The server that Agreeable Comics is hosted on is experiencing difficulty doing its job. Here’s the Dreamhost post about it. With luck, we’ll be up and running again tomorrow, with The Rack and The Loneliest Astronauts.
Service resumes tomorrow. Lock up your daughters.
“Well, maybe not so much,” he wrote at 5:30 in the morning on Tuesday.
I’m pretty sure I’ll be Twittering away my assault on my liver tonight at home while watching fine films, so you may want to keep an eye out for that. (And probably unfollow me as the night wears on.)
So, a local comics show and indie-friendy crafts festival was held by my local comics shop this weekend. Also attending this event was Larry Doherty and some of the employees from Larry’s Comics, based in Lowell Massachusetts. Larry has been the subject of internet controversy recently, and I actually made several posts about his email newsletter without mentioning the business name. Larry went around offering Drake’s snack cakes to people and it was a nice gesture that I didn’t particularly want to take advantage of because I don’t actually like them and I wasn’t hungry at the time. I was checking messages on my phone when he came around and I shook my head and mouthed “No” at him.
His response? To inform me that I’d obviously “had my share of donuts” before, then lifting up his shirt to expose his stomach and chest to me and Ming, whom I was sharing a table with. I was baffled at his actions and had other people at the table, so I let Larry walk off and continue his deliveries. After Ming and I had dinner, I came home and made a comment about the incident on twitter. What follows are my tweets from tonight, along with his comments back, which I’ve put in red for your convenience.
So, @larryscomics insulted me then showed me and @mingdoyle his bare chest and stomach. That was something.
about 8 hours ago from web
(I refused a Drake’s snack cake; he said “C’mon, you’ve had your share of donuts before!” and then said “ME TOO!” and flashed us.)
about 8 hours ago from web
(Yes, @larryscomics, I am fat. You’re a shithead. I win.)
about 8 hours ago from web
@BeaucoupKevin Hey Kevin. Your not much of a “personality” in person BUT your a powerhouse at home on the Internet. Hope you had fun today
about 6 hours ago from Echofon in reply to BeaucoupKevin
@BeaucoupKevin typical. At the show Kevin was a gentleman. At home he has nasty musings to share. Wanted that Twinkie didn’t ya big boy??
about 6 hours ago from Echofon in reply to BeaucoupKevin
Really, @LarrysComics? You interrupt me and insult me when I’m checking my messages and I’m supposed to be a personality for you?
about 6 hours ago from web
And, @LarrysComics? Maybe I reserve my personality for people who don’t represent every worst aspect of comics-fan-as-retailer.
about 6 hours ago from web
.@LarrysComics Larry, I was polite because there were other people there. Unlike you, I have consideration for third parties.
about 6 hours ago from web
And yeah, @larryscomics, I’m a “big boy.” At least people weren’t asking which table was mine so they could avoid it.
about 6 hours ago from web
@BeaucoupKevin I think you were pissed because like most shows I attend I was surrounded by family and friends including the promoters
about 6 hours ago from Echofon in reply to BeaucoupKevin
@BeaucoupKevin your from new England chump. You know damn well how my shop ranks, and what it stands for. Ask YOUR retailer what they think
about 6 hours ago from Echofon in reply to BeaucoupKevin.
.@LarrysComics Really. You really do have the most remarkable powers of self-delusion. If you were doing so well, why’d you leave at 3:30?
about 6 hours ago from web
.@LarrysComics I’m not going to use other people as a reference point. I simply said what you did and how you acted. You insulted me.
about 6 hours ago from web
@BeaucoupKevin sold my stock to Patrick Jamal. Then went to Arlington and bought a warehouse. Confirm THAT with any of the 3 promoters
about 6 hours ago from Echofon in reply to BeaucoupKevin
@BeaucoupKevin Kevin is pissed because I was handing out snacks to small press like I have done for 20 years!? I AM a douchebag
about 6 hours ago from Echofon in reply to BeaucoupKevin
.@LarrysComics Good for your business. You still insulted me and then flashed me and the woman I shared a table with.
about 6 hours ago from web
I don’t know why @LarrysComics keeps thinking I need to ask my friends how well his business was doing at the show.
