Darth JayDer Comics

Hey ho, JayDers. I guess that is the name this month for Darth JayDer fans. You know, all 3 of you who email me monthly asking when the hell am I gonna do another book. I thank you, Mom, nameless ranter, and guy who obviously hasn’t gotten the clue that I don’t want naked pictures of him. Shudder….

So anyways - I know the financial hard times of everyone, including your 539th favorite comic artist and writer. So we are offering this one time offer of coolness. We have about 6 copies of each of the Alternate covers of Lost 1-4, and a few copies left of the Trade Paperback (all 4 plus…ah, you know the rest by now). Here is the deal:

Issue 1-4 (alt covers) - $3 each, FREE S/H
TPB - $15, and FREE S/H

Plus, if you pick up the TPB, (now with free shipping) I will do a character sketch for you of your choosing. Want Rog giving you the middle finger? Want Alyssa seductively winking? How about Deadpool drinking with Petey? Just write me an email at CinemaEditor@gmail.com for your copy of the book and a free sketch. Woohoo!

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Also - I was surfing online through FaceBook and ran across these little pics:

See it? No? Take a closer look…

I never thought my art, let alone a sketch of Alyssa, would be next to the likes of Wade Wilson, Futurama, and My Neighbor Totoro. Thanks Michael for showing the love! Got nuttin’ but love for ya brudder!

Hello, hello! Welcome to the new year for Darth JayDer Comics. This year we will see some awesome new stuff coming out, as well as some good vocal returns from the people who have brought you the happiness you so crave. But before we unleash awesomeness, how about bringing back a thing or two from the past. And I know, I know, I’m sorry. I update like an old man. Well, I’m 3o this week, so maybe that is appropriate. Enough of the ranting and dwelling, on with the recommends!

Game: PVZ: Plants Vs Zombies

The title and concept alone sound silly as can be, but I dare you to play it for 5 minutes and not buy a copy yourself. The concept: You grab falling sunlight. You use those sunlight for points. With those points you plant plants. All the while, zombies are sliding in on your lawn wanting to pass your horticulture and eat the brains of the house hold. Not just your everyday, run of the mill zombies. No, no, no. Instead we have Road Cone Zombies, Dolphin Zombies, Football Zombies, Zamboni Zombies, Bobsled Zombies and more. The best part, it’s fun. The better part, once you beat it, there is a ton of things to do, not just the main game. Very worth the $20.

TV: Being Human

Hurry! Hurry! Watch it now before America decides to bring it over and make it all American-ized… like Taco Bell. Mmmmm, Taco Bell. Ok, bad example. How about the first season of the Office, or the horrendous attempt at Coupling? Ok, Phew, I saved that one.

Now, give me a minute before you decide that this sounds silly. The show is about a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost all living in a flat in England. (dramatic pause, awaiting your laughter and idiotic stares of…uh,…idiocy.) Well, now that that is out of our system… I admit, it does sound like a tripe-laced sitcom show, but in fact, it’s pretty up and straight and serious. There are funny parts, but those come more from the situations the characters are in. All in all, it’s a damn good show.

So, if you’re sick of all the dreck vampire bullshit that is flooding the scene right now, but still like the genre, give this one chance, it’s got some pretty nice stuff up their sleeve to keep ya watching.

_____ See something cool? Read a great book? Play a wicked game? Shoot me a comment on this page and let me know about it. I might have to recommend it to everyone else._____

Taken from the Ain’t It Cool News site. Thank you Mark, for the wonder review!

LOST TPB
Darth JayDer Comics

An indie staple is the slice-of-life comic, where there’s nary a zombie or a super cape or a vampire or a time stream disruption. Some folks hate these comics and I have to admit they are an acquired taste. Personally, I read comics for the escapism. Reading about another schlub’s money/girl/life problems hit a bit too close to home, if you know what I mean. So when I realized that’s exactly what LOST was, I was half tempted not to give it a look. But I’m damn glad I did. Yes, LOST is a hit TV show that’s about to come to an end this season, but no, that’s not what this book is about. LOST is about a normal guy name Chazz, slacker extraordinaire. He’s got a dead end job, aspirations to be a writer, and no chick in his life. Now in a sci fi or super hero comic, it’s at this point in the “hero’s” life that something extraordinary occurs, usually in the form of a radioactive spider or a meteorite or a lab experiment gone horribly, horribly wrong. But this isn’t one of those stories. In actuality, something extraordinary does in fact happen…Chazz gets a girlfriend. The rest of the book pretty much goes by the old adage, “Be careful what you wish for.” Like I said, most slice of life books turn me off, but writer Derek Glascock does such a great job with the dialog in this book that it made me stick with it. Sure, the guys in this book are basically sitting around talking about absolutely nothing, but the way Glascock turns a phrase works here and it worked enough to hold this reader’s attention for the entire trade paperback. Jaysin Osterkamp does a fine job as well illustrating this book, making every character distinct and unique. His range of facial expressions and poses is vast and he draws a damn fine, curvy alterna-girl if you ask me. LOST is one of those books filled with characters that you will recognize from page one. They may not have been said or happened exactly in the same way, but I’ve lived through stuff like this. And while I often stay clear of slice-of-life books, I’m glad I didn’t do so here because after reading how effed up Chazz’s life is by the end of this book, you can’t help but feel a bit better about your own. Recommended for true indie types who hate spandex and those suffering from super hero overload.

Derek and I have a few books (trade paper backs) left over from the con and have put them up for sale as of now. Our printer still does not have them available yet for sale so we thought we might as well shoot these books to the people who want them.

The book is the entire run of the 4 issue series plus over 80 pages of special features like easter eggs, a director commentary (How Lost came to be), and much much more. These are in very limited supply for the moment, I know these will go fast. I’ve already shipped out 5 copies this last week from people who missed them at the Chicago Comic Con.

They are $15 each, plus $3 S/H. Email me at CinemaEditor@gmail.com to order your copy of the complete story of LOST!

During the Chicago Comic Con I was lucky enough to have been interviewed a few times and one of the interviews was really, really awesome. I think I think it was so awesome for one reason because Andrew and I got along so well on our film tastes. Andrew Marcec is half of the duo that is Lingo, (soon to be My Remote Radio), a geek blog about geek things. In other words, something I would listen to with great glee.

Our interview can be found here, on his website.

Ok. Back once again for a day of many posts. I have put up all the photos taken at the Chicago Comic Con on our Face Book page. Head on over to check them all out.
Here are some teasers for you.

I promise to up photos tonight of the Chicago Comiccon but I had to do an inventory of the books left over from the weekend.  With the left over books we have some alternate covers, director cut’s and original printing version of #1 from 2006.  Here are the details:

the Alternate Cover
Derek and I both think that if you’re going to say something is a limited run of something it had damn well better be. So with this in mind we printed off 25 each of the Alternate Cover designs for Wizard World 2009 and then destroyed the original data file, making it truly a limited edition. Each book is numbered ?/25.

Lost #1 (Alternate Cover: Wizard World 2009)

This cover is a homage to Johnny the Homicidal Maniac.
How many left - 5 (updated 9.05.09)
$3.00 each.

Lost #2 (Alternate Cover: Wizard World 2009)

This cover is an homage to Amazing Fantasy 15, the first appearance of Spider-Man.
How many left - 9 (updated 8.19.09)
$3.00 each.

Lost #3 (Alternate Cover: Wizard World 2009)

This cover is an homage to Action Comics #1, the first comic form of Superman.
How many left - 11 (updated 8.19.09)
$3.00 each.

