8/31/07: Halloween comes early...and its good.

Thursday night, around 9:30 pm, I decide I want to see the new Halloween film. Anyone who knows me, knows I love a good cheese ball horror flick. This was NOT one. In fact, the casting seemed perfect, from Tyler Mane playing the crazed psychopathic Michael Myers, to Malcolm McDowell playing the role that NO ONE thought anyone could fill Donald Pleasance's shoes... and he did so nicely.

The cameos were spot on for what you'd expect from such a cherished property, and this movie was just good.

If you want to jump two to ten times, this movie does so in a way that is sure to continue to do so EVEN after you've seen it once.

Zombie sticks to most of the story, changing only the end, but at the same time, he kept the scenery the same (filmed in the same city) and gave a new reason behind the painted Shatner mask...which after 17 years is pretty gruesome.

If you want GOOD horror done right, this compliments the original film VERY nicely, and I'd recommend it highly to anyone wanting to jump.

8/21/07:Still hot as balls...

Yesterday, the house heat topped out OVER 100 degrees. Still no end in sight as to when this will all be corrected, the estimate from ARS, the people that set the standard is now at $3500. Yikes. And no, we don't have that kind of money just lying around, however, they had a 36 month payment plan, and we went with the unit with a 10 year warranty.

Tomorrow, we'll be back to as normal as we get, when we have returned to air conditioned living.

Anyone else think its extremely difficult to think when their house is 100 degrees?

I've come to realize that when building lots of houses, you take the easy way out when building stuff. Meaning, everyone in my neighborhood will probably be replacing their AC units, since the guy told me that the generic type that we owned typically lasts 8 years, and then asked when the house was built...1999...which is, in fact, 8 years.

The good news is that the new unit we are getting has to abide by higher efficiency standards, which means it'll be better on cost and everything too...just don't know if that means $5 or $50 in savings per year.

Sometime next week, I'll update everyone with current projects, and if you haven't played it yet, get Bioshock...rated a PERFECT 10 by 7 different sources.

8/19/07: Hot as Fuck.

That's right, I'm not going to mince words. My house is 90 degrees right now...it wasn't at 1pm this afternoon, but it is now. This is now the second time that our AC has gone out this Summer. The first time it was 89 degrees outside, now, we've been seeing 105. This isn't good.

I have two dogs. My wife and I can suffer through the heat until we get it fixed, but the dogs can't. So I had to go out and purchase a fan. Hell, I was going to purchase an Air Conditioner, since Walmart had a cheap one for $90, but until Christy and I get to the bank, we're on a limited budget. So I went out and bought $40 worth of fans for the house...and as long as you stay near them, you're alright.

I just don't get it. Christy fiddles with the thermostat all the time, which forces me to go back to it and turn it back...I think all this constant fiddling with it has helped cause the breakdowns...she just won't stop with it at 75, and has to turn it to 68, which could FREEZE the AC unit.

I love ya, baby, but we need to leave it alone. They DO freeze up...they DO break, and now we're left with another repair bill, and this time for something that is DIRE to the household.

Anyway, this has frustrated me to no end, because of it being hotter than a ballsack with lit matches under it. Couple that with the thought that I injured my eardrum this morning and everything is all loopy today.

Hope everyone is having a better weekend than me.

8/14/07: Final Ringo Tribute.

This is my tribute to Mike and his work.
I hope everyone likes it as much as I liked
Mike's work.

8/14/07: Wowio Top 10...Dead Sonja!

All I can say here is...If you AIN'T read it...Find out why the Las Vegas Weekly thought it was one of the most original concepts out there!

8/13/07: Wowio Top Downloads...DEAD SONJA?!

Hey all, head on over to Wowio.com where you can read books for free online...and you'll get to see DEAD SONJA is right now, their #7 Top Downloaded title! That's right, head over there, in the search block, search Comics and Graphic Novels and then look at the top ten...OR, if it changes too much, just search under Publisher: BLATANT COMICS and you'll find it.

Other works by me on there are XXXena: Warrior Pornstar (un-credited), XXXena vs. Busty The Vampire Murderer...and coming soon, I believe is THE UNGRAMMATICAL EBONIX-MEN

8/13/07: Remembering Mike Wieringo: 1963-2007

Mike Wieringo was one of the best comic creators I've ever met. As a person, he was a great man. I met him a long time ago at HEROES CON, and in fact, he was one of the few creators that while working for the big guys, would sneak some of us little creator's work into his pages, as you can see from the picture of ARDY on the back of Peter Parker's shirt from Sensational Spider-Man #21.

