Holiday wishes,2010 and 2009 in perspective.

Hello Everyone and a very Merry Holiday season and Happy New Year to you.

For those of you out there that follow my work and blogs will notice that I've been silent for a little while, even though I post artwork fairly regularly on my facebook page
Now while I've been very busy with everything from getting ready for a lot of conventions, private commissions,Silent Scream and special images for the Cons that I'm associated with, there's a bit more to it than that. This past year has been incredibly busy for me,sometimes taking on way too many different things at the sametime.

Just for example: I jumped headlong into a new site that we launched at www.bluntforcebeating.com cranking out one review after another,while still writing multiple blogs(myspace and my blogspot.com and doing interviews with artists for www.optimumwound.com and it's Masters Of Ink series and other articles) drawing non-stop( commissions,movie review images,etc), meanwhile I still have a day job.....It's a lot to undertake. Most people don't even understand how much I create while still having a family and a life outside of all of these other things I've mentioned before.....
At some point all of these things can burn you out, despite that possibility I never looked back or even slowed down, I just kept going.
Unfortunately bluntforce didn't last too long as most of us involved couldn't update as much as we would have liked to and with a small fanbase it just didn't seem to be worth the effort. If I could have devoted the time to the site I would have taken it over myself and become the administrator and built it up properly to a very decent fanbase. Okay so this would taken a while but I truly believe this site had the potential to become something so special it would have eventually eclipse most others out there. It saddened me greatly to say goodbye to the site as it invloved all of the things that I love: Movies,Comics and the Crime genre.

Last year (2009)I managed to build up my myspace blog to a decent following doing illustrated movie reviews from a zero weekly status perspective,that coupled with my experiences at Toronto's Fan Expo made me push myself even harder.
I started doing more conventions and soon realised that this was a really good way to meet a lot of new fans and show off all the new projects that I was working on,get feedback and see people's reactions up close. I'm always trying to improve as an artist and I think that's very important in any industry or profession.
I see so many other artists out there that never seem to improve or change over the course of years and that has always troubled me. That's fine for them but I know what I wanted for myself. Lately I've been attemping a lot of new illustrations that I never would have tried before and very soon I'll be taking some drawing classes led by a Master Artist that has worked for Marvel for many,many years.

Now some people seem to think I'm anti Marvel/DC/Big Companies. In reality I'm not. One day if I'm good enough maybe I'll do work for them and I don't hate supeheroes in general and I've always had a soft spot for them in my heart. I just truly believe that the comic's marketplace need variety and in the last few years I've been seeing more and more of this happening. This is a vey good thing. I've just felt I need to say these things out loud on the net as a lot of people have this certain notion that I'm a certain way and wanted to clear up any misconceptions as far as that and a few other things are concerned. I have no axe to grind with any Company per se, apart from being pushed aside sometimes because I'm an independant artist. Unfortunately this is something that will happen in the industry, this is just the way that it is.
Unless I work on a major character for a big Company this will continue to happen or I make my own characters become so popular that it leads to me being noticed in a positive way. I think there's a few choices I have to make this year and 2011 will be a very interesting one.

I've always been a very outspoken person in regards to what I consider to be unfair practices( such as being rude to fans or ignoring/bashing media/fanboy types). It's true that I can't stand when other artists consider themselves too good to talk to a fan or even show the smallest modicum of civility to anyone that approaches them. Don't get me wrong I'm a very private person but when I show up at a Con I want to interact with people and I think it's quite obvious when you meet me at a show.
If you don't want to interact with fans then why book a table at a Con for? All of you out there that read this need to know that YOU are the ones that provide an artist with his or her income and any artist or writer that doesn't treat you properly should be boycotted and his work should be as well. There's one artist in particular whose name I won't mention but has several websites apparently devoted to how much of a jerk this person is. I find this totally incredible, that this individual no matter how talented can continue to act so badly and still be given work. I think that things like this need to change in the industry.

Now a lot of things I've mentioned in this Blog hopefully makes a lot of people stop and think.

I'll also be doing a LOT more blogs on all types of subject matter. Covering everything from movies,comics and everything concerning the crime genre. Yes, all of my efforts that I was putting into BFB will be transferred here and as the New Year goes on I hope to be revealing quite a few new surprises.

Have a very Happy new Year everyone and may it be prosperous in all aspects of your life: love, money and creativity.

Future posts

Right now I'm working on several different projects. Some of them are for next year,while I have others that I'll be able to share with you very soon. Those that I can share will go up on myspace,twitter,facebook and here. I'll be catering each ptoject to the platform I launch them on. I'll also have a little column that I'll be talking to Jason about doing soon. If that comes to pass,it'll be interesting to say the least.

The fiture is going to be very,very busy. I hope everyone sticks around and checks out my posts.

There is one I can mention right off the bat and that's Zombie Survival School 101. It'll be a multi part look at a zombie attack and what you'll need to survive said attack. I'll be including everything from techniques based on military survival tactics to pure common sense,body armor and more.

I'll try and get the first chapter up this week.

It'll be fun. I'll aslo be throwing up a few movie reviews as well in the upcoming weeks.

I'll also be getting ready for another 2 Conventions in the next 2 months. One in November and another in December. Like I said it's going to be very busy for me. I'll also be drawing a few Star Wars pinups and maybe even a Manthing too.

Have a great week......

Be good.