about 6 hours ago from web
I don’t know why @LarrysComics thinks I care about how well his business is performing. His business has nothing to do with his actions. about 6 hours ago from web
If .@LarrysComics thinks I’m pissed because he was handing out free food and NOT because of how he acted when I refused, boy, I don’t know.
about 6 hours ago from web
@BeaucoupKevin Kevin. YOU commented on my early departure. I told you WHY. You know damn well you were not offedded by me offering you food
about 6 hours ago from Echofon in reply to BeaucoupKevin
.@LarrysComics Wait, you just said this: http://is.gd/5loDX and then you said I wasn’t insulted by that? What?
about 6 hours ago from web
@BeaucoupKevin your just playing up the fact that you met fucking cretin Larry ,bane of the comic book industry.
about 6 hours ago from Echofon in reply to BeaucoupKevin
Seriously, @LarrysComics, best of luck with your business. I’ll just be sure to make sure that people know how you acted.
about 6 hours ago from web
No, @LarrysComics, I didn’t MEET you. You walked up, offered food, I refused, you insulted, flashed your chest and stomach, and left.
about 6 hours ago from web
@BeaucoupKevin I held a box of drakes cakes. You politely pointed to your fat gut to decline. I lifted my shirt showing my gut. All laughed.
about 6 hours ago from Echofon in reply to BeaucoupKevin
.@LarrysComics You’re not telling the truth, Larry. I did not point at my stomach. I shook my head and went back to my messages.
about 6 hours ago from web
@BeaucoupKevin best of luck with your artwork. I’ll be shure to let people know how you acted
about 6 hours ago from Echofon in reply to BeaucoupKevin
.@LarrysComics Be sure to tell people that I refused a snack cake. Go on and do that.
about 6 hours ago from web
@BeaucoupKevin whatever Kevin. You are simply making something out if nothing to draw attention to yourself. Everyone had fun today but you
about 5 hours ago from Echofon in reply to BeaucoupKevin
“Whatever?” You know @LarrysComics, I had a great time today except for our interaction, and I didn’t have to insult anyone!
about 6 hours ago from web
@BeaucoupKevin look in the mirror Kevin. Do you think anyone on the planet will think YOU turned down a fucking Twinkie? That’s a stretch
about 5 hours ago from Echofon in reply to BeaucoupKevin
.@LarrysComics Again with saying that I’m fat. Yes, Larry. We know. I turned down a snack cake from you because I don’t like them or you.
about 5 hours ago from web
@BeaucoupKevin I thought you seemed like a nice guy in person Kevin. Kinda a nasty fellow on the Internet though aintcha??
about 5 hours ago from Echofon in reply to BeaucoupKevin
.@LarrysComics You insult me repeatedly when I say what happened and I’M nasty? OK.
about 5 hours ago from web
Some comments:
Why make this post? Well, I think it’s a way to show people who might do business with Larry’s Comics, (whether it be at a comics show or when visiting their business at 66 Lakeview Avenue in Lowell, MA) how he treated someone who refused to eat a fifty-cent snack cake. You can also do the same with my own behavior and decide you don’t want to read any of the comics I write.
Edited To Add:
Someone sent me screenshots (albeit tiny-ish ones) of Larry’s half of the conversation, just in case it gets deleted.
Come see me and The Loneliest Astronauts artist Ming Doyle, maybe buy that copy of The Rack: Year One (Mostly) for your mom, get some swag!
Oh, look there. A new template, and it appears that I’m still inordinately fascinated with #ffffff, #000000, and #990000. I’m sure you will all cope, especially since most of you have fucked off to RSS readers by this point. Anyway, I’m going to masturbate about process and whine for a bit so if you want to skip this one and wait for the next Design Fetish post or whatever, I completely understand.
As I said a while back (and in the header graphic that was replaced by giant letters that can be read by even the most Precambrien of slugs,) I’ve been much more interested in creating content than talking about other people’s work. Plenty of people do that just fine, even if I wish that Tucker Stone would stick to being a dick about d-grade superhero comics on video and devote his writing hours to something more interesting to me. Don’t get me wrong — nobody savages shitty comics better than he does — but there’s a practically reptilian, savage intelligence in there that should be unleashed in a manner more creative than telling the audience “No, really, Gotham City Sirens belongs under the outhouse from Slumdog Millionaire.” If they couldn’t work that out themselves, then they deserve the fate they’ve chosen. (That said, the TV writing on Factual Opinion is sublime, even for series I don’t watch. Perhaps it’s the air of collaboration with other people good at stringing words together that helps that kneejerk cockbag response to the downward spiral that is The Simpsons or whatever go down better.)
