Dolph Days: Keeping Up

"Like none of this shit ever happened? It happened! And it doesn't just go away. 

You just can't walk away, do you hear me?! 

Do you hear me? (holds up necklace made of human ears)"

That's our boy Dolph Lundgren as Sgt. Andrew Scott in the 1992 classic action karate flick from Carolco, Universal Soldier. If you'll recall, Dolph Night at the Egyptian screened two of Mr. Lundgren's most well known works, Unisol and Rocky IV. Come April and Dolph is hitting Australia for a double feature tour featuring the same line up. Fans in Sydney, Melbourne and on the Gold Coast can meet the big Swede and see him on the bigger screen on his week long tour that also includes appearances at the Supanova Pop Culture Expo alongside other genre favorite actors, artists and writers.

For the stateside fans, Dolph popped up on Comedy Central's 90's loving Workaholics as himself looking oh so suave in a blazer, deep v-neck shirt and white pants. Dolph appeared throughout the episode in the forms of a life size standup doing karate and various photos in an obsessed fans computer slideshow. A burning question about Showdown in Little Tokyo ended the episode which also included references to Jean-Claude Van Damme and Unisol. TV viewers may also catch the Iron Man in a new Fox event series based on film series for older cinematic tough guys The Expendables. Details are scarce at the moment besides star Sylvester Stallone producing and hoping to reel in some TV icons of action. I'm not sure why they don't just use Dolph, Terry Crews and Randy Couture's characters as a base then add a guest star or five each episode.

On the film front, a new trailer and a poster for Dolph's passion project Skin Trade hit the web recently showcasing an awesome cast that includes Tony Jaa, Michael Jai White, Peter Weller and Ron Perlman. So that's He-Man, Ong-Bak, Spawn, Robocop and Hellboy all in the same 90 minutes! Inspired by real life human trafficking, Skin follows Dolph's detective as he interferes with a gangster's business then teams up with a Thai cop to exact bloody, high kicking, explosive and bullet riddled revenge. The trailer looks solid with lots of practical stunts, martial arts and a terrific cast. Magnolia releases the film on VOD in late April followed by a theatrical release Friday, May 8th. Horror flick Shark Lake just finished shooting, World War II men on a mission flick with Luke Goss and Mickey Rourke War Pigs is in post-production and a small role in action thriller 4GOT10 alongside Michael Pare, Johnny Messner and Danny Trejo recently wrapped.

If that still weren't enough, Dolph was interviewed for the upcoming The Art of Masters of the Universe coffee table book from Dark Horse hitting shelves on April 15th that will take a deep look at the phenomenon of cartoons, comic books, toys and the live action movie.

Cable Sunday: Michael Biehn

The X-Men film franchise started as a major gamble for studio Fox which saw 2000's first film given a decent if unspectacular budget of $75 million, a few familiar faces in the cast and a relatively new director in Bryan Singer. Production was shut down in the middle of shooting to reassess and scripts from the likes of Joss Whedon, Ed Solomon and finally David Hayter had piled up for years. It was a $300 million grossing hit and paved the way for six follow ups in 14 years. The 80's set X-Men: Apocalypse begins shooting soon as does the lower budgeted take on 4th wall breaking, Merc with a mouth Deadpool starring Ryan Reynolds to follow last year's near $750 million dollar grossing Days of Future Past. Last summer, rumors of an X-Force script began to circulate and it was confirmed that Never Back Down and Kick-Ass 2 filmmaker Jeff Wadlow was penning a draft. Then came reports that Channing Tatum would pick up the bo staff, playing cards and New Orleans accent of X-Man Gambit for his own standalone flick.

An X-Force flick could work pretty well as the team is a bit more rough and tumble than Professor Xavier's crew. Instead of a soothing, intelligent and mentor style leader, X-Force is headed by the gruff and calculating soldier from the future Cable. With a scarred face, cybernetic arm and always carrying a huge gun, Cable was designed to be the opposite of the wheelchair bound, talk and think it out Charles. This guy is all about the action and taking down the bad guys "cold, hard and mean". Training his young mutants to be more of a military style response team, X-Force runs into the Mutant Liberation Front and their pack of super powered terrorists working for dude in a ton of armor with a superiority complex, Stryfe. X-Force is made up of Cable's chick and comrade in battle Domino, high flying southern guy Cannonball, the blood thirsty wolf-woman Feral, explosion tossing smartass Boom Boom, native tribesman strong dude Warpath and man from another planet/dimension bred to be a warrior Shatterstar. Whipping this rag tag team of outcasts to fight an organized and maniacal threat to humanity is total fodder for a high octane, fast moving action flick filled with hand to hand battle and CGI spectacle. With more of a focus on close quarter combat, you could build up some match ups and showdowns between characters heading into the I'm sure to be explosion and destruction filled finale. Which would be a nice change of pace from previous superhero flicks where our team fights an army of faceless goons a la X-Men: The Last Stand or The Avengers.

