SHAOLIN COWBOY (the comic)

[@PLUGO]

Not sure if anyone's heard about it but Geoff (the guy how did the visual designs for THE MATRIX and a bunch of other comics) Darrow. has producted a comic called SHaolin Cowboy. it's pretty wacky and fun with some AMAZING art...

Issue 2 is out but I'm sure with a little effort issue one can also be found.

anyone else check it out?

[Kristoffer]

got any art samples?

[@PLUGO]

Shaolin cowboy (http://www.burlymanentertainment.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/01_shaolin_cover_alt_big.jpg)

interior art (http://www.newsarama.com/Burlyman/shaolin_02_preview.jpg)

poster (http://www.burlymanentertainment.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/scbg.jpg)

[Kristoffer]

How 'Once Upon a Time in China'
looks readable

[@PLUGO]

Yeah it's pretty funny.

The first issue was a bit slow.... more about the art which, if you've never seen it before, is top notch.

The second issue is pretty 'effing hilarious!!!

I'd say pick up the 2nd issue... if you like it you can pick up the first for the sake of completion.

[Kristoffer]

well thx for the heads up. definatly worth checking out

[@PLUGO]

For those of you who keep track of such things... Turns out our pal Geof Darrow won and Eisner Award (http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisnersfaq.shtml#oscars) for Best Writer/Artist of 2006 for his work on Shaolin Cowboy.


Congrats . . .

[GeneChing]

Issue 6 (http://www.burlymanentertainment.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=scc6a&Category_Code=SC) was a real horror show. I'm still not sure how SC got there from where it started, but wow, what a dark vision!

[ZhuiQuan]

They were swallowed by the giant reptile that rose from the ground in issue 5.

[doug maverick]

it's cool but if you want some great kung fu action just check out hk comics, man there books are awesome.

[ZhuiQuan]

it's cool but if you want some great kung fu action just check out hk comics, man there books are awesome.

Yeah, I guess Geoff Darrow's style isn't for everyone... hahah. I've only read Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon from HK Comics. I would definitely like to check out what else they have.

[@PLUGO]

according to VARIETY. (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002955.html?categoryid=18&cs=1) Universan has tapped Circle of Confusion to work with the Wachowski siblings on "Shaolin Cowboy," an animated feature written and directed by Geof Darrow.

[Zenshiite]

IMO, when it comes to martial arts comics you can't go wrong with Andy Seto. CTHD is great. So is The Four Constables. Ma Wing Shing is great too.

[banditshaw]

I love Geoff Darrow's stuff..... Hardboiled is still genius.

[doug maverick]

IMO, when it comes to martial arts comics you can't go wrong with Andy Seto. CTHD is great. So is The Four Constables. Ma Wing Shing is great too.

yeah seto is amazing....

[GeneChing]

I was wondering where this was going...

NYCC: Geof Darrow's "Shaolin Cowboy" Returns in 2012 (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=34952)
LEGENDARY ENTERTAINMENT
Sun, October 16th, 2011 at 5:53am PDT|Updated: October 16th, 2011 at 5:57am

http://www.comicbookresources.com/assets/thumbnail.php?file=/assets/images/articles/1318769638.jpg&w=300

Five years after it’s initial run ended, Geof Darrow’s (Hard Boiled, Big Guy and Rusty) returns in 2012!

Originally published by Burlyman Entertainment, Shaolin Cowboy is a loaf of wry in a wonder bread world, a nicotine patch in a ten pack-a-day universe. He wonders as he wanders through a world where yesterday, today and tomorrow exist in a collage of carnage of his own making!

“Geof Darrow's relationship with Dark Horse goes back to the early days of the company. I can't tell you how excited I am to again be publishing his amazing work” said Dark Horse president, Mike Richardson. “Geof's art literally stopped me in my tracks when I first met him more than two decades ago and his work is every bit as stunning today. Geof has influenced a generation of artists and I am proud and excited to have him back partnered with Dark Horse.”



Shaolin Cowboy returns with all-new stories in 2012!

[GeneChing]

Follow the link for more promo images

Oct 18th 2011 By: Caleb Goellner
Geof Darrow's 'Shaolin Cowboy' Returns in 2012 With Three New Issues From Dark Horse (http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/10/18/geof-darrow-shaolin-cowboy-new-series/)

Geof Darrow's Shaolin Cowboy seemed to, at least temporarily, ride off into the sunset in 2007, leaving fans of the Hard Boiled and Big Guy and Rusty artist's hyper-detailed, gorgeously choreographed fantasy western adventure with only seven issues to savor. Fans needn't say "thanks for the memories," any longer, however, as Dark Horse Comics will release three more issues of Shaolin Cowboy in 2012. Judging from Dark Horse's new promo art for the issues, which will kick off with a new number one, they'll have everything fans of the original books had grown to love. There's strange bounty hunters, monster-sized mounted animals, dinosaurs, and the book's unnamed former Shaolin monk-turned cowboy poised for what will surely be explosive battles.

From Dark Horse's press release:

"Geof Darrow's relationship with Dark Horse goes back to the early days of the company. I can't tell you how excited I am to again be publishing his amazing work" said Dark Horse president, Mike Richardson. "Geof's art literally stopped me in my tracks when I first met him more than two decades ago and his work is every bit as stunning today. Geof has influenced a generation of artists and I am proud and excited to have him back partnered with Dark Horse."

To date, Shaolin Cowboy's seven issues from Burlyman haven't been collected in English. Superfans who read French and/or Spanish have access to Panini's releases, but so far there's not an easy way to pick up the previous titles. Dark Horse hasn't announced plans to collect the previous material yet, which means now is as good a time as any to start begging them to.

One minor difference between the original Shaolin Cowboy series and the upcoming issues is that the opening dialogue won't be written by the Wachowski siblings. Depending on how you felt about the last two Matrix movies, it may not feel like a huge loss (though most CA staffers are unabashed Speed Racer fans).

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.comicsalliance.com/media/2011/10/dhp2-4-variant-fc-fnl.jpg

[GeneChing]

Dec 1st 2011 By: Caleb Goellner
Geof Darrow's 'Shaolin Cowboy' Versus an Insanely Detailed Zombie Horde (http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/12/01/geof-darrow-shaolin-cowboy-1-preview/)[Exclusive]

Geof Darrow's been busy at the drawing board preparing for the 2012 return of Shaolin Cowboy through Dark Horse Comics, and we've got a characteristically intricate new piece of art from the first issue to prove it. Last time we saw art from Shaolin Cowboy #1, the title's silent protagonist was taking a tortoise for a spin and mounting a few other unconventional steeds such as a bulldog and a dinosaur. He was also bracing himself for combat against a savage winged lizard. Now it seems the star of the title has an extremely elaborate horde of undead humans on his hands. You will definitely want to see our exclusive preview of Darrow's latest epic Shaolin Cowboy #1 image after the jump.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.comicsalliance.com/media/2011/11/shaolincowboypromoartdarkhorse-1322712527.jpg

I love his double-chainsaw-ended cudgel.

[GeneChing]

There used to be an arcade/bar at the S.F. Metreon that was based on Moebius art. It was very cool.


