Lancelot of the Lake (and other writing updates)

Arthurian peoples by Frank Godwin.

If you blinked you missed it, but I said something earlier about an essay on Lancelot that I was working on. It's done now and I hope I can tell you what it's about, because I'm going to.

My sometimes co-writer Alex Ness has written a series of poems about Arthur's right-hand man Lancelot that will be published alongside a French fellow's Lancelot poetry with lots of illustrations by both US and French visual artists. It's going to be very classy and cool, but for some reason they asked me to contribute an essay anyway.

They wanted a piece about the historical Lancelot to accompany their artistic impressions of him and I said, "Sure." To be absolutely candid, I wasn't sure how it was going to come out because I sort of have some problems with Arthur's traitorous friend. But the research helped me appreciate Lancelot in a new way and I'm really happy with how the article turned out.

The publisher is too, which is nice. Her exact words were, "Oh my, this is wonderful." And she's going to make it the foreword.

So, yay, Lancelot. I'll give you more details about the book when they're available.

I've also got a little news from the Jesse James vs. Machine Gun Kelly beat. I mentioned before that low preorder numbers killed the one-shot before it had a chance to reach stores, but that my co-writer Alex and I were trying to figure out what we wanted to do with it. Well, we've got a plan.

It's too early to go into a lot of detail, but we've got a new artist who's excited about the project. He's on for at least the Jesse vs. Kelly story, but we'll see if we can't keep him around for longer because we have a lot we want to do. A series of graphic novels, probably, based on the further adventures of one of the characters. That's all I'll say for now, but I'm way excited about the ideas Alex and I have been tossing back and forth.

I'll share more when I can about that too.

Action Girl News: Sheena, Red Sonja, and Valkyrie

Sheena movie?



No, unfortunately, that's the not the art for it. The place that I stole it from thought that maybe it was concept art from an abandoned Sheena film in the '60s that was going to star Raquel Welch, but I can't confirm that.

The film I'm talking about - if it gets made - will be written by Steven de Souza (Commando, Die Hard) and will star - if de Souza gets his way - someone like Jessica Alba or some other "multi-ethnic Latina." Which would be pretty cool. Sheena's always been blonde as far as I can tell, but she's also a South American heroine. I think the latter should trump the former.

De Souza's pretty serious about it too. He's even writing the next Sheena comic for Devil's Due. It'll be interesting to get a preview of his take on her, but I'm going to have to be sold. I hated the first issue of the Devil's Due version, mainly because they seemed intent on taking Sheena out of the jungle. De Souza doesn't seem to disagree with the decision:

“When people have these characters who understand that they have roots in civilization and in the jungle, they’re not going to go back and live in a treehouse,” said de Souza. “They’re going to want indoor plumbing.”

That may be true, but it's not the reason I pick up a jungle adventure comic.

Adventureblog Gallery: Red Sonja



By Chris Butler (whose blog is now on my regular rounds).

Valkyrie



I mentioned before that I dig Valkyries. Actually, I thought I'd mentioned it more than once, but a couple of those times may have been in emails.

Anyways, Valkyries combine two of my favorite things: Viking culture and Action Girls. And if we're talking about Marvel's version, then she also includes another favorite category: people who hang out with the Hulk and Sub-Mariner.

After that post I linked to above, Matt Maxwell (whose werewolf Western comic Strangeways you really should read) emailed me with a little more information about the Marvel character. With his permission, I'll quote him:

Marvel's Valkyrie has an... interesting lineage ... Most of her earlier appearances were reprinted in the Essentials Defenders Vols. 2+3, which are essential reading, simply because it's Steve Gerber at his most off-the-rails-crazy.

Matt then asked if I'd be in Baltimore and I told him that I wouldn't, but that I'd tell people that they should look for him there and then of course I didn't get around to talking about any of this until just now... well after the convention. So, I'm sorry about that, Matt.

Anyway, after asking if I'd be in Baltimore, Matt gently reminded me, "But really, get those Defenders books."

Which, of course, I did. Or one of them anyway. I'll get Vol. 3 too, but for now I have lots of Defenders to read and tell you all about. So, thanks, Matt, for the push. And I'm way looking forward to the next Strangeways book.

Princess Powerful back in the house!

So I was pretty disappointed with how Molly got shoved to the sidelines in the Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers mini-series, but Terry Moore and Humberto Ramos make up for it in the new volume of Runaways.

As with any team book, Molly can't be the only focus of attention, but Moore gives her one great scene in the first issue that perfectly illustrates why 12-year-old Molly's such a cool character. Of course, Ramos' cover illustration pretty much shows that all by itself. That's Molly in the koala hat showing her guns.

