NEWS AND NOTES

This is a News and Notes I've been drafting over the last few weeks, so this a warning: it may feel sorta disjointed.

-So it was my birthday last week, and my friends and coworkers and family got my nice and inebriated. I thank them all! But, man, I'm now 33 which is like a crazy kick in the ass. Hopefully a good one, we'll see as the year moves forward.

-As part of the birthday weekend we hit a few cool places like Mesa Grill and Mohegan Sun. I also went to Borgota in Atlantic City before that, and I want to do a compare and contrast post, which will be different for me. Look for that sooner than later.

-To end off the weekend, we hit some batting cages because God knows I needed it. We hit on the slow pitch softball which was like waaaaay faster than my league pitches. After whiffing a few I finally started catching up with the ball, and I think that's going to help me overall.

-I debated talking about this in a movie post, but it's not a movie, not really a doc either, just hours and hours of director Kevin Smith doing Q&A's with college crowds. It's An Evening with Kevin Smith. If you're a fan, which I am, than I suggest you give it a look, because there's a lot of fun stories here. After awhile of watching it I realized I had watched a few of these segments elsewhere, but for the life of me I can't recall where. I watched it on Netflix instant viewer, which is awesome, but I don't get around to using nearly as much as I'd like.

-We hit this year's Renegade Art Fair as fans and not vendors and boy were we glad! It was super hot to start and unfortunately they had some pretty bad storms blowing through. Naturally I managed to pick up some t-shirts before took off. Got a cool t-shirt from my craft fair pal Viva Ortegacy! and a very cool Brooklyn neighborhood shirt.

-Things haven't gone so well for the DC Bullets losing 2 close games to The Onion and a blow out to the High Times. We did kill Archie Comics somewhere in the middle , but I was on the other team! Archie was short and me and fellow teammate Gary Collins volunteered for them. At least I managed a hit that set up Archie's only run. I played much better in the High Times game turning a double play from the catcher's position and getting real good "wood" on a shot that was caught. We played Gawker on my B-Day and won big time though, with yours truly hitting a birthday triple! Man was I winded though, sheesh! Our latest game was against Scholastic and while we lost 6-3 I managed to go 3 for 3 with a double and RBI. So maybe the batting cages helped abit. Here's the latest write ups: vs. Paris Review, vs. The Onion.

-Brooklyn Original, the blog, is running again albeit slowly. We put up Tommy Lombadozzi's 2nd column so go give a check. There is something major coming In BO's future, so for those that thought it dead, you will be very surprised about it's future.

-While in AC, we caught Bob Saget: Live! It was a pretty cool show with comedian James Smith opening up for the former Danny Tanner. Smith had me in stitches and almost threw off my appreciation for Saget's brand of humor. Saget if you haven't seen his stand up is crazy lewd and vulgar, like the Mr. Hyde to Danny Tanner. It's pretty amazing. He really interacts well with the crowd too. All in all a fun show.

-The Mocca Art Festival went pretty well earlier this month, and not just because of the cool Bio Boy news. I picked up some cool books including Matt Loux's Salt Water Taffy, which was completely excellent, and the astounding mini anthology Five by Becky Cloonan, Vasilis Lolos, Gabriel Ba, Fabio Moon, and the insane Rafeal Grampa. But the best book of the con, hands down, goes to Girls Don't Poop by Mario Van Buren. A tiny mini comic on that exact subject matter. It's perfecto!

-Last, but not least I give you Italian Spiderman. Don't say I don't love you.

That's the news and I am outta here! (I'm sure I forgot stuff this time though oh well!)

THE HILL AND VAPOR REVIEWED

From Newsarama's Best Shots. Thanks to Mike Lorah for his honest takes on my books. Good, bad, or ugly honesty always helps me. I take pride in the good stuff and learn from the bad. So here they are:

The Hill (Markosia; by Mike): For fans of snappy one-liners and relentless action, The Hill should be a fun ride, but it’s one that unfortunately has little going for it beyond those surface elements. Government assassin Jill and genetically engineering monster Jack are products of The Hill, though the nursery rhyme connection doesn’t go much deeper than that (Jack can only be killed by a head shot, which is about as far as the connections go). Although Jack shows a compelling emotional range, from confusion to rage, love to regret, Jill seems capable of only unending bitter anger—the abuse heaped on Jill by her father, for his scientific pursuits and government contracts, goes beyond the pale into the realm of ludicrous. The art is mostly solid, though occasionally cluttered and one of the action sets was particularly hard to follow (Jill loses a limb, which I didn’t realize until three pages later).

Vengeance of the Vapor #1-2 (Markosia; by Mike): Another offering from The Hill’s creative team, this one shows much considerable creative growth: A mix of western and masked vigilante genres, writer Sal Cipriano and artist Jok’s series shows some promise. A brother-sister tandem (Kate and Brooks), searching for their sheriff grandfather, visit a western town under the thrall of homicidal gold hunters. The dialogue is stiff and the villains’ treatment of Kate is misogynist in the extreme; however, Cipriano does tease a question about Brooks’ ultimate loyalty, and even offers potential nuances to bad guy honcho The Heavy. Jok’s art is sometimes muddy with too many lines, but his storytelling is mostly clear and the character designs— though not imaginative—show enough variety to keep the characters distinct.

THIS WEEK'S LETTERING RELEASES

THE ALL NEW ATOM #25: The last issue. I'm sad. This book was really going places. Rick Remender wrote one hella sweet sci-fi story to end the book and the art was top notch throughout by Pat Olliffe and crew. I also feel this book brought out my best lettering to date overall, and I can't wait till they trade it up. I think alot of people are going really be wowed when they read that, it was that good a story. I hope I get to work with these guys again soon too. For now Viva La Atom!