CCI: Geof Darrow Remembers Moebius, Talks Animated "Shaolin Cowboy" (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=40071)
Posted: 22 hours ago

http://www.comicbookresources.com/assets/thumbnail.php?file=/assets/images/articles/1343318506.jpg&w=250
Artist/writer Geof Darrow discussed his career and friendships with Moebius and Frank Miller during his CCI spotlight panel

A casual crowd joined Geof Darrow at this year's Comic-Con International in San Diego for a moderator-free panel spotlighting Darrow's work and career. Before the acclaimed artist/writer could get started, a representative from the Comic-Con arrived and, with very little fanfare, awarded him the Inkpot Award. Darrow simply said, "Thanks", set the award aside and started his panel.

"I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for one person," Darrow said. "A gentleman named Jean Giraud, who also went by the name Moebius." The crowd enthusiastically applauded the mention of the late artist, who passed away in March of 2012. Darrow said that his own art was deeply inspired by the work of Moebius.

Darrow told the story of his first meeting with Moebius, who had come to Los Angeles to work on the Disney movie "Tron." Through a few connected friends, Darrow tried to arrange a meeting with Moebius just so he could "shake his hand." Darrow was shocked when his friend called back and said, "We're going out to dinner with him on Saturday night."

"We talked, and I didn't really tell him what I did. He finally asked and I said, 'I draw,'" Darrow recalled. Moebius eventually looked over some of Darrow's work and enjoyed it. "He said we should do something together. So I moved to France. We did this thing called 'City of Fire' together, and that put me on the map."

Moebius eventually introduced Darrow to artist/writer Frank Miller. The two became friends and after some time, Miller asked if Darrow would be interested in doing a story with him. "I said sure -- what do you want to do? And he said, 'I don't care what it is, as long as it's action-packed!'" Darrow laughed. "The first thing we were going to do was a Daredevil story, but Daredevil wasn't even in his costume in the whole thing and I said, if I was going to do it, I want to draw him in the costume. So Frank said we'd do something else." The next project Miller pitched was "Hardboiled."

"I don't do it on purpose, but I'm like a remora. I attach myself to this bigger White Shark killing machine in the industry and I just ride along, sucking off their nutrients."

Years later, Darrow got a call from Warner Brothers to see if he would be interested on working on a new science fiction film. The movie was "The Matrix" by then unknown directors, Larry and Andy Wachowski. Darrow said that the Wachowski brothers were impressed that he would not agree to work on the film unless he could read the script. "I read it and loved it," he said. Darrow was asured that if the movie was a success, his contribution to the film would be known. "They fought for my credit… I got a full title card for the movie," he said. "None of that would have happened if not for Moebius."

Next, Darrow showed the crowded footage for an aborted animated version of "Shaolin Cowboy." The footage featured the Shaolin Cowboy fighting a giant crab monster and teaming up with a talking poodle. Despite some sequences being nothing more than penciled sketches and the clip having no audio, it was clear that it was a story heavy on action and humor and the audience enjoyed it immensely.

Darrow said that the Japanese animators who worked on the abandoned propject had a hard time working with of the ideas and imagery in "Shaolin Cowboy." "They did not like the way he looked. At one point, they turned him into -- I swear, he looked just like Avatar from the TV show. I said, 'That's not him,' and they said that the way I draw him, he looks kinda heavy. I said, yeah, and they told me Japanese people were not ready for that." He also said they took issue with the way he drew woman, since they he did not draw them with the aim of making them all look young and attractive. "They don't all have those cantaloupe, melon-sized breasts. I drew them like real people."

Unfortunately for everyone looking forward to the final product, the project fell apart after the American financers backed out. "They need like three million to finish it. Maybe they'll get it, but I kinda doubt it at this point."

[@PLUGO]

Not quite a comic, but it looks like (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=13771) there will be some neat art in it as well.

Best selling author Andrew Vachss teams with award-wining artist Geof Darrow to revive the spirit and format of the pulp novels of the 30s and 40s. The Shaolin Cowboy Adventure Magazine is the first new hero-pulp to be printed in decades and combines hard-hitting prose with illustrated mayhem. The Shaolin Cowboy: The Way of ‘No Way!’ is a kung fu gripping tale of high adventure and relentless bloodshed. The Shaolin Cowboy and his trusty mule battle overwhelming odds and inclement weather against enemies thirsting for revenge and retribution in the battle royal to end all battle royals.

seems a bit pricey though

[GeneChing]

Nov 30th 2012 By: Caleb Goellner
Geof Darrow-Designed Shaolin Cowboy Vinyl Figure Coming In February (http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/11/30/geof-darrow-designed-shaolin-cowboy-vinyl-figure-wednesdays-finest-monster5/)

It may still be tragically difficult to get your hands on the original Shaolin Cowboy comic book miniseries by Geof Darrow and the Wachowskis, but the silent hero of the fantastical west has been making a killer comeback nonetheless. Darrow teamed with writer Andrew Vachss for the recently-released The Shaolin Cowboy Adventure Magazine through Dark Horse and is now expanding into collectibles with a limited edition vinyl figure from toymaker Wednesday's Finest. Designed by Darrow himself and crafted by renowned sculptor Monster5 (who has done stellar work on Johnny Ryan's Prison Pit characters, among other projects), the figure stands 14" tall and is limited to 500 pieces, 200 of which will sport an alternate colorway of Darrow's choice. Fans have until February to save up for the suggested retail price of $110, or you can pre-order one now if you're able to divert holiday shopping funds to, y'know, treat yourself.
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.comicsalliance.com/media/2012/11/scflyerback.jpg



Get them below:


Shaolin Cowboy now available for pre-orders (http://wednesdaysfinest.com/news-and-updates/)

Geof Darrow’s Shaolin Cowboy, Sculpt by Monster 5. Pre-Order Now/Ships 2/2013

[GeneChing]

C2E2: Geof Darrow Heralds the Return of "The Shaolin Cowboy" (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=45169)
Sat, April 27th, 2013 at 5:58am PDT | Updated: April 27th, 2013 at 8:29am
Daniel Glendening, Guest Contributor

http://www.comicbookresources.com/assets/thumbnail.php?file=/assets/images/articles/1367027092.jpg&w=150http://www.comicbookresources.com/assets/thumbnail.php?file=/assets/images/articles/1367027618.jpg&w=150

Dark Horse Comics and Geof Darrow are bringing back "The Shaolin Cowboy" this October. Originally premiering as a seven issue series from 2004-2007 from Burlyman Entertainment, Darrow returns to "Cowboy" nearly six years later in a three issue monthly story arc, with the second issue clocking in at 64 pages.

The original series followed the titular Cowboy on a journey through a desert outside of time, taking place in "the middle of nowhere, the day before yesterday and a week before tomorrow." Accompanied by an incessantly chattering mule, the cowboy found himself hunted by all those he had wronged in life, including a kung-fu master -- who also happened to be a crab -- and a few wise-cracking demons. The Cowboy traverses exotic locales, from the sun blasted desert to the belly of a giant, world-bearing lizard. The action sequences splatter blood with absurdist abandon, climaxing with an airborne, sword-wielding great white shark being cleaved by a chainsaw attached to a pole.

CBR News spoke with Darrow about his return to "The Shaolin Cowboy," touching on how the comic is an unhinged, gleeful extrapolation of the form.

CBR News: Geof, how does the upcoming "Shaolin Cowboy" series relate to its predecessor? Is this a continuation of that story, or something totally new?

