From Alien to Thor to Avengers: Walt Simonson

When you have my job, you get to meet movie stars and famous directors and Hollywood starlets and blah, blah, blah. But those guys are mostly a bore. And besides, it's not every day that one gets to shoot the s#!t with the man whose comics you grew up reading! For me, that would be Walt Simonson, whose acclaimed run on titles like Thor and X-Factor in particular helped shaped a young Collura's comics-reading habits (well, me, and every other kid reading comics at the time that is).

I was lucky enough to get a chance to talk to Simonson recently because of his new book from Titan… or rather, his new old book. Alien: The Illustrated Story is a restored rerelease of his and writer Archie Goodwin's excellent graphic-novel adaptation of the Ridley Scott film that was originally created for Heavy Metal over 30 years ago (read my review here. An Original Art Edition of the book is also out next week which reproduces all of Simonson's black and white boards, in full size and complete with all of the little details and imperfections of the pre-published comics art, plus an interview with Simonson, original script pages, sketches and more.

The main topic of our conversation was the Alien book and its creation, but we also delve into his recently released labor of love for DC, The Judas Coin, his thoughts on returning to his classic titles like Thor, and much more.

Scott Collura: First of all, I have to ask, were you drawing when I called just now?

Walt Simonson: Well, I’ve got some stuff I’ve got to get done. I was working on some drawing, but that’s all right. I can draw after we talk!

SC: How many hours a day do you draw?

WS: Depends entirely on my deadlines. If my deadlines are a long way off, I don’t draw that much. If my deadlines are tomorrow, I’m drawing like a madman. And right now my deadlines are tomorrow, so I’m drawing like a madman. [Laughs]

SC: Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe your big break came with Manhunter, which you worked on with Archie Goodwin, right?

WS: That’s right.

SC: So you obviously worked on Alien with Archie as well. Can you tell me about how that partnership came about on Alien?

WS: Well, the short version is that John Workman, who was the art director at Heavy Metal at the time, called me about the possibility of inking the Alien graphic novel adaptation of the movie over Carmine Infantino['s pencils] -- but he hadn’t been able to get a hold of Carmine at that point, so we talked about it and it sounded like fun. Eventually, we reached a point where I was going to pencil it, and I suggested that Archie would be a good guy to have write the words themselves in the comic. So that’s how that worked out.

SC: And of course, you and John Workman have had a longstanding relationship with each other since then.

WS: [Laughs] Yes we do, and that was the first time we worked together.

SC: As far as the process of actually creating the visuals of the comic, did you have any kind of access to the art from the film? How did that all work?

WS: We had all kinds of stuff. I was actually shown a rough cut of the film. It was close to two and a half hours long. This was in December of 1978 -- the movie came out in May of '79. So at the end of '78, 20th Century Fox provided a lot of references. At the time, Heavy Metal was also producing a book called The Book of Alien, which was a film book; they weren’t as common then as they are now, but it was a book about the making of the film. So they had a lot of references and slides from the film. I was able to have them essentially make photostats of the slides, blow them up. They were just black and white -- terrible reproduction value, you’d never be able to use them for anything, really -- but they were great for visual reference. 20th Century provided some other photographs and stills. Archie and I also had three different script revisions that were maybe two months apart each, and we were able to really just do our version of a comic using that material to create the graphic novel, as it turned out.

SC: How much attention did you pay to H.R. Giger when you were drawing that book?

WS: Well, I had a book of Giger’s stuff that came out before Alien, so I looked at that when I was drawing. We didn’t have a lot of clear shots of the alien. I think I had one where he was tipped over, sort of standing but bent over. And there were some detail shots. So I looked at Giger’s paintings for a sense of texture, a sense of the external skeletal quality of the character, and kind of went from there.

SC: Even on the first two pages where you draw the Alien title, it’s in that sort of skeletal techno-organic style.

WS: Sure, I just looked at this book of Giger stuff that I had and laid out the lettering, then I went in there with pencil, pen and ink and kind of drew up the series of textures that at least reminded me of Giger’s work. Then we used watercolor to kind of simulate that and give it some sense of the alien before you’ve read the book or seen the movie. You wouldn’t know quite what that was about, but it would resonate later after you had read the graphic novel.

