The Colodin Project
Written & Illustrated by Ken Krekeler

This was an impulse buy in Artist Alley. The cover grabbed me, and the writer/artist was friendly and engaging (and he still owes me a sketch). Published by Ronin Studios, the TPB is very well printed and produced, with slick pages that showcase the books art and design well.

Dubbed “a modern murder mystery”, it lives up well to the latter half. With classic noir-stylings, shady clients and private dicks with shadowy histories, the murder mystery hits the right notes, feeling comfortable but also intriguing. As for “modern”… the world of Colodin feels decidedly old-school. The characters carry cellphones, but spend a lot of time leaving messages on antiquated home answering machines. Computers are cursory to their investigations. The real twist of Colodin is Quinn, a 15 year-old master thief and possible murderer, raised and trained in an outside place, an alter realm for only the most gifted, significantly different from our own. The glimpses into Quinn’s past and world are what set Krekeler’s tale apart from the noir tradition. Those scenes are jarring, probably by intention, and occasionally pull the reader out of the story with a “WFT?” reaction. However, as the book progresses, the intrigues hold the interest and the ideas cement satisfyingly. This is meant to be the first volume in a series. I hope they manage to continue – I’m enjoying the story and would really like to see where it goes.

Website: TheColodinProject.com

X-Factor Visionaries: Peter David – Volume 1
Written by Peter David; Art by Larry Stroman & Al Milgrom

I got into comics back around 1993, driven into my local comic shop after watching the new Fox animated X-Men series. I snatched up anything with an X in the title, which eventually got me hooked on Peter David’s now-classic run on X-Factor. Picking up as the new team was assembled – Havok, Polaris, Wolfsbane, Quicksilver, Strong Guy and Multiple Man – I enjoyed being on the ground floor of a new X-team. I was particularly fascinated by Jamie Madrox’s power of multiplicity (an infinitely practical talent I quite envy) and identified with reluctant leader (and Cyclops’ younger brother) Alex Summers. I considered X-Factor my favorite superhero book through the first phase of my comic reading (an era ended when all of my hometown comic stores simultaneously went out of business).

I managed to procure all 4 volumes of X-Factor Visionaries at the con on the cheap, as well as the first 4 volumes of David’s new incarnation of the book. I tore through the new ones first, eager to soak in fresh stories, and found them up to Peter David’s usual standard of quick, witty, light fare. However, a volume into the original series and I’m afraid this is going to be like Goonies for me – a beloved story from childhood whose reality pales to my memory of it.

Volume One’s story arch features all the hallmarks of 80s and early 90s comics – slipshod pacing, unrealistic situations and interpersonal reactions, out-of-place future tech and gimmicky characters. Stroman’s art, known for his graphic design influences and abstract geometrics, bounces between inventive panel stylings and undecipherable visual storytelling. The villains are silly, the heroes foolish and the situations implausible. In the casual manner of pre-911 comics, one of the heroes accidentally destroys the Washington Monument, with very little repercussion. The whole affair feels messy. The dialogue pops and some bits of action are exciting, but the formation of the group feels flimsy and unlikely.

I’m hoping the book picks up across the next three volumes, but I’m a little way into the second (which starts with an Incredible Hulk crossover) and it doesn’t look promising. Perhaps things will improve when Joe Quesada’s penciling run begins, and that the “X-Factor Sees a Shrink” issue lives up to my recollection. That story made a real impression on me as a teenager, an example of how a “superhero” book could tell an effective, emotionally complex story without any superfluous action and mutant shenanigans.

One of my favorite work projects in awhile is the “Save Our City” promotion for 105.7 the Point and Shapiro Metal Supply. I’d been looking for a creative project for our video team that would break away a bit from the usual documentary style of our productions.

Shapiro didn’t lend itself easily to typical promo ideas outside of your basic radio spots. What can you do to make a metal supply yard exciting for a male 18-34 demographic?

Being a lifelong fan of sci-fi and cartoons, the first thing that came to mind was the construction of a giant robot, Asian b-movie style. And why would you need a giant robot? Why, to stave off the attack of a giant monster!

