the show!

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE!

NOW ON SALE!

THE PERHAPANAUTS: SECOND CHANCES tpb is NOW ON SALE!


perhapanauts:second chances!

okay...

now that we've got THAT settled...

needless to say, craig and i were ecstatic to receive our copies of the trade in time to have them for sale down at heroescon in charlotte! it was so nice to have them available and to see so many enthusiastic readeres! thanks for coming out, everybody--you made the new trade a big, big hit!

also a big hit was our very first perhapanauts one-page! they were selling like hotcakes and we were amazed at how many people stopped to give it a read. and then laugh.
we did bring a couple home with us though and i will be making them available here on the blog and on the website as soon as i figure out a shipping strategy!



so, the show was awesome and if you want some other reviews and reminiscences of the show, check out mike's blog at www.mikewieringo.com or his brother, matt's blog at http://mafus.blogspot.com/ matt has some great pictures on his, including a series of artwork that was done for the heroescon auction. (i LOVED mike's wonder woman and wanted so badly to bid on it, but...)

as for my run-down, this is gonna be brief because i want to include all of my pictures. and a bunch of scott's.
so here we go...

thursday i jetted down to mike's house in raleigh-durham, although my plane was delayed two hours and cut into our hangin' out time. missed a chance to have lunch (and indian at that!) with our old pal and sensational spider-man inker rich case. damn you, usair!

got to mike's and helped him pack the last of his stuff and got to play with charlie whom i hadn't seen for a year! this cat is just so cool--very playfiul and affectionate!

mike and charlie


charlie attacking my knee

arrived late thursady night, had dinner on the road at subway, went to the hotel bar and saw some friends...

friday started really well and it was great to seet up and get in the groove.
craig arrived late in the afternoon as it was also johnny's birthday and he took a noon plane down.


craig and rico--i said, "hey! you guys!--look!"
idiots.


craig sketchin'


craig and me


the show

friday night was dinner--check out matt's blog for that--and then back to the hotel bar. got a chance to meet and chat with a lot of friends; scott, abby, and chris, andy kuhn,karl story, jan jones, kelly yates, jonboy meyers, cully hamner, jeff parker, baltimore con organizer, marc nathan and his lovely fiance, shelly. and especially gorilla brother, barry kitson. poor barry. the airlines lost his luggage coming over from the uk and it didn't show up until hours before he was scheduled to leave on sunday. what a trooper, though, wearing walmart the whole weekend and making it look good!

saturday, the show keeps rockin'...
(i kick myself for not getting a photo of brian and bill for the benefit of the blog--i don't think they were around when my camera was out.) fortunately, scott had his camera out and got this shot of me and megan, our super-booth girl!


supergirl digs me... megan and me

of course, on eof the other highlights of the show waas that i got to spend some great time with my hero and mentor, nick cardy. he, as well as his niece/business manager, marianne, were nice enough to have dinner and breakfast with us several times during the show. nick is wonderful and regaled us all with stories from his incredibly colorful life.


nick


tips from the master--nick and craig

really the most exciting thing for me at the show this year was, by far, the fact that my pal and writing partner, scott weinstein, was there with his hot-off-the-presses premier copy of AFTER SCHOOL AGENT #1! i was so excited for him and could see the thrill in his eyes the whole time at having something to show for all of his hard work. it's been a year or so since scott first started looking for someone to draw his adolescent adventurer--and i feel bad that i led him down several dead-ends in that department--only to find his perfect match in his long time friend, chris zaccone! chris's style makes gordon even more magic and i can't recommend this book enough!
also along for the ride, and certainly a member of the after school agent pr team, was scott's new girlfriend, abby, who, i will say here in print, scott--is a doll! great to meetcha, abby! hope to see you guys soon!


abby scott and chris


the after school agent headquarters


abby pimpin' the after school agent postcards


chris--amazed that they printed the entire first issue upside-down

sunday night was the dead dog party at--i don't even KNOW the name of the pizza place/bar across the street from shelton drum's (heroscon organizer) comic shop heroes aren't hard to find. this is usually a good chance to unwind, listen to some music, and catch up with some of the people you didn't get to talk with during the show.


craig and cheeks--i told sean to get closer to craig.


mike, craig, and john higashi

that's it for now.
gotta run!
smell ya later!
todd

a heroescon exclusive! the perhapanauts one-page (first in a series!)

okay...

