Summer Cinema: Wonder Woman

We checked out DC's latest flick, Wonder Woman, on opening Thursday a couple of weeks ago. Decades in the making, Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman was a highlight of the uneven Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and will have a key role in the upcoming ensemble Justice League. And compared to Man of Steel, BvS and Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman is the most effective, even tempered and exciting film yet for DC's burgeoning cinematic universe. We start off on an island of female Amazonians that is separate from the world we live in and meet young princess Diana. Her mother Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) objects to Diana becoming a warrior but soon daughter defies mother and trains with her aunt, the greatest warrior on the island, Antiope (Robin Wright). In her teens, Diana discovers that she has the latent powers of a god, thanks to her absentee father Zeus. Soon, the sins of man invade their peaceful existence when pilot Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crosses the dimensional threshold along with a pack of pursuing Germans from the Great War happening next door. Diana travels to the world of men to find and kill Ares, the god of war that Diana believes has infected mankind. A sweet yet dramatic fish out of water story ensues as Diana joins Steve as he heads to the front to face the evil Ludendorff and Dr. Maru.

Going in with no real expectations, the Patty Jenkins directed, Allan Heinberg, Zack Snyder and Jason Fuchs scripted Wonder Woman was an excellent time at the movies. A nice mix of fantasy, action and war film with some terrific production values, a great cast and well done action sequences with all the slow motion jump spinning you can shake a sword at. The film does remind you of other things though, with the beach locales and armored warriors at the start evoking a bit of Troy, then getting Captain America with the war setting and some men on a mission, Sgt. Rock vibes from the ragtag crew Steve rounds up to go on their mission. The film is doing gangbusters, having already grossed over $435 million worldwide in two weeks with one of the smallest week to week drops at the U.S. box office for the genre. The success is well deserved for such a wholly satisfying flick, bring on the sequel!

Con-Man: WonderCon 2015 Saturday

A little late but here comes my wrap up of Saturday at WonderCon this year. Last year Saturday was packed, like felt similar to San Diego packed. With organizers expecting 60,000 attendees this year I was prepared for the crush but honestly it wasn't too bad. The first panel I wanted to check out started at 10:00AM, same time the exhibit hall was supposed to open, but by the time I got there at 9:45, everything was flowing. In a new development, turnstiles and gates were installed outside the convention center so the religious protestor types couldn't mingle too much with attendees. I wonder what their schedule is like, I mean there's crowded sports events every weekend, do they show up to those?   

Superman: The Richard Donner Years Celebrity Super Reunion kicked things off with a massive guest list that included actors Margot Kidder, Valerie Perrine, Diane Sherry, Marc McClure, Jack O'Halloran and Aaron Smolinksi. Sarah Douglas got a flat tire on her way while producer Ilya Salkind was running late and eventually missed the panel. CapedWonder founder and Superman expert Jim Bowers co-hosted and there were several behind the scenes photographs projected to go with the panel. Apparently a book is in the works so I'll be sure to keep my eye out for it. Much love was directed to Donner for making the crew like family during their years together and for being an excellent director who handled each actor individually. Kidder was told to cut loose while Superman Christopher Reeve needed more precise direction which Donner provided. A great story came up when Marlon Brando thought the crew could use a rest but the producers balked at the cost it would take to do so. When pressed for the day to day cost of the shoot, one of the producers answered $350,000 to which Brando said he'd pay. Not sure if that day off actually happened...It was a great panel made even better by a video of Donner who couldn't attend because of Easter weekend and family commitments. A very heartfelt tribute to the films, cast and crew, Donner is always the man.

