Read Comics

Written by Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman, art by Lee Garbett

An entertaining action comic, published by DC under the WildStorm imprint, The Highwaymen of the title are secret agents of some sort.  Well, ex-secret agents, now mostly over the hill, but with one more adventure left behind by a former president (now deceased).  As I said, the comic is entertaining, and a quick read, but you do get the feeling that it was written not so much as an homage to action or buddy films, like Lethal Weapon, as something that the creators could sell to Hollywood.  This is Danny “I’m too old for this shit” Glover, paired with Michael Caine as impossible to kill agents, on the run from the sinister head of a government organization, trying to protect and deliver a weapon of mass destruction to the proper authorities.  Did I mention that this weapon of mass destruction is in the shape of a hot college girl?  Put whichever starlet of the year in that role, and you have a summer blockbuster, full of car chases, car crashes, and car explosions.  Again, I want to say that I didn’t dislike this comic, and in fact, it was fun to read, but the sales pitch was pretty blatant.  The five issue series came out in 2007, and I just read the trade from the library.  I can’t imagine that it would work as well in single issue format, since it is, essentially, an action movie.  Reading one issue, having a cliffhanger and waiting for another month would not have worked for me.

Tonight Jason, Mike, Susie, Florence and Marty talk about Scott Pilgrim, our comic book Book Club selection of the month(s). We briefly touch on MANY other topics, from libraries to a pregnant Mystique.

Apologies in advance about the volume. I realized about 2/3rds of the way through that the input was turned way down, so you may have to turn your volume up to hear us. Sorry about that!

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #025 (25.5 MB, 55 minutes)

My co-worker Sheldon sent me a link to Splash Page, a blog about comic book movies. They’ve got a lot of great stuff on there, and (presumably because they’re owned/operated by MTV) updates are quite frequent, with some of them even featuring real reporting. (As in, original stories, or real interviews, that sort of thing.) Here’s what it says in their sidebar:

You’ve turned the page to the place where panels and popcorn meet. From coverage of comic-inspired flicks to that buzzed-about graphic novel that’s being primed for the big-screen, you’ll find it all here at MTV’s Splash Page. Check throughout the day for breaking news, exclusive chats with Hollywood stars and comic legends, and first looks at the blockbusters of tomorrow.

Thomas Scioli (of Godland fame) did their header and logo and background graphic (pictured above). As you may have noticed, I’ve added the link to our sidebar.

I was reading the Graveyard Book last night (and boy is it good), and I also noticed that the names of a pair of police men were Simon and Tam.  Which just happens to be the name of Firefly’s handsome and proper/desperate fugitive doctor.  So that got me wondering if it is an intentional reference.  And if it is, that is cool! Which got me to thinking if he is a fan of Firefly, perhaps he is a fan of Joss.  Since I can’t imagine anything making me happier than Neil Gaiman working on a Joss Whedon project.  So on the theory that if you shout something loudly enough into the Internet it will actually happen, and so this post can actually be about comics. I am hereby announcing NEIL GAIMAN WILL BE WRITING AN ARC OF BUFFY SEASON EIGHT!  Right, I hope that was loud enough.  Let the completely untrue rumors soar!  You can’t take the lie from me.

It’s little things like this that just make me grin when I read comics:

In The Punisher presents: Barracuda #2 (written by Garth Ennis, drawn by Goran Parlov), there’s a throwaway line when Barracuda sees a former fellow inmate on a first class flight to a banana republic.  Digby, the former inmate who is shaking in his boots at seeing Barracuda confesses that he now works for Hart Consolidated, who sent him on the trip to look into someone’s financials.  Barracuda says that Hart’s one of the biggest outfits in the country, why would they hire a fraud like Digby?

Anyone know what Hart Consolidated is a reference to?  And the name Digby?

Keith Giffen is a truly disturbed individual.  This is not news.  He’s the guy who created Lobo, Ambush Bug, and reinvented the Justice League, putting Blue Beetle and Booster Gold together.  Bwah Ha Ha and all that.  In more recent years, he headed up the Annihilation series for Marvel.

