On my drive home from North Carolina yesterday, we were treated to one fireworks display after another. The thing that struck me about this wasn’t that we had fireworks on the 4th of July but how many cars I actually saw pull off of the highway just to catch a glimpse quick burst of luminescence before the color fizzled and was gone forever. That image brought me back to a documentary that I saw last Wednesday entitled Amy. Amy Winehouse was the living embodiment of a 4th of July fireworks demonstration. She quickly rose into the stratosphere of music stardom gaining national acclaim only to fizzle rapidly when addiction brought her life to a screeching halt.
Asif Kapadia had the monumental task of putting this project together. I’m sure a lot of you are wondering what exactly I’m alluding to when I say monumental but it’s hard to achieve total objectivity in a documentary when you are being produced with the blessing of the late singers family. Asif Kapadia said in a statement to Rolling Stone Magazine,” We came on board with the full backing of the Winehouse family, and we approached the project with total objectivity.” The director continued “We conducted one hundred interviews with people that knew Amy. The story that the film tells is a reflection of our findings from these interviews.” One can’t deny that Asif Kapadia went about this the right away in search finding out what lead this bright shining star to fizzle out so rapidly. The film (which is due to come out July 10th) has already touched a nerve with the Winehouse family.
Speaking to The Sun on April 14th, Mitch Winehouse stated,” I felt sick when I watched it for the first time. Amy would have been furious. This is not what she would have wanted.” If you see the documentary, you will understand exactly why he would be so bothered by it. Mr. Kapadia presents a very compelling argument that the one person who may have had the biggest hand in leading her down a dark road of addiction was her own father. Was he the one that was handing her the pills? No, but the constant pressure of producing new songs and simply not acknowledging the fact that she needed help was enough of a catalyst that lead her down that dark path. This film doesn’t let anyone off the hook and presents compelling proof that even her tour management even went as far to feed her addiction by getting her heroin even while she was in rehab.
Through the use of interviews and archival footage you get the distinct impression of a young lady who was dealing with even deeper demons than the obvious ones associated with addiction. Amy’s tour manager at the time even told her that she should go to rehab. Amy stated “that she would go to rehab if her dad signed off on it.” They drove 50 miles to his home and flat out asked her dad to which he responded “absolutely not.” We learn that Amy turned this all too important moment (with the help of Mark Ronson) into the song Rehab that would jettison her into super stardom. Amy presents a haunting look at the life of an artist who found joy in her music and grief in the fame associated with it. The film will continue to garner negativity from the Winehouse family because as the saying goes, the truth hurts. I just read this morning in The Hollywood Reporter, that Mitch Winehouse is even considering his own movie to try and contradict the findings of the Amy documentary.
You can’t deny the brilliance of this documentary. The simplicity in which the director mixes in the archival footage with the music and the interviews they did is marvelous. This documentary is 2 hours long and I found myself wanting to reach out to the screen and help a truly doomed soul. You get to see the young clean Amy Winehouse that many of use never saw head down that rabbit hole of fame and ultimately make choices that lead to her untimely death. Amy seems to be living embodiment of tortured soul. I fully expect to hear about this documentary garnering award consideration towards the end of the year (SEFCA, Florida Film Critics) which will eventually lead to it being nominated for either a Golden Globe or an Oscar. This type of film making should be awarded and celebrated.
Amy Winehouse on stageCould the person to blame for Amy’s tragic demise be her father?
Because the last few years of her all-too-short life were defined more by sordid stories of drug abuse and alcoholism constantly appearing in the tabloids, it may be easier for some to remember the late Amy Winehouse for little more than the pop culture punchline she became, rather than as the singularly-talented artist and humble, down-to-earth human being that she was. Film maker Asif Kapadia (2010’s Senna) seeks to rectify this with his latest documentary work Amy, which utilizes everything from recorded voice mail messages to archival and home video to footage from live appearances and televised performances to put forth a telling of Winehouse’s story that has her voice, her thoughts, and her feelings as front and center as possible. This is Winehouse telling her own story, supplemented by observations from those who knew her best as well as those she worked and collaborated with, and the resulting film is a piece of cinematic art as powerfully poignant as the music Winehouse gave to the masses that came to idolize her.
Kapadia’s film takes audiences chronologically from the years preceding the release of her debut album “Frank” in 2003 through her international breakout success with 2006’s “Back to Black” to her final years, marked by her struggles with substance abuse and her relationship with her then-husband Blake Fielder, who she married in 2007 and who divorced her in 2009 while serving a prison term. Kapadia’s thesis seems to be that Winehouse, who never saw herself as a celebrity, never believed that she’d become a worldwide star and certainly never wished for that status (she even claimed somewhat prophetically that she’d go mad if she ever found herself in that situation) might have survived her self-destructive patterns of behavior had the right people around her put their foot down and told her “No” and “This has to stop” at several specific pivotal moments in her life. The numerous contributors to the film lending their recollections and observations, including but not limited to Fielder, Winehouse’s parents and lifelong friends, her first manager, Nick Shymansky, the producers of her hit albums Salaam Remi (“Frank”) and Mark Ronson (“Back to Black”), and peers such as yasiin bey (Mos Def) and Tony Bennett. When those contributions are pieced together with Winehouse’s own recorded thoughts and musings as well as the lyrics to songs both well-known and unreleased, a picture comes together of a bright, talented, vivacious young artist whose upbringing was perhaps too permissive and unstructured, who suffered from and went untreated for depression from an early age and believed she didn’t need professional help because crafting music and performing was her therapy, and who was prone to addiction and binging, leading to bulemia, heavy marijuana use prior to her stardom, heavy cocaine and crack cocaine usage during the heyday of her career, and heavy alcohol abuse throughout. Her spiral downward from the heights of success and stardom she reached at such an early age — she was 23 when she won five Grammys for “Back to Black” in 2008 — is harrowing and heart-rending, particularly because Kapadia takes time in the film’s first hour to introduce audiences to the teenager, the fierce friend and charming young woman she was before it all went wrong, thus providing some much needed balance to the film to keep it from being entirely funereal.
