Pop! Goes the Icon - Comic books. Pop culture. Geekery.

Video Tour of Lego Mecca

2008-07-24T17:14:00.000-07:00

For some reason, I can't tell when Gizmodo posted this story, but it's pretty amazing -- they go on a tour of the Lego factory, which appears to be almost completely run by robots. It's pretty bad-ass, if you haven't seen it already. And even if you have. Just click here for the goods.

Geek Threads: Mixtape tunic hoodie for the ladies

2008-07-22T17:12:00.000-07:00

I realized that calling our weekly geek apparel feature "T-Shirt Tuesdays" was somewhat restricting, so as of now, we're going to rename this feature "Geek Threads." Yay for progress. And for our first new offering (sorry about last week -- hell if I know what happened), we're not only stepping out of the T-shirt box, but also yielding to the fairer gender with a hoodie that is equal parts geek and chic:

Yes, it's a hoodie with screen-printed headphones on the hood. Is that cool or what? No? Well, duh -- that's why it's featured here. And it's 50 percent off right now over at Nordstrom. See, we bring the goods and the deals.

(via Geeksugar)

Thoughts on the 'The Dark Knight' ... and Bale behind bars

2008-07-22T09:21:00.001-07:00

Maybe if you wear that cape and cowl and go around beating up people on film for too long, it makes you a little crazy. What other explanation can be given for The Dark Knight star Christian Bale getting arrested for alleged assault charges in jolly old England?

Well, it's not like he won't make bail. The Dark Knight has broken about a dozen box office records, including the big one: highest-grossing opening weekend ever. Period. And let me tell you, I finally made it to see the film in IMAX last night at a 7 p.m. Monday screening in suburban Las Vegas, and inside the theater it may as well have been opening night Friday. Lines of people, sold-out shows -- I have never seen so much business for one movie continue past opening weekend.

As for the film itself, well, you've already read a million reviews, so I won't go into it more than dropping some random and biased thoughts:

Overall, an epic masterpiece. I could barely fathom how anyone could write a two-and-a-half hour long movie packed with so much stuff, let alone direct and edit it. Truly an accomplishment.
Heath Ledger's Joker is mind-blowing because it's so damn convincing. I don't care what detractors say -- and I'm no Ledger fan -- the accolades this performance is receiving would not have been any different had the actor not died. He is a ball of chaos and anarchy and Christopher Nolan hit this nail on its head.
It was too long. This should have been two films: One up until the moment the Joker escapes and Harvey Dent is scarred forever, and the second dealing with capturing the Joker and Two-Face. If you think about it, splitting it in two would have milked the screen time of Ledger as well, just from a business standpoint. It works as one film, true, but it just felt so packed in -- so much going on, almost too much.
If Nolan's going to create a hyper-realistic vision of the Batman mythos, then a) Why was Batman able to bend a rifle's shaft in the first parking garage sequence, and b) There is no way Rachel Dawes would have survived that drop off Bruce Wayne's penthouse tower. I mean, Bats shouldn't have either, but let's say Batman's armor absorbed the impact of the fall for him -- Rachel still would have gone "splat" against his armor from the easily 30-story fall.

That's it, for the most part. After the movie, a friend and I engaged in a spirited discussion of the primal theme beneath the Batman mythos. She pretty much boils it down to good vs. evil, whereas I see Batman's approach more as right vs. wrong (think about how many times in the comics situations boil down to Bruce being in the right while everyone else is, well, not). But we both agreed that Two-Face is a mirror reflection of Batman, as Frank Miller so perfectly illustrated in The Dark Knight Returns: Bruce suffered a great tragedy and made the decision to seek not retribution but justice, to become a force for good. Harvey Dent suffered a great tragedy (in Nolan's world, at least) and made the decision to seek revenge and become a force for evil.

Or something.

