Artist Cliff Chiang just posted to the Threadless blogs regarding his recently designed and printed Threadless Tee, Every Night I Have the Same Dream, Issue 3, Vol. 1.

Besides the interesting behind the scenes perspective on his design process, he also tells us about an easter egg of sorts on the shirt:

“If you scan the codes, they actually say “Threadless” and “Chiang”!”

Pretty cool stuff, and the shirt is rad too.

This comic book trend that Threadless has been on pleases me. Last week they released four shirts which are tied together through a story written by Jill Thompson entitled “Every Night I Have the Same Dream”. The shirts feature art by Jill Thompson, Tony Moore, Cliff Chiang and Art Baltazar.

I haven’t wanted to write. I simply haven’t felt inspired. I had overwhelmed myself by reading too many comic books. In fact my hobby had become a chore, and once a hobby becomes a chore, it’s time for that hobby to die.

However my love for comics wouldn’t die, and I suspect it never will. I thought long and hard about deleting this blog. Overtime it had become a den of negativity. Post after post I complained like a whiny fanboy and praised only a handful of titles. Although I stand by my tastes I found myself wishing I had spent less time complaining and more time talking about the titles which truly deserve to be talked about.

So I decided to come back and write once more, but still I was uninspired. I felt as though I needed the right thing to come along and bonk me on the head. Something that would rejuvenate my love of comics and force me to write once more.

I absolutely did not expect my enthusiasm to be revived by a comic book written by a five year old boy.

Axe Cop is an amazing comic created and written by Malachai Nicolle, age 5 and features art by his brother Ethan Nicolle, age 29. The age difference and the fact that the two are brothers instantly sparked my interest.
Reading through the first issue I was reminded of my own comics which I wrote at a very young age, and now here I am, nearly Ethan’s age… and I feel like a kid again.

But beyond forcing me to long for my youth, Axe Cop is actually good. In fact it’s hilarious, and not in a malicious way. In many ways it is reminiscent of the Tick. From the black and white art to the heroes and villains that seem to poke fun at the cliché nature of comic books in general.

Of course the tongue in cheek humor really comes from the art of Malachai’s brother, Ethan. But the stories wouldn’t work if they weren’t written by a five year old. The real humor comes from seeing a child’s take on the world of super heroes. A world he seems to take seriously… but only as serious as a kid can really get: head-chopping plays just as big a role as candy canes, unicorn magic and killer robots.
I honestly have no complaint with this comic. It’s fun to read, makes me feel young again and left me wanting more.

Over time I’m confident more Axe Cop will be released, and I fully plan on reviewing each coming issue here.

All six issues are posted on the official Axe Cop site, however at the time of this writing the site’s account has been suspended due to an unexpected increase in traffic from Reddit. Thankfully someone uploaded all six pages to imgur. Once Axecop.com comes back up I’ll change these links to point to their rightful home.

A few more links related to Axe Cop

• Ethan Nicolle’s blog
• Axe Cop on twitter
• Information about Ethan’s solo project, Chumble Spuzz

My favorites are displayed below, but you should definitely head over to Mari’s site to check out the rest.

These are a few of my favorites. Check out the rest on Joe D’s Flickr Photo Stream.

As I have pointed out numerous times, The Walking Dead is my favorite comic book to date. It’s only competitor is Fear Agent. Time and again Robert Kirkman has pushed the limits of the survival horror genre, and of comic books in general.
The rape of Michone, the horrific retaliation bestowed upon the Governor, the unexpected death of many characters, including Rick’s wife and baby; Robert Kirkman has truly proven that this book is not about zombies, it’s about the survivors.

The most recent issue of the Walking Dead, issue #57, pushed another boundary: the attempted rape of Rick’s child.

In this issue the survivor’s arrive at an onramp to the interstate as they continue their journey towards Washington D.C.
Rick and Abraham decide to take the interstate towards Rick’s former home town in order to raid the police station for supplies. Of course Rick insists upon taking Carl along for the ride so that he can keep an eye on him. Upon nightfall Rick and Abraham decide to make camp.
It is soon thereafter that a group of rednecks attack Rick, Abraham and Carl in their sleep in attempt to rob them.
In a rather shocking series of panels Carl is dragged away from his father and has his pants ripped off. Thankfully Rick is able to come to Carl’s aid before things go further.

This was such a horrible turn in the story that in the letters section, Krikman actually felt the need to offer what could almost be translated as an apology to his readers.

Kirkman explains how this was a very difficult thing for him to write. He also explains that he and Charlie Adlard took no delight in this section of the comic.

Call it an apology, an explanation or simply an excuse, there’s no doubt in my mind that Kirkman’s email has been littered with angry letters of complaint.

Well I’m taking this extended weekend to make a very concerted effort to catch up on the goings on in the comic book world, starting by picking up a neglected stack of issues that have been waiting for me at my local comic shop. The issues have been piling up for around two months now.
And let me tell you, purchasing two months worth of comic books in one shot is somewhat sickening.

Being swamped with life in general, and now a stack of comics, made me start to wonder if I’m alone in this constant game of comic book catch-up.

So, how many comics do you read each month? Do you have any particular methods for keeping up?

Perhaps the problem here is that I read to many comics. Check out my pull list ( below ) and tell me what you think.

• Action Comics
• Action Comics Annual
• All Star Batman and Robin the Boy
• Wonder
• All Star Superman
• Amazing Spider-Man
• Amazing Spider-Man Annual
• Amazing Spider-Man Extra
• Batman
• Batman All RIP crossovers and minis
• Cable
• Captain America
• Detective Comics
• Fear Agent
• Hulk
• Incredible Hulk
• Iron Man
• Iron Man Annual
• JSA Kingdom Come Special Superman
• Justice League of America
• Justice Society of America
• Justice Society of America Annual
• Marvel Zombies 3
• New X-Men
• Punisher War Journal
• Punisher War Hournal Annual
• Secret Invasion
• Superman
• Superman Annual
• Tales of the Fear Agent
• Thor
• Uncanny X-Men
• Uncanny X-Men Annual
• Walking Dead
• Wolverine
• X-Factor
• X-Men

Check out the trailer while you still can at traileraddict. Otherwise you’ll need to wait until this Monday to watch it from the comfort of your home.

Update: Trailer Addict is now hosting the official trailer.

I’m slightly disappointed. There are very few special features. The IMAX scenes look amazing, but they just make the standard HD scenes much more obvious that they aren’t filling up my 16:9 aspect ratio television. The constant shifting between aspect ratios was just a little too distracting for my liking.

It’s still an amazing movie though. If you haven’t seen it for some reason, you should stop being an idiot and watch it.

Also: turns out I’m not dead. I just haven’t had the urge to write for quite a while.