143 The Muppet Wicker Man

Nothing new today due to some personally life-changing news (not as bad as last time, I promise.) However, I did want to link to Rich Johnston (yeah, yeah, I know) who put up this really wonderful, funny comic adaptation of The Wicker Man starring Muppets in all of the lead roles (it was apparently done by Paul O’Connell.)

127 As good an excuse as any to get back on the wagon.

The economy is crumbling like stale roquefort. We are at war with Owl Kaida, our soldiers being targeted by their traps, poisons and predators. When the nation, perhaps the whole world, needs change, one rodent steps forward to offer it: Barack Obamouse. But if his daring plans for the country are to succeed, he will have to win over his skeptic political rivals and countrymice, including Hen Beck, John McCrane, Sarah Penguin and Ratt Limbaugh!

[via]

126 FRIDAY WRAP-UP, Y’ALL! ;-D

Hey Y’ALL! Wuzzup! NMH!

Alright, so comics came out on Thursday this week, and between that and studying for the GRE I didn’t get a chance to read or review any of them. This is a classic good news/bad news situation. Bad news: no reviews today ;[ <— that is a sad face. Good news: two posts on Monday– the next installment of Calling All Requests! and a bunch of superhero crap that came out this week! Better news: here’s some stuff I didn’t write!! FRIDAY WRAP UP, Y’ALL! ::REGGAETON HORN::

• Tom Spurgeon’s Holiday Gift Guide at the Comics Reporter is once again the best way to find something for the esoteric who has everything! Someone forward this to my mom and/or girlfriend, please and thanks.
• Karen Green put together a really nice piece on Al Jaffe, and Jewish comic creators in general, over at ComiXology. It also serves as a reminder to all New Yorkers that Mr. Jaffe is speaking with Danny Fingeroth at Columbia University next Wednesday at 8 PM.
• I haven’t linked to Valerie D’Orazio in a loooong time, and I quite liked this quote.
• Abhay Khosla wrote something. I haven’t even read it yet but I mean… come on, Abhay Khosla wrote something. Go have fun.
• There’s a cool Fumetti piece starring Harvey Pekar over at Graphic NYC. I usually hate these things but this one works, perhaps because Pekar himself has been drawn in so many styles that it seems like a natural progression.
• Robot 6 continues to report on awful people who try to ban comics. Except this isn’t really so bad. I don’t see anything wrong with putting Black Dossier in an adult section, unless that’s “Capital A” Adult, meaning pornography. Still, look at these women:
  I mean don’t they just look miserable? Seriously, Sharon Cook and Beth Boisvert of Jessamine County, Kentucky, leave our comix alOne ;[[[[[[ WAH WAH okay is that enough outrage, team comics?
• And finally, Chris Sims writes about something much more sinister (wrestling comics!) both at his blog and at Comics Alliance.

100 One Hundred Posts

Well it’s taken me about eight months but I finally broke into triple digit posts. To be honest with you I thought I’d do this for a few weeks, get bored when no one commented, and go back to playing sudoku at work but I’ve been kind of surprised by the response I’ve gotten. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not struggling to moderate my comments everyday; it’s not like I’m taking the internet(TM) by storm or anything. Still, I get comments here and there, and I get emails, and I get feedback from a lot of people, and that’s all really pretty nice. It’s motivated me to continue writing here on a somewhat regular basis.

I wanted to come up with some big flashy post when I reached one hundred, something funny and meme-ish and viral, or whatever. I didn’t do that. I think instead I’ll just thank some of the people who’ve contributed or linked to me, and post some links to my favorite entries.

So, thanks to my buddy Matt Occhuizzo, who did the photo work on my Spidey/Obama post. That shit was huge and it’s really because he lowered his standards to work with me on that idea.

To Matt Siblo, who not only took me to the only comic shop in DC, and is not only putting me up for Baltimore Comic Con, but contributed the clever Fifty Word Watchemen Review, and the recap of Art Spiegelman’s lecture at George Washington University. Matt will be contributing more in the future, and we’re in the midst of working on another project together. He and I worked together on an online music zine in the early two-thousands, and it’s always a pleasure to have my writing next to his for everyone to see.

Thanks to Chelsea Bahr, who thought comics were dumb when I met her but was open-minded enough to read Black Hole when I bought it for her birthday, and even came with me to New York Comic Con, writing a few guest posts for me along the way.

To Jen Drake, who also wrote a guest post for Comic Con, and who bugged me enough times to start blogging that I actually listened.

Thanks to my good buddy Dana Gluck, who has a tremendous vintage fashion blog, Indian Summer Vintage. She’s like me, except with fashion instead of comics, and good writing skills instead of shitty.

 

Thanks to my even bigger buddy (Edit: THAT IS NOT A CRACK AT HIS WEIGHT, IT IS A REFLECTION OF OUR BUDDYNESS) Chris Campbell, for linking me over at Spout every time I make a crack about some dumb superhero movie.

