Crime Puppy is I guess set in England? I don’t know, you want plot, ask a writer!

Guys I don’t want to get anyone too excited, but I think Lead Paint might be going to 3-times-a-week updates in the next week or so. That means comics every Monday, Weds. and Fri. Details and dates to come when we have them.

<3 Mike

“Viva Las Vegas” –The Dead Kennedys

Always fun to keep it real with the kids.

Saw the Avengers this weekend. It was pretty good! Flagrant action-porn, but as far as those things go it was some of the best I’ve seen in a long time. Definitely 10 or 11 moments where I was squeezing my girlfriend’s leg and just losing my shit at what was going on. Lots and lots has been written about this movie already, so I’ll try and cover some some stuff that I feel like has gone unmentioned so far:

• Black Widow/ScarJo was not terrible! She had a handful of impressive scenes and for the most part seemed like just one of the guys, i.e. not just a sexist eye-candy tack-on. I mean don’t get me wrong, there was still some ScarJo-plotation where they’re showing off her hotness and the whatnot, but beyond that she really didn’t fall into the standard lady-in-a-superhero-movie crap trap (or at least minimally anyway). No whining, no damsel in distress torture, no romantic subplots, no convincing men to be heroes through the power of love. It was nice! She was actually kind of a badass, which was cool. Had some of my favorite bad guy kills in the movie actually.
• Loki had great dialogue. There was really only one cornball scene I can think of off the top of my head, everything else was just psychotic and venomous and awesome. He has this whole suave prince-of-darkness thing going on that makes this really great juxtaposition with how crazy and evil and murderous he is. Definitely super-interesting, and the actor who plays him does a killer job of delivering his lines with a painful and desperate and crazy, gritting sincerity. I loved almost every scene he was in. Had some good moments with all the characters, but especially Thor, Iron Man and Black Widow.
• The after-credits reveal is wet-your-pants amazing if you’re really into comics.

<3 Mike

“Get Rhythm (Alternate Take)” — Johnny Cash

Looks like someone can finally scratch “get a few thousand people to read a comic about an old man masturbating at hockey players” off his bucket list. Next up? The reverse scenario.

This weekend was MOCCA! I’d love to tell you all about it, but I’m writing this post way in the past, Weds. if you’re curious, assuming that on Sunday I was going to be more of a melted, exhausted pile of sleep than usual. Sorry! I’ll write you all about it soon, I promise. Right now though, Wednesday Mike is so excited!

It doesn’t even seem real that I’m going to be exhibiting at a comic convention in a few days. I was explaining to Dana the other day how happy I am about it, and the best way I could frame it was that it feels like being a kid on Christmas Eve again. It’s that flooding, hyperactive joy at the anticipated fun-explosion of the next morning.

I can’t remember the last time I was ever this happy. Thank you everyone for reading and following our work. Your donations and site traffic have paid for our exhibit, your kind comments and emotional support have pushed us along and given us the courage to show our work in a larger setting. You’ve given us a wonderful gift, at least a portion of which we’ll try not to squander on butt jokes and self-indulgent rantings about how the postal service is controlling us all via microchips planted in our sex toys.

<3 Mike

Song for the week: “The First Day of Autumn” — Screeching Weasel

Booth H18. See you there!

<3 Mike

Gosh, another comic about politics? How fancy!

More of our politic-y comics can be found here, here, and here.

Also don’t forget we’ll be at the MOCCA comic show in NYC next week! If you’re in the area, come by and say hi. We can talk about comics, Dana’s rabbits or how I played so much Mass Effect this weekend I want to barf*.

<3 Mike

*barf the barfs of joy and delight

Song for the week: “I’m dying tomorrow” –Alkaline Trio

Haters gonna hate, but they’re also going to miss out on some good decapitating TV.

Guys don’t forget if you’re in the NYC area, we’re going to be at the MOCCA comic convention on the 28th and 29th. Click here for the full news post.

Now with that out of the way, looks like it’s time for another …

Books I am reading and have thoughts about:

Saga: The second issue came out this week, and it was a lot better than the first. The plot is adding layers and getting less cliche in a real nice way, mostly through bonkers-ass monsters and fun magic crap (this is the best way for anything to be interesting, fyi). So, much more interesting than the first issue, which I thought was kind of dull.

