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DC Comics Style Guide: A Disappointment

DC Comics Style Guide (2024) Read More DC Comics I’ve previously mentioned that the very first comic book that I purchased with my own money, a whole $1, was Crisis on Infinite Earths #1. I didn’t know it then, but this little comic book forever …

This is a rare book report for DC Comics Style Guide, a book that eventually came out in very late 2024 and early 2025. Originally scheduled for an August 2024 release, it was delayed a few times due a custom PMS metallic silver ink on the cover.

Standards Manual reprinted the book for the public for the first time in over forty years. It was a pretty big deal José Luis García-López fans (and George Perez fans because he drew some Teen Titans style guide). It really is a shame that DC Comics basically hid these pages from the public, because the Style Guides were meant for internal uses. Like most fans, I was confused why DC Comics decides to license this book to a third-party company.

Originally announced in May 2024 as 1982 DC Style Guide, the 1982 name suggested that there will be future books, such as the 1984 or 1985 editions. Maybe it is to avoid the confusion, but they eventually dropped the 1982 in the title, and is now simply called DC Comics Style Guide.

My situation is unique in that I was not going to be home from December 2024 to March 2025. Since the book was delayed into early 2025, it meant that I wasn’t actually home to receive the book. For most people the four months delay wasn’t going to be a problem, but for those who are moving or traveling or celebrating an anniversary or birthday, timing is everything! If the book had delivered in August or prior to December, I would have been a happy camper. It would have been pretty awesome to bring the book with me on my long Winter Hibernation. After this horrible experience, I don’t think I’ll ever pre-order anything (in fact, I cancelled my Fallout Pip-Boy).

My biggest complaint about the DC Comics Style Guide is they didn’t make it clear that this “reissue” is basically a very high-quality photocopy of Standards Manual’s book. There were no efforts made to enhance or fix any blemishes. For example, some pages are wrinkled, some pages have torn three-holes, some pages have ghosting text, some pages have smudges, some pages have miscoloring… all pimples and imperfections are on display here. This is such a disappointment, because for years, I had seen beautiful pages online, because they digitally removed the holes or fixing blemishes, etc.

They officially list the book as 368 pages, which makes for a very nice beefy spine… but in reality, only half of those pages have artwork with the back of its page is blank (no printing). Some pages are the back of folders (which is basically blank pages). I felt they could have saved some trees or pass the savings to the consumers if they used less pages.

If you are a fan of García-López or a fan of DC Comics, you probably already own the book, so it doesn’t really matter what I say. For those on the fence about dropping $95 on this book, I can definitely not recommend this book to you.

I wish that DC Comics would put out an official book. They have the source material or original print films… or if they don’t, they have the resources to clean up and make the artwork presentable.

Smudges Ghost Text

Skin Colors too Pink

Wrinkled Pages

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Crisis at 40

Harbinger (vuart) Read More Crisis I’ve previously mentioned that the very first comic book that I purchased with my own money, a whole $1, was Crisis on Infinite Earths #1. I didn’t know it then, but this little comic book forever …

Midlife Crisis (vuart)

Last Friday (January 3, 2025) was the 40th anniversary of Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 (January 3, 1985), as I have already previously written last year that this comic is important for several reasons. One, it introduced Charlton characters, two, it started the annual crossover for DC Comics, and three, personally for me, it started my journey in collecting comics.

To celebrate, we were given a three-part original animation called Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths. Part one landed in stores in January 2024, and the rest released every three months… with the last part coming out July 23, 2024. Although I appreciate Warner Animation adopting the Crisis name, what we got was not really based on the original 1985 story. Instead, it’s a brand new story that ends the “Tomorrowverse” animation.

Also, as part of the ongoing celebration (and I guess an easy way for DC to make money), DC started re-releasing every issue of Crisis on Infinite Earths as facsimile editions, per month, starting in April 2024 (the original cover date for issue #1 was April 1985). Each facsimile edition comes with two variants: a holographic cover and a blank cover* (this is a popular way for fans to get artists to draw on these blank covers). It’s literally a cash cow for DC, seeing as diehard fans will shell out about $15 per month to get all three covers for 12 months (the final #12 issue will be out April 2025).

It’s sad, but I wish DC would have commissioned new Crisis art or maybe a new brand-new story (that took place in that Crisis period).

Anyway, to pay tribute, I have drawn some quick Vuart for you to enjoy.

* Note: Issue #12 will receive three variant covers (the third is a “Super Powers” cover).

Vu's Crisis Collection (I have more, this is just a small sample).

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26th Anniversary of George Perez Website

George Perez Website Version 5.2 Read More George Perez As you know, we’re big George Perez fans, so it’s with a sad note that I pass along George’s statement about his retirement. After this 2019 convention…

One of my long-time readers, Ilke, reminded me that December 9th, is the 26th Anniversary of my George Perez Website. The website first appeared online on December 9, 1998, using a Fresno State University webhost server.

Over the years, the website was hosted at various servers, and for a long time (13 years), it lived on Google Sites… that is until they closed the free service in 2022.

I thought my salvation came when I purchased the unlimited hosting from iBrave, but unfortunately, that was a scam, and the webhost has closed down in December 2024.

