Ben and I weren’t to sure what to expect at APE (the Alternative Press Expo) in San Francisco this weekend.  We packed our bags on Thursday night and hit the road bright and early Friday morning, leaving San Diego some time around 9.  We drove up to San Francisco with a few brief stops and arrived here while the evening was settling in across the bay.  We’d never been to APE before and while we knew it was meant for independent publishers, we didn’t know what that means — would there be anyone we were familiar with?  Was this the right place to try and sell MYTHOI?

We arrived at Ben’s brother’s place, who had been kind enough to offer up his couch for our resting, but upon arrival we realized that there were cats present, two of them.  As Ben and I both suffer from a disease called allergies that usually ends with us killing cats, we thanked his brother and found accommodations elsewhere — at 12:30am.  Most places were booked for either APE or the Treasure Island Music Festival and if they weren’t booked, the price was a mere $250.00 per night and nobody had rooms for both that night and Saturday night, just one or the other.  So right about the time we began discussing the legitimacy of sleeping in Ben’s car right outside of the Concourse (where APE is held) we got a hold of the greatest man in San Francisco: Gandhi.  Not that Gandhi.  Our Gandhi is the late-night concierge at a hotel without a name in an alley behind a bar in the Mission District.  And bless Gandhi for all time because he got us a room for both nights, under $100.00 per night, free valet and only 2 blocks from the Concourse.

SF Concourse: where red paint goes to die.

The only other thing we did that night warranting any recognition was to make a brief appearance at the ISOTOPE party (thanks Amir Malekpour) featuring Dean Haspiel, (THE QUITTER, OPPOSABLE THUMBS, AMERICAN SPLENDOR, and THE ALCOHOLIC).  Ben and I both agree that it is one of the coolest comic book shops we have ever seen and if you are ever in the San Francisco area, stop in and say hi to James Sime, the super-friendly owner.  The whole thing is 1-part comic book store, 1-part nightclub, and 1-part design — just go, trust me.

Isotope: The Geek’s Nightclub

Ben and I awoke on Saturday, trudged down to a coffee shop and made our way towards APE.  And what did we think?  It was awesome.  If San Diego Comic Con is meant to blow your mind with all the million-dollar bells and whistles, and Long Beach Comic Con is designed for the more intimate encounters with industry professionals, then APE is a secret fort where only fans congregate to go over their own good ideas and opinions on art, writing and everything mainstream.  Sure, people are there trying to sell their product, but at APE you can talk to them and find out why…  Writers grill each other on the presentation of information and misinformation, Artists trade work with each other and discuss their inspirations, while Publishers peruse through the aisles, taking it all in and maybe picking up some new talent…  It’s very neat — like the Swap Meet of Comic Cons.

APE from entrance: Left

APE from entrance: Center

APE from entrance: Right

Obviously, since it’s cheaper than some of the other cons, there are a lot of people presenting who, well, maybe shouldn’t.  But what’s great about APE is that they can!  One man’s Koontz is another man’s King!  Right?

Well Ben and I went through every single booth, one at a time, over five or six hours and met some great people, many of whom you will probably hear us mention in the future… or now.  Like John C. Narcomey Jr. from High Tower Comics, or Russ Kazmierczak Jr. and Brent Otey from K.O. Comix.  All good people, with good products, so check ‘em out when you get a chance…

High Tower makes death pretty.

Check out the blog — Nice guys!

After the convention Ben and I went back to the hotel, vegged out with some Dexter episodes and cleaned up before jumping into our favorite out-of-town-convention activity:  Drinking.  Luckily, the bar next to our hotel was fantastic:  Bloodhound.  This bar was perfect for us.  Good beer?  Check (and served in mason jars).  Nice people?  Yup.  Environment?  Got that too.  We moseyed down, caught the end of the Angels/Yankees game (and sighed when the Yankees won — damn them), had a few beers and talked to some, uh, interesting (?) people.  Then it was time for sleeps.

Drinks, Games and Entertainment!

We’re not going to APE today.  Instead we’re going to head home.  APE is a doable-in-one-day kind of event as it doesn’t have much change from one day to the next and is more for floor-walking than anything else.

We had fun and we’ll definitely be back next year…

James Ninness

Hello again and welcome to another geek of the week. I hope you enjoyed last weeks post about the upcoming CS5 as much as I did. I am really really looking forward to using the new brush and cloning features. The speed of the new clone will save a lot of time and the new cloning features are still just blowing my mind.

wow

This week I felt that I should learn ur sumptin good. If you want to have a career in lets say comics then you as an aspiring artist must always be looking around and taking notice of things. Things like when drawing a face the eyes should have about an eyes width between them. Another example is how when drawing landscapes objects get smaller and lighter in color the further they are away from you. Looking around you is a skill that all successful artist master. You may be the best observer though and still not know everything about certain objects. You cannot just pick up a rock and see the mineral structures to get a better understanding of the science of how the rock is. This is where your simple observations turn into research.

