Archive for August, 2006
22 items.
As you can see, there is no comic today and there will likely be no comic until next Monday, August 7.
Due to some unforeseen circumstances at work, I ended up at the office for about 12 hours yesterday and I am likely to repeat the stunt again on Wednesday. Thus, I didn’t have enough time to put together a comic for you today and I won’t have enough time to work in advance on a comic for Friday.
I won’t get into the details about the work situation except to say that I have a *VERY* important project due next Monday and I can’t leave for Wizard World Chicago with it hanging over my head. This is just one of those situations where real-life takes priority over my hobby.
It’s bad timing. Especially because of Wizard World Chicago. I’m going to do the whole meet-and-greet from Friday until Sunday and people will check out the site to be greated with this message. Well, if you’re one of those people, I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE you to check out our archives. Heck, start from the begining! I’m certain you’ll find something you like.
I feel bad because I think this is the first time where I’ve had to blow off the comic due to serious life stuff getting in the way. I typically pride myself on my adherence to the schedule. But you guys know how I feel about deadlines and I wouldn’t reprioritize things if it wasn’t of the utmost importance.
All I want to say is that this is not a trend. Right now work has got the better of me. If I’m going to keep the job that pays the bills, I have to show it the attention it deserves.
I appreciate everyone’s understanding. I promise that next Monday you will see a fresh comic from yours truly. And if it follows in the tradition of post-convention comics of yore, it will likely be a little tale about how me and my fellow web comic cronies went to see a movie togeher. Most likely Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.
In the meantime, if you want to capitolize on my screw up and want to submit a guest strip to help me pad out the week, I’m gladly taking submissions. I realize it’s short notice, but if you want to whip something together real quick to help score a little extra publicity for your site while I’m off the reservation, e-mail me and we’ll work something out!
Don’t forget to find me at table #3143 A in Artist’s Alley at Wizard World Chicago this weekend! I will be selling copies of my first book "Theater Hopper: Year One" (which, incidentally, you can also buy here) as well as handing out invitations to a book release party I’m having Saturday night in my hotel room at the Doubletree. It’s going to be a blast.
Thanks again for everyone’s support, patience and understanding. I sincerely appreciate it!
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Aug03
GUEST STRIP – DANIEL PELFREY
August 3rd, 2006 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(2 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10)
You weren’t expecting to see this. To tell you the truth, neither was I.
First, let me thank my friend Daniel Pelfrey from Digital Entertainment News for putting together this guest strip. Yeah, he copied and pasted a bunch of artwork. Half of it belonging to me and half of it belonging to Joe Dunn’s creation Joe Loves Crappy Movies (Joe, don’t sue!) but I’m not hung up on the art issue. What I want to share is how awesome the internet is and the great friends I’ve made through it.
Reading yesterday’s blog about how work has been kicking my ass and how I wasn’t able to cough up a comic… the internet came to my aid. Daniel was first through the gate. All he wanted to do was give back. Then I heard about the thread that opie301 started over at the Digital Pimp Online forum. He went to the trouble of soliciting talent for me. Asking the other artists in the community to lend a helping hand. Totally selfless. By the end of the day, I had 7 guest strips in my back pocket.
That’s amazing.
I mean, just when life is handing your ass back to you, friends come calling. And that means a lot to me right now.
You have no idea.
Obviously I can’t use all of the guest strips I’ve been given. But I appreciate all of them. Be sure to check here tomorrow and over the weekend for a new comic every day until I get back from Wizard World Chicago.
In the meantime, be sure to check out Daniel’s site – the excellent Digital Entertainment News for the skinny on all the recently released video games and upcoming technology across all handheld and console platforms. A great site. I go there for all my gaming needs!
See you here in 24 hours.
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Aug04
GUEST STRIP – CARL KLOSTER
August 4th, 2006 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(5 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)
Today’s guest strip comes from Carl Kloster of The Third Half. The joke is a little bit on the border, but it was too good to pass out. I laughed out loud at this one. Plus, since I’m currently in Wizard World Chicago, having spent 6 hours in the car the day prior, it seemed fitting.
If you’re going to be at Wizard World Chicago, be sure to visit me at table #3134 A on Artist’s Alley. If you come by and say "Hi" I would be more than happy to give you an invitation to my book release party happening Saturday night. But you’re not going to know what room the party is being held in unless you get an invitation from me! No gate crashers!
