The Muppets; A Hardcore Review *SPOILERS*

I went to the movie theatre tonight for the first time in almost TWO YEARS. The last flick I saw was Avatar in 3D with my cousin, Jackie. But this time, there was a massive trip down memory lane. And complete with my trusty hetero lifemate and sidekick, Agnew Pennyworth, and my friend Dez and a couple of Target purchased bottled sodas, I bared witness to the brand new The Muppet Movie. Like all the previous Muppet movies in the franchise that now spans four decades, this one was loaded with celebrity cameos. Jack Black, Sarah Silverman, Selina Gomez, Whoopi Goldberg, Ken Jeong, Bill Cobbs, Alan Arkin, Neil Patrick Harris, former child star Mickey Rooney and Dave Grohl all made appearances. While sweetheart Amy Adams co-stars and personal friend of Seth Rogen, Jason Segal wrote and starred in this movie, which keeps in continuity. But unlike so many other movie franchises that are being rebooted, The Muppets I can proudly say, was not. But that is not quite where the movie starts. Brothers, Gary and Walter have grown up together. But as Gary got taller, Walter stayed the same size. Cause, Walter is a puppet. The thing the brothers have in common is their love for one another and their willingness to make each other happy. But as kids the duo rent a tape one night. A tape featuring the most beloved puppets of all time. And Walter falls in love with The Muppets. I mean who wouldn't. After years together and ten years of dating Mary, Gary decides to go to Los Angeles with his best girl and his best buddy and brother, Walter. All Walter sees is the opportunity to go to Muppet Studios. And here our story begins. The Muppets it seems, have been disbanded or broken up as it were, for some time. I just realized while writing this review that I have crushed three Pabst Blue Ribbons and not yet said a bad word. Well, while I can't change the former, unless I simply drink MORE, I resolve to change the latter. While visiting Muppet Studios, Walter breaks into Kermits Office and overhears the plot of rich oil tycoon Tex Richman to buy the property and level it, so he can drill for oil. However there is one small hitch to his plan. If the Muppets come up with ten million dollars in the next two weeks, then they can buy the rights back and save Muppets Studios.
This whole story reminds me a lot of The Muppets Take Manhattan in the sense that it's a reunion of sorts. And I loved every minute of this flick. I laughed until my cheeks hurt. It was that funny. I mean the whole reunion portion was done especially well. Kermit, fired up from a pep talk from Walter, Gary and Mary seek out the remainder of the Muppets. And there's a fuck load of them. With the help of 80's Robot, and his offering of Tab, "New" Coke and his dial up modem access information as the where-abouts of the rest of the cast. And as Mary states, if Kermit hadn't decided to crusade, "this is gonna be a really short movie." The first locates Fozzie who is stuck in Reno as front man for "The Moopets," complete with insane, probably drugged out, foul mouthed fake versions of the real deal. The next one to be found is Gonzo, who, along with Camilla is running an extremely successful, correction, the most successful plumbing business in the heart of "the Rust Belt." And for some reason, after being told "it's okay to follow his heart" from Camilla, Gonzo blows up the warehouse. The rest of the search is rendered via MONTAGE! I honestly don't want to reveal too much. Although even if I posted the whole fucking script, I know you would go and see it. Fifteen minutes from the end I knew I figured out the end of the movie as I noticed some possible points during the flick. But, happily I was proven wrong. Although not totally. And this movie delivered.
The Muppets was completely fucking worthy of being the first movie I've seen in theatres since January 2010. This movie made me so glad that I did Fuzzyface. And it made me shed tears when watching a movie for the first time since the last time I saw Armageddon. Don't judge me! Because it made me realize how important having a dream really is. I think too many people just give up on their dreams when they grow up. While, to paraphrase Gary, "growing up is not about believing in others. It's about believing in yourself." (Beer #5!) It's interesting how I get inspired. And this time, all it took was a bolt of fabric with a whole lot of personalities. See, everything you ever needed to know about growing up, you no doubt learned while watching something involving the Muppets. There are few people I give the label, "God" to. And as I have stated before, Jim Henson is one of them. And although, The Henson Workshop has since sold the Muppets to Disney, it still had the same ideals and message. And in this time of thanks, I am thankful for the Muppets. I really am. They have helped light a fire of inspiration under my ass. And as anyone who knows me knows, I consider the work that was partially based on my love for The Muppets, Fuzzyface was my greatest work thus far, it should not stand to discussion that The Muppets have become my muse for the long road ahead to bring YiA6 or Youth in Asia volume 2 as it were into my sights. It's gonna happen. Cause it has to happen.
I thought about the grade for this amazing venture. I thought that a comedy wrestling match might be just the thing that would fit. And it might have been, if not for something that poked up its blond head during that comedy match. The all time greatest wrestling entrance of ALL TIME! Whether it be during a match where someone was getting the shit kicked out of them, or whether it was a scheduled matchup. The best entrance in the business, which in and of itself made me start smoking again and always makes me smile when I shotgun a can of beer. Those guitar chords hitting and the crowd completely coming unglued, as (no matter how much I hate them on a personal level) Metallica's Enter Sandman blared through the P.A. system. The crowd looking around to finally see him. And finally, after maybe 30 seconds, the arm rose and the Kendo stick appeared. And the crowd, which was already unglued, fell to fucking pieces. The Sandman, although not a polished wrestler, and not billed as a wrestler at all, has and always will elicit a reaction EVERY fucking time I hear that song.

