Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
I was in Packrat Comics last week and the shop owner pointed out the new website. I was pretty impressed by it. Very clean wordpress layout with that not only gives you the usual info (hours, upcoming events, etc.), they produce and post up video blogs and other content. (The video clips were well edited for what they were). They recently started to do video spotlights featuring local creators.
The Laughing Ogre’s improved their site as well from the last time I visited it. Also featuring regular blog posts and content.
If you haven’t checked out the Trip City site, you must. Besides some cool podcasts (Jonathan Lethem, Henry Rollins, etc.), there’s essays, comics and more from some of the same conspirators that formed Act-I-Vate. Dean Haspiel posted a essay today that has some interesting back and forth in the comments. Regarding the new reality in the industry: how do I get my comics ‘out there’? Things have gotten to the point for me where I’m leaning toward focusing on my stuff for a change. I’ve hit some of the same conclusions in the article but I’m at a loss as to how to best distribute this stuff out there… and turn some kind of a profit. Something. Kyle Baker chimes in a lot in the comments so it’s worth a read.
The Onion AV Club today releases its list of The best comics of 2011: Graphic novels & art comics.
As usual, I have heard of maybe 1/3 of them, and not read any. I need to get cracking.
It’s good to see local boy and friend-of-Panel Paul Hornschemeier represented for his new joint, Life With Mr. Dangerous.
… and I don’t mean the ones we always have in a bunch.
I’m not sure what the redshirt reference means in this context, and I’m not sure I want to know. My general feeling is that you don’t need to work this hard to snag a geeky dude.
(In the spirit of Dara’s Underoos for Adults post from the other day.)
Over at NPR, they have a discussion of Superman’s face over the years, starting with his Shuster smirk, detouring through the achy-breaky 90s, and ending with the new Jim Lee version. Here’s what they say about the new one:
The image that tops this post, by artist Jim Lee, was the reader’s first look at the Man of Steel that, the company believes, is ideally suited to our modern age. He’s younger, angrier and more introspective, we are told. He’s ditched the tights for a kind of armor. He’s lost the red trunks.
But there, on that blank, unremarkably handsome face, is Shuster’s iconic and ironic smirk. We haven’t seen it since World War II smoothed down his rough edges in an effort to transform him from a wry crusader into a patriotic symbol — but there it is, back in force.
I don’t know that I agree with all of that, but it’s interesting to hear what they were going for.
If you’re a comic book fan, then odds are you have thousands upon thousands of comics in your house. And there’s probably quite a few that you can easily part with. Like that issue #1 of a series you decided not to follow, books from Free Comics Book Day, old series you’ll never re-read, and miscellaneous mini-series or one-shots you have no idea why you picked up in the first place. I certainly had a bunch.
Over the years I’ve managed to thin out my collection a bit by giving out comics at Halloween, offering freebies at my booth at Comfest, and at other events. I was also aware of charities that donated comics to a good cause, like Operation Comix Relief, which sends them to troops overseas. However, when I contacted the organizer recently he informed me that he is not accepting donations at the moment, as he has a major backstock of donated books he still needs to process.
So after a bit of Googling, I came across a similar effort called Operation Gratitude, which is much larger in scope. From their website:
“Operation Gratitude annually sends 100,000 care packages filled with snacks, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation addressed to individually named U.S. Service Members deployed in hostile regions, to their children left behind and to Wounded Warriors recuperating in Transition Units. Our mission is to lift morale, bring a smile to a service member’s face and express to our Armed Forces the appreciation and support of the American people.”
Since I had plenty of comics I no longer read or felt the need to keep, I decided to gather them up and send them off to a good cause via Operation Gratitude. I tried to get a good and varied mix of books: superheroes, indie books, color, black & white, fantasy, sci-fi, Marvel, DC, etc. And just for good measure I included a few of my own comics as well, plus some PANEL anthologies. All in all, I ended up with a box full of about 150 comics.
The box was is currently on its way to the Army National Guard armory in Van Nuys, California, where Operation Gratitude sorts and assembles all the donated items into standard care packages for shipping all over the country, and the world.
So if you’re anything like me, I’m sure you have plenty of comic books that you can easily part with from your collection. Please consider donating them to this great cause. For storage purposes, they prefer that donations of goods be made during the following date ranges: March 15 to May 5 & September 15 to December 5. So as of today, you have a week to get your goods shipped to them.
However, they accept letters and financial donations anytime. Drop by their informative website and see how you can help.
