humor
Mark Waid guest stars on latest episode of The Variants
The latest episode of The Variants, the humorous web series set at Zeus Comics in Dallas, features the yearly visit of Richard’s brother Will. Will has a secret he’s been keeping from his brother–he’s actually comics writer Mark Waid. And who better to play him than the actual Mark Waid? The Daredevil and Irredeemable writer shows off his acting chops not only in the store, but also in a flashback sequence that shows the two brothers playing with action figures at a young age. I can’t wait to see the episode that introduces their sister …
- December 22, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
Take a peak at James Kochalka’s ‘Attract Mode’ from the Devastator
from Attract Mode
The fourth issue of the humor anthology The Devastator arrives Nov. 9, and the theme for this issue is video games, It includes contributions from James Kochalka, Danny Hellman, Corey Lewis and many more. Above is a brief taste of Kochalka’s contribution; if you’d like to see the whole thing, you can find a preview of a few pages from the book on their site. And hey, if you pre-order it before Nov. 9, you’ll get a mystery prize!
A trailer for the book is available after the jump.
- October 18, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
Xavier’s growing-up guide for preteen Homo Superiors
Are you just hitting your teen years and realizing that your body’s going through some weird changes? Then chances are…you’re a mutant!
Charles Xavier is here to help with The “What’s Happening to My Body?” Book for Mutants. The four-page pamphlet is full of useful advice, Frequently Asked Questions, and even helpful tips for parents who are dealing with a mutant child. Head over to College Humor to check it out. You don’t have to be alone anymore.
- October 4, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Michael May
DC relaunch parody video: ‘Aquaman is suddenly cool?’
In a month that’s seen an official commercial and assorted other trailers for DC Comics’ heavily promoted line-wide relaunch, this video from filmmaker Patrick Willems may be the best so far. Oh, who am I kidding? It is the best so far. DC even acknowledged the humorous short, tweeting, “Excitement for DC Comics The New 52? Fantastic. Sharing too much on a first date? Not so much.”
- August 31, 2011 @ 07:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
‘He’s all white, and covered in spots, that’s why he’s called The Spot’
Although Marvel is heavily focused right now on the various Avengers movies hitting this summer and next, no doubt they’re looking for a big franchise to kick off in 2013. Using a green-screen suit, Patrick Willems may just have come up with the answer — The Spot. And he already has a catchy theme song to boot.
- June 23, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
The Watchmen-My Little Pony mashup no one knew they wanted
Really, it was always just a matter of time before these two great products of the 1980s, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen and Hasbro’s My Little Pony, met. Even if it is The Hub’s strange new My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic cartoon — seriously, that’s the name — mashed up with Zack Snyder’s 2009 comic-book adaptation. “From the visionary director of 300 Ponies,” it’s … Ponymen. Stay gold, Ponymen. Stay gold.
(via Colleen Doran)
- May 11, 2011 @ 06:15 AM by Kevin Melrose
If your last trip through airport security was bad, at least you aren’t Wolverine
Threadless revisits the age-old question of how Wolverine gets through airport security (which, IIRC, Chris Claremont once addressed by providing Logan the proper papers), which seems to have a bit more topical relevance nowadays. The T-shirt costs $20 on the site; I’d suggest wearing it locally vs. on your next trip, as some TSA agents might not find it funny.
- April 18, 2011 @ 10:30 AM by JK Parkin
‘Long live Comic Sans’: Maligned font makes April Fools comeback
Comic Sans Pro
Although it’s still early, I’m going to go ahead and declare Monotype Imaging a contender for April Fools’ Day 2011 champion for its timely introduction of the Comics Sans Pro typeface family.
