Mythos!

This is an awesome book that re-tells the origins of some of Marvel's most well-known characters. The stories are great and the painted pages are beautiful to look at.

I especially dig the cover showing all the characters. Why are they all hanging together? Dangerous threat? Natural disaster? Birthday party?

Definitely a birthday party.

Oh yeah!

This is an awesome-looking retrospective of some Batman stories that were published in Japan back in the 60s.

This Chip Kidd guy designs a lot of books, which raises the question: How many copies does he get for free?

While he's not technically a ninja...

...he technically is.

Blind superhero Daredevil has had many a run-in with ninjas via the Hand and his best girl Elektra. This cover actually relates to a Yakuza story, but Matt Murdock (Daredevil's "secret" identity) does do a number of ninja-like moves in his fight against 100 gangsters. Cool stuff.

There's some talk of rebooting the Daredevil movie franchise much like Marvel did with the new Edward Norton version of the Hulk. I don't know who they'll get in the lead, but I'll take a wild bet that it probably won't be Ben Affleck. Nothing against the guy, I loved him in Paycheck.

I'm thirsty for monster juice!

These glasses are just a few of the super cool monster-related items over at The Gallery of Monster Toys.

I'm not sure why the Wolfman is wearing tie-dyed clothes. Maybe the full moon was during a Phish concert?

Glow in the Dark

Why isn't there more glow in the dark stuff in the world? We still need it. I mean it still gets dark every night, so it stands to reason that we would still need things that glow in the aforementioned dark.

Write your congressman!

Kewl!

If it's mid-September, it's almost Halloween.

Halloween is coming!

Do I dress as a ninja or a monster? Or both?

The eternal struggle.

Death Race 2000 is better than Death Race. Why? More Carradine.

The release of Death Race, which is loosely based on Roger Corman's Death Race 2000, prompted me to rewatch the original.

Wow. Still one of the funniest movies (dark, yes, but still funny) made during the heyday of exploitation movies. The cars are so are almost enough to make this a worthwhile viewing experience.

And Sylvester Stallone makes a way better Machine Gun Joe than Tyrese does. I did like Mr. Gisbon in Waist Deep, though.

A great, great idea.

My friend David pointed me towards this Newsarama article about Monster-Size Hulk #1 hitting shelves on 10/15/08.

I think the picture above pretty much says it all. Frankenstein's Monster fights The Hulk.

So long, $3.99!

Ninja Assassin update.

Here's a link to a blog dedicated to the production of the movie Ninja Assassin.

There are lots of great photos (like the one above) and behind the scenes stuff.

And yes, that is a VW with a bunch of throwing stars in it. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that it was done by the previously mentioned Ninja Assassin.

Bruce Lee's pants

Yesterday, I had the good fortune of touring the Warner Bros. Studio lot. It was awesome. They have a museum of famous WB movie props and they had a pair of Bruce Lee's pants from Enter the Dragon. Unfortunately, there's no photography allowed, so the photo of the pants above will have to do.

The best part was that the pants were in a plexiglass case posed as if they were kicking.

That's right, even Bruce Lee's empty pants kick ass.

Not quite sure how to train your own private ninja army?

This clip from American Ninja should answer all your questions.

Like the guy with the vaguely European accent says, "Very impressive."

Clearly his idea of impressive and my idea of impressive are quite different.

Well, this is a bummer.

Julius Carry, who played Sho'Nuff in The Last Dragon died today. He was just 56.

I LOVED The Last Dragon and always hoped for a sequel. Alas, t'wasn't meant to be.

Here's a link to the final fight scene. When he hits him, sparks fly off! Cool!

The movie that launched a million throwing star related injuries.

This is the (sort of) sequel to the movie "Enter The Ninja." If you've never seen this, we can't be friends.

The day after I saw this I made homemade nunchucks and bought throwing stars from the local Army/Navy store.

The day after that I lost several of the throwing stars in the woods behind my aunt and uncle's house and gave myself a mild concussion hitting myself in the forehead with the aforementioned nunchucks.

It was awesome.

Just because...

Ultraman is the bomb!

And knowing is half the battle.

Comics legend Warren Ellis wrote a GI JOE hour-long animated movie called GI JOE:RESOLUTE that's supposed to be out in 2009. Here's Warren himself talking about the project on his web site.

This is probably going to be amazing. I'm also way too excited about the live-action GI JOE movie coming out, but I can't wait to see Grunt on the big screen!

What do you mean he's not in the movie? What about Cover Girl? Snow Job? Really? At least tell me The Fridge and Sgt. Slaughter are on board. What? Noooooo!