NIGHTWING #146: Speaking of endings...the end of the Nightfall storyline finishes off with a slam bang thriller. This has been one hell of a story too with great art by Rags Morales and Don Kramer, who has really stepped up here. His next issue, #147, is his best yet actually. It's cool to end this storyline as it's one of the first I started on, and while I didn't letter the first issue I actually had redesigned the title for it.

MANHUNTER #32: MH's return is in full swing with Blue Beetle guest starring. Michael Gaydos' art in this book is tremendous, and I really dig where Marc Andreyko's going with this storyline. i think it's more hard hitting than ever before.

INFINITY INC. #11: Here's a book I haven't done before, written by the incomparable Peter Milligan. I liked my title/credits for this storyline, and got a few complements from editorial. Pretty cool.

Courtesy of DC Comics.

THIS WEEK'S LETTERING RELEASES

HUNTRESS YEAR ONE #4: The Huntress faces off with an assassin in Venice, then comes to Gotham! This is sort of a transition issue for the character as she leaves her native Italy for Gotham. It's a very good issue with some excellent work by both writer Ivory Madison and artist Cliff Richards.

JSA CLASSIFIED #39: Me and fellow lettering cohort Travis Lanham double teamed this two parter (he did issue 38) at the same time and knocked it out! The story centers on former boxer Wildcat as he battles a gang of fighters! I loved doing this book as I totally dig this character and it had sweet art by the underated Shawn Martinborough. Between this story and the last, with equally sweet art by Ramon Perez, Wildcat has looked hot and I'd love to see a series based on him.

Courtesy of DC Comics.

MOVIES I'VE SEEN LATELY...

GET SMART: Me and Marilyn hit a free screening of this update of the classic series, and we were pleasantly surprised. I mean I went in expecting absolutely nothing so that helps, but I was quite entertained. I laughed out loud a few times, and overall, while the movie doesn't exactly break new ground or anything, it wasn't, by any stretch, a bad movie. Steve Carrell was very funny, despite hearing that he was just phoning it in, and the rest of the cast all looked like they had a great time. Ann Hathaway has developed into quite the little number, and the always pleasant Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was charming. Alan Arkin is always great, and look out for a number of fun little cameos. Carrell's Maxwell Smart was abit of a departure from the original, more intelligent and more capable overall, more believable I guess, although this is not a believable movie by any stretch. I liked both of those aspects though. Bigger budget than I expected too, with alot of neat visual action sequences. All in all good stuff, especially for free!

THE MIST: I'll say it right away, you have to see this movie! It took awhile for the DVD to finally get shipped to me from Netflix, being on the Very Long Wait list for a month or so, and then it took me another month to finally watch it, but wow was it worth the wait. This is the latest from highly acclaimed director Frank Darabont, as he adapts another Stephen King story to astounding success. The story revolves around townsfolk trapped in a supermarket after a mysterious, and apparently deadly, mist overtakes the town. Thomas Jane, giving his best turn since 61*, leads a spectacular cast as a famous movie poster artist who takes his kid with him to the store after a violent storm takes out all the power in town. It doesn't take long for chaos to break loose either as people start to realize there is something deadly in the mist. From there the story turns into a survival movie as the paranoid and divided folks try to defend the supermarket from the various creatures coming out of the mist. The story builds to a boiling point with accurate precision from Darabont, and you're left just as exhausted as the remaining cast at the end. Speaking of the end, if that's not the most f'd up moment in recent cinema than I don't know what is! This is a great movie with a hard hitting and true message, and you really have to just see it. Go grab it now, and let me know what you think!

THE ONION MOVIE: The weekly satire newspaper makes an equally satirical movie, but instead of being about a newspaper The Onion is a nightly news broadcast. Good transition I'd say, and maybe this would work better as a half hour show. The movie though is really a parody in the vein of Kentucky Fried Movie. Actually, someone send Zucker and Abrams a check because this movie is basically a rip of KFM, which is like one of my all time favorites. If this movie were better I'd probably be inclined to say it was a homage, but it wasn't. I mean it wasn't all bad and I chuckled a couple of times, but most of the skits don't work. The hands down best segments go to the fake Steven Seagal trailers for his new movie "Cockpuncher!". Now that's the movie I really want to see!

BE KIND REWIND: Michel Gondry's latest flick is an alright movie; not bad, not great, just ok. It stars the fantastic Mos Def and Jack Black star as video store clerks who decide to make their own versions of movies after Black accidentally magnetizes the store's entire inventory. The story is silly, like most of Gondry's, and does have its charms, especially during their remade movie sequences, but it runs a tad long and becomes rather formulaic towards the end. It's entertaining enough for a rental though and I wouldn't hesitate to do so if I were you.

VINCE VAUGHN'S WILD WEST COMEDY SHOW: This is a pretty good documentary/slash concert film revolving around Vince Vaughn and his band of comedians as they trek across America in their bus on a nonstop 30 day tour. It's a pretty damn good look into what it takes to be a stand up comedian, much more so that Seinfeld's Comedian. Vaughn is always a joy to watch and is funny, sympathetic, and charming in this. The group he's gathered is up to the task, and each guy has his own interesting story to tell, not mention all of them being pretty damn funny on stage! It's not all fun and games though as Hurricane Katrina hits as the tour is in mid swing, detouring the crew and changing some of their plans. Hate to say it, but the tragedy adds an interesting element to the doc. This is a very funny, emotional, and completely engrossing movie and I recommend it.

ANGEL-A: This movie almost slipped through the cracks for me. That would've sucked since I'm a fan of Luc Besson's movies. He had stepped back after directing The Messenger to write and produce a bunch of action flicks. He was probably a little burnt out after the epics The Fifth Element and The Messenger, so his return to directing was decidedly a much smaller film. Angel-A is about a down on his luck small time crook who owes too many bad people money. When some gangsters threaten his life lest he pay within a day, he decides maybe it's better to end his life, but when he tries to, he instead ends up saving a woman, who was also trying to kill herself, instead. The woman is gorgeous and instantly pledges her life to the crook. She begins helping him sort out his life by very unconventional means, and soon you begin to realize that there is much more to her than initially thought. I won't give more away, but it's a neat little love story. What I love about Besson in general is his ideal of putting love above all else in his films, and thematically every aspect of his stories usually follows a path behind it. It's very prominent in The Fifth Element and it's very prominent here. Overall, it's a good movie, so get to the renting.

