Ask Me Anything #51

It's the first Monday of the month meaning it's once again time for "Ask Me Anything". 

You can ask me any questions you'd like, whether it's about my work, opinions, influences, favorites, least favorites, last minute gift suggestions, or anything else you think I might have an answer for. Questions can be posted in the comments section below, and I'll either answer them there, or in a separate post sometime later in the month.

I've been asked a lot of good, thought provoking questions in the past as well as some really banal ones, all of which I tried to answer. You can see the previous questions by visiting Ask Me Anything  #1, #2 ,  #3, #4, #5, #6 , #7 , #8, #9,  #10,  #11,  #12 , #13, #14,  #15 , #16, #17 , #18 , #19,  #20,  #21, #22,  #23, #24, #25, #26, #27, #28, #29, #30, #31, #32, #33, #34, #35, #36, #37, #38, #39, #40, #41, #42,  #43, #44, #45,  #46, #47,  #48, #49, and #50.  Answers not found following the questions can be found in the archives section for each associated month under Ask Me Anything.

Now ask away. 

The 10 Best Asian American Superheroes

Pop Mythology has posted a list of the Top 10 Asian American superheroes. I'm happy with where David Kim ranked on that list. Check it out here.

Multiversity Comics looks back on Xombi from 2011. You can order a copy of the graphic novel via the link below.

Crazy4Cult9 Art Now Online

All the artwork for the Crazy4Cult9 show, now at Gallery 1988 (West) is available for viewing/sale at the Gallery 1988 website. Take a look.

X-Files Comics for Charity

Right now on Humble Bundle, all X-Files comics, including all the ones I wrote, are available for whatever you want to pay. All funds go to charity. Find out more here.

Opening Tonight

Crazy4Cult9 opens tonight at Gallery 1988 (West). For more information, please visit their website. To view my pieces for the show, please scroll down to the previous post.

Crazy4Cult9

Crazy4Cult9 opens tomorrow night at Gallery 1988 (West). There are a ton of amazing artists participating in the show this year all providing some stunning work.

I have three cut paper pieces in the show:

For those of you who followed my 31 Days of Halloween last month, these images will be familiar, so I've also included a few process shots of the last one.

Little Shoppe of Horrors #35

I'm pleased to now be a part of Richard Klemensen's outstanding magazine, Little Shoppe of Horrors, dedicated to the films and personnel of Hammer Studios. The new issue is available which covers Frankenstein Created Woman and Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, for which I contributed an illustration depicting Veronica Carlson and Peter Cushing. There is also a tribute to Christopher Lee.

For anyone interested in horror cinema, LSOH is highly recommended. As the bulk of each 100 page issue is devoted to one or two movies, actors, or directors, the really read more like extensively researched books than single magazine issues. You can order LSOH #35 (and all previous issues) here.

The Next Show I'm Involved With

"Crazy4Cult9" opens at the end of the month at Gallery 1988 (West). I have three pieces in this show and will preview them closer to the opening.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 31

There are some movies that work best when you going into them knowing little about what's coming. What We Do in the Shadows (2014) is one such film. So, all I'm going to say is it's mundane, and it's about vampires, and it's extremely funny and easily the best film I've watched this countdown. Go see it.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 31 - Movie 1

The tv miniseries of Stephen King's Salem's Lot (1979) is more soap opera than horror, but still holds up pretty well despite a few dated fashion choices. The Glick boys hovering outside of the window, filmed in reverse to give it an even eerier quality, are still a chilling site, and Nosferatu inspired Mr. Barlow is one hell of a vampire, even given his short screen time.  The performances are good, particularly David Soul, Lance Kerwin, James Mason and Bonnie Bedelia, and you genuinely do care about the welfare of the people in the film. It was nice to revisit Salem's Lot after a long time away.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 31

As a child I tuned in religiously to The Creature Double Feature on WLVI, channel 56 out of Boston, and each week I'd also draw the monsters featured in the various movies shown. In a lack of judgement/foresight, my high school self tossed out the entire thick stack of drawings. One managed to slip through the cracks and it is the only one of those weekly drawings to survive. Seen below is Reptilicus in all his glory. 

Based on the drawing style I'm guessing this came from late second grade, possibly third grade. It's not too bad, not terribly off model even though everything seems to be occurring on the same plane. I'm not entirely certain if the curved lines behind Reptilicus and the building hiding him are supposed to be rebar, or Reptilicus' wings. 

After all of these years, I thought I'd tackle Reptilicus again in my current medium of cut paper. I would have loved to have recreated the scene entirely, but time was against me. I think I still like the drawing above better. 

