The ramblings of a, uuhh...uhhh...a god damn rambler!

In my dreams...

2007-12-05T00:11:00.000-05:00

I did this a while back but painfully need to update this thing so people think I'm still breathing. This is one of those pieces of art that is pure expression and has no real purpose than me purging many different feeling about things. Thanks for peaking at it.

Oh, and I'll hopefully be posting some Peniclneck pages too. Right now I working about as slow as humanly possible on issue three. I'll try to get something up soon. hopefully I can get the rest of issue three done during winter break

Mizzou #1

2007-11-26T12:53:00.000-05:00

Mizzou Is New No. 1 in AP Poll

NEW YORK (AP) — Missouri is No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 for the second time in school history. The Tigers have to be hoping this stay is longer than the first.
Missouri became the fourth team this season — joining Southern California, LSU and Ohio State — to hold the top ranking, a day after beating Kansas 36-28 to earn a spot in the Big 12 championship game. Not since 1997 have so many teams been No. 1 in a season.
The Tigers' only other time at No. 1 lasted a week in 1960.
West Virginia moved up to No. 2 on Sunday, its highest ranking ever, and became the eighth team this season to be ranked second. The Mountaineers' 66-21 victory over Connecticut earned them the Big East title and knocked the Huskies out of the rankings.
No. 3 Ohio State, Georgia and LSU complete the top five.
Missouri, West Virginia, Ohio State, Georgia and Kansas were the top five teams in the Bowl Championship Series standings released Sunday. The Tigers were No. 1 in the Harris poll and West Virginia was No. 1 in the coaches' poll.
This most unpredictable season took another tumultuous turn when Nos. 1 and 2 lost in the same weekend for the second time in two months. Top-ranked LSU lost its second triple overtime game of the season to Arkansas on Friday and second-ranked Kansas had its unbeaten season spoiled by Missouri.
On Oct. 6, then-No. 1 LSU lost in three OTs to Kentucky and later that day No. 2 California fell to Oregon State. Before that, Nos. 1 and 2 hadn't lost in the same regular season weekend in 10 years.
Three times this season No. 1 has been beaten. That hasn't happened since 1990, when No. 1 went down five times.
LSU became the 12th top-five team to lose to an unranked team when it fell 52-50 to Arkansas and Kansas was the sixth team ranked No. 2 to lose this season. LSU became the first team since Notre Dame in 1990 to lose as No. 1 twice in the regular season.
The new top-ranked Tigers from Missouri face Oklahoma in San Antonio on Saturday, a victory away from playing in the BCS championship game on Jan. 7.
"Obviously, it's a nice honor for our program," Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. "But we've got so much to play for and so much preparation to put in for a great Oklahoma team that we really can't spend much time thinking about that."
Missouri last rose to the top of the media poll on Nov. 14, 1960. The next week coach Dan Devine's Tigers lost to Kansas 23-7 in the regular-season finale, though the Jayhawks later had to forfeit that game because they used an ineligible player.
Missouri finished that season No. 5.

Tideland (again)

2007-11-10T19:50:00.000-05:00

I know i posted this review last year but this is suck an over looked film and something of a diamond in the rough. people need to check this little film out. I don't want people to forget about this film. it's the best film I've seen in the last few years. Here's the review

Tideland is the 10th film by Director Terry Gilliam ( Brazil, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 12 Monkeys). Gilliam adapted this film from the Novel of the same title, written by Mitch Cullin. The Movie is prefaced with a short monologue by Gilliam telling the viewer that most people will not like this film and many will hate it. It’s a specialty film that was not made for the masses. He also said this entire movie is skewed from reality and is told through the eyes and perspective of a child. At the end of the day Gilliam does care if you enjoyed the film, as long as after you see it it makes you think. With that said the film is nor confusing or as shocking as one might think at first viewing. Tideland does not adhere to a formula or follow an adult’s logical conclusion. Not many movies these days can you watch and really have no idea what direction it’s going to go in.

Now it’s not just a movie with random scenes that don’t really fit into the bigger narrative structure of the story or of a conventional told story, it certainly has all those character elements transitions, and climax a movie needs to be entertaining. This movie defiantly satisfies my hunger for rich and interesting characters. Tideland is the smallest of Gilliam’s other projects, completely independent, free from any studio involvement, so the scale is much small and much more intimate which servers to the advantage of a story like this one.

The main character is Jaliza-Rose, a nine year old child that has to tend to her junkie parents (Jennifer Tilly and Jeff Bridges) she helps ready her fathers Heroine injections and tends to he belligerent mothers whims and mood swings till one day her mother drops dead, Anna Nicole style. Jeliza and her father then pack up and leave to an old farm house that her father, Noah (Played by Bridges, who is a washed up rock star) bought for his now dead mother. The house is old, run down and in the middle of nowhere surrounded by fields of wheat and grain. This is a direct contrast from Jeliza-Rose’s urban upbringing.

Despite these never ending struggles and horrible situations she is forced to deal with, Jeliza-Rose is a very spirited and fun loving little girl. She uses her imagination to escape these horrors of her reality. She makes believe and escapes with help from her four imaginary friends that are old doll heads she wears on her fingers. They all have different personalities that mirror her true feeling, one is pretty, and smart and confident, one is disfigured and ugly, one is very scared and one is just a stupid supermodel type, not really knowing what’s going on. .

This film is sweet, and yet disturbing. Gilliam touches on a lot of Taboos dealing with a young girl that have many people thinking he crossed the line. This film is not gory and there is no real acts of violence in it but some of the images will shock you and many moments of suspense that really make you feel terror for this child. Gilliam has tagged this movie “Alice in wonderland meets Psycho.” it’s a very fitting description.

The movie is carried by the young actress playing the lead named Jodelle Ferland. She is in almost every shot in the movie and has many speaking parts using different voices and accents. She blows away anything that hack Dakota Fanning ever did. Why, because she’s not playing a nine year old, she is being a nine year old. So many young actresses are playing more grow up then a child would act in those situations. Another notable performance is by Brendan Fletcher who played the mentally inept “Dickens” who befriends young Jelliza-Rose. His performance is so moving I had to look to see if he was really mental deficient, he’s that good, (I am Sam and Forest Gump, eat your heart out). The movie is really about the resiliency of a child to cope with terrible things and how a child can endure and survive, sometimes much better than an adult. It’s about a child using her imagination to try to understand things that no child should ever have to deal with.

There are so many other elements like religious hypocrisy that are touched open very briefly without being over explained or thrown in your face. It gets you thinking instead of telling you what to think like in such acclaimed Hollywood films like “Crash” that critics thought was so poignant and relevant but it nowhere in the film did it leave anything subjective or open ended, “this behavior is good and this behavior is bad,” Not in this film

Gilliam is one of my favorite directors working today and is one of the most creative since the likes of Kubrick. Critics hated, I mean hated this movie. I couldn’t believe when it came out late last year that it was received so poorly, it almost scared me away, thank good I learned a while ago that most critics are not worth the price of the word processing software they use to write their reviews.

I can’t fault all of them for not liking this movie and I’m sure there will be at least one person who reads this review that goes and watches it and say’s ‘what a stupid movie” and you know, that’s ok. It’s one of those personal films that I like knowing that not everyone will enjoy it this movie is a delight to watch and I have no problem popping it in a getting engrossed in the story and characters over and over again. If you’re open minded to a unique film or you can say you’re a Gilliam fan you’ll walk away with something from this film.

Buring out...

2007-10-20T11:37:00.000-04:00

What causes writers block or an artistic meltdown; I know I’ve gone through phases of both in this past year or two. I know from a writing stand point I have put that to the side for other things at the moment but still… no new ideas are popping into my head that I have to run and put them on paper. The artistic block for me is a bit easier to figure out. The things that killed me were some of my bigger business deals with my comic work falling flat. ICE press, Cocked and loaded studios or my run in with Hollywood producers or whatever…expectations for these projects were very high and it never came to fruition.

I hate to blame other people because I know I have to make those good choices. I know when I starting doing “Pencilneck”, the current project I’m working on, I felt like I had something to prove and somewhere along the line I got into another funk. Either not getting along with the writer or having a difference of opinions about the art or the direction of the project. Before I knew it I was back in this funk of believing that this project was going to go nowhere and all hard work would never been seen.

I know when I first started drawing comics my goal was to see my name and work in print. It was very much a vanity driven goal. I didn’t care if it was great work I just wanted it out there. That wore off sometime ago. In the past few years of all the published work I’ve done, no matter if it’s RPG books, advertising or comics, I’ve seen very little of it. Most of it made it to print but I never had any interest in seeing it. I’ve never even seen the 2nd issue of Pencilneck that came out this summer.

I guess the point I’m making is that I really don’t care to see my name “in lights” anymore or care to go to conventions and try to sell my books to a dozen people or walk around with a “pro” badge and act more important than I really am. I just wanna do a good project that I can believe in and that will showcase what little talent I have.

I’m having a hard time trusting the people I work with or to get excited about projects anymore. Maybe I’m burned out or too jaded to continue my publishing endeavors. It’s not art; I draw everyday and still enjoy creating works of my own personal choosing. I thought it would ware off and I’d come back stronger and more hungry. It hasn’t happened yet. Right now I’m at the point where I’m looking back at my work and think all of it is shit. Not feeling sorry for myself, just looking at it from a realistic stand point knowing that my work maybe didn’t achieve because it wasn’t up to the standards to achieve. I guess I can blame anyone I want but maybe I’ve over achieved already and should be happy I was able to create anything someone would buy or read.

My new goal is to finish my current project and re asses what I want to do with my comic career. Thank god I have more going for me in life than just comics or I would be in a rough place. I do feel more free now, not really caring about comics, my career or who has a book coming out. I used to have envy for my friends that have a book that was hot or getting picked up by a publisher now, I don’t even know who is doing what. I really don’t network, post of message boards or generally care about what’s going on in the comic book world. Part of me thinks this is the calm before the storm and I’m like a little cocooned caterpillar waiting, evolving into something different and far superior than my last incarnation. I really feel like there is so much more I having in me, but just don’t know when it’s ready to come out. Part of the reason behind this blog is to work those creative writing muscles and to purge some of these thoughts. Get them out there and to be free from them. I know not too many people if any read this blog, but like I said, I’m past the point of vanity. I just want to express even if it’s just for expressions sake.

Death Proof bitches!

