Mr. Massive Saves the Universe!

I rarely write for comics without at least the hope that it'll one day see the light of day in some form or another.  Most of the scripts I write, though, invariably sit virtually on my hard drive for some time while I dream away that those words will one day turn into comics in the truest sense.  The script to the art you see on this page was written, like, a month ago.  I was pretty surprised to see this art in my inbox earlier today - in a good way, of course.

Ever since attending the New York Comic Con, I've had a better appreciation for webcomics and what they can accomplish.  If nothing else, they seem to be a great way to gain attention, and I've seen how that can pay honest-to-goodness dividends in the long run (first hand, at that - the Wagon Wheel Comics booth was directly across the aisle from Dr. McNinja).  It's one of the reasons I wanted to post the "Eye of the Beholder" story on this blog.  So when artist and enigmatic nameholder Artboy_X returned from overseas and wanted to resume working on our co-creation Mr. Massive in some capacity, my thoughts immediately went to webcomics.  Being a comedy/spoof (one that relies on a lot of silly jokes at that), Mr. Massive works pretty well, I think, in short bursts.

What you see in this post is just preliminary work - who knows where this will ultimately go (so, you know, don't get your hopes up just yet) - but I hope you'll agree that it's nice to look at.  The first two pieces of art are not by Artboy_X, and in fact, having just received the art I don't even know the name of the artist who put them together, which, of course, I need to remedy.  But the energy and style strikes me as something fitting for the character and the jokes I ultimately want to tell with and through him.

Naturally, I will keep everyone updated on the progress of this project, whether you want to be kept aware or not.  I will!  It's inevitable.  For now, I hold out hope that someday soon we'll have a Mr. Massive webcomic to promote and another fun writing exercise become a reality.

The image above is by Artboy_X and obviously is the basis for the first panel in the image at the very top of this post.  It's something of a parody of a similar iconic Superman image, hopefully used for obvious effect.

"Eye of the Beholder" webcomic by Jeff McClelland and Ruben D. Cordero, Jr.

Presented in its entirety, here's "Eye of the Beholder" with art by Ruben Cordero.  It's a pain to click on eight different links to read the entire story, so I wanted to post it all at once (plus it's easier to find on the Google).  I previously posted each individual page with commentary, and I used another post to show extra material such as sketches and other art in progress.  If anyone feels inclined to check those out, just click on the links below:

page 1

page 2

page 3

page 4

page 5

page 6

page 7

page 8

extra material

"Eye of the Beholder" was first published in Strip Search from Dark Horse Entertainment in 2004.

My favorite comic book convention story - Heroes Con 2008 (featuring Dan DiDio!)

Let me start off by saying that I think that for the most part, comic conventions are great.  They're a vital cog in the machine that connects fans to creators and companies to the people who keep them running - retailers and readers.  Teddy and the Yeti, even though it still occupies such a small area of comic-dom, would be, for all intents and purposes, nonexistent without conventions.  So I recognize their importance.

There are certain aspects of conventions that I'm not fond of or just don't get excited for, and on the top of that list is panels that big companies like Marvel and DC hold at nearly every stop.  I've gone to a few and they all tend to be the same thing - a sales pitch from the company with no "real" information being passed along to fans.  Most convention panels are structured like this: "Hi everyone, welcome to the panel with important people from the company.  Here's some big news - next year, the Fantastic Four will battle...DR. DOOM!!!"

To each his own, of course - if you're up for it, then good for you.  But I don't see the point in sitting though a 90-minute advertisement for stuff I already buy.  Maybe people like q&a panels where they can talk with creators...I dunno.

Anyway, in 2008 I attended the Heroes Con in Charlotte, North Carolina, and I sat in on the DC panel that was taking place on the Saturday of the show.  There was a lot of fluff, of course, mostly centering around recently completed "Sinestro Corps War" storyline and looking forward to what would become the 2009/10 event, "Blackest Night".  In attendance were many creators and staff members, notably Executive Editor Dan DiDio.

After announcements were made, Didio started to ask questions of the fans in attendance, asking what people thought of certain characters and storylines.  The conversation worked its way to the Batman family of characters (as they often do), and Didio began to ask people in the audience about the various iterations of Robin.  "Who's your favorite Robin?", he'd ask.  "Who here likes the book?"

To the second question, a girl sitting about 25 rows deep raised her hand, and Didio called on her.  "What do you like about the book?", he asked her.  The girl stood up and began her answer: "Well, I'm really sad that Chuck Dixon isn't writing the --"

The rest of her answer, the part that wasn't cut off, couldn't be heard, because as soon as he heard the name "Chuck Dixon" pass over the girl's lips, Didio shouted "BraRaRaRaRa...don't worry about it" into his microphone, and quickly went to the next person with his/her hand raised.

