BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER – 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland, Paul Reubens and Luke Perry star in this funny, action-packed fright-fest. For pampered cheerleader Buffy (Swanson), the only thing worse than discovering that her town is infested with vampires is being told it’s up to her to defeat them all – including their creepy leader (Rutger Hauer)! But, with help from a mysterious stranger (Sutherland) and a handsome mechanic (Perry), Buffy’s soon kicking serious vampire butt in this cult classic!
Digital HD, Blu-ray and DVD Bonus Features Include:
Featurette
Theatrical Trailer
TV Spots
Blu-ray Specifications:
Street Date: October 3, 2017
Prebook Date: August 30, 2017
Screen Format: 16:9 (2.40:1)
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA / Spanish DD 5.1 / French DTS 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH / Spanish / French
Total Run Time: Approximately 85 minutes
U.S. Rating: PG-13
Closed Captioned: Yes
DVD Specifications:
Street Date: October 3, 2017
Prebook Date: August 30, 2017
Screen Format: 16:9 (1.85:1)
Audio: English DD 5.1 / Spanish Surround DD 2.0 / French Surround DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH / Spanish / French
Total Run Time: Approximately 85 minutes
U.S. Rating: PG-13
Closed Captioned: Yes
Walt Disney was a canny marketer, cycling his films in and out of release, on and off television, through the years, recognizing it would appear fresh to younger viewers and fondly recalled by those at later stages in their lives. That practice has continued into the world of home video with the films on rotation and we’re now getting The Lion King: The Circle of Life Edition after having received Masterpiece Collection, Platinum Edition and Diamond Edition. The new edition is already available as Digital HD and hits disc today.
An interesting thing to consider about the story itself is that Simba is being trained by his father to one day succeed him as King. This connection with a parent and this effort towards being prepared to rule is entirely absent from any of the Disney Princess films.
Of course, the movie is a wildly entertaining musical which still holds up on repeated viewings. Credit for this has to go co-directors Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, writers Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton, and composer Hans Zimmer. The strong vocal cast, led by James Earl Jones, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Matthew Broderick, Moira Kelly, Jeremy Irons, and many others grounds the production.
Is it a perfect story? Probably not, since there are gaps in time and Simba and Nala seem to be the only ones to actually age. And yes, it still makes me think of Kimba the White Lion but I’ll believe the makers were largely ignorant of this early anime that played briefly in the United States.
From a technical standpoint, this edition is identical, from what I can tell, from the most recent Diamond Edition. It therefore looks brilliant and sounds lovely.
The film is available in a variety of formats and there are some features unique to specific retailers (an annoying trend), but most will receive the film, and a new Sing-Along Version. The Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD combo also comes with a Limited Edition Film Frame (a small strip of film; mine had Raffiki holding up baby Simba).
Additionally, there is, held over from previous releases:
Audio Commentary – View the film with commentary by producer Don Hahn and co-directors Allers and Minkoff.
Visualizing a Villain – Against a backdrop of live dancers and the animated “Be Prepared” sequence, artist David Garibaldi paints a masterpiece of evil.
The Recording Sessions – Rare footage of the actors recording their roles, matched with the final animation. Intro by Allers and Minkoff.
Nathan and Matthew: The Extended Lion King Conversation – Lane and Broderick talk making the film and its worldwide acclaim.
Inside the Story Room –Allers and Minkoff present archival footage of five original story pitches.
Circle of Life – See how color creates emotion and meaning in the film’s iconic opening.
Simba & Nala – See how elements proposed in story meetings evolve into what appears onscreen.
Simba Takes Nala Out to Play – …And, sometimes what seems funny in story meetings never makes it into the film!
Hakuna Matata –Allers and Minkoff sing, act and dance their hearts out as they pitch the “Hakuna Matata” sequence.
Rafiki and Reflecting Pool –Allers & Minkoff pitch a sequence that became the emotional heart of The Lion King to Producer Hahn.
Galleries
Visual Development – Explore a gallery of striking artwork that inspired the movie’s look and feel.
Character Design – Trace the development of the film’s unforgettable characters through early concept art drawings.
