Preacher Vol. 4: Ancient History

I was made aware that there is a character in the Preacher series called The Saint of Killers. He gets sent to Hell and is offered the role of the Angel of Death, God's own destructive instrument. He accepts, and has the previous angel's sword made into two divine Colts. The first thing he does is cap the Devil. Sounds awesome, right?

You can read his full back-story here. It's pretty messed up stuff. The universe he lives in is depressing. It's a perverted take on our relationship with God and suffering.

I recently discovered that the entire illustrated back-story of the Saint of Killers is contained in Preacher Vol. 4, so I added the book to my Amazon wish list. The covers were awesome, and I remembered liking what I'd seen of Steve Dillon's artwork in the regular Preacher series (and later on The Punisher). Should have been a sure-thing, but I had the chance to check it out at a Borders before buying it, and unfortunately it's not very good. The artwork is not by Dillon, is just kind of ugly, and (you know me) if they can't be bothered to research and draw a proper pistol, forget it. (You can download a .pdf of the first four pages at this link.)

Well, at least the covers are cool. Here they are, for your viewing pleasure.




I apologize for the poor quality of two of the .jpgs. I got them from Fabry's website, and for some reason he has them all displayed low-quality.

He scales the pistols a bit larger than he should in that last piece, but they're still accurate in every other way. And, honestly, if you were going to exaggerate something for a painting and subject like this, that's the way to go. So maybe it was intentional.

Mignola + Western = More, Please

I found this beautiful piece inside a preview for one of the Hellboy prose novels. I have no desire to "read" a Hellboy story, so I make it a point to avoid them, but Mignola still contributes chapter art, and the first story begins with a western tale. It's almost enough to make me buy the book. Almost.

**edit** Bonus awesome Mignola image! Cover from the current Lobster Johnson mini-series.

Biola Alumni Show: 2007 - 2008

The wif and I were both recently tapped for pieces for the ongoing Biola Alumni art show. We had originally missed the deadline back in March for submitting work because we were neck-deep in wedding plans and Biola play stuff, but Barry recently approached us for stuff because they had a few artists drop out at the last minute. So, Amy has some photos in the current show (stuff from her senior show), and I'm going to have some work (hopefully) in the Winter/Spring show. Mine will probably be some pages from the Pooks comic.

There is some cool stuff in the current show (Zack Kleyn's stuff is always very intriguing -- he gave a lecture recently about his studies of the theme of voyeurism in light of the current popular technology trends (blogging, YouTube, Myspace, etc.), so if you're in the area, check it out. It's cool seeing friends and Biola alum who are still serious about making art.

Oh yeah, they're going to be printing a nice book full of alumni art as well, which I hope I will be in.

Final note: any Biola art alumni who aren't submitting stuff for this are gay. Scientifically.

Guy Davis draws awesome stuff

Check out this uber-sweet monster Guy Davis drew for Sam Hiti's fight blog! I like this guy's stuff more and more.

Check out this BPRD cast shot, too.

The Learning Curve - Pook Mine

The worst thing about working on this comic is that it takes me forever to draw everything but the monkeys. I can draw you a monkey in 10 seconds, but ask me to draw a mine, a town, the interior of a bar, anything else, and it's gonna take me a long time. I'll go through all my graphic novels that might give me a hint (Bone, Iron West, and Usagi Yojimbo for this book), and try and Google Image Search some reference.

The other thing that is slowing me down is shading. I can draw you fake one-light-source shadows all day, but drawing actual shadows (or, at least, good enough fake shadows) scares me. My characters are very cartoony, but my tendency is to draw everything else a bit more realistic. It makes the characters pop off the backgrounds better. Bone is like this: the Bone cousins are very simple cartoony characters set against these amazingly rendered backgrounds, and it works so beautifully.

A page I had inked back in July was giving me some anxiety because of the shading. It takes place in a mine with a single light source, a lantern. Most artists can get away without doing exact shadows for any stories that take place during the day under normal lighting, but as I finished the panel, I realized an enclosed space with a definite light source needed appropriate shadows.

Here's the panel as it existed originally (though I had already started darkening in the tunnel here):


This is one of the pages I showed to Stan Sakai at the Comic Con, actually. He advised me to make the long black shadows there are appropriate for the lighting of such a scene. That was what made me anxious, because I didn't want to ruin the page. So, I scanned the panel in and started dabbling with it in Photoshop to see how it would look with everything darker.

It didn't look too bad, so I took the plunge and inked them on the page:

I think it turned out all right. I added a lot of texture to the ground and walls as well to continue the darkness. I still have a lot to learn about inking (the lines on the back wall aren't "classy" inking, they just get the job done), but each step makes the next less daunting.

Hellboy HCs coming!

According to Dark Horse, Spring 08 will finally see the release of the Hellboy trades in HC.

