Interview With the Creative Team Behind, "Sink"

Not too long ago I was able to do an advance-review of the first issue of, "Sink." Published by Comixtribe, this book is written by John Lees with art by Alex Cormack and I loved issue #1. I had the pleasure of being able to speak with John and Alex via Skype a few weeks ago and thought that as the first issue of, "Sink," will be in stores a week from today (on 9/13/17) this was the perfect time to post our interview! You can enjoy it below:

For more information about, "Sink," you can visit the website John mentioned here.

John Lees is on Twitter at this address.

Alex Cormack can be reached on Twitter here.

Sink will be in all finer comic shops on 9/13/17 and can be pre-ordered at Things From Another World should you desire a copy!

My Kansas City Adventure AKA Comic Shops and a Crown Center

A Great Labor Day Weekend!

Note that I did not actually grill anything.

This just-concluded Labor Day Weekend involved my wife, Clarkson, Mom-in-law and I as we went to visit Samii's sister/my sister-in-law in Kansas City. While there we did a number of group activities (there is one in particular I'll talk about) and I had the chance to check-out a couple comic book shops as well.

Kansas City Exploration

The Crown Center

I was able to stop-by two comic shops and a location known as the, "Crown Center," which was built by Hallmark almost 50 years ago and is a massive structure full of a mall, aquarium, Legoland, and a Hallmark Visitors Center I was able to visit with my wife and Clarkson! Let's break down the three places I want to discuss:

Pulp Fiction Comics and Games
I traveled to the Lee's Summit region of KC where I stopped by Pulp Fiction Comics and Games. I actually knew about the store as someone who worked there I met on a previous visit to the Kansas City region had told me about the shop. I was able to go there and found all the employees to be extremely friendly and knowledgeable. There was a solid selection of new books and tons of trade paperbacks, plus a sizeable area for gaming where a card tournament of some sort appeared to be taking place. Despite this big event the employees still made sure to ask me if I needed assistance and chatted with me about what they were reading and enjoying.

A to Z Comics
I was able to check-out A to Z Comics in the Blue Springs area and was impressed by the immense number of back-issues they had available. Located in a strip-mall, the store looks small and unassuming but actually was quite large inside and loaded with older and newer stuff!

Hallmark Visitors Center
The Hallmark Visitors Center is a completely free attraction within the Crown Center and was fascinating! There was a 14 minute movie in a little auditorium that gave a surprisingly in-depth history of Hallmark and it was astonishing to hear how one man who mailed stores greeting cards was able to grow his business. There also was a number of neat displays, a machine that made bows for people, and we visited the Kaleidoscope activity center geared towards children which was full of cool art-making tools!

A Great Trip!

I had a wonderful time with my wife, son, and in-laws enjoying Kansas City. We of course did more than what I discussed but I wanted to point out the two comic shops and the Hallmark Visitors Center.

"Sticks Angelica: Folk Hero," is Another DeForge Masterpiece

This Guy Has Got Talent!

There are lots of comic-makers from Canada who are super-skilled. I love me some Jeff Lemire, for example, and Michael DeForge calls the Great White North his home as well, and is possibly one of the best cartoonists in the independent realm of comics at the moment. His comics are often surreal, dark, and a little bit funny. His latest book (published by Drawn and Quarterly) is actually a little less dark and quite humorous whilst still also having some of that trademark DeForge edge. What's the Book?

"Sticks Angelica: Folk Hero"

The title character Sticks Angelica has an almost ironic follow-up to her name as she is actually pretty unpleasant. That little running gag itself tells you a lot about this weird and quirky comic that features Sticks as she talks about her past life as an athlete and politician's daughter and how she fled it all for the peace and simple life of the forest. Thing's are actually pretty complex however, because all the animals have their own complicated personal lives and squabbles, full of gossip and drama. Plus, DeForge blurs some reality into fiction as two actual people appear as weird fictionalized versions of themselves, with Lisa Hanawalt as well as a version of DeForge himself playing a role in the story.

Throughout all the little events that occur in the story a clear portrait is painted of Sticks as someone who at first thinks highly of themselves and little of others, until slowly realizing she's simply just isolating herself from the small number of people or animals who can stand her abrasive and rude personality. This becomes especially apparent mid-way through the book when upon giving animals presents for a, "Secret Santa," program everyone expresses surprise at her giving gifts as it was thought she just hated everyone--a fact which upsets her to learn.

