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.

Dave Gibbons and John Byrne

Things have been more hectic than usual here at Champagne Central and the newer, more-frenzied pace of my daily existence doesn't look like it's going to let up anytime soon. Nonetheless, I've got a couple of bits of comic news to share.

Pretty much any comics fan knows of the work of Dave (Watchmen) Gibbons, one of my artistic 'heroes' in the comics biz. The guy is a legend, plain and simple. Personally, I've loooooong admired Mr. Gibbons' storytelling, composition, and clean drawing style. In fact, almost twenty years ago, a friend of mine wrote in my senior yearbook in high school that I should never give up my dreams because maybe, one day, I might reach the level of someone like Dave Gibbons.

This week, the stars have aligned nicely and an unexpected hole in my inking schedule has been filled with the opportunity to ink his work as I pitch in on a Green Lantern Corps issue that Mr. Gibbons is writing and drawing.

It's really, really hard work.

Not only is it intimidating as hell to try to translate and enhance the work of someone whom I admire so much, but his clean and precise drawing style leaves very little room for error. Artists who noodle more and throw in tons of detail give you plenty of room to hide mistakes. With Mr. Gibbons', the inks are either going to work or they're going to fail miserably. So it's been a painstaking few days and I expect the next week will be equally so as I try to do his work justice. I haven't been very happy with anything I've done over him so far but it always takes me about 10 or 11 pages of working with a penciller before I begin to feel comfortable and able to contribute something to the art. Hopefully this will be the same. I'd hate to only have one chance to ink his work and blow it miserably.

On the other side of things, I found out today that John Byrne, another of my comic book heroes, is pencilling a ten-page Green Lantern Christmas story that I wrote a month or so back. I've been campaigning for about the last year or so to get a chance to work with the brilliant Mr. Byrne and finally, all my begging and pleading to Peter Tomasi has paid off. To say that I'm thrilled is a huge understatement. There's only one other person in comics whose work has been as influential to me as Mr. Byrne's has and, off the top of my head, I can't think of anyone who has produced more quality comics for as long and as consistently as John has. X-Men, Superman, Fantastic Four...there's literally nothing he hasn't OWNED at one time or another. In the list of all-time great artists, Mr. Byrne is easily in the top five with plenty of room to spare.

And now he's drawing something I wrote. It's literally a dream come true and, on top of everything else, I'm inking it too.

What a great week in my little comics world, that's all I can say.

Fanboy Planet

The fine folks over at www.fanboyplanet.com thought it would be a good idea for me to fill in for one of their regular columnists this week and write a report for WWE's RAW on Monday.

So I did.

Feel free to click the link above and check it out.

Snakes on a Plane

OK, so...am I crazy or was Snakes On A Plane actually really good?

I caught a matinee yesterday which I had been advised against, mainly because I was told that the way to see the movie was with an enthusiastic crowd, not just a few random people scattered throughout the theater in the middle of an afternoon. I don't see what the difference would have been though, because I loved it anyway.

Is it a silly B-movie? Absolutely. But I thought it was pretty much the king of silly B-movies. People have been saying it's so bad, it's good but I actually thought it was goodgood.It's a solid movie that hits all the right notes. It got me cringing in my seat a few times.

It followed the basic rule for these types of action/thriller movies: Whenever you think things can't get worse, they get worse. Starting to get a handle on the six million snakes slithering around the plane? Too bad because here comes the giant 30 foot python, baby! Think you're out of the woods once and for all? Too bad, your pilot just died. And so on and so on.

All in all, a really entertaining way to spend a couple of hours. Anyone else see it?

Ed Brubaker

Not much to blog about. I still can't publicly talk about any of my upcoming writing gigs, probably not for another month or so until solicitations begin to filter out. Come to think of it, I still can't seem to spell 'publicly', either. In the meantime, I thought I'd recommend Daredevil for anyone looking for a good comic to read.

I lost interest in Daredevil about halfway through Bendis' run; not that it was bad, it just wasn't floating my cup of tea anymore. I buy very few comics, I can't keep up with my comps as it is and I'm sort of spoiled that way. But, based on Ed Brubaker's work on Gotham Central and Captain America, I made a note to pick up Daredevil when he started writing it.

