Metropolis - Chapter 38 AND Crossovers Killed my Childhood Love of Comics

Hiya

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The Sad tale of one of the reasons I stopped collecting comics as a kid.

I used to collect comics in the 80's.  Comics were pretty big back then (in numbers if not in dollars).  I didn't have a lot of money as a kid but I scraped enough to get two titles a month.  The first was G.I. Joe by Marvel Comics.  The second title was the "The New Mutants".



In retrospect, it was very weird for a kid who collected G.I. Joe to start collecting a comic like "The New Mutants".  Especially considering the style of art that it had.  The artist was Bill Sienkiewicz.    It was... weird.  Check out a few of his covers here (#17 to 31).  I have nothing but fondness for his issues of "The New Mutants".  I look at comic books today and I wonder where have all the Bill Sienkiewiczes gone?

At any rate...  Reading "The New Mutants" introduced me to "The Uncanny X-Men".  I really wanted to collect it, but my young mind couldn't rationalize collecting something if I couldn't get back issues.  I was hung up on completion.  I didn't know too much about comics, but I knew that trying to get all issues of a comic that was up to #196 was going to be hard and very, very expensive.

My first X-Men Issue was #196, a crossover from Secret Wars II which was a limited series I decided to collect.  I continued to collect "The Uncanny X-Men" until #258; an "Acts of Vengeance" crossover.  

Sigh.

The crossover killed my love of comics.  It seemed like everything was a crossover.  If I didn't want to feel like I was missing something then I had to buy a seemingly endless list of crossover titles.  Add to that the numerous related titles that suddenly sprang up: X-Factor, Excalibur, Wolverine!  Three more titles to the three that I was already collecting.

It all became too much.  Too much time.  Too much money.  Too many titles.  I hung in for a while but my comic book buying fizzled out completely by early 1990s.

I missed it terribly.  I didn't buy a comic again for almost 20 years.

Metropolis - Chapter 37 AND Christmas Music

Hiya

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Christmas Music...  I started early this year.

I can't help myself.  I want diverge from my usual topics of comics and sci-fi to write about Christmas music.  

Most people assume that my favourite Christmas album is "A Charlie Brown Christmas" by the Vince Guaraldi Trio.  Some of you know that I am a dedicated Peanuts and Charles Monroe Schulz fan.  However, that album is only my second favourite for this time of year.  I want to tell you about the third and first on my list for the season.

At number three we have "Count Your Blessings".  This was an amazing live concert with Jane Siberry, Holly Cole, Rebecca Jenkins, Mary Margaret O'Hara and Victoria Williams (I'll let you google them).  I was already a fan of Jane Siberry and Holly Cole when CBC announced this concert in 1994.  I was pleasantly introduced to the voices of the remaining three.  As you can tell by the Amazon.ca listing I've linked for the CD it is now rare and in high demand.  I had a tape copy of the original broadcast from CBC.  The banter between these ladies between the songs was hilarious.  You don't get that on the CD release.


My number one Christmas album might come as a surprise, Clint Black's "Looking for Christmas"!  Certainly not as rare and sought after as the previous album.  My wife introduced me to this album.  And it has become something that has to be played ever Christmas along with "It's a Wonderful Life".  This is a very strong album.  Nowadays (here comes my inner codger) it seems that singers spend more time on singles and forget about the album as a whole.  I can't help but feel like a happy kid at Christmas when this album plays.  You don't have to be a country music fan to enjoy it.  In fact, Clint's country twang gives a lot of playfulness and joy to the songs.  Oh, by the way, don't let the album cover put you off.




Other Christmas albums I enjoy:

Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton's "Once Upon a Christmas"
- A Christmas time classic

Los Straightjackets - "Tis the Season for Los Straightjackets"
- Instrumental versions of Christmas songs with a surfer rock twist.  Thanks to my brother-in-law Mark for introducing me to this one.

The Rankins - "Do You Hear... : Christmas with Heather, Cookie and Raylene Rankin"
- Good East Coast Canadians girls singing really nicely.

