Art Show: A Gaul No More!

Asterix the Viking



By Mike Hawthorne. [ComicTwart]

Red-Headed Pirate of the Caribbean



By Marc Davis. [Shad from Swing with Shad let me know that this Pirates of the Caribbean art is the inspiration for that Little Mermaid Pirate picture I re-posted from his site last month.]

After the break: speaking of mermaids; also some dinosaurs, Black Canary, Green Goblin, the Creeper, Medusa, and Wonder Woman.

My Favorite Flower

Asking me my favorite flower is a little like asking me who my favorite Ewok is. I really don't think about them enough to have a preference. In fact, when I buy flowers for special occasions, I just ask my florist for something varied and interesting and leave it to their imagination. The picture above is their most recent creation for us. They do good work and I trust them.

But since I have to have a particular answer for the list, I'll go with this one:

Quotes of the Week: A Straight-Line Drawing Machine

“Face front, true believers! I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler and a straight-line drawing machine, which is why I hired artists to draw my comics! If you can’t draw, you should hire artists, too! Excelsior!”
--Mike Sterling, predicting the entire text of Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics.

Isn't it instructive how Ben [Caldwell]'s work means that the [Wonder Woman] costume-before-JMS is transformed from cheesecake to something impressive, magical and appropriate?
--Colin from Too Busy Thinking About My Comics, pointing out that it's not the costume; it's the artist.

The Awesome List: Batman vs. Sasquatch!

Gear Island



I have no idea what this project of Jeremy Vanhoozer's is, but whatever it is I can't wait for it.

Yuki 7 and the Gadget Girls



Kevin Dart's groovy spygirl has her own website with videos, a store, a blog, and more.

After the break: Pulp Girls, Batman meets Alpha Flight, lovey Frankenstein, and Atlantis' Avenging Sneakers.

Art Show: Quickly, Old Chum! To the TARDIS!

The Escape



By Lorenzo Etherington.

Yoshied



By Vincent Bocognani. [Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs]

After the break: The Lone Ranger, Black Canary, Frankenstein, a witch, Wonder Woman, a giant robot, and Batmannin' the TARDIS.

Elsewhere... Some Gorillas Rode Some Dinosaurs

I've written a couple of Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs columns that I haven't told you about.

What Looks Good for September



The best-looking adventure comics for September include new Mouse Guard, Firefly, Good Neighbors, Atomic Robo, new printings of Alison Dare, and a Frankenstein pop-up book.


Atomic Robo vs. the X-Men in… “The Time Topic”



I'm doing something new with Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs lately. Rather than just do straight reviews, I've been focusing on specific elements that make comics awesome and talking about how to do them right (while soliciting readers for their own ideas). It's a lot more fun and interactive now, so if your eyes usually glaze over at my comics reviews, I hope you'll give the column another look.

I started this by talking about stand-alone issues a couple of weeks ago and this week it was all about time-travel.

What's Wrong with Wonder Woman (and How to Fix Her)

I thought about posting this MAD Wonder Woman parody under "Pass the Comics," but it didn't really fit with those two others and besides, I think there's something more to say about it.

As Tom Spurgeon noted, it "nails the super-troubling parts of [Wonder Woman's] appeal in a way it's hard to shake." And acknowledging that there are super-troubling parts makes me want to revisit my earlier, dismissive response to the current changes going on in her serialized adventures. While I still don't really care what J Michael Straczynski does in his run with the character, I agree with many other commentators that it does reveal a lack of understanding about what makes the character tick and how to solve the problems that the MAD parody points out.

I wish I'd saved links to some of those comments, because they've stuck with me and I wish I could point you to them. For one of the best though, I'll go back to Spurgeon again:

...why doesn't [she] have an all-ages title? That seems to me like it would be more important than bouncing it up 20,000 readers on Mel Thompson's charts. Wonder Woman is one of the few characters girls (and their parents) know. Wonder Tot is just sitting there waiting to have demented back-up adventures. Best of all, allowing multiple takes on the character outside of standard mainstream tropes and influences and the judgment of the CBR thread commenters might result in a way of looking at Wonder Woman that works for way more than 20,000 new readers.

He's exactly right. Why isn't there a Johnny DC Wonder Woman? Or, as Ben Caldwell would love to create, a Wonder Woman manga-style comic? Or both? In what way would that not be a fantastic idea?

Pass the Comics: Now I Just Have the Nazis to Deal With!

Still catching up from being gone last week, but I did see these two cool comics from The Charlton Story.

Hercules in the Land of Menace!



Hercules always looks best in Nemedian Lion, don't you agree?

The Phantom must prevent the Triumph of Evil!



The Phantom fights Nazis.

Twitter Redux

Okay, I've got this Twitter thing figured out now. And Facebook.

I'm moving all my news linking to those two places. Adventuresome news items will go to Twitter. Stuff Nobody Cares About But Me will go to Facebook. I'll use both for personal updates, but longer ones will just go on Facebook for obvious reasons.

That leaves the blog free for Art Shows, Pass the Comics, movie/TV/book reviews, thought pieces, Quotes of the Week; that kind of thing. Maybe a weekly Twitter recap or something if that would be helpful and I can figure out how to make it work.

I'm still a little resistant to spreading things out like that, but I think this plays to the strengths of each tool. Twitter for quick linking, Facebook for personal stuff, and the blog for longer pieces and image-heavy posts. Of course, if I ever have really giant news, I'll mention it at all three places.

Vacation Photos

Finally got our pictures uploaded from vacation.

Art Show: A Golden Princess Who Ruled with Singing Whip!

Tiger Girl



By Joe Doolin. [Illustrateurs]

Sheena



By Nicola Scott. [Pink of the Ink]

After the break: Red Sonja, a school-girl monster-hunter, the JLA, Aurora, a giant flying monkey, and Al Williamson tributes.