Connect with us

Comics

Halo-8 Acquires Exclusive Rights To Grant Morrison Documentary ‘Talking With Gods’

Published

on

Quite possibly one of the most iconic, well known, and most talented comic book scribes of all time, Grant Morrison has worked on everything from “BATMAN”, to “SPIDERMAN”, “SUPERMAN” and everyone in between. The Scottish born writer has been a fixture of the comic book industry for years, but strangely very little is known about the man. As mysterious as he is talented, the 50 year old comic icon has decided to (finally) let his fans into his world, and to do so he has enlisted the help of “GODKILLER” producers Halo-8 to distribute and market the project titled “TALKING WITH GODS”. Inside you can view the official press release as well as get your first look inside the documentary by viewing the first official trailer. Read on for the skinny!

Here Is What The Official Press Release Has To Say…

“Los Angeles, CA, July 7, 2010 – Halo-8 Entertainment has secured worldwide rights to “GRANT MORRISON: TALKING WITH GODS,” the first ever feature-length documentary on the mysterious and iconic Grant Morrison, one of the most critically-acclaimed and best-selling writers in the history of comics, known for the groundbreaking, counter-cultural “THE INVISIBLES” and for bold reinventions of super-heroes “ANIMAL MAN,” “DOOM PATROL,” “JLA” and “ALL STAR SUPERMAN.” Directed by Patrick Meaney, produced by Amber Yoder, and shot by Jordan Rennert, the film was previewed at Chicago’s C2E2 Comic Con where Halo-8 president Matt Pizzolo first viewed it. Halo-8, which has a track record for distributing alternative-culture documentaries as well as publishing comic books, is slating the film for a limited theatrical run following a kickoff at the New York Comic Con in Fall 2010.

“Grant Morrison is a transcendent, transgressive artist, he changed the way a lot of us read comics while also blowing the minds of people who don’t read comics at all. On a personal level, he’s a hero of mine, so I’m particularly excited about championing this film,” said Pizzolo. “Patrick, Amber, and Jordan have put together a smart, slick, and insightful film that offers a deeper look at the writer without demystifying him… that’s no simple feat. I knew the moment I saw the preview clips at C2E2 that this was something special.”

“It’s extremely exciting to partner with Halo-8 to release this film. They have extensive experience releasing films that are challenging and transgressive, just like Grant’s work, so it seems like the perfect match. I’ve been nothing but impressed by their plans for getting the film out there,” said Meaney. “Talking With Gods is a unique film that needs a unique distributor and Halo-8 is the perfect match.”

“We’re encouraged by the enthusiasm and experience that Halo-8 is bringing to the project,” said Yoder. “They know our audience and the marketplace, and we’re excited to be working with them.”

GRANT MORRISON: TALKING WITH GODS examines Morrison’s 30-year career and the real-life events that inspired his stories. Featuring extensive interviews with Morrison himself, the film delves into his early days growing up in Scotland, the start of his career in comics, the crazy years of the ’90s as his life and his comics became enmeshed, and his recent attempts to turn personal troubles and social darkness into compelling comics. The film also gives insight into his creative process, including a look into his vaunted idea notebooks. Complementing Morrison’s own words are interviews with many of his most important collaborators, including Warren Ellis, Geoff Johns, Douglas Rushkoff, Frank Quitely, Dan DiDio, Frazer Irving, Phil Jimenez, Cameron Stewart, Jill Thompson, Mark Waid, and others.

“The film is designed to be accessible both to long time fans of Morrison and to people who don’t know who he is but are interested in the story of a modern philosopher and magician with radical ideas about the universe and our place in it,” said Meaney.

About Halo-8 Entertainment

“Halo-8 Entertainment (www.halo8.tv) is a Hollywood-2.0 movie studio using bleeding-edge strategies to create and distribute daring new films. Recent releases include the megapopular animated series Xombie: Dead On Arrival (which Bloody Disgusting called “one of the best online animated series to date”), the legendary NY hardcore documentary N.Y.H.C. (which Cinematical called “smashing… a terrific, well-told, engaging story”), the award-winning hardcore-punk thriller Threat (which Urb Magazine said “makes ‘Kids’ look like an after-school special”), and the critically-acclaimed animal rights documentary Your Mommy Kills Animals (which earned a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes). Upcoming releases include the erotic-art documentary The New Erotic (featuring XXX-auteurs Eon McKai, Kimberly Kane, Dave Naz, Jack The Zipper, Alejandra Guerrero), the animated war-against-squid movie Black Sky by Ben Templesmith (“30 Days of Night”), the Jesus vs vampires adventure Loaded Bible by Tim Seeley (“Hack/Slash”), and the iconoclastic hero’s journey Godkiller (which Wired called “a horrific yarn of apocalypse, quantum physics, culture jamming & conspiracy theory”).”


