Dungeons, Football, and Whitney Houston

I recently saw a joke on Facebook that went: Fantasy Football is Dungeons and Dragons for jocks!  Yes, I think it’s funny.  However, there’s this little problem. You see, I play both!  Where does this put me?  Geek?  Jock?  Jeek? Somewhere in the nether region that exists between the extremes?  Well, okay, it isn’t that hard.  I’m definitely somewhere between.  In fact, perhaps it isn’t so smart to try and fit people into such neat little categories.  Perhaps, people are all individuals that should be judged on a case-by-case basis.  For example, the Fantasy Football league I’ve been playing in for years is made of a bunch of guys who met on a comic-book message board.  Yep!   We’re just a bunch of comic book geeks who love Football.  Is that so bad?  Can society exist with such people?

 

I think my interests are quite diverse.  For example: reading, drawing, sculpture, skepticism, playing guitar, playing games and playing tennis probably top my list of interests.  You can divide some of these interests into categories too such as role-playing games, board games (including war games, strategy games, and fantasy board games), fantasy sports games, and card games.  In fact, maybe I have too diverse a list.  Perhaps I should concentrate more time on fewer things.  But rather, I’m more likely to look for newer things to add to my list.

Speaking of lists, one thing on my “to-do” list that’s getting done is my “Mutant Elf” story for the SPACE anthology.  I just finished the inking, which means the only thing left is the coloring!  It’s going to be fun to do some full-color work since I usually do comics in black-and-white.  I’ll have to post a teaser when I get done.

Finally, I’d like to mention something about Whitney Houston.  I really really used to love her work.  Her first two albums are among my favorites and I think at one time there wasn’t a better voice anywhere.  I didn’t like her subsequent work as much, nor her movies, and it was sad to see her destroy herself physically.  I wish her family strength in dealing with their loss.

Reaching beyond the game

The Super Bowl has come and gone! I am a football fan and I enjoyed the game this year as I usually do.  Sports are, for the most part, a fun diversion from the everyday drudgery of life.  A temporary escape from our daily responsibilities.  Sports, however, do sometimes cross over into society in ways that are much deeper than mere entertainment.  Every once in a while, something in sports affects society in a positive, uplifting manner.  After watching the “Big Game” I started thinking about my favorite examples of this:

 

Jackie Robinson is my all-time favorite athlete.  Not only did break the color barrier in sports, but he did it with class.  He was a great ballplayer, a true gentleman.  He put up with a lot of grief, and he risked his own personal well-being every time he took the field.  And he was a catalyst for a change in society.

 

Jesse Owens not only won 4 gold medals in the 1936 Olympics, but he did it in front of Adolf Hitler against the Fuhrer’s “master race.” It was a symbolic blow against the Nazis, and something the world needed to see at the time.

 

The 1980 US Olympic Hockey team was a bunch of college kids taking on the Soviet Empire.  Or something close to such.  It was an uplifting event for a country that seemed to be losing confidence in itself.

 

Jim Abbot.  Every time he took the field.  He still makes me think I should be doing more with my two hands every day.

Well, these are the stories that come to my mind as going beyond the usual reach of sports and touching society. Perhaps you have some favorite examples of your own.  Feel free to comment here.  Next week I’ll probably be discussing something a little closer to my normal comics/pop culture topics.  See you then!

Review: Candy or Medicine volume 16

I received Candy or Medicine volume 16 in the mail this week from editor and publisher Josh Blair. Candy or Medicine is a mini-comic with 16 quarter-sized pages, black and white, printed on premium paper.

Allow me first to explain a little about Candy or Medicine to those who haven’t heard of it.  Candy or Medicine is a quarterly anthology comic that consists of comics and artwork of just about any subject matter.  You never know what you’re going to find inside when you pick up an issue.  Chances are you will find something inside that is worth the dollar you paid for the book!  In the spirit of full disclosure, I have contributed to Candy or Medicine.  Specifically, I did a two page story in volume 12.  But today I’m talking about volume 16, so let’s get on with it!

The cover is by Emi Gennis.  The cover illustration is a clever play on the title of the book.  A slot machine with candy and medicine on its reels!  Great idea!  And the lady pulling the lever, well, I think I remember seeing her last time I was in Vegas!

The first comic is called Ziff and is by Jim Gullet.  Ziff is the meanest fist of the apocalypse!  Ziff comes to a village of lizard men to collect a bounty.  Ziff himself isn’t a lizard.  Or at least I don’t think he is.  I’m not sure what to call him in fact.  The art is very nice with lots of thin line work and the storytelling is well done.  The perspective needs some work, but I like the overall look of the story.  Scratchy/doodle-ish like a mini comic should be!

