Monthly Archives: December 2009

The End of the Year and the 30 Second Recap Contest!

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It’s New Year’s Eve, and here at the ISB, that can mean only one thing: It’s time for my annual Winter vacation!

2009 has been a strange and wonderful beast for me, and now I’m shuttering up the blog for a week, but I’ll be back on January 6th to celebrate the holy crap FIFTH ANNIVERSARY of the Invincible Super-Blog. In the meantime, if you’re desperate for more Sims content, I’ll probably have things popping up here and there on ComicsAlliance and Heavy.com, and of course I’ll still be bopping around on the Twitter.

And if that’s not enough, the end of the year means it’s time once again for…

 

THE FOURTH ANNUAL 30 SECOND RECAP CONTEST!

 

Yes, it’s that time of year when I flip the script and demand that you generate content for my amusement!

Here’s how it works: Pick a comic story–any comic story, it doesn’t have to be from this year–and do a condensed version in the style of the 30 Second Recap posts I’ve done for stuff like Infinite Crisis, Civil War, Secret Invasion, and of course, Bring It On! Then just post it on your own blog, website, Flickr account LiveJournal or whatever and leave a comment on this post telling folks how to find it. Entries must be done and submitted by 11:59 Eastern time on January 5 (Tuesday night).

I’ll pick a winner on Wednesday and the winner will get a “Fabulous” Prize Package consisting of… well, probably just stuff I’ve got lying around, but at the very least you’ll get a terrible drawing from me and signed (by me) copies of Resurrection #8 and Woman of A.C.T.I.O.N. #1.

 

THE RULES

 

1. 1. Artwise, your entry doesn’t have to look good, because lord knows mine don’t. It won’t hurt if it looks nice, but shoddy art is both accepted and encouraged. Along the same lines, you don’t necessarily have to use crayons (MS Paint has a similar effect), but you have to draw your entry yourself.

2. For lettering, you can do it by hand if you can write legibly, but feel free to head over to Blambot and use one of their free comic book lettering fonts! As always the use of Comic Sans will result in an immediate disqualification.

3. Entries have a maximum of ten panels. Get it done quickly.

4. One entry per person.

5. If you post your entry somewhere other than a blog or website make sure there is some way for me to contact you. Otherwise, I’ll have to move down to the next place to send them your potential prizes.

6. Content is up to you: Despite me calling it the year-end recap contest, your subject does not have to be a story from this year. The only restriction is that it can’t be a story that hasn’t finished yet. By the nature of the contest, spoilers are par for the course, so if you’re planning on spectating this year, take that into account. Also, my definition of “a comic book story” is pretty vague, you can do anything from one issue to the entire history of the DC Universe (which has been done), but it has to be a comic. So if you were thinking of adapting a highly successful series of vampire novels that I’ve been liveblogging on Twitter…

 

 

…that’s a no-go. Otherwise, go nuts.

And that’s it! If you’re looking for more inspiration, check out the previous contests, 2008, 2007 and 2006, and I’ll see you in 2010!

The Action Age Takes on Oni’s Resurrection #8!

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It just occurred to me tonight that I never formally announced this on the ISB, instead breaking the news on an episode of War Rocket Ajax. So here we go:

 

 

February’s Resurrection #8 will have an eight-page back-up story by me, Chad Bowers, and Rusty Shackles!

Hopefully, you guys are familiar with me by now, but Chad’s the writer of the Action Age comics Danger Ace, Impossible! and Monster Plus, and you’ve seen Rusty’s art on the first 15 episodes of War Rocket Ajax and at his own website. We’ve worked together before on the as-yet-unpublished The Hard Ones, but this is going to be the first thing we’ve done that anyone will be able to see, and–and this is the big deal for me–our first print comic that we didn’t make ourselves.

If you’re worried about being able to follow along, dont fret: The back-up is completely self-contained, and all you need to know it’s the book’s high concept, which is that aliens have been driven off of Earth after an eight-year occupation, and now it’s time for humanity to rebuild itself. And if you want to know more, the trade paperback of the first series retails brand spankin’ new for just six dollars.

So please, tell your local funnybook dealer that you want Resurrection #8! The Diamond order code is NOV090888, and while the issue’s already been solicited, your retailer should still be able to do an order increase to make sure you get a copy!

ComicsAlliance: Let’s Not See This In 2010

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Step right up, folks, step right up! Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, today at ComicsAlliance, it’s a clear leer at the end of the year as Chris Sims brings you the comics trends we don’t want to see in the Two-Ought-Ten!

You’ll thrill as a rank amateur tells professionals and publishers what they’re doing wrong!

You’ll chill as the man of the hour with the glower of power reminds you of Spider-Man/Black Cat, quite possibly the worst comic book of the decade!

