So, recently got a package from Matt that had the Liquid Revolver I ordered, but also a few treats — his latest Animal Stew and the final Dr. Dremo, which we contributed a few pages to.

They were all terrific reads; Liquid Revolver was a heckuva lot of fun, a good premise that let the creators shine. And that was the real treat for me, seeing new work from our ol' DC Conspiracy buddies Evan Keeling and Chris Piers. But also getting to check out the terrific artwork from new(er) members: Mal Jones, Scott White, and Dale Rawlings (whose awesome mini Skidoo we were lucky enough to get at SPX a few years back).

Just scheduled the April 7000 BC meeting — 1:00 at New York Pizza Department on Saturday, April 4. New members always welcome.

The jam comics from the last two meetings are now posted as PDFs — check 'em out.

Via Andy, the trailer for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead.

The return of report from New Comic Night, conveniently overlooking past New Comic Nights lost:

• Elephantmen #17 sports a Silver Age-style cover by Erik Larsen; and, though we should be used to those kind of covers being a bit deceptive, this one straight-out doesn't happen in the issue. Story was, unfortunately, thoroughly predictable. Wraps up some ends, but was waiting for the twist that never came.
  
• Fantastic Four #565 also predictable, but more fun, with Fantastic Family Alien Beating Action. Setup at the end for next arc=teh awesome.
  
• Battlefields: Dear Billy ended as I knew it would: badly. But I was surprised by the turn, and at the subtlety of the storytelling here. I think Ennis is running a couple fine lines with these characters, and he pulled it off.
  
• Immortal Iron Fist #24 was a total standalone, a break from the Eighth City arc. Good enough, doesn't necessarily add anything to the mythology, but well-told.
  
• Top Ten special #1 was also a well-told story; but I think that we're now noticing even more the loss of characterization that Moore brought to the series. The tales of the precinct continue to unfurl well, though, and it's still a recommended read.

In other Friday night-related news, I think Dollhouse is hitting its stride and we're seeing bits of the Joss-ness that we like in it — but now have to wonder where it's heading.

And I have to say, I didn't think Let The Right One In justified the hype it was receiving in the alt press. It was a long day, and a long night, too, but it just dragged. I realize that it was a completely different take on the big vampire movie, was accomplishing different things, and really added something new to the genre — it did do a lot of things well. But I just kept thinking about this week's Waid Wednesday (the column, I've only really been skimming and marginally enjoying since that first post); it took me a couple readings to parse what he was getting at and, though it may not apply to all instances, it's some good storytelling advice.

Paul Z.'s doing some freelance now. Check out his stuff, hire him for your projects.

If you're a fan of Jamie Chase's art on Death, Cold As Steel and The Darkness From Warsaw, but just can't stand my writing, be sure to check out the new sketchbooks now available — as Monica says, "unencumbered by narrative."

How did someone not come up with this already? The Periodic Table of Typefaces. All over the adoblogosphere last week.

While I'm working a giant summary of the last three New Comic Nights (read: I'm probably going to skip writing about the last three New Comic Nights), notes on a few of the things I've gotten to from my STAPLE! haul:

• Since I'm forever going to be linked in search results with Monica Gallagher because of this blog post, figured I should pick up some of her work. Lipstick and Malice is the sort of indie comic that makes me jealous; sure, I found faults to nit and pick, but it's really just 'cause I'm envious of her skills. Overall, a well-told little tale with a great sense of tone, clever and fun.
  
• On the other hand, I don't even remember buying Local Heroes. Opening it last night, surprised to see the artwork rendered in pencil. It should be obvious from all the stuff over at the left that I got no problem with pencil, it's just that the art seemed so polished and ink-ready that it made the strip look like a first draft. But the storytelling's solid, what impressed me most is how well Kevin Quinn makes a strip that functions as a weekly (?) webcomic work so well as full pages. And it looks like the current stuff is inked.

Did I mention? Marc's posted a terrific pinup of Estelle, star of Panel Press' Death, Cold As Steel and The Darkness From Warsaw, comics set in the Raised By Squirrels universe. Shipping's free on those books, y'know.

At AdFreak: "Snobby French squirrel loves Emerald Nuts."

