Comics Alliance: An AOL Comic Book Community

I wouldn't be surprised if most of you weren't familiar with the work of painter/colorist/computer graphic artist Jose Villarrubia, with the possible exception of his gorgeous work adapting Alan Moore's Voice of the Fire and The Mirror of Love, both published by Top Shelf Productions. Nevertheless, working along the margins of comicdom is just the way Jose likes it, which is why I'm filling this week's space "outing" the wonderful work of my versatile and modest friend.


Behind the scenes, however, Jose is one of the comics industry's go-to professionals when it comes computer coloring, photography and digital illustration. In fact, the list of collaborators this ex-pat from Spain has worked with over the years -- excluding his work with Moore -- reads like a "who's who" list of industry luminaries, including Jae Lee on Fantastic Four1234, Paul Pope on Batman Year 100, J.H. Williams III on Desolation Jones and Richard Corben on Cage.

I feel a strong kinship to Jose (certainly not on the talent side), because his journey as a creative professional has taken him places he never expected, like his second career paralleling his comics work as a full-time professor of art at the Maryland Institute College of Art (one of my fond memories of Jose is his "Pied Piper of Hamlin-like" influence on his students following him around comic book conventions soaking up the creativity in the room).

Besides the links I've embedded along the way to provoke your interest in Jose's career, I suspect you'll feel some of the same warmth, kindness and creative intensity my talented friend projects effortlessly after viewing this video tour of Baltimore, his adopted town.

If you enjoyed his award-winning work on 1000 Steps to World Domination and Sunset City: For Active Senior Living, you'll want to be among the first to read my pal and fellow Austin transplant Rob Osborne's newest project, The Nearly Infamous Zango, shipping next spring.

The twisted wit of Osborne has come up with one doozy of a concept this time. Seems the once-feared supervillian, Lord Alfred Zango, Jr., has developed a strong case of laziness (or is it agoraphobia?) in his old age, forcing him to rely on his acidic wit and not-so-brilliant minions to handle the heavy lifting that comes with terrorizing the fine citizens of Metroville.

Only time and steady orders from Diamond will guarantee Lord Zango's bi-monthly appearances in your LCS. Till March, enjoy this five-page preview and video previewing the further misadventures of the infamous Z man.

No explanation needed for this latest and terrific video from Michael Agrusso, the It'sJustSomeRandomGuy, spoofing Clement Clark Moore's poem, Twas The Night Before Christmas, with a Caped Crusader twist. One of my Christmas wishes for Michael: Will somebody PLEASE HIRE him so he can keep making these terrific videos?

A few months ago, I kicked off my almost-weekly Comics Page feature with a look at the treasure trove of art and music that is Doot Doot Garden, the blog home of my pal Craig Thompson, nee of the classic and award-winning Blankets and, in my opinion, his even awesomer memoir, Carnet de Voyage. Seems my pal may have to make room for another award, however, not one of the comics variety, according to a recent news piece in The Oregonian.

Craig was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Recording Package category for his groovy design work on the Portland indy band Menomena's latest album, Friend & Foe. (Listen to Wet and Rusting from the new album.)



By the way, Craig accompanied Menomena on their European tour, creating some truly amazing impromptu sketches during their sets, as you can see in the YouTube video below.


For those of you who haven't been lucky enough to have your copy of Blankets, Goodbye Chunky Rice, Carnet de Voyage or anything else signed and sketched by Craig, you may wince after watching this very short YouTube video about what he does with the art he makes during Menomena's shows.

Ah, here we are my final holiday photo gallery. I've touched on video games, books and action figures, now I'm going to share with you nine DVD box sets that I've personally enjoyed, and that will appeal to a variety of taste for the anime lover in you. Just click on the first image below to check out the gallery and see what I have to say and trust me this is just the tip of the iceberg. Please check out anime when you have a minute, even if you don't watch it now. Trust me, it's not all hentai and big eyes, there is indeed something for everyone. I encourage you to check out Anime Sentinel, and soon I'll be launching a more comprehensive blog getting into more detail on Anime, Manga, Video Games and more. Good times.

Must Have DVD Box Sets Photo Gallery

Had nice conversations with Tony Millionaire, nee of Maakies, Sock Monkey and Billy Hazelnuts fame, and Dave Herman, voice actor extraordinaire whose animation credits include Futurama, American Dad, Bee Movie and the upcoming Drinky Crow Show on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim next spring at a signing hosted last Saturday at nationally reknowned Austin Books and Comics.

If Dave's name doesn't ring a bell with you, no doubt you'll remember his unforgettable collaborations with the wicked funny Mike Judge on the Texas comedy of record, King of the Hill, and his film roles as the Secretary of State in Idiocracy and the non-musically inclined Michael Bolton in the classic Office Space. Catch up on Dave's post-Office Space career in this great interview with Lumino, just one of 11 done with all of the principal actors in this seminal office comedy for the ages.