The second strip, by Nate McDonough, doesn’t have a title.  It is a little tale of a very short man who encounters larger and larger people on a street.  Neat, stylistic art, and a nice twist ending make it a rather charming piece. Since it has very little dialogue, the storytelling must be very clear and it succeeds admiringly well.

Art from Waltz no. 63

Waltz no. 63 is the last sequential tale in this volume.  It has some very creative artwork and is all about the things that may exist in the woods.  Small, tight panels and very creative illustrations make this little strip a nice ending to the book.

But it doesn’t end there!  There are two more illustrations, by Andy Nukes and Robert Dayton that are a nice little coda to the book.  Andy’s is a funny drawing and Robert’s is a nice little joke.

Candy or Medicine volume 16 is available for $1 plus shipping and Josh also accepts trades from other publishers.

Josh always seems to put together fun little comics for Candy or Medicine.  To see more checkout Josh’s website where you can order his books and download some more for free!  You can also order from his etsy site.  Josh also writes his own blog, with many entries on small press and other comics.

For information about the creators featured in Candy or Medicine, click here.

Full-color sketching!

I’ve been working on inking F.E.D.s #16, but it’s time to take a break and concentrate on my story for the SPACE anthology.  (SPACE is the Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo.  For information see the SPACE website.) This will be my third year participating in the SPACE anthology and, like before, I’m going to do a full-color story.  I recently purchased a set of color PITT pens, and I think it would be really neat to color the whole story by hand with the pens.  The difficulty is finding neat effects with only 6 colors available.  I may have to break down and get a gray marker for backgrounds, but I colored this character sketch and it was a lot of fun.  By the way, the story is going to be titled something like: Mutant Elf!

Previous SPACE anthology comics are available as free downloads on the SPACE website.

Character bio- Rayzap

Name: Rayzap

Real name: Omar Rodriguez

History: Omar is the son of the villain known as Lazer Ray.  When Omar’s mother started a romantic relationship with his father she only knew he was an American businessman.  She found out he was really a criminal and left him after she found out she was pregnant.  She raised Omar secretly in a Central American country and he grew up knowing nothing about his father.  Years later, Lazer Ray discovered the existence of Omar and had him kidnapped and brought to a secret island lair in the Bahamas.  Lazer Ray forced Oamr to undergo a surgery to implant a bio-lazer on Omar’s right arm, in place of his right hand.  The Extra-normal heroes 1^st Man and Oceanus tried to save Omar but were too late to prevent the completion of the surgery.

            Once Omar realized his life had been irrevocably changed he decided to use his powers for the benefit of mankind instead of following in his father’s footsteps and becoming a villain.  Taking the code name Rayzap, Omar founded an extra-normal group that seeks out people who need help using and controlling extra-normal powers called the Kansas City Kids.  Rayzap is the current leader of the “Kids”.

Powers: At the end of Rayzap’s right arm is a device known as a “bio-lazer”.  This device uses the energies of Rayzap’s body to emit energy blasts.  These blasts strike targets with both concussive force and heat.  It is unknown what limit in power and endurance there is to these blasts.

Voting

No, I’m not talking about the primary elections, or anything like that.  However, I have had two opportunities to vote in non-political areas recently, so I thought I’d put to words my thoughts about such.

First is the Indie Soap Awards.  You can vote for the fans’ choice indie soap of the year on via this link. http://www.welovesoaps.net/2012/01/fans-choice-indie-soap-of-year-vote.html    And you are allowed to vote early and often!  By which I mean you can vote once per day. I voted for Out With Dad (several times), because it is, of course, my favorite Independent soap.  (Well, technically it’s the only indy soap I’ve watched.  But that’s beside the point that it’s a great show and has earned the right to win this award by being such a great show!)  I would hope I could convince at least one person who otherwise isn’t thinking of voting to go to the We Love Soaps site and vote for Out With Dad!  It’s easy and fun!  If you want to watch Out With Dad first, go to http://www.outwithdad.com/ and then vote!

The second area I’ve had a chance to vote is the Comic Buyers Guide Fan Awards.  I first voted in these awards back when I was in High School and CBG was a newspaper-type publication about comics, and you mailed your ballot.  Comic Buyers Guide is still going strong online and in print format and their fan awards are as worthwhile as ever.  From their website: http://cbgxtra.com/new-from-cbg/cbg-fan-awards-2012-nominate-your-favorites-of-2011?r=BGBFFB010512FanAwards&lid=BGBFFB010512FanAwards you can currently nominate your favorite projects and creators.  I don’t read as many new comics as I used to, but I still had plenty of categories that I had clear favorites last year.  The category I thought I’d discuss in this blog today is webcomic.

