Ninja Funk!

Just when you think Richard Harrison in Ninja Terminator couldn't get any more awesome...

Ninja Terminator

Godfrey Ho's Ninja The Protector is quite possibly one of the worst films I've ever seen (or best, depending on how you look at it), and I thought nothing could top it for sheer genius. Until I saw the trailer for Ninja Terminator...

You can find the complete movie at Google Video. Believe me, it's worth watching for this man alone:

Jaguar Wong is just the coolest guy to ever appear on screen, and that's all you need to know.

Ninja The Protector

Recently, I saw a mate head home back to Australia, and, for the last piss-up, we ended up watching what I believe to be the Citizen Kane of ninja movies: Godfrey Ho's Ninja The Protector.

The trailer really cannot do the film justice. Nor can it truly capture how unrelentingly bad it is - it is the very definition of the term "So bad, it's good." - but, my God, it's fun...

So, Luke, mate, that one's for you.

Hey!

Take the dinosaurs from the Jurassic Park movies, replace their roars with someone saying "Hey!", sit back and enjoy...

Wikipedia gets physical...

Rob Matthews produces some interesting imagery, namely Wikipedia printed out and bound in book form...

No idea what it's for, but...wow. That's a big book.

Escape From City 17

I love the Half-Life series. They are, for me, some of the best games ever played. But the Purchase Brothers love the games so much, they produced their very own fan film: Escape From City 17.

As great as that undoubtedly, it's hard to believe that it was filmed guerilla style with no crew, and they made the first two episodes on $500 budget.

Some guys are just made of pure talent...

WESTERN in Review...

Over at the Geek Syndicate, Stacey Whittle and Lee Grice review Accent UK's 2009 anthology WESTERN in their Small Press, Big Mouth podcast!

Remember, WESTERN is available to order from Previews now (order code: JUN090671). It costs £7.99 (or $11.99, depending on where you are in the world), and is 200 pages of Cowboy goodness action provided by a mixture of established and emerging talent. Kieron Gillen (Phonogram), John Reppion & Leah Moore (The Complete Dracula, The Trial of Sherlock Holmes), Dwight MacPherson (The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo) and Steve Bissette (Swamp Thing) line up with some unknowns - like me - and some rising stars of the future to provide you with a great collection of stories that you really could do with on your bookshelf.

So, get yourself down to your local comic shop and get them to order you a copy TODAY!

Don't take my word for how good the book is, though. Here's a couple of reviews:

• Down The Tubes
• The Comics Bulletin

Remember, though, if Cowboys aren't your bag, Accent UK's 2008 anthology, ROBOTS, is also still available (order code: MAR083379). Featuring many of the same contributors as western, Robots is 204 pages of mechanical goodness, priced $15.99 (or £8.50). And it also features a piece called Loose Ends from me and Bryan Coyle. Which I had to plug somewhere...

You can see the Newsarama review of Robots here.

Start spreading the word about these two books. They're well worth it.

Michael Jackson, RIP

The folding plug

I have to say that this is a stroke of true genius...

Accent UK's WESTERN and how all you non-UK people can get it...

OK, so I'm blogging about this a lot, but I do have a vested interest in the book being successful, being in it [and contributing to Accent UK's next two books] and all, so...

WESTERN, Accent UK's 2009 anthology, is available to order from Previews now (order code: JUN090671). If you haven't already ordered a copy, go and do it now and help the indie scene.

Pretty much every comic shop in the Western hemisphere uses Diamond to get their stock of US comics, and Diamond have a stranglehold on distribution of said comics. Recently, however, they've changed their order threshold, increasing the number of copies that a company has to sell to get their books listed in Diamond's monthly catalogue, Previews, and a lot of the smaller, independent publishers - like Accent UK - are finding it difficult to get their work listed in and therefore distributed. It's a pretty crappy state of affairs, to be honest, but it's one that you can do something about if you go to your local comic shop -either here in the UK, or over there in the USA - and get them to order a copy of WESTERN for you.

It's $11.99 (or £7.99 if you're on this side of the pond) for 200 pages of Cowboy action provided by a mixture of established and emerging talent. Kieron Gillen (Phonogram), John Reppion & Leah Moore (The Complete Dracula, The Trial of Sherlock Holmes), Dwight MacPherson (The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo) and Steve Bissette (Swamp Thing) line up with some unknowns - like me - and some rising stars of the future.

And, because, you know, this is my blog, here's a wee preview of the piece I wrote, A Fistful Of Steam Valves, with art by Bryan Coyle:

And here's a look at the original character designs by Billy Armstrong:

Hey, maybe Steampunk isn't your thing, but that's OK, you're bound to find something in the book that you'll like; the contents pretty much cover the whole spectrum of Western stories, from sci-fi to horror to straight up tales of the wild west. You can find a whole bunch of preview pages on Accent UK's website, and you can see the complete story The 7th Will Rise Again by Dwight MacPherson and Kirk Manley over at The Flickcast.

Even if the wild west ain't your thing, you might know someone who likes cowboy comics, and you can tell them to mosey on down to their local comic shop order themselves a copy of the book. More importantly, though, this is a chance to make your voice heard and tell the distributors what you want to read, not what they decide you have to read. And you can also bag yourself some bloody good stories in the process.

The main point of this blog post it to try and raise some awareness of the book, not just for me, but for all of the other contributors and especially Accent UK, who are a great indie publisher that deserves a lot of success. Dave West and Colin Mathieson pour a lot of their time into these books to make them as successful as possible - they really are a labour of love for these guys. From a personal point of view, it's been a pleasure and a privilege to be a contributor, and I hope to continue to be one for a long time to come.

Don't take my word for how good the book is, though. Here's a couple of reviews:

• Down The Tubes
• The Comics Bulletin

Remember, though, if Cowboys aren't your bag, Accent UK's 2008 anthology, ROBOTS, is also still available (order code: MAR083379). Featuring many of the same contributors as western, Robots is 204 pages of mechanical goodness, priced $15.99 (or £8.50). And it also features a piece called Loose Ends from me and Bryan Coyle. Which I had to plug somewhere...

You can see the Newsarama review of Robots here.

So, please, spread the word about these two books. Either pass on the link to this blog post to people or just literally go and tell them to get their copies of WESTERN and/or ROBOTS ordered.

Songs about tea...

Americans rapping about tea? No, OK? Just...no.

Let's see how a rap about tea should be done, eh?

The campaign to make that the national anthem starts here...

The Greatest Moments of Optimus Prime - Part 5

I really am running out of things to put on here, so here's another of Prime's best moments...

During the original Marvel comic series, Optimus Prime seemed to die and come back to life more times than Shane Richie's career. During Bob Budiansky's run, Prime willingly allows himself to be destroyed after losing a battle to Megatron in a computer generated world...

Wow. That's sound logic, Prime. You killed a bunch of characters in a computer game, so you now have to sacrifice yourself. Oh-kay...

Unknown to anyone, though, Prime is kept alive as a computer sprite... No, seriously...

God, even when I was a kid, I knew that was fucking lame...

Of course, he was brought back when Hasbro released a new toy, and we got this rather underwhelming image from Budiansky and artist José Delbo...

So, it fell to Simon Furman to show us how Optimus Prime should be killed and brought back from the dead...

Yeah, that's right: Optimus Prime goes toe-to-fucking-toe with Unicron and wins! His body is completely destroyed, but his spirit lives on, which leads to his triumphant return in the final issue of Transformers...

Fucking awesome.

Previously:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Granny Turismo

The Greatest Moments of Captain America

With Captain America #600 due this week from Marvel, Comics Alliance decided it was time to look back at the greatest moments of Captain America. Unfortunately, they seem to have missed arguably Cap's finest hour from Captain America v3 #12, courtesy of Mark Waid, Andy Kubert and Jesse Delperdang.

After escaping Nigthmare's, er, nightmare dimension, he realises that a nuclear warhead is about to be launched, and has to race against time to disable it...

Click images for bigger versions

The first time I read that sequence, it absolutely blew my mind, and totally changed my perceptions of the character and what you could do with him. In fact, that sequence is still one of my favourite sequences in comics ever.

Nuff said.

WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE!

Yeah, OK, so that's a crap title for a blog entry about the book, but this is just a reminder that Accent UK's 2009 anthology, WESTERN, is available to order via Previews (order code: JUN090671)!

Featuring a plethora of new and established talent, Western is 192 pages of pure Cowboy action, featuring stories from Kieron Gillen, John Reppion & Leah Moore, Andy Bloor, Dwight MacPherson, Kirk Manley and Steve Bissette. And me and Bryan Coyle doing a piece called A Fistful Of Steam Valves, a Steampunk Spaghetti Western. You can see a complete list of contributors, and some preview pages from the book, at the Accent UK website.

The book costs £7.99 ($11.99), but is worth every penny.

With the changes to Diamond's order threshold, it's important that word gets out about the book, and that people don't miss out on what is an utterly fantastic read. So, if you're outside of the UK, get your local comic shop to order you a copy. You can find it listed on Page 180 of June's Previews.

In fact, here's a handy little reminder from Accent UK themselves:

Now there's no excuse for you not to go and buy yourself a copy!

And if you want more incentive, click these here links for a sneak preview of A Fistful Of Steam Valves.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

And here's the first page of the strip:

Actually, that may put you off... Ah, well. As with most anthologies, there's bound to be something in there you like.

And remember, if the Wild West ain't your thing, Accent UK's 2008 anthology, ROBOTS, is also still available (order code: MAR083379). Featuring many of the same contributors as western, Robots is 204 pages of mechanical goodness, priced £8.50 / $15.99. And it also features a piece called Loose Ends from me and Bryan Coyle. Which I had to get in somewhere...

You can see the Newsarama review of Robots here.

Ultimatum - The Edit...

Over at 4th Letter, they've been producing their very own edited version of Marvel's Ultimatum series, and, frankly it's a hell of a lot more entertaining than the dull gore fest that is the original.

Admittedly, the latest issue of the edit wasn't as good as the previous issues (although I'm sure you can put that down to the quality of the source material), but this little bit made me smile:

You have to ask yourself why no one at Marvel ever thought to put in any of their own comics...

Still, you can see the latest instalment of Ultimatum Edit here.

The Greatest Moments of Optimus Prime - Part 4

A very short one this time. I think the image speaks for itself, no?

Optimus Prime AND Snake-Eyes?! Massive geek-out!!

Previously:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Ron Smith NOT guilty...

According to Michael Molcher, Judge Dredd artist Ron Smith has been found NOT guilty of abusing a 13 year old girl. Wonder if The Sun will run a headline as big as their first with that headline? Probably not, considering Molcher actually had to phone the court to get the verdict.

I never was a big fan of his work, to be honest, but his rendition of Otto Sump takes some beating...

Although Smith might not be guilty, it's going to be difficult to wash away allegations like that. For what it's worth, Ron, good luck to you.

UPDATE! Get Surrey has the story of Smith being cleared!

A Cup Of Brown Joy...

Sometimes, your love for something can only be expressed in song, and, thanks to the internets, video, too...

Man, I swear, it's like they've reached into my head and read my every waking thought...

Key To The Kingdom character sketches

Caroline Parkinson has posted some of the character sketches for the upcoming strip Key To The Kingdom, written by little ol' me!

The strip will be appearing in an upcoming issue of horror anthology Something Wicked. Remember to check out more of Caroline's work at her sketchblog.

Fatboy Slim Kitteh sez...

Dredd Artist abuse case...

According to The Sun, Judge Dredd artist Ron Smith is on trial for abusing a 13 year old girl in the 1980's. Whether it's true or not remains to be seen, as the trial is still on-going, but... Well, I don't know what to think of it all. I'm not going to lie and say that I was a fan of Smith's work, because I wasn't; I remember reading it in the MASK tie-in comic when I was a kid and being completely turned off by it - in fact, I remember feeling sick to my stomach looking at it (don't ask me why, but I can't eat a Milky Way without thinking of his art). I was never a fan of his Dredd work, either, but he did provide some solid work for the strip down the years. Now, if I go back and look at reprints after reading that news story... Well, I'm not sure if I'll be able to look at it in the same way again. Still, the case is on-going, and, well, it IS The Sun that's reporting this, so...

