12.10.2008

"Coraline" Animated Film Team Honors The Kreep

Gothic poet and illustrator The Kreep (a.k.a R. O’Donnell) has received an entirely handmade box of treasures collected specifically for him by the CORALINE team at Laika films. Inside the box, numbered 47/50, are highly decorated secret compartments that contain relics from the film including a bat/dog model, a bat body mold, authentic skeleton key with secret password, and a wing skeleton prototype #3. An old envelop with a wax seal with inlaid black button (as used for the eyes of the witch) and a hand-typed note explained the curious gift:
DEAR R.,

INSIDE THIS OLD BOX IS A ONE-OF-A-KIND COLLECTION WE’VE AMASSED AND CATALOGUED WITH YOU AND YOU ALONE IN MIND…THE PLAIN TRUTH OF THE MATTER IS, WE ARE PRETTY OBSESSED WITH DARK STORIES. LIKE YOU. WE ADMIRE YOUR DEDICATION TO THE KREEP. PLEASE KEEP UP THE SUPER WORK. WE’LL BE READING.

SINCERELY,

THE CORALINE TEAM

For the last three years, 351 of the world’s oddest and most talented animators, artisans, and puppet fabricators have been hand-making CORALINE. Led by Henry Selick, the director of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, this team has created the first stop-motion feature shot entirely in 3D. Based on the beloved best-selling children’s classic by Neil Gaiman, CORALINE is a fairy-tale nightmare steeped in classic storytelling, craftsmanship, and the old-fashioned art of moviemaking magic. CORALINE hits theatres February 2009.


The Kreep is produced by R. Productions in association with Hoffhines Productions, and published by Static Networx on 100% of Nothing, an art and culture ezine linked to a free downloadable podcast on iTunes.

> More Kreep

> Official Coraline Website

source: R. Productions

10.30.2008

Gothic Poet The Kreep Pens *Jigsaw* On iTunes For Halloween

SAW V in theaters now

Gothic poet The Kreep has penned one of his very special poems entitled Jigsaw to honor SAW V the latest offering in the popular SAW horror film franchise, to be posted on popular eZine 100percentofnothing.com on Halloween.

The Kreep, produced by R. Productions in association with Hoffhines Productions, and published by Static Multimedia, is offered in several social media formats such as a syndicated feature on 100percentofnothing.com, an art and culture Ezine linked to a free downloadable podcast on iTunes. Selected poems will also receive an audio/visual treatment and posted on YOUtube and Vampire Freaks while compilations can be found in book form on Issuu. And throughout the month of October, The Kreep is one of the Voices Of Halloween on the 8th annual Neverendingwonder.com Halloween Radio.

A new Kreepy poem is available every Wednesday at midnight on 100% of Nothing with a link to a free iTunes podcast. Last week The Kreep payed tribute to one of the greatest horror films of all time, William Petter Blatty's The Exorcist, in stores now on DVD.

Take a slice of Edward Gorey, a dash of Gothic angst with just a pinch of Gomez Addams, and you’ll understand THE KREEP’s romantically macabre sensibility.

External Kreepy Links

100PERCENTOFNOTHING.COM

KREEPY KRUMBS - VOL. I - BOOK OF POEMS

THE KREEP ON MYSPACE

THE KREEP ON VAMPIRE FREAKS

THE KREEP ON iTUNES †

THE KREEP ON YOUtube

THE KREEP is an R. Productions, Static Multimedia, and Hoffhines Production gig. © 2008 R. Productions

source: r-productions.com

10.23.2008

THE KREEP PENS ODE TO THE EXORCIST



I first saw William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist, directed by Academy® Award-winner William Friedkin (The French Connection) in a small suburban movie theatre nestled in the heart of Media, Pennsylvania–just West of Philadelphia. Afterwards, I slept with the lights on… for weeks. Literarily. The idea that the devil could just sweep into my body, and make me spew all over a priest had me absolutely terrified. I was an altar boy after all. I even knew where the Holy Water and the wine were stashed for goodness sake. I also hung around the priests, some old enough to remind me of the exorcist himself. While others had tales of actual exorcisms they had attended over the years. It was such a creepy existence after experiencing that horror show.

The Exorcist, directed by Academy® Award-winner William Friedkin (The French Connection) is the scariest movie in the world. Period. I visit it only once in a blue moon after many glasses of wine or when I want to feel the warm release of my bowls. Such as after Regan (Linda Blair) walks backwards down the stairs like a spider in The Version You’ve Never Seen. Oh my God. I am sitting in a darkened theatre in Chicago, Illinois some thirty years later, knowing I can handle the scares because I know the film, I know it, every creepy nook and cranny. But when Regan runs down the stairs like an arachnid on speed I screamed along with several other unsuspecting souls. We all looked at each other. We were all going to be sleeping with the lights on… again.
So step on up, ladies and gentlemen! This is the original, the one and only most terrifying exorcism movie ever filmed. Watch it alone and in the dark, folks. I double-double-dare you.

In E†ernity,
The Kreep

THE EXORCIST
Across the window pane an autumn leaf hovers
T’sway back and fourth
drop toward Boston street below
Float endlessly along concrete stairs
As hobgoblins n’ witches titter crosswalks
Whist beneath lamppost he stands in shadows
T’know duty holds him still
A Priest eyes the leaf,
Folding over n’ over
T’land at feet quite cold
How he knows what waits inside the girl
For it is endless
Without patience
All ego n’ bitterness scold
T’kill the slightest warmth
Bend most delicate devotion
Crush innocent soul
There in window peeking
Tiny leaf hitches another gust
T’disappear into the gloom
O’ exorcist t’cross himself
Stand more erect than his age permits
Removes his hat
T’approach such wickedness
Unyielding



KREEPY KRUMBS - VOL. I - BOOK OF POEMS

THE KREEP ON MYSPACE

THE KREEP ON VAMPIRE FREAKS

THE KREEP ON YOUtube



source: r-productions.com

10.11.2008

THE KREEP HAUNTS NEVERENDINGWONDER HALLOWEEN RADIO

THE KREEP'S LATEST ODE TO CARPENTER'S HALLOWEEN

The Kreep, a gothic poet haunting Ezines, social sites and podcasts all across the internet, is one of the Voices Of Halloween on the 8th annual Neverendingwonder.com Halloween Radio.

In addition to broadcasting the widest variety of Halloween themed music & comedy on three award winning Halloween Radio stations every October, The NeverEndingWonder Halloween Radio Empire includes The Voices of Halloween! This audio series will present Halloween greetings, memories and station IDs from some of the most infamous names to horror fans including The Kreep, penned and voiced by R. O'Donnell. You'll also hear the renowned Forrest J. Ackerman himself, as well as David Hedison (star of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and the original version of The Fly), David Chomiak (writer of Fido), Sean Keller (writer of Dario Argento's upcoming film Gaillo), as well as other horror writers, horror film actors, makeup and effects artists, horror hosts, musicians and more.

The Kreep, produced by R. Productions in association with Hoffhines Productions, and published by Static Multimedia, is offered in several social media formats such as a syndicated feature on 100percentofnothing.com, an art and culture Ezine linked to a free downloadable podcast on iTunes. Selected poems will also receive an audio/visual treatment and posted on YOUtube and Vampire Freaks while compilations can be found in book form on Issuu. A new Kreepy poem is available every Wednesday at midnight on 100% of Nothing with a link to a free iTunes podcast.

This week The Kreep pays poetic homage to John Capenter's classic horror tale Halloween. Take a slice of Edward Gorey, a dash of Gothic angst with just a pinch of Doctor Seuss and you’ll understand THE KREEP’s sensibility.

10.01.2008

THE KREEP HAS *THE HUNGER* ON ITUNES

The Kreep thirsts for Tony Scott’s vampire masterpiece The Hunger. His latest dark ode, full review found exclusively on 100% of Nothing, honors Tony Scott’s stylish cross genre tour de force staring David Bowie (The Man Who Fell To Earth), Catherine Deneuve (Dancer in the Dark), and Susan Sarandon (Igby Goes Down). The Hunger opened to critical disdain in 1982 followed by a cult following to rival The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Before the scores of “new” vampire spins hit the literary scene, thanks to the gifted Anne Rice and her Interview With The Vampire fable, this small, yet extremely powerful horror thriller tapped into that vain, presenting a mythical creature full of philosophical angst, social complexity, and bisexual passions–deliciously modern all around.

Mr. Scott’s The Hunger succeeds in combining a sensual, rhythmic soundtrack, seasoned art direction, along with a crisp kinetic editing style that appealed to the ever-growing MTV crowd. A younger, hipper audience now wanted their stories revealed in more ethereal, more contemporary luminosity. So, for their adolescent sins, Mr. Scott delivered unto them the perfect cinematic “eye candy” based on Whitley Strieber’s best selling novel by the same name.

Produced by R. Productions in association with Hoffhines Productions, and published by Static Multimedia, The Kreep is offered in several social media formats such as a syndicated feature on 100% OF NOTHING, an art and culture Ezine linked to a free downloadable podcast on iTunes. Selected poems will also receive an audio/visual treatment and posted on YOUtube and Vampire Freaks while compilations can be found in book form on Issuu.

A new Kreepy poem is available every Wednesday at midnight on 100% of Nothing with a link to a free iTunes podcast. Last week The Kreep’s poem was a tribute to one of the greatest serial killer films of all time The Silence of the Lambs, also on a deluxe DVD in stores now.

Take a slice of Edward Gorey, a dash of Gothic angst with just a pinch of Doctor Seuss and you’ll understand THE KREEP’s sensibility.

