Posts Tagged ‘Black Widow’
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I have to say right now that the response to the last few comics has been phenomenal and I really wanted to thank you guys for the comments and suggestions you’ve been leaving.
A lot of you have been trying to guess where the story line might be going and I LOVE that. It tells me you’re invested in what’s going to happen next. That’s good, because this week was pretty much all exposition – getting all of the characters “in costume,” so to speak, so we can kick the action into high gear next week.
Someone wrote me on Twitter the other day asking if Cami would show up wearing a cardboard Black Widow costume. And while I think the visual gag would have been hilarious (if somewhat difficult to pull off), I decided to play it straight and put Cami in the sexy catsuit instead. I honestly believe this is one of the best renderings of her I’ve ever drawn.
Besides, I think the contrast of a hot babe running around with a couple of dorks in cardboard costumes is still an effective visual gag. It gives you some eye candy, at least!
I was writing on Facebook about how much I’ve been enjoying this story line. Both in terms of what I’ve already accomplished as well as what is lying in store for the weeks ahead. I’m feeling really enthusiastic about it and I hope that enthusiasm is translating for you guys.
I think it boils down to authenticity. I’m a crazy Iron Man fan in real life, so now it’s working it’s way into the comic. I actually consider it a point of pride that I’ve haphazardly “branded” myself as the crazy Iron Man fan. It seems like there isn’t a week that goes by that I’m not talking about Iron Man to someone on Twitter, trying to convince them to pick up Matt Fraction’s recent run on Invincible Iron Man.
When the first movie came out, things were so crazy because people were sending me Iron Man cups from 7-11, stickers, theatrical posters… One guy even sent me a full-sized Iron Man theater standee! It was wild!
All I’m saying is that I appreciate all that stuff but what I appreciate more is that you guys are zeroing in on my passion for the character and are echoing that same enthusiasm. It’s personally very satisfying for me. So, thank you.
As a side note, I’ll mention that a few of you living outside of the United States have already seen the movie and are talking about it. That’s fine, but I’m in total lockdown mode now. I’m not reading any reviews and I’m not watching any more clips. I saw a clip with the briefcase armor and I felt like I had already seen too much. I don’t want to accidentally ruin something else.
That said, I do know some things about the general consensus regarding the film as a bi-product of simply being online and absorbing things. I’ve seen a few headlines raving about it and a few headlines saying its a disappointment.
In my mind, that brings me back to an even keel. It’s not important to me that the critics or blogosphere unanimously love the movie. What is important to me is that I control my expectations walking into the theater and – for once – just enjoy the film while freezing out all of the hype.
I don’t do this very often because, typically, I find the marketing of a film as interesting as the movie itself. But this one is for me to savor. I am greatly looking forward to it.
Not much more for me to say at the moment. If you have thoughts or reactions about today’s strip or the developing story line, feel free to leave them in the comments section. I always welcome your feedback!
Have a great day and enjoy the weekend!
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I apologize for the delay on Monday’s comic. I was absolutely stymied by how to draw the interior of the bus in the last panel. Paralized, almost.
I kept telling myself “This is a good thing” because, as I explained to myself, this kind of fear meant that I was operating outside of my comfort zone. I’m evolving my style – if only incrementally. You have to embrace it. I think, so long as people are reacting favorably to the recent story line, I might as well go for broke.
Although, I worry that it was a lot of stress and effort for not a lot of payoff. I wish the joke could have been stronger. I think the crazy guy barking at Cami is cute, but not laugh out loud funny.
Oh, well. I suppose if push comes to shove, it’s the nesicary transition piece to move the story from the exposition to the action. Look for more of what you loved about the first three strips in the next few strips.
The good news is that I have everything plotted out at this point and envision this arc going on for at least two more weeks. I don’t want the story to wear out its welcome, but I think I have some good gags coming up, so stay tuned for that.
Switching gears, you might have noticed that the site has undergone another redesign. It’s not quite finished, yet. There are some tweaks to make here and there. But the functionality is in place and that’s what matters most.
The design is all mine, but you have to give credit to Tyler Martin and Phil Hofer from ComicPress for stringing up all the bells and whistles. Phil has been especially invaluable these last few weeks. Be sure to visit his site at Frumph.net
Along with the new coat of paint, there is a TON of functionality behind the scenes that I think is going to make your experience more entertaining. I haven’t even explored all of the options yet, but a few I can tell you about off the top of my head are things like the new “RANDOM” button in comic navigation as well as links to similar comics at the bottom of the blog. Hopefully, you will use these to explore more of the site and maybe take a trip down memory lane.
