Results tagged “comics”

                         

Lollapalooza wasn't the only big event going on this weekend. It was also the annual Chicago Comic-Con. And judging by these pictures, it was an incredible, surreal time for all involved. A miniature Darth Vader? Check. Billy Dee Williams signing a bottle of Colt 45? Check. More comic costumes than you could ever dream of? Check. And there's plenty more where these came from.

WARNING: Spoiler alert! If you haven't seen Watchmen yet, we discuss plot points after the jump, so you may want to hold off reading any further!

     

Now we've seen everything. In honor of Barack Obama's inauguration, Marvel Comics is publishing an issue of The Amazing Spider-Man in which Spider-Man helps prevent an evil plot against the President-Elect. Photographer Peter Parker knows something's up when, while taking pictures at the inauguration, he spots an evil twin Obama and employs basketball skills as a way to detect which Obama is the real one. No, we're not making this up. The issue, Amazing Spider-Man #583, hits shelves next Wednesday, January 14 ($3.99). Joe Quesada, Marvel's editor-in-chief, said the issue was to give Obama, who has talked about how he used to collect Spider-Man comics growing up, a "shout-out back." Quesada elaborated, "How great is that? The commander in chief to be is actually a nerd in chief. It was really, really cool to see that we had a geek in the White House. We're all thrilled with that." While this does seem kind of silly, we admit we still think it's kind of awesome. The best part? When Obama and Spidey share a terrorist fist jab.

Conventions

Scott Meherg, of Des Plaines, has been indicted on two counts of forgery and two counts of theft for using a forged check to buy a rare 1963 Spider-Man comic book for $980 from Graham Crackers Comics in Naperville. It was the second-ever issue in the original series of the Marvel comic. Meherg allegedly used a forged LaSalle Bank check to purchase the comic in December 2007; he faces up to five years in prison if convicted. Also? The Trib uses Wikipedia as a source.

Christopher Nolan's second episode in the relaunch of the Batman franchise, The Dark Knight, takes a daring turn towards embracing a darker, bleaker vision of the masked vigilante and his increasingly odd rogues gallery of adversaries. Batman Begins did a good job of saving the Bruce Wayne/Batman character from the travesties that Joel Schumacher rained down upon our hero, excised the remaining camp from previous cinematic versions, and rebuilt Batman to more accurately reflect the darker tone of the original comics.

Chicago has its fair share of witty literates, all vying to impress you, Dear Reader, with an outpouring of wit, candor, and originality. What with all the 'zines, blogs, and hipster rags about, the mountain of potential reading material is astounding.

The former Highwater Books was one of the first publishing companies that made us pay attention to comics and graphic novels. After a financial failure, Randy Cheng, a former employee, started Bodega Distribution to continue Highwater's mission. Recently, Randy sent us a sampling of Bodega's wares, and we feel the torch is being carried well.

If comics are an addiction, Tom Seymour is our dealer. The manager of the Lincoln Park location of Graham Cracker Comics combines a passion for all things geek with an encyclopedic knowledge that manages never to come off as elitist. Now you can catch the best of Tom on his OnNetworks internet show, “Bif! Bam! Pow! Wow!.” The quirky title is the only thing forced about the show. Each episode features Tom’s rants and raves...

While some comic books still strive stylistically for the muscled-up, spandex-wearing men and women of comics' heyday, the image of heroes is beginning to change—in lots of ways.

Have you noticed the photos and merchandise featuring a green metal soldier throughout the city? At your local 7-Eleven there are Slurpee cups featuring the same soldier carrying a flag, there is a strange red-orange new flavor of Mountain Dew called Game Fuel, there is a commercial with a elderly man talking about the great battle where "Master Chief" saved his life, and there's another where "Master Chief" seemingly comes alive in the middle of a massive diorama. There are books, comics, web "machinima," toys, and even an article in Time Magazine. This is Halo.

The “Chicago theater season” is as anachronistic as our Columbia House Record Club membership. August was simply a lull before the crush of Fall openings coming to major institutions and their well-funded houses, who'll receive sufficient ink and column inches in the daily and weekly papers. We’re turning an eye to those less heralded venues doubling as rental space, educational resource, and meeting locale. None of these theaters are named after deep-pocketed donors, but that...

Well, it is shaping up to be quite the warm weekend. Any of our lovely readers want to invite us to some type of pool party? We'll bring waterwings shaped like Mayor Daley's face. Someone should really make those. In the event we receive no invitations, we've lined up some other activities certain to help you, and us, take advantage of another weekend. As we mentioned yesterday, Calsfest 2007 is taking place at Cal's Liquors,...