Geof Darrow: It has more action!

Where is this story taking the Cowboy, and what sort of dark forces is he be facing?

Joseph Campbell would have liked this question. Why dark forces? He may be up against light forces!

Will we be seeing any recurring characters?

Eventually.

Characters surrounding the Cowboy talk incessantly -- almost, it seems, without really saying anything at all, while the Cowboy himself is largely silent. Why this choice?

Robert Mitchum in "Out of the Past" said: "I've never learned anything listening to myself talk."

As both artist and writer, you have control over not only the story but the visual aesthetic -- in what ways are you utilizing the visual language to propel the story?

I feel like I'm back in art school -- which might not be a bad idea -- and my Fine Arts teacher is asking me why I drew a toilet strangling a dog.

Are you a "let the work speak for itself" kind of guy?

Sometimes.

I fear I might sound pretentious -- there are those kind of folks who like to talk about stuff like that and are quite good at it. I just draw pictures I want to draw, if that makes any sense.

I also hate to raise folks' expectations and fail to let the work match the crap that tumbles out of my mouth.

"Shaolin Cowboy" is about a guy going from point A to point Z, dealing with what comes in-between. It's mostly just a reason for me to try and draw some goofy stuff nobody else wants to draw, with as little pretension as possible. No Infinity Gauntlets in my books -- not yet anyway.

Geof Darrow's "The Shaolin Cowboy" comes to Dark Horse Comics October 9 As anticipated as a movie premiere...almost. :rolleyes:

[GeneChing]

There are more pix if you follow the link.


Geof Darrow Promises Zombie Massacre in New "Shaolin Cowboy" (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=47402)
Mon, August 19th, 2013 at 1:58pm PDT | Updated: 1 hour ago
Comic Books
Albert Ching, Senior Editor
http://www.comicbookresources.com/assets/images/features/geof-darrow-promises-zombie-massacre-in-new-shaolin-cowboy.jpg

In late 2004, Geof Darrow -- already a revered artist for his Eisner-winning collaborations with Frank Miller, "Hard Boiled" and "The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot" -- debuted "Shaolin Cowboy," featuring a wandering Shaolin monk engaging in surreal, violent escapades.

Darrow both wrote and illustrated "Shaolin Cowboy," and won his third Eisner in 2006 for the series. The book ran for seven issues under Burlyman Entertainment (a publishing company founded by filmmakers Andy and Lana Wachowski, who Darrow worked with on the "Matrix" trilogy), but had been absent from stands since 2007 -- until the release of "The Shaolin Cowboy Adventure Magazine" from Dark Horse Comics last fall.

Darrow is back at Dark Horse for a new four-issue "Shaolin Cowboy" miniseries starting in October, and CBR News talked to the creator about his latest output, working in the movie industry, what he likes about current comics, his recent Deadpool covers and the uniquely high severed head content in his upcoming books.

CBR News: Geof, "Shaolin Cowboy" is a series that you've been doing in one form or another for about a decade, and you're coming back to it in a big way with this new miniseries. From your perspective, why was now the right time for a new series of "Shaolin Cowboy"?

Geof Darrow: Because I had it done. [Laughs] I had went away, I was living in Japan for about a year working on this animated film, and then when I came back, I just had other stuff to do. I finally came back to the comic book. Every once in a while I get calls to work on some movie; it takes me away.

And I've always liked the character, because he can do anything that I want him to do.

It seems like a good vehicle to tell different types of stories.

What little story there is. [Laughs] It's more like an excuse for me to draw whatever I want.

Which has to be nice!

Yeah! I was talking with Mike Mignola about it. I think that's what he's kind of doing, although with much more depth and profoundness than I am, in his "Hellboy in Hell."

Did you miss doing comic books, and working in the format? After time away working in other areas, was that another motivating factor?

Oh yeah. The thing with comics is, when I draw them, I can draw whatever I want. When you're working on a movie, you're drawing what they want. Sometimes it's a lot of fun; sometimes it can be kind of tedious.

For me, it's always nerve-racking, because I'm always hoping I'm doing what they want, and trying to put myself in the head of the director, the producer; trying to not disappoint them. And that's not always easy to do.

And there's always more people involved in movies, and changes that can happen in the process.

I've never really cared about the changes. People always say, "How do you like the way they treated what you did on blah blah." I don't care. Because it's not my movie. It's the director's movie. If he is happy with what you've done, then you've done your job. "I drew the Annihilator Machine to have seven arms, and they only put four of them on there, that's just not right!" I'm not like that. You're working for someone. It's not your vision, it's their vision. That's my perspective on film work.

With the new series of "Shaolin Cowboy" -- going into it, were there some different things that you wanted to do with this miniseries, artistically or story-wise, or are you mainly sticking with what works?

I'm always just trying to draw better. [Laughs] That's all. I'm hoping every drawing I do is a little better than the one I did before. I try to come up with more interesting compositions, and hope that the storytelling is a little better.

But I don't [think], "******, I'm going to blow the hinges off storytelling, and I'm going to bring a whole new thing to comics!" That's not me. I think guys like Frank Miller and Mike Mignola have done that, and a lot of other guys I'll forget to mention. Darwyn Cooke. But I'm not one of those guys. I just draw pictures. If the pictures look good, then I'm not too embarrassed. Then people will want to look at them, and they'll say, "Oh, that guy drew a pretty good severed head there. It looks like a severed head." [Laughs]

I'm looking at the cover to #3 right now, and there appears to be more than a half-dozen severed heads on it.

There are more severed heads in this series than I think any comic in history. When you see it, you'll see what I mean. [Laughs] It's basically a hundred pages of zombie carnage. I wanted to do my zombie massacre.

I'm a big fan of the Romero movies, and "The Evil Dead." Sam Raimi, I think is just great. I can always watch "Evil Dead 2" and ["Army of Darkness"]. Even the dialogue just really cracks me up. Any man that can take a phrase like "groovy" and make it work in a movie -- now there's a profound fellow.

continued next post

[GeneChing]

Based on what's been released from the new "Shaolin Cowboy" so far, it definitely seems like you're not shying away from violence.

It's cartoon violence. I was going to say I'm not directing it at dogs, but there are a few animals that don't do so well in this series. Well, actually, there's more than a few, now that I think about it. There's no cruelty to children at all.

And that's not always a guarantee.

But I do kill a robin in the first issue, trying to cash in on some of that "Death of Robin," Batman energy there.

Given that, then, do you keep up pretty closely with the current comic book industry?

Yeah, I like going to the comic store. I think Chris Burnham and Grant Morrison did a really good job. I think Chris is a really talented young man, and he looks like he could take a punch on top of it.

I'll take your word for it.

He's a good-looking young man, and he looks like he could hold his own in a bar fight. Watch, he'll go out tonight and test it. "I'm tired of letting Batman kick all the ass, I'm going to kick some myself."

From your perspective as someone who has been in the industry for a while…

And has done very little! For as long as I've been in it, I haven't done very much. [Laughs] It's amazing how little I've actually done.

But do you look at the racks and see a lot of see good current material?

Oh, yeah. I always go to the comic store, and look at what's going on. I'm a comic book fan, and always have been. I'm in Japan what they call an "otaku." I like all sorts of stuff.

