Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 11282013

(John Wayne Adventure Comics #25 from 1949.  Image stolen from My Comics Shop.)

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 week weeks months ending 11282013:

"Don't get caught with your tailgate down."  -My dad, David Nelson Smith.
   

(My dad and I, probably in 1974.  I'm the one in the diaper.)

• Hello brothers and sisters of teh intronets.  I've been away from the Parade-O-Links for a while.  A lot has been going on with me.  The biggest thing was that my father died in a farming accident on September 5th of this year.  He was a good man.  He was my best friend.  I miss him.  The text below is from his obituary, which I wrote. 
• David Nelson Smith of Saint Paul, Virginia died Thursday, September 5, 2013 in Cleveland, Virginia at the age of 64.  He was born in Lebanon, Virginia the son of the late Geneva Ray Kiser Artrip. He grew up in the Spring City area on the Smith family farm.  He was a graduate of Lebanon High School where he played basketball and football and was active in the 4-H Club.  He studied Environmental Science at Clinch Valley College and earned a Regency Bachelor of Arts degree from Bluefield State College.  In his career he showed cattle and worked as a Herdsman Manager in New York state.  He worked at Stewart’s Furniture and was the owner of the Montgomery Ward store in Saint Paul, Virginia.  In 1985 he began work with the U.S. Forest Service as a Forest Technician and Law Enforcement Officer.  He worked primarily in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forrest out of the Clinch Ranger District office in Wise, Virginia but also traveled across the country with the Forest Service.  He was an arson investigator.  He worked on forest fires in California.  He worked on the recovery of natural disasters including Hurricanes Hugo and Katrina as well as working on the recovery of the Space Shuttle Columbia in Texas.   He retired from the U.S. Forest Service in 2006 after 22 years as a Law Enforcement Officer.  He received multiple honors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture as well as recognition from the Wise County Sheriff’s Department for his work and service.  He is survived by his wife, Sally Smith; one son, Shannon David Smith and wife, Jeri of Saint Paul, Virginia; two granddaughters, Kassidy Smith and Alana Smith; father and step mother, Lowell Nelson Smith and wife, Jackie of Cleveland, Virginia; one brother, Greg Smith and wife, Sandy of Lebanon, Virginia; several nieces and nephews and their children.  He loved hunting, fishing and the outdoors.  He was a loving and devoted husband, father and papaw.
• So yeah.  It's been a busy few months. I'm going through a separation/divorce.  My health went wonky.  I have medicine now and that is going better.  I've been busy with work etc.  But, whatevs.  Through it all I've still read stacks and stacks of comics and teh comics intronets have kept on keeping on.  So, let's talk about some of that junk that has gone down since the Parade-O-Links last graced the screen of your monitor and/or cell pad pod phone. 
• There is this blog called 10 Rules for Drawing Comics.  I liked it so much that I came up with my own even though no one asked me.  In light of my health issues, I seriously hope you pay attention to number 7.  And in light of my total repulsion at seeing dry elbows, please live by number 6.
• Another place I blabbed my blabbing hole at was The Comics Reporter where I talked about just what exactly I want the comics biz to give me in exchange for my money. 
• I also sold some comics and junk to kids at a library with pal Jeremy Massie. 
• Since we are talking about our agreed upon favorite subject, me, I also posted some pictures of my new "studio".  I like it.
• I had one of those birthdays with a zero at the end.  It was stupid.

• Oh hey, it's Thanksgiving.  Unless it isn't.  I'm thankful for Bill Mantlo. 
• I'm also thankful that Josh Latta has started posting new Rashy Rabbit comics.  I'm also thankful that they let him back on facebook after kicking him off for being retarded.  Aw, Jeez.  Did I just get kicked off blogger for calling Josh Latta retarded?  Language is hard.  I wanted to post a link to the deal where facebook suspended Josh but I can't find it.  Maybe I'm not good at the internet or maybe they made it disappear just like the car JFK was murdered in and Jackie O's dress.  Do any of you guys work for the NSA?
• I'm thankful for Brad McGinty and the awesome t-shirt and Glorp Gum stuff he sent me.  Brad has his new holiday cards ready for you to buy and send to your loved ones/enemies. I'm also thankful for Brad's amazing art in recent issues of Adventure Time and Regular Show.  At last when my kids want me to buy something it's the exact same thing I already wanted to buy.
• I'm thankful for Patrick Dean for making all of the best comics of 2013 and for his Haint Book making my family's Halloween so much fun. 
• I'm thankful for Robert Newsome's podcast making one hour of my 45 hour work week a lot better. 
• I'm also thankful for you dear reader for dropping by and reading file under other.  I'll admit that this post might be a mess.  While my life has been a mess recently, I've still been saving links for this post and now that I'm finally putting it together, instead of having a week's worth of links to go through I have about three months worth of links.  And it is hard.  There is a ton of stuff that I want to talk about that I'm just going to have to get to later.  Or never. And a lot of what I will end up talking about here is old news.  Honestly, trying to get back into the swing of things has been a lot harder than I expected. Sorry.  Thanks for your patience. 



• I'm excited about all the Doctor Who 50th anniversary hubbub.  Yep.  I sure am.  It was good.  Jeremy Massie drew Tom Baker and it is rad. 
• They, and by they I mean people I don't really know who do things, are making a movie based on a comic by some guys I do know, Matthew Smith and Jeremy Massie.  That Bee Sting comic was great.  Looks like the movie will be neat-o.  So, check it out and stuff.  Maybe even give them some money.  
• Y'all saw that Batkid stuff right?  No need to link that here I guess. 
• Speaking of that link above, that title.  Man, dang.  "Holy (insert whatever your story is abut here) Batman!"  I've gone from getting ill over those kind of news article titles to just embracing them.  Ya know what?  The Adam West Batman TV show was as good as human art and entertainment gets.  The freaking pinnacle. So if we gotta have "Holy...Batman" and "Zap, Pow!" in everything then so be it.  Good!  Zap Pow everything!  Holy Zap Pow everything Batman!
• Wiggle much?  As much as the law allows. 
• I don't know what you plan on doing when you retire (you are probably an American so you will never retire) but the greatest filmmaker of the last century, he likes to draw some comics. 