I'll be over here watching GI JOE: ARISE, SERPENTOR, ARISE! and weeping if anyone needs me.

Michaelangelo's the one who likes pizza, right?

It's hard to believe that 2008 marks 25 years since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hit the scene.

Truly, they are heroes in a half-shell.

Legion of Monsters!

This is a great collection of new and old stories of Marvel's take on monsterdom.

It includes reprints of some monster comics proving once again that the 70s were the strangest time in history. I mean, why is Frankenstein's Monster wearing bell bottoms? Nice medallion, Dracula. And what's up with the furry vest Werewolf by Night? Oh, right. Never mind.

Loving monsters=getting this book.

Why aren't these more popular?

Is it because of the split toe?

They would be great for evening or casual wear.

What if you were out and needed to scale a building? Are you going to do it in loafers? I think not!

Ninja shoes!

Won't you take me to...Ninjatown!

Take a visit to Ninjatown.

Cute...but deadly!

Seven Samurai Mania!

If you haven't watched Seven Samurai in a while (at least once this week) you should do yourself a favor and check it out.

This is one of those films that's actually as good (if not better) than you remember.

Well, it's about time.

The fine folks over at Comic Book Resources have posted a trailer for a new video game: Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.

The trailer is a quick demonstration of the game and my favorite part is when they explain why Superman can't just beat everyone up. The answer? Magic. Just...magic.

Sure, why not?

Black Panther

Here's a link to a trailer for the new Black Panther cartoon coming to BET.

It was developed by Reginald Hudlin president of BET (and writer of House Party) and artist Denys Cowan. The animation is a close approximation of the art of John Romita Jr. and I think it looks pretty cool.

Mr. Hudlin was also the writer on the Black Panther comic and wrote a story featuring the marriage of T'Challa (Black Panther's alter ego) to Storm from the X-Men.

My big question: Why wasn't I invited?

Astonishing!

The last volume of Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men is available now.

If you're a fan of Buffy, Angel, or Firefly you'll probably like this. Lots of humor, big twists, great story arc. The first three collected volumes (Gifted, Dangerous, and Torn) are used on Amazon for CHEAP. Like, $3 each CHEAP. Did I mention CHEAP?

Boys of Steel

Here's a fun new book. Boys of Steel tells the story of the creators of Superman, Siegel and Shuster. As a couple of teens back in Cleveland they created the Man of Steel and sold the rights for $130. There was a recent settlement that got their heirs some dough, so that's something.

But don't judge them too harshly for selling the rights to what was to become a great American icon for so cheap. Back then, $130 was like a million dollars in today's money. Trust me, I did the math.

Secret Invasion #1 Director's Cut

Over the past few years, publishers have released "Director's Cut" issues of comics. It usually includes a reprint of the issue, then some special features like an interview with the writers and artists and the script for the comic.

If you're interested in how a comic script looks, or at least how Bendis does it, you should pick up the Director's Cut of Secret Invasion #1. In stores now!

Comic stores, that is.

Probably not at grocery stores.*

*Unless you shop at a really cool grocery store.

Fraction!

Matt Fraction writes some of my favorite comics right now including: Invincible Iron Man, Immortal Iron Fist (he actually just wrapped up his run, but some of the trades are already out there), and Punisher War Journal.

Above is a picture of his desk.

You can visit his website here. He am write good.

It's about time! Ninja time!

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm really, really excited about The Dark Knight. It's going to be awesome and I'm probably going to see it five times.

Having said that, I'm MORE excited about Ninja Assassin. It sounds like the plot has been plucked from the 1980s (not a bad thing), but with some of the writing and martial arts talent attached, this looks extremely promising.

Plus, a shot of a bloody guy with two swords is just awesome.

Who watches the Watchmen trailer?

There was a vicious rumor that this trailer was going to be attached to The Dark Knight. Check it out here for some Quicktime goodness.

Alan Moore, author of Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell (among others) has distanced himself from all movie versions of his work. In some cases (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) that's a good thing. In this case, who knows?

Word Balloon

If you're like me, you want to know what your favorite comic book creators have to say for themselves. At Word Balloon, you can do just that.

Host John Siuntres leads great discussions with a lot of today's top writers and artists.

If you don't think this is cool, you are wrong.

Viva El Santo!

Check out this great clip of El Santo. Mexican wrestler, superhero, bon vivant, and man about town.

Do you like comic books?

Do you like kung-fu?

Do you like comic books about kung-fu?

If so, you will probably like Fight For Tomorrow.

Won't be long now...

Iron Man, it's been real.

Hulk, I appreciate you stopping by.

Hellboy, you're kidding, right?