What shows Giffen to completely off his rocker is a series for TokyoPop called I Luv Halloween, with art by Benjamin Roman.  All three volumes of this series have been put together in a nice hardcover called the Ultimate Twisted Edition.  Which is an apt description.  This is one of the most twisted comics I’ve ever read.  The comics are about four friends who go out trick or treating, each volume starting out the same way.  Finch, our hero, puts on his mask and prepares to leave.  You can see that Finch is the kind of boy who likes to take apart things.  Toys.  Small animals.  But compared to his little sister, he’s the tame one.  Your first image of Moochie is of her dressed as the tooth fairy, pulling out the tooth of a corpse seated at the dinner table.  One can only assume that this corpse is that of their mother.  This is quite possibly the least macabre thing that Moochie does for the rest of the 496 pages.  I Luv Halloween is the cartoon version of a Rob Zombie movie.  Moochie would smile up at Leatherface with her angelic blond face, and then slice his kneecaps off.  She would convince Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers to hitchhike to Canada to escape her, only to find her waiting at the border, where she’d cheerfully stab them in the eyeholes of their respective masks.  This kid would turn Hannibal Lector into a vegetarian, and give Freddy his own worst nightmares.  In fact, I’d like to see a Moochie vs everybody comic.

I Luv Halloween is full of murder, mayhem, and will quite probably cause mental instability in anyone who reads it.  In short, I loved it.  The writing is hysterical, in both definitions of the word.  Even though this is put out by TokyoPop, the art is not in the manga style.  It is very cartoon-like, which works well for this series.

So recently, I dropped into Borders’ graphic novel section and did what I always do. grab a book at random, and start reading. Well. I managed to grab the first anthology of Garth Ennis’ The Boys, a graphic novel based on the premise that superheros are to negligent in there work, that they have too high a casualty rate, and now a renegade group of violent rebels is out to stop them. the comics folow both these rebels and the superheros, but larely so that we see that the rebels are justified when they smash the super’s faces in. This is one of the most violent and bloody comics I have ever seen. it also contains a massive quantity of, for lack of a better phrase, ”adult content” (though they never actually show anything). All in all, I thought it was a good comic, but definately not for everybody.

This last week saw the release of not one, but two new series based upon L. Frank Baum’s stories about Dorothy, the Scarecrow, Tip, Jack Pumpkinhead, Glinda, and the rest in the land called Oz.

First up is Marvel’s adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  Yes, this is the story on which the classic movie was based, but those looking for an adaptation of the movie will be (hopefully pleasantly) surprised.  The first issue of this 8-part series takes Dorothy from Kansas to the fateful meeting of the Scarecrow.  Written by Eric Shanower (no stranger to Oz, having done some graphic novels in the past), the comic faithfully replicates the whimsical, lighthearted, and innocent storytelling found in the original novel.  But the real star of the story is artist Skottie Young, who’s dreamlike drawings suggest a fantastical storybook quality that fits the tale perfectly.  I can’t think of any artist better matched to the story than he is.  I particularly loved his Scarecrow, and Oz in itself breathes deep with life.  Credit must also be given to colorist Jean-Francois Beaulieu, who’s watercolors are bright, vibrant, and breathtaking.  Highly recommended.

This week’s other tale of Oz is The Land of Oz: The Manga - Return to the Emerald City, which covers the second part of Baum’s second Oz book, The Marvelous Land of Oz.  While the manga has different characters, a different tone, and a different feel than Marvel’s adaptation, it is just as successful an adaptation of Baum’s Oz.  The Return to the Emerald City is written and drawn in glorious black and white by David Hutchinson for Antarctic Press, and comparing the two series you can really sense that there is a shared setting - that the stories take place in the same universe.  This story takes place well after the movie, as Tip and his companions Jack Pumpkinhead, Mr. H.M. Woggle-bug, Sawhorse, and Nick Chopper (The Tin Woodman) help the Scarecrow in his struggle against Queen Jinjur and the witch Mombi.  It’s a fun, farcical tale of misfortunes that make a great read.

