Friday Night Fights: Flaming Carrot vs. A Jealous Boyfriend

Going though some Flaming Carrot Comics back issues last week was fun.

In fact, I ran into this little gem of a fight starring our hero himself.

Flaming Carrot takes down a jealous boyfriend in tonight's Friday Night Fights.

This could get ugly kids.

How about you FC? Are you ready?

____________________________________________________________________
Flaming Carrot goes into action... MacGyver style!

Just like Jim Croce says;

"You don't tug on Superman's cape, you don't spit into the wind...." And never take on the Flaming Carrot!

But you can always bet on Bahlactus!

This episode was brought to you in glorious BLACK & WHITE from Flaming Carrot Comics vol. 1 No. 5, by Bob Burden

Fifty Things That George Must Be Blamed For

...And the winner of our "Blame George While He's Out Of Town" contest is Wicked Juan!

~~~

Something going wrong in your life? Slow day at work? Just need to pass some blame to someone most deserving? Here's Fifty Things That George Must Be Blamed For

1) Late books
2) Redneck Canadians
3) The lack of a stellar Presidential candidate for decades
4) A disheartening lack of free comics
5) Spider-Man: The Clone Saga
6) The Southwest
7) Ring around the collar
8) Assassination of the spoken English language
9) The disappearance of Evil George... we liked the one with the goatee
10) Global warming
11) The Ben Affleck/Jimmy Kimmel affair
12) "Magic Night" has a completely different meaning than the name would imply
13) Didn't memorize every single comic on every single person's lists before they all got blown away, thus showing a startling lack of commitment to his craft
14) The death of Jean Grey
15) And subsequent resurrection(s)
16) High gas prices
17) Sticking the Sonic the Hedgehog comic in box 69
18) Rigged presidential elections
19) Keeping the shop so darn clean
20) For being a Jedi and not telling anyone... we had to find out on our own via the use of subterfuge and candy
21) Itching… painful itching
22) The economic recession
23) For making Superboy cry
24) Interpretive dance of Patrick Swayze's "She's Like the Wind" on my last visit to the Comic Stop
25) Justice League of America: The Tornado's Path
26) Replacing my freeze-dried coffee with tasty Folger's crystals
27) Spider-Man: One More Day
28) Lack of "Bwah-ha-ha" in modern DC Comics
29) Hawkeye: WTF is this "Ronin" crap?
30) Bendis' inability to write characters that sound separate and distinct from one another in group books
31) Lack of speech bubbles on comic book covers
32) Odin's Beard!
33) This being the last season of Battlestar Galactica
34) Al Qaeda
35) Canada's continued dominance in international hockey
36) Not allowing Brian to put the fixtures on the ceiling, as John originally suggested
37) False accusations of loitering
38) No special factory dealer incentives at Comic Stop… where are my $1000 cash back shopping bonuses?
39) Jersey Girl
40) Lack of productivity at work (I'm writing this at work)
41) Static electricity
42) Power Girl's ginormous… abilities
43) Killed off Blue Beetle, Hawkeye and Captain America… just to spite me
44) Added me to his Xbox Live friends list and then never showed up to play
45) Making Jenny cry during Fantastic Four 2
46) Whenever the interwebs doesn't work, it's because George broke it (again)
47) Neo-conservatives
48) I'm not allowed to sit on the couch
49) The sudden and inexplicable disappearance of the Legion of Super Pets. I long for the adventures of Beppo the Super Monkey!
50) My sudden, yet inevitable ban from The Comic Stop

Present and Future Collide!

Melaka Fray is back, and bringing it to Buffy!

I'm quite excited...one might say giddy.

When the apocalypse comes... beep me.

Grace Park vs Paul Sheer!

Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica) and Paul Scheer Compete in a Dance off to Show a Clip From Sci-Fi Channel's Battlestar Galactica.

Excelsior!

STAN LEE TO RECEIVE NEW YORK COMICS LEGEND AWARD AT NYCC.

Looks good on ya, Stan.

Let's hope TechnoGreek can bring back pictures.

Friday Night Fights: Death vs. A Drunk Thug

Friday Night Fights again and this time we're kickin' it Old Skool style with a classic black and white fight between Death himself and some drunk dumb enough to take him on.

*
(* these panels are not in sequential order)

Oh that wacky Mr. Death.

He's a tricky one!

Sponsored by the letters; K & O and the number 3

So speaks Bahlactus!

