Sleepy-time Reads

Reading comics on my iPad is addicting.  Load them up and they just sit there all in a row, waiting for you to knock them all out.  Ever since I was a wee lad, I've liked reading something before bed.  Now that I can do so on a back-lit screen, comics has become the #1 solution.

When I read a normal, mainstream title like the Avengers or Spider-Man, reading one or two comics is enough to get my eyes sufficiently droopy and start to drop the curtain down on my brain.

This blog post will serve as a personal warning to myself: do not read series like Locke & Key, Secret Warriors or The Walking Dead before bedtime.  These series are mixes of captivating and surprising, fulfilling and nuanced, or depressing and melancholy and they all get my brain racing.

Sleep: negative.  Or at least I should uninterrupted sleep will be a shock to me.  Some of creepiest dreams have come after reading a few issues of Walking Dead a bit too close to putting my head to pillow.

On the other side of the coin, Marvel comics are exactly what the doctor ordered.  They are exciting reads and I love all the titles I follow, but it's more like a favorite TV show that I know all the main characters will be fine until the next episode.  That safety goes a long way to letting me begin to analyze artists or writers more than those by other publishers.

Comic nerd begone now! If you stuck through to the end of this, you clearly are near and dear to me.

Punch it, Chewie!

I Am Jack's Drive

The first rule of Might Club is.... in progress. We haven't really gotten around to finishing it yet.  I'd check back in a few weeks and it should be done.  Maybe.

To dig a little deeper into my cranial pan, tonight's comic is more a reaction to a personal fear I've held for a number of years.

We can go back and forth in a heated debate for hours as to the quality of my ideas, but I do find myself having quite a few in any given week.  Where the real hitch comes in is the 'doing something about it' bit.  Following through on something beyond the initial idea is something that has constantly plagued me.  The rapid-fire nature of this blog is immune to this due to the immediate reward for my efforts.  Doodle, post, ramble, repeat.

All of this being said, I have a number of open projects that I've not been able to devote nearly as much time as I'd like.  I loathe the idea of a New Year's resolution because it implies you only need to pick one thing to work on, and only at the end/beginning of the year.  To completely negate my own last thought, something that has been coming up again and again while out on dog walks lately is that I need to be more intentional with the work I do on my own, even if they turn out to be just hobbies.

Long story short, tonight's comic is about indifference and how I'm growing tired of it hanging around me.

Punch it, Chewie!

Puppy Love: Now With Teeth!

What are all these cobwebs in here? You'd think that someone abandoned this blog for almost an entire month or something.

It's good to be back, and tonight's comic should hopefully go along with my apologies to convey why there was such a large gap between posts.  After an impulsive decision to go check out a local animal shelter, we got a puppy.

He's a delightful little ball of energy, but with a few downsides.  When his own energy reserves start to ebb, like the vampires of old, he sucks the energy right out of us.  This is accomplished by chewing or barking at anything he decides to fixate on.  It is a bummer to lose the ability to hit the 'snooze' button in the mornings, but I think it will be worth the trade-off eventually.  Already, the little furball has been good for morale in some respects.  I'm getting more fresh air, though it's occasionally tinged with noxious puppy gas and plenty of walks outside around our neighborhood.

Also, I'm back to playing League of Legends! I had taken several months off as I was just getting tired of the repetition.  I'm glad to say that I just needed a break, because I'm all in again.  My skills in the game, however, are not so fast to return.  Oh well, I guess that's something more for my team to deal with in the end.

It finally feels like I'm starting a new year, turning a new page, getting back to old rhythms and it is good.  Enjoy your week, hopefully we'll all be outside in warmer weather and puppy teething will end soon.

Punch it, Chewie!

Graphical Comfort

I could quit my job today and get a government grant to prove my data-less hypothesis depicted in tonight's comic.  It's science, just without all the actual trials, information and insight to link factors together!

Also I should probably point out that I didn't really have a stressful day, thus making me wear sweatpants after work.  In fact, I'm disproving my own theory since changing into the cotton wonder was the first thing I did but my day wasn't really all that bad.  To be fair though, writing a comic about how I came home and put on comfy clothes because I didn't have any errands to run tonight really wouldn't interest too many people.

Tomorrow a character I've been following off and on for basically my entire "career" collecting and reading comics comes back in his own self-titled series.  Cable and the X-Force is hitting shelves tomorrow and I'm excited to be able to support it with my dollars.  Cable is an interesting character that Marvel has had a hard time dealing with since he has such a complicated, convoluted back-story. Oh, and that he's a time-traveler that could, if they wrote it as such, really complicate the entire Marvel Universe.  He's a truly gritty character, not in the Punisher way where loss drove him to blatant and unapologetic murder, but in the way that his entire story is always dealing with loss and continuing on in the face of it.  If the man has a super power, a friend, a favorite weapon or even a timeline that he's beginning to settle into, trust the comic overlords to yank it out from under his feet.  When I write it like that, I'm surprised I don't get tired of those kinds of stories.

