Well, I feel silly. I was trying to look up one of the books referenced in the script, and ye olde Google pointed out what I'd missed when I originally hit the Reefer Madness website: They have a propaganda page with excerpts from some of their source material. Click the link above if you're interested in just how crazed folks got trying to take on "The Demon Weed."

Tags: recommendations, theatre

So, random link-surfing from looking up stuff on Dr. Horrible lead me to Felicia Day's The Guild. I'm only in the middle of the third episode and I've laughed out loud a few too many times. I don't want to spoil any gags, so here, watch the first ep:



More at the link above.

Tags: recommendations

I've been following the growing discussion on lit crit and webcomics over at Websnark because, well, I'm still a lit crit geek. Duh. Anyway, Ursula Vernon (of Digger and gearworld fame) has some of my favorite entries. On the lit crit / fan fic connection:

For people with a literary background, who can speak with authority about literary devices and actually know who Balzac was, this sort of criticism can be FUN. Frustrating, tough, sure, granted, geeky, hell yeah, but it's basically an English major equivalent of arguing about where access panels on the Enterprise were located. It is an expression of passion for the form, in the idiom that these people enjoy. It's all about The Love, or at least an analysis of why The Love failed in this particular case.

Better still, Ursula gets the Best Metaphor award in the secondary discussion that's developed there re: the place of authorial intent:

The only way to make your interpretation stick is to stand next to the canvas and grab each viewer by the lapels and scream "THIS IS WHAT I MEAN!" Even that's only got a fifty-fifty shot. Merely posting an explanation won't do it. Once you do art, it goes out into the wide world, a tender, trembling doe-eyed image, stepping on delicate little Bambi-like hooves through the grasses of sweet innocence, and then the viewers jump on it and mug it. You find your painting in [a] pool of vomit in a back alley a few hours later, with two black eyes, torn clothes, reeking of booze, and the only thing still IN its wallet is your artist's statement.

Much, much more at the link. Part of the reason I haven't jumped in is because I don't think I have it in me to read all of it, but even skimming, it's some good stuff. If you're so inclined, take a look.

Tags: art, criticism, recommendations, webcomics

I just found out via Websnark that Ursula Vernon's Digger is temporarily free in its entirety over at Graphic Smash.

Do me a favor. I promise not to sit here subjecting you to my heavily selling the comic if you'll start here and try the first six pages. Seriously, if you aren't hooked by then, no hard feelings. If you are, well, then I told you so. Nyah.

Tags: recommendations, webcomics

Have I mentioned how "on" Adrian Ramos' Count Your Sheep has been lately? It was iffy for a little while, as suddenly Katie and company were doing meta-riffs on the fact that they lived in a comic strip. But lately, it's all good. From age-appropriate British punk to single panel gender role jokes, I'm loving it. Take a peek, maybe bookmark it, even.

Tags: recommendations, webcomics

It's that time again, when I get my butt in gear and update my links. This time out:

The Power Pack(ed) Fansite changes URLs yet again. I'm guessing this is the internet version of all those power switches. Am I right?

One new online comic makes the sidebar: Rich Burlew's Order of the Stick. The premise ("What if characters in a roleplaying game knew what the rules were?") has a limited audience, I'll admit. If you don't have a basic knowledge of how roleplaying game mechanics work (D&D specifically), most of the punchlines fall pretty flat. My many giggles on perusing the archives lay bare my dark past as a high school gamer
(and occasional dabbler since), but it's a shame I'll live with because I'm hopelessly addicted to this strip now.


In blogs, I've noticed three new regular stops I'm making:

I want to steal The Pickytarian's visual art criticism vocabulary. I'll settle for burying him under the three extra people's worth of bandwidth I can send his way.

David Welsh is the self-proclaimed Precocious Curmudgeon. He has a nice balance of manga and Western comics commentary, and he's linked to a fair number of columns and blog entries I've found interesting but would otherwise have missed.

Two Davids this time out. The second is David Carter. And while he's christened his place on the web Yet Another Comics Blog, I find it a nice oasis of thoughtful reviews and intermittent industry commentary that always maintains a level head.

Tags: blogs, design, recommendations

Okay, Mr. Burns may not find it worth a biscuit, but I say Adrian Ramos deserves a whole basket for today's Count Your Sheep. This is the follow up to Monday's strip, where Katie gets herself a cause bracelet. Ramos manages to mix social satire with a fun kid-logic moment all at the same time. Strips like these are why he's on my sidebar links. Check it out.

Tags: recommendations, webcomics

I continue to get a giddy kick out of New Thunderbolts (#5 hit stores this week), though every time I try to explain it I wind up feeling like I'm not doing it justice. I guess--it just feels like Nicieza and Busiek are having outrageous fun grabbing every toy they can get ahold of, throwing it in the mix, then breaking it as quickly as they can.

The previous series was about redemption in a very earnest way. This time out, while that's mulling about in places, Nicieza and Busiek seem to be taking (and I am probably going to have my head handed to me for suggesting this) a Morrisonesque hand to the premise.

Mostly, it's like this: Yeah, yeah. They were villains. They want a second chance. You know the drill. You also know they aren't going to get there if the writers can help it, since then there's no point. So let's not dwell, but instead have fun bringing the walls down around these people. That's really what you're here for. If you wanted heroes who were going to triumph against adversity and find the noble core of humanity, you'd be reading Fantastic Four or JSA.

Plus, I find this book genuinely funny. Not in that "take five pages and seven hundred word balloons to get to the punchline" Bendis way (which I do appreciate on USM, but that's not this book). The funny here happens faster and has a mean-spirited edge to it that works in a book about criminals. Whether they want to be "good guys" or not, it's hard to shrug off the jaded worldview that had you doing the "bad guy" shtick for so long.

New Thunderbolts is turning out to be a far more frantic and engrossing read than I ever would have expected. If online attention is any indication, there should be back issues floating around your local shop. Or just be brave and jump right into the middle of the chaotic fun with the latest offering.

Tags: comics, recommendations, reviews

You know, I'm going to miss Homeschool Joe when the current Li'l Mell and Sergio storyline wraps up. Nearly boiled alive, running for his life in the dark, the cute socially impaired boy still manages to spout useless trivia. Gotta love a kid who sticks to his strengths.

Tags: recommendations, webcomics

Okay, it's great stuff like this that makes me glad I added Eric Burns' Websnark to my blog links:

I don't blame the syndicates for what's happening to the newspaper page. I don't blame them at all. I think that, when you consider they're a business making business decisions, the situation we've found ourselves in was inevitable. And I know one of the major reasons it happened, and I know the people responsible.

And their names are Breathed, Watterson, and Larson.

It's a long analysis of how rebel cartoonists burning high but fast left the comics page worse off, not better, when they were gone. Good, juicy stuff. I want to make some sort of parallel to comic books, to Marvel and DC and creator exclusives and the like, but right now I think I just need to digest. But please, take a look if you're curious, and maybe I'll have something more cogent to say when you're done.

Tags: blogs, comics, commentary, recommendations