SlackTest

Bruce Campbell

2011-12-13T09:38:00.001-08:00

Nerds With Kids

2007-08-06T08:54:00.000-07:00

I've got another blog going right now. It's called Nerds With Kids and it's all for you cee-razy parents out there who haven't outgrown comic books and cartoons yet.
http://nerdswithkids.blogspot.com/

You're allowed to read it if you don't have kids. Assuming you're not busy spending all your disposable income and eating in restaurants without crayons on the tables.

American History H

2007-04-17T07:07:00.000-07:00

http://www.thefakelife.com/blog/2007/04/norton-smash.html

And we're back!

2007-04-16T07:06:00.000-07:00

Long time, no post. I am now officially a blogger.
Here's a couple of things I've done lately -

Words and pictures by me: STRANGE QUEUE
Pictures and words by me (I'm credited as BobClark cause that's how I roll on the Creature Corner message boards. Don't ask.): RIP Bob Clark

In the news today, Ed Norton has been cast to play Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk (sequel to Ang Lee's The Incredible Inner Child). This is incredible, rampaging, jolly green news. It's like getting Robert Downey Jr to play Iron Man. It tells me the producers have enough faith in the popularity of the Hulk character to hire an A-lister and throw a few bucks around. The director (I can't be bothered to look up his name) is the guy who did the Transporter movies. That was chock full of some shirtless homoerotic action, so the Jade Giant is in the right hands. I'm officially excited to see Hulk smash next Summer.

Visit Gamma base.

MODOK For Judge!

2007-03-08T04:14:00.000-08:00

My daughter came up with the title for this one.

Brain blast!

The Idiocracy Is Upon Us

2007-03-05T06:45:00.000-08:00

I caught Idiocracy this weekend. Mike Judge, the genius who brought us Beavis & Butthead and Office Space co-wrote and directed this satire about the dumbing down of American society. It's pretty great, especially if you're a faux-intellectual like myself. In it one of the Wilson brothers plays an average shlub who wakes up in a future completely populated by shiftless morons. He finds himself to be the one eyed king in the valley of the blind. Of course the general populace is so ignorant that they berate him for his intelligence. A doctor's diagnosis says his "shit is all fucked up" and he "talks like a fag". Well, it looks like Judge's vision of the future isn't too far off the mark.

This morning I wake up to read that Ann Coulter has called John Edwards a "faggot". This is the level of public discourse we are plunging towards. Next week I'm sure Sean Hannity will denounce Hillary's shit as being all fucked up and call Obama a 'tard. I'm pretty sure many voters will take that as a legitimate argument too.

Oh, and Wild Hogs made 40 million dollars this weekend.

Surely the end times are upon us.

Talk like a fag here.

Other People's Comics

2007-02-27T10:08:00.000-08:00

It only took three months, but I finally figured out how to seperate all the links in the right margin by title headings. I'll probably be adding and subtracting from the webcomic section as I find more stuff. I particularly like this comic from Matt Wiegle on the Top Shelf site- Destructor Comes To Croc Town. I followed the trail of Matt's links to this interesting site- Little House Comics. A lot of fun stuff to be found there.
In the world of paper and ink I just finished Harvey Pekar's The Quitter. Published by DC (after the success of the American Splendor movie), this is probably Pekar's most successful comic to date. But, much like Scorcese's Oscar winning The Departed, it's not the best work he's done. That would probably be Our Cancer Year. The Quitter examines Harvey's adolescent and teenage years as a neurotic brawler. The art by Dean Haspiel sounds like a weird choice. Dean has a bold and dynamic cartooning style. But given the action packed (by Pekar standards) subject matter, it turns out to be a good combination.
Two other recent reads that you probably already heard good things about are Fun Home, Persepolis, and Blankets. These fall under the category of comics for people who usually don't read comics.

This past year I also caught up with some recent issues of classics from the salad days of indie comics, the early 90's. Peter Bagge, Evan Dorkin, Joe Matt, and Ivan Brunetti all released a new issue of their respective books in 2006 with varying degrees of quality.

