Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 02282021

(Convergence: Superman #2. May 6, 2015. Cover by Lee Weeks.)

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 02282021.

• Hello sisters, brothers and others and welcome to another episode of your Other Comics News Parade-O-Links.  My name is Shano and I'll be your host.  I'm still getting back in the groove of "blogging".  I'm not 100% decided on when I should post these things.  Friday is probably the most logical day if I want people to actually read them but Sunday feels better.  I like the idea of you, dear reader, sitting in your favorite chair wearing your bath robe and slippers with your feet propped up on your dog "Honeycomb Salad" reading this on a Sunday morning.  I can see the waves of steam coming from your "#1 Step-Parent" coffee mug.  You still have bed head but it's working for you.  You look happy.  You look at peace.  You smell terrific.  Have you been working out? 
• We may as well get WandaVision out of the way since it's the only thing on Earth that matters. This week's episode was great but maybe a little too great?  I can't think of any other TV show that has presented an episode that so neatly gift wraps everything the audience has asked for  and hands it to them prior to the finale.  I still kind of wish the show had never broke kayfabe and was still recreating a different chapter of TV history each week.  I still hate every second  S.W.O.R.D. is on screen and I knew the boss, Whiteguy McSuburbs, was a no good dirty liar.  See, even the parts we don't like conform exactly to our expectations.  Maybe the other shoe drops next episode?  There are certainly a few more questions to answer and a few more twists left.  SPOILERS Did y'all notice which of the recurring cast were not wandering around Westview during the flashback where Wanda came to town?  

• Since comic books don't even exist and only super hero TV shows matter, let's talk about TV's other floaty character with glowing read eyes.  A new Superman TV show pilot, Superman & Lois,  premiered this week.  This is our fifth live action Superman TV show in the past eighty-three years.  I think that's more than C.S.I. (Unless you count Without a Trace and Cold Case.  Then Supes has some catching up to do.)  I don't watch much broadcast TV so normally I'd be checking this show out two or three years from now on streaming but I actually watched this thing in real time with the rest of the CW watching world.  I enjoyed it.  I like the tone of the show and I think Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch make a great Clark and Lois.  I think the kid playing Frodo has potential too. I really appreciate that Hoechlin and Tulloch are adults.  Ever since Superman Returns cast a nine year old as Lois Lane I've been warry of these things. I think the show kneecapped itself by [SPOILERS] starting with a funeral though.  The overall tone of the show is upbeat and hopeful but the funeral kind of forces the cast to mope around before we get a chance to see their default settings.  Lois really only gets one comical scene with a vending machine where she gets to act like Lois before putting on the funeral time sad face.  Maybe the cast will get a chance to outshine the script as this thing proceeds.  And that script?  Hoo boy.  Look.  This is a CW show so you just have to accept that it's going to be soap opera.  It's not for everyone.  If you're not into teen dance parties/bonfired/charity balls and each scene ending with a contemplative stare followed by a hard cut to commercial then stick with WandaVision. This show still exists in the shadow of the Snyderverse Superman.  There is a sepia tone filter over the whole thing and the Super spandex under armor still has that grim dark tone to it.  We're still missing the trunks so Superman looks like a dog standing on his hind legs. But, for a few minutes at the beginning of the show, we get a full color flashback scene with a real Superman costume.  A moving picture homage to the cover of Action Comics #1.  That was pretty great. 
• As I said earlier, comics don't even exist.  To prove this, CW/DC/Warner followed up the premier of Superman & Lois with a behind-the-scenes featurette where the producers of the show along with Geoff Johns and Jim Lee talk about how they are all geniuses who thought up every thing on the show all by themselves without the help of 83 years of comic book creators.  Over and over again they brag about how the concept of this show, Superman and Lois married with children, has never been done before.  Comics don't even exist and that's why the producers and Johns and Lee make the big bucks.  Except comic books do exist.  Superman and Lois Lane have been getting married for decades. In maybe the best Superman comics of all time, "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tommorrow?",  (Superman #423 and Action Comics #583) Alan Moore's Lois and Cark are married and have a son named Jonathan. (Clark is going by Jordan in that one so that's where Jordan comes from for those keeping score.)  Superman and Lois have been in-canon married since 1996.  And they've had an in-canon son since "Convergence: Superman" #2 from 2015 where Dan Jurgens made superpowered son Jonathan a part of the current ongoing DC Universe.  Oh, but Shano, the genius producers put a new twist on it!  In the new TV show they have two kids! Not so fast imaginary person that isn't really arguing with me, John Byrne gave Supes and Lois two kids in "Superman & Batman: Generattions" in 1999.  And my point isn't that TV shouldn't steal from comics.  No TV, please, please steal from comics.  Comics are better than you.  But don't put together a TV feature about your brilliant game changing new idea when you know damn well that comics has already done this and that you should be giving the comics creators the credit they deserve.  Especially you Geoff Johns and Jim Lee.  You have no excuse.  One of you jerks better buy Dan Jergens a new house. 
• In other moving pictures of Superman news, it appears that a Ta-Nehisi Coates written Superman movie is in the works and that it might be the black Superman a lot of us have been wanting to see at least since Grant Morrison's Multiversity.  I'm optimistic but I hope they don't rush it.  We've had four Superman movies since 2006 with the Zack Snyder Justice League about to drop in a few days.  I'm worried that there won't be much appetite for a new big screen Superman.  It's like the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man movies.  They weren't terrible, Everyone was just full up on Spider-Man in that moment. Maybe if we get through this plague and back to the communal non-butter-liquid-popcorn topping trough we'll be ready for a fresh Superman. 
• I hate to linger in the world of moving images when comics are always vastly superior but I do have to link to this Zack Snyder redemption piece if for no other reason than for you guys to see that Warner continues to be wrong in almost every situation.  The two hour blockbuster died when you fools gave one of those Tolkien movies the Oscar.  
• In our final, I promise, DC Comics related link of the week, they're playing thrash metal during musical chairs now so I can't even keep up well enough to know what any of this means. 

