I often write about a guy named Sean Hartter... a dude who I felt like I knew a bunch yet never actually met. A person who I felt I had so much in common with, yet never had the pleasure of shaking his hand. A guy who was as talented an artist as I could hope to work with, yet was snatched away from us far too soon by a terminal disease. I write about him to honor his memory.
Way back when we started this crazy CCD ride Sean was one of the first artists works I had featured on the site that reached back to me and said "thanks". Thanks... imagine? Here I am in AWE at his awesome faux movie posters, and he is THANKING me for posting them. Amazing. So we began a dialogue, and over time planned some projects to work on. But unfortunately God had something more important for him to do than some collaboration with us on faux movie posters. So as I sit here missing a guy who I honestly can say affected my life over the Interwebs, I know this:
Right now, Sean is sitting at big drawing table in the sky. He is watching Kaiju & Horror movies, admiring his awesome beard in the mirror, and making God and all the angels laugh as he photoshops them into their favorite movie posters! Can't wait to see all the work you have done since you been gone my friend... till I see you again!
Sean did three direct art projects with CCD:
CCD - VHS Box Art
Goom - Drawing by Tommy Lombardozzi, Coloring by Sean Hartter
The Omen by Sean Hartter
Here is a link to the column I wrote over at CCD on his passing. And if you search the CCD website you will find literally HUNDREDS of mentions of Sean. Take the time... his art was worth it!
Boot Camp Cliq member, Heltah Skeltah partner, Fab Five starter, and rapper extraordinaire Sean Price aka Ruck has passed away at age 43. Damn, a piece of my teen age years is gone... way to soon. Man.... this hurts more than most. I was a huge Boot Camp Cliq supporter in the mid to late 90s, and out of everybody I gotta say that Price was my favorite of the large extended rap family. Why? because he was clearly the best of the bunch aside from Buckshot himself. And it wasn't even close. God, why you gotta take this great of a rapper when there are so many trash rappers out there?
The whole Boot Camp Cliq
My man Ruck was one of the wittiest rappers I have ever heard... the man had punchlines for days. But he also could get real deep with his lyrics (see him on Therapy... one of the dopest Boot camp songs ever off of any of the crews albums) as well. Leflaur Leflah Eskoshka was the best song of my junior year of High School at South Broward High in Hollywood, Florida. Without a doubt it was a flawless single. And when the Nocturnal album dropped, I was hooked. Therapy, Operation: Lockdown, The Square, Who Dat?, and so many more... just gems. Then they came out with their second album, Magnum Force. I do enjoy it... but it is nothing compared to Nocturnal. One track that stands out is "I Ain't Havin' That", a song which samples A Tribe Called Quest and Redman and uses them perfectly. I love that song.
The Fab 5...
After that, the duo kind of went their separate ways... but Price stayed loyal to the BCC and released a few dope solo records. My favorite was definitely "Monkey Barz", which really allowed Price to get in on every track in a way that he hadn't been able to do before since he was always collaborating with some one or some group. So in honor of the boy Ruck, here are MY PERSONAL FAVES of his. Enjoy his lyrics, enjoy his crazy ass in his videos, and enjoy the fact that even though it was a short period of time we got to enjoy one hell of a talented rapper!
The Ruck Signal...
"Sean sparks, like John Starks in the 4th quarter. Ought meet my peeps, deep like the Torah. Unforgettable like Nat King, bats swing, Louisville chill, because my motherfucking slap stings. This track brings the average career to a halt... is it my fault you fell victim to my verbal assault. If I had dollars for every nigga who dared to battle me on microphones, I'd fuck around and be a millionaire" RIP Ruck...
Leflaur Leflah Eskoshka:
Sean Price:
Operation: Lockdown:
Therapy:
Tony Touch - 50 MC's Boot Camp Freestyle:
I Ain't Havin' That:
Peep My Words/Monkey Barz:
Boot Camp MFC Eastern Conference (his verse is around the 2:55 mark):
Let's Get It On:
I thought this was real cool. Sean price with his daughter at the annual Duck Down BBQ in Bushwick. Pretty dope if you ask me:
“Just when they think they got the answers, I change the questions.”