(originally posted on my personal blog here)
Fairly balanced article on the demise of Borders. As far as big box chains go, I preferred Borders over Barnes & Noble. I catch myself sighing every time I drive by the old carcass that was the Borders on Kenny Road. Loved that store but at the same time never really bought much of anything there. (The cd’s and dvd’s were always $5 to $10 more than I wanted to pay for.) Yeah, I was part of the ‘problem’ I guess. Scouting out what I want to get then either waiting for it to show up at Half Price Books or Amazon to buy it on the cheap. Last book I almost bought at Borders was the David Choe art book. I saw it for 25% off at their liquidation ‘sale’. Opted to buy it on Amazon for half off cover.
If you’ll pardon the commerce plug, I’ve got some comics up on ebay that you may be interested in. Some cheap Marvel and DC sets, including:
and a few more…
Plus a couple of very rare, signed books for the hardcore collector:
You can see all the auctions here.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.
Rizzoli is finally bringing Hugo Pratt’s “Corto Maltese: The Ballad of the Salt Sea” to U.S. readers. Lots of good news at the link. It’ll be a bit smaller than the original European albums, at 6.75″ by 9.5″ but that’s still better than the manga size that was originally batted around. No word yet on who’s translating it, but here’s to hoping that Rizzoli leaves the work in its original, gorgeous black and white and resists the urge to color it. Also, no indication as to whether or not this is the first in a series, but we can always dream. Coming out in March 2012. Buy this! This is the GOOD STUFF.
You’re on my turf now, nerds! Let me show you around. Got specific requests? Hit me up on Twitter, @tonygoins
Pre-Mid Ohio Con Party: That’s at Packrat Comics out in Hilliard, going on until 11:30 p.m. tonight. They’re also running a shuttle service from THE HYATT AND HAMPTON INN main entrance every 30 minutes, starting at 6:30 p.m.
3872 Lattimer Street
Hilliard, OH 43026
Where you Are
You’re in the Short North district, which is one of the cooler areas around here. High Street is the big north-south drag, and it runs in front of the Convention Center.
Bars: I have nothing against the hotel bar, but if you want to venture out, here are some recommendations:
Across the street is Barley’s, which is chill and they serve their own microbrewed beer. Also across the street is Knead — I’ve never been there at night, but during the day they have housemade twinkies. Believe it. MoJoe lounge (just north of the center) is pretty cool, too.
South of the convention center there’s not much, but if you want to walk four blocks you’ll find Elevator and Barrio, which are a little fancy but still chill.
If you want to venture north of the convention center, I’d recommend Press Grill and Short North Tavern. But really, if you can walk a mile, I’d recommend
* Surly Girl Saloon: 1126 N. High – if Suicide Girls were a bar.
*Barrel 44: 1120 N. High – Whiskey. Lots of whiskey.
* North Star Cafe: 951 N. High St – Lots of fresh, lots of vegetarian, extremely super chocolately cookies and housemade ginger ale. www.thenorthstarcafe.com/
*Tip Top Kitchen: 73 E. Gay St – Fresh local food, and Ohio-themed cocktails. Have an Alex P. Keaton for me.
Getting Around: Don’t be afraid of the bicycle cabs, they’re here for you.
And the No. 1 bus runs up and down High Street until midnight, and the No. 21 “Night Owl” runs until 2:30 a.m. That’s $1.75 one-way, $4 for a day pass. Either of those will take you to anything I just mentioned.
White Castle: It’s at 965 North High St. Now that I’ve mentioned it, you can’t not do it.
click to embiggen
Nightclubs: I haven’t done a lot of dancing since we got the baby, but here’s what I know:
Ravari Room is having its Heaven vs. Hell pre-Halloween party Saturday night. I’m personally going to try to make that one. That’s 2661 N. High St.
Outland on Liberty was the longtime goth club here, but it has some competition these days. That’s south of you in the Brewery District (ask your cab driver)
Shrunken Head has Communion (gothwave-industrial-darkalt-synthpop) on Fridays.
Long Street used to be the big dance club, and it seems to be coming back.
Gay dance clubs nearby are Wall Street (a mile or two south) and Axis (about 6 blocks north, back behind the smoothie shop). I used to love me some Wall Street back in the day (2004).
Park Street area: Just west of the Convention Center is all the Park Street bars. I can’t vouch for them, and they seem a little douchey. Don’t come crying to me if some jock throws you into a locker and takes your lunch money.
Found this helpful? Stop by and say hi to me, Molly and Craig at table 1325, and Andy over at table 801.
Due to my recent financial straits and the chaos in the Bat-Titles, I’ve become something of an anomaly lately: A casual comic book fan.
Leading up to the relaunch, the Bat-Books were nearly impossible to follow. Grant Morrison was gone, but the real action in Batman was still happening in two ancillary books: Batman & Robin and Batman Inc. Batman Inc. is just Not Batman. Although Damian Wayne has grown on me, Batman & Robin was being written by Judd Winick. Batman and Detective Comics kept rotating writers, one of which was Tony Daniel, and sometimes they featured Hush.
