Hawken #6 out now!

A while ago, I showed off the cover to Hawken #6 from IDW.  The book is lovingly rendered by Ben and Tim Truman, FUBAR veterans both, and the incentive cover to #6 is by Jeff McComsey, Dom Vivona and Steve Becker, no strangers to FUBAR themselves.  At the last minute, Hawken #6 had another addition - a half page comic by myself and yet another FUBAR luminary by the name of Pietro.

This is, of course, very exciting.  IDW has grown quite a bit in the last several years to the point where they're counted among the major comic book publishers.  While they're best known for their licensed properties like Transformers and the Ninja Turtles, every so often they'll release a creator owned series such as Hawken, a western horror tale that's among the best of them.

Even though my contribution is only a half page, I still feel like this is a big deal.  If nothing else, IDW is one of the most recognizable publishers to print my work; certainly the most high profile since Dark Horse's Strip Search which was printed FOREVER ago.

So let's say that you have no desire to read my comic book writing, but as you're reading this, you feel a slight twinge of guilt over this apathy.  If you pick up Hawken #6, you can spend about 15 seconds, read the entire strip, and say that you have, indeed, supported my comic book career!  What a compromise!  That'd be great.

Many thanks to Ben and Tim for the opportunity.  The trade collection, which is already solicited on Amazon, will also include the strip, which is, in its own way, another bit of exciting news.  As IDW is a major company, you should be able to find this book at pretty much any comic store in North America and beyond.  So go get it!  And don't be a jerk.

How is Paul Ryan (the artist) handling his newfound fame/infamy?

One of my first posts to this blog was of a side-by-side comparison of 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin to the Baroness character from GI Joe.  Well, apparently the Republican party is choosing its VP candidates based on comic book similarities, as this year's selection is none other than former Fantastic Four artist, Paul Ryan.

Wait, there's another Paul Ryan?  From Wisconsin?  And he's an unapologetic ultraconservative just like Sarah Palin, teamed up with an historically moderate yet now supposed rightest-of-the-right-wing presidential candidate in John McCain/Mitt Romney?  Weird.

Paul Ryan the artist was my absolute favorite artist growing up in the early-to-mid '90s - something that was undoubtedly a result of him drawing my favorite book growing up in Fantastic Four.  Ryan's artwork, I think, still holds up even though the stories now seem a bit goofy in places, and I wish that he would return to the FF in some capacity, even just for an anniversary issue or something similar.  Ryan spends his time these days on the Phantom comic strip, so he's still got a presence, though I miss his work in comic books.

I'm sure Mr. Ryan is getting a lot of attention these days due to mistaken identity.  But he can take some solace (I guess) in the fact that at least one person, upon hearing that Paul Ryan had been selected as the official Republican vice presidential nominee, looked at the news with incredulity and said, "the comic book artist?"

Jeff meets a comic book character

Here's a weird fact about me.  When I'm on vacation, or I guess just somewhere away from home, I tend to look up comic book shops and visit them.  I've done it for as long as I can remember.  Don't judge...there are weirder things to do with your time...probably.

This summer was no exception.  After Comic-Con and a few days in Los Angeles, my wife and I spent some time in windy San Francisco, home to national landmarks, natural wonders and some well known comic shops.

After taking in a farmer's market on a Saturday morning, I saw that I was just a few miles away from Isotope: The Comic Book Lounge.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but I had heard good things about it and I knew that it was a favorite shop of some popular creators, so I drove over and ended up finding a rare parking spot right next to the store.

I made it a few feet inside, but was taken back by what I saw.  It wasn't the store itself that caused me to stop, but the person standing in front of the counter, talking to an employee.  I knew this person, but I didn't know from where for a minute or two.  Then it hit me: he was a comic book character.  Specifically, this guy:

It was a bit unnerving, staring at a fictional character who had somehow, inexplicably, come to life and decided to visit a comic shop.  Slowly, it came to me.  The character is from Robert Kirkman's Invincible from Image Comics, and his name is "Isotope".  Oh, heck.  I had no idea he was modeled after a real person.  It took me a while to get over that.

The real life Isotope is store owner James Sime, who, as it turns out, is a heck of a nice guy.  We chatted for a while and I got my picture with him before I walked around the store, still trying to shake that "fictional characters are coming to life" feeling.

