Greatest Movie Decade...

I love movies even more than comics. Nothing gets my creative juices flowing more than watching a great flick… some of my go-to movies when I need an inspirational kick-in-the-pants are Star Wars, The Godfather, Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, Crumb and others.

I’ve got a little 13 inch TV/DVD combo right next to my computer monitor. It’s been a saving grace for me as it has helped me get through many a boring day putting circles around other people’s writing. The movie I just popped in was the original Alien by Ridley Scott. Holy cow, what an amazing movie. For some reason, I forgot when this movie was released, I thought maybe the early 80’s but it’s 1979 release. It didn’t surprise me at all. The 1970’s produced so many great movies that it’s arguably the best decade for movies. If you ask me, it is the best decade by far.

Just off the top of my head you’ve got:

Star Wars
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Alien
Jaws
Apocalypse Now
Godfather 1 and 2
Rocky
Mean Streets
Taxi Driver
The Exorcist
Superman
Animal House
The French Connection
Annie Hall
Serpico

You’ve got all-time greats in every genre right there and I’m sure I’ve forgotten a ton. I can’t think of a better Sci-Fi flick than the three I named… the Godfather is a good as it gets period…. Great Horror with The Exorcist… some of Scorsese’s best work with Taxi Driver…. I know there’ve been some great superhero flicks recently, but the original Superman is right there with any of the new ones. One of the best Comedies ever made in Animal House. Two of the best Cop movies in French Connection and Serpico. And Rocky is one of the best Sports movies ever made.

Damn, I know I sound old saying this…”but they don’t make ‘em like that anymore.”

C’mon, folks…. Name some more great 1970’s movies.

--Randy

Randall! Closer Than Ever!

Randall has just become a never-ending saga in my little comic book world. I’ve been revamping the story and character for years now. I’m not even sure when the last page of the original Randall was posted, but even then, I had a feeling it would be the last time I’d work on Randall… at least in that form.

So, after countless rewrites and redesigns, 3 or 4 completed pages that will never see webcomic glory… I finished page one and I’m really, really happy with it. Page 2 is thumb nailed out and ready to go.

With a new “LazyComix Presents” on deck, it looks like there’ll be plenty of new Comix over at the site.

Here’s a lil’ sneak preview… Stay tuned.

Here's a few books that won't be late!

With the recent announcement that every comic made from now until the end of time will probably be late… (and it ain’t the Letterer's fault, folks!) Here’s a couple comics you can pick up and enjoy right now.

Brownsville by Neil Klied and Jake Allen
I’m a bit of a New York City Organized Crime Buff and this is a great little Graphic Novel about the Jewish Gangsters of the 1930’s. Great writing and art and just a fun read. Check it out.

Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O'Malley
Picked this up on the suggestion of about every darn person who posts in the “Indy Book” thread over at the Bendis board. At the same time, this book caused a little riff between folks who’ll read a book like Scott Pilgrim and folks who’ll only read the superhero stuff from the Big 2. Why one would limit themselves to only reading superhero books is beyond me, but whatever, that’s a topic for another time. Anyway, Scott Pilgrim is an absolute blast. Loved every page of it. Laugh out loud funny, great writing and dialogue, and innovative to boot. Get out there and pick it up. I’ve only read Volume 1…. But I can’t wait to get my hands on Volumes 2 and 3. Link

Stay tuned folks and Go Yankees.

--randy

NYComix Episode Eight

The latest NYComix is finally up at LazyComix.com.

Check it out here and give feedback!

--Randy

Bolds Bolds Everywhere Bolds

What’s the deal with bold words in comics? I’ve never gotten a straight answer as to what the heck they’re supposed to mean. The best answer I’ve ever gotten, and the one that makes the most sense is that they’re supposed to show you where the speaker would be putting an emphasis in his/her speech. I’ve seen actors circle words in their lines to show where their voice should change to show emotion. Alec Guinness was an actor that did this with his scripts.

The “smash” being where the Green Goliath raised his voice at the height of his anger.

A curse word would be another place where a bold would suffice.

However, being the one responsible for bolding these words as I transfer the script to the comic page, I realize that 99.9% of the bold words I see are completely ridiculous. Words that just make no sense are bolded over and over again. And if you were to read the dialogue with the speech emphasis idea placed on the bolded words, it would sound so silly and absurd that the writing would lose any impact the writer intended. Instead turning into something quite funny. However unintentional it may be.

That’s the kind of stuff I usually see. The only thing I can think of is that the writer is using bold words as a “Hi-Lighter”, emphasizing words he thinks are important and that the reader should notice. In my opinion, you should have confidence in your writing and dialogue, if you did, you wouldn’t need to hi-light an important point. It would come across through your story. It’s like ringing a bell after every important point or hitting your reader over the head as if he/she is incapable of understanding the scene you’re presenting.

I’ve done hand written letters. Complete with paper captions, a hand written font, which was loaded with bold words. When was the last time you sat down to write a letter and used 2 pens? One fine point and the other with a thick point for bold words? Probably never. When’s the last time you used a bold word in a casual email? Maybe once in a while, but I can’t remember getting an email with a bolded word.

Well, that’s it for now. Hope you liked my Andy Rooney-esque Blog. It was a much therapeutic as it was fun to write. Now go read a comic out loud and laugh at what you sound like as you emphasize the bold words.

Mural

Ereisa and I can’t believe we don’t have this mural to work on anymore. Basically everyday for 3 weeks, we worked all day and then headed into Manhattan to work on this. Throw in weekends and you’ve got 2 exhausted artists.

Hopefully this is just the first of many murals to come.