I received my copy of the SERGEANT ZERO preview issue in the mail on Friday. He’s a character I’ve seen here and there, mostly on face book, and when I saw a link on twitter for the preview, I knew I had to get one. Folks, buying the occasional indy comic from the internet is FUN. Check out all the wonderful pages that I saw online for free, if you’re feeling the pinch.

Well, friends, I read through the issue, and well, they got me. Haha. The preview worked, and I really want more. Anthony Schavino’s writing is like a staccato piano piece, attention grabbing and moody. Simone Guglielmini’s art stylings are prefectly suited to the story and really let the mood breath. He gives you just enough realism to satisfy without tripping over his own photo reference trying to impress you.

I don’t like to say “noir”, because I think it is over used. But it is applicable in this case. Though the major sequence of the preview issue is a war story, it isn’t really a war book at heart. It’s not a war procedural. It’s a noir book. It’s about the best man of his world being thrown into darkness so deep he can’t touch the bottom.

At first glance, it may appear to be a Captain America clone, but it’s not really. Cap, no matter what, will always cope, will always succeed. Sergeant Zero can’t. The tagline is “A soldier few remember… including himself”. He doesn’t return from the war ready for a life of crime fighting and service of his country. He comes back hoping he can “paper and coffee in the morning” his way back to a normal, forgettable life. Sergeant Zero starts as any classic noir, with a seemingly simple case, only in this book the “case” is World War II.

Another thing that struck me about this book. Captain America was written before the war by a couple of Joes that wanted into a war. Like saying, “Hey there are MONSTERS out there, and we got to go clobber them!”. Sergeant Zero is just in over his head. Deep behind the German lines, locked in with the monsters.

Can’t wait to see how it turns out.

See you, Tino Titians!

BRANDED TO KILL is a very strange movie. It’s one of those movies that gets called a “cult classic” more because people don’t understand it than there are actual cults devoted to it. Not a whole lot of crime proper in this movie, but a lot of weird, weird sex. If that’s the kind of thing you like, this is your movie.

About the illo, I wanted to try something as conceptual as the movie was. Not sure how I did, but I’m glad I finished it. Also, I like women. I like hot women. I like drawing hot women. But I don’t do it very often, as I think you can see. This movie had some real knock-out ladies in it, but my in abilities to communicate that to the board is a little frustrating. Still, practice makes perfect. I hope to draw more women this year than I have in years passed.

That might be it until Monday, so God Speed, Tino Titans.

Okay, Tino Titans, buckle up, Immo talk some serious movie here.

YAKUZA PAPERS is supposedly THE Yakuza movie to kick off the who 70′s crime film boom in Japan. It’s like the ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA of Yakuza films. My friends, whatever you think of the rest of the movie, the first 30 minutes are incredible.

The opening credits has a photo montage much like SOILENT GREEN, starting with a photo of an atomic explosion to illustrate the sudden and horrible slide into the poverty and disparity of post-war reconstruction Japan. To survive, you either signed to kiss American ass, whored yourself out, gambled, or cut people (so the movie shows anyway).

Shozo, the man with the gun in the illo, agrees to kill a Yakuza thug. He is thrown in prison and become cellmates with another Yakuza enforcer from a different family. Shozo’s cell mate plans to escape prison by being transfered to a hospital after cutting his belly open. He strikes a bargain with Shozo, he will get Shozo’s bail money if in turn Shozo strangles him to death if the pain of the fake attempted suicide is too much. Shozo’s bail is paid in a few months and he joins the Yakuza with his new blood brother.

And it’s all shootings, stabbings, and back-stabbings for the rest of the movie. But the raw depravity of the movies setup was just too… brilliant.  Hope you see it someday.

First try with a more environmentally in-depth wash. More work than I thought, but I learned many great things. I’ll be smarter next time.

Okay, so about the movie. ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS is an excellent French crime movie. I’m not going to say ‘must see’, but it had many wonderfully messed up ideas in it. I don’t know if there is a main character or not, the story is split pretty evenly in focus, and there is a almost tediously slow pace, but the ending is really worth it.

More coming this week, stay tuned, Tino Titans!

My bro is working on some crime comics. Here is a character he’s worked out. I now really want to ink them in washes.

Love Lee Marvin’s whole… you know, thing he’s got going for him. Tommy Lee Jones I think is the only guy who comes close to the same kind of presence that Marvin had.