwell Awards (and keeping with tradition, LittleJohn312 and Patricia joined me — or did I join them?) were fun. It is always great to see deserving artists receive recognition.  It’s even better when Steranko is the keynote speaker!
  • Went to the Drink & Draw at Buffalo Wild Wings on Friday.  Got a Chris Flick Sly from Rhinestone sketch.

  • Crime Panel – Joe Rauch talked crime/noir comics, tv and movies with Justin Greenwood (The Fuse), John Lees (And Then Emily was Gone), Rich Tommaso (Dark Corridor), Christopher Sebela and Ibrahim Moustafa (High Crimes).

The biggest surprise is that we only ate at Fuel once. It was good to keep that tradition alive, but not over do it.

In closing:

HeroesCon this year was huge. The wider aisles made movement easier. There were also additional sections this year with chairs and tables for con guests to sit, eat and visit.

Seeing old friends and meeting new ones is always a fun part of the show. I won’t try to list them all because invariably I would leave some out.

This year I was able to talk Doralya into coming into the show on Sunday. We walked the floor and met a lot of artists (new and old friends).

Thanks to Shelton and his crew for another great HeroesCon — see everyone next year!

Mike Torrance Presents: Jack Carter & Digger McCrae in “Who Killed Pinky Savage?”

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Mike Torrance aka The Krayola Kidd is back and he’s outdone himself with his faux Thrilling Mystery cover featuring Sly as Jack Carter and Lee Marvin as Digger McCrae in “The Man Who Killed Pinky Savage.”

Mike is a great guy and his commissions are always a blast!

You can see more of Mike’s art at his Deviant Art site. Mike is available for commissions and his prices are very reasonable.

 

The Most Engrossing Crime Comics in History

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Mark Peters at Salon recently posted his choices for The Most Engrossing Crime Comics in History.  Peters’ choices are solid.  Both the article and recommended comics are worth a read.

  Although they didn’t make Peters’ list I would also heartily recommend:

Z-View: HeroesCon 2014

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That’s the self-titled Corduroy Mafia at Heroes Con 2104.  From left to right we have John Nacinovich, Jeff Streeter, me, John Beatty, Brian Jones and Royce Thrower.. How we gave ourselves the name Corduroy Mafia is a tale for another time.  Instead I present my HeroesCon 2014 summary.

The Drive Up:

Doralya and I left Thursday afternoon.  We drove halfway up and spent the night in Savannah at a Fairfield Inn.  We got up early the next morning and finished our trip to Charlotte in plenty of time to get to the show.

The Convention Hotel:

We used to stay at the Weston, but for the last two years (and the foreseeable future) our con hotel is the Hampton Inn Charlotte – Uptown.  What a great hotel!  It’s super-clean with the friendliest staff I’ve ever seen.  Free shuttle service and free breakfast made the stay even better.

Main Sketch Goal of the Show:

My main sketch goal was to meet (for the first time) and get a sketch from Hoyt Silva.  I’m happy to report that Hoyt is as nice as he is talented — yeah, he’s really that friendly!  Hoyt and I discussed a couple of possible Stallone characters and decided on Jack Carter.  Hoyt said he could make that happen and is doing the piece as a take home commission.

Books signed:

  • My original Berni Wrightson’s Frankenstein (personalized to Doralya)
  • The Package pin-ups by Andrew Maclean and Robert Wilson IV
  • Scout: The Four Monsters by Timothy Truman
  • Crimeland by Rafael Albuqerque
  • Black Beetle: No Way Out by Franchesco Francavilla
  • The Goon: Nothin’ But Misery by Eric Powell
  • The Fifth Beatle by Andrew Robinson

 

Sketches:

  • Jamie Cosley: Rocky (surprise gift from Little John and Patricia)
  • Andy Fish: Lords of Flatbush
  • Corin Howell: Lords of Flatbush
  • Dave Wachter (mini-head sketch): Rhinestone
  • Derrick Fish: Expendables
  • Drew Moss: Get Carter
  • Hoyt Silva: Get Carter
  • Joel Carroll: Get Carter
  • Kevin Mellon: Get Carter
  • Mike Torrance: Jack Carter / Gravedigger plus several sketch cards

Panels, Drink and Draw and HeroesCon Art Auction:

  • The Inkwell Awards (and keeping with tradition, LittleJohn312 and Patricia joined Doralya and I — or did we join them?) were fun.  It is always great to see deserving artists receive recognition.
  • Doralya, Little John, Patricia and I attended the Drink and Draw.  It’s a tradition that continued again this year!
  • For the first time I ever, I missed the HeroesCon Auction.  I had a bad cold/flu bug the week before HeroesCon and was still feeling worn down.  Since we had the rest of our vacation ahead of us, I decided to pace myself at Heroes and sadly missed the auction.