If you want to read a really cool comic, Drawn & Quarterly have put out this book called "Kitaro." which is a classic Japanese manga about a -- he's not a ghost, I don't know what he is. He's a one-eyed boy that fights monsters. They're kind of funny and touching. The artist is Shigeru Mizuki, who's just amazing. He's a one-armed guy who lost his arm in World War II. They're really beautifully done.

To get back to films a bit, I wanted to ask a little bit more about your concept design for movies -- you worked on the "Matrix" movies and "Speed Racer," among others. Is there any one in particular that stands out to you, where you see a lot of your style or your concepts in the final product?

It has to be "The Matrix." I worked pretty closely with [the Wachowskis], and they were very generous with me. They really let me do a lot on that movie, and I'm sure sometimes I confused them quite a bit. I really didn't think they would use what I did, but they did, and it was an amazing experience -- to get to see the whole process of making a movie, from the beginning right up to the end.

It kind of annoys me -- on these websites, they'll go on, "Oh, this guy sucks, he did a ****ty job, blah blah blah." I get really ****ed off. I don't care how lousy a director is, and how bad a movie is, it's so much work, it's so much stress to make a movie, that it's amazing they even get one done. And even if it's bad, hat's off to them, because, man, they did it, they put it out there, and you get nothing but grief if it's bad. And if it's good, they generally find some reason to not give the proper guys the credit. From watching how hard the Wachowskis worked to get a movie made, it's just amazing.

There are a lot of directors I don't think are very good, but, hell, I couldn't do it, and I don't care what anybody says, a lot of people couldn't. You have to have nerves of steel, because they'll just eat you up, and spit you out, and then eat you up again. And then they **** you out the second time.

That seems to be consistent with a lot of creative endeavors.

Even comics. Anything you do that you put out in the public, you're really kind of putting a target on yourself.

There's really a lot of stuff I don't like. I'm not a big fan of people that swipe other people's work. I think that's pretty ****ty. But anybody that's out there doing it, my hat's off to them, because drawing comics is a lot of work. It's not all the things you want to draw. You've got to draw a lot of stuff that isn't a lot of fun -- a guy just walking down the street. I always try to find something in each drawing that is fun. That's why I put in all those goofy little details. I think, "Oh, this will make it kind of different."

Recently you've done some varied material here and there, like the Marvel NOW! Deadpool covers, which, correct me if I'm wrong, I think was among your first work for Marvel?

No, I've done some others over the years. I did a "Marvel Zombies" cover. It had Howard the Duck and Machine Man on it. I like that cover. It's got a flesh-eating robot. I asked them, "How does that work? Do zombie robots only eat other robots?" They said, "No, they consume flesh, which they turn into energy." Well, that doesn't really make him a zombie, because they haven't returned to life. [Laughs]

I did a Fantastic Four poster a long time ago. I've done a few things. Not a lot.

I had no idea who Deadpool was, to be quite honest. I thought he was an incarnation of Spider-Man. [Laughs] Look at the costume! The mask looks like Spider-Man. I thought he was one of those Spider-Man clones.

I got tired of drawing presidents. It was hard drawing Abraham Lincoln getting hit. I didn't want to draw that.

It was like a zombie Abraham Lincoln, at least.

Kind of. Except I couldn't make him too zombie-ish, because they had to be recognizable. Otherwise I would liked to have made them really disgusting. Then you can't tell it's Abraham Lincoln. I don't want to do that to Abraham Lincoln, anyway. He's a vampire hunter, from what I understand.

Sure, there was that historical film that came out last year about it.

I waited to see the Spielberg film, because I wanted to see the "Vampire Hunter" one, so that I could watch Spielberg's and put it in its proper perspective.

You're likely focusing on "Shaolin Cowboy" right now, but is there anything else that you're working on that you want fans to know about?

No, I just hope they'll read "Shaolin." It's action-packed. If you don't like action in comics, then you're not going to like this. Looking forward to the new series.

[@PLUGO]

Cover Art.

http://cdn.bleedingcool.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/STK621977.jpg?f6a06b

[@PLUGO]

THE SHAOLIN COWBOY: SHEMP BUFFET (http://www.darkhorse.com/Books/27-422/The-Shaolin-Cowboy-Shemp-Buffet)

Collects the complete Dark Horse Comics Shaolin Cowboy series!
9345
9346934793489349http://d2lzb5v10mb0lj.cloudfront.net/common/salestools/previews/shcowhc/shcowhcp5.jpghttp://d2lzb5v10mb0lj.cloudfront.net/common/salestools/previews/shcowhc/shcowhcp6.jpg

[GeneChing]

JANUARY 05, 2017 9:00am PT by Graeme McMillan
'Shaolin Cowboy' Returns to Comics This April (Exclusive) (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/shaolin-cowboy-returns-comics-april-961030)

http://cdn5.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/NFE_portrait/2017/01/shcow2_1_cvr_sol-p_2017.jpg
Courtesy of Geof Darrow/Dark Horse Comics

Geof Darrow's beautiful comic about an ugly killing machine begins again with 'Who'll Stop the Reign?'
It's been three years, but the world is finally ready for the return of the Shaolin Cowboy.

Following the January 2014 conclusion of the critically acclaimed last series, Geof Darrow's comic book killing machine will return this spring in the brand-new four-issue series The Shaolin Cowboy: Who'll Stop The Reign? It will once again pair Darrow with Eisner Award-winning colorist Dave Stewart as the eponymous antihero continues his fight.

Calling Who'll Stop The Reign? "a tale of revenge both petty and profound in origin," Darrow told THR that the new series might be a little more wordy than the [almost entirely silent] previous outing. "The last story didn't need much dialogue because the protagonist was just trying to survive and have him 'Deadpooling' while he was fighting to survive a zombie onslaught would have seemed even more ridiculous than the situations I created for him," he said. "This time he is up against enemies capable of thought, albeit just as mindless in their own way as the prior antagonists."

Darrow, who's known for his beautifully precise and detailed line work, has previously worked with Frank Miller — who provides a variant cover for the series' first issue — and Moebius, as well as collaborating with the Wachowskis on designs for The Matrix and Speed Racer, among other projects.

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The Shaolin Cowboy: Who'll Stop The Reign? launches from Dark Horse Comics this April.

Ha. Beat DS to this one. :cool:

[@PLUGO]

Ha. Beat DS to this one. :cool:
I'll still lend you my copy. :rolleyes:

[@PLUGO]

The Shaolin Cowboy hits town, and it hits back. With King Crab in hot pursuit, he runs straight into the not-so-kosher menace of HOG KONG and his twisted tale of ham-fisted revenge. High-cholesterol-fueled action served up hot with plenty of chasers!
10240
10241

[GeneChing]

This looks good.