PS: I am not an employee of Amazon.ca.  I'm not trying to boost their sales.  I just put in the links so you can read what others thought of the albums in the reviews.  After a quick search I found most of these albums are available on itunes.ca if not itunes.com.  Surprisingly, I could not find Clint's though.

Have a great day.

Metropolis - Chapter 36 & The Pre-History of my Comic Collecting.

Hiya

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The Pre-History of my Comic Collecting.

Here's a story that may sound familiar to some of you.

It occurred to me recently that I collected comic strips way before I ever discovered comic books.  I must have been under 10 year old; so sometime around the late 70's.  

When I was growing up we did not get the local paper (then called the Kitchener-Waterloo Record).  Whenever I did come across a newspaper, I would clip the comic strip page.  I didn't clip the individual strips, I left the page whole.  I don't remember how many I had but I remember a number of them had turned quite yellow.

The best part of this memory is how I stored them.  I don't remember when (1978 maybe) but I got the Star Wars Death Star for Christmas.  I kept the box.  It become a piece of decorative furniture that stood beside my bed.  I kept the comic strips in that box.

I have fond memories now of opening that humungous box and reading the pages over and over again.

I can't remember when I got rid of the box and all the strips inside.  Knowing myself; I probably was a little trepid about it.

Since that time, my only exposure to comics was borrowing Asterix, Tin Tin and Peanuts (by Charles M. Schulz) books from my local library; which I did repeatedly.

Later on in August 1984, I bought my very first comic book with the intention of collecting.  It was G.I. Joe #26 from Marvel comics and written by the great Larry Hama.  (I didn't have to look that up.  I know it by heart.)  It didn't dawn on at the time, but my little twelve year old brain was already primed to read comics years before.

PS: I still have the Death Star and Issue #26.

Have a great day.








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Metropolis - Chapter 35 AND "Where have all the Spinner Racks gone?"

Hi

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I used to collect comics back in the 80's and 90's.  I don't want to sound like a codger but I remember when the cover price of a comic was 0.99 cents.  I remember when comics were printed on newsprint.  And I also remember the comic "spinner rack".

There was a lot of reasons I left comic books for the aughts (2000's), but I think that one of the main reasons a lot of people did the same was the death of the corner store spinner rack.

In the late 90's and all through the aughts, comic books became something that could only be purchased at specialty shops.  That's not where I bought my first comic book.  Frankly, that's not where I bought my last comic book either.

Comics books had fabulous market penetration with the corner store spinner rack.  I would go there every day in the hopes that a new batch of comics would be there.  Any kid at any time was at risk of suddenly discovering the incredible world of comics.  Nowadays a kid needs to drive downtown and have generous financial backing to collect comics.  Sad to say, but it seems that comic book collecting is now an adult activity.

I don't know if the spinner rack will ever make a return, but I think it would be good for comics if it did.  In the meantime, there is a gleam of hope.  

1) You can still find Archie comics at your corner store.  They are usually sorely neglected on the hidden on the bottom shelf. 

2) Chapters book store still seems to have spinner racks.  Yahoo.

My sense of nostalgia really affects my opinion on all this.
If there was a petition to sign, I would.


Have a great day.

Metropolis - Chapter 34

Hello

Please enjoy the next chapter of Metropolis

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Metropolis - Chapter 33

Hi

Summertime has put me off my schedule.  I apologize for those who have been patiently waiting for Chapter 33.

I hope you all had an enjoyable summer.  I did.  I hope the swing into September has you all energized and engaged...  Yeah, me too.

Max has started at a new preschool.  The "goodbyes" were a little rough that first week, but he settled in pretty quick when he saw that there cars to play with.  

There is a gang of kids in his Monday preschool that break out into shrieking wails as soon as their Mommies leave them.  Max just keeps on playing.  He's a pretty relaxed kid.  I don't know where he gets that from.

