COVID-19 Ruined Plans for a Warren Ellis Comic Imprint and I'm Peeved About That

Warren Ellis is one of my favorite writers around of comic-books, novels, and now hit-television shows about Dracula getting mad at extremist-Christians for murdering his science-practicing wife. Ellis has made more stellar comics than one can list, although I've always been mostly partial to his really weird, "Deep-cut," works like his stuff for Avatar Press as well as his seminal-but-short run on, "Moon Knight." Ellis has been doing a lot more book and television work lately, but in his latest, "Orbital Operations," newsletter (which you really should subscribe to) he reveals that there were actually plans in place for a comic-book imprint curated by him. However, as with so many other things COVID-19 has ruined, that has withered and died as brutally as my dream of riding a three-humped camel someday. Although that isn't COVID-19's fault so much as they are so rare it is all but impossible for me to ever ride one. I'll have to be content with only having ridden camels with one hump and two humps--but I digress.

As Ellis puts it, " I was building my very own imprint at a comics publisher, but the lockdown and the general fuckery of trusting your exclusive distribution in comics shops and bookstores to a single entity who immediately upon lockdown announced that they weren't paying anybody pretty much put paid to that and the serial print comics business." He follows this with, "I considered it my last chance to make any kind of impact in the comics medium, after a career I think we can consider solidly middling at best.  But, the thing is, you have to be okay with letting that stuff go." He goes on to say sometimes things just happen and there is little you can do. I'd argue his comic-book career is far beyond, "Middling," but the man clearly expects the best from himself, which is admirable and humble in its own way.

I'm am hot-pissed that COVID-19 ruined our chances of getting a comic imprint with works written by and closely attend to by Warren Ellis. That would have been just awesome, and whatever publisher this fell apart with has earned my wrath...although we may never know which publisher it was so I guess my wrath just has to kind of float in the ether without a specific target. In summary, this news sucks and is yet another of million or so examples of things ruined by COVID-19.

The Saturday Free Comic Book Day Didn't Happen

Today was the first Saturday in May. That generally means it is Free Comic Book Day. However, FCBD was cancelled this year/postponed to maybe happen in the Fall. It is a bummer, but people need to be safe in the face of the COVID-19 risk. Packing a comic store full of folks is just not a good idea right now--despite some states loosening their lockdowns alarmingly too soon considering how bad infection rates still are. I miss FCBD, but I always want everyone healthy. I hope sometime in the near future we can have FCBD and be safe.

Nicotine-Infused Toothpicks Are Apparently a Thing

I kicked-off May by going to the gas station and filling-up my car. Between hand-sanitizing breaks to reduce the risk of COVID-19, I noticed a sign for Pixotine, which are nicotine-infused toothpicks. As if 2020 was not bizarre enough, you now can chew on toothpicks infused with nicotine advertised as a good replacement for those who need a nicotine fix as well as something to fulfill an oral-fixation need provided by actually having a cigarette in one's mouth. I get the logic, but man this World is getting weird as 2020 rolls on (yes, these have been around a while, but they're just now getting popular).

Jeremy Glass of Thrillist is a former smoker who was curious how well Pixotine would help with his cravings and found them surprisingly powerful. I guess it is good to have another smoking alternative that is safer than vaping and serves the same purpose as nicotine gum, I still can't get over how odd the whole thing sounds. 2020, man, we aren't even halfway done and it has been surreal.

SCOUT Comics to Offer Direct-to-Retailer Shipping

Some small-sized publishers are offering direct-to-retailer shipping of their wares, which tends to be a lot more popular than what DC tried to do (using competition retailers as distributors too). With this in mind, SCOUT Comics--a company I've expressed a fondness for a number of times--will be doing direct-to-retailer offerings of much of their upcoming wares. I imagine as Diamond picks things back up they'll be shipping via it too, but this is a smart way to get a product out quickly to stores that want it.

As SCOUT put it, " Starting tomorrow (May 1, 2020) we plan on offering our retail partners a chance to order new Scout Comic content.  These comics will be released twice a month starting in June from one of our print partners (Comic Impressions) who are only a few miles away from our headquarters here in Fort Myers Florida." It sounds like a cool plan and SCOUT's comics tend to be pretty awesome. I'm curious who else might try out similar methods depending on how smoothly Diamond resumes shipping in late-May.

Diamond Plans to Resume Shipping Comics on May 20th

Diamond Comic Distributors was the sole shipper of new comics for years and shut-down as COVID-19 became a major issue and ground the World to a stop. They have gotten things organized enough to be able to start shipping-out comics again on May 20th. DC has tried some alternative shipping to the irritation of many for a variety of reasons, but this is the big dog returning to market.