Rich

7 days movie review

It's been a few weeks since my last Blog and I noticed that it flew by incredibly fast without me even realizing it. So I decided to do a Blog about a movie that I've been looking forward to since I first heard that it was being made.

The movie is called 7 days.

It's about a man and his wife whose daughter is raped, beaten and killed by a pedophile. The father being a doctor and a man with quite a bit of wealth, starts planning the abduction of the pedophile as he is being taken to prison until he can be tried for this horrific crime. He also equips a cabin in the middle of nowhere with all sorts of equipment to help facilitate the torture and killing of this individual. Just this premise alone had me totally mesmerized with the possibilities of the type of story that could be told. That is, if it was done properly.

This is one of those subject matters I feel incredibly strong about and have no sympathy for pedophiles or anyone of that nature that take away the innocence/life of a human being pure in nature and unsullied by life.

The movie starts off well and I was horrified that they actually showed the little girl's corpse as she was found by the police officers and her Father. It was a necessary part of the story as far as I was concerned. Still very unsettling. I think that for most people this opening 15 minutes of the movie would have most regular humans freaking out. Myself on the other hand is another completely different story.

There are a few scenes where the Father starts to torture the pedophile and then stops as he is incredibly disturbed by what he is doing. He is also suffering from an incredible amount of guilt and has a lot to deal with in his head.... The last time he saw his daughter before she died,she asked him to come with her as she had to deliver some invitations to her Birthday party in a few weeks. He was exhausted after finishing his shift as a surgeon and needed some time to sleep. If he had gone with his daughter she wouldn't have been abducted and would still be alive now. That kind of guilt will eat you alive and it becomes quite clear that the principal actor playing the Father( Claude Legault ) does a great job at bringing this point home to the viewer. His guilt has become a black hole and it threatens to devour everything close to him, including his marriage.

Each of the 7 days of the pedophile's torture is shown and I know some people once again might not be able to deal with subject matter this intense. Again, I was a bit disappointed with exactly how little the pedophile was tortured. If it was my child, God help that pedophile, because I have no forgiveness in my heart and certainly no conscience in exacting bloody revenge on someone like this.

I think back to Seven and what John Doe did to that pedophile, who he kept imprisoned for a year strapped to a bed and made him suffer a slow and painful existence. He cut off his hand, catalogued him as if he was a lab rat or experiment. All the while keeping him just barely alive as he slowly wasted away. Doe never allowed him to die until he felt that it was his time to do so. This takes an incredible amount of self control and discipline of a superhuman nature, it is quite impressive.

Maybe if someone like David Fincher would have directed this film I would have been satisfied with how it was done but honestly while there are very human emotions that are the primary focus of this film I think that the main point of what should have been done to the pedophile in question was secondary to everything else. To me this was a big mistake. Huge. I felt like it was an incredible anti climax to the whole film not having seen him being castrated and being tortured more in detail. A friend of mine read the book that this movie was based on and she had told me how incredibly brutal the book was with nothing but drawn out scenes of torture, just pure anger on the written page. The movie had a different tone.

Don't get me wrong this is a good film with solid performances from all involved and even though it's in French with English subtitles this was never an issue for me.

Maybe one day I'll get my wish and Hollywood will remake this film in English with Fincher helming it. I somehow doubt it though.

This a movie worth checking out even though it was far from perfect.

Cheers.

Richard Serrao

Optimum Wound Comics

Co-owner of http://www.optimumwound.com/

Creator,Writer and Artist of

Memento Mori and

Silent Scream

Book Of Eli movie review ( Illustrated)

Today's Blog will be about The Book Of Eli and I'll be adding in an illustration to convey my perception of this movie and it's subject matter.

Once again the Hughes Brothers have created another cinematic masterpiece with this highly underrated movie. Everything from the music score that flows seamlessly in and out of the film, to the pacing of each scene, the film flows and takes you along it's journey. The colouring scheme should be praised as well in it's lack of colour, giving a sense of a bleached,barren and desolate landscape inhospitable to most human beings.





Denzel Washington delivers another solid performance with class and enough screen presence that hearkens back to the days long gone.





Each actor or actress in this movie is perfectly cast. Ray Stevenson is awesome portraying a character that is as scary and single minded in his obedience to the town boss played with exceptional aplomb by Gary Oldman.
One of the biggest surprises was seeing Jennifer Beals as a beautiful blind woman whose daughter is also as equally stunning played by Mila Kunis. Both of these characters are indentured laborers whose owner Gary Oldman is obsessed with finding a special book. Of course it doesn't take very long to figure out exactly which book he's looking for, or why for that matter.

But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself in this review.

From the beginning of the movie you got the feeling that this "WAR" that happened was the end all and be all of wars. In other words the world is royally screwed up right now and it doesn't look like it'll get better anytime soon. When you see nuclear fallout snow falling from a burnt and depleted looking sky it stops you in your tracks and makes you think. There is no law, except survival of the fittest. Everyone is on their own.

The action sequences are brilliantly done and filmed with extremely deft and skilled vision on what it takes to craft an unforgettable action scene. I feel if I say too much more than that it'll give too much away and spoil some of the many surprises in this movie. The directors and Denzel Washington allow the viewer a rare chance to see some beautifully laid out scenes of carnage that just show what is happening without jumpo cutting in an mtv style that has permeated our culture and movies. Bravo guys, this is indeed a rare thing. Not only does it add depth to the film but shows how adept Washington's character is with a blade,his hands and anything els he can grab or use.





