† NillaMora †

My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way is expecting his first child with his rocker wife Lindsey Ballato.

Ballato, who plays bass for punk rock band Mindless Self Indulgence under the name Lyn-Z, is expecting the baby next summer, according to a spokesperson for Way, 31.

The couple married in a low-key ceremony in September 2007.

 

 

 

 

 

source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=7&entry_id=33003

Has Negative rocked your world in 2008? Remember to show your support and vote for NGT at Kerrang Readers Poll!

If the link above doesn't work, try cutting and pasting below:

http://promo.kerrang.com/kerrang/kerrangpoll2008/

 

http://www.ipacmm.com/radiobam/radio.bam.17.11.08.sirius.mp3

 

 

1. "Watchmen" by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
This is the first graphic novel I tell people to read if they are slightly unfamiliar with comics, and it is the graphic novel that changed the way I thought about superheroes and mainstream comics.  I often refer to 'Watchmen' as a gateway drug because that’s exactly what I think about it. It’s the one graphic novel that leads you to more cerebral, “outside-thinking” works. In suggesting this first to people, I realized that it actually does help to have an understanding or nostalgia for traditional superhero works, because that’s exactly what it deconstructs.

2. "The Dark Knight Returns" by Frank Miller
The other work that comes to mind from the '80s that pushed what you thought about traditional superhero comics, specifically Batman. A total deconstruction of the character, altering everything you thought about the character, his supporting cast, and even Superman, who is portrayed as a government tool. This is Batman past 50 years old, at his grittiest, his darkest, and it paved the way for a whole generation of “darker heroes.”

3. "The Doom Patrol: The Painting That Ate Paris” by Grant Morrison
This is the 2nd collection of Doom Patrol stories by Grant Morrison, and you should definitely pick up the first volume before reading this one, but this is the one where it really cements itself as the first “post modern superhero comic.” There are insane concepts and wild ideas on every page, from sleepwalking super-villains to sentient streets. This was the main influence in starting "The Umbrella Academy" and Grant Morrison is my favorite writer of all time for the sheer volume of ideas on every page, and the wit and style in which he presents them. Way more than deconstruction of the hero, Grant actually loves superheroes and writes with a nostalgia for the Silver Age of comics while at the same time creating something entirely new.

4. "The Sandman: Preludes And Nocturnes" by Neil Gaiman.

I remember this being the first comic where the best way to describe it was "literary." Drawing upon folklore, mythology, mysticism, and Shakespeare, Neil Gaiman created one of the most original comics of our time, using a very simple concept as a vessel for imaginative and thought-provoking stories. This is the kind of idea and storytelling you are jealous of as a creator, because you will always wish you had dreamed it up.

5. "The Invisibles: Say You Want A Revolution,” by Grant Morrison:
I could make a Top 10 list of graphic novels of Grant Morrison’s work on its own, telling you to read "We3," "The Filth," "Seaguy" and others, but I realize I need to make this list more broad. I am including "The Invisibles" because of its volume, ambition and scope. Drawing upon everything from “The Prisoner” (the old British sci-fi/spy show) to the Beatles, this series contained some of the craziest concepts ever put into a comic. At times you question if you are even reading a comic and that’s why this work is so important. Visionary and wonderfully experimental.

6. "Blankets," by Craig Thompson:
Moving away from breakthrough work within the mainstream, this is one of the best autobiographical comics I have ever read, being able to relate to it in a number of ways, including the wonderfully rendered relationship between Craig and his younger brother. A story about faith, love, loss and coming of age, it’s also one of the best drawn graphic novels of all time.

7. "Stray Bullets: The Innocence of Nihilism,” by David Lapham:
This collects the first issues of Dave Lapham’s crime/drama comics of the same name. One of the more interesting aspects of the book, aside from its all-too-human way of portraying everything from cold-hearted killers to traumatized little girls, is the fact that this comic exploded onto the scene seemingly from nowhere. Dave Lapham created a book, from the previous confines of work for hire, that was better than anything he had done and better than any other book at the time. This book will scare you and the only monsters in it are the ones you can find hanging out in the alleys of the city you live in.

8. "Hellboy: Seed of Destruction," by Mike Mignola
This book was an inspiration in the format I chose to do 'The Umbrella Academy' in, as well as the publisher, Dark Horse. This comic is extremely pure, it is the opposite of pretentious, and an exercise in storytelling. Combining elements of old-school E.C. Comics horror, adventure, and the occasional history or mythology lesson, it also frees itself from the confines of continuity typically found in mainstream comics. It has a continuity but does not remain chained to it, hopping around the many years an[d] aspects of the main character's life, telling the stories Mike Mignola wants to tell.

9. "Akira, Vol. 1," by Katsuhiro Otomo
I do enjoy manga but would not consider myself a "super-fan," only really connecting with certain works such as Lone Wolf and Cub, or Tekkon Kinkreet, the more breakthrough works, and Akira, to me, is the daddy of them all. This book collects the serialized comic originally found in 'Young Magazine' in Japan, which must have been very exciting coming out weekly and serialized, and also must have taken a lot of time, as the series is massive. It takes place in a futuristic version of Tokyo, which has rebuilt after another seemingly atomic explosion, and deals with a corrupt government, psychic children, and motorcycle gangs. Some of the best characters I have ever encountered in a comic.

