In Which We Offer The Sixty-Second Story

Today's word: "cult"

When I bought the box, I didn't think I'd be joining, you know? Just wanted some breakfast. "Secret surprise inside," my ass. They didn't tell me what I was in for. I just thought I was stimulating the economy. Consuming, you know? That's a laugh. I guess I ended up that way, after all...

The Dark Ones probably thought I was ten essential vitamins and irony.

--Larry

In Which We Listen to Our Simian Brethren

Honestly, who can argue when a monkey with a pistol points your attention at June's Continuity?

"AIT/Planet Lar warrior king Larry Young is giving you a graphic novel. No, seriously. He's trying out a new idea in comics marketing and, just by downloading, you're helping in his grand experiment. The theory? Give away the book and if people like it, they'll buy a copy when it's released. Simple, right? Ballsy, too. Luckily, based on the strength of Continuity, he's probably not worrying all that much. You'll see what I mean when you read it."

****

Johnny Bacardi goes back to the beginning of Tom and Lily's adventures, reviewing the first True Story Swear to God trade:

"In which Beland recounts how he met the love of his life in his typically warm, witty, self-effacing style- and when the coincidences and unlikely scenarios pile up and threaten to overwhelm the reader, it's always leavened by his graceful cartooning style, reminiscent of Al Hirschfeld or old Jay Ward cartoons even as early on as the stories in this debut collection. Even so, this still crosses over into saccharine territory, and he does belabor his point sometimes...but this hasn't been such a problem in the later collections I've read so perhaps it's just me being cranky, who knows. At the end of the day, I'm glad that I'm finally up-to-date with this series. A-"

****

Finally, congratulations to John Parkin of Dallas, Texas who snagged that Demo patch I offered up earlier this week. Thanks to everyone else who e-mailed me saying how much you loved our books. I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to all of you yet, but it really makes me feel good to see how many folks are all about what we do here at AiT.

Speaking of which, I need to head back to the grindstone to make some more delicious comics to satisfy your optic cravings. This week I start lettering Joe Casey and Charlie Adlard's new book, sure to be classified by the Library of Congress as "friggin' awesome," Rock Bottom.

****

Larry said Jon Proctor's got the first bit of The Black Diamond done, and Ian Richardson's sent over some more Warhead pages. Check back Monday, and I'll see if I can't get 'em up for you.

--Josh

Re: Re: Re: Re: Thayer: Mimi's Birthday

"its all the same misdeminor of brevity which should always be pardonable in casual emails."

It-apostrophe-S, I say, IT IS this sort of lackluster attention to whadda ya call..? de-TAIL that makes me a'feard fer the continued existence fer the human race. Why, in MY day, we had to spell words KIREKT'LY to pass the school-tests they administered, and all. We dint even have FORMAL emails, much less CASUAL ones. An' if we DID, we connected with two cans and a string to th' Intraweb, and not this T3 you hear so much about nowadays 'vailable to most everyone. Go buy a cup of coffee and check yer email. GOOD GOD, WHERE IS MY JETPACK?

"...in writing, you don't always have to follow the rules."

I could not agree more. Obvious exaggeration for effect being one of mah personal faves fer rule-bustin'. Creative spellin', and the dialectical droppin' of the Gs and whatnot also bein' a... whadda the eggheads call it? AFFECTATION I enjoy to employ now and again. I also am a big fan of the run-on sentence to make a point that otherwise might not be made in a more straight-forward manner, what with the attention-span the kids have nowadays with their ADD and their Nintendo and their crack-rock and loose wimmens and all. Why, when I was your age, I used to have to get two hundred pennies together to buy a bottle of Boone's Farm's Kountry Kwencher (their creative spelling, not mine) and hope to get a bit of a buzz from stuff that was basically watered-down kerosene flavored with apples. BUT EFFORT WAS MADE. This is what I am saying.

But the point remains I can do all that in my dotage now since I display a KNOWLEDGE of the rules that Mis-spellers and Non-capitalizers and other such shirkers an' all do not. Flouting th' roolz is much different than NOT PAYING ATTENTION if you take mah meanin' an' I think you do. I trust that I don't have ta say no more. nudge nudge

An' you all with your porn on the Internet, for free! DON'T GET ME STARTED! We had to hope the hillbillies would leave a box of Playboys they were tired of out in the woods fer us ta FIND, and now you can just google up GIMMEWHATIWANT.COM and FedEx practically delivers the girl to your house. INGRATES.

"however I was hoping to launch a preemptive strike, perhaps this Thursday."

Sounds good; lemme check with the missus.

--Larry

In Which We Understand that 11001001 Means Something To The Kids It Cannot Mean To Us

Larry's out to The Academy of Art today, speaking to John Heebink's class of future soopastahz. He's told me he likes "Shorthand" and "Paranatural" and some thing about an alien princess by Vanessa and Gintah's AEON FLUX sorta thing... he's said everyone has something to "bring to the table" which may be one of his highest compliments. Makes me want to go back to art school... until I realize I'm making the Tall Comics Dollars already.

*****

But it's all about James Sime, today, as far as I'm concerned. James gave the love to our July book, Shatter: "Prophetic in approach and subject matter alike, Shatter forecasted a world where body modification, privatized law enforcement, corporate ownership of cities, electrowave club culture, and stem cell research were the norm. And even predicted the coming of the disastrous New Coke before anyone had even thought of such a thing."


"Utterly controversial, beyond innovative, and without a doubt one of the most prescient and downright sexy comics of the 1980's, this long-lost gem wraps itself in a sheep's clothing of Blade Runner-style trappings to deliver a stealthy mainline syringe full of the RNA of genius." Who else writes comic book enthusiasm like James Sime? No one I know, I can tell you.

++++

The Great Curve pings the thing with a link to its Wikipedia entry.

++++

Brian Cronin gives it a nod with the headline "The Comic The Government Doesn't Want You to See!" Only if, you know, brain-swirling RNA extraction becomes the norm.

++++

...but, honestly, the one I liked the best, so far, was Mark Fossen's love-letter to cyberpunk:


...wherein he quotes Neuromancer, Blade Runner and Shatter in his intro. "This is as much a cultural landmark as a technical one..." says Fossen and I would be unsurprised to see that on the back cover.

--Josh

In Which There is Something I Want to Give You

So Larry was straightening up the office as he's just sent Continuity to the printer, and it's always good to tidy up for the next barrage. He discovered a treasure amongst the FedEx boxes of original art and back-up CDs... the offical Demo patch!



Only a handful of these exist in the world, and it's the last one in our posession here. After this one is gone, that's it! Larry gave it to me to do with as I will, and I will it goes to some Brian and Becky fan. The first cat to shoot me an email with their mailing address gets to sport the rockin'-cool Demo patch wherever patches can be applied!

So yeah, hit me up. Number one on the runway gets it.

--Josh

"'Good God, I love comicbooks.' That one's right up there with 'Would you tell me for a Pop Tart?' Ya just gotta say it with the right enthusiasm." -- Maureen McTigue, as quoted in the Dec. 11, 1996 issue of plaNETLar

*****

"[Larry] Young said he believes the comics industry is at a crossroads and he is not alone in that belief." -- Tony Isabella, Tony's Tips, Comics Buyer's Guide #1180, 1996