So I'd say it's currently my favorite book. I'm probably an issue or two behind everyone else because I don't get to the comic shop very often, either. But I'm finding the current storyline, with Matt Murdock and the Kingpin in jail, to be very enjoyable. It's just a well written comic with solid art and storytelling by Michael Lark and his inker, who's name I can't think of. Stefano, I think?

Plus, although I haven't read the issue yet, I've heard through the grapevine that Iron Fist starts to play a major role in the story. The Fist is my favorite Marvel Comics character so I'm excited to see him used in important fashion and am even more looking forward to the upcoming Iron Fist series...written by Ed Brubaker.

Good stuff, check it out.

more art

I started doing a right-handed version of the below sketch but got tired of using a pencil. So I just started inking and this is what came out.

Interesting time to work in comics right now. Lots of changes on the horizon, long term plans being made, political manuevering behind the scenes. I'm sort of a bystander watching things change on what seems to be almost a daily basis.

Vague but interesting nonetheless.

The inks

And here are the inks.

I ended up inking this straight on the piece of copy paper with a brush because my printer is dry. I probably would have noodled and detailed more with a nib but the paper is flimsy and would get torn to shreds by the penpoint. So I stuck soley to brush and it is what it is.

I can't say it's a great drawing but hey, I give myself credit for finishing it. I try to get away from my drawing board as much as possible when I'm not working. That's why I look forward to the day when (knock on wood) I can write full-time. It'll be nice to be able to get back to producing artwork for fun again, as a hobby. As it is now, it just feels like more work.

Hope you liked this little experiment. Don't know what it really proves, except that I suck equally at drawing with either one of my hands.

Keith

Left Handed Sketch

And here's the sketch. Altogether, it took about 8 minutes to rough it out.

I drew it on a piece of copy paper so the next step will be bluelining it in photoshop and printing it out on a sturdier piece of bristol board for inking.

I definitely don't have the fine motor control with my left hand that I do with my right, meaning this is even more loosely drawn than usual. So it seems like I can hit the broad strokes but I don't think I could actually finish this drawing in pencil, not with my left hand. At least not yet.

The akward thing about trying to draw with my opposite hand is approaching the paper from the opposite angle. It takes a little getting used to as everything in my office is configured to a right hand. Even my drawing table lamp casts a shadow on the paper from my hand.

It's a fun little experiment though even though it looks rather crapadelic.

Tune in shortly for the finished inks.

Keith

Absentminded

I haven't forgotten to conduct my little experiment in ambidexterity.

In fact, I've conducted it. I did a generic head shot today with my left hand. Not really sure what I think of it but I never usually like the way things look when I draw with my right hand either.

I should have time tomorrow to scan and post it and I'll try to ink it this week, too. It's tempting to go back in and start tweaking things and correcting the drawing in right-handed fashion but I'm planning on inking it right handed anyway so...I'll just do it in ink. I also suspect that I'll transform this generic sketch into a Superman drawing while I ink it because I'm gay for Superman.

I have noticed that because I do work primarily in brush and ink that I no longer have any patience with pencil. I crave the bold, final line that ink supplies and have lost the ability to pencil tightly somewhere along the way. Now, in those rare times when I actually draw something, I pencil as quickly as possible to get it over with and jump right into inking, where I feel the most comfortable.

Any other comic artists have that same tendency?

Ambidexterity

What? I have a blog?? Crikey, I guess I'd better update it.

A little known Keith Champagne factoid is that I'm naturally left-handed, although my mother raised me to be right-handed. I'm not sure why it was important to her and it's not important to me at all but regardless, I have a pretty high level of dexterity with my opposite hand. Growing up, I've always unconsciously done things with my opposite side. I eat left-handed. I'm much more comfortable boxing southpaw. Even playing kickball growing up, I always kicked with my left leg.

I'm goofy, what can I say?

