Author: Marc Alan Fishman

It’s gonna be another knock-down drag out fight! Tonight, on Friday Night Fights, we have a full card for your blood lust… er… pleasure! Tonight it’s the long debated nerd battle to end all battles. Tonight we open the arena to answer the age old question… with no holds barred, and the time stream wide open, we bring you the fracas between Man and Machine! Will the Artificial Intelligence beat Homo-Sapiens back to the stone age? Will the human rebellion crush the bots under there beer fueled boots of glory? Will you consider buying a tee shirt at the concession stand so we can pay for the mess you all made at last weeks battle?!

Round One: The Manly Battle for All Time!

In our first bout, we pit two time traveling tusslers against one another. If you’ll move your attention to the entrance ramp, our first combatant is riding to the ring! Weighing in a solid 185 pounds… standing at 6 ft and ½ inches tall (in current time, of course)… wearing the gloomy military fatigues, carrying an M-4 Carbine with a look of determination on his grizzled face… He sent his own father back in time to conceive himself (The Novikov self-consistency principle, duh)… He’s known as the Rebellion Rabble-Rouser! The Clobberin’ Commando! The Terminator Trasher himself… John Connor!

And his opponent, making his way to the ring in the glowing time sphere… Wearing the snazzy red and green Time Suit, and sporting a mighty thick time-beard… He’s gone back in time to save his own father from the future, and in turn saved 52 parallel universes (ok, not 52 exactly, but who’s counting?)! He’s known throughout the land as the Linear Linebaker… the Fightin’ Forgotten Hero… the Zero-Hour-Man-of-Power… Introducing the Time Master himself… Rip Hunter!

This battle will be a clean fight, with free reign to use any time altering technology available to each combatant. Come out, shake hands, and let the battle begin! Oh… it seems they both went back in time before I started this introduction… Well, I’ll shut up now and let them continue pummeling each other.

Round Two… our main event: The Megabyte Dog-Fight!

Lowering from the sky comes our first combatant. Being represented by it’s army of Gubernatorial T-800’s, Liquidous T-1000’s, and Needlessly Sexxy T-X’s…It’s known the world round as the Self-Aware Super Computer bent on the destruction of you, our viewing audience! Please put your hands together, and quickly line up for obliteration for Skynet!

Coming in from the other corner of the sky comes Skynet’s opponent. Created by a wealthy orphan, fueled with hate by a low-level psychic, and represented by an army of it’s own viral-laden nanotech super soldiers. With the big-red-eye of doom, and a plethora of mohawks, please get out of the killing lines of Skynet, and in an orderly fashion get into it’s line for re-vaccination for Brother Eye!

If any of you survive this massive battle of awesome alloys, we’d sincerely appreciate if you leap off a cliff vote below for the winners of each bout. Bonus points for those who avoid capture.

I admit it. No need to twist my arm behind my back and make me cry “Uncle! Uncle! Oh Uncle, why would you twist my arm like this? What have I ever done but love you!!!”…Ahem. I admit to you I am a nerd. A dweeb. A dorkus-milorkus. I have from time to time sat at a table with nothing more than a pile of books, dice, pencils, and Mountain Dew, all to play an evenings worth of Dungeons and Dragons. I have from time to time, fired up a video game system to bring death and destruction with linked Ions Cannons. I even admit that I know that Ion Cannons are primarily used to destroy shields in the X-Wing vs. Tie-Fighter series… so saying I would use them to bring death was a false statement.   Nerdy enough? Thought so. My collective of FOMAFers… I return once again to tickle your faces, as I bring you another webcomic to toss into your web feeder gizmo-gadgets. I bring you “Full Frontal Nerdity”! 

Born as a sister comic to the popular Nodwick series by Aaron Williams, Full Frontal Nerdity takes the “Gamers at a Table” concept to fruition. Updated every week, Aaron delivers a ton of yuck-yucks to those of us who have spent an evening or two under the thumb of a wicked DM. For those of you who don’t know what a DM is… you may want to wikipedia “Dungeons and Dragons”. Don’t worry, I’ll wait. Back? Good. You may have noticed that “Full Frontal Nerdity” doesn’t have an entry on said online encyclopedia… so, consider the history lesson here over. How about instead we open up the floor to the humor.

