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Blame Hal Jordan.
Well, not quite, but Hell if it's a good enough excuse for Batman every time they meet, it should be good enough for us. Anyway good old Hal - or rather his untimely demise after going a little loony a few years back - really was the catalyst for one of the biggest demonstrations of fan outrage, organisation, campaigning and ultimately successful reinstating of a comic book character that has ever been. I am of course referring to H.E.A.T. or to expand on this FLA, Hal's Emerald Advancement Team.
If indeed H.E.A.T. had something to do with Mr Jordan's recent resurrection and subsequent ring recovery as Green Lantern of Sector 2814, then it was a phenomenal achievement, and one sure to be emulated by fans of other characters cut down in their prime through the pages of their favourite monthly tomes.
Now that Hal Jordan is back, H.E.A.T. should be able to sit back and relax knowing that they have been successful in their aim of bringing their favourite Green Lantern back to the fore, albeit at the expense of all Magic in the DCU which has been royally screwed up by the now hostless, and extremely horny Spectre. But no, they have decided to reach out and embrace those other characters who have been treated similarly, and ripped from the hearts of the buying public who adore them so much.
The question is, can H.E.A.T. be as successful? It is possible, but you get the feeling that the acronym will forever be associated with Hal Jordan, so there may not be the same resonance with their cry for the reinstatement of other characters, cruelly taken from us. Could the real way to get back your precious Hawkeye, Vibe and Xorn/Magneto/Xorn's brother be to set up your own action group?
Which leads us quite nicely to K.N.O.B.B. or to be more precise, (Ted) Kord, Number One Blue Beetle.
We at YMB were contacted by someone who had seen the site, thinking we would appreciate the joke. Of course we did, but we had to take it a little further didn't we? We needed to see what made this person tick and find out whether he had a point; had a case to put to the comic reading public and the publishers DC. So we do what we usually do, we arrange an interview with the site admin, known as TedKord.
YMB: At risk of asking a stupid question, why exactly do you have this site?
Kord: To raise awareness of people's love for Ted Kord as Blue Beetle, who was horribly cut down as a plot device to bring about Infinite Crisis, DC Comics latest universe redefining crossover.
Y: You are of course referring to his death at the hands of former boss, and former joke/businessman Maxwell Lord who turned out to be quite the devious piece of work?
K: Yes.
Y: Surely Kord's death didn't bring about Infinite Crisis, rather it started off the OMAC mini-series?
K: Yes, but OMAC leads to Infinite Crisis, so therefore, ipso facto, his death leads to Infinite Crisis. Plus his investigations throughout Countdown did touch on the other minis.
Y: I see. Okay, moving on. K.N.O.B.B. is quite a catchy acronym and you've opened yourself up to some jokes I would imagine?
K: Yes, but you see, that should help the publicity. Sure people will see the name and may laugh, but hopefully they'll be interested then on clicking the link and going to my site and help out. Or at the very least click it to leave gags in the comments section.
Y: So you're opening yourself to ridicule to help your cause?
K: People lie in baths of their own - and other people's - vomit to raise money for charity. This is a small price to pay.
Y: But aren't you sick of the jokes? Your email inbox must be full.
K: Yes, the knob jokes come in thick and fast.
Y: Hehe.
K: You see? You can't say you're not intrigued.
Y: I just thought … knob gags. Hehe.
K: * Sighs *
Y: Apologies. Well, this is pretty much the same as H.E.A.T. who took a lot of heat (pun attempted) because of their cause. They were ridiculed throughout the comics community, particularly on the Net. It was the butt of many jokes, as is your K.N.O.B.B. now. However, what do you think you can do, if anything to turn this around in your favour?
K: As I said, the jokes and double entendres will hopefully bring people to the site. What I need to do is keep them there after the initial laughter fades. What I am going to try to do, and this interview will hopefully help me, is to prompt some meaningful discussion around the subject and start moving forward positively with the campaign.
Y: What plans do you have? Can you reveal them now?
K: Well, a petition is in progress and I hope to have it linked from the site. That would be the first thing, which I would hope people would subscribe to and then I can get it to the powers that be at DC. Other than that, I want to try and organise meet-ups around the globe, with like minded fans getting together to discuss their love or admiration for Ted, and get a real groundswell going.
Y: Do you think it will work?
K: Yes. Yes I do. I really think we can mobilise and influence the publisher, and the more names that sign up to commit to buying a new Ted Kord Blue Beetle book the better. If we can get 100,000 names, then maybe DC will sit up and listen as how many books will sell 100,000 copies nowadays?
Y: Not too many granted, but would you concede that perhaps that is a very large number to aim for? And how many will actually buy the book? Would DC really be expected to believe that people will commit to buying a comic based on Internet promises?
K: Well, we can't force them to buy, but I'd hope that most of them would. The real fans of the character would, and maybe the others would just to thank me for making them laugh a bit.
Y: So you're allowing yourself to ridiculed to save your favourite character?
K: I think we established that a long time ago. But Ted's worth it, you know.
Y: I hope so. Now, since the Blue Beetle's Scarab has been shown a few times during the Countdown to Infinite Crisis one-shot and the Day of Vengeance mini, it would seem as though it will be playing a part at some stage. By extension, there is a high probability that Blue Beetle will return, but not Ted Kord.
K: I've heard all the rumors – Robin as Blue Beetle, Sasha Bordeaux as BB etc, and while it would be good for the character to continue, he won't be THE Blue Beetle. That is Ted Kord, and always will be.
Y: He wasn't always Blue Beetle though.
K: No, but he was the most humane version. Sure, he was the butt of many jokes himself, but he was an endearing character in and out of the Blue Beetle costume. You only have to see him in Birds of Prey over the last few years to see what a kind, genuine character he is. I think that having Blue Beetle without Ted Kord would be like having Spider-Man without Peter Parker.
Y: Ben Reilly?
K: Exactly.
Y: Okay, well wrapping up, do you have anything you would like to say to the readers?
K: Yes. For me, and hopefully many others out there, Ted Kord and the Blue Beetle character are one and the same. Please join us in our attempt to bring him back to mainstream comics continuity. We have a chance with the current DCU Infinite Crisis revamp. He can easily be fit into whatever new universe is created, so lets band together and get the message across. You never know.
Y: Indeed you don't. Thanks for your time.
K: Thank you.
