Ross Campbell is afraid that his comics career might be drowned in evil just like Wet Moon 4, while Nick thinks that Ross should reinvigorate the franchise with Ultimate Wet Moon (though Ross would prefer a more classic Wet Moon 2099 revamp instead). Then, after the end theme, Ross shares his feelings on Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (and we promise it ain’t pretty).
Tag Archive for 'dc comics'
9. Man-Thing. Aside from the obvious ridicule I’d endure from my friends for chilling with someone named Man-Thing, I don’t feel like “burning at the touch” of a weird swamp monster who can’t hold a conversation.
8. Luke Cage. Power Man used to be awesome but now he’s all into conspiracy theories and hiding out from “the man.” Hanging out with Cage nowadays means putting on disguises to buy hot dogs and running underground to eat them in a deserted subway tunnel.
7. Green Arrow. Aside from being obnoxious and preachy, Ollie Queen would be extreme rude to any attractive women in his vicinity. Then he’d insist on playing darts for money until I’m broke. Not my idea of fun.
6. Dr. Strange. Seemingly fresh at first, cute sayings like “by the hoary hordes of Haggoth!” would get really old really fast. I would end up telling Stephen Strange that his “hoary whore mouth of Haggoth better shut the fuck up!” before I put my foot in it.
5. Hawkgirl. Along with being uneasy about her wings and the giant mace, I wouldn’t be able to take her seriously in that bird mask. Then, if I asked her to take it off, Kendra would probably give me a line about how it’s her proud warrior garb and my request insults her.
4. Hank Pym. Something is bound to go wrong. If he’s not losing his mind and pretending to be a different bug, then he’s slapping his wife around or getting abducted by aliens. It’s not his fault he’s a writers’ punching bag, but that doesn’t mean I want to hang out with him.
3. Emma Frost. Seriously, what a bitch. The White Queen has the worst attitude in the entire Marvel Universe. She would whine about everything. The pizza’s not hot enough, the restaurant is too dirty, her ludicrous costume is riding up her crack, etc.
2. Havok. Alex Summers will ditch me halfway through our night to tell some woman he just met that he’s deeply in love with her and can’t live without her. He’ll stick me with the bill and run off to the southwest United States, where I won’t hear from him again for years. At least, that’s what he always does to the X-Men.
1. Cyclops. What’s worse than getting ditched by Alex Summers? Chilling with his brother Scott as he rants about “how hard it is to live life when I can’t relax for one moment because the smallest slip could result in my ruby quartz glasses falling off, causing my eyes to release powerful blasts of cosmic energy that could harm the people I love!”
Next: The Top 9 Supervillains I DO Want to Hang Out With
Why the Top 9? Because 10 is too many and 9 is better. 3 X 3 = Awesome. Now that’s what I call math.
Ahh, yes. The time has arrived. I’ve foreshadowed this particular column since the beginning of this series, and now the story is here: my second interview with DC Comics a.k.a. the one that got away.
As you may already know, I first tried out for the part of DC Comics editorial assistant, and my last audition was for MAD Magazine receptionist. But this second interview was for a spot with the DC Comics pre-press production team, something I was actually qualified for.
Basically, the job consisted of collecting artwork from artists, making copies of said artwork, spreading the copies around to editorial, and getting the finalized art ready for print. This was by far the best opportunity I’ve been up for in the comics industry, and I’m proud to say that I didn’t royally fuck it up.
Since I had already interviewed once before with DC, I knew where to go and pretty much what to expect. I also had some college-level training with digital imaging so I was confident in my abilities to successful take on a pre-press position.
I met with one of the guys in charge of the print production efforts at DC. Honestly, mistake number one is that I forget this guy’s name! (I should try and dig up his business card.) Anyway, he was a great person to interview with. No excessive pressure and he maintained a comfortable, conversational tone the whole time.
I probably spent more time talking about my personal life than my employment qualifications. In retrospect, that’s what I think my interviewer wanted — someone who could fit in with the print production atmosphere that was already established at DC Comics. As I’ve learned in subsequent interviews, landing a job is often more about present attitude than previous accomplishments.
While I certainly wouldn’t say I nailed it, I know that I had a decent interview. But I didn’t leave a lasting impression. The decision was down between another applicant and your truly. Obviously, the other individual won out.
Why? Because I didn’t bring any schwag to my interview, because I didn’t tell them exactly what they wanted to hear, because I didn’t heavily research the responsibilities of the position, and because I didn’t play up my interests that would have really sold me as the right guy for the department. I didn’t do anything wrong, but I didn’t do EVERYTHING right.
And that’s just another reason why I’m going to have to sneak into the comic book industry if I ever want to make it in.
[We postpone our regular installment of Sneaking Into Comics to bring you this special vision of the future courtesy of our incredible AudioShocker time machine. Okay, okay, we don't actually have a time machine. I'm pretty much just pulling this out of my ass based on a bit of educated guessing.]
