For me, one of the highlights of the show was meeting tons of awesome comic book fans. At our table, we hosted an AudioShocker Trivia Challenge where attendees could answer questions and win some kickass comics.

I started off by awarding sets of comics to fans who answered three questions correctly. But by Saturday afternoon, I ran out of sets! However, people still wanted to take the Trivia Challenge... so I started giving out my own self-published comics.

Now, for your viewing enjoyment, here are our illustrious winners:

To the best of my memory, here's what I gave away (from top to bottom):

• Mutant X #1-17
• A chunk of Aquaman and Adventure Comics (19 consecutive issues, including the Death of a Prince storyline)
• Chaos War #1-5 miniseries
• John Byrne's full run on West Coast Avengers
• Whilce Portacio's arc on X-Factor where they send baby Cable into the future
• A year of electric blue Superman (54 issues... some signed by Ron Frenz)
• WildCATs #1-13 (the Lobdell relaunch)
• A big hunk of Kyle Baker's Plastic Man
• The original WildCATs #1-4
• Christopher Priest's run on Steel
• The New Time Log (2 of 3)
• Zombie Palin (3rd edition)
• I forgot to take a picture, but I also gave away the full original run of Xombi.

DAMN! That's a lot of comics :)

Punisher by Dan Greenwald

Here it is. The final Project Basement drawing. It's by Dan Greenwald, co-host of Sequential Underground podcast and the force behind the Comic Book Pitt podcast. Also, he's the creator of the comics Blue Wraith and Spacebase 01, among others.

As for this drawing, well I think it's very fitting for the final PB sketch. It's simple, it's fun, and it has personality. I don't know if it's a Bad Good Guy or a Good Bad Guy... what I do know it that it's just plain good.

NEXT: Nothing! Project Basement is over. Duh.

Green Lantern by Shawn Atkins

Hmmm... Bad Good Guy? More like Jerk Good Guy... or maybe even Asshole Good Guy. Either way, this drawing by Shawn is gorgeous and it screamed "feature me on Project Basement" when I first saw it, so I don't care how bad Hal is!!!

Also, you can listen to Shawn and I bullshit about what comics creators deserve on the latest episode of Sequential Underground.

NEXT: The FINAL Project Basement... Punisher by Dan Greenwald.

Time Log one-shot

Buy the Time Log one-shot:

• Time Log one-shot ebook for the Amazon Kindle
• Time Log one-shot PDF at DriveThruComics
• AudioShocker Comics Archives v1 digital comic card

Time Log webcomic ACT I - read the whole thing on Facebook or Flickr

Time Log #0 Time Log #1 Time Log #2 Time Log #3 Time Log #4 Time Log #5

Time Log #6 Time Log #7 Time Log #8 Time Log #9 Time Log #10 Time Log #11

Time Log #12 Time Log #13 Time Log #14 Time Log #15 Time Log #16 Time Log #17

Buy Time Log ACT I:

• AudioShocker Comics Archives v1 digital comic card
• The New Time Log (1 of 3) [email nick (at) audioshocker (dot) com]

Time Log webcomic ACT II - read the whole thing on Facebook or Flickr

Time Log #18 Time Log #19 Time Log #20 Time Log #21 Time Log #22 Time Log #23 Time Log #24

Time Log #25 Time Log #26 Time Log #27 Time Log #28 Time Log #29 Time Log #30 Time Log #31

Time Log #32 Time Log #33 Time Log #34 Time Log #35 Time Log #36 Time Log #37

Buy Time Log ACT II:

• AudioShocker Comics Archives v1 digital comic card
• The New Time Log (2 of 3) [email nick (at) audioshocker (dot) com]

Time Log webcomic ACT III - read the whole thing on Facebook or Flickr

Time Log #38 Time Log #39 Time Log #40 Time Log #41 Time Log #42 Time Log #43 Time Log #44 Time Log #45

Time Log #46 Time Log #47 Time Log #48 Time Log #49 Time Log #50 Time Log #51 Time Log #52 Time Log #53

Time Log #54 Time Log #55 Time Log #56 Time Log #57 Time Log #58 Time Log #59 Time Log #60

Buy Time Log ACT III: COMING SOON!

Red Skull by Dan Greenwald

Here comes a new Good Bad Guy! Dan Greenwald, creator of the Comic Book Pitt podcast and co-host of Sequential Underground, delivers this hilariously patriotic Red Skull.

And it's surprisingly well-timed. It maybe not be the 4th of July... but it is Veteran's Day today! And not just that... Dan also celebrated his birthday this week!!! SOOO much serendipity it hurts.

NEXT: I'll finally draw something. And then we've got another awesome sketch by Dan!

Sexy Spider-Man by Chris Maverick

Naughty Good Guys? Well, that's not exactly what we're going for with this theme... but I think it's best if I let the artist put it in his own words. Take it away, Mav!

The funny thing here is that I wasn't actually *trying* to draw something naughty. I was at PIX (The Pittsburgh Indycomic eXpo) and decided to do some sketching. I thought maybe it would be cute doing a nice little picture of Spidey and MaryJane (see, in my reality, they're still married, because I hate retcons... as such don't even get me started on DC's New 52). I thought it would be a nice cute and touching and romantic moment. And then I chose to fade the shot out without showing their hands. Yep, that was a problem right there. The neat thing about artistic composition is it's just as much about what you DON'T see as what you do.

NEXT: I haven't drawn it yet... but goddamn it, it's my turn!!! Or maybe just more awesome sketches by Dan Greenwald.

Juggernaut by Scott Hedlund

The creator of our Good Bad Guys theme joins the fray! That's right -- the unstoppable Scott Hedlund is stopping by the Basement to check in on us and make sure we're doing it right.

Here's what he has to say about his drawing:

Everyone has a bad day and sometimes you just need a hug. But when you string a series of bad days together, you should expect a Juggernaut-sized hug! Enter: the Huggernaut! Equipped with an unstoppable need to give you a squeeze! His Crimson Bands reflect the tender core of this often misunderstood behemoth. Can anything stop the Huggernaut? How about some brotherly love?

Hehehe good one! Before we close out for today, I gotta send a mega huge THX to Scott for helping to revive Project Basement. I was ready to let this feature die a dishonorable death, but Scott saved the day and breathed some life back into it with his theme suggestion.

NEXT: Project Basement takes a week off while I head to the New York Comic Con. But we'll be back on in two weeks with a surprise!

Daredevil by Jason Bender

Jason Bender, come on down!!! He's new to the Basement, and he's brought a Bad Good Guy with him.

For those of you who don't know, Daredevil is Catholic. And he's not just religious... HIS MOTHER WAS A NUN. Can you guess her name? C'mon, just one guess. I'll give you a hint -- it's a Maggie.

So, yeah. That's makes this Daredevil pretty goddamn bad.

NEXT: Scott Hedlund, the creator of our v4 theme, joins the party!

Superman by Shawn Atkins

Today is a special day for Shawn Atkins. It's his final day as a bachelor!!! That's right -- he's getting married tomorrow. However, as of a few weeks ago, Superman is a bachelor again. So I guess the guys are just trading places.

BUT... the Superman you see here isn't your average hero, reboot or not. In fact, he's a Bad Good Guy. I mean, the real Superman would never deep fry a panda with his heat vision, right?

NEXT: A crisis of faith, courtesy of Jason Bender!

The AudioShocker will be in the Podcast Arena at the New York Comic Con!

That's right. We'll be at the 2011 New York Comic Con from Oct 13-16 at the Javits Center in Midtown Manhattan.

Here's the NYCC 2011 schedule:
Thursday, October 13, 2011 - 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Friday, October 14, 2011 – 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Saturday, October 15, 2011 – 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Sunday, October 16, 2011 – 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM

We'll be kicking it near Artist's Alley with other shows like Comics News Insider, Comic Geek Speak, Indie Spinner Rack, and more.

Here's what you can expect to find at our table:

• AudioShocker Comics (both old and new, featuring print versions of Time Log, Super Haters, Zombie Palin, and more)
• Curated CD collections of our podcasts (debuting at NYCC, these collections will bring together some of our best episodes)
• Nick and/or Neal and/or Dan
• Maybe Ross (he's trying to act all cool and be like "ohhhh uhhh maybe I'll stop by..." but you know he's gonna be there)
• Super-mega-awesome AUDIOSHOCKER COMICS TRIVIA CHALLENGE (with kickass prizes that I'll announce as we get closer to the date of the show -- expect some rad stuff!)

That's all the info I have for right now. I'll be updating this blog post as a I find out more like our exact location, all the prizes for the trivia, and other special stuff.

UPDATE 1 - Location:

The AudioShocker will be located at table D15 in Artist Alley.

That's allllll the way on the far side of the show floor (if you're looking at a con map, all the way to the left).

We'll be sandwiched between Comic Timing and Comic Geek Speak.

Mmmm... podcast sandwich.

Rhino by Eric Shonborn

Eric Shonborn enters the basement!!! And he's brought kickass a Good Bad Guy version of the Rhino with him. Actually, kickass is wrong... it's more like so-cute-that-your-eyeballs-wanna-pop-out-and-give-you-a-hug!

You can get more Eric on his self-titled website, his comics art collective Ok, PANIC!, or on the Gutter Trash podcast.

NEXT: As Shawn Atkins approaches marital bliss, he takes a break to stop by and give us something super!!!

Swamp Thing by Byron Winton

Byron "Badass Masta Blasta Put-Your-Leg-In-A-Cast" Winton is back in the Basement! And for PBv4, he's delivering an organic sketch of a natural man -- a Bad Good Guy version of Swamp Thing!!!

Here's what B-Ron has to say about it:

Ol' Moss-Face has a vice and it's sucking down the incinerated leaf. Running down ecological criminals is a tough job. A rescue from the gaping maw of a bayou gator is a laborious feat. Swimming deep dark murky waters bogs him down. Alec Holland or Swamp Thing, as he's come to be known, just wants to kick back and puff a little weed under a mighty Cypress. A stress release is as close as a pluck from a nearby bush or a twist of a sprig from himself. Mild, smooth, and earthy.

I'm SOLD!!! Move over Marlboro Man, there's a new cancer peddler in town.

NEXT: Eric Shonborn gets horny! Errrr, uhhh... tusky.

However, I do have a gift for you -- the finished version of the unicorn image I've been teasing for the past few weeks:

Gorgeous, right? It was dreamed up by Pete, penciled and inked by Shawn, and colored by yours truly!

Magneto by Pete Borrebach

WHOOOPS! I forgot that Project Basementmoved to Fridays. My bad.

Luckily, I think Pete will forgive me. In fact, he probably forgot about this Good Bad Guys sketch considering he drew it all the way back in June.

Anyway, you may remember Pete from such webcomics as Time Log and Zombie Palin, or previous PB submissions like sad Captain America and crying Cyclops.

NEXT FRIDAY: Byron Winton gets wet! Errr, uhhh... swampy.

Galactus by Dan Greenwald

Project Basement has moved to Fridays and we have Dan "Greenie" Greenwald here to usher in our new official day. He's drawn a humdinger of a Good Bad Guys submission!!! The Devourer of Worlds has become the Devourer of... Fruit?!?

I forgot to solicit a quote from Dan for today's drawing... so Dan, if you're reading this, email me if you have something to say about this piece!

UPDATE: Here's what Dan has to say:

Regarding this piece, I guess I just loved the concept of a character doing something opposite or contrary to what we're used to seeing, so maybe after eating all those fattening planets, Galactus takes a break to introduce some fiber into his diet. Plus, I always liked Galactus' look and wanted to take a stab at drawing him, especially his weird helmet-thingys. It was a challenge to get the perspective right on those.

Anyway, Dan's been a busy podcaster this week, so why not check out some of his enlightening conversations? You can listen to him on Sequential Underground #23 and Comic Book Pitt #71!!!

NEXT: Time Log scribe Pete Borrebach sketches Magneto in the holiday spirit!

Dr. Fredric Wertham by Marcel Walker

The Magnificent Marcel is back in the spotlight, displaying a dose of biting satire for our Project Basement volume 4 theme of Good Bad Guys. If you were looking for a few words of explanation from the wise Mr. Walker, well, TOO BAD! Here's all he had to say:

Wertham. It speaks for itself!

And, frankly, I agree with him. But just in case you're not familiar with the subject, here's more about Big Freddy Wertham and his Seduction of the Innocent.