Storyboards – Examine storyboards created in the development of The Lion King.
Layouts – Feast your eyes on layouts created in the development of The Lion King.
Backgrounds & Layouts – Journey through a gallery of landscape paintings that shaped the world of The Lion King.
For fans of the film, and there are many, the above will be satisfying and enlightening or just entertaining. Sadly, the Classic Bonus Features are Digital only.
Before we move on to my regularly scheduled column, I have to plug the Kickstarter going for a ComicMix comics collection running through September 15th. It’s got a lot of great talent like Neil Gaiman, Gabby Rivera and Gerard Way. Check it out!
Now that that’s out of the way, let me get back to my hot takes on the comics biz.
Last month I wrote about Spider-Man: Homecomingand how I wish they had more comics the reflected that interpretation of the character. There isn’t really a comic they put out recently that does, but I heard Spideyis kind of close so I picked up the first trade.
Spidey originally hit the stands back December of 2015 at #25 on the sales charts equating to 65,503 copies sold. The idea was to do an out of continuity Spider-Man that went back to basics; Peter Parker is back in high school, he’s back to crushing on Gwen Stacy, he’s back to taking pictures of Spider-Man for JJ, Aunt May is back to struggling to pay her bills, the bad guys aren’t quite as deadly serious, the book is more light-hearted and the stakes are lowered.
The series is written by Robbie Thompson and the first three issues are illustrated by Nick Bradshaw with Jim Campbell and Rachelle Rosenberg coloring. In the first three issues we have run ins with Doc Ock, Sandman, and Lizard. All three of them are doing what you normally expect them to do; Doc Ock is trying to steal technology, Sandman is trying to rob banks, and Lizard is trying to make more lizard people. While it’s all pretty goofy and at least somewhat self aware, Nick’s art is very sleek and his heavy inks with Jim and Rachelle’s colors really make the pages pop. It feels like Saturday morning cartoon quality work. Some of the characters could look a little more different from each other as I felt his Peter Parker and Harry Osborn look too similar, but I also acknowledge that’s a bit overly critical.
After issue three, the series takes a bit of a turn.
Nick Bradshaw has a very distinct style. Once he leaves after issue three, the rest of this trade is illustrated by Andre Lima Araujo. Andre’s style is drastically different from Nick’s. Gone are the heavy inks and Saturday morning cartoon look. In its place are very thin line inks, and the kind of art you may expect in a Top Shelf or Pantheon type graphic novel. Facial expressions and other little details like sweat are more prominent. The teenage angst and awkwardness spills out of the pages more, but the tone is so different from this art style that it’s jarring. On top of all that, in issue six Iron Man teams up with Spider-Man to stop Vulture from stealing things and it felt like such a push to do something that might tie in somewhat to Spider-Man: Homecoming that it immediately sucked me out of the story.
The most disappointing thing about reading Spidey after seeing Spider-Man: Homecoming is seeing how few liberties they take with a comic that isn’t in continuity. They don’t really change up the characters too much, everyone is still white who was white, all the characters are back doing exactly what you already know they do. What’s the point in taking another shot at retelling the early years of Spider-Man if you’re just going to give me everything we already knew and how we already knew it? This is likely at least part of why the series ends at issue twelve, making it only two volumes on trade paperback.
Overall, Spidey Vol. 1 was fun, had a few exceptional moments, but overall fell a bit flat. If you absolutely need more simple Spider-Man stories, you absolutely should pick this up. Or if you have a child in your life around ages 8-12 this is probably the most appropriate Spider-Man title for them to read. Spidey also gets bonus points for not having parallel universes, time travelling, and clones. Especially for not having clones.
It feels good to write about comics I’m reading again. So good even, I may just do it again next week!
Despite their wealth and social status. Thomas and Martha Wayne were victims of random violence in a city filled with such acts on an hourly basis. The robbery and dual murders could have happened to anyone which makes Bruce Wayne a sympathetic character – he could be us. His training to become Batman resonates because any of us could dedicate ourselves both mentally and physical to perfection in order to prevent others from becoming victims.
