Setting up for Tom Lenk Live! in Portland, Oregon

You probably know Tom Lenk as Andrew from Buffy the Vampire Slayer but I probably know him from his recent visit to the city of Portland where I live and eat french fries and where he was performing his one man show Tom Lenk Live! (and also where he ate french fries).

Following an exchange of inappropriate (from me) emails, an interview (with me) for the Portland Mercury, and general bonding over our shared confusion regarding the rules of PR vs. Journalism, Tom invited me to accompany him on his special secret private tour of Buffy comics mecca Dark Horse HQ and so I did! And I took a few pictures! Maybe even some I wasn’t supposed to!

Scott Allie (Senior Editor of Dark Horse) kicked off our tour with a champagne toast aboard the S.S. I Get That, the official Dark Horse Yacht™ made out of cherub dust and the finely crushed bones of baby slayers. Oh ha! I MAKE THINGS UP SOMETIMES. That did not happen but Scott did take time out of his crazy schedule to lead Tom and his gaggle (Tom’s word!) of friends around the modest yet still exciting Dark Horse offices.

After a pretty detailed tutorial from Scott on the complexities of modern comics creation, he led us into the Joss Whedon room. For reals. I don’t remember if the room is actually called that but since it’s filled with Buffy, Dollhouse, and Firefly things one would assume. One would also assume one would write these things down but one would be overestimating one’s professionalism. Additionally, this room held an Iron Man helmet. A Captain America shield was conspicuously absent. I am just saying.

OMG there is a slayer...right...behind...you.

Next up, we saw some sort of super official meeting room with a whiteboard of secrets I was not allowed to photograph. I guess this was what you would call the War Room. Or maybe you wouldn’t but Patton certainly would- Patton Oswalt, I mean. Because he likes comics and…anyway.

In the War Room, we saw Tom leaf through a collection of Buffy Season 8 comics looking for the drawings of himself. Do not judge – you guys would do the EXACT SAME THING.

Remember that time you wrote a comic and I was in it?

After this, I peed. I refrained from taking a picture. Barely.

Next, we tried to get into the toy shop but it was closed and we could only peer through the window which, as nerds, is a pretty accurate metaphor for our lives.

Sigh.

Swallowing our disappointment, we gaggled™ our way upstairs to the tech-y area where we learned that even super genius Dark Horse graphics people can’t always make the computers work. Seriously though, if you had Tom Lenk and a Really Important Journalist Named Kiala standing over your shoulder, you’d get all flustered too (I SMELL LIKE DIAMONDS). It was actually pretty fascinating stuff regarding colors on the computer screen versus colors in print and the different challenges involved in translating a comic from one language to another but I did not take pictures. I was afraid the flash or whatever would screw up an entire run of The Goon or something and then Scott Allie would smother me with a Star Wars: The Old Republic pillow.

After the tour ended, we all thanked Scott profusely and headed across the street for lemon sorbet and antique shopping. I am not even shitting you. BEST TOUR EVER.

Go see Tom’s Showee
He makes jokes about Blowees!

(Sorry. Tom asked me to write a poem.He’s probably sorry he did now.)

SEATTLE:
LABOR DAY WEEKEND
Sep. 3 – 5 @ The Annex Theater

Toronto
Sep. 25 @ Theatre Passe Muraille

tix here!

Felicia Day's gonna kill some Geth. No big deal.

Image Via Felicia Day

When faced with the insane crowds at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, I did what any professional journalist would do – I ran back to my hotel room and watched Prince of Persia while sipping soothing champagne from the mini bar. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed the evening social parts of SDCC (seeing Hammer Improv live, hanging out with the Guildies, being on a panel of wicked smart lady nerds, meeting John Oliver from The Daily Show and making him laugh OMG) but the Con itself was more than overwhelming-it was panicattackwhelming. A nine out of ten VERY NECESSARY AND PRESCRIBED Klonopins, is what I’m saying.

Thursday was relatively calm and I was able to attend some panels, hang out at the Axe Cop booth, drool over everything at Oni Press and Dark Horse, and stare longingly at the TRON light cycle. But Friday was a NIGHTMARE. While waiting in line for the BONES panel news starting circling on the Twitters of the now infamous Harry Potter Anti Squatter Eye Stabbing . [UPDATE: Actually, the eye stabbing happened on Saturday while I was in line at Starbucks. YOU SEE HOW CONFUSING COMIC CON IS?] Soon after that bit of excitement/horror we were informed there was no way in hell any of us were getting in to see BONES. I cried a little on my press pass then wiped my nose with my pro pass. Yes, that’s right. I had both kinds of fancy passes which were were clearly useless. At that point, I gave up and went searching for a mojito while mumbling “I wanted to be queen of the lab harrumph.”