You can read the full story here.

"Great Caesar's Ghost!"

Nice to know that DC have always had the capacity to shock...

Only in New York...

Joshua Allen Harris is a New York artist that does some what can only be described as pretty amazing street art...

The Astounding World Of The Future!

Does exactly what it says on the tin.

Was David Carradine killed by Kung Fu assassins?

I went to Yahoo! earlier and saw the headline "Carradine 'killed by assassins'".

Now, that's either the stupidest news story of the day, or - if it's true - it's got to be the coolest.

OK, so it's probably just his family grieving and saying anything to try and get away that he was involved in some kind of sex act that went wrong, but, God! What a headline!

You can read the story for yourself here.

David Bowie kitteh sez...

The Beatles: Rock Band

I'm not a big fan of the Rock Band games, but I absolutely love the intro movie to the new Beatles add-on...

The Greatest Moments of Optimus Prime - Part 3

Yeah, I'm fresh out of content again, so it's time for another look at Prime and what makes him so cool...

When IDW got the rights to produce Transformers comics, I was overjoyed to learn that Simon Furman would be writing the series. After an intriguing start with Infiltration, he kicked everything into a higher gear with the second mini-series, Stormbringer, four issues of giant robot action, without a human in sight.

A secret faction of Decepticons dedicate themselves to resurrecting Thunderwing, a Transformer that tore its way through Cybertron, massacring thousands and forcing both Autobot and Decepticon to put aside their differences and fight together before it decimates the entire planet. When Thunderwing is unleashed again, a plan is hatched to stop him by overloading him - a task which falls to the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime - who does it single handedly!

Unfortunately, what could've been a truly classic moment is let down by some confusing artwork. Still, the intention's there.

The one thing that becomes apparent during all of the best Optimus Prime moments is how completely fucking useless the rest of the Autobots are without him...

On a side note, Stormbringer also made me geek out massively when I saw this panel:

But that, as they say, is another blog post...

Previously:

• Part 1
• Part 2

Literal Pop Video

Take one 80's MTV video, (Bonnie Taylor - Total Eclipse of the Heart) re-sing it describing the cliché scenes and actions and hilarity ensues...

Darth Kitteh

Star Wars Porn...

Not in that way! Get your mind out of the gutter, you dirty bastards and take a look at this...

If the prequels had been anything like that trailer, then I don't think I would have ever left the cinema...

David Carradine RIP

The Origin of Miracle Man

Down the Tubes has an interesting little feature on Miracle Man - not the Alan Moore/Gary Leach version, but the original Mick Anglo version...

Check it out here.

Han Solo, P.I.

This wins the internets...

Western in June's Previews!

Accent UK's 2009 anthology, WESTERN, is now available for order via Previews!

Featuring a plethora of new and established talent, Western is 192 pages of pure Cowboy action! And, yeah, I'm in it, too. Hey, it's my blog, and I have to do some shameless self promotion, you know...

Anyway, the graphic features a plethora of new and established talent, including Kieron Gillen, John Reppion & Leah Moore, Andy Bloor, Dwight MacPherson, Kirk Manley and Steve Bissette. And me and Bryan Coyle doing a piece called A Fistful Of Steam Valves.

You can find a the complete list of contributors at the Accent UK website.

You can find the book on Page 180 of June's Previews, which has these covers:

And here's the page in question, courtesy of Accent UK:

Now there's no excuse for you not to go and buy a copy!

And if you want more incentive, click these here links for a sneak preview of A Fistful Of Steam Valves.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

And remember, Accent UK's 2008 anthology, ROBOTS, is also still available (order code: MAR083379), which features a piece called Loose Ends from me and Bryan Coyle! You can see the Newsarama review of it here.