Posts Tagged ‘hammer’
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Today’s comic is the last one you’ll see from me until next week. Cami and I are skipping town this Wednesday for a trip out to the Nevada desert. That’s right – Sin City. “VEGAS, BABY! VEGAS!”
/end Swingers reference.
Cami and I went to Vegas last year with my parents. We had never gone before and they wanted to take us out there. We thought it was a grand idea. That is, until our flight out of Des Moines was 5 and half hours late.
To make up for the snafu, the airline gave us free tickets back out to Vegas. They expired in July, so we figured we’d better cash in. So there you have it!
But just because I’m leaving town for a few days doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t keep coming back to the site! I have guest strips all lined up for you while I’m away. And don’t forget the forums. It’s a great place to talk to like-minded people going though Theater Hopper withdrawal! You can form your own support group.
By the way, did you guys know that I was selling t-shirts now? Yeah, it’s true. In fact, I’m taking pre-orders through the end of April. You should really pre-order your shirt right now so you’ll be sure to have yours included in the first batch of orders.
Wanna talk about something movie-related now? Okay!
I went to see Hellboy with Jared on Saturday and I loved it! In fact, I think my admiration for the film has only grown stronger since my first viewing. I’m seriously considering seeing it again before we leave town.
For me, Ron Perlman IS Hellboy. He totally makes the movie. He’s got a great “been there, seen that” working-stiff attitude that’s a real treat to watch. This, as opposed to the macho bravado of most other super heroes.
The effects in this movie are stunning – especially the puppetry and costume work of the main villain. At times things can get a little CGI heavy and some wire-work is immediately apparent, but it didn’t diminish from the overall wonder this film casts over you. It’s just a really great ride. If I have time, I might throw together a review for the bonus materials pages. Things have been sparse over there for a while.
I’m going to try and keep the lines of communication open as much as possible before I take my vacation. So if you want to chat it up, the forums are the place to do it.
By the way, you should check out our latest advertiser Maveric PC. They advertised with us once before. They liked us so much, they decided to come back! If you’re in the market for a top-of-the-line custom PC, these are the guys to see!
Tally-ho!
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No incentive sketch today, guys. I’m running WAY behind and I wanted to get the comic up and running first without messing around with a sketch.
Sorry that the comic is so late. To explain myself, I offer these pictures:
It’s a huge, 12 foot long triptych that I painted for our family room that I completed and hung last night.
Of course, like an idiot, I was working for about 4 hours in my garage painting the last panel with a heat index of 110 outside. By the time I was done hanging it up, my back was killing me and I was completely drained. So I decided to take advantage of my unemployment situation, sack out early and get up in the morning to finish the comic.
So, again, sorry for the delay.
This painting is something I’ve been “working” on since January, but could never really find the time to complete until I got 8 hours back during my day a few weeks ago. It’s the perfect solution for our family room, which is ridiculously long and impossible to decorate. We’ve spent years trying to find the right configuration and I think we finally have the room the way we want it. The triptych anchors a very long and very blank wall and I know that Cami is over the moon about it.
In fact, this morning, when Henry came downstairs for breakfast, he noticed the painting right away and said “I like your paintings, Daddy.” So I think I did okay.
As for the “let’s make Shia a bad-ass conspiracy,” obviously it doesn’t hold water. But he was really on a bender this time last year, getting arrested at a Walgreen’s and kind of flirting with the law. I always kept the idea tucked away in the most cynical corner of my brain that it was all orchestrated on purpose to distance LaBeouf from his Disney past. But, again, I’m just playing it up for laughs.
I mean, smashing someone’s hand with a hammer? Funny, right?! I’m chuckling about it even now. Thank you, Tom & Jerry cartoons for warping my sense of humor.
Not much else to talk about today except that I’m off to see a 12:00 PM showing of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Once again, taking advantage of the unemployment situation. But don’t worry. I’m also looking for jobs during this downtime as well.
I just figured that since my hopes weren’t all that high for Transformers, it would be better for me to see it during a matinee rather than try to fight the crowds on Friday. Why make an unpleasant situation more unpleasant, right?
Originally, I was going to go to the theater that’s 5 minutes from my house. But as I was looking up show times, I saw the movie is also playing at the only IMAX theater in central Iowa. So, despite my reservations, I think I’m going to drive the extra 20 minutes in the car and shell out the extra three bucks at the ticket counter to see it on the big, big, big screen. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Anyone else planning on seeing the show in IMAX? What are your expectations for the movie? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
Oh, and thanks for being patient with me today!…
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First things first, I have to apologize for the lateness of this comic.
I started working on it Sunday night and was distracted by world events. I’m sure you know of which I speak. I tried picking up the pencil again on Monday night and was wrestling with the damn thing for so long, finishing it became impossible.
I’ll say this – trying to figure out how to draw someone about to swing a hammer with two fists is not something my brain is wired for. It’s like drawing feet for me, or something.
Of course I figured out entirely too late that looking at reference photos of baseball players would have been perfect. But I managed to finish the comic Tuesday night. And here we are! I’m actually kind of pleased with how it turned out. The art, I mean. I don’t know exactly what’s going on with the script. Just another comic where I mess around with wordplay for no real reason.
Not to belabor the point, but it’s not acceptable for me to be late with these comics and it makes me feel sick that it went down this way. I’m doing one comic a week. ONE! I used to do three comics a week, sometimes five – many of them much funnier than this one.
Sure, my life is much different now than it was 8.5 years ago when I started this thing. I didn’t have kids. I was still in my 20’s. I could stay up until 2:00 in the morning and bounce back, ready for work the next day on 4 hours of sleep. Not anymore, man. That’s for sure.
But still, there’s no reason that I can’t use the week prior to a comic to develop an idea, sketch it out in stages and finish at a more leisurely pace. If anything, the wider berth between comics should result in IMPROVED quality.
Basically it comes down to poor time management. I need to do a better job of looking forward and setting aside time to draw during the week so I don’t get caught in a situation where I’m scrambling to put something together 2 hours before it’s “due.” That’s a bad habit I developed from back in the days when I was producing 3 or 5 comics a week. Running and gunning it because I had to, but also because I could.
I wish I could relate to you the low-level of depression I experienced Monday night when I knew I wasn’t going to be able to finish the comic. I’ve been doing this for so long, blowing deadlines is more than just letting you guys down. I let myself down and it sucks. Producing this stuff should have gotten easier over time, not harder.
I think what makes it particularly pathetic is that on Monday, I renewed the TheaterHopper.com domain name for another 2 years. I posted as much on Facebook. Casually, in fact. I posted that otherwise meaningless bit of information because I literally had nothing else to talk about.
32 people “liked” that update. 3 people commented their enthusiasm. It made me feel good, but undeserving.
I’ll confess something to you. I don’t know how long I can continue to do Theater Hopper. Originally I thought 5 years would be a nice, round number. Then I thought I would stop after I had kids. By August of next year, I will have been doing this for almost 10 years. Maybe that would be a good time to stop?
If I had my druthers, I’d do Theater Hopper every day. I have fun doing it. But life gets in the way more than it used to and I still feel chained down by “rules” I established for myself when I first started this thing nearly a decade ago.
Yeah, the comic moves and breathes and changes along with my ability and circumstances. But it doesn’t mean I still don’t get bummed out when I can live up to the promises I’ve made to myself and to you. I look at these failings (which have been happening more and more lately) and I wonder if I deserve to be in the game.
But at the same time, I think to myself “If I can just hang on a little longer. The kids will be older, maybe a little more independent and there will be more time for these things.” I don’t know if that’s wishful thinking or not.
Part of me wonders if Theater Hopper is the right venue for me to express myself anymore. I don’t see very many movies these days. Commenting on them makes me feel inauthentic. For years I’ve toyed with the idea of doing a journal comic. I think it would be freeing to write comics about my life, unencumbered by scheduled updates. But my Midwestern upbringing makes me feel like a journal comic would be narcissistic and shallow.
I’ll tell you this much… not only did I renew Theater Hopper’s domain on Monday, but I renewed the domain of the journal comic I’ve been dreaming about for the last few years. I don’t know if I’ll ever do anything with it. I guess it’s just nice to know I have it. Like insurance, or something.
I’m sorry about this. I don’t know what I’m doing here. I feel like I’m dumping my problems in your lap. But if feels good to write this, to get it off of my mind. Writing it down will go a long way to help me from continuing to beat myself up about it. I guess it doesn’t leave a lot of room to talk about Thor, but I’m not too upset about it. Are you?
Thanks for hearing me out. I’ll try to do better going forward. Thanks for sticking with me.
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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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