And, via Paul: "normally when you see a squirrel, it's just a squirrel. But now it's like I know him. He's a very worthy adversary." Let's also note that was the second Rush reference I ran across in the news yesterday.

Apropos of nothing, other than maybe just everything in here would make a great setting for a (comic book) story — Artificial Owl, photos of abandoned man-made creations. Via all the cool ad/design blogs.

Chortle-out-loud funny, Nick's NCAA picks, based on the mascots. He makes comics, too. That's the connection.

"… a perfect blend of history, espionage and supernatural horror." A well-timed review of The Darkness From Warsaw at The Tampa Bay Newspapers.

Watchmen tonight. And, y'know, I liked it more than I thought I would. I thought it was slow — I mean, not in the way that you would expect, but in that odd things were drawn out; one of my friends, who'd never read the book, though, didn't agree. Some of the acting was painful, but the visual style was great. And I even didn't mind the spoiler alert altered ending too much, until Monica pointed out a fairly major flaw in the logic.

All prepared to get into one of my rants about "movies should be movies, comics should be comics, and they should each do what they do best." I still maintain that the slavish devotion to filming a comic exactly as it was printed really drains the life out of the movie. And that's why, believe it or not, I'm kinda not dreading the Wolverine movie. There's plenty in the blogosphere about how they're not following continuity, how it doesn't even seem like it'll fit in with the X-Men movies. But I think it's great that Marvel's just going to use their characters however they see fit to make a big ol' action flick that's not beholden to the comic world.

Getting way behind on the Reports from New Comic Night already; completely skipped one, there was none last week — and I'm still working through last night's haul. Soon. Hopefully.

Last weekend was spent in Austin at STAPLE!. Our second appearance at the show representing 7000 BC was even more successful that last year's — I'd say we sold at least one of everything we had there; and, as you can see, we brought a lot. Ran out of the RBSes (plus the table copy of vol. 1), and the brand-new The Darkness From Warsaw was well-received.

The people who come to the show, on both sides of the table, are always some of the best we see at a con. Because we were so busy, I didn't get to shop much myself, but I did some away with a good haul of new finds and new work from old friends. More on those as I work my way through.

One of the high points was finally getting to meet Marc and hang out, talkin' and showin' comics. And his daughter passed along the drawing she did over dinner.

Texas Geek TV shot a video that's a good overview of the show (though it seemed more crowded than it looks there) and our table pops up a few times. My star turn's about halfway through, scratching my nose.

Occupied with STAPLE! this past weekend — and more to come on that, I promise — so going to see Watchmen wasn't even an option. In the meantime, the Watchmen as a Saturday Morning Cartoon has been making the rounds of the cool comics blogs. But also, via Raph, there's Ombudsman. And kinda, somehow, in the same vein, Frank Miller's Charlie Brown, via Coudal.

Back from the long weekend at STAPLE! — once again, an amazing time with some terrific people. More later, but thanks to all who stopped by and visited with us.

If you just kind of wound up with this URL in your wallet and aren't sure why, it was probably because we were talking at the 7000 BC table, maybe we were pushing some of our Panel Press comics on you.

One of my favorite quotes that didn't make it into the Decider's guide to STAPLE! is "there are few rewards in self-publishing comics, and one of them is the people you get to meet."

Well, this weekend, we'll be going out to dinner with Robert Stikmanz, and Marc Haines will be making the trip across Texas to visit. I hope to get a new book from Danielle and visit more with Andy. And, of course, to see Uncle Staple himself and say "thanks" for putting it all together.

That's me sounding at bit … stilted … might be the most charitable way to put it in the STAPLE! article in Decider. I didn't mean to come off sounding like some sort of self-help guru; I wanted to clarify that "independent" comics shouldn't be seen as unapproachable — in fact, with the diversity of genres, subject matter, and creators, I think they're more accessible, especially in a venue like STAPLE!.

I do kinda talk like that, though.

"All said, The Darkness from Warsaw delivers another great thriller from the SQRL casebook." Richard's posted a nice review at Comic Related.

This weekend, off to STAPLE! in Austin, Texas on Saturday, March 7. Representing 7000 BC for the second year with comics from the group, including the most recent strings and several other brand-new books — including The Darkness From Warsaw.