Also in spring of 2008, Dark Hose will begin releasing Mike Mignola’s Hellboy in hardcover, “Library Editions” similar to the treatment it has given Frank Miller’s Sin City. Each hardcover will collect two trades which will be collected in chronological order. All of the current trades are slated to be collected in this format.

I'm a huge fan of getting HCs of the work I really like, so this is a no-brainer for me. If they are priced like the Sin City Library Editions, Amazon should have them for a good discount.

3:10 To Yuma (2007)

Finally saw the new 3:10 To Yuma last night.

Overall: good not great. I did see the original first (which I loved, if you recall).

The Good: setting, action, character designs, music.

The use of a snowy background in the final scenes was a beautiful choice. It was almost an alien landscape. The bright white pops up in the background of this dusty brown town so suddenly that it jarred me. The rest of the locations were appropriately beautiful as well, though sometimes the shots of the group could have been a bit wider to better show their location.

The action was pretty good. Good gunfights, though the sound effects could have been a bit better. For the most part, they were better than the canned sound effects of, say, Young Guns or something, but they weren't at the level of Open Range. Mangold went for realistic with his sounds, so he should have aimed for Open Range's heights. He did add a bit of character to the different character's gun sounds, though, and that was cool. The shootouts were pretty well staged, and I desperately want Tanaka or Marushin to make a Schofield now.

Mangold did a good job making each character look distinct. It wasn't just "Western guy 1 with brown hat" and "Western guy 2 with lighter brown hat and dark pants." You had Ben Wade, dressed as a gentleman gunfighter, with bowler and nice-but-dusty suit and sweet-but-irrelevant-to-the-story "Hand of God" Colt S.A.A.; Dan, skinny and scraggly with one leg and plain, droopy, drab clothes, armed with a Sharps rifle (which, even though it is said that he is a crack-shot, is never put to good use); Charlie Prince, bearded and clad in a distinct cream leather jacket, armed with dual Schofields; Byron, aged bounty hunter wielding a sweet looking shortened shotgun (which is a carry-over from the original movie -- the gun, not the character, oddly).

The music was well-done and clearly inspired by Morricone's style. I appreciated that Mangold chose to use this sort of music rather than some sweeping orchestral score.


The Meh: padding the story with extra scenes and characters, shortening the best parts from the 1957 movie.

There were several scenes and characters in the new one not present in the first adaptation. Some were OK (like the scene with the Apache attack) just because they had some cool action, but none of them added much to the story. Adding Dan's kid to the mix didn't do a whole lot for me either. In the original, it was sufficient to show his family's disappointment at his ranch and then leave him to wrestle with that on his own for the rest of the movie. Keeping the kid around the entire time artificially created a tension that wasn't as interesting or dramatic, because it took focus away from Dan and also diluted Dan's decision-making process. (If the kid is right there, there's much more pressure to "do the right thing," and it makes his decision less about him having the courage to do what is right and more about "well, can't look bad in front of the kid.")

This also hurts my favorite aspect of the original movie, the moral conflict between Wade and Dan. It's just not as well-executed in this new one. I really felt for Dan in the original, and you could just see this moral anguish going on in his head the whole time as Wade tortures him in the hotel room. It was some profound stuff, and it comes off as forced and awkward in Mangold's version. Also, it's not as efficient in its storytelling. The 1957 version seemed to center entirely around the waiting in the hotel room, which was the most interesting and provocative part of the story, while the 2007 version treated that scene like any other and just moved through it.

Another (rather odd) negative aspect is Bale's physicality versus Van Heflin's. For whatever reason, Mangold made Bale scrawny, greasy, and weak-looking. You never once thought he could take Crowe in a fight. In the original, Van Heflin is physically bigger than Ford, and this makes his character that much more tragic. It's a minor detail, but it made me sympathize with him more. Here is a man who you can see once had the respect of others, who had control over his own destiny, and who has now lost the respect of his own family and has to beg for money. The physical difference tipping the other direction worked better for the conflict between Ben and Dan.


New 3:10 - fun, satisfies my desire for some Western action, but not the great movie that the old 3:10 is.

Wet Hot American Summer (2001)

I forgot to write about this one. I saw it originally on Comedy Central one day, and some of the scenes killed me. Paul Rudd's character is freakin' hilarious throughout the whole movie, whether he's begrudgingly picking his tray up off the cafeteria floor or letting a kid drown so he can make out with a loose camp counselor. Or throwing the only witness out of a speeding van miles from the camp.

The movie is a spoof of summer camp movies. It hits all the cliches and takes everything pretty far (including a gay scene that went way further than I wanted it to -- you'll know when it starts, and you can immediately skip it without missing anything), from the "geeky guy
tries to pry hot girl away from jerk," to "desperate guy who is all talk tries to lose virginity before camp ends," to "impending over-the-top doom for the camp," to "the cook is bat-$#!^ insane." And probably hundreds more.

