• -
• HOME |
• ABOUT |
• LINKS |
• STORE |
• CONTACT |
• BONUS MATERIALS
• -

Check it out, homies. The new teaser trailer for the next James Bond outing, Skyfall.

The James Bond franchise to me is like AC/DC, ZZ Top or Helmet. Bands that have been milking the same riffs for decades, but who play those riffs better than anyone else.

Watching the cold, calculating and just-below-the-surface seething emotion of Daniel Craig makes me think of the harder, more cynical Bond that Timothy Dalton signed on to play. Craig's turn at the wheel finally delivers a lethal authenticity to Bond that Dalton just never got across for me.

Very much looking forward to Skyfall. What's your take?

Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0.60

I'm posting this week's Theater Hopper extraordinarily late on a Tuesday evening. I actually finished the comic late Monday night, but didn't have a blog ready. I presumed it would have gone live this morning, but I woke up with what could only be described as "crippling nausea." I don't know what it was, but it was enough to put me down for the count on Tuesday. I spent most of the day slipping in an out of consciousness.

I'm much better now, thank you - although still a little foggy. A 24-hour bug, I presume. I'm looking forward to getting up on Wednesday morning and kicking ass again.

I don't get sick very often, but when I do, it's debilitating to me. I think because I don't get sick very often, I assume I can't get sick. That's kind of a ridiculous way to operate.

Certainly since having kids, I've been sick more frequently. Nothing serious. The odd cold here, a sniffle there. Pearl has been wrestling with an ear infection, which is where I'm sure I picked up my bug. Fun times!

Anyway, let's talk about the comic! Sexy, no? The first time Cami appeared as the Black Widow in this comic from 2010, I proved very popular. So, like the hustler I am, I decided to up the ante a little bit. Yeah, maybe it's a little salacious. But I'm putting a ribbon on this in August. What do I care, right?

Actually, considering how well the splash page of Cardboard Iron Man turned out last week, I thought it was only fair to give Cami as Black Widow something with a similar impact. I'm really happy with how the artwork turned out! It might be fun to make mini-posters of these, or something. We'll see!

CONVENTION APPEARANCE

I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know that I will be attending the Midwest Comic Book Association's Springcon Comic Book Convention this weekend at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in St. Paul, Minnesota.

This will be my last convention appearance promoting Theater Hopper. It is strangely appropriate because Springcon was the first comic book convention I ever went to back in 2003. I split a table with Mitch Clem from Nothing Nice to Say, Zach Miller from Joe and Monkey and Carrington Vanston from the erstwhile Movie Punks. At that first show, I established friendships that still stand to this day. Who would have guessed (for at least three of us) that webcomics would still be a thing we do to kill time.

I have it on good authority that Zach Miller will be in attendance this year and that newly-minted Minnesotan Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex will be there as well. I'm thrilled that I get to see them again on my last lap around the convention circuit (even IF I just saw Gordon a few months ago in Seattle).

I was actually very much surprised to learn that Mitch Clem will be there as well! For those of you who follow him, you know he's living in Texas these days. But as it worked out, he'll be in Minneapolis this weekend and splitting a table with Zach!

I don't much by in to kismet, but you have to admit there's something kind of cool about that. I probably haven't seen Mitch in 5 years. It's oddly fitting that I get to see him one last time at the convention I kicked things off at.

Anyway, that's what my weekend looks like. If you're in the neighborhood, please come by and say "Hi." I'm selling books and drawing sketches. Mostly I'm just going to soak in what a crazy trip the last 10 years has been...

I will say this... if you're thinking about buying any Theater Hopper merchandise before it's all said and done, I'd get on it sooner than later. I've already sold out of Large, X-Large and 2X-Large sizes of the popular Spoiler I t-shirt. It's only a matter of time before the rest of it goes as well!

Remember, buy ANY TWO shirts OR books and get the third one free. It's a pretty sweet deal, folks. I'd hate for you to miss out on it.

Oh, one last thing, I added a bunch of photos of the sketches I did at Emerald City Comicon a few months ago to this gallery on the Theater Hopper Facebook page. Check them out. I'll be adding more sketches from C2E2 soon!

