Erik Burnham's Blog, page 9

LOGAN -- A review.

20th Century Fox
So I ventured out into the cold and windy afternoon (that turned into a cold, windy, and snowy night!) to catch a screening of LOGAN, Hugh Jackman's swan song as the titular character (otherwise known as Wolverine.)

Jackman took over the part, starting in 2000's X-MEN, from Dougray Scott -- getting to the movie after production had started...

...And he's shown up in every X-Men film since (if you include his non-appearance in Deadpool) and starred in three solo Wolverine films.

Jackman's made this part his own over 17 years, and this is the way he chose to say goodbye.

I'd heard so many wonderful things about it (including the typical spoilers) before I got a chance to see it, so I may have watched for things to be critical about.

And what did I think? I admit, my thoughts here may be a bit of a meandering journey... but I think that could be appropriate here...




I enjoyed it a lot. There's some spoiler and spoiler adjacent stuff in here.

There were flaws -- quite a few flaws -- in the story, but the power of this movie was in the performances. They created moments that moved above the story (which wanted to be "Shane" in the most unsubtle of ways.)

Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, and Dafne Keen all turned in solid performances. (And you've no doubt heard that a bunch.) Surprising to me was Boyd Holbrook as one of the villains; he chewed the hell out of the scenery and made more of the part than I think was actually there.

It's the near future. The X-Men are dead. Professor Xavier is going through what amounts to dementia (and this is portrayed in more real of a way than I'd expected. Heartbreaking to see the vital character Stewart built broken down in such a way.)

Wolverine's healing powers are failing him, and he's dying too -- and they're pushing that he wants to be done with it. Only taking care of Xavier seems to be keeping him going. He's earning money as a limo driver to keep Charles in medication, and to try and buy a boat for them to retire on.

That's where we start.

Well, we start with Logan stopping some thugs from stealing from his car; as far as where he's supposed to be in the film, he should've just taken a beating... that would've been truer to where they wanted the character, but the plot dominoes needed to fall...

Logan crosses paths with Laura (aka X-23), a young girl cloned from Logan with claws of her own. His daughter, for all intents and purposes. She needs to get to North Dakota, Logan and Xavier are gonna bring her there.

They're chased by cyborgs. (And also an evil, younger clone of Logan; X-24.)

You can get all the rest of the spoilers from Wikipedia, so let me move on to straight thoughts, yeah?

The story was short and sweet. "Two guys at the end of their time need to do a thing." And that worked. Less characters needing spotlight for super powers.

But you know, the story's just not the important thing. It's there to allow the actors to give performances that were unexpectedly moving.

Patrick Stewart playing Xavier as the strong man he was, broken by dementia. A man whose mind could go anywhere, crippled again.

Hugh Jackman playing Logan in chronic pain, trying to dull that pain, thinking of ways to end it.

These things may sound trite, but they resulted in some very moving scenes.

Xavier's murder -- right after realizing it was his seizures that killed the X-Men.

Wolverine reaching Xavier too late to save him (from X-24, no less) telling his dying friend that "...it wasn't me..." and breaking down when trying to deliver a post-burial eulogy.

But the biggest gut punch was Wolverine's final conversation with his daughter, the little girl cloned from his DNA. As he slips away, he connects with her as family, and she cries, calls him daddy, begs him to stay.

Yes it was mirrored from an earlier viewing of Shane, and yes, Shane is quoted for Logan's eulogy. (It's not inappropriate, but maybe a little silly.)

Still -- it worked for me. I welled up. And it wasn't the words, it was how they were executed.

The R-rating didn't affect my opinion in the ways it did others. The violence and language didn't feel out of place, but it also didn't feel like a "super hero movie" (quotes intentional) where such things maybe would.

I keep thinking about the performances. The line deliveries.

The stuff that wrecked me.

I slept on it, and chatted with friends literally all over the world about it. (I love that ability, internet.)

The story faded, but the moments stuck. The tragic end of an idealist - Xavier - and the realization that when Logan died, he was given a moment of peace.