External Kreepy Links

Available on iTunes as a free downloadable podcast on 100% OF NOTHING

KREEPY KRUMBS - VOL. I - BOOK OF POEMS

THE KREEP ON MYSPACE

THE KREEP ON VAMPIRE FREAKS

THE KREEP ON iTUNES †

THE KREEP ON YOUtube

THE KREEP is an R. Productions, Static Multimedia, and Hoffhines Production gig. © 2008 R. Productions

source: r-productions.com

9.25.2008

THE KREEP DIES FOR RIDLEY SCOTT’S BLADE RUNNER

Rutger Hauer as the bloody sensitive android

The Kreep dies for Ridley Scott's super Sci-Fi classic Blade Runner, in stores on a director approved super deluxe DVD set. His latest dark ode, full review found exclusively on 100% of Nothing, honors the speech made famous by iconic actor Rutger Hauer as the sensitive android replicant on a blood spree to gain more life from his masters.

Produced by R. Productions in association with Hoffhines Productions, and published by Static Multimedia, The Kreep is offered in several social media formats such as a syndicated feature on 100% OF NOTHING, an art and culture Ezine linked to a free downloadable podcast on iTunes. Selected poems will also receive an audio/visual treatment and posted on YOUtube and Vampire Freaks while compilations can be found in book form on Issuu.

A new Kreepy poem is available every Wednesday at midnight on 100% of Nothing with a link to a free iTunes podcast. Last week The Kreep’s poem was a tribute to one of the greatest serial killer films of all time The Silence of the Lambs, also on a deluxe DVD in stores now.

Take a slice of Edward Gorey, a dash of Gothic angst with just a pinch of Doctor Seuss and you’ll understand THE KREEP’s sensibility.

External Kreepy Links

Available on iTunes as a free downloadable podcast on 100% OF NOTHING

KREEPY KRUMBS - VOL. I - BOOK OF POEMS

THE KREEP ON MYSPACE

THE KREEP ON VAMPIRE FREAKS

THE KREEP ON iTUNES †

THE KREEP ON YOUtube

THE KREEP is an R. Productions, Static Multimedia, and Hoffhines Production gig. © 2008 R. Productions

source: r-productions.com

9.22.2008

The Kreep Pens Odes To The Silence of the Lambs and Sweeney Todd

Kreepy Krumbs - Vol. I, Book Of Poems On Issuu

The Kreeps' Kreepy Krumbs - Vol. I offers ten deliciously dark poems which include odes to classic horror films such as Academy® award Best Picture The Silence of the Lambs and Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd.

The Kreep is a forlorn Gothic poet that offers a variety of dark treats such as horror reviews in chilling verse. Produced by R. Productions in association with Hoffhines Productions, and published by Static Multimedia, The Kreep is offered in several social media formats such as a syndicated feature on 100% OF NOTHING, an art and culture Ezine linked to a free downloadable podcast on iTunes. Selected poems will also receive an audio/visual treatment and posted on YOUtube and Vampire Freaks while compilations can be found in book form on Issuu.

A new Kreepy poem is available every Wednesday on 100% of Nothing with a link to a free iTunes podcast. This week The Kreep’s poem is a tribute to one of the greatest serial killer films of all time The Silence of the Lambs, on DVD now.

Take a slice of Edward Gorey, a dash of Gothic angst with just a pinch of Doctor Seuss and you’ll understand THE KREEP’s sensibility.

External Links

Available on iTunes as a free downloadable podcast on 100% OF NOTHING

KREEPY KRUMBS - VOL. I - BOOK OF POEMS

THE KREEP ON MYSPACE

THE KREEP ON VAMPIRE FREAKS

THE KREEP ON iTUNES †

THE KREEP ON YOUtube

THE KREEP is an R. Productions, Static Multimedia, and Hoffhines Production gig. © 2008 R. Productions

source: r-productions.com

9.17.2008

THE KREEP SILENCES THE LAMBS ON iTUNES

The Kreep is a forlorn Gothic poet that reviews horror and Sci-Fi films in chilling kreepy verse. Created, written, and voiced by R. O’Donnell and published by Static Multimedia, The Kreep is offered in several formats such as a syndicated feature on 100% OF NOTHING, an art and culture Ezine linked to a free downloadable podcast on iTunes. Selected poems will also receive a visual treatment and posted on video hosting sites such as YOUtube and Vampire Freaks.

A new Kreepy poem is available every Wednesday at midnight. This week, The Kreep’s poem is a tribute to one of the greatest serial killer films of all time, the Academy® award-winning The Silence of the Lambs, on DVD now.

Take a dash of Vincent Price and a dash of Edward Gorey with just a pinch of Doctor Seuss and you’ll understand THE KREEP’s sensibility.

Available on iTunes as a free downloadable podcast on 100% OF NOTHING

THE KREEP ON MYSPACE

THE KREEP ON VAMPIRE FREAKS

THE KREEP ON iTUNES †

THE KREEP ON YOUtube

THE KREEP is an R. Productions, Static Multimedia, and Hoffhines Production gig. © 2008 R. Productions

source: r-productions.com

9.09.2008

THE KREEP GETS BITTEN *30 DAYS OF NIGHT* ON YOUTUBE, ITUNES, 100% OF NOTHING

The Kreep is a forlorn Gothic poet that reviews horror and Sci-Fi films in chilling kreepy verse. Created, written, and voiced by actor/writer R. O’Donnell and published by Static Multimedia, The Kreep is offered in several formats: a syndicated feature on100% OF NOTHING and STATIC MULTIMEDIA, with links to a free downloadable podcast on iTunes. Selected poems will be given a visual treatment and posted on YOUtube as well.



A new Kreepy poem is available every Wednesday at midnight. This week, The Kreep explores the brilliantly resurrected vampire legend 30 Days Of Night (a band of vampires ascend on an Alaskan town for a month of darkness,) available now on gory DVD from Sony Pictures.

Take a dash of Vincent Price and a dash of Edward Gorey with just a pinch of Doctor Seuss and you’ll understand THE KREEP’s sensibility.

Available on iTunes as a free downloadable podcast on 100% OF NOTHING

THE KREEP ON 100% OF NOTHING

THE KREEP ON MYSPACE

THE KREEP ON VAMPIRE FREAKS

THE KREEP ON iTUNES †

THE KREEP ON YOUtube

THE KREEP is an R. Productions, Static Multimedia, and Hoffhines Production gig. © 2008 R. Productions

source: r-productions.com

9.03.2008

THE KREEP BITTEN 30 DAYS OF NIGHT ON iTUNE

Vampires are as old as the ground they are keen to be buried in. They have been lurking in the minds of men n’ women since the dawn of prose. They might have been dubbed other ghastly nicknames, but the thought of the dead sucking the blood of the living has faded in and out of our consciousness forever. They have been romanticized such as in Bram Stoker’s 1897 Gothic shocker Dracula. They have been brutalized as in the first film adaptation based upon that play Nosferatu (which Stoker’s widow sued considerably in her favor) with Max Schreck in the title role. Then romanticized yet again with Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi’s haunting yet alluring interpretation. Dawning black cape and white powder Bela fashioned a Hollywood icon that would cling to him until death, lowered into the earth as vampires are, wearing the very cape that plagued him throughout his sordid addicted life.

> Read More Hear More: 100% of Nothing

source: r-productions.com

8.28.2008

PETER SALETT - IN THE OCEANS OF THE STARS



By R. O'DONNELL
GENRE
FOLK
PUBLISHER
DUSTY SHOES MUSIC

Peter Salett is a very gifted musician. He has written, scored, and performed multiple songs for such films as Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Ten, Down in the Valley, The Baxter, The Maldonado Miracle, Wet Hot American Summer, Keeping the Faith, and the soon to be released documentary 21 Below. Directors love him because his music compliments and enhances their visions. People like listening to him because his sound is so profound, intricate, and dreamy, a “play it again, Sam,” over and over only to find something you missed listening to it the fifth or sixth time around.

His most recent fifth CD offering, In The Oceans Of The Stars, is a stellar achievement that doesn’t disappoint. Whether it’s the oh-so melancholy ethereal ride of "Magic Hour," the tender sway of "Far, Far Away," a timeless folk duet "Between the Dark and the Light" (thank you Amy Miles,) or the gentle acoustic gem "Sunshine," song after luscious song is a mini-picture show inside your head. It’s just so damn cinematic. This is a headphones secure, do not disturb listening experience to clear the mind of all the daily chatter that plagues us. For my jaded, tired ass, I’m so obliged to simply and so completely "Fly Sparrow Fly" away with it. I think we all deserve that, and Peter Salett knows that just as well. I picture him composing these haunting American stories in his head while walking in the rain down a gritty Manhattan street, and then while lying on his back in a field of wheat next to an old trestle tracks, a solitary train whistle echoing up above.

I notice a lot of name comparisons–which happens with true indefinable talent–everyone from American folk/roots pop singer-songwriter Josh Rouse to Academy Award–winning songwriter, singer and pianist Randy Newman, that I just smile and think, no, no, no… Peter Salett. That’s it. Its just time to give the man his due. Salett is just so boldly original that you don’t want it to ever go away. The traditional comparisons to other more recognizable talents only helps secure that hope. But whatever the mainstream press is comparing him to, you might want to start by getting In The Oceans Of The Stars drifting through your headset as fast as iTunes will allow you to download it. You’ll be happy to meet the exceptional singer/songwriter who is as he will always be "True In Time."

source: r-productions

THE KREEP GET’S LOST IN STEPHEN KING’S THE MIST

I read Stephen King’s The Mist on a lengthy train ride from Media, Pennsylvania (where I had delivered a trivial lecture on my latest book of poems Arsenic n’ Art,) to my lair in the city of brotherly love: Philadelphia. In short, The Mist really frightened me, as it had first-rate scares galore. It nudged, pinched, and stung my insecurities so that I had night sweats n’ nightmares for hours, days, and weeks to come. This was just a short story, dear fellow foes, you understand? Yet it held me in the grip of trepidation and woe. When it was then announced some 25 years later that award-winning film director Frank Darabont (The Green Mile and Shawshank Redemption) was giving it a go, well, I booked my seat well in advance. I was pleased I did so.