• In light of the  Brian Wood controversy of the past few weeks, the collective conscious of comics has decided that never again shall a male comics professional or enthusiast hit on or attempt to have a sexual relationship with a female.  If we all work together on this, we can prevent the reproduction of any future cartoonists within a generation.  Once we get rid of cartoonists we can move on to actors because, look, men like to try to get laid. 

• Dickwolves everybody.  Dickwolves. 
• I'm lucky that I am physically incapable of sexism because I have a girl's name.
• Jokes.  Jokes people.  Sexism is bad.  Duh.

 

• While I was away, Villains Month happened.  Some people did not enjoy it.   I liked it.  My daughter was super into it.  See, most of those comics were self contained comics.  Self contained comics are the best.  Also, most of those comics were origin issues.  Origin issues are great for kids.  Kids like beginnings.  I also liked the fact that DC used a lot of veteran talent on those books.  And the covers, some of them were really cool.  You didn't have to buy them if you didn't want to.  It's just a product.
• Former female writer for The Comics Journal suggests they hire some female writers.
• This writer, me, Shannon Smith, suggests they actually put a magazine out that costs less than $30 a pop.
• I'm ready to replace you all. 

 
• I was sad to hear about Joey Manley passing away.  I used and enjoyed a lot of the services and platforms that he made possible.
•  "We had a huge Halloween party and a costume contest with the Burbank office and New York on a remote screen. We use all the best technology to make sure we’re remotely connected. But it still always falls apart."  DC Comics Entertainment president Diane Nelson on why you move a publishing company from the planetary heart of publishing after 80 years.  Apparently Time Warner's AV club's skills are less than adequate. 
• Oh Diane, who am I kidding?  I'll move to California to look into those big blue eyes and I'll never look back!

 
• Brian Marcus, owner of a comics shop the next county over from me, landed a huge collection with complete silver age runs. He showed me some of those books and they look like they came right off the spinner rack.  Very cool to look through those old Neal Adams comics. 
• Dean Trippe's comic Something Terrible is very good. You guys have all read it right?  He talked about it here. 
• I am very much looking forward to Box Brown's Andre The Giant book.
• "Well, that just reproduces my experience perfectly. After twenty-five, thirty years of this shit, I’m no closer to knowing anything, and everything that comes up just seems to make the matter more complicated, more murky."
• "An average writer working for the big two...and I am saying AVERAGE...makes about 2 grand a book. The average writer has one book...and maybe at times gets a second title if lucky. Break that down to $500 bucks a week...before taxes. So lets go as far as saying they have two books a month...and remember, 90% make no royalties...this person makes about 48 grand a year...before taxes. Not working for the big 2 and its MUCH less. We also pay our own medical coverage...because the companies don't. After taxes, medical and so on...this person makes around 32 grand a year writing 2 books for the majors. Does this make sense or just plain scare most of you?" - From Jimmy Palmiotti's facebook page.
• That Kim Thompson, he was a good one. 

• SDCC happened about 10 thousand years go but I bookmarked this picture of Marv Wolman with one of the Teen Titans he created because it made me smile. 
• I love the Mircronauts way too much. 
• You guys read Dean Trippe's Something Terrible comic right?  I just linked to it twice.  It's that good.
• That time Robin and Frank Zappa made a record. 
• Irving Forbush?
• The most important con report of 2013, GhostManorCon 2013. 

(Like a damned Lee Greenwood song come to life.)

• So gross.
• "We all hated him, frankly." -Carmine Infantino on Bob Kane. 
• Dean Haspiel on Howard Chaykin. 
• "It was foul language and it was violence to a lady, she gets hit. But there was no rape scene." 
• You guys saw these Wonder Woman shorts right?  Not, short shorts like you'd like to see Wonder Woman in but short cartoons that you'd like to see Wonder Woman in.
• There has been a lot of discussion/debate/yelling about criticism in comics lately.  Dang people.  Relax.  All the same jerks that have been writing about comics for the past 15 years are still out there.  Just because you got so wrapped up in twitter that you totally forgot to move your google reader over to a new blog reader and you fail to keep up with all the blogs does not mean people are not still writing. Do I have to mudderducking teach you people how to use the damned internets?  Try google search and quit your bitchin'.  Just because The Comics Journal fired Dirk Deppey, deleted its message boards and decided it would be better to have a magazine style website that sucks and never put out a damned magazine I can ever afford does not mean people are not writing about comics.
• Congratulations to my one time high school drama team teammate Steven Wiliams on getting married.  You might know Steven from his YouTube personalities Boogie2988 Jessie and, um, what's that other guy?  Oh yeah, Francis. Good luck Boogie!
• And finally... I didn't order anything, I promise.

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.

Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 04172012

(One of my all time favorite covers by the late great Carmine Infantino.  Notice that you have your "Frazetta Pyramid" but the pyramid is turned on its side.  Which, I think says a lot about Infantino's style.  Super master level skills with everything tilted and skewed beyond expectations.  Just right outside the comfort zone.  Full of energy and a subtle edginess.  Image stolen from bipcomics.)

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 week ending 0417013:

"No more hurting people." -Martin Richard.

• Hello brothers and sisters.  It has been a while since the last Parade-O-Links.  I've been making my little list throughout the days and working on the column but I've just not been able to get the thing together.  I'd love to have a new Parade-O-Links up for you every Sunday morning but, my life has been challenging lately.  Times is hard.  A lot of awful things have happened.  We mourn for those we've lost.  We pray for those that have had tragedy forced upon them.  And, it's sadder each time.  You don't really get used to it.  It just piles on.  Maybe the weight of it makes you stronger and maybe you can carry the burden but the weight is there.  Heavier and heavier.  But we press on.  Ya know, I'm a guy, staying up past midnight writing about a hobby I can not afford to have.  But here we are.  We press on.   I'm reminded of a gym teacher I had at Saint Paul Elementary School.  His name was Tom Payne.  He was a character.  I remember one day, I think it was sixth grade gym class, he stood up and he said, "Kids.  Do you want to know what the meaning of life is?  All through your life you are going to hear people talk about it.  What does it all mean?  Why are we here?  What is the meaning of life?"  He turns around and he grabs a piece of chalk.  He writes on the chalkboard.  Real big.  He writes to huge words.  "HAVE FUN."
• And I don't even know what that means.  I think it's gotta be more than that.  But it's not a bad start.  Times is hard brothers and sisters.  But we press on.  If for no other reason that somewhere down the road we'll share some laughs.  And to those that try to keep us down...you've got to live with me breathin' baby.

