Gene Ha

Early Japanese Influence

2009-06-27T11:50:00.002-05:00

First, on a side note, my JSA vs. Kobra #4 cover is still only at $77, including shipping and insurance. Bargain! If you'd just like to look at goodly sized scans, click here for a previous blog post.

Now to today's subject....

Back in 1986, I was a huge fan of Frank Miller and his groundbreaking work on books like Wolverine, Daredevil, Ronin and The Dark Knight Returns. I drew plenty of bad riffs off of the Miller/Janson styles.

In interviews, Miller mentioned what a huge influence Japanese comics were. I was determined to track down a recent issue. I high school junior in South Bend, Indiana, so this wasn't easy. There was no Internet as such, with websites for looking up and ordering obscure foreign books. Foreign comics pretty much meant Heavy Metal and Captain Canuck. The first American edition of Lone Wolf and Cub wouldn't be released until next year.

My mom would occasionally drive to Chicago, the big city, for Korean groceries. A block away from the grubby Korean market on Clark Street was a tidy little Japanese bookstore. I made a jaunt over there, went through the comics, and paid about $10 for something I can't read.

I thought most of it was crap. I still do. But a few of the stories and images had a huge lasting influence on my work.

The first story, "Up To Date", is about a girl who likes to take off her panties and sticks them on the heads of confused pup-tented boys. Japan was and is a bizarre place. I never got into drawing teen sex comedies, but the backgrounds in that story blew me away.

This was years before Akira hit our shores. I really didn't know a comic book could have images like this. At first, I assumed that this was an architectural image that had been licensed for re-use by a comic studio. But the style is consistent with the rest of the story, and the little helicopter shows up on the next page carrying the protagonists. I began freehand copying this image in my spare time.

Which led me to eventually doing pages like this:

Here's the other page. I just love the dynamism and the use of lettering to pop the composition. I still sit back trying to figure out the Japanese science of baseball manga, and it's well-tested formulas for distorting the baseball and the bats and the limbs. I love how it switches from distortion to freeze frame in the panel before the batter swings. I find this far more interesting than 99% of the manga I see translated today:

That 1%, specifically, is Death Note and Yotsuba&!.

Appearances

2009-06-26T01:06:00.002-05:00

I just updated my Appearance Schedule on my website home page. Here's the update:

July 11-17. Semana Negra de Gijón in Spain from July 10-19, though I'll only be there from July 11-17. It's a massive cultural festival. This being Europe, culture includes comics!

You have no idea how much I love Spain. The whole country is rock and roll.

July 22-26. San Diego Comic-Con International. Because it's so close to Semana Negra, I wasn't planning on coming. But because they'll be announcing the Big Secret Project there, I may attend for a day or two. I don't expect to set up a table.

August 6-9. Wizard World Chicago. The premiere local convention, conveniently near Ohare airport. I don't know how many days I'll attend, but at least one or two to raise money for charities.

Saturday, September 12. Amazing Fantasy Books & Comics, Frankfort, IL. From noon till 3pm, the whole art team from DC's JSA vs. Kobra will be signing comics. Gene Ha (me, the cover artist!), Penciler Don Kramer, Inker Michael Babinski, and my old pal Art Lyon the Coloring Virtuoso. It'll be like Survivor, but with Sharpies.

I suppose this has been done before, but it's the only time I know of where all the artists on a book, including the colorist, show up for one signing. I'm really psyched about this!

Saturday, September 19. Windy City Comicon on the north side of Chicago. It's a Chicago comic convention actually inside the city of Chicago! It's a great medium sized show, but still intimate. Heavily focused on comics, for the serious or casual comic geek!

October 3-4. Tentatively scheduled to do the FallCon in Minnesota again. Big broad shouldered Minnesota comic geeks, rock and roll, vendors, and drawings. An ideal volunteer run convention.

May 1, 2010. I'm tentatively scheduled to do Free Comic Book Day 2010 at the St Joseph County Public Library in South Bend, IN again. They're a great bunch of librarians and patrons, so it's always a pleasure.

JSA v Kobra #4 Cover Auction

2009-06-23T05:23:00.004-05:00

I'm putting up the cover to JSA VS. Kobra: Engines of Faith #4 on eBay Tuesday after 10pm ET/7pm PT. If you're interested, click here. Along with the sale, I like putting up 1600 pixel tall images of the original art. When I do the colors myself, as in this case, I like including a color JPEG too. Click on any of the images below for the full size JPEG.

In doing the idol of Hatred from Shazam's Seven Deadly Enemies of Mankind, I wanted to give it a more primitive and coarse feel. Generally, the Enemies are drawn somewhere between a tiki and Grumpy. I used African tribal sculpture and Hellboy covers as inspiration.

My interpretation of Lightning is based on Alex Ross's JSA covers. The logic is a bit different. He paints her as a photo negative of a woman lit from above, with broad glowing areas where shadows should be. I light her (well, me) from below. In effect, Alex makes her an internally glowing coal, and I make her wreathed in light.

This is the only one of the covers where I didn't use any outside model reference. They're all based on me.

eBay bonus

2009-06-16T02:00:00.003-05:00

I often add a little marker doodle to the packing slip when I mail off original art. Because the latest winner got two in a row, I added a bigger, nicer sketch this time.

Otherwise, currently hard at work on a Star Sapphire story for DC's Green Lantern books.

Geek Economists, not Geek Ecologists

2009-05-30T10:21:00.002-05:00

Hat tip to Andrew Sullivan for the link. I love this: comics commentary from economists. It's Eco-comics!:

Finally, aside from investment from within our planet, economic growth can be sped along by Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows from other civilizations. But what’s surprising is that with an entire galaxy of highly advanced civilizations, no interplanetary investment seems to be reaching earth. Capital should flow to where its return is highest. Being mere humans in a giant multiverse of galactic powers, it’s a fair assumption that earth is an LDP (less developed planet) with a comparatively small capital stock. According to the Solow model, alien entrepreneurs should be jumping at the opportunity to invest in Earth. Add a growing stock of technology from metahumans and falling debris and you can get productivity and standards of living rising indefinitely. The only thing I can think of that deters aliens from investing is the unstable sociopolitical climate. I mean, who really wants to deal with the risks of a Luthor presidency or an Emperor Joker? It seems that now, more than ever, the earth needs superheroes to stamp out crime so that other planets might feel safer about their investments.

Beating up Lex Luthor is all part of Obama's stimulus plan. And I love the idea of alien empires buying up American companies to prop up the stock market. Thanagarians buying Boeing. The Brood taking over Perdue Chicken. Turin buying Chrysler....

