tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156032022024-03-07T00:12:09.498-08:00Famous Mark Verheidens Of FilmlandMark Verheiden's thoughts... such as they are...Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.comBlogger1127125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-64026894697909027202020-02-23T09:15:00.001-08:002020-02-23T09:16:33.309-08:00Original Art Friday 1/10/2020 Basil Wolverton!I was considering spending my Friday destroying the EPA, speaking
nothing but word salad and sniffing a lot, but since I am but a lowly
writer and not the President of the Friggin' United States, I suppose I
will have to eschew such pleasures for another edition of ORIGINAL ART
FRIDAY. Yes, that one very special day of the week when I share another
fine artwork from my scary accumulation of "stuff"...<br />
<br />
Today I offer another fine work by the amazing Basil Wolverton. Because who<span class="text_exposed_show">
doesn't love looking at a jovial fellow with a scary set of handsy
eyebrows? Apologies for the slightly fuzzy photo, the illustration came
framed, as such illustrations sometimes do, and I want to keep it that
way. I kind of like the idea that this hung on someone's wall in what I
assume was a place of reverence before it hung on mine...</span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<br />
So, what else can be said about Mr. Wolverton? Well, plenty if you read
"Creeping Death From Neptune" and "Brain Bats of Venus", volumes 1 and 2
in the Life and Comics of Basil Wolverton. Both volumes are crammed
with amazing Wolverton art, along with a remarkable amount of
scholarship, much of it derived from Wolverton's notes and letters
involving his working life. <br />
<br />
The latest volume, "Brain Bats", is
especially compelling and in many ways, quite sad. Because it is clear,
from the voluminous correspondence Wolverton exchanged with various
editors and publishers over years, that Basil took a lot of shit during
his career. Dickering over content, money, being told that a publisher,
on a whim, decided that previously acceptable Wolverton artwork was now
suddenly UNacceptable... it's not so much that these things happened,
but that they happened so often to this immensely talented man. <br />
<br />
Which isn't to say that success wholly eluded him in his lifetime. His
creation "Lena the Hyena", winner of a Li'l Abner "World's Ugliest
Woman" comic strip contest, made the cover of Life Magazine, and later
he made a decent living drawing truly horrific scenes of mayhem drawn
from the Book Of Revelations for the Worldwide Church of God. (A fine
hardcover collection is out of print, but available on Kindle at
Amazon.) But at the same time he was doing countless caricatures of
local radio station employees (!) and selling drawings like the one
below for $15 to publications like "Joker" and "Humorama." They're
really cool, but... imagine what Wolverton might have created with a
little more wind at his back. <br />
<br />
But we'll have to settle for what
we have, which is crazy genius! And lots of it! That's good enough, at
least for one Friday...<br />
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Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-50476475002995535012020-02-23T09:13:00.001-08:002020-02-23T09:13:06.565-08:00Original Art Friday 1/17/2020 Jimmy Hatlo!<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">Once
again it's Friday, the kind of Friday men and women dream of, a Friday
like no other, except all the other Fridays featuring ORIGINAL ART
FRIDAY, the plucked-on-a-whim day of the week when I share a piece of
(mostly) comic art curated from my personal stash. <br /> <br /> Today we
turn back the calendar to 1943, a more innocent time when... wait a
minute, that was in the middle of World War 2! Hardly mor<span class="text_exposed_show">e
innocent! But despite the war clouds, comic strips continued to be
produced, including the very popular "They'll Do It Every Time" by Jimmy
Hatlo.<br /> <br /> Hatlo came up with a semi-unique formula for his comic,
which for decades poked gentle fun at the foibles of folks from all
walks of life. Emphasis on the "gentle"... no one called anyone "dopes
and babies" in Hatlo's world! Essentially a cartoon version along the
lines of Reader's Digest's "Life In These United States", Hatlo captured
the amusing quirks of the workplace, married life, kids and everything
in between. <br /> <br /> He also found a fantastic story generator by
soliciting anecdotes from his vast reader pool, ensuring he would never
run out of gags. Hatlo would give credit for each idea with a "Tip O'
The Hat", further ingratiating the strip to his fans. I would be happy
to pontificate further, but this quote from the ever-accurate Wikipedia
says it better than moi...<br /> <br /><span> "In an opinion piece for the
July 22, 2013, edition of The Wall Street Journal, "A Tip of the Hat to
Social Media's Granddad", veteran journalist Bob Greene characterized
Hatlo's daily cartoons, which credited readers who contributed the
ideas, as a forerunner of Facebook and Twitter. Greene wrote: "Hatlo's
genius was to realize, before there was any such thing as an Internet or
Facebook or Twitter, that people in every corner of the country were
brimming with seemingly small observations about mundane yet captivating
matters, yet lacked a way to tell anyone outside their own circles of
friends about it. Hatlo also understood that just about everyone, on
some slightly-below-the-surface</span><wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span> level, yearned to be celebrated from coast to coast, if only for a day." <br /> <br />
Aside from the premise, Hatlo was a flat-out excellent cartoonist. His
expressive faces and figure work captured the often harried and
befuddled characters of the strip perfectly. Amusing premise, nice
art... I love it when a plan comes together! <br /> <br /> Hatlo passed away
in 1963, but the strip was continued by artist Al Scaduto, also a fine
cartroonist, until 2008 (!). That's a heckuva long run... but this was a
heckuva fine cartoon!</span></span></span><br />
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Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-82434002612639313752020-02-23T09:10:00.002-08:002020-02-23T09:10:32.463-08:00Original Art Friday 1/24/2020 - Mike Sekowsky!Among the litany of things I don't understand, I REALLY don't
understand the 24 hours cable news trope of cutting off interview
segments with "we're out of time, we'll have to leave it there." Out of
time? The channel is on 24 hours a day. They've got nothing BUT time.
They can't slide a commercial down two minutes? Compress the time spent
rolling out the usual gaggle of gabbers to discuss what was just
discussed? <br />
<br />
Well, today I've got nothing BUT time, because it's ORIGINAL<span class="text_exposed_show"> ART FRIDAY, that singular day of the week when I share a piece of (mostly) pen and ink glory from the MV collection...</span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<br />
Today it's a page from the silver age, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #23,
drawn by the prolific Mike Sekowsky. I must admit that while I
appreciate his craft, I've never really warmed to Mr. Sekowsky's style.
Still, he met the challenge of drawing these crowded panels with
aplomb... <br />
<br />
But that's not why I LOVE this page. It's the idea
that the story could be slowed down for our very smiley heroes to gather
and give Snapper Carr a birthday party, complete with dee-licious
looking cake. Snapper gets choked up as he "goes ape" and gobbles cake
with his "chow choppers", heroes send congratulatory telegrams, and all
is swell. <br />
<br />
Indeed, everyone here seems to be in an especially
exuberant mood. And why shouldn't they be? They're superheroes with
unbelievable powers AND cake. Green Lantern even sports a grin when he
learns that "winged bee men" are attacking the "tower of jewels", which I
admit is a pretty amusing concept, but still theoretically criminal.
Just another day for the Justice League!<br />
<br />
So enjoy this Friday's slice of joy... unfortunately I've run out of time and will have to leave it here...<br />
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Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-28316018258264781052020-02-23T09:08:00.001-08:002020-02-23T09:08:14.199-08:00Original Art Friday 1/31/2020 Chris Warner!Hard to believe January is almost over, but so much has happened! We
went to Vegas! I stared into space! I wrote stuff! And as this week
rolls toward oblivion, it is once again time for ORIGINAL ART FRIDAY,
the one day of the week when I share of page of original, mostly comic
book related art wrenched from my greedy little mitts and scanned for
your pleasure...<br />
<br />
Today I exercise my personal prerogative once more with a page from THE AMERICAN #1, circa 1987, illustrated by the<span class="text_exposed_show">
amazing Chris Warner. This was, in fact, my very first published comic,
and wow, did I have the perfect creative partner in Mr. Warner. </span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<br />
It's unfortunate that some of the zip-a-tone has started to discolor,
but Chris's artistry still shines through. I wrote that a bomb explodes,
with the freeze-frames of reaction, but that was the easy part. Chris
ratchets the drama and impact to eleven with his dynamic page layout,
perfect faces and exceptional figure work. In other words, I got no
complaints!<br />
<br />
I can't remember how it was decided, but we went with
letterer Bill Spicer for this issue, and he did a great job... but I
learned later that Bill would letter his balloons on paper and glue the
cut-out pieces to the penciled page, pre-inks. And that drove Chris a
little nuts. Working his pen around the slightly raised surfaces was
ultimately too complicated and we switched to using letterers who worked
directly on the page soon after this. <br />
<br />
I generally prefer
looking forward and not back, since not all my memories of my past work
are as positive as this... but I'm still very proud of this book and
happy to say that I remain pals with <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=602662007&extragetparams=%7B%22__tn__%22%3A%22%2CdK-R-R%22%2C%22eid%22%3A%22ARCf66sUxWbJYPrAL680S45weB6MXtMZOzNqRY5aYrp1PCqO29z0l5Db3-ZOZ1Mr16pk4CqxtPNk5tDA%22%2C%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/chris.warner.52035?__tn__=%2CdK-R-R&eid=ARCf66sUxWbJYPrAL680S45weB6MXtMZOzNqRY5aYrp1PCqO29z0l5Db3-ZOZ1Mr16pk4CqxtPNk5tDA&fref=mentions" title="Chris Warner">Chris Warner</a>, editor <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=722606385&extragetparams=%7B%22__tn__%22%3A%22%2CdK-R-R%22%2C%22eid%22%3A%22ARB57uE3iMWVKIHIPiLkBZewf0Uezb_6RTVFfSPmcHIsxAnMDmz-LcJmCa34mm5h6mRPFuo08I6MNm-t%22%2C%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/randy.stradley?__tn__=%2CdK-R-R&eid=ARB57uE3iMWVKIHIPiLkBZewf0Uezb_6RTVFfSPmcHIsxAnMDmz-LcJmCa34mm5h6mRPFuo08I6MNm-t&fref=mentions" title="Randy Stradley">Randy Stradley</a> and Dark Horse publisher Mike Richardson to this day. Of course it's early yet... <span class="_5mfr"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t5e/2/16/1f62c.png"); font-size: 16px; height: 16px; width: 16px;">😬</span></span><br />
<br />
BTW, if you have any interest in the stories, the entire American
catalog was "omnibused" back in 2005 and is still available from our
friends at Amazon...<br />
<br />
Okay, back to it. I think there's some more space that needs staring at...<br />
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Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-65026383258524970252020-02-23T09:06:00.000-08:002020-02-23T09:06:37.142-08:00Original Art Friday 2/7/2020 Tom Yeates!Some may chart the decline of Western civilization with the election
of one politician or another, but me? I say things started going to hell
when they stopped lettering comic-book art directly on the pages and
switched to (mostly) computer generated overlays. Because that's how I
ROLL, especially on ORIGINAL ART FRIDAY, that one glorious day of the
week when all else is shunted aside for a display of another page of art
wrenched from the shelves of the MV archives...<br />
<br />
Today i<span class="text_exposed_show">t's
a really, really nice page drawn by the amazing Tom Yeates, from a
Tarzan story that appeared in Dark Horse Presents #143. I don't have the
full story at hand, but it appears Tarzan and his lady-friend have run
into a bit of a squall... but I have a feeling Tarzan will pull out the
save. </span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
Sometimes I'm asked,
Mark? What sort of knot would YOU employ when lashing a lady to a mast?<br />
<br />
And after I ignore that non-sequitur (but the correct answer is a
Buntline Hitch, of course), the next question is usually, what the hell
were you thinkin' when you picked up that one piece of art over another?
Well, sometimes I'm trying to fill a gap in my "I want one great
example of art by all my faves" obsession. Sometimes the price is right.
And sometimes, like with this page, it just tickles my art-bone. The
kinetic energy of the water, produced by an expert manipulation of the
duo-shade process and just good drawing, knocked me out. <br />
<br />
Plus the doggone lettering is on the doggone page!<br />
<br />
For those intrigued enough to explore further, check out Mr. Yeates' website at <a data-ft="{"tn":"-U"}" data-lynx-mode="asynclazy" data-lynx-uri="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thomasyeates.com%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR35sJvefv0mLngzGAjdrRVnjqlLR2vkCX0zHZpBHsGZR3_IbjGTesrpyVE&h=AT0lNZWw-01Wt_FQFiL7ob3tMD5y0kldqY4P2XrQ44tRWBcTSKpILqb1SrK9ne3ZfaOZUiQ6UYrGkeeINNfJIxZiTQar1dBkdELXQ-rcNsvxzquWh54AJW64YC_rDyKI2TP2x3nY1Eo_HsvpLxv-sL0Fn4WM" href="http://www.thomasyeates.com/?fbclid=IwAR35sJvefv0mLngzGAjdrRVnjqlLR2vkCX0zHZpBHsGZR3_IbjGTesrpyVE" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.thomasyeates.com/</a>,
where you'll find all sorts of great work, and you can learn more about
Tom's impressive career. Meanwhile, gape for a bit at this lovely
example, then go back to lamenting the fall of Western Civilization at
your leisure...<br />
<br />
(ADDED: because credit should go where credit is due! Story written by Tom Yeates and <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=631708288&extragetparams=%7B%22__tn__%22%3A%22%2CdK-R-R%22%2C%22eid%22%3A%22ARAh2FlbV13jPQMBn9jkt0ckhcOngWgU8rfZUPmUJCaF6_xPFB3garn5aqXFh0rNHZmp4Ra6xSlUBXzQ%22%2C%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/stephen.bissette.7?__tn__=%2CdK-R-R&eid=ARAh2FlbV13jPQMBn9jkt0ckhcOngWgU8rfZUPmUJCaF6_xPFB3garn5aqXFh0rNHZmp4Ra6xSlUBXzQ&fref=mentions" title="Stephen Bissette">Stephen Bissette</a>, drawn by Yeates, lettered by Steve Dutro and edited by <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=722606385&extragetparams=%7B%22__tn__%22%3A%22%2CdK-R-R%22%2C%22eid%22%3A%22ARCuoUC5EshboeAkAMQNCvWzqAxImkrRDk9DAnhs5_QJkXnR2WiZh4HBvAgjIlhi4VwhX-wR_uTf9TuB%22%2C%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/randy.stradley?__tn__=%2CdK-R-R&eid=ARCuoUC5EshboeAkAMQNCvWzqAxImkrRDk9DAnhs5_QJkXnR2WiZh4HBvAgjIlhi4VwhX-wR_uTf9TuB&fref=mentions" title="Randy Stradley">Randy Stradley</a>.)<br />
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Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-35764595565255436662020-02-23T09:03:00.001-08:002020-02-23T09:03:02.798-08:00Original Art Friday 2/14/2020 - Bob Powell!What a week! The Swamp Thing Complete Series blu-ray is officially
Amazon's #1 choice for things key-word "Swamp Thing" (not exactly the
HIGHEST bar, but okay), but since it's ORIGINAL ART FRIDAY, why not
celebrate?! <br />
<br />
Yes, Original Art Friday, the one day of the week
when, if I'm computer and internet adjacent, I offer up a page of
(mostly) comic book art dragged up from the depths of my personal
nightmare, AKA over-stuffed collection.<br />
<br />
And since on top of O.A.F. it's also V.D<span class="text_exposed_show">.
(Valentine's Day, dammit), let's go for something wholly appropriate...
with this lovely page from the emotionally searing First Love
Illustrated #79. Published by Harvey circa 1957, today's tale was
written by an unfortunately anonymous but obviously romantic scribe, and
drawn by the late, great Bob Powell. </span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<br />
I think the most impressive thing about this page is how Powell only
needs 7 panels to take Joan from "new student at the Belmar Dancing
School," to first kiss with her "dark and mysterious" teacher Pedro, to
being so lovesick over "Senor Arbon" that she's considering leaving with
him for Central America (!) on a dancing tour! Aside from the
intimation that Joan must have been living a mighty unfulfilled life
pre-Belmar, she also must have been one hell of a student to go from
novice to professional in three panels. But when young(ish) lovers are
"dancing on clouds" to a "glorious symphony of love"... well, I guess
she was driven. As for Senor Arbon's dark and mysterious motivations...
