Posts Tagged ‘MadMup’
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To help commemorate the movie I’ve been poking fun at all week, vote for Theater Hopper at buzzComix to see a special incentive sketch – TOM HELSING!
So today’s the big day. The kick off to the summer blockbuster season. Van Helsing is in theaters today. And I’m really torn because that Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen movie comes out today, too!
Of course I’m kidding.
Practically everyone I’ve talked to says they’re going to see Van Helsing this weekend, which tells me that marketing did their job of bombarding us with advertisements. Good job, Madison Avenue!
But although I know a lot of people are going, not many of them seem to be excited about it. People are really holding their breath on this one, hoping it doesn’t suck. There’s a lot of weight on Hugh Jackman’s shoulders here. This is his first lead role.
I think we all recognize that Van Helsing will be a loud, abrasive, CG-heavy big, dumb action movie. And while the promise of seeing Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster and The Wolfman in one picture at the same time is daring enough premise to grab our attention, I think the real reason butts will be in seats this weekend is to decide if Jackman’s charisma is large enough to carry this picture.
My odds are split down the middle – 50/50.
By the way, you might be wondering who that grinning buffoon is in the background of panel one? Well, that is our good friend MadMup who is a forum regular. He asked to be put in the comic, so I decided to oblige him!
Mup’s a great guy and a fantastic supporter of the comic. It was really the least I could do.
* THE REST OF THIS BLOG POST WAS LOST WHEN THEATER HOPPER MOVED TO WORDPRESS IN 2009 *
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Apr27
GUEST STRIP – JOERULES AND MADMUP
April 27th, 2005 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(4 votes, average: 7.75 out of 10)
Today’s guest strip comes from a pair of collaborators who met inside our illustrious THorum – joerules from Digital Pimp Online and MadMup from… well, MadMup.com.
This actually isn’t the first time these two have paired up. They worked together to bring me a guest strip while I was away in Memphis last year. Just as they knocked it out of the part last time, they do so again! My character seems to have grown some hair since the last time Joe put pen to paper, but I ain’t complaining!
The real treat of today’s strip is the inside joke in the first panel. Keen eyed observers of the comic will understand it. But if it’s not leaping out at you, I’m not going to explain it – because it simply wouldn’t be as funny.
Anyway, as thanks for their hard work, I have drawn them at the very catalyst of their creative nexus! You can see what I’m talking about when you’re treated to the incentive sketch when you vote for Theater Hopper at buzzComix.
Do us all a favor and visit both Joe and Mup’s web sites. Joe has recently hit pay dirt with ANOTHER comic – this time taking aim at his favorite (crappy) movies. I’ve mentioned it in this space before. It’s called Joe Loves Crappy Movies! Check it out.
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Jul18
GUEST STRIP – DAVE BUIST
July 18th, 2005 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(5 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)
I know you guys were probably planning on a new comic from me today since that what I’ve been promoting since last week. But the move to our new house took more out of me than I anticipated and I have the Web Comic List incentive sketch to prove it!
Basically after five days of picking up heavy things and putting them down again, my hands are totally wrecked – not to mention the rest of my body.
It wasn’t just the physical move that screwed me up, but all of the little things you need to take care of as soon as you walk in the door. Installing the mailbox. Hooking up the washer and dryer. Reassembling furniture. Let me tell you – If I don’t see another cardboard box, hammer, screwdriver or flight of stairs in the next two weeks, it’ll be too soon!
My hands are in really weird shape at the moment because I think all the gripping I’ve done has screwed up the tendons in my thumbs. They’re very tight. It’s like my thumbs want to fold in and lay flush against my palm. Nevermind the inch-long blister on the underside of my index finger I got from using a lousy mallet to pound a stake. Or the dozen or so gashes across my knuckles from scraping them across door frames while carrying furniture…
Not to sound like a big crybaby, but holding a pencil isn’t the most comfortable feeling for me right now. Plus, just getting things set up in the house so we can find them when we need to go back to work on Monday… guys, I’m just drained.
Anyway, the plan is to go back to work on Monday and hopefully start to slip back into a groove. I would like to have a new comic ready for you on Wednesday. Partially because – as a means to escape, Cami and I saw both Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and Wedding Crashers this weekend and I have ideas. The other half of this ambition is to get back into the habit of drawing so I don’t get rusty.
Switching gears, someone who certainly ISN’T rusty is Dave Buist, the nice gentleman who provided today’s guest strip!
Dave is actually the first person to do a guest strip for Theater Hopper ever! Normally that kind of thing would reside in the Bonus Materials thing – but lazy me, I haven’t set it up since I redesigned the site back in April. It never ends, folks.
At any rate, I thought Dave’s guest strip was very timely considering Charlie’s $50+ take at the box office this weekend. It would be a shame to waste it. Extra points for getting Jared into an Oompa-Loompa costume!
Dave has a comic called Taking the Bi-Pass that you guys should check out. It’s really great and has only gotten better with age. It’s been a lot of fun for me personally to watch Dave develop as an artist and storyteller. As I recall, Dave didn’t even have a full-time web comic until after he did his guest strip for me. So we kind of have a cool link that way. Check out his site!
Another site you should check out it is Farawayistan, our newest advertiser. The comic is kind of hard to explain, but they’re kind of single-panel non sequiturs. Fans of White Ninja Comics will probably find something to appreciate here. Tell ’em Tom sentcha!
A quick note of apology to all of the creators who had guest strips running last week without blogs telling everyone where to check out their regular strips! I had a bunch of pre-written blogs in the database, but an incorrect timecode (my fault!) prevented them from displaying. The blogs have since been re-instated and the links to the individual creators sites are functional. I suggest everyone click back a few comics in the archive and read up on these talented blokes!
