humor
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
BOOM! catches Bieber fever
BOOM! Studios’ marketing team, Chip Mosher and Ivan Salazar, visited several Los Angeles comic shops yesterday, supposedly to see how their newest comic, Stan Lee’s Soldier Zero, was doing at retail. I say “supposedly” because it looks like Mosher was really on a mission to find a copy of a certain Justin Bieber comic book that also hit shelves yesterday.
To see more of their L.A. comic shop tour, check out their YouTube channel.
- October 21, 2010 @ 11:30 AM by JK Parkin
Hipster superheroes fight crime, tweet and enjoy a Pabst
by H. Caldwell Tanner
H. Caldwell Tanner, Caroline Martin and Michael Christatos imagine several superheroes as hipsters, from an Aquaman who relocated to Portland and a Pabst-drinking Iron Man to a Wonder Woman who drives an Invisible Subaru Outback and a Hulk who shops at American Apparel.
- September 17, 2010 @ 11:30 AM by JK Parkin
‘Doom seeks to grill, not to kill. This night, anyway.’
You know him as the Richards-hating, sorcery-wielding, armor-wearing despot who rules Latveria in the Marvel U. … but who knew he liked to cook? The blog Letters to Holly has nine recipes supplied by Victor Von Doom himself, including steak au pauvre (“When the steaks are finished, Doom commands you to remove steaks from skillet. Keep the drippings in the skillet, filthy cur”), chicken tetrazzini (“Doom forbids you from greasing the pan first. Heed Doom always”) and Doom’s Famous Faji-tortill-orittos (“Doom appreciates lime-flavored chips as a side item. Doom will never admit to licking the lime-dusted fingertips of his luxurious armor”). Who couldn’t go for some faji-tortill-orittos?
- August 27, 2010 @ 03:15 PM by JK Parkin
SDCC ’10 | Ch-ch-ch-ch-Change-Bots Two with Jeffrey Brown
The ‘Bots are back in town! Well, they will be sooner or later, anyway — attending the San Diego Comic-Con is keeping creator Jeffrey Brown from polishing off the last few pages of Incredible Change-Bots Two, the sequel to his loving parody of the Transformers and Go-Bots of ’80s action-figure and cartoon fame, until August. (And yes, the “two” is fully spelled out.) But it’s not keeping him from talking to us about the upcoming Top Shelf release, one of, like, a bajillion books the publisher talked up at its panel today.
How long have you been planning Incredible Change-Bots Two? Did you need to see how the first volume did, or were you full-steam-ahead from the jump?
I started thinking about it shortly after finishing the first on. The book was so much fun to write, and draw, and the characters were already kind of taking on their own life. Plus people really liked the first one, and I hope that someday I’ll make enough things that people like, that they’ll like me too.
What’s the basic scoop on the sequel, storywise? Any new ‘Bots to look forward to?
At the end of the first book, Shootertron was defeated and left in a pile of rubble on Earth while the other Change-Bots headed into space to find a new home. Shootertron wakes up, but has lost his memory, but the other Change-Bots end up back on Earth because of some miscalculations, and a run-in with Shootertron becomes inevitable. There’s lots of new ‘Bots, but they mostly get killed off right away, because there’s not enough room in the book. I liked how the old cartoons did that too, introduce a new character and then the character disappears at the end of the episode.
- July 23, 2010 @ 05:30 PM by Sean T. Collins
‘Gotham’s got nothing on the San Fernando Valley’
by Ward Sutton
Cartoonist Ward Sutton’s heavily linked-to comic strip for the Village Voice parodies the Batman XXX: A Porn Parody that hit finer adult entertainment venues last month. The comic strip features appearances by Batmen of all shapes and sizes, as well as guest appearances by the Ambiguously Gay Duo and the ghost of Fredric Wertham. What could be better than that?
- June 25, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
Ben Templesmith, thespian: ‘… and pretty soon the crying stopped’
Ben Templesmith and Barry in "The Variants"
He’s already widely known as an illustrator, a writer and a sharp dresser, but now Ben Templesmith adds “actor” to the list with a guest-starring role in a two-part episode of The Variants, the online comedy series set at Zeus Comics in Dallas. Duck has he wields a katana! Nod as he recounts the world’s worst break-up! Marvel as he makes with the Mary Poppins impersonation!
- May 12, 2010 @ 08:41 AM by Kevin Melrose
Quote of the day | Chris Ryall on ‘political zeitgeist’
“If only I’d known, I never would’ve changed the Teabagging reference in one of the protestors’ signs to a mention of Batman. Somehow I thought a nod to a DC character would garner more attention for the book. So much for Bat Boy and I having our finger on the political zeitgeist.”
–Chris Ryall, writer of IDW’s Weekly World News comic, in response to the Captain America/Tea Party “controversy”
- February 11, 2010 @ 10:15 AM by JK Parkin
More ‘I am an Avenger’ parodies
I wondered aloud the other day if we’d be seeing more “I am an Avenger” parodies like the one Chip Zdarsky did of Garfield/Tigra. Well, over at The Weekly Crisis, Kirk Warren shares several more, featuring everyone from Beta Ray Bill and Dr. Strange to Optimus Prime and Captain Jack Sparrow. But I think the Nextwave ones are my favorites:
I am an Avenger
Check out their comments section for more … or head over to Paul Milligan’s blog to see his political take on the meme.
And if you’d like to make your own, Joel Clifton made a template. Now we just need a Secret Avengers one, so folks can drop in silhouetted figures.
- February 8, 2010 @ 10:20 AM by JK Parkin
“I am a tiger who is also a lady”
Tigra ... kind of
Chip Zdarsky has the scoop on one of the as-yet-unrevealed members of the relaunching Avengers books. I’m kinda surprised we haven’t seen more humorous mock-ups like this, but maybe they are on the way. Nice Stockton reference, too.
- February 4, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin