This past weekend in San Francisco was WonderCon, our wetter and more contained version of Comic-Con. I opted this year to skip the main festivities entirely, save for seeing cartoonist friends Lark and Thien; WonderCon is growing, a show that is definitely on the rise in terms of exposure & celebrity appearances, but for a fan like me there was little of specific interest-- give me APE or TCAF any day!
That said, I did make a point of attending the end of WonderCon on Friday to watch a panel titled, "How Computers Took Over Comics." This panel featured Steve Oliff reuniting with a number of artists from his original Olyoptics crew, along with Erik Larsen of Image Comics. In the panel, Steve and the guys talked about their work on the Epic color edition of Akira, which was a major and important step in the transition from flat 64-color to computer full-color.
If you want to read a little deeper into the specifics of computer color and blue-line process, please check out this interview with Steve Oliff conducted by Frank Santoro. For folks that remember, Last Fall I put up a post about the Akira color guides, the B&W xeroxes of Otomo's line work that Steve hand painted and colored to serve as guides for separations and computer coloring. Steve also mentioned he will again be selling the Akira color guides at APE 2010(!).
I wasn't able to get my hand on an audio recorder to capture the entire panel, but I took a few notes and shot a short video when Steve was discussing Akira. Two asides that really stuck out to me were:
Working and thinking in CMYK was the way of life for the Olyoptics crew; To this end, they used to play games around the office where someone would point at a color on a wall or sign and folks would try to guess the exact CMYK numbers!
When asked for his main piece of advice, Steve said to always "Color a comic like you were lighting for a film."
When asked about his favorite color work he's done, Steve pointed to Issue #32 of Akira as the high point of trying out new techniques with the technology.
As for current projects, Steve/Olyoptics are now working on doing new coloring for Walter Simonson's entire run on Thor for a re-release Marvel is planning to tie-in to the film next year.
For Akira fans, here is a 4-minute video where Steve Oliff goes into some of the specifics of working on the first few issues for Epic:
I'll add this video to Vimeo soon, but here's another short clip about Oliff working with Otomo on blocking out color themes for the first issues of Akira:
This past weekend in San Francisco was WonderCon, our wetter and more contained version of Comic-Con. I opted this year to skip the main festivities entirely, save for seeing cartoonist friends Lark and Thien; WonderCon is growing, a show that is definitely on the rise in terms of exposure & celebrity appearances, but for a fan like me there was little of specific interest-- give me APE or TCAF any day!
That said, I did make a point of attending the end of WonderCon on Friday to watch a panel titled, "How Computers Took Over Comics." This panel featured Steve Oliff reuniting with a number of artists from his original Olyoptics crew, along with Erik Larsen of Image Comics. In the panel, Steve and the guys talked about their work on the Epic color edition of Akira, which was a major and important step in the transition from flat 64-color to computer full-color.
If you want to read a little deeper into the specifics of computer color and blue-line process, please check out this interview with Steve Oliff conducted by Frank Santoro. For folks that remember, Last Fall I put up a post about the Akira color guides, the B&W xeroxes of Otomo's line work that Steve hand painted and colored to serve as guides for separations and computer coloring. Steve also mentioned he will again be selling the Akira color guides at APE 2010(!).
I wasn't able to get my hand on an audio recorder to capture the entire panel, but I took a few notes and shot a short video when Steve was discussing Akira. Two asides that really stuck out to me were:
Working and thinking in CMYK was the way of life for the Olyoptics crew; To this end, they used to play games around the office where someone would point at a color on a wall or sign and folks would try to guess the exact CMYK numbers!
When asked for his main piece of advice, Steve said to always "Color a comic like you were lighting for a film."
When asked about his favorite color work he's done, Steve pointed to Issue #32 of Akira as the high point of trying out new techniques with the technology.
As for current projects, Steve/Olyoptics are now working on doing new coloring for Walter Simonson's entire run on Thor for a re-release Marvel is planning to tie-in to the film next year.