(A panel from one of the issues of Carmine Infantino's water planet story in Marvel's Star Wars.  Image stolen from the Jedi Council at theforce.net.)

• The great Carmine Infantino passed away earlier this month on April 4th at the age of 87.  He was a lot of things in his career.  Inker, penciler, designer, art director, editor and publisher.  But to me, he was the guy that drew the coolest looking, most exciting Star Wars comics.  And to me, when I was a kid, that meant that he had the most important job on Earth.  I met him, gosh, close to 10 years ago now, and he seemed to be a sweet man.  I had him sign some Star Wars comics and he had a story about each issue.  He remembered drawing them, and remembered conversations with Lucasfilm about what could and could not be in them.  He seemed to really enjoy the issues that took place on the water planet.  They were pre-Empire Strikes Back and were a huge contrast to the desert and sterile space station locations of the first Star Wars film.  (Years later we would see a Star Wars water planet and sea dragon type creatures in Attack of the Clones but it was nowhere near as cool as what Infantino did.) That work was a good example of what Infantino was in comics.  He took what you gave him, The Flash, Batman, Star Wars etc., and pushed it a bit further.  Turned it on its side.  Skewed the perspective so that it felt like you were falling into the image.  His drawings were like a broken mirror.  It felt like if you held the paper the wrong way it would cut you.  And those lips he drew on the female characters,  you knew if they kissed you it would be fatal.  He didn't draw the stuff "on model".  He drew it better than model.
• Mark Waid spoke about Infantino here.
•  Neal Adams spoke about Infantino here. 
• The Comics Journal remembered Infantino here.
• The Gary Groth TCJ interview with Infantino here.  With an additional piece here. 
• The "collective memory" at The Comics Reporter. 
• Roger Ebert also passed away since last we met here on the Parade-O-Links. When I was a kid, Sneak Previews and At the Movies were a big deal.  Most of us just called them "Siskel and Ebert".  Other than stuff like Starlog and the TV commercials, Siskel and Ebert was about the only place you could get a look at new movies.  The main thing I took from Ebert as a critic and a writer was his enthusiasm.  A lot of critical writers hide their enthusiasm if they have any of all.  Never be ashamed of what you like.  That is just stupid.  The notion that you will get closer to the objective truth by denying your personal truth is just idiotic.  And always want the things you like to try and be better. 
• All I knew about Margaret Thatcher I learned from comics and rock music.  The lady was ahead of her time.  And by that I mean she should be on Fox News right now. 
• Another non-comics obituary I'd like to point to is that of Mrs. Ann Gregory.  She and her family bought the town newspaper from my family when I was just a baby.  She would be a great friend to my family and a positive presence in my life.  Saint Paul, Virginia is a very small town but reading her obituary I'm struck by how much she accomplished and how many people she reached through her work.  Sometimes, here in these hills, here in this valley, you feel like you can't reach beyond the hills to the rest of the world, but she did.  Her life was full of honors and titles but none of them were achieved out of ambition.  All she accomplished was out of a commitment to the service of others.  She was a very impressive person and will be missed. 
• Congratulations to this year's Eisner Award nominees.  I've been paying attention to the Eisner's for a decade or more and this might be the first time where I have a work or a creator that I'm excited about in every category.  It's kind of like, dang, they nominated my twitter feed.  Are the Eisners getting more savvy in their awareness of indie comics and webcomics or is everything mainstream now?
• The winner of comics kerfuffle of the month went to the "Saga saga".  First teh intronets thought Apple was banning things because they hate teh gays.  Then teh intronets decided maybe Apple did not hate teh gays but only hated boners.  Then the CBLDF reminded us that boners are totes legal.  But some retailers said, I don't care, I ain't selling boners.  Then Comixology came out and said my bad bro, my bad.  So now you can read all the boners you want.  I guess.  Which is kind of where we were before it all started but now a lot more people know about that Saga comic.  But it still kinda sucked.  Teh intronets everybody!  Seriously though, Tom Spurgeon summed up the more important parts of the story here.  One of the best things about this issue was that Spurgeon got to talk about boners in, I think, three separate blog posts.  So, that was a good week for me in my comics internet reading.  "Mostly, though, anyone that interprets the clumsy negotiation of a potentially troubling content policy by a corporate entity as some sort of failure to make sure that the PR image of involved business is treated with some perceived level of demanded respect is a scary person. Fuck that. Question everything. Tiny boners 4-ever."  Tiny boners 4-ever indeed.
• Boners.
• In other news, just last week, I became the owner of a cell pad pod phone for the first time ever.  That's right.  I have a "smartphone".  Mine is an android phone and the Comixology app was the first app I installed.  So no Apple store for me.  All the boners I want!
• Boners.
• Speaking of boners Comixology, remember that whole deal where Comixology and Marvel tried to give away over 700 comics to way over 700 people and it all blew up?  Well, just like they promised, they delivered this week.  I got the comics I wanted easy as pie.  Like, ridiculously easy.  Like, faster than I could eat my dinner.  I did not chose to own all of the comics but I got a lot.  A lot people.  And I'm loving it.  So, boners or no boners, high five Comixology.

(Doctor Who reads comics.  Of course.  Image stolen from Bleeding Cool.)

• The Fluke Mini-Comics and Zine fest took place back on April 6th in Athens, Georgia USA.  Sadly, I missed it.  I was going to go but things occured.  So, I did what any hard working comics blogger would do and I called up the most dangerous man in the world, Henry Eudy on my email phone.  (Which does not exist.)  Our conversation went like this:

from the desk of file under other, April 3, 2013:

Dearest Bro Duder,

Are you still going to Fluke?  I unfortunately cannot go.  Again.  Due to the horrors of going through a separation/divorce and needing to use my spare time knocking over convenience stores to pay for my kid's braces.  

If you are going, would you be interested in writing another con report for file under other for absolutely no reward whatsoever? 

If so, please send the following fax to Dave Sim:

"Dear Mr. Sim,

No one has a fax machine anymore therefore you have received this via magic and you are either a wizard, elf or troll.   Please forward this fax to Shannon Smith via your magic ways so that he will know whether or not Henry Eudy can write a con report.