Thanks for everyting, but I think he can take it from here.

Now this is cool

To celebrate the publication of Secret Invasion, Marvel gave out Skrull masks to the attendees at a bunch of comic book conventions.

The basic gist of Secret Invasion is that the Skrulls, a shape shifting alien race, have invaded the Marvel Universe and the heroes and villains may not be what/who they think they are. This has some Battlestar Galactica overtones, but according to the powers that be, and this is a good point, the Skrulls have been floating around the Marvelverse since the 60s.

To sum up, I want one of those masks.

The Last Stooge

I just found out that Curly Joe DeRita, "The Last Stooge", is buried in a cemetery not too far from my apartment.

Field trip!

Ultraman's Dad

If you have even a passing interest in movies involving guys in rubber monster suits, I highly recommend Eiji Tsubaraya: Master of Monsters. Tons of profiles, facts, and great behind-the-scenes photos.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to stomp on a scale model of Los Angeles.

Ninjas! Ninjas! Ninjas!

That is all.

I walked as a ZOMBIE!

A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of being a zombie in a movie called Dead Men Walking. That's me in the photo with the watch on. A zombie's got to know what time it is, right? Brain-eating time! I even made it on to the back of the DVD case. See you at Blockbuster!

Anyway, the movie is set in a prison that gets infected by some sort of virus that makes the prisoners want to eat people. You know, a tale as old as time. This was shot in an actual abandoned prison and because the producers wanted to get the most bang for their buck, they were shooting a second movie at the same time with a different crew, but some of the same cast. I'm not sure what became of that movie, but there was definitely a dude getting into a werewolf getup while I was being zombified. At least I think he was a werewolf. *Turns out this movie was Shapeshifter. Thanks to Eric Spudic for identifying this flick!

Upon arrival, I was immediately shuffled into wardrobe and given green scrubs that didn't fit. No problem. A zombie doesn't care if it's wearing flattering clothes, right? Unless that zombie was, like, a fashion designer or model before they got turned into a zombie...but I digress.

On to makeup! This was actually pretty cool, until they started putting fake pus and blood in my ears. Normally, I wouldn't mind that, but then it started dripping out of my ears, then trickling down my neck and is SUPER sticky and just generally uncomfortable. Plus, it was hot as hell, so it was like pouring pancake syrup all over yourself then sitting around and sweating. Actually, since most fake blood is Karo syrup with red food coloring in it, it's EXACTLY like pouring syrup all over yourself. Ick.

Off to set! The production folks had done an awesome job of decorating this prison because there was blood and fake limbs everywhere. It was actually really spooky. A special effects dude gave us zombies a little squirt of blood to keep in our mouths. Mmm, okay. Then, on action, we were to barf it up and try to attack this cop that's on the other side of some thick prison bars. We had about two seconds to process that before...

ACTION! So we all barfed up our blood (most of which went onto our faces or joined the stickiness already coagulating elsewhere) and jumped up on these bars until they told us to stop, while the actor playing the cop pretended to shoot us with a fake shotgun. It felt like it went on for about 20 straight minutes, but was probably more like two.

Then, it was on to eating guts! Finally! This sounds like it would be cool. It was not cool. To create realistic-looking guts you just have to soak rope in a vat of fake blood. Ta-da. Now, I don't know how long they'd been using these guts, but we were told to "really go after them", so I did. On my first bite of rope guts I realize, "Hey, this thing is covered in dirt." I then realize that, "Hey, they've probably been using this rope for a lot of guts", then, "Hey, this dirt is from the floor of an ABANDONED PRISON and other zombies have been probably been putting these same ropes in their mouths for days." Gurf! After a lightning-quick wave of nausea hit me, I just started pressing the rope guts to my lips and shaking my head violently back and forth to simulate chowing down. It probably looked like I was shaking my head "No!" and it wouldn't have been far off.

Sadly, my day as a zombie came to a close not long after. The makeup folks did their best to get the gore off of me, but the rich, red residue was still sticking around. They assured me that shaving cream would get the rest of it off. "Yeah, right", I thought. I then drove home stuck to my seat enjoying the stares of other drivers on the 134. "Stop looking at me, I'm not an animal!"

At home, I couldn't get in the shower fast enough. I dove in and covered myself with shaving cream...and damned if it didn't get every last bit of fake blood off. Amazing!

All in all, it was a great time. The movie still airs on SciFi every now and again, it's an awesome IMDB credit, and I learned that the next time I'm covered in fake blood (and it will surely happen again) I always rely on a can of Barbasol to save the day.

Say what you will about dental floss...

...but it is great for getting out things that are stuck in between your teeth.