Research is fine and all but that takes time and sometimes a degree. We really don’t have time to get degrees we need to know some stuff fast. Luckily we have many options for learning on the quick. There have been some great TV series that help us. Sorry the horrible Heroes show will not help. Actually you could use your new looking around abilities to observe what a bad show looks like.

Mr Wizard and Look around you are two TV series that I’m pretty sure all scientists and doctors use one of these on a regular basis in order to learn the dynamic intricacies of life. If its good enough for Doctors and Scientists then it should be good enough fur us arteests. (I think that’s how you say it in French)

Mr. Wizard is the man. This guy will show you the proper techniques for using a pickle as an alternative to light bulbs by electrifying them. He is such a powerful wizard that he doesn’t even need a fancy lab to do the powerful experiments. Mr. Wizard just has no need for these things and continues to mock the scientific community by using children to carry out the experiments. He does all this to show everyone that science is really magic and that we should respect our wizards. Rumor has it that Mr. Wizard was the last apprentice of Merlin. Don’t let the end of the video where it says were just for kids. This was actually done purposely. Mr Wizard called everyone a kid and he liked to make fun of all the doctors and scientists trying to learn the real secrets of life. After Mr. Wizard tired of this series he disappeared never to be seen again. Some say the new movie Paranormal Activities is really Mr. Wizard just messin around with people. Haha Mr. Wizard real funny. Wizards have a weird sense of humor.

With the great vacuum created from Mr. Wizards sudden disappearance where were we to turn as a society for the truth about our world. The answer came from the show called Look Around You. Look Around You is a British TV series that came out in 2005. They picked up where Mr. Wizard left off teaching people once again the truths of science and the magic behind it. They took one subjects like calcium, math, germs, ghosts, iron, sulfur, water, music, and the brain in only their first season on the air. They went on to produce a second season but were not allowed to do a third. Apparently the times have changed and wizards are no longer welcome in this world. At least we cans still watch the videos they did make. You will find below some of my favorites from the series. first you have Iron and the second video is sulfur. Last is Ghosts. I think they were actually trying to find Mr. Wizard however no one is willing to confirm that.

LOL so I hope you enjoyed getting your lern on. I know I did. Come back next week to see some interesting things. Halloween is coming and so I will be devoting next week blog to something special. Before I go I must post one more from this great series. This is about the brain. All I can say is take it easy on you EBEs. Stree Fece is out!

Happy Last day of the week!

I am here right now!

I am driving up to A.P.E. in San Francisco today, so my blogging time is pretty limited. But, if you stopped in on the site today, don’t worry, James and I will be updating from A.P.E. just like with LBCC, so stay tuned all weekend for updates.If you live in the SF area, and would like to chat comics, or life in general, drop me a line.

Thanks for stopping in, see you tomorrow!

Before I begin please read the title of this article again.  Go ahead, I’ll wait.

That’s right, nowhere in that silly string of words does it say that these are the “only” shows you should be watching or that these are the “best” shows ever made, so please don’t get your panties all wadded up your arsehole (yeah, arsehole) if I don’t mention your favorite show.  I don’t care about half the sh*t on television these days for lack of time and I only use my DVR to record shows that are of particular interest to me based off of a reliable recommendation or previous experience with the show in question.  While I would love to receive more recommendations from you, my intelligent readers, chances are that I’ve heard of half the shows you’re going to say and I probably won’t care.  So, if you think you’ve got something I may be interested in then pass it on, otherwise, keeps your shouts of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “General Hospital” to a dull tone because I’ve obviously been aware of them for some time and I think they’re lame at best.  And on that note, let us begin…

The first show you should set your TIVO to record is Sons of Anarchy.  Some of you may never have heard of this show and that’s okay — daddy’s here to learn you good.  The show was created by Kurt Sutter, husband to Katey Sagal (Peggy Bundy, Lila from Futurama, and Mrs. Morrow on SOA) and tells the story of a motorcycle club in the fictional Northern California town of Charming.  Jax, (Charlie Hunnam) the protagonist, is the vice president of the club and begins to doubt the direction the club is heading under the leadership of his step-father, Clay Morrow (given life by the great Ron Perlman).

Season one is already over, but it’s out on DVD and should be purchased by anyone with a taste for badassery, hotchickacauccas, or motorcyclitus.  SAMCRO (an acronym for Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original) traffics guns to a pair of rival city gangs outside of Charming for income, though they all hold down “day jobs” to keep the law they haven’t bought off their backs.  They have also sworn to keep meth out of their humble little town, which puts them at odds with the local white supremacists, the NORDs.  I’m not going to ruin the whole thing for you, but sh*t gets nutty…  Beatings commence, rivalries erupt, a horny TFA agent molests local law, the lovely Maggie Siff exists, Drea de Mateo is flaunts both her acting and her body, and all of this led by the previously mentioned creator’s wife, Katey Sagal and her gigantic, enormous, lovely-to-look-at, uh… talents.

