I didn't see it at the Vienna Metro Station when I got on the train this morning, but it was staring me in the face when I got off at Gallery Place/Chinatown today!
The latest issue of BASH! Magazine comes complete with a full-color cover (plus some color on the interior as well), with a great looking caricature of Obama by Greg Halbert -- just in time for the inauguration! I expect this'll grab quite a few visitors' eyes when they're in for the event and looking for affordable pieces of collectible history...
Monday, December 29, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Kal's Credit Crunch board game, in action
I broke out the Credit Crunch game from the Economist today and got destroyed by my 10-year old daughter. My ex-high school teacher of economics father-in-law didn't do much better than me though.
Kal asked for comments. The using coins to figure out moves is a bit clunky, but I don't have any better ideas. Also when one reaches the end, are you supposed to continue through Start and go around again? If so, do you collect $500 mil again? (We did). We also sold our Financial Risk Cards, or at least bribed each other to influence the results. We only made it around the track once - two of us were bankrupt while Claire made it past the Start line with a few hundred million left. Overall the game was fun. I'd play it again. It's like Life and Monopoly mashed together.
Claire modeling Richard's Poor Almanack t-shirt
100_6708
Originally uploaded by mgrhode1
A entomologist contacted Richard Thompson about making a t-shirt from his Richard's Poor Almanack panel featuring the camel cricket. Richard, being a thoroughly nice guy, said yes and got some of the shirts in return. Modeled by Claire because they're all small.
Good luck in finding one of these collectibles!Thompson illustrates Barry in Post Magazine
Dave Barry's annual Year in Review in the Washington Post magazine is illustrated by Our Man Thompson and the pics are on the Post website.
Richard's got a post up on it too.
QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE FRIDAY (Not Wednesday) 01-02-09
QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE FRIDAY (Not Wednesday) 01-02-09
By John Judy
(Why kiss a loved one at midnight when you could be reading comics?!)
30 DAYS OF NIGHT: TIL DEATH #2 written and drawn by David Lapham. The creator of STRAY BULLETS is delivering his strongest work (and best 30 DAYS series) in a long time. Definitely worth a look if you think the world post-Barrow has been a bit of a let-down.
AVENGERS INITIATIVE #20 by Dan Slott, Christos Gage and Steve Kurth. Lots of post- Secret Invasion doings as the real Hank Pym returns and Mutant Zero stands revealed.
BATMAN: CACOPHONY #2 of 3 by Kevin Smith and Walt J. Flanagan. The Good News: Kevin Smith managed to hit a deadline on a monthly book. The Bad News: Did you see issue one?
CAPTAIN AMERICA #45 by Ed Brubaker and Luke Ross. Bucky America has to beat the French fiend Batroc the Leaper and find whoever’s left of the Invaders. I recommend shouting in German and checking Facebook.
FANTASTIC FOUR #562 by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. The funeral of the Invisible Woman. They say it’s empty casket but how can you tell?
FINAL CRISIS: SECRET FILES #1 by Various Creators. Perhaps this will reveal the secret of why FINAL CRISIS is taking so long to wrap up already.
GOON #31 written and drawn by Eric Powell. “That’s the man who killed Kizzie! And it’s long past time that I dealt with him!” Highly recommended.
GREEN LANTERN #36 by Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke. Hal and the gang rush to duke it out with the wrathful Red Lanterns while the Controllers seek out the greed-powered Orange Lanterns. So “Orange = Greed.” A subtle swipe at a certain California county? Why not?
INCOGNITO #1 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. This new series is why CRIMINAL is going on hiatus so it must, must, must be awesome! Thankfully it looks like it is. The premise: What if you were a super-villain in Federal Witness Protection and you just couldn’t stand it anymore? Highly Recommended.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #28 by Dwayne McDuffie and Ed Benes. The JLA versus the Shadow Cabinet. Watch for flying splinters.
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #22 by Geoff Johns, Alex Ross and Dale Eaglesham. Gog’s big, fat other shoe has dropped and now it’s time to throw it at him. Big Fight!
KICK-ASS #5 by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. Remember this series? Issue four came out in August. Look for the trade collection of the first six issues in December of 2008. Oh, wait….
MARVELS: EYE OF THE CAMERA #2 of 6 by Kurt Busiek and Jay Anacieto. Photojournalist Phil Sheldon is still tracking the super goings-on in the Marvel Universe but he’s got troubles of his own. Cancer. An engaging follow-up to the classic MARVELS series.
NORTHLANDERS #13 by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly. The Irish guerilla and the Viking enforcer finally come face to face and it ain’t gonna be resolved with a drinking contest. Great stuff. Recommended.