runnin' all over today getting things ready for the trip, but i thought i'd put up this quick post with a sneak peek at the beautiful (if i do say so...) heroescon exclusive PERHAPANAUTS ONE-PAGE, the limited edition print that craig and i put together for the show! we'll be selling these at the show and they're limited to just 100 signed and numbered copies!

as i said in a previous blog, this one features choopie explaining some fun and exciting things you can do to make your summer vacation awesomer! try 'em! they really work!



other than that, i got nothin'.
no post on friday or monday as i'll be away at the convention, but i'm bringin' my camera and hope to have pictures to share with y'all on wednesday!

have a great weekend,
a great father's day,
and smell ya later!
todd

update! update! update! perhapablog bonus post!!

okay...

i can't begin to tell you all how excited i am by how excited scott is!

the thrill of holding, in your hands, the first comic book you've ever written is a truly magical thing!
as you'll see below, scott is right there!
congratulations, scott--and chris! i am so thrilled for you and wisah you every great success with gordon, your AFTER SCHOOL AGENT!

here's scott's announcement!

After School Agent is now available for sale at Indyplanet.com.
CLICK HERE TO BUY

But, better than ordering online, Scott and Chris will be selling After School Agent at the Heroes Comic Convention this weekend, June 15-17, in Charlotte, NC.
HEROES CON
If you're there, stop by our booth and say hi. If you mention you saw this blog, you get 50 cents off.

And check out our website.
www.afterschoolagent.com

See you all there.



everybody be sure to pick one up at heroescon--or, order one online!

woo hoo!
todd

headin' for HEROES!

okay...

i'll be heading down to ringo's on thursday, craig will meet us friday (after johnny's birthday party! the big 03! woo hoo!), scott and abby (and chris?) will be arriving on friday (with super exclusive limited editions of AFTER SCHOOL AGENT! woo hoo, again!). brian and bill arrive...thursday night? guys? yes? rico said he'd be there and rico never lies...and nick cardy told me this a.m. that he's gonna meet me for dinner on saturday no matter who gets in our way!

so WE'RE all gonna be there--is your name on the list?
hope so! : )
if not, send it in and i'll put you on with the rest of us!



every year when herosecon rolls around, i post a post talking about what a great show it is, how great shelton and all his crew are, how great the fans are, and how nice it is to be surrounded for one weekend by all my friends and so many people who just love comics!
i also go on about how heroes and the baltimore show in september are two of the very last holdouts--conventions dedicated to comics. all of the other shows seem to now be a multi-media platform for so many other forms of entertainment to showcase their stuff. and that's fine, sure--but i loves me my comics!

anyway, it's comin' and we're doing what we can to make it fun!
craig and i will be hawking the new second chances trade and we're planning on having our own little heroescon perhapanauts exclusive--our very first ('cause we're planning a bunch more...) PERHAPANAUTS ONE-PAGE, an exclusive and limited print of some crazy haps hi-jinks! in this first one, choopie offers some tips on how the make your summer more exciting. i'll have more info on this thing for ya on wednesday!

here are the answers to the
"five on friday"

1. what breed of dog is snoopy?

snoopy is a beagle



2. what was john wayne's real name?

marion young

3. who played the new becky on roseanne?

sarah chalke

4. what is the name of the island that moira mactaggert had her genetic research facility?

muir island

5. name five stretchable superheroes?

plastic man
mr. fantastic
elongated man
elastic lad
(several of) the metal men
elasti-girl (mrs. incredible)
(and if you want to count them...)
metamorpho and e-man!



gotta run and get things done today so that i can take off on thursday!
hope to see ya there!

smell ya later!
todd

radio silence...

okay...

not only is that the title of one of my favorite thomas dolby songs from the early 80's, but it's kinda where i've been for the past couple of weeks regarding, well, just about everything i've been doing. i still can't tip on several of the projects that i'm working on just yet--partly because they haven't been made public yet and it's not my place to break it. and partly because i hate to talk about things that aren't absolutely completely definite yet for fear or jinxing them.

oh, yeah--i'm highly superstitious...

but one thing that HAS been occupying a huge amount of my time and something that i CAN talk about is something that actually goes back on this blog a month or two ago. (warning--this is more of a personal entry than a professional or perhapanauts post, so if that kinda stuff bores you, please feel free to skip down to where the picture is...) if you'll recall, i was a bit blue a while back as i'd broken up with my girlfriend, sharon, and was missing her big time. several of you wrote in comments and sent some kind words and i thank you profusely for that--beyond words.
well, a week or so later--about the time i was in sherlock holmes--we started to talk again and, 'cause i'm a bit dense at these things, i realized what a mistake it was to push her away and what a heartbreak it would be to lose her completely. to my amazement, she gave me a second (really it was like a third or fourth...) chance.

things have been great ever since--better than they had ever been before! so good in fact that we decided that we should move in together which we've been doing these past few weeks (remember all that cleaning i was doing...?) things are great, we have too much...well, EVERYTHING! and are still trying to find places for it all, but the best part for us is the jake and kayla show. see, sharon has a cat named kayla and jake...well, you remember jake. jake is incredibly curious and kayla is incredibly skittish (although quite curious in her own right--she IS a cat after all...), so now it's like watching a new cartoon show--the jake and kayla show. with all kinds of furniture and boxes and bags still peppered here and there throughout the house, there are plenty of places for kayla to run and hide in, around, under, behind, etc., and just as many things for jake to knock over as he maintains pursuit. they are destrying everything!


kayla --settling into her new home


jake --settling into sharon's suitcase

it's really quite funny.

oh. okay. sharon says not THAT funny...

anyway, that's one of the things i've been up to. i'll tip ya to the rest when i can.

and here's the picture i was telling you about.


a couple weeks back, scott was in boston with his new girlfriend, abby. (haven't met her yet, but he says she's great and goes on about hewr with this goofy grin on his face so it must be true...) boston is her town; college stomping grounds and friends and all that...and so they went for a visit. while there, scott happened on a store with a somewhat familiar name and took this pic. if only they sold, like, jerkins and pantaloons and boots and chainmail and armor and whatever...
cool!
thanks for the picture, scott!

thanks to everyone who wrote in to share their lists with us! we'll do more of that in the very near future.
as for today, well, it's friday so here are the

"five on friday"

1. what breed of dog is snoopy?

2. what was john wayne's real name?

3. who played the new becky on roseanne?

4. what is the name of the island that moira mactaggert had her genetic research facility?

5. name five stretchable superheroes?

that's it for me.
apologies for the 'personal' stuff.
have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

lists, you say...

okay...

last week i commented on how bravo and vh-1 seem to be doing some pretty good business with these list shows; 100 scariest movies, 100 funniest, 100 one-hit wonders, etc. they seem to be nothing but mindless, mind-numbing...lists! and yet every time i happen upon one of them, i must admit, i'm intrigued. i pause and then look up at the clock to see that 3 hours have passed. maybe it's the trivia seeker in me, or the nostalgiast, or, as many other writers will tell you, more likely it's the procrastinator, but i get caught up in them so easily.

that said, i soon set to task a few of our regulars on the topics of five funniest movies, five favorite cartoons, and five favorite songs. i have to say, WE did some pretty good numbers with that ourselves--LOTS of people logged in with their choices--and i truly LOVE when you guys write in!--and scott suggested...nay, DEMANDED...more lists!

so as i am still juggling too much and unable to really talk about any of it, let's do some of that...

let's start with a rather broad topic and then see if we need to narrow it down...

five favorite catch phrases--lines or quotes--from movies.
(let's keep it to movies first and see if there's interest in doing tv later...)
i knew a girl once who could quote most of "the princess bride" to you in her sleep.
she often did.
maybe this category is still too broad--should we say five from comedies and five from dramas. yeah, let's do that...

five favorite catch phrases from film comedy

and

five favorite catch phrases from film drama

there ya go.




moving on, while i try my best to always be positive and not complain--both in life and here on the blog--i gotta tell ya that i'm pretty disappointed to report that both the TELLOS Colossal hardcover from image and the Perhapanauts:Second Chances trade from dark horse will be shipping a week or so later than originally scheduled. mike, craig, and i are all disappointed and frustrated by this and, while there are always feasible explanations...man, it just takes the wind outta your sails when you plan to have books at a show or wherever and you're left empty handed. craig and i WILL have copies of the second chances trade at heroescon in charlotte, but the tellos book has been bumped to >hopefully< the last week in june due to some production problems. (seems that even though the original files are only 7 years old, the process has already changed so much that all of the files needed to be reformatted for the book. it DOES look AWESOME, but still...woulda been nice to have in charlotte...)

we have absolutely no idea why the 'haps trade is late...

anyway, apologies. we're as diappointed as you are.

