The "One-Armed Swordsman"/"Star Wars" connection?

El Rey Channel is my new best friend on a Thursday night. Tonight is a One-Armed Swordsman marathon. Action-packed! Fun stuff!

"STAR WARS" SPOILER ALERT: What I'm discovering tonight is that "The New One-Armed Swordsman" (1971) seems to have provided some inspiration on the original "Star Wars," particularly with the style of the swordplay between the hero in white and the brown-cloaked renegade mentor (who dresses a lot like Obi Wan Kenobi). 

There's even a scene at the beginning resembling the final fight between Kenobi and Vader.

"THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK" SPOILER ALERT: Why, I wouldn't be surprised if Luke losing his hand in the duel with Vader in the second film was inspired from one of these movies.

That is all for now!

THOSE UNSTOPPABLE ROGUES in "McDonald's Mission" (created May/June 2013)

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For more UNSTOPPABLE ROGUES, get the trade paperback collection THOSE UNSTOPPABLE ROGUES PARTY HARD! available here!

Happy Passover from Michael and The Circle Jerks!

Greg Hetson, Ben, Lucky Lehrer, Alena, Michael Aushenker at Greenblatt's Deli on Sunset, 4/18/2014

Terrific night out Friday with founding Circle Jerks drummer Lucky Lehrer and guitarist Greg Hetson (also of Bad Religion) after a rare screening of Penelope Spheeris' THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION at LACMA (WTF?!?!), at which Greg Hetson was among the panelists.

Here we are at Greenblatt's Deli on Sunset. The dinner conversation was hilariously peppered by background cameos of comedian Paul Rodriguez hauling bags of take-out to the Laugh Factory next door and either Jesus Christ or a guy dressed just like him.( Hey, even a nice Jewish boy like Jesus needs a hot bowl of matzoh ball soup during Passover....)

Here are the Circle Jerks at their most out of control from DECLINE, which Spheeris is aiming soon for a long-awaited DVD release.

What's amazing, as I learned from Lucky and Greg, is that the Jerks had only been together 3-4 months and they were a last minute add-on in DECLINE (perhaps why there's no interview with the group members in the movie). That, in itself....is pretty punk rock!

But the Circle Jerks are on point in DECLINE and gigs like this one at the now-defunct Fleetwood in Redondo Beach anticipated one of the tightest of all albums, GROUP SEX, later that year in 1980.

So cool to see DECLINE on a big screen again! It holds up very well and the panel afterwards was loose and fun. There was even an update on "Eugene" (today he's a folk singer...HAH!)

COMING 2015! Bio comic RADIO SILENCE: THE DEATH & LIFE OF MIKE BLOOMFIELD

Here's the new logo for our charity comic for 2015: a biographical look at one of the most legendary and tragic of all guitar players, the late Mike Bloomfield.

Writer: Michael Aushenker  Artist: Marcus Collar

Logo design by Michael Aushenker. Art by Marcus Collar.

For more information and updates on this book, of which all proceeds will go to drug rehabs for low-income addicts, visit the book's official site and please join the blog at radiosilencecomic.blogspot.com

Take RUSS HEATH's word for it....COMIC BOOK CREATOR #4 is out NOW!

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #4 IS OUT!! As Associate Editor of COMIC BOOK CREATOR, I've contributed part I of II of my interview with DENYS COWAN, the first flesh-and-blood cartoonist I ever met in person (at the Ambassador Hotel's monthly comics convention when I was a teen). I also have my profile of MORT TODD & STEVE DITKO back when Todd was editor of Marvel's Ditko monster mag reprints and rock 'n' roll comics in the early 1990s.

Meanwhile, EDITOR JON B. COOKE did the cover story on the legendary RUSS HEATH, who got his copy today at Robin Hood Pub in Sherman Oaks courtesy of STEVE KRIOZERE.

Don't STEAL your copy like Roy Lichtenstein stole Heath's images...GO BUY YOURSELF A COPY! You'll dig it, maaan!

For more information, visit TwoMorrows.com

COVER UNVEILING: Here's GO, GENIUS, GO! #1 (of 3), drops Aug. 9

Artist MARCUS COLLAR and I are working steadily on our three-issue comic book series GO, GENIUS, GO!, a workplace comedy set in techie corridor of  the artificially beautiful and sterile paradise that is Irvine, California.

Our series has everything you want (and don't want!) in an online company odyssey: raunchy jokes, office sex, and tech world-pretentious characters. Plus: feisty senior citizen retirees, of course! It's all explained in the books.

I wrote the series and Marcus is illustrating the books. Meanwhile, I'm creating the painted front and back covers for each issue.

Here's my front cover for GO, GENIUS, GO! #1, which will premier August 9 at Stocktoncon, where I will be a special guest. Issues #2 and 3 to follow at conventions and in comic book shops in fall 2014.

For updates, stay tuned at the Cartoon Flophouse Humor Comics Facebook page and via CartoonFlophouse.com

That's all for now. Signing off! BLEEORP!

BACK ISSUE magazine #71 is out featuring my article on BROTHER VOODOO..SFX: Dum-Dum-DUM-DUM!

As my duties for TwoMorrows Publishing have shifted to associate editor for Comic Book Creator magazine, with #4 (Russ Heath cover story) imminent, this textual exploration of Marvel's Brother Voodoo (featuring co-creator, writer Len Wein) in issue #71 of BACK ISSUE magazine will most likely be my last article for BACK ISSUE.

I'm not sure what editor Michael Eury's plans will be for issue #100, but I'd love to be a part of that big issue when it arrives if it fits his editorial plans. Michael Eury has led the magazine with a sure hand and a light touch that has made the mag a fun and informative read.

That aside, it's been a very fun ride, contributing articles on and off for more than 50 issues, beginning with my debut with an article on Bill Mantlo and Lee Elias/Frank Robbins' The Human Fly in BACK ISSUE #20 and continuing with articles on Son of Satan in BI#21, Captain America and Falcon in #22, a personal favorite of mine: a conversation about Deathlok the Demolisher with Rich Buckler in BI #25, and scores of other articles on everything from Mr. T in the comics to Spectacular Spider-Man and Marvel Team-Up.

I've also had the chance to interview and profile so many people I admire in the pages of BACK ISSUE, including Unknown Soldier artist Gerry Talaoc, Marvel Two-in-One's Ron Wilson, G.I. Joe creator Larry Hama, letterer extraordinaire Janice Chiang and Detroit Rock City artist Mike Vosburg.

Many thanks to Mike Eury for inviting me into the Back Issue fold in the months following the only time we've met in actual person: I believe it was San Diego Comic-Con 2005 following a TwoMorrows panel.