Yay The Olympics Are Over

I was at a friend’s house the other day and they had the Olympics on their TV. As a child I hated the Olymipcs because it interrupted the programs I actually wanted to watch. Quantum Leap for example. While I was in Alaska we ate dinner in a bar one night and playing on the big screen was the opening ceremonies and they were amazing. Fake, CGI special effects and all. I missed some of it so I can’t wait for it to hit the internet so I can re-watch it. Thinking that perhaps my pallet for Olympic sports had changed I watched what was playing on my friend’s TV for a few minutes.

It was the end of a 26 mile marathon. The very first runners were just entering the stadium, the guy in the lead clearly about to win by a mile. In fact it was a full minute before anyone entered the stadium behind him. And as I’m watching this guy trot around the track, the only sound coming from the TV is the roar of the crowds. But in my head all I can hear are his little running shoes hitting the slightly squishy surface of the track -clop clop clop clop clop clop clop.

For two entire minutes. Clop clop clop clop clop.

And then I desided that the Olympics really were as mind numbingly boring as I thought they were, but boy, China sure put on a great show.

I also though all the China-bashing was silly. Not that China doesn’t do some bad things. Find me a major industrial nation that doesn’t. Imagine if the Olympics had been held in America! “Well, Bob, the Americans still set the standard in terms of conspicuous consumption, energy use, and heart disease. Should we talk about their Federal Government’s total failure in responding to Hurricane Katrina or their unprovoked invasion of Iraq, solely for the purpose of spreading Democracy at the tip of a sword?” “Nah Phil, lets talk about their fucked up immigration laws and how their economy can’t function without all the illegal Mexicans they claim to want to get rid of.”

See what I mean? It’s easy. I won’t even get into those retarded “heart warming’, (or vomit inducing) stories of triumph over adversity they interrupt the actual games with every five minutes, in a vain effort to get you to connect with athletes you otherwise couldn’t care less about.

Anyway. . .It looks like Atomic Robo really is the “Barack Obama of comic books.” Go place your vote now!

Atomic Robo 2.4 is available for pre-order. call your local shop or get it online. Team Robo recommends Heavy Ink, but use the store that works best for you.

I had one of my charming little anxiety attacks a few days ago when I saw the cover of 2.4 on the internet. Because I’m still drawing that issue, and I’m only about half way done. So basically, I am working 7 days a week until Halloween in order to get 2.4 and 2.5 to the printer on time. Next year there will be no week long family trips, or SDCC. I have learned my lesson.

Anxiety is a strange thing. Being strange is strange too. When I was a kid I had a lot of compulsive issues -counting things, avoiding cracks in the sidewalk, and if I accidentally scuffed the bottom of one sneaker on the ground, I had to scuff the other one on purpose so that they would wear down evenly. I spent a lot of time lying in bed stressing out about the energy consumption of the greater New York Metropolitan area. I was a total Rain Man.

In large part that was why I moved to New Hampshire -to escape my neurosis. If I wasn’t in New York, I didn’t have to think about New York. And going to a small conservative college forced me to really focus on my other issues -because there is nothing conservative America obsesses over quite like the need to be normal.

What “cured” me was smoking. I never gave smoking and being neurotic much thought, beyond the notion that they were both bad. But I was recently reading one of David Sedaris’s books and he mentioned how becoming a smoker really broke him of some rather odd OCD behaviors. And then it made sense to me. There are so many little rituals involved in smoking that they take the place of your all ticks and twitches. Say what you will about the habit, but modern mental health professionals should really consider partnering with Big Tobacco.

Ain’t It Cool News gave Robo a nice review last week. You’ll have to scroll down towards the bottom to find it.

Apparently there is a name for Robo’s design. He is a populuxe, doo-wop, or googie style of robot. though I’m not entirely sold on this, as there is a lot of clunky steampunk in Robo as well. If nothing else, we’ve all got an interesting new Wikipedia page to read.

And finally, last week the question was posed; what’s up with Killer of Demons and Hexbreakers Inc.? Loyal “I Hate Blogs” blog readers, (who just happen to have photographic memories), will recall that Viper Comics was publishing KoD. Well, there was some restructuring over at Viper, and the big gnarly ball of KoD was dropped. So we’ve voided our contract with them and it looks like we will be moving to Image Comics. We haven’t signed anything yet, but we got a very positive email from Stephenson and Kirkman saying it was a done deal. We shall see.

Hexbreakers Inc. just saw print in Popgun Vol.2 as a 6-page short story. I don’t think HBI will every be anything more than a series of short stories. But you never know.

-RANDOM SPLENDOR

-Lighthouses -vs- Waves. I pulled this off of Dark Roasted Blend, one of my favorite websites for internet randomness.

-Imperial Fleet Week.