| Friday fives |
[Jul. 25th, 2008|12:04 pm] |
Wow, this week's Friday Five is extraordinarily lame.
What type of hair do you have? (Thin, Normal, Thick, Frizzy, etc.)
I have thick hair.
What color is your hair currently?
My hair is currently brown.
What colors have you dyed/highlighted your hair?
I have only dyed my hair once in my life. It was between my junior and senior years of college. I was living with my girlfriend and she mentioned that she thought my hair would be really hot if it was black. Since it was the summer and she seemed really excited about the prospect, I agreed.
She dyed the hair but... I don't know, the dye didn't take or something. I woke up and my hair was black and by the end of the day, the black had all leaked out and I was a mess.
Also, I grew one of those awful chin strap beards for this girlfriend... although to be completely fair to her, I don't think she specifically asked me to do that.
If you could dye your hair any color, what would it be?
I wouldn't.
What is your hair's length?
It's not very long. I used to grow my hair out really shaggy but due to a bunch of job interviews last month, I got a very conservative haircut that's sort of stuck around for the wedding. I haven't decided what to do with it for the fall.
...and there wasn't a comic-themed Five for Friday this week (probably due to everyone being in San Diego) so I'm just going to write one myself
Chris's comic Five for Friday: Name the five best "deals" you've ever gotten in buying comics.
1. Twenty of the Claremont/Byrne issues of Uncanny X-Men (Including all of the Dark Phoenix Saga, Days of Future Past, and the first appearance of Alpha Flight among others) for $1 dollar an issue. Found that at the South Hills Mall in Poughkeepsie.
2. The Buddy Chronicles, this big phonebook that collected ALL of Peter Bagge's black & white issues of Hate (and all his Bradleys comics from Neat Stuff) under one cover. TWO DOLLARS. Found that at Barnes & Noble.
3. The Life & Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa... found at The Strand in NYC for $2.50. I left the sticker on the cover just to remind myself of that amazing deal.
4. The Complete Frank Miller Batman at Waldenbooks for $5 bucks. Collected The Dark Knight Returns, Year One, and that Batman Christmas story Miller did somewhere between the two.
5. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume 2: The Absolute Edition. Again, from The Strand in NYC, I spent $40 bucks on it. Expensive, but half price for something I would have paid full price for. Now if I could only find the first LoEG Absolute edition anywhere! |
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| I'm getting married in four days. |
[Jul. 15th, 2008|03:52 pm] |
These are the wedding favor and the cake topper. The favor is a 26 page collection of journal comics featuring Ellen, Elliot, and myself. If anybody's interested in getting one, I'll probably have them up for sale or trade sometime after the actual ceremony.
The cake toppers are two Minimates I culled together from the parts of other figures. The "me" 'Mate is a Bruce Wayne body with a Peter Parker head. Unfortunately, the only two fat Minimates the company has made (to my knowledge) are Doctor Octopus and The Kingpin. Both really wouldn't work here, but rest assured... I know I'm not Bruce Wayne sized.
The Ellen Minimate is an amalgam of Mary Jane Watson, Kitty Pryde, and The White Queen, with a tailor-made dress painted by myself. I may give it a veil, I may not. |
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| Tutor comics: The Cleaning |
[Jul. 13th, 2008|07:43 pm] |
I'm tutoring a student this summer who has two issues that his parents wanted me to work on with him. The first is his organizational skills- being able to take his own ideas and organize them effectively in writing for someone else to read. They also wanted me to help him work on his writing skills.
We've been doing lots of different things together, but one of the most fun has been these comic collaborations. Michael writes the scripts and describes the scenes in his writer's notebook- I take the notebook home with me and draw out his scripts to the best of my ability.
This week's (or last week's, rather... I didn't get around to scanning it) came out particularly well. He tells a complete (albeit sorta one-sided) story and he's really starting to understand what each panel needs in order for it to make sense. For example, in his first draft, he didn't have a word balloon in panel 3... but after revising, he figured out that the people reading the comic would really need to know where he was going and what happened.
We're probably going to keep doing one of these every week. If you like what you see, please leave some comments- I'm going to print them up and show 'em to Michael at our next session this Wednesday.
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| Friday Fives (on Sunday) |
[Jul. 13th, 2008|01:43 pm] |
1. Do you have a favourite cause that you support?
There aren't really any causes I actively support that are interesting enough to write about. For example, when Ellen and I bring reusable bags to Whole Foods, they give us a handful of "wooden nickels" to deposit in a bank by the exit. The bank gives you three choices of causes to support. I always support the Celiac Disease Research Project, because Chris and Sarah's little girl Norah can't eat anything with gluten in it.
