Azrael

Story: Art, Comics, Movies, Games & Toys 🎨💬🎞️🕹️🧸
Passions: Drawing, Bronze DC/M, Noir, C64 & Statues
Love: Manga, Music, Food, Poetry & 🌸
Promo: Indies 💌

[Azrael @KylePrometheus]

📌 Sunday Indie Comics Promo. 🔥🪄
Iron Man Month – Forging the Mark I.

"Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave!
With a box of scraps!"
- Obadiah Stane.

Even when you’re trapped in the cave of low engagement.
Even when all you’ve got is a box of scraps - limited tools, zero budget, zero algorithm love.
Even when the whole industry is yelling that what you’re building is impossible…

You are still forging.

Your next page is still another plate of armour.
Your story is still worth the fire and the hammer.
This is Iron Man Month.

No gatekeepers.
No Ten Rings.

Just creators who refuse to stay captive - who build the suit anyway, one rough, imperfect, glorious panel at a time.

Drop your cover, your link, and the one thing that still makes you say...

"I am Iron Man."

When the feed is silent and the scraps feel like all you’ve got.

Let’s forge.
This month.
Together.

#IndieComics #IronManMonth #IronMan #MarkI #IAmIronMan

[Azrael @KylePrometheus]

Noirvember 12. 🎞️ 🍂

A warm welcome to Noir Director @chaillotfilms to 'The 5 Pillars Of Storytelling.'

Day 5 of their #NoirvemberChallenge: a noir you wish more people saw (a thank you for inspiring this Noirvember post...)

https://t.co/GClpOPpGz0

The Window (1949.)

Ted Tetzlaff directing, fresh from photographing Notorious. Cornell Woolrich’s “The Boy Cried Murder,” adapted by Mel Dinelli. Bobby Driscoll as the boy who has cried wolf too many times, sleeping on the fire escape when he sees a murder through a neighboring window. No one believes him. Barbara Hale, Arthur Kennedy, Ruth Roman, Paul Stewart.

Shot on location in New York on a tight budget, it became a solid RKO hit and earned Driscoll a special Juvenile Oscar. Jeffrey first saw it at Eddie Muller’s festival at the Egyptian around the turn of the century and it stayed with him.

The community is better for the people who keep these films in circulation.

Azrael. 🪽 🎞️

[DepressedBergman @DannyDrinksWine]

When Howard Hughes bought RKO, "The Window" (1949) was one of the studio's finished films he declared to be 'not worth releasing'. It was shelved for nearly 2 yrs & when released in 1949, it turned out to be one of RKO's bigger hits, grossing several times what it had cost.

[幕末新撰組『侍ベーシスト』 @Akinoriniisato]

⚔️🎶皆殿‼️いつも感謝でござる🙏😁

この度、拙者がプロデュースする
THE ONE SOUNDS

🎧 1st ALBUM『ONE』
🔥11月17日(火) TUNECORE 配信開始‼️

まもなく、掲載予定
https://t.co/1h6QhdOUwS

長きにわたり、大切に温め続けてきた楽曲たち。

流行に左右されることなく、己が信じる音楽を追い求め、ようやく形にすることができた是よ😁👍

🎤 Vo. Sunny A.
🎸 Produced by Akinori Niisato

今回は全5曲‼️

飾りすぎない、どこか懐かしくも力強いバンドサウンドと、魂を込めた歌声をお届けいたします‼️

今回は『地平線』『HIKARI』の2曲を少しだけ公開🎶

皆殿の心に、何かひとつでも響くものがあれば幸いでござる🙏🌸

どうぞお楽しみに‼️😁

#TheOneSounds #ONE #SunnyA #侍ベーシスト #Bass #ROCK #新里昭典

[Azrael @KylePrometheus]

Art Thursday. 🎨

Jake Parker asked which cover would make you pick up the book.

‘A’ was packed with characters. ‘B’ was a high-contrast forest silhouette. After a flood of replies he took the best of both, then kept refining the concept. The final keeps the mood and readability of the silhouette while letting the supporting cast and title breathe. A graceful and elegant mix of both.

Then the proofs arrived. Colours that looked good on screen vibrantly popped off the page. The silhouette stayed crisp even at thumbnail size.

Even with Missile Mouse, Inktober, New York Times bestsellers and years of anthology work behind him, the path still runs through uncertainty, outside reflection and deliberate commercial decisions.

The graceful final piece is almost always the end of that process rather than the starting point.

