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Small press…Big talent!

This is the top 5 small press guys that are not only creators to watch, but are guys who have already made their mark in small press comics. These are the guys that can get their projects green lit buy companies like image Dark horse and Oni. These guys are doing their part to keep the “little guys” on the map. I left off the Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar types. Yes they do a lot of small press books, but they are as well known for what they do with the big boys as the small ones. These are guys that make their bones solely in the small press (for now). Here they are.


5. Matt Fraction- Like any good writer Matt attracts some of the most talented artist around. He’s worked with a lot of talented guys from the KC area that are true diamonds in the rough ( Hector Casanova, Steve Sanders). He has proven himself as a local treasure in KC and looked upon with great respect from the art community there. He has finally put himself on the national map creatively and professionally with some very well written critically and acclaimed books. Matt has been creating comics for a while and has earned every bit of recognition he’s now getting. The first thing I read from Matt was “Mantooth” but with his newest titles like “Casanova” and “the Five Fists of Science” he showing his true range as a writer. His writing style and concepts are smart, imaginative and at reminiscing of a Warren Ellis or Alan Moore. Like those writers Matt can also write larger properties and make them entertaining without “selling out” what truly makes him a unique writer.


4. Ryan Ottley- He is best known for work on Image Comics' Invincible. Artist and co-creator of webcomic strip "Ted Noodleman", and it was through this web strip that Robert Kirkman first encountered Ryan's work. I've seen Wya ( many of us wanna bees and fans know him as) work for years before he was getting regular gigs and has always been one hell of an artist and one hell of a great guy. Ryan is a true indy guy with works in Digital Webbing presents, Ted Noodleman and OZ5 and now a smash hit with Invincible. Ryan's skill and speed is only matched by his professionalism and character. No matter if you see him at a con or on the net on message boards he’s always opinionated but always endearing to his fans. Ryan is an artist that can draw any and everything, cartoony or super detailed renderings. He will one day soon, be among the elite in the comic world.

3. B.Clay Moore- Clay is someone I know on a very casual basis. I had the pleasure meeting and hanging with him back in Kansas City doing the start and height of the Kansas city comic Creators boom. I sat with him in CCN meetings and read his little “Hawaiian Dick” ashcan before anyone even knew what he had. Who would have know…not me! I mention this because Clay is the one of those guys from that group that I know that has had some success ( Clay had more than just some success,) but still remains the same guy. Clay is not an underrated talent because every review I've ever read on his work has been stealer! Every book he does is not only quality work but has wit, humor and paced beautifully. His work is smart without being to “inside” or obscure and always remains hip. Clay has another sign of a great writer, he attracts good artists. Clay has a great eye for knowing what artist will do his story justice and looks for one that will complement his books and still be able to put their own artistic stamp on the material. Clay seems to be a very artist friendly creator, something I believe is needed if you ever want to have longevity in the business of creating comics. He seems to have the Midas touch with Books like “Hawaiian Dick”, “Battle Hymn” and the “Leading man”. Even books less read like the “Expatriate” has a very loyal following. Clay is a creative indy guy. And with Hollywood knocking down his door it’s just a matter of time before his name will be up there with all the heavy hitters in the biz. we could use “Moore” guys like him…damn, that pun was bad!

2. Tony Moore - ( no relation to Clay : ) I've been a fan of Tony long before I ever knew who the fuck he was. I still remember picking up “Battle Pope” #2 off the shelves like 5 or 6 years ago and being blown away at the his art! His art is very reminiscent of Will Eisner in the way his figures convey emotion and action. His ability to draw action and cartoony humor and over the top covers! Moore is by far my favorite artist to come up in the past ten years and it’s a shame he has not won an Eisner award yet, one of the reasons that award is losing all credibility in my eyes. As an artist myself I look at his work as something to aspire to. People get caught up in the over rendered photo realistic type art that has flooded the mainstream market. Fear Agent and the wicked good Walking Dead ( first 6 or 7 issues) are some of the best books you'll experiance in the small press. The Quality that Tony has in his work is something that doesn't come around to often in comics and if he has the right opportunity and motivation I think Tony will be our generations John Romita Jr. Plan on seeing him in the biz for as long as he want’s to be in it.