Way back in the 90's, Wizard Magazine nominated Clint Eastwood to play Cable in a yet to be produced X-Men movie that also included Michael Biehn as Cyclops, Dolph Lundgren as Colossus and Jean-Claude Van Damme as Gambit. Creator Rob Liefeld has read the first draft of X-Force and could barely contain his excitement. While production is still a ways off, The Liefeld dropped names like Tom Hardy, Jon Hamm and Stephen Lang for Cable. It's an interesting role to fill as Cable is an older character; white haired and grizzled with scars on his face. Not exactly Hollywood's favorite casting call. Tom Hardy seems a bit young for it while Hamm has the jawline if not the presence. Stephen Lang is a pretty close call given his role and appearance in Avatar as the hard ass, pumped up military leader with scars down his head. But for me, I can't help but think this is a role for the one and only Michael Biehn. Given Cable's time traveling history, sent back to prevent an incident with future repercussions is at least in passing similar to Biehn's Kyle Reese in James Cameron's The Terminator. If you'll recall, Skynet's machines have risen, wiped out most of the human population with nuclear strikes and uses the remaining survivors as labor. Leader of the resistance John Connor is a pain in their side so they send a killing machine back to 1984 to kill his mother Sarah before he's born. Soldier Reese travels back to protect her, essentially giving his life for a woman he's never met but fallen in love with through stories and a single photograph.

From there Biehn donned a headset, body armor and giant Pulse Rifle as a space Marine in Aliens and has played his fair share of gun toting and futuristic cops, soldiers and secret agent types in flicks like Navy Seals, The Rock and Planet Terror. Now pushing 60, the Biehn is the perfect age and amount of grizzled to play Cable. His memorable baggage as a time traveler and space soldier make a nice through line to the metallic mutant. Still lithe and athletic, it's not hard to imagine Biehn pumping up a bit and donning a white wig and fake scars while running around barking orders, firing off future guns and being the hard yet reliable heart of the upstarts. Just think the vulnerable physicality of Kyle Reese with the taciturn hard ass-ness of The Rock's Commander Anderson only with shoulder pads and a metal arm. Since Cable is always dealing with potential futures and alternate time lines, it would be a weird fan theory full circle as X-Men was originally set up at Carolco at Cameron's request before being sold off to Fox. Biehn would have been an awesome Cyclops in a Cameron produced X-Men film from the 90's and Cable is actually Cyke's kid in the comics so if he couldn't play the father, how about the son?

Unfortunately X-Force is stuck in development as producers are leery about having more than two X-Men related movies in a year given the glut of superhero flicks from Marvel, DC and Fox's own Fantastic Four hitting theaters in the next few years. After casting hot at the time Taylor Kitsch as Gambit in the woeful Wolverine Origins flick they've upgraded to Tatum for a follow up so I'm sure they'll go with someone with more heat for Cable if a flick ever does get made.  But here's hoping Biehn returns for Alien 5, it's a huge hit and it leads him right into X-Force.

Body slide to HQ...

Cable Sunday: Paneled Goods

After picking up the collected Cable: Classic at Long Beach Con and a fistful of X-Force from Earth 2's parking lot sale, I was ready to strap on my shoulder pads and pack my belt and suspender pouches full of 90's action awesomeness. The 90's are dubbed the most action packed decade in comic book history. And for good reason. With splashy, vibrant, kinetic art from the likes of Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Mark Silvestri, Ron Lim and a host of others ruling the sales charts, the 90's became the era of the artist. Men were hyper muscular and women super impossibly hot in poses looking like they were always flying and action that screamed spectacle and splash pages. Created by Louise Simonson and Rob Liefeld, Cable was to be a "man of action" and opposite to the wheelchair bound, tolerance spouting Professor Charles Xavier from the X-Men. Cable: Classic collects his first full appearance in 1990's New Mutants # 87, two part series Blood & Metal and the first four issues of his own ongoing series.

The action starts with a force from the Mutant Liberation Front storming a secret facility to bust out some captured young mutants. After the super powered strike force of Wildside, Forearm, Reaper, Strobe, Tempo and Thumbellina take out the facility guards, from nowhere a huge man decked out in giant shoulder pads, future guns, a metal arm, spiked bracelets and a big scar over his eye appears. This is Cable, time traveling soldier from the future. We don't get too much of his personality besides being a hardass tracking down the same mutants the MLF is after. We're introduced to the armored, masked and spike covered Stryfe, leader of the Liberation who is out to prove mutant superiority over humans by breaking into their facilities after his demands are not met. Cable nearly takes out Stryfe's group single handed but ends up losing his mechanical hand and the MLF breaks out the mutant captives.

From there we move into 1992's two-shot, Blood & Metal from Fabian Nicieza and John Romita, Jr. Here, we go back in Cable's past as a member of the Wild Pack, also known as Six Pack along with Domino, G.W. Bridge, Garrison Kane, Grizzly and Hammer. The bandanna wearing, shoulder pad suited and heavily armed unit lands in Iran, wasting a ton of hostile locals about to execute some hostages. That's just a cover though as the hardcore group is actually there on behalf of a rich corporation and blow up a competitor's building. Cut to years later and the team has been disbanded, some members being permanently injured from a job Kane believes Cable turned on them and left them to die. Cable tracks a team of MLF'ers stealing artifacts from various parts of the world and across numerous centuries on Stryfe's behalf. After getting caught in an explosion on the botched mission; Kane is now the armored up, metal armed, hand disengaging Weapon X and tracks Cable down to his safe house in Switzerland where the two brawl through the house and outside in the snow, hitting each other with trees. Kane joins Cable in his quest to stop Stryfe from collecting the artifacts on the condition that the future warrior help their wheelchair bound former comrade Hammer. Cable had to shoot Hammer in the back on the disastrous mission to stop him from jeopardizing it. That's leadership, kids. The two jump to the future where Kane is made whole again with the intention of bringing back some technology to make Hammer walk. I really dug Blood & Metal, John Romita, Jr's art is very clean and dynamic. The over the top costumes actually look somewhat practical and streamlined here versus Liefeld's early mish mash of pads, bracelets, belts, pods and ammo. The black ops style military group was a key theme in the 90's with many of your Image Comics being based on military teams who imploded on that one bad job and how members come back to haunt the others years later after feeling betrayed or left behind.

The action was pretty interesting as you had guns and mutant powers, robot soldiers, mech suits, ninjas and the Silver Samurai! Cable is fleshed out here as being a tough leader who makes decisions for the best of the mission rather than his team leading to future conflict. Then throw in his turtleneck lounge attire when at his tech loaded safe house and you get more than just some brooding grunt. I'm still not exactly sure what Stryfe's endgame is but you see that he and Cable are spitting images of each other, clones, twins or something or other. All of this Six Pack stuff comes back to haunt Cable in his ongoing series as G.W. Bridge went on to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. and was sent to capture his former teammate, Hammer becomes a revenge seeking threat and Cable totally makes a chick cry after they got busy when he thought she was someone else...Key phrases like "stab his eyes" (son of a bitch?) and "body slide by" (call for teleport) are prevalent.

Over in 1991's X-Force # 1, Cable is now leading the former New Mutants as their own unit of part rebels, part heroes consisting of the flying Cannonball, strong man Warpath, wolf like chick Feral, explosion tossing Boom Boom and bred to be a warrior alien Shatterstar. It's all action for the first 21 pages as X-Force locates and attacks a Mutant Liberation Front base, again confronting Stryfe but losing him, again. Hands get chopped off, bodies are slashed, POONTH! shots are fired, Stryfe teleports and X-Force body slides out. We learn that in addition to Cable's mechanical arm and battle experience he actually has some telekinetic powers as well. It's interesting to see how Rob Liefeld's artwork changed between New Mutants and X-Force as I think it got worse. I'm not sure if he was working under a deadline or just tried to do too much but X-Force # 1 just isn't as clean as his previous work, everyone has angry expressions on their faces and nobody has pupils. Meaning it's just a bunch of slanted white eyes...The haircuts are 90's atrocious mullets or big square do's and body language has become increasingly awkward. While Romita, Jr was able to streamline and make the outfits look somewhat plausible, Liefeld draws Cable with outrageous dimensions, outlandish shoulder pads, arms and thighs three times the size of his head making it look like a guy in an exo-suit of sorts. Still you get lots of action and banter with appearances from Juggernaut, Black Tom Cassidy and Spider-Man in the first half dozen issues. Cable's purpose is more or less highlighted when he states: "We're here to do what the police and the Avengers-types are unwilling to do -- put an end to this situation -- cold, hard and mean!" Superb.

X-Force # 1 was packaged with a limited edition trading card and became the best selling comic book of all time with a staggering 5 million copies sold. Liefeld was featured in a Levi's 501 jeans commercial directed by Spike Lee where he talks about drawing comics since he was 7 years old and never receiving any formal art training. X-Force's record would soon be broken by Jim Lee and Chris Claremont's X-Men # 1 which sold over 8 million copies with it's gimmick of having 5 different covers. Liefeld, Lee and many of Marvel's other superstar artists would then disband from the mother company and form Image where they could have more creative freedom and own the rights to their characters and art. Liefeld's Extreme Comics would produce best seller Youngblood and land the young artist on Dennis Miller's late night chat show. Brigade was another super powered team oriented book with a Cable looking leader where several of the characters die in the first issues through getting their intestines punched out or fingers sliced off. Liefeld would be kicked out of Image/resign after consistently late shipping books and poaching talent from other in house banners. In 1996, Liefeld and Lee returned to Marvel to help launch Heroes Reborn where Captain America, Iron Man, The Fantastic Four and The Avengers all died in a universe shaking battle and be brought back in new, alternate reality universes. Cable would pop up there too.

In 2004, Liefied and Fabian Nicieza relaunched X-Force with Cable still hanging/training/banging with Domino but being haunted by Skornn, a long dead being that feeds off mutants like humans eat cows. Warrior from another planet/time/dimension Shatterstar is training with some monks but signs up for some mindless violence because that's what he does. You see, Cable was originally sent back to our time from a thousand years in the future to stop some kind of catastrophic mutant event. But even all those years ahead, mutants and mankind are still at odds. Some ninja looking baddies from the future aka Agents of Humanity show up looking for The Five Fingers of Annihilation sword, the only weapon that can defeat Skornn, it's up to the reunited Cable, Domino and Shatterstar to stop them. With jump kicks, double bladed swords and punches to the face. In subsequent issues we catch back up with Cannonball, now living a peaceful life on a farm in Kentucky while Tabitha Smith aka Meltdown and formerly known as Boom Boom along with Warpath rejoin the team. Liefeld's art is substantially more palatable years on with cleaner lines along with less ridiculous body shape and sizes. Backgrounds are a little plain or non-existent but pupils are more frequent and hair styles are much better. A scene from the future takes on an ethereal and shiny quality with coloring that looks more akin to paints than vibrant and smooth computer coloring. While the story jumps back and forth between eras, it never gets too confusing or clunky.

