I drove 628 miles round trip to buy your minicomic: The 2014 fuo Fluke report.

This is Fluke. (Image stolen from Fluke.) 

(EDITOR'S NOTE:  I started writing this soon after Fluke but then I got busy with work that pays me money.  Sorry.  As much as I'd love to spend all day creating "content" for you to share with your mom on Facebook, I gotta get paid. The kids gotta have their My Little Ponies.)

FLUKE, APRIL 19th 2014. ATHENS GA, USA.

Fluke is a mini-comics and zine festival that takes place in Athens GA USA every spring.  I love it.  I think this is year twelve of the show.  I think I've been to maybe seven of them?  I like it so much that when I don't go I have Henry Eudy drop in by parachute to write a report about it for file under other.  (Or maybe he drives there?  I forget logistics.)  The point that I am trying to make with this opening paragraph is that Fluke is great.  I love it.  You love it.  We love it. 

I love Fluke so much that I requested to have off from work the Friday before the show months in advance so that I could drive down before the show and enjoy Athens.  This request was denied.  So, I had to leave after work and drive in the rain all Friday night showing up in town sometime in the Saturday AM.  Same as always.

The way you (and by you, I mean I) get to Athens GA from southwest VA is to drive to Kingsport, TN then get on Interstate 26 and take it through the Carolinas then on into Georgia.  I'd like to take a moment to talk with you about the abomination that is Interstate 26.  

I once read a book about traveling through Mongolia and post Soviet Russia and how terrible the roads were.  As in there were not any roads.  I'm assuming it was a lot like Interstate 26.  Calling Interstate 26 an "interstate" is the most flattering lie I could direct at Interstate 26.  Interstate 26 is a nightmare.  It is driving for three hours on road so bumpy that you have to keep telling yourself over and over that you do not have a flat tire.  Yet.  How do people in North Carolina live like this?  If you drive that road more than once a week I assure you that you are living with a constant concussion and you are most likely brain damaged right now.  Brain damage being the only thing I can imagine that has prevented every single citizen of North Carolina from marching on their state capital and demanding that Interstate 26 be improved and/or just murdering everyone in the building. 

Sections of I-26 have sings that read "Future".  They have said this for years and years.  The future is never going to come to North Carolina.  I guess the future can't happen everywhere.

Eventually, I made it to Interstate 85 and headed on into Georgia.  Touching tires to asphalt on I-85 after hours on I-26 is like arriving at Disney World after a days long journey.  I can only imagine what it must feel like for pilgrims to arrive at Mecca but I'm guessing the elation is much like that moment when you realize that all of I-26 is behind you. 

This concludes the Interstate Highway System review portion of the report. 

Around 12:20 or 1:30 AM (some time with a 30 in it) I finally arrived that the home of cartoonist extraordinaire and Fluke organizer Patrick Dean.  Patrick had graciously offered me couch space to I took him up on it as I am cheap and don't like sleeping outside. I presented my host with a collection of Werewolf by Night comics as is the custom.  Patrick gave me the tour of his lovely home.  He has some very impressive original art but I mainly looked at his kids' toys. We then talked about Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko for a while.  Again, as is the custom.

The next morning everyone got up and I met Patrick's wife and kids.  Patrick's son showed me his toys.  We had a nice breakfast and then it was time to get out there and make Fluke happen.  Patrick lives a few minutes outside of Athens and I enjoyed the drive into town.  The non-Atlanta parts of Georgia are very pretty.  Trees, ponds, ducks, covered bridges, Waffle Houses with giant bulldogs painted on the side... it's nice.

We went to Kroger and picked up a giant cake for the show.  As is the custom.

This is 40 Watt Club around 9 AM before the Fluking starts.

We got to the 40 Watt Club around 9 AM and met up with Fluke organizer, writer, editor, publisher, retired pod-caster and all round swell fellow Robert Newsome.  This is a good two hours before the show starts but there were already a few exhibitors waiting to get into the show.  Which is odd, because Fluke adopted a pre-show registration process last year so these guys knew they had a table.  But, who am I to question their enthusiasm?   I drove six hours in the rain.

At 9 AM on a Saturday, 40 Watt Club is an empty place.  It was strange to be in a bar in the AM and not be intoxicated.  I pressed on. Robert and Patrick's friends showed up to help set up for the show.  They included Joey Weiser, Michele Chidester, Drew Weing, David Mack and maybe some other people I apologize for forgetting.  In my mind, I call this group of people Athens Force and when I think the words "Athens Force" I see it in my mind in the font from the cover logo of  Atari Force.  They showed up to help load in the tables but the tables were not there yet.  Drama!
Not really.  The tables showed up a little while after 9:30.  We probably had them set up and ready for Fluking by 10.

Somewhere previously in that last paragraph, I should have mentioned that while we waited for the tables two fun things happened.  1) Patrick Dean went to Waffle House to get a knife to cut the Fluke Cake but he also bought and ate a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit because he felt it was the polite thing to do.
2)  Robert Newsome played with the Fluke megaphone.  Fluke has a megaphone.

This is Michele Chidester using sorceress powers to make a cake appear. (She did not really use sorceress powers to make it appear.  Patrick Dean bought it from a grocery store bakery. I saw it happen.  Both Michele and Patrick may have sorcery based powers but I'm pretty sure the cake was just eggs, flour, sugar and whatever else goes into cakes.  What does go into cakes?  I honestly have no idea.  (It's probably sorcery.)

This is the stage of 40 Watt Club.  Famous people have performed music on that stage.  I have never seen that happen.  I have seen people buy, trade and read minicomics and zines in a rock club though.

This is Robert Newsome harassing complete strangers with a Megaphone.  (He totally knows who those people are but the thought of him harassing strangers is funnier.)

 It was my understanding that the Earth revolves around the sun so the appearance of sunshine moving is just an illusion.  But, since these guys have an exact street address of where the sunshine has moved, I may be wrong.

Tables hungry for Fluking.

The line was backed up all the way to where the sunshine had moved.

At 10 AMish, exhibitors were allowed into the show to set up.  This is great because a lot of the exhibitors are my long time pals.  It only takes a few minutes to set up so that leaves some time to socialize.  As soon as Henry Eudy came through the door I flagged him down and asked if he wanted to share a table with me.  This is because I love him.
He said yes.
We used his cool Halloween skull tablecloth to cover our table.  It looked nice.

This is my table setup.  Kinda orange. 

After the tables were set up, the knife was acquired and Patrick ate his biscuit, the non-exhibitor patron type people were welcomed in at 11 AM and Fluke was on.

Also at 11 AM, 40 Watt Club's bar opened.  I believe I was the first customer.  I ordered Jim Beam with Ginger Ale.  Five bucks and a tip.  It was good. 

This is me making a face at Henry Eudy. (Image stolen from Henry Eudy.)

This is Henry Eudy (the world's most dangerous man) making a face at me.

 Robert Newsome.  The longest reigning The Atomic Elbow Professional Wrestling Zine World Heavyweight Champ of the modern era.

This is Robert Newsome yelling at my shoes with a megaphone.  (He is not really yelling at my shoes but, again, made up stuff is funnier.)  (Image stolen from Fluke.) 

Now there are people in Fluke doing Fluke things.  I see Rich Tommaso, J. Chris Campbell and Jason Horn.  We are doing Fluke y'all!   (Image stolen from Fluke.) 

This is Adam Daughhetee doing Adam Daughhetee things.  (Image stolen from Fluke.) 
Adam and Shawn Daughhetee had the new Dollar Bin comics zine thing and it looked great.  It contains an Adam Rose pin-up by me.  You should track them down and buy 12 copies. 

That is Eleanor Davis on the right being tall and awesome. (Image stolen from Fluke.) 

Yes, David Mack and Joey Weiser would like some cake. (Image stolen from Fluke.) 

