Favorite list

Because blogs are basically narcissistic and self indulgent by nature of their very existence, herewith I present to you the five best movies ever seen by MY eyes. I'm not a critic (although I have written six or seven screenplays which really means nothing but I wanted to mention it) but I am narcissistic and self indulgent and this is my blog so my opinion is the only one that matters.

#5: Aliens.

#4: Big Trouble in Little China

#3: Forrest Gump

#2: The Empire Strikes Back

#1: The Natural

Are there technically better or more popular movies out there? Of course there are. But these are my five favorites, in order.

Wizard Interview

What? Three posts on the blog in as many days? Who is this masked blogger??

I did a quick interview (through email) with the Wizard Magazine website to start promoting the Green Lantern Corps comics. Here's the link:

http://www.wizarduniverse.com/magazine/wizard/001713353.cfm

It's always interesting to me how these things are edited together. Not for good or bad, they just always read differently when compared to the original questions and answers. Kind of like a diet version.

Green Lantern Corps

DC Comics has released their solicitation info for the month of December and it's a busy month for Patricia Champagne's middle son. First up, we've got...

DCU INFINITE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Written by Greg Rucka, Judd Winick, Bill Willingham, Joe Kelly, Kelley Puckett, Keith Champagne and Ian Boothby

Art by Joe Bennett, John Byrne, Jerry Ordway, Ale Garza, Giuseppe Camuncoli and David Lopez.

Cover by Howard Porter.

Time to celebrate the holidays with the greatest heroes and rising stars of the DCU! Join Superman, Supergirl, Batwoman, Shazam, Green Lantern, Flash and Shadowpact as they spread the joy of the new season in their own special ways.This giant sized 80-page Special features stories by Greg Rucka, Judd Winick, Bill Willingham, Joe Kelly, Kelley Puckett, Keith Champagne and Ian Boothby and art by Joe Bennett, John Byrne, Jerry Ordway, Ale Garza, Giuseppe Camuncoli and David Lopez.On sale December 6 • 80 pg, FC, $4.99 US

Next on the list, my very last issue of...

FIRESTORM: THE NUCLEAR MAN #32

Written by Stuart MooreArt by Jamal Igle & Keith Champagne.

Cover by Brian Stelfreeze.

The epic story “In My Father's House" concludes as Jason Rusch must deal with the catastrophic fallout from his own actions against the mystery villain. It's an ending and a new beginning for DC's Nuclear Man!On sale December 13 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

And finally, the one that I'm most excited about, my very first issue of...

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #7

Written by Keith Champagne.

Art by Patrick Gleason & Prentis Rollins.

Cover by Gleason & Wayne Faucher.

Part 1 of the 3-part “Dark Side of the Green,” written by Keith Champagne with art by Patrick Gleason & Prentis Rollins! What begins as a routine mission quickly spirals out of control for Guy Gardner and new recruit R’amey Holl, leading the duo to discover a secret that could shake the Corps to the core. Meanwhile, a lone Dominator has found the key to great power and plans to unleash it against the Earth!On sale December 13 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

This is one of the writing gigs that I've been patiently waiting to be announced so I could talk about it. And I will when it gets closer to the shipping date, both here and in interviews at various websites. I'm very proud of this 3-part story, they're the best comics I've written to date (which may not say much) and, so far, Pat Gleason and Prentis Rollins have blown my mind with the art. This storyline introduces a new, much more bad ass division of the Green Lantern Corps that will, knock on wood, be spinning off into its own title next year.

It's going to be a fun month for me and will hopefully lead into a very exciting 2007.

Saturday the 14th

Sorry for the lack of updates. Lack of time and lack of anything to blog about, really. No wonder the reader tally for my blog is skydiving by the month. This blog sucks!

Anyone remember a movie called Saturday the 14th? It was a horror/comedy spoof that came out in the early 80's. I remember it being the funniest movie when I was a kid and was thinking of trying to track it down. I doubt it would hold up, most things don't after all these years. But sometimes, one is pleasantly surprised.

PRIDE GRAND PRIX!!

The finals of the PRIDE FC Absolute Grand Prix is this Sunday night and it's going to be a fantastic night of MMA fighting. As far as the main (tournament) fights go, these are my quick picks...

I’m picking Crocop over Silva. Wanderlei hasn’t been the same fighter since his loss to Mark Hunt, he’s been less aggressive and half a step slower. He looked great against Fujita but Iron Chin is a B-level fighter at best and, I think, was an opponent made for Silva to look good against.

I’ll take Nog over Barnett. This is a fight that could go either way, it really could. My heart is rooting for Barnett, I think he’s great and also very fun to watch and I love that he’s dedicated himself and gotten into top shape instead of relying on natural skill. My head picks Nog though, he’s a legend in his prime and it’s hard to bet against him.

Crocop versus Nog in the finals and I’m picking…Crocop. He killed Nog the first fight until he was taken down and tapped. I see this fight as more of the same with the exception that Mirko has improved his submission defense enough to get back to his feet and start kicking again. Plus, I’d rather see Crocop VS Fedor a second time as opposed to Nog VS Fedor the fourth.

No matter who wins any of these fights, this is going to be a great card. Aside from the tourny finals, the undercard has a few great fights, including Sergei Kharitinov VS Aleksander Emelianenko and Ricardo Arona VS Alistaire Overeem.

Can’t wait for it. I'll be glued to the TV on Sunday night.

Xena: Strange Visitor

While poking around the Dynamite Entertainment website, I noticed that they had posted about the upcoming super-sized Xena one-shot that I wrote for them. Here's the link...

http://www.dynamiteentertainment.com/htmlfiles/p-C105720.html

The book is called Xena: Strange Visitor and focuses on Xena facing off with a warrior from another planet. Think of it as Xena Versus Predator and you're on the right track. My intent was to put together a different kind of Xena story. The character lends itself well to all different kinds of situations so sometimes it's fun to explore something off the beaten path.

I've yet to see any artwork from the book but I know it's being drawn by a young artist named Noah Salonga. Attached is the black and white of the cover which I lifted from the Dynamite website. I'm not sure what the shipping date is. The website has it listed as October 2006 but that seems too early to me. I'll have to do some digging and find out what's what.

I usually learn something from every assignment I write and on this one, I learned that writing for a licensor (Universal holds the rights to Xena) can be...interesting, to say the least.