1. Robert Kirkman- Yeah, I know he’s doing a lot of Marvel stuff, and how I said I would exclude those guys, but come on! Robert is a hard core indy guy that started from nothing and busted his ass with Battle Pope that lead to gigs like Tech Jacket with Image and Then Hit a home run with titles like the Walking Dead ( with Tony Moore) and Invincible ( with Ryan Ottley) His Walking Dead series topped the image sales charts mouth after mouth and with the help of Uncle Way propelled Invincible to a fan favorite and got Hollywood giving him props with not only an option, but an offer to write the script, damn that almost unheard of for someone that’s not yet on the Hollywood map! Kirkman has all the qualities of a real indy guy and works his ass off churning out quality book after quality book. Kirkman is all set for mainstream heat and is now taking Marvel by storm and helped put over some of the best Indy properties being published in recent years. He evens put his buddy Tony Moore on the map with collaborations on Battle pope, Brit, Walking dead.

Top ten science fiction films

Here is yet another one of my (not so) famous top ten lists. This time is top ten Sci fi movies. The criteria is this, it must be “true” Science Fiction film. There are lots of cool movies that Have sci fi elements in it, like 12 monkeys, Close Encounters and Terminator. But a true sci fi film (in my humble opinion) is set in the sci fi world for the entire film and the story takes place in that world. Terminator makes references to another time, but is never really takes place in that time. These are the ten best true Science fiction films of the past 30 Years. (I’m leaving off 2001 because I’ve never seen it…I know I suck)



10. Minority Report- A great science fiction thriller is also one of Spielberg’s strongest films. It earned four Saturn Awards, including Best Science Fiction Film and Best Direction. It also earned an Academy Award nomination for best sound Editing. A Great plot is the key to any compelling science fiction film and this one is very thought provoking. set in Washinton D.C. during the year 2054 Thanks to three "precogs and technology built around their ability to see murders before they happen, the city has gone six years without a homicide. The group making use of the precogs is called the "Department of Pre-Crime"; the police officers and detectives within the department are empowered to act on their foreknowledge, arresting people who are about to commit a murder, and imprisoning them without a trial in a "Hall of Containment" using technology even crueler than that used to make use of the precogs. The story asks many moral and ethical questions about what types of freedoms would you give up to live in a safe invoronment. The film has cool gadgets and weapons, and new hip looking transit system and a more rundown looking part of the city called the “sprawl”. The Tom Cruise Character has depth and has a tragic past that makes his plight very believable. I love this movie and watch it often.


9. The Matrix- the original Matrix was one of the most ground breaking films of the past 20 years. The Wachowski brothers (who wrote and directed the flick) hit a home run with Characters and plot. One of the best “apocalyptic” movies with an awesome back story that has spawned Animated shorts and comics that help fill in the gaps. A lot of people discount the direction they took with the other two films but no one can deny the near flawless masterpiece that is the Matrix. If you have never seen it, you are one of the few.



8. Dark City- This might not only the most underrated science fiction film but one of the most passed over movies of the past 15 or so years! Screen writer David S.Goyer ( Blade, Batman begins) Hits big time with a psychological thriller that keeps you guessing and has another great story line that is similar to the Matrix in the way that these people of dark city are oblivious that they are puppets in a bigger picture. The story begins with a man waking in a hotel room with no memory, which soon proves to be but one of many troubles. He is being hunted by the police, who believe him to be a serial killer, and also by a group of mysterious men with kinetic mind powers (their first meeting is very creepy). Furthermore, something appears to be wrong with the world at large: time, memory, and identity behave in unusual ways. The look of the movie is a combination of a film noir crime story and a great American science fiction film that has roots in gothic euro style of science fiction. The film has a great climax and ending that leaves you wanting to watch it again and again


7. Alien-This 1979 film is the oldest flick on the list. Ridley Scott is one of my favorite Directors and a masterful storyteller, especially in the genre of science fiction.

H.R.Giger designed the film's visual imagery and won an Oscar for it and I’m sure after you read this and the other films on this list you will see I have a soft spot for the Euro style of science fiction This movie not only launched the carrier of Sigourney Weaver and made a Franchise property for her but this movie was one of the scariest, most suspenseful movies of it’s time. Weaver plays such a great female character; Ripley was the mold for all the strong female leads you see in today’s action films.