I proposed a pretty crazy promotion, led by an in-house created video (see YouTube video above) shot to look like an amalgam of 50′s sci-fi noir and Sin City style green-screening. The client loved the idea – turns out they have a nice niche business selling scrap and parts to guys building Battle Bots. There was a thematic fit, and we were off and rolling.

The video was shot in a make-shift studio with green screen fabric drops. Documentary portion was shot on location. Filmed on DV tape in 1080i HD, edited in Final Cut Pro. Key Art backgrounds designed in Photoshop.

Special thanks to my co-conspirator Nathan, who really busted his hindquarters on the editing and learning the chroma-key and desaturation techniques on the fly for this project.

• Written, Designed and Directed by Adron Buske (me)
• Videography, Motion Graphics and Editing by Nathan Cowen
• Narrators: Ed Brown and Drew Patterson
• Costumes and Props courtesy of Jason Heeren and Lisa Foiles
• Featuring: Sammy Caputa, Ashley Elzinga, Katie Sorensen, Nathan Cowen, Patrick and myself

Click here for the promotion page on the 105.7 the Point’s website.

I started my 2010 movie year right, with a big screen viewing of Up in the Air, starring George Clooney, Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga. I expect a lot out of director Jason Reitman, seeing as his other two films (Juno and Thank You For Smoking) are in my top twenty favorites from the last 5 years. Mister Reitman delivers here, with a quiet, subtle and engaging little movie. Clooney is, as always, charming, disarming and deft at understated comedy. I was not familiar with Farmiga previous to this film, but her gorgeous eyes and confident sensuality make perfect chemistry with Clooney.

I think the biggest takeaway here is Kendrick, a young actress largely known for a supporting role in the Twilight films. Though diminutive and severely attired, her upstart businesswoman brims over with a mix of perceptive intelligence and naïve personal inexperience. She is Clooney’s real foil, a challenging opposite who is, in many ways, as empty of true personal fulfillment as the isolated traveler.

Kendrick’s portrayal, a poised go-getter on the verge of achievement destabilized by deeper experience, presents that perfect audience challenge – the person you’d likely despise in real life made appealing, developed into someone you want to root for. Prim and stoic or shaken with an embarrassing, hysterical fit, Kendrick glues her scenes together with impressive gravity. She’ll be one to watch**, certainly.

Shot largely in St. Louis, there were a few times where I lost the moment because I recognized locales. In particular, the hotel for the Wisconsin wedding is the Cheshire Lodge, a quaint and cozy little inn I’ve done web promotions for and stopped in for a few drinks. It was cool, though, to hear our Lambert airfield get some loving respect in Clooney’s dialogue.

Up in the Air is likely going to join my list of favorite films – at every point I was enjoying myself, completely taken in by the direction, the cinematography, acting and soundtrack. It fits well on my keeper shelf beside Lost in Translation (which I think of as my favorite film, along with the combined might of the Lord of the Rings trilogy).

* Jason Bateman and J.K. Simmons, both stars of the lamentable Extract, pull smaller – but stronger – roles in Up in the Air. Simmons in particular provides for an emotional scene. I love this guy, seriously. I wish he were my neighbor so we could sit on a back porch somewhere, drink beer and talk amiably about nothing in particular.

** You can follow Anna on Twitter (though she hasn’t posted in awhile) as @AnnaKendrick47. As if she needed to be more endearing, this is her self-description: “Pale, awkward and very very small. Form an orderly queue, gents.”

2010: Doesn’t it sound like the future?

Welcome to TEN. What are we going to call 2010? Is there an official version, and who decides? Is this what that Pearl Jam record was about?

We partied in the New Year with an impromptu gathering at casa de Wendronimo, also celebrating my wife’s birthday. Double whammy of awesome. With only a few hours of notice for our low-key shindig, we had a full house of merry makers and a full evening of laughs, hugs and good times. We kept it alive, if laid back, until about 4:00am, which is pretty good for a bunch of early-thirty-something/late-twenties folks, right?

