Kayli in APB!

Hello IITS Readers!

So I've been dying to share this with you all because I think it's very neat...but I honored the NDA that Real Time Worlds had on the Closed Beta Testers for their upcoming PC action game, APB or All Points Bulletin. No, it's not a remake of the classic...it's basically large scale Grand Theft Auto gameplay from the father of GTA, Dave Jones. Well, the NDA is effectively over since anyone and their grandmother can join the Key to the City event right now...

The game is a lot of fun and that is in no small part due to the fact that you can create your own character in almost any way you can imagine. Naturally, I made Kayli and she turned out pretty neat. The first two shots below are when I was with the Enforcer faction (cops) but after the servers wiped, I remade Kayli as a criminal and created a cool custom tan line job for her. If anyone has watched any anime or read any manga in the last ten years, you might recognize the outline of a one piece, Japanese schoolgirl swimsuit. =)

All the decals, designs, and lettering are custom work...made using a system similar to what you might see in the Forza series of games. So you can't actually import any art...you gotta make it yourself from "primitive" shapes, a little masking, and a lot of creativity. I'm certainly not the best artist in the game but I'm the only one who came up with the idea to use tattoos as a means of faking a tan line for my character.

Anyway, it's vaguely IITS related in the sense that it's Kayli in the APB game...hope y'all like it.

- Joseph

The monster hoodie is two circles for each eye and triangles for teeth.
Even the striped socks are custom. Seriously, guys? No striped socks?

The theme was "rookie cop on her first day on the job who forgets
to put her pants on before she leaves the police station locker room".

Close up detail of the Central Islands icon on Kayli's shoulder
as well as her cheek tattoos. I think they turned out great.

Here's the front view of the tan lines. It's actually made up
of thirty unique shapes that are translucent "tattoos".

Here's a view of the tan lines from Kayli's back. I'm a little sad that
they don't allow for bigger butts but at least you can enlarge the hips.

Here's a close up...if you look closely at the wrist on the right,
you'll see a small, gray seam where the tattoos didn't quite match up.

You can tag the city with you graffiti and so I used the Central Islands
icon and posed in front of my handiwork for this shot. =)

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover!

Gorilla Grodd and the rest of the Secret Society of Super-Villains loom over the heroes on the cover to DC Special Series #6 (1977) by Rich Buckler & Jack Abel.

(Standard disclaimer about world-conquering gorillas not really being monkeys applies.)


Image courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

Sevenly Puns

(You can make this cartoon big and pretty by clicking on the second violinist's hair bun.)

Bizarro is brought to you today by Puns.

I'm off to Woodstock in a few minutes for our June Jamboree, so I don't have much time. Here is the seventh of my Sunday Punnies series. If you want to see your pun in the paper, send it to me via email (see Bizarro.com for addy) or leave it in the comments section of one of my blog posts. It must be original – I don't want to do puns that have been floating around the Internet or whatever, you dig? And you must be willing to donate it free of charge, no strings attached.

Gotta hit the highway, kids. Be groovy.

Amazon Top 50

Here are the Top 50 Graphic Novels on Amazon this morning. All the previous caveats apply.