Captain Hammer color preview

2009-05-28T16:25:00.004-05:00

I don't want to steal the thunder from the Captain Hammer pinup premiering in the Hero Comics fundraiser for the HERO Initiative. First, so you'll buy the book and help support a hardworking bunch of volunteers. Second, because stealing the Cap's thunder means he might beat me up.

But I did promise a preview!

Click for a larger image.

Hero Comics available at your local comic shop July 29. More details, and the pencils of the full composition, in the previous post on this blog.

Hero Comics

2009-05-20T11:02:00.004-05:00

First news, I'm able to upload images to Blogger again! This means I'll be posting more previews here. So expect more news updates.

Second, the real news. Details have been announced for Hero Comics, the HERO Initiative fundraiser comic for which I'm doing two pieces. Available in stores July 29, or get it early at the San Diego con July 23.

More details here. For $3.99, I think it's worth it just for the cover by J. Scott Campbell:

Hero Initiative is very proud to announce the release of Hero Comics. The 32-page, no-ads comic, edited and produced by Scott Dunbier, special projects editor at IDW Publishing, will be released in late July with two covers, Eve by J. Scott Campbell, and Grendel by Matt Wagner. The fundraising book will contain great, all-new content including an original American Flagg! story by Howard Chaykin, and original stories by Gene Ha, Bill Willingham, David Lloyd, and Kaare Andrews.( See attachment for cover art)

In addition, Arthur Adams will recreate three classic Marvel Comics covers, and Hero Initiative beneficiaries such as Gene Colan, Bill Messner-Loebs and Josh Medors will tell their own personal stories, detailing their severe struggles, and Hero's involvement.

An excerpt from Josh Medors' story reads:

"When I am feeling almost ready to give in to my cancer, ready to throw my hands in the air and say ‘I quit!,' I get a call from the Initiative. ‘Just wanted to see how you are doing.' It may not seem like much, but let me assure you—When the monster bites and the pain pills aren't working, a call like that is more effective than a Super-Soaker filled with holy water against the ol' Count."

The first piece I did for the book is a Samson Bible story, with writer Lowell Francis. and lettering by Zander Cannon. Preview images were available on Facebook a while back, but I couldn't get Blogger to upload images that day. Now it works, so here are some larger nicer images than the ones on FB. Click to see the full size images:

I'm also doing a pinup of Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion) from Dr. Horrible. Thanks to Scott Allie of Dark Horse and Joss Whedon for expediting the okays to do this! Here are the full pencils. Expect a closeup preview of the colors some time next week:

The Fate of Top Ten, continued...

2009-05-14T00:07:00.001-05:00

From Zander's blog at Big Time Attic:

Hey Top Ten fans, I just want to thank you for the outpouring of support I hear we've gotten about wanting to see the story continue. It's gratifying to know that people care so much about these characters and this world that they will take the time to write in and make their preferences known. Now, I should also say that my editor's getting a lot of mail that is less than constructive about the fate of Top Ten and what's to be done about it, so let's take this opportunity to go over a few thoughts, shall we?

1. You get more flies with honey than with vinegar. That is to say, you improve the chances of Top Ten continuing by sending positive emails that focus on your deep love of the series and your honor-bound promise to buy every issue that comes out than by insulting DC, Wildstorm, the editors, and the accountants and accusing them of playing bait-and-switch.

2. Speaking of which, there are many factors that have led to the current situation, and things are not always as black-and-white as they may seem. It's always tempting to find a villain in a difficult situation, but I can tell you that everyone involved acted with good intentions and everyone wants to put out a comic that people love and will read.

3. This is a follow-up to this post, in which I posted a summary of events, calling it "the semi-official statement from Wildstorm through me". While I typed that in good faith, feeling that it was an accurate representation of what I had heard, it was not in any way an official statement, and I retract that label. I don't speak for Wildstorm, and I am not privy to their decision-making process.

Top Ten is perhaps the most fun series I've ever worked on; I would love to have it continue and pay off the storylines which have been established. Stay positive, and send your proclamations of love to:

AskWS [at] dccomics [dot] com

Thanks again! [Zander]

More Top Ten from Zander?

2009-04-30T08:07:00.002-05:00

I'm moving on to new projects, but Zander still has plenty more wonderful Top 10 stories in his noggin. I'd love to read them. If you'd like to learn more, and help them see print, go to Zander's Big Time Attic blog:

"I've been given an email address that fans wanting to make themselves heard about Top Ten continuing can use to contact Wildstorm:

AskWS (at) dccomics (dot) com

Let's let them know Top Ten has some fans out there!"

Understanding Twilight

2009-04-26T22:06:00.002-05:00

For geek guys who can't get into the Twilight book series, I've written this translation. It seems damn clear to me after watching the movie that it's just an elaboration on the earlier classic The Guild:

Bella Swan (quiet geek girl with stalker boyfriend) = Codex
Edward Cullen (developmentally disabled stalker) = Zaboo
Carlisle Cullen (adopted virtual father figure) = Vork
Alice Cullen (confused twit) = Clara
Rosalie Hale (geek hating geek girl) = Tinkerballa
James (obnoxious closet male model with ninja skillzz) = Bladezz
Nike House i.e. the Cullen house = Cheesybeards

I'm assuming Victoria will become Zaboo's mother in the Twilight sequel, and Jacob Black shapeshifts into Wade the stunt double/hot neighbor in that movie.

The way I live now

2009-04-16T16:04:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone. It's been a while since I posted, so it seems like a good time to take a break from work and update all the readers!

Now that I'm done with Top Ten, I've stopped doing paying interior work for now. I've spent about two work weeks on a non-paying Bible story. Four pages, art and colors by me, story by Lowell Francis, and lettering by Zander Cannon. It'll appear in a graphic novel anthology for the Semana Negra de Gijón cultural festival in Spain, and in the US it'll be in the fundraising Hero Comics for the Hero Initiative.

It was fun, but this being tax season, it'll be a relief to get a paycheck again!

Dang. I tried posting images but Blogger won't take them. They're up in Facebook, and I'll try to get them into MySpace later.

Beyond that, I'm also doing some covers for JSA vs. Kobra. In discussions for my next interior project (not with DC or Marvel, very hush hush). And hopefully doing a small creator owned side project, again written by Lowell Francis.