To me this movie stands toe to toe with some of my favorite post -apocalyptic films like Mad Max and The Road Warrior. There are many films that have tried in vain to live up to what was done by George Miller and Mel Gibson in these awesome movies.






Too many in fact.





This one though is not one of those and I say so with a big grin on my face.





I have gone back and re -watched this movie quite a few times already. Why? Because to me it says a lot of very personal things that makes me not just wonder about life in general but how we live our day to day lives, our beliefs and what kind of legacy we leave behind for our children.



Here's a little something I wrote after watching the Book Of Eli and hopefully it'll give you an idea of how powerful this movie was for me.





" During the last days of man, when all hope is lost, a stranger will come...He will be my prophet, he will be righteous and good, following the path I have laid down before him in this wasteland of lost souls. Be ye warned if you seek to do him harm I will unleash my wrath and woe unto you and yours. My wrath is limitless....So is my love. The time has come to stand up and choose sides."





If you have never seen Book Of Eli and want a different viewing experience then I highly urge you to check this movie out. It just might surprise you.





Richard Serrao


Optimum Wound Comics





Co-owner of http://www.optimumwound.com/


Creator,Writer and Artist of


Memento Mori Volume 1


Silent Scream





www.twitter.com/richardserrao


www.myspace.com/richardserrao


richard@optimumwound.com

Comics to movies (again)The Walking Dead.

Today's post is the 3rd type of Blog I've done like this about translating a comic property to film or tv.

The point of these Blog's are to show the times that Hollywood was faithful to the subject matter and how the public reacted,how the move/tv show did and the possible future for comic creators and their properties.

Today I'm gonna take a look at all that has happened so far concerning one of my personal favorite comics on the stands: The Walking Dead. For those of you out there that has never heard of The Walking Dead, shame on you. Okay,all kidding aside TWD is a great character driven story that apart from having zombies in it deals with a lot of different subject matter in every arc. All arcs have issues or topics that make each character identifiable to the average reader. It has great writing and great artwork. It's consistent in that the people involved have all shown their commitment by putting out the title for the most times around 12 issues a year. Just the fact that TWD is a black and white comic and since it began it's readership has grown continually and continues to do so.
In this day and age I find that pretty amazing. Most of the creators out there are always bitching about not enough work for everyone. Personally I've always believed that if you do your best work with the utmost passion and you show your commitment to whatever project you're attached to the readers will eventuallly follow. I know this is not a universal truth BUT there are a lot of times this is true.

More times than not.

I know that some of the great writers of our time didn't have any form of success until much later, sometimes after they have passed on they become huge. I find this unfortunate and unescessary. Unfortunately life is like that.

Getting back on topic of TWD - For a while we all had heard rumours of TWD tv show that was being developed and as images began to trickle out a lot of fans began to become hopeful that Hollywood wasn't going to screw this one up too like so many countless others. A very good sign indeed.

Then last week happened.

The Walking Dead trailer was put on the web. 4 minutes long and jaw dropping in it's overall depiction of Rick's story and TWD. By the end of the trailer my jaw was on the ground. The first season will be only 6 episodes but I can not wait for the fall( Halloween)

There is literally no other tv or movie that I'm looking forward to more,not even Machete that I've been dying to see can eclipse my excitement for TWD.

Anyone that still hasn't seen it yet trust me it isn't hard to find and it'll be so worth it.

This is showing a lot of creators out there several things: If you want to have Hollywood translate your idea you have 2 choices.
(1) Sell the idea,make your money but shut the hell up if the screw it up. Look at Alam Moore at least for the most part. Separate the comic from the show or movie.
(2) Fight with all of your might to make sure whoever in Hollywood is doing your idea that YOU have the final vitto or that you're on set as a consultant or at the very least hired as some kind of consultant to be involved with the production of your idea into whatever form it'll take.


My final word for today?

Things look really good for creators and their properties.

There is hope.

Have a great week.

Richard Serrao
Optimum Wound

Creator,Artist,Writer for
Memento Mori Volume 1
Silent Scream

Co-owner of www.optimumwound.com
www.myspace.com/richardserrao
www.twitter.com/richardserrao
richard@optimumwound.com

First week of vacation pt 1

Hey everyone,
I can't believe it's already been a few weeks since my last Blog,time really does fly by when you're busy.
I was getting ready to go on vacation for 2 weeks(which i needed really badly) and I'm still on vacation as I write this Blog.

My first week was simply awesome. We(the whole family) went to Lac St. Jean to stay at my Father-In-Law's chalet for the whole of last week. We were extremely lucky as the weather was beautiful for the most part. The private beach where we were was just gorgeous and got even more tanned from enjoying time outside playing with my son. Just going to the beach everyday was a treat as it was just 5 minutes away from where we were staying BUT we did so much more and I'll have a few awesome pics to show next Blog. There was one place we went to hike and check out a bat cave that was called Trou De la Fee (excuse my lack of accent on the proper words) which translates out to The Fairy's Hole( which I won't even make any jokes about but could).
We ended on some trails that while being incredibly beautiful was dangerous if you didn't look where you were hiking. A few times I slipped but managed to grab onto trees so that I didn't impersonate Arnold in Predator flying off the side of a mountain. Okay maybe I embellish things a bit but seriously when you see some of the pics and how high we ended up your jaw will drop. I hate heights and have a major case of vertigo but I toughed it out for the family and my son,which by the way I'm extremely proud of myself for doing that. All in all we spent bout an hour and a half hiking and unfortunately my son freaked when we got to the actual cave. I have to say I wasn't thrilled either about how close it looked inside of it but I was biting the bullet and just going with everything. I felt bad for him because after we started to head back he changed his mind and wanted to go back.
The only problem being is that we didn't have any hard hats and needed to be next to the guide so that he could make sure that we didn't bang our heads, so once we separated from him he we had no choice but to head out of the cave and couldn't go back to find him as it was forbidden to do so. my son learned a lesson that day about the choices that we make and sticking to them. I didn't like enforcing this life lesson but it was necessary as he sometimes has a habit of changing his mind after the fact. Parenting is never easy but when you have to be tough it gets even harder(sigh).

Later on in the week we ended up at a cousin of my wife for supper and had a great time talking,drinking and laughing. It's really too bad she doesn't live closer.

Lac St. Jean is a small town and is beautiful and a great place to enjoy nature. The people are friendly and very helpful. I know to me it's always funny when townspeople realise that I am English because I speak french( and while I'm not anywhere as good as my wife who is french btw) I think I do a damn good job. i think it also impresses them that I make the effort to speak another language that is not my first.

Staying with my Father-In-Law was relaxing as he does his best to make sure we're comfortable and never stresses us out. He allows us enough space when we need family time and I truly enjoy his company.

It's always sad when it comes time to leave though. The trip back to Montreal takes about 6 hours but this time around we left there around 2:30 and between all of the bathroom stops and supper we ended up back in town around 11:00 pm at night....We were all tired and while it was an awesome time it's good to be back home.

Next Blog I'll be showing off a few photos from the trip.

Rich.

Predators movie review

Today's Blog will be a bit lighter in tone than some of my others as I wanted to throw in my two cents on what everyone has been saying about this summer's Predators, hopefully you'll enjoy my review.

Predators movie review

By Richard Serrao

Directed by Nimrod Antal

Originally taken from a story idea written By Robert Rodriguez

Writers: Alex Litvak and Michael Finch

Actors: Adrien Brody: Royce

Topher Grace: Edwin

Alice Braga: Isabelle

Laurence Fishburne: Noland

Oleg Taktarov: Nikolai

Danny Trejo: Cuchillo

When I had heard that Robert Rodriguez was rebooting the Predator Franchise I was pretty excited for several reasons:

Pros:

(1) Rodriguez has a really good track record for doing his best work when he's involved on all levels

(2) He also has this incredible ability to get the most from whatever budget he has to work with.

(3) The ability to take things in a movie so over the top but it still never becomes a cliched thing to laugh at instead of being wowed.

Cons:

(1) When a big studio becomes involved the movie usually suffers. EG: Faculty,Once Upon A Time In Mexico

(2) I later found out he wasn't directing the reboot.

(3) Aliens Versus Predators (Nuff Said)

Okay so this was from my initial reaction to the news of the reboot.

Now let's jump into the actual review of the flick.

Predators starts up with Royce( Adrien Brody) free falling into the atmosphere from an unknown height and immediately I got the sense this wasn't going to be another Predator versus Aliens fiasco.

I originally had my doubts about Brody being able to play a bad ass mercenary. I'm happy to say Brody did surprise me quite a bit with his performance. He looked the part,having bulked up with some serious weight training and being stuck on location for several months while training 5-7 days a week and not being able to have sex. In an interview I read with Brody he said this helped him get into and maintain his character during the film's shoot and I have to agree with him on this. He acted like a thinking man's bad ass and not some half cocked steroid jock with no brains kinda hero.

The movie then begins introducing each character as they fall from the sky joining the cast. I personally liked each of the characters and actors that portrayed them, especially Alice Braga, who continues to surprise and endear herself more and more each time I see her in a movie. It was nice seeing Trejo in Predators unfortunately I felt he was highly underused but that's what happens when you have so many cool characters mixing it up. You just know that some of them are going to get the short end of the stick and this time around it was Trejo's Cuchillo.

I won't get into any more spoilers other than to say this movie follows the conventions and rules set by the original with Arnold. Sure there were a lot of homages to the classic. Honestly I was too busy enjoying the film to be nitpicking about something as mundane a problem as this. The jungle looks hot and dangerous,the Predators are awesome looking,even though I had read somewhere that someone had compared them to very angry vaginas. I don't know about you but if I saw a vagina that was that angry I think I would run for the hills. My next question would be where the hell are you guys sticking your penises?.....

Okay getting back on topic.

The idea of the hunting grounds or preserve being a planet where all types of soldiers and animals from various races are sent to help the Predators refine their skills is a natural evolution to the original. The action is well paced,directed with skill and I enjoyed each actors performance.

This is a summer flick just like the original and while Arnold isn't in it I feel it's a worthy sequel or reboot or however you want to phrase it. I enjoyed it and would go back and see it again in a heart beat. If you're a fan of the original check Predators out and see for yourself.

No more excuses

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about a lot of my creative endeavors that I'm involved in and thought it might be interesting to once in a while throw some thoughts and feelings out there and see what happens. Nothing will be off limits. So here goes.

