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Interview with Alex Saviuk

June 22, 2013

On the second day of Supanova 2013, I became acquainted with the marvellous Alex Saviuk, better known as the comic artist for Marvel’s Spiderman and The Phantom. During the autograph sign and poster sale panel, we were able to get an interview with Alex and ask him a few questions about his work and what comic characters he enjoys drawing.

CC: Which comic character do you think best suits you?

Alex: Well considering that I have been drawing Spiderman for now 26 years, I have to say Spiderman will be my main say, although I have been drawing The Phantom on and off also for about, well over 25 years fan and currently going to be working on The Phantom at least every year.

CC: That’s also your favourite comic book character, The Phantom?

Alex: Oh yes, definitely. I’ve been familiar with The Phantom even much longer than Spiderman, when I was a young child. When my dad brought home the Sunday papers and I got to see the Phantom there. Basically that was probably my first exposure to a character with a costume on and for some reason or other I just enjoyed it. He was a hero and he was a good guy. I was also a big fan of Tarzan as a little kid, so the fact that he was in a jungle and on a horse and yeah, it was just really cool.

CC: What do you think your most memorable work is? What are you best known for?

Alex: Over the 36 years that I’ve been doing comics, I am most known for drawing Spiderman, because I have been drawing him every year since 1987, so that’s 26 years. As far as my best work, I’d always like to say that my last job that I’ve done, that I turn it into my best job. Although I can honestly go through a list of favourites that I’ve had throughout the years, that I enjoyed working on. Although, I can say my last one is my best one for the time being.

CC: Thank you Alex so much for your time!

Alex: Well thanks for having me!

We want to thank Alex Saviuk for speaking to us here at Capsule Computers. You can check out all of Alex’s work on the following two websites here and here and can follow him on Twitter here.

AWF Wrestling lays the smackdown at Supanova Sydney

Luke Halliday

June 22, 2013

AWF Wrestling lays the smackdown at Supanova Sydney

It wouldn’t be a Supanova without AWF Wrestling and this year like the years that have come before it, AWF Wrestling has excited pop-culture fans with the heroes and villains butting heads within the squared circle, sometimes even with some gold on the line.

Fans in attendance were lucky enough to witness several brilliant matches during Supanova Sydney 2013, including the monstrous Massive Q taking on Concrete and Shanesaw in a two-on-one handicap match. Not only that but there was even a few title matches, including a tag-team title bout and AWF title bout.

It goes without saying that Massive Q dominated the entire card, squashing one his opponents with ease. However it was the Tag Team title bout that saw the most incident.

With interference being run by the Tasmanian team’s manager, Dean Draven sure had his hands full trying to hold onto his gold. In the end though, Draven sealed the deal with a jaw-dropping flying headbutt from the top rope, in what was easily the best bout of the day.

Interestingly enough, Massive Q has actually appeared on Capsule Computers Wrestling Podcast, CC Powerslam. You can check out his appearance on the podcast right here. Q discussed the lost art of ‘Big Men’ wrestlers and the differences between WWE and a promotion like AWF.

You can check out some awesome pictures of AWF’s shows from today’s Supanova convention. It goes without saying that AWF Wrestling truly laid the smackdown on Supanova with incredible in-ring action and compelling match-ups. AWF Wrestling is simply the premier wrestling promotion in Australia, no doubt about it.

Supanova Q&A with Karl Urban

Zac Elawar

June 22, 2013

“MaMa’s not the law…I AM THE LAW!” rung through the FilmInk theatre at the Supanova Pop Culture Expo 2013 as Karl Urban answered a request for the line after taking the stage for an entertaining Q&A session.

Although he started off with a dig – stating “Australia – the lucky country!…Because it’s so close to New Zealand!” – we forgave him as he made fun of his own brethren: “What do Kiwis and sperm have in common? They come here in the billions, but very few work!”