Phew! Some fun reading with lots of ads for Marvel shirts and toys that made me miss my awesome double sided Jim Lee X-Men shirt from 4th grade. It wasn't as extreme as Brigade though as those comics just got me amped up and the test (testosterone) flowing making you want to lift weights and punch holes in walls. Until next time, body slide by one...

Ask Me a (Video) Question: Transformers and G.I. Joe Sunbow Celebration

Just a quick update for your Friday. Hopefully it's beautiful and sunny where you are as it's frigging blazing and 80 something out here in Los Angeles. The positive fallout from the Sunbow Celebration double feature of The Transformers & G.I. Joe: The Movies keeps on coming as video from the evening has surfaced. To get you primed for Sunbow, first watch this awesome video of the opening credits from both films. Turn it up loud!

I missed the pre-show panel with writers Flint Dille and Buzz Dixon, voice actors Bill Ratner (Flint), Neil Ross (Springer & Shipwreck) and Michael Bell (Prowl & Duke) and voice director Wally Burr as I was out in the lobby schmoozing and making sure things were running smoothly. Michael Floyd stepped in last minute to moderate:

After Transformers, it was time for our main panel with a whopping 9 guests: Don Jurwich (G.I. Joe director), Buzz Dixon, Flint Dille, Larry Houston (storyboard artist/director), Bill Ratner, Wally Burr, Hank Garrett (Dial Tone), Neil Ross and Michael Bell. These guys were great guests and so gracious with their time over the evening doing these panels and meeting attendees. The key to a panel this big is knowing your shit and doing your best to engage each guest and get a conversation going. I meant to ask about Starscream and Cobra Commander voice actor Chris Latta as I heard the stand up comedian and actor was totally nuts in the best way as well as ask how professional wrestler Sgt. Slaughter got involved, next time:

Many thanks to all who attended, our guests and YouTuber RealistikkVideos for posting.

Van Dammage: Grudges

 

Remember when Jean-Claude Van Damme was in Menlo Park visiting Facebook Headquarters? It may be a coincidence but now you're seeing Brainfail's JCVD Quiz pop up to see what character you are. After answering 10 quick questions, I ended up with Kickboxer's Kurt Sloane as I'm driven by Pride and Revenge! I'll also stop at nothing for loved ones! Sounds about right. "I want you to teach me Muy Thai"...cut to yoked and tan Van Damme kicking a tree and drunk dancing! What a coincidence as JCVD is shooting or about to start on his part in the Kickboxer reboot. He's been looking in great shape recently, feeling alive and hitting the gym in pajama pants, trying to lift buildings and says mentor/instructor Claude Goetz is joining him on set.

If you'll recall, Kickboxer: Vengeance started shooting last year in New Orleans with a cast that includes Georges St. Pierre, Dave Bautista, Gina Carano, Darren Shahlavi (Train in Peace) and martial artist Alain Moussi. The John Stockwell directed, Dimitri Logothetis and Jim McGrath scripted flick ran into financial issues that saw the crew not being paid for their last several weeks of work. That's not exactly unheard of in the independently financed world but it was interesting to see Van Damme's name used to bolster the headlines even though he's not a producer and hadn't even worked on the picture yet. One of the producers strangely took to social media to tell the crew not to talk about it as if he was threatening them for being upset over not being paid...The Thailand portion of shooting looks to be ramping up and IMDb is reporting a $17 million dollar budget.

The trailer for Pound of Flesh, Van Damme's latest headlining actioner hit recently promising a gory and shady mix of organ theft, revenge and salvation set to high kicks, car chases, shootouts and Bibles to the throat on the streets of Hong Kong. Aki Aleong, who played Muy Thai trainer Khao in Van Damme's 1996 directorial debut The Quest, plays an ally. Darren Shahlavi looks like he's playing the main henchman here so be prepared for some high kicking meets rough and tumble MMA style fight scenes. The action and mood of the flick looks solid with Van Damme playing a mercenary type scheduled to donate his kidney to his niece. But after a crazy night out he wakes up in a bath tub full of ice and missing his organ. Teaming up with his peaceful bro, the duo set out to get the kidney back and save the young girl. Even in the short trailer, Van Damme looks pissed, mean and truthful, talking about damning souls to rescue the girl. 6 Bullets and Assassination Games director Ernie Barbarash helms a script from Joshua James. Hong Kong based Dammaged Goods supporter Mike Leeder produced this bad boy and the release can't come soon enough. Big Mike is on a tear as the Mark Dacascos and Matthias Hues (I Come In Peace) lead Ultimate Justice recently finished shooting in Germany.

Speaking of Germany and Van Damme connections, frequent collaborator and Lionheart writer/director Sheldon Lettich along with co-star Harrison Page attended a special event in Kassel to commemorate the release of the Cult Platinum Edition Blu-Ray. A European print was found, cleaned up and screened theatrically with a Q&A with Lettich and Page after. The duo will also be hitting a local comic convention this week.

