PopFUZE #38

Storm Hawks rule! I have only seen one episode called The Challenge, which I watched by accident this morning on TV, but I have already fallen in love.

While I don't know much about the show or its characters and their world, this tale of heroes in the land of Atmos is a lot of fun and driven by kinetic story and uber cool tech. The slick design even caught the eye of my 11 month old son and not much on TV captures his attention.

I have already added all of the DVDs to my Amazon wish list.

PopFUZE #37

Here is some news on Underworld 3: The Rise of the Lycans that came out of SDCC. I am really looking forward to this movie, although I hope it doesn't suck (pardon the pun) given the absence of Kate Beckinsale.

I'm really looking forward to what they do with the weaponary on this one. Being set in the Middle Ages there is still plenty of scope for things like wicked crossbows and other projectile weapons, even if there can't be guns. I am actually hoping that we get to see more of the supernatural abilities of the vampires in this one (given that they can't rely on ballistics).

Click on the title of the post to read more about what was revealed at SDCC.

DragonFUZE #25

Well, about one month has passed since my last creative update. Thing is that I just don't know if I can be bothered any more. With a baby boy, a health scare for my wife and me looking for new work, well there isn't much time for writing. Even if there were, is there really a point anymore? I have so many projects that I have started: DragonFUZE, HellGrunt, Scratch and Tikki's Giant to name most of them, but the chances of them being finished and published remain slight at best.

Having said that, opportunities continue to come my way. Just the other day the editor of MangaQuake (which is where Tiki's Phayrie was published) contacted me looking for new stories of mine to publish in their magazine. I pitched I Hate You and I am still waiting to hear back about that. I hope I get the green light for that one because of all my work, I am really keen to see that story published. I think IHY is the strongest thing I have written, it's highly original and has a great twist. The story is also very moving/ disturbing and I strive to have a strong emotional under current in all of my work. So, I hope something will come of IHY and MangaQuake; more news on that when I have it.

As for Tikki's Phayrie the same publisher (Future Quake Press) is interested in doing more Tikki stories, and I have another offer from a small publisher to do a Tikki comic, so it looks like I will definitely have a home for Tikki's Giant if I ever get it written, drawn, etc.

That leaves HellGrunt and Scratch. I really don't know if I am invested in either of these stories. I have put a lot of work into HellGrunt already and have even comissioned a logo design. I have a committed publisher... So, what's the problem? After more than a year of working on this idea, I still can't find a unique voice for the book and I think that is a major problem. This story is a cliche, a blending of Hellboy, Underworld and other bits and pieces of genre culture. Sometimes that isn't a bad thing, as long as you can come up with a unique angle, but the point is that I can't. I haven't got anything in this idea that is different or unique and that I think is the problem.

As for Scratch I have an interested publisher and a committed artist, but the concept remains so vague in its formulation that I don't really know if I can get 10 pages out of it. I mean, I am sure that I can, but again, what is really unique about this story? The truly unique part of it is how dark and twisted the story will be. This tale is even darker than IHY and also involves a suicide, but it is much more graphic and disturbing than even the previously mentioned story. Writing IHY was more confronting, debilitating and painful that anything else I have committed to paper/ screen. I don't know if I can go through an experience like that again, but I will have to go to some very dark places to write Scratch. My hesitancy to do so is a large part of why this work remains incomplete. At only 10 pages, this should be a breeze to write, but I need to confront a lot of darkness to get this story out of me and I just don't know if I can carry that at this time.

DragonFUZE and Tikki spring from the same creative well and I intend to explore these characters for the rest of my life. I am working on a new comic story Tikki's Giant (which I hope to pitch to MangaQuake in the future) and there is always the larger tale that the two fit in to. Of all my work, these are the stories that I really want to tell, but the emotional investment in them is so great that it is almost like I fear writing the words in case I do these wonderful characters and concepts a diservice.

I am not giving or asking for answers in this post. I am just wondering aloud as to where my creative path will take me, and if I really want to travel that road at all...

PopART #2

Here is the cover for the Ultimate X-Men/Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual #1. I have no idea who the artist is. I have no idea what the story relates to... I haven't read an Ultimate Universe comic in about a year... All I know is that this is an awesome image and I just wanted to share it.

PopFUZE #36

I know I am late to the party, but I saw this last night. When the credits rolled, I could not move. I was stunned, as I was through most of the movie. I was also terrified, as I was through most of the movie. What a complex, intense and insane movie it was!! INSANITY ruled the screen.

Dent's journey, Batman's path, Alfred's musings were all intriguing, but the Joker .... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... Engrossing isn't the word I am looking for ... I need to use CONSUMING. The Joker consumed the other characters, the plot, the pacing, the entire movie, the audience!! Here he was, an insane psychopath dressed as a clown with no grander plan than a desire for anarchy.

WOW... The juxtaposition between Joker/ Batman was flawless. I loved how Bats just didn't know what to do, how to handle the psycho. The more punishment Batman dished out, the madder/ happier Joker became; he forced Batman, and ultimately Dent, to embrace sheer chaos. The Joker won.

This was a hard movie to watch, it was thrilling. But, this was not the usual super hero escapism we find when lycra hits the silver screen. Just like Batman Begins, this was a psychological action thriller that just happened to star a guy in a cowl and cape and a nutcase in clown make up.

Neither was the hero or the villain. Those types of absolutes do not exist in Nolan's Gotham - case in point was Harvey Dent. His descent into madness, as opposed to that of either Bruce or the Joker, was truly tragic. I think in the end, this was Dent’s movie with Batman and the Joker representing two sides of the coin and Dent the arbiter of fate. Sadly, destiny intervened and the flip of the coin delivered Dent a fate similar to that of the Joker’s; madness.

With the exception of the road chase scene, I don’t seem to remember too many special effects in this movie. No, the only images that are truly seared into my mind are those of the Joker. Perhaps his most terrifying incarnation in the whole film is as a member of staff at Gotham Hospital… Chilling, twisted and unsettling do not really even touch on the Joker’s presence in that setting.

This movie may have been titled The Dark Knight, but it could easily have been called The Joker. The performances all around are amazing, but Heath Ledger’s is a real stand out. This is the role that he will forever be remembered in. I know I will remember his ghoulish face and that insane cackle in my nightmares...

PopFUZE #35

Kevin Grevioux is a guy I know... Yeah, I interviewed him back when I wrote for Broken Frontier, I email him every once in a while and we have even had conversations about G-d. He is a creator that I admire because he has brought his vision to paper and to screen and it's a vision that I enjoy, with Underworld being one of my favourite ever movies.

Now, he is back in the Vampire vs Lycan universe, reprising his role as Raze in the prequel movie Underworld: Rise of the Lycans and writing the movie adaptation for IDW Publishing. The great news keeps on coming as it seems there will be more Underworld comics coming from IDW as the company explores the Vapmire/ Lycan mythos in comic book form.