John Carpenter

Good piece on John Carpenter over here: www.pajiba.com

Agree with most of it, although don't know if I would have included his Masters of Horror efforts.

Comic

Put a few sample pages of the comic strip up on the Alarm Clock Blog. Let me know what you think.

Heartsrevolution - CYOA from Jean Demery / Handz.tv on Vimeo.

C.Y.O.A. - Heartsrevolution

New adventures in the digital age.

Finally bought myself a Cintiq- the 21 UX version. Should be arriving later in the week.

Friday the 13th/Andy B

I usually avoid comics based on movie franchises, especially when it comes to the horror related stuff as it's usually poorly written with garish amateurish art.

Well I just found one that breaks all of my preconceived notions.

Written by Josha Hale Fialkov, drawn by Andy B and published by Wildstorm -this one stands head and shoulders above most of the other comics I have seen regarding the genre. The interior art stopped me in my tracks. Rendered in an almost EC comics meets Archie type style with a highly pixelated look of '60s-'70s newsprint comic strips Jason has never looked so good, David B's more "cartoony" style really helps lend to the ensuing mayhem giving it a somewhat humorous undertone. The story itself is quite properly: sordid, gore-filled and tasteless not making the mistake of taking itself too seriously and quite literally had me smiling all the way through.


Above is a black and white image of the cover drawn by artist Brandon Badeaux.

This book came out some months back and I believe it has already been collected into a trade.

Below is some samples of Andy B's art.








Andy B is also part of the excellent Toronto based www.transmission-x.com online comic book website.

Great comic!

Conan

Rediscovering The Savage Sword Of Conan through the reprints that Dark Horse are putting out.

Conan was one of my first introductions to a more adult orientated comic, I would have been seven years of age or thereabouts at the time. This in fact even predated my introduction to 2000AD which didn't come into my sights(for some strange reason)until Prog 86. I was of course still buying my Beanos, Dandys, Whizzer and Chips, Whoopees, Beezers, Krazys, Look ins and the odd Marvel UK on a regular basis at that time -so based on that rather tame content, a few billion neurons must have exploded on contact as these stories were filled with violence, blood and even a little hint of sex.

The art was masterful, usually handled by the late great John Buscema and inked by Alfredo Alcala. Alcala must have been channeling Gustave Doré as the inking is just immaculate, beautifully rendered.







The Black Colossus story above is still one of my all time favorites.

Alcala was also an artist in his own right. I remember he did some Swamp Thing and Hellblazer issues in the late eighties and also a two issue Nightmare on Elm Street comic for Marvel amongst other things. However in regards to inking, Conan must be among his finest works.

There is also some great Jim Starlin art in this vol, along with Barry Windsor Smith, Neal adams, Mike Kaluta and Alex Nino.

To be honest I had forgotten how good the art was on Savage Sword and found myself thirty years later once again lost in those fantastic visuals.

Well worth picking up.

The Penguin.

The Wire

I put season 3 of The Wire on as some background noise while I was boarding and have now just finished season 4 as well; yeah kinda broke the "only going to listen to the commentary rule" as posted a while back.

There are very few TV shows that I will sit through twice, but this one is the exception. I have already seen season 5, but as a rather poor download, (naughty!!!) so I have just picked up the boxset and will start working my way through that again also.

As I'm on a bit of a roll, looks like I'll be working back into season 1 and 2 as well. Heard they are releasing a deluxe 5 season box-set in December, I just pray there isn't too many extras on that or I'm gonna be seriously outta pocket.

Postscript to my previous Fifty Dead Men Walking post. McGowan was only in a couple of scenes and she was only mildly irritating, her Norn Iron accent surprisingly, wasn't too bad. The movie itself went a little bit "Bourne Identity" towards the end with car chases and shootouts and whatnot, but it was a decent flick, worth checking out.





God I'll miss The Wire.

My Dog

Craig Wilson's beautiful tribute to his dog entitled My Dog. Scroll to the bottom of his page for a listen.

This is almost as touching as Father Ted Crilly's My Lovely Horse.

Hellblazer

I mentioned Jordi Bernet a post or two back and how much I am in love with his inking style.

Sean Phillips is another such artist. Well worth checking out his blog.

Good news is that he is back on Hellblazer for a one off issue; scripted by someone called Dave Gibbons.

Fifty Dead Men Walking

I hadn't heard too much about this movie until a friend brought it to my attention. I'm now midway through it and Rose Mcgowan has turned up as an IRA Intelligence Officer.........................................................................!!

I'll just say that again:

Rose Mcgowan has turned up as an IRA Intelligence Officer.........................................................................!!


Yeah we will see how that one pans out. On googling an image to put up on the blog I came across this little titbit:



Producers of IRA movie Fifty Dead Men Walking have apologised after the film's star Rose McGowan said she would have joined the terrorist organisation if she was from Northern Ireland.

The actress made the controversial comments while speaking at a press conference for the movie at the Toronto Film Festival last week (beg8Sep08).

McGowan admitted that she felt empathy with the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and claimed she would have been a member if she had been brought up in Belfast during the Troubles.

McGowan, whose father hails from Northern Ireland, plays a fiery IRA leader in the movie.

Now the film's bosses have issued an apology to anyone who may have been offended by her views, insisting her opinions were "private ones" and not the beliefs of the production team as a whole.

In a statement issued to industry publication Hollywood Reporter, the producers of Fifty Dead Men Walking say they "regret any distress" McGowan's comments may have caused "to people of Northern Ireland and particularly those who were victims of or caught up in the shocking events that existed during the conflict".

They add, "Ms. McGowan's views were private ones, and as such they greatly saddened the film's producers. (Her views) are not shared nor endorsed by anybody associated with the production or creative elements of the film."


To give her credit she does have red fiery hair in the movie and that should as we all know help her to accurately portray an Irish person as we Irish people all have red hair somewhere on our body. Mine happens to be on my balls. Yes Rose on my balls...

I got nothing...

Back to the movie.

Everybody and their mom should be listening to The Decemberists.

The Spirit

I picked up this little masterpiece today...



This is one of those books that I drool over the artwork for a day or two before I actually sit down to read it. Fact is Cooke's writing always takes a backseat to his art for me, similar to when I pick up a Mignola book -not that their writing isn't any good I might add, not at all. Take a look at Cooke's opus THE NEW FRONTIER for proof of that. It's moreso, speaking from an artists perspective- "I just get lost in the damn visuals." If the writings good too-bonus.

This Volume also has a series of short stories drawn by the likes of Chris Spouse(which is just beautifully drawn) Edwardo Risso, Phil Hester and wait for it...

...JORDI BERNET.

Jordi Bernet is one of the finest artists working in the industry today so this was a great surprise. This guy is a perfect choice for The Spirit, DC should get him working on a full volume. I first came across his work with TORPEDO 1936 and was completely blown away.



Those brush strokes...

Some time ago I picked up a great collection of his work in a book aptly titled BERNET. Well worth checking out.



Here is some more of the master, just for the sheer hell of it...








Bliss...

Tony Hart

The British artist Tony Hart popular with children in the seventies and eighties for his art programmes has sadly been forced to stop creating art due to ill health.

I use to love watching Tony Hart as a kid, he always seemed incredibly genuine in his passion for art and had a rather avuncular way about him which obviously made him very accessible to the younger viewer.

“My aged heart is warmed by the lovely letters and emails I receive, especially when they tell me that my work on television inspired the writers to become artists.”

Getting a bit too soppy here eh? I tried to find a decent short Youtube vid of Take Hart-with no luck.

I did come across this though:

Alan Moore

More here

Interview Palin

Here: Palin

Making a lot of sense people!
Or should I say:
People! Sense a lot of making.