Elder Goth: Nightmare

Super Awesome

"This kid had lost his dad in the crowd, and freaked out until he saw the Flash and Wonder Woman. He went up to the Flash to ask for help, because he knows him.”

Hey, kid, forget the Flash - ask for a hug from the Amazonian.

Palin in New Steampunk Comic Book

Sarah Palin is everywhere these days and now Palin can be seen in the panels of a new comic book. On the heels of Sarah Palin giving fans a new television series with Sarah Palin's Alaska on TLC, Palin is now featured in her own comic book called "Steampunk Palin."

According to Comics Alliance, Antarctic Press recently released the latest comic in their Steampunk line, Steampunk Palin, which features former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin as a sexy steam-powered cyborg on a mission to save the planet.

Check out Sarah Palin on the cover of Steampunk Palin after the synopsis below:

Steampunk Palin Synopsis:

Energy catastrophe has struck worldwide! Massive oil spills, nuclear meltdowns and more leave us desperate for viable energy sources to rebuild global society and technology. Inspired by a little tea party, Sarah Palin hits upon the answer: steam power! She begins the “Steam Initiative”, touting geothermal energy as the cure for what ails ya. The heads of Big Oil and Nuclear Power are less than happy with this trend, and they send their agents to do in the Rogue Republican. Luckily, she comes prepared with a set of steam-powered armor! (Standard equipment, don’cha know.)

Thank you : Written by Troy Rogers

The Week in Review: Sunday Comics

Not sure how, but we made it through another week. It's been a bit busy for me, so I haven't kept up my usual at least three comments a day -- but I'm also so burnt out from the Arizona shooting story... both sides have been unusually loud and obnoxious. I've heard liberal friends actually discuss the idea of scrapping the first amendment. This disturbs me more than when they discuss scrapping the second one.

Sorry, it wasn't discourse - it was that the shooter was an unstable sack of excrement. He didn't watch MSNBC or FOX News - he didn't even watch television. In fact, if you look at the numbers, hardly anyone but reporters watch the cable 'news' channels. 9 things I've learned about the shooter are that he took a picture of himself, his gun and a red thong and dropped that off at Walgreens. He's not nuts - he's f-ing with us. He also got stopped for a moving violation on the way to the Safeway. His parents are messed up, and the neighbors were unnerved by them.
He was a conspiracy nut, and played video games (Earth 2025, specifically). And he turned to drugs after his girlfriend dumped him... 5 years ago. But he loved his dog.

But everyone else is allowing this thing to be a metaphor for everything else in the country... and I'm getting really, really sick of it. I prefer this method...
Rational discourse...
And the media is completely innocent...
Oh, and Illinois debated ending the death penalty (failed by a vote) and under the cover of darkness, the lame duck State House raised the income and corporate taxes... a lot. So Illinois is still killing people, and business too, apparently.
Meanwhile, half a world a way...
And the one year anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti has come and gone. The Red Cross has spent 50 cents for every dollar raised. The other 50 cents is, er, you know, overhead. So, please, give more!
Hopefully we'll be able to regroup and gather again next week?

Super Christmas Carol

A classic Christmas carol gets a Super upgrade.

Krampus

Nate Bellegarde adds some seasonal flair to
George Pérez’s classic Crisis cover.

Comic Book Owner's Cartoons

Working retail means working with the public. Working with the public means overhearing some crazy stuff. Working in a Comic Shop - means you attract the fringe crazy public. They say some neat things. So here's some actual customer quotes into pithy one-panel cartoons.

(Warning: shoppers have filthy NSFW mouths. Many of the cartoons contain swear words.)

"I don't f***ing care, Mom. I wasn't gonna run for the bus. These are my good sweatpants!"

"Just so you know, I'm the mayor of this store on Foursquare."

OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS (Thanks, Dan!)

Sunday Comics: Week in Review

We made it. Finish line. The end of the week. The power is still on, and the Zombie Apocalypse is on AMC and not on my street -- that's a half truth, as it's Halloween. We can still ward off the zombies and Batmen, and the Princess Fairy Ballerinas with small packets of High Fructose Corn Syrup rather than Remington lead.
Meantime, on the Mall of America - the one in DC, not Minnesota, two comedian political commentators are holding a rally. Jon Stewart's Speech Today

Full text HTML -

Best reaction from YouTube comments:

"This is the kind of speech you want to see quoted in future history books.