> Read 100% of Nothing: The Kreep’s Korner

source: r-productions.com

8.18.2008

Nightmare Before Christmas widget

Help us celebrate THE KREEP’s latest podcast on iTunes: The Nightmare Before Christmas Poem brought to you by R. Productions and Static Multimedia. Available Wednesday, the 20th, on iTunes, The Kreep returns with yet another kreepy poem recited by The Kreep himself. All this is in tribute to the 15 year anniversary of Tim Burton’s holiday classic The Nightmare Before Christmas on a super-duper Blu-Ray, Hi-Def 2-disc fully loaded DVD released August 26, 2008.

Hear The Kreep On iTunes

Read The Kreep On Static Multimedia

R. Productions

IN ODD WE TRUST – NOT!

By
Ricky Burke

Created by Dean Koontz; Written by Queenie Chan & Dean Koontz; Illustrations by Queenie Chan
Del Rey, July 2008, $10.95



Manga’s hot, no doubt about it. Their graphic novels are a cultural phenomenon that’s spreading from one end of the globe to the other. Here in the states, young American’s can’t get enough. With each new character, plotline, and author, now being plucked from the New York Time’s bestseller list, the Manga franchise is a publishing gold mine, with no end in sight. I’ve got not beef with it. Great, why not, right? The more diversity we can bring to any art form all the better in my book. In Odd We Trust…right? Not.

Best-selling author Dean Koontz with his popular Odd Thomas series doesn’t make the transition smoothly. His premiere offering In Odd We Trust in collaboration with Chinese-Australian Original English-Language manga artist Queenie Chan of Del Rey Manga is an odd affair. The story about a ghost seeing flapjack flipping boy with a tough gun-totting girlfriend sure sounds the best of pulp fiction, but doesn’t translate well here at all. The artwork is, um, odd, kind of rough around the edges, and not very spectacular for a mystery yarn while the story is slow and foreseeable. With everyone from Christine Feehan (Dark Hunger) to Erin Hunter (Warriors) making the crossover from mainstream novel to manga, I’m betting it seemed a sure thing. Just like the LA movie industry, that thinks by assembling some of the hottest talents in the biz they’ve got themselves a blockbuster (dare I mention Cat Woman?) now that formula has been embraced by another playing field. Let’s hope this is just a glitch.

Seeing dead people and communing with Elvis–Awwww, thank you, thank you very much–isn’t the most original of quirks for a central character however. For young readers that haven’t had the chance to see Tony Scott and Quentin Tarantino’s guns ablazing True Roman, where our hero communes with Elvis (played by Val Kilmer) and of course M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense of I see dead people fame, this must all sound very enticing on the back of a manga paperback. I just couldn’t dig all that much.
You do get over half a dozen written pages, a sort of teaser for the original Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz, which was originally published in 2003. If you want to eliminate the peculiar art work and water-downed characters and go straight to the bestseller. And there’s an artist sketchbook, which shows Queenie Chan going from awful to worst, if that might turn you on, I dunno.

My favorite moment in Odd We Trust was when the ghost of Lyndon B. Johnson mooned our hero. That image set-off a whole series of internal dialogues about the dead ex-president that I enjoyed a helluva lot more than reading this mind-numbing thriller. I really laughed out loud. In fact, there our several gut busters throughout, although I’m not sure they were intended.

8.10.2008

CONAN RECAPTURES THE SWORD & SORCERY DAYS OF OLD

By
Ricky Burke

*** ½

Conan #50
The Hand of Nergal
Dark Horse Comics
Truman, Giorello, Villarrubia, Harris, Starkings

I kind of gave up on the Conan franchise. It just didn’t do it for me anymore, didn’t hold my interest at all. The love was sadly gone. A faded memory of the past, a kid with the covers over my head, flashlight in hand, turning each page with great anticipation. But Dark Horse’s series just left me all bored and yawning big-time, falling asleep, waking up to find that I drooled all over the nifty artwork, the soggy pages sticking to my face–not good at all. There was something missing, and I just didn’t have the time to figure it out. I just stopped reading them altogether. Credits roll. End of story. And then, Conan #50, The Hand of Nergal comes along just in the nick of time: 64 pages of blissful, that’s the way, ah-huh-ah-huh, I like it, epic blood n’ guts. I’m a die-hard fan again. It was the “heart” that was missing all along.

Remember the early Conanan the Barbarian days? Sure… when Conan art and story really made you feel as though you were reading something so visual, almost cinematic that you felt as though you were standing right next to the hulking Cimmerian. Knee-high in the bloody aftermath of his manic slice n’ dicing you looked up at your hero with a big thumbs up. Until one of the bodies dying on the battlefield impaled you on their sword. Oh well, well worth the fantasy. I’m happy to report that the great barbarian and all the awe and wonder he deserves has returned! Ten-fold. Thanks in large to the splendid artwork by Tomas Giorello. His drawings are all so traditionally eye-popping, that you can first attack the 64 pages taking in the visual aspects of the tale alone, just like in the old days. The writing by Timothy Truman is also quite good, so tight in fact that I can safely say that this breath-taking finale is the best of the Dark Horse bunch–hands down. And now that the story arc has departed from harping on his endless days of thieving, what has emerged is a drama of wonderful emotional nooks n’ crannies that I finally finished thinking, what’s next? I can’t friggin’ wait. This is the beginning of something good.

And that’s not all! You get the original telling of The Hand of Nergal by Roy Thomas & John Buscema. The complete tale to insert into historic context is presented at the end of the book. The Thomas Giorello scetch gallery is way cool (a few more pages wouldn’t have hurt, but hey…) and all for a measly 5 bucks! Not bad at all. Thank you Truman, Giorello, Villarrubia, Harris, and Starkings for keeping me awake until the wee hours of the morn. I once again envisioned I was standing next to one of the heroes of my youth as he winked, and in a gruff voice barked, “you ain’t seen nothing yet!”

8.06.2008

KREEP’S KORNER: POLTERGEIST–THEY’RE HERE!

My kreepy fanatics of dismay: tonight we open the vaults to sip a vintage thriller from the summer of 1982: Tobe Hooper's horror banquet Poltergeist starring Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams and the late Heather O'Rourke as the beautiful Carol Anne. A delicious jolt from beginning to end, this Steven Spielberg produced horror film was another blockbuster that scared the bejesus out of everyone. We just didn't see it coming. It was such a successful scare that it spawned two sequels that really depart from the original recipe so avoid them if you care. Rent or buy the first however. But remember, my horror connoisseurs Poltergeist has shards of glass within the feast, so be careful where you bite. Bon Appétit!

In eternity,
Brazillia R. Kreep

KREEP'S KORNER: THERE HERE!

On iTunes @ midnight! Hear The Kreep, if you dare!

Hear The Kreep On iTunes

8.01.2008

‘OUT OF PICTURE 2′ IS A BIG FAT PRETTY ART BOOK



Out of Picture, Art From The Outside Looking In, Volume 2,is the anthology series companion to, you guessed it, Art From The Outside Looking In, Volume I. The title is explained on the clever inside flap that tells you that the “Out of Picture” expression is a film term meaning literally on the cutting room floor. Now, I know we want to see the origins of everything these days thanks in part to good documentaries, History Detectives, and The Criterion Collection’s classic foreign film preservation kick, but as demonstrated by the Apocalypse Redux fiasco (sorry Frances) sometimes painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa’s cool for about the first five minutes-but that’s it. That’s kind of what you got here: page after beautiful page of vibrant, flowing, dazzling, in-your-face art with… mustaches illustrating middle-of-the-road tales. The kind of work that’s first placed on a project meeting table and then managed by scores of others into something great and wonderful on the shelf.

From the same folks at Academy Award® winning Blue Sky Studios (Ice Age, Robots, Horton Hears A Who) Out of Picture 2 just falls a tad short of their overall vision: “to pioneer creatively superior photo-realistic, high-resolution, computer-generated character animation for the feature film, television and entertainment industries.” This is an anthology series, with lots of pretty pictures and light on the text and plot. C’mon already. Who wants to compete with Frank Miller (The Dark Knight) Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso (100 Bullets) and Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night) forgeddaboudit. Right? So it’s really an art book perfect for, um, each one of the talents to, um, show-off to their friends and family.

Don’t get wrong, it really is lovely cover t’cover, fun to look at, but nothing can survive the missing copy. There’s just too much going on out there that you better serve-up a big hefty helpin' of groundbreaking. And it’s not all that. And that’s just too damn bad. Because there certainly are a lot of great ideas here. Solid beginnings, some righteous middles, and no ends in sight. I mean, I kept turning the pages saying, wow, this would’ve made a great film or a nifty graphic novel or anything but a big fat book full of unfinished themes and plot fluffer-ru. God, I’m going t’hate myself in the morning for that… but I really wanted to fall in love with Out of Picture, Art From The Outside Looking In, Volume 2. But alas I must decline. But keep the box of candy and the flowers too. No, no, really. I’m flattered that you asked.

One saving grace of Out of Picture 2, however, is the Development Gallery in the back of the book. It’s hot. Seeing the sketches and all the rest of the illustrated innards was a lot more fun then sifting through the ton of glossy tree bark. I dug it the most. And the freakin’ weighty thing is almost worth it for that alone. Um…gulp…almost.

7.31.2008

R. O'DONNELL'S 'KREEP' KREEPS-OUT iTUNES w/THE ROT OF SWEENEY TODD



The Rot of Sweeney Todd

By

Brazillia R. Kreep

I’ve had several acquaintances like our odd Mr. Todd, but they never hovered in my life very long. They always had somewhere else to go–in a hurry–that I often thought they were bigwigs in some dark commerce or the arts, surgeons or maybe even lawyers at the least. So that when they changed their addresses, my letters to them returned unopened, I assumed they sold their properties and were living off another adventure across the salty seas. Actually, that’s not all together fair. One letter, from a Mac Z. Thumb was returned t’me, opened, with a perfectly formed bloodstain and a smear or two on the flap–a lovely souvenir. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is one of those shady characters. He has a past that would toss you about at night. Your fingernails gauging the bedpost in the moonlight for fear you might never sleep t’dream again. T’is good t’pity and fear the man.

