Here are some things I found interesting in the world of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc. during the
"Despite this irrefutable evidence of longevity, I tend to think of DC as a young company. The New DC is more than a slogan. It describes a radical change in our company's operating philosophies and in the nature of our publishing ventures. It started just two short years ago when DC Comics made a commitment to the creative community and the public that henceforth DC Comics wanted to publish comics that would make the creators proud and appeal to the readers." Dick Giordano from his Meanwhile column in DC comic books showing a cover date of June '84.
- I guess it's been a few years since I've done one of these. Where should I start...
- Let's star with me. I've been having an original art sale. You are welcome to get on board with that. The prices are super great and as of this moment I am still doing free shipping. For pals that have already made purchases. I hope to wrap up all of the commissioned/requested/bonus art this weekend and ship early next week. Sorry it took so long. I love you like cancer loves a prostate gland.
- I went to RobCon. That was cool. I bought some Atari Force comics. All that matters to me now is Atari Force.
- Atari Force update: I'm only about one issue short of the complete run. Follow me on twitter for instant updates on my Atari Force collection.
- Batfleck happened. When I first heard the Batfleck news I wondered why Ben Affleck would wish all that fanboy hater bullshiz on himself. And then I remembered that when someone asks you if you want to play Batman in a movie you say yes. It's really the only option. Buy sure, the "fans" freak out. I'm a Star Wars nerd so it reminds me of the early days of teh intronets when "fans" lost their damned minds at the thought that Leonardo DiCaprio might play Anakin Skywalker. Oh the horror of the thought that a talented actor that is the exact right height, build and look as the character be cast in the role. DiCaprio turned out to be one of the most successful and praised actors of his generation. I'm not saying Affleck is his generation's greatest actor or anything but I'm pretty sure a two time Oscar winner that is the exact right height, build and look as Bruce Wayne can put on a rubber suit and punch out another guy in a rubber suit. It's gonna be okay. The "fans" have successfully cast about zero movies ever. Leave this stuff to the professionals.
- I'd like to take a moment to speak specifically to the youngs. Pay attention to this Affleck thing because this is how it is going to be. For the rest of your life, there is nothing my generation is not going to ruin for you. Every single thing that means anything to you, we are going to destroy. One day, you will thank us for it.
- Speaking of Batman, because that's all thousands of years of western civilization had prepared us to do; I don't want to sound like some fuddy-duddy Silver Age apologist but I've noticed recently that a of people saying Batman should kill the Joker and that Superman should kill. I hear people justify this by saying that it should be realistic and that they should have to make those tough moral decisions. Now, maybe fictional guys in rubber suits should kill the bad guys but please don't call it realism. I don't know about you, but the last moral decision I made didn't have anything to do with killing people. And I don't think many of us ever have to make the decision whether or not to kill. In fact, the more you think about it, unless you're in doing it in self defense or in the line of duty in you job in the police or military, killing is always illegal and immoral. Why would we want our superheroes to do that? You want realism in your comics and entertainment? Realism sucks. Realism is a life where the hardest moral decision you make each day is what to have for lunch.
(Brad McGinty drawn Regular Show page stolen from Comics Alliance.)
- Comics Alliance has a preview of the next issue of Regular Show. I mention this for a couple of reasons. For one, I really like Regular Show and the first two comics were good. But mostly I mention this because my pal Brad McGinty has a story in issue 3 and it looks amazing. Brad McGinty is one of the best drawers of comics that there is but holy snot y'all just look at those colors. I truly believe that Brad McGinty is the future of comics. In that future, the main thing I hope people start stealing from Brad is his coloring style. It is the correct way to color comics. Now, you may have thought that there are all kinds of different ways to color comics. Nope, you are wrong. Just one. When you color comics, it is supposed to look like this.
- Also on Comics Alliance, Chris Sims talked to some of the creators behind the greatest TV show that has ever been made.