Just a few days and weeks away from holiday relaxation makes this week sure to feel as if it's passing more slowly than those carefree summer days that don't have the same longevity.  I wonder if I could just build a pillow fort in my cubicle and read until the break comes.

Punch it, Chewie!

No More Gutter Birdies

It's amazing that I haven't been scooped up by some clandestine government think-tank to sit in their plush underground bunkers and just churn out world-altering inventions.  The reality-shaking game of Tetherminton would be just one example, sure to sweep any nation with casual and highly competitive play.

A major running theme in my entertainment and thus thoughts lately has been the idea of large machinations.  I'm speaking almost exclusively about government and spy agencies, with almost always a science fiction twist to them.  Even some ideas for projects I've been mulling over the past few months have had to do with concepts of story and interactions as pieces of a larger device.

Trying to understand why these elements put together would appeal to me so much, I think I hit upon a few points.  Science fiction is a no-brainer; attempting to identify with the fantastical injects mystery and excitement into my life which almost exclusively (by design, right or wrong) lacks the risks of adventure.

Also involved are always clear plans, even if these may not be revealed until working through the problems.  Having the rigidity of an intended outcome brings me some kind of comfort, that all the work being put in and  risks taken are calculated and have a goal in mind.  For me, this ties into the hole that organized religions much more often than not can't fill.  This isn't a failing on their part but my own inability to look at the theater of it and not question the motives.

It's clear though what would involve adventure with a clear outcome in mind: Tetherminton!  Yikes, did I just black out through a therapy session or something?  Luckily there's nothing too dark in there so I'll just leave it as is, until next we meet.

Punch it, Chewie!

The Electrichanic

Ahhh, it's good to be back.  Flexing (even as minimally as I do) my mental muscles to bring these posts can sometimes be as therapeutic as working out or talking at my wife's ear until I'm shooed away.  Tonight's inspiration comes as a result of a few things, of which we'll probably need to address in order.

It's no secret that I love building things.  This can be in the form of Lego, ideas, tension, jokes, websites or furniture.  It's the last that derailed me from completing my regularly-scheduled comic a few weeks back.  This segued rather comfortably into the Thanksgiving holiday break and all the related relaxation, during which I didn't even have a need to take my car out of the garage until returning to work this week.

At this time of the year, work is a nearly-constant fire drill (without the drill) mode as I rather deftly navigate between deadlines and expectations.  It's earlier tonight that for some of you the story actually becomes (momentarily) interesting.  Apparently the recent drops in temperature were enough to kill my car battery, which decided to completely give out after work as the sun began to set in the distance.  Luckily, my sister works nearby and we were able to easily get it purring again and back home to my garage.

Going back to my earlier point regarding my love for building, I can probably narrow that down a little bit more.  My love is for a job well done, that moment of standing back and surveying your accomplishment.  As stressful and disappointing as my car had become earlier in the evening, everything was forgotten once the new battery was installed and sockets spun to secure it snugly.

Smiling at the device that just hours before made me think for a second about mass transit or buying a good bicycle, I had a small self-realization.  As long as I get to fix it or put it back together, I don't really care what breaks.

Punch it, Chewie!

Crack it, Chewie!

In what was to go down in history as yet another 'you got your peanut butter in my chocolate' moment, Angry Birds and Star Wars partnered to create, you guessed it, Angry Birds Star Wars.  The game immediately topped every chart when it comes to apps, then it made a few new charts just to top those too.

I assumed that there were a few that were proposed that ultimately didn't make it into the actual game, so I stealthily procured some test images and have posted them here tonight.  If they come for me, you now know it was so the truth could be told of the other birds in a slingshot game on your phone.

For those of you that play Fantasy Football, have you ever had a weekend where nearly every player on your team just decides that they're going to take it easy in their games this week?  Maybe they're thinking about their own bodies, or tending to injuries or are distracted by their personal lives or the politics of the locker room.  In any case, why can't they just run down the field a little farther so I can accrue a few more fake points in a game that might as well be called Statistical Roulette?  Actually, forget I ever mentioned that, I need to go design how you would play Statistical Roulette now.

Punch it, Chewie!

This Case Is Closed-ish

We've got another installment of everyone's favorite tough-talking, stick-walking private investigator!  He's got a 100% success rate for his cases.  Just ask him, he'll tell you.