Well, there you have it, the plea of a man who loves a comic book character so much, that he is opening himself to ridicule and derision because it may help said character return to publication. Is this really a modern martyr, or just someone who takes his comics a little too seriously for his own mental health? I'd like to think the former because, if we truly call ourselves comic fans, then we've all had some geek love for a character at some stage in our lives, whether it be as a child or an adult. I say we give it a shot and help him, and his many compatriots, to fight for the life and future of their favorite character.
If you want to help in his cause then go check out his blog and website. Hell, if you got a laugh out of him, at least pay him back and leave a message on his guest book/petition.
The blog is at http://knobb.iblogs.com. The website is http://www.geocities.com/tedkord0405/knobb.html
We here at YMB are backing him all the way, and we will hope to one day be able to report that what this one man started, became something special.
Time, and the powers that be at DC, will tell.
Posted by YourMomsBasement at 01:53 PM
by Libbette
I've been trying to get "back to basics" lately when cooking, and trying to do things myself that I might normally buy (and that most people typically buy). Why DIY? Why, in a world where everyone is short on time, on the go, etc etc, would you make things like pasta and ice cream yourself? (Or, rather, why would I?) First of, considering myself a foodie, it is not just the eating of food that appeals to me. I enjoy the processes involved in creating a dish. I actually like chopping vegetables, browning meats, stirring sauces.
Upon coming to the USA, I was horrified to see that most people use canned pumpkin for that ubiquitous Thanksgiving dessert, pumpkin pie. Why? Because hacking into a great big pumpkin with your biggest knife is fun! Scooping out the seeds, peeling off the skin (taking care to avoid peeling your own skin, or worse, fingernails, at the same time, as I have done – not as much fun), chopping the flesh into pieces – it’s all good stuff. Have I ever made a pumpkin pie? No, I think they’re gross. But I use pumpkin often in soups, curries, pasta sauces and even scones. In Australia mashed or baked pumpkin is as common as mashed or baked potato is in the US. And you’d better believe we don’t get it in cans. Does one really feel that they have “cooked” after mixing that canned stuff with eggs and throwing it in a (likely store bought) pastry shell?
Anyway, slight digression. Another reason is that I come from the Mario Batali/ Alton Brown school of thought, rather than the Rachel Ray. Meaning? Meaning I care how things are made (Mario), why a roux works to thicken a sauce (Alton), why it’s better to grind your own spices (both), and to reflect on how things have been made traditionally, rather than simply opening a can of frosting and spreading it on an Entenmann’s pound cake (Rachel – incidentally, when typing this, Word recognized “Entenmann’s” as a correctly spelled word. Messed up, no?).
Food can also be an expression of creativity. I learned the creative bit as a student, when faced with another 10 days until you get more money from Centrelink (Aussies know what I mean) you had to make do with the food that was in your fridge. You have pork, frozen spinach and curry paste? You make pork and spinach curry, dammit. I got good at mixing unusual things with pleasing results. Now that I have more money to spend on ingredients, frozen spinach doesn't factor in as much, but I still like to push the limits and create unusual dishes in addition to more traditional meals.
The last reason is the health factor. I am no kind of a health food nut, but I do prefer to know what’s in the food I eat. “Partially hydrogenated” and “High fructose” are not adjectives I want attached anything I consume. When you make things yourself, you can ensure that the fat you eat comes from organic hormone free cheese, good olive oil and authentic pancetta, and that the sugar comes from 80% pure cacao chocolate, aged balsamic vinegar or even better, good wine.
Is it worth the time? Is it worth the effort? We shall see. Let me know if there's a food you'd like to see deconstructed or made in the home, and maybe I'll give it a go and get back to you. My first DIY will be on a food that contains plenty of both fat and sugar, but that also runs the gamut in terms of quality – ice cream.
Discuss this article in our forum.
Posted by YourMomsBasement at 10:00 PM
How to Help an Artist Achieve Greatness
by Gary Walters
(All characters herein referenced are the explicit property of Gary Walters and Walters Comics Limited, LLC and may not be used, copied, or referenced without explicit permission of the companies President and CEO.)
Artists are amazing. They take the words of a comic book writer and turn them into images. And then the leterer adds more words to that picture and you reach that balance of words and of pictures that comic books are known for. I've met many aspiring artists since my time in the comic book profession. I met many of them at Chicago Wizard World. Aspiring artists like Jim Mahfood (who I met at Chicago) aspire me to be a better writer, so that they're talents are not wasted on sub-par words.
In this installment of "The Tricks of Turning Pro", I'm going to outline the creative process of character design. That I have accomplished with the new soon-to-be-super-star artist for my upcomming comic book "Even Steven", Wesley Gellar! So now that the big announcement is over, let's get down to brass tax as they say.
I met Mr. Wesley Gellar at the Chicago Wizard World Comic Convention that I covered as a journalist for YourMomsBasementdotcom. I had a plane to catch so we couldnt talk that much, but he was intrigued by my comic concept and wanted to hear more. Unfortunately, I lost his email address, but he checked out my column about the convention and contacted me directly. We began a back and forth through the internet about the characters designs.
So I will share with you now the creative process that went into the development of the look of two important characters from the comic: the hero/protagonist Even Steven (post transformation into the Night's Dark Avenger) and the beautiful love interest Estephania Danger.
So, the first thing I did was send him my drawing of Even Steven, so he could translate it in his own style:
We went back in forth via emails as Wesley worked to improve his artistic skills.
From: Wesley Gellar
Sent: October 10, 2005 4:25 PM
To: Gary Walters
Subject: Re: Even Steven Design
So what exactly is he wearing on his feet? Are those cuffed pirate boots, like Captain America, or are the cuffs of his pants rolled up, 80's-style? And that's supposed to be a high school letter jacket he's wearing, right?
From: Gary Walters
Sent: October 11, 2005 2:08 AM
To: Wesley Gellar
Subject: Re: Re: Even Steven Design
I thought you were going to translate this into your own vision? I need an artists who can take an idea and run with it and make it their own while achieving my specific vision.
From: Wesley Gellar
Sent: October 11, 2005 10:47 AM
To: Gary Walters
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Even Steven Design
Gary, not sure I understood your last email. I'm happy to help you out with some drawings for your comic, but I need some clarification about the drawing you emailed me. Is he wearing shoes, boots, or what?