This will hopefully help comic stores that have been doing curbside, delivery, or shipping (plus some may be opening to some degree as states open back up, whether that is smart health and safety-wise or not). It also will assist many publishers that have had to furlough employees, and I'm pleased some of those publishers such as BOOM! Studios have plans already to work with comic stores as things get moving again. I'm just excited for comics to be coming out again (DC's alternative distribution attempts aside) as long as everyone is careful and safe.

"Majora's Mask," Was Pretty Darn Amazing and Now is 20 Years Old

This editorial by Heather Alexandra at Kotaku points out that, "The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask," is now 20 years old. I remember its release for the Nintendo 64 and as someone who remembers saving-up and buying the game when it came out (my parents took me to the local Babbage's store where I had pre-ordered it) this news makes me feel a little ancient as well as nostalgic. "Majora's Mask," was a strange kinda-sequel to the smash hit, "Ocarina of Time," and took place in a weird land you stumbled upon called Termina were lots of people from the previous game were present as twisted mirror versions of themselves in a mish-mash World (this was intentional as lots of design elements from, "Ocarina of Time," were reused to make development move fast) that ended within three days. Yes, three days, about a handful of hours in real-time.

The in-game clock ticked constantly and you could always reset time, but you had to figure out how to save the World before the Moon crashed into Termina ending all life. It was intense, wild, and one of the weirdest, "Zelda," games ever. Plus you could wear masks that literally transformed you and allowed the use of new abilities having morphed into fantasy characters in the world such as Zoras, Gorons, and more. The mixture of familiar-yet-different, the, "Groundhog Day," element of resetting time, and using masks to alter your body all made, "Majora's Mask," my favorite Zelda game, even beating-out, "Ocarina of Time," because you know I love weird stuff. Having now been able to play the latest game, "The Legend: Breath of the Wild," on the Nintendo Switch it maybe ties with, "Majora's Mask," with both being stellar in their own way.

The ever-present and always-encroaching moon.

I was tickled to see that Boss Fight Books (who make little books about beloved as well as infamous video-games) have launched a Kickstarter to fund their next round of publications about assorted game titles, with, "Majora's Mask," being one new book. I eagerly funded the Kickstarter today and am excited to read more about the famously strange game that holds a special place in my heart.

Kanye West is a Billionaire Now. Good for Him

As longtime readers of this blog know I was once an outspoken supporter of Kanye West and about as anti-Taylor Swift as someone could possibly be. Then in 2018, I wrote a heartfelt piece about just how badly Kanye West let us all down in oh so many ways. Next thing I knew I was backing Taylor Swift and now quite enjoy her new music, while finding it painful to even listen to Kanye's older albums knowing how he is now. I spend my days in 2020 basically thinking about Kanye as little as possible and not minding hearing Taylor on the radio. Sometimes Kanye makes himself too apparent to ignore, however, proudly announcing he was now a billionaire thanks primarily to his fashion line. All I have to say about this is, "Good for him."

The Kanye of today is unrecognizable compared to how he once was (something he even has acknowledged in his songs). Kanye was a lovable underdog, someone nobody believed in. He had so much determination, drive, and belief in himself however he managed to get, "The College Dropout," made and it was incredible. He then gave us more and more hits, getting cockier but backing it up. Then something happened. I'm not sure what, but he became a Trump backer, started saying insane things about slavery being a choice, was hanging-out with Megachurch preachers, writing-off any music he considered secular, and focusing more on getting a bunch of money from his sneaker and clothing empire than making music or even more importantly--making a difference.

The liner notes for, "The College Dropout," paint the picture of a thoughtful yet overlooked young man.
Kanye in 2020 seems miles away from then.

What happened to the rebel who told it like it was during Hurricane Katrina? What happened to the angry and righteous young man whose first song on, "The College Dropout," is the scorchingly outspoken tune, "We Don't Care," or created a lush sonic wonderland with, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," and so many more albums & tracks? I don't know if, "The College Dropout," Kanye would've been so obsessed with being rich that he would angrily declare how Forbes undervalued his fortune. He would have just wanted respect for his talent and to know he was making a difference. Kanye is rich now and surrounded by other powerful and wealthy folks (The Kardashians and Jenners). I hope he's happy because unless he at some point offers an explanation for everything that has happened these last few years I think this post is the last time I intend to write about him. It just makes me too sad to think about the Kanye we once had and the Kanye we have now.

“Bad North,” is as Relaxed as it is Engaging

“Bad North,” is probably the cutest game you’ll ever find about Vikings killing each other. It has a very chill and breezy atmosphere and that is one reason I found it so charming. The other major reason I liked it was how fun the mixture of RTS (Real-Time Strategy) and Roguelike worked. You control little divisions of Viking troops that work in a vaguely rock-paper-scissors version with swordsman, archers, and pikemen. You go to a little island and position your troops to fight off invaders that want to raze the island (the RTS aspect. If you lose that’s okay because you can start a new game of randomly-generated islands with some of the special attributes gathered in previous games (that’s the Roguelike aspect).

