B

April 23, 2012 1:35 pm "I watched plenty of NBC while they were owned by a military contractor. I’ve eaten a homophobic chicken sandwich or two. The less said about where my phone came from, the better." Seems all the time I find out that the CEO of some company I like is a raging bastard with insane political views. I think "I don't want to put money in his pocket! But... the shirts fit me so well...." But then I figure that even though I don't want to support the head of this company, he's just one guy on top of scores and scores of working class stiffs just like me, and my, say, t-shirt purchase goes to support them as well. Um... anyway, that's how I reconcile that kind of thing.

April 19, 2012 3:53 pm The very first commission I got was a great piece! I was excited and thanked the artist but he had a real blasé attitude. He didn't say "You're welcome" or "Thanks for your support" he said "You should give me a tip" without even looking up from what he was doing. I didn't even know tipping was a factor in these things. I stammered a little and he said "It was hard to draw that background." I gave him an extra ten bucks but just felt weird and awkward about it.

September 9, 2011 2:49 pm In my city we have three major shops (and some smaller gaming/comic shops). Two of those three are amazing and I love going there, but the other is outrageously terrible. They have great selection of books and knowledgable staff, but treat the customers like garbage. I personally witnessed a guy in a wheelchair being told he couldn't come in because he might mess up the shelves. I've heard from a woman who was told she had to leave her baby in the stroller outside the store. I've been asked to leave my messenger bag, with my expensive laptop, outside on the sidewalk before coming in. And I'm a 30 year old guy in a shirt and tie! Teens, the market the industry needs, aren't allowed in if they have big coats, or backpacks. Every book, including trades, is bagged and boarded and you're not allowed to flip through them. There are countless horror stories from this store. The store even made the news when the owner got in trouble for false imprisonment after locking the door and not letting a kid leave after she broke the tape on an action figure box. What's frustrating is the store has a lot of national acclaim and the owner has a lot of friends in the industry who will draw the store into books and stuff. But shopping there is such a bad experience I refuse to give them any more of my money, even though the store is located directly next to my workplace!

August 2, 2011 3:13 pm That screencap is from my favorite Paul moment.

May 2, 2011 1:59 pm Nah, saw it this weekend and loved it! The 3D sucks though. Don't support this fake 3D garbage.

April 15, 2011 3:24 pm In a way it's almost better to not have a lot of money to spend. The two times I've been to SDCC I've needed an extra suitcase just to bring back everything I've bought, and believe you me, unpacking that stuff the monday after the con leads to a lot of buyer's remorse (which isn't to say that there isn't some awesome stuff I've bought that I couldn't have found anywhere else), but any sort of impulse control tends to be vaporized by the sensory overload of the con.

Gabriel, it is possible to get some original sketches for free at SDCC. Marvel and DC have creators rotating through their booths all day long, and most of them are happy to do quick, free sketches (or in some cases, not so quick, commission quality free sketches!) and a lot of artists are happy to talk to you and give you a free drawing at the own booths (Davis Mack comes to mind).

April 11, 2011 2:00 am WOW, I watched that Band of Brothers episode immediately prior to listening to this podcast. Crazy.

January 10, 2011 4:36 pm The first issue of this was really good! Nice surprise. Little bit of Matrix, little bit of Last Starfighter, little bit of that movie where John Candy is a soap opera writer and wakes up in his own soap opera...

And great art by Khary Randolph!

December 27, 2010 4:20 pm Paul Cornell is no slouch, but this is worth picking up for the Jimmy Olsen story alone.

December 27, 2010 4:19 pm Maybe it's time for me to drop this book. I have issues #6 and #7 on my unread pile and have picked them up no less than a dozen times before putting them back down and reading something else.