GUEST STRIP – MITCH CLEM
March 24th, 2006 | by Tom- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(5 votes, average: 8.40 out of 10)
Give it up to my good buddy Mitch Clem for closing out this period of guest strips on a high note. He took the happy accident that occured when Brandon J. Carr and Fred Grisolm reached the same conclusion with their strips and turned it into a great running gag! I’m thinking this is probably something worth running with when I hop back into the saddle on Monday. At the very least to kind of prime the pump before I launch back into full movie commentary mode.
I must give sincere props to the others who helped me out while I was away. That includes Ali Graham, Joe Dunn, MadMup and Mike Morgan. These are all guys who have gone to bat for me before and I feel especially lucky and humbled that I have reliable friends such as these. Be sure to check out each of their web sites for a concentrated dose of their talents! Thanks, guys!
Being on vacation in Walt Disney World is sort of like being on another planet… or Texas. You feel totally severed from the modern world and the events that occur in it. Crap, even the TV stations piped into the hotel rooms are all Disney-owned. No cable except for The Disney Channel, Lifetime, ESPN and so on.
So shamefully, I didn’t have an opportunity to see V for Vendetta when it came out last Friday. I’ve been begging Cami to see it since we got back in town Tuesday night, but she’s been reluctant. Now she’s telling me she has no interest in seeing it at all and I can see it by myself when she returns to her night classes next week. Grr.
Oh, well. At any rate, Inside Man comes out today and she’s more in step with seeing that. I like to think it’s because she’s REALLY into Christopher Plummer, but I have a feeling it might have more to do with Clive Owen playing the heavy. Really, how can you NOT love Clive Owen.
Tossing in Densel Washington and Jodie Foster into the mix doesn’t hurt. What really surprised me, though was learning that Spike Lee was behind the lens on this one. You totally wouldn’t have guessed it from the trailer. That’s probably a good thing. The film looks like a straight-up-the-middle urban crime thriller. But I think we all know that Lee is a little bit smarter than that and reviews seem to indicate some really intelligent twists on the genre. So I’m looking forward to a good time.
I’ve felt way behind on movies all year. It’s not atypical for January and February to be slow. But now that we’re almost done with March, I feel almost starved. I think seeing these two movies will go a long way toward correcting that.
GUEST STRIP – JOERULES AND DANIEL PELFREY
May 15th, 2006 | by Tom- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(6 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10)
Hey, guys. I’m going to be out of town for a while – leaving on vacation with Cami Thursday morning. So, in preparation for and continuing through our vacation, I’ve arranged a series of guest strips to keep things moving. A bunch of great artists answered the call and I’m way excited to show you what they came up with!
Leading off are my good friend Joe “Rules” Dunn and Daniel “Monk” Pelfrey. Both of them are members of the Theater Hopper THorum and are good friends of mine. You probably recognize Joe’s name from all his good work on Joe Loves Crappy Movies, Martriculated, Free Lunch and the now-completed Coffee Achievers. If you’re already familiar with his work, you already know that he drew today’s comic. Daniel is the guy behind the scenes running everything over at Digital Entertainment News. He’s advertised with us before and is a great friend of the site. Daniel wrote today’s strip!
So, check out Joe’s comics for some excellent illustration and comedy and check out Daniel’s site for a whole slew of gaming information and news across all the platforms. He’s been doing a lot of work out at E3 and is posting some great reaction articles!
Some of you that are familiar with Theater Hopper and the guest strip periods we go through know that Joe has contributed several times before. Typically, he collaborates with another THorum mainstay Mup. Well, for those of you that get a kick out of their awesome Wonder Twins-level team ups, don’t worry. They have a treat for you later on.
Incidentally, for those of you that are curious, this guest week period will be running for the next three weeks. I’ll be taking up the mantle again on Monday, June 5.
