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Steven Grant and the Making of “Two Guns”

Steven Grant is a writer than I’ve written about many times.

Grant is the co-creator of Damned with Mike Zeck.  Grant is also the writer of the first Punisher mini-series [which took the character from a second-tier guest star to one of the most popular Marvel characters of all-time] as well as the best Punisher stories ever told.

Grant is also the creator [along with artist Mataes Santolouco] of the comic mini-series Two Guns.  As, you’re probably aware, Two Guns is now also a movie starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg.  Grant has written an interesting article that he calls Temporary Madness: Lessons Learned from Watching “Two Guns” Get Made.  You can read part one here and part two here.

Thanks and a front row seat to Two Guns for CBR.com.

 

Steven Grant’s Two Guns Leads to Three Guns

Just the other day we were talking about Steven Grant and Mike Zeck’s collaborations on Circle of Blood,   Return to Big Nothing and  Damned.  Those are the most popular Grant/Zeck graphic stories.

Another very popular crime graphic novel written by Steven Grant (but this time with art by Mat Santolouco) is Two Guns.   

  • From the Boom! Studios book description:  A pulp story about cops and thieves and the men that are something in between. Trench has targeted a local bank to rob, and asked Steadman in on the job. Trench figures it’s a great way to score — considering it’s a cover for mob money. They’ll be thieves ripping off thieves. But what Steadman doesn’t know is that Trench is a DEA agent. And what Trench doesn’t know is that Steadman’s a Naval Intelligence officer. They’re both cops! And neither one knows that they’re not robbing the mob, they’ve been set up to steal $50 million from the CIA!

If Two Guns sounds familiar, it could be because you’ve seen the trailer for the movie adaptation starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg.   The movie premieres on August 2nd.

The first issue of a six issue comics sequel, titled appropriately enough, Three Guns (again by Grant, but this time with art by Emilio Laiso) is set to drop around the same time. You can learn more about Three Guns from this piece over at the Hollywood Reporter.


“Gunga Din” (1939) directed by George Stevens, starring Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Sam Jaffe / Z-View

Gunga Din (1939)

Director:  George Stevens

Screenplay:  Joel Sayre, Fred Guiol; story by Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur; based on Gunga Din from BARRACK ROOM BALLADS by Rudyard Kipling

Stars: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Sam Jaffe, Eduardo Ciannelli, Montagu Love, Robert Coote, Abner Biberman and Lumsden Hare.

Tagline:  Armies and elephants!…Love and laughter!…Breathless adventure inspired by Kipling’s heroic odyssey of fighting in India!…Astride its eye-staggering scenes, three lusty sons of the sword…reckless in love, ruthless in war and dauntless in peril!

The Plot…

In the 1880s, India’s Northwest frontier was dangerous in the best of times.  When all contact is lost with the Tantrapur British outpost, a squad of  25 soldiers is sent to investigate.  The colonel includes his three best men: Sergeant Archibald Cutter (Grant), Sergeant MacChesney (McLaglen) and Sergeant Ballantine (Fairbanks).  The three are cutups, and discipline problems, but veterans that can be counted on when things go sideways.  Also accompanying the squad is Gunga Din (Jaffe).  Din is of low status regulated to carrying water or other such menial tasks.  Din dreams of someday being a soldier.

The squad finds the outpost deserted.  Before they can fix the telegraph, they are attacked.  Although most of the team is wiped out, the three Sergeants, Gunga Din and a few others escape.  They are shocked to learn that a murderous cult known as the Thuggee have returned.  Thought to have been wiped out decades ago, the Thuggee have secretly been organizing.

The Thuggee plan to kill all nonbelievers.  They are on the move.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Only Gone with the Wind earned more at the box office in 1939 than Gunga Din.

The giant gong used in the opening sequence was the same gong used in King Kong.

Gunga Din was the most expensive film RKO had produced up to that point.  Even still it went over budget by a half a million dollars.

The Thuggees were an actual religious cult.  They would gain the confidence of travelers.  Later they would strangle the poor soul and steal their good. Thuggees were the inspiration for the word “thug”.

Gunga Din (1939) rates 5 of 5 stars.

Grant & Zeck Get Another “Damned” Shot

Circle of Blood.  Return to Big Nothing.