10. "Wanted," by Mark Millar

I love this book. It came out of nowhere for me, and literally forced me to read it in one sitting. It has a way of tapping into that nihilism of "Fight Club" without being redundant and is a great example of a great modern comic with original ideas. The concept is another brilliant one that makes you jealous you didn't come up with it first, but in reading it you realize that Mark Millar is the only person that could have written it. I haven't seen the film but I imagine, if they at least kept the narration intact, that it is probably an excellent translation, as the main character's inner monologue is what really keeps you hooked, especially from the opening line.

source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/the_essential_shelf/index.html

by Geoff Boucher

 

I ran into one of my favorite people in comics and music, Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance fame, backstage at the Spike TV Scream 2008 Awards. We wandered around a bit, and I was fortunate enough to introduce him to both Frank Miller and Tim Burton (I do love my job). Way was in such a good mood that he gave me the major lowdown on "The Umbrella Academy" ramping up as a film project at Universal. He talked about his hopes to bring in people such as "Children of Men" director Alfonso Cuarón, Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood ("Chicago," "Sweeney Todd") and perhaps screenwriter Diablo Cody, who picked up an Academy Award for "Juno."

GB: So what's the good word on "The Umbrella Academy"?

Way: "We just had our first meeting at Universal, and it went great. The hardest thing was finding the right building and the right gate. Nah, the meeting was great, really, really great. The book was optioned before [International Comic-Con in] San Diego, and now it's been green-lighted. Now we're talking screenwriters and directors, obviously. There's no director attached yet."

GB: What can you tell us about the process so far and your priorities?

Way: "They want me to be very involved in it. I'm interested in co-scoring it with somebody too. Something like RJ-D2. Something completely different. Do you know what I mean? I think everything he does has an interesting '60s vibe. It almost has that dystopian 'The Prisoner' feel to it."

GB: You would almost want a "Harold & Maude" meets "X-Men" sensibility to an "Umbrella" movie, if that doesn't sound too odd.

Way: "No, basically that's it. Yeah, 'Harold & Maude' meets the 'X-Men.' The soundtrack can't be a straight score. It has to have some kind of quirk to it. I want to make the music super, super interesting."

GB: What do you know about the timetable for the film?

Way: "I've heard 2010 and 2011. I think 2010 is the big Marvel year, right? So maybe 2011. Not that this is going to be like those movies, really. I said going into the meetings that this film has to be really progressive. It can't simply be the next opportunity for a video game. In the way that 'The Dark Knight' made its own rules, it needs to have its own energy. One of the names I was really interested in as far as screenwriters was Diablo Cody. I think it's an unexpected choice. Everything about this book has been making the less-obvious choices."

EVANSCENCE singer Amy Lee, who is busy writing new material, recently talked with SPIN.com about the group's messy split with guitarist John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray, writing a solo album, scoring films, and "Sally's Song", her contribution to "Nightmare Revisited", the new collection of covers from Tim Burton's 1993 film, "The Nightmare Before Christmas". A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On the split with LeCompt and Gray:

"It's a difficult situation, as is every dramatic situation our band has gone through. John [LeCompt, guitar], Rocky [Gray, drums] — we outgrew each other. When they joined the band, Fallen was just completed and they were excited to be a part of something really big. From the beginning, their musical styles were very different from EVANESCENCE. I think, to a degree, they got bored or frustrated. They weren't part of the creative process and were like, 'Why are we doing this?' Their writing just didn't work for EVANESCENCE, and I have to do what's best for the band. I've had a little bit of contact with John since and it was positive. Very few bands have been able to maintain their original members forever."

On new songs and a solo album:

"I need to show that I'm more than a one trick pony. I'm writing here at the house by myself and it's been really good. But I'd really like to do something different next. [The new songs] are definitely different. I feel like I'm going back to my really old roots. They have more of my folky and Celtic influence than ever before. And it's not all sad — it's nothing I would categorize as EVANESCENCE."

Read the entire interview at SPIN.com.

Video footage of EVANESCENCE singer Amy Lee performing "Sally's Song", her contribution to the recently released CD collection "Nightmare Revisited", on the October 13 episode of NBC-TV's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" can be viewed below.

With news of My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way’s “Umbrella Academy” headed for development over at Universal, Splash Page looked back to a recent interview we did with the fanboy-turned-rock star-turned-comic writer on what he hopes happens with a potential “Umbrella Academy” film.

“It’s a pretty recent development,” explained Way from an interview from the floor of this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. “Mike Richardson, who runs Dark Horse and owns it, just signed a three picture deal with Universal because he has a great relationship with them from ‘Hellboy,’ and the first film that he wanted to get made – that they wanted to option – was ‘Umbrella Academy.’”

For those of you in need of a refresher course, Way describes “Umbrella Academy” as, “A post-modern superhero story – not a ’superhero comic.’ It’s the story of seven extraordinary individuals adopted and raised by a closet space alien [named Sir Reginald Hargreeves] – poorly – to save the world from nobody knows what.”

Yet as excited as Way is for an “Umbrella Academy” film, the unabashed comic geek who was once an intern at DC Comics and graduated from New York’s School of Visual Arts with a degree in cartooning, is quick to say that he hopes that a few more volumes of “Umbrella Academy” can hit shelves before a film hits theaters.

“You know how it goes, you wanna see it happen so you get really excited, but you gotta kinda be patient,” said Way. “By the time the film comes out, I think we’ll be on series four [of 'Umbrella Academy'] which I think is important. I think if a movie came out right now, we only have one series under our belt, and it’s not enough mythology out there.”

As far as the aforementioned “mythology” Way mentions, it could mean scenes that he wanted to work into “Umbrella Academy” stories but couldn’t due to the limited amount of space on a monthly comic.

“There’re scenes that couldn’t make it into the comic because we didn’t have enough room that actually would be perfect for film, scenes that really open it up a bit more,” said Way. “Not like Hollywood explain-o stuff – like literally scenes that should’ve been in there.”

For example?

“There was supposed to be a whole end scene where there was supposed to be a funeral for Dr. Pogo and that’s actually where you meet The Rumor’s daughter for the first time, she’s there with her daughter at the hospital, [but we] couldn’t fit it. So there’s things like that I’d love to see in the film.”