How 'sad and childish' Trump inspired comics legend Geof Darrow: 'He just always annoyed the hell out of me' (http://ew.com/books/2017/08/16/geof-darrow-trump-inspired-comics/)
The artist tells EW about his new pencil art book, ‘Lead Poisoning,’ and reflects on his characters and inspirations
CHRISTIAN HOLUB@CMHOLUB
POSTED ON AUGUST 16, 2017 AT 11:55AM EDT

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DARK HORSE; JIM WATSON/GETTY IMAGES

Most readers encounter the work of comic book artists at the finished stage — after the art has been penciled, inked, colored, lettered, and printed. Peeks behind the creative process are therefore always welcome, and Dark Horse’s new book Lead Poisoning: The Pencil Art of Geof Darrow offers a plethora of insights. Darrow is one of the most legendary creators in the industry — he’s a three-time Eisner Award winner — having spent decades producing jam-packed visual fantasies featuring cyborgs, cowboys, cyberpunk detectives, and everything in between. The new book offers a wide range of Darrow’s pencil art, from character sketches and convention doodles to drawings dating back to his childhood. Without ink or color, this pencil art fully shows off all the painstaking details Darrow’s art is known for, accompanied by quotes and analysis from fellow comic legends, including Mike Mignola, Sergio Aragones, Richard Corben, and more.

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DARK HORSE

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DARK HORSE

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DARK HORSE

Certain images and recurring themes are evident in Lead Poisoning. The Shaolin Cowboy, the protagonist of a series of comics Darrow has written since 2005, appears in several, including one of him riding a gigantic turtle. “Riding” is a common motif in Darrow’s work; several Lead Poisoning drawings show smaller creatures riding on top of towering monsters or impossibly complex machines, while the villain in the latest Shaolin Cowboy miniseries is a crab that rides on top of people’s heads while controlling their movements. According to Darrow, this was inspired by a drawing by Ron Cobb, who did a lot of conceptual design for both Alien and Star Wars.

“In Star Wars, the first one, there’s a shot of a stormtrooper riding on top of the lizard,” Darrow tells EW. “I think that was inspired by this drawing Cobb had done, of a guy riding on a giant lizard. I saw that in high school and was like, that’s the coolest thing ever!‘ I’m always trying to achieve that level of capability and drawing and making it look convincing. I also just like vehicles of all sorts.”

Even when they’re not riding giant lizards or other fantastic vehicles, Darrow’s creations are often bursting with details. To offset this, Darrow often sets these characters against unremarkable backgrounds in order to play up the contrast.

“I always think that if you draw something crazy, but if you make the background fairly realistic, whatever’s going on in front of it will seem even crazier because it’s grounded in reality,” Darrow says. “Like when Robert Altman built the set for Popeye, all the buildings are wood — browns and some greens. And then you had these characters that were super colorful and totally unreal, and they just popped because you had this background that contrasted.”

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DARK HORSE

The Shaolin Cowboy, in particular, drifts across any number of ordinary-looking backgrounds while dealing with otherworldly enemies. The 2013 miniseries Shaolin Cowboy: Shemp Buffet kicks off with the titular character fighting off an entire horde of zombies against a nondescript desert highway, and this year’s Shaolin Cowboy: Who’ll Stop the Reign? pits him against gigantic animals and the aforementioned mind-controlling crab in the middle of an average American city street.

Mignola, a friend of Darrow’s who is quoted in Lead Poisoning, once told EW that Hellboy was “kind of my ‘everything’ book,” where “anything I want to do, I’m gonna do with this guy.” Darrow says Shaolin Cowboy fulfills a similar function for him: An avatar he can drop into any situation that interests him.

“Mike and I actually talked about it. He’s an engine,” Darrow says of the character. “He’s a little bit like Clint Eastwood in those Man With No Name movies, and he just kind of shows up and things happen around him and he reacts to them. He’s not married into any kind of genre.”

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DARK HORSE

The Shaolin Cowboy, therefore, encounters the things Darrow is thinking about — and like most people these days, Darrow says his thoughts often turn to President Trump. His name appears several times in the latest Shaolin Cowboy series, emblazoned over radioactive material, uttered by the mind-controlling crab’s swastika-tattooed followers, and always hovering in the background.

“I actually did a lot of that Trump stuff way before he was elected,” Darrow says. “He just always annoyed the hell out of me. He seemed extremely pompous and narcissistic, and the more it went on, and the more he started winning, it just bothered me more and more. I thought it was kind of funny to put it in there.”

He continues: “Maybe I have a disconnect — I’m not a religious person — but I can’t understand how anybody who says they are Christian could support that guy. You overlook so much stuff with that guy, I can’t wrap my head around it. I just don’t understand it. It saddens and mystifies me. His hatred of Obama – I think that he’s so f–ing intimidated by that guy. It’s making him crazy and just wants to erase any trace of that man from the face of the Earth. It’s just so sad and childish.”

Lead Poisoning and Shaolin Cowboy: Who’ll Stop the Reign? are both available now from Dark Horse.

[GeneChing]

I've fallen behind on this...:o


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Shaolin Cowboy Interview (http://www.player.one/geof-darrow-talks-new-shaolin-cowboys-hyper-detailed-art-dialogue-123015)
by Andrew Whalen @AndWhalen
01/10/18

Geof Darrow creates with torrents of nouns. Known for Eisner Award-winning, hyper-detailed and dense comic book art, most of Darrow’s work overflows from a dizzying imagination: 50s-style diners swarming with rhesus monkeys, an iguana with a pistol-nose, a gorilla-thing with dinosaur skulls braided into its hair and a titanic, flying, vomiting Donald Trump in a diaper, held aloft by a Trump-branded jetpack that looks like a leaf blower crossed with a power substation (“It was before he was elected. And he just always bugged me,” Darrow told us). Matching his mastery of infinite tiny details is his willingness to play with them, creating chimeras like hermit crab cars and dogs with knives for paws.

His recent collection of drawings, Lead Poisoning: The Pencil Art of Geof Darrow, features the pencil art before inking, including pages from his collaborations with Frank Miller, concept art from movies like the cancelled American remake of Akira and pages from his ongoing opus, The Shaolin Cowboy. After a run of issues — collected in The Shaolin Cowboy: Shemp Buffet — seeing the titular character armed with a double-long staff (tipped with chainsaws, of course), slicing through an endless horde of desert zombies, Darrow takes his avuncular martial arts master to the big city for The Shaolin Cowboy: Who Will Stop The Reign?

The Shaolin Cowboy comics tell martial arts stories in Western settings, allowing Darrow to play on both sides of the thin line between Eastern and Western action themes. The aesthetic is predominantly Southwestern and choked with Americana, even if the action is Shaolin kung fu. Even the Shaolin Cowboy’s costume reveals just about everything about Darrow’s multilayered approach to comic art and storytelling. Darrow pulled the cowboy’s bib shirt right off John Wayne in The Searchers.

“The colors are for two reasons,” Darrow said. “They’re the Superman colors — red, yellow and blue — and also the Chinese Superman: the Monkey King.” That’s three inspirations, each a zeitgeist-defining hero from a radically different source.

Darrow’s conceptual multiplicity is met with an equally powerful whimsy, colliding the legendary and archetypal with the goofy and irreverent. “I just put tennis shoes on him because I thought it would be funny,” Darrow said. “ I wanted to give him a cowboy hat, but I thought it would be too stupid.”

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The Shaolin Cowboy teamed up with Clint Eastwood in Lead Poisoning: The Pencil Art of Geof Darrow.
PHOTO: DARK HORSE COMICS INC.

There are, of course, artistic influences Darrow would cite. He dedicates Who Will Stop the Reign? to his “ArtFather” Jean Giraud, better known as Moebius, a comic book artist who worked on Alien and Blade Runner. “That guy had more styles than Neiman Marcus had shoes,” Darrow said. “He was like a monster of drawing. He’d draw anything. Very lyrical. He was very, very nice to me.”