Between the two I have to give the edge to Marvel’s version simply due to the outstanding art, but both make an excellent diversion to a land that has fascinated us for generations.

Jason, Florence and Marty talk about a bunch of stuff this time, including: Buffy: Season 8 #19, comic books at the Library, Umbrella Academy, Astro City, The Authority, the Luna Brothers and Sword, I Hate Gallant Girl, Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, superdickery.com, Neil Stephenson and Anathem, The Last Will and Testament, Jason’s new G1 phone purchase, and how sick we all are.

Somewhere in the middle, Jason tunes out and Florence and Marty launch into Married with Comics and talk about this week’s comics (Authority #5, Sword #13 & I Hate Gallant Girl #2).

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #024 (23 MB, 51 minutes)

Read it now at dark horse presents! (Thanks Susie.)

For our next book club, we’ll be discussing Scott Pilgrim, a comic by Bryan Lee O’Malley. There are four trade paperbacks out, and some of us will have definitely read all of them (you’ve been warned).

Comic Book Book Club
Scott Pilgrim, by Bryan Lee O’Malley
Tuesday, December 30th 7 PM
Marty and Florence’s apartment

Florence and Marty are joined by Florence’s sister Susie for a long-ish discussion of the new Buffy: Season 8, issue #19. Then Florence and Marty briefly discuss The Walking Dead #55.

Be warned, the spoilers start right away.

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Marty was right.

He has been trying to get me to read PS238 for weeks, and now that I finally picked it up, I have to agree that it’s awesome.  I’m already into the fourth volume, and I am glad that I still have a fifth to look forward to on the shelf.

For those of us who don’t recognise the nomenclature, apparently schools in New York use this naming system.  PS238 is just one more school on the surface, but 3 miles underground it is a high tech, high security school catering to kids with special gifts such as flight, super strength, telepathy, communing with the realm of daydreams, etc.  Aaron Williams takes this basic premise and riffs on familiar archetypes while he tells really interesting stories.  He goes beyond the obvious ideas and tells small stories about a range of kids and teachers, then adds in bigger arcs that span more than one trade.  I’ll keep reading and lending these out as long as Aaron keeps writing them.

Here is a list of some of my favorite webcomics. as the title indicated. I hope that it covers enough genres to entertain everybody.

Questionable Content

A well drawn comic centered around pretty much nothing. It has a very consecutive plot, and is quite hysterical. This is a rather generic description, but I can’t think of anything else to say. sorry. just check it out. The art starts out pretty bad, but one nice thing is watching the art advance. it gets very good by the end.

XKCD

A geeky, sarcastic, intelligent, stick figure comic. it has a rudimentary recurring cast, but definently no plot. it is absolutely hysterical, and all the humor is very intelligent. The beginning of the archives is just a bunch of pencil sketches, but eventually he figures out photoshop or something, and the drawings get nice and crisp. for a little bit extra, don’t forget to check the alt-text by mousing over the comic.

Partially Clips

A comic for grownups. That’s how it bills itself. Each comic is a series of repeated frames with word bubbles. that’s it. but the comics are so bizarre, so out of the ordinary, you can’t help but laugh. the humor is definately sarcastic, cruel, and sardonic.

Goblins

An unconventional comic, following a party of D&D goblins, as opposed to the party of heros. It gives the reader a different perspective, something new. it has decent artwork, but starts out in black and white.

Looking For Group

This is one of my favorites. A fantasy based comic with great artwork, sequential plot, and hilarious dialogue, there are no flaws with this comic. it places the epitome of good, a light elf named Kale, into a party with the epitome of evil, an undead warlock named Richard.

Commissioned Comic

A well drawn (usually) non-sequential comic following the main character O. it pretty much about nothing, and every once in a while it comes up with a mini arc. it is just a kind of laid back comic. sometimes they play D&D.