Outside of work, I've started keeping a shopping list of comic books on my iPhone (Steve Jobs has changed my life!). Also, my friend Rose has started working at Challengers Comics in Chicago, so I now have a shop I'll be starting a pull list at. Here's what I've been reading lately. In alphabetical order, with some comments:

Age of Bronze by Eric Shanower. A perfect comic. Beautifully and elegantly drawn: adjectives I don't usually apply to a realistic style. It gives the illusion of effortlessness. As an artist, I can tell you I've never seen anything so audacious.

The Boys. Not for kids or the easily offended. I got the second collection and was a little disappointed. It feels like the same joke being repeated, like a Lobo comic. If my friends like future issues I'll keep reading it.

Breakfast After Noon by Andi Watson. Still have to buy this one. I love Mr. Watson's work, but I haven't read him in years.

Cloak and Dagger. Hmm, can't buy this because it's been delayed.

Fables. Only comic what gives me withdrawal symptoms. Bill Willingham is the American Alan Moore, but less crazy.

Far Arden. Still have to pick this up. I read some online, but I dislike reading long form comics on a screen. I want the book.

Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas. The story's good, but I'm really reading it for the Adi Granov art.

Jack Staff. Best serial superhero comic published today.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1910. LoEG has been great so far, so really looking forward to this.

Literals. DC seems to have dropped me off their comp list. So I'll have to track these down meself. It's Bill Willingham, so I'll do whatever needs be done.

North World. A swords and tee-shirt epic. I have a weakness for simple fast paced story telling. Not deep, but thoughtful and fun. Frankly, it's a world I'd love to live in.

Occasional Superhero. Not a comic, a $10 (cheap!) PDF memoir of a very messed up girl who grew up to become a DC editor. But she got better. Not for kids. Dark, bitter humored and honest. I'm not finished, as I can only handle so much at a time. Note that she changed some names. I'm trying to NOT guess who she's talking about.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Reading the first collection of Tania del Rio's work. Tania and her now husband were some of the star talents in the MCAD class I helped teach. She did good!

Scooter Girl and Blue Monday. I used to read Chynna Clugston's work regularly, and hope to start again.

Scott Pilgrim. Best general purpose comic in English.

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane. The manager convinced me I should start reading this. Still need to pick it up. I do love the art.

Tiny Titans. It's hard to target kids without being annoying to adults. This comic is a little miracle.

Umbrella Academy. Weird fun. A tour through the absurd and fantastic. I've heard it compared to Hellboy, but it actually reminds me more of Sea Guy.

Vikings. Sold out, gotta track this down.

Watchmensch. I'll order this next time I'm in the shop.

Why I Killed Peter by Alfred & Olivier Ka. Again, I'll need to order this.

Wonderful World of Oz. Eric Shanower can do no wrong!

Watchmen notes

2009-03-15T01:29:00.002-05:00

I just saw the movie. I went with my wife and another couple, a librarian and a fellow comic geek. I'll let loose with all the thoughts I've been saving up.

I did enjoy it, but I thought it was deeply flawed. Too much of a comic book, too little translation into the movie medium. Some of the visuals were fun. Some of the acting was good.

Here's something I've been dying to comment about. The New Yorker review. There's much to mock about it. His attack on comic geekdom would hurt if he knew anything. I wish most superhero geeks were 19 years old! We're a middle aged crowd, frankly. Oh, how I wish Pauline Kael was still at the New Yorker. She always thought before she stated facts, much less opinions.

In commenting about the original comic, he thinks Alan Moore wrote Rorschach's dialog seriously:

You want to hear Moore’s attempt at urban jeremiad? “This awful city, it screams like an abattoir full of retarded children.” That line from the book may be meant as a punky retread of James Ellroy, but it sounds to me like a writer trying much, much too hard...

That's understandable: a whole generation of comics writers didn't understand Moore was mocking heroes like Dirty Harry and Charles Bronson in Death Wish. In the next issue's capsule review (not available online) the same reviewer now understands Moore's joke:

...any hint of political satire - as intended by the angry Moore - is drowned in a flood of brutal murk.

But he also gets this gem in:

The task was to find a way of dramatizing Alan Moore's graphic novel - something of a cult among devotees, which means that, like all cults, it has escaped critical rigor.

Watchmen. Never the subject of serious critical study. Has this man ever been to a college English department in the last twenty years? Obviously, "trying much, much too hard" is not one of his faults.

Back to the movie.

My view was tinted by having watched the greatest superhero movie of all time on DVD, The Incredibles. On the commentary track, Brad Bird talks about the need to slow down the pace once in a while, to let the movie breathe. Watchmen never breathes. It had the pacing of a nine panel grid.

The elder Silk Spectre made me wince. This is the most emotionally complex character in the movie and the comic book, and the role demanded a serious actor.

Ozymandias needed to be both knowing and innocent. Christopher Reeve would have been perfect. Why did this British actor sound German? I expected him to start saying "So, Doctor Jones..." Too villainous, too foreign, too homophobic.

Props to Jackie Earl Haley (from Breaking Away, as my friends at the movie told me) as Rorschach. Amazing. Mr Snyder is not an actor's director. Getting a good performance past a bad director requires both great skill and a little luck. God bless Jackie.

I don't necessarily object to the plot changes, but I don't think the screenwriter understood the story, character arcs, moral philosophy, etc, well enough to fill in the gaps. Nite Owl's speech to Ozymandias condemning his scheme was painfully bad. Ditto on Ozzy's speech to Lee Iacocca.

Enough with the complaints, it was a fun experience. The prison fight scene was cool, like something from Charlie's Angels or The Matrix. There were pretty naked people, but the choreography wasn't as good as the fights. And it was neat seeing scenes from the comic animated, like the robot Lincoln in Disneyland. I can't wait for the sequel!*

*Mr Anthony Lake, that last bit was joke.

Random Photo Meme

2009-02-22T12:37:00.004-06:00

Lowell Francis tagged me for a meme--

The rules are simple.
1.Go to your pictures folder and open the sixth one.
2.Post the sixth picture.
3.Tag six people

Simple for most people, at least. I don't use the Vista Documents Pictures folder. Just a few sample photos there.

I decided to go to my "Friends Photos" folder, as opposed to my work folders. I then went to the sixth folder, and took the sixth picture from it:

It's a picture of me and Lisa with our friends Erika, Simon, and an old friend of theirs. We're outside Quartino in Chicago, a good Italian tapas/dim sum kinda place. Good for drinks and shared snack plates. We handed my camera to a stranger, and she told us to all point at the camera.