well, you'll need the rest of the story for that, and I don't have it! <br />
<br />
Artist Bob Powell was one of the better craftsmen back in the day,
enjoying a career that spanned the golden age of comics into Marvel in
the 1960's. He was perhaps best known for Sheena of the Jungle and Cave
Girl, which highlighted his sensual, clean illustration style. Here,
with First Love, I really appreciate his sharp line and ability to
convey emotion through body language. It's just nice, solid work, and
designed to be colored (which might explain Joan's bee-sting lips, which
I'll bet were a fulsome shade of red in the printed comic).<br />
<br />
Personally, I hope Joan followed Pedro to Central America and together
they embarked on a fabulous world tour, dancing so gloriously that
elderly audiences still remember the night they entered a "new and
magical world, where lovers waltzed on clouds." Because I can imagine a
lot of OTHER less seemly outcomes, none of which are appropriate to
explore on this lovely V.D. (Valentine's Day!)...<br />
<br />
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Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-38521061501430392322020-02-23T09:00:00.001-08:002020-02-23T09:00:29.016-08:00Original Art Friday 2/21/20 - Russ HeathYes, friends, it's Friday yet again... February is winding to a
close, March is roaring in like a lion, and there's a bear wandering
around Monrovia, California. If there's other news, I'm of a mind to
ignore it today and instead proceed directly to ORIGINAL ART FRIDAY,
documenting my exciting adventures in having a lot of original art
strewn around. <br />
<br />
Today, I go back to more genius from the brilliant RUSS HEATH, with this page from Our Army At War #243, from 1972. Here, Sgt.<span class="text_exposed_show">
Rock makes a perilous approach toward a farmhouse. Tragically, his
pursuit of information results in someone losing their dagger in the
back of the poor guy Rock's slappin' around. Heath's mastery of the
human figure and his pristine inking makes for another lovely, dramatic
page. </span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<br />
When someone tries
to tell me that comics are movies on paper, this is the sort of page
that proves there are substantial differences. In a film, Rock's attack
on the guy, the knife, then the creep-up on the farmhouse would all be
told in continuous motion. (Unless Michael Bay is directing, in which
case it would be done in fifty pointless cuts and tracked with Motley
Crue music.) Here, Heath is choosing the high-points of each action, and
in my opinion throws down even more drama by picking those moments. <br />
<br />
My only caveat for this page: the lettering decision in the panel on
the bottom lower left. The decision to attempt to break "I wasn't
flippin'!" from the other dialogue within the same balloon is just
confusing. And maybe Heath inked in the balloons before the lettering
was added, but there's a lot of empty space at the bottom of the
dialogue in almost ALL of the panels. What up with that?! John
Constanza's lettering is usually flawless so I'm bamboozled...<br />
<br />
But it doesn't prevent me for admiring another piece of Heath greatness.
And pulling myself off bear watch long enough to share it with the
world!<br />
<br />
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Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-63434139354317484102020-01-03T12:02:00.003-08:002020-01-03T12:03:33.139-08:00Original Art Friday! 1/3/20 Gil Kane & John Severin<div class="_5pbx userContent _3576" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-testid="post_message" id="js_1nt">
Maybe
my playlist of The Doors "The End," Springsteen's cover of Edwin
Starr's "War" and Country Joe's "Fixin' To Die Rag" wasn't the best
audio choice this morning, but all those dark feelings shall abate as we
do a deep dive into ORIGINAL ART FRIDAY! That magical moment when I
share yet another piece of art from the MV library...<br />
<br />
Today it's a
cool cover drawn by the inimitable Gil Kane (I know, I've tried to
imitable him!) and inked by the equally awesome John Severin. Two
legends of comics, together on the same page! Sadly the art page itself
has seen somewhat better days, but the genius of design and figure
drawing is still wildly evident. I especially like the sense of action
we get from Two Gun (he's the guy in the dust) as he rolls over to
surprise those two owlhoots with his blazing six guns. <br />
<br />
But a
moment, if you will, to consider the fates of those two clearly bad
gents. Was their destiny written early in their lives, or was it some
tragic turn that led them to a life of crime and the attempted murder of
a Western hero wearing a Lone Ranger mask? These two woke up that
morning, pulled up their pants, tossed back coffee (or maybe whisky),
then strapped on their gunbelts never anticipating the grim fate in
store for them. So yes, take just a moment to remember these long dead
hombres, whose names I don't have since I don't own this book... okay,
that's long enough. <br />
<br />
Two Gun Kid was one of several Marvel
Western "kid" comics (alongside Kid Colt Outlaw, Rawhide Kid, Outlaw Kid
and Kid Kid the Kid -- sorry, on that last one I kid!) that survived
well into the 70's and off and on since. I had not kept up on recent
(i.e., the last 25 years) events in Mr. Kid's life so I was perplexed to
read in the ever-accurate Wikipedia that in 1995 Two Gun fought a
battle with weapons he brought back from the future (!), was rescued
from time travel limbo by She-Hulk (!!), then joined the Avengers! <span class="_5mfr"><span class="_6qdm" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t2e/1/16/1f633.png"); font-size: 16px; height: 16px; width: 16px;">😳</span></span><br />
<br />
Well, sorry, but he'll always be simply Two Gun to me, blasting "too
slow hombres" from the dirt and wishing he had a TV show like that dumb
Long Ranger guy...<br />
<br />
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Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-60865861733656585492019-12-30T14:14:00.001-08:002019-12-30T14:14:08.061-08:00Original Art Friday! 12/27/19 Jordi BernetAhh, another Christmas has passed... I hope all reading this had a
peaceful day, in whatever fashion you personally define "peaceful." And
now, as we careen toward the new year, what better time to offer yet
another installment in my never ending series of ORIGINAL ART FRIDAYS,
the made-up day of the week I chose to share another piece of (mostly)
comic art culled from the recesses of my collected heap o' goodies...<br />
<br />
Today is a pin-up by one of my favorite artists, Jordi Berne<span class="text_exposed_show">t,
illustrating what is perhaps his signature character, the 1930's gunman
known as "Torpedo." The provenance for particular piece informs that it
appeared in Playboy in 1991, but I can neither confirm not deny. What I
can say is, it's an especially cool rendition of Luca Torelli, the
aforementioned Torpedo...</span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<br />
So who, or what, is that? Thanks to our friends at Wikipedia, here's the
quick lowdown: "Torpedo, or Torpedo 1936, is a Spanish comics series
written by Enrique Sánchez Abulà and drawn by Jordi Bernet, which
depicts the adventures of the antagonistic character Luca Torelli, a
heartless hitman, and his sidekick Rascal, in context of the violent
organized crime culture of New York City during the Great Depression
era."<br />
<br />
That pretty much nails it. Torelli and Rascal have various
violent and sexual adventures in 1930's NY, sometimes with unexpected
twists and turns. Torelli doesn't always "win," whatever that means,
making the stories more than just cops and robbers in depression times. <br />
<br />
Original artist Alex Toth bailed on the series after drawing the first
two stories, a situation that does not sound all that unusual given
Toth's legendarily mercurial personality. But he set the tone for the
Bernet-illustrated series to come, and Bernet really went to town.
