As a true Nerd, I have been a fan of the Star Wars franchise since the release of the original movie in 1977 - which I refuse to this day to call “A New Hope.” I was 4 when it came out and it is the second movie I remember ever going to see with my parents (the first was Earthquake with its “Sensurround” feature).

Since that fateful day in 1977, I have seen every single Star Wars film release on or before opening day…as any proper Nerd should. As is the typical story of my kind, I owned (and still own) every Star Wars toy through the end of Return of the Jedi. And, like a proper Nerd, I stopped collecting when the travesties of the Ewoks and Droids spin-offs were born.

In the period between Return of the Jedi and the release of the Phantom Menace (what we Star Wars junkies refer to as the “Time of Great Darkness”), I kept myself sustained through periodic injections of Star Wars novels, comic books and video games, continually prostrating myself towards Skywalker Ranch in prayer for an eventual return to that Galaxy Far, Far AWay.

With the release of the final installments of the Star Wars films in the form of “Revenge of the Sith,” I was faced with the realization that my next good Star Wars fix might never come. Fortunately for Nerds everywhere, Uncle Lucas and his team have come through just when our Star Wars jones was starting to hurt real bad. Read More »

They may be  closer to Old Cogers than New Kids but they are back.  After 14 years, Jordan, Jonathan, Joey, Donnie and Danny are back together and the creative dynamo once known as the “New Kids on the Block” lives once more.

The Modern New Kids.

And by “creative dynamo” I mean former teen heart throbs who, during the height of their popularity, were known to score more underage vag than R Kelly ever landed.  And they did it all without ever peeing on anyone. Read More »

It’s time once more for a new installment of “Comics That Piss Me off!”  I’m just back from my local comic shop (the Comic Cellar in Monrovia, CA) and I have to say this week is a bit better than last week.  Here is the quick list:

Clandestine #3
Young X-Men #1
Project Super Powers #2
Action Comics #863
Green Arrow 13″ Figure from DC Direct

For those of you who are completely stunned by the lack of Secret Invasion #1 on my pull-list, don’t you worry your little heads.  You see, I was so…um…impressed…yeah, that’s a good word for it…I was so IMPRESSED by Secret Invasion #1 that I’ve decided to do a second, all-Secret Invasion edition of Comics That Piss Me Off.  So, just hang on and I’ll be following up with that very soon.  Until then, let’s get back to this week’s haul. Read More »

Welcome to the first installment of a new feature here on the Nifty Nerd (www.theniftynerd.com).  It’s a little something I like to call “Comics that piss me off.”  Every Wednesday I’ll be going over my picks for hits and misses in the world of comic book new releases.

The hits for this week of March 26, 2008?

None really.  It’s sad but I really don’t buy many new comics any more.  Growing up and even through art school I’d buy $40-$50 a week or more — I’d buy everything.  My love of comics hasn’t diminished any, but the quality of the work has definitely gone in the toilet.  There really isn’t much worth reading anymore.  This is all especially sad now that I have enough disposable income to buy anything and everything on the stands.  Very sad.

This week I picked up Green Lantern #29, Legion of Superheroes #40 and the Mighty Avengers #11.  Unfortunately, none of it is really worth recommending. Read More »

“Bionics On!”

The mid to late 1980s was easily one of the best times for cartoons here in the United States.  I challenge anyone who dares to disagree with me to a Filipino knife fight.  There were a lot of incredible action-adventure cartoons during that time period - Dungeons & Dragons, He-Man, Bravestar, Thundercats, Silverhawks, Tigersharks, Dinosaucers, GI Joe, Transformers, Blackstar, Jemm (don’t mock me), the Mighty Orbots, Visionaries, M.A.S.K., the Inhumanoids and probably another 20 I’m forgetting.  However, one of the greatest cartoons of all time, and one which has faded into a little bit of obscurity, was the Bionic Six. Read More »

If comic book fandom was a recognized religion (which is should be) that would make the Frank & Son Collectible Shows Mecca. Located in the City of Industry here in Southern California, the twice weekly (Wed and Sat) show is best described as a collectible shopping mall. Every form of genre collectible can be found in the warehouse-sized location - comic books, toys, Disney collectibles, MacDonalds toys, sports memorabilia, trading cards, Magic the Gathering cards, professional wrestling stuff, video games and more.