Now, if I go through my work folder.....
I won't explain what it is, beyond saying it's for a creator owned project I'm hoping to do.

Outside of Facebook, I'll tag Art and Lowell too!

The Difference Between Digital Comics and Print

2009-02-10T06:58:00.002-06:00

Thanks to The Comic Journal's Journalista for the link.

Balak from DeviantArt creates a brilliant webcomic to show the differences between digital comics and print comics. It is seriously brilliant.

Scott McCloud has created some brilliant webcomics, of course. But he's showing off things that are easy online, but difficult or impossible to print. Small bits of animation, or panels that would be 4 inches by 60 inches in print.

What Balak has done is stuff that could be printed, but would be a horrible comic book in print. He's showing things that work better online than they do on paper.

If an art student showed me a printed comic of this stuff, I'd point out what would seem to be basic storytelling mistakes. But because it's online clickables on a single page, not multiple pages, it works beautifully. It shows the difference in medium in a way that McCloud's comics never hinted at.

It takes on some of the virtues of animation, without actually using animation. It's worth reading for the theoretical experiments, but it's also just damn readable. Click the link.

Top 10 drawing listening

2009-02-03T17:47:00.003-06:00

Last week I listened, and sometimes watched, Generation Kill on DVD. It's a docudrama about the Marines in Iraq, and seems to be well received by those very Marines. Sometimes it makes them look like asses, or crazy, but they do their job and mostly do it heroically well. I say that from as a lifelong civilian, for whom doing 10 chin ups is an aspiration.

This week I'm listening to the audiobook by a lieutenant from those Marines, Nathaniel Fick. He includes a long quote from a novel about the famed 300 Spartans:

Captain Novack had pinned a quotation on the classroom wall from Steven Pressfield’s Gates of Fire, about the Spartans at Thermopylae:

This, I realized now watching Dienekes rally and tend to his men, was the role of the officer: to prevent those under his command, at all stages of battle – before, during, and after – from becoming “possessed.” To fire their valor when it flagged and rein in their fury when it threatened to take them out of hand. That was Dienekes’ job. That was why he wore the transverse-crested helmet of an officer.

His was not, I could see now, the heroism of an Achilles. He was not a superman who waded invulnerably into the slaughter, singlehandedly slaying his foe by myriads. He was just a man doing his job. A job whose primary attribute was self-restraint and self-composure, not for his own sake, but for those he led by his example. A job whose objective could be boiled down to the single understatement, as he did at the Hot Gates on the morning he died, of “performing the commonplace under uncommonplace conditions.”

Novack sometimes interrupted class to point at the paper on the wall. “Gents, it’s all there. We don’t carry swords, but our job’s the same.” I wrote the quote in my notebook to take with me to the Fleet.

It was obviously a lot of hassle for Lt. Fick to put that quote in his book, so it probably meant a lot to him. An army always risks turning into a mob, and it's always worth the effort to keep order.

Oddly enough, this concept is contreversial today. In 2004, pundits thought we could win in Iraq by "taking off the gloves." Thank God we didn't.

Postscript: The audiobook is One Bullet Away. The quality of Marine officer training, and it's relevance to modern international chaos, is stunning.

Top 10 Annotations Compiled

2009-01-29T02:11:00.003-06:00

I've gone through all the annotations I could find and put them together! Except where I labeled the comment as my own, I'm not claiming these are or are not accurate. Then it wouldn't be a game!

Let me know if you spot anything else....

VOLUME ONE

Page 1, Panel 1: [Xteve] I'll swear that's a Joust guy from the classic video game on the lower right. The kid in the upper right Panel looks like a Dragon Ball Z character, but I'm not really a manga reader ...

[Bryan] Rogue Trooper on the left, I agree with Xteve on the Joust guy, and the flying kids might be Astro Boy and Jetter Mars.

Page 2-3: [Xteve] The kid looks like Black Lightning Jr, if there is such a character ... the other guy reminds me of "Letter Man" from the old Electric Company TV show, even though I know it's not him ...

Page 3, Panel 1: [Bryan] Igoo, the rock ape from The Herculoids, and the top of Robby the Robot's head in lower Panel (which SirDeuce points out also in issue 2 Page 18).

Page 4, Panel 1: [J. Kevin Carrier] The bald lady at extreme left looks like Marvel's Moondragon, if she let herself go a bit. The bearded fellow next to her with the pentagram t-shirt is a casual-dress version of Rasputin, from Hellboy. On the far right, the guy holding a cup of coffee is Marvel's Black Goliath.

[SirDeuce] I like how the Fight Censorship flyers are censoring the bodies.

[Bryan] Guy walking up stairs looks like a blue version of Forager from New Gods (or maybe a version of Ambush Bug) - looks very Giffen-y

Page 6, Panel 1: [J. Kevin Carrier] Why does "Green Bolt" wear a red costume? Maybe he's color blind. Or maybe (really reaching here) it's a nod to those old X-Men covers where the Scarlet Witch was mistakenly colored green.

Page 11, Panel 1: [Xteve] upper right, It's the Flying Pope!

Not sure who the two medics are in Panel two.

[SirDeuce] Oops, forgot to mention the Watcher!

Page 13, Panel 1: [Xteve] in the crowd I think I spot Captain Britain, what seems to be a rather portly Johnny Future, and the huge 7ft tall guy from the Muppet Show...

[J. Kevin Carrier] I don't think that's Captain Britain... looks more like Paul Grist's Jack Staff to me. Could be Marvel's Union Jack, I suppose.

[SirDeuce] Batmanuel, Chainsaw Vigilante, and Captain Liberty from The Tick TV show and comic. Could that be Filth from the Tick cartoon next to Sweetums?

Page 15 Panel 5: [Xteve] The newsboy closest to Dwayne seems to have an X-Man t-shirt on and may be one of the characters; I don't read Marvel, so I couldn't say which one ...

[J. Kevin Carrier] The kids are Artie and Leech, two of the sewer-dwelling "Morlocks" from X-Men.

Page 16 Panel 4: [Xteve] (This) is one of my favorite Panels in Season Two. From left to right we see a kid wearing a 3rd Bass T-shirt and possibly sporting the MC Serch white boy Afro standing underneath "Alvy Singer's ______" nice nod to Woody Allen there, what -may- be Avenger the eagle from the "Harvey Birdman" TV show, moving on there's the Dr. Doom Charlie Brown and Snoopy from the original Top 10 series, what appears to be the home of ubiquitous Kirby-era ad staple GRIT magazine (hey, you can make 4 cents an issue!) and on the far right what appears to be the child of New God Mokkari pimping a "Harper's Bizarre" newspaper with the headline "SUCKA MCs _____ NEOPOLIS." Sheer genius. And as I type this I notice the Disneyland castle in the far background. Niiice.