Sincerely,

Gloria Steinem"

from the desk of Agent Henry Eudy, April 3, 2013:

I received the following reply by way of it being taped to the topside of a badger that somehow appeared in my living room:

"Dearest sirs,

I can't be bothered to give a damn about your completely insignificant con report. Frankly, if yours truly and my amazingly underrated and misunderstood tracings of women from Vogue aren't the main attraction at a convention, then why bother anyway? It's all too insipid. Probably a woman is behind this. What kind of name is Shannon anyway? Humph. Anyhow, I got tracings to do and rants to write. You two pansies figure this our your own selves."

Graciously yours,

David Albert Sim"

Weird, huh? Plus I think it was all written with old cigarette butts. Anyhow, I am planning on making FLUKE although I already know I'll have to bail out a few hours early to get back home for an prior engagement. Still, I should be able to experience enough for a solid con report. Sorry I won't be seeing you there. Good luck with those robberies and such.

---- H.

Sadly, Agent Eudy's mission was to be aborted due to life events happening.  Like they do.  But all hope was not lost.

from the desk of Agent Henry Eudy. April 5, 2013:

Hold the phone! I did have an idea for a perfectly good con reporter. I believe all around good guy and fancy beard grower Adam Casey will be at FLUKE. Might make a pretty good Henry H. Eudy replacement, if you ask me. 

And so it would come to pass that Adam Casey and his beard would journey to Fluke and record the important details of this most important event.  And now, dear reader, you can read the whole thing here. 

(Glorp mania takes over Fluke.  Image stolen from Shawn Daughhetee's facebook.)

• Here is a comic about how it is apparently hard to openly like things if you are a girl.  Honestly, this notion has never made any sense to me.  I just don't get being insecure about the things you like.  And I also just don't get that there have apparently been generations of girls around this world afraid to openly like video games.  I guess everyone's perception is different but I thought pretty much every girl on post-industrial electricity having Earth since the Atari 2600 played video games.  My high school girlfriend and her little sister both beat my ass at Super Mario Bros y'all.  For those of you that do not live in my reality, I offer you both condolences and congratulations depending on which you would prefer.
• There have been several of transgendered comics characters before.  You people are aware that things happened prior to six months ago right?  But, either way, high five transgendered folks!

• Do you need things rated on a points scale before you buy them?  Or, do you need to look at a points scale after the fact to validate your purchase and in turn your overall value as a human being on planet Earth?  Well, congratulations. 
• Robert Venditti and Van Jensen talk about Green Lantern.  (Hey guys, don't forget you promised to have Tomar-Re in every panel.  Thanks!  Chicken Fish Head Guy forever!)
• Ben Towle of Oyster War and many other things was interviewed at Comics Coast to Coast.
• Jill Thompson on creating the t-shirt art for WWE's CM Punk. 
• Another installment of Pádraig Ó Méalóid's Marvelman history is up. 
• Finally a jihad we can all get exited about.

• Above is a picture of the world's happiest illustrator Ashley Holt with his head on a stuffed version of The Demon.  I think Ashley had a birthday since our last Parade-O-Links.  That's as good a reason as any to post this picture.  (But I was going to post it anyway.  I think Josh Latta made it.)  I believe Robert Newsome also had a birthday since our last P-O-L.  And according to the facebook, April 16 was Brad McGinty's birthday.  Happy birthday y'all buncha geezers. 
• Josh Latta:  Social Media Queen.
• I've never been to MoCCA but I liked this piece Darryl Ayo Brathwaite wrote about it. 
• How about instead of step 5 we just slash your tires and burn your house to the ground you ignorant douche face?
• BREAKING:  Producers of the upcoming film adaptation of Dave Sim's Last Girlfriend have announced that the role of the fax machine will be played by Bradley Cooper. 
• Here's a tip for all you young copywriters: stop sucking so hard.
• Tom Spurgeon does some very interesting talking about comics at Deconstructing Comics. 
• A while back, Tucker Stone (still not dead) talked about Thanos and Judge Dredd and other things.  That Thanos comic sure looks weird.  Speaking of Thanos, one day earlier this month I was driving down the road listening to a sports talk radio station and I heard a radio commercial for Marvel's Thanos Rising.  That happened.  I swear to you that I was not under the influence.  Speaking of Judge Dredd, I watched that Dredd movie.  I liked it a lot.  Liked the look of it.  Loved the sound design.  I could listen to motors and gadgets for hours. 
• And finally...Iron Man's a drunk ya know.

Oh, and one more last thing!  Did you know you can leave comments on these posts here at file under other?  It's true!  And, I'll probably respond.  Twitter and facebook killed the message boards but that's no reason why you can't argue with me, praise me or leave me recipes.  It's your intronet.  Have fun!

And that's just a taste of some of the interesting things going out there in the wonderful world of comics and things. I can't keep up with it all but I do keep up with a lot of it on twitter and I try to re-tweet the good stuff. You should probably follow me there. If you did something to make comics better this week then high-five!

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.

Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 02032013

(Kickers Inc. #4 1986.  Image stolen from Comic Vine.)

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 week ending 02032013:

"I don’t know about you, but I’ve decided enough is enough. Everyone tells me social media has the potential for creating social change never seen before in human history. Okay, then I’d like to test it by seeing if social media can cut off the flow of money from DragonCon to accused child molester (and the convention’s co-owner) Ed Kramer, who has been using the 150K+ a year he receives each year from DragonCon to avoid trial and manipulate the justice system to allow him free reign to prey upon children, even while under supposed house arrest. All you have to do is publicly declare you will never attend DragonCon again as long as Edward Kramer profits from the convention."  -Nancy A. Collins. 

