What's up, 'Combies? The boys are back with a solid rundown of some
of the major events of the summer. We cover the big film releases, their
aftermath and what the "folks in charge" should really be paying
attention to as result, as well as major video game releases still to
come that we're excited about. On the more serious tip, we cover a
number of the tragedies that have taken place in the past few weeks, as
well as some of the possible sociological factors that contribute to
these events. That's right, we're deep and funny here in the 'Hideout!
Also, enjoy the special behind-the-scenes snippit at the beginning. Yep,
y'all are going to get a taste of how we at Imaginos really tend to interact, which
really isn't that different than how we do on the show, but Nik didn't
realize we were recording at first so that adds to the awesome! So come on down
and join in the fun!
*SPOILER WARNING: We go into significant
detail about the overall plot and resolution of "The Dark Knight Rises"
during the show, so if you haven't seen it yet and would rather still be
surprised and whatnot when you see it, hold off on listening to it
until after you've seen it. If not, venture forth and enjoy!
Alright, now while it has been a while since our last episode, surely, you knew we'd be
back eventually! This time the host is flying solo (god help us) as Joe gives
y'all a rundown of the C2E2 convention that Imaginos Workshop attended
back in May. He also gives all of you convention noobs out there a
decent list of handy do's and don'ts. Listen carefully, it might save
ya' ass! LOL
Also mentioned in the show are a couple of our peers
in the podcasting community, as well as friends of the show, that you
all should check out when you get the time:
I have been reading Image Comics since it's inception. I have seen the company at its highest, then watched it sink into the toilet because of juvenile approaches to putting out comics. Today, however, I am here to tell you thatIMAGE COMICS is back and better than ever.
It seems that as of late, the little company started in the 90's by Marvel's disgruntled top artists is putting out amazing book after amazing book. Not only is Image the home of Robert Kirkman's blockbuster treatment of the zombie apocalypse, Walking Dead, Even books by Rob Liefield's Extreme Studios(once the laughing stock of the company for its often late, poorly drawn, hyper-sexualized, sophomoric stories) are now enjoying innovative and thoughtful relaunches.
Just yesterday, I was glad to have had the opportunity to purchase an Image project which I believe to be the culmination of all of the companies creator owned beliefs. Now it is widely known that the printed comic book magazine has seen better days. With the demise of Wizard Magazine, the premiere comics news magazine, I thought I would never see anything in print as far as comic book news and information again. I'm happy to say I was wrong!
From the minds of long time Joe Quesada collaborator, Jimmy Palmiottiand 30 Days of Night creator Steve Nilescomes CREATOR-OWNED HEROES!!!!
The format of the book intersperses two fully realized stories featuring creator owned properties with a magazine format. I can remember Heavy Metal Magazine doing some stuff like this in the past and I loved it then. This time, however, all of the content in this magazine is creator owned from the sequential work to the interviews.
The Inaugural issues boasts stories by Steve Nilesand Kevin Mellon, as well as content by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin GrayandPhil Noto.With the current firestorm surrounding the treatment of comics professionals by Marveland DC, I think that Palmiotti and Niles couldn't have picked a better time to debut this Mag. I also strongly believe that the venture could not have picked a better home thanImage Comicsto publish it. I hope that the magazine becomes yet another showcase for the talent that Image is attracting and I also sincerely believe that the magazine will serve to inspire even more creators to take the plunge.
Calling all Metro Detroit photographers! This month features the event Demo Days at Camera Mart in Pontiac, the area's best location for cameras and photography equipment. The event is on June 15 & 16 at Camera Mart on Telegraph Road in Pontiac.
There will be manufacturer and vendor representatives there to show off the latest models of cameras and to answer any of your questions. You can get a free sensor cleaning (on a first-come, first-serve basis) for two of your cameras and win Camera Mart swag.
There will also be a raffle for a FREE Canon Rebel T3i camera! Camera Mart's Facebook page explains the details of the event, as well as what you can do to increase your chances of winning that T3i (for instance, tweeting or sharing Demo Days or, ahem, writing about it on your blog).
This event is a great way to shop for that camera you have in mind or to get some new equipment (there is NO SALES TAX on most items during Demo Days).
Camera Mart is located at 11 S. Telegraph Rd, Pontiac MI 48341. Demo Days will be on Friday 15 (9:30 am-7 pm) and Saturday 16 (9:30 am-5 pm).
The
days are getting longer. Memorial Day has come and gone, beaches are open and
school will be out soon for the summer months. Although summer doesn’t
technically begin until June 20, it is already summer in many peoples’ minds.
For the movie industry this means it’s time to release the biggest movies of
the year. The Avengers has already gotten the ball
rolling with a record-setting spring release, and there are some huge films on
the horizon that studios (and theaters) are hoping will get people off the beach
and into the cinema.
You
will hear plenty of talk about Ridley Scott’s sci-fi epic Prometheus which appears to be a spiritual successor (prequel?) to
the Alien series. Then there’s
Pixar’s Brave, which features a
roguish red-headed heroine (a first for Pixar) that people will see no matter
what the trailer looks like because, well, it’s Pixar. And of course
Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy will come to a conclusion in what is
undoubtedly the summer’s most highly anticipated film – The Dark Knight Rises.
But
what about the rest of the lineup? I could give you a list of my most
anticipated summer films but my guess is that you don’t need me to convince you
to go see The Dark Knight Rises. So
instead I’ve put together a list of a few promising movies that are getting far
fewer headlines than the big dogs. This doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily
small movies (although a couple are) but my guess is that you’ve heard far less
about them than the sequels and superhero movies. Here are my Top 5 under the
radar films of the summer season.
Editor's note: If the full screen option is not working for the trailer videos and you would like to enlarge them, I would recommend clicking on the title of the video above it in white letters. It will open the video in a new tab on the YouTube website.
The Pact Release Date: June 8
One of
the few horror releases this summer, The
Pact is director Nicholas McCarthy’s feature length debut. The movie itself
is based on his short film of the same name that debuted at Sundance in 2011. It
is about a woman (Caity Lotz) who stays at her childhood home after attending
her mother’s funeral, only to sense a mysterious presence in the house. The
short was well received at the film festival, and early reviews of the full length
version are positive, praising its eerie atmosphere and suspenseful pacing. So
much of horror films’ success lies in execution; here’s hoping that The Pact is able to deliver.
Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap Release Date: June 15
Legendary
rap icon Ice-T is the director and interviewer in this ambitious documentary
that debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The film explores the
prodigious rap game: the music, the inspiration, the history and the characters
of a music that is much more than just a genre. It features a ridiculous list
of artists and interviewees including Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Afrika Mambaataa,
Grandmaster Caz, Mos Def, Ice Cube, Chuck D., Common, Kanye West, Q-Tip and
Rakim (to name just a few). Based on the trailer it’s hard to discern exactly
what the mission of the documentary is but at the very least it looks to be a
fascinating and funny journey into the history and ambitions of a type of “folk
music” that has evolved into a movement.
To Rome With Love Release Date: June 22
After
Woody Allen’s Oscar-nominated Midnight in
Paris last year, Allen turns his unique cinematic eye to Rome in a movie
that appears to be comfortably in the auteur’s wheelhouse. A large eclectic
cast, snappy dialogue and luxurious shots of Rome’s sun-warmed streets will
perhaps do for Italy what Midnight in
Paris did for France, although there are no implications of magical twists
of fate this time around. Allen himself returns as a character among a cast
that includes Jesse Eisenberg, Alec Baldwin, Penelope Cruz, Ellen Paige and
Roberto Benigni. If Allen can keep ahead of his formidable (and sometimes
misdirected) intellect this film should be a pleasant alternative to the
summer’s heavier hits.
Savages Release Date: July 6
Director
Oliver Stone’s latest movie looks more like Natural
Born Killers than anything he’s released in over a decade. It eschews the
political trappings of much of his filmography in exchange for Mexican drug
cartels and high octane violence. There is a love triangle that includes Blake
Lively, a federal agent played by John Travolta and some drug-dealing baddies in
Salma Hayek and Benicio Del Toro. It’s nothing too intellectual, but if Stone
can make us care about these characters then the guns, drugs and explosions
should do the rest.
360 Release Date: August 3
This
globetrotting drama is directed by Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles who
directed City of God (that alone is
enough for me to watch it) and written by Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Last King of
Scotland). It weaves together the storylines of various characters across
several continents while examining the dynamics of social and sexual
relationships and how they shape our lives. It debuted at the Toronto Film
Festival to mixed reviews, with some complaints that the connections between
its characters were too tenuous but drawing praise for the breathtaking cinematography
that has become director Meirelles’ trademark. It stars Rachel Weisz, Jude Law,
Ben Foster and Anthony Hopkins. For some reason I wasn’t able to find an
American trailer online so I’ve put up a Thai version. Sorry about the poor
quality.
Last week Detroit Tradecraft's Mike Marcus was interviewed by Huffpost Detroit. The article talks about the Motor City Comic Con (wrapping up today in the D) as well as the pros and cons of producing independent comics. He also gives a shout-out to other local artists (such as Pat Jackson and Mark Dudley of Detroit Tradecraft). Read the article here.
