The Return of Stickman #1301

This strip was actually inspired by the previous strip. One of the visual elements of the previous strip was inspired by a tattoo I saw a girl receiving at Crypticon and not from a cheese induced dream.

The Return of Stickman #1299

No news article with this one. Well, you might be able for find some information to support this if you look hard enough.

The Comic Critic Reviews Magic

I still remember the long, cold shiver that went down my spine when I saw a 30-second teaser preview for Magic. What’s driving me nuts is I can’t remember where I saw it. It might have been at the theater or maybe on Showtime. All I know for sure is that it wasn’t on broadcast television. The studio pulled that spot immediately after parents’ complaints that a ventriloquist’s dummy reading poetry was scaring the living daylights out their children. Although it might not have been the first movie to use a ventriloquist’s personality to make an audience jump, Magic still holds the crown. This is in no small part to the fine acting of Ann-Margret, Burgess Meredith, and Anthony Hopkins.

The Return of Stickman #1298

This is what my life was like before my iPhone and GPS.

The Return of Stickman #1297

Did you read about the sinkhole swallowing up an oil rig worker? My wife pointed out that the street name where it occurred could be considered slightly ironic. While I was trying to figure out how to make a strip from the article my mind wandered and I came up with a couple of strip ideas. This is the first.

The Return of Stickman #1296

Can you figure out this strip without doing a Google search?

The Return of Stickman #1295

It think the details of this news item kept changing every time I looked it up. And, yes, I know that a mink is also part of the weasel family.

This weekend I'm going to be participating in two events. I'm doing a fundraiser on Saturday for the CLAW and on Sunday I will be at the Urban Art Festival in Tacoma selling my book and merchandise.

The Comic Critic Reviews Bitten

The next time I get a movie recommendation from Netflix, I’m going to make sure that it’s not a straight-to-video production before I commit to watching it. I’m not saying that I dislike straight-to-video movies (most are crap); several of my friends have made straight-to-video movies (most are crap). I’m just saying that I need to do my due diligence so I know what I’m getting into. I had to stop watching Bitten five minutes in because my wife, a lover of vampire movies, couldn’t take watching another minute of it with me. I rescheduled it for a time when I could enjoy its, um, unique qualities all by myself. The part I liked most was the end of the movie. It had a lot of unmet potential. And I’m not talking about the script.

The Return of Stickman #1294

Sometimes I wonder how many references would pop-up if I did a keyword search in this comic strip for the word 'rabies', or for 'Georgia' for that matter.

Ha! Made you look.

The Return of Stickman #1293

Is it sad or nice that I didn't know what the phrase 'teabagging' meant until just a few years ago.

The Comic Critic Reviews X-Men, First Class

A special thank-you goes out across the universe to my friend Randall who lived in the same dorm I did in college. His collection of Marvel and Heavy Metal magazines was outstanding. I spent endless hours delving through his highly prized comic book collection. Through him I learned the way of the plastic sleeve and other tips on archiving. He also gave me perspective to see how much fun it was for comic book readers to follow twisting storylines, always waiting, sometimes unwillingly, to be sent in a whole new direction. I think X-Men: First Class does a great job of doing that for comic fans while still entertaining those completely unfamiliar with the franchise. My goal here was to share the fun feelings I had of geeking out over X-men; also to remind you that Disney bought Marvel last year.

The Return of Stickman #1292

I thought it would be funny to take one pop culture happening and pair it with another. However, I want to make it abundantly clear that I've never seen a single episode of The Jersey Shore. I find it irksome that those appearing on the show have oozed into pop culture. God Bless You if you did not catch the reference from the show in today's strip.

The Return of Stickman #1291

Sometimes I write these strips and toss them into a queue. I never know when one of the small news story that inspire my strips will turn into a national story. This story came and went with all the fury of a 25¢ bottle rocket.

The Return of Stickman #1290 and Crypticon sketch

I got a few queries from folks asking about the sketches I did at Cryticon. When fans buy my book at shows I will often do drawings inside them. I completely forgot to take any pictures of the sketches I drew for fans. Here is one I drew on a clipboard when everyone went over to watch the make-up demonstration.

The Comic Critic Reviews Silent Running

There are two camps when it comes to Silent Running. The first camp sees the movie as an overly simple story, drastically different from the one that inspired it, with laughable inaccuracies. The second camp sees it for the iconic, startling, pure science fiction which indeed holds a message within. Perhaps it’s the fact that I saw it when I was ten and easily impressionable (I was crying during the end scene) is why I’m with the latter camp. Keep a cinematic timeline in mind. Star Wars was still five long years away. And even if you don’t care for Joan Baez’s singing, I still say that Silent Running is well worth a first-time viewing. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen it over the years. Once you do see it, you can’t help but realize the effect this film had on so many Sci-Fi and space operas that followed it.