Comments Off | Posted: January 31st, 2006 | Filed under:Uncategorized
On January 31, 1961, Ham the chimp was launched in a Mercury capsule aboard a Redstone rocket. Ham was named in honor of Holloman Aerospace Medical Center, New Mexico, where the chimpanzees training for spaceflight lived and also in honor of Holloman commander Lt. Col. Hamilton Blackshear. Ham had been trained to pull levers to receive rewards of banana pellets. Sadly, electric shocks were also employed during this process. Ham’s flight was made to demonstrate the ability to perform tasks during spaceflight.
Unfortunately, Ham’s rocket overshot and boosted the chimp in his capsule to a speed in excess of over 5,500 mph. That was a thousand miles per hour faster than planned, which resulted in Ham experiencing almost two more minutes of weightlessness than projected. He was weightless for a total of six and a half minutes and the excess velocity also shot the capsule over 120 miles off course. Even so, Ham was able to perform his tasks almost perfectly.
The capsule landed far outside the Atlantic Ocean target zone at 12:12 p.m., over fifty miles from the nearest recovery ship, the destroyer Ellison. Unfortunately, the ship landed on its side and tears in the landing bag capsized the craft completely. An open pressure relief valve let seawater in. It was beginning to submerge when Naval helicopter pilots found it. At 2:52 p.m, one helo managed to snag the craft and lift it and 100 gallons of water out of the ocean. After dangling all the way to a ship, the capsule was lowered to the deck. Nine minutes later, Ham came out in good condition. He happily accepted an apple and half an orange. Ham retired to the National Zoological Park at Washington, DC on April 2, 1963.
A little over a month later, the United States sent Alan Shepard into space.
This song is for you, Ham. (Right click to download 8mb 192kbps mp3 of “1st Man In Space” by The All Seeing I. Lyrics by Jarvis Cover, Vocal by Phil Oakey.)
Comments Off | Posted: January 31st, 2006 | Filed under:Uncategorized
The Phillipine Daily Inquirer has posted a list of the “Top Ten” moments of the last decade in comics. I guess they don’t have anything besides DC, Marvel, and early Image in that island nation. Many of these seem to be “Bottom Ten” material to me:
Clone Saga Planted on the seeds of a 1975 story, the Clone Saga centered around “the fact” that Peter Parker was nothing more than a scientific experiment gone wrong, and that “the real” Spiderman was someone called Ben Reilly.
The storyline stretched on for years and introduced a ton of silly elements (like the Scarlet Spider) that are best forgotten. With Spider-Man sales at an all-time low, Marvel eventually went back to the status quo. The entire story turned out to be a result of the Green Goblin’s manipulations.
DC versus Marvel Who’s stronger? Who’s the better fighter? The smarter scientist? The better team?
In 1995, the mini-series DC versus Marvel was launched to answer those questions. Fans could vote on who would win a series of five battles, and they did so in droves. The series was so successful that it spawned two fifth-week “Amalgam” events, comics which combined elements of DC and Marvel heroes together with results like “JLX” and “Dark Claw.” It also prompted many more inter-company team-ups, the best and most recent being the seminal “JLA/Avengers.”
Comments Off | Posted: January 31st, 2006 | Filed under:Uncategorized
I gave up on this title a while back, but the latest issue of The Pulse did feature one moment well worth reading: Jessica finally putting J Jonah Jameson in his place over the phone, while in labor.
It’s really sort of sad that another “funny” bit involved Carol Danvers recounting the story of her own pregnancy thanks to a cosmic entity that wanted to rape her. Yup, rape = the funny! Really!
Comments Off | Posted: January 31st, 2006 | Filed under:Uncategorized
File Under: Borrowing Content This Morning I need more caffeine.
Anyway, this month’s Wired features a short piece on Paul Pope, including the some bits about the upcoming Batman: Year 100. You can read it for free, though!
The series is set in a high-anxiety future, where totalitarianism has nearly snuffed out the remnants of humanity. America in 2039 is a police state, individual liberties have been curtailed, and there’s a dark sense of impending doom. Roving police squads, Blade Runner-esque floating vehicles, and robotic watchdogs scan the skyline. A distressed-looking Batman is the only person Big Brother fails to track, and the superhero’s mask symbolizes the last hope against a corrupt government encroaching on individual privacy. “He’s someone with the body of David Beckham, the brain of Nikola Tesla, and the wealth of Howard Hughes, who is pretending to be Nosferatu,” Pope says.