BUT WAIT! There's more!!! A couple of our favorite frequent commenters from A Podcast with Ross and Nick have been featured on a fantastic new art blog, DC Fifty-TOO. The concept of the blog is simple -- unique cartoonists design their own DC's The New 52 covers. Aaron Conley has drawn a kickass cover for Electric Warrior #1, and Paul Salvi crafts a classic cover for Jimmy Olsen #1.

BUT WAIT!! We're not done yet!!! Project Basement is moving to Fridays starting August 26th. And what will we be featuring, you ask?...

NEXT: DanG delivers a distorted vision of the Devourer!

Spider-Man by Jeff Potter, Wheeler Hall, and Keith Stammer

We have some awesome firsts going on today! Our first collaborative submission AND our first submission from someone(s) I haven't had any contact with previous to Project Basement. Here's the breakdown:

• Pencils and Inks - Jeff Potter
• Colors - Wheeler Hall
• Concept - Keith Stammer

And as opposed to last week's installment, this submission reflects the flip side of the Project Basement volume 4 coin -- Bad Good Guys!

But whether they're bad, good, or whatever, the most important thing in PBv4 is that the characters are acting out of turn. Spider-Man is out of character here because he's not wearing a white or neon or black or iron costume. And as for Ant-Man? Well everyone knows that Hank Pym is now the Wasp (uhhhh... wait... not anymore) and Scott Lang is dead (uhhhh... yeah... not anymore).

Oh fuggedaboutit!!! It's obviously out of character because Spider-Man is doing his damnedest to light Ant-Man on fire. Right? Right.

NEXT: M.L.Walker brings the biggest baddest bastard to the Basement!

MODOK by Nils-Petter Norlin

Welcome to the latest and greatest chapter in the Project Basement saga! Today is the beginning of Project Basement volume 4 -- which, to be totally honest with you, is not something I ever thought would happen.

After I put PB on hiatus earlier this year, I thought it was dead. But Scott Hedlund had a great idea for a new theme: Good Bad Guys (and Bad Good Guys). Too "good" (hehe) to pass up, I got the band back together and here we are!

Today's art comes from the prolific and incredibly skilled Swedish powerhouse known as Colonel Panic a.k.a. Nils-Petter Norlin. I first discovered his work on the kickass YIBR webcomic (a personal favorite of mine written by my buds from the Yamagato podcast).

Since that time, I've had the good fortune to work with Nils on a couple of our own original collaborations. The first is a Super Haters Guest Week set for September (and it's gonna blow your mind!!!). The second is a top-secret short story (hopefully the first of many!) featuring an all-new cast of charismatic slacker supervillains.

But I'm getting way ahead of myself. Let's talk about today. Above, as you can see, the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing has been warped into the Mental Organism Designed Only for Kittens, and I think the transformation suits him well.

If you're interested in submitting to Project Basement or just following the behind-the-scenes action, you can join our new Project Basement group on Facebook. And if you like today's art, don't forget to show some love in the comments below!!!

NEXT: A healthy dose of bug-on-bug violence from Jeff Potter, Wheeler Hall, and Keith Stammer!

Spider-Man by Chris Maverick

Today we have a special birthday edition of Project Basement. But even though it's Mav's b-day tomorrow... he's the one giving you a gift with this double dose of superhero sketches!

All great Project Basement sketches come from one place. Convention boredom. There are times when you're at a comic con and you're really busy, and there are other times when you're basically sitting there doing nothing. This year, at Pittsburgh Comicon I was playing with my new Cintiq sketch tablet(a digital drawing tablet from Wacom) and I decided that it'd be fun to try and do a Project Basement sketch for Nick's* Costumes and Powers theme.

The Spider-Man sketch was first. I got to thinking, what's the most iconic costume of all time? What costume is instantly recognizable as a definitive superhero costume? I came up with two: Spider-Man and Superman. Superman just seemed too obvious somehow, so I decided to go with Spidey. Frankly, I chose wrong. Not because the costume isn't iconic. Because it totally is. Every time Marvel has chosen to modify the costume over the years (the Venom suit, the Ben Reilly suit, the Civil War suit), it ultimately fails and we return to the classic. It's bright and vibrant, and it's design immediately tells you what the hero is all about. This is Spider-Man. He spins webs.

The reason it's a mistake is that it's deceptively hard to draw. There's no face. There's no cape. There's no unwieldy protrusions or weapons. He's basically just a modeling dummy in an extreme pose. Perfect for figure drawing. The devil is in the details. Whoever has to draw the webs on Spider-Man's costume should be paid $1,000,000 a page.

Next I decided to do a character with a cool looking power effect for the second half of the theme. I ended up going with a character that isn't really one of my favorites, but fit the bill of the concept well -- Psylocke. The interesting thing about Psylocke is that her most prominent offensive power is the "psychic blade" a power that really makes no sense whatsoever. The best part about being a psi-hero is the ability to attack from a distance. The ability to not need to make direct contact with your victim in order to affect them with your weapon. If you have a psi-blast, no one can hide from you anyway.

So why limit yourself to a psi blast that forces you to touch someone? Honestly, a psychic blade isn't any more valuable than a regular knife. In fact it's less valuable because all you can do is affect minds. You lose all the other useful knifey abilities that a steel weapon has. Like cutting rope, or spreading peanut butter on your sandwich.

No, Psylocke's power isn't effective, instead it is based on one thing and only. Visual presentation. Comics are as much a medium of visuals as they are of storytelling, and one of the reasons superhero comics are so popular is that visually, fighting is impressive to look at. If there were psi-blasts in real life, it'd probably be the most boring thing to watch in the whole world. A villain would attack Professor X and he'd look up from his wheel chair, and the guy would fall over, maybe with a nose bleed or something. There's nothing to see. In comics, we add an energy effect to say "hey look, his powers are working," but that wouldn't really be there, and it's understood that none of the characters can "see" it. Because that's the entire point. The psychic blade takes this concept a step farther. It gives the reader the ability to see the power as well as gives the artist a reason to put her in the thick of the battle, creating further visual intrigue. And hey if, a DD-cupped Asian, with purple hair, doing karate in a thong leotard with a glowing energy knife coming out of her fist isn't about visual presentation, then frankly, I don't know what is.

*Theme inspired by a suggestion from Wayne Wise.

NEXT: The fourth volume of Project Basement begins with Nils-Petter Norlin and the Mental Organism Designed Only for Kittens!!!

Mjolnir by Shawn Atkins

PB is back, baby!!! After a hiatus of nearly five months, our underground sketch series has returned.

It's been a while, so let me refresh your memory -- first, there was PB v1 with a theme of "draw your favorite character." Next up was PB v2 with a theme of "draw your favorite OR least favorite character (and tell us why)."

Currently, we're nearing the end of the short-lived PB v3 and its theme of "powers and costumes that excite you." This theme didn't exactly set the art world on fire (despite some fantastic submissions!), so that's why we're fast-forwarding to PV v4 this August with "Good Bad Guys and Bad Good Guys." If you're interested in being a part of PB v4, join our new Facebook group for updates and submission guidelines.

NOW ONTO THE ART! Today's artist is no stranger to regular AudioShocker readers and listeners -- he's the penciler of Time Log and the co-host of the Sequential Underground podcast. Shawn Atkins whipped up this sweet sketch of Thor's hammer last March, around the same time that he was taking some photos of Thor graffiti around Pittsburgh.

On a personal note, I thought the Thor movie kicked ass (best of the summer, so far... though I haven't seen Cap yet). And yesterday I watched the three-part season finale of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, which was a terrific Thor-themed cosmic crossover! There's no better time than right now to be a Thor fan.

NEXT: Chris Maverick swings the wallcrawler across the skies of Manhattan!

Collider is sort of podcasting without realizing they're podcasting. They've got an intense set of live audio, featuring speakers such as Mike Mignola, Robert Downey Jr., and the Captain America screenwriters. Oh, and Jim Lee and Geoff Johns talk about the DC relaunch. Not too shabby.

Here's some of the audio (everything links directly to the mp3s):

• Mike Mignola
• Jim Lee and Geoff Johns (and Grant Morrison)
• Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (Cap writers)
• Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau pt. 1
• Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau pt. 2

I haven't listened to everything yet, but what I can tell you (based on Collider's descriptions) is that Downey Jr. and Fav talk about the Iron Man movies AND The Avengers movie, Mignola talks briefly about the Hellboy movies and comics, and Lee and Johns are joined by Grant Morrison.

There's also more audio on in the blog post I didn't link to, like Warren Beatty and Richard Donner. So if that's your thing, you should probably pop over to Collider.com and check it out.

Also, I'm eating Crunchy Nut. You'll learn more about that on tomorrow's AudioShocker Podcast #182.

See? Comedy gold. And if you live in the US, now you can stream these unbelievable cartoons on Netflix's Watch Instantly service by going to the page for Iron Man: The Complete Animated Series.

But here's the catch -- even though Netflix doesn't label the shows correctly, this so-called "Iron Man animated series" is ACTUALLY the entire Marvel Action Hour! That means hokey live-action introductions by Stan Lee for each episode, not to mention the "We'll Be Right Back" commercial intros and outros!!!

Why Netflix chose to just call it Iron Man and not the Marvel Action Hour is beyond me... but hey, the fact is that these episodes are there, so I recommend watching them while you can. As far as I know, this is the first time you've ever been able to watch the Marvel Action Hour in its entirety outside of broadcast syndication (or some sort of bootleg collection).

Recently, I started watching the Iron Man half of the show on DVD, and man did I get some good laughs. In fact, I talked about it on the AudioShocker Podcast #177. Give that podcast a listen if you want to find how just how bad the Iron Man cartoon really is (answer = really bad).

Also, this means that the infamous Johnny Storm rap song is now streaming on Netflix. I'm not sure which episode this is from, but I'm sure you can figure it out on your own pretty easily. If you're a fan of early 90s hip hop like A Tribe Called Quest, you're gonna love this:

It's hot, right? The beat's surprisingly good.

In fact, all the feedback we've received so far has told us that Time Log is more satisfying when you consume it in collected gulps rather than tiny week-to-week bites. And that's why we're making sure you can gorge yourself on the misadventures of Pete, Nick, Shawn, Paige, and Justique in two delicious ways:

• Time Log webcomic ACT II on Facebook
• Time Log webcomic ACT II on Flickr

Let us know how it tastes!!!

In Pittsburgh, the birthplace of the AudioShocker, you can chill with me (uhhhh, Nick), Shawn Atkins of Time Log and Sequential Underground, Seth "the Fronzinator" Fronzoli (also of SU), and [wait for it]... maybe Justique!!!! (I knew I'd sell you with the possibility of Justique).

Where in Pittsburgh, you ask? Why at none other than the greatest** comic book shop on Earth -- Phantom of the Attic Comics (Oakland)!!! I'll be there from 10ish till the late afternoon peddling all my self-published book AND giving away free Stick Cats maxi-comics (along with the never-before-heard Stick Cats theme song!!!).

In Toronto, Ross Campbell of A Podcast with Ross and Nick will be at TCAF. I'm guessing that he won't have any free comics today, BUT he does have the brand new Shadoweyes in Love as well as his self-published Mountain Girl collection. Exciting! He also has interns. Twin interns. TAKE PICTURES AND SEND THEM TO ME! I want evidence that these interns tortured him this weekend.

*Yes, I know that sounds way more epic than it really is.

**Okay, to be fair, I've probably only been to 30 or 40 shops in my lifetime. But it's the best one out of all of those! Better than any I've been to in NYC, LA, Chicago, Philly, Boston, Texas, Florida, Arizona, London, and the list goes on. The only competition was San Francisco and that's mostly because James Sime ran down the bus for me when it passed me up. You da man, James!

Dropcards is the name of one of those download card services, and they're the company I opted to go with for the AudioShocker Comics Archives v1:

I'm calling this item a digital comic card (or DCC or even just a comic card). It's the size of a common gift card, so that means it can easily fit into your wallet or your pocket or even your pocket protector (if you're still rockin' one of those, that is).

On the back of the card are two important things -- a unique download code, and the URL where you can redeem that code (in this case, it's dropcards.com/comics).