Lost #4 (Alternate Cover: Wizard World 2009)

This cover is an homage to Sin City.
How many left - 7 (updated 9.03.09)
$3.00 each.
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Lost #1: Director’s Cut

This was made to promote the idea that Lost was original made to be a film so we added a lot of extra stuff, even an interview we did that did not appear in the TPB.
How many left - 2
$5.00 each
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Original Print #1

This is almost the exact same print as issue #1.. save for 3 things:
1. The last four pages of advertisements are missing.
2. The last page isn’t a “Lost Letters” section but rather a brief story about how Lost came to be.
3. This was part of the original 15 print run that I had made up to hand out to friends and family, hoping they would enjoy it. This was made way before we had planned to continue on and do more books.
How many left - 2 (updated 8.19.09)
$5.00 each

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Shoot us an email at CinemaEditor@gmail.com if you would be interested in any of these extremely limited prints. I don’t mean to stress the subject, but once they are sold, we will never have more of these.

It’s Saturday night and I am feeling awesome!  We just walked in the house after gorging ourselves on wings and beer.  Man, what a great day.  Today we met and talked with some of the coolest people, and I wanted to thank you all for coming up, checking us out and maybe even buying a book.  I’m sorry I am making this short but I am just wiped.  I will be updating the site with pics on Monday.

If you can, be sure to come on out on Sunday!  We’d love to see you!

Hey and welcome back to the Weekly Recommend.  This weekend was spent with friends, bitching about the film industry and cheering on the Northern Illinois football Huskies to a 48-3 victory over Indiana.  That might be the only time we ever discuss sports on this blog.  heh.

MOVIE:  IN BRUGES

So I rented this movie I have been reading about for months now and I was so pumped up about it that I knew I was going to love it for everything it was.  I watched it and it was beautifully animated, gorgeous rendering, and good direction…but the script was just so non existent.  So I am instead recommending “In Bruges” and let me tell you, you will LOVE it.

The film has charm and a beautiful script from start to finish.  It’s comedic presence never masks the over all tone of the film and the seriousness never dulls out the humor.  The gentle mix of both worlds is excellently executed.  Seeing as how this is Martin McDonagh’s sophomore film, we can only expect great things in the future.  Thanks Eric for turning me on to this.

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COMIC BOOK:  (will update later)

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WEB COMIC: DARTHS AND DROIDS

OK, here is why I like this comic so much.  If you’re a Star Wars fan, you’ll love it.  If you’re a table-top RPG fan, you’ll love it.  If you’ve never played a table-top or seen Star Wars (do these people exist?) you might lost at times, but the author politely guides  readers through certain words and phrases used by the gaming community as the comic continues on.  If not, there’s always Wikipedia.

The comic follows Star Wars Episode I (Or as we like to say it, “Failure on Sesame Street”) still frames from the film in comic book form and the text is from a role playing table where players are constantly fighting with the GM (game master).  It’s a hilarious look into why Episode I might have been  so terrible.  Because it JarJar was a fucking little girl in disguise.  Hilarious and updated 3 times a week.
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MUSIC: BECK (MONGOLIAN CHOP SQUAD)

If you have ever wanted to be in a band and rock a stage like a star, then this manga / anime / CD collection is for you.  The story follows a young boy in high school who starts to learn to play the guitar and eventualy teams up with a friend and some other musicians and they form a band called Beck, named after the singer’s dog.

However, once they release a CD, and this is where the confussion you might be having is coming in, they find that when the CD is shipped to America that the label had to change the name of the band since there are already 2 pretty well known music acts called Beck.  The rock music they make is really damn good and catchy.  Love the song “Full Moon Sway,” a gentle ballod of emotional conflict.  The only trouble with getting your hands on the music side of this act is that, for what I know and I could be wrong, the CDs aren’t available in America yet.  Soooo. they are about $40 - 50 each.  But if you know where to look….

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VIDEO GAME: (will update later)

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Well, fans of the time wasting, This weekend proved to be more used for productivity than watching and reading.  I did do a few of them, though.  I’m a totaly work-aholic, for shame for thinking such.