It pains me to say that this year's Hate Annual #6 from Bagge is the worst of the lot. And that's saying something because the last few issues have been coasting on fumes. I've been reading Bagge's titles since his Neat Stuff days in the 80's. I've followed his character Buddy Bradley his entire life (we're the same age, you know) from high school malcontent, to slacker poster boy, to bottom feeding suburbanite. I'll stick with him until one of us is dead. But I can not in good conscience recommend this book. The writing goes beyond mundane to just plain boring. And the art looks sparse and rushed. The whole tale has an aura of pained obligation around it, as if it were made solely to put Buddy on the cover. How else is Fantagraphics going to sell a collection of Bagge's reprints from other magazines?

Dork has been distilled to it's bare essence. Evan Dorkin's collection of strips and comics has long been the satiric reflection of hipster and fanboy mentality. Evan's trick is he manages to be cool and nerdy at the same time (which pretty much sums up the entire early 90's scene). His latest collection of larfs and gags does away with any pretense of story. No Devil Puppet tales, no Murder Family episodes, just jab after jab after jab of four panel strips and single panel gags. It's an ode to ADD that doesn't even take the time to flesh out an epic two page Milk & Cheese story. Evan has created the perfect bathroom comic book. And really, that's something to be proud of.

Joe Matt jerks off. A lot. That's the story arc that reaches it's epic conclusion in 2006's Peepshow. This is the first new issue in something like five years. The next time you hear someone give Charles Burns shit, you just mention that stat. Joe made navel gazing compelling in the 90's. Now it's all kind of creepy and gross. If I hadn't read any of his previous stuff (barring his godawful "Fair Weather" story arc), I don't know if I would be so interested in seeing him sit alone in his crummy apartment, peeing in jars and whining. But I feel personally invested in the guy, no matter how gross his porn addiction has made him. So pick it up if your a fan. If you've never seen Peepshow before, do yourself a favor and find an older trade.

Who would have thought Ivan Brunetti would live to see the new millenium? I guess Ivan's been taking his meds, because his strips of self-loathing aren't as acidic as his they were back in '95. But he's found another outlet that I wholly approve of. Honing his New Yorker style, Ivan's added comic biographies of depressed olde time artists such as Charles Schulz and Val Lewton. The latest Schizo has taken the whine out of autobiographical cartooning and looks for deeper meaning behind the connection between art and unhappiness. Take that, slacker generation!

Wow, I wrote a lot more than I originally intended. I'll try to post another comic this week. Until then, discuss!

Weekend Reading

2007-02-23T17:45:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of articles I wrote for The Fake Life. Just so you know I haven't been lunchin':

OMGZ!!1! Justice League Movie!
http://www.thefakelife.com/blog/2007/02/justice-league-ten-year-road-to.html

HOLYshitazz!!11 Crank Sequel!
http://www.thefakelife.com/blog/2007/02/cranky-ruins.html

WTF? 80's Movies Again:
http://www.thefakelife.com/blog/2007/02/80s-retro-final-assault.html

Discuss this there, suckah!

Submit by Tuesday

2007-02-22T05:55:00.000-08:00

There's a sticky note on my monitor here at work that reads "Submit by Tue."
It was waiting for me Monday morning. I must have written it Friday, but I have no idea why. Just can't remember. Naturally this made me nervous, but Tuesday came and went and nothing unusual has happend here. I think I'm in the clear now, so I'm going to take it down. But listen, if any shit went down with you on Tuesday it was probably my fault and I'm incredibly sorry. My bad.

Submit.

Chloe Part 2

2007-02-21T04:07:00.000-08:00

Here's part 2 of my awful American Idol comic. It fell apart so bad I didn't even bother finishing the last two panels. I think I was trying to say something about how the selection process serves to encourage talentless auditioners. This makes the judges' shock and disgust a bit unfair. But that got lost. And it's not a very deep observation to begin with. And why am I watching this show anyway? Oh that's right, cause the Beat Box Bee Gees were awesome. And I'm a gaywad. So how does it end? I was originally going to have Ryan Seacrest down there say it could go one of two ways for Chloe- A William Hung type record deal that strips away her pride and makes her a walking punchline. Or suicide. Something wacky like that.

Discuss!

The Sweet Taste of Liberty

2007-02-15T10:27:00.000-08:00

"I 'm not afraid to say it. Dessert has a well-known liberal agenda. What I hope to do with this ice cream is bring some balance back to the freezer case."

Let's talk about this.

