Political stuff..

Ok, we're going to travel down this road... dangerous territory, puts brother against brother. POLITICAL STUFF!!!!

So, I don't know what I'd conceder myself, I don't 100% agree with any party (and I would hope that unless you're a brainless sheep you'd all have something you don't agree with your political alignment!) I guess I lean toward the Democratic party, but honestly, I get all of my information from 3 places : Imus in the Morning (in the morning commute of course), CNN.com (during the day), and whatever random news station I land on (at night). So I wouldn't say I'm well informed of the issues, but I do know of them, and like everyone I have my own opinion. Now, I'm an open minded person (being a Libra gives me that superpower) and I'll never say I'm 100% right, I just don't have enough of the facts to make a stupid statement like that... but I will say things, and you may or may not agree, and that's fine.

I think a lot of times people mistake debate for arguing. I'm not trying to change your opinion about anything, I'm just tryin' to give you the information that I have (however flawed it may be). So, if you want to debate issues, go for it, I'll gladly admit something's wrong when it's pointed out and backed up with some sort of proof.
So, let's just start out with a big one.

Abortion : Yep, I'm for a woman's right to choose. There are to many variables to this equation to just flat out say "NO". I mean, do you want some 16 year old homeless crack head who's been raped to have a kid? Yeah, I'm sure that kid's life is going to be full of sun and flowers. You can't just say "NO ABORTIONS" it's just not that simple.

Gay Rights : I'm for Gay Rights, let them get married, or civil unionized or whatever, just give those couples the same rights ever strait couple has. It's just love people, come on, I like Mayo on my Pizza, what's that, you don't... well, let's take away all your rights for Pizza. There, you never get Pizza again, because you don't agree with me. Oh, now I'm sounding unreasonable? Yeah... Gay couples love each other just as much as you love your mate, that's a personal preference, one which you shouldn't have a say in. It's not right that some gay couples have been together for decades, but say one of them dies... the other gets squat. It's just not right. And don't tell me you don't believe in gays because the bible says it's wrong... cause that leads me to my next point...

Separation of Church and State : Keep these two apart!!! Oh, sure if you're a Christian, everything is hunky dory (great Bowie album by the way) but last I checked this country was founded by more than just Christians, wasn't one of the points of makin' that long boat ride to have religious freedom, and here we are tryin' to tie God back into our Government. I don't mind that the President is a Christian, but I wouldn't care if he were a Buddhist, Jew, Atheist, or (gasp) Muslim. It just doesn't matter to me, as long as they keep those believes to themselves. What if we had a Hindu in office, you (if you're not Hindu) would be pretty upset if they wanted to change all the currency to say "In Vishnu we trust". What? You're telling me that'll never happen? Let's play what if Islam is the 2nd largest religion in the world, now it's possible that it could take over as the top religion and maybe some day the majority of the US population could be Muslim. So, when an Islamic leader is elected, things are going to change, the Christians will be in the minority, and because you didn't vote for a stronger separation of church and state, you've opened the door to some other religious affiliation to stomp all over your rights. But you know what, you made your bed, now lay in it. I don't think they should be praying in schools, or have "one nation under god" in the pledge, The pledge was written in 1892 by the socialist Francis Bellamy...Its wording omitted reference not only to God but also, interestingly, to the United States. Oh, and by the way, I'm a Christian, so it's not like I'm tryin' to sneak in my own religion in there... I'm already in, I just don't want to step on everyone else because they don't believe the way I do.

Damn, my lunch break's over, I could go on and on for hours.... I'll save some for later... we'll talk about the War, won't that be fun :P

COMICS!!!

In honor of yesterday being "New Comic Book Day" (for all you non-comic dorks out there, Comic books come out on Wednesday) I'm going to yack on endlessly about Comic Books today.
First off I got so many comics yesterday...
Invincible, Savage Dragon, The Walking Dead, The New Avengers, The Thing, and the Blue Beatle (ok, so that's not that many, but I'm super picky about what I pick up, so it's a lot for me.)
Now it's ranting time...
Ok, I am a superhero nut. You give me characters in capes and tights shooting lasers out of their eyes and I'm a happy camper. Heck, when I have to draw everyday people doing everyday things in establishing shots or whatnot, I imagine they are all superheroes (© TM Marvel and DC Comics) in their day clothes. So it turns those boring settings into a powder keg waitin' to explode! Anyway, I grew up on Marvel comics, I was a Marvel Zombie (not the flesh eating kind Kirkman's writing about, more of the Fanatic that can't get enough Marvel goodness!) When I started reading comics I was getting John Byrne and Chris Claremont's Classic X-men, the Simonsons were doing X-Factor, Ron Frenz on Thor, Alan Davis on Excalibur, and who could forget the incredible Guide to the Marvel Universe Handbooks?!?! It was awesome, every week I'd take my $5 allowance and go pick up a bunch of them. I watched Thor battle Loki, and Wolverine fight Sabretooth, and the FF against Doctor Doom. It was so cool, battles every issue, but not only were there battles there was their every day life, the X-men played baseball, who's involved with who, and so on, it was a soap opera. Life was simple, and I liked it, big brawls every month, and just the right amount of personal stuff in there. A well balanced comic. So about 8 years ago I pretty much stopped getting Marvel comics. The good artists were mostly replaced with a "flavor of the month" kinda guy, who'd stick around for 4 or 5 issues and then move on or drop out or whatever, a lot of guys seemed to be clones of "popular" artists, but they all just seemed like 2nd rate knock offs to me, so I lost interest.
Jump to the present, over the last couple years, it's seemed that the trend at Marvel is to tell really long stories that nothing happens in. I'm sure the stories are wonderfully written, and the art is good, but there's no fighting, issues without the hero in costume, or worse heroes fighting *blech* regular ol' every day terrorists, or guys with guns, or base villains. And a creative team stay on the book for one story arch... what happened to runs of 20, 30, 100 issues on a book? If the creative team doesn't have any loyalty to a book, why should I? I don't want to see Person B's vision of the FF for 10 issues only to have Person C overwrite or ignore everything Person B did. Now, maybe at this point some of you are making a list of books that you feel did a good job at not doing any of the things I said... do I hear an Ultimate Spiderman? Yes, there are a couple out there that were I'm sure OK, but I'm not a big Spidey fan, he's cool and all, but I just can't get into him. Sure, when he's fighting the Sinister Six, I'm right next to him (in the regular universe, not the Ultimate universe) but otherwise, I'm just not that interested.
Ok, so now's we move the present present... like within the last 1 year or so. Marvel seems to be coming back around to having fun Superhero books again! Dan Slott's first run on She Hulk has to be in my top 10 favorite runs of all time. Loved it, it was funny, good art, it had battles, but was still a smart book. It had balance, the thing Marvel's been missing for the last couple years is that Balance. Two years ago, I take my kid to the comic store to get him a comic. He likes the Hulk.... so we're lookin' around, and he sees the hulk comic, so I pick it up, flip through it, and guess what... no freakin' hulk, so I got to the issue before, no hulk, for like 3 or 4 issues there was no hulk, just Bruce Banner!?!? Sure, he's on the cover, and maybe he shows up for a panel or 2, but he didn't fight anyone. Anyway... now I'm seeing Dr. Doom w/ Thor's hammer, and this Civil War thing is kind of interesting (at least after reading New Avengers it does) But do I want to start caring again? It's like an ex-girlfriend that comes knockin' on your door years later after she dumped you and stepped on your heart. You've moved on, you've got a new girlfriend, you've got time and money invested in new comics, comics you've started with at ground zero. And now, that old girlfriend, with the big cans comes back, and she's knockin' on your door, tryin' to get you to drop your new girlfriend... and you know, you freakin' know that she's just going to kick you in the nuts again, you know it, but you're a stupid man, and you drop that kind cool indy book you usually pick up for a three issue run of the FF w/ Dr.Doom and Thor's hammer, knowing full well that because you didn't pick up that indy book, it's sales are going to be so low that they'll have to cancel it, and you're so excited about this FF thing that you put it back on your sub list, and you're pickin' it up every month, cool Dr. Doom's kickin' their asses! Then four months later, it's no longer the Dr.Doom story, your ex-girlfriend w/ the big cans gets breast reduction surgery and a lobotomy... the book's all about Johnny trying to figure out the best way to part his hair, and Sue's become a fashion designer w/ the Wasp. It's over, you now pick up the next 6 issues of crap because you forget to take it off your sub, and you feel bad, because your store ordered that crap specifically for you because it's on your sub list.
(sorry, I totally lost where I was going there, and I'm sure there has to be a run on sentence... I'm not a writer, nor do I have a good handle on grammar... so bare with me folks, it's the thought that counts right)
Anyway, enough of the negative. I'm kinda diggin' where Marvel is starting to go again, there are a couple books that seem to have that old flavor back in them. But I'm not going to answer that knock on my door. I'm going to stick w/ my current girlfriend, she's been nice to me, she's been there for me when my ex wasn't.