The cast is great: Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Paul Rudd, that guy from that law show I think (who is hilarious, it turns out) named Chris Meloni, Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon, Joe Lo Truglio (from Superbad, most recently), and Elizabeth Banks (40 Year Old Virgin). Plus other funny people.

The movie has some pretty raunchy moments, but it's also got some really really funny stuff. I don't even remember this coming out. Did it bomb horribly? I would think this would be one of those movies with big college followings. It's very quotable.

B.P.R.D.: The Dead

I have actually been avoiding these BPRD books for a while now, because initially I had been turned off by the lack of Mignola art. I also remember looking through one of the books and not caring for Guy Davis' style. I recently flipped through a BPRD book at a Borders, though, and realized that I've been depriving myself of something I'd actually really enjoy.

I like this book quite a bit. Guy Davis' art has really grown on me. In fact, I think it's great stuff. It serves the story very well. His renditions of Mignola's characters and stories achieve just the right feeling, that of horror mixed with humor mixed with pulp. The writing, too, holds that balance at the same level as the art.

The story concerns the BPRD (which stands for Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense -- it's the team Hellboy used to belong to) moving their headquarters to an abandoned military research facility in Colorado. Once there, they encounter crazy Nazi/ghostly/paranormal weirdness, of course. There are some great moments of humor and horror as the story unfolds. One such moment involves Ben, the new team leader, ordering Roger to put on some pants, then changing his mind when he sees the result of his order. Roger is also mystified throughout by everyone's insistence that he should have a gun. Johann, at one point, find this awesome looking 40's style machine/weapon that he straps to his back to fight an "angel," and the image is one of my favorite illustrations from the book (actually, you can see it on the cover up there).

There is also a secondary story about Abe Sapien's past. It's ok, but it is sort of distracting from the main story. It takes a long time to get where it's going, which is not that climactic once it's there. It feels like it should have been a standalone section in one of Mignola's Hellboy books rather than a back-up in a BPRD book.

I love the new characters Johann and Ben. (Johann is the character on the top center of the cover above; Ben is on the far right on the bottom, though you can't see much of him.) Johann adds more good weirdness and Ben's personality hits off the other characters in interesting ways. I'm looking forward to finding more out about each of them.

Another reviewer mentioned that Roger's personality seems a bit different from his outings in the pages of Hellboy. I agree with that, but I don't think the change is a bad one. It actually adds another layer to the team dynamic, and it's not so far off from Roger's previous depictions so as to be jarring.

I will definitely be picking up more of these books, provided that this creative team is still involved. I'm partial to consistent creative teams, and since from book 3 on the team all Davis, Arcudi, and Mignola, it looks like those will be the ones I collect.

Cowboy Monkeys from Comic Con 2007

Here you go! These are all the cowboy monkey sketches I collected at Comic Con this year, in the order in which I received them.

First is Gabe's (from Penny Arcade). A fine rendition! A good way to start the series.

Next is one of my favorites, illustrated with shaming speed by Sir Eef.

Next is by J. Goldberg, the artist from this book. I think it's a great monkey.

Then comes Val's irrepressably cute anime version:

Frank Cho provided his own alter-ego for this one:

I caught Rob Schrab and got this piece! A bargain at $20.

Then I had my good friend Frak take a crack at it. My only solace is that I can draw better guns than he can.My friend Mike whipped up this little ditty over lunch. As usual, he takes the opportunity to make a respectful tribute to our nation's history.

Then our friend and Comic Con buddy two-years-running Steve followed it up with an insightful take on a modern political issue. (He kept insisting that he sucked at drawing -- good one, Steve!):

Next I handed my sketchbook to Doug:Then, just across the floor from Doug, I asked Steve Purcell if he would oblige. He looked hesitant, and said, "It'll just be a quick one," and then ended up with this:

Then forum friend Sean gave me this! I couldn't believe how many people could draw good cowboy hats. I suck at them.

Comic errors

And I'm not talking about Rob Liefeld's refusal to learn human anatomy. (very tired ZING!)

I recently picked up The Ballad of Sleeping Beauty, because, of course, it's a Western comic. It's decent. The art is pretty good, and the weird Carnivale-like stuff in the story is interesting enough. The artist draws a good gun-fight, something a lot of my other Western comics are lacking, even if he does opt for a modern muzzle-flash rather than a technologically appropriate puff of smoke.

One of the things that bugged me about it (cue loss of normal audience here) was that the artist kept drawing the guy reloading his Civil War-era pistol with a swing-out cylinder. I don't know exactly when swing-out cylinders became the norm for revolvers (my guess would be at the turn of the century when double-action revolvers were becoming the standard), but I do know that no cap-and-ball or cartridge conversion pistols from that era had swing-out cylinders.

What's worse (WORSE!) is that the arist has the auDACITY to draw the same error a few pages later, but swinging out on the OTHER SIDE! Can you believe it? No revolver has ever worked this way. Come ON.