Goodbye, 2009. Few will miss you and your Dexter-like habit of killing celebrities. But what of this new, sci-fi sounding year?

I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions, but I’m all for setting goals and making plans and using a milestone (birth of a new decade) to kick-start some new habits and positive inertia.

Instead of a resolution, I’ve decided on a theme for 2010 – “Who do you want to be?” I think this is an important question; it requires self-analysis and reflection, with a focus on the desired positives as opposed to dwelling on perceived negatives. Instead of looking at myself and saying, “damn, here’s a bunch of things that make me unhappy – I should probably change those”, I’m imagining an ideal version of myself, and seeing how close to that model I can become.

I don’t mean some unreachable, fantasy version of myself, but a real world manifestation of my dreams, goals and personal happiness. Not just for 2010, but for my life in general, down the foreseeable timeline. Some of those things will be easily described, maybe easily achieved. Some will be intensely personal, requiring a lot of “behind the scenes” effort. And there might be some lofty ambitions, lifelong pursuit kinds of stuff – but this is about forward thinking and positivity, so that all works.

(My comic book brain says this is like taking an established character and revamping him for a universe reboot, What If? story or parallel universe line. An ‘Ultimate Adron’, so to speak. If it’s half as good as Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man run, things will definitely be looking up.)

I’m still sketching my answer to “Who do you want to be?”, designing my specific archetype, but I can say this much so far:

I want to be happy, healthy and physically active. I want to be a great husband, an excellent friend, a loving pet parent and, eventually, a nurturing father. I want to write everyday, to create a career with my words and vision, to build worlds that people love to get lost in. I want to be a leader in media (of many kinds), to generate quality, to effect change and progress. I want to be an active, performing musician – to play and sing and keep my songs alive. I want to always advance my skills, to never stop learning, to never be complacent – to always grow, evolve and innovate. I want to be strong, to take charge, to not back down from adversity – professionally or personally. I want to de-clutter my life, free it from pointless things that distract or slow me down, to streamline to the things that are important, that are enriching. I want to be a whirlwind of ideas, projects and good works – to always surprise, to capitalize on my poly-talent nature. I want my work ethic to be professional and fruitful, without interfering with the quality of my personal and emotional life. I want to look back without resentment for opportunities missed and roads not taken. I want to live a vivacious present, with eyes on the possibilities of the future. I want to be the man who achieved or failed, but always tried – never squandering my blessings. I want to do right by the ones I love, to never lose sight of their needs and their commitment to me. And I want to always be mindful and grateful, to know how fortunate I am and to give back however I can.

And there’s so much more than that. But that’s my start, that’s my beginning for 2010.

Now then – who do YOU want to be?

Remember these? Yuck.

While out shopping with a female friend, we stop to examine a kiosk selling trendy purses and belts made entirely of big, dangly sequins in bold, fluorescent colors. I fear someone has accosted a figure skater and stolen their outfit for raw materials.

“I should get one of those,” my friend says, her face a canvas for disco-ball refractions cast by sparkling handbags. I raise an eyebrow. This young woman, characterized by her classy, subdued taste, must be in thrall, mesmerized by the magnificent gaudiness.

“Why?” I’m genuinely curious, and a little concerned.

“They’re so hot right now,” she replies. Her gaze doesn’t leave the display. “Everybody has one.”

“So? They’re popular, so what? You don’t even like pink. Or magenta. Or whatever that is,” I say, pointing to a belt roughly the shade of Liberace’s soul.

She finally looks at me, and her expression is blank. Yet, is it my imagination, or can I see hot pink sequins dancing in her irises? “They’re so hot right now,” she says again, flat, atonal.

“But you hate trend-driven consumerism!” I cry. “You oppose Paris Hilton and all she stands for. Why give in to this?”

She stares at me and points at my wrist, adorned with three thick, mono-hued rubber ringlets sporting unrelated slogans. I haven’t worn a bracelet since junior high. Why did I start again now? I’m struck by the realization that no one else has worn these things in months. Why am I?

Her finger raises to indicate my pseudo-vintage, process faded graphic T-shirt. It depicts a questionably-named business establishment that has likely never existed, in a state I’ve never visited.

The accusatory finger aims higher to my short cropped hair, cut in imitation of Lost star Matthew Fox.

I am overcome by my hypocrisy. My will to fight the system evaporates. I look from my friend’s face to the gleaming, serpentine scales of yellow, aqua and copper satchels. I revel in their gaudy hipness. They are to me as jewels in a treasure chest of fashion.
My friend buys one. I applaud her on how the fuschia complements her pea coat and brings out her hazel eyes. “You’re so in,” I tell her.

A week later, I’m at the mall with my wife. I’m drawn to a display of enormous belt-buckles, some with sharp, protruding edges, others with bright red LED lights scrolling popular catch phrases and rap lyrics. I have never liked such unnecessary belt attire. I imagine how stylishly ironic it would be to wear one now.

I gesture to a buckle resembling a hubcap, a dollar sign spinning in its center. “I like that one,” I hear myself say.

“You’re kidding, right?” my wife asks, incredulous. When I shake my head, her eyes go wide. “Seriously? Why?”

I stare at the spinning buckle bling and mentally compare it to a shiny, sequined pocketbook.

“They’re so hot right now.”

Yes, I am a Glee(K)

This is the first real post for the new website. Excited about getting this up and live finally. Just migrated a few years worth of (sporadic) posts from Blogger and MySpace, now to get this thing up to speed with some current content!

I’m going to keep things brief for now (has Twitter affected me that much?), so here’s some general stuff:

I’m addicted to Glee. Seriously, love this show, love the music. The show is a little rough around the edges, but it all really makes me happy. I listen to songs from the soundtrack on YouTube and GrooveShark constantly. Anxious to buy the album.

Geeking on Big Bang Theory. Was recently introduced to this show via Amy & Cory on DVD. Tore through Seasons 1&2 in no time. It’s Wen and I’s just-before-bed show. It’s smart, super funny and totally dorky. Sooooo my thing.

Struggling through The Lost Symbol. I’m a big fan of Angels & Demons. I love the ideas in DaVinci Code, even though the story isn’t that great. I just got started on Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol. I’m about 100 pages in, and it feels like I’ve been standing in one room for 3 hours while somebody blathers on with a bunch of exposition. So far, I don’t give a damn about any of it. Hope it picks up soon.

I ran into Vedera at Bread Co. They’re a really good rock act out of Kansas City, with one helluva vocalist in Kristen May. Been a fan of their first record, Weight of an Empty room, for a few years. They were in town for a benefit show at the Hard Rock Cafe (which I was unable to attend) but they happened to walk into our St. Louis Bread Co. during a Comic Creator Cabal meeting. Talked with guitarist Brian Little for a bit. Nice folks, wish I could’ve caught the show. Their new record is on iTunes now. Give ‘em a listen here: MySpace.com/Vedera

It’s been some time since I’ve written here. As you may or may not know, I lost my mother at the end of October. It was very unexpected, and the single most difficult and damaging experience of my life. You expect a trauma like that to affect you, but I think ‘how’ is always the big surprise. My family and I are healing, and I appreciate all the help we received during this trying time – particularly from The Armada who, as always, stood by me and propped me up when the weight of it all threatened to overwhelm. I love you all. And no words can describe the unimaginable support provided by my wife and best friend, Wendy. She understands what I’m going through all too well, and it has been her unenviable task of picking up my pieces and gluing them back together when I am struck by the need to fall apart. I hope you all can be so fortunate to have somebody in your life with the capacity to love and give that she possesses.

As for my mom – I love her and miss her, always. Sometimes the ache of it all sets in without warning, waves of sadness and surreality crashing against my weary mind. If you discover me to be a bit odd now and then, please excuse – the carrier pigeons that pass for my neural impulses are slow to deliver to all the dusty corners of my brain. When they finally arrive, I get to experience it all again anew, and apparently each uncharted faction of the mind requires its own slightly personalized method of dealing.

