May 7th, 2008 by bweber
apropos of my earlier post on Avenge-O The Crime-Fighting Robot,
Below is some art done by Fine Arts Guild brother Bruce Bachelder. The first piece is from a few years ago (no date) and was painted over a couple of evenings when we were doing weekly Art Nights at . . . another location. ‘Nuff said.
The two ink drawings are recent, done specifically for JMS Showcase. Webmaster Mike did the color on the second. He said it didn’t take him long to do. He’s either lying or is just that damned talented. Not sure which? Check out his art here and his web work here.
There are still a few copies left of JMS Showcase. FREE! SIGNED! I pay the postage!
They’re going fast, so don’t wait!
Posted in Random Art, Comics | No Comments »
May 1st, 2008 by bweber
Avenge-O Adventures (click to download)(1.9MB)
Click the above link to see the first couple of installments in the Avenge-O saga.
The first story, “Forging of a Hero,” was written and drawn (by me) in 1999. It was supposed to be part of Supermarket Action!, a compilation showcasing the work of each Fine Arts Guild member. The conceit was, every story had to take place in, or do with, a supermarket or grocery store.
It was a great idea. Unfortunately, it suffered from the same fatal defects encountered on most group projects and was never published. I don’t know if any of the other FAGs finished their parts. Not that it matters now.
Anyway, Part Two, “.38 Caliber Discount”, was written by me, too. I did a version with art for the book. In 2005, I headed to San Diego’s Comic Con International in search of an artist to work on a larger (awesomely good) Avenge-O script. I met cartoonist and industry inker Jorge Pacheco. He did a great job on these three pages. We’d planned to work together more, but he got married and had a kid, so that fell through, too.
Avenge-O first saw print in the (ultra-limited edition) JMS SHOWCASE. I sold almost the full run these in San Diego last year.
Other stories in this issue include “My Dead Grandmother Keeps Getting Mail,” an installment of “Monkeys On An Elevator”, and Parts I-III of “TOPOR: THE THING THAT SLEPT!”
I think there are still a few copies around. Anyone interested in a FREE! SIGNED! book, drop me a line in the comments section. I’ll give ‘em away until there ain’t no more.
Posted in Stories, Comics | No Comments »
April 30th, 2008 by bweber
click here to download (approx 370k) then click on the image to make it readable.
New comics about everyday people and everyday happenings. This particular one happens to be about me. Stay tuned for more info on this exciting new feature on JMS!
Posted in Comics | No Comments »
April 28th, 2008 by bweber
Time to hang this one up . . . Oh, wait.
At JMS Labs, we are very concerned with closure. Usually, it’s body bags and bio-hazard containers, but, hey, closure is closure.
To wit –
The last bit of follow-up to my April 9th post rebutting Varney’s ignore-ist approach to Frederick Wertham:
– Varney’s initial post
– My rebuttal and his comments
– His re-direct
– His inquiry and my comment (#5 and #6, respectively)
Though I’ve drafted a careful reply, I’m letting that last thought (#6) stand as my final word.
– Over at The New Republic, Douglas Wolk replies to David Hajdu’s comments regrading Wertham, comics, etc.
– Little did I know that while wrapping up my comments on the whole Wertham blow-up, comics maestro Eddie Campbell (Fate Of The Artist, The Amazing Remarkable Monsieur Leotard) was doing the same, though he’s done a way better job of following and expounding on the whole pointless mess. Read his posts from April 21st, 22nd, 25th, and 28th. Campbell’s informed analysis is well worth your time.
“God save us from some of these half-arsed historians,” indeed.
YOU GO NOW!
Posted in Comics | No Comments »
April 10th, 2008 by bweber
“Man, I need this like I need another . . . . Oh, wait.”
Below are a few items relevant to my April 9th post regarding the trouble with ignoring/forgetting the historicity of Frederick Wertham’s crusade against comics.:
—- Varney’s reply to my rebuttal. (I’m still considering a response.)
—- The New Republic’s ultra-cool slide show of ’50s horror comics covers. While only eight in the deck, each is a fine example of the lack of restraint publishers showed during the period. (original link via BoingBoing)
Of particular interest is the cover for Mister Mystery #12 and it’s strong use of the ‘injury-to-eye-motif’, which was a big story element in that era.
I can’t help but wonder if that particular theme/meme helped sell more comics, similar to former DC Editor Julius Schwartz’s maxim that any comic will sell better with a gorilla on its cover.
(image courtesy Greg Hyland over at LethargicLad.com)
Also —- if you’re into the whole Wertham argument, there looks to be the start of a debate between Ten-cent Plague author David Hajdu and pop culturalist and comics/graphic novel theoretician Douglas Wolk.
Click here to read Wolk’s initial volley.
Posted in Comics | 6 Comments »
April 9th, 2008 by bweber
(image courtesy of Dial B for Blog)
Stopped by The Church Of Shiny Objects blog the other day, just to see what my pal Varney’s been up to.
Chris turns a good phrase, lately in the service of movie reviews, sports commentary, and other pop culture consumables.
In the April 7th entry, Equal Time, Chris briefly discusses a Slate article referencing Dr. Frederick Wertham and the 1954 comic book witch trials as discussed in David Hajdu’s new book The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America.
Chris’s notes read fine until the concluding paragraph:
Wertham is well on his way to being utterly forgotten . . . . we should do nothing to slow that course from finishing itself out.