From: Gary Walters
Sent: October 12, 2005 3:54 AM
To: Wesley Gellar
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Even Steven Design
Wes, great to hear back from you. If you have trouble drawing feet, don't be ashamed, some of our most greatest artists have some problem areas they need to work on. Some people even find fault in superstar artists like Rob Liefeld! If you can imagine. Listen, for the first issue, I can just rework the script so you don't have to draw any feet. how does that sound?
Eventually Wesley rose to the occasion and came back with this great sketch of the Dark Antagonist of Evil, Even Steven:
So after his success with Even Steven, I was very excited and asked Wesley to begin working right away on character sketches for the love interest in the comic story, Estephania Danger.
In the comic script for Issue Number One, Estephania is described as "A typical highschool girl. Beautiful and smart. The kind of girl every teenage guy wants as his girlfriend."
So, based on that, Wesley came back with this initial drawing:
I got nervous then... because it was so far off from what I imagined. And so completely NOT what I described in the script. We had some more emails back and forth.
From: Gary Walters
Sent: October 18, 2005 3:54 AM
To: Wesley Gellar
Subject: NO NO NO NO NO NO NO WRONG WRONG WRONG
Sorry, Wes, this is not what I had in mind. AT ALL! I'd love to work with you on this, but you need to get this right. There are tons of artists out there who'd love a chance to work on a script as good as this. YOU NEED TO DO BETTER THAN THIS! Estephania. Is. Beautiful. A gorgeous, vivacious babe. This "girl" you've drawn is anything but. Try again! And give her long hair for goodness sake! She's not a boy.
From: Wesley Gellar
Sent: October 21, 2005 9:32 AM
To: Gary Walters
Subject: Re: NO NO NO NO NO NO NO WRONG WRONG WRONG
Gary, here's another shot at "Estephania." I'm kind of busy with some other paid projects right now. Listen, I don't mind helping you out, but I don't appreciate getting "yelled" at.
From: Gary Walters
Sent: October 21, 2005 9:34 AM
To: Wesley Gellar
Subject: Re: Re: NO NO NO NO NO NO NO WRONG WRONG WRONG
If you don't like getting yelled at. Do it right. This new drawing is better, but try again. Estephania should be every guy's dream.
So we went back and forth some more after that. After another three attempts I think Wes FINALLY got it right.
Truly now Estephania could inspire our hero to battle the dark evil at the heart of their highschool!
Through working with Wes, I have learned that the trick to dealing with artists is to lead them. Artists are naturally lazy and need structure. They need you to tell them what to produce. To be their inspirations. And when you truly inspire them, they can produce the best work of thir careers.
So, with two of the impartant characters finally realized, and with Wesley finally being able to achieve my vision... we pressed forward... to greatness!
Next column: THE CREATIVE PROCESS CONTINUES!
Read Volume 1, Issue 6 of The Tricks of Turning Pro.
Discuss this article in our forum.
Posted by YourMomsBasement at 11:00 PM
by Eugene
Try to imagine the worst co-worker you’ve ever had. He was self-absorbed, self-righteous, and very, very indignant. He was sure he was always right, and he had no problem telling you so. And yet, for all his faults, you couldn’t get rid of him. Maybe he was married to the boss’s daughter. Maybe the clients inexplicably loved him. Whatever the case, he was untouchable. But as with all things, there comes an end. The golden child who was the bane of your existence falls out of favor. Suddenly, everyone sees through his act and he’s grown tiresome. The company decides that they’re better off without him, lost sales be damned, and they jettison him from the organization and your life.
This pretty fairly sums up the state of affairs as they exist between World Wrestling Entertainment and their former champion, the Ultimate Warrior. Formerly known as Jim Helwig (he had his name legally changed to “Warrior” after departing the company in order to continue using the name without running afoul of trademark laws), the Warrior crashed and burned as quickly as he had arrived on the scene. The man whose trademark was to frenetically scamper to the ring enjoyed a similar sprint to the top of his profession, knocking down whoever stood in his way.
The Warrior initially made his mark by wrestling in independent territories as part of the “Bladerunners” tag team, which saw him team with future WCW star Sting. At the time, the Warrior went by the name of “Bladerunner Rock.” After splitting ways with Sting, the Warrior debuted with the WWE (then called the World Wrestling Federation) in 1987 under the name “the Dingo Warrior.” Suitably unimpressed with the Dingo name, WWF Chairman Vince McMahon insisted on a name change. At the time, the Road Warriors were dominating the tag team scene in the South. Kerry Von Erich was wrestling as “the Modern Day Warrior.” With his bodybuilder’s physique and rock star hair, McMahon saw Helwig as “the Ultimate Warrior,” and the name stuck.
The Warrior was perhaps the first professional wrestler to make his ring entrance a large part of his gimmick. The heavy throttle of guitar chords heralded his entrance, and he frantically sprinted to ringside, boot and bicep tassles fluttering in his wake. Yes, he tied tassels to his biceps. And often, they were neon pink and green. It was that familiar entrance music that had the entirety of Madison Square Garden on their feet at Summerslam in 1988 when the Warrior made an appearance as the Honky Tonk Man’s surprise opponent for the Intercontinental Championship he had held for 15 months. After rushing into the ring and making the Garden nearly explode with enthusiasm, the Warrior squashed the Honky Tonk Man in 51 seconds flat. Thirty-seven seconds, if you exclude the Warrior’s entrance.
At times, the Warrior exerted himself so much just during his ring entrance that by the time he entered the ring for his match, he was already physically spent. It was no matter though, because the Warrior’s matches were fast paced and tended to end quickly, so as not to expose his lack of in-ring ability.
And that was the Warrior’s greatest failing, harped on often by various commentators on the DVD. Former wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan and Ted DiBiase comment extensively on the Warrior’s inability to properly carry a match. Hogan remarked that he knew the Warrior’s feud with Randy “Macho Man” Savage would produce some of the Warrior’s best matches, because Savage was so exacting and precise in planning his matches that the Warrior would have little room for error.
The Warrior faced HHH in HHH’s first Wrestlemania in’96. The future son-in-law of the WWE’s Chairman said the Warrior “ruined the experience for me,” and described the Warrior as “the most unprofessional guy” he had ever faced in the ring.
Longtime wrestling manager, color commentator and WWE Hall of Famer Bobby “the Brain” Heenan also comments extensively on the career of the Warrior. The man known to fans as “The Weasel” doesn’t have fond memories of his dealings with the Warrior, and he relates the story of a match where the Warrior faced off against Heenan, with the planned end result being that Heenan would lose, be “knocked unconscious,” and the Warrior would outfit him in a weasel costume. As the Warrior performed his familiar gorilla press on Heenan to end the match, he appeared to lose his grip and simply dropped Heenan at an awkward angle behind him. Heenan was infuriated and suggested that the Warrior was a dangerous wrestler to work with because of his disregard for the safety of his fellow workers.