It's a downbeat finale, but as I and others have said, the performances gifted the audience with some great moments. Would these moments work with different actors? No.

We've known Jackman and Stewart in these roles for the better part of two decades. That history and chemistry adds poignancy to moments that may not otherwise be there.

Would this work if it were a standalone movie? I'm not sure it would be as strong. But then, this was built from those actors and that history to tie a bow on things, so it's really a silly hypothetical.

I can see why folks would dislike it (for my part, there were some scenes I wish ran a little shorter, and some scenes where the score deflated the mood for me. And it's not how I would've ended things. But it wasn't my story to tell, so I can't hold any of that against the film.)

It's a rare thing, to close the book in this way. Especially when you know Fox is not done with X-Men movies, or, likely, with Wolverine. But, for the movies that started in 2000, it's a hell of a bookend.

(Thought if you prefer a happier ending to the works, I suggest choosing "Days of Future Past" as the swan song and accepting Logan as a lucid nightmare the hero had after a bender... right before waking up to a fully functioning Xavier School.)

Coming back around again to the beginning, I really did enjoy the film -- but that's because it actually made me feel in a movie where I wasn't really expecting to.

Hugh Jackman managed to do something extraordinary over the course of the X-Men movies; he showed us a character's complete life, highs and lows, beginning to end, and (excepting a child actor in the Origins flashback) he played it all himself.

That's a rare thing in movies. Actors typically move on from franchises long before 20 years is in sight. And franchises don't tend to give this kind of closure to their most popular characters, even if they're sure to reboot. It's just not the norm.

But for once, for now, we got something else. And Jackman deserves the credit. He invested in the character, he let him grow, and he fought for things like a caretaker should.

Not much more to add to that except, well... "Good job, bub."

--Erik

A Dynamite Kind of May -- with KISS and Red Sonja!

Courtesy Dynamite. Cover by Yildiray Cinar. Just recently announced, I'll have two extra-sized one-shots coming out from Dynamite in May 2017!

The first one is KISS: FOREVER, with art by Daniel HDR.

We take a look at four different historical eras, and place one of the KISS avatars in each, interacting with the people of that time!

The Catman shows up in the stone age, the Demon shows up shortly before Rome burns during Nero's reign, there's a Caribbean pirate pastiche with the Starman, and a near-silent Spaceman story set during that period of time where NASA was sending men to the moon!

I hope you'll all find the mix of stories and settings as much fun as I did while working on it!

PREVIEWS order code is MAR171686! 




Courtest Dynamite. Cover by Moritat.
The second one-shot is RED SONJA: THE LONG WALK TO OBLIVION.

If you've read Red Sonja #0, you know that Sonja was fighting a demon in the land of Meru before being blasted into another time and place -- and this book takes place right before, leading Sonja to Meru and the demon she battles at the beginning of #0!

This story features a lot of good old fashioned warrior fun -- including a good reason not to get nosy with Sonja, a flying monster, a bands of mercenary scum looking for revenge... and lots of Sonja showing folks the bloody business end of her favorite sword.

Honestly, the story could be about anything and still be awesome, since this book features art by comics legend Tom Mandrake!

To order, just give your favorite comic shop this order number: MAR171686



Red Sonja and KISS were a whole lot of fun to work on -- a bit of a departure into pulp fantasy for me, and I had a blast working on them. So much of a blast, in fact, I'm looking forward to a chance to jump back into these genres again soon!

Look forward to hearing your thoughts, folks!

(Let me amend that. I look forward to hearing your good and happy thoughts!)

--Erik

JOHN WICK CHAPTER 2 - A Quick Review

LionsGateSo last night, struggling with the plot for a project, I decided to just head out and see an unapologetic action film, the sequel to a movie I enjoyed more than I thought I would.

The original John Wick was the story of a heartbroken man with a borderline supernatural talent for killing people. He was trying to avoid using those skills, until a fool steals his car and shoots his puppy.

The next hour and change where Keanu Reeves, as John Wick, shoots about 80 people in the face... well, it's justified.

They killed his puppy.

Totally justified.

But the revenge was had, the villains killed, the story ended.

And then, it became a hit. (On to Wick 2, after the break!)



So we open with a spectacular action scene -- John Wick has come to collect his car (violently) and wrap up the last loose end from the first film.

He even makes peace with the Russians.

He's out again! He has a new dog (who is never given a name) and he's back to a quiet retirement.

...Until a marker is called in by an old acquaintance (Santino D'antonio, played by Riccardo Scamarcio) and Wick has no choice but to return to his killing ways to pay his debt off.

This marker sets up a domino run of bad decisions and bad situations, each of them seen coming by the players in the story, who are likewise unable to avoid them.

John prevails through insane odds, but his victories only serve to stack the odds against him even higher.

D'antonio wants his sister (played by Claudia Gerini) dead so as to assume his family's underworld power. After her death (in a unique scene) D'antonio is, of course, honor bound to avenge her death.

He places a bounty on Wick's head, sending the underworld of assassins after him -- all of them nearly as deadly as he is.

D'antonio's taunts throughout the film ensure that the one thing the audience wants to see by the end is Wick putting this guy down.

And we get that! (Not with the Chekhov's Pencil as teased in the first sequence, but don't worry, they don't let that slide by.)

The problem with the villain's death, especially the location of it, is that it drops Wick down to rock bottom. With that death, he loses his professional standing, access to his resources, his home, his car, his photos of his wife -- there are no safe havens left for John Wick by the time the credits roll.

And every assassin in the world -- not just New York -- is now after his head.

John has exactly four things left to his name:

His skills.
His dog.
A marker -- something that entitles him to a can't refuse favor, the very thing that put him in this position.
...And a one hour head start to flee New York before the assassins begin their hunt.

Those are a lot of spoilers! I tell you some of the big beats, but the enjoyment in John Wick is what he does (kills lotsa people) but how he does it (occasionally with a pencil.)

And the action is clever (occasionally repetitive, but always effective.)

The world of assassins that Wick moves in is fleshed out a bit more. More of the safe haven hotels, their suppliers, the codes of conduct -- we see how much Wick makes use of and relies on these things for his Italian mission, and realize that, going forward, he has none of this... but everyone chasing him does.

This makes (the hopefully inevitable) John Wick Chapter 3 a massive underdog story.

And it makes this one feel a lot like like The Empire Strikes Back.

There's an ending, but there is no denouement. If there were no further adventures of this bogeyman, it might be a sour note. An open choice: does Wick survive, or fall? The pieces are there for either path... but we're left in a dark and pessimistic place.

Does a man like this get a happy ending? Does he deserve one?

Something that interested me in the (quiet) assassination scene of Gianna D'antonio: Wick is asked point blank if he fears damnation.

"Yes."

Does the ending represent the final descent, or the first step on the path to true redemption? And what form will the redemption take? Who says that's something Wick will survive?

I hope for and expect a sequel, and with luck it won't include the 2-3 year gap separating Chapter 1 from Chapter 2.

Like I said, it'll be an underdog story... but I can think of nothing more appropriate.

How I Got To This Point As A Writer, A Repost From Tumblr

About four years ago, I wrote three posts on Tumblr about my writing journey from folded over minicomics in 1989 to my pro-writing of an ongoing comic in 2011.

I re-present them here, after the break!



PART 1: 1989-1997
Before you read any of this, let me say: this isn’t really going to be any kind of how to. How to write is the shortest tutorial on Earth:

1. Get an idea.
2. Get something to record your idea in story form.
3. Put the words down until the story is done.
4. Write “the end".

That’s pretty much all there is to it, and I know I’m not the first to say so. But how did I start? What was my path from first thing written to today? I’ve been asked this question a few times now, and I figured I might as well answer in depth. Keeps me writing while I take a break from fiction.(Get some popcorn.)

I started with homemade comics. In elementary school, I ‘d fold copier paper in half, staple, and just make something up. They weren’t the best things ever, but it was a lot of fun, and the first stuff I ever wrote. What? There was no interwebz at the time.

By High School, I had moved on to different things; independent movies opened my eyes to different storytelling techniques, and I wrote screenplays and stage plays, short and long, full of conversations. I liked writing scenes of talking in general, looking for the cadences of speech. I began to start listening more than I talked. (I talked a lot back then. I still do, but at least now I can occasionally quiet myself to hear.) I also started paying attention to reactions when I went to the movies. The timing of the laughter.

Cheap education.

After high school, I had time on my hands and found something new… fan fiction.

I actually discovered it by way of finding online message boards to talk comics; Alvaro’s ComicBoards was what I found first, and they had a board dedicated to the 2099 UG fanfic group… a continuation of Marvel’s old 2099 futureverse. I wanted to take part (because writing for an audience appealed to me) and pitched something that would allow me to write AROUND continuity, both official and otherwise.

“The Prowler: 2099 UG” was born for a few “issues,“ consisting of 10 pages or so of prose each. I did a couple of crossovers, too… Fun times. Trying to match the tone of other writers in those came in handy later. Nothing you learn is ever truly wasted!

After a couple of months of that, someone floated the idea of doing a “DC 2099” and I fell in with that crowd. We created a DC futureverse… and I felt prescient. In 1997, BATMAN DCF was born. He was younger, cracked jokes, had a full face mask, a flying Batmobile, and a large red bat on his chest…

…I know what you’re thinking -- that I thought Paul Dini and Bruce Timm TOTALLY ripped me off, right? (Oh wait, of *course* they didn’t. I’m not an idiot. They came to the ideas on their own, same way I did. But the similarities were funny!)

Not to say I didn’t suspect something was stolen from me once; I posted a scene online once for a peer critique and saw the first half of that scene appear word for word in a film. (Could have been a coincidence there, too — but it did teach me to be careful about what and where I post things online, just in case. No, I won’t reveal the movie. It was a cheesy comedy I’m embarrassed to have seen.)

I kept up with fanfic… lots of different types. It was my hobby and an outlet; I wrote dozens of issues of BATMAN: DCF (up until 2002, sometimes weekly.) I expanded from there; writing titles for other fanfic groups with weird launch themes. I remember doing a golden age story teaming up Namor, Aquaman, and the Human Torch. I remember a version of Daredevil I was so proud of that shared nothing with the Marvel Universe beyond a general theme that I considered retitling the piece and putting it out as a novella. (Providing I can find it all.)

I used this time to learn more about storytelling and pacing for an audience by throwing everything against the wall and releasing it into the wild. And I got a response. I got *letters* from *fans*… and that kept me working hard.

My favorite was a long note from a soldier about to deploy and was bringing my stories to read again. Hearing that something I wrote means anything to someone never gets old.


But even so, I wasn’t involved with fanfic for too much longer (mine was less fan and more fic, taking few enough elements from the original source that I could probably shed them and lose very little. Again, something I’ve considered on several of the projects!) Around 2001, I stopped…

PART 2: 2001-2005
Around 2001, I stopped. And I fell in with a new crowd: fellow posters at Chuck Dixon’s Dixonverse message board (another place for me to discuss comics — I was all over the place! I needed to discuss with someone, this was well before Facebook or Twitter… and I didn’t live anywhere near a shop. Still don’t!)

In any case, at the time - and I’ve told this story before - we were discussing the things in mainstream comics that we didn’t enjoy, and someone suggested putting our money where our mouths were.

We banded together to create the Shooting Star Comics Anthology, an 80 page black and white giant… we began working on it in December ‘01. It was in our hands come August of ‘02.

Unlike the rest of the crew, I had no original character (aside from the knockoff stuff I’d done in my elementary school foldovers.) So I dug up a story I’d written with some horror parody. I started noodling around with a design until I came up with the floppy haired visage of … a character I didn’t have a name for.

He looked like a Nick. So I called him Nick. And his last name became a pun. Nickel and dime — Nick Landime.

His voice was more or less mine, and his circumstances were more or less those of Bugs Bunny. Here’s Nick, here’s a situation, here we go.