Olympics Fever!

The Summer Olympics formally opened today! The Summer Olympics formally opened today!

Yeah, I just found out, too. 

Bozo

Larry Harmon, the man who brought Bozo to the masses, died last week. I'll always have a soft spot for him because in the mid-90s, I was lucky enough to write for the Bozo the Clown Super Sunday Show (broadcast from WGN in Chicago) with my friend Scott.

We would sit in his dorm room at the University of South Carolina and come up with perfectly-crafted diamond tipped arrows fired at the heart of comedy that were both vaudevillian and Brechtian in nature...and as long as they ended with someone getting hit in the face with a pie, the folks in charge were happy.

It was nice to finally be paid for writing and I bought a pair of sunglasses ($35) with my first Bozo paycheck ($40)...then sat on them less than a week later. (cue foghorn)

Still, it was fun to see the sketches, however butchered, performed on live TV. 

Godspeed, Mr. Harmon! 

Captain America notebook

My friend David wrote an article about awesome comic writer Ed Brubaker putting up his Captain America notebook up for auction to raise money to help out artist Gene Colan. Very cool.

The direct link to the article is acting up, but do a search for "Brubaker's Cap notebook" and it'll take you to it.
Newsarama!

I can say without hyperbole that this is the best action figure ever.

Uh, yeah. Bruce Lee from The Game of Death. This is amazing. It's, like, $300. Worth every penny.

Wa ta! Oooooo.

I think I may have figured out why I don't book more commercials...

This is an actual photo taken today at an audition. For those not familiar with the process, you go in and they snap a digital picture of you, then they start taping and you say your name, and then you do something stupid and usually embarrassing regarding a product and/or service while you smile and act like you're having a great time. I always feel like an idiot. 

There are a lot of things wrong with this photo. Here are three:

1. It looks like a 1960s mugshot.

2. It looks like I have black right eye. 

3. This is the face I made when they told me to look nervous. Hmmm, I don't look nervous. I look like I couldn't give a crapola. Ding ding ding!

When I was done with the audition, they had me take another photo and gave me this one to keep, which is great because I really think I nailed it!*

*I didn't nail it.

 

Fashion in LA

After living in LA for the past couple of years, it's been interesting to see that fashion trends hit this place like a hurricane. It's like I haven't seen people in just a couple of days and their "look" has changed so much that I want to make sure they're okay.

"Man, am I glad to see you. It looks like whatever came through town knocked that faux hawk out of your hair. Consider yourself lucky. Did it sweep away all your razors, too? Looks like you've got some stubble going on. I see you're just tucking in the front of your shirt so I can see your belt buckle. Cool. Also, your jeans also look like they're about six inches too long and are those cowboy boots? Ah well, at least your ironic t-shirt made it through okay." (LONG PAUSE) "Yeah, I get it. I think."

The Mechanic

If you've been hesitating to see the Charles Bronson classic           The Mechanic, perhaps I can sway you with a few key points:

1. Jan-Michael Vincent (Airwolf, baby!).

2. Charles Bronson reads lips.

3. Charles Bronson squeezes a ball of wax when he's planning a way to kill people. I guess it helps him think.

4. Motorcycle chase.

5. Twist ending!

6. Jan-Michael Vincent.

Put it in your queue! Put it in your queue!

Ninja movies

Hey! What happened to all the ninja movies? 

It's like they disappeared from a rooftop in a puff of red smoke surrounded by a bunch of armed guards. Weird. Shuriken! 

All Star Superman

All Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely is super keen. I'm coming to this title a little late, which is great because I can read a trade of a bunch of issues and get up to speed. 

I wasn't sure what to expect from the guy who brought the world The Invisibles, but it's clear that he really loves the character and is having a lot fun putting Supes into situations that are both new and, at the same time, sort of a throwback. I especially like the detail of Superman's key to the Fortress of Solitude being the size of a regular key (as opposed to the old gigantic one) BUT its weight has been compressed so that he's the only person on the planet strong enough to pick it up.  Hey, that's cool! And the artwork by Frank Quitely is lush and retro, matching the stories perfectly.

If you're even a passing fan of Superman, this is a great read. 

Halloween Town

If you're ever in the North Hollywood/Burbank area,  you should totally go to Halloween Town. It's an AMAZING store of horror-related goodies and it's open all year round because you never know when you're going to need a werewolf mask. Halloween Town

Competitive People

In interviews, why is it that athletes feel the need to say that they are competitive people? I mean, you're an pro athlete, right? I assume you're really competitive. It's a given. Just shut up about and get out there and win, win, win!  But mostly just shut up.