The scene I'm talking about though starts with the Runaways checking out a new hideout that used to be owned by the parents of one of their members, Chase. Chase and Xavin (a shape-changing Skrull) check it out for any booby traps Chase's folks may have left.



Fortunately, Molly has Chase's back.



The math is simple. Molly = Awesome.

FallCon Report

Originally uploaded by MichaelMay.

I've got my FallCon photos up at Flickr, finally. As usual, I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I wanted to. In fact, I completely forgot my camera on Saturday.

I picked Jason up at the airport on Friday, then we went to Famous Dave's for dinner, and then headed late over to a shindig at Brent Schoonover's place. It was nice to hang out with Brent and his Horrorwood cohort Brandon Terrell and their wives. They had a fire going and some great food in the garage. There were a few people I didn't know, but after a while Martin Powell showed up and - after the premiere of Clone Wars was over - Grant did too.

Saturday morning we met Grant, Jess, Darla, Corbett, Jen, and Paul for breakfast at McDonald's, then headed over to the fairgrounds to set up. This was FallCon's first year in the grandstand and everyone I talked to hopes that it can become the con's permanent location. Judging from the line to get in (it was still snaking around an hour after the con opened), there had to have been a record crowd there, but the space easily absorbed us all. There was even room for a reading area and a Mini-Comic Creation Station complete with copy machine.

I spent most of the day at my table on Saturday. Jason was on one side of me and we gave away preview books for the all new Kill All Monsters. On the other side of me was Jess Hickman, who showed me some concept art for the Cownt. If you haven't heard me talk about the Cownt before, I'll catch you up in another post and show you Jess' art. It's a fun concept and we've got a great team lined up for a Cownt comic. I was also giving away prints of Gav Spence's interpretation of the Cownt and people loved them. If we can make the comic live up to the expectations set by Gav's drawing, we'll have a hit.

Sunday breakfast was at Perkins. A lot of the gang had been drawing commissions all night and slept through breakfast, but Otis Frampton and his wife Leigh showed up, so Jason and I had a great time getting to know them better. Otis has been working very hard and I'm excited to see the fruits of his labor. I've linked to his stuff enough here that you know how much I like his work.

We'd given away just about all of our previews and prints on Saturday, so I didn't push them as hard on Sunday. Because of that I came home with some, but it was a slow, rainy day anyway and I was coming down with a cold. Neither of those helped my motivation.

I spent a lot of time away from the table on Sunday. I was good and only bought two things at the show: Essential Defenders, Volume 2 and an Adam Hughes Black Canary poster that Adam signed for me. Ten bucks total. Most of my wandering was just to see who was there and what they were up to.

I totally embarrassed myself in front of Dwayne McDuffie by gushing all over him about Milestone and how excited I am he's bringing those characters back. He was so awesome and nice and gracious, but I felt like an idiot anyway. I thought I was beyond getting all ga-ga over creators, but apparently not. I should probably do a Milestone post at some point if I can figure out how to make it on-topic.

The best part of Sunday though was when I actually was at my table and we spent some time brainstorming ideas for the Cownt comic. I've got three, solid stories for it now and have finally nailed the tone I want them to have. All I've got to do is write them.

It was also great seeing so many friends again. My buddy was Charles was there sitting next to his hero Don Rosa. My brother-in-law (and Cownt co-creator) Dave showed up for a while. It's always good talking to Sam Hiti and hearing how his projects are coming. And some other friends and family stopped by as well. My son David was as sick as I was, so he didn't feel like coming, which was too bad. He would've had a blast.

Off-Topic: Appaloosa (2008)

This is neither a Sea Adventure story nor an Action Girl movie, but I know some of you like Westerns and this was an awesome enough surprise that I want to share.

I went into it with some fear and trembling. I've long ago stopped thinking of Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn and have started to associate him with David Cronenberg. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I've got to be in the mood for Cronenberg, and really, I'm just not there very often.

So, while this isn't Cronenberg, I'd sort of gotten this idea in my head that it was going to be all dark, psychological, and ultra-violent. Totally unfair, but there I was. Fortunately, there wasn't anything else showing that my brother-in-law and I wanted to watch tonight. Otherwise, I never would've known what I was missing.

Roger Ebert compared it to Lonesome Dove and I suppose that's fair to a certain extent. He also objected to its being called a "buddy movie" (on the grounds that its main characters are far deeper friends than mere "buddies") and that's even more fair. In fact, the depth of that friendship is exactly what Appaloosa is all about.