BQE PRESS TO PUBLISH BIO BOY/TURNBUCKLE AND MORE!

Finally! Well, I've been saying I've had Bio Boy news for awhile, and at the Mocca Art Festival the cat came out of the bag. BQE Press, mentioned for the first time here, will be publishing the bulk of my library of creator owned material!

To start there's the collected edition of The Adventures of Bio Boy! The wrestling noir OGN, Turnbuckle, created by Marco DiLeonardo and I, will follow that one up. These are both books that are 100% done, so you know for sure that they will be released as soon as BQE Press is ready. I'm told that Bio Boy will be released in late September.

I'm very happy that Lou and Charles have taken on my books, and I thank them for giving the books the release they've deserved. We all had worked very hard on them, and I know that BQE will do them right. They are smart folks with good heads on their shoulders, so keep your eyes peeled on their website for all the details.

Lastly, I want to thank anyone that followed Bio Boy during the initial Speakeasy run, and have been patiently waiting for a collection of the work. I think you'll all be very happy on how we wrapped up the series!

DANGERMART REVIEWS BIRDS OF PREY #119

My lettering is briefly mentioned, go give it a read: http://dangermart.blogspot.com/2008/06/birds-of-prey-119-review.html

THIS WEEK'S LETTERING RELEASES

BIRDS OF PREY #119: I'm corning the market on lettering the female superhero books. Let's see...on my plate currently I have Huntress Year 1, Manhunter, the current Batgirl/Catwoman storyline running through Batman Confidential, Green Arrow/Black Canary, and now Birds of prey which brings a few of those characters together! This new storyline settles the BOPs into a new home and brings Manhunter and Black Canary to blows! I really dig my title and credits for this one so keep an eye out!

WORLDS OF WARCRAFT #8: I've been reading this book since it started and I've dug what Walt Simonson's done with this fantasy story, so it's pretty neat to letter an issue. Plus it gave the talented Mr. Steve Wands a break so he could go on his honeymoon! Woo!

Courtesy of DC Comics.

THIS WEEK'S LETTERING RELEASES

BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #18: The second part of Batgirl/Catwoman storyline is chockfull of girl on girl action, or something like that. There's a really fun dog chase sequence in the book that trumps that though!

HUNTRESS YEAR ONE #3: Things heat up as Valerie takes a big step in becoming The Huntress! BTW, the well designed and illustrated covers to this series are by Matthew Clark. For some reason he hasn't been in the credits.

GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #9: My first ever issue of the fabulous duo starts a new storyline guest starring Plastic Man! Hopefully I can rock out this whole storyline as I'm digging the art of Mike Norton on this book, and Cliff Chiang's covers are incredible!

Courtesy of DC Comics.

LIVE: MOCCA ART FESTIVAL THIS WEEKEND

I'll be there hanging with my BQE Press pals @ table B45. Who is BQE Press? Well they are just a cool new little company headed by former Eisner nominated All About Books and Comics manager, and current Secretary of the Grand Comics Database, Louis Mazzella, and freelance writer and Newsarama contributor, Charles Q. Choi. Mocca is their debut anywhere!

Their first book is a special convention ashcan comic of Chris Brimacombe's Curse of the Wendigo, which I lettered. They will have postcards and pencils and the aforementioned book, so come by and check them out. Fans of my books will get quite a nice surprise out of the postcards!

More news next week about BQE Press' launch and how it ties to Bio Boy! (hint, hint!)

All the info for the Mocca Art Festival can be found here: http://moccany.com/artfest-main.html

MOVIES I'VE SEEN LATELY...

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL: After an 18 year gap Indy finally returned to the theaters, unfortunately to lackluster results. While not horrible, and not unworthy of the series either, it definitely was my least favorite of the 4. Featuring a plot that involved the ancient Mayans and spoiler: aliens, Indy goes on an absurd adventure to find a weird crystal skull and the mom of a greaser played by Shia LaBeauf. There's some great fun action dispersed throughout, but overall I found it all a bit tired and forced. The chemistry between Indy and Shia is good and the movie does have little nods to the other ones which was nice. I guess Spielberg and crew just wanted a little ode to the series and something for the fans. I just wish it felt a little less forced.

THE BROTHERS GRIMM: Supposedly Terry Gilliam's worst movie ever, I found it to be much better than that and really quite enjoyable. Sure, it's a bit more mainstream, but not more than say 12 Monkeys was. Grimm is about the two brothers making their way in the world as fantastical con artists defeating demons and such and getting paid handsomely by townsfolk. They are soon whisked away by a french general who doesn't believe in them and are made to go try to stop children from being stolen from a local town. The brothers are in way too deep with real magical and supernatural elements and have to figure themselves out before it's too late. Good FX and a fun story with great acting by Matt Damon and the late Heath Ledger heading the cast.

TIDELAND: Now you want to really talk about Gilliam's worst, I do not suggest this one. I could not take it at all. Like Alice in Wonderland on heroin, but with none of the charm. Just an ugly movie with annoying acting by the leads, Jeff Bridges excluded. Blah.

SERAPHIM FALLS: A really good little western starring Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson, well at least till the last 15 minutes where it disintegrates completely! Brosnan is an outlaw on the run from Neeson and his gang through the snowy mountains of the West, which is all good Spaghetti Western feeling stuff, but then at the end it get all trippy in the desert and becomes a complete joke. Very odd and silly ending to an otherwise good story.

SMILEYFACE: Wow, I'm sorry, but this is a bad movie. It's a stoner movie that stoners may think is right on, but really just comes across as poor film making. Just as bad as Tideland, not recommended.

