Erik Burnham's Blog, page 8

SAN DIEGO COMIC CON LOOMS! Here's my schedule......!

THURSDAY

Ghostbusters 101 — A Ghostbusters Panel of Biblical Proportions!Thursday , 7/20/17, 10:15a.m. – 11:15a.m., Room: 6DEJoin Ghostbusters co-creator Ivan Reitman and the IDW Ghostbusters brain trust of Erik Burnham, Dan Schoening, and Tom Waltz, as they discuss the long-running, critically acclaimed, and fan-adored Ghostbusters franchise, including everything from the classic original movies to the long-running comic book history at IDW Publishing… as well as future plans for major events from Ghost Corps that will add to the beloved brand’s canon, bringing the different Ghostbusters worlds together like never before! Be there… or be slimed!IDW BOOTH SIGNING: 12:00 - 1:00PM
Ghostbusters signing at the IDW booth with me, Tom Waltz, Dan Schoening, and Ivan Reitman! (It's a ticketed signing, owing to Mr. Reitman, so get your ticket early to get him to sign your GB stuff!)
FRIDAY
IDW BOOTH SIGNING 5:00 - 6:00PM
Ghostbusters signing at the IDW booth with me, Tom Waltz, and Dan Schoening! No tickets required for this one, but rumor has it Tom will be offering free hugs.

SATURDAY



TMNT: Summer of the Turtles IDW panelSaturday, 7/22/17, 11:30a.m. – 12:30p.m., Room: 24ABCJoin TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman, writers Tom Waltz, Erik Burnham, Aubrey Sitterson, Ulises Farinas, Erick Freitas, and special guest Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai as they discuss the events of IDW’s biggest summer of TMNT publishing ever! Moderated by Editor Bobby Curnow.

HALLOWEEN COMICFEST 2017!

It's a lot like Free Comic Book Day -- but for Halloween!

Free comics, folks!

And this year, a book I worked on is in the mix. Ghostbusters v.2 #10 -- the Dia de los Muertos issue of the Happy Horror Days arc!

Check it out -- for free! -- this October for Halloween Comicfest. And while you're picking up the freebies at your local comic book store, SPEND SOME CASH! Find some great books, and enjoy the day.

The full list of Comic Fest books can be found at this link!

New Appearance: Indy Pop Con!

Hey, Hoosiers, I'm coming by!

I'll be in Indianapolis next month for INDY POPCON on July 7-9.
Get all the info on the show at the following link: INDY POPCON I'll update as soon as I have a panel schedule for the show -- but I should have some books for sale, and will be doing sketches.

Want to get on the pre-order sketch list for the show? Drop me a line:

erikburnham AT outlook DOT com.

We'll see ya at the show!

Charity Sketch Auctions......!

Hey, folks!

It's been a crazy month for me -- since April, I've traveled like crazy, and keeping up on deadlines has been a focus.

I'm just about at a point where I can stop and take a breath... but man alive, craziness (in the wider world this time) continues on its merry way.

There's been some awful things happening lately -- high profile suicides and murder, ugliness over movies and music, just... a black mark.

I can't do much to bring about change, but I can make some drawings. So I decided to put up a couple of pieces, benefiting two charities in particular.

So, for the next week, I'm auctioning two sketches -- one each for:


The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention -- (I also have a a flat sketch bid-now auction up -- these are bigger, and only donate 10% to the Hero Initiative... but if you don't win out on one of the two full-charity auctions, you can still get in on something, and Whether you do these or not, I hope you'll look into and consider supporting these (or any other number of) charities.
The good you can help do is powerful.
Thanks everyone, and have a safe Memorial Day!
--Erik

WE GOT MOVIE SIIIIIIIGN

It's back, folks.

It's really back.

At 2am local time, Netflix loaded up the 14 new episodes of MST3K.

Did I start with the first episode? No. No, I did not.

I started with episode 10. Why?

BECAUSE I HAVE THAT POWER.

And you know, I'm not gonna spoil it. I can give you my general thoughts, though, and I'll do that after the break....




The theme song brought me right back.

The jokes come fast and furious.

The new bot voices will take some time to get used to -- but the timing's there. The new cast nails it.

There were even faux commercial breaks!

