Haiku Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

As sad as it seems
Childhood cannot be regained
Though it's fun to try

new NYOil music video. Remember music videos??

Before I received a promo email from Babygrande records, earlier this week, I'd never heard of rapper NYOil. Apparently, he made a video that got banned from YouTube, in support of his single "Y'All Should All Get Lynched" (I couldn't find it, so put it up in comments if you know where it is). I haven't seen this video, but if it was more incendiary than the video featured above, it must have been pretty wild. I'm posting it because it's one of the most visually stimulating and expressive music videos I've seen in a long long time. According to NYOil, it was directed by Tyree Dillihay of Titmouse Studios, who many of you will know from Afro Samurai and Metalocalpyse, and produced by BET. The song itself is fucking awesome. If nothing else, it's a conversation starter. His album, Hood Treason, comes out July 8th.

P.S. Thanks to NYOil for his quick response to my request for info!

Haiku Review: Iron Man The Movie

Rob Downey Junior
Flawed Alcoholic Jackass
Perfect Iron Man

Muttpop Vinyl

When I started reading Juxtapoz, I began to follow the Vinyl Art Toy scene. Artists create their own toy molds, release them in limited runs, and charge exorbitant prices for them. It gets meta when the artists get their artist friends to produce alternate "colorways", variations on the decoration scheme of the mold.

The reason that I've become interested in Vinyl Toys is because I don't understand them. I don't completely understand how they are made. I'm still getting my head around how people can spend hundreds of dollars on them.They are slick looking characters, like those found in comics. Unlike comics, though, they don't serve any type of purpose, but to look good. They rarely have any type of backstory beyond a small blurb that the artist uses as a jumping on point to create the piece.

The toys I am most interested are the Lucha Libre figures from MuttPop. They have a little bit of a back story, but mostly they just look awesome. Thanks to the Internet, you can enjoy them without dropping your hard earned cheddar. Via Vinyl Pulse, here is a great flickr set from the recent MuttPop show at Delkographik in France.

Pittsburgh Comicon 2008

Just returned from Pittsburgh Comicon 2008 with a pretty decent haul. I sticked to the $1 comics and half price trade paperbacks. Here's what I got (and why).

DC Bizarro anthology: DC Characters through the eyes of indie darlings like Evan Dorkin, Chip Kidd, and Tony Millionaire. Sweet cover by Matt Groening, too. It was only ten bucks.

Dirty Pair: Run From The Future: Adam Warren draws chaos better than just about anyone. Eight bucks.

Power and Glory by Howard Chaykin. Not sure what it's about but I got all four parts for a buck a piece. It's Howard Chaykin, so that's a steal.

Shanna The She Devil-Page after page of Frank Cho cheesecake. Very pulpy.

Kick-Ass #1 and #2-This is one of those new titles that keeps me hopeful about the comic book medium. A real life superhero that fails and fails, but keeps coming back for another beating. I've loved John Romita Jr's art since the Hearts of Darkness thing he did years ago. Mark Millar (Marvel's Civil War) does a good job at script, though the dialogue is awkward at times. I recommend this title highly, anyway.

Transformer's Spotlight: Hot Rod: He's my favorite transformer and this was a dollar.

Comicons are great.

Marvel Invades your wallet once again

So I guess Marvel's Secret Invasion is underway. For those of you that don't care enough to click the link (I don't blame you), this is Marvel's latest excuse for you to buy any and everything so you can stay up to speed on canon. Apparently, some Skrulls have been posing as well known Marvel characters for a long time. Yeah. When you tell your friends that comics aren't silly and over the top kids stuff, make sure to leave this one out of your argument.

Anyway, Erik Larsen, creator of Savage Dragon and the best artist to ever draw Spider-Man (and female breasts!) talks about how he wanted to reveal Elektra as a Skrull years ago, mainly as a fuck-you to Marvel for bringing Frank Miller's beloved character back from the grave. It's here.

5 Reasons Why The Comic Book Industry Deserves To Live

If you read this blog, you know that I think there are quite a few things wrong with the comic book industry. I say it with love, though, because I hold comics in such a high regard. I don't like to see the industry represented in a bad light and I, among many people, see the potential for something greater. I've been knee deep in these funny books since I was in second grade. Here are five reasons why the comic book industry deserves to live.

1. Comics are the modern myths. They've moved me to tears and laughter. They've helped me through the worst of times. They've been a muse to my favorite entertainers. Their iconography shapes our popular culture. If you're reading this, chances are they've had a lasting effect on you. If they haven't moved you similarly, believe me when I tell you that they could. There are a lot of things to love about today's comic book industry. Here are some reasons why the comic book industry deserves to live.

2.The Internet (duh.)

It has never been easier to find comics that suit your taste. And once you find them, chances are it's also pretty easy to get in touch with their creators and tell them how much you enjoyed their work. And if you can't find them, you can hook up with other creators and make them.

While many of the main sources of comic book industry news are not making use of the technology available to them as a result of Web 2.0, there are still plenty of industry giants that are. That has a powerful and far reaching effect, because it results in comic books being mainstreamed as another viable source of entertainment. Through sheer access, the Internet is smashing down the walls behind which the industry has barricaded itself over the years, by marketing only to its loyal fanbase.

3.Omnibus Editions

Even if you hate what today's comic book industry has to offer, there are glory days to be relived! Through series' like Marvel Essentials, you can do just that. These collections are essentially (ha!) the foundation of Marvel canon, reprinted on low quality paper in large chunks of about 25-30 issues each. The result is very reasonably priced, bare-bones editions of fan favorites. They look pretty good on the shelf, too. DC has something similar going, but I can't speak to those, as I haven't purchased any, yet.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, omnibus collections can give you a garish, "as it was meant to be" experience that allows the work to be showcased in a better light than it had when first published. Case in point, the Jack Kirby Fourth World Omnibus Collection. This type of collection gives the reader, typically, I'd imagine, one that holds the collected material in high regard, something more substantial and weighty on which to hang his/her admiration. An added benefit of these collections is that, through the inclusion of additional materials, their effects on culture can be examined and historical context can be given to the collected material.

4. More With Less

Comic books tell a huge variety of stories with a minimum of resources. At their best, comics can be as epic as the grandest movies, or as introspective as the most brooding character studies. As a visual medium in an increasingly visual world, comics can deliver everything that movies and television can, on a more cost effective scale. They can be used to tell visual stories that would be deemed too weird for television airwaves, or the big screen. When they do hit, comics serve as a dry run for bigger things.

5. Walt Simonson

Walt Simonson is fucking awesome. When he draws, he makes use of blank space and that makes his art just jump off the page. Words can't describe it.