Fuzzyface production notes pt. 14

This is gonna be one of the final production notes for Fuzzyface. I believe I will put all of the production notes in as extras for the graphic novel.
Page 50 was finished on Sunday morning while at work. I am truly happy with the way the final pages are unfolding. The detail is on and I am following and embellishing on the rough layouts that I did. I still need to meet with Venus to talk about final production extras. I also need to meet with Henry Barajas who is set to write the intro for the book.
These final pages are closing out the story and giving a little something more than "just" the Muppets meet Texas Chainsaw Massacre. And while people may not understand the method to my madness, there is only one song in the script. And it's kind of a back ground thing.
The thing people need to remember is that this is a sincere tribute to Jim Henson, who helped make my childhood memorable and a happy thing to remember. His work on projects from The Muppet movies to Muppet Babies, which helped me realize imagination is a powerfully good thing, and one of my all time favorite movies in Return to Oz, starring my favorite actress Fairuza Balk. Return to Oz even inspired me to take about six months to design and then get a tattoo to commemorate my imagination. Henson was light years ahead of his time, and in my very not humble estimation, a freaking God. I do not anoint Godhood to just anyone. I mean not even Stan Lee has achieved Godhood in my book. But that has a lot to do with ego and politics.
The second homage being paid here is to horror master, Tobe Hooper. His vision in TCM has inspired two tattoos and the basis for Fuzzyface as the protagonist. And if you truly wonder if the "heavy" in this book is really a protagonist, then you probably don't know much about the rules of horror movies, and you obviously don't understand the compelling nature of Agnew.
The final homage is to Mary Shelly, the creator of Frankenstein. I will leave it at that, cause I don't want to give away the ending to this book, suffice it to say, it pays tribute to this amazing piece of literature.
I have also solicited reviews for Fuzzyface, from an online cohort, Nilskidoo, who has a blog here http://nilskidoo.blogspot.com/?zx=8a5a502e8319477 as well as the comic book reviewer, Mark Miller on www.aintitcoolnews.com. So keep us in mind as I am also hitting up a local shop owner to review the book, as well as possibly Wita, from the Girls Entertainment Network here http://www.girlsentertainmentnetwork.com/index.php.
I am still awaiting pinups from some area artists, and have simply FOUR pages left for the story. This is John Chihak, counting down to page 54...