The story is fairly conventional Western fare. Virgil Cole (Ed Harris, who also co-wrote the screenplay from Robert B. Parker's novel and directed the film) and Everett Hitch (Mortensen) are gunslingers. They go from town to lawless town, selling their skills to otherwise helpless citizens who are being put upon by villainous men. The villainous man in the town of Appaloosa is Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons as the bad guy I've always known he should be, but have never seen him pay off).

Bragg is an evil cattle baron whose men terrorize the town. Cole and Hitch have to take him down to protect the little guys. It's a classic Western plot, but I was fearful enough that this was going to be some kind of dark, psychotic, neo-Western that I was comforted by the traditional aspects of it. It's a classic Western in other ways too. From the soundtrack to the themes about coping in lawless times, everything about Appaloosa feels right and good.

That's not to say that it's dull or overly familiar though. Renée Zellweger shows up in town with nothing but her luggage and a dollar to her name. She's not your typical Western gal. In fact, wherever she's from, she comes across like an Eastern transplant. Claiming to be widowed, she plays the piano and Cole - who takes an instant liking to her - arranges for her to play at the local hotel in exchange for room and board.

I should talk about Cole and Hitch here for a minute, because their initial interaction with Zellweger's Allie French perfectly summarizes their characters and their relationship with each other. Hitch sees Allie first as she gets off the train. He's obviously attracted to her and he follows her through town until she goes into a restaurant where Cole is eating breakfast. Hitch goes inside, but Allie and Cole are already flirting with each other.

I kept waiting for a conflict to arise between Hitch and Cole over Allie or something else. Cole obviously loves and respects Hitch, but he's also clearly the "lead stallion" to borrow a metaphor from the movie. Hitch is the smarter of the two - in fact, Cole constantly has to ask Hitch to help him pick his words - but he quietly allows Cole to take the lead, not only in their professional lives, but also with Allie and really everything else as well. He never complains. He never begrudges. He's Cole's friend and that's that. And Cole reciprocates; just in a different way. It's a beautiful, refreshing relationship.

I have to sidebar here for a second to talk about how perfect Renée Zellweger is as Allie. She's pretty - the prettiest girl in Appaloosa - but she's believably pretty. Nicole Kidman or Angelina Jolie would've been out of place in this movie.

Hitch spends some time with a whore and the first time we see her, it's across the room as he's exchanging glances with her. She's dark and lovely and after seeing Allie ignore Hitch for Cole, my first thought here was, "Good. He's going to get the better-looking girl after all." But later on, when we get to see the girl closer, she's still good-looking, but she's also a bit world-weary and her teeth are funny. I don't mean that as an objectifying judgment, I'm just saying that she's a normal, good-looking woman. Allie is prettier; still the best catch in town.

And it's right that she be so. Even though I rooted for Hitch and part of me wanted to see him with the best-looking gal (okay, that is shallow and objectifying), I ultimately would have been disappointed in where the story went with Allie and Cole. That's all I'll say about that, but their's is an interesting relationship, though not as interesting as the affect it has on Cole and Hitch's. In the end, it's all about Cole and Hitch and friendship (and trying to take down Jeremy Irons at the top of his game).

Two other random bits of Awesomeness:

• Lance Henriksen absolutely disguises himself in the role of another gunfighter. There was one point where I thought, "Is that Lance Henriksen?" But I quickly followed that thought with, "Nawww," and didn't think anything else about it until I saw his name in the credits.
• Ed Harris sings the second song in the closing credits and sounds remarkably like Nick Cave. If the Borders next to the theater wasn't notorious for never having the soundtracks I impulsively want to buy after seeing movies like Walk Hard and Speed Racer, I would've gone over and picked up the Appaloosa soundtrack right then.

Five out of five dead ranch hands.

Son of Fury (1942)

The subtitle to Son of Fury is "The Story of Benjamin Blake." I guess that would mean something if you were familiar with Edison Marshall's novel Benjamin Blake, but I wasn't, so Son of Fury is more than okay with me.

I wish I knew more about Edison Marshall though and how much of his novel made it into the movie, because I loved this film. It starts off like a Dickens story. Young Ben (played by a 14-year old Roddy McDowall) is an orphan and lives with his kindly grandfather, a Bristol gunsmith. Unfortunately, the other side of the family comes calling in the form of Ben's uncle, Sir Arthur Blake (George Sanders being more sadistic and less charming than I like to see him, but wow how effective). Turns out that Sir Arthur's older brother was Ben's dad. There's no record that Ben's dad was ever married to the gunsmith's daughter, so Ben is technically a bastard and no threat to the family holdings. Sir Arthur isn't taking any chances though, so he wants to keep Ben close where he can make sure the young heir can't prove anything or cause any trouble.