Beyond that, “He never understood how a match worked,” Heenan discloses. “He was one of those guys . . . you just couldn’t tell him.” Heenan goes on to relate the story of a series of matches between the Warrior and the late Andre the Giant in which the Giant took issue with the Warrior working much "stiffer" (or harder) than was necessary. After repeated matches where the Warrior went against instruction and belted the Giant harder than they had agreed, one night, the Giant simply stuck his fist out as the Warrior ran into it, face-first, full steam.
But the problems with the Warrior went beyond troubles in the ring. “You just couldn’t tell what he was talking about,” WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter says in the DVD. As best as humanly possible, the following is the unabridged, transcribed text of a promo by the Warrior that is immortalized on the DVD. To achieve the full effect of the lunacy conveyed in the DVD, one has to imagine a fully ‘roided man in full makeup screaming each and every word at you, looking as if he’s a heartbeat away from a full brain hemorrhage:
I WAS SITTING IN A CASTLE, IN A PLACE NOT FAR FROM HERE. AND I CAME HERE FOR ONE REASON: TO ATTACK AND KEEP COMING. NOT TO ASK, BUT JUST TO GIVE. NOT TO WANT, BUT JUST TO SEND. SEEN THE POWER OF THE WARRIOR DOWN THE THROAT OF EVERYONE IN THE WWF UNTIL THEY BECOME SICK OF IT. WELL YOU’RE GONNA GET SICK OF IT, BECAUSE THIS FREAK OF NATURE IS JUST BEGINNING TO SWELL. AND WHEN I GET BIG ENOUGH BROTHER, THERE AIN’T GONNA BE ROOM FOR ANYONE ELSE BUT ME AND ALL THE WARRIORS FLOATIN’ THROUGH THE VEINS OF ALL THE WARRIORS...
During an aborted attempt to transcribe another promo, the words “lawnmower” and “lions” appeared to have been uttered in the same breath. “It was as if he was speaking in tongues,” McMahon said.
The baffling and spectacularly nonsensical promos by the Warrior may be his most significant contribution to the history of professional wrestling. They certainly occupy a good portion of the DVD. One spends a not insignificant – and always entertaining – amount of time watching this man huffing and puffing and snorting his way through a promo, pumping his tasseled arms in the air, bulging chest pocked by steroid-induced acne.
But the best part of the DVD may very well be the chapter where they talk about his promos and splice it with snippets from McMahon and current WWE wrestler Chris Jericho. The funniest bits, in fact, are when Edge and Christian – two WWE wrestlers who were likely in middle or grade school during the height of the Warrior’s career – duplicate the promos the Warrior cut on Hulk Hogan prior to Wrestlemania VI. The WWE is wise enough to give us an uncut version of Christian’s take as a DVD extra, and it alone is worth the price of admission.
Buy "WWE: The Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior"
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Posted by YourMomsBasement at 12:00 PM
By Pete Goodrich
"Jonah Hex! A hero to some, a villain to others, and wherever he rode, people spoke his name in whispers! He had no friends, this Jonah Hex, but he did have two companions: one was death itself...the other...the acrid smell of gunsmoke."
Well, here we have the prototypical description of one Jonah Hex, scarred gunsfighter and bounty hunter of DC's wild west. And yes, it's a little heavy-handed. But hey, the character's roots are in old school Western comics, I'd expect the prose to turn a little purple, considering the roots.
I'll go out on a limb and say that Jonah Hex is probably what most fans will think of when they think 'DC Western comic,' as he's not only the most visually striking of that lot (Bat Lash's dapper yellow vest aside) but also the most enduring of the group; and has been in print in one form or another for the past 4 decades. Let's take a look at a select couple of moments, shall we?
For myself (and I bet a majority of folks) the first real encounter I had with the character was through Veritgo. Part of the initial launch of Vertigo in the 1990's was Jonah Hex: Two-Gun Mojo written by Joe R. Lansdale, and drawn by Tim Truman. Maybe because it's the first real story I read about Hex, maybe it's because Joe Lansdale is one of my favorite writers, or maybe because Truman is one of my favorite artists...but this to me is the perfect Jonah Hex story. It's dark, it's funny, and Jonah Hex isn't a bland Western hero in the vein of a John Wayne. He's got dimension, showing a strong leaning towards being sympathetic, noble, and vengeful. The vengeance, that's where the money's at. He's got a heart, but at the very end of it Jonah Hex is a hard man. And Lansdale and Truman show it best of all, I think.
Sadly, it doesn;t look like we'll get to see much more of their take ont he character. After the second Jonah Hex mini (Riders of the Worm and Such) Lansdale, Truman, and DC comics (and Time-Warner methinks) were sued by the Winter brothers, some country/western act that were parodied in said mini. I guess the two didn't really dig on being parodied as inbred, cannibalistic, half-man/half-worm pigfuckers. DC/Vertigo published another Lansdale/truman Hex mini (Shadows West) a couple years back, and that seems to have been it for that team and Jonah Hex. A pity, really. In terms of Western stars, the Vertigo Hex was Clint Eastwood. Dark, gritty, dirty and quintessential.
But! Recently DC has gone on a Western (almost) renaissance! Well, not really. They just published Brian Azzarello and Marcelo Frusin's Loveless, which is a great, dark little Western in the vein of HB's Deadwood. And more on topic, they just kicked off another Jonah Hex ongoing and also published Showcase Presents: Jonah Hex, a gigantic collection of black and white reprints of Jonah Hex's earliest appearances. And it's awesome. Certainly in terms of the price point (17 bucks for over 500 pages of comic book is a hell of a deal) but aso, the material within.
It's just good, solid Western comics. It's gritty, not like the Vertigo stuff was gritty (there is no pigfucking) but there's a lot of violence. Do you like violence? There's plenty of it. Gunfighting, knife fighting, fistfighting. It satisfies the ol' bloodlust. And it's quaint, it's what the 70's thought the 1870's looked like. The black and white art holds up very well, actually. And while the stories are a little hokey ('Southern' accents in comics are always a source of comedy as far a I am concerned) they're good hokey. Endearingly hokey. And Jonah Hex is the same mean bastard I was introduced to in the Vertigo miniseries, which was nice to see.
