Posts Tagged ‘Studio 347 Comics’
7 items.
Iron Man, Iron Man
Does whatever an iron can.
Makes a shirt, nice and neat.
Puts an edge, to a crease.
Look out! Here comes the Iron Man!
Is he smooth? Listen Bud!
He can even get out blood.
Does he burn cotton blends?
Or that skirt with ruffled ends?
Hey there! There goes the Iron Man!
In the chill of night,
when the wrinkles abound.
He shoots out some steam,
then he smoothes them all down.
Iron Man, Iron Man
Friendly neighborhood Iron Man.
Wealth and fame, he’s ignored.
Pressing is his reward.
To him, life is a great big bang up.
When there are shirts to hang up
You’ll find the Iron Man!
”Comment
This past weekend was BellCon 2008. It was fun. I arrived later than I hoped, about 2 or 3 hours into the 7 hour con. As soon as I found him I joined Jonathan at his post. I’ve been to a fair number of conventions, this is only the 2nd time that I’ve been to one in a professional capacity. The Portland Comic-Con and BellCon are the only 2 conventions that I’ve managed to attend, they each have their high points. It was Michele’s first comic convention, I’m glad she enjoyed it. For my next con I’m hoping to have a decent little selection of shirts and a few books to show off next time. Maybe some prints as well. I should look into a heat sealer and some packaging supplies.
Note to self… start laying out 52 Weeks of Hell before the month of October is done. So far all I’ve done is gathered a selection of comics for the book.
The following was published in the Bellingham Herald, a paper which I would generally rather wipe my ass with than read, it’s very rare when I see an article in it that sneaks past my loathing of it.
Bell Con 08 draws crowd of comic book fans
PETER JENSEN / THE BELLINGHAM HERALD
After the success of last year’s Bell Con, a Bellingham-based comic book convention that attracted 1,500 people in its first year at The Majestic, organizer Darren Davis said he knew he needed to make this year’s convention bigger and better.
He, along with co-organizer Jason Schultz, did just that at Bell Con 08, held at Whatcom Community College Saturday, Sept. 27. He moved it to a larger venue and doubled its size and the number of comic book vendors.
They added more live music and brought in big names in the comic book world, including Marvel Comics illustrator Clayton Crain, who has helped produce installments in the “Ghost Rider” and “Spider Man” comic book series.
About 2,000 people from around the Pacific Northwest attended this year’s convention, making it the second-largest convention in Washington state. And Schultz and Davis aren’t done yet.
“We can make this bigger and better,” Davis said. “I want it to be more entertainment-based than people just selling stuff.”
The convention had 80 vendors from as far away as British Columbia and Northern California attend, Davis said.
The Bellingham Public Library was also at the convention to encourage children to read graphic novels.
Davis said he struggled learning to read as a child, and graphic novels helped him learn that skill.
“It’s a way for me to get kids excited about reading,” Davis said. “They play too much video games.”
Comic book writing partners Brendan Jerwad, best known for his work on “G.I. Joe” and “Battlestar Galactica” comics, and Eric Trautmann, who writes “Perfect Dark” and “Check Mate” comics, attended the convention and said it was an opportunity to connect with fans.
“It’s just a good chance to get out and talk to the fans and maybe introduce new people to the books,” Jerwad said. “Plus, it’s a way to get out the house for a day, which is a good thing.”
The Chicago Sun Times recently ran this article regarding a major revamp to Dilbert.Com. It made me think, but right now I can’t remember about what. Time to draw comics I guess.
Good: A 15″ MacBook Pro is in my near future. With any luck I’ll have it by the 25th.
Bad: The down side to a MacBook Pro being in my near future is that; A) it means selling my PowerBook G4, and B) I probably won’t have a comic up on the 27th.
Knowing this far in advance should enable me to work ahead a bit one would think. Sadly though one would most likely be wrong. I say this because at present I expect to be unable to post a comic tomorrow because of my stupid work week last week, further I expect to be unable to post a comic on the 20th as I have one day off this upcoming week and 2 paying projects that I’m basically giving myself till the 18th to finish, as I expect to sell my PowerBook on the 19th.
Ugly: So, it looks like I may be taking as much as the next 3 or 4 weeks off if anyone wants to do guest strips.
I’ve recently gotten into reading a larger selection of comic books mostly due to the advent of CBR and CBZ, 2 comic book file formats. It’s been years since I’ve read many comics. I’ve found myself catching up on several story arcs of the last 5 or 6 years.
Before I get to far into this diatribe, I feel I should make a disclaimer. I’m not endorsing P2P, or the illegal acquisition of copy-written material. The comic book industry has been going through a notable recession since the boom of the 90s. I myself have quit buying comics almost wholeheartedly with the exception of the occasional TPB, Graphic Novel, Comp, or 1-Shot. In fact since the beginning of the year I don’t recall having bought one single comic publication. This is mostly because of a decay I’ve found in the quality of writing that leaves much to be desired. Things like secondary mutations and multiple ongoing universes destroyed my enjoyment off the Marvel line for me. That said, I have found a couple of story arcs (oddly enough primarily with DC who I didn’t like years ago) that make me want to go buy them.
In other words I feel that digital copies of comics are useful as a stepping stone for finding stories and titles that many wouldn’t have ever picked up. I’d all but quit reading comics a while back. I currently have plans to pick up 2 or 3 TPBs at the end of the week primarily because of the CBRs that I acquired via P2P. In truth the CDisplay RAR Archived Comic Book File is a decent way to read comics, much like PDFs, but it lacks the tactile feel of reading ink on paper, and I don’t find electronic copy nearly as enjoyable as paper copy.
Okay, now that that’s out of the way I offer up what I’ve been reading, Green Lantern (of which there’s several story arcs that I now want to pick up), Green Arrow (Planning on picking up Year One and Quiver at the very least), Elseworlds (Always a favorite, I need to look for and buy more), 100 Bullets (haven’t started it yet), Young Justice, Civil War (I’m hoping I can get into it, so far I don’t enjoy it nearly as much as I expected), War Games (not too bad, I may buy it in Comp form if I can find it).
In reading these comics I have a desire to write my own Batman story-arc, similar to what Jamie Dee Galey has done. The problem is that I want to write this one but not illustrate it. In my recent readings there are some things that have been done to Batman that I don’t care for. There are aspects of Batman that have been touched on and manipulated in recent years. My number one distaste for every non-comic property I’ve seen that Batman has ever appeared in is that he’s too public.
My vision of Batman is a dark detective. I like the idea of Batman being an icon. Maybe even a group of people. Not some person that looks at the evil-doer and says, “I’m Batman.” I don’t think that he should ever refer to himself in that way. He should be an urban legend, a shadow that haunts evil-doers. I’d prefer him referred to as “the Bat” more than Batman. In truth the villains should be scared shitless after an encounter with him.
These are thoughts and ideas. I may write my story. I think it could be a very good story. I’ll just get rid of all the things I don’t care for about Batman. Maybe I can get Daniel Clowes to illustrate it. That would amuse me. And if you don’t get that, you need to watch more Simpsons.