Avengers vs. X-men: Spent a hilarious 4 dollars on the first issue (btw jesus christ Marvel what gives?), could not have been more bored. Lots of unnecessary talking and lackluster action, plus the overall plot is pretty bleh (The Phoenix Force is coming back and people are happy/mad about that). If you want good guy vs. good guy battles that isn’t the most boring thing ever,  just re-read Civil War!. That had some awesome fights in it, plus kind of a different plot.

Batman: Batman proper (so not the “Detective Comics” series, which I’m currently not reading) is still really great! Some of the best Batman I’ve read in years. Also, a new villain that’s actually pretty awesome, which is always exciting in these series that lean so heavily on legacy villains for their plots.

IDW’s Dungeons and Dragons Ongoing: This was on sale this week for like 99 cents a book on ComiXology. I bought a whole bunch, and they’re not too bad! I mean they’re not like Preacher or even the Walking Dead, but if you like D&D, they’re kind of fun. I’m like 6 issues in and the plot is starting to get confusing, which is always a huge aggravation and pet peeve of mine, but there are some cool moments and the art is pretty solid.

<3 Mike

Song for this week: “I’ll stop the rain” –  Screeching Weasel

Dana and I are both foaming-at-the-mouth excited to finally meet some of our fans face-to-face and talk in a way that isn’t mediated by 8,000 miles of internet. Plus, we’re going to be selling a lot of neat stuff, such as:

Buttons!

Exclusive, classy-ass prints!

A “best of” book!

Sad stories about Mike’s childhood!

We hope to see some of you there! Booth numbers haven’t been announced yet, but we’ll let you all know as soon as we get it.

<3 and many thanks,

Mike

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!

Lead Paint will be exhibiting at this year’s MOCCA Fest, April 28th and 29th! If you’re not familiar, MOCCA is one of the biggest indie comics shows in NYC, located at 69th Regiment Armory and 68 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. I’d say it’s a show of about 125-150 cartoonists? Most of the big indie publishers like Fantagraphics and (I believe) Slave Labor Graphics are there, plus a bunch of superstar talent like Meredith Gran, Shannon Wheeler and Evan Dahm! It’s a fun time, you should definitely come say hi!

Dana and I are both foaming-at-the-mouth excited to finally meet some of our fans face-to-face and talk in a way that isn’t mediated by 8,000 miles of internet. Plus, we’re going to be selling a lot of neat stuff, such as:

Buttons!

Exclusive, classy-ass prints!

A “best of” book!

Sad stories about Mike’s childhood!

We hope to see some of you there! Booth numbers haven’t been announced yet, but we’ll let you all know as soon as we get it.

<3 and many thanks,

Mike

Song for the week: “Where is My Mind” — Maxence Cyrin

Happy April everyone! I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Mine was spent writing, eating and watching Avengers cartoons on Netflix, so pretty good overall.

<3 Mike

Song for this week: “No Reason” Sum41

Wondering where all these dogs came from? Check out the previous comic! Also, this isn’t the first time Modok and She-Hulk have met.

For the last few weeks I’ve been reading The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents. It’s pretty great! Each chapter is like a minor biography on each president. Besides the major events of their presidency, it covers all kinds of great personal trivia like what they were like as kids, what they did for fun, early romances, religion, how they died, all that tasty humanizing stuff.

Main thing I’ve learned so far? The presidents had pretty sad lives (at least so far, I’m only up to Taft). After Washington and Adams, I thought it would have been all caviar and champagne fights, but nope! Just dead children, terminally ill wives and mental collapse! So many presidents had their kids die in infancy and adolescence, it would be easier to count the ones who lived to maturity then recount those who actually died.

Also, a lot of the presidents were real serious, melancholic guys, especially when they got older. Grover Cleveland’s last words before he kicked? “I have tried so hard to do right.” And that’s dying a natural death, as a successful, well-liked two-term president. Is that not the saddest, most fascinating shit ever?

I’m thinking that when I finish the book, I’m going to write a big comic about all the presidents. I think it could be pretty cool!

<3 Mike

Song for this week: “Hungry like the Wolf” by Reel Big Fish