Where the hell have I been!!???!!

Friday stuff & Fav Panels of the Week!

Sandman Slim- AWESOME freaking book! Just finished it. Man i cant recommend it enough. What a fun ass ride. Like Dashiell Hammett in the present on LSD with magic, monsters, devils and angels. The main character is the toughest @#!$ I have ever read. There is a sequel I started last night called Kill The Dead. that picks up right after this book. And a third in the trilogy will be out in Nov. Its wild stuff.

Chiddy Bang!

My buddy Rick turned me on to these guys. Great music for a Friday! Fucked up name, Chiddy Bang! HA!

Kim Kardashian

I just want to take a minute to mention….Kim Kardashian is SO FREAKING HOT!!!! Ok on to other stuff. :lol:

I got 2 favorite panels this week from the pencils Im working on for issue #1 of Z-Girl & the 4 Tigers. The first one is from page 9 and the other is from page 10.

I guess because Im working on pencils right now that have whacked out Monkeys in them its appropriate to share the preview of the new Planet Of The Apes flick that just got a trailer. This looks awesome! The last image of the Monkey thinking is spectacular WETA special effects and CGI. The job those guys could have done on a Halo flick would have been amazing. Oh well.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_gKq200EBk&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

30 in Halo MM, Some new art & some cool stuff

Many many thanks to our resident Halo badass Caesar for ripping the following game of mine to YouTube so I can share it with everyone. I have been playing Halo for like 6 years, but I am hardly a great player. Occasionally i will have a good day. The reason this was a significant game was I hit 30 kills in a MM game for the first time ever. Its not a very exciting game, and there are no "holy shit " kills but im proud of it and wanted to share. :-D To keep it in perspective last night I had a game on Countdown MM and only had 4. Ugh! :lol:

Thanks Caesar you Da Man!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWvmLDYu-ZU&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

if you are like me and you liked Portal the Game and you like comics you are going to like this news: Click the image to go to the article.

The Video Game Art Of Toshiaki Mori is Incredible. Here is a nice little gallery of some of his stuff. Be sure to click the enlarge option in the lower right of the preview image. Click the image to go to the gallery:

Gender Bent JLA! As my friend Scott pointed out when he saw this…"Green Lantern better use her ring to make a treadmill for herself!" LMAO

Lastly, I have been Tweeting my favorite panels from pages of Z-Girl issue #1 I have been penciling this month. Here was my favorite panel from page #7. If you want to see them as i post em follow me on Twitter @batmankm If I know your 2old2play I will be sure to follow you back :-D ( I will also try to post em here if time permits)

BAT

Update

Ok its been waaaay to long. No excuse, my apologies.

Any way some updates.  We ended up with a Samsung 55" 3D for a TV.  I have to say its changed our lives. We had had the same TV for the last 10 years. A lot has changed in TV tech in 10 years. We had no idea. Its like a religious experience every time we turn it on. Just incredible. It totally fucked up my Halo game though until i discovered that I had to set the Game Mode on. :lol:

Been playing a lot of Halo with my son. Little man is already starting to beat me in MM. Hopefully im creating the next generation of awesome Halo player and not the next Dexter. :lol: Hey speaking of Halo i had a couple lucky games the other day and scored 30 in one and 34 in another. For me that is like something that will never happen again Im sure.  I saved em to my local files storage.  How do i get them online into a format I can work with so i can make a montage with em? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

So I have been pretty busy working on the first full issue of Z-Girl & the 4 Tigers. But we also took a break and produced a single page story to participate in the Comics For Japan fundraising effort. I have posted a small version below. Click it to go to the site an check out the full size story. 

Also contributed a whacked out mash up sketch of Marvels bad guys Modok and Doc Ock. You can check it out below or see all the March Modok Madness contributions this year at the site here:

Hope everyone is well. More soon.

Peace.

BAT

New ART & A Cry for TV Help!!

The BAT is once again trying to make the move to a large flat screen TV. We tried to do this 3 years ago and never made it happen. Typical for me and my wife. Just like we are still driving around with one of our cars being a 15 year old Acura Integra with green mold all over the body. We even know the car we want to get to replace it and have the funds....we just cant find the time to go test drive and than make the deal. *sigh* :lol:

Ok anyway back to TV's. I need some TV advice. 3 years ago WallyBR, a fellow clan mate, hooked me up with a bunch of info and direction. Thanks again Wally, much appreciated. However, 3 years in TV tech development is like 3 decades. :lol:  Needless to say a lot has changed.  We want to get something in the 50-60" size. And a price range of $1000-$2000. Im up to speed on the  LCD, LED & Plasma differences. But both offer plus and minuses. We have a large bay like window directly opposite where the TV will  be so glare and reflection are a big concern. Currently I have a non-HDMI stereo receiver that all my components, including the Xbox feed through. But I assume Im going to want to switch to a HDMI home theater sound system correct?  I have also read that the best technology right now is the 3D sets in either Plasma or LCD due to the improved processing power of the 3D sets and are worth it regardless of if you ever intend to view 3D content. 