I like how he never draws the cylinder arm. Where is it? How is the cylinder sliding out? It's in the shadows. We'll never know.

I admit that that is a pretty nit-picky and nerdy thing to be bothered by. How many people know that kind of thing, after all? I mean besides anyone who has ever studied the operation of those guns.

But BUT I have something that should make you all laugh now. I enjoyed Damion Scott's art for the Batgirl book quite a bit. Once in a while he had some issues with storytelling, but for the most part it was my favorite depiction of the awesome Thai Batgirl. There is one panel that cracked me up, though. Let's see if you can spot the problem.

See it yet? Yes? Awesome. No? See the closeup below.

*pushes up glasses* Ahhh, excuse me, are we to believe that this is some sort of magic auto-shell-ejecting revolver? Ah ha, ah ha, ah ha. Boy, I really hope someone got fired for that one.

Western Nerd

I finally got a picture of all my Western-themed airsoft guns. I swear, they're for reference.

I know I've lost my audience at this point, but, for myself, here's a list of them from top to bottom:

Winchester 1887 lever-action shotgun (the one from T2, but full-size -- Nick Cage also used one in Ghost Rider), Winchester 1892 rifle, Winchester 1873 Randall Custom (based on the gun Steve McQueen used in his TV show), Remington 1851, and two Colt S.A.A.s.

Nerd

Nobody had an accurate and horrifying realization in the comments section of a recent post (in reference to Amy embracing my nerdiness):

Face it, you hit the jackpot!

But on the other hand it sounds like your marriage is completely malfunctioning because it was supposed to make you less like a single comic book nerd, not more like one!

Just don't ask her to dress up for conventions.

He's totally right. But don't worry. On the nerd hierarchy, I think I rate above the "dress up like an anime character" nerd, and I would never encourage or even tolerate Amy lowering herself to that level. Funny nerd t-shirts are acceptable, though. Josh, your wife wearing the knit Leia hat is totally cool because it was funny.

I'm not helping myself, though: I recently acquired a set of samurai swords. That is another step down the ladder (even if they were a gift).

Someone should write up a nerd hierarchy. I'll bet someone already has.

**Update**

Brendoman has come through by finding exactly such a hierarchy!

Dudley the Fuzz-Butt: 1994 - 2007

Our family's beloved Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Dudley, was put to sleep yesterday morning. He had only started showing signs getting old within this last year, but it overtook him very quickly. The vet thinks he developed cancer. My mom had a store of painkillers to last Dudley through the week, so that anyone who wanted to say goodbye could come home on the weekend before he was put to sleep. Unfortunately, he woke up yesterday morning and could no longer use his hind legs. My mom made the difficult decision to take him in sooner. I was able to leave work and drive home yesterday to be with her when she took him in. My dad is out of town until the weekend and my brothers are up here at school now, so she would have had to do it all on her own, and considering that Dudley was her dog, it would have been really hard to do it alone. Well, it was hard even with me there blubbering like a baby, but at least we had each other's shoulders to cry on.

He was a great dog. He cheered us up when we were low, he played with us any time we asked, and he peed on one of our wedding presents. He was about the cutest dog in the world, but he also had a very regal side that belied his naturally goofy looks. He barked like a big dog, had overhead clearance like a little dog, and loved to lick empty ice cream bowls. We shaved him in the summer, giving the appearance that he was wearing white pajamas, and he would honestly sulk for a day or so as though he knew how ridiculous he looked.

We loved him very much. He will be missed and spoken of often.

(I'll try and get some pictures to show you. You can google "Pembroke Welsh Corgi" for an idea. Dudley looked like the most handsome ones you'll find.)

Not-so-recent Westerns - 3:10 to Yuma, Rio Bravo, Young Guns

(I actually started writing this before I got married, but only recently finally finished and posted it.)


It's nice to know there are still some real gems out there to discover within the Western genre. I rented 3:10 to Yuma and Rio Bravo recently, and they have immediately become two of my favorites (especially 3:10).

3:10 to Yuma (1957) - 3:10 handles the hero and villain very differently from most movies, especially from that era. The bad guy isn't your typical villain. He has a sense of morality, but he's not a tragic villain, as would usually be the case. Very interesting character. The hero, too, acts from very human (fallen) motivations, and his ultimate choices make him that much more triumphant morally. The pacing and location shots also make this film stand out.

Rio Bravo (1959) - Rio Bravo is a pretty fun film as well. Dean Martin's character arc is great, and Stumpy is surely the model for the original "Old Prospector." Angie Dickinson plays one of the most sensual characters I've ever seen. She exudes allure.

Young Guns (1988) - Young Guns sucked six ways from Sunday. There was nothing redeeming. I will now avoid Young Guns II with all the cat-like agility I can muster.


To summarize: you all must put 3:10 to Yuma at the top of your rental queue. It's awesome. See it before the new one colors your view.

