A Hodg(man)e-Podge post

Ok, I’m here to run down a few things that were all spurred on by this Onion AV Club interview with John Hodgman.

Picture shamelessly stolen from The Onion, so GO READ THE ARTICLE!

Now if you are only familiar with Mr. Hodgman as the PC in those Mac commercials, then you need to get your ass in gear and check out the man’s writing and other hilarious TV appearances including numerous appearances on “The Daily Show,” a sure-to-be-awesome upcoming stint on “Battlestar Galactica” and an episode of one of my favorites, “Flight of the Conchords.”

I loved Hodgman’s first book, the laugh-out-loud compendium of fake trivia The Areas Of My Expertise, and saw his new book(More Information Than You Require) over the weekend and immediately scooped it up. While I haven’t started into More yet, if it promises half the laughs of Areas it’ll be more than worth the investment.

Seriously, go pick both of these books up. You’ll be hard pressed to find a funnier read!

I know I mentioned it above, but I have to say I am super excited to see Hodgman on “BSG.” Think he’ll be the final cylon?!

Lastly, all this info about the frequent “Daily Show” contributor led me to realize I hadn’t given any sort of update on my trip to see a taping of “The Colbert Report,” which I attended this past Thursday (Oct. 23).

If you get the chance to reserve tickets for a taping of “The Report,” do it! Colbert is hilarious in person and even answered questions out of character before the taping, which was both fun and interesting. The guy is spry as heck and just keeps a smile on your face or has you buckling over with laughter the entire time. The comedy is gold when you watch the show on TV, but in person, it definitely reaches a new level of hysterical.

Now, while you can’t see me in any crowd shots of the show I attended, when Colbert ran over to meet his guest (Newsweek senior editor Jonathan Alter) he stopped to right in front of my section of the audience and raised his hands in the air. I stood and applauded, first among my entire audience section. And, if you’re paying attention and looking closly, you can see Colbert’s nod to me, featuring eye contact (which you can’t see on TV), before he sits with his guest.

Ok, that does it for today, folks! Thanks for your continual patronage on this blog that sometimes has a point, and other times (i.e. today) is just rambings about things that interest me.

Presidential (Comedy) Material!

Two week’s ago, IDW Publishing put out two books which gave comic book backstory/biographies of the two presidential candidates: Barack Obama and John McCain. While the book’s put together a pretty interesting little history of each candidate, there were a few humorous panels I just had to call out!

Apparently, though Barack Obama’s body has aged, his face has looked the same since he was just a wee lad among the waves!

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McCain is for real…FOR REAL! Do not miss with this dude! He will F–K you up!

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BUMP IT!

How super is your squad?!

Just e-mailed over from the Marvel offices, this teaser image arrived alongside the cryptic message, “Are you ready to hero up?” Now, as a fan and collector of the Hasbro’s popular Super Hero Squad toy line—which features cute, kidsy versions of Marvel’s mightiest in a 2-inch format—the style of art used definitely looks like the characters on the toy packaging and the art released from the upcoming cartoon based on the figures.

After the release of this image—which, I think, has a comic book feel that is similar yet distinctly different than the few images released of the animated series—I have to wonder whether this is the first teaser to a Tiny Titans-esque all-ages book starring Marvel’s cutest toys…because it certainly looks like it…and that has this collector wondering just how super the comic squad will be?! Odds are: extremely super!

More Colbert and Spider-Man!

Continuing the Colbert and Spidey news, here’s the first look at the Joe Quesada variant to Amazing Spider-Man #573, just released by Marvel…

HOLLA ATCHA BOY!

The recent relaunch of Deadpool has been quite the comic treat so far. Writer Daniel Way is exhibiting better control with ol’ Wade Wilson than…well, anything he’s ever written! By far his best work, and just a must-read (I’ll gush a bit more about it with a review tomorrow, so check back)!

I’m enjoying it so much that I decided these last two panels of issue #2 (which came out this week) had to get a call out in my “Great Comic Quotes” section, so here they are!

Great art by Paco Medina, as well!

Stephen Colbert meets Spider-Man!