Newsicons, 7/21/08: Karzai and Obama in Kabul

2008-07-21T17:10:00.000-07:00

Oh, look, someone thinks the real front on terrorism is in Afghanistan, where Taliban and Al-Qaeda are seeing a resurgence. You mean we invaded Iraq for no reason? No!

Non-reviews: 'X-Factor,' 'Mighty Avengers,' '1985,' 'Captain America'

2008-07-18T13:13:00.001-07:00

Picked up this week's comics yesterday and actually found time to read them all last night in between a battle of the bands on the Las Vegas Strip, four episodes of Smallville and dinner. Watch as I deftly demolish all your hopes and dreams with my thoughts on Marvel's least finest this week:

Mighty Avengers #16: Do you think the comic shop will give me my money back or a credit if I return this? It was seriously that bad. And pointless. And covered ground that, back in the day, would have been a one-page flashback. Go to hell Bendis. I'm not buying this stuff anymore. DROPPED.

X-Factor #33: Peter David + Larry Stroman = Love. I actually don't even remember what happened in this issue -- oh yeah, there were Skrulls and some evolving guy and I think Longshot is a Skrull or maybe not, I dunno. OK, so I didn't get it all, but all I know is it ended with She-Hulk and a teaser for the story continued in the Jade Giantess' own book. You tricky bastard, David -- now I'm buying my first new issue of She-Hulk since Byrne relaunched her in the early-1990s.

1985 #3: First, it's 1985 and being filed thusly in my longboxes. Indicia cannot make up for the lack of "Marvel" in the title on the cover logo. So deal.

Oh, anyway, um, well, at least something happened in this issue. Actually, it was pretty awesome the way Mark Millar and Tommy Lee Edwards portrayed the very real horror of the Marvel villains actually wreaking havoc on the town. I mean, it felt much more real, especially that haunting scene with Ultron just slaughtering neighborhood people, than the destruction that wantonly seems cartoonish in regular comics. At the end, the Lizard pounces atop Toby's dad's van, so I'm hoping for a scene in the next issue where Toby uses his Marvel Comics knowledge to try and reach through to Curt Connors and maybe the Connors side of the Lizard recognizes Toby being the same age as his own son or something else that keeps him from gutting the hell out of Toby and his dad.

I mean, that's how I'd write it.

Captain America #40: This thing has more twists than a pack of Twizzlers. Ed Brubaker is seriously writing some good espionage action tales, even if it is taking him forever. And that ending?! I don't want to give it away because, unlike my above spoilers, it's pretty hardcore. And kind of opens up a whole lot more questions as opposed to answering any. And Steve Epting is back. If he and Jackson Guice keep switching back and forth on this forever, I'd be happy as an eel. Are eels happy? Good question.

That's it for this week. Let's see how next week is shaping up:

New Avengers #43: Something better happen in this issue or it's going the way of its sister pub.
She-Hulk #31: OK, Peter David, I'm showing up to the party. There had better be dip.
Uncanny X-Men #500: This will either be the greatest X-book in years or the end of my collecting. Hmm ...
X-Men Legacy #214: Last chance, Carey and Eaton -- better make it good.
Robin #175: If this doesn't directly tie-in to "Batman: RIP" (as I was duped with that issue of Detective I bought last week), I'll be pissed. Otherwise, should be good.

Random (Smallville) Thought of the Moment

2008-07-17T23:42:00.000-07:00

OK, so I just got finished watching the Smallville season one episode "Nicodemus." In it, Clark and Lana are sitting atop a windmill in Smallville, from which they have a clear view of ... the Metropolis skyline? WTF?! I know Metropolis is not necessarily exactly modeled after New York, but it is supposed to be an East Coast port city, right? Or at the very least, not in Kansas. I guess for the purposes of the show (and the character's frequent jaunts back and forth to the big city), it does need to be close to Smallville, but I'm just going to go ahead and call BS here.

Otherwise, almost done with season one, one more disc to go. Quite enjoyable thus far.

Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog

2008-07-16T17:45:00.000-07:00

Joss Whedon + Neil Patrick Harris = Blowing my mind:

http://drhorrible.com

First episode went live yesterday, the next two coming over the rest of the week.

Just finished watching the first one: Brilliant.

They will only be available for free viewing through the weekend, so shore up now, kiddies.

That is all.

The Pimp Spirit?

2008-07-16T08:52:00.001-07:00

Um ... I've never read Will Eisner's The Spirit (yes, I know, comics blasphemy, bla bla bla), but ... is it really as focused on the women in his life as this new trailer for Frank Miller's film leads me to believe:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809838857/video/8831867/

Or is it just Miller?

Either way, BLECH. (Well, "blech" except it does have Scarlett Johansson in it ...)

Is DC doing it so wrong, or is Marvel just sucking less?

2008-07-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

Over at the consistently excellent The Weekly Crisis, Kirk Warren posed the question over the weekend, "What do you think DC Comics is doing wrong?" He received a number of responses from fans, but the consensus among even hardcore DC followers seems to be this: A lot.

It should be no surprise to regular readers of Pop! Goes the Icon that I'm a long-time Marvel Zombie. Though my first exposure to actual comic books was likely in the pages of those DC Comics Presents team-ups of the early-1980s, it was the maturity, pathos and consistency of the Marvel Universe that sucked me in and kept me interested.

However, in the post-Crisis (yes, the ORIGINAL Crisis on Infinite Earths) era, DC came on strong -- something I'm still rediscovering to this day. From John Byrne's relaunching of Superman and Frank Miller's re-imagining of Batman to Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis' irreverent Justice League and Dennis O'Neil's hardboiled Question, DC -- under the leadership of people such as Jeanette Kahn, Dick Giordano and the aforementioned O'Neil -- completely wiped away the bad memories of lowest-common-denominator storytelling, Silver Age-style art and convoluted continuities.

I was a hardcore Batman collector for about two years, buying every Bat-book published in the late '80s and very early 1990s. I branched out a bit, picking up Justice League-related books here and there, Geoff Johns' awesome Green Lantern reboot in Emerald Dawn (and its subsequent sequel and regular GL series), scattered Superman titles and other select DC projects between my huge helpings of X-Men, Avengers and Fantastic Four books.

I loved the dedication to keeping even the most cosmic of tales grounded. There would be no free-wheeling time travel, no imaginary stories every other issue, no evil-geniuses-for-the-sake-of-evil-geniuses. Byrne made sense of the Superman tale by boiling it down to essentials and removing the baggage. He made a very real and loathsome character of Lex Luthor. He made sense of how a young man with great powers would not realize how much he'd need to hide them until he was caught in the public eye exercising his might. And he brought a little mystery back to a character of whom we all thought we knew so well for 50 years.

Johns' decision to bring Hal Jordan back as a drifter, a veteran Green Lantern who has aged a little and passed on his mantle -- another brilliant move. The death of Jason Todd -- meaningful (if not petty) and very necessary to really make writers and fans alike question why there needs to be a Robin. Giffen and DeMatteis realizing the absurdity of a group of costumed vigilantes gathering together like preschoolers in a clubhouse.

So why, when I returned to collecting comics a year or so ago, did I gravitate back to Marvel Comics and practically ignored DC's offerings? Because they screwed up. Oh, Marvel did too, and that's a topic for another time, but DC really screwed up badly. I missed a lot of things -- the Knightfall arc, the return of Jason Todd (ugh), Jordan's stint as Parallax, "Energy" Superman -- but it didn't seem any of these things so completely ruined DC for my return than the WTF? decision to undo all the streamlining and modernizing so perfectly executed in 1985 with the rehashed Crisis crossovers. By the time I reappeared and tried to catch up on the 2006 DC Universe with 52 (which I bought in its entirety, BTW), I was lost.

Let's ignore the fact that I HATE THE CONCEPT OF SUPERBOY. The so-called "Superboy Prime" -- and this is from what I understand secondhand -- PUNCHED his way out of some pocket universe (I guess the one created by the Time Trapper back in the original Crisis) ... and then I have no idea what else happened but all of a sudden there are 52 versions of everyone running around again and parallel worlds colliding and now another meaningful death (Barry Allen) might be undone and ... well, it doesn't make sense. Plus, as great as Superman: Birthright was, it partially overrode Byrne's precedent and, well sorry kids, in my eyes, Byrne set the standard. Plus, um, KRYPTO AND SUPERGIRL? Arrgh.

I'm trying. I've been picking up the "Batman: RIP" arc, as you know, although I was duped into buying the latest Detective Comics because it was a so-called crossover and had NOTHING TO DO with the Batman story, but that's as far as I go right now. Even that is confusing, a bit, especially with Grant Morrison pulling out all these Silver Age story references. But at least it's kind of fun.

Sorry, I know that's not all that "DC Comics is doing wrong," but for me, their poor marketing, unfriendly website and limited commercial properties have nothing to do with the company's main problem: It's the same problem as 25 years ago -- too many time-lines, too many versions of characters, too much required suspension of disbelief. I know there's no going back (or maybe, just maybe, after Final Crisis there can be?), but this is why the only DC Comics I'm buying these days ("Batman: RIP" aside) are quality late-1980s issues from dime bins.

Serious chuckler of the moment: Pimp Daddy Destro

2008-07-15T12:17:00.000-07:00

From the always amusing Topless Robot:

Oh, Destro. You've always been an awesome character as the mask-wearing arms dealer to Cobra, even if you wore a jacket with a huge collar and no shirt (much like Freddie Mercury). We suppose your fashion sense has always been suspect—which is why we shouldn't be surprised at the above outfit, best known to Joe collectors as "Pimp Daddy" Destro. With its leopard-print highlights, it's not at all suited to the battlefield, unless you count the battlefield that clearly was Destro's twisted private life. There's absolutely zero chance of a leopard-print thong not being under those leather pants.

Newsicons, 7/14/08: Tony Snow

2008-07-14T17:10:00.000-07:00

I was working on one of Ingrid Betancourt as well, but just couldn't find the time to finish. So long, Mr. Snow. Good night and good luck.

Superman featured on Studio 360's 'American Icons'

2008-07-14T08:56:00.001-07:00

I'm just starting to listen to it now, because the radio broadcast yesterday here on the West Coast was on at the same time as my band rehearsal time, but you should definitely check out online this series of stories celebrating Superman on his 70th birthday:

http://www.studio360.org/americanicons/episodes/2008/07/11

(Art by Leinil Francis Yu from Superman: Birthright)

My 100th Post: Random Thoughts on 'Smallville'

2008-07-14T00:40:00.000-07:00

Yep, this is post No. 100 -- not the 100th post of all time at Pop! Goes the Icon, but the 100th since I relaunched it via Blogger. Please FedEx Tastykakes should you choose to help me celebrate.

On to geekier things: A few weeks ago, I started watching Smallville from the beginning on DVD via the ol' Netflix. As I don't own a TV and, well, even if I did I'd never watch it, I usually don't come upon series television until after a show is wrapped up and on DVD, or made available online. But I like to catch up with interesting series and keep them coming sequentially (as I did recently with Arrested Development and Heroes), so usually there's something in my queue. And Smallville was the latest.

After watching about half the first season, I guess it's not a bad show, as I keep on wanting more (unlike Dexter, which I really tried but after three episodes couldn't care less about), but it is terribly formulaic. I know this is old news, I know it's coming up on its eighth season or whatever, but when you watch four episodes in a row, that formula becomes damned prominent -- but still charming somehow. I love how at the end of each episode, you just know Clark is going to turn to Martha/Jonathon/Lex/Lana/Chloe/Pete/whomever and ask of the defeated villain/victims/affected loved ones if "they will be alright." It's predictable but comforting, somehow. I believe in later seasons the "mutant of the week" premise goes away (much as it did with X-Files), but for now, it'll do.