Recent movies - Paths of Glory, Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, Surf's Up

Paths of Glory (1957) - I didn't even know this was a Kubrick movie until I saw his name in the opening credits. I actually rented it just because John Kricfalusi recommended it as a study for animators in "specific acting."

Anyhow, the film: it is beautifully shot. The way Kubrick stages the scenes and moves the camera and uses his locations is really remarkable. **spoilers** The scouting scene, the assault on the Ant Hill, the courtroom scene, the final march to the firing squad. The fact that Kubrick chose to show the actual execution rather than cut away to a reaction shot really drives home the injustice of pride that cost three men their lives at the hands of their own country. **end spoilers** There is a really interesting point of contrast to be found in the relationship between Dax and the General. Both are manipulated/pressured into sending their men off to certain death, but Dax physically leads his men and assumes the same risk they are taking. You're angry at the General's arrogance in giving this order, but you find yourself supporting Dax because he actually leads his men. The General sees the men as tools, but Dax sees them as human beings of equal value to himself. Also helpful in raising sympathy for Dax is the difference in the way he was pressured into obeying the order. Dax's pride in his men is appealed to, whereas the General gives in based on the promise of further rank.

The overall message of the story doesn't seem to be a broad anti-war statement (which makes it unique), but a condemnation of military hubris and the devaluing of a soldier's life. Pride and the devaluing of life is the cause of each of the problems: the General's pride leads to him ordering a futile attack; the General's pride again prevails in ordering the execution of his own men as "an example"; the pride of the other CO prevents him from acting on Dax's accusations and saving the wrongfully condemned men.

Good movie.

Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind (1984) - Typical Miyazaki movie: lots of fun airborne contraptions, "man is poisoning the earth" message, plucky heroine, some goofball supporting characters, beautifully designed landscapes, and giant mechanized warriors. You can tell this one came out in the 80s because of the funky sound effects and music. I enjoyed it, though I prefer his subsequent efforts (mostly because those bugs freak me out).

Surf's Up (2007) - Pretty fun movie. Easily the best animated waves and surfing ever done. These guys actually studied what waves do and how surfers move (even if there was some ridiculous "360 aerial flip" stuff). Jeff Bridges was perfect. I didn't even recognize Jon Heder, which speaks well of his performance! Wifey-Amy loved that there was a surfer from Michigan. Overall, it could have used more laughs, but the story was pretty good and carried the movie well (which is saying a lot for a surfing movie). Very similar to North Shore story-wise (fish-out-of-water surfer gets big chance in surf contest vs. jerk), but minus most of the campiness.

Dom won!

Dom's entry into the Comic Book Challenge won the grand prize! His book is going to be published sometime in early 2008. Congratulations, dude. You deserve it. Let's hope this leads to more printed work from you! I want to hang out at Comic Con.

Here's their synopsis image, for those that haven't seen it:

Gift for the Wif'

Forgot to mention: I bought my wife this really cool Star Wars statue when I bought my Hellboy dolls.

The trial is over

I've been serving on a jury for the past 5 weeks, and we finally finished everything yesterday. It was a gang-related murder in Compton. There were two juries, one for each defendant. One defendant was the driver, the other was the shooter. We found our guy (the driver) not guilty of Murder, Attempted Murder, and Discharging a Fire-arm into a Motor Vehicle. We think he just gave the wrong guy a ride that day. The other guy is guilty as hell and I hope the other jury comes to that conclusion. They were still deliberating when we finished, so I don't know what their verdict was.

It was a really interesting experience. It was my first time serving on a jury. I learned a lot about the judicial process, gangs, and Compton. The courthouse was in Compton, so I got to know the little area around there pretty well. I had a couple weird experiences outside the courthouse speaking with or over-hearing locals.

We had a pretty good group for our jury. We all became friends by the end. One jury member is even planning on a little jury get-together sometime in the future.

Got the alien!

Though the giant robotic monkey has eluded capture, I was successful in catching another rare hunk of plastic: Mike Mignola's alien.


Just a beautiful design. I love the little Kirby-esque facial details.

I also got Johann, Roger, and Hellboy with rocket pack in the set. Johann is another really cool character.

The version I have features a transparent head and transparent yellow ectoplasm instead of the blue.

Johann has yet to be featured in any Mignola-drawn books, unfortunately, but he was created by Mignola. He's a being of pure ecto-plasm who is contained in the suit you see above. He's a different sort of "ghost in the shell."

Vote for Dom!

Dominic Vivona, a fabulous illustrator and friend, is in the Top 3 for a comic book contest. Please vote for his book with Jorge Vega! It's a western with an interesting otherworldly premise (it's actually sort of like Morbius minus the vampirism, if that makes sense -- a curse that forces the character to kill, but he tries to kill only those who deserve it).

Vote here! It's called "Gunplay." Dom's name isn't listed among the choices, you have to select Vega.

More posts coming soon, I promise!

