Author Archive for nick marino

Palin Resigns!!!

Here I am sitting at my computer and editing my Zombie Palin webcomics into an ashcan for Pittsburgh’s upcoming Small Press Festival when I heard the breaking news: Sarah Palin has announced her resignation from the role of Alaskan Governor!

Wow! Does she really think she can win the Presidential Election in 2012? Or does she have some more suspicious reason for resigning? Sex scandal, maybe? I mean, why not! Everyone else is doing it…

Either way, I have to say that I’m surprised that Palin is stepping down by the end of July. But I’m not too surprised that I can’t take a moment for a bit of shameless self-promotion.

Zombie Palin tastes fine

In honor of Palin’s big move, I suggest you take a few moments and read through all eleven installments of Zombie Palin, a webcomic by Pete and I that ran in late 2008 wherein Vice President Sarah Palin rises to the top spot as leader of the free world when zombies attack the White House and kill President McCain.

The Top 9 People Michael Jackson Was Trying to Look Like

Let’s just be honest about this: regardless of his incredible abilities as a performer, Michael Jackson had a mortifying plastic surgery addiction that was impossible to ignore.

I may not know much about plastic surgery, but I can’t imagine it’s something you go into casually without an endgame in mind. Mikey must of had some sort image of what he wanted to look like after all that surgery was done.

Unfortunately, we may never know exactly what MJ’s goal was with all those disturbing facial modifications, but here are my best nine guesses.

9. Superman. Okay, so MJ missed the mark if he was going for a Clark Kent vibe. But you have to admit that the chin implant is very superhero-esque. And when I think of superheroes with a strong chin line, first and foremost I think of Supes. Still, like I said, Michael Jackson wasn’t THAT reminiscent of the Man of Steel. If he was going for a DC Comics hero, he was probably aiming more towards…

8. Wonder Woman. This super Amazon is far more in line with MJ’s final appearance than the guardian of Metropolis. Jacko was obviously going for a feminine look, so maybe he took some cues from Diana of Themyscira (though, upon further scrutiny, MJ looked more like an old school Jack Kirby drawing than any DC superheroine). At the end of the day, whether aiming for Wonder Woman or not, Michael Jackson ended up looking like a…

7. Nightmare. Literally. We all know that Michael Jackson preferred Marvel Comics. And who better to take inspiration from than one of the greats: Steve Ditko. When my friend said MJ looked like a nightmare, I automatically added a capital N on the front. BTW, do me a favor and remember this entry for later on in the list, okay? Anyway, back to the current section of the countdown. MJ, after all was said and done, was far too put together to be going for a Nightmare look. In fact, I would say his desires were more along the lines of…

6. Betty Page. Seriously. With those lips and that silky black hair, MJ was totally going for a high-contrast pinup lady look. Ms. Page was, of course, the most notorious of the black and white pinups. Who better to emulate, right? Well, if Mikey was trying to look like Betty Page, unfortunately he ended up more like…

5. Elizabeth Taylor. Anyone else out there ever find it ironic that Michael Jackson was not only close friends with Elizabeth Taylor but also slowly turning into her? For what it’s worth, I thought about this even as a kid. And while this classic Hollywood starlet certainly inspired millions, I think it’s safe to say that Micheal’s eventual appearance seemed to be inspired a bit more by…

4. Cher. And I’m not talking 1970s Cher. I’m talking modern Cher, like Cher from the Believe video. Even if MJ was trying to look like Cher, he was aiming for the next octave up with his voice. Take that, Cher! When it came to looking like women, you two were tied. But when it came to sounding like women, well, Mikey had you beat there. But don’t fret Cher – at the end of the day, Mike wasn’t your doppelganger. He always reminded me more of…

3. Elvira. You know, the original sexy goth chick. We’ll never know if MJ really wanted to look like Elvira, but visual evidence certainly points in this direction. Hell, maybe he was just jealous and wanted to get the Tom Jones treatment too. But while Elvira always rocked a feathered fashion mullet, Michael appeared to prefer flowing black locks a bit closer to those of…

2. Snow White. The pale skin. The jet black hair. The big red lips. That whole song about talking to a mirror. His love for poisoned apples. Okay, that last one I made up. But the first three all are bonafide facts! Snow White is a pretty huge icon, just like Mike. Maybe he was trying to take the whole iconic thing to the next level. If that’s what his aim was, he was a bit off. Instead of capturing the pale countenance of Snow White, Michael Jackson ended up with the same complexion as…

1. Morbius, the Living Vampire. Not only did MJ have the complexion, he also had the miniature nose and the same exaggerated facial shape as Marvel’s resident anti-hero vampire. Remember when I told you to remember #7? Here’s the payoff: when I told my friend about the Nightmare reference, he agreed but felt that MJ resembled Morbius to a greater degree. And he’s right. The whole Michael Jackson look was very “Living Vampire.” And here’s some visual evidence:

Michael Jackson, the Living Morbius

More: The Top 9 Least Intimidating Supervillains

Why the Top 9? Because 10 is too many and 9 is better. 3 X 3 = Awesome. Now that’s what I call math.

AFI 100 Years 100 Movies Podcast 014 – All Noisy on the Podcast Front

The AFI 100 Movies podcast is back!!! Conrad returns to talk to Nick about The Sound of Music, All Quiet on the Western Front, Amadeus, From Here to Eternity, and The Philadelphia Story. Plus: Fran Drescher, the crusty Ernest Borgnine, the comedy masterpiece known as Funny Farm, and Nick coins the phrase podcast vérité.

Shove the AudioShocker podcast RSS feed into your favorite RSS reader. Review the AudioShocker on iTunes. Call the AudioShocker Comment Line at 412-567-7606 or have our comment line call you.

 
 AFI 100 Movies Podcast #14 [55:33m]: Play Now | Download

Super Haters #2 – The Hooch Strikes Back

The Hooch Strikes Back

A Podcast with Ross and Nick 004 – X-Men Comics Discussed!!!

Following up on their X-Men movie debate, Ross Campbell and Nick Marino move into comics and talk about their favorite X-Men comic books. As an adult Ross loves the Grant Morrison run, and as a kid, Ross loved X-Force. And he loves Generation X, too. Nick loved X-Factor by Peter David and Howard Mackie as a kid, and the Chris Claremont and Paul Smith From the Ashes X-Men as an adult. Meanwhile, real-life supervillain Nik Neptune MySpaces his real-life superhero arch-nemesis. Then, as the episode closes, the King of the Evil Seas struggles to set his MySpace username.

Shove the AudioShocker podcast RSS feed into your favorite RSS reader. Review the AudioShocker on iTunes. Call the AudioShocker Comment Line at 412-567-7606 or have our comment line call you.

 
 A Podcast with Ross and Nick #4 [34:10m]: Play Now | Download

Podcast Episode 086 – The Last Transformation into an Outlaw Legacy

Neal thinks that Nick would think that Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is racist. The Last Airbender trailer exceeds expectations but still disappoints these two Avatar fans who cannot get over the bizarre casting choices. Michael Jackson and Billy Mays have left the building. Play it to the Bone and Gran Torino are solid movies. Neal tells Nick about New Era hats with Marvel Comics stuff on them. Nick tells Neal about G-Man, Avengers: The Initiative, X-Men Legacy, Demon in a Bottle, and a short western comic by Skipper Martin from the new Outlaw Territory anthology. Also: is Alan Moore the literary Dov Charney? And what is podcast vérité?

Shove the AudioShocker podcast RSS feed into your favorite RSS reader. Review the AudioShocker on iTunes. Call the AudioShocker Comment Line at 412-567-7606 or have our comment line call you.

 
 AudioShocker Podcast #86 [47:24m]: Play Now | Download

Captain America Reborn Hyper Combo Wallpaper!

Captain America Reborn #1 variant

Captain America gets reborn by Joe Quesada

DOWNLOAD WALLPAPER :: 1280 X 1024 :: 1440 X 900 :: 1600 X 1200

The Marvel vs. Capcom series has a great wealth of fighters. But from the beginning, I’ve only had one favorite: Steve Rogers, Captain America. I’ve been playing as Cap at the arcade and at home for as long as I can remember. He never lets me down.

Cap is coming back. In fact, Reborn #1 hits shelves this Wednesday and that’s why we’re gracing you with this awesome Joe Quesada, Danny Miki, and Richard Isanove variant cover. From what I understand, this cover won’t be available for a few more weeks. But here’s a little taste to get you pumped for the Reborn reprint, I suppose!

Thanks to Comic Book Resources and their new Cup O’ Joe feature for the image. Be back here next Monday for a brand new Iron Man Hyper Combo Wallpaper!

Beatcast 030 – As Fast As You Can by Nik Furious

As Fast As You Can, a garage rock song by Nik Furious. This is the first part of a ten part Beatcast series called Nik Furious: Then and Now. The Then and Now label is literal – the weeks will alternate between an old Nik Furious recording and a modern Nik Furious recording. If you can’t tell from a quick listen, this week’s installment is a Then recording.

 
 As Fast As You Can by Nik Furious [2:42m]: Play Now | Download

The Top 9 Celebrity Deaths of the Past Couple Months

9. Dom DeLuise. R.I.P. Pizza the Hutt.

8. Bob Bogle. I’m sure most of you aren’t familiar with him, but Bob Bogle has been one of my guitar heroes for as long as I can remember. He was a founder of The Ventures, the world’s greatest instrumental rock band.

7. Natasha Richardson. Speaking of not being familiar, I don’t think I’ve seen any of Natasha’s films. Unfortunately, thanks to the way news media works in this country, I’m very familiar with her death.

6. Mike Tyson’s daughter. Exodus Tyson was strangled by a loose cord hanging down from a treadmill. Very sad.

5. Autotune. Killed by Jay-Z. Autotune’s death has been hitting the pop music world pretty hard, especially T-Pain.

4. Ed McMahon. Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show sideman. Star Search host. Publishers Clearing House home sabotage ringleader and over-sized check presenter. Damn, Ed did a lot of stuff.

3. Farah Fawcett. Charlie’s most famous Angel died after a very public fight with cancer.

2. David Carradine. Kill Bill died an awful, kinky death. It’s true that Carradine was into some weird shit, but it looks like he was able to keep most of it under the radar until his untimely passing in a Bangkok hotel room. At first it looked like suicide and/or solo sex play gone wrong, but now it seems like foul play.

1. Michael Jackson. Mikey was the man. A weird man, yes… but THE MAN nonetheless. It’ll be interesting to see what the public deems his legacy to be over the course of the next couple decades.

[Thanks to Neal for inspiring this week's theme and helping put together the list.]

More: The Top 9 Currently Dead Superheroes and Supervillains

Why the Top 9? Because 10 is too many and 9 is better. 3 X 3 = Awesome. Now that’s what I call math.

Super Haters #1 – Meet the Haters

Meet the Haters

Thanks to Seth Fronzoli for helping me give Destruct-O-Tron his name. Thanks to Neal for co-writing and performing the Super Haters theme song with me (you can listen to the theme song below!).

 
 Super Haters theme song [0:25m]: Play Now | Download