• I think I mentioned the new Stan Lee biography last week.  This week, Marvel great Roy Thomas provides a rebuttal.  I don't know Roy. Sure, old dudes' memories are suspect but the pages don't lie and a whole lot of the pages seem to have been written by a name that rhymes with Snack Derby. 
• Speaking of the guy that created everything of value in US history, there is a new podcast that digs into Jack "The King" Kirby. 
• Here's a neat article on another great American author, no, not Hemingway, it's our man J. M. DeMatteis and his great American masterpiece "Kraven's Last Hunt". 
• As soon as either this plague ends or the government gives me that money they owe me I"mma hit a comic store and dig through the long boxes for some weird junk like this. 
• Our man Benjamin Marra had an informative inside baseball chat with filmmaker Craig Zahler. 

THE BEST NEW COMIC I READ THIS WEEK

Once again I am apologizing to you for not having read any new comics this week.  I still have not made it to the comics shop.  I hope our good man Brian at Cavalier Comics hasn't thrown my pull list in the trash but there's still a plague going on, it's been raining and the goddamned government still hasn't given me that money they owe me. 

Nicholas Burman over at TCJ still reads the comics and writes about them though.  The most interesting comic I saw reviewed this week was probably the Savage Pencil collection he wrote about. 

As for me, I read a lot of Spider-Man comics this week. I'm getting caught up on the Nick Spender run.  I can't say that I care for it.  The jokes are pandering way to hard to an audience that isn't going to look away from Tik Tok long enough to read these comics and the art is nothing special.  They can't all be winners.  

I'm still on my orange, yellow, brown and green costume bullshit with my ongoing read throughs of Suicide Squad, Doom Patrol and the Vision and Scarlet Witch mini-series and related Avengers comics. One of the Vision and Scarlet Witch issues features guest star Power Man (Luke Cage to the youngs) celebrating what appears to have been the first Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  Always classy Quicksilver celebrates MLK Jr. Day by calling black humans and black Inhumans "dusky skins" so, I'm gonna call this one a swing and miss. 

Look friends, I know a lot of you might be interested in the first two Vision and Scarlet Witch serieses because of WandaVision so let me warn you, they are not good.  I'm not saying don't read them,  They are interesting and there is a surprising amount of stuff in the WandaVision show from those comics, I'm just saying don't expect quality.  Personally, I tend to be anti-quality in most things. I'll take weird over quality 99 out of 100 times and these comics are weird AF.  The full Steven Englehart. Just don't go into these things thinking that you are going to come out the other end a better person. 

• Before we leave, it looks like our man Francis was too busy to make a video this week so instead we'll check in on his distant cousin (by marriage) Boogie and see what's up on the Yoo Tubs and the Tick Clocks. 