2007-10-07T12:57:00.000-04:00

This movie is fantastic own the DVD and have watched it about 6 times already. If you missed it at the theater you get to see the extended version. I’m glad I saw the theatrical release thou. I ‘m glad they didn’t include the trailers on this DVD. You wanna know why? Because nobody went out and supported this movie as they should have in the theater.

This film, (well Grindhouse) was made for the theater experience and the director(s) took great pains to make it a real movie going experience. Fuck the people who didn't see it in the theater saying “I’ll just wait for this on DVD." Good, wait for it on DVD, but you ain't getting what I got in the theater.

People, especially fans of these directors and of these movies, need to support these creative guys that are trying to invent some excitement about going out with some friends, getting there early for a good seat with your popcorn and enjoying a theater experience. Stop supporting the shit films and come out and spend some dough for these guys. Don't wait for the DVD!!!!!!!!!

If you didn't see this in the theater I hope you never see the trailers. I hope after you buy your DVD you leave it on the stairs and I hope you mother trips on it, tumbling down head over c’ankles. right on top of your family pet killing it instantly. Your Moms injury is quite sever, she rupturing her femoral artery as it sprays blood all over the new living room carpet. The family rushes her to the hospital and the doctors gives her an emendate blood transfusion. You are over joyed at your mother’s full recovery. Week later your mother learns the horrific news that she contracted full blow AIDS from her transfusion and will die a slow painful death. Not wanting to go through the agony the old bag attempts suicide by hanging herself, but her poor, brutal old spine can not take the weight of her body so her head pops off spraying AIDS blood all over the freshly installed carpet that you just replaced, the new family pet you just bought and all your family photos and shitty DVD collection. You can't bare the thought of cleaning this mess up so you torch the house for the insurance money and quickly go to prison for extortion and double homicide (the family pet:) Now you get pink socked every night from bubba and right when he finishes dumping his load all over your back he asks you "Did you see Grindhouse, those trailers killed me, too bad they are not on the DVD."

Yes they make money off the DVD’s but the Hollywood machine cares more, much more about the box office and the first week(end) ticket sales. Please feel free to bitch about this film coming out every year with a new special addition. There was a unique experience last year that most young people have never had in a movie theater, don’t blame these guys for trying to get some more cash for these two masterpieces of modern cinema. They deserve something for trying new gimmicks to get people excited to see films in the theater. Shame on them for making two great films, charging for a normal ticket price and making it fun as fuck.

in the news

2007-10-06T18:05:00.000-04:00

BOSTON (Oct. 4) -- Exactly how Ciara Durkin died remains a mystery. The Army National Guard soldier from Massachusetts was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in Afghanistan Sept. 28, and now her family is demanding answers from the military.

Initially the Pentagon reported that Durkin, part of a finance unit deployed to Afghanistan in November 2006, had been killed in action, but then revised its statement to read she had died of injuries "suffered from a non-combat related incident" at Bagram Airfield. The statement had no specifics and said the circumstances are under investigation.

Durkin had a desk job doing payroll in an office about three miles inside the secure Bagram Air Base. About 90 minutes after she left work Sept. 28, her family says she was found dead near a chapel on the base with a single gunshot wound to the head.

The 30-year-old soldier, who was born in Ireland and came to the U.S. as a little girl, felt safer deployed in Afghanistan over Iraq , her family told CBS News correspondent Kelly Wallace. Yet she was found dead within a highly secure base, with few answers.

"The family has been informed that she was in the compound, and she was shot in the head," Durkin's sister, Fiona Canavan, told the Boston Globe. "She was in a secure area of the compound, which, even though the investigation is not complete, leads the family to believe it was what is called friendly fire," she said.

Adding to the mystery is something the Army Specialist told her family: if something happened to her in Afghanistan, they should look into it. She was concerned about things she was seeing over there, one of her eight brothers and sisters said in an interview.

Canavan told the Quincy, Mass., Patriot Ledger on Wednesday that when her sister was home three weeks ago, she told her about something she had come across that raised some concern with her: "She was in the finance unit and she said, 'I discovered some things I don’t like and I made some enemies because of it.'"

Canavan revealed that Durkin said if anything happened to her, to make sure it was investigated.

"At the time we thought it was said more as a joke," Canavan told the paper.

The family is also wondering whether Durkin's sexual orientation -- she was gay -- played a role in her death.

"We just want full disclosure, that's all we want -- to know what happened to our sister," Diedre Durkin said.

Massachusetts Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry and Rep. William Delahunt are pressing for answers.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Kerry said the circumstances need to be uncovered expeditiously and thoroughly.

Durkin's extended family has also asked for help from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs.

The family doubts suicide, pointing to an upbeat "happy birthday" voicemail Durkin left for her brother just hours before she died.

"I thought it was cute at the time," Pierce Durkin said. "Now it's priceless."

The family's grief, made more torturous by the limited information being released and rumors, is not helped by remembrances of past instances where misinformation followed the deaths or injuries of service members.

The military initially said Army Ranger Pat Tillman was killed in an enemy firefight in Afghanistan in 2004, even after evidence came to light that he had been killed by friendly fire.

There were also reports circulated that captured Army pfc. Jessica Lynch had bravely fired upon insurgents after being wounded, though she testified later that that was not so.

Sgt. Patrick McCaffrey and 1st Lt. Andre Tyson, killed in Iraq in 2004, were first reported to have been killed in an insurgent ambush, when they were actually killed by two Iraqi soldiers they were training.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Napping…Comprede`

2007-10-04T18:43:00.000-04:00

Today I was very diligent in doing some homework and when I finished I decided to take one of my famous 15 min power naps, that usually turn into a hour in a half comma that leaves me more tired than before. I awoken realizing I had a weird dream that I wanted to share before I forgotten it, maybe I can decipher some kind of meaning from it.

The main things about the dream that I can remember is one of my daughters in the kitchen, elbow deep into a box of cereal sifting through the goodness, something I despise. I screamed, “Put that cereal back!” The next thing I remember about my dream was I noticed someone had left my sprinklers on in my front yard, flooding it. Then I went inside where I seen a young Mexican boy sliding down the railing of my stare case. He was dressed like a thug and was wearing lots of bling.

Not knowing where this teen age hood rat came from I followed him down stairs. As I turned the corner, my eyes scanned the living room for this boy that was obviously here stealing something. I spotted him and grabbed his arm! He squirmed and attempted to break my grip yelling at me to let go. I began to yell at him right back, “What are you doing in my house?” The boy that couldn’t be over 13 began to cry. I tried to calm down and began to explain to him I just want him to empty his pockets so I know he didn’t steal anything of mine. He reluctantly did, knowing I would not release my kung-fu grip on his arm until he followed my instruction.

He started empting his pockets on a bed that was in the middle of my dreamy living room, which was odd in itself, but seemed normal at the time. From his pocked came normal things, small toys, loose change and a book of matches. I picked up the matches and he began to cry again. My anger has totally left at this point and I felt sorry that I intimidated this young man and made him cry. I began to try to comfort him, telling him I didn’t care if he had matches and I would not tell on him. I said, “Do you understand…Comprede`?”

Immediately I noticed him clutching a knife, he then preceded to plug it into my chest, awaking me from my slumber.

Now reflecting on this dream this is what I can ascertain from the events.

• I hate people eating cereal in the middle of the day and with there hands no less.

• I might be over watering my lawn

Lastly and much more interesting, I must think that every little Mexican boy is out to rob me and when I start talking bad Spanish to him when he obviously speaks English, he will stab me in my awful, cold, black, racist heart!

Hmmm……….

I'm back yo!

2007-10-03T00:17:00.000-04:00

It’s been awhile since I blogged here, but I’m giving this blog a fresh look and a new focus on updating my thoughts, success and failures in my everyday life. Now I’m busier than ever. I still draw comics but I also go to school full time now. I’m in the Military (no, I’m no POG!) and married with children. That means I’ll have lots to write about. I have a gallery show coming up this spring that’s gonna keep me busy trying to prepare for.

I entered a piece in a local juried art show here in the ole GC. Did I win? Of course not you silly goose. I have a few things going against me. First off I’m an illustrator, we never fair well in gallery shows next to giant oil painting and sculptures. Secondly, I live in a town that is not exactly the most open minded to my style of art. Lots of old blue haired twats were talking some shit about my work with me standing right next to them, them oblivious to the fact I was the artist that created this vile piece of modern dog shit.

You should have seen their faces when I kicked them in there dried up cunnys screaming, “fuck you old bitches, you don’t know good, though provoking art for shit sake…I heard you say you liked the water colored chickens! WATERCOLRED CHICKENS!!.” Ok, I didn’t say that, but it did cross my mind, (and I did kick them in their cunts). Anywho, the show was kind of a joke but I’m still optimistic in finding the subculture of exciting, fresh new artist that I feel is somewhere in this community. I hope to light a fire under the asses some of the old farmers and tight ass republicans that dot the Garden city landscape. I feel like Kevin Bacon in the great American film “Footloose”. I’m gonna get the young artists in this town drawing sick ultra violent images that will get them expelled from school, if it’s the last thing I do. It’s nice to have goals.

I have met a few young artists in my art classes I’m taking and most of them seem like wounded children that have been told that there is no value to their type of expression they put into their art. That’s how I see it anyway, I could be wrong, maybe those kids were touched by an uncle and they are a bit shy from that experience. who can tell these days. It doesn’t help that the art teachers here are less than encouraging about peoples art unless it fits into the boring fruit drawing cult that seems to have been spawned from this college. You gotta love Kansas! (Or not).

On another note, while I was away at Ft. Benning this summer Issue 2 of Pencilneck came out. I would tell you how good it looks but I have still not seen it myself. You can still order a copy from the comixpress website or from http://www.paperstreetcomics.com/. I’m doing some revamps on issue one that I have just about completed then crackin’ on issue 3 to get that out to the imaginary people who get to read my stuff. Their might be a new publisher for Pencilneck in the near future so keep your eyes on this blog for more details. Art wise that’s all that’s going on at the moment.

300

2007-03-10T02:09:00.000-05:00

300 is a movie based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller published by Dark Horse comics in 1998. The movie details the battle of Thermopile, 300 Spartan solders vs the million plus of the Persian army. Some of you might be aware of the actual story of this battle that the facts of has been disputed for countless years. Many of the facts, namely the number of Persian solders and the number of Greek solders from other cities, are widely disputed by history scholars. The one fact that cannot be disputed is that there were only 300 Spartan warriors and they were heavily out number, conservatively 100 to 1, and that they absolutely punished the Persians and brutally slain so many that all would know, till the end of time, that the 300 Spartans were some of the fierce, highly skilled and battle savvy warriors ever to walk this earth.