6. Star Wars- like any great movie this film has the holy trinity of a great science fiction or fantasy film. A great plot, characters and setting. Star Wars is great because it has elements of Science, Magic and mysticisms (the force) Good versus evil and so many cool creatures and worlds. Star Wars created an infinite number of possibilities for its characters and story lines. The best thing about Star Wars is that there is so much history not only in the film but in it’s expanded universe that makes the films that much more enjoyable for “geeks” like me that want to know everything about every character in the film. George Lucas is not a great director or script writer, in my opinion but what he lacks in those categories, he more than makes up for in his fantastic visual style not to mention his imagination knows no bounds.


5. The Fifth Element- I love this movie on so many levels. Concepts and designs by Mobius, costumes by Jean Paul Gautier, Lelu… (Milla Jovovich!). The aesthetics of the movie were designed by Jean Giraud (Moebius) and Jean-Claude Mézières and it has a strong, European comic book-like look and feel that keeps you glued to the screen.

The movie places the survival of mankind on the shoulders of Korben Dallas (Willis) after "the Fifth Element" (Jovovich) falls into his taxicab. His mission is to find the other four elements, represented by stones, (fire, earth, wind, water) and to gather them all before a black evil planet collides with the Earth. Mangalores, blockheaded warrior aliens, and Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg (Oldman), a corporate villain, are bent on thwarting his efforts.
Action, comedy plus great characters and over the top action one of the most visually stunning films and one of those movies where everything from the cigarette the letters in the mail (on clear paper) is grounded in this fictional world. Everything is re invented for this movie. I love it and in years to come will be looked at as the masterpiece that it is.

4. Akira - The story takes place in the politically volatile city of Neo-Tokyo, built over Tokyo Bay after an unexplained explosion inciting World War III had destroyed the previous metropolis. The cataclysm is revealed to have been caused by the frightening psionic powers of a child, Akira, who had earlier been the subject of a secret government research project for the development of psychokinetic abilities. 1988 anime film by Katsuhiro Otomo based on his

manga of the same name. The movie led the way for the growing popularity of anime in the West, with AKIRA considered a forerunner of the second wave of anime fandom that began in the early 1990s. One of the reasons for the movie's success was the highly advanced quality of its animation. Even though I’m as big a fan of Ghost in the shell ( that movie inspired the Matrix visual style) Akira paved the way and shocked the amimation world and helped put anime and japanese science fiction on the map for western audiances. If your not a fan of Anime your missing out on some great science fiction.

3. Brazil- Now we are getting to what I truly love, gothic and arcaic science fiction where the world is not this higentic utopia of a perfect technology but more of a step back and most people have down graded there quality of life. The world is a mixture of uchronic aesthetics drawn from various styles of the mid-20th century but without fixing it on a particular real-life timeframe since these appear along with futuristic machines, technology and organisations.

Brazil is one of the masterpieces by Terry Gilliam ( Time bandits, 12 monkeys, the Fisher king) Like many Euro inspired science fiction, Brazil has many fantasy and dream elements to it. You know the Mark of a great sci fi or fantasy film if it has Ian Holms in it ( He is also in the Fifth Element, Lord of the Rings, Alien and Time Bandits!) Brazil has very witty high brow type humor and great visual style that makes this film an all time cinima classic. Great ending to the movie too.