It doesn’t hurt to watch her. Not at all…

Season two is a few episodes in and so far, so good.  The whole crew is back and Jax is still up to his neck in bullsh*t:  Clay is getting fed up with Jax’s desire to be a more peaceful illegal gun running operation, SAMCRO just adopted a porn company (yeah, that’s right), Mrs. Morrow (Jax’s mother) was raped, and all this at the hands of some new white-loving residents to Charming, Mr. Etan Zobelle and his enforcer A.J. Weston (played by Henry “I’m-never-not-angry” Rollins).

The true excellence in this show does not lie in their ability to throw violence, naked women and awesom motorcycles at the audience each week (though it doesn’t hurt), but the genuine way in which it is done.  The characters feel real.  The situations unfold naturally.  Characters are established, situations present themselves, and then shit blows up in a fashion that seems to defy television law.  For instance, at the end of season one, a particular series of events caused one of the most tragic deaths I have ever seen on screen.  It never felt forced, the whole progression made sense, but by the time I realized where it was going it was too late — I was emotionally invested and my heart dropped as the tragedy flashed before my eyes completely unrepentant.

And there are boobs.

Next on the list is Community.  The comedy was most recently sent to viewers among a barrage of Office-like imitators, creating a refreshing reminder that mockumentary is not the only way to be funny.  The plot is simple:  a sweet-talking lawyer named Jeff Winger has his college degree revoked by the board and must attend community college to finish up the necessary credits to get back to his life.  The twist?  This community college is filled with hilarious stereotypes and laugh-out-loud moments all perpetuated by the socially awkward cohorts Winger has assembled unwillingly in an attempt to bed and spread Britta (the eye-candy played by Gillian Jacobs).

To enhance the already hilarious performance from Talk Soup escapee Joel McHale, the producers threw a ton of well-known and not-so-well-known talent including:  Chevy Chase, Ken Jeong , John Oliver, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Donald Glover and Allison Brie.  Most of us may know Chevy Chase and of late, Mr. Ken Jeong from everything Judd Apatow, but the true stand out in this lineup is Danny Pudi.  Pudi plays a character named Abed, the only person in the group who doesn’t seem to mind that he’s at a community college and spends most of his time wearing a blank face, throwing out brutal honesty as a result of his Asperger’s Syndrome.

Never have I envied Mickey as much as now.

Is it the greatest comedy ever?  No.  It has moments of unfunny that make me wish hilarity could avoid plot lines on television, but overall it is a guaranteed 30 minutes of fun each and every week.  Everybody is given a chance to be funny and for the most part, they all deliver.  And don’t leave until after the credits or you may miss some of the greatness…

Finally we pay homage to what is, in my opinion, the greatest show on television at this point:  FRINGE.

If you don’t know about Fringe then you are probably don’t own a television, or you use it strictly for porn or videogames.  I’m not going to go into details about the shows plot or characters, suffice to say that J.J. Abrams doing X-Files with a LOST like continuity is a blessing to all things entertaining.  Everything about this show is awesome…  The cases meld with fringe-science giving equal parts fiction and fact to further arouse our nerd-boners; the cast is superb enough to make me buy all of the Mighty Duck films if only to support Joshua Jackson; and the mystery/violence/comedy is all given equal doses mixing into an hour of geeky goodness.

Anna Torv does quite well as a leading lady, especially since she has to use an American accent every week (though that in and of itself is a shame because Austrailian accents are a ten on the you’re-f*cking-sexy scale).  Joshua Jackson pulls off the leading man role much better than I had anticipated, walking the line between mysterious-smart and funny-badass with ease.  And the Emmy-overlooked John Noble is nothing but brilliant as Dr. Bishop, the quirky, insane and often child-like motor for everything in Fringe’s world.

Now say, “Tha’s notta knife…”

Each episode is pretty similar:  Impossible situation explained in somewhat reasonable terms over the next hour until you actually believe it to be possible.  It’s a formula that works, as proven by Fringe’s predecessor The X-Files.  I’ve heard the two shows compared over and over with fans for the X-Files screaming “ripoff” and fans of Fringe crying out “original,” but I’m afraid I have to disagree with both sides…  On the one hand, it would be utterly ridiculous to say Fringe writers have thoughts unmolested by the X-Files.  X-Files was too big, too succesful to not be present in the minds of anybody with a television for the last twenty years.  Even if the writers try to write in a way to avoid X-Files comparison, they are still being influenced.  Now, on the flip side, Mulder and Skully had a very specific dynamic: one was a skeptic and the other a believer in all things supernatural.  And X-Files didn’t try to explain everything, instead, they just showed the audience that the unbelievable was in fact happening and left it up to the audience to try and figure out how.  Fringe is a team of middle-walkers, people who neither believe full-fledged, nor deny wholeheartedly the existence of unlikely events.  In Fringe our heroes accept what is happening and then use science to figure out how to understand it as best as possible.  Is one better than the other?  I dunno…  I’m partial to Fringe, but I’d be hard pressed to argue with a die hard X-File fan the greater nature of either.  The bottom line is this:  Fringe is on and I’m enjoying it.