Chrono Trigger Wednesday

Oh man, apparently SNES classic action RPG video game Chrono Trigger was released on this day in 1995. Takes me back to sitting on the floor in my room in the late 90's and early 2000's, listening to Oasis' Be Here Now on my sweet 3-Disk CD Changer. Starting off as spiky haired Chrono and getting mixed up with a bratty princess, a cute nerd, a hot cave chick, a loyal robot and a tragic stricken frog jumping across time and space, Chrono Trigger was just the shit. It had an awesomely grand soundtrack and took you from quaint villages to dank caves and lush jungles fighting monsters, dinosaurs and other crazy creatures with swords, ray guns and magic spells. It didn't seem as daunting as Final Fantasy as it wasn't part 27 but shared the same Active Time Battle system where you'd square off and select your attacks. This was a step up for me as Square's previously released and played a ton at my house, The Secret of Mana was more of an action RPG where you just walked up and slashed the shit out of your enemy or charged up and super slashed the shit out of them.

Creators from Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Dragon Ball joined to develop the game in 1992. It was released in 1995 to rave reviews and sold over 3 million copies across several platforms. Pseudo-sequel Chrono Cross was released in 1999 but seems to be in name and theme only without our red spiky haired young hero and his friends included. In 2008, Nintendo released an updated version on the DS. You can now play it on your mobile phone as well. True sequel Chrono Break was discussed back in the early 2000's but never came to fruition. Recently, Chrono has come back into my life as 8-bit magnets at various conventions.


Phew, 12 endings, not sure I got to many of these...

What the Chuck?! Hero and the Terror

Did you miss it? I sure did. Tuesday, March 10th was the 75th birthday of one Carlos Ray aka Chuck Norris! The Air Force veteran turned martial arts expert and champion turned movie and TV star turned internet sensation spends his days living in rural Texas, working out on his Total Gym and speaking at conservative events. We know and love him for his awesome 70's and 80's action flicks so let's dive into 1988's Hero and the Terror. This puts us on the tail end of his go-go years with Cannon Films following hits like Missing In Action, Invasion U.S.A. and The Delta Force.

Hero is a weird one, more of a thriller than an action flick as we meet Danny O'Brien (Norris) as he's tracked down the man-brute-child Simon Moon aka The Terror (Jack O'Halloran) and fighting for his life under a pier. Moon nearly chokes and drowns O'Brien to death but trips and dazes himself, which makes arriving back up think The Chuck managed to put the big man down. Thus becoming a hero and a trauma survivor at the same time. Cut to three years later, O'Brien is slowly getting his confidence back and moving in with his pregnant lady Kay (Brynn Thayer). There's an awesomely ludicrous workout scene where Chuck is bench pressing while having flashbacks of Moon's hands wrapped around his throat, intense! American Ninja's Steve James shows up as one of his cop buddies and with another friend scream at O'Brien to complete his reps and joke he's prepping for the Olympics. I should mention that Norris is really pumped up in this one with a smooth hairless chest and a 80's style spaghetti strapped tank top. Competing with Stallone and Arnold perhaps? He rocks sweet sweaters and blazers while tooling around in his Corvette.

Thought dead for the last three years, Moon returns, killing women with his bare hands. His once abandoned lair has been remodeled and scheduled to open as The Wiltern Theatre. Hiding in unmapped cubbies, Moon eludes O'Brien and the police until they figure out there's more to the joint than thought. Alone, O'Brien finds the secret compartment Moon has been bringing his victims back to and faces off against The Terror one last time. Like I said, this was kind of a weird one but very watchable, Chuck doesn't have a ton of fight scenes, just one against some thugs on a bust and the final confrontation with Moon. His usual odd charm and humor is put on display in his scenes with Kay and one where he burns toast, etc. It was nice to see Steve James pop up for a few scenes even if he spoke with a kind of strange nasally, hero voice in this. There's one scene where James is on a stakeout in the theater and decides to get a work out in by running laps listening to Mozart!

After making his name in martial arts and action fare to big box office but few critical accolades, Norris hit both with 1985's Code of Silence. Follow ups Invasion U.S.A., The Delta Force, Firewalker and Missing in Action III would see diminishing returns and be viewed as less challenging and more exploitative fare. Hero and the Terror, based on the novel by Michael Blodgett, adapted by Dennis Shryack and directed by William Tannen was an attempt to broaden Norris' range. His character isn't the silent badass, he's got fears and even sees a therapist. Throw in the pregnant ladyfriend and some delivery room humor and you've got yourself a character similar to but also very departed from Lone Wolf McQuade, Invasion U.S.A. and The Delta Force where it was more about revenge or taking down scumbags cold, hard and fast. After so many years of that, it was time to be strong yet vulnerable. While the flick is easily a Saturday afternoon repeater, it did little to broaden Norris' fanbase. Opening on August 26th, 1988, Hero and the Terror grossed an anemic $1.8 million for the weekend coming in 12th place behind long released fare like A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, Die Hard, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Young Guns and Coming to America on it's way to a $5.3 million total.

Hero and the Terror's weak performance was Norris' worst showing in years. A proposed team up with Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Cowboy and The Cossack was planned but never materialized. A Delta Force sequel would do little to turn the tide and 1991's The Hitman would fare even worse. Norris himself deemed the picture OK and not one of his favorites. Director William Tannen would reteam with Norris nearly 20 years later on entertaining DTV flick The Cutter. Novelist Michael Blodgett would have more success on the cop-canine comedy Turner & Hooch the next year before passing away in 2007. Screenwriter Dennis Shryack had previously written Clint Eastwood vehicles The Gauntlet and Pale Rider as well as Norris' Code of Silence (originally meant for Clint) and would go on to co-write Turner & Hooch and the Peter Weller actioner Fifty/Fifty.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Norris, keep pumping!

Downtown Sunday: Fleming's and U of MMA

Recovering from the late night of the Sunbow Celebration and the time change, on Sunday afternoon we ventured to Downtown, Los Angeles. For some reason, I've been here more in the last year than I had in the previous 5-6. Before heading to Club Nokia for a University of Mixed Martial Arts event, we stopped off at an old Happy Hour standby, Fleming's Steakhouse. I've never actually had a steak at this house of them because they've got a pretty substantial Happy Hour menu that runs every day. There's 5 selections of cocktails, wines and food for $6. Walking in, L.A. Live looked more happening than I'd ever seen it, then looking across to the Staples Center I saw a crowd of people. It finally dawned on me that all these people wearing Lakers jerseys, shirts and hats weren't cosplaying, they were going to a game! We found a standing counter spot easy enough and proceeded to down some Lemonade made with Tito's Vodka out of Austin along with Butternut Squash ravioli, calamari and a bacon cheeseburger. It was all good. The place soon cleared out as Happy Hour ended and tip-off must have been near.

Some friends explained that Nokia Live and Club Nokia were two different things. Good on them otherwise we'd have been wandering around thinking we had the wrong date...Located above Lucky Strike Bowling, Club Nokia is an interesting venue for partying and events. There's a main floor with a bar then you can go up to a seated balcony with another bar. I met promoter/scheduler/everything guy Jorge Albarca at The Van Damme Triple Dip where he came out to see the Belgian badass on the big screen two nights in a row for Double Impact and Bloodsport. After attending Dolph Night and An Evening with Carl Weathers, he's one of the few in the city who have all three Dammaged Goods special edition shirts. Set up as upscale amateur fights, U of MMA was boasting a huge 18 fight card with several title bouts. 30 gyms around the Los Angeles area support the league and it's sanctioned to ensure safety. It was a great atmosphere and I was happy to see it so crowded. I heard one of the fighters was from Bas Rutten's gym, the Dutch kickboxer turned MMA fighter with a hilarious sense of humor. Apparently he was there but I didn't catch a glimpse, next time.

With the earlier matches consisting of three, two minute rounds, the pace of the action was solid. No lay and pray over here, these were all hungry fighters looking to build their records and reputations. By the time they switched to three, three minute rounds, the shin guards came off and you started to see a little more attitude and aggression in the cage. Plus one of the referees had an amazingly long, braided beard. Of course no MMA event would be complete without the guy in the crowd who's an expert yet is spectating instead of participating. This particular guy kept talking about the differences between boxing and MMA and doing more coaching than the guys at ringside. Ah well, it was a fun night and my first fight in years. Looking forward to the next one.

Ask Me a Question: The Transformers & G.I. Joe

What a night. That's about the best way I can summarize the amazing evening that was the Sunbow Animation Celebration double feature of The Transformers: The Movie and G.I. Joe: The Movie at the Egyptian Theatre. Buzz on the night had been immense from the get go. Thanks to Hiss Tank, Nerd Reactor and Loot Crate, the message spread quickly and 100 tickets sold in less than a day. Going into the night we only had 100 tickets left, this would be my biggest audience yet for a Dammaged Goods Presents event. Setting up the lobby, Mr. Hank "Dial Tone" Garrett arrived early and he was great. He's lead such an incredible life from being a stand up comic opening for Tony Bennett to being a New York based actor appearing in Three Days of the Condor, Serpico and Death Wish while somehow also being a renowned martial artist and professional wrestler. Author and comic book artist Bill Forster joined us as did G.I. Joe collector and Duke expert Diana Davis. The co-author of Transformers: The Ark and G.I. Joe: Field Manual, Bill had several of his books available as well as some artwork while Diana had a collection of figures, prints, scripts and sketches. Then it was the team from Serenity Place Animal Rescue, personal friends of Mr. Michael "Duke" Bell and the man himself showed up with autographed photos and Voltron DVD's to raffle off. Michael has a great sense of humor and was in a film called Damaged Goods back in the day about a rock singer who gets an STD in Los Angeles!

Artist Livio Ramondelli brought his incredible prints and copies of some of the comic books he's worked on while Flint Dille set up for People to People, an organization that sends students around the world to build leadership skills and global awareness. Flint was amazing through the entire process. He was the first guest I asked and the first to accept. From there he recommended this person and that like G.I. Joe writer Buzz Dixon and storyboard artist/director Larry Houston. Just a really sharp guy with ideas for days. We're working on some follow up events now. Springer and Shipwreck himself Neil Ross arrived and donated a few signed photos to Serenity Place as well. Neil was instrumental in securing guests like Bill Ratner and Bell, so double thanks for attending and connecting the dots. Voice Director and legend in the field Wally Burr had been the one Maybe but he showed up and was ready to mingle. Sadly series writer Donald F. Glut couldn't make it as his home was being used as a film location. Deep-Six and the Predator Hal Rayle was struck by the Con-Fluenza from Long Beach and had to bow out as well. Next time! We had various reporters and writers on tap like That Hash Tag Show, Variety's Matthew Chernov and Stauros Entertainment.TV's Tyronne Tann documenting the evening and interviewing our guests.

