This is absurd…

If I didn’t already think that Stephen Sommers lacked any taste or talent, this bit from SFGate re-affirmed it.

Quote:
Actress Sienna Miller had to wear fake breasts for her role in forthcoming action movie “G.I. Joe,” because her own cleavage was not big enough for director Stephen Sommers.

Yes.. you read that correctly. “fake breasts” “own cleavage was not big enough”.

Quote:
Miller admits she was left slightly stunned when Sommers told her that her small chest had to be given an extra boost so she would look more curvaceous on screen.

She says, “(I wear a) tight black leather outfit. And much bigger boobs.

"They gave me these things that looked like chicken fillets. The director said, ‘I’m gonna be honest, I like girls with big boobs,’ and I don’t have them so we made them bigger.

"At least he’s honest. But I was mildly offended.”


Miller as The Baroness in G.I. Joe

Chicken fillets? If Sommers likes women with big boobs, why didn’t he hire someone else for the part? Course this is the man who successfully destroyed some 200 years of monster stories in his wretched film Van Helsing. Come to think of it he had a small chested star (Kate Beckinsale) in that one as well. Surprised he didn’t try to pad her out as well.

This is absurd… was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

This is absurd…

If I didn’t already think that Stephen Sommers lacked any taste or talent, this bit from SFGate re-affirmed it.

Quote:
Actress Sienna Miller had to wear fake breasts for her role in forthcoming action movie "G.I. Joe," because her own cleavage was not big enough for director Stephen Sommers.

Yes.. you read that correctly. "fake breasts" "own cleavage was not big enough".

Quote:
Miller admits she was left slightly stunned when Sommers told her that her small chest had to be given an extra boost so she would look more curvaceous on screen.

She says, "(I wear a) tight black leather outfit. And much bigger boobs.

"They gave me these things that looked like chicken fillets. The director said, ‘I’m gonna be honest, I like girls with big boobs,’ and I don’t have them so we made them bigger.

"At least he’s honest. But I was mildly offended."


Miller as The Baroness in G.I. Joe

Chicken fillets? If Sommers likes women with big boobs, why didn’t he hire someone else for the part? Course this is the man who successfully destroyed some 200 years of monster stories in his wretched film Van Helsing. Come to think of it he had a small chested star (Kate Beckinsale) in that one as well. Surprised he didn’t try to pad her out as well.

Kyle Piccolo: Comic Shop Therapist

In the eponymous Web TV series, Kyle Piccolo of New York City’s Midtown Comics doles out pearls of life wisdom to his often socially inept customers and his sidekick Doucheus. Created by Alec Pollak, Neil Turitz, Eric Zuckerman and John Cassaday, Kyle Piccolo: Comic Shop Therapist offers a scarily realistic insight into the world of the comic shop. So far there have been only two episodes but I’ve picked up these two very important pearls of wisdom: Gods sell better at an angle and even though Reed Richards is the smartest man in the world, he too has relationship problems.

With some big time sponsors and witty scripts, I expect this one to be around for a while.

Kyle Piccolo: Comic Shop Therapist was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

Kyle Piccolo: Comic Shop Therapist

In the eponymous Web TV series, Kyle Piccolo of New York City’s Midtown Comics doles out pearls of life wisdom to his often socially inept customers and his sidekick Doucheus. Created by Alec Pollak, Neil Turitz, Eric Zuckerman and John Cassaday, Kyle Piccolo: Comic Shop Therapist offers a scarily realistic insight into the world of the comic shop. So far there have been only two episodes but I’ve picked up these two very important pearls of wisdom: Gods sell better at an angle and even though Reed Richards is the smartest man in the world, he too has relationship problems.

With some big time sponsors and witty scripts, I expect this one to be around for a while.

Apes!

Back in the mid-90s, Phil Hester and I pitched a Gorilla City four issue mini-series. We developed an idea that incorporated elements from the Carmine Infantino Flash and some bizzaro Kirby stuff while introducing new elements of the City’s past and present.

This was actually our second pitch together. The first, a Creature Commandos story looked good to go but then our editor collapsed with a brain tumor (seriously). His successor wasn’t as interested. The third was a millennium-centric Doctor Occult tale co-starring The Demon and Golden Age Green Lantern that failed to materialize.

Things were looking good on the Gorilla City front, the editor loved the proposal. Then someone in marketing decided that modern readers were NOT interested in apes! And it was dead.

Course a few years later, I guess someone there wised-up, because DC produced their JL-Ape series that ran over their 1999 annuals. (Neither of us were involved with the project) This coming October, DC is offering a best of apes reprint collection.

And on top of that, this is coming out from Marvel in September.

Quote:

MARVEL APES #1 & 2 (of 4)
Written by KARL KESEL
Pencils by RAMON BACHS
Cover by JOHN WATSON
Variant Cover For Marvel Apes #1 by RAMON BACHS
Variant Cover For Marvel Apes #2 by PHIL JIMENEZ
Flingin’ feces, True Believer– the entire Marvel Universe has gone APE!
Just when he thinks life can’t get any worse or weirder, Marty Blank – a.k.a. that lovable loser, the Gibbon — finds himself and the brilliant-and-beautiful Dr. Fiona Fitzhugh transported to a world where monkeys rule and humans don’t exist!
SEE the spectacular simian city of Monkhattan!
MEET the hominoid heroes and villains – SPIDER-MONKEY! DOC OOK! IRON MANDRILL! SIMIAN TORCH! THE APE-VENGERS! And more!
THRILL to the return of Speedball!
CONTAINS No-Ads, as we are thrilled to present you backup tales exploring the Apeiverse!
LEARN the dark secret of the primate planet!
WORRY that the fate of the entire universe is in the hands of the Gibbon!
Not a hoax, not a dream, not an imaginary story – just the most not-to-be-missed mini-series of the season! If you only buy one (well, two) comics this month about super-powered, intelligent apes-in-capes, it must be MARVEL APES!

I’ll be curious how this goes. Marvel doesn’t have quite the ape history of DC.

It appears that Phil and I, by looking backward, were actually ahead of the curve!

Though we remain friends, Phil’s never actually illustrated a story of mine. I did have the pleasure of editing several Hester stories while with Mojo Press.

Apes! was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

Apes!

Back in the mid-90s, Phil Hester and I pitched a Gorilla City four issue mini-series. We developed an idea that incorporated elements from the Carmine Infantino Flash and some bizzaro Kirby stuff while introducing new elements of the City’s past and present.

This was actually our second pitch together. The first, a Creature Commandos story looked good to go but then our editor collapsed with a brain tumor (seriously). His successor wasn’t as interested. The third was a millennium-centric Doctor Occult tale co-starring The Demon and Golden Age Green Lantern that failed to materialize.

Things were looking good on the Gorilla City front, the editor loved the proposal. Then someone in marketing decided that modern readers were NOT interested in apes! And it was dead.

Course a few years later, I guess someone there wised-up, because DC produced their JL-Ape series that ran over their 1999 annuals. (Neither of us were involved with the project) This coming October, DC is offering a best of apes reprint collection.

And on top of that, this is coming out from Marvel in September.

Quote:

MARVEL APES #1 & 2 (of 4)
Written by KARL KESEL
Pencils by RAMON BACHS
Cover by JOHN WATSON
Variant Cover For Marvel Apes #1 by RAMON BACHS
Variant Cover For Marvel Apes #2 by PHIL JIMENEZ
Flingin’ feces, True Believer– the entire Marvel Universe has gone APE!
Just when he thinks life can’t get any worse or weirder, Marty Blank – a.k.a. that lovable loser, the Gibbon — finds himself and the brilliant-and-beautiful Dr. Fiona Fitzhugh transported to a world where monkeys rule and humans don’t exist!
SEE the spectacular simian city of Monkhattan!
MEET the hominoid heroes and villains – SPIDER-MONKEY! DOC OOK! IRON MANDRILL! SIMIAN TORCH! THE APE-VENGERS! And more!
THRILL to the return of Speedball!
CONTAINS No-Ads, as we are thrilled to present you backup tales exploring the Apeiverse!
LEARN the dark secret of the primate planet!
WORRY that the fate of the entire universe is in the hands of the Gibbon!
Not a hoax, not a dream, not an imaginary story – just the most not-to-be-missed mini-series of the season! If you only buy one (well, two) comics this month about super-powered, intelligent apes-in-capes, it must be MARVEL APES!

I’ll be curious how this goes. Marvel doesn’t have quite the ape history of DC.

It appears that Phil and I, by looking backward, were actually ahead of the curve!

Though we remain friends, Phil’s never actually illustrated a story of mine. I did have the pleasure of editing several Hester stories while with Mojo Press.

The Suddenness of Things

My Nexus Graphica co-conspirator Mark London Williams penned this moving, heartfelt appreciation of the late comic book shop pioneer Rory Root and his impact on Mark’s life and art.

Quote:
And then came Comic Relief, Rory’s store, opening up near the top of University Avenue. It was crammed with mainstream, underground, foreign and “adult” releases, and was one of the first retailing spaces to get behind those collected, bound “graphic novel” thingies that are so au courant right now.

The irony was, I had already moved down the I-5 here to the Pueblo of Angels (where, NorCal ex-pat that I am, I remain while my sons do their own growing — though I’m not convinced the water will hold out, down here, but again, another column entirely). But I return to the Bay Area’s auld sod often, and I’d pop in to Comic Relief whenever I could.

Rory was kind enough, in the early days of my Danger Boy books, to sponsor a signing for me at the San Diego Comic-Con, since the original Tricycle Press editions of the first two books featured covers by the Promethea art team of J.H. Williams III, Mick Gray, and Jeromy Cox.

I can’t say we were overwhelmed by long lines of fans, in those earliest days of the book’s release, but I always appreciated Rory’s willingness to help another Berkeley brother out, even if he was writing prose with no interior pictures.

Continued…

The Suddenness of Things was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

The Suddenness of Things

My Nexus Graphica co-conspirator Mark London Williams penned this moving, heartfelt appreciation of the late comic book shop pioneer Rory Root and his impact on Mark’s life and art.

Quote:
And then came Comic Relief, Rory’s store, opening up near the top of University Avenue. It was crammed with mainstream, underground, foreign and "adult" releases, and was one of the first retailing spaces to get behind those collected, bound "graphic novel" thingies that are so au courant right now.

The irony was, I had already moved down the I-5 here to the Pueblo of Angels (where, NorCal ex-pat that I am, I remain while my sons do their own growing — though I’m not convinced the water will hold out, down here, but again, another column entirely). But I return to the Bay Area’s auld sod often, and I’d pop in to Comic Relief whenever I could.

Rory was kind enough, in the early days of my Danger Boy books, to sponsor a signing for me at the San Diego Comic-Con, since the original Tricycle Press editions of the first two books featured covers by the Promethea art team of J.H. Williams III, Mick Gray, and Jeromy Cox.

I can’t say we were overwhelmed by long lines of fans, in those earliest days of the book’s release, but I always appreciated Rory’s willingness to help another Berkeley brother out, even if he was writing prose with no interior pictures.

Continued…