FFN places us (generally) at the table of three live (plus one webcam dude) gamers. The jokes generally stem from traditional things we nerdy-nerds tend to deal with. From the DM who invents problems and can’t out-think his players, to the players who simply swing their axe at any problem that comes to them. Aaron obviously knows his RPG jokes down pat. While certainly less accessible then some of my other picks, it didn’t take long to scour through the archives of FFN to determine I had to share it with you. There’s enough pop culture reference as well as ventures outside the gaming, that are too good to pass up. It also didn’t hurt that my fellow Unshaven Comic creator (and my roommate, and one of my best friends of 15+ years….) told me about it, and even helped pick the list of examples to share with you. What list you say?

You walk down the dimly lit corridor. You notice cobwebs flickering in the torch light, in every corner. The dungeon smells of sulfer, rotting meat, and Calvin Klein’s Obsession… And then from out of the darkness a horrible giant list of comics confronts you!!

Roll 2D20, and see if you make your will save before checking these out:

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Greetings, ComicMixers and Mixettes… I come to you today from the future. I’ve just returned home from a trip to the cinematorium (back in 2009, you would have referred to it as a “movie theatre”). I caught a wonderful little film based on a comic book series I have time tracked to debut this week. The book? BOOM! Studios’ [[[Mr. Stuffins]]]. While the film followed the source material closely, for this reviewer there was just a bit too much sex and violence. Who knew even in the future movies would still differ from their literary counter-parts such as to enhance the boom-booms and the titillation. Feh, feh I say!

Ok, I jest. I’m not from the future. And there’s no film (yet) for Mr. Stuffins. That being said though, I did read the first issue of this series, and it was a delight. If the quality of the rest of this book stays close to that of it’s first issue, we all may be plunking down the bucks for a blockbuster in a few years. So, do yourself a favor, put down the cash now for this series so you can join me in line later, where we can scoff at all the “normies” as they postulate where the series came from. We’ll point, and laugh, and clutch our signed issue #1 with either of the available covers (One cover by [[[Mouse Guard‘s]]] David Peterson, the other by Joe Abraham and Fellipe Martins). 

Mr. Stuffins is brought to you by Johanna Stokes and Andrew Cosby, the creative team behind the television series [[[Eureka]]] that appears on the SyFy network. The plot itself starts out like so many series we’ve read before… A scientist finds out (gasp… yawn) that his project wasn’t being funded for the good of mankind, but for (gasp…) profit! Cut to some running, some desperation, and the haphazard placement of said “research”–in this case an A.I. Secret Spy program– into the closest object in reach. It’s here we meet our titular hero to be… as the program is placed in a child’s teddy bear. Akin to Teddy Ruxpin of my own youth, the bear toy is your garden variety singing, talking, pal-oh-mine all kids would adore. Of course, if our Teddy Ruxpin’s could secure the perimeter, whilst using Krav Maga on my enemies… maybe I wouldn’t have lost so many fights in gradeschool.

Smart folks will anticipate most of the plot points, but you’ll do it with a smile. We’re introduced to our P.O.V. family mid-crisis. Faced with his parents recent separation, our “everykid”, Zach,  comes into ownership of the aforementioned uber-toy. Hilarity ensues. Kudos to artist Axel Medellin Machain, whose crisp style lends to a very easy read. Anti-Kudos to Crosby and Stoke’s laughably one-dimensional big sister. It’s hoped in future issues we’ll see more sides to her. But I digress. When Zach’s “Mr. Stuffins” activates, I dare anyone not to laugh, snicker, and giggle just a little bit. In his debut panel, I was completely sold.  The juxtaposition of Stuffins personifying something similar to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s John Matrix in Commando is just too perfect. While nothing will surprise you during the read, you’ll be hard pressed not to love this book anyways– thanks in large part to a script that knows when to keep danger at an arms length, backed by solid art that knows when to give readers a beat to absorb the characters’ feelings.

Parents reading this review may ask how suitable it is for the youngsters. Know that there’s no violence “on screen”, nor dirty words to read. We feel for Zach, and he’s certainly the heart of this story. While I assume Mr. Stuffins may see more violence to come, this issue is certainly friendly. While the concepts inside are typical Hollywood “Blow’d Em Up Gud!”, Stokes and Cosby have set up a book that (hopefully) will stay towards the lighter side of the genres it’s incorporating.

In Short:

Mr. Stuffins #1 hits shelves Wednesday, April 29th. Due to a fast moving script, and crisp artwork,  this book comes highly recommended. While it’s uncertain how graphic things may get, the heart is in the right place here. Add to your pull list, get ready… to get stuffed. Stuffed with awesomeness.

Truth time, FOMAFers*, I found this webcomic a couple years late. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s still going… but I know out there in cyberspace, someone will snicker when they see this week’s choice. I can see them now, sipping a Brandy Alexander, puffing away on a grape cigarello. I can see them, and frankly, I hate them. Anyways, back to the topic at hand. On a recent tour of the internet (which seems to get bigger every day, I tell h’yew h’whut, I came across a comic that made me chuckle. I skimmed back across a few more strips, and more laughs fell from my mouth. Two hours later, I’d realized I forgot about addressing my save-the-dates with my fiance, and was promptly put in the dog house. Because I was in the dog house anyways, I cracked open a browser, and continued laughing until the wee hours of the morning. What made me laugh you ask? Why don’t I tell you… it’s the “Least I Could Do”. Get it? See what I did there? Yeah, I’m that awesome, and that’s why you’re a FOMAFer**.

“Least I Could Do” is a wonderfully humorous tale of a would be casanova, Rayne Summers. In another world, Rayne might be just like most of us… a bit of nerd, a pinch of geek, a jot of immaturity, and a dash of twenty-something sex maniac. The misadventures of Rayne have been dutifully written by Ryan Sohmer, and drawn first by Trevor Adams, then Chad WM. Porter, and now Lar deSouza. The strip has been going on since February 10th, 2003. Presently, it’s boasting daily updates. Kudos to them. But enough with the wikipedia crap, right? Let’s get into why this strip is heavy on the yuck-yucks.

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I’m back, my gentle compatriots, with another webcomic for you to feast upon! I know what all of you are saying though, as you sit with arms folded in protest– ”But Marc, you’ve brought to us a rising list of the sick and macabre! Each new webcomic (be it still active, or dead, or with a glorious hard cover archive hitting shelves) has sunk to new depths of depravity. Have you found another gloriously funny webcomic, or are you simply reaching for the rafters in a pathetic attempt to appease us, your loyal and ravenous fanbase!?”

Worry not my friends, I bring to you a funny (if not so grotesque) webcomic to tickle your funny bones. I bring to you… Rogue Robot!

Rogue Robot was started in 2005 by Herron School of Art students Ben Roe and Amory Abbot. Ben initially wrote the strips and provided color, and Amory lent his pencils and inks to the strip. Over time, Ben has become a bit dormant, and Amory has gallantly picked up the slack on all chores, and has been putting out the strips ever since.

The comic had humble beginnings, but quickly gained speed, and found it’s voice. As it has progressed over the years, the strip has really tightened up it’s art, and acerbic wit. Akin to a ‘Penny Arcade’, the comic is essentially about 2 buddies (Amory and Ben) and a few other cast-mates with their own set of unique peculiarities. Humor ranges from straight-up slapstick violence, toilet humor, sex, with occasional epic (as in longer than 1 strip) stories. The comic hits the mark most of the time, and when it goes for broke, well, like so many other comics I’ve shared with you thus far– it’s laugh out loud funny (even though you’ll go to hell for laughing.). It’s also funny to note just how many comics end up dealing with not updating all the time.

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