Monday, June 28, 2010

Work for Hire......

So progress continues on The Book of Grrry and Youth in Asia. I have also commenced coloring my Tucson Comic Con poster. The poster features a Tusken Raider wielding a Singapore cane like a gaderffii, Bomb Queen throwing up the Triple Threat three fingers and sporting wrestling tights, Edward from Cowboy Bebop pointing to the heavens like Sabu and Agnew and Nash from Youth in Asia. Nash has his arms out posed like Tommy Dreamer became famous for after starting his feud with Raven and sporting a t-shirt with "520" on it. Agnew has his claws popped and is flying through the air screaming like a banshee while wearing a Spider-Man Luchador outfit. Behind all the characters is Nash's eyes in homage to the first cover I ever did for Youth in Asia #1 and the tattoo I have on my back commemorating my battle with cancer.
I have begun doing character studies and costume designs for the new characters being introduced in the next series of Youth in Asia stories.
The Book of Grrry continues to roll along with page work for "Door to Door Shenanigans," and script progress is being made with "The Jenny Spaghetti Incident."
Just some updates on work I'm doing.

I am also taking commissions to raise money for San Diego Comic Con.
My rates are as follows:


Single character penciled... $10 inked +5 and digitally colored w/ file +10
SO you can have a fully colored single character of your choice with both the original inked line art and a digital file of the final colored piece for just $25.

Contact me at my email to place your commission.... anti.hero.brand@gmail.com

Sunday, June 27, 2010

GLA Misassembled; A Hardcore Review

I have been on an anti Marvel trip for the better part of a few years now, but I picked this trade up at Bookmans the other day, cause I am digging humor comics a lot more recently. And this fuckin' book delivered. A motley group of Z listers from the Marvel universe, who include Mr. Immortal (who can never die), Dinah Soar (a pink Sauron-like chick who speaks in only a way the Mr. Immortal can hear), Doorman (a level 10 teleporter), which means he can teleport people so long as he's standing against the wall of the room you want to go into, Flatman (who is like Reed Richards, only not a scientist and is ALWAYS flat) and Big Bertha who makes all other female superheroes obsolete. She can control her body mass to be bigger than The Blob. BUT the way she gets rid of the excess body mass is equally Z Lister disgusting and totally a bad idea for young girls to read.
The team is on the verge of breaking up when they hear the news of the Avengers enormous battle and disassemblage. They decide that there must be a force against evil and that the Great Lakes Avengers is gonna be that not so insurmountable force. In this story they run across Maelstrom, who had been relegated to shit villain status years ago. However with the recent insurgence of terrible rogues and C level heroes to the main roster of cool, Maelstrom has hit his stride. Gaining the following of Batroc the Leaper and a few other Morts to steal the necessary equipment for his Machine of Doom. I call it the Machine of Doom, cause I don't remember if it had a name, and if it did, I sure as fuck don't remember it.
During the ensuing battle, several members of the GLA are brutally killed, and Mr. Immortal begins seeing the Phantom Rider, who he first saw in his childhood when his parents died or killed themselves of whatever, and he starts wigging out. So a recruitment drive is initiated. And what better city to start in than New York City, cause that's fucking where the whole Marvel Universe takes place (nice work Stan. Way to broaden things). The team hits up pretty much every A Lister in town, and anyone else they can find who has any discernible powers. The duo of Doorman and Flatman come to rest on a park bench in Central Park, in the middle of the fucking NIGHT! Are they insane? And in turn they get mugged. Only to be saved by, wait for it, Squirrel Girl and her squirrel sidekick, Monkey Joe. It seems Squirrel Girl patrols Central Park, although almost no one has ever seen her or heard of her. Thinking that she'll say no anyways the guys ask her to join the ahem, Great Lakes Avengers. TO which she agrees. Go figure.
Then in another battle they run across the Grasshopper, who agrees to join the team and is killed in a record 5.8 seconds afterwards.
Shit happens and weirdness ensues, like Mr. Immortal killing himself three or four times, Big Bertha, who in her secret identity is the most famous super model in Milwaukee, gives up big money and a lucrative future by STAYING in Milwaukee. Not even Laverne and Shirley stayed in Milwaukee. Robin Yount played his entire career with the Brewers and as soon as that was over and he got into the Hall of Fame, probably for sheer number of times he beat his head against a wall and survived, got the fuck out of there after wards. Even Lenny and Squiggy, well I think you get my point. And if you don't it's this, Milwaukee is a shitty place to live, and I've never even been to the airport.
Somehow, Mr. Immortal figures out a way to beat Maelstrom, using Doorman. Go figure. there's a use for more than one of these guys during the four issue mini series. But the way he beats Maelstrom is severely fucked up. I don't even think I would have been able to write something like this. Dan Slott did a great job on this title. But if you'd read his She-Hulk you would know how well he is at Super Hero sitcoms. It just boggles the mind. Anyway, I hope they resurrect this team in an ongoing series or at least some more minis. But alas Marvel is stupid and is making everyone a badguy or an anti-hero. And I resent that. The anti-hero thing is my gig, fuckers.
This book was a train wreck of hilarity and fucked up is the reason for the following grade. As Joey Styles stood in the middle of the ring and announced that since he had no real choice in the matter he would be interviewing "Dancing" Stevie Richards and his sidekick Blue Dust. And out comes Stevie in a bald cap and a cape with his hand outstretched in a claw. He was calling himself Baron Von Stevie and he said, "Do not worry Meanie, I will not hurt you." How Raven came up with these fucked up ideas and then kept a straight face is beyond me. But he did, and they killed each time. And during the interview the bald cap keeps slipping off and Stevie has to keep readjusting it over and over, until finally he just gets tired of it and throws it onto the canvas. The interview itself was a train wreck and made absolutely no sense, but that was the point. And it was one of the funniest moments in ECW history.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Twilight: A Hardcore Drunken Review

