Last Thursday of November.
Comments Off | Posted: November 23rd, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedRight-click to download “Be Thankful For What You Got” by Massive Attack. Have a good holiday. We’ll be back tomorrow.
This year, I’m thankful I’m not Thor.
Comments Off | Posted: November 22nd, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
From Avengers #88,
Written by Roy Thomas and Harlan Ellison.
Pencilled by Sal Buscema.
(Thor may want to check out this resource.)
Where I Am On The Internet, November 2006
Comments Off | Posted: November 22nd, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedFor those who might be just joining me:
My name’s Kevin Church. I write comics and graphic novels, among other things. Some are currently available, others going to be published soon and many more are in various states of disrepair. Publishers interested in the last category may contact me. I have one comic floating around on the internet for free:
NITROGLYCERIN: A promotional webstrip I do for BOOM! Studios with Benjamin Birdie, viewable below the fold. This strip is also available in a large format, with archives. It was updated today, and features a monkey.
You can also see more of my work with Birdie in the AGREEABLE COMICS sampler. There are plans to do more with AGREEABLE COMICS in the very near future. There is a mailing list you can join to find out more.
I recently had my first major comics solo work appear in WHAT WERE THEY THINKING: MONSTER MASH-UP. I also have a story appearing in the upcoming CTHULHU TALES: THE RISING one shot. There are other projects that I can not discuss until paperwork is signed, so do not ask.
I’m guest of honour at Comicazi tonight, and on most other Wednesdays. You can also frequently spot me propping up the bar at The Burren in the early evenings and on the weekends.
These are the places you can find me on the internet. There’s a fair few of them, too:
WhiskeyAndFailure.com = I present my favorites of the photos I’ve taken.
http://www.myspace.com/beaucoupkevin/ = I add anyone, me, unless they’re a shit local band, a pornspambot, or someone I have no connection with at all.
http://www.flickr.com/people/beaucoupkevin/ = Where I store all of my photos worth storing. My friends-and-contacts list there is usually full of interesting stuff, as I know many people who are better with a camera than I.
I do use IM and can be found on AIM and YIM as beaucoupkevin. I can also be reached via email – beaucoupkevin @ gmail(dot)com.
Done with apologies to Warren Ellis.
Stupid, Stupid Jokes Made For An Audience Of Maybe Six People
Comments Off | Posted: November 21st, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
“Explanation” here.
Links.
Comments Off | Posted: November 21st, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized- I posted this on Metafilter, but check out the Roger Corman Fantastic Four movie: Part One | Part Two. For a movie that was never supposed to be released, it sure did have a lot of advertising, trailers, and finalized special effects.
- I love donut robots because they are robots that make donuts. Here’s a picture of another donut robot.
- Wikipedia Brown and the Case of the Captured Koala
- Aaron Sorkin just used Pahrump, NV as a location for Studio 60 and I got a little pissed at John Goodman being used to play a typical backwoods judge that got redemption just before the last c-break.
I got over it when that bastion of legalized prostitution decided to shit on the First Amendment. Fuck you, Pahrump, NV. Without those Mexicans whose rights you’ve decided to surpress, you’d be the podunk dive in the middle of the desert that Sorkin depicted instead of the strip-mall paid-sex hell that you’ve turned out to be.
- Chris Ware makes variant covers cool.
- Pal Munson starts his regular column about Milestone Comics for Bahlactus.com. While you’re there, check out the latest Comicazi podcast, where they insist on calling creators by their first name and make my teeth grind continuously during the entire thing. Seriously, “Brad”? “Grant”? I’m going to insist you guys start calling me “Church” to break your bad habits.
- Ellipsis is completely addictive.
- Madman Gargantua! Madman Gargantua!! Madman Gargantua!!!.
- Ex-Russian Spy May Have Radioactive Poisoning. Experts expect new Marvel villain to join Warren Ellis’s Thunderbolts by issue seven.
- I can’t pick a favorite line from this brilliant Civil War remix. Points deducted for using the hated MS Comic Sans font, even if I suspect there was irony involved.
- Finally, here’s Michael Richards apologizing on Letterman for completely losing his shit and dropping the “n-word” at the Laugh Factory. This strikes me as much more authentic than Mel Gibson’s polished performance on 20/20. Richards looks completely shattered by the experience and the self-loathing is palpable.