- Lucy Knisley posted this nice comic. She's a bit to McCloudy for my tastes but the sentiment is lovely.
- Chris Schweizer explained how to make minicomics and it was rad.
- Secret Acres explains Autoptic to the youngs.
- Ya know, I hate the youngs. Seriously. F all you guys. Listing things is the worst. This blog you are reading now with everything in a list and bullet points. It is the worst. We used to have these things called paragraphs and they were great. It's all your fault the youngs. I hate you. Come at me. Seriously, I will fight you all at once and kill you all. What you don't know about my generation, "Gen X", is that every one of us, every single ehFing one of us, got together at a cough syrup fueled rave orgy during the 90s and every damned one of us are totally riddled with a disease that we are all immune to but will kill you dead just by being on the internet at the same time as us. Seriously. We will kill all of you.
- Soon.
- Get well, be well and stay well Mike Grell.
- Have you been sitting around thinking, oh man, oh man, if only, if only there was one more place I could post my drawings and art? Boom hears you. Boom loves you. Boom wants you.
- "He had this idea that the world would be better if men would just submit to women's complete instruction. But he took it all the way – not just submit to instruction but get collars on, and get down on all fours, and just admit that's where you belong, guys."
- Tom Scioli writes about Silver Surfer and I wish that everyone that writes about comics would read the piece so that they would experience the exact way that Shannon Smith prefers people write about comics.
- It's also okay for you to write about comics the way Joe McCulloch writes about them here in this piece about Jae Lee.
- Jeff Trexler works through the larger legal ramifications that could be at stake in Kirby vs. Marvel.
- There should be a Kirby vs. Marvel comic book. K vs M! Hundreds of pages of Jack Kirby punching out Marvel executives and lackeys working his way through all the appeals court judges and eventually slapping the entire Supreme Court in the face with the constitution.
- Speaking of the King, this Jack Kirby birthday celebration comic looks like it's gonna be really nice.
- Have I told you about Patrick Dean's comic The Grizzly that you can go read over on Study Group? Damn, I probably should have told you about Patrick Dean's comic The Grizzly that you can go read over on Study Group.
- Some cartoonists make dick and fart jokes. Others go to Gitmo.
- Do you like comics? Do you like small things that fit in your shirt pocket? Here ya go.
- Let's all go over to Frank Santoro's house and read his minicomics.
- If someone wants to buy all these Steve Lafler comics and mail them to me free of charge that would be super okay with me.
- If you kids don't stop being bullies I'm going to punch your faces in. Now get back in the trashcan!
- But hey look, we've got a new Doctor Who coming that I think all the fans will agree on and be totally happy with.
- A magazine that existed just because Mark Millar wanted to make people think they were seeing the word "cunt" on a magazine cover failed to find an audience. What a surprise.
- Tom Spurgeon had some thoughts on Before Watchmen. My local
comic book shopvideo game store that sells comics has multiple copies of what I believe is the complete run of those Before Watchmen monthlies mixed in with boxes of comics they sell at 75% off. A few feet away they have all those new hardcover collection things selling for, what, twenty or thirty dollars each. I don't know what that means. Here is what I think Before Watchmen means; DC won, we all lost. As always, DC gives the customer want they want the customer to have, not what the customer wants and for some reason the customer keeps buying it. - Marvel on the other hand, gives you what you want over and over and over and over until you never want it again. (But the customer still buys it.)
- But that's okay as long as what they give us is Howard the Duck in a video game.
- Howard also got his name dropped in that Disney/Marvel crossover cartoon thing.
- I've looked at the map and, even though I live in the south, I'm pretty sure I can live the rest of my life without ever stepping foot in or driving through South Carolina again.
- And finally... Francis has had enough of your superhero movie bullshit.
Your best pal ever,
Shannon Smith
p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.
p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.
p.p.p.p.p.s. Yeah, I do Instagram too now. I guess it's a law or something.
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