The Films of Christopher R. Mihm

The internet is an amazing thing. One day you can just bebop around visiting your normal sites and out of nowhere you discover something you didn't know you were missing in your life. Today that is the home of Sainte Euphoria Pictures. Why is this exciting you may ask?

The above poster is the latest film from Christopher R. Mihm. Yes, I said latest, as in recently released, as in it's 2013 but oh my look at that gorgeous 1950s era throwback poster! I will forever be in love with horror and sci-fi movies from the 50s/60s drive-in era but I crush extra hard on those featuring living things that are not their normal size.

So you could imagine my excitement, dare I say, giddiness at discovering a brand new giant spider movie. While they could have taken more advantage of modern technology, they went with the ol' green screen and an actual tarantula. It might look a little better than it would have 50+ years ago but it retains part of what endears those older movies to me.

After looking around the site, I find this is the 8th retro-movie that Mr. Mihm has made! I spent some time checking out their trailers for movies like "Cave Women on Mars", "Attack of the Moon Zombies", " House of Ghosts", and "The Monster of Phantom Lake." I knew I was in good company and quickly took advantage of the 4 DVDs for $30 special.

I can't wait to get these and you can bet you'll be hearing more about them after I watch them. Until then, be sure to check out The Films of Christopher R. Mihm at Sainte Euphoria Pictures and enjoy a couple more trailers.

"House of Ghosts" is an homage to one of the kings of B-movies, William Castle.

Tune into more on YouTube!
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Sideshow Freaks Playing Cards by Bicycle

Just about two months ago, I posted about the upcoming release of Bicycle's Sideshow Freaks playing cards. Now finally, after some weirdness with my original Amazon order,
I have them in hand!

I was pretty excited to check these out first hand after seeing the promo images from Bicycle a couple months ago. That, and there's always been something mysterious and magical about carnivals for me. I blame it on Something Wicked This Way Comes. I recorded that from cable and played the heck out of it.

The tuck box, that's fancy-talk for card box, is a bit different from the standard mostly white design. It uses the main colors of the deck, which remind me of the circus posters you'd see on telephone poles announcing that it was coming to town soon.

The card backs pack a lot of line work and design on them including a Big Top, Ringmaster, Lobster Boy, Fire Eater, Bearded Lady and a Strong Man holding it all together.

Here we have the two Jokers, which are monkeys, naturally!
In Spades: a Fortune Teller, Conjoined Twins and a...Rat Boy? Is that a thing? The Ace is a bit mischievous with his handlebar mustache. Representing the Clubs: a Sword Swallower, Tattooed Lady and...maybe a Lobster Boy? There is a Lobster Boy on the card back but they don't look that similar so I'm not sure what the Jack is.

Here's a closeup so you can see the art better. It's relatively simple but again fits the circus poster motif perfectly. The characters' costumes have an exotic design to them. The traditional reds and blacks are more muted color than your average playing cards.

It's funny, when I was arranging the cards I didn't even notice I had separated them by reds and blacks! On another side note: I don't get along well with photographing shiny things. I either need a lighting mentor or, more likely, a better studio. And by studio, I mean top of my dryer, some colored poster sheets and a pair of desk lamps. A little TMI for you!

Back to the cards! The Diamonds hold a Snake Man, Bearded Lady and the somewhat creepy Ringmaster, who seems very Jack Skellington-esque. Rounding things out, Hearts boasts a Strong Man, Contortionist and Fire Eater.

I really do like the court cards in this deck but I was secretly hoping all of them would have some sort of carnival artwork on them. Aside from the slight difference in the reds/blacks, the numeric cards look just like those of a standard deck. Other than that, I highly recommend this deck if you enjoy the circus!

What's New in the Land of Ooo

I haven't really talked much about Adventure Time on here and for the life of me, I don't know why. Ever since seeing the first ads for it on CN I knew I had to see it. While most of the time it's crazy adventures and weirdness, there's the occasional episode with Ice King/Simon and Marceline that really hits me in a way that a "kids show" shouldn't be doing.

It was announced at GenCon last week that Q2 2014 will bring an official Adventure Time version of the card game Munchkin! If you're a fan of fantasy RPGs, you should check out the regular version of the game, it's a lot of fun. You can hit that link to check out a demo.

