FISH WRAP

MoneyBall

2012-01-29T00:00:00.000-05:00

I love movies and hate sports-- but more than anything I hate Sports Movies.

Okay, I love GOING to College Football Games, I do watch both NCAA football and basketball on a regular basis, but as for pro league-- I will catch MAYBE one NBA game all season, a couple of Pat's games (especially playoffs) but as far as I'm concerned Baseball is a sport for old men to sit around and nap while 'watching'.

I tell you all this because I loved MONEYBALL (2011) with Brad Pitt. It's a sports movie that isn't. Instead of focusing on the nail biting drama of whether or not this rag-tag band of misfits can win a Championship game (and there is a bit of that in here) it's more about the business of a the game.

There is some inspired casting too-- and I'm not talking about Pitt even though I think he's often underrated, I'm talking about the casting of some real life scouts in the challenging roles of scouts. It brings a level of reality to the film that elevates it above your average Hollywood under-dog movie.

Are We There Yet?

2012-01-28T00:00:00.000-05:00

We're 1/3 of the way through Winter-- excuse me while I muster a cheer:

woooo.

Yes, this has been one of the most mild snowless winters in history-- and I'm more than thankful for that. But I have a feeling the streak has broken and we'll start to see some of the white stuff soon-- and whether we do or not we still have cold to contend with.

Why is it that Spring and Fall-- my two favorite seasons-- are often non-existent?

ArtsWOO: Tombstone

2012-01-27T00:00:00.000-05:00

ArtsWorcester has a new director, and as much as I really enjoyed working with Jan Seymour who has now found her way to the Worcester Historical with my good pal Bill Wallace, I'm always excited to hear the new ideas a change in leadership offers. WAM has a new director whom I have been thrilled to work with (more soon) and Juliet Feibel at ArtsWoo seems to be my kind of director.

Through my buddy Cindy Woehrle who has been championing ArtsWorcester for longer than I can remember I got in touch with Juliet who asked if I'd be interested in a show that would be both fun and different. I'm not going to get into too much detail here, but this is the piece I'm putting in.

I was inspired after watching an episode of Pawn Stars in which a seller brought in a Colt .44 revolver and I decided I have to have one of these. I love the look of this gun and the way it comes apart. Sleek and modern this was a game changer for the Civil War.

It'll be on display this fall, more when they make an announcement.

For Cartoonists and Artists Part 2: Lettering

2012-01-26T00:00:00.000-05:00

"Lettering is the afterthought of the bad cartoonist." -- Andy Fish

Yup. I said that. It'll go down with some of my more famous quotes like "I don't like poached eggs." I'm thankful that I was forced to study things I considered boring at the time, and if you injected me with sodium pentathol I'd probably say they can be boring now, but understanding and mastering things like inking, perspective and lettering separates the professional from the amateur. It's akin to using proper grammar and being able to spell.

So let's talk lettering. Will Eisner had a term for lettering that looked like this:

FIG A - He is indeed, Batman.

I can't for the life of me remember what he called it, if Marcus is reading this blog feel free to remind me. It was something along the line of long tail. Eisner pretty much hated word balloons to begin with but he was particularly annoyed by these which made it appear the figure in question is speaking through a ghostly medium.

FIG B - Yup, still Batman, but this time he means it.

With this second example I shortened the tail (it's still too long for my liking) but I also altered the lettering so that it's no longer on one line, it's more balanced with more air around the words which makes it easier to read. I also introduced the idea of BOLD lettering for the word BATMAN. It's about giving your characters DELIVERY.

It was explained to me many years ago as the way a good movie director gives his actors motivation as they deliver their lines. As a good cartoonist that's your responsibility too.

Lets take a look at this sample script:

JIM: Did you catch the game?
TOM: No. I hate baseball.
JIM: Oh. Um, sorry.
TOM: No problem, I just happen to hate baseball, so I don't watch it.
JIM: Well, it was a football game.
TOM. Oh! I hate football too.

Both characters deliver their dialogue but the way it plays in your head varies. As a writer I'm not giving the characters inflection in the lines they deliver. You can overdo it and your characters start to sound like Ross on FRIENDS but here's what I mean.

JIM: Did you catch the game?

Jim's emphasis on 'catch' and 'game' gives those words punch in the sentence. Hammering the point home. In the second deliver Jim is actually excited to ask the question. In the first he may be asking it in a more laid back way. The key here is that you as the creator get to decide HOW he delivers it.

Another thing to note about the differences in both examples is that in FIG A I placed the balloon inside the ring of the moon behind our dark knight. I see this a lot, artists don't want to cover up their artwork so they find a blank area to squeeze a balloon into. You should think of the balloons as PART of the overall composition of your art, not as an afterthought or something you have to stick in.

In FIG B the balloon crosses the edge of the moon. Not only does it look more balanced but subliminally it says to the reader that these words are equally as important as the artwork. Fair and balanced lettering here.

MORE SOON. Art Tomorrow

For Cartoonists and Artists Part 1

2012-01-25T00:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's EISNER related post brought back some of his teachings that have been drilled into me and which I carry through to my illustration and comic art classes today.

CROSS HATCHING:

Image from a similar blog post I made this time last year

Cross hatching is used with ink to create a sense of form and shadow. It's harder than it looks. It involves a pen, brush or quill being quickly drawn across your illustration board with great control of the wrist. The ends should be smooth and tapered, creating a sense of order amidst the chaos.

FIG A FIG B

Bad cross hatching (FIG A) misses the idea of the tapering and creates a series of hooks. These are caused by the drawing implement being pulled back before it has been completely lifted off your illustration surface. As a professor once told me-- it's lazy, messy and it makes your work look unprofessional.

An assignment we once had was to completely cross hatch a 13"x19" illo board from corner to corner going from white to complete black in cross hatch using only a #2 round brush-- as the professor studied your finished piece if he discovered ONE hook you had to do it again. Trust me, I stopped making hooks quickly.

I also seldom use a pen to ink, instead I still use a #2 round brush. Veronica is one of the most talented inkers I know (she's doing a class on it in the spring) but I take credit for pushing her to use a brush-- she resisted for a long time, insisting on pens, but once you master a brush you've mastered inking.

TOMORROW: Lettering

Graphic Novel/Comic Art Courses at Emerson

2012-01-24T00:00:00.000-05:00

EMERSON College has put it's graphic novel illustration and writing courses online and I've been heavily involved with creating a rewarding and workable online experience for both students and faculty.

This is actually a course that makes sense being handled online because THAT is exactly how business is handled now. Everything is online-- from discussions with editors to sending proofs to uploading final pages to your inker or editor understanding the nuts and bolts of getting your work uploaded is really half the battle today-- so that becomes a huge bonus to taking the course online.

I'm handling ILLUSTRATING THE GRAPHIC NOVEL 1 for this first session, and I'll be branching into other areas of it as well as we move through the semester. ILLUSTRATING works great not just for the artists but for the writer as well. There isn't a writer in the world who can't benefit from learning the best ways to think visually. It not only will help you to explain the vision in your head it'll help you understand the way your artist approaches it.

So whether you want to write or illustrate graphic novels and comics (or both) this is an outstanding opportunity and sign up ends next week so DO IT NOW. Make 2012 the year you stop accepting excuses from yourself and get it done.

MORE INFO (and Sign Ups) ON THE MAIN SITE.

This Week on TCM - In Like Flint

2012-01-23T00:00:00.001-05:00

It's no secret this is my least favorite time of year on all accounts-- and my favorite movie channel falls into this slump too, but there are a few gems here:

Tomorrow at 8pm is America's answer to James Bond with 1968's IN LIKE FLINT. James Coburn plays the domestic secret agent with his tongue firmly in cheek and it's an entertaining little film if spy movies are your bag. The night follows up with still more 60s spy films inspired by the blockbuster Bond franchise.

At 9pm Wednesday is SWEENEY TODD; THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET (1982) which is a filmed version of a Broadway performance featuring Angela Lansbury which I have to tell you is this week's CAN'T MISS PICK. Although like almost EVERY musical (with the exception of 1970s Scrooge) the second half is not as strong as the first.

At 8:45am on Friday is EACH DAWN I DIE (1939) which is a prison film with Jimmy Cagney like most every other prison flick you've ever seen or heard of. The elements in this film weren't cliches when they were filmed but they are now. Worth your time.

Saturday at 9am is 1954's PHANTOM OF THE RUE MORGUE notable for it's retelling of the Poe classic with a pre American Express Karl Malden and a shot of full frontal nudity early on that the censors clearly did not catch on the original release.

At 1:30pm is 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY with is Kubrick's epic space film and personally one I find slightly less boring than watching the hands of a clock, but there's a lot of you that like this and it has a tremendous reputation so maybe it's your thing.

Speaking of tremendous rep, THE ESSENTIALS this week is 1961's THE MISFITS which features the last screen appearances of both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe-- I've long said you can't go wrong with sitting down for any screening of THE ESSENTIALS but this might be the one that makes you doubt that sentence.

Happy Birthday Joe!

2012-01-22T10:44:00.000-05:00

Joe shares my appreciation for silly Comic Covers

Happy Birthday buddy!

Books I Will Keep in the Apocolypse

2012-01-20T00:00:00.000-05:00

I'm asked, mostly by librarians requesting I return them, what books in my vast collection of books I consider MUST HAVES. HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAULT is probably top on that list.

It's a documentation of a long conversation between two of the top director's of all time. Getting into Hitch's head as to why he filmed what he filmed, why he chose certain script elements and his secrets to storytelling is instrumental to my own work in fiction.

A similar book in the same vein is EISNER/MILLER in which two heavyweights of the Comic Book field discuss and debate issues they feel are important.

As I often tell my students, if you admire an artist or writer don't just look at their work, look at the work that inspired them and back one further generation if possible. You'll get a more pure insight into what works for them and that will only help you.

Captain Marvel ruled the 40s

2012-01-19T00:00:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite covers from the Golden Age

Captain Marvel (now referred to as SHAZAM) was the biggest superhero in the world during the height of comic book sales. His various titles carried circulation numbers in the 6 Million range, compare that to the biggest selling comics today which would be considered blockbusters if they sell 180,000 copies.

The Good Captain was the first Live Action Superhero to be put to film too, in THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL serial from 1941. It's considered a classic among serial fans and in my opinion it holds up to this day. It was a very serious version of Captain Marvel which surprises many of his fans today because the character became more known for his tongue in cheek adventures including the addition of 'family' characters like Mr. Tawny the talking Tiger and Uncle Marvel who was a roly poly old guy who stumbled his way through adventures in a union suit.

The original Captain was deadly serious-- and in a take that is the polar opposite of Batman from the same era, he actually got better when they stopped taking themselves too seriously.

The good Captain is possibly the most maligned of the great characters. The focus of a lawsuit filed by DC Comics who claimed Cap was a ripoff of Superman (he wasn't), the lawsuit raged on for nearly a decade before Cap's publisher Fawcett Comics decided that superheroes were falling out of favor in comic books and opted to cancel all the Marvel titles.

DC eventually bought the Fawcett characters but by this time Marvel Comics (known as Timely Comics in the 40s) wisely opted to trademark the name Captain Marvel when the option came up leading to the original Captain Marvel being forced to rename his title SHAZAM when it was eventually relaunched in 1973.

Magic didn't strike twice, however, and fans objected to the jokey nature of the strip. Since that time Captain Marvel has been relaunched several times with mixed successes but none have been able to capture the spirit of the 40s series.

Tokyo Takes It

2012-01-18T00:30:00.000-05:00

TOKYO's Shopping District

I'm a city boy.
As much as I can certainly appreciate the beauty of a wide open field or a quiet night in a small town, cities are where it's happening for me. Coming from the Metropolis known as The Big Woo I'm often surprised when people from surrounding towns speak of it with a sense of awe and menace. It takes a lot to impress me. I'm not one of those folks who stumble around mumbling "Worcester sucks!" (it doesn't) any more than I live in the delusion that it's just as good as Boston (it's not).

TOKYO has always been one of my favorite cities. I love the food, the ease of getting around, the friendliness and the absolute sense that you are absolutely on the other side of the world. As "Western" as it's become unlike major cities around the US and in many cases in Europe which all share some common traits you are constantly reminded that you aren't in Kansas anymore.

There were only two things I really missed when I was there, Good Coffee and Hamburgers. Interesting because although I drink a LOT of coffee I don't eat that many Hamburgers but the idea that I couldn't get one that was edible or even reminiscent of a 'real' hamburger made me want them even more. I tried Mossburger and a few of the other burger joints which served up a mealy sausage patty like excuse for a burger. McDonald's managed to keep the burger like they do in the US, but c'mon, if your idea of a good burger is McDonald's you have to get out more.

I finally found a good coffee place in the Ueno district of Tokyo, offering American Coffee, burgers eluded me.

Until now.

BLACOWS

Limited Edition Batman Print

2012-01-17T00:00:00.000-05:00

LIMITED EDTION 11x17 Full Vibrant Cover Rework of a classic Batman Comic Book cover with characters from the Batman TV Series. Heavy archival cardstock.

Available in a signed and numbered edition for $25 or signed, numbered and with a sketch of Batman characters in the white border in pencil for $40.

This Week on TCM

2012-01-16T00:00:00.000-05:00

My biggest fear with TCM is that they will start showing "Classic" films from the 90s or 00s or go with commercials as AMC did. I bet there are some of you who don't remember that AMC used to show only OLD movies and with no commercials. It was hosted by Nick Clooney (George's Uncle) and showed great old films like BATMAN (1943) and the GILDERSLEEVE series.

