IN CASE U MISSED IT: Felipe Smith goes PEEPO CHOO tokyo stylee

My man Felipe Smith, the Super Real issue 3 variant cover artist, and Tokoypop MBQ maestro recently fell off the face of the planet.
Once his TPop manga wrapped, he went MIA.
A few weeks back TheBeat reported on him publishing a manga through Kodansha and their Morning Two magazine (in native Japan/Japanese).

Well, last week he finally got online and updated us all (at his Myspace blog), that he'd actually moved to Japan too.
And he is indeed cranking out piles of pages for a Japanese manga magazine with a new creation, Peepo Choo.
A quick Google search also turned up this little blog post with some more info on it...


Anyway, Felipe's talent is, I think, unmatched, and it's too bad the guy had to move to the East to do his thing, but at least he's doing it!!!

I'll have to find a way to source this stuff over here on this side of the rising sun.
But check out his work, MBQ, and now Peepo Choo, he's the real deal, doing the comic thing his way and bringing something new to the game... and does not dissapoint!

REVOLT!

MEANWHILE AT THE MOVIES... return of the ZOMBIE?!?

Rob Zombie took the film world not by storm, but by the throat...
No one expected the musician could parlay into a director, but his HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES quickly changed that mind set, with it's brilliant and quirky send up of slasher/horror/shock cinema.
He then followed it up with the sequel THE DEVIL'S REJECTS, an even darker, and widely received outing.
But with his next film, a remake of the classic horror staple HALLOWEEN, Rob really struggled and turned in a mess of a film.

Well, if this teaser image is any indication, I think the man is back on track!!!
HOLY S THAT'S COOL!!!

COMMISSION TIME - NYC Zombies!

I recently had the pleasure of doing a full blown multi character commission, with the request being that it had a similar vibe to my Cloverfield fan art, a group shot in an urban setting... but with zombies!

The requester didn't even want specific zombies, ie Cloverfield cast, superheroes, etc, just regular zombies. So to wrap my mind around it, I decided to use one of my actual pics from my recent NYCC trip, and the idea started to come to life, using a pic from Times Square, it would be "zombies on Broadway"!

Specifically, using this pic
The next challenge was what would inspire my zombies? Now, I've drawn some before (most notably an unused zombie variant of the issue 3 cover for Super Real special number 1), but not enough to just crank out the cool zombie action, so I needed a little direction to avoid some generic looking zombies... Then it occured to me to use whatever current pop culture stuff was rattling around my brain... and this was a few weeks back and I'd just watched the EliteXC MMA Saturday Night Fights on CBS, and brawler Kimbo Slice seemed the perfect subject!

From there, the rest of the zombies fell in place...
Zombie Downey JR, fresh off his triumphant appearance at the MTV movie awards

Zombie Lohan, also at the MTV awards, seemed a natural (and was really fun)!
But that left me wanting to do one more zombie, and fresh out of inspiration... then it hit me, myself as a zombie of course!

And so you have the final piece, with our cast of zombies making their way down Broadway... along with some adjustments to the pic...
Check it out!


Big thanks to the client for paying me to play with zombies, it was really fun!

MEANWHILE AT THE MOVIES... Hulk Meh

Caught me a matinee of the INCREDIBLE HULK this past Sunday, and after hearing all the positive buzz, I was prepared to be underwhelmed... and well, I mostly was.

It was good, and Norton and most of the cast were good to game, a solid outing all around, but it just didn't ever really get me too excited... once the Hulk showed up.
I was really enjoying the first arc, in Brazil, and Banner's story, and the elements lifted from the recent Bruce Jones/JR JR run of the series (the hoodie, the caps, the mr green and mr blue emails, etc)... I thought placing banner in that location was great, and it made for some awesome visuals.
The Banner chase through the city was Bourne level cool, but then, the Hulk showed up.
I guess I'm not in the grouping of those who thought the CG was okay in the movie... never worked for me (and it worked just fine for me in the first).
I'll take it though, as long as we don't get another satanic turd like the Thing in the FF movies!!!

So, yeah, once the Hulk showed up, I pretty much became unengaged...
It was fun enough, and by the numbers, but there was never any sense of drama, danger, action, or fun for me.
I thought the Ang Lee desert battle was much better than anything here.
And until I read a bit about the movie just now, I couldn't figure out why the hell they fought the hulk in an open field, on a college campus, with like, no one around. I mean, the army shows up, in force (sort of), and Betty's there, but that's it...
Oh sure, need some kids to capture it on camera phone?!? Wha-la, presto, 2 kids show up, but that's it.
Uh, where is everybody, anybody, anything?
Just the Hulk, and lots of grass
Riveting stuff ;)
Then there's the final battle, and sure, it's in NYC/Harlem, and there's people an stuff around at first, but then they go to a rooftop (at least I thought they did, but it seemed to be the ground when they were done)... and everyone drops away... except for General Ross and Betty of course, cuz they're in the story ya know.
Guess the whole thing was on not the biggest of budgets, which explains the sub par CG and vacant action showcases.
They must have blown most of the budget in Brazil :)

And all the little cool moments, dialogue bits, and crowd pleasing touches mainly fell flat for me, or were spoiled in the trailers. (But hey, the Stan Lee and Lou Ferigno cameos were solid gold!!)