It was straight up comedy in eight pages.

It didn’t fit in well with the other stories in the book, but that didn’t stop Nick from returning. Glowing with joy over our first anthology, Shooting Star became a company and the anthology continued. Nick returned in issue #2 in a four page story (that leaned a little more dramatic, but hey… it was an experiment.)

He didn’t appear again in a full story until issue #6 (the final issue of the SSC quarterly anthology.) This one was possibly my favorite overall; “Hawaiian Nick.“ The idea was inspired by Jeff Parker’s cover for the second Shooting Star anthology, wherein Nick looked more polynesian or asian than anything. Hey, you take your inspiration where you can.

Nick argued with Psychic Bill, a floating head. Pele was involved (the goddess, not the soccer player.) It was bizarre, but I loved it.

In 2005, Nick got to star in his own one-shot comic book: Nick Landime vs. the World Crime League. I stand by the story. My art… well, I drew 25 pages in one month. While working a 40+ hour a week day job. In retail. During the holiday shopping season.

It was rushed, if I’m being kind, and I dearly want to redraw it one day… but that’s beside the point. It was my first full-length comic book.

At the time, Shooting Star was publishing Children of the Grave, a miniseries by Tom Waltz and Casey Maloney. Tom got copies of the other Shooting Star books — including Nick. He got a kick out of it, and that made a big difference in things later….

(While all this was happening I got my first paycheck from writing. A teacher up at the local college taught a filmmaking class, which I had taken. He paid me a token sum to rewrite a script he had bought. I doubt it was ever made, but if it was, it would’ve been on cable at 4 am. Still, first check. Bam. Sure, this happened earlier, but so much was happening at once, we gotta shuffle for pacing, and this is a good breaking off point.)


Next, more comics!

PART 3: 2007-2011
Back to comics.

Tom Waltz had found his way over to editing at IDW (he grabbed their attention due, in part, to their interest in Children of the Grave.) One of the books under his watch was the anthology Gene Simmons: House of Horrors. He let me pitch some stories, and liked one enough to give it a go ahead.

“The Wish Thief” was my first paid comics work – and it was a horror story. (I made sure to run it by my brother the horror geek, and he liked it, so I knew I was safe.) It had a “Tales from the Crypt” style twist and some dark humor. The script was done in a couple of hours. The art… took… forever.

I went through a difficult move, and that slowed me down, but that’s neither here nor there.

But it was awesome to finish. (Finishing stories! That’s what it all comes down to.)

After I’d finished the script for the Wish Thief, Chuck Dixon (whose message board, you’ll recall, I’d frequented) gave me a chance on writing a short (humorous) story for his and Gary Kwapisz’s Civil War Adventures graphic novel. I worked up a short story of mistaken identity that was, again, different from the other things I’d worked on.

Two stories!

I didn’t work again in comics for over a year.

I did try to keep up with an online comic strip – The Down Side, something I’d done off and on since 2002 – and I managed to go a couple of months before my day job began to take its toll. I never worked far enough ahead, and that came back to bite me. Eventually, I just scaled back.

On Christmas Day 2008, I went to the emergency room. Kidney stones. Pain. I was in some very, very bad shape. The doctor told me scary things with scary words. I was as close to death as I’d ever been.

When I got home, I thought about comics again. I did a monthlong online return to Nick Landime, and reached out to Tom - the only editor I knew! - to see if there was anything I could try out for. Turns out, there was.

NANOVOR!

A new toy, similar in a way to pokemon and its ilk. Microscopic monsters and the teens that interacted with them. I wrote that (and the only thing I remember from it is that I thought it was silly that the licensor thought kids wouldn’t get a Scarface reference. “Say hello to my little friend” has joined pop culture at this point!)

But I digress. Shortly after I finished, Tom asked if I was a fan of the A-Team.

UM, YES.

The movie was coming out in June, and they wanted a couple of trades on the stands before then. Short window to write it all, can I do it? Y'dang right. I got to work with Chuck Dixon directly at this point for the first time. We split the four books down the middle; he wrote Hannibal (using one joke I threw at him) and Face. I wrote Murdock and BA (though the story about the missile and the pothole came from Chuck, an anecdote that he had read about).

So much fun. I wish the movie hadn’t opened against the World Cup. That cut the foreign receipts. I would’ve loved to have worked on a team proper story… but them’s the breaks!

After wrapping the A-Team, Tom floated me the idea of writing GHOSTBUSTERS: INFESTATION. I had been inquiring about working on the property since he’d taken it on; even pitched a story… in 2009, before I’d even started on A-Team.

You can bet I was all over that.

While I was waiting for approval on Ghostbusters, I floated a Simpsons idea to Chuck. He loved it and took it to Bongo… we co-wrote “Through A Mug Darkly,” where Homer wakes in a world where beer had never existed.

I got to put words in Homer’s mouth, man. That was a trip. It was my lone experience at Bongo, but it was positive. The story was written before Ghostbusters Infestation, but showed up a couple of months afterward.

Such is the twisty and turny nature of publishing schedules, I guess.

Ghostbusters: Infestation got a HUGE positive response. That lead to me pitching the ongoing… which lead to everything else. TMNT work, Mars Attacks crossover, and eventually Scarlet Spider.

Looking back, it’s pretty much a case of practice and then luck. Luck that the people most receptive to my work saw it and decided to nurture it.

Same as it goes for anything, I guess.


And you know, I did leave a few things out of this story. Things that were never published (okay, I’ll spill on one of those: I adapted A Princess of Mars in 64 pages and it never saw the light of day. But I was paid!) Some things that went out without my name on them. Some crazy situations that require more backstory to fully get the meaning of what happened, and that backstory isn’t all mine to tell.\

PART 4: The Present (in brief)
It's been three four years since I wrote that post on Tumblr. A lot has happened since, but I've continued on in comics.

I am, and shall remain, grateful for all the support from colleagues and fans.

And it's shaping up to be a busy year...

NEW TODAY: O2/01/2017 GHOSTBUSTERS-A-GO-GO!

[image error]









Out today! Ghostbusters International, vol. 2 -- this collects issues #6-11, with art by Dan Schoening, Rachael Stott, Erik Evensen, and colors by Luis Antonio Delgado.

It starts with a trip to Puerto Rico with Egon Spengler, Kylie Griffin, and Special Agent Melanie Ortiz -- and continues to span the world -- and the pits of hell -- in the story of the Ghostbusters vs. a rogue Scandinavian warlock!
Finish the maxiseries with this hefty tome (and get all of the Haunted America files illustrated by Corin Howell, too!
Hit your friendly neighborhood comic book store today, or, if you don't have one, CLICK HERE to order it now from Amazon!
[image error]

Also available, the 2017 Ghostbusters Annual! This one contains severalshort stories, all written by me, all colored by Luis Antonio Delgado, and drawn by a murderer's row of talent! The stories include:

Where Winston Was (art by Dan Schoening): Find out where Winston was while his colleagues were being sued for tearing up the streets of NYC during the events of Ghostbusters 2!Haunted America (art by Corin Howell): Join Mel Ortiz on a creepy case in the American heartland! Evil in Iowa, and an assist from Peter Venkman and Kylie Griffin!Second City Ghostbusters (art by Erik Evensen): The Chicago Ghostbusters (Rookie, Ron Alexander, Lou Kamaka, and Dani Shpak) investigate a haunting at a high-end hotel!A Prelude to 101 (art by Rachael Stott): Meet Janine's niece Cait Banner and her friends, Zoe Zawadzki & Evan Torres... they have a problem with a ghost and borrow a trap to take care of it. Nothing could go wrong, right?The Origins of the Green Ghost? (art by Dan Schoening): Ray, Egon, and Kylie posit their theories as to just where the green ghost fans know as Slimer might have come from -- the answer may surprise you!Pagan's Bust (art by Tim Lattie): A vignette about Kylie Griffin's pet cat and a messy apartment!Again, check out your local comic shop to get a copy now, or CLICK HERE to order from Amazon!


