Mortal Kombat reboot?

Just saw this on CBR and Kotaku. Not sure what this is, but it looks to be either a re-imagining of the Mortal Kombat movie franchise or a trailer for a video game. I'm thinking it's for the movie. IMDB has it listed for a 2013 release, which is still a long ways off. Doesn't even list it as being in production yet.

It is very different from the 2 previous movies... very dark and set much more in a real world environment. Characters in the clip shown are: Jacks Briggs, Sonya Blade, Scorpion, Reptile, Baraka, Johnny Cage and Sub Zero.

I only recognize Michael Jai White (Spawn) as Jacks and Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine in Star Trek: Voyager) as Sonya. The other actors don't look familiar to me. This could be just a demo reel and the actors, characters and storyline could change drastically in the end.

Return of Vader

Earlier this week, some of the customized Darth Vader helmets from The Vader Project started to appear around L.A. Three at the Golden Apple comic shop, two more at Munkey King (both on Melrose) and about eight at Royal/T Cafe during the Culver City Artwalk.

These were some of the first signs that The Vader Project is returning to L.A. for one final time. For about one week only they will all be on display, just before they go up for auction on July 10 at Freeman's Auction House in Philadelphia, PA. All 100 customized Darth Vader helmets will be on display at 6812 Melrose Avenue., Los Angeles, CA 90036. Open daily from Noon-6pm, June 12-20. There will be an Opening Night Party on Friday, June 11 from 6-10pm. Then on Saturday, June 12 at 2pm a catalog signing with over 20 of the participating artists.

The auction catalog just came out over the weekend. I got mine from the JapanLA Pop Up Shop, in Hollywood, on Sunday. They had a signing with 3 of the artists that contributed their talents to this project: Mr. Toast (Dan Goodsell), Buffmonster and Gary Baseman. Cost for the book was $40. Over 200 pages with all 100 helmets beautifully photographed, a brief history of the project and small artist bios.

I got the chance to see this when the Star Wars Celebration was in L.A. back in 2007 and there over 50 helmets at that time. It's amazing to see them in person because you can see all the details. I am definitely going to make out there Saturday to get my catalog signed and to see the other 50 I missed.

More info. on this and the auction can be found at www.thevaderproject.com.

Dehara - Jizo Exihibit at GR2

What is a Jizo? It is the Buddhist divinity who protects the departed souls of deceased children, babies and unborn fetuses. Its likeness can be found in cemeteries and on roadsides in Japan. These are the inspiration for Dehara's latest show. He calls them "Japanese stone angels."

There were over 20 custom painted Jizo and over 20 custom figures, J.J. sets, Jizo in regular grey color and special colorways stickers, books, keychains and other boxed figures. Each Jizo comes with matching rice ball accessory. His custom Jizo range from the cute (ONIGIRI) to the slightly bizarre (JUICY HOLE). The figures were absolutely amazing. I really liked the dog, HACHI. and the Jizo with J.J. sets. With so many figures to choose from I finally decided on the MENTA-kun Jizo. It was either that or KILLER CABBAGE. I also thought about getting one of the Jizo colorways, but the white one wasn't GID.

I got to meet Dehara for the first time. He is really nice. He was kind enough to do a Menta and Jizo sketch in my book. Even gave me some insight on how he came up with the Menta and the giant rock he painted on in Japan. These are the times when I wish I could speak a little more Japanese than I do now. David, Sun-Min and Mina stopped in to take peek at the show. Hung out a little bit with SuperBen too.

The exhibit runs through July 7 at GR2, so there is still quite a bit of time to take a look at some truly amazing pieces.

R2D2 and Ice-Bat

Got to do some relaxing over Memorial Day Weekend. No working... just a bit of sleeping. I did get out to head on down to Golden Apple Comics on Monday. Picked up the June Previews/Marvel Previews books, issues of Brightest Day #2, X-Force #27 (part 9 of the Second Coming X-Men crossover event), Avengers #1, Galacta: Daughter of Galactus #1 and The Last Unicorn #1. As I was looking around the store I saw this display case next to a life-size R2D2 statue with signatures and doodles on it. Never paid too much attention to the R2D2. But this time I happened to be crouched down in between the display and the R2D2, to get a closer look at the figures on the very bottom shelf. Just then, something on the R2D2 caught my eye... Ice-Bat's head sketched and signed by David on the front side. I pulled out my iPhone and quickly snapped a couple of pics.

I also found out that they will be selling the Vader Project Auction Catalog and the auction preview is happening down the street from the store. June 12-20 open to the public. On June 11 there will be and Opening Night Party with DJs from 6pm to 10pm. On June 12 there will be a catalog signing with over 20 artists. Golden Apple has a window display with 3 of the Vader helmets.

Been a little too busy over the past month and a half to really post anything. My regular work schedule has been getting bumped around a bit. A few publications got axed or moved, so I've had to reorganize some of my plans for the latter part of the year. Luckily none of it interferes with SDCC. A project I was working on involved creating some sketches of a bunny for a movie, but that fell through. Since they went with another designer for this plush bunny, I'll use it for myself. So I have my Ty looking over the sketches to turn him into a plush. Hopefully it comes out okay. I did finish up some planning for my dad's 85th birthday party in August. Booked the Chinese restaurant, picked out the menu, guest list done and date set. Only things left to do are the invites and the party favors. I have Ty making some small plush origami cranes as party favors. He has made them before and should work well with the party.