Coming sooner is a Diablo-style dungeon crawler called Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW. Although it's slated for PC, and pretty much every console, I can't find anything about a PC release date. Hopefully, it's still coming!

There will be an exclusive 3DS version that comes in a BMO steel book with a DVD, Finn & Jake's Dungeon Guide and other goodies packed inside. I'm still kicking myself for not getting the Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?!! exclusive edition. Even though I don't own a 3DS it would have been worth it for the Enchiridion steel book, sword stylus and other included loot. It now goes for over $100!

Lastly, I picked up the Adventure Time Encyclopedia when it came out recently...

Click to order on Amazon

I'd been looking forward to this book since it was announced. I'm one of those geek types that likes to get as much info as I can about the settings I love. I was hoping the book would be more like an actual encyclopedia of the Land of Ooo but it's more like a pocket guide. The book is written by Hunson Abadeer, Marceline's dad. Interestingly, the actor who voices him is the real life dad of the voice of Marceline!

I think I would have much preferred the book be written by a scholar/historian living in Ooo. At times Abadeer's personal point of view gets boring and repetitive. This is especially evident in the A-Z mini-bio section where some characters are described simply by how useless Abadeer thinks they are and not giving any useful info about them. Also, his choice of vocabulary will have many kids frequently running to their parents to find out what his words mean. That can also be a plus for teaching new words, though!

The sections I enjoyed most were the ones not written by Abadeer or where he isn't talking about the characters. BMO's manual is weird, but just the right amount. The Ice King's hand drawn fan fiction and character cards are spot on. Abadeer's Novelty Spells and Curses is reminiscent of the ads you'd find in old comic books. Also, having Finn, Jake and Marceline's comments in the margins is pretty funny.

The truth is, if you're an AT fan you've probably already bought this book. While I would have liked a more comprehensive guide book to Ooo and more detail, I think this book would be especially great for kids (as long as you don't mind helping them with the ten cent words) and fans that came to the show later who might not know as much about the setting.

League Post - Back to School

The assignment from the League of Extraordinary Bloggers this week are the three words that strike mortal dread in the very souls of children everywhere:

Back to School

While I'm sure that was true for a lot of kids, to me the phrase meant two awesome things: school supply Shopping and new cartoons! When I say "school supplies" I'm not talking about the everyday boring stuff like your writing implements. I'm a hardcore mechanical pencil .5mm lead user. Screw that .7mm noise! But the cool stuff, the stuff you walked around the halls with that showed how high your geek flag was flying. 

I don't know about you, but shopping for a new lunchbox back in the day was like early Christmas, only you got to pick what you wanted! I know I must have had more than two lunchboxes through grade school, but these I remember best:

I mean what better way to transport your food than in a non-rust proof container that you could use to brutally beat someone over the head? And then there was that one day in the cafeteria/auditorium when that one kid dropped his Thermos and we learned there was glass inside that plastic shell. We wouldn't know about the vacuum sealing/danger of implosion until much later. Science! And how about those folding lunch tables that had the sliding lock of death where you could pinch the finger of the careless person sitting across from you? Good times!

When it came to more practical supplies, I never got very fancy. In middle school I had a green Trapper Keeper and a few folders of assorted colors. I think we all did the paper grocery bag book covers? The ultimate in customization! 

Now that I think about it, how weird is it that they made you cover the books?

I still have my high school notebook and in the interest of minor shame, here it is:

 

Bonus points if you know the other band name the GPK is spray painting!
I have no shame from the bands that I liked then (I still enjoy most of them now) but more the "artistry" used to etch their names. Ugh, moving on...

 If you're old enough, you may recall a time when Saturday morning was a blurry haze of sugar induced channel flipping, back when there were only three channels that had anything worth watching. I don't think I was really aware of the concept of regular shows (Ooooooo! Oops, wrong Regular Show) having seasons. But damn skippy I knew the coming of school meant new cartoons!

The Saturday morning preview specials were absolutely something I looked forward to every year. (There's a bunch on YouTube!) Even with a TV Guide it could be difficult to decide what to watch in any given time slot in the pre-VCR days. Heck, even after we got a VCR it could still only record the channel the TV was on! These preview specials were often the major factor in choosing one toon over another. In Fall of 1981, you had to choose between Thundarr and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, for the love of Glob!
Why would you force this kind of choice on a child?!

Honorable Mentions

Book Fairs & Scholastic catalogs (Book Nerd 4 Life yo!)

Vists from the Candy Man (sell candy bars, earn prizes!)

Skool Daze the video game

Here's what the other kids have on their papers:

Crooked Ninja Turtle's Top 10 Grade School Memories

Best school movies from Nerd Nook
Diary of a Dorkette presents She-Ra: Senior Year

Kickstart(er) My Heart

I'm afraid Kickstarter is starting to become an addiction for me. When I see something cool that's $20 or less, I rarely pause to think about it. Boom, pledged! Before I start looking for a support group, I wanted to shine the spotlight on a couple of projects.

The first one is from a series I'm sure many of you are familiar with...

There are some things from your childhood that much such an impact on you that you never grow out of them. I have a very strong memory of sitting on the cement steps outside my apartment building and showing my friend this amazing book I got at the library. It was The Cave of Time, the very first CYOA book. I've loved reading ever since I can remember but having a book where you could not only change the story but go back and re-read it to make different choices was mind blowing!

I checked out a lot of those books over the years. Eventually I "graduated" to gamebook series like Fighting Fantasy and Lone Wolf  which had basic game mechanics that involved rolling dice or choosing a random number to test your character's skills and make it feel more like a game. The Lone Wolf series is a particular favorite of mine as you played an evolving character throughout a continuing story.

This Kickstarter is aimed at a much younger audience and is mostly animated. I know some of you out there have kids and probably have fond memories of CYOA books. I think this is a great first step to get kids hooked on the idea of interactive fiction. And when they get older, the can move on to the books, or the iBook versions if they can't put the iPad down.

Check out Choose Toons!

The second project, called Mystery Box, I only found out about today thanks to a banner ad on the Axe Cop site. Also, if you're not watching Axe Cop Saturday nights, do it!



If you've frequented this blog long enough, you know I love posting vintage mail order ads from the comic books of yesteryear. The book Mystery Box supposes those ads actually deliver on the promises they made. But it turns out not everything is fun and games.

This project has some really neat bonus stuff available. Not only can you get the book itself but you can also get a copy of the fictional comic the kid in the book finds the mail order ads in. Whoa, meta! There's also some spiffy t-shirts with ad inspired artwork. The book, and comic, are available in print and digital format. If you've got an extra $95 burning a hole in your pocket, you can even get yourself drawn into one of the comic ads!

They've already hit their goal, if they make another $500 everyone that gets their reward shipped to them will get a free hovercraft schematic poster. And if they do another $500 on top of that, free Alien Eye t-shirts!

Loot Crate - July 2013

If you've been with me awhile you might recall me blogging my very first Loot Crate back in April. And you may also recall how I said I signed up for three months and there being no follow up reviews. What can I say, I got lazy. It happens.

Despite that, somehow my one blog post got someone's attention over there and they offered me a chance to join their affiliate program. What does that mean? Each month they'll send me a crate in exchange for a review. I also get a bonus for those that sign up via my link and referral code. You can sign up, save 10% and help me out in the process. Everybody wins! If you might be interested in joining the affiliate program, contact me.

The theme for the August Loot Crate is going to be "Cake" because it's the one year anniversary crate. They've already announced it will include a shirt and promise it'll be full of surprises. Anyway, enough of the sales pitch...

The theme for July's Loot Crate was "Varsity". Probably one I would have passed on based on that word alone, but I would have been wrong. The Crate was mostly filled with things pertaining to the web series Video Game High School. I watched this back in January and definitely recommend it for gamers. You can watch it online here.

Starting us off is a pair of C-3P0 earbuds! I'll probably never use them but it's always cool to get some unexpected Star Wars kitsch. To compliment that, right below it, is a sticker of a Stormtrooper wearing a VGHS varsity jacket. Then we've got the Mighty Thor as a Pez dispenser and who doesn't love Pez? Anyone?

I haven't opened the Sonic air freshener yet. I don't know what "Sonic Breeze" smells like, but it sounds like what Sonic would call a fart. Below that is a sticker for Rocket Jump, the people that created VGHS. Ah, that takes me back to the many self-kills racked up while learning to perfect that move.