“Rowdy” Roddy Piper was a bad man. You didn’t have to watch him long to learn that; he’d tell you straight to your face. “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka, Greg Valentine, Hulk Hogan, Mr. T, it didn’t matter to the Hot Rod who you were, how good you thought you were, what you’d done in the ring, on TV, whatever. If you crossed his path, if you fell into Piper’s Pit, he would tear you a new one. Or he’d clunk you with a coconut; that worked, too.
Read more after the jump:
That sort of confidence comes with the knowledge that you can back it up. Most professional wrestlers are athletes, but only a few have ever been Golden Gloves boxing champions. Roddy was. He was also a black belt, too, in case you wanted another credential. What made him a master in the ring, though, was his psychology. Roddy Piper knew, better than nearly any man to ever grace the squared circle, how to get inside someone’s head. Ask the Sheepherders: how do you approach a man so crazy that he’s willing to smash a glass beer bottle on his head just to prove that he can? Ask the Guerrero family: how do you earn respect from a man so disrespectful he offers to play your ancestral home’s national anthem on the bagpipes… and plays La Cucaracha?
Roddy Piper came up in an era where titles didn’t change hands much. Looking at the reigns of the great champions of the ‘70s and ‘80s, there wasn’t much opportunity to secure a great run of glory at the top, but Piper would not be denied. In Jim Crockett Promotions, he was Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion twice, Television Champion twice, and US Heavyweight Champion once. Across the various other arms of the NWA, he won eight heavyweight championships, twelve tag team championships with ten partners, and even the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship. When he finally joined the WWF, he won their world tag team championship with yet another partner, the legendary Ric Flair, and the Intercontinental Championship.
His legacy of gold, however, pales in comparison to his legacy of recognition by his peers. He was inducted into the Cauliflower Alley Club, was acknowledged by Pro Wrestling Illustrated as Most Hated Wrestler twice, Most Inspirational, Most Popular, and the winner of Match of the Year in 1985. They ranked him as the 17th greatest singles wrestler of the PWI years in 2003. Wrestling Observer voted him Best on Interviews three years running, Best Heel in 1984 and 1985, and inducted him into their Hall of Fame in 1996. He would join the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2007. He was even tabbed by Vince McMahon to main event Wrestlemania 1, and the Nassau Coliseum card of Wrestlemania 2. On top of all of these, in 2012, the WWE announced their list of the 50 greatest villains in wrestling history. Given their ownership, they’d have been forgiven for selecting Mr. McMahon as the greatest villain, the prime motive force for the Attitude Era. Given the flash and dazzle of his 16 World Title reigns, they’d have been entirely justified to select Ric Flair. Given his position as the first true heel in history, the model for all others to look up to, they’d have upset nobody by naming Gorgeous George… but no. They considered the entirety of wrestling history, and they said that the greatest of all time… was Rowdy Roddy Piper.
Roddy Piper was many things in his career. A sneaky, underhanded heel, a supremely confident defender of the old school against the influence of celebrity in wrestling, one of the first wrestlers to become a movie star… but what he never was, could never be, was predictable. Roddy Piper always kept us guessing, and always kept us watching.
In the end, he changed the question again. Now, the only one left is “could there ever be another man quite like Roddy Piper?”
Editor's Note: This is my personal favorite Piper's Pit.... so I had to drop it in on the end of a great article from J.C.! Enjoy ~ Mike D
H.R. Giger is a Swiss artist who created one of the greatest movie monsters of all time. His works and artistic ideals led to the creation of the Xenomorph, of Alien fame. But the way I came to know and love his work was a bit weirder than that. Giger designed the VIP room in Limelight, the famous NYC nightclub that was so dope during the early 90s. It is the first club I ever went to in my life... at the ripe old age of 14. I was taken by some older friends and spent the first hour in the club wandering around. The coolest part about Limelight had to be that it was a former church. The exterior remained exactly the same, and the interior retained many of the churches original designs (like the altar, which was the DJ booth). But there were a few separate rooms, in which different music was played then the main room. So as a wide eyed kid, I wandered into a VIP room and managed to weasel my way in. As I entered, I was blown away.... the whole rooms walls were decorated with the artistic styling of H.R. Giger! It was crazy in there... and one of the coolest nightclub scenes I have ever seen since. It was the coolest themed room in the whole joint, and in all the years that I would visit Limelight I always tried to pop in there just to catch a glimpse of his magnificent work. Giger has been in the limelight (pun intended.... see what I did there) once again do to the success of Prometheus (which feature some of his early Alien designs) and a new documentary entitled Jodorowsky's Dune, which tells the story of Alejandro Jodorowsky's failed attempt to make a Dune adaption into a movie. Giger was commissioned to bring Frank Herbert's world to life. Unfortunately that never happened... but now we will finally get to see the genius work Giger had planned for us. He died this week after complications from a fall that he endured. Rest in Piece, sir... and thanks for the art! You can see some pics of Giger's room at Limelight after the jump.....
Giger (on left) with Limelight owner Peter Gatien in the Giger Room
As I said in my Wrestlemania review, coming out of this weekend, I was more excited to be a wrestling fan than I have been in a very long time. Unfortunately, that excitement has been tempered by the sad and untimely passing of the Ultimate Warrior this past Tuesday. If you were a wrestling fan in the late 80's and early 90's, then the Ultimate Warrior was part of your fandom, no question. Personally, I was a Randy Savage kid. In fact, my fandom of the big three went Savage, then Hogan, and then Warrior. But even with that said, Warrior's passing is definitely another little part of my childhood that’s now been snuffed out, and too early at that, because he was only 52 years old. He'd just mended his bridges with the WWE, was inducted into the Hall of Fame and was getting ready to assume the role of some kind of goodwill ambassador with the company. And again, even though I was never the biggest Warrior fan, I was definitely looking forward to seeing what this would entail.
Continued after the jump!
Despite the fact that he was my #3 in the 80's triumvirate of wrestling icons, there's no arguing the impact the Ultimate Warrior had on the WWF in the late 80's. He may not have had the technique or skill of The Macho Man, or the monumental cultural influence of Hulk Hogan, but the Warrior brought an unrivaled intensity and unique charisma to his craft. His entrance was pure bombast. He was the only guy who would come flying down the aisle at 90 miles an hour as soon as his music hit. He would lap the ring a few times, then get in and shake the ropes like he was trying to break the ring apart. It was unique and electric and it definitely made the Warrior stand out from the crowd (so did the crazy face paint, neon tassels on his arms and his absolutely shredded physique). It didn't even really matter that he was absolutely sucking wind before the bell even rang most days, his matches usually weren't booked to go that long anyway! I'd almost go so far as to say Warrior gets a bad rap when it comes to his work rate in the ring. He was no Ric Flair by any stretch of the imagination, but the dude COULD work a match, especially when paired with an opponent with superior in-ring skills (more on that in a second), he just didn't need to. No one wanted to watch Warrior wrestle a mat classic. They wanted to see him bulldoze an opponent and press his vanquished foe over his head before sending him crashing down to the canvas again. Its part of what made the gimmick work so well. It's like he took Hogan's superhero shtick but dialed it up to 1000.
Wrestlemania VI is one of Warrior's shining moments, and I still remember where I was when it happened. The Ultimate Warrior, then the Intercontinental Champion was wrestling Hulk Hogan, the World Heavyweight Champion. This was unheard of . Babyface vs. Babyface. Hero vs. Hero. This was like Optimus Prime fighting Grimlock. Or Batman fighting Superman. It had never happened before, and it had the effect of immediately separating the Hogan marks from the Warrior marks. I think Warrior was probably the "cooler" choice, but I was cheering for Hogan, who was my hero as long as he wasn't fighting the Macho Man. The promos leading up to this match between the two were like a contest for who could spew the most overblown, hyperbolic nonsense. Meaning they were absolutely incredible. Warrior won that match at the Skydome in Toronto. He moved out from under Hulk Hogan's legdrop! You'd have thought something truly tragic had happened for 10 year old Joey because no one had ever done that before! Warrior then pinned Hogan to simultaneously hold both titles. That had never been done before either! This was nuts!
