That pretty much wraps up the outside battle. We'll be back inside the Temple of Coragnor tomorrow.
Monday, March 31, 2014
HFSAC 22-11
Today's Webcomic:
The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club. Issue 22. Page 11.
That pretty much wraps up the outside battle. We'll be back inside the Temple of Coragnor tomorrow.
That pretty much wraps up the outside battle. We'll be back inside the Temple of Coragnor tomorrow.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Skull Mob 4-16
Today's Webcomic:
Skull Mob. Issue 4. Page 16.
Welp, that wraps up Issue 4 of Skull Mob. Skull Mob is going to go on indefinite break for now, while I get ready for something else.
Welp, that wraps up Issue 4 of Skull Mob. Skull Mob is going to go on indefinite break for now, while I get ready for something else.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Monday, March 24, 2014
HFSAC 22-10
Today's Webcomic:
The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club. Issue 22. Page 10.
So. Killing. Traditionally, in Superhero comics there's been a Code about Killing, namely, that Superheroes don't do it. Nowadays, this little Code has been a somewhat...lax. Some anti-heroes like the Punisher, Wolverine, and Ghost Rider have been killing bad guys for years, but with the advent of the Ultimate Universe and Marvel and DC cranking out movies and teevee shows set in a more realistic world, the whole "no-killing code" has pretty much gone out the window. Movie Batman kills (kinda), and apparently even movie Superman will break a neck if he's gotta. Some people have defended the old Code, saying that Superheroes are "better" than that. Superheroes are above killing. And it makes sense that some superheroes don't kill. Spiderman started out as a kid. He don't wanna kill no one. Superman shouldn't kill, cause killing would be too easy for the guy. A Superman who does kill all willy nilly is a terrifying thought. Batman doesn't kill because he doesn't want anyone to have suffer the way he suffered when his parents died. Sometimes it makes sense for Superheroes not to kill.
But seriously, Superheroes not killing is some stupid crap.
You look at it logically, from every angle, it's stupid that superheroes don't kill. Cops kill. You run from a cop, they shoot you. You assault a cop, they shoot you. You shoot at a cop, they shoot you. Soldiers kill. When you get down to brass tacks, that's the whole point of being a soldier, killing people. When you're at war, you shoot at people and try to blow them up. If you're in a life or death, do or die situation, it's kill or be killed, whether it's on the battlefield or the streets or even your own home.
Now, imagine you're a superhero, and you've got a guy riding around on a flying sled, throwing explosives and spinning blades and laser beams at you. Every time you dodge one of these deadly, deadly weapons, one of them could fly loose and hit an innocent bystander, KILLING THEM. A stray explosive could go flying inside an apartment building, killing a family, setting fire to the building, and possibly even setting off a gas line causing an explosion that could level the entire building, killing lots and lots of people. This crazy masked man on the flying sled is a sociopath who will stop at nothing to KILL YOU, and if he gets half a chance, HE WILL KILL EVERYONE YOU LOVE.
So, whadaya gonna do, hero? Are you gonna punch this guy out, hand him off to the police, and wait for the wheels of justice to lock this guy away for life? Even though this sociopath is a genius (he built a flying sled and a bunch of compact deadly weapons for crying out loud), so chances are pretty darn good that he's gonna break out of jail or, better yet, hire a really slick attorney who will somehow get him off scott free. And when he gets out, he's coming right after you, and chances are pretty good that at least a few innocent bystanders are gonna die in the crossfire.
So you let him live, and lots of people die. Or you kill that Bad Guy, and the world has one less Bad Guy. This isn't really hard math, is it?
Now, I know that I have argued on more than one occasion that Logic has no place in comics. And I stand by that. Reality has no real place in our endlessly impossible world of the imagination. If you like the idea of a world where superheroes don't kill, that's peachy keen. But at the same time, comics writers should write from the gut, write about what they feel is true. And if some psycho who has the power to level a city block is coming at me with the intention of killing me and anyone who gets in his way, and I have the power to stop him...
I'm gonna drop that scumbag and make sure he don't get back up.
