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The Weekly Pop Culture Audio Podcast Featuring In-Depth One On One Interviews and Discussions From The Entertainment Worlds Of Genre Fiction-
Comic Books, Novels, Television, Film, Video Games And More. Created In 2005 By Chicago Radio/TV Host John Siuntres

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Sunday, June 08, 2008

Len Kody & Eric J Cisco Kid Wyatt earp, and The Summer of 1968

On this edition of the Word Balloon podcast, a preview of a classic western showdown, and a web comic historic look back at the real life conflicts from the summer of 1968. Word Balloon host John Siuntres chats with the creative team behind "The Cisco Kid Vs Wyatt Earp", writer Len Kody and Artist Eric J. The story from Moonstone Books has a unique twist. Moonstone will release two books featuring the Cisco/Wyatt encounter, but each will feature one cowboy's perspective. The Wyatt Earp version was writtenby Chuck Dixon and drawn by Enrique Villigan. Both issues are due later this month. Len discusses his take on the O Henry anti-hero Cisco, who bears no resemblance to the smiling hero of the early 1950's TV show, portrayed by Duncan Renaldo.As Kody explains "In the original short story, Cisco became a bad man, due to a broken heart. In addition to the Earp encounter, my story flashes back to an earlier time, that shows what led Cisco down the wrong path." Cisco Kid Artist Eric J discusses his western influences and contributions to the story,and discuss some current and future projects. A Xenescope Grimm Fairy Tale take on "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" written by Raven Gregory, and a soon to be released "Worlds Of Dungeons and Dragons" story, from Devils Due. Kody also talks about the launch of a new web comic depicting the events that led up to the infamous Chicago riots during the 1968 Democratic Convention. Chicago 1968 is a weekly Web Comic, written by Kody and drawn by newcomer Jenny Frison. Kody describes the story as a documentary style comic, a dramatic presentation of historical facts."There's no zombies hiding out, or any "high concept" twist." He researched the history, trying to capture the tone of the times, by investigating all perspectives,including one personal connection to the event. "My Grandfather was a Chicago police captain sent to the Conrad Hilton hotel during the infamous 19 minutes of video tape shown that wed night, when the police, in a very rough fashion, arrested a whole bunch of hippies yippies and others. He had his own perspective on how things happened, and of course some of the protesters who were involved wrote about their own perspectives, plus the way the history books have portrayed it. The whole subject fascinated me." "The point of view my story is a Chicago centric take, showing how the police and the leaders of Chicago had their pride on the line to host the Democratic Convention, and guys like Mayor Richard J Daley were not going to be swayed by a protesting mob. Not to say that I'm defending the police, they definitely went too far. My political views are with the hippies. The irony is, if I were around then I would've been protesting with Abbie Hoffman, and likely be arrested by my grandfather. It was a very daunting task to understand where everyone was coming from during this historic happening." You can read the first pages of the web comic now, at http://www.webcomicsnation.com/lenkody/chicago1968/series.php

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