There are just over 23 days to get your votes in for the 2008 MTV European Music Awards!  Let's all join forces and make our voices heard in the "ROCK OUT" and "VIDEO STAR" categories the only way we know how: until our fingers bleed!

Vote for 30 Seconds to Mars by clicking here, or on the banner below.

The fourth Helldone Festival in Helsinki, Finland will be as warm, loose and easygoing as it's always been. There's one new thing though, more of a sort of added bonus as Helldone Festival does a road trip.

This time around HIM, KYPCK (pronounced ..Kursk') and 45 Degree Woman take the festival on the road, to the cities of Oulu and Tampere. While this fearless trio shares some good vibes with the rest of the country, Helldone HQ in Helsinki is rocking to the sounds of Stam1na, Diablo and Godsplague on Monday 29th , and The 69 Eyes, Negative and Sara on Tuesday 30th . New Year's Eve marks the eagerly awaited return of the road warriors. 

During the past couple of years, the Helldone Festival has also been proud to present some cool bands from overseas but you have politely pointed out that the thing you really want to see and hear are Finnish bands. Finnish bands in the dark heart of the Finnish winter.

Your wishes are our commands! Besides, you've got it spot on: it's these bands that are the true essence of the Spirit of Helldone, the very thing that makes our festival one of a kind. These bands, this venue, and - last but far from least - this audience.

It's a family affair. Always has been, always will be.

Some of this year's bands have played at the festival before but none has been invited back purely for old times sake. Each and every band in the Helldone 2008 line-up has recently reached important milestones in their careers: be it a killer album, a breakthrough in new territories or a big tour. They all are alive, hungry, fast and furious. And definitely as cool as a December night in downtown Hellsinki.

Helldone 2008 marks the tenth anniversary of HIM's New Year's Eve shows at Tavastia Club - the tradition out of which the Helldone Festival was born. Each night there will be top bands on the Tavastia stage, while the neighbouring venue Semifinal serves as a chill out zone with some familiar faces spinning records. HIM will traditionally start their set at midnight on New Year's Eve.

TICKETS ON SALE STARTING OCTOBER 15th, 2008 @ 09.00am (EET)

Dec 29, 2008
Tavastia & Semifinal, Helsinki             
Stam1na
Diablo
Godsplague

Club Teatria, Oulu
HIM
KYPCK
45 Degree Woman

---------------------------------------------

Dec 30, 2008
Tavastia & Semifinal, Helsinki           
The 69 Eyes
Negative
Sara

Pakkahuone & Klubi, Tampere
HIM
KYPCK
45 Degree Woman

---------------------------------------------

Dec 31, 2008
Tavastia & Semifinal, Helsinki           
HIM
KYPCK
45 Degree Woman

--------------------------------------------

At Semifinal there will be DJs everyday:
Mon. Dec. 29th TBA
Tue. Dec. 30th TBA
Wed. Dec. 31st:  Jussi69



Where to get tickets:

Oulu and Tampere: www.lippupalvelu.fi and www.tiketti.fi (limit 4 per customer)

Helsinki: www.tiketti.fi (limitation 2 per customer)

Helsinki 3 day pass is available through www.tiketti.fi. Price 100€. (limit 2 per customer)

Age Limits:  18 and over for all shows except for Pakkahuone the age limit is 15 and over.

Links:
Helldone Festival www.myspace.com/helldone
Tavastia www.tavastiaklubi.fi
Teatria www.teatria.com
Pakkahuone www.tullikamari.net
KYPCK www.kypck-doom.com
45 Degree Woman www.myspace.com/45dw
Stam1na www.stam1na.com
Diablo www.myspace.com/diablometal
Godsplague www.myspace.com/thegodsplague
The 69 Eyes www.69eyes.com
Negative www.negative.fi
Sara www.saranhuone.com

Transportation Options:
www.vr.fi (Finnish national railway company)
www.blue1.fi (airline)
www.finnair.fi (airline)
www.fc.fi (airline)
www.expressbus.com (busline)

Hotel Options:
www.restel.fi
www.sokoshotels.fi
www.scandichotels.com
www.radissonsas.com

 

sources:

 http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=4739583&blogID=439636915

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=6141291&blogID=439637388

Submit your artwork HERE  to enter Royal Flush Magazine's Ville Valo Art Contest!! The winner's artwork will be featured in the next issue of Royal Flush Magazine!!

http://www.myspace.com/royalflushmagazine

A Message From Gerard

Hey guys, Gerard here… I’m hanging out with Mikey in New Jersey, relaxing, drinking coffee, talking comics, and getting ready to take a drive down south tomorrow. I don’t know what states I’m passing through but I know where I’m heading. Don’t worry, I’ve got a the Clockwork Orange audiobook, a Dr. Pepper air-freshener, and a GPS so I don’t get lost. We figured by now everyone that’s a fan of the band might be wondering what we’re up to, what we’re planning, so I thought I’d write this letter and fill you all in.

We’re living, decompressing- The Black Parade took over two years to tour and six months to make so that’s a lot of existing in a fictional world, and we’re just extremely happy to live in a real one for a while. One thing I can let you know is that we’re excited. Genuinely more excited than we have ever been to be in this band, make some new music. And we have ALL been writing new material in our own separate worlds… I started a week after I got home, buying a good rig, an old Jag, and a bunch of pedals- just searching for the next sound.