That doesn’t sound like much of a story, and if I were to add that Ganges accompanies his humdrum activities with ruminations on the nature of time, life, and love, you might be inclined to tune me out even further. I know I would flip through a book like that and put it back on the shelf; I’ve done just that, in fact, with Huizenga’s Or Else any number of times. I see now why that was such a big mistake. It’s not just because Huizenga’s insights are engaging and interesting, it’s because he is such a gifted cartoonist that he can weave them into an utterly enthralling narrative that wouldn’t work in any other medium.
Comments Off | Posted: January 30th, 2006 | Filed under:Uncategorized
Image courtesy of “cboldman” on the Dial B For Blog message board.
Superman sure does seem to enjoy tossing that salad, huh?
Comments Off | Posted: January 30th, 2006 | Filed under:Uncategorized
New books arrive at your local comic shop this Wednesday, February 1st. Here’s the full list from Diamond, and the below gathering is what I will most likely be purchasing.
I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to spend more time with this comic thanks to these handy-sized reprints. Sometimes, Chadwick’s a little clumsy in his delivery, but this work says so much about the human condition that I’m willing to forgive the occasional slips.
DC
DEC050317 CITY OF TOMORROW TP $19.99
Howard Chaykin, sex robots, guns, and nifty designs. Some of us like that kind of thing.
Blah blah blah misunderstood commentary on sexism blah blah blah go read fucking Blowjob if you don’t get it.
Marvel
DEC052082 AVENGERS GALACTIC STORM VOL 1 TP $29.99
When I posted about this a while back, wondering it I’d like it very much and Tim O’Neil and commenter Craig said it was pretty darn good, so I’m trusting you guys, to the tune of 30 bones. (Less after my discount, but still.)
DEC051990 FURY PEACEMAKER #1 (OF 6) $3.50
Ennis + Fury = LOVE
DEC052006 I HEART MARVEL MY MUTANT HEART $2.99
I saw Tim Fish at Diesel one day, doing corrections on this at the last minute. What I saw looked quite cute and right up my Mary-Jane buying alley.
DEC052021 MARVEL ROMANCE REDUX BUT HE SAID HE LOVED ME #1 (OF 5) 2.99
Again, lots of discussion about this being Marvel’s take on the whole Last Kiss / Truer Than True Romance setup, but I’m sure I’ll give it a look or three.
The ultimate 80s movie returns to comics. The first “regular” issue is solicited in this month’s Previews (which I will review in the next week or so, I promise,) so I’m in a happy place.
OCT053178 FLYING FRIAR #1 $4.95
Issue 3 of Holed Up? Still not out. I guess I can forgive Rich Johnston because this book tells the heartwarming story of a young Franciscan who can fly and is forced to battle Martin Luther’s great nephew, Lex Luther. I’m sure I’m not the only one that thinks that is high-fucking-larious. You can read more about it from The Timeshere.
DEC052778 REX LIBRIS #3 $2.95
This time, we get to see Rex collecting a lost tome. I hope this means bloodshed.
That’s it for me – what are you buying, true believers?
Comments Off | Posted: January 29th, 2006 | Filed under:Uncategorized
When the first few images of G�DLAND first started hitting the web last year, my immediate reaction was that we didn’t need another failed postmodern attempt to “do” Kirby, thank you very much. Tom Scioli’s blatant re-creation of The King’s style, which date to his own The Myth Of 8-Opus sat poorly with me and Joe Casey’s inability to capture my imagination since his inventive take on Wildcats made it seem that this would be a title that would pretty much stay off my radar.
Then, Ian had to go and give it a good review.1 Some other people followed and I figured maybe there was more to G�DLAND that histrionics and patting itself on the back. Giving into the rest of the Morlock hordes, I finally picked up the first collection Hello, Cosmic this past week and gave it a read. Then, I gave it a reread. And another. Hot damn, it’s good stuff.
It’s rare that I find somebody actually applying Kirby’s lessons to the form. Morrison does it very well, as I’ve pointed out previously, but for the most part there’s very little in the superhero realm that applies his search for “the new” to the form. For the most part, the people writing superhero comics now are the spiritual children of writers like Roy Thomas, where creation is secondary to the sheer glee of getting to play with those favorite characters of youth.
