Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Fuzzyface; The Final Production Note

Fuzzyface drops on Thursday at 6PM on Preview Night of Phoenix Comic Con. I got the rest of the comics printed, the fliers, and the ever present and going to be noticeable standup. It's going to be great.
I have worked very hard on this project, and am now doing an interview to help promote the book. I talked to Venus and told her that I would like to attempt to go national with Fuzzyface by submitting the finished product to small press publishers out there. I have a few "ins" in the comic book industry and may look into having the book carried by publishers these people work with.
Fuzzyface is the culmination of several years worth of ideas and work. It all started several years ago when I drew an eviscerated Grover with designs on using it as a t-shirt graphic. I then thought about my favorite movie, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and what a story might be like if Agnew were the protagonist. However, Agnew couldn't hunt humans. That just isn't done. No, Agnew needed something different, something that would give him an edge from a traditional horror comic book. It was decided that he should hunt down and kill stuffed animals. I think this was back in 2005 or 2006. This ended up laying dormant for quite some time. That is until Venus of Necro popped into my life and after hanging out for about a year, she decided she wanted to write the second issue of The Book of Grrry, entitled G2. It was a well thought out process and Venus executed the story and the characterization flawlessly. For Valentine's Day 2008 I drew a picture of Fuzzyface for her. She immediately dug the concept and inquired more about what I had planned for the story. I told her my basic idea, and she asked if she could take a crack at writing it. I of course wanted to see her vision. So with a lot of research (watching The Muppet Movie and Texas Chain Saw Massacre over and over) she worked the script out of her demented little mind. Venus then turned the script over to me, and I began the job of bringing the written word to visual life. This was back in late 2008. I put the project on hold for about eight or nine months before I finally got my shiftless ass in gear. I redrew the first few pages that I had originally executed in 2008, and then went back into doing layouts for the book. In all, I drew 54 pages of layouts for the graphic novel. After which I began the pencils, or at least went back to doing the pencils. This book was the single biggest project I have ever undertaken. Through the process, I met up with Venus several times to have her review the pages. Each time she was excited to see the progress I had made and her words coming to life. I met with Tucson Comic Con Social Media Manager, Henry Barajas whom I had met at Charlies Comics a few years before. I asked him to write the intro to the graphic novel. He agreed but only if he got to see the work as well. I consented as one of my provisions was to not let anyone, other than Venus view the work before it's completion. The work took me about five months of steady work. It would have taken less if I had been more vigilant during the inking process, however I began to get burned out. However, knowing the importance of this book and how many people wanted to see it finished. Well, the buzz is back and in just a few days it will see the light of day. At Phoenix Comic Con 2010, Fuzzyface will see the world...
FUZZYFACE IS GONNA KILL YOU!

We'll be at booth T121 in Small Press. Look for the cardboard standup of Fuzzyface.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies; A Hardcore Review

First off this is NOT a review of the comic book story arc by Ed McGuinness and JEph Loeb. This is a review of the animated featured BASED on that story arc. The first six issues of the now in its 70's Superman/Batman modern take on World's Finest.
The band is back together again. They got Kevin Conroy, Tim Daly and Clancy Brown all back for this amazing feature about Lex Luthor becoming president and launching a very public, very unconstitutional vendetta against the Man of Steel. And as his best friend and Yin to his Yang, Batman is along for the ride. CCH Pounder also reprises her voice role as Amanda Waller. Added to the vocal cast was Allison Mack (Chloe on Smallville) as Powergirl, LeVar Burton (tv's Reading Rainbow and Star Trek TNG) as Black Lightning and John C. McGinley as Metallo. Superb voice work in a lot of respects. Kevin Conroy IS Batman and what most of us think of when we think of Batman. And Tim Daly plays a calm to Conroy's flaming malice. Vocally at least.
I have to say I was seriously pleased with the artwork and character design in this movie. They did a quality job holding onto the style of Ed McGuinness. And yes, before you ask Powergirl's biggest and best features are clear and present. And they are also referenced during the scene with Toyman. Mack's voicing of Powegirl is a very good addition to the pack. Hey I'm a Powergirl fan. But I think a deeper, smokier and throatier voice might have been more appropriate. I may be seeping into my dirtier mind for this, but Powergirl always struck me as more of a "Cougar" to the goody goody ideas of super heroes. But Allison Mack give's Kara a more subdued and down to Earth quality. The girl next door with the really big tits that you think about at night when you're trying to go to sleep. Hey, it's a fucking "hardcore review," not some pussy as Ebert and Roper piece of shit sweetly worded and packaged for the retarded masses.
The whole sequence of events with Batman coming to Supes' aide in the cemetary while The Man of Steel gets his ass handed to him by Metallo is fucking great. The back and forth banter is right on with how two long time friends would talk. You know if one was a grizzly crime fighter with no powers and the other an alien from a far advance civilization than Earth who was godlike in his daily life. And Metallo's villainy as Luthor's henchman is AWESOME! Steam shovel in hand, literally, as he spanks Superman while stepping all over people's graves. Fuck, how do they get away with this in an animated movie is spectacular and completely badass. And then the classic, "Do us a favor and lose the sense of humor.""Do us a favor and buy one," dialog.... MUAH! Like a fat french chef making some kick mother fucking ass pastries and getting them to you fresh out of the oven.
This whole movie was pure horror show from start to finish. And if you need to understand that last kudos, pick up a copy of Clockwork Orange with the English slang dictionary in the back. So, yeah, not the movie, the book. I enjoyed this movie from start to finish and seeing Superman rip off the Captain Marvel suit to reveal the "S" FUCK YEAH! I got an animated boner from that shit. All the way to Luthor and his totally pimped out Super Powers suit and shooting up the Kryptonite 'roids. Think about it, this was a phenomenal translation from print to screen. It dealt with a lot of shit we see on a daily basis. Someone buying the presidential election, people who are supposed to be our heroes using performance enhancing drugs, and the ever present, American government having little if any credibility. Hey and let's not forget the crash of the economy they added to the beginning of this movie to make it more authentic and able to be related to.
And the best part, I seriously want to say was Powergirl's tits, but alas it was the voice cast. I know I addressed this before, but FUCK IT, it's my review and I'll talk about whatever I want over and over again. Even if I want to mention Powergirl's jugs one more time. Even Bruce Timm and Andrea Romano, the executive producer and voice casting director respectively got in on the fun, as Mongul and Giganta. The little things that were added in for the hardcore fans was very much appreciated and will be watched over and over and over. Especially when PG is first introduced as an enforcer. Seeing her tits appear about three seconds before the rest of her showed up on screen makes me happy every fucking time I see it.
From top to bottom, and all around, Superman/ Batman Public Enemies is a seriously bloody thumb to the eye! And going back to what made this Hardcore Review famous, at least in my own mind, the grade. Now this is a long overdue nod to a man who eats, sleeps, breathes and smokes hardcore. Rob Van Dam making his first title contention on Monday night on Spike TV against AJ Styles theTNA World Heavyweight Champion. One night after pulling double duty at Lock Down, where Rob took out James Storm and then helped Team Hogan (barf) take out Team Flair (Wooooo!), a busted up Rob, complete with Sharpied on "TNA" made his intentions and still amazing in ring abilities know to the world. It was a double double for us wrestling fans, as we saw RVD fight it out with Jeff Hardy for the title shot later on in the main event. And then He did it. Capturing the belt in a show of athleticism and original RVD style. The "Whole Fuckin' Show" reigned supreme and finished off the champ by getting higher than any man has ever gotten in a wrestling ring before or since, five star frog splash bitches! Uno dos tres!