Dan and Mab’s Furry Adventure

A comic featuriang a wide variety of anthropomorphic characters in a fantasy setting. the characters have very nicely set personalities, and are all very well defined. As per usual, the art starts out like crap, then progresses. it has a very sequential plot, but sometimes jumps into self reference when the artist doesn’t feel like making a strip. or is sick.

The Peons

A great comic centering around the denizens of Antarctica. there are three human characters (to begin with). the King, and his two servitors, Meryl and Balthazar. Meryl is basically the straight man for Balthazar’s EVIL tendencies. the rest of the cast are penguins, who are all unnamed and basically interchangeable, save for the fact that a couple of them have odd personality quirks. like the one who only says “Q-tip”. ever.

One Manga

A massive compendium of manga, all readable online. what else is there to say?

The Webcomic List

If all else fails, then you can check this website out. it is an archive of pretty much ALL the webcomics out there. seriously.

This week Florence and Marty discuss Invincible #55, and Ender’s Game #2. As usual, spoiler alert applies.

Invincible #55

Florence: Invincible this week focused on one of my favorite characters, Allen the Alien.

Marty: You don’t think it was also about the dad?

Florence: I DO think it was also about the dad, but the dad isn’t one of my favorite characters. Honestly, I’d forgotten why Allen was extra-strong, why he was in the same place as Invincible’s dad, but I didn’t have any problem going along for the ride. I wasn’t that caught up in the central fight of the story, but I just enjoyed seeing Allen again, and there was an interesting revelation about the Viltrumites that seems like it will advance the over-all story.

Marty: That’s what I’m talking about. FINALLY we’re getting back to the main story. It’s been at least four issues now since we saw Allen or the father. This issue was almost good enough to make up for all the time we had to put up with side-stories and such, but the fight scene did seem to go on forever.

Florence: What did you think of the new lion guy?

Marty: I think he’s actually a tie-in from something. I’m not sure what.

Florence: Something else in image?

Marty: *looking it up* Battle Beast actually just appeared before in issue 19, I don’t think he’s a tie-in from anything else. So never mind. Anyway, yeah, I’ve thought Allen was one of my favorite characters since he was very first introduced. He was pretty bad-ass in this issue. He’s totally invincible now!

Florence: haha…

Marty: There was also a page at the end of the issue with the dad’s face pretty close up, and he had blood all over his mustache. I feel like that was some kind of weird nod to an obscure fetish or something.

Ender’s Game #2

Marty: I felt like this second issue was not nearly as strong as the first. They are really glossing over what were, in my recollection, my favorite parts of the book. Basically Ender’s introduction to all the games at battle school, and then of course his learning about the battle room, which they really only get to at the end of the issue. So maybe we’ll learn more about that (with Ender) in issue #3. I did realize after reading this issue that with only five issues total, they’re really going to have to cram the story in.

Florence: I thought they were too heavy handed about Ender’s importance, and all the behind-the-scenes manipulations that went into bringing him into battle school. It’s possible that I’m being more forgiving to the book, I was much younger when I read it, and remember really loving it, but at the time it felt much more from the point of view of Ender. We weren’t privy to information outside of his knowledge, and we were really immersed in his experience, which made the revelation at the end of the book a very emotional shock.

Marty: I had a similar impression, but I’m really not remembering 100%. I think they right away go into the perspective of the instructor in this second issue, and I don’t remember that from the book at all.

Florence: I remember hearing lots of rumors about an Ender’s game movie a few years ago, and I always felt very protective of the story, and skeptical that they would do it right.

Marty: I’m pretty sure it’s still in the making. I hear something new about it every few years. IMDB has it listed as still in pre-production.

Florence: I have to say, I do really like the art of this comic (especially the color). And, in a way, I’m glad they’re doing it as a miniseries, rather than trying to stretch out the story into a much longer arc. It’s definitely a story that has a beginning and an end.

Marty: The coloring of the comic really reminds me of Orson Scott Card’s run on Ultimate Iron Man. I wonder if the artists are the same. (Looks like it’s the same artist, Pascal Ferry, who did Ultimate Iron Man II, 2008.)

Marty: I feel I should say something about what a bastard Orson Scott Card has turned out to be.

Florence: He’s listed as the creative director, and executive director, but not the script writer for the comic.

Marty: His politics are what damn him.

Florence: …his eagerness to apply his whacked-out religious beliefs to social commentary on his blog.

Marty: I’m still interested in reading the rest of these, and will probably continue to pick them up.

Our book club met tonight to discuss Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight. We had Marty, Florence, Jason, Mike and Susie via Skype. This may be our longest podcast yet, weighing in at more than an hour and a half. As Mike put it at some point, “We have the weight of 7 seasons of episodes on our shoulders.”

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #023 (45 MB, 98 minutes)

Florence wrote a while back that stories about faerie changelings were her literary comfort food.   Now I am going to discuss mine.  The magic land tale, it is a close cousin of the changeling tale, and they are often intertwined.  The definition of a magic land tale for me is is not simply a story that takes place in another world that is more fantastical than ours ie: Middle Earth, or Loyd Alexander’s Prydain.  The essential ingredient to a magic land tale for me, is that the protagonist, most often a young or adolescent girl (though sometimes it’s a boy or a group of children) is from our world or at least our world as was when the tale was written.  The formula varies but the ones I am most familiar with has the protagonist unintentionally transported to a strange new world, and once there she will make strange new friends, embark on some sort of quest often to procure her way home, and prove herself in ways she could not have dreamed.  That is a magic land tale to me, and like Florence with her changelings I will read any book or watch any movie that seems to adhere to this formula in some way, and I am rarely disappointed by result.

Before I get into the story the Abadazad books tell, I’ll tell the story of the books.   And probably rant a bit. Feel free to skip is part if you are only interested in the content of the story, I will get to that eventually.  I first became aware of them about five years ago, which was before thay were even books.  I came across article about a new comic book series by J.M. DeMatteis that was firmly rooted in the magic land tradition.  J. M. DeMatteis is the author of one of my all time favorite books (comic or otherwise) Moonshadow, add in a magic land and I was sold before the first issue ever came out.  Unfortunately after just three issues had come out, and just as the story had gotten rolling, the company relaeasing Abadazad, Crossgen went out of business.  Cut to two years later while browsing the all ages section of my local comic shop where I find Abadazad volumes one and two, and imediatly snap them up.  It seems once Crossgen was defunct DeMatteis and artist Mike Ploog shopped them around eventually selling the rights to Disney’s publishing division, where it was decided to reformat them as a series of short novels aimed at children ala the Spiderwick Chronicles.  After plowing through the first two volumes (book one basically being a retelling of issues 1 through 3, book two containing unbefore published materiel) I preordered the third volume on Amazon.  Six months later I got an email informing me the order was cancelled since the book was not being published. I figured that was that.  But perhaps a year later I found book three for sale on Amazon once again, so again I ordered it.  And It arrived this summer.  A few days ago I read it, and was sucked in all over again.  So I went to Amazon to see if and when book 4 would be out.  I found a title for a fourth book but no date for publication.  So I finally did a search for information on what was going with these books.  It seems that the series was planned to be around ten books long, but after the first two did not sell up to expectations, book three was delayed and then published only oversees. Then the series was completely cancelled with at least one more book written but unpublished.  Suffice to say I am bit upset I went to trouble to find book three with very little chance of ever getting to the ultimate conclusion.  I also feel that Disney did little to support the series in the first place.  After all, if someone like me who was allready sold on the series did not know it was being published untill I found it at an independent store, how was anyone new going to become aware of it.  I never saw it at any of the big chains.  Just after the cancellation anouncement there was talk of returning it to comic book form, but nothing official has been announced since then.  I guess I will just have to be content that it will remain open ended.