Let me first reinterate that this is a hardocre drunken review. The editing has been done as seen fit, but is left in tact as much as possible as given the feature being reviewed. I aM still drinking Kiltlifters as I type this with my girlfriend aspeep in the next room. I am leaving things uncorrected as I see fit, as I am drunk while typing thus.
dSo, me and my girfriend/ boothbabe just watched Twilight, or I did, as she fell asleep with fifteen minutes left on the clock. And since thw World Cup is going on, fifteen seconds is a LONG fucking time. First things first, I didn't hate this movie as much as I thought I would or as much as I wanted to, or maybe that was cause I'm drunk. In fact the opeming title thingee is still playing in a loop as I type this. My newly accepted girlfriend is asleep in the next room, but sleepishly demanded tht I write this review. It';s not gonna make a lot of sense since I AM DRUNK, but it should be entertaining none the less.
So I juist picked up my new glasses yesterday after an interview. And I must say my new girlfriend likes them a lot. As do I. They're frameless. Is thar even a word?
So, after convincing me weeks ago that I must be inebriated to watch said movie, I agreed and sat down, although there was a very long break during, because I was warching with my girlfriend, "wink." This movie wasnt the complete, Black Baby Abortion thaT mEGAN fOX HAD THAT i EXPECTED,. If you follow current complete "who gives a shit" celebrity news than you might know what I'm talking about. So this girl moves o Washington state, as if that's ever happened before. And makes quick friends, like tha happens witha pasty white chick and a bunch of minorities, in a state populated by minorities. And she seems to catch the eye of this one really weird guy who cant stand to look at her for more than a few seconds without running out of the classroom like he just jizzed his pants. Anyways, she almost gets hsit bya car and this weird pedophile looking motherfucker saves her foe reaseons explained later in the movie, which is really gay and I'm glad Iam still drunk while writing this. Guy m,eets girl and decides he wants to kill her or suck her blood or fuck her or whatever. I mean this is why this is a hardcore review, right? So he falls in love with this girl who onluy looked good in Adventureland, and decides to not killer, as he's some sort of vegetarian vampire who only eats animals. Um, I know I'm drunk but that;s not a vegetarian. aNYways theres this other guy who shows up without a shirt in the next movie anf is sill underage, but is an Indian, so
i guss that makes it ok that this is a really gay story, and if you fol,low my facebook then you know what I mean by "gay."
Baseball ensues, which is a fucking boring game unless you';re playing it. And then they hunt Bella, which is also gay, unless you've seen Kristen Stewart plau a trashy whore in Adventureland like I have. And trust me yo havent. Cause she was like a thousand time trashier in my mind. Is trashier even a word? I guess it is according to this spellchieck. Keep in mind this is like my tenth Kiltlifter in like three hours.
So she wakes up in a hospital and then goes to prom wher Jacob (the Werewolf) and Edward (team wooden steak) see e ach other and get all wanna bee agro, but the just come off as uber gaylike. Why does Edwards adiptiv father look like muy roommate? Seriously, that shuit is gonna keep me up at nights. Or days as I work nights, but irregardless (whcih is supprisinglya word on this spellcheck.
So this movie gets a grade befitting to its and my current state. Cactus JAck versus The Sandman in ECW. The Sandman was out on his feet during a Texas DEath Match against Cactus Jack. The object of which is to beat ths shit out of your opponent, pin him and them hope he doenst answer the ten count. Early un the match Sandman suffered a concussion and wouldn't stay down. So, Cactus had to continue beating the shit out of him to keep him down for not only three count, but the ten count that followed. I'm drunk so all I remember is Cactus hitting Sandman with a fucking cast iron skillet ND i thing thAt is what gave Sandman the concussion. Mick (Cactus Jack) admits to it in a dvd. The matxch that kept on going was a train wreck. Like seriously. Watch it and you'll see Jim's eyes rolled into tha back of his head and not recogniing where he is. Its craxy. It's on Mick Foley's Greatsest Hits and Misses dvd from the devils in Stamford. I can really reven type.
GO TEAM WOODEN STEAK!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Book of Grrry progress

