Joe Kubert

I was very sad to hear that Joe Kubert passed away.  He was one of the greatest storytellers and teachers to the comic book industry.  One of my favorite stories he drew was called Tex, it's a great western graphic novel.  Check it out if you like westerns, it's awesome.

See you in the next life Joe, thank you for all of your wonderful stories and art, wish I could have met you.

Click here for more info on his life




Here is some of his work from Tex...

Ujio

So, I just finished watching The Last Samurai, it's been a while since I last saw it.

The following clip below is hands down one of my all time favorite scenes in any movie.  I feel like it's not just a typical awesome martial arts fight for a couple of reasons...

The character Nathan Algren is a tormented man, who chooses to escape from his past by climbing inside of a whiskey bottle throughout the story.  This particular part takes place after he has lived in the samurai village for a short time, going through withdrawals and slowly evolving as a character.  Ujio beating the living hell out of him in a rainstorm... it's cool as hell of course, haha.  However,  I feel like it symbolizes not just the strong will of Algren, but a cleansing of his past and an awakening from his hypnosis of suffering.  It's like he is being beaten back into presence by Ujio.  That's how I view this scene anyway, I always get inspired watching it.

Here are a few sketches below I drew of Ujio.  I started with a color sketch of him and then started a black and white of the scene with him and Algren...

Here is the clip from the film...