...but that's not an active support.
2. If so, how do you support it?
I paw over a handful of fake wood nickel tokens. That's it.
3. Have you been an active member of an organization (attending meetings, volunteering etc)?
Oh sure, tons. The two that spring to mind immediately are the Boy Scouts in middle & high school, and Spectrum, my college's entertainment programming board.
4. Have you ever led any group?
I was an assistant scoutmaster in the Boy Scouts and I was president of Spectrum, so yeah... more or less, I suppose I did. In each case, I had superiors though.
5. If so, how was your experience with it?
My experiences were OK. I don't think I'm made for leadership- almost certainly, I wouldn't have been president if there had been ANYONE else to be president. Still, I didn't steer the metaphorical ship into any icebergs, so I'd say that things went decently.
The Comic Reporter's Five for Friday: Name Five Comics or Comics-Related Publications You're Looking Forward to Seeing This Year.
1. JLA, Volume 1 Deluxe Hardcover (In the fullness of time, this has easily become my favorite superhero comic ever made and I'm excited to see it collected this way)
2. Too Cool to be Forgotten (Alex Robinson's new book, I'll likely have to trek to some state other than Ohio to pick it up)
3. All-Star Superman #12
4. That new Supergirl book where she's written and drawn like an 8th grader
5. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century, Vol. 1 (Almost assuredly NOT coming out before the end of the year, but I have read that it's tentatively scheduled for the end of 2008. We'll see.) |
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| There will definitely be a comic tomorrow. |
[Jul. 10th, 2008|08:28 pm] |
I've posted this elsewhere but I was really happy with the result, so I'm double postin' it here.
( The three books that messed me up as a kid )
Anyway, my point in slapping that up on this journal is this: Oddkins is out of print, but I bet someone who reads this has a copy that they wouldn't mind getting rid of. If you are that person, leave a comment or drop me an e-mail at journalcomics@hotmail.com. Maybe we can work a trade out or something. |
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| Comic books comin' out tomorrow July 10th |
[Jul. 9th, 2008|10:14 pm] |
The New York Four
In general, I've found DC's MINX line of comics aimed for female readers to be a bit toothless. While there have been some good books (I enjoyed The Plain Janes, despite its ending), many of them read like they came from a brainstorming session full of 50 year old guys trying to figure out what teenage girls are "into" these days. That being said, I'm looking forward to The New York Four, from creators Brian Wood and Ryan Kelley- the duo have created excellent comics in the past and if anybody can overcome my issues with MINX, it's them.
Halo and Sprocket: Natural Creatures
I think the true litmus test for a writer is when you can create characters that have distinct perspectives that are widely different from one another. So often when you watch a TV show or read a book, you're confronted with character who are, by and large, the same person. I mean, look at the TV show Friends. I like Friends but I would say a good 70% percent of the jokes on that show are interchangable. A Ross joke could come out of Rachel's mouth, a Monica joke could easily be swapped into Phoebe's dialog.
That's one of the many reasons I love Halo and Sprocket. Artist/writer Kerry Callen takes a cornball premise (three roommates, one's a robot, one's an angel, and one's a normal girl) and really outlines the three characters' different perspectives on the world, be it through Sprocket's literal naivete, Halo's "big picture" thinking, or Katie's positive yet frustrated outlook on the world.
It's just a terrific premise wonderfully executed.
Captain America: White
I've never been all that wowed by the Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale collaborations. My main quarrels have always been about Loeb's scripts which somehow seem to accomplish the impossible- they're overly simplistic AND impossible to understand. Sale's artwork is always a treat but I usually take a pass on these books. Still, people have been chomping at the bit for Loeb and Sale to re-team; the duo have been apart for a number of years due to their taking signing exclusive contracts to opposing comic companies.
Booster Gold #1,000,000
For a series that I've never even sampled, Booster Gold just keeps wowing me with its' inspired commitment to digging up references to comic book events past. A few months ago the creative team here did a Zero Hour crossover issue that I mentioned... and here we've got a tie-in to the 1998 crossover epic DC One Million, wherein all of the companies titles jumped ahead to the 853rd Century to tell legacy tales of the superhero pantheon. DC One Million was the rare epic crossover title in that it was completely engaging and readable- I picked up the mini-series out of one of my longboxes a few months ago and it holds up like crazy.
