The entire piece was designed and art-directed by our own Derek CRITICAL MESS Miner. Here's an advance look at the entire piece, shrunken down to blurry and eye-straining size (come see us at the booth if you want to see it life-size).

All that and three staples, too! Plus it'll be full-color and available (bagged and boarded, 'natch) only at the SD Con for the price of a shiny dollar (grimy dollars accepted, too). There's only 2,500 copies in existence, but if we have any left over after the show, I'll make them available to anyone who wants one through the site as well.

Other than the chance to join the ranks of the shilling, we invite you to come by the Poop Askew booth to just come say hi. After sitting in our respective hovels and typing away for a year, it's nice to be able to put some faces with names (or even screen names). And now you'll have your chance to try to convince us to our faces that FAMILY GUY does not, in fact, really suck (good luck)!

Attending the con this year on behalf of the Poop Shoot, in addition to myself, will be:

Webmaster Extraordinaire Ming Chen; The MONKEY MAN team of Brian Lynch and Jon Sukarangsan; the PATCHOULI team of Brian Lynch and Jessica Milazzo; COMICS 101/news guy Scott Tipton, CRITICAL MESS's Derek Miner; BREAKDOWNS' Chris Allen; TITLE BOUT/Poop Shoot ex-pat A.K.; DETECTIVE BOOGALOO's Jamar Nicholas; HUNTED DOWN's Greg Waller and possible appearances by Scott "KENTUCKY FRIED RASSLIN'" Bowden, Thom "ABOUT TOWN/OFF THE RADAR" Fowler and Antony "RENAISSANCE MAN" Teofilo, too. We're not going to be on any real set schedule throughout the show, but some of us will always be at the booth, and the more artistically inclined will be signing and sketching on your POOP SHOOT CONFIDENTIAL piece if you'd like, too.

In addition, our own Charles Foster Kane, Kevin Smith, will be in attendance, doing a panel and hanging at the booth (and if you heard about the mob scene in Philly for his last signing, you might want to show up early for this one). Kevin's official schedule so far looks to be this:

Of course, these schedules are always changing, so make sure to check the Con site or View Askew for any updates. And for word on any View Askew-related products featured at the Con (like the Steve-Dave and Walt the Fanboy - Comic-Con International Exclusive Inaction Figures).

As for the show itself, you can find the complete schedule at the above link, so I won't single out all the things that sound interesting to me. However, if I can mention one thing that you'd be well advised to attend, it's this:

Now, this recommendation has nothing to do with the content of the Lucasfilm panel--they typically reveal very little and spend time answering questions from irate, geeky fans. But the panel is an extra half-hour long this year, and with good reason -- the last half-hour is taken up with a performance of Patrick Gorman's STAR WARS IN 30 MINUTES play. I've seen this twice now in L.A. (it just recently closed after getting extended multiple times) and reviewed it back in December. It's really one of the funniest, most amusing half-hours you can spend, and if you're at all a fan of the original trilogy, it should absolutely kill you. The times I've seen it, it was in a pretty small venue, and sometimes moving to a larger stage can affect a performance's intimacy, so I'd recommend trying your best to jockey for a seat up front -- it's well worth your time, and is so damn funny without being insulting to the source material. [UPDATED JULY 16: The Friday performance of SW30 has been changed to Thursday night after the STAR WARS Fan Awards -- check out the Comicon Web site for specifics.]

Also, later that day, FILM THREAT's Chris Gore has asked me to sit on the same panel I did last year, too, so I'll be doing that early Friday evening, if anyone's looking for a way to kill an hour and a half at the end of the day. Last year when I did it, the site was maybe two or three weeks old, so I didn't have much to say other than I thought sites like Film Threat who fell back on the "typos are part of the game since our news is so current" excuse were just lazy asses. Yep, get me on a panel about writing about movies for the Web and I'll turn it into a discussion about spelling and grammar. Exciting stuff. At least since that last panel, the site's gotten an entire year's worth of experience, cease-and-desist orders (1) and hate mail/death threats (25+), so there's more to talk about. And the line-up of guys on this panel should make for an interesting time, so if you're so inclined, here's the info:

FRIDAY, JULY 18
MOVIE WEBMASTERS UNLOADED, 5;30-7pm, Room 2 (video/dvd)
Join us for heated discussions with the world's most outspoken movie maniacs of the web! This year's panel promises to dwarf all others as we discuss film franchises like LOTR, Star Wars, The Matrix Trilogy and the future of entertainment coverage online. Moderated by FilmThreat.com's Chris Gore. Room 2. Panelists include:

T3: After the Hype

If you're a fan of movies and comics, or just a fan of the TERMINATOR flicks, I'd just like to mention that there's some new T3 comics hitting the stands (and the video stores and Waldenbooks and other places outside of just the typical comic shops). Beckett Publishing, who most people know as the publishers of Baseball Card Price Guides and Pokemon magazines, have recently gotten into the comic business, too. They got the TERMINATOR license away from Dark Horse Comics, who hadn't really done anything of note with it in years. Well, Beckett's now putting out comics set in and around T3.