I was pretty stunned by all this.  To give a little bit of context here, Dixon, an industry veteran who might be best known for his extended runs on Batman-related titles, had been rather unceremoniously fired from DC, including as the head writer on the Robin title, just a few weeks prior to this convention; it's still not widely known why he was let go.

The rest of the panel went off pretty smoothly: we all got to vote on things like "who's happy to see Hal Jordan back?!" and were able to ask questions ourselves, like "what character do you like to draw the MOST?"  If I have a regret from attending this panel, it's that I didn't use the question and answer session to call attention to this snub once more.  "A little while ago", I should have said, "a girl mentioned the name of a creator who was recently fired from your company, and your response was 'BraRaRaRaRa!'  Do you think that was an appropriate answer to someone who was expressing her opinion - which you in turn solicited in the first place?"  Of course, I chickened out and kept my mouth shut, so I'll never know how something like that would have gone over.

Probably not well.

In any case, anyone who's ever attended a comic convention invariably comes away with some good stories - that's the best one I've got, at least for now.

I'll see you, Comics Code Authority...IN HELL!

A few days ago, DC Comics announced that they were dropping the Comics Code label from their books in exchange for their own, in-house ratings system.  Archie, otherwise known as "the publisher least likely to ever need anything resembling an oversight committee", followed suit immediately after.  What this means is that after decades of obsolescence, the Comics Code Authority is officially dead.  It also means that Frederic Wertham's "mark of the beast", as it were, has breathed its last after a remarkable run of nearly 60 years, long outliving Wertham and everyone else who gave a crap about the purpose for the Comics Code in the first place.  Marvel Comics dropped the Code from its books nearly 10 years ago.

As I mentioned, this news really means very little regarding the content of new comics.  I've often wondered if, for the last 20 years or so, the Comics Code Authority consisted of one guy at a desk who would flip though all the major monthly comics, check out all the scenes of people getting their heads blown open, make sure that there aren't any pictures of boobs, and hit the "accept" button on...some contraption that consisted mostly of an "accept" button.

The CCA was developed, of course, in response to Wertham's witch hunt that blamed comics for all of society's ills, and looking back at some of the "rules" under the governing influence of the CCA, it's easy to see how worthless it's been for quite some time now.  For example, the Comics Code, as it was designed in 1954, policed comic books to make sure that:

- good would triumph over evil "in every instance"
- scenes dealing with "walking dead, torture, vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism and werewolfism" were prohibited.  And here I had this great story dealing with ghouls...
- crimes would never be presented in a way in which one might feel sympathy for the criminal or in which evil would be presented "alluringly"
- no comic would use the words "horror" or "terror" in its title
- women would be drawn realistically, "without exaggeration"

So I think we can fairly obviously see that the CCA has been a beacon of light and none of the above points on the list were ever seen in comic books for the last 56 years.

Seriously, though, even if the damage has already been done to the industry, it's nice to get Wertham's stink off of comics in at least one more, highly visible, way.

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.

Look familiar?

This month, DC Comics is publishing most of their books with "theme" covers - simple, solitary shots of main characters in front of logos.  It's a cheap event that still manages to catch the attention of readers who might be scanning the shelves - and, if you ask me, it looks pretty neat.  I'd say that this is a win on the behalf of the DC marketing people.  Here's a look at some of the covers to the books, all of which are out now:

I'd be remiss, of course, in not pointing out that these covers looks strikingly similar to something done last year with the New Dimension Comics cover of Teddy and the Yeti #1 (by Alan Gallo and Karin Rindevall), seen here:

This is not to say that I'm trying to make any claim that DC somehow saw this and decided to copy it.  That'd be ridiculous, as it's a fairly simple idea.  I just think it's cool that Teddy and the Yeti #1 fits in with the above group pretty seamlessly.

Oh, and...uh...you can still buy that copy of Teddy and the Yeti directly from the New Dimension Comics website!

...Beast Mode?

As the Steelers get set to take on their rivals from Baltimore on Saturday, I present this oddity from the NFL's homepage last Saturday.

I understand that Marshawn Lynch's nickname is "Beast" or something like that, but the title of the main article here is a little too close to one of the catchier phrases on Beast Wars, one of the greatest cartoons of all time.  This threw me for a loop.

Also, let's go Steelers.