Unless you’re watching the mess that is Gotham. There, the everyman aspect has been stripped away from the event so here, in this twisted version of the comics, we learn their murders was ordered by the Court of Owls which is somehow tied in to the utterly corrupt Board of Directions of Wayne Enterprises.
With Gotham The Complete Third Season out now on Blu-ray from Warner Home Entertainment, we can relive the harebrained plotted which moves at such breakneck speed Producer Bruno Heller hopes you don’t stop to consider each disjointed piece of the tapestry.
We open with “Mad City” for the first arc which sees the city overrun with the freaks freed from earlier in the series and the Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) glorying in his control over them, which helps when his bromance/romance with The Riddler (Cory Michael Smith) devolves into a distracting war, setting up the “Heroes Rise” arc for the back half. We have the freaks on one side and the tortured humans – Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie), Barbara (Erin Richards), Tabitha (Jessica Lucas), and poor Butch (Drew Powell) on the other. The Owls fade into the background as the two sides snarl at one another for tense minutes at a stretch until Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith) steals Penguin away.
Burt before that, because it seems obligatory in every incarnation, the Penguin runs for mayor and actually wins, for a change. Running the city proves to be difficult (who knew?), especially when the Red Hood Gang is back and people are worrying about Jervis Tetch (Benedict Samuel) and his hypnotized victims.
Heller likes brainwashing his characters such as poor Silver St. Cloud in an earlier season and now, midway through Season Three, he has the Shaman do this to teen Bruce (David Mazouz). Complicating things for everyone is his clone, 514A, trying to find a place for himself in the firmament. At least Bruce has an excuse for being wonky. Most of the other cast members are oddballs because the script demand sit without logical underpinnings. Case in point Lee Thompkins (Morena Baccarin) infecting herself with the Alice Tetch Virus. We then have the parallel plots of Alfred (Sean Pertwee) and Gordon trying to save the ones they love most. When Jim becomes infected, all seems lost so it falls to Alfred, Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue), and Lucius Fox (Chris Chalk) to save Gotham.
Things twist and turn, whether it makes sense or not, until we have an overstuffed finale featuring The Riddler, The Penguin, the Executioner (Michael Chiklis), Mr. Freeze (Nathan Darrow), Poison Ivy (Maggie Geha), Firefly (Camila Perez), Tigress, Talon (Brandon Alan Smith), Mad Hatter, Catwoman (Camren Bicondova), the Court of Owls, Hugo Strange (B.D. Wong) and Ra’s al Ghul (Alexander Siddig) before turning Butch into Solomon Grundy for this fall season. Normal citizens are now running amok, infected with the Tetch Virus, detonated by the Court, so there’s anarchy on the streets of the beleaguered city. It is at such a moment a Dark Knight should rise to protect the city and its inhabitants but now, Batman doesn’t exist yet. So the duty falls to an infected Gordon, acting closer to Judge Dredd than anyone else.
Don’t worry, though, Bruce is taking those first tentative steps towards bat-hood as he dons ski mask and tactical turtleneck to stop evil in Crime Alley. Never mind he has yet to be properly trained in anything for any length of time for him to get proficient. He’s been too distracted by the insanity around him.
Some seem to really like this bouillabaisse of a series, appreciating its frenetic pace and over-the-top performances. The season rates 89% at Rotten Tomatoes so I am clearly in the majority. So be it. The 22-hours are nicely transferred to high definition with the same quality of audio.
Scattered among the four discs are Special Features including Gotham: 2016 Comic-Con Panel; Madness Rising: the New Villains of Gotham, as producers discuss each new rogue added to the expanding cast; The Dark Within the Dark: The Court of Owls; Ben McKenzie Directorial Debut, exploring the actor’s turn behind the camera; and an assortment of Deleted Scenes, some of which are fun.
Jack Kirby would’a been 100 today! The best part about it all is that the world can take a break to smile and to be astonished at this man’s incredible imagination and talent.