Damn you all.

In closing I’m sure that some of you may think I’ve gone a littl soft this week and haven’t really complained about anything, so here’s your moment of rant:  I know I’ve already bashed Heroes once this year, but I’ve been (unfortunately) watching, hoping, waiting for the show to get good and it has done the unthinkable; Heroes has gotten worse.  Sylar doesn’t know Sylar — lame.  Peter Petrelli is nothing but an ambulance driver.  Claire is in a sorority — boring.  Hero is sick, a carnie villain isn’t threatening in the least and Matt Parkman has gone completely and totally bitch.  Heroes is like a beautiful woman with a tight premise, supple characters and a nice, round potential — but the crazy b*tch keeps puking on herself!  All she does all day is stick her finger in her butt, smell is and wipe her face leaving a streak across her brow.  Then she throws up on her chest, rubs it all over her body and blows snot out her nose while laughing, snorting and growling uncontrollably.  The potential is there, but she keeps f*cking herself up!!  Somebody please put this b*tch out of her misery.

Until next time,

Mr. Wolff.

Happy Wednesday all,

So I had a list all ready to go for today, but it felt flat, felt forced, felt… meh. Why? The answer is this week’s upcoming convention, the Alternative Press Expo, or A.P.E. for short. A.P.E. is Semantink’s last convention of the year, and it’s got me all twitterpated.

So, as I don’t think anyone would like a lackluster list (say that three times fast), I’m going to instead share with you all why A.P.E. has got me all excited. For those of you really jonesing for a list, fear not, I will break my APEcitement into list-like bullet points, so it will be just like a list.

1) San Francisco: The A.P.E. is held in one of the most unique and exciting cities on the west coast; San Francisco. SF has great energy, great public transportation, and great food. The Stinking Rose anyone?

2) Big Boys: At A.P.E. you won’t find a gigantic DC booth. No Mega Marvel panel. This is a time for the little guys to shine. The biggest publisher you will find here is SLG. This convention is a chance to get to know all the fringe creators you might not have heard of or reconnect with those you have forgotten about.

3)Paneling: Like I mentioned above, the mainstream guys aren’t here, and of course neither are their panels. No “how to draw the Top Cow way” panels (not that I don’t enjoy those too), but the panels at A.P.E. are a great change of pace. Some examples are “An indy cartoonist’s survival guide” and “Pop Perversity”. Try finding those at Megacon!

4) It’s only a Weekend: The convention is nice and short, the perfect way to end convention season. I love me a four day convention, but my bank account does not.

5) Jeff Smith: The guy behind BONE is gonna be there! Yay!

6) Hello, My Name is: With a dearth of huge superstars and autograph lines, it is much easier to actually meet people and connect. Not just a cursory hello, but actual conversation. It was one of my favorite parts of the LBCC a few weeks ago, and I’m looking forward to getting to meet more folks this weekend.

So, yeah, I’m excited for A.P.E. this weekend. Thanks for letting me vent. If anyone is planning on being up in SF this weekend and wants to chat comics, let me know.

Thanks for stopping in, see you all later!

Sgt. Angle reporting for duty. Ash took a powder from the Cinegasm column, but before he puffed out he handed me the pen, and the sword. I took the pen and threw that sword into a big ass lake. Good luck finding it. In the meantime, Cinegasm Paradise is where I will reign.

Welcome. “I’ve come before you to stand behind you and to tell you something I know nothing about.” This week, we take a journey to Film Festival Territory. Independent films and festivals have become the resource and lifeblood for all the movie coolness and hipness and quote quoting and mid-mid-life pontification that the rest of movie general audiences don’t think about or recognize until it’s a year too late unless you’re a hipster cinephile. You know, for example, the deification of dialogue-ridden, quirky anti-heroes like Vincent Vega and Jules Winfield, my man from Inglewood. Independent film and the trickle-down effect of this style of storytelling has woven its’ way into the comic-book universe as of late, and has already been known to parody itself (see: Spaced, Shaun of the Dead).

You’re all familiar, I hope, with the Sundance Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, Venice, Cannes, and Telluride. The altitudes and regions of these gatherings present a multitude of options for filmmakers and movie-lovers to experience new worlds and fresh characters with other folks in the audience alternative (read: snobs) to the normal mall/multiplex crowds (those “others” who prefer the loudest explosion, steamiest sex scene, or the plain-old scream of a flavor of the week hot-chick over the pleasant character study that is The Visitor).