Bob is recovering well from his recent wrist surgery- exceedingly well considering how risky the procedure can be. We’re all really happy that when he picks up the sticks again he won’t be in the intense pain he was in during the last year of touring. It’s going to take him a while to rehabilitate but knowing him, he will most likely be playing the drums before the doctor says it’s a good idea. He just loves playing, we all do. Franks on the road with Leathermouth and Reggie and The Full Effect so you should go see them and get spit on. I know Leathermouth doesn’t have a record out yet, but Frank gave it to me in Mexico and I can easily say it’s my favorite post-hardcore record of the year, so I know you will at least enjoy the songs if you don’t know the words.

One of the best parts of the last five months was getting to see Ray get married and all of us be a part of the wedding. It was beautiful. I’m not sure where the happy couple is right now but I am sure wherever they are, they are really enjoying it. I have never seen him happier in my life. So we made plans to get together soon and make some demos, see where our heads are at, take it slow. If explosions happen in our heads right away who knows how soon we could have a record out, we aren’t in any rush but we get just as anxious as you to find out what the next “thing” is going to be.

So that about wraps it up… I’m glad I could stop by for a chat, I think I will do it more often. I’m writing more comics, writing more music, and missing my wife right now. Oh, and I heard a rumor that I died in a car accident. I didn’t.

xo.

g

 

Source: http://punk.bz/2008/08/26/interview-a-message-from-gerard-way-of-my-chemical-romance/

The HIM frontman will be jetting in for their London shows.

HIM frontman Ville Valo has spoken to Metal Hammer of his love for British goth pioneers Fields Of The Nephilim ahead of the band's two London shows at Shpherds Bush Empire on July 12th and 13th.

Speaking to Metal Hammer, Ville confirmed: "I love them so much that I will be flying over from Helsinki to see both gigs."

HIM, Type O Negative and a whole host of other gothic rock acts have been influenced by Fields Of The Nephilim and these two shows will mark only their second and third performances in the UK for seventeen years so these are not to be missed.

Buy tickets for these shows right here

By Jeff Johncox
The Norman Transcript

Comics Corner - How did you get involved with Dark Horse and in making the “Umbrella Academy?”

Way: Well, I had really missed comics since starting the band and I guess I really wanted, in the beginning, we just really never stopped (playing). Once it took off and it was really exciting, I realized I hadn’t written or drawn anything comicwise, or bookwise, or anything. I hadn’t had a chance to be creative in that regard and I really missed it.

I started Grant Morrison’s “Doom Patrol,” because it started coming out in trades, and I was on tour and had just gotten sober and I had all of this free time. So I said “f--- it, I’m going to write a comic.”

 

CC - Grant Morrison had a nice quote for you on the cover of the second issue. Have you always been a big fan of his?

Way: I have always been a big fan. Grant is great because if you get into cool comics, somebody shows you basically “Watchmen,” that’s the first one they show you. Then you get into Frank Miller and then your world opens up. From that point you can go one of two ways. You can still stick around mainstream superhero books or go into indies. Ultimately, you can find someone like Grant who is totally uncategorizable, if that’s a f---ing word. He’s somebody that’s right up the middle. He’s doing this very postmodern stuff. It doesn’t matter if it’s superheroes, it doesn’t matter if it’s hired assassins. It doesn’t matter … anything.

 

CC - I went the Warren Ellis route after Frank Miller

Way: Right. That makes sense, too. Because he’s another one of those guys, it’s more of the Vertigo type way.

That’s where I went. I got into (Neil) Gaiman and I got into Grant.

Grant ended up being my favorite author because he’s so willing to take risks. He’s so daring. He’ll take these characters and do anything he wants with them. You know, and he has a love for superheroes where a lot of people were either being cheeky with superheroes and doing parody or they were doing them so bland it was becoming a parody of itself anyway.

Grant, who has a true love of the silver age, had all these crazy ideas.CC - The “Umbrella Academy” has this kind of dark humor and this danse macabre feel. The time-traveling kid is the grim reaper leading everyone to the end of the world … Is that just your sensibilities as an artist?

Way: I think it is. I think ultimately it has this kind of dark sense of humor first and foremost.

I don’t have a bleak outlook on the world. I’m a happy person.

But black humor has always been my favorite. I wanted that to be in the series along with that sense of family and a really bad childhood. Just kind of have a laugh about how apocalyptic the world is whether it’s this comic or the real world. To me it’s a commentary on the real world anyway. We live in these times that it’s really dark, and it gets darker and I think that’s obviously what my band plugs into in the same way. So it makes sense that it kind of gets into the comics.

CC - In times of war … I did a story last year and talked to several creators about how comics and movies and art in general the public gravitates more to it.

Way: And I’ve always felt very plugged into that, I don’t know why.

Even when my band started, most of the music out there was very pop and glossy and baggy shorts.

 

CC - The “American Pie” soundtrack.

Way: Yeah, totally. The “American Pie” soundtrack.

I had wanted something different out of music. I wanted to be that. Something that plugged into that type of nihilism that’s out there. Not in a way that I wanted to bring doom and gloom to the world, either, but maybe in a way that said “Hey, we can all get through this.” And we should directly address this stuff rather than like, everybody’s going surfing.

So I applied the same things to the comic. In a lot of ways, “Umbrella Academy” is a direct response to superhero drama in the way the band was a direct response to popular music.

I’d become so bored with origin stories and all this nonsense about backstories. If you picked up a comic you had to know it from the beginning. I also didn’t like the re-booting and telling the origin story all over again. So I said “I’m gonna do an origin in three pages for this entire superhero team and this entire world.” I figured if I could do that in three pages and the reader likes the way I did that then the reader and I are on the same page and we can tell a story together.

CC - In the future, are we going to see more flashbacks of the “Umbrella Academy” and how they were as a young team together?

Way: In series 2, I just finished the first issue, you’re going to see them as children again. I think it’s really a fun way to start each series with them as children. Then throughout, when they’re older, you can see some flashbacks.