PUNISHER WAR ZONE #4 of 6 by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. Wow, so it looks like this comic has already outlasted its namesake’s run in theatres. Deservedly so. Anyway, it looks like Frank’s gonna have to take out an army of Ma Gnucci zombie-clones. Seriously. Recommended, but not for kids or people with a low tolerance for the Ennis-style dark, silly humor.
SCALPED #24 by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera. My favorite comic continues to come out despite the best efforts of the buying public to keep it down on The Rez. Too intense for kids and those with a low tolerance for Total Awesomeness. Highly recommended.
THE STAND: CAPTAIN TRIPS #4 of 5 by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Mike Perkins. It’s the end of the world as we know it and it looks fine! The best adaptation yet of Stephen King’s epic novel. Recommended!
SUPERMAN #683 by James Robinson, Geoff Johns and Renato Guedes. Imagine if you tried passing discriminatory laws like California’s Prop 8 against 100,000 people, each with the all powers of Superman. An intriguing issue.
ULTIMATE HULK ANNUAL #1 by Jeph Loeb and Marko Djurdjevic. This is quite an accomplishment since Ultimate Hulk never actually had his own series. Anyway, for some reason the mass-murdering Hulk of the Ultimates Universe is teaming up with the mass-murdering Power Princess from the Squadron Supreme Universe. Makes you wonder what these crazy kids will get up to, doesn’t it?
WOLVERINE #70 by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven. The twisted alternate future road-trip continues with blind Hawkeye doing the violence and Old Man Logan not. Impressive they’ve maintained such a status quo all the way through part five of eight of this entertaining story.
WOLVERINE: MANIFEST DESTINY #3 of 4 by Jason Aaron and Stephen Segovia. Wolverine must unite all the kung-fu schools in Chinatown to defeat the Black Dragon Tong. And that, my friends, is a movie! If you enjoy these Jason Aaron Wolverine stories as much as I, do yourself a favor and pick up his other title, SCALPED. You’ll have the rest of your life to thank me.
X-MEN: MAGNETO TESTAMENT #4 of 5 by Greg Pak and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Young Magneto finds himself in Auschwitz. It bears repeating that this is a genuinely powerful series, focusing less on super-heroics and super-villainy than on the horrors of a Jewish boy’s coming of age during the holocaust. Both Pak and Di Giandomenico deserve credit for taking what could have been a hideous trivialization of the 20th century’s darkest moment and making it into something both restrained and moving. Highly recommended.
www.johnjudy.net
By John Judy
(Why kiss a loved one at midnight when you could be reading comics?!)
30 DAYS OF NIGHT: TIL DEATH #2 written and drawn by David Lapham. The creator of STRAY BULLETS is delivering his strongest work (and best 30 DAYS series) in a long time. Definitely worth a look if you think the world post-Barrow has been a bit of a let-down.
AVENGERS INITIATIVE #20 by Dan Slott, Christos Gage and Steve Kurth. Lots of post- Secret Invasion doings as the real Hank Pym returns and Mutant Zero stands revealed.
BATMAN: CACOPHONY #2 of 3 by Kevin Smith and Walt J. Flanagan. The Good News: Kevin Smith managed to hit a deadline on a monthly book. The Bad News: Did you see issue one?
CAPTAIN AMERICA #45 by Ed Brubaker and Luke Ross. Bucky America has to beat the French fiend Batroc the Leaper and find whoever’s left of the Invaders. I recommend shouting in German and checking Facebook.
FANTASTIC FOUR #562 by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. The funeral of the Invisible Woman. They say it’s empty casket but how can you tell?
FINAL CRISIS: SECRET FILES #1 by Various Creators. Perhaps this will reveal the secret of why FINAL CRISIS is taking so long to wrap up already.
GOON #31 written and drawn by Eric Powell. “That’s the man who killed Kizzie! And it’s long past time that I dealt with him!” Highly recommended.
GREEN LANTERN #36 by Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke. Hal and the gang rush to duke it out with the wrathful Red Lanterns while the Controllers seek out the greed-powered Orange Lanterns. So “Orange = Greed.” A subtle swipe at a certain California county? Why not?
INCOGNITO #1 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. This new series is why CRIMINAL is going on hiatus so it must, must, must be awesome! Thankfully it looks like it is. The premise: What if you were a super-villain in Federal Witness Protection and you just couldn’t stand it anymore? Highly Recommended.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #28 by Dwayne McDuffie and Ed Benes. The JLA versus the Shadow Cabinet. Watch for flying splinters.
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #22 by Geoff Johns, Alex Ross and Dale Eaglesham. Gog’s big, fat other shoe has dropped and now it’s time to throw it at him. Big Fight!