MY NEIGHBOR TORTORO: Been on a Miyazaki kick lately trying to watch the ones I have not seen and Totoro kicked it off. An excellent movie that's totally cute if not a tad short and anticlimactic. It tells a nice little story of responsibility though so I can let that go. It felt like the granddad of Spirited Away in a way. Beautiful animation.

KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE: This one is a more well rounded story and overall I dug it more than Totoro. Kiki is a witch in training who goes to a big city to hone her craft. Along the way she starts a delivery service because she can whisk across the city easy on her broom. It's a story of acceptance and is just solid throughout. It's cute and the animation of course is excellent. I loved Kiki's little black cat the best.

NAUSSICA, OF THE VALLEY OF THE WINDS: This one was Miyyazaki's second feature ever, after doing the Lupin movie, and was the first of his own ideas. It's also the most serious of his resume with a pretty great sci fi story, similar in feel to Dune, in the center. Marilyn didn't care much, but I love a good sci fi and this one is excellent. Great animation, if not a little different from Miyazaki's patented style, with tremendous design work throughout. Great story too. Highly reccommended for you sci fi geeks!

A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT: French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's followup to Amelie, one of my favorite movies ever, was quite good, but nowhere near the level of perfection as Amelie. A little boring at times, but engaging throughout. Engagement is a bout a woman (Amelie's Audrey Tautou) who doesn't give up hope that her husband will come home from World War 1 even though it's been years since it's been over and her quest to find out what happened to him. It has Jeunet's signature flashback sequences and style and is beautiful in every aspect. It does run a tad long, but overall I liked it.

PARIS JE TAIME: A collection of 5 minute works set in different parts of Paris from all kinds of different directors such as the Coen Bros, Wes Craven, Run Lola Run's Tom Tywker and various other great directors. Most of the movies are quite charming and fun, but some are too artsy or boring or just plain bad. Tywker's short was the best with Natalie Portman as an actress in Paris trying to get a part and her new relationship with a blind man. The way Tywker shoots it is incredible and worth the price of admission. Second best was the Coen's with Steve Buscemi as a tourist in the Paris subway, very fun. The good pieces definitely outnumber the bad, boring, or weird so I'd say give it a looksie.

PREVIEWS: NIGHTWING/MANHUNTER

Newsarama has previews of Nightwing #145 and Manhunter #31. Click the titles to go to them. Here's a page from each:

THIS WEEK'S LETTERING RELEASES

New format for my lettering releases! New simple title, more individual love within. Let's get to it.

THE ALL NEW ATOM #24: The penultimate issue of the series unravels the story of Lady Chronos and the fate of the Atom! Man, I'm gonna miss lettering Ryan Choi's adventures. Remender has written one hell of a finale for this book, so if you're not reading this book, shame on you! I suggest when the trade comes out of Inside Out you snag a copy! In the meantime treat yourselves to the last couple of issues, it's f'n awesome!

MANHUNTER #31: This is an interesting book to be on as it's come back from hiatus a few times now, and I can see why. Marc Andreyko's a great writer and now with the addition of Michael Gaydos and Jose Villarubia on art it's really ready to kick ass. This is the perfect team for the story of the single mom super vigilante. Good stuff, and very happy to be a part of the relaunch.

NIGHTWING #145: Man the Freefall storyline has been hard hitting, and it does not relent in this issue. Nightwing is a great character and completely underrated. I'm loving this book not just as the letterer, but as a fan.

ROBIN/SPOILER SPECIAL: The Spoiler is back from the dead, how'd she do it?! Well, this 38 pager tells you why! More good Chuck Dixon writing and awesome art by Rafael Alburquerque really make this book sing.

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #46:The last issue of the series and the second week in a row that I get to close out a series. Weird, huh? Anyways, this issue plays out more like the Green Lantern Corp than JLU and feels more like the regular book than the cartoon version. It has great art by Carlo Barberi and features a favorite character from my younger years G'Nort!

All in all good solid week for me with two books I love, one off shoot of a regular title, and being part of the return of a critical darling. Hope you can get out to the stores and pick any or all of these up. let me know whatcha think.

Courtesy of DC Comics.

HUNTRESS YEAR ONE #2/SHADOWPACT #25

This coming week in lettering I have my second issue of Huntress Year One and my first of Shadowpact, which is also my last since it's the series' last issue. The Huntress book is actually biweekly so I've been working hard on the book lately. Shadowpact was an interesting experience because I finished up the storyline from lettering great Ken Lopez who gave me a tremendous lettering education during the process of working on the book. Here's the covers to look for:



Courtesy of DC Comics.

NEWS AND NOTES

After a couple of weeks off, let's play catch up:

-No comics from me last week again, but it happens. I know Robin came out, but I wasn't available to letter that one as I was covering an issue of Worlds of Warcraft (#8!). The Eisner nominated Jared K. Fletcher lettered the issue instead. Not a bad replacement, huh? However I did get to letter the Robin/Spoiler special which comes out in a couple of weeks and that is really good!

-I finished reading the debut novel by Brian Francis Slattery, Spaceman Blues. At first it felt rather pretentious and poetic in it's telling, but as I got further into the narrative Slattery's style really unfolded in my mind and I got really into it. The backdrop of an impending alien invasion on NYC and the residents reaction to it sets the stage for one man to go on a quest to find his missing lover that may be the key to all that is happening. This is a story of personal growth spurted by disaster and Slattery does a great job of painting an interesting picture of the whole thing. It's dizzying at times, but overall a pretty damn good story. I'd recommend it.

-Right now I'm reading Kevin Smith's diary, My Boring Ass Life, which so far is fantastic! Of course if you're offended by going to the can, and having sex detailed quite regularly you may not feel the same. Already I totally recommend it to any of the writer/director's fans.