These are the two graphic novels that fans refer to most when talking about Steven Grant and Mike Zeck’s best collaborations.

While I agree that Grant and Zeck’s Punisher stories should be the Bible for others wanting to chronicle the Punisher, I’ve always felt that their crime graphic novel Damned was on equal footing with Circle of Blood and Return to Big Nothing.

Unfortunately, many fans missed out on Damned when it was originally published.

The great news is that anyone who missed out can get a copy of Damned later this summer when Boom! Studios reprints it!

I’m excited that Damned will be seen by a wider audience.  I’ve sung the praises of the Damned book for years.

You can also learn more about how Steven Grant and Mike Zeck became a team, as well as more about the story and the Damned reprint at CBR.com’s Grant and Zeck’s “Damned” Crime Story Gets a New Life.


Zeck, Grant & More

* In 1997 Mike Zeck [penciler] teamed up with writer Steven Grant, inker Denis Rodier and colorist Kurt Goldzung to create one of my all-time favorite comic mini-sereies. It was a hard-boiled crime story called DAMNED. Finally a trade paperback is scheduled to ship in August. This book is well worth the price!

* A failing British company fired 2,500 employees by sending text messages to their mobile telephones. ” U R Fired.”

A wanted man was arrested after his parole officer spotted him kissing his girlfriend in a live crowd shot displayed on the scoreboard at a Cincinnati Reds game. If convicted he could get up to 18 years in prison. He could be heading for the [grand] slammer.

Comic Legends: Was Punisher Initially Going to Die in His First Series?

My buddies, John Beatty and Mike Zeck are at the center of CBR.com’s Comic Legends: Was Punisher Initially Going to Die in His First Series?

That was an exciting time for comics.  The Punisher, up to that point, had been a secondary, guest-starring character who had real potential.  Steven Grant had the right take on Frank Castle and of course, Mike Zeck and John Beatty were the team to bring the project to life.

Sadly, Grant, Zeck and Beatty didn’t get to complete the series. Although as the piece says, “John Beatty’s finishes made it all look as consistent as possible.”  Thankfully, Grant, Zeck and Beatty did re-team on the Punisher graphic novel Return to Big Nothing.

Ken Meyer Jr.’s Ink Stains 5: Gulacy, Byrne, Vosberg, Trimpe 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 5, Ken took a look at CPL #12 from 1975 published by Robert Layton (who later went on to fame as comic book artist, writer and publisher) and edited by Roger Stern (who became a popular comic book writer).

CPL #12 features a beautiful [NSFW] cover by Paul Gulacy, a front piece by Syd Shores, an interview and art from Mike Vosburg, full page pieces from John Byrne and Dennis Fujitake, a humorous centerspread by Herb Trimpe of the Hulk, Steven Grant [who also went on to fame as a writer] comic reviews, a profile of Darkseid by John Byrne and more.

This is the first fanzine that Ken profiled that I actually owned.  Ah, the memories of the glory days of fanzines.  Thanks to Ken Meyer, Jr. for making these available!

Mike Zeck @ Heroes Con!

My buddy, Mike Zeck stopped going to comic conventions years ago.  So it was a huge surprise when Mike announced that he will be at Heroes Con next weekend as part of their 30th anniversary celebration

Mike will join a panel featuring the guests of the first Heroes Con, and he’ll also be set up signing autographs, selling his sketchbook as well as the crime graphic novel, Damned, that he did with Steven Grant [writer], Denis Rodier [inker] and Kurt Goldzung [colorist].  If you enjoy crime comics, I highly recommend you give Damned a look.  Mike’s sketchbook is also well worth the price of admission.

If you’ve never met Mike Zeck and want to, plan to swing by and see him at Heroes next weekend.  Odds are if you miss him, your next shot will be at Heroes’ 50th anniversary celebration.


The Top 10 Characters from Marvel & DC

Recently CBR.com posted the results of a poll of comic book readers to determine the top 100 Marvel and DC characters.  Using just their list of the top 50 for each company, I present my top 10

10.  Namor – 539 points (7 first place votes):  There was a summer when I was a kid in elementary school that I thought that Namor was the coolest cat walking swimming.  He looked like Spock, was a Prince, could breathe on land and sea.  Yeah, Namor was the man.