How's that compare to it's programming now? Of course we're knee deep in my least favorite months of TCM when they show a lot of snotty former Oscar junk;

Tomorrow at 10pm is LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING (1955) which is the kind of movie they would show on Sunday afternoon's when I was a kid on Channel 56 in Boston-- along with DON'T EAT THE DAISIES it's a wonder I ever became an old movie buff.

Wednesday is Cary Grant's birthday so daytime programming features some of his movies, at 10am is a great Cary Grant/Katherine Hepburn film that looks at the class system and makes you realize people are people and maybe, just maybe, we should put our differences aside.

12 hours later you can watch THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962) which is a tight little political thriller.

Thursday at 8pm is Alfred Hitchcock's possibly weakest film, UNDER CAPRICORN (1949) with Ingrid Bergman. Still, ANY movie directed by Hitchcock and featuring Bergman is going to be better than almost anything else on TV.

Midnight on Friday is THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE (1974) which is possibly the greatest crime film of the 1970s (which is really saying something). Robert Shaw leads a band of hijackers on the 6 train in New York and he's up against action hero Walter Matthau! Walter Matthau? Yup. And Matthau's sidekick in this film is Jerry Stiller-- George's Dad on SENFIELD! This one is worth staying up for or DVR'ing.

Saturday's ESSENTIALS showing is A LETTER TO THREE WIVES (1948) which I've never seen but again, if it's an ESSENTIAL you won't be sorry you watched it. Some good movies later that night too-- sleep in on Sunday and stay up for 1940's THE LETTER at midnight and THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946) at 3:45am.

The Gnomes

2012-01-15T00:02:00.000-05:00

All right I know, if I'm reading your blog and you're recommending a band called THE GNOMES I'd be looking at you funny and wondering if I misjudged your tastes.

First Night Worcester was pretty quiet. We got our badges from the Museum and glanced through the program to see what we'd like to see and honestly it looked like most of it was for kids. We opted for an absolutely FANTASTIC dinner at LUCKY's and then decided to head over to Mechanics Hall for the Improv Boston comedy show-- which is always extremely popular.

Dinner took a bit longer than we planned, no complaints, they had a great bluesy guitar player doing Stevie Wonder songs so when we saw the line for the Improv we decided to go with our backup which was THE GNOMES. Listed as infusing world music, Celtic and Calypso with a Latin infusion I figured it would be pretty good. It was better than pretty good-- it was absolutely fantastic. Exactly the kind of music that is great to have on in the studio while you're working or while teaching a class so I grabbed both of their CDs after the performance was over.

AND they were tremendous fun. I love performers who don't take themselves too seriously. A puppeteer years past at First Night would continually stop his performance to ask for the children to be quiet-- and I'm pretty sure it was me who was making the most noise because I was laughing at how pretentious this clown was.

But these guys are great- -check out their website and sample some music.

Great Comic Covers: Captain Marvel

2012-01-14T00:30:00.000-05:00

If you ask me this is what's wrong with Comic Books (and the rest of the world) today-- you could never have a cover like this. The PC folks would freak and the industry takes itself too seriously. Today's heroes never have any fun or do things like help Santa get around. Interesting that Superman comics sell about 200,000 copies a month right now while this issue of Captain Marvel sold about 6 Million copies!

PHANTOM Fridays

2012-01-13T00:15:00.000-05:00

Shh! Top Secret!

2012-01-12T12:02:00.000-05:00

The Perfect Cup of Coffee AT HOME!!

2012-01-12T00:03:00.000-05:00

I'm the pickiest coffee drinker in the world. There have been some nights, I'll give you, that would find me drinking (gulp) instant coffee out of desperation. There was even the time Jamie and I tried to make our own coffee late one night at the museum using found objects and we ended up chewing the results.

But for the most part my rules on a good cup of coffee are simple;

1. HOT (unless I'm drinking Iced Coffee of course)
2. FRESH
3. Fresh Fat Free Cream

That's it.

You'd think with these simple requirements getting a decent cup of coffee would be simple eh?

Not so. In fact pouring boiling water through the fresh ground beans seems to be the thing places that have Coffee in their name can't seem to do right. I realized I spend close to $1000/year buying cups of coffee on the road and probably 2/3 of them are undrinkable and of the other 1/3 maybe 1/3 of those are what I'd call good.

Let me explain the rules a bit further.
1. HOT should be MMmmm HOT! Not AAGGGHH! Hot! That means the water SHOULDN'T be boiling-- it should be just shy of boiling. I bought a cup of coffee at Burger King once (ONCE!) and drove from Massachusetts to the New York border before I could take my first sip.

2. FRESH-- that means it has to have a rich, somewhat nutty smell and taste. Like these beans fell off the tree (or came out of the ground-- wherever the hell coffee comes from I don't care) raced to a sack on a high speed donkey to a charter plane and dropped on my doorstep fresh. Coffee cannot be brewed and then allowed to sit. It has 10 minutes of life-- after that dump out the pot.

3. The Cream is an important element. Skim Milk makes the coffee turn puke brown. Cream should be added either first or slowly so it doesn't burn and it should not curdle!! Is that so hard?

I've had some great coffee experiences that eventually go bad: Culpepper's on Southbridge Street makes the best cup as long as you get there at a busy time. When it slows down the girls start pouring old pots into new ones and that is a HUGE no no. Dunkin Donuts everywhere is a mixed bag. I had a girl put my coffee lid on after she'd rubbed her hand with some kind of cream and the lid smelled flowery. Dunkin's is NOTORIOUS for letting the coffee sit.

Enter the Melitta Single Cup Coffee Brewer and a simple recipe I learned from a diner and I give you the perfect cup of coffee, ladies and gentlemen.

You grind the beans fresh-- or as I do so I'm not making that much noise first thing-- I grind them the night before and put them in a vacuum container. I have a coffee measuring devise that specifically scoops the grounds (2 scoops for every cup) placed in a #2 filter in that Melitta Cone now placed on your mug of choice-- add a half an eggshell into the grounds (learned from a great diner that eventually had to stop because the board of health said no, but you're pouring 200 degree water over it so what's the harm?) to reduce the acid content.

You boil your water in a teapot but you stop JUST before it whistles-- you'll hear it. There's a change in the sound of the water. You want to grab it just before boiling. Pour water on top of the beans just to wet them. Let that sit for 30 seconds, it releases the aroma and unlocks the grounds. Then add water to fill the cone and let it drip through.

When it's done, remove the cone, add your cream (or you can put the cream in the coffee cup before for richer results) and enjoy. You have an amazing cup of coffee.

Should you need to make more than one cup, CHEMIX makes this beautiful coffee decanter that works the same way.

Both of these are available on Amazon should you want to give them a try. The Melitta is sold in most grocery stores but not in the coffee section which makes no sense-- you'll find it with pots and pans.

So there you have it. Toss out your Mister Coffee, your K-Cups (sorry-- tried it-- overrated) and get yourself the absolute best way to make coffee anywhere.

How to Reformat your Toshiba Portable Hard Drive to Mac OS X

2012-01-11T00:15:00.000-05:00

Bought this GREAT Toshiba portable hard drive for my MacBook to use to store files, essentially as another drive. I wasn't interested in using it for backups but that is certainly an option.

I have an identical one for my iMac and love the idea that I can just drag and drop files in there outside of my operating system without eating up the internal memory of the machine.

I had forgotten, however, that these ship formatted for Windows 7-- with the detailed explanation "Reformating required for Mac Users". A search of the Toshiba website offers little more than that and in reading some of the reviews Mac Buyers who discover the incompatibility are sending them back for the more expense pre loaded Mac versions-- don't do it! It's actually quite simple to reformat-- ignore the person who wrote that it took him nearly 20 hours to reformat! It took less than a minute and I'm not that tech savy.

1. Plug in the Hard Drive to your USB port. Choose DECIDE LATER regarding time machine-- you can decide this for yourself after all is done.

2. Go to Finder, click on the Icon for the Toshiba and click GET INFO-- you'll see that the format listed is WINDOWS-- that's the problem-- we need to reformat.

3. Go to Disk Utility-- if you don't know where that is type it into the magnifying glass spot at the top right of your screen.

4. In Disk Utility select the Toshiba machine and you'll see the information on it. Click on ERASE-- the option which lists the FORMAT will come up-- it will say either WINDOWS or MS DOS-- change this to MAC OS Extended Case Sensitive and click Erase.

5. Choose DECIDE Later for the time machine option.

6. If there is a second Toshiba Disk listed repeat the same-- this is the sub-folder back up.

7. Go back to Finder, click on the Icon for the Toshiba and click GET INFO-- you'll see that the format listed is now MAC OS X -- you're good to go!

WGBH looks at Ron Rosenstock’s show at WAM

2012-01-10T09:38:00.001-05:00

;; ;

Batman Fights the Nazi's!

2012-01-10T00:00:00.000-05:00

Or more likely the Japanese in this great WWII cover.

What's on this Week TCM: The First Modern ZOMBIE film

2012-01-09T00:03:00.000-05:00

Tonight at 10:15 is Vincent Price in THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964) which is an end of the world Zombie film before there were end of the world Zombie films. If you want to see what inspired George Romero to do NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) this is it. Fans of THE WALKING DEAD will recognize that Price's character name is MORGAN-- which is handled as an homage on that Zombie show.

At 11:45pm on Tuesday night is NETWORK (1976) which is simply a brilliant film that looks at how evil Television and Corporations are-- especially Television Corporations. You'll be up all night watching this one. "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

At Wednesday at 10:15pm is THE THREE MUSKETEERS with Gene Kelly-- possibly the most flamboyant example of action heroes outside of ZORRO THE GAY BLADE. Hard to get through this one without giggling.

On Friday the 13th (yikes) at 10pm is LOVE AND DEATH (1975) which as prime Woody Allen time. Even mediocre Woody is better than most anything else Hollywood churns out so give it a looksee.

Saturday night's ESSENTIALS offering is THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO (1944) with Spencer Tracy-- it's probably great because it's A. A TCM ESSENTIAL and B. Stars Spencer Tracy but I'm not big in War Pictures and I haven't seen it, but maybe I'll give it a go.

Fox Movie Channel has been showing some great films lately like THE GRAPES OF WRATH and KISS OF DEATH but they don't have as easy a schedule to read through as TCM does so you're on your own.

Great Comic Covers: STERANKO

2012-01-08T00:30:00.000-05:00

Art by Jim Steranko (c) Marvel Comics

Jim Steranko was one of the innovators of the 60s turning comics into Pop Art! His influence is felt to this day.

Vintage Puppets

2012-01-07T00:00:00.000-05:00

A friend bought these great puppets from the 60s and sent me these pics--he's a voice actor celebrity who has been in virtually every animated TV series currently produced in the US as well as the announcer for a pretty well known program.

These puppets look like they are brand new-- and there's a certain charm to the big head nature.

Take a Class This Year!

2012-01-06T00:30:00.000-05:00

The Worcester Art Museum offers a wide variety of classes-- make this the year you decide to give AMERICAN IDOL a rest and get outside and get yourself some art makin' done! Don't let Winter scare you, some of the best classes are running in the next few weeks.

Check out the website or give them a call and just tell them to sign you up for something! 508.799.4406

We Take Over WoMag Again! Cartoon Issue

2012-01-05T00:00:00.000-05:00

On Newstands today is our Annual Takeover of Worcester Magazine Year in Review Cartoon Issue. It's a chance for a bunch of us to have some fun with some of the more interesting stories of the year. It's also my chance to poke fun at my favorite polls, all of whom have a great sense of humor about it! SuperTim Cover by me. Thanks to all my fellow cartoonists who took the call and ran with it.

Veronica
Jim Riel
Alison Cowell
Mike Briggs
Christopher Whitehead
Bret M. Herholz
Jonesy
Sally Scott

Stories included Tim Murray's remarkable driving, The Surprise of Joe O'Brien dropping out of the Mayor's race, Babs Haller losing her re-election bid, Occupy Worcester, The Chicken Ordinance and more.

Always fun and thanks to the contributors and to WoMag Editor in Chief Doreen Manning-- someone can untie her and let her out of the closet now.

Galactus Commission

2012-01-04T00:00:00.001-05:00

Still in Progress

13x19 -- Still a bit of work to go-- bricks and additional textures. May even play with Galactus' eyes.
Done as a commission which I hope to ship out this week.

Nice Review of WEREWOLVES OF WISCONSIN

2012-01-03T00:00:00.000-05:00

Nice review up here. The book is now in Barnes and Noble, available through Amazon and in your local comic book shops soon.

HELP BABY ZOE!

2012-01-02T00:05:00.000-05:00

Ernie P of Friendly Comics in Bellingham put out this call for help-- and is offering some great raffle prizes should you choose to donate-- and if you with the Rocketeer Artist Edition HC and have no need for it contact me!

A member of our community has a brand new baby girl! Unfortunately, baby Zoe was born with a tumor and requires expensive medical treatment that the family can not afford.

Zoe is in intensive care, attached to numerous medical devices. Newborn and all of 10 pounds, she should be in the arms of her parents. But the doctors and nurses are doing everything they can so that she can eventually return home healthy.

To help out this young family out, I am putting several cool items up for raffle.

These include:

$50 Friendly Neighborhood Comics Gift Certificate

Rocketeer Artist Edition Hardcover (value = $150)

DC Comics The New 52 Hardcover (value = $150)

And more cool prizes!

Tickets will be $5 each or 3 for $10.

We'll run the raffle until the end of business on Sunday Jan. 8th.

If you'd like to purchase tickets via paypal, please send payment to ernpell (at) verizon.net for "Baby Zoe" and I'll enter your tickets in the raffle.

We also have a spare change can set up on our counter. Anything will help.

Let's start out 2012 by helping a new young person on the path to a healthy life.

Thank you.

What's on TCM this Week? Gaslight (1944)

2012-01-02T00:00:00.000-05:00

Wednesday night at 8pm is a nice little Hitchcockish thriller directed by George Cukor. Ingrid Bergman thinks she's going mad, but it might just be her wicked husband Charles Boyer causing all the trouble. Fast paced and moody from 1944.

The Picture of Dorian Grey (1945) is on at 12:15am but you have to get through National Velvet to get to that George Sanders gem so good luck.

Saturday nights essential features a series of films with Charlie Chaplin as his Little Tramp character starting with CITY LIGHTS (1931) at 8pm followed by MODERN TIMES (1936) at 9:45. Both are Silent films at a time when sound films were all the rage-- and audiences met them with the same response a Black and White film got when it was shot in the 70s-- a lot of "why's?"-- but if you like Chaplin-- and I'm the first to admit he's an acquired taste you'll understand what he was doing. MODERN TIMES is arguably his best film followed closely by THE GREAT DICTATOR (1940) so if you haven't given him a shot here's your chance.

Welcome to Da Future!

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

WARNING WARNING! THE FUTURE IS HERE!

2012-- sounds like a Ray Bradbury novel doesn't it? Well folks, welcome to the last year of our existence because we all know 2012 is the end of the world. I think we'll know for certain when the Republican's choose their candidate at the convention this year.

It's been a good run and I'm sure whatever life form takes over for us won't find it any easier. I do suggest whatever form of society they create, if it's a democracy go the extra nine yards and develop a legit third party because if only two people are making decisions it's way too easy to just hit roadblocks. Better to have two of them ganging up on the weaker one. Don't thank me, just get that statue of me up in all of your public parks.

Since 2012 is the end of it- I plan on getting as much done as I can.
Da Future is here! And it looks a lot like the past.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T00:01:00.000-05:00

Ed Wood entertain the Lugosi's at a Holiday Party circa 1953

Well, it's that time of year again-- best of, worst of, Top this, top that.
We had a good year. My Dracula Graphic Novel has gotten a lot of notice, and WEREWOLVES OF WISCONSIN hit stores last month. Veronica's artist residency came to an end and she is really hitting it out of the park with her FRANKENSTEIN book and there is BIG NEWS for her PIRATES OF MARS book coming soon.

We did a bit of traveling this year in between classes, and managed to visit Cleveland, that great city in Indiana I can't spell and Des Moines-- making our comic connections stronger. We also had a great time in both Houston and Austin attending WIZARD WORLD COMIC Con where they always treat us like old friends.

This year we're keeping the travel down-- maybe a Cape Cod trip here and there, but for the most part I think we're hunkering down and getting projects done-- I expect this to be a very productive New Year. I'll have new projects to announce and much more right here very soon.

To those of you who take the time to stop by this old mangy blog every now and then-- thanks and a very happy and healthy 2012 to you!

PHANTOM FRIDAY

2011-12-30T00:14:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Little Bro!

2011-12-29T09:48:00.001-05:00

Keeper of the Cave of NewtMonkey!

My little brother turns 60 today-- or maybe he's 32, math has never been my strong suit. But regardless, he's not only one of the coolest people on the planet he's also a very talented writer who does movie reviews of some of the worst movies you might ever decide to watch right over there on my blog list-- THE CAVE OF NEWTMONKEY might be the nickname for the White House come Nov 2012 if Mister Gingrich takes office-- but until that time the name is locked up from the fertile brain of my little brother Al.

Happy Birthday Buddy! It's either yesterday or tomorrow in Japan (where he lives) so I hope this message finds you and finds you well. Birthday present went in the mail yesterday!

Artist Friend Links; Allison "BAMCAT" Bamford!

2011-12-28T00:15:00.000-05:00

VISIT BAMCAT's SITE!

Allison Bamford was one of my favorite students at MassArt-- hardworking and sometimes too enthusiastic in her work-- she would often complete a piece before deadline and before I had a chance to do a step by step critique but almost everytime she did it the way I would have suggested it--and sometimes she'd do things that would surprise me and it worked.

Slightly younger than some of her classmates, and I felt almost constantly in the shadow of Lindsay "Legend" Small-Butera it was a tough environment for Bamcat, but her incredible work ethic and determination was clear and I had/have no doubt she would find her way and be among my most successful students. She was a fighter.

BAM.

Not that long after she's a valued member of the CONVERSE design team and making great strides to brand herself and her art and connecting with her large and diverse fanbase. Swing on by her site to check out her amazing artwork and while you're there consider a visit to her Etsy store for some great art for presents that will dazzle those on your list with items you won't find anywhere else.

I own a few Bamcat originals and they hang proudly in my studio next to the work of Trevor Von Eeden, Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, Jim Aparo and John Romita Sr.

She's in good company.

Happy Birthday to Me! The Beard War

2011-12-27T00:00:00.000-05:00

Growing up with a Christmas Birthday I never really understood when people would say "Wow, that must be terrible-- you must get combined presents all the time!"-- it really wasn't bad because it's like a bonus a couple of days after Christmas-- as you get older and birthday's matter less it becomes a non-issue. Plus I'm enough of a Capricorn to know that I wouldn't be satisfied with any other zodiac sign. Capricorn fits me to a T.

Worcester Magazine ran it's BEARD ISSUE a few weeks ago, encouraged by my good buddy and fellow artist Bret M. Herholz. Bret is a dashingly handsome fellow six months out of the year, and the other six he looks like he should be living in a cabin waiting for a female Olympic cross country skier to come by so he can capture him a wife. Of course, being married he no longer has to steal women, but you get the gist of it.

Now you might think I'm picking on Bret or Beards in general, and I would say whole-heartedly that yes you are right-- a man has a right to revert back to our caveman days if he wants to, but ladies and gentlemen I enter this into my argument, exhibit A.

I'm sure this man is very nice, and I hope this wasn't the last photo he took before he leapt naked out that 3 story window, but I mean, c'mon-- is this the look you want to go for? I'll say this, the long straggly hair makes the neatly trimmed beard look better. The combed chest/stomach hair is working too.

Okay, exhibit B;

Possibly THE most handsome man on the planet. I'll admit, I'm more a George Clooney guy, but I can see why Pitt has his admirers. AND HE CAN'T CARRY THE BEARD LOOK OFF. It's a cold hard truth (Morgan Freeman voice here), if Brad Pitt can't look good in a beard nobody can.

Pitt goes from OOH to ECH in the blink of an eye here.

Beards are gross. They capture scent and food and small children. They make you look homeless. They are nearly the equivalent of cementing a pair of sweatpants to your legs and saying to the world "I give up!" Unless you are Santa Claus or this guy:

Now this is a beard.

you are not able to carry it off.

At the Art Museum Christmas Party someone said to me (and I'm sorry I can't remember who) "Why don't you like beards, YOU have a beard!"

To which I replied-- "I do?"

Do I have a beard?

I grew a beard once, when I was climbing Mount Washington on a chilly -70 degree below zero day, and I needed it to survive. The first thing I did when I got down was to shave it off.

Now, since it's my birthday, I am going to restrict any negative comments to only my good friend Mr. Herholz. The rest of you beard lovers will have to say you agree with me. Bret, you have the floor. The volley has been fired across your bow and I salute you as you take aim to return fire.

This Week on TCM

2011-12-26T00:05:00.000-05:00

The Man From Planet X

Better than Sparse pickings for those of us with a taste for B-Movies and film noir, and we're heading into their dreaded Oscar Month when they have a heavy dose of THE ENGLISH PATIENT and MR SKEFFINGTON type of sleep inducing fare, but we will soldier on (line delivered with my Benjamin Cumberdink accent and a tiny moustache)!

Tomorrow, on my birthday, they're showing TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948) which is regarded as one of Humphrey Bogart's best films at 8:15 in the morning (!) followed by THE MALTESE FALCON (1941) which IS Bogart's best film and then CASABLANCA (1942) at quarter past Noon. Bit early for Bogies, but any Bogie is better than no Bogie.

That night they're showing THE MAN FROM PLANET X (1951) which is a spooky little sci-fi film and well worth watching.

Wednesday they're showing a half dozen DR KILDARE movies, which was a very popular series in the 30s and 40s-- back in those days before Television there were multiple film franchises that would bring audiences back, much like our favorite TV series do today. The Kildare's start at 6am and go until 6pm.

Thursday, which is my brother's birthday, they're showing MANHATTAN MELODRAMA (1934) at 2:45am-- notable because this is the movie John Dillinger was watching just before he was gunned down by federal agents in a theater outside Chicago.

Friday at 12:30 am (which is technically Saturday) they are showing SHAFT (1971) which is hands down one of the greatest movies ever recorded to film. If you aren't walking around in a slick leather jacket and calling everybody baby by the end of this movie you weren't paying attention.

And Saturday Turner continues it's tradition of showing Marx Bros films, but now they've regulated them to the daytime slot-- I fear TCM is going the way of AMC and we'll be seeing the classics put out to pasture and the more modern stuff taking over-- but hopefully I'm wrong. The Marx Bros films roll out until 8pm at which time you should switch to whatever channel is showing The Three Stooges Marathon because, I'm sorry, I love the Marx Bros but they don't come close to The Stooges when they are at their best.

God Bless Us! Soitenly!

2011-12-25T00:00:00.000-05:00

Woo! Woo! Woo!
After you're done stuffing yourself with Christmas Turkey and pretending you like that brand new tie rush on over to the ORPHEUM Theater Website and grab your tickets to the 8th annual THREE STOOGE FESTIVAL!

You'll find yourself amidst the legion of Stoogeaphiles and they will show the cream of the crop of classic Stooge films.

I've loved the Stooges my whole life-- and HATE any Stooge short or film post Shemp 1955 -- keep your Joes and your Curly-Joes and your Hercules, Snow White or any ANIMATED STOOGE-- ugh.
I've noticed that most Stooge Haters have only been exposed to the Bad-Stooges-- and rest assured they won't be making an appearance here lest the theater be burnt to the ground by raging Curly fans!

It's good fun and it's only $10!

Happy Merry!

2011-12-24T00:00:00.000-05:00

Maybe it's the ghost that visit Scrooge, maybe it's the excitement of the height of the season, but I've always liked Christmas Eve better than Christmas. As a kid we opened our presents on Christmas Day but we'd get together with the extended family and exchange gifts, and my aunt always got me something pretty nifty and it was nice to see everyone and have some great food and cheer.

This year, we've lost both my Dad and my Grandmother-- both sorely missed-- and my Mom is in Japan visiting my brother and his wife, so my sister and I are going to carry on and try to host the extended family get together-- it's going to be strange, but life carries on.

Merry Happy!

PHANTOM PHRIDAYS

2011-12-23T00:15:00.001-05:00

My good buddy and mentor Paul Ryan has been the artist on The Phantom daily strip since the days of it being hand-drawn on cave walls-- and it's a great strip so I'm going to start running weekly installments of it here, hoping to create some new fans and bringing it to the attention of some of Paul's older fans. You can purchase The ORIGINAL ART at Paul's website too!

I'll run a week's worth every Friday.

Great Comic Covers: THE KING does FF #77

2011-12-22T00:00:00.000-05:00

Jack Kirby Gets it done.

One of the primary reasons to collect comics is for the great cover art-- and unfortunately with all due respect to my peers todays comic covers just miss the mark more often than not. Current day publishers are interested in making the covers look like book covers and dropping the amazing energy of work like this one.

FANTASTIC FOUR #77 by Jack "King" Kirby-- Kirby was one of the co-creators of the Marvel Universe and his run on Fantastic Four (which started with #1) peaked around issue #40 and rocked all the way up to #100 with each cover kicking it to the last one.

This one has a tremendous sense of composition as well as color harmony which would have made this pop on a newstand back in 1968-- if I was around shopping there's NO WAY I would have passed this one by.

Growing up as a DC Fan I didn't appreciate Kirby-- nicknamed The King of Comics for his sheer output and amazing speed. Kirby is now one of my absolute favorites.

I had the pleasure of having a correspondence with this master of my favorite medium-- and at one of our get together's at a con in New York City he and I were having a great conversation when Mary Hart and the Entertainment Tonight crew interrupted us to have a word with him-- he firmly told them he was in the middle of a conversation with an old friend and proceeded to show them one of my books. I was touched at the generosity of this amazing man and miss him everyday.

Newstand Price: 12c

NM Price Today: $100

NEW WORKSHOP: INVESTING IN COMICS!

2011-12-21T00:00:00.000-05:00

This lot valued at $4000 -- you could have bought it for $1000

COMICS have been making HEADLINES for record-breaking sales of old comics. A copy of Action Comics #1 sold for $1.2 Million-- and you could have bought it for $900 in 1980-- not a bad return. Try getting that at a bank.