Gritty, violent, sensual, goofy and often funny, it's a really good
strip. The IDW publishing house has released five volumes of
English-translated Torpedo books, all of which appear to still be in
print. <br />
<br />
Now, did Torpedo have a peaceful Christmas? Given the general tenor of the stories, eightball says "no"...<br />
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Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-49431639743586012812019-12-21T11:32:00.001-08:002019-12-21T11:32:35.755-08:00Original Art Friday! 12/20/19 Al Feldstein!What a week! Christmas MUST be coming! There's a new Star Wars movie, two new Springsteen live shows circa 1978 (visit <a data-ft="{"tn":"-U"}" data-lynx-mode="asynclazy" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Flive.brucespringsteen.net%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR0zoDriTvbdqK3j7ZmAZDAuC5b3t9b8XLtFrysFwDR7F5v3G-o1D25MvpU&h=AT3EYRwWwsGiIaUhUSrUDXSvX1TiaMyOh0oT4_Jn7DEzxhdQennxvf6QKxcWebe6f0d5M2jt6RDB_DmNq-vr9b5vDk-_VVVBx9cOgKz8JWb7FWCjdZiyKK5m04Wk1ypPCu0_nbU7iRHq1fwr9M_cUW53JD3JfCdybnyjsWXX0egK" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">live.brucespringsteen.net</a>),
a new collection of Smithereens demos, some President got impeached,
and it's ORIGINAL ART FRIDAY!<br />
<br />
Yes, once again, that made-up day of the
week when I share a piece of (usually comic book) art pulled from the MV
archives. <br />
<br />
And now the dilemma! What to share? A check scan shows I have no Christmas-related pages. Nor do I have any S<span class="text_exposed_show">tar Wars or Springsteen related artwork. There must be SOMETHING fit for the season...</span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<br />
Feldstein. Why you can just feel the love radiating off
the page. Especially in panel 4. Of course, the guy IS a "detective"
investigating a series of muggings, and he suspected poor Nina was
somehow involved, so that might explain the lack of sparks. I have this
story somewhere in reprint form but I can't find it and so I can't tell
you if Dan and Nina eventually fall in love. However, I'd put money on
it!<br />
<br />
So. Al Feldstein. A bit of an acquired taste, but I acquired
it, especially after reading his eye-popping work on "Sunny" and
"Junior" comics, both Archie-inspired titles from the Fox publishing
company. IDW published a fancy hardcover collection of Feldstein's
stories from those books and a quick look will explain what enticed
readers back in the 1950's and the again in 2014. Basically, Feldstein
dedicated an enormous amount of ink to, well, delineating the female
form. Archie it ain't...<br />
<br />
Feldstein later chucked his illustrative
pen to become an editor, most famously running Mad Magazine for
decades. And fans of stiff figures wearing clothing two sizes too small
were heartbroken everywhere! But we'll always have Modern Love...<br />
<br />
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Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-15434824692024033072019-12-13T11:46:00.004-08:002019-12-13T11:46:55.114-08:00Orginal Art Friday! 12/13/19 Ruben Moriera!<div class="_5pbx userContent _3576" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-testid="post_message" id="js_1wd">
Another
work week pirouettes into the past as Friday once more arrives,
bringing with it ORIGINAL ART FRIDAY... the singular day of the week
where I share another piece of original, mostly-comic-book related art
with the WORLD! <br />
<br />
Today I bring you a lovely page by Ruben Moriera
from DC's "The Adventures of Alan Ladd" #5, circia 1950. A quick trip
to Wikipedia reveals this Mr. Moriera was a Puerto Rican artist who
worked on any number of titles in his career, most notably (AGAIN, per
Wikipedia! Don't yell me, <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=674681387&extragetparams=%7B%22__tn__%22%3A%22%2CdK-R-R%22%2C%22eid%22%3A%22ARB1nsbwrkiGfqhQg_PXG6uCa9Qqv82v7RdmZ1z8CyyH08vBwTweVeMzeU9YNyNaFtn1CxDUGWuCRzqW%22%2C%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/evanier?__tn__=%2CdK-R-R&eid=ARB1nsbwrkiGfqhQg_PXG6uCa9Qqv82v7RdmZ1z8CyyH08vBwTweVeMzeU9YNyNaFtn1CxDUGWuCRzqW&fref=mentions" title="Mark Evanier">Mark Evanier</a>!)
co-creating Rip Hunter Time Master with Jack Miller. To my eye, Mr.
Moriera was a solid draftsman who told the story without a lot of flash.
<br />
<br />
But there's more! <br />
<br />
It occurs to me that some reading this
may not even remember Alan Ladd, one of the more popular actors of the
50's, best known for "Shane." (I was going to say he was one of
Hollywood's biggest stars, but apparently he was 5' 6"... not that
that's a crime!). He was so popular, in fact, DC Comics decided to
publish this unfortunately short-lived title (only 9 issues) "starring"
Mr. Ladd. <br />
<br />
And these books are really something. The first few
issues are literally tales of Alan Ladd, actor, being dragooned into
threatening situations. So we're treated to the cartoon Ladd (again, as
himself, Hollywood actor) punching out gangsters and pirates and
assorted other miscreants. It so tickled my funny bone that I haunted
comic conventions for, well, weeks, and managed to get every issue,
along this original Moriera page...<br />
<br />
But there's more! The Alan
Ladd book also inspired my screenplay for 2008's "My Name Is Bruce"
(still time to order for Christmas!), starring the inimitable Bruce
Campbell. In "Bruce", Bruce Campbell, theoretically playing himself, is
kidnapped by a kid who think he can kill a Chinese demon terrorizing in a
small Oregon town. However, unlike Alan Ladd, Bruce is a drunken,
lecherous goofball who, after reveling in the town's praise -- he
believes it's all a birthday prank arranged by his agent -- runs for his
life when danger appears. Well, I thought it was funny! And so did
Bruce, who shot the entire film in his back yard in Oregon...<br />
<br />
And so that's how movie history is made... "ish"...<br />
<br />
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Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-24630123021856330022019-12-06T09:19:00.003-08:002019-12-06T09:29:25.337-08:00Original Art Friday! 12/6/19 RUSS HEATHWell, it is once again the day before the last day of the week... one
more day to work and toil, one more day to work-avoid, and the one day
of the week when I celebrate ORIGINAL ART FRIDAY, my messianic quest to
share some of the comic book art I've accumulated over the decades...<br />
<br />
Some of you may be wondering, "gosh, Mark, how do you decide which
piece of art to share every week?" Well, I utilize a carefully created
logarithm that calculates various factors, all designed to <span class="text_exposed_show">help guide me toward the very deliberate selection of a new artwork. Or, to put it in layman's terms, it's totally by whim. </span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<br />
And my whim today is to share another piece by the amazing RUSS HEATH.
Long time OAF readers know I'm an unapologetic fan of the late Mr.
Heath, and short time readers will learn that truth soon enough! <br />
<br />
Anyhow, here we have a black and white ink-wash cover recreation (I
think, I can't identify the original cover) that shows Heath's genius at
staging, lighting, figure drawing and drama. I could look at this for
hours and indeed, I have, since that's easier than working! Heath's
lengthy career spanned the early 1940's into the 2000s, and he drew
every conceivable genre, though his greatest work (for me) was his war
and Western illustration. That said, he also did superguys, ranging from
Batman to Iron Fist, and a few exceptionally funny comic stories for
National Lampoon... some of which I'll have to share soon as well!<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, lean back and enjoy this monochromatic masterpiece while I
unfortunately, and this time for reals, get back to work...<br />
<br />
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Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-8187017095018025062019-11-29T09:02:00.003-08:002019-11-29T09:02:43.099-08:00Original Art Friday! 11/29/19 GRAHAM INGELSSo for Thanksgiving we parked it on the couch and watched a couple
hours worth of "Town Called Panic" stop motion animation shorts, which
are surreal, hilarious, ridiculous and just generally awesome... but, if
I may be allowed, that was Thursday. And this is ORIGINAL ART FRIDAY,
the one day of the week where I share a piece of (mostly) comic book art
yanked from the MV archives. <br />
<br />
Today, in honor of Black Friday, a shopping holiday which I assiduously do not celebrate, here's<span class="text_exposed_show">
a classic page from EC Comics and the Haunt of Fear #20, released way
back from Summer 1953. Say hello to "Thump Fun" by the always amazing
"Ghastly" Graham Ingels. An adaptation(ish) of Poe's Tell Tale Heart,
it's a grisly tale of a murderer driven mad by the beat of his victim's
dead heart, with a customary EC twist. </span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<br />
Ingels' work is drenched in atmosphere, making him perfect for these
semi-Gothic tales of revenge and murder and monsters and death. His
striking ink work was sometimes buried under the not-great comic book
color of the day, but the power of the art still shone through.