Fluke does not have an awards show or panels.  Fluke has cake.  I think we started eating the cake around noon.  

It was probably also around noon that Patrick's wife showed up with more biscuits from Waffle House.  Patrick ate them.

Henry Eudy's cake kind of fell apart.  He cried for a while and then murdered all of us.  (No, he did not murder us.  But again, made up stuff is funny and murder is hilarious.)  (Image stolen from Fluke.) 

That is Adam Casey doing Adam Casey things. (Image stolen from Fluke.) 

 This is people Fluking.

The show had a good crowd.  All of the tables were sold out in one day of registration so we knew the room would be full.  I think the walk up non-cartoonist attendance was steady.  Not the most shoppers I've seen at Fluke but it was a rainy day and the day before Easter.  I didn't sell as much as I have in the past but a lot of the business you do at a show like this is with other cartoonists and I did not have anything new on my table that the folks that I already knew had not already picked up.  I was also out of what have been my two best selling comics so I guess I need to re-print those and finish some new stuff right now.

 Here is a picture I took from one of Henry Eudy's sketchbooks.  I think it is great.

Henry Eudy seemed to do very well.  Henry's table is a good example of my multiple price points philosophy in action.  Henry had small prints and comics in an affordable price range.  And his stuff looks great.  His bigger prints with their bold colors seemed to bring folks over and the smaller stuff gave them something to walk away with.

I didn't ask anyone about sales or numbers but Rich Tommaso seemed to be very busy.  He had a solid variety of Recoil books on his table.  The all look great.  Picking up some stuff from Rich was one of the main things on my to-do list.  So I did.

Other things on my to-do list included getting whatever Drew Weing and Eleanor Davis had to offer and getting anything that Patrick Dead had that I was missing from my collection.  I did those things and it was good.

I really was not focused on selling. I was mainly there to talk to my comics friends and see what was new.  I talked to J. Chris Campbell about Brad McGitny.  I talked to Rich Tommaso about Patrick Dean.  I talked to Drew Weing about Margo Maloo.  I talked to Robert Newsome about Jimmy Valiant.  I talked to a lot of people about wrestling.  A lot of people talked to me about how rad my Brad McGinty t-shirt was.  I regretted not talking as much as I wanted to to many other people.  (Sorry bros.  Get at me at HeroesCon.)

 This is Patrick Dean announcing that Fluke has cake for people to eat.  I really should have put this picture up above the pictures of people eating the cake but get your own blog and don't tell me what to do. Maybe try tumblr.  All the kids love tumblr.

Here are more Fluke people.  I'm pretty sure I've known everyone in this picture for about a decade but I don't know any of their names.  (I know some of their names but, again, comedy.)

Here is another picture that looks almost the same as the other pictures I took from behind my table.  Walking around and taking pictures honestly never occurred to me.  Professional photo journalists just stand in one spot and wait for something exciting to happen right?  Well, that's what I did.

The dude on the left is me and the dude on the right is my pal writer and former co-worker Todd O'Brien.  The last time I saw him was a previous Fluke show about 5 years ago.  He grew a beard.  And a hat.  Maybe he bought the hat.  I didn't ask.  Look, if anyone can grow a hat, it's that guy.

After Fluke we all went to the Bizzaro-Wuxtry comics shop.  As is the custom.  It is great.  You should go there.  They have at least one of everything.  Also, Devlin, the gentleman that runs the shop, bought copies of Fluke peoples' minicomic and zines to sell in the shop.  Go there now.  I several different minicomics on sell there right now.  Right now!

This is Robert Newsome playing with a Hulk toy at Bizzaro-Wuxtry.  I thought about cropping out that bending over dude's back but whatever.  When I put this picture on my facebook page it wanted me to "tag" all of those masks because it thought they were all real peoples' faces.  Ha hah hah!  The joke is on you Zuckerberg!  You may be worth a billion dollars but that website you "invented" that is just MySpace with the customization features turned off does not know the difference between a Sylvester the Cat mask and a human being!

