I’m totally psyched to see the movie, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which has finally come to theaters this week. I’ve been a huge fan of the creator, Mike Mignola and the director, Guillermo del Toro for a long time now, so my expectations are pretty high for what they’re going to do this time around with the Hellboy character and his universe.

The thing that intrigues me most about this one (as opposed to the original movie) is that, although they worked on the film together again, this looks to be more del Toro’s vision than Mignola’s. In the supplemental materials on the Blu-ray of the first Hellboy movie, for good or ill, del Toro talks about how much a fan he is of the comic and how he wanted to adhere to the look and feel of Mignola’s creation. In Hellboy II, at least from the trailers, the film appears to be something more akin to the fantasy world of del Toro’s Academy Award winning film, Pan’s Labyrinth than to the gothic, Lovecraftian nature of the first Hellboy film (and comic), and that has me excited.

I’ll have a POSTview up soon, and post whether the film lived up to my expectations or not, a few of which are:
• an expansion of the Hellboy Universe where we’re seeing more of the “monster” world rather than the “human” world
• more character development, especially between Hellboy and Liz (hopefully the John Myers character is out of the picture), and more Abe Sapien, a favorite character in the comic and movie
• more “Guillermo-infused” than the original movie
• a bigger, more epic storyline

Just wanted to let you guys know that my webcomic partners-in-crime over at SubCulture recently released a trade paperback titled, appropriately enough, SubCulture: the TPB, collecting their four-issue SubCulture comic mini-series. Written and drawn by the same amazing team that does the webcomic, my buddies Kevin Freeman (writer) and Stan Yan (artist) have created a book that’s a must for fans of the strip and of geek culture in general.

Although at first you might think you’re reading a typical “Beauty and the Geek” type story, you’ll soon find that the girl, Noel, is no typical beauty, and the guy, Jason, is no typical geek. Noel’s a somewhat snobbish, avant-garde artist, who looks down on “the mainstream” and is new to the whole “fanboy” scene (and the neighborhood). Jason’s a guy who, although he loves reading comics and playing videogames, hasn’t entirely embraced his inner geek. In fact, that’s one of the things I liked most about the book – it doesn’t blindly embrace the geek lifestyle of many of its characters, and isn’t just a bunch of Star Wars references and D&D jokes. In fact, in many cases it casts a critical eye on this behavior, most notably when Noel and Jason head down to the “Super Con” with his comic store friends. When Noel starts lashing out at all the costumes, adolescence and testosterone on display on the convention floor, it only seems especially harsh because of the truth behind the words. 

So how does it all end up with this seemingly mismatched pair? Can they reconcile their differences and make it work? Is Noel’s artwork just too “out there” for Jason? Will Jason’s geeky roommate and friends down at the local comic shop ruin it for him? Well, you’re gonna have to read the book to find out. And with Kevin providing the great dialogue and story, and Stan providing the visuals that continue to impress me twice a week at SubCultureComic.com, it’s worth buying the book to see what happens.

Now’s a great time to buy, too, since they’re having a sale on the book right now. Go check out your options here (they have a regular edition and a signed-and-numbered edition). And while you’re there, check out the SubCulture webcomic if you’re not reading it already, since if nothing else, you just know the characters have impeccable taste in clothes and webcomics, as evidenced by this strip.

I’ve been completely swamped with projects (some fun, some not-so-fun) for the past several weeks, and was under a self-imposed ban on taking any new jobs until I made headway on the ones I’ve already committed to. But, when fellow cartoonist Tony Piro asked me to do a guest strip for his hilarious comic strip, Calamities of Nature, there was no way I could pass it up. Add in the fact that Tony just welcomed a new, baby boy into his family and needed a bit of a break, and I had all the excuses I needed to put some of my other projects on the back burner, and start brainstorming ideas about what to do with Tony’s zany cast of characters.

This is what I came up with: Assembly Required. Fans of Calamities will recognize the events Ferd is talking about from a previous strip: The Big Little Problem Part 3. I suggest you familiarize yourself with it before reading mine. There’s also a bit of an homage to Voltron, if you dig that kind of thing.

So check it out! If you’re not already a fan of Tony’s strip, head over to calamitiesofnature.com and go through the archive. The strip tackles subjects as varied as politics, Mensa, religion and toxic kitchen sink monsters with hilarious results. And while you’re there, congratulate Tony and his wife on their new bundle of joy!