So, since I am writing Jet Girl, I have been watching some of my old favorite Sci-fi films and a few new ones. I’m trying to find inspiration from the genre I loved so much as a kid. The most recent was Star Ship Troopers 3. I have to say, I liked the film a lot, but the high Christian overtones at the end were a little much for me.
So I have decided to make a list of some of my favorite Sci-fi movies for you all to watch, for your enjoyment, or perhaps, so you know what caused me to write this Space-Mod epic.
Oh, and this list is in no particular order—it’s just my favorites in random array. If I missed anything or if you have any recommendations, please comment with the tiles you think I might like. I love a good space drama.
Enjoy!
I know I have missed a few, but I stand guilty of not seeing some of the classics, so help me out people!
Your friend,
Justin Fox
The past couple of months have been a whirlwind here at High Tower Comics. We have seen a lot of changes as we continue to grow and find our way in this brutal business we call comics. Making lemonade out of lemons is as much a part of life as it is business, and with every glass of lemonade we learn something new.
You have already seen the demise of ‘Space Age’ as an online strip and can now watch it turn into a beautiful 24 page anthology book featuring ‘Space Boogie,’ a punk rock lucha libre b-movie of an epic and the premiere of our in house writer Justin Fox’s first creator owned project, ‘Jet Girl,’ which, let me tell you, if the stories and the art keep up with the quality I am seeing, Jet Girl may get its own book sooner than later.
Speaking of sooner then later, get ready and prepare for ‘The Grind,’ a new online strip (a new joke each day) coming September 15th featuring a cast of characters you may know or have met as you dredged the seedy coffee shops near your homes and workplaces.
Oh yeah, before I move on, what’s up Brazil!
Since this is the Space Age site, I gotta mouth off on a sci-fi related topic. Star Wars, yes that holiest of holy grails, I got some things to say. If you love all that is the Lucas, you should stop reading now cause I’m about to piss all over it, and I’ve been drinking water all day (no A/C in the studio). What is up with the f’n clone wars!!! For crying out loud, give me a break already. Hello George, are you listening? I hope you are cause you just successfully raped and destroyed what was a good concept and cool cartoon (with better visuals and more drama than this new piece o’ money you just made) that was released in time with the films and actually made sense within the films on the cartoon network.
Don’t get me wrong, money is a pretty good motivating factor. Nobody wants to starve, but dude you ain’t starving. Lucas has enough bread to come out with a new idea, new movie, have it totally flop, and Lucas will still have enough money forever. Why George? Why do you insist on grinding a beautiful inspiring piece of my youth and young adulthood into dog shit? Were the fans really clamoring for a new installment, especially a horribly bad one that’s squarely aimed at 4 to 4-year-olds. Please, you could’ve at least picked one of the many well written and more interesting books based on the mythos of the trilogy, and just so all you naysayers out there who may not agree with me try this on for size. Anakin gets a Padawan in this new Star Wars crap (am not gonna call it a movie). Anakin kills the younglings, ooh he’s evil. Anakin kills cute Padawan. Anakin is now more evil than Hitler. How does someone that evil get the opportunity for the audience sympathy that makes return of the Jedi so awesome? No more Star Wars please. George, you are dangerously close to sucking out all the cool from a very cool creation.
Well, that’s all I got. Feel free to reply. Feel free to agree or disagree; that’s all on you out there in fandom. This is only one man’s opinion, and George, if you’re out there, all rants and humor aside I would love to see a new George Lucas project.
Comets & Stars,
Hello from the tower. It looks as if Space Age the strip is 18 with a bullet and good and buried. For our three fans out there who were enjoying the strip, well that sucks. For everybody else, welcome to the newest title to be published by High Tower Comics, an anthology title featuring two new stories: “Space Boogey,” by yours truly, and “Jet Girl,” written and created by Justin Fox and illustrated by Jacob Crippen, all edited by the D man himself, Daryl Auclair. So keep checking this site for updates, new artwork and story previews. For www.htspaceage.com is now the new home of Space Age Presents.
Comets & Stars,
It seems that the ongoing storm that is High Tower Comics has claimed its first casualty, the much debated Inkspot has swung and missed, three strikes and you’re out. For the three fans of Space Age who enjoy his work, I am sure that he is very sorry (multiple shankings with blunt objects while naked in the shower with a bar of soap in his mouth to keep him quiet are the types of punishment Inkspot requires). For legal and moral reasons, High Tower Comics is unable to divulge any real information on why Inkspot has left us. The good news is that Space Age will back online today to finish out the last week of Inkspots’ run and then start anew with yours truly picking up the slack to the best of my ability.
The big news over at the Tower is the overwhelmingly positive response High Tower Comics received on the first Thursday of this month. You see, High Tower Comics is located in downtown Riverside were every first Thursday of the month is “Arts Walk.” Visitors and locals can come and preview, purchase, gawk, and talk to the local artists. So, all of us at High Tower Comics were able to open our doors and Say, “Hey, come on in. Have a look. Ask a question and enjoy.” Over the past few months, there were times when we get so caught up working that we didn’t even know how cool this stuff we were working on is really was, and so it was a nice reminder and morale boost to hear all the good things that people had to say during Arts Walk. To those who took their time to “oogle” our wares, I’d like to say thanks and let you know that High Tower Comics can’t wait to see everyone again next month.
For those out there who are patiently waiting for the From The Tower: Summer Movie Review, we have started posting it in pieces over at the High Tower Comics Blog. We continue to await the release of Tropic Thunder to finish off our must-see summer movie list.
