The Kidney Drama Continues.

Headed for my follow up today. Still have inflamation in my prostate (which was discovered by yet another hand up the ass) and the doctor's put me on a stronger course of anti-biotics, in hopes that the prostate fixes itself, and hopefully pushes the stone (which he figures is STILL lodged in there) out. A word about having a grown man's hand up the ass.

I can't express to you the amount of pain this causes. I do not recommend anybody gives it a try. It was certainly not worth the $100 I had to pay for it.

I'm on a heaping helping of vicodin to help 'ease the pain' from the instrusion and the pain it's seemd to cause in the kidneys.

Now, I will go pass out.

ER Bumper - Sketch Page!

One of the many pages of Extras in the Elk's Run Bumper Edition, which is getting ready to head out to the printer on Thursday. Can't wait for you guys to see all the great stuff we crammed in here, hope it makes it worth it for those of you who've already bought the book, and want to be extra supportive. Did I mention I love you guys?

Click the image for full size.

Murder One

Of my Birthday swag, this has gotten the 2nd most attention. Steven Bochco and Co.'s Murder One is far and away the best coutroom drama of the 90's (eat shit The Practice, L.A. Law, and Law & Order). The thing that sets it apart, and makes it so much more... engaging than every other show is that the entire season is focused on one legal case, an underage rape/murder involving a business tycoon and a movie star. We see every twist and turn, each day in court plays out in front of us, rather than the glossed over jumps of the triumvirate of aforementioned shows. Far and away, the highlight of the show was Daniel Benzali, as Ted Hoffman, the bald headed shark with a heart of gold. He manages to show off a warmth and compassion that manages to never quite undercut his sharp mind. On every other legal show, he would be the villain, the high price attorney defending immoral, self-obsessed millionaires, yet, the beauty of the show makes him out to be a moral man in an immoral world. It's quite a striking balance, and Benzali handles it like no other.

I highly recommend the first season of the show (the second season is a different cast and different format, and excellent but in a very different way..)

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Old Boy

Checked out Old Boy finally. It's got moments of greatness, but, ends up being a bit over long, and a bit too on the nose. The twist is a bit obvious, although Dina didn't see it coming as early as I did, and it suffers a bit from that awkward Asian logic in that the motivation for the bad guy is just positively over the top and somewhat illogical. The main difference between American and Asian cinema, I think, is that the Asian directors manage to take outlandish concepts, flawed logic, and simplistic character motivations and make them work, where as in the US you just end up with "Must Love Dogs."

Anyways, the movie has some gorgeous sequences, the plot's pretty engaging, the visuals spectacular, and the performances overall pretty good. The movie has a quote on it something along the lines of "Made to be recommended by Quentin Tarantino," which I suppose is somewhat true, but, I don't think the movie quite makes it up to the levels of the Kill Bill movies, or even kickass recent Asian action films like Volcano High and Ichi the Killer.

I just got to write something…

Really Cool. It's for a major publisher, and might have a chance of happening. It's kickass, and a story I've wanted to do for a while, so, here's hoping. Cross your fingers for me, kiddies.

Kitties Hugging

Kitty's Hugging Originally uploaded by Joshua Hale Fialkov.

This should make up for the gross out pic.

The Spider Eats The Moth

We have a massive infestation of spiders just outside my door. Noticed it spinning a web right next to the light in the hallway, and watched it devour a trapped moth. Damn those things are smart.

Elk’s Run Tunnel

Made this in the early days of the book, for what would be a 'tourism section' of the website. Never came to be, but I love this photo. I photoshopped in all of the text and the sign in the picture.

CWN says…

Elk's Run #3:

Written by Joshua Hale Fialkov; Illustrated by Noel Tuazon

This has been an intriguing series so far with the changing point of view from issue to issue, but Fialkov and Tuazon pull out all the stops now and get the story rolling towards what can only be an intense conclusion. As the citizens of Elk's Run try to cover up the lengths they've gone to in protecting their isolation, the police show up looking for a missing citizen. Told from the point of view of the power-loving wife of the community's leading citizen, this issue is disturbing and dramatic. I've enjoyed Fialkov's fun writing in his Western Tales of Terror anthology, but this is where he's really shining.

In Previews Now!

ELK'S RUN #4

by Joshua Hale Fialkov, Noel Tuazon, & Scott Keating; cover by Datsun Tran

Two state troopers dead, the town on high alert, the war has begun. John and his friends are charged with burying the dead cops’ bodies, when they realize they must make a decision. Either they are with their parents, or against. MATURE THEMES SC, 7x10, 32pgs, FC SRP: $2.99

Diamond Order # SEP05 3086

Also in Previews Now!!!

FUSED ONE-SHOTby Niles, Long, Fialkov, Stakal, Chee, & Fotos

For Mark Haggerty, life has become more than a little complicated. He's been fused inside of a robotic Cy-Bot exo-suit, forced to live on a military base, and become the subject of endless tests, all the while trying to figure out how to relate to his wife from inside a hulking metal body. This one-shot spotlights Haggerty's return to comics, featuring scripts from Niles, as well as break-out new sensation Christopher Long (The Easy Way) and Joshua Hale Fialkov. 7x10, 48pgs, FC SRP: $6.99

Diamond Order # SEP05 2834

It's 15 pages of crazy explosivo action from me... even more so than Western Tales of Terror. Go. Check it out. Dig it.

Sean Maher Takes Elk’s Run #3

Sean Maher and his superb comics blog get down and dirty with Elk's Run #3, and a look back at where the series is come and where it's going to. Go check it out already.

NEWSARAMA - ELK’S RUN #1 - FULL ISSUE

NEWSARAMA - ELK'S RUN #1 - FULL ISSUE Go there. Read it. Be happy.

Josh and Jason by Noel Tuazon

Art by Noel Tuazon

graphic novella

So, I have this idea for a graphic novella. Just 32 pages or so, set in the real world, about a family losing a kid to the war. Not really political, just a simple 32 pages and out. Heard a great story on NPR that totally clicked for me. Any artists read this who want to give it a try?

I have this funny job…

Just to help tide me over while waiting for my bathtub of money to come in. I do overnight transcriptions for this company. I get a call around six or seven in the evening, get a digital file, and then have x number of hours to complete it in. The less time, the more money I get paid. Tonight, I did an hour and a half worth of transcriptions, which equals are 7 hours of work. It was due... well... now, so I made some nice cash. What we transcribe is what makes it interesting. Essentially, I get to listen to one of the biggest producers in Hollywood, along with one of the biggest directors in Hollywood talk about making their movie.

I've gone to my share of industry meetings, between pitching my own stuff to working as a production coordinator for a production company, sitting on the 'other side' of the desk, so to speak. This stuff is pretty incredible, though. I get to listen to a guy who doesn't make movies for less than $100 million dollars crack jokes and make fun of the industry, plus listen to how insanely in depth they go into script revisions and creative decisions.

I've produced and directed before, but, it was always with the smallest budget humanly possible. To listen to these guys say "We're gonna need a 2nd Black Hawk Helicopter," or "How much would it cost to blow up an actual boat instead of just CGI-ing it?" is just mind-blowing.

Oh Hollywood...

Off to make sleep, I've been up too fucking long.