Other advantages of the souped up back end will be a special members area for people who donate to the site and also the option to BUY PRINTS of you favorite comics.
Selling prints is something I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time. So I am very excited by the potential of this. I plan to keep the cost low (and hopefully the quality high) and really push that in the future.
But, like I said, there a few things I need to put in order first. The Theater Hopper storefront chief among them. I’m testing out store management systems like Magento and Open Cart and will hopefully have something put together soon. There are also pages under the ABOUT, LINKS and CONTENT areas that needed to be added back in.
If you have thoughts or ideas about what features or improvements YOU’D like to see on the site, now is the time to suggest them! We’re cleaning house, so anything you can suggest that would make your experience better, please let us know.
You can either leave your comments after this blog or on the recently reintroduced THORUM.
This is the third time around for our little forum community. The first two utilized the phpBB software package and were taken down by relentless spamming. This time around, we have a far more simplified system utilizing bbPress – which is kind of an extension of WordPress. Hopefully, it will be a lot less buggy and allow us to carry on the kind of sustained conversations that comment under the blog do not.
Anyway, lots going on right now. I appreciate everyone’s patience waiting for today’s comments and I can’t wait to read your comments, feedback and suggestions about the new look and feel!
Cheers!
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I think most of you figured out pretty early on that this little dress-up adventure was going to bring Tom, Jared and Cami into conflict with Victor dressed up like Whiplash, the newly introduced villain of Iron Man 2.
It makes sense. Whiplash is a muscle-bound Russian scientist who wears orange pants. Victor is a muscle-bound Ukrainian movie theater manager who wears a red bow tie. The parallels are obvious.
The big question is why does Victor’s costume appear to be a fully-functional and lethal weapon as depicted in the movie? We’ll get to that later. But, for now, dig that crazy electricity! Looks good, right?
Iron Man 2 is only 3 days away and it is getting harder and harder to ignore coverage. TV spots are in full rotation now. Most of the footage I’ve already seen from earlier spots. But once in a while they’ll throw in a shot of Iron Man swooping down out of the sky and I’ll think to myself, “Dammit! Stop looking at the screen, you idiot!”
I don’t know if it makes that much of a difference if I see 2 seconds more that I hadn’t seen previously. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be over the moon for this film regardless of how pristine I manage to keep myself before walking into the theater.
In fact, I’m seriously considering buying tickets for the midnight showing – something I probably haven’t done since Star Wars – Episode III
If I do decide to go to the midnight showing, Friday’s comic will most likely be delayed. I’ll try to work ahead on things, but it’s usually my habit to work on a comic the night before it’s due. I’m “No-Buffer Man!”
I seriously need to plan ahead better.
Switching topics, Cami sent me an interesting e-mail the other day. She said she wants to see the documentary Babies this weekend.
In case you aren’t familiar with the plot of the film, Babies follows around four, well… babies from around the world – Tokyo, Mongolia, Namibia and San Francisco – essentially prompting replies of “Awwww” for 90 minutes. It’s a perfect piece of counter-programming against the hype surrounding the testosterone and AC/DC-fueled experience of Iron Man 2.
Shamefully on her part, I had to remind her, “Honey, Iron Man 2 is coming out this weekend.”
“Oh! Oh! I want to see that, too.” But you could tell she had momentarily forgotten about it.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to see Babies, too. The trailer for it is brilliant and it gets me every time. Watch it right now if you don’t believe me.
But here’s the thing… we have a 5 month-old at home. We’re kind of LIVING this movie right now. So finding a babysitter so we can go and watch a documentary about babies seems kind of backwards.
Although maybe I shouldn’t complain. If we manage to see two movies this weekend, that would be amazing. I should probably try to play the lottery if that happens, because I doubt I’ll ever get that lucky again.
Are you guys getting worked up for Iron Man 2? Has anyone else entered “lock down” mode? How successful have you been.
What about Babies? Is anyone else kind of excited to see it. I’m curious what the reaction to the film is between people with kids and people who don’t have kids. I probably would have rolled my eyes at a film like Babies a few years ago. But watching the trailer now actually kind of makes my heart swell with pride. I can’t tell if it’s because the trailer is well made or if it’s just pushing the Parent Button.
Leave your comments below.
Also, don’t forget about the recently reintroduced THorum! If you’re interested in having more long-term conversations and talking to other readers from the site, create an account and submit a topic! Let’s get talking!
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Hey, guys. Sorry for another late comic. I know that this has been happening more and more frequently, but I feel like it’s a by-product of the time that I’m putting in on this story line.
I’m pretty far out of my comfort zone on this one. I’ve been coming up with new character designs, trying new panel arrangements and posing the characters differently. I’ve been doing a lot of effects work and generally trying to make the action pop off the page. I know the last few comics have been kind of light on the jokes, but I hope you at least appreciate the effort that’s going into the art.
That said, I think I’m about ready to wrap things up on this story line. It’s just taking too much out of me and throwing me way off schedule. I hate being late with the comic. It’s my number one rule and I keep breaking it over and over again. I want to get back on track.
I should mention that I was able to see Iron Man 2 again over the weekend and I think I had a better time watching it for a second time than I did the first time around.
I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy the movie the first time around. I think I was just trying to soak it all in. Watching it for a second time, I could relax and let it unfold in front of me a little more.
I’m in the middle of writing my review right now and I hope to have it posted to the site soon. Maybe Tuesday, we’ll see. The review is not 100% positive, which might surprise some of you. But I think I’m being fair about the films plot holes and shortcomings (of which there are a few).
In any case, it will be my definitive statement on the matter and hopefully we can move on to greener pastures soon.
Thanks again for your patience. Stay close to Twitter and Facebook for updates on the Iron Man 2 review when it’s posted!
Talk to you soon!
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So, here it is. This is the artwork I was threatening to do a week ago. A nice little cast portrait to commemorate my Iron Man 2 storyline. Apologies for the lack of color, but I think it looks better in black and white.
Yeah, I know it kind of ended with a thud. But I’m really proud of about 95% of it and thought it was worth celebrating. Goodness knows I burned up a lot of midnight oil putting it together for you guys.
As a special treat, I filmed myself drawing the artwork last night and sped it up for you in this delightful little YouTube video:
If you find that exciting, then I have even BETTER news for you!
I have decided to auction off the original inked illustration you see in the video on eBay. You can find it here. It’s on a 9 x 12″ sheet of Bristol board with a 1″ border (so you can frame it if you want to!) I will make sure to mail it flat.
Bidding starts now and the auction will remain open for the next 5 days. I don’t sell original artwork all that often, so if you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind piece from yours truly, now is the time to snap it up!
Now if I can get serious for a moment…
I went to this extra effort with the video and the auction because I’m afraid I have some bad news and I wanted to let you guys down gently. There isn’t a good way to say it other than to just come right out and say it…
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, I WILL BE SCALING BACK PRODUCTION OF THEATER HOPPER TO ONE DAY A WEEK.
This decision was a hard one for me but, ultimately, necessary. With the end of the Iron Man 2 story line, now seemed like the best time to make a change.
The primary motivation behind this cutback is actually very positive. A year after having been laid off, I have finally found full-time employment again! I start work in June and am very much looking forward to the opportunity.
But, as such, I recognize that I cannot continue to dedicate myself to Theater Hopper on a thrice-weekly schedule. The late nights spent staying up past midnight working on the comic have caught up with me. I don’t bounce back like I used to when I was 24 years-old and just starting the comic. Add to the mix two children with irregular sleeping schedules and, well, the end result is that I’m not 100% like I should be.
There’s been a lot that I’ve sacrificed for Theater Hopper. Primarily sleep. But my health, my attitude and my availability to my family have all suffered as a consequence. I don’t blame anyone by myself for these choices. But, at some point, one has to recognize when enough is enough. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to be effective in all the areas I need to be effective in.
Part of me wondered if it was better to end the comic completely. But I didn’t want to do a disservice to you, the fans, for supporting me. Nor did I want to perform a disservice to myself and the investment that I’ve made over the last 8 years.
Eventually, Theater Hopper will have to end – as all things do. But when it does, I want to make sure it goes out on a high note with a story that satisfies the long-term readers and appreciates them for their kindness and encouragement.
Until then, it will be business as usual content-wise. I’ll continue to make fun of the latest releases, just not as often. I’ll probably be playing around with the format a little until I strike the right balance. But from now on, you can expect a new comic here every Monday morning.
To aid the transition, I encourage you to follow Theater Hopper’s RSS feed. I also encourage to to follow Theater Hopper on Facebook and my personal account on Twitter. They will be the best places for you to receive news and updates as well as links to the most recent comics.
If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them either here in the comments section or in the THorum. If you’re not comfortable with that, e-mails are okay, too.
This is a large adjustment for me, as I’m sure it will be for you. I will miss updating the comic three times a week. But, in the end, I know that this is the decision that will benefit me and my family most. At this point, it’s all about realigning my priorities. I will always enjoy producing the comic and interacting with the fans. But my family, my livelihood and my personal health must come first.
As the excellent, supportive and understanding audience you have always been, I know you will appreciate my reasons.
