Enemy of Peanuts

Last year, I drew a cartoon for my buddy Josh Wigler as he worked vigorously to prepare for Comic-Con International in San Diego. Josh used that cartooned image of himself for his Twitter icon up until last week… when he asked me to doodle him up a new face to run alongside his tweets. Busy with Comic-Con prep work for Dark Horse myself, not to mention I needed to do laundry and other assorted chores in preparation of a week away from home, I still wanted to keep the tradition going and doodled up this new image while washing my unmentionables.
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If you find yourself residing online way more than what’s considered healthy (much like I do), you’re always looking for fresh blog blood to make your Google Reader a more diverse and interesting venue. Presuming you are like me and that applies, let me make some site recommendations for your reading pleasure…
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“Back to the Future III” would have us believe that Marty McFly invented the Frisbee when he time traveled to the Old West. Turns out Robert E. Howard’s Conan was flipping discs as far back as the Hyborian Age.
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If you love comics and aren’t aware of the sketch blog Comic Twart (“Twart = Twitter + Art” if you’re already confused) then you need to seriously rethink how you’re spending your time on the internet. Tackling a new assignment each week, the elite sketching force featuring talents like Chris Samnee, Mitch Breitweiser, Tom Fowler, Francesco Francavilla and Mike Hawthorne put pencil to paper regularly to deliver numerous fresh takes on iconic comic heroes. The results are a treat on the eyeballs and it’s certainly among my favorite art-heavy online venues.

Last week, the crew tackled a favorite of mine: Magnus, Robot Fighter.
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I recently reread “Incredible Hulk” #181 by Len Wein and Herb Trimpe, an issue notable as the first appearance of Wolverine (Canada’s first superhero!). Like many older comics, “Incredible Hulk” #181 features some kooky moments intermixed with the panels of this historically significant issue. I’m not sure whether my memory has faded or I just noticed a few more interesting tidbits than I did the first time I read this, but here are some of the things that stood out most this time around.
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There’s a rad promotional thingy-majigger for the upcoming “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” that everybody and their mothers are linking to and posting images of today. I created my Scott Pilgrim avatar last night and here’s my bandwagon-jumping blog-posting display of my tooned-out counterpart…
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I love newspaper comic strips. A day’s compilation of strips in a each paper may only elicit a few chuckles, but I really enjoy reading the funnies. Maybe it’s a fascination due to an odd nostalgia for a time I never lived through or maybe it’s as close as I’ll ever get to time-travel by reading syndicated humor that’s been running for decades in a nearly irrelevant medium. Maybe it’s the oddly meditative and familiar aspect of it, like watching a movie you’ve seen twenty times and finding it provides a kind of inexplicable comfort. I don’t know that I could fully explain why I enjoy the funnies, maybe it’s because they’re just fun. I don’t know.
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People who read the previous post about a truly excellent piece of artwork I commissioned will undoubtedly remember the man responsible for it, Mr. Dan Hipp. In the aforementioned post, I posited that the number of additional fun gags in the commission could only be due to Señor Hipp being “far more rad than I expected.” Well, that hypothesis has been proven true again!

Today, over on his blog, Hipp posted a version of the commission splashed with glorious digital colors. This treat is most definitely the icing on a wonderful commission experience.

Groove-tastic art by Dan Hipp.

Thanks again, Dan!

For those who’ve never been to a comic book convention, one of the coolest hobbies you can pick up while attending them is getting yourself a sketchbook, bringing it around to a multitude of artists and having them draw their takes on some hero, character or theme. During my time at Wizard, I had a chance to ogle some of the coolest sketchbooks one could ever hope to view. Dave Paggi’s Lockjaw and Calvin and Hobbes sketchbooks were the collections of con doodles that first made me drool enviously and laugh hysterically. Matt Powell’s Saturday Morning’s Awesome sketchbook and Sean Collins’ “I wish I’d had a chance to see it in person” David Bowie sketchbook helped convince me that I had to get one of my own going.
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Jason Aaron, the talented comics writer responsible for titles like “Scalped” and “Ghost Rider,” posted this video on his blog today. In a strange way, I think the fact that Aaron both knew where to locate this video and shared it somehow begins to explain the insane awesomeness of his comics. Watch this, go read his first “Ghost Rider” arc and I think you’ll see what I mean.
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