The store itself was smaller than I had imagined, but its layout was hip and friendly.  The main floor had comics along the wall - nothing unusual there.

If you look up, though, you'll see something out of the ordinary but very interesting - original artwork on toilet seats.  There were probably a few dozen of these lining the tops of the walls and they added to the unique feel of the store.

Toward the back of the shop is a staircase which leads to the lounge - it overlooks the store and has a small setup for a band.  There were places to sit and stacks of comics to read - James mentioned that most of them were from local and small press creators, which is a swell thing to do.  And it just so happened that I had a copy of Teddy and the Yeti in the trunk of my car...so it made its way into Isotope's lounge collection, which is great.

Lady Blackhawk also sits in the lounge, probably making sure that no one falls over the edge.

And what comic shop is complete without a full size Dr. Strange costume?  I imagine that Mr. Sime could pull of a pretty convincing Stephen Strange.

After leaving at the comic shop, we visited the house that was used for establishing shots on "Full House".  What a fulfilling vacation this turned out to be.

Venture Bros. trading cards

Atlanta's Dragon Con seems to be a mecca of sorts for those who like to dress in costumes.  I never thought much of it, but I paid attention to the news coming out of Georgia for this year's show, and I was surprised to see just what a big deal it was.  There must have been thousands of costumes on display and it all looked like a great time.  I might have to make it out to a show at some point!

There were lots of great Venture Bros. themed costumes at this year's show, both classic and incredibly obscure (Brick Frog and Betty Rage were a few favorites, for completely different reasons).  If you get a chance to, do a quick Google Images search and check out some pictures for yourselves.

What caught my attention leading up to the show, though, was the above pictured Venture Bros. trading cards.  This 12-card set was put together by a Venture Bros. cosplay group and I thought it looked pretty swell.  I contacted a friend and he was able to send me a set in exchange for a Teddy and the Yeti card set, which I think was a pretty good trade.

As a whole, I thought the cards turned out really well.  All of them were interesting, and while some are better than others, I think the set is indicative of most of the main characters from the show (though I can't imagine how the Moppets were left out), and it features some great art.  Below are a few of my favorites:

The only artist whose work I recognized was that of Fiona Staples, who drew this Rusty Venture card.  Staples has made a name for herself recently with Image's Saga, which is a fantastic book and one that's certain to see lots of acclaim.  Getting her on this card set is a big deal!  I love the slight refraction that the good doctor's glasses make.  It's a nice touch.

It's hard not to like everything about Brock Samson on the show, and similarly, it's hard not to like the art on this card.  The hair, the blood, the glass shards...it captures his essence in a single image.  Well done.

 

And who can't empathize with "two-ton" 21?  Again, a great piece, though I'll say that I would have liked to see a "classic" 21 and 24 image thrown in there.

Twelve cards is an odd number for a set.  Cards usually come in sets of nine, for the sole reason that card binders hold pages with room for nine cards per page.  So that means that there's room for six more cards in this set to make it a nice, neat 18 - I say we round out the set with a few more before it's all said and done.  One for the Order of the Triad, perhaps?  The aforementioned Moppets?  The Impossible family?  The possibilities are nearly endless.

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.

Life goal achieved: I bought a Ms. Pac Man arcade game (play it at Evil Genius Comics!)

Goals are important for people to have in life.  Goals drive us to achieve great things and give us the focus to stay on task.  Some people have goals to do purposeful, meaningful things in life, searching for cures to diseases and helping mankind reach new heights.  Others buy arcade games and put them in comic book shops.  In response to this grand gesture to humanity, I can only say this: you're welcome.

Despite the unfortunate music and horrendous fashion, many great things were made in the 1980s.  Me, for instance.  Also, Ms. Pac Man.  Ms. Pac Man is one of the all time great arcade games, improving on the original Pac Man, a hall of fame game of its own.  While there are other arcade games that I'm fond of, it's always been a dream of mine to own an original Ms. Pac Man machine.  To that end, I would sometimes wistfully search eBay for the upright arcade game, skimming the results for machines that were reasonably priced and were in good shape.  Being thrifty is always a challenge, and I found out that Ms. Pac Man, despite being around 30 years old, is still a game that is in demand even though games have evolved and arcades are, with a few exceptions, a thing of the past.

