Posts Tagged ‘Batman’
6 items.
After drawing today’s comic, I sat and wondered just how effective Donald Trump would be as a super hero? My guess? Not very.
First thing’s first. I want to let everyone know about the art auction I currently have running over at eBay. Click here to see the auction listing. Here’s an image of the artwork.
It is a rendering of Tom cast as Anakin Skywalker as he appeared through all three Star Wars prequels. From his days as a snot-nosed brat on Tatooine, through his pouty teenage-years, into his mulleted twenties and onto the grim visage of evil – Darth Vader.
The art is a one-of-a-kind original, done in pencil and finished in ink on a sheet of 11″ x 14″ Bristol board. The winning bidder will have the art shipped to their residence in a re-enforced cardboard shipping tube to prevent creases, bends or folds.
This artwork was something I originally intended on auctioning off last month to coincide with the release of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. But those plans got sidetracked and I’m auctioning it off now. Better late than never, right?
I plan on following up this auction very soon with a piece inspired by Batman Begins. So if you don’t win this auction, look for the next one to come down the pike in the next week or so.
As previously mentioned above, people who have signed up for the Theater Hopper mailing list were tipped off early to the auction last night. In fact, I let them know as soon as I posted it to eBay and there has already been a handful of bids. You don’t want to be left out of the loop for next time, do you? Sign up for the mailing list today and be the first to know about auctions, new merchandise and possibly be given the opportunity to cash in on discounts for advertising and stuff in the store! It takes literally seconds and you’ll only be getting e-mails from me. We do not sell your information to anyone else!
Regarding the comic, I really wanted to do something closer in the spirit of the new Batman movie opening today, but when I sat down to conjure something up, the idea of the wealthy transforming their lives to become super heroes just stuck in my brain. Paris Hilton as “Tanorexia,” specifically. The only way to get it out was to put pen to paper.
Incidentally, this isn’t the first time Uncle Moneybags has appeared in the comic. Enjoy him in his utter 1920’s carpet bagging glory in these two strips from the archive.
When you stop to think about it, Bruce Wayne did a pretty amazing thing taking his family’s fortune and using it to avenge his parents murder. Whenever I think of a spoiled rich kid from the East Coast, I’m thinking of some coked-out yuppie yachting with his blue-blood girlfriend Mitzy. Most people don’t have the drive or determination to use their resources to become better than what they are.
I suppose that’s why Batman resonates so well with people. He represents the potential we could reach if we had deep, psychological issues, unlimited supplies of money and a flying rodent fetish. (Young wards optional.)
I have high hopes for the new Batman film. It’s been getting positive reviews out the wazoo. But it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to go to the theater any time soon. Cami is getting her Master’s degree and started her summer semester this week. She’s taking an accelerated course, so she’s in class tonight and almost every day this week. Even Saturday!
Of course Sunday is Father’s Day, but(unfortunately) my Dad isn’t into these kind of geek-fest cinema offerings. Oh, man! When I have kids, they’re gonna pay on Father’s Day.
“But Dad! We want to take you golfing!”
“Screw that! We’re going to see Batman 15: Bat Attack! starring Haley Joel Osment!”
Dumb kids…
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Aug31
GUEST STRIP – KIDNEMO
August 31st, 2005 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(5 votes, average: 5.60 out of 10)
Geeze, can you guys believe it’s almost September? This year has gone by WAY to fast. We’re in the last fourth of 2005 and there is so much I wanted to get done with the site this year that hasn’t happened yet. Time to attack things with renewed vigor!
That is… after I get back from my business trip this week.
Wednesday’s comic is from my good friend and fellow Dayfree Press buddy Kidnemo. He’s actually done a guest strip for me before, but this is the first time he’s done so in his signature pixelated style. You can catch more of that action from his prime-time comic gig Comet 7. But don’t forget that he has an excellent side project called Kristy vs. The Zombie Army that is really good, too.
I’m not sure how to write this without coming off like I’m bragging, so I’m just going to let my fingers dance across the keyboard and whatever sputters out is what I’ll post.
Anyway, I’ve been receiving a lot of e-mails from people who are writing to me for the first time and saying that they really dig the comic and whatnot. I can’t remember ever receiving concentrated feedback of this nature in the comic’s 3+ years of existence, so it’s kind of catching me off guard.
I’ve always maintained that I have one of the nicest and most intelligent fan bases in all of web comics. Your support has always been consistent and I’m thankful for it. All I’m saying is that to get a bunch of messages like this at once is unusual for me.
At any rate, I wanted to give a collective “Thank You” to the readership. August has been… a really hard month for me – both professionally and personally. And for those friends and family who read the comic, by “professionally,” I’m referring specifically to Theater Hopper and not my day job. Don’t worry! Everything is fine on that front! ;D
But yeah… August has been tough and I just wanted to say the compliments you guys have been sending my way as of late couldn’t have come at a better time.
