WORLD OF HURT – The Thrill-Seekers – Episode 34: “Revival Tent”

Love, love, love the dialogue in this episode!  When I was working up the concept for WORLD OF HURT, I decided to thumbnail a few scenes, completely devoid of context, just to get a handle on the characters.  I also didn’t think about where, or if, they would fit into any larger story, it was just a writing exercise.  Next,  just to get a feel for the voices, particularly Pastor’s, I scripted some dialogue for what I had thumbnailed.  This was one of those scenes that I thumbnailed: it featured a lovely blonde sitting by the pool, amused and intrigued by Pastor forcing his way into a large, private estate.  However, when I decided on my basic plot for The Thrill-Seekers, that scene was nowhere to be found.  Once I decided that Ned Belmont would be the first to face Pastor’s wrath, I pulled the scene out of mothballs and tweaked it a little for The Thrill-Seekers.  So, largely what you see here is the first thing that I ever wrote for WORLD OF HURT. 

Pastor’s rap is disarming in its down home folksiness, but just dripping with raw innuendo, and bordering on sacrilege.  I ran the risk that the moment might turn into a real groaner, but I thought it turned out both sexy and funny as hell.

New strips of WORLD OF HURT – The Internet’s #1 Blaxploitation Webcomic are posted every Wednesday at www.worldofhurtonline.com.

- JEP

If you like what you’ve read so far (c’mon, how can you not?) totally check out more super cute comics at:www.sosuperduper.com!

I’m going to bypass my own rule of thumb of not taking anyone who spells Peter Parker’s superheroic identity as “Spiderman” too seriously in this instance, since Robin S. Rosenberg is a clinical psychologist blogger and not a comics blogger or media reporter of some kind.

Rosenberg’s Psychablog blog has a post devoted to the question in the headline there, kicked off thusly:

When talking about superheroes, I sometimes get asked why I think that superheroes have become so popular and part of the mainstream culture. As part of my answer, I list the impact of 9/11 on the American psyche—and perhaps on the psyche of people in other countries: That 9/11 led Americans to feel acutely vulnerable—on our soil—in a way we hadn’t before.

Is there anything to that? I’m not sure, but if you click through to Rosenberg’s post, you can see the reasoning offered. It seems to me that there are so many other more likely factors involved in the rise of the superhero as a mass-media phenomenon outside of the confines of the comics shop that there’s little reason to look for important real-world events as an explanation.

For example, there’s the fact that so many superheroes offer decades-tested successful IPs with large built-in audiences, or the fact that movie and TV-making technology has advanced to the point where making people fly or shoot lasers beams and exhibit other fantastic superpowers is a lot easier and cheaper to make look convincing than in the ’90s, ’80s or ’70s. There’s the enormous merchandising potential (beyond toys and videogames, you can slap a Bat-symbol or Superman S-shield on pretty much anything), and the fact that serial comic books make the establishment of movie franchises easier than gambling on something new and hoping it catches on. I imagine the rise of the Internet and social networking, and the fact that the people who spend an awful lot of time overlap with the people who dig superheroes, and thus can help market superhero films and TV shows, is also a factor.

At any rate, Rosenberg offers an interesting subject of conversation. Give it a read, and let us know why you think superheroes have been so popular in pop culture the past decade versus decades previous.

Heidi MacDonald & Graeme MacMillan have raised the pertinent question of what role DC’s new executive team might have played in replacing the company’s outside counsel.

As any number of folks have observed, Time Warner’s decision to reorganize DC under the leadership Diane Nelson–who had a proven track of developing another literary property, Harry Potter, into a multimedia juggernaut–reflects a broader interest in maximizing the exploitation of DC’s intellectual property. It’s only natural that the corporate eye should turn to the seemingly intractable dispute with the Siegel family over Superman and Superboy.

Superman, of course, has long been vulnerable to magic, so the possibility that Harry Potter’s best friend at Warner Bros. may have placed an avada kadavra spell on Superman’s lawyers only seems fitting. In this regard, the mere fact of a legal change accompanying regime change is, for me, less interesting than the specific form the change takes. Time Warner could have easily chosen a lawyer known for resolving disputes through negotiation–after all, the Los Angeles area’s federal courts are national leaders in alternative dispute resolution, which has given rise to an equally vibrant marketplace for business lawyers adept at negotiating favorable settlements. Instead, the company went for a nationally known aggressive litigator.