For a while now I've been feeling like I've whatever I create it doesn't seem like I do it fast enough or as much as I would like. I think this is a normal feeling for anyone that creates in any artistic field( art,writing,sculpting,etc) and especially if the person doing the creating has any kind of motivation or drive to not only better their own work on a creative level but to become more prolific. More and more I try and surround myself with different books,cds and whatever else I can think of to help put me into that "zone" we all need to be in to do our best work. The problem with wanting to be in this "zone" is that when we are not there it's an easy excuse for us to just throw up our hands and say" Ah, too bad, I'm not in the mood to work". In fact this zone that I'm talking about happens once in a while for me and if i just sat back and waited to be in the mood or in the zone, I'd never get any type of work done on any creative level.

I hope you can indulge me for a while longer and let me explain a few things about what got me thinking about all of this and what it has lead me to believe.

It started quite a few years ago, while my buddy Jay and I were talking to an artist by the name of Brian Stelfreeze at a Con in Montreal around 1999( give or take), who by the way is an awesome artist and incredibly well spoken and giving of his time despite being so incredibly talented. I think we spent at least an hour talking to him about artwork,panel composition,lighting and working in this magical zone that I keep referring to in this Blog.

Talking to Mr. Stelfreeze for as long as we did I have to say when we were finished I felt like I had absorbed at least a few years worth of art classes from the man and felt like my brain was on fire as everything I had just heard was seeping into the membrane of my subconscious to become part of my creative nature. In any creative endeavor we ALL plateau and stagnate, therefore it's up to each and everyone of us to push ourselves past these sticking points and continue to push our creative boundaries. This is something that is easily said but until you reach a point where you can't seem to get anything done for whatever reason,it doesn't matter what,why,who or how. The point being is that we have to continually adapt how we work to our environment around us and hopefully be flexible and wise enough to embrace change so that we may continue to evolve to another level. It's the artistic equivalent of growing pains and it always hurts.

It always hurts..... Right there are 3 words that we as human beings would love to try and avoid but the sad truth of the matter is that life in general is never easy and no matter what plans we make life will hurt you,humble you and put you on your knees and leave you there if you let it. This applies to anything you can think of in our life on a daily basis. Creative types in general are usually one step removed from being either a genius or a nut job or God forbid a hack. We all have a lot to deal with on a daily basis,internally as well as externally and the you have to factor in life and all of it's "surprises" that it keeps in store for us at any given time. In other words we are fighting a battle and in order to make any headway we can't sit back and say "well gee,I'm not in the zone today so I'll do fuck all", this of course is the easy way and would make the most sense to most humans.
I'm here to say though that this way of thinking is the easiest road to mediocrity and eventually the death of your creative energies. So what do you do?

This is where the answer becomes quite clear if we just stop and think for a minute. In school we were taught at an early age to follow a schedule,the same for high school, our first summer job and eventually our first real job,so why not our creative passion? If You don't set aside the time to create, who will? Do you have magical elves that show up at night and create what you need? I know I'm being an asshole right now but this is important and just like an intervention where no one wants to hear shit that's fucking up their life, it's important and necessary to listen.
Set aside a certain amount of time each day and make it your religion to get that amount of time done in whatever creative venture you aspire to achieve and JUST DO IT.
No excuses.
No more wasting time.

This is a call to arms. Life is not stagnant,why should we be? Find your muse,no mater where that bastard is hiding,even if it's under the bed with the dust bunnies,grab him?her and slap the fuck out of them and put them back to work. I know at first this will seem alien and hard but once you have established your commitment to your craft and have begun honing your tools and are putting in the time needed to create, all of a sudden you have no excuses.

I think you also have to be honest with yourself about a lot of things. The first and foremost being: am I doing as much as I can? Can I create more? Do I waste too much time on things that are a byproduct of our society? Television,movies,etc,etc?

As human beings it's very easy for us to get comfortable on many levels and forget what we need to do,at least until it's after the fact and by then time has passed and it may be too late. To me it's never too late. Only if you're dead,then it's too late. As long as you have a breath in your body there is no excuse.

Now, go out and create something.

Rich.

More pics from Walking Dead tv show.

Hi and welcome back.

For the last little while my enthusiasm for the Walking Dead TV show has been constantly building. I have to admit I didn't think it was a good idea to have it be a tv series but the more time I've spent thinking about it, the more it makes sense. This Blog is a continuation of the one just before dealing with the adaptation of comics to film but this time around I wanted to talk about how much more sense it makes to do a tv series instead of a movie.

Now I know some people are groaning right now but just stop and think about it for a minute. How much more sense does it make for a long running comic to be adapted as a tv series for a network like AMC? A lot actually. Almost everytime a comic is adapted to film so many things have to be changed for the movie but if it was made for a tv series there could be a progression that most times have to be rushed in a 2 hour film. Especially if the character or story has a very long past or storyline. Take for example Walking Dead, to me from everything I've been seeing this series is being handled in the right way to please not just the hardcore fans but the neophyte viewers as well.

The face of television has been changing over the years and while I have limited my tv viewing to a minimum that doesn't mean there isn't good solid shows to check out. On the contrary my personal short list is actually quite long(go figure): The Wire, Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, Rome, Band of Brothers, The Pacific, Heroes, Lost, Masters Of Horror, Fringe, The Unit, The Sopranos, Nip/Tuck, Spatacus and these are just off the top of my head.

Having Walking Dead also in good hands with Frank Darabont definitely helps. Darabont is a director who has handled every single project with absolute class despite the differeing subject matter that he has dealt with in the past. I think if the producers really pay attention and research the source material and stay true to said sourse material, I think things will pay off very well for them in the long run.