Unfortunately, when EC Comics were mostly swept away (with the ultimate
exception of Mad, which went to magazine format) by a wave of
moralizing, crusading idiots called Senators who blamed horror and crime
comics for ruining America's youth, Ingels lost a venue for his
particularly eerie horror illustration and eventually left the field. <br />
<br />
But the work lives on! "Thump Fun" is included in multiple EC reprints,
including a black and white version in the still-in-print Fantagraphics
Ingels book "Sucker Bait." I personally prefer the black and white
reprints when it comes to Ingels (or most of the other EC artists),
after I got spoiled by a series of fancy, large size box sets with
stories all pulled from the the original art, produced by Russ Cochran
in the 80's and 90's. IDW has also released a couple enormo EC art books
which show all the incredible detail of these great pages. And Dark
Horse is reissuing everything yet again, in color, in a series of
hardcovers.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Which just goes to show, EC will never die... even if poor Marvin does...<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRIaUi8qgPuzNngERbI40D6RomTCCAeDog1eas9WD6mT6un72HQUtZWE1XhohACicxGvrY9VvWxIUGQ9qcgUGsFea94xwIz7tDhXrs2_toNIUk022AYwBNjMFUHJAi-MZMBQ/s1600/Graham+Ingels+Haunt+of+Fear+%252320+Page+4+%25282%2529+cropped+OAF.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1133" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRIaUi8qgPuzNngERbI40D6RomTCCAeDog1eas9WD6mT6un72HQUtZWE1XhohACicxGvrY9VvWxIUGQ9qcgUGsFea94xwIz7tDhXrs2_toNIUk022AYwBNjMFUHJAi-MZMBQ/s320/Graham+Ingels+Haunt+of+Fear+%252320+Page+4+%25282%2529+cropped+OAF.JPG" width="226" /></a></div>
Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-54525806952983762752019-11-29T09:02:00.002-08:002019-11-29T09:02:35.808-08:00Original Art Friday 11/22/19 GILBERT SHELTONAnother glorious week has passed, precursor to the holiday season and
welcomed with my grateful appreciation for NOT having to fly anywhere
over the holidays... AND, of course, for ORIGINAL ART FRIDAY, the day of
the week I picked from a hat to share a piece of comics related art
from my over-stuffed collection. <br />
<br />
Today it's artist Gilbert
Shelton and a page from his 60's masterpiece, Wonder Wart-Hog. Yes,
that's "Wonder Wart-Hog." Here, the Hog of Steel is on a mission that i<span class="text_exposed_show">nvolves
a crushing special delivery to a villain named Pie-Man and a visit to
LBJ, or, for the younguns out there, Lyndon Baines Johnson, for what
promises to be an interesting chat with the then President of the USA. </span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
Wonder-Wart Hog was a superhero parody that appeared in Drag Cartoons
and two glorious issues of his own magazine back in the day. Shelton, a
contemporary of R. Crumb and the underground comics, was also the
creator of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Fat Freddy's Cat and per
Wikipedia he was one of the co-founders of Rip-Off Press, an early
underground publisher. <br />
<br />
For what it's worth, I thought Shelton
was one of the most genuinely funny cartoonists of that era. Humor is
relative, of course, but I can remember issues of WWH and the Freak
Brothers that l had me laughing so hard I was gasping for breath. Beyond
that, I can't tell you how subversive this stuff was to a young comic
book fan. Wonder Wart-Hog was definitely one of the milder titles to
come out in that era, since it was published by Millar Publications for a
broad newsstand audience. But if you want to talk gateway drugs, it was
this book that led me to the serious, mostly "adults only" undergrounds
like Zap, Insect Fear, Legion of Charlies and many many others that
completely scoured my young mind. <br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW2NLO_0kUsYjr-gJ6UOARWdV-HHWNXNP0fQcfSd2UAyzpRkjaS1hUXCYRbLVqhGvAHa5R4nMjUm0ynBPD_4W3z6l4DDplgDYOQsj9WQfJf2aR_9R8nrcPLrgQ3eucsBvItw/s1600/Gilbert+Shelton+Wonder+Wart-Hog+Meets+Pie-Man+Drag+Cartoons+%252349+Page+9+OAF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1308" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW2NLO_0kUsYjr-gJ6UOARWdV-HHWNXNP0fQcfSd2UAyzpRkjaS1hUXCYRbLVqhGvAHa5R4nMjUm0ynBPD_4W3z6l4DDplgDYOQsj9WQfJf2aR_9R8nrcPLrgQ3eucsBvItw/s320/Gilbert+Shelton+Wonder+Wart-Hog+Meets+Pie-Man+Drag+Cartoons+%252349+Page+9+OAF.jpg" width="261" /></a></div>
Those books could be
ultra-violent, nasty, utterly fearless and unfortunately were sometimes
sexist as hell, but they were definitely an antidote to the more anodyne
books from Marvel and DC. For me, the route to always doubting and
questioning authority can be traced directly from Mad Magazine to Drag
Cartoons/Wonder Wart-Hog to the undergrounds. The conservative powers of
the day were probably right, this stuff should have been snuffed out.
But wherever there was a well-stocked head-shop, freedom reigned, baby!</div>
Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-11605138720137014832019-11-29T09:02:00.001-08:002019-11-29T09:02:19.020-08:00Original Art Friday 11/15/19 GENE COLANEven though I've traversed the nation to lovely New Orleans,
thousands of miles away from the MV archive, I will NOT be deterred from
presenting yet another offering on ORIGINAL ART FRIDAY, the made up day
where all people of good cheer gather to look at some cool funny book
art.<br />
<br />
Today it's a very nice piece from Captain America #128,
circa 1970, drawn by the great Gene Colan, inked by Dick Ayers, written
by Stan Lee, and lettered by the great Artie Simek. In honor of this we<span class="text_exposed_show">ekend's
travel theme, here Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, has eschewed his
costume for a time to cruise the country on his hog, only to run into a
dirty rotten local cop who doesn't like the cut of his jib. Something
tells me this won't end well. </span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<br />
I love love love the inking on this piece. The thick line, which
reminds me of George Klein, compliments Colan's pencils perfectly. And
the page, which is otherwise a bit static, still has drama through the
staging and "cuts" between panels. In comics, you always want the last
panel on the page to draw you to the next, and the close-up of Mr.
Mean-Cop and his club certainly does that. <br />
<br />
Since I did not ride
my non-existent hog to New Orleans, I hope and pray I do not run into
troubles like poor Captain America. Updates will be posted, including
requests for bail, should the official clubs come out...<br />
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</div>
Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-34427475781518817592019-11-29T09:00:00.001-08:002019-11-29T09:00:47.092-08:00Original Art Friday 11/8/19 RUSS MANNINGSo it's been a week of rampaging and rollicking and raising heck,
which means it's also time of ORIGINAL ART FRIDAY, the one day of the
week when I share a page of "pretty" excised from the well-tended MV
archives...<br />
<br />
Today is a page by one of my all time favorite
artists, Russ Manning, from one of my all time favorite titles, MAGNUS,
ROBOT FIGHTER. Manning was an exceptionally talented fellow who was
perhaps best known for drawing Tarzan in various configurations. His
clean s<span class="text_exposed_show">tyle and beautiful figure work is
classy and elegant, and his Magnus world benefits from his eye. Sadly,
Manning died at the much too young age of 52 in 1981, but his work lives
on...</span><br />
<br />
Here's a little
rundown on the book from our good friends at Wikipedia: "The original
series, titled Magnus, Robot Fighter, 4000 AD, premiered in 1963. It was
written and drawn by Russ Manning, and as a nod to its influences,
included Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics as a quote in the
beginning of the first issue. For the duration of the title's original
run, Magnus battled rogue robots, aliens, space pirates and other
threats. He fell in love with Leeja Clane, the daughter of one of North
Am's senators. Leeja developed limited telepathic abilities after
training by M'Ree and other humans who had acquired them as a result of
their minds being linked together while imprisoned in suspended
animation by H8."<br />
<br />
Yes indeed! Published by Gold Key, Magnus ran
for 20 plus issues, with Manning drawing the bulk of them. His
impeccable draftsman and the design of Magnus and the future world
absolutely enthralled me as a kid, and still today. <br />
<br />
Magnus had
metal implants in his arms and legs so he could literally karate chop
into metallic bad guy robots, usually decapitating them as the machines
made a strangely satisfying SQUEEEEEEE. Despite all the excitement, the
future of 4000 AD didn't look all that bad, though as this page
suggests, the "youth" didn't care for all the regimentation and wanted
to do more stuff for themselves. In some ways Magnus was almost the flip
side of The Jetsons, where people kind of liked having robots cater to
their needs. Magnus would have lopped off Rosie the Robot's head and
demanded George Jetson hit the deck and give him twenty...<br />
<br />
And
what I wouldn't give for metal implants when my computer starts
fritzing. Though I'm not sure the SQUEEEE would have the same glorious
resonance...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQUv4hGkRrY83hLpuS7uAofo038mGYnZiGm5ksFKYYYNrx5HITYmxjYe7nThOmt0LxYhBgbntC0CdjKoaWOWrIHN8FuZJ3Uqawg05DAP139G_a98_FYH5gVxyDBTAkZ4S2UA/s1600/Russ+Manning+Magnus+Robot+Fighter+%25238+Page+11+Original+Art+%2528WesternGold+Key%252C+1964%2529+OAF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1115" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQUv4hGkRrY83hLpuS7uAofo038mGYnZiGm5ksFKYYYNrx5HITYmxjYe7nThOmt0LxYhBgbntC0CdjKoaWOWrIHN8FuZJ3Uqawg05DAP139G_a98_FYH5gVxyDBTAkZ4S2UA/s320/Russ+Manning+Magnus+Robot+Fighter+%25238+Page+11+Original+Art+%2528WesternGold+Key%252C+1964%2529+OAF.jpg" width="222" /></a></div>
Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-8626456844599456092019-10-14T16:40:00.003-07:002019-10-14T16:40:56.644-07:00Question After All These Months...Does anyone come around this blog site anymore? I realize there is no impetus if I don't post, but... just curious. If there's interest I'll get back into it... Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-34825057893201904452018-12-09T13:35:00.003-08:002018-12-09T13:35:36.045-08:00Original Art Friday!!For the last few months I've been quite busy producing the upcoming Swamp Thing live action series for the new DC streaming network, but that doesn't mean there hasn't been other nonsense on my mind. One of those nonsense bits is looking through some of the original comic book art I've collected over the years, in a feature I've been doing on Facebook called Original Art Friday. Knowing that not everyone is necessarily in the Facebook family, I'll start sharing those posts here as well.<br />
<br />
As time goes on and I can reveal more Swamp Thing goodness, I will, but just to prime the Famous Mark Verheiden's Of Hollywood pump, here's my lastest, unfortunately acronymed O.A.F....<br />
<br />
ORIGINAL ART FRIDAY 12/7/18 <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Facebook asks, "what's on your mind, Mark?" That, my friends, is a
loaded question, having gotten in at 3:00AM after a full day and night
of f****** S**** T****, and the "f" word over there is "filming", so
knock that off right now... however, f****** takes a back seat in my
brain this A.M., because it is indeed again time for ORIGINAL ART
FRIDAY, the special day of the week when I unveil another masterpiece
from the gallery of glorious comic book art amassed over the centuri<span class="text_exposed_show">es by your humble author... </span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<br />
Today's piece is another beauty from one of my all time favorite comic
book artists, Gene Colan, taken from issue #69 of one of my all time
favorite characters, Daredevil, The Man Without Fear. Here, Mr. DD
converses with a certain Black Panther about varied and sundry
(including the Panther losing a shot at joining the Avengers -- it's
okay, pal, your movie did just fine) while some nurses admire their
good.... deeds. <br />
<br />
It's not an action packed page and boy howdy
there are a lot of words (as a reformed comic book writer, I apologize
to artists everywhere for my verbosity), but it's still packed with
angles, lovely figure drawing, and emotion conveyed through body
language. I LOVE the panel with the Doctor in the center... even masked,
you see the Doc's concern radiating.<br />
<br />
This page was inked by the
equally incredible Syd Shores, whose career went from the golden age and
a long run on the 1940's Captain America series, into the silver age
and work like this. Old school silver age fan that that I am, George
Klein will probably always be my all time favorite Colan and Buscema
inker, but Mr. Shores, at least here, is a close second. He captures
Colan's pencils without totally overwhelming them, which is about all
one can ask...<br />
<br />
And remember this immortal line: "Daredevil's not exactly chopped liver himself --" Have truer sentiments ever been expressed?<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg26SAEVHWrjMg1D5rUYWxpw2ztmQIq_x78XTMLayj39iF6-Q20lH2N4wVwC1dwoobKdBF5P20WRIt-fBgwq4KW16mI2CrTRp08O96Q5xuQ6RbNYo3XRR8LIXG2HJ5XY7w4VQ/s1600/Gene+Colan+Daredevil+67.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1095" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg26SAEVHWrjMg1D5rUYWxpw2ztmQIq_x78XTMLayj39iF6-Q20lH2N4wVwC1dwoobKdBF5P20WRIt-fBgwq4KW16mI2CrTRp08O96Q5xuQ6RbNYo3XRR8LIXG2HJ5XY7w4VQ/s320/Gene+Colan+Daredevil+67.jpg" width="219" /></a></div>
Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-1011428046280977982017-12-20T08:27:00.003-08:002017-12-20T08:27:51.117-08:00It's Screener Time! "The Post."If you'd like to see something that reminds one of a time when people
stood up to power and actually accomplished something, then "The Post"
is for you. I was a youngun(ish) when the Pentagon Papers emerged,
though old enough to have a draft card... long story short, I'd
forgotten many of the details behind Daniel Ellsberg's taking of these
documents and the drama behind their dissemination. <br />
<br />
What's especially good about this film is that while there is much angst among the r<span class="text_exposed_show">eporters
about what they're doing and the risks involved, it isn't forgotten
that the Pentagon Papers essentially said that multiple Presidents and
their administrations knew Vietnam was a losing proposition, but they
went ahead with the war anyway. At a cost of 50,000 + American lives,
many more wounded, and countless Vietnamese dead. </span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<br />
Tom Hanks is good, though I have a hard time erasing Jason Robards as
Ben Bradlee from All The President's Men. But Meryl Streep as Katharine
Graham is amazing... and again her part illuminates a story I never
really knew. There was a little "hey, who's that?" going on with the
rest of the cast, populated with many familiar faces (from Bradley
Whitford to Bob Odenkirk to Carrie Coon), but once things settled in
that passed. Plus the press scenes reminded me of my days at the Los
Angeles Times as a heroic classified ad taker. I give The Post my
coveted 4 out of 4 special editions...</div>
Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-31201827042108234522017-12-19T10:59:00.004-08:002017-12-19T11:00:30.207-08:00They Love Me In Poland!Obviously, assuming anyone checks on this site anymore, my blogging has dribbled off a bit. Well, more than a bit. Time flies when you're having fun! Anyway, over the holidays I'll be presenting some of the greatest hits from my Facebook page and possibly even original material to dazzle and inflame!<br />
<br />
First up, a recent Polish review of my first ALIENS graphic novel series, which was recently reprinted in fine form by those jolly Santas at Dark Horse.<br />
<br />
The original is available at : http://artpapier.com/index.php?page=artykul&wydanie=338&artykul=6537<br />
<br />
But the Google translate version of the article is below. Things I didn't know:
Timecop was called "The Guardian Of Time" in Poland, and Aliens the
movie was "Alien - Decisive Battle."<br />
<br />
<div class="_5pbx userContent _3576" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="js_5">
Przemysław Pieniążek,<br />
WHAT WOULD BE, IF ... (ALIENS. 30TH ANNIVERSARY. THE ORIGINAL COMICS SERIES)<br />
A A A<br />
If you're a fan of xenomorphs (however it sounds), this exclusive,
jubilee edition of the graphic continuation of the hit "Alien - Decisive
Battle" (1986) by James Cameron is a position for you. Dated 1988, a
comic sequel, which is also a spin-off of the above mentioned film (for
reasons of marketing and legal in the illustrated series could not then
appear Ellen Ripley, returning in later cycles from Dark Horse), to
today read and watch with real pleasure .<br />
Screenwriter, writer
and producer Mark Verheiden - including the script "The Guardian of
Time" (both his comic and cinematic version directed by Peter Hyams) and
low-budget production "My Name is Bruce" (made by Bruce Campbell
incarnating on the screen in himself) - he created a non-linear
narrative written on several narrators, in which he presented the fate
of Newt and Corporal Hicks. The author convincingly showed the influence
of past events on the characters' psyche, despite the passage of years
still struggling with the demons of the past that haunt their dreams.<br />
Staying in a closed Newt factory and a disfigured soldier once again
face the multiplying creatures of acid instead of blood, which after
space travels finally reach Earth. Although xenomorphs have chaos with
their proper grace, some representatives of homo sapiens are
immortalized as predators on the pages of the work. Like James Cameron,
Mark Verheiden resigned from the futuristic-gothic horror convention of
Ridley Scott's "Alien - Eight Passenger Nostromo" (1979), realizing the
comic equivalent of an adrenaline pulsing, explosive combat movie. Which
does not mean that the reviewed album lacks a climate of horror and
tension.<br />
Presenting a dystopian, technologically advanced future
in which religion, consumerism and the ubiquitous world of media collide
with the idea of ​​the aliens (vide: the intriguing topic of followers
of the Church of the Immaculate Incubation), the screenwriter also
broadens the spectrum of knowledge about the developmental cycle /
abilities of Aliens and their home planet. The plot could not be missing
the theme of artificial intelligence, as well as (original, though in
retrospect not completely fetched) analysis of the form of petrified
Space Jockey.<br />
An undoubted advantage of this publication is a
memorable visual setting. Mark A. Nelson - a cartoonist and academic
lecturer in one person - prepared suggestive illustrations with an
impressive level of detail (scenographic nuances, space vehicle designs,
xenomorphs) and skillfully built oneiric aura, blurring the boundary
between wakefulness, nightmare and poignant reminiscences (in one from
them even charmingly "censored" Ellen Ripley appears).<br />
Although
the faces of the protagonists do not seem particularly varied, the
artist convincingly reflects the emotions of dramatis personae,
underpinning the oppressive climate with spontaneous bloodshed and
scenes of high octane action. It is worth noting that in the beautifully
published jubilee volume (enlarged format, blackened edges of pages,
gallery of sketches and tasty covers), the reader will find original
black and white illustrations of Nelson (in later editions, color
variants appeared) made on Duo-Shade paper, covered with special
reagents that allow for the contrasts desired by the author.<br />
The
bestselling series, enriched with the relatively lucky novel
"Szczęściarz" (showing the adventures of the resourceful scrapper and
his tailed "companion"), is a real masterpiece that can be contemplated
as a sensational storyboard of unrealized superproduction. Because even
though the story written by Marek Verheiden was excluded from the canon
after the movie "Alien 3" (1992) by David Fincher, he still has adaptive
potential, introducing many interesting threads to (not only) the film
universe of xenomorphs. I have no illusions that the creation of such a
work is less than likely today, which is why I encourage you to reach
for this publishing rarity appearing in a very limited edition. Well
worth it!<br />
Mark Verheiden, Mark A. Nelson: "Aliens. 30th Anniversary.