The First Trailer For “TALKING WITH GODS”

Comics

[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream

Published

on

Tender Beth Hetland Graphic Novel

Beth Hetland’s debut graphic novel, ‘Tender,’ is a modern tale of love, validation, and self-destruction by way of brutal body horror with a feminist edge.

“I’ve wanted this more than anything.”

Men so often dominate the body horror subgenre, which makes it so rare and insightful whenever women tackle this space. This makes Beth Hetland’s Tender such a refreshing change of pace. It’s earnest, honest, and impossibly exposed. Tender takes the body horror subgenre and brilliantly and subversively mixes it together with a narrative that’s steeped in the societal expectations that women face on a daily basis, whether it comes to empowerment, family, or sexuality. It single-handedly beats other 2023 and ‘24 feminine horror texts like American Horror Story: Delicate, Sick, Lisa Frankenstein, and Immaculate at their own game.

Hetland’s Tender is American Psycho meets Rosemary’s Baby meets Swallow. It’s also absolutely not for the faint of heart.

Right from the jump, Tender grabs hold of its audience and doesn’t let go. Carolanne’s quest for romantic fulfillment, validation, and a grander purpose is easy to empathize with and an effective framework for this woeful saga. Carolanne’s wounds cut so deep simply because they’re so incredibly commonplace. Everybody wants to feel wanted.

Tender is full of beautiful, gross, expressive artwork that makes the reader squirm in their seat and itch. Hetland’s drawings are simultaneously minimalist and comprehensively layered. They’re  reminiscent of Charles Burns’ Black Hole, in the best way possible. There’s consistently inspired and striking use of spot coloring that elevates Hetland’s story whenever it’s incorporated, invading Tender’s muted world.

Hetland employs effective, economical storytelling that makes clever use of panels and scene construction so that Tender can breeze through exposition and get to the story’s gooey, aching heart. There’s an excellent page that depicts Carolanne’s menial domestic tasks where the repetitive panels grow increasingly smaller to illustrate the formulaic rut that her life has become. It’s magical. Tender is full of creative devices like this that further let the reader into Carolanne’s mind without ever getting clunky or explicit on the matter. The graphic novel is bookended with a simple moment that shifts from sweet to suffocating.

Tender gives the audience a proper sense of who Carolanne is right away. Hetland adeptly defines her protagonist so that readers are immediately on her side, praying that she gets her “happily ever after,” and makes it out of this sick story alive…And then they’re rapidly wishing for the opposite and utterly aghast over this chameleon. There’s also some creative experimentation with non-linear storytelling that gets to the root of Carolanne and continually recontextualizes who she is and what she wants out of life so that the audience is kept on guard.

Tender casually transforms from a picture-perfect rom-com, right down to the visual style, into a haunting horror story. There’s such a natural quality to how Tender presents the melancholy manner in which a relationship — and life — can decay. Once the horror elements hit, they hit hard, like a jackhammer, and don’t relent. It’s hard not to wince and grimace through Tender’s terrifying images. They’re reminiscent of the nightmarish dadaist visuals from The Ring’s cursed videotape, distilled to blunt comic panels that the reader is forced to confront and digest, rather than something that simply flickers through their mind and is gone a moment later. Tender makes its audience marinate in its mania and incubates its horror as if it’s a gestating fetus in their womb.

Tender tells a powerful, emotional, disturbing story, but its secret weapon may be its sublime pacing. Hetland paces Tender in such an exceptional manner, so that it takes its time, sneaks up on the reader, and gets under their skin until they’re dreading where the story will go next. Tender pushes the audience right up to the edge so that they’re practically begging that Carolanne won’t do the things that she does, yet the other shoe always drops in the most devastating manner. Audiences will read Tender with clenched fists that make it a struggle to turn each page, although they won’t be able to stop. Tender isn’t a short story, at more than 160 pages, but readers will want to take their time and relish each page so that this macabre story lasts for as long as possible before it cascades to its tragic conclusion. 

Tender is an accomplished and uncomfortable debut graphic novel from Hetland that reveals a strong, unflinching voice that’s the perfect fit for horror. Tender indulges in heightened flights of fancy and toes the line with the supernatural. However, Tender is so successful at what it does because it’s so grounded in reality and presents a horror story that’s all too common in society. It’s a heartbreaking meditation on loneliness and codependency that’s one of 2024’s must-read horror graphic novels.

‘Tender,’ by Beth Hetland and published by Fantagraphics, is now available.

4 out of 5 skulls

Tender graphic novel review

Continue Reading