And now here's the most important part... what you get when you buy one of these li'l suckas!!! At the time of its release in late March (when it debuted at the 2011 SPACE convention), this Archives v1 DCC contained:

• Time Log
• Time Log one-shot [b&w] PDF
• The New Time Log (1 of 3) PDF
• TL one-shot artist commentary MP3
• New TL 1 artist commentary MP3
• TL one-shot pencils PDF
• New TL 1 pencils PDF
• Super Haters
• Super Haters #1-26 PDF
• Super Haters #27-40 PDF
• Super Haters #41-49 PDF
• Super Haters #50-56 PDF
• Super Haters #57-78 PDF
• Zombie Palin
• ZP 3rd edition [b&w] PDF

Hours of entertainment for only a few $$$ = better living through science!

All of the comics are available as PDFs (at much higher quality than you can get online for free). And the mp3 audio commentary goes in depth in a way that no blog post could ever manage to do.

And it gets even better than that! Not only do you get three different series when you buy the v1 comic card -- you get new content as it's completed. For example, I recently finished coloring the original Time Log one-shot. Once I'm done relettering it, I'll upload it to the site and email all the digital comic card owners to let them know there's new content available for download.

There's one thing to be aware of: Dropcards protects artists by allowing digital files to only be downloaded ONCE per card. If you've already downloaded The New Time Log (1 of 3) PDF, for example, you'll never be able to download that file again with your unique download code. So download wisely and make sure to backup your purchases!

Currently, I'm prepping the display materials to have AudioShocker Comics Archives v1 DCCs sold in a few local stores here in Pittsburgh. And I'll be selling them in person at Phantom of the Attic Comics (Oakland) for their upcoming Free Comic Book Day 2011 celebration on May 7th.

If you're interested in purchasing one of these cards, or requesting one as a review copy, email nick [at] audioshocker [dot] com. And, FYI, I'll be updating this blog post as new content is added.

We'll be back next Monday with a brand new episode. But until then, why not check out some of our comics?

NOTE: Some of these links go to Drunk Duck, and at this point in time, they're having some sort of issue with their image files. Hopefully it'll be fixed soon.

Dan Greenwald*

• Blue Wraith
• Evergreen
• Spacebase 01

Shawn Atkins

• Gello Apocalypse
• Workshop 13 blog

Shawn Atkins and Seth Fronzoli

• Explorers of the Unknown
• Greenbrook

Shawn Atkins and Nick Marino

• Time Log

Nick Marino

• Super Haters
• Zombie Palin
• 3 Panel Reviews
• hehe and a secret one...

Dan's also been working on Super Haters because he's the next Super Haters Guest Week creator!!! His alternate-reality Guest Week story begins next Monday.

BUT there is this:

And that's the main reason there's no new Time Log this week -- because I was putting together a super-secret special mini comic for the Columbus small press show, as well as prepping digital content for the AudioShocker Comics Archives v1 comic cards.

So sorry for the lack of Log, but I'll be back on schedule next week. Oh, and BTW, speaking of next week, if you're in Pittsburgh, I'll be giving a talk in the teen/comics section of Oakland's Carnegie Library at 6:30 PM on Monday March 21st. Be there, be square, or be both!!!

It's here!!! ACT I of the Time Log webcomic has been collected into the odd-shaped little full-color book you see above.

The New Time Log (1 of 3) is 8" x 6.75" of time traveling insanity, from the unsettling present to the shocking past to the post-apocalyptic future.

Picking up immediately after the events of the Time Log one-shot, the story introduces our hapless heroes, Pete and Nick, to their bold new compatriots -- FuturePete, Shawn, and Paige. And that all goes without mentioning the reveal of our historical villains and their plan to control the world!!!

The New Time Log (1 of 3) is written by Pete Borrebach w/ Nick Marino, penciled by Shawn Atkins, inked by Paige Shoemaker, colored by Justique Woolridge, and lettered and edited by Nick Marino.

The Time Log one-shot and the New Time Log (1 of 3) are also available digitally through the AudioShocker Comics Archives v1 comic card.

In the meantime, I'll build up a small cache of PB art. Come check me out at SPACE if you're in Ohio, and also make sure to come hang at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Library in Oakland on March 21st, where I'll be giving a talk at 6:30 PM about my comics and my creation process along with my fellow Sequential Underground podcaster and Time Log artist, Shawn Atkins.

BRING by Byron Winton

"Powers and Costumes" is our PB v3 theme, and last week's entry was definitely more costume focused. -- but this week we're all about the powers with the distinguished Mr. Winton!!! In his own words:

Although it's not considered a traditional super power, it's a power none the less. The ability to make a printed image become real. This was based on a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits story that had stuck with me since I was in high school. In it, the person with this powerful ability was a young child. The drawback to a limitless gift was that he couldn't bring forth anything organic. Oh, he tried, but it ended tragically. As an artist, I think it would be wicked awesome yet frighteningly scary if such a thing were possible. There's no short-cuts in this business. If I'm lucky, Hollywood will be the only one to make my creations that much more lifelike.

NEXT: I'm not gonna lie to you... I DON'T KNOW! We don't have much art yet for v3, so next week could be you!!!

Gambit by Dan Greenwald

Welcome to Project Basement volume 3!!! The theme for this set of awesome sketches is "Powers and Costumes" -- it's a chance for artists of all abilities to sketch out a power or a costume (or both!) for which they have a passion (and it can be passionate love or passionate hate!). As always, if you're interested in contributing, all you gotta do is email me at nick@audioshocker.com for more details.

The illustrious Dan Greenwald -- writer/artist of Blue Wraith and a host of the Sequential Underground podcast -- kicks off PB v3 with the Ragin' Cajun:

Gambit's first appearance in Uncanny X-Men #266 was a breath of fresh air. The hair, the coat, the mysterious background...it was all awesome.

NEXT: Byron Winton is back with a very naughty super power!

Pepper Jones by Shawn Atkins

Shawn Atkins back in yo face!!! This time, he's bringing ya some awesome sketches of from our in-development comic, Pepper Jones, Adventure Scientist!!!

Never heard of her before? GOOD! You shouldn't have!!! She was born out of Shawn's conceptually fertile mind and raised by the two of us into the strong, badass kung fu-fightin' particle physicist that she is today!!!

I could go on and on about what's awesome about this story and why it's so special, but I'll let the art do most of talking for now (along with a little more text just to let you know what you're looking at).

Above is Dr. Anatol Nominy, the villain of the piece.

Here you see Nominy again, as well as Pepper in her lab gear (sans 'fro, too). Why lab gear, you ask? The concept is pretty simple -- Pepper Jones = Hank Pym + 70s exploitation movies (with a dash of insane sub-atomic fantasy thrown in for good measure).

And that's all for now. Expect to see a lot more about Dr. Pepper Jones in the future as Shawn and I develop our pitch for an original graphic novel and shop it around to publishers.

Oh, and one last thing -- you can catch a sneak peak at the Pepper Jones script I'm working on over at the Sequential Underground blog. Here's a Act I and here's Act II.

Destruct-O-Tron by Andrew Kilian and Nick Marino

2009 YDS Award winner Andrew Kilian surprised me a couple months ago with this mind-blowingly awesome (and sexy) Super Haters sketch.

I took a shot at coloring it and VOILA! The result is the sweet art you see above. You can also check out Andrew's original Destruct-O-Tron pencils, and see a side-by-side comparison of the penciled version and colored version

But wait... there's more!

Andrew also surprised me with this shockingly sultry sketch of Destruct-O-Tron and Mind's Eye getting grabby. Just like before, you can see his pencils, and a side-by-side comparison of the pencils and colors.

BUT WAIT... THERE'S STILL MORE!

Mind's Eye by Shawn Atkins

The incredible penciler of Time Log and creator of a googolplex of other comics -- Shawn Atkins -- did this kickass Mind's Eye pin up late last summer. Though I already posted it here on the blog last October, I think it's VERY worth reposting!!! And I love purple-to-pink fades, so Shawn's color scheme is really working for me.

Speaking of Shawn and his wickedly creative mind, that leads us to...

NEXT WEEK: Project Basement Spotlight on Pepper Jones, Adventure Scientist!!!

(Never heard of her before? That's because Pepper and her world are the subject of a brand-spanking-new comic by Shawn and I. Get a sneak peak next week on the PB Spotlight!!!)

Shawn by Aimee Cummings and Nick Marino

Last summer, extraordinary artist Aimee Cummings and I discussed a collaboration, with her penciling and me inking. We decided to try out a couple of test images -- a pic of Jean Grey in her sexy Hellfire Club attire, and this sketch of Time Log's resident non-moron, Shawn.

Now if you're looking at this and thinking "why did Aimee put Shawn in an 80s/90s school photo pose with her giant head floating in the background?" then you should really be blaming me and not the penciler! See, the sketch she gave me looked like this:

Much more... artistic, right? Well who knows why I decided to move the head before I inked it. I sure as hell don't remember. (And on an unrelated note, I was also planning on coloring this Shawn sketch for today's spotlight, but I couldn't get my flat colors to do Aimee's awesome pencils justice.)

Next up, I want to share a vintage Time Log pinup done in early 2007, back when I was still planning on drawing the Time Log comic:

Good thing we got Shawn Atkins to pencil it instead, right? This is a bit over-colored and wonky, but I think it's still fun. And to add to that, this was drawn back when Pete and I were still considering on actually using ourselves (and not just our names) for the characters in Time Log.

I was hoping to dig up another Time Log oldie, the original version of the Time Vortex (where i just Photoshop'd my previous sketch of Pete on top of a swirly background). But, alas, that version is virtually lost to the world. I may have it saved on a disc somewhere, but it could take me hours just to find it (and it wasn't that exciting, trust me).

NEXT WEEK: Project Basement Spotlight on Super Haters featuring Andrew Kilian and Shawn Atkins!!!

P.S. Oh, and before I forget, while we're showcasing some Time Log rarities, don't forget to check out this Time Log Xmas card drawn by Pete's brother Jack.

Now that's not to say ALL of the PB v2 submissions were drawn with disdain -- some artists sketched their favorite characters, while others were indifferent to their subject matter. That's why I've added an *** after certain links to let you know which sketches were fueled by hate!!!

• January 30 - Wayne Wise vs. Chris Maverick!!!
• January 23 - Christian Bale Movie Batman by Nick Marino***
• January 16 - Scarlet Phoenix by Ross Campbell***
• January 9 - Plastic Man by Byron Winton***
• December 26 - Magik by Chris Maverick
• December 19 - Grendel by Wayne Wise
• December 12 - Julia Child by Francisco Gruel***
• December 5 - Rick Jones by Shawn Atkins***
• November 28 - Punisher and Marv by Katie Henderson***
• November 21 - Cyclops by Pete Borrebach***
• November 14 - Jean Grey and Cyclops by Kaylie McDougal***
• November 7 - Cable by Chris Maverick***
• October 31 - Punisher by Mikey Wood***
• October 24 - Jericho by Dan Greenwald***
• October 17 - Cable by Wayne Wise***
• October 10 - Jar Jar Binks by Scott Hedlund***
• October 3 - Aquaman by Nick Marino
• September 26 - Captain America by Byron Winton

Up next is Project Basement volume 3, where the theme is Costumes and Powers. I'm asking artists to draw a costume that fascinates them, a superpower that intrigues them, or both!

If you're interested in contributing to future volumes of Project Basement, you can email me at nick (at) audioshocker (dot) com for more information.

Okay, the that's a lie... Chris and Wayne aren't really fighting. I just thought "Wayne Wise vs. Chris Maverick" sounded sexier than "A Sketch by Wayne Wise and a Sketch by Chris Maverick." Anyway, let's get to the art!

Fixer by Wayne Wise

So this is a quick sketch/doodle I did of the Fixer. Not a character I hate, or love particularly. He was one of the long time Marvel villains that Kurt Busiek used in Thunderbolts and is pretty representative of the book at that time. Here was a character with a 30-plus year history that we really knew nothing about. He was a pretty generic villain. Kurt gave him a personality and made him interesting.

Unlike Songbird or Mach 5, both of whom became genuinely heroic over the course of the series, the Fixer was never really redeemed. I like the take on him, which Nicieza expounded upon after Busiek left the book, that Norbert (the Fixer) really likes the challenge of fixing things and solving problems. He is morally grey and his attention can be focused on solving problems for the good guys as well as the bad. He doesn't need redemption so much as redirection.