For the time being, I have reverted to version 5 and the website thegeorgeperez.com will be forwarded to Typepad. I have looked at other webhosts, but they are just too costly, especially because I’m not making any money off the website.

Why I keep the website running is to bring fans together and over the years, I have met some great people, including George Perez, who was a big fan.

If George was still alive, he would say this (again):

As usual, thanks for the dedication you've been putting in on the Pérez website. It has been very flattering, and I know that my latest activities have been keeping you very busy.

Thank you for all the support throughout the years.

iBrave Closure

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Twin Cities Con 2024

Twin Cities Con at Minneapolis Convention Center Guests Hayden Christensen Ian McDiarmid Lou Diamond Phillips Grant Gustin Danhausen Deonna Purrazzo Brian Posehn Tom Kenny Stephanie Beatriz Diane Guerrero Jess Darrow Will Friedle Danielle Fishel Vivienne Medrano Brandon Rogers Alex Brightman Krystina Alabado Kimiko Glenn Blake Roman Erika Henningsen Morgana Ignis Amir Talai Sam Haft Joel Perez Josh Keaton Troy Baker John DiMaggio Olivia Olsen Sarah Natochenny AmaLee Mallorie Rodak Haven Burton Paschall Griffin Burns Zach Aguilar Joshua Seth Wes Johnson Marc Thompson John Jackson Miller Timothy Zahn Aaron Reynolds Dave Wheeler Ant Lucia Dan Parent Phil Hester Otis Frampton Howard Chaykin Josh Baylock Travis Bentley Chad Corrie Erik Burnham Jeri "Red" Shepherd Mike Kingston Ashleigh Popplewell Shayla Sackinger Trung Le Nguyen Sammy Castillo Samir Barrett Adam Hoppus Andrew Heath Marc Draven Cale Turpen Dontae Foster Andrea Swabb Brandon Sommers Tori Robinson Matt Nelson Mikal Mosley Maki Roll Kola Bear Cosplay Warpath_Dylan Tyson Lietz St. Paul Prince Miltown Cosplay Tazumi Zaiga Iceman Cosplay 40 Below Cosplay & Props Twin Cites Con Coverages Photos: Twin Cities Con (10 Nov 2024) Photos: Twin Cities Con (09 Nov 2024) Photos: Twin Cities Con (08 Nov 2024) Preview: Twin Cities Con 2024 at Mpls Convention Center Recap: Twin Cities Con 2023 Photos: Twin Cities Con (05 Nov 2023) Photos: Twin Cities Con (04 Nov 2023) Photos: Twin Cities Con (03 Nov 2023) Preview: Twin Cities Con 2023 at Mpls Convention Center Video Zig-Zag at Twin Cities Con (10 Nov 2024) Read More Twin Cities Con The Saturday Twin Cities Con, at the Minneapolis Convention Center, is the biggest show of the three-day event. According to Twin Cities Con, there were over 40,000 pre-sold tickets just for Saturday …

The most successful geek culture gathering in the Minneapolis/St Paul is officially Twin Cities Con, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Every year, this convention is growing in attendance. We thought last year’s attendance was amazing, this year seemed almost double! With extra fans in attendance, the organizers decided to add an extra security screening to get into the Exhibit Hall… which caused delay to get into the room.

It took me 30 minutes to get in on Friday morning and it took me an hour to get in on Saturday morning. I did miss some panels due to waiting in the line, and I have read online that others have missed photo ops. I can’t take credit for this, but someone suggested to get a wrist band or a stamp to indicate that you’ve gone through security … so you don’t need to go through that long process of standing in line.

What is worst is the unnecessary zig-zag line that you have to go through to get to the front door. See laughable video of fans walking in the zig-zag line.

SpringCon at Bloomington Armory (29 April 2023)

Other than that, I was really glad to see such a healthy turnout for these types of conventions. As you know, we are longtime fans of Spingcon / Fallcon, Nerdin Out, MN Toy Posse, MN Fan Fest (RIP), Wizard World Minneapolis (RIP), Planet Comicon, and more… so believe me, when I tell you, that Twin Cities Con is one of the best comic book conventions I’ve ever attended. I’ve said it’s “our favorite big ‘comic’ convention in the area” when I went to Twin Cities Con 2023, and it still stands.

The two big panel rooms were the main ballroom and the smaller “Hero” room, on the first floor. The gaming room and additional panels were on the second floor.

This year, there were additional programming panels (and party rooms) at the Hyatt Regency, which requires you to walk a few blocks using the Skyway System. Some rooms required that you were staying at the hotel, as it needed a room key. This is great news if you were staying or parking at the hotel, but it felt like it was a little too far away from the Convention Center (according to Google it is half a mile away).

We mostly stuck to the two main rooms, so I’ll briefly recap them.

FRIDAY
Starting at 2pm, there was a chat with Sarah Natochenny, Haven Burton Paschall, and Marc Thompson, from Pokemon. We all know there’s a strong anime fanbase at the show, so plenty of diehard Pokemon fans were in the audience.

Twin Cities Con Friday Badge (08 Nov 2024) (art by SnakeSimpArtz)

I already mentioned how impressed I was with the Helluverse strong fanbase, and they were the dominate fanbase at the Twin Cities Con this year. Fans were so ravenous for anything Hazbin, that fans were seeking to buy used Friday-only badges (which had characters drawn by SnakeSimpArtz). I have never heard of Helluva Boss (YouTube) or Hazbin Hotel (Amazon Prime) or ZooPhobia (Web), but now Vivienne Medrano is on my radar as a creative force. The turnout to the Vivienne Medrano, Morgana Ignis, Brandon Rogers and Alex Brightman, panel was the most I’ve seen for Friday.

Of course, the force was strong with emperor Ian McDiarmid (Star Wars)… making his first appearance in Minneapolis. The guy was quite witty and funny, it’s clear that it wasn’t his first rodeo.

Over at the Hero stage, they talked to voice actor Josh Keaton, Wes Johnson (who does ‘Voice-A-Palooza’ at these shows), and finally Demon Slayer actors Griffin Burns and Zach Aguilar. I would say Demon Slayer was hot last year, but the trend seemed to have died down this year.

SATURDAY
We actually missed early panels with Adventure Time’s John DiMaggio and Olivia Olson (due to standing in the security line). We did manage to see Stephanie Beatriz… who is from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but everyone there seemed to only know her form Hazbin Hotel.

Speaking of which, the Hazbin Hotel panel had the biggest attendance. There weren’t enough seats on stage for all the voice actors: Erika Henningsen, Vivienne Medrano, Morgana Ignis, Kimiko Glenn, Amir Talai, Blake Roman, Joel Perez, Krystina Alabado, and Brandon Rogers. It was clear that the cast were having the time of their lives. Some (such as Erika Henningsen) extended their appearance, due to strong demand from the fans.

I was looking forward to hearing Lou Diamond Phillips, who talked about his most famous role of playing Ritchie Valens in La Bamba. The big room wrapped up with the popular Saturday Cosplay Contest.

At the Hero stage, we saw Troy Baker (famous for playing Joel in The Last of Us video game), and Star Wars writers Timothy Zahn and John Jackson Miller.

SUNDAY
Starting early was Encanto’s Dianne Guerrero (who is famous for playing Crazy Jane in Doom Patrol) and Jess Darrow.

The Flash’s star Grant Gustin was a big draw. He was only available for Sunday, so it felt like he headlined the show. I didn’t see too many Sunday-only badges, but if there were some, I would bet it was because they were strictly there to see Gustin.

Next was The Boy Meets World chat with Will Friedle, Danielle Fishel, and Rider Strong. Followed by Wes Johnson’s Voice-A-Palooza featuring Mallorie Rodak, Josh Keaton, Sarah Natochenny, and Haven Burton Paschall.

Closing out the show was the Sunday Cosplay Contest.

At the Hero stage, we have AmaLee, then comedian Brian Posehn. Posehn was a massive comic book geek (collects Neal Adams, loves “The Judas Contract” by Marv Wolfman and George Perez).

I don’t know what Twin Cities Con have planned for next year, but sign me up. I just hope they address the security/line problem. I’m not saying no security, but perhaps do a wrist band or figure out a way to do it better. No one wants to spend an hour standing in line.

Twin Cities Con returns November 7th to 9th, 2025!

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A Stay at the Hazbin Hotel: A Q&A with Erika Henningsen, Vivienne Medrano, Morgana Ignis, Kimiko Glenn, Amir Talai, Blake Roman, Joel Perez, Krystina Alabado, and Brandon Rogers (09 Nov 2024)

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Twin Cities Con at Minneapolis Convention Center (10 Nov 2024)

10 Nov 2024 Twin Cities Con at Minneapolis Convention Center Read More Twin Cities Con 2023 is shaping up to be Twin Cities Con’ biggest show yet! Looking over their guest list, you can see the big draw is the Kevin Smith universe: Jason Mewes, Jason Lee, Brian O'Halloran (Clerks), Marilyn Ghigliotti (Clerks) …

The Sunday Twin Cities Con, at the Minneapolis Convention Center, is the final day, and it starts very early and pretty much ends around 5pm. As for attendance, it felt the same as Friday, if not more. Most fans who attended Sunday, were all-in and had already purchased weekend package (or VIP). You rarely saw Sunday-only badges.

Having said that, it was still a very healthy turn out- especially for the Grant Gustin Q&A in the main ballroom. The reason why there were so many fans in the room was because Sunday was the only date that he could make it to the convention, so fans showed up.

As you know, Gustin is most famous for playing Barry Allen, in CW’s The Flash. It was the role that defined him, who previously was a theater actor (and have gone back to the theaters since The Flash ended).

Sunday’s panels:

Sunday 11am: The Beauty and the Brawn: An Encanto Q&A with Dianne Guerrero and Jess Darrow

Sunday 12pm: In a FLASH: A Grant Gustin Q&A

Sunday 1pm: The Boy Meets World Q&A with Will Friedle, Danielle Fishel, and Rider Strong

Sunday 2pm: Wes Johnson's Voice-A-Palooza featuring Mallorie Rodak, Josh Keaton, Sarah Natochenny, and Haven Burton Paschall

More photos of panels and additional details to come. In the meantime, enjoy some costume photos below.