“Every day, millions of people rely on Comic Sans for countless applications ranging from scrapbooking to school projects,” Allan Haley, Monotype’s director of words and letters, said in the announcement. “Comic Sans is also a favorite in professional environments, used in medical information, instructions, ambulance signage, college exams, corporate mission statements and executive reprimands – even public letters from sports team owners to their fans. Breaking up with your spouse? Why not write a letter in Comic Sans Pro, embellished with a typographic whack!, pow! or bam! Comic Sans is everywhere, and now it’s even better.”
Because the only thing better than plain ol’ Comic Sans is bold and italic Comic Sans, the family pack includes two new italic and bold italic fonts designed by Terrance Weinzierl. “Our aim is to put the ‘fun’ back in ‘functional’,” the designer said. “We can’t wait to see Comic Sans Pro used in everything from second wedding announcements to warning labels. Long live Comic Sans!”
- April 1, 2011 @ 06:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
The total bitchin’ rock star from Mars does Riverdale
Just remember he doesn't like small talk, girls
Oh my … as if Charlie Sheen’s troubles couldn’t get any worse, artist Fernando Ruiz details Archie’s worst nightmare. Keep him away from underage girls! Archie Comics sent this over, and I can only assume it’s a joke, rather than an upcoming storyline. Hopefully.
In any event, if you haven’t gotten enough of Sheen’s rantings, The Sheen Family Circus has mashed them up with Family Circus cartoons. Jeffy’s got quite the mouth on him.
- March 4, 2011 @ 06:00 AM by JK Parkin
Your video of the day | The ‘gritty’ melodrama of Riverdale
Anthony Konechny as Archie Andrews in the "Riverdale" parody trailer
I can think of few better ways to start off the morning than with this beautifully filmed and delightfully over-the-top parody fan trailer for Riverdale, a “gritty” remake of the ageless Archie Comics franchise.
Directed by Andrew de Villiers and written by Michael Cope and Rhys Finnick, the trailer was created with the help of about 100 Craigslist volunteers from the Vancouver film industry: “We produced this and the 10 other comedic videos on a budget of $3, 500 over a weekend. The Craigslist inspired and random nature of this production brought the director and his girlfriend together. It also united the executive producer’s wife with her long lost friend/boyfriend when she recognized him playing the character of Moose.”
It’s a terrific parody that heaps on amounts of melodrama usually reserved for a Lifetime Original Movie (alas, Nancy McKeon is nowhere to be seen). Watch Riverdale after the break.
- February 25, 2011 @ 07:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
A second Spider-Man musical gets the jump on Turn Off the Dark
The Spidey Project (logo by Gregg Rafuse)
A day before the much-publicized, and widely lampooned, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark opens on Broadway — well, a day before it’s supposed to open — another, smaller Spider-musical will premiere at the Peoples Improv Theater in New York City: a parody called The Spidey Project: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility.
The brainchild of comedian and composer Justin Moran, the goal of the project is to put together a “fully realized” musical based on Spider-Man in under 30 days with no budget, and do it before Julie Taymor’s repeatedly delayed, and poorly reviewed, $65-million production officially opens. “Our goal isn’t to tear down Julie Taymor or parody her production,” Moran tells The New York Times. “Our goal is to do what she should have done in the first place, and that’s just make a really good musical.”
To help, Moran has enlisted writer Jon Roufaeal to collaborate on the story and book — it’s “100 percent” based on the comic-book origin, so no spider-legged Arachne here! — and composers Adam Podd and Doug Katsaros to write and arrange the score. (There’s no Mary Jane in The Spidey Project, either. “This story pre-dates her a bit,” Moran notes in an FAQ.)
Tickets for the musical will be available as the March 14 opening draws closer. No ticket price has been set, but Moran hopes it will be nominal: “Ideally tickets will be free, but I understand it costs money to keep a theater opened so if they absolutely need to charge a small cost, like $5 a ticket, just to pay their insurance fees or internal staff so we can have our show, I think that’s pretty fair.”
