About damn time!

AZM ally Hawk has finally put together a sketchbook. You can pick up Hawk Sketchbook #1 at Connecticon and Otakon. I expect they’ll sell our fairly quickly so be sure to find the Applegeeks table as soon as you hit the cons.

Here’s a small peek and the interior!

Congrats to Hawk. This is so freaking awesome! Now that’s he done the one, I expect we’ll see a second volume for next con season. Oh, the arts! So GOOD!

[Via Applegeeks]

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Brian Wilson of Hookie Dookie Panick fame has unleashed his latest webcomic, Geist Panik! Meet Riley Hood, a girl who with no memory who can see ghosts thanks to mystical runes on her irises. With this new found power, she hunts and captures ghosts. And then sells them. For the monies. The first ten strips are up so head on over and be sure to add Geist Panik to your list of web comics.

Good luck, Brian. Love the new style.

[Via Geist Panik]

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Empire has posted an exclusive trailer for Watchmen. I can’t embed so head on over and take a gander.

UPDATE: Found a YouTube version.
UPDATE 2: You can grab the trailer from the site.

I like the Nite Owl’s ship, Doctor Manhattan, Comedian, and of course Rorschach. I’m still not feeling Ozymandias and I think Nite Owl is way too fit. Seriously, Nite Owl should be paying royalties to Batman.

I’m kind of on the fence at this point which is weird. When the first trailer for 300 hit, I almost fell out of my chair. I really liked that movie quite a bit. But I’m a little meh on Watchmen. I certainly appreciate the fact that they seem to be using the comic as story boards for scenes and that we can see Doctor Manhattan’s smurfy wang.

Of course, I’m not looking at this with fresh eyes. I’m one of them old stodgy comic book nerds and probably can’t get past a few nit picks. Who knows. This might be perfect for people not familiar with the source material. They’re the ones that count.

So is does this leave you with a feeling of underwhelming “meh” or will Watchmen give Dark Knight a run for its money for the title of “Greatest comic book film EVAR?”

[Via Empire]

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Everybody was kung fu fighting! HA!

Here’s some more gameplay footage. The fuck is up with Catwoman attacking Sonya with her cleavage? Maybe the extra jiggle generates Catwoman’s strong attack. The actual game play looks like it could be some button mashing fun. It cuts away before we see Scorpion torch Flash. I hope there are finishers despite rumors to the contrary. The game seems like it would be great fun for parties or for a rental, but I don’t foresee purchasing this sucker.

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AZM regular Tyler Anderson sent over a short review of the Gotham Knight and Justice League: New Frontier DVDs.

So, you probably don’t need my opinion on em, but I just picked up Justice League: New Frontier and Batman: Gotham Knight and they’re both absolutely awesome. I got them on the Blu Ray format and everything looks just so crispy and sexy and full of awesomesexysauceyness. I’ll give you the links to trailers, but I really highly reccommend both of these. Justice League is done more in the American style of animation while Batman jumps around but is pretty rooted in anime. Figured you might be interested ^ ^

Here are the trailers for both.

Definitely liking the JLA action although the classic Superman symbol is pretty menacing. I haven’t read the comic it’s based off of, but it certainly looks fun. And I know I said no more Dark Knight posts, but this doesn’t count. I put this bastard on Netflicks so it should come our way in a few weeks, but I might just pick it up at the store sooner than that.

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“Foolish giants covered in hair! We may be small, but you cannot resist our mighty powers of CYOOT-FU!”

Last Friday, Audrey and I hopped on a Jet Blue flight up to Boston to spend the weekend with Audrey’s aunt and uncle, ten year old cousin, and another one of Audrey’s aunts. Pictured above is one of the mini-frogs we found sneaking around their basement. So cute. So deadly. Deadly cute if you will.

Not pictured is Audrey’s ten year old cousin’s score in our death matches of Halo 3. Although I did manage to eek out one win, he completely destroyed me the other two games of death match. This is either proof that ten year olds are just better equipped to play video games or that you should probably never listen to another video game review I ever write ever.

Also not documented were the Roman candles somehow mysteriously lit off in the back yard. No officer, we have no idea how those Roman candles were lit. Maybe it was those alien Lite Brites from a while back.

Much love to Jet Blue. I really hate flying but they somehow made it bearable. The seats were nice and comfy and actually roomy. Both the flight up and back I was put next to giant behemoths whose large bodacity would have spilled into my tiny space on other planes, but on Jet Blue, I was free from their gravitational pulls. I loved the personal little TV that came with every seat even though our flight was a mere hour and a half. And we got Direct TV channels. Word is that Jet Blue will be closing its doors sometime soon which will suck balls. But until then, we’ll be booking with them some more. Until, of course, they piss us off. Then we’ll start taking paddle boats.

As for Boston, what little we saw was full of mighty awesomeness. For example:

• Toscanini’s - There’s a quote from the New York Times hanging on the front window proclaiming that Toscanini’s has the country’s best ice cream. Indeed, I have tasted none finer. This place made me happy and sad at the same time. Happy that such a fun place existed. Not only was the ice cream crunchy pants worthy but it seemed like an awesome place to hang out. Free wifi. Neat electronic quote board that you can send text messages to (if you saw “greetings programs!” and “I got blisters on me fingers!” there Sunday afternoon, that was me). Sad that there’s nothing like that here in Rockville. Poop.
• Newbury Comics - The first thing I thought when I walked into this place was “Fuck, where are all the comics?” The second thing I thought was “Fuck! I–I don’t have enough pants!” Okay, try to read this without making your pants extra crunchy. Start with a comic shop; throw in an import, urban, sci fi toy store; mix in a healthy dose of CD, DVDs, and video games; and you’ll get something that looks a lot like Newbury Comics. *FAINT* HOLY FUCK STICK! First, why has no one told me of this awesome place? And second, WHERE THE FUCK IS MINE? I want one near me right now! Unfortunately, time would not allow a full and detailed exploration of all that this mecca had to offer, but rest assured, when we return to Boston, I shall be spending many, many hours and much, much money wandering Newbury Comic’s bountiful aisles.
• Million Year Picnic - Down the street from Newbury, nestled in some basement, right there in Harvard Square is another comic book shop, Million Year Picnic. Where as Newbury assaults you with all sorts of stuff that is freaking awesome, Million Year Picnic concentrates on comics. This is the place you go for hard to find back issues, indy graphic novels, current titles, and people who know comics. Loved the place so much I had to walk out with some swags. I picked up Scott Pilgrim 3 and 4 because they were about the only things that would fit in my carry-on. But I’d love to spend more time in there digging through the back issue bins for hidden awesomeness.

We had a great time in Boston and we’re looking forward to returning sometime hopefully in the near future.

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I watch Yahtzee’s game reviews every week because they amuse me greatly. This week, he decided to take on gaming webcomics that aren’t Penny Arcade. Somewhere along the way, he calls out Tim Buckley for doing a miscarriage story arc in a comic known for slap happy gaming humor. Yahtzee doesn’t call Ctrl-Alt-Del or Tim by name, but I can’t think of another gaming comic that has done a miscarriage story arc. Yahtzee then goes on to dismiss gaming webcomics altogether for clogging up the internet and wasting space. I can’t wholly disagree. And his overall assessment of the genre is quite accurate and funny. But let’s get into this miscarriage thing.

I don’t read Ctl-Alt-Del on a regular basis. I’m not much of a gamer so I don’t get the jokes. I did see the comic in question and I thought, from an artistic standpoint, it’s a very powerful four panels. Some of the best stuff I’ve seen Tim draw. But should a creator change the tone of his comic so abruptly just for one arc? And can the comic ever return to its happy days after such a devastating story?

When I saw the comic, I was reminded of sitcoms. Every once in a while, they’d sneak in some deadly serious episode with a poignant message or lesson to teach. There’s the famous pedophile episode in Different Strokes, Good Times had a child abuse arc, Fresh Prince took on driving while black, Roseanne examined domestic abuse. The list goes on. Although these episodes might be controversial, audiences tend to accept them and move on. Why should it be any different for webcomics?

UPDATE: Aha! I see that Yahtzee has a deep seeded hatred for CAD. Scroll down to his post entitled “You CAD” in which Yahtzee describes why it lacks the funny.

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Photo from CBR

I bet Jack Kirby gets really annoyed when youngsters like Mike Wieringo and Michael Turner show up to sketch with him. I imagine him saying something like this in a disgruntled voice, “Dammit kid, get back down there to your drafting table! You’ve got more comics to draw!”

At only 37 years old, Michael Turner joined Kirby and Wieringo Friday night, June 27 at Santa Monica hospital in California. His long battle with cancer, chondrosarcoma in his right pelvis, finally ended. He will be sorely missed.

When I was starting out as a colorist with UDON, I made the rounds at a Wizard World Philadelphia convention and was fortunate enough to shake hands with Michael Turner at the Aspen booth. Sometimes meeting your heroes can be a real disappointment. You can usually tell when they’re just trying to blow you off or being polite for appearance’s sake. Not Mike. He was such a genuine guy. I only met him briefly, but for that short moment, he was just as interested in me as I was in him. Comics is so full of egos and elitism that it’s astonishing to meet people like Mike. I came away from that encounter with such a positive outlook on the industry. He inspired me to just get out there and fucking well draw.

Dustin Nguyen wrote a nice remembrance of Turner:

As many people as i know in comics, i cant say i know many of them personally, and i’ll be honest, i never knew Mike more than just a few weekends a year. But Mike, i loved and i know the industry needed a person like that, and the world will miss a person like him. To pass away having achieved so much and being loved by so many, i’d say he won in the end.

You can send condolences to Turner’s family via:

Aspen MLT, Inc.
C/O Michael Turner
5855 Green Valley Circle, Suite 111
Culver City, CA, 90230

Aspen also encourages fans and well wishers to send donations to the American Cancer Society and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

[Via Comic Book Resources]

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A new episode of Derailed is up. This week features special in-studio guest Jamie Baldwin, writer and artist of Sudden Valley. Random discussion includes crusty old Imus, marshmallow Krangs, and Spider-Man 4. Enjoy!

[Via Derailed]

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Long time first time AZM reader Jeff Haut reports in with the rumor that comic legend (LEGEND I say!) Neil Gaiman has been asked to write an episode for Doctor Who for the show’s 2010 return. 2009 will be Doctor-less and I can’t think of a better way to kick it back into high gear than with a Neil Gaiman episode! I hope this rumor turns out to be true.

If Gaiman introduces new characters in his episode, ala Angela in Spawn, and if they become fan favorites, like Angela, I would love to see them and him return for recurring episodes. That would just be geek heaven!

I don’t know how British tele works, but if this happens, will Gaiman be entitled to residuals off his episode (or in my dream of dreams, episodes)? I don’t think I could take another Gaiman vs McFarlane kerfuffle again.

[Via TV Squad]

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