Hey Everybody–

I have a few new pieces up at Newsarama–my interview with Steve Niles covering his work on 28 Days Later: The Aftermath from FoxAtomic; as well as some news on some of his upcoming projects including City of Others from Dark Horse which debuted today in stores bringing him together with horror artist icon, Bernie Wrightson. Spread the zombie love!

Also, I was fortunate enough to cover Mega Con’s honoration of Dick Giordano, former editor-in-chief for DC Comics, and one of the greatest inkers to have ever worked in the comic book industry. It was really nice and fun. I’m so glad Newsarama decided to share it.

Coming up–Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray are talking about Jonah Hex and the return of the Western to comics. Also, I’ve just been informed that I’m attending a private, advanced showing of Frank Miller’s 300 next week so look for that piece to be on Newsarama Thursday morning.

Still working on my A-Ha piece for the Shotgun–there’s a lot of music to listen to beyond their initial album that spawned their one commercial hit in the US–”Take on Me”. I’ve decided to not only go over their discography but to compile a nice mix CD which I will list for any who are interested. They’re really good!

Go check out 803 Studios, I covered their anthology–Sequential Suicide, last week on Best Shots. They have open submissions for their next anthology. Daryn Beasley and I are getting to work tonight on our submission. I will be keeping a running log of our progress here.

Finally, a piece I’m finishing up titled, “Memoirs of an Electronic Lothario” may see print in the inaugural issue of Smith Magazine. Fingers crossed!

Have a great Wednesday guys! Just bought my books–this week is gonna be a doozy!
Steven Eks

I’ve been watching the WWE’s Brian Pillman: Loose Cannon DVD this past week, and it’s the first time in years that I’ve watched Pillman in action. Looking back at his all-too-brief career, from his start in WCW as the acrobatic baby face Flyin’ Brian, to his days in the short-lived Hollywood Blonds tag team with Steve Austin, to his final run as the “Loose Cannon,” one thing is perfectly clear: Though he never headlined Wrestlemania or held any major singles championships, Brian Pillman was an important figure in the history of professional wrestling.

Flyin’ Brian Pillman was one of the first WCW wrestlers to capture my imagination. He flew across the ring like a daredevil, launching his body off the top ropes with no regard for his safety. Of course, I’d already seen acrobatic wrestlers like Ricky Steamboat and Jimmy Snuka, but as great as they were, they didn’t take the high-flying style to the extremes that Pillman did, and they couldn’t match the excitement Pillman generated when he stepped between the ropes. Pillman’s aerial arsenal borrowed heavily from puroresu and lucha libre, at a time when such international influences weren’t as commonplace as they are now. That’s why his legendary series of matches against Jushin “Thunder” Liger for the brand new WCW Light Heavyweight were so revolutionary: They proved that you didn’t need to be a big, lumbering bodybuilder to get over with the crowds and put on the most exciting match on the card. The rivalry with Liger paved the way for the success of WCW and the WWE‘s cruiserweights, as well as TNA‘s X-Division. You can still see glimpses of Pillman’s influence in guys like A.J. Styles, Shelton Benjamin and Rey Mysterio, among many others.

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Here’s a little interview I did via e-mail with Mr. Larry Niven, writer of books like Ringworld, Tales From Known Space, Protector and Crashlander. It’s short, and Mr. Niven’s answers are concise and to the point… but the most embarassing part is my fanboyish sucking up… I can’t help it… Oh, BTW, the interview was done in late November, early December.

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NOTE: This is an article I wrote some time ago, and I’ve decided to share it here.

* Superhéroes invade the (real?) world.

As I’ve commented on previous occasions, particularly when I wrote my article on Rising Stars, during the last few years, end of the past decade and the first years of the current one, there’s been a marked trend to set fantastic comic books, (mostly superhero comics, but also with other supernatural elements, like magic) in worlds as similar as possible to the real world.

This means that I’m not talking about crime or police comics, or comics that deal everyday life, of which there are plenty of examples, but specifically to the integration of realistic settings with comics that are, basically, fantastic. I’m not talking, either, about European or underground comics, but about American mainstream comic books.

This trend is, perhaps, the awaited echo of a host of similar books that were published during the latter half of the 80s, like Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, Question, Hellblazer (yes, even with heaps of magic, this is the one cornerstone of that eighties boom that is still being published) and several others.

