His Adventure Is Over: R.I.P. Gary Gygax

As some of you have heard by now, Gary Gygax, the D&D guru, has died. I wasn’t part of the first wave of roleplaying gamers and so I largely missed out on playing through most of Gary’s adventure modules, but I did encounter the large part of the game’s initial aftershock when the production values had increased. I love roleplaying games a lot but I kinda’ had a love hate relationship with them when I was a kid. Being able to inhabit another world and use you imagination was an incredibly powerful and fantastic experience, but the D&D rules were very encumbering and, for me, stymied that imagination. I never owned a copy of the main rulebooks until D&D 3.5 (well OK, except the Basic and Expert boxed sets) and I merely relied on others to run the game if we wanted to play Dungeons and Dragons.

It wasn’t until I encountered both the skills focused Basic Roleplaying System (via Call of Cthulhu and Stormbringer) and the rules light Storyteller System (Vampire, Werewolf), that I really found gamming a truly immersive experience. It was also around this time that finally realized why I found D&D to have such a strange, clunky, mechanistic feel. It’s because Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson were strategy game players first and then developed D&D roleplaying out of that. I was never a strategy game sorta’ guy and that’s why their approach to the gaming seemed backwards to me. Levels, experience points, tons of charts, character classes, and mutually excusive rules for every little aspect, was really just too much in my opinion. But for other folks, with a more mathematical or legalistic mind, probably found these rule mechanics pure heaven. For some, roleplaying was a numbers and accounting game but I never saw it like that. For me, gamming should be a character driven, story creation experience. On the other hand, I always greatly appreciated the world building that went into Dungeon and Dragons and the different types of dice as well. I believe those two aspects were some of D&D’s greatest strengths beyond just simply using your mind's eye.

Now it may seem like I’m bashing Mr. Gygax, but I don’t feel that I am, rest his soul, but rather I’m merely providing context and probing the memories his death has brought up. Gary Gygax was an entertainment innovator and brought a new way to experience, and harness imagination. I just needed it in a different form than he originally designed it. Regardless, thanks for starting the roleplaying game industry Mr. Gygax.

I think the New York Times has the best article about Gary Gygax, so I’ll post the whole of it here, as it will eventually disappear behind a registered user function.

Gary Gygax, Game Pioneer, Dies at 69

By SETH SCHIESEL
Published: March 5, 2008

Gary Gygax, a pioneer of the imagination who transported a fantasy realm of wizards, goblins and elves onto millions of kitchen tables around the world through the game he helped create, Dungeons & Dragons, died Tuesday at his home in Lake Geneva, Wis. He was 69.

His death was confirmed by his wife, Gail Gygax, who said he had been ailing and had recently suffered an abdominal aneurysm, The Associated Press reported.
As co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, the seminal role-playing game introduced in 1974, Mr. Gygax wielded a cultural influence far broader than his relatively narrow fame among hard-core game enthusiasts.

Before Dungeons & Dragons, a fantasy world was something to be merely read about in the works of authors like J. R. R. Tolkien and Robert Howard. But with Dungeons & Dragons, Mr. Gygax and his collaborator, Dave Arneson, created the first fantasy universe that could actually be inhabited. In that sense, Dungeons & Dragons formed a bridge between the noninteractive world of books and films and the exploding interactive video game industry. It also became a commercial phenomenon, selling an estimated $1 billion in books and equipment. More than 20 million people are estimated to have played the game.

While Dungeons & Dragons became famous for its voluminous rules, Mr. Gygax was always adamant that the game’s most important rule was to have fun and to enjoy the social experience of creating collaborative entertainment. In Dungeons & Dragons, players create an alternate persona, like a dwarven thief or a noble paladin, and go off on imagined adventures under the adjudication of another player called the Dungeon Master.

“The essence of a role-playing game is that it is a group, cooperative experience,” Mr. Gygax said in a telephone interview in 2006. “There is no winning or losing, but rather the value is in the experience of imagining yourself as a character in whatever genre you’re involved in, whether it’s a fantasy game, the Wild West, secret agents or whatever else. You get to sort of vicariously experience those things.”

When Mr. Gygax (pronounced GUY-gax) first published Dungeons & Dragons under the banner of his company, Tactical Studies Rules, the game appealed mostly to college-age players. But many of those early adopters continued to play into middle age, even as the game also trickled down to a younger audience.