I wanted to check out Capcom's panel but it was filled and a line had already formed for the session afterwards featuring some podcasting type. That is one of the frustrating parts of these big shows, you never what kind of crowd is going to show up for a panel and then you get people just waiting through one for another. Anywho, some more walking around the floor followed and it wasn't too bad. Maybe the aisles were bigger so there was only congestion in a few spots. Walking around Artist Alley I spotted Captain America and Silver Surfer artist Ron Lim as well as his 90's Marvel mate Rob Liefield. Lim is one of my favorites as I grew up on his Cap work, I wish he would sell some postcards, buttons or some kind of swag so I could support him. Maybe I'll commission a full on Cap sketch to go with the quick freebie he did for me at another show. It was time for Warner Brothers' panel in the arena. Last year WB, Fox and Universal trotted out the likes of Bill Paxton, Gareth Edwards, Simon Kinberg, Gary Oldman, Andy Serkis and Luc Besson but this year film was way subdued with only WB showing Mad Max clips and San Andreas. The Mad Max scenes and trailers look great though; visual, violent and a bit weird. San Andreas director Brad Peyton and lovely co-stars Alexandra Daddario and Carla Gugino were on hand to discuss the film but energy was really lacking. The trio talked about a lot of the practical f/x employed but watching the clips it still looks like a CGI fest and I can't say I'm all that pumped for the flick. Just me? Afterwards we met up with The Arnold Fans maestro Randy who was in town for WonderCon and a fan meetup. It was great to chat with him and here's hoping we collaborate on something in the future.

The bar at the Hilton was SLAMMED so we headed to the Marriott for some snacks and dranks. A couple of whiskey gingers, mac n' cheese and a burger later we were energized to hit the floor again. We checked out Inside The Writers' Room, a panel assembling scribes from shows like Hannibal, The Big Bang Theory, Terminator, The Flash and Firefly. It was an informative session talking about what exactly is a writer's room, how it's good to either know what you want or what you don't want, having to recast actors, writing for certain actors, feeding you formulaic stories without making you feel it's not (cough, Mad Men, cough) and whatnot. We snuck out towards the end to check out Tarzan, John Carter, Doc Savage, The Shadow and Alley Oop: The Martian Legion Arrives! A look at the work of Edgar Rice Burrough's and a new book featuring his most famous creations along with other popular pulp heroes. Burrough's set up shop outside Los Angeles and the town of Tarzana was born. The ranch is now an archive as Burrough's threw nothing out, including a letter from Theodore Roosevelt denying Burrough's membership to The Rough Riders! Several Burrough's projects are in the works as the Tarzan live action movie is in post production, a TV mini-series is in development and a new novel by comic book distributor Jake "Buddy" Saunders is ready for release that teams up John Carter and Tarzan with The Shadow and Doc Savage?!

Even more walking around and we hit up some dolla, dolla bins, ya'll where I picked up some awesome Wonder Man, Incredible Hulk, Sgt. Rock and The Shadow comics. Also got one of those little Mystery Sci-Fi figures looking for The Rocketeer but got a frigging E.T., Damme it! Better luck was had with some Avengers mini bobble heads where we got Captain America, naturally, cause I'm charmed. A fun but tiring day, apparently we walked about 7 miles, phew!

Sherman Oaks Saturday: Earth 2 Comics & The One Up

Wow what a week! Started a kick ass new gig all while going into the final days leading up to the Sunbow Animation Celebration double feature of The Transformers and G.I. Joe: The Movies, fighting a cold and planning another big movie night. Saturday it was off to Sherman Oaks to check out a parking lot sale of comics with thousands of issues advertised for a buck a piece. Earth 2 Comics is located right on Ventura Blvd off the 405 a few minutes from The Galleria. The Galleria? John Conner alert! I think that was Glendale actually...Anyways, it was already a bustling scene
with people elbow to elbow skimming through books. Toys, calendars, figurines and more were also on sale but I was more there looking for issues. After whetting my appetite with some Cable (Body slide by one) from last week's Long Beach Comic Expo, I was hoping I'd run into some more 90's action and was not disappointed as I scooped up some of Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza's X-Force from 1991. Also grabbed were several issues of Nick Fury: Agent of Shield, some more 80's Captain America that I already have in boxes in Ohio, Sgt. Rock and a couple of random issues of West Coast Avengers with interesting covers. There seemed to be a lot of DC for sale and I hauled up a few issues of The Flash written by the TV writing duo of the 1990 show, Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo. If you bought 20, the price went down to .50 cents so it was money well spent. The staff there were all super cool and say they hold the sale a couple times a year so we'll be sure to come back.

