Undead Backbrain

Review: I Am Omega

Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 by Robert Hood

I Am Omega (US-2007; dir. Griff Furst)

“The Last Man Alive Must Battle a Planet of the Dead”

With its main protagonist the (apparently) lone survivor of a global plague that has turned the rest of humanity into murderous corpses, the Asylum’s low-budget I Am Omega was clearly motivated by the high-profile arrival of the big-budget Will Smith vehicle I Am Legend (US-2007; dir. Francis Lawrence). The title makes reference to both the story’s literary origins, Richard Matheson’s classic SF/horror thriller, I Am Legend (1954) — and, of course, the aforementioned film based on it — and the previous official film adaptation of the novel, The Omega Man (US-1971; dir. Boris Sagal), starring Charlton Heston. In turn the tagline drags in reference to the first film version of the story — The Last Man on Earth (US/Italy-1964; dir. Ubaldo Ragona), with Vincent Price in the lead. Thus all bases are covered.

So while I Am Omega may be a fourth, albeit minor, pseudo-adaptation of Matheson’s I Am Legend, it certainly makes no attempt to hide the lineage. In the end, however, the similarities are cosmetic. If Will Smith’s I Am Legend (along with all the previous versions) can be castigated for failing to faithfully dramatise the central theme (and in particular the resolution) of Matheson’s novel, this Asylum “version” does little more than give a nod here and there to the conceptual starting point of the original story. It features Mark Dacascos as an isolated individual who has survived the holocaust and now dedicates himself to hunting down the zombies that are all that is left of humanity — until a few other people turn up, that is. And that’s where the similarity ends. Yes, there are assorted “homage” moments, but apart from these it’s simply a low-budget post-apocalyptic tale of a man fighting zombies and as such can hardly be considered guilty of plagiarism — any more than Romero’s Night of the Living Dead can be considered to have plagiarised The Last Man on Earth, despite imagery inspired by it.

Given that I Am Omega is a low-rent shadow of Will Smith’s I Am Legend release, it is inevitable that the two would be compared. Frankly, for what it is, I Am Omega manages to be an entertaining, if narrowly focused scifi/horror action drama, its limited perspectives far less annoying than I Am Legend‘s big-budget pretensions. Sure, I Am Omega shows little aspiration beyond its B-film aesthetics. But it offers decent low-budget action sequences, an enjoyable soundtrack and even some extravagant zombiesque gore. Its effective undead make-up FX — which, on at least one occasion, reminded me of Lucio Fulci’s Zombi — results in the creation of more satisfying monsters than those laughable CGI “mutants” in the Smith version, despite the fact that their numbers never really add up to the horde depicted on the DVD cover.

At the low end of the production scale, you work with what you’ve got. Though it must inevitably lack the apocalyptic scope of a big-budget film such as I Am Legend, I Am Omega does use a few derelict inner-city backstreets, sewer tunnels and broken fences to suggest the sort of urban wasteland that the box-office giant could show us directly, thanks to a load of expensive CGI, bigger cameras and more upmarket locations. Meanwhile, Alexander Yellen’s cinematography, including washed-out colour and careful tinting effects, manages to give the film’s imagery a claustrophobic post-disaster atmosphere. The editing is excellent, too. And director Furst keeps things moving with admirable vim, after a slow-burn, but not uninteresting, beginning — though the enthusiastic use of flashbacks here seems to irritate some viewers. But, yes, the film even takes a stab (with variable success) at emotional depth.

In fact, Dacascos (at right) does a good action-hero job of depicting an isolated and tormented individual veering close to insanity as he hunts the ravenous dead, only to find himself in conflict with other, still-human survivors. The actor’s martial-arts background (he has starred in a long run of genre films and TV shows, including The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, Crying Freeman, Kickboxer 5 and an episode of CSI) is used unobtrusively, except for one gratuitous scene when he goes through his training moves to show us what he can do — though to be fair the scene arguably works as presenting Renchard’s desperate attempt to gain focus and purge himself of escalating emotional instability through physical self-control.

Naturally, the title ends up being more-or-less irrelevant. Renchard is neither the last man alive nor some sort of legendary messiah figure — either literally (as in the previous films) or ironically (as in the novel). It is merely a marketing reference point.

But if you watch the film for what it is — an exploitative production from a company that specialises in low-budget direct-to-DVD genre movies that reference current trends and contemporary box-office giants — and if you can put aside any expectation that the film could ever hope to be as visually spectacular as the big guns of SFX cinema, I Am Omega is an oft-exciting and generally entertaining action-horror flick. It may be doomed to be seen as a mere footnote in the cinematic history of Matheson’s story, but it is nowhere near as disposable as it might have been.

I Am Omega has been released in Australia by Peacock Films and should be available in your local DVD rental store.

Posted in Film, Review, Zombies | 1 Comment

Tragic Dino Love Story

Posted on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 by Robert Hood

The Wrong Door is a British comedy sketch show “set in a surreal parallel universe where film and TV special effects are part of everyday life. In this world, superheroes, wizards and dinosaurs are commonplace in the daily merry-go-round of car chases, explosions and disasters” (IMDb).

Here is a sample sketch — a miscegenatory tale at the “break-up” end of the relationship:

Source: io9 via Avery

Posted in Dinosaurs, Humour, TV | Leave a comment

Creating Robot 13: Thomas Hall and Daniel Bradford (2)

Posted on Monday, June 15, 2009 by Robert Hood

Part Two of an Interview with Thomas Hall and Daniel Bradford

Continued from Part One here.

UB: Daniel, in terms of your artistic style (at least in Robot 13 and KING!), what influences are you willing to admit to? I can see elements of Jack Kirby and Mike Mignola. Would that be a fair evaluation?

DB: Totally. Mignola’s Gotham By Gaslight got me back to reading comics after a very long departure. I studied graphic design at the University of Arizona and during that time my artistic desire involved package design and page layout. I was all about Bau Da Design and David Carson (see an illustration from a Carson-designed architecture book in Gallery below). After I graduated I found myself wandering into a comic shop, found Gotham By Gaslight and went right back out to find more books by Mignola. I remember talking to the shop owner and asked him if he could point me to all the Mignola books and he showed me Hellboy. As much as I love his current work, however, I’ve gotta say that a special place in my heart is reserved for his earlier, more Kirby-reflective work.

Mignola aside, Stephen Gammell has been an even larger influence since I was six years old when I picked up my first copy of “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” at the school book fair. You wanna talk about horror art, holy crap the man makes some frightening images! You can almost smell the rot wafting from his pages. And from a children’s book no less. One of my favourite images has always been “The Big Toe” (see below) that depicted a small farm boy squatting down in front of the most disgusting toe sticking out of the ground. Blech! Awesome. If I am ever able to own some of his originals from that series, I will die happy. And buried with it. I can’t think of a better fate for Gammell’s work, buried and clutched in the arms of worm-eaten corpse.

Stephen Gammell’s “The Big Toe”

Another Gammell image

UB: And Thomas, do you have anyone you would cite as an inspiration, from whom you’ve learned the art of comic storytelling? Who inspires/has inspired you as a writer?

TH: I have always been drawn to emotional storytelling, and with writers who know how to bend words to do their will. I love the way Edgar Allen Poe paints a picture with words, and the way he phrases his dialogue. I think Flannery O’Connor’s work is equally amazing and dark and hopeful in a strange sense. How there is almost an optimism in facing the most horrific things, that surviving something can be a victory even in defeat.

I read a lot of poetry — e.e.cummings, Dylan Thomas, Gerard Manley Hopkins — people who use images like some kind of lyrical crystal meth. You just get lost in the visuals and in the musical quality of the sound of words. When I write for Daniel, I think of the images he will eventually draw, and I try to find opportunities to give Daniel to do something equivalent with his Art. I like the idea of something which has symbolic significance happening “literally” in a comic and not explaining it. I never use narration if I can help it, too. I think that is such a crutch — it’s almost better to have someone puzzle a bit over an image than to give them too much. It kills the lyrical aspect of the flow of images…

As for Comic book writers — I do have a few that I love. Grant Morrison has been huge for me. I read an interview with him once and he said he thought his first priority as a writer was to give the artist something cool to draw. I know that sounds simplistic, but what he meant was it’s a visual medium, so if the artist can read the script and be really excited to get to draw it, that energy will explode on the page. I totally believe in that. I also love Neil Gaiman, but then again, who doesn’t right? That’s almost like saying, “I like ice cream.” You and a million other people. But Neil does develop his characters like nobody else. He really deserves the praise he has gotten for his work.

Aside from those two, I love Atomic Robo with a passion. Brian Clevinger won’t get his due with a lot of people, but he has written some fine comics — they are funny and they have alot of heart and a real point of view. And he is never in a hurry. You never see Brian use one panel when a slower sequence of four or six or ten panels will let the action unfold in a better way. It takes a trust between writer and artist to do just that, but they nail it. I never miss an issue.

Steve Purcell is another favourite (see images below), as is Larry Marder (see images in Gallery below). Both of them are more known as artists, but they write their own stuff and they have a very fine sense of phrasing dialogue and with coming up with inventive situations. Now that I have done a fair bit of writing and re-writing comic scripts, I see first hand how difficult it can be, so I appreciate the little things more. It’s not just filling in word balloons — everything that happens has a scripted component, and you have to think what will be visually dynamic and what will work with the artist who has to follow your script. Knowing Daniel so well helps, but it’s still a difficult process.

Steve Purcell’s “Wave”

UB: You may not want to answer this question, or at least not in detail, but what mythological monsters can R13 look forward to tussling with in future issues — and where is Robot 13’s search for his past likely to take him?

TH: For this first story arc, I give you a preview, sure. The next issue will feature Robot 13 in a crazy aerial battle with a Phoenix … not that Robot 13 will be flying, but the Phoenix will try carrying him off and our Hero doesn’t like that one bit. It’s going to be a real crazy one. The third issue will feature a Cyclops, and will bring into play one of the series’ recurring characters other than our Robot. After that — I have some very strong ideas. I have one story with Robot 13 that I absolutely want to tell and some very specific creatures for that, but that won’t be the very next story. As I mentioned before, I think giving Daniel something he is excited to draw is my first priority, so part of the process in choosing those elements will be seeing what he is feeling. In Greek mythology, the creatures all symbolize something. They aren’t just fanciful inventions — each one represents something that the Greeks believed about the world, and the tales surrounding those creatures were conveying very specific lessons tied to their appearance and actions. I want to be sensitive to using that to our advantage, so depending on which creature Daniel really wants to draw, the plot of the story will follow a different path an order. But I think it’s safe to say that nobody is going to walk away disappointed. We have many stories to tell, and a great many Monsters to choose from. Each Monster will get their fifteen minutes of fame, I can assure you.

UB: It sounds like really exciting stuff. Giant metaphor-driven monsters and self-reflective robots! Right down my alley. Final question: how will readers be able to get hold of Robot 13?

TH: Right now, the best way is for people to go to us directly. We are in the process of talking to different channels of distribution, but from the feedback we have been getting, people can’t wait. If you want to buy a copy directly, starting Monday, June 8th our website store will be open. Go to http://www.blackliststudios.com and you’ll find our store. Those of you outside the US, please email us before you order at blackmail@blackliststudios.com because we can’t account for every shipping variation in our automated web store. We’ll work something out with you & make sure you get a copy.

As for store owners: again, your best bet is to contact us at blackmail@blackliststudios.com and ask about our dealer discounts. We have already be approached by a few stores, so we’ll be getting our books to them starting the week of June 8th as well. And if you want the book from your local shop, bug them. Tell them about the book, and have them contact us. That will mean more to your shop owner than anything, because they know if you are hot enough on a book to get them to go out and find it, there must be something to it.

Beyond that, if you check in with our Blacklist website, you’ll see any news. We will announce further distribution options and all as they unfold…

UB: Thanks for giving so generously of your time guys. I have no doubt we’ll be seeing a lot more of you!

TH: Thank you Robert! That was a lot of fun.

DB: Yeah, thanks, Robert. Really enjoyed this.

Gallery:

Posted in Comics, Giant Monsters, Graphic novels, Interviews, Robots | 2 Comments

Creating Robot 13: Thomas Hall and Daniel Bradford (1)

Posted on Sunday, June 14, 2009 by Robert Hood

Part One of an Interview with Thomas Hall and Daniel Bradford

Thomas Hall and Daniel Bradford are co-creators of a new comic series, Robot-13, about a robot with an identity problem and a penchant for tussling with giant mythological creatures. The first issue has just appeared and it looks beautiful. The Backbrain’s review/discussion of it can be read here.

Hall and Bradford have kindly agreed to talk to the Backbrain about their projects.

Undead Backbrain: First off, Thomas, I notice that the cover of the comic sports the title “R13” rather than “Robot 13”. So what should we call it?

Thomas Hall: It’s Robot 13. Daniel went through a few iterations of design for a logo, and the R13 with the skull was the most striking. It grabs you, I think, more than writing out “Robot 13” would. From a marketing standpoint, that is a little bit of a risk, I guess. That’s one of the beautiful things about doing everything yourself — if we like it, we can give it a try. We don’t have “Dave in Marketing” calling us up and telling us to spell the name out on the cover.

Daniel Bradford: I also wanted a title that can be used as a simple logo. I knew I didn’t “Robot 13” spelled out on t-shirts, stickers, and what have you. I wanted a title that can be easily recognized. Originally I designed a mark for the book a couple of years ago that Tom and I both loved. It was a simple round gear with the skull placed inside it. The skull had the 13 in the middle of it’s forehead and the word “Robot” was spelled out between the teeth of the gear. It was great. It was a logo that had the title spelled out within it in a very attractive way and we could easily drop the word “Robot” and just stick with the logo when we felt the book had gained strong enough of a following. Then my wife spotted an advert for “Gears of War”. [lol]

Not only was theirs so incredibly similar to ours but it was better! It was all dripping and stuff. We had to drop our logo and come up with something else. Fortunately I had already designed the current title and was using it as a secondary logo for pins, so I gave it a promotion.

UB: Sounds like a reasonable approach to me. I can’t imagine it being a problem. After all, no one had any problem with “AvP” or “T3”. The design-friendly brevity of it gives a sort of cult flavour to the series. Do you think Robot 13 has cult potential? Are there particular elements you see as giving it an unique appeal to its target audience?

TH: I think Robot 13 has a mix of elements in it that draw people in who want something different, sure. I think that’s what you mean — “cult” in the sense of something that people have a strong attachment to. The design of the robot, for one, is something that has been getting attention. People look at the retro look of it, like something from the 1800s, and they see the book fitting into the whole Steampunk movement of comics. And in a sense, they are right. In the speculative fiction sense, where there is a high level of technology in a somewhat archaic wrapper, Robot 13 has that element. But it’s not ordinary for that Genre, because of some of the other elements that we have brought to the table.

The Greek monsters, for example, are not something you would usually see in a steampunk book, but it’s another thing that appeals to that same sense of wonder. And there is something timeless about those creatures. Personally, I love giant monsters in film, and there is something about the mythological creatures that have even more appeal to me. Maybe it’s because we know that people really believed in them. Sailors really did think Poseidon might send a storm or that a Kraken might pull their ship into the deep. Everywhere there was supposed to be something that could eat you or crush you or lead you to your doom … It’s something that I know many people share — a love for those stories and especially the creatures in them.

Also, I think as the story unfolds, there will be elements which give Robot 13 some depth. I hope people have sympathy for the robot, and want to follow his story because of how his past is revealed and the self-reflective “person” I am trying to write him as. But if they just love the robots and giant monster fights, that will be cool as well.

Early concept sketch of Robot 13

DB: Y’know, it wasn’t until well after I began work on the book, after I designed the cover even, that I learned what this thing called “steampunk” was. So I honestly wasn’t targeting any steampunk fans to begin with. I don’t really know of any comics that deal with the old Greek myths today, so I wasn’t really looking to attract those current readers either. Everything right now seems to be about zombies. Don’t get me wrong, I love zombies, our next title, KING!, deals with a lot of zombies. But there is an amazing number of books out there where zombies seem to be the running theme yet I can’t recall the last book I saw where a robot had to take down an actual Phoenix, or wrestle a Kraken, or make-out with a Siren. The robot hero versus the Greek monster is what I wanted to draw and I’m just hoping that we’re able to snag a few readers along for the ride.

UB: You’re right about the uniqueness of human-sized robot vs giant mythological monster, Daniel. We’ve had giant robots fighting giant monsters in many Japanese films, but in Robot 13 we’re definitely looking at something different. So, tell me, how did you two guys get together? What previous work (if any) have you done as a team, and by the same token, what have each of you done apart from the other?

DB: About 5 or 6 years ago Tom saw a small online comic I did and sent me an email about it. He expressed an interest in working with me and I tossed him some ideas that were floating around in my head at the time. One of them fleshed pretty well with an idea that he had going for a bit so we settled on that one, a horror graphic novel called Enlightenment. [See page samples in image Gallery at the end of this article.] Currently that book is sitting on four completed chapters and will be finished at some point. We also self-published a book called KING! back in 2006 at only 250 copies. Once we sold out we decided to go forward with an actual series which will be launched either in August or September. We have discussed plans for a couple of other graphic novels we hope to start in 2010. I’ve also done colors and letters for a book called Mecha Manga Bible Heroes, which Tom co-wrote and published by JMG Studios.

Aside from working with Tom I have worked on two online comics called “Gustav Hayes” and “Bat and Wolf” for Zeroes 2 Heroes, a publisher based in Canada. Those two books and many others are totally free to read on their website. I also worked on two issues in a series called Smoke and Mirror (my first professional gig) written by Chuck Satterlee and published by Markosia.

Cover image for "Enlightenment"

TH: Like Daniel said — we met through a comic he had done online. I saw it and just went crazy about his work, so I wanted to work with him. It turned out that he was free to do a project, and I think he even approached a couple of people to write for him but nothing panned out. So I was fortunate being in the right place at the right time. Daniel sent me an email with a list of ideas he had in various stages of being thought out. I had my own list, and one of his items meshed with mine to the point where I saw we could have a real 50/50 mix of everything and come up with something cool. That was a story called Enlightenment: The Devil You Know, and it was about a young female homicide detective who can see the spiritual world, and who is searching for a serial killer that is possessed by a legion of demons. Kind of Seven meets The Exorcist, I guess. That’s a book that we had to shelve for the time being, but I really want to see it out there some day.

When Enlightenment got put on hold, we had a comic convention that we were already booked for and we needed something to promote, so we came up with KING!, which is the story of a former Mexican wrestler who lives 24/7 as his old in-the-ring persona. He’s basically a buff looking version of 1977-era Elvis in terms of his look, and he makes his money killing monsters for people. We did a one shot, where he’s contacted by an extra-dimensional creature who is basically a sentient human heart with mechanical appendages who asks him to rescue the Spear of Destiny from Mayan zombies and their god of death at the local Blubber Tubber Burger. It was basically us being surreal and trying to have some fun and really use the comics medium to do something that was completely over the edge. Somewhat of a darker humor, but still something to have fun with. After spending years doing Enlightenment and having little to show for it, we wanted something that was 180 degrees from that. People at the show just loved it. As Daniel said, we are bringing KING! back for a mini series pretty soon.

As for things I have done away from Daniel — I have always been into comics because I had made good friends doing it. I started out doing mini-comics with my brother, and then a friend from college asked me to get involved with his anthology comic called Cross Press. I did something that was to be in issue 2, which never came out, but it got me thinking about doing comics a little more seriously. Some of the same group of guys started another book, this time as a very low-budget, low-tech photocopied zine called Megazeen. I got involved with that — I did an ongoing thing called The Life of Fred, which I wrote and did the art for. I also did some online comics for them, and I was behind the scenes alot. Being on the production and promotional side of something like Megazeen was big for me; I got to do everything from physically copying and assembling books to sending out promo copies to contacting websites about the book. Not that I did it all myself, but working with other people made it all fun. I met a ton of people that I am still friends with to this day, and I learned a lot of the stuff that has helped Daniel and I self-publish Robot 13. I also wrote a ton of scripts for people over the years — all kinds of things. The last thing I wrote for an artist other than Daniel was Mecha Manga Bible Heroes, which was a futuristic re-telling of the life of David. That was fun — we had a 100-foot-tall Mecha Goliath versus David with a rock. But I have tried to do as many different things in terms of writing comics as I can. Hopefully it has made me better as a writer. Time will tell, I guess.

UB: So why (and when) did you guys decide to set up your own company, Blacklist Studios? What are the positives and negatives of that decision, do you think? In small-press book publishing I know one of the biggest issues is distribution. Does that apply in the comic industry as well?

TH: Insanity? That could be it … Aside from that, we figured we had to take some action to get things going for us. We knew that we were doing good work — over the years, we have made a nice bunch of friends who are in the Comics industry, and we have put some things out to gauge fan reaction, and on all fronts, the feedback was positive. We have had interest from publishers, but most of that was people trying to take our rights for movies and such. One offered us a contract where we basically gave them not only the rights for film, but they could even fire us from our own projects. And this was an established company, and they had people who took that very same deal … Another basically told us they didn’t care how the book did as long as the rights could be bought by someone in Hollywood. It’s just mind blowing to us that anyone would think that way, and we didn’t want to fail at this … And to be fair, some publishers passed on us too, which is fine. But we were finding that without a following, we couldn’t get a deal, and without a deal, we couldn’t get a following. We actually signed a contract with Markosia, a UK publisher, for Enlightenment, but that book hasn’t seen the light of day. That’s not all their fault either — it’s a complicated thing. But we could write a book telling about everything we went through.

But all in all, we decided that we had to do something, so we took it upon ourselves to self-publish and to keep our costs low and not overprint and those sorts of things that a good business plan will say you should do. My feeling is, if the work is good enough, then you can find your audience. We are putting all our eggs in that basket — doing the best work we are capable of and trying to improve with every outing.

As for distribution — it is difficult, but there are ways to get books out there to people. Being small, we don’t have the resources that a large company does, but we also aren’t printing 100,000 books either.

Tom and Dan hawking KING! at a comic convention

DB: There is no way in hell that we would have been able to do this alone, either. We have a Godsend that has been a great help in getting the books in the right hands. He’s actually recently become our third partner in this venture and a critical one at that. He’s practically guided our careers single-handedly and has saved our butts when it came to reading all the legal mumbo jumbo known as a contract. He’s awesome. We’re gonna make t-shirts with his face on them.

UB: Can you name this Godsend? I personally think it’s very important to have an expert critical eye (one that doesn’t belong to the creator) to act as an objective assessor in self-publishing projects — or mainstream professional ones, for that matter. I’ve always greatly valued my editors — or at least the good ones — in terms of my own writing.

DB: Paul Castiglia. The man has been in the comic business for 20 years working behind the scenes as an editor, writer, and in marketing. He’s the kind of guy that always surprises us with the amount of tricks he’s got hidden up his sleeve. Paul has been a believer in our current and future projects and has literally worked for us pro bono. He’s officially become a member of team Blacklist but for the past four years or so the guy has been helping us out on his free time.

TH: Paul has been a great friend, and he’s very generous. Actors use that term — a “generous” actor — meaning that it’s someone who gives you whatever you need within the moment to do your best work. Paul is like that. If I need advice or if I have some kind of story problem or when there is some experience doing comics that I lack, I know I can come to him. Paul has an amazing editorial mind, and I always learn when we talk and finds a way to show me the options. I never feel he is trying to make something into the way it would be if he wrote it himself. He’s bringing out the elements that work. Some people edit like they wish they could write everything themselves. Paul does it out of the right motives, and Daniel and I are very loyal to that. I guess Blacklist has kind of become a gang in a sense. We have each other’s back, and once you are in, you are in.

UB: It seems to me that there is a growing movement among artists and creators of taking personal control of their work right through from conception to product. In fiction, music, art … the independents are doing some of the best work. Even in Hollywood and on TV much of the most interesting, most successful and innovative filmmaking is creator-driven, bypassing the corporate gatekeepers who have had a tendency to drain movies of any genuine artistic interest by basing their artistic decisions on “safe” market assumptions. At the very least, leaving the artistic input to the artists seems like a good idea. The rise of the internet — the internationalisation and relatively cheap “publishing” methods that it allows — has opened a range of new markets and new economic models for artists of all kinds. Do you see Blacklist as part of their tendency?

TH: I think it’s safe to say we are. I love collaboration, but at a certain point someone has to have vision. Someone has to put their foot down and say “this is how it should be.” Daniel and I have sort of a mantra — I can write whatever I want and he can draw whatever he wants. That’s not to say that we don’t add to each other or interject or make suggestions, but at the end of the day, I trust Daniel 100% to do what is right by the Art and he trusts me the same with the Writing. I know that if it’s crap, Daniel isn’t going to let it see the light of day, and I wouldn’t do that to him either. It’s freeing in a sense to have that level of respect, but there is also pressure to perform at a high level. I don’t want to let Daniel down- if he gives me some killer pages, I want to kill right back and give him something that takes it to another level yet. I think that is the reason that this type of independent movement works. A committee can’t do that. A bunch of suits in a room with clipboards can’t do that. Creativity needs to come from a definite point of view to be any good.

DB: Man, I hope so. You’re right when you mention this movement. And it should be creator-driven in much of the project, but often times it really does take a village. There are creators like Sam Hiti, Doug TenNapel, Mike Mignola, Ben Templesmith, creators that are able to take charge of their creation from start to finish in the comic industry. It’s very difficult for me to do that. I come up with an idea, I approach Tom, and we go forward if it works. If not, we let it die on the side of the road. There are other projects I would love to do but I know I would need a village. And funds. Hopefully Blacklist will grow to become that village.

Del Toro made the right decision to keep Mignola involved when doing a Hellboy movie. I can’t imagine a Wormwood film without Templesmith’s heavy involvement. The creator’s involvement should never stop at the back cover. It should be carried over to the moving picture box, the stage (though I don’t know if Stan Lee is involved in the Spiderman musical or not), and anywhere else off the comic rack the creator is willing to take. Sometimes that’s not always the case. Fortunately, though, it seems to be a growing reality.

Next up: Dan’s artistic influences, Tom and the art of storytelling in comics, the monsters of Robot 13 — all in Part Two of “Creating Robot 13”

Gallery

: Early concept sketch of Robot 13

: Cover image for “Enlightenment”

Posted in Comics, Giant Monsters, Graphic novels, Interviews, Robots | 10 Comments

Memo of the Dead

Posted on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 by Robert Hood

Just for the hell of it, Jonathan Coulton’s great zombie office-worker song, “Re: Your Brains”, with narrative visuals by NahtonStudios.

Thanks for introducing me to the song, Chuck.

Posted in Music, Zombies | Leave a comment

The Backbrain wins a Ditmar Award

Posted on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 by Robert Hood

For those that don’t know, the Ditmar Awards are the Australian equivalent of the US Hugo Awards — awards voted for by members of the previous and current (Australian) National SF Convention from a shortlist of nominations received via the whole speculative fiction community/audience. Ditmars are awarded to works and projects considered by voters to be the best in various fields of speculative fiction, some “professional” (paid) and some “fan” (unpaid). This year I did rather well in the preliminary vote, getting a tick in five categories and in one by association. This is particularly gratifying as (in the words of losers everywhere) it is nearly as great an honour to be shortlisted as it is to win … perhaps more so:

Best Novella or Novelette: “Creeping in Reptile Flesh”, Robert Hood (Creeping in Reptile Flesh, Altair Australia Books)
Best Short Story: “Moments of Dying”, Robert Hood (Black: Australian Dark Culture Magazine #1)
Best Collected Work: Creeping In Reptile Flesh, Robert Hood (Altair Australia Books)
Best Art Work: Creeping In Reptile Flesh cover, Cat Sparks
Best Fan Writer: Robert Hood for Undead Backbrain
William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review: “George A. Romero: Master of the Living Dead” by Robert Hood (in Black: Australian Dark Culture Magazine #2)

The winners were announced in Adelaide over the long weekend, and in the event I took the Award for Best Fan Writer: Robert Hood for Undead Backbrain. I feel extremely honoured that the community values this blog enough to grant me the award and would like to thank everyone who voted (and those who meant to and forgot).

A special thanks goes to my comrade-in-crime Avery Battles (aka Kaiju Search-Robot Avery). I may do all the writing (or most of it), but I could not make the blog and its subsite Undead Brainspasm anywhere near as informed without his uncanny ability to ferret out obscure snippets of information, to acquire early scoops and to establish informative contacts. Seriously, Avery inundates me with information — more than I can possibly process, particularly when life gets a little thwart and deadlines loom. So, Avery, though my name might be on the Award for doing the actual writing, some part of it belongs to you. Thanks once again!

Congratulations, too, to all the other nominees and winners. It was a strong year and, unusually, I thoroughly agree that the final result is a worthy one.

Further Information:

Posted in My Writing, News | 7 Comments

Weekend (Not-So-Frightful) Flick: The Alien Invasion

Posted on Sunday, June 7, 2009 by Robert Hood

The Alien Invasion (Singapore-2004; short [17 min.]; dir. Rich Ho)

This great little film was made by university students in Singapore. A big success on the Asian film festival circuit, it parodies the 1950s alien invasion genre and is very funny, in that peculiar way that westerners sometimes find a little outré. Says director Rich Ho:

One of my lifelong reoccurring dreams was to see the educational institute that I was attending being blown up.