-Between those I read the second Welcome to Tranquility trade paperback by Gail Simone and Neil Googe. I really dug it, not as good as the first storyline, but good none the less. Googe's art is great here, and he's complimented with some guest artists telling back stories. If you're unfamiliar with the now defunct series, it's a Wildstorm book about a town where a bunch of old superheroes went to retire, but lately chaos has hit the town and the townsfolk have had to deal with it. Once a hero always one I guess. Good stuff!

-I wanna extend an Internet congrats to Marilyn for her mega Timmie sale and 15 minute sell out! Timmie is her flagship creation and his popularity is growing all the time, hence the quick sellout.

-I'm a little saddened that Subway has changed their 5 dollar deal. All their 12 inch subs had been 5 dollars for a couple of months there and now they've narrowed it down to 8 subs. Of course the sub I really got to love during that time, Turkey, isn't on there. I'm not happy.

-Brooklyn Original is still on hiatus, but I have ideas on the return and a revamp. Hopefully I can get it back together with a big relaunch soonish.

-Con news: I'll be hanging around Wizard World Philly this weekend catching up and stuff with peeps. And after that, I have a table with Chris Brimacombe at the Mocca Art Festival. I may have some copies of The Hill with me, but also there will be a book that Chris wrote and drew and I lettered (prior to my DC work) called Curse of the Wendigo, which is being published by the new company that will also be publishing my backlog of work including Bio Boy and Turnbuckle. Again, more news soon!

-My pal Marco DiLeonardo is having another art show Saturday night which I will coming back from Philly for. His work is amazing, so please come down and see it for yourself and buy one if you can! Here's the info: Saturday May 31st, 9PM, Glascott Funeral Home 102-03 Metropolitan Avenue, Forest Hills, NY 11375 US

-Well, my softball team, The DC Bullets, have had a rocky start, but we had an exciting win this week against The Paris Review so maybe things will start turning around. Unfortunately I'm 0-6 for the season, but getting more of the rust off (hadn't played in 10 years!) and feeling more comfortable out there on the field. There are write ups on our first two losses to WNYC and Trader Monthly at the DC Comics website.

-To help my progress in the softball feel I've gotten some Dr. Scholl's soles for foot and lower back relief. These are always problem ares for me so it should help. Already just walking around feels a whole lot better!

-Me and Marilyn went to the Murakami show yesterday at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and to the Superhero fashion show at the Met on Saturday. I absolutely was in love with the Murakami show. The man is a complete lunatic with illustration and design and combines the two perfectly. His anime inspired illustrations and sculptures are something amazing to behold. His animated shorts were like kids toons on crack! Speaking of kids, this show IS NOT FOR KIDS! Parents really need to do their research when taking kids to shows like this. It was quite "Adult". But you have to see it if you're not a kid, so damn awesome! The superhero fashion thing was a joke though. I hated it. It was bunch of "fashion" designers doing riffs on classic costumes. It was a mockery to the people that designed all of the original super hero costumes. The only cool thing was it had some of the originals from the movies present, like Christopher Reeve's Superman costume and the Iron Man armor.

-We also hit a Tim Biskup gallery show at the Jonathon Levine Gallery. Pretty good work. I own some of his T-Shirts so I had to go!

-Last weekend we hit Pacificana for some excellent Dim Sum. We tried so many tasty dishes while trying not to eat any fishy stuff (me and Marilyn are not fans) and did pretty well. We thank our excellent hosts for a great afternoon!

-I went to another Yankee game since I last did one of these News and Notes and all I remember was that I drank alot. Oh well.

That's the news and I am outta here!

BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #17/GOTHAM UNDERGROUND #8/HUNTRESS YEAR ONE #1/LEGION OF SUPERHEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY #14/GEN 13 #20

Another big week in lettering coming up! First, the latest Batman Confidential issue, my 3rd, starts a new storyline starring Batgirl and Catwoman. Besides the characters there are multiple points of excitement here. First, it takes place after the wonderful Batgirl Year One mini series. Next, it's written by Fabian Nicieza and illustrated by Kevin Maguire! If you don't know these guys shame on you! And lastly, I got to create my own version of the Batgirl Year One captions, as well as make a hybrid Catwoman cap. I tell you, there's nothing better than putting your stamp on a series like that. I'm very happy with the way this is going. Next book up is another one with the "Sal" stamp, and the first issue of a new miniseries, Huntress Year One! Admittedly not knowing much about the character I've quickly caught up with what she's all about, and damn is she cool! Not only does she kick ass, she's Italian! I think I'm in love! After that, we have the latest Gotham Underground which has more great swerves and action than a wrestling storyline! The latest LOSH31 has Phantom Girl trying to convince everyone she seeing ghosts, and Gen 13 continues their NYC adventures! Awesome and Awesome! All of these are in stores this coming Wednesday!






Courtesy of DC Comics.

PREVIEWS OF NIGHTWING AND DETECTIVE COMICS @ NEWSARAMA

A little late since the books came out this past week, but Newsarama had previews of two of the books I've lettered. Here's a page from each, check out the rest here.

MOVIES I'VE SEEN LATELY...

I think this may be my biggest movie review post yet, let's get to it!

IRON MAN: Without a doubt one of the best comic book movies of all time, Iron Man flew into theaters this weekend to resounding success! And it totally deserves it. The film is well scripted and paced briskly setting the stage for the excellent cast to do it's thing. Robert Downey Jr. has got to be, hands down, the most well cast actor to ever fill a comic character's shoes, and that's saying alot! But his Tony stark is perfect, and the screenwriters gave him some spot on material to work with. He was comedic, relevant, and sincere in his portrayal of the billionaire industrialist. The action and effects were well done and engrossing. I loved every second of this movie, and YOU should too. Oh, and be sure to stay till after the credits for a glimpse of things to come!

