Once upon a time...

From Brian Lynch's Facebook:

Franco Urru, my creative partner on so many comic books, including SPIKE:ASYLUM, SPIKE: SHADOW PUPPETS, a ton of issues of ANGEL:AFTER THE FALL, SPIKE:AFTER THE FALL, the SPIKE solo series and TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: RAPHAEL, has passed away.

I'll have more to say on the matter, I'm kind of at a loss right now. I will say that getting new pages from Franco in my inbox was the highpoint of any day. I was lucky to have worked with him, for sure. Without a doubt, Chris Ryall pairing us on SPIKE:ASYLUM was the best thing that ever happened to me in the world of comics. He spun my gibberish into beauty. But beyond that, I was just lucky to have known him. He was, in every sense of the word, a great guy. Warm, and genuine. He had a beautiful heart and I already miss him.

RIP Franco Urru

A presto

Franco Urru was truly an under-appreciated comic artist. His style was so unique and beautiful, appearing almost effortless, and I believe that he's the only person to accurately capture Spike on the page. I have been worried about Mr. Urru's health since he had to take a break from IDW's final Spike series. My condolences to his friends, family, and colleagues.

From TFAW.com

I haven't read the blurb for this. I don't want to because I'm not going to actually read these comics, but Jenny Frison = Pretty Spike. Even pretty bloody Spike. Still pretty.

( Click for cover. )

Prince Hal approves.

I swear if I don't get a Deadpool/Spike crossover in some form or fashion, I will rain down all holy hell. Wade Winston Wilson vs. William Henry Pratt-- Who will conquer? Who will continue to mourn the loss of Bea Arthur? Who will demand a Hippity-Hopp race?

You might be asking who Deadpool is, so here's the best version of him ever (aka Nate's animations from "Deadpool and Friends"):
A Quickie with Deadpool: Episode 1.

Given a certain recent comic cover, I want to give a rundown of something in comic book history.

Marvel has a history of turning its "weakest" female superteam-member (meaning that the writers didn't want to write those female characters even though they usually have the most excellent of superpowers when probably utilized) into a supervillain to make her more "powerful" and "interesting" than she was before (see for example Jean Grey and Susan Storm). For the purposes of what I'm talking about, I shall be dealing with Jean Grey aka... Jean Grey... because "Marvel Girl" sounded silly (also, comic book trope #127: allowing older teenaged young women and older women to be called "girl" in their superhero title instead of "woman"). So, anyway, Jean, with her telekinetic abilities, is considered weak, so in the 1960s, the writers juiced up her abilities by allowing an alien entity to enter her body that gives her infinite cosmic power. Unfortunately, this being, the Phoenix, corrupts Jean's body and mind, turning her into a universally destructive force. Jean regains control of herself just long enough to commit suicide to save the world. She's resurrected later only to have this storyline keep reoccurring. Rinse, lather, repeat. And is the story really about Jean? NO! It's about fucking Scott Summers and his man-pain. Even in the X-Men animated series, it's less about Jean frickin' dying and more about the Scott/Jean/Logan love triangle. It turns into Wolverine's pain and not about the fact that Jean's very person was violated and destroyed by something outside of her control. In point of fact, it was the strength of her own powers that led to such a violation; being a woman who pushes her strength and power to the limit will die due to her own hubris, basically.

Susan Storm (The Invisible Woman) had a similar transformation into the entity, Malice, caused by epic motherhood drama and nearly destroyed the world. And we'll see it again with Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch), again on a universe-destroying scale of "woman" drama.

So when I see an "homage"/rip-off of the cover of Cyclops holding Jean's dead body (or even one of Superman holding Supergirl's dead body), I can't help but be reminded of these kinds of tropes... and not be very pleased by them.

Quick word: I won't be responding with my own opinions to any comments left in this post, so feel free to answer honestly without fear that I shall pounce upon you. I may have further questions to ask.

How would you describe Spike's role in the comics in Season Nine? And to go further, what is his literal role in the comics? What has he literally been doing? What has been clearly asked of him by any other character or characters? The key words for all this are definitely- literal specifics. I'm looking for less interpretation "if you turn it sideways and squint and read between the lines" type of examples and more for just what has been presented.

Like I said above, I won't be responding with my own opinions. I'm just curious to find out if I've missed something in translation.

Yeah, I saw Hostel III, and I heard spoilers about a certain comic that just came out. Guess which one I think constitutes torture porn? It's Trope City, my bad pennies. I'm not really surprised because I was guessing this would happen since late Season Eight, but good-everloving-night!

( Spoilers behind the cut. )

I think I may be giving up on Acceptable Losses at this point. I don't think I can continue with that plot anymore. I want to finish it, but every time I try to finish the editing, the fucking "canon" material makes a mockery of everything I was trying to do and then I have to do re-writes. I don't know if it's worth it because it hasn't been updating in so long. Maybe I should post it as it is without doing anymore editing to it with typos and all.

It's another "2AM and Fender Has Had Too Much Caffeine!" post about the Dark Horse comics.

First off, this post is not meant to offend anyone. I just noticed a topic of conversation and felt the need to point out some stylistic choices surrounding that topic of conversation about the new Jane E. Spike web-comic. Mostly I did it to sate my own curiosity to see if my remembrance of the artwork from the series was correct and to see if I could visually prove what was rattling around in my head... In the end, I make my own fun, so please no one hit me with virtual hammers or anything.

Question: ( Cut for spoilers )

You see, I notice the art... a lot. Like more than I should. When I first saw that panel, I did not think anyone was crying. Why, you may ask? Because that person does not have "Jeanty Tears." What are "Jeanty Tears?" They are the big fat greasy-looking glycerine tears that Jeanty draws a good 98% of the time (the colouring is not his fault). There is a lot of crying going on in Season Eight. A lot. So once again let's have some fun comparisons!

Here there be spoilers for all of Season Eight, just in case.

( Warning: Extremely Image Heavy. )

Have you ever had comic withdrawal? It's when you really want to read a comic, but you can't get your mitts on it, and then you can't it out of your head. Argh.

I just realized that Bill Willingham, writer of the first half of the god-awful Angel: Immortality for Dummies comic series, also wrote "erotica" comics... with plots that circled around mother/daughter threeways involving a Catholic bishop... and no woman can ever enjoy sex... and men are disgusting, filthy pig-dogs... Suddenly the whole "Spike is now an amnesiac man-slut" plotline totally makes sense now... and I wish it didn't... My brain hurts.

I've figured out that Willingham is like an internet troll with his comics- he deliberately makes things horrible just to see how far he can push his seemingly unshakeable fanbase. O_o;;; He and Whedon must have a tea party one of these days.