You’ll will yourself to keep going as the comments devolve almost immediately into a pedantic discussion of what defines a decade based on one–that’s right, sir, ONE!–throwaway line in the introduction!

It’s a ComicsAlliance post that took the help of two–yes TWO–brave souls from the Comics Blogger Internet, the Oxnard Swamp-Creature Mike Sterling and the Wild Woman of Borneo, Kalinara! They could face the triumph and terror on the other side of that hyperlink, ladies and gentlemen, but can YOU?

You, sir! With the hat! You seem like a big brave man! Dare you face this calvacade of madness? Then step right up for the price of one thin mouse click, but be warned! Patrons will NOT be seated after the first paragraph!

ComicsAlliance Presents the Super-Sports Showdowns We Want to See!

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And by “we,” of course, I mean “I.”

 

 

Yes, with the news that Superman vs. Muhammad Ali is finally getting a well-deserved reprint, my mind has been set to buzzing about which other super-hero/sports hero team-ups could come next!

This article was a little tricky for me to write, as I know next to nothing about sports that are not legally required to add “-entertainment” after the word, but hopefully there are a few jokes in there that you guys’ll get a kick out of. Plus, it features the always-entertaining PhotoShop Wizardry (photoshopzerdry) of ComicsAlliance assistant editor Caleb Goellner, although the one above was produced in house by unpaid llama-based labor here at ISB Central.

Enjoy!

The Worst of Netflix: National Lampoon’s Pucked

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After last week’s hackle-raising look at Jeff Dunham, this one, a lousy ripoff Slap Shot with the Hanson Brothers replaced by foxy ladies, felt like a masterpiece of cinema art.

That doesn’t mean it’s actually any good, though:

In the entire history of film, has there been a brand that fell from glory harder than National Lampoon? It’s the brand that led off with Animal House, one of the best comedies of all time, but in the years since, the collapse of the magazine led to the transfer of the name to a company best known for marketing Tim Conway’s Dorf videos to insomniacs in the mid-90s, and it’s all been downhill from there. And down they have gone, sailing right past a made-for-TV “sequel” to Christmas Vacation starring Randy Quaid and smacking right into an attempt at a sexy version of Slap Shot starring Jon Bon Jovi.

Thus: Pucked.

The Worst of Netflix: Pucked at Heavy.com. Be there now!

Christmas Presents!

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I generally try to keep my celebrations pretty quiet, but sharp-eyed ISB readers may have noticed a few vague references over the past few weeks to Christmas, my favorite holiday.

Yes, Christmas! A time for family and togetherness, but far more importantly, a time for presents. And I’ve got to say, I made out pretty well this year. In addition to the truly amazing t-shirt that Euge gave me as part of our live-on-Ajax gift exchange…

 

 

…I also managed to score a nice version of RoboCop from Rachelle, some great presents from readers–including an action figure of Dr. Rockzo: The Rock ‘n’ Roll Clown from Charlie Oliver–and a copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which is an amazingly fun reminder that I used to be really good at video games.

I also got a surprise from the creators of El Gorgo, Mike McGee and Tamas Jakab: The complete Bronze Age Betty and Veronica in PDF on DVD. It’s every issue from 197- to 1979, and it’s from the same people who did the Complete Collection for the Marvel books. If only I’d had this back when I was putting together the Common People post…

 

 

…things would’ve been so much easier.

Incidentally, the panel above is Ronnie doing an impression of Virginia Cleary, a little known Riverdale resident who is so sexy that her walk is always accompanied by the sounds of Frosty the Snowman:

 

 

The standout gift, however, is the one I got way early from Kevin Church: A Batman storybook:

 

 

But not just any Batman storybook, as I found out when I popped it open to the title page. This is the story of a very special team-up:

 

 

That’s right: A story where I help Batman solve not just a case of a stolen robot, but the case of the stolen robot. It’s one of those books where you put in a kid’s name and a little information about them and it plugs them into the story, but man, for something based on a form, they got my voice down pat:

 

 

It arrived so early that it was a complete surprise, and as it ends with me and Batman becoming best friends, it’s basically the best thing ever.

As for gifts that can’t be bought in a store, I got a great one of those too: A piece of art from Smithy based on the first issue of Woman of A.C.T.I.O.N.:

 

 

What is the true meaning of Christmas, if not Lars the Henchman stealing a super-spy’s lacy underthings?

As for the presents I gave, well, Kevin and Dave Lartigue have put theirs up for all to see, but I was also part of doing something nice for Love and Capes creator Thom Zahler that was whole lot of fun to do.

I got a few other things (and I think there are still a few on the way), but at this point I’m just going on and on about presents I got, so I’ll just give one more thank you to everyone for giving me such a fun Christmas, and here’s hoping everyone out there got something nice too.