hope to see ya at the show anyway--just a week and a half away!! woo hoo!

and for those of you who thrilled to the magic of the perhapanauts choopie butt card last year, craig and i are workin' on a little something special for this year too! (although i think this one might hafta cost a buck or two...)

anyway, my time is up here--i gotta get back to work!
send in your lists!
and, as always, if you have trouble posting a comment and/or don't wanna register with blogger, please feel free to 'e' me your list or comments at todd@perhapanauts.com and i'll be sure that they make it into the comments section! c'mon! do it! we'd love to see ya and you know you want to!!


random tiger pictures of the week




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

loch ness madness!

okay...

i am in high writing mode this week, working on several projects and so focused that wednesday passed me right by without a post here on the blog. today was looking iffy too--sorry, just have some looming deadlines that are keeping me too focused to blog...

anyway, the trick is that my (our) good friend, scott weinstein (check out his stuff at www.afterschoolagent.com !)
sent over this breaking story--well, i guess it broke over the weekend--of new video of the legendary loch ness monster! woo hoo! nessie's back!
i've copied the story below, which may or may not be legal, but enjoy...!
and check out the video clip at

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/05/31/britain.lochness.ap/index.html

EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) -- Like tartan, bagpipes, and shortbread Scotland's Loch Ness Monster is as much an emblem as a tourist draw.

And now Nessie's back.

An amateur scientist has captured what Loch Ness Monster watchers say is among the finest footage ever taken of the elusive mythical creature reputed to swim beneath the waters of Scotland's most mysterious lake. (Watch the 'monster' footage )

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/05/31/britain.lochness.ap/index.html

"I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this jet black thing, about 45-feet (15 meters) long, moving fairly fast in the water," said Gordon Holmes, the 55-year-old a lab technician from Shipley, Yorkshire, who took the video this past Saturday.

He said it moved at about 6 mph (10 kph) and kept a fairly straight course.

"My initial thought is it could be a very big eel, they have serpent-like features and they may explain all the sightings in Loch Ness over the years."

Loch Ness is surrounded by myth and mystery, as it is the largest and deepest inland expanse of water in Britain. About 750 feet (230 meters) to the bottom, it's even deeper than the North Sea.

Nessie watcher and marine biologist Adrian Shine of the Loch Ness 2000 center in Drumnadrochit, on the shores of the lake, viewed the video and hopes to properly analyze it in the coming months.

"I see myself as a skeptical interpreter of what happens in the loch, but I do keep an open mind about these things and there is no doubt this is some of the best footage I have seen," Shine said.

He said the video is particularly useful because Holmes panned back to get the background shore into the shot. That means it was less likely to be a fake and provided geographical bearings allowing one to calculate how big the creature was and how fast it was traveling.

While many sightings can be attributed to a drop of the local whisky, legends of Scottish monsters date back to one of the founders of the Christian church in Scotland, St. Columba, who wrote of them in about 565 A.D.

More recently, there have been more than 4,000 purported Nessie sightings since she was first caught on camera by a surgeon on vacation in the 1930s.

Since then, the faithful have speculated whether it is a completely unknown species, a sturgeon -- even though they have not been native to Scotland's waters for many years -- or even a last surviving dinosaur.

Shine doubts that last explanation.

"There are a number of possible explanations to the sightings in the loch. It could be some biological creature, it could just be the waves of the loch or it could be some psychological phenomenon in as much as we see what we want to see," he said.

But Nessie isn't just an icon of the paranormal -- she's also an emblem of Scottish tourism. She has been the muse for cuddly toys and immortalized on T-shirts and posters showing her classic three-humped image.

The Scottish media is skeptical of Nessie stories but Holmes' footage is of such good quality that even the normally reticent BBC Scotland aired the video on its main news program on Tuesday.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

have a great weekend!
todd

some kind words from harlan...

okay...

several of you have already 'e'd me and brought to my attention the kind words that the one and only harlan ellison dropped about our little perhapanauts book in his interview on newsarama. you can check it out at http://www.newsarama.com/general/Ellison/interview_p2.html

i'll say that again.

