Caffeinated Dispatches 005

Aug 17, 2024

Hello again! I’m glad to see you’re all still with me, and I see a few new subscribers that I would like to welcome to the newsletter! The past week has been stressful and hectic, but I have finally found a few minutes of quiet to write this out, so let’s get down to it…again. This is the second time I had to write this since the draft didn’t save the first time. Believe it or not, this ended up being much more concise than the first draft, so maybe it was a blessing?

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Comics Everyone!

I’ve been looking for work, looking for daycare, dealing with non-stop appointments, housework, yard work and security upgrades (more on that later,) so I haven’t had a chance to sit down at the drawing board all week. But I was finally able to swing by the comic shop and pick up my pull-list (and then some!)

This week I wanted to try some comics that were unfamiliar to me:

Cruel Universe: I don’t really see a lot of anthologies at the shop, so I was quick to snag this one. I’m really into this EC revival that is going on.
Batman: I haven’t read a Batman comic in years, but I’m seeing now I have been missing out. If Chip Zdarsky’s run gets the omnibus treatment, I may have to make room on my bookshelves.
The Uncanny X-Men: I might be in the minority here, but I didn’t really care for the X-titles over the last few years. I picked up the last couple issues of X-Force, but that was it. I felt the X-Men were more interesting when they were feared and hated by a world that doesn’t understand them than “ooh, another Hellfire Gala!” This issue is a nice return to the status quo.
G.I. Joe: I’m very excited for the new Skybound series coming out this fall, so I figured picking up an issue of the current series would tide me over until then. I’m sure it would have if I had any clue what was going on. This one is a perfect example of every comic being someone’s first. Too much continuity to catch up on to bother buying another issue. I’ll just wait for the Skybound series and get into it from the start.
Hate Revisited!: Every so often I will pick up something with art completely different than what I’ll normally see in comics. I like to buy those issues because I use them as inspiration. It’s nice to know that you can have a career in comics without being a Jim Lee clone. There is room for all styles as long as you can tell a story.
Do A Powerbomb!: I’ve been really getting into the Energon Universe comics, and Daniel Warren Johnson’s work in Transformers has been phenomenal. So when the owner of my comic shop had this graphic novel by DWJ about professional wrestling (another one of my favourite topics) as his recommendation of the week, I didn’t hesitate to pick it up. It’s about loss, parenting, grief and wrestling! I read it all in one evening, and would like to read more of it. I’m noticing that fatherhood seems to be a theme in Johnson’s comics, and maybe because I’m a father again, it’s really resonating with me.
Zdarsky Comic News: I read about this on Chip’s Substack. I love the humour, but it also triggers a little nostalgia for those old comic news newsletters that were printed on newsprint. The comic shops would cram them into bags with every purchase. Usually they went unread into the recycle bin, but there were times they would have a cover that made you stop and read it because “What is Image Comics and who the hell is Spawn?” Anyway, like those old recycle bin fillers, the Zdarsky Comic News is free, but worth reading!

Big Brother Is Watching

I had to buy another Ring camera this week. Our free trial just came to an end, and after hemming and hawing about whether we would ever need to access the footage on our doorbell cameras, I decided to just sign up for a year and see what happens. Not even an hour later, I found an intruder snooping around our back yard. He was dressed in black, carrying a duffle bag and hiding behind my garage. He was in my yard and trying to spy on my neighbours yard. He saw me watching him, and he smiled, waved and then sauntered down the driveway and onto the sidewalk. I got footage of him leaving, but he knew to look away from my doorbell. Anyway, longer story short, I now have a floodlight camera mounted behind my garage. It took less than 10 minutes to install. It would have been faster if I didn’t keep dropping the mounting screws in the grass. Say what you will about Ring cameras, I feel more comfortable having them.

Oh my god! I have become the “stay the hell off my lawn” guy!😱

Parenting Tip

If you have a young child (6+ months), you need to get them this controller:

In addition to keeping your child entertained for a solid 45 minutes, they programmed in a little easter egg that retro gamers might appreciate. I can’t seem to embed Notes or TikTok videos with the iOS App, so here is a link to a video I uploaded to Notes. If you’re over a certain age, you may find it to be as delightful as I do.

It’s still a work in progress, but I’m bringing back Jittery Robot. The website is still a work in progress, but I wanted to share this with you. Jittery Robot is a semi-autobiographical comic strip which ranges from comic strips to single panel comics to sketchbook comics. I will be posting them here for paid subscribers about a week ahead of the official release dates on the website.

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Facebook

I gave Facebook a second chance, and I even made my profile public as I converted my profile to a “digital creator” profile. I have been making public posts, but out of the blue, I stopped getting views on my stories and reels. I investigated the issue and found out that the link to my profile was broken. Apparently, the vanity url that I have been using for years (my name) is no longer allowed, so I had to make a new one. Now I am MarkOnFacebook. I wonder how long they will let me keep that one?

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