bob's tavern

okay...

back in the early 80's, when i was young and stupid and brilliant and thought i was bullet-proof, i would frequent the one real bar in my little town on a pretty regular basis which i will now call almost every night. i would go with dennis, my best friend and roommate at the time, usually after hitting the nearby cinema to see that week's offering of horror or sci-fi or inane sophomoric comedy.
then we'd go to bob's.
our second home.

not to drink really. oh, we'd have a beer or two (or three) and i guess we liked it, but it was more to socialize with friends and tell stories and play games.

it was easy to get hooked on video games at the bar back then 'cause you really didn't have them at home. we played pac man and donkey kong and pulsar (loved that one!) and popeye and gorf and sinistar and tetris and...

big fun.

but probably one of the more illuminating things to do at bob's was to get into some kinda conversation with jim, the surly, burly, moustashioed, marine-cut bartender who didn't like nobody and especially anybody wearing a "queering". which i had.

jim played trivial pursuit, then a very new and very popular game, with a couple of the other, older regulars from time to time, always irritated when we'd interrupt him to ask for another round. jim was a veritable font of knowledge and amazed them all as he'd kick their asses night after night.

one night, giving pursuit a rest, jimmy produced a copy of "games" magazine and started quizzing his buddies with questions of logic. waiting for our beers, dennis overheard one and blurted out the answer. he was awesome at these and it took the rest of the night to finally stump him with one that, to this day, none of us understood. probably a misprint.
now dennis--and i, by association--are "okay".

and then came the trivial pursuit.
several nights later, as we once again were waiting at the bar, jim, frustrated by his opponent's lack of even a guess, tossed one of the questions at us--dennis mostly--and i shot back the answer. jim was startled to say the least. it was an "old" question--something someone my age couldn't remember and shouldn't know. he hit me with another. and another. and another. and i was on fire.

we started playing at the bar on a regular basis and dennis, jim, and i eventually signed up for the local IBM trivia championships where we went all the way to the finals--until they found out that none of us actually worked at IBM.



i said all that so i could say this; in looking for some fun trivia questions to give you for your "five for friday", i thought back to those cool logic questions back in "games" magazine. i was really good at the ones where they took a picture of some common object, magnified, like, 20 times and then you had to figure out what the hell it was.
the other ones were the "numbers and letters".

they would give you a line, kinda like an equation, that went something like this

24 H in a D

and you had to figure it out.

24 Hours in a Day

so that's what we're gonna do this week.
here are 10 fun ones. well, i hope at least ONE of them makes you think...
(i'm gonna put the "comments" on a delay so that you can't see everyone else's answers and then put them all up at once on sunday morning...'kay?)

1. 52 W in a Y

2. 12 D of C

3. 13 S on the A F

4. 100 Y on a F F

5. 52 C in a D

6. 6 K in the B B

7. 100 B of B on the W

8. 1440 M in a D

9. 9 I in a B G

10. 15 M on a D M C

have a wonderful weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

monsters

okay...


craig beat me to the "whaddaya think of the new TV season" topic over on the perhapanauts forum/message boards, (you saw it, right? you HAVE been checking out the forum, right? okay, here's the link again...

http://www.imagecomics.com/messageboard/viewforum.php?f=44

)

and then scott made my world a little darker with the news that nbc is scrapping "journeyman" due to the double-punch of the writer's strike and growing-too-slowly viewership (a statistic that has yet to take into account the advent of tivo and dvr...). i just wanna say; nbc--don't make this mistake! "journeyman" is one of the most compelling, tightly-written, and intelligent shows on TV right now, don't make it another wonderfalls or firefly.

i said over on the boards that instead we would talk about monsters and when i say "talk" i mean "talk"...

in the perhapanauts, i'm always trying to draw on the creatures and phenomena that have allegedly happened here in the real world, culling cryptids and strange entities from the accounts of normal everyday people just like you and me, or from the legends and folklore of various cultures the world over.

but what do you call a monster?

you...i'm asking YOU.



to me, monsters fall into any of an assortment of categories; monster as in size, like king kong and godzilla, monster as in horrific, like a strange freakish mutation or frankenstein's monster, or a monster meaning a man whose mind is twisted with terrific, aberrant thoughts.