Since we were already in The Oaks, we cruised down to The One Up for a midday cocktail and some more brawling action following up on The Punisher mayhem from a few weeks ago. It was barely noon so the place was empty but with Space Balls on the tube and a Jameson Mule aka Dublin Donkey in hand, it was time to check out what other oddities and classics the 400 game emulator had in store for us. I really hoping for Aliens VS Predator so I could be video game Arnold aka Dutch but with a metal arm and fight xenomorphs. Alas AVP was not included but 1991's forgotten yet awesome side scrolling beat'em up Knights of the Round from Capcom was. I remember playing the crap out of that game as Lancelot, Arthur and Perceval. We settled on Cadillacs and Dinosaurs for the sheer WTF value as it's a beat'em up but with a story involving cars and dinosaurs. A comic book series turned cartoon, the Capcom arcade game came out in 1993 where you play as the hyper buff dude Jack Tenrec or hot diplomat Hannah Dundee along with fast fighting Mustapha or heavy hitter Mess O'Bradovich.

Like Final Fight or The Punisher, you roll down the streets of some crazy city where dinosaurs have been hunted and modified, becoming violent tools of gang warlords. Using your fists, feet, uzi's, shotguns, knives and TNT, you fight your way through various parts of The City by the Sea and a nearby jungle. The game had a BLARING rock and roll soundtrack and was really, really loud. But fun to button mash and brawl. It was surprisingly violent with dead dinosaur carcases, being able to use swords to hack peeps and of course shoot them with a variety of firearms. One stage you're driving a Caddy and literally trying to mow down the baddies in your way. Road rage! It was a fun morning before we needed to head to Hollywood for the big show...

Con-Man: Long Beach Comic Expo

After a night of birthday celebrating it was down to Long Beach for the Comic Expo on Saturday. This is usually the smaller of the two LB shows but this year expanded so much that they had to move it to another section of the convention center. There was some science technology summit or other happening where LBCC usually is so we were around the back by the Performing Arts Center and Aquarium. Replica cars from Knight Rider, Jurassic Park, The Blues Brothers and Back to the Future welcomed you, it was a breeze to grab tickets and head inside. Right away we saw one Lance Henriksen at the non-RAW, RAW booth with The Lone Gunmen actor Dean Haglund along with a local artist. I immediately searched the floor for NECA's new Bishop figure and took it over to Mr. Henriksen to sign. Having already bought his book last year, The Lance was still just too Damme cool and gracious, chit chatting about Alien 5 (He hasn't heard anything) and how he actually hadn't seen the new figure yet. Again, just a great guy and here's hoping I put together an event he can attend. Why was it the non-RAW, RAW booth? Well convention specialist Mike was on hand, the RAW Studios banner was up, but neither Messrs Thomas Jane or Tim Bradstreet were attending. The Jane is still shooting new show The Expanse up in Canada while Bradstreet was also out of town. Here's hoping the duo return to Long Beach soon as their previous years have been outstanding with screenings and panels.

From there we walked the floor which was nice and padded with carpet checking out comics, toys, arts and crafts, Big Trouble in Little China ReAction figures and Funko's were around. I recognized some vendors from previous shows, guess we're becoming regulars huh? The floor boasted over 165 exhibitors and artists but strangely didn't feel much bigger than previous shows. Star Wars Laser Tag was set up in the back, there was a signing area where Futurama's Phil LaMarr and martial arts heroine Cynthia Rothrock were set up near a new addition, video games projected on a big screen. Street Fighter and Super Mario Brothers action ensued. Writing legend and X-Men mainstay Chris Claremont showed up and had a line at his table the entire day.

11:00 AM marked our first and only panel of the day, G.I. Joe Cartoon Voices! Hosted by combat fatigue clad Flint aka Bill Ratner, the panel included Keone Young (Storm Shadow), Hal Rayle (Deep-Six), Mary McDonald-Lewis (Lady Jaye), Jerry Houser (Sci-Fi) and Neil Ross (Shipwreck). There was a great camaraderie between the actors and they started things off with a reading of a funny G.I. Joe skit where Cobra ninja assassin Storm Shadow is actually trying to help the Joes. The panel included much talk of working for Wally Burr who would push his actors to provide a realistic, non-obvious cartoony performance in sessions that went 7-8 hours versus the typical 4. Basically if you didn't leave blood on the music stand, you weren't doing it right. Burr also strove for authenticity and instead of having an actor play ethnic, he'd just go out and get a person from the community aka Asian or black characters being played by Asian and black actors. Many a tale spoke of Megatron voice actor Frank Welker who would help the young guys while also being able to give you the sounds of a rocking chair or a male or female dolphin! Lewis was proud that her character wasn't fetish-ized and her action figure was the first female toy to have short hair. Lewis was great, very cool, very smart and just a ball of fire. She made sure everyone was involved during the panel and offered some terrific insight into being a positive force in the world. This was Houser's first time at a convention and he was really funny with a voice you swear you recognize but don't know why. Rayle went into Deep-Six and I immediately thought he was doing Charles Bronson, which he was! Rayle based the voice on Bronson as Tunnel King Danny in The Great Escape.

There was some enlightening stuff like the script girl encouraging the cast to buy Hasbro stock as the toy giant knew FCC regulations were changing so the cartoons could have commercials for their products during the run-time essentially make it a 30 minute advertisement. Ratner said if he would have invested $1,000 dollars in 1985, it would have been worth $28,000 just a few years later. Jokes about their figures selling poorly leading to being featured less on the show were common place during sessions of 10-12 voice actors. Houser said Sci-Fi was really good at sitting still in silence...I asked when the panel realized they had jumped generations and started going to cons with Lewis and Ratner saying they'd only known about the show's impact in the last ten years. Frank Welker couldn't make it but doesn't believe people still love the shows 30 years later. Rayle has only been going for a few years and is headed to Australia for a show soon. A few passionate fans spoke of their love for the show and Lewis shared that the percentage of first responders and EMT's in the Joe community is extremely high when compared to the rest of the population. She and Ratner also attended the official G.I. JoeCon where they watched the new live action movies and Lewis mentioned that there wouldn't be cons for those in 30 years. Young was asked about working for supposed tough guy writer-director Kurt Sutter on Sons of Anarchy to which he responded he'd worked with guys like Billy Wilder so Sutter was nothing and that was the point of being a professional. I ran into Young in the hallway after and asked him about Surf Ninjas, he said it was a lot of fun and they shot it in beautiful Thailand. On and on it went, just a really great time, lots of laughs, stories and heart. If that weren't enough, Neil Ross gave next week's Sunbow Celebration a shout out, Yo, Joe!

It was off to get our Dublin Donkey's on across the street at The Auld Dubliner and next door to collectible store Geeky Mamas where they have an awesome selection of toys old and new, accessories and clothes. I totally meant to get a Transformers or Joe shirt for next week but didn't see any good ones...Back at the show we walked the floor some more, checking out artist alley and digging through random boxes. That Hashtag Show is coming to Sunbow Celebration and I introduced myself, cool guys who like Long Beach the same as I do for it's chill vibe, guest approachability and nice surrounding area. Grabbed a few Captain America Annuals and Sgt. Rock issues from a 3 for 1 booth as well as a collection of time traveling mutant soldier badass Cable for a solid $5! Created in "1990, the dawn of the most action-packed decade in comic-book history" by Louise Simonson and wunder-kid Rob Liefeld. "Body-Slide by one". I would have liked to stuck around to see Claremont's panel, it had been a full and fun day so we headed home. Just when I thought Long Beach Con wasn't evolving, they shut my face by putting on a terrific show. Here's hoping to an even bigger one in the fall. Bring on Emerald City!

Sgt. Rock Day: Between Hell & A Hard Place

After reading the superb mini-series, The Prophecy, I dug into my comic archives and came up with the preceding visit to Sgt. Rock and Easy Company, Between Hell & A Hard Place.  While the story takes place AFTER Prophecy, the comics were released 3 years earlier in 2003.  After a long layoff from the character, Joe Kubert was asked to consider doing covers for a new series then those talks became focused on Kubert doing the actual book.  Not wanting to take on writing and artist duties, DC's Vertigo brand lined up 100 Bullets' Brian Azzarello for scripting.  Set in 1944, Hell & Hard finds Easy Company in the woods along the Belgian and German border where units are being torn apart daily by German troops.  Replacements arrive to fill ranks but the fresh from the mint greenhorns are more of a hindrance than a help.