Teen Titans Disney

Baseball Fury (The Warriors)

Blade

Rorschach

Lord of the Rings

Spongebob

Destiny, Mystic, Baby Nightcrawler, Raven, Joker, Zatanna, and Constantine

Aloy (Horizon Zero Dawn) Attack on Titan Chester Cheetos, Jester, LOTR Genshin Impact Ursula (Disney)

Adventure Time

Fallout

Clicker (The Last of Us)

Bruce Lee

Costume Contest at Twin Cities Con (10 Nov 2024)

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Twin Cities Con at Minneapolis Convention Center (09 Nov 2024)

09 Nov 2024 Twin Cities Con at Minneapolis Convention Center Read More Twin Cities Con 2023 is shaping up to be Twin Cities Con’ biggest show yet! Looking over their guest list, you can see the big draw is the Kevin Smith universe: Jason Mewes, Jason Lee, Brian O'Halloran (Clerks), Marilyn Ghigliotti (Clerks) …

The Saturday Twin Cities Con, at the Minneapolis Convention Center, is the biggest show of the three-day event. According to Twin Cities Con, there were over 40,000 pre-sold tickets just for Saturday (numbers confirmed by Fox 9).

As previously mentioned, there are extra securities before you can enter the Exhibit Hall, which means if you need to pick up your badge or have to redeem your photo op or buy merchandises, you need to go through the security line. The line was the longest I’ve ever seen at 10 to 11am. It snaked all the way to the West Entrance and more. It took an hour to make it inside the Exhibit Hall.

Once inside, we were going to spend as much time there as possible, because once we leave, we weren’t going back (because we would have to go through security check again), so we ended up missing a few panels.

Again, as previously mentioned Hazbin Hotel absolutely killed it. Their panel packed the main ballroom and it was the most attended panel I’ve ever seen. Although I’ve never seen the show, I’m now very curious to check it out.

Sunday’s shows are generally really early and will end early as well. It’s also the day when I would spend money.

Here are some highlights for tomorrow:

Sunday 11am: The Beauty and the Brawn: An Encanto Q&A with Dianne Guerrero and Jess Darrow

Sunday 12pm: In a FLASH: A Grant Gustin Q&A

Sunday 1pm: The Boy Meets World Q&A with Will Friedle, Danielle Fishel, and Rider Strong

Sunday 2pm: Wes Johnson's Voice-A-Palooza featuring Mallorie Rodak, Josh Keaton, Sarah Natochenny, and Haven Burton Paschall

Batverse: Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Batman, Batgirl

Back to the Future

Hollow Knight

Spooky (original character)

Death, Batgirl, Star Wars

Batverse: Mad-Hatter, Joker, Commissioner Gordon, Riddler, Red Hood, Bane Resident Evil, Adventure Time, and Loki

Fallout

NCR Ranger (Fallout)

Starfire and Robin

Wolfwood (Trigun)

Coraline

Pokemon Northstar

Man Ray (Spongebob Squarepants) Harbinger Hotel and Fallout Professor Henry Walton Jones Sr. and Daredevil Dune Inigo Montoya and Fezzik (Princess Bride)

Elden Ring

Sexy Vader

Zatanna and Constantine

Joker and Ghost Rider

Costume Contest at Twin Cities Con (09 Nov 2024)

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Twin Cities Con at Minneapolis Convention Center (08 Nov 2024)

08 Nov 2024 Twin Cities Con at Minneapolis Convention Center Read More Twin Cities Con 2023 is shaping up to be Twin Cities Con’ biggest show yet! Looking over their guest list, you can see the big draw is the Kevin Smith universe: Jason Mewes, Jason Lee, Brian O'Halloran (Clerks), Marilyn Ghigliotti (Clerks) …

It’s the first night of the Twin Cities Con 2024 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The show is one of the largest conventions of its kind in the Twin Cities, bringing together over 40,000 Comic Books Nerds, Gamers, Cosplayers, and Anime fans. Where else can you find Darth Vader standing next to Kamen Rider, or a Spartan hanging out with a Cowboy.

The worst change this is year the extra security to enter the Exhibit Hall. If you set off the metal detectors, you need to empty out your pockets (or in my case my camera equipment), and then going through the detectors again. This causes long delays to go to registrations or just to enter the hall. It took me about 30 minutes to get to the registration area.

What is worst is that every time you need to go into the Exhibit Hall, you have to repeat the long process, including going through the dreaded zig-zag line. Who thought this was a good idea?

Some frustrated fans have suggested getting a stamp on the hand or a wristband, to indicate that you’ve gone through securities. No other panel or rooms requires going through a metal detector.

It was so annoying that I would just avoid the Exhibit Hall and just walk freely from panels to panels or catching cosplayers walking around.

For Friday night, there were strong Hazbin Hotel costumes in the audience, thanks to the show’s creators as some of the main guests. I can only imagine that the panel tomorrow, “A Stay at the Hazbin Hotel”, will be overrun with fans.

There were also plenty of My Hero Academia, One Piece, and Demon Slayer costumes, indicating just how popular the anime shows are.

Update: Twin Cities Con has updated their complete schedule on their website, please refer to that for the latest update.