As far as the series goes, I think the only flashbacks go, I think the only one you’re going to see (in this one) is in the first issue. I’m starting the second issue now and I just don’t see any room for flashbacks at all.

CC - I’ve read the first series now a couple of times and it’s like a “Simpsons” episode. I don’t want to compare it to anything, really, but the second or third time you read it, you pick up on little things in the background. Like the bulletin board Spaceboy had and different little things like that.

Are those little things something you and Gabriel (Ba) intentionally put in?

Way: Yeah, everything that’s in there is very intentional. Gabriel is very good and you can ask those things of him. You can say “Hey, in the background really small I need this to be in there.” And he’ll make sure it happens.

Some of it is stuff that is not for the current situation. Some of it is stuff that may appear later, or may not. That’s another one of beauties of the series. It’s not about throwing red herrings out there, but it’s about throwing ideas out there that if we want to do something with them later we can. If not, it’s no big deal.

 

CC - Are we ever going to see what happens to the Horror?

Way: You actually eventually are. I don’t think it’s going to be for a long time, but you will definitely see what happened to the Horror. The Jennifer Incident, it was created to just be alluded to in the story. I named it the Jennifer incident because I have no idea what Jennifer is. I have no idea what it even refers to. I just came up with something that sounded interesting and could be thought-provoking. And that’s the Jennifer Incident.

It doesn’t even matter what it is. It’s this event that happened that nobody even really remembers that caused the team to break up.

 

CC - When you finally get to it it had better either live up to all the expectations and be completely awesome or be completely cheesy and a one-day fill.

Way: Right! The Jennifer Incident will appear again. And it will explain a lot. But I can’t really say when. I would like to say that initially, it was never intended to be explained. That’s kind of the beauty of it. You had no idea what it was.

 

CC - Where’d you get the idea for these characters?

Way: In some ways they’re responses to previous characters. But in a lot of ways I really just wanted to tap into that energy of the Silver Age and see what I could make work that other people couldn’t make work.

Like Kraken, for example. He’s basically Aquaman, yet he’s a character in the series that people love and he’s useful. Whereas Aquaman, people make jokes about how useless he is. I just wanted to take Aquaman and make him so popular he was like the Wolverine of the group.

He has a very type of dark attitude and it doesn’t matter that his only power is holding his breath. In the end it shouldn’t matter what your power is, or what your moniker is or what your costume is like.

The character’s attitude is there and that’s what it’s about.

I really wanted these characters to be a study of personality, see if I could accomplish things with them that others couldn’t. They were really inspired by the Silver Age and that excitement where the character was everything. Where it wasn’t just a guy in a costume.

I’d say 90-percent of the team doesn’t even have a costume. Yet they’re not a group of plain-clothed superheroes, either. That’s another thing that’s slightly irritating.

When somebody’s trying to do a grim, realistic superhero thing and have them in plain clothes. That doesn’t really work for me, either.

It was inspired a lot by “Doom Patrol,” too. They had to look cool together. I had to have a group that was bizarre but looked cool together. If you look at Grant Morrison’s “Doom Patrol,” they just look incredible together.

 

CC - You have some interesting powers. Like the Rumor. They’re powers people really haven’t seen before or they’re powers that have failed miserably last time they were tried.

Way: Right. Jim Lee’s favorite character is the Rumor and we talk a lot about the character. His opinion was that we’ve never heard of that superpower. He thought it was so cool because it was a new thing no one had ever heard of.

It is. I don’t remember someone ever coming up with it, either. But it’s just something that naturally occurred to me.

The Seance is really something that I guess we have seen before, but I wanted someone very much like Dr. Strange, kind of based on the occult and things like that.

Definitely a little more humorous and definitely a complete jerk.

Very full of himself and self-absorbed, too.

But that’s another thing. What if, in creating these characters, instead of giving them high-school problems, made them really not very good people? How much more interesting would that make them?

 

CC - It doesn’t help that they had an ass of a guardian growing up, either.

Way: That was the main thing. You’ve got this group of kids, first and foremost, don’t even have identities. They’re different than other kids. They can’t play with other kids. Then they have a really lousy father who has no idea how to be a father. He’s an alien. You’re going to end up a really messed up individual.

 

CC - He’s the anti-Professor X.

Way: There’s an opening scene in series 2 that I wrote that you could do with Hargreeves that you could never do with Professor X.

It’s one of those things that really makes me love the book, because it’s like you could never f---ing do that (in X-Men). Just certain things these characters can say and just be so lousy that you could never do in a superhero book.

 

CC - Were you surprised at the attention it got after Free Comic Book Day?

Way: I think I was more surprised at the reception after the first issue.

The Free Comic Book Day thing made me very nervous, actually. It was a great idea on Scott’s part but from my standpoint because it wasn’t the story I had written. It was before the story I had written.

I’m not a fan of wanting to do origin stories. So it had to be a slice of their lives when they were a team that had no consequence on the story I had written for the main series. I wanted to make sure it was.

That proved to be just as difficult as writing the entire series. I think that eight-page story took me a month and a half. I also knew it was going to be people’s first taste of “The Umbrella Academy” and I wasn’t sure that’s what I wanted their first taste to be. I wanted it to be that first issue.

So, in the end, it all worked out great, but it was very stressful.

CC - And then people had to wait five or six months to see them again.

Way: Exactly. Now people had a definite opinion about what the series was and it might not be what they were getting.

When issue 1 came out, the way that it was received, that’s what I was really excited about.

Free Comic Day definitely did what it was supposed to do as far as getting publicity for it, because we didn’t want to rely on me being in a band to do that.

That’s why I originally agreed to do that, because we were staying so far away from me being in this band. We needed some kind of push.

But I was very happy with the reception of the first issue.