when a monster is chasing me in my dreams, it is usually of the horrific, mutated kind, something full of teeth and claws and hungry to tear me apart just because i'm there.





what are your monsters? what scares you and hunts you in your dreams?

lemme know.
smell ya later!
todd

late entry--mark martin, jim woodring, and stuff!

okay...

i started off with really nothing much to say and then--wham!--i got, like, lots to say...

none of it very important though...

i'm a big proponent of credit where credit is due and as i write things here i try to be conscious of the things i say, the phrases and lines that i have incorporated into my own personal lexicon that originally came from someplace else. sure, we all pick up catch phrases and toss them around for a month or so. maybe longer. for years back in high school, i WAS steve martin, quoting and imitating him from his first two or three albums, appearances on saturday night live, etc. more recently mike and craig and i would find something funny--from snl or madtv or little britain or any one of our favorite comedians--and proceed to beat it into the ground.

i'm not really talking about that.

i'm talking about a phrase that you yourself have picked up somewhere along the way and internalized it, made it a part of your everyday vocabulary. maybe you can't control it, maybe it's a reflex thing, and maybe, just maybe, you've been using it so long you forgot where it came from.

one of mine is from waaaaay back in the late 80's. shortly after the advent of frank miller's "dark knight returns", while the rest of the (entire) comic book industry decided to make EVERYTHING dark and grim and gritty, one person, cartoonist mark martin (not the racecar driver)--creator of the hilarious strip "20 nude dancers 20" and one of my all-time favorites, "montgomery wart"--decided to take the lighter, more fun approach and parody that seminal work with his own "gnatrat".



it was, to me, a lotta fun and a lotta laughs.



but what i remember really getting me--and the thing that i took away from it and still use to this day--wasn't by mark, but his friend and fellow cartoonist, jim woodring, creator of such books as "jim" and "frank in the river".





see, in mark's book, "gnatrat", jim had done several faux ads for kooky items, one of which was a styro-band operated dream-corder, a new device able to record your dreams! not only was it a cool idea (i'd love to have one of those!!) but in the text, the pitch of the ad, jim had used this phrase, one that now, after several paragraphs of build-up, might be a bit of a let down to you, and i'm sorry--call it thanksgiving hangover. it went like this;

"...if you're like most people (and who isn't?)..."

i dunno. something about that just cracks me up. always. over and over. and i catch myself saying it sometimes and hear it in my head a lot. like those songs we talked about a month or so ago that get stuck in your brain.

check out mark's and jim's other stuff when you get a chance; mark's comics are usually both topical and lyrical, jim's, tend to be a bit more quirky and trippy. great stuff!

so credit where due...thanks, jim woodring, for, what i think is one of the funniest lines i've ever read.

which then begs the question...what about you? what funny lines or phrases, from comics or movies or tv shows--what has become part of YOUR personal lexicon?

i'm dyin' to know.


and here are the answers to the "five for friday"

1. on friends, what was the name of the building super and joey's dance partner?

mr. treeger

2. on seinfeld, who was the fixer who could rid elaine of her yapping-in-the-night dog problems?

kramer brought elaine to see newman

3. what was the name of the short-lived show featuring tony shaloub and neil patrick harris?

stark raving mad

4. on er, what song was playing during mark green's final fade...?

somewhere over the rainbow by isreal kamakawiwo'ole

5. on will and grace, what physical act did jack and karen perform upon meeting to seal their newfound friendship?

they bumped tummies

sorry for the delay--more on wednesday!
smell ya later!
todd

turkey hangover...

okay...

cleaning house today so that we can start getting the christmas decorations out. i'm usually one of those people that is irritated when the stores start tromping out the christmas stuff (earlier and earlier each year...!) but this year...well, i kinda need a little holiday spirit early this year. so i'm programming the christmas carol station on the car stereo, getting down the decorations, lining up a selection of christmas dvds that i just gotta see, and doing everything i can to make this as much of a warm, traditional, magical christmas season as there ever was!

so, since i've got to get back to cleaning, here are the "five for friday".
i call these the "thursday night five for friday".
or maybe "must see trivia".
hope you dig 'em!

1. on friends, what was the name of the building super and joey's dance partner?

