September 10th, 2007 by bweber
JMS pal and Fine Arts Guild brother, Mystic Mark wants to know, “Brad where is the update?”
Good question. Here’s the long answer:
This past weekend was set aside for my monthly attempt at a 24-Hour comic. As this issue was going to be done virtually — totally rendered in the computer — one would have expected 24 staggering pages of storytelling genius posted today for your reading pleasure.
Whoops.
Don’t get me wrong: the September edition is indeed a great comic, or will be when it’s done.
Stay with me here.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in General, 24-Hour Comics | 2 Comments »
August 3rd, 2007 by bweber
Thanks to world-renowned blogger Wayne Beamer for some nice virtual ink on today’s Comics Alliance boards.
7. My pal, Brad Weber, has posted some very entertaining +/- 24-hour comics at Junior Mad Scientist.com. The best of the bunch — The Pancake Tree — begs to be read by a larger audience.
What will it take for some smart publisher out there to figure this out?
Click over to read more of Wayne’s work and the the final assessment of his San Diego adventure in, “Things I Learned At Comic-Con”.
And if you haven’t yet read The Pancake Tree — or any of my other 24-Hour Comics — what’s stopping you? YOU GO NOW!
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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 27th, 2007 by bweber
EDITOR’S NOTE: Please give a big JMS welcome to our foreign correspondent, Fosdick Bruingate.
A journeyman writer, Mr. Bruingate worked in numerous aspects of print, radio, and television.
In 2002, he became a fill-in movie reviewer on CFCF-TV Montreal. His witty reviews and easy manner gained ratings, prompting the station to name him their top critic. Within two short years, he’d become a regular addition to their daily morning show.
An on-air accident in 2005 left Mr. Bruingate injured and badly shaken. Though investigators ruled him blameless, “The Burning Emu Episode” became a constant joke to the public and fellow broadcasters alike. Unable to move beyond the specter of the incident, Mr. Bruingate quietly retired, leaving the public eye for more personal pursuits.
This, his on-site coverage of the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con, marks Mr. Bruingate’s triumphant return.
Welcome back, Foz. You won’t regret it.
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July 27th, 2007 by Foz Bruingate
click here to enlarge
Mr. Josh Freeman of El Cajon, CA arrives at Comic-Con dressed as a 19th Century Ghostbuster, complete with ascot, high hat, and leather wrapped goggles. The proto-proton pack, gun, and ghost trap are constructed from varnished woods, brass gears and fittings, and the all-important pressure gauge.
Mr. Freeman’s Ghostbuster eschews gentlemanly fashion for function, choosing to work without a coat — morning, frock, nor laboratory. He instead sports a tasteful ten-button vest bearing a steampunk version of the “no ghosts” logo.
Posted in General | 12 Comments »
July 19th, 2007 by bweber
“On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travellers into the gulf below.”
So starts THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY, one of the finest books in the English language. (Thornton Wilder’s “faintly contemptible vessel” earned him the 1928 Pulitzer Prize for literature. Wilder was 31 years old. THE BRIDGE was his second novel. The son of a bitch.)
Today — today exactly– marks the 293 anniversary of the fictitious rent, but how often can it be celebrated like this? On the precise day, date and hour?
The last time we could have done so was in 2001, an interesting year for Wilder’s story. Not only did the dates coincide for the birdge, the story was used to commemorate collapse — the September 11th felling of the Twin Towers.
On September 21, 2001, British Prime Minister Tony Blair quoted these last few lines:
“But soon we will die, and all memories of those five will have left earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead, and the bridge is love. The only survival, the only meaning.”
Mr. Blair’s reading resulted in a well-deserved “rediscovery” of THE BRIDGE and Wilder’s other works.
THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY is not an easy book. Wilder never comes right out and tells, “Why these five?” There’s a lot to get from it and it is worth repeated readings, or listenings of Sam Waterston’s excellent performance.
Even if all you get from it is that last bit, about “the bridge is love,” then you’ve got a lot more than you had before.
The next “Friday noon, July the twentieth” to won’t be until 2012, 2018, then 2029.
Mark your calendars.
(click here for more on THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY)
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July 12th, 2007 by bweber
Special thanks to the lovely and talented Stephanie (A.K.A., “the wife”) for designing my new business cards. Their super-cool look is adapted from this blog’s fine interface created by MIKE, Webmaster To The Comic Book Stars.
Anybody who wants one can send me an email with your snail address. (For contact details, take a butchers at the cards or click the ABOUT tab.) You may just score a special signed/numbered/hand-colored edition of one of the THREE comics being put together for this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Don’t wait — quantities will be limited.
Anybody needing business cards, letterhead, a corporate logo, or other graphic design work should contact the missus at www.AcmeGraphicDesign.com.
And if ya needs a good Website, better call MIKE first. Just ask Rich Koslowski.
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July 6th, 2007 by bweber
On the advice of the lovely and talented Stephanie (A.K.A, “the wife), I’ve joined the ranks of millions of Apple users. In her extensive experience the Macs have been easier to use, have fewer problems, aren’t susceptible to viruses, require less care and feeding, and are all-around better machines.
(One thing I need to make clear is that, the wife rarely gives me her unsolicited opinion. She knows I have definite ideas about what I’m doing and how I want it done, and lets me screw-up and fix my problems on my own. But when she decides to say something, I listen more to her than I do to anyone else. She’s piped-up only a handful of times in eleven years of marriage, and each time her advice has been sound. )
So I bought a MacBook.
We’ll see how it does, how easy it is to use. All I can say right now is — so far, so good.
Posted in General | 1 Comment »
May 10th, 2007 by bweber
A couple of weeks ago the wife, then kid, and I went to Chicago’s very own John G. Shedd Aquarium. If you haven’t been there in a while, you owe yourself a trip. If you’re an out-of-town reader and you come to the Windy City, an afternoon at the Shedd needs to be on your itinerary.
While there, if you find it necessary to heed nature’s call, you’ll find these in the bathrooms: The Digital Washroom Advertising System by Impressionaire.
“ImpressionAire places digitally-equipped warm air hand dryers in high profile, high traffic public washrooms. Your ad message is displayed every 30 seconds around the clock on a high-tech flat panel computer screen.
The viewer looks at your ad while drying hands in a venue that is free of traditional advertising.
Target male or female washrooms, change your message overnight and reinforce your total media campaign with this unique new advertising venue.”
I have to admit, it’s a clever and well-executed idea. But, while curiosity makes me wonder about advertising costs and administration, I can’t help but be annoyed that I’m forced to endure commercials in the bathroom. Is there no escape?
Has anybody run into these hand dryers elsewhere — in the US or the world?
Posted in General | 2 Comments »
May 3rd, 2007 by bweber
Got an email last week from Fine Arts Guild member Holly Miller. She says she loves the STILL LIFE WITH MONSTER series enough that she wants “to print them out and make wallpaper.” She also thinks they’d make great t-shirts and sent along this mock-up to prove it.
My first official piece of fan art. Very, very cool. Thanks, Holly!
Makes me think I should get something going with Café Press. I’ll let you know when that happens.
Meanwhile, keep those cards and letters coming! And don’t forget to check out Holly’s art work here.
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