SC: So what was it like when you saw the film? I assume you were done with the book by the time you saw the final film?

WS: The final one, yeah. I saw that when it came out. The book had to be published right at the same time the film was released. I don’t exactly remember how close -- same week or whatever it was. So essentially we had a drop-dead deadline to get the graphic novel finished by early April. There had to be time to get the art separated, essentially made print ready, and then sent to the printer -- printed, bound, trimmed and fired off to retail stores so that on the week the movie came out, the book would be available. By the time the movie came out, I’d finished the book four or five weeks earlier. So it was very neat. It was interesting -- there were bits that were different from the rough cut I had seen; by that time I had seen the rough cut almost six months earlier, so I didn’t remember a lot of stuff clearly. But there were a few things here or there that were different in the release cut. I thought that was kind of interesting.

SC: And even with the comic itself, I think one of the things that’s very effective for a fan of Alien who reads the comic is that it plays as sort of an alternate version of the events. Everything that happens is the same, but because we know Alien so well, angles are different; the length of scenes are obviously different. The characters look like the characters, and yet they’re your versions of the characters. In those ways, it kind of plays like an alternate version of the film, which is so cool.

WS: [Laughs] Well, we had a lot of room to maneuver, but of course I could never do a scene-for-scene drawing of the film. Honestly, I’m not sure I would have wanted to, really. What’s the point? But we had a lot of freedom, so what Archie and I tried to do was create a graphic novel that was the most effective comic book we could do of that story using all the stuff that we had, the raw material, as the foundation for building that comic. And that’s how it worked out.

Source : ign[dot]com

From Alien to Thor to Avengers: Walt Simonson

When you have my job, you get to meet movie stars and famous directors and Hollywood starlets and blah, blah, blah. But those guys are mostly a bore. And besides, it's not every day that one gets to shoot the s#!t with the man whose comics you grew up reading! For me, that would be Walt Simonson, whose acclaimed run on titles like Thor and X-Factor in particular helped shaped a young Collura's comics-reading habits (well, me, and every other kid reading comics at the time that is).

I was lucky enough to get a chance to talk to Simonson recently because of his new book from Titan… or rather, his new old book. Alien: The Illustrated Story is a restored rerelease of his and writer Archie Goodwin's excellent graphic-novel adaptation of the Ridley Scott film that was originally created for Heavy Metal over 30 years ago (read my review here. An Original Art Edition of the book is also out next week which reproduces all of Simonson's black and white boards, in full size and complete with all of the little details and imperfections of the pre-published comics art, plus an interview with Simonson, original script pages, sketches and more.

The main topic of our conversation was the Alien book and its creation, but we also delve into his recently released labor of love for DC, The Judas Coin, his thoughts on returning to his classic titles like Thor, and much more.

Scott Collura: First of all, I have to ask, were you drawing when I called just now?

Walt Simonson: Well, I’ve got some stuff I’ve got to get done. I was working on some drawing, but that’s all right. I can draw after we talk!

SC: How many hours a day do you draw?

WS: Depends entirely on my deadlines. If my deadlines are a long way off, I don’t draw that much. If my deadlines are tomorrow, I’m drawing like a madman. And right now my deadlines are tomorrow, so I’m drawing like a madman. [Laughs]

SC: Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe your big break came with Manhunter, which you worked on with Archie Goodwin, right?

WS: That’s right.

SC: So you obviously worked on Alien with Archie as well. Can you tell me about how that partnership came about on Alien?

WS: Well, the short version is that John Workman, who was the art director at Heavy Metal at the time, called me about the possibility of inking the Alien graphic novel adaptation of the movie over Carmine Infantino['s pencils] -- but he hadn’t been able to get a hold of Carmine at that point, so we talked about it and it sounded like fun. Eventually, we reached a point where I was going to pencil it, and I suggested that Archie would be a good guy to have write the words themselves in the comic. So that’s how that worked out.

SC: And of course, you and John Workman have had a longstanding relationship with each other since then.

