Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo - March 28th, 2015

Pittsburgh has lagged behind other cities in terms of comic book conventions in recent years, but maybe that is finally changing.  If you haven't heard, Wizard World recently bought the rights to the Pittsburgh Comic-Con, which will be held this September at the David L. Lawrence convention center in downtown Pittsburgh.  There are good things and bad things about Wizard taking over, I suppose, and we'll see what the inaugural event brings later in the year.

I'm more excited about Pittsburgh's independent comic show, PIX, which takes place this year on Saturday, March 28th.  This isn't the first year for the show.  I heard about it last year after the registration deadline had passed, so I made sure that I got an early jump on it this year.  I'm not quite sure what to expect, but the fact that there is a show dedicated specifically to small press and creator-owned comics is something to be pleased about.

The show, which is co-sponsored by the Toonseum, will be held at 10 S. 19th Street in Pittsburgh from 10-5 on Saturday, with programs taking place later that evening, from 7-11pm.  Both admission and parking to the event are free!

I'll be there with a few of my new books, including the Naked Man at the Edge of Time mini comic, which hasn't been on sale anywhere before now.  I filled out the requisite exhibition form, including information about myself and my publications.  I am apparently a raging narcissist as my damn entry is longer by an exponential factor than anyone else's on the list so far:

In case you are wondering, yes, this is embarrassing, and yes, I wish I could change it, but I'm not going to mention it because I don't want to bring more attention to myself (...other than writing a blog about it, I guess).

Some other guests include Carolyn Belefski (Magic Bullet), Rafer Roberts (FUBAR, Black Terror) and Don Simpson (Megaton Man).  I'll be interested to meet Simpson for the first time, and a bit nervous about bringing up The Tick with him, but I suppose it had to happen some time.

For more information on the show and its guests, check out the PIX website at http://pixcomics.blogspot.com.

It's great that Pittsburgh finally has a second show dedicated to comics.  The city deserves one.

The Thing, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Marvel Two-in-One #75

It's been well documented that the Thing is a fan of the New York Jets.  This makes a lot of sense (for a fictional character, anyway), because of what part of New York Ben Grimm is from and his early publication history; the Jets were an exciting team in the 1960s with "Broadway" Joe Namath and their memorable win in Super Bowl III.  I'm also fairly certain that the Thing is a fan of the New York Mets, a team that shares some fan geography as well as 1960s improbable success.

The Jets rolled into Pittsburgh yesterday as owners of week one's best offensive output and got stomped by your Pittsburgh Steelers, 28-10.

Here's a picture of Heath Miller, a vastly underrated tight end (and farmer's tan recipient) catching a touchdown pass.  OH YEAH!!  Season predictions: the Steelers will win Super Bowl XVLII.  You read it here, folks.

I am slowly working my way through the entire Marvel Two-in-One series, which despite having some memorable runs and hall-of-fame type talent on many of its issues, also has stretches of awful, awful stories.  Sometimes these issues are difficult to make it through, but for the Thing, I persevere.  It's only fair.

A few days ago I made it to Two-in-One #75, an extra-sized issue featuring a team up with the Avengers.  In it, the Thing makes two NFL references, both regarding the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The first is directly above.  It also mentions the Dallas Cowboys, but whatever.

At little bit further on, there's also a player specific, Terry Bradshaw reference!  What's funny about this is that this issue was published in 1981, as the four-time Super Bowl championship Steelers team was at the end of its run, having won its fourth championship during the 1979 season.  Many of the great Steelers players were retiring or entering into the last years of their careers.  I believe (without doing 30 seconds of research and looking it up) that Bradshaw's last year was 1983, so these references were a little late in coming.  But hey, better late than never!  It's a nice combination of two of my favorite things.

The time period was a heyday for the Steelers for sure, but it was also a time where the Thing's popularity was entirely evident.  Not only did the character headline his own book as well as appear in the proper Fantastic Four title, but he also showed up in three separate in-house ads.  The one directly above is advertising the very book it was published in.

This one was the standard mailing subscription ad.  Look at this!  The Thing takes up 25 percent of the page.