Meals:

The biggest surprise is that we only ate at Fuel once.  It was good to keep that tradition alive, but not over do it.  The best meal we had was at Fujo Bistro — we will definitely hit that place again next year!  Buffalo Wild Wings also got our business.  Sadly we did not make it to Mert’s.

In closing:

HeroesCon this year was huge.  The wider aisles made movement easier.  There were also additional sections this year with chairs and tables for con guests to sit, eat and visit.  The bigger painting area was also a plus.

Seeing old friends and meeting new ones is always a fun part of the show.  I won’t try to list them all because invariably I would leave some out.

This year I was able to talk Doralya into coming into the show on Saturday. We walked the floor and met a lot of artists (new and old friends).  Doralya’s highlight was meeting Berni Wrightson!  She has always loved his work and he personalized my copy of Frankenstein to her!

Thanks to Shelton and his crew for another great HeroesCon — see everyone next year!

Mills, Burchett, Gonzales, Staton: 3 Kinds of Awesome

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Chris Mills currently writes three free weekly webcomics.

Three.

Free.

Weekly Webcomics.

I suppose I should have added, “Awesome!” but you know I wouldn’t be posting about them if they weren’t really good.

Grave Digger is my favorite of the bunch.  Of course Grave Digger is one of my all-time favorite comics [let’s not limit this to just crime comics].  Rick Burchett provides the art and it is perfect.  Mills and Burchett.  ‘Nuff said.

Perils on Planet X is written by Mills with art by Gene Gonzales.  If you’re a fan of Flash Gordon,  John Carter: Warlord of Mars and good comics, you’ll dig Perils on Planet X.  You can take that to the bank.

Femme Noir features the team of Mills [writer] and Joe Staton [artist] taking readers down the dark streets of Port Nocturne to follow the adventures of a mysterious female vigilante.

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.]

 

Do You Plan to Travel “Dead Body Road”

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I’m diggin’ that crime comics are taking off.  Dead Body Road by Justin Jordan and Matteo Scalera premieres in November.

Dead Body Road is a six issue mini-series that tells the story of an ex-cop named Gage who is killing those he feels are responsible for his wife’s death.  According to Jordan it’s a modern-day western, crime thriller, with noir sensibilities.

Can I put in my order now?

Thanks and a quickloader to CBR.com.

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

Duane Swierczynski and a Dynamite “Ex-Con”

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Hearing that  Duane Swierczynski is writing an new series called Ex-Con for Dynamite Crime had me smiling enough to star in one of those many “happier than“ Geico commercials.

I’ve been a Duane Swierczynski fan since I first read The Wheelman almost seven years ago.  Since then I’ve read and enjoyed every one of Swierczynski’s crime novels.  Ex-Con sounds like a winner.  Here’s how Swierczynski describes it…

As the name implies, we’re going to be following a jailbird freshly sprung from San Quentin after five brutal years… This is a high-level con artist who thought he could out-think the cops, his marks, his competitors — pretty much everybody — and five years later, he’s still reeling.  To stay alive inside, he had to promise a favor to a convict who’s pretty much a living nightmare in a cage, and now that our man is out, he dreads having to pay up…

With Swierczynski writing and Tim Bradstreet providing the covers, the only thing left to take this series to the top is the right interior artist.  Unfortunately, one hasn’t been chosen yet.

Two artists that came to mind for something like this are Phil Hester and Cully Hamner.  I have no idea if Hester or Hamner would be considered or if they would want to do the series, but from this fan’s perspective, they were the first two artists that I thought of.

Thanks and an early parole to Comicosity and CBR.com for droppin’ a dime.

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