Archive for September, 2006
UPDATE: aside from being a perv and an alcoholic, it seems that Foley is a Scientologist kook as well.
Well, another hypocritical Republican bites the dust.
And the thing is, Congressman Mark Foley’s sexual orientation shouldn’t be an issue. So what if he’s gay? But the fact that a 52 year old is e-mailing sexually explicit notes to 16 year old boys is just…ewwww.
And get this:
“Foley, as chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children’s Caucus, had introduced legislation in July to protect children from exploitation by adults over the Internet.”
Wow. Irony, anyone?
It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of publisher Avatar, aka T&A-exclusive-hologram-leather-signed-multiple-variant-covers ‘R’ Us. They’re the poor man’s Dynamic Forces, and that’s not saying much. So about the only time I mention them is to ridicule them.
This is one of those times.
I was flipping through all the new indie books at the shop today and came across a sword-and-sorcery book called More Than Mortal. Which I guess used to be with a different publisher, but is now at Avatar.
$2.50 price tag.
And what do you get for your hard earned cash?
16 black & white pages.
Which is a rip-off right there, but wait, read on…
2 of those pages are ads for Avatar back issues.
2 are pinups
4 are rough pencil preview pages with no story
3 are a text piece wherein the creator reminisces about the sandwich she ate for lunch (or some such nonsense)
So where does that leave you and your $2.50?
5 pages of story.
That’s right, just 5. And it’s not even a complete short story at that, it looks like a preview. Which I suppose what the book is, even though nowhere on the cover is it identified as a preview or teaser.
And even if it was, $2.50 for 5 black and white pages of story? I guess if you’re dumb enough to buy the book, you get what you deserve.
By point of comparison, I also saw a preview book from Moonstone for The Night Driver. How is it different? First of all, it’s clearly marked as a “Teaser.” Next, you get 12 pages of story in full color, plus 4 more pages of sketches and miscellany.
And the price? 99 cents.
I’m not a fan of “preview” or “teaser” books, I think they’re mostly a waste of money. But if you’re gonna do one, have the decency not to charge the price of a full length 32 page book for 5 pages of crap.
If you hadn’t heard already, Robert Downey Jr. has been cast to play Tony Stark in the big budget Iron Man movie. Director Jon Favreau says:
“I can say with absolute certainty that there is no better choice. The humor and emotional dimension he brings truly raises the bar on this project. Get ready.”
Cause you know, there’s that first hand experience with addiction…
I’m sorry, that was low. I actually think he’s an excellent actor. Too bad he sabotaged his career with some bad personal choices. Still, I think this could be a good movie, provided the screenplay isn’t too heavy-handed in bringing in terrorism and national security “real” issues into the updated story.
The new issue of Melt magazine is out, featuring another Rocket Science comic by your truly and Tim Fischer. You can find it on page (heh heh) 69. Pick up your free copy around town, or read it online.
This time out, we dip our toes back in the dirty, dirty politics pool. Next month? Probably back to making fun of OSU football…
Have you heard about Sen. George Allen, R-Virginia? He’s the guy who called an Indian-American — a Virginia native — “macaca.” “Macaca” is apparently French for the “n word.”
First off, how racist do you have to be before you get racist against Indians? All of the Indian-Americans I’ve ever met were perfectly nice people. Secondly, how racist do you have to be before you can do it in foreign languages? I love pizza a whole big bunch, but I can only order it in English.
Third, what does he say about the rest of us? Slate.com gave us a glimpse with their handy George Allen Insult Generator.
The final page of “The Long Journey” storyline went up today. As always, you can read my webcomic Lifelike here.
This was one of my favorite stories to write, and one of the ones I’m most proud of.
So I caught the premiere of Heroes last night. To be honest, when I first heard about the show I thought it was either going to be a horrible cheesefest, or a shameless Hollywood ploy to cash in on the sudden popularity of superhero movies and comic book cool. But I have to say, I was quite impressed with the first episode. Some random thoughts on what I liked:
- The subtle embracing of the comic book aesthetics: the use of terminology like “Volume 1″ and “Chapter 1″ when referring to the show’s seasons and episodes, the pseudo-comic-book-but-thankfully-not-comic-sans font used in the subtitles, Peter’s (the guy who thinks he can fly) billowing jacket evoking the image of superhero capes, etc. Nicely done.
- The actor playing Hiro (the Japanese comic book nerd) is really charming and charismatic in an uber-nerdy kind of way. Even when his friend calls him “Super Hiro,” I smiled, instead of wincing in pain at the silly pun.
- I’m a sucker for intertwined stories wherein strangers of different walks of life are pulled into one giant mystery. Yes, it’s been done to death, but I thought it was done well here (so far, at least.)
- Having a multicultural cast is always a plus. Especially when there are non-English speakers.
Of course there were some cliches too, like the whole single-mom-stripping-to-make-ends-meet, but the positives far outweighed the negatives. I’ll definitely be watching in the upcoming weeks.
Also, it looks like they’re embracing the “full immersion” experience of shows like Lost, with show-specific message boards, character blogs, and even online comics. Speaking of which, the first comic available is nothing special. More of an ad for Nissan, really, and featuring the spectacularly craptacular art of Michael Turner:
That’s quite the giant noggin’ there, buddy. But next week’s webcomic looks to be by the incomparable Tim Sale, so at least it’ll look good. You can check out all the extra stuff on the official website.
Over at Comic Book Resources, Bill Morrison (Simpsons artist at Bongo Comics) talks about an abortive project by Dark Horse to publish a new comic adaptation of The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine.
“It was scheduled to be a full-color 48 page one-shot, prestige format I believe. I was contracted to do the entire project and I brought in a few of my Bongo buddies to help out. Nathan Kane was coloring it, and Chris Ungar was handling the lettering. Also, I enlisted my wife, Kayre, to help me translate some of the dialogue from VHS copies of the film. I remember her calling me into her office to listen over and over to bits of dialogue that neither of us could understand because of the poor audio quality and the thick Liverpool accents.”
The book was scheduled to release in 1999, to coincide with the release of the movie on DVD. But Apple records changed their mind half-way through the project.
New York, Tokyo or San Francisco
Rio de Janeiro, Tel Aviv got bumpin’ discos
Fingers on the button, intercontinental missile
Don’t you know that every bomb is really made from human tissue
A pipeline on a mountain side
A big corporation needs a big supply
They sign a contract in a fancy car
So you can buy a Big Mac in Kandahar
Standing at the wall in the mid-day sun
Uh-oh, uh-oh waiting for my time to come
You can say that’s the way that the west was won
Staring in the eye of a man with a gun
In-a Palestine or even in-a China
Somebody always builds a wall to remind ya
Where ya from, tell me your intentions
Little fingers hanging on a chain link fence
A big belly women is ten days late
She needs a hospital, but she’s made to wait
She drops her water while they discriminate
And a baby boy is born at a checkpoint gate
The big dope dealer don’t make no friends
Just Yens and Euros and Dollars and Cents
The CIA runs intelligence
For Yens and Euros and Dollars and Cents
You go to the courthouse don’t bring evidence
Just Yens and Euros and Dollars and Cents
A new President, will he make a difference?
Or Just Yens and Euros and Dollars and Cents
Send the lawyers, guns and money
They call from the tops of the hills to the valley
Take their farmlands, send them to the hustle
Show me your passport, don’t you move a muscle
But the roots run deep, the tree is never stunted
The lawless among us never fear being hunted
Standing in line at the mid-day sun
Staring at the lines at the eyes of a gun
— “Yens and Euros”, Michael Franti and Spearhead
Before we begin, a special announcement:
The month of October will be Reader Submitted Monday Morning Guess the Artist Pages, also known as RS-MMGtAP. No, the acronym isn’t any easier to pronounce, but it kinda sounds like a new experimental drug, you know, the kind that comes with a page and a half of warnings and side effects. So I’m sticking with it. Anyway, back to the RS-MMGtAP. If you have a page of artwork from the early career of a big name artist that you think would work well for this feature, e-mail a scan of it (72 dpi, 600 to 700 pixels wide) to ferret at ferret press dot com. Also include the name of the artist, name of inker (if applicable,) book title, publisher, and date of publication. All submitters will be entered in a drawing to win a piece of original art by one of the PANEL artists. If I get more than 4 pages, I’ll run addition features throughout the week. But October is less than a week away, so start digging through those back issues and send me some cool pages. Latest day to send in a page is Friday 10/27.
Ok, now back to our feature…this week, a pinup:
(click image to Graceify)
(previous weeks: 9/12/2005, 9/19/2005, 9/26/2005, 10/3/2005, 10/10/2005, 10/17/2005, 10/24/2005, 10/31/2005, 11/1/2005, 11/2/2005, 11/3/2005, 11/4/2005, 11/5/2005, 11/6/2005, 11/7/2005, 11/14/2005, 11/21/2005, 11/28/2005, 12/5/2005, 12/12/2005, 12/19/2005, 12/26/2005, 1/2/2006, 1/9/2006, 1/16/2006, 1/23/2006, 1/30/2006, 2/06/2006, 2/13/2006, 2/20/2006, 2/27/2006, 3/6/2006, 3/13/2006, 3/20/2006, 3/27/2006, 4/3/2006, 4/4/2006, 4/5/2006, 4/6/2006, 4/7/2006, 4/8/2006, 4/9/2006, 4/10/2006, 4/17/2006, 4/23/2006, 5/1/2006, 5/8/2006, 5/15/2006, 5/22/2006, 5/29/2006, 6/5/2006, 6/12/2006, 6/19/2006, 6/26/2006, 7/3/2006, 7/10/2006, 7/17/2006, 7/24/2006, 7/31/2006, 8/7/2006, 8/13/2006, 8/21/2006, 8/28/2006, 9/4/2006, 9/11/2006, 9/18/2006)
Free Taco + Beer tonight, free movie Sunday
For all you Columbus kids, it’s free taco and beer night tonight:
“Every third Thursday of the month, Fresh, Due Amici, C Magazine and reSource Real Estate host Fresh Taco Night. The next Taco Beer is Thursday, September 21st at 114 n. 3rd st. (corner of 3rd and long st.) bottom of Connextions Lofts.”
More details at Free Taco + Beer.
Also, it seems every Sunday there’s a free movie showing outdoors in downtown Columbus, as part of the Urban Drive-in.
“Get your blanket, some snacks and plop down in the middle of the city for an Urban Drive-In. Don’t worry about sneaking your friend’s in the trunk of your car ‘cause it’s free. Come, relax, and enjoy an outdoor movie experience.
Located on the corner lot of Third and Long Street, (look for the DJ and people hanging out), we suggest that you come down at 8PM to get a good spot. If it rains, well…no movie.”