Many, many, MANY thanks to Karen Green, who was kind enough to answer some of my silly questions for an interview. I urge you to read her column at comiXology.

 

To Garrett Martin who, along with Hilary Brown, writes the fantastic Shazhmmm… blog.

To Zenescope, for being a crappy publisher and giving me the idea me to write this.

Special thanks to When Fangirls Attack, for linking to that post, and other posts of mine.

Thanks also to Heidi MacDonald, Tom Spurgeon, Val D’Orazio, and a ton of other comics bloggers who have linked to my posts and are probably too high profile to even be reading this right now.

Thanks to everybody who’s read and commented. I know this post might come off as hokey, overdramatic, or unprofessional but I don’t really give a shit. It’s surprised me how much I’ve stuck with this thing and one hundred posts, to me, is a landmark. So if it’s overdramatic, c’est la vie. I grew up reading Chris Claremont. If you’re looking for someone to blame, blame him.

Anyway, here’s one of the very first posts I’d ever written for the blog, and probably my favorite. It’s a post about “Your First Time”; your first comic book, or the first time you ever read a comic. It’s personal, and it’s nice, and it reminds me of why I like comics every time I re-read it. Enjoy.

 

Other posts:

Comics, Sexuality, and Parenthood

“Getting Them to Read Comics”

Censorship vs. Personal Responsibility

Patriotism vs. Morality

Cartoon porn = Jail Time?

Abstract Comics

Watchmen Review

Who Licenses the Watchmen?

Asterios Polyp

Swallow Me Whole

“The DeBenedetto Classics”: A (Proposed) Comics Canon

Blogging the Bat #1

084 Friday Wrap-Up for the Week of 7/5/2009

I’m gonna take a quick break from the canon and do a quick round-up of some of this week’s comics news items. I’ll be back at it this weekend!

If you missed the first four parts here’s the tag.

• Heidi MacDonald linked to some great coverage of the new David Mazzuchelli comic Asterios Polyp, including this great piece by Paul Gravett.
• USA Today is running the Superman portion of Wednesday Comics every week in their publication and online.
• Here’s a great story in the Miami Herald about young comics artists.
• Why ARE Rainn Wilson and Nathan Fillion meeting with DC Comics?
• Scott Ian from Anthrax is going to write a Lobo story with Sam Kieth (come on, “Metal Underground”, spell the man’s name correctly!)
• The speculation continues as to who will play Hal Jordan in the upcoming Green Lantern film (call me crazy but I don’t mind Justin Timberlake as an actor.)
• Michael Kupperman is signing tonight at Desert Island in Williamsburg! I’m not going, but if I did I’d buy that nifty poster.
• And finally, thank you New York Post for running with this story as a headline.

xxx But really, you need to read this shit

Like, immediately.

064 Friday Wrap-Up for the Week of 4/20(BROOOO!)/2009

• OK so me and the girlfriend have been on a bit of a Buffy kick lately. I never really watched the show but love Joss Whedon, and she’s a huge fan and owns all the DVDs. Right now we’re on Season 2, where Spike and Drusilla are introduced and within one minute of Spike being on screen he became my absolute favorite character on the show. I don’t know why but this story about James Marsters really kind of disappointments me. What’s the deal, Spike? You shit-talking comics or what?
• The VII Gallery in Dumbo is showcasing the artwork from Emmanuel Guibert’s comic The Photographer, as well as the photos by Didier Lefèvre that the book was inspired by. The opening reception was last night so I’m a little late on this one, but it goes on until May 19 so I’ll definitely be there at least once.
• If you like comics you like Darwyn Cooke, and if you like Darwyn Cooke you should check out this cool preview of his adaptation of Richard Stark’s The Hunter.
• Hey guys– hope you weren’t trying to go to Comic Con on the Friday.
• Buenaventura Press is trying to save comic books:

Despite the ‘industry trend’ of canceling comic books to focus on graphic novels, Buenaventura Press boldly plans to release half a dozen actual comics over the coming year. We love the serial format that gave us masterpieces such as Eightball, Frank, Acme Novelty Library, Optic Nerve, Yummy Fur, Zap, Dirty Plotte, Palookaville, and Love & Rockets–and we want to keep alive the stapled marvel that is the comic book.

As part of this mission, Buenaventura Press is excited to announce the first in a new series: The BP Comics Revival Economic Stimulus 3-Pak! This Diamond exclusive is a throw-back to the ol’ drugstore shrink-wrapped 3-packs, but with all new comics. Offered in the June 2009 Previews at $11.95, the first Pak includes two new series–Aviatrix #1 by Eric Haven and I Want You #1 by Lisa Hanawalt–plus the return of Ted May’s Injury, with the brand new issue #3.