• Happy Superbowl Sunday everybody!  I hope that as we all pull our guts up to the Bonanza super bar of shiny new television commercials, with a small helping of football for desert, we will all remember the true spirit of Superbowl; smashing one another's heads in all for the love of points.  Points everybody!  Just like money but worthless!  Personally, I love the American tackle football.  Like the great Al Bundy, I served my country playing high school football.  I remember it well.  Mainly due to the concussions and a knee that alternates between discomfort and pain 24 hours a day.  Football!  But the Superbowl is most often the worst football game you will see in any given year.  This late in the season most of the best players can barley walk and the starters are determined by which guys are not seeing double at gametime.  So maybe the commercials really are the best part.  Personally, I'm hoping to see this commercial staring Francis.  From what I've heard, Volkswagen chose a lame commerical where a white actor dude speaks Rasta instead.  But maybe during the pre-game show or somewhere in the evening we'll get to see Francis and all our favorite YouTube stars on our big flat screen TVs because the last thing I want to see on my television is professional actors.   (Apparently, the Francis version aired during American Idol this week.  That ain't bad.  I reckon a few people still watch that show.)  Anyway... Go Steelers!
• And don't worry everybody.  Francis may be a celebrity now but he's still angry.  Never sell out Francis!

• People.  The great J. Chris Campbell, fourth sexist man in comics, has a new comic/art book he is ready to sell to you in paper and/or digital.  You need to go get that thing accomplished. 
• Grant Morrison had a birthday this week.  He's 53 now.  In Stan Lee years, that's 28.  Remember back when I was doing a series of articles re-examining Morrison's The Invisibles.  Well, I will get back to that.  As soon as possible.  Hang in there.  My life is a living hell challenging. 
• Fred Hembeck also had a birthday.  Dang I loves me some Fred Hembeck. 
• Ashley Holt, fourth best hair in comics, posted another one of his words and picture things that you enjoy so much as you read then hate him at the end for being more clever than you. 
• You had me at Dreadstar. 
• Remember when I mentioned that new Shonen Jump thing last week?  Well, Joe McCulloch has broken down the genetic code of every panel of the sucker.  (I told ya One-Punch man was the business.)

• So that Paperman cartoon there sure made a lot of people blow a load.  It's alright I guess. I wouldn't call it a "groundbreaking technique that seamlessly merges computer-generated and hand-drawn animation techniques" or anything.  Seamless is not a word I'd use.  Groundbreaking?  I mean, you people are aware of Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli right?  Don't get me wrong.  The cartoon is nice.  I like the part where Aladdin sits down beside the kid with the balloon.  I just think some of us spend so much time watching movies with video game animation that we feel like we've seen the face of God when we see moving line art. 
• Alec Longstreth on not going to Angouleme. (I don't know how to do those triangle letter hat things.) 
• Bart Beaty on yes going to Angouleme.  (I can't even pronounce it.)
• Hey everybody, won't you just shut up and go read this interactive experimental flash comic thing Pat Lewis drew for Mark Waid's website.  Super cool. 
• Holy cheese biscuits.  Go look at what Brad McGinty drew. Brad done did it again! 
• How much of your life have you spent lying around wishing Morrissey would beat the crap out of Robert Smith?  All of it?  Well here ya go.  Courtesy of Josh Latta.  He lives to serve. 
• People.  Last week, professional wrestler and WWE Champ CM Punk was forced to hand over his belt to a B movie actor.  It sucked.  There was never a doubt in my mind that it would not happen, but it still sucked.

• My good friend Paul McDonald wrote a book about Star Wars.  You can pre-order it now. 
• Okay James.  It's been over a month now.  You can start posting your strip again.  We get it.  Hah hah.  Good one. Now, get back to the comic strip please. 
• Look, I'm as sad about Young Justice being canceled as anyone but Teen Titans Go is gonna be a lot of fun. 
• How Bill Mantlo created the 80s. 
• People, people, people!  Eric Canete posted some new commissioned art this week. 
• Gabby Schulz drew some cute wittle cuddly wuddlies.  And then he went to the hospital. 

(I think it's A-Okay to laugh at Macaulay Culkin and his pals because I'm positive they are laughing at all of us.)

• We just want to tell you that all men are garbage. 
• Shaenon Garrity on some solid webcomics. 
• Tom Spurgeon on some digital comics news. 
• Panel Patter on the Mini-Comic Of The Month Club.  
• Hourly Comics Day happened again and The Beat rounded up a bunch of them.  Eleanor Davis did it and posted it here. 
• Every year when the color of the year is announced I change my blog colors to match it just to see if anyone notices.  They never, ever notice.  I don't think I'll do it this year because I don't really like that color. 
• No talks about Josh Simmons.
• So yeah.  Your comics collection can still totally land you in jail in America. (Maybe don't name your files "incest comics".)

THE BEST SINGLE NEW PRINT COMIC I READ THIS WEEK

(Image stolen from DC database.)
...is on hiatus because I did not read any new comics this week.  The comics shop nearest video came store that happens to sell comics is on the other side of a snow and ice storm from my house.  The weather is so bad that I could have gone to watch live professional wrestling Saturday and did not.  Ice people.  Ice.  My feet are cold.  I did read a 100 or so pages of volume one of the DC Showcase Presents The Brave and the Bold though.  And it is great.  These comics are written by Bob Haney and he is crazy.  Crazy!  This is a book that features Metamorpho and the Bat-Hulk and neither of those are the strangest things in it.  Get this.  There is a story in here where Batman has emotions about a woman.  A woman people!  Crazy man.  Crazy.
But hey.  Just because I did not make it to a comics shop and I don't have any plastic money for Comixology at the moment does not mean we can't talk about a new comic.  Here, go read this.  Dave Cooper everybody.  Actually, I think that comic is from last year sometime but who cares?  I promise you it's better than anything you could have found in a comic shop this (or almost any) week.

• And finally... My favorite Superbowl was the one where The Incredible Hulk murdered the Chicago Bears.

Oh, and one more last thing!  Did you know you can leave comments on these posts here at file under other?  It's true!  And, I'll probably respond.  Twitter and facebook killed the message boards but that's no reason why you can't argue with me, praise me or leave me recipes.  It's your intronet.  Have fun!

And that's just a taste of some of the interesting things going out there in the wonderful world of comics and things. I can't keep up with it all but I do keep up with a lot of it on twitter and I try to re-tweet the good stuff. You should probably follow me there. If you did something to make comics better this week then high-five!

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.

Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 01272013

(The Avengers #89 cover by Sal Buscema who celebrated a birthday this week.  Image stolen from Steve Does Comics.)

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 week ending 01272013:

"Your archaic view of creatives is part of what keeps jobs of this industry undervalued. Congratulations, you’ve officially locked out a great percentage of talented, friendly, hard working creatives who would originally have had great interest in attending your convention." - Jordie Bellaire. 

