The Return of Stickman #1321

Why is it everybody has moose troubles but me? While this strip was inspired by this news item it's not 100% factual.

The Return of Stickman #1320

Sometimes it's easy to tell when somebody's elevator doesn't go all the way to the top, are not playing with a full deck, have a screw loose, or are just plain bonkers. And while the general public has to put up with them during in-face-time I feel for those poor immediate relatives that have madness as part of their daily routine. And, yes, this was inspired by a real news story.

The Return of Stickman #1319

Today's strip was inspired from a friend in Australia. She'd been corresponding with an American stationed in Nigeria and had a question for me. "In the USA do you use the word Movies or Cinema?" I responded that I personally found the word Movies was the more frequently used word. But that might be solely a regional thing. Oh, by the way, I just inherited $20 million dollars and it would be a huge help if I could get it out of the country for 24 hours.

The Comic Critic Reviews Metropolis

Part of me wishes I could have been there for Metropolis’s debut. It was a time of explosive imagination. It was at the very start of film. No rules had been set to govern it; no preconceptions were available to hamper it, even the definitions of new words to describe it were in flux. And into this brand new media came this extravagant science fiction drama, filled with cultural, philosophical, ideological, and artistic references, some old and others just entering public discussion. It’s no wonder that nearly all of its imagery has become iconic. Yet, because Metropolis’s influence on the science fiction genre was so enormous, part of me is grateful that I wasn’t there in 1927. If I were, I couldn’t help but compare everything that came afterward to that first awe-inspiring viewing experience.

A little personal note here. I have a tremendous love for movies. But if I collected a DVD of every movie I enjoyed, there wouldn’t be any room in my house for furniture. So, it was a strictly survivalist decision to limit it, using personal nostalgia as my guiding factor. After a lot of thought, I realized two qualifiers that would allow a movie to enter my collection:

1. Any pirate movie.
2. Movies in which robots are the primary focus or are heavily featured.

You might think that the first thing I did was pick up a copy of Pirates of the Caribbean, but you’d be wrong. I established my video collection rules two years before Pirates of the Caribbean was released. No, the very first was Metropolis.

The Return of Stickman, guest strip by Bart

Special thanks to Bartosz Solodkowski for sending in a guest strip for Stickman. It made my life easier today. Thanks, Bart! Fame and fortune will soon be knocking on your door!

The Comic Critic will be at Jet City

On Saturday, September 24th 2011, The Jet City Comic Book Show is going to be held in Seattle at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall located at 299 Mercer Street from 10am to 6pm. Tickets are only $8. If you pre-order your tickets you will receive a free Bomber Girl print by Matthew Clark. This will be the second year I’ll be attending the show. You can find me in the Artist’s Alley at table AA25.

I will be doing drawing/signing for those who buy my book. Almost everyone who subscribes to this blog knows what my book’s about. But, if you don’t, then check out this video.

It’s one in a series of reviews that tag into my book, “The Comic Critic Presents Seldom Seen Films.”

Special thanks to Adam the Alien for producing this and the other movie review videos for me, to Joe Izenman who created my jingle, and of course my good friend Joe Manfredini whose been my right hand man at so many conventions.

The Comic Critic Reviews Wristcutters: A Love Story

I thought that Wristcutters: A Love Story would be a small, slightly sad art-house film. The initial setting lures you into thinking that you’re watching a purposefully dismal story. Then you get surprises. They aren’t big surprises, more like hints of surprises. And you can’t tell if they are dark or light surprises. Either way they are piling up and engaging in ways you didn’t expect. And the next thing you know, you’ve had a perfectly delightful experience.

I’m still mulling over how a dog ends up in a world inhabited by suicides.