That's all for now! If you could use the little links below to help share the comic (y'know, on account of the lateness) I would appreciate it. Just tell your friends that boobs are involved. I'm sure they'll want to check it out.

CHEERS!

Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0.60

Not much going on in this comic other than Cardboard Iron Man leaping into action!

I'll admit it, this is total fan-service. But I had a lot of fun drawing it!

It always surprises me, the reaction that Cardboard Iron Man receives. I'm starting to think there's a little bit of wish-fulfillment to it. As adults, how much fun would it be to make your own costume out of cardboard and run around town for a while. Pretty fun! Y'know, if it weren't for EXPECTATIONS and RESPONSIBILITIES.

UGH!

Anyway, I wish I could take credit for the dramatic pose I drew Cardboard Iron Man in, but it actually comes from a variant cover of Iron Man #14 by Marc Silvestri.

I thought it was important to note that and include the original artwork because it is awesome.

More Cardboard Iron Man and Avengers action coming your way soon. Please share today's comic with your friends to help spread the word! Use the little buttons below. It makes it easier!

Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0.60

• -
• HOME |
• ABOUT |
• LINKS |
• STORE |
• CONTACT |
• BONUS MATERIALS
• -

Theater Hopper fans are awesome. Similarly, they do awesome things.

Case in point, this real-life Cardboard Iron Man costume submitted by reader David Welsh:

David said he built his costume for Halloween last year. It makes me think I should try building my own Cardboard Iron Man costume to embarrass my kids with this year...

I'm always amazed at the positive reaction Cardboard Iron Man generates, but I shy away from taken any credit for it. To me, making an Iron Man costume out of cardboard boxes seems as natural as laying a slice of bread with jelly on it atop a slice of bread with peanut butter on it.

But you guys like it and I like drawing it, so we're gonna ride this one into the ground together!

To see more photos of David's costume, check out the gallery I set up over at the Theater Hopper Facebook page.

Thanks again, David!

Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0.60

There he is! Welcome back, Cardboard Iron Man!

Incidentally, I sat down to watch Iron Man 2 while producing this comic and realized that I had plotted something that was in the trailer, but not the final movie.

In the trailer for the film, Tony and Pepper have an exchange where Tony says he's going on a dangerous mission and might not make it back. Pepper kisses the Iron Man helmet and tosses it out of the back of a cargo plane. Tony dives after and and says "You complete me!" before dropping out of view, scooping up the helmet and rocketing onto the stage of the Stark Expo. Watch it.

That scene's not in the movie. Instead, Stark, in the full suit simply jumps out of the back of the plane.

That's fine. It was just kind of a forehead-slapping moment for me.

Anyway, sorry the comic is a little bit late. As things are winding down, I'm finding myself more and more enticed by doing larger and larger comics. Six panels here, eight panels there. It kind of adds up in unexpected ways.

I'm planning on living inside this arc for a little while. Tom's attendance at The Avengers will likely live on the site for the next two months or so. Looks like that won't be a problem considering the movie did over $207 million in box office over the weekend.

Much like everyone else, Cami and I went to see The Avengers last Friday night. I hadn't been to a big, popular movie on opening night in a while and immediately wanted to kill all of the teenagers in attendance.

Okay, that's a generalization. But I definitely wanted to kill the kids sitting behind me. They took up the whole role, shifted around in their seats constantly and Would. Not. Shut. Up.

Waiting for the movie to start, I can hear one of them sitting directly behind me whine "Why did we have to sit behind tall people?!"

Expecting there would probably be a problem later on, I turned around and said, "Hey, I can hear you."

Sure enough, there was a problem later on.

Look, I don't have a problem if your loud and rowdy waiting for the movie to start. It's annoying, but you're excited. I get it. I don't even really have a problem if you're talking through the trailers. Nine times out of ten I've already seen them online anyway. But once the opening credits start and you're still squawking? Then I have a problem.

I think I've addressed this on the site before, but I have a three-phase approach to dealing with obnoxious movie goers.

STEP 1: Calmly look over my shoulder, try to catch the offender's eye to let them know that there are other people present that they are disturbing.

If that doesn't work, I move on to...

STEP 2: Turn around completely in my seat and stare at the offender until we lock eyes and they know that I am certifiably crazy.

