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ComicMix Quick Picks – February 15, 2009

051407-elizadushku-2-5611175Today’s list of quick items that don’t fill a full post on their own:

  • Don’t believe the lousy "ratings" on Dollhouse that some folks are touting. The only ratings that can conceivably be in are overnights from the largest markets. No Live+7 (in other words, people who have it in their DVR because they went to see Friday The 13th in theaters this weekend) and no smaller markets. Ask again next week.
  • On the other hand, Eliza Dushku is already looking for extra work as the Black Widow in Iron Man 2
  • Vinnie Bartilucci points us to a possible shooting location for M. Night Shyamalan’s Avatar: The Last Airbender.
  • Chris Sims is doing Valentine’s Day again in that special, special way of his.
  • And finally, The Simpsons premieres tonight in HD, and they actually change the credits for the occasion. The first permanent change in 19 years. Yikes. Take a look– can you spot Fat Tony? (You can cheat by looking here.)

Anything else? Consider this an open thread.

Webcomics You Should Have Read: ‘The Parking Lot Is Full’

I beg of you, gentle ComicMix readers… take a journey with me back in time. Step one? Dust off a pair of “wide leg” jeans. Don your favorite pair of Airwalk low-tops. Grow your hair out a little, and put a Pearl Jam Compact Disk into your brand new Diskman. Step Two? Power up your personal computer. You know the one, with that brand new Intel Pentium chip the kids all talk about. Fire up that 14.4 Baud Modem, and hop on that newfangled ‘Information Super-Highway’. Welcome to 1993 folks! Now that you’re here, you should check out a little known webcomic called “The Parking Lot Is Full”.

The brief history on said comic comes from it’s own tombstone, procured from their site instead of that wiki-pedia thing you “next-gen users” all like so much…

 

“From 1993 – 2002, The Parking Lot is Full was the comic strip love child of artist Jack McLaren and writer Pat Spacek. Starting as crude little strips published in their university newspaper, the comic quickly took on a life of its own, eventually becoming one of the most popular and infamous comic strips on the internet. After nine years of ups and downs, the creators decided that they’d said everything they wanted to say, so the comic was wrapped up and all the toys put away.”

 

What made ‘PLIF’ (get used to this folks, cause “The Parking Lot Is Full” takes a while to type) so enjoyable was it’s fascinating combination of Gary Larsen-esque illustrations combined with sharp writing and a touch of the macabre. Unlike several previous recommendations here on ComicMix, ‘PLIF’ had no continuity really to follow. Yes, there are a few reoccurring sock puppets in the later half of the series, but there’s no backstory to follow (well, anymore…). And to be honest, the really juicy strips are true non-sequiturs.

I’ll be frank, folks, this strip features some of the most laugh-out-loud-but-frankly-I-shouldn’t-be-laughing strips I’ve had the pleasure to read for free on the ‘inter-webs’. There’s no need for lengthy exposition on the progression of the art; It’s crude, in gray tones, and unpolished as my car in February. There’s no need to wax poetic about the subject matter; Generally ‘PLIF’ stuck to a cycle of topics including childhood, sex, religion, and conspiracy theories (sometimes in the same strip!). Simply put, if the ‘Far-Side’ was rolled through a plate of broken glass, you’d have “PLIF”. Suffice to say the content can disturb as much as it can inspire fits of laughter… and that’s what I appreciate about it. Now to the cream of the crop (…ahem. WARNING. These Strips Are Not Suitable For Children, and most adults now that I think of it):

 

Well, this settles an age old debate.
Safe Sex, by PLIF
A Failed Experiment, by Ray Croc.
"I fell out of my chair the first time I saw this"… said my roomate.
You know it’d be true.
A lesson from the Street… Sesame Street.
If this Pre-Dates Animal Man, Grant Morrison should be worried.

So there you have it folks. Kick off the Airwalks, swap that Diskman for an iPod, and plug back into a nice cable modem. This trip back in time is over. Sadly, there is no more strips to be had after you’ve been through their archive. Do yourself a favor though… buy a collection of them in printed form from the ‘PLIF’ store, and show your support for those who dared release this evil into the world.

The Breakdown:

Drama: Well, this is kinda’ dramatic…

Humor: If you don’t find this funny, maybe you’ll find this funny.

Continuity: There’s some Sock Puppets that show up from time to time.

Art: It’s grey, it’s crude, and it’s wonderfully morbid when it needs to be.

Archive: From 1993-2002, you’re looking at quite a few strips. It looks like they didn’t update but several times a month at best… never the less, if you troll through it all, it’s a solid hour or two of fun.

Updates: Unless you suffer from that condition where you still believe it’s 1993-2002… alas, there is no more ‘PLIF’ to be had.

Risk/Reward: As always… it’s free… so there’s little risk involved. Unless you consider reading a strip like this to be dangerous. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

MOCCA presents Watchmen movie a day early with premiere of “Art of Watchmen”

Want to see Watchmen before mere mortals? Can’t get into the MTV "Spoilers" show? Now you have another way, plus you get to see an art show and help out MoCCA while you do it.

The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art is presenting a Special Advance Screening of Watchmen on March 5th, yes 5th, plus a VIP reception and Watchmen Portraits book signing event. The evening begins with a reception at MoCCA for The Art of Watchmen exhibition, continues with an advance screening of Watchmen, and concludes with an author signing of Watchmen Portraits by Clay Enos. On view will be photographs by Clay Enos of the Watchmen movie cast, Watchmen-related photos from director Zack Snyder’s "war-room" and original artwork from the graphic novel by Dave Gibbons.

Tickets are available by visiting or calling MoCCA, Tuesday – Saturday. Tickets are $100, or $75 for MoCCA members. All proceeds from this special event go to support MoCCA programming.

Happy Valentine’s Day… go to a comic book wedding!

The most romantic comic currently running, Love And Capes, has a special offer– to get drawn into the cover of the upcoming wedding issue. Take it away, Thom:

You might not have been invited to Lois and Clark’s wedding. You probably couldn’t attend Peter and MJ’s wedding (and, if you did, you don’t remember it.). But you can be in attendance for the comic book wedding of the 21st century! The Crusader and Abby are getting married in Love and Capes #12, coming out in December 2009, and you could be there.

Tickets to this wedding are limited and seating is first come, first served. Cost is just $40 per couple or $25 per single. No "crashers" permitted. To be part of this special event, RSVP by sending a photo of yourself, along with your payment, and you will be drawn into the wedding scene cover of Love and Capes #12 and mentioned by name at the end of the book.

To commemorate this special event, and to show our appreciation for the fans of Love and Capes, artist Thom Zahler will be creating a special limited edition 11 x 17 print of the wedding cover. All "attendees" will be sent a signed and numbered print to commorate their attendance at this "super" celebration. Interested attendees can also look for Thom Zahler at MegaCon in Orlando, Florida on Feb. 27-Mar.1 or the Free Comic Book Day event May 2nd at Rogues Gallery Comics in Austin, Texas , where he’ll have his camera ready to snap your photo on site.

If response warrants, an alternate version of the cover illustration (featuring Mark in his tuxedo, rather than his Crusader uniform) will be created to handle the overflow crowd.

Please RSVP by May 25, 2009.

The Point – February 13th, 2009

It’s Friday the 13th and by mere coincidence, a movie relaunch of the same name hits theaters today. We spend some time comforting one of Jason’s nicer victims, then talk with David Uslan about his line up of projects that include a Bob Layton/David Michelinie movie. And did you know that Jonah Hex now has an on screen villain or that you can see the BSG spin off, CAPRICA, in just a few weeks? 
 

 

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PREVIEW: ‘Batman: The Brave and the Bold’ with the Bronze Tiger… the Terrible Trio… and Jonah Hex?

Yes, Batman and Jonah Hex. Take a look…

We’ve obtained preview footage of this week’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode, airing tonight 6 February 20th on Cartoon Network at 8:00 PM.

This week’s episode "Return of the Fearsome Fangs!" takes Batman back to his origins with Master Wong Fei and the Wudang Temple. Fox, Vulture and Shark join the evil Shadow Clan in an attack on the Temple and kill Master Wong Fei in a battle of flying arrows and martial arts. When the Terrible Trio steals the Wudang Totem and transform into unstoppable mystical creatures,  it’s up to Batman and Bronze Tiger to save us all! Take a look…

(more…)

On This Day: Frank Sinatra founds Image Comics

Well, not quite. But consider:

He was a young hot-shot, insanely popular with the kids. But he was tired of buckling under for the suits who controlled his career and had nearly scuttled it in the past, he wanted more artistic freedom for his own recordings. So he founded Reprise Records, and on this day in 1961, released the first album, Ring-a-Ding-Ding!

One of the label’s founding principles under Sinatra’s leadership was that each artist would have full creative freedom, and at some point complete ownership of their work; including publishing rights. As a result, a lot of other talented creators came on board with Frank, including Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Redd Foxx, Bing Crosby, and Rosemary Clooney. Later on, Reprise would also sign a lot of new talent including The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young.

And Frank? He became "The Chairman of the Board" and went on to the most successful times of his career.

Nowadays, Reprise is owned by Warner Bros. Records, which isn’t entirely unlike what DC did with Wildstorm. And for one more comics tie-in, the label is now the home to My Chemical Romance, fronted by Gerard Way, former DC intern and current writer of The Umbrella Academy for Dark Horse, and they’re now releasing the soundtrack for Watchmen. Here’s the picture disc.

As Dean Martin was fond of saying, "It’s Frank’s world; we’re just lucky to be living in it."

So when you hear people talk about creators rights in the industry, just remember who was there first. Who did what he had to do, and saw it through without exemption. He said the things he truly feels, and not the words of one who kneels. The record shows he took the blows… and did it his way.