Put your history book down because this movie is not trying to be historic fact. This a historic battle depicted as a comic book with Hollywood moxy and juiced with testosterone and a shot of pure adrenaline. This version of the story is balls out, unapologetically graphic, gratuitous, and brutal. This CG stylized action flick is full of with quick witted dialog and epic battle scenes that will please the carnal beast hidden in every man, (and some women.)

One of the things that was surprising to me was the acting in it is quite good. It has it's heart felt moments that added depth and emotion to the story without being sappy or heavy handed. The dialog was very true to the original graphic novel as well as many shots in the movie were pulled right from Frank Miller's comic page. This movie honors the spirit of Miller's book much like Sin City did, and is a true testament to the respect that Frank Miller is given to his master works from Hollywood Producers and Directors.

This Movie was directed by Zach Snyder, director of the Dawn of the Dead remake a few years back. Zach showed great skill and pulled out all the stops and new tricks in digital film making. The look of the movie was vivacious, visceral and visually appetizing, much like the graphic novel. The battle scenes were heavy in the CG and noticeably so, but not to the detriment of the movie because it fit with the heightened sense and surreal feeling this movie is shooting for. This movie has heart,a pumping blood soaked heart that makes one long for the days that you could swing an axe into someone's face.

This movie could have been a disaster and very well could have turned into a sappy male bonding, homo erotic "I love you man" type movie but no! It's tough, gritty and raw till the bitter, blood soaked end. Never to shed a pussiefied tear or besmirch the legacy of great warriors with unwarrented
sentimental drivel. This film is more like Lord of the Rings than Braveheart, so make sure you know what your about to watch. A couple of the dudes setting next to me commented on some of the exaggerated characters that look more like creatures than people, not realizing it was done for dramatic effect and cinematic splendor.

I only recognized one person in this entire movie and that was David Wenham, who played Faramir in Lord of the Rings. King Leonidas is played by Gerard Butler (who played opposite Christian Bale and Mathew McConaughey in 2002's Reign of Fire) now proved that not only can he hold the screen in a leading role but he can do it with intensity and charisma. He transformed himself into this character for this role and knows when to play it soft or blow your pansy little socks off by roaring "This... is... Sparta!". I can't say enough about his performance and look forward to seeing more of him in the future. The other notable performances were by the Queen of Sparta played by the ravishing Lena Headey. Her performance really gave the movie some true thespian legitimacy.

The other members of the supporting cast holds up and add many dynamic characters and personalities to the movie. This movie hold up as one of the best of the early films of 2007. It's one of those movies that is just a blast to see on the big screen and just escape into. It's not the best movie of this type of genre and has it's minor flaws but all in all it's a very strong film that I must go see a second time.

Are you watching closely?

2007-02-25T00:29:00.000-05:00

The Prestige... is a movie Directed by Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins and Memento) and stars Hugh Jackman (X-men, the Fountain) and Christian Bale (Batman Begins, American Psycho). As story begins the two men are partners as well as rival up starts working for another magician. You quickly see that they approach the craft differently and cause friction in how to execute the tricks properly. Each trick has three parts the pledge, the turn and the most important, the Prestige.

Alfred Borden (Bale) is a young prodigy and is a natural magician but lacks the flare of showmanship, what his rival, Angier (Jackman) excels in greatly. Each man has a different approach and philosophy about magic but both share the obsession of being the best. Jackman knows he’s a better showman but Borden supposedly has a brilliant show stopping trick that has never been done that he’s not yet ready to revel.

The two men first meet while both working for a magician’s assistant, played by Michael Cain. Cain’s character “Cutter” knows the talent of these two men and tried to coach them on the finer aspects of being a magician. After a horrific accident on stage the two men became more than just rivals but mortal enemies. Angier blamed Borden for the disaster and the two men go back and forth trying to not only “one up” the other but to sabotage the other mans life and career.

Nolan weaves a sophisticated story that keeps you on on the edge of your proverbial seat and like a magic trick; He gets you with “slide of hand” and leaves you wondering how you missed it. The entire movie is like a magic trick, you begin with the pledge and then the turn and in the finally… the Prestige!

One of the smartest things in the entire movie is the practical approach to showing how the tricks are performed and the idea that the trick is almost always much more simple than one would think. The real trick is to be totally commented to the craft and to never give up the trick, the method is everything.

Nolan does again, a remarkable job with humanizing the characters evolved and shows how much they are willing to risk for there obsessions. These two men grapple with love gained, lost and thrown away in many ways in this film. The subject of true sacrifice is shown in these two bitter rivals as each man looks to push his own ethics and morality to it’s limits. It’s never about money, women or even fame for these two; it’s not even discussed as a goal. Each man is obsessed with knowing he is better than the other, and will stop at nothing till he has the superior trick that leaves not only the audience scratching their heads but his rival as well. Even if it means he will lose everything to get the satisfaction.

In my opinion, one of the best movies of 2006 and even thou nominated for two Oscars, was over looked by most movie goes and critics. The acting in the Prestige is brilliant without being too bold. The two main characters are supported by some great performances by Scarlet Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Piper Perabo, Andy Sirkis and David Bowie as the scientist Tesla.

The mark of any great movie is how many times it takes you to watch it and catch something new and at the same time be entertained. This movie has these traits in spades. This movie solidifies for me the genius that is Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan (who wrote the screenplay). First was Following, Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, and now the Prestige, Mr. Nolan is batting a 1.000 in my book. A master storyteller and knows exactly how much to show and when to show it. Maybe if Christopher Nolan was born in the late 1800’s he would have been a magician.

This movie is the newest addition to my top 100 movies and my favorite movie of 2006

Comic book movies...what's the big deal?

2007-02-18T13:29:00.000-05:00

I have seen countless of blogs, message board threads and web reviews on the endless stream of comic to big screen adaptation over the years. It's no surprise that Ghost Rider will get the comic geek's up in arms once more. First off let me preface this by saying i have seen the movie and although the FX were very cool, the movie...well, sucked for the most part. I'm not a big Ghost Rider fan Either.

Ghost Rider was not a great movie and was very much in the same vein as the Fantastic Four and Daredevil in the cheese ball factor. I'm a big comic book fan and an even bigger movie fan so when a bad comic movie hits the screen I get burned twice as hard. How stupid are the comic companies allowing this crap to hit the theaters. I'm 32 and will never like that crap...wait! maybe that's the point!

Ghost Rider and other comic book adaptations like it from marvel seem to be marketed with a younger audience in mind. Marvel in the past year has put out two or three straight to DVD animated movies featuring some of their characters they will one day feature in a major motion picture ( I.E. Iron man). I personally think this is smart marking and where the comic book industry has failed in the past...get new blood! Maybe they have learned from their mistakes. Hook 'em while they are young! Any hard core comic geek that reading this now that's a big Marvel or DC guy is that way because that's what he liked as a kid and never out grew it.

I don't read any Marvel comics anymore but I did when i was a kid and a teen. For that reason alone I will see almost any comic book flick Marvel chucks at me. Comic companies and Hollywood might already know that no matter how hard they try they can never please most of the hard core adult comic fans of super heroes. You can't make a "R" rated X-men with Wolvie chopping countless people apart, how can you sell the toys? You have to make it more accessible to the kids. I have a nephew that's only four and his wants everything, i mean everything Spiderman. He will always have a soft spot for spidey when he gets older and hopefully keep buying and dumping money into Marvel. Until them his parents ( and me) will buy him everything Spider-man, toys, DVD's, bed sheets, underware, toothbrush, night light... all that shit!

Right now kids don't give a flying shit about comics. We need video games, cartoons, movies and toys to get this generation interested or the comic market will just keep dwindling into nothingness. My nephew who is four, now wants my old Spider-man comics when he comes over! It's ok to make a Marvel "hero" for the kids, that's who they were for anyway.. Please do that, make Iron man and Captain America for kids and give me the Allen Moore, Frank Miller and Warren Ellis properties.

There have been many comic movies made for "more" grown up people. Sin City, Blade, 300 ( hopefully) Ghost World, History of Violence, Batman Begins, Renegade, Road to Perdition V for Vendetta...those movies are made for more older audiance. If you want a carbon copy of your precious comic hero then read the fucking comics. It's a different medium and different audience, it's not made for you, it's made for everyone who doesn't read comics, if you doubt this, then explain why every movie is an origin story.

It's ok to make the movie a bit different than the comic too! It's hard to make something that has well, sometimes 40 years or more of continuity to keep track of. I love it when a good comic movie works on a lot of levels like Batman Begins but I really don't read the comics but I am very aware of the mythology of Batman, I think it was made for people like me. If it was for the hard cores they would have just took the Dark Knight Returns and made it into a movie but lets face it, mainstream America would hate it and the movie would never see a sequel and Hollywood would pull back on other type movies.

The movies that they really fucked up is the Punisher. They made it not for the kids but really didn't have the balls to go as far as the character needed to go to make it really for the adults so it never really found an audience. A movie like that where the character has no powers and just shot stuff is really not that hard to do right, they just dropped the ball. Ghost Rider on the other hand, when I watched it, got the feeling they were not trying to thrill me or scare me but maybe to a 10- 13 year old it would be. the dialog was awful and the action was less then exciting, those are things to be critical about not the fact that Johney Blaze's hair looked different than the comic book.

Sin City was great, and i did enjoy it but it was so like the comic I knew what was going to happen, hell i knew what they were gonna say 90% of the time it was so true to the comic. Great, but unexciting to me. it was just like reading the comic so I really got nothing new out of it. I like movies like Hellboy and V for Vendetta that have a bit of the comic story and a bit of new stuff for cinematic reasons but hey, that's just me.

I guess as long as each project finds it's audience then in the long run I'm happy. I know if they made 'em all to suit my tastes they would make no money. I'm not saying to not be critical of these movies, you should be. Just don't get all pissy because it didn't turn out the way you wanted with all the cool story elements that you like. Go into it with a clean slate and try to enjoy it as something a bit different than the book you pick up every month and if it sucks, then it sucked for movie reasons and not " Hey, Wolverine isn't 6'1"! WTF!" Did they capture the spirit of the comic and the character?

With all the movies, games and direct to DVD comic properties that are out there, know that everything is not gonna be to your taste as long as something is, be happy. More people can open their minds to the idea of reading comics again because of these things. That should be the point of all this right, get more people reading comics. The big picture to me is getting more people into the Marvel/ DC universe. All those comics are pretty bad too me anyway. As long as people go buy those comics they have a chance of wanting something a bit more or different and who knows, maybe they'll pick up one of my books.

