Month: June 2014

Movies

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I started out writing movies, after earning an MFA degree in screenwriting at the AFI Conservatory, where I met my wife, Ruth. Since then, we have collaborated on pretty much all our screenplays. (Teenage Caveman being an exception.)

As with any screenwriting career, there are some scripts you sell that end up on a shelf, never to be seen again, and others that you know will have a long road to the screen, if they ever get there. (Like our adaptation of the classic Arthur C. Clarke novel Rendezvous With Rama for Morgan Freeman’s Revelations Films.)

And if you’re lucky, some get made. Here are ours.

The Breed, starring Adrian Paul, Bokeem Woodbine and Bai Ling, is a supernatural buddy/cop movie about a human cop (Woodbine) teamed with a vampire officer (Paul) in a world where vampires aren’t supernatural creatures, but a genetic offshoot of humanity. It was a co-production of Sony/Screen Gems, originally airing on Starz.

The Breed

Paradox, starring Kevin Sorbo and Steph Song, tells the story of a homicide detective on a parallel Earth that runs on magic, investigating a baffling series of crimes committed using the unknown techniques of science.

Paradox

Teenage Caveman was directed by indie filmmaker Larry Clark (Kids, Bully) for HBO. Legendary special effects master Stan Winston produced and designed the creature. It was part of a series of Creature Features that saw independent film directors re-imagine 1950’s drive-in B-movies from American International Pictures. I got an Associate Producer credit on this one, and there was an action figure of the monster!

Teenage Caveman

Original Graphic Novels

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An original graphic novel is a bit like a long-form comic book. Some people apply the term “graphic novel” to collections of several issues of a serialized comic, but there’s a difference between that and a story written to be its own long-form piece.

So far, I’ve written two original graphic novels. The first was for Vertigo, the mature readers imprint of DC Comics…specifically for their Vertigo Crime line. It’s called Area 10, and features stunning black and white art by Chris Samnee, who has quickly become one of the most respected artists in comics. (And is a terrific guy, to boot!) It’s a crime/noir thriller with supernatural overtones, about a homicide detective pursuing a serial killer who sustains a brain injury that may have given him a form of enhanced perception…or he might just be going insane. Some people I respect a lot were kind enough to say very nice things about this book:

“A gripping, fast-paced thriller…a new breed of graphic crime novel with a staggering climax.” – Nicholas Pileggi, author of Goodfellas

“Mind blowing! Eye opening! Okay, enough with the metaphors, it’s just really, really cool!” – Max Brooks, author of World War Z

“A moody, compelling thriller superbly told.  Area 10 is a breakneck ride. Time after time, I thought I had it figured out, then got thrown at the next bend of the road.” – Mike Carey, The Unwritten

“An exquisitely creepy crime story loaded with twists. Gage and Samnee make one hell of a team. Thanks to them I’ll forever be uncomfortable around power drills.” – Jason Aaron, Scalped

area10

My second OGN, Sunset, is also in the crime/noir genre, but without the supernatural overtones. It’s about a Vegas mob legbreaker who pulled off a big heist thirty years ago and has lived quietly ever since, but now his past has come back with a vengeance. The art is by the wonderful Jorge Lucas, and it’s published by the Minotaur Press imprint of Top Cow.

Sunset+Cover

I’m currently working on another OGN, this one with my wife Ruth, for Oni Press. Titled The Lion Of Rora, it’s a historical epic in the vein of Braveheart, based on the true story of Ruth’s ancestors, the Waldensians. More on that soon!

Video Games

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It’s only in the last few years that I’ve begun writing video games, and it’s been a lot of fun, as well as informative. I feel that working in different media and formats helps you become a better overall writer.

It was great to have the cast of the first Captain America movie provide voices for the Captain America: Super Soldier video game, and then hear that both Chris Evans and the directors took inspiration from the game in choreographing the action scenes in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, one of my favorite Marvel movies.

It was also a huge thrill for this lifelong comic fan to write dialogue for Stan “The Man” Lee himself in Amazing Spider-Man 2! For a lot of the comic shop scenes (Stan plays the proprietor of a comic shop in the game), when it called for Stan to offer the player new comics, I took cover copy directly from classic Marvel covers…the circle of life!

Anyway, here are the games I’ve written so far. Two console games, Captain America: Super Soldier:

Captain_America_Super_Soldier

And Amazing Spider-Man 2:

TASP2-game

I also wrote two mobile games:

Iron Man 3: The Official Game

and

Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

If you play ’em, I hope you enjoy!

Christosgage.com returns!

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So, yeah, my site has been down for…oh, a couple years, at least. This is my attempt to get it up and running again! Please bear with me as I figure it out while also trying to keep up with my actual job. I’ll be adding posts that cover things I’ve done in the past, as well as exciting stuff coming up. Thanks!