For Akira fans, here is a 4-minute video where Steve Oliff goes into some of the specifics of working on the first few issues for Epic:
I'll add this video to Vimeo soon, but here's another short clip about Oliff working with Otomo on blocking out color themes for the first issues of Akira:
Exciting news for fans of psychedelic horror, one of my alltime favorite Japanese films is finally getting a proper DVD release (with English subtitles). Eureka Video is planning a 2010 release of cult masterpiece, HOUSE (aka HAUSU), directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi (director of the insane film adaptation of Umezu's Drifting Classroom).
It's been a bit of a challenge to track down, but lots of folks including me know this film from torrents that have made the rounds online. More recently, it was shown at a number of film festivals in the Fall of 2009. HOUSE is an insane and retarded piece of perfection- a visual distillation of most everything we at Same Hat hold dear aesthetically. Flying heads a la Bali Mystics? CHECK. Hand-drawn trippy backdrops and bursts of anachronystic, analog color sfx? CHECK. Singing babes and blood-spewing cats? CHECK. Carnivorous piano and Amityville horror? CHECK.
With help from Evan and Ryan G., we actually projected HOUSE on the wall of my apartment at my last birthday party. This article from the Village Voice helps give some context on this 1977 triumph (is that the right word here?). They say:
An uncanny prophecy of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2 a decade later, this exhumed freaker conjoins New Agey schoolgirl farce and the cheesiest then-there-were-none haunted-house dynamic imaginable, while the painted backdrop skies suggest Teletubbies and the special effects run from solarized-video-absurd to cardboard-hilarious. The rum-stumble cast and crew obey no rules—the movie often seems to have two or three conflicting scores running simultaneously, and inappropriate freeze frames and pointless fades to black are the norm. The story isn't a story at all: A gaggle of sailor-uniformed schoolgirls (with names like Gorgeous, Prof, and Fantasy) head to a weird aunt's cheap-set house for spring break, and start getting minced up, one by one, into crude superimpositions, perambulating body parts, and rivers of blood that look like cherry Hi-C.
It's a real treat to finally get a proper DVD release of HOUSE, and it's my most-wanted film release of 2010. The Eureka Video catalogue doesn't give a specific release date, but I'll be keeping my eyes peeled:
If you're already into HOUSE and can't get enough, I'd like to also mention that Same Hat friend and artist Brendan Ninness created a HOUSE-inspired piece for Electric Ant #2's illustration feature, THESE BLOODY MOMENTS. Here is a smaller version of that piece: [As always, if you haven't yet you can still purchase a copy of the zine.]
Here's the Japanese trailer for HOUSE, followed by some stills. Enjoy!
UPDATE: As commenter Stephen mentioned, there are rumors that Janus/Criterion are going to be releasing HOUSE in the US as a Criterion DVD/Blu-Ray, as Janus was responsible for organizing the showings of the film at festivals last fall. The just posted this Q&A article on their blog too. That said, it's still sorta unofficial 'til they confirm or put it on their release schedule. Has anyone heard more specifics? (thanks, Stephen!) In the meantime, as Matt points out, Janus is taking HOUSE to independent movie theaters around the US in the Spring and Summer. Full schedule is online here. I'll be at the April 17 show in San Francisco!
Exciting news for fans of psychedelic horror, one of my alltime favorite Japanese films is finally getting a proper DVD release (with English subtitles). Eureka Video is planning a 2010 release of cult masterpiece, HOUSE (aka HAUSU), directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi (director of the insane film adaptation of Umezu's Drifting Classroom).
It's been a bit of a challenge to track down, but lots of folks including me know this film from torrents that have made the rounds online. More recently, it was shown at a number of film festivals in the Fall of 2009. HOUSE is an insane and retarded piece of perfection- a visual distillation of most everything we at Same Hat hold dear aesthetically. Flying heads a la Bali Mystics? CHECK. Hand-drawn trippy backdrops and bursts of anachronystic, analog color sfx? CHECK. Singing babes and blood-spewing cats? CHECK. Carnivorous piano and Amityville horror? CHECK.
With help from Evan and Ryan G., we actually projected HOUSE on the wall of my apartment at my last birthday party. This article from the Village Voice helps give some context on this 1977 triumph (is that the right word here?). They say:
An uncanny prophecy of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2 a decade later, this exhumed freaker conjoins New Agey schoolgirl farce and the cheesiest then-there-were-none haunted-house dynamic imaginable, while the painted backdrop skies suggest Teletubbies and the special effects run from solarized-video-absurd to cardboard-hilarious. The rum-stumble cast and crew obey no rules—the movie often seems to have two or three conflicting scores running simultaneously, and inappropriate freeze frames and pointless fades to black are the norm. The story isn't a story at all: A gaggle of sailor-uniformed schoolgirls (with names like Gorgeous, Prof, and Fantasy) head to a weird aunt's cheap-set house for spring break, and start getting minced up, one by one, into crude superimpositions, perambulating body parts, and rivers of blood that look like cherry Hi-C.
It's a real treat to finally get a proper DVD release of HOUSE, and it's my most-wanted film release of 2010. The Eureka Video catalogue doesn't give a specific release date, but I'll be keeping my eyes peeled:
If you're already into HOUSE and can't get enough, I'd like to also mention that Same Hat friend and artist Brendan Ninness created a HOUSE-inspired piece for Electric Ant #2's illustration feature, THESE BLOODY MOMENTS. Here is a smaller version of that piece: [As always, if you haven't yet you can still purchase a copy of the zine.]
Here's the Japanese trailer for HOUSE, followed by some stills. Enjoy!
UPDATE: As commenter Stephen mentioned, there are rumors that Janus/Criterion are going to be releasing HOUSE in the US as a Criterion DVD/Blu-Ray, as Janus was responsible for organizing the showings of the film at festivals last fall. The just posted this Q&A article on their blog too. That said, it's still sorta unofficial 'til they confirm or put it on their release schedule. Has anyone heard more specifics? (thanks, Stephen!) In the meantime, as Matt points out, Janus is taking HOUSE to independent movie theaters around the US in the Spring and Summer. Full schedule is online here. I'll be at the April 17 show in San Francisco!
Other sites have already reported this news, but I wanted to post it here for folks that haven't heard yet. A new documentary about the life & work of Kazuo Umezu is coming out very soon! The film is titled "Gwashi! Kazuo Umezu Desu".
I read that the footage was filmed over the course of 3 years by Koji Ito, one of Umezu's staff/webmasters, and shows us Kazuo Umezu's daily life (including his lawsuit over the Makoto-chan house), creating manga and art, in addition to "exploring Japan's issues with creativity and art appreciation." From the trailer it looks like the doc also features interviews with other manga artists, authors, and pop culture talking heads.
GWASHI! KAZUO UMEZU DESU debuts properly on 11/23 in Tokyo's Tollywood Theatre, and plays through December. Umezz and company have created a new site just for news about the film, so check it out! The boys from Tokyo Scum were able to see an advance screening of the film and say it's rad... and will be interviewing Uncle Kaz very soon in person!
Other sites have already reported this news, but I wanted to post it here for folks that haven't heard yet. A new documentary about the life & work of Kazuo Umezu is coming out very soon! The film is titled "Gwashi! Kazuo Umezu Desu".
I read that the footage was filmed over the course of 3 years by Koji Ito, one of Umezu's staff/webmasters, and shows us Kazuo Umezu's daily life (including his lawsuit over the Makoto-chan house), creating manga and art, in addition to "exploring Japan's issues with creativity and art appreciation." From the trailer it looks like the doc also features interviews with other manga artists, authors, and pop culture talking heads.
GWASHI! KAZUO UMEZU DESU debuts properly on 11/23 in Tokyo's Tollywood Theatre, and plays through December. Umezz and company have created a new site just for news about the film, so check it out! The boys from Tokyo Scum were able to see an advance screening of the film and say it's rad... and will be interviewing Uncle Kaz very soon in person!
This weekend, I stopped by the Cafe Mika manga sale. Cafe Mika was San Francisco's first (and only) manga cafe, which seemed to be on shaky financial footing for a while and finally had to close their doors this month. As a final going-out-of-business sale, they were selling all their original manga series (that is, in Japanese) at DEEP discounts.
We're talking the entire original Ranma 1/2 series for $12, all ten volumes of Dragon Head for $3 (snagged those, worth it for the covers alone) and other, more obscure and forgettable series. I found something absolutely incredible in the stacks... all 4 volumes of CYBER BLUE (ＣＹＢＥＲブルー), a late-80s cyberpunk/fantasy battle manga for a dollar a book!
I had heard of CYBER BLUE but never seen it... until now. The series was written by "BOB" and Ryuichi Mitsui, and (most importantly) features art by Tetsuo Hara! This short series (4 volumes in total) was the manga Hara worked on right after Fist of the Northstar in 1988.
Let me tell you, this is one of the most hilarious and badass books I've read in a long, long time. It's like if Boris Vallejo had sex with the film Commando and then strapped that baby to the demon offspring of gay Mad Max and Lando Calrissian's mustache. Basically, it's unadultered Hara goodness.
Please enjoy this photo-heavy showcase: This is the first spread of the book, introducing our protagonist, Blue. He has a gun and puts it in people's faces. And also shoots them in the head.
Oh yeah, all of the above panels are just from Volume 1. Here's from the other three book:
Did I mention that the villain in Volume 3 looks exactly like Prince?
I mean, except if Prince was humongously muscle-bound and banged mermaids!
In addition to guns, Blue is sorta good with his hands. I wouldn't recommend messing with him.
In volume 4, we find out the full extent of what can happen when you tussle with Blue:
I hope you enjoyed this collection of beautiful insanity. Please pass this post on to friends who dig extreme violence and/or pulsating pecs! [For large versions of all the photos in this post, please see the Flickr set.]
This weekend, I stopped by the Cafe Mika manga sale. Cafe Mika was San Francisco's first (and only) manga cafe, which seemed to be on shaky financial footing for a while and finally had to close their doors this month. As a final going-out-of-business sale, they were selling all their original manga series (that is, in Japanese) at DEEP discounts.
We're talking the entire original Ranma 1/2 series for $12, all ten volumes of Dragon Head for $3 (snagged those, worth it for the covers alone) and other, more obscure and forgettable series. I found something absolutely incredible in the stacks... all 4 volumes of CYBER BLUE (ＣＹＢＥＲブルー), a late-80s cyberpunk/fantasy battle manga for a dollar a book!
I had heard of CYBER BLUE but never seen it... until now. The series was written by "BOB" and Ryuichi Mitsui, and (most importantly) features art by Tetsuo Hara! This short series (4 volumes in total) was the manga Hara worked on right after Fist of the Northstar in 1988.
Let me tell you, this is one of the most hilarious and badass books I've read in a long, long time. It's like if Boris Vallejo had sex with the film Commando and then strapped that baby to the demon offspring of gay Mad Max and Lando Calrissian's mustache. Basically, it's unadultered Hara goodness.
Please enjoy this photo-heavy showcase: This is the first spread of the book, introducing our protagonist, Blue. He has a gun and puts it in people's faces. And also shoots them in the head.
Oh yeah, all of the above panels are just from Volume 1. Here's from the other three book:
Did I mention that the villain in Volume 3 looks exactly like Prince?
I mean, except if Prince was humongously muscle-bound and banged mermaids!
In addition to guns, Blue is sorta good with his hands. I wouldn't recommend messing with him.
In volume 4, we find out the full extent of what can happen when you tussle with Blue:
I hope you enjoyed this collection of beautiful insanity. Please pass this post on to friends who dig extreme violence and/or pulsating pecs! [For large versions of all the photos in this post, please see the Flickr set.]