From my childhood days, I would paint stories of great adventures with my classmates; how the aliens would come to our school, how we would discover some hidden alien technology on the school grounds, how we would be able to turn their cool weapons back at the galactic monsters, and how we would save our school building and friends (saving the teachers was a debatable issue then).

It was our grandest dream to be heroes for a day (and skip class while we’re at it). When my university requested for a proposal for “something different” to play at their first ever graduation ceremony, I jumped on this final chance.

I wanted the film to not take itself too seriously (like some Hollywood-blockbusters had), but rather tell a story and shoot the film with a sense of fun and adventure.

The look of the film had to depart from the slick, timed camera moves and fluid action pieces. Thus a handheld camera style, along with shooting the film in digital as compared to 35mm, will allow it to have a raw, and at times an “amateurish-B-grade movie” look. This would prove to be a challenge in post-production as all the visual effects had to be camera-matched with the real life hand-held camera. To complement the madcap experience, we opted to ignore whatever misunderstanding a “serious-give-me-only-intense-alien-movies” audience might have, and go all out for exaggerated “bad”, “cheap-looking” visual effects, with a stylized look instead of realistic ones…

Synopsis:

After decades of watching aliens wreck havoc in America, The Alien Invasion brings the absurd “B-grade” galactic battle to the comical side of Singapore. After 7000 Earth years, the aliens have returned to harvest their newly grown planet of slaves. Discover how a glitch in alien technology allowed a small university, in a small country, to save the world.

Or download a high-resolution Quicktime version from here. [380.8 MB]

Source: Official website (which includes lots of extras) via Kaiju Search-Robot Avery

Posted in Film, Flying Saucers, Science Fiction, Weekend Fright Flick | Leave a comment

MORAV: the Comic

Posted on Sunday, June 7, 2009 by Robert Hood

Whatever the state of play of the in-development TV series of M.O.R.A.V., creator Fon Davis has been speeding ahead with a comic version of the story, which features 30-foot robots and “a global arms race to build the greatest giant robot army in the world” — an epic sci-fi drama that allows the viewer/reader to experience the history of a coup d’etat in a fictional country, leading to civil war and eventually World War Three. It is, as its creator puts it, grittily realistic:

The show is heavily focused on keeping stories character based and making the environment tangible. There is an effort to bring the audience into a world where robots really walk the streets. The robots in this series do not jump, fly, and shoot lasers out of their eyes. They are designed the way giant robots would be if they were real.

Fon Davis has just offered the Backbrain an exclusive view of the newly delivered cover of issue 1 of the six-part comic series M.O.R.A.V. Multi-operational Robotic Armoured Vehicle, a beautiful piece of work by Emmanuel Shui, who has in the past provided matte work for such blockbuster SFX films as Hellboy, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Sin City, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and The Day After Tomorrow. Click on the image to see it enlarged.

Davis reports that all six issues are now finished and work has begun on the covers. Apart from Shui, other artists involved in producing the six covers are: Brian Matyas; Roel Robles; Lei Jin; Greg Knight; and Paul Hamblin.

Here is a sample page, to give you some idea of the internal artwork (click on image to enlarge):

An earlier, limited edition of the comic revealed it to be an effective sci-fi vision of things to come — a near-future vision that is close to the present in its technological speculations and naturalistic in its approach, with a political background that might have come from today’s news reports. The emphasis so far has been on drama rather than spectacle, though the prospect of a giant robot war is a tantalisingly apocalyptic one.

The Backbrain will let you know as the project develops. Meanwhile, if it’s mechandise you’re after, Davis commented: “I’m also trying to raise funds for MORAV by selling Coffee Mugs, Men’s and Woman’s t-shirts and more on Zazzle. This is my newest design.”

Source: Fon Davis via Kaiju Search-Robot Avery; Official website

Posted in Comics, Giant Monsters, Robots, TV, Update | 5 Comments

Review: Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus

Posted on Sunday, June 7, 2009 by Robert Hood

Mega-Shark vs Giant Octopus (US-2009; dir. Ace Hannah [aka Jack Perez])

The tradition of pitting one giant monster against another may have been developed within early SF novels such as Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth (where a plesiosaur fights an ichthyosaur) and US film classics like King Kong (1933 — where the giant ape tussles with a T-Rex, and later a giant snake, for possession of Fay Wray), but it was the Japanese who perfected the “genre” in the cinema, tossing two or more impossible giants together in a running conflict that humanity can only stand back and watch with awed apprehension. For their monstrous tag team matches, the Japanese took to letting the monsters destroy random cityscapes while they battled each other. This was a good move. They were also willing to advise potential viewers as to what they were in for by putting it upfront in the titles — as in King Kong vs Godzilla (1962), Godzilla vs the Smog Monster (1971), Godzilla vs Biollante (1989), Gamera vs the Giant Evil Beast Guiron (1969), Frankenstein vs the Subterranean Monster Baragon (1965), and Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001). American monster cinema hasn’t been nearly so forthright nor so monster-conflict conscious.

The Asylum’s much-anticipated Big Critters release, Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus, does much to address this oversight — and it’s a positive trend. This is what giant monster fans want — as was abundantly indicated by the mega-interest generated by mere announcement of the title and by early publicity shots. Two giant monsters — really big ones, too — in conflict with themselves and human civilisation! Suddenly everyone was interested.

The result? Well, the film itself may not live up to all that fans hoped for, but it takes a giant step toward it and it’s one hell of a lark.

Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus is, as the title suggests, full-on B-flick monster cheesiness, made with a knowing enjoyment that is neither condescending nor overdone, only hindered by an inevitable imbalance between ambition and budget. As we all knew it would be, this is low-budget independent cinema, certainly when compared to mainstream blockbusters such as Jackson’s Lord of the Rings or The Incredible Hulk or even (yes, let’s admit it), the much-scorned US Godzilla (1998). There’s no way the film could offer state-of-the-art SFX. But it’s good to see that director Ace Hannah approached his task with obvious affection and does what he can within the limitations imposed on him. The SFX moments are occasionally very good and generally serviceable, and placed within a context that enhances rather than diminishes their effect.

