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.

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.

Check out the Official Mighty Muggs Site.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

Download: Dork Shelf Podcast 5 (52.5 MB, MP3, 76:30)
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Listen:

Programme:

• 0:00 — “Theme from Dirty Harry” by Lalo Schifrin
• 2:00 — G.I. Joe, Megan Fox, and alien apartheid
• 18:00 — Wall-walking and zombies
• 30:00 — Why it’s “the source engine”, MvC 2, and Free Comic Book Day
• 39:00 — “Any Way You Want It” by Journey
• 40:00 — Star Trek movies, and Space’s fan shows
• 50:00 — Cylons and the war on acne
• 56:00 — “Moby Dick” by Led Zeppelin
• 57:00 — Documentaries, Jeff’s “apple segment”
• 75:45 — “I Need More Time” by The Meters

Discussed:

• Prey, Alice, Left 4 Dead: Survival, Marvel vs. Capcom 2
• G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Star Trek, Troll 2
• G.I. Joe: Resolute, Dune, Fandom Forum, Caprica
• Phil Noto, Chris Pine, Free Comic Book Day, Winnebago Man, Hot Docs

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.

Official Zombie Zombie Page @ Myspace.com

Thanks to Wilson for reminding me how wicked this video is.

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.

I’m not saying that the original G.I. Joe cartoon or comic books were without fault—quite the contrary—they were hilariously jingoistic, warmongering and juvenile.  But man, the Joes could blow shit up and fire thousands of rounds of ammunition at Cobra without actually killing or wounding anything with the best of them! That has to count for something.

At least the original Cobra Commander looked semi-badass in both his forms: one with a hood and the other with a silver faceplate.  Cobra Commander’s iteration in the upcoming Stephen Sommers movie is just laughable as we can see in this leaked action figure photo. He looks like Skeletor from the 1980′s live-action He-Man movie starring Dolph Lundgren. Utterly horrible design, and yet another reason I won’t see G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra this summer or ever.  Really? Rise of this guy?!  Whoa, I just shit my pants.