In this case I had the series collected into a beautiful graphic novel that included an opening page introducing Sgt. Rock and his Combat-Happy Joes.  Here you are reminded that Rock's first name is Frank and that he hails from Pennsylvania where he was a professional boxer turned steel mill worker before being drafted.  Bulldozer is actually Horace Nichols, Ice Cream Soldier is Terry O'Riley, Wildman is Harold Shapiro and Little Sure Shot is Louis Kiyahani.  Unlike the slice of life Prophecy, Hell & Hard fleshes out the characters as we learn that Ice was in prison and the Army was a way out, we see the friendly yet edgy dynamic between Wildman and Sure Shot, that Rock is there to wipe their behinds and noses, etc.  The realistic approach to storytelling starts right away as Ice visits with an injured comrade who has lost both hands in battle.  From there things only get worse as another soldier gets promoted to Lieutenant after his two superiors are killed while on patrol.  Stuck in the dense woods, patrols are getting ripped up regularly as the Germans push in.  A new detachment finds itself under fire and panicking when they run into the stoic Sgt. Rock and his men.  Of course Bulldozer and the rest don't want new replacements, especially inexperienced ones to have to babysit but orders are orders.

A very interesting beat is when Sgt. Rock tells the new kids not to introduce themselves and gives each one a nickname as who they were back in the world no longer matters and after the horrors they'll face in the war, they'll want to leave their nick names behind and go back to their real identities.  So you get Grease, Tinny, Cowboy and the like.  After stumbling upon a group of German soldiers in their foxholes, Rock and friends capture four SS Officers but after a skirmish, three of them end up dead, executed, and the fourth has escaped.  While the troops are used to the killing, the murder of the three SS Officers seems wrong, even in time of war and the finger pointing begins.  Could someone from Easy Company just murdered three unarmed men?  From there, Easy Company is tasked with taking a town where they deal with snipers, dug in troops and Tiger tanks as they pursue the escaped SS Officer.

Kubert's art seems surprisingly different here than in Prophecy, lines aren't as tight and everything has a washed out, mushy feel but upon comparison, it's the color job that makes the difference.  Whereas Prophecy has a drab, solid appearance, Hell & Hard utilizes a color palette that reminded me of water paint with its variations in texture and fill.  It's still dynamic and exciting with lots of details in the woods, expressions on faces, explosiveness in the action scenes and in a very unique editing choice, full on music bars and lyrics to accompany a woman singing in French.  It's also very violent with impalement, burning alive, grenades, close quarter combat, headshots, booby trap mines and lots of spilled blood. Azzarello's script reminds you of 2001's Band of Brothers, particularly the Bastogne episodes where they're holed up in the woods being shelled by Germans then invade the town.  There's moral conundrums galore as our characters discuss killing versus murdering, doing what they have to in order to survive, revenge, punishment, good vs evil and the like, it's all very interesting but also very familiar in a Hollywood sense. 

Sgt. Rock Day: The Prophecy

Once upon a time at some Southern California con I picked up a Sgt. Rock mini-series dubbed The Prophecy.  As I plunked down to read them, I realized I was missing the final issue.  I'm sure I meant to find it from another vendor at the show but here I was, 5/6 of the way into an engrossing tale of World War II with no end in sight.  Cut to a while later and I finally grabbed issue 6 and of course, had to sit down and reread the entire series.  Introduced in 1959 by editor and writer Robert Kanigher and artist Joe Kubert, Sgt. Rock has long been one of my favorite non-superhero comic characters.  Written in a punchy, realistic tone, Sgt. Rock follows the title character, a dependable Sergeant and the "get shit done" motley crew of Easy Company who have fought the war from Africa to Italy and into Germany.  Unlike Marvel's Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos, Rock stays a bit more grounded versus the fun, over the top machismo and derring-do of the 1963 introduced Commandos.  Running until 1988, Sgt. Rock would pop up occasionally before returning in 3 mini-series in the 2000's, Between Hell and a Hard Place, The Prophecy and The Lost Battalion.