Reptilicus (1961) Cut paper.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 30

The zombie apocalypse strikes, with a few twists. I won't spoil them other to say one involve fuel, and the other involves experimentation. While neither is necessarily any more plausible than the dead coming back to life, I was happy to roll with them. In the context of Wormwood: Road of the Dead (2014).  There were a few things I liked about this Australian film. First off, unlike most zombie movies that start after thee zombie apocalypse is well under way, this one includes day one of the outbreak. Granted we are seeing it on a small, low budget scale, but we are seeing it. We also know the cause, and which people are affected by the contagion, or not, and why. Second, people actually dress appropriately with full protective body armor. Third, most of the decisions being made are smart, and are being made for the good of the group as opposed to the good of the individual. This movie was a lot of fun, and refreshing addition to this colossal sub-genre.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 30 - Movie 1

Until today, I have never seen Hocus Pocus (1993), the movie about a trio of Salem witches resurrected in modern who need human children to prolong their longevity. Starring Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker as the witches, this film is apparently beloved to many based on my tumblr feed, so along with a recommendation from a friend of mine, and my daughter, I figured this year I'd give it a shot.

As a Disney movie, I'm sure I would have enjoyed it to the same degree as say, Blackbeard's Ghost (1968), if I were at a similar age watching Hocus Pocus as I was the Peter Ustinov spectral pirate movie. It's cute, visually interesting and doesn't follow it's own logic, but that doesn't matter much. My biggest peeve, which I'm sure is the favorite part of most people, is I am not a fan of that over the top acting style chosen by the lead actresses to portray their characters. I've never seen any of the Harry Potter movies either, but I've seen enough to see that many of the actors playing the teachers (Emma Thompson, in particular) use this method of "acting." Also, of the three witches, Bette Midler is the only one who really has anything to do.

Was this a bad movie? Not necessarily. I think I'm just not the right age to have appreciated it as others do.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 30

Peter Cushing as Arthur Grimsdyke in Tales From the Crypt (1972). Cut paper.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 29 - Movie 2

A rocketship returning to Earth from Venus crash-lands in the Mediterranean. It's precious cargo, an alien life form, is set free and grows to tremendous proportions. Terrified, it is hounded and hunted until it is finally cornered atop the Coliseum.

20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) is a giant monster on the loose movie from Charles Scanner, Nathan Juran and Ray Harryhausen, the same team that would bring us The 7th Voyage of Sinbad a year later. Unlike most other giant monster movies of the 50s, 20 Million Miles to Earth hearkens back to movies such as King Kong and Mighty Joe Young, by giving us a sympathetic creature who only acts out because it is frightened or under attack itself. Harryhausen's stop-motion animated Ymir gives a wonderfully nuanced performance, and the plaintive sounds it is given only add to the creature's distress.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 29 - Movie 1

The Angry Red Planet (1959) tells the tale of a group of astronauts who reach Mars then come face to face with its dangerous flora and fauna. While much of the film involves less than exciting speculative rocket operation scenes, once they reach Mars, creative cinematography and some bizarre looking creatures give the illusion of a much larger budget than what was actually available. There's also some well edited use of stock footage used at the beginning of the film. This film is imaginative and fun.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 29

Lon Chaney as the Ape Man in A Blind Bargain (1922). Cut paper.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 28 - Movie 2

When a Jeanette (Susanne Loret) is facially disfigured in a car accident, Dr. Levin (Alberto Lupo) becomes determined to restore her beauty. Using knowledge he's learned from studying the victims of radiation from Hiroshima, he's able to restore her features, and becomes romantically obsessed with her. A feeling not reciprocated. The restoration of her features turns out to be temporary, and Dr. Levin turns himself into a remorseless monster in order to protect his true identity when killing women for the glands he needs to repair Jeanette's face.

Seddok: l'erede di satana / Atom Age Vampire (1960) seems like it wants to be Eyes Without a Face but plays out more like The Brain that Wouldn't Die. Alberto Lupo is disturbingly sleazy as the doctor, which is more effective when partnered with Jeanette being his prisoner, tolerating his advances -- to a point, so that she can have her face back, but clearly repulsed by him. As a c-list movie it's somewhat entertaining, but nothing you can't live without.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 28 - Movie 1

The corpse of a vampire is brought to a hospital where it is brought back to life and escapes seeking new victims. El ataúd del vampire / The Vampire's Coffin (1958) is a sequel to El vampiro / The Vampire (1957), though everything you need to know about the first movie is covered here, and even if it weren't the movie is so straight forward that knowing it's a sequel is really unnecessary. The movie starts out with some nice moody atmosphere, but once it reaches the hospital, antiseptic sets and lighting take over and we are presented with characters walking back and forth between rooms looking for the vampire, and taking breaks for romantic asides, or to try and inform the authorities, who refuse to believe a vampire is on the loose. There's something about the structure that suggests it's, at least partially, meant to be a comedy, but the laughs aren't there, and the movie as a whole becomes little more than a not very entertaining diversion.