#i made johnny in the benchmark & he's beautiful

[marrrow]

(Short-lived) AU where Jonathan was the WoL

Jonathan is running around in Eorzea. He's a runaway royal bastard who went ashore in Limsa post-Calamity & got trapped there by the anti-Garlean sentiment that stopped any captain from taking him; he got taken in by another Garlean expat running a smuggling operation. He & Puck know each other, & he met Dieter once in 6.x when they all convened in Garlemald to put down his father :')

In this version, he got (a) the Echo & (b) rounded up by the Scions before peacing out & probably ending up doing what he'd be doing anyway

[asfeedin]

Ayrton Senna’s F1 cars through the years

On the 26th anniversary of his death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, we look back at the cars Ayrton Senna drove throughout his illustrious Formula One career.

Senna is widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers in racing history and he raced in some of the most iconic cars ever seen in F1. We start, of course, at the very beginning…

American driver Juan Manuel Correa on the F2 crash that left him with life-altering leg injuries and claimed the life of Anthoine Hubert; his recovery; and his hopes of a comeback. Listen to the latest episode

1984

Toleman TG183B

A young Senna got his break with the little Toleman team, but the first model he raced was the car which had contested the previous season.

Senna would record a pair of sixth-place finishes in South Africa and Belgium, but the TG183B’s final race would be one for the history books — the 1984 San Marino Grand Prix was the only F1 event Senna ever failed to qualify for.

Ayrton Senna made his debut at the 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix with the car Toleman had used for the previous season. Paul-Henri Cahier/Getty Images

The upgraded TG184 was introduced for following event in France, the fifth of the season. Its most famous performance would come with Senna at the wheel one race later.

Toleman TG184

A rookie Ayrton Senna rose to prominence with Toleman in 1984 after finishing second at the Monaco Grand Prix. Mike Powell/Getty Images

The rookie Senna announced himself to the racing world at the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix. The team’s new car was a step forward and Senna would be given an immediate chance to show his talent. Starting 13th with the rain pouring at the Monaco Grand Prix, Senna carved through the field.

The Brazilian caught and passed race leader rival Alain Prost just before the red flag was waved on lap 32. Senna initially celebrated a win, but the rules stated that positions must revert back to the lap prior to a race being called off. Senna had to settle for second position rather than first, but he had underlined his superstar potential.

Senna would visit the podium twice more, finishing third in Great Britain and Portugal, earning the attention of Lotus.

Mike Powell/Getty Images

1985

Lotus 97T

The iconic John Player Special livery and Ayrton Senna’s famous helmet colours were paired together in 1985. Paul-Henri Cahier/Getty Images

Senna’s meteoric rise continued with the beautiful Lotus 97T, decked out in the iconic black and gold of John Player Special, in his sophomore year. Lotus was not the team it had been in the late 1970s and was still hurting from the death of team boss Colin Chapman in 1982, but Senna’s first season saw something of a resurgence.

The Renault-powered 97T would be competitive. Senna, who had replaced Williams-bound Nigel Mansell, would win his second race with the team, mastering heavy rain to win by over a minute at the Portuguese Grand Prix. Another victory followed at Belgium’s Spa-Francorchams circuit later in the year.

Seven pole positions across the year helped forge Senna’s reputation as a fearsome qualifier, which would remain one of his most revered traits throughout his career.

1986

Lotus 98T

Ayrton Senna joined Lotus in 1985 after his breakout rookie season with Toleman. Paul-Henri Cahier/Getty Images

With his status as a future superstar now unquestionable, Senna threw his weight around ahead of the 1986 season. With ’85 teammate Angelo de Angelis leaving for Brabham, Senna vetoed the signing of British driver Derek Warwick. Little-known Scot Johnny Dumfries took over the role of No.2 driver instead.

In the season often considered the peak of the turbo era, there was pressure on Lotus and Renault to build Senna a championship contender. Renault’s EF15B engine would be one of the most powerful to ever run in a Formula One car.

Despite Senna recording eight pole positions across the season, Lotus was unable to convert that raw power into a title challenge. The Brazilian would have to settle for victories in Spain and Detroit. He finished on the podium on six other occasions but car reliability issues ultimately left him to settle for another fourth-place finish in the championship.

This would be the last Lotus to carry the John Player Special livery and its last with Renault, which withdrew from F1 at the end of the season.

1987

Lotus 99T

Paul-Henri Cahier/Getty Images

Another famous colour scheme replaced Lotus’ John Player Special look, with the blue and yellow livery of Camal being introduced for 1987. Honda, who would become a key part of Senna’s career, joined as engine supplier.

The bulky 99T was fitted with active suspension which helped Senna to bumpy street circuit victories in Monaco and Detroit (Lotus’ last win in F1), although the system contributed to a car which was ultimately tricky to set up on a lot of that year’s courses. Senna would claim just one pole position throughout this season, but despite the 99T’s flaws he was competitive enough on Sundays to finish a career-best third in the championship.

Greater things awaited Senna, however, and his three-year stint at Lotus had caught the attention of Ron Dennis and McLaren.

1988

McLaren MP4/4

Ayrton Senna’s McLaren tenure started with arguably the greatest F1 car ever made, the MP4/4. Pierre-Yves Muel/TempSport/Corbis via Getty Images

Senna’s rise continued with a move to McLaren for the 1988 season and he was gifted the best car of his career. Some consider the Honda-powered MP4/4, designed by Steve Nichols, the greatest F1 car ever built and it remains one of the most dominant of all time.

MP4/4: Why McLaren’s ’88 car achieved legendary status

In this car Senna had one of his most legendary performances, at the Monaco Grand Prix. Senna out-qualified Prost by 1.427 seconds and would later liken the lap to an outer body experience.

“I was kind of driving it by instinct,” Senna later said. “I was in a different dimension. I was like, in a tunnel well beyond my conscious understanding.”

“That was the maximum for me; no room for anything more. I never really reached that feeling again.”

In his determination to humiliate Prost, Senna ignored calls during the race to slow down and crashed while leading comfortably on the Sunday.

Footage of that moment featured prominently in the 2010 documentary about Senna’s career.

The DNF did not matter in the grand scheme of the season, where the MP4/4 won all but one of the 16 races. Seven of them belonged to Senna and were enough for his first championship.

In a quirk in the rules, Prost actually out-scored Senna across the season 105 points to 94. However, only a driver’s 11 best results were counted towards the championship – in those stakes, Senna scored 90 to Prost’s 87.

1989

McLaren MP4/5

Paul-Henri Cahier/Getty Images

McLaren’s dominant ’88 season had allowed it to put a lot of effort into developing the MP4/5. Turbcharged engines were banned and naturally-aaspirated engines made compulsory, meaning this was fitted with a 3.5 V10 Honda engine.

It was less dominant than its predecessor, winning 10 of the 16 races.

The MP4/5 is the subject of one of the most famous moments in F1 history, a major flashpoint in the legendary Senna-Prost rivalry.

While the teammates vied for position at the penultimate round, the Japanese Grand Prix, they made contact and came to a stop at the final chicane on lap 46. Prost retired from the race on the spot but Senna’s car was pushed back to the race track, pitted for repairs and won the race. However Senna was disqualified from the race result for his push-start, which handed the title to Prost.

Senna was outraged and vowed to never forget the perceived injustice of the decision.

Ayrton Senna signals for marshals to give him a push-start after colliding with Alain Prost during the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix. TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP via Getty Images

In something of a reversal of the previous year, Senna enjoyed the better season on paper, winning six races to Prost’s four. The relationship had reached breaking point and Prost moved to Ferrari for 1990.

1990

McLaren MP4/5B

Same colours, new teammate – Ayrton Senna was joined by Gerhard Berger in 1990, with rival Alain Prost switching to Ferrari. Sutton/Getty Images

With Prost gone, Senna set his sights on a second world championship, with the affable Gerhard Berger taking Prost’s seat. Prost had taken designer Nichols with him to Ferrari and McLaren entered the year with a modified version of the MP4/5, named the MP4/5B.

Once again it enjoyed a pace advantage in qualifying, which suited Senna perfectly, but it was well-matched by that year’s Ferrari. Senna again won six races and arrived back at the penultimate round in Japan with a chance to win the title, still seething from what had happened a year earlier.

Another infamous moment followed in the race. Senna had a slow start from pole position and Prost took the lead on the run down to Turn 1. Their cars wouldn’t make it any further than that, as Senna ploughed into Prost as the Frenchman moved across to take the right-hander. Both drivers retired from the race, meaning Senna was champion.

Allsport UK /Allsport

1991

McLaren MP4/6

Paul-Henri Cahier/Getty Images

Powered by a Honda V12, the McLaren was the benchmark for the rest of the F1 field again in 1991. It remains the last F1 car to win a world championship with a fully manual transmission or a V12 engine.

Prost failed to win a race all year and was sacked before the final race following a dispute with Ferrari, helping pave the wave for Senna to become a triple world champion. The Brazilian won the opening four races and three more in the second half of the campaign as he finished comfortably clear of Nigel Mansell.

Senna’s most memorable win of the campaign was his first and only victory on home tarmac, the Brazilian Grand Prix. He lost third and fifth gear in the closing stages and was so exhausted from the effort of keeping it in the race he had to be dragged out of his car after finishing.

The MP4/6 would be Senna’s final championship-winning car, as McLaren’s period of domination came to an end — it would not win a title again until 1998. He would race a modified version of the car in the opening two races of the following season.

1992

McLaren MP4/7A

Paul-Henri Cahier/Getty Images

This car was originally slated for introduction at the fourth race of the year, but a new rising power prompted a change of tact. The Renault-powered, Adrian Newey-designed Williams FW14 was a marvel. After seeing Williams win the opening two rounds, McLaren boss Ron Dennis brought forward the launch of the MP4/7A by a month.

With the new car Senna claimed three victories — in Monaco, Hungary and Italy — in what was his least competitive season since leaving Lotus. The first of those wins saw him hold off a charging Mansell around the streets of Monte Carlo in what has gone down as a classic F1 battle.

Mansell and Williams claimed the title that year and the era of dominance officially came to a close as McLaren’s Honda partnership finished. McLaren and Honda would re-form its partnership in 2015 for an ill-fated three-year partnership.

1993

McLaren MP4/8

Ayrton Senna’s final year at McLaren was with an uncompetitive Ford engine. Paul-Henri Cahier/Getty Images

With Honda gone, McLaren’s 1993 car was powered by Ford. Although Prost and Williams ultimately won the season comfortably Senna achieved some remarkable results early in the year, winning three of the opening six races and leading the championship until the seventh.

However, the car gradually dropped off the pace, while the Williams got stronger. Senna went eight straight races without visiting the podium in the MP4/8, which was the longest such spell of his entire career.

One of his three wins is arguably his most renowned, the 1993 European Grand Prix at British circuit Donington Park. In soaking conditions Senna passed Michael Schumacher, Karl Wendlinger, Damon Hill and Prost on the opening lap.

He would cap his McLaren tenure with wins at the final two rounds, Japan and Australia, his last before switching to the Williams team which was now the dominant force in F1.

1994

Williams FW16

Ayrton Senna would start just three races with the Williams FW16. Hewitt/Allsport

Senna’s switch to Williams promised so much but ultimately ended in tragedy.

The Newey-designed car was an evolution of the 1993 Williams Prost had claimed a comfortable title with, but without a key ingredient. The active suspension system Williams had pioneered in the previous two years had been banned and preseason soon revealed shortcomings with the FW16.

Newey would later say: “The 1994 car was not a good car at all at the start of the year. It was very difficult to drive. We developed the aerodynamics using active suspension and we developed them [to work] in a very small [set-up] window.

“Having had active suspension for two years, when we then lost it we had more trouble re-adapting to passive suspension than other people who hadn’t been on it for very long.”

Senna retired from the first two races, won by Benetton’s Michael Schumacher. Senna’s frustration at the start of the year was heightened by a suspicion Benetton was running illegal traction control software on its car, an allegation never proven.