[SirDeuce] The literal Hawk and Dove.

[Bryan] The character Xteve identifies as Mokkari's kid looks like a juggalo AKA a fan of the Insane Clown Posse.

Page 17: [Xteve] Apart from a hilarious hint to Shock Headed Peter's origins also features nerdrap hero MC Frontalot as Buzz, who like Billy Batson apparently has his own magic word that transforms him into ... Captain Aztec?? Love it.

On Page 21: [Xteve] I'm going to speculate that's Gograh from the original Top 10 series in the cell next to Mickey Millions, why he's wearing boxing gloves is anyone's guess.

Page 23 Panel 1: [Xteve] features another John Belushi cameo as his samurai character, just to the right of Slipstream Phoenix. The guy on the candy bar machine looks very Matt Groening-ish, maybe Radioactive Man?

[J. Kevin Carrier] I wouldn't recommend drinking anything from the "Red K" machine... in Superman comics, Red Kryptonite causes bizarre transformations.

[Bryan] Next to the soda machine, seen from behind, it looks the red brain from 1963 #3: Tales of the Uncanny?

Page 23 Panel 5: [Xteve] I'm not sure who the elderly gentleman with the sun outfit is, but that's clearly the Great Gazoo floating next to him. The floating dinosaur looks a bit like the flying dragon character from Neverending Story; can't recall his name at the moment.

VOLUME TWO
Page 4, Panel 3: [J. Kevin Carrier] The yellow bird-creature kind of looks like one of Dr. Seuss' Sneetches.

Page 4, Panel 4: [Xteve] My second favorite Panel in Season Two (so far). Looks like the ladies room at TOP 10 has quite the collection of bathroom graffiti. From left to right: "Banner - I like him when he's angry!" a sketch of Snoopy as Joe Cool, "Don't let Diana tie you up" "SINISTER DUCKS"-which for those who don't know is an avant garde music project Alan Moore did with fellow Northhamptonites David J from Bauhaus and Max Acropolis. I used to have the single back in high school ... I think Kevin O'Neill did the sleeve. "Galactis [sic] will eat ur world!" and what I can only imagine is a message for the reader who actually read all this "comic book whore" hee hee hee ...

[Bryan] "Thank you M.O.M. 4 the androgen bomb" - M.O.M. is a villain from Tom Strong #19, and the Androgen bomb is her weapon that turns men into women, which is why Roger, the stong-man of Promethea's Five-Swell Guys, is a woman.

[Gene Ha] I’ll just clarify that one graffiti says “B. Galactis will eat ur world.” A nod to Bryan.

Page 8, Panel 1: [Xteve] From left to right looks as though Gandalf has gone into the dry cleaning biz as the robe says "Mithrandir Cleaners" ... not sure who the cat with the bag and the old hippy are, though given that this is supposed to be the magic users neighborhood that would mean that the large plant growing outside the apartment is probably Jack's beanstalk.

[Bryan] Guy standing on corner looks like he's wearing Dr. Strange's cloak of levitation.

Page 11, Panel 1: [Xteve] Far in the upper left hand corner we find the other Kirby-era ad staple "X-RAY Specs"... now to complete the set we just need "Potato Gun" and maybe "Learn Guitar By Ear!" I can't make out all of the graffiti on the house other than a sneaky "Didio Rules!" So looks like Dan has been busy when he's not out dominating the Multiverse (for you Ambush Bug readers)...For some evil reason I always thought the guy in Panel 4 was Bee Guy from the Simpsons.

Page 15 Panel 1: [Xteve] The old guy with the German helmet on seems to be enjoying a copy of "Class Action Comics" while John Belushi's samurai makes his second appearance next to his lunch room pal Capt. Bar-B-Q.

Page 17 Panel 4: [Xteve] I love this. A Green Lantern themed-restaurant "Jordan's" complete with Jawa and Guardian waiters. I know I've seen the female character on the left hand side of Panel 8 before but I can't remember her name; the character just to the right of Capt. Peregrine somewhat resembles Kilowog in a funny helmet...

Page 17, Panel 5: [J. Kevin Carrier] Looks like Orko from the He-Man cartoon is moonlighting as a waiter.

[Bryan] Definitely Orko!!!

Page 17, Panel 7: [J. Kevin Carrier] The chicken-headed waiter might be a reference to Tomar Re, the bird-like alien Green Lantern. Not sure who the guy on the right is... the beady eyes remind me of George W. Bush.

Page 18, Panel 1: [SirDeuce] Anyone mention that the thing on the desk looks like the guts to Robby the Robot's head from Forbidden Planet?

Page 20, Panel 1: [J. Kevin Carrier] The girl in green and purple looks like a female Riddler, which I guess would make her blue-and-grey clad companion a variation on Batman/Batgirl. No idea about the chubby guy.

[Xteve] Not sure who the two cuties and the fat guy with the gun are on the left, but they appear to be up to no good.

[Bryan] The girl looks like Poison Ivy (but maybe she's the Riddler's daughter).

Page 21: [Xteve] Pixie the babysitter reminds me of Cyclone of the JSA.

Page 22, panel 1: [Bryan] The Monarch from Venture bros is walking behind Traynor.

Page 22, Panel 4: [J. Kevin Carrier] On the left, that's Hank and Dean Venture flanking Dr. Girlfriend, all from the Venture Bros. cartoon.

Page 23, panel 1: [Bryan] The butler looks like a Tezuka robot character from Astro Boy (I couldn't tell you which one, but that's just the kind of weird nose he'd draw).

Page 23, Panel 3: [J. Kevin Carrier] If Mickey Millions is a takeoff of Richie Rich, then that must surely be Hot Stuff the Lil' Devil standing next to him.

Page 23 Panel 4: [Xteve] Dr. Sivana working for Mickey Millions? I think so...

Page 24, panel 4: [Bryan] Post-It note has url for bigtimeattic.com - the site for the studio of Zander Cannon and his partners (all credited for the scripts and layouts).

Issue Three
[J. Kevin Carrier] I keep noticing more Secret Wars references in the "Origin Weekend" scenes in #3. Come to think of it, the whole idea of the heroes "going away for the weekend" and coming back radically changed is pretty much the whole plot of Secret Wars...