As you probably know, Jack Kirby was a tough, scrappy kid from the tough, scrappy part of New York City that grew up to be a very important comic artist. Kirby was a guy who made countless contributions and created a phenomenal number of characters and even launched a few genres. He was also a veteran of WWII and a family man.
But as a big comics fan, I almost loathed his work! But my entry point to Jack Kirby, where I really first noticed the man’s work, was with an image that was SO hideous and SO disgusting that I was worried I’d have nightmares forever.
Here’s what happened. As a very young boy, my Dad bought me an issue of DC’s The Demon. My (very generous) Dad would let me chose one comic every Sunday after feasting on our Sunday dinner at my grandmother’s house. The Demon was not one of the usual comics I was reading at that time, but the cover must have grabbed me and I selected it that week.
When I read it, I was absolutely horrified by one particular full page image. It depicted a character who’s face was horribly disfigured. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was sort of an homage to a scene in the classic Phantom of the Opera movie.
The character screams, “My face! It took my face! Look!” And as a nine-year old, I had to look. I couldn’t not look. It was the most horrible thing I had ever seen.
I was just starting to read the creator credits on comics at that time. I thought: “This Kirby guy is awful!” I realized – then and there – that I should always avoid Jack Kirby comics.
Not long after that, as Kirby was returning to Marvel Comics after several years working for the publishing competition, I was perplexed by the titles he was creating. Devil Dinosaur was supposed to be the work of a genius? What was I missing?
It took me a while to understand it all. Sometimes I’m a bit slow on the uptake. But I would eventually figure out that one gruesome page was certainly not what the genius of Jack Kirby was all about. I’d spend years and years later trying to understand the genius of Kirby. I now realize I can’t fully comprehend everything this great man created, but it’s so much fun to try. Reading his work is always treat. It’s both a thrill and creativity to be celebrated.
I hope you treat yourself to a little Kirby today too.
I’ve been invited to the Buffalo Comic-Con this year. I’ll be on their Jack Kirby at 100 Panel. The convention is September 31 to October 1st – hope to see you there! For more details, check it out here!
I don’t carry a sign over my head announcing my feminism—I do it with a tote bag from Emily’s List, which I use to, uh, tote my lunch and papers and such back and forth from work. Said bag is inscribed with the following:
feminismnoun fem-i-nism ‘fe-ma-,ni-zam
The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities
—Merriam-Webster
I’ve always thought of “equal rights and opportunities” in terms of work and salary, but I suppose it can also be applied to the prerogative of making a total ass of yourself in public, regardless of gender.
Struggling man succeeds, becomes rich and powerful and famous. Man cheats on wife while spewing words about feminism and publicly praising wife. Ex-wife chooses to feel herself empowered by publicly detailing events that happened while married to ex-husband. Ex-husband, through a spokesman, says that allegations are misrepresented.
Old story.
Yes, I am saying that Ms. Cole made an ass of herself as much as Mr. Whedon (allegedly) did. And no, I won’t be surprised to be hit with outcry and insults from individual women and attacks from feminist websites. I get it, I do. What I think is definitely a very unfeminist thing to think.
But sometimes the best thing to do is to walk away and not look back; there’s a Wiccan belief (yeah, I tend to think of myself as a “Jewiccan”) that whatever harm or ill wish you inflict on another will come back to you three-fold. So allow the universe to take care of it. Karma, as they say, is a bitch.
John also mentioned his GrimJack episode in which Gaunt shot someone in the back. Which made me remember the two-part Magnum, P.I. story that opened Season 3 of that venerable and much-beloved series.
In Part One of “Did You See The Sun Rise?”, a compatriot from their days in Vietnam visits [Thomas] Magnum (Tom Selleck) and his friend TC (Roger E. Mosley), telling them that all three are being pursued by a man named Ivan, a Russian agent who caught and tortured them during the war. At first, neither believes Nuzo; they think he is suffering from PTSD. But it turns out that Nuzo is right; Ivan is somewhere in Hawaii. But the Navy wants to keep Ivan alive (for their own reasons) and assigns Lieutenant “Mac” MacReynolds, another friend of Magnum’s, to make sure that he does—they are afraid that Magnum and TC will kill Ivan; in other words, find Ivan, but make sure Magnum does “nothing stupid.” So Mac claims that he quit the Navy, and starts hanging around with the private eye, saying that he wants to “learn the biz” from Magnum. After a night oat a bar, Mac says, “Let’s drive up to the lookout point, and watch the sunrise,” rushing ahead of Magnum to get into the Ferrari. The car explodes.
In the second part, Magnum discovers that Nuzo is actually Ivan’s operative, and that TC was “brainwashed” while in captivity in Vietnam. Nuzo triggers the brainwashing, which will cause TC to kill a visiting Japanese prince. Magnum stops TC in time, but due to political immunity, Ivan is set free. But Magnum captures him, and while Magnum holds a gun on Ivan, they have this conversation:
Magnum: It was all planned, back at Duc Hue?
Ivan: Not specifics, not even target. Just trigger.
Magnum: How many others are out there like TC?
Ivan: You are still a schoolboy, Thomas, using schoolboy tricks.
Magnum: No tricks. Who’s next on your hit list? Begin? Thatcher? Reagan?
Ivan: I have a plane to catch. If you are going to shoot me, do it now… You won’t. You can’t. I know you, Thomas. I had you for three months at Doc Hue. I know you better than your mother. Your sense of… honor and fair play. Oh, you could shoot me—if I was armed and coming after you. But like this—Thomas…never. Goodbye, Thomas.
Ivan says Do svidaniya, turns, and walks away. Magnum stops him.
Magnum: Ivan?
Ivan stops, turns to face Magnum, saying, Yes?
Magnum: Did you see the sun rise this morning?
Ivan: Yes. Why?
Magnum shoots him in cold blood.
One of the reasons this episode was so effective was that up to now, Thomas Magnum, P.I., was played as an extremely likable character. He’s endearing, he’s comic, he’s vulnerable, and often insecure. He’s faithful. He makes mistakes. He lives from hand-to-mouth. He can be incredibly lazy. So much like us, in fact, that we forget that he is a Navy SEAL, that he’s trained to kill, that he’s seen and done things that he would rather forget, that we would find horrific.
This episode is a slap in the face, a bucket of ice water sloshed over our bodies, a lightning bolt. “Holy Shit!” we collectively said. “I forgot that he’s a Navy SEAL, that he’s trained to kill, that he’s fought in and survived a brutal war, that he’s seen and done things that are really, really ugly, and can still do them.”
Only children’s heroes are perfect. As adults, we are bored by them. Think of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s first seasons. Be honest…it was pretty damn boring, wasn’t it? (Really, if it hadn’t been Star Trek, I’m convinced it would have quickly been cancelled.)
Gaunt and Magnum are the best kind of heroes.
Those with feet of clay.
And for those who worship Joss Whedon, think about that before sending him to the Hellmouth. And do the same for Kai Cole, okay?
I want to extend my sincerest condolences to ComicMix’s Mike Gold and Adriane Nash, whose beloved sister and aunt died on Saturday. May Hashem and the Goddess bring all of you peace.
Never being a fan of Knight Rider, I never really paid attention to David Hasselhoff, but gathered he was a good-looking actor with limited range and skills. Somewhere along the way, he continued getting work in projects both good and bad and built a fan base (I hear he’s really big in Germany). As a result, I missed when he crossed the cultural equator and became comfortable with the ridicule and self-parody. He’s accepted where he fits in pop culture and has gone on to embrace it as witnessed by his hysterical ‘70s-era music video found on the Blu-ray of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
And now, from Universal Home Entertainment, is Killing Hasselhoff, a direct-to-DVD release that finds him the target of an amateur assassin. This sloppy, slight comedy stars Ken Jeong as a nightclub owner in debt to loan shark Wasserstein (Will Sasso). Unable to find the $400,000 to cover the money owed, he’s given a chance to retire the obligation. As a member of the celebrity pool club, he is required to select a name and bump off whoever he picks to win the $567,000 grand prize and guess who that is?
Accompanied by Fish (Rhys Darby) and Tommy (Jim Jeffries), Jeong’s Chris becomes a live-action coyote attempting to destroy the slo-mo Hasselhoff without supplies from the Acme Company.
“Then, of course, it also stars David Hasselhoff, who, in all sincerity, I can safely say is the coolest motherf*cker on the planet. That man is wholly responsible for this project coming to fruition. Yes, David Hasselhoff, Mitch Buchannon himself, is responsible for me realizing my lifelong ambition. That’s a real sentence,” wrote screenwriter Peter Hoare about the experience.
No doubt, it sounded like a good idea and perhaps it read better on paper than on screen. The film clocks in at a mercifully brief 80 minutes and despite Hasselhoff and an assortment of celebrity cameos including Kid Cudi, Hulk Hogan, Spice Williams, Howie Mandel, Gena Lee Nolin and Pat Monahan, the film just doesn’t work. (By the way, listen for the voice of K.I.T.T., and see if you recognize Justin Bieber.)
Chris is also distracted by his on the rocks relationship with school teacher girlfriend Ann (Jennifer Ikeda), a sub—lot that does more to distract than illuminate Chris’ character.
The humor is broad and clearly, Chris will never manage to kill Hassel, so the sequences need to be inventive, creative, and outrageously funny. Deciding he wants the prize money himself, Wasserstein sends gay hitman Redix (Colton Dunn) after The Hoff, further complicating Chris’ life. Wasserstein furthers the madness by deciding to save money on the hitman and sends his thug Nick (Dan Bakkedahl) to do the deed. Three men, none able to kill Hasselhoff. A formula for laughs, right?
Sure, there are some laughs and chuckles here and there, but really, it’s just not particularly bad enough to be good or just plain good. The film was shot back in 2014 and has lingered until the release this Tuesday.
Director Darren Grant’s staging of the “accidents’ intended to end Hasselhoff’s life lack verve and he pads his production with topless men and women to distract audiences from how thin this production is.
The DVD looks and sounds fine and the DVD comes with six Deleted Scenes (8:27), none of which would have improved the overall film.
“I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me.”
—Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1
Joss Whedon created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and is credited with writing strong female roles and espousing feminist ideals – but not by his ex-wife, Kai Cole, who on the blog The Wrap accused him of being a serial cheater during their marriage and was a “hypocrite preaching feminist ideals.” This has led to a number of (now ex) fans venting their anger and feelings of betrayal.
Is it true? I dunno. I don’t know Whedon and Cole personally. Could she be lying? Possibly. Could he be an asshole? Possibly. It’s not the point of this column, however. The question I want to consider is – should Whedon, or any artist or celebrity, be considered a role model?
A role model is someone who is held up as an example to be emulated. They can come from any walk of life; indeed, they don’t have to be living or real. Isn’t Superman a role model? Sherlock Holmes? Wonder Woman?
Barack Obama is a role model to many, although probably not to those who think of Donald Trump as a role model (shudder).
Charles Barkley once famously said, “I’m not a role model… Just because I dunk a basketball doesn’t mean I should raise your kids.” He caught a lot of flak for that at the time but I tend to agree. The work can and must exist apart from its creator. Edgar Allan Poe was a drug addict. Picasso had multiple mistresses. Wonder Woman’s creator, William Moulton Marston, lived with both his wife and a lover in the same house. Bill Cosby was a role model and look at how that turned out.
Who should be role models? Parents, siblings, family, teachers – anyone who has a direct and actual effect on the child’s life.
I once had my character GrimJack shoot a character in the back, an act that offended some fans including some that were my friends. My defense was that I never said Gaunt was a role model. He wasn’t; he was an anti-hero from the get-go.
Who the creator is goes into the work but, if it has substance, the work can and must stand apart from the creator. The two ultimately must be judged separately.
As Barkley’s quote above suggests, many who are called role models never sought that job. Perhaps it just comes with the territory. Barkley, like others, made his name into a “brand”; he made the Nike commercial where he gave that quote because it was perceived that he had influence with the buying public. Perhaps being a role model is part of the price for the individual.
Maybe the complaint with Whedon is that he sought to be seen as a feminist. He gave a speech to a women’s rights group, Equality Now, on receiving an award from them, and in it he noted that reporters would ask him why he insisted on writing “strong female characters”. He would reply, “Why aren’t you asking a hundred other guys why they don’t write strong women characters? I believe that what I’m doing should not be remarked upon, let alone honored.”
Given how he treated his wife, does that make him a hypocrite? Or could he be sincere in his feelings even while he is cheating? Isn’t what he said still true? Does it have to be all one thing or the other? In characters that I write, I look for opposites because that’s where I find true character lies.
As I said, I don’t know Whedon or Ms. Cole personally. Based on what she has said, will I stop going to see his films or enjoy Buffy or Firefly? No. The work is the work and stands on its own.
As I placed the final piece of the puzzle into the floppy copy of The Samurnauts: Curse of the Dreadnuts #4 (ironically it was an ad for ComicMix, what synergy!) a fleeting thought tripped me up. Throughout the production process of creating Curse, Unshaven Comics has faced one teeny-tiny nagging question from a few people very close to our hearts. This single question – phrased and rephrased in both passive-aggressive and totally-aggro ways has come to represent a choke point for me and my l’il studio.
“When are you going to stop this?”
For the sake of clarity? The question was posed to us by close family members – none of whom share room and board with us. All three Unshaven Lads are beyond lucky to have wives (and children) who are always fully in-support of our indie comic dreams; so long as we work hard to be good husbands and dads… which we are.
This gentle nag comes out of place of love mind you, and it bears some defense. Making comics, attending comic conventions, and running a small business takes time, energy, and money. Three things none of the Unshavenauts have a plethora of. And as girlfriends became wives became mothers of our children, all three resources continued to become even more important. Imagine leaving a frazzled new mother with a screaming infant while her pie-in-the-sky-publishing-father-of-the-doomspawn traipses across the country to go sell comics for just enough money to afford going to the next show. When you phrase it that way? Well, me and my brothers-from-other-mothers are downright villainous, aren’t we?
But we’re not villains.
The nagging question comes fully loaded with the bigger picture in mind; to what end did we envision all this comic bookery doing for us?
When we began… perhaps it was hubris and optimism that made me think it’d land us on the doorstep of a great publisher like Boom!, Avatar, Image, or Dark Horse. As issue 2 and 3 dropped, that dream shifted a bit towards even larger goals like licensing and multi-media expansion. When we launched our Kickstarter, the promise of a graphic novel brought with it this feeling of making a statement – that we had arrived, and soon Samurnauts would morph into a vehicle to break us away from our normal day jobs, and allow us to live the life we’d spitballed about during those lengthy drives across the country.
And those dreams, shared with our friends, family, and fans eventually came full circle. Here we are on the verge of actually collecting together the graphic novel (and finally fulfilling our promises to our now-rightfully-mad-as-hell backers), no longer hell-bent on stardom or fame. The journey has been the reward staring us back in the face all along. Money would be great; but a big break comes much like love does. Always be open to it and ready for it… but never demand it or expect it.
So…“When are you going to stop this?”
It’d be so easy to quit. While our nemesis enjoys the ending of his biographical comic by way of a now-viral-sensation and we see plenty of our compatriots releasing more material than we ever could in the same amount of time, I can’t lie – the not-so-secret jealousy of their good fortune (well-deserved as it is) makes it feel like perhaps we missed the boat on that next level we aspire to be at.
Like I said, it’d be easy to turn the lights off and walk away. A single graphic novel that represents the very best of what we built together, ultimately delivered to the fans we made along the way. It sounds great on paper, right?
As it stands, the Unshaven Lads have all taken on extra work to keep our home-lives comfortable. One of us moved a state away (yeah, it’s like two hours away from us, but that can feel like half a country some days). And our kids aren’t getting easier to keep a handle on. To spit in the wind triumphantly and declare “This is just the beginning!” Would feel like the prattling optimistic idiocy we blurted out to Mike Gold the very first time we met him. We’re older now. Wiser. Exhausted.