We eventually left Bizzaro and headed out looking for some dinner.  I was super hungry having eaten only breakfast, cake and some tic-tacs.  Patrick was starving having only eaten at least breakfast, cake and three bacon egg and cheese biscuits.  Robert, Patrick, my pall Todd and I ended up at Yummy Pho where we found Rich Tommaso, his girlfriend and another fellow to whom I apologize for not remembering his name.  I ordered grilled pork.  It was great.  Robert and Patrick ordered these huge bowls of crazy Vietnamese noodles.  These bowls were the size of bowls you would use if you were going to make a large quantity of food that would then be served in several smaller bowls to several people.  They ate it all and did not die.  I was impressed.

Yummy Pho was very good and very affordable.  I recommend it.  I wish I was there eating right now. (Even though Robert Newsome thinks that adults should not say the word "yummy".  I kinda agree with him.  Maybe mothers can say the word yummy to their own children but a grown man should probably never say it unless talking specifically about a Vietnamese restaurant with the word "yummy" in its name or Chester Brown comics.)

This is a picture of the stuff I got at Fluke.  Actually, I got other things but those were for my kids and they took those things before I took this picture. 

After dinner and a stop in a record store (it was record store day) it was time to say my sad farewells and head back to Virginia.  Huge enormous thank-yous to Patrick Dean and his family for having me.  Thanks to Robert and everyone else for hanging out and having a swell time.  I miss you all already.  Let's do it again. 

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 07222013

(The Star Brand no. 12 from 1988 drawn by John Byrne.  Which, if I remember correctly, used a story taking place at a comic book convention as an excuse to get the X-Men and John Byrne himself in the comic.  But it wasn't the real X-Men of course, it was just cosplayers.  Nobody hates his fans more than John Byrne.  One of comics' great dick moves by one of comics' greatest dicks.  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 07222013:

 "No company has ever created a comic book, or a character, on its own -- for that you need the creativity of individuals. I know you know this, but... sometimes we forget. Sometimes there are very enthusiastic consumers who will excitedly name the holder of a trademark but have no idea who sat behind a desk or a drawing table in 1966 and just let their imagination wander.
Maybe it's not too late to change that."  -Sean Howe.

• Hey brothers and sisters.  My vacation was great.  Thanks for asking.  The kids and I went to Atlanta GA to visit family and have some fun.  We went to White Water, Zoo Atlanta, The Varsity, saw the Braves play the Reds and had a wonderful time not working.  We used to live in Atlanta but this was my first visit in a few years.  A lot has changed.  There are several new massive shopping centers directly across the street from the old massive shopping centers which are now empty.  My old Buckhead stomping grounds have changed a lot.  I can't believe the Chick-Fil-A on Piedmont is closed.  We went to Oxford comics.  It was the same as ever.  In fact, their little indie comics section had a lot of the same comics that were sitting there the last time I was in the store about five years ago. But yeah, a great time was had by all.  This was my first week off from work that did not involve a hospital in a long long time.  So that was nice.
• Thanks to the trip to the zoo, my kids and I are kind of obsessed with the pandas now.  Not long after we were there one of the pandas had some baby pandas.  It was a big deal.
• Comic-Con happened.  Again.  Congrats to all the Eisner winners and nominees and everyone else on Earth that could use a little congratulating. 
• I didn't go to Comic-Con but I did get this copy of Essential Nova for less that five dollars. 
• Big news at the show was that the most obvious no-brainer in all of movie history has finally been decided upon by the geniuses at Warner.  The Batman and Superman characters will be in a movie together.  (Now if we can just get Jaws and Orca in the same movie.)  This of course ramps up speculation on who should play Batman.  There is only one correct answer to that question.  Walton Goggins will play both Batman and the Joker.  Debate over. Get on with your lives. 