The history of the Barber of Fleet Street is as long a winding road as any title character has ventured. Todd himself first appeared in 1846 as a villain of a popular “penny dreadful” (so coined because of the cost & the content) magazine serial entitled The String of Pearls. It was a hit. In 1920 he surfaced on the boards in a melodrama penned by George Dibdin-Pitt simply entitled Sweeney Todd. Then our Mr. Todd made several film appearances in English fare until he landed back on the boards in an American Broadway Musical, music and lyrics by the Great White Way icon Stephen Sondheim. That production transformed the dastardly Todd into a forlorn anti-hero instead of the murderous robber he truly was. Who could complain, really? It starred two titans of the stage Len Cariou as the deranged Sweeney and Angela Lansbury as the scene-stealing, love-starved Mrs. Lovett. And fun was had by all. Sweeney has seen several stage revivals until the Demon Barber waited patiently to be brought back to life by a super star, pretty-boy, actor extraordinaire named mister Johnny Depp–thank you very much.

A Gothic treat, a naughty piece of eye candy that seldom disappoints, Mr. Burton’s blood ballet is a lovely slice of art. It is not the penny magazine or the stage play or even the musical it was based upon, but an entirely new beast. A terrifying opera with fangs where Depp sings his bloody heart out. He holds it up for all to see, still beating, dripping crimson-goo as he rock-stars all over the celluloid screen. Wonderful. See it on DVD in a Deluxe set with all the pomp and circumstance affordable for the price. Just remember to pay homage to a villain on equal footing as The Ripper, play it at the witching hour with the lights out, a few candles burning around the house. A glass of red wine, a potpie perhaps, and, oh yes... there will be blood.

-Brazillia R. Kreep
© 2008

> The Kreep’s The Rot of Sweeney Todd on iTunes

> Kreep’s Korner on Static Multimedia

7.24.2008

KREEP’S KORNER: THERE WILL BE BLOOD



THE ROT OF SWEENEY TODD
by
Brazillia R. Kreep

In the attic there he trots

Sweeney Todd connives n’ plots

Of ways t’spill the blood of men

Then splatter more t’say amen 

T’nightmare’s of his great love lost
Aught t’avenge at any cost

Sharp razor blades

Meat Pies in spades

The Demon Barber preps n’ shaves 

While Mrs. Lovetts bakes her pies
Tongues t’thumbs wee toes n’ eyes
Though a price this Todd will pay

Sweltering pails of blood t’weigh

T’pour them over frozen heart
T’thaw they pain t’dare depart

From bloody attic in the sky

T’down below were demon’s fry

T’devil’s purge by fires hot

Fore’er our Sweeney Todd will rot

> THE KREEP on iTUNES

7.21.2008

DEEP INSIDE - POLLY FROST



BY: R. O'DONNELL

RATING
NR
GENRE
SCI-FI
AUTHOR
POLLY FROST
PUBLISHER
TOR BOOKS

Polly Frost loves to write. Oh yes she does. Her book Deep Inside–ten tantalizing tales of supernatural erotica, is a paperback first-date with gorgeous, naughty little secrets within. For Polly’s fingered, kissed, and hot tongued every single page of her extreme erotic fantasies, that the read keeps you easily captive until the strange little ditty she’s unleashed on you makes you squirm all turned on. Or maybe not. Maybe it’s just a super cool read because you’re curious about the casual use of exquisite four letter words. The kind you say to your lover out of earshot of everybody else. “Bedroom talk” my parents called it. But you take that casual air, that mischievous C'est la vie and wrap it in something all X-Files, Dexter or even Millennium for that matter and the story your reading cuddles you and then before you know it, holds you tightly as you hold your breath until its wonderful erotic finale allows you to exhale. She does this as your paramour, a sensual pen pal, and a late night caller that knows how to tell an erotic tale so completely that you’re wondering what’s next? You’re hooked. Slave to the page of Polly Frost.

She does this with a Rod Serling sneer as well, and a wink at the Sci-Fi junkies in the dark. Even bloody horror fans are howling at the moon. You bet they are. And there’ll be no spoilers here. No, sir. What for? It’s all so direct and minimal, with a very fine sprinkling of her best saucy poetry that I wouldn’t even dare. Plus everyone will ride quite easily page by page; the generation-X or Millennium brats all have equal footing here. That’s because she lets you create the personal details while she gives you everything else. Everything else. In that way you can place yourself as visitor or participant in her spicy narrative: extraterrestrials, serial killers, sex-crazed school girls, cops and robbers, lawyers, accountants, and everybody else roam her pages uninhibited.

To be honest, it all gets so in-you-face and matter-of-fact right off that it doesn’t really seem all that taboo. I mean to say, when couple’s play grab-ass in a crowd, everybody smiles and thinks, hey–they’re just in love. Same thing here. You know you’re in safe sure hands with Polly and so you easily give up all your judgments, sit back, relax, and take the steamy ride-guilt free. Or maybe you just like hanging with the guilt. And that’s okay too. Whatever turns you on.

Polly Frost loves to write. You bet your sweet ass she does. And if you want to experience something sensual and wicked, something you might read out loud to your significant other, or keep hidden away for solitary impressions, Deep Inside by Polly Frost is a tight, hip sassy read. Now, I’m not saying everything here is the best I ever had, after all, that’s all subjective and in the bedroom–one person’s turn-on is another person’s nightmare-the point of these stories after all. But I bet you can find, as I did, several stories here that almost bordered on fine art. But you’ll have to find them for yourself. I’ll never kiss n’ tell.

7.18.2008

TIME TO GET BAT-TIZED



by
R. O'Donnell

You’re a Batman aficionado, a been-there-done-that read-it-all about Gotham’s Dark Knight, and you’re having a little debate with another claiming to be a Batman buff. Okay then. Your buddy digs down deep into the super heroes’ celebrity, and throws a question at you about the earlier Batman Detective comics (gulp) and a little ditty about the misguided super hero Blue Beatle. Yeah...? Well, was he one, two, or three super heroes trying to get a piece of the Gotham crime-fighting pie? Um...? How about naming the Gotham City Police Department? I’m talking about the first, second, and third shift, and the top cop they reported to? Okay, no problem, easy, huh? Planet Zurenarrh? Could you tell me a bit about Planet Zurenarrh? You’re stumped, you’re hemming and hawing, starting to sweat, want to change the subject and then "bingo" – The Essential Batman Encyclopedia, page 60-61 has got the answer to the Blue Beatle riddle–three by the way, it’s in the book, and I’ve got one (Big Joker laugh, folks) And Zurenarrh, page 385, that planet on the other side of the galaxy that in 1958 called upon Batman to protect them from alien invaders–boul-ya! Mission accomplished!

The reason you come off smelling like the Batman scholar of all time is because Bob Greenberger, former DC Editor, has done it all for you. He’s packed into 400 plus pages all you would ever need to know about the who-what-when-where-and why of the entire Batman legacy. The Essential Batman Encyclopedia, a completely updated version of the 1976 Michael Fleisher Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes, Volume 1: Batman, covers 70 years of Batman history in one whoop-ass book. And if that doesn’t baffle your buddies, plug their pie-holes with loads of insider scoop on ALL the Batman core titles and many of the Batman family books–well? The damn thing is certainly heavy enough that you could easily threaten the little buggers with it–believe me, they’ll shut up.

Everything is here and great for late night reading: blanket over your head, favorite tunes plugged in your ear, candy bar, flashlight in hand, turning the pages as if they were gold leaf–C’mon. The Essential Batman Encyclopedia covers DCU storylines like "Crisis on Infinite Earths," "No Man’s Land," "Identity Crisis," and "War Games." There’s big-time Batman info from the Outsiders titles and the Justice League to the Batman squads in The Brave and the Bold. Thanks to Greenberger you get a detailed account of how characters were created and how they evolved over the years, name changes, attitude adjustments, and weapons galore. Especially Batman’s arsenal of deadly toys. The evolution over the years reveals how he slowly slips into the shadows to embrace the Dark Knight persona we all love...and fear.

And just so you don’t think it’s all text here, kiddies, the full color spreads will make your eyes pop out. Over 300 in all! Cat Girl in living color, from first introduction to her latest and greatest cat gear is enough to make you howl at the moon–ladies too. The artwork, the pen and ink, the colorings are all collector worthy. But the best part of The Essential Batman Encyclopedia is everything Batman: the Bat Cave, the Bat Car, the Batman family tree, Robin, the villains like The Joker, Two Face, Ra’s al Ghul, Penguin, The Riddler, yadda-yadda-yadda–it’s all here, folks, tenfold.

So before The Dark Knight movie hits the theatres this weekend, don’t wait to be stumped by your friends by anything Batman ever again, get all you need for your bat salvation with The Essential Batman Encyclopedia available now. Time to get Bat-tized, folks!

7.13.2008

'THE KREEP' DESKTOP WALLPAPER FREE HERE!



Writer/producer R. O’Donnell, known in Chicago for having created and produced the professional theatre company New Age Vaudeville, the New Variety cabaret, and the R. Rated Fox Chicago TV show, is about to unleash his syndicated Gothic character, The Kreep in a series of columns, books, podcasts, and merchandise published/produced by Static Multimedia.

Partnering with Static Multimedia (a devision of Static Networx), R. O’Donnell’s The Kreep a.k.a Brazillia R. Kreep–a Gothic poet, writer, and illustrator–will start appearing in regular syndication on Static Multimedia http://Staticmultimedia.com under the title Brain Waves. The first series will be reviews of classic horror on DVD such as MGM’s Midnight Movies Witchfinder General, starring Vincent Price.

“The Kreep has already made a lot of new media appearances,” says creator O’Donnell, “The Kreep’s on MYspace (http://Myspace.com/bakreep,) The Kreep’s on twitter, (http://twitter.com/thekreep,) and The Kreep’s on blogs such as got2write (http://got2write.wordpress.com,) and now The Kreep’s on Ezine Static Multimedia (http://StaticMultimedia.com) and I couldn’t be more thrilled for the interest in the guy.”