And, Millionaire is just as warm and funny and normal in person (a doting dad to two little girls) as his Maakies strips are wonderful and depraved and hilarious.

Ah, At World's End, the final chapter to the adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow and crew finally comes to DVD and Blu-Ray on 12/04. I found the movie very enjoyable in theaters, minus that boring white crab drek at the end of the world. If you've seen the first two movies, if you own the first two movies, this final chapter is a must to complete your collection and with all the pretty people in this movie it makes for a splendid viewing on an HD-TV, especially the final battle in the maelstrom. It used to be nothing beat seeing a movie in the theater, but now with high-def discs and TV's nothing beats a great home viewing.

The movie is good and looks great on an HD-TV and ok on a regular TV, but we knew we'd get this. What this set is about are the bonus features. So let's take a look at what we get on the 2-disc DVD set.

Disc 1
So we've got the movie (duh) as well as bloopers. The bloopers are standard fare with very famous folks who are paid large sums of money messing up on the job, or joking around and then laughing about it. The outtakes are indeed fun, but only worthy of one viewing. Overall disc 1 does what it should, gives you the movie you want.

You know how much I admire Frank Espinosa, the talented cartoonist behind the wonderful adventure series Rocketo -- unfortunately on hiatus until next year -- and his recent work on the awesome Image mini-series Killing Girl. From time to time, I drop in on Espinosa's Image forum to see if he's posted any juicy art tidbits for the next Rocketo mini, Journey to the New World, but have found precious little worth posting lately, except for this link to some cool images posted in mid-September.

Visit FrankEspinosa.com, however, and you'll find some remnants of beautiful promotional poster art from Rocketo's pre-Image days at Speakeasy, but even that's not the main attraction here. The real finds here, however, are a trio of concise and interesting Quick Time videos allowing Espinosa to show and explain the creative backbone behind Rocketo from the perspective of an artist -- specifically the relatively quick transition from rough pencils to a finished inked panel -- and a gifted storyteller weaving myth and history to great effect.

One of the first things I learned about writing screenplays back in the day: Nailing down the concept in as few words as possible -- 25 or less -- was the ticket to Hollywood. It didn't take me long to learn and practice the concept on the thousands of movies I'd seen in my relatively short life. (I could never quite master that same skill when it came to boiling down my own screenplays into salable, simple stories, however.) All the moneymakers have a hook that grabs your attention and won't let go until you're compelled to see it (and buy way too many DVDs too).

After reading the short Variety news item late last month about Matt Ogens' directoral debut, Confessions of a Superhero, concerning the further "adventures" of real people completely convinced that dressing up as superheroes eking out a meager existence posing for pictures with tourists along Hollywood Boulevard was their ticket to "fame and fortune," I had to see this film.

It's one thing to wear your favorite superhero costume at the five-day "Geek Vegas" party known as Comic-Con International: San Diego. It's quite another to count on it to survive without superpowers or billions of dollars of weaponry. Besides, what kind of person is really capable of doing such a thing in the real world?

Seems Ogens, a veteran of episodic TV and commercials, had been thinking precisely about the same thing traveling around Hollyweird...

Comics Alliance: How did you come up with the wonderful concept for this film?

Matt: Like everyone else in Los Angeles, I drove past these characters many times and was passively curious. As fate would have it, I was directing a commercial on Hollywood Boulevard right where the characters work for tips. In between shots, I spent every minute talking to Christopher (Superman) Dennis. It was like we were two animals curious about each other. Two weeks later, we started production.

CA: Obviously, you had many costumed "characters" from which to choose on Hollywood Boulevard. Aside from Christopher Dennis -- truly a natural and almost a dead ringer for Christopher Reeve -- how did you come to find this more interesting version of Fantastic Four for your film?

Matt: Superheroes are timeless and iconic. They are recognized everywhere. And I wanted a consistency in the type of character I chose – Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and The Hulk.

If you don't read the Sunday newspaper ad circulars regularly like I do -- it's better than reading the Obits or, for the most part, the Comics Section -- you may a little surprised to learn today's debut of Spider-Man 3 on DVD at many big-box retailers in America has been largely upstaged by an already available video game: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock by Activision and Neversoft.

Of the major Big Boxers in the Austin area, only Circuit City spotlighted the Web-Spinner, but only because of a special wrap-around sheet to the real cover featuring guitarist Slash from Guns and Roses and VR. Conversely, Target made no bones about hawking bundle packs (including wireless guitars for two) for Wii, XBox 360 and PlayStation.

