Thursday, May 31, 2012

He Goes Out...She Stays In


Comic Mashup Theater Presents, a Classic Tale from a Classic Age, Featuring Classic Tail, and a Classic Dilemma, Presented with Classic Juvenal Humor:
What Do You Want to Do Tonight? 
While he pounds the pavement, she is watching the boob tube!

Monday, May 28, 2012

Some Observed Limits

The Cosmos and Human Life.
The Imagination and Comics.
There is some kind of fractal refraction or re-representation of a common theme going on there.
There is an undeniable Vastness to the Universe that is mirrored by the unbridled Imagination of the artist.  But all that limitless scope and power produces little when it is given All of Space and Time to drift in.
There is an unavoidable smallness that limits the motions and presentations available to us in these small human bodies and on these tiny comics pages.
Yet there is something about the boundaries and limits of life and the page with its panels, that creates a magical manifestation that is not possible in the realm of the Infinite.
The focusing lens of limits creates a series of specific flames that burn all the more surprisingly bright and magical because they are NOT infinite.
What good is Infinity if you don't have a Box to keep it in?

Not much, it turns out.

Check out the struggle of the Infinite to become Finite and the Finite to become Infinite in my latest episode of Super Ordinary Living, Between the Panels: a limited web comic in a limitless universe.

YUM

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Summer Openess Lounging

It feels like Summer today.
And I've been drawing a new episode of
Super Ordinary Living!
The only web comic that makes you feel Super Ordinary.

CLICK HERE to Read It.

I wanted to make the return of Baron Von Domino and Nebulus the Kosmic something special.
Hopefully I didn't get too philosophical...

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Comic Mashup Practical Joke

Hey kid!  You with the comics!
Hey kid!  I've got your nose!
Comic Mashup Theater presents a story as plain as the nose on your face.


Now you can take the story apart to see what makes it run.
But whatever you do, don't picket!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Gay Comics Mashup the News

Gay Comics have been all over the news lately.
Northstar and Kyle are getting married in X-men.
DC is teasing us by leaking that one of its long-term characters will come out of the closet in June.
(Should be Nightwing, but all their "somebody not seen since the relaunch" means it is probably some Earth 2 character.)
Prism Comics makes nothing but Gay (LGBT) Comics.
Personally, I am looking forward to the day (in real life and comics) when being Gay (LGB or T) doesn't mean anything weird or special.  But that day isn't today, apparently.  Soon I hope, but not today.

Anyway, I took a break from all this Gay Comic News to look at my blog stats and discovered that my top post of the last month has been "Gay Comic Mashup News" from March. (A lovely little Comic Theater Mashup, if I do say so myself, and I do.)
Apparently, according to Google, people find this post of mine by searching for "gay comics".
I tried that and found that my blog post does not appear until page 23 of the search results.  (Your results may differ, because Google does different thing for different people on different days.)
But holy cow, Batman.  People are wading through 23 pages of links before clicking on mine?  What's up with that?

Then I thought, well heck, if the words Gay Comics gets me more visitors, then who am I to not give the people what they want.
So, here it is.

Comic Mashup Theater Proudly Presents, for the purpose of increasing readership only, Another Day, Another Gay Comic Mashupdate:

Don't forget to check out the Super Furry Gay Love over at Super Ordinary Living Comics.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Comic Mashup Black and White Edition

Some times less is more.
Wow!  Nebulus and Baron Von Domino just hijacked my Mashup!
I have heard from a couple of Super Ordinary Living readers that they feared for the old Volume 1 characters.  Well fear not.  Good characters never go to waste.
I wasn't super enthused about continuing the Volume 1 story, but I never wanted to just lose those characters.  There will be room for them in some role or another in Volume 2.  Maybe not what they were used to, but they will be there.  In fact, Domino and his Taser made a cameo appearance in the Purgatory Episode already.  CLICK HERE to SEE.

We will just have to keep exploring Volume 2 together to see what Super Ordinary Living will become.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Serious Oratory Libations


Why is the Big Guy with an "S" on his chest hugging a Raccoon?
Why are they facing an empty tepee?
Why does the campfire smoke form a question mark?
Why do you tolerate such an endless string of questions?
Why aren't you clicking THE LINK to the NEW EPISODE of Super Ordinary Living?
Why oh why aren't you clicking HERE already?
---
Seriously, new episode of Super Ordinary Living exploring the seedy underbelly of Comic Character Purgatory is now available for your viewing pleasure.