• Remember pals, life is hard.  Never stop running unless it's to pick up a friend.  Read comics and chew Glorp gum every day and you'll keep on livin' until you're dead. 

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. I write comics.  Do you make comics?  Maybe you should hire me to write comics. 
p.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.p.s.  Yeah, I do Instagram too.  Maybe if 100,000 of you follow me there I'll be as famous as the average Cambodian teenager with a milk ring collection. 

Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 09182016

(2001 A Space Odyssey issue 10.  Cover by Jack Kirby 1977.  Image stolen from Kevin Metz. )

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 09182016.

"Spock, I've found that evil usually triumphs - unless good is very, very careful." -Dr. Leonard H. McCoy.

• Hello sisters and brothers of teh intronets and welcome to another episode of your Other Comics News Parade-O-Links.  My name is Shannon and I'll be your host.  I have to start this episode off with an apology.  I know most of you woke up Sunday morning, got out of bed, shared breakfast with your non-gender specific significant other, read the Sunday funnies then logged on to the internets to read the Other Comics News Parade-O-Links like all good humans do but you were then horrified to find that the Parade-O-Links was not there.  I'm sorry.  I got busy.  And today's Parade will be short.  Let's call it minimal.  That makes it sound more intentional and less like failure.  All I can do is say that I'm sorry and promise that I will always disappoint you frequently.  I spent much of the weekend at the annual Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion  on the VA/TN state line in Bristol. It was neat. Crowded, but neat.  Lots of hillbilly hipsters.  Hipbillies. Craft beer, craft crafts, foods on sticks,  country and bluegrass upstarts, country and bluegrass legends.  It was a good time.  And look, country music ain't my thing but I appreciate it when it's good and there was plenty that was good.  I recommend it.  The highlight for me was seeing blues legend Buddy Guy perform.  He was fantastic. 

• This weekend the indie comics and small press world turned it's lonely eyes to the Small Press Expo (a.k.a. SPX) in Bethesda, MD.  I didn't go.  I haven't been since they moved to the lotter for their table reservations.  My number just hasn't came up. And, as much as I'd like to attend, September and October are busiest months of the year for me.  But, lots of folks whet and I saw some neat things on the old twudder and instacrack.  I'm sure we'll see some reports roll in this week.  I can't wait to see the best pictures of people cosplaying as the carpet or as those two old horror movie looking architects in that painting everyone takes a picture of.   The Comics Reporter has your Ignatz winners.  I was hoping that Gabby Schulz's Sick would win because it is one of the best comics I've ever read. I hadn't read most of the nominees because minicomics are a wierd regional kinda thing and graphic novels are too expensive. 

• Speaking of comics shows, Adam and Shawn of The Dollar Bin have part 2 of their DragonCon adventure.  Part 2 of their podcast focuses on the comics related part of the convention.  The fact that you can do a podcast on the comics related part of DragonCon shows that the show has improved a lot in recent years.  When I lived in Atlanta, it was just a cosplay show with comics shoved in corner of a basement.  I remember one year when Carmine Infantino, Julius Schwartz, Darth Vader and Chewbacca were crammed into a space in the basement about the size of a Ford Focus while upstairs, in a huge convention room, literal porn stars had 8 foot tables to themselves. But, from listening to The Dollar Bin, it appears that things have improved and that DragonCon may indeed be a show worth checking out for comics enthusiasts and creators. The episode also has a great story about Shawn meeting the great Jim Steranko.  (ABS.  Always be Sterankoing.)
• We are all going to die.

• A lot of talk the past few weeks about Raina Telgemeier's new book Ghosts.  Most of it high praise but a little bit of negativity.  I haven't read it.  I am not a child.  Also, graphic novels = expensive etc.  My comic reading kids kind of jumped from Archie to Kate Beaton and manga before these YA graphic novels were really a thing so that window was missed by my household.  My youngest reads Yo-Kai Watch manga.  I gotta say, it's hard to get them to give american intermediate or young adult graphic novels when they've already been introduced to books that are vastly more visually stimulating.  I've tried.  It's not my fault.

• There are a lot of things I've enjoyed while file under other was on hiatus and I hope to get to a lot of it throughout the rest of 2016. One thing that I've been really pretty lousy about pointing out are the webcomics I enjoy.  Pals Jeremy Massie and Matthew Smith have a new comic online called Amazing Age. They are now up to a 1st issue's worth of pages so it's a good time to check it out for before the next pages roll out.  Page one is here. 

