A few days ago I made the statement,
"Sequels are rarely as good as the original."
And yet I, like many of you, love to see sequels.

On the weekend of September 2, I'll probably be
in a theater watching Transporter 2. The original was an unexpected toddy. The Transporter not only did better at theaters than was expected; it also was a hit with the dvd crowd. So much so,
that a Transporter Special Edition dvd is in the works.

I thought The Transporter would be an enjoyable way to spend an hour and a half, but was surprised at just how much fun it turned
out to be.

Much of that enjoyment was the result of Jason Statham in the lead role and the
over the top action.

Well, I'm happy to say that both will be back in full force. Check out the trailer and
then let me know your thoughts!

My recent trip to Heroes Con 2005 was recounted here, but now that I've posted my art pick-ups in my Stallone Gallery, I thought that I should also provide links not only on the SZ [for Stallone fans], but also here in the ZONE for my blog and comic friends.

My first piece posted, by Steve McNiven,
was actually one that I got at MegaCon
2005 when Steve was sketching for the
ACTOR charity.

Rick Leonardi was the first artist I
approached at Heroes 2005. I'm a
long-time Leonardi fan and was very
pleased that he agreed to draw Rambo
for me.

Brian Walker surprised me with this
fun sketch of Sly as Lincoln Hawk from
Over the Top. As a bonus, Brian even
through in [or is that drew in] Bull Hurley!

What a great gift!

Mike Ploog was an artist that drew
some of my favorite childhood comics.
I couldn't pass up a chance at a freebie
head sketch from Mr. Ploog and love
his take on Jack Carter.



I loved Nat Jones's work with Steve Niles
on The Nail. Nat was one of the artists that I
really wanted to try and get something from
at Heroes. You can imagine how happy I was
when he agreed to draw Cobra.

Gary McKee and I have been talking about
him doing a piece for my Stallone gallery for a
while. I was extremely happy when he agreed
to do me a water color piece. I was even happier
when I saw the end result.

Let's cut to the chase. Casey Jones did
one of the finest Stallone sketches I have
yet to receive. He hit a homerun, raised the
bar, use whatever metaphor you'd like...
or just click HERE and... see for yourself!

I knew that my sketch from Cliff Chiang was going
to be very good. How could it not be, it's Cliff Chiang!
What I didn't know was that Cliff was going to follow
Casey Jones' lead and create one of my all-time
favorite pieces. Not only did Cliff add Adrian to the mix,
but he also captured the essence of their characters. Wow!

If you've read this far, you're a true fan of Stallone, comic art or both. Either way, let me give you a heads-up... yesterday I received a piece of art for my Stallone gallery from an artist whose work I've admired for years. I never dreamed that I get something from him, since he rarely goes to conventions or sketches for fans. I'm still in shock. The piece was a gift and is so nice. I'll add it to my gallery in a day or two after I quit staring at it.

Anyone want to comment on my latest sketches or take a guess as to who the mystery artist might be?

Some things just seem so obvious, once you think about them.

It looks like David Lee Roth will replace Howard Stern next year when Stern switches over to Pay-Radio.

Diamond Dave has already done a couple of weeks on the radio and according to reports has "kind of turned the town on its ear."

I don't think that Roth doing well with Stern's audience should surprise anyone. Diamond Dave does enjoy the... ah, same types of things as Stern and truth be told is probably more entertaining to listen to.

Still my bet is that Howard scores big when he moves to Pay-Radio and he'll probably find a cable channel to air his program without the restrictions he had on E. Yeah, Howard Stern will continue to rule the airwaves for those willing to pay.

That's obvious... if you just think about it.

Frank Miller has an interview up at Newsarama.com.

Frank Miller is THE MAN.

He can write [comics, and screenplays -- I'd love to see
him take on a novel], draw, and direct. In this interview he talks a bit about efforts involving all three of this talents.

His latest project is Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder.

When I was real young, I liked the idea of Robin. He was cool... and not much older than me. When I got older, I saw the problems inherent with having a youngster fighting crime. Sure, it works if Robin is in his late-teens, or if you're doing "Adam West"-type Batman stories, other than that you just have to suspend a little more disbelief.

So it'll be interesting to see Miller's take on it. Another plus is that Jim Lee will be doing the art. Lee's work is sweet. Much of the interview is about Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder, but Miller also talks about:

1] A Batman terrorist story that he's writing, penciling and inking... and
2] He's gearing up for Sin City 2... and
3] He's going to write, pencil and ink another Sin City mini-series.

Yeah, the last two have left me smiling from ear to ear!

Well, what do you know? I'm a winner!

That's right. I am a winner!

When I came home from work today, I found a package from the fine folks at Chud.com waiting for me. In it was Tilt - Season One.

Chud.com, in addition to having the latest movie news, interviews, and more also regularly runs contests for free dvds, posters, hats, and other coolness. And I was lucky enough to win, the Tilt dvd set. This is especially cool since, I like poker and only was able to see the first episode of Tilt [which I enjoyed].

At any rate, check out Chud.com. Who knows, you may end up with some swag too!

Last night as I was flipping the channels, I happended across Mariah Carey performing at the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular. Now normally, that wouldn't be worthy of commenting here but...

As I was watching the performance I said to my wife, "Hey, doesn't it look like someone painted on Mariah's abs?"

She didn't think so and attributed it to Mariah working out and dancing. Still it looked kind of funky to me.

Before flipping on to new channels, I said, "I still think it looks like she had those abs painted on."

Well guess what...

Sequels are rarely as good as the original. There are far more Jaws 2's than there are Godfather 2's. And the farther you go down the sequel path, the more likely you are to see a mess.

That's why I'm happy to say that George A. Romero's Land of the Dead is a welcome addition to his zombie series.

My favorite is still "Night of the Living Dead." I doubt that any zombie movie will ever top NOTLD, not only because everything came together on it [the low budget, shooting in black and white, a cast of unknowns, etc.], but also because it was the first zombie movie to really get to me. These weren't island zombies or some mummy come back to life. These were our neighbors, our friends and even our family members who were crawling out of the grave to eat us!

Land of the Dead is my second favorite of Romero's quartet [followed by Dawn of the Dead and then Day of the Dead]. While I generally don't like the idea of "smart" zombies, I was intrigued by the idea that these zombies were starting to learn. I thought all of of the actors were well cast. The use of fireworks as a plot device was a cool idea. Heck, I can even go with the idea that money still has value [although that plot element to me was the weakest].

Land of the Dead is supposed to be Romero's final zombie movie, but I wouldn't mind see him come back for another.