I think I’m going to close for now because I need to get to bed. But I wanted to remind everyone that I will be at Wizard World Chicago this year August 4 – 7 hanging out with a bunch of my web comic buddies on Artist’s Alley. Click here for more information. I plan on promoting this pretty much every time I write a new blog, so I’m trying to get into the habit now. ;D
Talk to you all again soon!
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Mar15
GUEST STRIP – JOERULES AND MADMUP
March 15th, 2006 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(39 votes, average: 8.82 out of 10)
Much respect to Joerules and Mad Mup for bringing another stellar guest strip collaboration to Theater Hopper. Followers of the site know that they’ve displayed their tallents twice before and the comics keep getting better and better and better. This is a nifty little hat trick for them!
I think we all know Joe Dunn is a pretty busy guy. But why my good friend Mup hasn’t found a full-time artist to collaborate with is beyond me. He clearly has a sense of pacing and knows how to tell a joke. That Quidditch line? Can I steal that and put it on a shirt, Mup? It’s classic!
I also have to give BIG points to Joe for tossing in all the litte Iron Man action figures. Joe knows me personally, so he knows my fanboy obcession with all things Iron Man. Once again, Joe proves he’s the master of detail by adding them to the office environment! If you guys want proof of my Iron Man devotion, you should comb through some of my archived web cam images! I think that’s where he might have gotten the inspiration for this personal touch… Great work, Joe!
This will probably be the last real-time post you’ll see from me in a while. Cami and I are going on vacation tomorrow – hopping on a jet plane to "THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!" Walt Disney World.
I always feel this weird compulsion to apologise for going to Walt Disney World. As if it were some kind of childish endulgance that I should have grown past. I think it’s because when I was growing up, I looked at the resort as this very exclusive place that only rich people could afford to go to. That’s not really the case. It’s very affordable. And, actually, Cami and I have shared a lot of happy memories there.
We’ll never be the kind of couple that goes there every year or hosts some big-ass family reunion that clogs up the line of every attraction. But I proposed to her there, we spent our honeymoon there and – six years later – we’re going back to celebrate our anniversary. We’ll be married six years this Saturday, the 18th. We’re going to have a great time.
I’ll be back sometime Tuesday afternoon and I’ll probably be spending most of it catching up on e-mails and other internet happenings. But there will still be guest strips going on while I’m back. You’ll get another dose on Friday and then Monday, Wednesday and Friday of next week.
Both Cami and I have been burned out for a long time. We haven’t taken a vacation where it was just the two of us since January of 2004, so this has been a long time coming. I’m excited to go, but I’m also already excited to come back because this will be exactly what I need to recharge my batteries and get me ready for pushing the release of the first Theater Hopper book shortly thereafter!
Things are really looking up!
Thanks to all you guys for giving us a little breathing room, but also for continuing to support the comic and spreading the word about Theater Hopper to all of your friends. I’m not sure why, but I’ve been getting lots of e-mails from people lately saying that they’lve just been introduced to the comic and are loving it. That’s a great feeling, especially after doing this for three and a half years. Don’t think for a minute I don’t appreciate it!
I’ll be back soon enough. Until then, enjoy today’s great comic and the guest strips yet to come!
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Jun04
GUEST STRIP – JOERULES AND MADMUP
June 4th, 2006 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(4 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
Maybe I should be slightly disturbed by that knowing wink that Charlie and Truman share in the third panel, but how can I be wary when the ever-talented joerules and MadMup are at the helm? Seriously, these guys are Theater Hopper guest strips MVP’s. If you aren’t familiar with some of their earlier collaborations, you should darn well make yourselves accountable! When you’re done doing your homework, you should visit their individual websites as well – Digital Pimp Online and MadMup.com!
Come tomorrow I’ll be back in the saddle again doing comics. I always get a little nervous coming back from long breaks like this. So hopefully I’ll be able to fall into a groove fairly quickly.
Cami and I saw X-Men 3 again this afternoon – this time in English. Was it any better? Meh. It was okay. I guess I wasn’t as heartsick over some of the key character deaths as I was the first time around. My complaints are pretty much the same as everyone else’s. Too many mutants, not enough backstory. Would it have killed them to show Iceman in his full ice-form more often in the movie? Ice bridges? Anything? I guess we’re supposed to think of them still as kids becoming familiar with their powers. But a nerd can dream, can’t he?
I was particularly annoyed that Colossus seemed to be relegated to the background a lot. Especially in that last fight. Notice how he’s always over someone’s shoulder and out of focus. It’s like someone told Brett Ratner that for every shot he’s "armored up," that’s $1 million being syphoned away from Halle Berry’s "Gimme More Money Or I Walk!" fund.
I will say this – the guy who played the President in the movie? Worst actor ever. I know he’s been in a ton of stuff. Old time character actor-guy. But he was totally hamming it up. Not on the same wavelength as any of the other actors. I dunno. It’s not like the movie is all that good or any of the dialogue he was given you could say with a straight face. But everyone else played it straight.
We stuck around for the end credits and the big reveal. Again – meh. So Xavier implants his conciousness onto the guy that doesn’t have one? Wasn’t that his warning regarding the abuse of power he was talking about in his lecture to the students?
I suppose it was kind of neat that the movies were following the lead of the comics and painted Professor X as more of a manipulative jerk, but it’s inconsistent with the theme of the movie.
Oh – and no matter how many times Beast saying "Oh my stars and garters!" in the comics was funny, it’s sounds weird as hell when Kelsey Grammer says it. All things said, however – he was the best part of the Wolverine and Storm Movie – er, I mean, X-Men 3.
See you here tomorrow!
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