costumes at the baltimore comic con pt 2

okay...

so, as promised, here are some more wonderful costumes from the floor of this past weekend's BALTIMORE COMIC CON.

           this lovely amazon princess,     

ready to play some bullets and bracelets

         (i curse my poor camera skills for
                       you not being able to see her
                                           awesome red contacts--)

    when i was younger, i had such a huge crush on rogue...

    and this stunning x-man made all those feelings come rushing back...

                                                                                    some really great
                                                                                                costumes by saturn girl and cosmic boy!

...and as i was about to snap the above picture (saturn girl and cosmic boy), i saw someone in the background trying to photobomb the picture and--though i think photobombing is funny--i sarcastically

quipped, "really?!?"...

only to look up to see that it was my pal, walt simonson, passing by with an advance copy of his incredible new book, The JUDAS COIN!! 

out this week from DC, 

The JUDAS COIN is a story walter has been working on for some time and,

 having seen much of it in it's various stages, i can say without a doubt, 

you MUST GET THIS BOOK!!  

the artwork is jaw-droppingly gorgeous, 

the story is epic, and i guarantee it's the big thing

that everyone will be talking about! 

oh, okay...we now return to your regularly scheduled con costumes...

a lady joker

and, it was very quickly apparent in the early hours of the show on saturday, that the most popular costume of this year's con was the lovely jean grey...

there was a whole 

lotta phoenixin' going on...

that's it for today~!

smell ya later!

 todd

costumes at the baltimore comic con pt 1

okay...

so, as usual, we had an AWESOME time at the BALTIMORE COMIC CON this past weekend and, as usual, the biggest complaint was that we didn't get a chance to hang out with friends for as long as we woulda liked. even people we wed sitting right next to!! my pal cully hamner and i sat right across the aisle from one another, exchanging winks and obscene gestures in between the continuous parade of people that were constantly streaming by. our newest perhapanauts art monkey, eric henson and i sat shoulder to shoulder, but nary exchanged a word--well, that was mostly 'cause all of eric's time was being taken up by a film crew from the U.S. Air Force documenting the comic book success of one of it's own staff sergeants! 

craig and i sat next to one another, as usual, and grumbled things to each other like an old married couple...

but matt was just on the other side of him and i didn't get to chat with you half as much as i wanted to, brother! we saw rod and leanne hannah briefly and scott, gino, and jose were only in town for saturday and seemed to blow in and outta there like the wind...

but we did get to at least say hello to a LOT of perhapanauts fans and let them know that, easily, the new PERHAPANAUTS: DANGER DOWN UNDER! is going to be the most exciting story yet! iCAN'T WAIT until november when you can all finally get to see it! 

and pretty...? it's gorgeous! we've got some great artists doing some great stuff--on both the inside and the outside of this book!

but enough about alla that.

i know what kinda convention coverage you're looking for...! and, while i am notoriously bad at the old photography (how can you mess up with a digital camera, you might ask. to which i respond; watch me.), here are a few of the colorful cosplayers i was able to catch in the aisles at the show.

enjoy...!

a capable cap and sensational supes

a cute and curvy mera

sometimes the poison doesn't look so bad

                                                                                                   this incredibly impressive red tornado

               a pair of lethal ladies

                                                                   a diminutive wasp

                   girls; super and marvel

i think maybe my favorite costume of the show,

starro and the cover to brave and the bold 28!

brilliant!

and finally, for brian, this stunning power girl. 

                                                                                        you're welcome.

more news from the con--and pictures!!--tomorrow!

have a great tuesday!

 smell ya later!

todd

is that you, karl~? and some tellos news

okay...

so, craig was here last week for a little get-together we had to celebrate our pal, terry austin's birthday, which was a lotta fun. he was also here, however, as my computer troubleshooter, me being totally clueless when it comes to the tech stuff, craig came in and cleaned things up for me, got rid of a lot of unnecessary programs and junk...and then helped me make the decision to just go ahead and buy a new computer.
we went to get it that day, but the best buy i go to was out of that model, so i went to the next nearest one the next day and picked up my new iMac.
i am in heaven. thank you, craig.

i had no idea how rough i'd had it, how bad things had gotten on my old computer, a mac mini with an external hard drive to give me little extra room and storage space. it was running so slow and choppy, taking so long to simply upload a page, constantly buffering anything i might try to watch...
the new computer has, like, a a-billion times the memory and storage that i had before. it runs so fast and smoothly that sometimes i feel like it's reading my mind and anticipating what page i want to go to next. (it isn't, is it?!)
the speed is incredible.

so that's been my thrill for the past week. getting used to the newness and the speed and transferring files, learning all the wondrous cool, new stuff i can do, exploring a bit.
hopefully, it'll make things faster here as well...

anyway, enough about me and my computer.
craig and i also were getting together to take care of a lot of what you will be seeing in another month or so when PERHAPANAUTS: DANGER DOWN UNDER! hits the stands and the awesomeness that we have so anxiously been keeping a lid on can finally be shown to the world!!
(we agreed that it's time to start showing it off, so watch this space for some more previews and pin-ups--and for those of you who can be patient, i'll make sure that there are no spoilers without plenty of advance warning--i hate when they don't do that...)

in the meantime, here's an awesome pic that matt found and immediately identified it as our pal, karl (the moth man!)*. apparently, this is a venezuelan poodle moth and it has the internet abuzz! (it says so right in the headline if you go to the grind tv blog at the address below...)

you can read all about this adorable little fella, as well as see some photos of some other very cool, very unique moths form all around the world.


http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/34608/moth+that+looks+like+a+poodle+has+internet+abuzz+bizarre+photos/

* and matt happens to know a little something about karl as evidenced below.

art from "choopie and karl in the wild wild west" pencils by matt wieringo. 

inks by the lovely christian leaf.

another cool thing that's got the internet abuzz (well, maybe not the entire internet. mostly, i mean, just my new computer...) is the (FINALLY!!) release of the long-awaited, laboriously languished upon, TELLOS COLOSSAL Vol. 2!! After years of false-starts and delays, of missing artwork and re-constructed files, I--and IMAGE COMICS--am pleased and proud to present the second part of the Tellos Collection! Featuring artwork by KELLY YATES, CARLO BARBERI, HOWARD PORTER, THOR BADENDYCK, ERIC WOLFE-HANSON, DIDIER 'CRISSE' CRISPEELS, ALAIN 'MOMO' MAURICET, CIRO TOTA, BRUNO BESSADI...and...oh, yeah, craig rousseau...it is just a gorgeous book! High praise and enormous thanks to VINCENT KUKUA, designer extraordinaire at Image, who, patiently suffered through the highs and lows of finding and putting together this terrific collection. Vince, you did a magnificent job!!

my advance copies arrived the other day, so this should be in stores in the next few weeks.


anyway, that's it for this saturday.
i'll be posting some cool new stuff from the brand new series on monday morning, so meet me back here then, 'kay?
have a great weekend!
 smell ya later!
todd

Brain Power

okay...

in going through the various files and folders i have containing all manner of top secret, confidential, and classified perhapanauts stuff, i came across these two treasures that, sad to say, got buried amongst so many other gems.

as a lark, one blog, i proffered a sort of half-a-scene that i had written years before and discarded. it was silly, mildly amusing, possibly fun, but only with the right artist. with so many talented artists following the perhapanauts, craig suggested that i send it out there and see if anyone wanted to take a swing at it. "it's only three pages," i remember him saying, "what could it hurt?"

of those talented artists, two of our most courageous stepped up to the plate--warren newsom and uriel duran! to continue the baseball metaphor, they each knocked it out of the park and i think it's high time we took a look at their fantastic work!

thanks, guys!

great stuff!

smell ya later!
todd

a crazy week~!

okay...

i keep talking about how craig and i are scrambling around, getting all of the various components of the new series together; reaching out to friends and favorites for some very cool variant covers (joe staton, mike maihack, charles paul wilson III, michael golden and a couple more...), making sure our awesome colorists--mike thomas, nate lovett, and dean trippe--have the latest pages--and the RIGHT pages!--to work on, making sure that eric henson doesn't get too fidgety waiting for me to finally write that last pages to his beautiful back-up story, etc...

but i don't really have all that much to show for it.
we want everything to be new and fresh and a wonderful surprise!
(but it's SO hard when you're sitting on so much freakin' FANTASTIC ARTWORK!!!)

and so, as the solicits come out--those advertisements in the monthly previews catalogue featured at your local comic book shop--for both readers and retailers to order from, i'll be posting the way-cool artwork here and giving you all the exclusive early look at some smokin'-hot Perhapanauts gorgeousness!

this month's previews heralds the coming of the new series.
PERHAPANAUTS: DANGER DOWN UNDER! no. 1 will hit stands the first week in november, so order yours TODAY! now's the time to let your handsome, intelligent, and oh-so-charming comic shop owner know that you're gonna be looking for a copy this fall! tell him to order a few, 'cause once the word gets out about this new adventure, they won't be able to keep 'em on the shelves! as a matter of fact, if you've got the time, call SEVERAL comic shops in your area and ask them if they'll be carrying the latest Perhapanauts...? it couldn't hurt.

so, to start out or preview of perhapanaut perfection, here is the cover to Perhapanauts: Danger Down Under! no.1 by craig with colors by the incredibly talented mike thomas...

and our exclusive first variant cover by comics legends JIM STARLIN and TERRY AUSTIN!

hope you dig 'em!
call your store!
have a great weekend!
 smell ya later!
 todd

oh--here's a picture of a squirrel.