Some of the highlights are:

Saturday 1pm: From Encanto to Hazbin Hotel: A Q&A with Stephanie Beatriz

Saturday 1:30pm: The Voices of Troy Baker: A Q&A

Saturday 2pm: A Stay at the Hazbin Hotel: A Q&A with Erika Henningsen, Vivienne Medrano, Morgana Ignis, Kimiko Glenn, Amir Talai, Blake Roman, Joel Perez, Krystina Alabado, and Brandon Rogers

Saturday 3 pm: A Q&A with Lou Diamond Phillips

Sunday 11am: The Beauty and the Brawn: An Encanto Q&A with Dianne Guerrero and Jess Darrow

Sunday 12pm: In a FLASH: A Grant Gustin Q&A

Sunday 1pm: The Boy Meets World Q&A with Will Friedle, Danielle Fishel, and Rider Strong

Sunday 2pm: Wes Johnson's Voice-A-Palooza featuring Mallorie Rodak, Josh Keaton, Sarah Natochenny, and Haven Burton Paschall

See full guest lists at twincitiescon.com.

Hayden Christensen Ian McDiarmid Lou Diamond Phillips Grant Gustin Swerve Strickland (Illness) Sting (Logistics) Danhausen Deonna Purrazzo Brian Posehn Tom Kenny Stephanie Beatriz Diane Guerrero Jess Darrow Will Friedle Danielle Fishel Vivienne Medrano Brandon Rogers Alex Brightman Krystina Alabado Kimiko Glenn

Blake Roman Erika Henningsen Morgana Ignis Amir Talai Sam Haft Joel Perez Josh Keaton Troy Baker John DiMaggio Olivia Olsen Sarah Natochenny AmaLee Mallorie Rodak Haven Burton Paschall Griffin Burns Zach Aguilar Joshua Seth Wes Johnson Justin Briner (Cancelled) Marc Thompson

John Jackson Miller Timothy Zahn Aaron Reynolds Dave Wheeler Ant Lucia Dan Parent Phil Hester Otis Frampton Howard Chaykin Josh Baylock Travis Bentley Chad Corrie Erik Burnham Jeri "Red" Shepherd Mike Kingston Ashleigh Popplewell Shayla Sackinger Trung Le Nguyen Sammy Castillo Samir Barrett

Adam Hoppus Andrew Heath Marc Draven Cale Turpen Dontae Foster Andrea Swabb Brandon Sommers Tori Robinson Matt Nelson Mikal Mosley Maki Roll Kola Bear Cosplay Warpath_Dylan Tyson Lietz St. Paul Prince Miltown Cosplay Tazumi Zaiga Iceman Cosplay 40 Below Cosplay & Props

Buttercup and Dread Pirate Roberts (The Princess Bride) Alicia Laorden and Vox (Hazbin Hotel) Lucifer Morningstar (Hazbin Hotel)

Darth Vader and Kamen Rider

Charlie Chaplin Raven (Teen Titans) and Runa Yomozuki (Kakegurui) Princess Peach Old School Runescape and Kiyotaka Ayanokoji Ardyn Izunia and Cindy Aurum (Final Fantasy 15)

Sim, Roronoa Zoro, Deidara, and Satori Spiderverse Zoro (One Piece)

My Hero Academia at Twin Cities Con (08 Nov 2024)

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Doggone-it!

Read more Dog Days of Summer, Dog Day Afternoon, Who Let the Dogs Out? and When Animals Attack.

Read More MGMT This MGMT band needs no introduction, since their formation in 2006, the duo (Benjamin Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden) has been a favorite among hipsters. …

MGMT
whoismgmt.com

“Bubblegum Dog,” is the second single from MGMT’s album Loss Of Life. The music video accompanying video, directed by Julia Vickerman and co-host Tom Scharpling, finds MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser paying tribute to numerous scenes from classic ‘90s alternative videos.

“We all saw the video for "Bubblegum Dog" as an opportunity to combine the charming, DIY, surreal, cardboard craft aesthetic of shows like Yo Gabba Gabba and The Mighty Boosh with these ultra-serious grunge videos we grew up watching on MTV – all that heavy, brooding angst smashed up against absurd childlike fun,” Vickerman and Scharpling say.

“Ben and Andrew are legitimately funny guys, so we were excited they got to really go for it with their acting, paying homage to the eternally moody mid-90's rock stars they looked up to when they were kids,” they continue. “They were completely game for everything, playing around with different wigs/costumes/personas/facial hair and continually chiming in with new ideas along the way. That was a wonderful feeling, because it let us know they were having a good time. For the climax of the video, they let us shoot gallons of pink slime at their faces, which we appreciated. Ben got quite a bit in his mouth, which was unintentional … but he thought it was funny, so then we were allowed to think it was funny.”

You can watch the video on YouTube.

Loss Of Life will be coming out February 23, 2024, on Mom + Pop Music. The upcoming record is the long-awaited follow-up to 2018’s Little Dark Age.

Read More Reverend and the Makers I love this song, and lately it's been playing nonstop on my iPod since Reverend and the Makers's debut album The State of Things, released September 2007 (I actually don't have their album …

Ed Cosens
twitter.com

Ahead of Blue Monday, Ed Cosens releases “Doghouse,” the follow-up to last October’s release of Black Dog, which came out on World Mental Health Day.

