Comment of the Week

Is Dr. Jeff's 'again’ meant to indicate that he's already (willfully?) forgotten what Mary's told him, or does it display his belief that Wilbur's life is a karmic circle of disasters that are superficially varied but basically the same thing happening to him over and over?

Pozzo

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Three items of interest for you in this early hour metapost! First up is the most exciting (to me, anyway): Next Tuesday, July 22, your humble blogger will be appearing on the game show Jeopardy! Will it be the first installment in an epic Ken Jennings-style saga of money-winning, or will I flame out ignominiously on the first try? Does Alex Trebek secretly share my love of Rex Morgan, M.D.? Do I at least wear a nice tie? Tune in to find out! The show is syndicated, so check your local listings for time and channel. And, if you happen to live in Baltimore or not too terribly far from it, feel free to join me and my friends as we watch the show. We’ll be at P.J.’s Pub at 3333 N. Charles St. in Charles Village — right across the street from Hopkins Homewood campus and next door to Barnes and Noble. In Baltimore the show starts at 7 p.m., but we’ll be gathering starting at 6 p.m. for pizza and booze!

Item two! You may have noticed this comment from Sally Forth scribe Ces Marciuliano in the previous thread, but I’m highlighting it here for those who haven’t:

Just wanted to let you know that for one week, July 28-August 2 (with a Sunday strip on August 24), I will be taking over art and writing duties for Bizarro thanks to the kindness of the strip’s creator Dan Piraro, who took time off to fight crime or whatever it is he does when he dons a cape and cowl, jumps out his apartment window and says, “Don’t wait up.”

The strip will still appear under the name Bizarro but will feature my own comics and the URL for my webcomic Medium Large (medium-large.com, which is still in what we web designers like to call the “unmitigated disaster” phase of construction). Those familiar with the Medium Large archives will no doubt recognize some of the strips. Those familiar with Dan’s sheer mastery of the comic strip art form and his unique brand of hilarity will no doubt be disappointed (as you can clearly see, I have yet to get a firm grasp on self-promotion despite years as a copywriter and a therapy patient).

Dan will also be reviewing each strip the day of publication on his blog, where he will surely pepper his critiques of my comics with such bon mots as “mere dilettante,” “a national disgrace,” and “this bastard has ruined me.”

This is the first time Dan has used a guest cartoonist in the history of his strip. By the end of my run we’ll see if it will be his last.

I’d just like to add that anything that will prompt Ces to actually put the brilliant archives of Medium Large back online (and maybe even start making new ones!), and distract him from constantly, feverishly thinking about Ted and Sally “practic[ing] making a baby,” is very much a good thing.

Finally, here’s a note I received that will hopefully be of interest to one of you:

Throughout Comic-Con in San Diego next week, Andrew Feinstein (who writes/draws the comic strip Girls & Sports) in conjunction with Dogmatic Films is filming a documentary about the experience from the perspective of several attendees. In addition to showcasing the cultural phenomenon that Comic-Con has become through interviews with celebrities, industry executives, comic book store owners, costumed veterans, first timers, and so on, we will be following several attendees throughout the convention. Like many Comic-Con attendees, our main subjects are either looking to be discovered or are hoping to discover something new for themselves.

We have lined up most of our participants, but are actively looking for a young artist who is bringing his/her portfolio to be reviewed by DC Comics, Marvel, etc, in hopes of getting a job as an artist. Secondly, we are also looking for someone with an independent comic book hoping to get it picked up by a bigger publisher or attract a wider audience.

In addition, if you’re an industry executive, comic book store owner, professional artist, and so on, we’d love to interview you. One of our cameras will be dedicated for these interviews, so we can accommodate your schedule at the convention.

If you or someone you know would be interested in this exciting project, please email us at: dogmaticfilms@gmail.com and we will arrange to meet at the convention. Thank you!

This could be your big break, people! Or at least your chance to be in a movie.

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Gil Thorp, 7/17/08

While it’s true that the U.S. military was under intense pressure to come up with an “outside the box” solution that would bring the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to successful conclusions, “colossally misguided” was one of the kinder things future strategists and historians would have to say about the decision to deploy the Milford Mudlarks against the Taliban.

Apartment 3-G, 7/17/08

Desperate to stay relevant and solvent in a rapidly changing society, the League Of Wandering Eastern Holy Men signed a three-year contract with Hallmark to deliver all of their gnomic advice and warnings in greeting card form.

Judge Parker, 7/17/08

Sam surveyed the scene and had to be pleased: the dunce-capped lawyers from Dewey and Cheatem stood with their heads slumped, reciting their bourgeois, parasitic crimes against the proletariat in a soul-broken monotone, so that $50,000 advance couldn’t be far off; plus, the peasants who were occupying the newly nationalized golf course were well on their way towards meeting their five-year-plan goals for steel production.

Spider-Man, 7/17/08

I was going to make a “surrender Dorothy” joke here, but then I realized that Dorothy Gale showed courage, loyalty, and initiative, and in no way deserves to be compared to Spider-Man — except in the sense that she defeated her nemesis by accident, which is probably the best that Peter Parker can hope for.

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Apartment 3-G, 7/16/08

I’m a tad bit uncomfortable at the notion that the phrase “husky note of longing” is just sitting there in the comics pages where little children can see it — not because I’m sexophobic, but because I worry that impressionable eight-year-old-boys everywhere will try to imitate it, and end up sounding like Lauren Bacall. Wait, did I say “uncomfortable”? Scratch that, because that actually sounds hilarious.

In panel three, Margo is looking discombobulated and holding the phone several inches from he ear. She looks less like someone being proposed to and more like Peter Parker being berated by J. Jonah Jameson.

Beetle Bailey, 7/16/08

Good Lord, Walker-Browne Amalgamated Humor Enterprises LLC, how clear do I have to make it? ENVIRONMENTALISM DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY.