Currently I have my nose stuck deep into the pages of Spawn Vol. 4 by Todd McFarlane! Quite an enjoyable read, that is if you’re interested in ‘anti-heroes’ and gore! If you haven’t read any of the Spawn series, I encourage you to pick up a copy of the Spawn Collection from your local comic book store and start reading.
Hello Readers,
If you haven’t heard by now, Jeff Smith’s amazing tale of the Bone cousins has finally come to a colourful end! The final color volume collection of ‘Bone Vol. 9 Crown of Horns’ published by Scholastic is in stores NOW! What an amazing read people, I can’t tell you how enthralled I was to finally finish the story. I won’t ruin it for anyone out there who hasn’t finished reading yet, but I was a little sad to see the final outcome of the Bone cousins journey. A fantastic read all the way through with a few ‘adult’ moments that will leave you in hysterics. Meant for the younger one’s, this story is an instant classic for all ages. I encourage anyone interested in reading comics to begin with Bone! The simple line drawings on beautiful backgrounds makes Jeff Smith’s story materialize before you. He’ll captivate your imagination and soon you’ll find yourself at Barrelhaven with all the gang!
Please visit Jeff Smith’s site for more goodies: http://www.boneville.com/
For those of you with an iPhone, you’ll enjoy reading Bone on the go! A fantastic idea that will certainly change the comic book industry, go here for more information: http://www.boneville.com/2008/10/23/bone-iphone-comic-apples-pick-of-the-week/
Cheers
A fun read for the zombie enthusiast or anyone interested in horror movies in general. Formatted like a ‘guide book’ this fun page turner is full of zombie facts and lessons to prepare yourself for the zombie apocalypse. A great read for commuting on the bus or when you simply need a break from classroom text books and remedial readings. One of my favourite sections was about arming yourself using common house-hold objects against the ‘undead’. Easy choice for me…baseball bat! It’s got a good reach just aim for the temple and batter-up! Remember, you gotta take that zombie down hard, hit ’em in the head and when he’s down, WHACK!
Max Brooks is the genius behind the creative writing and if you enjoyed this book, check out his follow-up World War Z. It’s written more like an account of zombie encounters over the years, as apposed to this one which is clearly written like a manual or guidebook. If I recall correctly the Zombie Survival Guide does have a few ‘snip-its’ of zombie encounters written by witnesses throughout the book, so you do get a bit of a taste for what to expect in World War Z.
About the funniest thing that occurred while reading the Zombie Survival Guide was, the girlfriend asked me: “Would you save your loved one(s) in the event of the zombie apocalypse?” Unfortunately I was quoted saying: “I would dump you like a sack of dead weight in the nearest ditch and run for the hardware store to loot for supplies and weapons!” I probably should have reconsidered my final answer, but if the world was crumbling and the zombies were attacking, it’s everyone for themselves!
Protect yourself people!
So I’ve got my copy of the Dark Tower ‘Treachery’ Vol. 3 by Marvel do you? If you’re not reading the series I can understand. A lot of us out there try to preserve the original content and rather not know what the back story is or the epilogue in some cases. But in this instance, the work done by Jae Lee & Richard Isanove is incredible, their unique style fits perfectly with Stephen King’s universe of the Gunslinger. If you have no idea who Jae Lee, he worked on numerous titles under the Marvel licence such as: Namor, X-men and Inhumans. Richard Isanove has work on a few himself like: Wolverine ‘Origins’, Fantastic Four and Captain America.
If you enjoyed the ‘Gunslinger’ from the Dark Tower books like I did, check out the comic series illustrated by a handful of very talented artists. I especially liked the hard cover collection because of different ‘comic book covers’ by various artists inside. Great artists like J. Scott Campbell & Edgar Delgado or Joe Quesada & Richard Isanove and many others.
I know Chapters (Canada) and of course your local comic book shops still carry all three titles, but if you’re interested you should probably rush out and pick up a copy before they’re gone. I recall the sticker price was around $20-$30 but once you see the artwork and the print quality, it’ll be worth it.
Enjoy
A lot of people when asked “Who were the first cat and mouse team in comic strips?” typically answer Tom & Jerry or Sylvester & Speedy Gonzales. But very few know about ‘Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse’.
Krazy Kat was first conceived by George Herriman in 1903 when he appeared in a newspaper gag panel as a tiny black kitten with a white bow in the ‘washbolla’. Krazy was really no more than a black smudge on the page. But the cat continued to appear in George’s work until September 6th, 1903 when he got his first half page comic strip. Thus the Kat was born and given a name! He continued to grow in popularity and soon in 1913 regular “Krazy Kat” comic strips were found in pages of the New York Journal.
