Goldman Too Raw for Nerve

Recently ACT-I-VATEr Dan Goldman announced part two of his online series, Kelly, will be debuting on the popular Nerve.com. This was quite a boon for the creator after his collab, Shooting War, ran on Smithmag.net. But now it seems the super-sexy Nerve is pulling out of the Kelly commitment as it won't be running on their site:

"KELLY" is Too Raw for Nerve.com
Recently, I announced that Act Two of "KELLY" would begin on Nerve.com early this month. Yesterday morning, I was informed that it will in fact not be appearing on their site at all.

What does that mean for our little friends and their grimy adventures? It means we're debuting "KELLY" here on ACT-I-VATE, now, today. I've spent the last month working on this sans the welcome company of your lovely feedback. This is some of my favorite work to date, so get ready to fling some kisses.

Wanna Get Published? Submit to YAC Anthology

Young American Comics's sixth open-invite anthology, Small Town/Big City, just extended their deadline. You now have until March 5th to submit a 2-8 page comic about life in a small town or big city. If you're looking to get published, this looks like a no-brainer.

Be a part of an exciting and growing tradition for fresh new talent and seasoned veterans alike: small town/BIG CITY is the sixth annual Open Invite Anthology from Young American Comics.

Write and draw a two to eight page comic about an experience in a small town or a big city. While stories don’t have to be strictly autobiographical, they should be realistic and involve real towns. Work on your own or team up with other creators!

small town/BIG CITY will be divided into two separate sections, so each story should be about either a small town or a big city, not both. Submitted entries can use pre-established characters, but must be a self-contained story and not part of a daily journal comic or other ongoing series. Entries should be about a specific experience and tell a story from beginning to end.

Example One:
Driving across country, John finds himself stopping for gas in the small town of Ovid, Colorado. Intimidated but intrigued by the bloodied aprons of the employees of the meat packing plant, he asks for directions. The strange conversation that follows gives him something to think about on the next stretch of highway.

Example Two:
An American visiting Japan for the first time, Emily gets separated from her tour group in downtown Tokyo. Overwhelmed by the sights, sounds and constant flow of people, she stops to observe a handsome young man singing softly to himself, holding a sign that she can't read.

Stuck for ideas? If you've never had a significant experience in a small town or big city, visit a library or thrift store and flip through some issues of National Geographic for inspiration. Got a city or town in mind, but no story? Try Google Image Search for a start. Remember, while stories do not have to be autobiographical, they should be realistic. Ask a friend or family member for an interesting story to tell for them. Or feel free to make something up, but avoid the super natural, the overly abstract, or the too broad. Each story should be a short vignette in which something happens in either a small town or a big city. Easy, right? Now go! The deadline approaches!

Party Reminder - ACT-I-VATE - This Thursday

Nike X-Men Shoes - Cable!

This is a bit dated, but I just came across it. Over at myairshoes.com, , someone posted these cool custom Nike Dunks featuring Cable. Now pick your jaw up off the floor.

Why Does Owly Look So Sad?

He's thinking about how cold it is in the CF offices.

Jeff Newelt in Gothamist

Y'all know Jeff Newelt, right? He's the tireless man behind the curtain, meeting people, making deals and promoting comics. He's also the comics editor at SMITH magazine and involved with ACT-I-VATE as well. New York site Gothamist has a write up/interview with Newelt. Check it!

(Video) Batman does Chacaron

Is better if know the source material.

The latest WW casting rumor

JILL WAGNER

Jill Wagner, formerly of the short-lived “Blade: The Series”, stopped by FlickDirect to talk up her future plans, and mentioned that she’s actually met – yeah, ‘met’ is one better than ‘stalked casting director’ or ‘have emailed Joss Whedon via his MySpace’ – for “Wonder Woman”.

From Whedonesque

Olivia Munn as Wonder Woman (or, Munnder Woman)

Y'all know Olivia Munn, right? She's the co-host of G4's comic-friendly Attack of the Show. Well, she apparently just did a bunch of bits dressed as Wonder Woman, so obviously we had to link to it.

She's also a huge Katamari Damacy fan, which makes her about 27 times cooler than most people, and obviously me.

Buy the Batmobile

The original Batmobile from the '60s TV show is up for sale next month. The asking price? $150,000. The car is actually one of four originals they'd created for the show.

Silver Surfer has Balls

This has already been popping up in different places but I just HAD to post it too. Apparently the Silver Surfer in the Fantastic Four 2 trailer has testicles. Big ones.

They even color coordinated!

Admit it, you all watched Smallville last night with the Justice League appearance, right? Or was that just me? From left to right, Flash [or Impulse, as they call him), Green Arrow (who starred in that scrubbed Aquaman pilot), Clark, Aquaman and Cyborg.