Review: Cartoon History of the Modern World, Part 1
Comments Off | Posted: November 21st, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
The synthesis of comics and education is one of those perfect things when done properly. Biologist Jay Hosler’s Clan Apis as well as the completely flawless Action Philosophers rank among my favorite comics, and Scott McCloud’s longform, metatextual Understanding Comics is rightly held aloft as an example of what you can do with the medium. Maybe this is why I so thoroughly enjoy Larry Gonick’s Cartoon History series. Where others have conquered the world of bees or explained how to read the comic you’re reading, Gonick goes for the gusto and gives you the history of the damned universe to start with before saying “OK, you know, I’ll get a little less macro – let’s talk about the history of the modern world.”
I hate Gonick a little bit for doing it so well. The Cartoon History Of The Modern World, Part 1: From Columbus to the U.S. Constitution begins, as the unwieldy title indicates, with the Aztecs just before Columbus showed up and ends with the creation of the document that forms the backbone of the American government. Along the way, Gonick manages to touch on The Reformation, the creation of the Sikh and the beginning of modern science and philosophy among other topics. Thankfully dropping the whole “time travel” device that plagued his earlier books, Gonick focuses on the people behind the events and only provides his authorial voice to clarify and narrate instead of using it as its own character. His art, as always, is a cartoonish treat that recalls Sergio Aragones as well as European artists such as Uderzo.
The Cartoon History Of The Modern World, Part 1: From Columbus to the U.S. Constitution is a near-perfect refresher course for adults who feel that they’ve replaced their historic knowledge with useless Buffy and Star Trek as well as a more-than-decent general history book for kids in high school. Its only flaw is that some subjects seem to get little more than a cursory glance; the section on Galileo could have easily been its own volume. I suspect this is more personal prejudice than anything else – some subjects are going to interest some readers more. Thankfully, there’s an exhaustive bibliography in the back.
This book’s hitting stores in January of next year, but you can already view sample pages and more at Gonick’s website. In the meantime, you should probably seek out his earlier books; they’re all worthy of consideration.
A copy of this book was provided by Harper Collins for the purposes of review.
One Mighty Magnificent Mindbending Collection!
Comments Off | Posted: November 21st, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
An Open Letter.
Comments Off | Posted: November 20th, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedHey, Aaron Sorkin:
I know I kind of kicked Studio 60 around a bit, but you nailed this one. Thank you for dropping a lot of the agonizing pretense that made me dislike the show and making the characters work as characters, not as props that espouse your political/social beliefs. This is the show I got hints at during the pilot.By the way, you should send a bottle of scotch to Warren Ellis, who convinced me to check this out.
K.I.T,
Kevin.
PS> Thank you for Lucy Davis. It’s nice having her back.
Pre-reviews: The Week of November 22, 2006.
Comments Off | Posted: November 20th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorizedthere will be new comics on the shelves
Here are some you may want to buy.
Previews
OCT060006 PREVIEWS ADULT VOL XVI #12 PI
OCT060002 PREVIEWS VOL XVI #12 PI
OCT060004 PREVIEWS VOL XVI CONSUMER ORDER FORM #12 PI
For those of us who can’t bother to go through the online solicitations anymore, this is pretty essential. I was amazed at how light my order last time around was, come to think of it.
DC Comics
SEP060219 BLUE BEETLE #9 $2.99
The sagging flame of interest in this got fanned a bit by the last two issues, where some puzzle pieces were placed and you got to spend quite a lot of time with Jaime just being what he is: a kid. I dug it.
SEP060293 BOYS #5 (MR) $2.99
I dig this, too, for entirely different reasons. Mostly because I’m a sick, sad old man with a built-in grudge against the Teen Titans, unless they’re written by Bob Haney.
AUG060224 SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER VOL 1 TP $16.99
Another week, another unread black and white reprint volume added to my bookshelf. Jesus, when am I going to stop?!?
AUG060297 SWAMP THING VOL 9 INFERNAL TRIANGLES TP (MR) $19.99
Rick Veitch, Jamie Delano, and Stephen Bissette wrote these stories, and this volume features “Distant Cousins” from Swamp Thing Annual #3, “featuring the all-ape adventures of the DCU’s most famous anthropoids.” How can I avoid this?