Changes were made to the FW16 for the third race, the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, but the world never got to see if they could have rebooted Senna’s title campaign. After claiming pole and leading away at the start, Senna crashed and was killed at the Tamburello corner at the beginning of the sixth lap.

Senna’s teammate, Damon Hill, was narrowly beaten to the title by Schumacher at the final race of the season.

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[alfstop50]

Game #30: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

“Snake... had a hard life. He needs some time to rest.”

Released: June 12th, 2008 Synopsis: In a world that relies on continuous civil wars to keep the economy going, Solid Snake has grown old and tired, having only a year’s left of time to live. Despite his rapid aging and deteriorating health, he is given one last mission from his old friend Roy Campbell with a simple objective: track down and put an end to Liquid Ocelot! Chosen Music: Metal Gear Saga --- I was introduced to Snake and the Metal Gear universe through Smash Bros. Brawl, but I didn’t actually get into it until 2014, when I first started on the Legacy Collection. In between life and other games I was playing at the time, it wouldn’t be until 2015 when I finished the entire collection (excluding Metal Gear 1 and 2). You wouldn’t think that blowing through most of the mainline Metal Gear Solid games in the course of two years as an adult would give me a whole lot of nostalgia for it. But as I made my way through Shadow Moses Island as Old Snake, that familiar music only kicking in when I found that old base, it was a sobering moment for me. It was only then that I realized how special Metal Gear Solid 4 really was. Like, I won’t deny that MGS4 was only made to tie up literally whatever loose ends it could find, but for me that’s part of why I like it. By the time this game came out, Metal Gear as a whole had already crossed the 20-year benchmark, and there were still lots of questions that had yet to be answered. Whether or not they needed to be answered in the first place isn’t something I can say with absolute certainty, but it allowed the developers to make a lot of surprising callbacks and references that I just thought were solid all around. Then it takes the time to reinvent certain aspects of the series in new ways, like introducing The Beauty and the Beast Unit (which combines themes from the previous three MGS villain groups in each member), and allowing music from across the series to be played anytime, anywhere. It’s a beautiful celebration of a long and storied franchise, and I’d definitely call it a highlight of the series. The only real negative I have against MGS4 is how it handled Ocelot, which I won’t spoil for those that haven’t played it, but it becomes kind of a letdown when previous games made him so cool in my eyes. But that moment is forgiven by a boatload of other ridiculous and awesome scenes; just off the top of my head you’ve got Johnny Sasaki actually being kind of badass a couple times, Drebin being great in general, the entire climactic fight on Shadow Moses, and every single event after that, among other stupid cool moments. It’s also one of the more melancholic MGS games in my opinion, both in what Snake ends up going through and how it all comes to an end. But all in all, it’s the best possible send-off for Solid Snake I can think of, and a great and heartfelt end for the Metal Gear Solid series as a whole. Teaser for Game #29: Features dinosaur friends

[oltnews]