• And now ladies and gentlemen...

THE BEST Pretty Good NEW COMIC I READ THIS WEEK


Doom Patrol (volume who knows because publishers don't even keep track anymore) issue 1 by Gerard Way, Nick Derington, Tamra Bonvillain, Todd Klein and several other people.  Published by DC Comics.  $3.99

The reason I struck through the word "best" in the header above is because I think I only read one new comic this week and calling a thing the "best" when you only sampled one of them is kind of silly.  But it's a pretty good comic.  I enjoyed it. I should enjoy it because the thing is pretty much made for me and/or my offspring. I'm a 90s Grant Morrison acolyte and this thing is essentially a tribute to Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol and Invisibles but made for current teens like my kids.  It's kind of like The Batman Adventures version of Morrison's Doom Patrol.  And I think it's perfect that DC has put Gerard Way in charge of this thing and this Young Animal line of comics because Grant Morrison may have very well invented Gerard Way.  Some of the youngs might not know about this but, in the 90s, we had rock star comics creators.  No, they were not comics creators that were actual rock n' roll performers, but they were creators that carried themselves, portrayed themselves and were treated much like rock stars.  The Image guys were like west coast American rock stars.  They had expensive cars, they hung out with rappers and sports stars and did TV commercials.  But the DC Vertigo creators were the cool UK rock stars with the black leather jackets, combat boots and tight shiny pants. Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison were the prototype for Gerard Way.  He is their dream become manifest. He is a literal rock star making comics.  Which, also gives me a chance to repeat one of my favorite jokes; "How do you break into comics?  Become moderately successful in any entertainment field other than comics, then ask." 
And please don't think I'm dismissing Gerard Way here.  He's doing good work in this comic.  He has history with Morrison and has clearly done his homework.  All the right references and hints and teases are there.  This comic feels like the Netflix re-boot of your favorite old TV show.  It's mostly a new cast but they brought back enough of the old faces to make it feel like a family reunion.  There are panels where my Grant Morrison-fan reflexes kicked in and my "hey, they're ripping off Morrison" alert went off and I had to remind myself that it is supposed to do that.  
Derington's art is fine enough.  Kind of a stripped down kid friendly version of what you would have expected to see in a 90s Doom Patrol.  A Philip Bond or Cameron Stewart might have been a better fit but it's okay.
My fourteen year old daughter likes My Chemical Romance.  She's in the high school band and they play one of their songs.  She want's to read this comic.  Grant Morrison, your creation has succeeded. 

• And finally... Francis likes a girl that's like a cheeseburger. 

• Remember pals, life is hard.  Read comics every day, chew Glorp every day and you'll keep on livin' until your dead. 

Your best pal ever,
Shannon Smith

p.s. I write comics.  Do you make comics?  Maybe you should hire me to write comics. 

p.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.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.

p.p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.

p.p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.

p.p.p.p.p.p.s.  Yeah, I do Instagram too.  I guess it's a law or something.

Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 02142012

(All-New Batman The Brave and the Bold #16 cover by Rick Burchet. Image stolen from DC Database.)

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 02142013:

"Case in point: the legal language on both sides re an ongoing relationship after the settlement is signed. The gist: the Siegels won’t say anything bad about DC. The Siegels agree to make public appearances at DC’s behest, where they will then praise DC. They won’t make any other public appearances or say anything about Superman or the case without DC’s written consent. If they want to publish a biography, Time Warner gets first dibs so it can control whatever goes in print.  If anyone asks the Siegels about Superman or the case, they will refer the questioner to DC. When Superman goes into the public domain, they are the only people in the world who can’t do anything with the character.  You want to understand how Joanne Siegel could turn away millions of dollars? That’s it, right there."  -Jeff Trexler on the sad end to the legal fight for Superman.