THERE WILL BE BLOOD: One word: Overrated! Now that said, I didn't hate it, but I thought it was fairly boring and the storytelling completely got lost on me somewhere in the middle. Once I did find my footing again, the ludicrous ending just made raise my eyebrows and roll the eyeballs under them. Daniel Day Lewis, of course, is fantastic, and if anything watch it because of him.

ALIENS VS. PREDATOR: REQUIEM: Ha, after that review and this one coming, you're gonna think I'm crazy, although maybe you already do, but I loved this movie! It totally kicks the first one's ass, which isn't hard, but this movie actually has some legs to stand on. Now, this isn't rocket science, folks. This isn't thought provoking sci-fi either. There's no real relevant message. But what there is is one non stop ass kicking Aliens/Predator slaugtherfest! It also feels like both movie franchises, which is great considering the first movie felt like the video game version. The people in the movie are unique to the franchises as they are all just ordinary folks caught in the crossfire. They are kind of generic, but for this movie they're almost refreshing! The story continues directly from the last movie without nodding to that one at all, which honestly is a good thing, and everything moves along well. The action is insane, with some pretty damn gory spots! If you loved the Aliens and Predator movies, but hated the first team up, I think you'll love this movie. Go for it already, you know you wanna! If you're a snob, well sorry, this one isn't for you.

JUNO: Now here's a movie everyone I think can agree on. Juno is just one fun, smart movie about teenage pregnancy. Ellen Page is just a joy to watch, and the type of girl you wish you went out with in high school. The script really lends to her talents as the character seems so natural to her. The supporting cast is fantastic and just sing around her. There's just something to this movie that makes you feel good. Great music in this too! Everyone should check it out.

PUDDLE CRUISER: This movie, now, no one should check out. It's Broken Lizard's first film, and while you will be tempted by that, as I was, leave it be. It's terrible! Terrible! I'm not saying more. Terrible!!!

JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NEW FRONTIER: Finally got my Netflix Play It Now feature to work and I chose this as my first flick because I loved the comic book version of this animated feature. It's an alternate telling of the early DC universe about how the Justice League gets together to fight an alienish/primordial menace. It was kind of hard to cram the whole mini series into this movie, and I'm not sure I dug everything they did get in there, but there was enough to like. In the end I was just satisfied enough.

THE 11TH HOUR: Like An Inconvenient Truth, this documentary tells us all about global warming, but goes further into the social changes to humankind that have effected the steady rise in the Earth's temperature. Unlike AIT though this one gets abit too preachy and eventually lost me. It isn't a bad watch though, and I got a few things out of it, so there's that.

WALK HARD: This movie possibly falls on my sometimes way too harsh criticism side of me, and I probably could've enjoyed this movie more than I did; if that makes any sense at all. There are some really great funny scenes that carry the movie, and it's hilarious cameos just steal the show. But on the whole, I'd say it was a middle of the road comedy, nothing amazing, but fun enough for a viewing.

CROMARTIE HIGH: THE MOVIE: The Japanese are out of their minds, God bless 'em! And this movie, based on the manga of the same name, is definitely bonkers! It has robots and apes and alien ape-men and all kinds of other crazy characters. Who cares what it's about, it's just good times!

EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED: Here's a nice gem of a movie that's slipped through the cracks. A sweet flick about a young compulsive man in search of the lady who saved his grandfather's life in World War 2 Russia. The acting is superb and genuine with Elijah Wood leading a cast of excellent Ukrainians, especially Eugene Hutz as his tour guide, on a journey through their countryside. The music is excellent and really drives the movie. It's got great comedic moments as well as heart wrenching ones. I totally recommend checking it out.

FAST FOOD NATION: Here's another preachy movie, although this one's a straight up narrative and not a documentary. FFN is one sided story about the cruelty of the fast food industry through every layer of it's being. This movie was boring, long, and a true roll your eye fest. It's not like I'm even against some of it's points, but the way it goes about it's business just did not ring true to me at all. If it isn't obvious I did not like this movie at all, except for Bruce Willis' cameo. Love the Bruce!

THE DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTER BOYS: This was decent movie about Catholic students in 1974 dealing with themselves and the changes that they have to go through as they grow up. The main character draw comics, so I was instantly in love with the premise. And furthermore the comics manifest as animation by Todd MacFarlane's studio. Fun! It's a good little movie with Jodie Foster appearing as a crazy strict nun.

BEOWULF AND GRENDEL: I think I rented this because I wanted to see another action movie with 300's Gerald Butler. Unfortunately it was rather weak and boring. I guess we were supposed to feel for the Grendel, but it never got to me. Butler's Beowulf wasn't bad, but it was no King Leonidas by any stretch. Meh.

THE ALL NEW ATOM #23/DETECTIVE COMICS #844/NIGHTWING #144/SUPERGIRL #30/COUNTDOWN TO MYSTERY #7

After last weeks lettering hiatus, I'm back with 5 books this week! First up, The Atom, which has been my favorite book to work on. The action gets cranked up in this one as Ryan Choi is stuck in a strange subatomic world battling all kinds of monsters! AWESOME!!! Next, another issue of Detective Comics with one of my favorite artists, Dustin Nguyen, at the helm. This one has the evil Ventriloquit going up against Bats and Zatanna! My latest Nightwing follows that with a fight in NYC's subway system; talk about one that hits home for me! Nightwing's been doing that for me lately though as his attitude fits NYC quite nicely. Next, we have my first ever Supergirl issue. Supergirl is on a quest to find the cure for cancer. Nuff said. Last, but most definitely not least, the second to last issue of Countdown to Mystery. The part I lettered, featuring Dr. Fate, was written by the late, great, Steve Gerber. The man created some great characters in his lifetime, and wrote some fantastic stories. I am truly honored to have lettered one of his final works. Thank you, Mr. Gerber.

Here's the covers to look for:






Courtesy of DC Comics.