My Smackjeeves.com releases are now up to date with the releases here.  So whether you read Metropolis here or at Smackjeeves or at my Metropolis site, you'll always be reading the latest.

To recap: I hope to get 2 chapters out per month.  But because of the summer and Max's preschool, I may not get 2 out this September.

Here's 33.  Enjoy.

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Have a great day

Metropolis - Chapter 32

Hi.

I took August off, so I'm a little behind with this update.  I had intended to work on the strip while I was away, but I decided to play with my son and his cousins instead.  It was worth it.

We also got a new "big boy" bed for Max.  He loves it.  And to top it all off, we're potty training him.  Fun!

However, I do still apologize for being late.  So here it is....

Enjoy

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Metropolis - Chapter 31

Hello

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I'm going away on vacation for a few weeks.  So I won't be posting in July 2013.  However, I will still be making strips while I'm away.  So I'll be ready with a chapter come August.

Have a warm, safe and happy July.

Joao

Metropolis - Chapter 30

UPDATE: I apologize.  The web version of Chapter 30 was originally posted with panel #1 of Chapter 29.  This must have been very confusing.  It is now corrected.  The F.Y.O.C. version was unaffected.  Thank you for your continued support.


Hello

Please enjoy Chapter 30.  I'm really proud of how the White Queen of Sarnia turned out.

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I think I'm the last to hear that they are making a remake of Robocop.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  I guess I shouldn't really be that surprised though.  It's a prime target for sci-fi movies to be remade with way too much mind-blowing CGI.

I'm still waiting for a decent remake of Flash Gordon... or Buck Rogers.  Or Commander Cody!  Or Space Patrol!

Today, on my way to work, I walked passed a kid wearing a Darth Vader helmut.  He was four years old at most.  Must have been hot in there.

It will probably happen in my lifetime; someone's going to remake Star Wars.  Sigh.  That'll probably happen before I get to see the Space Patrol remake.

I'm such a downer today.

Have a good day.

Joao

Metropolis - Chapter 29

Hello


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So recently took a look at Chapter 1.  I marvel at how far my drawing style has evolved.  Keep in mind that Chapter 1 was made for my niece and nephew.  I created it on the fly with pencil and paper.  I was trying to teach them about creativity and storytelling.  Since then, I've become more serious about the strip.  And now that I'm 29 chapters into the strip I've thought about redrawing Chapter 1 (and maybe even Chapter 2).

I think that I have come to the conclusion that I won't.  Metropolis has been a creative journey.  Everything that the strip is today and will be tomorrow is linked to what it was.  I'm proud of that journey.  People who read the strip are entitled to see that journey too.  Especially if it incites someone on their own creative journey.

Enjoy the strip.

Have a great day.  

Joao

Metropolis on Smackjeeves

Hi

So I've finally broken the seal and joined an on-line comics community.  Metropolis can now be seen on www.smackjeeves.com.  I felt like I was too isolated from the web comics world so that's why I'm "mirroring" the strip there.

Metropolis on Smackjeeves.


If you prefer, you can always find the strips here and on my googlesite.

There's a lot of web comic sites to choose from.  I choose Smackjeeves for a few reasons.

Firstly, it seemed to have the simplest interface.  I didn't want to spend a lot of time building a whole new page.  Nor did I want to spend a lot of time on the learning curve that seems to be on a lot of other sites.

Having said that I have experienced some "bugginess".  Some pages of the comics hosted there don't come up right away.  Sometimes you have to hit refresh a couple of times.

Secondly, the community on Smackjeeves seems very sincere.  They, for the most part, give very good feedback.  They seem supportive. 

I also found a new web comic that blows my mind on Smackjeeves.  If you like classic sci-fi (like me) please check out Vorto the Pirate!

I am very happy to now be a part of the Smackjeeves web comics community.

Have a great day.

Joao

Metropolis - Chapter 28

Hi


It has taken 28 chapters, but I've finally named the planet.  Metropolis, Garbagopolis, Arboropolis and many as yet unnamed cities all inhabit the planet called...