(heeheeheehee... I always think it's funny when I pretend to be a tough guy... teehee)
So. Killing. Traditionally, in Superhero comics there's been a Code about Killing, namely, that Superheroes don't do it. Nowadays, this little Code has been a somewhat...lax. Some anti-heroes like the Punisher, Wolverine, and Ghost Rider have been killing bad guys for years, but with the advent of the Ultimate Universe and Marvel and DC cranking out movies and teevee shows set in a more realistic world, the whole "no-killing code" has pretty much gone out the window. Movie Batman kills (kinda), and apparently even movie Superman will break a neck if he's gotta. Some people have defended the old Code, saying that Superheroes are "better" than that. Superheroes are above killing. And it makes sense that some superheroes don't kill. Spiderman started out as a kid. He don't wanna kill no one. Superman shouldn't kill, cause killing would be too easy for the guy. A Superman who does kill all willy nilly is a terrifying thought. Batman doesn't kill because he doesn't want anyone to have suffer the way he suffered when his parents died. Sometimes it makes sense for Superheroes not to kill.
But seriously, Superheroes not killing is some stupid crap.
You look at it logically, from every angle, it's stupid that superheroes don't kill. Cops kill. You run from a cop, they shoot you. You assault a cop, they shoot you. You shoot at a cop, they shoot you. Soldiers kill. When you get down to brass tacks, that's the whole point of being a soldier, killing people. When you're at war, you shoot at people and try to blow them up. If you're in a life or death, do or die situation, it's kill or be killed, whether it's on the battlefield or the streets or even your own home.
Now, imagine you're a superhero, and you've got a guy riding around on a flying sled, throwing explosives and spinning blades and laser beams at you. Every time you dodge one of these deadly, deadly weapons, one of them could fly loose and hit an innocent bystander, KILLING THEM. A stray explosive could go flying inside an apartment building, killing a family, setting fire to the building, and possibly even setting off a gas line causing an explosion that could level the entire building, killing lots and lots of people. This crazy masked man on the flying sled is a sociopath who will stop at nothing to KILL YOU, and if he gets half a chance, HE WILL KILL EVERYONE YOU LOVE.
So, whadaya gonna do, hero? Are you gonna punch this guy out, hand him off to the police, and wait for the wheels of justice to lock this guy away for life? Even though this sociopath is a genius (he built a flying sled and a bunch of compact deadly weapons for crying out loud), so chances are pretty darn good that he's gonna break out of jail or, better yet, hire a really slick attorney who will somehow get him off scott free. And when he gets out, he's coming right after you, and chances are pretty good that at least a few innocent bystanders are gonna die in the crossfire.
So you let him live, and lots of people die. Or you kill that Bad Guy, and the world has one less Bad Guy. This isn't really hard math, is it?
Now, I know that I have argued on more than one occasion that Logic has no place in comics. And I stand by that. Reality has no real place in our endlessly impossible world of the imagination. If you like the idea of a world where superheroes don't kill, that's peachy keen. But at the same time, comics writers should write from the gut, write about what they feel is true. And if some psycho who has the power to level a city block is coming at me with the intention of killing me and anyone who gets in his way, and I have the power to stop him...
I'm gonna drop that scumbag and make sure he don't get back up.
(heeheeheehee... I always think it's funny when I pretend to be a tough guy... teehee)
HFSAC 22-9
Today's Webcomic:
The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club. Issue 22. Page 9.
This is an odd page because there are no Fudgeheads on it, and the Bad Guys are inexplicably fighting each other. Wonder what'll happen next?
This is an odd page because there are no Fudgeheads on it, and the Bad Guys are inexplicably fighting each other. Wonder what'll happen next?
Sunday, March 23, 2014
COMIX
So, my wonderful girlfriend got me "Arrow" Season 1 on DVD for Christmas. She wanted something we could binge watch (what an odd term) together that neither of us had seen before, thus preventing either of us from spoiling it for the other. Anyway, we've been working through the series, and it's pretty darn cool. Really good, really entertaining teevee. With the hour long format there's tons of time for Action, Romance, Personal Conflicts, Soap Opera Stuff, and Flashbacks to Green Arrow's 5 Years he was stranded on the Island. There's lots of little in-jokes and references for all of us Geeks, and they've been smart enough to add plenty of characters from the DCU to further interest us comic geek types (a pretty large tactical error on the part of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD (which I'm not dumping on, SHIELD is a pretty darn good show too, and they've been smart enough to tie the show into the movies, so there's that)).