WS: [Laughs] Yes we do, and that was the first time we worked together.

SC: As far as the process of actually creating the visuals of the comic, did you have any kind of access to the art from the film? How did that all work?

WS: We had all kinds of stuff. I was actually shown a rough cut of the film. It was close to two and a half hours long. This was in December of 1978 -- the movie came out in May of '79. So at the end of '78, 20th Century Fox provided a lot of references. At the time, Heavy Metal was also producing a book called The Book of Alien, which was a film book; they weren’t as common then as they are now, but it was a book about the making of the film. So they had a lot of references and slides from the film. I was able to have them essentially make photostats of the slides, blow them up. They were just black and white -- terrible reproduction value, you’d never be able to use them for anything, really -- but they were great for visual reference. 20th Century provided some other photographs and stills. Archie and I also had three different script revisions that were maybe two months apart each, and we were able to really just do our version of a comic using that material to create the graphic novel, as it turned out.

SC: How much attention did you pay to H.R. Giger when you were drawing that book?

WS: Well, I had a book of Giger’s stuff that came out before Alien, so I looked at that when I was drawing. We didn’t have a lot of clear shots of the alien. I think I had one where he was tipped over, sort of standing but bent over. And there were some detail shots. So I looked at Giger’s paintings for a sense of texture, a sense of the external skeletal quality of the character, and kind of went from there.

SC: Even on the first two pages where you draw the Alien title, it’s in that sort of skeletal techno-organic style.

WS: Sure, I just looked at this book of Giger stuff that I had and laid out the lettering, then I went in there with pencil, pen and ink and kind of drew up the series of textures that at least reminded me of Giger’s work. Then we used watercolor to kind of simulate that and give it some sense of the alien before you’ve read the book or seen the movie. You wouldn’t know quite what that was about, but it would resonate later after you had read the graphic novel.

SC: So what was it like when you saw the film? I assume you were done with the book by the time you saw the final film?

WS: The final one, yeah. I saw that when it came out. The book had to be published right at the same time the film was released. I don’t exactly remember how close -- same week or whatever it was. So essentially we had a drop-dead deadline to get the graphic novel finished by early April. There had to be time to get the art separated, essentially made print ready, and then sent to the printer -- printed, bound, trimmed and fired off to retail stores so that on the week the movie came out, the book would be available. By the time the movie came out, I’d finished the book four or five weeks earlier. So it was very neat. It was interesting -- there were bits that were different from the rough cut I had seen; by that time I had seen the rough cut almost six months earlier, so I didn’t remember a lot of stuff clearly. But there were a few things here or there that were different in the release cut. I thought that was kind of interesting.

SC: And even with the comic itself, I think one of the things that’s very effective for a fan of Alien who reads the comic is that it plays as sort of an alternate version of the events. Everything that happens is the same, but because we know Alien so well, angles are different; the length of scenes are obviously different. The characters look like the characters, and yet they’re your versions of the characters. In those ways, it kind of plays like an alternate version of the film, which is so cool.

WS: [Laughs] Well, we had a lot of room to maneuver, but of course I could never do a scene-for-scene drawing of the film. Honestly, I’m not sure I would have wanted to, really. What’s the point? But we had a lot of freedom, so what Archie and I tried to do was create a graphic novel that was the most effective comic book we could do of that story using all the stuff that we had, the raw material, as the foundation for building that comic. And that’s how it worked out.

Source : ign[dot]com

Paranormal Activity 4: Congratulations, You Have Successfully Found The Image

Box office smash Paranormal Activity returns with the fourth instalment Paranormal Activity 4, with directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. The plot follows Katie, who has just moved into a quiet suburban neighbourhood, where their new neighbours, soon begin to experience the same hauntings which followed Katie and Kristi's family.

All the activity has led to this – Paranormal Activity is back at cinemas everywhere on October 17... and once again it will make audiences scream and jump on their seats!

For your chance to win a brand new Toshiba C855 Satellite Laptop, watch the trailer below and send your answers to ParanormalIGN@gmail.com.

©2012 PARAMOUNT PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Keep up to date and find out more at http://www.paranormalmovie.co.uk/

How To Enter

Watch the trailer above and tell us: Where does the “weird kid” live?

A: Next door

B: Arizona

C: Across the street

D: In a new flat

Email your answer to ParanormalIGN@gmail.com with the subject line Paranormal Activity 4 including your full name, date of birth and contact number before [DATE].

This competition is open to UK residents over the age of 18 only with full terms and conditions on the next page.

Source : ign[dot]com

The Best of Tim Burton

There are very few mainstream directors working today whose style is as immediately recognizable as Tim Burton's. He is a man obsessed – and many would say, possessed – by the macabre, the romantic and the grotesque, sensibilities that entwine themselves through the DNA of his every project, no matter how innocuous the subject matter.

But Burton has been regarded as a ‘one for the studios, one for me’ kinda guy, and arguably his smaller, more personal efforts triumph over the larger blockbusters. Of late, the underwhelming combo of Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows have left us wondering if the director can still capture his particular brand of dark magic in a bottle. Fortunately, the upcoming stop-motion pic Frankenweenie proves that not only is the master of the macabre back, he’s still got plenty of bite.

Here, we celebrate the best of the wild-haired maestro.

Mild spoilers ahead. Please note, we've limited this list to Tim Burton's directorial efforts.

5: Frankenweenie

Frankenweenie (2012), while small in scope, is indeed a triumphant return to form for Burton. It's also immediately familiar, an amalgamation of ‘Burtonisms’ from a number of his previous works: a black and white palate, stop-motion-animation, a rousing Danny Elfman score and a plasticine Winona Ryder looking uncannily (and slightly unnervingly) like a young Lydia Deetz. Even our hero’s hometown feels familiar, evoking Edward Scissorhands' whitewashed '70s-style suburbia. For Burton loyalists, there are a ton of nostalgic delights to be found in the shadows.

Like Burton's earlier Ed Wood, Frankenweenie is a loving tribute to the horror features of yesteryear,  peppered with characters modeled on iconic horror creatures and clever visual nods to creature-features. Frankenweenie is a film rich in detail - unsurprising, considering it took 33 animators to produce five seconds of film per week - and crafted with real cohesion. Most importantly, at Frankenweenie's heart is a very simple and touching story about a boy's love for his dog, that will resonate with anyone who's ever owned - and lost - a pup of their own.

4: Beetlejuice

Kids loved the ‘80s comedy classic Beetlejuice, although very few would dare say his name three times afterwards, so repulsive (and terrifically manic) was Michael Keaton’s central performance. The tale of a recently deceased couple’s encounter with a sleazy scare consultant is Burton at his sardonic best, delivering the kind of sharp-edged piss-take of American suburbanites he would return to time and time again.

Beetlejuice is also one of Burton’s more bizarre efforts, his vision of the afterlife at once horrific and hilarious, and ripe for some of the most memorable sequences in Burton history ('Day-o' and the sandworm spring immediately to mind.) And while Keaton undoubtedly steals the show, the rest of the cast is excellent; from Winona Ryder’s 'one big dark room' emo teenager to Catherine O’Hara’s shrill artistic visionary. Brilliant, surreal stuff.

3: Batman Returns

The sheer inventiveness of Burton’s second Batman outing is overwhelming, as if Burton had shrugged his shoulders and said 'screw it' after the slightly more tempered 1989 original. Batman Returns' Gotham City is a schizo-never-never land, populated with sideshow freaks who choose to exhume their issues by donning rubber suits or building penguin armies. It’s an unadulterated and utterly unique take on the Batman universe, and fascinates despite an unapologetic departure from the continuity of the comics.

While Batman Returns may not be remembered for its entirely cohesive narrative, it is remembered for its brilliant characters - Danny DeVito is indelible as the cackling Penguin, and Michelle Phieffer's purring Catwoman fast-tracked many kids into an early puberty. Further, it’s a visual wonder, with an aesthetic so quintessentially Burton; gothic architecture, shadowy alleyways, melancholy snowstorms and all.