In addition to the somewhat implicit indictments of particular individuals around Winehouse who come away looking particularly responsible for the eventual tragedy, either because they enabled her self-destructive behavior or didn’t do enough to curtail it, there’s a not-so-subtle finger pointed at worldwide media and its treatment of celebrities, particularly the paparazzi in the UK who came to stalk Winehouse daily and who provided the material for the tabloids to regularly skewer her and portray her as nothing more than an entitled, out-of-control degenerate squandering her youth and her talent on drugs and bad decisions. The depiction of how quickly the tone of Winehouse’s media coverage turns from admiration of a one-of-a-kind talent with her own eclectic sense of style and substance to an easy target for late night television hosts and comedians is startling and brutal, but does not feel exaggerated in any way — time-compressed, perhaps, but not exaggerated.
Of all the elements of Kapadia’s approach to the material that make Amy stand out from other similar documentaries, the one that perhaps stands out the most is his omission of any sort of footage of sit down, face-to-face interviews with the film’s contributors. Audiences will hear their voices, and their names appear on screen so that it’s clear whose thoughts they are listening to, but those voices become voice-over narration for video footage or photo montages of Winehouse herself, thus keeping her always the focus of the production. In addition, Amy’s own music provides almost a secondary commentary track of sorts; as her songs were almost always inspired by her personal experiences, suddenly the real-life inspiration for songs such as “Stronger Than Me”, “Rehab”, and “I’m No Good”, as well as their connections to her overall state-of-mind as she wrote them, comes into sharp focus, and their impact becomes all the more plaintive. Kapadia utilizes the lyrics visually, either showing them in Amy’s own handwriting from her many songwriting notebooks to having them appear on screen as text alongside her as she’s delivering them in performance, and it further enhances the impact of each and every one of those words.
Of course, it’s important to note that Amy is certainly no way an “objective” view of Winehouse’s life and experiences, nor is it meant to be. Certainly there are other sides to this story and other ways it could be told that might have lead to audiences coming away from it with different conclusions. What is clear that Kapadia as a film maker and an artist himself was deeply sympathetic to Winehouse and her struggles, and crafted his film first and foremost to help viewers get to know Amy Winehouse in a very human and humane way. Those who were fans of her music and her style might be the ones who have the hardest time watching what Kapadia has produced, because the loss will no doubt suddenly feel raw and immediate once again. But even those who went totally unaware of her musical gifts and accomplishments, those who only knew her from the jokes made about her and the images of her splashed garishly across the covers of tabloids everywhere, may find themselves charmed by her vibrant persona and charisma, awestruck by her astounding talent, and eventually heart-broken by the course of events that lead to her leaving this world far, far too soon.
Either way, the film Amy, like Winehouse herself, proves to be unforgettable. It’s a film experience that should not be missed.
Amy
Directed by Asif Kapadia.
Running Time: 124 minutes
Rated R for language and drug material.
Ava DuVernay has decided not to work with Marvel Studios and she will not be directing Black Panther, according to an interview with Essence.
“I’m not signing on to direct Black Panther. I think I’ll just say we had different ideas about what the story would be. Marvel has a certain way of doing things and I think they’re fantastic and a lot of people love what they do. I loved that they reached out to me,” said Ava DuVernay.
“I loved meeting Chadwick and writers and all the Marvel execs. In the end, it comes down to story and perspective. And we just didn’t see eye to eye. Better for me to realize that now than cite creative differences later,” said Ava DuVernay.
Black Panther stars Chadwick Boseman and scheduled to hit theaters on November 3, 2017.
Being “over the top” is a part of Mr. Robot‘s modus operandi–the ‘big bad’ is a corporation that our hero calls “Evil Corp”, after all. This week’s episode, however, takes it to the next level, at times pushing the series out of the realm of the possible and into the land of zany coincidences and laughably dramatic monologues.
Jumping right back where we left off, this week’s Mr. Robot finds Elliot asked by Evil Corp–specifically Tyrell Wellick, a tech-wizard himself at one time–to join them in their plans for world dominance. Okay, it’s not that direct, but it might as well be. The rest of the episode follows in this manner, as Elliot waffles between keeping his work-a-day life and throwing in with Mr. Robot’s increasingly mysterious crew.
