Adventures in Sound — Part 8

Panel from Not Brand Echh #1
Letterer: Artie Simek

Horrors of the Unknown

Thanks to the long weekend (guess who took Friday off, too?), work has piled up a little and — to be honest — my brain is still on vacation. So for now, have some Hembeck.


If you want to squeeze in some more mental time-off for yourself, go check out Fred Hembeck's Web site. The time'll fly by!

It never gets old

From the always-excellent Agents of Atlas (issue #2)
Jeff Parker, writer; Carlos Pagulayan, Jason Paz and Jana Schirmer, artists

'For the love of Crom, am I the only one here who wants to keep the U.S. technologically competitive?'

It always amazes me, but apparently there's a good portion of society that doesn't revolve around comics and instead would really like it if I'd take care of some of this other stuff instead.

I know!

I'm hoping to get something more than link-posts up soon ... but in the meantime here's a link to an Onion article about the disappointing lack of Conan knowledge among Obama's Cabinet. And since politics tends to be another obsession, this part in particular made me laugh:

"... he is expected to meet with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Friday to discuss Afghanistan. A holdover from the Bush administration, Gates told reporters he may have gotten off on the wrong foot with the new president, citing an occasion when Obama asked him what he knew about 1984's Secret Wars, a 12-issue limited Marvel release. Gates then handed a visibly confused Obama 1,400 classified pages on covert CIA operations in El Salvador."


Edit to add: Well, crap. I just noticed that Scott over at Hero Sandwich posted about this exact same Onion article a whole day before this one went up! I enjoy Scott's blog on a daily basis, so go check out his take on the whole Cobama article at his site. And hey, while you're at it, take a look at what happens when you give Conan the Obama treatment over at I Was Ben.

Another 2 cents for The Accountants

Rob Osborne, the creator behind 1000 Steps to World Domination and the much-lamented The Nearly Infamous Zango, has been kicking ass over at Zuda, but he could still use your support.

His eight-page entry is called The Accountants, and his tale of hit men in fuzzy animal costumes is one of the oddest and funniest things I've read in a long while. The sense of humor is combined with a real grasp of the absurd, and it's all wrapped around characters you actually want to know more about — it's just really good stuff about CPAs who'll put a C-A-P in your ass.

I've been a fan of Osborne's for a few years now, and he just keeps getting better with every new story he does. Go see for yourself and then cough up a vote for The Accountants — signing up takes less than five minutes, and it's a good way to show support for independent creators.

'Batman's thong' should be on every pull list

Since I'm only getting a few comics this week, not to mention still coming down from the lackadaisical high that is a four-day weekend, I'm just going to give a quick list of what's coming home with me on Wednesday:

BPRD: The Warning #4

Cthulhu Tales #6

Necronomicon #2

Wonder Woman #25

All solid stuff, and a nice horror vibe to really get me in that Halloween mood. I'm also thinking about Green Lantern Corps #29 — even though it's a title I'm picking up in trade — since it's a "Blackest Night" prelude. What do you guys think?

Some other things you should look at are the DC Comics Goes Ape trade (c'mon, it's monkeys! And nobody does apes like DC, so suck it, Marvel), and the Queen & Country Definitive Edition Vol. 3 trade.

And thanks to a friend's e-mail and Superdickery, as promised I give you:

BATMAN'S THONG

Remember, chum; the safety word is "Crime Alley."

THE PAIN!!!

Well, shit.

Sadly, Dave Campbell of Dave's Long Box is calling it quits after blogging about comics for more than three years. Dave retiring is like Ali stepping out of the ring, a recognized champion going on to become a legend.

Woof, that's sappy. But let's consider the facts: Campbell was one of the first people to regularly blog about comics, building a tremendously loyal readership that not many other bloggers can match. He was funny, he was enthusiastic, he was insightful and he was consistent (mostly).

When I began trolling through comic blogs, the Long Box was the first one I read and it told me a lot. It told me that it was OK to be a comic book reader, and it reminded me that it was supposed to be fun. Eventually, reading the Long Box (along with Chris Sims, Kevin Church and Bully) would be what would give me the push to start my own blog. Thanks to them I rediscovered the joy of communication and community, things I thought had been ground out of me years before. But I've never forgotten that it all started with Dave's Long Box.

Most of all, though, Campbell just made me laugh. Every. Damn. Time. Seriously, go read the archives and look for The F*@% Yeah Files or Boob War, or just randomly click on entries. It won't matter because he's that good. And even though I'm sorry to see the shutters going up at the Long Box, I'm glad he's got a gig blogging for ABC and even happier to know he'll still be doing a personal blog of some sort.

Guys like Campbell can't keep quiet for too long. I know I'm looking forward to hearing what he's got to say.

Finally, here's my favorite moment from Dave's Long Box, if for no other reason than it made me and my wife laugh for an entire day:




Thanks, Dave. Stay Airwolf.

Shoulda taken the plea bargain

When I go through the list of comics being released every week, I usually end up hitting publisher and review sites to get information on titles I don't know much about. But rarely do I get to read something like this first paragraph from the solicit copy for Tokyopop's I-Doll Vol. 1:

"When four troublemakers are arrested for a variety of crimes, the judge hands down the ultimate sentence: The quartet must form a band!"

AH-HAHAHAHAHAAA!

Oh, Japan ... I love you.

A whole new ballgame

I demand more, Zdarsky, you magnificent bastard.

Also, I now want a pork sandwich.