Again in terms of Western stars, I'd call this one the Yul Brenner. Which reminds me that I have a DVD of the Magnificent Seven that I have to watch.
I have some qualms with it, though. There's some questionable racial depictions in here. Now I know it's supposed to have been a re-representation of the post-Civil War West and all, but man. There is an issue within the collection where Hex is battling a large, black man who takes the time to threaten Hex with a beating via...watermelon. Yeah. Yeah, I know. That was...unfortunate. No, actually it was pretty damned wrong. This was published in the 70's? Wow. I need to read the whole thing (I only read a select couple of tales) before I'm going to judge the thing as a whole, but finding that one story left as bit of a sour taste in my mouth.
The newest incarnation of Jonah Hex suffers in comparison to the excellence that was Two-Gun Mojo, but I'm a biased sort of guy and admit that not a lot of comics compare well to Two-Gun Mojo. But Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti wrote us a pretty good Hex. He's a touch more cultured than I'm used to for one, but after reading the dialogue in the Showcase collection it's actually pretty nice to read a Jonah Hex who doesn't scan like Rogue and Gambit's drunk uncle. The scene with him and foster in Foster's study calmly chatting over drinks seemed false and out of hex's nature (and where'd they get the ice cubes from?) but they play him like he's the same hard man that I was expecting to read about, and it works. And the harsh vengeance he brings at the end of the issue: that's some good vengeance.
And the art, that's something else. I think the first I ever saw Luke Ross was either on some forgotten Valiant title, or perhaps on some Avengers mini from the mid-90's that should be forgotten. But here, the guy brings some brilliant work to Jonah Hex. it reminded me very much of the fine work Cary Nord is doing on Conan,. Luke Ross is enough to keep me on this title alone, even though I think I like the way Gray and Palmiotti are playing Hex. It doesn't feel 100% legit though, it doesn;t immerse me in a Western like say Deadwood does, or the aforementioned Two-Gun Mojo did. It feels a little too clean...but it's still an excellent read.
Yes, definitly a worthwhile read. I'll stick with the title for sure. Continuing with the movie theme: I dub this Young Guns. For Young Guns was totally awesome, if a little cheesy.
And finally we come to the last decade of Jonah Hex (Showcase=70's, Two-Gun Mojo=90's, Jonah Hex= Now) we come to the Jonah Hex book of the 80's: Hex. Yes, they still published western-style stories with the man into the 1980's, but when you think 80's and you think Hex: you think of this bad idea. "Let's send Hex into the early 21st century!"
It's pretty bad. There's some great art by Mark Texiera to be seen here, thats for sure. But it's all typical 'dystopian-future-as-seen-from-the-80's-perspective' stuff. Evil corporations rule the world! The most precious resource...water! Leather-clad biker gangs violently roam a world empty of cows! In the 21st century peopl still have 80's style punk haircuts! And there's Jonah Hex in the middle of it, kicking ass, and adapting to the far future more easily than I think somebody transported a couple hundred years into the future really could have handed. But I digress.
The upside being: I paid less than a dollar for each of the six issues that I did buy. Thank Ebay! There is no movie equivalent for this one, as I can't think of any Westerns that were quite so poorly conceived. Okay, this is the Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure of Westerns: not a western at all, but look! A famous gunfighter!
I can see why the character stagnated until the early 90's, when Lansdale and Truman did their thing and made the character worth reading again. And after the unfortunate abino-fueled hiatus for the character in the later 90's, it's it's nice to see a return t form for the character in the latest series. Check it out.
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Posted by YourMomsBasement at 12:00 PM
Foreign Film Watch: Lethal Loves.
Sick of sappy love stories? How about the relentless ‘good cheer’ of premature holiday season marketing? Or are you merely feeling a bit misanthropic? If so, check out these films: all of which explore the darker dimensions of obsessive love. There are two absorbing dramas: one from China and the other from Korea; an entertaining, if flawed thriller from Hong Kong; and a controversial depiction of one young man’s descent into sexual depravity from France. The final four are horror films, two from Thailand and one from Korea and one from France. The second Thai and French horror films are guaranteed to scare the proverbial “living shit” out of you. Three of these films may well put you off dating for a while, but with the right frame of mind, you’ll enjoy achieving your renewed appreciation for the virtues of solitude.
Top to Bottom: The assembled cast of "Springtime in a Small Town". Yuwen (Jun Hu) and Zhang (Bia Qing Zin) check out the sights, Liyan (Jingfan Wu) begs for it.
Winner of the Best Film Award at the 2002 Venice Film Festival, Springtime in a Small Town (China 2002) is set in China during the brief period of peace after Japan’s 1945 surrender to the Allies, and before Communist Party takeover in 1949; and depicts the acute longing and uncertainly brought on when first loves are reunited. The tubercular Liyan (Jingfan Wu) and his wife Yuwen (Jun Hu) are trapped in a loveless marriage. They reclaim the home they were forced to evacuate months before, and before long Liyan's childhood friend Zhang (Bia Qing Zin) pays them a visit. Much to Zhang's surprise, his friend Liyan's wife, Yuwen, is an ex-lover who he left behind when he left town to begin his medical studies years before. Zhang and the unhappy Yuwen fight themselves and each other in their efforts to resist temptation, when a drunken party brings the three adults unresolved issues to the fore.
Springtime in a Small Town is recommended for those with the patience for deliberately-paced, but well-played, absorbing human-scale drama. Like Wong Kar-Wai’s In the Mood for Being Wild, Tian Zhuang Zhuang’s Springtime explores what happens when personal passions are severely restricted by cultural conventions, and like WKW, Tian relies on his actors to convey the drama through expressive performances. These are characters whose every word, every gesture has to be “proper” and yet reveal the passions raging just under the surface. The lovely Jing Fan Hu stands out as the demure Yuwen, a young woman who is nowhere as ‘correct’ and submissive as she appears to be on the surface. While cinematographer Lee Ping Bing's ( The Vertical Ray of the Sun, Millennium Mambo, In the Mood for Love) cinematography isn't as inventive as Chris Doyle's on WKW's films, he deserves credit for the way he graceful drifting camera beautifully frames the actors against stunning even painterly, rural backdrops and probes the darkened interiors, while subtly direct the viewers gaze without having resort to much back-and-forth editing.