If you’re not in Chicago this weekend, be sure to visit Carl’s site The Third Half. Lots of stuff to choose from there. Comics, movies, animation – he’s got it all.
Thanks again to Carl for the excellent guest strip on such short notice. Don’t forget to visit Theater Hopper over the weekend. I have two more guest strips for you that you’re going to love!
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Apologies for the lack of commentary. I’m currently at Wizard World Chicago.
Expect a big update soon!
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Apologies for the lack of commentary. I’m currently at Wizard World Chicago.
Expect a big update soon!
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I have a lot of stuff that I want to talk about today, so be sure to check back to the site often for updates. Right now, I plan on putting messages together as I have time since I’ve had to ramp back up to "real-life" speed in a fairly short amount of time after a 6-hour drive home from Chicago yesterday. I’m wiped out, but I’m excited!
First, let me say that my attendance at the 2006 Wizard World Chicago comic book convention was my best convention EVER! I was really nervous about going because, for me, it was the culmination of an effort that started back in October of 2005 when I first set out to put together "Theater Hopper: Year One." My expectations for Wizard World Chicago were very high and felt that my success or failure there was really going to set the tone for the larger goals I hoped to accomplish with Theater Hopper.
Well, I can say with confidence that "Theater Hopper: Year One" was a resounding SUCCESS! I sold dozens of books and a bunch of t-shirts. I met all kinds of great people and passed out a ton of fliers. If you’re one of the people I talked to who is visiting the site for the first time, welcome! If you like, feel free to start from the begining and work your way through the arcI have a lot of stuff that I want to talk about today, so be sure to check back to the site often for updates. Right now, I plan on putting messages together as I have time since I’ve had to ramp back up to "real-life" speed in a fairly short amount of time after a 6-hour drive home from Chicago yesterday. I’m wiped out, but I’m excited!
First, let me say that my attendance at the 2006 Wizard World Chicago comic book convention was my best convention EVER! I was really nervous about going because, for me, it was the culmination of an effort that started back in October of 2005 when I first set out to put together "Theater Hopper: Year One." My expectations for Wizard World Chicago were very high and felt that my success or failure there was really going to set the tone for the larger goals I hoped to accomplish with Theater Hopper.
Well, I can say with confidence that "Theater Hopper: Year One" was a resounding SUCCESS! I sold dozens of books and a bunch of t-shirts. I met all kinds of great people and passed out a ton of fliers. If you’re one of the people I talked to who is visiting the site for the first time, welcome! If you like, feel free to start from the begining and work your way through the archive. Of course, I’m up to 589 comics counting this one, so that could be a daunting task! If you’d like to skip around a little bit, visit the archive page and pick a date! Or, take advantage of our database search function that allows you to type in the title of nearly any movie you can think of and it will return the comic that spoofs it!
I think what really amazed me most were the fans who came to the convention looking for me. I never expect it. Despite the fact that Saturday marked the beginning of my fifth year doing this comic, I never expect anyone to know who I am or appreciate what I do. So it’s very mind-blowing when someone walks up to the table and says "I’ve been looking for you!" or when they approach you wearing one of the t-shirts you designed. I mean, in a convention hall that’s selling literally everything and that covers so many facets of entertainment – not just comics… For someone to wake up, throw on a Theater Hopper t-shirt, march down to the convention and say "THIS is what I’m into." That’s awesome.
I mean, I had someone come up to me with their cell phone so I could say "Hi" to their friend who was stuck at work. I’m more than happy to do it and it was a really fun conversation, but who the hell am I? I’m just some guy that does a web comic! Who wants to talk to me on their break?
I’m stumbling around. But it’s my way of saying thanks. What an incredible validation.
I think the other thing I was surprised by was the almost instant feedback I was getting about the book. I was actually able to sell a lot more of them to people unfamiliar to the comic than I had anticipated. I’m not complaining! Just surprised. But I had a few people come back to me on Sunday who had either bought the book on Friday or Saturday and told me how much they liked it!
I didn’t really get a chance to get out from behind my table and walk around, but I’m not complaining. That’s a good problem to have. All the same, it kept me away from the members of the press I wanted to talk to about the book. Fortunately, a few of them came down to Artist’s Alley and I was able to hand out a few press releases. I’m gonna follow up with you guys!
I should also mention that Saturday’s book release party was a real success. It was mostly people from the Digital Pimp crew – including the fabulous Joe Dunn, plus Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex, Zach Miller from Joe and Monkey, Mitch Clem from San Antonio Rock City and myself. But there were also a few fans in attendance and we had a great old time. I seriously never laughed so hard in my life!
I feel like I’m leaving out a bunch of details. But, truthfully, the whole convention went by so fast and I think I’m still processing it. 3:00 rolled around yesterday and I had to pack up in order to get home at a reasonable hour. I didn’t want to go!
Sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to stop by my booth and talk to me about Theater Hopper. If you bought a shirt or a copy of the book, extra SPECIAL thanks for giving me a chance. I mean, Wizard World Chicago is HUGE. Maybe the second largest convention of the year after the San Diego ComiCon. For anyone to walk through those doors, past every exhibitor and dealer and to say "This looks good. I want to buy your book." Well – don’t think I don’t take that for the miracle it is.
Come back later in the day. I still have lots to talk about regarding last week’s guest strips, Talladega Nights and the winner of the Fandango mailing list sign-up drawing!hive. Of course, I’m up to 589 comics counting this one, so that could be a daunting task! If you’d like to skip around a little bit, visit the archive page and pick a date! Or, take advantage of our database search function that allows you to type in the title of nearly any movie you can think of and it will return the comic that spoofs it!
I think what really amazed me most were the fans who came to the convention looking for me. I never expect it. Despite the fact that Saturday marked the beginning of my fifth year doing this comic, I never expect anyone to know who I am or appreciate what I do. So it’s very mind-blowing when someone walks up to the table and says "I’ve been looking for you!" or when they approach you wearing one of the t-shirts you designed. I mean, in a convention hall that’s selling literally everything and that covers so many facets of entertainment – not just comics… For someone to wake up, throw on a Theater Hopper t-shirt, march down to the convention and say "THIS is what I’m into." That’s awesome.
I mean, I had someone come up to me with their cell phone so I could say "Hi" to their friend who was stuck at work. I’m more than happy to do it and it was a really fun conversation, but who the hell am I? I’m just some guy that does a web comic! Who wants to talk to me on their break?
I’m stumbling around. But it’s my way of saying thanks. What an incredible validation.
I think the other thing I was surprised by was the almost instant feedback I was getting about the book. I was actually able to sell a lot more of them to people unfamiliar to the comic than I had anticipated. I’m not complaining! Just surprised. But I had a few people come back to me on Sunday who had either bought the book on Friday or Saturday and told me how much they liked it!
I didn’t really get a chance to get out from behind my table and walk around, but I’m not complaining. That’s a good problem to have. All the same, it kept me away from the members of the press I wanted to talk to about the book. Fortunately, a few of them came down to Artist’s Alley and I was able to hand out a few press releases. I’m gonna follow up with you guys!
I should also mention that Saturday’s book release party was a real success. It was mostly people from the Digital Pimp crew – including the fabulous Joe Dunn, plus Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex, Zach Miller from Joe and Monkey, Mitch Clem from San Antonio Rock City and myself. But there were also a few fans in attendance and we had a great old time. I seriously never laughed so hard in my life!
I feel like I’m leaving out a bunch of details. But, truthfully, the whole convention went by so fast and I think I’m still processing it. 3:00 rolled around yesterday and I had to pack up in order to get home at a reasonable hour. I didn’t want to go!
Sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to stop by my booth and talk to me about Theater Hopper. If you bought a shirt or a copy of the book, extra SPECIAL thanks for giving me a chance. I mean, Wizard World Chicago is HUGE. Maybe the second largest convention of the year after the San Diego ComiCon. For anyone to walk through those doors, past every exhibitor and dealer and to say "This looks good. I want to buy your book." Well – don’t think I don’t take that for the miracle it is.
Come back later in the day. I still have lots to talk about regarding last week’s guest strips, Talladega Nights and the winner of the Fandango mailing list sign-up drawing!
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I want to speak a little bit about Talladega Nights. As it has since become the tradition whenever I and my web comic contemporaries gather at conventions, we went to see this movie together on Friday Night. Last year it was Sky High and the year before that, it was Alien vs. Predator. And if I can take a moment to blubber, I really appreciate being able to hang out with these guys and see a movie with them every year. Going to conventions doesn’t ALWAYS have to be about mass alcohol consumption.
We saved that for Saturday night!