“‘I’m in the Doghouse again… the couch is my only friend.’ This song exists for and because of those moments where you know you’ve messed up, totally put your foot in it, but that unshiftable male pride or sense of misplaced righteousness is only making things worse,” says Cosens. “It’s time for a good dose of damage limitation and to know when to shut up, just bloody apologise and pray for redemption. But you fear the worst. Maybe just maybe you’ll be forgiven… maybe.”

If you don’t know who Cosens is, he is in Sheffield’s Reverend and the Makers and co-wrote the UK top ten single, “Heavyweight Champion of the World”, which we said in Jan 2008, “"Heavyweight Champion of The World" was the first single from them, released last May. I love this song, and lately it's been playing nonstop on my iPod since Reverend and the Makers's debut album The State of Things, released September 2007 (I actually don't have their album because I refuse to pay $31 for an import). ”

Cosens will soon be announcing details of his highly anticipated sophomore album and accompanying tour.

Read More Lost Dog Street Band Husband-wife duo Lost Dog Street Band (guitarist Benjamin Tod and fiddler Ashley Mae) to open. North American Tour dates: Jan 15 - House of Blues - New Orleans, LA Jan 18 - 20th Century - Cincinnati, OH …

Lost Dog Street Band
lostdogstreetband.com

Nashville’s Lost Dog Street Band (band leader Benjamin Tod, fiddler Ashley Mae, upright bassist Jeff Loops, drummer Ben Duvall, and pedal steel player Tebbs Karney) will be heading out on tour in 2024.

Tod is excited about the band lineup, “I am excited to share our new full band on the road. Adding Ben on drums and Tebbs on pedal steel opens me up so much for expression. I’ve had to hold back so much the last few years in hindsight. Being able to really pull back on my guitar playing allows me to focus in on my vocals. It helps when I’m on stage now that I can actually feel the music and get into the music being played.”

The band was last seen in the Minneapolis/St Paul area in Jan 2017 with The Devil Makes Three, “Expect plenty of singalong on this North American tour, which began in September and will end this February 2017. Husband-wife duo Lost Dog Street Band (guitarist Benjamin Tod and fiddler Ashley Mae) to open.”

Catch Lost Dog Street Band On Tour:

April 18 - Detroit, MI - St. Andrew’s Hall
April 19 - Cleveland, OH - Agora Theatre
April 20 - Pittsburgh, PA - Thunderbird Cafe
April 21 - Columbus, OH - The Bluestone
April 23 - Morgantown, WV - Metropolitan Theatre
April 24 - Rochester, NY - The Essex
April 26 - Portland, ME - State Theatre
April 27 - South Burlington, VT - Higher Ground Ballroom
April 29 - Boston, MA - Royale
May 1 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall
May 3 - Philadelphia, PA - Brooklyn Bowl
May 4 - Washington, DC - The Howard
May 5 - Charlottesville, VA - Jefferson Theater
May 8 - Charleston, SC - Music Farm
May 10 - Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel
May 11 - Charlotte, NC - Neighborhood Theatre
May 12 - Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse

Fat Dog
fatdogfatdogfatdog.com

South London-based Fat Dog have earned themselves “2023’s wildest live band” (NME) on the strength of their live shows.

Domino Records took notice and signed and released their debut single “King of the Slugs” last year.

The band will be heading out on tour in support of All The Same, so go check out the “wildest live band” on tour:

Jan. 18 – Groningen, NL @ Eurosonic Noorderslag 2024
Feb. 15 – Dublin, IE @ Borderline Festival
Feb. 16 – Limerick, IE @ Dolans
Feb. 17 – Galway, IE @ Róisín Dubh
Feb. 24 – Bristol, UK @ Simple Things
March 1 – Paris, FR @ Les Inrocks Festival, Cent Quatre
March 12 – Queens, NY @ Trans-Pecos
March 13 - March 16 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
March 19 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Cid
March 20 – San Francisco, CA @ Popscene
Apr. 18 – London, UK @ Electric Brixton
Apr. 20 – Rotterdam, NL @ Motel Mozaique
Apr. 26 – Bourges, FR @ Le Printemps de Bourges
May. 9 - May. 11 – Wrexham, UK @ Focus Wales
May 31 - Sun. Jun. 2 – Mannheim, DE @ Maifeld Derby
Jul. 6 – Belfort, FR @ Eurockéennes
Jul. 26 - Mon. Jul. 29 – North Yorkshire, UK @ Deer Shed
Aug. 8 - Sun. Aug. 11 - Sicily, IT @ Ypsigrock Festival
Aug. 31 – Manchester, UK @ Manchester Psych Fest

Office Dog
OfficeDogBand.com

New Zealand trio Office Dog will be releasing their debut album Spiel on January 26, 2024, via New West Records for the USA market. Flying Nun Records will be releasing the album to the New Zealand and Australia area.

In addition, Spiel will be available across digital platforms, compact disc, and standard black vinyl. A very limited to 100 Lime Green Color Vinyl Edition will be available via Rough Trade Records, while an extremely limited to 50 Amber Color Vinyl Edition will be available via Seasick Records. A limited to 1,000 Clear Violet Vinyl Edition will be available at Independent Record Stores worldwide and is available for pre-order.

The trio is led by the critically acclaimed songwriter Kane Strang, which Uncut Magazine described as “most focused and forceful record yet, recalling indie-rock power trios like Built to Spill and Dinosaur Jr.”

Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too!
max.com

Two famous dogs, Scooby-Doo and Krypto teamed up in Warner Bros.’ latest misadventure.

The DVD came out last October, but it recently made its way to streaming on HBO Max.

Synopsis:

When the Justice League goes missing and villains overrun Metropolis, there’s only one team that can solve this mystery: Scooby-Doo and the gang! But wait, there’s a new dog in town – Krypto – Superman’s Superdog with Super Powers. Mystery Inc. will need all the help it can get when phantoms menace the Justice League’s headquarters. And has Lex Luthor finally gone straight? Or is he in cahoots with The Joker and Harley Quinn? The DC Super-Villains may have clashed with Superman before, but now they’re facing something new: a gang of meddling kids!

River Hounds
facebook.com

London’s scene, rock‘n’roll four-piece River Hounds has a new single called “Down On My Knees.” The single will be on the band’s forthcoming album.

Hear the single on the upcoming live shows:

FEB 1 - Pavilion Rd + River Hounds + Peace & Panic + Seeweed
FUEL ROCK CLUB · Cardiff

FEB 2 - River Hounds + Peace & Panic + Pavilion RD + Liars Teeth
Amersham Arms · London

FEB 4 - Peace & Panic + Pavilion Rd + River Hounds + Croissant
The Tin Music and Arts · Coventry

If your band is coming to the Minneapolis/St Paul area, please email details to [email protected] with a good lead time. Thank you.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Happy Crisis on Infinite Earths day

Read More George Perez As you know, we’re big George Perez fans, so it’s with a sad note that I pass along George’s statement about his retirement. After this 2019 convention…

I’ve previously mentioned that the very first comic book that I purchased with my own money, a whole $1, was Crisis on Infinite Earths #1. I didn’t know it then, but this little comic book forever changed my life forever. As it turns out, January 3, 1985, was the date that the book came out (even though the newsstand date shows April 1985). Of course, I didn’t buy it in January… in fact, it was probably closer to March, as #3 was already on the stands.

If you didn’t know, Crisis #1 basically created a tradition of the annual crossover for DC Comics. The comic book event was probably one of the most important things that DC Comics had ever done. To this day, the DC Universe are still feeling its impact (with the recent Dark Crisis series).

A little trivia, but Crisis #1 was first to introduce the Charlton characters (Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, Peacemaker, etc.) to the DC Universe. This meant that the first time we saw these characters, they were drawn by George Perez.

The series would go on to kill off Supergirl in issue #7, followed by The Flash’s death in #8. Let me just tell you, these deaths shocked a ton of comic book fans.

Post-Crisis, we had Frank Miller re-invented Batman with his Dark Knight Returns and Year One. John Byrne re-invented Superman under his vision… and George Perez restarted Wonder Woman. This was such an exciting time for DC.

In Crisis news, there’s also a new DC Animated film coming out called Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part 1. Based on seeing the trailers… this is only loosely based on the original 1985 series. I’ll probably still buy the Bluray when it comes out January 23, 2024. It is available for streaming next week: January 9th.

Anyway, so Happy Birthday, Crisis #1. Enjoy some Crisis #1 homage below.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #1 CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #1 (Apr 1985) DC Comics DARK CRISIS #1 (07 Jun 2022) DC Comics DARK CRISIS #3 (Oct 2022) DC Comics MIS-ADVENTURES OF ADAM WEST #10 (Apr 2022) TidalWave Comics NINJA HIGH SCHOOL INDIE WARS TP (02 Dec 2020) Antarctic Press BETTIE PAGE #2 (Variant Cover) (May 2019) Dynamite Comics AVENGERS: NO SURRENDER #1 (28 Jun 2018) Marvel Comics LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES: INFINITE TIMELINE (Oct 2013) art by Jason Metcalfe and Bob Almond SUPERMAN KLASSIK #4 (Germany) (1991) Ehapa Verlag

Vu's Crisis Collection (I have more, this is just a small sample).

Read more Comic Book.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

BOOX Note Air 3 C Review

BOOX Note Air 3 C Read More eInk I just bought the BOOX Note Air 3 C, the color eInk tablet for reading comics. The eReader arrived today, so I’m playing around with it and my first impression is that I made a terrible mistake. ....

As I previously mentioned, I bought the BOOX Note Air 3 C, the color eInk tablet, primarily for reading comic books. Even though the tablet was recently released in October, 2023, none of the reviewers actually touch on reading comics or magazines.

For comic book readers, you’re going to have to use the Kindle App. Several years ago, Amazon bought out their comic competition, ComiXology, and slowly dismantled the company and took their guided-view technology.

While the Kindle App works incredibly well on the iPad Pro, it was not usable on the Boox Note Air. The app was designed to do all sorts of animation and make transitioning page to page beautiful with its lifting pages, etc… just does not work at all on eInk. In fact, any sort of animation, moving pictures, will suffer because eInk cannot refresh fast enough, so you will constantly see the previous images (called ‘ghosting’).

I spent my first day tweaking the Kindle App, changing the refresh mode, changing saturation, changing brightness… nothing worked.