The episode’s pacing is actually right on the money, moving us swiftly from storyline to storyline, each influencing Elliot’s decision in some way. Take, for instance, this week’s B-story–or the “monster of the week” side plot–wherein Elliot’s drug dealer–sleazy sweetheart, Shayla–has increasingly worrisome interactions with her supplier, leading Elliot to take matters into his own hands. Much like in his dealings with his psychiatrist’s con-man boyfriend from last week, Elliot’s interactions with his dealer’s dealer–an irrevocably evil bloke named Fernando Vera–forecast his reasons for the way that he handles Mr. Robot and his crew, as well as Evil Corp.
It’s just too bad about the dialogue and the handling of characters this time around. Where last week’s Mr. Robot played around with the idea of “evil”–sometimes stopping to consider the slow path it takes to go from average guy to mogul bent on world domination–this week we start out with Tyrell pushing us into the deep end of “evil” with his instantaneous power grab. For those keeping score at home, Tyrell was the very same guy from last week who “still liked to use Linux, because he was legit, and still cool and just like you, hacker bros.” Now all of a sudden he’s ruthless and quick to take over in the stead of Evil Corp’s fallen ruler, Terry Colby. It’s symptomatic of the weakness in this newest Mr. Robot; nearly every character is turned up to eleven. Fernando, the previously mentioned morphine supplier, isn’t just a drug dealer with a ‘tude. He’s a killer, a gun runner and a rapist. And why does he stoop to such means, you ask? Oh, because he realized that he hates himself and that same self-hatred gives him the power to rule the world, only from his little stoop–thus the reason why he can’t make the political/economic moves of the equally evil Tyrell. It’s post-True Detective character work, reveling in the depravity of modern man, but it doesn’t get us anywhere interesting. I get that Fernando presents Elliot’s morality with a dilemma, but Elliot’s ultimate decision doesn’t really say much different about his character than what we learned last week. More than anything, Fernando represents a guy who definitely ISN’T Elliot, even though they have similar character traits, proving that Elliot should definitely be our hero, uh-huh, oh yeah. Even Elliot is given short shrift in this week’s Mr. Robot, going from the quasi-druggy of last week–where his toking lead him to some realistically bad consequences–to becoming a full-on morphine addict this week, starting off the episode by doing four lines of morphine-blow. I won’t lie, it leads to an interesting sequence that plays up Elliot’s paranoia in a fascinating way, but you’re still left scratching your head and wondering, “Wait, why’d he do that again?” Outside of the lazy character work, we also get a cheap cliff hanger this week, one that seems ultimately pointless and phoned-in compared to last week’s legitimately surprising ending. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s another instance where the writing just feels off in this week’s Mr. Robot.
Luckily, the star actors all bring it this time around, with Christian Slater seeming especially comfortable as the mysterious Mr. Robot. Slater delivers on a charm level that makes him a natural as a group leader, never forcing the audience to question what compels Elliot to return to the hacker collective in the face of their dubious actions. Rami Malek returns with his same commitment to the role, making those aforementioned morphine scenes much more bearable where they would probably feel even worse in the hands of a less talented actor. All the other players, however, seem to fall down on the job, potentially because directing duty has shifted from the ever-capable hands of Mr. Robot‘s premiere episode director, Niels Arden Oplev, to the show’s creator, Sam Esmail. I don’t want to pounce on Esmail all throughout this review–after all, the premiere episode was one of the most engaging television pilots of the last few years–but either his writing or directing leads to some really lame character moments that I don’t think rest solely on the actor’s heads. Tyrell’s Martin Wallström in particular, either just doesn’t have the chops for–what should be–a fairly complex part, or Esmail isn’t hitting home the potential gravitas of the character to him. Darlene–the femme fatale of Mr. Robot’s crew–also came up short for me, coming off as annoying and childish, rather than the stand-offish character we got in Mr. Robot’s premiere, who clearly had some baggage that she was bringing to the table.
There’s a moment, somewhere in the middle of the episode, where Slater’s Mr. Robot says emphatically, “The world is a dangerous place, Elliot, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” It’s a salient point, one that seemed to be the ethos behind many of the messages in Mr. Robot‘s pilot episode. It exists here as a buoy amongst a sea of “extreme” scenarios and character personalities, promising that at its core, Mr. Robot still has a strong and willful purpose. I have faith. Sam Esmail dropped the ball with Mr. Robot‘s sophomore effort, but it’s still one of the most intriguing and engaging shows airing this summer and is easily the best thing on the USA Network, as I talked about in last episode’s review. There’s such a thing as a sophomore slump, and often times it takes an artist getting past that creative bump in the road to do some of their best work.
Two heavyweight Spanish directors, J.A. Bayona and Alejandro Amenábar, shot this summer’s commercials for two different beer brands.
J. A. Bayona was internationally acclaimed for his directorial debut The Orphanage (2007), also for manning the gigantic The Impossible (2012), which our new Spidey — Tom Holland — starred in, and for giving the go-ahead to the horror show Penny Dreadful with the first two episodes (that séance scene in episode 2 was incredible). Late last year he was also announced to be in charge of the sequel to World War Z.
Bayona is not exactly new to the advertisement world. In Spain, he’s worked on a commercial for a cleaning product before, turning it into a whole new experience. But now, he was part of an advertising campaign for San Miguel, one of the best known beer brands in the country.