HARLAN ELLISON digs our book!

i should point out that harlan actually called me several months ago to tell me this. he told me that he thought the perhapanauts was a fun and compelling book, that he really liked the story! and then cautioned me against overusing character dialect and vernacular too much. (molly DOES say "like" a lot...) we had a nice conversation and, of course, i was quite honored. i mean, c'mon--HARLAN ELLISON!!

and so i called him back the other day to thank him for the mention, and for my pal, ron marz as well, since harlan also gave great prase to ron and luke ross' book, samurai: heaven and earth. it just happened to be harlan's birthday, so i wished him a happy one and let him get back to his celebrating. so happy birthday, harlan--and thanks again!



with so much going on these days, i must admit that i've been quite remiss in keeping this blog on schedule and apologize for it. but i've also been at a bit of a loss as to what to write about. with no actual publishing date set for a new perhapanauts series, there's nothing to tell there. and there's been very little going on in the world of the paranormal or unexplained that has been inspiring enough to follow up with here. the "five on friday" trivia seems to garner some response, but i'd like to blow the doors open a bit and try to inspire more people to write in with comments and stuff.
and so, with that in mind, i thought that i'd try to stir things up a bit with a few questions and see where that takes us. bravo has been, for the past few years, doing list shows; 100 scariest films, 50 funniest movies, 100 sexiest stars. (i also dug vh-1s shatner-hosted, 100 one hit wonders...)

try these;

1. your five funniest movies

2. your five favorite songs

3. your five favorite cartoons

i dunno. maybe this idea will tank.
but maybe not...

happy memorial day!
and also, it's JAKE'S BIRTHDAY!!!
happy birthday, puppet!
smell ya later!
todd

where is my week going...?!

okay...

i've had more things going on this week and so am late, late, late...

while craig and i are unsure as to where we might be publishing the next chapter of the perhapanauts saga, i can tell you that we're hard at work on it! and if you think that we left a few too many plot threads laying around, i can also tell you that we'll be tying many (not all...) of them up in this next story!

and that's all the perhapa-news i can tell you.
(the other stuff is secret...!)

as many of you know, i'm a huge lost fan--and even moreso now that i've been watching it with my old lost buddy again
: ) --and while we were glued to last night's season finale, there certainly were (and, lately, have been) a LOT of questions from us regarding characters motivations and dialogue. sometimes it seems that some of the characters do and say things only because it's convenient for the writers, that they accept so many non-answers from others just too readily. if ben ever jerked me around like that--even conversationally--i'd mess him up!
anyway, i don't wanna wreck anything for anybody--it's still a fun show and i'm dying to see where they're going to go from here...

nothing more to say so...

here are the answers to the
"five on friday"

1. what is the correct term for a female peacock?
a peahen

2. who played fbi director gordon cole on david lynch's "twin peaks"?
david lynch

3. what was the name of the comic book that spider-man actually debuted in?
amazing fantasy (#15)

4. what is a "yegg"?
a criminal, burgaler, usually one who cracks safes

5. what first name is shared by both members of they might be giants?
john (linnell and flansburgh)



random picture of the week

more tomorrow!
smell ya later!
todd

oddly ill

okay...

so i woke up yesterday feeling kinda fatigued and achy. but we are still on this house cleaning mission and so i went to work, scrubbing the walls and floors and dusting/packing up books and boxes.

just before noon though, the achy feeling started to feel like something else and i got dizzy, feverish, sweats and chills...weird.

i have no idea what it was.

needless to say, i didn't and couldn't get to the computer to post a new blog, but aas i'm feeling much better this morning, here we go.

no real cohesion to today's post though--some trivia and some random pictures.


the first one is one of those comic book covers from the 70's that, as a young teen i found incredibly sexy. no, i shouldn't just say sexy--it's romantic as well. that's superman and that's lois lane and that 's neal adams depicting one tender, romantic, soul-stirring kiss. it's from superman 243, by the way...


another one of my favorite superman covers. this one from superman 317.


this one was sent to me by one of my myspace friends, a very talented artist from malaysia.


"five on friday"

1. what is the correct term for a female peacock?

2. who played fbi director gordon cole on david lynch's "twin peaks"?

3. what was the name of the comic book that spider-man actually debuted in?

4. what is a "yegg"?

5. what first name is shared by both members of they might be giants?

that's all i gots!
smell ya later!
todd

my very educated mother...

okay...

the other day, my uncle, who forwards me all manner of crazy crap from the internet, sent me this e-mail illustrating the relative sizes of the planets, and of our sun compared to a bunch of other suns. mabe you've seen this already. maybe you have some crazy uncle of your own and he's sent this to you...




anyway, i always loved studying the planets--need to know for any science fiction reader--but have never seen their sizes demonstrated so clearly. and i have to say, i was astounded!




when i was in school we were taught the mnemonic "my very educated mother just served us nine pickles" to learn them in order. Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto i've heard lots of variations and some totally different (and send 'em in if ya got 'em!) but to see them lined up like that really gives me pause. and then, of course, when you get out to the other suns...dude! ours is dinky!



anyway, just thought i'd share that.

hope all is well!
smell ya later!
todd

invariably...

okay...

i an effort to distract ourselves from mother's day, my dad and i, hoping that the crowds would have died down by now, went to see spider-man 3 at our local cineplex last night.
have you ever run that bit of reverse-psychology on yourself, telling yourself that it's been a whole week since the opening, plus that it's mother's day, and then reverse-reverse-psychology it wondering if EVERYONE ELSE is making the same assumption, so maybe we shouldn't go 'cause it'll be packed, but then what if THEY'RE all thinking that too and the place is gonna be empty and...

well, i don't really do that. maybe a little. truth is, over the years, i've come to shun the theater experience when i can help it. i used to LOVE going to the movies! there was a time in my life when i went sometimes 4 or 5 times a week! now though, i'm so frustrated by the incivility of people; the talking, the cell-phones, the rampant YOUNG children, who in most cases are too young for the film anyway...it seems that, since the advent of the vcr back in the 80's, people more and more feel that they can talk during a film, like they're in their living rooms! in the movie theaters, inconsideration is becoming an artform!
this is my one pet peeve.
i gotta get offa this or i'll go crazy.

anyway...

fortunately the reverse-reverse-reverse worked out for us and the place was moderately comfortable.

and here's where the subject of this little post comes in...
i had, of course, heard a few reviews and comments from friends and acquaintences over the past week, and, as i said, craig's been waiting for me to see it so we can talk about it. most comments were that it was just too much, that there were too many villains, too many girls, too much over-the-top action to be able to follow...

INVARIABLY whenever i'm given an opinion by a friend or whoever, be it a negative or positive comment or review, i then go in and have the exact opposite experience. obviously because my expectations have been either heightened or lowered, i am almost always pleasantly surprised or somewhat disappointed, depending on how i went in. oh, even my constant optimism won't save a bad movie, but i often find that, though i try not to have ANY prejudices--or pre-judgements--it's tough these days, with so many trailers and previews constantly bombarding our tvs, to not have an idea of what to expect.

anyway...
i really dug spider-man 3.
no, it's not the movie i woulda made. i didn't like spider-man 1--felt that they totally missed the essence of spider-man, his compassion and sensitivity, his love and adoration of his aunt and uncle. the only scene we saw him with uncle ben they were arguing...what?!?!? his love and respect for uncle ben is what makes him put on that costume every night.

spider-man 2, i felt, redeemed this mistake a bit (the dream sequence/flashback with uncle ben was closer to the real relationship between them) and the doc ock storyline was solid.

so building on those, i really liked 3. i thought that the night fight scene right in the beginning with harry on the glider was too dark and too frenetic--i couldn't always make out what was happening, who just got slammed into that wall.


but overall, i thought it was fun. i still think that toby maguire only has one expression and it's one of shock and confusion. my pal, terry austin, says "he always looks like he's about to bust out cryin'."
but it was fun.
and i had fun with my dad.
and that's really all that matters.



is this the greatest panel in the history of comics?
my friend (and organizer of the awesome baltimore comicon!) mark nathan thinks so.
i told him i needed some time to consider, but now i agree.
anybody got a suggestion? an alternative? a contender?
send 'em in--even if you don't have a scan--i'll get it...

smell ya later!

addendum: curious rogues

okay...

not the best pictures--i don't know how to access the focus on my digital camera yet--but here are the strange villains featured on the borders of that batman bread wrapper i mentioned on friday.






and, while we're here, here are the answers to the

"five on friday"...

1. what mad artist won fame and recognition for his tiny and hilarious pantomimes in the margins of the mag?
sergio aragones

2. (i hate that new cat-look, but) what originally made rather human-looking hank mccoy gain his more beastial visage?
as scott, jeff, and colin said--thanks for the details, colin!--hank did it to himself while trying to "cure" his mutation.

3. before he became the joker, what was his wife's name?
jeannie (the killing joke)

4. who was travis walton?
in one of the most documented--and investigated--cases of ufo abduction, travis walton was a state worker in arizona who was apparently 'taken' for a period of five days. the movie "fire in the sky" was based on the incident and it's many ramifications.

5. yellowstone national park is primarily located in what state?
wyoming

smell ya later!
todd

the collector

okay...

i mentioned in my post the other day that i've been cleaning things up around here, throwing things out, and setting some stuff aside for either a yard sale or ebay, that virtual yard sale. now i have never avoided the term "collector", at times i have used it myself, been quite proud of it...but holy crap! i mean...HOLY CRAP!

over the course of my crazy, complicated, cartoon-like life, i have acquired so much trivial, useless, and in some cases, forgotten stuff that i find myself surprised by some of the stuff i've come across! an arnold schwarzenegger as sgt. rock movie promo button from the '88 san diego convention! my copy of mouse guard #1 (first printing) that i put in a safe place ('cause of the off-size) that i then couldn't find for almost a year now! three bread wrappers from the 1960's featuring batman and robin and a bunch of villains--a couple that no one ever saw! a spider-man print given to me and autographed by stan and john romita that i completely forgot i had!
COMPLETELY FORGOT I HAD!!!





anyway, i've gotta go and get some more cleaing done, but i'll leave you with five for the weekend...

"five on friday"

1. what mad artist won fame and recognition for his tiny and hilarious pantomimes in the margins of the mag?

2. (i hate that new cat-look, but) what originally made rather human-looking hank mccoy gain his more beastial visage?

3. before he became the joker, what was his wife's name?

4. who was travis walton?

5. yellowstone national park is primarily located in what state?

have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

catch up wednesday

okay...

i'm in a real purge mode these days, cleaning my house top to bottom, spring cleaning, getting rid of stuff and setting a lot of stuff aside to be "ebay-ed".

that idea has kinda seeped into everything i've been doing lately and has extended to my computer; i've been going through files and deleting them, updating them, etc.

as i go through the bookmarks that i have labelled "funny", i've found some of the following. if ya have a moment--read; time to kill--check 'em out. some of 'em are, some of 'em aren't, and what's funny to one person, might not be to another,. but...

here's a test you can take to see if you are a cool person.

http://www.sailinganarchy.com/general/2002/cool_test.htm

a site to find out a random fact about vin diesel...

http://4q.cc/index.php?pid=fact&person=vin

here's a picture of a dragon man bust that marvel is doing and that craig sent me 'cause he knows how much i love this character...



and a fun game...

http://www.winterrowd.com/maze.swf

and 20
Ways to Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity .

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.
4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In."

5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.

6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write " For Smuggling Diamonds"

7. Finish All Your sentences with "In Accordance With The Prophecy."

8 Don't use any punctuation

9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.

10. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."

12. Sing Along At The Opera.

13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme?

14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play tropical Sounds All Day.

15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In The Mood.

16. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.

17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won!, I Won!"

18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot, Yelling
"Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"

19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner. "Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go."

20. And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity.......

and here are the answers to your

"five on friday"

1. in pulp fiction, how did tim roth know that he'd pulled samuel l. jackson's wallet out of the bag?
it's the one that says "bad mother f___er" on it.

2. what is the name of quint's boat in jaws?
orca

3. who did the voice of the joker on batman: the animated series?
maark hamill

4. how about harley quinn?
arlene sorkin

5.what's aquaman's wife's name?
mera

that's it! more on friday!
todd

occum's cell phone

okay...

once again, i have a lot of plates spinning...

several different writing projects--exciting all--and yet none that i'm at liberty to tell ya about at the moment.
i will, of course, letcha know when i can.
one or two of them will actually be big news...

i DID write the complimentary spider-man comic book that some of you were fortunate enough to get when you went to see spider-man 3 this past weekend! it was beautifully illustrated by my pal, stuart immonen, and i think it looks awesome!
the book was provided by target and marvel and, though the story had to tie in with the movie, i did try to have some fun with it. hope ya liked it.


i haven't seen the movie yet, however. hopefully in the next day or two. craig did and is patiently waiting for me to see it so that we can talk about it.

and on that note, we're making plans for our annual charlotte trip next month to be at heroescon the weekend of june 15th, 16th, and 17th! if you are a comics fan and are hankerin' to go to one of the last true comic book conventions in norht america, then don't miss out. craig and mike and i are regulars at heroes and hope to see ya there. craig and i will have the new perhapanauts>second chances trade (along with a few other interesting sundries) and mike and i >should< have copies of the tellos colossal hardcover on hand! mark your calendars and make your travel plans now!




random picture of the week--love it!

i don't really have much else to say--or rather, much else i CAN say...
so here's last friday's "five on friday"...

"five on friday"

1. in pulp fiction, how did tim roth know that he'd pulled samuel l. jackson's wallet out of the bag?

2. what is the name of quint's boat in jaws?

3. who did the voice of the joker on batman: the animated series?

4. how about harley quinn?

5.what's aquaman's wife's name?

that's all!
smell ya later!
todd

summer reading

okay...

though, in my area, spring seems to be taking it's damn sweet time getting here, we did have a burst of warm, almost hot, weather the other day and that put me in the mind of summer. and of what to read for summer.
to me summer has always represented a fine time to read the stuff you've been dying to read. this prob'ly goes back to school days when you were always being forced to read what the teacher made you read. summer though...that's free time!

of course, MY summer reading list always comprised at least one or two runs of one comic book or another, a chance to go back and re-read something that you haven't read in years. this summer i'm thinking about getting out all of my old batman/brave and the bold's, a series i loved as a kid, not only 'cause nick cardy had drawn a good handful of them but also because of the awesome jim aparo, who followed nick on the series! he did some great stuff, moody and dynamic, and maintained batman's shadowy countenence, depicting him--like the shadow--as a creature that could easily disappear into the night. and seeing batman paired with characters from every corner of the dc universe--that was always fun! maybe not all that plausible, but...it was comics!

one issue that will always stay with me, that represents so much of my childhood to me, is brave and the bold # 115, guest-starring the atom! batman dies! he dies! he REALLY dies! gunned down by a gangster's bullet, batman checks out! the atom arrives on the scene and confirms it and then--get this--shrinks down and enters batman's brain, neurologically stimulating and manipulating the dark detective's corpse to have him solve his own murder!! awesome! (and i learned a lot about the human brain, to boot!)


a good way to catch these old issues is to pick up dc's showcase series brave and the bold. although they're in black and white and i don't think they get up into the aparo issues yet. maybe volume two.


on the flip-side, i'm also planning on getting out my marvel team-ups to re-visit marvel's amazing pairings of their galaxy of stars with everybody's favorite wall-crawler! also a fabulous series and also available in the more economical essential series!
i loved these too as a kid and was really honored to get to write a marvel adventures version a few years back. and of course, mike wieringo had everything but the marvel team-up title on many issues of our sensational spider-man run!


okay, so that comics.
but i also remember buzzing through at least six or seven good books in a summer--some fantasy or science fiction book i had found or, later, some horror. so many great summer days spent outside in the grass or on the beach reading a good book in the sun. and sometimes, it's the book. one excellent summer book--that also happens to be about an excellent, adventurous summer, is boys life by robert mccammon. though the time period is about ten years before i was having my own adventures in the summer sun, it felt just like the wonderfully lazy, incredibly endless summers that i remember! the ending rumbles around a bit, finding it's one true conclusion, but other than the the book is a pure piece of summertime gold!


another one that i actually just stumbled over because of it's suggested horror elements is richard laymon's the traveling vampire show. there are vampires, and it does have some very suspenseful horrific moments, but this book is more a celebration of the surreal, directionless, anything-can-happen promises of summer. i've read a few other novels by laymon and they're usually good, solid horror stories, but they were different to me because they didn't capture the reckless abandonment of summer that this one does. don't get me wrong--it's not great literature--it's a paperback version of an exploitation film and somewhere along the line laymon fell in love with the word "rump"--maybe it's 'cause i never ever hear anyone use the word in real life, but it stuck out like a sore thumb--but the traveling vampire show is fun! a great summer read!


so that's what summer reading means to me--anybody got some summer reading recommendations?
send 'em in and we can talk 'em up.

that's all for now. here are
the answers to the "five on friday"...

1. starbuck's was originally owned by what famous olympic skater?
jo jo starbuck

2. what is the brand of cigarettes featured in all quentin tarentino movies?
red apple

3. what were the names of the two gangsters that bugs bunny bamboozled into the oven in the classic looney tunes cartoon?
rocky and mugsy

4. how did harvey dent become two face?
district attorney harvey dent had acid thrown in his face during a mob trial

5. in the early 90's, what burger did mcdonald's offer where "the hot stayed hot and the cool stayed cool"...?
the mcdlt

smell ya later!
todd