This fight comes to you from the 1984 story "Death Gets Drunk" in Flaming Carrot Comics Vol. 1 No.2 by Bob Burden

Easter?!?

We at the Comic Stop must be completely segregated from the rest of normal society, as I just became aware that Easter Sunday is this weekend. Yet another major holiday sneaks up on me and I have no clue... this happens far too often than I care to admit.

Anyway, being Easter Sunday, all 3 locations of the Comic Stop will be closed for that day, in order to spend our time with our families and friends. We will all be back on Monday, as usual...

First photos of Snake Eyes

Paramount Pictures have released the first two photos of Ray Park in full garb as Snake Eyes in the Stephen Sommers-directed film "G.I. Joe," based on the Hasbro toy line.

"Loonie" Tunes

I noticed something different tonight after I got home from picking up my comics. Only one price on the cover.

For the first time in my lifetime, the Canadian Dollar is worth more than the US Dollar ($1 USD = $1.02 CAD according to xe.com). In fact, the steady decline of the US Dollar as it relates to comic book pricing can be tracked back a couple of years. In this example, I'll be using "Checkmate," which has been in publication for 24 issues now.

Checkmate #1, cover date June 2006:

$2.99 USD, $4 CAD - same as it ever was.







Checkmate #12, cover date May 2007:

$2.99 USD, $3.65 CAD - price coming down...






Checkmate #24, cover date May 2008:

Even Money.







If not for the high price of gas, and the additional ID requirements at the border, my next LCS could very well be in Vancouver. But hey...more money for beer and back bacon!

Frakking Funny

Street Fighter adds more to it's cast

Neal McDonough will join Kristen Kreuk, Michael Clark Duncan, Chris Klein and Taboo of Black Eyed Peas fame on the new film version of classic video game "Street Fighter" for Hyde Park Films and 20th Century Fox.

Capcom officially announced its cast today for the project which revolves around fan-favorite Chun-Li (Kreuk).McDonough will play the villanous Bison, Duncan is Balrog, Taboo is Vega and Chris Klein is Charlie Nash.Andrzej Bartkowiak ("Doom," "Cradle 2 the Grave") is on board as the director, and a worldwide 2009 release is scheduled.

Warner Bros. picks up Bone

The rights to Jeff Smith's creator-owned series, Bone, has recently been picked up by Warner Bros.


No word yet on whether they plan to make it a live-action film or completely animated, but Jeff is staying in an executive producer role so hopefully we'll get a product that will appease fans of the comic as well as bring in new readers to the fold.


Originally Nickelodeon was developing an animated version, but that didn't work out.
They were trying to aim it towards kids and include pop songs into the stories, which was not the direction Smith wanted the franchise to go in.



Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing what Warner Bros. is going to do.

I think this will be a great opportunity for Bone to get onto the big screen and available to a wider audience.

Advance Reactions

Perusing the June 2008 DC Solicitations, I say "Hell, Yeah!" to one of the 2 (2!) Batman: Black & White statues being offered, based on the cover to Detective #443 by Legen - wait for it - DARY Batman artist Jim Aparo. It's about time Aparo was represented in this series.


On the flip side, I say "WHUH?!?" to the latest in a long line of TV to comics licensing with the premiere issue of the "Chuck" miniseries from Wildstorm. Seriously? I can sort of see the reasoning...sci-fi element, the Nerd Herd, Adam Baldwin...and I am a huge fan of the show. I just don't see this as a comic. Unless it went to Vertigo, and then I could at least get an artistic representation of a naked Yvonne Strahovski.

If it was easy, everyone would do it.

Friday Night Fights: Iron Fist vs. Ben Grimm

Aw yeah, time for a little fist-to-face action!

This'll be the first time we've ever entered the ring (and I encourage any of you other Comic Stop Bloggers to help continue and make this a tradition for us), but Bahlactus has spoken and the Friday Night Fights are on!

Tonight we have a little domestic squabble that leads to a total K.O. of Aunt Petunia's favorite blue-eyed boy... Ben "The Thing" Grimm.

"Sweet Mama" is right.


This edition of Friday Night Fights is brought to you by the 1982 classic:
Fred Hembeck's "Fantastic Four Roast"




*** UPDATE! ***

This fight won the event for the evening and I got myself a snazzy harcover edition of "Marvel Zombies: The Covers"!

Which is way-cool, since I'll be able to get it signed by Arthur Suydam at the ECCC this year.

So... anybody else want to jump in the ring for next week's showdown?

Worst Critic...Ever.

Opinions are like assholes, so the saying goes, and often times the most vocal opinions are put forth by assholes. I respect everyone's right to speak their mind about whatever is grinding their gears at the moment, but I've got a bone to pick with Hannibal Tabu, who writes "The Buy Pile" column over at Comic Book Resources. Hannibal's intro reads as follows:

Every week Hannibal Tabu (journalist/blogger/novelist/poet/karaoke host/jackass) goes to a comic book store called Comics Ink in Culver City, CA (Overland and Braddock -- hey Steve and Jason) and grabs a whole lotta comics. These periodicals are quickly sorted into two piles -- the "buy" pile (a small pile most weeks, comprised of planned purchases) and the "read" pile (often huge, often including comics that are really crappy but have some value to stay abreast of). Thursdays (Diamond monopolistic practices willing), you'll be able to get his thoughts (and they're just the opinions of one guy, so calm down) about all of that ... which goes something like this ...

What bothers me the most is the same thing that bothers me about people who read books at Barnes & Noble. Your LCS is not a library, kids. It's a storefront, a business. I don't know if Comics Ink is getting extra business from the plug, but every week Mr. Tabu comes into their store, stockpiles that week's comics, reads through them all for review and then deems a select few worthy of purchase. This week, it was 3. $10 worth of comics, after reading probably 4x that many first.

I browse whenever I hit the Comic Stop, but I have a pull list. Good or bad, I buy what lands in my box every week because I've asked Brian and George to put it there. They spent the money to get it, so it's only right that I pay them for it. Do I put things back on the shelf sometimes? Yes. Do I buy "off the rack?" Yes. But I buy. A lot.

As a completest, don't get me started on how Hannibal seems to buy random issues, either. This guy's collection has got to have more holes in it than Hilton Head.

There may be more to the story between Hannibal, Comics Ink, and CBR. I read Hannibal's column every week, because I enjoy a differing viewpoint.

I just think that if you've read it, you've bought it, you know?

You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

I'm not much of a Marvel reader, which is probably why I enjoy the movies made from their comics more than the True Believers out there. One exception was the Eric Bana/Ang Lee "Hulk" from a few years back - I hated it, as did most everybody.

But this might help me to forget all about it:

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

R.I.P. Dave Stevens

"Good Girl" artist, Dave Stevens, died of leukemia yesterday.
Dave is known for his comic, "The Rocketeer" which was later made into a movie, not to mention his spectacular art.
He was 53 years old.

A proper report can be found here from Mark Evanier.

You Too Can Wear Paul Pope!

In a sign of the increasing penetration of comics into all forms of popular culture, DKNY Jeans has announced a new line of apparel co-designed by comic artist Paul Pope (Batman Year 100, THB, Heavy Liquid). The new 15-piece line, called 2089, will feature Pope images on tees, jackets, hoodies, and pants. The name of the line comes from the setting for the images, New York City ca. 2089, 100 years after the founding of DKNY.

Pope said of the line, "I see this line as a way of stealing pop back from Warhol. We've seen comics endlessly pillaged in the high art world and adapted to film.... Comics has a cultural currency all its own. But this is maybe the first time an actual cartoonist has been given the chance to launch his own brand, to build it from concept on up, to do it within the bounds of an established label such as DKNY jeans."

The new clothing line will launch in September.

Fall of Cthulhu

Those of you who know me know that I'm a huge HP Lovecraft fan. He is one of the forefathers of horror fiction and is known for being able to describe in his works vivid descriptions of people and places. He is also known for letting the reader's mind fill in the gaps of what horrors lurk just outside our perception. His most famous work (made famous by Chaosium Games) is The Call Of Cthulhu.

Enter one of Boom! Studios ongoing monthly series Fall of Cthulhu. Most movie and comic adaptations of Lovecraft's works fall flat. Much like Stephen King his stories work well in written novel form, very few people have been able to make them work in the visual media. Thankfully, Fall of Cthulhu is one of the few. It works on all levels, from the story to the artwork. This comic isn't just a retelling of one of Lovecraft's tales, but a new story using his themes and settings.

The first story arc is an engaging tale of the mysterious Mr. Arhkam and the hapless normal "real world" Cy who has to uncover the bizarre suicide of his Uncle Walt. This of course takes the protagonist on a wild ride to places better left forgotten. The artwork is two fold as the waking world is depicted in wonderful smooth lines and textures, while scenes in the Dreamlands are done in a surreal and almost cartoony way. But it works! Users are instantaneously sucked into the story and know at a glance if the scene takes place in our world or another dimension.

Boom! Studios knocked this out of the park. I highly recommend picking up the first trade and checking the ongoing story out. They are currently only on issue 9, so it's not too late to start reading. My only qualm with this series is the variant covers. I'm not a fan of a company trying to pitch more books by having different art on them, and never will. That was a gimmick from the 90's that should have stayed there.

Director Zach Snyder was kind enough to post some very cool photos of the Watchmen actors in costume for the upcoming movie, (Only 363 days to go. *sigh*) on the official site. For those not wanting to click a button, here ya go.

Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax has no more hit points

MILWAUKEE (CBS) ― Gary Gygax, creator of the original Dungeons & Dragons fantasy game, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva, Wis. He was 69.

He had been suffering from health problems for several years, including an abdominal aneurysm, said his wife, Gail Gygax.

Gygax, a writer and game designer, worked with co-author Dave Arneson to write the first version of Dungeons & Dragons in 1974. The game defined the style of sword-and-sorcery role-playing games which evolved through many editions, spin-off products, two feature films, various videogames and an online version.

Gygax always enjoyed hearing from the game's legion of devoted fans, many of whom would stop by the family's home in Lake Geneva, about 55 miles southwest of Milwaukee, his wife said. Despite his declining health, he hosted weekly games of Dungeons & Dragons as recently as January, she said.

"It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them," Gail Gygax said. "He really enjoyed that."

Dungeons & Dragons players create fictional characters and carry out their adventures with the help of complicated rules. The quintessential geek pastime, it spawned a wealth of copycat games and later inspired a whole genre of computer games that's still growing in popularity.

"Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of the role-playing game," wrote Steve Chenault on the Troll Lord Games Web site, which first reported the news. News of the game designers death was confirmed by Tolena Thorburn, public relations manager for Wizards of the Coast, current publisher of the popular series of D&D games.

Funeral arrangements are pending. Besides his wife, Gygax is survived by six children.

"Family Guy" Spin-off?

According to The Hollywood Reporter Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane is writing a new animated series based on the character of Cleveland Brown, who in spite of being especially prone to bathtub accidents, is the most "normal" of Peter Griffin's buddies on the popular Sunday night ABC cartoon series. MacFarlane is collaborating with Mike Henry, who voices Cleveland on the Family Guy and will function as a writer/producer on the new show, and with Simpsons alumni Rich Appel, who is also helping write the spin-off series.

If it gets picked up, the new series, which has been named Cleveland, would be the first primetime network cartoon series with an eponymous African-American hero. Fox TV, which is looking for more cartoon fodder for its Sunday night lineup, has at least three other cartoon series in development including Relative Insanity, which is being produced by Jack Black, Matt Silverstein and Dave Jeser's Mothballs, and The Pitts from Mike Scully (The Simpsons).