First Scan

2007-02-13T22:34:00.000-08:00

Wow, this is just crappy all around. It's a lousy, confusing comic and the scan is cut off at the bottom because I made it too big for the window. But I was eager to scan and post my first comic on the new scanner. I guess there's nowhere to go but up from here!

Be sure to look for part two tomorrow!

Let's just forget this ever happened.

Bored?

2007-02-13T10:27:00.000-08:00

Try some of these various links-

Rob's interview with Norman "Aquaman" Alden is up at the shrine! Click it here to listen! I haven't been able to listen at work since my computer is sans speakers, but I'm sure it's all kinds of awesome. According to the intro, not only was Norm the voice of Aquaman on The SuperFriends, but his filmography includes They Live! Did he play formaldehyde face or the guy whose face fell in the cheese dip back in 1957? Rowdy Roddy was always quick with a face jibe.

Carlton over at The Fake Life has posted a vile but compelling list of disgusting meals he's eaten in his lifetime. Check out the message boards here to learn what goes into a Sushi Sandwich or Donut Dogs.

A review for Neal Pollack's new book, Alternadad, led me to the blog MetroDad. There's a quiz that tells you if you're a hipster parent or not. It seems I fell way short, make of that what you will. I think I'm more of a hippy dad, myself. Take the quiz and see where you rank, my fellow Gen X parental units.

I'm probably the last person on the internet to find this but, www.stuffonmycat.com is good for a few larfs.

Am I A Bad Tipper?

2007-02-13T08:17:00.000-08:00

Baseline- 15%

Exceptional Service- 20%

Last week I had lunch with my friend Joe. When we split the bill he calculated a tip twice as much as I would have given. Suddenly I felt like Mr. Pink.

Learn to fuckin' type here.

To-Do List

2007-02-09T10:20:00.000-08:00

Saturday: Buy a scanner so I can post more super-awesome comics. Why is it so hard to find a flatbed scanner with a window larger than eight and a half by eleven?!

Sunday: Draw draw draw!

Monday: Post post post!

Tuesday: Put the kids to bed early and watch American Idol! It's Hollywood week, beeyotches! The most grueling audition since Coco's film test in Fame!

Wednesday: Celebrate Valentine's Day with my wife by taking her out to see THIS!

Thursday: Buy three pounds of chocolate and reserve a day at the spa for my wife to make up for the Valentine's Day debacle.

Friday: Learn how to seperate the links with title headings. Anyone? Anyone?

List your thoughts here.

Artist's Corner

2007-02-07T08:30:00.000-08:00

Title- "Al Pacino (circa Heat) In A Bunny Suit"
Artist- Gruber

Choose Your Own Adventure

2007-02-07T08:04:00.000-08:00

The internet leads me down some strange roads. It's like a gigantic Choose Your Own Adventure book full of wonder and peril.

Case in point: After reading about a movie deal for the Hard Case paperback series at CHUD, I travelled to their website. I love this series, btw. From there I travelled a network of links that eventually lead me to a blogsite known as The Groovy Age of Horror. It's a site devoted to bizarre trashy novels and comics of the 70's, mostly foreign, that combine softcore porn with monsters. Some of this stuff makes Heavy Metal look like Redbook. Anyway, it was here that I finally stopped my inter-travels. After all, once you see Frankenstein fight a rapist dinosaur, where else is there to go?

Check this place out for yourself. But beware, it's definitely NSFW. For every pic like the one above, there are ten like this.

Slacker Comics

2007-02-06T05:46:00.000-08:00

I'm back from the infirmary. As per Rob's request I'm updating the blog just so he doesn't have to look at the mucus globber anymore. Nothing new to add, but I'm starting another American Idol comic tonight so that should be up by Thursday.

