168a. Conrad
Today’s bonus is not a Batman villain (although it’d be awesome if it were!). I’m headed out to SPACE today with my pals Joe G. and Juliet. It’s a yearly Small Press and Comic Expo in Columbus, OH. I’ve been frequently, usually setting up a table with my pal Jason Young (who will be there with a new issue of his autobiographical comic Veggie Dog Saturn, and the printed version of The Fantastic Four No. 9 Project). I haven’t been in a few years, and since I decided to quit my weekend job yesterday, I was like, fuck it, let’s go!
So, in celebration of small press comics, the bonus sketch shouldn’t be of a corporate comic character, used to exploit the hard work of creative folks. Nope, I decided to draw Conrad from Kurt Dinse’s One Year in Indiana comic. I met Kurt at SPACE many years ago, and even though he doesn’t do the show anymore, he is definitely a person I’m glad to have met and become friends with. Which honestly doesn’t happen much in my life. Most new people I meet are fucking terrible, or break my heart.
Kurt has been there for me recently (as much as he can from two states away) and tried to help out through my whole “suicidy” phase. How much that actually means to me is not something I can easily put into words. So, thank you Kurt.
I’ll be thinking of you as I peruse a building full of small press comic creators, avoiding eye contact, brushing past to avoid their terrible pitches and desperate pleas to please buy something. It’s awful, and I’ve done it too many times to count.
I almost drew Nick Marino’s Jesus Christ for this, but Holy F*ck (and it’s upcoming sequel Holy F*cked) are published by a major company, and Marino is no longer allowed into the halls of SPACE. Fucking sell-out. It’s why they stopped letting Dave Sim come to the show!
Also, I’m gonna guess this is the first time Kurt’s character had ever been drawn digitally.
168. Iceman
Always loved Iceman, definitely due to Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. When I started reading X-Men comics I was always disappointed that he wasn’t in many, if at all. Then I discovered the original X-Factor. Bobby’s gone through a lot of dumb bullcrap in his fictional life. Including, apparently being retroactively gay. I’m all for diversity, there definitely should be more gay characters, and, hell, I’m not even opposed to a retroactive change (I’ve long held the theory and wished to see it implemented that Hal Jordan should be gay. And Batman, though he’s usually more asexual in my mind. Not even joking.) Iceman just seems like a weird choice and change. That said, if that’s the character from this point forward, ok. It’s just comics. Not gonna get too worked up over it, and whenever I go back to reading an X-Men comic in the future (taking a break from a lot of Marvel and DC for a while), I hope Iceman is still the awesome character I’ve always known him to be, gay, transgender, straight, whatever. Iceman is Iceman and I love him no matter what.
Except…
Can we stop with the spiky, blocky crazy weird Ice looks? I have always hated it. Its not “kewl”, it definitely doesn’t look like a character who has gained total mastery of his abilities. It looks like a bad idea someone had in 1994 and then it never went away. I don’t mind if, say, during a fight, he Ice-Hulks out or something, but his default should be the smooth, shiny, translucent classic Iceman.
Also, he needs to be shown transforming by encasing himself in an ice block and breaking free in full Iceman mode more. Because that’s awesome.
Also, more crazy ice slides.
167. Ant-Man
Saw Ant-Man last night with my pal Joe G. I enjoyed it quite a lot. It’s a very entertaining comedy/heist film/superhero hybrid. The in-continuity stuff isn’t overwhelming. Edgar Wright’s presence is there in like a pleasant aura. It’s got a lot of heart. Paul Rudd is charming as hell, Michaels Douglas and Peña are absolutely oustanding. Douglas pulls off a guy you could believe was at one point in time a secret superhero. The weak spot is the villain, played by Corey Stoll. He’s basically playing a whinier, over-the-top version of Jeff Bridges’ character from Iron Man 1. Very arch. I also kept getting distracted by him, because he’s on The Strain, but wears a wig on that show so he doesn’t get confused with a vampire. It’s pretty much all I kept thinking about.
Anyway, the movie is super-fun. I recommend it, and I hope it does well enough for a sequel.
Also, this is what? The 12th Marvel movie? People still left as soon as the credits hit! What the actual hell?
166. Beast
Watched X-Men: Days of Future Past: The Rogue Cut the other night. I enjoyed the movie a lot when I saw it in the theater. I held off on buying the blu-ray since I knew the director’s cut was coming at some point. And, well, it’s not exactly worth it. The movie is still the same, pretty much. Minor differences throughout, mostly unnoticeable. The biggest change comes like 90 minutes into the movie when Rogue is brought into the story and… adds nothing. There’s some extra scenes and footage, but ultimately unncessary. The movie plays out in the exact same way for the most part. And, still good, just longer and with Anna Paquin being wasted in a nothing role. There was absolutely a clear reason her part was cut, theatrically. It’s inconsequential.
So. Yeah. I actually drew this a few days before. I like Beast.