Dan Goldmans saved my ass

As an (deputy) art director I have to assign a lot of illustrations as part of my job. For the latest issue we were waaay behind schedule due to the Christmas and New Year's holidays + other unrelated factors. With just a few days before we had to ship our pages we had not one but TWO illustrations to go with some last-minute stories. The problem with assigning illustrations is that people need time to complete them. First you give them time to concept it out and come up with a sketch. Then they send it in for approval, then they work out the final. Depending on the size of the illo and schedule of the illustrator, it can be anywhere from a week to three weeks, start to finish. This time frame put in me in quite a pickle since we needed the illustrations yesterday.

Who was I gonna call? Dan Goldman, of course. Yes, the very same Dan Goldman that's on ACT-I-VATE and has a book deal with Time Warner. He knocked out both of the needed illustrations — IN THE SAME DAY. Hats off. (not literally. I don't wear hats but if I did, you can believe it'd be off).


And while we're on the subject of Dan Goldman... the new season of his Web comic, Kelly, will premiere on Nerve.com. First smithmag and now nerve?

Weekend Update

• Those two boys that were kidnapped/found? Yep, they were being held a block away from my house in St. Louis

• I read it so you don't have to: Anyone else catch the piece in VIBE about collecting original comic art? Me neiter! Until this weekend. It's basically the author telling how he likes Jim Lee and Alex Ross and that some comic art you can get for a few hundred bucks — like he did in 1990 from some guy named Todd McFarlane (why does that name sound familiar?). No tips or Web sites given. There is a link to vibe.com but there's no such affiliated story to be found.

• Anyone see Children of Men? In it, Michael Caine plays a former award-winning political cartoonist. His cartoons in the movie are actually done by British cartoonist Steve Bell. Got it? Now go see that movie.

Cartoonsists: Scott Adams does Reader Mail

Over on his Dilbert Blog, cartoonist Scott Adams answers a metric ton of reader questions. My favorite:

Do you ever want to punch Bill Griffith?
I mean, sure he wrote Zippy The Pinhead and all, but he is kinda obnoxious isn't he?

A. Yes.

Vanity Fair on Archie

The current issue of Vanity Fair (Demi Moore cover) has an interesting write-up on Archie. Check it:

At 65, Archie Andrews has somehow remained relevant, even hip, in an increasingly crass culture. But he still can't choose between Betty and Veronica. How did this World War II–era goofball manage to stay current? The little girls understand.

They even have a slide show here .

Video Games: The Voice of Mario

Since 1991, Charles Martinet has been the voice of Mario


The Voice of Mario - video powered by Metacafe

I beat Ultimate Alliance

When I haven't been swamped with mounds of work I've been playing Ultimate Alliance for Wii. And with the help of a pal, I finally got through the hordes of henchmen and various villains (including MODOK, who was my favorite).

Props to CB Cebulski for 1. writing the game and 2. writing himself into the game.

Gadzooks, long time gone

My apologies for the lack of posting. Deadlines at the real job have been keeping me locked in my office until 11 or so every night. But, that will very soon and promise a full and healthy return to constant updates.

DC Comics patented Batman and his wonderful toys

Back in the mid '90s when Joel Schumacher was busy screwing up the Batman film franchise, he was also able to get a credit in a few patents issued to DC Comics. Here are four Batman-related patents issued to DC that relate to Batman's head dress, boat, vehicle and his set of rear fins for his vehicle.

Because it's a Great Song

Check out the video to "All Caps," the 2004 release from Madvillain. It's all comic-inspired and has a great beat to boot.

I'm the Sexiest Man in Comics*

While you were out counting down and boozing up , Dorian over at Postmodern Barney posted his 2006 Wrap-Up Awards. I was oh-so lucky enough to grab not one, but TWO awards.

The first was for the now-famed video blog post:
The "Truth Hurts, Don't It Fanboy" Award
Goes to Tim Leong and Comic Foundry, for articulating quite well just what is so damn off-putting about Wizard if you're not part of the mouth-breathing section of comics fandom. For which he was much villified and called a hypocrite by those in the comics community with a complete inability to grasp nuance.

The second was for trick photography and my uncanny skill of airbrushing myself:
Sexiest Man In Comics, 2006
A bit of a change of pace this year, as a comics commentator gets a nod.
Tim Leong

Thanks to Dorian for his generous attention and infinite kindness. So, there you go. I'm the Sexiest man in comics*. I'm changing my business cards immediately.

*co-Sexiest man in comics, actually. It's a title I share with uber-talent Chip Zardsky. Ain't he a looker?