The Antler Boy and Other Stories collects his short comics originally done for anthologies like Flight and Out of Picture. Softcover second printing of a long-out-of-print hardcover.

Proofs looking this good is a quiet victory.
@mrjakeparker

#ArtThursday #art #TheAntlerBoy #JakeParker #comics #illustration

[Jake Parker @mrjakeparker]

Which one of these covers makes you want to pick up the book and check it out? It’s an anthology of my short comic stories from over the years. (I published a hardcover years ago that is long out of print, and want to do a softcover 2nd printing)

[Azrael @KylePrometheus]

Noirvember 11. 🎞️ 🖤 🪽

Angels with Dirty Faces (1938.)

Noir Titans. Cagney and Bogart. Proto-Noir street light.

[Petronella Wyatt @PetronellaWyatt]

You want me to turn yeller!”
In this extraordinary scene from “Angels With Dirty Faces” (1938), priest and childhood friend Pat O’Brien asks condemned murderer Rocky (James Cagney) to act like a coward at his execution so that the neighbourhood boys will stop their hero worship of him. Cagney always refused to say whether Rocky’s subsequent terror and pleading was feigned or real.

[Azrael @KylePrometheus]

Wednesday Indie Comic Focus. 💬 ☄️

Tyson J Rock @RisingStarCom.

Rebound into Cosmo Girl #3. System Overload.
Colouring underway. First pages live. Kickstarter open.

#IndieComics #CosmoGirl #RisingStarComics

[Off-Panel w/ Tyson J. Rock @RisingStarCom]

Coloring on Cosmo Girl #3: System Overload is underway. Here are the first four pages!

Coming soon to Kickstarter. SIGN UP below!

[幕末新撰組『侍ベーシスト』 @Akinoriniisato]

⚔️🔥遂に解禁ゼよ‼️皆殿感謝感激🙏😁
侍ベーシスト渾身のNEW ALBUM『修羅維新録』
🎧11月11日(水) BASS DAY 配信開始‼️
https://t.co/c5xfrHizlw

長らく待たせ申した‼️

幕末維新を駆け抜けた七人の獅子たち！
己の信念を貫いた侍の魂が、今ここに蘇る⚔️

🔥 SAMURAI × METAL × FUSION 🔥

七つの魂が織りなす修羅の旋律！
轟け、世界へ‼️

刮目して聴くがよい是よ‼️🔥

#侍ベーシスト #修羅維新録 #SAMURAIBASSIST #BASSDAY #和メタル #新里昭典 #新選組 #幕末 #HEAVYMETALFUSION #METALFUSION

[Azrael @KylePrometheus]

@DarrenW97322068 Darren,

...a comic-book team-up of these two pulp and noir legends would be something. The wrist-radio detective and the man in the fedora against the same gangs.

Azrael. 🪽

[Azrael @KylePrometheus]

It’s Toy Tuesday at the 5 Pillars of Storytelling, 🎞️

...and we’ve got the perfect sculpt for our Noirvember theme month.

Bogart. The Granite Titan of Noir himself. 🪨

Infinite Statue’s limited Old & Rare piece captures that tough-yet-sweet face with real precision - the eyes, the set of the mouth, the whole weathered presence.

The hands and the trench coat are next-level: every wrinkle, belt loop, and button studied from the black-and-white films.

Pure sepia granite. Peak likeness work. 🪽

“Here’s looking at you, kid.”

*(The product is a limited-edition (350 pieces) 1/6-scale resin piece by Infinite Statue, sculpted by Daniele “Danko” Angelozzi with paint by Jerry Di Tullio, capturing the classic trench-coat look from the Casablanca airport scene. It’s currently sold out (unsurprisingly) on Sideshow...)

https://t.co/D9HL9hcedd

(The 'Olympus of the Greats' - the product description itself is worth a read...)

#Noirvember #HumphreyBogart #Casablanca #ToyTuesday #FilmNoir #InfiniteStatue #Sideshow #OldAndRare #Collectibles #Bogart #5PillarsOfStorytelling #ClassicHollywood

[Azrael @KylePrometheus]

Noirvember 10. 🎞️ 🖤 🍂

Touchez pas au grisbi (1954.) Jacques Becker. Jean Gabin.

The quiet heist. The aging gangster. Loyalty that costs everything. No American shadow. Pure French weather. 🇫🇷 The name’s home ground.

Grisbi holds the centre. Quintessential. Titans of the continent carry it. Quiet. Peak clip that sings: the montage from Gangster Cinema (Gabin, nightclub, pressure, guns...)

