FYI, I’ll be putting this up for sale on eBay.
Mad World Dancing
February 4th, 2010
All I know is that I want an edit of this video that’s just Roland Orzabal dancing.
What’s Going On?
February 7th, 2010
I thought about not posting this, but I decided a few months ago to live my life online, so here we are. If you follow me on Facebook, you’ve already seen most of this, so just indulge me while I update everyone else.
I’m living in Orlando, working a part-time job at a little above minimum wage, which does not pay the bills. I am looking for full time employment, sending off at least one resume a day, and aiming to send off three a day. Friends are working to help me get a full-time gig as well, but the final decision isn’t up to them. I have a deadline of MegaCon to find a job that can pay the bills, and if I don’t, then it’s on the road again, back north to the old stomping grounds in North Carolina.
Please understand that I love Orlando. I don’t want to leave, as I’ve good friends here and it’s incredibly diverse. The creative comics community here is unorganized, but in a state where several people are trying to remedy that. For the first time in years, I’m not only making comics, but selling comics in a small comic shop. I’ve met skeptics, and I’ve met fans of comics as an art form. This is one the best towns I’ve ever lived in, and if I was making enough to pay my bills, I’d be very, very happy.
Those of you in North Carolina, don’t feel offended, but I never got that sense back where I came from. I love my family,and I appreciate the finer points of North Carolina culture, but diversity has never been an issue of importance there, and the creative community has never been able to make up its mind where it wants to go. Comic wise, the great shops get really focused once or twice a year, and don’t acknowledge local artists until their working on a big Marvel or DC book.
So, I’m trying my best to stay here. Everything else except the webcomic is on hold until then.
Cybergirl on Mars
February 9th, 2010
I’ve had this script for a 24 page story lying around for ten years, and if my plans hold, there’s no way I’ll get to work on it for at least two years. If there’s anybody out there that’d like to give it a try, feel free to drop me and e-mail, and I’d be happy to send you the script, provided that your art suits the story. You do not have to draw like me or Joel (who designed the look for Cybergirl), but please know that Cybergirl is a hard character to turnaround. I’m not actively looking for someone to work on it, and you won’t get paid, but you would own half of it and get 50% of any profit from sales of a printed version. You’d also have artistic license to fiddle with the story a little, since it has to match the visual pacing. If you’re wondering how much fiddling I’ll permit, keep in mind that Joel’s Cybergirl story started off as a four page script that was very dense. Joel practically rescripted it, and I couldn’t have been happier with the results.
Ka-Blam!
February 9th, 2010
I just picked up my books from ka-blam! printing in Orlando, and I must say that they look very nice. The full bleed is perfectly done, the print quality is excellent, and if it weren’t for the fact that I put in so few pages, it’d seem like a proper comic book. Very professional, and I couldn’t be more pleased.
If you want one of these excellent books, you can order them print-on-demand through IndyPlanet. I’ll put a permanent link on the web site soon.
I Call Shenanigans!
February 13th, 2010
This video is from that wonderful bastion of journalism, Inside Edition.
What do I think, given the research I’ve done on the issue? Desiree was faking it. She wanted attention and found a way to get it and perhaps, just perhaps could get a little cash out of it. It’s entirely possible that she was unintentionally faking it. The presence of a new accent is also suspicious, given that she didn’t have it after her keylation therapy in late October.
I am very skeptical, especially with the explanation of a new accent. Sorry, Foreign Accent Syndrome actually seems to involve brain damage. My theory, and it’s an educated guess is that Desiree just might be a hypochondriac, and reads a brief bit about a rare disease and then mimics its symptoms.
This also brings up the subject of journalism. Inside Edition shouldn’t be the one thwarting these claims that the vaccine caused this woman’s illness. When she’s latched on by people trying to discredit flu vaccines and is used by quack doctors to promote ineffective and expensive pseudo-medical procedures, that should be the area of major news investigation. Sadly, what we have now is a news system that doesn’t investigate like it used to, so we’re left with Inside Edition to do this crap, and they quite frankly, do it badly. This shit should have been on 20/20 or Frontline, but I guess looking into the alt-med industry is likely to make too many viewers mad.
All that said, get vaccinated. Stop going to quacks.
Wow, she’s… pretty.
February 16th, 2010
Avengers #255
May 1985
May 1985
Oh my gosh, it’s a new review of an old comic. I must be insane. Bear with me while I should be doing something else.
SYNOPSIS:
Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) arrives at Thanos’s abandoned starship, Sanctuary II, seven light hours away from Earth. Nothing seems amiss, as the station has been abandoned since Thanos’s defeat. Back on Earth, both the US Government and the Avengers recover from the Vision’s takeover of the world’s computer networks. The Vision has decided to leave the Avengers and submit fully cooperate with a government investigation of his actions. Captain Marvel reports in and the Vision admits that he sent her on a wild goose chase.
As she goes to leave, a ship docks and two passengers, Skunge the Troll and an orange alien named Kehl attack her. The attack is called off by another passenger, a Rigellian named Gunthar. The last passenger, the apparent leader of the group, Levan apologizes. Captain Marvel stays behind because something doesn’t sound right with these salvagers’ story.
The Wasp returns home to learn of the Vision’s takeover attempt and see him and the Scarlet Witch off, noticing that the Vision’s voice has gone from flat and modulated to being more human.
Meanwhile, Levan’s crew acts on their duplicity, engaging Sanctuary II’s star drive, temporarily nullifying Captain Marvel’s powers and abducting her millions of light years away from Earth!
REVIEW:
This a recovery issue from a previous culmination of a subplot that took a year to develop. John Buscema returned to the Avengers with this issue and his style was a welcome departure from the previous regular artist, Al Milgrom, who could draw the most unattractive women. That’s all the background you need for this review.
Roger Stern’s story has to accomplish a lot in this issue, including recapping the previous storyline and introduce a new sub-plot. The best element that gets pointed out late in the story is how different the Vision’s voice is, depicted visually by his word balloons, which use to be rectangular with rounded corners, and now are organic and oval. Roger Stern is unknowingly giving a lesson in how to convey tone of voice here.
The art, as I’ve touched on, is exquisite. Captain Marvel had only briefly been drawn remotely attractive, yet despite the worst examples since her creation, John Buscema draws her as a mildly attractive woman. .
NOTES:
To my knowledge, this issue has not been collected in any trade, nor would I expect it to. This was not a very influential period in Avengers history, despite the strong creative force on it.
To my knowledge, this issue has not been collected in any trade, nor would I expect it to. This was not a very influential period in Avengers history, despite the strong creative force on it.
FINAL RATING: 7.5 (out of a possible 10)
Art wise, it’s fantastic, at least a 9, but this is a recap issue, and on its own just reaches for too much and doesn’t deliver enough, albeit it does well enough to get by. For a while, this review was going to be for the issue following this one, which is much better. This was a good run for Avengers, up until the culmination of the Masters of Evil multi-issue storyline. I picked my copy up for a couple of dollars, and it should be easy enough to find at an affordable price.