Overall, it was decent, don't get me wrong, but I'd give it about a 6 or 7, to Iron Man's 8 or 9.

Oh, and what's all this talk, from reviewers, to viewers, about it being non stop action?
Sure, there's plenty, but I'm still waiting for a comic book movie that unleashes the level and scale of chaos and action that's the bread and butter of the stories...
Give me five more minutes of ass kicking finale, the climactic battles shouldn't feel like they're on a stopwatch!!
With all of Hollywood's vaunted CG and a new era sans limitations, how come every comic book movie feels like a Hollywood set piece, budget limited, watered down version of that?

Ah, I just expect too much... and wish they'd make the damn movies in high quality animation where they truly can do any. fucking. thing. and in style! (and no, the recent Marvel animation doesn't count)

What's the next comic book movie then, Wanted?
Gots to see me that!

For much more discussion on the Hulk movie, visit my DeviantArt journal posting HERE

MEANWHILE AT THE MOVIES... Guillermo the Hulk V Star Wars dance off!

Gonna go see the HULK tomorrow, but found this deleted scene on YouTube


Then for more movie fun, check out this hilarious Disney Star Wars dance off (which I found on my buddy Grant's blog, which is a good place for movie/genre fans)!
If you're not feeling it, be sure to forward to about the 3 minute mark before you give up ;)

I SAW IT ON TV: Battlestar Galactica season 4.1 finale

Well,

Another epic show's mid/season finale is in the books...

Season 4 of Battlestar this time

AHOY MATEYS, THAR BE SPOILERS AHEAD !!!!


Did it live up to the hype?!
Who cares!!!

It was damn good, but no, my mind wasn't blown...

I was however quite shocked that we got to Earth at the mid-season mark though, that was nice. I thought we'd only get a fleeting glimpse of it in the finale, or you know a short lived time there.
Then of course, there's the twist, but not that big of one, when you're expecting one, or not expecting, but knowing there's one, cuz it's mid f'ing season ;)

Sooo, the ep, it was grand.

Lots of big moments, and pay off of the series, and the secret 4 cyclons especially...

But, is it me, or were they playing up that moment on the bridge between Gaeta and Dee?
Please, please tell me they're not putting them together!!!
She's soooo not on his level, and man, there's no character on the show I like less that Gaeta!!
From his increasingly greasy hair, to his lying on trial, and his annoying ass singing whilst losing his damn bitch ass leg!

Anyway, I thought Lee Adama's comment about children not reaching full potential til their parents are dead, was VERY telling.
Prop up ol Will Adama's tombstone right next to Rosalyn's (on Earth) in the finale!!!

The scene with Ad Adama an Saul was huge...
"I'm looking for options" Adama says...
Well, Saul's got one ;)

Then OMFG!!!
Anders (an Chief) exposed to Kara, point blank...
Was dying to see that play out, and I thought it was cool how she didn't go the standard Starbuck route and go bare knuckle, but got her s together and used it for what it was (that tricky viper, is it the 5th cylon? ...no that's the final revelation... hmmm).

But man, just how far did Kara have to run to spill the beans on that?!?
Ya know, to stop things at the last possible second... ;)
Did you really think they'd jettison Ty?!?

And I really liked Lee as the Pres, putting him at the center of things, just like Apallo on old school BSG... but ya know, in a different role :)

So, yeah.
Good good stuff.

But what's with this nebulous "COMING SOON" for season 4.2?!?
Is it really gonna be 2009!!!??
NoooooooOOOOOOooooOOOOOoooOoO!!!!!!!!

COMMISSION TIME - Iron Man sketch card set

Thought I'd share a little commission I just finished for some Iron Man sketch cards.

The requester had some specific suits from ol' shell head's long history in mind...

TALES FROM NETFLIX - Diary of the Dead

Just got around to watching the new Romero zombie movie, DIARY OF THE DEAD, last night. The new first person/handheld cam reboot of George Romero's classic zombie universe. I'd heard a mixed bag of reviews on it, and well, that's pretty much what it was.

