I’ve commented that I’ve been doing some work for my Local Comic Shop (LCS) and figured I might want to share some of it as we get close to Free Comic Book Day on May 4th. Strangely enough (call it fate, kismet, or something like that) but Comic Carnival (my LCS) has a monkey as a mascot. They’ve had other mascots over the past 50 years, but currently it is Cee Cee the Comic Carnival Monkey. I played around with a character design years ago, and recently (after Indiana “Comic” Con) decided to help out where I could. This gives me a reason to draw (monkeys) and helps me flex my creative muscles helping out a place I consider a second home (especially on Wednesdays). I started off with a simple circular design and then played around with some other ideas like homages to classic comic covers with Cee Cee taking a prominent place. So far these have been turned into stickers and buttons. I’ve also worked on a topper for a classic spinner rack and recently new signage for one of my favorite places the All Ages Comics section.
I’m still working through some ideas and to quote Rick from Casablanca “Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
This Weeks Comics:
Star Trek Defiant #14 – unlike the worms from Ceti Alpha V the bugs infesting Starbase 99 have a plan, and it looks like it’s getting worse. With Bellana Torres infected and attacking everyone… Will she be a bug drone or a Borg drone? And it looks like Spock has gotten himself into a bit a trouble… mind melds can do that and the Vulcan Surgeon General has warned against overuse of mind melds… guess Spock ignored that memo.
Man’s Best #002 – Being a cat person I find it amusing that the issues our animal friends are getting into are all caused by a dog, not listening to a cat… Will they ever find the humans? will the flankers stop them, or some new even worse danger? Will Porthos ever listen, or is he just a “bad dog.”
Amazing Spider-Man #48 – Ben and Janine trying to get back to normal lives… but can they trust Queen Goblin? Will Peter and Betty save them and the Winkler Device (named after Henry Winkler aka “the Fonz?”) before it’s too late? What about the Sinister Six and the Living Brain?
Primer #2 of 4 – The story continues as we learn about Ashley and her foster mother’s job (which she may not have for long). We learn also about where Ashley get’s her powers. I wonder what Violet does? For an all ages comic I’m liking the pacing and look forward to hopefully more than 4 issues.
Detective Comics #1084 – Batman returns to Gotham and learns what happens in his absence. The Orgham plans have been in place, the wealthy are happy, the middle class are oblivious, and the people in need are disappearing. Just when I thought things were getting understandable-
The Flash #8 – So we are leading up to the massive summer crossover event. I hate massive summer crossover events. At least this issue was more heroes fighting things and saving people and not metaphysical pondering in the speed force.
Ultimate Spider-Man #4 – “And with great power comes great responsibility.” it took four issues, and Uncle Ben wasn’t the one to say it, but it has been said to Peter Parker and I’m guessing the world will never be the same again. Someone online pointed something out that I have found interesting about the new line of Ultimate comics- Each issue takes place in the month they are published. So time is progressing at a pace that makes the reader have to guess what has happened in the last month. Last issue Peter meets and begins to team up with Harry Osborne- that team up has now brought them together outside of the super hero world, where they mingle a bit in public and meet each others wives.
Scales & Tales – I know, I know, I keep saying I’m taking a step back from gaming. I can’t seem to find a reliable gaming group and while I like role playing games, I just get too frustrated as I try to play. So what do I do? I go and buy Scales & Tales – A Beginner’s Guide to Fantasy Role-Playing Games. If I was still in the classroom this would be something I would consider using with kids. It is a simplified RPG system and explains how things work especially to those who have no clue. I would send it to my brother or niece, except that I have the feeling that it would be put on a shelf for more trendy pursuits to finally disappear sometime during a cleaning before company arrives.š
I would recommend it for anyone interested in starting out roleplaying, but want a less complicated introduction. Most RPG’s end up with enough baggage and investment to make them prohibitive to try out. A 5th Edition Players handbook is around $50 and will be kinda sorta out of date in a few months as they update bits and pieces of it. Scales & Tales ($20ish) seems to keep things easy and go more into simple role playing. With three ability scores (power, skill, and wit), only four classes (Guardian- Jack of All Trades, Wizard- Spellcaster, Rogue- Sneaky sneaky, and Warrior- Hulk smash!) and 10 character types (races/species) things are definitely easier. The book itself explains in simple easy to understand terms how everything works and you only need six sided and 20 sided dice. In fact almost every bit of character creation can be done by rolling dice. Like I said, I wish I had something like this when I was teaching- it would have taken a lot of the drudgery out of character creation and we could have gotten into playing a lot faster. Half the book deals with mechanics and the other half is adventures! While it looks childish (I like the illustrations, but some might want something more LOTR like) I think this is a great starting place for gamers of all ages.
Scales and Tales even has a place to help you determine your character’s name. I have found that your first character tends to be based on the name of a character from a pop culture, or literature. My brother had a fighter named Gareth, my friend had an elf named Elrond, I had an assassin (back when that class was allowed) named Count Iblis, by then end of his first adventure he rose in ranks and became the Marquis de Iblis. I now tend to name my character something silly, while I can be a serious player, I don’t want to come in with people thinking I’m too serious. My favorite characters recently have been bards – Peter Paulenmary, and Simon Garnetfunkel. I also have wizards named Sazerac and Antir Rhynum. Sazerac is a mixed drink using rye whiskey and Antirrhinum is the scientific name for the snapdragon.
When I was in middle school, I did something similar to what I have been doing recently, I’d find a cool looking game, buy it and then either get lost in the intricacies of character creation, or never find anyone willing to play. I recall one game called ‘Space Opera” which for a middle schooler, was so intense that I had to put it down when I was trying to figure out from my various ability scores what my GPA was at the academy in each subject and how that impacted my career prospects before I started adventuring! The cover had a cool drawing of a Flash Gordon character and all I could think off was Flash was a polo player and never went to the Academy. I’ve also played around int Steve Jackson’s “The Fantasy Trip” the games: Wizard and Melee for simplicity, but even those can get complex and people want to add more realism to them.