Guess that mirrors the general apathy among critics -- ranging from "entertaining noise" (Houston Chronicle) to "aesthetically and conceptually wrung out" (New York Times) to "pull(ing) off a smartly subversive drag show" (Time) -- and moviegoers.

Of course, it helps that Guitar Hero has a two-day headstart on S3 at stores, one of the many moves made by Activision and Neversoft to compete against its arch-rival Rock Band, made by Hamonix, the original makers of Guitar Hero, according to Wired.

Just the same, being the DVD nutjob that I am, I'll probably buy S3 on opening day anyways for the spiffs -- I'll be looking for the closest Best Buy store near my office that'll be giving away free Spidey masks I can pass down to the grandkids. Of course, that'll happen once they've gotten old enough and I've worn it a few 100 times or so...

Press Release

Everyone's talking about the dynamic new Captain America costume designed by Alex Ross, as announced at Marvel.Com yesterday, and now you can take a look at the evolution of his costume with a brand new trailer! The all-new Captain America: Through The Ages trailer is now online at http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.1582, featuring the most memorable costumes from Captain America's history and his new, Alex Ross designed look, debuting in January's Captain America #34.

It's the beginning of a bold new era for Captain America-Steve Rogers may be dead, but the dream never dies! Experience a vision of Cap's history like never before, as the Captain America: Through The Ages trailer makes its debut! Now you can display it on your own site with the attached HTML.

And don't miss an in-depth interview with Alex Ross, Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting and more at http://marvel.com/news/comicstories.1640.

Douglas Wolk, of Reading Comics fame, moderated an informative panel exploring the relationship between animation and comics this evening at SPX. Joining Wolk on the panel were Kim Deitch, Jeff Smith, Tom Neely and Roger Langridge.

All of the panelists except Langridge have had (or continue to have) animation experience, and all of them expressed a preference for making comics over animation given the art-by-committee nature of most commercial animation, and the plain fact that creating animation simply takes a long, long time. Comics were compared to storyboards at one point, which led Smith to observe that "comics have a different sort of heat coming off the page than storyboards," and that, "you can change the camera angle, so to speak, a lot more frequently in comics, and for different reasons."

Seemingly feeling the need to defend Flash animation at one point, Smith strongly recommended the animated videos of Graham Annable (of Grickle fame), which he called "hilariously creepy," calling out one video in particular as being "unbelievably funny." That video is called "Space Wolf" and we present it now for your viewing pleasure:

Press Release

In 2008, the Marvel Universe will be consumed by Secret Invasion, the comic book event over five years in the making, written by Brian Bendis and penciled by Leinil Yu.

Only one question remains: Who Do You Trust?

Before Empire Strikes Back, before Vader tries to turn Luke into his apprentice, there was another. LucasArts upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, hitting in the Spring of 2008 on most every console, tells the story of Vader's Secret Apprentice, a man he's tortured and trained to hunt down Jedi and do his bidding. Taking place between Episode III and IV gamers will be treated to a unique story where the battle between light and dark is waged on a galactic and personal level. A story where the Jedi still live, and Vader is the evil monster we were introduced to in Episode IV. Just who is this apprentice, where does he come from, where does he go, and how does The Force Unleashed tie into the Star Wars mythos? This is a new chapter in the Star Wars gaming legacy, one without LEGO's, without a Battlefront, one that takes gamers and puts them under the leadership of one of the deadliest Sith to roam the galaxy. For now sit back and watch as the developers give you some background on the Apprentice, support characters in the game and the story backdrop soon to be enjoyed by Star Wars fans everywhere. Get ready for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

Top Cow's Witchblade series which follows Sara Pezzini, an NYPD Homicide Detective and wielder of the Witchblade, has received many spin-off series chronicling the various possessors of the Witchblade throughout history, but none so unique as FUNimations's Witchblade anime.

The Witchblade anime has two things in common with the comic. The title and the Witchblade itself. Do not think you're getting an animated version of the comic, you're not. What viewers are treated to is a unique story for the Witchblade, one anime and comic fans can both share their joy in. Set in a futuristic Japan ravaged by a massive earthquake, the Witchblade's current bearer, Masane Amaha, is just trying to stay with her child Rihoko while avoiding child services who seek to separate the two.

The Witchblade, as seen in the comic, is an age-old weapon which can only be wielded by women, and chooses it's bearer. Masane does not remember how she came into possession of the Witchblade. She was at the center of a grand catastrophe, left with her child and no memories. Recruited, forcefully, by the Doji Groups Reiji Takayama, Masane is charged with the destruction of men, X-Cons, who transform into murderous machine-like monstrosities preying on society. She agrees to these conditions to protect her daughter Rihoko.