We had a line into the courtyard to Hollywood Boulevard waiting when the doors opened at 6:30 PM with several attendees in costume. The lobby mini-con was a huge success with every table bustling. Animation expert, voice over actor and Cinematheque programmer Grant Moninger was originally scheduled to lead the pre-show panel but like me had fallen ill during the week. Luckily, #MovieBro and animation guru Michael Floyd was ready to party as I enlisted him to do the Damme thing. Flint Dille, Buzz Dixon, Bill Ratner, Michael Bell, Neil Ross and Wally Burr all joined him for a casual conversation about writing, animation and working at Sunbow. Someone else will have to fill me in on what they discussed because I was in the lobby! We raffled off two autographed Voltron sets then as my usual, I had a VHS copy of Transformers signed by our guests as a prize. The question? Name all 5 Dinobots. Grimlock, Slag, Snarl, Swoop and Sludge! The Audience nearly turned on me when I wasn't sure which 4 were actually in the movie...

With Lion's rendition of The Transformers theme song blaring, the awesome audience erupted into applause as Grant and I took our guests to do some more interviews. I was also happy when "Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?!" got a round of applause. The print was absolutely beautiful and watching Hot Rod open the Matrix to become Rodimus Prime to the rock-synth soundtrack awesomeness of Stan Bush and Vince DiCola was just too perfect. Larry Houston and then Joe director Don Jurwich showed up and it was great chatting with them. I almost can't believe how many shows Larry has worked on from Joe to Exosquad to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to X-Men. He also spearheaded the one off Pryde of the X-Men, a bitching animated version of Marvel's premiere title. Don had been great the entire process as I called every week sounding like a telemarketer to give him an update. An alumni of Hanna-Barbera, Don oversaw the G.I. Joe series and movie. Now retired, he paints and was excited to have his grandson check out Joe on the big screen.

Between flicks I grabbed the mic for our main panel, first bringing back writers Flint Dille and Buzz Dixon who both came onto the movies out of nowhere. Buzz explained that they were on a 65 episode freight train that wasn't going to stop. Flint and producer Jay Bacall banged out a revised script in a week then later on holed up in a hotel for months drafting a new version. Basically, Dille and Dixon wanted to make the cinema screen adventures something big, wild and exciting. Buzz wanted to kill off some characters to show that war had consequences. Lead character Duke was chosen to be cycled out, a death scene was written and Hasbro liked the idea so much they decided to kill off Optimus Prime in Transformers. A young boy locked himself in his room for two weeks after seeing Prime die. Flint was still surprised at how out there the film was. Don Jurwich joined us next and told us how he had been working on the show, heard about the movie and said he wanted to direct it. One thing he recalled was how difficult it was to introduce so many new characters. Larry joined us and talked about the big, kick ass opening of G.I. Joe that was tasked to him by Jurwich. Influenced by anime, Houston threw everything he could into the opening and basked in the feature budget resources compared to the daily show and mini-series.

Wally Burr then Flint took us through some of their recently lost colleagues from the era like Leonard Nimoy, Gary Owens and Gordon Kent. Neil Ross talked about getting the role of new character Springer through audition and lucking out as he had already voiced him in some new episodes thus saving the role from a celebrity voice a la Judd Nelson, Robert Stack and Orson Welles. Ross talked fondly of Lionel Stander who played Kup and how during their recording sessions, Stander needed to look other actors in the eye so Ross would play off the old school actor to get through a scene. Hank Garrett explained how he did Italian gibberish for some producers who believed he was from the mother country. Honing his skills from listening to the radio, Garrett went on to do commercials before landing G.I. Joe. Bill Ratner was used to an hour or 90 minutes over at Hanna-Barbera but would put in double and triple that for tough director Burr. Ratner and Lady Jaye voice Mary MacDonald-Lewis learned from a fan at JoeCon that Flint and Jaye had an illegitimate daughter who shows up on Transformers. This lead to Buzz and Flint admitting they came real close to having fellow property My Little Pony show up in the Transformers and G.I. Joe universes. Don commented on trying hard to give the new villains of Cobra-La a believable atmosphere while Buzz publicly apologized for naming it Cobra-La after Hasbro became infatuated with it and not caring about the connection to Shangri-La. Michael Bell had no idea Duke was being killed off and figured his toy wasn't selling well anymore. New Joe addition Don Johnson was busy with hit series Miami Vice so Wally Burr traveled to the Florida set where Johnson recorded his dialog in his trailer. Afterwards the TV star was supposed to do a photo shoot but said he had a party to get to and bounced. Classic.