Death metal starts at 2:43 p.m. It's strong. And it comes from inside the church. The noise is a proud and unmanageable fury, like a pricey bull dragged to the slaughterhouse by its copper nose ring. The idyllic calm of the countryside in the south of France, the gentle friction of the cicadas and the warm breeze that sweeps over the Mediterranean is torn along the spine by lamentations, demonic voices and distortion of the pedals. Everyone outside, some drinking small glasses of Marseille pastis in the heat of the 37 ° C, turn to look at the church door and then towards each other.Despite the break, the broken peace, it is a positive sign for those who want an audience with our host. The man would have slept inside the small walk-in chapel - his original denominational space transformed into a cupboard, his cloister now used as an artist's studio with large unfinished canvases leaning against the perimeter - must surely be awake. No one could sleep through what sounds like Satan's alarm bells.Two weeks ago, there was an invitation, confirmed late yesterday, to come to Johnny Depp's villa and speak openly and without reservations. If you get up at 5 a.m. in north London, take the first British Airways flight to Heathrow around 7:45 a.m. and take an hour east taxi along the burnt yellow coast after Cannes , in front of Fréjus and not quite towards Saint-Tropez, you will find yourself in the rural town of Hameau De Gassin, lined with rows of young short vines, forming tracks like natural tresses, their bruising fruits begin all just to inflate and sag with new weight.The Depp complex, made up of around seven or eight small stone houses, stands above this calm and unprecedented old town, with a view that extends over the undulating Ligurian Sea. On a clear day, you can walk to one of the area's many high rocky outcrops, squint, and see the island of Corsica and beyond, the waters rich in fables and myths, where scholars believe that the Ulysses of Homer ordered his crew to attach him to his own mast to hear for himself the song of the sirens.Squint louder and you could see the west coast of Italy sparkle, with Pisa, Genoa and, beyond, the beauty and corruption of Florence. Earlier, I arrived at the gates of the complex, passing by director Tim Burton and his family, who had gone on a boat trip with various children, kissed by the sun and smiling. Burton has stayed with Depp for the past few weeks, enjoying the private baked utopia.After being buzzed, a golf cart driven by a native by the name of Daniele takes me to the main complex of buildings. Daniele - a man in his late sixties with an impressive whipped cream mustache and a long ivory ponytail who, it should be noted, looks surprisingly like Asterix by René Goscinny and the famous French comics by Albert Uderzo - the man from whom Depp bought the original 19th century land and houses 20 years ago. It was bought by Depp and Vanessa Paradis, his partner at the time, as a sanctuary, a place to escape with the children, to play freely away from the beams of Los Angeles and Paris.When the estate was listed on the market in 2015 for $ 63 million - a wake-up call to the actor 's financial troubles - many reports described the property as a "village complex." As our tires make their way down the wide gravel path to the collection of stone buildings, it's easy to see why.There is a modest main house with patinated blue shutters, almost entirely covered with wavy and bright green foliage. There is a hidden pool, a gazebo, a stone deck with a wooden shade and a clutter of about four or five bedrooms and bathrooms. The sloping, almost flat roof is terracotta, while on the lower side a heavy wooden door leads to a wine cave, now transformed into a cozy one - if you find the crypts comfortable. The space is dotted with candle drops and cowhide throws.From there we turn right, pulling inside what looks like the main courtyard of the estate, or the village square, a place where the road widens and reaches a natural meeting point, a plot of gravel with a small tree in its center. In front of us, 30 feet away, is the silent church with its locked door, while to our left is what appears to be a quintessential French cafe, a building that was originally intended for to be a garage. The brown fabric blind of the café has a name in an Art Nouveau style, "Chez Marceline", which refers to Marceline Lenoir, Paradise's long-time agent.At a polished wooden table in front of the cafe, two men are sitting sipping Evian. Their names are John Evans and Daniel Rolle and they are waiting for us. The looks of Evans and Rolle are Mayfair's hedge of the road one on an external site: crisp pale blue shirts (tucked in), narrow but not too thin indigo jeans, a woven belt at the hips and a Rolex vintage on the wrist. It's clean, tasteful and quietly refined, rather than something ostentatious or flashy.Evans and Rolle have been the benchmarks for logistics today. They work for a London company called Hawthorn, a public relations firm that, among other things, specializes in crisis management for businesses and wealthy individuals.One of Hawthorn's partner companies in the United States consulted on the sale of The Weinstein Company, but it should be noted that Evans himself advised against such a move, despite the "ridiculous fees" offered. Companies like Hawthorn don't do minor skirmishes or call editors to get corrections in the entertainment pages; it is a business that calls exceptionally wealthy customers if there is no one else to call. They are the Harvey Keitels of this world: wolf men, repairers, specialists in adjusting the public image, polymath corporate strategists.Ben Elliot, nephew of the Duchess of Cornwall, is co-founder and partner of Hawthorn. He also created Quintessential, the concierge service for the wealthy elite - consider heli-skiing off Everest's Hillary Step or a suite with balcony overlooking the Monaco Grand Prix. It was Elliot who made the first contact to ask if GQ would be interested in meeting and talking to Depp.Although Depp was someone who had long pointed out his contempt for the media - someone who chased paparazzi with a wooden board in front of a London restaurant to photograph his children - we were informed that he wanted to speak.It's about two months after the publication of a widely read article Rolling stone interview, entitled "The problem with Johnny Depp". It's an article Depp will talk about later, tackling it as he does on most subjects, with a kind of vengeful nonchalance. He is a man, I will come to understand, who will be happy to spill his guts all over the table, while remaining casual about the causes and effects. This "freshness", we suspect, is his armor. The actor refers to the Rolling stone article as "a sham". In fact, it goes much further. "I was deceived. The guy [journalist Stephen Rodrick] entered with absolutely an intention. And I could see it and I thought maybe I could help him understand, you know?"I trusted Jann Wenner[co-founderandeditorof[cofounderandpublisherof[cofondateuretéditeurde[cofounderandpublisherofRolling stone], as I knew him from Hunter [S Thompson, the late writer and a mentor of Depp]. I trusted what the magazine represented or what it represented. I wanted Jann to see if he could write, if a song could be written ... to put things in perspective. That's it, just to put things in perspective. "Perspective can be a treacherous thing. He can be deceived. It can be manipulated. Perspective, after all, is inherently subjective. Yet Depp was right to be belligerent. Anyone who didn't know better would have read this Rolling stone profile - with a digital silo of clippings and bait that has been piling up regularly on the star's life in recent times, her financial troubles, her savage and hostile divorce from American actor Amber Heard, accusations of domestic violence that in a libel case in the UK, and this videotape - and walk away with a pretty dark photo of the 55-year-old man.The article said that Depp was on the verge of bankruptcy: having made $ 650 million on films that made about $ 3.6 billion, but "almost everything is gone". Just a few weeks ago, Depp was suing his longtime business partner, Joel Mandel, and Mandel's brother, Robert (and their company, The Management Group [TMG]) for negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, forgery and theft.The lawsuit claimed that as a tax filer, TMG failed to pay Depp's taxes on time for the 16 years of its representation, which cost Depp more than $ 8.3 million in penalties. Depp's trial also highlighted TMG's conflicts of interest, their alleged wrongful investment of the star's money in companies with which they had a relationship, and the fact that they allowed Depp's immediate family members to spend his fortune without authorization or knowledge. TMG filed a counterclaim against Depp for breach of contract and fraud, claiming that the actor was responsible for any financial crisis he was in. Last summer, the Wall Street newspaper and others have said that former Depp business leaders are under investigation by the US IRS, the Department of Justice, and the Securities and Exchange Commission for bank fraud and money laundering.By the time I reach Depp in his French villa, the dispute has settled and later this month, in August, he will win the first step in a separate case against his longtime lawyer Jake Bloom, more than $ 30 million paid to the former Depp. Bloom Hergott lawyers by former business leaders without any contract. The latter seems to be a kind of justification for Depp. "Hollywood rocked," reported an industry headline.Sitting with hawthorn leaders at Chez Marceline, waiting for Depp to emerge from his picturesque and non-denominational hideout, there are also emerging stories about Heard and the acrimonious separation of the couple. Heard filed for divorce in May 2016, just 15 months after the couple's marriage in February 2015. Heard court records cited "irreconcilable differences", with a temporary restraining order granted to Depp, whom Heard accused of violence domesticated. A widely circulated leaked video purported to show Depp "tossing a glass of wine" to Heard and the 32-year-old lawyers had previously claimed that Depp had "violently attacked" her. Heard herself was arrested for domestic violence against a previous partner in 2009. Heard denied the charge and no charges were laid.The statements then range from disturbing to downright bizarre. Although the couple's divorce settlement was reached in August 2016 - with Depp paying $ 7 million and the restraining order lifted - even this morning, on my way to the Depp complex, history la The strangest thing to date has emerged from their volatile relationship, that Heard is said to have defecated in the star's bed after a particularly unpleasant argument in April 2016. Heard released a statement last night saying the incident was far from dirty protested on his part, but instead attributed the deposit to his dog, a 4 lb Yorkie teacup called Boo, who suffers from intestinal problems.When I hear the satanic noise gushing from the church of Depp in France, that makes me wonder: who, or what, will I meet today, at his home, inside his sanctuary? An actor paralyzed by fame, money and excess? A relic of an old system of Hollywood stars that is broken and shamefully aging? Someone who just doesn't fit into the brave new era, a time when scandal and stories can no longer be hidden or buried under an avalanche of imposed NOA?"Are we going to sit in the sun, talk, get heatstroke, throw up and die?" May be later'Or is Johnny Depp just a man who has been wronged and has a genuine desire to protect his name and his past work so that he can begin to recover from what was a period of his life that he would no longer forget early? Does he seek revenge on an industry - and of certain individuals - which, according to him, profited from his naivety? Is he a man who still believes in trying to be the underdog, an artist who desperately wants to be free from responsibility, something that could be confused with isolation and eccentricity but who is in fact something closer to a belief in the romantic rebellion?"It's time. He's ready."As I head for the church where the demonic wall of noise has finally been silenced, I realize, perhaps for the first time, that I have no idea who or what will appear. , flashing in warm white light. It is like getting into the eye of everything that revolves around this man and his amazing life. As the church door opens and I hear a cough, I wonder: where does the myth of Johnny Depp end and where does the truth of who Johnny Depp really begin?"Are you a John or a Jonathan?""I'm Jonathan," I say. "You must be Johnny.""Johnny, John ... I'm a John. Is it Jon-a-than or Jon-a-thon? I'm John Christopher Depp II. I have a number after my name that makes me noisy ... I don't know, bigger than I should be. "Immediately there is that smile, the one that oscillates between charm and mischief, heroic and mean. His eyes will remain behind a huge pair of reflective aviator hues for the next four hours. "Shall we sit in the sun, talk, get heatstroke, throw up and die?" Pause. And then the head comes back immediately with laughter. "May be later.Come on, Jonathan, there's a really cool little corner I want to show you ... " Depp emerged from his sleep looking if not healthy, then certainly healthier than I thought. Friends I have spoken to about my mission have expressed concerns about Depp's mental and physical state - most with little or no actual factual knowledge, it must be said - many referring to a recently taken image of the star during a tour in Europe with his group, Hollywood Vampires.The photograph, taken by a fan, showed Depp lean, pale and needing a little sleep - or at least a big green juice and once around the block on a SoulCycle. Not only that, but, perhaps more disturbingly, her usual battered fedora had been replaced with a baseball cap, a baseball cap with the word "fugly" on it. Johnny Depp? In a baseball cap?Today, however, Depp's skin is clear and without bloating or puffiness. It should be added, however, that his clothes are less intact. He is wearing a baseball cap and his shirt in particular seems to have had his arms removed, as if he once belonged to Bruce Banner, an anger management course before anger. In fact, the shirt is unlike anything I've ever seen before: partly a dress shirt, but with a mandarin collar, but no sleeves. On his shirt is a blue vest with fine stripes and around his neck are various chains, trinkets and talismans.At the end of a necklace is a silver "gonzo fist", the icon characterized by two thumbs and four fingers holding a peyote button originally used in the 1970's Hunter S Thompson campaign for the county sheriff. from Pitkin, Colorado. Thanks to Thompson's prolific life and writing style, the fist has become a symbol of gonzo journalism as a whole. For Depp, it's both a memory of his late friend, someone he once lived with in a basement at Owl Farm, Thompson's base camp in Aspen, Colorado, and a reminder of the way of working and living, with a strong sense of the individual and detached from business or tax systems. As Depp says so often, "Beat the system from the inside out."The jeans are loose and a patchwork of blues, holes that have been repaired and sewn countless times. The history of wearing Depp's pants has always been, to say the least, uneven, always as if he had just broken up with a werewolf. He was taking a child to a birthday party in Los Angeles when he realized that his jeans had a hole the size of a hubcap on the back. Rather than change, which would have made sense, he grabbed a roll of silver ribbon and shaped his own load.Depp's belt is something else. It is in worn brown leather, but the buckle is attached to the side rather than the front. This is unusual, I note, as we head to a huge stone table where we will sit and talk in the shade for the afternoon. "This? Well, it's not a Texas belt buckle. You know what the Texas belt buckle is?" I have to admit, no. "Well, a Texas belt buckle is where you have to pull your scrotum over the top of your jeans without undoing them. All along and again. Oh, the horror of it all ... You have to bring your dick back and stick it ... Your dick has to go around the elbow in a sort of half fruit basket and then, well, then you're fucked. You pull your testicles over and let them sit there. It's a Texas belt buckle. Then, of course, there is a Dirty Sanchez, which is something else entirely. "Dirty Sanchez", in which I managed to sneak Pirates... "For those who don't know what a Dirty Sanchez could be, all you need to know is that it's a term that originated in the LA porn industry spitter, something that could be occur when certain projecting members are stuck in certain holes, then in certain other holes. I'll give free rein to your imagination, but let's just say it's unfathomable and a term for an obscene sexual act that could not be less appropriate to be included in a 300 million dollar Disney movie about a pirate, himself family-based ride in a theme park in Florida."Yes I [said] in Pirates and they never caught him when he went to the movies, "chuckles Depp as he sits across from one another. "They caught him when he went on DVD. I did it because I wanted to see who Disney would be to find it ... "As for why Depp wanted to know who would be the person who reported such a thing, it is not clear, even if the fact that he is still proud to have included the obscene term in this first blockbuster - although as a mumbled, almost incoherent entry - and the eyeballs (and ears) of past companies are not negligible.It serves to illustrate what has been and is still, at the moral heart of Depp, a conflict that bubbles and foams under the surface of the actor: the fight to be faithful to his artistic sensitivity while being a voluntary participant and a billion dollar figurehead - free of dollars. This is the age-old problem faced by many successful creators, that of art versus trade.Jack Sparrow was for Johnny Depp what Iron Man would eventually become for Robert Downey Jr: a world hit which made the actor rotate - or at least his image - that of a somewhat gruff young indie who had already illustrated the disgust of being a teenage pin-up (via 21 Jump Street), wore oversized vintage leather jackets and smoked Marlboro Reds while passing wild fashion cats like Kate Moss, to a global megastar with its own line of merchandise, including a 10-inch tall pirate figure with removable cutlery and leather slippers.It was the time when the man who played Ed Wood became Mickey Mouse, although Mickey Mouse had a penchant for a bottle of Château Calon Ségur (2014). "I was freaked out by that," he admits when he realizes where the game is going to take him, rather than the music, which had always been his main creative outlet. "I mean, at first I really didn't care. But I started to enjoy it. I liked creating these characters up there, being in the trenches and facing collaborators, actors, directors ... The problem with working with these big studios is that they may feel uncomfortable with some of the creative decisions you make. Pirates. I think if the studio is not worried, I am not doing my job properly. "Did Disney try to change its Pirates performance? "Disney hated me. [They were] thinking of all the means to get rid of me, to fire me. "Oh, we're going to have to caption it." "We don't understand Captain Jack Sparrow. What's wrong with him?" "What's wrong with his arms?" "Is he drunk?" "Is he mentally stunned? "" Is he gay? ""I ask Depp directly: did Disney ask if Jack Sparrow was being played as overtly gay in Pirates? “They asked me, 'Is he gay? And I answered the question over the phone. It was a lady named Disney's Nina Jacobson at the time [Jacobson is herself gay, it should be noted, and has long campaigned for greater diversity within the all-male club of old Hollywood boardrooms] and she asked me a few questions, then said, "What is it, Johnny? Is he gay? "My tendency, of course, is to be irreverent so I said," Nina, didn't you know that all of my characters are gay? "It was a fairly brutal end to the conversation. And I continued to shape Jack as I thought best."Was Depp mad at Disney for his lack of vision? His lack of confidence? "No. I told them," Look, you don't like what I'm doing, fire me. You hired me to do some work and play the character and that's what I want to do. "C "is work. I mean, hadn't they seen the work I had done before? You might want to take a look at it before hiring a motherfucker, you know?"Did he feel justified once it was clear that his treatment for Jack was going to work, when the audience fell in love with him? “I knew I was right. Even the very first time when they came back to me and said, "No, no, what is it? Even when the other actors looked at me like I was an absolute threat, I stayed with it. I mean, the older actors probably thought, "Jesus Christ, he sank." Because I would tear up the script on set. I would be a thug. I would fly a little to see where things happened. And not everyone appreciates this way of working. Oliver Stone didn't like it when I changed all the lines he wrote for me in Section and that's probably why most of my stuff ended up on the cutting room floor. "Depp and I sit under what can only be described as a tent or canopy of green vines. We are approximately 150 meters from the main house. Inside the tent is a huge table and monolithic stone benches that look like something from the Paleolithic age, marked and grooved with years of wear and deterioration. Depp bought it when they acquired the house. "I made a film with Roman Polanski[[[[The ninth door]in Paris with Vanessa. We had to stay two months and we ended up staying ten years. " While we are talking, Depp keeps his cap and sunglasses. From time to time, he seems a little asleep, stifling a yawn, although after a while he falls asleep and is engaging, consistent and certain. He twists and moves rarely, perhaps folding his legs sideways or sitting cross-legged like some kind of skater / war veterinarian / yogi. Otherwise, it is entirely stationary. He takes care of his answers, expressing himself at a regular rate, without fear of being patient and waiting for the right word to come from his conscience and escape into the ether.A man, perhaps a cleaning lady, brings us refreshments in one of these light blue plastic laundry baskets: sweet tea, green bottle, Coca-Cola, water. No alcohol. Later, I ask Depp if he thinks he has a problem with alcohol: "Do I like a drink?" Yes. Do I need a drink? No. "The only visible defect is the rolling tobacco that he smokes in the licorice papers; he will roll up one every 20 minutes or so and often will not light it immediately. He lets it hang from his mouth, the paper sticking to his lower lip as he talks and answers questions. He has all the warnings on tobacco, all the pictures of blackened lungs, scribbled by an assistant. His fingers are cluttered with rings and his arms are full of black ink.The tattoos have been much discussed: the "Wino Forever" on the upper right bicep being perhaps the most infamous, a modification of what was originally "Winona Forever", which Depp got when he came out with Winona Ryder, the pair who worked together on Tim Burton Edward Scissorhands in 1990. A more recent tattoo said "Slim" in a Gothic font, a letter on each of the proximal phalanges (the bones of the fingers closest to the palm of the hand). Slim was the name Depp called his ex-wife Amber Heard. After the divorce, he changed it to "Scum" and more recently to "Scam"."The truth will come out of this and I will be on the other side of the roaring rapids. I hope other people will too. "There is something in the torments of recent years that, intentionally or not, shakes the surface of such thorny subjects - its breakdown, its reputation, its financial problems. Quite simply, they are in the air. I can feel it. Depp can feel it. And without even being pushed, the subjects fall on the table and ask to be chosen.Depp, it can be said, feels that he has suffered, sometimes resembling an injured animal that has healed and is now ready to bite. He is also, although he can deny it, angry - angry at many things - and he is vengeful and absolutely, categorically certain of his position and his position.