What I do find endlessly amusing especially are the ironic dialog twists the writers throw in as winks and nods to the viewers, such as when Clark tells Lana that when he grows up, he doesn't know what he'll do, just so long as he "doesn't have to wear a suit and fly around all the time." Or when Clark asks Lex if their friendship will ever dissolve into antagonism, Lex responds, "Our friendship will be the stuff of legends." Yes, it's the concession the writers put in to please the fan boys watching, but, well, it works. Just like always dressing Clark in shades of blue and red. It just works.

Anyway, from the little bit of information I've run across over the years, it sounds like the plot lines are going to get a little more tangled than needed and yes, I know eventually the show becomes a dumping ground for teen versions of DC characters, but don't spoil anything for me anyway -- I have the whole series queued up and will be learning for myself the good and the bad over the next few months.

It's Free Slurpee Day people!!!

2008-07-11T13:49:00.000-07:00

Uh hello ... it's 7-11!! Who's with me? Raiding the Sev for a frosty treat?!

Hey hey we're the bloggers!

2008-07-10T17:15:00.000-07:00

Um ... it feels like it's been a while since I last checked in over here, so I thought I'd drop by and say "hi." I don't really have any other geek-worthy items of which to speak right now. I'm not picking up this week's pull list selections until tomorrow afternoon, but expect a gut reaction or a few non-reviews thereafter. Bahlactus is holding the finals of his Friday Night Fights - Classic Edition, so that'll be up here tomorrow. Otherwise, I'm working on band stuff and just finished off some deadlines for a pub or two.

Oh, I did see Wall-E this weekend, and there are enough reviews on the interwebs so I won't have to say much more other than I laughed, I cried and I was blown away.

One week to The Dark Knight, kids. I know you're all dying with anticipation.

T-Shirt Tuesdays: Robot Moods

2008-07-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since we dropped the robot science in our geek apparel explorations, so courtesy of Happy Little People, here you go:

Yes, all the robot faces are the same. It's very similar to the soon-to-be-released "Pj Moods" T-shirt.

And hey, if you come across a geeky tee on the web you'd like to share, e-mail me your suggestions!

Newsicons, 7/7/08: Rafael Nadal

2008-07-07T18:23:00.000-07:00

Not a very iconic news week, so today you get a single-panel entry. I am predicting more for next week...

'Hulk vs. Wolverine' trailer debuts at Marvel.com

2008-07-07T12:15:00.000-07:00

But to be honest, I couldn't care less, and this "trailer" sure doesn't change that opinion ...

Gut Reaction: 'Astonishing X-Men' No. 25

2008-07-03T18:14:00.001-07:00

First, and totally unrelated to the matter at hand, is anyone else sick to death of those Flash ads that overtake your browser until you can figure out where the ad's designers cleverly hid the "close" button? I sure am. If I ever meet you bastards in a dark alley, I'm going medieval on your asses.

OK, back to my Gut Reaction to Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi's Astonishing X-Men #25: All I have to say is that if Uncanny X-Men #500 isn't better than this, I might be packing up my bags, kids. Astonishing isn't a bad comic, mind you, it's just ... it's a confluence of bad elements.

Ellis' dialog writing is tight. It's funny. It's irreverent. At its best, its reminiscent of the smarky-but-playful exchanges from the Chris Claremont-John Byrne era. But at its worst, its like that movie Juno: Every character is way too clever for their own good. The plot is OK, something about a murder mystery and a spaceship dumping groun in Indonesia, but it seems Ellis can't find that dialog-action balance that Peter David has masterfully demonstrated in everything he's written for 30 years. I mean, let's be honest here: Warren Ellis is a great writer, but he is not the right person for the X-Men.