2: Edward Scissorhands

Edward Scissorhands was Burton’s fist movie developed on his own, and remains his most haunting. The movie is an intoxicating blend of Burton’s aesthetic style and the most crystallized expression of a theme that was to be repeated throughout his later work; the outsider struggling to fit in.

As Edward, Johnny Depp is an exercise in pathos, his sweet-nature spiked with moments of frustration and rage at his inability to be normal (“hold me?” “I can’t.”) Of course, his uniqueness is what makes him so special, and therein lies the obvious comparison to Burton himself, who has always perceived himself as an outsider - a troubled artist - looking in. Topped off with one of the more heartbreaking scores from Danny Elfman, Edward Scissorhands is a triumph.

1: Ed Wood

Ed Wood is one of Tim Burton’s most sweet-tempered films, focused on the notorious ‘auteur’ of the ‘50s, Edward Davis Wood, Jr.  Burton had found something of a soulmate in the famously eccentric wannabe-visionary; like Burton, Wood was obsessed with cinema, finding pleasure in every frame – albeit completely without taste. The black and white film never mocks, rather, joyfully plays tribute to Wood’s bizarre character and career.

As the titular Wood, Johnny Depp proved to the world he was more than just a soulful dramatic actor, turning in the kind of freewheeling, all-in performance that foreshadowed Jack Sparrow. But it's Martin Landau who ultimately steals the show as ‘ex-boogeyman’ Bela Lugosi, the melancholy, egotistical horror legend who spent his final years starring in Wood's disasters. This is Burton at his most introspective, Burton at his most nostalgic, and Burton at his best.

This is our top 5, let's hear yours in the comments.

Lucy O'Brien is Assistant Editor at IGN AU. You should talk to her about games, horror movies and the TV show Freaks & Geeks on IGN here, find her on Twitter here or meet the rest of the Australian team by joining the IGN Australia Facebook community.

Source : ign[dot]com

The Best of Tim Burton

There are very few mainstream directors working today whose style is as immediately recognizable as Tim Burton's. He is a man obsessed – and many would say, possessed – by the macabre, the romantic and the grotesque, sensibilities that entwine themselves through the DNA of his every project, no matter how innocuous the subject matter.

But Burton has been regarded as a ‘one for the studios, one for me’ kinda guy, and arguably his smaller, more personal efforts triumph over the larger blockbusters. Of late, the underwhelming combo of Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows have left us wondering if the director can still capture his particular brand of dark magic in a bottle. Fortunately, the upcoming stop-motion pic Frankenweenie proves that not only is the master of the macabre back, he’s still got plenty of bite.

Here, we celebrate the best of the wild-haired maestro.

5: Frankenweenie

Frankenweenie, while small in scope, is indeed a triumphant return to form for Burton. It's also immediately familiar, an amalgamation of ‘Burtonisms’ from a number of his previous works: a black and white palate, stop-motion-animation, a rousing Danny Elfman score and a plasticine Winona Ryder looking uncannily (and slightly unnervingly) like a young Lydia Deetz. Even our hero’s hometown feels familiar, evoking Edward Scissorhands' whitewashed '70s-style suburbia. For Burton loyalists, there are a ton of nostalgic delights to be found in the shadows.

Like Burton's earlier Ed Wood, Frankenweenie is a loving tribute to the horror features of yesteryear,  peppered with characters modeled on iconic horror creatures and clever visual nods to creature-features. Frankenweenie is a film rich in detail - unsurprising, considering it took 33 animators to produce five seconds of film per week - and crafted with real cohesion. Most importantly, at Frankenweenie's heart is a very simple and touching story about a boy's love for his dog, that will resonate with anyone who's ever owned - and lost - a pup of their own.

4: Beetlejuice

Kids loved the ‘80s comedy classic Beetlejuice, although very few would dare say his name three times afterwards, so repulsive (and terrifically manic) was Michael Keaton’s central performance. The tale of a recently deceased couple’s encounter with a sleazy scare consultant is Burton at his sardonic best, delivering the kind of sharp-edged piss-take of American suburbanites he would return to time and time again.