When I was in the Kubert School, I had a teacher named Tex Blaisdell. Tex was a grizzled old cartoonist, equally kind and crusty. Everyone loved him. He had spent most of his career inking, everything from Green Lantern to Superman to Batman during the 60's, 70's, and 80's. He also did a lot of newspaper strips, Little Orphan Annie being one that comes immediately to mind. Tex passed away about six or seven years ago after a lifetime of good, hard living.

Tex was famous for being able to draw equally well with both hands. If I remember the story correctly, he drank his way through a deadline and passed out at his drawing board, his drawing arm pinned underneath his torso. When he woke up however many hours later, his right arm was useless. He had damaged it somehow and it took literally months for his arm to regain its mobility.

So Tex didn't skip a beat. He just taught himself to draw and ink with his left hand and honed his dexterity to such a high level that he was equally skilled with either hand. He used to joke that once his right arm healed, he could work twice as fast. Who knows, maybe he wasn't joking?

This is my long-winded way of saying that, inspired by Tex, this past weekend I started
sketching with my left hand. The end results seem pretty much the same to me, a little looser and sketchier but the information is all there. I think I'm going to continue working this way. I have some wacky theory that drawing with my opposite hand taps into the opposite side of brain and somehow makes me more creative or something weird like that.

So my plan here is to draw something left handed and then ink it with my right and post it up when I'm finished. I don't have a lot of free time to produce artwork when I'm not getting paid for it but hopefully, the experimental nature of this piece will inspire me to see it all the way through.

So stay tuned and let's see what happens.

This means WAR!!

By far, the best thing about the boring UFC 61 fight card on Saturday night was the announcement that PRIDE middleweight champion Wanderlei "The Ax Murderer" Silva would be invading the octagon in November to fight UFC Middleweight champion Chuck Lidell.

The hardcore MMA fan has been drooling for years at the thought of an interpromotional dream match like this. Hopefully, it's just the tip of the iceberg. My head would probably explode if Fedor Emelianenko, pound for pound the universally agreed upon greatest fighter in the world today, decided to crash the UFC's party and show them how it's really done.

I was going to write about some of the possibilities and ramifications of the Silva/Lidell match until I came across the following post by Zach Arnold at Fightopinion.com. He's much smarter and more well spoken than I am so if this kind of topic interests you, hit the link below.

Exciting times to be an MMA fan. It's gratifying to see the public catch up with the most exciting sport in the world.

http://www.fightopinion.com/2006/07/09/ufc-vs-pride-2/

Absolute Watchmen

I haven't posted anything comic-related in a while so...

I recently received the ABSOLUTE WATCHMEN collection that I ordered from the fine folks at Earth 2 Comics (www.earth2comics.com). Earth 2 is located in Sherman Oaks, CA and Carr and Judd run a great store. I can't recommend their services highly enough so there's a little plug for Earth 2.

I've been slowly rereading WATCHMEN, really enjoying seeing the artwork printed oversized, and have been reminded just how much ass this comic kicks. For a story that I've read fifteen times in the past fifteen years, I'm still seeing new things in the backgrounds or uncovering new subtext in the story. In fact, before I die, I'll probably someday really figure out the pirate comic within the comic.

Much smarter people than me have written about the groundbreaking technical achievements contained between the pages and every word is true. The Rorschach issue, for example, that is laid out so that the second half of the story mirrors the first the way the two halves of a rorschach blot mirror each other is a truly remarkable bit of storytelling. It makes my brain hurt just thinking about trying to plan something like that out. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons threw in everything and the kitchen sink and in spite of all the groundbreaking they were doing, they wisely never forget to center the story around the characters. To me, character should always dictate plot, not vice versa. I think I learned that on a subconscious level from this book when I was a teenager.

Reading it with fresh eyes, I'm also surprised to see how influential Watchmen is. A show like LOST is a great example of this. Take a look at the way they continue to explore the flashback stuff from different perspectives and then see how Watchmen did it, almost twenty years earlier. I'm planning on ripping it off myself in a Green Lantern Christmas story I'll be writing soon, in abbreviated fashion.

For the record, the Dr. Manhattan on Mars issue is my favorite of the series, followed by the Rorschach origin. In fact, those are probably my two favorite single issues of any comic book ever. And I've read a LOT of comics over the years.

