Tim Simmons's blog

Re: Launch

Might try to "do" something with this blog-- might as well, right?

Frank Miller's 300 prequel

Would have personally preferred Miller to be working on a new SIN CITY starring Marv, or the long-promised/long-delayed/"might be a work of genus or might be totally insane," BATMAN: HOLY TERROR...but whatevs.
Here's a funny one for you: For the two of you out there who actually own the MEET THE SPARTANS Blu-Ray disc (yes, it came out on Blu-Ray,) check out the "trivia track" which I wrote. Although I was subsequently over-written, I'd say about 1/3 of my jokes got in there. The one that I'm proud of is the Lynn Varley shout-out, which no-one cared to overwrite, because no one knew who Lynn was.

Filmmaker Zack Snyder has long said that he would not direct a sequel to "300" until the completion of a new graphic novel from Frank Miller — but based on the latest word from Miller, Snyder might want to get his Spartan armor ready.

In an interview with Hero Complex, Miller revealed that he is not only working on a graphic novel sequel to "300," but he already has a title in the form of "Xerxes," clearly derived from the name of the first film's villain played by "Lost" actor Rodrigo Santoro.

"It's the battle of Marathon through my lens," Miller said of the novel's plot. "I've finished the plot and I'm getting started on the artwork."

If "300" focused on the tragic defeat of Leonidas and his Spartan warriors, then "Xerxes" and the battle of Marathon would depict the brutal decimation of the Persian forces at the hands of their would-be Greek subjugates. Since Xerxes' father ruled the Persians at this time, perhaps the new story would be something of a coming-of-age story for the eventual "300" antagonist.

Regardless of the exact narrative, the status of "Xerxes" as a prequel falls out of line with earlier reports that the "300" sequel would be just that — a sequel.

"There's something that happens in history between Leonidas dying at the Hot Gates and Platea," Zack Snyder told MTV News earlier this year about the possible sequel's plot. "That's a year that's left out of the [original] movie. A lot happened."

Despite the plot change, fans of "300" can keep their swords and shields crossed hoping that the graphic novel comes out before too long, with a film adaptation shortly to follow.

via: MTV Splash Page

Heavy Rain: 2010's Uncharted 2?

Man, was it really 2006 when we first caught a glance of Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain?

Granted, that little piece was just the tech demo, but like a lot of you out there, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor after seeing it. Kind of amazing to think that a tech demo from just under four years ago would look as dated as it does, but in that time it's clear that Quantic Dream has been busy ramping up their engine, as you can witness in this '09 trailer:

There's no question that it looks stunning, but is it going to be effective as a game?

I called Uncharted 2 as my 2009 "Game of the Year", noting it was "the best movie I ever played" (write-up coming soon.) Is Heavy Rain going to top that experience?  

G4 has posted up their "hands on" review of the first eleven "scenes" of Heavy Rain, which you can read here. Note: "Scenes," not "Levels." Begging the question: Will there be director's slateboards at respawn points?

Between games like Heavy Rain and the long delayed Alan Wake, interactive narrative is taking a pretty bold step forward . I'm not going to say anything sweeping/bold/ignorant like: "This is going to change the way you play games," but it does feel like a true hybrid of the cinematic experience and gaming is looming on the horizon.

So is Heavy Rain going to be a landmark interactive experience or a failed experiment in gaming narrative?
I'm hoping for the former and can't wait to try it out next year.

LA Comics Scene: Golden Apple turns 30!

Legendary Los Angeles Comic Shop, Golden Apple turned 30 years old today and held a birthday bash at the store. The event was co-hosted by CBR and featured a showcase of LA publishers, including Archaia, Aspen, Boom, Radical, and Top Cow. A great party that even a rare case of torrential Southern California rain couldn't keep down. 

My morning started fairly lazy and unproductive. As those who live in LA can attest: nothing kills weekend productivity like a rainy day. The whole town shuts down and things become blissfully silent.
I started mustering up the inertia to head over to Apple (located, mind you, less than a mile from my house-- but, eff you, I told you I was being lazy) when my buddy "Supreme Convoy" Alex Chung showed up at my front door. Apparently, at some point the previous night, I responded to an email chain that told him I'd head over around one.

Quick apologizes to Alex, I set him up in the office to hang with the dogs and review new pages for my upcoming comic, while I dashed upstairs for a quick shower/change.

We hit Golden Apple around 2pm, just as the rain really started coming down. 

I do love the Apple. There are great comic shops all over LA (at some point, I'll be doing an LA comic shop "tour",) but what can I say, Golden Apple was my "first" LA shop and you always love your first.

In the door, the first person I spot is Jim Krueger. We swing over and say our Hellos. Jim talks a bit about a screenplay that he's currently working on, but doesn't reveal much about it. By this point he's eyeing some stuff in the back-issue bin, so I leave him to do his hunting.