SUNDANCE: The Sundance Film Festival, located in Park City, Utah, has unfortunately become more of a tourist and celebrity hot spot than a center for film purchasing and behind-the-scenes deals. After all, selling the distribution rights to a low-budget, self-financed feature was the bedrock for Robert Redford when he started the festival. Nowadays, you’re more likely to find Paris Hilton offering free VD body shots at the Avian after-party than you are to find Tom McCarthy even standing outside of a movie theater (yeah, he’s the director of The Station Agent and The Visitor. Welcome to the Indie Filmmakers’ celebrity one-sheet).

TELLURIDE: Telluride has always been the “filmmaker’s” film festival; a celebration of and for the people who live for the cinema. The screening program for Telluride is not released until the first day of the festival, so if you’re going there, you go because you love film. You go because you love GOOD films. Blue Velvet, El Mariachi, Talk to Her, Juno. All of these films and more debuted at Telluride and eventually won over critics and/or audiences, and accelerated the careers of the filmmakers involved.

CANNES: Cannes is known for its’ scenery and lavishing praise and celebration of multi-national filmmaking, but you must be an industry professional to attend. No schmoes just off the boat will be wandering into the theatre just to stay warm, which is a pity for the general public. But you know, sometimes it’s good for a culling to take place in order to benefit the networkers who seek to better their careers, and stand above the rest of us.

VENICE: Venice is the oldest film festival in the world:

Ahhh, Venice.

JURIES: Most festivals have a Grand Jury – a set of filmmakers, critics, professors of cinema, etc. who serve to select the finest of the films in competition and bestow awards upon them (Palme d’or, Golden Lion). There are also Audience Awards, which are determined by ballots collected after each screening of an eligible film, on which each audience member will rate the film on a scale of 1 – 5 to help determine the most well-liked film of the bunch.

It is the audience award which brings us to the major bit of news for the week about the little movie that is getting huge praise all across the board: Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire. Directed by Lee Daniels (Producer of Monster’s Ball), Precious is about an overweight, illiterate teen in Harlem who is pregnant with her second child and is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that her life can head in a new direction. It stars newcomer Gabourey Sidibe, Mo’Nique, Mariah Carey, and Lenny Kravitz. Yes, Lenny Kravitz.

As you can see by the trailer, “Precious” is a joy ride with a princess in New Orleans not an uplifting Disney-fied flick with colorful birds and mice who sing to you (there may be cockroaches lurking in that apartment, but rest assured they will not sing). The style is uniform, the acting appears genuine, and the issues and personal struggles in the face of never ending adversity and conflict ring true to anyone who has ever had to climb the muddy walls of a deeply dug ditch. Because, at the end of the day, whether you’re the one who broke ground or whether you were just born in the pit, you’re in the ditch. The only way to climb out is to inject your nails and pull.

Precious is gaining a lot of ground this awards’ season, and should be on ever

yone’s radar – cinephiles and general audiences alike. When debuting at Sundance, Precious won the Audience Award, the Grand Jury Prize, and a Special Jury Prize was awarded to Mo’Nique for her performance as Precious’s mother. Winning both the jury prize and the audience award is an achievement that is rare in the festival world, as the jury and audiences rarely agree on best of the fest. After Sundance, Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey signed on as executive producers, pushing the film in front of the handy executives at Lionsgate, who purchased distribution rights for a cool $6 million.

Giant floating head make woman strong

Then, in September, the film won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival – voted by all audience members. That means that, aside from the honor of besting the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man and Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air, starring George Clooney, Precious also became the first film EVER to win the audience award at both Sundance and the TIFF. EVER. If Precious wasn’t on anyone’s radar before, it should be at the center of the film-going bullseye from now until the end of the year. This is why the story of Precious is news, and while it may look as depressing as Requiem for a Dream, swallowing a bottle of pills and drowning yourself a one-time viewing experience appears to be necessary to feel the effect.

Previous Toronto People’s Choice winners include Whale Rider, Slumdog Millionaire, Eastern Promises, Amelie, Life is Beautiful, and The Fisher King. Previous Grand Jury Prize (Sundance) winners include Primer, Quinceneara, Frozen River, American Splendor, Welcome to the Dollhouse, and The Brothers McMullen. An uplifting bunch to some, but still a powerful collection for anyone’s film library.

In other perhaps more quirky festival news, Fantastic Fest ended on October 1. It is the largest genre film festival in the US, featuring Horror, sci-fi, fantasy and action films. It’s held at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin. This year, a film called The Human Centipede (First Sequence) directed by Tom Six, seemed to take the cake for most interesting movie to look out for. Take a look at a few clips below, as found on Youtube.

Yum.

Relieved of Duty, until next time,

Sgt. Angle

Greetings all!

Today I am going to be starting a new column called “Spotlight”. In this column, I will, well, spotlight a different company, imprint, and maybe even a comic or two. You will get a little bit of history and a little bit of opinion, and hopefully, a lot of enjoyment.