I could ramble on all day and not make much sense so I guess what I'm saying is I truly LOVE this book. I remember loving it to death when I was a junior in high school, picking up each issue as they arrived in the stores and I love it even more now. If you're a comic fan and you've never read it, treat yourself. And if you have, go read it again because it's well worth the time.

Keith

Critical Countdown

I've been biding my time before, like the rest of the world, I post my thoughts on the new Superman movie so as not to spoil it. Suffice to say, I liked it quite a bit. It's not a perfect film and I don't agree with every choice Bryan Singer made but it's a worthy restart to the franchise and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

In the meantime, PRIDE FC, the world's largest mixed martial arts organization, held the second round of their open weight grand prix over the weekend in Japan and it was a fantastic card. Anyone that has gotten into MMA with the recent success and rise of the UFC should do themselves a favor and check out a PRIDE card. It's where the big boys play.

I was particularly impressed with Wanderlei Silva's destruction of Japanese heavyweight Kazuyuki Fujita. It was an intriquing match up due to the weight difference (Silva fights at 205 while Fujita is about 40 pounds heavier) and also because Fujita's incredibly thick skull (medically proven in Japan to be thicker than an average human skull) has shown it's almost impossible to knock him out.

Silva didn't manage to knock him out but he did stagger him pretty well late in the first round, unleashing a hurricane of punches, hammerfists, and soccer kicks. Fujita took enough unanswered damage that the referee wisely stopped the fight. Silva moves on to the semi's.

Joining him there will be Josh Barnett, who used the same strategy he tried in his first fight against CroCop to take Mark Hunt down as quickly as possible. He quickly and easily submitted Hunt with a kimura in about two minutes. Barnett looked great physically, in much better shape than he's been in years. He actually almost had abs and considering that his waistline always looks like three spare tires competing for dominance, that's saying something. It looks like he's pretty serious about fighting.

Noguiera and Fabricio Werdum had what I felt was the best fight of the night, a back and forth battle between two world class jiu jitsu fighters. Nog took the decision because, while the fight was standing, his boxing technique was more polished. Their brief exchanges of BJJ technique on the ground were beautiful while they lasted.

Finally, Cro Cop kicked the hell out of Yoshida's leg until he couldn't stand up any longer. Shades of Marco Ruas against Paul Varelens in early UFC. Those leg kicks hurt. I've been hit with a few delivered at half speed in training and couldn't help but wince. I can't imagine what a kick delivered with full CroCrop power must have felt like. Probably a sledgehammer hitting in the exact same spot over and over and over until the leg finally gives out.

It's a fantastic final four. I'm hoping for Silva/Crocop and Barnett/Nogueira in the semi's, mainly because I don't want to see Crocop/Barnett for the third time unless they have to meet in the finals.

The undercard also impressed. I was glad to see Pawel Nastula (Olympic Gold Medalist in Judo) pick up his first win in the Pride ring. He's a tough fighter who's been thrown to the wolves so far. Also good to see Vitor Belfort pick up a win although with Vitor, who knows what will happen next. He's the world's most confusing fighter.

Pride rocks. Check it out sometime.

The Final Cut and other thoughts

I haven't had much of interest to write about lately and haven't had a lot of time to devote to coming up with semi-interesting topics to write about anyway. So, in lieu (spelling?) of anything which is actually interesting, here are some bullet points of random things running through my mind.

I've heard through the rumor mill that my childhood favorite soap opera couple, Patch and Kayla, have returned to the town of Salem on Days Of Our Lives. Yes, I admit that I used to watch Days religiously in my late teens/early college years and still maintain a loose knowledge of the goings on in Salem. I might have to start tuning in again, especially since the rebroadcast on SOAP makes it more convenient to watch at different times.

I'm going to see SUPERMAN RETURNS tomorrow night and am keeping an open mind. Early word from industry friends who have seen advance screenings is that they like but don't love it. Honestly, I'm most jazzed about Marlon Brando's return to the silver screen. I was fascinated by Brando for years and years and years and this is probably the last time I'll ever see a 'new', albeit manufactured, performance from him on the big screen. Being dead will do that to a fellow.