On Saturday, I hovered around the DC Universe booth for awhile but the fifteen year old dudes bogart-ing the machines would not let me in and anyway they all smelled like B.O. and Red Bull. I did get to play the new TRON: Evolution work-in-progress game (coming out in November) and it is FUN you guys – light cycles and future jai alai amped up to MCP levels of bad assness. So at the very least I did get to do one token gaming thing.

I’ve covered cons in the past – WonderCon, Azkatraz, etc… but this was just too complicated for me. There were limited edition prints and variants to be had but the trick was you had to enter a raffle, win a wristband, and then wait in line to maybe, MAYBE buy them. Even the line at Starbucks was a gamble as to whether you’d ever really get your drink. In my opinion, Wonder Con, PAX, and Emerald City Con are better bets for the more er…sensitive of us: the delicate snowflakes who can’t handle the lines, noise, and madness of Comic Con. And please don’t think I wasn’t thrilled to be a part of SDCC because I really was incredibly excited to meet so many amazing people – just maybe not while surrounded by 10,000 screaming kids dressed as Avatar: The Last Airbender.

I guess what I’d like to know is were any of you at SDCC 2010 and did you feel like it was more crazy than years past? Or the same? Or am I just being a big baby who needed to nut up (if I had nuts which I don’t because you had to enter a raffle to get a wristband to wait in a line for…oh never mind). Thoughts please.

Tweetsies!

Art by Joseph Remnant.

Renowned comic writer and beloved curmudgeon Harvey Pekar passed away earlier this week.  His insight into the human condition touched thousands of readers and inspired brilliant artists, including Robert Crumb, Frank Stack and Gary Dumm.

Even in death, Pekar continues to inspire pieces like the one above, a collaboration between The Daily Cross Hatch editor Brian Heater and Pekar Project artist Joseph Remnant.  Heater explained,

I gave [Remnant] the words (borrowed, naturally, from the master), and he came back with an image this afternoon that far exceeded what I had haphazardly sketched out in my mind.

Pekar left us with a the magnificent American Splendor series (along with several unfinished works that may or may not be released) and a throng of bleary-eyed fans including myself, coming to terms with a great loss.

So, see you Harvey.  You don’t seem like one for long goodbyes, but here’s hoping you know how important you were as the unimportant everyman.

[more remembrances]

To celebrate the release of Paul F. Tompkins’s's’s latest stand-up release Freak Wharf, I had the honor of sitting down with him as the inaugural personality for my 1Q1A series:

CH: So how are you, Paul?
PFT: Great.
CH: Thank you for being here.
PFT: My pleasure.

If you enjoy comedy, pick up Freak Wharf digitally on iTunes or in the physical universe from AST Records.

(via Geekery at its finest)

It’s been a while.
But much like running into an ex at the grocery when you look like shit, I’m going to make a lame excuse to avoid small talk.
“Great to see you but I’ve got to run… I have terrible, terrible diarrhea.”

Down to business: Final Crisis, Dark Reign, War of Kings, New Krypton… so much to cover.

For those of you who forgot, or are a new reader, or you don’t read my postings because you think you’re too good for comics…don’t think I don’t know who you are… I know.
This is where I’ll be giving tiny reviews for 10 different books (and by books I mean titles, not necessarily individual issues) in no particular order that have delighted, horrified or given me a total “holy shit!” moment. It’s for those of you who need a bit of a current events catch-up.

10 BOOKS • 3 SENTENCES (SPOILER ALERT!)

1) DARK AVENGERS 01 – Hello time warp, we’re back to the original Thunderbolts issue 01, only this time we’re in on the scam. Daken as Wolverine, Moonstone as Ms. Marvel, Venom as Spider-Man & best of all, Bullseye as Hawkeye; all led by Norman Osborn (the former Green Goblin) in Captain-America-meets-Iron-Man-armor. Can you smell the future cross-overs? (I can, smells like swimming pool dollar bills)

2) ACTION 873 – The shit hits the fan when a full-tilt kerfuffle breaks out between the JLA, JSA, Superman, Supergirl & a cadre of pissed Kryptonian military types. New Krypton up & launches itself into space under the command of Supergirl’s recently widowed mom, Alura. Oh, & the mysterious Superwoman gives Agent Liberty the ol’ heat vision lobotomy death ala that one episode of the Justice League cartoon.

