Thor - Released this week!

Thor is being released this week! I already have a group of fanboys all set to attend on Saturday (prefaced by a trip to Five Guys for a burger!)
So - go see Thor, but for those of you who can't wait...

On iTunes, you can download Thor-Loki: Blood Brothers, which is a Marvel Knights animated story that seriously rocks. The animation is amazing. It looks more like Zack Snyder's 300 than most animated movies. The story is cool and the actors are amazing. It's available right now.

Inception

I finally saw "Inception". Okay...I was behind the times on this one. I suppose everyone else has seen it.
Usually, this sort of reality-bending, thought provoking story is right up my alley.
I was left feeling a little flat after Inception. Here are the best parts:

• Awesome fight scene with no gravity. Very, very cool.
• Cinematography and locations were fantastic
• Great cast
• Cool action
• Thought provoking enough to keep me watching after most of my interst had faded AND it led to a great discussion about the movie with my wife.

So why didn't I like it? I guess, to me, the dream state idea has been done a lot and it always leads to the question, "what is the dream and what is reality?".
I know Inception tried to take a different tact at it, but I don't think it was all that different. I have my own interpretation about what the ending meant. It's ambiguous so it's meant to be interpreted multiple ways, but what is important is that (spoiler) Cobb walks away from the spinning top to go be with his kids. He has stopped caring whether he is awake or asleep and he is just accepting "the now".

Alignment

Read a good post on alignment today. It is really, really important to align your goals with what you can reasonably expect. I'm not talking about giving up on your dreams of moving out of "small business" status to "big business". I'm not talking about lowering your expectations, just making them aligned with where you are headed.
An example - GGE write speculative cross genre fiction. I don't think anything we do will EVER be featured by Oprah. I don't see us winning a Newberry Award.
What do I hope for? That there is some number of people, between 1 and 1000 who would also like to read books about Superheroes, Zombies, Monsters, Dragons, Wizards, Cowboys and/or Ninjas when they all exist in the same world. A world where magic can happen and the unbelievable becomes more commonplace. I hope someone else thinks stories about King Arthur should be re-written like modern fantasy stories with modern fantasy elements and maybe a bit less of "who was he really?"
Steven Pressfield maintains that the Artist, like the Warrior only has a right to the labor/work he or she is doing, not the fruits of that labor (he's paraphrasing the Bhagavad Gita). What he is saying though is right in line with my post about alignment. The artist or creative does his or her art because that is what he or she is. If rewards come, great, but if not, then the professional artist (highly paid or not) understands that the art is what it is all about.

Don't get discouraged and never, EVER give up on our dreams. Just align your expectations with your most likely results...and whatever those aligned results look like? Double your expectation.

Alert: Life Changing Book!

So I bought "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield yesterday. The best review I can give it is to say that I finished it less than 24 hours after I bought it. It is a short book, true, but that's not what caused me to voraciously devour that book!
This book is a life changer for anyone who has ever wanted to launch anything. It doesn't have to be a creative endeavor. Your "art" according to Pressfield is something only you know. The still, small voice in your head knows what it is and whispers it to you all the time.
The book is motivational in the extreme. It encourages to go, create, do, be, write, paint, sing, dance, act! Be the "you" that you are meant to be!
It's a little scary too. What will people think? What if I am wrong about my purpose in life? What if people laugh?
Read the book...all of those concerns are meaningless.

Arthas

I know this book has been out awhile, but unfortunately, I accumulate reading material far faster than I can read it.
Still, I like the whole World of Warcraft that Blizzard has created. Not just the computer games, but the graphic novels are beautiful, the roleplaying game seems relatively popular, the action figures are super high quality and the fiction has been really good!
Arthas is no exception. His story, told so well in Warcraft III and added to in World of Warcraft is covered well in this novel and it is a really good read!
I like that Blizzard, despite having a dedicated fan base, still put a lot of focus into their products. Their fans would probably buy anything they put out, so how great is it that they have such attention devoted to making good stuff!?!
The action figs are by McFarlane Toys who, in my opinion, are the best in the biz. The books are written by Christie Golden, Richard Knaak and other notable fantasy authors. The graphic novels are written by none other than Walt Simonson of Thor fame and the artwork is stunning!
So, WTG Blizzard!
My advice for today - pick up Arthas and read it. Then go look at other Blizzard products. It's not just your typical game tie-in schlock. The products are rich fantasy products and the world is well developed, immersive and just plain cool.

Crank out the art!

Seth has it right this morning when he talks about staying small by choice because it might just be better. GGE is here right now.
No, the goal is not to stay small if you are creating art, but it might not be a great idea to take out a loan on your house and invest in looking huge before you have the art to ship. Your first goal, and ours, should be creating products that people will talk about.
Until then, stay small. You will have more fun, more freedom and a lot less overhead.