I'm also the world's most faithful Superman fan and I don't need the film to be perfect in order to love it. I just want it to be good and respectful to the characters. I will say before going in that I really wish Lois Lane had been cast older. Even in the previews, she looks like a kid next to everybody else and I already don't buy that she's a single mother of a five-year old. But like I said, I'm keeping an open mind and have my fingers X'ed.

Never in all my life did I imagine there would be so many mixed martial arts cards to watch in such a short span of time. Between the UFC running three full cards in two weeks as well as Pride's fantastic card taking place in Japan this weekend, it's almost an MMA overload. It's a golden age for fans of this little sport.

Finally, I watched a film called The Final Cut with Robin Williams (currently the leading choice to play The Joker in the next Batman film) the other day. I remember when it came out in theaters, taking note of what I felt was an intriguing premise: That a biological camera installed in our heads would record our lives from start to finish and that those memories would be assembled into something like a film for our loved ones to keep for generations on down the line.

The movie itself was a jumbled mess but there was one small scene tucked into it that genuinely touched me. Early on, Robin Williams' character shows his girlfriend a short 'film' he's assembled (he's what's known as a CUTTER, basically an editor of these life films) of an old man at the end of his life, shaving in his bathroom mirror. The film then flashes back 10 or 12 years and we see that same man, younger, in the mirror. These flashbacks continue and the man progressively gets younger until we finally see him at the age of nine, still a boy, trying to shave for the very first time.

I'm not sure what exactly touched me about that sequence except that getting older is one of the main themes I constantly play with in the back of my mind and in my writing. I'm simultaneously fascinated and scared by the idea of aging, losing my youth, and becoming an old man. Seeing an entire life, even a fictional one, condensed into a thirty second span somehow spoke to me. To see where and how a person ends up in life and then flashing back to the beginning of that life, where every door is still open and the future is unwritten...to me that's powerful stuff. Poignant even.

Or maybe it was just the sentimental music playing over the scene. What do I know?

That's all for now.
Keith

Wizard Awards

Do you like me? I mean...really, really like me? Then go vote for me in the Wizard Fan Award Nominations. Here's the link:

http://www.wizarduniverse.com/magazines/wizard/WZfanawards2006.cfm

I'm listed under the category of "Favorite Inker" for my work on JSA. Also, my Image series Armor X can be voted for under "Favorite mini-series." It's not hard to find, it's the first book on the list because it's all alphabetical. If you're feeling particularly warm and fuzzy towards me lately, you can also write me in under the category "Favorite break out talent."

From how this process was explained to me, this nomination ballot is put out there to cull the herd, so to speak. The top vote getters in each category then move on to the actual awards ballot later this summer. I don't realistically expect to win in any category but I would consider it a victory just to be listed on the final ballot along with some really amazingly talented people.

Thanks,
Keith

Late to the party

OK, I'm coming into this one a couple of months late (and if you don't know what this means, you're even more behind the times than I am so get with it, people) but can I just say...

There's motherfuckin' snakes on the motherfuckin' plane!!

I'm there opening night and every friend I have in the world better motherfuckin' be with me.

RIP Tim Hildebrandt

Well, twice in as many weeks, it's eulogy time again.

I found out this afternoon that Tim Hildebrandt passed away at the relatively young age of 67 due to complications from diabetes.

Tim and his twin brother Greg are both internationally renowned fantasy artists. Their most famous works are the original Star Wars poster and the hugely popular series of J.R.R Tolkien calendars they produced in the 70's. Technically, they worked side by side, easel next to easel for most of their professional lives. Occasionally, one would finish whatever painting the other was working on.

On a personal level, I didn't know Tim well but he was my painting teacher in my third year at The Kubert School. I remember him as an easy going fellow, very laid back in his approach to teaching. If you approached him for information, he would gladly share from the reservoir of knowledge he had accumulated over a lifetime of work. If you didn't want to learn, he wasn't going to force it on you. He didn't waste his time with people who weren't interested.

Tim would often come into class and set up 10 or 15 original paintings in the front of the room at the beginning of class, usually whatever he and his brother were working on at the time. They were always gorgeous. Being broke at the time, I used to half-heartedly wish that I could steal one and sell it.