Stuff and Things

Sox Stuff
Ok, so I work during the day, so I haven't seen much of the spring training games, but I get to catch the high lights later in the night... So, when I heard about the newly acquired Tavarez was duking it out w/ Devil Ray's Joey Gathright, a day after Josh Beckett had a yelling match w/ the Phillis, I got all excited for the season, I mean, it's freakin' spring training and we're already all fired up!
What's going to happen when we face the Yankees w/ our First string guys?
How's Shil going to do this year?
Is Wells going to be around the entire season? (I love that guy)

TV show stuff (may be spoilers)
I've been watching 24 for the last couple years, and there's nothing better than Jack interrogating someone... Last night's show he interrogated his ex-girlfriend... the entire time I was thinking "He might break her fingers, just to get the info he needs from her, THAT's how much Jack loves this country!" Although If I were Jack, I think I'd be a little tired of getting arrested by my own people... I'm thinking about going back and watching all the seasons and counting how many times in one day this man is arrested and released... it's amazing! I love that show.
Other show's I'm watchin' right now are The Office (first show in a long time that's made me laugh out loud), Earl... hit's way to close to home since I lived 13 years of my life in the south. And I think that's about it... I don't watch much, I sit in front of it drawing while it's on, but I don't watch much...

Comic Stuff
A friend sent me Project Rooftop today... pretty cool idea... I'm lovin' it so far... the Spectre looks really good.
That's all the time I've got for now...

Movie Stuff

Movies
Last night i watched Memoirs of a Geisha, really beautiful movie, good story, I really enjoyed it. Don't know what more to say about that, but I highly suggest everyone see it.

I also saw the Marvel Cartoon Ultimate Avengers. Ok, here's where I start to throw my opinion around. I've been a comic fan for a long time (18 years now) and I'll say up front I'm not a huge fan of the "Ultimate Universe". That being said, I somewhat enjoyed the movie, it was ok. I'm not that familiar with the Ultimates comics, I have the first 3 issues and it just didn't do it for me. In fact, after reading the first issue (which was the first Ultimate Universe book I purchased) there was just something off about it, I couldn't figure it out, then after talking to a friend about it, he asked if it was the lettering. Now Before I met Matt I never looked at lettering in a comic much, you notice it when it's bad, but when it's good, it's just part of the art. Now I'm not saying the lettering in Ultimates was bad, but it was in First Caps, the rest lowercase!!! What the hell is that all about? Anyway, that immediately pissed me off and I've been sour on the Ultimate Universe ever since.
So the Ultimate Avengers is kind of a mix of Ultimates and the Avengers (more Ultimates than anything) the animation was OK, nothing special or stylized like the awesome cartoons you get from DC's Warner Brothers cartoons, just generic style animation. The action was ok, nothin' mind blowing, and the story was ok. All in all OK... my son (6) couldn't sit through it, didn't keep his attention at all. The only part he liked was when the hulk started kickin' everyone's butts.

Current Work Load

Since 80% of my week is spent in one form or another working, I figured I'd jot down a list of current projects on my plate.

1. Johnny Raygun / Savage Dragon crossover : This is the biggest thing I've ever worked on... I guess when I say that I don't mean project wise, maybe pressure wise. "Why Rich, why is this simple 48 page comic the biggest thing you've ever worked on?" Well, I'm glad you asked. :) Not only does the JR/SD Cross (which really isn't a crossover, it's more of a one shot, but Crossover sounds so much cooler! That's marketing baby!) Have the Savage Dragon, a character that I've followed since it's beginning at Image, but it's got a cast of about 25 Super Cool characters lent to me from fellow comic book creators. "Like Who Rich, tell us now, the masses are waiting..." Characters like Steve Rude's "The Moth", Mike Allred's "MADMAN", Paul Grist's "Jack Staff". These are all characters (or character created by people) that I really respect and have followed all of my comic collecting life. I'm going to be playing with MADMAN! Madman was a huge influence on me when I was developing Johnny... I just can't say enough about this... I'm sure I'll write more later.

2. The Raccoon Man : This is going to be cool. My first time on my own (penciling, inking and lettering). This had a very funny start, Matt (my "partner in comics") and I have known Bob Tinnell (The Wicked West, Black Forest, Terry Sharp) for a while now, and last year at the Phili con, on his way to the bathroom we saw Bob and he sat down and we were chattin'. We mentioned that we'd LOVE to work on a short horror story with him. Bob's got a ton of energy and ideas, so immediately he says "Ok, I've got one for you..." and starts to tell us this story... Matt and I are sitting there eating it up. "Yeah, that'd be super cool!" "No, wait, I've got a different one for you" and Bob tells us another story he's got swimmin' in his head. "Wow, that one was cool too!" So at the end of it Bob says he'll e-mail us a short story and we'll figure out where to publish it. So a week goes by and I get an e-mail w/ a script and a letter from Bob that reads "I think this could be a 60-90 page graphic novel" We had to wrap our heads around doing something so huge, but we took it on, and now in my "down time" I work on a page or two for this

3. Websites : This is my day job, designing websites, and doing flash animation. So every once and a while I work on something for friends or family, just happens that I'm working on one for both right now... My mom is starting her own business so I'm working on a site for her, and a good comic friend Shawn McMannus needs a site (I'm slowly gettin' there Shawn, sorry for the wait!)

4. Bill Barnes Air Adventurer! : I've been teaching a "how to make your own comic class" for the last 6 months. I'm teaching it with Ron Fortier who's been writing comics for the last 20+ years. So I'd mentioned that I was interested in doing spot illustrations for a pulp novel someday, and he dug one up for me. So I'm going to do the cover (painted! So excited about that) and the interior illustrations. Here's a sample of one of my "test" paintings.

5. Misc : Then there's all the kinda in and out things that come and go, commissions (which if you're interested just e-mail me!) random pin ups in various comics (Love doing these, so much fun!), writing other comic stories (I've got 3 or 4 in the works right now, just don't have time to really get on paper what I need to move them to the next level) and this blog. "but Rich, this isn't work, this is just fun" Oh, you think so do you!?!? Na, it is fun, but it's me marketing myself. If I'm not pushing myself on you, who is? I can't rely on my talent to sell me ;)

wait!)

Ok, so what the heck do I have to say?

Well, like everyone else, I've got opinions, opinions on movies, politics, comic books, life.

So, here's a little bit about myself. I'm 30, been happily married for as long as I can remember to Melissa, I've got 2 kids (Bekah 8, and Alex Kirby 6).

By day I design websites and do flash animation for http://www.pixelmedia.com ... it's a pretty cool place to work, we've got 2 dogs walkin' around, a pool table, x-box on a huge plasma screen. At night I put on my illustrator hat and draw 4-6 hours a night. I have my own comic book that I co-write and pencil : http://www.johnnyraygun.com

I love movies here's my top 5

1. Jaws
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark
3. Star Wars (A New Hope)
4. Pulp Fiction
5. Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

I'm big into comics, I've got (or had) a decent collection Here's my top 5 comics (constantly changing)

1. Savage Dragon
2. Rocketo
3. The Walking Dead
4. Fear Agent
5. Nextwave

That's about it for now... oh yeah, I'm not a big Bush supporter... kind dislike the guy, I'm sure just saying that will land me on a list somewhere... oh well.

Just starting

I have no idea what I'm doing, hopefully I can keep up with this, seems like fun!