Wednesday Previews

More Whiptail action, from Dynamo 5 #23, in a page drawn by Matteo Scalera.

Under the Radar

I love a good high-concept, and more than that, I love a good high-concept that's actually executed well. Believe it or not, that's the case with 1998's HARD RAIN, a movie about an armored car driver's efforts to keep 3 million dollars out of the hands of a gang of thieves and a corrupt sheriff. Oh yeah, and this all takes place during a massive flood.

HARD RAIN stars Christian Slater as the armored car driver, Morgan Freeman as the leader of the thieves, and Randy Quaid as the corrupt sheriff. The movie didn't win any awards, and it ranks a measely 23% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, but I just love it.

Yes, it involves some suspension of disbelief (most high-concept movies do). But if you can just go along for the ride, it's a really fun, exciting movie. The sheer spectacle of the flooded town is impressive, and so are the numerous escape-from-certain-death scenes involving Christian Slater's resourceful armored car driver.

In addition to the running and jumping (and swimming!) and shooting, there's a nice wit to the movie. Some of the one-liners are genuinely funny, and all of the characters (even the bad guys) have more depth and quirks than you'd expect to find in a movie like this.

I think most of the credit goes to screenwriter Graham Yost, who was one of the writers of HBO's BAND OF BROTHERS, as well as creator of the TV series BOOMTOWN and RAINES, and the screenwriter of the movies SPEED, BROKEN ARROW, and THE LAST CASTLE. He's also the showrunner of FIRE IN THE HOLE, a new TNT series about a US Marshal, based on an Elmore Leonard short story. It sounds great. I'll look at anything Yost does.

If you're looking for a fun diversion with some wit and great set pieces, check out HARD RAIN.

Wednesday Previews

Wednesday Previews

We're working on two issues of Dynamo 5 simultaneously over here. While Mahmud finishes up issue #22, we have Matteo Scalera drawing issue #23. He's doing a fantastic job, and brings a real different flavor to the book.

Wednesday Previews

This week we've got two new pages from Dynamo 5 #22 by Mahmud Asrar, featuring our heroes going up against the Brain Trust!

On Sale This Week

Noble Causes Archives Vol. 2

Story by Jay Faerber, Art by Various, Cover by Cory Walker

Concluding Jay Faerber's epic super-hero series! This volume features the introduction of the Blackthornes, a family of super-villains, as well as a leap forward 5 years into the future! Together with the first volume, these Archives collect the entire series, start to finish!

778 pages * B&W * $24.95 US

We had the 2nd Archives volume printed early, so I've had my copy for a month or so now (and so have some lucky attendees of the Emerald City Comicon), and I can't tell you how cool it is to look at both volumes sitting on my shelf. The idea that I (along with an extraordinarily talented group of collaborators) put out this huge body of work is pretty wild.


Witchblade Annual 2009

Story by Jay Faerber, Joshua Cozine, Joe Henderson, Art by Eric Basaldua & Sheldon Mitchell, Covers by Eric Basaldua & Sami Basri

Presenting the first ever Witchblade Annual issue, complete with a new, original self-contained story by writer Jay Faerber and artist Eric Basaluda. Includes a second bonus story! Beautiful women all over the city are killing men they don't even know, and then claiming they don't even remember the events. When Sara and partner Gleason are assigned to investigate the case, they're thrown head-first into the dangerous and deadly world of... plastic surgery?

Plus an additional story featuring Ian Nottingham by newcomers Joshua Cozine & Joe Henderson, and artist Sheldon Mitchell (Freshmen Summer Special).

My story in the Witchblade Annual turned out much better than I could've hoped, and I owe it all to Eric Basaldua. That guy can draw! You can read the first few pages of our story right here.