However, this is not a blog about all of that.

I’d like this to be the beginning of a weekly entry – I’m not so thick as to think I’ll always been consistent, but I imagine it’s a worthy goal – especially because I wish no structure on it at all. Just a random collection of my thoughts on the things I encounter day to day. So, that said…

I WATCHED “WAITRESS” TONIGHT. It’s a little film about little people with complex, tangled relationships and one woman’s effort to escape a dead end life. It features Keri Russell (remember “Felicity”?) in an impressive, nuanced performance, and Nathan Fillian (Captain Mal in our beloved “Firefly”) as her awkward, sweet OBGYN and extra-marital love interest. Also contains a splendid turn from Andy Griffith. Sadly, the quirky, talented writer/director (and supporting cast member) Adrienne Shelly never got to see her film debut – she fell victim to an absolutely irrational act of violence, murdered by a construction worker in the building where she kept her office. “Waitress” is a testament to her filmmaking vision, a unique understanding of personal drama, friendship and the gravity of our decisions. It’s funny, sad and insightful, and you should go rent it.

I READ “THE BLADE ITSELF” BY JOE ABERCROMBIE. This is a hard book to describe succinctly, because it doesn’t have an obvious plot. Instead, it follows three very different characters as the threads of their lives are woven together against the backdrop of vivid and brutal fantasy world. Abercrombie’s startlingly good debut novel is packed in turns with exceptional characterizations and visceral, engaging action scenes. He finds a voice quite apart from most fantasy fair, in turns frank and funny and vulgar. Inspector Glokta and Logen Nine-Fingers are two of the most fascinating fantasy characters I’ve encountered in years, and I most eagerly await the sequel (set to land on American shores in February, I think). Get thee to a bookstore.

I MET WRITER/DIRECTOR JAMES GUNN. First, outside of the radio station, where I quickly introduced myself (with the obligatory “I’m a big fan” AND “we’re friends on MySpace”). Later, Cory, Big T and I spoke with him after a Q&A session at the St. Louis Movie Festival. Both times he was very gracious and easy to speak with. And he was hella funny during the Q&A – the man is a silly bitch. Not surprising from the fellow who wrote/directed “Slither” (starring the aforementioned Nathan Fillian as ‘Bill Pardy’).

I SAW “THE MIST” IN THE THEATER. 95% awesome, but that last 5% was such a kick in the privates that it made me hate the film. The director and I will have words some day, oh yes. Skip the last 3 minutes and it’s a pretty good flick.

ALSO SAW “BEOWULF” AT THE CINE, IN 3D. I felt bad that I missed Neil Gaiman’s “Stardust” in theaters, so I hastened to “Beowulf”. It’s impressively animated, but at times poorly directed or edited – it loses its flow frequently, with long, boring moments creating an awkward canter between some really thrilling action sequences. The dragon battle near the end is particularly badass. Angelina Jolie’s digital presence in the film is distracting, and the fact that her computer-rendered face looks absolutely identical to the real life version and yet is still sort of disturbing only suggests that she borders on inhuman. If you love CGI or sword-n-sorcery tales, give it a go. But it can wait for dvd – the 3d is neat, but I don’t think it will lose much without it.

THE UNRATED, UNCUT OF “TALLEDEGA NIGHTS” SUCKS. Seriously, get the theatrical version – the director’s cut ruins the comedic timing of the entire movie. They say 13 minutes were put back in, but it feels like an extra 2 hours. “The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” works as a concise piece of pop silliness, but fails when the editor becomes indulgent. And you’ll hear the phrase ‘Shake and Bake’ way more than is really tolerable.