Mike

I remember saying to my then wife, Nicole, that she should take a look at this new artist on The Flash, that he had something cool going on, very different and...springy. Animated. Electric. Nicole wasn't really a comic book person; she loved Sandman and the other Vertigo titles, but wasn't much for the superheroes. But she did appreciate art and the things that excited me, and she commented that there was a kinda anime influence in this new guy's style, very different, very unique. I just knew I dug it.

I have said this so many times and I hope you don't roll your eyes, but Mike had a 'bounce' to his line that brought so much energy to each and every panel. I don't know how he did it. Maybe it was his mutant power, maybe it was magic. Yeah, I think it was magic. His characters were imbued with life the moment he touched pencil to page, they were static images that were just humming with potential, you could see that they were eager--no, bursting--to bound into action, to leap off the page and act out their thrilling adventures just for you! It was easy to imagine they did.

Mike cared so much about the story and the way that we were presenting it. He would spend hours in a day just laying out the panels and the flow of the action. The choreography. Not stopping until he was happy with the design, content that the storytelling was smooth and that the Reader would have no trouble following the narrative.
Them, he would draw it all up and by the time he was done, be questioning again whether he should have positioned this guy differently or given that panel a little more space...

In that, Mike was an excellent director--or, he would say, co-director. But he was a very talented actor as well, capable of conveying every emotion--and sometimes two or three at a time--on the faces of his charges, giving them expressions that told so much more of the story than what was seen in the panel or read in the dialogue. They spoke with their eyes, their mouths, their eyebrows, the cut of their jaw. They spoke with their body language, with gestures. He gave the characters depth with his acting, let you know that there was so much more going on in their lives--and in their heads--than what you gleaned on the page.
Again, magic.

He was a joy to work with. A wonderful partner.

That's Mike, the artist. The guy who loved comics, loved being in comics, and loved the people who loved comics. He was thrilled and honored to have been in this business, to have made it, and to have, hopefully, made an impression.

As for Mike, my friend...that, I think, will have to wait for another day. I have said many times in the past, what he meant to me, what an excellent person he was, and what a unique and, I guess, fantastic friendship we had. But that's all I can say right now; this little memorial has caught up to me now and I'm missing him too much to go on.

Miss you, Mike.

t.

how's your brains...?

okay...

craig and i are workin' hard, getting DANGER DOWN UNDER! ready for you and yours! we thank everyone who got onboard and "Liked" us over on our facebook page--and especially those who reached out to their friends to add to our numbers! we really appreciate that, gang!

while we're hammering away, i thought i'd both share and plug some more cool stuff that i found over at 

www.ebaumsworld.com

it's really a great site with lots of (time-wasting) videos and games and galleries to meander through--you oughta go check it out.

one of the ones that i especially dug was the "infographics" gallery, featuring funny and factual diagrams about the coolest stuff.

here are a couple.

why, you could spend an entire afternoon just reading through these last two alone.

(i know i did...)

fun stuff! 

thanks, ebaum's world!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i got this this morning from my 'selective' friend, lizzie--

To my 'selected' strange-minded friends…
If you can read the following paragraph, forward it on to your friends and the person that sent it to you with 'yes' in the subject line.
Only great minds can read this. This is weird, but interesting! If you can raed this, you have a sgtrane mnid too.
 Can you raed this? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in what oerdr the ltteres in a word are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it whotuit a pboerlm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!


Even if you are not old, you  will find this  interesting...
Good example of a Brain Study: If you can read this you have a strong mind:

7H15 M3554G3

53RV35 7O PR0V3

H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4N

D0 4M4Z1NG 7H1NG5!

1MPR3551V3 7H1NG5!

1N 7H3 B3G1NN1NG

17 WA5 H4RD BU7

N0W, 0N 7H15 LIN3

Y0UR M1ND 1S

R34D1NG 17

4U70M471C4LLY

W17H 0U7 3V3N

7H1NK1NG 4B0U7 17,

B3 PROUD! 0NLY

C3R741N P30PL3 C4N

R3AD 7H15.

PL3453 F0RW4RD 1F

U C4N R34D 7H15.

  
 Short  Neurological  Test

 1-  Find the C below..  Please do not use any cursor help.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

2-  If you already  found the C, now find the 6 below.

99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
69999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

3   - Now find the N below.. It's a little more difficult.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMNMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

This is NOT a joke. If you were able to pass these 3 tests, you can cancel your annual visit to your neurologist Your brain is great and you're far from having a close relationship with Mr Alzheimer... 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and here are

the answers

to last week's

"five for friday!"

1. what famous cartoon character boasts the measurements 19-19-19?

olive oil

2. from a caribbean word meaning fish net, what hanging cloth made it possible for sailors to sleep soundly on restless seas?

hammock

3. what poultry dish features a chicken stuffed in a duck stuffed in a turkey?

turducken

4. what distinctive fabric features a raised pattern known as wales?

corduroy

5. what 40s film classic was adapted from an unproduced play called "everyone comes to rick's"?

casablanca

okay, i'm outta here~

smell ya later!

 todd

"Like, could you, like, 'Like' us...?"

okay...

so, the results are in, the officials have spoken, and the winner of the Perhapanauts Perhapa-ganda Challenge is...

   ...Stacy Wallis of newport news, va, who sent us this brief, but very to-the-point, entry

Promotion Entry:

A cartoon of Molly saying "Could you, like, Like us?" for on Facebook.

with stacy's permission, we added a "like", craig drew it up, and here's the end result!

with our newest series, Perhapanauts: Danger Down Under! coming out a few months from now, we're hoping that all of YOU--our Perhapa-Family--might help us to spread the word around, by posting this on your Facebook page and/or maybe even sending it around to friends you think might like the Perhapanauts. Or friends who just like a good adventure! We've got 769 "likes" already, but we KNOW we can get a lot more to friend up with our little book! whaddaya say? you in?

stacy--thanks for the wonderful idea and...

...CONGRATULATIONS! 

your prize of $100 and a blacklight choopie t-shirt are already in the mail! 

(your signed copies of each issue of Perhapanauts:Danger Down Under! will arrive as they come out!)

thanks to everyone who sent in such great ideas!

and thanks to joe, jim, and michael for their help in the selection process.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

some random jpgs i grabbed from ebaumsworld.com...

(go there! therre's lots of fun to be had!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ands here are your

"five for friday!"

1. what famous cartoon character boasts the measurements 19-19-19?

2. from a caribbean word meaning fish net, what hanging cloth made it possible for sailors to sleep soundly on restless seas?

3. what poultry dish features a chicken stuffed in a duck stuffed in a turkey?

4. what distinctive fabric features a raised pattern known as wales?

5. what 40s film classic was adapted from an unproduced play called "everyone comes to rick's"?

that's it for now!

have a great weekend!

please pass on our promotional plea--we need readers!

 smell ya later!

 todd

Perhapa-ganda Challenge--Runner's-Up!

okay...

thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!--to all of you who took some time out to brain-storm and come up with so many terrific ideas for our Perhapanauts "PERHAPA-GANDA" Challenge! we had a slow start with the entries at first, but once you got going, YOU GOT GOING!

we appreciate both your efforts and your eagerness to help our little book succeed this time out. we've been working very hard on this latest installment of everyone's favorite paranormal adventurers and we're keen to get the word out--and YOUR involvement will help.

we'll be announcing/unveiling the big winner on friday, both here and on the perhapanauts facebook page (haven't visited there yet...? we're love you to 'like' us...), but before we do that, here are some of our runners-up and honorable mentions...

"The Perhapanauts:  To Buy, To Read, Per-Haps to Dream"

"The Monsters In Town Are On Our Side."

"The only people who don't like The Perhapanauts are people who haven't read The Perhapanauts."

tee shirt idea Front text: Have you lived life to the fullest? Perhaps Naut Back text: READ The Perhapanauts Then you can put a image below that on the back. Covers, Character shots, ect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and

here are the 

answers to
last week's

"five for friday~!"

1. what movie carried the tag-line "just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..."?

JAWS 2

2. what was the name of the reporter that david (bruce) banner told "...you wouldn't like me when i'm angry."

jack mcgee

3. ringo replaced...?

pete best as drummer for the beatles

(and, yes, we'll accept "greg laroque on the flash."  : )

4. what is the dot over the lower case 'i' and 'j' called?

a tittle

5. name the seven original not-ready-for-prime-time players.

dan ackroyd

john belushi

chevy chase

jane curtin

garrett morris

laraine newman

gilda radner

hey! there are new pages of nick tapalansky and alex eckman-lawn's "A GRIM HAUNT" up on "Tales From The Perhaps!"

that's it for today!

smell ya later!

 todd