Short Story Time!

Just After Sunset, Stephen King’s new short-story collection, came out earlier this month, and I (no surprise there) got it immediately and read it even more immediately. King hadn’t been writing too many short stories during the last few years, but then his job as guest editor of the Best American Short Stories 2007 sparkled his desire to write this type of fiction again, and the man got to work. And the results are (again, no surprise there) amazing.

Just After Sunset collects thirteen tales (one fewer than Everything’s Eventual, his previous short story collection), and most of these were written during the last couple of years. I liked them all, and loved most of them, my favorite stories being The Gingerbread Girl, Harvey’s Dream, Rest Stop, Stationary Bike, Graduation Afternoon, The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates, and A Very Tight Place. That is not to say I didn’t like the other six (except for Ayana, which didn’t really do anything for me), but I guess I have to at least try to keep some semblance of objectivity here. Out of the ones above, The Gingerbread Girl and Harvey’s Dream might be the most adrenaline-burst inducing, and A Very Tight Place the most disgusting one (“I even grossed myself out,” King confesses in the notes at the end of the book), but they were all very enjoyable. I could also talk about the various thematic concerns, several of which we have already seen in many of King’s books, but I don’t want to spoil anything for anybody, so I’ll just keep my mouth shut.

At any rate, many people seem to think Stephen King is at his best when he writes short stories, and while I don’t necessarily agree with the notion, these tales sure make a powerful argument for this statement, so go ahead and read this book!

Toothsome Rump

The fourth volume of Empowered was supposed to come out in late September, and I had been salivating for half a year or so. Adam Warren’s hilarious series is so sidesplittingly funny that September couldn’t come soon enough. Then the book was pushed back ‘til November, and I thought I would die. Okay, I might be exaggerating a little bit here, but I really, really wanted to read the next installment in the series. So November came, and I finally got it and read it.

And it was amazing.

Empowered #4 is, hands down, the best chapter in Emp’s misadventures, and I loved every page of it. Adam Warren’s artwork keeps getting better and better, and the facial expressions, the detailed technology, and the super kinetic action scenes are beautifully (or should I say bootbackaliciously?) rendered. As a bonus, we have a short story in full color, and it looks great too, especially the phenomenally drawn Hummer. The dialogue, also by Warren, is as witty and funny and outrageous as it’s been in the past, with neologisms aplenty, great blends of words, puns, plays on words, wordiness, verbal prolixity, and of course with the Caged Demonwolf stealing the show every time he’s in a panel. (Hell, even when he is not!) There are lots of grotesquely sublime characters: Crowquet, Wet Blanket, Mr. Maidman, Dr. Big McLarge Huge, the Felonifive… and yet what makes Empowered #4 so ridiculously awesome is the cohesiveness of the book, something Warren started to do in volume three, but that hadn’t quite gotten there until now. This time, every chapter in the book, no matter how random it might seem, builds toward the overall story, the results of this becoming apparent in the last chapter. Little by little, I realized “Oh, so that’s why he did that a hundred pages ago”. Or, “I guess that funny random chapter was not so random after all” (it was still funny, though). This book had me so grabbed by the throat that it wasn’t until almost the end that I realized the “damsel in distress” theme so ubiquitous in previous volumes was barely there at all, and I didn’t even care! Whoever thought he was reading the series because of the gratuitous sex and the bondage and the fan service was wrong. It turns out Empowered doesn’t need that to remain a terrific read. So do yourselves a favor and while you’re out there shopping for Witchblade, make sure you also pick up a copy (or several, since you must have friends) of Empowered. Even if you only enjoy it half as much as I did, you’ll still love it. Guaranteed!

Sweets & Wolves

I don’t know if you should expect a movie called Blood & Chocolate to be about werewolves, but that’s what it’s about. Also, I don’t know if you should expect a movie so titled to be any good. I didn’t, that’s for sure, but the movie turned out to be –well, not too bad. Somebody on IMDB.com called it “mediocrity at its best”, and it’s something like that.