It's a long shot I know : )

Hooah!

2007-01-28T23:03:00.000-05:00

It's official! April 11 I'm going into temporary retirement from freelance art and I'll be at Fort Benning, GA

INFANTRYMEN'S CREED
I am the Infantry.I am my country's strength in war.her deterrent in peace.I am the heart of the fight...wherever, whenever.I carry America's faith and honoragainst her enemies.I am the Queen of Battle.I am what my country expects me to be...the best trained solider in the world.In the race for victoryI am swift, determined, and courageous,armed with a fierce will to win.Never will I betray my country's trust.always I fight on...through the foe,to the objective,to triumph over all,If necessary, I will fight to my death.By my steadfast courage,I have won 200 years of freedom.I yield not to weakness,to hunger,to cowardice,to fatigue,to superior odds,for I am mentally tough, physically strong,and morally straight.I forsake not...my country,my missionmy comrades,my sacred duty.I am relentless.I am always there,now and forever.
I Am The Infantry!Follow Me.

My Hero

2006-12-28T01:33:00.000-05:00

When i was a small boy my mother and father got a divorce. My Mother, sister and I all moved in with my grandparents and lived with them for 9 years. From age 5 till i was 14 I lived with my grand father. He was a my role model and someone I had the utmost respect for. He taught me what honor and being a man was all about. He spent 20 years of his life serving our country in the Navy and air force. On July 5th 2006 my grandfather passed away after his battle with cancer. I lived away from him at the time and when he died I never really had a chance to say goodbye.

This piece is one I did as a Christmas gift to my grandmother and a tribute to my late grandfather. This is my goodbye to you and me only hope, where ever you are, you can look at me and be proud knowing that you teachings and the example you showed me in your life was not in vein. I might have grown up without a father but I had you to show me how to be a good man. I miss you grandpa, and I wish i could have said goodbye.

18 page preview of Pencilneck issue 1

2006-10-04T11:35:00.000-04:00

Here is a 18 page preview of Pencilneck Issue 1. http://www.comixpress.com if you would like a copy

It's out!!

2006-09-29T00:27:00.000-04:00

It's out...buy you copy now. Click>>>http://www.comixpress.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=698

Pencilneck!

2006-08-20T01:32:00.000-04:00

It's out...buy you copy now. Click>>>http://www.comixpress.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=698

Small press…Big talent!

2006-08-18T23:20:00.000-04:00

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

2006-08-04T10:45:00.000-04:00

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!

Music inspired art

2006-07-19T12:08:00.000-04:00

Here is the first of hopfully many more music inspired pieces. This is from the Korn song "Make me bad". If you have any song that might be good for this project just e-mail me.

The new legends

2006-06-02T11:41:00.000-04:00

Here are the fabulous five martial artists that I feel are the "Second" generation of cool martial arts films. Many people will argue that Jackie Chan could be included in the "first" generation, but since he is still making movies and gained his US popularity in the late 90's he's on this list.

If people like this one, I might do a litho of the original masters of Kung Fu/ Martial arts with Bruce Lee, Gordan Liu, Sonny Chiba, Yuen Wah and the one and only Chuck Norris!

Let's kick some ass...

2006-05-14T21:59:00.000-04:00

Greatest martial arts fight scenes. My top Ten!

When doing my research for this subject I started to notice that the greatest fighters in modern day martial arts movies were split down the middle between two guys, Jet Li and Jackie Chan! They are hands down the greatest ever, no argument can be made so don’t even try. Bruce Lee, Sonny Chiba, Gordon Liu helped to pave the way. I’m also keeping most of these current, in the last 20 years or so. I could easily see how great the oldies are and the great battles in movies like Seven Samurai, Street fighter, Game of death, Master killer, Shogan Assassin and the 36th chamber of Shaolin All of those are Classics with classic fight scenes. With that being said how can I make a top ten list without those greats? I decided once again to go with “My favorite” theme. This time I judged all the scenes on these criteria. Length and difficulty of the scenes. Cool movies, how it was shot and of course the dramatic elements of the fight! I would also like to mention the new stars on the block or at least to American audiences that will help pave the way for more great Martial arts movies for years to come. Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Yen and Tony Ja. Bow to your master! Now, let’s begin.

(Starting from the bottom this time)

Honorable mention for American movies. This list will be dominated by the Asia cinema, but I had to mention these two American films that have some great fights that made me take notice.

The Best of the Best- One of the best American martial artist movies about the sport of Tae Kwon Do. Great action and drama with a nice ending. the sequel is a bit cheesy but is worth watching too. Phillip Rhee is high underrated and underused martial artist.
The Rundown- Highly underrated film and action sequences and of course one of the coolest fights between the Rock and the little Brazilians!

10. Bloodsport/The Kiss of the Dragon. (Tie) Kiss of…Not a great movie, but any movie with Jet Li in it is worth the money spent to see it! The fight scene with the “twins” at the end of the movie is awesome and brutal. Nice mix of east meets west action with this scene. Bloodsport is one of my favorite movies when I was a teen. I’ve watched this movie at least 50 times! This movie made Van Dammit a star, watch the last few fight scenes and especially the one with the great Bolo Yen and see why.

9. Matrix Reloaded (Neo vs. Agent Smiths or the Burly Brawl) this is one of the greatest scenes in martial artist movies in some time. It would have rated higher if it didn’t have so much CGI and slowmo “bullet time” FX and just got down to the nitty gritty. I love this scene, who the hell doesn’t? How great would this movie have been if Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh didn’t both turn down roles in it!

8. Zataichi, the Blind Swordsmen (fight in the rain) this was a great battle with great action and direction. Everything about this scene speaks of cool!

7. Kill Bill vol. 1 ( the Bride vs. the crazy 88 & Go Go Yabari) You have Choreographed fights by Yuen Wo Ping, with Tarentino Direction and old school Shaw Brothers blood splatters SFX and music Montage by RZA!! Are you kidding me, this one is great, graphic and action packed. Directed beautifully, and a nice bonus cameo by none other than the great Gordon Liu!!

6. First Strike (Jackie Chan and the ladder fight) This Scene has great action and thrilling stunt work, this is the stuff that made Jackie a household name and one of the biggest stars in the entire world!

5. Ong Bak, the Thai Warrior ( Tony Ja in the final fight scene) When I first saw this flick last year I knew I was looking at true greatness and the successor to Jackie and Jet right before my eyes! This movie is packed with great, brutal Muy Thai fight scenes that will make you cringe to watch. Tony has what Bruce and Jet have, raw fighting ability that looks real on scene and the stunt and acrobatic work of Jackie Chan. Bruce Lee would love Tony Ja, why? Tony really kicks ass and never uses wires!

4. Fist of Legend (Jet Li vs. the entire Japanese school) this is a remake of the Bruce Lee Classic Fist of Fury. Great fight scene that I believe the Wachaski brothers modeled the “burly brawl” after. This one is fantastic to see Jet Li and his intense style brought to its peak in this scene

3. Hero ( the chess house fight with Jet Li and Donnie Yen or the fight between Broken Sword, Tony Leung, and the King of Chen ,Chen Dao Ming.) The entire movie is packed with great visuals and fantastically gorgeous fight scenes. This movie has one great shot after another and has a powerful message wrapped into all this great action. Seeing two masters like Jet Li and Donnie Yen once again clash swords is a treat for any hard core fan!

2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi with all the weapons) this is one of the best movies of any kind and helped break down the “kung fu” movie stereotype for western audiences. It’s cool to know one of the best character conscious, plot driven period peace movies of my lifetime is also one of the best action movies as well!! Every fight in this is perfect and is executed with precision mastery; it’s almost incomprehensible to witness such a master that got such great critical and popular kudos by an American audience. Thank god the public and critics came together on this gem!

1. Legend of the Drunken Master (Jackie Chan vs. everyone in the final fight scene) this scene is long, with stunts great action, drama, lots of fighting styles and great martial arts! This fight is amazing and in typical Hong Kong movie making magic took about 6 weeks to shoot the finial scene (after about three months of rehearsal) this fight will have you exhausted by the end. Jackie out did himself on this one!

The Directors...

2006-05-05T22:04:00.000-04:00

I've shown my favorite films and what great films they are. What makes a great film you might ask? Acting can make a good film, yes as well as a good story... but without a great director your film will never reach it's full potential. As a film buff and fellow story teller I have great admiration for the job that today's directors do. There have been many great directors from Orsen Wells to Stanley Kubrick to Alfred Hitchcock and Akira Kurasawa. It's hard for me, with my limited film knowledge that really only spans the last thirty years, to compares today's directors to the greats of old. So once again this is my list of Favorites. This list is MY top 10. I'll even go deeper and tell you why I like each director to give you more insight to what I look for in a great director. Enjoy...or not.

1. Martin Scorsese. ( Raging bull, Goodfellas, Kundun, Gangs of New York.) This man is movie gold in my opinion. The greatest film maker I've ever seen. This man should have a dozen Academy Awards by now. There is no other film maker that can tell a character driven movie like Marty. It almost make me want to vomit when his movies never make the money they should at the box office. Anyone that doesn't go out and support these kind of film makers should have their house fire bombed. God please let Marty do one of his movies and it make some money!

2. Quentin Tarantino ( Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction) Quentin is without a doubt our generations Francis ford Coppola or Martin Scorsese. A true icon of my generations film makers and had one of the most influential movie on the industry of the last 20 years, Pulp Fiction.

3. Steven Spielberg ( Saving Private Ryan, Raiders of the Lost Arc, Minority Report.) My generations Steven Spielberg, LOL. His films really push the creative boundaries. Every time you think he's going in one direction he does something like Ryan, or Munich that makes everyone turn there head and know he can truly do it all! The Michael Jordan of Film Directing.

4. David Fincher ( Fight Club, Seven) David is one director that if you could give him a blank check and a good concept the man can deliver the most provocative video masterpiece...Everything. Very few directors working today can match his visual style and unique story telling ability.

5. Michael Mann ( Insider, Heat, Collateral) Big time director that can handle big time stars and get the best out of them, everything. Few directors carry the respect of the finest in the biz like this mann ( pun intended) He has directed the biggest stars on the planet and can tell compelling character driven storylines and dynamic action sequences seamlessly. This man is a master at letting the characters come to life and draw us into the film.