“It initially went to the college-age group, and then it worked its way backward into the high schools and junior high schools as the college-age siblings brought the game home and the younger ones picked it up,” Mr. Gygax said.

Mr. Gygax’s company, renamed TSR, was acquired in 1997 by Wizards of the Coast, which was later acquired by Hasbro, which now publishes the game.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Gygax is survived by six children: three sons, Ernest G. Jr., Lucion Paul and Alexander; and three daughters, Mary Elise, Heidi Jo and Cindy Lee.

These days, pen-and-paper role-playing games have largely been supplanted by online computer games. Dungeons & Dragons itself has been translated into electronic games, including Dungeons & Dragons Online. Mr. Gygax recognized the shift, but he never fully approved. To him, all of the graphics of a computer dulled what he considered one of the major human faculties: the imagination ’ ”

“There is no intimacy; it’s not live,” he said of online games. “It’s being translated through a computer, and your imagination is not there the same way it is when you’re actually together with a group of people. It reminds me of one time where I saw some children talking about whether they liked radio or television, and I asked one little boy why he preferred radio, and he said, ‘Because the pictures are so much better.’ ”

Nice article huh.

On another note, if you are a serious journalist (by serious I mean you get paid) and you use the words “geek,” “geeky” or “geeks” in your news article about Gary Gygax's death, you can FUCK OFF… …Just go fuck yourself. Those geek words are pejorative and not appreciated. Some folks in the gamming community use them, but that’s simply to take the word geek and disarm it while turning it’s original demeaning meaning on it’s head. “Geek” has no place in a eulogy or a serious piece of journalism and certainly shouldn’t be used by folks that don’t consider themselves a part of “geek culture…”

-Swinebread

Death in the Wild Blue Yonder

I’m about 75% of the way through my copy of Showcase Presents: Enemy Ace and I must say it’s been one of the best silver/bronze age comics that I have read. Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert (which write and draw, respectively, most of the stories) have really created something special here. Choosing a German pilot and setting the stories in WWI was an inspired choice because it allows the reader to dispense with the usual jingoistic tripe and focus on one man’s hellish struggle to stay alive and sane during combat. The main character, Hans von Hammer, is an allegory to the Red Baron but with a pulpy goodness that only a DC war comic could provide. In some ways his personality is the opposite of another Bronze Age comic character I like, Conan the Barbarian but they both have the same evocative, brooding nature.

There’s just something about WWI air combat that lends itself to great storytelling: the newness of the technology, the sense of dying chivalry, and the aloneness of the expanding sky. The last frontier has been opened and it’s used for bringing death. There’s also the sense of the duel, which recalls both knights defending their honor and an old west shootout like the OK Corral. It was Europe’s chance to play Cowboys and Indians except everybody was a Cowboy.

I have always had a passing interest in WWI aviation history and Showcase Presents: Enemy Ace, has brought that back to me of late. I started looking around the net reading articles about WWI aircraft and people again. While skimming a wikipedia article on Manfred von Richthofen, I noticed that a Red Baron movie is coming out this year. It’s a European production that plays a little loose with the facts but it still looks to be a first-rate film nonetheless. One of the things that stood out is that Lena Headey of Terminator: the Sarah Conner Chronicles fame has a significant role in the film as Nurse Kate. It will be interesting to see her in a softer role after her turn as the hardcore, kick ass mom.


Red Baron Shots:



In a sick sense of simpatico, I had just finished reading an Enemy Ace story of a puppy falling to it’s death when the news story of a marine killing a puppy by throwing off a cliff showed up in the news… scary… and sad…


-Swinebread

Bands I Missed: the Donnas

What’s that I hear? Why, it sounds like rock & roll. I’ve missed it so.

How come this all-girl, hard rock band isn’t more popular? I don’t know. But they sure can jam.

Maybe they’re the female Ramones, the inspire everybody and get none of the credit except by a few in the know…

And up until recently I didn’t know, but now I do.

The Donnas, listen and be amazed.



-Swinebread

Justice League: The New Frontier

Using the “Justice League” title with “The New Frontier” is somewhat of a misnomer as Darwyn Cooke’s original comic dealt with the transition from the Golden Age of superheroes to the Silver and the period just before the creation of the Justice League of America. But the Justice League is a recognizable brand and tying this project to that brand makes sense from a marketing standpoint.