If Warrior's wrestling career ended right then and there, he would still have had a historic run. He went on to have memorable feuds with Andre the Giant, Ravishing Rick Rude, Jake the Snake, The Undertaker and Randy Savage, with some of those guys, Rude and Savage in particular, even able to carry him to some truly excellent matches.
Disputes over money, backstage politics, and the Federal steroid investigation all contributed to the souring of Warrior's relationship with the WWF, and he eventually left the company in the early 90's. Stories came out about the guy being a major headcase, being difficult to work with, and also that he was a raving lunatic. The fact that he changed his name legally to Warrior in order to circumvent Vince McMahon's copyright on the name "Ultimate Warrior" does nothing to dispel these stories, especially not the last one. He would return to the WWF briefly in 1996 but be gone just as quickly, and then had a brief run in WCW, about which the less said, the better (actually if I'm being honest, I can't write about it because I didn't see any of it. I was always a WWE loyalist, and had no interest in watching Nitro at the time. I read about it all though, and it sounded awful). He also had a truly nonsensical, "epitome of everything wrong with the 90's comic book industry" comic book come out some time during this period. Thankfully, it only lasted 4 issues.
By the late 90's, Warrior had gotten a bad reputation. That was fueled in part by the WWE's "Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior" DVD, (which was one hell of a hatchet job on the guy), and in part by the fact that in the years since his retirement he's said some things that some people found incredibly offensive (and I found, for the most part, incredibly hilarious, just for the sheer lunacy of it all). This led to me not really expecting much, or investing much emotion when it was announced that he'd returned to the fold and would (rightfully) be part of the Hall of Fame class of 2014. So I was really pleasantly surprised by his acceptance speech. He definitely humanized himself in my eyes. He has two sweet little girls and a beautiful wife, and when I heard he'd died my first thought was of them, because whatever you think about this guy as an outside observer, its tragic for kids that age to have to grow up without their father. As a wrestling fan, I'm gratified that Warrior was able to come back to the WWE and be part of the family again before he passed. Whatever my opinion became of the guy after he left the ring, its the memories he created for 10 year old Joey that I like to remember. My thoughts are with his family in their grief, and I wish them strength and peace of mind in the days to come.
To close this out, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite Ultimate Warrior memories
This first one is my favorite Ultimate Warrior memory. Honky Tonk Man had used trickery, deception and other nefarious means to hang on to the Intercontinental Championship for 18 months. He was scheduled to face Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake at Summer Slam '88, but a boating accident put the Barber on the shelf. Honky had begun calling himself the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time, and was becoming a real heat magnet because of that. So it was suitably epic when Honky got in the ring and wrote a check his body couldn't cash by demanding an opponent. Warrior hit the ring and the Garden came unglued. A few seconds later it was over and Ultimate Warrior was your new Intercontinental Champion. Truly epic!
This was Warriors half of the WrestleMania VI promos. Hoke Hogan never saw him coming!
And here's the finish of that match where Warrior beats Hogan. I can't emphasize enough how earth shattering this was for me. Hulk Hogan lost. This was like finding out there was no Santa Claus.
I wanted to post the Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage retirement match in its entirety because that's definitely Warriors best work in the ring ever, but I can't find it on YouTube. So go get yourself the WWE Network and check it out. Its from WrestleMania 7. The ending is also one of Randy Savage's greatest moments, and possibly my favorite wrestling moment of all time, but I won't spoil it.
This one is some cheesy early 90's greatness. While feuding with the Undertaker, the Warrior sought the assistance of Jake the Snake in order to teach him to conquer the Undertaker's darkness... or something. Anyway, Jake turns heel on him here. Silly, but classic stuff.
And here's some even sillier stuff.. Also great, but for different reasons. Voodoo witch doctor Papa Shango put a curse on the Warrior. Enjoy.
