Krenkel Kinema, GasCan Online,
Main Dane and Fallon Falls on the Blade

Emmerich channels Krenkel: 10,000 BC is OK by me!

Snuck out for two hours Sunday night to catch Roland Emmerich's prehistoric opus 10,000 BC, and I had a fine time with it. Emmerich excels at shallow but picturesque fantasy and science-fantasy; I went with no expectations (as I try to experience all media), and was delighted to find myself steeped in a panoramic Roy G. Krenkel epic.

Roy Krenkel, dreaming in paint...

I knew Roy only slightly and occasionally, but I loved the man and his work. I recall fondly sitting next to him at Creation Cons in my Kubert School years and buying up a batch of his exquisite tracing-paper/vellum pencil miniature sketches at the three conventions I sat next to him at. Roy loved ancient worlds, primal and civilized, and 10,000 BC is nothing short of a Krenkel time machine at almost every level.


From the wintery tribal tableaus to the 'head of the snake' realm of pyramids, from the saber-toothed familiar of the hero to the flightless carnivorous birds (the film's single most galvanizing action sequence) to the mighty mammoths that figure prominently in the film's first and final act, the film offers a procession of Krenkelesque setpieces, strung together by an odyssey equally evocative of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Turok Son of Stone and Apocalypto. Some might dismiss this as merely derivative of those wellsprings, but I had more fun than mere derivation would have provided.


I've always enjoyed Emmerich's films, since seeing Joey (1985) in its New World Pictures US incarnation Making Contact back in 1986 or so. Yes, even Godzilla (1998). This one is closest in tone and tenor to Stargate (1994) in my estimation, and almost as much fun. Given the context (and content) of his latest, it's necessary to note that Emmerich will never, ever be as feral or potent a filmmaker as Cornel Wilde (The Naked Prey, No Blade of Grass, Beach Red, etc.) or Mel Gibson (The Passion, Apocalypto), but he's certainly in the ranks of Don Chaffey, whose One Million Years B.C. (1967) is still the best of the genre, the Dr. Zhivago of primordial romances.

10,000 B.C. isn't as primal in intent as La Guerre du Feu/Quest for Fire (1981), tackling a far more expansive tapestry of tribal and completely imaginary cultures than Jean-Jacques Annaud's antediluvian saga (or that film's 1911 source novel by J.-H. Rosny, one of the grandfathers of this whole genre). Like all its kin (save arguably Carol and David Hughes's marvelous Missing Link, 1988), 10,000 BC is anthropologically absurd, but I didn't -- and don't -- care. In gender terms, it's the usual patriarchal hash: the two female leads are ciphers, an elder mystique and virginal bride-to-be, and the few opportunities Emmerich had to be inventive with either role remain soundly squandered. It's another boy's adventure pic, and on that level it's a gem. Emmerich plopped me into a vivid, picturesque adventure for about two hours.

I thought, and think, of Roy Krenkel, the grand old man of everything 10,000 BC revels in, and I smile.

Pizza Wizard fans unite!

Center for Cartoon Studies pioneer class alumni Sam Gaskin has kicked off his new blog, sure to be worthwhile keeping tabs on,

and reports there that Pizza Wizard #2 is nearing completion. I'm psyched and overjoyed. If you need a refresher,

this will plug you into some of Sam's headspace and comics creations.

James Kochalka has just written up Sam's Pizza Wizard for Technikart.com as a comic which "deserved wider recognition," which I'd wholeheartedly agree with. James writes, "Pizza Wizard is very much an avant garde work, without being at all stuffy or pretentious. Actually, it's entertaining and hilarious.... More than anything Pizza Wizard a vehicle for Gaskin to use as he playfully tears apart many conventions of comics... messing around with the formal elements that make up comics, stretching his wings and having fun." James adds, "a new start up publisher named Secret Acres is supposed to be releasing a book collection of his work sometime soon, under the title Fatal Faux-Pas." Now, that's news to me!