• Jeezziz people.  So much bitchin' and moanin' and crying this week.  The twitter blew up with "should I quit the comics?"  Why don't the comics love me?  Why won't the comics buy me a sub sandwich and rub my feet?  Why do the comics love other people so much and not return my emails?  Boo the ducking who.  Here's the thing about making comics. It's just making comics.  Get some paper and a pencil and go crazy.  Stop when you don't feel like doing it anymore.  Then maybe later, start making them again.  Or not.  There are all kinds of things that people that don't make comics do that seem to be totally rewarding.  I mean, some people can watch the crap out of some TV.  I hear about people getting famous for watching TV every day.  Or maybe you could play video games.  That would be super rewarding right?  Maybe join a guild or something.  And when you walk the street, people will step back and say, "There goes a video game player.  That person is contributing to society!"  Or maybe movies might be your thing?  You could pay your money and be a part of the magic.  Become a fan of a franchise.  Argue on twitter with lesser movie watchers about how stupid their opinions are.  Or maybe sports is where it's at.  I hear that if your favorite team wins the Super Bowl you you get to feel good about yourself for a solid 18 hours.  I mean why make art at all?  Why make anything?  Why do anything?  Why express yourself in any way?  What's the point?  Why create a tangible thing that could be enjoyed by tens of peoples?  Just sit down, shut up, plug into your cell pad pod phone and die.  Or not.  It's just comics.  You don't kneed anyone to justify it.  Do you think the average grandma gives a singe solitary F if someone thinks she should stop working on puzzles or knitting?  Do you think my dad gives a single solitary F if someone thinks he's not getting as many turkeys as he used to when he goes hunting?  You know when you stop a thing?  When you don't feel like doing that thing any more.  And then, maybe later, you might feel like doing it again.  And that's okay too.  Artists don't retire.  They just die.  There ain't no rules to this thing and the seat belts are just for show.  Anyone that thinks there are rules in art is a coward.  It's just comics.  It doesn't owe you anything.  The guy that created Spider-Man lives out of a freaking hotel room.  And he still makes comics.  It's just comics.
• My dear faithful loyal can't-live-without-it readers will have by now noticed that I frequently post videos featuring Francis and Boogie2998.  What you may not know is that both of those guys are one guy named Steven Williams.  I grew up with Steven.  His mom ran the head start.  We were on the drama team together in high school.  He graduated the year after me.  He's super smart.  Super funny.  But most of all he's a really good guy.  So, I'm super excited that he is featured in Volkswagon's new commercial that will hopefully be shown during the Super Bowl.  I think that before this, the closest anyone from my town ever came to fame was the time the Daily Show showed up to make fun of the next town over for selling their Christmas lights.  I don't know how these things work but the video below is a "pre-release" video.  Whatever that means.  But, do me a favor, watch it and hit the "like" button about thirty times.  Thanks.
• I'm writing this while listening to this so any thing that does not make sense should be blamed on Robert Newsome. 
• Apparently, one day this week was open mouth kiss a colorist day or something. 
• Speaking of color, Jim Rugg stumbled upon the amazing discovery that comics colored on a lighted screen and presented on a lighted screen are brighter than those on paper. 
• Look.  You have probably already don this, but if not, just go read that Rob Liefled script.  Trust me.  Abbey Coleslaw did a pretty good parody of it, but honestly, the real thing is funnier. 
• Here are some freaking staggering photos of early 1900s Paris.  Now I get why Paris was such a big deal. 
• "Abbey Coleslaw" is cheap and I'm bigger than that.  Usually.  Just wanted to see if anyone was paying attention. 
• RIP Skummie. 
• There is going to be another movie about Steve Ditko's Doctor Strange.  What?  You want a link for that? Google people.  Google. 

• Shonen Jump relaunched their website and, I guess, the way I understand it, maybe, it is that it now has the comics in English on the same day they come out in Japan?  Or something that means a lot to people that read Shonen Jump.  Anyway, I can't keep up with it but, I did go through the sampler and it was a lot of fun.  That One-Punch Man is genius. Oh, and in Japan, they only have 48 weeks in a year.  Which is terrifying. (And probably not true.  Joey Weiser totally explained it to me but pretending that there are only 48 weeks in Japan is way funnier.  For me.  I'm laughing for you.  I carry a heavy load.)
• Speaking of manga, the Comics Reporter leads me to believe that this will be something. 
• So, you can read most of Kyle Baker's creator owned comics online.  Right now. 
• Josh Simmons has a tumblr. Not safe for work anywhere.
• Oh, and Patrick Dean has one too.  It's just the best. 
• People.  You can read Howard the Duck newspaper strips online.  Until you can't anymore. 
• Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag.  I'm not dating Danica Patrick.  This guy, was probably a sophomore in high school when Danica was posing for FHM.  Oh man I bet his friends hate his guts. 
• Have I ever talked to you people about Star Wars?  I like Star Wars.  They are my favorite wars.  My pal Paul McDonald likes Star Wars a lot.  So much, he wrote a book about it.  He recently wrote about the passing of his mother as, literally, only he could. 
• Oh, and again with the Star Wars.  J.J. Abrams?  Well, alright. 
• "The only good news is, out of it all, ya beat the hospital. Lets see ‘em collect your bills now!"
• "But, to repeat, I STILL don't know how long the book is. No idea. Conservative guess, it could be another 200 pages -- maybe 300."
• Comics blogging up-and-comer Gary Groth talks about EC Comics. 
• Jog talks about Howard Chaykin's Black Kiss 2 as all good comics types should.  (I'm ashamed to say that I have not read it yet.  Other than some online previews I've never laid eyes on the thing.  It's not exactly filling up the racks of rural American comic shops and Wal-Mart was fresh out.  My plan was to try and pick up a bunch of them during the coming con season but I'll probably break down and get it off eBay when I get my tax return.  I dream big.)
• Ed Kramer.  DragonCon.  And really bad lousy journalism.  Sigh.  I just can't.  I just can't even get into this story or the pathetic "journalism" exhibited by the many comics websites that have covered it, but, let me just say this- you can totally hit up wikipedia and check the bare minimum facts of your story before you hit the "publish" button.  Hell, maybe even read some of the articles from your own website or newspaper first.  Seriously people... THE MAN STILL OWNS 34 #[](%ING PERCENT OF DRAGONCON!  HE IS PROFITING OFF TEENAGERS DRESSING UP AS FIONA AND CAKE AND WALKING IN THEIR PARADE!  Gah.
• Last weekend the HeroesCon folks threw a minicon in Charlotte.  And from the look of these photos, it was great. 
• The Dollar Bin wants you to vote for things.  
• I like Microcosm Publishing.  Let's take a look at their catalog. 
• Ya know, those Barbie comics were pretty good.  For, ya know, comics about a doll.  I see them in the dollar bins from time to time and get them for my girls.  The like 'em and wish there were more of 'em.
• Chris Sims says that The Batman ain't down with the guns.  But don't take Chris Sims word for it, let Chris Sims tell you about it. 

(Image stolen from... I don't know where actually.  Forwarded to me by a friend at work.  Hi Keenan.)

THE BEST SINGLE NEW PRINT COMIC I READ THIS WEEK

(Image stolen from Comic Vine.)
...was X-O Manowar #9 by Robert Venditti, Trevor Hairsine, Brian Reber and a bunch of other people.  This comic, like the previous eight issues and most of the Valiant books I've seen so far is quality from cover to cover.  Great cover art, nice book design, bold logos that jump out from the comic racks, nice production, nice editorial material, nice house ads, high quality art, colors, letters and writing.  A very good comic.  I love the X-O Manowar series and how Venditti has handled it as a sci-fi and historical mash up rather than a super hero book.  I'm a sucker for sci-fi and when you hand your space Visigoth a crazy energy sword thing it is going to be hard to lose me.  And while Venditti could probably just tell the artist to draw 20 odd pages of swords and explosions and space smashing and I would probably be okay, the story is really moving and the characters/entities involved are making some unexpected choices along the way to keep it interesting.  Is that what good drama is?  Maybe?  I was just an English minor so they never showed me the full back of tricks.  This particular issue may the best yet.  (Although those first four were really strong.)  After I put this issue down I felt like it had been non-stop action.  X-O faces off against some bad alien dudes in some similar armor so the stakes seemed higher.  But when I flip back through it I realize that this thing covers a lot of ground.  There is a lot of dialog and exposition moving the story from one phase into what will be the next story arc but it did not feel like set up.  It just felt, like, um, you know, entertaiment.  And nerds, you know what I mean right? You know how comics publishers will set up their big story arcs for months with hype and ads but feed you garbage filler in in the issues leading up to it?  No filler her.  And that's a big part of what I have liked about all of Venditti's work so far is that almost every panel moves the story.  And this artist, Trevor Hairsine, he's pretty good too.  I like his work here a lot.  He's got some Neal Adams moments in there that are very cool.  Right up there with Cary Nord.  And that is another great thing about these books.  Even though there have been three artists in just 9 issues the art has been consistent.  Not saying the guys all draw the same but saying the quality, tone and overall look of the book has been consistent.  And when you consider, that DC can't even get one artist to complete one full issue of a lot of their books, I really appreciate that consistency.  Editorial at Valiant apparently knows what they are doing. 

• And finally... a good crowd has gathered to wish our superhero well.

Oh, and one more last thing!  Did you know you can leave comments on these posts here at file under other?  It's true!  And, I'll probably respond.  Twitter and facebook killed the message boards but that's no reason why you can't argue with me, praise me or leave me recipes.  It's your intronet.  Have fun!

And that's just a taste of some of the interesting things going out there in the wonderful world of comics and things. I can't keep up with it all but I do keep up with a lot of it on twitter and I try to re-tweet the good stuff. You should probably follow me there. If you did something to make comics better this week then high-five!

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.

Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 01202013

(Image of a historically and scientifically correct flying gorilla stolen from The Golden Age.)

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 week ending 01202013:

“I had no idea the world really looked like this, with such infinite clarity. It looks like a modernist photo or a hyperreal film, everything in focus everywhere. Everyone kept saying ‘oh, do you see the leaves now?’ but the first thing I saw was not the leaves but the people. People, individuated, each with brilliant faces and expressions at gaits, the sun streaming down upon them. I couldn’t help but smile. It’s much harder being a misanthrope when you can see people’s faces.”   -Aaron Swartz

(Just like Bachman-Turner Overdrive.)

• The Fluke minicomics and zine fest in Athens GA is one of my favorite shows.  Earlier this week they had registration for the first 60 tables and they all sold out in one day.  Not bad.  But don't fret none G.  They held back a few tables and have a waiting list so you should probably look into that right now.  The show is April 6th.  You are going to have so much fun buying me a beer.  I can't wait!
• People.  Paul Pope's Battling Boy looks great.  I'ma gonna need one of those. In related news, EW still exists. 
• Rob Clough talks to Charles Forsman about the Oily and the subscription model publishing. 
• And because he is Rob Clough he also reviewed a bunch of minicomics. 
• Kate Beaton explains what all the youngs need to know about going to art school and or teaching themselves art.  The most important take away to remember is that yes, young impressionable artist, yes you should totally steal a copy of Photoshop. 
• Annie Koyama at Meanwhile.
• Warren Ellis says don't worry, everything is fine.  Trust him.  He has an accent. 

• Paul Gravett read some interesting comics last year. 
• How to help Peter David get back to Peter Daviding. 
• The Comics Reporter did another digital/web/non-paper comic round up. 
• Sigh. 
• One of the benefits of being late with this week's Parade-O-Links is that I can squeeze in a link to The Comics Reporter's Five For Firday post.  It's my favorite game show. 
• I like Ann Nocenti and I like Katana a lot more than is rational so I'm gonna want this comic but then my local comic shop (which is really a video game store) is not going to have it and then I'll be sad but then latter I'll probably buy it at Cavalier Comics over in Wise, VA  or maybe at a comic book convention or maybe on eBay.  (Katana talks to her sword people.  She talks to a sword.  Shhh... she thinks her husband is in it.  Katana is is teh cray cray.)
• The thing that most makes me furious about this Platinum nonsense is that I've been calling Steven Spielberg for 20 years and not one meeting.  Not one damned meeting Steven! 
• Hang in there true believer. 
• Are you people watching the best show on TV?  Are you watching Boyd Crowder Junkie Exploder Justified?  You should.  My man Walton Goggins is the business y'all. 
• The Christopher Reeve version is the correct version. 
• Obviously. 
• This Joe Kubert comics explains every detail of how comics are were made. It's all in the high-powered arc lights.
• Chris Sims talks about Batman and guns and guns and Batman.   