6. Brain DePalma ( Scarface, Carlitos Way, Untouchables, and the up coming The Black Dahlia ) visual style that has been teaching young film makers for years how to open a scene with tention and style that has DePalma written all over it. Overhead shots that slowly pan the scene to stunning close ups from unique angles always tell the viewer your watching dePalma.

7. Chistopher Nolan ( batman Begins, Insomnia, memento, the Following) few directors can boast a 1.000 batting average in the bigs...This one can. Everything he touches is a master piece. With only a few films under his belt Mr. Nolan is quickly showing people that not only is he a master storyteller but he can do a big budget Hollywood movie like Batman and do it better than it's ever been done before.

8. Sergio Leone ( Once upon a time in America, Good the Bad and the Ugly, Fistfull of Dollars) The king of the intense close-up and the man who made Clint Eastwood and the spaghetti western a star is still looked at and revered by pears young and old as a true craftsman of the art of film making.

9. Guy Ritchie ( Lock Stock and two smoking barrels, Snatch) A lot of people like to hate on him now a days, but don't make the mistake of writing this limy off just yet. His first two major film releases were as exciting to watch visual as anything I've seen in recent memory. His directing style is purely defended as his unique eye for off beat outrageous characters. His pacing is strong and keeps you glued to the edge of your seat. I defy anyone reading this to watch those two films and not see the budding greatness that is Guy!

10. Terry Gilliam ( Fear and loathing in Las Vegas, Brazil, 12 Monkeys, Time Bandits) Quirky, odd, witty and visual brutal. All this coming from a Montey Python! Terry is a truly gifted film maker that has imagination with scenes and characters like no other. Dark, quirky films that have so much depth and layers that he guarantees he will never be truly embraced by American audiences the way he should. If you like Tim Burton and his films, you'll love Terry Gilliam. He's had a few mis steps as of late, but I see and big cult hit just around the corner.

Coming soon, my top screen writers! (oh boy) One of these days I'll write something about my comics I'm working on. : )

The pick at the top is from the movie "Snatch"...put that in a google search ( as i did to find that pic) and see all the goodness that pops up. How stupid am I........don't answer that!

The top 100...

2006-04-04T20:46:00.000-04:00

My buddy Chris and I are huge Movie buffs. for years we have pondered and debated over the great movies of our generation. We have done "best of" lists countless times but this is the newest of our lists. This is my Top 100 movies. The three criteria I used for this list were movies from the past 35 years, more or less, i took some licence with one but I left off most of the older "classics" that tend to dominate these lists. The second criteria to my list was these are my favorite movies. These aren't the movies that are technically superior or set the mark of a master piece, some do others don't...These are my favorites. The last criteria is that every movie on this list I've seen more than once. I love talking movie, feel free to e-mail your support of my movie list or lambaste me for the shitty ones on the list. If you wanna read Chris's list than you need to get in touch with him because he didn't send me a file to upload it. I'm much to lazy to type his out, besides...this is my fucking blog!

Jeff’s top 100

1. Pulp Fiction

2. The Shawshank Redemption
3. Raging Bull
4. Memento
5. Seven
6. Empire strikes back
7. Goodfellas
8. Heat
9. Fight Club
10. Reservoir dogs
11. Kill Bill 2
12. Kill Bill 1
13. The Usual Suspects
14. Alien
15. LA Confidential
16. LOTR/Return of the King
17. A Scent of a woman
18. Indiana Jones and the temple of doom
19. Die hard
20. Chinatown
21. Blade Runner
22. Kundun
23. the Fifth Element
24. Fargo
25. Tombstone
26. Carlito’s way
27. the Matrix
28. Minority Report
29. Lethal Weapon
30. the Seven Samurai
31. One Flew over the Coo coos nest
32. Desperado
33. Saving Private Ryan
34. Scarface
35. Braveheart
36. Godfather part II
37. Requiem for a Dream
38. A Fistful of Dollars
39. Silence of the lambs
40. A Clockwork Orange
41. Hero
42. Sling Blade
43. Trainspotting
44. Gangs of New York
45. Shaun of the Dead
46. From Dusk till Dawn
47. the Shining
48. Casino
49. Sin City
50. City of Lost Children
51. LOTR/Fellowship of the ring
52. Swingers
53. E.T.
54. Zatachi, the Blind Swordsmen
55. The Incredibles
56. Ronin
57. the Terminator
58. the Big Labowski
59. the Rainmaker
60. Being John Malkovich
61. Lock, stock and two smoking barrels
62. Back to the Future
63. True Romance
64. Forrest Gump
65. Rocky
66. Leaving Las Vegas
67. Ghost in the Shell
68. Star wars (a new hope)
69. Unforviven
70. Taxi Driver
71. Raiders of the lost arc
72. Boys in the Hood
73. The Naked Gun
74. Chasing Amy
75. Saturday Night Fever
76. There’s Something about Marry
77. Narc
78. Clerks
79. Revenge of the Sith
80. Good Will Hunting
81. Batman Begins
82. Austin Powers
83. the Crow
84. Donnie Darko
85. Lady Snowblood
86. Jay and Silent bob strike back
87. Legends of the Drunken master
88. the Machinist
89. Sleepers
90. the Killer
91. the Rock
92. Robocop
93. Bull Duram
94. the Untouchables
95. American Psycho
96. the Cable Guy
97. Office Space
98. Bound
99. 12 monkeys
100. Bloodsport

V for Very cool flick

2006-03-20T20:22:00.000-05:00

Just saw the movie the other night, and I have to say it's defiantly worth seeing. One of the best performances by the two lead actors in a comic book movie I've seen to date. The story drags on in parts of the movie but the well textured characters and plot really kept me watching and trying to figure out where it was going. Of course the over all subject matter has gotten lots of media attention and I'm sure everyone has an opinion on that; as do I but I'll leave that for the politely talking heads to argue and debate those aspects. This is a very well done movie and places high on my list of top comic book flicks. It's not flawless, and the only two movies that come close are Batman begins and Sin City, but it's a very cool movie that i will be picking up on DVD. it's a shame that Alan Moore wants nothing to do with Hollywood, but hey, he's one hell of a guy to have this movie be made and let the artist take full screen credit and cash for this project.

Here is my top Ten comic book movies

1 Sin City
2. Batman Begins
3. Hellboy
4. V for Vendetta
5. The Crow
6. From Hell
7. Blade
8. Spiderman
9. X-men
10. History of Violence/Renegade

Copyright law change?

2006-03-02T10:12:00.000-05:00

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP
02.24.06
Call for Action to Prevent Orphan Works Amendment to U.S. Copyright Law
Tuesday, Victor Perlman, attorney for the American Society of Media Photographers went to Washington to register ASMP’s opposition to the recent Orphan Works Report.
Last week, Vic phoned us and asked if he could speak for IPA as well. We sent him the letter we submitted to the Copyright Office last year and said he could tell Senators and Congressman that it expressed the opposition of the 42 arts organizations in the U.S. and throughout the world, and the nearly 2,000 artists who signed it.
Orphan Works legislation is being championed by museums, libraries, archives, foundations and Free Culture advocates, and there is concerted pressure on Congress to write the recommendations into law before the end of this session.
This legislation jeopardizes visual artists’ copyrights and robs artists of income. We need to make sure that lawmakers hear from the people who will be hurt by these harmful changes to the 1976 Copyright Act. To do this effectively, all illustrators and photographers need to make their voices heard. ASMP has already asked their members and others to commence a letter writing campaign to lawmakers.
We urge all artists to do the same, and to act quickly to express your opposition to your Congressional representatives. We wouldn’t ask unless it was vital. This is a make or break moment for artists, creative authorship, and the exclusive rights guaranteed to artists under U.S. Copyright Law and the Berne Convention.
For maximum impact, we urge visual rightsholders to fax letters on your letterhead. E-mails don’t carry the same weight, and neither do form letters. We are providing a sample letter for you, but we recommend you modify it with your own points, or write your own letter. We are providing the complete list of those to contact at the bottom of this message. Or you may wish to use the excellent resource of tools to simplify faxing to legislators graciously provided by ASMP at http://asmp.org/news/spec2006/orphan_tools.php
–Brad Holland and Cynthia TurnerFor the Board of the Illustrators’ Partnership of America
The Orphan Works Express
Congress is scheduled to commence Orphan Works hearings the first week in March. They hope to pass legislation before the end of the year. According to a source on the committee, this proposal is being fast-tracked because lawmakers think it has wide-spread support within the creative community. We need to disabuse them of this notion.
The spin that’s being put on this legislation is shrewd. Special interest groups have re-defined copyright users as “creators” of “transformative works.” They’re trying to persuade lawmakers that these “creators” - and therefore, creators in general - are being hampered because of obsolete protections on work which has “little or no commercial value.” Yet the omnibus measures proposed in this Report would affect any work - old or new –that’s been published without identifying information. This would apply disproportionately to illustrations and photographs. We need to make it clear to congressmen that these interest groups do not speak for real creators and that our work has significant commercial value.
Orphan Works legislation would be retroactive. This means that all the work you’ve done during the last 28 years could fall into the Orphan Works category if it was ever published without “relevant information” on it, was improperly credited or had been re-published by others without credit. In other words, it would take only one copy of any picture you’ve ever done – published without “identifying information” on it - or with that information removed by others – to justify an infringer’s claim that he was unable to locate the author. The same thing would be true, of course, for future work.
Disputes over infringement would have to be settled in court. (And remember, copyright law is a Federal law, which means Federal court.) The worst thing that could happen to an infringer –if detected - is that a court might make him pay you a “reasonable fee.” This means there’d be no real downside for infringing. For 28 years (since the 1976 Copyright Act went into effect), you’ve been told that your work was protected “from the moment you put pen to paper.” No more. And artists who for 28 years produced work with the confidence that it was protected by that promise will find that the promise has been repealed. In effect, you could now be penalized for having believed what the government told you for the last three decades.
The plan in a nutshell. For years, Free Culture advocates such as Creative Commons have been arguing that the US should lead the way in re-imposing copyright “formalities” such as marking and registration. This would aid the spread of “free culture” because most artists would fail to mark and register their work (or marks could be removed). This would make a vast number of illustrations and photographs royalty-free for anyone to use - or for companies like Google to sell access to.
Unfortunately for the free culturists, the US can’t re-impose formalities without violating or withdrawing from the international Berne Convention, which forbids formalities. And if the US did opt out of Berne, our country would effectively become a copyright outlaw. That would hurt American trade.
So the Copyright Office has crafted their orphan works proposal as a “limitation on remedies.” This would not re-impose formalities. But it would remove or emasculate penalties for infringement, potentially in any case where an illustration or photograph was published without “relevant information” on the picture itself. In effect, this would force artists – as a hedge against infringement – to re-impose on themselves the “formalities” the government can’t. Any artist who didn’t mark his work would expose it to no-fault infringement - a very clever way to re-impose formalities without actually putting it in writing.
Remember, this is all being done in the name of promoting creativity by artists. That’s why we, as artists, will have to speak up in numbers. We have to show lawmakers that the Free Culture movement - and the creative wannabes who comb the internet looking for royalty-free work - do not represent the true creative community. We have to say that this legislation would do great harm to our ability to create and make a living from our work.
What you can do. In their effort to speed this legislation through Congress, the plan’s shepherds are severely limiting testimony for and against it. That’s why your letters are important. Write to the senators and congresspersons who will be voting on this legislation, and do it as soon as possible. Express yourselves directly and frankly. You don’t have to write a complicated letter, but it’s important that you make certain points:
-Make it clear that you’re an artist and that you believe your small business will be endangered by placing limitations on remedies for infringement.
-Make it clear that you will never have the resources to police infringement of your work - which could occur at any time anywhere in the world.
-Make it clear that your work could be orphaned by others, no matter how diligently you do the right things to protect it.
-Make it clear that your work has significant commercial value.
For artists, this legislation would be a major revision of copyright law. The Orphan Works Report calls for a 10 year “sunset provision,” which means that Orphan Works legislation – once passed - will not be subject to reconsideration for another10 years. But if your copyrights have been laundered into the public domain during that decade, they’ll be lost to you for good as surely as the income that will be lost with them. And after 10 years of copyrighted work turning royalty-free, the market for art will be so deformed – and expectations in the marketplace so settled – that there’ll be no going back. We can’t wait until this law gets “reviewed” 10 years from now to express ourselves on it.
The government should not be allowed to create a royalty-free stockhouse out of artists’ work. Please write as soon as you can.
-Brad Holland, for the Board of the Illustrators’ Partnership
To write Congress: Follow the instructions Cynthia Turner has outlined on the IPA website:http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/04_forums/index.php See forum entitled: Write Congress: Questions and Answers.You may post responses or ask questions on these forums. First-time users will be asked to register.
-For additional information, also see: “Call To Action To Prevent The Orphan Works Amendment To Copyright Law”and “Free Culture-The Copy Left Is Not Right.”