The Original Comics Series. " Translation: Paweł Biskupski. Scream
Comics publisher. Warsaw 2017.<br />
Google Translate for Business:Translator ToolkitWebsite Translator</div>
Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-4487931872714021082016-12-31T15:12:00.004-08:002016-12-31T15:12:55.014-08:00FAST FORWARD REVIEW: Code of HonorA special treat for New Year's Eve! My latest movie review! <br />
<br />
TODAY ON FAST FORWARD THEATER: Steven Seagal in "Code of Honor." How
could I not go for this after reading this overheated blurb on the the
back of the (budget priced!) blu-ray box: "When his family is killed in a
drive-by shooting, Robert Sikes (Steven Seagal, "Above The Law"), a
former Special Ops operative, vows to rid his city of every last
criminal." Every one?! Take my $6.99! <br />
<br />
The movie opens with a lengthy sequence of a silent (and huge) Seagal perched on a water-tower<span class="text_exposed_show">,
using a sniper rifle to slaughter a bunch of conveniently gathered
mobsters/gang-bangers doing a drug deal. Slaughter over, in come the
cops, who don't know if they should arrest the vigilante or "give him a
medal." An FBI man (played by Craig Shaffer, a LONG way from "The
Program") with ties to Sikes starts looking for him. Okay, time to FAST
FORWARD.... Sikes goes to a strip club, smokes a cigar, then leaves and
triggers a bomb that somehow kills a bunch of mobsters but only leaves
cartoon-type soot on the strippers. FAST FORWARD... FBI Man Shaffer
confronts Sikes, who in a weird Cajun-ish accent talks about being a
hero. FAST FORWARD... Sikes shoots a bunch of drug dealers, including
one who for some reason is playing next to a puddle with an electrical
wire (!). He gets shot AND zapped! FAST FORWARD... Sikes lures a newsman
and his cameraman into an alley by promising them a story. The
cameraman looks nervous and Sikes says, "don't worry, I know you're just
working for the man." Then Sikes pulls a knife and throws it into the
cameraman's neck, killing him. The Newsman is upset, "you promised no
weapons!" Ha ha, Sikes fooled him - he said no GUNS. He throws a second
knife into the Newsman. No story tonight. FAST FORWARD... somehow
everybody's wound up in a warehouse, where Sikes and FBI Guy Shaffer
(who turns out NOT to be FBI, but a fake!) have the dullest knife fight
in cinematic history... FAST FORWARD... Seagal has another bomb and
blows everything up. Then for some story reason I missed in my fast
forward frenzy, a hooker and her kid walk off into the sunset. THE END. </span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<br />
Code of Honor gets six FAST FORWARDS from me, which means I probably
only actually watched about 25 minutes of it -- which is a better
percentage than most of Seagal's recent pictures. If you crave a
Punisher movie but hate character development, real action and have
always wondered what a 400 lb. former Karate champ would look like in
battle, this is for you!<br />
<br />
Happy New Year!! </div>
Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-37886698972399145192016-03-10T12:31:00.000-08:002016-03-10T13:04:25.033-08:00Tales Of McDonalds... Car-Wash Edition!Like many young people (and, unfortunately these days, some not so young), my first job was working at a McDonalds franchise outlet, which for me meant a store in Beaverton Oregon. Other than picking strawberries in the summer, which I guess is considered illegal child labor now, I had no experience whatever, but that was not a problem.They needed cheap bodies (I started at $1.55 an hour) and being in high school, I needed a flexible schedule and a way to make a few extra bucks. <br />
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Note that I worked for McDonald's in prehistoric times, as in the halcyon pre-breakfast, pre-frozen fries (one of my jobs was slicing and "blanching" hundreds of pounds of potatoes daily) era. Just after the earth-shattering introduction of the ever popular Quarter Pounder. Ahh, for those simpler times.<br />
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It was all brand new to me. When I sat down for my job interview, the manager took notes on a specially prepared form, writing his name in the spot marked "manager": "Head." I thought he was joking or trying to make a point, like "get it, I'm the head manager", until I found out his name was actually Lee Head. I think he enjoyed my momentary confusion. Perhaps that very smart and smug young fellow is still working there. We can only hope. <br />
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I was also hired back when they still had the three color "hat system" that clarified your status within the McDonalds ranks. A white hat was a base trainee, unworthy of respect. A blue hat was for a trained employee, a status that mostly meant they took just a little less shit. A red hat was for managers.<br />
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Ahh, the managers. Now there was a bunch. When you're 16, 22 year olds in authority positions might as well be 60, but in fact, most of the management crew were indeed in their mid-twenties, maybe one or two in their late teens. Being it was my first job it was difficult for me to pass judgement at the time, but looking back? It's clear these people hated their positions with a red hot passion. There were also occasional visits from the owners (his name was "Ollie") and the district manager, a burly graduate of McDonalds University who liked to order trainees to get on their knees to scrub the floor so he could put his foot on their back. I am not kidding. <br />
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Looking back, it's clear that some of their managerial methods would not pass muster in the modern work place. For instance, disciplining an employee by throwing a tray of hamburgers in their face. It happened to me one day when, after being accused of not fully cooking the burgers, I said "no, they're done." This particular manager clearly did not like being contradicted, which prompted the reaction, but that he did it in front of a crowd of customers seemed to a little over the top. Suffice to say, the gesture provoked one of the five times I quit the McDonalds empire (I can still remember stuffing my paper blue hat into the grill's grease trough), only to return months later to make some easy money...<br />
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But those are stories for another time. Today I'm going to talk about a car-wash. Specifically, the coin-operated hand-nozzle car wash that was located directly behind this particular McDonalds location.<br />
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Remember those hats I mentioned earlier? Well, at this particular McDonalds, the managers and long time employees had come up with a unique and rather sadistic way of celebrating someone's promotion from white-hat trainee to blue-hat regular employee. They would wait for the graduate's shift to end, then forcibly drag him to the car-wash, pump quarters into the coin-op and jam the nozzle spraying scalding hot water down the initiate's pants.<br />
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Remember what I said about managers making dubious decisions? I think this one qualifies.<br />
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So my graduation day finally came. I was about to dispense with my white hat and step up into the glorious world of blue. All during that shift, the managers and other blue hats were gleefully tormenting me about the hell to come. How there would be no escape. In fact, the manager asked me to point out my car so they could box it in, forcing me to stay on site until the deed was done.<br />
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I spent my shift wondering, is this was adult life is like? Waiting for a group of work-mates, most of whom I was friendly with, to turn into snarling animals so they could force the same humiliation on me that they themselves had suffered earlier? (The answer, of course, is yes, but I was still naive back then).<br />
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Anyway, the hour neared. Tension built. When quitting time finally arrived, I punched out at the time-clock and walked outside, where a small gang had assembled. "You're not going anywhere, Verheiden," the manager snarled. "Get him!" With a jolt of adrenaline (augmented I'm sure by the gallons of shitty Coca-Cola I'd been drinking all night), I bolted across the parking lot toward my car.<br />
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Which, by the way, was not the car they had blocked in. When asked to identify my car earlier that evening, I had, of course, pointed to someone else's weather-worn beater. That car wasn't goin' anywhere.<br />
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Me? I threw myself into my '66 Dodge Wagon, gunned the engine and burned rubber across the parking lot. As my headlights washed across the back of the store, I could see disappointment and anger welling on the faces of the mob. Because tonight they would be denied their victim! Enraged, the manager somehow grabbed a pan full of water-soaking dehydrated onions and threw it across my back window, a starry burst of white and wet, but it was too little, too late. I was in the wind...<br />
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I left those onions on the car, mostly out of sloth, but also as a badge of honor. I was still picking flecks off the bumper weeks later, and loving it, because this was a total victory. They only got one shot at the car-wash torture, that was also part of the graduation protocol. So I had beaten the bastards, and in the process learned an important life lesson. When someone asks you, "is that your car?", always lie.<br />