And don't forget, Dan, Luis, and I return to Ghostbusting duty in March with GHOSTBUSTERS 101 -- pre-order issues #1 and #2 now from any comic shop or digitally via comixology!
Thanks, folks!!
-Erik

Convention Announcements!

I have my first couple of 2017 appearances lined up!

Where will I be?

February 25-26. you'll find me at the Fargo-Moorhead Comic Con at the Baymont Inn in North Dakota.

In April, I return to the McCormick in Chicago Illinois for C2E2! I'll be there the whole weekend, headquarted next to tablemate Brent Schoonover.

Do stop by whichever con is convenient for you!

Out TODAY: Back to the Future: Citizen Brown TPB!

[image error] [image error]Out today in comic shops everywhere (and coming on 01/17 to book stores and Amazon -- it's CITIZEN BROWN!
Loosely adapting the Telltale Games video game, Citizen Brown sends Doc Brown and Marty McFly into the 1930s, two alternate versions of 1986, and even -- briefly -- the old west!

The Browns, the McFlys, and all of Hill Valley are at risk!

Adapted by Bob Gale, Erik Burnham (hey, that's me!), Alan Robinson, and Maria Santaolalla!

Head out to your friendly neighborhood comic shop for a copy today -- though if you don't happen to have one, you can click here to pre-order Back To The Future: Citizen Brown from Amazon![image error]

New Stuff In March!

March 2017 will see a few new things from me -- first, there's a cover collaboration I did with my pal, Sheriff of Babylon artist MITCH GERADS.

For the final issue of DC Comics' Vigilante: Southland, we did an homage to the early-1980s Vigilante's first issue cover!

I don't want to overstate my contribution -- Mitch drew and colored the Vigilante figure you see in the fore, the focus of the cover. I wrote and built the newspaper that forms the background.

(It was nice to get to work with Mitch, even in such a small way!)


Art by Mitch Gerads & Erik Burnham - Vigilante TM & © 2017 DC Comics
And then there's Ghostbusters 101, a six-issue miniseries that will feature the original GHOSTBUSTERS meeting the Answer The Call cast, of the 2016 movie.

Art by Tim Lattie. Ghostbusters TM & © 2017 Columbia PicturesThere's a lot of hubbub around this; some folks are really excited to see the characters meet. some not.
Whether you were a fan of the recent film or not, I hope -- if you're a fan of our comics -- you'll give it a look. I can guarantee the same approach from Dan, Luis, Tom and myself that you've enjoyed in the past.
--Erik

An American Safety Pin

The safety pin as a badge has been popping up in the US in the wake of the recent election. The meaning is... well, it's a safety pin. The meaning is about a straight a line as you can draw.

"You're safe with me."

I like the sentiment -- and, bar none, I'd love for everyone to feel safe.

We'll get closer.

Meantime, it inspired me to do up a safety pin design, which I then decided I wanted a shirt of. What the heck, if anyone else wants one, it's available. JUST CLICK HERE FOR THE SHIRT!

Postcards from the E

There's been a lot of stress in 2016, from 01/01 straight down the line. I don't need to tell you; you were there. There's been a lot of crazy from all corners of the world.

I can't fix that; not fear, or dissatisfaction.

I can only spread little bits of joy. That's what's in my power.

(I admit to you that that may not be much -- but, if I can provide a few seconds' smile, I'm gonna do just that.)

So, then! I have a small box of blank postcards. Couple dozen, maybe more. They're gonna get sketched on and sent out to whoever asks.

Send me an address (and, if you like, a fictional character you'd like a sketch of -- otherwise I'll just totally improvise) and I'll send you a postcard, up until I run out. For free.

That's it. That's all there is to it.

If you'd like one (and just one!) please email me at:

erikburnham (at) mail (dot) com

Needless to say (though I will anyway) your address is safe with me and will be deleted as soon as I jot it on the postcard.

Now, let's rev towards optimism!

Thanks,
--Erik