JARSOOM!

Is that exciting or what?  Trust me, the story is building to something.

But that's the point of episodic fiction like this.  The story is always building to something.  That's why I (and you if you are like me) read stuff like this and Flash Gordon and Prince Valiant.  We want to see what happens next.  And even as some action resolves it never does so without something new to draw us back in.

Do you listen to the old-time radio Superman shows?  Yeah, me too.  The last episode of every storyline would always have some seed of the next storyline to come.  I'm so happy that we can still enjoy these old radio shows today through fansites on the internet and through podcasts.  They are all out there waiting for you to enjoy them.  Check them out: Dimension X, Suspense, Space Patrol, Superman, Flash Gordon, Our Miss Brooks and many more.  They are lots of fun.

Max and I spend some time each week listening to the Old Time Radio Superman podcast by Adam Graham.  Max is only two years old, but you can see it in his face.  He's listening to the show as he plays with his train.

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Have a great day.

Joao

Metropolis - Chapter 27

Hello.

Here is the latest Chapter of Metropolis.  It is part 2 of Josephat's story.

Enjoy.

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Have a great day.

Joao

Metropolis Yearbook #2

Hello everyone

Here is the Metropolis Yearbook #2.  It's a recap of chapters 13 to 24 bundled with some insights and special features, and all wrapped up in a brand new custom cover.

As with the first yearbook, this document comes in print and ereader versions. They can be found on the Metropolis website.

You can find even more formats at archive.org. 

PLEASE NOTE: These other formats are automatically created by the Archive.org website.  I have not yet tested all these other formats.  Please excuse me if they do not work properly. 

Have a great day.

Joao

Metropolis - Chapter 26

Hi

I've got a lot to say about this one...

Chapter 26 took a very long time to draw.  I know I'm doing something wrong because my hand was beginning to ache.

I'm very proud of this chapter's pictures.  I think it was really worth the effort.  I've become much better at drawing outer space.  Compare this chapter with the third panel of Chapter 2.  Yeah!  See what I mean?

It's taken 26 chapters but a second Star Wars "gag" has worked its way into the strip.  I try to avoid it because I don't want this comic strip to become a parody of Star Wars.  I hope you'll agree that it isn't.  Not that I have anything against Star Wars.  I'm 40 years old so I'm consider myself an original (though not diehard) fan.  Case in point: I still have my original Kenner Star Wars toys, but I have no interest in playing Angry Birds Star Wars.

Not that I have anything against Angry Birds...

Enjoy the chapter.  Next up: the Metropolis Yearbook #2!

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The New Metropolis Yearbook #1

Hello

In preparing the Metropolis Yearbook #2, I decided to improve the production quality of Yearbook #1.
Here it is!

It's got a new custom cover.  I hope you check it out.

I've made a print version and an E-reader version.  I tested the E-version on my old Kobo and my Ipad.

You can find numerous formats of each version here at archive.org.  Hopefully, the original .PDF file converted well.  Let me know if a certain format looks bad.

The Metropolis Yearbook #2 will be released before the summer of 2013.

Have a great day.

João

Corrections.... Sorry about that.

Hi

It seems that the panels to the on-line version of Chapter 10 are out of order.  I'm sorry I only realised this now.  Thanks to the reader who pointed this out to me.  The F.Y.O.C. version is fine.  This error is born of trying to maintain the two formats (on-line vs F.Y.O.C. version).

And...

Chapter 24 was mislabeled as chapter 23.  This has also been corrected. With my increased production output I missed this little detail.

Making my own comic strip has been a journey and an education.  I learn how to do something better each chapter.  I thank you for your continued interest in my story despite these (hopefully) minor inconveniences.

Click the covers below to view the chapters.

Have a great day.

Metropolis Yearbook #2 and #1 Redesign

Hi

The last few chapters of Metropolis have come out relatively fast.  There are four chapters out so far this year and February isn't even over yet.  I'm proud of that and I'm hopeful that I will be able to maintain this for most of 2013.