 

CC - Has the comic brought more fans, or a different type of fan from the music?

Way: Yeah, in fact it seems to me like a lot of them are Joss’ (Whedon) fans. I’m getting a lot of “Buffy” fans, which is very cool. And straight superhero fans. Occasionally I’ll be signing a book for a guy in a Superman shirt, and that’s very cool, too.

The coolest thing is getting guys, I’m starting to get fans of the old (Chris) Claremont “X-Men,” and that’s what I grew up on and that was a direct influence on the series.

It’s kind of like I’m getting these guys who are now in their 30s and this is kind of like the “X-Men” for their age. It’s like speaking to the same kind of reader that I was.

 

CC - I told a friend it reminded me of the old “Inferno” crossover series in the ’80s. Maybe a little more darkly humorous.

Way: Completely. “Inferno” was probably the first or second crossover I was able to read all the issues of.

CC - I still have all the old issues and the new trade. I think it’s probably my favorite series ever.

Way: Me, too. I have that trade they came out with a few years ago and all the original issues. I have the fight between X-Men and X-Factor and all that s---.

 

Source: normantranscript.com

Download

 Stop the massacre of cats and dogs in Japan

Please sign and spread :

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/903445567?z00m=3822149%
3cl=1166362

dogs are put in a cage 80 by 80 cm for almost 10 years. Nobody gives
them a second look. Taking them for a walk is out of the question.
They have wounds all over their body's. But maybe they will by lucky
and they can spend their lost months or years still have a good life.
In Japan there are few people or organisations who wants to see this
animals suffering. Those who want to help are doing this day and
night. unfortunately there is not much place available and there is
no regulation or laws. These animals suffer ande it ..s painful to see
that.

Since the beginning of this year, worldwide is asked for signatures
who will be handed over tot the authorities, mayby to do so, there
will be a little chance to give these animals a worthy live. 10
months has passed and we only collect 5000 signatures. This is so
little that there is a risk the animals will not be helped, on the
contrary it will get worse for them. Please, we emphasize that we
need a whole lot of signatures.

Please write and send your protest to: info@sasajapan.org.

Small Animal Support Association (SASA Japan)

Minami Aoyama 1-3-6 MBE125

Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0062 Japan

I thank you in the name of all animals,

Lydia Tanabe

Sasa Japan

Tampere, Klubi, Thursday 15. Nov. 2007

 

Wet snowflakes and hard wind outside made this November evening feel even colder than it really was. Antti Anatomy seemed a bit tired from a long day of work, but still eager to answer all the questions I had lined up for him.

 

After the necessary small talk, we began the interview by going through today's schedule.

 

- I was in Helsinki with Jonne. We were shooting a TV interview for a programme called "Wintteri". I think it will come out sometime close to the New Year's eve. I've never seen or heard of this kinda TV show, but that's what we were filming over there. We also did an interview for a magazine called "Koululainen". The record company guys did some promoting at a radio station, but we weren't there with Jonne.

 

I also remembered to ask about Antti's visit to Kokkola last week. He told me that there was an exposition called "Rock Your Life" and it was for teenagers. It was an informative happening about professional schools.

 

- This exposition was organized by Vallu Valpio (a finnish celebrity) and we have known each other for a very long time. Vallu was searching for musicians that have professional education and when he remembered that I have studied metal industry, he called me up and asked me to come over. I think I'm the only one from our band that has graduated from professional school.

 

- Also Siiri Nordin from Killer was there, as well as Tea (a finnish singer) who is studying to be a nurse. We were all sitting in a big hall, talking about our professions and Vallu was asking all kinds of interesting questions. The teenagers seemed to be interested when I told them stuff I know. I guess it was cool when a dude from a real rock band comes over and talks about this kinda stuff. There were also some people who have actually been working in the metal industy, you know, cause I only have the education. I've never been to a job like that.

 

There was a funny incident with the schedule. Vallu hadn't been very clear about things so Antti almost left a day too early.

 

- I was asking about what time does this thing end on Thursday, so I'd know when I'll be able to head home. That's when he told me I should also be there on Friday! I was all like "wooot??" cause I swear he hadn't said anything about that, Antti told me laughing.

 

Only a couple of weeks have passed by after Negative's visit to China. Naturally I wanted to hear something about the trip. Obviously it was an exiting experience.

 

- China.... What could I tell you about China..? We had two gigs; one in Peking and one in Shangai. I got a piece of the Great Wall of China. And food poisoning from chinese food. I think it was rat or some small rodent. Anyway, it was hairy and felt weird. We were at some photoshoot and the people over there asked us if we were hungry. And as it happened that we were, they brought us some local food. It was rice with these things that looked like spring rolls and when you took a bite, you had to pull bunches of hair and stuff outta your mouth. Well, in China, people eat dogs and all kinda small animals that are put through a meat mincer with coats and skins and everything. You know, like they make chicken nuggets in finland, they put almost the whole chicken in there. My food poisoning kicked in once I had already gotten back home, but for example, one of our crew members got sick earlier. So he had to sit at the toilet the whole eight- hour flight back to Finland. 

 

Snack and Slammer were also there, but they didn't touch these spring rolls.

 

- There were 2 of them on each plate. I ate one, because I just had to try it. I really tried to talk Snack into having some, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He doesn't have much stommach for these kinds of things... I think it tasted like beef, but the appearance wasn't all that appealing. In the whole, I didn't even eat all that much chinese food over there. But Peking Duck we did have and it was very good.

 

The gigs went really well. Anatomy told me that there were a lot of people and good vibes.

 

- The gigs were awesome. We were the first finnish rock band that ever set foot to China and it felt good. Well, Danny (a finnish, middle aged singer) has been there, but chinese people don't consider him "rock". I just had to tell them that Danny is a hundred times more "rock"  than many of those who consider themselves "rock".