I can’t take the credit for it, as I was looking for answers on my phone and saw that someone else had figured it out. He is not a Kindle App comic reader, so he bought a 99-cent comic to test out. He was appalled by the ghosting. He was able to make it usable by going into the e-Ink center in the Control Center drop-down, and selecting Refresh Mode: Regal, and under More Settings, changing the value of Animation filter time to 300. I don’t understand why it works, but it does work! This setting saved me from going insane.

This brings me to the software that runs Boox. There is a bug in the operating system (OS) that is preventing Kindle from full refresh page every page. No matter what setting you use, it just won’t force refresh.

The OS is actually Google’s Android 12, but it has a Boox custom user overlay. They basically stripped out animation and kept it to a minimalist look of blue, black, or white. Unfortunately, some things didn’t work for me. For example, the default Onyx keyboard has the return key (the Enter key) as the lower-right key (below the right shift key), which doesn’t make any sense from someone who is trained on a US layout that the Enter key is above the Shift Key. I think it is because Onyx is from China, and we’re losing some things in the translation.

There are quite a few ways to get comics onto your device. Most people, like me, will just have Kindle re-download comics on you own on the device. It has ‘whispersync’ so it’ll remember where you were last at, if you read on a variety of devices.

If you have your own PDF or CBR files, you can ‘Booxdrop’ (air drop or wireless transfer) or plug in your Boox into your PC or you can pre-load these files on a MicroSD card. Boox is pretty flexible about allowing you to add or remove files.

Boox comes with its native reader called Onyx Reader, which works really well on the tablet, because it was design specifically for eInk. You can always download your favorite comic book reader, I can recommend CDisplayEx, which costs $5 on the Google App Store.

Having read a few comics on the Boox, I can tell you the best-looking ones are the books that uses muted, earth-toned colors, or black and white comics (such as manga). Books like V For Vendetta looks amazing on eInk, simply because David Lloyd’s artwork uses a washed-out light color that complements his art style. Same thing can be said for Batman: Year One (the current re-colored collection), as the colors looks like it was water-based and the palette is dark, muddy, and dirty, which works well with David Mazzucchelli’s inky Alex Toth-style.

Starfire (vuart)

What doesn’t look good are colorful, bright comic books, like traditional super-heroes in bright colorful costumes. It just won’t translate well on color eInk. It has potential, and I can see a future, when the technology gets better, that you can see a true representation of actual real colors. To give you an example, I’ve taken a photo of a sketch that I see on the tablet. When you export the photo and see it on a real screen, the colors aren’t even close!

If you just want a tablet for reading books only, I think the Kindle Scribe (even at the expensive $340) is your best option with the latest Carta eInk technology. I saw it with my own eyes, the black and white is true white contrast to the black eInk. For reading comic books, the best experience has been with my iPad Pro 12.9, simply because it’s speedy and on a very large beautiful display. The Boox just cannot match the iPad.

The only reason why you would even consider the Boox Note Air 3 C (the C stands for Color), is that you want color eInk. eInk is pretty amazing. The way it works is once the image is rendered, the display stays that way… like printed paper. Since it’s like paper, you need to be in a bright room or use a lamp. The Boox has a built-in glow light, which you will constantly need to use.

After all my negative experience with eInk, if you’re still interested in getting your own eInk tablet… just understand that the color tech isn’t quite ready for prime time. Go in with your expectations in check.

For me, once I got Kindle to work, I was pretty happy with it. As soon as the Gallery 3 (the 32,000-color display) is available in a larger 10-inch or larger screen, I will be first in line to purchase that. The current 7-inch screen is just too small for a full-page comic book. I can say this with confidence, as text on some comics are too small on a 10 inch (but is readable on my 12.9-inch iPad). That two or three inches makes a huge difference.

Pros Size: Modern comics are about 10x6.5 inches, so the larger the tablet, the better Portability: Bring as many books as you can as long as you have the storage Print: Standard readable print is 300dpi, and Boox’s color is 150dpi Battery: Since eInk technology uses very little electricity, you get really good battery life. Notes: You can write and draw notes and it works pretty well. Google: I believe this is one of the first eInk tablet to use the Google App store. MicroSD: Expandable storage up to 2TB.

Cons Speed: By modern tablet, eInk is very, very slow. Colors: It’s great that we have color, but it does not look good due to 150dpi and limited to 4,000 colors. Ghosting: It doesn’t bother some people, but I absolutely cannot stand it Dead Pixels: On my device, I see four dead pixels Price: eInk technology is still expensive. The latest iPad (10 inch) costs less than Boox Note Air 3 C. Software: Settings and features are not always clear in what they do. Buttons: There are no physical buttons, except for the fingerprint power button. Accessories: Lack of accessories. For example, you can only get one type of cover

Here is a break down for prices:

• $500 - BOOX Note Air 3 C
• $500 - Bigme inkNote Color Lite
• $340 - Kindle Scribe
• $560 - iPad Pro 2020 (Used)

I’m probably more excited to get Gallery 3 or some newer color eInk and get a much larger color palette to work with. Perhaps with better technology to prevent ghosting. Check out color comparison between Kaleido 3 vs Gallery 3 at YouTube.

Yours,

Weekend Gamer

Book vs Boox vs iPad

Read more Weekend Gamer and Technology.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com