• Happy Valentines Day brothers and sisters that care about that kind of thing.  I hope your day gives you everything you want but only 15% more than you deserve.  (Don't be greedy.)  It is still Ash Wednesday as I'm typing this.  I loves me some Jesus.  I'm going to try to give up french fries and negativity for Lent.  The french fries are because I need to lose some weight.  The negativity is because I need to lose some negativity.  I'll still be honest.  If something is garbage, I'm gonna tell you it's garbage.  Facts is facts y'all.  But I'm going to try to be more upbeat about the potential of things.  And this going to be very hard without my french fries.  I loves me some french fries people.  The fries are going to be harder to give up than the negativity.
• Loyal devoted readers of the Other Comics News Parade-O-Links may have noticed that today is not Sunday and that I never posted a new Parade-O-Links this past Sunday.  Sorry.  I just couldn't do it.  I tried.  Most of this Parade-O-Links was compiled and/or written before last Sunday but I did not get the the post up.  Time was not on my side.  The Rolling Stones are liars.  But, that's okay because that was the past and it is gone and now is the now and because the now is after the past, the now gets to includes some other interesting things that happened after the past.  Let's get to those things.  Shall we y'all?
• So.  Positivity right?  What happened in comics last week?  Oh yeah, Time Warner/DC Comics stuck it to the Siegles and the Shusters again.  And again.  Well, there goes my whole giving up negativity for Lent thing.  Dang you to heck comics!    
• But hey, don't let the fact that wife of Superman's creator went to the grave living under the threats of an army of lawyers funded by a bazillion dollar international corporation ruin your Valentine's Day.  I mean, they still make Superman comics after all.  Heck, Grant Morrison (the best Superman writer since Alan Moore ended Superman in 1986) still writes Superman comics.  Oh wait, he's not gonna do that anymore.  He talked to CBR a bit about the whys and hows of his departure.  "I think the best thing that it's done ultimately is to get rid of that weird emo Superman that was around for a long time. He was constantly fighting against using his powers and was kind of angst-driven. There are so many great characters in comics that are angst-driven that we don't need Superman to be one was well."  Indeed.  Die emo Superman die.  And hey, don't get down about Grant Morrison not writing Superman.  Time Warner's DC Comics "content creators" can always hire some guy that is actively trying to deny gay and lesbian Americans the same rights other human Americans have.  Yeah, that's gonna work out great right?  (Dear DC, I'm ready to be the next replacement writer on your online comic, print comic, whatever.  Holla at me y'all.)
• And speaking of creators leaving.  How about that Don Rosa exit letter?  "Why I Quit."  Hoo boy, a laugh riot that one.  
• Look, let's take a deep breath and think about Don Rosa, Jerry Siegle and Joe Shuster.  Let's think about what kind of "lessons learned" we can take away from this.  Here's what I get out of it.  Let's say you want to be a world famous American comic book creator or cartoonist.  If you live in the United States of America and you have talents, skills or, worst of all, ideas, you need to take all of that and put it in a box.  Now, find a cave.  You need to go to the deepest darkest part of that cave and dig a hole.  Somewhere between three and six feet deep depending on the density of the ground.  Put that box in that hole and cover it up.  Now, leave the cave.  Go find a nice park.  Maybe it has some pigeons or ducks you can feed.  Sit down on a bench.  Now, here is the tough part, but remember, you said you wanted to be a world famous American comic book creator or cartoonist.  Now, I want you take a pen, pencil or knife and jab yourself in the eyes.  I know that is a major commitment to the dream but you want the glory right?  Now, live the rest of your life broke and blind on that park bench.  Congratulations, you are a world famous American comic book creator or cartoonist!  Enjoy the pigeons and ducks.
• Dang.  This sucker went south quick didn't it.  Hang in there brothers and sisters.  We can turn this ship around.  You know what I like to do when I need to bask in the radiance of happiness and joy?  I like to go to Lattaland.  Surely, Josh Latta will have some nice things for us to look at.  That guy loves him some Valentine's Day cards.  
• Oh, and speaking of Valentine's Day cards.   If you need to take care of some last minute bidness then look no farther than J. Chris Campbell's free Valentine Card you can print out.  Unless of course you don't have a printer.  In that case, sorry, there's always Saint Patrick's Day. 
• And speaking of love and stuff, Robert Newsome's most recent music and talking thing was full of all the best (and/or worst) love songs ever.  I'm listening to it right now.  
• Oh, and another thing that makes me happy when I'm thinking about sad things like dead/blind/broke creators (and/or how my wife kicked me out of the house and Valentine's is gonna suck) ... is monsters.  Wouldja just look at Patrick Dean draw them monsters!
• We all love Sergio Aragones.  Except for jerks.  
• And we love Girl Scouts making comics!
• He was born nasty. 
• Jog talked about why he is Jog and what makes him Jog and what makes Jog him. 
• People!  Would you just look at that H. G. Peter Wonder Woman art!  The best I tells ya. 
• Okay, I don't even have an opinion on this Eddie Campbell piece but it's a good read.  I mean, go read it for sure but if you end up wasting a couple of days of your life writing an internet blog post rebuttal to the thing or lose your job because you spent a whole week arguing in comments threads, don't blame me.  Comics is dangerous y'all. 
• In a shocking turn of events it has been revealed that Fredric Wertham was not just a jerk bag but he was also a lying jerk bag. 
• Hey kids, The Ink Panthers are back!
• And Comic Books continue to Burn In Hell. 
• Gary Groth tells us something we did not know. 
• Jill Thompson on a wrasslin' podcast.   And speaking of Jill Thompson and wrasslin', she has an interview in the most recent issue of The Atomic Elbow.  You should buy that. 
• "For your info.. she jumped on his shoulders/ blocked bullets and broke his neck… and yes his tongue slobbered on her XXXXX. That’s ANT bro. Are you serious? In the following panel.. where she is running…Ant don’t run bra." 
• Again, dear DC Comics content creators, I am also ready to write Green Lantern for you.  I go hard son. Get at your boy. 
• I never get tired of happy Bill Mantlo pictures. 
• Did I mention Gabby Schulz's hourly comic thing in my last Parade-O-Links?  Well, here it is again anyway because it is great. 
• The anniversary of the great Jack Kirby leaving this Earth was last week.  You should seriously go look at all these great posts about his animation career. 
• Don Heck yeah!  
• My Delores is still around.  I see her in Food City from time to time but I'm afraid to make eye contact.  Her husband weights 300 pounds. 
• Since it's Valentine's Day, let's see what Chris Sims has to say about love.  He's an expert on love right?  Or maybe it's comics. 

