Comicbook Reviews: Shangri-La (Image Comics)

"The road to Heaven is paved with dead rock stars."

Shangri-La, published by Image Comics in 2004, written by marc Bryant and drawn by Shephard Hendrix, is a 96 page graphic novella about rockstar conspiracies, the shady business behind the scenes, and contract killers. With cameo appearances by Elvis, John Lennon, Jim Morrison, and other rock legends, this book is a bit more than it seems.

Correy Stinson is at the height of his career, but due to his diva demands he's replaced by a new singer, who rockets the band to new success. Now that Stinson is obsolete, the mysterious plans his faked death to promote record sales. When he backs out at the last moment they send a hired killer to take him out.

Too bad she's his biggest fan. When the time comes to kill her idol and frame him for a murder/suicide, she just can't pull the trigger. So they go on the run, which forces the label to up the ante sending a psychotic killer/failed country singer to clean up the mess.

Throw in a background of rockstars watching the events from Heaven (Shangri-La) and an Illuminati influenced shadow cabinet and you've got a weird rock'n'roll take on the assassin on the run with their intended victim storyline.

The art borders on realistic with splashes of cartoony reactions, and is delivered in well balanced black and white. The story moves along at a good pace, and jumps the less important moments without feeling like you're transitioning too quickly. With a price tag of $7.95 this is a book that feels worth a purchase and solid enough for a few re-readings. Fun, inventive, and a complete story.

Buy this book here!

Asian Flick Reviews: Hard Revenge Milly

After watching her husband and child brutally murdered in front of her, while being stabbed repeatedly, Milly sets out for cyborg vengeance against the Jack Brothers!

Written and directed by newcomer Takanori Tsujimoto, this low budget gore fest is little more than a first act setup for the final battle. If anything the quick kills before the last fight could be considered a sped up second act.

We get a taste of the bloody killing that will take place at the very start, then cut to her getting a new forearm brace sword and shells for her thigh shotgun, then back to her first kill which is shown more indepth.

After we see a bit more blood and gore, we're given a taste of the brutal origin of Hard Revenge Milly in small, escalating moments of horrific violence as she readies the location to spring her trap on the remaining Jack Brothers.

The action builds nicely towards the final fight against the man who basically raped her body with a knife, and with a shocking CGI-assisted finishing blow delivered to the big bad guy (the likes of which I have never seen and is quite inventive in its delivery) she heads off on the road once again.

We're given a hint of a sequel at the end of this movie that runs just a bit over 40 mins. The story continues in Hard Revenge Milly: Bloody Battle, with the idea that revenge just continues a cycle of violence.

Overall, this is a nice little flick that displays the possibilities with some fake body parts, a dash of CGI, and buckets of squirting blood.

Tournament! 5 panel Scripts

The Secret Origin of Gowanus Pete!
Panel 1
A shot of the Gowanus river. The BQE in the background, a small boat chugging away from us in the distance, and a small wooden ramp on the left side.

Panel 2
Gowanus Pete is racing his BMX up the ramp.

Panel 3
Gowanus Pete soars above the water, the sun glistens behind him, the spray of the water refracting the light.

Panel 4
Gowanus Pete plummets into the water falling a good mark short of jumping the river.

Panel 5
Same as panel 1, pull back again to show the quiet scene, with rising bubbles from the water.

Panel 6
Gowanus Pete stands on the other side of the water's edge, a trail of puddles between him and the water. He's now a floppy octopus boy, all sad and soaking wet.

Pete: aww poop.

***

Wash Out at Sports
Panel 1
Mac stands with his fists on his hips, looking proud of himself, a self satisfied smile on his face, chin and chest puffed out. RapStarFriend stands before him looking puzzled.

RSF: So, you're going to compete in this thing?

MW: You know it!

Panel 2
Same as panel 1 except now his chest has dropped to his gut, his jaw is slack, and he's looking over his shoulder at StonerFriend who innocently raises a good point.

SF: Didn't you wash out at every sport you tried?

MW: Not every sport.

Panel 3
Mac swings a baseball bat and the ball has spun off the bat and cracks him in the side of the head.

RSF: Just baseball...

Panel 4
Mac has the football pop out of his grip as he's slammed by a massive linebacker.

SF: Football...

Panel 5
Mac is smooshed as a player dunks over his head, slamming the basketball through the hoop and bouncing off Mac's head.

RSF: Oh and Basketball...