NEWS AND NOTES

-Look for news on The Adventures of Bio Boy soon. The hottest star in the universe is getting a second life as a refurbished trade and download! I've flirted with a couple of companies since Speakeasy went down about about finishing it up, but it never felt right. Now I can say that it does. News coming soon!

-For the first time since I've had books coming out from DC (since Jan), I had nothing out last week. That was a weird experience, but I'm sure that'll happen often. I was so used to posting on the blog about the new books that when I saw I had nada it freaked me out! Oh well, next week I have 5!

-Went to a Yankee game this past weekend against the Seattle Mariners, and as another first, I spent 4 innings in a cocktail lounge across the street rather than in my bleacher seat. Am I becoming an alcoholic???

-Speaking of alcohol, ahem, if you live in NYC, I reccommend going down to Park Slope's beer emporium Bierkraft and getting yourself a 64oz growler of fresh beer from their exclusive taps. This weekend I picked some Chelsea Cream Ale. Man, did that go great with chocolate chip walnut cookies!

-I'm glad April is over. That was one hell of a busy month. Between weddings, the NYCC, and all kinds of other things, I haven't had time to breathe. May so far has been packed too, but I feel a little less stressed. Brooklyn Original took a big hit last month too as I didn't post once. I need to retool what the project is abit though anyway. It had become just a promo tool, while I want to have more profiles and such. Hopefully I can get some good content in there as the Spring and Summer roll along.

-In the spirit of the Spring and Summer, and more importantly trying to get in shape, I picked up a new mountain bike. My Haro BMX was stolen last year, so it's good to have wheels again. This time a mountain though so my back won't ache from leaning over a small bike. It's a Giant, and I got it at Bay Ridge Bike World. The place is family owned, which is nice, and they are very knowledgeable and courteous there.

-Also along those lines, I've joined the DC softball team! We had our first game today, and although we lost, to WNYC, the team played hard and we had a good time. I played a little first base and was 0-1.

-Also, about a week ago we went bowling with friends at Leisure Time Bowling in the Port Authority. What an odd spot for a really cool alley. We did the Night Owl special. It's 29 bucks per person for 2hrs of bowling, shoes, and the party gets a tower of beer that you can get 11 pints out of. Pretty good deal for the city.

-Me, Marilyn, and our pal Ken had the best Indian food ever Friday night. The place was called Rasoi and it was in the Journal Square section of Jersey City. Everything we had was excellent and the service was impeccable. My favorite dish was the Curry Lamb! Yum!

-That same night, we stopped at a Dessert Truck in the city for some delicious Creme Brulee. I had seen this truck in Time Out NY, but didn't realize where it was. Now that I know, more treats may be in order!

-I've recently upgraded my Netflix to 2 at a time, and I'm much happier for it. I should have a new Movies... post up in the next couple of days with my latest mini reviews.

-Two of my Lettering buddies have put up new blogs. First, Travis Lanham's Immortal Android explores art, science, and other popular cultures. And Pat Brosseau, the lettering guru, has restarted his Monkey Buzz blog for all things monkey or not. Check them out!

-Marilyn has a big sale going on at her shop for the month of May. I suggest that all you cute lovers get over there and pick up some shirts, softies, or stationery ASAP!

That's the news and I am outta here!

MY NYCC 2008 WRAP

Well the third annual New York Comic Con was this weekend. That's mostly the reason I was quiet this week. Things ahappenin' all week long, parties and prep and such. As for the con itself it was an abbreviated trip this year for me as two family functions kept me from fully attending. What can one do?

The time I did spend there Friday night and the first half of yesterday though were quite good. Had a couple of meetings that seemed to go pretty well on the creator owned front. Markosia is still fully behind getting the Vengeance of the Vapor trade out, so look for that to be happening sometime in the near future. Also finally met Thomas Mauer at the Markosia booth. Thomas is a great letterer and designer who did a fantastic job on helping me and Marilyn get The Hill together. Looking forward to working together on the Vapor trade as well.

There were more comics rumblings, but those things are better left unsaid for now...

Moving onto one of the main reasons for cons... There were a lot of reunions of sorts, mostly with peeps I haven't seen in at least a year. It was nice seeing the reaction to my job at DC. Made for several feel good moments for me, although I should've recorded the story and just played it back for everyone as my throat was sore by the time I had left! It's nice to see what everyone is up to. Like the aforementioned Andy MacDonald, who is drawing a new series for A Wave New World called American Terrorist. The preview I saw was great. Also, my old Pearl cohort Ben Granoff had a new comic called Clint and Rosebud: Those Freewheeling Tramps that was cool. He shared a table with creator/artist Greg Mayer who had released his really good looking book Dark World in time for the con. It was nice seeing these guys going for it, and I look forward to their continued work. My good friend and cohort Kensuke Okabayashi was pimping his Manga for Dummies while working on his next book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Talk about multitasking! My pals Chris Dibari, Ryan Stegman, and Jeff Zornow are all part of Cadence Comic Art, and the Cadence booth was chock full of great art from them and other great talents. I congratulate the brainchild behind this group, Paolo Belfiore, on what he is doing there. I suggest going to website and checking them out!

It's always nice to help friends out as well, and I did my share of introductions, pointing in the right directions, and general tipping. I'm sending mental luck to Chris Brimacombe, Eric Wilkerson, and Lydia Roberts in hopes that multi jobs come from their con efforts!