Casey and Scioli, though, are tossing new concepts and story ideas at the reader left and right and while the art’s outright aping of Jack vexed me at first, I realized that it was sort of essential to their version of the exercise. By using the Kirby art style, Scioli’s giving the reader a familiar riff, a nagging sense of deja vu that informs and broadens the work beyond its script. Subtext in superhero comics art is rare enough and it’s a genuine pleasure to watch Scioli break down and remix Kirby’s familiar tropes in a new ways, something that guys like Bruce Timm and John Byrne fail to do when they’re approaching his style.
To me, it feels like G�DLAND‘s creators are providing an indie rock version of the bombast that Kirby always made operatic. Short three-chord riffs that slam into your forehead and leave you punchdruck instead of a full symphony that presses your entire body down until you finally given in. A strange creature from another galaxy, a villainous drug fiend who’s quite literally a skull in a jar, a despotic freak torturing America’s Greatest Hero – these are all tossed into the the first trade’s mix casually with only the barest of explanations given or needed. You’ll catch up or you’ll drown, fanboy. The book’s not going to stop because you need a breather.
Excellent material that I’m looking forward to getting another dose of when the second trade comes out.
1See, here’s the funny thing – Ian will dislike stuff I like, but I will never, ever dislike something that he likes. It’s very fucking annoying and one-sided, if you ask me, but that’s how he rolls, you know?
Comments Off | Posted: January 29th, 2006 | Filed under:Uncategorized
Genius Covers Sunday presents: The Kingpin: A Retrospective.
Suggested music: Vivaldi, Autumn from The Four Seasons
Ironically, today’s subject doesn’t even appear in this first image, from The Punisher. However, it’s apparent that locker-painting hoodlums want you to be aware of his “ruling,” as it were.
Symbolism often refers to the method of choosing representative symbols showing abstract rather than literal qualities of a subject, allowing for the wider reader or viewer interpretation of meaning than more literal representations allow. In other words, The Kingpin is not that big in the “reality” of Frank Miller’s Daredevil.
The Arach-Knight climbs upon The Kingpin’s back in a symbolic cover from a fairly bland comic series I can’t recommend beyond the covers (this one by Tony Harris) and interior art by Sean Phillips and Klaus Janson.
This early cover appearance by our subject shows him having overpowered Spider-Man. This theme is returned to several times in the title over the first decade of its publication.
Note that even with all of his arachnid-derived powers, the titular hero is having trouble with The Kingpin, who literally pulls the rug out from under him in one of this series’s finest battles.
Eduardo Risso, most famed for his work on 100 Bullets, provides stunning art in this comic that tells the story of a lower-level member of The Kingpin’s criminal organization. Even with his employment by our subject, the man’s fear of The Kingpin is palpable. Risso’s use of shadow, removing the eyes from The Kingpin, allows the reader to view him as something akin to a force of nature rather than the deeply flawed human that our next comic utilized to great effect.
Most vexing to acolytes of Frank Miller’s Daredevil is the frequent lack of notice that this work is given. Quite possibly the pinnacle of Miller’s work with the character, Love And War centers around The Kingpin’s wife, who suffers from traumatic psychological scarring after her enslavement at the hands of a grotesque underworld “king” from whom Daredevil rescued her. The abstracted nature of Bill Sienkiewicz’s Kingpin, which verges on the cartoonish, only adds to his menace when his rage is fully unleashed in this graphic novel that adds much in the way of subtext to works such as Born Again, with which this was released concurrently.
The derogatory terms often used for The Kingpin by his adversaries, such as “fat boy,” “chubba wubba,” “tubby,” and “Jabba,” are often delivered despite the fact that the man’s frequently shown to have an enormous amount of strength. Here, we see him determined to set upon one of his most vexing foes with a late-19th century settee. The value of this is most certainly high, so the reader must assume that his anger at Spider-Man is massive, to say the lease.
In the last two decades, The Kingpin is seen as less and less of a physical brawler, which makes this particular cover stand out more. If there is a character with whom one-on-one combat is appropriate for our subject, it would certainly be The Punisher, who frequently uses guns in much the same way that The Kingpin uses his criminal minions to do his so-called “dirty work.” Note our subject’s massive hand, easily grasping Frank Castle around the neck, indicating the size of the threat posed.
John Romita Jr’s work on the Daredevil serial featured much for the dedicated superhero sequential narrative enthusiast to enjoy, and this cover is no exception. Note again how Kingpin’s hands are used to show his bulk versus a direct comparison of character sizes. The dramatic lighting and facial expression state much more any hyperbolic sales chatter on the frontispiece could, ironically clashing with the “Merry Christmas” text above the protagonist’s name.