The first season of VGHS on DVD! I was pretty psyched to pull this out of the Crate. I'm looking forward to digging into the extras on it. As a geek that grew up alongside video games (not just grew up with), I really like what they did with it.

A set of five buttons, one for each school of gaming taught at VGHS. Even if I wasn't familiar with VGHS already, the retro-graphics on the buttons make them full of awesome.

And finally, for those times when your batteries are drained and there's no power outlet in sight, we have the VGHS emegency wireless keyboard! Portable, compact and it easily allows you to correct any typos on the spot!

I have to say, the last two Crates I got before this one were (to quote Randy Jackson) "just kinda ok for me." They each had an item or two that I was excited about but they were lacking in the overall joy that I felt when I opened my first one in April. Of course, that one was arcade/video game focused so it set the bar high for future installments.

The Varsity Crate is an all around good one though! The only thing that might have made it a better experience is if I wasn't already familiar with VGHS and was introduced to it with the included DVD set. There's nothing like that feeling when you find something rad on video that you never knew existed.

Disclaimer: As I said up near the start, Loot Crate has provided this Crate to me free of charge in exchange for my reviewing the product.

Boston Comic Con 2013 Monster Haiku

If you missed the previous Boston Comic Con 2013 posts on cosplayers and artists, go check them out! There's some great stuff there.

I'm very excited to bring you an interview with Jason Deeble, one of the artists I met at the con. When you're walking around vendor booths, it's often like a desert marketplace you'd see in a movie. The booth owners are hawking their wares, trying to get you to look at their product. But in this case, I was drawn to the booth by the character art he had on display.

While the art drew me into "pitch distance", the pitcher wasn't one of those people desperate to sell you on his work. He showed us one of his Monster Haiku books and explained the premise. If you haven't guessed, it's a comic strip with cartoony monster kids and is done in haiku. The book my wife was flipping through happened to have one comic with a Duran Duran reference, so she bought it just for that. But I had my eye on something else...

How could I not bring him home to join my Creature collection?

I emailed Jason a few days after the con and he was nice enough to do this interview.

AEIOUwhy: Tell us a little about yourself.

Jason Deeble: I am the creator of the daily web comic Monster Haiku. Also, I make picture books like Sir Ryan's Quest. I have a wife, two kids, and two incontinent cats, I play drums in a band, teach middle school mathematics, and just sold my house. My life is insanely busy.

Did you draw a lot as a kid? If not, was there something that turned you on to art/drawing?

Every kids draws. It's not a matter of being turned onto it.  Usually kids quit drawing when they get into about middle school. At that point they kind of get turned off to the whole drawing thing. They don't like the way their stuff looks or feel inferior to their peers. I just never got turned off.

Most of your projects seem to be aimed at a younger audience, is there something that pulls you in that direction?

Everything I draw comes out looking cute and silly. I've heard such a condition described as a "cuteness curse." Usually, cute, silly things are what we give to younger folks but there's nothing wrong with a little frivolity in our adult lives. (Absolutely not!)

Do you have any favorite music or movies you put on when you work? What things would you say influence your work the most?

I love music to the point of obsession. I'm crazy about traditional, hand-drawn animation too. To a certain extent these things get me fired up to create but, more than anything else, I draw inspiration from normal, everyday life (i.e. conversation, routine tasks, etc.). Our mundane lives are pretty extraordinary if you look at them closely enough.

 

Your book, Sir Ryan's Quest, is about a young boy's pretend adventures in his house. What kinds of adventures did you go on as a kid?

Childhood is a magical time because everything is an adventure, everything is novel. I played a lot with other kids in the neighborhood, made forts, rode bikes, etc. Pretty routine things, really. But when you're a kid, this is high adventure. This is swashbuckling, rip-snorting fun.

Did you know sellers on Amazon have copies of "Sir Ryan's Quest" listed for $65 and $999?

That's crazy. I sell autographed copies for $17.00. I have no idea what's driving up the other guy's prices. Maybe they include a deluxe edition pot you can put on your head while you're reading it.

How did Monster Haiku come about and why Haiku specifically?

