Mike Dawson Comics

I’m contributing the original ink drawing of this picture to the Soap Factory $99 Sale fundraiser, held this September in Minneapolis. It seems like a good cause, and I’m happy to participate in it. I’ve never been out to Minneapolis, but will be making my first trip there this November for the second annual MIX convention. I’m really excited about the trip.

The above pic is, of course, the iconic cover image of The New Warriors #1, which debuted in 1990. I can’t remember a whole lot about the series, but I know I followed it for the first few years of it’s existence (I think! — did it definitely last more than a few years? I am pretty sure it did…), mainly because I was trying to collect every appearance of the character Speedball. I don’t know why. I really don’t. He was a shitty character, his powers were stupid, and nobody ever seemed to come up with a good way to use him…

I think I have to admit to myself, the only reason I was collecting all his appearances was because A) he first appeared at a time when I was buying lots of Marvel comics, and B) he wasn’t so popular that he appeared all over the place and was hard to keep up with. He had 11 issues of his own book, appeared in the Damage Control limited series, and then occasionally popped up here and there in the Marvel Universe. It was way easier to collect every appearance of Speedball, than say, Wolverine or The Punisher.

Cartoonist, Publisher, and Rapture Ready Radio correspondent, Box Brown creeps into The Lair this week to explain about the upcoming apocalypse and the New World Order/One World Government. Get ready to take notes – we’ve got plenty of Survival tips, such as, keep a hammer in your apartment, in case a dystopian Mad-max future suddenly arrives, and you need to fight your neighbor for a can of beans.

Comments welcome!

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This was a really good one. Jason Lutes has a lot of interesting things to say about storytelling, and we had a great chat.

I love any opportunity to discuss Dungeons & Dragons. But, to be honest, I have to admit never playing RPG’s as much as some of my other friends. At the risk of people getting irritated at me, I think I’ve always liked the idea of them more than the actual playing of them. Of course, many people who have a soft spot for D&D played it a great deal as kids. I played it a little, but the game I was really into was Magic: The Gathering, which is not an RPG at all. It’s a turn-based strategy game. The World is already Built, and as a player it’s your job to interpret the laws and finer-details of the game. It’s more like being a lawyer. I am not sure how this kind of game has influenced my own storytelling, in the way I’d like to think RPG’s have influenced the work of Jason Lutes and Dylan Horrocks, but maybe it’ll be something I save to talk about with another game-playing guest on a future episode.

The Famous Panther, Josh Flanagan of iFanBoy, creeps back into The Lair to fill us in on his recent relocation to the State of New Hampshire, land of fireworks. Then the conversation gets controversial, as we get into a heated debate about X-Men; First Class. Mike holds the perfectly reasonable position that yes, it’s perfectly understandable for humans to fear and hate the mutants, but Alex and Josh strenuously disagree.

Comments welcome!

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I was out of town last week, so didn’t make a blog entry when this went live, but Bob Fingerman was recently my guest in the TCJ Talkie Hutt. You can have a listen here.

I really enjoyed this conversation. I was a huge fan of Bob’s series Minimum Wage as it was being published in the 1990′s. I talk to Bob about the sexuality of the comic, which he actually disputes. Upon reflection, I think he might be right. The comic isn’t wall-to-wall hardcore pornography. But, I think sex is definitely a major theme throughout. It sort of permeates everything. I’m thinking that yes, as a reader, I am somehow fooled into thinking the book is more explicit than it actually is. Like in the movie JAWS, where you think you’re seeing the shark way more than you really are.

After their Summer Hiatus, the Panthers are reunited back in The Lair! And they’ve got lots to discuss. There’s a panel about Alex’s book at S’Dukck (SDCC), Mike is contemplating cos-play to promote his new book. Both guys talk about their recent trips to other parts of the United States and the locals they encountered. A lively discussion about how one’s placement in a wax museum reflects on one’s relative fame in the world, and then it’s the return of The Ink Panthers Book Nook (TM). In keeping with the theme of the episode, we’re talking about Reunion by Pascal Girard, and whether or not it matters if seemingly true stories are actually definitely true.

Comments welcome!

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