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I would enjoy another two years, of and on, of McDonalds glory... meaning, more stories to come!<br />
<br />Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-29407339075828025402016-02-21T16:43:00.005-08:002016-02-23T07:24:25.488-08:00Burger Continental R.I.P.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I had occasion to pass through my old stomping grounds of Pasadena, CA. recently and drove past the location of an old fave restaurant, Burger Continental. The elegant signage was still there, but the ominous "Farewell" poster over the door (which I only caught on the fly, driving past) suggested the B.C. was no more.<br />
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When I first moved to Los Angeles, I took up residence in an area called Highland Park (basically between downtown L.A. and Pasadena), where I lived in rather seedy apartment complex called "The Golden Palms." The G.P. (we used initials for everything back then!) had become a low-price hangout for students attending the nearby Art Center for Design. I came in toward the end of that era, and while I was not a student at Art Center, my reasons to be there were similar to the starving students, i.e., I had no money and the place was cheap.<br />
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Actually, it was even cheaper than it should have been. The building was under rent control, which meant rents could only be raised a set amount on current tenants. If a tenant moved out, the new tenant could be charged whatever the landlord liked. But somehow the residents remained remarkably stable during my time at the G.P., as in, my apartment was actually listed under another name. You would think that would raise an eyebrow from the owner, but turns out he was an absentee landlord named "Mr. Tung" (I'm not kidding) who didn't seem to care who handed him cash every month, as long as he got it. Mr. Tung used to walk the corridors of the building with a bag that literally had a dollar sign on it, like the Monopoly guy, collecting rents. Given this was a fairly gang ridden area, I was always surprised at his bravery, but as long as he didn't raise questions, que sara sara.<br />
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Anyway, groups of us would occasionally pile into a car and head over to the B.C. for Greek food (I know, "burger" continental, but what can I tell you) and beers. It was a friendly, open air place as I recall, and we spent many an evening arguing over art and love and God only knows what else after downing ten beers with our falafal.<br />
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But my fondest (sort of) memory of the B.C. came when I suffered a romantic set-back in my life and was really, really, REALLY down. My neighbors, who hadn't known me that long, nevertheless could see I was a mess. Maybe it was when they saw me staggering teary-eyed toward my apartment with a 12 pack of beer and a bottle of Jack Daniels. Anyway, out of the kindness of their hearts, they dragged me out to the B.C. so I wouldn't be alone. Those neighbors, as I recall (and things were a little foggy that night!) were James Gurney (yes, THAT James Gurney, the guy who later created Dinotopia) and Thomas Kinkade (yes, THAT Thomas Kinkade, later known as the "painter of light"). <br />
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Much life has gone by since that evening, and Thomas himself passed away four years ago under unsettling circumstances, but that night was a moment of compassion that has stuck with me all these years. And it all happened at the Burger Continental...<br />
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By the way, when I got in front of the computer I decided to check see what exactly had happened to the restaurant. Well, hmm... turns out sanitary conditions had taken a turn for the worse, and after numerous warnings that evidently went unheeded, the place was shut down by the health department in 2015. An ignominious end, but so it goes... Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-90100159705793274762016-02-20T08:23:00.004-08:002016-02-20T22:13:22.191-08:00Great Sequences #1With the advent of DVRs and DVDs and streaming and soon, direct-to-brain interfaces, it's easier than ever to pull up your favorite film or TV show. And with this ease of viewing, I find myself strangely drawn toward certain sequences that strike a chord. Whether it's a great performance, an especially riveting piece of dialogue or just a sweet turn of events, I find myself watching certain scenes again and again, trying to understand what it is that's drawing me in, and how the writers, filmmakers and actors pulled it off.<br />
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Here's one, and by the way, MASSIVE SPOILERS are involved:<br />
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"John Grisham's The Rainmaker." Aside from kind of loving the fact that novelist Grisham has his name in the friggin' title of a Francis Ford Coppola directed picture, there is a lot to like about this legal thriller. Matt Damon plays an idealistic young lawyer who goes to work for a shady but honest legal firm, and immediately finds himself suing a big medical insurance firm for denying benefits to a cancer victim. The case of course ends up in court, where Damon, assisted by an excellent Danny Devito, tackles a smarmy corporate lawyer played by Jon Voight and, as the CEO of the crooked medical firm, an exquisitely creepy Roy Scheider.<br />
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My favorite sequence: after Judge Danny Glover slaps down Damon by refusing to admit some stolen documents, blowing Damon's case out of the water, Devito gets some legal advice from his mentor (and sleaze-ball) Mickey Roarke and gets the evidence reintroduced. After suffering through several smarmy put-downs from Voight's opposing counsel, Damon, with Scheider on the stand, systematically dismantles the entire crooked operation. Watching Scheider, at first supremely confident, squirm with irritation as he's forced to admit wrong-doing, is sweet. But the key moment comes when his testimony wraps. Scheider walks from the witness stand carrying an especially damning piece of evidence and with imperial disdain tosses it onto Voight's desk, summing up their relationship, his attitude toward the proceedings and Voight's total humiliation.<br />
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It is an exquisitely directed scene full of details that draw me back in time and again. Scheider wears a rather ridiculous blue sweater, clearly an attempt to humanize him with the jury. When Devito comes around the defense table to present some documents, he trips over his own briefcase but manages a perfect "I meant to do that" recovery. Danny Glover's Judge, who refuses to allow his personal views to cloud his decisions from the bench, nevertheless takes some pleasure from Damon handing Voight's character his proverbial ass. And when the verdict finally comes down, there is an excruciatingly powerful moment when the father of the now-dead cancer victim approaches Scheider with a photo of his dead son, forcing him to look.<br />
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More classic scenes to come as the mood strikes...Mark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15603202.post-29456036552583929002016-02-16T09:37:00.002-08:002016-02-16T09:37:28.450-08:00The Eltingville Club!!<br />
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Maybe it's my general sourpuss nature, but it takes a lot to get me to laugh out loud these days... yet this book did the trick. A collection of (I think) every story that writer/artist Evan Dorkin concocted starring the Eltingville crew, if you have even a passing familiarity with comics fandom or simply obsessed individuals in general, this will strike a chord.<br />
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So who are these Eltingville fellows? Essentially a composite of every overblown fannish stereotype, taken to 11 and then some. These guys make Sheldon on Big Bang Theory look like the soul of normalcy. In the most insane (and funniest) story, one of the four members is put in charge of the Club's comic-shop haven while the grotesque owner is off scoring (stealing) toys from the back room of a local Toys-R-Us. Power goes to the lad's head, and soon the members are beating one another senseless with expensive custom toys ("Thorr's" Hammer with special misspelling versus what looks like a real pair of Hulk hands). It's the gas station scene from Mad Mad Mad Mad World (see that too!) taken to a comic shop extreme, though unlike the bloodless Mad World sequence, Dorkin lovingly depicts his fan archetypes literally getting their teeth knocked out.<br />
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Dorkin's decided to end this series one and for all, so this collection is "it" and well worth the $$.<br />
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For a better explanation of the genesis of the Club, here's a 2015 interview with writer/artist Evan Dorkin... <br />
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http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/08/it-was-an-ugly-birth-of-an-ugly-book-evan-dorkin-o.htmlMark Verheidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02207936227629161981noreply@blogger.com0