It was good, maybe better than Land in terms of story, but man, I had a hard time with some of the cast, whereas the cast on Romero's last, modern, zombie feature Land of the Dead were mostly pro/recognizable/quality actors, Diary had a cast made of unknowns, and featured just some bad acting in spots (especially the lead Eliza Dushku wannabe girl, they shoulda just got Dushku)...
Plus, a lot of the situations and situational dialogue didn't ring true... like their reactions and motivations... come on, put the camera down an help the girl getting chased by a zombie, etc
It seemed Romero was too keen on driving his point home, to a fault.
If not for that stuff getting in the way, it would've been great.
It's too bad, but like with the Star Wars prequels, not sure if it was bad acting, or just bad direction... I mean in Romero's defense, these were unknown actors, whereas George had a stable of thoroughbreds.

Also, with both Land and Diary, I felt the ever present vibe of menace was mostly mia, and that's a staple of a good zombie flick.

However, there was some really cool creative zombie stuff though... zombies trapped in swimming pools, hydrochloric acid skull melts, shock paddles to the head, etc!!
And I loved the deaf mute Amish dood! He was BAD ASS!!!

I'm a huge Romero and zombie fan, so this was a must see for me, but for those who aren't, it's a mild recommendation. If you wanna see some kick ass zombies, rent the recent Dawn of the Dead remake, or the original.

MILDLY RECOMMENDED

I SAW IT ON TV: MMA v MTV

Couple cool big broadcasts last weekend...

First was the all new CBS SATURDAY NIGHT FIGHTS: EliteXC MMA.
MMA's been around a long time, lurking on odd cable networks, but recently has been getting more mainstream, with stars like Chuck Liddell getting featured on Entourage an the like.
Now, any time I've caught MMA on TV, it never lives up to the "mixed" billing, more often than not, featuring two dudes grappling on the mat, and not much kicking, or boxing, or anything else exciting.
But when I heard internet street fighting sensation Kimbo Slice, and American Gladiator Gina Carano (Crush) were on the card lineup, I thought, what the hell, I'll check this out on DVR.

And the first couple smaller matchups (they showed 5) were quick TKO's that didn't showcase much action, but what action they did, was more upright and exciting.

However, the next match was the womens matchup, and it was too cool to see Crush from American Gladiators take on an up and coming scraper. Could she really fight? Was it all staged? Would we get to see some good action?
Well, it turned out to be another great fight, and Gina could in fact, kick ass!
Though this one was stopped early, but her opponent, Young, was on the verge of getting her face caved in...
Wow!

Gina Carano vs. Kaitlin Young - Elite XC Showtime
by moltisanti87

Then the fourth match, the middleweight title bout between Smith/Lawler, featured two 6' guys, just under 200 pounds. An interesting weight/size for middleweight, and the in show hype promised two exciting brawlers going head to head, and the bout lived up to it.
It was really exciting, and mostly upright punching, something I'd rarely seen in MMA (to me, all the other stuff is cool, but not a cool as quality boxing in terms of explosiveness, so at least mixing some of that in is good to see).
Ultimately, it ended prematurely in the 3rd round, after some epic swings in momentum, on an errant finger to the eye...

Then, unfortunately the main event was cut off by my DVR, as the show apparently ran 45 minutes over it's programmed 2 hours...
I was, to say it mildly, po'd.

Turns out the Kimbo/Thompson matchup was also controversially stopped early, with Kimbo getting taken to the matt and nearly ended, and then coming out striking early in the third, exploding a giant cauliflower ear on Thompson and getting ready to blow him up... (I caught it later online)

Kevin Ferguson vs. James Thompson - Elite XC Showtime
by moltisanti87

Was the show a success?
Well, it had many shortcomings, the woeful XFL style cheerleaders, Gina not making weight, and questionable ends to all the main events, but it did more for MMA for me than anything else to this point. I saw some truly intriguing matchups and fights, with plenty of good action, and not an overabundance of ground action.
Also, the ringside talent was decent, with a nice MMA basics up front that helped.

I understand EliteXC is a bit of the minor league of MMA, but if they can build on what they started here with CBS, it's all good.
Nothing saying an upstart can't shake things up for MMA and capture a larger audience. Not to mention the buzz around this show is more than any other MMA event I've ever seen.
I know I'm eager to see more!


Then on Sunday, it was time for the MTV MOVIE AWARDS...
No one much cares about their actual awards, and the musical performers aren't usually too intriguing (it's MTV being all about the pre-teen audience after all), but the Movie Awards remains one of the only MTV productions that still plays to a wide audience with cutting edge entertainment (their music awards, once an annual staple of exciting programming have grown pointless) that doesn't dissapoint.
This year, hosted by Mike Myers, they kept the streak going.
It was a fun, often hilarious, show from start to finish, which was all enhanced by actually being broadcast live!
Good stuff.
Check out some of the better moments from the show, including the "viral video promo" for Tropic Thunder, and Seth Rogan and James Franco's (uncensored) blazing presentation:

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