Hostel...

2006-01-08T10:02:00.000-05:00

This is a true horror movie in every scence of the word for those of us that love the genre. Yes, it has suspense and thrills but it also has something that these PG-13, so called horror movies don't have; graphic and gratuitous violence! It's about fucking time!

The Movie opens with three travels (two college age guys and their Icelandic travel buddy that they befriended on during their trip) as they trek across Europe to find "drugs and pussy" and they find an abundance of both.

Like your typical horror movie is have lots of sex and nudity which is cool, unless your the dumbness who brought your 14 year old step daughter to watch it with you, then it's a bit uncomfortable to watch. What this movie is about is simple in promos but is smart in execution. I'm not going to get into plot details because I do believe the best Horror experience is when you go into a movie cold, as I did with this one. Never knowing where the horror is coming from or knowing all the reasons why.

Unlike most horror flics, this movie is smart, well written and directed. It has very good acting for a horror movie, and the acting really sells the brutality of some of these sences.

The scenes are violent and ruthless, there is some very unsettling things to watch but you can't turn away from them. This movie doesn't try to hide behind some deranged serial killer or homicidal maniac or the super natural element to explain these violent acts...better yet. They put a spin on it that makes it quite believable but still disturbing. Very new school horror

The setting was perfect. Your in another country where you don't have friends to call for help, you don't know your surroundings and you can't just pick up a phone and call 911. That element really helps you believe the atrocities that will accrue later in the film.

This film pushes the suspense to a new horrifying level with some really big pay offs with blood and guts. I can't wait for the unrated directors cut DVD that is sure to hit the shelves.

I can't say I'm a fan of many horror movies in the past decade, but this is now on the top of my list. One of the best I've seen in a while, check it out and don't forget to bring the little ones, fun for the whole family!

Some of my favorites...

2006-01-02T12:02:00.000-05:00

Random art from a while back, some of my favorite pieces from the last year. Remember I do commissioned piece, so e-mail me. I get busy and turn down some commissions if I think you idea sucks, sorry that's life deal with it. I really love doing the movie commissions. I'm itching to do a Receiver Dogs, or Jakie Brown piece so if someone wants one, e-mail me and we'll see if we can work something out.

Enjoy.

Some of these are more than a year old...so sue me.

The infamous Rob Liefeld

2005-12-30T22:58:00.000-05:00

I was tooling around the net, checking out some various blogs from me fellow comic creators and i came across an all too familiar topic...Rob fucking Liefield!

It was the usually bashing. This one was kinda cool, people posted all the covers he's done that had some glaring mistakes, bad anatomy or composition and everyone's favorite, no feet! Rob Liefelds work was awful in so many ways, he seemed to break all the artistic taboos in each piece he would create.

We all know he was one of the most popular artist in the 90's and now one of the most infamous creators in recent memory. He is hands down the most hated...but why?

I will admit that I own lots of Liefeld books, and was a big fan. I will also admit that I now can look at his work and see lots of mistakes. I can also admit that I am still a fan of Rob's and would love to see him do more stuff. What the hell am I saying? Yeah, you heard right I like Rob Liefeld!

Now before you guys and gals start sending me hate mail just hear me out. I like Rob because of what he accomplished with sheer will and striking when the irons hot. He, for me, represents the every man, the over achiever who got too big for his little bit of talent. I see him as I would see anyone in this situation, he did the most with what he was given, and maybe even more.

Now the question is and always will be for me...why the hate? When I was younger I loved Scooby-Doo, the Beetle Bailey Comics in the Sunday paper, and Alvin and the chipmunks. Now that I'm older I can see that Scooby was terribly written and animated, Beetle Bailey is the most hack unfunny shit you can every hope not to read and Alvin...you get the picture.

I grew up and no longer like these things, but I don't go on an active crusade lambasting them or the people who do still find value in these things. Why does every comic fan/artist I know have such a strong opinion about Rob Liefield? I've seen death to Rob Liefeld sites, I've seen people banned form boards because of things said about him that were so hateful it made me wince. Post the subject "Rob Liefeld" on any comic message board and you'll see it will became the most popular thread that week!

Don't get me wrong, I understand that his work is not even close to being the best and I'm not defending his work, he can do that himself. But...I've seen many bad artist that people just don't give two thought about Why no threads about other very hacky artist or writers that have worked in comics? Is Rob the only one?

Is he the biggest Hack ever? I know he's stolen poses and scence and layout from other artists. I know his stuff was a rip off of other creators work. Is he the only one? Is this purly justified?

Here is my opinion on why people hate Rob Liefeld.

1. Jealousy! Yeah I said it. Most people can't stand the fact that a man with such a big ego and small knowledge of "real" draftsman or classic artistic skill made so much money and fame off his work.

2. Rumors. No matter if they are true or not, most people don't know Rob Liefield. I've had dozens of creators tell me shitty stories about him but it's all word of mouth. Most people don't have first hand knowledge. If Peter David, Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane or Eric Larsen want to hate on him they have every right too, they all know and have worked with Rob Liefield...any beef they have with him is, in my mind, legit. I just get sick of other artist that think they know something about him because they read something on the net or from a guy who knows and guy who knows a guy who worked for a guy who was dating rob Liefeilds ex wife's old land lord.

3. He's rich as fuck, or once was. Nuff' siad

4. He still has fans. I saw him at wizard world Texas a year ago and he had a huge line at his table for sketches and autographs.

5. He's still one of the biggest names in comics.

6. Rob can't help them. for the most part the comic industry is an industry of parasites that only network with the people that can help them and as soon as they can't they go to the next person. I'm not saying I'm not nice to everyone at cons and do my share of ass kissing, but one thing you won't see me do is hide behind a pack of other people to voice my opinion. If I don't like someone and need to tell people I don't think about the concequeces or if they can help me later on. maybe I'm the idiot.

I would understand it more if he was still selling millions and other more talented guys were not. I get pissed too when books like Hellboy get out sold by some of the shit marvel and DC put out, so i can see why people chest up about that. But Liefield is not knocking anyones books off the shelves.

Is it because the shit that Liefeld and creators like him in the 90's almost killed our fine industry buy flooding the market with so many shitty titles? Well if that's the case than start boycotting Marvel for thier ten crossover titles every month, and lets not forget that Marvel is directly resonaceable for bringing the entire distrabution system crashing down. That helped to kill many comic shops and smaller creators around the country, a ripple that is still felt in comics now. Today many small creators can't get there books distributed because of the Marvel/Diamond monopoly.

Rob Liefeld was a huge influence on my early art endeavors because of him I had to re learn anatomy and composition, ( and one who has seen Warriors of Destiny can back me up on that). That was my fault for learning to draw by reading comics, especialy his! I'm not a fan of his skill with a pencil nor am I a fan of his characters or stories. I like Rob Liefeld because everyone hates him for taking advantage of a great opportunity that any artist reading this would kill for. What would you expect him to do, say" I'm not a good technical artist, so I quit." He was out selling X-men and Batman for god sakes! people were buying his books, you, me and everyone. Now that people see that they he sucked they think the only way to purge the thought of them paying money for his work is to hate and bash him endlessly. Enough already

Everyone hates Liefield, if you bash him on your Blog you have the right, and more than likely valid artistic reasons for doing so. But know this, you are doing something that has been done a thousand different ways better than you did, by people who know more about him than you. How hard is it to kick the shit out of a man that is already getting mob by a pack of angry people. I just think it's cowards to jump on the pile, there is lots of shitty stuff out there in comics, I wanna see some big chested artist start railing on someone that isn't such an easy target.

Comic artist are such kiss ass, brown noising pussies they would never bash someone that could still give them work. If you have it in your blood to be the executioner of peoples art and career in comics then start charting some new ground and go after someone who is actively working today, and make sure you do it the way you do it with Rob Liefield, just spit venom and wish cancer on them and all that cool stuff like you do with him. Then will you have my respect. There are a few comic creators that are straight shoots and will tell someone the honest truth if they need to.