And they're gonna be quotable, folks. So quotable.

My only regret: it's not local anymore! But there's still a little Minnesota in there -- and it felt right.

ENJOY.

(Meanwhile, I think I have time for one more episode...)

My C2E2 Schedule

SUPER SIMPLE!

Unless I get drafted onto a panel at the last minute, you can find me in the following places:

ARTIST ALLEY H-15
This is my home base; I'll be splitting a table with Brent Schoonover.

ALSO!

I'll be signing at the IDW Booth (#609) at the following times:

SATURDAY APRIL 22 - 2-3pm.
SUNDAY APRIL 23 - 12-1pm.

For up-to-the-minute updates, follow me on Twitter @erikburnham! And maybe I'll do some live video on my Facebook page or snapchat.

I'M NOT A LUDDITE I SWEAR!

See all you animals in the Windy City soon!

--Erik

OMG MAY! Such a busy, busy time! APPEARANCES!

I'm gonna be all over in May, folks!

First, there's Free Comic Book Day, and I'll be signing from 11am until, well, at least 2, but I won't leave anyone hanging if they need a signature on a book!

I left out the "where," didn't I? I'm coming to Burbank, California! (That's like Los Angeles' cool hat!) Come see me at:

THE PERKY NERD

I'll sign! Chat! High five! Maybe I'll even sketch some. We'll see if they let me. (:

The week after? I'll be in Sioux Falls, SD for SIOUXPERCON 2017!

SIOUXPERCON -- Click that link to get your tickets now! There's even gonna be a pre-con dinner on Friday. Come, hang with the pros. Break bread and chat!

The week after that, I'll be hitting my home state show, the MSP COMIC CON!

It's a packed May with a lot of travel and a lot of fun.

COME SAY HI!

--Erik

Ghostbusters 101 #1 gets a second printing.....

Courtesy IDW Publishing....And the 2nd Printing cover is something I did!

This is the "title card" we've been using inside the book... but it's an honor to join the ranks of the fantastic cover artists 101 has had (Dan Schoening, Tim Lattie, Erica Henderson...)

Thanks for the continued support on Ghostbusters, folks!

ROB CON III: One Signing To Rule Them All

It's time for another trip down to the always awesome Limited Edition Comics in Cedar Falls, Iowa!

It's always great to see Rob and his crew, and this store is one of my very favorite in the country.

This signing and sketching extravaganza takes place ALL DAY on Saturday, April 1st, and will feature not just me -- but superstar pals (and artists extraordinaire) Tom Nguyen and Brent Schoonover!

All the relevant details are here:

ROBCON!

All three of us will be doing sketches at the con, and yes, I'll be taking a few requests in advance. Details at the link. Drop me a line early if you want a sketch for sure -- otherwise, it'll be first come first served!

KONG: SKULL ISLAND -- A Quick Review

Warner Bros./LegendaryLook, to get this out of the way... look at the poster. They're not even being subtle about the fact that they wanted to blend in as many nods to Apocalypse Now as possible to this film.

Also, the helicopters, formation of the soldiers, and Kong himself form the shape of a skull, don't they?

You're subtle, marketing department. You all get a cookie.

Now, as a fan of the 1930s original, what did I think?

Is this Kong a king?

My rambling thoughts after the ol' break, to protect the sensitive to spoilers.









First off: Kong gets the best entrances. Every time he shows up onscreen, it's a Moment, with a capital M.

We start in the 1940s, and two pilots -- one Japanese, one American -- fighting on an island on which they'd both crashed. Their fight attract's Kong's attention in the biggest way, and that's our first introduction to the giant ape; he shows up to tell them to knock it the hell off. (Someone sold this as symbolism. "Nature demands man stop fighting." No? Too much? Okay, let's move on.)

From the introduction we move forward a few decades, to the era of the Vietnam war.

We meet Randa (John Goodman) and Brooks (Corey Hawkins) -- these two get some of the bulkiest exposition dumped into their dialogue. It's not subtle in any way, but it is a throwback to the pulpy tone that this film is reaching for, and it does go by fast. ("Why do we need him?" "Are you going to lead us through the jungle with your Yale degree?")