 

- All that rock- stuff seems to be really hot in China. There haven't been all that many rock bands, I got the impression they kinda think it's "bad" in a way. Rolling Stones were finally there a couple of years ago, it was something they had tried to do for years before it actually happened. It was funny though, how you noticed that in China, people are not very familliar with band stuff, un- experienced, so everything didn't always go so smoothly. Things kept changing all the time. We were supposed to play three gigs over there, but just one day before the trip, we heard there's only going to be two. One venue suddenly changed just a day before the gig. And I heard there had been some fans waiting at the wrong place but since no one had told them that the gig has been moved else where, they thought it had been cancelled and went home. So there seemed to be lack of information and advertising.

 

- Also, our trip from Peking to Shanghai was exiting even before it took place. The people were unable to decide if we should take the train or fly. Right at first, we were supposed to go by plane but then it changed to taking a train. Then suddenly it was the plane again, and after that the train. When we were finally starting to make are way to the train, we found ourselves from an airplane after all. The crew almost lost their temper cause it was really difficult for them to plan anything when things kept changing. For the band, it's easy anyway. You just have to remember to move yourself and be on the stage on time.

 

- We have gotten pretty used to Japan, and for some reason, I kinda expected China to be similar. In Japan, everything is always so well planned and everything works somewhat perfectly, but this wasn't quite the case in China. Even the traffic was quite interesting when everyone was honking the horn constantly and the taxi drivers passed other cars through lawns and stuff.

 

As we "normal" people in Finland don't really know that much about China and chinese habits, I had to wonder if the boys had prepared themselves in any particular way.

 

- Noo, not really. It wasn't that strict, you know. The lyrics had to be sent over there in advance, because they wanted to check them for political stuff, I guess. The Rolling Stones weren't allowed to play "Satisfaction" back when they were there, but I think all our songs were okay.

 

And it's always interesting to know, if there were any incidents or difficulties worth mentioning? This was something Antti really had to think about.

 

- Ummm... There's always something... Oh, yeah, we lost Sir Christus the moment we got to Peking. We all came out of the plane and suddenly noticed there's no Sir in sight. We were looking for him, waiting for him and trying to call him for like two hours at the airport, but he was nowhere to be found. We sent him the address of the hotel by text message and so he had found his way to the hotel by himself then sometime during that night. When we tried asking him where in the hell had he been, the answer was something like: "I have no idea". Well, this is just the basic stuff, you know, we haven't been travelling all that much yet... Soo one can't really learn all that quickly, you know. (lol)

 

Everyone is very eager to know about the upcoming recordings of the new album.

 

- We'll enter the studio as soon as possible, the training for new songs will start like tomorrow or the day after. We have about 15 songs ready, so once we have arranged and trained them, we'll hit the studios.

 

The Negative DVD is something the fans have been waiting for a quite a long time. Antti says that's one thing he might be even more eager to get out than the new album.

 

- This DVD has been such a "Never Ending Project", that I seriously cannot wait to get it out. It's been very stressfull with all the stuff that's had to be done. All the pictures, menu music, texts and videomaterial, oh man. It's been a handful, so it would be absolutely awesome to finally publish it so we could start focusing on the new album.

 

- The amount of work this  kind of DVD requires, it's huge. I mean, cause it wasn't just "this one gig", it was so much more. When there's like a whole bunch of extra material and pics that aren't even in digital format because they're so old. And going through hours and hours of video material, searching for stuff that we want to use. There could be tapes with two hours of mindless goofying and in the middle, there might be like a couple of minutes that we needed. So we would go through all of them (there were like 60 tapes) and then mark out the number of the tape, the exact time when it happens and description about what happens. For example: "Tape 11, 1h 23min, Larry throws up and swings his nuts" or something. Even the cover of the DVD was difficult to put together. And you know, when it's limited how much you can put stuff on one DVD, we had to choose pictures even though we would have wanted to put all of them in there. It's really been a long and exhausting project but luckily it's almost done!

 

Once we had gone through all the important questions, it was time to let this bass player go. Though hungry and tired, still smiling. Antti Anatomy dressed his thick coat on, pulled the hood over his head and disappeared in to the dark and snowy night.

 

Till next time!

Finnish "love metallers" HIM are debuting the video for their new single, "Bleed Well", for the HIM fan club on Heartagram.com today. Imeem will feature the official "world premiere" of the video on Tuesday, November 27.

The band filmed the live footage for the new clip at their Los Angeles shows on November 14 and November 15 at the Orpheum Theatre. The footage from the shows will also be used for HIM's upcoming live DVD, to be released in 2008.

HIM frontman Ville Valo recently spoke to Straight.com about his songwriting process. "It's very hard to sing about sunshine and ice cream and birds in fast cars . . . I'm a miserable bastard when it comes to writing music," he said. "I love melancholy music, and I love the darker aspects when it comes to, like, popular music. I've always been a big fan of [BLACK] SABBATH and all that, so obviously they've been a big influence on me, and I wanted to write music that would have a similar kind of gloomy atmosphere to it."

In 2003, HIM released an album called "Love Metal", which featured a gold "heartagram" — a cross between a heart and a pentagram — on the cover. The group has trademarked that yin-yang symbol, which Valo created the day after his 20th birthday, and has taken the "love metal" concept to heart.

"When we started out, a lot of people had a hard time deciding which category we belonged to, because we had the sort of SABBATH-y thing, but at the end of the day we're singing love songs," Ville said. "It wasn't goth and it wasn't rock and it wasn't metal–it was something in between. One of the first songs we ever played was 'Wicked Game' by CHRIS ISAAK, where we put all the really fuzzy, heavy guitars on it, so I guess love metal just sounded good. And you actually have to be a proper man to be able to say that you like love metal."