09.  Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)- 452 points (3 first place votes):  I’ve read fewer stories with the Black Widow than any of the other characters in my top ten, but I like this character.  The first time I really noticed her potential was in a black and white magazine that featured her in a story drawn by Paul Gulacy.  Around the same time, Frank Miller put her to good use in Daredevil.

08.  Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) – 1495 (17 first place votes).  Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams, Mike Grell, Trevor Von Eden and Jock all have worked their riffs on the Green Arrow.  I’ve enjoyed all versions… especially those without the trick arrows.

07.  Luke Cage – 633 points (3 first place votes):  I can still remember picking the first issue of Luke Cage: Hero for Hire off the newsstands, reading it and thinking, yeah, this is how it would in real life if someone got super-powers.   When I was in junior high I had a “shop” class and one of the things we had to create were business cards.  It had to be for a business that wasn’t real and we couldn’t use our own names.  My card read “Blackjack Joey – Hero for Hire.” So you can see the influence that Luke Cage had on me.  Bonus points to anyone who can figure out where Blackjack Joey came from.

06.  Question (Vic Sage) – 382 points (6 first place votes)  Although I never read the original Question stories, I really dug the Denny O’Neil / Denys Cowan / Rick Magyar stories.  Add in the covers by Bill Sienkiewicz and you have a top ten character.

05.  The Punisher (Frank Castle) – 995 (17 first place votes)  I’m talking about the real Punisher.  You know the one who appeared in the mini-series and graphic novels by Steven Grant, Mike Zeck and John Beatty.  You can throw in a bit of Miller and Romita Jr’s riffs, but count me out when the Punisher becomes a substitute teacher or starts hanging out with Microchip or any other sidekick.

04.  Daredevil – 2280 points (71 first place votes):  If Frank Miller wrote Daredevil and either he or David Mazzucchelli drew the series, I’d be a lifetime subscriber.

03.  Wolverine – 2728 points (54 first place votes)  Wolverine during Claremont, Byrne and Austin’s run was the coolest character ever.  His biggest fault was he became too popular and was everywhere.  Miller’s mini-series was cool.  Chaykin has done some neat stuff with Wolverine as well.  Unfortunately, too many people tried to work their magic on Logan and I lost interest.  I’d still return to read stories about the runt if the right creator took the reins.

02.  Nick Fury – 619 points (7 first place votes):  I remember buying an issue of Nick Fury: Agent of Shield off the stands when I was elementary school.  I’d never seen a comic that looked so cool.  Steranko was is amazing.  When I attended my first comic convention, the first items I purchased were a complete run of Steranko’s Nick Fury comics [and an issue of his publication, MediaScene].  Someone find a way to get Steranko to do covers for a Gulacy drawn, Doug Moench written Nick Fury series set in the 1960’s.  The time is right.

01.  Batman (Bruce Wayne) – 6585 points (313 first place votes)  It doesn’t matter who draws Batman [Neal Adams, Marshall Rogers, Jim Aparo, Frank Miller, etc.], what kind of stories [funny, serious, set in any time period or genre], Batman works.  That has to make him the #1 character… at least in my book.

Day 7: Mike Zeck Week at the ZONE

It’s DAY 7 of MIKE ZECK WEEK at the ZONE and we’re going out with a bang. First up we have the photo above of my good buddies, Jim Ivey and Mike Zeck. My brother, John Beatty, forwarded it to me to share with fans. Beatty took it on a visit to Jim Ivey’s Cartoon Museum back around 1992 or 1993!

Before we go to our final art for MIKE ZECK WEEK at the ZONE, I thought it would be fun to check out a self portrait that Mike drew nearly 35 years ago, along with a more recent photo of the man. [By the way, Mike is wearing his “Damned” shirt — from the excellent crime graphic novel written by Steven Grant and drawn by, you guessed it, Mr. Zeck, his own bad self].

Okay, for the last piece of Zeck art, I wanted something dramatic. I was tempted to go with a piece from Damned… or Captain America… or Master of Kung Fu… or his Spider-Man / Kraven graphic novel… or his work at DC on Batman… or Secret Wars… okay, I never really considered Secret Wars because I decided that the final page of the Punisher in the Return to Big Nothing graphic novel would provide a fitting end to Mike Zeck Week at the Zone.

Hope you think so too.