I spent a year as a stay-at-home dad when my daughter was very young. It was mind numbingly boring most of the time so I started making comics to keep myself entertained (They're available at Dawn of the Dad, by the way). I'd always loved comics but never really made my own before that. I wanted to try the basic, four-panel variety but had nothing to write about. I thought maybe I could recast the Peanuts gang as monsters and have them attack each other.

While I was planning my new comic out, I saw a strip in Carousel Magazine in which someone took a strip by Charles Schulz and replaced the dialog with haiku. I guess they were comparing the rhythm of Peanuts to the rhythm of haiku, I can't quite remember. Either way, I decided that was what I needed to do - comics written exclusively in haiku.

Have there been days where you thought "Why did I do this (haiku) to myself?"

No, I've never regretted it. I have an overactive imagination and it's pretty easy for big ideas to get bigger and more unwieldy. Haiku helps me keep it simple.

I love the Creature from the Black Lagoon, so I had to bring Jay home. Any special reason he was given physical form first? Are there plans to do any of the other Monsters?

Jay is a sad sack. He's always down no matter what's going on around him. I think people kind of identify with him. We all have our moments when we feel glum and forgotten. Jay knows all about that. He understands your pain. He kind of became the star of Monster Haiku in the same way Charlie Brown became the star of Peanuts. A dour, hard-luck leading man. He was my first plush doll because he's my star. I want to do more dolls and probably will if things keep growing. Maybe next year.

Any favorite monster movies?

Actually, I don't really like monster movies. I'm not a horror fan. I think monster movies are interesting because they speak to our society's collective fears (i.e. the blob = communism, zombies = survival in the end of days, etc.) but other than that, I don't really like movie monsters. I've always been partial to Chewbacca but I hardly think he counts.

I've found people that draw monsters are usually fans of Halloween. Do you have any special memories of a particular Halloween and/or a favorite costume you had? 

Halloween is the absolute reversal of everything you tell kids not to do. Suddenly they can dress up like freaks, they can go out after the streetlights come on, they can ask strangers for candy. It's like the one night when all bets are off and you can just pig out.

I was never really into the whole monster thing but I loved Halloween and I loved dressing up. My mom indulged pretty much any costume request and made them all from scratch. I was a trash can one year. I was a stop light a little while after that. Looking back, the thing I will always remember about Halloween is how awesome it was that my mom would make me a cool costume no matter what I wanted to be.

What did you want your trick or treat bag full of? What did you *not* want/hate getting?

I just wanted candy. It didn't matter what kind. Someone gave me a toothbrush in my bag once. That was kind of weird. But when I thought about it later, I think I found it kind of cool.

What's the next thing people should be on the lookout for from you?

I do a new strip every weekday at my website www.monsterhaiku.com. I just put out my third Monster Haiku book: a full color compendium of my favorite strips from the 600 or so I've made thus far. That was a real ordeal so I'm kind of taking a break from stuff besides my comic at this point. I always have many irons in the fire, but right now there's nothing coming to fruition any time soon.

Where can people find you/your work online?

Monster Haiku updates at www.monsterhaiku.com.  I post comics and commentary on Facebook each day.  I have a Tumblr which I think translates into tweets.  My website www.jasondeeble.com has a lot of content up on it.  Also, Dawn of the Dad is still up and running.

Thanks so much for your time. It was great meeting you and I hope to see more Monster Haiku dolls!

Thank you.

If you want to pick up any of the Monster Haiku books, Jay dolls, or even a hand painted and autographed water painting (like the one shown above), check out the 

shop page at Monster Haiku.

Boston Comic Con 2013 Artists

Welcome to the second post on Boston Comic Con 2013.

Aside from cosplayers, two other things you can expect at any given comic convention are artists and vendors. There were quite a few local vendors showing off new and vintage toys.

As I said before, I'm not usually "into" comic artists. What I am into is the non-comic book artists that were present showing off their craft.

First up is Glass by Joe. He does a lot of horror, sci-fi and pop culture stained glass and lamps. He even takes custom orders.

TARDIS Lamp & Ash from Army of Darkness Stained Glass

R2-D2 Stained Glass lamp

Hellraiser Lament Configuration Stained Glass lamp

Unfortunately, this next artist was out of business cards so I don't have a site for her. But if you want to find out about getting a custom pair of "arted up" shoes, you can email her at everbecreations@gmail.com

Prepare to squee and/or awww when checking out ESpressions Design's 3D Origami figures.
There's lots more photos of their work at their site, so check it out! They also do custom work but because these are so fragile, they may not be able send it to you.
But you can do local pickup (Boston area).

