Posts Tagged ‘Cardboard Thor’
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Cardboard Thor! I bet you didn’t see THAT ONE coming, didja?
Well, maybe you did. You guys are a pretty perceptive lot.
Although I’m sure some of you are wondering why Jared didn’t got with Tom and Cami to see The Avengers at the same time. I actually thought up a reason for that. I was going to make a comic about it, but then I realized it wasn’t funny.
Basically, it involved confusion about what time they were supposed to me. Tom said 7:15 and Jared thought it was 8:15. Y’see? Not really funny? Besides, I got the whole “casual conversation inside a burning building joke” done with this comic. No need to drag it out.
I have to apologize for there not being a new comic from me last week. It’s inexcusable, but allow me to explain.
Cami and I went on a little vacation the week before last to Chicago. We got back last Tuesday. Then last Wednesday was July 4. Then I pretty much spent the rest of last week getting caught up on work and life. So, no comic.
I’m starting to wonder if I’m self-sabotaging a little bit. I’ve been producing Theater Hopper almost 10 years and for 98% of that time, I never missed deadlines. If I did, I always made it up with an extra comic or at least a better explanation than “We went on vacation! Hurrr!”
Now that the comic is supposed to be ending in a month, I’m blowing deadlines left and right. It’s not acceptable and it’s not the way I want to go out.
I’ve been trying to hit a Monday deadline each week and that hasn’t been working out so great. The comic ends in a month and I think I have WAY more than 4 comics left in me in order to bring this last story across the finish line.
So here’s the thing: I’m throwing the Monday “deadline” out the window and I’m going to try and update as often as I can leading up to August 6. If I make it to August 6 with the story completely told, that’s great. All’s well that ends well. But if I go a little long… well, there are worse things that can happen, right?
The point is, from today forward, be sure to check the site frequently. With any luck, updates are going to be coming a lot faster. And don’t forget the guest strips I’ll be tossing in from time to time!
By the way, if you still want to get in on that action, I’m still accepting guest strips. Feel free to e-mail me what you’ve got to theaterhopper@hotmail.com and help me send Theater Hopper out in style!
In the meantime, make sure you don’t miss an update by following me on Twitter or Facebook. I know that sounds a little counter-intuitive since I’m ending the comic soon, but I intend to keep updating those accounts.
The Twitter account is my “main” Twitter account anyway and I’m pretty likely to continue sharing movie news, thoughts and reactions on the Facebook page.
That’s it for now. Thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoyed the comic!
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Thor has a big hammer, right? Breaking a giant pane of glass shouldn’t be a problem for the God of Thunder.
We’ll see.
I don’t know why, but I’m still amused by people in cardboard costumes having a casual conversation while a roaring blaze nearly engulfs them. It’s basically the height of hubris. The “we’ve got this” attitude Tom is wearing right now… I dunno. I’m just really enjoying it.
I’m going to try and get another comic done this week, but I’ve been lousy about holding up my promises so far. So let’s just say if I get it done, everyone will be pleasantly surprised.
SIDEBAR: I received an e-mail from Amazon last week notifying me that they were closing my vendor account due to “inactivity.”
My vendor account is what I used to put my books up for sale through Amazon. Right now I have two copies of Theater Hopper: Year One and Theater Hopper: Year Two in their warehouses.
In their e-mail, they said I could either request to have my books sent back to me (at my expense) or they would destroy them. They were really black and white about it and it kind of bummed me out.
I was flirting with the idea of having them be destroyed. Mostly because I’m cheap and I didn’t want to pay the shipping. But also because it kind of felt like a failure to send your books to Amazon and for them to say “Yeah, we don’t want these anymore.”
Of course, in the end, I opted to have my books sent back to me. I don’t know what the cost will be yet, but it’s the right thing to do. I’m not big on destroying books – especially books I put my heart and soul into.
Selling my books on Amazon was never really a moneymaker for me, anyway. It was more a point of pride – a way for me to look at the accomplishment of self-publishing and saying “See?! SEE?! It’s in a store.”
Okay, yeah. An online store. But still a store.
It doesn’t matter. I always sold more books through my store and at conventions anyway.
Anyway, long story short… we all know the comic is ending soon and I’m still sitting on, like… A LOT of inventory.
I have mostly odds and ends when it comes to the shirts, but I’d like to get rid of everything, if I can. I have many more books to get rid of, though. And, frankly, they take up way more space.
I don’t have inventory numbers right now on the books. I’m hoping to count them out sometime this weekend. I can say that of the three books, I probably have less than 100 of Theater Hopper: Year One. Maybe less than 75. If you want one, now’s the time to get it.
Don’t forget that I’m offering a BUY TWO, GET ONE FREE promotion. That applies to books, shirts and books and shirts together. Buy a Spoiler shirt, Theater Hopper: Year One and get a third item of your choice absolutely free!
Get your holiday shopping done early this year. You’ll be helping out a struggling artist and you’ll look very sharp and ahead of the game at the same time.
I’ll leave it at that for now. Just wanted to remind you guys that this merch was out there.
Again, thanks for your support and I’ll follow up with you soon!
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Yeah, so it looks like Jared’s Mjölnir wasn’t forged from Uru metal after all.
Pity about that.
I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that Theater Hopper can’t end on August 6 like I originally anticipated. That’s okay. You’re probably okay with it, too. At least, I assume you’re okay with it?
Maybe I shouldn’t assume…
The point being that I have a handful of comics I need to produce to get Tom, Cami and Jared out of the theater before I do the final coda and there’s no way I can get there before August 6.
Incidentally, WHY HASN’T TOM AND JARED’S COSTUMES CAUGHT ON FIRE YET?
Movie magic, folks!
Switching gears, I (like many of you) saw The Dark Knight Rises over the weekend. Actually, I took Friday afternoon off from work so I could avoid the crowds and catch it in IMAX – something I rarely ever do.
I was talking to someone about the urgency I felt to see The Dark Knight Rises. For example, it didn’t bother me that I saw The Amazing Spider-Man a week after it came out. But I was gonna be damned if anyone was going to spoil The Dark Knight Rises for me!
Of course it’s nearly impossible to talk about The Dark Knight Rises at this point without mentioning the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado. Pundits have been crawling all over the aftermath of the senseless violence committed by James Holmes.
What upsets me most about it is that – to me – a movie theater is a sacred place. Quite honestly, it’s as close as I get to religion. It’s a safe place. An ensconce from the horrors of the real world. Like a lot of people, I go to the movies to get out of my head for a few hours, to put the rest of the world behind me. The victims of Aurora were punished for this. For watching a movie. It’s senseless and cruel under any circumstance. But it hits especially close to home for me.
I had a few people express concern about me going to see the movie in light of the tragedy. They feared copycat crimes. It’s a reasonable concern, I suppose. But I also felt determined not to let one lunatic with a gun dictate the terms of my life. So I went.
I’m glad I did. The Dark Knight Rises is a fantastic movie, richly layered, dense and rewarding. It doesn’t feel as long as its 165 minute run time would lead you to believe. It moves along at a solid clip.
At times I almost felt like the movie could have been split into two chapters to help flesh out some of the plot contrivances. Without getting into spoilers, characters show up at the most serendipitous times for the most implausible reasons. I can suspend disbelief, but leaning too heavily on “Because he’s Batman!” doesn’t always ring true – especially within the down-to-Earth environment Christopher Nolan has established in his films.
In the aggregate, however, I think Nolan’s three films work beautifully together. There are callbacks to the previous two films inside The Dark Knight Rises that reward those who have paid attention without winking or clubbing the audience over the head with “Hey, remember this? You liked this in the last movie, didn’t you?”
Long story short – if you’ve invested any time or thought in the previous two Batman films, you owe it to yourself to check out The Dark Knight Rises. Ultimately I think it’s one of the great movie trilogies. These films, their independent themes and the overarching themes are going to be discussed and dissected for years to come.
The Dark Knight Rises is a movie that sticks with you. I’m still thinking about it five days later – the hallmark of any good film. Having seen it in IMAX, I’m eager to see it again on a regular movie screen. As impressive as the movie was in that format, I think seeing it a second time will give me an opportunity to pick up on more of the nuances. And – call me optimistic – but I think it’ll play better the second time around, too.
That’s all I have for now. Stay tuned as the next few comics detail the final escape from the burning theater!
See you soon!
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I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of eager to get Tom, Jared and Cami out of that burning theater. Not just because they’re my characters, or whatever. But because I’m sick to death of fire, smoke and lighting effects! I takes a fortnight to put these comics together!
I’m not kidding, people. I’ve been working on this comic in fits and starts since Thursday. I hope it shows, but I honestly can’t tell anymore.
I’ve had a few people ask me if we’d get another chance to see Truman again before the comic ended. This comic is my response to that.
Is it unreasonable to assume that a dog can dress himself in a Hawkeye costume, learn archery and saves three people? No less unreasonable than a dog who can fly a bi-plane.
That Truman. He’s full of secret talents.
After today, things will start winding down for the comic in earnest. I’ve got the last few strips plotted out. Maybe 5 or 6 left. Depends how desperately I cling to them. Next week was SUPPOSED to be the last comic. That’s not happening because I didn’t plan things out right. But that’s okay. Consider it bonus material.
I just thoroughly bummed myself out. I think I’m going to leave it there.
But, hey! Dog in a Hawkeye costume! Nothing more adorable than that!
See you in a week or so!
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After several weeks, Tom, Cami and Jared have finally escaped the burning theater. It looks kind of bad, doesn’t it? That’s a lot of fire.
One thing that I enjoyed most about this part of the store is that Jared and Tom are walking around in a building ENGULFED by fire, wearing cardboard boxes and being completely casual about it.
The truth of the matter was, having the costumes catch on fire during those strips seemed like an unnecessary pit stop. I thought it would be funnier if I used it to punctuate their escape.
Tom has a pretty poor record record when it comes to maintaining these cardboard costumes of him. So far he’s three for three. You think he’d pick a better construction material.
Things are starting to wind down now. We’ll deal with the ramifications of the theater fire in the next few strips. After that, who knows?
Sorry for these persistent delays. I keep trying to add more to the comics and they’re taking longer and longer for me to do. As I noted on Twitter earlier in the week, if this comic was in black and white, you would have had it on Monday! Funny, right?
As it is, I stayed up until 2:00 am last night putting the finishing touches on this strip. The shading, the lighting, the effects. I had to figure out what the outside of the theater looked like for a background shot that will never be used again.
Efficiency at it’s finest!
More comics to come. Thanks for your patience!
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