Fans can be loyal,they can also be very brutal when they feel that something they love isn't be treated respectfully and I believe they have good reason to be this way. Okay some people take things a bit far but think what happens if the producers and all involved if they do the characters and storyline following the timeline set forth in the comics. It could be a veritable goldmine of stories and shows for each series to pursue every season.

I think Walking Dead will set a new standard of how things could be done in the future as far as adapting properties for the small screen. Providing it becomes popular enough. So far though I have to admit all of the teaser images and photos have got me looking forward to the Fall TV season.

Just some more things to think about in the ever changing face of how things could be done in the future with adapting comics to screen adaptations.

Rich.

RED posters and my opinion on comics to movie adaptations.

Hello everyone and thanks for stopping by to check out my little Blog. I always try to find things of interest to show and talk about every week. I try also to vary the subject matter to keep things interesting.

This week has seen the final versions of the posters for the movie entitled RED which is based on a Warren Ellis miniseries that he did for Wildstorm comics a while ago.

Even though the posters are very cool,they definitely show that the movie is an ensemble piece.Granted there are some very cool actors in this movie but the final version of this flick is very different from the original comic it was based on.

Personally I didn't think that they would adapt the story very faithfully considering that it was about a retired government hit man that becomes a liability simply because he knows too much and is still alive,much to the chagrin of his new superiors that want to have no witnesses that can implicate them in a huge bloody cover up.

Right there is where things get bloody and a cluster fuck happens. What was supposed to be a easy hit for some black ops agents who had no idea that their target despite being retired is not a soft target, being in retirement for a while now. Willis' character in the comic rubs them out and goes on a rampage taking out anyone involved with trying to have him retired permanently.

It's dark,bloody,not very funny and you get a real sense of doom permeating the comic as the story builds to it's climax.

The trailer so far is very far removed form the original comic. The trailer shows a lot of humour,albeit a bit on the dark side but still the tone has changed. Throw in a bunch of characters that were never in the original story,turning this not into a personal revenger but more of a "let's get back together and wreak havoc on the bastards that are trying to kill all of us." kinda flick. It could end up being a fun movie but I don't expect anything more than that.

Guaranteed to justify a bigger budget they had to throw in a lot of A-Lister's to make this movie a can't lose affair for cinema goers and studios alike. Especially these days where the studio heads are very nervous when it comes to big name actors carrying a flick just on the strength of their names or it being yet another sequel. If it's a new franchise watch out because the field seems to be wide open and no one can predict what will tank at the box office and what won't.

I personally would have liked RED filmed on a very small budget with Ed Harris in the lead role and keeping the tone and story identical to the comic. I think it would have been an awesome movie and maybe surprised a lot of people that have never read the original comic. I know,I know, a lot of people say that you have to change the story when you're turning a comic into a movie but just take a look at Sin City,History of Violence,300 or the Crow with Brandon Lee and right there is a very strong argument to be faithful to the source material and you can still have a hit movie.

Another example is this year's Kick ASS: I enjoyed it immensely and it made money,which I think surprised a lot of people BUT it didn't do a huge amount of cash as it was an unknown concept with very unknown actors in principal roles. I mean apart from Nic Cage who everyone knows and seems to be in almost every superhero based franchise that is being made these days. Still a lot of big movies have tanked at the Box Office and even actors like Tom Cruise have had flops this summer.





More and more comics are being adapted into movies and with little to no respect for the original subject matter the final product is usually a disaster and as far as I can see if this trend continues it will only hurt future comic based projects that might be adapted for movies.

I really do hope Hollywood wakes up and realizes that by disrespecting the source material you not only alienate the fans of the comic but end up with a crappy washed out version of what the movie could have been. Catwoman anyone?
I think this way of thinking has made DC's movies flops for the last few years at least until Christopher Nolan showed up and jumped started Batman. This has been the exception rather than the rule of thumb.

Marvel on the other hand has been getting more and more involved with the final product and by doing so they have scored big hits like Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton and this year Iron Man 2 with a whole bunch in the pipeline to come very soon.


Maybe I should be thinking like Alan Moore who has said that once his stuff has been sold to be made into a movie he removes himself creatively and figuratively from being involved with the final product. To me it sounds like selling your child to the highest bidder and then turning your back on helping to make sure it's taken care of properly.

It feels like very soon there will be a breaking point and a lot of cool ideas will never get made into movies because they are not viable "hits" in the eyes of the producers or the studios. I hope I'm wrong and things don't become worse and all we are left with as movie goers are spoon fed pablum that put us into intellectual comas or something much worse devoid of imagination.

Rich.

Hi and thanks for stopping by to check out my Blog .

This weekend the biggest thing that has been talked about amongst a few of my friends at work has been whether or not the new Conan movie will be good or even watchable. To be honest I was a bit dismayed that Jason Momosa was chosen to be Conan. I had the usual thoughts about "How dare they try and replace Arnold" but let's face it with original ideas dwindling in Hollywood it's inevitable that this would happen.

I'm happy to say that so far with all of the images I've seen so far from the set via various sites that Jason looks as close to Conan as possible and with the studio going for an "R" rating this could be a good sign for revitalising the franchise and for fans of the comic and novels as well.There will also be a lot of nudity and as we all know the 2nd Conan film with Arnold was a major disappointment and I personally don't think this new film could be any worse.
I know a lot of people will be upset with me for saying the above statement but the 2nd flick did start to stray into a cheesy side of the franchise that a lot of people would rather it not return to.