We roll out back for a bit and chat up  Top Cow Editorial Assistant Bryan Rountree. Good guy, I always see him around but we've never gotten the chance to talk. I invite him out to the Comic Book Sunday gangup, so it shouldn't be long before we're hanging with beers in hand.

Swinging back in, Alex points out "Tumor/Elk's Run" writer, Josh Fialkov chatting up Letterer Extraordinaire Troy Peteri. So we stroll up and hang for a bit.

Josh shows me Tumor on his Kindle, which looks pretty cool...and once again, if you haven't read Tumor, what the hell is wrong with you? I'm certainly calling it one of the best books of the year, and you can read the whole damn thing for free here. GO!
Done?
See, awesome, right?

Troy and I catch up on the freelancing life. It's always cool talking to Troy, as he'll point out these little lettering things that I'm not even aware of on a conscious level. If you ever want to know "tricks of the trade", talk to Troy-- he knows 'em all. And, check out some of his masterwork lettering in Archaia's Days Missing #1.

Hung for awhile with "Berserker" writer Rick Loverd, really charming and nice guy. I pitched him on The Comic Book Script Archive, so hopefully we'll soon be seeing a Berserker script up there. Amazingly, Berserker #0 was the first comic script he'd ever written, so maybe we can nab that for you fledgling comic writers to study.
Rick gave me the backstory on the book: how it was a film treatment to start, then picked up by Milo Ventimiglia and eventually the Top Cow comic came to be. He also mentioned that his scripts are (amazingly) more violent than what's laid to page-- Can't wait to check it out!

Quick break and I swing over Steve Niles and David Wohl, EIC at Radical Comics. I've been wanting to chat with David for awhile, as way back in my "other life" as a DVD Content producer, I worked on the bonus features for the Witchblade DVD- but sadly ran into some extenuating circumstances the day we shot the interview with David and Michael Turner.
So, it was cool to finally meet David. He asked what I've been working on lately and I told him that I'm perusing comics full time at this point, to which he was kind enough to give me his card with an offer to look at my stuff for Radical. Super nice of him. 

Niles moved off and was hanging by the comic racks, so I swung over to chat him up a bit. Another one of the "great nice guys", Niles reminded me to hit him up for the remaining 30 Days of Night scripts for the Archive. I asked about Dark Days, and he told me that they wrapped shooting a few days ago and so the editoral process will begin pretty soon. Also, he's headed over to Paramount to check out a new draft of the Cal McDonald screenplay in the next few days. Fingers crossed-- I friggin' love me some Criminal Macabre.

Around that time, my buddy Tom Pinchuk started signing over at the Archaia area for his book Hybrid Bastards. By the way, have you seen Tom's insane video? Well, it gets better: There's a sequel on the way and from what I hear, it's gonna blow the roof off the first one.
Hybrid Bastards is an crazy book, and I mean that in a very good way. Seriously, it'll break your brain just a little bit.
Yammered with Tom for a bit, finally met Mel Caylo, Archaia's Marketing Director, and chatted up with Archaia's DOD, Stephen Christy for a bit-- FYI, Stephen promises Phil Hester's Days Missing issue #5 for the Archive as well.

Stephen, being an awesome man of action who smells like french vanilla in a very manly way, hooked up Alex and I with a few books: Days Missing #3 and The Devil's Handshake. Really looking forward to reading them-- 

Finally got in line for my "main event"--

Longtime fans of my work (hi mom!) know that I grew up in Hawaii and attended the same high school as Whilce Portacio. Yup, me and Whilce had the same art teacher-- although, obviously, Whilce did better in that class than I did.
Flashforward to my Zuda comic Spy6teen where I've teamed up with a Hilo artist named DJ Keawekane. Both of us are talking about our mutual influences, and obviously Whilce is named-- I'm telling you, around Hawaii: Whilce is hometown pride.

Cut to today, and I roll up to Whilce with nothing to sign, but I think it might be cool to get a shot of one of DJ's pages:

Just a quick printout from a WIP doc for an upcoming super-secret project. Whilce and I chat about Radford High and the Hawaii comic scene for a bit-- he offers us to look over the artwork and help out in any way that he can-- because, he's a superhero nice guy.
I gotta admit, for DJ and I, this is one of those surreal moments: I mean, Whilce is an artist that we grew up reading-- and here he is holding something that we created. I mean, Fo' reals?
(fyi: that's Hawaii talk)

After that, we pretty much wrap up, hang for a little bit longer with Pinchuk and the Archaia crew as everyone heads out. We're offered to hang around for the after-party, but both Alex and I are beat, so we ditch out and hit McDonalds on the way home.

Overall, a great day, hanging with friends and fellow nerds! Happy Birthday Golden Apple!!

And the future of comics begins...