Komikero Comics Journal

To the people concerned, please don't worry. Inspite my yakking over the schedule of my work, I feel very confident that I will be able to fulfill the commitments that I have committed to this year.

Tomorrow, I'll be meeting up with Leinil to pick up Xmen pages. This should be exciting. Xmen! 22 or so years ago I was lying down here where our old house used to be reading local reprints of Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum Xmen, around issues 96 to 101. I was very impressed at how those comics were drawn, never thinking I'd be working on these characters myself. However, I did get to work on the Xmen already with Xmen 113, 6 pages of it. Unfortunately, they spelled my name wrong. Damn! My first Xmen book credit, and my name's all wrong. Jeez. I'll make sure they get my name right this time.

I'll make sure Ochlocrat gets table time during the week as well. As much as I'm excited about the Xmen gig, I'm very excited about this one too, probably even more. That's because I get to draw everything. I'm not just inking this book, I'm pencilling it as well. And Doug Miers has created a really far out character, and has written a really fun twisted story in the tradition of Taxman and Operator 99, both comics I enjoyed tremendously. I'm honored to be working on this book.

As one can decipher from my quarter brain blabbering the past couple of weeks, I've just recently seen American Movie, a documentary about indie filmmaker Mark Borchardt, and his quest to reach his dream of making movies. What can I say but absolutely hilarious, poignant, and moving. It's all the more remarkable because every single word, line and scene is absolutely true. Rent it on DVD if it's out, but I suggest you buy one, if you're into DVDs, that is. This one's a keeper. This makes my very short list of movies I can see over and over.

Yesterday I was able to buy the Superman The Movie Special Edition DVD. I've been waiting for this for a long time. Amazing how DVD has been here for many years now and yet this is the first time Superman has been put into this format. But it was well worth the wait. The quality of extra features are extraordinary. Specially amusing are the screen tests of various actors and actresses testing to play the parts of Clark, Lois and Ursa. At some point, you get the impression that they were so desperate to find an actor to play Superman that they would just put anybody there to test, even the dentist of the producer's wife. You ought to see this guy. I was laughing so hard I nearly shat in my pants. There were also some 8 minutes of unseen footage reinserted into the film, like Superman talking with his father Jor-El about his role on earth. Very interesting scene. It explains why he has to have a secret identity and why he doesn't try to save every person in peril all the time.

There are also 3 very informative documentaries which was very interesting because you learn that Supermans 1 and 2 were almost shot simultaneously by the same director Richard Donner, but through a very complicated turn of events, Donner was fired after Superman 1 became a success, and they got a different director to finish #2, which was nearly 70% shot. And yet, Donner's name is nowhere to be found in the credits of #2. Donner, along with creative consultant Tom Mankiewicz (who actually wrote the screenplay but was also never credited), talk about this more at length in a very interesting, and sometimes funny commentary.

And lastly, don't insult me. If you want to call me a moron, fine, but I expect you to back it up with intelligent reasoning. But if you just want to insult me for the thrill of it, don't expect me to take it lying down. I'm not one of those people who go, "oh I won't stoop to your level" bullshit. If you want to talk gutter with me, I'll damn well talk gutter with you and you better be prepared to take the same shit you like dish out. If you talk shit, you're not worthy to receive a mature treatment from me. That's reserved for intelligent people, not for stupid dumbass cowards. If you've noticed, I've treated everyone in my message board with courtesy and respect. If you don't get the same from me, that only means you're scum. That's all there is to it.