The Nerdmudgeon Podcast
Three middle-aged nerds (including yours truly!) review all of the MCU movies in chronological order. Short, funny, and full of good vibes, check it out and let us know what you think!
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Yearly Archives: 2008
Random Panel: Generic response to my asking for my paycheck
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Posted in Daily Random Panel
Politics and super-heroes
Barack Obama and John McCain were recently asked by Entertainment Weekly what super-hero they'd most like to be:
Sen. John McCain: "Batman. He does justice sometimes against insurmountable odds. And he doesn't make his good works known to a lot of people, so a lot of people think he's just a rich playboy."
Sen. Barack Obama: "I was always into the Spider-Man/Batman model. The guys who have too many powers, like Superman, that always made me think they weren't really earning their superhero status. It's a little too easy. Whereas Spider-Man and Batman, they have some inner turmoil. They get knocked around a little bit."
Sadly, the Pandering Mutant Gene is far too strong in any Presidential candidate to contemplate an answer to that question which is not Superman, Spider-Man, or Batman. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that those are the only three super-heroes either guy could name, and that's only because each character has had a major motion picture released in the last few years.
Is it too much to ask for one of them to want to be, say, "Rex the Wonder Dog" or "Pitt"? Think of how much good we could do with a muscle-bound, spittle-flicking gray-skinned President! It would at least make UN meetings much more entertaining:
The Iranian Ambassador: I would like to introduce UN Resolution 4534 which -- "
President Pitt: RRRRRAAAAARRRRRRGGGHHHHH!
With penetrating political insight like this, I eagerly await my invitation to join the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal. Or Time. National Enquirer? Throw me a bone here people!
(Hat-tip to Taegan Goddard's Political Wire.)
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Posted in Super-Hero Stuff
Sienkiewicz caricatures Mignola
On the last page of "Rocket Raccoon" no. 1 (originally published in 1985) is an article from editor Carl Potts about the team who put the series together. The penciller of the series was a very young Mike Mignola, who of course is now famous as the creator of "Hellboy" and "BPRD" as well as the winner of numerous Eisner Awards. But 23 years ago he was just starting out in the industry; here's what Potts had to say about him in the back of "Rocket Raccoon":
On the lower left is Mike Mignola. Mike's been around the field for a few years as an inker. Relatively recently he took up pencilling as well. You might remember his full art job on the Sub Mariner story in the back of MARVEL FANFARE #10. Lots of letters crying "more" came in after that one so here you go! After Mike finishes drawing all four issues of Rocket's limited series, he'll be laying out a few issues of the HULK (starting with #311). Shortly thereafter Mr. Mignola will be taking over the pencil pushing chores of ALPHA FLIGHT!
And the rest is, as they say, history. To cap off the article, legendary artist Bill Sienkiewicz draw an illustration of the four leads on the Rocket Raccoon series, and here's his version of Mr. Mignola:
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Posted in Super-Hero Stuff
Random Panel: Generic response to my asking a woman on a date
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Posted in Daily Random Panel
Contest 21 Prize: Captain Thorn
Socrates and I have finalized his prize for winning Caption Contest 21. Here's the great description Socrates sent me:
As for my prize, I'd like for you to do a picture of my longtime roleplaying character Captain Thorn. He's sort of a World War One/Victorian era British adventurer, refined yet savage at the same time. I made a picture of him using heromachine which is fairly accurate which can be found at http://freewebs.com/captainthorn/captainthorn.jpg (the pants aren't really right though)... his hair is steel gray but whitening at the temples due to age, cropped short, his skin dark and sunbronzed and weathered with age, never without a five o'clock shadow and a cigar in his mouth. His clothing is basically safari gear, adventure type garb with a cowboy-style gunbelt and holster. He's roughly forty-five or so http://tristram.wikispaces.com/space/showimage/facemaker.jpg is a pretty good depiction of what he looks like. always has a sort of shiteating grin on his face.. sort of a cross between Indy, Doc Savage, and James Bond with a little Crocodile Dundee thrown in there. A shot of him firing a Webley pistol would be just great
I actually ended up doing two different versions of the illustration because I couldn't decide which I preferred. I did this one first, which I liked:
But then I decided that I really wanted him to be fighting a big cybernetic gorilla. So that's what I did:
Remember kids, and this is an important tip for any of you parents out there too, everything's better when there's a cyborg ape involved. You can write that down.