“The last three or four years have been felt like a perverse situation that has been inflicted on me. It hurts. "How did the actor take the claims of his long-term managers eviscerating his trust, their relationship, this way?"It is rude to talk about money but, I mean, when I discovered the Pirates 5 the movie had just ended, just before the business owner started saying, "Oh, you have to sell the house in France! Oh my God! Shit hits the fan!" Now my entrance fees - I I'm even embarrassed to say it - for Pirates 5 35 million pounds sterling alone. And then I went on honeymoon after this film and while I was on honeymoon, it was when I got the call from the guy and I said to myself: "What? I don't understand? How is it possible? ""TMG claimed that they had done what they could to manage Depp's finances responsibly and repeatedly warned him that he was spending too much, but he had a different perspective. “My belief was that I didn't need to get wrapped up in the notion of money, how much I made, how much there was. I just knew that I was earning enough money in salary and back-end for everything to go well. Nothing should have gone so sideways. And when I found out, that was when the war started. C'était sous tous les angles. Le juge, vous savez, les a appelés sur toutes les petites allégations personnelles et a dit que vous essayez de décapiter cet homme dans un forum public. Ce n'est pas ce que vous faites. "Depp a une théorie, cependant, sur une conspiration plus large alimentée par les problèmes entourant ses finances et la détérioration du mariage, une théorie qui pointe vers l'industrie hollywoodienne elle-même, "ce vil putain de cirque", comme l'appelle l'acteur. «Mais cela a-t-il empêché tous les marchands de pouvoir à Hollywood qui étaient intéressés à me faire taire? On jetait beaucoup d'argent. Les gens me poursuivent à chaque occasion. Je veux dire, tout est si évident. Écoutez, je sais que je n'allais jamais être Cendrillon - je le sais et je l'accepte. Mais c'était comme si, dans un très, très court laps de temps, cette version - à défaut d'un meilleur mot - de Cendrillon s'était soudainement transformée en bête. Il est Quasimodo.«Je pouvais sentir les gens me regarder différemment, à cause des accusations contre vous. Et puis les gens commencent à mettre des choses dans des magazines: «Il est fou. Il doit passer un test de santé mentale ... "Vous savez, des trucs ridicules. Mais la seule chose que je pouvais faire était de savoir ce que je sais encore. En fin de compte, la vérité éclatera dans tout cela et je me tiendrai du côté droit des rapides rugissants. J'espère que d'autres personnes le seront aussi. Je connais la vérité et si je devais m'éloigner de tout cela aujourd'hui, du travail, de la carrière, de tout cela, et aller au toodle-oo, alors très bien.«Je n'ai rien à prouver à personne, car je n'ai jamais été en compétition avec personne. Je n'achète pas dans cette merde. Je ne suis pas intéressé à recevoir des figurines peintes à la bombe. Vous savez, peut-être quoi que ce soit, quoi que je laisse, vous savez, mon héritage à mes enfants ou aux gens, je n'ai pas regardé 98% de cette merde. Cela peut être complètement fou. Ce peut être de la merde. Cela peut être intéressant. Je ne sais pas ce que c'est. Mais ce que je sais, c'est que j'ai fait quelque chose, et j'ai essayé quelque chose de différent, pendant des années. Cela a-t-il fonctionné? Qui diable sait? Mais je l'ai fait et je vais bien arrêter.«J'adore le processus de création d'un personnage. J'adore la sécurité, vous savez, d'être ce personnage. Je veux dire, il y avait une grande sécurité à être aussi ouvert que possible sur Edward Scissorhands et pour essayer de voir des choses, des choses banales, normales, aussi belles et nouvelles, vous savez? Le capitaine Jack était un animal différent, Ed Wood, un animal différent, Mad Hatter[de[from[de[fromAlice in Wonderland], Willy Wonka[[[[Charlie et la chocolaterie]..."Pourtant, il y a un fil conducteur qui traverse tous ces personnages. Il y a un filament qui les relie. Même s'ils sont tous très différents, ils sont tous très similaires, parce que tout doit provenir d'une sorte de vérité, vous savez? Et la vérité est qu'ils sont tous des putains de inadaptés. Ce sont tous des inadaptés et ils sont tous mal compris. Et jugé de manière condescendante, dans le mauvais sens. »Le message est fort et clair quant à ce que Depp pense être descendu avec sa gestion à long terme et ses partenaires commerciaux. Je me demande: s'inquiète-t-il de sa réputation, de son héritage, notamment en ce qui concerne les femmes? Est-il préoccupé par le fait que tant de ce qui a été publié dans la presse, autant du scandale, a causé une érosion irréversible de sa réputation? Ou ne s'inquiète-t-il simplement pas parce que, comme il le dit, il n'a jamais voulu être mis sur un piédestal ou prétendre être un modèle, une figure de Cendrillon?"Savez-vous ... je vais vous dire ..." La pause suivante est longue. Depp et moi sommes assis en silence. La question plane sur nous. Ensuite, il semble simplement décider de parler.«Il ne s'agit pas d'être un modèle. Non, ce n'est pas ça du tout. La bande qui est sortie ... "Il s'arrête et glousse et répète ses mots," La bande qui est sortie, ou la bande que quelqu'un a faite, qui est apparue miraculeusement sur YouTube, prise du téléphone de quelqu'un. Ce n'était pas le centre-ville [LA, where he lived with Amber Heard]. Elle [Heard] voulait faire comme si c'était récent. C'était une vidéo plus ancienne et [what happened in it] avait à voir avec le fait que j'avais perdu des centaines et des centaines de millions de dollars. "La vidéo en question, floue, clandestine, montre Depp remplissant un grand bécher de vin rouge, puis saisissant le téléphone de Heard après avoir vu qu'elle enregistre. The video was “leaked” or released by showbiz gossip channel TMZ in the States, although compared to Heard’s other allegations against Depp the video content seems unexceptional or certainly the least disturbing.Although the pair have now settled out of court, what Heard alleges to have happened in April 2016 still reverberates throughout my meeting with Depp. Heard alleged that on Saturday 21 May, Depp attacked his wife and threw an iPhone at her face. Heard phoned the police, who found “no evidence of any crime”. However, Heard claims to have taken a selfie later that day showing bruising around her right eye and cheek. The following Wednesday she filed for divorce. Depp is currently suing the Sun for alleging in a headline, since altered, that he is a wife beater.I feel like I have to broach the subject with Depp. Does the actor consider himself a violent man? An aggressive man? Can he lose his temper or is he prone to if intoxicated? “The thing that hurt me is being presented as something that you’re really as far away from as you could possibly get, you know?“Then there was that time when the paparazzi were trying to take a photograph of Vanessa and she’s pregnant with Lily-Rose and I was not going to let them make a circus out of it. So I did what I had to do. Got her in the car, they didn’t get the picture, and I said, ‘Take a fucking picture because then I’ll stove your fucking head in. You’ve got your cameras out. First one click. Let’s go.’ And that’s just the truth. I would’ve. I’ve even said before, if a paparazzo gets a shot, they’re far away and they get a shot of me and my kid, whatever, that’s their thing. But if I catch you, I will eat your nose. I will eat your nose, chew it up and swallow it in front of you and then you’ll fucking think about it next time. I fucking mean it. But to...”Depp goes quiet again. It seems like he needs to take stock every so often, to recharge, to get back into a specific lane or mood every time the conversation veers into talking about the volatile relationship with Heard and the results of its breakdown. “To harm someone you love? As a kind of bully? No, it didn’t, it couldn’t even sound like me. So, initially, I just kept my mouth shut, you know? I knew it was going to stick on me and it would get weirder. Keep going, you know? Go nuts. I ain’t going to get into a pissing contest with someone about it. Spit out what you need to spit out and, you know, my attorneys will take care of the rest. I never went out and spoke about the shit.“But of course I care what my family and my kids think. I mean, you realise right away, essentially, that what is being done is the commencement of what they hope is to be your funeral.” Depp is still talking at a measured pace, in his low, cool tones, but his words are just a little clipped at the ends. His vowels just a little firmer.“And worse than that, to take away future earnings that are for my kids, you know? I do this shit for my kids, man. How could someone, anyone, come out with something like that against someone, when there’s no truth to it whatsoever? I’m sure it wasn’t easy for my 14-year-old boy to go to school, you know what I mean? With people going, ‘Hey, look at this magazine, man. What, your dad beats up chicks or something?’ Why did he have to go through that? Why did my daughter have to go through that?” I tell Depp I can see how that would anger him. “She didn’t...” Depp is often all too aware that some of the intricacies of his and Heard’s relationship need to be put in the third person. This is why, at times, he will start off using a subjective pronoun but switch to something more objective, swapping a “she” for “that person”.“Why didn’t that person speak to the police?” continues Depp. “I mean, they spoke to the police, but the police saw nothing and they offered her an emergency medical technician. She said no. Police see nothing on her. Police see nothing broken in the place, no marks, and then they offer her an EMT to have a look at her and she says no and I don’t know if it was the next day or a couple of days later, but then there was a bruise. There was a red mark and then there was a brown bruise.”A day after the alleged phone-throwing took place, Heard was seen at a party, specifically Amanda de Cadenet’s 44th birthday party. De Cadenet posted a picture of herself, with Heard smiling brightly on her right and model Amber Valletta to her left. Heard is tagged in the photo; her hair is brushed over her left eye and cheek. At some point, however, the image was deleted. Depp is emphatic about his version of events. “She was at a party the next day. Her eye wasn’t closed. She had her hair over her eye, but you could see the eye wasn’t shut. Twenty-five feet away from her, how the fuck am I going to hit her? Which, by the way, is the last thing I would’ve done. I might look stupid, but I ain’t fucking stupid.”To suggest that a woman, a man or anyone might have made up such a serious allegation is a tremendously dangerous and damaging thing to do. If we as a global community are striving for equality and acceptance to run through every part of our lives, through all races, cultures and genders, then we need to believe those who stand up and claim to have been subjected to physical or verbal abuse. Let me be clear: this is not a piece of investigative reporting. It is merely a snapshot, a chance to sit down and talk to a person of immense interest and talent, who has, it must be noted, brought joy to millions of film lovers all over the world, ever since he moved from Kentucky to LA and a friend, Nicolas Cage, told him he should go and see his acting agent.This isn’t a piece claiming to know with any authority about what happened between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard in May 2016 or at any other time between the pair in private. All I wanted to do was come to Depp and ask him to give his side of the story, which up until now has not been properly heard. Before we met, it was agreed with his advisors at Hawthorn that both parties would go into this meeting with one simple aim: to record what happens candidly. From my side, this is what I saw and this is the conversation we had.“We probably shouldn’t be talking about this,” continues Depp, “but I am worried. I worry about the people that bought it and I worry about her. It’s just not right. I will never stop fighting. I’ll never stop. They’d have to fucking shoot me. An episode like this takes time to get over. It’s a mourning for someone you thought was...”Again, a pause and quiet. All I can hear is the blood rushing about my skull, nitroed by adrenaline and the swirling white nicotine clouds.The love of his life?“Well, something. I did marry her somehow.”Is he single now?“Yeah,” he says, chuckling and sounding somewhat relieved.Does that feel good?"Ouais."Does he think about wanting to find love ever again?"Non."I need to take a leak. Depp tells me I can use his bathroom and that I’ll find it back at the church. He gives me a set of instructions and directions, although with the electricity of the conversation we have just had still pinging about in my hot skull I nod and smile but when I actually arrive at the church I realise that I wasn’t really paying attention. I walk in through the main door and that’s when I realise I am standing slap bang in the middle of Johnny Depp’s bedroom. Alone. With a full bladder.Actually, I am not quite in his bedroom yet. I am in a small kitchenette. There’s a sink and a box of tissues on a small table and beyond that a door that leads to the bedroom. I can see it’s the bedroom because I can see the huge four-poster bed against the far wall. I venture further in, thinking that there must be an en suite somewhere and now I really am in the middle of Johnny Depp’s bedroom, inside his church, which he had built in the compound he bought with his ex-partner 20 years ago. It makes one’s head spin to be alone in someone’s private space. It’s so intimate, like climbing inside their head or diary and riffling through their thoughts without telling them you’re doing so.I take a quick scan of the room. There’s a jumble of family photographs, a guitar on a stand and clothes strewn about like a teenager just home from school. Down the far end, towards the main church door, which is blocked, two sofas face one another. On the sofa closest to me, down the right-hand side is the most intriguing object of all: a black vintage typewriter with round, silver keys. To the left of the machine is a pile of notes and typed pages. I had heard a rumour that Depp was writing a memoir, a book of his life, and had been doing so for the past few years. It’s a book about the abuse he suffered at the hands of his junkie, desperately violent late mother; about how, in anger, he used to take a baseball bat from the garage as a kid and just spend an hour wailing it against a palm tree in their yard; a book about the work, the films that never made it; about his relationships, his friendships; about when Allen Ginsberg called the actor as he was dying; about Bob Dylan, his friend; about Edward Scissorhands; about the industry, the circus; about the corruption, the excess and the sordid beautiful truth about it all.There’s a page spooled into the machine already. There are a handful of sentences typed, the black ink speckled and smudged on the grained, ivory paper. What is written is private. It’s also eloquent. It reads like someone trying to write vividly, someone desperate to get it out, get it down, so he might hold it up and scream, “Look! This is what happened!” This feels like snooping. I make a swift exit and go back to the bathroom in the café. Eventually I wander back to Depp, the smoke signals from his cigarette indicating he is still where I left him.“You know, on the road with the band, it’s impossible to bring oil paints,” explains Depp. “Mineral spirit stinks up the fucking place, you know? So I’ve just been doing watercolours and odd drawings. I’ve also been doing a lot of writing. I kind of started a book, a couple of months before I broke up with Amber.”Fiction? Memoir? A play?“I’ve written around 300 pages. I have about 300 more pages more to go. I am halfway. They are more memories. And some of the beauty and the knowledge that I’ve been able to glean or sponge off of some of these magic fucking people I know, from Brando to Hunter to Patti Smith to Dylan to Ginsberg. I have been so lucky to have met all these folk. I don’t have cards or make notes really. No structure is blocked out. I have reminders. I’ll make a list of reminders.”Of events he wants to remember?“Yes, but it’s not written in any kind of linear form. It should be more like the unplanned telling of a story around the campfire.” I ask Depp if he finds it hard writing about some of the more painful memories.“Sure. I mean my childhood was dark. My mum wouldn’t edit. There was no editing. She would say what she meant, what she felt, in that instant. No matter how wrong it might have been even, or how hideously evil it was in the moment, she didn’t edit. It came out: bleurgh! She was out of her mind, obviously, and she didn’t know what the fuck she was doing. She got four kids and she hated the world. Was there fuck loads of verbal abuse? Yeah, man. Was there fuck loads of physical abuse? Yes. And never-ending, to the point that pain, physical pain, was just a given. But the last four, five years that I was involved, let’s say... Well, that was quite a dark time too.“I mean, you can write about those things and what’s interesting is you write about those things early on and once you’ve had a few years away from that chapter you go back and reread what you’ve done so far. And then you realise that you do feel the same way you did, but you’re so far beyond it. It puts everything else into perspective. Because at a certain point one must be able to say, ‘What the fuck else can any of you do now? What else can any of you do to hurt me?’”The patter has changed. He is still calm, still warm, but the emotions are right here on the table with us, right in our faces. Maybe it’s just Depp’s natural charisma, but the intensity of the conversation feels like lifting weights. Not because it’s difficult to talk or that it isn’t natural, but simply because of the rawness, the emotional density of the topics. We sit in silence. Depp doesn’t move, not a single muscle flinches. It’s like he’s looked into the Gorgon Medusa’s eyes to see for himself life’s savage reality.The cigarette hangs unlit, like a stogie to be chewed on or soaked with spit. “What was it that Dylan Thomas said, ‘To begin at the beginning,’ right? And Ernest Hemingway, ‘All you have to do is write one true sentence’ – one of the hardest things in the world to do. And [Allen Ginsberg’s] ‘First thought, best thought.’”Depp has taken his writing lessons from brilliant yet often difficult men. He has strung them together like bunting: to begin at the beginning, all you have to do is write one true sentence: first thought, best thought... Much like Ginsberg, Depp has that ability to perform, to unspool himself and all his kinks. A drive into Depp’s memories, one suspects, would be like trying to control a car on a winding mountain road with its brakes cut, thrilling yet perilous.“And Hunter. Hunter! He was right in the centre of every story. And all those stories were true. I have all the tapes and the napkins. Hunter wanted me to buy his archives, but I’m its custodian. They belong to Hunter’s grandson, Will. I think we are going to take it on the road, to show people, to show people the reality, the madness and the goddamn beauty of it all.”For the first time, Depp takes off his shades. He rubs his eyes, which aren’t bloodshot or kohl-lined, but are clear, backlit and luminous. “I want the truth. That’s really my biggest obsession in the world. It’s just the fucking truth.”Yet to live on impulses, to put down all the raw facts unedited as they come out, well, that’s a powerful type of storytelling. As Hunter himself warned of such precision reporting: “Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity.”The truth has no time for perspective. Or rather, truth is not about perspective as a point of view. But to see the whole truth? The whole story? Now, that sort of perspective will allow you to get the entire picture: the correct height, depth and position of all the facts in relation to one another, something that is absolute.There is no doubt Depp is seeking the truth. That is his mission. One day, maybe he will find the right words, in a conversation or in a book, and when he does they will be simple.Subscribe now to get six issues of GQ for only £15, including free access to the interactive iPad and iPhone editions. Alternatively, choose from one of our fantastic digital-only offers, available across all devices.Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald is out on 16 November.The print version of this story includes errors by inaccurately attributing a quote to Johnny Depp, as well as certain factual inaccuracies. GQ apologises and has amended the online version accordingly. https://oltnews.com/johnny-depp-will-not-be-buried-british-gq?_unique_id=5e9d9d1d5bac7

[houstonlocalus-blog]

Laugh-In: An Interview with George Schlatter

Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In was a phenomenon of its time and one that’s not likely to be repeated.

In television primetime comedy you have benchmarks that include shows like The Ernie Kovacs Show in the 1950s (which at one time or another was on four different television networks), That Was the Week That Was (1964-1965, itself a remake of an English series), Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1969 – 1974) and Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In (1967 – 1973).

The current go-to irreverent comedy skit show Saturday Night Live, which in many ways amalgamates elements from all the previous shows mentioned, while not actually in prime time, uses subliminal social and overt political humor to achieve its laughs.

One thing is certain — all of these shows were cut from a unique bolt of cloth that eludes the majority of television shows comedy or otherwise.

George Schlatter was the executive producer and producer (and wrote the pilot) on over 140 episodes of Laugh-In. Schlatter’s previous producer credits included variety shows like The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1960-1962) and The Judy Garland Show (1963).

“It was a different time; one year there were seventeen variety shows,” says Schlatter during a phone interview with Free Press Houston.

Laugh-In launched on January 22, 1968 on the Peacock Channel. The comedy revue was a Monday night replacement for NBC’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and was up against CBS war-horses Gunsmoke and The Lucy Show.

“NBC put Laugh-In against them because it was cheap and they didn’t have anything else. It took them fourteen weeks to develop a replacement. We were cannon fodder against Lucy and Gunsmoke,” says Schlatter.

Somehow Laugh-In caught the zeitgeist of that tumultuous era. Think about all the events that formed 1968, whether it was the Vietnam War, Chicago election riots or the assassinations of Martin Luther King or Robert Kennedy. Almost immediately Laugh-In was catapulted to the number one show of that year.

“We appealed to little kids with the colors and the old guys with the content, but in the middle was your group who knew we were saying something,” Schlatter says when I tell him Laugh-In was a staple of my then 12-year old existence.

Laugh-In coined what became catch phrases like “Sock it to me” and “Here comes the judge.”

“We had Sammy Davis, Jr. and when he came up with ‘Here Comes the Judge’ we immediately put it in the next show. The following day, when the Supreme Court justices walked in, someone in the back yelled out ‘Here Comes the Judge,’ and the whole room cracked up. It was the first laugh the Supreme Court ever got,” says Schlatter.

The show mainly used one-liners at His Girl Friday-speed and as such the editing was equally rapid fire, another first for television at the time. Laugh-In would be perfect for a re-launch in the current era of one sentence social media interaction.

“There was a woman named Carolyn Raskin who developed many of the editing techniques we had. We didn’t even have time code then, we had to physically splice everything,” says Schlatter about some of the transitions that had multiple images per second. “It was an adventure technically as well as creatively.”

Guest stars like John Wayne, Cher, Carol Channing or Johnny Carson would appear in the studio for one episode but could be edited into numerous episodes. “Some of them we grabbed off the hallway,” says Schlatter referring to another Laugh-In catch phrase: “From NBC Studios in beautiful downtown Burbank.”

Here’s another typical joke that was delivered by Cher: “I’ve heard of all the great Hollywood marriages. Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, Eddie Fisher and Elizabeth Taylor, Eddie Fisher and Connie Stevens.”

You like that? Here’s another Cher zinger: “Sonny and I are totally compatible. Anytime there’s a problem his psychiatrist contacts my psychiatrist and they work it out.”

While the heart of the show was slipping in sly drug references and double entendre, the show became such a hit that it attracted conservative faces like Dr. Billy Graham. Graham can be seen mugging for the camera saying, “The family that watches Laugh-In together really needs to pray together.”

“We had Barry Goldwater, we had Bill Buckley. Buckley, you know, was a conservative reporter. We wrote to him and he replied, ‘Not only do I refuse to appear, I resent having been asked,’” says Schlatter. “I responded that I would fly him to California in an airplane with two right wings, and he agreed to appear.”

Laugh-In also debuted talent like Goldie Hawn, Flip Wilson, Tiny Tim and Lily Tomlin, who herself didn’t appear until the third season. On Tomlin, Schlatter recalled: “The night after she did Ernestine, everyone was walking down the hall saying ‘One-ringee-dingee.’ In one show Lily would do seven characters, and nobody had seen anything like that before.”

Other performers who came and went over Laugh-In’s six seasons include Judy Carne, Ruth Buzzi, Jo Anne Worley, Henry Gibson, Arte Johnson, Alan Sues, Eileen Brennan, Chelsea Brown, Gary Owens, Teresa Graves, Pamela Graves, Larry Hovis and the list goes on and on.

Hawn won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1970 for Cactus Flower and left the show, but when she made a post-Oscar cameo the cast played it to the hilt like she was a princess and they were all trying to kiss her ass.

Every episode introduces serious performers goofing it up. Jack Lemmon’s son told him he couldn’t possibly be a movie star because he hadn’t been on Laugh-In. In its first year Laugh-In got a cameo from then Presidential candidate Richard Nixon.

“It might have been the reason he was elected,” says Schlatter. “I apologize for that.”

In one early episode Nixon says “Sock it to me,” phrased like a question. In fact it’s the same iteration that Alexander Waverly (Leo G. Carroll) uses in the debut episode. Carroll was the head of the show bearing the U.N.C.L.E. logo that Laugh-In replaced.

Tiny Tim was a longhaired fop that played songs from the 1920s on a ukulele and had never been on television prior to Laugh-In. “We brought him in what we called the new talent department. He sang “Tiptoe Through the Tulips,” Schlatter recalled. “The network said ‘You can’t put him on, he’s a freak.’ ‘No,’ I said, ‘He’s a big star.’ And they were like, ‘Okay.’” Perhaps not oddly, once Tiny Tim appeared on Laugh-In, he became a star.

As big of a success as Laugh-In was, Schlatter also produced a show on ABC the following year called Turn-On. It took the Laugh-In ethos yet made the tune-in-turn-on message more obvious. It was no problem for Schlatter to be running shows on two networks, in a time when there were three broadcast networks and PBS. Laugh-In gave him carte blanche.

“Well, I’m arrogant now, but with a fifty-share back then, c’mon,” says Schlatter. “The network was selling time for so much per commercial they pretty much looked the other way.”

The writer’s room, while atypical of the time, mirrors modern day writing groups. “There were maybe fifteen writers. But they were not the normal sitcom writers or the variety show writers,” says Schlatter. “These were rebels. One had been a professor of political science, and many of the others did not fit any categories.”

Schlatter realized early on that the way to get lines past the censors was the blindside them. “Every week they would send the script back full of paper clips. Sometimes we put things in we knew would purposely upset them so we could slip by other stuff. They didn’t have a way of handling us because there had never been anything like that on the air.”

Turn-On was greeted with a different response.

“It didn’t even last one episode; it lasted twenty minutes of the first episode,” recalls Schlatter. “Some stations literally pulled the show during the middle of the opening show.”

Another show Schlatter produced, Real People (1979), predated reality television by decades.

“That was another adventure,” says Schlatter. “An attempt to look at ordinary guys, the unsung hero, eccentrics. It was the first television show that saluted the little guy but without any guest stars.”

Just months after, another network had a copycat series called That’s Incredible.

Schlatter made a foray into feature film making with Norman … Is That You? in 1976, which revolved around Redd Foxx discovering his son is gay.

“At that time I could do anything I wanted to do on television, but to go on a movie lot and spend the time it takes to make a film took a year. Television was immediate. We’d write it down and it could be on the air the next day.

“We were freefall television. We touched on all sorts of issues but we never dwelt on them long. We were always off on something else but by the time you got the previous joke you would’ve realized we just said something revolutionary.

“Dan [Rowan] and Dick [Martin] did a sensational nightclub act. They were not friendly. When they left the stage they didn’t talk to each other until the next time they came back onstage. But it was one of the funniest nightclub acts ever.

“Timex said they wanted us to have hosts so we got Dan and Dick for our pilot. They wore tuxedos and craziness happened around them. It worked.”

Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In – The Complete Series is available exclusively through TimeLife. The box set includes thirty-eight discs and will likely take you months to conquer.

Laugh-In: An Interview with George Schlatter this is a repost

[londonchristmasparty-blog]

The Admirable Crichton The Admirable Crichton or The AC as we are known to our friends and clients has organised many of the world’s most spectacular, beautiful and fun events since we opened our doors in 1981. This vast wealth of experience, knowledge and creativity ensures each AC event is memorable, flawless and unforgettable. Each event is individually planned with the attention to detail that has made us famous; from a small, intimate dinner or reception, to a large party for hundreds of guests. Nothing daunts our fabulous team. The winning combination of our talented chefs, many with international or Michelin star training; innovative party designers and event planners; inspirational florists and extraordinary entertainment possibilities, we have the skills, connections and expertise to realise every detail and make your event an outstanding success. With this experience in luxury event catering and party planning both in the UK and around the world, and having held a Royal Warrant for The Prince of Wales since 2002, we have become a byword for Entertaining Luxury. Our complete London party planning and corporate event design service includes both event catering and an in house design team, making The AC a one stop shop. We make our fabulous food in our own South London kitchens and our event organisers attend to all other aspects of planning and management to make an event happen. Clients can relax, secure in the knowledge the design will be flawless, the staff will be impeccable and charming, and the event will be unforgettable. http://www.admirable-crichton.co.uk/ http://www.admirable-crichton.co.uk/ http://www.admirable-crichton.co.uk/ What Our Clients Say About Us Just a quick note to say thank you so much to you and all of your team for a superb job last night. Everything was executed with the level of friendly professionalism that defines AC. It was a genuine pleasure working with you and I hope we get to work together again soon. Bride: “thank you so much for everything, it all went perfectly and I couldn’t have wished for a more perfect day” Groom: “thank you so much for your brilliant organisation of a wonderful event. Everybody was so happy!! I think it’s a real tribute to you and The AC for the wonderful work that you do! It was everything that I imagined the day would be and more” THANKS! You were stars. It was wonderful and the food was delicious (lots of lovely comments)…. so elegantly served and faultless all the way. And it all looked so superb. It was a truly great evening and a memorable occasion for us all. The Admirable Crichton and Sustainability The Admirable Crichton group comprises of The Admirable Crichton, deWintons by The AC, Maia by The AC and Ace People The AC Group fully embraces its environmental responsibilities and this responsibility is underpinned by the core principles of our corporate social responsibility and we undertake to reduce its environmental impact through re-cycling, reducing, re-using and responsible purchasing. As part of the AC Group’s policy to always use the highest quality ingredients, we will only use produce that is responsibly farmed, from sustainable stocks and cruelty free. All the eggs we use are free range, Lion brand meaning we can always rely on their quality, taste and ethical origin. We are proud to have signed the SUSTAIN pledge to guarantee our commitment to this practice. We use UTZ certified coffee on all event menus and constantly review our practices to ensure we offer the very best ethical and sustainable options to our clients. We would be happy to provide further information about our CSR commitments, please do ask. Our Heritage In the spring of 1506, James Crichton of Clunie was born in Perthshire, Scotland. An unusually gifted prodigy, he was a fine horseman, swordsman, singer, musician and orator. He spoke 12 languages fluently and was the first man to be known as The Admirable Crichton. With all these gifts, he was employed in Venice, as the tutor to the son of the Duke of Mantua. A great lover of beautiful Italian women, he was involved in a dual over a ravishing Venetian Princess and on the 3rd July 1582 he was killed - he was just 22, his talents lost forever. No other Admirable Crichton existed until in 1903, when Sir James Barrie another Scot and the author of Peter Pan, wrote the play The Admirable Crichton. His hero was based on the Chevalier Crichton of old, except this time the super capable man was a butler. He and his employers were shipwrecked on a desert island and it was to Crichton that the family turned to solve their problems. Inventive and talented, he cooked delicious food, built glamorous shelters, salvaged fine wine and brandy from the wreck, and even decorated their dining table with beautiful tropical flowers plucked from the islands plants and arranged in the pale pink conch shells he found lying on the beach. His talents and skills were well rewarded and he became an ever more valued member of the family and so……. some 80 years later, when two Scots, Rolline Frewen and Johnny Roxburgh were thinking about starting what was to become one of the world’s leading catering and party planning businesses, they thought the qualities displayed by both Admirable Crichton’s truly epitomised their own philosophy for Entertaining Luxury and in a few short years the company grew to become a hugely respected benchmark for creative events. Since 1981, nothing has been impossible for The AC. No idea too outlandish, no dish too complicated to cook. Supported by an incredible team of talented and dedicated staff, The AC, as it is universally known, has reached heights all over the world that in 1981 would have seemed unimaginable. Once quoted as saying ‘they don’t do fine - only amazing, creative, spectacular and incredible’, The AC has created a heritage of glamorous parties, generous and loyal clients and a bank of international memories over more than three decades. We hope you will share in that past as you look at the visual feast of our website and with our innovative, dynamic approach to the next thirty years, allow us to create ever more glamorous parties, memorable corporate events, social occasions and delicious food, which will become the future heritage of The AC which today includes, deWintons by The AC, Maia by The AC and Ace People. AC Careers The AC is currently looking for:- Freelance Indian Chefs Freelance Chefs Operations Personnel For more information or to make an application please contact Rolline Frewen. Email: rolline.frewen@admirable-crichton.co.uk

[snarkyoracle]

Abe Sapien Volume 9: Lost Lives and Other Stories TP

Mike Mignola (W), Scott Allie (W), John Arcudi (W), Michael Avon Oeming (A), Mark Nelson (A), Kevin Nowlan (A), Alise Gluškova (A), Santiago Caruso (A), Dave Stewart (C), Juan Ferreyra (A/C), Eduardo Ferreyra (A/C), and Sebastián Fiumara (Cover)

On sale June 7 • FC, 152 pages • $19.99 • TP, 7” x 10”

These six stories trace the history and prehistory of Abe Sapien’s adventures, from his earliest days in the Bureau with Hellboy (as drawn by Kevin Nowlan) through the frog war, featuring an appearance by deceased homunculus Roger, to his current evolved form, when he’s looking back on his life as a man in 1850s England.

Collects the Abe Sapien one-shots #8, #15, #23, #27, and #30 and “Abe Sapien: Subconscious” from Dark Horse Presents (volume 3) #11.

The Adventures of Superhero Girl (Expanded Edition) HC

EISNER AWARD WINNER FOR BEST PUBLICATION FOR KIDS!

Faith Erin Hicks (W/A/Cover) and Cris Peter (C)

On sale June 14 • FC, 128 pages • $16.99 • HC, 10” x 7”

What if you can leap tall buildings and defeat alien monsters with your bare hands, but you buy your capes at secondhand stores and have a weakness for kittens? Cartoonist Faith Erin Hicks brings charming humor to the trials and tribulations of a young female superhero, battling monsters both supernatural and mundane in an all-too-ordinary world.

The expanded edition collects the original comic, two new stories, and new art from creators including Tyler Crook, Ron Chan, Jake Wyatt, Paulina Ganucheau, and more!

Foreword by Kurt Busiek!

Aliens: Dead Orbit #1 (of 4)

JAMES STOKOE’S ALIENS!

James Stokoe (W/A/Cover) and Geof Darrow (Variant cover)

On sale Apr 26 • FC, 32 pages • $3.99 • Miniseries

After a horrific accident strikes a space station, an engineering officer must use all available tools—a timer, utility kit, and his wits—to survive an attack from the deadliest creature known to man.

Orc Stain creator James Stokoe pens a thrilling and claustrophobic Aliens story: Dead Orbit!

On sale on Alien Day: 4/26/17!

GEOF DARROW VARIANT!

Aliens: Defiance #12

Brian Wood (W), Stephen Thompson (A), Dan Jackson (C), and Stephanie Hans (Cover)

On sale May 31 • FC, 32 pages • $3.99 • Ongoing

After her return to Earth, Zula Hendricks fully expects to answer for her defiance. But instead of military tribunals, what she experiences is a chilling look into the future of warfare, courtesy of Weyland-Yutani’s R&D labs. Her mission may not be over just yet.

“Defiance . . . has the potential to be the new benchmark. Go get it.”—Hulking Reviewer

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American Gods: Shadows #2

Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed story now in comics!

Neil Gaiman (W), P. Craig Russell (W/A), Scott Hampton (A/C), Glenn Fabry (Cover), and David Mack (Variant cover)

On sale Apr 12 • FC, 32 pages • $3.99 • Ongoing

Fresh out of jail, Shadow Moon finds himself recruited as a bodyguard for the enigmatic Mr. Wednesday, only to be interrupted and kidnapped by the dangerous Technical Boy, who wants answers as to Wednesday’s plans.

The Hugo, Bram Stoker, Locus, World Fantasy, and Nebula award–winning novel and upcoming Starz television series by Neil Gaiman is adapted as a comic series for the first time!

A Starz TV show by Bryan Fuller (NBC’s Hannibal) based on the novel will debut this spring.

“The American Gods comic is going to be an astonishing, faithful, and beautiful adaptation.”—Neil Gaiman

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Angel Season 11 #4

Corinna Bechko (W), Geraldo Borges (A), Michelle Madsen (C), Scott Fischer (Cover), and Jeff Dekal (Variant cover)

On sale Apr 19 • FC, 32 pages • $3.99 • Ongoing

Angel is caught facing an unrelenting Illyria of the past, an unrelenting Illyria of the future, and an impending volcanic eruption. For him to save an entire race of demons, satisfy both Illyrias, and get himself and Fred back to the future, he will have to convince at least one of the goddesses to trust someone other than themselves—specifically, him!

First-arc finale of Angel Season 11!

The Art of Prey HC

Prey returns!

On sale June 27 • FC, 184 pages • $39.99 • HC, 9” x 12”

A dark force is tormenting Talos I, and survival depends as much on wit as strength. Now, journey alongside Morgan Yu to discover the mysteries within Prey. Arkane Studios and Dark Horse Books are proud to present a comprehensive collection of art from the development of this long-awaited and hotly anticipated game!

The Art of Splatoon HC

THE MOST AMAZE-INK ART BOOK!

Nintendo (W/A)

On sale June 13 • FC, 320 pages • $39.99 • HC, 8 1/2″ x 12”

The Art of Splatoon contains 320 inkredible pages of artwork from Nintendo’s splash-hit video game, including 2D and 3D illustrations of your favorite characters, maps, concept art, weapon and gear design, storyboards, sketches, hand-drawn comics . . . and that’s only an inkling of what’s inside. We’re not squidding around: this is a must-have for all fans of Splatoon!

Character illustrations!

Concept art!

Featuring artwork from Nintendo’s hit game!

Baltimore: The Red Kingdom #3 (of 5)

Mike Mignola (W), Christopher Golden (W), Peter Bergting (A), Michelle Madsen (C), and Ben Stenbeck (Cover)

On sale Apr 5 • FC, 32 pages • $3.99 • Miniseries

Baltimore’s team fight their way into the Vatican as the Red King prepares for his coronation day.

“The writing is a good old fashioned slay-em-dead story.”—Comic Attack

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Black Hammer #8

BRAND-NEW STORY ARC!