Brazillia R. Kreep a.k.a The Kreep is a forlorn Gothic poet and illustrator living in Kreepsville. The Kreep lives in an old Victorian mansion near lake Scares.

*Logo above designed by underground street artist Dull1

*Contact@r-productions.com


> Downloadable The Kreep Desktop Wallpapers here:

BARBARA HASHIMOTO: JUNK MAIL STILL WHITE TRASH

Barbara Hashimoto: Junk Mail exhibit having a six-month run care of The Chicago Arts District, has opened its gallery doors to the public, 2003 S. Halsted Street, Chicago. The exhibit, which explores how Junk Mail intrudes on our daily life, is also open during the traditional 2nd Friday Gallery Walk that has made the Art District of East Pilsen famous to locals and tourists alike.

The public is invited to see the Junk Mail Landscapes (guest artists Michael Kozien will also present a suite of video and sound junk mail explorations), and “White Trash: Available”. Sit in front of the mounds of hand shredded junk mail and be taped making “true” Junk Mail Confessions. This is your chance to make something useful out of over a year’s worth of hand-shredded paper by fine artist Barbara Hashimoto. “Advertisers need to be more conscious of people’s right to quality of life,” says Hashimoto from a packed gallery opening this past Friday, “Junk mail is an intrusion into that right.”

Other special events throughout the year include Junk Mail Landscapes, Junk Mail Interiors, and Junk Mail Christmas where trees will be decorated using hand shredded Holiday Catalogues and other Holiday related Junk mail.

JUNK MAIL FACTS: 100 million trees are cut down to produce junk mail annually. The majority of junk mail is produced from natural forests. In 2006, Americans received 77 billion pieces of junk mail. In 2006, more than 15 million trees were cut down to produce the 1.8 billion pounds of undeliverable junk mail. (That’s above and beyond what was delivered.) 44% of the junk mail received goes unopened into the landfill.

Born in New Jersey and educated at Yale, Hashimoto’s work has been exhibited throughout Japan, The U.S. and The Middle East and is in more than 250 public and private collections including The Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American Art, The Museum of Arts and Design (New York) and The National Museum of Women in the Arts.

> Barbara Hashimoto Website

7.12.2008

THE ELECTRIC MIKE BRENNAN

By: R. O'Donnell

From a community sketchbook to T-shirts to a "must have graphic novel," the deep dark secrets of a successful comic book revealed.

Virginia is a student with a nifty dog dupped Blammo, and an invisible scalawag gremlin named Oogleeoog. She also has amazing electrical superpowers and can release bursts of electricity from her body at will. Welcome to Eisner-nominated Mike Brennan's graphic novel Electric Girl-a comic book for, well, just about everybody.

From a modest community sketchbook to popular Blammo T-shirts to an Eisner-award nom, the deep dark secrets of Mike Brennan's all ages comic book Electric Girl revealed.


Okay, so in the Beginning, before Electric Girl, there was Blammo! How'd that come about?

Mike Brennan: Blammo was created "almost accidentally" by me and a friend. I started a drawing in a community sketchbook that we kept in the house that we were renting. It was of something that may have possibly resembled something between a dog's head and a box. I got sidetracked by something going on in the house and never finished the sketch. Later that night, my roommate came upon the sketch and finished it. And it became Blammo---our imaginary house dog.

After a couple of years, I started using Blammo as my mascot on my illustration work. I also created t-shirts every now and again that featured a Blammo drawing. Everyone that I gave them to seemed to love them (or they were being nice to me), so I felt I was on to something... Blammo eventually became one of the core cast members of a comic strip I created (that was never picked up by the syndicates), then made the cut to Electric Girl #1.

So after Blammo hit the page you create a gremlin-type character named Oogleeoog? Where'd he come from?

I created Oogleeoog for that comic strip that I submitted for syndication. Oog was the x-factor that I felt the strip needed to keep it interesting and offbeat. He was much the same character as he is in Electric Girl, except that he had pointy tips on his head.

Now you've got Blammo the dog, Oogleeoog the gremlin dude, and later you add a high-school girl named Virginia to the brood and zap! Electric Girl ensues. Tell us more?

Well, Virginia was one of the 8 characters that I had created for this comic strip. After I finished the strip, I started getting into some of the independent/small press comics at the time. The "cartoony" and non-traditional storylines of a lot of these comics gave me the idea that I could try this.

I decided to use Virginia, Oogleeoog and Blammo in a comic book. But I felt that there was a dynamic missing from the previous comic strip. I originally added the "electric girl" theme as a bridge to the super-hero comics I read since I was a kid. The EG theme started off as a crutch for me to use as I had hoped to create some sort of super hero parody...but after writing and drawing a couple of stories (that were never published), I realized that I didn't have the desire to pursue the parody aspect.

So I thought, "Why should these electrical powers automatically make her a super hero?" That's when I decided that she wouldn't be one. But, I liked the name "Electric Girl" and the idea that this girl had these powers...and here we are!

Virginia has super electric powers and talks with an invisible creature? Not so ordinary a life. Why the fantasy to tell her story?

I didn't have the confidence to create stories that focused on just an ordinary teenage girl. I wanted to create some offbeat, mildly crazy stories. A teenage girl WITH electric powers, her dog and her invisible gremlin friend gave me more toys to play with. As all of the elements fell into place accidentally, I felt that it created an interesting premise that had a lot of potential.

Then comes the accolades for Electric Girl like being named to the "Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults 2002" list by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), and most recently being dubbed a "must have graphic novel" by the Library Journal. What's that like?

Well...of course it feels nice to be appreciated! It helps me rationalize all the hours it took to create the books. But seriously, I'm grateful for the appreciation that the librarians have for the EG books. It lets me know that I'm doing something right.

Any Blammo tee-shirts left? If not, how about a 2nd printing? C'mon!

I just came across several of them in my garage a couple of weeks ago and shipped some off to Brave New World in Newhall, CA for Free Comic Book Day. So if you happened to have been in that area, you may have been the lucky recipient of one.

I'm hoping to produce a set of Blammo, Electric Girl, and Oogleeoog t-shirts some time this year. They're fun to do, but they're difficult to sell at a profit. I have this bad habit of giving them away...

So what's next?

I've spent the better part of the year marketing the latest EG book, Electric Girl Volume 3. But, I didn't let that stop me from focusing on the future. I've been working with a friend in LA on drafts of several ideas that I think would make excellent graphic novels. As soon as one of them becomes something more concrete, I'll let everyone know. In the meantime, I also have this stash of funny stories of this certain yellow dog that I want to draw...

Who are your favorites in the biz?

Not to sound cliché, but I don't necessarily have any favorite artist or writers that I follow regularly. Having a three-year-old kid will do that to you---not nearly as much time for reading as I used to have! But I try to visit any of the local shops whenever I can and grab whatever looks interesting to me.

I just picked up the first volume of the Akira series that Dark Horse published some time ago and thought it was great. I'm going to get the rest as I get the chance. I recently got hold of some old Milt Caniff "Steve Canyon" collections---I'm amazed at how consistently well the man could draw. I always pick up anything that Mike Mignola draws...I was looking through the Making of Atlantis book some time ago and was reminded how wonderfully stylized his drawings are.

I'm a Marvel zombie at heart, but stopped regularly reading the comic books years ago. It became too much of an effort to stay with the ever-changing characterizations and reboots of my favorite characters. However, I got hooked on the Ultimates and pick up the latest issue whenever I find one.

Final thoughts on the current state of graphic novels?

Not really... I think they will eventually be the only print outlet for comics, but I wouldn't be so bold as to declare if that would be a good thing or not!

7.10.2008

WRITER/ACTOR R. O’DONNELL DELIVERS JUNK MAIL STORIES

WRITER/ACTOR/COMEDIAN RICHARD O'DONNELL, has been invited to perform his one-man show entitled Junk Mail Stories for the extended Barbara Hashimoto: Junk Mail exhibit, 2003 S. Halsted Street, Chicago, every Saturday in November. The 45 minute show will examine in a humorous and serious light how junk mail effects our everyday lives. “It’s something Barbara and I discussed over a year ago,” says O’Donnell, also known as “R.” to his friends and colleagues, “Since Barbara’s Junk Mail exhibit was awarded another six months by the Art District of Chicago, It was just time to unite for a common cause.”

Other special events throughout the year include Junk Mail Landscapes, Junk Mail Interiors, and Junk Mail Christmas where trees will be decorated using hand shredded Holiday Catalogues and other Holiday related Junk mail.

More recently, Barbara Hashimoto: Junk Mail exhibit, will re-open its gallery doors for a reception from 6-10 PM this Friday, July 11 at 2003 S. Halsted Street, Chicago, where the exhibit grows bigger everyday. The reception will be held during the traditional 2nd Friday Gallery Walk that has made the Art District of East Pilsen famous to locals and tourists alike.

JUNK MAIL FACTS: 100 million trees are cut down to produce junk mail annually. The majority of junk mail is produced from natural forests. In 2006, Americans received 77 billion pieces of junk mail. In 2006, more than 15 million trees were cut down to produce the 1.8 billion pounds of undeliverable junk mail. (That’s above and beyond what was delivered.) 44% of the junk mail received goes unopened into the landfill.

Richard O’Donnell co-wrote the award-winning off-Broadway musical One & One, Radio City Music Hall’s A Manhattan Showboat, and co-founded the New Age Vaudeville theatre company, the New Variety cabaret, and the R. Rated television show.

Born in New Jersey and educated at Yale, Hashimoto’s work has been exhibited throughout Japan, The U.S. and The Middle East and is in more than 250 public and private collections including The Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American Art, The Museum of Arts and Design (New York) and The National Museum of Women in the Arts.