But, just as often, Darrow synthesizes film and TV into the blood-soaked chaos filling his pages. In short succession he cited the films of Akira Kurosawa, Lau Kar-leung, Tsui Hark, Kenji Misumi, Hideo Gosha, Bruce Lee and Yuen Woo-ping as sources of inspiration.

“The stuff that made these guys laugh, him and his crew, they would crack up when someone busted their ass. And they were always betting on ****,” Darrow said of Woo-ping, the legendary fight choreographer, who he met while creating concept art for The Matrix.

As for the Shaolin Cowboy himself, he’s “a cross between Zatoichi and Stephen Chow.” Like Zatoichi, he is a modest wanderer hiding immense power. But unlike Zatoichi, the landscape the Cowboy roams is overloaded with talkative, flashy, silly characters, like Chow’s Shaolin Soccer or Kung Fu Hustle. That makes the Shaolin Cowboy an Asian cinema mash-up roughly equivalent to recasting Naked Gun with Jack Reacher instead of Leslie Nielsen.

But what’s especially fascinating about the Shaolin Cowboy’s new adventure in Who Will Stop the Reign? is its heavy reliance on dialogue, with Darrow porting his artistic maximalism into his scriptwriting. In one encounter, the Cowboy fights a Buddhist version of the Grim Reaper, sent by the kings of hell to take his soul. There’s just one problem: hell’s warden doesn’t know the Shaolin Cowboy’s true name. Bring on the torrent of nouns. “Wang Zhengquan, Misumi, Kenji, Dragon Foot Wong, Liu Jiahui, Katsu Shintaro, Yue Sing Wai, Sacramento Yu, Shirato Sanpei, Kwan Tak Hing, Liu Chia-Liang,” the demon says. “Don Ho, Yuan Heping, Buddhist Palm and his Five Sisters Wu, Hung Kam-Bo, Siu Tin Yuen, Big Blade Wang, Wong Fei Hung…” and the list goes on, until he is defeated and cast back to hell.

Just like his art, Darrow’s Shaolin Cowboy dialogue is stuffed with references, in this case a cavalcade of martial arts figures, including actors, directors, manga artists, choreographers and the legendary figures that inspired their movies. Yes, the Zatoichi actor, Shintaro Katsu, is named too.

“A lot of times I don’t even remember what I wrote and I’d forgotten I’d done that,” Darrow said. “I just knew the guy had to rattle off a bunch of names before Shaolin Cowboy busted up his soul jet or essence and sent him back to hell.”

It’s a huge contrast to the mostly silent Shaolin Cowboy in Shemp Buffet, who fights with only the chainsaw sound effects and occasional grunt cluttering the action. He described it as an intentional contrast with the “Marvel style, where Spider-Man is talking through a whole fight.”

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The Shaolin Cowboy vs. a horde of zombies in Shemp Buffet.
PHOTO: DARK HORSE COMICS INC.

“It’s all a fantasy, so I guess it doesn’t make sense to think it through all that much, but when you’re fighting these guys you’re not going to have time to be like ‘Here’s sand in your eyes, Sandman!’” he said. “I thought it would be funny for it just to be him.”

His most common answer to questions regarding artistic inspiration is “I thought it would be funny,” so it’s no surprise Darrow described the voluminous dialogue as an exercise in defying expectation. “I thought for the next one they’re going to be waiting for me to do more of the same,” he said. “So I thought I’d put a little more.”

Though his writing demonstrates all the same meticulous abundance as his art, Darrow hesitates to describe it as anything but utilitarian. “I always think of like Jack Kirby, where you have a plot and you just have to draw it and then you say ‘Oh, well, someone has to say this or that,” Darrow said. “I wrote a screenplay for The Shaolin Cowboy movie when I was in Japan. And that’s the first time I had to sit down and write a story out before I drew anything. You guys, you writers, it’s a lonely, lonely job. It drives me crazy. I can’t listen to music or have television on.”

(The Shaolin Cowboy movie!? “Sitting in boxes in Japan, half-finished,” Darrow told me. Oh. The Weinstein Company was supposed to co-produce, but they pulled out. “His face is like a walking Picture of Dorian Gray,” Darrow said of Harvey, “every sin is carved into that ugly mug of his.”)

Though Darrow is casually self-deprecating about his work, little moments of enthusiasm reveal the rigor behind it. “I can make stuff up, but if they’re based in reality, the craziness works more,” Darrow said.

His mastery may come from overwhelming details, the kind of stuff that makes his comics endlessly re-readable, Darrow boils his objective down to something simple. It involves, a reference, of course, this time to Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. “My favorite line is, he comes up at the end and there’s the prison bus and he comes up and goes ‘What do you think?’ and a prisoner goes ‘Action Packed!’” Darrow said. “That’s my goal. Make it action packed for Pee-Wee.”

[GeneChing]

EXCLUSIVE: DARK HORSE TO RE-RELEASE GEOF DARROW'S ORIGINAL SHAOLIN COWBOY SERIES (http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/exclusive-dark-horse-to-re-release-geof-darrows-original-shaolin-cowboy-series)
Contributed by Mike Avila
@MikeAvila
Feb 2, 2018

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You'll soon be able to get your hands on one of the 21st century's most acclaimed and hard-to-find comic book series, as SYFY WIRE can exclusively reveal that Geof Darrow's classic seven-issue series that introduced the Shaolin Cowboy is finally being reprinted.

Dark Horse Comics is reprinting all seven issues of Shaolin Cowboy in a brand-new hardcover collection set for release on July 11. Titled Shaolin Cowboy: Start Trek, it marks the first-ever hardcover edition for the legendary series, which was originally published by Burleyman Entertainment beginning in 2004.

This new collection features a brand-new cover drawn by Darrow and colored by Dave Stewart, which you can see below. The original series won Darrow the Eisner Award for Best Writer/Artist in 2006. Darrow scripted and drew all seven issues, with color work by Pete Doherty, Alex Wald, and Lovern Kindzierski. In addition to those original issues, the new collection will include Shaolin Cowboy renditions by such noted artists as Moebius, Richard Delgado, Mike Mignola, Kevin Nowland, and John Severin.

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Shaolin Cowboy has earned a devoted following due to the series' sprawling and almost-impossible-to-describe fight sequences, as well as Darrow's inimitable attention to detail with his pencils. That devotion from fans is particularly noteworthy because of the patience they show; Darrow often takes years in between releasing new adventures of the former monk.

As he told SYFY WIRE last year in an extensive interview, he's not the fastest draw in the West, because he prefers to take the extra time to make what he's working on extra special. We think it's fair to say that releases like Shemp Buffet and last year's Who'll Stop the Reign? have been worth the wait for those who enjoy gloriously bloody and often blurb-free fisticuffs and mayhem.

Shaolin Cowboy: Start Trek from Dark Horse Comics hits comics shops on July 11 and arrives in bookstores July 17.

That's a funny subtitle.

[GeneChing]

Despite the 4/19/2009 date of this article, it shows on Bing as being posted 17d ago. And the Variety article it links to has evaporated. Nevertheless, we can hope.



