My Marathon

Here are a couple of pictures of me running the NYC Marathon yesterday. It passes by about a block from my house and every year I see all those people jogging past hour after hour and listen to the bumper-to-bumper detoured traffic on my street honking and wonder, "what's the big deal with that thing, huh?"

So this year I decided to compete. I didn't win, but as anyone who runs in this kind of event can tell you, it's not about winning, it's about the personal challenge. And it was very challenging to get out of bed that early on a Sunday.
I hope these pictures will help you to admire me and maybe inspire yourself to get out of bed, too.

Monkey Covers

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

Mahilla Gorilla maybe should not have used spot remover on the cover of Magilla Gorilla #4 (1970).

(Standard disclaimer about dog-washing gorillas not really being monkeys applies.)

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

Sexy Children Dogs

Bizarro is brought to you today by Contraceptive Fashion.

People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive issue comes out on November 17th and if they don't pick me this year, I say SCREW THEM. I have all of the qualifications they list: I'm alive and I'm sexy. (Says CHNW) So what is the holdup?

If they pick some damn vampire actor again, I'm going to the deli across the street from my apartment and turning over the magazine rack. Seriously.

On to more pleasant topics, here is a cartoon about witches who eat children. So she's heading out to pick up lunch with an empty stroller. Get it? What's funnier than eating children?
(Note to children reading this blog: Ask your parents if they have updated the anti-witch security devices in your home. Firefighters recommend changing the batteries on January 1st each year.)

Finally, from the archival vault (trash bags in my basement) comes this ancient Sunday comic from October of 1998. This was before I started coloring on computer, hence the colour de crapola, as they say in French. You can click on it to achieve biggerness, which will enable you to read it more good.














Dogs are so cute. By the way, where can I get one of these for my very own?


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The Hole Thing

A fine website answering to the name "The Comics Journal," has published a three-part interview of myself. Against my innate sense of modesty and with great shame, I provide you here below with links to the whole shebang. WARNING: This interview is NOT appropriate for people not able to read.
Part 1 of 3

Part 2

Part 3



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Amazon Top 50

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


1 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid 5: The Ugly Truth *
2 (-). Superman: Earth One
3 (+9). The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1
4 (-1). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
5 (+3). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
6 (-). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 2: Scott Pilgrim Versus The World
7 (-3). Scott Pilgrim Volume 6: Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour
8 (-1). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 3: Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness
9 (-4). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together
10 (-). Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale *
11 (-2). The Walking Dead, Book 6
12 (-1). Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 7: Twilight
13 (+2). Walking Dead Volume 13 *
14 (-). Odd Is on Our Side
15 (+3). Big Nate: From the Top
16 (-3). 40: A Doonesbury Retrospective
17 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid Box of Books
18 (+1). Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life
19 (+7). Dilbert: 2011 Day-to-Day Calendar
20 (+5). Dork Diaries 2: Tales from a Not-So-Popular Party Girl
21 (+2). Walking Dead Volume 12
22 (N). Batman and Robin, Vol. 2: Batman vs. Robin *
23 (+10). The Walking Dead, Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye
24 (R). The Walking Dead, Book 1 (Bk. 1)
25 (R). V for Vendetta
26 (R). Batman: The Killing Joke
27 (-5). Lynd Ward: Six Novels in Woodcuts
28 (-1). The Walking Dead Book 5
29 (N). Alice in the Country of Hearts Volume 5
30 (R). The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks
31 (+9). Watchmen
32 (+9). The Walking Dead Volume 11: Fear The Hunters
33 (+15). Serenity, Vol. 2: Better Days
34 (R). The Walking Dead Volume 3: Safety Behind Bars
35 (R). The Walking Dead, Vol. 9: Here We Remain
36 (-1). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
37 (-3). Parker: The Outfit
38 (-18). X'ed Out
39 (R). Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic
40 (N). Irredeemable Vol 4
41 (-4). The Adventures of Ook and Gluk, Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future
42 (R). The Walking Dead Volume 2: Miles Behind Us
43 (R). The Walking Dead, Vol. 10: What We Become
44 (R). Scott Pilgrim Bundle Volumes 1-6
45 (+2). The Cloud Searchers (Amulet)
46 (R). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
47 (R). Serenity, Vol. 1: Those Left Behind
48 (R). The Walking Dead Book 2
49 (-). The Complete Peanuts Boxed Set 1975-1978 (Vol. 13-14)
50 (R). The Walking Dead Book 3