Having said that, I just wanted to warn you that the next chapter won't come out as quickly.  I have a very good reason; I'm working on the Metropolis Yearbook #2. 

(I don't know why I persist in calling yearbooks.  I haven't been producing them once a year.  My plan is to make a yearbook every 12 chapters.  That will keep the yearbooks to a manageable size.  If I keep up my current production level, Metropolis Yearbook #3 will be out in the second half of 2013.)

Along with that I decided to redesign Metropolis Yearbook #1.  When I first created it, I wasn't so focused on production quality.  I'm doing a total redesign and adding original art covers.  I'll make e-versions for tablets and readers and a print version (again: for those who prefer to hold paper).

I look forward to presenting them soon as soon as possible.

PS: I've been hunting for a copy of the 1979 version of "The Adventures of Flash Gordon" cartoon.  They are all really expensive!  Let me know if you hear of a cheaper copy.

Have a good day.

Metropolis - Chapter 25

Hi

I've got four chapter out in the first two months of this year.  I'm really proud of my output thus far.
The story is really going to advance this year.  I hope you're enjoying it.

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Have a good day.

Things to Come.... Later.

Hello

I must apologize to those of you who have been kindly reading my serial story "Things to Come".  I have not come out with a new chapter in quite some time.  Sorry.

"Things to Come" is officially on hiatus.  I have been concentrating my efforts on 1) the care of my young son and 2) the development of the comic strip, "Metropolis".  (Side Note: CTV has signed on as a sponsor for the Richmond Children's Arts Festival.  With any luck, you can see Metropolis hanging in the background of some CTV Vancouver news item.)

I do intend to continue, and yes complete, the story.  I hope that when I do you will return and continue to enjoy reading it.

Until then, please enjoy the comic strip.

I thank you for your kind support.

Joao

Metropolis - Chapter 24

Hello

Here is the latest chapter.  I hope you enjoy.

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Have a great day.

Joao

Metropolis in the Cultural Centre Gallery

Hi

I'm pleased to say that the Metropolis gallery show is back up again.  This time it is at the Richmond Cultural Centre (7700 Minoru Gate, in Richmond B.C. Canada).

It will be there for the entire month of February.  This coincides with the Children's Arts Festival at the venue the week of Feb. 11/2013.

The Rotunda gallery is on the second floor (you can see it from the ground floor, just look up).  I hope you'll stop by and check it out.

 

Thanks again to my friend Morley for helping me make everything look straight on a curved wall.

Check out Morley's art here.

Have a great day.

Metropolis - Chapter 23

Hi.

I've been learning a lot about different pencils and drawing instruments recently.  Even though the final product might not seem that different, it really improves your drawing technique and ability to know about the tools you use.  That goes for digital tools too.  You pros already know this, but kids, you should definitely study your different pencils.

...I wish I could draw like Jeff Smith...

Here is the latest chapter.  Enjoy.

Download the F.Y.O.C version here.



Have a good day.

Metropolis: The Gallery Show... will Return!

Hi

So today I took down the gallery show that was hanging in the Gateway Theatre lobby.  If you missed it, don't worry.  The show will hang at the Richmond Cultural Centre for the entire duration of February.  Please stop by and take a look.

The Richmond Cultural Centre is located at 7700 Minoru Gate Richmond, BC V6Y 1R9.  It is the same building as the main branch of the Richmond Public Library.

Here's a picture of me at the opening of Fiddler on the Roof (Which was awesome.  Sorry if you missed it.).

I was looking a little rough for the pictures taken at the installation of the gallery show.  I'm dressed a little nicer, but the photos are fuzzy because they were taken on my wife's cell phone.

Have a great day.

Joao

Metropolis - Chapter 22

Hello

I tried to release this before Christmas, but the season proved way too busy.  I have excellent video of my son tobogganing for the first time, though.  He loved it.

Here's the latest chapter.

Download the F.Y.O.C version here.


Have a great day everyone.

Joao