Working with Diamond’s Jenny Christopher, a staunch supporter of independent comics and new cartoonists, we are offering the Economic Stimulus 3-Pak at a discount price. Diamond’s distribution system allows us to maintain significant print runs that keep the price affordable. The comics will also be available individually at the BP webshop, Last Gasp, and select retailers. Issues will be priced at $4.95 each, making the 3-Pak a 3 dollar savings!

Stay tuned to Buenaventurapress.com for information on forthcoming comics, such as Matt Furie’s Boy’s Club #3, and more news from The Comics Revival!

• Hey, Ninja Turtles is 25!
• And finally, I love Tucker Stone but I don’t know how I feel about this.

**************************
Hey you guys! I’m going to be in Washington, D.C. this weekend.
For fun updates about my trip, and even more fun everyday, follow me on Twitter! Yayyyy! Fun!

054 Friday Wrap-Up for the Week of 3/16/2009

• While it didn’t actually happen this week, Japan has proven itself to be the weirdest country in the world yet again. Obama erotic Manga!!!
• Laura Hudson is back amongst the land of the living, and posting again at Cereblog. Thank goodness.
• DC announced their new weekly series: Wednesday Comics. The jist? Full, newspaper sized pages of comic strips, featuring creators like Neil Gaiman, Paul Pope, Mike Allred, Brian Azzarello, and more working with DC characters, both popular (Superman, Batman) and not so popular (Metamorpho, the Metal Men). I have no idea what to think of this, but my gut feeling? Awesome.
• Speaking of awesome… The Goon meets Deathklok.
• And finally, in “can everybody stop being so fucking sensitive” news, Marvel has decided it wants you to suck Wolverine’s cock and the religious right is pissed. EDIT: Did you realize I had no idea this was satire? Like, at all. I am such an asshole.

049 A weird, comics-related dream, and a wrap-up

So I’ve been doing a lot of comics study lately; comics history, comics form, comics lit– just basically studying comics in all aspects. I suppose it’s even seeping into my subconscious because last night I had a weird dream that I was in college, in class, and the course (as well as my major) was about comics. I don’t mean I was learning to create comics, I mean my major course of study was comics themselves (I suppose the same things I’ve been reading about lately.)

Now in my dream I apparently have a pretty hefty schedule, because I’m going from class to class with a ton of books in my arms. But you know who is in each and every one of these classes?

Judd fucking Winick.

Mr. Real World himself. Seriously, every time I look to the right of me Judd Winick is two rows away, listening to our professor go on and on about comics. I’m sitting there taking it in, but Winick is frantically taking notes and has this look on his face like he’s in way over his head.

Clearly I have the utmost contempt for this man (as a creator, not so much as a person. Seems like a nice enough guy.) I mean he just can not write comic books, and that’s a sad truth, because they KEEP GIVING HIM WORK. He’s going to be the new writer on Batman so I guess that means whoever wins the “Battle for the Cowl” doesn’t matter, because he’s just going to kill whoever it is and give fucking Cyborg the cape or some such bullshit.

Anyway, like all of my dreams, this one soon turned into a suspenseful action-adventure movie, and at one point I tied a rope around my waist and jumped out the window a la Die Hard. How’s that for Comic Adventures in Academia!

Hey! Here’s your wrap-up for the week of 3/1/2009!

• There’s a cool new “indie project” on the way from Marvel, with such creators as Dash Shaw, Paul Pope, and even fucking JASON (!!!) taking a crack at hero work.
• Roger Ebert is the only one who likes Watchmen. Meanwhile, Tom McLean has this thoughtful review of the film.
• Valerie D’Orazio has a fine post up at her site about All-Ages Comics.
• Finally (and most importantly!) The New York Times has a new comics best sellers section with an incredibly unfortunate name. Regardless, this is a huge step in the right direction. Attaway, comics.

048 "5 Reasons a Watchmen movie was unnecessary"

Christopher Campbell does a great job of breaking down why adapting Watchmen is an unnecessary gesture over at Spout. There’s even a quote from yours truly:

A movie of Watchmen in 2009 has a problem of relevance in two regards. One relates to the previous point about how plenty of subversive superhero movies have already been made prior to this adaptation. Yet even without the preexistence of all those titles the Watchmen movie, as it’s been made, would fail on other levels of innovation and relevance. Paul DeBenedetto of the comics blog Wednesday’s Child, writing us in defense of his decision not to bother with the movie, says, “The greatness of Watchmen (the book) lies not so much in the story as it does the storytelling. Thus a great adaptation of the book would not be a straight retelling of the story, no matter how accurate.”

I should probably mention here that I am a giant hypocrite; I’ve decided to go against my previous decision to skip the movie completely and decided I should probably go see it this weekend, if only because I write a damn comics blog and I’d be remiss not to write about my thoughts on the film. I do, however, still think everyone else should skip it.