This
past weekend I attended the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo as a writer
for Imaginos Workshop. We had a table there in Artist Alley where we were
promoting our upcoming comic book sampler with posters, stickers and business
cards. We also were selling Issues 1 and 2 of Detroit Tradecraft’s The Door. It was a jam-packed and
exhausting weekend, and a valuable experience for our upstart company. We had
the benefit of sitting between some great artists. On one hand we talked to
Jeff Delgado of Dream Gear Studios, who does prints, t-shirts, tattoo design
and commissions. On the other side of our table was Carlos Gabriel Ruiz, with a
group of artists and illustrators from the St. Louis region.
The
most striking and immediate impression of a comic convention is the people
attending it. People-watching is at a premium at a con, which attracts a vast
number of people that come in many shapes and sizes. The easiest response
(especially for a “normal,” or someone not used to the culture of the con) is
mockery: the con environment is ripe for satire, or at least good-natured
ribbing. You will see people dressed in costumes, capes and tights. It’s no
secret that a con is a circus of nerds, geeks and freaks. Even such terms are
necessarily alienating, applied to a type of person that has been classified as
fringe. But the real reason one is at first drawn to mock conventioneers is not
the get-ups or the bad fashion: it is the bald-faced sincerity. There is a
certain high school mentality in ridiculing earnestness, and there is nothing
more earnest than a bald 42 year-old proudly sporting an R2D2 shirt. But once
the initial shock wears off from seeing an auditorium full of unabashedly nerdy
adults reveling in comic book culture, it’s hard not to enjoy yourself.
There
was a slew of celebrities and sub-celebrities there with ties to geek culture
and probably something to promote as well. I got an autograph and an awesome picture
with Tom Morello from Rage Against the
Machine. Later he did a Q&A session in which he talked about his comic
book epic Orchid and how
collaborating on a comic is different from playing in a band. He talked about
his career in the Los Angeles music scene as well as the future of the music
industry. In response to a question regarding downloading music, he said that
it was hard to support giant record labels that sue kids for downloading music
when the companies produce CD’s for ¢4 and sell them for $18.99. Morello: the
music industry as we know it may be on its way out, “and that may not be a bad
thing.” Later in the session he encouraged people to listen to a certain Nightwatchmen song but insisted: “This
isn’t a plug. Go download it illegally or something.” He also answered a
variety of geek-influenced questions such as what his least favorite comic
book-to-movie adaptation is (Watchmen. His favorite? Iron Man). Incidentally,
Morello is credited on IMDb as playing a guard in Iron Man. And when asked
about the state of Rage Against the
Machine Morello answered somewhat exasperatedly that there is no state of
the band: “Go tell your friends so they can stop asking me. If we do anything
we will tell you. We’re not hiding from you.”
Shia
Labeouf made an impromptu visit to the convention promoting his book of
self-styled art and observations. It exists somewhere between a memoir and a
comic book, and people seemed to be buying them at a quick pace for $10 apiece.
I didn’t buy his book but I did get a picture and ask him a question. It went
like this:
JR: You were a voice in Nausicaä
[of the Valley of the Wind].
Labeouf: Yes.
JR: Did you meet [Hayao] Miyazaki?
Labeouf: I met Miyazaki for a
total of 15 minutes. I basically did the movie for him. I view him like you do
[as a fan].
JR: Did you go fanboy on him?
Labeouf: I totally did. I’ve
only ever really freaked out when meeting someone a couple times. Miyazaki…and
Kramer, strangely enough. Them and Dustin Hoffman.
For
those who don’t know, Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese director with a slew of
critically claimed animated movies (Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, etc.).
He is an unparalleled auteur and demigod in the cinematic world.
It was
a short exchange but Shia was visibly excited to talk about a cinematic idol
and I appreciated his enthusiasm. He struck me as surprisingly grounded for
someone that’s really gotten a heavy dose of celebrity in the past several
years. When my friend Alexa introduced herself to him she shook his hand and
said, “Hi, I’m alexa.” He responded, “Hi, I’m Shia.”
There’s
something refreshing about a mass of people sincerely reveling in a common
bond. It has the feel of a community of sorts, a hodgepodge of personalities
that probably wouldn’t look twice at each other on the street. Like a concert
or a sporting event, a convention is a state of mind, where you are united with
complete strangers with a common and undying bond. It is also the only place
where you can rub shoulders with Catwoman, Dr. Doom, Pikachu and Captain
America in a matter of minutes. C2E2 was an exhausting parade of artists,
onlookers and superheroes that more than once put me into a peculiar and
satisfied daze. It was only the second comic convention I’ve ever attended but
I hope there will be many more in the future.