THE BEST SINGLE NEW PRINT COMIC I READ THIS WEEK

(Image stolen from Comics Alliance.)
...was My Little Pony Friendship is Magic #3 by Katie Cook, Andy Price, Heather Breckel and several other people.  Published by IDW.  I'm still catching up on my comics reading after multiple snow storms kept me from the comics shop.  I've torn through a good pile of comics in the past week and I enjoyed this one as much or more than any of them.  IDW make really solid comics.  Almost too good.  The paper is way too good.  The art and writing are better than they need to be. All they had to do to get me to buy two copies of this thing for my daughters was put My Little Pony on the cover. Thankfully it is actually a comic I can read and enjoy.  There is a lot to chew on in this thing.  The story is dense.  The layouts are dense and have a gag in every panel.  All those characters crammed into an actual plot and Katie Cook pulls it off.  This is a comic where the ponies are off on a quest to save something or other from scary black ponies and the Pinkie Pie pony just happens to be carrying around costumes of herself and the other ponies.  Pinkie Pie dressed up in a giant Pinkie Pie costume is funny people.  And Andy Price is nailing this stuff.  Every panel crammed full of laughs. Imagine if licensed kid's comics from your youth were good.  This is that comic.

• And finally... I'm Black Canary you're Green Arrow.  When I hop on my bike it means let's go. 

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 09022012

(Mister Fantastic entering the crossroads of infinity.  Like ya do.  By Jack Kirby.  Image stolen from imprint.)

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 09022012:

"I see that story first.  I feel that story first.  I know those people first.  When I put them down they've already lived.  And, I put them down as I'd like them to live on those pages.  My stories are very sincere.  My stories are people stories.
...Now, I didn't resolve the questions.  I'm a guy who lives with a lot of questions.  I see what's out there and I try to resolve that and I never can.  I don't think anybody can.  Who's got the answers?  I sure would like to hear the ultimate one.  But I haven't yet and so I live with a lot of questions.  And I find that entertaining.  I find that entertaining.  And uh, if my life would of went tomorrow it would be fulfilled in that manner.  I would say, the questions have been terrific."  Jack Kirby

• This week would have been Jack "The King" Kirby's 95th birthday.  There were lots and lots of posts and links as there should have been.  Actually, there should have been more.  Actually, everything should have been only Kirby for the whole week.  But alas.  Here is The Comics Reporter's Kirby link round-up.   And here is a really great piece on Kirby's use of collage.  I thought the "wake up and draw" twitter  thing was a lot of fun to follow.  You can scroll through the hashtag links here. 