His commercial was shot in Thailand and Spain, with 53 different actors and 254 extras, and finally debuted this week. Kristina Fender, who has worked for BMW, Renault and Hendrick’s campaigns was the director of photography. Essencially, Bayona’s work, titled “Y lo mejor está por llegar” (“And the Best is Yet to Come”), is a proper 1’45’’ long commercial that tells the story of the brand’s 125 years of life. Three famous figures, who were ambassadors for the brand for years, Grace Kelly, Orson Welles and Salvador Dalí are also included via body doubles.
You can watch it after these lines. If you know Spanish, you’ll enjoy it that much more.
Another side of the coin is Alejandro Amenábar’s take in the commercial making business. Of course, you know Amenábar from the brilliant The Others in 2001 (my favorite role Nicole Kidman has ever played), The Sea Inside (2004), which received an Academy Award in 2005, and Agora (2009). He most recently directed Emma Watson, David Thewlis and Ethan Hawke in Regression, which is set to release in US theaters in August 28.
Amenábar co-wrote and directed this commercial titled “Vale” — which you’ll know what it stands for if you watch it— and it isn’t just that, but it’s also a delightful 12 minute short film. It also debuted this week on television. The commercial stars the one and only Dakota Johnson, of 50 Shades of Grey fame, Quim Gutiérrez, a fairly known Spanish actor, and Natalia Tena, who geeks will recognize both as Nymphadora Tonks in Harry Potter and Osha in Game of Thrones.
What’s more engaging about this short film in comparison to Bayona’s cinematic commercial is how subtly is the beer brand, Estrella Damm, introduced and then brought to the center of attention. I really think it is a beautiful work. See for yourself (with English subtitles).
Viz Media has a nice premiere coincidence planned for Boruto – Naruto the Movie. The latest Naruto feature—which focuses on his son, who wishes to surpass his father—will premiere on Naruto’s birthday, October 10, at New York Comic Con.
The Monkeys Fighting Robots movie critic Felix “King” Albuerne chats with Matthew Sardo about Ant-Man, Minions, and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.
The duo also discuss how Jurassic World stormed the box office and how Terminator: Genisys could win the weekend but bomb out quickly.
JULY 2015
July 1 (Wednesday)
Magic Mike XXL
Terminator: Genisys
July 3 (Friday)
Amy (Limited)
Cartel Land (Limited)
Jimmy’s Hall (Limited)
July 10 (Friday)
The Gallows
Minions (in 3D)
Self/less
Tangerine (Limited)
July 17 (Friday)
Ant-Man
Trainwreck
Irrational Man (Limited)
The Look of Silence (Limited)
Mr. Holmes (Limited)
The Stanford Prison Experiment (Limited)
July 24 (Friday)
Paper Towns
Pixels
Southpaw
American Heist (Limited)
July 29 (Wednesday)
Vacation
Listen to Me Marlon (Limited)
July 31 (Friday)
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
Best of Enemies (Limited)
The End of the Tour (Limited)
A LEGO Brickumentary (Limited)
AUGUST 2015
August 7 (Friday)
Fantastic Four
The Gift
Ricki and the Flash
Cop Car (Limited)
The Diary of a Teenage Girl (Limited)
The Runner (Limited)
Shaun the Sheep Movie (Limited)
August 14 (Friday)
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Straight Outta Compton
Underdogs
Mistress America (Limited)
People, Places, Things (Limited)
August 19 (Wednesday)
Masterminds
August 21 (Friday)
American Ultra
Hitman: Agent 47
Sinister 2
Grandma (Limited)
She’s Funny That Way (Limited)
Z for Zachariah (Limited)
August 28 (Friday)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend (IMAX Only)
Regression
We Are Your Friends
War Room (Limited)
Today Image Comics made a slew of exciting creator-owned announcements at Image Expo.
“I’m so pleased with how many amazing, talented creators we’re welcoming into the Image Comics family this coming year,” said Eric Stephenson, Publisher at Image Comics. “These individuals bring to life stories that run the gamut in genre from thrillers and horror to science-fiction and comedy and I can’t wait to see their breathtaking work hit the shelves.”
Image Comics revealed the following creator-owned projects set to launch in the coming year.
INVINCIBLE: REBOOT
THE WALKING DEAD editor and Skybound Entertainment’s Editorial Director Sean Mackiewicz announced the forthcoming reboot of Kirkman’s long-running superhero series, INVINCIBLE.
In this new direction for INVINCIBLE, Mark suddenly finds himself without powers. Back home… but aware of everything he’s lived through. What does he change, who can he save… and how will he deal with his father now that he knows what’s coming?
The INVINCIBLE reboot will begin with issue #124 and is set to launch on October 21 and will retain the same creative team with THE WALKING DEAD writer Robert Kirkman and art by Ryan Ottley, Cliff Rathburn, and Jean-Francois Beaulieu.
CODENAME BABOUSHKA: THE CONCLAVE OF DEATH
What if the sexy Russian Bond girl was actually the hero?
Written by Antony Johnston (THE FUSE, The Coldest City, Daredevil) with art by Shari Chankhamma (SHELTERED, The Sisters’ Luck), and letters by Simon Bowland, CODENAME BABOUSHKA is an action-packed modern pulp spy thriller. Full of high-stakes thrills in exotic locations, CODENAME BABOUSHKA follows a kick-ass female hero in the style of James Bond and Modesty Blaise!