• This super pretentious sounding Autoptic show in Minneapolis sounds like it will certainly be a thing that happens in August.  I think every town in the United States should have its own indie comics and zine festival once year.  At each show, one creator will be selected through a series of vicious and violent challenges.  Then, at the end of the festival season, all of the selected creators will be dropped on an island and forced to fight to the death.  This will not be televised.  The sole surviving creator will draw a minicomic of the event and send one copy back to mankind by bottle.  
• Awww Lil Bub wolled awound on duh cowmics and wuz so cute with its willte curly tongue and its wittle kitty face. 
• Robert Newsome's talking and music thing was good this week.  Liked that song about monkey Godzooky or whatever it was.  And also, he talked about wrestling again. 

• Heavy Metal, Gasoline Alley and other things are burning in hell.  I have not listened to this one yet but I'm gonna assume the boys use the F word a lot. 
• I just pray this thing sells well enough that Boom will do a follow up where Finn and Jake from Adventure Time read Dave Sim's faxes as printed out of BMO's butt.  (Dave Sim is so the Ice King.)
• So the way I make this Parade-O-Links each week is that I have this online checklist creator thing to make a list, and I just paste in interesting things I see all week.  And this week, I pasted in bunch of stuff about Robert Venditti.  The comics people, they like to talk to Robert Venditti.  I like talking to him too.  He's swell and good at the thinking and talking.  Comics Vine talked to him about X-O Manowar.  Then they talked to him some more about Demon Knights.  Then io9 talked to him some more about Demon Knights.

THE BEST SINGLE NEW PRINT COMIC I READ THIS WEEK

(Image stolen from Archonia.)

...was a lot of trouble to figure out.  We had a big snow storm this week that kept me from the local comic shop (which is actually a video game store and which is actually not local to the town where I live but is in the town where I work).  I finally made it to the shop on Saturday but did not see a lot of interesting books.  My pal Robert Venditti's first issue of Demon Knights came out this week.  I wanted that comic.  I read a bit of the Cornell run and thought it was okay, I like the Demon and I like all of Venditti's comics so I had the shop order me a copy and add it to my "list" as soon as it was announced.  But, like clockwork, the shop did not get Demon Knights 16.  They are not so great at getting the comics I want. They still have not gotten any copies of Superior Spider-Man.  Not one single time have they had X-O Manowar on the week it came out.  (Which is the only reason it has not been my BEST NEW SINGLE PRINT COMIC I READ THIS WEEK so far.)  Oh well, the rural life is hard.  So the comics I got were bATMan #16 and All-New X-Men #6.
Batman was okay.  Just okay.  Snyder and Capullo are very good at making Batman comics but I'm disappointed with this "Death of the Family" story. It's just not for me.  It's gross.  It's disgusting.  It is horror and it feels more like Snyder doing his impersonation of a horror movie than it does something fresh or imaginative.  Snyder's big long Owl story was more of a mystery thriller and I thought he nailed it.  He understood all the beats and the pacing.  The pacing feels really rushed in this Joker thing.  It's like he's using Grant Morrison hyper speed style.  It works for Morrison because Morrison is telling Silver Age madness.  It does not work for horror.  This issue is mostly a house of death traps comic where Batman goes through his rogues gallery like going through bosses at the end of video game levels.  Which is exactly what Grant Morrison did better just recently in Batman Inc.  There is no time for anything to resonate in this.  Beating Clayface should be bigger.  Beating Mr. Freeze should be bigger.  Seeing your main foes and the Joker arranged as a royal court at the end should be bigger.  It's too many oh my god moments without any time for the audience to say oh my god.  It's not scary if the audience does not have time to scream.
All-New X-Men was very good.  The best of the series so far.  All of the set up was ironed out in issues 1 through 5 so now we get to see Bendis do what he does best.  Write people talking on and on and on.  And it's great.  That is what the X-Men do between funerals. This issue has two things going on.  Kitty Pryde teaching Jean Grey how to be Jean Grey and Wolverine trying to teach Cyclops not to be Cyclops.  And no sight of a villain until you hit the last page.  A very good X-Men comic but I'm not going to give it my BEST designation.
Nope, THE BEST NEW SINGLE PRINT COMIC I READ THIS WEEK was my daughter's delivered by mail subscription copy of Life With Archie #26.  Written by Paul Kupperberg with art by Fernando Ruiz, Pat Kennedy and Tim Kennedy.  There is so much to love about this comic.  For one thing, it cost $3.99 (less by subscription) and has two full length comics in it.  That is the same price as bATMan and All-New X-Men.  Plus it is a very comfortable magazine size.  And I love the cheap paper.  It smells great.  Hate that glossy crap.  For those that have not read Life With Archie, it is an elseworlds kind of thing where Archie has two possible futures.  In one, he marries Veronica and in the other he marries Betty.  The two comics are surprisingly different and together they provide a lot of soap opera story lines.  In just this issue Kevin Keller (the much hyped gay war vet character) is running for Senate, Kevin's husband is going through physical therapy after getting shot, Veronica is starting her own business, Archie is starting work as a record exec,  Moose is dealing with drama in his job as Mayor and  Reggie and Betty are having problems with their reality show.  And that is just in the Veronica half of the book!  I've said this before but I love it when things happen in a comic book.  Kupperberg is moving a huge cast trough two comics at the same time.  I'm impressed. 

• And finally... if Boogie can do it, you can do it. 

Oh, and one more last thing!  Did you know you can leave comments on these posts here at file under other?  It's true!  And, I'll probably respond.  Twitter and facebook killed the message boards but that's no reason why you can't argue with me, praise me or leave me recipes.  It's your intronet.  Have fun!

And that's just a taste of some of the interesting things going out there in the wonderful world of comics and things. I can't keep up with it all but I do keep up with a lot of it on twitter and I try to re-tweet the good stuff. You should probably follow me there. If you did something to make comics better this week then high-five!

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.