KICK-ASS #5 by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. Remember this series? Issue four came out in August. Look for the trade collection of the first six issues in December of 2008. Oh, wait….
MARVELS: EYE OF THE CAMERA #2 of 6 by Kurt Busiek and Jay Anacieto. Photojournalist Phil Sheldon is still tracking the super goings-on in the Marvel Universe but he’s got troubles of his own. Cancer. An engaging follow-up to the classic MARVELS series.
NORTHLANDERS #13 by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly. The Irish guerilla and the Viking enforcer finally come face to face and it ain’t gonna be resolved with a drinking contest. Great stuff. Recommended.
PUNISHER WAR ZONE #4 of 6 by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. Wow, so it looks like this comic has already outlasted its namesake’s run in theatres. Deservedly so. Anyway, it looks like Frank’s gonna have to take out an army of Ma Gnucci zombie-clones. Seriously. Recommended, but not for kids or people with a low tolerance for the Ennis-style dark, silly humor.
SCALPED #24 by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera. My favorite comic continues to come out despite the best efforts of the buying public to keep it down on The Rez. Too intense for kids and those with a low tolerance for Total Awesomeness. Highly recommended.
THE STAND: CAPTAIN TRIPS #4 of 5 by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Mike Perkins. It’s the end of the world as we know it and it looks fine! The best adaptation yet of Stephen King’s epic novel. Recommended!
SUPERMAN #683 by James Robinson, Geoff Johns and Renato Guedes. Imagine if you tried passing discriminatory laws like California’s Prop 8 against 100,000 people, each with the all powers of Superman. An intriguing issue.
ULTIMATE HULK ANNUAL #1 by Jeph Loeb and Marko Djurdjevic. This is quite an accomplishment since Ultimate Hulk never actually had his own series. Anyway, for some reason the mass-murdering Hulk of the Ultimates Universe is teaming up with the mass-murdering Power Princess from the Squadron Supreme Universe. Makes you wonder what these crazy kids will get up to, doesn’t it?
WOLVERINE #70 by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven. The twisted alternate future road-trip continues with blind Hawkeye doing the violence and Old Man Logan not. Impressive they’ve maintained such a status quo all the way through part five of eight of this entertaining story.
WOLVERINE: MANIFEST DESTINY #3 of 4 by Jason Aaron and Stephen Segovia. Wolverine must unite all the kung-fu schools in Chinatown to defeat the Black Dragon Tong. And that, my friends, is a movie! If you enjoy these Jason Aaron Wolverine stories as much as I, do yourself a favor and pick up his other title, SCALPED. You’ll have the rest of your life to thank me.
X-MEN: MAGNETO TESTAMENT #4 of 5 by Greg Pak and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Young Magneto finds himself in Auschwitz. It bears repeating that this is a genuinely powerful series, focusing less on super-heroics and super-villainy than on the horrors of a Jewish boy’s coming of age during the holocaust. Both Pak and Di Giandomenico deserve credit for taking what could have been a hideous trivialization of the 20th century’s darkest moment and making it into something both restrained and moving. Highly recommended.
www.johnjudy.net
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Zadzooks Christmas column
ZADZOOKS: Offbeat holiday offerings
Joseph Szadkowski
Washington Times Thursday, December 25, 2008.
I really like Paul Dini's Jingle Belle.
Joseph Szadkowski
Washington Times Thursday, December 25, 2008.
I really like Paul Dini's Jingle Belle.
Crane and Bell with Comic Riffs anecdotes
"Fave Fan Anecdotes: 'Pickles' & 'Candorville'," By Michael Cavna, December 26, 2008.
New York Times on future of comic strips
This is a pretty good article - "Prototype: The Comics Are Feeling the Pain of Print," By LESLIE BERLIN, New York Times December 28, 2008.
New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff is quoted in this article about financial humor - "I’m Penniless, but the Laugh’s on Them," By LIZ ALDERMAN, New York Times December 28, 2008.
New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff is quoted in this article about financial humor - "I’m Penniless, but the Laugh’s on Them," By LIZ ALDERMAN, New York Times December 28, 2008.
Baltimore's Greg LaRocque interview on Newsarama
Baltimore's Greg LaRocque has an interview on Newsarama. LaRocque was one of my favorite DC artists in the late 80s, and I got to meet him and buy some art at one of the Baltimore Comic-Cons. Here's links to his website and Myspace pages.
Blogs and websites of my friends part 2
Cartoonist Darko Macan's blog (in Croatian) and the Ephemerist blog of neat cartoonist bits.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Blogs and websites of my friends
I just stuck a new widget up on the side linking to my friends, on topics that may or may not be comics-related. Check them out. First up is Dean Haspiel, cartoonist and Lisa Cherkasky, food fluffer.