As you might have been able to guess from the title, today’s Spotlight topic is going to be DC’s Vertigo imprint. So, let’s get started!

DC comics officially launched Vertigo in 1993, but the groundwork for the imprint was laid down well before that. The architect of Vertigo was an editor by the name of Karen Berger, who had started with DC in the late 1970’s as an assistant to editor Paul Levitz. Throughout the 1980’s Berger, now and editor, began amassing the (largely British) talent that would soon form the core of the Vertigo imprint. Berger was responsible for bringing names like Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, Jamie Delano and Peter Milligan to DC. Berger placed the Brits on a variety of titles from DOOM PATROL, to SHADE THE CHANGING MAN, to HELLBLAZER. These titles, along with a few others (including Alan Moore’s SWAMP THING) would eventually form the core of the Vertigo imprint. What set these titles apart was that they were almost entirely for mature readers only.

ANIMAL MAN was one of the first Vertigo titles. He was also apparently afraid of mandrills.

In 1993, the big wigs at DC, including publisher Jenette Kahn and managing editor Dick Giordano, mandated that Berger take these titles and use them as the base of a new imprint that would “Help comics grow up.” And thus, Vertigo was born.

Gingers from space in coats made of insanity, these are the things Vertigo are made of.

Vertigo grew steadily over the next few years with a steady stream of titles in a variety of formats, from ongoing series like SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATER, to mini-series like KID ETERNITY, to one-shots. The imprint was given a distinct trade dress to distinguish Vertigo from other DC books.

The strip on the side means “No Kids Allowed”

Two other things helped Vertigo grow over the next decade. One was a commitment to creator owned work, such as Y: THE LAST MAN, and 100 BULLETS. The other was that Vertigo was able to cherry-pick properties from defunct DC imprints and print them. Some examples of this are TRANSMETROPOLITAN, which started out under the Helix imprint, and A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, which was printed under the Paradox Press imprint, but all reprints had the Vertigo tag attached to them.

Vertigo stole this man.

Vertigo has also experimented with several sub-imprints, such as Vertigo Pop! (focusing on pop culture) and Vertigo Verite (trying to capture the spirit of cinema verite), over the last 15 years, with varied results. The most recent sub-imprint is the newly formed Vertigo Crime imprint.

FILTHY RICH is the first title of the Vertigo Crime line. I’m guessing that woman is both filthy and rich.

Today Vertigo puts out about 20 titles a month, between graphic novels and regular books. Of the seven initial titles put out by the imprint, only HELLBLAZER is still ongoing, but new series such as DMZ and SCALPED are continuing the Vertigo tradition.

SCALPED. Despite appearances, this man does not have a head full of feathers.

Vertigo is an imprint with many strengths . With the impetus of the imprint being a rather vague “helping comics grow up”, the line can (and does) explore a wide variety of genres, from crime to horror to science fiction. And by carrying a mature reader label, creators have the freedom to tell their stories, not some watered-down kid-friendly version.

If this were a DC book, you’d never get to see breasts. What is SWAMP THING without breasts?

Another strength is that Vertigo does not have any distinct art style which means that each title can have an artist that best suits it, there is no need to have someone who fits the “house style”. From Chris Bachalo’s page-filling craziness to Edwardo Risso’s heavy blacks, each book gets the artist it needs, not the one the company wants.

This is Death. She’s Perky!

The importance that Vertigo places on creator owned work helps draw top level talent consistently. Vertigo also seems to maintain a good relationship with it’s creators, increasing the odds that they will continue to come back.

Anywhere else and this book would probably never get published.

For as great as Vertigo is, the imprint also has its flaws. With a mature readers tag, there is a somewhat limited base of readers that can be reached. If a book doesn’t sell, it doesn’t matter how great it is.

No matter how spectacular it is, a comic named LUCIFER is only gonna sell so many copies…

Also, while the lack of a particular art style keeps the books looking unique, many of the Vertigo books do not look very good. There have been a few series over the years that I have dropped (no, I will not name them) due to the lackluster art. The art styles are also rarely similar to what young readers get in their superhero books, so the change in styles could dissuade DC readers from becoming Vertigo readers.

What is going on here?

Vertigo is an imprint that has helped to change the landscape of comics. For all the shortcomings of the line (which aren’t really that many), the ability to expand the audience of comic book readers from mainly kids to anyone with eyes is huge. People may not like some of the comics that Vertigo has put out, but that is a part of the line’s beauty, there is something for everyone. Not to mention, some of the best comics that I have read in my life have come from vertigo. PREACHER, Y: THE LAST MAN, and 100 BULLETS are some of my all-time favorite series. I also think I can safely say that without Vertigo, there would be no Semantink today.

Thank you Vertigo, for the man with the dong-shaped head.

Thanks for stopping in all, and if you have a particular company/imprint/comic that you would like to see spotlighted (spotlit?), let me know.