Like many school-age children, Chicagoist was definitely one to doodle in our notes. We filled many a sketchbook, inviting our friends to even add their own stuff, which we have to remember to check up on, in case any of those drawrings are eBay-able these days. We even kept random notebooks just because we liked particular sketches, especially at the expense of first-period Econ. As years passed, our illustrative skillz fell by the wayside, which explains why fellow female Sarah Becan is so, so much better than we.

Now that Spidey 3 and Transformers have opened and iPhone mania is starting to subside, it’s time to find a new place to direct all that geek-out energy. Enter Chicago Tap Theatre’s latest storybook show, The Hourglass in the Stop-Time Chronicles, a CTT collaboration with comic-book artist Andrew Pepoy. Fans of the genre don’t need to be reminded that local boy and Loyola grad Pepoy has inked Spiderman, Superman, Batman, and The Simpsons comix, among...

If Monday’s holiday has you cramming five days of work into a four-day week and the headlines are only aggravating you further, you need to put the laptop away and get yourself to a comedy show this weekend. The Blerds, a cabal of mostly Chicago-based comics and a film producer, are celebrating their Paper Anniversary Saturday night at The Spot. Drink specials have been promised. The good people at The Bastion are totally crushing on...

Having stayed up last night to watch the midnight showing of with all the other nerds, we enjoyed ourselves but came away feeling more than a little nostalgic for the good ole days of paper comics.

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. passed away last night in New York from brain damage due to a fall several weeks earlier. We never knew him, with the exception of Tankboy, who met him once, but we loved him like that teacher in high school, the only one you ever cared to finish your homework for or make an effort. His grammar was not English teacher perfect, and his paragraphs were curt, sometimes one sentence. He was,...

Nell Taylor and Emerson Dameron, Founders of Chicago Underground Library

This weekend’s comedy smackdown: hundreds of performers from around the country take on your seasonal affective disorder. If you’re still not happy by Sunday night, you’re either not trying hard enough or Sexy Rexy let you down.

As we tucked into yesterday’s new batch of comics (Solomon Grundy vs. The JLA!), we were reminded that two local podcasts help us to get our fix of comics, regardless of the day of the week.

Chicagoist loves us some comics. So we were particularly pleased to see one of Chicago’s most famous practitioners of the art form, Chris Ware, receive a $50,000 grant for his work along with local artist Nick Cave (not that one) and 11 other visual artists.

Farewell to another weekend, and all the newsworthy mayhem that goes with it:

The Third Coast Audio Festival begins doin’ it in your earhole tomorrow with its annual conference.

The wait is over folks. The final cast for “Saturday Night Live” has been announced. There were a few surprises (Chris Parnell is gone? Seriously? He was just getting good), along with Horatio Sans (no surprise there). Horatio is a friend of Chicagoist, a damn funny guy, and has one of the dirtiest minds we’ve ever known, but sometimes, the kid just laughs too much at his own jokes. We hope he comes home though; Chicago hasn’t been the same without him.

We're late posting on this, since you already may have missed the fair yesterday, but here's a reminder: Get your ass over to the Renegade Craft Fair today! These are not your grandma's crafts, the fair showcases some of the coolest crafts from all over the country, including DIY knitting, jewelry, sewn items, paper goods, silkscreening, comics, zines and more! Check it out today or you'll have to wait til next year!...

Chicagoist loves itself some comics, whether they feature the heroics of the Big Blue Boy Scout or the tales of a little girl growing up in Iran. We’re still kicking ourselves over how long it’s taking us to get through the stack of goodies that Short Pants Press sent us a while back. * So it follows that we also love comic creators and by the transitive property would also love The Hero Initiative (formerly...

Hey, have y'all been using our new "Recommend this" feature at the bottom of each post? This week we're bringing you the "Most Recommended" posts from across the -ist world, as well as recommending some of our own.

Lately, we’ve been seeing the name Alison Bechdel everywhere. Every time we look at the book reviews, her name keeps popping up, Bechdel, Bechdel, everywhere a Bechdel.

Some of us here in the Chicagoist office know a lot about comics and graphic novels. Some of us (ahem) don’t know quite as much. What we do know, is that we’d have to be under the biggest rock ever to have not heard of Jessica Abel, Queen of the Comics. Once you see her name for the first time, you will start to see it everywhere.