Between juggling your troops, considering an island’s geography, and the aspect of special items plus the aforementioned traits there is a lot to consider as you play, but it never feels too overwhelming. You can make the game a good deal easier by allowing island restarts if you lose, and even if you don’t enable that borderline-too-powerful function you can flee lost islands or just lose and start over—“Bad North,” is fun enough you won’t mind such an occurrence. As I said, it’s all quite relaxed for a game full of battle and bloodshed. Some games say, “You lost and you suck at this game,” but, “Bad North,” goes, “Oh no, you lost. Want to try again using the skills you’ve now learned?”

With its matches upon islands not being too long either, “Bad North,” is a fantastic game to enjoy in little tasty bites of fun. The fact it never feels like a grind to keep dying and starting over with you instead excited to see what this new batch of islands holds is a testament to how, “Bad North,” manages to be a delightful bit of laid-back entertainment. I eagerly recommend it for your gaming console or computer of choice.
5 out of 5 stars

Film Friday: "Trolls: World Tour," Makes Some Smart Comments on Cultural Appropriation

We did a digital rental of, "Trolls: World Tour," recently as Clarkson loves the original, "Trolls," movie and we thought he'd like the second. It mostly kept his attention plus Samii and I found it cute as well. It also has a good message about how diversity is a good thing, using music as a metaphor for fighting efforts to make everyone the same. There is one incredibly clever twist in the movie too which I will spoil in case you want to eventually watch the flick without knowing too much plot, so you've been warned.

The basic plot of the movie is that the Queen of the Rock Trolls, Barb, is trying to gather all the music strings in an effort to turn everyone into a Rock zombie of sorts. Poppy (who has learned she's a Pop troll) has teamed-up with Branch and other Trolls from the first movie to put a stop to this. Midway through the movie, they meet the Funk trolls (led by Trolls voiced by George Clinton and Mary J. Blige) and propose they give the Pop trolls their strings to help fight Barb. The funk Trolls flatly refuse this, and their son (a prince voiced by Anderson .Paak) delivers a song about how the original villains were, in fact, the Pop trolls! The reason the strings Barb wants to gather were even separated in the first place was because the Pop trolls wanted to keep taking all the other Trolls' music and turning it into Pop. This is an ingenious metaphor for cultural appropriation.


There is a long history of various genres having their music taken and turned into a more, "Mainstream," or as .Paak's Troll puts it, "The Pop Trolls started snatchin' up all of the strings (oh no)/Put the melodies on top of poppy lil' beats/They cut us out of the scene." Those are some incredibly deep metaphors and the song itself he says them on, "It's All Love," is incredibly catchy too. and right above this paragraph for your steaming pleasure. It is a really clever piece of, "Trolls: World Tour," and the whole movie is quite fun too, but the twist is what really stands out to me for how deep it is.

The Insane Clown Posse Cares More About People's Health Than our President and Many Other Politicians

As you may be aware if you currently exist on this planet, we are in a major health crisis caused by COVID-19. It is a pandemic that has made it necessary for everyone who is able to stay home to do so in order to prevent widespread illness and death. Some morons think it is all hoax, that COVID-19 isn't that dangerous, or otherwise want the right to sit in crowded Olive Garden and possibly get sick as Hell from something besides too many breadsticks. These people have been protesting and seem to be supported by America's worst President, Donald Trump as well a number of Governors who want to, "Reopen," their states in the middle of this pandemic's peak. You know one demographic who are being responsible, however, and put all these politicians to shame? Juggalos.

Juggalos are a diverse group. They are basically anyone who considers themselves a fan of the rap group, "The Insane Clown Posse," be they white, black, male, female, young, old, whatever. I'll be honest, I don't like ICPs music at all, but I hear their annual, "Gathering of the Juggalos," which brings out many fans to see ICP, as well as other bands, stand-up comedians, and other entertainment, are off-the-wall events of fun. In the interest of public safety, however, ICP has canceled the 2020 Gathering of the Juggalos, stating how they, "REFUSE to risk even ONE Juggalo life by hosting a Gathering during these troubling times." They feel that the health and safety of everyone is more important than being able to party, and they want to be responsible as even one unnecessary death is one too many. Meanwhile, we have Republican (it's only the Republicans) politicians saying old people or those with weak immune systems should be willing to get sick and die in the name of the economy.

The moral of the story here is that ICP and Juggalos care more about public health and safety than a number of people in political power. I just want to thank Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope (those are the actual names they go by) for being responsible citizens and encouraging all the Juggalos to be safe and careful as well. ICP realizes we need to quarantine for everyone's safety, I just wish everyone else did too.