If you want to win your very own custom illustration of whatever you like, put on your thinking cap and head over to Caption Contest 23, going on now!
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Posted in Challenge Prizes, Challenges, Cool Characters
Because nothing says "Macho Universe Destroying God" like a beer gut
As I mentioned in the Mashup credits, here’s a free tip for any of you comics industry bigwigs out there. If your project requires a scripter and a plotter, two pencillers, and three inkers, it’s going to suck. Witness “Trinity”, an unholy multi-space-going-comic-characters crossover featuring L.E.G.I.O.N., the Green Lantern Corps, and the Darkstars, with all of the cringe-inducing anticipation of crap you, the savvy reader, would expect.
What really caught my attention about this Space-Borne Spectacle of Suck, however, was the beer-belly-baring badness of Tzodar the Destroyer:
Here you can see just how large Tzodar's gut is by virtue of the unnamed hero getting unfortunately sucked into his belly button. Luckily, when you're a god you get to have the best fashion designers in the universe put together your outfits, which is why his armor has a convenient cut-out so his love handles can flop around in all their glory while he's busy destroying creation. "Oh no," I can hear you saying, "that's just an armor plate, not his stomach!" To which I can only reply, why do you hate America?
But that's not all this paragon of fashion has brought to the table my friends, oh no! Why stop at a Madonna-inspired midriff-baring ensemble when you can add a long, flowing pony tail and ridiculous cloud/stopwatch/what the hell is that?! logo to the mix!
Because nothing says "I'm a butch macho god" like a long greasy pony-tail and your ginormous bloated stomach hanging out of your shirt. At least that's what I've been assuming in my weekly jaunts to the local grocery store which, now that I mention it, might explain the strange looks and continued police presence I find there. A police presence which, frankly, would have been better off escorting those responsible for "Trinity" and Tzodar's outfit off to jail before they could have published this comic.
(Images from “Trinity”, No. 2, ©1993 DC Comics.)
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Posted in Bad Super Costumes, Super-Hero Stuff
Random Panel: Generic convention moment
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Posted in Daily Random Panel
Caption Contest 22 Winner!
With many heartfelt thanks to the wonderful Johanna of "Comics Worth Reading", our celebrity co-host and judge, we have a winner for Caption Contest 22, and it is ... DJ!
DJ wins a custom black and white illustration of whatever he or she likes (within reason)! Congratulations, and a hearty thanks to everyone who entered, particularly the judge's runner-ups/Honorable Mentions:
- The Grizz: For the last time…I AM NOT A POKEMON!
- Runt82: Man, this Earth-sized treadmill is tough.
- Frankie: "I've gotta find a new exit for my Megazord."
I've noticed these three on the Honorable Mention a lot, and although The Grizz and Frankie have won in the past, I feel like Runt82 is coming on super strong. So everyone out there be on notice, you're going to have to bring your A game to beat these guys! Luckily Caption Contest 23: Maximum Haberdashery is already going on, so head on over and take a crack at winning your own prize.
Again, thanks to Johanna, who did a great job both picking the image and judging. If you're not currently a reader of "Comics Worth Reading", you should definitely check it out, the team there does a great job.
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Posted in Challenge Favorites, Challenges
Caption Contest 23: Maximum Haberdashery!
Haven't you ever wondered what goes through the mind of one of Jack Kirby's characters as they dress up in whatever outlandish outfit Jack designed for them? Well now's your chance to find out! Come up with the best caption for the comic book panel below and, if your entry is selected, you’ll win your very own custom black and white illustration of whatever you like (within reason)!
Be sure to note in your entry which balloon gets what dialog. For instance:
Balloon1: By Odin, the women at church this week will have to admit that my hat is best! And if not ...
Balloon2: I BLAST THEM!!
As always, the rules are simple: Only three entries per person, put your dialog in the comments to this post, and keep it relatively clean (as in, appropriate for a broadcast TV sitcom).
Good luck everyone!
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Posted in Challenges