Sir Arthur has Ben legally transferred to his custody, but puts him to work in indentured servitude as a stable boy. For completely convincing reasons that I won't go into, Ben chooses to stay. Ten years later, he's become Tyrone Power and has fallen in love with Sir Arthur's daughter Isabel. That relationship ultimately leads to Ben's needing to escape, but he does so as a wanted man and flees to sea, hoping to make his fortune and eventually return to England to free his grandfather (who's been jailed for aiding Ben), prove his lineage, claim his inheritance, and marry his first cousin Isabel. "Ick" on that last part, but it what are you gonna do? It was the eighteenth century.

At sea, Ben meets a fellow sailor named Caleb (John Carradine) and they hatch a plan to jump ship near an island that Caleb hears is rich in pearls. They do, they make friendly with the natives, they make a fortune, and Ben falls in love (again) with an unbelievably gorgeous island girl (Gene Tierney). The conflict at that point becomes about whether another ship will ever pass their way to take them back to England. And if one does, if they'll get on it.

I won't spoil the end for you. I went into the movie without knowing anything about it and I'm sure that's a huge part of the reason I loved it so much. I struggled a lot during the island part because it's so obviously Paradise and I sort of hated Ben for not seeing it and for being so focused on getting back to Cousin Isabel.

I can't claim any kind of moral ground though. I admit that I'd forgotten all about poor Grandfather back in jail, so clearly I was distracted by Gene Tierney, grass huts, luaus, oyster diving, and all the fresh fruit and roast pig you can eat. Who's to say what the right choice is?

I'm not the only one who struggled either. John Carradine's Caleb clearly has the same dilemma and my appreciation for Carradine grew a bit more as it always does when I find him in another movie. I was introduced to him as Dracula in House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula and didn't like him at first, but I've grown to enjoy his quiet menace as I've rewatched those films. It's the same, subdued sense of danger he gives off in stuff like Son of Fury and Captains Courageous. He's so thin he looks like you could snap him into pieces, but then you see that glare and there's no way you'd want to try. There's also a loneliness behind that reined-in fury that I find fascinating and it's always uplifting in those movies where he finally opens up and befriends the main character.

Another horror icon making an appearance in Son of Fury is Elsa Lanchester, the Bride of Frankenstein herself. She has a small, but important role as a tavern wench who helps Ben escape Bristol. It's not a unique part - basically the Hooker With a Heart of Gold - but she sells it and makes it memorable.

I'm going to let the poster above talk about Gene Tierney for me. Except to say that there's no way you'd get me off an island with her on it. I don't care how hot or rich my cousin was.

Five out of five hula girls.

Gamora: Guardians of the Galaxy #3

The cover of Guardians of the Galaxy #3 is all about the introduction of Starhawk to the series, but that's not what we're talking about today. Gamora doesn't even meet Starhawk in this issue because he appears back at the Guardians' home base while Gamora and the rest of the team are off fighting the Universal Church of Truth in a Dyson Sphere.

If you don't know what the Universal Church of Truth is, don't worry. They're an old bad guy organization from Warlock comics who've somehow figured out how to convert belief into usable energy that they then use to try to take over the universe or whatever.

If you saw that episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation with Scotty, you know that a Dyson Sphere is a colossal globe built around a star to harness the star's energy. People live on the inside of the sphere facing the sun.

This particular Dyson Sphere requires energy shields to protect the inhabitants from the sun's radiation, but it doesn't really matter anymore because the Church has converted all the people into a giant blob of toxic green ooze that the Guardians now have to fight as well. Star-Lord, leader of the Guardians, comes up with a plan to destroy the green ooze by lifting the energy shield, frying the blob, and then teleporting out before the team is also incinerated.

Unfortunately, the teleporters don't work and all that's keeping the team safe is Quasar's magic powers. But even those are fading fast. The group quickly decides that someone has to go out into the intense sunlight to lower the energy shield again.

I tell you this whole story, because it sets up how - for the first time in the series - we see Gamora take point in the action.




I love Drax's confidence in her there.

Gamora does close the shield and the team is saved. Eventually, they get the teleporters working again and go home where they debrief.



I think it's interesting that Gamora's ashamed of her injured body. It would be so easy to play her as angrily defiant; challenging anyone to dare make fun of her. But like in last issue, we see a vulnerable side to Gamora. We learn that she's vain about her appearance and when her vanity is threatened, she's not so tough anymore.

She gets more and more interesting as we go, no?