Springtime in a Small Town is available in Region 1 DVD.
Left to Right: Seo Ki-Min (Choi Min-Shik) grasps his child and ducks out of sight. Seo & Choi Bora (Jeon Do-Yeon) his wife. Choi Bora with Il-Beom (Joo Min-Joo). Seo “loses it”.
Happy End (Korea, 1999) is a realistic, straightforward and suspenseful depiction of a marriage crumbling under intense emotional strain with horrific results. The story itself is quite simple, and oft-done. What makes the film notable is the intensity of the actors’ performances. Choi Min Shik (Oldboy, Crying Fist) is solid as a middle-aged man who becomes deeply depressed when he loses his job. He escapes in cheap novels, and appears to take the news that his wife is cheating on him with resignation, at least until his wife’s indiscretions endanger their child. Then he becomes dangerous, even terrifying for the deliberate and methodical manner with which he exacts his cuckold's revenge.
However the story is hardly one-sided. One of Korea’s finest and most versatile actresses, Jeon Do-Yeon (No Blood No Tears, Untold Scandal) perfectly plays his busy, wayward wife, Choi Bora. Her need for relief is almost palpable, as is her concern when her lover complicates her already busy life, rather than being content with simply providing her with a respite from it. It’s to Jeon’s credit that her character remains sympathetic despite her escapist impulses. (Jeon’s range is amazing: I’ve seen her convincingly play radically different characters and utterly disappear into a new personality each and every time.) Joo Min-Joo (Musa) rounds out the cast as her needy lover, a man who just doesn’t seem to “get it”.
Happy End is available in subtitled Korean region-3 DVD editions, as well as an all-region, Cantonese and Mandarin-dubbed Hong Kong edition.
Top to bottom. Daniel Wu as “Coke” with his “agent” Ting (Jing Ning), Suen (Aaron Kwok) gets shocked out of his jet leg. Coke beats on Suen, because "he likes him, and it will be good for him".
Divergence (Hong Kong, 2005) is an entertaining, if flawed action thriller. Depending on your level of expectations, you will either find it fun or a well-meant train wreck. A plainclothes cop, Suen (Aaron Kwok), assigned to the Corporate Crimes Division, is escorting a key witness in a money laundering case back to Hong Kong from Canada when his charge is killed by a sniper. What follows has to be longest week in poor Officer Suen's life. Topping it all off, he is constantly plagued by his memories of Amy (Angelica Lee) a woman who walked out of his life without a word of explanation years before. Before long Suen is caught up in a punishing, even humiliating game of cat-and-mouse with the sniper who put down his witness, “Coke” (Daniel Wu). For his part, Coke does his level best NOT to kill the distraught, harried Suen. We will eventually learn Coke’s reasons for sparing the increasingly pathetic cop.
Without a witness, the police cannot convict Yiu (Gallen Law), the businessman who hired the sniper, but he can hardly celebrate. Even bosses have bosses, and when his son disappears Yiu becomes convinced his ‘elder brother’ is holding him to ensure his silence. Yiu’s attorney, To (Ekin Chen), allegedly hates his work (in the films weakest performance, Chen barely never shows To's distaste for his lucrative job, leaving it to Angelica Lee, playing To’s wife Fong, to say so aloud, announcing it for the audience’s benefit). During a stake out, Suen catches a glimpse of Fong, who resembles his long lost Amy. Stunned Suen begins stalking the couple from a distance. Paradoxically, it’s by giving in to his obsessive love for Amy that Suen uncovers the truth behind the disappearance of Yiu’s son.
For three-fourths of its running time, Divergence is a perfectly good action thriller. The fight scenes and car chases are well choreographed, and Benny Chan’s taut direction of Ivy Ho’s complex story will keep you on your toes. However the story suffers from Aaron Kwok’s overwrought performance (and the maudlin music which follows hims wherever he goes) as Suen, Ekin Chen’s opaque turn as To, and a disappointing, rather perfunctory ending that made me think the filmmakers cut short the shoot when they realized had enough footage to assemble a feature film. I wanted to see more of Daniel Wu’s cocksure “Coke“, a friendly, frisky young wolf of a man, who can be a surprisingly forgiving soul when he isn’t on a job. He’s certainly the most engaging presence in the film. We also needed to see more of the attorney and his wife. Neither Ekin Chen nor Angelica Lee make much of an impression in their characters’ few scenes, however important they are to the film’s final resolution. Chen was certainly miscast, and the capable Lee utterly wasted (or totally mis-directed) in her role. Finally I don’t think other reviewers have given Gallen Law enough credit for his performance as a man gradually losing his composure over the gnawing mystery of his son's disappearance.
Divergence is available in all-region Hong Kong DVD editions.
Top to Bottom: (Isabelle Huppert) touches bottom, then fondles her son Pierre’s (Louis Garrell) bottom. Pierre contemplates an uncertain conquest.
Ma Mere (France, 2004) focuses on a disorienting summer in the life of Pierre, a sheltered adolescent in his late teens. Raised by his pious grandmother (isn’t that always the way in these European films?) he joins his parents in the Canary Islands for a summer, only to learn that they hate each other, flaunting their contempt for on another by openly indulging in affairs with others. When Pierre’s father dies suddenly, Pierre’s mother Helene has her lovers initiate Pierre into their private world of alcohol-fueled debauchery. His mother distances herself for a while, and Pierre soon finds himself in a mire of anguish, shame, sexual pleasure, and self-disgust. Then Hélène returns to the scene, and things get even darker, fast. The story is pretty bleak stuff, akin to Kim Ki-Duk’s Bad Guy in its nihilism, and its un-glamorized depiction of sex which is both a strength and a weakness here. Despite the presence of the formidable Huppert, Ma Mere isn’t a lot of fun. Though flawed, Don’t Bury Me On a Sunday is a more entertaining treatment of the same themes and ideas.
Ma Mere is available in a region-1 DVD edition.
Top to Bottom: Fear, love, pain and suspicion in "Nang Naak": Mak (Winai Kraibutr) loses it, the happy couple, Mak questions Naak (Intira Jaroenpura).
Nang Naak (Thailand, 1999).