'A masterpiece of French crime cinema that redefined the gangster genre by focusing on the weariness, honour and vulnerabilities of aging.' Wiki.

Noirvember 10. 🎞️ 🖤 🍂

Touchez pas au grisbi (1954). Jacques Becker. Jean Gabin.

Un casse tout en retenue. Un gangster vieillissant. Une loyauté qui coûte tout. Aucune influence américaine. Une atmosphère typiquement française. 🇫🇷 Le genre, sur ses terres d’origine.

Le « grisbi » est au cœur de tout. L’essence même du genre. Porté par des géants du continent. Tout en sobriété. Un moment fort, magistral : la séquence emblématique (Gabin, boîte de nuit, tension, armes…).

« Un chef-d’œuvre du cinéma policier français qui a redéfini le genre du film de gangsters en mettant l’accent sur la lassitude, l’honneur et les vulnérabilités liées au vieillissement. » - Wiki.

[Gangster Cinema Central @GangsterCinema]

Touchez Pas au Grisbi (1954), directed by Jacques Becker, is one of the greatest gangster films ever made. Kinji Fukasaku and Martin Scorsese have both cited it as one of the pinnacles of the gangster genre. If you want to get into classic French crime cinema, this is essential viewing.

Jean Gabin stars as Max, an aging gangster trying to hold onto a quiet life after one last big score. He’s calm and cool in a world full of young, up‑and‑coming cutthroats looking to take him out.

In a sense, it’s a reaction to the Warner Bros. prohibition‑era gangster movies of the ’30s: what happens when those gangsters don’t die in a hail of bullets, but actually grow old?Can an old-time criminal age out comfortably in the dangerous, glamorous underworld of 1950s Paris?

Director Jacques Becker captures Paris in a way that feels alive, steeped in French noir fatalism. The tension and paranoia are subtle at first, but become ever more palpable as the story progresses; eventually erupting into one of the great final showdowns of the gangster genre.

10/10 classic crime flick I can’t recommend enough

[Azrael @KylePrometheus]

こーじん（尾崎晃仁）@E1E5n.

Belated birthday greetings! 🎂

Starting the guitar at 60 and making the debut at 66 - that is the long game done right and truly inspirational.

The pre-celebration at Bistro Kataoka looks like a real, exquisite 'Chef's lunch course' treat. Gratitude for the people who keep showing up.

Never too old for the first real gig. 🙏

Azrael. 🪽

こーじん（尾崎晃仁）@E1E5n.

遅ればせながら、お誕生日おめでとうございます！🎂

60歳からギターを始め、66歳でデビューを果たす――まさに「長い時間をかけた挑戦」の理想的な形であり、本当に刺激をいただきました。

「ビストロ・カタオカ」での前祝い、とても贅沢で素晴らしい「シェフのランチコース」ですね。いつも変わらず駆けつけてくれる方々への感謝の気持ち、素敵です。

本格的な初ライブに、遅すぎるということは決してありません。🙏

Azrael. 🪽

[Azrael @KylePrometheus]

Aki, our friend ⚔️🔥

You are welcome.

After your last reply, the path became clear. We feature all three blades of your Warrior sound - Parts I, II and III. The humility to work with others, the grace you bring to your own forge, the fire that stays.

Your sharing of Japanese history and its Samurai soul, the fractal fusion of culture with Heavy Metal - that path you walk and share.

The passion is clear in the work. We look forward to the spirit of SHURA: CHRONICLES OF REVOLUTION.

Friendship and support, friend Aki. As night follows day. 🙏🌸

Azrael. 🪽🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇯🇵

アキ、友よ⚔️🔥

どういたしまして。

あなたの最後の返信を受けて、進むべき道が明確になりました。あなたの「Warrior Sound」の3つの刃、パートI、II、IIIすべてをフィーチャーします。他者と協力する謙虚さ、あなた自身の鍛冶場にもたらす優雅さ、そして決して消えることのない情熱。

あなたが共有する日本の歴史と侍の魂、文化とヘヴィメタルのフラクタルな融合――あなたが歩み、分かち合う道。

作品には情熱がはっきりと表れています。SHURA: CHRONICLES OF REVOLUTIONの精神に期待しています。

友よ、アキ、友情と応援を。夜が明けるように。🙏🌸

アズラエル。🪽🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇯🇵

[Azrael @KylePrometheus]

Late Night Mood. 🌙 🔥 🏙️ - Creative Leader Saturday. ❤️‍🔥

Part 3 - Samurai Bassist. ⚔️ 🎸
(The path tempered by others...)

Saturday quiet...a moment we've been waiting patiently for... The Prophecy of the Fire Moon. 👁️ ️ 🙏

The solo blade is richer for the rooms he has already shared. Tradition and metal, rain and fractal edge - the path does not stay lonely because the tempering happened elsewhere first. A fusion...of...

Three Blades. One Warrior. 🌸 🔥
Finally. Unleashed...
'Shura Ishinrokuj' @Akinoriniisato 🧘‍♂️ 🪷

🪽 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇯🇵

#CreativeLeaderSaturday #LateNightMood

深夜のムード。🌙 🔥 🏙️ — 「クリエイティブ・リーダー・サタデー」。❤️‍🔥

第3部 — 侍ベーシスト。⚔️ 🎸
（他者との関わりの中で鍛え上げられた道……）

静かな土曜日……待ちわびていた瞬間が訪れる。……「火の月の予言」。👁️ ️ 🙏

孤高の刃は、これまで分かち合ってきた数々の場を経て、より豊かに研ぎ澄まされた。伝統とメタル、雨とフラクタルな鋭さ――その道は決して孤独ではない。なぜなら、魂の鍛錬は、すでに別の場所で始まっていたのだから。融合……それは……

三つの刃。一人の戦士。🌸 🔥
ついに、解き放たれる……。
『修羅維新録』 @Akinoriniisato 🧘‍♂️ 🪷

🪽 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇯🇵

#CreativeLeaderSaturday #LateNightMood

[幕末新撰組『侍ベーシスト』 @Akinoriniisato]

⚔️🔥遂に解禁ゼよ‼️皆殿感謝感激🙏😁
侍ベーシスト渾身のNEW ALBUM『修羅維新録』
🎧11月11日(水) BASS DAY 配信開始‼️
https://t.co/c5xfrHizlw

長らく待たせ申した‼️

幕末維新を駆け抜けた七人の獅子たち！
己の信念を貫いた侍の魂が、今ここに蘇る⚔️

🔥 SAMURAI × METAL × FUSION 🔥

七つの魂が織りなす修羅の旋律！
轟け、世界へ‼️

刮目して聴くがよい是よ‼️🔥

#侍ベーシスト #修羅維新録 #SAMURAIBASSIST #BASSDAY #和メタル #新里昭典 #新選組 #幕末 #HEAVYMETALFUSION #METALFUSION

[Azrael @KylePrometheus]

Indie Comics 💬 Late Night Love. 🌙 🌃 ❤️ 🤍

Peter Simeti @petersimeti
Alterna since 2006.

Sketch. Ink. Cover. Edit. Print. Publish. Write.

The full loop for Twenty Years.
Newsprint that still smells like comics.
Horse whisperer of the work. Quiet. The hand carries it.

https://t.co/VSMFoFy2iP

[Azrael @KylePrometheus]

Noirvember 9. 🎞️ 🖤 🍂 Week 2 - Shared stages.

Key Largo (1948) - Noir Titans - 'Granite' Bogart and 'Godfather' Robinson, storm outside, pressure inside.

[Sergio Rodríguez @Sergiofordy]

Key Largo, directed by John Huston.
Release date: July 16, 1948 (U.S.).
Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, Claire Trevor, Thomas Gomez, Harry Lewis and John Rodney.
“More” scene.

[Azrael @KylePrometheus]

Noirvember 8 二 🎞️ ⚔️ 🖤

Part 2 of our Sci-Fi Samurai Kurosawa Noir Weekend.

Star Wars - The Blackened Mantle (Kurosawa Edition).

Noir isn’t just the fedora and the alley.

It is the underlying chiaroscuro and moral contrast, not the surface 1940s/50s fedora-and-alleyway kit.

The hard light, the crushed shadow and the moral contrast underneath.

The prequels condensed into Revenge of the Sith, with Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones as flashbacks. Japanese audio. Rewritten subtitles. Grainy high-contrast black, grey and white.

Opening scene → https://t.co/fC81oY1l9W

Anakin vs Obi-Wan → https://t.co/QJVBSJ9j6r

Lucas designed Star Wars as a silent movie. The music tells the story. Dialogue is secondary. Some official Super 8 distributions even went out as black-and-white silent reels with captions - pure 1920s elemental Noir.

Good and Evil. Characterisation. Staging. Music.

Strip the colour. Add Japanese. The actors’ physical work suddenly becomes more visible.

You don’t need to speak English to feel it.

They don’t want you to watch Star Wars this way, but it’s better → https://t.co/hNXrpWSlRH

Space Opera. Like no other. 🪽

Noirvember 8 二 🎞️ ⚔️ 🖤

「SF・侍・黒澤・ノワール」をテーマにした週末企画、その第2弾。

『スター・ウォーズ ― 黒き外套（黒澤エディション）』

「ノワール」とは、単にフェドラ帽を被った男が路地裏に佇むような、表面的な1940〜50年代のスタイルを指すものではない。

それは、作品の根底に流れる明暗の対比（キアロスクーロ）であり、道徳的な葛藤のことだ。

強烈な光、深く沈み込んだ影、そしてその下に潜む道徳的な対立。

本作は、前日譚（プリクエル）三部作を『シスの復讐』に凝縮し、『ファントム・メナス』と『クローンの攻撃』をフラッシュバックとして組み込んでいる。音声は日本語。字幕は新たに書き起こしたもの。ザラついた質感、ハイコントラストな黒・灰・白の世界。

オープニング・シーン → https://t.co/fC81oY1l9W

アナキン対オビ＝ワン → https://t.co/QJVBSJ9j6r

ジョージ・ルーカスは、『スター・ウォーズ』をサイレント映画として構想していた。物語を語るのは音楽であり、セリフは二の次だ。かつて公式に流通したスーパー8版（8mmフィルム）の中には、字幕付きのモノクロ・サイレント映画として編集されたものもあった。まさに1920年代のノワールの原点そのものと言える。

善と悪。キャラクター造形。演出。そして音楽。

色彩を削ぎ落とし、日本語を添える。すると、俳優たちの身体的な演技が、より鮮明に浮かび上がってくる。

英語がわからなくても、その本質は伝わるはずだ。

公式には推奨されない鑑賞法かもしれないが、こちらの方がずっといい → https://t.co/hNXrpWSlRH

唯一無二のスペース・オペラ。 🪽

[Azrael @KylePrometheus]

@IronRedSandHive @IronRedSandHive,
Exactly. That 'Noir' clash of hard light against deep shadow is pure Kurosawa.

The Blackened Mantle cut leans even harder into it — Anakin vs Obi-Wan especially.

Dropping stills from it later.

Azrael. 🪽

[Azrael @KylePrometheus]

Noirvember 8. 🎞️ 🖤 ⚔️

Part 2 of our Sci-Fi Samurai Kurosawa Noir Weekend.

Star Wars as if Kurosawa directed it - AI version of the opening of A New Hope.

Next up: the Blackened Mantle (Kurosawa Edition) - the prequels condensed into one film, Japanese audio + rewritten subtitles, grainy black-and-white.

https://t.co/fC81oY1l9W

「ノワールヴェンバー（Noirvember）」8日目。🎞️ 🖤 ⚔️

「SF・サムライ・黒澤ノワール」週末企画、第2弾。

もし黒澤明が『スター・ウォーズ』を監督していたら？――『新たなる希望』の冒頭シーンをAIで再現。

続いては、『ザ・ブラッケンド・マントル（黒澤エディション）』。前日譚（プリクエル）3部作を1本の映画に凝縮し、日本語音声と書き直された字幕を加え、ザラついたモノクロ映像に仕上げた作品です。

https://t.co/fC81oY1l9W

[Acknowledge A.I @acknowledgeai]

AI generated Star Wars: A New Hope as if it was directed by Akira Kurosawa…

[Azrael @KylePrometheus]

@QUANTUM41422049,

どっちもです！

三船敏郎さんは、まずオビ＝ワン・ケノービ役をオファーされ、断った後にダース・ベイダー役も打診されたそうです。娘の三船美香さんが2015年に公表しています。
「当時のSFは安っぽく見えそうだし、侍のイメージを安くしてしまいそうで…」というのが理由だったとのこと。

鬼武者のフェイスモデルなだけに、想像するとめちゃくちゃカッコいいですね…！

Both! Toshiro Mifune was first offered Obi-Wan, and after he turned it down, he was also offered Darth Vader. His daughter Mika Mifune revealed this in 2015. The reason was that sci-fi films of the time looked cheap and it would cheapen the image of the samurai.

Given he was the face model for Onimusha, it’s fun to imagine how cool it would’ve been…!)

Cool question and good to hear from you,
Azrael.

[Azrael @KylePrometheus]

Noirvember 7th. 🎞️ 🖤 ⚔️
ノワールヴェンバー7日目。 🎞️ 🖤 ⚔️

.

[SuperSisi @SuperSisi]

If Kurosawa made Star Wars