> Wikipedia: Richard O’Donnell

“WITCHFINDER GENERAL” VINCENT PRICE CLASSIC GORE




by
Brazillia R. Kreep
a.k.a THE KREEP

Good evening kings and queens of crimson goo. Tonight’s rusty vault slowly creeks open to reveal a Vincent Price immortal classic from MGM’s Midnight Movies series, a deliciously bloody tale that is a poor man’s The Crucible of sorts: Witchfinder General.

Aptly directed by Michael Reeves. (Who died an agonizing death only a year later from an accidental barbiturate overdose-and that in itself is creepy too.) This British-made drama, originally billed as Edgar Allen Poe’s The Conqueror Worm, is a truly gory affair. Vincent Price plays the malicious Matthew Hopkins, a witch hunter that is more sinful than all the poor souls he brutally tortures combined. This is a nasty psychopath that hires an even nastier psychopathic sidekick to torture and mutilate the innocent while he’s off looking for more. Before the final credits role, enough blood has splashed across the screen, enough women have screamed their bloody guts out, and enough skin has be ripped, pinched, and stabbed, that I don’t advise having the steak tartar afterwards. Really. I’m quite serious about this. This is hard to watch sometimes or just your thing if you like stopping to look at road kill . Thank goodness the blood is bright orange or more people would loose their lunches instead of laughing their heads off. Lots of Fun extras too! Well worth the bucks my frightfully fine fiends.

Special Features including Witchfinder General: Michael Reeves’ Horror Classic doc and audio commentary with Co-producer and actor Ian Ogilvy.

What Price Fame?

When Vincent Price came out to play
All the children ran away
They’d scream and dream such awful things
Like long-fanged snakes and hornet stings
For Mr. Price was wicked see
T’bring such woes so eerily
Yet when he finally bid adieu
All the children did boo-hoo
they loved the thrills n’ chills he laid
And prayed he would come back someday

7.08.2008

BEWARE THE SHRUBBERY - "THE RUINS" SLITHERS ONTO DVD



by
R. O'DONNELL

Alrighty then, The Ruins, according to IMDb (and they never lie) won a Golden Trailer award nomination for best horror poster. That’s right, best horror poster. Okay. There it is then. They almost won. So, go out and find the poster if you can (allposters.com) and tape that puppy to your bedroom wall and quickly turn off the lights. Then, in the moonlight or with some candles flickering in the distance for effect, simply stare at it until it you scream your bloody head off. That’s about as scary as this picture ever gets. I mean, c’mon, guys, it’s about these pissed-off Mayan vines in Mexico that whisper a horror movie soundtrack right outta Children of the Corn and can giggle all cartoony and can even imitate your voice or the ring-tone on your cell phone–this is really scary stuff.

Written by Scott B. Smith (and he also penned the book I never heard of) The Ruins has some damned good acting in it. No, really. I’m being serious now. Mostly from the two sexy lead gals though: Jena Malone (remember her from Contact, playing the young Jodie Foster role? Now she’s all grown up and my-oh-my so cute) and Laura Ramsey (Lords of Dogtown) blonde bombshell with some muscle she can really pour it on. They both deliver the goods with their ample amount of beauty, brains, and brawn, plus the ability to cry and go insane with terror and snot dripping out their noses quite believably. Did I tell you that these monster vines with red flowers also love to dive into your cuts and suck the blood right out of you like long green stringy leaches-yum. And the guys aren’t too bad either, the best performance handed-in by Jonathan Tucker (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake), they just die too easily–no dramatic monologues about I could’ve been a rock star or my mother told me not come. Shame ‘cause they could’ve handled it and the plot needed some spice.

When the horror, the horror, the horror slithers around our heroes’ feet it can get kind of tense. Until you realize once again that they’re just plants. Plants, like from Munchkin land in Oz. A vine with what looks like plastic leaves t’boot. It’s hard to imagine any real danger except a truly bad case of poison ivy–yikes. And if your indulging in any illegal herbal refreshment the whole damn movie is going to turn into a giggle fest, of course. Which may not be a bad thing, I guess. Better than a total dud. Also, there’s some pretty wicked gore here and when Tucker’s character plays MD (he’s in medical school so he has everyone search for aspirin–please don’t ask) and starts lopping limbs off with a kitchen knife. And we’re not talking about the shrubbery.

But the problem is that the repulsion needed for a truly horrifying experience just isn’t enough. And there’s this whole other subplot with a tribe of Mayans trying to keep the deadly vines quarantined by killing anyone and anything in sight. Actually, the scariest part of the whole movie was the lead Mayan played convincingly by actor Sergio Calderon–he was scary as hell. Freaked the b’jesus outta me. Oh, and the thought they dumped as much money as they did into this horror shrubbery nightmare, that gave me willies for days.

Oh, and I forgot to tell you that this was the UNRATED version, way too intense for moviegoers. So, um, move away from the houseplants before you slip the DVD in. You’ve been warned.

DVD EXTRAS are pretty cool if you dug the film, like (I’m quoting the box) never-before-seen-alternate ending. Never before seen? Of course it hasn’t ‘cause it ended up on the cutting room floor. There’s an equally exciting original theatrical ending–huh? And director Carter Smith and editor Jeff Betancourt commentary that takes itself maybe a bit too seriously for deadly weeds gone amuck.

6.28.2008

THE KILLING OF JOHN LENNON



by
R. O'DONNELL


KRISHA FAIRCHILD, ROBERT KIRK, GUNTHER STERN, JONAS BALL
DIRECTED BY
ANDREW PIDDINGTON

The Killing of John Lennon. This was hard to watch for about a second or two. I’m a big fan of John Lennon ( I remember John Lennon) and I even lived behind the castle Dakota, in The Park West, 73nd and Central Park West for 8 years. I met the legend and his Ono weeks before the killing. Like most people, I walked into his world, not the other way around. But this astounding film by Andrew Peddington set my mind at ease early on. It told me that this picture wasn’t going to be a slasher-stinky-beer-stained-carpet-in-the-trailer kinda romp, but a film that answers, for all of us… why? Why would you kill John Lennon? What the f#@k for? Are you that bored, that slam-dunk stupid, that whack-o that you pick on an immortal rock star? Mr. Beatles himself. Give peace a chance? Imagine? I’m-naked-in-the-bed with my sweetie, and the press don’t get it… That guy? Doesn’t make any sense, never has, never will. But. But. The “why” has finally and uniquely been answered. Am I gushing?

Yeah–well–you bet. Just like I did with Silence of the Lambs–that film carved itself into the skull of American pop culture while giving us Sir Tony, Ms. Jody, and Ted “it-puts-the-lotion-in-the-basket” Levine. Demme took us all hostage, forcing us into tight, really dark, dank places we’ve never seen or been to before. The Killing of John Lennon dropped me right there too, right inside Chapman’s inner sanctum. They used his diaries and court transcripts to piece it all together’s why. Glued the shattered egg that fell from hell, and landed on the upper West side to boil the bloody yoke of hate and disapproval. And because of the true-to-life leisurely pacing, the tension clings to you, like Hitchcock’s show the audience the ticking bomb theory: there it is, under the seat and ticking away. Only the audience knows it’s there. What do you do? You squirm. And squirm some more. That’s the experience. Squirming through a real live horror show. You know it’s true. We all know what happens. In this, everyone did their jobs: everybody! This is ensemble front and back, folks, and virtually flawless. It doesn’t begin or end like you think it would. It takes you right where you want to go. (Even though you’ll most likely have second thoughts once you get there.) Especially after hanging out with the ultimate loser, sitting on a dirty sofa while a sweaty Chapman tells you what he’s going to do–everything is credible.

The secondary cast is so casual, so fine-tuned that you keep forgetting it’s only celluloid. You’re casually walking “inside-the-mind-of” an infamous assassin, as if you’re actually hanging out with him. About to ask him why, man, why’d you do it? Which makes it extra disturbing when you’re standing right alongside him as he bags the elephant: a celebrity so big, so pop-f@#king right-on, that the whole world gasps. Insane. Yes he was. In my mind I think he was skipping tra-la through the rat-infested alleys of his mind. Poor schmoe though. A real nobody, a truly wounded animal, a coward needing our forgiveness, according to Yoko (which is why I always dug her the most). This all comes across in fine detail here. And one scene near the conclusion of the film, totally unexpected, and all Exorcist, had me tossing in my bed long after I pushed the eject button.

5.24.2008

HARRY WEINGER TALKS MOTOWN



by
R. O'DONNELL


I met Harry Weinger thanks to my buddy Jim Bessman of Billboard Magazine. Always turning me on to the best characters in the biz, Bessman (people person extraordinaire) arranged a dinner at this hot-spot veggie bistro on 74th street in Manhattan. On the way over, Bessman kept saying, "Harry's the coolest, man, just the coolest." And after finishing our carrot/spinach paté while talking everything from tinsel town to Motown, I looked at Bessman, exchanging a glance that confirmed, yes indeed-Harry Weinger was one of the coolest cats in town.

A tall lanky guy, Harry is a 27-year veteran of the entertainment industry, and is currently Vice President of A&R for Universal Music Enterprises, catalog reissue arm of Universal Music Group. Harry has produced, mixed, written, and edited liner notes for hundreds of reissues and compilations such as Motown family of classic recordings, the James Brown catalog and prominent artists in the Universal/PolyGram "Funk Essentials" series, and is a two-time Grammy® Award winner t'boot. Oh, and um, he's an honorary member of The Temptations, a privilege bestowed upon him by founding members Otis Williams and the late Melvin Franklin, in 1994. Unsurprisingly, Harry's nickname among Bessman and I is now "Mr. Cool."

Well, "Mr. Cool" is nonetheless on a reissue rampage these days. He's helping to produce some of America's premium musical moments. Mr. Cool is simply doing that producing thing. As the man emphatically states, "I am part of a wonderfully creative A&R team at Universal, and that atmosphere elevates everyone's projects." Cool. So we sat down with Harry Weinger, delving into gobs of veggie pâté while chatting up his hottest projects for Universal Music, his rage for music conservation, and finally answering why, the Godfather of Soul, James Brown says, "He's a genius."

