Forgot to mention this back when it occurred on May 19, but Michael Madsen appeared in person at the Fangoria Convention in Burbank, and did his best Tom Sizemore impression, squinting, smirking and acting quite odd.



He was talking up his participation in Shifter, a Rage comic book series about a two-legged, sunglasses-sporting, Mob hitman werewolf. Set to launch June 27, the series is being inked and published with an eye already being cast toward big screen adaptation. Saying that he'd been "in Valencia shooting a motorcycle picture for Quentin Tarantino until 3 a.m." (that would be Larry Bishop's Hell Ride, produced by Tarantino), Madsen says that doing something for his five sons played a big part in tackling Shifter, but that also, "I'm trying to get away from the villain thing for a while, and be a hero, instead of the one who gets thrown out of a window by Steven Seagal." (Apparently Madsen momentarily confused himself with... Gary Busey?)

Also on hand with Madsen were Amber Benson, who models/plays informant Kimmy in the series, and Rachel Miner, the ex-Mrs. Macaulay Culkin, who portrays assassin Poison. They appeared bored and increasingly irritated, while Madsen kept interrupting the moderator, glancing around and pounding his cordless microphone on his armchair and repeating into it, "Thanksgiving!" in a deep voice, a reference to Eli Roth, who preceded the awkward Shifter panel with a chat about Hostel: Part II.