Strike Team: Code Name: Diamond Force is a one-shot comic book homage to action exploitation films from the end of the grindhouse era. It is full of brutal martial arts action, explosions and an awesome robot who gets faxes from the president.
But DO NOT take MY word for it! Here is the man, the legend, Mr. Michael Tanner hisself to explain it all to you in a 100% fact-filled and not at all bullshitted video:
See? 100% REAL.
So I definitely backed this project AND SO CAN YOU, RIGHT HERE:
I can’t wait to get my copy and dirty it up with my filthy fingers… or will IT dirty ME up???
So San Diego Comic-Con is over, and there were lots of big announcements and blah-blah-blah Star Wars blah-blah-blah Batman v. Superman blah-blah X-Men Apocalypse blah-blah. You already know all about all of those, so I ain’t gunna get into ’em.
These are the things that happened at Comic-Con that I really enjoyed:
Junior Braves of the Apocalypse
A friend of mine had a comic book signing at Comic-Con. I still can’t get over that!
The opening segment of Conan O’Brien’s week of shows filmed at Comic-Con was undoubtably the best part:
Joss Whedon’s Twist
Now that Joss Whedon is no longer the shepherd of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he has time to do projects for himself for a change! First up: an original comic book about an original character:
Joss Whedon’s Twist
Joss Whedon had (unsurprisingly) my favorite single quote of the whole weekend when he described the book:
Basically deals with the most important moral question facing us, which is, why isn’t there a Victorian Female Batman?[1]
Steven Universe Extended Theme Song
There was a Steven Universe panel. And this happened:
I made the mistake of watching that during my lunch break at work last week. Fortunately no one else was around, so I didn’t have to explain that I was crying about a cartoon.
Marceline Sings!
There was an Adventure Time panel, which also contained Rebecca Sugar, the creator of Steven Universe. See, she worked on Adventure Time before starting Steven Universe, and she wrote a bunch of the most memorable songs for them. And she’s written a new song for Marceline. Whose voice actress, Olivia Olson, also just happened to be on the panel. So, y’know, she helped out:
Ash vs Evil Dead
I do believe this speaks for itself. Let me know if you’re confused about anything:
Wrongplayed
And, of course, one of my favorite Instagram accounts: Wrongplayed, that purposefully (and hilariously) misidentifies the various cosplay of the con:
Comic Book of the Month: Junior Braves of the Apocalypse
by Michael Tanner & Greg Smith
A troupe of “Junior Braves” (think Boy Scouts) heads into the mountains for a retreat, only to return to town to discover that a zombie-like apocalypse has happened in their absence. The boys must use their wits and their Junior Brave training to survive and discover if any of their families have made it through the horrors alive. This book, co-written by Fools Play’s own Green Fool Michael Tanner, is like the fun of The Goonies and Monster Squad meets The Walking Dead in one fantastic graphic novel!
Podcast of the Month: Conversation Parade with Open Mike Eagle & John Moe
Adventure Time is a cartoon that has attracted a tremendous adult audience. So here is a podcast where two very smart, very nerdy, and very funny people (John Moe and my pal Mike Eagle) discuss undercurrent themes that run through the show and also interview creators and cast members! It’s a lot of fun to listen to, so DO IT. Oh, and the title of the podcast is based on a rather obscure BMO-created video game from the cartoon. You can watch it in “action” in this clip:
Website of the Month: North of Reality
A delightful series of (almost daily) short prose vignettes of fantastic, surrealist, and unfettered imagination, often with a sinister or threatening air hanging in the background. I’ve written about Uel Aramchek before when I posted his series of tweets about the “Invisible States of America.” These are like those, only a bit longer and more developed, but still with that same sense of mystery and awe.
I haven’t written anything for this here website sing I did the “Of the Month” of June (many days late I might add). What gives?
Well, I must confess: I have been writing. Just not here. Instead…
Oni Press Open Submissions!
I was writing a comic book pitch to submit to Oni Press’s Open Submissions!
Yes, that Oni Press, the comic book company that originally published Scott Pilgrim, and that is currently publishing Junior Braves of the Apocalypse, the comic book co-written by my pal (and retired Green Fool) Michael Tanner:
The Green Fool writes comics. Why not the Purple Fool…?
So we’ll see! If they like it, there might just be two Fools who are writing comics in 2015.
There’s one thing for sure, though: I like it. And I don’t just mean the pitch that I sent. I mean the process of writing something more than a blog post or an article or a movie review (which I haven’t done in over a year now).
I’ve always really enjoyed writing. One of my favorite days in college was when I wrote over 100 pages of a screenplay in one day. Writing little things for this website and doing Fools Play have kinda kept a lid on my creative cravings for the past many years, but now it’s becoming an itch that must be scratched. I feel I have to write something. Something real and substantial.
So I’m going to take the month of July off from doing anything seriously creative (which means you might get some more posts on this here website), but starting in August I’m going to back off from thisischris.com again to concentrate my creative energies in a different direction.
Junior Braves of the Apocalypse
Conversation Parade with Open Mike Eagle & John Moe
North of Reality