Jeff Lemire (W/Variant cover), Dean Ormston (A/Cover), and Dave Stewart (C)

On sale Apr 19 • FC, 32 pages • $3.99 • Ongoing

There’s something unusual about the sleepy farming community of Rockwood: it’s now the home of Spiral City’s mysteriously vanished superheroes. But not by choice: they were banished to the town after a battle with the Anti-God, and now they’re stuck within its boundaries. Lately, a new arrival in town has started asking questions, and she’s discovering that its superpowered residents aren’t the only strange thing about Rockwood . . .

Voted one of the best comics of 2016 by IGN!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 11 #6

Christos Gage (W), Rebekah Isaacs (A/Variant cover), Dan Jackson (C), and Steve Morris (Cover)

On sale Apr 19 • FC, 32 pages • $3.99 • Ongoing

Life in the Safe Zone internment camp is not improving, and Buffy’s status as a peacekeeper has made her a target of the other inmates��but just what are they afraid she might do? Perhaps discover something more sinister going on within the Safe Zone’s impenetrable walls? Stakes are raised in Season 11!

Buffy: The High School Years—Parental Parasite TP

Kel McDonald (W), Yishan Li (A), and Scott Fischer (Cover)

On sale June 28 • FC, 80 pages • $10.99 • TP, 6” x 9”

Buffy struggles to deal with her mom Joyce’s newfound interest in spending time with her. Balancing that with her schoolwork, her friends, and her regular vampire-slaying duties is a challenge. However, when Joyce becomes hypnotized by a childlike demon that craves motherly care, Buffy experiences a new kind of sibling rivalry—except in Buffy’s case, her “sibling” is actually a monster!

Writer Kel McDonald (Misfits of Avalon, Sorcery 101, Angel & Faith), and artist Yishan Li return to Buffy!

Set during Season 1 of the television series.

Call of Duty: Zombies #4 (of 6)

Justin Jordan (W), Jonathan Wayshak (A), Dan Jackson (C), and Simon Bisley (Cover)

On sale Apr 19 • FC, 32 pages • $3.99 • Miniseries

Waves of zombies just keep coming—first in the Call of Duty®: Zombies games, and now from Dark Horse Comics!

Marlton, Misty, Russman, and Stuhlinger think they’ve found a moment’s peace, but the approaching horde of zombies is about to destroy that. Faced with the decision of fight or flight, the crew argues and splits up. When Maxis’s emergency security measures are activated, will it be every man for himself?

Dark Horse Presents #33

Ron Randall (W/A), Carla Speed McNeil (W/A), Ryan Browne (W/A), Jim Alexander (W), Shannon Wheeler (W/A/Cover), Paul Levitz (W), Will Pickering (A), Fin Campbell (A), and Tim Hamilton (A)

On sale Apr 19 • FC, 48 pages • $4.99 • Ongoing

Mercy St. Clair returns to DHP this month with Ron Randall’s Trekker: The Volstock Payoff! Paul Levitz and Tim Hamilton’s Brooklyn Blood concludes! Plus, Ryan Browne contributes the hilarious one-shot There’s a Gorilla on the Cover! Carla Speed McNeil’s Finder, Jim Alexander and Will Pickering’s Savant, and Shannon Wheeler’s Too Much Coffee Man round out this issue.

Comics’ premier Anthology!

Dead Inside #5 (of 5)

John Arcudi (W), Toni Fejzula (A), André May (C), and Dave Johnson (Cover)

On sale Apr 19 • FC, 32 pages • $3.99 • Miniseries

What started as a simple murder investigation ended in a prison riot. But it’s not quite over yet—Detective Caruso is betting that if she can get a little closer to the case, she’ll be able to find the missing piece that pulls it all together. But in this case, getting closer means hostage negotiation with an armed convict.

“An intriguing set-up to a compelling mystery, well-executed by the consistently great John Arcudi. And with fantastic-looking art to boot!”—John Layman (Chew)

Dept. H #13

Matt Kindt (W/A/Cover) and Sharlene Kindt (C)

On sale Apr 19 • FC, 28 pages • $3.99 • Ongoing

The love of Mia’s life, Alain, is desperately trying to maintain contact with her and the rest of the surviving crew trapped in the Dept. H base. With six miles of ocean between him and the woman he loves, will he be able to help her fight bloodthirsty sea creatures, including psychic jellyfish?

“Dept. H by Matt Kindt is my new fave comic, an underwater sci-fi whodunnit from Dark Horse Comics. Total, total genius!”—Mark Millar (Reborn)

The EC Archives: Crime SuspenStories Volume 3 HC

Various (W/A)

On sale June 14 • FC, 216 pages • $49.99 • HC, 8 3/16” x 11”

Jolting tales of criminals, capers, and tension! Collecting issues #13–#18 of Crime SuspenStories from the twisted artistic talents of Al Feldstein, Johnny Craig, Bill Gaines, Jack Kamen, Sid Check, Al Williamson, Fred Peters, Graham Ingels, George Evans, Joe Orlando, and more. Featuring a foreword by David Del Valle.

ElfQuest: The Final Quest Volume 3 TP

Wendy Pini (W/A/Cover), Richard Pini (W), and Sonny Strait (C)

On sale June 28 • FC, 136 pages • $17.99 • TP, 7” x 10”

The late Angrif Djun’s destructive fleet looms closer, seeking to wreak havoc on the elves and any humans that stand in their defense. Rayek, influenced by the dark, dangerous spirit of Winnowill, fights for control of his very nature. And the Wolfriders try to track down their chief, whose own spirit hangs in the balance.

Collects issues #13-#18.

Empowered and the Soldier of Love #3 (of 3)

Adam Warren (W) and Karla Diaz (A/Cover)

On sale Apr 26 • FC, 32 pages • $3.99 • Miniseries

As the very fabric of reality itself unravels around them in a frighteningly literal “storm of burning passion,” can a desperate Empowered and Ninjette stop the embittered, disillusioned, and out-of-control Soldier of Love from using her supercharged “magical-girl” powers to eradicate the entire concept of love from their city?

2017 marks the tenth anniversary of Empowered!

Story by series creator Adam Warren!

Spectacular art by web comic superstar Karla Diaz!

Empowered Volume 10 TP

Adam Warren (W/A/Cover)

On sale June 21 • b&w, 216 pages • $19.99 • TP, 6 1/2″ x 9”

Costumed crimefighter Empowered, delighted by her long-delayed promotion to full-time membership in the Superhomeys, enjoys a suprasocial-media “victory lap.” But will her newfound satisfaction survive the challenges of obnoxious “white knights,” disturbing cryoprison visits, alarming alien medical scans and—worst of all—the revelation of a lover’s dark secret?

Over 250,000 copies sold of Empowered volumes!

“Adam Warren continues to beat the odds and persists in getting better and better with his spicy superhero romp.”—Johnny Bacardi, Popdose.com

Fate/Zero Volume 5 TP

Shinjiro (W/A/Cover)

On sale June 14 • b&w, 168 pages • $11.99 • TP, 5 1/8″ x 7 1/4″

Two desperate hunts stalk the dark woods that shroud Einzbern Castle, as Lancer and Saber confront the hideous sorcery of Caster, incarnation of the fiendish Gilles de Rais, while Irisviel follows Maiya in search of the master magician Kirei. Is mage killer Kiritsugu risking both his wife and his mistress in a cold-blooded scheme to assassinate Kirei . . . ?

Femina and Fauna: The Art of Camilla d’Errico (Second Edition) HC

Back in print!

Camilla d’Errico (W/A/Cover)

On sale June 28 • FC, 132 pages • $24.99 • HC, 8 1/2″ x 11”

Superstar artist Camilla d’Errico’s first Dark Horse art book, now back in print in an improved and updated second edition!

This revised volume features a new foreword by the creator of the Tokidoki brand, Simone Legno, a new introduction by d’Errico herself, and a selection of additional art unique to this edition. It’s a must-have for all fans of pop and fine art alike!

A new cover, a new introduction by the artist, and new artwork not seen in the first edition!

Frigates of EVE Online: The Cross Sections HC

Paul Elsy (W), Charles White (W), and Will Burns (A/Cover)

On sale June 6 • FC, 160 pages • $29.99 • HC, 9” x 12”

Featuring detailed images of twenty-eight of the most iconic ships in EVE Online, this beautifully illustrated guide offers an unprecedented look into frigates from each faction with intricate cutaways and complex lore. Dark Horse Books is proud to partner with CCP Games to present Frigates of EVE Online: The Cross Sections!

Featuring exclusive looks at the ships from EVE Online!

Game of Thrones Melisandre Figure

On sale August 16 • 8” figure • $27.99

Melisandre is a Red Priestess of Asshai and is possessed of arcane powers and a fatal beauty. She was last seen riding away from Winterfell after the Battle of the Bastards, exiled by Jon Snow. Will she return in Season 7 of HBO’s award-winning adaptation? We think so!

This highly detailed 8” figure captures the stern and determined expression of Melisandre.

Game of Thrones Magnetic Bookmark Set #3

On sale June 14 • Set of four bookmarks • $6.99

Fans following HBO’s Game of Thrones are often referring back to their books, since there are so many characters and plot lines to follow. A great way to keep it all straight is by using these brand new Dark Horse magnetic bookmarks. This third edition features newly selected lush color portraits of four favorite characters in updated costumes.

Game of Thrones 2.25” Magnets

Arryn

$4.99

Baratheon

$4.99

Bolton

$4.99

Frey

$4.99

Greyjoy

$4.99

Lannister

$4.99

Martell

$4.99

Stannis-Baratheon

$4.99

Stark

$4.99

Targaryen

$4.99

Tully

$4.99

Tyrell

$4.99

Here is an opportunity for you to enable your customers to truly show allegiance to their favorite Game of Thrones houses. Dark Horse is proud to showcase a collection of twelve individual sigil magnets, measuring 2.25”. Each is produced in full color and bold clarity and packaged individually in a polybag with backing card.

On sale Feb 22

The Goon Library Volume 5 HC

Eric Powell (W/A/Cover), John Arcudi (W), Patton Oswalt (W), Thomas Lennon (W), Mark Buckingham (A), Guy Davis (A), Bill Morrison (A), and Bill Farmer (C)

On sale June 7 • FC, 472 pages • $49.99 • HC, 8” x 12 3/16”

What’s left of the Zombie Priest’s race of witches come after the Goon, forcing him to face his nightmares or lose his town! The witch coven believe that control of Goon’s town will soon be in their grasp and his tragic soul will contribute to the curse that increases their power. But has their plot destroyed the Goon or created a monster too savage for them to withstand?

This library edition collects The Goon Volumes 13–15 and The Goon Noir.

Halo Library Edition Volume 2 HC

Duffy Boudreau (W), Sergio Ariño (P), Douglas Franchin (P/I), Ian Richardson (P), Juan Castro (I), Rob Lean (I), Denis Freitas (I), Carlos Eduardo (I), Michael Atiyeh (C), and Isaac Hannaford (Cover)

On sale June 14 • FC, 296 pages • $49.99 • HC, 9” x 12”

One of the most popular video game franchises ever receives another deluxe hardcover! In this volume, follow the UNSC Spartans as they attempt to halt Dr. Catherine Halsey and Jul ‘Mdama’s pursuit of the Janus Key—the fate of the entire galaxy depends on them! This volume collects Halo: Escalation #13–#24 and features a cover gallery, annotations, and behind-the-scenes extras!

The conclusion of Escalation in a deluxe, oversized hardcover!

Features exclusive annotations!

Includes a cover gallery and behind-the-scenes extras!

Harrow County #22

Cullen Bunn (W) and Tyler Crook (A/Cover)

On sale Apr 12 • FC, 32 pages • $3.99 • Ongoing

When another magical force starts flexing its power in Harrow County, Emmy is surprised to learn that one of her oldest friends may be turning against her. While Emmy has been focused on dealing with threats from the outside world, perhaps a much bigger problem has been brewing at home.