These fellas want to go to Skull Island, and they're also part of MONARCH -- the organization seen in 2014's Godzilla. Nice thread to tie in there!

They need a military escort -- which is good news for Col. Packard (Samuel L. Jackson.) He needs a fight, and isn't ready to leave war behind. (And his beliefs come out later in ways that make him sound of the same cloth as Jack Nicholson's character in A Few Good Men.)

The island is approached by helicopter, and Kong's attention is aroused -- he takes out the helicopters (which are dropping bombs for "geological research.")

The bombs can wake up nasty monsters, so Kong gets irritated. And since he kills some soldiers... Packard turns into Ahab. But flushing Kong out -- to prove the existence of monsters -- that's all on Randa.

What a tangled web, eh? Don't worry, you'll get it.

This is pulp. Pure pulp.

From Kong's design (which I didn't love -- he's standing erect, looking a bit more like a man in a gorilla costume as a gorilla... although he bears a little resemblance to a juvenile gorilla, I suppose) to the color palette -- pulp, pulp, pulp.

At one point, Kong uses a large, crashed ship's propeller as a shiv. Pulp!

At another, a man is carried away by pterosaurs that shouldn't be able to lift him into the sky, but do anyway! Pulp! (This is the second thing to remind me of the Jurassic Park franchise, by the way, the first being Jackson recommending folks 'hold onto their butts.')

We have Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson as... ostensibly the leads, but there's no romance to this story (thankfully, and no place for it.) Larson plays a war photographer, Hiddleston a tracker (to get them through the jungle.) Really, they're both just plot service, but at least engagingly so.

There are giant critters on the island beyond Kong (the mention of ants is one of the biggest laughs in the movie, you'll see why.) Some of these giants include buffalo, spiders, walking sticks, an octopus, and whatever the main monster foils for Kong are. The wingless wyverns.

John C. Reilly, as the surviving WWII soldier Marlow, steals the show. And he gets the ending he deserves, over the end credits. (Stick around for those.)

I'm getting into too much tell, here.

This was the movie I wanted to be. Kong, on Skull Island, fighting monsters. He matters every time he shows up, and he's the subject in some beautiful shots. (Glowing eyes, approaching through the mists in the moonlight. Or leaping into action from a mountainside. Or framed against the moon... so many.)

The great music, the strong colors, the locations... it all felt period accurate in a period that you don't typically ever get to see represented in movies like this. Did it feel like a 'Nam movie spilled over to a monster flick? Yes.

If you've ever wanted to see a Vietnam-era American soldier perched on a triceratops skull with a heavy caliber weapon, this movie is for you.

If you've ever wanted to see a monster who has just eaten a flash camera whose flash can still be seen through its skin, circling victims in a dust storm, identifiable by brief, sinister pops of light? This movie is for you.

If you've ever wanted to see a man in a gas mask running through poison fumes, cleaving pterosaurs in half with a samurai sword... again, this movie is for you.

If you want to see a giant gorilla slurp a giant octopus' tentacles up like spaghetti and don't say "wait, I thought a gorilla was an herbivore!" ...This movie is for you.

If you've ever wanted to see Kong use a shiv... you get the picture.

For my comic reading pals, I more than once thought of Darwyn Cooke's sequence in New Frontier featuring The Losers. You know the one. I can't say that this was directly borrowed from that; in fact one scene in particular that I thought was going to reference it directly took an entertaining left turn... but there was enough happening to bring it to mind. There are worse things to borrow from, even indirectly.

As an aside, while discussing this with mad-talented cartoonist Erica Henderson, she reminded me that animals on islands evolved differently. Any animal based "hey... wait" from Kong's posture to his diet, to the crazy buffalo to the wingless wyverns from the hollow earth (okay, Marlow's name of Skullcrawlers is better)... they can all be explained away by that.

(Still gonna call shenanigans on the super-strong pterosaurs, though.)

Is this a good movie? Your mileage may vary.

It was entertaining. The characters were consistent. It took place in an unconventional time period. It was more pulpy than most orange juice.

...And best of all, Kong's coming back to take on Godzilla.

I still love the original movie best, but Skull Island was more fun than Peter Jackson's loaded remake and miles better than the 1976 version (which to this day I have yet to finish.)

Basically, I had a blast.