The Art-O-Bot is back and it’s taking on one artist at a time. Let’s start up the bot…
Jason Edmiston
Cereal Monsters by Jason Edmiston
We met Jason on the Sunday at FanExpo while we were waiting to interview a notable TV celebrity (rhymes with Lictor Vucas). Afterwards, he shook our hands and told us we had a great interview. Later that day while surfing artist alley we stumbled upon his table, which was riddled with fantastic art. He promptly stood up and declared to his wife, “These were the guys I was telling you about.” As it turns out, interviewers are very susceptible to flattery. But this isn’t the reason we interviewed Jason. We interviewed him because he is a fantastic illustrator, that and he emailed us about being featured on the Art-O-Bot.
Jason has been a commercial illustrator since the mid-90’s. Creating work for advertising, editorial, packaging and publishing clients around the world. Edmiston’s style is quite varied, featuring everything from realistic figures to exaggerated caricatures. Jason’s pop culture aesthetic has a heavy influence on his work, from retro styled advertisements and famous movie monsters to modern pulp heroes and comic book characters.
Now on to the goods. Personally I would love nothing more then a series of commissions from Jason recreating famous comic book covers.
Be sure to check out more of Jason’s work at his official website.
Come back next time when we feature another talented local artist on the ART-O-BOT.
If you want to be featured in the bot email jeff@dorkshelf.com be sure to attach your link and any other facts you want us and the public to know.
I have been collecting toys and comics for most of my life. While I have been able to collect entire series of comics, the same cannot be said for toys. I would start with a series that I thought was really cool, but before too long I would get bored and move on. I have shelves full of toys from movies, comics and video games, but none of them are a complete series. Then I saw them. I thought for sure this would be the series that would finally break my pattern of not following through with my collecting.
It started innocently enough. They were cute and chunky and reminded me of my childhood in a way no other toy line had been able to do. I picked them up and took them home and made room for them on one of my shelves. They were the first wave of the Star Wars Mighty Muggs and each one of them had their own spot among the rest of my toy collection. Boba Fett glared at Han Solo, while Chewbacca covertly aimed his crossbow in protection of his friend. The lone Stormtooper looked a bit awkward though, with his gleaming white suit and no one issuing orders, however it wouldn’t be long before they had company.
The next wave arrived, and with it confusion. I wasn’t sure why they would make a figure of Mace Windu before Princess Leia, it seemed to me that she should be one of the first figures issued. Instead, she showed up in the third wave along with Lando Calrissian and two others I was not expecting: Jango Fett and Commander Cody. Commander Cody who was that? I had to look him up to even figure out who he was. I was beginning to feel like I’d been tricked into buying them because of how cool the first wave was and started thinking that maybe I should stop. Then I remembered that I wanted to finish at least one toy line and I knew I was doomed.
The figures were expanding weekly and I was running out of room for them. Not only was I buying these things without knowing who they were or what part they played in which movie, I was becoming obsessed with making sure I had all of them. After the sixth wave, I had 26 of these guys on top of my kitchen cupboards. It got to a point where I had to get risers so that I could see each one. And then things got weird: I decided to organize them according to which movie they appeared, beginning with The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones and finishing off with Return of the Jedi. There was some bickering as to where Asajj Ventress should go, since she wasn’t in any of the movies, so I ended up pairing her with Clone Wars Anakin. I’m still unsure about that decision.
I have run out of room and I also have run out of patience. There is no Slave Leia, or Jabba the Hutt or even a Padme. There isn’t even a Tauntaun either, despite the fact that there are both Luke and Han in Hoth gear and a Wampa! I am done with these figures. I cannot invest any more time, energy or money collecting these toys. I have 32 of them sitting on top of my kitchen cupboards and are a constant source of entertainment for my friends. Enough is enough; I am officially throwing in the towel and not going to finish this toy line either. I give up.
Oh no. I just found Bossk and Biggs Darklighter.
And those are just the Star Wars Mighty Muggs! Hasbro also makes Marvel Universe, Transformers, G.I. Joe and Indiana Jones Might Muggs.
With live-action iterations of Transformers and G.I. Joe both hitting theatres this summer, it’s easy to forget the other 1980’s cartoon/toy-line adaptation that will be coming to a theatre near you in the coming months. I am of course referring to My Little Pony: Reign of Buttercup Sprinkles.
What a delicious little send up of Michael Bay and company. Sadly this is not a real film(SHOCK!), but in a few years when the studios start to run out of 1980’s kids cartoons to defile, I’m sure we’ll eventually see a My Little Pony movie.
Know what to expect when you go to see Wolverine—at least, what to expect from the trailers. Will, Jeff, and Lucas analyze a bevy of movies, video games, and promotional TV shows. Lucas Preys, Jeff tells us what he thinks of documentaries, and Will survives wave after wave of zombies. All this, Daredevil, and Montalbán’s chest are in the fifth episode of the Dork Shelf Podcast.
The new animated G.I. Joe mini-series, G.I. Joe: Resolute, has been released and is available online—in the United States. A few clips have made their way onto YouTube, but these are not official and may be taken down. Canadians may have to wait to see the series’ official premiere on TeleToon, Friday, April 24, at 11:15 PM EST.
The short cartoon series, written by Warren Ellis (who wrote Transmetropolitan and Desolation Jones) and directed by Joaquim Dos Santos (who has directed many episodes of Justice League Unlimited), re-imagines the G.I. Joe characters and setting. G.I. Joe: Resolute is said to be darker, more violent, and the setting more contemporary, less laser-filled.
Resolute takes G.I. Joe away from the goofy programme-length toy commercials they were in the 80’s, and into gritty, “I don’t wear hockey pants” territory. That seems to be exactly what Hasbro, owners of the G.I. Joe brand, want. Warren Ellis claims to have told a Hasbro representative that he had “never even seen a G.I. Joe [and] couldn’t tell you what they look like,” to which the rep answered “Excellent, [you're] just the guy we need.”
Resolute is also, without a doubt, meant to draw attention to the upcoming live-action adaptation of the series, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. The Rise of Cobra is set to be released in August of this year.
French music duo Cosmic Neman and Etienne Jaumet of the group Zombie Zombie have produced an awesome video for their single “Driving This Road Until Death Sets You Free“. The music video features G.I. Joe action figures in a stop-motion animated homage to John Carpenter’s amazing 1982 horror film The Thing.
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra comes out this summer from director Stephen Sommers. Sommers; creator of such cinematic gems as Deep Rising, The Mummy 1 & 2 and Van Helsing, has resurrected 60’s action figure and 80’s cartoon G.I. Joe as a summer blockbuster in the mold of these films. By in the mold of these films, I mean to say G.I. Joe will be terrible.
“Why won’t you give this movie a chance Will?”, you ask.
Instead of justifying that question with an answer, I will post my response as a picture after the jump.
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