Married

I'm married to the love of my life and it rules and that's all for now except that those bearings I did art for finally came out but they changed the design a bit and I don't care for it as much but it's still pretty cool.

Kriegaffe! Damn you!

Mignola's work is engaging not only because of its graphic brilliance, but because of its wonderful sense of pulpy humor as well. Mezco Toys has been releasing some really nice action figures based on Mignola's Hellboy books, and I have two so far: Hellboy and Lobster Johnson. They're well sculpted and capture Mignola's art very well.

Wouldn't you know it, the coolest figure from the first wave is also the rarest. Behold Kriegaffe, with floating Nazi Overlord's head:

Recent movies

The Matador (2005) - I enjoyed watching Pierce Brosnan having fun acting. Though I know he regrets the studio's decision, I'm glad he's done with 007. Roles like this are (apparently) much better suited for him. He's a good comedic actor, and this script was just right for him.

There were a couple moments in the movie where I thought it was going to go somewhere darker, but to the film's credit it keeps the tone light throughout (as light as a movie about an aging assassin can be). I think going on a darker route later in the film would have been cheating.

The Hour of the Gun (1967) - I think I'll try to see all the Wyatt Earp interpretations now, because (as far as I know) there are only 1 or 2 left. I've seen Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, Warlock, My Darling Clementine, and now The Hour of the Gun. I think Gunfight at the OK Corral is the last big one.

Hour of the Gun says in white letters at the very beginning, "This is the real story. This is the way it happened." Well, from what I've read on the subject, it's one of the more accurate interpretations, but it still plays with the timeline and embellishes several events. One alteration in particular seems to be The Standard for Wyatt Earp movies: Virgil and Morgan getting shot on the same night. The assassination attempts were actually several months apart, but The Hour of the Gun, Tombstone, and Wyatt Earp all place them on the same night. It makes sense from a storytelling perspective, but it's funny that HotG would make such a bold claim about accuracy and still fudge a few months. I wonder if HotG set the precedent for this alteration?

I like Jason Robards a lot. He doesn't utilize a Southern dandy accent like Dennis Quaid or Val Kilmer, but he plays a great Doc regardless. James Garner plays Wyatt very straight. Robard's Doc serves as a good foil for him in this regard, often speaking to the emotions and true motivations that Garner's Wyatt never allows out.

HotG might be the first Wyatt Earp film to touch on Wyatt's darker side as well. It doesn't treat him like an outright bully, but it does call into question the righteousness of his crusade to avenge his brothers.

Look for a young John Voight as Curly Bill Brocious.


Adios Sabata (1971) - My first foray into non-Leone spaghetti westerns. I don't know why this one got sent first, since it's not the first Sabata movie. This one features Yule Brynner instead of Lee Van Cleef in the title role.

It's not a great film. But it does have some really cool bits of style and creativity that are hallmarks of the genre.

Gimmicky weapons: check. Sabata has a shortened rifle similar to Josh Randall's in Wanted: Dead or Alive, though this one is clip fed for some ridiculous reason. Honestly, it doesn't make a lick of sense. Allow me to nerd-out on the gun for a moment: Sabata has to use his other hand to push the clip through manually, and it doesn't appear to increase his magazine capacity by more than one or two rounds. What's more, it would make the gun even more inaccurate since he wouldn't be able to steady the gun with his fore hand. Of course, we still see Sabata making amazing shots from hundreds of yards away. This makes Blondie shooting Tuco's rope look like stark neo-realism.

Further weapons gimmicks: the Hungarian (right?) Colonel uses a model ship with working cannons to dispatch a dude he doesn't want to pay. One goofy mute guy who likes to flip around like a monkey is also a dead-eye with the ol' "iron ball on the toe of your shoe."

It features a very creative villain death: the Colonel has had a portrait painted of him, and at the end he is facing off against Sabata in the same room as the portrait. The Colonel ducks behind the portrait just as Sabata whips a knife at him, which stabs into the portrait and then is dragged diagonally down it as the Colonel falls behind it. Pretty cool.

There are some other elements (Sabata's costume, the "Dance of Death," and the fat revolutionary dude's speeches whenever someone dies) that are half cheesy/ half funny.

Payback: Director's Cut

A lot of the "Director's Cuts" I've seen don't do much to justify their existence. They have a few "cut" scenes dropped in, but most of the time they interrupt the pacing and offer no real change to the film. The term has become synonymous with "Unrated Cut" and comes off as a marketing gimmick to get people to shell out for the same movie again.

I haven't seen the original cut of Payback since probably 2000, but I remember enjoying it. It was a gritty crime film with a good dose of humor and Mel's trademark "I love being tortured" shtick. I rented this director's cut to see how it played, since it was apparently a dramatic difference rather than a few new scenes thrown in here and there.