There is no Thai who does not know Mae Naak … mentioning her name can make young children run and scream … mothers invoke Mae Naak's name to quiet their crying infants otherwise, the ghost might break their necks and eat their heads with chilly sauce …
Winner of the numerous festival awards, including Best Film at the 1999 Asian Pacific Film Festival, Nang Naak is a beautifully shot, lovingly produced and sympathetic interpretation of Nang Naak’s tragic tale, placing much emphasis on the sad love story at it’s core, intertwined with the story of a rural community of rural subsistence farmers faced with an extraordinary situation. Like Springtime in a Small Town (discussed above) the film is beautifully shot, and the filmmakers let their story unfold at a leisurely pace. I’ve never before seen such a detailed and sympathetic portrayal of life in Thailand’s rural areas. Unfortunately, unlike Springtime, the simplicity of the story, and the simplicity and directness of the characterizations don’t really give the viewer enough to chew on, however heart-rending the tale. Also, the films deliberate pacing has the effect of dissipating much of the story's potential suspense, sapping the even the story’s most effective scares of their full impact. Despite the beauty of the production, and Intira Jaroenpura's fine performance as Naak, I’m sorry to say that I was disappointed with this production as a whole.
Top to bottom: the formidable Cecile de France as Marie, Alexa (Maiween de Besco) “loses it”, Marie tries to comfort a distraught, traumatized Alexa.
A well made thriller that hinges on hidden desires, Alexandre Aja’s High Tension (France 2003) was deliberately shot and directed to emulate the look and unrelenting suspense of the better cut-rate slasher flicks made in the seventies. As such it’s a near masterpiece of its type. An excellent Cecile de France, plays Marie, the weekend houseguest of an isolated rural family, who watches helplessly as a powerful man in dirty yellow coveralls breaks into her hosts house one night and methodically dispatches her friend's father, mother and brother one-by-one. The man leaves, dragging Marie’s friend, Alexa, the sole surviving member of her family, with him. Marie spends the rest of the film in desperate but determined pursuit, looking for a chance to rescue the hysterical and traumatized Alexa, who lies chained up in the back of the man’s van. If you enjoy well-shot gore you will appreciate the loving care that went into realizing and depicting Marie and Alexa’s desperate ordeal. Good, but definitely not for the squeamish. There are no concessions to sentiment here. If you think you can handle it, go for it.
High Tension (Haute Tension) is available in Region 1 DVD.
Three faces of Natre (Achita Sikamama) the vengeful ghost of "Shutter".
Despite a couple of minor jumps in continuity Shutter (Thailand, 2004) is a well shot, wonderfully cast, and above all, convincing tale of a haunting. Thun, a young photographer, and his girlfriend Jane, flee the scene of a hit and run car accident. Soon they discover strange smears of light in their photographs. Finding no technical reason for these spectral impressions, they investigate the phenomenon. Meanwhile Thun’s closest friends find themselves assailed by their own ghosts and Jane uncovers something horrible linking her lover and his friends, speeding the stories resolution.
The scares are subtle, but pretty damn effective, producing an effective sense of disquiet that builds nicely though out the length of the story. The actors do a good job - particularly Ananda Everingham’s as Thun, and a key revelation is handled quite well. The linchpin of the story is both ugly and utterly believable. One can easily see something like this happening in your own neighborhood, or among your own college classmates. Not that this is any comfort to Thun, who is going to learn more about the motivations of the restless dead than anyone, even he, should have to. The film loses some points for using of some visual tropes familiar to Western audiences from Japanese films like The Ring or Ju-on (The Grudge), but on the whole Shutter stands very well on it’s own. Other writers have referred to it as the quintessential Thai horror film. I agree. As such I recommend it.
Shutter is currently available in a region-3 DVD edition. A region-1 edition is expected soon from Tartan Extreme Video.
Clockwise from top left: Hee Jin (Suh Jung) reels in her man, the lake, Hyun-Shik (Kim Yoo Suk), contemplates his limited alternatives, “See what you made me do?”, and Hee-Jin’s justice.
The Isle (Korea, 2000).
No discussion of “obsessive, dangerous love” in recent foreign film, could not be complete without a consideration of iconoclastic Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-Duk’s, The Isle. Like the French films, Haute Tension or Ma Mere, The Isle is definitely not for the weak of stomach, but it’s also beautiful and haunting fantasy of one man’s desperate plight from the law, which leads him to crossover into one woman’s primal private universe, the kind of journey from which no one returns unchanged, if they return at all.
The story opens on a picturesque lake high up in the mountains. Here a striking woman, Hee-Jin (Suh Jung of Spiders Forest) operates a kind of floating motel, a series of floating one-room shacks on rafts, where city people come, alone, or in small groups, to fish, have quick assignations with their lovers or prostitutes, camp out on the lake, or in some cases, hide out from the police. The nearly mute Hee-Jin silently ferries her guests from shore to cabin and back again, and brings them food, coffee and fresh bait, cleans out the rooms, and when asked, provides sexual services, either herself or by calling in young prostitutes from nearby towns.
It’s clear that Hee-Jin is more than just a caretaker or a prostitute, if not quite fully human. My best guest is that she's some kind of barely domesticated, possibly abandoned “wild child”, barely literate and largely asocial but not asexual. She is also the embodiment of the motel’s ethereal, otherworldly setting (much like the elder monk in Kim Ki-Duk’s Spring Summer Fall Winter & Spring), both benevolent and vengeful. (Here she differs from the monk. That character is beyond vengeance.) People, men in particular, come to her floating motel to indulge in their most basic impulses without realizing that, at best, they’re just visitors in a place that runs by definite rules – Hee-Jin’s. She is everywhere, sees all, ministers to her guests needs however craven or distasteful, and punishes those who trespass against her unspoken laws.
Into this strange vaguely threatening world comes an anxious man, Hyun-Shik (the unfortunately named Kim Yoo-Suk) who's clearly on the run from the police, and wants to hide out in one of the floating cabins. Thus begins an engrossing game of cat and mouse, as man and the woman eye each other warily, make tentative, clumsy attempts at contact and connection, with results that are both touching and horrifying. He is barely aware of it, but Hee-Jin is subtly and slowly drawing him into her primitive world, a place that’s both dangerous and well beyond the reach of normal “human” society. While the film’s ending is intentionally left ambiguous, I have no doubt that wherever the man went, he’s well on his way on a one-way journey to something other.
Recommended for those who like horror movies and art films, preferably both, The Isle is available in a region-1 DVD edition. PETA members, and others squeamish about seeing animals killed on screen, or fishhooks used in ways they were never intended to, need not apply. In fact, you are cautioned to stay away. Purists may want to check the running time (90 minutes) as censored versions have been released in some countries.