Arrow and SHIELD (heck, we might as well talk about both) are both rooted somewhat deeply in reality. I mean, yeah, both shows have lots of "not real" elements. People get superpowers and Asgardians show up and we invent weird drugs called Vertigo and whatnot, but they still try to create a couple of shows where there's enough of a foothold in the real world to make it accessible to all audiences. This coincides with a running theory that I have that movies and teevee have to present a believable reality in order for audiences to accept the show/movie. Take "Star Wars" for instance. Star Wars is a sci-fi movie set in a distant galaxy and features highly advanced technology. Not all that believable, right? But Star Wars sold its outlandish premise through great costumes and cutting edge special effects. Compare Star Wars to its cheezy, low budget, poorly made counterparts sometime. Oh wait, you can't find those movies? Yeah, that's because they've been lost to the annuls of time because they're not "believable". No matter how ridiculous or impossible a movie can be, if you root it in a level of reality, audiences will buy into it. On the other hand, if you go all "over the top" with what you're doing, like the ill-fated but still excellent "Scott Pilgrim" movie, then audiences won't buy into what you're doing as much.
And as I've been watching Arrow and SHIELD and the Marvel and DC movies and enjoying the heck out of them, I have also had a running thought while watching them:
"These would make absolutely sucky comix."
I'm in a weird place with comics right now. You have to understand I have read everything by now. EVERYTHING.
40s and 50s Superhero comics (mostly Kirby, but I've got some really weird stuff in the collection too).
50s horror comics (I got a little EC and some 50s Kirby).
60s superhero comics (Kirby, Kirby, and more Kirby, oh and Ditko).
60s underground comics (mostly R. Crumb).
70s progressive comics (more Kirby, some Starlin, and Gerber.)
80s Coming of Age comics (when we "grew up". Allan Moore and Frank Miller mostly. I don't care about Byrne. Sorry.).
80s Independent comics (classic TMNT, Cerebus, and pretty much everything by Ted McKeever)
90s Flash and Trash comics (still got a soft spot for those).
New Millenium revival comics (Astro City and whatnot).
Fancy Pantsy British guys writing American comics comics (Moore, Morrison, Ellis, Milligan, Gaiman, Ennis).
British guys writing British comics comics (yep, I got me some Judge Dredds floating around somewhere, along with some other stuff).
European comics (Asterix, Metal Hurlant, Jodorowski, and a leetle bit of Moebius).
Classic Japanese manga (Tezuka and Monkey Punch to name a few).
Modern Japanese manga (One Piece, Naruto, and whatever else was running in Shonen Jump when that was around).
High class American Independents (Los Bros Hernandez, Clowes, Ware, ect).
Weird, primitive Underground comics (Gary Panter and everyone influenced by him).
Don't even get me started on comic strips.
And tons of Small Press and Mini-comics.
I have read everything. EVERYTHING. And much like movies, whenever I had watched just about every dang movie ever made, I find myself in the unusual position of honestly asking myself a very simple question:
What DO I like?
And this question has started to shape my approach to what I pick up and enjoy. The biggest thing I've discovered is that I want the exact opposite of the "Movie and TV" approach. I don't want reality. I don't want something down to earth and rooted in our world. I can get that from movies and tv. Comics should be Comix. They should be big and bold and wild and untamed. They don't need to be tethered down and introspective and "real". Real is all around us all the time. And the real that they present on movies and teevee isn't even really real anyway. It's like that joke about the tv series "24": For 24 straight hours Jack Bauer won't go to the bathroom!
Comix are words and pictures on paper. They're marks of ink or, nowadays a buncha digital pixels and fancy techno-nonsense. You can do anything in a comic. You can be as wild and big and impossible as you want. You can be as real as you wanna be, but why would you want to when you can build entire universes any way you want?
I figure in a few years my tastes will change. I'll get older and I'll want comics that are simpler and smaller and more grounding in reality. I will want deeper, more emotional, more introspective, character driven comics.
But right now, if it's not big, if it's not wild, if it's not impossible, then it's not COMIX.
And if it ain't COMIX, I ain't interested.
Arrow and SHIELD (heck, we might as well talk about both) are both rooted somewhat deeply in reality. I mean, yeah, both shows have lots of "not real" elements. People get superpowers and Asgardians show up and we invent weird drugs called Vertigo and whatnot, but they still try to create a couple of shows where there's enough of a foothold in the real world to make it accessible to all audiences. This coincides with a running theory that I have that movies and teevee have to present a believable reality in order for audiences to accept the show/movie. Take "Star Wars" for instance. Star Wars is a sci-fi movie set in a distant galaxy and features highly advanced technology. Not all that believable, right? But Star Wars sold its outlandish premise through great costumes and cutting edge special effects. Compare Star Wars to its cheezy, low budget, poorly made counterparts sometime. Oh wait, you can't find those movies? Yeah, that's because they've been lost to the annuls of time because they're not "believable". No matter how ridiculous or impossible a movie can be, if you root it in a level of reality, audiences will buy into it. On the other hand, if you go all "over the top" with what you're doing, like the ill-fated but still excellent "Scott Pilgrim" movie, then audiences won't buy into what you're doing as much.
And as I've been watching Arrow and SHIELD and the Marvel and DC movies and enjoying the heck out of them, I have also had a running thought while watching them:
"These would make absolutely sucky comix."
I'm in a weird place with comics right now. You have to understand I have read everything by now. EVERYTHING.
40s and 50s Superhero comics (mostly Kirby, but I've got some really weird stuff in the collection too).
50s horror comics (I got a little EC and some 50s Kirby).
60s superhero comics (Kirby, Kirby, and more Kirby, oh and Ditko).
60s underground comics (mostly R. Crumb).
70s progressive comics (more Kirby, some Starlin, and Gerber.)
80s Coming of Age comics (when we "grew up". Allan Moore and Frank Miller mostly. I don't care about Byrne. Sorry.).
80s Independent comics (classic TMNT, Cerebus, and pretty much everything by Ted McKeever)
90s Flash and Trash comics (still got a soft spot for those).
New Millenium revival comics (Astro City and whatnot).
Fancy Pantsy British guys writing American comics comics (Moore, Morrison, Ellis, Milligan, Gaiman, Ennis).
British guys writing British comics comics (yep, I got me some Judge Dredds floating around somewhere, along with some other stuff).
European comics (Asterix, Metal Hurlant, Jodorowski, and a leetle bit of Moebius).
Classic Japanese manga (Tezuka and Monkey Punch to name a few).
Modern Japanese manga (One Piece, Naruto, and whatever else was running in Shonen Jump when that was around).
High class American Independents (Los Bros Hernandez, Clowes, Ware, ect).
Weird, primitive Underground comics (Gary Panter and everyone influenced by him).
Don't even get me started on comic strips.
And tons of Small Press and Mini-comics.
I have read everything. EVERYTHING. And much like movies, whenever I had watched just about every dang movie ever made, I find myself in the unusual position of honestly asking myself a very simple question:
What DO I like?
And this question has started to shape my approach to what I pick up and enjoy. The biggest thing I've discovered is that I want the exact opposite of the "Movie and TV" approach. I don't want reality. I don't want something down to earth and rooted in our world. I can get that from movies and tv. Comics should be Comix. They should be big and bold and wild and untamed. They don't need to be tethered down and introspective and "real". Real is all around us all the time. And the real that they present on movies and teevee isn't even really real anyway. It's like that joke about the tv series "24": For 24 straight hours Jack Bauer won't go to the bathroom!
Comix are words and pictures on paper. They're marks of ink or, nowadays a buncha digital pixels and fancy techno-nonsense. You can do anything in a comic. You can be as wild and big and impossible as you want. You can be as real as you wanna be, but why would you want to when you can build entire universes any way you want?
I figure in a few years my tastes will change. I'll get older and I'll want comics that are simpler and smaller and more grounding in reality. I will want deeper, more emotional, more introspective, character driven comics.
But right now, if it's not big, if it's not wild, if it's not impossible, then it's not COMIX.
And if it ain't COMIX, I ain't interested.
Saturday, March 22, 2014
HFSAC 21 Now Available
This kinda got lost in the shuffle, but The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #21 is now available for sale from TORC Press. Here's the cover:
It's $3.50 plus $1.50 S&H. If you've already read the book for free online, then purchasing a copy kinda works as a nice little "tip" for yours truly. Also, the book looks great in print, especially the Splash Pages. Anyway, you can purchase a copy 3 different ways:
1) Head to my online store at http://www.torcpress.com/store/ and score it right off the interweb.
2) E-mail me at cactusfnjoe@hotmail.com with "Ordering Info" in the Subject, and I will send you a Paypal Invoice for the comic.
3) Or, if you're Old School, you can send a check or money order for 5 bucks to:
TORC Press
c/o Joseph Morris
330 S 5th St SW
Clay City, IL 62824
So, there you go.
1) Head to my online store at http://www.torcpress.com/store/ and score it right off the interweb.
2) E-mail me at cactusfnjoe@hotmail.com with "Ordering Info" in the Subject, and I will send you a Paypal Invoice for the comic.
3) Or, if you're Old School, you can send a check or money order for 5 bucks to:
TORC Press
c/o Joseph Morris
330 S 5th St SW
Clay City, IL 62824
So, there you go.
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