Our own Steve Ekstrom reviews 300 at Newsarama.

Enjoy!

The Shotgun/Best Shots team is all over Newsarama these days. In addition to various convention-related articles from Michael C. Lorah, Kevin Huxford, and Steven Eks, you’ll find an interview with David Mack by our own Koben Kelly. As for me, the new Your Manga Minute is up, beginning a look at Naruto. On Wednesday, I’ll have two special reviews: Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #2 and Captain America #25 (that book will be huge). Later in the week, I return to Naruto. So, if you please, stop over at Newsarama and support our boys.

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

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.

Quote of the Day: “In art, all who have done something other than their predecessors have merited the epithet of revolutionary; and it is they alone who are masters.” –Paul Gaugain

I just got done sending Steve Niles, creator of 30 days of Night and Criminal Macabre, an e-mail that is 100% likely to turn into an interview regarding his work on “28 Weeks Later: The Aftermath”.  The story bridges the end of ”28 Days Later” to the sequel “28 Weeks Later”  Keep an eye on Newsarama for it.

Also–go to whatever devilishly evil corporate chain store is nearest to you that sells DVDs and buy “Unknown” starring Greg Kinnear and Jim Caviezel–it’s like Usual Suspects and Memento all rolled into one.  The ending has such a fulfulling payoff that I might just go buy a second copy to hit myself over the head with while I watch my first copy over again. 

Possibly going to see “23″ tonight for an advance showing–it pays to be a guy named Steve who knows guys who manage movie theaters named Steve.

Also, I picked up a copy of Arkham Asylum while I was in Orlando last weekend.  I must confess–I’ve never read this book.  I’m kind of pondering the possibility of reading it with the purpose of juxtaposing it with the most recent issue of Batman (issue #663) for a narratological breakdown and comparison of Morrison’s work within the Bat-Mythos–we’ll see after I read AA. 

I’m counting down the minutes ’til the moment I can openly hate Marvel for killing someone today!

EKS