And this is from Warriors WCW stint in 98 or 99. Again, the less said about this, the better.
And finally, to help get that terrible taste out of your mouth, Here's The Ultimate Team (Ultimate Warrior, the Legion of Doom and Kerry Von Eric) vs. The Perfect Team (Mr. Perfect and Demolition) from Survivor Series 1990! Awesome.
Growing up we had an HBO subscription in our house. Not cable, just HBO. It was one channel, and it was glorious. My dad had gotten the HBO service because of the Mike Tyson fights that were shown on there before Pay Per View boxing became the norm. Tyson was electric, and his fights every six month were justification enough to own the service. But one of the things that always drew me in was the amount of stand up comedy shows that HBO played. They didn't have the original programming that they are currently know for, and they didn't have the massive amounts of movies licensed to show... so they filmed comedians up on stage, doing their bits, and pre-packaged them in a way that was rarely seen before. Comedy specials have existed for years... but they were usually full length, from an hour to two hours of one comedian. HBO perfected the short form, 30 minute stand up specials that were perfect for introducing new comedies to a broad audience. They also were know for their 'Young Comedian' specials that featured 3-4 comedians doing 5-8 minute bits. It was a great time for the genre, and I was hooked. Andrew Dice Clay, Jeff Foxworthy, Jerry Seinfeld, Bob Nelson... these are just a few of the names that I saw rise and shine through HBO. But one particular comedian stood out to me: John Pinette.
Read More after the jump...
Pinette came around later than those other dudes I mentioned, but he was a dude that had some of the most memorable bits I can recall. Maybe it was the fact that he was a big fat dude, making big fat jokes... being chubby myself, it was great to see a bigger dude making jokes at his own expense that related to things like eating and finding clothes that fit. One of my favorite bits was his All You Can Eat Buffet bit. It is my personal fave...
The dude was a very funny fellow, and his running buffet jokes often made me laugh hysterical. I will miss this big dude. Gone way to young at 50 years young. Some of his full stand ups can be found for free over at Youtube. Below I will post his 2004 special I Say Nay Nay and his 2007 special I'M Starving. Both are great, and pretty cool 1 hour videos worth checking out. Rest In Peace John... thanks for all the memories. Enjoy that big buffet up there in the sky!!!
A little piece of my youth just died. Wow, this sucks. Harold Ramis, 1/4 of the famous Ghostbusters and writer/filmmaker/producer extraordinaire has passed away. He died from complications of a rare disease, autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis. Very rarely do we find someone in the film industry that is SO TALENTED on so many DIFFERENT LEVELS. This is a man responsible for writing classics like Ghostbusters, Stripes, Caddyshack and Animal House. He directed Caddyshack, National Lampoon's Vacation, Analyze This, and Club Paradise (a personal fave of mine). He acted brilliantly in Ghostbusters I & II, Stripes, and late career cameos in films like Orange County & Knocked Up where he always stole the show. He is also responsible for most of the stories that powered the various Ghostbusters cartoons and video games from the last 30 years. The dude was a true triple threat that is quite rare in Hollywood. I honestly hate this part of getting old, its inevitable that the people you looked up to in your favorite forms of entertainment are bound to pass on. It is also more frustrating to lose a dude like this before they could make Ghostbusters III, all for no reason. They could have gotten any budget and done anything they wanted, and with Ramis writing the project I am sure it would have been epic. Thanks for fucking around all these years and wasting time (yes I am talking to you Bill Murray!). Take it light Egon, you were a really talented dude who seemed to be just a regular guy. Enjoy that big ghost trap in the sky!!! I will be posting a few of my favorite Ramis moments after the jump...
Knocked Up: One of my favorite scenes featuring Ramis, even though it is a short cameo:
Stripes: Willing To Learn - Nope, never convicted... lol
Orange County: The Dean Flips Out - Stealing a whole movie in a short cameo...
Ghostbusters: Twinkie Scene - Does it get any nerdier than this... lol
Ghostbusters: This Man Has No Dick - I know Ramis doesn't utter most of the classic lines, but by far my favorite scene in the film...
Stripes: Basic English - The first scene... really? So great!
Stripes: Psycho & Ox - Ramis doesn't say a word, but his faces mugging with John Candy are brilliant
Best of Caddyshack: Since he wrote it and directed it, its only fitting...
Elmore Leonard has been around the writing game for quite sometime... and chances are you have enjoyed an a adaption of his work even if you don't know it. Sure, some people know that Leonard wrote Rum Punch (the book that would become Jackie Brown), Get Shorty, and Out of Sight... but did you know he also created Justified (the Raylan Givens character was the star of Leonard's books Pronto & Riding The Rap and the short story Fire in the Hole)? How about the fact that he wrote 3:10 to Yuma way back in 1953... 1953!!!!! They made that into a killer western booth in the 50's and 2007... 50 years LATER! Talk about a work of literature holding up. How about the fact that 26.. 26... of Leonard's works have been adapted for the TV or big screen? Leonard was witty, intelligent, but not afraid to be silly and over the top... and no one wrote comedic crime fiction like him. Rum Punch is one of my all time favorite books. Always will be. I sat down and checked out Jackie Brown the other day just to pay a bit of respect to the creator. Take it light Mr. Leonard. Your work made entertainment that much better. RIP brother. Check out some of my favorite clips of adaptions of Leonard's work after the jump...
Jackie Brown:
The Big Bounce (A very underrated movie... check it out):
Get Shorty:
Freaky Deaky (A great indy movie that is full of stars and streaming on Netflix... watch it!):
Good things always seemed to be book ended by bad things and vice versa, right? At around 6 pm on May 7th I was en route to the hospital... but for all the right reasons. My sister in law Kate and her husband Rich (two of my favorite people in the world) were on the way to having their first child. As we sat there, eagerly anticipating the arrival of little Richie, we had nothing but time on our hands. I sat on my tablet and surfed the Net, looking at the many websites that I peruse on a daily basis. I stumbled upon an article that brought me down instantly... Ray Harryhausen was dead at age 92. Fuck. At some a great moment of my life, a moment of pure joy for my family, all I could do was think how sad it was to lose a true talent like Harryhausen. Sure, he had lived a very full and excellent life. Sure, he has been heaped with praise both critically and from his peers for decades. These are things that should make you smile when you think about someone after they pass. But I immediately thought back to my early childhood, Clash of the Titans, and how a certain effects guy changed my life forever...
Please continue reading after the jump...
This was the model my pops had...
Back in the early 80s my pops had one of those top loading VCRs that was bigger and heavier than my current 42 inch television. This thing looked like a microwave. But it had magic in it... magic of the movies. My dad could just throw a tape in there, and any movie we wanted to watch would just begin... like magic. I was fascinated by this, especially since my Dad was priming me to be a movie buff that I would become by taking me to the cinema and exposing me to as many films as possible. It was around this time that my Dad popped in a film that would forever change my life: Clash of the Titans.
Clash was just insane. It featured a cast of luminaries (Laurence Oliver, Maggie Smith, Ursula Andress, Burgess Meredith), a buff young star in Harry Hamlin, and it had some of the coolest monsters I have ever seen before or since. Yeah, special effects are fantastic now a days and monsters look great. But there was something about all the creatures in this movie that just sucked me in. Calibos, Medusa, Bebu the owl, Diokilos the killer dog, The giant and The Kraken are all just fantastic... fan-fucking-tastic. Pegasus was just so amazing to watch. The creations of Harryhausen were just magnificent and looking back on them they are even more special because they shouldn't have even existed....
Why shouldn't have they existed you ask? Harryhaussen had been using his split screen 'Dyna-motion' techniques for years, on films like Mighty Joe Young, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, and the Sinbad films. They always went over gangbusters. But everything changed in 1977 with a little movie called Star Wars. Lucas would inadvertently start a technological revolution in film, one that would continue with Donner's Superman films, Ridley Scott's Alien, and many more films in the future. Harryhausen's techniques were quickly becoming the "old" way to do things... and it was clear that after years and years of doing things 'the Harryhausen way' he wasn't going to change. So Clash would become Harryhausen's last feature film that he worked on... and his tour de force if you ask me. It was like one last hurrah for Harryhausen, one that he deserved. Talk about going out on a high note....