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“Working with Marty is…quite something. It’s tumultuous, passionate, funny, and it’s like being in the best film school in the world.” — film editor Thelma Schoonmaker picking up her third Oscar for editing a Martin Scorsese film.

“I just want to say…that so many people over the years have been wishing this for me. Strangers, you know, I go out walking in the street, people would say something to me, I go in a doctors’ office, I go in a…whatever. Elevators! People say, ’You should win you should win,’ I go for an X-ray: ‘You should win one.’ ” — Martin Scorsese holding his first Oscar, after six previous nominations

Finally, finally, finally: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave its Little Gold Man to Martin Scorsese Sunday night, in a show that was otherwise remarkably dull, even for an Oscar show. This was especially ironic when they also awarded Best Picture to his brash and brutal, wickedly entertaining film, The Departed (see my review from October). All in all, not a bad night for movie lovers; believe me, there have been worse.

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Spoilers on!

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Last Wednesday Marvel Comics’ much trumpeted 14,000-part political allegory/superhero slugfest finally reached it’s oft-delayed conclusion.

And it wasn’t very good.

But if writer Mark Millar and Marvel Comics failed to reward readers’ investment of their hard-earned money and patience with a good story, it’s not like reading the series was a complete waste. After all, if you didn’t read it, you might not get all of the jokes the Internet has told at Civil War’s expense this past week.

Take Christopher Bird’s re-dubbed version of the series, which has all that great Steve McNiven art, with the added bonus of a plot that makes sense, strong, consistent characterization and lots of swear words. Bird started with #5, and worked his way in both directions until he’d improved the whole darn thing. If Marvel were smart, they’d cut him a big fat check and release this as a trade paperback. In the mean time, you can check them all out online:

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

and #7

(Bird has similarly skewered Greg Land art and a Jeph Loeb and Rob Liefeld collaboration. Sure, they’re easy targets, but it’s still pleasurable to see Bird beat on them).

Then there’s Chris Sim’s crayon and stickfigure Civil War In 30 Seconds, which proves you can do at least 22-pages of awesome original art a month (as long as you don’t commit yourself to drawing every single hair in Hercules’ beard).

Kevin Church of Beaucoupkevin.com gave two of the sillier panels of Civil War #7 the Bird treatment.

And Sleestak has been trying to find Hercules a slightly less dated catchphrase to shout in the heat of battle.

High School Girls
by Towa Ohshima

High school girls have been on the brain of many a man since the beginning of high school. All girls schools have been the object of fantasies and the brunt of jokes since their existence.

So when I first saw High School Girls by Towa Ohshima, I groaned. Not another manga with skimpy, big breasted girls doing raunchy things to make the male reader get a nose bleed. But I started to read it, and everything changed. And learning that Ohshima based the manga on her own high school life, it made the manga that much better.

The whole story is about Eriko and her friends attending a Japanese all girls high school. Throughout the volumes, her idea of lovely, poised, elegant and sophisticated students is brutally shattered by reality: that girls are very, VERY different when there are no guys around. And over time… very little, actually, she becomes one of them.

The manga is made up of small experiences and wacky escapades that most men or women who have never gone to an all girls school would think are completely ridiculous. And well, they are.

Are there cute girls in uniforms with their skirts too short? Yup. Are there panty shots? Oh, yes. Perverts? Check. Unnecessary fan-service? Of course!

And it’s hilarious. Hilarious, because it’s so true.

Sure, there are a thousand things in the manga that are exaggerated. It takes place in
Japan, a culture completely different from my own. But I still found things I could identify with, scenes I laughed out loud to because I had had the same experiences.

I’ve been a student at an all women’s college for four years. I’ve dealt with the overwhelming levels of estrogen and the depravation of testosterone. I’ve seen girls at their best and their worst. They’ve seen me at my cleanest, and when I should have taken a shower days ago. We talk about sex, boys, bodily functions. We can be immature and down right bizarre. And this is college.

I guess I love this manga because I understand these girls. Hell, I AM these girls. Nothing major happens, there’s no real plot. It’s just life. Completely overblown life, but with just enough reality in it to keep it grounded. The characters are stereotypes, nothing fancy or innovative, but at the same time endearing in their craziness.

I wouldn’t recommend it to just anyone. I’m not sure it’s a manga that many men would easily appreciate, though there is fan-service readily available. Be warned, though: it’s not your usual kind. And as for the ladies readership, I can’t guarantee that either. The humor might not be for you, as it’s quite immature at times, and mostly outrageous. If you like romance, there’s a TINY bit in there, but it’s not the point of the manga.

All I can say is, every all girls student can at least appreciate some aspect of High School Girls. That finally, there’s a comic that shows we can be gross, too.

Greetings and welcome to the new ShotgunReviews.com. Since 1999, we’ve done our best to give you worthwhile (and often funny) reviews and columns, and it’s time to shake off the rust and do it a little differently. We’ve kicked around a few ideas regarding how we’d do this new thing, and we hope you like what you see.

The new design comes to us from Barb Hallock, a student of mine with the appropriate attitude for this place (that is, bad). The more bloggish format puts us more on par with the current landscape. After all, we’ve been doing this almost eight full years. It was time for a big change. I think that you’ll agree that the new format, with a huge list of categories and easy searching, is a good one.

As part of that big change, we’ve brought in an influx of new talent from a variety of places. The entirety of our Best Shots team, responsible for the Best Shots column that runs every Monday at Newsarama.com, is now operating here in several capacities. You’ll also meet several talented young writers, including Barb herself, who will be tackling a variety of topics.

However, if you’re one of the rare folks that has read us since 1999, don’t get too worried. Shawn Delaney will still grace us with terrific music reviews, as will Jonathan Birdsong and the Lyrical Lounge crew. The Russ is back on wrestling coverage in full force. L.I. Rapkin’s already kicking in some culture. Eric Barker’s already opened the film vaults. And they aren’t the only familiar faces lurking around.

In the next few days and weeks, you’ll see the roster expand a little more and you’ll see some new recurring columns and features that we hope will become favorites. If you want to check out the old stuff, the old site currently still exists in its full glory under the archive button. If you want to talk about any of the stuff, old or new, visit our newly established forums.

So there’s my big speech. Enjoy yourselves, express yourselves, and invite friends. ShotgunReviews.com never went away, but we are most certainly back. Thanks for your time.

There is now a country version of Hinder’s “Lips of an Angel.” I now know the playlist Satan has in mind for me when I die.

CLAN DESTINED - Abracadamn!

www.dominationrec.com - $$(1/2)

Review by - Nin

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(Photo courtesy x17online.com)

Okay, besides all the obvious stuff. 

Look at Paris’ ear.  Insert caption here.  Vulcan or elf?  You decide.

 Aw, hell.  There is so much wrong with this.. that squinty eye thing both of them seem to be sporting, for example.  It’s almost Lovecraftian.

Variety reports that Warner Brothers is moving toward producing a live-action Justice League of America film. The story, covered in more depth at Newsarama, has drawn a healthy amount of fan skepticism over the apparent and obvious difficulties of the enterprise. Now, it’s certain that if it happened, the film wouldn’t happen for years. Hollywood just isn’t that fast. And again, it’s almost certain that the first pair of writers will be replaced or have help, because Hollywood burns through writers on big projects the way that Willie Nelson burns through weed.

The one way that this would work on screen would be to adopt the Seven Samurai “men on a mission” plot mechanism. That is, you start with the two most familiar characters who require the least exposition (Batman and Superman, for the reasons that you’d expect and since they’ve recently had films or TV that covered their early years) and you use them to slowly roll in the other characters. In fact, the first half of the film should deal with the recognition of a massive threat that necessitates the formation of the League (Darkseid? Brainiac using Warworld? Something . . .), and the assembling of the team. The steady roll-out would echo the form of Samurai and its American descendent, The Magnificent Seven, and give everyone their “character moments”. The second half could be spent in a variety of action configurations, as the characters attack threats in pairs or alone until the team rallies together at the end for the big showdown. THAT would work.

That said, let’s play the casting game. Sure, in an ideal situation, Bale and Routh are willing to do it. We’ll leave them in.

Wonder Woman: My choice is former daytime actress/model/singer Nadia Bjorlin.

The Flash: When Goyer was on the Flash movie, he mentioned Ryan Reynolds for Wally West. Brilliant. Keep that.