1 (+2). Troublemaker Book 1: Alex Barnaby Series 3 *
2 (-1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
3 (+3). Diary of a Wimpy Kid 5 *
4 (-2). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
5 (-1). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 2: Scott Pilgrim Versus The World
6 (+1). Scott Pilgrim Volume 6: Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour *
7 (-2). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 3: Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness
8 (+1). Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1
9 (-1). Wednesday Comics
10 (+5). Instructions
11 (+34). Tales from a Not-So-Popular Party Girl (Dork Diaries) *
12 (+4). The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
13 (-3). Kick-Ass
14 (-1). The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1
15 (-4). Bloom County: The Complete Library, Vol. 2: 1982-1984
16 (+5). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
17 (N). Mass Effect Volume 1: Redemption
18 (+9). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
19 (+10). Walking Dead Volume 12 *
20 (-6). Naruto, Vol. 48
21 (-1). Watchmen
22 (-10). The Walking Dead Book 5
23 (-4). The Walking Dead Volume 11: Fear The Hunters
24 (-2). The Flash: Rebirth
25 (+9). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
26 (N). The Phantom: The Complete Newspaper Dailies Volume 1: 1936-1938
27 (+3). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
28 (N). The Popularity Papers: Research for the Social Improvement and General Betterment of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang
29 (-3). Serenity, Vol. 2: Better Days
30 (-7). Wilson
31 (R). Batman: Year One
32 (-8). Invincible: The Ultimate Collection Volume 5
33 (-15). Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 6: Retreat
34 (+8). Y: The Last Man, Vol. 3 (Deluxe Edition)
35 (R). Blackest Night *
36 (-3). Dark Tower: The Fall of Gilead
37 (+1). Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, Vol. 13
38 (-10). Hellsing Volume 10
39 (R). The Walking Dead, Vol. 10: What We Become
40 (N). Warcraft: Shadow Wing Volume 1: The Dragons of Outland
41 (N). Invincible Volume 12: Still Standing
42 (+4). Batman and Robin, Vol. 1: Batman Reborn
43 (+6). American Born Chinese
44 (+4). Batman: The Killing Joke
45 (N). Blacksad *
46 (-5). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
47 (N). Justice League of America: Cry for Justice
48 (N). How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way
49 (R). Predators and Prey (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Vol. 5)
50 (N). Daredevil by Ed Brubaker & Michael Lark Omnibus, Vol. 2 *



Items with asterisks (*) are pre-order items.

N = New listing appearing on list for first time
R = Item returning to the list after having been off for 1 or more weeks


Commentary:

* The highest debut this week belongs to the collected edition of the Mass Effect comic, based on the video game. If you're wondering why comic companies keep putting out the poorly-selling licenses based on video games, this is a good reminder that the collected editions usually sell quite well outside the typical comic market.

* Also debuting this week is the first volume of The Popularity Papers, described as 'Wimpy Kid for girls.' The other 'Wimpy Kid for girls,' Dork Diaries, moves up an impressive thirty-four places to almost crack the top ten.

* The real Wimpy Kid volumes move back ahead of Scott Pilgrim this week, but the number one slot belongs to Janet Evanovich's Troublemaker.

MYTHFITS Tees

Thanks to everyone who requested MYTHFITS T-shirts. I'm taking the plunge, as you can see by clicking on the tee images below. These are initial designs, but I'm curious to hear what YOU would like on a tee. Are there any favorite characters or scenarios you'd be more inclined to purchase on a tee? Unicorn? Robot? Poo? The acorns? Let me know in a comment because I'm open to suggestions! Oh... and buy one, pretty pleeeease. They come in more colors than shown below and you can choose American Apparel brand to make sure it's SOFT and COMFORTABLE. [ ' _ ' ]

     

Baloney Show Redux

After many years of people asking me to post video of my comedy shows, I finally managed to get one on the web. Go here to see clips from my full-length, elaborate, one-man comedy show which hasn't been performed in its entirety since '08 and will likely never be performed again – The Bizarro Baloney Show. This is the one I debuted in The New York International Fringe Festival in '02 and won "Best Solo Show" for. I also got a nice review in The New York Times, but, alas, nobody reads that shameless left-wing rag.

And the same folks that put up the comedy show clip have further demonstrated their twisted sense of reality by attempting to get me nominated for a Kennedy Center Honor. Yes, it's ridiculous, but the best things in life always are! Here's how you can help.

We're on Facebook now!

Now that we've crawled out from underneath the rock we've been under, we've discovered this thing called "Facebook" and though it seems like a fad that'll die out in the next few weeks, like the return of "trucker hats" (gosh, I hope so)...we decided to create a Facebook page for IITS anyway. We will continue to update the blog site but since some people prefer to just use Facebook for everything...we'll keep that site updated as well. There's not much to see right now but we'll try to put something up soon. In the meanwhile, please join our Official Islands in the Sky Central group on Facebook and leave us a note on the wall!

- Joseph