Your gold and platinum awards are numerous; like Lionel Richie's The Definitive Collection, Barry White's Ultimate Collection and a Definitive Collection from Stevie Wonder. So what collection are you working on now?

Harry Weinger: First, any mention of sales awards has to point back to the artist and to the sales team at Universal Music Enterprises. I got to hand it to Bruce Resnikoff, UM's president, who put together a great team of sales and marketing people who best know how to get records up to gold and platinum. Don't get me wrong - A&R guys worry over every last track and which version and how to sequence the album for the best listening experience, and we like to think we give sales something to sell - but kudos to Bruce and the head of sales, Richie Gallo.

Recently I've finished up a Definitive Collection on Rick James. I miss him - Rick could be crazy but he was involved in his catalog and always had great insight. He remembered everything. Rick was underrated and I think he's gaining more musical respectability now, ironically at the same time that the Chappelle catchphrase has such legs.

Also working on a Sammy Davis Jr. Definitive Collection. Fascinating that in all the years he's been around, alive or dead, there's been no single disc collection encompassing his career, until now.

And coming in March is a 2-CD Martha Reeves & The Vandellas "Gold" set, which includes her solo singles as well. She's had some great hits, and even the lesser-known ones from the later 1960s are superb. Funny how it works sometimes: A couple of years ago we got hip to a great, unreleased Vandellas track in the Motown vault, "It's Easy To Fall In Love (With A Guy Like You)." Somehow it got picked for the movie Hitch. The soundtrack had the mono version - and we did a new stereo mix for this set.

And check out this ongoing series of all the Motown Singles in a 12 big box sets. Talk about going for the gusto. Just finished Vol. 4

Of course, we had fun working with The Temptations on their new album, "Reflections."

In 2000 you were a NAACP Image Award Winner for "Outstanding Album of the Year," Stevie Wonder / At The Close Of A Century (box set). Tell us about that.

Putting the box set together was a dream. Of course, the award was really to honor Stevie's great career and I am sure it was a great moment for him. Although the award was for Stevie, I did produce the set, and though I wasn't at the ceremony I was lucky that my boss Andy McKaie made sure I got a physical award. I don't display it with a spotlight or anything, but it means a lot. It was a wonderful experience to show it to my folks. They were pro-active in civil rights and I am grateful to have grown up in that household. In fact, my father once met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at a dinner in 1963. The photograph of that instant used to hang in my childhood home, and a copy of it is displayed prominently on my desk at home now. In it, Dad has apparently - and I am sure very politely - interrupted Dr. King chatting with Rabbi Dr. Joachim Prinz. You look and blink and realize that the two great Drs. taking a moment with my dad were otherwise planning the Great March on Washington D.C. Where King gave his famous speech. Which my mother attended. So, in a private moment, I sometimes glance over at the NAACP Award and think, my musical hero, Stevie Wonder, was the guiding force behind all these things coming together for me personally.

Early on in your career you produced the successful radio show "The Sunday Funnies," featuring comic greats such as Bill Maher, Paul Reiser, Carole Leifer, and Larry Miller, so why not stay in the comedy biz?

Wow. You did your homework. Yes, that show was the first national media exposure for a lot of great comics. I used to go to all the New York clubs three nights a week at crazy hours. I remember getting turned down by Jerry Seinfeld, though. He wanted his jokes to be on the Tonight Show first - very confident guy. Six months to the day, there he was. HBO's comedy shows got started a few years later. The comedy clubs exploded. By then I had started working in the record business and the comedy world seemed to be doing fine without me. One thing I retained is a sense of when a comic is ready with material. I watch stand-up on TV and wonder if some of the comics out there have more than a few minutes of dick jokes.

You're a highly acclaimed scholar of American popular music, having written everything from liner notes to features for Rolling Stone magazine, when's the book coming out?

I like making records too much. Maybe one of these days.

Currently, you're a member of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Nominating Committee. How did that come about?

I was honored to be asked and I am honored to say yes and serve. Besides, those meetings get pretty lively.

You received the Heroes & Legends Leadership Award in 2004 for your outstanding contributions to the Motown legacy. What is the Motown legacy, and who are some of its biggest contributors?

Motown has always been about great music. Relatable songs, wicked basslines and a happy melancholy in the feel and sound. Those records and the songs are both specific to an era and will last forever. Motown was also about a family vibe, and when you get in with Motown, you become part of the family. You find yourself wanting to go to Detroit. Berry Gordy of course is the man who started it; his sisters are the ones who nurtured his dream; the songwriters from Janie Bradford to Lamont Dozier and the Holland Brothers, from Bobby Taylor to Ivy Jo Hunter, Gloria Jones to Sylvia Moy and Mickey Stevenson and on and on... they all had incredible, simple stories to tell. And all those producers, arrangers, the recording and mixing engineers! And those voices... you can't recreate it. You can just admire it, enjoy it, study it and learn.

Why is music preservation your heart and soul?

I hear music everywhere. I am lousy at parties - I can't chat with background music playing. It's not background to me. But I am not sure I could say why I do what I do. I was always fascinated by how records get made, the layers and the nuances. I remember my first experience with a deeper appreciation of a record through headphone listening - you know, where you've got on the big-ass cans and you "fall into" a record? For me it wasn't "Dark Side Of The Moon" - it was Marvin Gaye's "Super Hits" album. When I started hearing the layers, I was a goner. That, and stories of how one step led down another path - an engineer saving a take an artist dismissed, or a record getting finished despite what the company thought - all those stories enhance the enjoyment for me. I want to share that. Of course the artists' finished results are utmost. Preserving that is #1. There's a great engineering staff in NY and creative design department out West who have the same goals - get it done but get it right.

What project are you most proud of?

I've enjoyed them all, from the Marvin Gaye Deluxe Editions of "Let's Get It On" and "What's Going On" to the Stevie Wonder iTunes box, the Four Tops box to little "Best of's" from lesser-known acts. Great albums and great songs with great stories. If I had to nail it down, that James Brown box set, "Star Time," was the first big thing I helped put together. Being the first, it holds special memories. I had a specific purpose with the set - to make a great James Brown album - and was given time to get it done in that way.

It's gotten all the accolades, Grammy, etc.. But the best and most memorable responses for me are: 1)James Brown thought enough of what we had done to write his own liner notes; 2)It's still in print, after 15 years; 3)It's a door-opener to other artists - I once stood next to a bored-looking Jimmy Page from Led Zep, with nothing to say except, "uh, er, I'm the guy who..." and once he heard "Star Time" he shook my hand so vigorously I thought he'd had a little extra in his coffee; and 4)Branford Marsalis was once asked what his favorite album was and it wasn't that he said this box that brings a smile. It's that he prefaced it with, "Of course..."

That's when I knew James Brown had the career retrospective he deserved.

It's known that the Godfather of Soul, James Brown says that you're a genius. What were the circumstances behind his praise?

You have to consider Mr. Brown's thought process. There are several meanings to that statement: - James Brown is the greatest, and since I have devoted a good portion of my life to his great catalog, I therefore must be a genius. Right? - Mr. Brown is a master at building people up and back down. So far, so good. - I should have done much better on my SAT scores 30 years ago.

What is the most important thing you would like people to know about the work you produce?

It's more than one person. It's more than taking a tape off a shelf and here you go. It's a long slog and there are many people working hard to make it right or at least doing their best to do so. And although this is fun to talk to you, it's never about any one person except the artist on the front cover.

Any comments about the current state of the music biz?

Every new evolution in technology in the last 10 years is driven by music: computers, MP3 players, cell phone downloads...it's a business in transition, but things will be OK. People love their music. They are doing anything they can to get it. We're here to get it to them.

4.21.2008

THE COMIC BOOK WORLD OF RICHARD STARKINGS


THE WORLD OF RICHARD STARKINGS
by
R. O'DONNELL

RICHARD STARKINGS, THE CREATOR OF HIP FLASK, THE ELEPHANTMEN AND FOUNDER OF COMICRAFT, CHECKS IN WITH STATIC.

Richard Starkings has been a mainstay in the world of comics for decades. His lettering work and his company, Comicraft, founded with partner John 'JG' Roshell in 1992, have won numerous awards throughout the industry. Through his publishing house, Active Images, he began with his own Hip Flask: Unnatural Selection (the collection has sold over 26,000 copies) and in only a few short years became a publisher of great note, putting out a compelling and eclectic line of graphic novels featuring some of the most talented and up-and-coming creators in the industry, including: Solstice (Steven T. Seagle and Justin Norman), The Spiral Cage (Al Davison), Ballast (Joe Kelly and Ilya), Strange Embrace (David Hine), Temptation, Skidmarks, Gunpowder Girl and the Outlaw Squaw, The Fly Chronicles, and Brickman Begins. Industry legends Dave Sim, Alan Moore and Will Eisner are just a few who have sung the praises of Active Images's lineup. Active Images's most recent graphic novel, The Nightmarist, by Duncan Rouleau (Static Interview), was launched to great critical acclaim and is currently in development at Paramount Pictures.

This July, Active Images and Image Comics release Elephantmen, a 32-page full-color ongoing monthly series (Image Comics, $2.99, Diamond Order Code: MAY06 1710) Feature stories will be by Starkings and regular series artist Moritat, with covers by Ladronn and flip covers by a who's who of comic talent, including Brian Bolland, Tim Sale, David Lloyd, Ian Churchill, Joe Madureira, Steve Skroce and Pascual Ferry.



R. O'Donnell: Born and raised in England, you worked at the famed Marvel UK's London offices as an editor, designer and writer on GI Joe, Zoids, Ghostbusters, Transformers and the Doctor Who comic strip, what was that like?