Adobe’s first logo

Hello peoples. Street Fece here again after last weeks LBCC. This week is going to be all about the up and coming CS5. If you are doing anything in the design field then you what CS5 is. Everyone else CS5 stands for Creative Suite 5 which is the latest version for the next major software update from Adobe Systems Incorporated. Adobe whether you like them or not produce some amazing tools for artists and developers. These tools give you the ability to create almost anything you can think up.

Some quick facts about Adobe taken from their own website. Adobe Systems Incorporated offers business, creative, and mobile software solutions that revolutionize how the world engages with ideas and information. Adobe customers include enterprises, knowledge workers, creatives and designers, OEM partners, and developers worldwide. The company was founded in December 1982 by Charles Geschke and John Warnock on a mac. Yes even back then designers liked macs. They are named after Adobe Creek which ran behind Warnock’s home in Los Altos, California. The company has had great success and last year generated $3.58 billion. If you can’t get enough adobe history then check out this PDF for a lil more history.

OK so CS5 is what we all want to know about. Well I was getting kind of anxious about when this next version would be upon us so I did some searching and found CS5.org. When I first went there only a couple of things had been posted but I kept checking back now and then as newer posts came in. Now if you go to the site there are some really cool videos and developer info about the new stuff being implemented. Keep reading because below you will find my favorites so far from the blog.

Adobe Photoshop is getting some updated content aware scaling features and new brushes. Content aware scaling is something few new about in CS4 and it is very useful. The basic description if you don’t want to watch the video is that an image could be scaled and Photoshop would do its best to not distort certain objects like people. Once again this is better seen in action. The brush tools are getting a much needed update. Were talking actual bristle brushes with a 3d preview and the ability to mix paint and colors. You just have to see what I am talking about in the videos below.

Flash is dominating this blog with the most posts. Flash is getting so many cool and MAJOR updates. The two that really interest me the most are the direct to Iphone publishing and physics. The Iphone publishing is something that is going to be very nice. Many online games are done in flash and flash does not currently run on the IPhone. So to now have the ability to publish straight to the Iphone is really cool. Phyisics is not new to flash. Physics was only available to you if you were a coder. If you were a flash designer you were SOL. Not anymore now we designers can partake in these new Physics features. That lady’s voice in the beginning of this video is very annoying. Watch it to the end if you want to see the new physics features.

If you want to keep up on these updates then do what I do. Check the page once a week and there is sure to be something new to Nerd out on. Oh and just so you know the new version of CS5 will be out in April 2010.

Happy Friday all!

Last night I went and saw PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. I think it was a good movie, but I’m not sure. I am not sure because I was sitting next to the craziest man I’ve ever seen. This man was not just whispering to himself, but screaming to himself. These screams were not just in response to the scary movie we were watching, but seemingly to the movie playing in his head. Some things that emanated from this man’s mouth over the course of the movie were “Chocolate covered titties!” and (to no one in particular) “I don’t even care, I’d take on the whole Air Force Academy!’ There were a few more incidences of crazy throughout the night, but to make a long story short (too late) the man served as inspiration.

This man, who had obviously escaped the nearest mental institution, and who I have now named “The Demon” (when asked to be quiet he made hissing sounds and but up his fingers to act as horns) helped me come up with today’s list. That list is the 10 Bat S#!t craziest characters in comics. Enjoy!

1) The Joker: The gold standard on crazy.

2) Two-Face: Anyone who flips a coin to decide whether or not to kill people qualifies as crazy. And yes, this is two bat-villains in a row. Batman gets all the fun.

3) Legion: This guy has five different personalities, all with a different super-power.

4) Marv: Marv has no compunction about killing and often gets confused and hallucinates. That’s pretty nutty!

5) Johnny C.: A serial killer who hallucinates a whole lot. Yup, that qualifies Johnny for this list!

6) Dr. Destiny: Yeah, sure, he looks like Skeletor, but the man is seriously messed up in the head. Need proof? Go back and read SANDMAN.

7) The Sentry: Another spit personality case. What makes it really scary is that he’s the most powerful being on the planet.

Deadpool: He hallucinates and talks to himself. Actually, Deadpool is fairly similar to my friend from the movies last night!

9) Typhoid Mary: More fun with multiple personalities! One is a hooker, one is a pyro, and one is a pacifist. Fun, fun, fun!

10) Odin Quincannon: He did dirty, dirty things with meat. I know that’s low on the crazy totem pole, but it always gave me the creeps!

So that’s the list folks. Thank you crazy man from the movies last night for the inspiration. Thanks to everyone else for tuning in.

See you all tomorrow!

I was nine years old when I saw the first Predator movie.  My father thought it would be great fun to rent it from Blockbuster Video (remember those?) while my mother was out of town so we could “bond like men.”  Instead of bonding, I pissed all over him, the living room, and most of the hallway.  I also ended up with a very serious condition for most of my childhood where I would see a blurry figure and instantly sh*t myself.  Thanks dad.