And that is a shame because as far as magic land tales go, this one manages to be entirely it’s own, while paying homage to many that have come before.  It centers on a thirteen year old girl named Kate, who is an loner with a sad past.  Maybe it was Kate’s bitter, antisocial attitude that scared off potential readers (or their parents), although this not an entirely new archetype for the magic land protagonist (Meg Murry holla!).  Kate’s troubles stem, mostly, from the disappearance five years earlier of her younger brother Matty.  Before he disappeared Matty was Kate’s constent companion and only friend.  Matty had loved the Abadazad books a {fictional} series of children’s book from the turn of the century that seem to have been inspired by the Oz series. Even the name of the Abadazad author Franklin O’ Davies appears to be a tribute to Oz’s creator L. Frank Baum, and an indirect reference to J.M. Barrie, who was inspired to write Peter Pan by the Davies family.  Once Matty disappears Kate withdraws from the world and rejects the trappings of childhood, especially any thing to do with Abadazad.  Naturally she finds herself transported there, with aid from her very old, some what batty neighbor who claims to be the actual Little Martha, the sweet as sugar herione of the books.  Once there she finds that Davies changed quite a few details to make the books more palatable, and the inhabitants do not look like the illustrations she grew up with.  She also discovers that Matty is being held prisoner there.  Finding him is the ultimate goal of the books, but there are many freinds to make, and villains to thwart on the way.  It is a classic magic land adventure yet it feels fresh.  If I have a complaint, other than the publishing woes, it would be the art.  Mike Ploog’s illustrations  are inventive, and vibrant but his style is very cartoonish, which feels a bit out of place in book which so tries to invoke classic children’s literature.  I feel like the job might be better to suited to someone like P.Craig Russell, or Charles Vess.  Also at times we get to see pages from the original Davies books, and Ploog does these illustrations as well, he changes the look of the charecters, but the tone does not seem all that differnt from what we see of the real Abadazad.  These though are minor quibbles for me though, and he has done a great job bringing both the human and Zadians to life.  I just hope they story is finished somehow.

I just finished the latest trade of Invincible, the first trade of The Astounding Wolf-Man, and I’ll picking up the first trade of Capes tonight at the library.  How prolific is this man?  How many continuing series is he going to write?  Would Image fold completely if he was in a plane crash?  Looking at the back page, listing all the available trades, you could go broke just keeping up with his output alone.

Both trades were fun, and the stories keep growing in complexity, bringing in plot twists on the last page.  Now I have to decide whether or not to wait for the next trade, or try to find the single issues.  If I decide to catch up with the Walking Dead (should be easy, they’re a slow-moving bunch), I have friends whose copies I’d be able to read.  I think they also have singles for Invincible, but I don’t think they decided to buy AWM.  I didn’t think I would get into the latter, but the story picked up, and I think there’s going to be a crossover with Invincible soon.

This week, Florence and I discuss I Hate Gallant Girl issue #1, and the Walking Dead issue #54.

Just to remind everyone, there will be spoilers aplenty after the click.

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We’re finally getting around to posting a date for this Buffy Book Club. As usual we’ll be meeting at Marty & Florence’s place, this time on Saturday November 22nd, again around 7pm. Again, this is the latest series of Buffy comics, Season 8, issues #1 through #18. It looks like issue #19, the conclusion of the latest arc should actually come out the following Wednesday, November 26, so we’ll be doing a bunch of speculation about that issue.