And there was also a full page ad for the then-new Dazzler series (which was the beginning of the direct market approach to sales, interestingly enough), in which the Thing shows up as part of an ensemble cast.  The Thing was as much a corporate mascot in the '60s, '70s and early 1980s as Spider-Man, or as Wolverine is today.  Good times.

San Diego Scare, FUBAR celebrity endorsement, "Why does Marvel cancel my favorite unpublished books" and more!

Hey, kids!  It's another edition of "things I feel like posting", starring me, Jeff.  YOU SHOULD BE HONORED, PEOPLE.

- In September, I officially applied to the 2012 Comic-Con International show in San Diego.  I was disheartened to get a thin envelope - the sure sign of doom in any application process - in the mail just last week, but was perplexed when the envelope simply contained my voided check and a brief letter explaining "hey, we're returning your check" and nothing else.

I assumed that this letter meant that I was not accepted to the show, but upon contacting the folks at CCI, it was pointed out that the check was actually from last year.  The fact that they kept my check for over 12 months was fairly surprising, but I'll take it, because it means that Wagon Wheel Comics is still in the running for a table at this summer's big show!

- So John Schneider reading Teddy and the Yeti is officially old news.  Some fellow FUBAR creators caught up with Chandler Riggs, "Carl" from AMC's The Walking Dead and got this picture with him and volume 1 of the graphic novel.  Look how cute this kid is!  It's funny that he's on a TV-MA rated show and here has an R-rated book in his hand...is he allowed to watch/read either?  It's a cool picture regardless...and wow, what a show TWD is turning out to be.

- My trip to Myrtle Beach and Xcon World in October provided me with more than just two nights in the Viking Inn motel (an interesting place); I made it home with all my teeth and some swag from the Swampfox Media booth.  The Swampfox guys and girls are local to the Myrtle Beach area and had some really neat stuff on display.  My favorite was certainly No Rest for the Wicked, a supervillain spoof along the lines of Dr. Horrible.  Check 'em out at  http://swampfoxmedia.com/!

- The mainstream comic industry is going through some changes these days.  DC's "New 52" revamp is getting all of the attention (good and bad) these past few months, but Marvel is making news, too, in its, uh, "streamlining" of its output.  Several titles have even been cancelled before they were even released, and what's most frustrating about that is that SOME OF THEM STARRED THE THING!!

This is nothing short of an outrage.  I'm speaking, of course, about the "Destroyers" limited series, but there's also Victor Von Doom by Nick Spencer and Becky Cloonan.

Both DC and Marvel seem to be saving me money these past few months, with the cancellations of titles I read like Secret Six, Doom Patrol, Spider-Girl, Herc and now X-23 (which I had just started to pick up).  I don't mind saving money, but this all in all makes me a little bit nervous.

- Don't forget (DON'T YOU DARE) that tomorrow (Sunday the 20th, which I guess is today) is New Dimension's Pittsburgh Comics & Collectibles Show at Century III mall from 11:00-5:00.  I will be there, and so will...other people.  The Post-Gazette even put it on the "Weekend Hotlist"!  So you know it'll be great.

- Lastly, and this is the second Dukes of Hazzard reference I'm making in this post, more old Shrinky Dinks were found and made.  Who knew these things were this fun?  Well, I did, of course.  Larry has the whole ordeal posted up on his excellent DukesCollector website, which you can see by clicking here!

Russian research team finds "irrefutable" proof of the yeti's existence.

The world of cryptozoology has been abuzz these past few days as scientists (using the term loosely) have reportedly found evidence of the existence of a yeti in the Kemerovo region of Russia.  According to the researchers, this evidence is "irrefutable", releasing a statement that claimed, among other things: 

"During the expedition to the Azasskaya cave, conference participants gathered indisputable proof that the Shoria mountains are inhabited by the 'Snow Man'."

"Conference participants came to the conclusion that the artifacts found give 95% evidence of the habitation of the 'snow man' on Kemerovo region territory."

"In one of the detected tracks, Russian scientist Anatoly Fokin noted several hairs that might belong to the yeti."

It seems like 95% leaves about a 5% margin for error, here, but hey, I'm not one to challenge the definition of "indisputable" this time around.

