I hit the Kamandi mother load!

Funny how things happen.  A few posts ago Cullen commented on a drawing I did, saying it was very 'Ka-zar', I commented on his comment by saying I was impressed he knew who Ka-zar was, and then he commented again that he liked his comics 'old school yo' citing Jack Kirby and 'Kamandi'.  Then Mike K. chimes in that he still has a Kamandi comic book. 

Well all this got me to thinking about my old comic book collection and Kamandi in particular (it was always one of my favorites).  And, since all of my comics got loved to death a long time ago, I wondered if I could find any pics of the old Jack Kirby Kamandi art online. 

Let's just say it this way:  I hit the mother load!

Here's an image of issue one's cover.

If you go here, you will find an archive of every Kamandi issue ever published.  You can download them and view them at will.  You can even print them out if you feel that obsessive about it.  All the Jack Kirby greatness that you could ask for.

I've been sitting here for the past hour or so, just basking in Kirby's style.  You can tell a Kirby drawing at a glance.  The dude packed a powerful visual punch, and could do more in an inch and a half panel than some modern pencillers can do with a two page spread.  Just check out the sample below.  Four panels from issue number one.  Look at how this dude just propels you; it's like you're the one getting knocked around.  Action in every panel!  No talking heads here.

What really awes me though is that all of this was before the slick pages and photo-realism that marks so much of the comic art today.  We've lost something folks.   The old school artists; Kirby, Ditko, and Kubert, produced work that was visceral and powerful, even though the coloring was flat by necessity.  There were no gradients, no color-holds, no translucent sparkles or flames that seemed to burn the page.  The line art itself was what burned.  The color did it's job, supporting the artwork, but it never compensated for poor artwork.  (If Kirby had a favorite pencil it had to be named Mjöllnir!)

Look, I could geek out about this all night, but I guess I'm going to go get some sleep.  If you follow the link, then scroll down the side.  There are issues of Ka-zar if you go down far enough.  Some old school Tarzan too folks.  (Which I happen to be downloading this very moment.)


Awesome.  Just freaking awesome.

Jugheads

Some drawings of Jughead by Caleb.  For seven years old he is pretty good.  Better than I was at that age, actually.  He is also understanding the concept of profile.  The white Jughead and little cowboy are drawn on the same sheet.  The black Jughead was drawn on a separate sheet and then cut out. 

500 Impressions (in 2 Minutes)

This dude is amazing!

Who watches the Watchmen?

Well, me ...finally.

Got it via Netflix this weekend and watched it.  This is one I wish I'd seen in the theater, but for some reason or the other that never seemed to work out.

As I expected, those with whom I watched fell away before the story really got underway.  First my mother-in-law called it a night, and then my wife fell asleep on the couch.  I didn't really mind; it's not exactly the kind of movie I'd expect my mother-in-law to enjoy, and, even though my wife has excellent taste in movies, without any kind of idea of who these characters were or what this was about, she was almost guaranteed to be outlasted (the movie ran about 2.5 hours, I think).

My verdict:  AWESOME!  This is probably the best comic adaptation I have ever seen.  I latched onto the comic when it first came out and was blown away.  The recurring smiley, the story within a story (which they understandably didn't have time for in the movie), great characterization, loads of moral ambiguity, an epic theme.  They took comics to the next level with this 12 issue masterpiece.

My favorite scene in the movie:  Easy; when Rorschach is captured and put in prison with the very criminals he helped put away.  He promptly dispatches his first challenger and yells to the mob in the chow hall,  "None of you understand.  I'm not locked up in here with you!  You're locked up in here with ME!"

And it makes you think.  I'm one of those who think that justice should be swift and sure.  People who do vile things should be punished severely.  Rorschach is that way, and even I was apalled at how violently he meted out justice.  "Men get arrested.  Dogs get put down."

Then you have Ozymandias, cold and calculating, for whom the ends are everything and must be attained by whatever means necessary.  For the greater good of mankind, he sacrifices millions in order to save billions.  These two characters are kind of at opposite ends of the spectrum, and yet both are brutal.  But then even those characters who do see the shades of gray end up siding with Ozymandias because they realize they truly have no choice.  As a result, there are no villains in this story.  Just as there are no heroes.  The heroes are the villains.

You don't exactly walk away with warm fuzzies, but it's a great film anyway.  Watch it if you dare.

First experiment

My first experiment with the birthday gifts:



This is a scanned line drawing, which was then completely colored using the wacom and photoshop.

I like pictures of dudes attacking dinosaurs, so sue me.

Please pray

Please pray for my wife. She is sicker than I've ever seen her. We believe it is a virus. She hasn't been able to eat in two days and is in a lot of pain. We have been to the hospital once this weekend, and have made a doctor's appt for this morning.

Thanks.