“Codename Baboushka has everything you’d expect from me: a kick-ass female hero, bags of tension, and deep, dark secrets that everyone’s trying to figure out,” said Johnston. “But it’s also way more high-octane than anything I’ve done before, with guns, fists, and explosions everywhere!”
The enigmatic Contessa is a wealthy socialite, the last heiress to a noble Russian line—and secretly a deadly assassin! Blackmailed by the US government to carry out dirty jobs even the CIA can’t sanction, she’s got nothing to lose… and everything to fight for!
CODENAME BABOUSHKA #1 hits this October 2015.
CAMP MIDNIGHT
From Man of Action’s Steven T. Seagle and The New Yorker artist Jason Adam Katzenstein comes CAMP MIDNIGHT, an original 256-page graphic novel set to hit stores in early October 2015, just in time for Halloween reading.
Reluctant camper Skye is accidentally sent to the wrong camp for the summer. Not wanting to please her “step monster,” Skye is dead-set on not fitting in. Luckily, that won’t be a problem, as everyone at Camp Midnight—with the exception of fellow camper and fast-friend Mia—seems to be a full-fledged monster.
“Camp Midnight is a brilliant graphic novel debut for cartoonist Jason Adam Katzenstein, and it’s the perfect book for readers who loved Raina Telgemeier’s Smile, but wished it had more bowls of gooey eyeballs during the dinner scenes,” said Seagle.
Can Skye keep her identity as a human secret until she catches the bus for home? Is all of this a figment of her overactive imagination? And what about Skye’s major crush on a boy who is far, really far, from her usual type? Find out in CAMP MIDNIGHT.
BLUE MONDAY: THIEVES LIKE US
BLUE MONDAY: THIEVES LIKE US makes its triumphant return with an all-new series from Eisner and Harvey Award-nominated cartoonist Chynna Clugston Flores. Bleu, Clover, Victor, Alan, and the entire gang from Fresburger, California are back! Winter has thawed into spring, the whole world is thinking about sex, and it’s all Bleu’s fault! Or at least, it seems that way.
Maybe Bleu should just suck it up and try to get some experience in these matters so that she can finally woo her history teacher, Mr. Bishop, once and for all. What schemes will she cook up to achieve her outrageous goal? And what the heck is going on between Clover and Victor? And Alan and Erin?! Is that really a thing now? Find out in this new series of teenage calamities and catastrophes that’s repeatedly been likened to “Archie Comics on crack.”
BLUE MONDAY: GERMFREE ADOLESCENTS
For the first time ever, Chynna Clugston Flores’ entire original catalog of BLUE MONDAY comics are collected together in one, massive volume from Image Comics in BLUE MONDAY: GERMFREE ADOLESCENTS. Experience the Pepsi-fueled misadventures of Bleu L. Finnegan, comics’ favorite blue-haired, Buster Keaton-obsessed, Adam Ant-worshipping teenager from the very beginning.
GERMFREE ADOLESCENTS collects in order all of the previously-published miniseries and one-shot comics, along with all of the rare short stories of the critically-acclaimed comedy that has often been compared to the comics work of Rumiko Takahashi and the John Hughes/Molly Ringwald film collaborations of the 1980s. This collection also includes tons of behind-the-scenes material you won’t want to miss.
SCOOTER GIRL
Chynna Clugston Flores also announced an all-new series, SCOOTER GIRL, a love letter to southern California mod and scooter culture. SCOOTER GIRL is Chynna Clugston Flores’ screwball romantic comedy classic. Ashton Archer has it all. He’s the biggest man on his high school campus, he’s got a huge family fortune waiting for him, and his closet and garage are full of the coolest accoutrements available, from flashy suits to swank shoes to a slick Vespa scooter.
It appears that nothing can go wrong for this hard-hearted hottie—that is, until the confident and fashionable Margaret Sheldon motors by on her Lambretta. At that moment, Ashton’s life takes a turn for the worse. Everyone at school suddenly hates him, his father declares bankruptcy, and his scooter gets run over by a truck. Even high-tailing it out of town does him no good, because wherever he goes, Margaret follows. How can he get out of the black curse this woman has placed on his life? By getting her to fall in love with him, or else!
“I am extremely excited to be announcing that Blue Monday and Scooter Girl are back to print with Image Comics,” said Clugston Flores. “These series are near and dear to my heart, I’m hoping that not only new readers will embrace them, but that original fans will be pleased to see these sharp new collections as well as brand new Blue Monday material. There’s a lot in store, a lot of laughs, and a hell of a lot of fun to be had!”
THROWAWAYS
Throwaway (n.):
Cold War slang for a deniable asset, a disposable assassin meant to die alongside their target.
1973. Project MK-ULTRA shuts down for good, its goal of creating brainwashed assassins and psychic spies unrealized. That’s the story the world believes for thirty years, until Dean Logan, son of a successful ULTRA test subject, narrowly escapes a team of enhanced operatives sent to kidnap him back into the fold. On the run—not just from the dirtiest secret the CIA ever funded—but his own out of control psychic abilities, Dean is saved by Abby Palmer, a former Army Ranger taken by ULTRA in Afghanistan and reprogrammed to be an unstoppable, disposable killer.