Way back in the year 1993 I came up with the character of Randy. In 1994 he starred in my comic book Slacker Comics from Slave Labor Graphics (now known as the far more respectably sounding SLG Publishing). I always hated the title Slacker. That part was the brainstorm of the publisher. But everything else was 100% me. Sort of. It wasn't until 19 issues and a few years later that I realized just how much I ripped off one of my favorite creators, Peter Bagge. I mean look at the picture up there! He's like Dennis Leary to Buddy Bradley's Bill Hicks!
Randy was a grunge loving high school kid that thoroughly resented the sudden popularity his culture enjoyed in the 90's. Now as I said, this title enjoyed a 19 issue run (and one trade compilation) which is pretty remarkable for an indie b&w, if I do say so myself. Of course, this was the 90's when the industry was booming. As with the music scene, comics were seeing a surge from the hipster indie audience. So I guess it was easy to sell a rip-off of that demographic's most popular book. But again, and I can't stress this enough, I was not aware at the time just how much I was plagiarizing Buddy Bradley. I thought my squinty eyed, flannel shirt wearing, suburban sourpuss was some kind of breakthrough! Why else would the publisher of Milk & Cheese want to run with it?!
And get this: It just occured to me this morning, this very morning, that they might have just selected me because of my name. How crazy would it be to have a comic about slacker culture written by a guy named SLACK?! In those gimmick laden days, this was a promotional hook cheaper than a hologram cover. I feel so used!
Now I'm not complaining, mind you. It can also be said that the industry was enjoying a time when publishers could afford to explore a plethora of different genres. And perhaps my stuff was part of that cultural zeitgeist. An insightful and funny satire of our times. I'll let history be the judge.

Discuss the follies of youth here.

Phlegm-O

2007-02-02T10:04:00.000-08:00

What we have here is a detail of the mucusy creature lodged in my esophagus. Judging from the size of it, this phlegmy glob must have been building since last night. Now it's wedged firmly below the punching bag at the back of my mouth and refuses to vacate without a fight. Problem is I'm at work. The amount of noise and effort it would take to expel Phlegm-O from my pipe would be unacceptable here in the office. Removal requires some herculean hacking and gagging, stirring revulsion from my coworkers. Not to mention the fact that the strain of effort will most likely cause me to evacuate my bowels.
So here I sit. I can't speak without sounding like I'm gargling vaseline and there's a wet rhythmic slapping sensation that accompanies my breathing. I'll just count the minutes until I can go home and hurl this matzoh ball from my system.

Expectorate your thoughts here.

Archie & Me

2007-02-01T09:41:00.000-08:00

Some may find the subtle racism of this cover disturbing. But I find Mr. Weatherbee's grossly mishapened calves and diminutive thighs to be far more upsetting.

I can tell just from looking at it that this cover was illustrated by Stan Goldberg. He followed the Dan DeCarlo template the closest of all the Archie artists. His best work can be found in the Archie At Riverdale High series of the 70's. I think at his peak, Goldberg's facial renderings rivaled even DeCarlo's work. He still pencils Archie, but his work has definitely changed over the years. It's become far more loose and cartoonish. You'd have to closely scrutinize the pages to recognize it as the same guy who laid down all that stylized art years ago.

Discuss the homoerotic relationship between Arch and The Bee here.

American Idol

2007-01-31T05:35:00.000-08:00

Can you see this? I've had to jump through hoops to bypass the security software on MY OWN COMPUTER just to post my comics.

Let me know if you can see it.

MODOKTV

2007-01-30T05:51:00.000-08:00

There's a tiny little pop culture blogsite over in the far corner of the web called The Fake Life (or TFL as all the hip kids like to say). It's operated by some net-friends of mine. Is "net-friends" a real term for internet friends? If not it should be. Anyhow, I scribbled a spot illustration for one of the columns. The author, Carlton Stevens, ran my rendering through photoshop and came up with a super keen looking bit of awesomeness. Check it out here.
And while we're on the MODOK tip, run out to your local comic shop and buy THIS!

Discuss the further implications of this post here.

EW's Obsessive Fan Of The Week

2007-01-29T05:45:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago my friend Dan made this feature with his Ultra Man fetish. This week's issue (the one with the Oscar on the cover) has my friend Rob coming out with his Aquaman collection. It even gives the link to his blog! I feel compelled to complete a local nerd trifecta by submitting an obsession of my own, but Dan tells me the Hulk has already been featured. We tried to come up with another obsession, but zombies are just too vague and I'm so completely over my corn dog phase. I was starting to become pretty dejected about not having a good obsession. Then Dan pointed out a great one- my love of Archie comics digests. Pocket-sized digests collecting all the hilarious adventures of not just Archie and his gang, but also featuring fun with Josie & The Pussycats, That Wilkins Boy and Lil' Jinx!
I can totally top Dan and Rob here. Archie is nerdy even by geek standards! If I can find a Jughead hat I'll pose for a pic with all of my treasured digests! Except for my Betty & Veronica issues. Cause that would be totally gay.