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:

* Diary of a Wimpy Kid 5, which finally comes out next week, still claims the top spot on the comics list and #2 on the overall list (losing out this week to the Bush memoir). Superman: Earth One went out-of-stock this week at Amazon, but sold briskly enough in backorder sales to stay at #2 on the comics chart and #70 on the overall chart.

* The Walking Dead TV series was a huge hit for AMC, and that translated into continuing high sales of the comics. The massive (over 1000 pages) first compendium volume is #3 on the comics chart and #93 overall. More WD volumes pepper the top 50, taking 12 of the slots, though oddly they're largely different WD books from last week.

* Batman was absent from the charts last week, but comes back strong this week with the top debut, Batman and Robin, Vol. 2, and a couple of his perennials returning to the list as well. Other debuts this week are new volumes of Alice in the Country of Hearts (the only manga on the chart) and Irredeemable.

* No Marvel books in the top 50 this week; they usually manage to at least place a Dark Tower collection.

* This week's #50 book is #2,121 on the overall chart.

Bird Parts

Bizarro is brought to you today by Talent!

America's Got Talons is one of my favorite gags in a long time. Like my great aunt Wynona, it isn't deep, but it makes me laugh. And once again, I didn't write it, though I wish I had. This one comes from my good friend and fellow cartoonist/stand-up comic, Michael Capozzola. He's as big a fan of these competition reality shows as I am. That is to say, he'd rather die than have to watch one. That has nothing to do with this cartoon, but I just wanted to hammer another nail into that post. (strange metaphor, probably won't every use it again)

The next item on today's menu is the duck gag. I've spent some time on a shrink's couch (only figuratively, I've never seen an actual psychiatrist, just psychologists, and I've never had one that wanted me to lie down, somewhat to my disappointment) and none of them have been ducks. But if they were, I imagine they might say something like this and I would be surprised and maybe giggle a bit. Hence, a cartoon. I hope you like it and if you didn't, please don't leave a mean comment on this post because my therapist says I'm fragile right now.

Speaking of hammering more nails in an already victimized post, (I broke my own promise not to use that metaphor again, must mention this to my therapist) if you live in Oklahoma or know anyone who does, please come to (or have them go to) one or both of my performances in Tulsa in a couple of weeks. Boy, it's going to be fun. If you don't know what I'm talking about see these two posts: Thursday, Nov 18, and Friday, Nov 19. The shows are different, so see them both!


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Great Book Recommendation

Another friend of mine has published the absolutely quintessential book about Looney Toons. It's called (look at picture above and read title) and it's a big, hardback book with an unbelievable amount of pull-out stuff inside. It's like every other page is a gift pack of some sort. There are envelopes with stickers or posters or old scripts inside. There are tear-out valentines cards, a catalog of ACME products, a pop-up graphic dealy bobber, postcards, a wearable mask, all kinds of stuff. No kidding, look at these action shots...

Here is an old comic book reproduction within the book. You can leave it there or rip it out and run around the house with it:













Here are some script pages reproductions inside an envelope that's stuck in the book:


















The whole book is very much an insider's look at the process and legend of all those decades of great cartoons with never-before-published production sketches and all kinds of stuff that makes the nerd in you get all twitchy. If you or someone on your gift list is a cartoon fan, he/she/you/they/it will love this dang thing.

I'm not kidding. If I was, I would be honest about it.

Here's a place to buy it. (I get no kickback, I just like the book and the author)


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