PROMOTING SOMEONE ELSE’S WORK: JustJenn’s New Comic

My family, being a bunch of drama-free bores who are scattered across a nation, rarely give me that dose of insanity that I think everyone needs in their day-to-day life. Thankfully, JustJenn is one of my best friends and the true stories she tells me about her family are better than any I could concoct. She’s done two comics previously OG: The Book and The Adventures of Kid Emo And Grr Baby but her newest one (which also features the titular grandmother from OG: The Book) is my favorite so far. Jenn takes the conversations she’s had while driving her grandmother around and turns them into funny, sweet three-panel comics that I just plain love.

Here’s one of the first installments from OG: Road Trippin’:

There’s quite a few like this; little bursts of naturally comedic dialogue. What’s pleasantly surprising is seeing how evocative minimalist style is when it comes to the topic of her grandfather’s death, forgoing mawkishness and rending of cloth and instead focusing on little moments that are pretty universal. You can pre-order the book now or wait to see her at San Diego, where she’s forced to sit next to those schmucks from Agreeable Comics for four days.

Make Friends With Marvel!

Through Google Books, the entirety of Popular Mechanics is now online.

I made a guest appearance on Chris Sims’s blog

Go read about what happens when we stop being polite, and start getting real about that show with Clark Kent.

Katie Cook said I had to link to her site today.

Ethan Persoff’s posted a George Wallace pro-segregation comic from the 1960’s.

No new THE RACK today, but…

…you can soothe your fevered brow by downloading free PDFs of the first two volumes of Ed Piskor’s excellent ode to the early days of computer hackery, Wizzywig. Here’s what I wrote about the first volume and here’s a brief mention of the second.

Box Brown’s comics make me laugh. Help him make more of them.

GO READ THIS: Chris Ware’s Halloween Story

The New Yorker has a cover and four-page comic by Chris Ware, featuring the protagonist of one of the best pieces from Acme Novelty Library #18.

The massive New Yorker profile on James Cameron is must reading.

The New Yorker profiles Avatar director James Cameron and the quotes from it are amazing. The Vulture breaks down the most fantastic bits into bite-sized brainbombs.

GO LOOK: Cels from Kyle Baker’s DEXTER Animation for Showtime.

This makes me want to see a show I’ve not had any interest in.

I normally put links on Twitter, but I needed a post today, so…

• Michael Kupperman has some magazines for you to look at.
• Everything Is Terrible ruins art and sex simultaneously.
• Are you reading Rob and Elliot? You should be.
• The Retroist has a nice, “I Love The 70s” redesign going on, but without people who weren’t around in the 70s telling you how wacky they were!
• Design Observer has a really interesting post about a diplomatic MMORPG.
• One of my favorite DJs, Jaguar Skills has a blog where he posts his mixes. They’re all on MediaFire and ZShare and those other horrible file-storage sites, but his cut-ups are worth it.
• Finally, Michael And Michael have an interview. I’ve not kept up with this show like I should, but Showalter and Black never not make me laugh.

I don’t like podcasts, but…

…I got a sneak listen of the first installment of Chris Sims’s and Eugene Ahn’s War Rocket Ajax and think it’s pretty terrific. It moves quickly, it’s funny, and the interview with Matt Fraction is informed and informative.

Go download it and discover that you agree!

Here’s a press release from a friend’s project.

EPISODE 1 OF ‘THE VARIANTS’ PREMIERES

Dallas, TX—Zeus Comics Media is proud to announce the premiere of THE VARIANTS, the web comedy series that takes you behind the counter of your local comic book shop.

“Several months, countless hours, and a whole bunch of volunteer work made this possible,” says series co-creator/co-writer Ken Lowery. “Needless to say we’re very proud of the final product.”

Episode 1, “Pilot,” follows the staff of Zeus Comics through a typical new comic day. We meet the cast—enthusiastic store owner Richard, surly bastard Barry, bubbly Keli, fanboy Joe—as they fend off hordes of fans looking to pick up the new hardcover collecting ‘90s icon Jim Leefeld’s work on Team Bloodforce. Joe, of course, wants a copy, and of course, there isn’t a spare one to be found. Wouldn’t you know it? Hilarity ensues.

“”This episode takes the collector mentality to the absurd extreme,” says co-creator/co-writer Richard Neal, who fittingly plays Richard. “Joe’s gotta have it.”

THE VARIANTS’ first season premieres August 5, with new episodes uploaded on the first Wednesday of every month at http://www.thevariants.com. Journalists interested in more information or in setting up interviews can contact Ken Lowery at ken@thevariants.com.

RJ White reviews the Criterion edition of Namor’s THE FANTASTIC FOUR.

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.

I thought Ebert’s review of TRANSFORMERS 2 was good until I read this…

From Flicked Off:

In practice, there are a bunch of machines who are mad at other machines and they enter into many encounters where they whirl around, but if you are any kind of normal person, you won’t be able to tell which machine is which, and so it will pretty much look like two or more enormous microwaves with swords violently mating

Links, as I am busy today. I’ll mark the NSFW ones, ok?

Yes, I know that people who follow me on Twitter have seen these. Shut up.

• Happiest People Ever – A misnomer, at best.
  
• Sexy People – My favorite blog ever. This is not at all an exaggeration.
  
• Awkward Family Pictures – I’ve seen a lot of these, but there’s frequently a previously-unearthed gem.
  
• Everything is Terrible- Remixed video footage from the gutters. The movie debuts this weekend. If I were in LA, I’d go to this. (Sometimes NSFW when it comes to language.)
  
• Fuck Yeah, Dr McCoy – What do you think it’s about, sharks? (SFW except for that URL.)
  
• This is Photobomb (Frequently NSFW) – People screwing up other people’s photos.
  
• Grain Edit – The BoingBoing of design blogs, sending you to other new places that can then introduce you to other new places, etc, etc.
  
• Kevin Dart – I discovered Kevin Dart from Grain Edit. I want to see him doing comic covers stat.

GO READ THIS: Scott Morse’s THE SHOGUNAUT

Click now go go go go!

CLICK THIS LINK RIGHT NOW: Paul Pope’s Star Trek Comic

There’s a buncha DVDs on sale at Amazon

Setting aside my enmity towards Amazon’s PR department, this is a pretty amazing sale if you’re willing to dig around a bit.

In the $5 and under bin – Not a really, uh, deep selection, but She Wolves Of The Wasteland is $4, so that’s something.

DVD movies for $5-$8 OK, here’s where it starts getting pretty interesting.  Little Shop Of Horrors, one of two or three musicals I like!  Dr Strangelove! The Breakfast Club!  Mannequin and Mannequin 2: On The Move!  Glory!  The Dark Crystal!  And that’s just on the first page!

$8 to $15 Spider-Man 3!  The first season of Barney Miller!  An Affair To Remember!  Jodorowsky’s El Topo! The Steve Reeves Hercules Collection!

$15-$20 The complete Due South!  The first season of Lexx!  A four-film Shaw Brothers box set!  Seasons of Kids In The Hall and Monty Python’s Flying Circus!

$20-$30 Seasons of Rescue Me, Dawson’s Creek, Remington Steele and Profiler!  A six-film Marilyn Monroe box set!  The complete Poirot!  The Criterion edition of The Complete Mr Arkadin!

Over $30 The complete Emma Peel Avengers for $48!  The complete Homicide: Life On The Street for $117!  Nero Wolfe!  The deluxe collector’s edition of La Dolce Vita!

Dateline: Silver Age is such a good website, you guys.