Actually that brings up an interesting point that brings it back around to Batman eventually.  Thinking of all the cases that Stick Guy P.I. may or may not have just closed because he wanted lunch, this would create a potential wing of the local prison with guys that have something against the 'stache.  That's the point at which I think of Batman's rogues gallery.

I was listening to a podcast earlier today that brought up the point that Batman is unique as a super hero in that most heroes are a reaction to an inciting incident.  They then make it through the other side and find themselves changed and ready to take on graver and larger threats.  Batman inciting incident was post-traumatic stress and guilt as a result of small-time crime.  Instead of joining the police force though, he escalated things and was actually on the scene before his villains were.  The Joker, Two-Face, Killer Croc, Clayface, the list goes on and on of super-powered baddies that only seem to stick around in Gotham because Batman won't relent.  The idea of a hero that spawns enemies is fairly unique on the scale that Batman is responsible for, yet rarely do you truly feel a sense of guilt from the Caped Crusader about that fact.  Granted, it's not really something he could do much about it would just be nice to see him acknowledge it maybe once in awhile.  My favorite sociopath could use a little more self-awareness.

Hoping the weather cooperates with us this weekend, we're going hiking and maybe cow tipping! One of those things is false, you choose.

Punch it, Chewie!

Mouse-ter Chief

I've been brewing on this story for a full week at this point, but if things go the way they have been, Disney will be acquiring additional properties over time, including more mediums of entertainment.  Word came down that Disney would be buying Lucasfilm, creating another trilogy of Star Wars movies and otherwise managing the universe Lucas created.

There are a few thoughts that come to mind as I try to process these kinds of things that I have no clear understanding or power over.  Firstly, I worry about one over-arching voice of creative control for so many different aspects of entertainment.  At the same time, the war chest that Disney can dispense for their projects allows for so many more projects to go through the machine.  In the end it may come down to your personal preference; do you prefer a lot of the things you used to really like or would you rather have less but respect the product more.

At the same time, I can't really complain that Disney took over everything Star Wars if I look to how they treated taking over Marvel a few years ago.  When word came down that the sugarplum empire was going to handle my childhood (alright, I'll concede probably lifelong) obsession, I was very worried.  In practice, the only problems I've had with Marvel since come from maybe a little too much marketing for movie cross-promotion and weak writing for their huge events.  Otherwise, writers kept on doing what they were supposed to do and artists did the same.

In the end though, I'll just have to wait and see.  It's like I said before, it's not like I'll ever have a clear look behind the curtain or have any chance to affect any change if I did.  Guess I'll have to work harder to create entertainment of my own.

Punch it, Chewie!

Oversatirization

We made it! Hopefully this silly little drawing reaches you in your powered home or cave if you're living off the grid.  I know that "Superstorm" Sandy really bled off the majority of her strength making her way inland to us, however New Jersey and New York really got a pounding.

As always, the Monday Morning QBs come out of the woodwork both before and after to offer their own opinions and advice on how people should react to these kinds of situations.  The funny thing is that if the newscasters hadn't prepared people for the possibility that the storm was coming, these same MMQBs would be calling for something similar to what happened to the poor seismologists in Italy (if you're interested).  What's worse, instead of being thankful that they weren't affected as negatively as the people in the coastal cities and states, they complain about the extra stuff they got or the annoyance of waiting for more storm.  They wanted more storm!  That does not make any sense to me, but then again I draw dumb little doodles twice a week for my own sanity.

Vent aside, everyone that I know of got through this with very minimal damage to their own selves and property and we're very thankful for that.  I also picked up The Walking Dead video game for my tablet the other day and I'm hooked.  The combination of simple point and click with tense split-second decisions makes for a very engaging experience.  Just don't play it when you're home alone.

Punch it, Chewie!

Eating For Two

When you typically do your food shopping for at least two at every meal, there's an interesting phenomenon that occurs from time to time.  If it's just one person that happens to be around, then a choice is presented: either you make all the food and only eat half, or figure out ways to portion it out and only make enough for just yourself.

However, when it's just me in the kitchen by myself a third option opens.  I pull back the third curtain and end up making all the food, and eating all of it.  And it's glorious.

This weekend, I had the opportunity to dim my intellect with a few action titles, B or C level at best.  The first was Lockout, the Guy Pearce badass space prison escape hostage rescue movie.  If you're willing to buy all that, they you very well may like this one, Snow (Pearce) has some great one-liners but he ends up not being on-screen enough to keep the action going and it ends in the most abrupt, odd way possible.  It's probably because it was a film by Luc Besson, crazy action movie director not big on story.  The masochistic piece of me ended up really enjoying the movie, but my expectations were simultaneously low and hoping for a bad movie.  Mission accomplished.