In 2006's Prophecy, we find our guys dropped into Lithuania in 1943, north of the Allied lines and smack dab in between Germany and Russia's daily back and forth bombings and attacks, to receive a package and deliver it to a rendezvous point.  Joining Sgt. Rock this go around are Ice Cream Soldier, Bulldozer, Wildman, Shorty, Curly, Four-Eyes and Sure-Shot as they meet a scary, local civilian army leader nicknamed Bear who introduces them to David, a young Jewish rabbi known as The Prophet due to his devotion to God and ability to see the horrors of Hitler's plan to eradicate Jews and "lesser peoples" under the Aryans.  It is believed that David will be able to share his visions and give hope to those under Hitler's heel before a Holocaust occurs.  With 100 kilometers to walk to the extraction point in Estonia, Rock and company trek their way across the war ravaged country filled with the dead bodies of innocents and witness the brutal savagery of war.  Along the way they encounter tanks, retreating German soldiers, merciless Russian Calvary, a concentration camp filled with the ashes of the dead, a mine field and an untouched town where locals gave up their Jewish neighbors in exchange for money and local authority among other obstacles.

Written and illustrated by the then 80 year old Joe Kubert, The Prophecy is a terrific and quick read as well as a visual feast.  From the opening splash pages to the drab locale to the quick bursts of violent and explosive action, Kubert creates a somber yet realistic account of a horrible time in our history without depressing the reader.  His crisp lines, weathered faces, expansive backgrounds and simple yet dynamic style mixed with a no nonsense, unglamorous portrayal of the war seamlessly blends the history and horror of the time.  Having just seen the hardcore WWII flick, Fury, I further appreciated Kubert's straight forward approach rather than sensationalizing or adding more spectacle. The action comes out of nowhere and happens fast and furiously in a raw and messy fashion with knives, machine guns, grenades and close quarter scraps.  Not all of our guys make it to the end and are killed suddenly and without a glorious moment, friends and enemies show up and disappear and we're never quite sure if the man is worth the mission but there's no doubt they'll die trying. The characters aren't given much background but you get the sense of who is who as big ox Bulldozer shows his heart when he adopts a little puppy, Wildman challenges a loud mouth local to duke it out rather than argue, tribal nations member Sure-Shot is cynical towards the flag waving Americans who tricked his people, etc.  Sgt. Rock of course is unflappable as usual, not questioning the mission, just doing his best to accomplish it and keep his men safe.  While David believes in a higher power or being, Rock believes in himself, his company and the men it's made up of.

The comics are given a nice, heavy stock cover and a matte finish.  I don't read a lot of DC Comics but I distinctly remember an issue of Batman where only 2 pages were laid out sequentially as every other page was an ad.  Here, the inside front cover is an advertisement but then we get 22 pages of Rock before several DC ads in the back and a few for video games and cars.  Sadly, no cool time capsules like Arnold selling workout courses or Hostess Cupcake ads that were included in some 60's and 70's issues I recently picked up.

Comic Shop of the Day: Comic Bug

There's a surprising abundance of comic book shops on the west side of Los Angeles.  I can name four off the top of my head within minutes of my office.  One place I kept passing on Overland caught my eye because it was next to a Chili Parlor!  The owner recently retired and sold stake so it's now called The Comic Bug.  The guys working were great, very chill, helpful and easy to shoot the shit with.  There's a front room of toys, graphic novels and the like while a separate room has all the latest issues displayed for easy viewing and snagging.  Back issue wise they had a decent selection and I grabbed the final installment of Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy along with a short box to organize my collection. 

Sadly, Tub's Fine Chili next door wasn't open on this Sunday so I'll have to come back and check them out.  There's a private lot for the strip mall which includes a liquor store, all we need is a karate dojo and you'd never need to go anywhere else.

The Way We Weren't: Arnold Schwarzenegger as Sgt. Rock

When you go to as many conventions as I do, you start to look for certain things.  For me, there's nothing better than digging through a tub of old pins and buttons or finding a postcard with art or photos from one of your favorite movies.  In this case, it's San Diego Comic-Con 2012 and one bad ass booth gave me two pop culture nuggets.

The first was a white button with simple text in red, I Come In Peace from Vision International.  You know, I Come In Peace?  The late 1980's sci-fi-action thriller starring Dolph Lundgren as a cop who takes on a mullet haired alien who shoots up victims full of heroin then knife-spikes their brains to extract endorphins to sell on his planet?  Remember?  The alien says, "I come in peace" and Dolph retorts, "Go in pieces, asshole" then explodes the shit out of him?  ... Oh you might know it as Dark Angel instead.

Number two was from a movie that only exists in Hollywood offices and maybe a few peoples dreams; the Joel Silver produced, World War II action-adventure flick Sgt. Rock starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.  I had enjoyed Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert's Sgt. Rock comics and grew up watching Arnold movies so to see a piece of promotional swag from an almost produced movie was "very interesting (throws up hand with Van Damme improv flourish)".  Put this on the shelf of "what ifs" along with the 80's Joel Silver/Terry Gilliam adaptation of Watchmen (with Arnold as Dr. Manhattan), the lesser realized Daredevil adaptation starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and the 90's James Cameron directed X-Men starring Michael Biehn as Cyclops, JCVD as Gambit, Dolph as Colossus and Ed Harris as Magneto (oh wait, that was my and Wizard magazine's version of a non-existent movie).

Apparently this Sgt. Rock bad boy almost happened.  As in, got canceled a few weeks before shooting, almost. In May of 1988, Warner Brothers and Arnold announced a September start.  A script was ready, promo buttons were handed out at conventions, Arnold had done costume fittings and director John McTiernan was in Europe scouting locations.  Sgt. Rock comics were seen on screen in the duo's 1987 classic Predator as the books were on the Mexican set for research.  But here we are twenty some years later with no Sgt. Rock VHS or Laserdisc or DVD or 25th anniversary Blu-Ray on our shelves.  Twenty-five years later, Joel Silver is still trying to bring Sgt. Rock to the big screen.

Who knows what happened, movies get made or not made for a variety of reasons.  Some understandable (budget, star power) and others not so explainable (hey, we gotta fill a release slate!).  We do know that Arnold would have been coming off soldier roles nearly back to back in Commando and Predator to much acclaim and box office muscle but action/buddy comedy Red Heat did not set the world on fire upon release in June of 1988.  It's reasonable to think that the studio got cold feet at the prospect of Arnold cooling with action fans.  Or maybe the King of Kings was tired of  running around shooting bad guys with a machine gun.  The Oak went a completely different direction and ended up making Twins, the flick that showed he was funny and a great actor (he played a virgin for crying out loud, if that's not Oscar worthy I don't know what is).

I got my eyes on a draft from that period (I'd love to read more versions) and remember not being overly enthused about it.  Rock's heritage had been changed to German-American to accommodate the Austrian star, effectively eliminating the character's American everyman quality.  I believe he's a steel worker from Pittsburgh in the comics.  Among the panels and dialog balloons, Rock is quiet and serious, taking care of soldiers so green they're "straight from the mint" and is allergic to medals.  His men are always in on the fight, no matter how dire the situation.

At that time, Arnold was larger than life, a superhero without the costume.  Would he be believable as the no-nonsense leader in an unglamorous world?  More than that, I recall the story being fairly tame and unexciting.  A lot of tumbling rocks and an injured Rock walking around Europe.  At one point he comes across an all black unit of soldiers and all I could think was that this was to be a Carl Weathers cameo to harken back to their great chemistry and manly handshake in Predator.

Maybe it's for the best to keep those rosy images in our dreams where they can't be tarnished.

EDIT:  Thanks to a terrific interview with screenwriter Steven E. de Souza, we can put this baby to rest.  Apparently, Arnold took a cue from Clint Eastwood and bought some property in Idaho, wishing to make a film nearby and utilize local crew.  It was said Sgt. Rock would film in and around The Oak's new digs.  While being fitted for his costume, someone mentioned Yugoslavia and a shocked Arnold called a meeting with the producer, director and executives.  As location scouts had already been dispatched to Europe, Arnold wanted it in his contract that he would not leave the continental United States to make the film.  After the meeting, Arnold and McTiernan left the project and since he wasn't sued, de Souza figures it was in his contract and Warner Brothers were going back on their word.  No dice, baby.