Sterling/other ST nerds: is this the end of Veitch’s material? I know about the Jesus issue – is this where it was supposed to take place?
Image
SEP061810 CASANOVA #6 (MR) $1.99
Fraction, you know, he gets it. He gets it and I like the way he gets it. The end.
SEP061817 GODLAND #14 $2.99
I just reread the first two trades on the bus to and from NYC, so my brain is primed for more Truth from the Source. What an insanely good series.
SEP061826 PIRATES OF CONEY ISLAND #2 (OF$2.99
Joe Rice didn’t like this; I did. We are still friends, though: he gave me 5 Cool Points. Of course, Cronin is not recognizing them, since he’s some sort of Cool Points Dictator.
Marvel Comics
SEP062104 DAREDEVIL #91 $2.99
You know, I’m enjoying this, but I think I’m just going to switch to trades and get the story wholesale. A bit of my enjoyment is nullified by the pacing, and I’m saying that as someone who bought singles through the Bendis run.
SEP062185 ESSENTIAL CAPTAIN AMERICA VOL 3 TP $16.99
I love, love, love this material. Love it. More than I love you. I’m sorry, baby. See also: previous comment about Showcase Presents The Unknown Soldier.
SEP062166 NEW X-MEN OMNIBUS HC $99.99
Despite the fact I have the three large-format hardcovers, I find this vaguely tempting. Ah, well – it’s too unwieldy to carry and I quite like the fact I can, theoretically, choose to drop a volume of the original hardcovers into my courier bag for travel.
JUL061988 PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #1 CW $2.99
I really, really hope some unsuspecting fanboy is sold Casanova as an adjunct to this by a smart retailer and they discover pure joy in its pages. Hell, I’m looking forward to seeing Fraction do old-school Punisher mayhem, and I’m a huge fan of the Ennis material. There’s room in my book for many iterations of The Punisher, including Super Disco Hibachi Frank Castle: Demon Fighter!
Other Comics Companies
JUN063270 BUCKAROO BANZAI #3 (OF 3) $3.50
As someone who loved the movie and ancillary material more than anybody should, I have to say that with the fanboy glee at a new Banzai Industries product gone, this product is pretty shoddy. Bad call on my part and I’m sorry if I directed anyone to purchase it.
JUL063106 DONT GO WHERE I CANT FOLLOW GN (MR) $17.95
It’s sure to be compelling, but what a hard thing this will be to read. I love Nilsen’s work, mostly because of how casually he exposes raw nerves on the reader’s part. Part of me wonders at the whole “exploitation of a loved one and the artist’s relationship therein” aspect, but then a lot of “high art” involves some sort of suffering on the part of the artist.
SEP063299 HANK KETCHAMS COMPLETE DENNIS THE MENACE 1955-1956 HC $24.95
This series proves that the original Dennis material is about a million times better than what I was exposed to as a kid. Several times I have found myself paraplectic with laughter, wondering when the good lord would just smite me so the pain in my sides would stop.
SEP063629 JOHN WOOS SEVEN BROTHERS #2 $2.99
I liked the first well enough to give it one more issue. That’s my complete review.
SEP063469 KHAN #1 (O/A) $2.95
Mentioned only so I could include this link.
JUL062985 PLANETARY BRIGADE ORIGINS NEW SCHOOL CVR #1 (OF 3) $3.99
JUL062984 PLANETARY BRIGADE ORIGINS OLD SCHOOL CVR #1 (OF 3) $3.99
PROMOTIONAL BIT FOLLOWS:Please consider buying this comic. Benjamin Birdie and I have a nice little half-page gag strip in the back that is sure to make you chuckle if you are a fan of such things. As I mentioned in the Newsarama interview, it’s based on the old Jack Schiff educational comics that DC used to put in its books and I think it’s pretty darn funny, mostly because Birdie pulls off everything I ask him to do about a million times better than I script.
Production Snafu: it didn’t get placed for whatever reason. Issues #2 and 3 will have it, though. Buy it anyway, because it’s funny and Julia Bax draws the heck out of it.
SEP063164 SIMPSONS WINTER WINGDING #1 $4.99
Simpsons holiday comics by the usual people who do these things. Yes, I’m pals with some of the people at Bongo, but they really do exceed their mandate on a frequent basis and produce quite a lot of entertaining Simpsons-related material.
