Congrats to ADDTF for one solid year of reading comics naked.

Also, welcome back ADD and In Sequence.

Did I miss anyone?

 
The Crunch!

Busy week for me, slow week for comics news. I have assignments that would normally take upwards of three or four weeks, and they're due in just one. In addition, I don't have a job yet and I don't know where I'm going to be living. I cannot afford the time or money to check out the Toronto Comics Art Festival, what will surely be the greatest comic gathering Canada has ever seen. Also, there's a war happening, in case you missed it. i had originally planned on having a guest blogger take over for a bit, but since I won't be around to upload their entry, and I'm feeling antsy, I decided to bite the bullet and post something anyway.

The only thing keeping me going is a dvd of public domain Warner Bros. cartoons I picked up today.

Queer Shifter!



Tell me that isn't fucking beautiful. Notice how I rarely swear? I like saving it for special occassions. Tell me that isn't Fucking Beautiful!

The picture you see above is of Jenny Everywhere aka The Shifter. I have mentioned her many times before. She is a public domain superhero specifically created by the fine folks at Barbelith. The official unofficial home of Jenny on the internet is Queer Granny. There you can find the above picture available in a super huge size suitable for an iron-on. This image was lovingly created by cartoonist prodigy Nelson Evergreen.

In other Shifter news, here's a story I received awhile ago but had no means of putting anywhere is finally up, thanks again to the kindness of Queer Granny. It's called Mrs. Zirma by Dlotemp, and is quite funny. Oooh, it brought me back some.

The War For Energon Cubes

Courtesy of Animation Nation, this article on a soldier who has taken the name of the leader of the Autobots, now fighting for the glory of Cybertron against the evil of Sadam Hussein. Yep. You know this one is going to spread all over the geek sites in no time.

I Go Pogo



I haven't checked out R.C. Harvey's site in an awful long time. Harvey is one of my favourite contributors to the Comics Journal. It was one of his articles that introduced me to the glory of Paul Conrad, my favourite editorial cartoonist. He's usually the person I point out as an obviosu exception when people argue that the entirety of The Comics Journal is of the same mind, a fact that would be obvious to anyone who has actually read the mag and realizes that more often then not the contributors seem to constantly disagree with one another.

Back on topic, Harvey mentioned that a reissue of Walt Kelly's Songs of the Pogo has been released. Here's some info from the site.

Reissue of 1956 album by Pogo Possum creator Walt Kelly teamed with composer Norman Monath. 18 songs originally included on the album plus 6 bonus tracks from 45s, rehearsal sessions, and a spoken word piece by Kelly. 20 page, full-color booklet. An olde timey, big bandy, folky, children's songy thingy straight from the Okefenokee Swamp. Adds a whole new dimension to the phrase "playing possum."

I really dig the Pogo. You can listen to some sample songs while you're there.

"Are You Also A Rapist?"

"Logan stated (in one of the most blatantly sociopathic comments I have read here abouts) that he steals movies (and he apparently has no problem at all with the idea that he is, in fact, stealing) because he enjoys them. So I asked him if he is also a rapist." -John Byrne

John Byrne remains one of my favourite comic creators, not so much for the work he has done, but for his immense ego and utter lack of tact. How anyone who has such a Galactus-like ability to swoop into establish properties and leave them as lifeless husks, unusable for years afterwards, can continue to get work is beyond me (see Spider-man : Year One). Like a few of my other all-time favourites, Liefeld or McFarlane for example, Byrne always manages to surprise me with his idiocy.

The link above is to a comicon thread which has bits and pieces from Byrne's message board. If you want to see the message board itself, feel free to use one of the links provided at Comicon. I cannot bring myself to introducing you to that eyesore of a site myself.

Anyway, Byrne seemingly equated file-sharing with rape, then when he was called on it, he denied ever making such a comparison and claimed that everyone misunderstood him, though he hasn't actually gone so far as to say what he really meant. Usually I try to avoid such snippy pieces of trash as this, but by golly did Byrne really piss me off this time. What a stupid ass.

"John Byrne Should Have Died In Crisis"

That was what my friend and former House of Irony compadre Kevin R.E. Watts had printed on a t-shirt for one of the comic conventions we attended together. He tried to get Chris Claremont to sign the shirt. Kevin, scourge of the Amazon.com comics review, has a brand spanking new weblog up and running, and I'm sure he would appreciate a visit. Maybe this will prompt him to finally put up some much needed comics content. Everyone knows internet = comics, Kevin.

P.S.

Sometime today I will have my 5000th hit. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time out to check this weblog out, and a big thanks to all the people who keep stubbornly returning time and again.
posted by Steven at 12:54 AM