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Post by jabba359 on May 20, 2016 20:46:23 GMT -5
The frustration with the show is that it has never hit the heights of the first 3 series, so you get ready to write it off... then it hits some form, so you stay with it, then it's really crap for ages, and you get ready to write it off... then it rediscovers some form... IMHO, most of series 1-3 were stellar, 4 & 5 were poor, 6 started mediocre and got really good - maybe not quite to the heights of the original 3 series, but very good, then 7 was dreadful, 8 was even worse, the start of 9 was worse still... then they pulled back from the abyss and got some much better episodes. I'm hoping the last one was an aberration and they get back on form again, though it's even money whether we get that or several weeks of tedious unfunny dramady. Pretty much sums up how I feel on a season by season basis. Seems like the writers have gotten super lazy and I can usually guess the punchline before it's delivered, as it's incredibly predictable. These days, I've mostly been watching just because I've seen all the episodes so far and I'm kind of OCD like that. I wish they'd just wrap up the show and end it.
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Post by jabba359 on May 20, 2016 20:29:13 GMT -5
Sorry to derail, but that's an amazing profile pic Jabba! Thanks Wildfire! It's a crop of a commission I got from Emil Cabaltierra last year.
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Post by jabba359 on May 20, 2016 17:01:58 GMT -5
Since I had a free month of Marvel Unlimited last month, I decided to read the series Runaways, as I'm a fan of Brian K. Vaughan's Saga. I enjoyed the Vaughan run, but felt that it immediately got worse once he left. I also had two major problems with the post-Vaughan stories. The first was right after Iron Man discovers the hideout. The very next issue suddenly has them in New York, with no explanation as to what immediately followed their discovery by The Avengers or how they came to be in New York and in the situation they were in. Then, the series ends on a cliffhanger with a major character either dead or dying and that is never resolved. I guess I should have just stopped at the end of the Vaughan run.
Having just seen Captain America: Civil War in the theater and thoroughly enjoying it, I decided to use the last few days of my free Marvel Unlimited subscription to read the Civil War storyline. While I felt that the comic book made more sense of Spider-man's involvement (in the movie, it was just shoehorned in as a way for them to say, "Hey, we have Spider-man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe now!"), overall I felt the movie did a much better job of playing character dynamics and making me care about the motives. The comics, on the other hand, felt like the story device was merely an excuse to have everyone fight each other in a giant battle.
On a more positive note, I got hooked on Mind MGMT after meeting Matt Kindt last year. So when I saw that the had a new series coming out, Dept. H, I knew I had to pick it up. Sure, it's only two issues in at this point, but I'm pretty sure this is a series I'm going to follow to the end.
While not a recent development, I'm still working my way through all the back catalog of Usagi Yojimbo. I just finished volume 25: Fox Hunt, so only have four more volumes and Space Usagi to go (plus vol. 30 which comes out in July). I've been trying to pace myself with one volume a month (to spread out all the Usagi awesomeness), so should be pretty well caught up by the end of the year.
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Post by jabba359 on May 20, 2016 16:41:09 GMT -5
I believe Maka has had one published recently.
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Post by jabba359 on May 12, 2016 17:18:27 GMT -5
Stan tends to get his books about a week or two before they get released, so it's possible to order from his store and get an Artist Proof before they hit the streets. Book 6 actually came out two weeks ago, on April 27th. I bought mine from instocktrades.com and it arrived on April 30th. I highly recommend buying from them, as they are usually a lot cheaper than Amazon, they have free shipping (over $50), and they pack so much better than Amazon. When I order a UY Saga volume, I usually toss in another couple books to get me over the $50 threshold and my total (even with an extra trade paperback or two) ends up being less than just the Saga book on Amazon. I've had a bunch of books come in from Amazon with smashed corners because they just toss the books in a box with hardly any padding, but instocktrades fills all the empty space with foam, so the books can't shift around at all.
The other reason I don't order from Amazon is the two week delay. For some reason, Amazon gets their comics/graphic novels two weeks after the street date. I'm not sure if that's a deal with Diamond Distributors, to help their network of comic book shops by giving them a two week head start on sales before Amazon cuts in with their typically lower than comic book store pricing, or something else.
I will admit that after a few months, Amazon will sometimes drop the prices on the previous UY Saga hardcovers for crazy cheap, so it's always worth checking out their pricing. Every once in a while they'll even have super cheap new releases as well, but with the UY Saga hardcovers, instocktrades has consistently been significantly cheaper at release.
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Post by jabba359 on May 4, 2016 20:42:02 GMT -5
Stan also did a Star Wars story about young Anakin Skywalker. I can't remember which comic it was in (I know it's on the Marvel site somewhere), but it's well worth finding. I read that in a trade at our local library-it was in Vol. 4 of the Star Wars Tales collections, which collected issues 13-16 of the series, so that should help narrow it down for those looking for it. -M It's in Star Wars Tales issue #14. Stan did the 8-page "Urchins" story.
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Post by jabba359 on May 4, 2016 20:30:51 GMT -5
I love Stan's take on the Marquis! The back of the Marquis tpb has a quote from Stan on it. Agreed, that is a really cool pin-up.
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Post by jabba359 on May 1, 2016 14:08:38 GMT -5
For any southern Californians, Stan will be appearing at SoCal Games and Comics in Temecula on May 7th for Free Comic Book Day. Looks like he'll be there from 10am-noon.
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Post by jabba359 on Apr 26, 2016 0:34:25 GMT -5
Gen by Jonathan Marks11x17 oil, ink and watercolor on paperI really liked the Usagi piece that Jonathan Marks did for The Sakai Project. Since I didn't win that one, I commissioned him to do a Gen for me. Usagi Yojimbo by Rob Duenas2.5x3 ink and watercolor on BristolMy artist friend Rob Duenas (SketchCraft) offered to do an Usagi sketchcard for the giveaways I was running on the Dojo. This is the "failed" one. He didn't like how it turned out (the watercolors didn't hold as well as he preferred on the card I provided), so he made a new one for the giveaway and I got to keep this one. Usagi by Katie Cook3x4 ink and watercolor on paperboardThis one is a quick Katie Cook watercolor. Usagi and Gen by Emil Cabaltierra11x17 ink, watercolor, and ballpoint pen on comic boardI can't remember how I discovered Emil Cabaltierra (it may have been though Savy Lim - artist of one of usagigoya's pictures on page 1), but Emil does some really great TMNT art. So he immediately went on my must commission list. When I got around to getting a piece done, I decided to go with a two-character piece, as the price wasn't too bad to add a second character. I really love his backgrounds. Usagi and Dragon by Jeremy Bastian6x9 ink on paperMy most recent piece is by Jeremy Bastian, who I found through Mouse Guard's David Petersen. I love the amount of small detail he puts into his art. I'll probably try to commission a non-Usagi piece from him at SDCC later this year. And that's it...for now. I have one other Usagi commission out right now and will share once it gets completed and arrives. If the rough sketches are any indication, it's going to be pretty awesome.
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Post by jabba359 on Apr 26, 2016 0:20:16 GMT -5
Here are a few of my original art pieces by Stan: I got this piece from SDCC 2014, which happened to be my very first comic book convention. I had never commissioned anything before this show. WonderCon 2015. This is the second commission I got from Stan. The colored version is from a scan of the original b/w art that I colored digitally myself, just to see if I could do it. These two I picked up at a craft show that Stan was attending to support Julie.
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