BOOK CLUB
–THIS Saturday–
Marty & Florence’s Place
7 PM

Writing reviews is hard.  It requires I read the comic, formulate an opinion everyone can disagree with, write it out in a coherent plot summary/commentary, find a cover image, link it, proof read it…ugh.  So instead, since I’ve got time to waste while waiting for the dryer to finish so I can go to bed, I thought I’d just bitch a bit.  Hope you don’t mind.  So, I present to you…

THE TOP 20 THINGS (off the top of my head in no particular order) WRONG WITH COMICS TODAY

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Flight is quite easily one of my favorite series of graphic novels. the Flight books are anthologies of short, illustrated stories, each unique, some continuous, others not. Each story in the volume is written and drawn by a different author, leading to a sort of sampling of styles and tastes. All the stories seem to have in common is that they all have something to do with the word “flight” whether directly or circumspectly. Each volume contains an ideal balance of reserved thought, and absolute hilarity. The contrast from one section to the next, from the story to the artwork to the very concept, is very refreshing and makes the books that much more satisfying to read. These books were an absolute joy to read, and I would recomend them for anyone. I can’t provide much in the way of an in depth summary, or plot synapsys, as there is too much in theese volumes to condense. all I can do is recomend that you read them. What I can do, is assure you that there is something in these books for everyone, and that I am certain that you will enjoy them.

Since these will be spoiler filled discussions, we’ll hide these behind a link. This week your favorite married comic-reading couple will be discussing four really good comics that happen to have come out this week: The Authority: World’s End #4, Gigantic #1, Sandman: The Dream Hunters #1, and Top 10 #2. (Not in that order.)

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This week we talk about Spike, Angel, Buffy, Wonder Woman, Young Bottoms In Love, Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, Spider Woman, Mrs. Marvel, Secret Invasion, Grant Morrison, JLA, Gigantic, Rick Remender, Eric Nguyen, Gene Ha, Strange Girl, Prism Comics, Google News, and Mike’s ribbiting belly.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #022 (17 MB, 36 minutes)

The podcasters at Around Comics (see their link over on the right) decided that they were tired of traipsing all the way out to Rosemont for Wizard World, so they figured, “Hey gang! Let’s put on a show!” Like Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, they threw caution to the wind and did it. And how! 1500 people attended the show, at five bucks a pop.  Things were definitely popping, too.  It reminded me a lot of the local MNCBA conventions we have here, with a bit more focus on the writers and artists.  The layout of the convention kept the focus on the creators, giving them center stage, so to speak.  Unlike many other conventions of this type, the vendors were around the perimeter, with the creators right in front of you as you walked in, and taking up the front center part of the gymnasium where the convention was held.  There was also some gaming available near the back of the gym, with HeroClix tournaments taking place.

And speaking of Judy Garland, one of the things that I enjoyed in particular about the Windy City Comicon was the venue.  The convention was held at the Center on Halsted, a GLBT community center in Chicago’s Boystown area.  According to the organizers, the space was chosen based on size, cost and proximity.  Me, I just enjoyed the fact that it was in Boystown and afterwards, it was so easy to hit the bars.  Also, most conventions have food options that resemble what you might find at a high school cafeteria with prices comparable to a major league sporting event.  The Center on Halsted is connected to a fully stocked Whole Foods.  Quite possibly the best convention sustenance I’ve ever experienced.

It looks like the organizers are going to give it a go next year, and I look forward to making this a reason for an annual trip to Chicago.

I suppose this is not quite a comic, but Patrick Moberg is responsible for this fabulous graphic of our Presidents, past and future. This is best viewed full size.

My co-worker Carie sent out this amazing pumpkin that her friend Buffy (or perhaps Buffy’s husband) carved.

Everyone should check out the preview for this new movie called Special, starring Michael Rapaport, about a guy who thinks he has superpowers because of some new drugs he’s taking. It looks to be both interesting and funny.

I first read about this on IO9, but they heard about it from Biology in Science Fiction, which I had not heard of before.

The movie is supposed to be in theaters on Nov. 21st. I’ll see you there.

This is probably relatively old news (I’ve been meaning to post it for a while), but if you haven’t already seen this livejournal post full of side-by-side comparisons between Kermit the Frog and Christian Bale, you really should go check it out. It’s simply brilliant.

Now, I feel dumb for admitting this, but I’ve have to admit… I don’t know where the Kermit photo I clipped is from. When does Kermit dress up as batman? Was it in Sesame Street? I did some youtube searching, and I can’t seem to find it. Anyone know?