This is kind of bad timing because, as you know, the pre-order for the first Theater Hopper book Theater Hopper – Year One ends on June 11. I won’t be around to keep bugging you guys about it (although I’ll do my best!) so if you’re thinking about buying a book, please do so now. Cami and I leave at 6:30 Thursday morning. It would be great if before we go, I could see my inbox flooded with orders so we can get closer to our ultimate goal! It would go a long way to setting my mind at ease.
Last week you guys did an excellent job responding to the announced deadline. As of today, I would say we are about 225 book orders away from our goal. We have less than a month to do it, but I know you guys are there for me!
As a matter of fact, I just got a wonderful e-mail message from someone (and I won’t share his name because I haven’t cleared it with him), but he mad an exceptionally generous donation. Here’s a guy who has already pre-ordered a copy of the book, but he wants to see it succeed as badly as I do. So what does do? He goes ahead and donates $10 to the cause. Didn’t have enough money to buy another book, but wanted to continue supporting me anyway.
That, my friends, is totally amazing.
So, remember – even if you don’t have enough money to buy a book, you can still help out. A dollar here, a dollar there. It all adds up. The goal is to earn the money we need to pay off the printer in full by June 11. Every little bit helps!
Donating to Theater Hopper also comes with it’s fair share of rewards. You’ll get your name and web site address listed on the Walk of Fame. And if you’re a member of the THorum, you get Donator status with exclusive rights to content no one else sees. You don’t have to donated $10 like my friend did to earn these privileges. All you need is one dollar in your in the club.
So, anyway. Think of it as an option. If you don’t have the money to buy the book, feel free to donate instead. If you want to learn more, click here.
Of course, I would always encourage you to save up if you can and buy the book because I think you get a little more for your money. Heck – you get A LOT more for your money! There’s some great content in there and I want to share it with all of you!
Thanks again for your fabulous support! You guys are the best – no question about it
GUEST STRIP – RYAN SIAS
May 17th, 2006 | by Tom- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(8 votes, average: 8.88 out of 10)
Today’s guest strip comes from illustator extraordinaire and creator of Silent Kimbly, Ryan Sias!
I’ve been a big fan of Ryan’s ever since I stumbled upon his now defunct journal comic Urban Observations. Not only because it was a journal comic, which I’m always a sucker for. But because it captured a quintessential persepective about living in New York City and parsing it through a very upbeat and child-like fantasy filter. I thought it was totally unique and it really made me think differently about what it meant to live in Gotham.
You know how it is; New York is portrayed in very specific ways. Either gritty and crime-ridden or the fantastic magical playground of the affluent. It was interesting to see it through the eyes of someone who could translate the New York experience in very relatable terms.
Ryan has carried his unique vision into all sorts of projects. Illustration, creating and pitching his own children’s television program and doing storyboards for movies like Robots and Bowling for Columbine. It’s an impressive resume!
His most recent foray back into web comics is Silent Kimbly which, by evidence of today’s comic, is more adorable than words. I think within the web comics "scene," it’s really easy to get caught up in what’s trendy or dubious. But then comes a comic like Silent Kimbly that silently excutes its purpose with extreme precision. It entertains. It makes you smile. It’s not pretentious about itself. It honestly aims to please. And that is *SO* refreshing.
With that in mind, I was honored that Ryan wanted to contribute a guest strip and I think this one is excellent. He totally got Tom’s "voice" down and I thought the punchline was especially poignant.
So a tip of the hat to Ryan. Thanks. And be sure to check out Silent Kimbly!
GUEST STRIP – DAVID SMITH
May 19th, 2006 | by Tom- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(5 votes, average: 8.40 out of 10)
Today’s comic comes to us from David Smith, the creator of the web comic A Fairly Twisted Reality.
Dave is referencing the upcoming Adam Sandler movie Click – which I haven’t decided if it’s worth seeing yet or not. I watched Spanglish over the weekend and – although I hated Tea Leoni’s character – it’s interesting to watch Sandler stretch in a different direction. Doing a movie about a father who fast forwards through the "boring" parts of life only to learn a "valuable lesson" (TM) about missing what counts in the end feels like a step backwards. Seems like he’s slumming. People seem to like him. He has obvious marquee value. Why doesn’t he trade up?
