Category Archives: Comics

New Checks

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Just before the AnimeBoston/Botcon combo hit me, I ran out of checks to pay bills.

This might be the first time in roughly five years or more that I’ve run out of checks. I think the second time ever. Last time, there was a little slip at the back of the last checkbook to order a new set of checks. No such luck this time around. I went online to check my account and as I suspected there was an option there to order more checks. I went through the motions and soon I was at the part where I selected the background of the check. They didn’t have the same amazingly bland and boring background I had before, so I looked through each design set. There were maybe 50 different sets. Naturally as soon as I saw the design below, I knew which set to choose. The landlady is going to love these.

IDW loves the homage

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IDW has done many variant covers for quite a few of their published (comic) books. One in particular has gained quite a bit of fanfare over its creativity

Seen above on the left is a variant cover for All Hail Megatron #1. It was drawn by Casey Coller and is an exclusive to a UK comic book store called Apocalypse Comics. Apparently the brilliant idea for this homage to the classic ‘The Killing Joke’ cover (above, right) came straight from Apocalypse Comics themselves. Casey got the opportunity for this after winning a TF fan-artist contest on IDW’s message board. He has since done work on both covers and interior pages for some Transformers books. Casey was apparently going through some stuff when he was commissioned for this piece. You can read more about that here, if you so desire. It should be noted for non-Transformers fans, that the camera is actually a Decepticon named Reflector. He is comprised of three different robots; Viewfinder, Spyglass, and Spectro.

All that aside, it appears that IDW is taking another stab at a classic cover homage with one of their Star Trek books. I believe this book is an alternate reality (a sort of ‘What if?’ style of book). This one seems a lot less creative and on the money, as it were, as The Killing Joke cover, but judge for yourself. Click to enlarge.

 

The original cover (on the right) is, of course, the classic Uncanny X-Men 141. This issue marked the Days of Future Past storyline. Here is a blurb on the book:

In November, we’re kicking off an all-new STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION series. This one is set in the Myriad Universe, Pocket Books’ new line of “what-if?” tales. The comic is called STAR TREK TNG: THE LAST GENERATION. Details will be forthcoming, but for now, here’s J.K. Woodward’s variant cover for the issue, and his inspiration for the image. Full art and colors by JK.

Birthday 2008 Part 1: The Big Haul

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Year to year, I have to admit, I’ve had some pretty good birthdays.

Part of this might be due to summer weather or no school or one of a dozen other reasons.

Last year kind of sucked. Things were pretty busy and I didn’t think about it until it was too late to plan anything. Rather than do nothing at home by myself on my birthday, I just figured I’d come into work. It didn’t occur to me how many people on the team would be on vacation or that most of the rest would forget, but work I did that day with little to no mention of a birthday. I ended up needing to stay late to work on something to top it all off.

Not this year. This year I promised myself something better. In talks with Davidson, he had mentioned a friend of his doing a variation of a pub crawl, but something slightly more geeky. Geek happens to be my specialty. About a month ahead of time, I sent an email out to all of my very geeky friends. I outlined a two day event of epic proportions to herald this grand celebration of my birth.

On Saturday, August 16th, we would go to Randolph and catch a movie and from there move along the Red Line hitting up the New England Comics in Quincy and Harvard Sq., Newbury Comics in its multiple locations and top it off with Comikazi in Davis Square. Afterwards, we would grab some dinner and retire for the night.

On Sunday the 17th (my actual birthday), we would get an early morning toy run to Toy Vault in before heading back to the house, where we would then play Mario Kart Wii, Smash Bros. Brawl and Rock Band until all hours of the night while grilling up some food.

Things didn’t go quite according to plan.
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Comics: Transformers Megatron Origin TPB

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I recently purchased the Transformers: Megatron Origin TPB on Amazon as part of a larger order. I avoid the Transformers books in the comic shops because its an all or nothing deal. If I picked up any of the books, I’d have to pick up all of the books. That means every issue and every variant cover. When I am a fan of something, I tend to be obsessive. In this case, I normally wait for the trade paperbacks because not only does it include all the issues, but it also includes all the covers and variant covers, in addition to some concept art or commentary by the artists and/or writers. Its usually the better deal if you are willing to wait.

The story started out in a mining facility where Megatron was just another grunt. A senator visited saying they were shutting the mine down and that all the workers would be reassigned. Your typical upper class vs. lower class societal struggle plot. The announcement triggered a riot by the miners, who were then all attacked by security officers to quell the uprising. They were all arrested, but the prisoners broke free and fled underground, eventually forming or joining an illegal arena fight club of sorts. Megatron, naturally dominated the circuit and things escalated from there.
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