I'd say the new cut is a much better movie than the old one. It eliminates Mel's narration, which I think greatly improves the way Mel's character is explored. We get to watch it rather than hear it, so he is now Porter rather than Mel Gibson. One of the strengths of this character is that we don't fully understand his motivations (see also Point Blank with Lee Marvin); we have the duration of the film to try and understand his code, his principles, and the original narration spoiled the process.

Another change is the filtering. The movie is no longer entirely washed out blue, it's full of warm tones as well as cool. I like this as well. It still fits the mood of the movie, and it's more visually pleasing.

As for new scenes, I couldn't really tell what was added in. I could tell what was removed, which was the kidnapping sub-plot, Kris Kristofferson's character, and the subsequent torture and escape. The new cut features a tidier finale, and the whole movie is actually shorter than the original cut. It clocks in at around 90 minutes, which works for this story. I remember liking Porter's escape scene in the original (clawing his way through the backseat), but I think the new cut keeps the pace consistently and serves the story better.

It's definitely worth checking out.

These always make me smile

Animated avatar: "Invincible Chunk."


omg i lovzzors corgis!.

Hee hee, giant seal.

Only 2 performances left

The last two showings of Fools are this Friday and Saturday at 8pm. If you don't come and you live in the area you were not really my friend ever and I would like to ask that you stop reading this blog for seriously.

I will be shaving my beard come Sunday, and auctioning off bits of it for charity. I'll post eBay links as soon as they're up.

Apartment

Amy and I found an apartment! It's behind Savers. Not too far from Biola, we trust the landlord, and it's pretty nice. Our landlord is this great old guy: ex-Marine, ex-cop, and a Christian to boot. He takes good care of his tenants. Plus we found out that we know a few of his tenants already, so that speaks well of the place.

It's weird having a place that's ours. I'm not used to the idea yet.

Brother Josh helped me pick up a fridge this Tuesday, and so far that's the only bit of furnishing we've done.

Showdown

Brother Ben and I had ourselves a Mexican stand-off sans Mexicans a few Sundays ago.

Oh yeah, did I mention I did end up getting one of those awesome HWS New Model Army airsoft pistols? Yeah, I got one and it's awesome.

We had two quick-draw showdowns and one back-to-back 10-pace count-off. He was armed with my New Model Army, and I used my Colt SAA. We only had safety glasses on, so he went down when I nailed him in the lip with a lucky shot. We stood pretty far apart because those things shoot so dang hard, but it was still nerve-wracking taking pot-shots without any cover.

He won two, I won one. It's pretty fun. I'll post pictures of the guns soon, they look sho shweet.

Leone SE box art

Looks rad. Can't wait for this one to come out.

I also found box-art to another Clint/Western release. Verr nahce.

While we're on the subject of beautiful Western-themed art, how about a few Dark Tower comic covers?

Issue #6 - by Jae Lee

Issue #3 - by Jae LeeIssue #2 (2nd print) - Joe Quesada (who can still draw, apparently)

Fools - Opening Night

Fools opens tomorrow night, Thursday the 19th! It will be playing for the next three weekends. Come out and see it, if you've a mind to. I don't have a Russian accent anymore, but it'll still be a good time.

From Dr. Lewis' Press Release:

Tickets are $8 for Biola students/staff/administrators/Board members/alumni and $10 for all others. The play runs April 19, 20, 21, 22; April 26, 27, 28, 29; May 4, 5. Thursday through Saturday night shows are at 8 PM (doors open at 7:30 PM) and Sunday matinees are at 2 PM (doors open at 1:30 PM). There are only 95 seats at Theatre 21; seats are on a first come/first serve basis.

Biola Theatre 21 is located on the McNally campus of Biola University. Parking is available off of Biola Avenue in Parking Lot C. Looking for the striped awning over our doors and come early to assure yourself of a seat. Order tickets @ theatre.tickets@biola.edu

The Man with No Name: SE

We were given a pretty good Special Edition DVD of The Good The Bad and The Ugly a couple years ago, but Europe got that and SE's of the rest of the trilogy. Not fair.

GBU SE DVD cover - excellent design

Fortunately, MGM is finally gracing us Yanks with not only SE's of A Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More, but the never-seen-by-me Fistful of Dynamite as well! Color me pleased. Finally, a new DVD release to get excited about.

Oh yeah, this is kinda related: on the airsoft front, we are finally getting an alternative to Tanaka's excellent Colt Single Action Army replica.

Two customized Tanaka SAAs. So pretty.

HWS (which stands for something like Hartford, Japan) is a company that has been making excellent-but-non-firing replicas of sweet Western guns for years. Seeing as both airsoft and Cowboy Action Shooting are huge in Japan, you'd think they would have taken the logical step a long time ago, but nevertheless, they are just now releasing an airsoft version of the New Army Model revolver (I think Eastwood sports one in The Outlaw Josey Wales).

HWS New Model Army

Yep. Gonna have to sell some stuff and get it.

Biola Lacrosse FTW again

I forgot to mention: versus Pepperdine, brother Ben once again scored the game-winning goal in sudden-death overtime. Even cooler since he was scoreless otherwise the entire game. And he got hacked in the neck while shooting.