There are three webcomics that I follow regularly.  I check out others at times, but these are the three that keep me coming back no matter what.  I had to pick one of these to be my choice for a nomination:

http://www.webcomicsnation.com/jkcarrier/ladyspectra/series.php Lady Spectra and Sparky by J Kevin Carrier and friends is the story of a Mother-Daughter super hero team.  The writing and art are fun and the storylines are very entertaining.  There are a few super teams that are families, but this is the only Mother/Daughter super team I know of.  It’s a light look at juggling parenting are crime fighting.

http://www.satyrplayproductions.com/timeless.html Timeless by Mike Indovina combines Greek myths, time travel, pulp heroes, mystery, and did I mention Greek Myths?  (I love Greek mythology!!)  Mike does a great job keeping the story moving along with lots of surprises and has a fun way of changing his art style as the main character travels through time. The only complaint I have is that he doesn’t produce the pages fast enough!

http://www.ambarb.com/?p=478 American Barbarian by Tom Scioli is another comic that emphasizes fun!  Tom takes a He-Man/Masters of the Universe type hero in a mixed sci-fi/Fantasy setting (Picture dinosaurs versus giant machines) in a Kirby-esque style with cool names like “Two-Tank Omen”.  American Barbarian is a blast!

All the above are, of course, highly recommended by me.  They’re free online so check them out! 

Fedscomics blog 2011 review

I started this blog on August 30^th 2011, so it hasn’t been active for an entire year, but since the change of the calendar prompts people to reflect on the previous year, I thought I’d reflect on what I’ve done with this blog since August.

I started my blog as a way to post information about my artwork and personal appearances and write reflections about things related to comics and maybe other interests of mine. I thought for a review I’d do a “top 5 most viewed posts” list.  Based on the site stats the posts that have been viewed the most are:

A Thank You  http://fedscomic.blogspot.com/2011/11/thank-you.html   This was a follow up to a post I’ll discuss below.

Labors of Love http://fedscomic.blogspot.com/2011/10/labors-of-love.html This was my first attempt at writing something significant rather than just another note on my artwork or a convention I'd been to.  This is an essay on creator owned and produced work and why it is so impressive.  When Jason Leaver (creator of Out with Dad) promoted the post and I noticed my stats climb I figured it would be the highlight of my year.

Review-Nocturnal City http://fedscomic.blogspot.com/2011/11/review-nocturnal-city.html Interestingly, Nocturnal City is another creator owned and produced work.  I picked up this movie before I discovered Out With Dad, but blogged about the later first because I watched Out With Dad first.  I just don’t get around to watching many movies.  At first I wasn’t sure this post would ever get many views, since it is a student movies very few people have ever heard of.  However, once word got out among the people who worked on the project, this became a very popular post.  I'm happily the only person to ever post a review of this movie on the Internet!

Happy Holidays to Out With Dad http://fedscomic.blogspot.com/2011/12/happy-holidays-to-out-with-dad.html The idea for this came to me and I wanted to draw and post it because of the success of my most viewed entry (see below). What can I say? It’s nice to have people look at your work and art is how I best express my appreciation for things I enjoy!

Likenesses and Zombies! http://fedscomic.blogspot.com/2011/10/likenesses-and-zombies.html I never would have suspected a goofy drawing could generate over twice the attention as a well thought out essay about creator owned and produced work.  Go figure.  Here’s the story behind this one:

I was reading some Star Trek comics drawn by my favorite comics writer and artist John Byrne.  Drawing Star Trek generally constitutes drawing a lot of likenesses, which is something that Byrne often says on his website that he doesn’t do very well.  (I disagree, but that’s beyond the point of this story.) This got me thinking about likenesses and it just happened to be right about the time I discovered the webseries Out With Dad.  So I started doing some sketches of the characters from the webseries as a way to practice my likenesses.  I decided one of the drawings, a sketch of actress Lindsey Middleton, was good enough I might want to post it on my blog someday.  It also happened to be nearing Halloween, and I was working on drawing people as zombies.  So I did a zombie drawing of Miss Middleton as practice.  Then I got the idea to post both the sketch and the zombie drawing as a Halloween post on my blog.  One thing troubled me, though.  I didn’t want to post drawings of someone without their knowledge and permission.  I don’t think everyone would appreciate seeing drawings of themselves on the Internet drawn by some stranger.  Some quick searching led me to Lindsey’s Facebook fanpage, however, and this gave me a way to make sure the post was okay with her.  She liked the art, as I wrote about in my Thank You post, and the results were far beyond my wildest predictions!

Well, there’s the top five posts as ranks by views. I’m enjoying this bloggy thing so far. It sure has led in directions I did not expect. I’m not sure what I will be posting about next year, but I plan to have some fun!