Mock Man Press

The other day I had drinks with four people I used to play D&D with, and the question of “When’s the next campaign?” came up. I’m always eager to play tabletop roleplaying games, but I have to admit I’m excited to give D&D5e a shot (I also briefly played the playtest version back in 2012-2013, after all). The new Player’s Handbook and Monster Manual are pricey, but really nice; the art is very good in a painterly illustrative way; and although I’ll always like some of the complexities of 3rd edition, I think the new edition does a good job simplifying the game enough for people who “just want to get started playing” while leaving some flexibility and customization for those who want it. (I know they made Feats optional in this edition, but I’d NEVER play without them. NEVER. -_- )

Anyway, I’m super excited about DMing something, so maybe I’ll give those four friends an email and see if they’re as into it in the bright light of day as they were in the darkness of Smuggler’s Cove, San Francisco’s possibly-premier tiki bar. Could this be my chance to finally run a Mesopotamian-theme Bronze Age fantasy game? Or perhaps the pirate game I’ve always dreamed of? Of course it’s not like I don’t have a zillion other things to do, particularly with the new house still a mess of unopened boxes, so who knows when I’ll find the time. But possibilities, possibilities…

NEXT UPDATE: Wednesday!

Our biggest domestic problem right now is our Comcast internet, which is terrible. I never realized how lucky I was in Seattle to get decent Internet service, unlike here in San Francisco where I was waiting and twiddling my thumbs waiting for the page to load just to get to this screen. Worst of all, even though our Comcast service came with HBO…. WE CAN’T EVEN GET FAST ENOUGH INTERNET TO WATCH GAME OF THRONES!! Let alone “True Detective” with all those Thomas Ligotti references/rip-offs that I’ve heard so much about it! It’s truly a pain. I hope it’s able to let me upload today’s page without leaving me hanging for ten minutes. (In other words: First World Problems)

In other news:
* I’m super honored that io9 included “The Stiff” among their list of Horror Webcomics to Terrify You This Halloween! Go check out the whole list, there’s a ton of amazing and disturbing stories in all sorts of different styles.
* I have a new strip up at Wizards of the Coast, the next in my dragon series, showcasing the Blue Dragon! No, not the one from the Akira Toriyama videogame and pervy Takeshi Obata manga.

NEXT UPDATE: Wednesday!

This is not directly inspired by any particular incident that happened to me in high school, but I did see these anti-abortion trucks driving around San Francisco, much later, protesting a medical convention.

NEXT UPDATE: Wednesday!

One of my favorite manga, the martial arts/psychic powers/vampires/Occidentalist action-adventure epic Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, has been newly released in the States by Viz. For those who haven’t read its Wikipedia entry, it has a complicated publication history — Viz published the middle portion of the story in the 2000s and I was the editor — but now, thanks for the recent television anime, they’re finally releasing the very first part in all its glory. I’m happy to see it in English, particularly since the early parts of the story were so long deemed unpublishable thanks to its outdated hyper-masculine art style, its over-earnest storyline and its long buildup: it’s not until about 200 pages have passed that we finally see some Victorian-Era vampire action!

For all its flaws, I love it, though. With a relatively expensive release price of $10.99 per digital volume combined with its “totally ’80s” style that invites modern readers to read it ironically, it fits the description that a friend gave it, as a “hipster manga”. But it’s a truly weird and unique mashup of influences, the art improves dramatically as it goes on, and it’s unbelievable that Hirohiko Araki, the creator, was able to craft this multigenerational beat-’em-up epic (it spans the 1880s to the present!) which has run more or less nonstop for nearly 30 years now in Japan. I do wish the Viz edition had a better English rewrite: sure, it’s one thing that the classic vampire line “The blood is the life!” is translated back from the Japanese as the blah “Blood is life!”, but it’s hard to convince anyone not to laugh at it when characters say things like “Your agitation and hatred are abnormal!” Still, for imaginative gore and madness and a completely strange manga take on Victorian Britain (by way of “Fist of the North Star”), it’s amazing. I hope they continue to release the rest of the series.

NEXT UPDATE: Wednesday!

One of my favorite B&W illustrators, Jason Eckhardt, is working on a new project that I’m really excited about: Some Notes on a Nonentity, a biographical graphic novel about H.P. Lovecraft, cowritten with Lovecraft expert Sam Gafford. I’ve seen some art from this upcoming book, and I’m really excited about it: I can’t think of anyone better qualified to write & draw an illustrated biography of HPL, and I can’t wait to see the whole thing. Check it out!

NEXT UPDATE: Wednesday!