Way to go, Biola. This week they are on the road, visiting Santa Cruz for three games in as many days, I believe.

This article serves as a companion piece to this one.

Art to get

I decided last year that I'd like to start collecting comic art. I bought my first page (a great Sam & Max page that I'll scan and post eventually) at the San Diego Comic Con last summer.

Pages/Artists I'd like to get:

-Original Doug TenNapel page. I'd like one of the Solomon Fix pages, if they're available. Any of these would be great.
-Original Stan Sakai art. He doesn't sell pages, but he does do commissions. I'm thinking of requesting a samurai monkey, of course. My avatar!
-Original Mike Mignola page or art. From Hellboy, of course. This one might be the hardest/most expensive to get. How awesome would it be to have him do a pin-up for my Pooks book? Very awesome.
-Original Rob Schrab page.

Step-by-step Usagi cover

Stan Sakai posted a great step-by-step example of a painted cover to an issue of Usagi Yojimbo.

Just thought I'd share with y'all.

I'm looking forward to creating a color cover to my book. I know that's a bit premature, since my book has, what, 7 pages done? But still! Seeing eef's covers and his process, and then Stan's, makes me realize that a hot cover goes a long way towards selling a book. I get sold by covers all the time! That Eric Powell book (Billy the Kid's Old Timey Oddities) completely snookered me based on the cover. The interior stunk, but the point is the cover worked.

The Juggalo Response

I was going through old posts, deleting spam comments and adding tags, and discovered that my old post on Juggalos had somehow reached an outside (though very specific) audience.

Read the original post with comments here. Two of them posted in a fairly calm and rational manner, but the rest were reminiscent of certain Muslims protesting the Danish cartoon by torching a neighborhood. (For the benefit of those particular juggalos: I mean that your response supported my original claim, not that you committed arson.)

Also, for the record, to any juggalos who find this post now: I kid you not, I have Faygo in my fridge at this very moment. Please don't eff me up with your hatchet.

Howl's Moving Castle

Pretty darn enjoyable. I loved the castle design, Billy Crystal as Calcifer, and the goofy little dog. The movie's filled with Miyazaki's favorite things: weird flying machines, anti-war sentiments, black goopy people, magic, an old lady who looks like every other old lady he's ever drawn, and a plucky heroine.

Biola Lacrosse FTW

Biola's lacrosse team played long-time rival Occidental on Saturday night in what was easily the best game of the season, if not ever.

Biola and Occidental have a long history together. Occi was the first team Biola ever played in the regular season. The year was 2002 and the game was at Occi. If I recall correctly, that is the game where Tiffin scored three goals to much applause and kudos. We ultimately lost, but it wasn't a blow-out and the scores got closer and closer as the years went by. 2004, after I had graduated, was the year Josh had taken up the Agadoni banner with the quiet dignity befitting our humble name by scoring approximately 3 million goals per game. Unfortunately, Biola needed 3 million and 1, and the 2004 Occi game ended in a heart-breaking sudden-death loss. (Special note: reader J.Ol came all the way from LB for this game! My uncle Dave Stubbs was in attendance as well.) 2005 and 2006 ended similarly. It seemed we were doomed to forever be Occi's "almost."

All this was changed Saturday night. Under the bright lights of Biola's turf field, the Eagles squared off against their old foe at 7pm sharp. The beginning of the game was fairly even, but Occi found an early lead and kept high defensive pressure on the Eagles, which they didn't seem used to. However, the Eagles adapted quickly and brought the game up to a tie by applying the same sort of pressure. The forced a lot of turnovers which kept the ball on the offensive side for a good portion of the game. Also, Biola got this new kid as goalie and he did a phenomenal job. He made some great low saves, and though he let a few high ones slip by, he adapted and made some clutch saves towards the end as well. Biola was up by two going into the 4th quarter. The game was scoreless for quite a bit of the 4th, but Occi took some well-placed shots and managed to tie it up before the clock ran out.

Now it was sudden-death: 5 minutes of clock time and the first team to score gets the game. A situation we'd seen before. Nerves were strained almost to the breaking point.

Face-off: Occi wins it. Their coach calls time out. Crap. Now they're going to set up a play. All it takes is one opening and a decently placed shot and it's over. Please, not this again!

The game starts again, Occi is moving the ball around. There's a shot! It pings of the goalie's leg and then the pole! Biola recovers it, leading to a fast-break. Ryan Smith, long-pole middie, is wheeling the ball out of there as fast as he can. Ben Agadoni on attack is keeping an eye out for the pass. Smith crosses the mid-field line and snaps a nice pass to Ben, who turns, fires, and is leveled by Occi's goalie. But the shot was true, and ball was in. GOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAL!!

Biola wins. Next week is against UCI, our other big rival. Man, good season. Way to go, guys.