That’s just a small (hilarious) example of the sense of humour and light-hearted, likeable personality that Karl exhibits. The panel was named after his latest film, the blockbuster Star Trek Into Darkness, but the topics covered reached far beyond the film alone. Naturally, every nerd wants to know what it was like working with such outstanding directors and minds such as Peter Jackson and J.J. Abrams (Abrahams as Karl called him multiple times);

Both of them are the type of guys that are very adept and can think on their feet.
On Peter: We were shooting LOTR on the South Island and we turned up to set one day and it was completely covered in snow. […] So we’re doing a block through of what we’re gonna shoot, and I’m thinking “man we’re gonna have the morning off”. […] Peter just turns to the A.D. and says “let’s just melt the snow”…within 15 minutes, there were 4 guys with industrial gas blowers melting the snow!
On Abrams: J.J. is quite incredible. He’s probably one of the most brilliant directors I’ve ever worked with. He has a propensity to rap to the cast. […] I’ll give you an example of how his mind works; I went up to him one day on set – we were shooting these scenes on the bridge of the Enterprise in Into Darkness – and I said to him “look, J.J., I’ve got all these lines, it’s like 3 lines in a row where I’m talking in metaphors. Maybe we should just cut one of them out so I don’t look like metaphor guy”. And he looks at me and thinks about it for a second and calls Chris [Pine] over and gives him this line of “will you stop talking in metaphors?!”.

Someone soon after asked the hot button question – will there be a Dredd 2?

Well actually, I had breakfast with [Alex] Garland not too long ago in the UK. There is a distinct possibility that we’ll be able to venture down that road. […] Bombard Lionsgate with emails!

Oh and as to whether he could beat Chris Pine in a cage fight (might have been the girl’s fantasy), he simply replied “… Yes.” From this we transitioned to creepy crawlies…more specifically, the cockroaches from The Irrefutable Truth About Demons (2000); a New Zealand horror movie in which the critters were filmed crawling around and in his mouth.

Yeah, they were real. I had cockroaches in my mouth, and I had maggots in my mouth for Ghost Ship [2002]. Tasty…Bear Grylls totally stole my act!

People often wonder if actors are being truly honest when they say they are familiar with a certain comic book character they have been pegged to play. So the question arose: how familiar with Dredd and “Bones” was Urban?

My introduction to Dredd was when I was a teenager working in a pizza parlour in Wellington. The manager of that was really into Judge Dredd and at that time, Quality Comics was releasing the Judge Dredd comics, which you could buy in the local servos and local dairies, so that’s when I was first hooked into them. I was really kind of drawn o – not only the character of Dredd; the dry humour and the satire of it – but I was also drawn into the future world. I’m a huge sci-fi fan myself; I love Blade Runner and all that stuff.
I remember watching Star Trek with my Father – the original series, on the reruns – and I watched every iteration up until Deep Space 9, and saw all of the films.

Karl spoke of being the last to be in on any practical jokes, and becoming the ultimate victim because of that fact. While filming at NIF (National Ignition Facility), the cast and crew were in on convincing Karl that reported radiation levels were dangerous and he would be required to apply all sorts of ointments, creams…even requesting he “shake out the radiation”, which the whole team did as part of the elaborate prank. He eventually discovered it was started by the always-cheeky Simon Pegg, and it then spread like a disease. Chris Pine was the first told. Karl recalled his own prank on Pine where he chose a random hotel number from those that were booked for the cast/crew and had that room foot the tab. When he probed (ever so sneakily) as to who was staying in which room, he discovered it was Pine’s and was very pleased with himself. “It wasn’t as elaborate, but it was just as effective!”

A member of the audience was interested in Karl’s upcoming role in the new Riddick film. He gave a very encouraging answer, hinting at plans for more from our favorite (only?) Furyan;

I have a small role; I do a cameo that basically helps transition the last movie to the next. The next movie is more stripped back, like Pitch Black, but with the big production values are just as huge as Chronicles. Hopefully, if the next movie is received as well as I believe it will be, I’ll be back to make the fourth.

Karl then gave us a prediction as to the future of Star Trek films: “I’m sure Paramount will want another Star Trek movie out in 2016, on its 5oth anniversary.” He also touched upon his recently picked up television show ‘Almost Human’ with J.J. Abrams and Fringe show-runner J.H. Wyman, which will start shooting on July 20th and hopefully air here in November of this year. Karl was extremely personable and a joy to listen to and watch as he interacted with every single person who had a question for him. He even gave away 5 signed copies of the Star Trek Video Game courtesy of Namco Bandai! A truly great and humble guy that we should all root for in Hollywood.