3) SECRET SIX 06 – Great writing & great art give us a book where the good guys are bad guys & they’re getting they’re asses handed to them on a regular basis. Case & point: the book starts with the Six rescuing a near-death Bane from an extended torture session. It ends with one of their own shooting one member in the stomach, shooting another in the head, driving a car over the spine of another to smash a fourth… WTF!?

4) THUNDERBOLTS 128 – Norman Osborn (that one again) is brought onto Airforce One to answer to the newly elected president for past crimes. The supposedly dead second Black Widow (Yelena Belova) is recruited for an all-new, black ops version of the Thunderbolts. Oh, & the Green Goblin attacks Airforce One, the President & Norman Osborn… wait, WHAT?!

5) FINAL CRISIS 07 of 07 – Um… I have no idea. Apparently everything that happened technically happened off panel, so… This is the third sentence.

6) SECRET INVASION WAR OF THE KINGS 01 – This is no surprise to me, but the Inhumans are badass. Revenge on the Skrulls for the abduction of their king, Black Bolt is devastating & spills over onto the Shi’ar Empire. Just for good measure, they take over rulership of the entire Kree Empire… why? because they’re BADASS!

7) FINAL CRISIS THE LEGION OF THREE WORLDS 03 – A personal favorite… I mean… George Perez drawing the adventures of the classic pre-crisis Legion of Superheroes! Not sure what this has to do with the official “Final Crisis” mini-series… & don’t want to know. Did I mention George Perez & the pre-crisis Legion of Superheroes?
SECRET WARRIORS 01 – Nick Fury is back & he’s recruited a bunch of the offspring of 2nd & 3rd tier heroes & villains to form a new team of outside-the-system agents. What makes this book worth mentioning?… the ALIAS-like (the show starring Jennifer Garner, not the comic starring Jessica Jones) reveal where S.H.I.E.L.D. was a branch of Hydra all along. I miss ALIAS.

9) UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL 02 – Emma Frost, the former Hellfire Club White Queen used to play hide-the-pickle with Sub-Mariner?! Cool. The drastic difference between the dueling art styles of Mitch Breitweiser & Daniel Acuña is a bit jarring, but this little chapter of Marvel history is well worth the read.

10) X-FACTOR 39 – Per Peter David’s desperate plea on the “Previously On…” page, I have waited several weeks to mention the following. The baby that Siryn has been carrying for the last 9 months was actually an infant version of a dupe of Jamie Maddrox (the father). An infant dupe that he immediately & inadvertently reabsorbs minutes after birth.

Boom goes the Dynamite.

Your pal,

Arnie, the fanboy who wishes Halloween came more than once a year.

I came out to New York to enjoy Comic-Con, unseasonable warmth and an odd number of its citizens yelling at people on their cell phones. Seriously. I’ve seen this multiple times so far. I guess times are making people cranky and also unaware that their phones don’t provide a privacy bubble when in use. My favorite overheard thing so far:

[Mook in Trenchcoat Briskly Walking while Shouting]
“No I will NOT listen! I haven’t touched a woman in SIX MONTHS.”

While at the Con, I moderated a panel for a new Comedy Central show called “Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire” which is a delightful nerd-themed comedy in a D&D-type world setting. Sean Maguire (Meet the Spartans) and India De Beaufort (Run Fatboy Run) head the cast and were an absolute delight. Although not in attendance, I have to give a special salute to Matt Lucas (Little Britain) who rocks it as the show’s villain, Chancellor Dongalor. I enjoyed the episodes I watched and am pleased that Comedy Central is recognizing the massive nerd audience that needs entertainment to jam into their pulsating brains!

RE: Ghostbusters game. It looks completely rad. If you had told me in 1984 having watched the movie six times in the theater that such a thing could exist, I may have involuntarily evacuated my bowels on the spot in preparation for running to wherever I could exchange money for it. The only complaints I heard from some of the people playing was that the Wii Nunchuck controllers were a little challenging with regard to aiming the proton packs. Still, I hope this game comes out soon so I can form my own damn opinion (the line to play was too long). The only indication I saw of a realease date said “2009,” but if anyone else has any other info then please feel free to share.

Created with flickrSLiDR.

And for future reference, I have started the Nerdist Flickr page, which will slowly begin filling up with photographic goodness.

Hello fellow Nerdists (with emphasis on the comic reading sub section).
How great does the “refresh” of Nerdist.com look?!
I have a shirt that looks like the new banner… I don’t wear it though… it makes me look fat.
Seriously, great job Chris.

