Posts Tagged ‘thinking’
3 items.
I can tell you how long I’ve wanted to do this comic. And that’s a really weird thing to admit.
I don’t know where it came from. But one day I was just sitting around and, for some reason was thinking about the actor that played Rufio from Steven Spielberg’s Hook. I wasn’t even watching Hook at the time. Hell, I haven’t seen that movie in 15 years!
But there it was. Just kind of sitting on my frontal lobe. “Whatever happened to that guy?”
I looked him up on IMDB. His name is Dante Basco, if you’re curious. He’s still out there working – earning a paycheck. He’s done some cartoon voiceover work. Done some stuff for Disney. Good for him! I’m happy he’s still out there earnin’.
But, yeah, man… Rufio…
Rufio! Rufio! RU-FI-OOOOOOOOOOO!!!
So, anyway… There’s your completely random reference of the day.
Switching gears….
I didn’t mention it Monday because I don’t want to beat you guys over the head with it (and, truthfully, I’m still responding to e-mails from last week) but I wanted to point your attention again to the donation drive. There have been a couple of e-mails asking for specifics about what donators can expect to receive for their contributions, so I included a few more details on the donation page. Suffice to say, the more you donate, the more you get. From a sketch card, to a drawing, to an appearance in the comic to a full blown custom comic meant for your-eyes-only!
The latter two are extra special because I’ll also send you the original artwork plus a fully-colored 11 x 17″ poster signed by yours truly! It’s going to be great!
Also, don’t forget that EVERYONE who donates regardless of the amount is in the running to win a fully-colored 11 x 17″ poster of the art on the right along with the original drawing. All if it signed by me, of course.
You should also keep in mind that the person who donates THE MOST will receive a special canvas painting of a Theater Hopper cast member created by me and this will TRULY be a one-of-a-kind creation. I haven’t painted it yet, but I want to do it soon so you can see what you’re in the running for!
Things are going along splendidly. I haven’t updated the progress bar, but we are in fact at the half way point! That’s completely amazing to me and I want to thank all of you who have donated so far.
I’m working on some of the sketches for those of you who have donated $25 or more and I hope to have a couple of them posted to the blog on Friday so you can see the level I’m producing at. I want this custom art to be really good for you guys. It might take me a little longer to get it to you, but you’ll get the best possible drawing I can hope to give you. I owe you nothing less than one hundred and ten percent for your help.
That’s all for me today. Thanks again for everyone’s support and kind e-mails. Two weeks ago I was about as low as one could be. I’m happy to say that things are looking up!
Have a Rufio-riffic day!
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Someone is going to call my a hypocrite for this one, but allow me to explain myself.
Last Friday, I went on a li’l Twitter rant (as I am sometimes prone to do) about the critical response to Cars 2. What specifically set me off was this article from Cinema Blend titled “5 Ways Pixar Can Move On From The Critical Failure Of Cars 2.”
I have a problem with this because the article was published at 10:30 in the morning on THE DAY of the film’s release. General audiences haven’t even had a chance to see the movie yet and sites like Cinema Blend were already calling it dead on arrival.
To his credit, my good friend Joe Dunn from Joe Loves Crappy Movies tweeted “Tom I love ya but you are just as guilty of this as they are. It’s the nature of the world we live in. :(” This gave me pause. Mostly because, well, he’s not wrong. I’ve been MORE than guilty of this in the past.
Except (and I’m not trying to justify myself here) but when I react negatively to a film before it lands in theaters, I’m usually reacting negatively to the marketing. If I’m 50/50 on a seeing a movie, bad marketing combined with bad reviews will usually keep me away. But if it’s a movie I want to see – like Green Lantern – I’ll probably go regardless. And if it’s a movie I’m wrong about – like X-Men: First Class – I’ll be the first to admit it.
What Cinema Blend is doing is basically saying “The movie is terrible. Critics have already weighed in. Don’t bother. What’s next for Pixar?” I found the assessment premature.
I totally understand WHY they ran the story. Journalism (such as it is) is all about Getting There First. In entertainment journalism particularly, it’s all about citing the trends early and (in some cases) creating them.
American’s also have a weird relationship with their heroes. We love to celebrate their successes and we love to watch them fall. More importantly, we love to watch them get back up. We love a good comeback story. To make that happen, Pixar had to stumble and Cars 2 was easy pickin’s.
Let’s face it: the original Cars didn’t exactly set the world on fire. Kids love it, but most adults loathe it. I used to be one of them. Of course, having a 4 year-old who is in love with the cast of characters from Radiator Springs kinds of forces a perspective shift. But that’s neither here nor there.
In some ways, returning to the well for Cars 2 smacks of greed. The licensing and merchandising revenue from the original film was HUGE. Cars toys haven’t left store shelves for the last 5 years. To leave money like that on the table would be pretty stupid from a business standpoint.
I think that’s what critics are picking up on and they’re punishing Pixar for it. Because here’s the thing: I saw the movie this weekend and it’s not that bad.
I’ll write a full review later over on the Bonus Materials blog, but my point is this: All the doom-saying going on? It’s trumped up. Is Cars 2 a great movie? No. It’ll never hold a candle to Wall-E or The Incredibles. But here was the deciding question for me – “Is it worse than the original Cars?” Not at all. To that end, it’s not worthy of the scorn it’s received.