Same goes for Bianchi. The Italian-born illustrator is a terrific, interesting artist. But his style is all wrong for any mainstream superhero comic. Combined with the dull, muddy colors of Simone Peruzzi, this comic is just hard to look at. That might be fine for a weighty, deep graphic novel, but let's face it, kids: This is an X-book. We need bright colors. We need defined action. We need something to spell out what the hell is happening in between Ellis' witty banter.

I might stick around another issue to see if this plot goes anywhere, because like I said, it's not a bad comic, but I have a feeling that as quickly as I put this title on my pull list, I'll be calling my LCS to cross it off.

How did I not notice the Robert Crumb exhibit under my nose?

2008-07-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to the opening reception for "Pop: Images of the British Invasion" at Symbolic Gallery in Las Vegas, a collection of iconic black & white photos by Ian Wright. While his images of the Rolling Stones, The Beatles and the Moody blues were awesome, I was not aware that in a side gallery at Symbolic, there's a semi-permanent collection of Robert Crumb original artwork from the late-'60s and early-'70s.

I've never gotten into the underground comix stuff, but after spending a few hours in the gallery and actually reading most of the walls filled with framed R. Crumb art featuring characters such as Mr. Natural and Big Baby, I kinda think I might pick up a collection or two. The work is alternatively insightful, incendiary, salacious, ridiculous and plain fun -- which Crumb fans already know, but hey, I'm late to this party.

I tried to get some clear shots of the artwork, specifically one page that was going for more than $143,000, but my phone's camera was not being cooperative. If you live in or are visiting Las Vegas and want to see some of this legend's original art --including notebook sketches and other rarities -- up close, contact Symbolic Gallery at (702) 507-5263. They have awesome lowbrow art and an entire Johnny Cash room as well. Rad.

Flashback: 'The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man'

2008-07-02T07:30:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of comics. I mean, I'm not about to open up a mega-store or anything, but I certainly have enough comics that my longboxes fill an entire closet. Sometimes I forget just how good some of the books I have are, and in those times when I dig back into my collection and come across a gem, I like to share that gem with the world. Hence, today's Flashback. This is an iconic comic that has been written about plenty of times, but that doesn't invalidate its awesomeness -- or me writing about it one more time:

Yep. Amazing Spider-Man #248 from January 1984. It was Assistant Editors Month, and while most Marvel titles were cooking up inane, silliness while the editors were away at conventions or wherever, ASM assistant editor Bob DeNatale decided to buck the trend and instead assigned the creative teams on his respective titles to come up with two distinctively different stories for each of their AEM issues.

What the great -- and let's face it, terribly underrated -- Roger Stern wrote for ASM #248 were two stories demonstrating the strengths of Spider-Man as a character, and as far as I'm concerned, the strengths of Marvel Comics storytelling in the 1980s (of which I've prattled about in this forum many a time). The "lead" feature, "And He Strikes Like a Thunderball," is a non-stop battle between Spidey and Wrecking Crew B-list villain Thunderball, with layouts by a still-budding John Romita, Jr. (the Official Favorite Artist of PGTI). But what's really special about this issue is the subtle, emotional "back-up" tale by Stern, "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man."

Drawn by former ASM regular artist Ron Frenz doing his best Steve Ditko (with inks by the incomparable Terry Austin), the premise of this short story is simple: Spider-Man visits 9-year-old Spidey super-fan Timothy Harrison in his room late one night after reading about the boy in a Daily Bugle newspaper column. The story is cleverly framed by this running newspaper story, as Spidey tells Tim (in generic terms) how he got his powers, why he chose to fight crime, etc. Toward the end, as Spider-Man is leaving Tim's room, the 9-year-old asks, "Will you tell me who you really are?" Spidey gives Tim the stock "I trust you but it'll put my loved ones in danger" response, but then he pauses again and finally pulls off his mask to reveal he's Peter Parker. Here's where Stern and Frenz set you up for the emotional whammy:

Note the implied tone in Peter's voice? Catch that tear he's shedding? And how quickly he runs out of the room? In the following four silent panels, Frenz just nails it:

As the accompanying newspaper column reveals, Tim suffers from leukemia and only has weeks to live. It just gets you right there in the gut. The way Stern had Frenz draw the story, you couldn't really tell Tim was in a hospital room. You would have really had to pay attention. And the newspaper text accompanying the story served to tell the tale of a bright, happy kid who collects every bit of Spider-Man memorabilia he can get his hands on -- not until the very end does it mention a word about his illness. That single panel of Spider-Man in the shadow with his head in hand -- man, even looking at it now it makes me well up inside a bit.

And no, they don't make comics like this anymore. Goddamn they don't.

I am a helper!

2008-07-01T23:53:00.000-07:00

Have scanner, will travel.*

*Actually, I don't have a scanner, at least not at home. I really need to invest a few hundred bucks in a combo scanner/printer. Maybe when I buy that new iMac ...

Lee Bermejo to appear with Joker print at 'The Dark Knight' opening in Las Vegas

2008-07-01T23:24:00.000-07:00

Batmania will be hitting the real Sin City when The Dark Knight opens in two weeks with a series of events starting with late-night IMAX and 35mm screenings of the film at Brenden Theaters inside the Palms Casino Resort on Thursday, July 17. But those midnight showings are just the start of a geektastic weekend in Las Vegas.

On opening night, Friday, July 18, former Wildstorm and current DC Comics artist Lee Bermejo will be at Brenden Theaters from 7 to 10 p.m. signing prints of his specially-commissioned Joker illustration, which looks a little something like this:

Seriously, if you are a comics fan and living in Las Vegas and don't get one of these, well, you're not really either of the above, are you?

Lotus Broadcasting -- whose local radio holdings include rock station KOMP 92.3-FM -- will be broadcasting live from the Palms, giving away prizes including an arcade game from Mountain Coin Machines.

Oh, but it doesn't end there. The next day, Saturday, July 19, Bermejo will drop by Comic Oasis (3121 N. Rainbow Blvd.) from 1 to 4 p.m. for another signing appearance. In case you were wondering, Bermejo recently finished work on Joker: The Dark Knight, a graphic novel written by Brian Azzarello.

Comics might not be for kids anymore, but they're sure BY kids ...

2008-07-01T17:10:00.000-07:00

Wow. So something hit me after looking through Flickr photo sets from the 1982 San Diego Comic Con and the 2008 Heroes Con: The industry players have gotten progressively younger. Take a look through the awesome '82 series by Alan Light and you'll see a lot of white hair, bald heads and polyester suits at the booths and panels. Then there's Patman's '08 series, in which you'll see a lot of spiked hair, goatees and t-shirts.

It's interesting, given that the average comic collector in the early '80s was probably 25 and now is more like 45 (rough estimates based on no scientific fact at all, kids). As the audience gets older, the creators get younger. Which makes me wonder at what point the disconnect will reverse: Comic creators will be making comics that relate to them but not at all to readers with a generation's difference in experiences.

But seriously, check out Light's photos. He scanned them directly from the negatives, so they are bright and clean, and there are folks such as Jack Kirby, Milton Canniff and Carl Barks, as well as a boyish-looking Mark Evanier.

T-Shirt Tuesdays: I believe you have my stapler

2008-07-01T14:01:00.000-07:00

Just watched Office Space again for the first time in ... geez too long ... and it simply reminded me of my love for that movie. And for my job in which I sit in a cubicle and fill out reports and ... yeah, that'd be great.

In honor of that bit of Mike Judge-helmed brilliance, here's today's geekwear:

Ger yours at ThinkGeek.com. Just don't let Lumbergh take it from you, man.