B&C tells the story of Vivian, a cute werewolf that finds herself attracted to a human who is doing research for his new graphic novel (he asks her to please not call them comic books, as if that name was something obscene or something to be ashamed of). So the guy draws comics for a living, and he is in Bucharest getting some info about le loup garou, since werewolves are the main characters in his new book. Predictably, Vivian’s clan doesn’t approve of interspecies relationships, and seeks to put an end to the blossoming romance, a sneaky act that will of course have cataclysmic consequences.

So there you go. You have your basic set of clichés and no known actors in this movie, which also boasts a very low budget and therefore low expectations, but the movie still manages to be sort of entertaining –barely. I thought I was in for a brain-numbing experience, but instead I got some not-too-soporiferous entertainment, so I guess I should count myself lucky. Still, I don’t think I’ll rush to the videostore to buy this film, but it certainly beats lots of more pretentious and way higher budget movies, and that honesty deserves to be recognized.

Montura cavernícola

Os presento una de mis últimas, y, creo yo, más chulas miniaturas para mi ejército de elfos oscuros, los "cazadores de demonios". En los torneos, es importante contar una historia sobre tu ejército que explique su historia, qué unidades lo componen y por qué, las historias de los héroes, y alguna cosilla más.
He decidido que mis elfos oscuros estén aislados en una antigua fortaleza metida dentro de unas montañas a la que se puede acceder a través de ríos subterráneos. Debido a un derrumbamiento, esta fortaleza queda aislada del resto del reino y ha de enfrentarse a los Demonios del Caos, de los cuales ya habéis visto alguna que otra miniatura. Como las batallas son muy sangrientas y sus enemigos muy pero que muy duros, los elfos oscuros tienen que reponer sus monturas muertas usando bichos que habitan en las cuevas. El primero que he creado es el sustituto de la mantícora elfa oscura, con nuestro noble elfo oscuro montándola. Como es una criatura que habita las cuevas, no tiene ojos pero sí una gran boca para merendarse a todos los enemigos, amén de lucir una piel compuesta de rocas. He querido darle un color azul pálido parecido al de los tiburones, ya que su cabeza me recuerda a estos encantadores animales. Como lo del sobre quedaba un poco cutre, he intentado mejorar el fondo, aunque creo que no lo he conseguido. De todas formas, espero que os guste.

Giro inesperado

Bienvenidos un día más a Sunny Jhanna, el blog político más relevante de la red, donde… ¿Cómo? ¿Qué? Sí, bueno, vale, lo admito: este blog de político no tiene nada, y ya sabéis que a mí los tejemanejes de los hambrientos de poder me dejan bastante indiferente. Supongo entonces que cabe preguntarse a qué demonios viene este dibujillo del presidente electo Barack Obama.

Resulta que el otro día fui a la oficina de correos que tengo aquí cerca de casa a mandar varios paquetes. John, uno de los empleados, me conoce de sobra (The Spaniard me llama, cada vez que entro por la puerta), pues no hago más que personarme allí y dejarme ridículas cantidades de dinero mandando paquetes a otros continentes. Entre otras cosas, sabe que me gustan los comics y que dibujo (la de páginas de Decaying que ha mandado por correo el amigo), y en mi última visita, mientras me pesaba los paquetes y le daba a todas las teclas que tenía que darle para procesarlos, se sacó un bloc pequeñito de la manga y me pidió un dibujo de Obama. Y yo, que de caricaturas o de sacar parecidos no soy precisamente un experto, dije que haría lo que pudiera, teniendo en cuenta que tenía no más de dos minutos pero más de cuatro personas detrás de mí. Sin fotos a mano y con el bolígrafo gordo que me dio, vuestro querido Fel hizo lo que pudo, y John quedó satisfecho, pese a que el garabato me quedó bastante patético. Para redimirme, le dije que le haría un dibujo en casa tranquilamente y se lo llevaría la próxima vez, tanto por orgullo como por agradecimiento, y éste es el resultado. Y por alguna razón, creo que la historia es mejor que la caricatura, hahaha. Enjoy!

Witchblade #120

My Witchblade reviews are back! And yes, I know they actually never went away, but it's been a really long time since I last tried to force this series down your throats. After the amazing, action-packed issue #119, writer Ron Marz and artist Stjepan Sejic deliver another phenomenal book that couldn't really be any more different than the previous chapter. Where #119 was fast-paced and adrenalyne-driven, #120 is pretty much a long conversation between Sara and Dani, but don't let this statement fool you. Marz's dialogue is amazingly true to life and interesting, and Sejic renders both Sara and Dani in very unique and distinctive ways. They are different women, not just one multipurpose model with different hair and clothes. Plus, the backgrounds are great and the lighting of the scenes moody and very effective. So guess what I'm going to say next! Exactly. This issue is, as usual, great, and everyone out there should be reading Witchblade. Really.

It's a Secret

One of the good things about Slayers is that it makes me want to draw, whether it's characters from the show or my own. So, after watching four episodes of Slayers Try in a row, I went to my desk, got my sketchpad, and produced this picture of Xellos, the mysterious priest from the show. Xellos is an enigmatic character who is always plotting and manipulating the main characters to advance his own agenda. However, he also helps them in more than one occasion, so you never really know what to make of him. Will he end up betraying Lina and her friends, or will he become part of the gang? With Xellos, you never know!

Funny Funeral

A friend let me borrow Death at a Funeral, a comedy directed by Frank Oz, and even though I didn’t think it was as funny as she claimed it was, it was still entertaining. The movie oozes British humor and feels more like a play than an actual movie, with pretty much all the action taking place in the house in which the funeral is taking place. Alan Tudyk, the only actor in the whole cast I was familiar with, is really funny and really naked all movie long, but he is not the only funny part in the film. However, I can’t say much more without revealing some surprises, so I’ll just leave it at that. If you like offbeat comedies and British accents, this movie is for you. If this doesn’t sound appealing though, you’ll be better off giving this funeral a wide berth and you won’t be missing anything.

Geysers of Gygax

Bender's Game, the third Futurama movie, came out last week, and I got a chance to watch it at a friend's house. As with the previous two, Bender's Big Score and The Beast with a Billion Backs, I laughed out loud and had a good time, but I also felt the story was a bit fragmented and obviously devised to work as four separate TV episodes.

Regarding the story itself, I liked it better than Beast, and as much as Score, maybe even more. The fantasy element is something we hadn't seen in the show yet, and it was really funny and full of references Dungeons & Dragons players will salivate over. Besides, seeing the fantasy versions of the main characters was hilarious, to say the least.

To sum it up, Bender's Game is in line with the other Futurama movies, which have been entertaining but not mind-blowingly awesome. If you liked the show, chances are you’ll like the movies enough to at least watch them once and have a good time, and you'll probably want to buy them. If you didn’t follow the show, though, you’ll think these movies are silly and nothing to write home about. But where else would you find preposterous dialogue like the following?

“Look, a Hobbit!”
“That’s not a Hobbit. That’s a hobo and a rabbit.”
“Yeah, but they’re making a Hobbit.”

Classic.

Desangrador en juggernaut

Éste es uno de los encargos de mi primo para su ejército de demonios. Es un desangrador (entiéndase demonio con cuernos y espada de fuego que da muchas leches) montado en juggernaut (entiéndase montura blindada demoníaca que da más leches si cabe que el tipo de arriba).
La verdad es que aunque no tiene una gran variedad cromática, la miniatura está muy chula. El estandarte de batalla se lo he puesto yo de otra miniatura, aunque no se ve del todo: una pena, pero no soy muy buen fotógrafo. De lo que estoy muy orgulloso es de la peana. La lava creo que me ha quedado bastante bien, con la roca pequeña en medio y haciendo efectos de movimiento de lava al pasar cerca de la misma, aunque no se aprecia muy bien en la foto. Espero que os guste.

Para no olvidar

Seguimos con la masiva campaña publicitaria de Dae Chronicles: Clockwork, estupenda historia llena de emociones que, como me siga dedicando a hacer ilustraciones promocionales en vez de darle a la tecla, jamás leeremos. Menos mal que el anuncio dice "2009", así, a secas. De todas formas, espero que os guste el dibujillo!

El nigromante

Bueno, esto es un intento fallido de mago elfo oscuro que terminé pintando como un nigromante, ya que me quedó con un aspecto bastante vampírico el pobre mago. Los colores son los de mi ejército, pero no pega nada en absoluto. No sé si a Finn le pasa con sus dibujos, que empiezas una cosa y a mitad te das cuenta de que quedaría mejor siendo otra. El siguiente paso en la evolución de la pintura sería dibujar algo chulo en la capa, pero para eso tendría primero que saber dibujar bien con lápices, y después intentarlo con el pincel, así que creo que, después de unos cuantos intentos fallidos, pasaré de momento. Lo que creo que no se aprecia muy bien es el efecto del pelo rapado, que en esta miniatura le da un toque siniestro con esas cejas negras tan grandes. Creo que lo intentaré vender por Ebay, porque sigo necesitando un mago para mi ejército y mi economía se va a resentir un poco hasta que otro profe de informática decida ponerse malo por Barcelona.

Espero que os guste, y ya comentáis.

Bond’s the Best

Quantum of Solace opened last Friday, and after the amazing experience Casino Royale turned out to be, I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss the secret agent’s new adventure. And I’m glad I didn’t.

The story picks up right after Casino Royale, so this is actually a sequel to that movie, a first in Bond’s history. Just like its predecessor, Quantum of Solace is gritty, violent, and action packed, with Bond both kicking major butt and getting his kicked on more than one occasion. Once again, Daniel Craig proves he might just be the best Bond ever, and once again, the Bond girls (Olga Kurylenko and Gemma Arterton) are spectacularly gorgeous.
The only thing I wish would have been different is the fact that the action scenes were shot in Bay-o-Vision, which is what I’m starting to call Michael Bay’s camerawork when it comes to shooting action sequences: it’s all shaky and blurry and you don’t really know what the hell is going on. I’m sorry, Mr. Marc Forster, but there are other ways to convey the immediacy, the danger, and the rush of adrenaline these action scenes are supposed to elicit without making the audience dizzy.

And still, the movie was terrific fun from beginning to end, and I recommend it to everyone who wants to have a good time at the movies.

Filia, Take 2

Well, I thought I could do a better job drawing Filia than I did last time, so I tackled the character again. This is a more comedic take on the Dragon King priestess, and I used no markers, and the result is, I think, quite different from the first picture. And still, I feel I can do better than this. Maybe I should try again. No pun intended.

Dark Ivory #3

I had nothing else to do today, so I finally turned to the pile of to-read comic books I keep on my coffee table between the couch and my flatscreen, and grabbed Dark Ivory #3, which had been sitting there for a long, long time. If you remember, I really liked the first issue, because it was intriguing and mysterious, but the second one left me a bit indifferent, even though it ended with a cliffhanger. Maybe that indifference was what was keeping me away from reading the penultimate installment in the series, but I must say this issue was better than the last one. Ivory is freaking out and looking for answers, and Linsner gives us lots of different facial expressions that reflect the frame of mind and conflicting emotions the different characters are going through. I think the artwork still looks a bit wooden and stilted, but it is very distinctive (in a good way) and matches the story rather nicely. Therefore, while I wasn't blown away by this episode, I'm looking forward to the conclusion of the series!

Catapulta de elfos oscuros

Bueno, pues aquí tenemos una de mis últimas adquisiciones, la catapulta de los elfos oscuros. Estas miniaturas no son de la marca Warhammer, sino de otro juego llamado Hordes.

He seguido con la estética de mi ejército para las infanterías: color rojo para la vestimenta, y detalles en blanco. A la catapulta le he creado una base de roca con piedrecitas, césped y musgo, ya que es más pequeña que la de Warhammer y seguro que alguien se queja cuando juegue en algún campeonato. No es que sea muy espectacular, pero bueno; cuando tenga todo el ejército terminado quedará muy chulo. Espero que os guste, aunque no es que sean miniaturas muy vistosas.

Cartoonily Dark

A long time ago, I showed you a picture of a Buffy statue that rendered the badass vampire slayer in a very cartoony fashion. Well, as I was browsing the net, I discovered that a statue of Dark Willow will be released next month, and it also looks really cool. But if that is not enough to quench your thirst of all things Buffy, you can check out the other cartoony statues in this collection: the Buffy from End of Days, a regular Willow coming out this month, and an incredibly cool Glory, which might actually be my favorite of the lot, and that comes out next year. So check them all out, and let us know which one is your favorite!

Arpías

Como anuncié ya hace unos días, subo la imagen de mi unidad de arpías, con sus cuerpos esbeltos y musculosos, sus garras y colmillos afilados como cuchillos, y, como se ve claramente, semidesnudas. Esta unidad pertenece a mi ejército de elfos oscuros, pues no siempre pinto demonios para mis amigos y ya tocaba ir terminando mi ejército. Les he dado un color rojizo con el pelo negro ya que, como todo el mundo sabe, las mujeres morenas siempre son más guapas que las rubias, por eso Dae también es morena.

Siento que la foto no sea tan chula como las de antes, pero en Barcelona el espacio que tengo está muy limitado y no tengo la escenografía que tengo en Alicante. Perdóname, Molo.
Espero que os gusten.

Dae Sketch

Here you have a quick sketch of Dae I drew while listening to music. I had just finished the Filia picture I showed you a couple of days ago, and I felt like I still had energy to draw something else but without using markers. And that's really it. I hope you like it!

Ongoing Revolution

It’s time to talk about Slayers… again. Slayers Revolution, the long-awaited fourth season of the anime has aired in Japan. Revolution is only thirteen episodes long, which makes it substantially shorter than the previous three seasons. Still, I have to say it looks great, and the pictures in the opening and the ending look better than ever. As a matter of fact, Slayers is so hot right now that the creators have already announced a fifth season that will serve as a follow up to Revolution. And we even have a (clever) title: Slayers Evolution-R. So get excited already!

Filia

Here you have another entry in our Slayers series. This time it's Filia, a dragon priestess that appears in Slayers Try, the third season of the hilarious show. Filia has anger management issues, and her dragon tail (not featured) shows from underneath her skirt when she gets mad. But it has a cute pink bow on it, so that makes it acceptable somehow. Enjoy!

Prediction

Joss Whedon's new series, Dollhouse, premieres on Friday, February 13th, on Fox, and I am going to predict its quick cancellation. The reason for my bleak prediction is the fact that Fox has scheduled the show on Friday evening, which is, along with Saturday, the place where every network dumps the series they don't know what to do with. Even worse, Dollhouse will be preceded by The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which has had such a drop in its audience Fox was about to put it on hiatus. Instead, Fox decided to keep airing it and use it as a lead-in for Dollhouse. Maybe I'm wrong, and the show will be very successful, but I somehow doubt it. (And let's not mention all the issues Whedon had with the pilot, and the reshoots and the changes and all that.) What I don't understand is why Whedon keeps working with Fox, instead of taking his ideas somewhere else. I guess time will tell.

Chop Sucky

Right before going to see Zack and Miri Make a Porno, a few friends and I got together to watch The Forbidden Kingdom on DVD. I already thought the movie wasn’t going to be award-winning material, and boy was I right. Even though I’m no expert in the chop socky genre, everything in this movie felt derivative, trite, and repetitive. Everything had been done before, and this was just more of the same. Jackie Chan plays a drunken master, Jet Li plays a kick-ass monk, and there are immortal warriors, evil emperors, and magic staves. And let’s not forget the American kid in love with kung fu movies who needs to be trained in martial arts, seeing as he is the chosen one. Can you say cliché?

There are some funny lines, a few nice action scenes, and beautiful Chinese scenery, but the plot and the characters are as generic as they are forgettable, and they’re just not worth your time or your hard-earned cash. This movie is only for hardcore chop socky fans, and I’m not sure even those people would be pleased.

Coupla Cool Covers

Check out David Finch's cover for X-Infernus #1, a new limited series that reaches all the way back to the events narrated in 1989’s Inferno, one of the first crossovers I ever read. Unfortunately, the artist who will draw the interior pages isn't Finch, but Giuseppe Camuncoli, but this illustration is great. (And don't miss the variant cover by Jeff Scott Campbell.)