In my view, critics just got tired of talking about how great Pixar is all the time. They saw their shot and they took it.
What’s been your reaction to the critical backlash against Cars 2? Do you feel it’s justified or is this an industry hit job? Leave your comments below! (and look for my Cars 2 review later in the day!)
In the meantime, I wanted to draw everyone’s attention to a little site-related business. I’ve been making efforts to spruce up the Theater Hopper store and am offering a few new products.
I have officially made available “Artist Editions” of all three of my books. For $3.00 more than the “standard” edition, I’ll draw whatever you want inside the book’s forward pages. For a sample of these sketches, check out the Facebook gallery I put together for all the Theater Hopper: Year Three illustrations I completed. Over 60 to thumb through!
If you already own all of my books, but would still like some custom artwork, I’ve recently made available commissioned sketches for $5.00. I’m deliberately keeping the price low so it gives everyone an opportunity to own an original piece of art. Plus, it helps keep me loose creatively. Some of the stuff people have asked for so far has been really inventive! I’m also building out a Facebook gallery of commissioned sketches as well, if you want to check that out.
Sorry to bog things down with site business, but I’ve realized that I don’t talk much about the business side of Theater Hopper anymore and things have suffered for it. Considering I only talk to you in this space once a week, I need to do a better job of folding that back in.
That’s all for now. Have a great week, everyone!
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What was Tom thinking about? Vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comic to view the incentive sketch that explains it all. Or none of it! You’ll have to click to find out!
By the way, great job with the voting, guys. We’re doing well on the charts. Almost 750 so far in January. I think that’s great for only updating once a week! Keep it up!
I apologize for the comic being late this week. I was laid low by a migraine Sunday night that made it kind of impossible to sit upright or, y’know… be exposed to light. I don’t often get migraines. Usually they’re brought on by stress. I would say last week was pretty stressful.
I’m doing better, though. I was having a hard time reconciling the decision to announce Theater Hopper’s conclusion in August. I even made a video about it. I posted it to the blog last week, but I know most of you probably missed it. I wanted to post it again just to kind of get it out of my system. Also because I think it has a message that is worth listening to, even if I did kind of stumble onto it at the end.
Keep in mind that the video was recorded the evening after I made the announcement, so everything is pretty much sitting right on the surface here.
But like I said, I’m doing much better now. Everyone has been amazingly supportive and understanding. I know that announcing the end this far out was absolutely the right decision to make.
I mean, if I was having this kind of difficulty a week ago, announcing the comic ending with no warning would have been much, much more upsetting. I’m positive it would have alienated fans and left a bad taste in my mouth personally – with the potential to ruin the last 10 years of my work. That’s not how I wanted to go out.
But, yeah. Moving forward. Now with another comic under my belt since making the announcement, it’s getting easier. I’m getting used to the idea and I’m excited about what’s coming next.
That said, I knew what this week’s comic was going to be about a week ago. I probably should have had it in the can earlier so I could have posted regardless of whether or not I had a migraine. But I’ve been working without a buffer for this long. It’s kind of hard to change my stripes now.
BY THE WAY… THE STORE
Now that we’re all on the same page with the comic ending in August, I have to undertake the unfortunate business of clearing out the Theater Hopper store. I need your help with this. Nothing is going to bum me out more than looking into a closet full of Theater Hopper merchandise 8 months from now and thinking “Dammit. Now what I am supposed to do with this stuff?”
That’s why I’ve gotten a little aggressive with the pricing. Right now you can buy two books and get one for free. That offer also extends to shirts – buy any two shirts and get one free.
It’s likely that most of you reading this have already bought a book or shirt for yourself in the past. But don’t let that stop you from taking advantage of these deals now. Buy a shirt for your little brother. Buy a book as a birthday gift for a movie-loving friend. Don’t be afraid that they won’t like it. I sell these things to people at comic book conventions who have never heard of webcomics, let alone Theater Hopper. Without fail, they come back the next day looking for more. You’re friends will love this it – and they’ll really appreciate that you bought them something unique.
In an effort to pick off the low-hanging fruit, I’m going to feature an individual item until I’m sold out of inventory. The first item in my sights is this t-shirt design, “Emerging.”
This was actually a design I created for Threadless a few years ago. It didn’t get picked up, but I liked it enough to produce it myself.
I literally have TWO of these shirts left – one XL and one 2XL. I’m selling them for a paltry $5.00. Two of you are going to pick them up. Bundle them with two more shirts and you’ll get this shirt for free! You can’t beat that.
C’mon. Who’s gonna help get the ball rolling?
I’m sorry to have to push the hard sell on you guys. But like I said, I don’t want August to come around and be confronted with a closet-full of unsold Theater Hopper merchandise. It’s too sad to contemplate. Help a buddy out. If you can’t make a purchase, at least use the little Facebook and Twitter buttons on the pages of the items you like and share them with your friends. Who knows – maybe they’ll take a look?
That’s all I have for now. More comics soon. And thanks again for all of your support!
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