The result is a film that it is totally possible to enjoy for what it is. It offers no depth of theme (apart from a notional stab at referencing environmental concerns), little plot complexity and (compared to the ideal) limited monstrous destruction. But it makes an honest stab at giving fans what they want. At the very least the film does not feel indifferently exploitative. Yes, it exists within a long-running tradition of exploitation monster flicks that goes back to the days of Bert I. Gordon and Roger Corman in his non-Poe mode, but like the best of those it gives the impression that someone cares and was willing to use the resources available to do their best. Such an attitude is not to be assumed. Many low-budget exploiters come over as cynical and careless, putting as little as possible into the production rather than as much as limitations allow. Hannah makes you feel that he wanted this film to be enjoyed and he worked diligently toward that end with what time and resources he had.

Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus begins effectively, with some of the best monster destruction in the film — and though the budget clearly wore thin as it went on, Hannah ensures that such glorious moments as the infamous scene where Mega Shark takes a bite out of the Golden Gate Bridge are spaced out tactfully throughout the running time. And the final battle is suitably climactic. It has been said that a movie needs only three or four memorable moments to make it a success — and if that’s true Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus has them. They may be quick, but they are memorable. As is usual for low-budget films, this one does get a little bogged down in unnecessary dialogue sequences at times (talking heads cost less than another giant monster scene), though it happens much less often here than might be expected and the dialogue is often rather good. At any rate, the film never seems to drag.

The problem of budget tends to intrude a little too often though. As effective as the existing SFX moments can be, for optimium effect there should have been more. For example, we are told about — rather than experience on-screen — key events such as the destruction of Tokyo, and even the Mega Shark’s attack on San Francisco does not go any further than its infamous Bridge-chomping — over in an instant, as impressive as that instant may be. Other attacks are similarly curtailed visually — a single spectacular moment, then on to someone telling us about the outcome. This is, however, all budget driven, and I can tolerate that. It is a potential lost rather than a reason to eject the film.

Hannah and all involved seem conscious of the absurdity of the plot and much of what is going on. But they play it just straight enough that we can go with them and the veneer of self-conscious melodrama becomes part of the enjoyment. If this was ever in doubt, the Scientists-At-Work montage scene, with its brightly coloured liquids and meaningless pseudo-scientific poking, peering and pouring dispels it. Lines such as “It rises!” by the soon-to-be-annihilated captain of a battle cruiser are also plainly tongue-in-cheek, and of course the idea that the only way to deal with two giant monsters is to encourage them to fight to the death is itself absurd. But as I’ve argued elsewhere a degree of absurdity is what these films are about. We all know that it’s ridiculous to think that a shark as impossibly big as Mega Shark could jump high enough out of the water to snare a passenger plane in mid-flight, but what the hell! It makes for a great moment. And it’s just the sort of moment we want! The fact that the film attempts to connect the Mega Shark with an actual prehistoric predator (Megalodon) doesn’t, of course, make the film any more realistic. It remains a fantasy creature as impossible as Godzilla.

With effective performances (some more hammy than others… yes, I’m looking at you, Mr Lamas… though to be fair the hamminess of his character is part of the joke), especially that of Deborah Gibson as our main focus of human interest, Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus proves to be exactly what it was intended to be: an entertaining monster-mash B-flick. This is part of a long tradition in B-film production that goes back to the 1950s and Mega Shark is arguably better than some of the SFX monster films that fans still look back upon with nostalgic glee. It is neither ground-breaking nor destined for cinematic greatness, but for fans of low-budget monster films it is certainly worth 90 minutes of your time — and it may very well become a cult classic. Hey, you might even watch it more than once!

As one of The Asylum’s most effective films, Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus will hopefully also be one of their most successful, as I for one would like to see more from its titular giants.

Postscript: In a desperate attempt to identify where Hannah and the notorious The Asylum might have ripped off the central concept of this film, some commentors have claimed that it has tacitly violated copyright by reproducing Steve Alten’s MEG series of novels, especially as his latest, MEG: Hell’s Aquarium, was released at the same time as the film. While the possibility can’t be denied, of course, it hardly seems like a necessary connection to make. As the film’s characters are recognisable stereotypes, the use of the prehistoric shark Megalodon has been a standard of aquatic monster flicks over the past decade or so and, as indicated in my review, the monster mash itself has a long tradition, it’s obvious that The Asylum had no real reason to “rip off” Mr Alten’s work — or anyone else’s — at all. Neither he nor The Asylum can make much of a claim to originality.

Posted in Film, Giant Monsters, Review | 7 Comments

The Ultimate Sacrifice: An Interview

Posted on Thursday, June 4, 2009 by Robert Hood

**An Interview with Cast Members of Sacrifice, by Avery Battles**

Excited by what he’s been hearing about the in-production, independent giant monster film Sacrifice — despite the fact that so much about the project is being kept under tight secrecy — Kaiju Search-Robot Avery (aka Avery Battles) has interviewed two of those involved — Brent Heffron, who plays “Kyle Broughnam”, and Shanda Lee Munson, who plays “Atzi Olin”.

Avery: I’d like to start with allowing you to introduce yourselves to our readers by telling us a little bit about yourselves.

Brent Heffron: My name is Brent Heffron, and I’m a native of Arizona. I currently live in Tempe with my wife, and our plethora of animals.

Shanda Lee Munson: My name is Shanda Lee Munson. I am originally from the Midwest and have been living in Arizona for the past seven years. I am married with two children, a son who is almost five years old, and a daughter who will turn one in July. My husband plays professional baseball, and together we have moved over 30 times in the past ten years. He is currently a catcher with the Oakland Athletics. I graduated from college with degrees in Marketing, Public Relations and Spanish … but acting has always been my passion.

A: Could you give us some insight into the character you are playing? Who are they? What are they doing? What in particular attracted you to this script and to your respective characters?