Not sure why I sketched him. He's not playing a huge role in the new Thunderbolts, but he is there, and I kind of like this iteration of his costume.

Cloak and Dagger by Chris Maverick

Ok, so characters you love and characters you hate. Cloak and Dagger fits both of those bills for me. I love the concept of Cloak and Dagger. The costumes are simple and elegant, and while mired in the 80s, stylistically, their look is immediately indicative of their abilities and the concept. The idea behind the base premise is classic. One character that epitomizes light, and all that is good in the world. The other, the essence of darkness and evil, and yet the two are forever tied together. Linked to each other in total dependence.

On top of that, we eventually discover that their powers aren't correct, the process that gave them their abilities mutated and corrupted them. Cloak was intended to be a being of light, while Dagger should have been possessed by darkness, thus showing us the readers that both light and darkness are forever linked. Opposite sides of the same coin. This is the stuff of Shakespearean drama. The metaphoric possibilities are endless.

But what went wrong? Well, everything! As perfect and pure an idea as Cloak and Dagger are on paper, in execution they were flawed from the very start. For one, the co-dependence wasn't bilateral. Despite the way the story was pushed, and while Cloak's abilities make him completely addicted to Dagger's "light", she's not actually dependent on him at all, at least not in any physical way, and while in classic storytelling, emotional dependence could be all the stronger, in order to really make the characters equals the physical dependence needed to be there to push the metaphor.

On top of that, the heroes were the victims of something that can ruin any comic book character. Bad storytelling. Since they were a bit too high concept to ever really take off with the mainstream right away, Marvel resorted to marketing trickery and ruined them even further. From pairing them with Dr. Strange, who also wasn't lighting the world on fire at the time, to revamping their entire concept to make them "mutants" just so they could pretend they were somehow linked in with the X-books line, despite the fact that it was a complete retcon of their origin and that retcon didn't even make sense in relation to itself. As a result, the X-book characters never acknowledged Cloak and Daggers mutantcy at all and Cloak and Dagger barely ever referenced it themselves, instead floating from one bad storyline in a soon-to-be cancelled title to another bad storyline in a new soon-to-be cancelled title.

So there you have it. A story far too common in comics. A brilliant idea ruined by mediocre writing and poor editorial control. They might as well have been the Spider-Man clone saga. Don't hate the player, hate the game.

And that, my friends, is a wrap -- the end of Project Basement vol 2!!! I want to send out a ginormous THX to everyone that contributed. Whether the art was made out of hate or out of love... I LOVED IT ALL!

Project Basement vol 3 is up next, and it's gonna be the best one yet! We've got a brand new theme -- Costumes and Powers -- which means you're going to be treated to some awesome character designs and capabilities over the next few months.

BUT FIRST... while I build up a backlog of PB v3 artwork, Project Basement is going to take a three week detour with a special "Spotlight" series, featuring some awesome pinups and fan art from Time Log, Super Haters, and (the upcoming) Pepper Jones: Adventure Scientist.

NEXT WEEK: Project Basement Spotlight on Time Log featuring Aimee Cummings!!!

Christian Bale Movie Batman by Nick Marino

I've known what I wanted to draw for PB v2 pretty much since I came up with the idea for this series... but drawing it was a struggle.

I guess that's ironic considering the very raw sketch you see here. But, the thing is, what you see above wasn't intended to be my sketch... this was.

I wanted to draw Daredevil congratulating Bale's Batman. I dislike Daredevil because I think he's the whiny root of his own problems. But I dislike Christian Bale movie Batman even more because of his contrite, faux-real presentation. I hate his stupid gruff voice, his ridiculous costume, and how he represents everything that annoys me about modern "realistic" fantasy films.

I grew up loving the Batman TV show with Adam West. I understand if that's not your thing... but it's mine. I thought Burton and Keaton struck a nice balance between gruff and goofy with their two films, and I think that Nolan and Bale have scoffed at those interpretations, instead opting for a masturbatory fanboy "Oh if Batman was real he'd be just like this!"

What you see here was only a practice sketch of movie Batman, but I like it so much that I've decided to make it my submission.

NEXT: Hate is over!!! Wayne Wise and Chris Maverick deliver dueling sketches as PB v2 comes to a close.

Scarlet Phoenix by Ross Campbell

Ross gives us some PB v2 style hate with an amalgam of Marvel Comics characters -- the Scarlet Witch and the Phoenix Force. I thought I had a hate-filled rant from Ross, but I couldn't find one in my email. So, in its place (unless Ross wants to send me one...), here's what Ross DID say in his emails about this sketch:

11/21/10 - i decided who i’m going to do for Project Basement! Scarlet Witch possessed by the Phoenix Force! i couldn't decide which one i hated more so Kaylie suggested combining them. i like Jean herself just fine, i just hate the Phoenix Force cosmic entity thing. XD

EDIT: Here's Ross' rant in the comments. And it's good rant so enjoy!!!!

NEXT: Hate rears it's hideous head one more time as PB brings you Christian Bale Batman by... ME!

Plastic Man by Byron Winton

Byron kicked off PB v2 with his Captain America sketch, and now he's back to spread some hateraise (hatin' + mayonnaise) on Eel O'Brian:

Got another one for you. Plastic Man... I hate the fucker. Probably because of the Saturday morning cartoon I watched as a kid. Why does a character that can stretch have to be so damn humorous? I’d like to see a grim variation... one that's devious and has problems keeping his shit together. And not as in my Lolcats crapping rendition either.

NEXT: Hate unites heroes as Ross Campbell brings us the Scarlet Phoenix!

Magik by Chris Maverick

Mav returns with his second (here's his first) PB v2 contribution! BTW, check out his webcomic, Cosmic Hellcats.

Since I drew Cable as a character I hated I wanted to also do a character I loved. And that's why I picked Magik.

The character of Illyana Rasputin worked for me on several levels. To me, she represented much of what I loved about comics in general and Marvel comics in specific. While she was blessed with fantastic powers, she was ultimately a character that I, as a teenager at the time, could relate to. In the pages of the New Mutants, Chris Claremont presented her as a teenager with every day problems while also having the additional burden of her superhero life. In addition, beyond the standard problems plaguing her New Mutant compatriots, she had the additional difficulties of being the girl ruler of the realm of Limbo.

Being a demon was a perfect allegory for the teen experience. Even among mutants, natural outcasts, Illyana felt like she was an outcast herself. She had greater responsibilities and she had a plethora of issues.

Even more fascinating is the manner in which she was woven into the shared universe. While Cable was simply dropped in as a massive retcon, Magik was a character that had been around since the induction of Colossus years earlier. When she was aged and given powers in her limited series, she already had a natural backstory, and none of this was contradicted when it was decided to give her powers and make her a member of the team. She was in many ways the perfect example of how to write to enrich a shared history rather than blatantly disregarding it.

As a character design, she was quite innovative, at least at the time. Like all the New Mutants, she wore a variant of the original X-Men training uniform, however she was a very early example of how to customize the concept without destroying it. Something very popular in uniform design of team characters today and something that makes sense in real life. If you look at any uniformed group from prep school students to military operations (both of which one could argue the X-Organization is), you'll see that in real life individuality is maintained by very subtle modifications of the core uniform. The nature of Magik's powers gave her a natural modification of the uniform in this manner while maintaining the base look. It worked on multiple levels.

Plus she's just so fun to draw.

NEXT: Hate is back!!! Plastic Man by Byron Winton!

Grendel by Wayne Wise

The wise one is back!

No hate here. I love Grendel. I picked up the first black and white issue of this when it first came out, and in spite of Matt Wagner's limitations as a draftsman at the time, his sense of design and storytelling simply blew me away.

I love the simplicity of this design. It's slick and practical. The little harlequin nose is the single most important piece of it. It adds a sense of whimsy to the character that makes him even creepier. This perfectly reflected his personality as well. In the first issue Grendel recites nonsense poetry from Alice in Wonderland while executing a roomful of crime lords. Darkly funny.

Wagner's other work, Mage, is closer to my heart than Grendel, and Mirth, the actual Mage from that series is in my top 10 favorite characters list. But because of the design I'm pretty sure I've drawn Grendel more often.

Next week, take another break from hate with Magik by Chris Maverick!

Or, if you hate Facebook for being a mega social media monolith, you can read all of ACT I on Flickr, owned by Yahoo (a corporation currently dying a slow, painful death).

OR... you can stay here on the AudioShocker and read Time Log easier than ever! See, I designed this little thingamaboo below to help you navagite between the strips:

Plus, since it's tough following a story in bite-sized week-to-week installments, I'll be writing a little intro before each strip to make sure that you're up-to-speed before you read! (Holy shit, that's catchy. "Get up-to-speed before you read!" Note to self: trademark that.)

Anyway, the point IS that now Time Log is easier and better to read than ever before. Every time we finish an act of the story, it'll go up on Facebook and Flickr. And moving back and forth between weekly installments is now a breeze with the new navigator.

Now if only I could get those damn unicorns to show up...

EDIT: Oh! I almost forgot about this! Please vote for Time Log daily on Top Web Comics. A higher ranking on that site means higher visibility and more readers and more entertaining/ridiculous comments on Time Log posts. You DO want more ridiculous comments, right???

Julia Child by Francisco Gruel

I'm really excited to post this drawing, but not because I'm huge Julia Child fan or hater or anything like that. No, it's because this submission spun out of the comments of A Podcast with Ross and Nick #76. And while we never turned #77 into an all-recipe episode, Francisco still submitted his kickass Julia Child sketch and this:

"And now, they get beaten together.

And this, as you remember, we've done a lot of things with eggs before and, whenever they gonna be cooked... or... made into something, they almost always have to be beaten up first.

And this, for some reason, prepares them for the dreadful things that are going to happen to them afterwards.

I think you can think that egg yolks are rather nasty, little people that need to be beaten up and treated roughly and... it's like, 'Speak roughly to your little boy, and beat him when he sneezes. And then he'll always do the right thing.'

That's just what you have to feel about egg yolks."

-Julia Child
"The Hollandaise Family" episode of
"The French Chef"

Next week, hate goes on a holiday for Grendel by Wayne Wise!

Is it just me, or was this show popular because people like Mad Men and Breaking Bad so much? Like, people want so badly for there to be good programming on cable television, that they just will themselves into believing that a show which is mediocre at best is one of the great achievements of contemporary televised entertainment. Now, I like zombies as much as the next person, and I think there are probably are interesting things to be said about the current trend of putting the "geist" back into "zeitgeist," but, having gone ahead and jumped on this bandwagon, and watched all six episodes of The Walking Dead, I'm mostly left scratching my head about what people see in this.

The biggest thing that I see is what South Park figured out years ago: the conservative powers that run our censorship boards don't mind grotesque violence. There's a massive double standard between censorship of violence and censorship of sex or speech acts. So zombies are pretty much the safest vehicle for cutting edge cable-TV violence, since they don't have sex and don't talk. In a lot of ways, The Walking Dead is about little more than acts of "Look what we can show on cable TV nowadays! Amazing!" It does nothing new for the zombie genre, nor for the TV drama genre, or anything else, other than there's lots and lots of rotting flesh and gun shots to human skulls. I haven't read the comic book, but I presume a lot of the flat-ness of the zombie mythology is they fault of the book, and not the TV show.

Again, there are probably interesting questions to ask about zombies, so maybe this show was an excuse for zombie nerds to talk about zombies? I'm not really a zombie nerd. I don't really want to talk about it.

Rick Jones by Shawn Atkins

Shawn Atkins returns with this hate-inspired sketch! He's no newb to the AudioShocker ( see Time Log) or Project Basement (see here and here), but this is his first PB v2 submission:

Rick Jones is a professional douchebag. He fucked over the Hulk -- here he is in his jalopy in 1963 with his harmonica. On a testing site? C'mon, didn't you see the sign? And who helps hims? Bruce Banner -- he fucked over Bruce Banner.

He fucked over Captain America -- he tried to be Bucky. And Cap's like "No, that's tied to my past. That's my bro!" And Rick's like "C'mon get off your hang up... I wanna be Bucky!"

I never read Captain Marvel, so I dunno what he's done to him... he might have vindicated himself, but I have no idea. I just know he's a professional douchebag.

Next week: Julia Child by Francisco Gruel!