But the monkey is strong on my back, and there’s now a comic shop within walking distance of my office, so I was forced to pick up a few issues of Scott Snyder’s ‘Tec. And, you know, I liked it.
He referred only obliquely to Batman & Robin and Batman Inc., so I didn’t need to follow them. He’s using Batman-Dick Grayson, but Dick Grayson is basically the Denny O’Neil Batman, so that’s cool. I missed a couple of issues, but I followed with no trouble. I wouldn’t say Scott Snyder’s Batman would be the best intro to a new reader (I’ve been reading for 20 years), but it was good for a casual comic book fan.
But then they made James Gordon’s long-lost son into a serial killer who dosed his own mother with Joker venom.
GodDAMMIT, DC comics.
UPDATE: I’m glad I waited to post this until I’d seen Snyder’s Batman No. 1. I gotta say, it’s pretty much an ideal Batman comic. I felt like I was watching a really good episode of Batman: The Animated Series or Steve Englehart in the good ol’ days.
You see Batman having fun with his sidekicks, Bruce Wayne in action, stunning reversals, crazy gadgets, life in Gotham City and some honest-to-goodness detecting. Chris Sims called ‘Batman’ #1: The Best New Comic of the New 52 (So Far).
There may even be an apology for that mom-venomthing:
The only two NuDC titles I’ve read so far are Mr. Terrific and Frankenstein: Agent of Shade. Let me say up top that I enjoyed them both and I’ll be back next month for Issue Twos.
They’re structured similarly: Start with some action, pull back for some exposition, get a taste of the hero’s personal life, then throw the hero into the main story. That’s probably an ideal structure for a book that introduces an unfamiliar hero, and it allows me to compare & contrast.
1. I’m going to say Mr. Terrific starts stronger, with the hero in actual combat. Frankenstein starts with a grandpa and grandson menaced by a monster in a small town, the standard X-Files cold open. Then we see Frankenstein getting debriefed in SHADE headquarters.
2. Frankenstein has a name recognition advantage (who hasn’t heard of Frankenstein?), so Mr. Terrific goes for an actual origin.
3. Characterization: Writer Jeff Lemire follows Grant Morrison’s lead in making Frankenstein talk like a Romantic poet. That establishes him in the Mary Shelley era – and forestalls comparisons to Hellboy. Writer Eric Wallace establishes that Mr. Terrific is all about SCIENCE! It’s a little on-the-nose, but I like that he has a point of view.
4. Frankenstein goes heavy with the wacky sci-fi concepts. If a miniaturized floating city, biodegradable clone servants , the friggin’ Creature Commandos and an immortal being in the body of a 10-year-old girl strike you as overkill, then this book is not for you. Mr. Terrific has its share of mad science (tesseract secret lair! earthquake thingie!), but spends more time on Mr. Terrific’s personal life.
Bechdel Test Fail
5. Personal life: We see a lot more of Mr. Terrific’s home life, including his late wife’s death and his current friends-with-benefits arrangement with Karen Starr. The book fails the Bechdel test pretty hard when one of Mr. Terrific’s associates (who is unnamed) gets up in Karen’s grill about it. That’s close to a DQ to me. We find that Frankenstein is estranged from the Bride of Frankenstein, but that’s it.
6. Action! Frankenstein spends more time on Action!, although he and the Creature Commandos are strictly fighting faceless demons. The demons decimate the town, but to the Creature Commandos they’re strictly background for the team’s banter. Mr. Terrific sets up some entity that possesses people and turns them into murderous super-geniuses (or something like that – stay tuned).
7. Art: Alberto Ponticelli gives Frankenstein a shaky, scratchy look that suits the book well. Penciller Gianluca Gugliotta and inker Wayne Faucher start out strong for Mr. Terrific, but the art gets really rushed toward the end. Advantage: Frankenstein.
8. Endings (SPOILERS!!!!!!!): They both end on cliffhangers. Frankenstein ends with the team finding some survivors in an odd place, whereas Mr. Terrific is possessed and about to destroy California with a SCIENCE! earthquake thingie. Mr. Terrific gets the edge for action here, but having your hero get possessed isn’t the best way to build him up.
9. All-Around Quality: On first reading, I enjoyed Mr. Terrific better, although Frankenstein seems to be getting better reviews. Frankenstein’s a lot more polished, but I’m hoping Wallace and Gugliotta sort out Mr. Terrific. I’ve always liked Mr. Terrific as a character, and I’d like to see DC do a book with a person of color I can support.
The downtown comic store was fresh out of Grifter No. 1, so you’ll have to wait to hear my take on that.
Action!