And these beautiful words were not given by a world leader, president, or congressman. They were given by a stand-up comedian who has a comedy show on TV.

We are at a strange time in the kingdom, when the wisest, sanest, most rational voice of them all is that of the court jester."

Meantime - here's your digital button to display on 4 square, facebook, or what have - you.

Meantime Linus sits in his pumpkin patch waiting for real reason to rise out of there and give him presents. Or is The Great Pumpkin supposed to be a deity? Either way, rational Linus gets duped every year. And they call Charlie Brown a loser. Maybe Peanuts are deeper than we give them credit?
Still doesn't change the fact the Democrats are in for a bloodbath on Tuesday.
But, hilariously, it's not the Democrats who are going to lose - it's ALL of US! I particularly like this cartoon, and I would even say it's one of my favorites of the year.Finally, this was found on a wall.
Thank good peer reviewed science we made it. Hope to see you at the end of next week.

PS - Back in the day, the Halloween Hours were posted. It was After Dinner (5:30 to 7:30) Before Bed.
Now, I've heard of people taking the kiddies out as early as 2:00 PM? WTF? Come on! I'm not answering the door at 2 PM unless you have a warrant. And, look, teenagers, you can come and have my small packet of M&M's - that's fine. Respect the light on - I'm playing, Light off - I'm not. We cool?

But you know what pisses me off the most? It's parents Trick-or-Treating with babies. Not that I don't want to see your little angel dressed up as the Bride of Frankenstein -- it's that you're asking me to give you candy... for the baby? Seriously?

No. Because you, the parent are going to eat it, or much worse, you'll give it to that child.

Synergy Failure

ESPN is owned by The Walt Disney Company, which also happens to own Marvel Entertainment, so it’s only right to combine the two — right? Yeah, great idea...

Because comic books and jock cultures meld SO well in real life? Perhaps because you CAN do a thing, doesn't necessarily mean you SHOULD do a thing?

And if we're really going to nitpick - why would heroes be fighting each other on the court? They're all Avengers... which means they're all on the same team fighting the bad guys. Shouldn't Kobe be Dr. Doom or some nonsense?

Sunday Comics: Rights

GOD HATES NERDS

Great, now God Hates Nerds

Our favorite intolerant hunt and peck the bible quotes that support our goofy agenda Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church sure have a lot of time on their hands. When they're not protesting dead soldiers at their funerals, because America loves 'the gays' they're at the San Diego Comic-Con. Yes, I know that was a run on sentence, but since there's no logic to the previous sentence, I'm going to look past the grammar right now. So according to the loving Westboro, Comic-Con is a gathering of lost souls who are obsessively worshipping false idols like Batman:

Are you kidding?! If these people would spend even some of the energy that they spend on these comic books, reading the Bible, well no high hopes here. They have turned comic book characters into idols, and worship them they do! Isaiah 2:8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: 9 And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not. It is time to put away the silly vanities and turn to God like you mean it. The destruction of this nation is imminent - so start calling on Batman and Superman now, see if they can pull you from the mess that you have created with all your silly idolatry.

Members of the church intend on staging a 45-minute protest during one of the least busy days of the convention in order to get everyone back on the right track.

My response is that I have read the bible, and there are some very obvious geeky/nerd passages. First off there's that UFO in Ezekiel - come on, that's X-Files if I ever saw it... and then Psalm 69:4:

Which Kirk saith of Khan, "They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away." Psalm 69:4.

And of course our friends at Westboro don't realize is that comics ARE a kind of religion, and telling the same types of morality tales found in their ancient texts. You can't convince me that Superman isn't Jewish. However, since that won't hold up as a quick argument - realize that they're protesting the hobby comic books. What's next model trains?

If they knew anything about the medium, they'd know that there are hundreds of Christian books, and even Robert Crumb painstakingly recreated the entire book of Genesis (another Star Trek II reference, natch!) in comic form.

And before getting too far into an argument about the art of the medium, and how powerful a medium it can be...

Let's read a passage from Romulans 2:

You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things.
~ Romulans 2:1

And if that's not enough to end this, we'll just say NERDS HATE CHURCH and call it even.