If you can’t tell who everyone is supposed to be in the last panel; From left to right, it’s Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex, Mitch Clem from San Antonio Rock City, Joe Dunn from Joe Loves Crappy Movies and Zach Miller from Joe and Monkey. I should also note that there were several other representatives of the Digital Pimp Online crew in attendance, but it was late and I was having troulbe fitting all of them into the comic.
I liked Talladega Nights and was thankful it didn’t suck. I had high hopes going in. The same team that put together Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is the same team that did Talladega Nights, so they had a lot to live up to. I still link Anchorman better. I think it’s more quotable and it’s certainly more absurd and that endears it to me. But I would love to see Talladega Nights a second time to catch all of the stuff that I missed. I’m positive once I’ve watched it as many times I’ve seen Anchorman – one of the greatest "If it’s on TV, I stop what I’m doing and watching" movies of my life – I’ll love it just as much.
There was one scene in the movie – and I won’t ruin it for you – that left me positively choking for air. I turned purple from laughter and it was probably the biggest gut laugh I had all year. I’m serious. I laughed for a REALLY long time. Like, I laughed well into the next two scenes. Frankly, it was a little inappropriate. I’m sure the people behind me wanted to strike the soft spot of my skull will a ball peen hammer. But man – when you get on a jag like that, you just gotta ride it out. Don’t stiffle those kind of laughs. It’s what causes the cancer, I think.
Cami was really bummed that I was going to be out of town for this movie because it was number one on both of our summer movie lists this year. The GOOD news is that it means I get to see it a second time! BONUS!
More updates later. Still want to talk to you about last week’s guest strips and the winner of the Fandango mailing list sign-up contest!
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Aug09
The one thing that spooked me about watching the trailers for Talladega Nights was that annoying catchphrase Will Ferrell shares with John C. Reily. I should have had more faith in them because they willingly make themselves the butt of the joke each time they exchange it. Reily’s Cal Naughton, Jr. says the titular phrase – "SHAKE AND BAKE!" – over and over again and there’s a line in the movie where Ferrell says he loves hearing it over and over. Reily admits he loves saying it. "Well, say it again, Cal!" "SHAKE AND BAKE!"
In a similar vein, the movie does an expert job of sending up the corporate sponsors of NASCAR driving teams when Ferrell’s character sells his windshield as advertising space for Fig Newtons and is "contractually obligated" to mention PowerAde while saying grace.
I looked at the one-sheet for the movie and was scratching my head over how much these real-life corporations paid the production for this level of product placement before realizing that each and every one of them was being satirized to their very core.
I have a couple of threads of unfinished business to discuss from Monday. I was going to mention two things – the people who sent in guest strips last week and the winner of the Fandango mailing-list sign up contest.
First things first. I don’t have a winner to announce in the Fandango mailing-list sign-up contest yet. I still need to enter the names of all the people who signed the mailing list at Wizard World Chicago into the database. But I’m good for it! Don’t worry! I wouldn’t dangle that carrot in front of you if I weren’t serious about it. I just want to make sure that the random draw is truly random. I’ll have a winner for you soon.
Regarding last weeks’ guest strips, I didn’t appropriately credit two of the artist who contributed over the weekend. I was in a rush to get out of the door on Sunday and was only able to get their comics into the system, sans blog.
Let me thank Will Templeton who did Saturday’s strip. Please be sure to visit his site Anarchy Soda. Second, let me thank Josh Anderson for Sunday’s strip. He has a web site that you can view at www.ldprd.com. And, of course, thanks again to Carl Kloster and Daniel Pelfry for their contributions on Friday and Thursday, respectively.
I actually ended up with WAY more guest strips than I needed and unfortunately couldn’t use all of them. So right now, let me extend my thanks to Euan Mumford, Trevor Mueller, J. Mullins, Jeremy W. Kaufmann, Brad Porter, Brandon J. Carr, Jon Scrivens and Brandon Brown. I’ll tell you that Trevor was so gung-ho about the affair, he made TWO comics!
At any rate, as you can see, I had a lot to choose from and those I couldn’t use was not an indication of their quality. It was a question of availabilty. I’ve saved each of their comics so the next time life hands it to me, I’ll have something ready to go and people won’t have to scramble.
I’m sharing these names with you because I told everyone what was happening on Wendesday and all of these guest strips came in within hours. That’s awesome and I just want to say thanks.