No matter the amount of time or money you have to invest it's time to think seriously about Funny Books as a portion of your 401K plan. A VF+ 8.5 copy of WHIZ COMICS #2 (first real Captain Marvel) sold for $17,500 in August, four months later that same copy sold for $167,000! Comics are hot and learning the ins and outs of grading, choosing the right books and finding the right places to buy them is no more difficult than any other type of investing, but you need someone to show you the right path.

That's why we've added this to our growing list of workshops:

INVESTING IN COMICS!
It's our latest offering in our extensive Workshop Programs!

Who Knew those comics your Mom threw out would be worth so much money!? This fun, informative and serious look at creating an investment portfolio in COMICS can give you returns you could never imagine.

All Ages (18+) can benefit from BUYING the RIGHT comics and this informative lecture will give you specific examples of what to look for, where to start and how much is too much to pay. Buying the right comics are a guaranteed investment, find out what titles and issues have NEVER lost their value and continue to grow. We'll look at key issues, explain conditions and more!

A recent issue of WHIZ COMICS returned 3000% in less than five months-- try to get that rate at your local bank!

CHECK OUT OUR WORKSHOP PAGE to find out more and book one for your institution!

EMERSON COLLEGE: COMIC CLASSES ONLINE!

2011-12-20T00:00:00.000-05:00

GRAPHIC NOVEL WRITING AND ILLUSTRATION COURSES ONLINE

Program Description
Emerson College's Graphic Novel Writing and Illustration Online Program offers the perfect opportunity to develop your writing and illustration skills, and adapt your creative talents to the exciting graphic-novel medium. Through the program, you will explore your interest in picture books, novellas, and comic strips in courses designed to chronicle the literature and artwork of graphic novels.

You also will delve into the world of graphic-novel writing and illustration through a course of study focused on specific story-writing and image-creation techniques. Participants who complete the five core courses, including the portfolio project, and one elective from the non-credit graphic novel and illustration series will earn the Graphic Novel Writing and Illustration Certificate.

Who Should Enroll

The Graphic Novel Writing and Illustration Program is open to creative writers, graphic and fine artists, graphic-novel aficionados, and individuals who would like to develop writing and illustration skills to create a graphic novel. Each program participant may enroll in one or several multi-session courses to match his or her personal objectives and schedule.* The certificate, however, will be awarded only to participants who successfully complete all components of the Graphic Novel Writing and Illustration Certificate Program.

*Note: Participants must hold a minimum of a high school diploma or GED to enroll in graphic novel writing and illustration courses and workshops offered by the Department of Professional Studies and Special Programs.

As one of the faculty I can tell you that YOU will get the same education regarding sequential art as you would at SVA in New York City or other similar programs-- and you will save several THOUSAND dollars. In fact, one class is $3000 less than it is at SVA.

SIGN UP NOW! Classes start in January. NOW that they are ONLINE you can take the class in your pajamas from anywhere in the world! Make this the year that you make it happen.

The Shadow vs The Batman!

2011-12-19T11:04:00.000-05:00

Inspired by a conversation I had with a fan at WIZARD WORLD Houston Texas-- The Knight of Darkness gets ready to take on The Dark Knight! Original one of a kind illustration 11x17

This Week on TCM:

2011-12-19T00:15:00.000-05:00

Alec Guiness is Marley's Ghost.

Tonight at 10:15 is SCROOGE with Albert Finney in the best version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL put to film-- forget that it's a musical version-- I hate musicals but I like this one. Some great songs including I HATE PEOPLE.

Wednesday night at 10pm Barbara Stanwyck is a showgirl who gets mixed up with a bunch of college professors in the classic comedy BALL OF FIRE (1941).

The THIN MAN runs the gamut Thursday night-- you can watch all five of those great comedy/mysteries one after the other-- and most of them don't disappoint.

On Friday night it's Christmas Noir with a pair of Raymond Chandler mysteries-- Lady in the Lake (1947) at 10 followed by MURDER MY SWEET (1944) at midnight-- What better way to ring in Xmas than with hard boiled Private Eye Philip Marlowe?

Christmas Eve Day has MEET JOHN DOE (1941) at 10:15am and MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1947) at 8pm.

LIMITED COMMISSIONS AVAILABLE!

2011-12-18T00:20:00.000-05:00

I've got a few slots open for Original Art Commissions-- you can click the BUTTON above this post or go here to see what's available-- turnaround time is pretty good right now. Get that custom artwork that you've always wanted!

CLICK HERE

Eagle Hill Center: Art Tea

2011-12-18T00:05:00.000-05:00

Veronica and I were invited to speak at the December ART TEA at the Eagle Hill Cultural Center last week and we really enjoyed ourselves.

The Center, located in the middle of a beautiful stretch of land just off the Quabbin is a state of the art facility which brings in performers and artists from all over.

Sean Hunley, Pat Bock and Melanie Donovan made us feel welcome and Pat even went out of her way to help me sneak coffee into the Art Tea!

The audience was receptive and asked a lot of great questions making our job so much easier.

A great venue, and one worth checking out for upcoming events.

ORIGINAL ART COMMISSION SUPER SALE!

2011-12-17T09:29:00.000-05:00

The Wonder Woman Vs Skrulls on the right is intentionally blurry because that's an actual commission and I don't know if it's a gift or not.

It's time for my annual Weekend Before Christmas ORIGINAL ART Promotion! This weekend only you can get a 100% original one of a kind Comic Book Convention style commission for less than HALF my regular price. The proceeds go towards some charitable organization, some years the Boys and Girls Club, Toys For Tots, etc. This year I'm using the monies raised to buy supplies for my youth art group which meets every other weekend at the Worcester Public Library. We're putting out a book of the work they've done and that's expensive, so get yourself a little original art memento and help out some kids too!

Available in three degrees of original art-

Con Style Sketch on 7x10 Art Paper - $10/USD done with archival inks and spot color

Con Commission Style Piece on 10x15 Bristol $75/USD done with archival inks and spot color

Full On Illustration 11x17 FULL COLOR Archival - $150/USD

Mention the character you want in your illustration in the memo box from Paypal (comes up when you order). Character choice is up to you- Batman, The Phantom, Darth Vader, Spider-Man, The Thing, Captain Kangaroo, Underdog, Bobby Brady-- YOU decide. Offer is for a single character only. If you want something more complex contact me at andy@hebsandfish.com

The first 25 Orders get a free signed and numbered LIMITED Edition Batman Print on heavy Cardstock-- these are smaller sized than the ones I was offering here a few days ago but they are equally nice ($10 value).

Shipping in the US is $5 for Priority Mail-- because honestly we don't want to risk Parcel Post during Xmas-- it won't make it.

Order One, two or all-- and have yourself an Original Art Christmas! Use the HANDY Paypal Buttons right here:

PHANTOM PHRIDAYS

2011-12-16T00:15:00.002-05:00

I'll run a week's worth every Friday.

Limited Edition Batman Print

2011-12-15T09:39:00.000-05:00

LIMITED EDITION BATMAN PRINT!

LIMITED EDITION print run of 25 signed and numbered available on Archival Cardstock as either Standard Edtions signed and numbered or Remarked with original art sketches of Batman characters on them. An homage to both the team of Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson who did the original art for Batman Comics #1 (1940) and the Adam West Burt Ward Batman TV Show from 1966. Monies raised will go to buy additional art supplies for a youth art group I work with.

STANDARD - 11x17 FULL COLOR!
ARCHIVAL - 11x17 FULL COLOR - with original Pencil art sketch of Batman at the bottom.

Style A uses the color scheme from the original Batman Comic while Style B follows the Japanese reprint color scheme.

ORDER YOURS TODAY!

WHATABURGER!

2011-12-15T00:15:00.000-05:00

Scattered throughout Texas is the beacon known as WHATABURGER-- many open 24 hours-- I approached this orange, white and blue mecca with trepidation--each person I mentioned it to replied with the same exact phrase:

"Oh, they started in Corpus Christi and expanded all over the state."

I'm not sure what bearing that has on "How are the burgers at Whataburger?" but that was the response I got no less than six times.

I guess I should have asked it the same way I did when I would ask about another apparently endless chain in the area;

"Is the Waffle House as scary as it looks?"

By the way, I was told Waffle House is well worth checking out so please hold your angry pro-Waffle House emails-- I don't even like Waffles.

But I do like Hamburgers. It took quite a bit of convincing to get Veronica to go in, but once inside with it's somewhat worn down interior and slightly dirty counter I was just about to turn around and leave when one of the people I thought was asleep piped up (and by piped I mean mumbled) "Welcome to Whataburger, can I take your order?"

What the hell, I thought-- take a chance.

And I had probably the best burger I've had outside of a Kobi Burger at EVO on Park Ave or one of the dreamy burgers at Gourmet Market at Porter Square in Cambridge. And the fries were pretty good to. I also loved the packaging but I'm a sucker for orange.

If WhatABurger heads east, I'll be the first in line.

Link SPOTLIGHT

2011-12-14T00:15:00.000-05:00

An example of the great art Al spotlights on his site-- this one by Neal Adams

Over there to the right at the bottom of the blog I've got a list of links called ARTIST FRIENDS-- there are many of my artist friends who are listed in the blog section too-- but I thought maybe I could point out a few of them here once a week:

AL BIGLEY- BIG GLEE!
I love Al's site-- a well respected and very talented comic book artist, Al's blog often spotlights a lot of the pop culture stuff I dug when I was a kid-- and I love that he showcases his art from when he was 10-12 years old. Really amazing stuff.

With a emphasis on comic art, the Adam West Batman TV show and the Monkees, this is a site that always delivers a good helping of fun.

Sites for Marketing Yourself; Custom Buttons

2011-12-13T00:15:00.001-05:00

Pure Buttons is a great place for buttons, magnet pulls and zippers. You can even create multiple packs of buttons if that is your thing. I've always really dug buttons, even if it's rare for me to wear one. My life size Frankenstein in my studio sports my favorite buttons most of the time.

Movies this week on TCM... Shop Around the Corner

2011-12-12T00:15:00.000-05:00

Friday features two really good Christmas films that aren't in the pantheon of Christmas films we've seen a million times. At 10pm is Christmas in Connecticut which is hard to spell but a pretty fun movie just the same. After that at Midnight is THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER which is a nice little story about a retail shop in Hungary around the holidays.

Nice movie, worth your time.

Saturday's ESSENTIALS offering is BRINGING UP BABY (1938)-- one of the funniest movies you will ever see starring Cary Grant and Kate Hepburn.

SUPERMAN!

2011-12-11T00:15:00.010-05:00

Hot Toys is an action figure maker that produces figures which are museum quality-- if there's a museum that features toys let me know and I'm there.

I almost bit when they did an absolutely drop dead GENERAL URSUS figure from Planet of the Apes but the $200 price tag scared me off-- well now that figure is selling for $950 in the after market so I'm kicking myself that I didn't get one when I could.

Their latest figure is modeled on Christopher Reeve-- the actor who is the icon for live-action Superman films (for me George Reeves will always be Superman) but I couldn't pass this one up this time-- so early birthday present for myself.

A great figure that is so detailed you expect it to talk to you, and a portion of the proceeds goes to the Christopher Reeve foundation-- so it's win-win!

Movie ReViews for Movies I Will NEVER see; Breaking Dawn Part II Section A

2011-12-10T00:15:00.000-05:00

I can't believe people lined up in advance for this piece of shit-- I mean, Hollywood Re-Invents itself with this incredibly moving tear jerker that won't leave a dry eye in the house at least until Breaking Dawn Part II Section E hits theaters next month.

Edward is a beautiful and tragic vampire, but he's not the scary kind of vampire we're used to, he's a delicate and sparkly one who wants only to be with the love of his life, the beautiful and tragic Bell whose afflicted with a small child growing out of her chest. The two are constantly bickering and life for Bell is particularly challenging because this little person, Tinker, is addicted to Mac and Cheese and we all know Bell is lactose intolerant!

Edward wants to do everything he can for Bell, but he's trapped inside his home because it's daylight and he doesn't want to twinkle and tragically he's still waiting for his home delivery of Chanel's MOUSSE so he dare not venture outside!

They finally meet at midnight when the twinkling is no longer an issue and Edward finds a big hat and it looks like they'll finally be together but Tinker presents a further problem because she's developed a huge crush on Vincent who is a shape shifting guinea pig who is Vampire intolerant-- it gets worse when a freak lightning storm causes a body switch and soon Bell spends all her time in front of the mirror looking at her Edward self and admiring how much prettier she is now.

SPOILERS -- Eventually Tinker dies because Edward forgets to eat and when he hits his menstrual cycle as Bell-- well you can imagine the trouble a vampire would have.

It was tough to hear the ending over the cries and sounds of bon bon wrappers hitting the floor at the same time from the middle aged ladies in the audience-- but I think everyone dies-- at least until the sequel.

PHANTOM PHRIDAYS

2011-12-09T00:15:00.006-05:00

I'll run a week's worth every Friday.

RIP Jerry Robinson 1922-2011

2011-12-08T20:51:00.001-05:00

Creator of the Joker, Bob Kane's First Ghost, Legend.

One of my heroes from the Golden Age of Comics-- this blog isn't big enough to write all of his accomplishments here. An actual LEGEND in the world of comics and someone I had the pleasure of meeting on a number of occasions. Robinson was a true gentlemen and an amazing talent.

From ComicsPriceGuide.com News
Jerry Robinson, a pioneer of the comics form best known by fans for creating the Joker but also praised for his work as a comics historian and creator rights advocate, has died at age 89.