2. Bladerunner- It’s a toss up for the best of all times, and anyone that says this should be number one…well, I really can’t argue. The film depicts a dystopian Los Angeles in November 2019 in which genetically manufactured beings, physically identical to adult humans, called replicants are used for dangerous and degrading work in Earth's "off-world colonies." Replicants became illegal on Earth after a bloody mutiny. Specialist police units — blade runners — hunt down and "retire" (i.e. kill) escaped replicants on Earth. The plot primarily focuses on a particularly brutal and cunning group of replicants hiding in Los Angeles and a semi-retired blade runner, named Rick Deckard, who reluctantly agrees to take on one more assignment. This movie I believe helped to inpire many clone and cyborg type movies like A.I. The story is so ahead of it’s time and one of those rare movies that is as good today as it was in 1982 and is almost more relivant. Well fleshed out characters, Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) is a commando, Leon a soldier and manual laborer, Zhora (Joanna Cassidy) a sex worker retrained as an assassin, and Pris (Daryl Hannah) a "basic pleasure model." Bryant also explains that the Nexus-6 model has a four-year lifespan as a failsafe against their developing unstable emotions. Deckard is teamed up with Gaff (Edward James Olmos) and sent to the Tyrell Corporation to ensure that the Voight-Kampff test works on Nexus-6 models. While there, Deckard discovers that Tyrell's (Joe Turkel) young secretary Rachael (Sean Young) is an experimental replicant (who believes she is a human) with implanted memories from Tyrell's niece, which provide a cushion for her emotions. I’m a character guy and believe it is imposable to have a great film without many stong multi fasited characters with more that a few layers. Lastly like any great film it is very thought provoking and leaves a lot to the viewer imagination. Many critics and movie goes hated this film for that reason but for the rest of us the compelling question of weather or not Deckard is a replicant is just that thing that makes the movie great. Oh, just so you know…Of course he is, you silly goose!

1. the City of Lost Children- This film is barly a science fiction film, it’s more of a hodge podge of fantasy, old monster movies and fairy tales with many dream and surreal sequances.. City of Lost Children is more like the Wizard of Oz than like the Matrix, but is still dipped in enough science fiction jucies to be my number one pick. The plot revolves around a mad scientist, Krank (Daniel Emilfork), who lives off the coast of a surreal Dickensian French city in an old oil rig. Krank does not have the ability to dream, and as a result he is prematurely old. In order to supplement his dream deficit, Krank kidnaps young children in order to study and extract their dreams. Unfortunately for Krank this is a self-fulfilling curse, as the experience of being kidnapped is so traumatic that the children have only nightmares.
In pursuit of this scheme, Krank employs a sinister cult of blind men called "Cyclops" to perform the kidnappings. In return for giving up their sight, the cult's neophytes are given a mechanical "third eye" and a device which makes their hearing unnaturally sensitive. This augmentation is as much a curse as it is a boon; at one point the audience may witness the discomfort of one Cyclops listening to Denree chomp his food.
It is revealed that Krank is an artificially created man with superior intelligence. He was created by an inventor who also created six clones, a wife for himself (who later betrayed him), and a migraine-ridden brain in a jar named Irvin for him to interact with. Irvin's voice is supplied by Jean-Louis Trintignant; the Inventor and his clones are all played by Dominique Pinon.
The events of the film open with a sideshow strongman named One (Ron Perlman of hellboy fame) witnessing an orphan he cares for, named Denree (Joseph Lucien), being kidnapped by Krank's Cyclops. It later turns out that Denree is a special child, one able to provide Krank with the ability to overcome his condition (due to the fact that Denree has no sense of fear). One sets out to find and rescue his "little brother", with help of a nine-year-old street urchin girl named Miette (Judith Vittet) who holds the screen like no other child actress that I’ve seen.

Also in the film are a pair of Siamese twins known as "The Octopus". They run a thieves' guild in which they train and force orphans (one of whom is Miette) to steal for them. Due to unforseen circumstances, One gets caught up in a the theft of a large safe (which only he can carry). The end result of which is the orphans' failure to completely empty the safe. Annoyed with this failure and Miette's subsequent decision to run off with One (Miette is their best thief) the Octopus seeks to destroy them. To this end they attempt to secure help from their former sideshow employer, whose trained fleas can inject poison into a person's scalp, inducing the victim to commit acts of violence when the flea-master plays his barrel organ and his scences are the best in the movie. Directed by the french duo of Jeunet & Caro who also did the yummy canniable flick “Delicatessen” (Jeunet later did Alien Reserection and the french film “Amelie”) The story telling is wonderful the direction is flawless and the special effects are some of the best you could ever see in the mid 90’s cinima. I don’t know any one who has seen this film that doen’t love it on some level. Yes, there are some confussing elements to it and takes some weird turns but this movie with all it’s layers forces the movie goer to fill in the blanks and think outside the box to fully understand the complexites of this film…I’ve seen it a dozen times and I’m almost there!