Except Abby survived her expiration date, and now she’s turned her deadly skillset toward one goal: destroying the ULTRA program and dragging its masterminds into the light. Teaming up to take them down, Dean and Abby quickly discover ULTRA’s leadership has gone rogue, and the program’s charismatic head doctor has her own plans—for Dean and Abby, for ULTRA, and for the United States itself.
Looking into a future of superpowered assassins, telepathic intelligence agents, and far-reaching, government-toppling conspiracies, THROWAWAYS written by Caitlin Kittredge with art by Steve Sanders is the spy thriller as you’ve never seen it before.
SUNSET PARK
Something’s up in Sunset Park, and it ain’t just the rent. Are Brooklyn’s gentrifiers more than just economic vampires? A cartoonist draws a macabre story from a collection of notes, journals, movies and other ephemera he finds boxed, abandoned in the studio he’s recently rented along the latest frontline in gentrification’s relentless march over Brooklyn in SUNSET PARK.
Among the boxed items are what could be a copy of an old Warhol vampire film and what looks to be a journal belonging to Jean Michel Basquiat. SUNSET PARK is an all-new, limited series by Ron Wimberly coming from Image Comics.
SLAVE PUNK
Ron Wimberly teased a second forthcoming project with Image Comics, SLAVE PUNK: WHITE COAL. SLAVE PUNK tells the story of how a genius slave defied the powerful King Cotton and ignited the Civil War in an attempt to end slavery.
CRY HAVOC
Image Comics announced CRY HAVOC, a new series written by Simon Spurrier (X-Men Legacy, Marvel Zombies, The Spire), with art by Ryan Kelly (Lucifer, Northlanders, Three), and featuring colors by Lee Loughridge and Matt Wilson, letters by Simon Bowland, and design by Emma Price. CRY HAVOC is a journey into war-torn Afghanistan in the company of monsters, a London street-musician savaged by a ghostly hound, and a terrified prisoner tangled in a folkloric insurrection.
“Beneath all its snark, fanged horror-beasts, deadly firefights and exploding billy-goats, Cry Havoc is the intimate tale of one woman struggling to keep her life from falling apart,” said Spurrier. “To depict it all I’ve been lucky enough to partner with Ryan, who’s genuinely one of the greatest storytellers our medium has—not to mention a next-level monster-wrangler. Add to that some narrative mold breaking by our roster of superstar colorists and Cry Havoc is snarling to be set loose.”
CRY HAVOC features three parallel and interwoven story threads in the life of Lou Canton: an extraordinary woman being consumed by chaos with three different colorists lending their artistic takes in order to define the separate phases of the story.
Best described as Jarhead via Pan’s Labyrinth, CRY HAVOC is a modern mix of myth, military, and monstrosity.
BLACK MAGICK
Bestselling writer Greg Rucka and artist Nicola Scott team up to conjure an all-new ongoing series in BLACK MAGICK, set to launch just in time for Halloween.
“I’m calling it witch-noir, because it’s not quite crime and it’s not wholly about the supernatural, but the two are somehow dancing together,” said Rucka. “And with Nicola’s art, it’s turned into a beautiful dance, indeed. I’ve been waiting six years to share Rowan’s story with the world, waiting even longer to get to work with Nicola on something creator-owned. This is that chance, and we’re both seizing it!”
BLACK MAGICK follows Rowan Black, robbery/homicide detective in the city of Portsmouth, and the latest in a line of traditional witches who can trace their lineage—and memories—back to before the library of Alexandria burned. Rowan has carefully built a wall between her professional life and her faith, but now that barrier is cracking.
If magick is the power to impose one’s own will on reality, where does that leave the rest of us?
CROSSWIND
CROSSWIND is the cutting edge story of a suave, sharp hitman from Chicago and a seemingly unremarkable housewife from Seattle, and how they accidentally end up switching lives. It’s a suspense fantasy full of sex, violence, and the blackest of humor. Written with sardonic wit by Gail Simone and stunningly realized by Cat Staggs, CROSSWIND will be one of the most talked about books of the year.
Simone assured fans: “This is the comic that might make Dr. Wertham come back from the dead to try to ban comics again.”
THE GODDAMNED
SOUTHERN BASTARDS writer Jason Aaron, artist R.M. Guerra of Scalped, and colorist Giulia Brusco turn their attention to… The Bible in THE GODDAMNED.
Before the great flood, the world is filled with violence and wickedness. In just a couple thousand years, humanity has gone from paradise to depravity and ruin. God is beginning to seriously regret having ever created man in the first place.
Welcome to the world of THE GODDAMNED, an all-new, ongoing series to launch from Image Comics in November 2015. Set just before the Biblical flood, in a world so out of control with violence and depravity, God is just about to pull the plug. “It’s part caveman adventure story, part stark and brutal western,” said Aaron. “And did I mention there are dinosaurs? Imagine if Quentin Tarantino was hired to direct the movie version of the book of Genesis. That’s pretty much what we’re aiming for.”
THE OTHER SIDE: Deluxe Edition
Jason Aaron and Cameron Stewart also announced that a new, deluxe edition of THE OTHER SIDE would be coming to Image Comics.