So on this day that I welcomed my first nephew into the world, we lost a guy who truly changed my movie viewing life forever. This guy's work has stuck with me for quite a while, and always will. I have shared these films with my son, and he loves them too (in truth, he thinks the old Clash is pretty boring but loves all the creature scenes... he wanted more creature scenes!). But given the fact that Richie Jones entered this world on the day that Harryhausen went out, I feel like it is my duty to share Clash with him in the future. RIP Ray... enjoy heaven with your boy Ray Bradbury and look out for my buddy Sean Hartter while your up there. He loved your work too, and he has some crazy casting ideas for movies of the past taht you might love....
In memorial, here is a cool Youtube vid featuring the best of Ray Harryhausen's work:
And here is one of my favorite scenes of all time... RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!!!!!!
I woke up on Saturday morning tired from a long night of working at the bar. I got home around 7 am, and fell asleep instantly. I woke up around 1 pm to my phone buzzing incessantly. Who the fuck was blowing me up so much? Turns out it was my close friend Jeff Bond, and he was bearing terrible news. "Is it true? Is Sean Hartter dead?". What? What the fuck... I had just been speaking with Sean the night before. at around 10pm on Friday night. He was sharing a story on Facebook about an interaction he had with a shitty nurse on his last hospital trip, and I was chiming in with some witty comments about what he should have said to her. That was the last time I would interact with the guy. A few hours later the man would pass away from a massive asthma attack. Huh... life is fucked up like that. How could this be it?
Click read more for the rest of my story about Sean
When I started CCD back in 2010 I decided that if I was going to feature any artists's work on the page than I would send them an email letting them know. I dropped Sean a line after I featured some of his work during our first All Horror Week back in October of 2010 . Sean got back to me and we became fast friends. I went on to feature Sean 40 more times here on CCD (this entry is number 42) in addition to the Inception piece. 40 times in 2 and a half years... way more than anyone else. And it wasn't because I was kissing up to someone I knew. I literally have been blown away by Sean's work since I first saw it. It was a no brainer to put his stuff up on CCD...
Over the past few years Sean and I grew even more friendly. He created a faux VHS box cover for a fake movie featuring the CCD family. This was buy far the coolest thing anyone has ever and probably will ever do for me and my humble website. I am forever great full to have been given the "Hartter Treatment". My boy created a piece of art that will live on forever... and now it has too.
At Christmas time I ordered a bunch of posters from Sean to give to my friends. I tried to order 10 posters, and Sean told me that he would send them... but that he wouldn't accept any money. I told him to fuck off and that if he didn't take my money I would tell his wife on him... and so he reluctantly agreed to accept payment. I bought posters for James West (Rocket Raccoon) Jeff Bond (Trick R Treat), Joe Fletch (Alien), Cal from teh Cave of Cool (Rom: Space Knight), Joey Esq (Sectaurs), Johnny from Freddy In Space (Near Dark), and even two for myself (the CCD VHS and The Omen print he did exclusively for CCD). But the most special poster I bought was for my buddy Tommy Lombardozzi. Tommy was a fellow artists and also became friendly with Sean through CCD. They collaborated on a very cool piece, an image of the Jack Kirby monster Goom. Tommy drew the beast, and Sean colored it. I bought it and hoped to give it to Tommy as a house warming gift after he got his apartment back (it was destroyed in Hurricane Sandy). Now I am just sad because it is the only time these guys will collaborate on something great...
I am so confused by losing this guy named Hartter. We planned on opening a booth together at this years 2013 NY Comic Con on the big floor. We were going all in. I believed in his work, and he believed in us enough to agree to partner up. We were going to do it... big. And Sean was just starting to get the proper due he deserved from mainstream (ie: paying folks) at the time of his death. This really sucks. I was looking so forward to enjoying Sean's company, making some money, and getting his artwork up on the walls of as many people as possible. That is what it is all about....