Feeling inspired myself, I decided to write it. And seeing as how Pete published his brother's incredible fanfic (pt1 and pt2) earlier this year in Culturology, I figured this is as good a place as any to post it.

---------------

I never dreamed I'd become a major competitor, let alone make it to the top. But here I am, in Las Vegas, with stakes out the ass and money riding on my every move.

Will I trip on some errant urine in the men's room? Will I give some guy the wrong look and get my face punched in before the final round? Who knows.

But what I do know is this -- I'm Frank Castle and I'm the underdog contender for the 2010 World Arm Wrestling Championship.

The Punisher in... OVER THE TOP 2

My room is nice. They're paying for me to stay in that one hotel that looks like a pyramid. It makes me sick to my stomach to think of all the crime going on right under my nose -- brothels, card counting, dining and ditching. But that's the name of the game here in Vegas. And I've got bigger fish to fry.

Once I win the 2010 World Arm Wrestling Championship, I'll be in the inner circle. I can trace the bookies and bets all the way back to the top and find the guy that funded the drugs that my wife and kids used to shoot up uncontrollably for 24 hours a day for two years straight.

They told me they wanted to stop, damn it!!! They told me they would quit!!! But everyday I'd see them with those fucking needles in their arms and that black tar heroin smeared all over their lips. FUCK!!!

Anyway, back to the arm wrestling. See, I saw this movie called Over the Top a few years ago. It's a Stalone flick. You ever see it? It rules. Point is, it's fucking Stalone fucking arm wrestling and kicking ass. You ever see Rambo? That was awesome too.

So I decided I wanted to take it over the top. Yeah, I know my kid wasn't kidnapped or anything, but screw it. I have this grudge about my dead family and I hate criminals and I've got this fake ID with the name Moose Bullworth on it, so I figured why not give it a shot, right?

And now it's time for me to get ready for the final match.

----

Two hours of meditation followed by five minutes of masturbation and I'm ready to go. I ate a Hungry-Man TV dinner and I feel like a million bucks. I'm gonna take it OVER THE TOP tonight!

I step out onto the stage and the crowd goes nuts. They love my stylized skull t-shirt and my rugged good looks. They're clapping and yelling "DEAD MAN! DEAD MAN!" as I walk out, trying to intimidate my competitor before he even sets foot on the stage. This is amazing.

Then my opponent comes out of the shadows and I'm shocked. The audience wasn't yelling for me... they were yelling AT me! She's a 7' tall amazonian piece of she-meat, green from head-to-toe and wearing a purple bathing suit. What in the shit is going on???

Her name tag says "Jennifer" on it. This can't be right -- I never signed up to get my arm crushed by a roid-freak goddess parading around in her underwear! I wanted to feel the sweaty sting of man moisture on my palms as I slammed his hand against the mini-mat. THIS WASN'T PART OF THE DEAL!!!

Whatever. It doesn't matter. I can still win. I'm the goddamn Punisher and I'm gonna punish her.

----

She gets her elbow lined up and ready to rock. PSSSHH. Amateur. I've been ready for two minutes.

I'm ready to fight, ready to win. I'm gonna win.

I grip her hand hard and show her what I'm made of. Damn, she's got big fingers. Like thick little green sausages. I could eat one of them right now, I'm so fucking hungry to win. I'd just bite it off and suck the goopy irradiated green blood out of it like the cream filling in a Twinkie. FUCK.

The ref shouts "START!" and we push our hands together, our arms bristling with the exhilaration of competition. The audience cheers us on. Actually, no. They just cheer her on. But what do I fucking care? I'm the Punisher, damn it.

I fight hard. Real hard. But things are looking down. She's stronger than me and she's got more energy. But I'm ready... ready to take it OVER TH--

WHAT!?! What's she doing??? NOOO!!!! That's my move! She's realigning her fingers, starting out with the index finger and slowly rewrapping her grip over top of my hand. SHE'S TAKING IT OVER THE TOP!!!

How could this happen to me? Did she see that movie too? C'mon! NO ONE SAW THAT FUCKING MOVIE! It's my favorite movie, not hers! I'm out to kill the heroin-daddy that slaughtered my family with his addictive smack! I'm ready to kill in the name of American freedom! This can't be happening to me!!!

I feel a pop in my right elbow. It's sort of liberating, really. I can give up now. My bone begins to tear through the skin as I start to black out. There's blood oozing onto the floor and the crowd is going nuts. She says "Eat it, dickwad!!! I just took it over the top!" right before I hit the ground.

----

I wake up to see her standing over me, the crowd silent now. She tore off my skull t-shirt and wrapped it around my arm to slow the bleeding.

"Frank Castle, you're under arrest," she says. "You have the right to remain silent, and anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of--"

"FUCK YOU," I tell her as I spit in her face.

"You wish," she says with a smile and a wink.

Oh well... I gave it my best shot. I tried to take it over the top. It just didn't work out. I'm gonna go to jail for murdering thousands of evil slime trash deadbeat hustler criminals and cleaning up the streets of New York. I make it safe for these ants to live their meaningless stupid little lives and what thanks do they show me? They wanna lock me up and throw away the key. What a fucked up world.

Punisher and Marv by Katie Henderson

Please welcome Katie Henderson to the PB v2 fold! Here's what she has to say about her subject:

Marv vs Punisher - Heart versus... the other throbbing love muscle.

The more I thought of it, the more I realized how similar my most and least favorite comic characters were. But what was it that polarized me so?

Basically, Marv's is a mission with the human element. Who can't identify with having someone or something they loved or cherished taken from them? He wants answers (don't we all?) and it just happens he has to kill his way across the dark underbelly to reach the answer at the mouth of one of Ba(Sin) City's power-hungry heads, then crushing it like a grape. You follow his story and cheer him on the whole way, even if he does turn out to be a psycho killer. He even stops to consider this, proving some semblance of sanity. When all is said and done, this romantic bad lug with a good heart finds his peace and everything else is trivial by comparison.

Punisher, on the other hand, just makes dead bodies. He's reading material for violence fappers. It's not even like he does it for his family. He's an insatiable, testosteroned, maniac. Even superheros take breaks. There's no doubt in your mind that he's going to win the day, no twists, and worst of all, no conclusion. Don't get me wrong, I asked my roommate to explain him to me. "He fights because the justice system doesn't work." That's pretty boner-ish of him to think he's the total solution to the problem. I mean, at least the mob just runs drugs and casinos, most of the time they kill their own. Then one day, Frank comes along and just lays the place to waste just because he can. Then what? Those mobsters might have families too, then the kids grow up to be mobsters who hate the Punisher, and the cycle continues. It's like he's fighting the hydra, but just hasn't figured out there's a trick to it, and probably never will.

Next week: Rick Jones by Shawn Atkins!

Cyclops by Pete Borrebach

Pete IN DA HOUSE with some badass MS Paint art. The Culturology and Time Log writer lays the PB v2 smackdown like this:

First of all, I should admit that I was introduced to the X-Men, like so many other people of my generation, by their Saturday morning cartoon show and, perhaps even more importantly, their arcade game. And my interest in the X-Men, other than the characters Cable and Bishop and their awesome intergalactic time travel stories from the decadent 90s, has been maintained as much by the Marvel vs. Capcom games as by anything laid down in a comic book.

Which is mostly to say, I don't know a whole lot of Cyclops' story or backstory. Like so many great hatreds in the history of humanity, my hatred of Cyclops arises as more from ignorance than anything else. That and James Marsden. It is impossible for me now, after the first three X-Men movies, to think of Cyclops as anything but a whiny, Tom Cruise wannabe pretty boy. Character traits that I just can't stand.

I always imagine most nerds kind of going for Cyclops. He's an alpha male, a natural leader, a hit with the ladies. But we've all seen the movies! Nerds should hate jocks! Alpha males are jerks. But most nerds spend too much time wishing they weren't nerds, instead of transcending their own nerdiness. Team leaders in mainstream comics--at least comics with popular cartoon shows and arcade games in the early 90s (that's right, Leonardo was a close second in my choosing what character to draw)--always strike me as only superficially flawed. As if a little bit of angst and stress under pressure suddenly makes them complex characters.

I will admit that laser eyes is a pretty awesome super power, so when Cyclops throws a tantrum and cries about tearing the seat of his designer jeans, he cries laser tears.

Next week: Punisher and Marv by Katie Henderson!

Jean Grey and Cyclops by Kaylie McDougal

Kaylie is back for PB v2! And she says:

I chose Jean Grey and Cyclops, which will probably make me pretty unpopular. Admittedly, I have only a passing knowledge and interest in the X-Men, but the main reason I haven't been more inclined to become more involved with the franchise is because of its focus on characters like Jean and Cyclops. Maybe it's the nihilist teenager in me, but even as a small child, I found the pair sickeningly goody-two-shoes. While other mutants went through emotional turmoil surrounding their powers or the struggle of being labeled second-class citizens, it never seemed that Scott and Jean ever really had any meaningful character development in a way that stuck with me. I guess Jean has the Phoenix thing, and Cyclops became slightly more interesting when Emma Frost entered the picture, and it's not that I don't feel they have the potential to be interesting, but I guess my point is that these characters bored me so much from the start that I never really cared what happened with them. Obviously I'm in the minority, but I can't help but hold these two as some of my top least-favorite comic characters ever.

Next week: more hatin' on Cyclops by Pete Borrebach!

Cable by Chris Maverick

Please welcome Chris Maverick, multimedia artist and Cosmic Hellcats webcomiker, as he gives us our second Cable of PB v2:

So this is what I get for being lazy about my submission. Wayne also did a Cable pic for a character he hates and said much the same things as I was going to say. So in short, I agree with much of what he said about lack of concept and design but there's something more I want to say.

The reason I hate Cable so much is that he represents some of the things I most hate about comics. Lazy storybuilding and retconning. One of my favorite things about comics in general and the big two in specific is the concept of a shared sandbox. As much as I might like reading a story written by one person, be it William Shakespeare or Dave Sim, at the end of the day the adventures of Macbeth or Cerebus are ultimately written by one person and it is merely that one person's ideas that get represented.

Then you take a character like Spiderman or Superman and suddenly we have a situation where tens or hundreds of writers over the years have to continuously build upon a common myhthology. Extending it, in logical ways to create engaging stories in the present, remain consistent with the past and not handcuff creators of the future. Cable essentially throws the middle finger to that very concept.

Cable was created for one reason and one reason only. An artist with no real storytelling ability (and arguably very little artistic ability, but that's another story) essentially leveraged his popularity to be given free reign to do whatever he wanted to do. The problem was, when he got it, he had no idea what he wanted to do, so he drew a picture he thought was "COOL" and inserted it into the book and forced everyone to find someway to make it fit. So suddenly a character was around that had never been seen before, and to make him fit, he was suddenly written into EVERYONE'S backstory. Wolverine had known him for years. Captain America had known him for years. Chord, from New Warriors had known him for years. When we went to the future, it turns out that everyone in the future had known him for years. It just so happened that in 50 years of storytelling, none of us readers had ever happened to see him before.

Since his creator had no idea what to do with him (and on top of that, up and left the company like five minutes later anyway), other creators dealt with this by shoehorning him into every other characters backstories even further. Not only was 50 years of storytelling ruined in the name of present day stories that weren't really that good anyway, but the character became so entrenched in Marvel mythos in general (and X-book mythos in specific) that writers were forced to deal with him for every future story, a problem which persists with the character today. On top of this, he's so loosely defined, both in terms of personality and the specifics of what his powers even are, that he can never really be used in a story without contradicting the way someone else used him in another story.

[INSERT STANDARD "NICK LIKES LIEFELD" DISCLAIMER HERE.]

Next week... Jean Grey and Cyclops by Kaylie McDougal!

Punisher by Mikey Wood

A new contributor for PB v2!!! Enter the rage of Mikey Wood:

When it was brought to my attention that "Because he sucks," while accurate, was not explanatory enough for why the Punisher is my least favorite comic character, I was hard-pressed to come up with a better reason. But, in the interest of science, I'll give it a try:

He sucks.

That there is the seed from which my tree of hatred will grow. Dig the sapling:

Frank Castle, AKA "The Punisher," is a perfect example of what some in the business call a "one trick pony." His shtick is that he's angry. He's angry and he owns weaponry. Walk up to any schmuck on the street and say, "Hey, schmuck...Do you know who the Punisher is?" If they say NO, tell them they're better for it and send them on their way. if they say "Yes" then ask them to describe him. The answer will be as such:

"Blah blah blah ANGRY blah blah blah GUNS blah blah blah HAND GRENADES blah blah blah KNIVES blah blah blah SKULL"

And so forth.

Some will validate the Punisher and say "It's not THAT he kills people, it's HOW he kills people." Um... No it isn't. A kill is a kill is a kill. Using a shotgun or using a leaf shredder, it's still just the same old shtick repeated ad nauseum.

"But the mob killed his family! He's getting revenge for his MURDERED FAMILY!"

A star going super-nova killed SUPERMAN'S entire PLANET (depending upon which origin story you stick to). Does he fly throughout the galaxy destroying stars? NO (even though he COULD because he's Superman). The fact that the Punisher is no better than the scumbags who started this whole mess is clear. Take his guns away and he's a pretty decent hand-to-hand combatant because of his years in Vietnam (which would make him about, oh, 65 years old or so) but Batman could still kick his ass. WHY? Because Batman can control his anger. The Punisher is victim to his.

What it comes down to? The quick and dirty reason I can't stand the Punisher: Because he BORES me.

He WAS pretty cool when he was Frankenstein. I'll give him that.

Next week... Cable by Chris Maverick!

Jericho by Dan Greenwald

PB v2 is about to get gabby. Take it away, Dan!

For my contribution, it was a no-brainer. I find Jericho to be the most useless and ridiculous-looking character in the DC Universe. Originally, I wasn't going to submit it as black & white, but I think it's important to see the how goofy the costume design is when colored.

I imagine when George Perez and Marv Wolfman were coming up with Jericho in the early 80's, the conversation went something like this...

"Hey George?"

"Yeah Marv?"

"I've got an unused character that I want to put on the team, but all I have is the name. Think you can help me flesh him out?"

"Sure, what's the name?"

"Are you ready for this? It's...JERICHO!"

"...."

"Well?"

"What does 'Jericho' mean? Does it mean something for the character?"

"I don't know, I just thought it sounded like a name that meant absolutely nothing."

"Okay, whatever. Well, with a name like that, he'll have to look unbelievably stupid."

"Go on, I'm listening."

"Well, for starters, I think he should have a giant head of blonde curly hair, like that William Katt fella. The kids love that Greatest American Hero show. But we'll add a twist: he'll have muttonchops!"

"Brilliant! Keep going!"

"The costume is key. I'm thinking big puffy sleeves, bright purple vest and boots, cobalt blue pants, a large gold belt with a giant gem in the center, big gold bracelets and a half cape that drapes around his neck and shoulders that serves no purpose whatsoever."

"Uh, sounds rather flamboyant. Not that I care, but is he going to be gay?"

"Marv, what would give you that idea?"

"No reason. Okay, what should his powers be?"

"Ah, I'm glad you asked. I think we need someone on the team to have a really useless power...I mean, in a combat situation, this creampuff should be able to do very little. I'm thinking he has the ability to possess someone by making eye contact with them."

"George, you just blew my mind. That's a great lame power!"

"Thanks Marv. And as a special gift to you, I give you the final aspect of this character that will make him almost impossible to be interesting; he will be mute! He will never have any dialogue with any other character or any thought balloons to help develop the character! We'll make some sort of attempt to have him practice sign language in the book, but it still won't make any sense to anyone."

"A character with no dialogue? I can't believe I never thought of it! Thanks George, I couldn't have done this without you."

"It's my pleasure. Hey who knows, maybe someday artists will be writing AND drawing comics."

"Hahahahaha! Oh George, you crack me up!"

Next week... Punisher by Mikey Wood!

Cable by Wayne Wise

If you've been following along, then you may already know that PB v2 is marked by the opportunity for artists to sketch their least favorite characters, and Wayne's got a real humdinger for you today:

I don't really hate Cable as a character. There are very few characters that truly deserve my ire. I do believe that there are no bad characters, just bad writers.

I do hate what Cable represents. I pinpoint his introduction to everything that went wrong with superhero comics in the 90's. There is no central core concept to Cable. There's simply no "there" there.

First of all, his name. Cable? What does that have to do with who he is? I think I heard someone describe it as a "Power Word" whatever that means. It doesn't describe his powers, or his function, or anything about him. Anything could be ascribed to this name. This goes back to the lack of core concept to me.

Secondly, his powers. It sounds like he was created by a six year old in a session that went something like this (to be read in a slightly breathless, child-like voice)...

Okay, okay, see... he has this robot arm, 'kay? Annndd... he's got psychic powers, and they're the best, 'cause he's Phoenix's son, only not really, and when he uses them his eye glows. Oh! Oh yeah! He's got this big scar on his other eye. Anndd... Guns! Big, big guns, just in case his most powerful psychic powers in the universe don't work and he needs to shoot somebody. Oh, and he's a mercenary from the future too.

Core concept? WTF?

And don't get me started on the costume. I'm not even going to go off on the pouches and shoulder pads and whatnot. Like the name, nothing about it says anything about the character. It was drawn differently every time it appeared. Part of that is the inconsistency of the artists, but part of it is that there were no specifically defining elements of it. Poor design.

And everything just said about Cable is true of Bishop, and Gambit and a plethora of other 90's characters. Killer Moth may have had a dumb looking costume, but at least you knew what he was supposed to be. Comics, superheroes specifically, are an iconic medium. I see very little that is iconic about this style of design or character concept. They are ciphers, not characters, which explains why they have been miserably redefined over and and over again.

No core concept.

Next week, it's Jericho by Dan Greenwald!!!

You can still hang with Nick (uhhh that's me, so why did I just write that in the third person?), Justique, Shawn Atkins (he pencils Time Log), Paige Shoemaker (she inks Time Log), and other AS friends (Dan, Seth, Teddy Pendergrass, etc.) at..

PIX: The Pittsburgh Indy Comics Expo! (yes, if you were wondering, it should be abbreviated "PICE" and not "PIX")

You can buy (which, trust me, no one ever does) some of the fantastic AudioShocker Comics offerings, including: the Time Log one-shot, Zombie Palin (third edition!), Super Haters v1 and v2, Super Haters Digital Special Edition (all the strips plus an hour of audio commentary by moi), Poetree (which, trust me, you don't actually want), Project Basement v1 sketchbook, and more.

It's in the (ever obscure locale of the) top floor of the Guardian Storage Facility in the Strip District (because who ever said Pittsburgh isn't classy?) this Saturday and Sunday from 10 AM to 5 PM.

And even though everyone who's reading this either A. doesn't live in Pittsburgh or B. lives in Pittsburgh and already knows about this, I still want you to get excited! COME TO PIX!!!

Jar Jar Binks by Scott Hedlund

This week was totally supposed to be Cable by Wayne Wise... but I forgot to get him to send me his hate-filled tirade! However, Scott had already emailed me his (extremely timely) Jar Jar vitriol, which reads a little something like this:

Jar Jar Binks is my least favorite character, bar none, across the span of that far, far away galaxy of Star Wars and pretty much the entirety of the multi-media-verse. Jar Jar Binks is the inept CG muppet that was brought to the public's attention with the movie Star Wars: Episode I: the Phantom Menace. With the introduction of Jar Jar Binks, the movie was brought down to the level of the Naboo swamp that bred him. Jar Jar ushered in poop jokes as the new norm for humor in the Star Wars galaxy. Jar Jar's greatest example of his failure as a redeemable character occurred in Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones when Jar Jar supported Chancellor Palpatine's bid for power in the Senate. This advanced Palpatine to Emperor status and became the most oppressive dictator the galaxy would ever know. In my drawing, I couldn't ignore the fact that all of this could have been avoided had the quixotic Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn had simply ignored that back-water platypus and taken the Bongo himself to Naboo's Capitol city of Theed. I only wish the young Obi-wan Kenobi would have spoke his mind right then and there.

Next week -- Cable by Wayne Wise... for real this time!!!

You may recognize Shawn as the penciler of Time Log, contributor to Project Basement, and the creator of Gello Apocalypse and Explorers of the Unknown.

Big THX to Shawn for the kickass art!!!

Aquaman by Nick Marino

If you read the comments on last week's post, then you already know this... I had a special surprise planned for Project Basement v2: not only will we be showcasing people's favorite characters, but we'll also be showcasing their LEAST favorite characters.

I thought that Byron's drawing of Cap was done previous to my call for least favorites... and even if it was, Byron's still not crazy about the Sentinel of Liberty.

But this Aquaman was done WAAAY before my call for least favorites (way back before v1 even began running on the site). In fact, I happen to love the character of Arthur Curry/Orin/Aquaman. BUT... it wasn't always that way. I used to hold him up as an example of one of the worst superheroes in comics.

That was before I read a lot of Aquaman comics. Peter David, Martin Egeland, Howard Shum, Jim Aparo, Will Pfeifer, Patrick Gleason, John Arcudi, Rick Veitch, and Yvel Guichet -- those are just a few of my favorite Aquaman comic creators. So my message here is this: any one of your least favorite characters can become a favorite if the stories are right.

Now be back next week for a Cable by Wayne Wise Jar Jar Binks by Scott Hedlund!!!

Captain America by Byron Winton

A new contributor! Our first v2 sketch! Our first duplicate character. Wow. EXCITING.

Truth be told, there's a lot to like here. Funny, great use of color, the feel of a sketch with the polish of an accomplished artist (*ahem* byronwinton.com *ahem*), and TIGHTS! I mean, just look at that buckling crotch -- those pants are snug!!!

Anyway, I thought I'd leave the black edges of Bryon's scan intact rather than clean it up. This way, it gives you an idea of what type of sketchbook was used. The only thing it doesn't give you is an idea of the sketchbook's size... the damn thing is about as big as my hand! Basically, this drawing is far more detailed than it looks.

Now be back next week for Aquaman by... me!

The Project Basement volume 1 mission statement was simple: draw one of your favorite characters -- no matter your level of artistic ability -- capturing the energy and excitement of a passionate sketch in the process.

• September 19 - Invisible Woman by Scott Hedlund
• September 12 - Songbird by Wayne Wise
• August 29 - Thundergirl by Marcel Walker
• August 22 - Iron Man by Shawn Atkins
• August 15 - Dazzler by Kaylie McDougal
• August 8 - Poison Ivy by Aimee Cummings
• August 1 - Hawkeye by Wayne Wise
• July 25 - Supergirl by Scott Hedlund
• July 18 - Hulk by Dan Greenwald
• July 11 - Danger Mouse by Alyssa Ference
• July 4 - Captain America by Pete Borrebach
• June 27 - Sleepwalker by Ross Campbell
• June 20 - Misty Knight by Justique Woolridge
• June 13 - Banshee by Nick Marino
• June 6 - Superman by Marcel Walker
• May 30 - Wonder Woman by Shawn Atkins

Anyone interested in contributing to future volumes should email me at nick (at) audioshocker (dot) com for more information. There's also an awesome print edition of PB v1, and if you're interested in scoring your own copy, hit me up by email for prices and ordering info.

Invisible Woman by Scott Hedlund

In his last contribution, Scott delivered an iconic Supergirl, and now he's back with a very personal Invisible Woman. Not personal as in personal for Scott, but personal as in I feel like the character is personally approaching me (or attacking me, depending on how you look at it).

I like the unique use of her power signature, which is something difficult to portray considering it's, well, invisible. I also appreciate the fact that Sue, while attractive, is not overly sexualized here -- she has a natural body and commonness to her face that makes her feel less like a centerfold and more like a renegade astronaut-turned-superhero.

Be back for the beginning of an amazing new chapter in Project Basement... VOLUME TWO! We kick off the festivities with Captain America by Byron Winton.

Songbird by Wayne Wise

This is our second contribution by the wonderful Wayne Wise (here's his first). In this piece, I love the personality and the heroic nature communicated by the artist. It's a laid back character sketch, but it's got smooth motion and great positivity.

As for the character herself, I really felt like she was poised on the perch of becoming a main Avenger. After Civil War, she took point in Thunderbolts and made herself seen around the covers and background heroes of the Marvel Universe. But instead of making it to one of the main Avengers books, she silently slid to the side. BOOOO!

Be back next week for the final entry in PB v1, Invisible Woman by Scott Hedlund.