I try not to fish for these kinds of things. I’ve been deliberately sketchy about some of the details of my life in this space because I don’t want to bog you guys down with my problems. This space is for entertaining. That’s what I want to do with it – entertain.
But to know you guys are out there… reading and engaged. Excited about what’s next. Wow. What a trip. What an honor.
I guess I never really mentioned that Theater Hopper celebrated it’s 3 year anniversary on August 5th. I don’t know why. I guess I didn’t want to trumpet the milestone without something special to back it up. A week’s worth of comics or a special expanded storyline. I don’t know.
But yeah… I created the site to try and use my talents (however small) to reach out and communicate with people. I never knew the real potential of what was out there or what you would give back to me.
So, thanks. I’m amazed by your graciousness every day.
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People who travel in geek circles are already aware of the Batman / Iron Man comparison and where you fall on that divide basically depends on a handful of factors. But, truthfully, in the early days of comics, you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting a super hero with a large bank account that he used to fight crime. Green Arrow was basically a direct rip-off of Batman. He had an Arrowmobile, people. AN ARROWMOBILE.
I took the opportunity to address the concept of the idle rich using their deep pockets to better society once before – back when Batman Begins was in theaters. Personally, I find it funny that Cami still has to take pause and verify Batman’s character arc in both the previous strip and this one – just to make sure she’s right.
I like that strip a lot and I wish I could have reused the joke. Because, truthfully, I had a hard time picking a direction in regards to my week’s worth of comics for The Dark Knight.
I guess what I’m saying is that it’s really hard to make fun of The Dark Knight. It’s easily the most anticipated movie of the summer, looks excellent and features amazing, much buzzed about performances. Really my only “in” is to poke fun at the over-the-top natures of The Joker, but after Heath Ledger’s passing, that would just look tasteless.
So, in turn, I decided to use The Dark Knight as the background of a larger story and Tom’s established history as a hard core Iron Man fan as the catalyst that kicks things off. It’s nothing epic, mind you. But these comics will be more about Tom and his geeked out brain than they will be about The Dark Knight specifically.
Trust me, it’s going somewhere. That’s why I put that little "To Be Continued!" in the corner. See? I’m always thinking of you!
That does it for me today. But if you’re looking for more grist for the mill, watch these videos that outlines the differences AND similarities between Batman and Iron Man. It’s all part of the hilarious series of “I’m a Marvel… and I’m a DC” clips that can be found on YouTube.
ENJOY!
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Before we get started today, I just wanted to make sure everyone was on board with the term "facepalm." It’s basically another way of expressing complete exasperation and/or frustration toward another. Here, let Captain Picard illustrate:
I know most of our younger readers will recognize the term. I just wanted to flesh it out a little bit for people who aren’t up on internet catch phrases.
I had a hard time with today’s comic. There’s a lot of text to this one. I suppose that’s the risk you take when you run six panels. But there were a lot of ideas I wanted to get across and it was difficult to strip them down to their most bare comic elements.
In any case, I hope you like it.
I was looking over my Twitter feed last night as I was working on the comic and lot of people were apparently using their cell phones to send updates about their experiences waiting in line for The Dark Knight. It sounds crazy. Expectations are through the roof on this thing. I’m legitimately afraid that my expectations have now been set too high and I’m going to end up not enjoying the film. Certainly the Twitter posts coming in AFTER the movie seem to suggest the bar for superhero movies has now been set extraordinarily high.
I’ve been on lockdown on this film for about a month – since about the time that teaser clip of Two-Face’s first appearance showed up online – and have been trying like the dickens to avoid interviews and reviews. It’s hard. The advertising and promotion for this thing has been kicked into overdrive. When you spend the amount of time I do online, it’s really hard to avoid.
I don’t know when we’ll get a chance to see the movie this weekend, but I almost don’t want to? I know that sounds crazy, but I just don’t want to fight the crowds. I should go at, like, 11 o’clock in the morning on Sunday when everyone else is at church…
Truthfully, I don’t what the odds are of us even getting out of the house this weekend. Cami wasn’t feeling very well Wednesday night. She was complaining of chills and fever before complaining about terrible back pain. I recognized those symptoms! When we woke up on Thursday and she wasn’t feeling any better, I told her not to waste time and to go to the doctor right away. Turns out she was diagnosed with acute tonsillitis just as I had been three weeks ago!
I don’t know if she caught it from me and it was just dormant in her system for three weeks or if she picked it up from somewhere else, but between myself, Cami, Henry and his time spent at day care – all of us are basically infecting and reinfecting each other with one horrible virus after the other.