Next up are some craft creatures by Michelle Roberge. The little bat guy on the left I totally fell in love with, but did not bring home with me. The one in the middle is made with an actual animal skull. She said those sell out quickest!

While I love looking at art, I don't often buy it. You wouldn't believe the number of Star Wars posters I've racked up over the years that do nothing but sit in their cardboard tubes. But when I saw Rogan Josh's work, I had to get some! He's got a very unique style. And the postcard sized prints were only 2 for $5. Small size + low price = sold!

Two of my favorite Doctors

and two of my favorite lesser known characters, Rocket Raccoon and Rom the Spaceknight

He's got an interesting take on characters like Iron Man and Wonder Woman. I can't recommend checking out his gallery enough! He also handed me a card for Geeks Out, which is all about promoting the LGBT geek community. If I were closer to Manhattan I'd totally be going to the Adventure Time Burlesque show later this month!

I'll be back on Friday with the last Boston Comic Con related post.

Boston Comic Con 2013 - Cosplay

This past Saturday I was able to attend Boston Comic Con, thanks to winning tickets from forcesofgeek.com. If I hadn't won tickets, I probably would have passed on going. It's been a few years since I've been to BCC, mainly because the last time I was underwhelmed. Comic conventions across the country have taken to altering their name to include "Comic Con", even if they're not run by the same people that do San Diego, to grab more attention.

The con opened at 10am and I got there around 2pm. There was a very long line outside the building of people that had pre-ordered tickets still waiting to get their passes. On the other side of things, if you were just wanting to attend for a day you could walk right up, buy a ticket and go in. The con was at a much better location this year with a lot more room but unfortunately they didn't utilize the potential of the space.

Upon entering, I decided to start on one side, go up and down the rows and work toward the other side. I picked the wrong starting side. The local 501st, Rebel Legion, NH Ghostbusters and the NE Brethren of Pirates were all in that first row. As you might imagine, large groups of people in costume cause a people jam! It was like standing in a very slow moving line.

The con (as far as I know) was held in one large room which accommodated all of the vendors, artists and celebs. Usually the celebs are what draw me to the cons but there wasn't anyone I had to meet. I would have liked to have met voice actor Billy West but the cost of autographs (and sometimes even photos with the celebs) can get too much. There were some big name artists there but it's rare that I get excited for artists.

One of my favorite things about cons is the cosplayers and they were out in force! Interestingly, comic book characters seemed to be in the minority. The most prominent groups I noticed were Doctor Who and Adventure Time. There were even a few times I spotted characters from Gravity Falls, which is awesome because that means other people love the show too. Don't screw it up, Disney!

Where else would you see Daenerys showing her dragons off to a very young Doctor? His stroller was made up to look like a TARDIS. He rides in a stroller now, strollers are cool.

Left are Chris and Beth from Bravest Warriors, the other cartoon created by Adventure Time maker-upper, Pen Ward. Check it out if you like Adventure Time.
BMO, on the right, had an iPad inside so he could change facial expression.

And in the "play to your strengths" department, we have Marvel Comics' Blade and Blob.

And while we're on B, here's a pretty kick ass Batman with Harley Quinn

And this is my favorite cosplay photo of the day...

I've still got a handful of cosplay pics you can check out on Flickr.
Stay tuned for more pics & posts from the con about the artists!

Monthly Movie Recap - July 2013

We've got another interesting assortment this month including some blaxploitation, sharksploitation and lots of guns! While I've got your attention up here, do you watch the trailers in these movie recaps? I put up a poll so vote or leave comments!

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
This isn't one for everyone. It took me a bit to get into the vibe of it, but once I did it was a lot of fun. The setting is medieval-ish, the weapons are steampunky and the characters talk like they're from a more modern time. It's like a second cousin to Army of Darkness.

Cool: The witch character designs are fantastic. Gore is mostly played for laughs (splatstick). The troll is all practical effects which makes him awesome!
Lame: You don't get to see much of the witch designs during the big fight
Rating: 7/10, they knew what they wanted it to be and did it