by Daniel Robert Epstein

Over the past 15 years Jae Lee has become one of the most stylish and innovative comic book artists in recent memory. He burst onto the scene with a stint on Namor the Sub-Mariner and since then has worked on dozens of other books from Fantastic Four to The Sentry to his creator owned Hellshock.

But recently Jae Lee has a wild time throwing himself headfirst into the horror genre by working with two of the great horror creators, by proxy. I use that word because currently he is working on a series of comic book miniseries based on the Stephen King novels The Dark Tower with the legendary Peter David doing the dialogue. But I was lucky enough to get to talk with Lee about his work creating the pictures for The Illustrated Dracula.

Read our exclusive interview with Jae Lee on SuicideGirls.com.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

If I didn’t know better I would think David Lynch was Italian. He uses his hands to describe ideas more than anyone I have ever met. It’s fascinating to watch this man communicate. He pulls out the cigarette pack, the lighter, moves the ashtray, lights the cigarette, puts the pack away the and then, once his hands are free, resumes emphasizing his words with enigmatic gestures.

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by A.J. Focht

Strange things are happening over at Marvel Comics as a Doctor Strange movie is in motion. Marvel Studios already exploited their rights to most of the mainstream heroes, and, as they look toward the studio’s future, they’re going to have to start pulling from the lesser known source material. It looks like Doctor Strange is going to be the first of them, tentatively seeing a 2013 release date.

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by Daniel Robert Epstein

Film director Michael Apted is such an anomaly in Hollywood. He careens from big budget films such as The World Is Not Enough to smaller films like Enigma. But always, without fail, every seven years Apted puts together another UP film. In 1964 a group of seven year old children were interviewed about their lives and Apted was a researcher on that film. Since then Apted has taken on the directing reins and every seven years he gets together with as many of the original people as possible and interviews them again. Now 49 UP has just been released along with all the UP films in a big DVD box set.

Read our exclusive interview with Michael Apted on SuicideGirls.com.

By Nicole Powers

America devotes an inordinate amount of resources to its wars on controlled substances; namely its wars on drugs – and raw milk. Yep, you read that right. The prohibition of alcohol may have ended in the US in 1933 with the passage of the Twenty-First Amendment, but it’s still alive and kicking when it comes to unpasteurized milk.

The retail sale of raw milk for human consumption is illegal in the vast majority of states, and though some states do permit direct farm sales and/or herd shares, federal laws prohibit the sale and transport of raw milk across state lines. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers unpasteurized milk or cream –– and any uncooked products made from it, such as cheese, yogurt, and ice cream –– to be categorically unsafe. Their official line is that “raw milk can harbor dangerous microorganisms that can pose serious health risks to you and your family.”

However, by their own figures, a mere “800 people in the United States have gotten sick from drinking raw milk or eating cheese made from raw milk since 1998.” When you compare those numbers to the statistics on alcohol and cigarettes – which can be bought legally in all 50 states – the government’s position on the sale of raw milk appears to be inconsistent to say the very least. And the discrimination against raw dairy is even more profound when the health benefits are taken into consideration. But while the fight to decriminalize other controlled substances grabs headlines and galvanizes support, few are even aware of the prohibition against real milk. Kristin Canty, a small farm advocate from Massachusetts, hopes to change that with her compelling new documentary, Farmageddon: The Unseen War on American Family Farms.

Canty didn’t set out to make a film, merely to heal her son, who suffered from asthma and severe allergies. When traditional medicine failed to help, she embarked on a voyage of discovery that led her to raw milk. While fighting to heal her sick child, she also had to fight the seemingly unreasonable and intransigent attitude our government has towards healthy-minded boutique farmers who produce this hard to come by commodity in the face of much adversity. Frustrated and angered by reports of raids, and shocked at the increasing ferocity of the persecution of those who were doing nothing more than producing fresh food, Canty was compelled to expose the truth. For her, it wasn’t just about the disparity in treatment between big agriculture (whose factory methods have actually been responsible for the majority of serious food scares in recent years) and the mom & pop organic and sustainable operations, but an issue of a mother’s right to choose healthy food.

Read our exclusive interview with Kristin Canty on SuicideGirls.com.

**UPDATE**
Following the multi-agency armed raid on Venice Beach, CA fresh food collective Rawesome, which resulted in 3 arrests (see story), there will be a series of special screenings of Farmageddon at the Electric Lodge cinema on Saturday, August 20 (see details). Proceeds will go to the Rawesome Community Fund.

by A.J. Focht

It was the comic world that ruled geek news this last week as San Diego Comic Con was in full swing. Major players from all realms of nerdom gathered to share their latest updates. With such a huge event, I can’t possibly cover all the announcements, but here’s a full recap for your convenience.

Marvel Studios made a good call releasing Captain America: The First Avenger along with all the con hype. It took the box office this weekend making $65.1 million, but still shy of Thor’s $65.7 million opening weekend. And while Comic Con may have helped boost Captain America’s sales in America, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 continues to enchant the rest of the world.

Out of all the videos released at this year’s Comic Con, the trailer for The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra was one of the most anticipated (see above). The brand new video gives just over a minute’s look at the world of Avatar some 70 years after Aang.

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by Fred Topel

I understand Miranda July’s new movie The Future, completely. I don’t think I can explain it, except to say that each individual scene, even single lines of dialogue, can inspire an entire conversation.

Writer/director July crafts the story of Sophie (July) and Jason (Hamish Linklater), a couple planning on adopting a cat they rescued. In the time it will take for the shelter to heal Paw-Paw (voice of July and yes, the cat narrates), Sophie and Jason plan to make the most of their remaining time without commitment. Sophie cancels the internet, yet still plans to record dances that she’ll upload at Wi-Fi enabled cafes. Jason explores a career in environmentalism.

Yet those are not the themes I focused on. The unique voice of July is that she will give Jason the power to freeze time, or the characters will contemplate the end, as in the big end. The story of Jason and Sophie’s relationship progresses to a conclusion, but it’s the abstract steps along the way that evoke thought and feeling.

At the Los Angeles Film Festival, July met me in the lobby of the J.W. Marriot downtown while her film played at the Regal Cinemas. She would return to the theater for an audience Q&A, but while a new audience experienced The Future, July sat in an outdoor bar, magenta stockings shining in the sun, and analyzed her film with me.

Read our exclusive interview with Miranda July on SuicideGirls.com.