• I wrote an article about a wrestling event for the new issue of The Atomic Elbow. You can go buy that now.  I know that does not have much to do with comics but it does have a lot to do with me and hey, this is my boat y'all.  Oh wait, The Atomic Elbow totally does have comics in it so, yeah, this is totally the comics news of the week.  Totally!
• Here is a nice write up on the David Mazzucchelli’s Daredevil: Born Again Artist’s Edition including some great sample pages that are worth a look.  I think I have most of those comics in their original form in my basement.  If someone would come over and mow my yard for me I'd love to sit down and read through them again.  Also worth mentioning is that Tom Spurgeon called the TCJ "snotbag haters" in his twitter link to the article and that made me laugh pretty hard. 
• The only way I'm going to pay for a Geoff Johns written Justice League of America comic is if one of the members of the team is Shannon Smith.  But, I do kinda like that new line up.  I like Green Arrow, Katana, Stargirl and Hawkman anyway.  Weird that Steve Trevor has become Steve Rogers in the New 52.  (And by weird I mean totally unimaginative and dumb.)
• Robot 6 talks to Van Jensen. 
• I talked about Ben Towle's Oyster War. 
• Agreeable Comics could use some help keeping the site paid for.  If you like their webcomics, then maybe you should do that.  Sometimes I feel like we should all be giving money to any and all webcomics creators that don't bother us with a kickstarter.  And lets just take a moment to say, dang, Kevin Church is involved with a lot of webcomics. 

(Somebody finally noticed it was Spider-Man's anniversary.  And it was Canadians.    Image stolen from Fan Expo Canada's Pintrest page.  I think this is the first time I've linked to a Pintrest page, and yes, I died a little.)

• Speaking of birthdays, The Comics Reporter pointed to this post at Pappy's about Tarzan's 100th birthday.  I love Tarzan so much.  You people just can't even understand my Tarzan love. Happy birthday Tarzan!
• Here is a piece on a book about the invaluable Marie Severin.  (Check out that Foom cover.)
• Alex Segura has moved from Archie to be the publicity guy at DC.  I usually don't talk about this executive level kind of junk but over the past several years, Archie has been light years better than DC or Marvel.  DC's publicity strategy appears to have been to try to piss off and show utter contempt for the audience and the creators at every opportunity.  So, this should be a huge upgrade.  I suggest the first thing Segura do is make a company wide policy that Dan Didio never gets to speak to the press or the public ever again.
• Back on Tuesday, it was read comics in public day.  Or as I like to call it, Tuesday.  Ladies read comics too.  I have never been a lady so, um, high five ladies!
• THIS JUST IN!!  R. Crumb is uncomfortable with change.  (And offended by a milk carton.  I can relate.  Just this morning I had to tell a 2 liter plastic soda bottle to step off.  Step off!)
• R. Crumb also said some things about some other famous and historical people. 
• Oh, and by the way, this week was R. Crumb's birthday too.  Happy birthday to one of the world's greatest living cartoonists.   
• Whole. E. $#iT.
• What's going on with Brad McGinty this week you ask?  Predator t-shirts is what's up. 
• Children please!  Do not try to be Bigfoot! (Adults either.)

• There is a schedule up now for MorrisonCon.  People have taken shots at the arrogance of Morrison and his backers for even having this thing but it looks fun to me.  Totally not a comic book convention so you can't really hold it to that kind of cost versus value comparison .  It's more of a seminar or some other thing I can't financially afford to really think about or understand.  But hey, if you've got the money to hang out with rock stars and comics madmen then go crazy.  How much does it cost?  If you had to ask then you can't afford it. 
• I had a dream this week where I went to SPX.  In the dream I went by the tables of all the creators I wanted to buy things from only to find that they were all outside playing basketball.  So I go outside and sure enough Box Brown and a bunch of other cartoonists I follow on twitter are playing basketball.  I go back inside and laid some money on Box Brown's table and took 5 new minicomics in exchange.  Because, yeah, he will probably have 5 new mini comics for sale.  I knew this was a dream, not because cartoonists were playing basketball but because in the dream, I could afford to go to SPX.  I think the lesson in all of this is that Box Brown probably will have a lot of new books at SPX and you should probably go buy them if you have the means. 
• Oh, and speaking of SPX, I guess as you read this we are less than two weeks away from the big weekend.  Panel Patter continues to build that bigger boat. 
• Jive.  Talking.  Wizards.  Oh crazy Neal Adams Batman.  Don't ever change. 
• Do you subscribe to and or collect the box tops off of Ashley Holt's illustrated tantrum blog The Symptoms?  You probably should.  Last week's rant on litter and/or smoking and bothering him in general was a good 'un.
• I saw this podcast linked on Josh Latta's facebook page and I listened to it mainly because it was called Mini Trunks and I thought that was funny.  There is a lady on there talking about how she got into comics which was basically through Buffy The Vampire Slayer, comic book movies and her iPad.  Which, is so far removed from how I first accessed comics that she may as well be talking about how the people on Mars prefer to build their tacos.  Fascinating.
• In other podcast news, Dave Sim's glamourpuss and other people and things are burning in hell.  (In which Matt Seneca reveals that Kyle Baker is starting his own cartooning school and that he has announced it by taking some business cards to Frank Santoro's comic book swap meet.)  I think I've linked to every episode of Comic Books Are Burning in Hell since it started.  I hope that you, dear reader, have caught on to the idea that I think it is a pretty swell podcast.  I only understand about half of what those guys are talking about but each of them hold in their brains more information than could possibly be healthy.  It is the least we can do to listen to their podcast and hopefully take some of that information away from their burden. 