• Speaking of cons, I'll be at Rob-Con in Bristol TN this coming weekend.  Come see me.  You can pay me cash money to draw things for you.  The show is in a neat old arena and last year the place was packed.  Great deals on comics and toys.  Fun!   You like "Fun!" right?  I tell ya, I've spent a lot of time studying the pros and cons of work, fun and soul crushing depression and I gotta say, fun wins every time. 

(Image stolen from Brad Tuttle and made aware to me by The Comics Reporter.)

• Who owns the Man of Steel?  Increasingly, I'm beginning to believe that it may really be Lex Luthor. 
• I'd like to encourage you guys to listen to my favorite podcast that I listen to every Friday morning. 
• Another podcast is The Dollar Bin.  They recently talked to America's most adorable and beloved cartoonist in exile illustrator Ashley Holt.  In this discussion, Holt dares to suggest that at some time in your life you may reach a point where you may have had all the Batman that you will ever need.  I doubt it.  But everything else Ashley says is spot on.
• Also, Ashley Holt murders birds.  Kills 'em dead. 
• I'd like to take a moment to post a recent photo of Diane Nelson.  

• That was a recent photo of Diane Nelson.  I stole it from Newsarama.  I did not read the article.  But I bookmarked the picture of Diane Nelson.  It seemed important. She looks very happy.  I hope to one day know the kind of joy she seems to hold in her heart.  I want to know what kind of happiness could fill a heart so full that one's eyes sparkle with the power cosmic.  (It's Harry Potter's magic!)

(Don't tell J.K. Rowling!)

• This post at The Comics Reporter about a new Eleanor Davis book from Fantagraphics made me happy because she's pretty great.  I've probably seen most of what will be in that book already but I don't think I own much of it on paper so I look forward to it.  Also, this line jumped out at me; "After a while I realized that sort of ephemeral, small, fluid voice is basically all I need -- I suspect I'll never do a graphic novel, I'll never have a cohesive style or a thesis or any major theme to my stuff".  That statement was refreshing to me.  Comics spent a decade or two so obsessed with the graphic novel.  As if your value as a cartoonist was entirely dependent on the quality of your 250 to 600 page graphic novel. I'm just over graphic novels.  All graphic novels did for comics was cut our best cartoonists output down to one book every six years.  And that is terrible.  Die graphic novels die. 
• Hey everybody, go read Rich Tommaso's Dry County at Study Group.  It's great. 
• Sexy time with Jack Kirby.
• “I'm also still the god of Rock and Cock, of course.”
• And finally... I've been playing some games lately.

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.
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 10072012

(According to Wikipedia and other things on teh intronets, Vampire Tales #2 came out in October of 1973.  "NEW! SATANA".  According to my mom, I came out in October of 1973 also!  But she could be wrong.  I honestly don't remember much before 1975.  Image stolen from Comic Megastore.)

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 10072012:

"When the book came out," Brunner said, "Stan finally got a hold of it, and he wrote us a letter saying, 'We can't do God. You're going to have to print, in the letters column, a retraction, saying this is not the God, this is just a god.' Steve and I said, 'Oh, come on! This is the whole point of the story! If we did that retraction of God, this is meaningless!' So, we cooked up this plot — we wrote a letter from a Reverend Billingsley in Texas, a fictional person, saying that one of the children in his parish brought him the comic book, and he was astounded and thrilled by it, and he said, 'Wow, this is the best comic book I've ever read.' " Englehart had a Christmastime layover in Dallas, and mailed it from there, ensuring a proper postmark. "We got a phone call from Roy, and he said, 'Hey, about that retraction, I'm going to send you a letter, and instead of the retraction, I want you to print this letter.' We printed our letter! We later found out that Jim Starlin was in New York at that time, up in the Marvel offices, and he was reading the Doctor Strange fan mail, and he was the one who actually saw the letter, believed it was the real thing, and gave it to Roy, who gave it to Stan." -Marvel shenanigans as detailed in this excerpt from Sean Howe's Marvel Comics: The Untold Story.

(Birthday thing Sam Henderson posted on my facebook page.  I laughed.  That Sam Henderson is great.)