Monday, May 24, 2010

Let the Right One In; A Hardcore Review

Billed as one of the most original vampire movies ever made, this Swedish flick about a preteen boy with a penchant for being picked on, makes friends with the new girl in his apartment building. The opening sequence was really fucking interesting. Filmed in almost a real choppy way that made this a ultra realistically gritty and fucked up movie.
Isolated and mistreated, 12 year old Oskar takes frequent mini sabbaticals to the courtyard of his apartment complex, where he works on his Rubix Cube and encounters a strange and weird smelling girl. She warns him immediately that she cannot be friends with him and demands to be left alone. So obviously Oskar becomes enamored with this stranger.
The box said it right. This was the most original and more authentic take on modern vampire horror that I have ever seen. Now keep in mind I still have to drunkenly stagger my way through the abortion called the Twilight series to bring you a hardcore review on what may actually be the most realistic take on vampire teen erotica written by a Mormon. But then again don't we all need to reach inward and find our inner preteen girl or uber gay boy side?
Let the Right One In was filmed in such a way that you got more of a feel for the main character, Oskar and his life and less for some completely distorted coven of vampires all living in some massive cave-like tomb. This flick also FINALLY dispels the whole idea of vampires being purely sexual beings. I mean think about it, Kirsten Dunst played a ten year old vampire in Interview With A Vampire from Ann Rice fame back in the 1990's. Even though, by the middle of the movie, she was over a hundred, how sexual can a preteen girl be? And let's try to keep your pedophile minds somewhere other than my blog. And the sheer madness in the attack sequences were done with some really cool CGI effects that flowed seamlessly to me. And remember, I got an Animation degree and have been watching live action/ CGI films since their inception in the late nineties. Plus, the final attack sequence which showed very little in terms of gore and more off screen kills, but plenty of bloody body parts.
Although there is little of a sexual nature to this movie, in terms of bullshit erotica, Let the Right One In holds the mounting tumultuous relationship that buds between Oskar and Eli. And unlike most vampire films, there's no tribe of vampires. No collective. No hunter killer war with werewolves. AND Let the Right One In, even though leaving the door open for a sequel (AND THE IN pre-PRODUCTION AMERICAN VERSION) it comes full circle and has a definitive ending to it.
*Disclaimer!... I am not looking forward to the American remake of this perfectly fine horror movie. Why do American movie producers seek only to remake amazing foreign horror movies instead of coming up with as original ideas as possible. Instead they churn out fucked up remakes of quality Asian horror starring worthless actresses like Sarah Michelle Gellar-Prinze

Monday, May 17, 2010

Blackest Night; A Hardcore Review

The Guardians of Oa FUCKING LIED!
By far, one of the single greatest universe spanning crossovers there has ever been. And yeah, I know people might claim, Secret Wars or Crisis, but this story entailed the ENTIRE DC Comics Universe. The whole fucking thing. They pimped titles that had long since been canceled with this amazing idea; continue those series for one last issue and use it to show how Blackest Night was affecting those characters. The remaining DC Universe got Blackest Night tie in mini series. Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Teen Titans, you get what I'm talkin' bout.
So apparently years ago, a little known writer by the name of Alan Moore suggested some future event in the Green Lantern mythos. And it's right there in the Green Lantern oath, "In brightest day, in blackest night." And that was a mere suggestion. It turned into the realization that there was more than just the Green Lantern Corps with the storyline, "Rage of the Red Lanters." Which was amazingly written by Geoff Johns and stupendously drawn by Ivan Reis. The big fucking lead in was with last year's Free Comic Book Day top draw, Blackest Night #0.
The mini series was brought up with various inklings of resurrecting Batman, Earth 2 Superman, Aquaman, Terra and a fucking shit ton of other characters. The opening pacing for the book is a little slow and starring some lesser known characters revolving around Atlantis.
The whole concept of Blackest Night lies in the creation of the universe. You know, "Let there be light." Yeah that came from a book that has a pretty decent sized following too. After the light shone for the first time it fractured into seven different spectrum of light. Each spectrum complete with a different emotion to govern them. Red/Rage; Yellow/Fear; Green/Will; Indigo/Compassion; Blue/Hope; Violet/Love; Orange/Avarice (look it up. It'll be good for you). It is thought that those seven parts of the rainbow could together bring about the original white light that created the universe.
But this story gets really brutal really fucking fast. Loved ones being torn from each others arms, killed and then resurrected by the Black Lantern rings. Think about all the characters that have been killed in the past half decade in the DC Universe, and then picture those same characters, risen as zombies with their same powers and with a fucking Black Lantern ring. I know fucking insane right? Now go and read the story, oh and read all the fucking tie in one shots and minis too. Think that's crazy. I bought every single one of those fuckers, save the Solomon Grundy #7, which my comic book dealer only ordered one copy of for me, as I was following the entire saga, but someone else was really hurting to get a hold of.
So I hope I whet your appetite for destruction without giving anything away. Oh, yeah Batman(Bruce Wayne)'s still fucking dead!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Fuzzyface at Phoenix Comic Con



Fuzzyface is at the printers and it's just a matter of time until you're holding it in your grubby little hands. Above is the flyer that will be distributed at Phoenix Con this year. I have taken the guessing game out of your hands and put the cover art, the Anti-Hero Brand Press logo and the booth number on there. A very gracious friend will be at con most of the days, and she has willingly accepted, or actually asked to distribute flyers to promote Fuzzyface. In face the fliers were her idea. It seems that ladies always seem to have some pretty spectacular ideas when it comes to motivation and promotion. Hopefully my writer will pimp the shit out of Fuzzyface on the website she works for. I already have a guy who's open for interviewing me and Venus of Necro and doing a review of Fuzzyface.
I have gotten back a few sample copies of the book back from the printer. And the book looks amazing. The artwork came out incredible (if only to pat myself on the back), but others say it's the best work of my career. It is also some of the funniest and yet crudest stuff that's fallen out of Venus' mind into a comic book. She did a stellar job writing this book. Maybe, if we're all lucky, she'll want to do a follow up. But let's not count our chickens before they become chicken wings, and let's set this Phoenix Comic Con off like a revolution. The most anticipated book from Anti-Hero Brand Press drops in a few days.
As I stated before you can still preorder for the low price of $10 two locations in Tucson.