Robinson was born in Trenton, New Jersey. He was discovered by Batman creator Bob Kane when Kane noticed the 17 year old wearing a jacket decorated with comic art and inquired as to who did the work. He started working on Batman in 1939 with both Kane and Bill Finger. Robinson co-created Robin and was the main creative influence behind Two-Face and Alfred. He is known for creating Batman’s most formidable archrival the Joker.

MORE on the SITE

Upcoming Projects: LUCHA GUNMEN!

2011-12-08T00:15:00.001-05:00

LUCHA GUNMEN (c) Andy Fish & Brian Flint

Getting the first pages in with lightning speed by my amazingly talented friend Brian Flint-- I can't talk much about this project yet but you'll be able to find it fairly soon. Superheroes meet Luchadores meet Secret Agents!

DEREK RING at DARK WORLD

2011-12-07T09:12:00.000-05:00

Derek's worked extremely hard these past few months to get ready for this show-- I don't think you'll be disappointed-- swing on by Saturday night at 7pm.

OLD TYME STUFF AUCTIONS

2011-12-06T09:39:00.000-05:00

NOT my copy-- mine is much rougher shape

OLD TYME STUFF Auctions are every other Thursday across from Vincents in the Big Woo. Run by Ron and Denise as a family operation I really enjoy going to them. I first started about five years ago off and on when I'd meet my cousin there who is a collector and re-seller of vintage toys. Lately I've been going more often and I like the mixture of really bizarre (A full size Western Bank Safe) to cool (a 50s TV that looked like it was out of the Jetsons) stuff that always is appealing.

I've bought some crazy lots over the years including a box of toys including a cow that was hard plastic and apparently could be set up to dispense milk, which I got because it was in the same lot as a really jinxy Planet of the Apes Bank in absolute MINT condition-- which I ended up reselling for about 10X what I paid for it.

One week I was there I wanted to bid on a lot of World War II era newspapers including one that said "JAPS SURRENDER!" which I would have framed and mailed to my brother who lives in the land of the rising sun and often finds himself at odds with their rather strange work ethics and boss/employee class system, but I wasn't able to stay long enough for it to come up.

It's set up quite nicely in an old factory with a little snack bar in the back so I usually grab a bite while I'm waiting for whatever I'm interested in to come up on the block.

This past visit I got there early enough to check out the preview-- on auction day they are open 830-5 so that bidder's can come in and take a look at the lots. It's nice to be able to go through them at a leisurely pace and decide if there's anything you're interested in. For this week I was looking for Old Vintage Photos for my good buddy Joanie Gage and those can be tough because they often come in huge scrapbooks so looking to find gems can take a bit of effort. Veronica was admiring a set of dishes and I came around the corner and saw a pile of Golden Age Comics sitting on the table being graded by someone next to Ron the auctioneer. There were quite a few Action Comics, some Star Spangled Comics, a few issues of All Star Comics and right there on top-- BATMAN #11.

This is dangerous because I'm carrying a good amount of cash, because my plan was to go get new tires at Harding Tire around the corner. It's bad to come across a rare item like this and to have money on you.

Golden Age Comics, for those not into the hobby-- are comics published from 1935 to the early 50s. There's heated debate among collectors as to when the Golden Age becomes the Silver Age but most agree it's the first appearance of The Martian Manhunter in 1955. I'd argue it's when the comics went from BIG to closer to what we think of today as comics. The first Golden Age comic book I ever saw was Batman #14-- great Penguin cover-- sitting on the display rack behind Paul Howley at his great store THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT when it was in a much smaller location on Chandler Street. I was probably 14 years old and when I bought it from Paul for $50 he was shocked that I was into the older stuff and I was blown away by how much bigger (both content and size) Golden Age comics were.

I ended up collecting Batman's #2-20 over the years, but #11 eluded me. I'd see it from time to time at conventions but it would be in the $2-3K price range and I just wasn't willing to pay that for it. Golden Age comics are particularly rare because there were paper drives during WWII that took most of them.

This was a book I had to have.

I graded it at a solid G condition and went home and looked it up in a pricing guide-- thinking maybe $700 I was shocked and saddened to see it graded out at about $1400 in this shape. Yikes!

When I got back to the auction I talked to Ron and he told me the book would be in a lot coming out by 730-- and he wished me luck in getting it. There were already several left bids for it and quite a few new faces in the auction house but I found my spot and waited.

As other lots came and went, I looked around to see who my competition was going to be. There was a guy who looked like Toby from AMERICAN SPLENDOR who bid on and won a really cool 1950s Japanese Toy Bus-- and he wasn't afraid to spend. Almost directly across from me was a guy who looked not much older than college age who was with either his girlfriend or sister and it was clear she was here for him.

As the first lot of books came out-- A run of Superman Action Comics-- he sat up-- this was my competition. Dave Hartwell, longtime legend among comic collectors both here in the Woo and in the industry as a whole came up behind me.

"Which lot are you bidding on, so I don't bid against you?"
It shows you how much class Dave has. And had he said he really wanted the Batman book I would have deferred to him too.

The Action Comics lot-- several books in fact-- went for about $1800-- the college guy outbid by someone on the bank of phone bidders over to the right.

The next lot included the Star Spangled Comics lot and that one only went for about $350-- there was hope that this wouldn't get out of control.

Auctions are a funny thing-- The auctioneer asks for $50-- nobody bids, then he asks for $25 and bids come in, pretty soon surpassing the original opening bid of $50 by several hundred dollars. It's the emotional attachment someone gets thinking they might get a deal, then they hang on.

I had a strategy. I would jump in when the opening bid hit $200-- far above what I thought it would actually start at-- hopefully taking the steam out of bargain hunters.

The Batman lot was the last lot of the comics to be offered.

All right-- I get my bidder card ready and College Boy is leaning forward. I'd hoped he was just a Superman fan, but no luck.
The bidding starts higher than I hoped and bounces around the room, College Boy, some phone bidders and those left bids drive it up-- then the auction slows and Ron announces going once...

Going Twice....

I whip my card in the air-- he catches my bid.

SOLD.

Let's hope for a mild winter so these old tires of mine hold up.

The next auction is Thursday the 15th.

This week on TCM; Let the Dickens in...

2011-12-05T00:15:00.001-05:00

A night of Dickens tonight-- among them at 945pm is the 1938 version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL which is considered by many people to be THE best version of the story on film.

Tomorrow night at 9pm is A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983) with Ralphie wishing for both a Red Ryder BB Gun and less commercials than there are when this airs on TBS on Christmas Eve-- no commercials on TCM!

NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) is on Thursday afternoon at 12:45, Hitchcock's most polished film is well worth another watch. MY MAN GODFREY is on at 11:30pm and I'll always consider it a Xmas film since I remember getting this and MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE on VHS back when I was a kid from my favorite aunt-- I loved old movies even as a kid!

Saturdays ESSENTIALS showing is THE CAINE MUTINY (1954) which might be a great film but it's hard for me to watch ANY Bogie film after 1948's KEY LARGO-- Bogie was clearly sick and past his prime.

Chris Reeve Superman Figure from Hot Toys

2011-12-04T21:23:00.001-05:00

Amazing detail and a portion of the proceeds go to the Christopher Reeve Foundation.

The WOLFMAN on the Big Screen in BOSTON

2011-12-04T00:15:00.000-05:00

THE COOLIDGE Theater in Brookline is showing THE WOLFMAN (1941) starring Lon Chaney and Claude Rains. It's a real classic and it's part of their midnight movie madness. Check it out. Shows Friday night.

Limited Edition PRINTS: THE TOOTH FAIRY

2011-12-03T18:30:00.000-05:00

THE TOOTH FAIRY
Limited Edition Full Color Print
Signed and Numbered Edition
$35.00 shipped in the US
11x17 Archival Paper
Shipped flat

PHANTOM PHRIDAYS

2011-12-02T00:15:00.002-05:00

Happy December

2011-12-01T00:15:00.029-05:00

Can you believe it's December? Pretty soon stores will have Xmas decorations up and carols will be playing and-- oh wait--- they did that a few days before Halloween.
December is a grand ol' month-- having a few of my favorite holidays-- including that holiest of days when wise men came to see a baby born who was clearly more than just an ordinary child-- I'm speaking of course of my birthday on the 27th-- there's also my little Bro's birthday on the 29th, Christmas Eve which is always a fun and festive celebration with family and New Years Eve which is something I look forward to whether we go to first night, stay in with some special food or travel, its a nice way to end the year.

I'm also festive about the films of the season, in no particular order a half dozen of my absolute favorite holiday movies;

1. Its a Wonderful Life (1946) George Bailey's sappy story still brings a tear to my eye when he comes to realize he's poor and broke with too many kids to feed and a future filled with McCarthy hearings and invisible rabbits.

2. A Christmas Story (1983) C'mon-- Ralphie is a welcome edition to any holiday lineup and just in case any monsters show up he's got Kolchak The Night Stalker for a dad. What more could a kid want-- except maybe a Red Ryder BB Gun?

3. SCROOGE (1971) The Albert Finney Musical (yes I said MUSICAL) has always been not only my favorite musical but one of my favorite movies of all time. Alec Guinness as a slightly foppish Jacob Marlee Ghost is priceless and there are some genuinely spooky moments in this adaption of Dicken's ghost story.

4. Meet John Doe (1941) If George Bailey doesn't make you break down, this one will. Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck are fantastic in this one.

5. It's a Lame Christmas Tree, Charlie Brown! (1966) or something like that-- it's not as good as Great Pumpkin, but it's still pretty solid.

6. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (1966) This Rankin Bass puppet animation has the precursor to Indiana Jones in the form of Yukon Cornelius! BUMBLES BOUNCE!!

To My Author and Artist Friends

2011-11-30T00:15:00.030-05:00

Working in the comics industry you get to know some really great people-- people who are so talented you just wonder how it is they walk this same planet with us-- and this goes for all creative careers. I know an equally talented number of creators who can't find work.

Creators who USED to work on the TOP books in the industry. Books that have been made into successful film and television projects and these people have been pushed aside for no reason other than they are considered past their prime. Stan Lee was on the outs with Marvel for a while-- STAN LEE. The guy who CREATED nearly the entire Marvel Universe and he was on the outs. The same thing happened to Jack Kirby and other giants in the field. For most of them they are lucky that they end up being rescued by a young buck company that helps them get some other projects going-- but for some of the others they just leave the field.

And that takes us to todays message:

Work on your own projects. Characters you own.
Put the blood and the sweat into the next great character and reap the rewards when that movie version becomes a blockbuster.

Dave Sim put it best when he said (and I'm paraphrasing here) if you want to work on Batman create your own take on Batman and publish that. Why play in someone else's sandbox?

Two of the biggest (and smartest) creators in the comics industry are Mike Mignola and Todd McFarland. Both capitalized on their popularity in mainstream comics and then launched their own characters-- Hellboy and Spawn respectively. They created their own publishing empires. Mignola with Dark Horse Comics (who specializes in creator owned properties) and McFarland with Image Comics.

Does that mean NEVER work for a major company's characters? No, of course not. You have a great Iron Man Story you want to do-- go ahead and pitch it. Hell, I've got a KILLER Aquaman re-boot on the shelf that I'm chomping at the bit to send over to DC-- it's just my bad luck that the latest run is pretty successful so it may never see the light of day.

But don't put all your eggs into a basket with a company that offers zero job security outside of that short term contract you signed.

Coroflot Updated

2011-11-29T00:15:00.000-05:00

You might have noticed this image over to the right of the blog-- thats a button to take you to COROFLOT, which is the industry standard for creative types to show their portfolios. I've sadly neglected mine a whole lot but have since decided to put a bit more effort into it-- so check it once in a while as I add work and assignments to it.

NEWS! CYBER MONDAY SAVINGS & NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL COVER

2011-11-28T10:39:00.000-05:00

The cover for the Journal of Biological Chemistry hits newstands today-- if you happen to frequent the same bookstores Sheldon from THE BIG BANG THEORY does you'll find it featured. You can read the article by clicking HERE. The cover was done based on a sketch by Dr. Marcus Cooper who wrote the article and I enjoyed working with him to transform it into this.

On the working front-- today is crunch day as I try to figure out exactly how to draw a cat for my latest proposed book. It's harder than you think-- I know how to draw a cat-- but I have to figure out how to draw a stylized interesting cat that'll hold my attention for 100 or so pages and still fit the style of the book. More on this when I can talk about it.

And the pages continue to come in from the project Brian Flint and I are working on-- these are in the able hands of Veronica who is coloring them and I'll hopefully be able to announce some pretty big news regarding them soon.

OVER at LULU you can get some of my books for 30% -70% OFF with existing discounts and by entering code CYBERMONDAY at checkout. Stock up for those cold winter nights! Here are the links to the titles available:

DRACULA 40% off!
FLY 70% off!!
TURKEY BOY 50% off!
and the UCF Anthology Series
DETOUR #1: The Big Sleep 70% off
DETOUR #14: Heroes! Cover by Lindsay Small! 40% off
DETOUR #12: Friends! Cover by Bamcat! 40% off
DETOUR #10: Otherworlds! Cover by Derek Ring! 50% off

This Week on TCM: To Catch A Thief

2011-11-28T00:15:00.002-05:00

Wednesday at 8pm is TO CATCH A THIEF, pairing Cary Grant with Grace Kelly-- had those two actors gotten together in real life and had children they might be so beautiful we'd all have been struck blind just by looking at them-- but watch the movie and I think you'll be okay. Someone once called it the best 'Batman' film ever made-- and I can see the connections.