Mike had a way about him, and a grace on the pages. My words won't do him enough justice, since overall, I only got to see him at one convention a year, but every year, I'd say, "Hey Mike, you drew my character Ardy on Peter Parker's shirt back in the day," and he'd retort, "Yeah, Rob, right? How's Ardy doing these days anyhow?"

He was a pro in comics and from what I knew, a pro in life. His slick linework but known drama will be missed greatly, especially since he was a creator who knew how to make great comics.

It's weird. Just last night, I downloaded three pieces of his art that were penciled pieces (one he colored as well), and I was toying with coloring them. The first one that I played with is this Shazam and Dr. Sivana piece. I went gruesomely dark with it, because I wanted to show a great amount of drama in it, as well as make the mad scientist look bad ass.

It wasn't until I got home from work twenty minutes ago that I found out the horrific news.

Mike was known for drawing a lot of characters from both Marvel and DC, and now, he's probably constructing the Crossover in the sky with the likes of Kirby, Cockrum and all the others taken from us.

Godspeed, Mike, your work and who you were will be missed.

8/4/07: Back from vacation, and time to hit with an update...

There seems to be an interesting story behind these two cell phone photos I took this week, but all I can say is that SHIT seemed to be the theme of the vacation.

I told myself I was going to work on THIEF, TAGGER and TAVA while I was away, and technically, I only worked on one of the three, and here's what I'll explain.

I began working on a movie treatment for THIEF. I got into a discussion with longtime friend and publisher of my work, Chris Crosby, about THIEF and he said that it had blockbuster movie written all over it. Okay, maybe blockbuster was not the word he used, but he did say, "Feature Film." He knows the story, and the concept and is very interested in publishing it if and when its ready to see print, but when he told me that he felt that it could be a movie, something I already believed, it made me feel the concept was MUCH stronger than just your average comic, and with the way comic properties are being gobbled up by movie studios, I think this may be the best route to take the project. In fact, its simple to note that EVERYONE would be interested in publishing the title IF it were already greenlit to become a movie. Hell, I'd probably even get to determine my own pricetag.

So alright, other than that, I did two drawings and no other writing. I was just too tired. However, I like the new spin on THIEF and how I opened it up for a movie, possibly even better than the original issues did, which will upset one person tremendously...sorry Eric. It makes me want to write it in a much different way, and for the first time, I think a decompressed four to eight issue ORIGIN miniseries would be MUCH better than how I did the origin in one issue and then led right into the story with the original scripts. Now let me state this...I don't like decompression, but this story is about grief, and being down on your luck. It actually works out better for characterisation to learn slowly about the main character and his troubles. I also developed his relationship with the hero of the story a tad more, so that he really just thinks the hero is a prick, instead of the superhero everyone else sees him as.

I can't go into further detail right now, and I hope everyone understands. This idea is one of the last original ideas out there, and its building off of the heroic ideals we already see from the big two comic companies, without stealing anything. I'm proud this idea came to me, and I'm amazed no one else has gone with it.

TAGGER UPDATE

Yes, I have the itch to write more about the character from LANDIS and Eric Kent is scheduled to be the artist on it. I've told Eric that I'd love to begin updating the elisalandis.com website with original TAGGER pages by the first of the year, but I have to ensure that A) He has a finished script to work on...B) He has enough time to NOT miss any updates and C) That he has the time to make it his finest work to date.

Eric works twice as many hours as me, it seems, and he's doing the brunt of the work by drawing the story, so I have to allot him enough time to stay on schedule. And honestly, I'm not helping any by not keeping up on the script, though I AM in the third issue of it, and after re-reading it, I am happy with how this story is turning out. It makes me glad to know I've been able to keep a quality to my work.

Owen originally said if I could find another artist for LANDIS he'd want to do covers for it to keep his name attached to the project, but I know his plate is OVERFLOWING with projects, so I don't want to try to get him on covers or pinups unless he knows he can do them.

TAVA UPDATE:

Over at JK's deviant art page, yourbuddybuddy.deviantart.com, he now has TAVA prints available, and a really cool fake LEVIs ad starring Ardy and Torch.

More updates on TAVA when I have them. JK's been using his hiatus time to get ahead on pages, and work on other projects, too, so hopefully we'll get more up to speed with all of this in the near future.

Well, that's the comic book update from POTS AND PANS, so hopefully everyone will be satisfied with what I've stated.

Later!