Scott Pilgrim

So, instead of picking up this weeks new comics, I’m trapped here at work waiting on the proofing department (yawn) and I thought I’d knock out a quick post.

Just a quick heads up that we’ll be setting up for the ‘Ringo Scholarship at the VIRGINIA COMICON here in Richmond on November 20th and 21st. The show is really growing and has had to move to a larger venue up the street. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s a great show and I’m very grateful to Brett for letting us set up. If you can make it, stop by and say “hi.”

Suze and I have reeeally been enjoying the new AMC show THE WALKING DEAD, based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book. It’s the kind of must-see TV we haven’t seen since LOST ended. I even skipped the second half of the Packers game last Sunday to catch it. Not that it was much of a game. I caught Suzanne watching part of the show last week with her hands over her eyes, peeking between the fingers. Awesome.

I’ve also blazed through the last 4 volumes of SCOTT PILGRIM, the inspiration for the above sketch. I’d told Christian that I didn’t want to borrow his because I already have a two-feet-tall stack of his stuff. Plus, I had the first two volumes and wanted to buy the whole run. But then my friend Don offered the same thing and I figured it would be the only way I could manage to read them all before the movie hit Blu-ray this week without dropping 40 or 50 bucks all at once. I couldn’t read them fast enough. I’m not much of an indie comics guy but this series really struck a chord with me. I’m not even sure why. Scott Pilgrim is the kind of guy I would want to choke the life out of if I actually knew him. But Bryan Lee O’Malley manages to make him an endearing character. And, not being much of a gamer or anime fan, I figured most of the jokes would fly over my head. Not so. I laughed out loud quite often. O’Malley’s artwork started off a little weak in the first volume but, by volume 2, he was already improving by leaps and bounds. By the final volume, the art was sublime. I love his clever storytelling tricks like showing Scott’s brain cracking in two and a baby chick emerging to illustrate that Scott has grasped a concept. I loved the scene in which Scott asks why Ramona corrects him with “Evil EXES” every time he refers to her “evil ex-boyfriends.” (“You had a sexy phase?”) My only complaints with the series were that it was difficult to tell some of the characters apart sometimes and the ending was a little hard to follow. But the series on the whole was a LOT of fun. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. (And, yes, I realize I’m REALLY late to this particular bandwagon but what can I say?) I can hardly wait to watch the movie.

I’m itching to start the second drafts of my HMDH scripts and do some real drawing for a change but I guess all that will have to wait until this crunch at work is over. I just hope it’s not TOO long. Jeez.

Later.

_____________

Oh, and I don't do this often but please click on this link to Jackson (VENTURE BROS.) Publick's blog. He has a link to a bunch of eBay auctions. The proceeds go to help pay for some much-needed medical attention for a really cute kitty named Lola. Lola lives with two artists that work on the show and she has pancreatic cancer. I love the show and I love kitties so I thought I'd do my tiny little part and help steer any interested parties their way.