Nibfib: Re-Revenging This Fall!!

I've been working on some posters. I love doing this. I have the best time cobbling images together pretending I have some kind of design sense but honestly not quite as much fun as I have playing music. So this is doubly cool. NBFB will be performing at the all-new Amherst Brewing Company on Wednesday October 23rd, the night before thanksgiving. Its gonna be a good time. Ill probably make a couple more posters in the mean time. Make sure you got new laces in your funk boots.

Digital Distribution

I've discovered something useful on the internet. That doesn't happen every day. As a recovering comicbook collector (now reformed and self-labeled "reader") every day in modern pop culture can be a battle. For users, its harder and harder these days to find a reliable dealer. True comic book stores are hard to come by these days. And the fact is that its an expensive habit. Keeping up with your favorite heroes (or anti-heroes for that matter) is daunting task in an era where the death of Peter Parker in the Ultimate universe mirrors the continued existence of Spider-Man in original form. The newest Spider Hero is a multicultural icon, half black and half Puerto Rican. But it can leave you needing an advance on your student loans to grab all 5 books in the original Marvel Universe as well as the Ultimate Universe. I don't even wanna get started with the X-Men. The current storyline is one I've been waiting for since I was 12 reading collected trade paper backs from the Golden era of X-Men tales (Chris Claremont, credited for more than 200 issues of Uncanny and setting the general tone of X-Men up to and including the box office-shattering movies, was the best writing influence on comics through the 80's and into the 90's). SCHISM pits the ideals and leadership qualities of the Cylcops against Wolverine for the direction and strategies of the team into the forseeable future.

Anyways, I don't have the money to buy all these books. I'm saving up to possibly get into a mortgage and the general pace of life leaves little room (physical, to store in my house, and conceptually, for my gf to understand) for the amount of comics I would like to buy every week... So They found a better way.

I've been reading tons of free selections from Marvel's On-Line distribution library and discovered that for access to the entire 15,000+ library I need only pony up 5.99 a month. Marvel's even all caught up with iPhone/Pad apps for anytime/anywhere consumption. Dark Horse Comics' On-line distribution setup similarly awesome. Most books are 1.99 but they sell bundles of complete storyarcs mostly for 4 or 5.99. Since Dark Horse's bread and butter is licensing, the flagship titles most notably being the entire line of Star Wars comics, it goes without saying that there is a ton of material there that I would never go searching for in stores. The online services are changing all that.

I encourage people to check out these libraries. There is so much awesome stuff to look for. If you just wanna go searching for X-Men storyarcs from the 80's (Phoenix Saga), 90's (X-Tinction Agenda, Age of Apocalypse) or straight Wolverine gigs (First Class, etc) you can stick with that. But like I said, Marvel offers a monthly or full year subscription service and its just letting me devour stuff I otherwise wouldn't have the time, money, or honestly general motivation to go after.

Its worth searching the Android or Apple App stores for other comic distro services. They are out there. And in the same way that the internet gave rise to hordes of musicians gaining access to world-class distribution network over night, comic book creators have also established a niche. Yeah, there is plenty of shlock to wade through but there is tons of good free stuff out there...and in the event you discover something truly awesome you can buy, subscribe and support in other ways directly to artists without getting that nerd-stench of old french fries and mom-basement that hangs in the air at your local establishments- assuming there still is a comic book store within 30 miles of where you live.

So take some inpiration from that, and then take an afternoon off and get a hold of 5-10 X-Men issues or Hellboy or Buffy comics or whatever floats your boat. You'll be way glad you did. In the mean time I'm gonna keep scheming on how to go about creating a retail outlet for pop and comic book art that doesn't strictly attract magic card and miniature game-players. This shit is still cool. In many ways now more than ever. Just check box office returns. Comic books are not leaving. They're just evolving..

Visit Dark Horse online....https://digital.darkhorse.com/
Visit Marvel online....http://marvel.com/digital_comics

If Ya Don't Know, Now Ya Know

Supe's new suit. Its causing a bit of a stir on those new-fangled internets. Mostly because of the lack of red 'Underoo' section about the loin-al area. I think the update is pretty unobtrusive and really just adds some body streaming detail that works. Probably in motion and under actual studio lighting rather than this daylight cell-camera shot these details will be less noticeable. This is Henry Cavill, by the way. Best known for his turns in The Tudors and Stardust. He certainly has the Man of Steel look down. With Zak Snyder helming the project and David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight) both receiving story credits my faith in this take on Superman is strong. The cast is myriad and all-star, featuring Amy Adams (The Fighter) as Lois Lane, Russel Crowe as Jor-El and Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as The Kents. Morpheus all co-stars. I don't see anything not to be excited about. In fact, the writing crew in place to fuel Zak Snyder's often dazzling and sometimes overzealous vision may be what he needs to be full on cannonized. Films like The 300 and Watchmen seem to split the fanbase on his understanding of the graphic novel adaptation. But I just can't see any holes in this production team Bryan Singer's name is noticeably nowhere near the top of the credits, production or otherwise. I was under the impression he would be somewhat more intimately associated with this project. I'd rather see him stay focused on the direction of the X-Men franchise anyways, as his deviation from that series to direct 'Superman Returns' was probably one of the worst missteps Fox took concerning the world's favorite group of outcast mutants.

Oh and don't worry. Several other leaked photos show the red cape in all its glory. My reactionary theory on the absence of cape in some shots is that perhaps they are adding it digitally to control the look in flight or action sequences. This flick won't be flying in until Summer 2013 so there will be plenty of superhero glory or misques to dissect before then. Still wicked stoked for Avengers directed by ubergeek creator and occasional director Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse....pretty sick track record).