Won Kim
Sherman Oaks, California
October 2005
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Posted by YourMomsBasement at 10:47 AM
By Mike Collins
YMB: This September you've returned to the X-Men in a big way becoming the ongoing artist on Uncanny. How did that come about?
Bachalo: I marched in the Marvel office one day with my trusty pocket knife, took a few prisoners and hacked off a finger or two and made my demands: A harem of fantastic babes, a life time supply of Darth Vader M+M's and Uncanny. They gave me Uncanny. I figured one out of three wasn't bad and folded the knife. We're good now. In a perfect world I'd let Mike and company know that I was looking for a monthly and they'd offer up Uncanny. Much less stress that way...
How does the schedule differ on a monthly as opposed to a mini series?
Not much. Both are a monthly turnaround for me. There's maybe a little more room on the mini depending on when they want to ship....
Your style changes between projects, sometimes dramatically. How do you decide what style you are going to use on a particular title?
The writing, the tone, the pacing, they all dictate the style, feel and presentation of the book. I've been crazy fortunate to work with the best writers on the best series the past 14 plus years. I think I've touched all the genres, well, maybe not the Archie Genre, though, it would be nice to spend some time with Veronica. For me, Its' important to inject each series with it's own character, look and feel. That's a cool aspect about working in comics--visiting different series. Typically, I read a script, address the topic and make a decision on the best way to tell the story. That's why High Cost of Living doesn't look like Steampunk, Steampunk doesn't look like Captain America, Captain America doesn't look like Batman B+W, Batman doesn't look like Shade. Steampunk was, for me very greasy and broken to pieces, fragmented and held together by rusty bolts and chains. Witching Hour was methodical, a deceptively straight forward, nothing is what it seems story. I can't imagine drawing Captain America the way I drew that series. I was invited to create a Batman B+W entry. I had a dark, creepy story, with lots of black and washes in mind. A small spin about an obsessive Batman groupie. It would be spooky, like the Ring movie--the first one, not the second. According to the rules, an individual is not permitted to both write and draw Batman at the same time...unless incorporated. That sounds complicated, so, I invited Brimstone writer/creator Cy Voris to help me out. We created our little 8 pager and it was fun and dark and creepy like the first Ring movie and the point is that the subject matter dictated the style and look of the book. Creepy story, creepy art. Lots of black and scribbly, edgeofvisionthingscrawlingoutoftheblackgoodness kind of stuff.
What’s in store for the X-Men during your new run?
I'd love to spill but that would be telling. I can say that we'll be spending a lot of time with Rachel in the early going and tearing her life up to pieces. Pretty nasty stuff. I complimented Chris on really going for broke with the destruction. I find that writers/publishers pull too many punches with their characters. Not this time around. That's why I like Millar and his work on Ultimates. You never know what's going to happen in that book. Everyone's fair game. Fantastic.
How long do you envision being on the title?
My first goal is to stay on longer that my first go around--about 10 issues. After that, as long as they'll have me. I think four years is a nice number. We'll see. If the lottery numbers come through it may be earlier than that, though, I 'd have to do something besides vacation all day, so maybe I'd stick around and annoy the folks that find me distasteful....
What’s Joe Quesada really like to work with?
I have no idea. I've not spoken with him in years. I figure I must be doing okay as he and his pals keep giving me great things to do...
When you begin work on a new issue, how do you go about it?
The first few issues are the worst for me. It's like joining [a] party and not knowing any one. There's that difficult period of time of getting to know the participants and getting a feel of what the scene is all about. A few beers and few issues of acclimation help out nicely. Once I'm settled in and comfortable and know the characters the book feels real nice the good work begins...
Generally how long does a single issue take you to draw?
Ideally, a book takes about a month. That's about 6 pages a week, including the cover. I've drawn issues in as little as 8 days and as long as three months. When I'm behaving, a 4-5 week schedule is nice.
How about the covers? The covers that Marvel has released are fantastic. How do you go about designing them?
Well, now that's a big question. I spent 5 years in school trying to figure that out. Still learning come to think of it. Typically, my first objective with covers is to sell the book. My cover is going to compete with five hundred others covers on the book shelves, so I need to find a way to arrest the eye of the prospective buyer. On Uncanny, my objective is grab the reader with a simple, striking image, with as few characters as possible, using a narrow range of color--the more colors on the cover the more it will blend with the other riff raff on the stands--and sell the buyer that this is a dangerous, over the top, super powered, sci-fi adventure book worth their three bucks. The first objective is to be graphic and simple. Look at Millers stark and dramatic work. You can see a Sin City book from across the room. I really liked the Cassaday Astonishing X-men cover with Professor X. That big, black and white head shot one. I could see it from 20 feet at the Borders book store. Very Effective and I bought it. The second objective is to try and sell the story or the topic of the book. You wouldn't put Marv shooting someone's guts out on a Betty and Veronica book. Media is important. Note the starkness of the Sin City work. Black and White. Hard lines. Sharp contrasts. Really sells the idea of SC, doesn't it? The McKean covers on Sandman effectively sold the feeling of that book. Very different media on those. Adam Hughes style on Wonder Woman sold the idea of that title. All three styles are very different from one another but effective in advertising the content of their respective books.
You’ve been doing some of the colors on some of your work, What programs do you use?
Mostly, Photoshop. I'll use digital photography from time to time for texture work or BG's. Photoshop is the greatest invention since, I dunno, the telephone. I can't belive it's for real. I grew up in the old days when a having a calculator put you on the fast track. The ability to manipulate photographs, colors, drawing and pictures at the speed of light cannot be described in words. I dabble occasionally with paint but I don't miss it.
What other characters would you like to take a shot at that you haven’t spent much time with? Any you’d like to return to?
I want to write someday so I put together a proposal for a Gen X series that didn't find any legs. I'll try again someday. They offered me Uncanny instead. Nice trade off. Spidey would be cool If I didn't have to draw the Peter Parker parts. Batman would be really amazing...
Your first creator owned work was Steampunk. Are there any plans to go back and finish it? Are there any other creator owned works you have plans for?
Steampunk would be nice to finish . We have one more big arc to wrap it up. Lots of juicy plot developments are in store. I don't know at this time where it will be completed, but I'll do my best to make sure the ending sees the light of day. I've no more creator owned project in the works....today. That could change quickly. Like I said, it would be really cool to write so look out...
Posted by YourMomsBasement at 11:59 AM