Fuzzyface production notes pt. 12

Upon the completion of page 38 I bring you the 12th installment of the production notes for the graphic novel, Fuzzyface. Things have been crazy hectic and I feel like I am moving at an incredible pace. One I know I have never worked at before. And I feel most accomplished in what I have achieved. 38 pages, 1 pinup and 1 cover, DONE! 4 pinups by other artists, turned in. 16 pages and god knows how many pinups remain.
I sat in Crave today for roughly 6 hours, drawing and fucking around online. During that six hours or whatever it actually was, I finished the missing 1/3 of page 37. Crave closed at 7. I immediately drove up the road to Safehouse and commenced work on the very next page, 38, a splash page of a kill scene. "The kill scene," for Fuzzyface. I put as much as I possibly could into this page. Having to stop to wrap my wrist up to help the swelling of my tendons.
I am so fucking psyched to have this page done. And I know this book is gonna kill at Phoenix Con.
I've made a new friend online, who assured me they will be stopping by my booth FIRST thing when they hit up Phx Con. We'll see if anything shiny keeps her from that goal.
So you know, a lot of fucking work is going into this graphic novel. And not just by me. Four artists thus far have turned in pinups. And others are working on their's. Venus of Necro wrote a kick ass script for the book. And she hopefully will be able to sit in for a few signing sessions at Phx. And Henry Barajas is gonna write an intro the likes of which you have never read. And the peeps at Phoenix Con have asked if there are ways to help promote this book. And not to mention to printer. They're gonna work fucking hard on giving this book the best possible scan and print job they can.
So when you buy Fuzzyface; remember how much work, and all the love that went into bringing you the most anticipated book in history from Anti-Hero Brand Press ever!

Fuzzyface production notes pt. 8

SO as to keep everyone abreast of what has been going on in the world of creating comics, I just finished the pencils for page 23 last night. I began the night as I begin so many Wednesday nights with chicken wings at Rocco's Little Chicago with Venus of Necro. After wards, Venus and I went to Ave Coffee for sketchbook, where she looked at the finished layouts and the finished pages, plus the newly inked cover art for the book. She approves vastly of all the work, and asked a few questions which we sorted through. She is very excited to see this monumental story hit the comic book racks. She is worried about one thing however; that people will feel that this is a slam on Jim Henson. I assured her that we could do away with those worries if she wrote the intro to the book. She's super busy with work and being pregnant right now that she may not be able to meet that deadline. I hit a friend, Henry to possibly write it too. He in interested. And I told him the only things he has to put in there for sure is that this is my attempt to pay tribute to a man who brought light and happiness to so many people. Jim Henson, in my mind is a god. He took a piece of fabric and turned it into a whole universe. Through what is fondly referred to as "Muppetry," Jim Henson made my childhood, and those of so many others a happy thing to remember. His work on such visionary films as Return to Oz, The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth paved the way for so many new ideas in the industry. And The Muppet Show was the first and only of its kind. A weekly variety show starring Muppets and their crazy antics. In fact the only thing pissing me off about it at the moment is that Muppets is not a recognized word here on the spell check. Muppet, singular, however is. How odd.
No, Fuzzyface is not a slam on Jim Henson in any way shape or form. I think Venus worries about this because of one particular panel, which shows a tombstone with the name J. Henson on it. I assured her that people wouldn't recognize it that way, however some might. And even without the grave marker some people might feel like we're bashing Henson's legacy anyways. Cause people are like that and they perceive things how they may. I don't blame them or get angry about it, cause I mean people look at me and see pigtails and a sidekick and they think a million things other than hey, "there goes a guy who is one of the best caregivers in Tucson," and that maybe it's just the way I choose to look. People always want to think the worst of things right from the jump. So to those of you who may pick up the GN Fuzzyface, let me assure you now, it is, in no way anything other than a personal tribute to the man and the idea that brought happiness to the world.