A few months ago, I turned to Cragislist on a whim, and much to my eternal glee, I received an e-mail from nearby Washington, PA.  A video game enthusiast named Ted had a Ms. Pac Man game on sale, and as soon as I drove over to check it out, I knew that it was the one for me.  Ted fixed the cabinet up and gave me a great deal.  A few days later, Larry and I drove over to pick it up.

The cabinet is from the original run of 10,000 and is in just beautiful shape.  For a hunk of wood that's 30 years old, I couldn't ask for a better looking display.

The challenge with getting a Ms. Pac Man machine, after the cost and condition, was finding some place to put it.  Not that I wouldn't have been happy to set it up in the living room, but while I might have enjoyed that, I realize that not everyone wants a giant pink and blue arcade game flashing all hours of the day in the corner of the room.

That's why I'm lucky enough that the guys at Evil Genius Comics & Cards were up for letting me keep the game at their store in California, PA.  Right after I bought it, Larry and I drove it to the store, wheeled it in, set it up and went right into playing it.

AND IT IS AWESOME!  It really is.  I could play Ms. Pac Man for hours on end, but here's an extra bit of information that I omitted until now: the board inside has been modified with 59 additional games.  So if I want to play something besides Ms. Pac Man, I can choose from nearly every single one-player game that I care about.

This machine has Ms. Pac Man.  It has Pac Man.  And Jr. Pac Man.  And Super Pac Man.  And Pac Man Plus.  And Dig Dug (1 and 2).  And Donkey Kong (and Donkey Kong Jr., and DK3!).  And Space Invaders.  And Centipede.  And Millipede.  And Galaga.  And Frogger.  And Gun Smoke.  And dozens of other games!  Not all of them are great, but I've been surprised at how many games I enjoy, both familiar and those that I had never heard of before.

In short, this was a great find, and as trivial as owning an arcade game might be, it really is something I had wanted to do for a long time.  And since it's housed at a comic shop, other people can play it too, and whenever I stop in to get comics, I can lose an hour trying to beat my high score.

If you're in the area around California and you love classic arcade games, stop in at Evil Genius Comics and check out my Ms. Pac Man arcade game.  It's right across the street from California University of Pennsylvania.  I'm thinking of setting up a tournament one of these days.  That way, I could see if anyone can beat my high score on Ms. Pac Man.  Here's a warning: I've got lots of practice.

Thanks to Larry for modeling all of these shots.  I don't think he minded, as he got a key to the machine and can play Jr. Pac Man all he wants.  Now if only I could find someone with a reasonably priced Rampage game...

The Herald-Standard Comic-Con interview

A little while ago, I did an interview with the local paper, the Herald-Standard, regarding this July's Comic-Con.  Larry set it up and it went from there.  Apparently it went over well enough, because this past Sunday it showed up as a feature article and on the first page of its section.  The article is a nice piece about Comic-Con, from a local perspective, and you can read it here, if you'd like: http://www.heraldstandard.com/entertainment/features/action-and-adventure-local-residents-visit-comic-con-international/article_5b6ab096-4e6b-5f4d-82b2-f0386d96f291.html

There was talk about bringing a photographer to the interview, but that was scuttled in favor of placing some pictures we ourselves took at the convention.  I probably sent over more than 20 for the staff to choose from, picking out interesting and what I thought were pictures indicative of the atmosphere at the show.  And then I said, "ah, screw it, I'm sending over a picture of the Thing."  And then I sifted through some more pictures, thought about it for a few seconds and said, "heck, I'm going to send over that Beast Wars picture as well."

AND THEY PRINTED IT.  They printed our "scream 'Beast Wars' while taking a picture with Cheetor" picture from Comic-Con.  THIS IS FANTASTIC!  I wonder if the guy who dressed up in the costume knows that he's in the paper.  I wonder that about the guy dressed up as the Thing, Hawkman, and the Green Lantern couple, too (I never noticed this before, but there's a pretty good photobomb going on behind the Green Lanterns), but mostly Cheetor.  Perhaps it's time to do a Google search to see what I can find.

The article covers the entire front page, above and below the fold, and continues on the last page of the section as seen above.  On this page, it shares space with an article about Lady Gaga's meat dress.  High society, here we come!

Many thanks to the Herald Standard and the writer of the article.  Now let's see if the guy dressed as Cheetor from Beast Wars is on Google Images.