Reggie Lets us in to His (Animal Crossing) Home

Andrew Day

June 22, 2013

Animal Crossing: A New Leaf has only been out in Australia for a week, but the rest of the world has had it for a bit longer. The game is so far a huge success, with more than 300 thousand units sold in Japan, and tonnes of players all over the world turning on their 3DS systems every day to water plants, catch fish, and dig up fossils. The game is such a huge success, that The Villager (The player character in all Animal Crossing games) is making his debut as a playable fighter in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. games for 3DS and WiiU.

As a testament to its popularity, and to show how addictive the game can be; at the beginning of this year’s E3, Nintendo posted this picture on their Facebook page:

That’s right, that is Reggie Fils-Aime, the President of Nintendo of America and the man who coined the phrase “my body is ready!” Since he has been playing so much Animal Crossing, Reggie has graciously let us into his massive house to see how he has it decorated. You can check out the video tour of Reggie’s home below. Don’t forget for all the upcoming event details for Animal Crossing: New Leaf, check out the game’s official Facebook page. We have a review of Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and some more exciting Animal Crossing related stuff coming very soon, so be sure to stay tuned to Capsule Computers.

Comic Book Covers With Supanova’s Supa-Star Guests

Matthew Vella

June 22, 2013

One particularly insightful panel of Supanova Sydney 2013 was the “Cover Quality And More” seminar. Led by Mark Brookes (Amazing Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men), David Yardin (X-Factor, Uncanny X-Men, Storm) and Jon Sommariva (Ozmosis Chills, Go Boy 7, Gemini, Free Realms), the gathering focused on the art of designing a comic book cover along with other aspects of illustrating comics.

A theme throughout the panel was that doing a cover is ideally one of the more enjoyable parts of illustrating a comic. The deadlines tend to be easier, there’s less of a work load and they always catch the viewer’s eye. As a result, Marvel tend to reward their artists by allowing them to design the covers as an incentive. There is a different way to draw a cover in comparison to drawing a story. Another important topic was drawing comics digitally. While Yardin said he prefers to do it the old fashioned way, Brooks stated he prefers to do so digitally. With this decision, Brooks gave an example to why he feels this way, stating if a hand is drawn perfectly but an arm is too short, on paper it’ll all have to be scratched. But in photoshop he can always use the laso tool to move the hand and then redo the arm.

Possibly the most important subject was Inkers in the comic industry, as they all felt an inker could make or break a comic’s artwork. Brooks may of put it best when he said “It’s amazing how many inkers make me look like a genius and it’s amazing how many make me look like a 2 year old…..I have a high respect for inkers but I want to murder half of them!” All three agreed that many people don’t understand the concept of inking enough, and it’s not fair to call an inker a tracer as it’s an art within itself. Sommariva described it as the pencilers and inkers are making a cake but the colorist puts the icing on the cake. He also said sometimes the icing can really suck but that was another conversation for another day.

Yardin reflected on a recent issue he did of Injustice: Gods Among Us (based on the hit video game) where he felt the Ink didn’t mesh well with the art and took a lot away from the story. He admitted the inker was found last minute and there was a clash of styles, but he was grateful it was released digitally before print as it gave him time to fix it. A strong emphasis was placed on the fact that a subtle line being simply a millimetre over can change the entire dynamic of an image. The value of an inker has declined as well, possibly due to budget cuts. It’s so bad these days that some pencilers will even just ink the art themselves. It’s a tough gig in comics right now. Mark Brooks even went so far as to joke that if an aspiring inker asks if he’d like them to ink his art, he’ll reply “I already got an inker, his name is Levels!” in reference to the “levels” tool in Photoshop.

The session concluded with each one describing their daily routine. Interestingly enough, both Brooks and Sommariva both use a time management technique called the “Pomodoro Method”. It works by working in 30 minute intervals, with a 5 minute break in between each half hour until they’ve worked for 8 hours. These breaks interrupt workflow and gets them more pumped to work as it helps maintain a high concentration level. Sommariva is so dedicated to this method that he has a sheet with tomatos on it (as Pomodoro means tomato in Italian) and crosses one off for every half hour he spends working.