DeForge's writing and unique artistic style always give his stories a weird otherwordly feeling where it is perfectly normal for a moose to become a lawyer and an eel feels unrequited love for a rabbit. It is a quirky little book and really good. DeForge almost always, "Hits it out of the park," and he does that for sure with, "Sticks Angelica, Folk Hero" with it possibly being my favorite work by him to date.
5 out of 5 stars.
You can buy the book at Amazon, Things From Another World, Mycomicshop, or many other fine retailers.

Film Friday: King Kong Gets Mashed-Up With a Vietnam War Movie and it Kinda Actually Works AKA, "Kong: Skull Island."

Note: I spoil a scene that occurs after the credits, but if you already know the subject-matter of the upcoming sequel to this movie you're already spoiled, so yah?

"Kong: Skull Island," takes a gigantic monster-movie and combines it with a Vietnam-era war film and it actually kind of works, believe it or not. Perhaps it is because we've never seen King Kong in recent memory in any films outside of those set farther in the past or during the present, maybe it weirdly marries the idea of the unwinnable war in 'Nam with the unwinnable war against nature in an allegory that is smarter than you'd expect. Whatever the case, it actually is quite cool and if the film had more of those metaphors and cool action scenes of Helicopters fighting Kong this movie would be a pure winner. Sadly, it gets itself bogged down at some points and goes from being stellar to reasonably good.

This movie has an exciting first hour and a great last 30 minutes. Unfortunately, it is a 2 hour-long flick so that means a long half-hour is spent admittedly feeling a little bored. That first hour full of political maneuvering, Kong smashing helicopters, explosions, and the like is just a hoot...before we delve into a whole bunch of plot about monsters that Kong fights and fill-in a bunch of back-story with a mysterious tribe and a soldier who got stranded on the island long ago (a thin role played admirably well by John C. Reily). Thankfully, things pick back-up with some Kong-on-Lizard fighting later on and I quit feeling blasé. Even when the film drags it at least has a solid cast with the likes of Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, John Goodman, and the always-excellent Samuel L. Jackson as skilled but also borderline-psychotic sergeant . I haven't talked about the titular star much yet though have I?

Kong is a fantastic piece of computer-generated imagery that truly looks alive as he fights and appears imposing even when he's just standing still. In films the point has always been that Kong isn't a monster--he has a soft-side and isn't a threat unless you piss him off--and the amazing animation makes him strong-but-sympathetic. He is a great special-effect and actor, in other words. The surprise cameo after the credits by another famous monster (Godzilla) was spoiled for me long ago, as a sequel has already been announced featuring the fact that Kong and Godzilla are going to fight. I for one am excited to witness that considering I quite liked the most recent Godzilla movie and would rate, "Kong: Skull Island," a solidly entertaining 3.5 out of 5 stars. Should you want to grab a copy of the movie for yourself getting it via Amazon is always handy.

Okay, We REALLY Need to Talk About Marvel, Their Cover-Ordering Scheme Specifically

It Has to Stop, Seriously

Previously, I discussed how we needed to talk about Marvel and its Marvel Legacy plan, which--if we're being generous--looks like a huge fucking mess--and again, I'm being generous. Randomly switching to numbering that doesn't make sense mid-storyline with the same creative team on your books isn't any kind of cool relaunch, it just is confusing, frankly. The saving-grace for stores having to put-up with this shit of course was to be the lenticular covers e.g. shiny covers where the image changes when you move it around. Then, Marvel went and decided to screw retailers really good.

Things can get pretty technical in discussing why Marvel is giving retailers a bad deal, and I would recommend this piece by store-owner and journalist Brian Hibbs that breaks things down expertly. I can attempt to summarize why this is so bad too, however.

Step-By-Step Discussion of Why This Sucks

1. Stores order comics through a method known as the Direct Market which means they get a really big discount on the comics they order (a bit more than half-off the usual retail price) with the agreement they can't return books if they fail to sell--a store is just stuck with them to throw in dollar bins, use for kindling, etc.

2. Normally with lenticular covers stores can order them without much rules. If a store normally orders 10 copies of the latest, "Iron Man," they can feel free to order 5 regular covers and 5 lenticular covers, 10 regular covers and a few extra lenticular covers, or any other variation they please based on considering how many comics they generally order and how many extra they expect to sell thanks to the lenticular-cover gimmick.

3. Marvel is doing an idiotic requirement where if you want lenticular covers you have to order a higher number of a comic than you normally do, sometimes more than double what you normally buy. Therefore, if you generally order 10 copies of, "Iron Man," and it has a 200% requirement to be allowed to order lenticular covers, you now have to buy 20 copies of, "Iron Man," from Marvel to even be allowed to then add-on lenticular covers. So you have to buy 20 regular covers and then can order a bunch of lenticulars in addition.

4. Therefore, you are now buying possibly double what you usually get of a comic plus lenticular covers and have basically had to pay double what you normally do to even get access to the potentially-popular lenticular covers.

5. "But wait," you may be saying, "Stores get that big Direct Market discount so that helps a bit, right?" Well, Marvel is twisting a knife in retailers wounds by not offering lenticular covers at as big of a discount. Normally you might get more than half-off the books so that you can turn a profit, but with all the, "Legacy," lenticular covers it seems like a flat 50% off--exactly half.

6. You are now a retailer who has ordered double what you normally buy and expect to sell of, "Iron Man," plus you've spent additional money on lenticular covers, and those covers aren't at much of a discount. That's a pretty bad deal.

7. Now picture this shit deal occurring on 50+ comics and try to calculate just how much in the hole stores will have to go in order to buy lenticular covers.

Marvel is Playing a Dangerous Game

As those steps indicate, stores are either going to have to take a big bet on, "Marvel Legacy," being some kind of immense hit with a bunch of new people buying the books, or they will have to order a bunch of stock they can't sell and list the lenticular covers they had to jump through countless hoops to buy for well over the normal sticker-price to recoup any profit. Plenty of stores have openly discussed how they won't be ordering enough books to get lenticular covers, as that would mean risking huge amounts of money and potentially going-under. Other stores haven't declared that they'll be skipping-out on lenticular books but may still choose to opt-out. I have spoken with comic stores that aren't releasing a big statement shaming Marvel, but if customers ask have informed them that while, "Marvel Legacy," books can of course be ordered, lenticular covers can't be as they will be unable to meet the minimum requirement--unless a customer wants to volunteer to buy those extra 10 copies of, "Iron Man," of course.

Marvel is playing a dangerous game here, folks. In an effort to be able to declare that, "Legacy," is some kind of sales hit they are daring stores to recklessly inflate their ordering so as to be allowed to get the popular lenticular covers. Marvel is acting like an addict who thinks it can just abuse stores in order to get its fix of declaring event-success, and while you would think Secret Empire was the company hitting rock-bottom, clearly it can still fall. Nobody wants Marvel comics to utterly and unquestionably fail as that would hurt the comic-book industry from other publishers to retailers. "Legacy," isn't the answer though, it is Marvel thinking that, "One more hit," of absurd marketing gimmicks can't hurt, even though Marvel is doing damage to the very people it relies on most--retailers who sell its books. Everything could work-out fine and maybe, "Marvel Legacy," won't confuse people with its random renumbering, lack of clear story-direction, and God-awful lenticular ordering-scheme. I'm worried that it won't, though. Very, very worried.

Don't Mess With These Ladies: "Mean Girls Club," Review

I like NoBrow Press and I like their PR person, Tucker Stone, so I will often read NoBrow's books and bug Tucker to tell me funny observations about comics. Tucker Stone is of course a PR-person now at NoBrow but before that did a lot of hilarious and insightful writing about comics and still occasionally dips his toe into journalism. Besides working for NoBrow, sometimes writing about comics, and spending his remaining free time murdering horny teens who are foolish enough to try to have sex at his haunted camp, he gets to put-up with my responding to his press releases about the latest books from NoBrow. When he sent an email with NoBrow's catalog I actually noticed a book that apparently has been out for a bit but which I didn't see before. Titled, "Mean Girls Club," it is part of the 17X23 line of comics at NoBrow that are, "Designed to help talented young graphic novelists tell their stories in a manageable and economic format." I'm just happy to have read it as this is one zany, violent, and fun book!

The Mean Girls Club is a group made-up of Pinky, Sweets, Blackie, McQualude, Wendy, and Wanda. The book doesn't give us much motivation for their being mean girls and it doesn't need to. We witness the 113th meeting of the club being called to order and proceed to witness what the club gets up to--namely sheer and utter mayhem. Doing drugs, stealing cars, murdering and kidnapping, these women are some bad dames you don't want to cross paths with. Creator Ryan Heshka gives everything an art-style like a 1950's romance comic, even having an interlude in the comic near the end with paper-dolls readers can cut-out and play with. Despite the homage to those comics there ain't any romance in this book! 

The Mean Girls club is a brisk 24-page read that has gorgeous artwork and uses its mixture of black, white, and pink, coloring to create stark visuals. There is a hint at the end that maybe at least one Mean Girl has a soft side, but otherwise the comic contains a whole lot of trouble-making and bad behavior. The weird disconnect between the seemingly-sweet nostalgic visuals and style meshed with extreme violence and a general disregard for human decency gives us a comic that is a hoot to read and which I hope Heshka expands into a full-length graphic novel (which he indicated he plans to do in a blog post earlier this year). I would rate, "Mean Girls Club," as being a stellar 5 out of 5 stars and should you want to get a copy for yourself Amazon is always a great site to use.

Note: I contacted Tucker Stone/NoBrow Press and requested a copy of, "Mean Girls Club," for the purposes of review, which they supplied.

Jack Kirby Would Have Been 100 Today

If you have ever enjoyed a super-hero comic there are certain creators you owe thanks to--the earliest innovators, writers, artists, etc. One person who still can't be thanked enough is Jack Kirby. Many people of course know about Stan Lee because he is still alive and without a doubt possibly the most charismatic showman to ever grace this planet. Lee was the writer and editor however, and Kirby was the guy who took much of what Lee and he discussed and put the pencil to paper in order to give us amazing comics. Kirby clearly had mixed feelings about his time in the comic-book industry and to this day you'll find comic-book fans arguing over whether Stan Lee deserves most of the credit, Jack Kirby did all the hard work with their famous creations, or if the truth lies somewhere in-between. I will say without question anyone who is a fan of the comic art-form owes Kirby a debt a of gratitude, and on what would have been his 100th birthday I hope those who knew him as well as all of us who did not take at least a good long moment to celebrate his contributions.

Horrifyingly Fun AKA "The Howling: Revenge of the Werewolf Queen," #1 and #2 Review

A bit ago I gave Space Goat Publishing props for their Retailer Advisory Board and promised myself I would read more of their books. I was able to acquire digital review copies of the first two issues of their new, "The Howling: Revenge of the Werewolf Queen," comic and am pleased I proclaimed I would read more of their books as this is a rollicking good comic so far!

This series is based upon the first, "The Howling," movie (directed by the talented Joe Dante) from 1981 and serves as a sequel of sorts that directly follows-up the first movie in a way a lot better than the film-sequel. I think I saw the first, "The Howling," movie but enough background information is provided in the first issue as a recap that folk coming in cold should be fine. For those wondering why I say how I can't recall for sure if I saw the first, "The Howling," back High School I would rent a ton of movies from Hollywood Video and saw so many horror movies--both good and bad--that sometimes I struggle to recall what exactly I can or can't remember well. That said, reading the description of, "The Howling," sounded familiar to me and I also vaguely recall how other than the first movie and a quirky third film in the series, the rest is pretty much garbage and therefore this comic is well-served by only following-up on the plot of the first movie and disregarding later stuff.

Written by Micky Neilson and illustrated by Jason Johnson this comic starts right after the conclusion of the first film when a reporter named Karen White tried to expose who werewolves were real to the world by turning into one on television...before being shot by co-worker Chris Halloran with a silver bullet (he regrets it but has his reasons). After being shot Karen's body reverted to normal and he'd be in big legal trouble if it weren't the fact other's witnessed what happened in the studio and on television (although most T.V. viewers have written the whole things off as a hoax). The weird thing is all the witnesses are disappearing or dying-off at an alarming rate. Oh, and meanwhile, a werewolf named Marsha Quist AKA "The Werewolf Queen," escaped when a werewolf colony she lived at was attacked by the aforementioned Karen and friends. She's now cutting a bloody swath through L.A. in pursuit of a mysterious artifact and it is clear her and Chris' paths will soon cross.

Many people will tell you (myself included) that horror comics can be hard to do well. With the proper writing and artwork they can be intense and suspenseful pieces of entertainment, but mess-up on element and the whole book falls apart. Thankfully Neilson and Johnson make a stellar team and provide us readers with solid plotting and suitably scary (plus gory) artwork. Thanks to a stellar creative team giving us an awesome sequel to a fun movie, Space Goat Publishing has one great series they are putting-out and I look forward to reading more! Now I just need to re-rent, "The Howling,' flick so I can refresh my memory a bit more about it! I enthusiastically rate these books each as 5 out of 5 stars. Should you want a copy of either issue that has come out you can buy them at Things From Another World or My Comic Shop.

Note: A digital copy of each comic was provided for the purpose of review upon my request to the publisher to receive review copies of books.

Taylor Swift is Acting Like What She Once Railed Against: Being a Bully

America, we need to talk about Taylor Swift. She used to be an adorable, "Aw shucks," country singer who we were so impressed with for being a young teenager who could string together some guitar chords while bemoaning all the men she hated, but as time has gone on the shtick has gotten old and her love of choosing to play the poor picked-upon innocent has resulted in her acting like the kind of people she claims she hates--bullies. This playing-up of constant victimhood has turned into a big act and her latest song, "Look What you Made Me Do," doesn't just sound like lukewarm pop but also is arguably meant to be another, "Game," for fans to parse-out the secret meanings of which aggressors she is now admirably rebelling against because, "I'm the one being hurt here, you guys!"