So, what are peoples recommendations? What do you each have and why? I would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions the 2o2p community might have. It will be greatly appreciated. :-D

I have been busy art wise working on my Z-Girl comic and web site. 2011 is going to be a big year for Z. We have been accepted to exhibit in the small press area of SDCC in July and want to have issue #1 out in time for that show. Then we are doing an even bigger presentation in Oct at NYCC and want to have issue #2 out in time for that show. So I haven't had much time to finish up the Nobel piece yet. Butt here is a shot of the flat colors I put down the other day. Ill move to shading and finishes soon i hope. Also posting up a quick sketch i did of my 6 year old son as a sniping Spartan. He and I have been playing a lot of Halo lately and he has become quite good for his age. Needless to say Im a very proud Halo Dad. :lol: Lastly a new sketch for a Pin up or cover Im planning for Z-Girl. I call it "Charging into darkness" Its a new thing i have gotten into, giving titles or names to my pieces. Dont ask me why, its pretty stupid,  its just something I started doing. :lol: 

Peace.

BAT

Latest Z-Girl Illustration

NYCC is only 3 weeks away!! Booth banners came in the other day and the promo stickers we had printed up. Still waiting on the T-shirts and of course the book itself. :lol: Started designing the web site. Hope to have it live before NYCC.

Haven't forgotten about my REACH pieces. Working on making a retro comic book cover out of the Team Nobel pencils I posted last week. Kinda like the Dark Knight Spartan I did for the Halo 3 launch. Just to busy with other stuff to wrap it up. Guess i need to stop actually playing REACH so i can finish it. :lol:

BAT

Getting my REACH on!!

Z-GIRL AND THE 4 TIGERS

Last night while doing the PULSE interview I talked about a new project I have coming up. Im developing a comic book with a buddy that is a writer. We have created a 44 page debut book that we will be launching at the New York Comic Con in Oct. The name of the book is Z-Girl and the 4 Tigers. Z-Girl is a zombie with a conscience who has spent centuries teamed up with four powerful spirits fulfilling the prophecies of the ancient Chinese philosopher, Lao-Tzu. Currently operating as a special forces team in the secretive Department of Irregular Warfare, ( D.I.W.) Z-Girl and her Tigers wage war against the devils, demons and monsters that threaten humanity. Its kind of like Hellboy meets G.I. Joe if George A. Romero did it. :lol: . We have a blog set up to showcase artwork, concept sketches, as well as news and more about the Z-Girl and the Four Tigers comic book. You can check it out HERE. Z-Girl will also have her own web site by the October premiere at NYCC, the URL is ZGIRL.ORG Right now we just have a holding page up. Below is the cover for the book which we are calling book zero. Hopefully it will be received well at the CON and who knows maybe we can make a connection with a publisher who wants to support a full series. Anyway while Im working on the next Halo REACH piece ( which i posted a little teaser of as well below :D ) I thought you guys would dig seeing some of the Z-Girl stuff. I hope you will check it out and I will try to post more soon.

BAT

Quick peek at the next Halo REACH piece, coming soon. Or at least before the 14th..or maybe by the 14th...or just after the 14th.... :lol:lol:

Extended HOPE vid

Just finished doing an interview with the PULSE. It was AWESOME and a blast! What a fun bunch. I hope everyone enjoys how it turns out and that i dont bore people. At 47 you tend to ramble a lot. :lol: Anyway Im a little late on the latest REACH art so in the mean time I just saw this excellent extended Deliver Hope vid. Im sure everyone has seen this a million times already, but what can i say im a Halo fan geek. :D Fingers crossed that who ever ends up doing a live action Halo flick, that they strive to capture this level of authenticity.

BAT

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKRlWLDWhGI[/youtube]

KAT Chill'n before the Kill'n

Wow this one is late. I think Im a week behind now. Maybe over the holiday weekend i can come up with two for next week to get back on schedule. :-D

Anyway I love the idea that the Halo universe is going to include a bad ass female Spartan now. My daughter is psyched as well. The latest video clip promo "Deliver Hope" with Kat running with the bomb to plant on the Covenant ship is spectacular and we have watched it over and over in this house. If you havent seen it yet shame on you! :D I have posted it below as well. The original sketch for this had her with long hair, just because I thought it was sexier and more "feminine" but my conscience wouldn't let me cheat like that. So I worked hard to make her short haired and hot. :lol: I dropped in a lipstick and compact just to have a funny contrast with her pistol and Spartan Laser. :lol: Because i enjoy illustrating sexy chics I wanted to have my Kat piece have some cheese cake to it. I was trying to figure out a concept when I saw an add in people magazine for the new TV show NIKITA. Its all red and she is lying down all sexy like and a huge sniper rifle sits behind her. :lol: :lol: Its awesome! I knew I had to do a variation of the concept for KAT. I have posted the Nikita add that was my inspiration for you guys to see.

Hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend and Ill catch ya next week.

BAT

Click the KAT image for a larger full image.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IMTK7yuoq0[/youtube]