She-Hulk vs. a jet passenger plane

FallCon was awesome. One of the best I've been to, and that's in spite of the cold I came down with Sunday morning. I'm still fighting it, but it's winning, so instead of a half-hearted con report now, I think I'll wait until I can do it justice.

Instead, let's talk about She-Hulk for a minute. The above drawing is by Marcelo Di Chiara, but I really want to share something out of the latest issue of She-Hulk (#33). The series is still in the middle of a major storyline crossing into Marvel's huge Secret Invasion event, so I'm not going to try to recap the whole issue. Instead, I just want to mention one scene that was awesome for a couple of reasons.



The cover is a pretty accurate depiction of what's going on in the first scene. Without going into detail about why, let's just notice that She-Hulk is fighting the Super-Skrull in a mid-air battle and there's a jet liner coming right for them. She-Hulk, by the way, can't fly. What's a girl to do?

Again, without going into a lot of detail, I should also point out that She-Hulk's character arc lately has been all about the ramifications of Marvel's Civil War event. Shaken by the fascistic actions of some of the Marvel Universe's highest-profile heroes, She-Hulk has been questioning her own role as a hero. She's been vehemently denying that she's at all heroic, even while continually sacrificing herself in serious, meaningful ways to help others. The airplane scene is just another example of that.

Here's what she does when Super-Skrull shakes her off and sends her hurtling straight at the plane.



How beautiful is that? Knowing that she's likely going to die in the process, she turns back into her frail, vulnerable form, gets hit by a speeding airplane, changes back into She-Hulk to heal herself, then runs along the top of the plane to attack Super-Skrull again on the back side.



It's an awesome move for anyone, but especially for a woman who's questioning whether or not she's a hero. After some pretty bleak issues, this was a downright monumental event.

FallCon Reminder

If you've noticed that my blogging was pretty slack this week, I'm going to blame it on getting ready for FallCon. That's not the whole truth, but it's what I'm going to blame it on.

I'm on the way to the airport now to pick up Jason. Then tomorrow morning at 10:00, we'll be all set up and ready to pass out free Kill All Monsters! ashcan previews, talk comics, and generally have a swell time. It should be a lot less humid than last year. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

And once again, if you're in the area, please come on down and say hello. If you're not, I'll talk to you on Monday.

'Bye!

Adventureblog Gallery: Sea Creatures

Sea Monster



By Michael Dixon.

"The Lost Warship"



By J. Allen St. John.

Mermaid



Via the always helpful Never Sea Land blog.

Atlantis Journal: More theories and the Countdown to New Atlantis

"Convoy to Atlantis"



By Robert Fuqua.

Viva Atlantis

Here's some more evidence (mostly linguistic) that Atlantis became what we now call South America.

The Atlantis Blueprint



Ancient Mysteries reviews Rand Flem-Ath and Colin Wilson's The Atlantis Blueprint. The book suggests that humanity is much, much older than most people believe and that we've progressed and regressed technologically over the ages. The theory goes that Atlantis was the pinnacle of one progression and that it's destruction sent us into a regression. Or maybe the destruction of Atlantis is just a metaphor for a technological regression that occured some other way. I can't really tell from the review.

It's a fascinating thought though. And even if it's not completely original, I'm curious to see how Flem-Ath and Wilson flesh it out and support it.

Or maybe...

Forget all that nonsense about their scattering all over the world and seeding new civilizations. Maybe they really just turned into dolphins.

Corydon and the Fall of Atlantis



The Corydon series sounds fun. The first book was called Corydon and the Island of Monsters; the second is Corydon and the Fall of Atlantis. The last in the trilogy will be Corydon and the Siege of Troy. Based on the titles - and Corydon's being the goat-footed son of Pan - I think I need to try these out.

Countdown to New Atlantis

Underwater cities are coming. You heard it here first.

Singapore-based Atlantis Resources is developing the technology to build an undersea farm that converts tidal energy into usable power. That's the coolest thing you'll read for the rest of the year.

The downside is that Atlantis Resources' CEO is named Timothy Cornelius, which is inarguably the name of a man bent on using this power to take over the surface world with his army of aquatic warriors.

Atlantis fashion



At least Dr. Cornelius' evil, undersea henchmen will be appropriately dressed once Iodice comes out with his Atlantis-inspired Spring-Summer line next year.

Why is that lady lying in the water?

Atlantis: Dubai and Bahamas outposts



If you can afford to buy yourself some Iodice Atlantiswear, you've likely also got what it takes to spend some time at Atlantis Dubai or Atlantis Bahamas.

Please take me with you.

As long as we're getting hoity-toity

How 'bout checking out the Destruction of Atlantis exhibit at London's UNION art gallery? We can swing by on our way to Dubai.