But is it any good? Yes, it is good. I was a little worried because the online chatter had been mixed, however, I realized after watching JLTNF that most folks who were disappointed wanted something else and not Darwyn Cook’s amazing work. What they wanted was some sort of tie-in to the Justice League cartoons, this is simply crazy as the New Frontier story could never connect to those shows because it’s set in the 1950s and it's different in theme to those shows.

The story is very faithful to the original comic, but it does drop most of the mini-plots to focus in the main thrust of the story, that thrust being the rise of a new era of heroes and a threat to human existence on the planet. The story was so faithful in fact that there weren’t any surprises for those of us that have read the New Frontier comic book. So, the film’s enjoyment comes from seeing a great story animated, with excellent voice acting. It would be interesting to hear reactions from folks that haven’t read the original.

There are a few things to keep in mind. Much of JLTNF focuses on lesser-known characters in the DC Universe. The big three, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, have supporting roles. The main storyline focuses around Hal Jordan and the Martian Manhunter. The New Frontier is infused with events and the ethos of the 1950s and very early 1960s. Not knowing anything about the time period could reduce someone’s enjoyment (I’m thinking about you Dana Perino). This movie is certainly for the older crowd as suicide, murder, and horror figure into the plot of the film.

It’s a good film and despite some of it’s darker elements. The New Frontier gives a fresh take on the concept of heroism and what it really means. Many of the topics from the show resonate and that’s part of the appeal beyond the amazing artistic style. The idea that some shadowy crap is going on but at the same time there is still great hope for a new future truly resonates. That’s part of the brilliance of Justice League: the New Frontier.


Here is what I liked in no particular order (spoilers):



Darwyn Cooke’s original drawing style and designs are intact and look wonderful when animated.

I like the way Cook draws women and, by extension, how they appear in this film. They’re my kinda’ sexy.

The Martian Manhunter is great character. I never knew much about him before but both the comic and the movie have peeked my interest. He’s a great combination of sci-fi and noir.

Now we have a good reason for the new look Batman.

I like the Lovecraftian elements. It’s almost like the age of the Superhero finally overcomes its pulp origins with The New Frontier.

They kept the nod to John Henry in and I appreciated that.

I enjoyed the voice acting

The 1950s look of the story really helps convey how exciting the dawning of the silver age was.

I bought the cheap, single DVD version and was surprised by some good extra features like a Justice League doc, and commentary tracks.

Wonder Woman’s invisible plane bit is pure genius.

The “not so good” side of the 1950s is touched upon.

Events seem more connected in the film than in the comic.


Here is what I disliked in no particular order (spoilers):

Something is a little off with the Hal Jordan/Green Lantern storyline but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

Why didn’t The Martian Manhunter just impersonate one of the astronauts instead of showing up at the last minute and trying to ride the rocket from the outside?

I don’t think this film works well cross culturally.

I would have liked animated sequences rather than static images for the end speech.

Sometimes the horror aspects and Cooke’s style don’t quite work together. (Although, I think they work better here in the film than the comic)

Trailer:


WB's site for the film here


-Swinebread

March 1st is National Pig Day

Spider-Ham is in Hog Heaven on National Pig Day!

-Swinebread

My Lame Black History Month Post

Boy did I get this in just under the wire, Huh? Basically, I screwed myself with last year’s post because I chose characters from a spectrum of pop genres that I enjoy and so now I’d end up duplicating myself if I did something similar. But here on the last day of the month an idea came to me.

Back in 1984, I was fairly new to reading comics as a full-blown hobby and while I had, of course encountered black superheroes, the concept of race or racial issues didn’t really stand out in comics until I read Secret Wars… …seriously. Naturally, there had being many comic book stories that had dealt with race by that point, but as a kid, I hadn’t really encountered them and black characters were merely blank slates or tokens in the comics I read (and I wasn’t reading everything, far from it in fact). But here in a few panels of Secret Wars, race just popped out.

In Secret Wars, Jim Rhodes is wearing the armor rather than Tony Stark, as Stark was busy ruining his life with Alcohol. Also, the rest of the characters don’t know Iron Man’s true identity at this point in Marvel Universe.

It’s funny because I remember thinking: “is that what black folks really sound like in man/woman type of situation?” and “is Captain Marvel’s type a rich, alcoholic, white guy?”


Here, in a single panel from a different issue, Reed Richards helps Rhodes with his armor.

Thus, as a kid, I learned that Mr. Fantastic wasn’t a racist, just an egomaniac, but why was Rhodes so unsure of himself?

Secret Wars had four black characters in all: Iron Man II (Rhodes), Captain Marvel II (Photon, Pulsar), Storm, and Thunderball (a villain). Too bad Power Man couldn’t make it. It sure would have been fun seeing him tussle with the Wrecking Crew and Absorbing Man. But hey, at least there were a few brothers and sisters present because the Asians and Native Americans didn’t have anybody representing them. Oh well, a comic series got me to think about race for a moment during my early comic reading, and it wasn’t because somebody was ranting or raving.

Yes, this is a rather sorry Black History Month post, but I had to do something to convince myself for at least two seconds that I’m culturally sensitive and nothing says culturally sensitive like Secret Wars.

Have a great Leap Year Day!

-Swinebread

My New Comics

This week’s best cover is Star Trek: Alien Spotlight: Romulans #1.


Marvel Zombies 2 #5, Marvel Comics.

Jason and The Argonauts #2, Bluewater Comics.

Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #6, DC Comics.

Fall of Cthulhu #10, Boom Studios.

Freddy Vs Jason Vs Ash #5, DC Comics/Dynamite Entertainment.

She-Hulk #26, Marvel Comics.

The Engineer #2, Archaia Studios Press.

Narcopolis #2, Avatar.

The Dead Rider #2, Dark Horse Comics.

Project Super Powers #1, Dynamite Entertainment.

Star Trek: Alien Spotlight: Romulans #1, IDW.


Trade Paperbacks:
The Savage Sword of Conan Vol 2, Dark Horse Comics.

Infinite Crisis DC comics.

Previews: May

-Swinebread

Random Comic info

The Ten-Cent Plague by David Hajdu is getting some good buzz. It deals with the censorship of comic books in the McCarthy era and the creation of the Comics Code Authority that ruined many a good story, many a good genre and many a good creator. Despite the vileness of the topic, I find this period in the history of comics incredibly fascinating and I intend to pick up this book at some point.



I bought the Justice League: the New Frontier video, but grabbed the single disk version. So, I don’t have any of the bonus material. As it turns out that’s the real treat of this release as reviews have been mixed. I haven’t broken the seal yet so I may take it back for a 2-disk set. Apparently there is a pretty good doc on the history of the Justice League.



Some interesting responses to my Men are from Marvel, Women are from DC and DC’s Super Feminine Mystique posts:

Leftarrow here

Brainfreeze here

Brainfreeze here part 2


New Pic from Watchmen.

After production wrapped a while back on the Watchmen movie a frame was released.


One more hint that this could be a really great film.

-Swinebread

It’s a Beautiful World

Another video I made back in the day. The original footage at the end was changed to protect the guilty .

It’s a Beautiful World



-Swinebread

The Oscars… a Few Observations

Best Acceptance Speech:
Tilda Swinton “Michael Clayton” – She was totally shocked that she won and still had the wherewithal to make comments about her agent’s butt and George Clooney acting like Batman on the set.

Best Emotional Reaction – A tie between Marion Cotillard “La Vie en Rose” and Glen Hansard “Falling Slowly” from “Once” (best song)

Best Joke:
That’s’ the most arrogant guy I’ve ever seen (or something like that) John Stewart talking about Glen Hansard.

Best Joke Runner up
"Democrats do have an historic race going. Hillary Clinton vs Barack Obama. Normally, when you see a black man or a woman president an asteroid is about to hit the Statue of Liberty. How will we know it's the future? Silver unitards, that can't be all?"

Most Predicted win:
Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood”

Best Flub Recovery:
Cameron Diaz

Best Slip:
Colin Farrell

Best Joke that went on too long:
The Halle Berry and Judy Dence thing

Best Loser:
George Clooney “Michael Clayton”

Most disappointed look:
Hal Holbrook, “Into the Wild” (Of course he could just be old.)

Best Presenter:
Helen Mirren, I love it when an woman of her caliber says “Cojones”

Best Walk off:
Marion Cotillard and Forest Steven Whitaker

Most Stunning Pregnant Woman:
Cate Blanchett

Most Irony:
A movie about gay rights (Freeheld”) announced as the winner by the military

Best Ah Ha moment:
Hey, all of the actor winners were European.

Best Goth Chick:
Diablo Cody, “Juno”

Best Homoerotic Moment:
Daniel Day Lewis kissing George Clooney

Best Inscrutable Look:
Cormac McCarthy

Best Mea Culpa:
Bringing Marketa Irglova back out

-Swinebread

A Random Day

My SO and I traveled around town yesterday after the morning errands and dropped a couple of bucks here and there to keep the economy from slipping into a depression. Our first stop was to the 3d Center of Art & Photography. It’s a neat little nonprofit that promotes 3D as a fine art and showcases various stereoscopic cameras. The Center currently has an exhibit by Claudia Kunin titled 3D Holy Ghosts. The themes in Kunin’s work are taken from the bible, folklore, and classical mythology. Medusa clearly was the most impressive piece from the show and Walpurgis Nacht was a close second. The erotic nature of the pieces is enhanced by Kunin’s use of photographic rather than representational images. We also were fortunate because the 3D Center had an amazing slide show of an African Safari. I’ve seen 3d images before but the combination of National Geographic quality with eye-popping depth was fantastic. There was one up-close shot of an elephant’s eye that blew me away because that’s not something I would ever experience in daily life. Another fascinating aspect of these stereoscopic photos was how strange water appeared. It’s hard to describe but the depth made the water seem almost plastic or jelly-like and yet it still come across as H2O.

We made a stop at Haba, a Japanese cosmetic store, so the SO could pick up some of “her” all-natural skin toner. It’s funny because Haba chose Portland of all the places in the U.S. to hawk their wares. Good for my SO, bad for most other Japanese in the states. On the way to Haba, we saw the Silver Guy. He’s a performance artist that stands motionless for hours until you drop money into his pot. The cash prompts him to lean over and shake your hand, leaving it covered in glitter. He’s been doing this for over a decade I think.



After heading over to the Eastside, we stopped by a game store I know to see if a buddy of mine was working. He wasn’t but the smelly, belly boys were out in full force playing Warhammer. There was a ton of D20 stuff on sale probably because 4th edition is coming out soon. I bought a post-apocalyptic game supplement that was half off. They had a copy of Arkham Horror; that made my mouth water…


After a nice dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant we enjoy, the SO and I swung by Cosmic Monkey. It’s a comic shop I would occasionally frequent when I lived on the Eastside. They had moved to a new location last year and yesterday I finally had a chance to check it out. I gotta’ say I liked the new digs a lot. The place was very inviting and comfortable like a coffee shop or an indy bookstore. They had a large selection of trade paperbacks, much better than my regular store, and a upper level had couches for folks to hank out and read. Of all the shops in Portland, this is the one I would bring someone to if they had trepidations about comic book stores. I talked to Andy, the owner, and he told me that they will be hosting some of the events scheduled for the Stumptown Comics Fest. The Trophy Awards will be handed out at Cosmic Monkey and the latest installment of the Comic Art Battle will be fought there as well. Sounds like fun! I picked up a copy of the collected New Mutants volume 1 before we headed back home.



-Swinebread

My New Comics

This week’s best cover is Zorro #1. (the Mike Mayhew w/Dean White version)


Battlestar Galatica: Origins #3, Dynamite Entertainment.

The Un-Men #7, DC Comics.

Shadowpact #22, DC Comics.

Brave and the Bold #10, DC Comics. George Perez’s art caught my eye.

Red Sonja #30, Dynamite Entertainment.

Zorro #1, Dynamite Entertainment. Actually my store forgot to add this title to my pull list even though it was on a typed list of what I wanted for Feb. Luckily, my store is a chain and so they’ll have me a copy by next week. Even though I didn’t have the issue it really is the best cover.

Previously Published Trade Paperback:
Lovelass Vol 2, DC Comics.


-Swinebread

DC’s Super Feminine Mystique

My post Men are From Marvel and Women Are From DC, generated some interesting comments and fun discussion, imagine that. I came to one big conclusion about the femaleness of DC and the Maleness of Marvel… it all goes back to Wonder Women… …Duh. Think about it. Having a major female superhero thrive in and more importantly, survive the golden age of comics speaks volumes. Marvel/Timely, in truth, never had interesting women characters to begin with but the break between their 1940s supers and the 1960s Marvel Age cements my point.

The fact that Wonder Woman had her own successful title for decades gives the DC universe a possible womanish vibe even if her stories didn’t always depict females in the best light. The Amazon is a headliner. This fact combined with numerous other characters like Catwoman, Power Girl, Super-Girl, and Black Canary make a for a solid foundation that echoes down the years through the DC Universe. It seems obvious when you think about it but then I’m a man bred on Marvel Comics… 80’s Marvel Comics.

D0nnaT0ry had a good point in that a person’s universe of choice comes down to their gateway comic. The appeal of Wonder Woman and other DC heroines is obvious, so this must be the reason why girls have flocked to DC Comics. They have the female supers, so they have the female readers. Now this makes sense and could end the gender question right there but… the gateway comic doesn’t ring true for me personally as a man. If it did, I’d have been a DC Comics fan for most of my life. The first comic book I ever read was an issue of Green Lantern/Green Arrow, bought by my sister no less, and while I generally liked the characters it didn’t really fire my imagination. I also read some Justice League of America too and again it didn’t do much for me and these were male character dominated titles. Consequently, I didn’t really read comics extensively until years later. One day, out of boredom, I convinced my mother to buy me three, bagged together; marvel comics… and my addiction began. I’ve often wondered what would’ve happened if I had encountered an issue of Amazing Spiderman or The Avengers instead of Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Justice League. So I tend to think there is something a little more feminine to the DC Universe…

Now a thought experiment to test if DC is more female-like than Marvel would be to pick a masculine heavy genre that women generally don’t enjoy, like War Comics. If you do a little compare and contrast, I believe women would come down on the side of Sgt Rock rather than Nick Fury. I’m not discounting the fact that Rock was better written and drawn than Fury, which would make it more appealing to most folks including me, it's just that I have a feeling that women would be better entertained by DC's WWII comic over Marvel's version. Besides, which title had Mademoiselle Marie?

Wonder Woman gets to the heart of the matter to me. Having her front and center made DC unconsciously more diffused with a female ethos. But, and here is where we get to the Feminine Mystique aspect, DC super-heroines are saddled with pre-women’s lib baggage. Wonder Woman and friends were still struggling against the sexist themes of the golden age long after the successes of the sexual revolution at least that’s how I perceive it. Maybe that’s why I wasn’t attracted to DC Comics as much. Not because their comics were more feminine but because they were more 1950s feminine. Case in point, She-Hulk. I’ve always liked Shulkie and as I’ve said before, she’s a modern woman. I like female superheroes a lot, I think I just prefer ‘em post second-wave feminism. This is not say that Marvel was doing a great job with their female characters, far from it as the Wasp’s annoying prattle in the 1960s Avengers attests, but rather that Marvel simply had a more male centered universe even though, paradoxically, it was a more modern universe.

By the 1990s a lot of the gender issues I’m proposing about DC and Marvel had changed. Through retcons, modern storytelling, and the X-men Splitting into a plethora of titles with strong female characterizations the view has been blurred. Many younger readers have more choice to jump back and forth between the big 2 without much regard to gender or gender legacy. In other words, they’ve grown up with comics that are less defined by such issues. Again, I’m not necessarily saying the big 2 are doing a good job, I’m just saying they seem to have more freedom when it comes to expressing a masculine or a progressive feminine ethos rather than sticking to what was par for the course in the past. Whether they use this freedom, responsibly or creatively is a different issue.

What are your thoughts?

I ended the “Men are From Marvel” post with a Hillary and Obama political cartoon. So with that in mind I’ll end this post with them. Maybe the struggle in the Democratic Party is a fight between the Wonder Woman Generation (Hillary) and the She-Hulk Generation (Obama). It’s looking more and more like the She-Hulk generation is gonna win.

-Swinebread

With Great Power...?

I assume that you have seen the new trailer for Indiana Jones 4 because it's been posted everywhere so I'll offer something else:


Crave Online: Funny Videos, Sexy Videos, Music Videos, Movie Trailers, and More!

Parodies have been overplayed recently but Superhero Movie might just buck the trend and actually be funny.


-Swinebread

Presidents Day

A few of my favorite Fictional Presidents:




President Tom Beck
"Life will go on, we will prevail." -Deep Impact



President Steve Rodgers
Captain America as President? What could be more American than that!
-What If, vol. 1 #26



President Thomas J. Whitmore
“Perhaps it's fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom... Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution... but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night!" We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!” - Independence Day. Want to know what fantasy land the republicans are living in? This is it!



President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho
“Shit. I know shit's bad right now, with all that starving bullshit, and the dust storms, and we are running out of french fries and burrito coverings. But I got a solution.” -Idiocracy



Unnamed President played by Donald Pleasance
“You’re the Duke of New York! You’re “A” Number One!”-Escape From New York



President Travis Morgan
A former Pilot and sword & Sorcery champion from a Pelucidar-like world travels to a post-apocalyptic future and overthrows what’s left of corrupt US government. He frees slaves, becomes President, and then travels back in time to stop the nuclear war from happening in the first place. Now that’s what I’d call a proactive executive. -Warlord #84



President Merkin Muffley
“Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room.” – Dr. Strangelove



President Margaret Valentine
“…I’m President of the United States and I said Drop You’re Goddam Weapons” -Y that Last Man



President Kenneth Yamaoka
“That’s a Dangerous thought. A powerful few could crush the dreams of the majority” –Eagle: the Making of an Asian American President.

-Swinebread

Marvel Zombies Fan Trailer

Crave Online: Funny Videos, Sexy Videos, Music Videos, Movie Trailers, and More!

My New Comics

This week’s best cover is Fantastic Comics #24.


Dead of Night Featuring Man-Thing #1, Marvel Comics.

Doctor Who Classics #3, IDW.

Fantastic Comics #24, Image. Part of Image Comics Next Issue Project. Retro comics at their best. Hmmmm… funny how this coincides with Project Superpowers.

Bat Lash #3, DC Comics.

The Evil Dead #2, Dark Horse Comics.

Fantastic Four: The Lost Adventure Marvel Comics. Jack Kirby’s 103rd issue of the FF comes to light at last.

Walking Dead #46, Image.

Trade Paperbacks:
Showcase Presents: Enemy Ace Vol 1, DC Comics. One of the greatest war comics of all time and now I finally get to read it. Who cares if it's only in black and white… all the better to enjoy Joe Kubert’s line work!

Fall of Cthulthu: The Fugue Vol 1, Boom Studios. Reprints Fall of Chtulhu #0-5.


-Swinebread

Stumptown Comics In April

The date for this Fifth Annual Stumptown Comics Fest is set for April 26th & 27th. If you think that seems a little soon you’re right because instead of a Fall ’08 show the gang has moved it to Spring… Love is in the air?

Anyway, Scott McCloud (who I’ve wanted to meet for a long time), Tara McPherson and Craig Thompson are just some of the talent that will be attending. See here for a current list of guests.

No info on the workshops and presentations at this point but they were fantastic last year so I’m sure they will be again.

Mark your calendars! It might not even rain this time. ☺

-Swinewbread

Happy St. Valentine's Day

Invasion of the Love Robots indeed!

-Swinebread

For the sake of the party, I know the two of them can come together.

This is why MadTV is better than SNL.

Paraody of Rihanna's Umbrella.

Jericho Season 2... Tonight!

It’s been a strange ride for Jericho fans but the second season is finally here. Hell Yeah! In addition to being resurrected from cancellation by crazed fans, Jericho is in the unique position of being one of very few scripted shows on television due to the writers strike. In fact, the truncated seven-episode season which CBS authorized last spring turned out to be a blessing in disguise because if there had been an eighth episode the WGA walkout would have stopped production on the finale. I wanted more and now I’m glad I didn’t get it. There seems to be positive unintended consequences when it comes to jericho.

If the show’s second season proves to be popular (and the reviews have been good) there might be another season on the horizon and critics tout the premiere as a good jumping on point. Also, being on a 10 o’clock means there will be no completion from American Idol, so the network learned their lesson this time around.

I’m just glad Jericho beat the long odds and that we’ll have something entertaining to watch.

Next stop The Allied States of America…



-Swinebread

Goodbye Steve Gerber

Sadly, Steve Gerber has died. See Mark Evanier’s post here.

Most famous as the creator of Howard the Duck (the comic), Steve is fondly remembered by me for his work on The Defenders, The Guardians of the Galaxy, and the best cartoon of all time: Thundarr the Barbarian.

Thanks Steve for so many great times while growing up. You will be missed by this old fanboy…



-Swinebread