The thing that a lot of people don't get about the first Conan film is that Oliver Stone wrote it and while it did stray from the Howard stories I still felt it gave a certain credibility to the movie that other adaptations didn't have. Yes I know Arnold was at the beginning of his acting career and had a HUGE accent BUT there's very few movies that could deliver the insanity that Conan delivered way back when. Okay so it's not as crazy as it used to be because a lot of time has passed since it was first filmed.It's been what almost 20 years now?

Now let's hope this new film can generate this type of awe for a world,time and characters that have had a place in the hearts of fans for over 50 years.
I honestly don't want to get my hopes up, but with
each new image I see I can't help but be a little
excited. I'm also happy to say that Momosa does look pretty good so far and I also read somewhere that he's about 6 feet 4 inches tall. That would actually make him taller than Arnold who's 6feet 2 inches in height. The question is does Jason have the charisma to command the screen for at least 90 minutes? I have never watched or followed the Stargate tv series in which he acted in and have no idea but I want to give the guy a chance.
You'll notice all of the photos I included for my Blog and I hope as more photos become available online that it continues to build the enthusiasm for the actor playing Conan and the movie itself.
I had also read that Rose McGowan was going to be in it playing some kind of evil half/witch
and that I'm looking forward to seeing exactly how big her role will be. I'm hoping she's in it quite a bit. Yup I'm a sucker for Rose McGowan,have been, always will be.Sue me.

I know there's supposed to be pit fighting scenes in the movie and I'm hoping for messy,violent and brutal fights.
I'm thinking that we should all try and keep an open mind and wait and see how the film turns out before we start bashing it left and right. There is one thing that has always bothered me about the movie version is that if you read the books, Howard describes Conan as having a lot of scars all over his body and face due to all of the battles he has been in and survived during the course of his life.

Awhile back I saw the storyboards that Neal Adams did for the first Conan movie with Arnold that was never used during the filming. It was an opening sequence that would roll before the credits began and man I'd love to see this movie start up with an opening scene like that. Basically it showed a group of men that came into a camp after dark and killed everyone there brutally and then afterwards they begin to clean their weapons and relax. A huge shadowy figure drops down from the trees and destroys them and shows just how fearsome battles were in those times. Afterwards when the battle is over only then do we see the face of Conan and then the credits would roll. Man this type of opening would not only shut up a lot of people but would be the coolest opening of a Conan movie ever filmed.
The fan boy in me wants it to be a totally kick ass movie and I hope it turns out that way, i really do.
For now we all have to wait until it's finished.

Later.

Rich.

Black Widow #2 comicbook review

Black Widow #2 comic book review
Written by Marjorie Liu
Art by Daniel Acuna
Published by Marvel Comics

The creative team of the Black Widow started off the first issue with a bang and I really liked the direction this book was taking. The question being now could they maintain what they had started in the first issue? My answer is a resounding yes. I can't state strongly enough how much I love this version of the Black Widow and how they are pacing the story so far to date.

Issue number 2 starts up with a flashback sequence of the Black Widow in a soldier's uniform
out in the middle of the snow struggling as she heads off into the
forest.The look on her face speaks volumes of the pain she is in.
Jumping to the present day as the Widow is jolted awake and starts to take in her surroundings. The dialogue for the first 3 pages is almost nonexistent. That always impresses me when a writer can commit that amount of trust to the artist to pull this part of the story off just with the power of his/her images and that it works.Bravo guys.
Wolverine shows up just as the Widow is trying to leave the Hospital and they have a brief conversation that made me smile at first but then it got deadly serious with implications of what was to come.
As she tries to make it out of the Hospital the Widow id attacked by several agents posing as Hospital staff and she dispatches them easily. Even when she runs into a security detail she makes short work of them quickly and easily. You have to also consider that she has stitches in her and was cut open not that long ago. The widow is playing this very hardcore. Here's a little snippet of a conversation to give you an idea of just how hard she's playing this game:Logan: 3 days in bed.that's what the doctors said.Or so I heard.
Widow: I don't think so.
Logan: Just a flesh wound, right?
Widow: Bleeding stumps are flesh wounds. What I've got is a scratch.
DAMN.
She's playing for keeps.
It's finally revealed what was taken from the Widows body and I'm not going to ruin it for anyone but suffice it to say that the Widow is starting to look like a traitor to those shadowy government types. Even the heroes that have had past liaisons with her are having doubts themselves.

The Widow finds herself inside a bar where she has a safe house,weapons and everything else she'll need to go to war with whoever is manipulating her and her friends. As she gears up,we start to realise just how personal this whole affair is to her and how she'll handle it.

By the end of this book they'll be a lot of people gunning for her and it'll all start with Elektra in the following issue. The widow is now persona non grata and everyone wants to make a name for themselves by taking her down.

Issue 3 will get very interesting.

Later.

Rich.

Hi and welcome back.

Today's Blog will be about the comic book Black Widow #1 By Marjorie Liu and Daniel Acuna published by Marvel Comics.

To be quite honest not since Devin Grayson and Jg Jones did a mini-series years ago did I feel like Marvel really used the Widow to her fullest potential.

I'm happy to say though with this book Ms. Liu hits a homerun. Daniel Acuna's artwork is very easy on the eyes as well. In fact I like his Black Widow quite a bit.

The coloring and tone of the book is very dark and brings Natasha Romanoff aka The Black Widow back to her roots as a spy and assassin.