Other fine folks I caught up with included Ivan Brandon, Rick Spears, Jamie McKelvie, Matt Loux, Becky Cloonan, and Mark Smylie. There, that should help search engines find me! ;)

Generally speaking, it is sick how many people were at the con. Yesterday was jam packed to the rafters! The show was laid out much better than the first two years in a bigger space and all together just more comfortable. I appreciated not having to leave the con floor for more con action, and for someone who isn't too interested in panels and screenings like I am this was perfect. In the little time spent walking around with my iPod I ventured through unbothered. That was very pleasurable, and plan to spend more time at cons alone like that. That said though, I also got to walk around and shoot the shit with all manner of people like my cousin Sal and his GF Lizzy Stars, as well as my DC cohorts Pat Brosseau, Jennifer Redding, and Travis Lanham not to mention Chris B .and Eric. It's interesting to me to get different readings of cons from various people, what they look for, and such. Like Sal and Liz were there more for merchandise and seeing stars like Seth Green, who seemed pretty cool, while Chris and Eric were looking for work and connections. I think Pat, Travis, and I just wanted to meet writers/artists who we've worked with on the books we've lettered and maybe pick up a cool trade or two. My goal of meeting JTorres and Rick Remender went unaccomplished, but not for lack of trying. Had I more time, I'm sure I would've found 'em. Ah well.

Not much to report from the after party circuit, though I'm sure there are many people with good stories. I was just too beat Friday and had to be in early Saturday for a meeting, and Saturday I just never came back out after one of the family functions. I'm just happy that my time at the con was very well packed and fruitful.

Anyways, another NYCC in the books, and it's cool to see it jump to the number two con in the nation in just three years. I salute thee NYCC!

BATMAN #675

Out this week, Batman #675. Grant Morrison wrote this. I lettered it. Nice cover.


Courtesy of DC Comics.

MOVIES I'VE SEEN LATELY...

30 Days of Night: I really dug the graphic novel that this movie was based on, and you know what? I equally loved this movie! It captured the book perfectly, and added alot to it. What little they changed wasn't even clicking off anything bad off for me, so that's good. It's stylistic, scary, and really makes you feel for these people. Josh Hartnett turns in a good performance in the lead, and in all I thought the cast was good. The vampires are creepy and disturbing, and made me cringe. I always thought this premise, vampires hunting townsfolk in a remote Alaskan town during a period of 30 days of night, was pretty original, and I think the filmmakers captured it well. I highly recommend it for all you horror lovers.

Sweeney Todd: This movie was pretty good on the horror aspects as well, but the music almost kills it. While well done, the music just gets tiring after awhile. There was some fun gore in this movie, surprisingly, but it was hard to take serious with all the music. Maybe that was the point? Not sure. The visuals and costume design are excellent though, that I'm certain of. I've never been a big Burton fan so maybe I'm a little skewed here. It was good though, and worth watching.

Mr. Bean's Holiday: If you love the Mr. Bean show, then you'll love this movie. It was a blast actually, and I think most people could get into it. It felt alot closer to what Mr. Bean is like on British TV, than what was represented in the first movie. It has this sort of silent movie vibe that's just charming as all hell. It is quite the well done journey, you should watch it.

Revolver: Guy Ritchie's latest movie took 2 years to get here from England, and when it did it was in limited release. Finally on DVD, I got to see it, and I can't understand what took so long. Maybe the bad taste from Swept Away, which I liked, got in the studios mouths and no one wanted his next film? I dunno, but it's crazy because this a good crime film. While a little more serious than Snatch, it brings Ritchie's stylish flavor to the forefront quick and easy. The storyline is interesting with Ritchie stalwart Jason Statham as an ex con who gets in a bad way with the local mob boss, and then has to accept the help of two shady characters who make his life a living hell. It's an interesting ride with some outlandish characters which culminates in an ending that I didn't see coming. I think it's a good one to add to the Ritchie collection, and look forward to more by the director.

Dog Soldiers: DS is the first movie by the director of The Descent, and current release Doomsday, Neil Marshall. I liked The Descent, but overall came away feeling weird from that movie. It felt too real to the point where watching was difficult. I didn't have that feeling from Dog Soldiers, and so I liked it a hell of alot more! Dog Soldiers is one of the best werewolf movies I seen actually. It's a pretty fun action horror in the league of Aliens, meaning basically soldiers stuck somewhere battling some mean nasty monsters. It had good characters, very character driven story actually, a claustrophobic setting (a must in these movies), and some damn vicious werewolves. I don't want to give away more, but it's a renter for sure. So get to it!

No Country For Old Men: This movie is f'n awesome till the last 15 minutes. I'm pissed about that, because it's seriously intense before that. Javier Bardem deserved the Oscar, sure, but I give big props as well to Josh Brolin, who I was rooting for the entire time. It's a great build up with a terrible payoff. OK, it's not that the ending is that bad per se, but it's bad in the sense that you don't get what you hoped was going to happen, and while some might like that, I loathed it! Take that little review however you want.

Southland Tales: Lastly we have a dozy of movie, Richard Kelly's (Donnie Darko) latest, Southland Tales. It's got a cast that meets my approval, The Rock, Sean William Scott, Sarah Michele Gellar, lots of SNL alums, and many others, but boy I'm not sure what to make of this movie. It has it's moments, but alot of it is long and boring, and some of it is downright absurd. It's a sci fi movie that is both serious and not at the same time, that kinda has a message, but it's muddled and confusing. It's just hard to pin down an accurate review. I think this is one that will affect people in different ways. I was in the middle category, but I'd be interested to here what others think.

ROBIN #173/BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #6/GOTHAM UNDERGROUND #7/LEGION OF SUPERHEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY #13

This week in lettering includes Robin #173 which continues the great Violet storyline which now seemingly includes the return of Spoiler! Isn't she dead?! Next up, another Chuck Dixon penned book, Batman and the Outsiders. I always thought that book was cool when I was a kid, and this new volume is pretty good. Dixon writes great action, and this one has it. Speaking of action, my 2nd issue of Gotham Underground is almost wall to wall. This book reminds me of old school comics I used read where tons of characters would just brawl, and not everyone would make it. Last but not least my 4th issue of Legion of Superheroes in the 31st Century features Superman and Lex Luthor! Here are the covers to look for if you should choose to pick them up:





Courtesy of DC Comics.

NEW HAIRCUT

Coutesy of the fantabulous Marilyn Patrizio: