We Launched “Blunt Force Beating” a New Online Crime Culture Site Today
By Jason Thibault
Since we decided that we didn’t have enough work to do already here at Optimum Wound we decided to build a second site over the last few months.
I give you BLUNT FORCE BEATING, our new online crime magazine. This has been in the planning stages for eons. It’s only recently that we decided that talk was cheap and it was time to build the damn thing.
My friend and long-time collaborator Chris Williams were sitting on a patio over beers one afternoon dreaming up a site that would cover every facet of the crime genre. TV, comics, film, books, video games, and documentaries. No stone would be left unturned.
There’s amazing horror sites out there like Bloody Disgusting and Fangoria covering the horror beat but I couldn’t find any similar site doing the same for crime.
There’s been an amazing worldwide output of crime and revenge films from every imaginable corner of the earth. A bonanza of African crime fiction has arisen in the last few years. Unique publishing houses like Akashic and Soft Skull Press have been releasing profound but largely undocumented books. And the comic scene is seeing genre books like The Hunter make great strides into the mainstream.
I couldn’t sit on it any longer. We needed to get a crime culture journal put up on the net. Richard Serrao, Chris Williams and contributing writers like Violet Dear started producing reviews and essays while I got to work putting the framework of bluntforcebeating.com together.
The gloves come off over there. There’s no censorship and the profanity can get quite loud. I wanted to create a home away from home for people that are passionate about violent, noirish tales both fiction and non-fiction that span every medium across the globe.
It’s been fun as hell so far. Hope you dig it.
-Jay
Richard Serrao Featured on Electric Playland [VIDEO]
Back in the end of August we found ourselves in Artist Alley at Toronto’s FanExpo, the third largest pop culture convention in North America. The good folk of pop culture television show Electric Playland stopped by for an interview with Richard Serrao. That piece finally went live and can be viewed either by visiting their site or watching it in the player below (if you can see it).
I think they did a killer job cutting it together.
Madam Samurai Looks Like a Badass Little Graphic Novel
File this under cool things that show up in my inbox. Scar Comics is releasing the first of what is to be a two-volume graphic novel series called Madam Samurai. It’s hitting the streets in the summer of 2010.
The first thing that caught my eye was that it was written by Gary Young, the screenwriter for both The Tournament and the Michael Caine revenger, Harry Brown. I’ve seen both films and love them each for different reasons. Harry Brown in particular was an amazing and mean little drama and I can’t wait for the rest of North America to catch it on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Gary Young writes tough as nails scripts so I can’t wait to see what he does when turned loose on a comic book. And comic fans on both sides of the Atlantic will get a chance to see what he can do with the graphic novel form in June.
A quick synopsis for the story reads as follows:
Madam Samurai is a hard hitting historical adventure drama that spans the battlefields of feudal Japan and the crime ridden streets of Victorian London.
Look for it in the April 2010 edition of Diamond Previews.
Here’s a couple of unlettered preview pages by the series artist Dave Hitchcock who has previously won an Eagle Award in 2005 for his artwork on Springheeled Jack.
And here’s a nifty trailer for the book.
Does This Online Ad for Super Conference Violate DC Comics Copyright?
I’m a regular reader of The Salty Droid, a Chicago-based blogger who takes aim at marketers and “internet gurus” who scam the weak and desperate by using scummy and deceptive tactics. He has a particular hate-on for Dan Kennedy and Russell Brunson.
This morning The Droid caught my attention with his mention of a online sales ad for an upcoming Glazer / Kennedy “Super-Conference” which on top of costing over 5 grand to attend may also violate DC Comics trademarks and copyrights. It clearly isn’t parody.
Here’s a sampling of some of the images contained in the ad.
Below in the comments of the Droid post a cleverly named Glenn Glazer Glen Ross also mentions:
The Superman misappropriation by Kennedy/Glazer is terrible.
The sales letter has these intellectual property issues too.
1. Misuse of McDonalds and Monopoly marks.
2. Fake Time magazine cover
3. Misuse of Milton Bradley’s Operation game.
4. Name-dropping Oprah in video pitch as if she endorses what’s being sold.
5. Misuse of the magazine covers for Fortune, Entrepreneur, and Business Week.
How many of the company names dropped (Disney, FedEx, etc.) would want to be associated with this conference?
Here’s a link to the actual ad. If you’re not used to reading long-form online sales letters (or even if you are) this one might break your brain with its’ over the top layout.
The Droid has passed this ad along to DC Comics Rights and Registration department. This should be interesting. Especially in light of the ongoing battle with DC Comics and the Shuster and Siegel heirs.
Killer new Jason Shawn Alexander Art for Marvel Zombies Return
It’s no secret that we’re huge fans of the art of Jason Shawn Alexander around here. His pen and ink artwork is quickly ranking up there with the masters and his painting skills are second to none. He’s been updating his blog with a lot of new pen and ink sketches, oil paintings and comic book art.
He’s been working on the Marvel Zombies Return series which features one my favorite renditions of Wolverine that I’ve seen in some time. The artwork has a manic and insane quality to it that fits in with the lunatic humor of the ongoing series of miniseries.
In addition Jason’s been drawing and painting up a storm for his upcoming gallery show at the Corey Helford Gallery coming up on May 8th.
