tarzan

Written by: Christopher Lee

Although I’ve only met you as a fan, you ran a school that honed the amazing skills inherent in a good handful of my friends, and the friends I’ve met through them, that they met through you.
That being so, you’ve sort of vicariously filled my life with a good many talented artists that never cease to impress me with their imagination and skill, I thank you for giving me that wonderful sense of pride in people I care about.
It may seem a weird tribute, but it’s an honest one, and one I can attribute to him on a personal level.

Just to give you an idea of the level of talent this legend of comics had. Well, for one, he ran the Joe Kubert School of Art here in NJ that many of my friends have gone to.

Aside from that, check out a couple of his “quick sketches”… (little known fact, although Kubert didn’t create Hawkman per se, he was instrumental in creating the Hawkman as we know his character today)

Joe Kubert - Hawkman

One of the awesome old weird covers of the golden age!

a lil’ Batman for ya…

Joe Kubert, thought, yes, you will be missed, your legacy will live on in the art of every student coming out of your school, and of course, all the wonderful art and imagination you’ve left in your wake.

Thank you.

John Carter Logo/Poster

Written by: Christopher Lee

I finally got out to see “John Carter” this week and yes, I’ll say it, this movie is good.

No, it’s not going to blow you away. No, it’s not anything you haven’t seen before. Yes, it’s a lot like things you’ve seen before.

Why?

Because darned near movie or TV show in the Sci-Fi genre that you’ve seen in at LEAST 50+ years has either been inspired by or has ripped off the tales of “Barsoom” by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Given that alone, give the film, the story, the respect it’s due. Gene Rodenberry did. Publicly. When he spoke of his inspirations for “Star Trek”. Many others have as well.

Could I sit here and simply review the movie? Sure. But I’m not going to do that per se.

The difficult thing with this movie is despite just saying “OMG it’s so good! You need to go see it!”, is telling people *why* they should give it a go. There’s few ways to describe it that don’t sound like “Avatar” or a sort of reversed “Superman” or much everything else. I honestly find myself hard pressed to do so, and therein lies, likely, it’s failure.

How does one make an audience excited for a film that, despite it’s pedigree, is based on a 100 year old story that has somewhat faded into relative obscurity in the eyes of all but the more hardcore geeks?

I suppose simple word of mouth is the best bet. Perhaps, blatantly advertising and chest-beating that this is the story that inspired the genre almost entirely as we know it. I also suppose that releasing it a mere week before a darned near guaranteed blockbuster (“Hunger Games”) wasn’t the best idea either.

At this point, the best thing to do is judge for yourself. Don’t dismiss it based solely on the critics (actually, do yourself a favor and stop listening to critics all together….except me, of course, but I’m not a professional…yet, and when I do become a pro, feel free to stop listening to me and support another up-and-comer!). Go to a matinee (incidentally, this is a GREAT Sunday Morning film), leave your expectations at the concession stand, and check it out. The least I can guarantee you is an enjoyable, pulpy, classic sci-fi adventure. Personally, I can never have enough of them.

If simple reasoning doesn’t work, just lookit this guy, he’s in the film. His name is Woola. He’s kind of like a giant, sweet, super fast, super loyal bulldog..ish….thing….BUT HE’S SO CUTE AND AWESOME YOU MUST LOVE HIM!! (fyi, this is the concept art for Woola. The finished character is pretty much 90% the same as this with VERY slight alterations that make him more “book-authentic”)

WOOLA!!!