I will mourn my buddy's passing, and I especially sorry for the loss his wife Allison and his boys Griffin & Gabe have to endure. I have set up a link on the right side of the page just under the header with a link to his donation page, the Sean Hartter Memorial Fund (click here to go directly there and help out), that will help Allison pay for the funeral arrangements. They can use all the help they can get in this trying time. Also, you can click here to buy Sean's work on 360 Walls and stay tuned to CCD to see when they set up a store to buy his awesome prints. Support his family and his memory through the buying of his artwork...
Sean.. I am going to miss you buddy. Tell my big sis Oona I said Hi while your up there. trust me, she will love your crazy ass posters!!!!
After losing a film legend like Roger Ebert, it would have to take someone major to pass away to make my day any more miserable. But just a few short hours after I found out that Ebert had passed away, i got the news that comic legend Carmine Infantino had also passed away. While Infantino may not be as well known amongst the mainstream as Ebert was, to geeks like me he is one of the golden gods of the comic industry and a titan among men. Infantino was directly responsible for ushering in the Silver Age of comics, and he did this by redesigning The Flash's costume to the familiar hooded red & yellow suit that we all know and love. Those stories focused on the rebootable aspect of comics, and the future inclinations of classic DC characters came shortly after.
Read more after the jump...
Infantino has a storied history in the comic industry, doing major work for both DC and Marvel. He is widely considered to be the greatest penciler of all time, and has done major work on books like Flash, Star Wars, Batman, Avengers, Iron Man, Superman, and Daredevil just to name a few. He also created characters like Deadman and Barbara Gordon as Batgirl during his run on Batman. He is also pretty much responsible for the multi verse in the DC universe. The guy is just a legend... and I was lucky enough to meet him!
A few years back i got press passes to attend the 2010 Big Apple Comic Con. I went on Fri & Sat and conducted many cool interviews with people like Erin Grey, Doug Jones, the cast of The Human Centipede, and many others. But on Sunday I brought my son by to his first big convention. he was like 7, and he was in awe. When we went down to the artist room, he was a bit shell shocked at all the creators being present. It was the first time he began to realize that these great works of art were created by real people. When we went down an aisle and saw Carmine Infantino, I made it my business to stop by his table. I am a realist, and Infantino was getting old. he wasn't going to be around forever, and I wanted my son to meet the man responsible for the Flash he knows and loves so much. So we walked up to the table and began to talk with Carmine. I asked him if he could do a quick sketch in the book I had been putting together for Mikey since he was young. His handler immediately jumped into the conversation and said "Carmine could do a quick Flash symbol in the book for 100 bucks". I was going to pay it, I swear to god. This man is a legend. but Carmine stood up and said "No..., no way am I charging this guy 100 bucks to do a lightning bolt!". the handler began to grumble with Carmine, but Infnatino was hearing none of it. "Shut up... mind your business!!!" Infantino said in his thick NY Italian accent. I had to smile and laugh, as I was reminded of my grandfather. Infantino continued to argue with the handler and his protests, cursing under his breath and smiling at me while shutting down the money making part of his table... much to the chagrin of his handler who was obviously placed there to maximize profits. Infantino told me that if I bought one of his books he would gladly sign it for me for free, and I was pleased to find out that that he was selling the book for 5 dollars LES THAN COVER PRICE!
So cool of him, and I was still getting the autograph. So I chose his awesome art book, he signed it, and then he asked if it would be OK if Mikey came around the table to take a pic with him. Was it OK? Um.... YEAH!!! Mikey went back behind the table, took what ended up being a shitty pic (that's on me), and shook the hand of a legend. That is what being a dad is all about... and was one of the coolest things that could have ever happened to a comic fan like me.
I will always love Carmine's art and all he has contributed to the comic world I love so much. I have many faves in the comic world, but meeting Infantino and having that funny situation will always be a part of my memories. Rest in Peace brother Carmine... you deserve some time off to enjoy yourself after all your hard work!!!!
Here are a few of his art pieces that I love so much....