The Cover Quality And More seminar was a very insightful panel. For more of these artist’s work you can check out Mark Brooks on Deviant Art, Jon Sommariva’s Official Website and David Yardin on Deviant Art as well.

Interview with Darryl Chow, Hobbyco’s Gunpla Expert

Luke Halliday

June 22, 2013

Hobbyco were out in full force at Supanova Sydney 2013, having brought along their awesome workshop which aims to teach Gundam model fans how to craft the best models in a past-time that is commonly referred to as Gunpla.

Gunpla is really a way of life for those who partake in it. One such fan is Hobbyco’s resident Gunpla Expert, Darryl Chow, a young man who has competed in the World Championships for Gunpla. We were lucky enough to get a quick interview with Darryl to discuss Gunpla and the Gundam series that the craze is based upon.

You can check out our interview with Darryl Chow below. For those wanting to know how he did in the World Championships, unfortunately the sad ending is that he did not win any prizes. Not all stories get a happy ending it seems.

“Margot Kidder is Lois Lane!” Supanova Q&A

Zac Elawar

June 22, 2013

At the Supanova Pop Culture Expo 2013, Sydney is hosting some seriously special guests. For every fan in attendance, Margot Kidder is a legend and a revered icon – the original Lois Lane of Superman I – IV. And she graced us with a nostalgic Q&A panel.

With the resurgence of Superman on the big screen with Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, this panel couldn’t have come at a better, more appropriate time. We made as many notes as we possibly could, and as furiously fast as possible, but it should be noted that the following quotes are being paraphrased.

After a brief introduction, the first question posed to Margot was on a potentially emotional topic: Christopher Reeves and her memories working with him. She expressed her genuine love for the late, great actor, and how their relationship was akin to that of family;

We were like family [..] Some days we would be telling each other stories, other days we’d snap each other’s heads off!

As for the toughest part of filming the Superman in 1978, Margot recalls her famous flight with the Kryptonian;

They would put these wires on us and pulled us along on a track. I actually thought it was really fun…until it started to hurt your crotch! Christopher was the nervous one; he would start sweating from nerves and it was the sole job of this poor guy on set to grab a blow-dryer and dry his pits between takes.

Margot also recalled her experiences acting opposite and alongside the likes of comic pioneer Richard Pryor (Some Kind of Hero) and the eccentric Crispin Glover (Crime and Punishment – 2002);

On Richard: I was completely in love with Richard; partly because of his talent, but how could you not be? […] It was a mixed bag. With out love scene, after the dailies were done and we returned to our trailers, he was told by one of the producers, “you were so good, I forgot you were black!”. He gave the guy a cold stare, as he should. And he was hurt whenever the director would ask him for a little more schtick, because he was an amazing actor, but that’s all people seemed to want from him.
On Crispin: He was a riot. […] We were in Moscow prepping for the scene in which I was supposed to die in these hacking fits. I worked really hard on it and then Menahem [the director] comes up to me and says “we’ve cut the death” and Crispin sprang up and said “you can’t cut the death!”. He took out his well worn paperback of the book and showed the director…and the director responded to this greatly respected piece of work, in the middle of Russia, “I’m sick of this book! I wrote the script!”.

And you may be wondering; what are her thoughts on other incarnations of Lois Lane and Clark Kent/Superman and the actors who portrayed them;

Oh, I got to see Amy Adams the night before I got here in Montana and she’s really, really terrific. […] When I played Lois, she would go gaga for Superman and then revert to being smart and dismissive to Clark. Amy played it smart the whole way through. […] And that hunky Henry [Cavill]… I’m too old to do anything about it, but I can still look!

Finally, Margot commented on her short time as a cast member on the TV series Smallville, where she once again received the opportunity to act besides Christopher Reeve, although in entirely different roles (hers being Professor Bridgette Crosby from the comic books);

I thought I’d give her a little extra vim and vigor but the director didn’t want that. He kept bringing me down and bringing me down…I thought she was kinda dull. Then when they wanted to negotiate further episodes, I asked for more money and they didn’t want to give me more money, so they killed me off! That’s how I knew negotiations were over!