2. on seinfeld, who was the fixer who could rid elaine of her yapping-in-the-night dog problems?

3. what was the name of the short-lived show featuring tony shaloub and neil patrick harris?

4. on er, what song was playing during mark green's final fade...?

5. on will and grace, what physical act did jack and karen perform upon meeting to seal their newfound friendship?

and before we go, what about YOUR favorite christmas or holiday movies/shows/dvds...what do you HAVE to see each year?
anyone...?

smell ya later!
todd

happy thanksgiving!

okay...

i wish you all, of course, a wonderful thanksgiving, a chance to spend time with and nurture your families, and especially a chance to take a moment and reflect on the things you have to be thankful for.

while i will be here on friday and i will have an all-new "five for friday", my pal, alison, sent over this great thanksgiving turkey trivia link and we thought it'd be fun to share with you! give it a shot--test your thanksgiving knowledge and see how much you know about that bird you're always eating...!

http://home.aristotle.net/Thanksgiving/trivia.asp

also up; i think i first linked this site a couple years back for anyone inclined to play some cool halloween hangman (which sharon and i played a little too often this past halloween season...) but now they've taylored it to take on thanksgiving as well (and, with that, can christmas be far behind...?)

http://www.dedge.com/flash/hangman/


here are the finals on that "five for friday" name the actor to the character to the movie question....

1. robert deniro

paul vitti--analyze this (and that)
james "jimmy" conway--goodfellas
archibald "harry" tuttle--brazil


2. winona ryder

susannah kaysen--girl, interrupted
annalee call--alien: resurrection
veronica sawyer--heathers


3. humphrey bogart

charlie allnut--the african queen
frank mccloud--key largo
rick blaine--casablanca


4. bruce willis

jack mosley--16 blocks
harry s. stamper--armageddon
butch coolidge--pulp fiction


5. cameron diaz

natalie cook--charlie's angels (and charlie's angel's: full throttle)
mary jensen--there's something about mary
tina carlyle--the mask

have a great thanksgiving!
smell ya later!
todd

trivia re-dux

okay...

short one today--lots to do...!

below are the answers for the "five on friday". as i said in the comments, we had a lot of people who were stumped on almost all of 'em and two people (russ and emilio) who nailed 'em all! oh, and nic came close with four out of the five...
so--did i make them too hard...? is this not fun anymore...? lemme know...
but, if you like a challenge, now that you know the actors for the characters--how about putting the characters with the movies...?
anyone...? anyone...? bueller...?

"five for friday"
i'll name three characters, you name the actor

1. paul vitti, james "jimmy" conway, archibald "harry" tuttle

robert deniro

2. susannah kaysen, annalee call, veronica sawyer

winona ryder

3. charlie allnut, frank mccloud, rick blaine

humphrey bogart

4. jack mosley, harry s. stamper, butch coolidge

bruce willis

5. natalie cook, mary jensen, tina carlyle

cameron diaz

i don't remember if i posted it here or not--and i'm too rushed to go back and check--but for those of you who did not see it, here's the promo piece that craig did to announce our jump to image as well as one of it's earlier incarnations while craig was still playing with the color!
personally, i think they'd both make great t-shirts...




hope ya dig 'em!
gotta run!
smell ya later!
todd

pangolin!

okay...

we've talked before about strange creatures from the deepest depths of the ocean and how new species are being discovered everyday (usually in the insect world and usually the newbies are almost too tiny to see...!) but it's happening. and it gives a certain hope or validity to those of us who hold with the idea that there are things out there that we have yet to see, yet to capture. (i don't use this arguement very much myself, i just WANT to believe.)

its amazing what we don't know.

so its funny to me how much we don't know about what we DO know...

the other day i found the picture below posted on yahoo.
now, i had thought that i was fairy well-versed regarding all the creatures in the animal kingdom...
but i have never seen or heard of this thing before!
have you!
i mean, if i saw this thing lumbering through the woods or down a path toward me, i would definitely think that it was some kinda cryptid!
wow!
that's amazing!



apparently, it is a malayan pangolin and it's being busted for smuggling in this picture.
or something.

and, in lieu of a "random picture of the week", here's what i'd like to call
"classic cover corner"!