Charlies Comics
4554 E 22 St.
Tucson, AZ 85712
(520)320-0279
www.charliescomics.com

and

Safehouse E Bar
4024 E Speedway
Tucson, AZ 85712
(520)318-3090
www.safehousecoffee.com/

You better get your Fuzzyface on!........ or.........
Fuzzyface is gonna kill you!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Fuzzyface launch date May 27 FAST APPROACHING!

in just 16 days on May 27 the preview night of Phoenix Cactus Comic Con, Fuzzyface will debut. The sample copy is floating around in John's backpack where I am keeping guard of it. The best way to guarantee you get your grubby little mitts on it is if you preorder the book NOW!.... It is going to be a limited edition, very low print run for the first printing. Cover on the book which features 54 glorious pages of story written and poetically scripted by Venus of Necro and directed to its gritty yet hilarious conclusion by John Chihak, plus 9 pinups by some very talented artists such as Ashler, who did the cover and first three pages of Youth in Asia #4, Erik "Phour Nyne Guy" Arreaga, Paul Fini and others is JUST $12. I know, all that for only $12. And we appreciate that the economy sucks for a lot of us right now. And all of our dollars need to stretch, especially our entertainment dollars. But we are pleased to pretty much guarantee you're gonna love this parody and tribute to both Jim Henson's Muppets and Tobe Hooper's Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
So, either make your way up to Phoenix Cactus Comic Con May 27-30 or preorder the book through either Charlies Comics or Safehouse E Bar.

Charlies Comics
5445 East 22nd Street
Tucson, AZ 85711-5453
(520) 320-0279
www.charliescomics.com

Safehouse E Bar
4024 E Speedway Blvd
Tucson, AZ 85712
(520)318-3090
http://www.safehousecoffee.com/


Sincerely,
Agnew Pennyworth

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

NO JUSTICE for Lisa Berrie!

MURDERER GETS NEW TRIAL!
Tucson judge Clark Munger ordered a new trial for the convicted murderer of Lisa Berrie. Munger claims alleged juror misconduct during the jury selection. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the fucking trial judge sitting there when the jury is selected? Wasn't Munger a fucking witness to this? Did he not sit there in his fucking little gown and let this alleged juror misconduct happen? So what is he bitching about now? In calling for a mistrial Clark Munger, I refuse to call him a judge of anything, is spitting on Lisa's memory. Her life and the lives of everyone who has been a victim of domestic violence.
This piece of shit, Paul Beam doesn't deny murdering Lisa Berrie. He admits to it. He claims it was in the heat of the moment, sighting manslaughter. However heat of the moment cases of murder are MURDER 2, not manslaughter. Manslaughter is accidental. And I could care less for the judicial system now. It holds no weight over me anymore. Laws are made to pieces of shit off, and keep the masses in check. Lisa was murdered by a white trash piece of shit who doesn't deserve to be breathing the same air as the rest of so called civilized society. But I'm not asking for the death penalty. That's too easy. The fucker should rot in a prison cell, deprived of daylight and fresh air, bereft of any sort of visitors. He deserves freezing cold showers, rotten food and boiling hot water to drink.
The worst part about this is we just raised over four hundred dollars on Saturday to benefit Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse, and four days later I find out a murderer is getting a second chance. This wasn't an isolated incident for Paul Beam. Friends of Lisa say that Beam was possessive and controlling for more than the last two years of Lisa's life. Not letting Lisa leave home for anything other than work and school. And finally when she had enough and made the decision to leave him, it became a matter of life and death. But instead of being a man about it and letting her go. Or just doing the world a big favor and offing himself, the fucker chose to take a life. He chose to end Lisa's life. He took away her ability to make choices FOREVER! He stole a mother. A sister. A daughter. And a friend. Paul Beam deserves the worst that any hell can conjure up for him. He deserves wrath and pain and torment for whatever amount of life he has left in his fucking pathetic excuse for a body. And if it's only a moment more, it's a moment too long.