HEARTLESS
Legendary comics writer Warren Ellis teams up with artist Tula Lotay again for a modern folktale about love, revenge, and the deadly grip of the supernatural in, HEARTLESS.
A female musician returns to northern England, where her family owned a little cottage in the middle of a forest. She wrote her first album there, and she’s “going back to the countryside,” as musicians used to, to write her next one. But the forest doesn’t want her there. She’s returning to face her demons—one in particular—and put herself back together, but the forest remembers what she did, and the devil wants his due.
Ellis said of the new project: “I wrote this for Tula, and it’s full of all the stuff we love: the spooky stories, the landscape, the folklore, and the things that haunt us.”
HUCK
Bestselling writer Mark Millar (Kingsman: The Secret Service, Kick-Ass, WANTED) will team up with artist Rafael Albuquerque (American Vampire) for an all-new project to be titled, HUCK.
Millar said of the project: “All the best old comics were about people you didn’t expect becoming empowered. Peter Parker wasn’t a classic hero. He was a lonely teenager. Matt Murdock was blind. Tony Stark had a heart condition. Doctor Donald Blake couldn’t walk without a stick. So we wanted to do something incredibly sweet about a small-town guy with learning difficulties who could do all these amazing things. He’s the purest, most decent character you’ve ever seen in a comic book. A big guy who just wants to help people and does it in secret so nobody even knows he even exists. It’s the ultimate feel good comic. A Frank Capra superhero story I guess about a small town and a close-knit community and an amazing guy they just all want to shelter from the outside world. He’s Captain America meets Forrest Gump. He’s just a nice guy in a very classic mould.
“Working with Rafael has been amazing. I’ve always been a fan, but you really only fully appreciate an artist when you see what he does with one of your scripts. I think this is one of the most beautifully drawn comics I’ve ever had my name on and it’s been such a pleasure. I finished the whole project in early summer and I’m starting the second arc soon. We’ve got three of these stories planned, each one six issues long, and we’re just having a good time. I think you stumble on something special every once in a while as a creator and my gut tells me we’ve got a project like that here.”
PRIVATE EYE: The Deluxe Hardcover
Nominated for three Eisner Awards, PanelSyndicate.com’s digital comics sensation THE PRIVATE EYE by Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin with colors by Muntsa Vincente is finally coming to print in a gorgeous deluxe hardcover edition. The book will hit stores this November 2015.
“Readers and retailers have been begging us for a physical version of this story ever since we first announced our hard-boiled parable about the future of privacy in America,” said Vaughan. “So when the time came, Marcos and I knew that we had to go with Image Comics, the most creator-friendly publisher of print comics ever.”
Set in an inevitable future where everyone has a secret identity, THE PRIVATE EYE is an eerily prescient sci-fi mystery about an unlicensed private investigator who stumbles onto the most important case of his life.
SNOTGIRL
New York Times bestselling writer Bryan Lee O’Malley teams up with artist Leslie Hung, colorist Mickey Quinn, and letterer/designer Maré Odomo for SNOTGIRL, a dark comedy set in the world of fashion bloggers.
“Snotgirl is funny and f*cked up,” O’Malley warned. “It’s full of fascinating characters you’ll love to hate. Leslie’s art is lush and beautiful.”
Lottie is a huge success—she’s blog famous! Her online persona is flawless and fun, but her real life is filled with woes. She has terrible allergies, she just got dumped, and her blogger friends don’t understand her. Things turn around when Lottie instantly clicks with Caroline, a new girl on the scene… but can she turn chemistry into friendship, or will she ruin everything?
Hung added: “This is my first ongoing series, so I’m really excited. Snotgirl is going to be the best comic ever, if we don’t die making it!”
VIRGIL OGN
Betrayed, beaten, and banished by his own, an outed cop fights his way across Jamaica for revenge.
UNDERTOW and Midnighter writer Steve Orlando and Murder Book artist JD Faith present a brand new, “queersploitation” graphic novel on the streets of Jamaica in, VIRGIL, in stores this September 2015.
This is a Foxy Brown-style revenge action with a new face and new fists. Holding his gun and his badge, Virgil thought he was safe in the police force, hiding who he is. But when his own brothers on the force out him in the papers, it doesn’t bring him down. It sets him free!
Now, he’s out for revenge. And he’s not leaving town without his man, and some blood on his hands.
From the foreword: “Steve Orlando and J.D. Faith have taken the conventions of the revenge thriller, mixed them in with elements of queersploitation, and managed to deliver a graphic novel that is entertaining, relevant, and politicized.” —David Walker, writer of Shaft, Cyborg
HADRIAN’S WALL
From the creative team behind the critically-acclaimed series C.O.W.L.—Kyle Higgins, Alec Siegel, and Rod Reis—comes a new psychological thriller in HADRIAN’S WALL, where the secrets of everyone involved are as dark as the space that surrounds them. The series is set to launch from Image Comics this November 2015.
In 1983, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union culminated with nuclear detonations in New York City and Moscow. In the decades following, the two superpowers found peace through a partnership focused on building the first colony in space. But now, seventy years later, a new Cold War simmers… between Earth and that very Colony.
“With C.O.W.L., Image afforded us the tremendous opportunity to launch a creator-owned series focusing on dark, complex, morally ambiguous characters in a time of great change,” said Higgins. “We’re thrilled to continue that trend with Hadrian’s Wall, and even more thrilled to continue our partnership with Image.”