I don’t have any inside information as to why Time Warner et al. chose Petrocelli in particular, though I look forward to posting any that may become available. It is true that new DC president Diane Nelson came to Time Warner from Disney–in particular, Walt Disney Records–but that hire seems to have taken place before Petrocelli became Disney counsel in the Winnie the Pooh case and at a time when Nelson would have been relatively siloed from legal in PR.

More tantalizing hints can be found in Time Warner’s connections to the firm in which Petrocelli is a partner, biglaw stalwart O’Melveny and Myers. Not only is Warner Bros. General Counsel John Rogovin a former O’Melveny partner, but Time Warner has engaged O’Melveny as counsel in several high-profile intellectual property & other disputes outside DC.

Perhaps not coincidentally, an important case for which Warner Bros. engaged O’Melveny was a copyright action involving one of the company’s most lucrative licensed film properties: Harry Potter.

For all you fans of the Big Bang Theory, be prepared to geek out, as the show has an extra-special guest tonight.

Via Stan Lee’s Twitter feed:

If you have the time and inclination, I suggest you tune in to The Big Bang Theory this very night! Emmy Award judges, take note! Excelsior!

Apparently, according to TV Guide, Wil Wheaton will also be onboard for this episode, titled “The Excelsior Acquisition”…

It looks like you don’t need Hercules or Amadeus Cho to see Reilly Brown make magic.

Check out the Harry Potter drawing by the Prince of Power artist, over on his DeviantArt blog. Paging Warner Bros. and Scholastic — can this guy draw the HP comic for real?

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Written by L. Frank Baum
Comic script by Eric Shanower
Illustrated by Skottie Young

Colored by Jean-Francois Beaulieu
Lettered by Jeff Eckleberry
Published by Marvel

Superb. Really, it’s just superb.

I mean, that’s really no surprise. The source material’s strong; I didn’t read it until my mid-20s, so it never had a chance to impact on my life as it did on Eric Shanower’s, but L. Frank Baum’s novel is still a whimsical treat. And having Shanower handle the script? Brilliant move. He’s not only a first-rate cartoonist (his Age of Bronze is arguably the best comic being published today), but he’s also an Oz connoisseur of the highest order (check out his Adventures in Oz). He understands the material and treasures it, and he knows how to tell a story in comics.

When the book was first announced, the choice of Skottie Young as illustrator concerned me, but I see now that Young is an ideal choice to capture the light-hearted absurdity of Oz. I love being proven wrong. Young’s loose line work and bigheaded exaggeration breathe charming life into all the characters, filling each with expressiveness and cuteness rarely seen in mainstream comics.

Young’s storytelling, moving from panel to panel, is basic and clear, opening the story up for casual readers, and his use of splash pages to drive home the big moments – the first appearance of Oz’s forms, for example – makes for several powerful moments. The sketchbook section at the end of the book shows that the creators considered many models for each character, and they chose well in every case. The pussycat Lion, the straw-stuffed, slightly askew Scarecrow, the mustachioed woodsman, and the innocent youth of Dorothy Gale, each is designed to create immediate empathy and allow for maximum expressiveness.

Colorist Jean-Francois Beaulieu adds a fairy tale softness to the entire book, though in certain sequences, notably within the Emerald City where greens run amok, the coloring threatens to overwhelm Young’s line art. On other pages, the soft palette lends an ethereal quality to the Kansas prairies and forests of Oz, and the muted aesthetic adds a creeping dread to the Wicked Witch’s domain.

By hewing to Baum’s novel, readers are treated to a much more involved and detailed journey than they’ve experienced in any screen version. Each of Dorothy’s companions receive ample opportunity to exhibit the very trait they claim to lack; the Lion in particular received short shrift in the 1938 film, and his bravado after being captured by the Wicked Witch is a great moment for the character. Small touches about Ozian life and big, fun, childish ideas – such as the Emerald City being green only because everyone wears green goggles! – are retained. The result is a strong reminder just why The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is considered a classic, and proof that Shanower and Young made the correct choices in being as true to the source material as possible.

Garnering critical accolades and bestselling status, Shanower and Young’s take on L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz deserves every scrap of praise it’s received.  The creators honor Baum’s work, with Young making the characters his own without going too far from W.W. Denslow’s original illustrations. Whimsical, adventurous and just a hair creepy, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz remains a true classic.

Folks who’ve read the court documents linked in my previous post may have noticed that in addition to replacing Weissmann Wolff, Time Warner also dismissed another firm, Fross Zelnick, as outside co-counsel.

This too was a rather interesting decision, especially given Fross Zelnick’s prior dealing with the law of copyright termination, the very legal principle at the heart of the Siegel lawsuit. As the firm’s website notes, Fross Zelnick was counsel in a case that marked “the first judicial treatment of Section 304(d) of the U.S. Copyright Act, which was enacted as part of the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998. Section 304(d) gives authors and their heirs the opportunity to recapture the authors’ copyrights by permitting them to terminate pre-1978 copyright transfers in the authors’ works.”

Why might Time Warner no longer want to be associated with a firm with experience in fighting a copyright termination claim?

Perhaps this summary of the case provides a clue:

After over three years of court challenges at every level, including before the U.S. Supreme Court, Fross Zelnick successfully represented Stephen Slesinger, Inc. in preserving royalty rights, estimated in the press as exceeding $50 million, related to the exploitation of Winnie-the-Pooh and related characters. These court victories thwarted an attempt by Disney and author A.A. Milne’s granddaughter to terminate Slesinger’s right to receive royalties from merchandising rights that were granted by the author in 1930.

In short, Fross Zelnick opposed Disney in the Winnie the Pooh litigation, and as I noted yesterday, Disney’s legal team in that case included none other than DC’s new outside counsel, Daniel Petrocelli.

This makes for a rather interesting game of legal connect-the-dots. Petrocelli has a direct line to Disney, which recently acquired Marvel, a company fighting a termination claim by the family of Jack Kirby. Now the same lawyer is representing Time Warner/Warner Bros./DC in its own fight against a termination claim by the family of Jerry Siegel, and the firm that crossed Disney is out.

It’s a small world after all.

The many virtues of one-named Norwegian cartoonist Jason’s work are well documented, but one of the less talked-about pleasures of Fantagraphics’ publication of it is how nice the books themselves look as objects.

Individually, the slim, 10-by-7-inch-ish volumes are all well designed and attractive looking, but all lined up next to one another on a shelf? Oh boy, that makes for a fine looking half-a-foot or so on one’s book shelf! So uniform, so orderly, so…perfect!

And then Low Moon came along, and while it’s contents were rock solid, Grade A, tip-top, master-level cartooning, the format itself broke the streak—it was shorter, squatter and much thicker. It was still a beautifully designed book, radiating that pleasant sense of positive aesthetics that comforts a bibliophile’s heart just know it’s around, but it broke the harmony of the Jason section of my book shelf.

Thank God then for Almost Silent, a new collection repackaging some of Fanta’s older Jason books—some of which are no longer in print in their original format—as an anthology the same size, shape and design as Low Moon. Problem solved!

(And yes, I realize I’m using a pretty broad, silly definition of the word “problem” here, and that I’m lucky that something like how graphic novels look lined up on a bookshelf is one of my worse problems on any given day).

(more…)

UPDATE (2/28): Superman, Marvel and Winnie the Pooh

UPDATE (3/1): Did Hermione curse Superman’s lawyers?

In a move that could indicate DC is moving toward a courtroom showdown in the Siegel lawsuits, the company has replaced its local outside counsel with Los Angeles “Super Lawyer” Daniel Petrocelli.

Petrocelli is perhaps best known for his work in several high-profile trials, including a major intellectual property case involving a cartoon character. Besides defending Enron CEO Jeff Skilling in a case that has reached the Supreme Court and helping the Goldman family win a multimillion dollar judgment against OJ Simpson, Petrocelli successfully defended the Walt Disney Company in a long-running dispute over the royalties from Winnie the Pooh.

Time Warner’s decision to bring on such a high-profile litigator as its new outside counsel would seem to signal that the company does not expect a settlement with the Siegel family in the foreseeable future. It’s equally possible that the hire is itself a negotiation tactic, as it’s not unusual for a party in a lawsuit to bring in big name counsel in an attempt to intimidate a seemingly intractable opponent.

Whatever its effect on the Siegels and their own high-powered counsel, the move to Petrocelli is a serious loss for DC’s previous outside counsel, Weissmann Wolff Bergman. The firm had previously succeeded in defending the company in Winter v. DC Comics, a right of publicity action in which the California Supreme Court ruled that a Jonah Hex parody of celebrity musicians was protected by the First Amendment.

A direct-to-video movie hit the market a couple of weeks ago that shows exactly why Hollywood has been trying to get away from putting numbers on sequels (see: The Dark Knight, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps): Scooby-Doo: Abracadabra-Doo, which is about the 4,000^th Scooby-Doo adventure and probably at least the 300^th to be a direct-to-video, feature-length animated movie.

That it’s actually pretty good is preposterously impressive.

This movie has shunned a few of the trappings of the franchise; it’s got a style of animation that reminds the viewer of the Scooby Gang’s better days, in that it’s very stylized and seems…simpler, but at the same time less “clean” than the more recent iterations of the characters, which have kind of lost a lot of the fun that’s inherent to the notion of a gang of teenagers and their dog solving mysteries that almost always follow the “It seems haunted, but it’s not” formula. This movie is, in that case, not much different—except that it’s set in a world where magic, while it might not be the bad guy, is at least marginally accepted as reality.

Another element of the classic Scooby formula that’s been shaken up a bit is Casey Casem, who presumably retired when he realized that at around 80 years old, he can’t convincingly sound like a teenager forever, no matter how talented he might be. Matthew Lillard’s great in the role as Shaggy, but I miss Casem and wish that the first full-length movie without him would have seen him make a guest appearance somewhere. Especially in a story where there were a handful of adults who weren’t inherently “bad guys,” and didn’t get much screentime.

The music is, to me, the movie’s weak spot, from the irritating credits song (which runs over an opening credits that looks like a low-rent version of what Pixar did with something recently—I’ll be darned if I can remember what) to the arbitrary musical montage in the middle. Really—the unnecessary musical training montage of “Magic in the Air” feels like something out of an ‘80s movie. It’s fun, but it’s just another couple of minutes where you get no plot and placeholder, generic animation.

Industrial espionage seems to be the name of the game in this film—the capture we see briefly at the beginning is doing it, and it’s the subplot of the central story, with the Tim Gunn-looking next-door neighbor and the groundskeeper at the Hogwarts-like School of Stage Magic that Velma’s sister attends. The problem in the film is that the School of Stage Magic is being invaded by a gryphon, and Velma’s mother seeks her out to help her sister—basically just Velma’s head on Daphne’s body, but with a crush on Shaggy. It’s a fun little plot, and not as predictable as it seems at first, because there are multiple people who want to take over the school for multiple reasons, and they aren’t all working in tandem.

When did Fred’s ascot become such a thing? I remember it being a running joke in the movies, and obviously they brought Lillard over from that franchise; is this just one of those things that they’ve decided to carry over since kids have to start wondering at one point why he’s always wearing a badly-fitting tie?

I also don’t remember the romantic tension being so explicit between Fred and Daphne the last time the characters looked like this; the good-natured ribbing that Velma gives Daphne seems a bit out of place, although this is a pretty reasonable interpretation of the old episodes and probably a good evolution for them. When Daphne finds herself jealous of the magician’s “lovely assistant,” an assistant who obviously has no interest in Fred, the fix is easy, obvious…and a little fun. Which, I guess, is the best way to describe any Scooby-Doo story.

Scooby-Doo: Abracadabra-Doo was released on DVD on February 16 and is available now through Warner Brothers’ home page or just about any retailer who carries DVD.

A post on the Bleachness Livejournal Community has exploded in ways only an Internet Flame War could — in this case, allegations that Nick Simmons plagiarized numerous images in his Radical Comics debut Incarnate from famous, famous manga like Bleach and Hellsing to obscure items like someone’s DeviantArt page.

With the heat coming fast and furious from the more vocal sides of the online community, Radical has halted production of the comic, issuing the following statement:

We at Radical Publishing, Inc. and Radical Comics, Inc. are quite concerned to hear the news surrounding Nick Simmons’s Incarnate Comic Book. We are taking this matter seriously and making efforts now to contact the publishers of the works in question in an effort to resolve this matter.  We have halted further production and distribution of the “Incarnate” comic book and trade paperback until the matter is resolved to the satisfaction of all parties.  Rest assured that Radical is taking swift action regarding this matter and will continue in its efforts to maintain the integrity and protect the intellectual property of artists throughout the world whose creative works are the bedrock of our Company and the comic book industry.

