Meet Rick Remender

Rick Remender.

You know, the award winning animator who created Swingtown. He worked on the classic Iron Giant. Titan AE. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.Still not sure? OK, maybe if I list some of his comic work. The Avengers. The Terminator. Doll and Creature. Black Heart Billy. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Ok.

Granted, Rick Remender is not a household name. But he should be. The guy has a gazillion cool ideas. He writes. He draws. He animates. The dude is a natural born creator. Rick is pencilling and Big Beatty is inking a 48 page Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles book and I gotta tell ya, the art is amazing. It's black and white with really sweet tones thrown in. I've never bought a Turtles book before. Ever. But I may have to break down and get this bad boy.

But back to Rick. Check out his website. The new school design rocks. Plan to spend a while. Be sure to check out his Swingtown animations, his sketchbook [I want to see more of The Last Days of American Crime], heck order a book or two if the spirit grabs ya, and drop him a line and tell him I sent ya!

Meet Bill Black

Bill Black has been publishing comics since 1969. He's outlasted every other independent comic company and is still going at it. Want to know how Bill got to where he is today? Then check out this interview!

Bill has is best known for writing and drawing his own creations but has also published the work of big name artists such as Mike Zeck, Dave Dorman, Dick Ayers, Erik Larsen, George Perez, Greg Horn, Jerry Ordway, Pat Broderick, Paul Gulacy and Wm. Michael Kaluta to name just a few. Bill even gave Big Beatty his first professional job in comics...
...and believe it or not Beatty pencilled, Jerry Ordway inked and I scripted a story which appeared in the comic to the left!

Meet Tim Bradstreet

If you like moody, photo-realistic art then you owe it to yourself to check out the work of Tim Bradstreet.

I first discovered Tim's work when he was inking Tim Truman's Dragon Chiang. It wasn't long after that that Bradstreet was doing his own stuff. Really cool black and white pinups, covers for just about everyone and giving us glimpses of his Red Sky Diaries.

Want to know more about Tim Bradstreet? Then check out this interview [HERE] and his web site [HERE].

It Was 40 Years Ago Today...

Forty years ago today... I was five years and one month old and President Kennedy was assassinated. Like everyone old enough to remember, I know exactly where I was when I first learned of it.

I was in a grocery store in Miami with my grandfather. He and my grandma had taken me with them on vacaction to Florida. It's probably the one vacation that I can tell you specifically where I was on a given day.

I remember a man saying that the President had been shot and all of the adults looking scared. I'd never seen that before and it caused me some concern. My grandfather assured me things would be ok, but I remember us hurrying back to the hotel. I was only five years old but I followed the details as they became clear. President Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald while visiting Dallas, Texas. Oswald acted alone and was caught after killing a police officer named Tippett. Oswald in turn was killed [in a police station of all places] by Jack Ruby. I remember adults saying that Ruby should be given a medal for killing Oswald and that he saved the country even more grief.

It wasn't until I was older that I began to learn that maybe there was more to the Kennedy Assassination than we had been led to believe. I read the Warren Commission Report. I watched and read every related item that I could get my hands on. As the years have passed I have continued to read and search out new information. I hope that someday we will definitively know exactly what happened.

But as each year passes, I find the only thing that I am truly sure of in relation to the Kennedy Assassination is where I was when I first heard of it.

Rupert Bounced

It just had to happen. Rupert was voted off Survivor.

Rupert was just too strong... too smart. I can't say blame them. If Rupert stuck around much longer he would have probably won it all.
Now Burton hopes to go to the finals with Jon. At first glance this seems a wise move. Since Jon irritates everyone, Burton's a cinch to win, right?

Not necessarily. Once the judges learn that Burton set up the ousting of Rupert [coupled with the fact that Burton was already kicked off once] and Jon might win the million bucks. And you know Rupert will be on the jury!

Britney Bares No More

MSNBC Entertainment reporter Jeannette Walls posted an item that says Playboy has offered Britney Spears a seven-figure deal to pose nude in their magazine. Britney's camp had no comment and Playboy didn't have much to say either. But then again if it happens, a picture will be worth well more than 1,000 words!

Everybody Loves Walking Dead

On Sunday I told you about Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore's comic "The Walking Dead."

Seems I wasn't the only one who liked it. Despite printing nearly twice what was ordered, both issue #1 and issue #2 are nearly sold out! And advance orders for #3 are even higher than for #2!

Still not convinced? Check out this interview with Robert Kirkman and then check out the comic!

Risso Rocks

Eduardo Risso is a genius. His work on 100 Bullets is astounding. What makes Risso even more unique is that although he's been honored with the top awards the industry has to offer, and he's admired by fans and pros alike, he continues to work on the regular monthly title 100 Bullets. There've been six trade paperback compilations and I highly recommend them all! [ONE / TWO / THREE / FOUR / FIVE / SIX]

Risso and Azzerello have recently teamed to produce a six issue arc of Batman. The first issue is #620 and is on stands now. The first printing sold out from the publisher, but you may find a few still around. It's great stuff, so it'd be worth your effort to find a copy. In the meantime, here's an interview with Risso to tide you over until Batman 621 comes in!

Sleepy Time for Riggs

I'm a huge fan of the Lethal Weapon series. Part of the joy has to be that Richard Donner has returned to direct Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in each of the entries. The fact that Richard Donner has expressed interest in one more movie to "put the franchise to bed properly" has me hoping!

All-Star Survivor

Survivor is "must-see tv" at the Zablo house. The whole family sits down to watch [and cheer or boo] the antics as players compete for a million bucks. You can imagine how excited we'll be when an All-Star line-up goes head to head next season!

Ain't It Cool News posted that CBS announced the all-star version of “Survivor,” featuring players from previous competitions, will launch right after the Super Bowl on Feb. 1. Although it wasn't yet announced who will compete I'm hoping to see Rupert, Richard Hatch and Rudy trying to become the sole survivor!

Sale Starts Here

Tim Sale didn't become a professional comic book artist until he was 29 years old. That's pretty old to just be entering the profession.

The cool thing is that Tim didn't give up on his dream and now he is one of most in-demand artists around, able to pick and choose the projects that HE wants to do.

Tim doesn't have a website, but HERE's a link to a recent interview. Tim talks about his influences, his art and what he plans to do next. Tim has worked on all of the classic characters. Batman. Daredevil. Wolverine. Spider-Man. Superman. The Hulk. He's even drawn a really cool on-line Matrix story.

Pretty impressive for such a late bloomer, eh?

The Walking Dead!

I love a good end of the world, small band of survivors fighting to survive against all odds story. You know, like Stephen King's The Stand... "28 days later" and the clasic "Night of the Living Dead."

Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore's comic "The Walking Dead" can now join the list! I'm not kidding. It's really that good. Don't believe me? Then check out this review. And this one. Better yet, read it yourself. I did and I've added it to my monthly must buy list.

I really wasn't familiar with Robert Kirkman before reading "The Walking Dead." If you're like me and want to know more about him, you can check out this interview. If you want to know a bit more about Tony Moore, here's a link to his site.

I'd like to hang around and tell you more about "The Walking Dead" but I think I'll go back and re-read it again.

It's really THAT good!

Tampa Con & More

I'm looking forward to this weekend. Big John Beatty and I will be motoring down to Tampa for Tim Gordon's Tampa Comic Book and Toy Convention. Big Beatty is a guest but before I get to that...

Saturday night Beatty and I are going to attend a little get together put on by Randy Martin. Randy is an avid art collector whose theme happens to be Edward Scissorshands. How cool is that? John Higashi will be there with his Star Wars theme [which includes are from just about anyone who is ANYONE. How many collections do you know that feature Drew Struzan originals [note the "s" as in many]? John Dell and other artists will be attending as well. It's going to be a lot of fun.

The next day is Tampa Con. John is a guest [which makes me a guest of a guest, I suppose]. Other real guests include MARTY NODELL [creator of the original GREEN LANTERN], ETHAN VAN SCIVER [X-Men], ALEX SAVIUK [Spider-Man], JIM FERN [Scion, Wolverine], AUSTIN JANOWSKY [Superman], DICK KULPA [artist and publisher of CRACKED], MARK and STEPHANIE HEIKE and others.

If you happen to be in the area, stop in and say, "Hi." I'll be the guy in the StalloneZone shirt angeling for more Stallone sketches!

Hellboy Will Be Cool

I'm really looking forward to the "Hellboy" movie. I've been talking up the comics for years and I really think that the movie is going to be a cool adaptation.

Don't believe me? The check out these cool Hellboy pics posted at mysan.de.

Cool & Fun

I'll bet that the new "Punisher" movie does pretty well at the box office. I say this for two reasons:

1] The Punisher is a pretty cool character and

2] the trailer makes it look like the movie will be fun.

So yeah, I think that it'll do well even though the guy playing the Punisher doesn't look like the "bad mofo" I've come to know and love. Mike Zeck's Punisher... now that's the real Punisher!

What Does The Day After Tomorrow Hold?

I just saw the coolest trailer for "The Day After Tomorrow." I don't know anything about the movie other than what I just saw, but it's enough to make me want to know more!