At 10pm the same night is DIAL M FOR MURDER, another Hitchcock tale this time with Ray Milland and Grace Kelly in a film that probably influenced COLUMBO a great deal.

On Thursday Dec 1 you've got a lineup of a few early thrillers and mysteries with JEWEL ROBBERY (1932), The KENNEL MURDER CASE (1933) which is a really great Philo Vance mystery and THE Ex-MRS BRADFORD (1936)-- there are worse ways to spend a Thursday night.

Saturday night's ESSENTIAL is OUT OF THE PAST (1947) which is one of the top film noir's and stars Robert Mitchum. You really can't go wrong with the Essentials.

Comics from My Yutes...

2011-11-27T00:15:00.000-05:00

As a kid I got most of my comics as a hand me down from my best friend who got them from his older brother which meant we had comics from the 60s even though it was the mid-seventies. This was from the first comic book I ever saw. It's Detective Comics #388 and the main story featured Batman and Robin racing in the Batmobile towards Gotham City under a giant moon which featured The Joker's face.

This was totally different than the Batman and Robin I was accustomed to-- i.e. the Adam West and Burt Ward versions from the 60s TV show that was rerun every afternoon between The Three Stooges and Gilligan's Island on Channel 56.

I was intrigued by the idea of a Batman with white eyes, which made him look much scarier-- as well as the thought they fought crime mostly at night. That completely made sense to me, they were, after all, dressed as night creatures.

And this backup story in which Batman is pulling a gun on Batgirl really struck me. That gun was a hitman gun-- with the silencer on it-- I knew that from many episodes of Hawaii Five O-- and before I could even read comics I pondered as to what Batgirl could have possibly done to make Batman want to shoot her? Jimmie Hendrix HEY JOE played in the background of my mind.

The art on this is by Gil Kane, one of the giants of the industry and someone who knew how to make drama come to life on a comics page.

Books To Own; WORKING METHODS

2011-11-26T00:15:00.000-05:00

Image lifted from Amazon so you can't actually look inside.

One of the greatest books written on the creative process is WORKING METHODS from TwoMorrows Publishing which offers a very clever idea-- give different artists the same script and see how they put it all together to create a finished story. Every artist has his or her own method of getting to final and this is a fascinating chance to see the path they choose and why.

Unfortunately the book just went out of print so copies are going for $50 on Amazon-- but you can get it from the TwoMorrows site as a digital book for only $6.95-- allowing you to have a PDF copy that you can do what you want with it-- including printing it.

Well worth the investment.

Shop Until YOu Drop CYBER MONDAY!

2011-11-25T16:36:00.000-05:00

Patrick Owsley

PATRICK OWSLEY is a fantastic cartoonist who runs a great blog over at PATRICK OWSLEY'S CARTOON ART he's got some great inexpensive Sketch Cards (like the one shown above) that would make terrific gifts for folks on your list.

Veronica Fish

My incredibly talented wife VERONICA accepts commissions from time to time-- I don't know how busy she is but consider getting something from her while she can fit it in. I watched her do the one pictured at the Austin Comic Con in under a half an hour and it blew me away! If you're on a budget she's offering a fantastic deal on her FRANKENSTEIN preview which features an original art sketch inside it too.

Bret Herholz

Mad Professor Bret M. Herholz offers original art and prints on his site-- and if you are a fan of gothic type art, the Victorian era or the BBC you'll want to add some of his products to your shopping cart. Check his great Cafe Press store too.

Derek Ring

Derek Ring has been producing some amazing artwork and I can't get enough of it. I own several prints and a few originals and look at them everyday. A really great artist with some twisted sensibilities. Derek has been my friend for more years than I can remember-- he's truly one of the greats.

Dick Taylor

Photographer Dick Taylor has a fantastic eye for both composition and color-- his photographs of local landmarks really bring out the best of some old favorites. These would make terrific gifts for friends familiar with the Woo or for those with an eye for great photography.

More BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING-- SUPPORT THE INDEPENDENTS!

2011-11-25T10:58:00.000-05:00

All right, I get it, it's Black Friday-- the day you are required by law to go out and buy useless junk for your friends and family at prices so low you'll be talking about it through the New Year. But this year, why not try something different? How about some art-- or a one of a kind piece?

I thought I would spotlight a few of my talented amigos right here-- check 'em out and get something your gift getter can't get anywhere else!

TRAVIS SIMPKINS has some amazing work on his site, and he's currently accepting a few commissions!

Simpkins Portrait Example

Everybody's favorite adjective BAMCAT is building a site to rival AMAZON for cool and jazzy art and collectibles-- for all the hep-cat's on your list you can't go wrong with something from her.

Hard to pick a single item to show from BAMCAT's growing store-- all great stuff!

ELAINE over at DOMESTIC BY DESIGN could make you a whole new kitchen, decorate your living room or teach you how to make the best omelet you'll ever have. Check out her ETSY shop while you're there for some great furniture and prints -- something for everyone!

You won't find this at IKEA-- but you will at DBD's ETSY store!

I don't even know if she accepts commissions but head on over to Alison Undercover's Bloggie Blog and have her draw you something-- just throw money at her and I'm sure she'll comply! I need a Batman Vs Joker drawing Alison done in under fifteen minutes just let me know what I owe ya!

I love Alison's work!

CJ KENNEDY still does the amazing and rapidly disappearing art of hand done Calligraphy! She also has a fantastic sense of color and design so check out her work and get something unique and hand done!

CJ Kennedy was a cowboy in another life

Mike Briggs isn't just a Caricaturist -- or a KarIQuesist as my father in law calls them-- he's the BEST caricaturist around. Check out his site and get some of those people you care about drawn like they stepped out of Mad Magazine!

Briggs is able to capture subtle details most cartoonists miss

Black Friday and the Knight of Darkness!

2011-11-25T00:15:00.001-05:00

Today is a big shopping day. I won't be out there. I went once, years ago, teamed with my brother at the urging of my mother who needed something that was being offered at a ridiculous price so we went and dove headfirst into a pile of merchandise and came back with something resembling the item she was looking for.

But no more, not for me. I do 90% of my Christmas shopping online and the rest at Walgreens on Christmas Eve. It's a simple plan that works.

However, speaking of Christmas and shopping I remembered one of my favorite presents of all time-- it was the year Star Wars came out and believe it or not back then they didn't have instant presence in toy aisles, in fact Kenner owned the Star Wars license and for Christmas that year they were offering a postcard that you could give your kid telling him he'd be getting some jinxy Star Wars figures sometime in March-- what kid wouldn't be thrilled to have that?

Well, my aunt found this guy, the Knight of Darkness-- essentially a more art deco styled Darth Vader-- and I thought it was the coolest. He's still on my shelf in my studio.

I know what some of you were thinking-- he's just a lame ripoff of Darth Vader. Well, Star Wars creator George Lucas thought so too and sued Ideal Toys when this came out-- but the case was tossed out of court when it was revealed that the figure was actually a re-purposed Captain Action from the 1960s. The Knight defeated Darth Vader.

Which makes him the coolest figure.

Great Batman Cowl by Will Reeb

2011-11-24T12:07:00.000-05:00

Not one of the original ones worn by Adam West in the great 60s TV series, but made from the same patterns by a very talented fellow up in Canada. Amazing detail-- this is an outstanding piece of art. If you are interested in one of your very own-- shoot me an email andy@hebsandfish.com and I'll get you the details.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T00:15:00.000-05:00

My dislike of Thanksgiving is the stuff of legend, and there are a lot of reasons why. Instead of running my annual I Hate Thanksgiving rant here I thought I'd offer some helpful ideas to make the holiday better:

1. Change the location and time of the meal every year-- and invite relatives only by secret ballot. It could be really cool-- you mail them a marble-- white means you're in and black means get yourself a Stouffer's Frozen dinner 'cause you're eating alone. The relatives who get the white marble are sworn to secrecy so that Uncle Richie isn't offended that you didn't want to sit next to him while he chews like a horse and tells his annual Thanksgiving joke.

2. Mix up the meal. It DOESN'T have to be turkey. Lasagna would be a nice change. Maybe Steak and Cheese subs? Why not have some fun with it?

3. If there are enough kids attending that there is going to be a kids table-- set it in a different room and break out the marbles again-- whoever draws the black one has to eat in there with them and keep order. And let the kids freakin' play outside or in the basement-- all the adults should eat while the food is hot then when they're done bring the kids in so they can pretend to eat anything. It's so much better than getting little Jimmie his plate, then sitting him down, then getting him some water, then moving him because he's next to Cousin Richie who eats like a horse and so on--meanwhile your food is colder than Hilary Clinton.

4. Kill the Christmas music. It should not appear before Black Friday.

5. While we're on the subject-- there shall be no discussion of Black Friday-- whether you're working it or fool enough to go out and try and save $20 while you are trampled it is of no concern to the sane among us.

6. Football shall be played on every TV for the entire day.

7. Nagging is not allowed. At the most minor sign of nagging said person is instantly removed and given an early black marble for next year.

These simple steps will ensure a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

The DEFINITIVE BATMAN

2011-11-23T10:22:00.000-05:00

As something of a Batmanologist I'm asked on occasion what the 'definite' comic book appearances of Batman are-- well faithful readers-- ask no more-- if you want to get caught up with the Batman of the comics before Christopher Nolan's new Batflick this coming summer.

These are all collected in Trade Paperback and Hardcover form-- so you can assemble a collection of not only the greatest Bat-stories ever put to paper, but the ones that make the character who he is:

BATMAN CHRONICLES #1 - Collecting the first ten appearances of the ferocious pulp avenging Bat Man of Detective Comics pre-Robin as well as Batman #1 (1940) this'll give you the basics.

BATMAN CHRONICLES #2 - Picking up where #1 leaves off-- this collects Detective Comics #39 - 45 and Batman #'s 2 and 3. Early appearances of The Joker and The Catwoman. Great early Batman stories.

BATMAN TALES OF THE DEMON collects some of the really great Batman stories of the 1970s as he faces his greatest Bronze age advesary, Ra's Ah Ghul! Great art by Neal Adams, Don Newton and Irv Novick in this collection.

LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT- Marshall Rogers is THE definitive Batman artist-- hands down. His run on Detective Comics as written by Steve Englehart is not only the GREATEST run ever on Batman it's the basis for Tim Burton's Batman film. If you can only get one collection this is it.

From there, you can go on to a number of collections including THE DARK KNIGHT series by Frank Miller, but what I've listed gives you what you need to know to get you the best of Batman up to the middle of his career.

Questions and Answers

2011-11-22T00:15:00.003-05:00

Got a pile of mail, and I thought why not answer it right here. Kills two birds and all...

Q- What are you working on now?
A- Right now I'm plotting out DRACULA Chapter 5 as I illustrate Chapter 3. I'm also considering what my next project will be with McFarland and actively discussing projects with both Quarto and another publisher.

Q- What is your work day like?
A- It varies, depending on if I have a class, if it's the weekend, etc. For the most part I get up fairly early-- around 730-8, walk the dog and handle writing assignments in the morning. After lunch I usually run errands and then I work on art at night. I find the night time to be more productive for me.

Q- What TV Shows do you like?
A- THE WALKING DEAD on AMC Sunday nights has me hooked, I think the writing is exceptional and even though I don't like zombies this is could be a story about any kind of plague. I also don't miss TOP CHEF on Bravo and I like to keep up with THE OFFICE.

Q- Do you watch the HOT Artist Show on Bravo?
A- I saw half of an episode and decided I really liked Sucklords action figure art. But no, I don't watch it. I'm pretty sure if I was a Chef I wouldn't watch TOP CHEF either. You see too many silly flaws when you know the biz.

Q- What's the deal with BAT MAN 1939? When's it coming out?
A- That's a good question.

Q-What classes do you teach and do you recommend art school?
A- I definitely recommend art classes, I take them myself to stay fresh and focused. RISD and WAM have terrific art courses available. There's always a list with links to what I teach over on the right of the blog.

Q- You seem to have limitless energy with all your projects, any secrets?
A- Exercise, attitude and vitamins. Surround yourself with positive people. Focus on your goals, make a TO DO list and then get it done.

Q- Any other convention appearances you can announce? I'd love to get a sketch from you.
A- You can commission sketches right here, in fact we can now take credit cards. A convention sketch is much different than a commission. A Commission is full blown illustration and can take several weeks to complete (sometimes months sadly) because commercial gigs come first. But convention sketches are much simpler, done in an hour or less so you'll get them within a few days of ordering it. Convention style sketches are $20 in pencil and $40 full inks (add $5 shipping in the US). Just shoot me an email to get on the list. andy@hebsandfish.com

As for conventions next year-- I'll definitely be at Wizard World Boston-- a show I just don't miss when it comes around. I plan on doing three shows next year, and I will be at NYCC in October I'm just not sure if I'll be officially set up or just walking the halls.

Q- Any advice for people wanting to break in?
A- Deliver what you promise on time.

That's all the Q's for now-- but you can also check an interview Jazma Online did with me here.

Movies this week on TCM...

2011-11-21T10:43:00.000-05:00

Possibly the most hellish week of movies on my old pal TCM is the week of Thanksgiving-- usually populated with sappy family type movies of the Andy Hardy variety-- the only week worse might be Easter-- but let's dig in and take a look shall we?