If you are anywhere near the City of Industry (about 10 minutes East of Pasadena, California, and near me here in Covina) and are a genre fan of any sort, then you absolutely need to make the pilgrimage to the shows. You will not be disappointed.

The Frank & Son Collectible Show
19649 E. San Jose Ave.
City of Industry, CA 91748
909-444-7955

-Mat N., The Nifty Nerd
http://www.TheNiftyNerd.com

The fine folks at Planet Comic Book Radio (one of the cooler comic/genre podcasts around) will be doing a 10-15 minute interview with me tomorrow night (3/25/08) between 5pm and 6pm.  Check it out!

http://www.planetcomicbookradio.com

-Mat N., the Nifty Nerd
http://www.theniftynerd.com

I haven’t posted on here in a while so I thought I’d go ahead and answer a question I get asked a lot when I do con appearances: how did you get involved in the film “Stinger” and “weren’t you supposed to direct it?”

As many of you know I wrote a cheesy horror film called STINGER for a company called Shoreline Entertainment back in around 2004. It was originally planned to be the sequel to a film called “Tail Sting” which is often considered one of the worst creature features to come out in a very long time. Even Shoreline Entertainment owner and “Tail Sting” Executive Producer, Morris Ruskin, hated the film in spite of the fact it had made his company quite a bit of money and was a decent hit outside of the USA. I remember many a conversation sitting in Morris’ office where he’d talk about what a load of crap that movie was.

Truthfully, it is a bad movie but there are some funny bits in there and it was good enough for New Line Cinema to complete rip off in its equally bad “Snakes on a Plane.” If you think “Snakes on a Plane” wasn’t a rip off of “Tail Sting,” then just do a quick watch of both movies. There are too many similar beats and duplicated sequences to be just a coincidence. Why they chose to plagiarize “Tail Sting” I have no clue. Read More »

In my career I’ve worked on a ton of movies — big budget, low budget, made for TV, direct-to-video…you name it and I’ve done work on it.  In spite of all the bigger flicks I’ve worked on, my absolute favorite experiences were on the set of the micro-budget film, “Bite Me, Fanboy.” 

BMF was shot and put together on a shoestring budget — although, on the money we had to do it I doubt we could have actually affored to buy shoestrings — and filmed late at night on the weekends for about 6 weeks.  I believe we had about 14 days or so of shooting.  The majority of the film was shot at Comic Relief in Berkeley, California, which was a lot of fun to get to do.

Anyway, I’ll talk more about the flick in upcoming posts, but to start I’ve posted a copy of the Blooper Reel from the “Bite Me, Fanboy” DVD release.  It’ll give you an idea of the blast we all had while filming.

Oh, and before I forget, you can purchase the “Bite Me, Fanboy” DVD at the Nifty Comics Store.  Check it out!

-NiftyMat, Professional Nerd
http://www.thenfitynerd.com

Black Belt Jones
Directed by: Robert Clouse
Screenplay by: Alex Ross, Fred Weintraub and Oscar Williams
Starring: Jim Kelly, Gloria Hendry, Scatman Crothers, Eric Laneuville, Alan Weeks, Malik Carter
Running Time: 90 minutes
Rated: NR
Release Date: 1974
DVD Release: Blax Film

Earlier this week I received a copy of one of my favorite films of all times, Black Belt Jones. I’ve been dying to get this flick on DVD for more than 10 years now - since I wore out my old VHS copy. Now, I found it on Amazon and I’m not completely sure where the DVD came from. As far as I can tell there has been no official DVD release of the film, but the copy I received in the mail is a fairly nice transfer from a company called “Blax Film” and judging from the cover art may have originally been an Asian release or bootleg. The only real downside to the DVD is there are absolutely no extras aside from trailers for some other flicks.

Bootleg or not, it’s great to have Black Belt Jones on DVD. I believe Black Belt Jones to be one of the greatest of the so-called Blaxsploitation films of the 1970s and the forerunner of the modern action film. Watching Jim Kelly in Black Belt Jones gives a great look back at the source of the Arnold/Stallone/Segal/Van Damme/Whoever action flicks of the 80s, 90s and today. It is one of the original sources and originators of all of the bits that eventually became cliches in modern action movies, down to the pithy one-liners. It’s a shame that a film that was such an influence on modern action movies has become forgotten. Read More »