The people she is calling-out but not actually naming? Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. I guess Taylor still hasn't got over how bad it burned when Kim leaked that video where Swift actually said she liked Kanye's lyrics joking about her despite previously claiming she was, "Like, so enraged you guys!" Seriously though the one useful thing Kim Kardashian has ever done for the public is releasing that tape where, Swift outright says, "I really appreciate it," to Kanye about his lyrics discussing her and proves herself to be a big liar. I haven't eve yet discussed how Swift is seemingly purposely releasing her new album on the 10th anniversary of the death of Kanye West's mother, Donda West (It will have been a decade since her passing on November 10th, 2017). Kanye has never been shy about expressing just how much his mother meant to him when she was alive and how her death impacted him. Swift basically sees this vulnerability and is choosing to exploit it, rubbing salt deep in Kanye's wound.

Donda West and Kanye West

One could claim this is all some crazy coincidence but considering how, "Look What You Made Me Do," is basically a thinly-veiled tirade against West and Kardashian things ain't looking that innocent. It is ironic when someone likes to act like the one being victimized so much that they end-up turning into a big bully, terrorizing others with their threat to, "Cry wolf," about being picked upon. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Swift set herself ups as this sweet little white girl who was picked-on by the big mean black man and has been milking that outrage ever since. Yes, Kanye was a dick that night at the VMAs back in 2009 when her interrupted Swift's speech, but her harping on that and the faux-anger she tried to foster when he rapped about her has turned into Swift just being vindictive and the chosen album release-date just feels like kicking West on a day he's sure to be feeling down. Swift is acting like the bullies she claims to despise. The next time Swift wants to call-out a bully maybe she should just look in the mirror. You can buy her new single on Amazon as a digital track if you want, but I wouldn't.

Film Friday: So, I Actually Quite Liked, "Alien: Covenant," Despite All the Haters

It seems in 2017 the movie that has inspired the most varied reviews is, "Alien: Covenant." Whether its fans are encouraging people to watch it again now that it's on Blu-Ray in order to better absorb its message, or other people are saying it is the worst, "Alien," movie ever and the product of a senile Ridley Scott (the director), people had strong reactions to, "Alien: Covenant," and after watching it earlier this week I have come to the conclusion that is actually is pretty good--at least in my opinion.

I would say one reason I liked, "Covenant," is that it takes aspects from various movies in the series and meshes them together in a satisfying way. It follows-up on the philosophical aspects of, "Prometheus," which I still defend as underappreciated, has scenes where trooper-esque folk fight a bunch of aliens on an unfamiliar planet (so, "Aliens," being riffed on), and just when you think things are winding down the flick spends the last 20 minutes riffing on the original, "Alien," as a Xenmorph stalks the halls of a big spaceship. It is like Scott took pieces from his other films I enjoyed and decided to mesh them all together in a film that isn't as good as the first two, "Alien," flicks, but comes in a comfortable 3rd place ("Prometheus," and, "Alien 3," kind of tie for 4th and, "Resurrection," continues to be an embarrassing mess of a film with the movies where the Aliens and Predators fight not counting as part of the same continuity, in my mind).

Fassbender is amazing playing two roles.

I won't say, "Covenant," is perfect. It takes it a little while to really get going, certain actions taken by characters don't make much sense after later plot-elements are revealed, and besides Michael Fassbender as two different Androids/"Synthetics," none of the cast really stands-out as interesting characters, but there is plenty of good stuff too that makes me really like this movie. There's heaping doses of philosophy, gruesome alien-gore, amazing and lush imagery, and the aforementioned Fassbender just kills it as the friendly Android/"Synthetic," Walter and dangerously-unstable David (last seen in, "Prometheus," and just as deliriously evil as ever), making two robots arguably the characters with the most personality in this movie!

From my discussion of what I liked and what annoyed me, "Alien Covenant," is clearly not without flaws, but I think it is a good movie and seeing how some people hate it with a burning passion just kind of befuddles me. I read the comments by everyone who liked the movie and nod my in agreement, but then read the thoughts of those who despised it and find myself confused by how the things they scorn tend to be what I found cool. It is normal for everyone to have different tastes and for every person who has a favorite movie that movie is most likely someone's most-hated film, but it just startles me how much of a divide there is between everyone in regards to, "Alien: Covenant." Regardless of all the mixed feelings I thought it was a damn fine movie and a solid addition to the "Alien," legacy. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. Should you want to buy a copy for yourself you can always use Amazon.