Refer to my earlier statements concerning symbolism and the cover of Daredevil #170. Here, we see that applied to the relationship between the Black Cat and Spider-Man, with The Kingpin figuratively severing any relationship they might have with, again, his oversized hands that must require at least three women per finger to manicure properly.
That’s it for this week’s Genius Covers Sunday.
Next week, we’ll be focusing on the finer works of one Nicholas Fury, director of SHIELD as well as fighting American Army sergeant.
Comments Off | Posted: January 28th, 2006 | Filed under:Uncategorized
Watching recent Hong Kong movies and drinking tonight. Will have more content tomorrow, including reviews of Ganges and Godland. Honest.
Comments Off | Posted: January 26th, 2006 | Filed under:Uncategorized
Heidi MacDonald mentions the return of Speed Racer to comics pages, but forgot that Tommy Yune did not only one, but two books based on the adventures of Chim-Chim and pals for Wildstorm. (I rather liked the first one for sheer enthusiasm, but the Racer X series was dull, dull, dull.) I think I may have the trade for the first run somewhere in the stacks at Chez Beaucoup.
I read me some comics last night and today and NextWave may well be Warren Ellis’s best book since The Authority, if for nothing more than his embracing his gleefully malevolent side and dropping any strict formal structure outside of the whole two-issue arc thing, which just makes sense for this sort of stream-of-conciousness, tubthumping beast. I laughed out loud pretty consistently throughout the book and think that Immonen better be up for a goddamn Eisner for the brilliant reinvention of his art, now full of angles and funk.
The Defenders wraps up in an amiable, pretty predictable manner but I enjoyed it anyway. I do wish they’d write Hulk a little stupider, but that’s because I like Hulk to refer to himself in the third person and rant a lot. I wonder if editorial mandated how they could use the Silver Surfer, because, well, he doesn’t do much. Sort of annoying, that.
The Surrogates and Sam And Twitch make an interesting one-two procedural punch. I dig them both for probably the same reason: they play to the human element, which has faded more and more with CSI‘s cold-as-ice approach becoming the norm.
I don’t like Avatar. I know that, you know that. Hell, I think Avatar knows I don’t like the way they do business, but I think that other Ellis book from this week, Blackgas, is pretty good. The art by Max Fiumara doesn’t quite do it for me – it seems like it doesn’t know what it wants to be. Still, decent dialogue, already likeable characters, and Deep Evil will keep me engaged for its remaning two issues, which is about as far as I can see this going.
Comments Off | Posted: January 25th, 2006 | Filed under:Uncategorized
Dear Readers,
Hello. I came to talk. About you. About me. About how we’re going to end up killing each other one of these days.
Recently, I’ve seen words and strips I’ve done showing up on sites without attribution. While I’m glad some of you think so highly of my words that you wish to reuse them, the out-and-out thievery/borrowing is fairly galling, even moreso when you hijack some of my bandwidth to post the images. Please don’t do that. If you can’t be bothered to create your own content, at least point out who made sure your post at your preferred message board actually existed.
Trust me, it’s none of you regular commenters or even irregular people that I suspect of this stuff – it’s the lazy sons of bitches who can’t be bothered stringing together their own sentences that get my full scorn here. You people who read regularly and comment and don’t type in things like “gail simone naked fuck” into Google to find your way into my site? You’re tops in my book.
Thank you for your attention to this matter,
Kevin J. Church, Esq Bon Vivant, Raconteur, Gadfly. Drunk comics blogger who is kind of proud of this site sometimes and hates to see inconsiderate fuckheads use his words to look marginally more clever than their fellow message-board dwelling troglodytes.
Comments Off | Posted: January 25th, 2006 | Filed under:Uncategorized
And now, your Nick Fury Moment of Zen…
From Fantastic Four #292, written and drawn by John Byrne. Yes, that’s Hitler.
Comments Off | Posted: January 24th, 2006 | Filed under:Uncategorized
Amongst the ads for Wizard and Wizard-related toys, slabbed comics, and conventions, the following bits concerning a new push at Wildstorm come out in this week’s issue of Wizard. This is all I know from the various super secret internet places where this sort of stuff is considered very important.
Grant Morrison and Jim Lee on Wildcats Gail Simone with Talent Caldwell on Gen 13 Grant Morrison and Gene Ha on Authority Brian Azzarello and Carlos D’Anda on Deathblow Garth Ennis with Chris Sprouse on Midnighter Mike Carey & Whilce Portracio on Wetworks
I was quite excited about the three books I will most certainly read (Wildcats, Authority, and Midnighter,) until I realized that exactly none of them will come out on a regular, reasonable schedule. Alas, alack, woe, etc.