• The most important news of the week was that it was my birthday on Saturday.  I'm sure you sent me something nice but I understand that it may be late what with the whole Columbus day postal holiday and all.  It's cool.  I'll be sitting by the mailbox on Tuesday morning.  Boy, it sure is gonna be great.
• But seriously tanks for all the well wishes on teh twudder and teh bookface etc. etc.  I do appreciate it. 
• I have just finished up what is the busiest time of year at my job.  So, I'll go ahead and apologize about how this post is going to be a bit short and leave out some regular features.  Sorry. 
• This post was created while listening to this.  Maybe you wanna check that out.
• Hey, did you know that it is October?  It's true?  So that means that those sexy guys I've never met over at Wide Awake Press are posting a bunch of fall demonic holiday and/or horror themed art called Halloweirdos.  You should probably go buy 31 computers so that each day's art can be your wallpaper on one of each of those 31 computers.
• The great Mike Hoffman talked about Tarzan and the trouble with being human beings that are not Tarzan.  You should read it.  I do not agree however with his notion that we should put Tarzan to rest.  I tend to think that we should make ONLY Tarzan.  I tend to think that with any new idea we have we should ask ourselves, is this Tarzan?  And if it is not Tarzan it should be abandoned and condemned.
• Vote early.  Vote often.  Vote C.O.B.R.A.
• Joey Weiser's Mermin is coming out in hardback from Oni.  It is in Previews now.  That is cool.
• Hey kids!  Learn to draw the Gary Panter way!
• Am I the only one that thinks Mike Luckovich looks like he probably jumped out of his car and bashed someones' head in at a red light on the way to the interview?  Beetlejuice!  I'm sure it's just me.

 (Image stolen from Eleanor Davis.)

• Eleanor Davis is very good at making comics.  Here, go read this now.  It was great wasn't it?
• Heather Peagler takes a look at B.P.R.D.
• I just can't even.  I just don't... sob.  Oh well, alright. 
• The New York Art Book Fair looks like parent teacher day at Monster High.
• I'd like to take a minute to tell you people something from my heart.  Because, I feel like at this point we are family.  It is really hot where I'm sitting right now.  I'm kinda sweating. 
• Love and Rockets are burning in hell. 
• And another thing that I feel like I can share with you because, well, I feel like we are friends and that I can trust you.  My mouse is not working that great.  I don't have my regular mouse pad right now and this is not working out at all.  Now, you tell me.  Should I try to use the touchpad on my laptop or just smash the laptop on the ground?  Leaning toward smash but I'm open to suggestions. 

• There were bunches and bunches of reports from Morrisoncon and it sounded like it was a very unique and enjoyable experience.  I have not heard one single report about Dan Didio saying something horrible, insulting and inhuman so that right there might make Morrisoncon a once in a lifetime event.  I enjoyed this piece that covered some of The Invisibles based discussion.  A lot of the post show hype was centered on Multiversity.  They had me at Frank Quitely. 
• “I sometimes feel like a puppet.”  Me too Stan.  Me too. 
• More real talk people.  Just between me and you.  Now, you can garnish an Old Fashioned with orange peel, orange slice, a cherry or a lemon.  Me, I just use it all.  I use all of it.  All.  Of.  It.  And look.  You can use use club soda.  That is okay.  Hell, I've used ginger ale.  It's good.  Ginger ale is good people. Don't be embarrassed. 
• Professor Towle breaks down some kid's picture books for us. 
• Everywhere I look it's Brad McGinty this and Brad McGinty that.  Look at my Brad McGinty.  My Brad McGinty is 7G.  Oh yeah?  Well my Brad McGinty is 4H.  Well Brad McGinty you buddy.  Brad McGinty you right in your face!
• Those Dollar Bin kids reviewed a ton of stuff from SPX. 
• That big Avengers punching X-Men thing wrapped up this week.  I have not read the last issue but my daughter has.  She said it was really good.  She was really into that whole event thing.  She's 10 and I figure the stars aligned for her to be into it.  She was already super into the X-Men and then the Avengers movie blew her mind so she ate this thing up.  Before she read the last issue, she told me that she hoped that Hope kills Cyclops.  That's my girl!
• And finally... I'm getin' my heart back together again.  Or something like that.

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 05272012

(Image stolen from Ben Towle's G+ page.)

Just because file under other does not currently have a lot of time to talk about all the wonderful things that should be filed under other it does not mean that wonderful things are not happening.  Here are some things if found interesting in the world of minicomics, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics etc. during the week ending 05272012:

• I guess the biggest non Avengers related news in comics this week was that Marvel and DC decided that it was time to make some money off homosexuality.  All I have to say about that is that Life With Archie #16 was a very good comic.

• The great Ben Towle posted a little write-up on Dan Zettwoch's minicomic Tel-Tales on his G+ page.  Zettwoch makes some great looking books with very strong design.  Certainly worth a look if you have not read any of his stuff before.

• In other Ben Towle news, Alpha Books kicked off this week.  This is the third (I think) weekly alphabet art challenge series.  Basically, folks draw characters from books for each letter of the alphabet.  There is already a lot of great art to check it out so you should go do that.  Maybe you should join in.  No shame in being a few letters behind. 

• Eleanor Davis did this and it was pretty great.

• There were a couple of solid new-ish podcasts from new-ish podcasters.  Jim Rugg interviewed Rob Liefeld at Tell Me Something I Don't Know and it is fascinating.  Matt Seneca, Tucker Stone and McCulloch have a new podcast called Comic Books are Burning in Hell.  The first two episodes are a bit of a test flight as the guys figure the whole podcast thing out.  I'll warn ya, it's pretty brutal.  The audio is not great and they have no real format.  It's just three guys talking about comics they have read.  And it is not comics they all have read so that eliminates a lot of chances for real discussion.  But these cats are three of the better writers-about-comics in all of the introwebs.  They don't need a lot of format to keep my attention.  There is a lot of knowledge between those three brains and a lot of what they talk about are comics that I have not yet had a chance to read.  I could feel my known comics universe expanding as I listened.  But again, it is pretty brutal.  These guys are intensely opinionated and they all like to use a machine gun barrage of F bombs to illustrate their viewpoints.  Much of the discussion leans toward the negative so listening to it is a lot like putting your brain in an I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I contest with Albert Einstein and Don Rickles.  But my brains is pretty strong so I think I can handle it for an hour a week.  If these guys hold themselves to just 5% of the quality level they demand from the comics creators they talk about then I'm betting this will soon become one of the better comics podcasts. 

• In other Tucker Stone news-  dang, this thing looks like a lot of fun.  

• This is kind of old but cartoonist, animator and Curly Hair Pageant Grand Champion Brad McGinty has a bunch of cartoons up that I did not notice until this week.  The outer space one is very funny.  Oh, and a thing called McGintyfest is going to happen at HeroesCon? What?

• A new issue of the professional wrestling zine Atomic Elbow is available.  I just got mine in the mail and it looks pretty great.  It features a couple of illustrations from cartoonist Box Brown.  I have not read it yet but I cannot overstate how much I enjoyed the 1st issue.  I suggest you try to get both issues.  I spent most of the past decade intentionally ignoring professional wrestling so I'm only familiar with a small part of the subject matter but the writing is strong enough that I don't care. 

• Apparently Josh Latta's next Rashy Rabbit will be a 64 page color special.  Can't wait.
• Rob Ullman has new comic that he is "serializing on the ol' blog in advance of printing it up as a mini-comic". It looks really great. You can read the 1st installment here.

• Rob Clough continues to almost single-handedly carry the burden of minicomics criticism.  This week he also took a thorough look at the state of kids comics.  

And that's just a taste of some of the interesting things going out there in the wonderful world of comics and things.  (I sure used the word "lot" a lot in this piece.)  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.