What's Groovy

Ade Salmon

Here's a sweet Wolverine vs. Wendigo drawing by Jay Stephens of Monsterama.

I'm getting a TON of traffic from a google images result pointing to this picture of Sophia Loren topless. I'm not complaining, but I am curious--where is that traffic coming from in the first place? All I see is the traffic from google images, but someone must have linked to that, to drive so many eyeballs to that particular pic. I'd just like to know where the original link is.

Alessandro Boni's sequel to his stunning graphic novel Melting Pulp appears to be coming along nicely. Here's a peek at the cover, and the (I'm assuming) hardcover is on track for a December release:

Yesterday I caught a double-feature of District 9 and Inglorious Basterds. Whoo-ee! Considering how riddled District 9 is with problems that are frustrating or confusing in the moment and even more that hit you at the proverbial refrigerator, it works far better than it has any right to, mainly because the world it imagines is so visually and aurally convincing. The Johannesburg setting does so damn much work for the movie in so many ways, an Oscar category should probably be invented to recognize it. But also, D9 gets the big stuff right and delivers the emotional whammies that are its raison d'etre. Considering how hard it obviously sweated most details, it's outrageous how casually it appears to have shrugged away others that wouldn't even have needed that much sweating. Oh well!

As for Inglorious Basterds, Sean and Kate have posted must-read reviews already. Based on alarming early reports about how long and talky it was shaping up to be, and those unappealing trailers, I was about to give it a miss, which would be a first for me, not seeing a new Tarantino flick in theaters. Awed raves by lots of people whose opinions I trust turned me around, for which I'm grateful. I have to say, I can't think of a time a movie has been so poorly served by its trailers. Then again, it's hard to think of how they might have done better. This is a very trailer-unfriendly movie. To a remarkable degree, great big emotions are signaled by micro-changes in expression and tone that only make sense in the extended, roundabout dialogues that form their context. You just wouldn't have anything to show for it if you pulled a still or short clip from any of the movie's best, most charged moments. I suspect Tarantino knocked pretty much everyone's expectations sideways with this one. It's amazing to see him keep growing and maturing as a filmmaker, and to see his smart cockiness mellow into a quieter, more impressive self-assurance.

Speaking of Sean Collins, Gene Phillips stays on the "superhero decadence" offensive.

And that's what I got for now. On to Blackest Night . . .