And if that doesn't get the point across, I jump right to...

STEP 3: Turn around in my seat and tell them at normal conversational volume "SHUT. UP."

With these goons, I had to employ my three phase technique in the first 15 minutes of the movie. It worked. The girl that wouldn't stop talking pretty much immediately shot straight up in her seat.

What's always funny about this is that the people who are talking almost NEVER notice that I'm staring at them until it's too late. It's always their friends that notice me first. In this case, this girl's friends were trying to interrupt her and make her aware that there was a man with blood-red eyes staring holes into the back of their head. But as it goes, these people are typically too self-involved to listen to anything but their own yapping maw.

Incidentally, Cami hates when I do this. She hates confrontation. She saw that I was getting annoyed with these teens before the movie even started and suggested we move elsewhere. I might have entertained the idea if the teens were there first and we sat in front of them. But it was exactly the opposite. We were there first and - as juvenile as it sounds - they invaded our space. I'm not one to retreat in those situations.

Civility in theaters blows and it's getting worse. I'm not the first one to comment on this. But it sure as hell doesn't get any better if you quietly slink away from these loudmouths. I pretty much view that as an endorsement of their behavior. Nuh-uh.

Incidentally, there was a family sitting next to us that brought what looked to be a 3 year-old with them. I don't really have a problem with parents bringing young kids to PG-13 movies. It's not what I would do, but I'm not in a position to say that's not what other parents should do.

But what was interesting was that it was the Dad who was kind of out of control. Very loud commentary throughout. Wasn't annoying, exactly. Just kind of... interesting.

I'll give you a for instance. There's a scene in the movie where Captain America (played by Chris Evans) chases after Thor, who has just abducted Loki. The Black Widow (played by Scarlett Johansson) tells Captain America not to go after them - they're basically gods. Cap responds with the line "Ma'am, there's only ONE God and he doesn't dress like that!"

It's a funny line, ruined somewhat for me when the guy sitting next to me responded "THAT'S RIGHT!"

Nevermind you're talking at the screen for a minute. Why are you treating it like someone in the movie suggested there WASN'T one God? It made me wonder if - the whole time - he was mad at the idea that Thor and Loki were in the movie. I immediately pegged him as a Glenn Beck fan, or something - looking for an excuse to be offended.

I dunno. People are funny.

You might have noticed that I have spent very little time actually reviewing The Avengers in this space. That's intentional. I don't really want to review it. All I can say is, if you haven't seen it yet, you need to get on it quick.

I actually have to applaud the internet for not dumping a bunch of spoilers leading up to the film. Considering that Europe got The Avengers a full week ahead of the United States, you'd think web sites would be littered with information. But that wasn't the case. People kept a lid on things - which I think reflects and endorsement toward the quality of the film.

People don't really have a problem spoiling a movie that sucks. Who cares, right? But if the quality is there, people generally want you to have the same experience they had so you can form a little bond around it. That's exactly what's happening with The Avengers.

I can say that The Avengers was everything I wanted it to be. They did a hell of a job juggling the story lines of each of the main characters and it felt very balanced to me. While Robert Downey Jr. tends to get the best lines, The Avengers is not Iron Man 2.5 - it could have very easily been that. It would have made sense to put the other characters in orbit around him. But they didn't play it that way and the movie is better for it.

Something else I'll say about the movie is that I loved the fights. I won't spoil anything except to say that the film does a great job of mixing different characters together in a myriad of different combinations. Some fights you expect to see, others you don't. But all of them are satisfying.

Last thing I'll say, there's a scene in the film where the characters are kind being torn apart at the seams - a lot of interpersonal conflict. There are so many barbs and insults flying back and forth across the room. Everyone gets dealt on by one character or another. Watching made me think that I never want to get into an argument with Joss Whedon, ever. He's kind of a master at a withering put-down.

So that's it. Go see The Avengers and expect more adventures with Cardboard Iron Man in the coming weeks!

Like this comic? Share it with your friends using the buttons below! Facebooks, Twitters, Google-y Pluses! Whatevers!

See you soon!

Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0.60

Some people were genuinely bummed out when the learned that Jared had moved on from his Shia-hate in Monday's comic. That's understandable. Hating ridiculous things can be fun sometimes.

I was fully prepared to leave it alone, though. Chalking it up to a slight push forward in Jared's progression as a character.

And then, well... someone suggested Taylor Lautner as a replacement and I couldn't resist.

Don't get your hopes up too high. I'm not certain anything will actually come of it. But maybe the takeaway is that a tiger doesn't change its stripes and perhaps Jared is permanently destined to arbitrarily hate a specific actor for the rest of his life?

That sounds kind of bleak. Let's just say Taylor Lautner sucks and leave it at that.

Oh, and if you were at all confused by the title of today's comic, please enjoy the following meme...

Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0.60

• -
• HOME |
• ABOUT |
• LINKS |
• STORE |
• CONTACT |
• BONUS MATERIALS
• -

I was remiss for not posting this along with my original blog entry. One of my Facebook followers shared it with me two weeks ago.

Of course, since then, Tumblr got its mitts into it and ran it into the ground. But maybe you haven't heard it yet! You should really give it a listen. It's appropriately related to this week's comic.

Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0.60

As you may have noticed, I've advanced the timeline of the story by four months. If you remember, it was January when this whole thing started. People were wearing coats! Time to bring everything up to speed.

What happened in those missing 4 months? Not much. Jimmy and Charlie went on a few dates. Tom and Cami caught up on Mad Men using Netflix streaming. I think Truman found a bone, or something? Trust me, you didn't miss much.

I knew I had to advance the timeline to accommodate the inevitable comics I'll be doing about The Avengers. But there was an ancillary experience I had at C2E2 in Chicago a couple of weeks ago that inspired today's comic and, well... here's the story.

So, after driving all morning, I pulled into the McCormick Center pretty much right as the doors were opening to the public at 1:00 PM. That made load-in a little stressful, but I got set up fairly quickly.

After getting settled, meeting a few fans and drawing a few sketches, word started getting back to me that no other than Shia LaBeouf was at the convention!

This isn't a huge deal. Celebrities come to conventions all the time. He was probably speaking on a panel or something, right?

WRONG. He's was in Artist Alley. Apparently he was there to promote a comic that he had worked on.

Everyone I talked to about Shia's appearance that afternoon had the same initial reaction that I did. "Bullsh*t!" So I scoured Twitter for confirmation and specifics.

It didn't take long before people confirmed that Shia was in attendance. Several people had tweeted photos they had taken with him. An opportunity had presented itself. I had to go meet him. But where WAS he?

Eventually I learned that he was in Artist Alley, table O22.

For some perspective, I was at table O2.

You know that scene from When A Stranger Calls when the police office tells the babysitter "The calls are coming from inside the house!" Yeah. It felt like that.

So I knew it was now or never. I had to get a picture with the guy. Readers of this comic know my feelings about Shia LaBeouf, if I punk out now, I'd never live it down. So I start walking down the aisle.

As I approach the end of the aisle, I see a huge line near the tables. I immediately assume it was for Shia, but quickly realize that George Pérez was at the table right next to him doing commissioned sketches and the line was for him.

And if you don't know who George Pérez is, then I strongly recommend you read more comics.

Anyway, no one was in line to see Shia, so I walked right up to him to say hello.

"Hi, there," I said. "I don't mean to bother you, but I was wondering if I could get a quick picture with you?"

LaBeouf was more than gracious. "Sure!" he said. As I leaned back over the table to get in the shot with him, he put out his hand and said "Bring it in here," to go for the bro shake. And that's why I look a little more awkward than usual in this photo...

I know it's a little blurry and I know that Shia's face is obscured a little bit by his hat a little bit, but that's him.

It was over pretty quickly. I thanked him for his time, shook his hand and told him to have a good show. In retrospect, I probably should have bought one of his books, but I seriously didn't have a game plan before walking up to the guy. I knew if I thought about it for too long, I'd lose my nerve. So I swooped in there to get my photo trophy and swooped out.

Back at my table, panic started to settle in a little bit because I realized that my banner was promoting some mild anti-Shia sentiment on it...

I wouldn't have thought twice about it except that he was in the SAME ROW that I was. What if he walked by it and saw it? What if he approached me about it and commented on it. He's punched people for less, you know!