The first one's on the stands now, and I just got the second from the company -- it's called TERMINATOR 3: BEFORE THE RISE, and it tells the tale of how John Conners' troops captured the T-101 (Arnold) that they reprogrammed and sent back into the past. I should mention that the book's written by a friend of mine, Ivan Brandon, a newcomer to comics (and the guy whose place I crashed at in NY for the big engagement last January). However, I'm not biased enough, and didn't sleep comfortably enough, to turn my head to shoddy storytelling, so I wouldn't mention this if I didn't also think it was a really good comic. Brandon's got a really solid sense of pacing and knows how to keep things moving and not let the words get in the way of good visual storytelling. I have to say, on one hand, it's really nice to see that a guy I know and like has this kind of talent right from the start -- these aren't just "fan" comics, they're produced with the full cooperation of the studio and even Arnold himself -- and on the other hand, it's just nice to read a good TERMINATOR comic. I'm not really big on the movie-to-comics adaptations but this one's really solid and helps flesh out the story without spoiling anything in the movie. the next two volumes in this initial launch, by Miles Gunter and Mike Hawthorne, two other guys I like a lot, focus on the story of T3 as seen through the eyes of the T-X. Subsequent tales will pick up after the end of T3. Just one thing for you to check out while you're down at the show -- Ivan and Miles will be around the Beckett booth, signing and kibbutzing.

What If We Threw a Contest and No One Came?

Wow, and I really thought an offer of multiple free McFarlane toys might entice some people. But our last contest really friggin' bombed. I mean, seriously, there were just zero (okay, three) entries. Which, I guess the good news is, everyone who entered won. Maybe after THE MATRIX RELOADED, no one cared about winning MATRIX toys?

At any rate, thanks to the folks who entered--we'll see you in SD to pick up your prizes. The contest itself asked for your best con story and con picture, and the winning entries would have no doubt won even if there'd been a surplus of entries (ha!). So if you'd like to read the winning entries and see the pics they submitted, click here Otherwise, if you neglected to enter but still want some free swag when you swing by the booth, just ask for some McFarlane toys and we'll hand 'em out as long as they last (which, based on the contest entries, just might be until 2006 or so).

As for the rest of this week...well, we should be fine through Wednesday at least. The next two days, I'll do my best to make it so that no one outside of the San Diego area knows that all of us are spending our entire days drunk and pestering the Porn Alley women -- we should still have daily news and columns as always. BUT...if things slip, well, it's because there's pretty much no good 'Net connection at the show itself and the hotel room connections are always an adventure. So we'll see.

On the other hand, if it's comics news and stories you'd like, check back with us all weekend and next week, too. I'll try to give daily updates on Friday and Saturday at least, and Scott Tipton will be working down there, too. And so will Newsarama chief, Matt Brady, so there should be more comics news and information (with pictures, too) than you're comfortable with.

Hopefully you'll get a chance to come by the booth--we'd love to meet ya. Enjoy the con!

Counting Down

With Marvel Comics's recent launch of EPIC COMICS, an imprint designed to cultivate new talent and present comics by unknowns, the timing seems right for a DVD offering a behind-the-scenes look at creating comics. So the timing of COUNTDOWN TO WEDNESDAY, a DVD co-produced by Top Cow (an imprint of Image Comics that produces comics such as RISING STARS and WITCHBLADE), is very fortuitous.

COUNTDOWN TO WEDNESDAY (available in retail and comic book stores nationwide on August 6, but available for pre-order through, well, tomorrow at CountdownToWednesday.com for $17.99 instead of the suggested retail price of $19.99) is going to be available at the San Diego Comic Con later this week, at the Image Comics booth (#1715). The DVD features top comic book veterans sharing their advice about how to make it in the business, including interviews with Stan Lee, Paul Dini, Steve Niles, Mark Waid and Marc Silvestri, among others. There's also interviews with comic book editors, writers, artists and even sales & distribution execs, who offer advice on how to handle submissions, their thoughts on self-publishing and tips on how to successfully market a comic book.

About the DVD, Roger Micheff, the Executive Producer, says, "Comic book characters have served as the inspiration for some of the biggest films, television shows and video games of all time. The COUNTDOWN TO WEDNESDAY DVD is the first time anyone has peeled back the curtain and given the audience a candid behind-the-scenes look at the medium which has inspired their favorite titles."

(Incidentally, for those not in the know, the title refers to the day of the week in which new comics hit the stands.)

The DVD cover, pictured here, lists many of the involved creators and some famous comics. It seemed a little presumptuous and obvious for a Top Cow-produced video to list lesser titles like their own WITCHBLADE or THE DARKNESS on the cover just as prominently as institutions like SPIDER-MAN or THE FANTASTIC FOUR. Still, the creators who worked on these books are included (for the most part) in this DVD, so I won't let this little act of hubris and self-promotion cloud my opinion of the disc itself.

The DVD opens on Stan Lee telling you that if you're a creative type, you can't help writing--it's in you. You have to do it, and you'll keep doing it. Cut then to Jim McLauchlin, Editor-in-Chief of Top Cow (and Lord High Wizard magazine guy, too), musing over whether or not there's enough work in the comics industry for new talent to break in (he thinks there is, depending on what you're willing to do, which may or may not mean dressing as a large, human-sized Bunny and answering fan mail for WIZARD magazine). Matt Hawkins, President of Top Cow, talks briefly about what I think is one of the more interesting and unique facets of the comics business--the relative closeness between creators and fans. Sure, this can lead to fans saying terrible things to, say, Kevin Smith that they'd never have a chance to say to, say, Stephen King, but overall, the personal interaction and chance to meet creators is pretty unique amongst most pop culture institutions.

The first sub-category covered is WRITING and while writers like Mark Waid and Paul Dini are heard from, this being a Top Cow-produced video, we get to hear from a LOT of Cow personnel, from Mark Silvestri on down to editors and artists you'd be hard-pressed to cite work from -- this isn't bad, because everyone in the business has something to say, but I'd definitely rather hear what Paul Dini has to say about writing comics than Editor Renae Geerling (or even David Wohl, who said "the writer is...the writer.").

Next is Breaking In -- Stan Lee and others agree that writing is harder to break in than art, of course, but as Steve Niles says, you stick with it -- you keep writing. You take classes that help with storytelling, you read (things other than just comics), the usual things you normally hear. This DVD doesn't really break new ground as far as tips, but hearing Mark Waid talk about how William Goldman's ADVENTURES IN THE SCREEN TRADE helped him with structure and dialogue shows you that if some books are helpful to pros, they could be helpful to you.

Submissions is the area covered next, and again, writing is a bit of a struggle -- Mark Waid's of the opinion that having an artist friend of yours illustrate a script makes a pitch an easier read for an editor. Most everyone agreed that talking to editors at a comic con is a great way to go -- you can get immediate feedback, you can get tips from writers, artists and editors and you can share information with like-minded aspiring creators.

The Marvel Method of writing is discussed, and Stan still seems to prefer that method (And why not? it seems to have worked pretty well for him so far), although most everyone else prefers to work full script. The thing is, over the course of a half-hour and hour of this DVD, the aggregate comments are pretty helpful to newcomers -- Waid and Dini are particularly helpful, and David Wohl recovers from the sound byte mentioned above with some good advice of his own. Jim McLauchlin has also seen quite a bit of new submissions in his day, and his comments are pretty helpful as well (but man, does he move his hands around a lot while talking).

Mark Waid then spends some time on the art of writing a good pitch, and that part is VERY helpful to writers -- lots of people will throw together a script itself but not know how to properly interest anyone in what they've written. Well, that's where a concise pitch comes in, and Waid, and then David Wohl, have some good pointers there.

The focus then turns to ART, and again, the consensus is that conventions are the best place to peddle your wares. Of course, Marc Silvestri and others really push for art school to help you learn how to draw the human form -- the Joe Kubert School, one of the more respected artists schools, now offers correspondence courses so artists anywhere can drop a couple hundred bucks and get proper schooling. The video also mentions a half-dozen books that are worthwhile for artists, inkers and colorists.

The video also discusses unpaid internships and how they can be helpful and lead to other things, so if there's any trust-fund babies who want to work their up from the bottom, that can be beneficial, too. Overall, the DVD is somewhat beneficial -- again, it's not that it reveals deep secrets and sure-fire ways to break in, because of course there are none -- but it DOES reinforce things you know and cites specific examples from specific creators, which is better than just hearing a voice in your own head tell you these same things.

If the Writing portion isn't necessarily overwhelming, the Art chapters are very helpful. This isn't a deficiency of the video, per se -- writing is as much an instinctual process as it is a learned one, but Art, penciling and inking and coloring, are much more techincal crafts that professionals can explain in detail. And they do--Silvestri's words are especially helpful, as are the discussions of specific books and tools of the trade. Marc doesn't shy away from telling you the upside and the downside of the job, and he's been around the business long enough to know how to ride one and how to ride out the other -- at the end of it all, no matter how much you love your work, it'll feel like a job some days, and it's important not to let that affect your long-term output. From there, the video even covers the post-production side, which looks to be a good entry into the business as well--it's a way to learn all the steps involved in the process and figure out which skill you're most interested in honing.

The DVD cover art, set up like a comic book, shows this DVD as "issue number one" -- the accompanying materials and the video itself don't mention anything about subsequent volumes, and this one was pretty all-inclusive, but if there were other areas to approach, or other available creators to talk to, I'd think they'd be equally welcome and beneficial as this one. In all, it's 110 minutes well-spent. But now that you've watched this, turn the TV off and get writing. Or pencilling, inking or coloring. Nothing like practical application of what you've just watched to truly gain the necessary experience.

To read more information and to pre-order the DVD, check out the COUNTDOWN TO WEDNESDAY Web site.

/chris

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