This discovery is, interestingly, actually being reported on by media outlets worldwide.  Check the links for various tellings:

- International Business Times: http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/231073/20111014/yeti-abominable-snowman-evidence-proof-siberia-scientists-creatures.htm
- The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/8823466/Russian-footage-of-Yeti-hair-emerges.html
- STLtoday: http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/the-platform/article_088c5db1-9e68-59a8-bd8c-7aee409bdef6.html
- About.com: http://climbing.about.com/b/2011/10/13/yeti-evidence-found-in-russia.htm
- The Sun: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3864829/Scientists-close-in-on-Yeti.html
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11277/1179565-84-0.stm

This story seems to harken back to one a few years ago, in which some guys from Georgia apparently found a dead Bigfoot and stuck him in their freezer.  You remember the picture, right?

And just because "Bigfoot" here turned out to be a, what, gorilla costume with animal guts thrown on top doesn't mean that people weren't at least a little bit interested in the story at the time.  And just because the Kemerovo region has apparently bit hit hard by a poor global economy and would benefit from a little monster-hunter tourism and a government research center, that doesn't mean there still couldn't be a den full of yetis living in the Siberian mountains, right?  Right??

In related news, a woman from Michigan claims that she's been feeding blueberry bagels to Bigfoot for the last two years.  God bless America.

some random mini blogs

This blog will be just like many other blogs on this site.  Except the notes will be shorter.  Perhaps your enjoyment will be lessened...but perhaps not.

- Tomorrow's the opening day for Alex Ross's "Heroes & Villains" exhibit at the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.  It should be lots of fun!  The Post-Gazette wrote a nice article about Ross and the exhibit...and it seems to imply that this will be Ross's first time in Pittsburgh.  Read it here: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11272/1178138-437.stm

- I will admit that Superman's new comic book costume irked me when I first saw it; I understand the need for change (or perceived change) from time to time, but there are some things that you just don't mess with, and the classic Superman costume is one of them.  I was further annoyed when people at DC began promoting the new look by calling the now-abandoned red trunks "diapers", as if the costume isn't the most iconic of any character's in the history of the universe.

My anger was assuaged, though, when I saw Henry Cavill's costume from the upcoming Man of Steel movie.  Just as Brandon Routh's slightly altered costume in Superman Returns led to a brief costume change in the comics, this new look will of course be reflected in DC's new lineup.  And when the movie premieres and eventually departs, the costume will change back to what we're used to.  So no worries.

- The Wagon Wheel Comic booth is a good place to grab an Orange Lantern Cookie if you're at a convention.  At previous shows, I'd advertise the cookies by writing hastily on a comic book backing board.  I decided that, as I plan on making the cookies for future shows (shows...in THE FUTURE), I should make a more permanent sign/display.  Half an hour on Photoshop and viola!  The above sign will from now on adorn the cookie bowl at our table.  I plan on attaching it...to a comic book backing board.

- A small donation to Hero Initiative, the comic book charity that helps out creators in need, scored me a few nice items recently, including the New Avengers 100 Project and the above exclusive hardcover edition of the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.  They're both pretty awesome, and it's money that went to a good cause.  HI has a lot of great stuff for sale on their website and their eBay page.

- Saturday also brings us "Weird Al" Yankovic's Comedy Central special, an hour-long show featuring clips from his new Alpocalypse tour.  Debuting a few days early was his newest music video for the song "Polka Face", which is fantastic in its own right, but Al went ahead and put yetis in it for good measure:

As if there weren't enough reasons to be a fan.  The show airs at 9:00 eastern time, and an unabridged DVD/Blu-Ray version will be on sale the following Tuesday.  Hooray!

Here's the video...watch it and love it:

Jokes.com
"Weird Al" Yankovic - Polka Face
comedians.comedycentral.com
Jokes Joke of the Day Funny Jokes

Superdogs, The Dark Knight Rises filming schedule, John Watkins and more!

- One post of mine that gets frequent attention is "Who Owns Superman Ice Cream?", which questions the legality of Kroger's name for their red, yellow and blue ice cream.  Unless there's been an upswing in desire for a dessert treat based on the philosophy or Friedrich Nietzsche ("God is Dead Cookies and Cream", perhaps), it's probably something that Warner Bros. and DC Comics know about but decide to look the other way.

I was shopping for, well, meat the other day, and I came across the above package of hot dogs - "Superdogs" with Superman's "S" shield logo stamped right on the package.  It's not even a variation of the logo, it's the exact comic book S that we see on the Man of Steel.  Interesting stuff.

- The "Captain Mal" art by Sammy Gomez that I won at a screening of "Serenity" made it on to i09's website a few days ago, under the heading "The Coolest Firefly Art in the 'Verse".  It was not only awesome to see the art I own online with a link back to this blog, but there were lots of other great pieces of art on display as well.  And it all made me miss Firefly/Serenity even more.  Sigh.

- "Smart Alex" McKinley wrote a nice blog about the Mr. Massive/X-Plosive Comics Kickstarter project that my friend Artboy_X is heading up.  I've never met Alex before and I have no idea who he is, but he had this to say about, well, me:

Mr. Massive, by Michael Oeur and Jeff McLelland, chronicles the adventures and misadventures of a boy who uses his superpowers as any typical boy would- particularly if he never had an Uncle Ben Parker telling him, "With great power comes great responsibility." Given Jeff McLelland's previous work on a variety of comics including Teddy and the Yeti, the zaniness of his "stupid" Youtube show Franks and Beans, and the premise of Mr. Massive, I think it's safe to say we'll see hilarity ensue.

To hear someone I don't know talk about Franks and Beans makes my head spin a little bit.  I don't even mind that he spelled my name wrong (it happens, I understand).

- Great day in the morning, "The Dark Knight Rises" is almost upon us.  As you can see from the above Post-Gazette photo, the bat-logo shone upon downtown Pittsburgh recently in anticipation of the start of filming, which begins...any day now!

The website onlocationvacactions.com printed a comprehensive list of just where the movie will be filming - apparently, the studio sent letters to homeowners in the area to keep them aware of what would be happening (so they won't, you know, call the police if things start blowing up a half a mile down the road), and someone decided to put it online, much to the appreciation of you and me.

Here's part of it - go here for the complete list: http://www.onlocationvacations.com/2011/07/16/the-dark-knight-rises-filming-locations-in-pittsburgh-august-10th-20th/comment-page-1/

In the coming weeks we will be visiting all of the businesses and entity in the area effected but our proposed activity in order to ascertain the best way of minimizing are impact. We are also working with building managers in the area to facilitate tenant access to properties. Our goal is to make this a positive experience for everyone involved and we would like to address your individual concerns, no matter how small. Please do not hesitate to call us with any questions at our cell phone numbers listed below. 

Throughout our preparation, filming and restoration periods, Security guards, Pittsburgh Police Officers and production assistants will be visible during our film shoot to insure public safety as well as address any immediate concerns you may have about the filming.

If what is on the website is an exact transcription of the letter that actually went out, I think I'll gouge my eyes out in response to the grammar.  "Minimizing ARE impact"?!?  Perhaps they meant that recently released Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antwaan Randle El would be rampaging the streets of downtown Pittsburgh.  Perhaps.

- Paul Tucker recently finished our short story, "John Watkins: Phantom for Hire", and it is fan-friggin-tastic!  We're currently making a few small adjustments before we try to get it in front of some faces.  Paul has a really great blog where he's broken down much of his process for this story, and you owe it to yourself to check it out at http://tuckercomics.blogspot.com/.

- And now, a few non-comic related items.  First, as you can see in the screenshot above, I made it into the trailer for a movie.  Not just any movie, mind you, but a movie with an embarrassing title; one that I have to preface with "it's not a porno" every time I tell people about it.  It's actually a Saturday Night Live movie - or at least it has a number of actors from SNL in it.  It's called...sigh..."A Good Old Fashioned Orgy" and it's going to be released in September.  I was an extra on the set in Wilmington, North Carolina in 2008.  Here's the trailer!

- Lastly, congratulations to friend of the blog (that's not entirely true) Sidney Rice on his signing of a $41 million contract with the Seattle Seahawks, losers of Super Bowl 40 to Jerome Bettis and the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The Seahawks come to Heinz Field the second week of the season - September 18th - and I wish him the best of luck.  But I hope his team loses...badly.  I do.

"The Dark Knight Rises" extras auditions

On Saturday morning, I drove to the Omni Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh to apply to be an extra in the soon-to-be-filming The Dark Knight Rises movie.  Apparently, half of the city had this idea in mind as well.

The above picture is of that line at around 10:30 am on Saturday, and it wasn't entirely unexpected.  Comic book websites picked up on it (http://www.superherohype.com/news/articles/167483-the-dark-knight-rises-open-casting-call), local TV broadcasts and newspapers were reporting it (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11156/1151514-60.stm), I was blogging about it (http://teddyandtheyeti.blogspot.com/2011/06/casting-call.html) and lots of people were talking about it (I...don't have a link for that...but it's true, trust me).  Even so, I was surprised to see a literal quarter mile line waiting for me when I walked to the site.  The human chain stretched across blocks, across streets of traffic, around buildings and corners.  At several points, news reporters showed up to film the spectacle:

In all, I waited outside and in line with Larry and a few new friends (as they were in front of and behind me) for around five hours before I even made it into the hotel.  Thank goodness the weather cooperated; it was neither oppressively hot nor was it raining, as it had been one or the other for much of the previous week.  I don't think I could have made it in 90 degree weather dressed as I was with no water or shade, unless I was going for the role of "guy with severe heat exhaustion".

After waiting in line, I and the people around me were whisked away into the hotel's ballroom where we sat for another hour.  Eventually, we heard from representatives of the casting agencies working on this movie.  We filled out forms with contact information, measurements and even "special skills" (telepathy, in case anyone's wondering), we heard all about what not to do if we got called to be in the movie (no cameras, no cell phones, no bringing your dog with you), we got a picture taken and we were on our way.

I wore a suit and tie to this casting call, not because I wanted to exude any sort of professional image, but because the online instructions said to dress in character, and one of the groups was "businessman/woman".  Surprisingly few other people did - the favorite outfit for the day seemed to be "Steeler jersey", which I totally get, and realize that a normal day in Pittsburgh might look the same.  I was expecting/hoping to see someone show up in a full Batman costume, but two or three logo shirts were all I witnessed.

Extras will start getting calls, we were told, as early as the last week of June, and the movie will require between 2,500 and 3,500 extra roles.  This might seem like pretty good odds to anyone signing up, but I'd estimate that there were right around 2,500 people there on this, the first day to sign up (there are three more days set for the hotel and continuous online registration).  Naturally, I hope that I make the cut, and the fact that my job comes with summers off and previous extra-ing experience might help my cause a bit.  I've got my fingers crossed; regardless, it was quite a day and quite an experience.  Batman, Pittsburgh loves you.

casting call!

I almost convinced myself not to post this - I somehow thought that if I wrote about the recent casting call for the Dark Knight Rises movie, set to film soon in Pittsburgh, that I'd let other people in on the secret and I'd be pushed out in my attempt to be an extra (or anything, really...anything at all) in the film.  That was probably (probably?) a case of me not realizing just how little impact something like that would have on life in general and my chances with this movie specifically, so here we are!

For the past few months I've been waiting for the call to be made, and now it's almost here: this weekend will begin an open call for extras for next month's filming of the Batman sequel.  The Pittsburgh Film Office relayed this message from Smith & Webster-Davis/Nancy Mosser Cating, which was then quickly picked up in this article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which says that around 2,000 extras will be needed to play "prisoners, thugs, guards, businessmen and women and sports fans".  If I get to play someone dead...oh man, one of my life's ambitions will be fulfilled (really).

The film is running (for now) under the working title "Magnus Rex."  The Pittsburgh Film Office's Facebook page had the below announcement, which had a pretty funny reply:

Heh.

I'm going to try and show up for this Saturday's casting call.  I won't know if I'll be chosen to play an extra for another month and a half at the earliest, but here's hoping I can pull it off for at least a few days.   Maybe all that time on One Tree Hill will finally pay off.  Maybe.