I tweeted my concerns about the banner and several of my follower suggested that I take it down to him and have him sign it.

While I can't deny that would have been unbelievably cool, I couldn't envision a scenario where I could approach the guy and NOT come off like a complete jerk.

"Excuse me, Mr. LaBeouf? Yeah, I just got my picture taken with you - No, I didn't buy one of your comics - and I'm exhibiting just up the aisle from you a little way. I was wondering if you would sign my banner? Y'see, my comic is about movies and I regularly make comics about how much I think you suck. Oh! You drew a penis on my main character's forehead! Ha, ha, ha! Delightful! Thank you very much for your time, Mr. LaBeouf."

So, no. I didn't get Shia LaBeouf to sign my banner. I thought it best to let sleeping dogs lie.

For the rest of the weekend, people kept talking to me about Shia LaBeouf. Often I would take out my phone and show them the picture I took with him. Incidentally, I heard from someone who was standing in line to speak with him a story about another con-goer that asked him to draw a sketch of Megan Fox naked. LaBeouf gave him a dirty look and slapped together a quick stick figure before telling him to take off. I actually thought that was kind of cool.

I guess he was only there on Friday and didn't come back Saturday or Sunday. But, honestly, could you expect him to?

So... what do we do with this experience?

I've taken lots of shots at LaBeouf over the years. Mostly it was for fun. After I decided Jared didn't hate Ben Affleck anymore, the comic needed a new straw man and LaBeouf was an easy target.

Did I ever truly hate LaBeouf? No, I can't say that I ever gave him that much thought. But a lot of other people really seemed to hate him and I felt like I kind of taped into that. But - and here's what everyone gets wrong - it's not how I really felt about the guy. I took my moderate dislike of him as an actor and amplified it for the sake of the comic. After that, it became it's own thing. Was it exploitative? Sure. Do I regret it? Well, yeah. I do.

It's easy to forget that these actors are people. We build them up and we tear them down. We do it because it's fun. I'm guilty of it and I've also been victim to it. It's just how things are.

But I have to give LaBeouf credit for showing up to promote his comic on Artist Alley the way he did. He didn't use his celebrity to pull strings or get preferential treatment. He met with fans, put in the time and promoted his book just like anyone else. I can't fault him for that.

Are his comics any good? Critical consensus says "No." But I don't think that accounts for much. Have you ever been to an Artist Alley at a large comic book convention? It's just like anything else. You'll see some amazing stuff and you'll see some real crap. Shia's comics maybe aren't my cuppa tea, but I've seen worse. MUCH worse. And those guys NEVER get reviewed. So let's keep it in perspective.

As for Theater Hopper... well you saw how that played out in the comic.

Everything about this last arc is about evolving the characters - even if it's only by a fraction - so that when it's all said and done, you know that everyone is "okay."

It didn't seem fair to me to advance Charlie and Jimmy's relationship or put Tom and Cami on the path to parenthood without giving Jared the opportunity to grow a little as well.

Even if "Movie Jumpers" looks totally lame.

Anyway, that's where we are today and that's my Shia LaBeouf story. I seriously can't believe I'm leaving comics behind. Because I sure as hell wouldn't have a story like that to tell without 'em.

Keep checking the site. I've got Avengers comics comic up soon...

...and the return of CARDBOARD IRON MAN.

Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0.60

So, there you have it. The end of Act One. If it helps you at all, today's comic is a call back to the end of Charlie and Jimmy's first arc back in 2009. So there you go.

I know that this comic is grossly overdue and I am sorry. I don't really have an excuse other than exhaustion caught up with me after getting back from C2E2. I had to get my house back in order, spend time with my kids and wife and there just wasn't time for anything else last week.

Of course, like a dummy, I had to go ahead and make this comic double-sized. Like I didn't have enough on my plate.

I've never worked with a buffer and that has usually been to my detriment. However, it's only bitten me on the rear end a couple of times. This was one of those times. I feel bad enough about it, but what's done is done. Time to move on.