Geoff Darrow Writing and Directing Shaolin Cowboy Movie (http://www.slashfilm.com/geoff-darrow-writing-and-directing-shaolin-cowboy-movie/)
Posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 by Brendon Connelly

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Excuse me for never having read Geoff Darrow‘s Shaolin Cowboy comics but I know some of his other work, most initmately his illustrations for Frank Miller’s ultra violent Hard Boiled, and I’ve heard of both Shaolin monks and Cowboys. Oh… and I also know that, according to Variety, the comic is being adapted into an animated feature by Darrow himself.

They note that the producers on the film are to include the Wachowskis. No surprises there as Darrow has not only inspired them indirectly before (see The Matrix) he’s also collaborated explicitly with them too (see… er… The Matrix, for which Darrow contributed concept art).

Indeed, the original Shaolin Cowboy comics are published by BurlyMan Entertainment, a company seeded by the Wachowskis and named with the fake, in-production title they used for the Matrix sequels.

Darrow has an intensely detailed style, facilitated by him creating the artwork at a greatly increased scale than in the eventually published issues. I can almost imagine this film being shot in the IMAX format, but even if it does end up being originated on 35mm film or HD video, as I’d expect, it will most likely benefit from being watched on a very large, very high quality screen, and probably many times over.

The premise of Shaolin Cowboy can be summed up simply – a Shaolin monk becomes a Cowboy – but the specifics fall way outside of such a predictable, simple logline. For example, the second lead character is apparently a talking mule called Lord Evelyn Dunkirk Winniferd Esq. the Third. I’m told that there’s also a city on the back of a lizard, a martial arts fighting crab with nazi insignia plastered on it, chainsaw fighting with sharks and other things that, frankly, would make an incredibly hard sell to a mainstream cinema audience – as if that really matters one jot. All the same, I hope there’s more to this than simply a string of outrageous and absurd whims.

The comic was in the works for three years before Burlyman started publishing it but requires pages so detail-sodden that Darrow is already taking a full year to get issues wrapped. Who knows how difficult it is going to prove creating a moving version of this thing? Good luck to all in their wild ambition.

[GeneChing]

The hard-to-find first arc of The Shaolin Cowboy is back! (https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/geof-darrow-shaolin-cowboy/Content?oid=53129502)
It’s comics legend Geof Darrow’s gift to his fans as he prepares to leave Chicago for France.
By Mark Peters @wordlust

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GEOF DARROW

The Shaolin Cowboy: Start Trek
By Geof Darrow (Dark Horse)

A massive lizard carries a city on its back. A paunchy adventurer fashions two chainsaws and a kendo stick into a two-pronged zombie-slaughtering weapon. A monster pig with ninja skills seeks revenge for the consumption of his family.

These are just some of the outsize images typical of the art of comic book creator Geof Darrow, who's best known for his intricately designed scenes of mad machinery and inventive mayhem. His 13-year stint as a Chicago resident will be ending soon as he departs for France (exact location to be determined), but he'll be leaving behind his art, including a long-awaited reprint of the hard-to-find first arc of his signature work: The Shaolin Cowboy: Start Trek.

Originally from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Darrow, now 62, first came to Chicago when he enrolled at the now-defunct Chicago Academy of Fine Arts in 1972. Since graduating, he's bounced around between Chicago, Los Angeles, France, and, occasionally, Japan. His career has been similarly diverse, shifting from the grunt work of Hanna-Barbera animation to doing conceptual design for the Matrix films and other Hollywood fare. But his friendship and collaboration with French artist and comics legend Moebius beginning in the early 1980s inspired him to pursue his true medium: the comic book. While hard-core fans may have picked up his collaborations with Moebius and stories about Bourbon Thret—a precursor to the Shaolin Cowboy—Darrow first gained attention in America in 1990 with Hard Boiled, an Eisner-winning collaboration with writer Frank Miller, with whom he would later cocreate Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot.

Then there's The Shaolin Cowboy, originally published by now-defunct Burlyman Press in 2005. The titular character is a schlubby blend of Shaolin monk and Robert Mitchum acolyte who can't seem to avoid trouble, whether in the form of dopey rednecks or evil King Crab, and the series is equally action comic and idiosyncratic experiment. For example, in the second arc, Shemp Buffet, the Shaolin Cowboy fights zombies. What could be more mainstream than that? But he fights those zombies in a wordless, sprawling, 100-plus-page gore fest in which every body part, blood spurt, chainsaw slice, ill-advised tattoo, and zombie cat is rendered with the exacting line work that is Darrow's trademark.

Such scenes exude a gleeful intricacy and lust for detail that set Darrow apart from other comics artists.

"Everything matters," he says. "It matters to me. I draw all that stuff because it adds content, and it makes it very particular. Each one of those drawings, each one of those streets: they're not generic. . . . I try to make everything its own creation so it doesn't get boring. It adds character to the drawing."

While you can't talk about Darrow without obsessing over his obsession with details, there's much more to his craft. As Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy, writes in an e-mail, "Sure, he puts every little nut and bolt and spinning wheel into every piece of machinery, but just look at how well drawn his people are. And his animals. And everything else. Cramming a drawing full of stuff is one thing, but his locations feel real, his living things have real personality. No matter how crazy his action is, things bend and move naturalistically. He is all-around an amazing artist."

Darrow's experiences and interests don't entirely account for his maximalist style, but they explain it a little. His inspirations include samurai classics such as Yojimbo (1961), directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshiro Mifune.

"I think Yojimbo just took the top of my head off when I saw it. I still think that's the archetype for most loner heroes," said Darrow. "I can watch that thing over and over: it is so amazing. Because it's a comedy as well. And yet, it's horrible. I can't think of any movie that sets up what's coming more than the beginning of that movie, when Mifune walks into town and the dog runs out of the alley carrying a human hand in its mouth." Darrow fans will recognize that exact image popping up in his art from time to time as a hat tip to the inspiring film.

On a more mechanical level, Darrow's time as an animator for Hanna-Barbera was instructive, if not fun.

"In animation, you have to draw things in perspective," said Darrow. "Because you have to turn whatever it is around, whether it's a car or a person. At the time, mostly what I did was cars and trucks and boats and telephones, whatever objects they needed. It was a real eye-opening experience." Another benefit of that experience was getting to know one of his artistic heroes, Jack Kirby, creator or cocreator of many superheroes including Captain America, the X-Men, and the New Gods.

Darrow's dense scenes also have great depth, which is informed by his "artfather" Moebius and filmmakers such as Anthony Mann, director of many Jimmy Stewart westerns, a genre close to Darrow's heart.

"[Mann's] film compositions had a foreground, a middle ground, and a background, and an incredible amount of depth," Darrow says. "I always tried to get that kind of depth into what I do, because I think that's really interesting."

But Darrow's depth is far weirder than Mann's. A memorable two-page spread from The Shaolin Cowboy: Who'll Stop the Reign? features a ninja pig flying through the air, squealing and sweating and bent on vengeance, while all manner of people and dogs and other animals go about their business; the background is filled with graffiti, discarded cans, cigarette butts, and dog crap. Darrow's frequent inclusion of dogs is influenced by his time in France, where he says "dogs are king," but contrast is king in Darrow World.

"I love the idea of drawing crazy things in the foreground and then in the background being semi-realistic," said Darrow. "Or at least I attempt to draw realistically. And it makes the crazy stuff seem even crazier because you can identify with the background."