BH: I play Kyle, the geologist that creates the satellite that finds the “material” that eventually leads us to our monster. He’s incredibly book-smart and he was born to do what he does. It’s really the only thing that makes sense to him. He loves Atzi and I don’t think he really gets why she’s in to him, but he would truly do anything for her. He’s also been her support system every since she lost her parents unexpectedly. I like Kyle cause he’s definitely not the traditional “hero”. He’s really just a big dork who gets himself in trouble.

SLM: My character’s name is Atzi Olin. She’s currently working towards her Master’s and completing her thesis. Atzi is an intelligent woman, with a very complex past. She’s very determined to overcome her own personal tragedy and help those around her uncover the truth about the town where she grew up. She’s in a relationship with Kyle, who is truly her best friend and constant support in whatever she does.

A: What in particular do you feel that you can bring to these roles? What would you say in your experience as an actor and in life has prepared you for it? How do you feel that you can relate to him/her? When it’s all said and done what would you like the audience to take from your portrayal of him/her?

BH: I’ve seen many times in these type of movies that the characters are really one-dimensional, and play into stereo types, but I’m really inspired by the depth that Kyle has and it’s my goal to hopefully bring that depth across in the film. I relate to Kyle in the way that he cares for Atzi; their relationship is very similar to my wife’s and mine.

Heffron in Crossing the Border

SLM: I am personally always attracted to well written scripts. Believe or not, they aren’t always easy to come by. I also like fictional stories that incorporate factional history into them. I also love a good mystery! I felt very connected to Atzi because I could feel how driven she was, and loved how determined she is to work towards her goals despite the roadblocks she’s encountered along the way. I admire her relationships with people. She’s a very likeable character.

My goal with every role is to be as believable as possible, and to have a character with depth. I think that although I haven’t been through the exact same circumstances as Atzi, that I have had times in my life where I have felt the way she does. I try to draw from those personal experiences as much as I can. My ultimate goal is to just BE her, not just act like I would imagine her to be.

A: To what extent does this film fit into the monster-film genre? Has this genre always interested you or is this something altogether new?

BH: I’m a fan of sci-fi and I’ve watched my fair share of monster movies in the past, so I was really excited at the idea of being in this type of film. I think Sacrifice definitely fits the genre very well.

SLM: This is my first Monster Movie! I was excited to delve into a genre that was unfamiliar to me as a professional actress. To see and hear the excitement of the wonderful people behind this project was enough for me to want to do it. I think “monster lovers” won’t be disappointed.

A: Without giving much away, are SFX a big part of this film? Do you find yourself acting to a blue-screen? If so, how do you handle that experience?

BH: I think SFX will definitely help tie the film together to some extent. We’ve done some green screen already and I know we have some more coming up. It’s been a great experience so far.

SLM: At this point in the project it’s difficult to say how much special effects will be a part of the film. We will be acting with a green screen and I’m excited to try that for the first time. Another cool experience!

A: Who are some of your acting inspirations? Are there any in particular that you are drawing inspiration from for this particular role? Johnny Depp is said to have modeled Captain Sparrow on Keith Richards. Is that how you work when developing your role?

BH: I’ve been acting in some capacity since I was six, and really got into performance art about 10 years ago. Anybody who decides that they have a passion for this craft inspires me to keep diving into my work and to continue to grow. For this film I’m just trying to wrap my head around who I think Kyle is and go with that. I did watch Jeff Goldblum a bit when I first started thinking about Kyle for some reason or another, but I eventually broke away from that.

SLM: I started acting in musical theater at the age of three and haven’t stopped since. Professionally, I hope to continue to work in film and television for many years to come. Ideally, I want to make good movies with a great message. I look at every project as an experience that will make me a better actor. I feel very blessed to do what I do for a living, while still getting to be a stay at home mother to my two children. I do watch my favorite actors very closely and take from them what I can. I usually pay the closest attention to them when they are not speaking. The best ones can say so much without opening their mouths. That is a true gift!

A: What have your experiences on the set been like so far? Any humorous/exciting/poignant stories to share?

BH: The cast and crew has been great so far. We’ve really grown very quickly and it’s been a joy so far. One night we were shooting till roughly three in the morning and the two other actors in the scene with me had decided that we needed to create some of our own stunts that weren’t written in the script. I think the scene will really be better because of it, but my hip will hate me years and I may no longer be able to have children.

SLM: This set has been so much fun. The cast and crew are so wonderful to be around. We definitely get along and have come up with some great nicknames for each other. I am affectionately referred to as “Anthropology Barbie” while Brent is called “Plutonium Boy”. There is also Colonel Overkill played by the lovely Heather Liebenow. The rest of the names are not appropriate for publication. I kid! I know that even though the budget isn’t the highest, we all really want to work well together to make a good film, to prove that it doesn’t take big studio dollars to put out quality work. The crew has really put their lives on hold to get this done. I am proud to be apart of it. And Bob [Nelson, Director] and Sharon [Skinner, “Meda”, Wardrobe Director and Props] rock!

On location for a helicopter shoot

A: What is your take on all of the strict secrecy surrounding this production? Why was it felt to be necessary? Have you ever been involved in any previous projects to where the film makers were so keen on keeping everything under such tight wraps? What precautions are made during each shoot to prevent anything from being revealed?

BH: With this type of film I think part of it will be sold by some of the twists that the film takes. Without the secrecy I think the film loses something. For me this is the most secretive any project has been, but again I think it is needed this time around.

SLM: I think secrecy is necessary. Why would you pay good money to see a film you already know too much about? You just need to know enough to get you to come see it. Sometimes I wonder if I really know how this thing is going to end. I just have a sneaking suspicion Bob has some more things up his sleeve.

A: When it’s all said and done what in particular will make this film stand out from the rest? What will make it so unique?

BH: I think at the core of this film there’s a great story with good characters and even though the monster will be a huge, ball-breaking focus it won’t be the only focus. I just think this film will be multi-dimensional in terms of strong points and I’m very excited for it to come out. Thank you for your time, Avery.

SLM: Films like this one aren’t made everyday. I think anytime you can make a quality film that is out of the ordinary, people will want to see it. The crew is great, the cast is really talented. At the end of the day that is the perfect formula! I feel very blessed to be apart of Sacrifice.