"five for friday"
i'll name three characters, you name the actor

1. paul vitti, james "jimmy" conway, archibald "harry" tuttle

2. susannah kaysen, annalee call, veronica sawyer

3. charlie allnut, frank mccloud, rick blaine

4. jack mosley, harry s. stamper, butch coolidge

5. natalie cook, mary jensen, tina carlyle


have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

perhapanauts forum

okay...

well, last week i directed everyone's attention over to the image forums where our own perhapanauts now have their very own message boards. craig and i try to stop there every chance we get and, sure, there's not much to talk about until the new series comes out in february, but there are some really nice topics for discussion up already! i've been copying this blog there (though i still haven't figured out how to html the pictures...) and craig has started a good one about the music we're listening to and scott's started one about the comics we're collectively reading.

my favorite though, and if you know me by now i'm sure you can guess, is the one our own perhapa-boards moderator, bill nolan, started--encounters with the unexplained!

here, again, is a link so you can check things out on your own.

there hasn't been a LOT of activity on the subject, but i'm hoping that more and more people--and more and more of YOU!--will stop by and re-count your own strange experiences! there are already a few nice one--or rather, creepy ones--from
gor-illa, mrkelly, and dknobius, not to mention the "signs" inspired (inspiring) one from bill himself! good stuff! come and share!

or start your own discussion! that's what it's there for!

progress report: things are moving along really well with the perhapanauts annual and the new series! craig and i are hoping to have lots of cool news things for you in the new year and we really feel that 2K8 is gonna be the year of the perhapanauts! we'll be posting more as things continue; a little behind the scenes stuff and some sneak peaks for those of you that just can't wait! keep your eye on the blog!

i usually try to keep things fairly pc here at the blog, though i would never claim to be totally pc myself. i dig all sorts of humor and think that sometimes people take things a bit too seriously. that said, i got these great motivational posters from my friend, teresa, the other day and they killed me. well, some of 'em did. none of them offended me, but there's a chance one or two might offend you, so...here's your warning.











see ya friday with "five for--"
smell ya later!
todd

mark and karl and me

okay...

it's no secret that mike and i really dug our time on sensational spider-man and dreamed of having the chance to do more with the web-slinger. as mike longed for those days from time to time, i told him that we should do a story that kinda revisits the characters and places we had been in a fun and sometimes funny way. it would feature our favorite guy, the looter, as he unknowingly led spidey to the four corners of the earth in search of, what else...?, the alleged twin to his beloved meteor.

okay, it's true that sometimes friends are so close that they laugh at stuff that other people just scratch their heads at, but we thought that the possibilities were hilarious.

when mike died, marvel editor nate cosby wanted to do something nice as a tribute to mike and contacted mike's fantastic four partners, mark waid and karl kesel to see what they could do. mark and karl felt that i should be involved (thanks, guys!) and, in thinking about what we could do, i pitched 'em this. it didn't take too long for us weave the fantastic four into the mix and it turned into a full-fledged romp, the three of us having a blast with this adventure, one, i can easily say, mike would be thrilled to see finally done!
mike and i called it "LOOTER'S QUEST" and it comes out in an upcoming issue of SPIDER-MAN FAMILY (i don't even know the number right now...) so order this baby up when you see it in your previews!

below is the rockin' cover by karl kesel!
color by paul mounts!



with the announcement of the perhapanauts jump over to image, i've been asked to do quite a few interviews lately--fortunately answering very different questions in each one. i recently did one with sergio lopez for the comic book gazette and here is the link for your kind perusal:

http://www.comicbookgazette.com/interviews.htm#133229009


and here are the
answers to your
"five for friday"

1. what famous british televison series featured a younger, less acerbic hugh laurie?

well, I was thinking of "the black adder", but as so many of you pointed out "jeeves and wooster" i would guess that that counts as well.

2. who played cpl. radar o'reilly in the MOVIE version of mash?

gary burghoff--interesting note: one of gary's hands was smaller than the other--not deformed, just smaller--and the actor went to great lengths to minimize that hand's screen time. watch a few episodes and see him constatnly tucking that one hand away. and when you do...drink! : ) hi, bob!