Richard Starkings: I consider myself to have been very lucky to have worked at Marvel UK during the 'Boom' years. Books such as Transformers, Care Bears and Doctor Who Monthly (I worked on them all, as did Civil War writer, Dave Strange Embrace Hine, but don't tell him I told you so!) were selling extremely well and the Captain Britain magazine, though short-lived, was something of a jewel in Marvel UK's crown at the time. At least, those of us that worked on it thought so.

In the early eighties, Marvel UK had learned to distinguish between the UK market and the US market, and as a young upstart editor I had my eyes set on the US market; I wanted to do color monthly books! Our titles, Dragon Claw's, Death's Head and The Sleeze Brothers, launched in '88 and '89, were considered misfires at the time, but with them, and alongside our GI Joe and Ghostbusters weeklies, I was able to nurture a strong group of British creators which included Dougie Justice Braithwaite (he was just 15 years old when he brought me his first samples), Simon Furman (who had already written a million Transformers stories by the end of the '80s but was able to work freelance full time on the back of Death's Head), Dan Sinister Dexter Abnett, Bryan Ultimates Hitch (just 16 years old when he brought in his portfolio, he was as precocious then as he is now), the delightful Lee Sullivan (best Doctor Who strip artist EVER) and obsessive compulsive multi-tasker Andy Majestic Lanning.

Best of all working at Marvel UK, living in London and freelancing for rivals 2000AD as a lettering robot, brought me into contact with British comic luminaries and stalwarts such as Dave Gibbons, Alan Davis, Jamie Delano, John Wagner, Alan Grant, Robin Smith, Mick McMahon, Kevin O'Neill, Lew Stringer, Steve Dillon, Steve McManus, Steve and Annie Parkhouse, Tom Frame, Steve Craddock, Brian Bolland, Alan Moore, John Higgins and Paul Gravett. It was a very small and intimate industry back then, and everyone had stories to tell and cautionary words to share. When Marvel UK's editor in chief, Jenny O'Connor, and I visited Judge Dredd writers John Wagner and Alan Grant, in an effort to woo them over to Marvel, I remember very well that owning a part of their creations was very much a sticking point in our negotiations. It was frustrating for us, and ultimately we weren't able to give them the deal or the money they wanted, but those conversations allowed us to forge a creator-owned contract for John Carnell and Andy Lanning's Sleeze Brothers, and ultimately drove me years later into self publishing so that I could own and control Hip Flask and, now, Elephantmen. Jenny eventually moved in with John Wagner-so she got something very different out of the experience-a piece of Judge Dredd!

You've been self-publishing since your teens, so I've got to ask if you where you one of those copy machine fanzine wizards?

Duplicating machines-my high school didn't have a photocopier back then. We created strange, inky carbon stencils and then the duplicator was hand cranked. I produced two copies of my Doctor Who fanzine, Galaxy Four, that way. When I produced collections of my Doctor Who cartoon strips some years later, I did those at Prontaprint, a chain of copier shops similar to Kinko's. I'm not sure if they're still in business. There was a very good one near the old Forbidden Planet store on Denmark street. Brian Bolland used to take me there to make copies of The Killing Joke pages he'd finished. I still have my set.

Is it true British lettering kings Bill Nuttall and Tom Frame originally inspired your unique design style?

I think Bill and Tom had very unique and interesting styles, and they were very kind and encouraging toward me way back when. Bill died a few years ago, and never saw Comic Book Lettering The Comicraft Way, which I dedicated to him. I did get a very nice phone call from his son, though. He was very touched. I'd never have gotten off square one without Bill's help. Although I never met him, the letter and samples he sent me are amongst my most treasured possessions.

What prompted you to move to the states?

Ahh-well, I always thought I'd like to live over here, but what brought me here was the pursuit of a lovely young lady who we'll call Sue Smith. She worked at Marvel UK for six months then moved back to LA. We broke up shortly after I moved to California, but I'll always be grateful to her for running away from me! Sweet girl.

Comicraft has been published in millions of comic books and magazines and has received loads of comic book industry awards for both lettering and design. How did your partnership with John 'JG' Roshell come about?

His girlfriend, the lovely Starshine, was the ex-girlfriend of the brother of a mutual friend. I was looking for the very first Comicraftsman to work with me on lettering assignments, and JG had been a big fan of SPIDER-MAN all his life and proved to be the perfect choice to help build the business. There wouldn't be a Comicraft without JG-he was the one who asked me how he should answer the phone... "Um, COMICRAFT!" I answered. My old roommate, Griff, was a carpenter in Venice Beach and called his business PROUDCRAFT, I just swapped out the first few letters!

You're regarded as one of the early pioneers of computer-based comic book lettering. How did the industry respond to your initial innovations?

With Fear and Loathing. Bob Harras famously told me he'd NEVER allow me to letter X-Men books digitally. He later ate those words, and his hat. It was a long hard slog. JG was constantly tweaking the font he created based on my hand lettering style-and creating new fonts all the time! We have over a hundred fonts available commercially now (comicbookfonts.com) but back then we had ONE. You tell that to the kids today and they won't believe you!

Tell us about the origins of Hip Flask?

Well, originally I wanted to sell our fonts as the official X-Men or Wildcats fonts, but neither Marvel or Jim Lee's Wildstorm studio really saw the potential, thank goodness! I finally decided to use my character Hedge Backwards (www.hedgebackwards.com) as a shill to sell the fonts, but his stories (which are semi-autobiographical and basically tell the story of my relationship with Sue) didn't fit, so I decided to create an action/adventure hero instead. Through one reason and another, that character became Hip Flask.

Comic strips, comic books, and Graphic novels seem to mirror the movies and visa versa, what are some of your biggest cinematic influences?

I think they're Very Obvious if you've seen the Hip Flask and Elephantmen books! No one will be surprised to learn that I love Blade Runner, Alien, Twelve Monkeys and The Fly, but I'd also add Jaws, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Delicattessen, Amelie, A Very Long Engagement, Jean De Florette/Manon De Source, Pirates Of The Carribean and, well, so many more. I try not to watch genre movies so much now, and I'm more likely to be watching nature documentaries and British dramas. When you work in fantasy, you tend to seek out something a little more realistic in your down time! I've been watching The Lakes, Blackpool, Cutting It, State Of Play and Shameless on DVD. I think I'm single handedly responsible for Amazon UK's quarterly profits.

As a Buddhist, do you feel your beliefs greatly influence your art, especially in regards to Hip Flask?

Absolutely-here's the whole story.... When I was given the task of editing a comic based on The Real Ghostbusters cartoon series back in London, I found myself having to cast around for new writers in order to generate the large amount of material that was needed in the book. I bought a number of scripts that were okay but they seemed to lack something which I couldn't quite put my finger on. They didn't seem truthful. I may just have been a young turk trying to prove something, but I really wanted to read and publish stories that were both fun and meaningful!

I had hired Andy Lanning to draw Ghostbusters, and he recommended the work of his old schoolfriend, John Carnell, and brought him to meet me. Generally I avoided hiring friends of friends but there was something mercurial about John that inspired me to give him a chance. John was quick with a joke and earnest in his desire to write entertaining stories. The scripts he turned in proved to be witty and vibrant and eagerly sought after by the artists working for me. I struggled in vain to understand what exactly it was that they contained so that I could communicate "the formula" to other writers.

I soon learned from Andy that John was a Buddhist and after he and I had come to know each other, I asked him about his practice. From time to time he would suggest that I probably couldn't handle Buddhist practice and instead read to me from Rilke's Letter To A Young Poet when he was drunk. Most of all I remember the question posed by Rilke: "Must I write"?

One night I sat with John and his wife as they chanted and leafed through a book called Guidelines Of Faith. Pretending not to be very interested, I asked John if I could borrow the book. Halfway through my reading I came across the phrase "turning poison into medicine." Suddenly, a penny dropped. All John's Ghostbusters stories turned negatives into positives. The Ghostbusters would be called to bust a ghost in a hotel, but would persuade the ghost and the hotel manager to work together so that people would visit the hotel BECAUSE it was haunted; or the Ghostbusters would trap two mischievous electrical sprites in a battery, thereby creating a source of everlasting power.

I called John the next day and confronted him with my realization. "Gotcha!" I told him. "You're propagating Buddhism in your stories, aren't you? Admit it! "

"Um, No, not deliberately," John told me, "but I have been practicing for over four years and I guess that Buddhist philosophy is starting to bubble up out of my life into my work."

I never quite believed John's denial, but regardless of his intent, I decided I wanted to get me some Buddhist wisdom. I started chanting and encouraged the other writers working for me to consider the concept of "turning poison into medicine" as an alternative to the "this ghost is toast" philosophy our licensor encouraged. Subsequently The Real Ghostbusters comic became one of Marvel UK's most successful publications.

To cut a longer story short, even when I was at the top of my game, winning awards, I was never truly happy just being the guy that lettered comics. Years after I started practicing Buddhism, I realized that I didn't have to wait for other writers to produce meaningful stories for me; I could write them myself! I finally had the answer to the question posed by Rilke: "Must I write?" Hip Flask and Elephantmen are the answers to that question.

Rilke said: "A work of art is good if it has arisen out of necessity. That is the only way one can judge it…go into yourself and see how deep the place is from which your life flows; at its source you will find the answer to the question whether you must create. Accept that answer, just as it is given to you, without trying to interpret it. Perhaps you will discover that you are called to be an artist. Then take the destiny upon yourself, and bear it, its burden and its greatness, without ever asking what reward might come from outside."

Who would you say is the Hip Flask demographic?

At our booths at shows in San Diego and Chicago, we see a LOT of young adult males aged 15-25.

What's on the horizon for Hip Flask?

Adventure, Excitement and Really Wild Things. I'm very excited about Elephantment... I can't keep up with the stories that are spilling out of the characters, and our sales have been VERY encouraging. I can promise readers that we are NOT going to disappoint. And, of course, next year we should have the next issue of Hip Flask by Ladrönn as well!

Do you have any last words on the future of comic books and graphic novels?

There are more comics and graphic novels than ever. It's a GREAT time to be in the field-especially for independent creators like myself. REJOICE