Now that I am back to work, I feel a bit of a catharsis. The Book of Grrry gives me a chance to really let loose as a creator. Stories involving the bombshell of the Youth in Asia universe seem to take on a life all their own. As with the two stories I am working on for this next BoG installment, Grrry is back to her usual bag of tricks, as the case may be. I have also come to terms with the fact that Grrry gets what Grrry wants and it's really best not to fuck with her, as you have seen in the pages of YiA and the first two issues of BoG. What happens in the next couple of stories should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the buxom wonder. And if you're not in the know, I suggest you get in the know. Grrry has become one of the two favorite characters from Anti-Hero Brand Press along with Agnew Pennyworth, sidekick to Nash in Youth in Asia, star of his own coloring book series, "got crayons?" and the mega breakout star of "Fuzzyface: The Agnew Chainsaw Massacre." Both characters are favorites of Fuzzyface writer, Venus of Necro, who in an interview with Richard Caldwell describes Grrry as "fearless." And she is. The voice and personality I decided to give Grrry was that of the unsilent majority. The person who says what she feels without the nasty repercussions that come from speaking your mind in today's society. Grrry is a staunch defender of the under dog, and is at times violently loyal to her friends. An avid supporter of free speech, as well as the "We can do it," philosophy of the iconic Rosie the Riveter poster that helped spawn the ideas behind the Rockabilly movement.
Grrry is not one to hold her opinions inward. In all reality, Grrry is going to let you know exactly how she feels about what's going on in the world. In a day and age where so many people hold back for fear of being non P.C. or for getting on the government's shit list, Grrry is most definitely "of the people" type of character. And in her own words, "people should learn an unrelenting fear of me."

Thursday, June 17, 2010

The Book of Grrry #3

I am back to work, after what seems like a really long goddamn time. Taking onto my plate two scripts (one still in progress) of the next edition of the Book of Grrry spin off from Youth in Asia, as well as the next script for Youth in Asia. I have written an issue 6 and an issue 5.5 for YiA, but wasn't totally satisfied with them. And since writing them I have begun thinking about changing the direction of the book as a whole. Still working with some ideas, and a lot of random thoughts floating around in my head. Which may be good or possibly disastrous. Plus I still have to script the origin story, titled, "Youth in Asia: Ten Years in Hell." This graphic novel will chronicle the origins of main characters, Nash, Agnew, Kyle and Grrry as their lives were prior to them meeting.
Also, recently posted online is the Fuzzyface interview, or what I will refer to as the Fuzzyface interview of Venus of Necro and myself conducted by Richard Caldwell on Bleeding Cool's website. Richard did a stellar job on his questions and I feel Venus and I were able to get ourselves across very well. And without being too wordy. Well, it wasn't easy for me. Have a read and let us know what you think.
Fuzzyface interview

Thursday, June 10, 2010

The Big Lebowski; A hardcore Review

"AM I THE ONLY ONE AROUND HERE WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT THE FUCKING RULES?!"
If the Coen Brothers never made another movie, I would still call them fucking geniuses. When you get the Coen's involved in a movie with an amazing ensemble cast like this, with a movie that makes absolutely no fucking sense and really has no discernible plot, you would think this was gonna be an abortion of Gigli proportions. Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Julianna Moore, Phillip Seymore Hoffman, John Tuturro and Sam Elliott. This flick has more quotable one liners than a Kevin Smith marathon. And this all starts out with a guy having his rug peed on.
"You flash your piece at me. I'll take it away from you and shove it up you ass and pull the trigger till it goes click."
"Jesus..."
"You said it man. Nobody fucks with the Jesus."
The story of the pacifistic, White Russian drinking, sloppy yet charming Dude. A man so lazy he puts my roommates kid to the test. Jeffrey Lebowski is The Dude, a man who bowls, and writes checks for half & half and get confused for The Big Lebowski, a multi-millionaire philanthropist. Somehow, getting him tangled in a web revolving around The Big Lebowski's wife Bunny, who owes money to pornographer Jackie Treehorn. This movie is a fucking acid trip man. So many fucked up things go on. A fucking great film in so many senses of the word. It's filmed incredibly well. Cinematic in scope. But then again it's the fucking Coen brothers we're talking about.
"Walter, I love you man. But sooner or later you're gonna have to realize your a fucking moron."
One question I have about the "plot" is why would Nihilists be involved in a kidnapping for money? Apparently they believe in money. So the thought is, money IS nothing. The Coen's are teaching up a philosophy lesson as well as entertaining us. And they do entertain. Jeff Bridges proves he is a perfectly able character actor. And then you add in John Goodman who has done nothing BUT play astonishing characters throughout his career. Add in guys like Sam Elliott, Steve Buscemi and John Tuturro in small doses and this movie couldn't get any better.
"You want a toe? I can get you a toe.... I can get you a toe by three o'clock. With nail polish."
It's a movie that would make a great comic book. Slice of life piece with aspirations of Superman-like greatness. This movie is so a part of pop culture that Agnew dresses as The Dude in volume 2 of got crayons? I need to remember this movie for future reference and inspiration for Youth in Asia.
"Shut the fuck up Donnie!"
The grade for this movie is something that was 12 years in the making. A man who had a made a career out of making stars for companies that didn't appreciate him. Companies that used him to make money and promote other wrestlers. This night, in his hometown, in front of a capacity crowd and millions on pay per view, Anarchy Rulz 2000 to be exact. Jerry Lynn had the biggest fucking match of his career. Against the man who ran The Franchise out of ECW. The upstart who caned the Sandman to near death, took his Singapore Cane and forced him to join WCW, and then almost killed Tommy Dreamer. Justin Credible, the young man who threw down his half of the World Tag Team Titles to steal the belt that Tommy Dreamer had just won from Taz. But tonight, the young upstart met his match in the journeyman who was no longer gonna make any more stars. Other than himself. The deck was stacked. As Danny Daniels snuck into the match after H.C. Loc was knocked out during the action. Daniels had been trying to fuck over Lynn for weeks. He fast counted Lynn twice, then after Credible hit Lynn with That's Incredible for like the fifth time, Daniels counted to 2, flipped off Lynn and yelled, "Fuck you!" was about to count three, when the music hit! The long whistle followed by the explosion, and the crowd went ballistic. Out came NEW JACK, who was supposed to ref the match before Justin Credible jumped him the week before. Jack took out Daniels, and then took a couple cane shots from Credible. But Lynn recovered, and hit a cradle Tombstone Piledriver. 1-2-3! And Jerry Lynn had won his first title in North America, the Extreme Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship.
"YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS LARRY?! YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FUCK A STRANGER IN THE ASS?!"

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Terminator Salvation; A Hardcore Review

SO, we FINALLY get the future Terminator movie we've all been salivating like Pavlovian dogs for. And I gotta say, I had my doubts about this working as a movie. Especially since Christian "I always overact as Batman" Bale was on board as John Connor. And a lot of people, some that I know were put off by number three and this flick since James Cameron had nothing to do with either of them. But they were what they were. I have to say, I was thinking this whole movie was gonna be a feature length film of the future flashes we saw in Terminator, of Kyle Reese blasting Terminator ass. I dug that this movie was kind of a mind fuck. I mean we get John Connor desperately seeking teenage Kyle Reese so he can preserve his own existence. But think, there might not have been a resistance without Kyle going into 1984 and fucking Sarah Connor. Although there had to be a resistance in order to send Reese back in the first place. See? A mind fuck. This movie was part philosophical and part sci-fi action flick. I feel it fit nicely into the Terminator mythos. I mean Terminator could be as deep as Star Wars given the possible alternate futures and outcomes from fucking with the space time continuum. People would think that given the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day there wouldn't have been a future where the machines actually rose to power. But with Terminator: Rise of the Machines if showed that fate cannot be changed. Things that are supposed to happen cannot be stopped. Now I'm not talking real life here, just the mythology of Terminator Salvation and beyond. The whole near future was fucking awesome. No plasma rifles, no pulse weapons, except those used by the machines. And what would really be the point of the machines using most of those weapons when humans are fragile enough that projectile weaponry could easily dispose of those pesky harbingers of DNA. I loved seeing the T-800's in action. Watching them methodically pace through the wasteland of civilization and mow down remaining humans with mini guns was fantastic. Not in a genocidal sense, but think about this. The very first time we saw a T-800 it was back in 1984 and technology for accomplishing the stop motion animation needed was limited. Face it, it looked really jerky. But seeing these CGI and some of them not CGI rendered T-800's in their full glory was fucking amazing. I nearly jizzed my pants when I saw the "Arnold" T-800 emerge from the processor. Damn, Roland Kickinger looked like Arnold didn't he? And then the action scene following that showed the degradation process of the Arnold Terminator was phenomenal.
Young Kyle Reese was outstandingly played by Anton Yelchin. He had the look of a young Michael Biehn. The casting was great for this movie too. I mean Bryce Dallas Howard as Kate Connor looked just like Claire Danes from Rise of the Machines. I loved how they worked in the continuity of the massive scar on John Connor's face from the future scenes in Judgment Day as well.
Now let's get to the part where I thought this movie was going to fail dramatically, the whole Marcus Wright Terminator thinking and believing he was human. From the previews, I never got why they would do such a thing. But it made perfect fucking sense for the story. And when Blair Williams said he had such a strong heartbeat, I was totally mixed up. Terminators are only living tissue over metal endo skeletons. They don't have internal organs. But the Marcus Wright Terminator did. and it made the story make sense. Even if the ending made it sappy and really reaching. It worked. Although, if John Connor had been killed it still would have worked, as with the revelation in Rise of the Machines, where the T-800 who was sent back was under orders from Kate and not John. Plus the whole portion where the Arnold T-800 shows up, I feel they should have and really needed John to react more nostalgically than he seemed to. Although maybe I need to watch it again to spot those subtleties.
The story, flowed and was gut wrenching at times. The characterization, was spot on. The special effects and make up were amazing. The visual effects, stunning and phenomenal. Remember kids, special effects are all the physical and tangible things done on set, while the visual effects are all done post production in a computer.
This film, which I had my doubts about, was astounding and spun nicely from the mythos we grew up with from 1984. Ironically it was showed up in 1984. Does anyone think that was coincidence. Now for the grade... stems from a little ECW pay per view from 2000 called Anarchy Rulz. It was the precursor match to the vaunted Cyrus versus Joel Gertner wrestle-fest. Gertner was surrounded by Cyrus, EZ Money, Elektra and Chris Hamrick and Julio Dinero, also known as Hot Commodity. Cyrus said he would fight Gertner IF he was able to take out EZ Money first. To which Highway to Hell starts blaring over the PA system, and out comes Commissioner Little Spike Dudley. Spike pointed out that he was the match maker. He also backed up Cyrus by saying his match with Joel would happen if EZ Money was defeated. However, Spike threw a swerve at Cyrus. He said Gertner wouldn't be the one fighting EZ Money. And then he shouted, "HIS NAME IS KID............." And out came former ECW World Television Champion, Kid Kash. Kash and Money went back and forth, with fucking insane high spots that would kill guys like Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles. Chris Hamrick even hit a massive leg drop off of Money's shoulders. To counter the triple team against Kid Kash, out came The Sandman, who caned a bunch of people and then drank some beers. Kash would not stay down. Nope, Kid Kash, as Joey Styles would coin, was money when he was set to be super bombed off the top rope, and countered that into a top rope hurricanrana for the ONE TWO THREE!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Savage Dragon Archives 1; A Hardcore Review

While watching a great many things, post Phoenix Con, I have also begun reading some of the fucking amazing books I picked up while on my adventure. I did however FAIL to make any trades while at said convention. There will no doubt be Hardcore Reviews on some of those purchases as well. Although, I have yet to figure out how to write a review on an action figure. I mean I know I could, but other than just describing the sculpt and the amount of articulation. That would be a pretty short review. Although with my prevalent use of the English language and my constant use of foul language could beef up the body of work. However, today I am reviewing the compilation of the Savage Dragon's first 21 issues, plus it's 3 issue mini series.
Originally I purchased the second volume of Savage Dragon Archives a while ago from Bookmans a while back. When at Phoenix ComiCon, I swung by the Spazdog Comics booth. They had a ton of graphic novels. I got the book for dirt cheap. Almost immediately after getting home, I began reading the book. Wrought with harsh violence and Dragon constantly losing his clothes almost once per issue, Savage Dragon also features a lot of gratuitous T & A. In all actuality, the book, features the raw black and white line art of Erik Larsen, and I might say, almost as much fucking dialog as an Alan Moore graphic novel. For the love of god, I understand Larsen is a liberal thinker. You kind of have to be to be an artist who pretty much works for himself, but does Dragon have to spell out what tolerance is defined as, and why it needs to be achieved in a comic book that features all this near nudity and a giant naked green guy with a fin on his head punching the shit out of anything that moves? Since when did a massive brute suddenly become a philosopher? I get that we all have political and personal views on life, as I subliminally put them into my comic book as well. But does he have to be so freaking overt about it? And I mean, I once read a tip from Chuck Dixon that said if you can say in 12 words what you could also say in 24, go with 12. It's a comic, it's supposed to be visual. The pictures are supposed to tell the majority of the story. Otherwise it would be a novel.
The story is what you would expect with an early Image comic. Pretty much all flash and dash, not a lot of useless plot points or actual needless character development.
In all, it is what it is. Enjoyable for the mindless action fan. It's a Schwarzenegger movie. Massive budget for the biggest explosions, and a kindergarten vocabulary. Don't get me wrong, I dig a mindless action movie as much as the next person, but think about what every typical Bruce Willis, everything blows up and we all shout out the one liners together, if it had plot and heart like Leon. I know, it causes you to have to think and Zeus knows we hate thinking for ourselves when we watch the pretty pictures move by at 30 frames per second, and the millions dwindle away and your paycheck get eaten up with a fucking twelve dollar ticket price and another thirty bucks for a small popcorn and cola. We all need that escape from reality. For the longest time (until I grew up and realized not everything has to blow up and be monosyllabic to be entertaining) my favorite movie was Terminator 2: Judgment Day. And I still love shouting, "Get to da choppah!" in an Austrian accent at passing motorists as loud as possible without popping a lung. Mindlessness is a necessary evil in this day and age. And I have to say, getting 24 issues of mindless, Tom & Jerry like violence for the low cost of two movie tickets is pretty awesome.
Ole Fin-Head keeps getting into trouble. In fact I honestly wonder what costs more, the collateral damage (also a Schwarzenegger movie)to the city of Chicago or replacing Officer Dragon's uniforms every other page. The coupled with the introduction of woman after woman who has a thing for green skinned, 'roided out guys who forget to work out their legs. And each one of them is fucking needy as shit. I get that most of the time comic books are a reflection of their respective creators and their secret power trip ideals, but I seriously hope that Erik Larsen doesn't go looking for women who unabashedly throw themselves at him and have little self control or self esteem that they constantly need to be validated by fucking the object of their desires. Although, I wouldn't mind hooking up with either Kyle or Grrry in real life.... maybe. The whole addition of the shower scene to issue 17, that was omitted from a version of the individually released issue was good, but begs the question of how gaping is the space between Rapture's legs to be able to fit Dragon's Big Show sized hand? Jesus Christ almighty!
So, in summation, if massive destruction, completely necessary tits and ass, and fights by barely clothed insanely muscled "he men" is your thing. You should run, NOT WALK to your local comic book distributor (comic book shop) and pick up Savage Dragon Archives Vol. 1.
As for the grade of the book. As I was saying before, I did like this book, I just felt that Savage dragon had way to much obvious preaching about acceptance, for a book that refers to the super powered individuals as "freaks," and too many goddamn words, and some pretty horrid costumes (it was the early 90's after all). I give you one of the most bizarrely named gimmick matches ever, the "Raven's Clockwork Orange House of Fun" match. Which was basically just a way of saying there would be a bunch of fucking weapons hanging on a chain that surrounded the ring. The match of course being officiated by none other than one of the early pioneers of hardcore wrestling in America, Kevin "The Taskmaster" Sullivan, complete with painted on referee shirt and bow tie, and the word "VIOLENCE" scrawled across his chest. I know what you're thinking, "this is gonna be like Ric Flair versus Kerry Von Erich from the mid 80's." And as you may have figured, Raven versus the Sandman from the very early days of TNA Wrestling, was the continued classic series of matches the two had from ECW. Violent, bloody and complete with Sandman blasting Raven with a half empty twelve pack of Natty Light! The object of the match, other than bludgeoning your opponent to mush, was to was to eventually get them up to Raven's Nest and then toss them over the railing and through the mountain of tables. The culmination of the match was Scotty shooting Jim in the face with a fire extinguisher filled with chem powder and then tossing the drunk off the balcony and through like eleventeen some odd tables.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Phoenix Con AFTERMATH!




Ah yes, Phoenix ComiCon. Last weekend, Fuzzyface debuted at table T121 in Small Press. Thursday was a load in day and Preview Night. We were open for about 3 hours and had people stopping by to take a look. Actually the first two days including Preview Night were very slow. But towards the end of Friday, I lost my nervousness and began shouting at passers by with slogans like, "Fuzzyface is being called chocolate and peanut butter for your brain." On Sunday while people were waiting in line to see Stan Lee, I kept telling them how, "Fuzzyface is so good, Stan tried to steal the idea from me. I had to arm wrestle him to get it back!" Believe it or not, people stopped by and bought the book based, possibly solely, on the things I was shouting at them. One guy kept walking and was like, "Hey where are you going? Get back over here!"
Over all Fuzzyface was the absolutely clear front runner in sales. I was pretty much only pimping Fuzzyface during Con. And it paid off. We had a return customer from last year. Last time around this guy bought all the Youth in Asia books and a Chainsaw Agnew t-shirt. He walks up on Saturday, wearing the Agnew t-shirt, and says, "What do you have that's new?" He was so excited to see issue 5 of Youth in Asia and Fuzzyface. He began telling his friends all about last year when he bought a "Sketch Cover" variant to issue 4 and had me draw Grrry stomping on an Anime cosplayer.
During my rants and various shoutings at Con goers I had my booth buddies laughing. Practically falling out of their chairs. A few of them even chimed in and added their two cents on Fuzzyface.
Altogether Phoenix ComiCon was amazing and very fruitful.
Now here in Tucson you can pick up copies of Fuzzyface at the following locations (so far):

Charlies Comics
5445 East 22nd Street
Tucson, AZ 85711-5453
(520) 320-0279
www.charliescomics.com

AND

Safehouse E Bar
4024 East Speedway Boulevard
Tucson, AZ 85712-4520
(520) 318-3090
http://www.safehousecoffee.com/