My father told me that this is what happens when you get an STD.

Well, it’s been 22 years since McTiernan’s masterpiece was let lose upon the world and Predator has seen the big screen three times since.  All of them sucked.  It wasn’t always the Predators fault, but more on that later.  Why am I bringing this up?  Well, one of my favorite directors, Robert Rodriguez, is producing the next direct installment in the franchise “Predators.”  He’s got Nimrod Antal directing as of now — he’s the guy who did “Vacancy” with Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale in 2007 and most recently “Armored” with Matt Dillon, Laurence Fishburne, Jean Reno and Skeet Ulrich.  When I heard about the talent, I got right on board, but once they announced the cast, I got nervous:

Oleg Taktarov? Hell yeah!

Mahershalalhashbaz Ali? Sure!

Louiz Ozawa? Okay…

Alice Braga? Naked?

Walton Goggins? Really?

*RUMORED Topher Grace? Didn’t we play this game with Raimi?

*RUMORED Derek Mears? Yes to Jason Voorhees.

Now, some of those are bad, but none of them made me as nervous as this one:

Adrien Brody? Wasn’t Danny Glover available?!

One of the reasons the first Predator was great because we got to see The Terminator, Apollo Creed, The Body, and a porn star fight a crazy ass alien with technology, weapons and an awesome outfit that we had never seen before.  Our heroes were bad ass, and it was evident from the get go that our squad of protagonists had no problem killing anyone and were, in fact, very good at it.  But more than that, the movie played with layers of drama most action movies ignored.  We had the relationship between Dutch and Dillon; the bureaucracy and lies fed to troops through their government; and, like any good horror movie, characters who shouldn’t be afraid, sh*tting their pants.  The combination of testosterone, quality VFX, drama, and mystery has been absent in every incarnation since.

Take Predator 2…  First of all, whoever thought Danny Glover was a good choice for a leading man in the Predator series should get shot.  Danny Glover hasn’t been good in anything save the Lethal Weapon series (and that’s debatable) or the time he played that villain who loved naked women in his car.  Match that with Gary Busey, Ana-Lucia’s mom from LOST, The fraidy-cat marine from ALIENS and the Latino guy with the cool hat, and you get one of the worst casts assembled for any movie ever in the history of eyeballs.  Then there was the setting:  Los Angeles — in the future!  Everybody is shooting everybody, there are no white people anywhere (which seemed to attempt implying something), drugs abound, boobs flopping everywhere and gangs rule the street; the whole thing reeked of a studio’s attempt at “hip.”  It was a mess, except for the very, very last scene when one of the Predators gave Roger Murtaugh the pistol from way back when.  Now, the moment itself was lame because those bastards should have shot Danny’s punk ass on the spot — I know they’re hunters but it bugged me that they were so damned eloquent about the whole thing, but what was cool was the implication that these Predators have been using Earth as their own personal hunting grounds for quite some time (it was also neat to see the Alien skull).  Other than that moment, the whole thing was sh*t.  Danny Glover fighting the Predator across rooftops only helped me to realize how out of shape Danny Glover was.  At one point I actually thought, “Hey, if Danny can do it, then I can too!”  That’s a terrible realization to have at a movie you expected to terrify you.

Then we had both of the AVP movies.  First of all, I would like to give a hearty screw you to Paul W.S. Anderson for everything about that 2004 piece of trash.  He may have been able to save something up to the point he turned the Predator into a little b*tch and gave him a partner, fashioning her a shield and spear out of the defeated Alien.  Damn that movie and everything about it.  From the too-quick ingestion and production of face-huggers to aliens, to the waste of Bishop throughout.  That movie should have rocked me so hard my pubes turned gray, instead, I left the theater wondering if Hollywood saw the same Predator and Alien movies I grew up on.  AVP II was better (imho), but the directors should let us see the fight scenes next time instead of shooting everything close up like Batman Begins.

Now, back to PREDATORS:  I have faith in Robert Rodriguez.  I think he’s awesome.  I love El Mariachi, Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Planet Terror and I’m looking forward to Red Sonia(?), but the Predator franchise is something should be handled with care and I can only hope that with Rodriguez overseeing everything, that something resembling my piss-happy-inducing days of yore is what he delivers.  I want the Predator to scare me.  I don’t want to feel like I could beat him up.  I want to see people tougher than me get their asses kicked.  And for the love of all things, I want to see the Predator hunt silently, ruthlessly, and with extreme skill.  Looking at the cast we’ve got so far, I’m nervous.  I was nervous for X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE and it made me wish I was blind.  I was nervous for SPIDER MAN 3 and Venom gave me Gastro Intestinal Reflux Disease.  Now, I’m nervous once more and I really, really hope Rodriguez stays SIN CITY on this and delivers something close to source material that kicks me in the balls so hard I sneeze sperm.

Until next time,

Mr. Wolff