Comments Off | Posted: January 24th, 2006 | Filed under:Uncategorized
Frank Miller and Neal Adams on All-Star Batman And Robin The Boy Wonder? Warren Ellis recycling a 1999 proposal in the Ultimate Galactus trilogy? Kevin Smith not paid for his super-late Spider-Man/Black Cat series? Rich Johnston has the details.
Muslim superheroes saving the Arabic world? Touchy territory, even for a local boy, as the New York Times reveals in this piece about the upcoming The 99.
Flickeur takes random Flickr photos, adds creepy ambient music, suddenly your toddler’s birthday party is a Tod Browning film.
The Swedish female pop duo West End Girls do two things of note. The first is that they only perform song by Pet Shop Boys. The second is that they follow the ABBA/Ace of Base template of having a blonde woman and a redheaded woman in your band. You can view their first two videos here.
Speaking of my favorite pop duo, they’ve gone and remixed Madonna’s new single “Sorry,” and a very nice job was done, indeed. It’s got a big boshing beat, Neil adding a bit of vocals here and there, and a really strong vocal and lyric on the pop maven’s part. It comes out officially on February 28th here in the States, along with versions from Oakenfold, Green Velvet, and Man With Guitar.
Joe Sacco did an 8-page comic for The Guardian about the abuse of Iraqi Prisoners, and you can read it here if you’re patient and will allow the PDF to download. (I wish they’d have just done a .jpg version, but that’s me being fussy.)
Publishers Weekly has two items of interest in this week’s email. The first is that New Jersey book wholesaler Bookazine has launched Popazine, a dedicated pop-culture, graphic novel, and trade paperback wing. Hopefully, this means more indie bookstores will have a broader selection of graphic novels and the like in areas that aren’t serviced by “proper” comics shops.
The second, unfortunately, is pointless shilling for the supremely awful “reviews” that G4′s Blair Butler does for Attack Of The Show. Basically, all you need to know is: they really like the taste of Marvel and DC’s private parts. A lot. I always hate it when I smell Corporate Synergy at work.
Finally, thanks to David Campbell reminding me of its existence with an email:
Young Chuck Norris. The meme is officially dead. It can’t top this.
Comments Off | Posted: January 23rd, 2006 | Filed under:Uncategorized
I feel a nameless, black rage this evening, which means that the comics companies need to, I dunno, make me happy with this week’s shipping list. I kind of doubt they will, but let’s give them the opportunity, shall we?
These are my picks, pans, and odd non-sequiturs for books coming out this Wednesday, January 25th, 2006.
Previews Publications
DEC050004 MARVEL PREVIEWS #30 FEBRUARY 2006 PI DEC050007 PREVIEWS ADULT VOL XVI #2 PI DEC050001 PREVIEWS VOL XVI #2 PI DEC050005 PREVIEWS VOL XVI CONSUMER ORDER FORM #2 PI
Maybe I’ll do the Previews Review this weekend instead of drinking myself into a stupor and blaming my father for my myriad and glorious failures in life.
Don’t give me that look!
Dark Horse
NOV050036 BPRD THE BLACK FLAME #6 (OF 6) $2.99
Oh, that’ll be nice, wrapping up that story. I’ve really enjoyed this visit to Mignola’s world and hope that they’re able to get the gang together (especially Mr Guy Davis) for another go-round soonish.
OCT050020 SERENITY TP $9.95
For those of you who were coming into your local shop this past fall wanting the individual issues, here’s the trade, which they probably should have put out the same time, like the Star Wars adaptations.
SEP050027 SEXY CHIX TP $12.95
I may have not ordered this anthology out of frustration with its name.
DC Comics
NOV050276 JLA CLASSIFIED #16 $2.99
Well, Gail Simone gets to do the Justice League with art by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Klaus Janson. I figure this is good enough for me. Weird that it’s the only DC book I’m picking up this week, innit?
Image
JUL051648 CASEFILES SAM & TWITCH #21 (RES) (MR) $2.50
I promote this book, you ignore me, that’s how this works. I’m fine with that.
FINE, IAN, I AM BUYING BOTH, OK? YOU WERE RIGHT. IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT ME TO SAY, IAN BRILL, MISTER COMICS JOURNAL, MISTER PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY?!? YOU WERE RIGHT. Now get me a goddamn coffee before I smack the smile off your monkey face. Christ.