Good news, the 4th issue is under way and looking good so far.  unfortunately, or fortunately, I guess I can see both sides, but the book is not going to be as big as predicted.  It looks like the page count so far will be 44 pages down from the predicted 52.  The story has not been changed in anyway, it has not be cut or altered, just tightened and reworked, visually.  And trust me, it flows so much nicer.  I can’t wait for people to read this one.

But on to the wasting of time and intellectualizing….

COMIC BOOK: WANTED & KICK-ASS

This might seem like a gimme..A movie nut loving the original comics.  But after I reread them this weekend, this is anything but a gimme.  Both series penned by Mark Millar and are fucking amazing.  If you haven’t read “Wanted” but have seen the terrible movie, you have seen probably the first 3 or 4 pages of the book.  I knew I loved the book but after reading again this weekend, I fell in love again.  It was still angst filled and still action extreme with top notch characters that the movie just didn’t capture. Worth every penny for the tpb.

Now, “Kick-Ass”?  Fucking rule.  A comic book fan kid gets a itch in his ass to start being a super hero in his city…and gets the snot kicked out of him and lands him in the hospital.  But does he give up?  Hell no.  He is KICK ASS and he takes the licking and keeps ticking.  Little does he know that there are others doing the same thing….  The movie  is being made now, I have hopes but I am a realist and hopes are for the comic books.  After all, the last comic book movie Nic Cage was is was “Ghost Rider”….But we will see.

MOVIE: THE ONION MOVIE

Reminiscant of “Kentucky Fried Movie” and “Amazon Women on the Moon” with their small snippets and skits, this movie ties these all together as if you were watching the Onion TV channel.  If you are not familiar with The Onion, educate yourself.

The movie is side splittingly hilarious and keeps itself in check from time to time while even making fun of itself.  The movie coasts along and at some points gets a little stagnant and slow, but the film makers know this and play with that emotion in the viewer.  A definite watch, possible buy.

TV SHOW: THE RICHES

FX does not come to mind when I think of the best TV show channels, even though it gave us Nip/Tuck, which the first 2 or 3 seasons were excellent before it became self-aware of it’s horrendous problems and kept going with them.  But FX has outdone itself with this little dirty, gem: The Riches.

The story follows a family of white gypsies as they con their way from one lifestyle to another and end up living in suburbia with a brand new house all to themselves.  The troubles and tribulations are typical for a show like this, but it’s the characters that we like and want to continue watching, not to mention the OUT-FUCKIN’-STANDING acting by Minnie Driver and Eddie Izzard.  Just wow.

MUSIC: OPTIMUS RHYME

Sure, go ahead and laugh or giggle about the name.  Go ahead and make your snide comments about them being nerdcore. All finished?  OK.

This is an amazing band.  They do hip hop with a live band and they are the shit on 7 levels.  Great licks, great riffs, great beats, great bass.  And without a doubt the best live show I have ever seen.  Too bad they broke up a couple weeks ago, it was a sad day for rea, but their music lives on with 3 CDs.  The first two are LPs while the 3rd is a remix of the 2nd album.  Do yourself a favor and pick up the first 2 albums, you will NOT be disappointed.    And even if you don’t dig them the way I do, you get the elitist attitude of knowing you have a CD you can’t find in Best Buy.

TV SHOW NOT TO WATCH: FRINGE

This will not become a new thing for the weekly recommend, but I simply wanted to get the word out about how bad Fringe was.  I was actually very excited to watch this one.  I had read the reports, read the reviews and seen a glossy-overcasted mirage of advertising online and at the cons this summer.  I was intrigued.  I was let down.

The show is boring.  Sure there’s lots of action, and the pilot cost $10 million, but the story is fucking null and void of anything with substance.  The characters are cardboard and just not interesting AT ALL.  The story is mundane and been done a thousand times before.  And there is no way no one didn’t see what was coming.  Just horrendously terrible.  Stay away at all costs.

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