Secret Acres is already peddling some of Sam's wares, including Pizza Wizard #1 (get yours now!); I'll post news once Fatal Faux-Pas is a reality.

(BTW, here's the French website James's writeup will appear on soon -- it's not up yet, though!)

Man, I miss Sam and his work.

Here at CCS, senior Dane Martin is Sam's heir apparent (as opposed to hair, a parent) and Dane's blog is packed with Dane's one-of-a-kind art and observations. Enjoy.

Until I get my next dose of Sam, Dane's work takes me to other places I've never been, and I love it.

Fatal Faux-Pas Redux

Top U.S. military commander for the Middle East Admiral William J. Fallon resigned today "amid speculation about a rift over U.S. policy in Iran..."; Bush/Cheney toadie Defense Secretary Robert Gates accepted the resignation (it was "the right thing to do").

There goes the last reasonable man, I fear. Now, remember, President Bush refused former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's resignation at least twice; awwww, damn it. Fallon has been described as the "lone man" opposed to President Bush's Iran policies and desire to take military action to stop the Iranian nuclear program.

This isn't good news, folks.

Some Bones to Pick...

Horny in Paris! Photo: Associated Press/AFP/Miguel Medina

As if it weren't a joyous enough occasion to celebrate this weekend's opening of the 21st Century's first primordial magnum opus 10,000 BC on movie screens across America on lo, this, the very week of my birthday, I must also note the news in

in Paris, where the skeleton of the 65-million-year-old Triceratops horridus is now on the auction block, the first such specimen in 11 years (remember the T. rex Sue?).

So, if anyone's looking for the appropriate gift for me, look no further. It would like mighty fine in my back yard.

Birthday girl, fellow Pisces, cartoonist extraordinaire and Center for Cartoon Studies anchor and faculty member Robyn Chapman has launched a new blog, beginning humbly here (click on this link). Check it out, stay tuned and enjoy!

And speaking of CCSers, birthdays aside just for the moment,

check out CCS pioneer class alumni Alexis Frederick-Frost's latest, now previewed on the First Second Books site.

But the best birthday gift of all will have to wait until next year, when the Bush Presidency is history. Still, mighty damage must yet be done, and rest assured he's doing it. President Bush's final year in office continues to be characterized by his ongoing attempts (and those of the hardcore Republican supporters remaining) to wriggle out of legal consequences for Bush and Cheney's extraordinary redefinitions of Presidential power, a topic being carefully kept off the table by the Presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle.

In terms of the ongoing maneuvers to let the phone companies off the hook for selling us all down the river post 9/11,

Stephen Colbert's 'AT&Treason' sums it up nicely.

Further tortured interpretations of US and international law also plague the shameless Presidential justifications for ignoring all standing 20th Century laws of fair treatment of prisoners and 'detainees,'

likewise in the name of national security.

Come what may on those fronts, the Bush legacy will be devastating and long-lasting, a staining beyond

the economic crater that will left behind when Bush continues to refuse to acknowledge the consequences of his disastrous Presidency: the 2007-8 Recession and likely Depression to follow.

We're already reaping the benefits of rampant deregulation and 'free market' forces the GOP has touted since octogenarian Reagan was in office, so what the hell? To quote Bush (in another context, even more foolhardily there), 'Bring it on!'

So what if your home is now worth squat, while property taxes skyrocket to staunch the regional devastation due to Bush domestic policies and tax cuts and the terminal erosion of all previous social support services and networks?

With almost 100,000 jobs cut since December 31 (and note that "450,000 people left the labor force" in the same period), gas costing three times what it cost at the pump when Bush took office, billions squandered every month on ongoing unprovoked pre-emptive war, the national deficit and debt racking up far beyond any historic record previously set, and the gap between the rich and the poor greater than its been since the Robber Barons era of a century ago, Bush is spreading the love and the wealth from sea to shining sea.

So, okay, I'll likely not even end up with this. But I can dream, can't I? Can't I?.