This pack mentality in comics makes me sick. I've had personal beef with artist before. I posted on a message board my dislike for Rick Staci. I didn't do it because he was an easy target, or because everyone else was (they were not by the way) I did it based on my opinion on him after meeting and talking with him and taking one of his classes. My opinion was always on that. I said my piece and moved on.

People love roasting Liefeild because it's like making fun of the fat kid in class, it's easy.

I don't know Rob Liefeld, and there is a good chance he's an asshole, fuck him, I couldn't care less. I just ask for people to have some independent thought and stop jumping on the band wagon.

There are many artist I don't like, for there work or their personality. "But Jeff, why don't you tell us who." Well, cause I don't need to. Those people don't threaten me, if I don't like there work I don't buy there stuff. When people bash Liefied they are not warning people of his behavior or that his books are bad, it's just beating a dead horse. If I truly had a beef with someone's work and felt like I needed to make it public I wouldn't wait for there career to serial down or wait for forty of my friend to back me up on a message board.

Do if your reasons, not because you know you can. have some point to your criticism, not just looking to for a bunch of nods of approval from a bunch of zombies.

Fun is fun and all that, but it's getting played out and creators are staring to show there insecurities in their own work by pointing out the obvious mistakes in Liefeld's that are obvious and unconstuctive, just to make themselves feel supirior. "I can draw better than him" Well I guess that's why you are so bitter that with such little talent and skill he will always be bigger than you.

No doubt, he's infamous for all the wrong reasons but he's sold more books than anyone that will read this, and for that reason and that reason alone I have some respect for him. When i sell i million books, I'll be back to call him a fucking hack.

The best for the job...

2005-12-07T23:01:00.000-05:00

Noticing a trend in mainstream comics lately, very photo realistic and or dynamic cover art. Thought I would take a break from showing my own work for a bit and look at some truly gifted art talent doing covers and working in comics today. Who would you have draw your cover, if money was no object? Many of the artist I've listed are doing a popular trend in comics, the heavily photo referenced artwork. Some reference more than others.

It's something that a lot of artist are doing, love it or hate it it's here, and below are some of the best at it. Other on this list are truly gifted in their abilities to conjure these fantastic and realistic images with little or no photo references. These artist in my opinion are the cream of the crop.

Let me know what you think of the subject of photo referenced work. Lets take a look now.

I will be giving my own editorial to these artist, not all of them are artist I love, but they are still some of the most popular and talented around.

lets start with Alex Ross

Ross is a fantastic realistic artist, but his referencing is a definite crutch and keeps him from really conveying any really dramatic energy in his work. If you just wanting heroic figures in a majestic pose, he's your man.

Next is Adam Hughes,

Some say one of the best artist you can have drawing your covers if your comic has hot looking women gracing it's pages. I've heard he is another heavy reference guy, but I've sat right next to him at cons and seen him freehand stuff that's twice a good as I could trace. He's good, not one of my personal favorites, but very talented indeed.

Josh Middleton,

This guy is good. One of my favorite artist working today, and has a very cool, unique style that's not over referenced (if at all) he has great movement in his figures and great entail feel to his pieces. Great a drawing the "teen" look.

Bryan Hitch,

Here is another guy that I'm not sure how much photo reference he depends on, but has great energy in his drawing and is one of, if not the best realistic style action artist out there today.

JG Jones.

Cover are great and some of the best action sequetails,(only one better than Hitch in mainstream comics) I can only guess, but it looks like he uses photos as a reference for the features of the characters, but not for the actual poses. He has a definite style that explodes off the page. His stuff is too good, and Wanted is one of my all time favorite books.

Joe Quesada

Editor in Chief at Marvel, but still a fantastic artist. Every so offen he'll offer up his talents for a cover or two. Classic great artist that just draws his ass off. I love his stuff, not a marvel fan, but Joe. Q is one of the best today. To bad his art has taken a back seat to his position at Marvel.

Tim Bradstreet

Bradstreet is also one of elite breeds of artist/painters that use aggressive photo referencing techniques by utilizing great photography and professional models. Tim is an awesome artist because his stuff is so detailed and is fantastic mood. Love all his stuff.

Frank Frazetta.

What can one say except one of the best painters classically trained fine artists in the world that happens to work in the comic industry from time to time. He has brought to life so many great creatures and characters that now one can really hold a candle to his work. My bud Jeremy Mohlor turned me on to his work years ago and I have yet to find a piece that he has done that doesn't jump off the canvas/page, and you can tell right away who painted or drew it. I would guess his art is more recognized world wide than any other fantasy artist. If you have a fantasy book, he's your man.( good luck).

Travis Charest.

He is my personal favorite artist working today with this kind of style. His layouts are amazing, his figures are perfect in everyway, he conveys dynamics in poses and movement and makes every character pop off the page. His color work is very impressive and has trained under legends like Moebius. Travis is a classic old school artist that has dedicated his life to mastering his craft. He don't churn out a lot of stuff, but what he does produce has the mark of artistic brilliance!

All this with NO help from live models or photo referencing, a true phenom. The best, hands down.

These are the type of artist that I look at and have much admiration for, and envy slightly...Ok, I'm fickin' jealous! Seriously I look up to talent at this level and keeps me working. I know it might take me a lifetime of practice and study, but to think I could produce something like this someday keep me going.

I'm out.

And the winner is...

2005-12-01T16:32:00.000-05:00

Me!

I won the CD cover contest on the held on the wackbag.com message board. Wackbag is the site for the Opie and Anthony radios show on XM satellite radio ( channel 202). Khemystri is a featured artist on this show with song parodies and other topical productions music for the show. Khem is also an awesome hip hop artist and is dropping his first solo album very soon, and my art will grace the cover.

Thanks to Ed for the awesome color work on this one. This is the first time I worked with him and met him over a digital webbing. Nice job!

You can check out Khem's stuff, download a song or two and get all the info on his music on his site. http://www.myspace.com/knapadomespeek His stuff is awesome, you need to check it out. I'll update here when the album is for sale.

Thought I would post this new pic of Shank I drew up one night when I was board and feeling the jones for some sci-fi type art.

Till next time

Back in the saddle...

2005-11-21T12:06:00.000-05:00

It's been too long. I'm back, and hopefully posting more regularly. The CD contest ends in about a week, and I'm still in the lead. Hopfully I will be victorious! The contest was held on the Opie and Anthony message board. It would be nice to have my art on an album/CD cover, and Khem is awesome hip hop artist, I'm really in to his stuff and can't wait to hear the finished product.

As far as Texas Tenaka and Silencer and I talked about before, it's back to square one on the publishing side . I'm still working to get them published again some day but for now my focus is elsewhere. Cocked and Loaded dropped the ball and I can't really say it suprises me with all my other troubles with other publishers. Thank you for all the people that have bought a copy of Silencer and Texas, and I still have some copies left of Texas, so if you want one e-mail me your address and I'll send you one for free as long as you write a review on a message board or on this blog.

I would also like to send a big Fuck You to the people at purgatory publishing and West End games for being five mouths behind with my paycheck! I did like 30 pieces for them and have only gotten payment for 6 or 7 of these pieces. Thanks for giving me the run around and passing the buck on to the next guy. I'll get my money and will never work for you again.

I would also like to tell my web guy Jason Embury thanks for being so cool about me owing him for a website up date mouths ago. I really thought I would have my west end game money coming by now, but your checks on the way brother, sorry for the delay.

On a brighter note I have a new full time job, and signed a contract last week that will keep me busy till spring at least. I will be doing pencil and inks for a mini series and graphic novel that will be out next year. It's an awesome story by an awesome writer. It's the hardest thing I've ever done but so far been very rewarding. I'll post some art from it when I get permission to do so.

Well, back to work and hopfully I'll have some new stuff to post soon.

later

feelin' the vibe...

2005-10-02T08:31:00.000-05:00

First off let me apologize for not updating my blog in almost a month. Wait a minute, fuck it, no I'm not...Nobody reads this shit anyway!

Now that we have that out of the way. I've been busy with comic stuff, some commissioned work and looking for fill in jobs to pay the bills. What I haven't been doing is getting my paycheck from West End Games or getting phone calls from Cocked and Loaded. For all you Texas Fans that still need a copy, e-mail me already, I'll get ya one real cheap. Number two is half way done, and In my next update I'll give everyone (who doesn't read this) a first look at those pages. I'm done making promises or predictions on when the books are coming out for the simple fact that my publishers might be the worst publishers/ promoters EVER! I think they are used to publishing things from artist that take two years in between projects. So anyone that wants to know when the release of any of my Cocked and Loaded books are coming out and all that, just go to Elite comics and ask them, they don't return my phone calls but maybe they will share it with you.

Here's some new work for a CD album cover contest. Still need it colored and will not know if I win till December 1st, I'm sure I won't but who the fuck cares, it was fun to draw.

The Process

2005-08-22T13:33:00.000-05:00

Today I thought I would share a bit of my process I use for completing a finished piece of art.

I got the inspiration for doing this piece from Rob Schamberger’s Bi-weekly art jam section of the KC Comix scenes message board. This week he is doing Christopher Reeve as Superman. I wanted to take a break from my stuff and do a fun kind of piece.

On Rob’s thread he provided everyone with some photos to use as a guide to there creation. Normally I have no problems using photo referencing, I use it quite a bit for my two books, but I wanted a break from that and decided to just “freestyle” on this one.

Once I came up with my concept pose I started my research on the man of steels costume. This was not what I was wanting to draw. For the most part superman has a very boring to draw, costume. I myself love drawing details, and really had my heart set on that. So I scraped the Superman idea and went with the only other Superhero more “American” than Superman, Captain America.

I did my research and noticed caps costume was a bit boring and dated too, so I gave my cap an update for 2005! I stared fleshing it out and adding the little details; I also played around with the ideas for my background. The total penciling process took me about 4 hours. Not to bad, but pin-up type art is always faster than sequential when laying down the lead.

Next I started the inks. I begin by just inking the details and leaving the lighting effects for later.

Here you can see where I started. I use (Micron) pens for most of the detail, and acrylic (zillar) soot black ink, with a brush. These two tools I use for 99% of my inking.
"flat" inks. Staring grays with the gun barrel

Next I add the “lighting” with the inks. Brush and ink, and some (Faber-Castell) brush pens work great for this as well, makes this process a little quicker without losing much as far as details.
Last but not least I add in the gray tones with (FW) gray acrylic ink and ink wash (my own mixture of course). For this, I every so sparkly used (Pantone) gray marker for some more effects.