Thanks to Reader "T" who sent in the article from Gizmodo for the base of this post.

RIP Harvey Pekar

RIP of the Day: Legendary comic book writer Harvey Pekar passed away today of as-yet unknown causes. He was 70 years old.

[plaindealer.]

If Real Life Were More Like The Internet

Sunday Comics: The Week in Review

The week that was...
The Pope outlined his new strategy in dealing with problems. The 'hear and speak no evil' plan seems to be what he's figured out will work the best.
Our friends in Congress have decided to go for the final flush this week. Arm twisting and character assassinations of Dennis Kuinich show that Nancy doesn't care about losing the House - just this bill - rules and bodies be damned.

Meanwhile, Israel is going ahead with that new subdivision.

And Tiger is back...
And Kansas lost... which leaves the old lady receptionist that doesn't know why she's leading in the office bracket pool right now. She made her picks based on what animals the mascots were.

I'd Watch This

Now this is a comic that I'd read every day. I'd even renew my newspaper subscription to read this. And the best part? I guarantee there won't be a laugh track.

Arrested Development in Charlie Brown's World

Wes Anderson Spiderman Reboot

Sunday Comics: Week in Review

It's been a busy week. I've hit my goals of getting two headlines on Fark - unfortunately, they weren't from Blasphemes. I saw this cartoon this week and thought it was the most profound and existential comic strip I've read since Bloom County.

(click on it if you can't read it)

This is the key to getting high scores on posting...

These are the unconnected dots in the plane that almost rained down on Detroit.

Haven't mentioned this situation yet, but the image pretty well sums it up.

And baby it's cold outside.

Marvel Villians To Nuke Soldier Field

First Soldier Field lost its landmark status. Then a space ship landed on it.
I won't even mention how the Chicago Bears continue to defile the 100 yards of grass there.

But now, there's going to be a masacre on the field that has less to do with the lack of a wide out... Marvel comics are going to nuke it.

A comic book miniseries called Siege starts off as a group of villains levels the structure in hopes of framing a few heroes.

Brian Michael Bendis, writer of the four-issue Marvel series, calls Chicago the “most American city” and knew he wanted to center the horrific events there. Soldier Field wasn’t the first Chicago landmark he had his eye on, though.

“My first choice was to blow up Wrigley Field,” he says. “[Marvel Comics Editor in Chief] Joe Quesada is so in love with baseball, he couldn’t imagine blowing it up.” (I can, but, I guess the team is doing a good enough job on it's own.)

After years of superhero infighting and even a civil war that pitted Captain America and Spider-Man against Iron Man and others, Bendis says Siege is set to lay the groundwork of a reunion of sorts.

“I’m not the biggest sports guy (NO!) and I meant no disrespect to sports fans, but we needed something so horrendous to happen for them to be united again,” he says. “Hopefully, this will ring in a new day for Marvel readers.”

The explosion actually happens during a Bears game with a handful of players on the field; the fate of the coaching staff is unknown.

“I heard from numerous Chicago fans who told me they were glad I put the team out of its misery,” he says.

Bendis is currently consulting on the big-budget superhero team film “Avengers,” due in either 2012 or 2013. While he was tight-lipped on future Siege storylines, he did say that some of Marvel’s most recognizable heroes will make a Windy City appearance during the four-issue run.

“We’ve blown up a stadium,” he said. “Respect will be paid.”

Apparently, he also doesn't know that it's a war memorial - so much so that a statue of Walter Payton cannot be allowed to be placed on it or near it. Waiting for someone to bitch about that, oh wait, I just did!

I am Iron Man

If you haven't seen this already (sorry I was away for ten minutes...)

Iron Man 2 takes place only six months after Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) revealed his identity as Iron Man at the end of the first movie. Mickey Rourke stars as a Russian villain named Whiplash. There's also a surprise at the end of the trailer.

Sunday Comics

Sesame Street, 40 years later... an update
Eric Holder gets schooled in how the Judicial system works.
Mr. Obama went to Asia this week. Wins another prize.

American women figure out what rational government health care means... (hit, it's similar to jumbo shrimp)
And speaking of boobs...
Oh, and Sarah Palin put out a book - but I figure you've probably heard enough about that by now.

That was the week that was. Hope you had fun. See you next week!