That said, while a lot of these images are pretty tough to ignore — and even more hard to ignore when you take into consideration the sheer number of “assisting artists” that Simmons had for this book — there has been a little bit of blowback on the Internet. One instance that seemed too-crazy-to-be-true was a post on Topless Robot, which had the following post from “Nick Simmons” on Facebook:

“Okay.. now looking at some of these photo comparisons, I can see why a few people are up-in-arms. I can tell you right now these are all purely coincidences. I never even heard of Bleach! Who would name a comic after laundry detergent? When I channel my energy when drawing my book sometimes I can pull stuff in that I never seen before. It’s like i’m possessed when I start thinking and drawing. Perhaps I just got on the same wave length that all artists share. My dad just called and said I have a real case against all this slander. If Facebook doesn’t give into my demands soon there’s going to be hell to pay. Now, I have to damage control on another site – more people being mislead. Now I have to deal with this and my book’s deadline. I’m not sure how I can think and draw under all this pressure.”

The only problem? That ain’t Simmons. According to the organizers of the group, even they admit that this so-called “Nick Simmons” was an online troll who just wanted to stir things up. Indeed, if you click on this guy’s profile, it’s got only one photo, not much in the way of real information, and has joined the group “I [Heart] Bleach” and “Calling for legal action against Nick Simmons for plagiarism of other works.” So here’s where we open up the discussion to you — what’s your thoughts on this? Does this comic cross a line? Does any of the comments made against the author? Speak out!

Normally, we probably would have let this sad news pass us by, since there’s no obvious comics connection here — but thanks to Topless Robot, there actually is:

Andrew Koenig, who played the Joker in the above fan film “Batman: Dead End” as well as the son of Star Trek’s Walter “Chekov” Koenig, was found dead in a marsh in Vancouver late Wednesday night, as an apparent suicide. Andrew was apparently extremely depressed prior to this. “If you are one of those people who can’t handle it any more, know people are out there who really care before you make that final decision,” Walter Koenig told the Telegraph afterwards. “Talk to somebody.”

[Via Press Release]

As comic universes enter their own brightest days and heroic ages, the superhero fashion site Project: Rooftop returns in the new year with new work, a new site design, and new contributors.

Earlier this week, P:R posted a collection of artwork by artist Cory Walker (Invincible) showcasing various interpretations of DC’s Supergirl character. Through several original illustrations and numerous sketches, Walker explores different costume possibilities for Supergirl. This will be a regular feature, with upcoming collections of different characters by other superstar artists in the comics field.

In addition to these collections, P:R is encouraging artists to submit their own redesigns of their favorite characters. Past contributions include Black Widow by Stuart Immonen (New Avengers), Wonder Woman by Jamie McKelvie (Phonogram) and the Spectre by Dean Trippe.

“Our concerted calls for redesigns of specific characters will return,” said P:R editor Chris Arrant,” but those will be on a limited basis. We’re open to submissions year-around from artists redesigning characters of their own choosing.”

Joining the eclectric crew than runs P:R are three new contributors who will help judge and discuss entries. Joining the fold are writers Andy Khouri, Tim Callahan and Jessi Reid.

I love this site and have been a fan for quite some time. I’ve had friends submit designs in various contests, with my bud Avi actually being a finalist in the Superman: Man of Style contest. The idea that there is a place that promotes superhero costume redesigning as well as give the spotlight to up-and-coming creators is pretty incredible.

Be sure to stop on by soon when they spotlight a Black Canary redesign.

It’s no secret that one of the main draws for the Wanted film was Angelina Jolie — but /Film is reporting that that’s no longer in the cards.

According to them, Jolie left the project to work with Children of Men’s Alfonso Cuarón on his upcoming space film, Gravity. Jolie will play the only survivor of an ill-fated space mission, as she tries to make her way home. Yet Jolie will also somehow play her own daughter as well.

Personally, I wasn’t sure how a Wanted sequel was going to work, anyway — Jolie herself made sure her character was not in any position to be in another movie. What say you, Rama readers?

With the first appearances of Batman and Superman selling for epic proportions this past week, hardcore fans are taking sides with a “who’s more lucrative” fight — the Dark Knight, or the Man of Steel?

Well, it depends on how you look at it. (At least I didn’t say “depends on if Batman has prep time.”)

Many news outlets have reported that Action Comics #1 was sold for a cool $1 million, while Detective Comics #27 netted $1.075 million. So in terms of money spent, Batman still beats out Superman.

But our very own Jeff Marsick made some phone calls to the respective auction houses, and got some interesting, clarifying information: Comics Connect, which sold the issue Action Comics, doesn’t charge a house fee — which means it’s straight-up $1 million. Meanwhile, Heritage, which handled the Detective Comics issue, charges a 19.5% buyer’s premium.

Sooooooo what does that mean? Batman may be more expensive, but don’t think that’s because the bids made it that way. The winning bid for Detective was $900,000 — which then cracked the million-dollar ceiling with the buyer’s premium — while the Last Son of Krypton hit a million all on his own steam. So which one is more lucrative? Let the debate commence!

[Source: IESB]

DC Entertainment, even though still in it’s infancy, is on a roll as of late with the Batman moving forward, Green Lantern about to start filming, and Superman rumors abound, it was only a matter of time before the Scarlet Speedster some of his own publicity concerning his major motion picture.

IESB reports that Greg Berlanti may be the front-runner to take on the Flash’s move to the silver screen. Now, you may not be familiar with Berlanti now, but he has plenty of nerd cred, including one of the producers for the upcoming Green Lantern as well as co-wrote the screenplay with Marc Guggenheim. He also helped create the short-lived, but critical hit, Eli Stone.

Now, that trailer has been around for a while, but I wonder if it was created for the sole purpose of to see the level of interest in a lesser-known character to non-comic fans. I’m not a person the film industry, so I couldn’t even fathom the idea of creating a teaser trailer for a movie that might not even be made. It’s still pretty cool regardless.

Also it makes me wonder if they’re going to go with a movie about Wally or Barry.

So what say you, Rama readers? Do you think it’s about time the Flash deserves a major motion picture of his own? How would you envision it?

The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade: The 11 ½ Anniversary Edition
Written & Illustrated by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins
Published by Del Rey

Admission: I don’t enjoy Penny Arcade, so I was a little bit surprised and concerned when this book showed up in my mailbox. As I find video games to be (largely, there are exceptions) interminably boring, Penny Arcade might as well be in Latin for all the sense it makes to me. The less game-oriented strips sometimes entertain, but still, there’s a divide, a sense of the world through a zombies-are-cool prism that I just don’t possess. And that’s fine; I’ve often said that if every comic appeals to me, somebody’s doing something wrong. I still recognize the quality of the artwork and the skillful pacing of the jokes that aren’t very funny to me. Fact is, Penny Arcade is a monster hit, and deservedly so.

To celebrate its success and give fans a peek behind the curtain, Del Rey has worked closely with its creators Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik to create The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade: The 11 ½ Anniversary Edition. Now, with an anniversary book of this nature, it’s clearly a product for fans, but credit must be given to the careful and fun-loving job done assembling the book.

Each creator is treated to a light-hearted biographical treatment, including comments from their parents and wives. Character overviews are provided, explaining how intended throw-away characters evolved into recurring tangents. A large section explains how Krahulik and Holkins created the Child’s Play charity to raise money for children’s hospitals (and provide some entertainment for the kids!), and time and pages are also given to the duo’s PAX gaming convention. There’s even a section wherein they describe feuds with various persons, and yeah, it’s a little self-congratulatory.

In the book’s final section, Holkins and Krahulik offer some of their favorite strips up, sometimes briefly touching on the personal reasons that make it stand out to them, other times just pointing and laughing. Each offers remarks on the strips via their Penny Arcade avatar, which for non-readers such as me, is baffling and impossible to keep straight; fortunately, longtime fans will certainly enjoy the banter and insights.

If you’re a fan of Penny Arcade, The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade will be a great supplement to your experience with the strip.  The book has a strong design and packaging, and all the sections – even when a bit self-serving (but really, isn’t that what this sort of project is all about) – are treated with a good sense of humor and affection.  It’s a book for the fans, and it’s something I suspect most of them will enjoy very much.

If you like what you’ve read so far (c’mon, how can you not?) totally check out more super cute comics at:www.sosuperduper.com!

WORLD OF HURT – The Thrill-Seekers – Episode 33: “Inside Scoop”

The night before I posted it, I completely redid the first panel of this strip.  I came over to my fiance’s for dinner that night, and as she was preparing a lovely repast, I was furiously drawing a new panel on a scrap of copy paper to ink.  I thought I did a pretty good job with the fish, especially the scales, but if you look closely, I think I left off its pectoral fin.  Oops!

New strips of WORLD OF HURT – The Internet’s #1 Blaxploitation Webcomic are posted every Wednesday at www.worldofhurtonline.com.

- JEP