Today at 1pm is KISS ME DEADLY (1955) which is possibly my favorite film noir. I watch it every time it's on and if I wasn't out of town doing a lecture I'd certainly tune in.

At 12:15am on Tuesday (okay-- I guess Wednesday) is GUNGA DIN-- which is either one of the greatest action movies ever filmed or it could be depending on whether it's the edited version or not (the edited version is actually better).

Wednesday at 2pm is TARZAN THE APE MAN (1932) which is really a great movie and one you should take the time to watch. You'll be surprised at the level of violence of this early 30s film.

There are a couple of Marx Bros movies on late Thanksgiving night if you can't sleep and on Black Friday (how did they not schedule BLACK FRIDAY???) you can catch PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES which might make you realize that there are worse ways to spend two hours than eating Thanksgiving dinner with the in-laws.

Just because it's old, doesn't mean it's worth a fortune.

2011-11-20T00:15:00.000-05:00

I had a talented artist friend who works in landscapes come up to me at the MONKEY BOY Exhibit at WAM (Monkey Boy is the name of a great children's book by Jarret Krosoczka) which also features pages from his acclaimed LUNCH LADY series of children's graphic novels. This friend was walking through the exhibit and then looked at me and said;

"This is your world, eh?"

I know he meant no offense by it-- and in truth I didn't take any-- but my reaction was 'huh?' -- I was even going to say that this wasn't my work, then I realized that because the art was cartoony and I'm a cartoonist that 1 and 1 equals 2 so this must be my world.

Even though in my work, tailored for ages 15 and up, almost every character tends to die or commit a horrendous murder, even though I've been dubbed the Dark Prince of Graphic Novels by ComicMonsters.com, even though my work would cause the average LUNCH LADY reader to have nightmares for a year, it's cartoons so it's my world.

I like and respect Jarrett's work. As a matter of fact I think doing books for kids that adults can also enjoy is not just brilliant it's needed. As someone who suffered through endless readings of GOODNIGHT MOON I delight in the fact that there just might be a book series for the little ones that would entertain me as I read it.

But it's not the same. It's nearly impossible to explain because to an entire generation of people, comics are comics. If they grew up reading ARCHIE they would probably have a stroke if they read Craig Thompson's HABIBI now, and I would encourage them to.

Would you ask a novelist standing in the children's section of Barnes and Noble which shelf his book is on? Would you be shocked to see Robert Ludlum's latest thriller mixed in with Curious George? Probably-- yet if it's comics its comics.

For a guy not offended I certainly went on didn't I?

But to the point of this post-- because I work in comics people assume (rightfully) that I know a bit about old comics. Sometimes they assume I'm like a jeweler however, and can ascertain the value of your collection in a matter of seconds with one of those eye-peeper lenses.

If those old comics you found in Grandma's attic are from the 30s to the 50s and they are in good condition. Good meaning they don't smell like someone died on them, they are not chewed up or water stained and the pages aren't so brittle they fall apart when you turn them, then you may have something of value.

You don't have something of value in the neighborhood of a Million dollars unless you have a stunning Action Comics #1 or Detective Comics #27 (First appearances of Superman and Batman respectively) but you may have some books worth several hundred up to thousand dollars.

The titles will mean a lot, the condition will mean more.

Now if those comics you found are from the 60s-70s, they are much less likely to be very valuable, but you may still have enough for a nice dinner somewhere. Again, everything I said above is critical.

But if you have comics from the 80s-90s they are most likely worthless, and that is the VAST majority of what I see when someone says "I have a pile of old comics, do you think I could bring them by and you look 'em over?".

Yes, the 80s may have been 25-30 years ago, but there just wasn't a lot of value in the period. There are a few exceptions, but for the most part there are a lot of copies of those books which brings the value way down.

And the 90s? Forget it.

In the 90s we had the collector boom-- TV shopping channels started selling comics, and that's always a bad sign. It meant that people bought DOZENS of copies of SUPERMAN #75 (death of Superman) and socked 'em away in plastic bags to keep them mint with the hopes of opening them up twenty years later and having a gold mine only to find out they are worth MAYBE 50cents an issue and I doubt you'll be able to get that for them.

If you want to invest in old comics, find an expert. I recommend Ted and Lisa over at SUPERWORLDCOMICS.COM

You want to buy the HIGHEST grade copies you can for investment sake. About twenty years ago you could have bought a Near Mint Copy of ACTION COMICS #1 for $40,000.00 and sold it today for $1 Million. That's a pretty incredible return on your investment.

Likewise, ten years ago you could have bought a MINT Avengers #1 for about $8000.00 and last week a copy sold for $250,0000.00.

So there is money to be made, you just have to know what to buy.
I will also happily chart an investment portfolio for you, provided you cut me in on the proceeds.

Movie ReViews for Movies I haven't Seen: PUSS IN BOOTS

2011-11-19T00:15:00.002-05:00

You only thought Dreamworks milked every drop out of SHREK with it's recent SHREK 8: Battle With Diabetes Type 2, but rest assured they figured the smartest thing they could do was to create a spin off from that piece of cinematic treasure and give The Cat (El Gato) his own film. People love cats right? People haven't paid a nickel to SEE Antonio Banderas in a film in years right? So it's a natural combination. A movie about a cat where you only HEAR Banderas.

Cat ladies flooded theaters to see this and theater owners have reported they should be able get the smell out by sometime early next year.

Director Darren (Black Swan) Aronofsky takes the characters to places we might not have expected, first hooking The Cat on Heroin and then having him have a sordid affair with a homeless Bat who it's eventually revealed is actually a male in a scene clearly inspired by THE CRYING GAME (spoilers) which of course leads to The Cat suffering from both HIV and Rabies. There wasn't a dry eye in the house when The Cat gets put to sleep.

The movie is populated with actors we all wish would go away including Adam Sandler, Jack Black and in a restrained role as The Bat; Jim Carrey-- who I predict right now will be nominated for an Supporting Actor Oscar for this role.

Moving, animated and visually brilliant it's a film you won't soon forget, even if you never see it.

My Books In Print

2011-11-18T00:15:00.022-05:00

Had someone ask me what books of mine are available in print-- here are a few:

DRACULA
In PRINT
On the Nook
On the Kindle

WEREWOLVES OF WISCONSIN
On Amazon
On Barnes and Noble

THE TRAGIC TALE OF TURKEY BOY
In PRINT

FLY A TRUE STORY COMPLETELY MADE UP
In PRINT

HOW TO DRAW Series
GRAPHIC NOVELS
SUPERHEROES
SUPERNATURAL CREATURES

WEREWOLVES OF WISCONSIN Shipping Now!

2011-11-17T00:15:00.009-05:00

Got back from Texas to find a box of author copies of my latest book from McFarland Press, WEREWOLVES OF WISCONSIN! It's available now and ships immediately. It's also available from AMAZON!

Featuring Monster and Mythic tales from all around the US it's full color and a hefty 125 pages loaded with both chills and a few laughs-- I think you'll like it, and this is far from the last time you'll hear about it!

Chromatic Noir by Chet Williamson

2011-11-16T00:15:00.000-05:00

Chet Williamson's moody CHROMATIC NOIR hits the streets (or at least the digital streets right now). Check it out, the Cover is by me and the music feels like an inky wet night straight out of a great Robert Mitchum noir film.

DC's NEW 52 -- Is the Digital Revolution Working?

2011-11-15T00:15:00.000-05:00

It's three months now since DC Comics launched their Digital Comics Universe. The selling point here is that you can now buy your DC Comics either in a store in print edition or on the same day online as a digital edition.

As you can imagine, retailers are not thrilled with this idea, although Diamond Distributors-- the nation (the world's) leading distributor of comic books has partnered with iVerse to provide exclusive digital content to retailers who choose to participate.

Digital sales have been extremely strong-- and at this point you can't get DC Comics on the Nook yet, although starting next week you'll be able to get 100 of their top graphic novels on the Kindle Fire.

I bought several books from their digital store and found reading them on my iPod Touch easy and a suitable alternative. I'm not crazy that the price for print and digital remains exactly the same since the cost on digital is so much less-- and I think that might be the deciding factor in the long run. Why pay $3 for a virtual comic book when you can actually own a print copy for the same money-- and said print copy could potentially go up in value (although not likely-- more in tomorrow's post).

What's going to hook me is the writing-- I'm dying to read Christos Gage's AVENGERS ACADEMY because of the reviews I'm seeing on TWITTER, but it's not available digitally and I'm too lazy to drive myself down to the comic book shop, maybe I found one in Austin-- we'll see.

I've always been in the camp that print is going to follow music and movies in terms of delivery. CDs continue to sell but iTunes makes inroads with MP3s. Personally, I just like the idea that I can hear a song on the radio or on TV and within a minute have a copy of it right in my iTunes account.

Back to DC's new strategy-- the writing on some of the DC books is stronger than others. DC right now is doing a pretty good impression of Marvel Comics circa 1990 when the art was the thing and writers took a back seat-- that strategy led to Marvel's bankruptcy so I'd probably not advocate for that path right now, but hopefully writing gets put back in the front sometime soon. And some of the books are very well written, so there is potential.

Whether digital saves the comic book industry is anyone's guess, whether it puts retailers out of business seems likely, unless they figure out a way to make themselves relevant to the delivery process.

This Week on TCM:

2011-11-14T00:15:00.000-05:00

Tonight at 10pm is SHANGHAI EXPRESS-- which is a neat little thriller.
At 9:30 on Wednesday is TO BE OR NOT TO BE which is a great little wartime comedy with Jack Benny and Carole Lombard (in I think her last role).
Saturday night's ESSENTIAL is SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1961) with Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood-- not my kind of movie at any length of the imagination and I won't be tuning in, but I've always said you can't go wrong with the ESSENTIALS series hosted by Robert Osbourne and Alec Baldwin every Saturday night.

WIZARD WORLD AUSTIN - Final Day

2011-11-13T00:15:00.003-05:00

Taken from theWIZARD site-- used with permission

Yesterday was a madhouse of comic book fans, sci fi geeks and just general all around good folks-- I always grumble about doing shows because its a lot of work but in reality its also a lot of fun. We met quite a few fans yesterday and in between sketching I talked Dracula to Barry from San Antonio who has copies of my DRACULA book on both his Nook and in print. Go Barry!

Today we are one of the passport stations for Wizard World KIDS-- an event where youngsters have to get a passport book stamped as they race through the convention hall, and at 11:30 we're doing a HOW TO DRAW SUPERHEROES demonstration in Room A.

My favorite part of any CON has to be the fans in costume-- from the ones that look like they came straight off the page to the ones that should get some reflective surfaces in their homes it's just fun to see what they come up with.

HIGHLIGHTS of the costumers for me;
BATMAN Guy-- this guy had to be close to 60 but he had the attitude right. I'm not sure if he's a cop in real life but he certainly seemed like he might be.
INSPECTOR GADGET -- I mean, c'mon right? Complete with propellers~!
MRS THE MONARCH from the Venture Bros!
GWEN STACY complete with snapped webbing around her foot! Too bad Spidey!
RED ROBIN- played by a kid about 12 years old.

One of the nice things about being a guest of the show is that you get to spend some down time with the invited celebrities. Chandler Riggs (THE WALKING DEAD) was too cute for words. When I told him he looked taller on TV he said he gets that a lot, and I had a chance to chat with Juliet Landau (ED WOOD) to talk a bit about working with Tim Burton as well as catch up with what her dad, the great Martin Landau was up to.

It's a HUGE show-- I've yet to get around to the whole thing, but I hope to tomorrow. Honestly, if you attended this as a fan you couldn't see all of it in just three days.

The convention runs until 5 today so if you're in the Austin Texas area swing on by! Then it's back to HOUSTON for us for one more night-- then a short plane ride back to good ol' Boston-- and on to my next graphic novel-- which I will announce later this week.

HOUSTON to AUSTIN

2011-11-12T00:29:00.000-05:00

We visited some really great places in Houston including City Center which was once a former shopping mall Galleria type of complex and has since been replaced with a great series of restaurants and stores. The Big Woo could learn a lot from Houston Texas.

Friday morning we left early for Austin and arrived at the convention center around 11 after checking into our hotel. WIZARD WORLD AUSTIN is being held at the Austin Convention Center for three days, Friday 4-9pm, Saturday 10-7 and Sunday 10-5. We're scheduled to give a half hour workshop on CREATING SUPERHEROES from 1130 to 12Noon in Exhibit Room A.

I've done my share of multi day cons and usually I'm not all that fond of Friday night openings-- there tends to be a limited attendance with little sales but we ended up doing quite well.

We'd agreed to do 100 free sketches prior to the Show that fans could pre-order and pick up with us, and although there were a few bumps along the way we were able to get the work done in time for the show.

We ended the show and headed over to Chuy's Tex Mex after it was recommended to us by two of our favorite customers of the evening. It was a funky place with great menu options and terrific food.

WIZARD WORLD AUSTIN TEXAS - LIVE

2011-11-12T00:15:00.001-05:00

WIZARD WORLD AUSTIN TX- Last night was the opening event for the show, it's a good sized event in the Austin Convention Hall and attendance was pretty strong. We had quite a few people swing by our table to pick up their sketches and ended up spending most of the night doing commissions.

We were invited to the Drink and Draw down the street but opted instead to go check out the Bat-Bridge which is only a few blocks away. It's the home to thousands of Bats who make a nightly appearance-- pretty incredible sight.