You’re probably thinking, “How the fuck do you know what DC Comics is going to do? Your only contact with DC consisted of three failed interviews! You’re full of shit.”
But it’s a pretty simple prediction to make. Neil Gaiman said it himself. Check out this snippet of his interview with MTV’s painfully shameless Splashpage blog:
“[DC Comics] phoned me up and said… ‘Would you like to write the last issue of Batman and the last issue of Detective Comics?’ And when they make an offer like that, you say yes.”
So there you have it. Neil Gaiman closes out Detective Comics and Batman with his “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader” story. This is an especially easy future prediction considering that DC Comics just announced Robin, Nightwing, and Birds of Prey are all getting canceled in February.
So when Batman and Detective Comics get the axe in 2009 (or at least relaunched with new #1 issues), remember that the AudioShocker officially predicted it first.
I’ve been trying to tell everyone about this for a few weeks. Now I’ve decided to go on record with this futuristic Batman vision in light of the three supporting series getting the boot. However, let it be known that my future predicitons may be a bit far fetched.
So now that we’ve established this, the real question is: are you going to read Batman and Detective Comics if (let’s really be honest here: WHEN) they get relaunched?
Tom Scioli, Pat Lewis, Ed Piskor, Jason Lex, Jim Rugg, and Chris Moeller talk about their published comics and upcoming projects. Phantom of the Attic customers weigh in what’s hot in comic books while they reveal shocking personal moments. Technical difficulties (a.k.a. I forgot to hit record) meant we missed some choice moments (sorry Mel, I wanted people to know about dirty balloon animals for adults too!).
Recently, I told you how a bunch of inappropriate emails and a voicemail from Tom DeFalco led me to an opportunity with Cracked.com. If you read those columns, you may remember that I was on the phone with DC Comics when I missed Tom’s phone call. To be exact, I was speaking with Warner Bros human resources to set up an interview for the job of MAD Magazine front desk receptionist.
To say this was my most demeaning DC Comics interview would be an overstatement. My first interview experience with Joey Cavalieri and Joan Hilty was far more soul crushing. Not because of my interviewers — they were great. Rather, the interview made me realize how savagely unqualified I was for the job.
Though not as bad as my first time at DC Comics, this interview with MAD was still pretty fucking bad. As if to prove that I learned nothing from my earlier shot at assistant editorial, I failed to research my MAD Magazine interviewer. Only being a casual reader of the magazine, I failed to even research MAD’s publication history.
I was on the phone with the human resources department at DC Comics when I missed a call from Tom DeFalco.
It was early 2005. I had been emailing humormag@yahoo.com for a couple weeks after finding a vague posting on Monster.com calling for humor submissions. I suggest you check out those emails (a.k.a. my wildly inappropriate attempts at employment), and then come back and finish this story.
In some sort of twisted way that I’ll never understand, the emails worked. The voicemail Tom left started something like this: “Nick, this is Tom DeFalco. How the hell am I supposed to hire you if you don’t pick up your phone?”
Incase you don’t know or need a quick refresher, Tom DeFalco is a seasoned comic book creator who served as Marvel Comics’ Editor-in-Chief during the wildly successful years of 1987-1994. Tom currently writes Amazing Spider-Girl and other MC2 comics.
When I started sending my bizarre emails, I had no idea I had no idea that I’d be getting a personal call from a living comics legend. All I had to go on was an incredibly cryptic job posting for a new magazine.
Continue reading ‘Sneaking Into Comics 005 - Tom DeFalco + Inappropriate Emails = Cracked.com’
It was the summer of 2004. I was a recent college grad constantly searching for work. I found a job listing for “Assistant Editor at DC Comics” on the Warner Bros employment website and I somehow managed to get my resume over to the right human resources people at Time Warner.
I’m not exactly sure who helped push my status along to help me land the interview. It could have been the DC editor that I had been communicating with via email. It could have been my dad’s friend who worked for Time Warner and passed along my resume. It could have even been Neal (of the AudioShocker), who interviewed with Warner Bros around that time and possibly mentioned my name to HR.
I was up for the position of Assistant Editor to Joey Cavalieri and Joan Hilty, both in working in the DCU proper at the time (Joan was also running the Johnny DC imprint). The physical application process with Warner Bros was daunting, akin to taking a standardized test. I had to dig so far back into my own personal history that I actually couldn’t remember some of the addresses, phone numbers, and names that they wanted to see.
Afterwards, Warner Bros HR sent me over to the DC Comics offices, part of a large building nestled into the upper edge of Times Square in New York City. I can’t speak for how they look nowadays, but the interior hallways were covered in giant paintings of DCU heroes with huge smiles on their faces. It was both awesome and unsettling at the same time.
Ross Campbell is back for the second half of a super long interview about his comics work and more. In this episode, Ross talks about his upcoming Wet Moon 4 graphic novel as well as a secret Vertigo project from DC Comics. Also make sure to check out the first half of this interview in Podcast Episode 045, and listen to last year’s interview with Ross in Podcast Episode 012.
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