Beetlejuice is also one of Burton’s more bizarre efforts, his vision of the afterlife at once horrific and hilarious, and ripe for some of the most memorable sequences in Burton history ('Day-o' and the sandworm spring immediately to mind.) And while Keaton undoubtedly steals the show, the rest of the cast is excellent; from Winona Ryder’s 'one big dark room' emo teenager to Catherine O’Hara’s shrill artistic visionary. Brilliant, surreal stuff.

3: Batman Returns

The sheer inventiveness of Burton’s second Batman outing is overwhelming, as if Burton had shrugged his shoulders and said 'screw it' after the slightly more tempered 1989 original. Batman Returns' Gotham City is a schizo-never-never land, populated with sideshow freaks who choose to exhume their issues by donning rubber suits or building penguin armies. It’s an unadulterated and utterly unique take on the Batman universe, and fascinates despite an unapologetic departure from the continuity of the comics.

While Batman Returns may not be remembered for its entirely cohesive narrative, it is remembered for its brilliant characters - Danny DeVito is indelible as the cackling Penguin, and Michelle Phieffer's purring Catwoman fast-tracked many kids into an early puberty. Further, it’s a visual wonder, with an aesthetic so quintessentially Burton; gothic architecture, shadowy alleyways, melancholy snowstorms and all.

2: Edward Scissorhands

Edward Scissorhands was Burton’s fist movie developed on his own, and remains his most haunting. The movie is an intoxicating blend of Burton’s aesthetic style and the most crystallized expression of a theme that was to be repeated throughout his later work; the outsider struggling to fit in.

As Edward, Johnny Depp is an exercise in pathos, his sweet-nature spiked with moments of frustration and rage at his inability to be normal (“hold me?” “I can’t.”) Of course, his uniqueness is what makes him so special, and therein lies the obvious comparison to Burton himself, who has always perceived himself as an outsider - a troubled artist - looking in. Topped off with one of the more heartbreaking scores from Danny Elfman, Edward Scissorhands is a triumph.

1: Ed Wood

Ed Wood is one of Tim Burton’s most sweet-tempered films, focused on the notorious ‘auteur’ of the ‘50s, Edward Davis Wood, Jr.  Burton had found something of a soulmate in the famously eccentric wannabe-visionary; like Burton, Wood was obsessed with cinema, finding pleasure in every frame – albeit completely without taste. The black and white film never mocks, rather, joyfully plays tribute to Wood’s bizarre character and career.

As the titular Wood, Johnny Depp proved to the world he was more than just a soulful dramatic actor, turning in the kind of freewheeling, all-in performance that foreshadowed Jack Sparrow. But it's Martin Landau who ultimately steals the show as ‘ex-boogeyman’ Bela Lugosi, the melancholy, egotistical horror legend who spent his final years starring in Wood's disasters. This is Burton at his most introspective, Burton at his most nostalgic, and Burton at his best.

How would you rank Burton's films? What should be on here that isn't? Let us know in the comments.

Lucy O'Brien is Assistant Editor at IGN AU. You should talk to her about games, horror movies and the TV show Freaks & Geeks on IGN here, find her on Twitter here or meet the rest of the Australian team by joining the IGN Australia Facebook community.

Source : ign[dot]com

Mortal Kombat Director's Video Pitch for The Hunger Games

A lot of directors wanted the job of helming The Hunger Games, a job that ultimately went to Gary Ross. One of those filmmakers was Kevin Tancharoen, the director behind the Mortal Kombat: Legacy series and, yes, the Fame remake.

/Film chatted with about his pitch reel (seen below) for The Hunger Games and how important they are to landing directing jobs nowadays.

Source : ign[dot]com

What's Your Favorite Tony Scott Movie?

Filmmaker Tony Scott, brother of Ridley Scott and one of the most successful Hollywood directors of the last 25 years, committed suicide Sunday. He was 68 and reportedly suffering from inoperable brain cancer. In addition to being a prolific film and TV producer, Scott directed 16 films, several of which are now considered classics of the action genre. Let us know which of these Tony Scott movies is your favorite by voting in the poll below.

Source : ign[dot]com