The con today runs 10-7 with a costume contest from 7-9 which we will probably check out-- it's always fun to see the fans in costume. Expecting a sizable crowd today-- so stop on by if you're in the area.

11/11/11 - The World Ends Today

2011-11-11T00:15:00.001-05:00

I imagine they got a credit from the sign company for the typo

I wish I had checked the calendar and saw this was coming, because I wouldn't have mailed the check for Cable this month. Well, the world had to end sometime. I write these in advance so I assume I'm wrestling with a giant dog with a goats head or some other apocalyptic nonsense right now.

I'm not a religious person, and I'm also not the kind of person who finds it as the cracks open up in the ground and people all around me start falling in. I was on a plane once that plummeted out of the sky for a few minutes and while everyone around me was hysterical I kept my composure, because what the hell good would it do to lose it? It's not like a great hand was going to reach out and save us because I've soiled myself.

Which brings me to a thought; I don't like to talk religion, but even more-- I don't like YOU to talk YOUR religion to me. Keep it to yourself. More power to you if you find comfort in organized religion, but it doesn't make you a great person, not by a long shot. How you behave outside that institution is what matters.

So the world ends today-- unless that's another typo.

And stop on by WIZARD WORLD AUSTIN TEXAS tonight from 4-9pm and say hello!

FRANK MILLER's HOLY TERROR

2011-11-10T00:15:00.000-05:00

Frank Miller first announced HOLY TERROR sometime just after the events of 9/11-- in his original plan Batman would go after Osama Bin Laden the same way he'd gone after Hitler in World War II-- although to be truthful Batman only fought Hitler on the covers of some of his books, and for the most part that fighting involved hitting him in the face with a baseball.

Miller felt that comics and superheroes should be an outlet for us to work out our aggression, and after 9/11 there were a lot of us who were very angry. Regardless of what led them to decide to do it, attacking us on our own shores in a cowardly fashion costing the lives of thousands of innocent civilians rightfully made us want to get some kind of retribution, and in Frank Miller's case he wanted to sic the angry Dark Knight version of Batman on them.

Miller is truly one of the visionaries of the comics and graphic novel industry, and when he's firing on all cylinders he can't be touched.

His work on DAREDEVIL in the late 70s through the early 80s redefined a character who had lost his way and turned him into a figure straight out of the best of the classic film noirs. Lured away from Marvel Comics to rival DC Comics Miller then produced RONIN which put the comic book industry on it's rear. A critical smash while remaining a commercial disappointment this epic story combined elements of film noir with Japanese culture and mixed it with the works of some of the great European cartoonists like Moebius. It's heavy emphasis on paper quality and production values made it a legitimate piece of art in a medium that was still churning out stories of Clark Kent trying to trick Lois Lane into thinking he wasn't Superman after all.

After RONIN came THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS in 1986 in which Miller took an aged Batman out of retirement to clean up Gotham one more time. This version of Batman made Dirty Harry look more like Harry Potter by comparison, and it was a huge hit-- paving the way for blockbuster graphic novels like WATCHMEN.

Miller had dealt with the end of Batman's career and decided he wanted to play with the beginning so he crafted BATMAN YEAR ONE, and this time he turned the art chores over to his Daredevil collaborator the amazingly talented David Mazzuchelli. YEAR ONE rivaled, and some say surpassed, THE DARK KNIGHT in this story about Batman finding his way.

Miller revisited Daredevil with ELEKTRA LIVES AGAIN, a prestigious art sized book that featured superior production values and told the story of this character's return from the dead. The book was startling, well written and beautifully drawn, but by this time Miller's artwork had taken a slightly abstract feel that turned off many hardcore fans.

From here Miller jumped over to DARK HORSE to begin his creator owned SIN CITY Series and again he was like lightning in a bottle, capturing the raw power and energy of some incredibly violent stories with minimalistic but amazing artwork that took him back to his love of Film Noir.

Miller could do no wrong. Now regarded as the heir apparent to Will Eisner, the man considered the father of the modern graphic novel, and it would have been hard to argue with them.

Miller returned to Batman after a few years with a collaboration with Todd McFarland on his SPAWN Series with a Batman/Spawn team up, this time handling the writing. It was a much watered down version of Batman and the writing seemed less than brilliant.

Miller announced he'd be doing a sequel to THE DARK KNIGHT and it was the most highly anticipated graphic novel of all time. To say it was met with disappointment would be akin to saying The Hindenburg hit a bit of a rough patch in New Jersey. Gone was the tight writing of THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and in it's place was haphazard dialogue that seemed ridiculous if you read it out loud, and artwork that was so loose and cartoony in parts that it seemed a parody of itself.

HOLY TERROR took ten years to produce, and the first warning sign that something was wrong with it came when DC Comics decided it wasn't interested in publishing it-- which makes a Batman book impossible to do. Unless you white out all the Batears and give your character another name...

Which is exactly what Miller did, now called THE FIXER, this caped and cowled hero leapt around a thinly disguised Gotham City chasing after a Cat Burglar and dealing with a high ranking police official who looks a lot like Commissioner Gordon.

The artwork is Miller RONIN combined with Miller SIN CITY and that's not a bad thing. Looking at the pages filled with ink smudges and splattered ink it has a tremendous sense of energy virtually exploding at you page after page.

The story finds Fixer and Cat Burglar hooking up after a multi page chase, and they are interrupted by a terrorist attack which seriously ticks The Fixer off, so he decides to go after the terrorists giving them exactly what they want "without the innocent victims".

Miller's anger is clear on every page and that might have been enough to keep the story going if he had any of the classic Miller dialogue from some of his stronger projects. It's as if Miller has stopped hearing the way people speak and can only hear his own version of natural conversation in his head-- which is ridiculous and forced.

Even the internal thoughts of the characters told through narration is unimaginative; here's a bit right out of the book from Cat Burglar

"He's right on my ass.
Right. On. My. Ass.
What is his Goddamn problem?
All I did was steal a lousy diamond bracelet.
And now he's right on my ass."

Compare that to ELEKTRA LIVES AGAIN, with this line of narration delivered by Daredevil as he walks a snowy Manhattan street in his secret identity as Matt Murdoch

"The traffic stops cold at Hudson with no hope of movement in this life.
So I walk the last four blocks to St. Bart's. Pinned between ghetto blasters and playing hopscotch over the hopeless and thinking about Elektra.
It isn't the kind of morning I'd expect to find her on my mind.
But then, I've had the whole night to practice."

Narration that could rival Raymond Chandler.

HOLY TERROR feels lazy, and coming from a true genius like Frank Miller, that is the real crime here.

HOUSTON

2011-11-09T17:54:00.000-05:00

I don't love flying-- I don't care if it's business class or coach-- I don't like being trapped in a seat for X number of hours, essentially on a bus with wings with no 30 minute stops at Roy Rogers for a quick burger. I think the only way I'd dig it is if I could sit up front with the pilot (Note to Airlines-- why isn't a camera put up in the cabin just looking out so we can watch THAT on the little TVs instead of reruns of THE OFFICE?) or if they stripped out all of the seats and put a huge pile of pillows in the back that I could stretch out on.

But we got to Houston on a flight that was as comfortable as possible and walked out into a hot humid night virtually identical to our trip to Tokyo last year. Battling the Houston freeways we found our way to our hotel and had an absolutely delightful dinner with Veronica's aunt Faith at ESCALANTES-- mouth watering plantains and tilapia with incredible service.

On the plane my head had pretty much blocked up and I owed it to the cabin pressure. A few hours later laying in bed I realized it was a sinus infection. I toyed with the idea of heading out in the middle of the night to find a CVS or a Walgreens but opted to wait it out until the morning. I stumbled to Target and got High Powered Sudafed from behind the counter and with one dose I was infinitely better. I will never use anything else.

We ate breakfast at the hotel--which was full on amazing, and then headed over to SHIPLEY DONUTS to have some of the most incredible (and tiny) donuts I've ever seen. We got to hang out with Faith for the day and hit up some of the local sights we wanted to see, including the incredible DOMY BOOKS and THIRD PLANET COMICS.

We're here one more day and then we head up to Austin for the show. One of the biggest surprises for me is that people aren't crazy friendly like they are in Iowa. In fact, I've seen some downright surly folks. I watched a woman try to back out of her parking space in the Heights district and rather than stop and let her get out, countless folks just beeped at her and prevented her exit.

We'll see if tomorrow is any different, but I gotta say Lone Star State-- you haven't impressed me with your warmth yet.

Yee Ha! Texas Comic Con

2011-11-08T00:15:00.001-05:00

We're in Texas this week for the WIZARD WORLD AUSTIN show if you're in the area please come on by to say hello! We always enjoy the shows put on by our friends at Wizard.
While we're gone, I'll be posting some looks at my studio among other things so keep a'comin' y'all. (<

Virtual CONVENTION SKETCHES!

2011-11-07T00:15:00.003-05:00

Convention Sketches are usually quick drawings, a bit more than doodles, usually with little or no backgrounds and featuring one character. The #1 sketch request I usually get is Batman followed closely by Dracula.

'Virtual Sketch' is for those of you who DON'T make it to Comic Book Conventions and therefore don't have the chance to pick up a sketch of your very own. So I'll do 'em right here.

PRICES $20 for pencils

$40 fully inked

Just use the PAYPAL Cart below

TCM Tonight; Film Noir!

2011-11-07T00:15:00.000-05:00

As I lay in my Lazy Boy in my tattered Sweatshirt and matching sweatpants covered in the sad debris of Cheetos long since past, wallowing in my depression that Halloween is over and we're back to a season of 'regular' movies on TV-- I was delighted to find a triple feature on TCM tonight of my favorite film noirs.

First up at 8pm is THIS GUN FOR HIRE (1941) with Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd followed by another team up of this dynamic duo in THE BLUE DAHLIA (1946)-- the first features Ladd as a hitman and the second as a guy who may or who may not have killed his cheating wife, but it doesn't matter because both films are strong and entertaining.

At 11:15pm is THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946) which features John Garfield and Lana Turner as a pair of illicit lovers who decide to kill her husband for the insurance money. It sounds a lot like DOUBLE INDEMNITY and it is, but it has it's own merits and is a movie you shouldn't miss.

Saturday offers TARZAN AND THE JUNGLE BOY at Noon from 1968 which is Mike Henry's last outing as the ape man, at 3:45pm is the original THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951) which was secretly directed by Howard Hawks and might just be the most literate monster film ever made. It's the movie the kids are watching in John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN (1978) too.

At 8pm is THE BANK DICK (1940) with WC Fields which makes me laugh out loud-- and that's a hard thing to do.

Overall not a bad week, but I miss Halloween.

Movie Reviews for Movies I've Never Seen: NO STRINGS ATTACHED

2011-11-06T00:15:00.000-04:00

Hollywood re-invents itself with this delightful little comedy romp starring Ashton Kutchor and Jennifer Aniston (or Natalie Portman, does it really matter?), who are two hard working professionals with no time for a social life so they decide to extend their friendship to 'friends with benefits' status.

The hilarity ensues when they are on a camping trip, getting it on when they inadvertently roll down the hill crushing the dwarf family of a little person Wizard who decides to seek unholy revenge on them both by cursing them with both a body switch and permanent STDs.

Now seeing their formerly selfish selves through the eyes of the other person they do the only sensible thing and commit suicide in a double large GE convection oven just shy of Thanksgiving.

I'm not surprised this was such a big hit at the Cannes Festival last year, it's innovative use of shooting it with a camera with no film left most of the screen time up to the audience's imagination, and saving the rest of us the bother of watching the same Hollywood movie remade for the millionth time.

Four Stars.

FAM Graphic Novel Show

2011-11-05T00:14:00.000-04:00

The Fitchburg Art Museum had us out to both lecture and provide a mini workshop to co-incide with their showing of the GraphicLit graphic novel show originally put together by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge.

This great show features work by legendary comics creators like Will Eisner, Dave Sim and Frank Miller and is well worth checking out.

There is also a display of Lynd Ward's great woodcuts which are often considered the first graphic novels from the early 20th century.

A great museum and a great show, on display until January 2012.

The War Between B&N and DC Comics

2011-11-04T00:15:00.000-04:00

Last week DC Comics announced it would offer 100 of its graphic novels on the new Amazon Kindle Fire in an exclusive deal which cuts out the Barnes and Noble NOOK.

Currently, DC Comics are available on the iPad, the iTouch and other readers that allow apps like Comixology which works through iTunes.
Presently, the Nook, which has been kicking the stuffing out of the Kindle with it's color version has been slow to grow it's library of graphic novels or comics and many have complained that it's selection of Magazines has been growing at much to slow a rate.

Barnes and Noble didn't take kindly to the DC Comics deal with Amazon, and in a move that some are calling a tantrum, they pulled those same 100 graphic novels out of their stores.

It seems short sighted on both companies parts. For B&N they should have kept in mind that exclusive doesn't mean forever, look at the iPhone which initially was offered only through AT&T and now works just as well with Verizon.

DC hasn't seemed in a great hurry to make their books available to the Nook either. In fact no publisher has, due mostly to an increasing fear of angering their base of comic book shops who offer their primary means of print distribution.

Still, at a recent lecture before a hundred high school aged comics fans there was no hesitation about buying comics on their phones. To the new generation digital is going to be the way they read.

Hopefully DC and Barnes and Noble can get themselves together and work out their differences-- but I'd be surprised if it works out well.

Death knell for the Nook? The failure of DC's digital initiative? Probably not-- but it doesn't help.