And I’m thinking that’s not such a good idea.
Why?
To quote the oft mis-quoted George Santayana: Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Never mind the inability to learn one’s history. Deliberately allowing it to be ‘utterly forgotten’ is an even surer ticket to Doomsville.
Why remember Wertham?
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Comics | 2 Comments »
August 2nd, 2007 by bweber
The original title of this post was, “Where In The World Is Fosdick Bruingate?”
Immediately following his heralded (though somewhat stilted) debut on this site, Mr. Bruingate vanished. He became suddenly unreachable. No response from his cellphone, pager or email; every message eft on his phone and at his hotel went ignored until the boxes were full.
After reading about the unprovoked attacks on convention attendees by crazed hoodlums, I feared Foz might be languishing in some SoCal ICU, mis-identified as JOHN DOE #107.
I started calling area police departments and hospitals. Once I got them to understand that, yes, Fosdick Bruingate is a real person, they told me, no, they had nobody in their custody or care with that name or physical description.
He was supposed to be back in the office on Tuesday morning. By five o’clock that afternoon, I was convinced he was dead.
Yesterday, I come back from lunch to find his notebook lying on my desk: warped and stiff and stained with something that I hope is (please, God, let it be) tequila. A pair of scissors stabbed through the front cover held down a seven-page note recounting a hitchhike down the Tijuana Libre, a no-name town with the world’s best enchiladas, an infected tattoo, and something about girl named, “Esperanza”.
I don’t know what, if any of it, is true. Honestly, I don’t care. The note is an astounding piece of writing. It’s pure genius, a joy to read, and totally unprintable on this blog. The same can be said for the entirety of his Comic Con entries.
Oh, there’s a place for this stuff, just not on the JMS site, not right now. I’ve got to work out how to get it to the public. It’s too good to just let sit. And I’ll get Foz back on the beat as soon as possible.
And his trip to Comic-Con was not a total loss, as far as this blog is concerned. Today, I received a box of books with a San Diego postmark. Foz collected some great stuff for me to review, including:
The Beast Of Chicago: The Murderous Career Of H. H. Holmes
by Rick Geary
Wire Mothers: Harry Harlow and the Science of Love
by Jim Ottaviani and Dylan Meconis
Lucha Noir: The Complete Rafael Navarro in From Parts Unknown
by Rafael Navarro
as well as a DVD movie by director Ted Smith, a cool CD by Hans Karl, and several advance reader’s copies of promising books due out later this year.
So watch the site for reviews of those.
And thanks for staying tuned.
Posted in General, Comics | No Comments »
July 6th, 2007 by bweber
One hundred twenty-two days ago, I stopped buying comics.
The thing to understand is I’m a comics reader, not a collector. I’m in it for the stories. And the stories from The Big Two have long been turning from stale to moldy.
I’d grown tired of the melba toast melodrama cranked out by DC and Marvel. I was evermore pissed-off about blowing three bucks on a “book” that took me less than ten minutes to read and was nearly half ads. And the stories? Jesus, the stories. Every comic read like a rejected “Days Of Our Lives” script; the annual continuity shattering/re-ordering “event” never failed to end in another Civil Crisis of Infinite Boredom.
Multiply by six books a week. That’s about a thousand dollars a year. For what?
It was time to yank that spandex-clad monkey off my back.
I called my comic shop guy on a Tuesday and told him to cancel my pull list — a decision beautifully validated the following morning by the “shocking” death of Captain America .
Yaaaaawn.
And except for taking my daughter to Free Comic Book Day, I haven’t been in a shop since.
My four-color ennui vanished last week when I read that my close personal friend, Rich Koslowski, will be writing for the upcoming revamp of MARVEL COMICS ANTHOLOGY.
A Marvel comic from the genius who brought us The King, The Three Geeks saga (soon to be an indy motion picture), and the Ignatz Award Winning Three Fingers.
The book doesn’t hit stands until September but, much to my surprise, I’m already in line.
Get all the details from Rich right here.
YOU GO NOW!
Posted in Comics | No Comments »
June 14th, 2007 by bweber
A recent entry on BoingBoing about the glory of old comic book ads reminded me that Web Master Mike and I put together a screen saver of them. (Now that I think about it, the screen saver was my idea and Mike did all the work.)
This was an early effort, dating back to 2000? 2001? Who knows any more. Regardless, Mike’s work still holds up.
Download and install, put on your X-Ray specs, cuddle up with your chinchillas and watch the magic!
Old Comic Book Ads Screen Saver (1 MB)
Posted in Comics | 12 Comments »
May 31st, 2007 by bweber
My Dead Grandmother Keeps Getting Mail
(click above to open the PDF) (1.5M)
(Best viewed at 85% zoom or higher. Scroll slowly when reading.)
Here it is! The long-awaited, much-touted mystery comic. It took nine months to do, but the finished story came out much better than expected thanks to two key people:
The wife, who aided with various visual elements and let me tie up her iMac for a whole day.
My wonderful and tolerant mother, who provided old snapshots and acted as a photo reference without asking too many questions. (And to think she was worried I was going to do something weird with those pictures.)
This comic is dedicated with a great deal of love to the memory of my grandmother — who really did die 14 years ago and whose mail still gets delivered to my house.
I miss you, Charlie. Now more than ever.
Posted in Comics | 2 Comments »