When a crewmember dies aboard one of Earth’s survey ships, HADRIAN’S WALL, investigator Simon Moore looks to determine whether foul play is involved. However, once on board, it doesn’t take Simon long to realize that few things are what they seem… including the identities of the crew and the real reason HADRIAN’S WALL is on the edges of Colony Space. With every crewmember a suspect, and tensions between Earth and the Colony mounting, the fate of both worlds may come down to one man and a ship.
AXCEND
Creator and writer/artist Shane Davis alongside inker Michelle Delecki and colorist Morry Hollowell bring AXCEND to Image Comics this October 2015.
“In Axcend, teenager, Eric Morn’s life revolves around gaming,” said Davis. “He quickly finds himself locked against a vicious player only to realize the game, Axcend, has carried over into the real world with apocalyptic consequences.”
What happens when a video game decides to come to our reality to play? When there are no extra lives, and Armageddon looms on the horizon, when your life revolves around gaming like teenager Eric Morn, you Press Start.
FASTER THAN LIGHT
Written and drawn by Brian Haberlin, Shadowline/Image Comics is pleased to introduce readers to an all-new, interactive storytelling experience in FASTER THAN LIGHT, launching this September 2015.
In the very near future we discover the secret of faster-than-light travel. Suddenly the universe is wide open to us, but are we ready for it? With all the idealism of the original Star Trek and the grit and immediacy of Gravity, the story of humanity’s first thrilling and terrifying adventures to the stars takes flight!
Every issue features Anomaly’s free cutting edge Augmented Reality app, which makes it look like interactive holograms are coming out of the book!
EXPIRED
Written by Jimmie Robinson (THE EMPTY) with art by Richard Pace, Shadowline/Image Comics also announced an all-new, five-issue supernatural crime series, EXPIRED.
In EXPIRED, a homeless war vet ends up helping a ghost who is connected to an old coin-operated parking meter. He can only see and communicate with her as long as he feeds the meter. He has to solve the murder before the city replaces the meter with a modern version — and before the killer finds him, but who’s going to believe a homeless guy who looks like he’s talking to himself?
THE ONE%
Critically-acclaimed writer/artist/director Kaare Kyle Andrews (Spider-Man: Reign, Iron Fist: The Living Weapon) targets THE ONE% with his very first creator-owned comic.
In THE ONE%, they own more than half the world, and Renato Jones is going to even the score… one percent at a time.
“Creator-owned comics have always been part of the plan,” said Andrews. “I can’t believe I’ve waited so long to make the leap. I am hungry, I am angry, and I am throwing everything I have into this series. A dark neo-noir tribute to focus all of my rage and revenge.”
RINGSIDE
RINGSIDE is an ongoing drama written by Joe Keatinge (SHUTTER, TECH JACKET), with art by Nick Barber, colors by Simon Gough, and letters by Ariana Maher set around the world of professional wrestling and coming from Image Comics this November. The series explores the artistry of performers rotating as cogs in the corporate machinery of an industry built to sell myth to the masses.
“Ever since I was a kid I’ve been caught up in the mythology professional wrestling sells us, that these larger-than-life men and women are unstoppable titans locked in a never-ending, action-packed drama,” said Keatinge. “However, in time you learn that they’re just as human as anyone else, that they’re very much putting their lives on the line to entertain us, that they’re just as much part of a corporate machine built for profit as anyone else. Ringside’s a book about taking apart that machine and seeing how the industry functions and the lives it affects from a rotating set of angles including the wrestlers themselves, the creatives they work with, the suits in charge and the fans cheering them all on.”
RINGSIDE starts with three perspectives: a retired veteran forced to fight his greatest battle in the real world, a rookie struggling to get his first shot and a writer frustrated over lack of control.
We here at Monkeys Fighting Robots are starting a new initiative aimed at developing our growing community and readership. We are launching our very own Book Club. Every fort-night, we are going to look at a classic comic or graphic novel and review it here on the website and we want you to help us.
Here’s where you come in, we want you to read along with us and send us in your thoughts via Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus. The best comments will be featured in our review. It allows you to have a forum for views and read some awesome comic literature while you are at it.
It all begins in two weeks time with the first volume of Ultimate Spider-Man: Power and Responsibility which collects issues 1-7 of Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley’s seminal run. “Think you know Spider-Man? Think again! Marvel’s most famous hero is re-imagined for a whole new generation in a tragic tale of power and responsibility. Discover a brand new take on the wall-crawler’s origins, plus the very first battle against his archenemy, the Green Goblin. ”
In the mean-time if you have any suggestions for our Book Club, leave them in the comments below.
If you are good at reading the tea leaves, Comic Con International will be in San Diego till 2018. Then today, San Diego’s Mayor Kevin Faulconer made it official.
“Comic-Con is here to stay in San Diego for another two years,” said Faulconer.
Comic Con International extended its contact with the city till 2018.
Hopefully in that time the San Diego can get things together to keep the convention in town long term.
According to NBC San Diego, Hoteliers told the Union Tribune that they were asked by Comic Con to not raise their rates for 2017 and 2018 and to maintain the same number of discounted hotel rooms for the convention.