*UPDATE*

I think she's turned the corner. It's been a rough three days around here, but she's feeling a lot better right now.

Nine years today!

Although it's a little worn, this is one of my favorite pictures of us. Doesn't she just shine? Anyway, it's been nine glorious years today since we got married. I sure do love you darling.

Bluegrass

Cause life is more than just heavy metal. It's bluegrass too.

Here's a group of master musicians: Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Mark O'Conner, Mark Schatz, and Bela Fleck all on the same stage.

What I got for my 41st birthday.

Old as dirt is what I got.

No, seriously I got some really cool gifts. Exactly what I wanted. A bamboo tablet by Wacom:
And a book on coloring comics using photoshop:





(Also of note is that the author of the above book is all about customer service. I was having trouble using some of the scripts included on the CD that came with the book, so I sent him an email before I left for work this morning. By the time I got home, he had replied, explaining how to work around my problem.)

Now if I can just find time to play with my new toys.

Look what I found at the library!

A book by Georgia's Poet Laureate, David Bottoms. This is the dude who brought us the great poems, In a U-Haul North of Damascus, Shooting Rats at the Bibb County Dump, and (my favorite) Under the Vulture-Tree.

This is what poetry should be; accessible, relevant, and set in the South.

Rockin'.

Harry Potter

My mother-in-law came and kept the boys while we went to see the new Harry Potter film last night. While I enjoyed the movie, there was a definite lack of depth to it. I've only read the first book of the series, so I won't make any unrealistic comparisons between Half Blood Prince the movie and book, but I will say this: even to one who has not read the book, this movie felt like a stone being skipped across the surface of something vast. At about two and a half hours, it still felt rushed. Oh well.

Little thrills

We were trying to squeeze in a little fun before the school year starts up, so on Saturday we packed up and drove to Tybee island. We'd never been there so we didn't know what to expect. It was nowhere near as nice as Daytona in terms of the sand and water clarity, but the upside was that there were many more shells to be found--especially on the north end of the beach.

One thing I'd never found, though, was a shark's tooth. I was building sand castles with the boys, and I remember sort of thinking/praying at some point: Lord, it would be really cool if I could find a shark tooth today.

I'm not sure if I dug it up, or if the wave brought it in, but I was digging a hole--was about four or five inches deep--when a wave washed up far enough to sweep into my hole. As the water was receding, I felt what I thought was a shell fall into my hand. When I took my hand out of the water, what I found instead was this:



It's a fossilized Tiger Shark tooth. Now is that cool or what? God hears little prayers, and wants to give us little thrills. Cause He loves us a whole, whole bunch.

Peace.

This and that

It's been over ten days since my last post. We are busy with summer, what can I say? There was a birthday that didn't get posted, so happy birthday Caleb. He is seven now.


Here he is with the Scooby Doo giant cookie we made him. It was Scooby Doo Luau, hence the decor and Tiki cake to the side. Hey, when you let a seven-year-old choose the theme of his birthday party, you can expect this kind of craziness.

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We also attended a seminar in Colombia, SC, featuring Dr. Tony Attwood. He is an expert in the diagnosis and treatment of Autism/Asperger's. The dude knew his stuff, which became apparent to me when he began describing my childhood step by step, with uncanny accuracy. We came away with some good info that will help us to help our son.


Here's a picture of Dr. Attwood. The photo does not lie; the dude is a real character. Click on the pic to get to his site.

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I've also allowed myself to do some reading. I just finished 'In a pit with a lion on a snowy day' by Mark Batterson. Good stuff. But these inspirational/motivational books always leave me with mixed feelings. Motivated, of course, but also with a sense of ...yeah but... By which I mean I think it's great to believe God for big things, to be courageous and all that, but this is still a fallen world and sometimes the lion just eats your butt for lunch.

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I'm also reading a bit of fiction. 'Elantris' by Brandon Sanderson. A fantasy novel which happens to be the dude's first novel. By that I mean first published novel. It is actually the sixth book he wrote, before getting a book deal. Par for the course for most writers. Which means I need to crank out some more books.


That's all for now. Peace.

4th of july

This is for all the rednecks out there tonight. You know who you are.

Peace.

............

Update: So it seems the embedding has been disabled for this video. Click here if you want some joy: 4th of July

Someone please help me find my niche!

My dilemma: I've written this really cool short story and can't find a market to submit it to.

It involves an aging herpetologist with regrets about her unfulfilled dreams who meets an Aztec vampire that has grown weary of immortality. There's a strong Christian element (it's basically a conversion story) which makes it too 'religious' for the pro fantasy markets. And if there were a paying market for short Christian fiction, I'm wondering if the vampire element might be a big turnoff. I'm going to check Ralan.com to see what I can find, but thought I'd ask my legions of loyal readers if they had any suggestions first.

So do ya?