Anyway, good on Booster Gold. |
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| DVDs coming out tomorrow, June 8th |
[Jul. 7th, 2008|11:09 pm] |
Batman: Gotham Knight
Marvel has seemingly cracked the code for great comic book movie adaptations but in the arena of animation, DC's got 'em beat. Case in point, this DTV release that connects some dots between 2005's Batman Begins and the upcoming Dark Knight flick. I think Gotham Knight is an interesting footnote in Batman history for a couple of reasons. First, it marks the return of Kevin Conroy to voice the title character- Conroy's vocal performance of Batman is pretty much the be-all end-all for a lot of people my age who are fans of the material. I myself can't hear anyone but Conroy when I read a Batman comic, so markedly has his take on the character influenced my imagination. Secondly, it seems like the producers on this movie made a real effort to include many of the writers who work on the comic books that inspired the movies- Greg Rucka and Brian Azzarello both penned segments of Gotham Knight.
There are two versions of Gotham Knight hitting shelves tomorrow- a standard edition that just has the movie and a "special" edition that includes an extra disc of features. The last time DC did this, it was on the Justice League: The New Frontier DVD and while that movie was nothing short of incredible, I found myself underwhelmed by the bonus disc, which included a couple of lame featurettes and three episodes of the Justice League cartoon. Gotham Knight's bonus disc plays the same game, including four episodes of Batman: The Animated Series.
Now normally, I'd say "just go with the standard edition" except that the four episodes chosen for inclusion here just happen to be the four BEST episodes of Batman: The Animated Series ever made. You get Heart of Ice (the Mr. Freeze origin episode that really defined what B:TAS would do for Batman over the next four years), I Am The Night (one of the most grown-up episodes that the original series ever did... no Joker or Two-Face, just a gunman and a grim outlook on Gotham City) Legends of the Dark Knight (from the refurbished BTAS, this episode used Dick Sprang's 1940's style AND Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns style to great effect) and Over the Edge (an episode so crazy, I wouldn't want to spoil the surprises for someone who hasn't seen it yet).
I'm gushing. Seriously, you probably need the Special Edition.
Stop Loss
I have a real interest in seeing Stop Loss, the first feature from director Kimberly Pierce in nearly a decade. Pierce wrote and directed 1999's Boys Don't Cry and I've been waiting to see something from her ever since then... partially because I thought Boys Don't Cry was a devistatingly terrific movie, but also because I met Pierce when I was in college. She came and gave a talk on her experiences as a young female director in Hollywood. The talk was well after Boys Don't Cry was released in theaters and was lightly attended, but I was impressed with Pierce's candor about the issues Hollywood has with women in power, especially behind the camera.
I also got to eat at Applebee's with her afterward and we talked about Peter Bogdanovich. I'm sure that sounds sort of braggy and kind of pretentious, but seriously... I'd talk anyone's ear off about The Last Picture Show if they had an interest.
My life aside, Stop Loss was something of a bomb... something that I attribute more to American audiences' lack of interest in movies about the war in Iraq than anything wrong with the movie, which generally got good notices. I don't know much about the flick beyond that... but I'm interested in checkin' it out. |
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[Jul. 6th, 2008|09:50 pm] |
Seriously though, if you get the chance and you're looking for an amazing seven hours of television, rent John Adams. I knew like two things about Adams before I watched the series (Alien & Sedition Acts and his dying words) but after watching it... man! So good.
Also, HBO should mount a Thomas Jefferson mini-series and just use Stephen Dillane. I loved his quiet, too cool for school portrayal of TJ. |
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| Friday fives |
[Jul. 4th, 2008|10:49 pm] |
1. What drink wakes you up best in the morning?
Usually orange juice, although sometimes we buy grape juice and I like that too.
2. During the day, what do you drink to keep going?
I drink a lot of water and, if I've remembered to brew it, iced tea. I've sort of cut out the iced tea lately as I don't ever show any restraint with it. I'll drink half a pitcher over the course of a day and then end up awake at 3 A.M.
3. Do you drink the recommended 8 glasses of water per day? Why/why not?
I do, and I think it's because I don't drink a lot of other stuff. I don't drink soda. Occasionally I'll have a glass of milk, but it's pretty rare now that Ellen and I are living together (She buys skim milk, I prefer that my milk doesn't taste like white-colored water). So I drink 8 glasses a day, but not for any health reasons.