Spirit interview in Post's Weekend section
Eva Mendes, Looking Through The Layers
By Ellen McCarthy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 26, 2008; WE26
By Ellen McCarthy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 26, 2008; WE26
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Comic Riffs anecdotes from Walker and Pastis
Fave Fan Anecdotes: 'Pearls Before Swine' & 'Hi and Lois'
By Michael Cavna | December 25, 2008;
By Michael Cavna | December 25, 2008;
New Year's Day sale at Big Planet Comics
If you're a Comicsvore* like I am, you didn't get everything comics-related for the holidays that you really, really needed. Big Planet Comics is ready to help. For their January 1 sale, take 20% off everything in the stores. How can you go wrong?
BIG PLANET COMICS
4908 Fairmont Ave.
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-654-6856
BIG PLANET COMICS
3145 Dumbarton St. NW
Washington, DC 20007
202-342-1961
BIG PLANET COMICS
426 Maple Ave. East
Vienna, VA 22180
703-242-9412
BIG PLANET COMICS
7315 Baltimore Ave.
College Park, MD 20740
301-699-0498
*coined to describe me by cartoonist and comics writer Darko Macan
Spirit movie reviews, and some other movie bits
People aren't liking it much.
'The Spirit': Enough Ham To Lay a Great Big Egg
By Carina Chocano
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, December 25, 2008; C05
Returned From the Dead, Ducking Villains and Vixens
By A. O. SCOTT
New York Times December 25, 2008
Movie review: Don't waste money on 'The Spirit'
Peter Hartlaub, Chronicle Pop Culture Critic
Thursday, December 25, 2008
This article appeared on page E - 8 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Except for the Kansas City Star.
‘The Spirit’ review: A dazzling visual style | 3 stars
By JASON HECK
Special to The Kansas City Star December 24 2008
And the Times reported this morning that Watchmen's legal woes continue.
Judge Says Fox Owns Rights to a Warner Movie
By MICHAEL CIEPLY
New York Times December 25, 2008
While the latest Batman movie isn't coming to China.
WB shrouds 'Dark Knight' from Chinese audiences
Associated Press Thu Dec 25, 2008
Can you tell I'm working on the 2008 edition of Film & TV Adaptations of Comics? It should be available in mid-January. Would anyone like to see an expanded bibliography section in the next edition for 2009, one that gives you a lot of citations per film, rather than just one or two key ones? Work on the published edition of the Comics Research Bibliography website should be advanced enough to let me do that, but it'll add dozens of pages and cost more.
'The Spirit': Enough Ham To Lay a Great Big Egg
By Carina Chocano
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, December 25, 2008; C05
Returned From the Dead, Ducking Villains and Vixens
By A. O. SCOTT
New York Times December 25, 2008
Movie review: Don't waste money on 'The Spirit'
Peter Hartlaub, Chronicle Pop Culture Critic
Thursday, December 25, 2008
This article appeared on page E - 8 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Except for the Kansas City Star.
‘The Spirit’ review: A dazzling visual style | 3 stars
By JASON HECK
Special to The Kansas City Star December 24 2008
And the Times reported this morning that Watchmen's legal woes continue.
Judge Says Fox Owns Rights to a Warner Movie
By MICHAEL CIEPLY
New York Times December 25, 2008
While the latest Batman movie isn't coming to China.
WB shrouds 'Dark Knight' from Chinese audiences
Associated Press Thu Dec 25, 2008
Can you tell I'm working on the 2008 edition of Film & TV Adaptations of Comics? It should be available in mid-January. Would anyone like to see an expanded bibliography section in the next edition for 2009, one that gives you a lot of citations per film, rather than just one or two key ones? Work on the published edition of the Comics Research Bibliography website should be advanced enough to let me do that, but it'll add dozens of pages and cost more.
Another satisfied Cul de Sac reader
Here's my daughter enjoying her Christmas Cul de Sac book.
And here's Richard's drawing in it.
And here's Richard's drawing in it.
Drawn! blogger picks Cul de Sac book
Richard's first Cul de Sac collection was number one for the Drawn! blog this year. Of the rest of the picks, I've only read Sempe's Nicholas which everyone should check out. I mean to buy Heatley's book though, based on his New York Times' strips. In part 2, I match tastes much better, Wacky Packages is a cool book and I have Bat-Manga, Ojingogo (signed at SPX), As I See It, and What It Is.
I need the St. Trinian's and the Guy Delisle books.
Drawn! is a good blog that I don't look at often enough - time to add them to the Google Reader feed.
I need the St. Trinian's and the Guy Delisle books.
Drawn! is a good blog that I don't look at often enough - time to add them to the Google Reader feed.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
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