Today's second cover is also X-related: it's Greg Land's Uncanny X-Men #503 cover, featuring The White Queen and the Black Queen from the Hellfire Club, if I am not mistaken. Two very different illustrations, both equally amazing!

Bonus: Check out Chris Bachalo's Witchblade #125 cover, on sale next year.

Remembering Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton died on Tuesday at the age of sixty-six. He had been fighting cancer for a while now, and he has unfortunately lost the battle. While I never followed his career closely, I have read (and tremendously enjoyed) Jurassic Park, The Lost World, The Thirteenth Warrior (aka Eaters of the Dead), Rising Sun, and Timeline, all of them books that later became movies. (Movies I've seen based on his work include Congo and Sphere.)
Crichton sadly joins the numbers of icons that seem to be passing away in the last few months: actor Paul Newman, artist Carlos Meglia, actor Bernie Mac, actor/singer Isaac Hayes, and artist Michael Turner.
You are not forgotten.

We Just Turned Three!

Happy birthday, Sunny Jhanna!

The blog everyone could be talking about was born on November 5th, 2005, with a picture of Alice, a theme I recently tackled again for my personal amusement. A year after that, we celebrated our first anniversary, and then last year the twelfth installment of Organic came out on that day. Today we celebrate our third anniversary, and my friend Dae thought it would be nice to have a cake to commemorate such an important event, since we had never had any (thank you, sweetie). And thank you all for writing, reading, commenting, and, in one word, keeping us company for so long.

Here's to one more year of irrelevant posts!

Zack & Miri Rule

It’s true that I am biased, because I really like Kevin Smith, but what can I say? I loved Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and that’s a fact. The movie, starring Seth Rogen and the incredibly gorgeous Elizabeth Banks is both sweet and raunchy, hilarious and dirty, moving and riotous. Compelling and powerful. The dialogue is filthy and witty in true Smith fashion, the characters feel real, and the movie is, in result, enjoyable and tremendously entertaining.

If you’d like to hear all the trouble Kevin Smith and producer Scott Mosier went through with both the title of the movie and the ad campaign, go listen to SModcast #67, where they actually promise a commentary track for the movie in the next installment. But before you listen to that hilarious document, make sure you go see the movie, so they don’t spoil it for you. And even if you don’t want to listen to their ramblings, go see the movie anyway, and laugh for a good hour and a half. And stay throughout the credits, as there’s an amazing bonus halfway through!

La enemigo público

Para terminar con nuestra corta serie de dibujos de Slayers -al menos por el momento-, aquí está Lina Inverse, poderosísima hechicera, glotona incontenible, infame ladrona, y carismática protagonista de la serie japonesa de humor y fantasía más divertida de todos los tiempos. Algunas personas huyen al verla llegar, otras piden su ayuda, y todos le recriminan el sendero de destrucción que deja a su paso. Lina es como Atila: por donde pasa no crece la hierba, lo que no es de extrañar, dado lo devastador de su hechizo favorito, el Dragonslave. Espero que os guste el dibujo!

Cute Little Monsters

Check out this video about the new Locust we'll be able to fight in Gears of War 2, coming out next week. There are some really nasty creatures, and they come in all sizes. From the tiny Tickers to the big Brumak, it seems Gears of War 2 is packed with deadly threats to good old Marcus Fenix. Oh, well --I guess we'll have to kill them all.

Bonus: check out this amazing teaser for the game!

El hechicero

El dibujo de Zelgadis que os enseñé el otro día lo hice dibujando de memoria, sin tener referencias cerca. Días más tarde, cuando se me ocurrió hacer una serie de dibujos con los cuatro personajes principales de Slayers, me agencié varias fotos y volví a dibujar al poderoso hechicero, que en este dibujo me ha quedado bastante mejor.

Zelgadis viaja con Lina, Gourry y Amelia buscando el hechizo que le devuelva su apariencia humana. A veces amargo, pero siempre sarcástico, Zelgadis no deja títere con cabeza, ya sea con su formidable manejo de la espada, o lanzando algún Ra-tilt que otro. Que tiemblen esos demonios interdimensionales!

Bonus: dibujo en progreso, antes de ponerme con las líneas.