4. What are the ingredients of your favorite mixed drink? (Doesn't have to be alcoholic!)
I haven't been drinking mixed drinks for awhile, but when I was still, y'know, going out and having a good time, I liked Jack and Coke.
5. Are you a coffee drinker? How do you take your coffee, if so?
I do not drink coffee. I like the smell, but I don't like the taste.
The Comics Reporter's Five For Friday #129 -- Name Five Cool, Patriotic Things About Comics
1. Captain America's forehead "A". Stupid? You betcha.
2. Superhero comics- totally created by America. For better or worse.
3. The Old Soldier from Kurt Busiek's Astro City.
4. Dr. Doom's diplomatic immunity.
5. Superman. |
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| sketchbook thursday? wha? |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|11:43 am] |
A couple of little sketches from a comic I'm doing, probably once a week if my collaborator does his homework. |
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| Wednesday comics roundup |
[Jul. 2nd, 2008|09:45 pm] |
I made massive cuts to my comic pull list- as of today, I'm only getting The Walking Dead, Criminal, and All Star Superman, although there's only one more issue of that series left... so my comic buying has dwindled down to 2 books a month.
...but I'll probably keep up with 'em all by reading them for free at Borders or Barnes & Noble. I'm lame, I know
Anyway, here's what I got today when I closed out my drawer:
The Walking Dead #50 - Didn't move the story along very much, but still a terrific issue.
Billy Baston and the Magic of Shazam! #1- Beautifully drawn and cuter than heck. My only nitpick- I prefer it when writers write Captain Marvel as a completely separate entity from Billy Baston. Doesn't take anything away from this book, just my personal preference.
Robin/Spoiler Special #1 - It doesn't matter, 'cause I'm dropping Robin from my pull list now that Chuck Dixon is off the title, but damn. Why couldn't Rafael Albuquerque have been the regular artist on Robin while I was readin' it? He's great!
Astonishing X-Men #25 - Pretty good first issue. Simone Bianchi's interior art is waaaaay better than I thought it was going to be, and I like how Warren Ellis included Twitter in his script. I follow him on Twitter!
1985 #2 - Good, but I think I'm going to wait on the trade for this one. A trade for 1985 is a sure-thing, and while I like the book, $4 bucks is a little much.
Stephen King's The Stand Sketchbook - I'm so torn with this. On the one hand, The Stand was like my favorite book when I was a teenager. On the other hand... that's it. It was my favorite book, so I've read the book, so I really don't need a graphic adaptation of the book I've already read. Still, the sketchbook stuff from penciller Mike Perkins is pretty darn good- I like the way he took King's note on who would have made a good Larry Underwood for the movie and pretty much just used that musician's likeness for the comic.
Still Unread: RASL #2, Buffy the Vampire Slayer #15 and #16, and Criminal V.2 #3. I like to save the best for last! |
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| wedding comic odds & ends, part III |
[Jul. 1st, 2008|04:13 pm] |
Everyone involved with the wedding, this is going on the inside cover of the little comic I'm putting together.
( Comics comin' out tomorrow, July 2nd ) |
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| wedding comic odds & ends, part II |
[Jun. 30th, 2008|04:18 pm] |
A slight post, I know. This tiny doodle will be the back cover of the wedding comic collection. I always like to put a little Chewie drawing on the back of my collections.
( DVD releases for tomorrow, July 1st ) |
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| odds & ends |
[Jun. 29th, 2008|08:42 pm] |
Lots of odds and ends this week having to do with my rapidly approaching wedding. Here's the cover to the comic collection we're giving to our guests to the ceremony here in Ohio:
I will probably do a less specific cover (i.e. no wedding date) for our New York reception. The book's coming together pretty good- It's topping off at like 50 pages and I think it'll be a nice giveaway for everyone. |
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| Friday Fives (they're good this week!) |
[Jun. 27th, 2008|08:42 pm] |
Theme: USA Road Trip
Who would you take with you on a road trip?
Ellen! Maybe the baby!
What states would you visit?
(This is coming from Ohio)
Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota (Can't make up my mind!), Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.
What national parks and/or monuments would you go see?
- Mount Rushmore
- Dr. Evermor's Forevertron
- The House on the Rock and The Dells
- Monument Valley
- The Space Needle
Las Vegas: Overrated or a Must-See?
Must-see, I guess although a quick look at my fake road trip leads me to believe that we won't be going near ol' Lost Wages. Reno's a possibility!