Finally I inked up the background and erased all my pencils and I’m done! I started this piece late Saturday night, and finished it late Sunday/early Monday. Click here for a higher rez version, more suitable for viewing.
Hope you enjoyed this.

Later

Back on track...

2005-08-18T23:22:00.000-05:00

What's up everyone. Well I just finished two more Silencer Pages on Issue 4, and one more page on issue 2 of Texas. I'm trying to get back in the grove and hit my story telling stride. It's very hard to do sometimes when you don't know when...And IF your books will ever come out. Hopefully in the coming weeks I'll have an announcement about my books, but don't wanna jump the gun, so I'll fill everyone in when I have something set in stone.

I will say that I'm getting very impatient waiting for my books to come out, nationally. I hit some snags with cocked and loaded and it seemed they have a chronic feet dragging condition. hopfully that is behind us and they seem to be motivated and excitied on getting my stuff to the next level. The next few weeks will make or break the immediate future of my books, I'll say that much. But I've been working on Texas for over a year from concept to finished product. Silencer was the first thing I wrote after my first published book (Warrior of Destiny) came out in 2001.

I just want to remind anyone who wants a copy of Silencer, Texas Tenaka I still have some here. Just shoot me an e-mail if your needing one. Remember to check out my gallery site if you want some cool artwork.

SIN CITY!!!!!

2005-08-16T19:54:00.000-05:00

Sin city DVD came out today, and yeah I know there is a special edition DVD coming out soon, buy I bought this one anyway. The movie is so good, it gives me chills just thinking about it. For anyone who does know me, Frank Miller is my idol, without a doubt the biggest influence on my work as a comic artist. If you haven't seen the movie yet, you need to check it out.

Here is some Sin city Art that I've done

Cry of the wolf...

2005-08-14T09:14:00.000-05:00

Just finished another commissioned piece for a fan I met at Wizard World. He's a big Werewolf fan, so here it is. I do love doing commissioned pieces, because you know if some one is willing to pay for your work, that they will display it proudly.

Just to remind everyone that I have five different types and prices for commissioned pieces. I try to make sure if you want something, I can make it affordable for everyone. Just contact me for pricing.

Chicago, highs and lows...

2005-08-10T09:13:00.000-05:00

Whazzup everyone. Back from Chicago a few days ago. It had it's high and low points but over all the trip was a disappointment. We had a bad local in artist alley, and my books did not come in till noon on Saturday. Texas Tenaka was not printed to my specs and was quite disappointed in the over all quality of it.

-No color on front and back cover ( inside and out)
-No spot color on interior pages
-The interior pages were suppose to be a differnt paper type
-The Gray tones were not on target.

( any one in KC looking for a printer, Copy Club sucks Ass!!)

With that being said I want to thank everyone that did pic up this "Convention" edition of Texas Tenaka.

I also want to give a special shout out to Ed Lavalee, without his help the book wouldn't ever have been ready, so thanks Ed!

I've already got some good feed back from you guys saying how much you like Texas, and let me say right now that I plan to fix what ever problems this book had before we go back to print with it. Anyone still wanting a copy you can get one at Elite comics for $2, or just e-mail me and I'll hook you up.

Here some picks from the con

Jim and Frank

Some...uh, people in costumeWizard World

Texas backing board art...

2005-07-30T13:25:00.000-05:00

Well, Chicago is less than a week away, and the limited release of Texas Tenaka. I thought I would share something I also did for the release of Silencer, for a few bucks more I included art on the backing board that comes with your comic. I'm doing this promotion once again for the release of Texas. Here are some of the finished sketches you can get with your book. Most of them are Texas Tenaka, but I include every major character in the book on at least one of the these backing boards.
All of these will be signed and numbered, with the Character name displayed on each piece

More behind the scenes...

2005-07-22T11:21:00.000-05:00

Here are some more concept pieces from Texas Tenaka. This is the main bad hombre, Six-Bullets Brimstone.

Are you ready for Texas Tenaka?

2005-07-19T22:26:00.000-05:00

Texas is almost here! The cover and all lettering interior design is now compleate. It will be at the printer soon, and in print in a few weeks!

Here is what the cover looks like with the awesome logo byJason Embury and assist by Ed Lavallee. Also I added one of the flashback pages from the book that shows young Texas and his training to become the deadliest sharpshooter to ever carry a katana!

Enjoy

Finished....

2005-07-16T21:44:00.000-05:00

Well, i finished my latest contract artwork for West End Games. Back to work full time on Texas Tenaka. I'm on page 6 of issue 2. It's a hoot thus far, but this book always will be.

Thought i would share some photos from behind the scenes at cybershaw studios, damn this is fuckin' exciting!

Me, proud as shit after finishing a page from issue 2 of Texas T! Look at that face... the only thing missin' is a shotgun pointed at it with a toe attachment, yikes!

Some WIP pages on the board. These pages will be done sometime next month. Hardy, har ,har!!

This is what i like to call, the Wall of Fame. This is a wall that features art from kids ( mostly mine) Any kid that wants to draw me a picture just might find it up here, if it's good enough!

A me updating this very blog! How tha...what tha?

What I'm I listening to...

2005-07-06T14:28:00.000-05:00

Cradle of Filth
A Perfect Circle and Tool
Korn ( no brainier)
Staind
Static X
All staples in my play list.

Every once in a while I'll cue up Coldplay, Mos Def ( best rapper in the game) or even some Annie Lennox. I don't believe that there is "cool" and "uncool" music. whatever floats your boat and gets your pumping is cool. Everyone has their guilty music pleasures, even me. I'll just keep them to myself at this point in time : )
I thought I would take some time and let people know what I listen to while I'm working. I listen to a lot of my XM satellite radio that I got for Christmas last year. It's awesome. I list to Sqizz, and O&A mainly on the old XM. I also enjoy this channel called cinamagic that plays scores from movies and movie clips. I listen to the Sox, if they are playing and talk radio and the comedy channel from time to time.

I don't even attempt to watch DVD's or TV, it's a little counter productive.

Let me also today was my Birthday, (31...Yes I'm an old man) My wife and kids went out of their way to make me feel special today. I really couldn't do what I do without the inspiration from my kids and the support of my wife. They cheer me on and really have a lot of respect for me and my art, it feels nice to know someone has your back.

Issue 2, off and rolling!

2005-07-01T20:36:00.000-05:00

Working on Issue 2 of Texas Tenaka, I've been feeling a little un inspired lately due to some pubishing set backs and just bogged down with other stuff. Summer is a time I go to the pool with the kids, and generally them being home all day I get little done. Tonight My wife took the tikes to the show and let me caught up on some stuff, I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. Here is a shot from the new book. This is Grady O'Callahan, the Shamrock Kid. He's a scrappy little potato eatin' mick that licks a good tussle. Can't wait for people to meet him, and all these crazy characters i've been writing in the last year. It's gonna be a fun ride.

Well, I better make use of my time, and get back to the drawing board. I'm listing to my Sox on the ole XM radio get routed by the jays 11 to 1, ugh! At least they are in first!

Later.

More Silencer

2005-06-30T10:06:00.000-05:00

For all you Silencer people out there... The national release of Silencer is pushed back till late fall. This is cocked and loaded's deal, not mine. But believe you me, it's coming. Issue 4 is still in production, I haven't worked on for a few weeks, but plan to get it finished with this issue really soon.

i feel bad that people are still waiting so damn long for this this to come out and get rolling, so i plan on posting five page previews of issue 2 and 3 real soon. In this extra time I have I've been taking more freelance gigs and RPG work, but I plan to get caught up on my SuperUnknowN stuff and Jason Preu's Economic relief. Check back in a few weeks and see if i'm lying, as soon as stuff gets done, I'll post some stuff here.

Cover contest

2005-06-27T12:59:00.000-05:00

having a little poll over on the CCN message board to see what cover to use for Issue one of Texas Tenaka. As it stands right now this one is in the lead. Go there and vote
http://www.comixclub.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=3399&sid=cab1461221e41595942c48ad4e8eb9f8

Texas watercolors

2005-06-25T12:16:00.000-05:00

Here is a hand painted piece I was going to use for a cover for Texas Tenaka. I don't know if it's good enough for a cover, but I'll use it for something.

Photos from cons

2005-06-25T11:38:00.000-05:00

Elite comics in store signing (Overland park, KS) 2001

KC Comic con Small press panel 2003 ?

FallCon (St. Paul, MN) 2003
Kansas City Comic Con 2003

Wizard World 2004 (Texas)
Planet Comic Con 2005 ( Kansas city)

What's up. thought i would share some photo from cons and comic shop signings

Doing my part...corrupting the youth of America

2005-06-25T03:04:00.000-05:00

Thought i would post pics from my speaking gig at a Belton Mo. middle school last fall. talking to 7th and 8th grade art students about comics, and what i do, when i'm not watching DVD's or updating my blog. It was cool, My nephew was in this group of kids, and this was a very cool gig. You gotta love that age group of kids. It's always fun to teach the youth of America about drawing violent images spawned from real life. Afterwords I passed out some comics and illegal drugs to the children. (I'm kidding you freaks...I don't give away comics. )

Stripper!

2005-06-25T03:01:00.000-05:00

I feel I always need to brush up on drawing the female figure, so this is a piece I've had laying around that i did a year or so ago. I did this to brush up on some skills.

Some of the bad guys....

2005-06-25T02:58:00.000-05:00

here's the first look at a few Villians that will be featured in upcoming Issues of the adventures Texas Tenaka, the Dead eye Samurai.

Texas Tenaka is coming!

2005-06-25T02:52:00.000-05:00

Thought i would post a page from Issue one of Texas

Silencer update

2005-06-25T02:33:00.000-05:00

For everyone who picked up their copy of Silencer, here is page one from issue four. The boys from cocked and loaded have informed me that it won't be in Previews till late this fall, so blame them for that, I'm way ahead on the book. Keep an Eye out here, I'll be posting pages from the series that you can't see anywhere else

Some RPG work

2005-06-25T02:18:00.000-05:00

Thought i would go ahead and show some the RPG work I'm doing for West End Games D20 system. I'm doing all kinds of art, for a few differnt games. If nothing else, it's good practice to draw things that I don't normally get to draw.

I'm new here, so step off.

2005-06-24T16:09:00.000-05:00

Ok, I guess I'll give this blog thang a go. I'll have more to say like, uh later. Right now I'll be working on some more Gaming art, I'll post'r up when I get it done, and of corse working on some new Texas Tenaka stuff. Here something for yer eye balls till I come back.