The Black River

Today's subject is a very special one,which is proving quite difficult for me to even begin without wanting to sound like a Wikipedia article. In the same light,I'd decided I didn't want to delve into the life and death of Frank Frazetta too heavily,there are more than enough websites with that information available on-line. Then again,I didn't want this particular article to be all pictures. All style and no substance so to speak. Instead I wanted to focus on his life's work and the stunning imagery he created over the course of his career,but in doing so,no matter how much I fought against it;the pictures won the battle over words. Because let's face it,that's what he did best. The death dealer Frazetta had a way of forming chaos into something more tangible. Each painting told a story of it's own,usually in the form of conflict between men or beasts or victory over a captive female. Strong,independent women we're also common themes in his ...

Fire & Ice is by far one of the best animated features in the sword and sorcery world. It's the kinda movie you can watch countless times and it's still just as good after the first time seeing it. It has the perfect mix of creatures and primitive cultures to make it as fantastic and otherworldly as possible,while lacking the infamous "cornball moments" most noticeable within the genre. Initially Fire & Ice was a collaboration between Roy Thomas ( who wrote the better part of the Conan series for Marvel comics) Frank Frazetta and of course Ralph Bakshi. The film used live actors who we're animated through rotoscoping,which became popular long before digital animation was made widely available. Though rotoscoping was heavily used in Bakshi's other films,never before had it been utilized with such spectacular detail as with Fire & Ice. Lunch! I fell in love with this movie several years back and hadn't seen it up till that point;in fac...

So I was in a goodwill not too long ago,searching for anything that might be remotely interesting in the books section;when I came across an old paperback bearing an unmistakable cover done by Ken Kelly,one of my favorite artists in the S&S (sword and sorcery) genre. What I found strange about the cover was a muscular Conan like figure,wielding both a sword and battleaxe,except this barbarian had horns on his head,pointed ears and eyes like a reptile of some sort. "This isn't Conan!" I said to myself. But yet, I recognized Ken Kelly's artwork anywhere,he was after all the go-to guy in Conan artistry,after Frazetta of course. The book's title wasn't up to par with Conan either,I mean The Alien? Seriously? But it was only fifty cents,so I caved in and bought it for the measly asking price. Once I got it home,I sat it aside,where it collected dust for the next two months. I figured,I'd probably never read it,but it's got a nice cover by one of my ...

Well, I'm starting this whole blogging thing all over again after blogger ( blogspot ?) decided to erase my old account,so I thought I'd start off fresh this time with a rare,yet truly bizarre first posting. And that subject my dear friends,is Hawk the Slayer.Now,I won't go into great detail about the movie,but it's essentially your basic sword and sorcery film about a man and his loyal companions who seek revenge against non-other than Lord Voltan (Jack Palance ) who seems similar to Darth Vader in certain ways ( maybe it's the helmet that does it). In addition,he's also Hawk's (John Terry's) brother,who appears to be at least 40 years older than hawk himself. Which is funny because Voltan doesn't appear to be much younger than his father,whom he murders in order to wield his father's secret magical powers,only to fail miserably. This movie,while being a sword and sorcery film,still retains elements of light fantasy and in some cases,even m...