Marvel Comics
SEP051924 DEFENDERS #5 (OF 5) $2.99
A little late, but well worth it, methinks.
NOV051973 NEXT WAVE #1 $2.99
Yeah, maybe I’ll get this. I guess. It’s not like I’ve been hyping this since the first bit of arc trickled out, is it? I mean, really. I’ve been the soul of restraint with this one.
Other Companies
NOV052939 BLOWJOB #16 (A) $3.95
I crack up every time I see this on the list. It’s stupid and puerile of me, but my god, give them points for giant balls.
Such as it were.
NOV052932 COMICS JOURNAL LIBRARY VOL 6 THE WRITERS TP $19.95
Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I’m going to really savor this, as it has the infamous Ellison interview that caused Michael Fleisher to sue, sue, sue like Jack Thompson hopped up on poppers. If you want to read more about this, check out That Motherfucker Ian talking to Tom Spurgeon about it. Oh, and speaking of Spurgeon and The Comics Journal, the beautiful “Shut the fuck up and sit down, now” letter he wrote to Michael Dean in the latest issue? I wanted to hug him for it. Dean’s overlong and obtuse look at “comics journalism on the web” has taken valuable page space away from things I really care about.
MAY052728 DF ABSOLUTE BATMAN HUSH OVERSIZED HC REMARKED PI DEC052989 DF ALL STAR BATMAN & ROBIN MILLER ALT CVR #2 LEE SGN $29.99 AUG052907 DF INFINITE CRISIS #1 MATCHING SET SGN $69.98 AUG052904 DF INFINITE CRISIS #1 SGN $29.99 SEP052927 DF INFINITE CRISIS #2 PEREZ CVR SGN $29.99 OCT052959 DF ULTIMATE WOLVERINE VS HULK #1 SGN $29.99 SEP052919 DF WOLVERINE #36 SGN $19.99 SEP052918 DF X-MEN DEADLY GENESIS #1 SGN $19.99
Holy shit. It’s like Dynamic Forces is actually openly mocking me for ordering that American Flagg collection they solicited in 2004.
NOV052934 GANGES #1 $7.95
Hey, it cures bird flu! I can just see my lame ass forgetting to order this for some reason.
NOV053064 LOCAL #3 (OF 12) (MR) $2.99
I hope the protagonist is a tiny bit smarter in this issue, because I was fully expecting to see her get chopped to pieces last time. Still, even with the questionable common sense, I’m impressed with this book.
NOV053227 SURROGATES #4 (OF 5) $2.95
When this is collected and all you people who are so in love with Bladerunner have seen the light, I will point and laugh because I was reading this shit first!
NOV052843 TRUTH SERUM VOL 1 TP (MR) $18.00
I love very little in the world of indie comics more than this black and white series I discovered when I was embarking back into the waters of sequential graphic storytelling. I mean, how can you resist the bleak hilarity of this?
NOV052780 WARREN ELLIS BLACK GAS #1 $3.99 NOV052783 WARREN ELLIS BLACK GAS GORE #1 $3.99 NOV052782 WARREN ELLIS BLACK GAS TERROR #1 $3.99 NOV052781 WARREN ELLIS BLACK GAS WRAPAROUND #1 $3.99
I think most people in the Warren Ellis Holy Slut Army (not including me, of course) can get by with just one, Avatar. Honest.
Comments Off | Posted: January 23rd, 2006 | Filed under:Uncategorized
So, uh, there’s a 1-inch button with my picture on it that Comicazi’s slinging through their retail operation. Apparently, like, they’ve sold 5 or 6 to people who aren’t me. If you want one, let me know in comments and I’ll get in touch with you – it’ll be $2, and that includes shipping.
On January 31, 1961, Ham the chimp was launched in a Mercury capsule aboard a Redstone rocket. Ham was named in honor of Holloman Aerospace Medical Center, New Mexico, where the chimpanzees training for spaceflight lived and also in honor of Holloman commander Lt. Col. Hamilton Blackshear. Ham had been trained to pull levers to receive rewards of banana pellets. Sadly, electric shocks were also employed during this process. Ham’s flight was made to demonstrate the ability to perform tasks during spaceflight. 
When the first few images of G�DLAND first started hitting the web last year, my immediate reaction was that we didn’t need another failed postmodern attempt to “do” Kirby, thank you very much. Tom Scioli’s blatant re-creation of The King’s style, which date to his own 
Heidi MacDonald mentions the 
Kevin J. Church, Esq