Yippee-ki-yi-ay, motherfuckers!

So, really, if just one of you could see your way clear to buying me that Triceratops skeleton, I reckon Marge and I just might make it through the coming Depression. Then I could really embrace extinction -- or at least climb onto those glorious skeletal shoulders and wave my hat and cry out, "Yippee-ki-yi-ay!" while my mental faculties completely disintegrate.

Barring that, I reckon I'll have to make due this year with a token gift from my old home town -- a symbolic gift, really. I'm absolutely delighted to note that Marge's and my old home town, Marlboro VT, joined neighboring Brattleboro VT this past Tuesday on Town Meeting Day

passing an article calling for the indictment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney for their horrendous abuses of power.

Now, I know it'll never happen -- I mean, after all, Bush hasn't even visited Vermont once his entire Presidency.
But that would be one hell of a birthday gift.

And on that happy note of no doubt vain but voiced rebellion, I bid you all adieu for the day.

Dan and Bands at Brat's Tinderbox,
and Blasts from the Past:
The War That Time Forgot Resurrected?
Rambo Ravages and Bissette Dreams...

My, my, don't forget if you're in driving/walking distance of Brattleboro, VT that tonight's the night that my son Dan will be rocking The Tinder Box with his cronies with The MAJESTY FOREVER GLOWING MUSIC AND ART SHOW!

Here's the Tinder Box MySpace page, which will provide directions, info, and all you need to get there --

and here's my earlier Myrant writeup about the Tinder Box (scroll down a bit for text, pix and more).

So, if you're in the area tonight, rush on over to The Tinder Box on Elliott Street in downtown Brattleboro on Saturday, February 16th at 8 PM. Playing are Colin Ahern aka Flash 'C'; Jeremiah Crompton aka Jeramigo, 'Kyle Thomzo' and finally the trio of Sam Phillips, Zach Phillips and my son Daniel Bissette.

Marge and I can't make it -- we'll be away -- but if you can, by all means, go! $5 donation at the door, more if you can afford it (support the musicians, folks), all big fun for a few bucks.

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Neal Adams hasn't forgotten a single goddamned DC Comics war!

Mirage Studios amigo Mike Dooney sent me this news yesterday: "Hey, Steve-o, I've been hearing rumors that Keith Giffen was writing some kind of 'War That Time Forgot' crossover series this year....just saw this Neal Adams cover art online so I'm assuming that it's for that storyline...". Mike said more, but it's not for your eyes. But this is! (see above) Well, looks to me like it's a major crossover of every war-themed DC universe character imaginable (including Firehair, Tomahawk, Enemy Ace, etc.). Adams drew at least one story in the original Star-Spangled War Stories run of "The War That Time Forgot," and worked in some capacity on at least one Enemy Ace (inking, if memory serves, Joe Kubert's pencils), so that link alone to the original Bob Kanigher-edited-and-scripted series is sufficient to move this dino buff.

And that ain't all, folks. Consider

Roland Emmerich's latest epic 10,000 BC, which opens on my birthday, March 14th!

Yow! The War That Time Forgot and mammoth hunting cavemen on the big screen -- what more could a paleo buff ask for in the same year?

Mammoth hunters score! Roland Emmerich's 10,000 BC, coming March 14th!

BTW, given the completion and delivery yesterday of The Prince of Stories, Chris Golden, Hank Wagner and my book on Neil Gaiman and his work, I can now return to completing roughs for the new Tyrant proposal in hopes of landing a home for my project with a book publisher. Wish me luck; with all this pop paleo brewing, mayhaps I can tap the zeitgeist for a Tyrant revival.

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Speaking of wars -- and warriors -- that time forgot, among the many films I've seen of late I haven't had time to write up here is Rambo, which I dashed out to for a late-day matinee with some of my fellow CCSers (hey, Chuck, Denis and Alex, didn't we have fun?). I've no time this AM to write up anything proper, but I just want to let fans of rampant maniacal action pics with a dash of sentimentality to leaven the vivid carnage know that Rambo is not to be missed on the big screen.