How long would you be gone?
Oh, the whole summer.
The Comics' Reporter's Five For Friday #125 -- Name Five Celebrity Cameos In Comics That You've Enjoyed
*****
1. Aerosmith, Shadowman #19 (I'm relatively sure this was horrible, but I was excited about it for some reason as a kid)
2. John Belushi, The Sandman #54
3. Ronald Regan, The Dark Knight Returns mini-series
4. Shannon Elizabeth, The Ultimates #3
5. Neil Gaiman, Sweatshop #5 (They light his pants on fire!) |
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| the mystery baby |
[Jun. 25th, 2008|09:18 pm] |
So this is probably the last comic for awhile. I have two or three kicking around my sketchbook but I'm in no rush to ink them. They might pop up sooner or later, but I'm taking a break for awhile... if my non-activity on here wasn't already an indication.
I'm getting married in a month. Elliot had an ear infection and then an allergic reaction to his medicine. I'm going on like two or three interviews for jobs every week. At this point, I'm sort of getting clobbered over the head with life and I want to make sure I'm fully present for all that great stuff.
(The ear infection was NOT great).
I'm not going away entirely though! I fully intend to keep posting- sketches (including the rest of those suggestion sketches), pictures of odd junk I find in thrift shops, DVD and comic book write-ups... but I just won't be doing the comic regular-like.
Couple of things before I take off:
- In about a month, I'll have my first collection of the journal comics available for sale. It's a "best of" (and I use that term loosely) featuring the strips I've drawn about my relationship with Ellen, having Elliot, and getting ready for the wedding. Truth be told, the collection is going to be something we give away to folks who come to the ceremonies both in Ohio and New York, but I'm going to hold a couple back. More on that later.
- I'm working on something long format right now... still journal comics, but with more of a perspective on my profession than the strips in the last few months have had. It's something I've always wanted to do and I'm excited to take some time and really work to reestablish some of the things I loved about doing the comic initially. Expect lots of background detail and the like.
If you want to keep in touch, I'm around on Facebook (although I still don't understand it), Twitter, GoodReads, and occasionally MySpace.
Ok, thanks everyone! |
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| i didn't do any drawing today |
[Jun. 17th, 2008|07:23 pm] |
I'm a book junkie on both ends of the spectrum. Of course, I like good books, great books even... and I love scouring used book stores, flea markets, yard sales, and the like looking for lost gems.
On the other hand, I love a good, laughable book. A goofy cover, a stupid plot... I love 'em. In the past few months, I've been writing about my stupid acquisitions in a section of my journal I like to tag as The Book Nook.
Since I have no drawings for you, I thought I'd share today's AMAZING acquisition:
LIGHTS, CAMERA, CATS!
I must have laughed out loud at this book for five minutes when I was digging through the various thrift shop wares. I think it's the incongruity between the plot of the book and the cover... which, if you're a crappy book junkie, you know to be Early 1970's Romance Novel.
TEN GOD DAMN CATS. TEN.
What kind of person writes a book like this?
Ah. I can see the method behind the madness in Ms. Weber's dedication.
( Comic books coming out tomorrow, June 18th ) |
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| i didn't really have time to get into these. |
[Jun. 16th, 2008|09:05 pm] |
Elliot has an ear infection, so we've been kind of wrapped up in that. If you can think of a good idea for something you want me to draw, leave a comment.
Here's one nobody asked for, but it's been sitting around for a few days:
I recently dug out a couple of issues of 1963, the 1993 Image Comics parody of The Marvel Age of Comics. Y'know... the parody aspect of these books works perfectly, but at the same time? Even though Alan Moore and company are making fun of Marvel, the core concepts they came up with work. I'd totally buy a straight-on version of No One Escapes The Fury, if Image decided to do some more. I think Moore and Steve Bissette had some kind of falling out though- they never even finished the initial series.
( DVDs coming out tomorrow, June 17th )
Jeez, I didn't mean to go on and on about So I Married An Axe Murderer when I started writing that blurb... |
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| no comics for now! |
[Jun. 15th, 2008|09:26 pm] |
I don't have any comics for this week. Sorry. I might end up doin' some... I might not! However, I was looking at old strips and I haven't done any open forum drawings in forever, so here's the deal:
Leave a comment on this entry with something you want me to draw, and I will draw it and post it at some point during the week. Seriously, I'll try and draw anything, so long as you don't mind if it comes out lookin' crappy.
c. |
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