Discuss the greater implications of this post here.

We Are All Disgusting

2007-01-26T08:58:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I saw a mouse in Wendy's. Actually, I wasn't the only one. There was a pack of about thirty or forty teenagers there who first spotted it and screamed and carried on. Kid's today, I swear!
Anyhow this little grey critter ran all through the crowded eatery and still I ordered lunch for myself and my darling wife. As a matter of fact, not a single person left in disgust. Nobody even complained. Some of us just kind of laughed.
No wonder Fast Food Nation tanked at the box office.

Discuss the greater implications of this here.

My Stupid Friend

2007-01-22T12:03:00.000-08:00

I have a friend. We'll call him "Joe". Joe is very stupid and I will tell you why.
Joe actually walked away from Superman Returns thinking that the little boy was not Superman's son. This is supremely retarded for many reasons, not the least being that the kid hurls a giant piano at 60 mph. Forget all the clever little clues in the beginning. Forget the creepy midnight visit Lois' baby-daddy makes, the one where he talks about fathers and sons and Marlon Brando and I don't know what. Even without all that, the fact remains that the kid threw a piano across the room at 60 mph. That's it. Don't bother calling Maury, that's all the proof you need.
I can't believe I'm actually friends with a half-wit like Joe. I wish I knew how to quit him.

Smell like Hulk! Be smash with ladies!

2007-01-19T10:08:00.000-08:00

HULK For Men By MARVEL 3.4 oz EDT Spray
HULK was launched by the designer house of Marvel in 2004. This carries notes of bergamot and petitgrain this has hints of Orange Blossom, with woody tones complemented with a touch of vanilla and musk.

Ha! Ha! Sluggo is poor!

2007-01-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

WTF? Nancy

2007-01-17T06:58:00.000-08:00

2006-12-29T13:48:00.000-08:00

It's ten minutes till closing time and I'm the last person left in my four story office building. Everyone else has gone home for the holiday, leaving just me to mind the place until close. I feel like I'm in the opening scenes of a Die Hard-type action flick or a horror movie. I'm leaning towards action flick because I'd have to be a chick for this set-up to work as a horror movie. And I'm totally not a chick. At all.

What was that noise? I think it's the euro-trash terrorists. Time to go.

2006-12-29T07:49:00.001-08:00

Is there a gaudier party holiday than New Year's Eve? Being a child of the 70's I associate the end of year celebrations with brightly colored cardboard hats with gold tinsel sticking out the top. Obnoxious noises from paper horns that turn to wet pulp in your mouth. Bad food (I spent one New Year's Eve in the basement of a family friend's house eating those awful candy dots stuck to paper. I was eating sugared paper basically.) resting uneasily in a tired stomach. Dick Clark. Wolfman Jack. Rick James. Disco. This is what I think of.

2006-12-27T08:17:00.000-08:00

In my mind's eye I'm taller. Sometimes I look at a photo of myself and am shocked at how stocky I look. I wonder where the rest of my neck is and how in the hell my chin and jawbone got so swollen. It's really unnerving.
I must picture myself as a widesrceen person stretched to fit a television screen. Or a space alien. You know, like that first Close Encounter alien that stepped off the mothership. But paler. And with pants.

Discuss the greater implications of this post here.

2006-12-21T10:13:00.000-08:00

These were all inked by Jim Hill-

2006-12-21T10:12:00.000-08:00

2006-12-21T09:59:00.000-08:00

2006-12-21T08:28:00.000-08:00

Starting January this will be my dumping grounds. A little boutique for comic strips, writings and experiments.
I have nothing else to say.

Discuss the greater implications of this post here.

2006-12-18T13:29:00.000-08:00

Update.

2006-12-15T07:35:00.000-08:00

This is not for public consumption.

2006-12-13T10:11:00.000-08:00

This is a test. This is only a test.

2006-08-03T20:50:00.000-07:00

2006-08-03T19:56:00.000-07:00

2006-07-05T12:11:00.000-07:00

2006-06-26T11:23:00.000-07:00

2006-06-26T11:08:00.000-07:00

Suck an egg, Millette. I'm a friggin' genius. Look at me posting on a blog. Who's the dummy now?

2006-06-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

SlackTest

2006-06-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

Testing. Testing. Test.