Forgive me now, as I ascend my last remaining soapbox. And I know I’m being a bit long-winded about all of this. But fuck all, I don’t care.
The Samurnauts to date has seen the toil, sweat, and tears of over a thousand hours to produce from stem to stern. We have sold over ten thousand copies of them from Chicago to New York… and this is before we release the final issue of the first series at the upcoming Dragon Con in Atlanta. Beyond delivering what we promised to our 125 backers, we owe thousands of people the conclusion to this first story. And damn it all, they will get it. And after the dust settles on the graphic novel production to come here in the forthcoming month (collecting 4 comics and bonus materials doesn’t just happen overnight), guess what?
We’re starting three more Samurnauts series. This doesn’t end. This will never end. The drive to create… the bond built over 20 years with my best friends who I would take a bullet for each… the bonds made with all our fellow creators sharing in the same experiences on the road… the smiles on the faces of random kids and adults who hear our pitch and buy our book. That’s a drug I refuse to ween myself off of.
We’re not sure exactly when David Hasselhoff moved into the space celebrity space as William Shatner, but he has now become a meta celebrity as witnessed by his Guardians of the Galaxy music video and now as the subject of the film Killing Hasselhoff, out Tuesday.
Ken Jeong (The Hangover, Ride Along 2) and David Hasselhoff (Baywatch, Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 2) star in the outrageous comedy, Killing Hasselhoff, available on DVD and Digital on August 29 from UPHE Content Group. Or, you can win a copy of the DVD courtesy of our friends at UPHE. All you need to do is give us an inventive way you would kill David Hasselhoff and explain why he must die. We want your entries no later than 11:59 p.m., Friday, September 1. The contest is open to North American readers only and the decision of ComicMix‘s judges will be final.
Co-produced by the team behind 2017’s Baywatch and David Hasselhoff himself, the laugh-out-loud movie is packed with a host of celebrity cameos including comedian Howie Mandel (America’s Got Talent, Deal or No Deal), musician Kid Cudi, and The Hoff’s original Baywatch partner in life-saving crime, Gena Lee Nolin (Baywatch, Sheena). Rounding out the cast is Jon Lovitz (The Ridiculous Six, Grown Ups 2), Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords, The Boat That Rocked) and Jim Jefferies (Tainted Love, Legit).
What started out as a regular week quickly turns into the worst few days of his life when Chris (Jeong), a struggling nightclub owner, fails to pay back a loan shark and decides the only way to get the money is to kill his pick in the annual “Who Will Die This Year” celebrity death pool: David Hasselhoff. Aided by his friends Fish (Darby) and Tommy (Jefferies), Chris desperately tries everything he can to off the master of slow-motion running and claim the jackpot. But the task is not as easy as he thought, especially when your target is The Hoff!
Killing Hasselhoff, available on DVD and Digital, comes filled with exclusive and hilarious deleted scenes taking viewers further into the film’s crazy adventure.
FILMMAKERS:
Cast: Ken Jeong, Jim Jefferies, Rhys Darby, Jon Lovitz, David Hasselhoff Directed By: Darren Grant Written By: Peter Hoare Produced By: Ashok Amritraj, P.G.A., Michael J. Luisi, P.G.A, David Hasselhoff, Michele Berk, P.G.A, Patrick Hughes, Warren Zide Executive Produced By: Eric Gardner, Manu Gargi, Peter Hoare, Ken Jeong, Brett Carducci Associate Producers: Michael Berk, Michael O’Connell, Richard Lowell, Marc Fiorentino Director of Photography: Joseph White Production Designer: Dins Danielsen Edited By: Ryan Folsey Music By: Nathan Whitehead Music Supervised By: Paul Stewart, Doug Bernheim Costumes By: Caroline B. Marx Casting By: Nancy Nayor, C.S.A.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION DVD: Copyright: 2017 Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Selection Number: 61188259/61188263 (CDN) Layers: Dual Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 Rating: R for language and strong sexual references throughout, some nudity, drug use and violence. Subtitles: English SDH, Cantonese, Mandarin, French, Thai Sound: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Run Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER – 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