3. what are the six categories in the original trivial pursuit?

geography--blue
entertainment--pink
history--yellow
art and literature--brown
science and nature--green
sports and leisure--orange


4. how many people have played dr. hannibal lecter?
brian cox
anthony hopkins
gaspard ulliel
aaran thomas

5. name the back-up singers/bands--

a. smokey robinson and

~the miracles

b. gladys knight and

~the pips

c. joan jett and

~the blackhearts

d. tom petty and

~the heartbreakers

e. mike and

~the mechanics

that's it for me!
smell ya later!
todd

coming down with a cold...

okay...

so, you know how it goes. last night, prob'ly due to the fact that the house is now all closed up to the autumn chill and we've now fgot the woodstove going, my throat got kinda dry and scratchy and i could tell what was coming. started coughing in the night and then hadd ago and babysit this morning for my friends young kids. came home about 11 and thought i'd take a little rest and promptly fell asleep.
for two hours.

still trying to catch up, but matt (wieringo) e'd me a little bit ago wondering where the "five for friday" were.
well, here they are.

sorry i don't have much more today, but here are a couple of "random pictures of the week" too!





"five for friday"

1. what famous british televison series featured a younger, less acerbic hugh laurie?

2. who played cpl. radar o'reilly in the MOVIE version of mash?

3. what are the six categories in the original trivial pursuit?

4. how many people have played dr. hannibal lecter?

5. name the back-up singers/bands--

a. smokey robinson and

b. gladys knight and

c. joan jett and

d. tom petty and

e. mike and


have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
(i hope...)
todd

connor dowling ripped me off!

okay...

more of a comic book-y topic today, so breath deep that smell of old newsprint and get out your favorites...

as we continue to work on the all-new, all-daring PERHAPANAUTS ANNUAL for our IMAGE launch in february, i'm reminded of the annuals of days past, the year end (though usually showing up in early september...), double-sized, extravaganza, which i'm sure was originally an attempt to repay loyal and enthusiastic readers with an extra year-end treasure!

(that's the way I like to think of them anyway...)

it made me start thinking of the things that went into an annual. usually a pretty good story. usually a pretty BIG story--one that garnered the additional pages and sometimes--most times--featured a pivotal new incident or landmark in the mythos of the star or stars of the comic. a new costume! a new headquarters! an edgy new villain!
yeah, man...i eat that stuff up like frankenberry!

and while it took a while for dc to get on this particular bandwagon, marvel certainly provided plenty of annual thrills throughout my childhood and younger years. of the ones that really stand out in my mind, there are two that just destryed me. i give you the following...



the true marvelite, marvel zombie, marvel afficianado, will recognize right off that these two covers are juxtaposed, that, in fact, avengers annual #7 actually came out before marvel two-in-one annual #2.
and they're right.
but this is the way i got them.



see, in the small town that i grew up in there really weren't a great many comic book readers--a select few--and we knew who we were. and the two places that you could buy comics--the northern dutchess pharmacy and the united smoke shop--each did a fine job of keeping us well-stocked with our monthly needs. but when it came to the ordering of annuals, well, really, how do you gauge the supply and demand on an item like that? it was usually a stand-alone, higher-priced book that a lot of kids just hadn't figured into their budget. so they would usually just order one or two.

annuals were a crap shoot.

so when i found--to my absolute delight--that marvel two-in-one annual #2 on the racks, WRITTEN and DRAWN by JIM STARLIN!!! i knew i had to have it. no, it wasn't in my budget either, but i knew a guy who would buy a kidney, and took the book right home to devour!
,,,
,,,never realizing that it was part two of a two-part story!!

oh, it opened well--just like a good one-parter should--and jim took a few panels to bring everyone up to speed--as they, and he, did so masterfully back in the old days--and i really didn't NEED the first part...

but i NEEEEEDED that first part!!! i NEEDED to read, to hold, to OWN that avengers annual #7 WRITTEN and DRAWN by JIM STARLIN!!

and so i went hunting.

and soon found out that, as far as me and my comic book cronies could tell, only one copy of that vaunted comic had passed through our remote village.

and connor dowling had it.

i knew connor. we had mutual friends, he was a nice guy. he was a bit younger, but had no older brothers and so the whole intimidation factor was not an option. not that i would go that way, that's not how i rolled. but in the world of high stakes negotiations, you had to assess all of your resources. he had an older sister who i would later befriend and even make out with, but that wasn't gonna help me now. i brought what i had to the table--which was really just a handful of books that i was willing to trade--and made my offer; a few supermans and a banged up fantastic four that a cousin had left at my house. connor wasn't going for it. he suggested a price of $5 and everybody laughed. but he was serious. i could see it in his eyes. i upped my offer, throwing in a couple legion of superheroes. connor skoffed. the worst part was that he said, right out loud, that he really didn't want the book, didn't need it, didn't really care about it. that made it hurt all the more. i couldn't stand it--i threw down everything i had, including two batmans, a detective, and three of those gold key twilight zone comics that, like archies, didn't even count as comics back then.

connor wasn't playing.

and that little bastard gouged me $3 for that book--big money in those days.




but when i got home with it, and finally sat down to read it, it was SO worth it.

a thrilling story, such gorgeous art, such consumate storytelling (immaculately inked by JOE RUBENSTEIN!)

i play volleyball with jim now every monday night--have for years--but he doesn't know how much those two glorious annuals mean to me. 'cause that would give him an edge.

and we don't play that way...


smell ya later!
todd

The PERHAPANAUTS are moving to IMAGE!!

okay...

well, i hope everyone had a great weeknd and is ready for a new week despite the fact that you're all still reeling from the cataclysmic news about The PERHAPANAUTS move to IMAGE!!!!

well, WE'RE still reeling...

i can't begin to tell you how thrilled craig and i are to be getting this, dare i say it, second chance at making the perhapanauts a household word! just the publicity from the announcement has brought some really good interest; some nice interviews, some inquiries about the future of the book, and the possibility of some really fun merchandise!

we're gonna do everything we can to get the word out--

--and we need your help!
all of you, you wonderful, loyal perhapa-fans can help! there will be times, here and there, in the upcoming months, when we'll need to really the troops...and you guys are the troops! : )

nothing now--and nothing crazy. but that time will come!
for now you could go over to the new perhapanauts forum at image.com and register so that your voice can be heard over there on that message board. it's really simple to do and it only takes a few seconds.
here's the link:

http://www.imagecomics.com/messageboard/viewforum.php?f=44

our good pal, bill nolan, is the moderator, so if you have any questions, check with him. he knows stuff!

as for anything else, well, right now i've gotta get back to work. if you read the newsarama interview, you know that, before we pick things up with our next storyarc, "triangle", craig and i will be doing a one-shot ANNUAL to help new readers get onboard. well, that story has just grown and grown and shifted and changed and i'm really excited about the things that are developing here at BEDLAM--wawit til you SEE!!

anyway, here's a picture of bush eating a kitten.
it was on my pal, cully hamner's myspace page
and i don't know how he did it (or where he
got it...) but i just had to share it!



also, here's a picture of jake with a pencil shaving on his nose...



and a calvin and hobbes that should make you smile...




here are the answers to your
"five for friday"

1. name four of the six basic machines

lever, wheel (and axle), inclined plane (ramp), pulley, wedge, screw.

2. what is ben grimm's aunt's name?

petunia

3. cohen bros. movie about the guy who invented the hula hoop.

the hudsucker proxy

4. willem dafoe and john malkovich starred in this film about the making of 'nosferatu'.

shadow of the vampire

5. name the famous parent of...

a. michael douglas.......kirk douglas
b. angelina jolie.......jon voight
c. mariska hartigay.......jayne mansfield
d. gwyneth paltrow.......blythe danner and bruce paltrow
e. susan lucci.......(apparently NOT phyllis diller)

if you read through the comments section, you'll see that colin and jeff pointed out that the whole susan lucci/phyllis diller story is a hoax. and i got burned. sorry all--hope it didn't make ya crazy!)

that's it--i'm out!
smell ya later!
todd

ps: oh, yeah--it seems that alleged "chupacabra" they found in texas a couple of months back turned out to be a hairless coyote instead...
no, duh.

bigfoot in pennsylvania

okay...

wow. what a halloween.
not only did the big news of the perhapanauts move hit the net on newsaramabut bigfoot decided to make an appearance in the allegheny region of northern pennsylvania--with pictures!
rich woodall hooked me up with the story first (thanks, rich!) and here is the photo and link to the og article on it.
check 'em out!