Yep, the powerhouse pundit is set to meet up with the web-slinger in an 8-page back-up story in the double-sized Amazing Spider-Man #573 written by Mark Waid and illustrated by Patrick Olliffe.

Here’s the first look, straight from Marvel…

That’s it for now, though I’ve got tickets to see Colbert live in late October, so there’ll probably be a blog recounting of the experience. Stay tuned!

They’re the same thing!

I’m sure I am not the first one to make this observation, but it is really bugging me that I am not reading it in more places: CBS’s new show “The Mentalist” is the exact same show as USA’s “Psych!”

“Psych” (2006) is about a guy who’s uncanny powers of perception allow him to solve crimes.

“The Mentalist” (2008) is ALSO about a guy who’s uncanny powers of perception allow him to solve crimes!

In “Psych,” the lead—a private investigator—pretends to be a psychic to justice his abilities of perception.

In “The Mentalist,” a former mentalist (From Wikipedia, and yes, that’s good enough for me for our purposes here: “The term mentalist refers to entertainers whose performance appears to be based on ‘psychic’ abilities, featuring the ability to read minds, project the mind to alter the state of matter, foretell the future, and see distant and hidden objects.”) uses his powers of perception as a private investigator.

The only real difference? “Psych” is a comedy and “The Mentalist” is a drama.

Now, I’m not a huge “Psych” fan or anything, but it just boggles the mind that repackaging the same show for a new network isn’t being openly laughed about more. There’s egg on your face, CBS. EGG!

More Sketchy Galore!

Wizard Staffer David Paggi and former Wizard Staffers Rickey Purdin and Kiel Phegley have started a sweet sketch/art blog called Rowdy Schoolyard, which they’ve been updating super-regularly, so check it out!

Seeing their diligent posting of art made me realize it’s been a while since I’ve posted any of my doodles (or “cartoons, if you will—I will NOT go as far as calling it art), so I snagged a few drawings I did off the corkboard by my desk and scanned them in for your viewing pleasure.

Enjoy!

Can’t quite remember how this one came about. I believe former WU assistant editor Josh Wigler and I were joking around about how to make some classic cartoon characters realistic and this is what came from it: Chuck “‘Nam” Brown.

I’m on a real Ghost Rider kick now thanks to Jason Aaron’s badass run on the book. I just got the new Mighty Mugg of the Spirit of Vengeance and then did this doodle the day after.

The story behind this one goes back to Wizard World Chicago, when I shared a hotel room with Staff Writer Kevin Mahadeo. While checking in, desk attendant Leah coined the term when asking, “So, looks like you’ll be sharing a room with Kevin…um…Mahoodoo.” I chuckled and said, “Yes.” And since that day, Kevin’s nickname has been Mahoodoo. Also, Kevin’s a big stickler for DC Comics continuity, thus the battle cry.

Jim Calafiore launches his Web site!

The Gotham Underground cover artist and all-around good guy just launched his Web site…

…so, go check it out!

Make sure to take a look at the section Calafiore calls “The Lost,” which features some old pitches and art he did for projects that never came to fruition.

‘Marvel Apes’ meets the Loudest Monkey!

With a last name like Gibbons—which led to a having a blog named “The Loudest Monkey” (and yes, I know a gibbon is an ape and not a monkey, as I stated in my first post)—it seems inevitable that I would have to comment on Marvel’s newest miniseries and variant cover phenomenon: Marvel Apes.

I read a review copy of the book yesterday and found what is quite possibly the most astonishingly personalized talk bubble I have ever come across!

Yep, I’m a Mr. Gibbons. And yes, I have lots of hair…everywhere. So, reading this panel felt eerily like the good doctor was breaking the fourth wall. Yeah, kinda creepy.

So, between DC trying to terrify me with their peanut-filled Joker covers and Marvel putting D-List Spidey villain The Gibbon into a starring role in Marvel Apes…well, reading comics has been a particularly bizarre experience of late!

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Another, albeit brief, Marvel-based monkey last name story:
I emailed editor Bill Rosemann to see if he’d be interested in answering a question about Guardians of the Galaxy for Thwack!.
His response: “Sounds fun, Jim. And how could I turn down a guy with a monkey-like last name?“
Crazy!