Page 1, panel 4: [J. Kevin Carrier] "Premise Keepers" is a play on the real-life organization "Promise Keepers" -- it's a Christian organization that purports to help men become better husbands.

Page 2, Panel 1: [SirDeuce] Seaguy and Chubby Da Choona and Death. Ryuk from Death Note is on the right, with other characters I recognize but cannot recall right now.

age 2, panel 2: [J. Kevin Carrier] "F.O.U.O." may stand for "Fire Of Unknown Origin", which is the name of an album by Blue Oyster Cult.

Page 3, Panel 1: [SirDeuce] Bob's Big Boy in the sky.

Page 4, panel 5: [Bryan] Address given by informant is "Glycon and 6th," Glycon being the glove-puppet snake-god worshipped by original Top Ten writer and co-creator Alan Moore.

Page 6, panel 8: [Bryan] Looks like Rawhide Kid (Marvel's definitely given him plenty of origin issues).

Page 7, Panel 2: [SirDeuce] The Tick and Arthur are miscolored.

[Bryan] Looks like Newt Gingrich dressed as Toad (another guy with issues), and maybe The Spectre behind him.

[J. Kevin Carrier] The "Mink" character resembles John Byrne, although if it is him, I don't understand the reference.

[Gene Ha] He’s a public figure so I’ll cop to this. AK stands for Alaska, whose Congressman Don Young threatened to bite another congressman: "If we continue this we'll be called biting one another, very much like the mink in my state that kill their own. There is always another day when those who bite will be killed, too. And I'm very good at that."

Page 7, panel 4: [J. Kevin Carrier] An obvious one, but we might as well go for completeness: The title of Eternity's book is a play on John Grey's self-help book "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus"

Page 7, Panel 5: [SirDeuce] Is that Jim Shooter taking tickets?

[Bryan] I thought the ticket taker looked like actor David Warner (but Shooter may be the better guess).

Page 8, Panel 1: [SirDeuce] Archie Goodwin in an Alien Legion uniform. Alien Legion was from Marvel's Epic imprint, headed by Archie.

Page 8, Panel 2: [SirDeuce] Is that the Wolverine from Earth X?

Page 8, Panel 3: [SirDeuce] The little robot Chewbacca growled at in the Death Star.

[Bryan] Looks like washed up versions of Iron Man and Ant Man, and yes, the li'l robot from the Death Star.

Page 8, Panel 4: [SirDeuce] Why does that remind me of a Cylon helmet?

Page 8, panel 5: [J. Kevin Carrier] "Wrestleworld" -- the planet that Secret Wars took place on was called "Battleworld".

Page 8, panel 8: [J. Kevin Carrier] Eternity's quote is a riff on the Beyonder's dialogue in Secret Wars #1: "I come from Beyond. Nothing you imagine is impossible for me to achieve."

Page 10, panel 8: [J. Kevin Carrier] On the TV is Samantha Bee, correspondent for "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart".

Page 11, Panel 5: [SirDeuce] 7-Zark-7 (upside-down) and 1-Rover-1 from Battle of the Planets. Hoggle (I think, lying down) and Sir Didymus on Ambrosius, his sheepdog steed, from the 1986 film Labyrinth. Also, Robot Chicken.

Page 14, Panel 1: [SirDeuce] Lots here - a Mon Calamari from Return of the Jedi; Mayor McCheese from McDonalds; The Fruit of the Loom guys; Jay and Silent Bob; Swamp Thing and Man Thing; M&M's; Pac Man and the ghosts; a Squirtle Pokemon; Strawberry Shortcake; the carrot-headed Green Lantern; the reference to Beta Ray Bill, the alien Thor.

[Bryan] SirDeuce scoped this one out pretty good. I can only add the Shmoo-kabobs.

Page 14, panel 2: [Bryan] Looks like a washed up Scott Summers.

Page 14, panel 3: [Bryan] Looks like Shaft and Sentinel of Youngblood tryin' to be cool (but it'll never happen).

[J. Kevin Carrier] The "native healer with silver hair" is a reference to Zsaji, a character from the first "Secret Wars" miniseries.

Page 14, Panel 6: [SirDeuce] Smokey the bear; Tony the Tiger; Hamburgler (the original) from McDonald’s.

Page 14, panel 7: [Bryan] Who's the guy in the middle? Lee Majors? Maybe Senator Craig?

Page 15, panel 3: [Bryan] Guy dressed in green looks like The Gill Man.

[Brad Guigar] During a routine perusing of the DC Comics Message Board, I stumbled across a reference to an Evil Inc cameo in Top Ten, Season Two #3.

(In) the upper right-hand corner, are Dr. Haynus and Iron Dragon! I'm gonna have to snag that ish for myself. Meanwhile, big thanks to Henchman CanRock for the scan.

This can only be a heartfelt compliment from the talented team of Zander Cannon and Gene Ha. That is, unless sharing the scene with the likes of Signal Man, Kite Man, Ten-Eyed Man, Ragman, Fisher Man and Letter Man was meant to be a hint! ;)

Either way, having my characters cameoed in a DC pub is an awesome thing! Thanks to whoever is responsible for that!

Page 16, Panel 3: [SirDeuce] Julius Schwartz and Stan Lee?

[Bryan] Yes Schwartz and Lee!

[J. Kevin Carrier] "Ground-tentacles" -- parts of the Secret Wars Battleworld had terrain like this.

page 14, panel 4: [Bryan] Cosmic Compass is the dial from "Dial H for Hero."

Page 17, Panel 1: [SirDeuce] Dozers from Fraggle Rock.

Page 17, panel 3: [Bryan] Graffiti "(Alan) Moore knows the score - can u dig it" are lyrics from the Pop Will Eat Itself song, Can U Dig IT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8cN_qvhfeI

Page 17 panel 5: [Bryan] Graffiti - Spongebob and Kochalka's American Elf.

Page 17, Panel 7: [SirDeuce] Barrels labeled as Kirby-Gaiman Sand (Jack Kirby and Neil Gaiman both worked on characters called The Sandman for DC).

Page 18, panel 2 & 5: [Bryan] Prolly need not be said, but the Red Ring Gang, with a weakness to orange is much like the GL Corp and their weakness to yellow

Page 24, Panel 1: [SirDeuce] Firestorm; Wolverine; Vigilante; the Chipmunks; Blink and Nightcrawler as kids; Stig of Stig's Inferno (holding pants); The Black Terror and Green Lama (flying and mis-colored)?