The last time I saw Tim was at the San Diego convention in, I believe, 1994 or 1995. He was signing autographs at the Topps booth next to the Barbi Twins of all people. He graciously pretended to remember me and smiled, shook my hand, and listened politely as I updated him on what I was doing at that time.

I always found the way Tim described his relationship with his brother to be...charming? Beautiful? I don't know the word. They were best friends, creative partners...and they had that psychic twin bond thing you hear about from time to time. It was sort of fantastic and otherwordly and it seemed to fit their roles as fantasy artists.

My heart goes out to his brother most of all.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Hildebrandt.

My friend Dave Baldy(the fellow who is not Burt Reynolds in this picture) recently paid a visit to the set of a film he did some quick rewrite work on. Appearing in this fine motion picture is none other than the legendary Bandit himself. Luckily, there was a camera on set to capture the big moment for all posterity. What are the odds of finding a camera on a movie set? It's almost a miracle.

Not only did Baldy meet Mr. Reynolds, he also lost $200 in poker to Shannon Elizabeth, best known as 'the girl with no shirt on' in several fine feature films, including the first American Pie. Why he didn't charm her into playing strip poker, I'll never know but...to each their own.

I'm pretty sure Baldy is in six foot territory (that's 72 inches for those of you who subscribe to the Metric system), I know he's a couple of inches taller than I am. I was surprised that he absolutely towers over Burt Reynolds in this picture. While it's common knowledge that the magic of movies can make people seem taller than they are, I would also assume that The Bandit has withered with age.

I got a kick out of this picture because let's face it...it will always be cool to meet Burt Reynolds. The only thing that could make Burt Reynolds cooler is if he had made a buddy movie with a monkey at some point.Burt Reynolds + Monkeys = MONEY!

Keeping the pimp hand strong

Because I have this strange compulsion to try and pay my bills in somewhat of a timely fashion, I put up a large auction of JSA artwork on Ebay last night.

http://cgi.ebay.com/JSA-ORIGINAL-ART-10-pages-available-in-one-auction_W0QQitemZ6635500465QQihZ012QQcategoryZ14010QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

OK, I admit I'm just raising extra money to feed my addiction to gambling, pills, and whores. But don't let that stop you from from bidding often and generously.

Keith

Royce Gracie

So Royce Gracie returned to the Octagon and fought Matt Hughes a little over a week ago.

The fight was stopped late in the first round after Hughes took Gracie's back and started raining down punches. The referee stepped in and called a halt to the action in order to save the basically defenseless Royce from taking any permanent damage.

In the aftermath of the fight, many critics now have validation that the newer breed of martial artist is superior to the old guard represented by the fighters of Royce's generation. The almost unanimous consensus going into the fight was that Hughes would dominate, that Royce was behind the curve, that the fight game has changed in the eleven years since Gracie won the first 3 of 4 UFC's.

I still don't know if I agree with that. It's true that father time catches up to all fighters eventually, boxing is riddled with examples that prove that. For whatever reason though, I sort of feel like Royce chose a poor strategy going into this fight. It seemed like he wanted to start slow and wear Hughes down before going for a submission in the later rounds and was caught off guard and overwhelmed early. In a rematch...not that there will ever be one...I might consider putting money on Royce.

I don't have any specific reason why I would still bet on him except that I spent a few hours on Saturday at a jiu jitsu seminar with Royce and about 49 other Gracie Jiu Jitsu students. I'm just awed by the sheer amount of technical knowedge he has locked up in his head, and how clearly and easily he can explain the finer points of different takedowns and submission holds to achieve maximum results. The guy knows his shit, plain and simple. I would speculate that a fighting style founded in Jiu Jitsu, which relies on technique and leverage more than anything else, is something that won't cease to be effective the older the fighter gets.

Youth, speed, strength...these are all things that fade in time. Knowledge though...that never goes out of style and technique can always be refined and built upon, no matter how old we get.

I just realized that I have no real point here. I'm just trying to post something up here to keep the masses placated.

Talk to you soon,
Keith