Comics/Graphic novels

FYI...Comic-Con in Sand Diego, July 26-29, 2007....Frank Miller, Zack Snyder discuss Watchmen...sorry link won't post....

For those who like graphic novels...and the movies they spawn...

From the professional blog: Crooked Timber

Max Vapor and the Pronunciation of Doom.

16 July, 2007. Hollywood, CA. Revolution Studios and Sony Pictures announced today that Ridley Scott would direct and Vin Diesel (as Max Vapor) would star in the adaptation of the cult graphic novel, “Max Vapor and the Pronunciation of Doom.” Michael Caine is slotted to play Vapor’s father, a professor, and Gerard Butler will take a turn as his arch-enemy, T. W. Mangrove. In the graphic novel, Mangrove attempts to steal the government’s monopoly on the use of force, so that he can seek revenge for a childhood encounter with Max Vapor’s father, who was Mangrove’s headmaster at Phillips Exeter, and who caned Mangrove silly after he overheard Mangrove remarking of Vapor Senior’s pet student, “Now there’s the face of Phillip’s exciter.” When asked about the production’s reach, studio head Joe Roth effused: “It’s ‘Harry Potter’ meets ‘Spider Man’ at a tea party with ‘The History Boys’!”
Posted by Joel Turnipseed · July 17th, 2007 at 1:49 am

Watchmen news...
from the Vancouver Sun July 14, 2007

"With little fanfare, Canadian Motion Picture Park has grown into one of the largest movie studio complexes in Western Canada. Last month, CMPP opened four new stages, ranging in size from 5,000 to 22,700 square feet, which will play host to the big-budget Warner Brothers feature Watchmen well into 2008."

"In terms of scope, it will be tough to top Watchmen. The Warner Brothers movie -- a Cold War thriller which begins shooting Sept. 17 under the direction of Zach Snyder (300, Dawn of the Dead) -- will be in town until at least February 2008. In addition to the interior sets at CMPP2, it has leased a huge parcel of land near the studio on which an entire New York City exterior set will be built."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stlukesguild

Not familar with that, but have you ever seen any of William Blake's stuff? Personally, I think his art is more interesting than his poety, but the fact that he could carve his words in metal plates backwards was pretty fasinating.

Shea;

As an artist with a deep passion for the book arts (Illuminated Manuscripts, livres artistes, etc...) I've always loved Blake's work (although I would include his poetry as well as his art). I will note that with the exception of a few late wood engravings...:

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...uild/blake.jpg

...Blake did not actually "carve" his words or images. He utilized a variety of etching including some self-developed relief etching and color etching techniques. My understanding was that he utilized something akin to a negative, drawing the image out first forward and then tranferring it in reverse upon the plate which was to be etched which would then return to the correct order when printed. These finished prints were then touched up or embellished through hand painting undertaken by both himself and his wife (whom he trained as something of an assistant.apprentice). The artistic quality of these works is still wonderful (and in actuality some of his techniques are far more demanding that the mere need to carve an image in reverse. For some wonderful examples of wood-engraving in which the letters were carved in reverse you might look to Blake's fan William Morris... especially his Kelmscott Chaucer:

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...tChaucersm.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...95_frontsm.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...elmscottsm.jpg

As for actual comics... I'm not a big fan outside of some of the work by R. Crumb and Spiegelman's Maus.

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Old skool.

Since I last was here I've become quite fond of I Feel Sick by Jhonen Vasquez. My favorite part was the scene with Mr. Nevers.

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...c/mrnevers.jpg

I also reeeeeaaallly need to read some vintage science fiction comics plus some underground comix like the ones Zap used to make.

has anyone read Milinium Snow?

I like dis one so far: http://thedreamercomic.com/

It's gewd.