Down to business.
I thought I’d start the New Year out with a 3 new comic book-focused segments:

10 BOOKS * 3 SENTENCES:
This is where I’ll be giving tiny reviews for 10 different books (and by books I mean titles, not necessarily individual issues) in no particular order that have delighted, horrified or given me a total “holy shit!” moment. It’s for those of you who need a bit of a current events catch-up.

I’M WATCHING YOU:
I’ll be giving you my take on any new, now interesting or breakout characters that deserve special notice.

KICK-ASS COVER:
Pretty self-explanatory. My favorite recent cover and why.

Let’s go…

10 BOOKS * 3 SENTENCES (SPOILER ALERT!)

1) SECRET INVASION 08 (of – A doomsday-disease infected Wasp is killed by Thor to end the Skull Secret Invasion. Tony Stark is removed from power and replaced by Norman Osborn (yes, the former Green Goblin) as head of Superhuman Affairs. The duplicated/replaced heroes (Spider-Woman, Hank Pym, Mockingbird, etc.) are discovered alive (cop-out?).
2) GREEN LANTERN CORPS 031 – The Star Sapphire Corps continues to grow. Truly horrifying Sinestro Corps member, Kryb, is abducting Green Lantern Corps member’s babies. A final, full-page panel featuring Kryb about to give a pregnant GL a forced cesarean… commence dry heaves.
3) CAPTAIN AMERICA THEATER OF WAR: AMERICA FIRST – An untold adventure of the Steve Rogers clone that acted as Captain America in the 50′s. A great insight into the extremist factions of the Cold War/McCarthyism era. Also features some nicely re-colored but ultimately forgettable reprinted, back up stories.
4) SECRET INVASION REQUIEM – The proper tribute to the Winsome Wasp that The Mighty Avengers #20 was not. More re-colored, reprinted stories of Hank and Jan’s history. Hank ultimately gives himself new powers and assumes the mantle of Wasp as tribute to his fallen love.
5) SUPERGIRL 34-36 – There’s a “New Krypton” in the Artic and in one fell swoop, nearly three years of questionable writing are undone thanks to Kryptonite poisoning. Supergirl is reunited with her parents only to have her father (Zor-El) brutally murdered in an attack coordinated by Lex Luthor. Also, who is Super Woman?…. no, I’m asking…
6) HULK 09 – Guest stars galore in two beautifully drawn, smash-filled stories. Sentry, Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight and Brother Voodoo versus WENDIHULK! She-Hulk, Valkyrie, Thundra, Invisible Woman, Storm, Spider-Woman, Hellcat, Tigra and Black Widow versus the Red Hulk.
7) Justice Society of America 022 – It’s the end of the “GOG” storyline and the God-like creature has rescinded his gifts/cures after the Justice Society refuses to give worship. The Kingdom Come Superman tears off his head and deposits on the Great God Wall then with the help of Starman, returns to the Kingdom Come Universe shortly after he left… facing the aftermath of a nuclear weapon dropped on a war of super powered beings. We’re treated to a recap of what follows in the original Kingdom Come mini-series, including all-new art by Alex Ross himself… a real masterpiece with a great ending. Ultimatum 02 – Ultimate Magneto’s tidal wave has devastated Manhattan and the death toll is rising. Ultimate Valkyrie dead, Ultimate Captain America drowned, Ultimate Wasp eaten by the Ultimate Blob (again with the Wasp, seriously WTF?!) and Ultimate Professor X getting his neck snapped by Ultimate Magneto himself. Can you say Ultimate reboot?… ultimately.
9) Top 10 Season Two – It’s a simple story about the lives of cops… in city where EVERYONE is a superhero. Inter office politics, anti-robotic prejudice, finding your true origin seminars, mandatory uniform requirements, marital problems, budget issues, revolving upper management… These are the beautifully drawn, well written stories about us… if we were super powered cops.
10) Thor 012 – Loki with the help of Hela goes back in time to participate in his own origin. If you’ve been reading this title, this book gives us great insight into the motivations behind Loki’s machinations and brings us full circle beautifully. Plus we get this great word balloon, “I cannot go back and change what has happened. But I can make what happened happen. And spend the rest of my very, very long life wondering which came first. But ultimately… not caring a whit.”

I’M WATCHING YOU
Jocasta, I’m watching you. This tragic, oft-destroyed lady robot introduced in the 70′s/George Perez era of the Avengers has been making the rounds throughout the Marvel universe as of late. Avengers: The Initiative, Marvel Zombies Part 3, Secret Invasion Requiem… this could be Jocasta’s break out year. My personal take: the fact that she’s imprinted with the recently deceased Wasp’s personality means that she’s going to factor into the eventual resurrection/rebirth of Janet Van Dyne (Come on. Nobody stays dead in the Marvel Universe).

