We pick interesting products and trends for you!
This past weekend, artist Nathan Jurevicius released his latest vinyl creation – the Anzû Sylvan based on the artist Gary Ham’s Sylvan platform. The 9″ vinyl toy is a tribute to Sumerian/Akkadian mythology. The Anzû Sylvan is limited to 100 pieces.
How could anyone not know James Hong! I think it’s safe to say that he has starred in more than four hundred American films and television episodes. He has played leading roles, supporting roles and small parts. I recently saw him in the classic Blade Runner and last year’s R.I.P.D., but when anyone asks me about James Hong, the two flicks that immediately come to my mind are Wayne’s World 2 and Big Trouble in Little China.
Local artist Martin Hsu has over the years developed his own personal unique art style. You can see it in his paintings, drawings and vinyl toys. And this Holiday season, if you’re looking to see his art and want to buy his art in person, check out the Martin Hsu Pop-Up Show @ Woot Bear. Woot Bear is a neat toy art shop located in the heart of the Richmond District, 147 Clement Street in San Francisco.
What does she tell us?
“I’m working on several projects. There’s this one, but it’s N-D-A, then there’s another that’s also NDA… hmm oh wait, no that’s NDA too!”
I’m not sure if that’s what our site readers and viewers would like to hear, but she had fun explaining how NDA everything is to Ramen and Half’s Eddie Ballar. For those of you that don’t know Debra Wilson, you can definitely find out about her by watching this interview from Comikaze Expo. She is popularly known for her comedic sketches on MADtv and continues to venture the land of entertainment. She’s been involved in comedy flicks like recent Knock’Em Dead to animation and video game voices such as on Grand Theft Auto V.
Picked up Dragon Age Inquisition for my PS4 on the day of its release, hoping that this game would make up for the faults of its predecessor, and, well, I can’t stop playing it. So much so, I haven’t even touched my Far Cry 4 yet. Currently, I’ve already clocked over 35 hours into the game – eating up most of my playing time are all the side quests, such as, picking up herbs and materials to craft new items. I haven’t even gone through half of the main story, which i have to say is a pretty decent story, but far from perfect.
Once we arrived at Comikaze Expo we were christened by the powers of great opportunities and got an interview with Stan Lee! He’s a pretty busy guy these days, especially when everyone at Comikaze Expo wants to meet him…but who wouldn’t want to meet the man that gave birth to the pop culture of comics. With this great opportunity, our one and only “The Eddie” got to ask Stan Lee a couple of personal questions about the man and his comics.
In my generation, my comic book idols weren’t just the superheroes on the printed pages, but the artists who drew them. And as an amateur wannabe artist, I tried drawing like Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri and Todd McFarlane. As you can see below, I’m not a very good artist.
If you want to learn how to draw, like everybody, you have to learn the basics. One of those legendary art teachers in American history is Andrew Loomis. He published several drawing books in 1930s-1940s that influenced many artists of today. Thanks to Titan Books who have been republishing many of Andrew Loomis’ drawing books like this one, “I’d Love to Draw!”
Welcome back to Lindsay’s Finest 2nd Annual Lowrider Car Show at McDermont’s Field House. Retrenders Spotlight with Ruben Gonzalez and Ramona Padilla were able to bring you not only beautifully stylized lowrider cars, but a touch of history on early Chevy Impalas and their aesthetic differences between 1960 to 1964 with Gabriel Calderon and Marcelo Mota. We also get a personal experience on how judging Lowrider vehicles in a show can be with Harvey Reyes . Then how a Lowrider owner feels about his car, and we find out what the Real Housewives of Lowriding are all about.
RETRENDERS SPOTLIGHT
Producer: Johnny Moreno
Executive Producer: Stephen Jang
Music: Kevin Macleod
MUSIC also USED: Snippet of “Is it Love “ by Bob Marley and The Wailers, 23 seconds in length and incidentally captured due to live ambient recording.
NOTES: This Spotlight Lowrider Episode was produced in the same fashion as last year’s – single handedly, on the fly, documentary style. The only difference was that I filmed the show in HD and decided to give you more interview stories that encompasses the production and some of the people that make up a Lowrider Car show (specifically this year’s). As a result, this Retrenders SPOTLIGHT show turned out to be 26 minutes long, informative, entertaining and it moves along pretty fast. You’ll feel that you’ve just sat down and watched a five minute show. – I think this is as close I’ll get to a Jay Leno episode on Lowriders!
War is neither romantic or fun. Some of the greatest anti-war movies are films about war like Platoon, Full Metal Jacket and Born on the Fourth of July, and in the comic medium, two British comic legends, author Pat Mills (Marshal Law) and artist Joe Colquhoun (Johnny Red) detailed the heroic and horrific realities of World War I in Charley’s War, a comic strip that started its run on September 1979 and up to January of 1985. This newly released collection by Titan Books, Charley’s War: A Boy Soldier in the Great War collects the first 4 volumes of the strip.
On a brezzy night in San Francisco’s Haight/Ashbury area, Kidrobot held a Artist Signing and Release Party for super talented artist Martin Hsu. A few weeks back, Martin released his latest vinyl artwork – “Blacky” – the dragon/dog 4″ figure. The figure is limited to 300 pieces worldwide, so you might want to pick it up, since it’s also sold at a reasonable price of around $25.00USD.
If there’s a mention of Ridley Scott’s iconic film “Bladerunner” anywhere, I’m usually there in a heartbeat. The early concept art and ideas of Bladerunner began with this man – Jim Burns. The British award winning artist has the distinction of winning 3 Hugo awards and creating science fiction book covers for authors like George RR Martin, Peter F Hamilton and Anne McCaffrey.
If you ever watch the animated movies like The Ant Bully (2006) or Escape From Planet Earth (2013), one of the concept artist behind it was Greg Spalenka. The Art of Greg Spalenka: Visions From The Mind’s Eye by Titan Books showcases Spalenka’s artistic career over the years in the many art mediums he uses, from paintings, drawings, sketches and photography.
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“Here was art with a purpose – communicating issues about humanity, from gun violence and racism to social welfare. These images were speaking to thousands, and in some cases, millions of people. I learned that the publishing world could be a powerful platform as well as an industry to work in.” – Greg Spalenka
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If you weren’t satisfied with this year’s lame Bandai America’s Godzilla Destruction City playset, why not try ALGERNON Product Geocraper – Tokyo Scenery Vol. 1 series? Yupe, this toy line is called GEO-CRAPER, something got lost in translation here, but I digress. This is a great way to build a mini-toy diorama playset and putting your toy kaijus on display.
The ALIEN movie franchise has been a fan-favorite over the years and fans today still want more facehuggers! 20th Century FOX hopes to wet your appetite with 3 “official” novels based on the ALIEN and ALIENS films. The first novel “Out of the Shadows” takes place at the end of first ALIEN movie and becomes the prequel to ALIENS. Now, the stage is set for the second book by James A. Moore with ALIEN: Sea of Sorrows.
The year is 2497, “Black Sand” is discovered on planet LV178 aka New Galveston and the Interstellar Commerce Commission (ICC) lead by Deputy Commissioner Alan Decker is on the scene. The ICC is a governmental organization that provides rules and regulations for corporations terraforming planets for humans to live. “Black Sand” aka Sea of Sorrows is a term used when a planet can’t be terraformed and somehow “Black Sand” has appeared on a build site.
We caught a glimpse of this cool looking comic strip Carpe DIEm earlier this year with the Titan Comics/Atomeka anthology collection Monster Massacre Vol. 2. Now this collected edition offers 104 pages of action/adventure and off-beat humor. Carpe DIEm is a team of super agents named after each day of the week hoping to save the world from crazy evil villains.
Carpe DIEm is formed by the mysterious Sir 8th Day who is a little eccentric and clumsy and usually decisions are made by his butler Jude. Jude is like Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy, Jude was created in a test tube and now is an intelligent talking Koala bear. Sir Sunday is an ex-Triad gangsta and is the old and wise field general for the team. Like all super-agent teams, you gotta have a sniper, and that is teenager Lady Saturday. What team doesn’t have a ninja? Like G.I. Joe, Carpe DIEm has Sir Friday the ninja assassin who rarely speaks. And these guys even have a Doctor Strange like character, that is Sir Thursday, the Shaman sorcerer who combines Eastern and Western magic. Like all super teams, you gotta have a big fat guy, Sir Wednesday, he’s the muscle. And why not, let’s throw-in that loud obnoxious like American, Sir Tuesday.
Comic book creator Dave Elliot creates a new Alice in Wonderland universe and re-imagining of famous literary characters from the 19th century. Like ABC/Disney’s TV show Once Upon A Time, “The Weirding Willows” is where the worlds of Wonderland, Oz, Neverland, Olympus, Mars and Earth collide. This trade collects issues #1-6 of The Weirding Willows with bonus commentary and artwork.