I asked Larry, Bill and Michael what it was like to come back to G.I. Joe for the recent episode of Community and Bill let us know the producers reached out to his agent asking if he was still alive! Larry's directive was to draw the show as if it had never gone off the air in the 80's. One of the greatest moments of the panel was Ross recalling some of Bell's outrageous comments. On Inhumanoids, a half dozen actors were playing flesh eating something or others and to make the voices, the actors sucked on their own arms to which Bell commented that it sounded just like Ernest Borgnine's wedding night. Several of our guests told stories about Orson Welles who didn't appreciate line readings and jokes turned into rumors that Wally starved him to death. I asked about the fabled Comic-Con 1987 screening where Don told us he thought the projectionist was drunk as the second reel was loaded first. Flint said he didn't even notice, it was the 80's...Bill may or may not have said that the Sunbow crew smoked crack before work...Buzz is working on an e-book and lost episode that can't come soon enough. With that it was time for intermission and then G.I. Joe: The Movie on the big screen for the first time in who knows how long if ever. An autographed VHS went to the the gent who knew the names of Sgt. Slaugther's Renegades; Mercer, Taurus and Red Dog.
  
The opening of G.I. Joe: The Movie takes place on and around the Statue of Liberty with a million characters fighting it out and a rocking rendition of the theme song that looked just oh so awesome on the big screen. It was a truly fantastic evening with a full house of passionate fans. Driving home I thought it really couldn't get any better than that. Our attendees had fun, our guests had a great time, the response has been tremendous and we're working on a follow up.

"Til all are one" and "Yo, Joe!". Thanks to everyone who attended, our guests in the lobby, on the panels, Michael, Grant, Christian, Tammi, Andrew, Travis, Jeremy, Oliver and the staff at The Egyptian.

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...

(Almost) Ask Me a Question: Transformers and G.I. Joe

Less than a week until the Sunbow Animation Celebration double feature of The Transformers and G.I. Joe: The Movies! Response has been great with online Joe powerhouse HissTank being very supportive and subsequent shares from the likes of Nerd Reactor and LootCrate. It all goes down Saturday, March 7th at the Egyptian Theatre at 7:30 PM. Doors will be open at 6:30 PM as we've got a lobby full of fun and a pre-show you won't want to miss. In addition to our already terrific line up of special guests, excited to announce even more Sunbow Alumni in addition to writers Flint Dille, Buzz Dixon, Donald F. Glut, storyboard director Larry Houston and Joe director Don Jurwich:

Bill Ratner - Voice of Flint on G.I. Joe, also heard in video game series Mass Effect and is an author with an Amazon #1, Parenting for the Digital Age.

Michael Bell - G.I. Joe leader Duke as well as Prowl on Transformers. You've also heard him on The Smurfs, Voltron and Rugrats. Aside from his 300+ acting credits, Bell supports local charities like animal rescue.

Hank Garrett - Dial Tone from G.I. Joe. On screen you've seen him in Three Days of the Condor, Serpico, Death Wish and Max Headroom. Besides acting, Hank is also known in the worlds of bodybuilding, professional wrestling and martial arts. These days, Mr. Garrett speaks at prisons to help inspire troubled youths as he himself was going nowhere before Sammy Davis, Jr. set him straight.

But that's not all, not by a long shot! Arrive early to check out our mini-Sunbow Con in the lobby:

Diana Davis - G.I. Joe expert and collector, Diana will be showcasing some of her awesome personal collection including portfolios, press books, official design sketches and more.

Livio Ramondelli - IDW, Google and video game artist who will be selling and displaying Transformers prints. Pick one up to have our guests sign as a keepsake of this sure to be crazy event.

Bill Forster - Comic book artist and co-author of the Transformers AllSpark Alamanacs, Ark Books and G.I. Joe Field Manuals. Bill will have some of his books and research materials on display. Sadly, Forster's writing co-hort Mr. Jim Sorenson won't be able to make it.

We'll also be supporting the following charities and programs:

People to People Ambassador Program - School trips and adventures to introduce students to new cultures, create global awareness as well as develop leadership skills and prepare them for college. Sunbow writer and special guest Flint Dille will be selling some of his personal memorabilia to support People to People.

Serenity Place Rescue - A volunteer group that rescues and rehabilitates cats and kittens offering advice, assistance and education on responsible pet ownership. Voice actor Michael Bell will raffle off a personalized signed photo to help raise money for Serenity Place.

Wounded Warrior Project - With a mission To honor and empower Wounded Warriors, the Project raises awareness and provides service to injured veterans addressing mental, physical, financial and family. Actor Hank Garrett will be selling signed photos and autographing items with all proceeds going directly to the Wounded Warrior Project.

At 7:00 PM, a pre-show with writers Flint Dille, Buzz Dixon, Donald F. Glut and voice actor Bill Ratner will accompany the mini-con and incoming attendees. They'll be talking about writing, animation, acting and the various other properties they've been a part of like He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, comic books, video games and more.

7:30 PM it's time to Transform and roll out to the awesomely 80's synth and guitar soundtrack of Vince Di Cola and Stan Bush as the Autobots face the evil Decepticons and a new threat; the giant, planet eating Unicron!

Between films it's a Sunbow Celebration panel with writers Flint Dille, Buzz Dixon, Donald F. Glut, voice actors Neil Ross, Michael Bell, Bill Ratner and Hank Garrett, G.I. Joe storyboard director Larry Houston and director Don Jurwich!

And then it's time for G.I. Joe: The Movie where America's elite take on Cobra and their ancestors from Cobra-La, a secret society hidden in the mountains looking to take over the world with mutant spores.

It's going to be a great night, we'll see you there. Yo, Joe!

Tickets and info here!

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!