The Argyle Sweater 11/28

by Scott Hilburn

B.C.- 10/17

Rip-Off Rehash

Today we're sharing a published comic strip that I had a hand in producing way back in my college days of the mid-90's. I ran this comic years ago when I started this blog, but I like to dig out old holiday stuff and reuse it so here it is again. Cleverly titled, Mr. Ed's Far Side Rip-Off this one shot comic deal ran in the late October 1994 issue of my school's bi-weekly newspaper. Basically, I wrote the joke and a buddy of mine created the artwork. At the time, there were so many professionally produced comic strips obviously ripping off the style and pacing of Gary Larson's masterpiece The Far Side I just wanted to do a comic that was completely obvious. Those other comics always had names like The Other View or Flip Side or something lame like that, so we just called it Far Side Rip-Off. I added Mr. Ed to the title thinking it would somehow be an extension of my wacky radio morning show that I did on the college radio station at the time. I'm sure nobody got the connection between Mr. Ed & The Wacky Wake Up Show and Mr. Ed's Far Side Rip-Off, but I liked to think of myself as somewhat of a media mini-mogul back in the day. Sadly, this was the only strip that ever ran in the Rip-Off series. We were just 11 strips shy of getting our own calendar.

Super Fun Superhero CD

I'm not really big into superheroes but I do appreciate their place in pop culture. After all, superheroes are essentially cartoon characters that fight instead of throw pies and run into walls. One thing I am a fan of though are TV theme songs! So I gotta tell ya, I enjoyed the heck out of the new CD The Music of DC Comics: 75th Anniversary Collection.

This is an awesome collection of music from various television shows and motion picture outings for several of DC Comic's top stars. It's not just the amount of superheroes that are represented here that makes this CD impressive. It's the span of time the tracks cover. The first track on the CD is the theme music to the old Max Fleisher Superman cartoon shorts of the 1940's. The music takes us all the way up to the jazzy retro theme song for Batman: The Brave and the Bold, a newer series currently in it's second season on Cartoon Network.

DC's two biggest stars have always been Supes and the Bat, and they are represented here the most. The Superman tracks include the John Williams theme to the 70's/80's film franchise, themes to the Filmation cartoons of Superman and Superboy, and the music to the prime time entries Lois & Clark and Smallville. The Caped Crusader tunes include the opening to the 1943 serial The Batman, various cartoon shows along the years and the themes to both Tim Burton and Chris Nolan's incarnations of Batman. One of the inclusions that sold me on picking up this CD is the groovy theme to the 1960's Adam West Batman show - which is really where I got my first taste of superheroes.

Another great show from my childhood was The SuperFriends. There have been several reboots of the concept over the years. Six different series are represented on this disc but none greater than Hoyt Curtan's theme to The All-New Super Friends Hour from 1977. That show was the bomb!

There's still 10 more tracks after that! How great is a CD with the theme to The Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Show and Swamp Thing!? And where's Wonder Woman you ask...this compilation ends with not only the theme to the recent Wonder Woman animated film but also the classic Linda Carter television series from the 70's. Well played, DC...well played!

An eclectic mix of all sorts of shows and films that the DC Universe has populated over the last 75 years. A great and unique listen!

Off The Mark 9/14

Off The Mark 6/23

La Cucaracha - 3/30

hat tip: Cartoon Brew

Baltimore Comic-Con

I've always wanted to go to a comic book or science fiction convention just for the experience of it. We've all seen them mocked in movies and television for years, but I wanted to check one out in person. Since my 6 year-old son is all about everything superhero related I thought it would be a great way for him and I to spend the afternoon together. This past weekend we headed into the big city for the 2009 Baltimore Comic-Con held at the Baltimore Convention Center.

The show took up three convention halls. The space was mostly divided between comic book vendors and comic book creators. There were numerous comic book dealers set up selling millions of books both new and old. You could really stock up on your library with the tons of 50 cents and one dollar books. I've always tended to enjoy cartoon comic books more, especially Disney and Hanna-Barbera (big shock there!). It seems all the Flintstones comics now sell for at least $20.00 an issue. I'm not that avid of a fan that I need to drop twenty bucks on one comic book.

It was also neat to see all the artists and small publishers who put out their own material. There was lots of neat artwork to look at and there were even a few artists who have been inspired by the recent Disney/Marvel buy out. Legendary Disney comic artist Don Rossa was there singing his art. I was tempted to buy a piece but never actually did. One of the "underground" comics that was represented at the show was a guy named "Dominator". He was even there, himself, to meet and greet the fans. Even though we've never heard of this guy, Elias was excited to meet a real live superhero. (You can read more about Dominator in this Baltimore Sun article.)

There was some video dealers at the show who were selling DVDs, not of the legit/legal variety. But they had complete series sets of any show you could possibly ever imagine. I was tempted to pick up The Wuzzles or Electra Woman and Dyna Girl but they were kinda pricey. After we left, It dawned on me that I should have looked for the #1 Convention Item of All Time: The Star Wars Holiday Special. But again, I didn't!

My favorite freebie at the convention was a Saw VI lollipop! Why not!?

Elias and I were both most looking forward to seeing people dressed in costume. We saw quite a few Star Wars guys and there was a really good Blade walking around. We saw more than one Joker. There was a Willy Wonka - Tim Burton style, a couple of slutty Wonder Women, and pretty cool looking Ghostbuster. Elias' favorite was...
...this guy from the new G.I. Joe movie. All these guys were so super-friendly too! My favorite fan costume was easily...

...Jane Jetson! It was nice to know that someone else also has a homemade Hanna-Barbera inspired costume. Pretty sweet, eh!?