How best to utilize our time

GGE is in a bit of a "phase" right now. For the first three years of our little venture, we have been creating, brainstorming, planning, writing, drawing, etc.
Now, we are trying to decide how best to put our next foot forward. Here is what I mean.

With a handful of projects developed and in a viewable form do we:

• Submit them to publishers, gatekeepers, industry folks and hope that we become "the chosen"
• Do we "choose ourselves"?
• If we choose ourselves, which sounds great, what does that look like? Independent press status? Small press publishing of our own books and comix?
• Or do we put content online for free so we aren't bogged down with sales figures, reviews and things like that?

Maybe it's a little of all of that. Some free content to test it out. Some items produced by GGE so we can garner some reviews and some sales and see how we stand. It's all a learning experience.

If we choose ourselves, and we choose well, then the industry gatekeepers either come and find us...or their choices become less essential.

Imaro

I am embarrassed! A fantasy series snuck by me while I was not looking! Imaro was published between 1980-1985, just when my interest in fantasy was really taking off! I knew nothing of it until I read this review of the fourth novel, which is finally been released (to much applause from Imaro fans every)

ALL PULP: FORTIER REVIEWS MODERN FORGOTTEN PULP CLASSIC!:

As it turns out, the title is a bit misleading. A quick web search will show that Imaro is anything but "forgotten".
So, I looked into this a bit and I found another review by Ron Fortier back in 2006 when Imaro was re-released.

So, based on this information, I simply have to read Imaro and the subsequent volumes! I will start with the 2006 re-release of the first book, Imaro. I will the move onto the other books in the series, but I am really looking forward to the recently released fourth volume (I used it's cover as the image for this post. The cover image rocks!)

As always, I'll let my dedicated readers know what I think.

Failure!

Great post on Seth's blog today about "How to Fail". As a "Creative" or an entrepreneur, we should be prepared to fail. In fact, we should seek it out. I remember seeing an exhibit on Tim Burton's work a couple of years ago.
I was shocked by the amount of failure. I assumed that once someone became Tim Burton, life was just one success after another. Not so.
Tim fails. A lot. Every year. Still today.
What's different? He keeps launching, keeps going and keeps delivering products. He learns from failure and moves on and eventually he succeeds. Big time.
If you haven't failed lately, then you probably aren't moving towards your big success.

Note: I take this lesson to heart as well. I need to launch a couple of things in the next year so I can fail...or maybe not, but there's only one way to find out.

Inspiration

Inspiration is everywhere out there. I think motivation comes from inspiration.

An example: I was in a slump on my Sanction blog. Life was just in the way. Then I picked up a copy of Mark Millar's excellent "Ultimates 2" graphic novel. It is inspiring in a major way! Sure, some people say not to read while you are in the creating process, but I read to be inspired, not to mimic, copy or steal. Then again, all art has a bit of a mimic in it. As Seth Godin points out in his post on originality, if you create something that is truly unlike anything else, and thus few people relate to it, then you are considered a whacko more often than you are considered a genius. So I seek out inspiration, and when I find it, I use it!

Another example is Arthas by Christie Golden. Very inspiring for my work on "The Matter of Britain" (My Pendragon story).

I watched "Season of the Witch" as well. I loved it and it sets a great tone for fantasy writing.

If you aren't inspired today, seek out the stuff that you know you like. Watch it, read it, listen to it. Repeat until inspiration strikes...then, go!

Superhero Tournament Championship!!!

Well, after posting out Superhero tournamentfor the last couple of weeks, our championship match came down to Superman Vs. Thor.

Here's the recap of the semi-finals:

• Sweet Sixteen
• Elite Eight
• Final Four
• Championship

So in our epic Superman vs. Thor battle, it comes down to several factors:

Superman is amazingly strong, durable and with accelerated healing. He has heat vision, super speed and icy breath. He is also vulnerable to kryptonite, which Thor does not have, nor would he use. Superman is, like all Kryptonians, very susceptible to magic, which Thor has in abundance when he wields the hammer Mjolnir.

Thor, on the other hand has no weaknesses other than being separated from the hammer. Superman is fast...and strong and he might be able to get his hands on the hammer, but I don't think he could separate Thor from it. Not for long anyway. The Hulk wasn't able to capitalize on this weakness.

So, I think this comes down to a major slugfest. Both parties beat the crap out of each other with some serious collateral damage. both heroes literally do not know how to quit, but I think this one tips in Thor's favor! As the Odinson says, "As long as there is life, there is hope!".

Our championship goes to The Mighty Thor

What a nifty piece of marketing for Thor since his movie comes out on May 6th! Go see him in action!