Panel 6
Mac standing with his arms open and trying to regain his dignity. MedFriend sits off to the side, head buried behind a textbook (Knowing Your Nervous System!).

MW: Look a few false starts in High School hardly count...

MF: What about your venture into X-treme Sports?

Page 2 - XTREME!
A montage of smaller panels showing his various attempts at sports.

Panel 1
Mac steps on a skateboard and it goes flying out from under him.

Panel 2
He is tangled up and pinned to the ground by a BMX bike frame on a half pipe.

Panel 3
His feet are sticking up out of bloody snow, a snowboard attached to his feet.

Panel 4
Other various XGames sports with him getting hurt.

Panel 5
Mac is pretending he can't hear his friends as he crosses his arms standing off to the side of them. The three of them sit next to each other in the background like a panel of judges.

MF: Then there was the time we played tennis...

RSF: Or when I taught you breakdancing...

SF: And that time we played hackeysack...hahaha

MW: Thanks guys.

Men-Tor Scripts

Introductions Are in Order
Panel 1
A shadowy sinister silhouette with glowing eyes peers out at us.

M: I've been watching you for a long time Raymond.

Panel 2
Full shot of a brightly colored green and yellow superhero, matching leather jacket and face mask that wraps around most of his head. Maybe yellow goggles over it. In the background we can just make out the shadowy form from Panel 1. The superhero is Raymond Beem, he's firing a green ray gun towards us from inside an alley.

M: I saw how you tried to use your legacy for good.

Panel 3
Raymond in costume looks down at a scorched corpse of a thug. The upper half of his body is obliterated. We can just see the raygun in his grip resting at his side.

M: You tried to avenge your Grandfather's tarnished reputation.

Panel 4
He looks down at the raygun in his hands. He seems conflicted. The shadowy shape rises in the background, looking as if he's about to envelope Raymond.

M: Very noble young Raymond, but futile.

Panel 5
Cut to half length shot of Raymond tied to a chair, a bloody sack over his head. There is a dramatic light cast down upon him, the Shadowy figure is standing over Raymond, we get a hint of a dark blue and red M on a costume from the figure, but just a hint.

M: It's not what your grandfather would have wanted.

R: What do you know you freak?! Who are you?!

M: Consider me your new teacher.

***
Face Off
Panel 1
A bloody cloth sack is pulled off Raymond's head. His mask is torn, his goggles smashed, his face beaten to a pulp. He's crying.

R: Just let me go! Please, please, keep the stupid gun!

Panel 2
Red gloves hold the bright green ray gun just into the spotlight. All else is shadow. A hint of Raymond off to the side.

M: A beautiful design. Deadly and compact. Sleek and murderously simple.

Panel 3
The gloved fist holds the raygun against the back of Raymond's head. Raymond bows his head as tears and blood drip from his face.

R: Please! I just want to go home.

M: Just point, and shoot. Easiest thing in the world. Especially when it looks like a toy.

Panel 4
Close up of the ropes being cut.

M: The man who carried this weapon for 30 years was a friend of mine. He wouldn't want you to be a do-gooder son.

Panel 5
Raymond, in a state of shock, looks down at his freed hands in surprise. A hint of the gloves as the raygun is tossed into his lap.

M: He'd want for you to be a killer.

Panel 6
Raymond close up, beaten and raising up the raygun. The figure slips into the darkness over his left shoulder.

M: Kill me Raymond.

wolvie on 2nd & Ave A

wolvie on 2nd & Ave A

wolvie on 2nd & Ave A

wolvie on 2nd & Ave A

Octopus Notes

No shell
Change colors
Size based society
Solitary creatures
Long periods out of water if gills are wet
Parachute morph
Suckers curled
Arms most sensitive
Gills inside, designed for speed and manuverability
Chameleon
Each arm is it's own sense organ, independently run
Radula - internal teeth
Smart snail w/out shell
Poison paralyzed kill
Saliva digestive enzyme
Grow as fast as they eat
3 hearts
Copper based blood
Sephalatoxin poison
150 different species
2 to 3,000 suckers
Contort shape
Monochromatic vision
Membrance blanket, lunge and chase, pincers
Missing limb regrown in 8 weeks
Octopus pounce and grab mating
Cannibalism - kill by strangulation
Food conversion rate 80%
Often nocturnal
Squid 10 tentacles
Thousands of eggs 40-50
Eat their own arms
Smokescree of ink. Bitter taste
Fast furious lives. 2 years.

mesundayafternoon

Sunny day inside rocking out