Thundergirl by Marcel Walker

I regard this installment with significant affection for two reasons:

The first of which is Thundergirl herself. I've been meeting up with her creator, Shawn Atkins, almost every Sunday for the past two and a half years to work on comics. And over the course of that time, I've seen Thundergirl grow from an idea to an incredible character (so go buy her debut issue already!!!)

The other reason I love this drawing is because Marcel captured the essence of Project Basement. The form, the color, the line strokes, the expression on her face, the way the still image almost moves on its own... the energy and emotion in his quick eraser board sketch makes me want to stare at it endlessly.

So make sure to follow Marcel as he builds his latest comic book, Hero Corp, from the ground up!

And get back here next week for Songbird by Wayne Wise.

Iron Man by Shawn Atkins

Shawn asked me if I'd graciously give him the soapbox for a few minutes to talk about the artistic process behind this sketch:

ummmm... liquor's awesome.

Uh, thanks, Shawn... ANYWAY, I love how this sketch synthesizes two of Shawn's biggest influences -- Jack Kirby and Bruce Timm. From the krackles in Tony's glowing palm repulsor to the clunky-yet-energetic armor, from the hand in the foreground to the animated four fingers on his hand, this Iron Man screams awesome in my face.

Though, as an Iron Man fan who's read somewhere in the ballpark of 200 issues of his solo series, I DO NOT condone Shawn's reckless insistence that Tony should get sauced. However, considering the era of the armor he's wearing, this is before Stark admitted he was an alcoholic, so at least the sentiment is in continuity.

Be back next week for a very special installment, as the mighty Marcel Walker draws Shawn's original superhero creation, Thundergirl!

I'm probably beating a damn dead horse at this point, and for that I apologize. But I realized that I don't have anything written about this year's show... and I SHOULD considering that I'm helping organize the festivities!

Here's the official schpeel:

The SPF Expo will be held on September 25th and 26th, from 12pm to 5pm, at AIR: Artists Image Resource! Registration costs only $25, and in return your press, book, magazine, or organization receives a table, two passes, and signage for both days! We have lots of big things coming in September, and we hope you'll be there to experience it!

Basically, SPF is all about Pittsburgh's small press scene -- whether it's comics, mini comics, zines, small press lit, or whatever. And registration is open now. So go sign up if you want to exhibit.

And lo and behold, missed I have. Ross has some friend thing going on and we didn't plan far enough ahead to record earlier than usual, so we didn't record at all.

But I've still got stuff to talk about! First off, if you don't already know, Ross is going to be a guest at FanExpo Canada on August 27-29. You can buy Shadoweyes in person or have Ross sign his name on your nether regions (or both).

And the AudioShocker's gonna have a table there too! It'll probably be stuffed somewhere in the back of a supply closet between a cabinet of toilet paper and a rack of that powder you throw on vomit to make it easier to clean up... ya know, just the way we like it.

At our table, we'll have all the comics featured in the AudioShocker Store, as well as two new items -- a digital Super Haters: Special Edition (complete with audio commentary!) and ashcans of the first volume of Project Basement (featuring cover art by Kaylie McDougal, who'll also be at the show!):

Not too shabby, eh? (BTW, click on it for some awesome Project Basement wallpaper!)

Anyway, if you can't make it to Toronto, never fear, because mere weeks later, you can pick up some AudioShocker Comics goodies at Pittsburgh's Small Press Festival wekend expo. Held on the city's North Side at AIR from September 25-26, it's gonna have zines, comics, self-pubished literature, and tons more.

If you're near the Pittsburgh area and you'd like to set up at the show, register now! Tables are only $25, and I'll be there, so at least you know it's gonna be sexy.

Dazzler by Kaylie McDougal

TAKE IT AWAY, Kaylie:

here's my first thing for project basement. it's my redesign of Dazzler, though it's heavily based on her New Excalibur design. oh yeah, um....i can't remember how long it took me to sketch this out. probably in the neighborhood of fifteen minutes? :)

Look, this sketch just plain @#$%ing rocks. That's right, I @#$%ing said it @#$%ing rocks. It's got a very Bill & Ted comics feel (by Evan Dorkin, circa Bogus Journey), which I really dig. I like Kaylie's two-tone blue color scheme. AND I just happen to be a big fan of the New Ex era costume. Oh... and the line work is incredible. All around great sketch!!! (Anyone else out there wanna notarize that?)

EDIT: How could I forget!?! Check out more of Kaylie's work and visit her blog, Kaylie vs. Art.

Be back next week for Iron Man by Shawn Atkins.

does Pittsburgh really have a Stephen Foster monument?

Which made me realize that I should do a bit of explaining when it comes to the context in which Pete and I came up with Time Log.

First off, here was my response to Kaylie:

@Kaylie: specifically, Time Log involves the Stephen Foster statue, which is prominently placed on a popular road AND right in front of the city's largest public library (right across the street from the Memorial building Neal posted about).

for more, check out this opinion piece by Tony Norman, who's a huge comic book fan (and Wednesday comic shop regular at my local shop, Phantom). oddly enough, he put out his opinion column about the Foster statue the same week that the Time Log one-shot was released.

Still with me? Now let me add just a bit more to that. First off, you can learn more about the songwriting career of Stephen Foster AND minstrel shows, which is where Foster's songs gained popularity.

There's a lot more to it, including the idea of ownership as it applies to popular music, as well as the songwriting business and its own interesting history. But I'll let you find those links on your own.

What is vital to Time Log is that the real Stephen Foster statue stands on the corner of Forbes Ave and Schenley Drive Extension in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, right between the campuses of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University (and a couple blocks away from Phantom of the Attic Comics, my local shop and a place where you can buy a copy of the Time Log one-shot comic).

Also, if you haven't read the Time Log one-shot, it's worth taking a quick peak at this PDF preview, which includes Pete's opening rant about the Foster statue. That'll give you even more context, as it applies directly to the inciting incident of the entire Time Log adventure.

So with that said, I'd like to finish in Pete's own words about the Foster statue:

And, for the record, I've been ranting about that statue since no later than 1999, though I'm sure many people come upon it and similarly can't believe that it exists in such a prominent spot (it used to be tucked away in a graveyard somewhere, I think, in Homestead). Hopefully Time Log gives proper outlet to all those folks like me that have shaken their fists in fury at it.

Poison Ivy by Aimee Cummings

Aimee sayz:

I really like Poison Ivy as a villainess. Not the best ever... but I can't really say I object to a sexed-up fertility goddess and her rampaging, green vegina dentatae. (Yes, I really did just make that pun.)

As for me, I can't say enough good things about this drawing. But here are a few... I LOVE IT! My favorite thing is the graceful shape created by Ivy's stance in combination with her arching vines. My second favorite thing Ivy's awesome facial expression (make sure to click on the pic to see the expression up close). My third favorite thing is her creepy, leafy costume.

Now go check out more of Aimee's great work (and catch a peak at her fantastic sculpting and casting of a statue of Ross' Shadoweyes character!!!).

Be back next week for Dazzler by Kaylie McDougal.

Hawkeye by Wayne Wise

Where do I start!?! Okay, so Wayne (ooops, wrong link!) is a multi-talented comics writer, penciler, inker, retailer, novelist, and Xeric award winner (among many other things). Check out his work on Grey Legacy and Chaos Punks!

Now for the sketch!!! Wayne bucked the PB rules slightly and delivered a polished rendering of the Avenging Archer (who, as friends will know, is a favorite of the artist). But can you blame him? It's a classic pinup pose (not that type of pinup!) with a fun spirit and lots of awesome linework.

EDIT! In Wayne's own words:

I did this in about 20 minutes at [Phantom of the Attic] one Tuesday morning. I did a quick, vague pencil sketch and then did most of the details in the inking stage. I used a Pit Pen brush marker and a thin line Staedtler marker.

Be back next week for Poison Ivy by Aimee Cummings.

Supergirl by Scott Hedlund

Scott is the artist behind the webcomics Chaos Punks and World of Orenda, as well as many other awesome projects.

My favorite thing about this sketch, similar to last week, is that it's composed almost completely out of iconography. Specifically, I mean that there's nothing in this image explicitly stating it's Supergirl soaring above Earth, ready to fight an invading alien armada. But Scott's bare iconic elements successfully communicate the message to me in a flash!

Be back next week for Hawkeye by Wayne Wise.

Hulk by Dan Greenwald

In the artist's own splendorous words:

"If you want to mention that I did my piece on my iPod Touch with Sketchbook Pro & put up links to Blue Wraith and Comic Book Pitt, that would be cool. You can just write it however you want, I trust you."

No, Dan. I won't write it. 'Cause you just did it yourself. CHA-CHING!

Be back next week for Supergirl by Scott Hedlund.

Danger Mouse by Alyssa Ference

Everyone out there familiar with Danger Mouse? It was a 1980s animated series by Cosgrove Hall Films that featured the title character and his assistant, Penfold, as Britain's premier secret agents. I used to love the cartoon and its spin off, Count Duckula, so I understand why Alyssa would want to draw DM for PB!

Alyssa is an awesome artist in several different forms of media, not limited to but including: sculpture, music, illustration, cooking, metalworking, and probably a million other things I'm forgetting right now. Maybe next time I'll talk her into doing a Baron Silas Greenback metal sculpture with some lumpy green frosting. MMMMMM!

Be back next week for Hulk by Dan Greenwald.

Captain America by Pete Borrebach

Happy Fourth of July from Steve Rogers and the American Egg Board.

Be back next week for Danger Mouse by Alyssa Ference.

• The Top 9 Best Black Panther Tales, pt 1 and pt 2
• Culturology #56 - Talking About Comics That You've Probably Already Read and Don't Really Want to Read About
• Armor Wars II Was...
• AudioShocker Podcast #56
• Bendis, Next Men, and Hair

A little behind-the-scenes taste! From artist Shawn Atkins, for the upcoming Time Log webcomic (launching here on August 5th, 2010).

Sleepwalker by Ross Campbell

Ross was one of the first people I approached about Project Basement (and by approached, I mean I bounced the original incoherent ideas for PB off of him at some point during one of our recording sessions). My inspiration for the entire project was partial born out of his Storm sketch he did in response to being badgered by Neal to draw his own version of the character for my weekly Hyper Combo Wallpaper feature.

But as the time drew near for Ross to actually draw something for the Basement, I knew what he was going to do: Sleepwalker. The guy's frickin' cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs when it comes to the drowsy Rick Sheridan and his alien friend from the Mindscape dimension. Don't believe me? Check out the recent Back Issue Binge #3, where Ross displays his passion.

Two more things: 1. Not sure if I said this before... all the sketches from Project Basement will eventually be collected into an awesome zine/ashcan sometime around late August, and a splendorous colored version of this Sleepwalker sketch will be seen on the front or back cover; and 2. Make sure to visit Shadoweyes.net and buy Ross' new superhero graphic novel when it hits stores within the next few weeks!

Be back on Sunday, July 4th for a very patriotic Pete Borrebach and his Captain America sketch!

Misty Knight by Justique Woolridge

When I came up with the idea for Project Basement (which was named, if I'm not mistaken, by next week's contributor), I knew that I wanted to feature work from all kinds of artists. And though Justique isn't often an illustrator -- she's more of a painter when it comes to visual arts -- her sketch does exactly what I was hoping all the PB pieces would do: it captures a personal essence that exposes what the character means to the artist.

If I may be so bold as to interpret what I feel this personal essence to be: in Justique's Misty sketch I see elegance, poise, strength, and a touch of the unusual. Misty is often distinguished by her large afro, and Justique pulls no punches in that regard. But what follows is a hybrid character study / fashion design sketch that shows Misty as a fashionista, cyborg, and overall classy lady.

Now be back next Sunday to see Sleepwalker by Ross Campbell.

Banshee by Nick Marino

What's weird to me is that I was trying to draw Havok. He was just meh. I tried to draw She-Hulk. Even more meh. I tried Storm. Super meh. And then I got frustrated, so I just started doodling Banshee and BLAAA-DOW! He came out fully formed.

If you dig this doodle, you can check out my weekly webcomic, Super Haters. You can peep more of my sketches at NickMarino.net. You can buy a digital copy of my new comic book, Time Log. And you can sneak a peak at one of my upcoming projects, Pepper Jones: Adventure Scientist.

Catch us next Sunday for some Misty Knight by Justique Woolridge.

Superman by Marcel Walker

In Marcel's own words:

Completed in 12 minutes and some-odd seconds. I even drew it in a notebook, just to maintain the spirit of this event.

I briefly (BRIEFLY) considered drawing someone other than Superman... but realized that would just be a sham. I also realized while I was drawing my own All-Star-Ultimate Superman that my version is composed of equal parts Curt Swan, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Christopher Reeve, and Fleischer Studios cartoons. (And you know, even a little Frank Quitely, even if just in my mind.)

Now go become a fan of Marcel's M.L.Walker's HERO CORP. on Facebook.

Be back next Sunday for a bangin' Banshee by... me!

ACK! is webcomic about two side characters from the epic Mahabharata - set in Jersey. The art is a dead ringer for the classic Amar Chitra Katha books that I grew up with - but don't get it twisted, the  the story is more Bill & Ted than Ram & Laksman. As noted on SM, the comic is only a couple weeks in, but the strip offers infinite possibility. It definitely has Axe Cop potential.

I've bagged on ACK Media and others (the publisher of the original ACK comics)  in the past - for not finding a way to modernize their catalog or appeal to the current crop of diasporized Indians. Obviously, ACK! is not the family friendly panacea- but it is a great example of adapting nostalgia to modern tastes and pop culture refs like Jersey Shore. It is similar to what Adult Swim / Cartoon Network did with the Hannah-Barbera library. So make sure you tune in next week, I know I will.

In many ways, this is a response to Project: Rooftop, a blog where comic artists reinterpret character designs. While P:R has a foundation of reinvention and polish, PB is focused on raw creative energy and internal interpretation.

We've got a great lineup of artists that will help this feature last for most of the summer. So enough jabberin'... let's get to the art!

Woman Woman by Shawn Atkins

Shawn is a prolific writer/artist, with comics work including Explorers of the Unknown, Gello Apocalypse, Thunder Girl, Time Log, and the upcoming Pepper Jones: Adventure Scientist.

Be back next Sunday for Superman by Marcel Walker!!!

Ed Marino, Justique Woolridge, Steph Wilkerson, Seth Fronzoli, Jon Bush, Wayne Wise, Dan Greenwald, and Scott Hedlund. No matter what you contributed to the process of realizing the final product, it's greatly appreciated.

Now here are some thoughts about the one-shot comic book AND the future Time Log webcomic:

• In some ways, the one-shot came out far better than I imagined it would, and in other ways it didn't live up to everything I wanted it to be. The physical product is slick and pretty. Shawn's pencils are awesome. And the visual jokes work really well. However, some of the dialog-based jokes don't always hit with the punch I intended them to hit with. And I wish I could have colored the comic!
• In particular, I'm disappointed about the comic book's lack of female characters. Pete and I wrote this book at a time when I wasn't as thoughtful or well-balanced as I am now in my storytelling. While I'm not distraught about this, it's definitely something I'd like to change given the opportunity to do everything all over again.
• The Time Log webcomic stands to remedy the distinct lack of women in the story. Actually, even before I was conscious of the one-shot's dearth of female characters, Pete and I had scripted a second issue that introduced our awesome female lead right off the bat.
• For anyone who's unclear on what the webcomic is, it's going to be an all-new continuation of the Time Log epic, picking up directly after the events of the final page of the one-shot. It's actually a webcomic adaptation of issues #2-3 of the Time Log saga.
• The one-shot reads a lot faster than I anticipated. Even despite a few pages of heavy text, the book moves really quickly. That's funny because the events of the one-shot were originally scripted as a three-part mini series.
• After Pete and I ditched the three-part mini idea, we hyper condensed the events of the mini into the one-shot, and then wrote totally a new story for what we intended to be #2-3... which you now know is (somewhat) the same story as the upcoming weekly webcomic.
• I hope everyone who reads Time Log enjoys it. If you have any questions, complaints, or comments, you can email me at nickmarino @ gmail.com. Same goes for anyone interested in reviewing the comic book. And make sure to be back here on August 5th, 2010 for the first webcomic installment!

Of course, I would never ask you to buy my product without taking a taste first... that's why you can try before you buy.

If you prefer killing trees, you can always pick yourself up a print copy of Time Log over at the AudioShocker Store (we accept PayPal).

(If you have no idea what the hell I'm talking about, here's the deal: Time Log is my new one-shot comic book about two best buds who go on a time travel adventure into music's shady past. Futurenazis, hijinks, and tons of action ensue)

I also mentioned something about a comic book trivia contest where you can win free AudioShocker Comics (**the crowd roars, applause continues for three whole minutes**). And today I'm going to debut the OFFICIAL rules and tell you more about this excellent test of superpowered trivia acumen!

[A quick aside: this was originally called the "AudioShocker Comic Book Trivia Contest" -- I've changed the name to a slightly more accurate description. Occasionally, a non-comics question rears its head, but, for the most part, the questions all relate back to superheroes in comics, though the occasional movie and TV show makes an appearance.]

RULES FOR "The AudioShocker (Mostly) Superhero Comic Book Trivia Challenge"

1. Answer the first question correctly to win a copy of Time Log! If you get the first question wrong, you still win a dollar off your purchase of Time Log.

2. Answer the second question correctly to win a copy of Time Log AND any one of the following ashcans: Super Haters v1, Super Haters v2, or Zombie Palin. If you get the second question wrong, you still win a dollar off your purchase of any AudioShocker comics ashcan.

3. Answer the third question correctly and win a copy of all four AudioShocker comics! If you answer the third question wrong, you still win two dollars off your purchase of Time Log.

IMPORTANT: After answering the first question correctly, if you go for the second question and answer it incorrectly, you DO NOT win the prize from the first question. The same applies to the second and third questions.

ALSO: All questions must be answered in person and solely by the individual taking the challenge. If anyone answers the question for the individual or gives a hint during the questioning, the questioning must start again from number #1 and all winnings are reset. Furthermore, all three questions must be answered at the same time, in a row, without any research being performed before delivering an answer. Due to the nature of the prizes, this contest is not for children. Limit one trivia challenge attempt per person per convention.

QUESTION CATEGORIES

EASY: Aquaman, Dynamo 5

MEDIUM: Black Panther, Captain America, Professor X, Storm, Superman, TMNT, War Machine

HARD: Catwoman, Wolverine

WILD CARD: Y the Last Man

That's it! A bit strict for a casual contest, but I'm just covering my bases. So come check me out at the Pitt Con and SPACE to test your super-knowledge and win some free comics!!!

The time is now!!! The Time Log one-shot, Zombie Palin edition two ashcan, and the Super Haters ashcans are here!

You can pick up these bad boys at the Pittsburgh Comicon or SPACE in Columbus next weekend (yes, the same weekend). And more show announcements are coming soon.

But, even before the shows hit, you'll be able to order your copies of these beauties right here on the AudioShocker site, along with kick ass shirts as well. Just check back by Monday to see the brand new AudioShocker Store!!!

EDIT: The AudioShocker Store has arrived!!! Feed its insatiable hunger with your hard earned dollars!

First off, lemme say that both Kyle and Chad raise great points. I agree with both of them in many respects, and that's why I'm writing this -- to propose a more balanced point of view, while, at the same time, calling out both of them for falling into something I'm going to dub the "false cult of comics creation."

Let me explain this "cult" concept I'm introducing: basically, it stands for the idea that shared-universe comic creator auteurs at Marvel and DC can even exist in the first place. I believe this is a false notion. Shared-universe superhero comic books at Marvel and DC simply can't be produced in an auteur fashion. Kyle sort of recognizes this early on in his editorial in relation to film auteurs, but seems to forget it later on while railing against what he feels is an auterial mindset at the Big Two.

The way I see it, fan perception and marketing hype make it SEEM like mainstream superhero comics have auteur creators. Tom Brevoort is just as much a part of Civil War or Death of Captain America as anyone else. How come he's not dubbed an auteur editor? Because it makes financial sense for Marvel to push the notion of Millar and Brubaker as auteurs. It's much sexier to read a comic from the "genius mind of SO-AND-SO" rather than from "the exceptionally synergistic committee of editors, writers, artists, and print production managers."

Superhero comics like Johns' Blackest Night and Millar's Civil War physically cannot be produced in an auteur fashion. There are just too many layers of creation and production in mainstream superhero comics for that to even be a consideration. So while Kyle and Chad are debating the merits of sharing the characters in the superhero sandbox with respect, they're actually failing to see that the collective sandbox is the very thing that's doing the heavy lifting here.

I believe that the auteur image is added later on when it's time to present the story to comic book readers (or, in some cases, the occasional writer actually buys into his or her own auteur image and hypes the project as their creative baby).

It's pretty well known that Civil War was plotted at creative summits (I keep going back to Civil War because Kyle dislikes its disruptive tendencies, and I think it's a good example of Millar's faux auteur image). The story was essentially dreamed up by a large group of editors and writers. Then the visuals were handed off to a team of artists, whose work was reviewed by editors, and then produced for print by a whole other team of pros. The comic itself is a product of the sandbox at large.

Again, I'm not saying that Kyle or Chad completely reject this notion, but rather that their debate is centered upon the largely false idea that auteur creators are alive and well at the Big Two. And that's sort of the problem -- the auteur thing is propagated by fans and critics as well.

Like Kyle says, criticizing the work of an auteur makes criticism easier. But it also over-simplifies the creation process. Here's a quick personal example: I recently finished work on my upcoming comic book, Time Log. I'm a co-writer, an inker, a letterer, a gray-toner, and a printing consultant. Along with me, there's another co-writer, a penciler, and a team of press operators that actually printed the damn thing.

I say all that to say this -- when someone asks me what work I did on the comic, they tend to be confused with my answer. I get follow up questions like, "so you did the art?" or "so you're the writer?" And in my case, the answer is both yes and no. I wrote it collaboratively. I worked on the art along with another artist.

Mainstream superhero comics are even more collaborative than my experience, but it's difficult to always take the time to recognize that as a fan or critic. To acknowledge the work of the many, you have to write more credits and ask more questions, and -- this is what it really comes down to -- place praise or blame on the group instead of the individual.

I used to write weekly comic book reviews, so I know how tough it is to credit everyone. As a reviewer, even though I always mentioned colorists and letterers, I always felt my weakness was that I didn't recognize the production workers or the editorial staff enough. Problem is, it takes time and effort to discuss every step of the process. Just recognizing the work of one or two perceived auteurs is so much easier.

To bring it all back home, my point it this: Chad and Kyle present interesting and informational POVs regarding the concept of superhero comic book auteurs working in modern shared universes. But their respective pieces fail to take into account the fact that these auteurs they're debating don't really exist outside of the realms of marketing, fan perception, and criticism, at least not in any significant way. When the characters, a.k.a. the toys in the sandbox, are left beat up and broken after a particular story, that's the result of collective action -- whether conscious or not -- on the part of a group of writers and editors, not just a couple of genius-level auteur creators.

That's not to say that guys like Millar and Morrison aren't auteurs in their own fashion, because they are when they're working on more independent projects. But there's simply not enough creative room in the mainstream superhero creative process for their kind to be true auteurs in a situation where every decision is being approved on multiple editorial levels and then brought to life by a crew of visual artists. It's a false notion that could easily be dispelled by better marketing, more thorough criticism, and the willingness of fans to recognize true collective effort while ignoring hype.

The panel will be hosted in Carnegie Mellon University's Doherty Hall, Room A310 by the school's comic book club. Neal and I are both former CMUers, so if you need directions, just ask. Here's the Facebook event.

There's gonna be FREE pizza and a chance to win a copy of Scott McCloud's I Am Awesome at Telling You How to Make Comics Making Comics.

While I am completely unqualified for this panel, my fellow discussers -- Dan Greenwald, Scott Hedlund, Shawn Atkins, and Seth Fronzoli -- have far more experience and talent than I do, so at least come listen to them do their thing.

Dan and Scott, as you may already know, are from the Comic Book Pitt podcast, while Shawn is the artist of Time Log as well as many other excellent comics, often co-creating with Seth Fronzoli.

Be there or be square, BAAABY! Here's the promo flyer I made for the event:

Time Log #1 will be ready in time for the Pittsburgh Comicon and SPACE, where I'll be setting up tables (yes, I know they're on the same weekend). If you like what you see here, then keep it locked on my site where I'll continue to post more sneak peaks as the pages progress.