Creating

It's unfortunate that when things get hectic, it seems to be the creating that gets put on the back burner first. We figure that we'll take care of the important stuff first, like the ringing phone, the crisis, the yard, the "real job"...
I'm not saying that those things shouldn't get taken care of...of course they should, but not at the expense of creating. As creatives, it is really important that we...well...create.
There are not as many people doing it as there should be and it's not as easy as it seems to us.
We need to create, find a way to get it in front of people, and then repeat...again and again and again.

It is definitely important. Take care of the other stuff, but keep a front burner open for your creations. We need you to.

Superhero Tournament Championship Match!!!

After several rounds of Superhero action leading up to our Final Four, the last Super Dudes standing were

• Superman vs. Black Adam from the DC Universe
• Thor Vs. Apocalypse in the Marvel World.

And the Championship will come down to

Superman Vs. Thor

Superman advancd over Black Adam...check out highlight footage

Meanwhile, Apocalypse is mega powerful and has been kicking butt for some 3,000 years, but Thor is an immortal...and has fought just about everyone Marvel and DC has to offer. Apocalypse goes down in a close bout.

Superhero Tournament Final Four!!!!

Well, here we are, down to our Final Four in the Superhero March Madness!!!
Read below to see who they beat to get here!!!

• Superman edged out Captain Marvel. Sure Cap beat Supes in Kingdom Come with the "Shazam" thing, but that can't work every time. With some preparation, Superman takes this one by a nose!
• Black Adam advances past Lex Luthor. Lex is a super genius, but he has been preparing for Superman all of these years. Black Adam is just plain evil and Lex goes down.
• Iron Man is outclassed in a battle with Thor. The Asgardian has it all over Iron Man in sheer power, though Tony makes a great showing with his skill, inteelect,  technology and experience.
• Apocalypse proves too much for Proteus. Proteus is a powerful mutant, but Apocalypse has been taking down mutant for millenia. As an External, the mighty Apocalypse advances after a tough battle with Proteus.

Cast some votes for who advances to the Championship bout!!!!

Superhero Tournament Elite Eight

Our Elite Eight is announced. These are the final eight superheroes/villains remaining from our last few days of tournament brackets. Who will be in the Final Four? (Commentary below on how these eight advanced)

Superman manages to take down Martian Manhunter. Manhunter has the raw power, but a big weakness to fire. Not good against a Kryptonian.
Captain Marvel gets by Dr. Fate. Fate is amazing, but Cap has the speed to get the helmet away from him, and is magic-based himself.
Black Adam manages to take down Doomsday due to the Kryptonian weakness vs. Magic. This took a lot of research. Doesn't look like Doomsday has fared too well against magic and hasn't encountered it often enough to have evolved a defense for it. Tough battle to decide.
Lex Luthor gets the upper hand on Brainiac, only because he has done it before a few times. Another tough call though.
Thor beats Hulk. This battle has been played out a few times. It's hard to beat Thor.
Iron Man over Beast. Beast's presence was controversial and unbelievable to some. His magic run comes to a quick halt verus the Golden Avenger.
Proteus over Magneto. Magneto is awesome and the master of magnetism, but Proteus can alter reality in some funky ways. Magento goes down.
Finally Apocalypse wins over Doctor Doom. Toughest call of all right here. Doctor Doom is a great villain who is powerful and smart, but Apocalypse is stunningly powerful and I think even Victor Von Doom would be hard pressed to beat him. Epic battle here though.

Superhero Tournament Sweet Sixteen!!!

Here is our Superhero Tournament Sweet Sixteen!!! If you missed the last couple of days, here are the links to the round two matchups

• DC Heroes Round 2
• DC Villains Round 2
• Marvel Heroes Round 2
• Marvel Villains Round 2

And here are our Sweet Sixteen!!! (check out the  battle commentary beneath the bracket)