My favorite "Peanuts"

For the past several years, Fantagraphics has been releasing beautifully bound collections, ultimately comprising the entire run of Charles Schulz's comic strip masterpiece "Peanuts".  I've never taken the time to sit down and read any big chunks of the thousands of strips, maybe because such a large work is a bit daunting to try and take on, or perhaps because it's simply always been around and I've always had the idea of "it'll still be around tomorrow".  I don't know that I'll ever own the impressive collections being offered up, but it's nevertheless easy to respect the work that Schulz did over his decades as a prominent cartoonist - he's without a doubt one of America's greatest artistic talents.

I was cleaning out my desk a few weeks ago when I found the above Sunday strip, clipped out and folded in half.  This was published after Schulz's death in early 2000, when newspapers couldn't let go of their longtime stalwart; the paper I got this strip from simply renamed it "Classic Peanuts" and kept printing it.  As far as I could tell, the strips weren't printed in any real order, so even though the language and the art style lend me to think that this wasn't a recent strip, I really don't have any idea of when it was originally published.

It's pretty obvious why I decided to keep this, in that it reminds me of my own dog; Schulz, even though he anthropomorphized Snoopy throughout the strip's history, managed to bring out just what we all love about dogs, and it's readily evident that whichever dog Snoopy was based on, he was loved deeply.

I'm sure that, if pressed, most people could come up with a favorite "Peanuts" strip.  This one's mine.

Rex Ryan looks just like Sgt. Hatred from "The Venture Bros."

It's a shame that the Venture Bros. cartoon isn't more widely known.  For one thing, it's a fantastic program - one of my favorite shows off all time - that's smart, funny, edgy and action-packed like few others can ever aspire to be.  For another, more people would be making the connection that Rex Ryan, former Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator and current New York Jets head coach, looks EXACTLY like the character Sergeant Hatred.

The similarities between the two don't stop there, though - there's more to it than just looks.  On the cartoon, Sgt. Hatred is a 50-something, overweight loudmouth who loves, well, feet.  Please tell me that statement doesn't describe Ryan as well.

Your friend and mine, Larry, first made the connection and sent me the picture at the very top (he's also the one that pointed out how similar Sarah Palin is to a certain GI Joe villain), and I think it's spot on.  If there is ever a live-action Venture Bros. movie (a cartoon one would suit me just fine), Rex Ryan NEEDS to play Hatred.  It's a match made in heaven.  Or wherever Rex Ryan comes from.

I mean, really.  Just look at it!

Speaking of football, next up on the playoff schedule has the Jets traveling to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers.  It's greedy of me, but I'm really hoping the Steelers can win two more games this season to capture the Lombardi trophy for a record seventh time.  That way I can be happy and every other fan of every other team can be very, very jealous.  Make it happen, boys.

I had a chance to make it to the last game versus the Ravens, a thrilling beat down that Baltimore has had coming for quite a while.  Seriously, they like to talk.  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editor Dan Gigler was there with a camera and I just happened to be in the right place in the right time to get my photo snapped with the aforementioned Larry as we celebrated the victory.  Gigler put it up on the PG website with other pictures from the game.  Check out the entire post or, for my fantastic image, look no further than directly below:

Larry and I took a few videos of the game which we promptly uploaded to our YouTube page, each of which now have more views than almost all our Franks and Beans videos.  The Steelers videos took literally minutes to shoot, edit and upload.  Franks and Beans takes hours of our time and thoughtful creativity that involves more thought than just hitting the 'record' button.  And yet the people have spoken, I suppose.  Check out the most popular so far, the playing of the "Renegade" song that the fans and defensive players get so excited to hear:



We also filmed some Franks and Beans while we were there, since we are so crafty and opportunistic.  That footage will be part of episode 52 (or thereabouts), but in the meantime, check out our newly released episode 50, in which we did something strikingly similar by filming a clip at the Pittsburgh Penguins' new stomping grounds, the Consol Energy Arena.  I hate that it's named after a coal company (I'm sure Consol is spending more money on marketing and advertising than, say, researching clean energy solutions or improving employee health benefits), but man, is it a top-shelf arena.



This post had almost nothing to do with comic books, the theme of this blog.  I apologize for that.  Oh, the Fantastic Four "death" issue comes out next week.  I'm sure it'll make me want to vomit.  There we go.