[Bryan] The flying guy kind of looks like Jack Faust from Promethea, but I think it's a stretch.

[J. Kevin Carrier] Right in the middle of the panel you can just make out the heads of Marvel's Hercules (with the beard and headband) and Thor (winged helmet).

Page 24, Panel 2: [SirDeuce] Cyclops and Marvel Girl hugging.

Interview with Bryan Galatis

2009-01-22T12:34:00.003-06:00

You know the restroom graffiti in Top 10 that says "B. Galatis will eat your world"? That was a reference to comics fan and journalist Bryan Galatis. His interview with me just came out in Rough Stuff magazine #11, from TwoMorrows Publishing. In addition, there's an extensive profile of how I created some of my favorite covers and interiors.

It's the issue with the Greg Horn cover, so if you like skinny synthetically enhanced superheroes you're all set! He gets a great portfolio section too. Also, advice on collecting convention sketches from artists. If you buy online, you also get the full color PDF edition of the B&W interior magazine.

Three is a magic number.

2009-01-13T21:31:00.002-06:00

Shout out to Shad and Anna, two of the coolest geeks I know in Minnesota. Hip, crafty, stylish, funny, they're chock full of adjectives. Here's one they can't use for a while: pregnant. Anna just gave birth today to Dmitri. Congratulations.

Shad is the design and web genius behind Big Time Attic and PUNY. He kept me going online when I lived in the MN. He and Anna also modeled for various characters in my books (Spider Jerusalem, Sky Witch, and on and on).

Dmitri, you're in good hands.

My current daily webcomics

2009-01-06T12:09:00.002-06:00

Here are the webcomics I check in on every weekday. I can guarantee there's something on this list that you won't like! Where else can you get a deal like that?:

Scary Go Round
It started off as a horror spoof, but moved on from there. Today's strip is particularly incomprehensible if you don't follow both Canadian politics and cuisine. Which is funny, because John Allison is very British.

Dork Tower
It helps if you are a dork. I guess I'm a dork.

Penny Arcade
The most successful webcomic of all time. If you like it you really like it. If you don't you probably don't play many video games. It pretends to sometimes have an ongoing plot, but it don't.

Questionable Content
Not for kids. No nudity, but the characters do wake up in bed with each other.

Sluggy Freelance
A pioneer of post-modern literature in modern online storytelling. In the same manner as 1940s Bugs Bunny cartoons.

Dumm Comics
The label is right. If you don't like dumm, don't click the link!

Girls With Slingshots
The artist has serious chops. Adult situations.

North World- The Epic of Conrad
I want to live in North World. In fact, I think I spent my 20s in North World.

Gene

Post Christmas Christmas greetings!

2008-12-27T07:58:00.003-06:00

I didn't get out a mailed Christmas card this year. Frankly, I've screwed up my colorist's Thanksgiving with late pages, so I don't want to spend multiple days drawing, printing, assembling, and signing all the cards I usually send out.

Still, I wanted to get out something to signify the holiday season. Hoping all of you are having wonderful midwinter celebrations. Festivus, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, Christmas, New Year's, and Chanukah, in reverse historical order.

First annotations

2008-12-19T14:53:00.002-06:00

I'd been hoping someone would annotate the new Top 10 series. Glory be, Xteve put up the first annotations for the new series on the comments thread.

Putting in the "Easter Eggs" is a lot like drawing up a crossword puzzle. You'd like to think that someone, somewhere, is working to solve it. It's really a group activity, as some of the references are so obscure or foreign that no single person could find them all.

As the puzzle maker and a DC contractor, I can't really play this game. I will mention that I'm a MySpace fan of Jane Jensen, and I later learned that she's a college pal of Alex Ross.

Put anything else you discover in comments, or feel free to re-post onto other forums:

K ... it's a snowy day and what to do but ... read comics! Here's a brief list of Top 10 annotations for the new series.

VOLUME ONE

page 1, panel 1:I'll swear that's a Joust guy from the classic video game on the lower right. The kid in the upper right panel looks like a Dragon Ball Z character, but I'm not really a manga reader ...

page 2-3: the kid looks like Black Lightning Jr, if there is such a character ... the other guy reminds me of "Letter Man" from the old Electric Company TV show, even though I know it's not him ...

Page 11, panel 1: upper right, It's the Flying Pope!

Not sure who the two medics are in panel two.

Page 13, panel 1 in the crowd I think I spot Captain Britain, what seems to be a rather portly Johnny Future, and the huge 7ft tall guy from the Muppet Show...

Page 15 panel 5, the newsboy closest to Dwayne seems to have an X-Man t-shirt on and may be one of the characters; I don't read Marvel, so I couldn't say which one ...

Page 16 panel 4 is one of my favorite panels in Season Two. from left to right we see a kid wearing a 3rd Bass T-shirt and possibly sporting the MC Serch white boy Afro standing underneath "Alvy Singer's ______" nice nod to Woody Allen there, what -may- be Avenger the eagle from the "Harvey Birdman" TV show, moving on there's the Dr. Doom Charlie Brown and Snoopy from the original Top 10 series, what appears to be the home of ubiquitous Kirby-era ad staple GRIT magazine (hey, you can make 4 cents an issue!) and on the far right what appears to be the child of New God Mokkari pimping a "Harper's Bizarre" newspaper with the headline "SUCKA MCs _____ NEOPOLIS." Sheer genius. And as I type this I notice the Disneyland castle in the far background. Niiice.

Page 17, apart from a hilarious hint to Shock Headed Peter's origins also features nerdrap hero MC Frontalot as Buzz, who like Billy Batson apparently has his own magic word that transforms him into ... Captain Aztec?? Love it.

On Page 21 I'm going to speculate that's Gograh from the original Top 10 series in the cell next to Mickey Millions, why he's wearing boxing gloves is anyone's guess.

Page 23 Panel 1 features another John Belushi cameo as his samurai character, just to the right of Slipstream Phoenix. The guy on the candy bar machine looks very Matt Groening-ish, maybe Radioactive Man?

Page 23 Panel 5: I'm not sure who the elderly gentleman with the sun outfit is, but that's clearly the Great Gazoo floating next to him. The floating dinosaur looks a bit like the flying dragon character from Neverending Story; can't recall his name at the moment.
5:10 PM
Blogger Xteve said...

VOLUME TWO

Page 4, Panel 4: My second favorite panel in Season Two (so far). Looks like the ladies room at TOP 10 has quite the collection of bathroom graffiti. From left to right: "Banner - I like him when he's angry!" a sketch of Snoopy as Joe Cool, "Don't let Diana tie you up" "SINISTER DUCKS"-which for those who don't know is an avant garde music project Alan Moore did with fellow Northhamptonites David J from Bauhaus and Max Acropolis. I used to have the single back in high school ... I think Kevin O'Neill did the sleeve. "Galactis [sic] will eat ur world!" and what I can only imagine is a message for the reader who actually read all this "comic book whore" hee hee hee ...

Page 8, panel 1: from left to right looks as though Gandalf has gone into the dry cleaning biz as the robe says "Mithrandir Cleaners" ... not sure who the cat with the bag and the old hippy are, though given that this is supposed to be the magic users neighborhood that would mean that the large plant growing outside the apartment is probably Jack's beanstalk.

Page 11, panel 1: far in the upper left hand corner we find the other Kirby-era ad staple "X-RAY Specs"... now to complete the set we just need "Potato Gun" and maybe "Learn Guitar By Ear!" I can't make out all of the graffiti on the house other than a sneaky "Didio Rules!" So looks like Dan has been busy when he's not out dominating the Multiverse (for you Ambush Bug readers)...For some evil reason I always thought the guy in panel 4 was Bee Guy from the Simpsons.

Page 15 panel 1 the old guy with the German helmet on seems to be enjoying a copy of "Class Action Comics" while John Belushi's samurai makes his second appearance next to his lunch room pal Capt. Bar-B-Q.

Page 17 panel 4: I love this. A Green Lantern themed-restaurant "Jordan's" complete with Jawa and Guardian waiters. I know I've seen the female character on the left hand side of panel 8 before but I can't remember her name; the character just to the right of Capt. Peregrine somewhat remembles Kilowog in a funny helmet...

Page 20: Not sure who the two cuties and the fat guy with the gun are on the left, butthey appear to be up to no good.

Page 21: Pixie the babysitter reminds me of Cyclone of the JSA.

Page 23 panel 4: Dr. Sivana working for Mickey Millions? I think so ...

That's everything I've been able to spot so far... I'll try to post the rest as issues 3 and 4 come out. Keep up the great work Gene and Zander!

Steve

Too Cool To Be Forgotten

2008-12-16T13:23:00.003-06:00

I got two notices by email earlier this month that I took up. First, Jackie in my hometown of South Bend, IN, invited me to a house party. It's the same weekend I planned to make my holiday trip to visit my dad in the Bend, so I RSVPed. And Top Shelf comics had an online sale, so I ordered wads of new cheap comics from them. I'll read just about anything Top Shelf and Oni put out.

As my editors know, I've moved all over the Midwest since graduating from college. This means I don't often hang out with folks I knew in high school. Really, that's just Eric and Scott, who aren't in this photo, but I still like the same kind of folks that Eric and Scott do.

Shortly after I got back, I received my order from Top Shelf. It's all great stuff, but my favorite item is Alex Robinson's Too Cool To Be Forgotten. The basic premise is simple: a fortyish man undergoes hypno-therapy for his smoking, and finds himself trapped back in his high school days. There are lots of stories like Too Cool, but few really catch the awkward hopefulness of that age. I'm not done yet, but this kind of honesty and skillfull storytelling can be appreciated by anyone. Find a copy.

It also visualizes a feeling I've often had throughout my thirties: I feel like I finally have the resources I'd needed to get through high school and college. It's just that I've got better things to do now than re-learning calculus and going to prom. Ah well. Hopefully on my 40th this year I'll actually be ready to be a 40 year old!

P.S. Another good Top Shelf book, by Minnesota's Tim Sievert.

Everything FOX News warned us about is true...

2008-12-16T09:30:00.002-06:00

Obama's our President Elect, and he's turned our cats against us!

Click the image to see the video. And thanks to RatherGood.com for another very entertaining diversion.

Looking forward to a wonderful holiday season and better new year for everyone!

Annotations

2008-12-10T14:58:00.003-06:00

I enjoy the Alan Moore's game of placing "Easter egg" cameos and seeing if anyone catches them. At least those that get through editorial. For instance, I once drew Alan in slave chains getting ready to strangle a man with a DC logo on his tunic. I wasn't so brash as to include the letter D and C on the logo, but it was removed regardless.

Jess Nevins used to be the authority on Alan Moore and Top 10 annotations, but it's hard work and he's had to drop out of the game.

Does anyone know if there are annotations of Zander and my new Top 10 series anywhere? I'd love to know what folks have and have not noticed.

Congratulations, Republicans!

2008-12-09T10:19:00.002-06:00

Specifically, to two Republicans. US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and Congressman Elect Anh Cao.

First of all, one of my personal heroes US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, for finally arresting Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. I've been embarassed to have the "Boy Governor" rule my state ever since I moved to the Chicago area. Beyond the rank incompetence and standard issue bipartisan Illinois corruption:

Blagojevich was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps during the last month conspiring to sell or trade Illinois' U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama for financial and other personal benefits for himself and his wife.

Wow. Just wow.

It's shameful that the Republicans in this state couldn't get their act together to take out Blagojevich in a re-election campaign.

Patrick Fitzgerald has also gone after Republicans, so God bless him for helping rake muck out of the Democratic Party too! I hope Obama keeps him on and increases his staff. He's got a LOT more work around here.

I'll note that in Bush's US Attorney scandal, Dubya's administration tried to figure out how to fire Fitzgerald for doing his job. They didn't fire him, but they did force out multiple other attorneys for either indicting Republicans or not indicting enough Democrats. They didn't ask for convictions, just flashy indictments shortly before elections: notice how no one from ACORN has gone to jail for the supposed 'vote fraud' during this election?

More kudos to Anh "Joseph" Cao, for taking the Congressional seat of the nation's most comically corrupt Democrat, William Jefferson of Louisiana. Representative Jefferson is famous for getting caught with $90,000 hidden in his freezer and was under multiple federal indictments. And he still wasn't kicked out by his colleagues on ethics charges. That's some shameful shtuff. He was stripped of all committe assignments.

Mr Cao is considered to be a moderate Republican:

A former Jesuit seminarian, he is a member of the National Advisory Council to the U.S. Conference of Bishops. He also served on the board and as legal counsel to Boat People S.O.S., an advocacy group for Vietnamese refugees. He opened a private law practice in 2002 and specializes in immigration issues. Post-Katrina he led the fight against a landfill that residents in eastern New Orleans feared would harm their neighborhood and has been an effective and passionate advocate for the area's recovery.