• DC Heroes
• Superman had to get past Batman to make it in. Ture, Batman is prepared with his power armor and his stash of kryptonite, but Superman puts on a lead suit and he's resistant to Kryptonite. Bats could get through the lead suit if he had time, but time is one luxury you don't get when fighting the big red "S". Bats goes down.
• Green Lantern went up against Martian Manhunter whose strength, telepathy, invisibility, and intangibility combined with his experience were too much for GL. Not many aliens can take down a Green Lantern, but Jonn J'onnz is one that can!
• Captain Marvel went up against Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman is tough, but Cap has the strength of Hercules, speed of Hermes and all that jazz.
• Flash fought Dr. Fate...who can beat Dr. Fate?
• DC Villains
• Doomsday vs. Joker...nuff said.
• Black Adam vs. Poison Ivy. Ivy was able to use her feminine wiles to beguile Bizarro. Not going to work on Black Adam. And the plants? please. Black Adam advances.
• Sinestro vs. Brainiac. As much as I love Sinestro, his vulnerabilites are too well known for a super computer not to take advantage of. Brainiac also has ranged weapons and hand to hand weapons. Brainiac takes this one.
• Lex Luthor vs. Bane. Both are super intelligent strategists, but Lex has been mixing it up with superheroes since Bane was a kid. Lex handles this one without too much fuss.
• Marvel Heroes
• Thor vs. Ghost Rider. Not much of a contest here. Even GR's penance stare can't do much to Thor. He is just an alien mind. Doesn't feel guilt like a normal human.
• Spiderman vs. Hulk. As much as I would love to see Spidey take this one, I just can't imagine it.
• Professor X vs. Iron Man. I know the Prof could affect Tony's mind, but Tony has enough gadgets to take this one. Either a psionic inhibitor, or remote controlled armor or something.
• Beast vs. Hawkeye. Beast takes this with his combination of strength, speed, agility and intellect.
• Marvel Villains
• Magneto handles Juggernaught
• Proteus advances over Legion. A mega matchup of mental powers, but the reality-warping powers of Proteus are too much for Legion.
• Doctor Doom vs. M.O.D.O.K. No real contest here. Doc is a major genius with awesome armor and all the gadgets in the world. Doc invents stuff like M.O.D.O.K. He doesn't get taken out by it.
• Poor Carnage. He had to go up against Apocalypse. Apocalypse sails into the Sweet Sixteen.

Superhero Tournament!!! Second Round - Marvel supervillains!

Allright, here is our posting of the second round of Marvel Supervillains! Tomorrow we will post our sweet sixteen! (Only a single file tomorrow).
Feel free to weigh in on who should advance!

Magento trashes Toad and Juggernaught eats Nimrod for breakfast! Sabertooth falls to Legion and Proteus takes down Bulleye (setting up a dream match in Round 2 of Proteus vs. Legion). M.O.D.O.K advances over Deadpool. Hope he doesn't get a big head about it! (oh yeah...he already has a HUGE cranium). Carnage manages to squeak by Mr. Sinister and Apocalypse easily handles The Kingpin!
Who moves on to the next round!?!?!

Superhero Tournament!!! Second Round Marvel Superheroes

Here is the second round of the Marvel Superheroes. See our second round of DC Heroes and DC Villains to get an idea of the rest of the field!

In this round, Thor easily polishes off The Punisher. Punisher realizes he needs to separate Thor from Mjolnir, but that is easier said than done! Jean Grey and Ghost Rider are a good match up, but if Ghost Rider can get close enough for a "penance stare" then it's all over for Jean who has all the guilt of the Dark Phoenix days. Power Man is strong and semi-invulnerable, but Spidey is just as strong, and agile, and has the webbing. Luke Cage goes down. Iron Fist does better than expected using the power of the Iron Fist to Hulk's "sensitive spots" but Hulk is unstoppable in round one. Professor X takes down Daredevil with his mental might. Captain America and Iron Man are a close fight but the edge goes to Iron Man. Beast upsets Wolverine (a 10 seed upsetting a 7 seed again). Wolvie just loses it with rage and Beast has the skill, agility, strength and intellect to prevail. The big surprise is Hawkeye over The Thing, but as it was pointed out, Thing has to get close. Hawkeye could drop him with knock out gas from long range. Hawkeye advances!

Superhero Tournament!!! Second Round - DC Villains

Here's our second round of DC Villains! Two Big upsets in this round!!

Major upsets!!! Doomsday was a lock to advance. So was Joker. Penguin is a tough villain, but Joker is in a class all by himself. Catwoman never had a chance against Black Adam. Then, the major upset!!!! Bizzaro should have trounced Poison Ivy, but he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. She plants one on him and he is befuddled. A number 13 takes down a number 4! Sinestro flattens Deathstroke. Boomerang (actually Captain Boomerang) is powerless before Brainiac. Then the infamous 10 seed/ 7 seed upset. Bane does not match Metallo in power, but more than makes up for it in strategy. Bane advances. Finally, Lex Luthor leaves Captain Cold out in the...cold.

Superhero Tournament!!! Second Round - DC Heroes

Second round of DC Heroes is up! Commentary below.

 No huge surprises here. Superman easily polishes off Robin. Batman and Captain Atom are a close match-up but ultimately Bats prevails with a combination of ninja-like skills, gadgets, strategy and general bad-assness. Green Lantern has it all over Blue Beetle and Hawkman is no match for Martian Manhunter (even with his fear of fire). Nightwing almost pulls off the upset. All he has to do is chain her wristbands together, but she has been training for hand-to-hand combat forever so I think Nightwing goes down. Breathing underwater and talking to sea like will not help Aquaman against Captain Marvel (Shazam to some of you). Firestorm can't hit what he can't see and Flash is just a blur and advances. Dr. Fate is the world's best sorceror and Green Arrow is hoplessly outclassed in this match up.