Greatest Comic Characters

EmpireOnLine.com posted their choices for The 50 Greatest Comic Characters of All Time. Using just their picks, here are my top ten:

I only really read Iron Man way back when David Micheline and Bob Layton were charting his adventures. That coupled with the fact that I really liked the movie is enough to put Iron Man in the number 10 spot.

Superman was Empire’s #1 character. I can see why: Superman is one of the most popular characters ever created. He’s been the star of comics, radio, tv and movies. For my tastes though, he’s just too dang powerful. Superman has super speed, super strength, super hearing, x-ray vision, he can fly, he’s impervious to pain and he’s really, really nice. Unless he’s up against a chunk of Kryptonite [and isn’t THAT stuff easy to find], where’s the drama? Still, I did love me some Superman when I was about 5 and that’s good enough to get him the number 9 slot.

At number 8 we have Captain America. I’ve enjoyed the good Captain in bursts over the years. When I was a wee lad, I loved Jack Kirby’s Cap. You’d open to the splash and there was Cap having just been thrown out of a plane without a parachute or maybe he was already in battle against Batroc the Leaper! Years later Steranko did a couple of issues and they were beautiful. I still go back and read them from time to time. When I was in college, my buddies Mike Zeck and John Beatty had a nice run on Cap. I went along for the ride and had a blast.

Up until high school my favorite comic character was Spider-Man. It didn’t matter who was drawing him; although John Romita Jr., Gil Kane, and John Byrne were favorites. Spider-Man aka Peter Parker always seemed to be in just a bit over his head. Despite that, he always tried to do the right thing. And that’s why he comes in a number 7.

The Punisher never looked better than when he was being drawn by Zeck and Beatty. Throw Steven Grant into the mix as the writer and you have a winning team. They did the first Punisher mini-series and took him from a second rate villain to one of the most popular characters ever. And that’s where the troubles started. Suddenly the Punisher had his own monthly comic. He was teamed with a partner [Microchip?] and ended up doing things like being a substitute teacher. Ugh! Still there were more bright spots from time to time. Grant, Zeck and Beatty re-teamed for a couple more Punisher graphic novels and John Romita Jr. had a nice little run with the character. The high spots are enough to take the character to the sixth spot on our list.

Mike Mignola’s Hellboy is number 5. I’ve been riding the Hellboy express since his first appearance in Dark Horse Presents scripted by John Byrne. It’s been a fun trip, although I wish Mignola did more of the driving. Guest artists are fun, but Mike’s writing coupled with his art really makes Hellboy soar. And hey, the movies ain’t bad either!

Wolverine’s journey is very similar to the Punisher’s. Once he got his own series things went south. At first Wolverine was the mysterious, violent character in the X-Men. Then when he got his own series he was living on an island and wearing an eyepatch with the name Patch. Huh? Give me the Wolverine from the Claremont, Byrne and Austin run on the X-Men. Give me the Miller and Rubstein Wolverine from their mini-series. Give me the Barry Windsor Smith Weapon X Wolverine. Just keep the eyepatch for yourself. Wolverine comes in fourth.

Third place belongs to Frank Miller’s Marv from Sin City. How can you not dig the big lug? I wish Miller would give us more.

The # 2 spot goes to Daredevil on the strength of Frank Miller and Klaus Janson’s run back in the early 80’s. That was comics are their best.

Batman gets my number one slot. It doesn’t really matter who writes or draws the character. Think about it. Batman has been done as comedy, as camp, with the focus on Bruce Wayne, with the focus on Batman, as a vigilante, as a confidant to the police, as a wanted criminal, with a kid partner, as an old man, as a young man finding his way. Batman just works and that’s why he’s my number 1 choice.

2 Guns and 4 Issues

In January writer Steven Grant is teaming with artist, Mataes Santolouco, to bring us the crime comic mini-series “Two Guns.” Grant, probably best known for his work with Mike Zeck and John Beatty on Marvel’s first Punisher mini-series and subsequent graphic novels, is joining forces with Boom Studios for this creator owned release.

Full of betrayals, gunplay and plot twists, Grant’s tagline for the series [“Imagine the perfect crime. Now get it wrong.”] hints at the fun readers should have if they pick up the series.

After reading this interview with Grant, I’ve added the series to my “pull list.” You may want to do the same!