Sylvester Stallone co-scripted, directed and stars, so this is his movie all the way. It's an amazing piece of work. Stallone milks that mug of his for all its worth. Rambo's heart is stirred at one point by a female missionary, trying to engage with the rock-hard vet to serve a greater good: Rambo reacts with a curt "Fuck the world!," then muses over the unexpected rumbles of conscience by blacksmithing metal into a nice, new machete. It's that kind of movie, folks. Now, I've no doubt Stallone is dead serious about the in-your-face-subtext (the ongoing atrocities in Burma), but the action movie template inevitably sublimates any serious aspirations under the relentless needs to feed the baser instincts. That said, Stallone, like Mel Gibson (with Apocalypto), is the heir apparent to actor-turned-director Cornel Wilde's primal throne, though Mel's got it all over Sly in crafting more potent cinematic universes. Rambo is, well, Rambo; if you can engage on its level, it's a hoot.

Of course, most folks have been put off by the film's rampant mayhem (check out this solid essay at Times Online, link compliments of Dan Archer; thanks, Dan!)

In the Times piece, Stallone is quoted as saying, “I don't think this film is horrific and bloody, because that's what war is. It's not gratuitous violence. Gratuitous violence is a guy dressed up in a fright wig with a meat cleaver, chasing teenagers around the woods for ten hours. This is war, and it's a civil war - which, as you know, is by far the most vicious of all wars.” Believe me, however earnest the political and social intent (which is genuine, and makes the outrageous spectacle aspects of this action opus all the more audacious), Rambo is a wall-to-wall bloodbath, and the CGI-enhanced mayhem is as breathlessly staged and executed as the best of Tex Avery and Sam Raimi. Whether hapless Burmese innocents or craven, hateful Burmese despots, the onscreen atrocities are eye-and-mind-blowing: humans burst like the bloodbags we are, rapid-fire 21st Century machinegun fire folds, spindles and splinters the frail meat-puppets like -- well, meat-puppets. I was helpless with laughter at the apparently sub-atomic bit of British hardware (left unexploded from a prior war) being detonated. Ah, Rambo. I had a grand time; but don't revile me. It is, after all, an exploitation movie, and they do make 'em like they used to; Stallone is still working in the grand tradition.

Exploitation movies are alive and well in America.

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The Guests Bissette Forgot

With all that's been going on, I've also neglected to write about the many CCS guests we've enjoyed, including David Beronä last week and Howard Cruse this week.

David Beronä comes to CCS every year to talk about the early 20th Century graphic novels by Frans Masareel, Lynd Ward and others, and now David has a brand-new book on the subject out from Abrams, Wordless Books: The Original Graphic Novels.

David brought his advance copy, and it's a beaut of a book!

Here's David's homepage and site,

here's the link to the Abrams page on the book,

and this will start you getting to a copy -- don't miss this book, it's a real (and affordable) treasure.

My highest recommendation; first 'best book' of 2008!

Howard is always a treat to visit, and this is his second session with CCS -- hopefully, we'll be seeing Howard for years to come. He also delivered a stellar presentation on his personal journey as an artist, and draped every available flat surface in the classroom (except the top of my head) with original art, archival publications (including a 1960s Birmingham, Alabama Nazi newspaper, The Thunderhead), and tons of amazing eye-candy.

Howard Cruse's blog is here, and worth some time -- I'll be adding this to my permanent link list at right.

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Stevie in Slumberland; Or, Rare-Bissette Fiend?

The blast from the past above arrived this week from amigo Rick Veitch: "I've scanned up a bunch of the Road Bits for Jeff Smith's self publishing blog. Here's another couple Bissette psycho-billy-classics from 1995!"

Big thanks to Rick, and have a great week, one and all -- I may or may not be able to post this week, but keep an eye out. I may only miss a day or two.

If not, see you next weekend, and have a great one.