Punch it, Chewie!

Murderous Heroism

I love a good hero story.  It's about overcoming your obstacles while holding yourself to a certain standard, no matter what the opposition chooses to hold themselves to.  So when I find myself drawn to the darker heroes that employ tools o' murder, I find it's time to dig deep and dissect that inclination.

My conclusion comes down to probably the most shallow it could: they just look cooler on the page or big screen.  I mean, some of my favorite characters employ this deadly violence.  Green Arrow isn't really in that hallowed mental pantheon, but others like Wolverine, Deadpool, Hawkeye, Cable, Nick Fury, the Punisher all fit that bill.  These are just the ones I like, not to mention the others that choose to strap a gun or sword to their hip or shoulder.

Don't get me wrong, Captain America is still at the top of the food chain and he usually only carries his vibranium shield.  He does everything that I feel a hero should and doesn't find himself in situations where he has to sacrifice his beliefs to get the job done.  That doesn't stop me from enjoying Wolverine dig those claws into the henchmen masses trying to get to the root of whatever problem is in front of him.

All this to say, I watched the premiere episode of Arrow this week and actually liked it quite a bit.  The production values were high, while the character was just as much of a bastard as Oliver Queen is supposed to be.  Regardless of how much I enjoyed the show, I found my grimace growing as the typical bad guy, who recently had arrow-ridden thugs in his employ, shouts at our protagonist "you put my guys in the hospital!"  Did he? Or did he in fact shoot them with arrows only to leave them not moving in the parking structure?  It is on the CW though, so while there may be blades, arrows and guns a'plenty, I doubt the body count is going to rise much at all in this early season.

C-c-c-combo breaker! Enough of this nerd talk, I'll talk at you all later.

Punch it, Chewie!

Conspiracy Theory 101

It's that scene in movies we're all familiar with at this point.  Someone goes into a room and (gasp!) there's a huge collection of interrelated news clippings, pictures and artifacts connected to one another with some form of string.

We as viewers are then programmed to look at the character who created this room of mess as eccentric but maybe with a touch of genius.  The real thing of it is that we never really get the chance to take a really solid look at the materials being connected to one another.  Two thoughts come to mind for me.

First, there's absolutely no one there to check on this whackadoo's work and tell him whether or not anything is actually related to whatever shadowy thing he's investigating.  Without that check or balance, there's nothing stopping the train from pulling completely into Crazyville.  Second, all of these relational maps are gigantic, frequently taking up an entire wall or room.  I'd like to see a junior detective taking on a super easy case with four or five things all connected like I so expertly depicted this evening.

Well alright now, not much else to say other than power through this week so I can get back to my regularly scheduled nothing on the weekend.

Punch it, Chewie!

Drive-Thru Dilemma

Everyone wants to stay active and feel healthy and happy.  Not ever work day seems to want to allow this same happiness to occur.  It's at times like these that you just have to push your chips to the center and find the nearest fast food establishment to really guilt yourself into moving the next time around.

There have been some minor renovations to the Manor!  When we purchased the estate, it has some masonry that was in need of some repair.  Throughout the course of this year, pieces of the mortar even began falling out some of the bricks were so loose.  We got lucky and within a week of agreeing on a price we've got a completely repointed/relayed brick chimney waiting for it's first fire to blaze up!  I think we're going to hold off on the mason to seal it all up and give us the thumbs-up that it's alright to let our inner firebugs loose for the coming winter months.

Speaking of, I know talking about the weather is a bit on the boring side, but it's not often that there's a forty degree drop in temperatures and it just stays that way.  Next thing you know, all the leaves will just fall off the tree in the course of one day, in the Spring all the flowers will pop up in the course of one day and it could go on and on.

Alright, let's go see what's going on in Guild Wars 2.

Punch it, Chewie!

Monetary Trending

Wow, when it rains it pours!  The ideas for completely useful inventions just keep coming to me.  Tonight's solves the age-old problem: what do you do when you're out in the sun and need some light? Why, get our solar-powered lamps, of course!  They're the ultimate in portability, with only the slight downside of not being able to provide illumination on cloudy days.

Avengers vs. X-Men, published by Marvel Comics, finished it's run yesterday and I couldn't be more relieved.  The entire event has just felt like a doorstop.  It's been interesting enough (not nearly what was promised) but ultimately only serves to open the door for the Marvel NOW! initiative coming in this last quarter of 2012.