HIM's new album, "Venus Doom", has sold 77,000 copies in the United States since its September release, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

This is Viewers Choice of 25 Greatest Videos of all Time according to the viewers of Fuse.

25.Coldplay-"The Scientist"
24.Run DMC f/Aerosmith-"Walk This Way"
23.Maroon 5-"Wake Up Call"
22.Outkast-"Hey Ya!"
21.Soundgarden-"Black Hole Sun"
20.Pearl Jam-"Jeremy"
19.Weezer-"Buddy Holly"
18.Foo Fighters-"Big Me"
17.Nine Inch Nails-"Closer"
16.The Beastie Boys-"You Gotta Fight For Your Right (To Party)"
15.Eminem-"The Real Slim Shady"
14.The White Stripes-"Feel In Love With A Girl"
13.Red Hot Chili Peppers-"Give It Away"
12.The Ramones-"I Wanna Be Sedated"
11.KoRn-"Freak On A Leash"
10.OK Go-"Here It Goes Again"
09.Metallica-"Enter Sandman"
08.The Smashing Pumpkins-"Tonight,Tonight"
07.Queen-"Bohemian Rhapsody"
06.Guns N' Roses-"Welcome To The Jungle"
05.Green Day-"Basketcase"
04.Fall Out Boy-"A Little Less 16 Candles,A Little More Touch Me"
03.Nirvana-"Smells Like Teen Spirit"
02.Blink 182-"What's My Age Again?"
01.My Chemical Romance-"I'm Not Okay (I Promise)"

By Pat Reavy

Quick quiz: what act has collected the most ARIAs (the Australian equivalent of the Grammys)?

Silverchair's Chris Joannou, Daniel Johns and Ben Gilllies.

If you said INXS, AC/DC, Midnight Oil, Crowded House, Little River Band, Kylie Minogue or even Men at Work, you're wrong.

The correct answer is Silverchair.

Last month, Silverchair dominated the ARIA awards in Sydney with five wins, including album and single of the year. "We didn't expect anything like that," said bassist Chris Joannou. "It was one of those nights we'll never forget."

The five awards gave Silverchair a total of 19 for its career, one more than the all-time record previously held by ... drum roll, please ... John Farnham, best known for working with Little River Band.

Speaking to the Deseret Morning News by phone from Los Angeles on the eve of a short U.S. tour that will bring Silverchair to Salt Lake City for the first time in 10 years, Joannou was suffering a little jet lag after flying in from Australia. But he said he is excited to know that three of the band's first four shows are sold out. "The reaction to the songs so far has been overwhelming. It's such a long time to be out of the public eye, especially in America where everything moves so fast. Actually, we're seeing a lot of faces from fans we saw years ago."

Most Utahns probably remember Silverchair (Joannou, Daniel Johns and Ben Gillies) as long-haired kids who burst onto the music scene in 1995 with the album "Frogstomp" and the post-grunge radio hit "Tomorrow." All three band members were 15 or 16 years old at the time, and were billed by some as the next "big thing."

Critics, however, said the band had nothing original to offer and were simply riding on Seattle's coattails. Some even made comments about lead singer Daniel Johns' Kurt Cobain-like looks. "In the beginning I think we were all pretty naive to a lot of that kind of (pressure). We enjoy playing live and it was all fun. The pressure didn't catch up until a little bit later on." At that age, you think you're invincible. Once 'Frogstomp' was finished, that's when we started to notice more pressure. We were really fortunate to have good families and good management. We've had great people around us all the time."

Following "Frogstomp," the band released "Freak Show" with the hits "Abuse Me" and "Cemetery." That was followed by "Neon Ballroom" in 1999 and "Diorama" in 2002.

Despite the release of albums, Silverchair started to drop out of sight for American concertgoers. Johns announced he was battling anorexia, which he documented in the hit, "Ana's Song." Health problems continued to plague Johns in 2002 when he suffered what was called a severely debilitating case of reactive arthritis, a condition which kept Silverchair off the road.

Today, Johns, who is married to Natalie Imbruglia, is completely healed. "He's totally back to 100 percent healthy," Joannou said. "He just had to do a lot of treatment to get over (the arthritis). He's fitter now than what he was before."

After taking a five-year break, Silverchair returned in 2007 with the album "Young Modern" and the big single "Straight Lines," a pop song that leaves the grunge roots far behind.

Joannou said "Straight Lines" was just a natural progression from what the band had done on its previous records. But for those who only remember Silverchair as the long-haired screaming teen rockers, "Young Modern" may seem like a radical departure. "A lot of people missed a few pieces of the puzzle. It's kind of almost like this time around we're re-educating people to what the band's about and how much we've changed.

"This has always been a constant evolving thing. Listen to (all the albums) consecutively and it all starts to make sense."

After taking some time off, the band got back together to play before 55,000 people at Sydney's Waveaid benefit concert in 2005. The reaction to that show sparked talk of getting back together, something Joannou said they all knew they would do at some point. This time, however, the trio decided to fund for themselves what would eventually become "Young Modern." "The three of us wanted to step outside of Silverchair for awhile and not have the pressures that come with it ... go freshen up a bit. All three of us were just eager to make another Silverchair record after having that time away. No one was actually pushing us into making another record. It was our own decision."

The result was the best recording experience the band ever had, followed by renewed energy on the road. "The three of us are probably enjoying playing live and making music more so now than in a long time," Joannou said.

Most fans attending the show will, of course, still be recovering from big Thanksgiving dinners. Joannou said Australia doesn't have its own Thanksgiving, but since the holiday in America traditionally includes one of the best meals of the year, "I'll still jump on the bandwagon," he said with a laugh