It was a real treat to listen to Margot’s stories and a privilege to have her here during the convention. She signed off saying that she will be in the country for another 5 days or so and hopes to see some authentic Aboriginal art and visit the Outback while she’s here. Despite her glowing praise for Amy Adams, we’re sure millions upon millions will always consider her the perfect Lois Lane.

Alan Tudyk: From Wash To Alpha Panel Impressions

Benjamin Webb

June 22, 2013

At the Sydney Supanova Popular Culture Expo this weekend, the incredibly popular Alan Tudyk was present at the event. Pronounced “too-dick”, the actor is most renown for his role as “Hoban ‘Wash’ Washburn” from the (sadly) cancelled cult favourite television series, Firefly and it’s accompanying movie, Serenity. In the Firefly series, Alan Tudyk plays as a rather goofy pilot, which seems to compliment his personality from what we’ve seen at his panel this weekend.

The panel itself was a Question & Answers session with Alan Tudyk and it started off amazingly well. Before we could even get to the questions, it was great that Alan Tudyk took the time to bring the audience in, share some jokes and pre-emptively answer some of the more popular questions… such as Firefly 2 not happening. What was great though was that one of the first things stated in the panel was:

F*** Fox

Something that all of us Firefly fans can agree with.

The panel had some great questions, with them being strong right from the start. The first question seemed simple enough at first, but it ended up having a rather entertaining answer involving acting like a spazz and a lot of jokes. Another favourite question was about his favourite toilet paper, to which he responded with:

Unused. As a general rule, unused.

On a question when asked about a particular character ark on Dollhouse, he answered that he really enjoyed how the world was all future and it was great to do that and how he wanted more stuff like that. There was also one question about filming a nude scene and he made the comparison between how an actress and an actor get treated differently. What was great about this was that he handled the issue so well and with a lot of humour, so it made for a really interesting story.

Another great story was told during the panel. It was established that you’re not supposed to actually tongue kiss on camera and that he was in a scene where he had to kiss Eliza Dushku:

[…] Okay great, Alan, here we go we’re ready. Bladdi-Bladdi-lines and I go to kiss her and she stuck her tongue in my mouth. And it was great, and I am very thankful for it.

What’s great about these kinds of questions, and the honest answers that Alan gave, we really got to know him as a person and the audience had left feeling a lot more connected to Alan as a person. This was the best part of the Q&A. Everyone that left that panel, left in an incredibly good and well bonded mood.

K anime to receive special ‘K Day’ at Anime Expo 2013 courtesy of Viz

Travis Bruno

June 22, 2013

Today Viz Media announced that they will be celebrating their newest anime property K, during Anime Expo 2013 by creating a special “K Day” which will happen on Friday July 5th. This K Day will see Anime Expo Industry Guest and official Fushimi cosplayer from Japan KANAME☆ appearing throughout the day, The English language voice actors for the anime, Patrick Seitz (voice of Reisi Munakata), Stephanie Sheh (voice of Neko), Matt Mercer (voice of Kuroh Yatogami) and Keith Silverstein (voice of Mikoto Suoh) will also be in attendance.

During this day fans can attend a special world premiere of the first and second episodes of K in English. This premiere will occur at 11:15am in Room LP1 and at 12:15PM, directly after the premiere in the same room, Josh Lopez, the Viz Media Dub Producer for K, will join the staff for a Behind the Scenes Q & A on bringing the anime to North America and at the end of the panel, all fans in attendance will get a special commemorative Neko character fan.

The company will continue the celebration with a special autograph session with the aforementioned K English dub cast from 2:30-3:30pm in the Anime Expo Autograph Area and everyone who attends will net the premium poster which you can see to the right. To top this off, a special photo opportunity will be held at the VIZ Media booth (#1501) with K cast and staff, including Johnny Yong Bosch and the K cosplayers of ACParadise.com. Attendees that show up in K Project cosplay will receive a special gift. Finally, end the day with a photo op with KANAME☆ at the VIZ Media booth K wall at 5:30pm.

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