Random Comic Cover

I've always thought the best westerns had helicopters as part of the plot.

-Swinebread

Remember Cosmic Monkey's 24-hour comic day last year? No? See here

Shaun Huston has a short doc out about that event. It's a teaser of sorts for a longer project he's been working on about the comic book culture of Portland. Here's his youtube channel and his sporadically updated blog




Can't wait to see the finished product

-Swinebread

My New Comics and Hitting the Wall

Last week’s best cover is Last Reign: King of War #3.


Doctor Who Classic Series 2 #3, IDW.

The Walking Dead #58, Image.

Last Reign: King of War #3, Boom Studios.

On the Rack Back Issue: I noticed that Booster Gold #16 had Enemy Ace so I picked that up too… a month late

Trade Paperbacks:
Classic Invaders Vol 3, Marvel Comics. Reprints Invaders #22-23 and #25-34. It’s funny because my store forgot to keep putting the Avengers/Invaders in my box so now I’ve missed a few issues and I don’t feel like hunting down what I missed

In other news
I’ve hit a wall. I’m really quite fed up with the price of comics. Recently I opened up Previews and noticed that Marvel had a few new titles that I wanted priced at $3.99. The first thing that went across my mind was “fuck this” We are going into a great depression here folks and Marvel expects us diehard fans to shoulder more and more of the burden. I’ve had it. Comics thrived during the 1930’s because they were a cheap form of entertainment and fucking four bucks per title is not cheap. Simply put, it’s a rip-off. I’m spending so much money on comics I can’t spend it on anything else irregardless if the cover price is four bucks or less. Fool me once shame on you, fool me every week year after year… well you get picture…

I’ve cancelled a slew of titles and I’ve cancelled a of bunch future orders as well. Hell if I really miss something great it’s gonna come out in a trade anyway right? There’s a few series I’ll continue with for right now but most are gone. Also, I’m gonna let the current mini-series I’m following run out and not pick up the next iteration. And that’s it.

Titles I’ve dropped:
Terminator: Revolution, Dynamite Entertainment

Crossed, Avatar

Conan: The Cimmerian, Dark Horse Comics (I’ll pick up the trades at some point)

Northlanders, Vertigo/DC Comics

The Man with No Name, Dynamite Entertainment

Secret Six, DC Comics

Star Trek: Crew, IDW

Star Trek: Mission’s End, IDW

Astounding Wolf-Man (I’ll pick up the trades at some point)

Previews, I can’t order what I don’t know is coming out right?!

Oh Man I just remembered I gotta drop the Hulk too!


I guess this is really gonna screw up next year’s Atomic Romance Awards heh heh



-Swinebread

Free Comic Book Day 2008

Free Comic Day Came and much fun was had by all. It started with me getting to the movie theater just a tad late to meet Dean Wormer and his gaggle of Deltas to see Iron Man but all was well. It looks like Marvel Studios is off to a great start and Iron Man might not be such a B-Lister (as the Press has dubbed him) anymore. There were many things I enjoyed about the film but the choice of actors and the humor rose to the top for me. I’ll have a longer review later. What was also very cool was seeing this film with kids; sometimes I forget how exciting these things can be for the younger set. Plus, nobody kicked the back of the chairs, spoke on their cell phone, or mouthed off during the film. What more could you ask for?

Excalibur Comics

They've got a ton of back issues here!

After a dim sum lunch at a Chinese restaurant, we headed over to our first comic store, Excalibur. They still had a great selection of free comics available and all of us picked up several titles. I think I was most happy with the EC reprint myself. The kids had a lot of fun exploring the store and it reminded me of when I discovered the comic book store for the first time. What’s really interesting is that the Excalibur owners and staff are very serious about their comics. It’s the best place for back issues in the city and they are very knowledgeable about the comic book field. They don’t go in much for extras like toys and games and consequently carry a decent selection of indy and mature titles. Dean was feeling little punch drunk from the Indiana Jones 4 trailer and so he picked up Vol. 1 of Dark Horse’s Indiana Jones omnibus.

Cosmic Monkey
This is the sign on the side of building. How many comic characters can you identify?

For round two, we zipped off to Cosmic Monkey. Dean and the deltas hadn’t been to the store’s new location so part of the fun was watching their reaction to what turned out to be an incredibly fun leg of our free comic book day tour. The experience didn’t disappoint, as a herd of comic creators (mostly from Periscope) was inside along with a bunch of hipster fans. We all raided the free comics and I got a copy of Gumby this time around. Dean was impressed with the selection of new titles and he picked up the 2nd issue of the Army of Darkness / Xena crossover that he’d missed out on. While the kids got some Iron Man sketches from Jessie Hamm, Dean revealed that one of his female offspring was really into horror comics. This told me several things: 1, Dean is a very cool dad; 2, his daughter is very cool (but I already knew that as all his kids are very cool); and 3, Comics have changed permanently and thank goodness for that. Some of the kids also picked up some Harvey Dent buttons.

I hope the World of Comics is a little less Secret nowadays. heh heh

Andy Mangels and Kurt Busick
Andy had a new book out on the history Iron Man and Kurt had copies of his Conan and Astro City titles.

Some of the Creators at Cosmic Monkey
That's Ron Randall with his back to the camera talking to David Hahn. Paul Tobin is covered up by Ron and then next to him is Colleen Coover with Kieron Dwyer (reading to whom I assume is his son) next to her.

Shannon Wheeler and Carolyn Main
Shannon is known for Too Much Coffee Man and Carolyn for her deliciously naughty cartoons

A Cosmic Monkey Comic!
Hey remember that 24-hour comic party that CM had a about an month ago (see here)? Well Jim Valentino produced a comic for CM with their very own mascot. It's great and only available at Cosmic Monkey. Lucky me! Thanks to Andy for allowing me to post a couple of pages.



Cosmic Monkey T-Shirts!
Cosmic Monkey, the local sensation.

Things From Another World
A bike next to a comic book store sign, now that's Portland!

Our last leg of the comics’ journey led us to Things From Another World, a chain in the Portland metro area. TFAW is more of a corporate style of store and has lots of toys, other knickknacks in addition to comics. The place was jam-packed with kids. All the stores had grade-schoolers but Things had the most. That might be because there was a big sale going on and their parents might have found the reduced prices too enticing. The sad part was that most of TFAW’s free comics were gone by this point and so I just picked up the Hellboy Golden Army giveaway, It wasn’t that big of a deal anyway as these guys like to stamp their info on the comic covers, which I think is kinda lame. While perusing the store Dean convinced me to pick up the first issue of the D.C. Fontana’s Star Trek by IDW. I was really turned off by the last Year Four title but this one is much better.

A cute Vietnamese family was buying a bunch of stuff when I snapped this shot.

The kids had great time, Dean had a great time, and I had a great time. Free Comic Book Day rules!


-Swinebread

24-Hour Comics During Portland Comics Month

It was 24-hour comic day on Saturday. I’ve never indulged in this artistic test of endurance but I think it’s a fantastic idea. The concept is to create a complete comic book, drawn and inked, during a single 24-hour period. The excellent Cosmic Monkey Comics hosted a 24-hour comic event called the 24-Hour Drawpocalypse, so I swung by the store to check out the scene. Andy, the majority owner, was gracious enough to let me snap a few shots of the artists hard at work. I got there about 7:30 PM.They had been working since 10 AM, so the gang only had only 14 and half hours to go!

here they are drawing their stories. Nobody looked tired yet. That's Jim Valentino on the left with the star on his chest. I loved his Guardians of the Galaxy series. Maybe I'll have him sign my copy of the GOTG trade at the Stumptown Comics Fest... If I don't have to work that weekend.

One of the guys drawing away.

David Chelsea

David Chelsea's inking his work. He was using an interesting diagonally lined paper to create his comic.

I didn't ask this guy his name but I liked what I saw of his work. (following pic has a close-up)


I climbed the stairs to get this shot. I felt bad because they creaked loudly and everybody stared at me, and wondered what I was doing.

The Wacky and Wild owners of Cosmic Monkey Comics, Andy Johnson and Adam Healy.



Part of the time I was in the Cosmic Monkey, I roamed the trade paperback section, which is fantabulous by the way, when a 20 something gal asked Adam Healy who Jack Kirby was. He directed her to the Jack Kirby shelf and explained that he was called “King” because he was an innovator when comic books first stared out and that he co-created many famous characters like the Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Captain America. He handed her a copy of a Twomorrows book about Jack filled with tons of his art, and she began to leaf through it. In the picture above you can see her on the left looking through the book. I was intrigued. Why was this gal suddenly interested in Jack? I guess it makes sense that if you don’t read superhero comics you wouldn’t know who he was but what was going on? In a stealthy way, I followed her as she walked back to her friend/boyfriend (that was participating in the 24-comic event) and talked to him about Jack. I was trying to eavesdrop, to figure out her motivations, when the guy she was talking to mentioned the Mayor of Portland declared that April was Portland Comics Month. Was this true? Well sure enough when I got home and did a net search I discovered that Tom Potter did indeed make this pronouncement.

The Stumptown Comics Foundation is delighted to announce that later today, Mayor Tom Potter will declare this April Portland Comics Month. The proclamation officially recognizes both the cultural importance and creative influence of this vibrant art form on the entire city.

Portland has deep roots in the comic-book publishing world, as it is home to scores of comics industry professionals and to three of the nation's most prominent independent comics publishers (Dark Horse Comics, Oni Press, and Top Shelf Productions). Moreover, the local comics community has seen sizable growth in the past few years, further bolstering the Rose City's defining ties to the creative arts and industries.
To champion and support Portland Comics Month, the Stumptown Comics Foundation has catalogued a staggering number of comics-related events in the Portland metro area for the entire month of April.

(From here).

How amazing is that. I’ve been telling folks for years how special and unique the comic’s scene is in Portland and now through the hard work of many folks, including the Stumptown Comics Foundation, it’s official.

I never did find out why this gal became interested in Jack Kirby, maybe she’s an indie creator and she was trying to check out the origins of mainstream comics. Or perhaps she was trying to enter the world of her friend/boyfriend. I dunno… what I really wanted to know was her opinion of Jack's art. Oh well, if I hadn’t tried to listen in, I wouldn’t have learned it was Portland Comics Month.

I’m glad I popped into Cosmic Monkey Comics!


-Swinebread

Arkonbey and 24 hour comics

It was 24-hour comic day last Saturday. I wasn’t participating so I didn’t mention it but Arkonbey has a great post about his attempt at a 24 page comic in 24 hours over at obscurum. What’s even better is that a local weekly in his hometown sent a reporter over to do a video blog about the event. Pretty cool, check it out:


-Swinebread