http://www.ogpaper.com/news/news-01178.html

wildlife experts are saying it's a bear with mange.
i've seen bears. and i've seen animals with mange.
and there is no way it could look like that.
that's a humanoid.
we'll hafta see how this all develops...

next item--have you gone to check out--and sign up on--our new perhapanauts message board over at the image forums? no? well, get to it!

http://www.imagecomics.com/messageboard/viewforum.php?f=44

moving on...
this is more of a personal thing, but does anybody remember moooooonths ago i was talking about a blackl;ight spider-man poster that i'd had when i was a kid and couldn't find it on ebay...or anywhere? craig's pal, dana moreshead, even went way out of his way to try to track down any mention of it anywhere on line and, while he did send over some really cool jpegs, my boyhood glowing spidey wasn't in there...
well, a coupl weeks ago, on a whim, as is my way (after YEARS of looking for this elusive slice of sentimentality) i typed in "spider-man poster blacklight"...

...and there was, not just ONE being offered, but TWO of them!

not a sign of it for YEARS...

i bid. i won. it's here on my wall.
and it looks like this.



sorry if its a bit anti-climactic for any of you, but it was that special treasure i'd been looking for for so long and now i have it! also the original had been given to me by my dad (well, santa...) when i first started collecting comics. it isn't something that i really noticed til recently, but my dad has always been a very considerate gift-giver, he really thinks about what matters to that person. nice.

okay, so, before we say adieu for the weekend, allow me to wish my goddaughter, cat, a very happy first birthday (sorry i can't be with you...)

and now, because you've been so good all week,
here are your

"five for friday"

1. name four of the six basic machines

2. what is ben grimm's aunt's name?

3. cohen bros. movie about the guy who invented the hula hoop.

4. willem dafoe and john malkovich starred in this film about the making of 'nosferatu'.

5. name the famous parent of...

a. michael douglas
b. angelina jolie
c. mariska hartigay
d. gwyneth paltrow
e. susan lucci

that's it!
have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

image is everything!

okay...

so it was actually our pal, joe hedges, who sent me an 'e' last night with that title in the subject line, but, man, it really fits...

as most of you know by now, the big news that craig and i have been sitting on for the past couple a months finally hit the net yesterday; The PERHAPANAUTS are moving to IMAGE!!



if you haven't seen any of the press, check out the interview we did with (i won't say "our pal" 'cause he is truly an unbiased reporter, the epitome of journalistic integrity) (but also a really great guy!) MATT BRADY over at NEWSARAMA for the big scoop!

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=134841

go on--check it out! i'll wait...

cool, right?

also up and running is our very own, all-new, you-gotta-come-by-and-see PERHAPANAUTS Message Board at the IMAGE forums!! woo hoo!

here's the link.

http://www.imagecomics.com/messageboard/viewforum.php?f=44

go over, sign up--it only takes a minute and is very easy--and we can chat over there as well as here!
i'll still be doing the blog here and you'll still be able to post comments, but hopefully we can attract a few more people to the book with the forums, so let's all have fun! craig and i will both be stopping by there to chat and answer questions and the forum will be moderated by our own Bill Nolan!

so here's the deal; we'll be starting with the big PERHAPANAUTS ANNUAL in february! that's a one-shot story that is designed to introduce the haps to new Readers and have a bit of fun while we do! as with any PERHAPANAUTS story, it holds it's share of clues and secrets (it's MG battling the JERSEY DEVIL, so you KNOW we're gonna find out a little more about that guy...!) and it actually takes place between issues 2 and 3 of second chances--not that that really matters that much...craig's done an awesome cover for this (as well as some really nice promo art and such--give him a cheer, this poor guy's been workin' like crazy on this!!)






and there will be an alternate cover by the one and only MIKE ALLRED!! (MADMAN!)


then, in april, we hit with PERHAPANAUTS #1!!! the first part of the 4-part storyline called "triangle", which picks up right wehre we left off at the end of "second chances"!

so call the kids, wake the neighbors, e-mail your relatives, and write it on the hills--The PERHAPANAUTS are BACK, BABY!

and you're not gonna wanna miss it!

smell ya later!
todd