I had a blast reading author Samit Basu’s critically-acclaimed 2012 Turbulence novel awhile back, and it got me hungry for his second serving, the sequel – Resistance. Eleven years have passed, since the flight of BA142 from London to Delhi gave passengers on the plane incredible powers. This was known as the First Wave, the age of the super power humans. It is now 2020 and the world has changed with many super human beings. This Second Wave, humans with no powers serve the ruling super power elites.
Here’s a list of movies you may have seen in the theaters or at home these past 40 years: The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Arachnophobia, Blade Runner, E.T., Cocoon, The Goonies, Short Circuit, The Golden Child, Spaceballs, The Lost Boys, Empire of the Sun, Willow, Batman Returns, Darkman, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Aladdin, Jurassic Park, The Little Mermaid and Star Wars. What do all these movies have in common? The wonderful artwork and iconic movie posters done by artist John Alvin.
What if my favorite action directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez had their take on creating Captain America? This hot and spicy jambalaya soup has everything; the supernatural elements, the PG-13 superhero moments, the real-world geopolitical issues, add some zombies (and Dracula to the mix) and of course some bloody violent action into the mix and you get Dave Elliot’s Blazing Glory in Odyssey Vol. 1: History Lesson.
Way back in the 1980s when Mirage Comics published Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s creation The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, nobody had any idea how big these green turtles would get in pop-culture. From all the movies, cartoons, toy lines and other merchandising, the iconic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are still here today kicking butt.
On July 12, 2014 in Alhambra, CA, Gallery Nucleus and Nickelodeon presented an “official” TMNT art exhibition for the 30th Anniversary. Over 30 artists were involved showcasing TMNT artwork. Also featured, were production stills, memorabilia, storyboards and many other neat things from Nick’ cartoon series. In collaboration with our LA outfit Project 760 Productions we give TMNT-fans a glimpse of what happened at the event.
One of the most popular actors to play the Doctor was Matt Smith. Look for more Matt Smith adventures as the Eleventh Doctor with this on-going series by Titan Comics. Writers Al Ewing & Rob Williams and artist Simon Fraser delivers the first issue to Doctor Who fans.
Are you craving more David Tennant Doctor Who adventures? Then this all-new series published by Titan Comics should to the trick. Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor follows the Doctor to New York City to find new companion. This 5-issue story-arc is bought to you buy Eisner Award-winning writer Nick Abadzis and fan-favorite Elena Casagrande.
As I kid, I remember watching Planet of the Apes with Charlton Heston on TV and like Star Wars, Star Trek and Buck Rogers made an sci-fi impression on me. And then I got all excited in 2001, with Tim Burton’s vision of Planet of the Apes and that was hot mess of suck, kind of like X-Men 3: The Last Stand. Now after many years, 20th Century FOX has gotten the re-boot Planet of the Apes franchise in the right direction. To celebrate, Titan Books publishes The Art of the Films: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes & Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
You don’t have to, but if you are the type of person that needs to read every tie-in to the main book and want to read things in order, then make sure you read Greg Keyes prequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm. By the end of “Firestorm”, the “Simian Flu” has spread worldwide causing millions of deaths, civil unrest and economic meltdown around the world, while Caesar leads all the apes to safety into Muir Woods. Based on the screenplay by Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, author Alex Irvine pens the novelization Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) was a successful reboot of the Planet of the Apes franchise. Capitalizing on the box-office smash, the sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes will open all across America this weekend. If you’ve seen any of the trailers you know that the San Francisco/Bay Area and the world is in a post-apocalyptic turmoil. How did it get this way? Well, it’s all explained in this official prequel “Firestorm” by author Greg Keyes.
“Firestorm” picks up right after the end of the Rise of the Planet of the Apes. During the memorable Golden Gate Bridge battle scene, where SFPD officers are fighting with the apes, Caesar leads his apes to escape into Muir Woods. We find out that their has been a media blackout of the Golden Gate Bridge ape incident. We are introduced to reporter David Flynn and his girlfriend primatogist Clancy. She tells David that she’s been brought-in to find the apes and it’s all hush-hush, but she leaves some computer files for him if anything goes wrong. David Flynn’s ex-girlfriend ER Doctor Talia Kosar finds herself with many patients with high fevers and sneezing up blood the past of couple of days. Her colleagues from another hospital email her about the same situation and Talia alerts the CDC. A mysterious military-style outfit has hired Clancy and hunter Malakai Youmans to find the apes in Muir Woods.
Johnny Moreno
Edward Ballar
GuestContributor
kellyannbrooke
Ramon Angel
Al Woo
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