But I digress. Thanks to David for the great comic. I really like how people are continuing to play with the idea that Victor has a secret crush on Tom. I swear there is more implied man-lovin’ in this strip than the FDA requires!
Be sure to check out David’s web comic, by the way. He’s got a really unique art style and I like some of the oddball stuff he has going on. Some of it is a little ribald – a little blue – but I think it comes from an honest place.
While I’m at it, I should probably mention our two new sponsors – Eejits and Hellbound. These two comics couldn’t be further apart.
Eejits is kind of an interesting art experiment where the creator posts images of the crazy, imaginative creatures in his head. The coloring this guy does is really amazing and some of the creatures he comes up with are really cute. Check it out.
Hellbound is a more complex affair. A very lovingly detailed narrative strip with several panels per update. There’s a great synopsis to help bring you up to speed on the story so far. Plus, you can read the comic in Italian! Who else does that?
That about does it for me. I’m kind of bummed that I’m not around to run commentary regarding all the "controversy" surrounding The Da Vinci Code. I have some strong opinions about it. I might try to tackle them when I get back. But don’t feel too bad for me. Cami and I will be in Nice, France on the 22 and we’re thinking about catching a train to Cannes for the film festival where we might check out Tom Hanks’ latest offering! Wish us luck!
GUEST STRIP – EDDIE BOWLEY
May 22nd, 2006 | by Tom- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(14 votes, average: 5.21 out of 10)
Today’s guest strip comes to us from a very clever chap from across the pond – Eddie Bowley, the creator of Edd Egg. I don’t want to spoil too much of what Eddie is doing here, but I strongly encourage you to go to the effort of "decoding" his guest strip. It not only tackles the "controversy" surrounding The Da Vinci Code in a very clever way, but it also makes me wish I had thought of the joke first!
Eddie did an excellent job of capturing Tom’s stentorian sermons, so I was doubly impressed by the effectiveness of this comic. I just love reading the comics from people who really seem to "get" the characters. It makes me feel like when I’m writing them, things are less random. People understand who they are – their likes and dislikes.
Or, as Eddie’s comic implies, perhaps Eddie is a genius and my attempts at character development are highly transparent to him!
In either case, be sure to check out Edd Egg and come back here on Wednesday for more guest strip goodness!
Side note: There is a good chance that Cami and I are in Cannes, France as you read this. Part of our vacation tour takes us to Nice, France and we found out that Cannes is only a half hour to an hour away. So we’re going to try and get a train ticket to Cannes and wander around for the day. The film festival is going on right now, so if we see any celebrities, we’ll take pictures and post them here. We’re hoping to get into one of the movies playing at the festival for bragging rights. But I don’t know how likely that is! So what, really? We’ll be in Cannes during the festival! That’s a big score for a movie buff such as myself!
At any rate, thanks for checking in with us! See you here on Wednesday!
GUEST STRIP – THE SUIZ AND HUSTLERTWO
May 24th, 2006 | by Tom- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(10 votes, average: 8.80 out of 10)
I gotta give it up to The SuiZ and Hustlertwo from Nuclear Powered Toaster. The sheer volume of references from Theater Hopper’s past in their comic reflects a familiarity with my work that I only share casual knowledge of! The Cult of Sandler and that paper-plate girl being impressive throwbacks! Good on ya, guys! And by the way, I think I want that third panel to become my new avatar. Great close up!
If you want more of that kind of exaggerated action, be sure to check out Nuclear Powered Toaster. The artwork is top-notch and it has a great continuing storyline!
I haven’t mentioned it for about a week, so I want to remind everyone that the deadline for book pre-orders is closing in! Remember, June 11 will be your last chance to submit your pre-order. There’s still a bunch of orders that we need in order to meet the minimum print run, so I hope all of you guys out there thinking about buying a book can help me out! Please pre-order your book today!