I created this episode using the Marvel Method made famous by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
As the writer, I jotted down two very vague sentences outlining the theme of the episode.
Then I gave the "script" to the artist.
As the artist, I tried to interpret the horribly vague script and drew the pages and panels, trying to inject as much character development and story telling into the visuals as possible.
I also made some illegible scribbles in the margin and gave the whole mess back to the writer.
As the writer, I attempted to come up with dialog and narrative that would make some sense of the senseless melange I inherited from the artist.  But I can tell you that words take up a lot of space, and the artist left very little room for words.  So I did the best I could, and turned the dialog over to the letterer.
As the letterer I spell checked the horror show of grammar-less garbage given me by the writer and tried to place word balloons on the page and still leave the Raccoon's face showing from time to time. Then I gave the finished pages to the editor.
As the editor, I complained a lot and wished that we had time to redo every step of this process.  But production schedules dictated that we publish this comic and rely on the stupidity and scarcity of our readers to leave the weaknesses of plot and tone and talent (there weren't any) unexposed.
Then I published the whole mess and sent promo copies to reviewers, one of which talked me into exposing our behind-the-scenes methodology.  Big Mistake!
We hope we haven't put you off reading comics altogether.
   Sincerely,
The Creative Team of Larsen, Larsen, Larsen, and Lasagna.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Comic Mandroid Theater

Comic Mashup Theater Presents (Not So Proudly):
The Scent of a Mandroid,
Not as exciting as last night, eh, Bruce?
You said it again, Dick!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Sundry Ostrich Lariats

Who is Randy Dix?  And what is all this hornswaggling nonsense?  Why is he so intimate with a prickly pear cactus?

CLICK HERE to Find Out!  It's a Super Ordinary Living kind of thing.

Thanos Glimpse Via Avengers Leads to Raccoon

In recent Marvel Comics history, if Thanos was being thwarted, that meant the Guardians of the Galaxy and one tiny raccoon with really big guns: Rocket Raccoon!!  I don't know why I find the little guy so appealing, but when it comes to the Raccoon I can only say, "I am Groot!"

So when Thanos was spotted for two seconds at the end of the Avengers Movie, my hope was kindled that the Guardians might be making a comeback after a couple of years of comic book cancellation purgatory.
Last week the cartoon, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, had the Guardians, complete with Groot and Rocket, show up for a cameo then split into space again.  That was fun, but I miss my regular Guardian cosmic fix.
But now Marvel is teasing us with Raccoon possibilities on the cover of Avengers Assemble #6, which won't be out until August.  And spilling the beans that Zodiac (the Avengers' current bad guys in the series) is being controlled by Thanos himself.

Sounds like a job for the Guardians, except that Peter Quill and Richard Rider were all busy getting dead that last time we saw them at the end of The Thanos Imperitive.  But if their foe Thanos made it out (and into the movies), maybe Starlord and Nova will make a return as well.

Don't know what the hell I'm talking about?  Go read the Guardian comics (the 2008 - 2010 ones, not the horrible 1970's Guardians) written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (two of the best writers in comics).

Friday, May 11, 2012

Some Obscure Litigation?

Who is Mr. Chairman?
And why are these reporters asking him such stupid questions?
CLICK HERE to Find Out.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Mothers Day Mashup

We may be Geeks, but we still love our Mothers.
This Mother's Day, Comic Mashup Theater Presents:
Watch Out Mum!  We Love You, but We're Weird!

Oh, and thanks for the Wacky Sense of Humor, Mom!
Have fun on the Moon with Pops.

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Not Everyone is Happy with The Avengers Movie

I loved the Avengers Movie.
I loved seeing all these Marvel Heroes come to life.
It was not "high art" by any measure, but it was a great action movie, and a very good adaptation of the comic book Avengers.  I have seen it twice already!
But not everyone is happy with the film:
At the end of the film the defeated alien overlord is groveling before a mighty throne out in space.
We get only a brief view of the crinkly chin of the being who apparently was secretly pulling the strings of the Chitauri aliens who were pulling the strings of Loki.  You would be excused for not knowing who that purple chin belongs to.  I thought it was a standard Skrull chin at first.  But the second time I watched the film I noticed it was purple, and Skrulls aren't purple, they're green (unless of course it was a Skrull shape shifting to look like someone with a purple chin).
So that means the chin most likely belongs to Thanos, the Mad Titan.
Does that mean we get Thanos in Iron Man 3 or Thor 2?
Where Thanos treads the Silver Surfer, Nova and Captain Marvel are usually to be found.  That would be cool.  But then Marvel needs to do a full out Guardians of the Galaxy Movie with Rocket Raccoon in it.
More likely would be some as yet unannounced Avengers sequel?
Who knows?
But I would watch any and all of the above mentioned movies.

I bet Thanos is not pleased with his scant screen time in Avengers.  And Thanos does nasty things when he is in a good mood!  So watch out Marvel Movie Universe.

And what the heck is Shawarma anyway?