Ever the perfectionist, Darrow says he hoped that flying giant ninja pig fit into the composition in proper perspective. He adds sheepishly, "I'm interested in really dumb things."

Any more word on that movie?

[GeneChing]

HEAT VISION
Dark Horse Comics to Launch 'Shaolin Cowboy' Paperback (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/dark-horse-comics-to-launch-shaolin-cowboy-paperback)
AUGUST 31, 2020 9:00AM
by Graeme McMillan


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Geof Darrow/Dark Horse Comics

The Geof Darrow series, originally published by the Wachowskis, will be collected in its entirety from April through June next year.
Next year, Lord Evelyn Dunkirk Winniferd Esq. the Third will finally get his day in the sun — alongside his human companion, the unnamed and silent Shaolin monk who accompanies him and can’t quite help but get himself into trouble. Dark Horse Comics is launching a new publishing program collecting Geof Darrow’s acclaimed Shaolin Cowboy series in its entirety in paperback for the first time.

Shaolin Cowboy initially launched in 2004 from Burlyman Entertainment, the short-lived comic book company created by the Wachowskis, with Lana and Lilly contributing opening dialogue to the first issue — the only material in the entire run not written by creator Darrow. (Darrow illustrates the entire series.) In 2013, after a publication delay of a number of years, Dark Horse Comics took over publishing, relaunching and renumbering the title.

The series has won the Inkpot Award, and been nominated for multiple Eisner Awards; Darrow himself is known for his design work with the Wachowskis on The Matrix and Speed Racer, as well as comic book collaborations with Frank Miller and Andrew Vachss.

The new collected editions, which will be released on a monthly basis following an April 2021 launch, will be the first time the series has been collected in English-language paperback editions. All three books will feature all-new covers by Darrow, colored by Eisner Award-winning colorist Dave Stewart, making their debut below.

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Geof Darrow/Dark Horse Comics

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Geof Darrow/Dark Horse Comics

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Geof Darrow/Dark Horse Comics

Shaolin Cowboy: Shemp Buffer will be released April 20, 2021, with Shaolin Cowboy: Who Will Stop The Reign following May 18, 2021. The series will conclude with Shaolin Cowboy: Start Trek, schedule for a June 22, 2021 release. All three volumes are prices for $19.99.


The Hollywood Reporter
GRAEME MCMILLAN
graemeamcmillan@gmail.com Good to see this come around again.

[GeneChing]

Shaolin Cowboy Homeschools During a Pandemic In Geof Darrow's New Series (https://screenrant.com/shaolin-cowboy-pandemic-geof-darrow-new-cruel-kin/)
Shaolin Cowboy is back in an all-new series from Geof Darrow as fans have never seen him before as the action hero homeschools during a pandemic

BY SPENCER CONNOLLY
PUBLISHED 7 DAYS AGO

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As Dark Horse Comics returns fans to the world of Shaolin Cowboy, the titular hero will be homeschooling a child during a pandemic in Geof Darrow’s new series. While the last issue of the original Shaolin Cowboy series was released in 2007 with the series’ seventh issue, the book has continued since then with a number of crossover books and offshoot storylines with one example being The Shaolin Cowboy: Shemp Buffet in which the hero fights a horde of zombies from The Walking Dead. Now, the Shaolin Cowboy is back in action as fans have never seen him before, as the world’s most brutal teacher.

Shaolin Cowboy: Cruel to be Kin will be helmed by the award-winning creator, writer, and artist of the original series Geof Darrow as well as the Eisner-award-winning colorist Dave Stewart. The new book will be a seven-part limited series with a number of renowned comic book artists using their creative talents to provide variant covers for every issue of the series. The variant covers for the first issue will be done by Mike Mignola and Alice Darrow with Frank Quitely and Ed Piskor doing the artwork for the second issue’s variants. The third issue will have variants from Stan Sakai and Steve Skroce and the fourth issue will have variants from Duncan Fegredo and Jim Rugg. The final three issues will have variants done by Katsuya Terada, James Harren, and Tsui Hark.

In a release by Dark Horse Comics announcing the new series, fans are given a sneak peek into the continuation of the epic world of the Shaolin Cowboy. This new installment has been self-identified as Phase Four of the SCU (Shaolin Cowboy Universe), where the Shaolin Cowboy puts his parenting skills to the test when he is forced to homeschool during a pandemic. However, this pandemic isn’t caused by a deadly virus but by an incredible influx of ultra-violence in a story that is described as being, “torn from yesterday’s viral twitter feeds”. These plot points are assured jabs at the sociological landscape of the world today that will be told the way only the Shaolin Cowboy can tell it.

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Geof Darrow has been described as one of the most influential cartoonists working today, and Darrow’s partner-in-comics behind this latest chapter in the Shaolin Cowboy saga, Dave Stewart, is just as revered. Darrow's designs have transcended the comic book medium and have influenced big-budget films including Speed Racer and The Matrix. In fact, Darrow's work on The Matrix isn’t the Shaolin Cowboy’s only tie to the Wachowskis. The Wachowski siblings became famous after bringing The Matrix saga to fans all over the world, and they even lent their creative talents to the original run of Shaolin Cowboy. The Wachowskis wrote the opening dialogue for the original series, being the only other writers credited on that series beyond the mastermind behind the whole comic, Geof Darrow.

For years, the creative team of Geoff Darrow and Dave Stewart has brought the epic world of the Shaolin Cowboy to life from the original series to the crazy crossovers that were to follow. Now, a whole new story is about to hit the shelves and fans of the butt-kicking action hero will assuredly not be disappointed. Dark Horse Comics’ new comic Shaolin Cowboy: Cruel to be Kin #1 will be available May 18, 2022.
The SCU - luv it!

[@PLUGO]

The secret cross-over between The Shaolin Cowboy & Kung Fu Tai Chi.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC0RzBVTQd4

[@PLUGO]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urlEpt9ct3g

I had the unique opportunity to interviewed the legendary comic artist Geof Darrow, mastermind behind the extraordinary comic book: The Shaolin Cowboy and concept artist behind such films as The Matrix.

Part 1 of our formal written interview appears on KungFuMagazine.com tomorrow June 22, 2022: there, we discussed THE MATRIX, Jet Li, and pioneering martial arts themed comic books. But over the course of that interview we also had some informal conversations about early influences, favorite Kung Fu movies as well as some real-life martial arts heroes (and villains?)...

Check it out

[GeneChing]

Man, you come right out of a comic book. READ Shaolin Cowboy, the Matrix & Kung Fu Movies with Geof Darrow Part 1 (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=1641) by Patrick Lugo

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[@PLUGO]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GSXqZiblg4&list=PLrLokCB_F9BZPu9flvojfS4_vXY6Stk1i

In part two of our free-wheeling conversation with Eisner Award winning Comic Artist/Concept Artist Geof Darrow we discuss illustration and work with movie directors. Geof highlights some the pros and cons of his illustration work still done 100% on paper. Early experiences working with Moebius and film directors like Ridley Scott and Tsui Hark.

[GeneChing]

The Saga Continues. READ Shaolin Cowboy, the Matrix & Kung Fu Movies with Geof Darrow Part 2 (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=1643) by Patrick Lugo

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