“This is one of the best horror series I’ve ever read. It goes beyond the typical horror stereotypes, and brings a deeper, more sophisticated kind of terror to the audience. This is definitely a series for all horror fans.”—ComicWow!

Hatsune Miku: Acute TP

Shiori Asahina (W/A/Cover)

On sale June 7 • b&w, 172 pages • $10.99 • TP, 5 1/8” x 7 1/4″

Acute, like the three angles of a triangle. Acute, as in the three sharp points. Acute is the tragic relationship between three Vocaloids: Miku, Kaito, and Luka! Once they were all friends making songs—but while Kaito might make a duet with Miku or a duet with Luka, a love song all three of them sing together can only end in sorrow! Based on the song with over 4.4 million combined views on YouTube and Niconico.

Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1954—Ghost Moon #2 (of 2)

Mike Mignola (W), Chris Roberson (W), Brian Churilla (A), Dave Stewart (C), and Mike Huddleston (Cover)

On sale Apr 12 • FC, 32 pages • $3.99 • Miniseries

Hellboy squares off against a pair of Chinese demons while Sue psychically hunts down the source of the supernatural trouble in Hong Kong.

The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars Part One TP

The official continuation of The Legend of Korra!

Michael Dante DiMartino (W), Irene Koh (A/Cover), Jane Bak (C), Vivian Ng (C), and Heather Campbell (Cover)

On sale June 7 • FC, 80 pages • $10.99 • TP, 6” x 9”

Relishing their new relationship, Korra and Asami leave the spirit world . . . but find nothing in Republic City but political high jinks and human vs. spirit conflict!

A pompous developer plans to turn the new spirit portal into an amusement park, potentially severing an already tumultuous connection with the spirits. What’s more, the triads have realigned and are in a brutal all-out brawl at the city’s borders—where hundreds of evacuees have relocated!

Written by series cocreator Michael Dante DiMartino and drawn by Irene Koh (Secret Origins: Batgirl, Afrina and the Glass Coffin), with consultation by Bryan Konietzko, this is the official continuation of The Legend of Korra!

The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts Limited Edition HC

Nintendo (W/A)

On sale Feb 21 • FC, 424 pages • $79.99 • Ltd. Ed. HC, 9” x 12”

Experience the thrill of finding and unsheathing the Master Sword with The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts limited edition. The sword itself is a 3D embossed sculpt with a metallic foil finish and is printed at the size of an actual sword hilt to give the reader the satisfaction of unsheathing the realistic-looking sword from the acetate sleeve sheathe that encases the book. The cover’s background features the Lost Woods in a deep, custom-mixed purple ink with a soft-touch lamination and spot-gloss UV which is framed with metallic foil. The pages are gilded to round out the premium enhancements.

3D embossed Master Sword!

Acetate sleeve sheathe!

Gilded pages!

Metallic finish!

Contains over 400 pages of illustrations from the thirty year history of Zelda.

The Life and Times of Martha Washington in the Twenty-First Century (Second Edition) TP

FRANK MILLER! DAVE GIBBONS!

Frank Miller (W), Dave Gibbons (A/Cover), and Angus McKie (C)

On sale June 7 • FC, 600 pages • $29.99 • TP, 7” x 10”

Our story begins in the squalid corridors of a maximum-security housing project, where a young girl will rise from the war-torn streets of Chicago to battle injustice in a world insane with corruption. Her fight will take her far, from the frontlines of the second American Civil War to the cold, unforgiving reaches of space. She will be called a hero, a traitor, and nearly everything in between, but all along the way, her courage, her integrity, and her unwavering commitment to that most valuable of rights—liberty—will inspire a movement that will never surrender.

Collecting remastered versions of every Martha Washington, an extensive behind-the-scenes section, an introduction by Frank Miller, and a brand-new cover by Dave Gibbons!

Lobster Johnson: The Pirate’s Ghost #2 (of 3)

Mike Mignola (W), John Arcudi (W), and Tonci Zonjic (A/Cover)

On sale Apr 26 • FC, 32 pages • $3.99 • Miniseries

The Lobster searches for a connection between a missing reporter and the appearance of a ghostly pirate ship.

The Once and Future Queen #2 (of 5)

Adam P. Knave (W), D.J. Kirkbride (W), and Nickolas Brokenshire (A/Cover)

On sale Apr 12 • FC, 32 pages • $3.99 • Miniseries

Battles are fought, weapons are bestowed, and romance begins to blossom! The new queen puts together her own Round Table as Merlin reveals what set the fae war off in the first place, the King in Shadow plots the defeat of humanity, and a devious third party is revealed . . . Are they friend or foe?

Plants vs. Zombies: Battle Extravagonzo HC

A New York Times best-selling series!

Paul Tobin (W), Tim Lattie (A), Matt J. Rainwater (C), and Ron Chan (Cover)

On sale June 14 • FC, 80 pages • $9.99 • HC, 6” x 9”

A new, standalone graphic novel by Paul Tobin and Tim Lattie! Zomboss is back, hoping to buy the same factory at the center of Neighborville that his nemesis Crazy Dave is eyeing! Will Crazy Dave and his intelligent plants beat Zomboss and his zombie army to the punch? The Battle Extravagonzo is on!

The first Plants vs. Zombies original graphic novel!

Prometheus: Life and Death One-Shot

Dan Abnett (W), Brian Albert Thies (A), Rain Beredo (C), David Palumbo (Cover), and Sachin Teng (Variant cover)

On sale Apr 26 • FC, 48 pages • $5.99 • One-shot

The surviving Colonial Marines on the planet LV-223 face a final battle with an injured and enraged Engineer—and, somewhere out in space, three trapped humans seek to change the course of the Engineer’s ship . . . and possibly the history of humanity!

The final installment of the Life and Death saga!

Rebels: These Free and Independent States #2 (of 8)

Brian Wood (W), Andrea Mutti (A), Lauren Affe (C), and Matthew Taylor (Cover)

On sale Apr 26 • FC, 32 pages • $3.99 • Miniseries

Twenty years old and already an experienced shipbuilder, John Abbott divides his time between the construction of the USS Constitution and dabbling in the raucous and sometimes violent political demonstrations happening around him. After he falls in with two abolitionists one night in Boston, things take a tragic turn.

From best-selling writer Brian Wood (The Massive, DMZ, Northlanders).

“Brian Wood has resurrected an era of American history that will satisfy the history buff and the lover of good comics alike.”—The Latest Pull

RG Veda Book 3 TP

CLAMP (W/A/Cover)

On sale June 21 • b&w, 656 pages • $24.99 • TP, 5 3/4″ x 8 1/4″

RG Veda (pronounced Rig Veda) is based on the classic Indian saga of the same name. The Six Stars have at last reached Zenmi Palace to confront the evil god-king Taishakuten. As the tyrant prepares to kill them, Kujaku reveals the sign given to those who commit the most heinous of sins. Yet greater evil still is held back only by the seal on Ashura, without which the god of destruction will emerge, unstoppable . . . and if Yasha cannot change his destiny, he must face it—in the conclusion to the epic tale!

The Shaolin Cowboy: Who’ll Stop the Reign? #1 (of 4)

Geof Darrow (W/A/Cover), Frank Miller (Variant cover), and Dave Stewart (C)

On sale Apr 19 • FC, 32 pages • $3.99 • Miniseries

Who doesn’t like Surf and Turf? Well, what do you do when Surf and Turf doesn’t like YOU?????????

The Eisner Award–losing and winning drawing-room talkfest The Shaolin Cowboy returns and will try to answer those questions as the titular hero of the series finds that his road to hell is paved not with good intentions but old nemeses hell bent on bloody revenge . . . AGAIN!!!!

Three-time Eisner Award winner Geof Darrow returns to the series Paste called “mind blowing” and io9 called “100% amazing.”

“There’s a lot to like about The Shaolin Cowboy. It’s whacky, over-the-top, and at points laugh-out-loud funny . . . If you don’t enjoy this book, you’re already dead.”—Comic Bastards

Frank Miller variant cover!

Slayer: Repentless HC

Jon Schnepp (W), Guiu Vilanova (A), Mauricio Wallace (C), and Glenn Fabry (Cover)On sale June 28 • FC, 88 pages • $19.99 • HC, 7” x 10”

The ultimate thrash-metal juggernaut, Slayer has laid waste to stages and audiences worldwide for over thirty years, with their latest album, Repentless, furthering their brutal legacy. Based on the savage Repentless videos by BJ McDonnell, this expansion of the video story lines drives deep into the darkest heart of America, a raging road trip down a bloodstained highway, a tale of the doomed, the damned . . . and the repentless! Collects the three-issue miniseries.

Spell on Wheels TP

Kate Leth (W), Megan Levens (A), Marissa Louise (C), and Jen Bartel (Cover)

On sale June 7 • FC, 136 pages • $14.99 • TP, 7” x 10”

Three young witches head out on an East Coast road trip to retrieve their stolen belongings and track down the mysterious thief before he can do any damage to—or with—their possessions. Collects Spell on Wheels #1–#5.

Supernatural meets Buffy and The Craft!

“A lively book that focuses on the strength of relationships that also promises a fun road trip along the way.”—Multiversity Comics

Too Much Coffee Man Omnibus Plus HC

The most complete Too Much Coffee Man collection!

Shannon Wheeler (W/A/Cover)

On sale June 7 • FC, 600 pages • $29.99 • HC, 8 1/2″ x 11”

A deluxe hardcover featuring 32 new color story pages! This 600-page Omnibus Plus edition features five previously published Too Much Coffee Man books, plus an all-new color section! These semiautobiographical, hyperintellectual tales will appeal to both comic book insiders and pop culture fanatics. The most complete Too Much Coffee Man collection!

Bonus color Too Much Coffee Man adventures included!

Celebrating the work of Shannon Wheeler in a deluxe hardcover!

Tomb Raider Archives Volume 2 HC

Various (W/A)

On sale June 14 • FC, 480 pages • $39.99 • HC, 8” x 12”

In pursuit of adventure—and the world’s rarest treasures—Lara circles the globe . . . and even goes off the edge of the map. Journey along on her most memorable expeditions as she teams up with a treasure hunter from the future, faces off against Egyptian gods in the afterlife, and searches for love.

This deluxe oversized hardcover collects issues #16–#24 and #26–#34 of the 1999 Top Cow Tomb Raider series and features the art of superstar artists Adam Hughes, Michael Turner, Andy Park, Randy Green, Tony Daniel, and many more!

New writers John Ney Rieber, James Bonny, and Adam Hughes join Dan Jurgens in telling Lara’s story.

Introduction by Tomb Raider all-star Randy Green!

Usagi Yojimbo Volume 31: The Hell Screen TP

Stan Sakai (W/A/Cover)

On sale June 28 • FC, 208 pages • $17.99 • TP, 6” x 9”

In this thrilling volume, the rabbit ronin teams up with—and faces off against—a multitude of unexpected characters: destitute bandits, a renegade kappa, and a komori ninja! Then, Inspector Ishida returns to investigate a ghastly painting known only as the Hell Screen! Collects Usagi Yojimbo issues #152–#158. Foreword by Cullen Bunn (Conan, Harrow County)!

Contains the three-part story arc “The Secret of the Hell Screen”!

100% new-reader friendly!

The Visitor: How and Why He Stayed #3 (of 5)

Mike Mignola (W), Chris Roberson (W), Paul Grist (A/Cover), and Bill Crabtree (C)

On sale Apr 26 • FC, 32 pages • $3.99 • Miniseries

The resurgence of a dangerous woman believed to have been killed long ago by the BPRD leads the Visitor to a cult’s compound in the Southwest.

Dark Horse Comics: April 2017 Solicitations Abe Sapien Volume 9: Lost Lives and Other Stories TP Mike Mignola (W), Scott Allie (W), John Arcudi (W), Michael Avon Oeming (A), Mark Nelson (A), Kevin Nowlan (A), Alise Gluškova (A), Santiago Caruso (A), Dave Stewart (C), Juan Ferreyra (A/C), Eduardo Ferreyra (A/C), and Sebastián Fiumara (Cover)