Again, I thank you. You have been much more kind to me than I deserve.
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Okay, if you’ve been on the internet at all today, you know that the first trailer for The Avengers is tearing thing up.
(Although, oddly, when I tweeted about it without linking to it, several people wrote back “Uh, link?”)
So that’s what this blog post is for. If you haven’t seen the trailer for The Avengers yet, here it is:
INITIAL REACTIONS
Immediately I was impressed that there was an adversarial tone between the individual members of the team. “I don’t play well with others,” Tony Stark quips. “Big man in a suit of armor – take that away and what are you?” Captain America sneers. Oh, and is that Thor taking a flying leap, about to smash Captain America’s shield?
This is all very much in keeping with the comics. The “friendly misunderstandings” that lead to heroes battling each other before banding together to fight the common enemy. Total “Who Would Win in a Fight” geek bad-assery on display here.
Clearly Joss Wheadon is giving Tony Stark all the best lines – at least in the trailer. I hope this is the case throughout the movie. One of the biggest advantages to the Iron Man films was Robert Downey Jr’s motormouth style. With a script by Wheadon, you’ve got the best of both worlds when it comes to words and delivery.
What I really like is how close to the vest they’re keeping Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk. Barely any screen time or dialogue for either of them in this trailer. Everyone else we’ve seen in action in other movies. But these two are the last unknown variables. Expect Marvel to continue to keep fans on a string regarding those two.
What’s you reaction to the trailer? Personally, I think it was perfectly executed and it gives me high hopes for May 2012. Why don’t you leave your comments below. C’mon. You know you wanna…
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I’m posting this week’s Theater Hopper extraordinarily late on a Tuesday evening. I actually finished the comic late Monday night, but didn’t have a blog ready. I presumed it would have gone live this morning, but I woke up with what could only be described as “crippling nausea.” I don’t know what it was, but it was enough to put me down for the count on Tuesday. I spent most of the day slipping in an out of consciousness.
I’m much better now, thank you – although still a little foggy. A 24-hour bug, I presume. I’m looking forward to getting up on Wednesday morning and kicking ass again.
I don’t get sick very often, but when I do, it’s debilitating to me. I think because I don’t get sick very often, I assume I can’t get sick. That’s kind of a ridiculous way to operate.
Certainly since having kids, I’ve been sick more frequently. Nothing serious. The odd cold here, a sniffle there. Pearl has been wrestling with an ear infection, which is where I’m sure I picked up my bug. Fun times!
Anyway, let’s talk about the comic! Sexy, no? The first time Cami appeared as the Black Widow in this comic from 2010, I proved very popular. So, like the hustler I am, I decided to up the ante a little bit. Yeah, maybe it’s a little salacious. But I’m putting a ribbon on this in August. What do I care, right?
Actually, considering how well the splash page of Cardboard Iron Man turned out last week, I thought it was only fair to give Cami as Black Widow something with a similar impact. I’m really happy with how the artwork turned out! It might be fun to make mini-posters of these, or something. We’ll see!
CONVENTION APPEARANCE
I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know that I will be attending the Midwest Comic Book Association’s Springcon Comic Book Convention this weekend at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in St. Paul, Minnesota.
This will be my last convention appearance promoting Theater Hopper. It is strangely appropriate because Springcon was the first comic book convention I ever went to back in 2003. I split a table with Mitch Clem from Nothing Nice to Say, Zach Miller from Joe and Monkey and Carrington Vanston from the erstwhile Movie Punks. At that first show, I established friendships that still stand to this day. Who would have guessed (for at least three of us) that webcomics would still be a thing we do to kill time.
I have it on good authority that Zach Miller will be in attendance this year and that newly-minted Minnesotan Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex will be there as well. I’m thrilled that I get to see them again on my last lap around the convention circuit (even IF I just saw Gordon a few months ago in Seattle).
I was actually very much surprised to learn that Mitch Clem will be there as well! For those of you who follow him, you know he’s living in Texas these days. But as it worked out, he’ll be in Minneapolis this weekend and splitting a table with Zach!
I don’t much by in to kismet, but you have to admit there’s something kind of cool about that. I probably haven’t seen Mitch in 5 years. It’s oddly fitting that I get to see him one last time at the convention I kicked things off at.
Anyway, that’s what my weekend looks like. If you’re in the neighborhood, please come by and say “Hi.” I’m selling books and drawing sketches. Mostly I’m just going to soak in what a crazy trip the last 10 years has been…
I will say this… if you’re thinking about buying any Theater Hopper merchandise before it’s all said and done, I’d get on it sooner than later. I’ve already sold out of Large, X-Large and 2X-Large sizes of the popular Spoiler I t-shirt. It’s only a matter of time before the rest of it goes as well!
Remember, buy ANY TWO shirts OR books and get the third one free. It’s a pretty sweet deal, folks. I’d hate for you to miss out on it.
Oh, one last thing, I added a bunch of photos of the sketches I did at Emerald City Comicon a few months ago to this gallery on the Theater Hopper Facebook page. Check them out. I’ll be adding more sketches from C2E2 soon!
That’s all for now! If you could use the little links below to help share the comic (y’know, on account of the lateness) I would appreciate it. Just tell your friends that boobs are involved. I’m sure they’ll want to check it out.
CHEERS!
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Do you guys remember that comic I owed you last week, but that totally didn’t happen? Well, here it is.
I don’t have a very good excuse for you. I think this is the second time since I announced the comic was ending in January that I’ve missed a week – which is especially stupid when you consider that I only have 10 more weeks to wrap this up.
But, as I did previously, I made up for the missing comic with a few weeks of double comics. I think the same will have to be true here. 10 comics won’t be enough to get me where I want to go before the end of the strip.
I suppose a little planning could have prevented that. But, truthfully, I kind of wanted to run over a little bit. I wanted an excuse to make more comics.
I still plan on ending on August 6. What I’m saying is that you’ll probably get more than 10 comics between now and then.
As you might remember, two weeks ago I went to the Minneapolis SpringCon which was – ostensibly – the last convention appearance I plan on making.
It was a really good show. I managed to turn a profit, which is not always easy for me at a mid-sized show. So I close out my convention career with two in the win column – C2E2 and SpringCon.
Probably the best part of going to SpringCon for me was getting a chance to see my good friends Zach Miller, Mitch Clem and Gordon McAlpin.
I can’t remember the last time I saw Mitch. It’s probably been at least 4 or 5 years. Maybe the same amount of time for Zach. But as we got to hang around each other for a little bit, we immediately feel into a groove, laughing and having a blast. I got a chance to hang out with them, Gordon and his lovely girlfriend Karyn on Saturday night and it was wonderful.
I’m usually not very good about taking pictures while I’m away at shows. I take more pictures of things than I do of people. I don’t know if you’re like me, but I get really self-conscious taking pictures of others. Like I’m spying on them, or something, and I don’t want them to know about it. I really hate asking others to take pictures of me with someone else. The pictures rarely turn out the way I want them to anyway.
That said, thank Steve Jobs for the reversible camera on the iPhone. It gave me the ability to take this picture – and the more I think about it, the more it’s probably one of my favorites from my “career” in webcomics.
When push comes to shove, these are some of the best friends I’ve been fortunate enough to make in webcomics. I would have never met them without Theater Hopper. It’s hard for me to look at a photo like that and not get a little melancholy.
I’m certain that I’ll keep in touch with all of them. Just because I’m ending the comic doesn’t mean the friendships have to end. But going to SpringCon a couple of weeks ago and understanding what that means for me personally kind of compartmentalizes the relationships a little bit. I’m leaving a part of myself behind – and that’s always kind of sad.
At any rate, that kind of brings us all up to speed. If you could help share this week’s comic to let your friends know that we’ve updated, I’d appreciate it.
Cami and I are having a huge garage on Thursday (which is also part of the reason this comic has been so late – we’ve been busy preparing.) So I don’t know if I’ll be able to get to another comic this week. But with any luck, I’ll be able to knock out a few more in the coming weeks. Be on the lookout for those.
Thanks for your patience! We’re entering the home stretch!
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Well, here it is. The comic I spent the better part of last week working on in fits and starts. DO YOU LOVE IT? IS IT EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED?
I fall into these unusual traps. Sometime I spend a lot of time working on a comic and while I’m in the middle of it think, “This is great! This is excellent!” I’m liking the poses, I’m liking the line work, I’m liking the shading and the coloring…
Then I lay down the dialogue, take a step back and think, “So that’s it, then? That’s all?”
Artists are their own worst critics, so I’m certain this is not a unique phenomenon. It just kind of sucks when you invest a large chunk of time into something, maintaining a certain level of excitement throughout the process and the minute you have a moment to step back from it, the end product isn’t exactly what you envisioned.
I don’t know. I think it’s still a great panel. But it just kind of sits there. Maybe I’m being too hard on myself.
At any rate, I’m very much looking forward not to include fire effects in these comics again anytime soon. And I have a joke in mind for next week’s comic – a nice visual gag. I’m confident it will work.
Thanks for being patient, guys. We’re zeroing in on the end now.
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