A quick recap: From April 13 - 15, I was exhibiting at C2E2 in Chicago and had a great time. Oddly, it was probably one of the most profitable shows I've ever been to. Which, of course, is great. I had a lot of people come up to me just like they did at Emerald City Comic Con and tell me that they were sorry to hear the comic was ending. I was really touched.

Most amazingly, at one point while drawing sketches, I had a line of people waiting to talk to me. THAT DOES NOT HAPPEN, folks. Sometimes I'll be talking to one person and there will be another person off to the side looking at my Spoiler t-shirt. But a line? People who came to see me and then waited? That was a first. It actually made me wonder if I should be ending the comic at all!

But, alas. The comic is ending and this is the end cap of all the dramatic stuff.

I took a little bit of criticism for the comic a couple of weeks ago for heaping on the melodrama. Bad melodrama.

Hey, I get it. Some of you want jokes about Cabin in the Woods. Me, too. But those aren't the comics I'm making right now. I have to wrap this up the way I feel is best. And, yeah, maybe drama isn't my strong suit. But it's something I wanted to try before I closed up shop. Charlie and Jimmy specifically were characters whose involvement I felt should be resolved before moving forward.

That said, you'll be pleased to know that there will be plenty of Avengers action starting next week. And, as I'm sure you know, Iron Man is in the Avengers. And where Iron Man goes, CARDBOARD IRON MAN is sure to follow.

I consider it kind of serendipitous that there would be an opportunity for another Cardboard Iron Man story arc in the last year of the comic. Although I somewhat bemoan the fact that Theater Hopper won't be here for Iron Man 3.

BUT LET'S FOCUS ON THE POSITIVES, SHALL WE? Next week. Avengers. Cardboard Iron Man. JOKES. Everyone wins. Something to look forward to.

Incidentally, there was an experience that I had at C2E2 that I kind of left out of my (brief) recap. That was intentional because I plan to specifically reference it in the comic this week.

To (hopefully) make it up to you, I'm going to do another comic this week detailing my experience. Keep and eye on the site. It'll be worth it.

That's it for now. Thanks for your patience and I'll see you soon!

Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0.60

Things have come to a head between Jimmy and Charlie. What happens next? CLIFFHANGER!

Don't worry. This will actually get resolved quick than you think. Originally, this comic was supposed to be double-sized. But then I realized it really didn't have to be. So, instead, I broke it in two and am going to finish it up this week so it's in the queue and ready to go for Monday. BUFFER!

I really wanted to post two comics this week as a way to make up for last week's extraordinarily late comic. But I figured it would be more prudent to post next week's comic on-time instead. Send all complaints to the management.

I suppose it might be more realistic if Jimmy were taken aback by Charlie's recent admissions. To be told that your betrothed really didn't want to marry you out of fear for commitment would probably give most people pause. So I hope you don't find it poor writing the Jimmy is just kind of bulldozing past that revelation. I have a deadline to keep, you know.

Truthfully, I was more interested in establishing a romantic tone with this comic than anything else. Jimmy possesses certainty. He's served his penance and wants to move on. Does he have enough certainty for both himself and Charlie? You'll have to wait until next week to find out!

FULL DISCLOSURE: I was listening to The Corin Tucker Band's "It's Always Summer" on an infinite repeat as I was working on this comic last night. Call me crazy, but I think that song is sexy as hell. Don't believe me? LISTEN TO IT!

Incidentally, if you feel the same way I do and want to own this song for yourself, I've included a helpful link. Seriously. You should buy it. It's a great album.

QUICK HITS

Don't forget that I will be at C2E2 this weekend, April 13 - 15 at McCormick Place in Chicago. You can find me in Artist Alley, table O2. It would be really cool if you would come and visit me. I don't know any of the other people at the tables around me and I'm afraid I'm going to be lonely! Also, I'm going to be selling books, shirts, buttons and sketches and I REALLY need to make a profit on this show!

Speaking of which, if you're thinking about purchasing any Theater Hopper merch, I strongly encourage you to place an order now. I'm planning on selling as much as possible this weekend and I'm not planning on reordering any of my inventory. Now is the time, people!

That's all I have for now. Thanks for checking things out. If you could use those handy little buttons below the blog to share today's comic among your social networks. I would appreciate it! Cheers!

Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0.60