THE FIRST EPISODE OF THE “TERMINATOR” TV SERIES ROCKS. I was fortunate enough to land a screener of the upcoming “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” pilot from Fox. I didn’t have high hopes for this, but Summer Glau (River on “Firefly”) co-stars as a new take on the protective Terminator, and that was enough to get me in the door. The show follows roughly after T2, with some time lapse. And it rocked – totally captured the feel of T2’s ominous paranoia and machine-blunt action. T, Cory and I re-entered this world with severe doubts and left genuinely jazzed up. Debuts in January, and I think a fair amount of it was finished before the writer’s strike, so yay for non-rerun TV!

I JOINED A COMIC BOOK CREATOR CLUB. My new dorky haunt, Twilight Comics in Shiloh (in the Green Mount shopping plaza near Target) is hosting a bi-weekly gathering of writers, artists and assorted other creative types interested in making comics. Despite the crappy weather, the first meeting was well attended and tons of fun. It was compelling to converse with a handful of other guys entrenched in the craft of sequential art storytelling. The group was heavy on writers in this first go ‘round, but there was an artist there whose portfolio and work ethic were extremely impressive. The second meeting is this coming Thursday. We’ve been charged with creating something new for each week, pages of script or art, at least a little something creative to share with the group. I’ve not had a very productive couple of weeks, but I’m hoping to complete a six page rough draft of a script for one of my comic properties.

A HANDFUL OF OTHER THINGS:

I’m reading “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Joss Whedon’s Season 8”, DC’s “Booster Gold” and My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way’s “Umbrella Academy” comics. Good stuff all around. After 7 years, though, I’m losing interesting Brian Michael Bendis’ “Powers”. I think I’m only still getting it out of habit.

I received the “His Dark Materials” trilogy as an early Christmas present, which I’m excited about. Also got the first volume of “Preacher”, which I read on the job at Fantasy Shop years ago. It was a fun re-read – a little rough around the edges, but sets up the inspired insanity of the rest of the series.

I’m 3/5 of the way through “The Spiderwick Chronicles”. It’s pretty decent kid’s fare, really one book split into a 5 volume serial – presumably to make more money by releasing them as $10 mini-hardcovers. The reading leans a bit thin as it often relies on the accompanying illustrations to describe the people, creatures and locales. My favorite element so far is, of the three sibling protagonists, one is singled out as our main touch point, while his twin takes a backseat. I think that’s a fairly unique way to portray twins in fiction.

My friend Roi’s band, The Material, made it all the way to second place in a big MTV2 contest. They performed at the competition finale in Times Square. It’s a big deal for these guys, a real break that is creating some exciting opportunities. Roi’s been pursuing music as a career for the better part of 15 years, so I’m really excited for him. (Some of you may remember him as the guitarist from Cory’s old band, Cope.) The Material has a nice hard melodic rock sound with a female vocalist. Strangely, I’d been following the band for almost a year on MySpace before Roi moved west and eventually joined up with them. Find them and show them some love.

Jimmy Eat World’s new record is pretty awesome, especially the first single “Big Casino”.

Another band to check out is In This Moment – met them the other day. Nice folks, solid performers, and the lead guitarist is sorta like a dreadlocked, metal version of Seth Rogen.

It’s now 12:30 and I have physical therapy in the morning. Yay for cracking and stretching and putting my body back into some semblance of alignment.

All my love,
adron

I used to hate Hugh Grant in every movie he appeared in. Then he was a part of the fabulous ensemble cast of ‘Love Actually’ and his suckage rating went way down. Today we saw him with Drew Barrymore in ‘Music and Lyrics’, which was a helluva lot of fun. Drew is as cute as I’ve ever seen her (and that’s pretty darn cute) and Grant’s character is likable, funny and altogether someone you’d be pleased to know. It’s a light movie with a ton of laughs and personalities you actually believe in and want to root for. Check it out.

New Hotness

We got the new hotness in a work. About 8 months back I put in a request for phatty-boom-blatty HD camera and editing system, with little hope of it happening. Found out right before we left for NYC that we got it. Received all the pieces and set it up on Friday. We’re talking tricked out Mac Pro system with a freakin’ huge monitor, a really nice video camera and the Final Cut Pro editing suite. It’s all so sexy!

I’ve never gotten around to really blogging about the NYC trip, out of pure exhaustion, and it’s not likely that I will. So I’ll try to share a few photos here and there. You know, for continuity.

Gene at the New York City Comicon

NYC sandwich shop with an awesome name.

Signature of Brian K. Vaughn, writer of Y: The Last Man, new story editor on Lost and number one super guy.

Animated Batman bank, purchased at the con. Nine dollars and 99 cents of awesomeness. (For some reason, you can't see his mouth in the photo...)

Wendy and I have returned from our adventure to New York City for a stay with the lovely Gene and Mary. I had intended to blog extensively this evening about the trip, but I’m still exhausted from all the travel. For now, I share this photo from the New York Comic Con:

Nothing like watching a Storm Trooper and a Tie Fighter Pilot dancing to pass the time in an exceptionally long line.

Tonight, Wen and I watched “The Prestige”, a flick starring a handful of my favorite actors (Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson and Michael Cane) by a favorite director (Christopher Nolan). Alas, I didn’t enjoy this flick so much. The never ended twists got old after awhile, and Nolan’s love of twisting time annoyed me repeatedly. Strangely, the film’s most outlandish conceipt didn’t annoy me as much as a simpler but unforeshadowed one. Plus, the final big reveal (of around ninety) was obvious way ahead of time.

Monday afternoon, Big T and I sat through a matinee of “Ghost Rider”, starring Nicholas Cage’s hair piece, Eva Mendes’ cleavage, Sam Elliot’s cowboy getup, Peter Fonda’s pomade and Wes Bentley’s over synthesized voice. Co-starring Bentley’s sideburns, and a handful of actors that had been out of work since “Highlander 3″.

I love comic books. I support comic book movies when I can. Make no mistake, I know that many of them aren’t good – and Ghost Rider certainly falls in that category. As expected. What I didn’t know going in was that “Rider” was written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson, the Alex Proyas-wannabe toolbox that directed the “Daredevil” movie with Affleck. Johnson’s not the worse director in Hollywood (Uwe Boll holds that particular title), but his misuse of the excellent Daredevil character should have ended his tenure with Marvel films. His take on Ghost Rider is the kind of heavy-handed cheese that gives comic books a bad name. If there was a text book called “Making a Scary Movie: Mining 60 years of pseudo-horror cliches and neo-modern, MTV editing techniques to create crappy cinema”, Johnson would own every edition, signed by the authors.

I didn’t expect art. And, truth be told, I walked out of the theater laughing, in a mostly pleasant way (though the “Ghost Riders on the Storm” techno-garbage over the end credits almost caused Travis’ head to burst into flames). The actors in this piece of hack work do their level best to have fun with their roles and make the most of a mediocre production. Nick Cage is capable of truly honest, heartfelt work (check out the quite good “Weather Man”). This is his chance to live a comic dork dream, and I respect that of him. Unfortunately, the script is so bad, the direction so over the top, the geeking out is lost to really putrid pastiche.

The age old question arises – how do movies like this get made? How does a studio exec look at a rough cut of this shlock and give a green light? It happens because they have a sudden insight into the future, at a 45 million dollar #1 opening weekend and a chance to cuddle up to Eva Mendes at the premiere party (or to Cage’s insanely cut abs – whatever your thing is).

You gotta give “Ghost Rider” this: the special effects are really nice – GR looks pretty badass. It’s funny, mostly intentionally (though certainly not always). Mendes is actually likable for once (I generally can’t stand her on screen). Watching GR give cops the finger as he rides away from them on his flaming cycle on a river (!) is worth a dollar of my ticket. Cage’s final speech to the main badguy at the end – pricelessly awful writing, directing and acting. It’s awesomely bad.

I think this will be a good movie to watch with a case of beer and the intent to MST3K the hell out of it. Then, perhaps after a viewing of “300″, we should rally the loincloth clad troops and descend upon Mark Steven Johnson and his support base at Marvel with our brand of merciless vengeance. Prepare to face the Penance Stare, Johnson. You have been prounounced guilty.