KICK ASS COVER
Hulk 09 by Art Adams: Here’s why… 1) it’s beautifully drawn. 2) It’s an homage cover to Avengers 83,by John Buscema and Tom Palmer that took place right in the middle of the Women’s Movement of the 70′s. Good times. I tracked this particular issue down back when I was in college to add to my personal collection. Also, this is the first appearance of the Valkyrie (even though it’s really the Enchantress in disguise). Boom goes the dynamite.

Hope you enjoyed these segments…
Please don’t hesitate to tell me how wrong I am… it’s what makes America great.

Your pal,
Arnie, the coolest fan-boy you know.

R.I.P. Wasp

A couple of weeks ago I was enjoying some delicious Thanksgiving morsels at a friend’s house when I got into a nerd-versation with a delightful chap by the name of Arnie, who doesn’t just love comic books, he nurtures them. I assume that every night before bed he gives them some sort of Cider House Rules tuck-in treatment. Now, I’m not a huge comic guy. My grade school buddy, Mike Soper, scared me away from it. Every week he would buy two copies of EVERYTHING. One to read, and one to keep in the mylar–and the ones he read he still put back in mylar. The depth and breadth of his collection and its organizational system made me say to myself, “Screw this A LOT,” and I promptly became obsessed with chess, D&D and computers. The moral is, WE BOTH LOST. Back to my original point, I really liked Arnie so I asked him to start doing the occassional “Comics Nerdist” report so as not to deprive the young nerdlings who don’t get that need satisfied by my snarky gadgetry talk. Here is his first entry:

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN.

Okay so it’s official, DC wants the Silver Age back. Well, I’m being liberal with the term, “Silver Age”, what I really mean is the status quo that DC enjoyed right before Crisis On Infinite Earths.

It’s been a bit of a slow, almost subtle build up. Over the last few years we’ve seen…

1. The return of the late Oliver Queen/Green Arrow.
2. The return of the late Hal Jordan/Green Arrow.
3. The return of the late Carter Hall/Hawkman.
4. Black Canary being slightly de-aged and having her Canary Cry returned.
5. The reintroduction of the Kara the Kryptonian Supergirl.

I’m sure I’m missing a few… and I’m sure someone will let me know…

Anyway, ever since Infinite Crisis hit in 05/06, the brakes on this particular train have been cut…

1. Superman was Superboy as a young man again.
2. Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash, is back!
3. The original Pre-Crisis Legion of Superheroes is back.
4. Wonder Woman is now Diana Prince again (love the white jumper).
5. The original New Teen Titans (ground breaking George Perez/Marv Wolfman era) have reformed as the Titans.
6. The current Justice League Roster looks more like the Satellite era League than what we’ve seen in years.
7. Earth 2, THE Earth 2 is back giving us the return of the Helena
   Wayne Huntress and the Adult Robin plus many others that were done away
   with in their post-crisis existence.
8. The return of the original Challengers of the Unknown.
9. The Freedom Fighters, the Outsiders, the Global Guardians and the Doom Patrol have all reformed with somewhat altered line-ups.

Once again, I’m sure I’m missing something.

The question is: Is this return to the 80′s status quo a bad thing?

Me, personally, I think it’s pretty cool.

I was there reading about these character the first time around and consider them to be “classic”. Maybe I’m reliving the wonderment of reading these tales as a tween boy. Only now, they’re being written for me as an adult. Comic fans are older now, and as a result the books are skewed for an older audience.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “I grew up with comics and comics grew up with me”.

The whole point of the original Crisis was that DC felt that their established multi-verse was too complicated. Well, I was 12 and the concept of Earth 2,3,S,X, etc. made perfect sense to me. It was cool. Don’t get me wrong… at the time I thought Crisis on Infinite Earths was an amazing comic (still do as I sit here typing in front of my oversized poster of Alex Ross painted over George Perez ‘ pencils poster of said Crisis) and I voraciously read everything (nearly) published after the “Man of Steel” mini-series that helped established the new, streamlined DC continuity.

So welcome back multi verse, welcome back Silver Age. I missed you…. Without even realizing it.

My predictions for the future?

1)   Arthur Curry returning from the dead to resume his role as Aquaman
2)   Barbara Gordon becoming Batgirl again

By Your Pal,
Arnie: The Hero in His Own Comic Life.

“I’m totally bi… I like Marvel and DC.”