By the way, did you know I have another guest strip for you on Friday? Because I do and it’s really good!
I think all of the guest strips so far have been really good, don’t you? I gotta admit, I really lucked out!
Thanks again to The SuiZ and Hustlertwo!
GUEST STRIP – SHAWN MILLER
May 26th, 2006 | by Tom- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(5 votes, average: 6.00 out of 10)
Today’s guest strip comes to us from Shawn Miller over at Big Pond. I was immediately taken with Shawn’s comic for two reasons:
- I really dig his kind of waterbrush style. I find it captivating, really. I e-mailed him and asked him how he did it. He would reveal trade secrets, but told me essentially it was playing around with layers, colors and brush weight in Photoshop until he got what he wanted. Man, I wish I could dedicate that kind of attention to my comic! Still, looking at what he produced, it makes me want to experiment. Love the 3-D version of the Theater Hopper logo, to.
- The phrase "…in space" adds comedy value to any scenario. The Muppet Show knew it when they had "Pigs In Space!" Shawn knows it, too.
I hope you guys have been enjoying these last two weeks of guest comics. To reward you for allowing me this time off, I’m going to endulge you with a guest strip bonanza! Be sure to come back to the site on Sunday for A FULL WEKK OF GUEST STRIPS! That’s right! Not only will you get guest strips on our regular update days of Monday, Wednesday and Friday but you’ll also get strips on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, too! How cool is that?
I hope everyone has a great weekend. I understand X-Men 3 comes out today in the states. Cami and I are going to try to see it while we’re in Cannes, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m mad! I have to wait until I come home to see it!
See you here on Sunday!
Give it up for the coincientally-named M.C. Man from The Adventures of Masked Cape Man for today’s guest strip. I know he was really nervous about doing a guest strip, but I think it turned out great! Be sure to check out his site and let him see some Theater Hopper love!
No, not that kind of love. The love that’s illegal in 15 states. The web-friendly love! No… The OTHER kind of web-friendly love…
Don’t forget that we have guest strips running EVERY DAY this week. See you here tomorrow!
GUEST STRIP – BEEFY
May 29th, 2006 | by Tom- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(8 votes, average: 6.25 out of 10)
Once again my good friend Beefy comes through in a clutch? Is there anything this guy can’t do? First it’s awesome nerdcore rap (found only at Beefyness.com) and now it’s guest strips! I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. After all, he’s sent guest strips before. Don’t you think his art has gotten a lot better? I do!
It never really occured to me the Joe from Joe Loves Crappy Movies and I would get into a dramatic showdown, but I suppose, like Highlander, there can be only one. But one thing Highlander didn’t have going for it were the patient wives standing off to the side while their immortal warriors tussled in a giant cloud of smoke, throwing up the devil horns.
RAWK ON!
Thanks again to Beefy for the great strip. Remember that we’re doing a full week of guest strips. So if you missed the contribution of M.C. Man – the creator of The Adventures of Masked Cape Man – then his excellent comic is one click on the ‘back’ button away!
See you here tomorrow!
GUEST STRIP – ALI GRAHAM
May 30th, 2006 | by Tom- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(6 votes, average: 6.00 out of 10)
Today’s guest comic comes from my fellow Boxcar Comics compatriot and creator of the web comic Hous’d Ali Graham!
Ali told me he felt a little lame submitting this one-panel Garden State parody. I told him not to worry about it because I think it turned out great! The graffiti on the crane is excellent and it looks authentic! Truthfully, I wish I had come up with the idea.
Not everyone knows this, but Ali is a guest comic machine. I think he’s done at least two guest comics for nearly everyone in Boxcar by this point. Of course, what do you expect from a guy with nearly 1,100 comics in his archive? We joke that there should be a contest to see who can submit their guest comic first whenever one of us asks for a little back up. No one ever beats Ali.
For more of Ali’s genius and quick handiwork on display, be sure to check out his comic Hous’d!
With that, we’ll see you here tomorow!