It wasn’t long afterwards that George took a simple mouse that appeared in the backgrounds of his comic strips and pair him up with Krazy Kat and the birth of the first cat and mouse team was born. Ignatz mouse was depicted as an angry straight man that reacted to Krazy’s mad off the wall insights and remarks. Krazy was a carefree indeterminate gender cat who constantly tried to ‘win’ Ignatz heart. The mouse, clearly offended by this would hurl a brick at the cat’s head, but Krazy took this as an expression of love. You could say there was also a bit of a love triangle, due to the fact that there was also a bull dog involved in later strips acting like the ‘protective’ boyfriend of Ignatz, but that gets confusing to follow.
And so, Krazy and Ignatz mouse along with a few other friends from Coconino Country told their tale in Sunday newspapers across the country week after week, then year after year! Biographically there really isn’t more to say about George Herriman’s career. He did go on to make a few animated ‘shorts’ of Krazy and Ignatz, but never really got to give the production the direction they sorely needed.
Feel free to do a little more research if you want to learn more about George Herriman’s contributions to comic strip art.
🙂
Okay, now who understands the title of this post? Anyone? Well it’s from Bucky O’Hare, written by Larry Hama, artist Michael Golden and colorist Cory Adams back in 1978. A great read if you like ‘animal comics’ and outer space themes.
Bucky O’Hare was this green rabbit in a British military outfit, welding a space blaster, leading a team of other animal characters against the toad empire. The toad-humanoid characters invented a super computer that ended up taking over their world ala Terminator so they started invading other planets to ‘feed’ the machine. The other animals started a military operation willing to take on the toads and thus the ‘Sentient Protoplasm Against Colonial Enroachment’ was born or S.P.A.C.E. for short.
But wait there’s more! Willy Du Witt was a bit of a brainy kid (human) who built this Photon Accelerator which transported him through a different space time continuum to the animal dimension. The animals take him for a shaved baboon and recruit him into their military coup against the toads. Willy was able to ‘jump’ back and forth but the teleporter closed trapping Willy in the wrong dimension. Willy then helps Bucky lead a few animals into battle against the toads and it plays out a little like a Star Wars clone, with Willy attempting to leap home every now and then.
Bucky O’Hare’s tale spun off into an animation series on the BBC for a 13 episode run. It followed the same storyline, with very few alterations. It grew in popularity enough in the 80’s to create a video game and action figure line by Hasbro . But this little icon got lost among the giants of the time like the Ninja Turtles, He-Man and numerous other comicbook characters that it just couldn’t hold ‘shelf space’.
Check out the intro below and post a comment about what you think of the cartoon.
All right ladies! Let’s croak us some toads!
While on one of my many trips to Victoria, BC with my girlfriend, I stumbled across the coolest window display I’ve ever seen! It was at Cherry Bomb Toys located in the ‘hip’ downtown neighbourhood, that there was a diorama of Jedi Knights taking on a group of zombies. I was super excited and immediately entered the store!
‘Sweet’, is the first word that came to mind when I stepped inside Cherry Bomb Toys! The owners just recently moved to a new location and just finished setting up a brand new diorama in the window! Besides the window display, Cherry Bomb Toys has got a ton of ‘vintage’ collectibles from all generations and genera. I noticed a lot of rare and ‘hard-to-find’ collectibles all around the store. Some I had, most I wanted! The Transformer triple-changer Blitzwing was one I especially wanted and of course Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters. I was taking it all in when I noticed the Doctor Who Tardis (Police Box) sitting right there in front of me, and there was the Dailek over on the other side. There were treasures all around me, from the Predator Helmet to the Star Wars ‘X-Wing’ there was an over load in my brain!
Set in a very ‘vintage’ atmosphere, this massive store with amazing display cases and original ‘rough-brick’ walls really set this comic store apart from the rest with its’ character. The owners, Candace & Biagio Woodward are very passionate about collectibles and are super knowledgeable about new and ‘up-and-coming’ toy release dates. I easily spent an hour in awe at the many display cases housing a very impressive collection of Transformers. My girlfriend also enjoyed the amazing collection of Strawberry Shortcake dolls and the Teddy Ruxpin stuffed animals, for you see Cherry Bomb Toys is not just for ‘big boys’ it’s for everyone of all ages! They even had a couple of bins where we could get ‘hands-on’ with some of the toys we played with back when we were kids. My Blackstar action figure got a butt-whoopin from The Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak. Good times!
Cherry Bomb Toys has something for the child in all of us and the helpful staff can take your order, or even buy your vintage collectibles. The good folks at Cherry Bomb Toys are also writing a blog! Check it out and register for new toy release information and what’s happening at the store!
Enjoy
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