(In other words: Tucker, find an artist, make comics. I’ll host them or help you host them or whatever.)
While I’m only writing three web comics right now (two of which are weekly,) there’s some other things sitting on the back burner that are slowly being brought to temperature. The Loneliest Astronauts, truthfully, requires only a bit of work from me — write something that Ming can draw awesomely, ruin it with words. (If only that were the truth and just not me using “truthfully” to sound like it’s really easy to come up with something that best takes advantage of Ming’s work. She works best with bigger panels, and writing one-or-two panel gags is actually more difficult for me. This week’s strip and next week’s are examples of me trying to work a bit more within her style instead of forcing my “No, seriously, can I just have people chat their heads off for forty-five panels” idiocy onto her storytelling.)
She Died In Terrebonne is the most difficult of my strips to write, but it’s also the one that makes me feel closest to writing, if that makes sense. I don’t have the time and space for cheap jokes, so I have to boil everything down into the dose. While it looks like we’ve got a lot of room each week, you try packing a satisfying chunk into eight or nine panels that’ll have people wanting to come back next week. So far, I’ve been stunned by how popular the strip has been. It started off as an experiment in serialized storytelling for myself and an artist who happened to make the tragic mistake of wanting to work with me: I had a rough idea of the plot, of the beats I wanted to hit, but hadn’t settled into who/what/when/why/how when I started writing it. I was happily trucking along that way until last week, when someone asked for a print proposal and I had to actually lay out who the killer was, so now it’s entering its second phase, I suppose, just in time for Act 1 to wrap up in a couple of weeks.
Then there’s that old standby, The Rack. I have the most difficulty writing nerd-punchline gag strips for it, frankly, and most enjoy doing the longer-form work that lets me and Birdie tell stories about people doing things. The shorthand explanation I’ve been giving lately when people ask me what the strip is about is that it’s “WKRP in a comics shop;” the comics are a part of the setting and yes, there are gags around them, but I’m much more interested in writing about people than about things that happen in publishing offices in New York City. (The short version is that I’m glad that Let’s Be Friends Again exists so we can be the PvP to its Penny Arcade.)
There’s other things that I’m working on. As a teaser, I’ll say Max Riffner and I have been dancing around a thing ever since Lydia wrapped up, each of us waiting for the other to make the first move that codifies it and brings the hammer of the fiction gods down upon us. It’s different, bigger, and more ambitious than anything either of us have done before, but already there’s a spark that we’re hovering over, cupping our hands around and fanning from time to time.
So, yes, the fact that I spend a lot of time writing is why I don’t write so much here anymore. Writing is a big chunk of what I do for real-world money too, so when I do sit down at a keyboard and open up WriteRoom for myself, I want it to be something I created, not something that was a reaction.
I hate you all.
My pal Jenn has a pair of kids that frankly exhaust me from across the country, so I have no idea how she manages to handle both of them. She’s a designer who does personalized stationery and notecards, but wanted something a bit different for her younger kid’s upcoming fourth birthday. What started off as a question about fonts ended up with me making this for the kid, who loves Batman almost as much as I do. It was a lot of fun to do, honestly, and apparently his friends thought he was awesome because he was a comic character now.
Other, better “comics bloggers” throw up black and white pictures or whatever when they go into a low-content mode, but I’m even lazier.
(Actually, I’m not being that lazy; I’ve just got a lot of work stuff going on right now and I’d rather focus on creating rather than reacting right now in my free time.)
1.
14 hours door-to-door travel getting home, so I’m not in the best of moods. You probably know this if you follow me on Twitter.
2.
Finally got to meet the internet’s own Dorian Wright along with Employees Tim and Aaron of Ralph’s Comic Corner. The amount of gossip concerning Mr. Michael Sterling and his (my lawyer says I have to call them “alleged”) abuses of their goodwill and supple young flesh was, frankly, a bit disconcerting.
3.
I was on a panel about marketing your indie comic. It was all very sudden – I was brought in as a last-minute replacement for Shannon Wheeler – but I think everyone had a good time. BOOM!’s Chip Mosher quite rightly dominated the event and Heidi MacDonald’s feedback on how to get noticed by sites like The Beat was really great. Outside of reminding people that they’ve always got to hustle and they can’t act like they’re too hip to market themselves, I just kind of sat there and made farting noises with my hands, which seemed to work pretty well.
4.
I said I wasn’t going to spend anything. $600 later, well…
5.
It should be noted that a big chunk of that was me buying the original art from my two Cthulhu Tales stories from Joe Abraham, though, so I think that’s fair enough. Joe and I may be doing a thing. It’s all very vague at the moment but he wants to start drawing more and I’m always looking for artists to bend to my will. No, I will not give you his contact information, Chris Sims of the Action Age.
6.
I’m very sure I’m going to miss some of you, but it was great to see Jenn, Paul, Darlene, Jodi, Ren, Sherri, Nate, J. Ho, Matt, Gillen, McKelvie, Marc, Layman, Starros, Jeff, Vendetti, Les, Ryan, Ryan’s Hot Wife (I hope she knows that we call her that,) Declan, Alex, Will, Dale, Tony, Andrew, Dafna, Ming, Katie, the Periscope gang, PJ, Sarah, Gardner, Chris, and especially Carla and Lance Hoffman, who looked really really terrific, even after everything they’ve been through.
7.
Photos will be up sometime. I took maybe 50 or so.
8.
I’ll be back next year. With The Rack and a table of its own.
Here’s some answers to questions you didn’t even know you were going to ask:
The story’s pretty well-known- in the early 1960s, not long after their disfiguring accident and entry into the public eye as the short-lived “science vigilante” group the Fantastic Four (Reed “Mr. Fantastic” Richards, Susan “Invisible Girl” Storm-Richards, Ben “The Thing” Grimm and Johnny “The Human Torch” Storm) fell upon some financial hardship, due to poor investments. Monarch/industrialist/part-time terrorist Prince Namor of Atlantis (sometimes known as the “sub-mariner”) decided to privately fund a film starring the team. Namor even started his own production company to produce the film, but the whole thing turned out to be some sort of elaborate scheme in which he had planned to kill them. Thwarted somehow, he went back into the sea and the film was completed by an uncredited Samuel Fuller.
OK, here’s the thing. People email me wanting to know what I think about things. Not, like, things I care about, but things like DC’s upcoming Blackest Night or the return of Steve Rogers. I think it’s nice that people want to know my opinion on something that obviously means something to them, but (and God, this sounds even more egotistical than usual) I don’t spend any time at all thinking about that sort of thing anymore. Over the last year or so, I’ve started to create more than react, and I’ve opted to be more positive in general about comics, sticking to talking about what I like and actually want to read versus whining about matters that don’t interest or excite me at all. So, if you want to know what I think about comics happenings along these lines, the answer is more-than-likely going to be “I’m not.”
If DC wants to do a Green Lantern-themed remix of Marvel Zombies, that’s fine. It’ll probably sell very well to the sort of people who want that sort of thing. (I actually really enjoyed The Sinestro Corps War, but that seemed to fill up my space magic-ring-themed mega-event reserves to their required levels pretty handily, with the upcoming Wednesday Comics strip by Busiek and Quinones keeping things topped off.) If Marvel wants to resurrect a character that nobody with half a lobe in their skull thought would stay dead, that’s fine. I’ll read it in the book format because I think Brubaker’s done a bang-up job with the title, and I’ll write a one-off comic strip about how the marketing stunt around it ended up doing at a fictional comic shop because that’s the sort of thing people like, but I can’t imagine devoting any real thought to the matter unless it was my bottom line that was being affected by the whole issue.
In the past couple of months, I’ve seen some people who I thought were smarter get caught up in grinding out content about what they hate about comics, and it baffles me. Why rehash the “news cycle” that Newsarama and CBR are working when you can celebrate how cool, how vital comics are by pointing out smaller titles that you enjoy? Don’t get me wrong: there’s some reviewers whose insightful savaging of the mainstream is something I enjoy and look forward to, but they’re actually coming up with useful analysis of the medium and its trends, not pissing and moaning about how comics aren’t what they think they should be and how Dan Dildio (I swear I saw that yesterday) needs to fuck right off.
(The short version: If you don’t think you’ll like something, ignore it. Something better will come along. That’s what I do and don’t you want to be just like me?)