On a sad note, the comics world has lost one of its modern greats just a few months back. Goodbye Michael Turner, you will be missed and your delicate pencils and beautiful women will be treasured even more so. Another loss this month is that of Bernie Mac, a brilliant comedian who turned an old school upbringing into a hilarious new school comedic routine. A tip of our hats to you both, and may angels sing you to sleep as they tickle your fancy and “hoochie-koo” your soul.
The sunny side is that we should have more Jungle Jive and Ghostface preview pages posted at High Tower Comics by the end of the week, as we are currently working on our very first preview book. The preview book is keeping all of us at High Tower Comics very busy as we get closer to our November release date, so keep checking the sites for updates and new work. Oh, and before I forget, feel free to post comments and responses; we will gladly read and enjoy them.
Comets & Stars,
Well, we ran out of Inkspot’s backlog of online strips, so there are unfortunately no strips for the rest of the week. We are hoping to pick the strip back up on Monday, so continue to check back often for more updates.
Your loyal webmaster,
Daryl Auclair
Inkspot got caught up, so I am here to cordially announce that there will be no online strip tonight at midnight. While you’re here, peel back to the first strip and read Space Age through from the beginning. It is sure not to disappoint.
Your loyal webmaster,
Daryl Auclair
Comic-con, comic-con, comic-con. So there I was: booth-less with a stock of flyers, postcards, a digital camera and my dreams of High Tower success. A comforting blanket indeed. (A big shout out and thanx to all those who posed for High Tower Comics. I hope you enjoyed and or are enjoying the con-album at www.hightowercomics.com.)
The big news at Con, Hugh Jackman’s surprise visit showed all of Hall-H an early preview of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Yes, Gambit is in it, and yes it looked pretty F’n’ Kul’. Hall-H hit again with a screening of the 1st episode of Heroes, Season Three (Oooh…ahhh). My personal favorite was The Wolfman panel with Benicio Del Toro, Sam Raimi’s new horror flick and hearing Frank Miller talk about staying true to your craft (spirit looks good, but we shall see). And yes, the Pineapple Express panel was funny, and Kevin Smith’s a genius, but we already knew that, so lets move on to some High Tower Highlights.
Highlight 1: Dumbstruck by Jeph Loeb, who poked at my shirt to let me know he wrote the dialog in the word balloon, as I chatted with Brandon Peterson (who is way laid back and down to earth).
Highlight 2: Will Eisner Documentary—only for the hard-core.
Highlight 3: Finally met Joey Mason. If you don’t know who he is, do yourself a favor and find “Gun Fu”.
Highlight 4: Met, talked to, shook hands with and gave promotional materials to the legend himself, Jim “The Mother-F’ing Man” Steranko. And for those out there who don’t know who this legendary craftsman is—shame on you.
Highlight 5: Gave a hearty handshake to Bruce “Batman” Timm.
Highlight 6: Bought an awesome print from Jim Mahfood, who’s still workin’ it. Major props to a talent who truly keeps growing.
Highlight 7: Watched Scott Morse paint. Always a highlight.
Highlight 8: Got a chance to chat with the ever-gracious, and totally badass, Geoff Darrow, as he generously let me and my lady ooh and awe over him. Thanks for the pic Geoff.
Highlight 9: Last, not least, definitely best of all, was the kind responses, interesting questions, and general coolness of all of you who posed, accepted flyers, and greeted High Tower Comics with well wishes.
To fans, retailers, all of the small-press and my hotel homies (Melissa, Matt and Natalie), thank you all for a wonderful San Diego Comic-Con experience.
Comets & Stars,
PS: Coming soon to www.hightowercomics.com, John and Justin’s: “From The Tower” Summer Movie Review.
It’s been a week, and before I get on with the rest of this blog post, I’d like to give a good ol’ silent hello and thanx to Space Age’s two fans! Now, on to business.
High Tower Comics just returned from a tour of duty at the San Diego Comic-Con papering the halls and the people with flyers and postcards. If you were one of the lucky masses to have your pic taken with High Tower Comics or Space Age propaganda, please feel free to check our main site for our Comic-Con photo album.
For those of you out there who are faithfully following Space Age, we have corrected our little lettering snafu. So no more eye-strain. We now have clearer, more legible text, so please go back through the archives, reread without any headaches and enjoy!
As for the plethora of events and surprises at the con (can anyone say Hugh Jackman), I will be posting a new blog further in the week to let you in on the happenings.
Comets & Stars,
PS: I met Jim Steranko
Well, this is it. A b-movie, bubblegum sci-fi adventure strip written and created by your’s truly and illustrated by the mysterious ‘Ink Spot’. My hopes are that you can enjoy the misadventures of these outer space misfits for what they truly are—Pure Saturday Morning Escapism!!!
The strip itself will be released five days a week, launching each new installment at midnight. In place of a large Sunday, we will have a larger Friday strip to somewhat keep up with the weekly traditions of our online strip forefathers. Being my first foray into the online world, I hope you will be patient with us as there could possibly be some hiccups.
Before I leave you, I would like to say a little thank you to those who helped bring this High Tower Comics production to fruition. Thanks to Richard, our in-house assistant, who’s quality scans and diligent eye turned the crazy stylings of Ink Spot into hi-def pulp. And to our webmaster, Daryl Auclair, whom without his talented key tapping fingers and years of computer experience, none of this bubble-gum glory of space-age would be possible.
Comets & Stars,
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