I’m still working on sending out copies of the book. If you’ve pre-ordered, don’t worry. They’re coming soon. I’m drawing sketches for those of you who pre-ordered, so it’s taking a little extra time. But a few dozen are going out today and I’ll probably send out a couple dozen more by the end of the week. I picture that all of the pre-orders will be in the mail sometime next week, so hang tight!
I’m already getting feedback from some of the people I’ve mailed books out to and things are really positive – which is a reliefe! People are telling me that the book is much more than they expected with the commentary for each strip. That makes me feel good. It makes me feel like I’ve really added something valuable to the book. If you’d like to order your copy, you can do so here. Now that I actually have the book in stock, it’s rekindled interest and they’re going fast! Get yours today!
That’s all for now. Talk to you soon!
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My logic is, if Hollywood can make another 9/11 movie a scant four months after Paul Greengrass’s United 93, than I can do another comic featuring Angel Tom, Devil Tom and Pac-Man skirting around the issue at The Starcade. Trust me – it’s pretty hard to do a comic that can make the events of a 9/11 movie funny. So you have to approach things from a more abstract angle.
I wish I could give you a good reason why I don’t plan on seeing World Trade Center. I suppose for the same reasons I didn’t see United 93. But largely because I’m just not ready to. To me, it doesn’t matter how sensitive they treat the issue or how much respect they pay to the fallen. I can’t reconcile art from commerce – entertainment from healing. It’s all too raw for me and much to soon.
I appreciate what Oliver Stone is trying to do with his movie. He’s taken the enormity of the event and boiled it down to the heroics of two men. They stand as the metaphor for the human spirit the rest of us can rally around. But it’s just not for me and it kills me to admit it. If you think it’s cowardly for me to turn my back on these films, I couldn’t agree with you more.
Sometimes I get taken to task for badmouthing a movie without seeing it. I shoot from the hip and tell you up front "I’m into this… I’m NOT into that." It’s a weird position to be in because I am not a critic to be taken seriously. I’m just a regular guy with his biases like anyone else. I never demanded to be taken seriously in that regard. I figured honesty was always the best policy. Objectivity is not my hallmark and you should not expect that from me.
But at the same time, I made a note to censor myself somewhat and not talk about the movies I planned on avoiding. I can’t really do that with World Trade Center. There’s not much else in theaters this weekend and it’s the elephant in the room we’d all be ignoring if I talked about something like Zoom. Has anyone here seen the commercials for Zoom? Yeah, I thought not.
That’s pretty much all I’ve got for a Friday. Hope I didn’t send you out of here on a down note. Not all of them can be a Cracker Jack prize! If anyone sees WTC over the weekend, drop me a note and tell me about it.
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I’m sure today’s comic won’t have you rolling in the aisles. But sometimes a thought floats into your head and starts gnawing away at you until you have to address it in some form or another.
Should Nicholas Cage reconcile the difference between his participation in a movie that features a plane crash in it’s finale with his participation in a movie that recreates a real-life terrorist attack that also involved planes? Probably not. I mean, he’s an actor. When you boil it down to its essence, it’s his job to show up and become the conduit through which you can emotionally connect with the story. The politics surrounding it are incidental.
But still, as I drove around this weekend and thought about it, I couldn’t absolve his decision completely. I mean, when you look at both movies on his resume, it just looks insensitive.
Perhaps I’m making too big a deal out of it. In my circle of friends, Con Air is universally reviled. Even among the Michael Bay apologists.
I recieved some interesting e-mail over the weekend regarding Friday’s comic. Some people told me to get over it. To move on. To see the movies – they’re both really well done! Appreciate them for what they are. Use them to help things heal. It was good advice even if I didn’t take it.
I also recieved e-mail from people who lived that horror five years ago. People from New York City who told me things I couldn’t imagine. Being from Iowa, I was so far removed from the tragedy, yet took things very personally and many of these people felt the same way. "If you were here when it happened, you wouldn’t want to see these movies, either," they told me.
I don’t know who’s right. People mourn in different ways. And as much as it kills me to close myself off to art – to live in fear of those emotions (re: "letting the terrorists win") I’m somewhat ashamed of myself.
But at the same time, I hold a greater reverence for respect due to the dead than I do for art and I make sure to keep my priorities in order.
It was a rainy day in Iowa all day Sunday. This was the comic that sprung from that frame of reference.
Just for a little background color.
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