Cami is on medication now – the same stuff I was on at the end of June and I would think she should start feeling better by tomorrow. At least if my experience was any indication. Cami’s parents have stepped in to take care of Henry today. He’s spending the night with Grandma and Grandpa to give Cami the opportunity to recover. I do a fine job of taking care of Henry on my own, but he’s also in the “MAMA, MAMA, MAMA!” phase and doesn’t want anyone but her. It makes it hard to keep them apart when they’re in the house together.
At any rate, that’s what we’re dealing with at the moment. With any luck, we’ll get a chance to see The Dark Knight sometime this weekend.
Incidentally, Cami was really down on the idea for a while. She wasn’t over the moon with Batman Begins and she though The Dark Knight looked even more bleak. But the marketing wizards finally got to her and all of the positive buzz finally convinced her to see it.
To put it another way, when your Mother-in-law asks you if you’re excited to see a movie like The Dark Knight, Madison Avenue has done its job.
Take it easy, everyone. I’ll see you here on Monday!
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Sorry, guys. Today’s blog post will be somewhat delayed as my brain is total mush.
I’m at home right now on a “staycation” that requires me to lug furniture up several flights of stairs, rearrange rooms and clear out storage areas. Cami and I are basically JUST NOW getting around to our Spring Cleaning and it’s killing me.
It’s probably what lead me to reference a near 60 year-old Jimmy Stuart movie in today’s comic. Don’t as me why. I know for most of you, this joke is going to go right over your heads. But it’s my hope that people who know a little bit of film history will get a kick out of it.
What I would really like to do is talk in depth about The Dark Knight. Cami and I got to see it on Monday and I was blown away.
The performances were all great, as to be expected. But I was really caught off guard by the excellent questions the film presented in regard to humanity’s true nature and what one must do to battle evil – both inside and external to oneself.
Spider-Man 3 made a big deal about "the enemy within" but Sam Raimi only wishes he could conjure up a fraction of the moral quandry Christopher Nolan boxes Batman into during the course of The Dark Knight.
Anyway, like I said, my brain is mush right now, so I don’t feel like I can go much more into it. But if you’re looking for a little insight in the meantime, download Monday night’s episode of The Triple Feature podcast. The crew gets into a pretty good discussion about The Dark Knight that I think you’ll enjoy. Check it out.
Oh, and for those that wrote in Monday with suggestions about whether to see The Dark Knight in IMAX or a regular theater, thanks for you input. The vote was pretty evenly split. Cami and I decided to see it in a regular theater mostly because of the bad experience we had seeing Superman Returns in IMAX.
Plus, our regular movie theater is five minutes from our house. So convenience won out!
Take care. I’ll talk to you soon!
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Sep09
GUEST STRIP – PAUL SOUTHWORTH
September 9th, 2009 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(20 votes, average: 8.75 out of 10)
Today’s guest comic comes to us from Paul Southworth, formerly of Ugly Hill and currently from You Are Dead over at Crispy Gamer.
Paul was a total rock star putting together this comic. He was quick to respond when I asked if he could help me out and was really excited about it along the way.
Before submitting it to me, he asked if I had anything planned for 9 and I had to admit I did not. Within a couple of hours, he sent the finished comic and I was blown away! I seriously need to pick his brain about how to do backgrounds. He only throws in a couple of details, but does a much better job of giving the characters a believable space to operate in than I do.
Oh, and the joke is funny, too! ;D
Be sure to check out You Are Dead over at Crispy Gamer and don’t forget to look up Ugly Hill while you’re at it. Paul isn’t updating Ugly Hill anymore, but the archives are still online and well worth your time.
If you have a Twitter account, I suggest following him there as well. I find his updates consistently hilarious and a fun addition to my Twitter feed.
Thanks again, Paul, for the excellent guest strip!
As for 9, I keep forgetting it’s in theaters today. I don’t know if it’s because it’s coming out on a Wednesday or because I haven’t seen ads for it or what. But it feels like it’s off my radar.
I want to see 9, but I don’t feel as excited for it as some people seem to. It looks interesting, but it doesn’t look like a must-see to me.
The movie is being billed first as “Produced by” Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov which doesn’t reflect the awesome team-up potential those names together might inspire. Basically all it says is that they liked the source material and put up some money to see the movie made. Shane Acker is the director and is essentially an unknown quantity with a handful of credits to his name.
I would say that I was impressed by the voice talent in this movie – Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover, Jennifer Connelly and Elijah Wood all star – but, truthfully, voice over work is such an easy paycheck for these actors, it’s hard to get excited about the movie on name recognition alone.
Basically I’m expecting to see a movie unlike anything visually put to screen before. But in terms of story and plot… well, the jury is still out.
What are your thoughts about 9? Are you going to try to see it today, or is everyone staying indoors to play Rock Band: The Beatles?
Happy 9.9.09, everyone! Remember: this will never happen again! Well, until 10.10.10 – which is basically the same thing.
Cheers!
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