Green Lantern: You know what, if they make him Kyle Rayner, then I think Jason Thompson of TV’s General Hospital would be good (I know my wife would pay to see him). If they make him Hal Jordan, Ben Browder of Farscape and Stargate SG-1 is perfect. If they make him John Stewart, then I like Terence Howard (yeah, he’s in Iron Man, but the guy’s awesome).

Aquaman: For some reason, I like Ewan McGregor for this.

Martian Manhunter: Phil Morris, who plays him on Smallville, should get the full cape and costume experience.

Those are just my picks. What say you?

Brugge Brasserie
1011a East Westfield Blvd. (Underneath Netheads)
Indianapolis, IN

I’ve never been to Belgium, but I do have  a cookbook that alleges everyone there eats well. If the food at Brugge Brasserie is anything to go by, I have no difficulty believing it. The space is a bit small, and got crowded quickly on a Thursday night; I can’t imagine how they’d fit a Saturday-night crowd in. However, the tables are generously sized, and the decor is comfortable and warm with the contemporary, offbeat look we all expect in Broad Ripple restauants and brewpubs (Brugge is both, but I’m not qualified to review beer, so you’ll have to do your own research.)

Housemate and I started off with a small order of frites, and while McDonald’s may be right next door, the fries are a world apart. There was barely any grease and minimal salt, just a crisp, gorgeous exterior dotted with herbs and a light, soft interior. They taste like—gasp—real potatoes. Fresh mayonnaise is traditional, but there are plenty of choices, from homemade ketchup (nothing like Heinz 57 and much the better for it) and two kinds of aioli to hot curry and pesto. I think that frites (and fries, for that matter) are like sushi, in that it’s better to go someplace good than make it yourself, because even if you have the tools and skills make it at home, somehow it’s never quite the same. This is the place to go.

Housemate ordered the moules frites, which is two pounds of large mussels with a side of frites and a chunk of fresh, lightly toasted French bread. Again, there are many choices  for the broth in which they’re cooked—European classics include beurre blanc and Provencal (butter, shallots & garlic, chardonnay, and herbes de Provence) and global fusion options red curry and citron (lime/jalepeno/cilantro/onion). In my mind, two pounds is a truly enormous serving, so if you prefer to eat light, bring a like-minded friend. The mussels were perfectly done—by which I mean they had a texture and it wasn’t rubbery—and I don’t recall seeing any unopened ones.

My entree was the grilled chicken crepe with Roquefort, endive, spinach, and garlic aioli. Unfolded, the crepe would have been larger than the plate, and was solid but not heavy. There was a generous, but not excessive portion of filling, with plenty of vegetables and chicken that tasted like chicken, rather than industrial protein. The chef had a light hand with strong flavors, including the Roquefort and aioli, so that all the various flavors of the dish were balanced. With it, I had a glass of the Moselland Riesling, which was fruity without being overly sweet.

The menu also offers mitraillettes (sub-style sandwiches), soups, and salads, with a decent selection of vegetarian (but not vegan) crepes and sandwiches. The dessert menu is entirely sweet crepes, and I wavered between the Nutella and the crepes Suzette with mascarpone. In the end, I simply didn’t have room for either, but I have intent to go back…many, many times.

 Sometimes family and friends call me “Mr. Obscure,” because my movie-watching habits, besides being obsessive and near total, tend fanatically toward films that aren’t exactly on the New Release wall at Blockbuster. This holds true whether I’m bringing home some damned foreign language thing without stars that all the PC critics have recommended, or trying to tape half a day’s programming off of TCM (you know, Turner Classic Movies) to watch later, after I’ve consumed the latest Netflix arrivals.

In this way, I can avoid getting a life while staying busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest. It’s not possible to see everything, but I go through long spells of giving it a good try, interrupted just every now and then by a quasi-Zen determination to be happy with what I’ve seen so far in my life.

But I’m not to that point right now, not with TCM doing their “31 Days of Oscar” marathon (a holdover name from the century when the Academy Awards were in March). Lots of films I haven’t deigned to see yet from the vast Classic Hollywood period, and some of them pretty satisfyingly obscure, too, like Wednesday’s T-Men (1947), which is an early Anthony Mann noir about treasury agents going undercover in the mob to root out counterfeiters.

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