The Return of Stickman #1315

The news story that inspired this strip had a wealth of gags within it. I went with the the gag that made me gag.

The Return of Stickman #1314

I hate riding buses. When I was a teenager I'd rather mooch a ride or ride my bicycle than take public transit. It might be one of the reasons I enjoy taxis. It might also be one of the reasons I've always worked from home.

The Return of Stickman #1313

Today's guest strip was done by Sam Day. My friendship with Sam goes back a couple of decades. Like me he is an freelance illustrator, and there have been many times when we've operated as a team on projects. One of his specialties is doing live wedding and event paintings. You should check out some of his work.

The Comic Critic Reviews Rise of the Planet of the Apes

It took me over an hour and looked like a rough draft of a college thesis, “Why I’m So Completely Fascinated with The Planet of the Apes Franchise.” I got so wrapped up describing my deep Ape-Man love that I totally forgot my goal was to write a movie review. There wasn’t one word about the movie. That was when I realized I needed to step away from my fanaticism to find a way to address one of its core messages without getting overly mushy. Then I remembered a conversation I had with my friend John Draper about Rise of the Planet of the Apes and wrote a much shorter review: thus, this strip.

The Return of Stickman #1312

Here is the news story that inspired today's strip. I made up the bit about the wallet.

You might recall that I did the poster for the Ellensburg Film Festival. Well, they liked the poster so much that we decided to use elements from it for passes, tickets, and the like. You can see those designs on their festivals Facebook page. I finally got part of their movie list and am drawing up some reviews for shorts as well as full length features. I'm trying to decide whether or not to go with a single panel, or a three panel for my reviews of the shorts. Your thoughts?

The Return of Stickman #1311

Today's strip was inspired by this news story.

I want to thank the recent wave of new subscribers for following my blog, strips and cartoons. My goal each week is to have a freshly drawn movie review for you each Monday. Whether or not the movie is fresh is a different matter. Tuesday through Friday I post new Stickman strips. Sometimes I don't achieve this goal due to an increased work schedule, travel or sick day. Please forgive the lapses when they do occur. In the meantime, feel free to send in your movie review requests and interesting news stories that you run across as fodder for my strips. They are a big help.

The Comic Critic Reviews Captain America: The First Avenger

I’ve been dismally disappointed with previous Captain America movies. The 1990 version I referred to in the strip wasn’t even the worst of the lot. The 1979 made-for-TV version and the even more atrocious sequel, Captain America II: Death Too Soon, didn’t die quickly enough. That year, I was a foreign exchange student in Japan and might have forever been spared the agony of watching such hackneyed bilge. But some television programmer had the bright idea to use them for a double feature in 1980, and this little fan-boy was completely blindsided by the awful treatments. (Steve Rogers as a Commercial Artist? That’s just salt in the wound.) Thinking back on that evening still makes me a little nauseous. So, while I was excited to see what Marvel would come up with for this part of their carefully constructed Avengers franchise, my expectations were less than high, having received the scorched-earth treatment of disappointment once before. Thus, as I watched Captain America: The First Avenger, I felt grateful, pleasant relief. It’s a respectful treatment complete with top-of-the-line set designs, special effects, choreographed fight sequences, and Easter Eggs up the wazoo that will lure me back again and again to see what I missed.