- February 23, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Exclusive Preview | Possessions Vol. 2 by Ray Fawkes
Possessions, Book Two
Let’s get started with the first of many exclusive previews we’ll have for you today. Courtesy of our friends at Oni Press, we’re pleased to bring you a 15-page preview of the second volume of Possessions by Ray Fawkes. You might know Fawkes from such works as Spookshow, The Apocalipstix, Mnemovore and, of course, the first volume of Possessions.
The second Possessions features the return of Gurgazon the Unclean, a pit demon who looks like a five-year-old girl and is trapped in the Llewellyn-Vane House for Captured Spirits and Ghostly Curiosities. In this second volume, subtitled “The Ghost Table,” Ms. Llewellyn-Vane hosts a rival spirit collector and her collection of ghosts for dinner, and Gurgazon’s the main attraction.
You can find the preview and more information on the book after the jump; please note that the preview is an uncorrected proof. It’s scheduled to come out in March.
- January 2, 2011 @ 06:26 AM by JK Parkin
Robot 6 Q&A | Comedy writers unleash The Devastator humor anthology
The Devastator #2
After running a successful Kickstarter campaign, Geoffrey Golden and Amanda Meadows launched The Devastator earlier this year, a humor anthology that features a mix of prose and comics by a variety of contributors. Each issue focuses on a particular subject; the first issue lampooned cartoons like Fat Albert, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Inspector Gadget, while the second issue will take aim at science fiction when it comes out later this week.
Contributors to the anthology include a mix of humor writers, Hollywood folks and cartoonists — James Urbaniak of The Venture Bros. fame, Masterpiece Comics creator R. Sikoryak, Wondermark creator David Malki!, Antz co-writer Todd Alcott and Metalocalypse‘s Jon Schnepp, among many others. Per their site, “The Devastator publishes quarterly, which naturally means twice a year.”
I met Golden and Meadows at the Alternative Press Expo in October and caught back up with them this week to talk about the anthology.
JK: So to start off, introduce yourselves. What do you do in addition to the anthology?
Geoffrey: I’m Geoffrey Golden, co-founder and editor in chief of The Devastator. In addition, I’m a freelance writer/editor – I’ve written for Cracked, MadAtoms, National Lampoon and recently finished writing an animated movie for Lionsgate and Mondo Media (Happy Tree Friends).
Amanda: I’m Amanda Meadows, co-founder and managing editor of The Devastator. I too am a freelance writer/editor; I’ve written for College Humor, McSweeney’s, and worked at a publishing company for some time.
JK: What made you want to start publishing your own humor publication?
Geoffrey: Groupies.
- December 7, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Kerry Callen imagines a world where Monkey Ghost Rider reigned
by Kerry Callen
Comics creator Kerry Callen has posted the second of two fun posts that dare to ask the question: What if DC published Marvel characters in the 1960s? And the answers are pretty awesome: Monkey Ghost Rider! Composite Power Man/Iron First! Fat Spider-Man! And a Captain America who has to eat his shield. Fun stuff; go check’em out.
- November 29, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
Preview: The Martian Confederacy Volume 2: From Mars With Love
The Martian Confederacy
Coming this holiday season is the “worlds first child slave labor comedy” — The Martian Confederacy Volume 2: From Mars With Love by Jason McNamara (First Moon) and Paige Braddock (Jane’s World)
It’s the sequel to their 2008 graphic novel about a ragtag group of heroes on Mars in the year 3535. Here’s the description of the sequel: “Hearts will be broken, moons will be destroyed and hooch will flow in zero gravity in this sci-fi romantic action comedy set in the year 3535. When someone, or something, starts kidnapping the children of Mars, the planet’s most notorious outlaws band together to rescue them. Off world, out numbered and falling apart from within can the Martian Confederates discover the secret of Phobos before they destroy each other? And does what ‘happen in space, stay in space?’”
You can find it in Previews under order code 101040; the 150-page graphic novel costs $15. Check out a huge 25-page preview of it after the jump.
- November 2, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin