RIP Akira Toriyama

 Man, I didn't think the 2020s could get any worse...

Another legend has passed away.

RIP Akira Toriyama. The entire manga industry and the shonen genre wouldn't be what they are without him.

Here's the official statement from Bird Studios on twitter:

Please. Do yourself a favor. Grab one of his non-Dragon Ball books and read some Toriyama, to celebrate the legendary mangaka.

RIP Ivan Reitman

Aw man, I can't.. All the greats, the legends of our pop culture are passing away..

 

Ivan Reitman is not with us anymore...

He gave us the original two Ghostbusters films, but also such classics (mostly in the comedy genre) as  Twins, Kindergarten Cop and Junior to some recent very underrated comedies such as Evolution or My Super Ex-Girlfriend, producing the likes of Space Jam and Beethoven, collaborating with other great contemporary film makers such as Chris Columbus and Harold Ramis.

 

His last few years are been mostly filled with a return to Ghostbusters, producing the Paul Feig-directed remake to his son Jason Reitman's sequel.

Reitman died in his sleep at his home, this February 12, at the age of 75. 

 

Rest In Peace, you legend.

Update: adding this little tribute/news video from Ghostbusters News:

#RIP Kentaro Miura

Kentaro Miura, the author of the cult long-running manga series Berserk is dead.

He was the author of several other great one-shots (Japan) and shorter manga (Gigantomakhia).

But he was mostly known for his work on the dark medieval/fantasy adult (seinen) series Berserk.

Which has been translated and published all over the world. The last few volumes have been published pretty slowly, with pretty long gaps in between them. But when a new volume was released it was an event, it wast unsurprising to see a new volume of Berserk get in the top sellers in countries like France, Italy, Germany, etc.

His writing was unique, but more importantly he was was a master like no other, capable of producing some of the finest art in manga. Fans will sorely miss the man, the legend. Berserk was slowly but surely coming to a long-promised end game..

It was just announced hedied of acute aortic dissection at age 54. And I've been trying to write this post for an hour since I learned the news. But I know I couldn't start focusing on my work without writing these words first..

RIP Kentaro Miura.

Source: livedoornews

#RIP Comic book artist Philippe Tome

Another day, another sad event.

One of my favorite francobelgium comic book writers has passed away. Philippe Tome, from his real name Philippe Vandevelde, aka TOME, has passed away in the night of the 5th october.

He's mostly known for his work on Eurocomix mascot Spirou, with artist Janry. To be honest that was MY Spirou, growing up. It remains my favorite era of Spirou, even though I later discovered the awesome work of the predecessors (Rob-Vell, Jijé, Franquin) and even enjoyed the following teams (Morvan & Munuera..).

His Spirou was action-packed, filled with humor and great touches of science-fiction.

I specially loved his and Janry's more "grownup" take on Spirou in "Machine qui rêve" ("Dreaming machine").

He also did lots of other stuff, to many to name. But a special mention to Soda, one of my all-time favorite characters. Pulp action cop series taking place in New York.

He will be sorely missed! Rumors were around Tome and Janry (Yes, named after that cartoon duo..) would be returning to Spirou for a special one-shot, no more...

#RIP Sid Haig

Cult movie actor Sid Haig has passed away.

A veteran actor, and horror icon in recent years - thanks to Rob Zombie films - actor Sid Haig passed away this saturday.

He was survived by his wife, Susan L. Oberg. Sid was 80 years old.

He's had quite an impressive filmography over decades, stretching all the way back to the original Star Trek series, Batman '66, and made a name for himself in genre TV and films (THX 1138, Mission Impossible, MacGyver...), cult movies (Tarantino's Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Vol. 2..) to his renewed career in the horror genre (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects..).

Voir cette publication sur Instagram

On Saturday, September 21, 2019, my light, my heart, my true love, my King, the other half of my soul, Sidney, passed from this realm on to the next.  He has returned to the Universe, a shining star in her heavens.  He was my angel, my husband, my best friend and always will be.  He adored his family, his friends and his fans. This came as a shock to all of us. We, as a family, are asking that our privacy and time to mourn be respected. Sidney Eddie Mosesian 7/14/39 - 9/21/19 Husband, Father, Grandfather, Friend. Goodnight, my love.  We will find each other again, next time.  I love you.

Une publication partagée par Sid Haig (@sidhaigsays) le 23 Sept. 2019 à 2 :07 PDT

RIP Sid Haig. You'll be missed...

#RIP Stan Lee

The Man, the Legend... Stan THE MAN Lee has passed away...

He's a legend of the industry. He's responsible (along Jack Kirby, Steven Ditko and others..) for creating some of the most recognizable cult classic comic book characters such as the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Spider-Man and countless others...

Stan was fighting pneumonia for a while now, he died at age 95.

We will all miss his legendary cameos that cemented his image to the mainstream audience.

A lot of warm words from people he interacted with.

A lot of us growing up reading comics felt particularly close to his unique voice. And we will all miss The Man...

#RIP Margot Kidder

Best live action Lois Lane. A great actress. Great person. And one of my all-time favorite movie scenes of all-time:



I'm not crying, you're crying!!

#RIP Tobe Hooper

Another Master of Horror passed away...

Tobe Hooper, the director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Poltergeist, died this past Saturday.

Oh, man.. We're losing so many of my favorite directors lately...

While he's mostly known for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and its sequel, let's not forget all the other great films he did over the decades. Including Eaten Alive, Poltergeist, the cult classic Lifeforce and one of my rare favorite remakes, Invaders from Mars (1986). But also Night Terrors, Body Bags and a couple of fantastic Masters of Horror TV movies, Dance of the Dead and The Damned Thing.

Tobe Hooper died at 74.

Side blog-comment: If/when we'll lose John Carpenter, I dunno how I'll handle that one..

#RIP George A. Romero

I start Monday as usual, checking out some news online.. only to discover Night of the Living Dead director George Romero just died at 77.

RIP George A. Romero.

While he's mostly known for basically having created our modern interpretation of the zombie as well as the zombie film genre, he's made a lot of great stuff over the years. Chief amongst those are his Crazies and Creepshow films.
He will always be remembered for his classics Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. Land of the Dead was pretty good too, in a B-movie sort of way.

And his more recent "Of the Dead" films hadn't been particularly good. Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Day. Although he was just launching the production of a new one that might have been better, Road of the Dead.

Let's not count all the various projects he did throughout multimedia including a great recent Marvel Comics, Empire of the Dead (which featured vampires!).
Romero died in his sleep on Sunday with his wife and daughter at his side, after a "brief but aggressive battle" with lung cancer, Chris Roe said.*

Time to marathon his original films, in memory of the great creator and filmmaker he was.

Source: screenrant.com *bbc.com.

#RIP Adam West

Adam West just died.

RIP M. West.

He was still pretty active to this day...

He wasn't just Batman for a whole generation, he's appeared in all kinds of shows and even cartoons over the years...

The man is and will remain a legend.

He died at 88, in Los Angeles, after a battle with leukemia.

You will be missed.

#RIP Bill Paxton

Oh, man.. I feel like I mostly only write these sort of blog posts lately...
I just learned it yesterday evening, and could only find the time to write this now, but...

Bill Paxton, the actor behind iconic roles in Aliens, Titanic, and Apollo 13, has passed away at 61 years old.
Bill Paxton died after complications from surgery.

He will always be remembered by me as the guy who died at the hands of an Alien, a Predator and a Terminator. He did countless great cult movies such as Twister. And more recently he had a great recurring antagonist role in Agents of SHIELD.

He still had a role in an upcoming co-starring with Emma Watson and Tom Hanks, The Circle.

Bill Paxton leaves behind a wife and two children.
“Bill’s passion for the arts was felt by all who knew him, and his warmth and tireless energy were undeniable,” -Paxton’s family told TMZ.

I was a big fan of him. He always managed to make any of his roles even the minor ones memorable.

RIP Bill Paxton.

#RIP Jiro Taniguchi

I learned this the other day, but couldn't process it just yet..

One of my favorite Japanese artists/mangakas, Jiro Taniguchi, died this February 11.

I always felt he wasn't known enough in English-speaking countries, but he's kind of huge in French-speaking territories. He didn't do mainstream shonen titles but instead self-contained "graphic novels" if you will. And a few other original dramatic stories. He was huge into observational stories.

He received a few awards at the Belgium "Angoulême International Comics Festival" over the years.

His last few stories these last ten years have all been fantastic and critically acclaimed.

I'll miss reading his new stories, for sure.

RIP.

#RIP Carrie Fisher

2016 just keeps getting more and more depressing...

Alright, I just came from a long day offline to learn Carrie Fisher just died...

RIP Carrie Fisher.

The legendary actress just died today, following complications with her heart.

Outside of Star Wars she appeared in countless other films. She stared in several cult movies including The Blues Brothers and Joe Dante's The 'Burbs.

Carrie Fisher died at age 60. She is survived by her daughter Billie Lourd, her mother Debbie Reynolds, her brother Todd Fisher and her half-sisters, actresses Joely Fisher and Tricia Leigh Fisher.

Apparently she did film all of her scenes for next year's upcoming Star Wars Episode 8. I'm not sure how they will work around her death, either in that film or the next one, or simply phase her out of the plot in a discrete. One way or another they'll probably dedicate the film to her memory.