• Have I talked about that Flaming Carrot kickstarter? It appears to be fully funded but you can still get in on taking home some great stuff for yourself.  I heart Flaming Carrot quite a bit. I'd like to have it just to read about Oxy Man who apparently has no super powers but does not care because he's on Oxycotin.  Gotta love Bob Burden. 
• Alex Pappademas has a great article about the David Lynch Twin Peaks movie Fire Walk With Me at Grantland.  I can't think of anyway to trick you into thinking it has anything to do with comics but it is a really great article a bout a movie I really like and it gives me an excuse to tell you my personal Twin Peaks story.  I'd been looking for an excuse for a long time.  Here it goes.  I never saw the Twin Peaks TV show during its broadcast run.  I was in high school and my local ABC affiliate just did not show it.  They did not show a lot of things I wanted to see.  They did not show The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles either.  They sucked.  Viciously.  But, I heard about Twin Peaks and was interested in seeing it.  Cut to my college years and I'm watching all the weird movies I can get my hands on because that's what you do.  My major was communications (yeah, I know) and my concentration was film production.  So, I watched a lot of movies.  I became a big David Lynch fan.  Dune was a favorite.  My buddies and I watched Wild At Heart enough to have most of the dialog memorized.  Fire Walk With Me came out in 1992 and I was curious but never saw it.  I finally saw it on VHS sometime around 1994.  Having not seen Twin Peaks, I was totally confused.  It seemed like three movies.  One being a weird comedy FBI mystery thing.  One being the most messed up episode of 90210 ever.  And the third being and absolutely terrifying horror film that didn't make any sense.  But I liked it.   The movie is a mess that makes very little sense but there are some fantastic performances in there.  Evey actor, every face, every line is fascinating.  So, for years, the movie existed in my mind as this crazy art film that did not make any sense.  Cut to spring of 2011. I had surgery and had to sit upright on my couch for about two weeks.  I finally watched Twin Peaks on Netflix.  (Side note, there are probably a lot of ways that you could watch Twin Peaks but hopped up on pain killers is the correct way.)   It became one of my all time favorite TV shows.  Love.  It.  So I thought that I would revisit Fire Walk With me and that it would all make sense.  Not so much.  I watched it on DVD and left feeling the same as when I first saw it.   It seemed like three movies.  One being a weird comedy FBI mystery thing.  One being the most messed up episode of 90210 ever.  And the third being and absolutely terrifying horror film that didn't make any sense.  But I liked it.  I like it a lot. 
• Oh, and I once met "Little" Jimmy Scott who sings the song in the video below.  What a voice. 

• "The one common ground all cartoonists have is a self-deprecating narcissism."
• One day Rob Clough will have read every comic book in the world which you have never heard of.  On that day he will then sit down and watch some basketball.  But before he does that he's gonna write another article for TCJ about Trubble Club #5. 
• Derik Badman wrote about comics and poems and poem comics and comic poems.
• Which is all the excuse I need to load another round in the link haiku love gun!

Pants on fire walk with

Stericycle liar

Snotbag haters chair

• And finally:  We're not gonna talk about Judy at all. 

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.

Happy Birthday Jack Kirby!

Happy birthday to Jack "The King" Kirby.  Without whom...

Perhaps you can celebrate with Kirby4Heroes.