SEP063673 WILL EISNERS CONTRACT WITH GOD SC $16.95
SEP063675 WILL EISNERS DROPSIE AVENUE SC $16.95
SEP063674 WILL EISNERS LIFE FORCE SC $16.95
I got these a week ago and they’re beautiful, as I mentioned.
Do you know me?
Comments Off | Posted: November 20th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
Art by Marie Severin.
This is what I want from the end of Civil War.
Comments Off | Posted: November 19th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
(It would go on like this for about ten pages, Hulk would
win, and then they would have Hostess™ Pies.)
From Hulk #131,
Written by Roy Thomas.
Art by Herb Trimpe and John Severin.
The Validus Gallery Of Fine Arts.
Comments Off | Posted: November 19th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
Artist Name: Andrew Weiss.
Artist Website: Armagideon Time.
Artist Name: Betsy.
Artist Website: She’s got a LiveJournal.
Artist Name: Bill D.
Artist Website: Trusty Plinko Stick.
Artist Name: Bully.
Artist Website: Bully Says: Comics Oughtta Be Fun!
Artist Name: Dwayne, “The Canoe Guy.”
Artist Website: Matching Dragoons.
Artist Name: Gordon.
Artist Website: Blog This, Pal!
Artist Name: Mark Hale.
Artist Website: Chaosmonkey’s Abysmal Pit.
Artist Name: Jon Cormier.
Artist Website: Hypnoray.
Artist Name: Dave Lartigue.
Artist Website: Dave Ex Machina.
Artist Name: Maggie Osterberg.
Artist Website: Mediawench.com.
Artist Name: Jeffrey Munson.
Artist Website: He doesn’t have one, the bum.
Artist Name: Philip Looney.
Artist Website: Poptown!
Artist Name: “Sin Ro.”
Artist Website: A Bitter View.
Artist Name: “Sausaletus Rex.”
Artist Website: The Cult of Evolution.
Artist Name: Mike Sterling.
Artist Website: Progressive Ruin.
Kirby Saturday: ZZZWWITCH!
Comments Off | Posted: November 18th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
From Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #146,
reprinted in
Jimmy Olsen Adventures by Jack Kirby Volume 2
Links, a video, and Validus!
Comments Off | Posted: November 17th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized- I’ve been meaning to link to K Thor Jensen’s upcoming Red Eye, Black Eye for a while now. It looks to be a witty, insightful autobiographical piece that manages to avoid the pitfalls of the genre. Plus: Jensen’s one of “us,” so I’m always about showing some love.
- I somehow stumbled across Niki Smith’s site and really like her sequential work. I hope to see more from her in the future.
- Wizard interviewed Howard Chaykin and managed to talk about Gil Kane instead of “Hey, so you like drawing big titties, huh?”
- Dennis The Menace meets Fight Club: Part One | Part Two
- Panel One is Alexander Danner’s experiment with the conventions of the medium. It’s funnier than it sounds.
- I got copies of American Splendor #s3 and 4 from DC a couple of weeks ago and haven’t reviewed them. Thankfully, Tom Spurgeon did.
- John Porcellino’s 10 Records That Changed His Life.
- Commentor Sausaletus Rex wrote a damned good piece on the Sunk Cost fallacy and how it applies to creative people. He goes into detail, but the gist is thus: writers, artists, editors – cut your losses when you can.
- 33 minutes of Charles Mingus playing for French TV.
- I am totally jealous of this Royal Tenenbaums sketchbook. I’ve half-considered starting a Pet Shop Boys one a few times, just because I’d love something different from artists I like.
- Chris Yates’s photostrips are always pretty funny, but this poker one from his archives had me LOLing and OMGing. OK, maybe not the latter.
- I love Jen Wang’s drawings of Airline Safety Instructions as Dance Moves. I love them fiercely.
Here’s David Blaine screwing with people. Yes, it’s a spoof. No, it’s probably NSFW when it comes to language used.
Remember to participate in the Validus is always flipping out event so you can have your own Photoshop/MS Paint/Illustrator/etc creation on this page, Sunday! Here’s two more I whipped up:
Flaming Flickers.
Comments Off | Posted: November 17th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
Scan courtesy of Munson, who managed to buy
the damned Golden Age comic this appeared in
before me. Damn you, Munson. Damn you.
Quick Reviews: Popeye Volume 1: I Yam What I Yam and Shadowlands
Comments Off | Posted: November 16th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
We are living at the beginning of a new golden age of classic comic strip reprints, it seems, and this latest salvo from Fantagraphics is among the best of the lot. This first volume collecting E.C. Segar’s Popeye material in Thimble Theater covers the years 1928-1930 in a way that allows them to use the book’s tall format to great effect: each page features a week of the Daily strips, with the Sunday strips (which carried their own storyline) occupying the back section. It’s hard to find enough superlatives to describe this presentation – Popeye is a long-neglected comic strip icon and this unique-looking deluxe volume is what the character deserves. Now, about starting a proper Terry And The Pirates reprint project, along with getting the complete Sky Masters into my hands…
Kim Deitch‘s hallucinogenic tale of a crashed alien ship, its discovery by a 7-year-old boy named Al Ledicker, and the carnival that springs up around it has always been one of the harder things to collect from the creator of The Boulevard of Broken Dreams, as it was scattered through multiple magazines and comics. This collection of stories covers a broad swathe of Americana from the late 19th century until the end of the 20th, and Deitch’s retro-creepy-cute art is perfect for the subjects at hand. If you don’t mind a dash of murder, a drop or two of incest, and tragic tales of flying pigs, then picking this up would probably be in your best interest.
Copies of these books were provided by Fantagraphics for the purposes of review.
Validus is always flipping out.
Comments Off | Posted: November 16th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
Hey, Kids! Make Your Own!
Speech Balloon Validus | Thought Bubble Validus | Just Plain Validus
Once you’re done, leave a comment with the location or email your work to beaucoupkevin@gmail.com. I’ll hold a grand exhibition on Sunday!
Random Notes From This Week’s Comics.
Comments Off | Posted: November 15th, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedWhen I did the shipping list on Monday, I stupidly forgot to tell you people that the final part of Jack Kirby’s Captain America is out this week in trade paperback at the slightly gasp-inducing price of $29.95. It’s still cheaper than the issues and the pages look great, so I don’t mind that much. This is what the cover looks like:
About Civil War: one “Oh my god that’s awesome!” inducing page and its followup involving one particular player finally entering the fray in a way that makes sense does not make up for 20 other pages of wildly out-of-character moments featuring everyone else. Marvel, Marvel, Marvel: you’re determined to make me dislike just about everyone you guys put into costumes anymore, aren’t you?
The latest Back Issue features articles on: The Defenders, Howard The Duck, Marvel Assistant Editor’s Month, the (thankfully) unmade She-Hulk movie starring Brigitte Neilsen, and the career of Don Newton. It’s sort of like I Love The 70s from VH-1, but without annoying hosts and with stuff that’s actually way cooler than McDonald’s ads or Lite Brite.
Are you reading Jack Staff? If not, you’re missing panels like this:
B’wana Beast!
Comments Off | Posted: November 15th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
B’wana Beast: he fucks up Gorillas!
B’wana Beast: he was in two issues of Showcase and was like the Aquaman of the Jungle!
B’wana Beast: created by Bob Haney and Mike Sekowsky!
B’wana Beast: showed up in Grant Morrison’s Animal Man!
And that’s about all I know about him.
Links:
A chronology of all of his appearances. | Lethargic Lad writes about him. | Somebody has a series proposal for the character. | He was on JLU in an episode entitled “This Little Piggy.”
Promotional: Nitroglycerin and a straggling WWTT?!? review.
Comments Off | Posted: November 15th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized
You are given a choice. You may view the latest installment of Nitroglycerin in two locations, one of which allows you to see the strip in super-sized glory, where you may savor Benjamin Birdie’s art in detail. A warning, though – your eyeballs may burst from the overwhelming glory of his portraiture of the Elder God:
Birdie and I have discussed new, exciting things that will develop as they develop, so stick around for that.
Here’s a review of What Were They Thinking?!?: Monster Mash-Up that came in a bit later than the rest:
What they wound up with was one of the silliest things that has come off the press in months. [...] I say again, Boom! Studios has given us one of the best books of the year. Now, if they just don’t fall victim to the dreaded ego machine maybe they can last longer then Valiant, CrossGen or some of the others.