We are intorduced to some characters that will no doubt play a major role in the upcoming arc for this series.I'm thankful Ms Liu has kept the superheroes to a minimal presence in this book, I mean afterall The Black Widow has dated Tony Stark( Iron Man) Mathew Murdock(Daredevil) and is now dating James Bucky Barnes( The new Captain America) so when she becomes embroiled in a deadly game of cat and mouse you just know some of these characters will make an appearance...

She is back in her element dealing with matters of espionage until she gets shot,drugged and operated on by another elderly female spy while another shadow character looks on.

The Widow is then left on the sidewalk bleeding and opened with the severed head of the elderly spy who operated on her previously on her body. Left behind is also a Rose and a scarf, clues for the Widow when she regains her mobility. (To me what the clues represented was a bit obvious BUT I was totally into what Ms. Liu was doing and wanted to see where she was going to be taking this story.)

Of course that sends out the alarms to some of her fellow heroes and they show up to find out why she's in the Hospital.

Logan(Wolverine), Tony Stark(Iron Man) and the new Captain America (James Bucky Barnes) who she just happens to be dating right.

Logan goes off on a recon mission and doesn't like what he finds. Something smells. This is only the beginning of a nasty game that will only get worse for the Widow before it is over. I look forward to the other upcoming issues of this series.

Later.

Rich.

Walking Dead teaser images

Back again, and this time I have a damn good reason to be doing 2 Blogs in one day. For those of you wondering what the significance of the images I've shown so far are?*

* Mature readers warning people*

For all the fans of The Walking Dead comic who have heard the rumours about the AMC TV show,well here are some teaser images that have just surfaced on the net and goddamn I'm fucking excited. If you are a fan like me,then we have good reason to rejoice so far. Just the fact that Frank Darabont was onboard as the director and is heavily involved in the show gave me great hope for what the finished version would look like.

Now,everything has changed. The fall can't get here fast enough.

I'm off to bed with a smile on my face.

Later.

Rich.

Hi everyone.

This is a little bit of an impromptu Blog for this mid-week BUT after I saw this image of myself and Jason I thought I would embellish a bit not just on when and where the image was taken but the significance of it.

y'see this was last year in Toronto at Fan Expo and we were at our table(of course) and you knos there's always people asking if they snap a shot and we pose with them and each other all day long. It's just really funny when you see a picture of you and your buddy and don't even remember posing for it,now that's something. That and the fact that I look totally stoned,which i wasn't by the way,just exhausted.

To me I would think this was the 2nd day of the Con and honestly while I was there, each night of the Con Jay and I drank quite a bit and I didn't sleep that much as I was running on pure adrenaline those 3 days.

I think I slept a total of 12 hours in 3 days..

Yeah, I know I'm crazy.

Between all of the people that we were talking to and all of the ecitement and constant crowds, it got pretty insane. We were sitting right to the side of Mr. Darwynn Cooke and a lot of spillage came our way and we were more than happy to talk to and indulge any fans that wanted to chat or buy stuff from us. By the end of each day though my voice was shot.The constant white noise was overwhelming.

I'd do it again in a heartbeat......

And since then I've done 4 other Cons. It becomes very addictive, a lot like a drug and the high that you get from using. The problem becomes afterwards,when you have to return to reality and return to your life. When I do a Con I give my all to the fans and I want them to hang around and participate in conversations,take photos,goof off, you name it. I'm there for them. Period.

Here's the link to the Blog where this pic appeared :www.evilvonscary.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html

Stop by and show some love.

If you like my Blog,don't be shy,become a follower and tell your friends too.

Later.

Rich.

Lindsay Lohan and Machete

Hi and welcome to my uncensored and mature readers Blog here on Blogger.com

I have gotten tired of dealing with myspace policies and always worrying about getting deleted for my opinions or what I may be talking about every week.
So no more.Nothing will be off limits and I'll be showing some crazy things in the upcoming weeks,so stay tuned.

You'll notice that image of Linday Lohan that's to the right of the text? I'm sure everyone is wondering why it's there? Honestly I'm tired of the press always beating down this poor girl and making look like she's worse than everybody else when she's followed 24/7 by papparazzi that hound her incesantly.

If i had some one following me non stop I'd lose it on a daily basis and would be in court several times a day. I'd give you one warning motherfucker and then get too close and I'm turning you into a fucking pretzel,get me?
Yeah I know the fucking scumbags that follow them around are trying to make a living but for fuck sakes give the celebrities room to breathe for crying out loud,back the fuck up.
Personally I really think she's awesome and for her to put up with the non-stop crap that gets written about her on a daily basis and not going ballistic gets my respect.That and I think she's hot and looks incredibly smoking in thew pic,so sue me.
She's also going to be in Robert Rodrigues' Machete which I'm very excited about and after seeing the "illegal trailer" I'm totally pumped for September. I have a stronf feeling that after everyone sees here in Machete not only will she have a new legion of fans,male and otherwise but will also surprise quite a few people with how good she will be in it.
Just some of the promo images of her in a nun outfit holding a 44 magnum was amazing but the 2nd image of licking the Magnum just too mindblowing.
Rodrigues will deliver the goods with this movie the question being will Lohan be able to hold her own on screen? September is not that far away and we'll see if my feeling is right about Lindsay or not. Either way I still think she's hot and if you don't agree with me no problem, just don't bust my balls about it. Capice?

Like I said each Blog I do will be me uncensored,no holding back and just telling you like I see it.

Later.

Rich.