They shot themselves in the foot though, in that they released news about what was coming next early on in the AvX plotline.  This completely distracted the reader from what was happening and only made us start to read while we wait for the good stuff to come along.  I was less than pleased.  I am excited to see some of my favorite characters back out there.  Cable will make his long-awaited reappearance in his self-titled Cable and the X-Force and Deadpool will be written by one of my favorite comedians Brian Posehn.  Fingers crossed I don't get so jaded I give up on the medium altogether, but they've hooked me for one more ride.  Ball's in your court, Marvel.

Punch it, Chewie!

Self-Mailing Substitution

This is a legally-binding digital copyright for a fantastic idea... that would probably immediately electrocute people.  It would also probably lead to immediate need for physical therapy from dislocated shoulders or herniated discs.

Well, we're back!  I took a week or so off from the comic to try and cleanse the palate, and this is what we come up with?  Honestly though, work was to the point where I almost was driven to working over my usual 40 hours. Insanity!  Breathe a sigh of relief true believers though, I was still home before dinner every night, but was just not in a state for any witty, amazing, life-changing comics.

That being said, one can't just go from inactivity to a sprint! I need to pace myself after my ultra-short hiatus so that's all for tonight.

Punch it, Chewie!

It's The 'Stache

Introducing the newest, thinnest badass to the dp world: Stick Guy, P.I.!  He has absolutely nothing to do with anything, and he doesn't take up very much space.  If there's any mystery in two dimensions though, he's your man.

Some day, we'll be able to look back on this day as the first time the world saw what turned out to be a character at the center of Six Seasons and a Movie!

On the Guild Wars 2 front, we had a few Epoch boys hit the coveted level 80 this past weekend, myself included.  It's super weird, but the idea of reaching the 'end of the game' hasn't slowed down my interest to keep going and completing every bit of the world that I can.  In fact, tonight we may have a crew taking down a dungeon or two.  Here's hoping it goes smoothly, it's just what I need to bleed off the stress of a particularly hectic work week.

Punch it, Chewie!

The Playground Platform

Politics are in the air, and I could not care less about it.  It's so hard to make any judgments pre-election on what your officials will actually do when in office that every promise, every argument is just taking up oxygen.

Then you get into the fact that there are some seriously whacked out ideas to spew forth from both their brains and their mouths.  You would hope that those tasked with safeguarding our way of life would have a better view of how to provide that, however it's more often the case they only really know how to do that for themselves.  It's clear that for the majority of these people, the real key to power is simply showing up and being willing.  If you keep asking for responsibility from people, especially to do something that they don't want or understand how to do, they just may give you the keys to the kingdom.  That thought is simultaneously sobering and scary while also being hopeful for those who want to make a genuine difference.

Either way, shortly we'll elect someone who has the opportunity to break my pessimism towards politicians, but if experience has anything to teach me probably will fall short in this.  As long as pointless webcomics don't get abolished, I'll adapt.

Punch it, Chewie!

Inventing Stuff

It's been said that we are all standing on the shoulders of giants.  Why then, would we not try and use some of the same cues from these aforementioned large people.  So then it would only make sense that if you want to up the ante, why not update a classic that good ole Benjy figured out long ago.

Short post tonight, not really feeling the funny too much on a day like today.

Punch it, Chewie!

First Issue Problems

If you're not a comic book fan or don't get why it's fun to read adventures and stories on a monthly basis tonight may not be for you.

With that out of the way, it's getting a bit weird at the comic book store lately.  Let me break it down a little bit further for you.

Marvel Comics decided that they were going to release their flagship titles (Iron Man and Spider-Man for my own pull-box) twice a month, meaning now you'll be paying twice every 30 days.  This means a lot of content which is fantastic, but it also means that there's a little less weight in your wallet.  Speaking of Spider-Man, this year is the 50th anniversary of the character's creation, meaning that there was an extra-thick issue, complete with an extra-thick price.

DC Comics, meanwhile, went through their New 52 rebooting of numbering and title reorganization last year at this time.  It just so happens that they simultaneously decided that all of their titles would have their 'Annual' issues be released at the same time as a #0 Issue would be released to re-focus their titles.

So after all those consideration, my most recent trip to the comic book store netted 9 issues for only 5 different titles.  I doubled-down on 80% of the titles that were in my box this time.  Don't get me wrong, I love comic books and I love supporting the industry, but it's time to think long and hard about trimming back some of these titles.  Maybe the lackluster Justice League can go out to pasture.  Gratefully, Marvel's Avengers Vs. X-Men event is wrapping up so that will get trimmed out as well.

Hobby Economics 101, class dismissed.

Punch it, Chewie!