Comics, Cartoons, and Everything Else

March 2011 Preview

2011-03-23T16:57:00.004-05:00

Two post in a week... Oh My God!
Been at the drawing table a lot the last few days. Here's little of what I've been working on. First is an almost completed panel... cleanup, and little white out... from the new comic Psychopomp.

Next is the pencils for an illustration I'm working on. When finished I'll have prints at SpringCon.

Well that's all for now. I'll keep everyone up to date.

PS... These were shot with my phone, so... not the BEST quality.

Sleepless In Seattle

2011-03-21T22:17:00.007-05:00

Where you living right now? What happened to Seattle? What's going on? I've been oddly quit about Seattle and what's going on in my life. I've been looking for the right words... not too many to bore or be TMI.
I'm back in Iowa right now. I'm moving back to Minneapolis on May 14. I took an unplanned break from art, but am hard at work on something great. I'm a stubborn son of a bitch and a bit thick headed at times. And it took me awhile to realize where I wanted to be... in every since of the phrase.

I didn't adjust well to life after college very well and moved to Iowa to get my shit together. I also left because I felt like I was trapped. Trapped somewhere I wasn't sure I wanted to be. I went with my tail between my legs and a sense of shame. I felt like I could never move back. I went back to Minneapolis when I could. When I did I felt wonderful, alive again.

While in Iowa I dealt with some depression and person issues. I did some freelance work, worked for a pre-college high school program, and at a gas station. The gas station job I tookback after coming back from Seattle.

I moved to Seattle to recreate myself, to try something new, prove something, and much more. By moving so far away from the mid-west I could break out of my feeling of being trapped. I was once toldl that the reason that I am ANYTHING or have ANY kind of success is because of friends and college professors that have taken pity on me. It stuck with me... and made me upset. I shouldn't worry what people think or say... but it hurt.

In the past I have put parts of myself on the back burner... my dating life for example. When I left Seattle I had dated many people.

I explored parts of myself. After working at a really bad job at a bagel shop, I had a wonderful job at a bookstore. Went to parties and get togethers and became friends with folks at a local publisher. I had made friends and was living a life. Seattle was great, I became a new person. I had or was on my way to having everything I wanted... and I got ALL on my OWN. But I didn't want it anymore.

I proved to myself what I wanted to prove. Got what I wanted... then wanted to come home. Not Iowa. Minneapolis. I became a man in Minneapolis, my friends are there, I became an artist there. Seattle was great, it was a wonderful life... but it wasn't my life. My life is in Minneapolis.

I packed up, gave my notice at work, and fly back to Iowa Christmas Day. After the new year, I went and offered to work again at the gas station. And plotted my return.

Another part of my life that I shut out was a major part of my childhood. Anyone that saw my senior project knows what I'm talking about. Before moving to Seattle I went and confronted my "demons" from the past. Only to find old friends that where hurt that we lost contact.

After catching up with who we are now, and what we have done... there was no more hurt. The wounds of the past healed. My friend Josh told me that I was the same guy I was as a kid. I didn't care what overs thought, I drew... said... did... whatever I liked, and to hell with anyone that didn't like it. It almost made me cry... it was true as a child, but knew my adult self has not lived up to that. But... that has changed

You draw from your life to make art. But I was using art to hide from my life.

I'm moving back to Minneapolis cause I WANT TO. I'm a comic book artist, and a damn good cartoonist. My current project is called Psychopomp.

It's been awhile

2010-03-24T12:43:00.003-05:00

I've had a number of things I've been dealing with and working on. Here's the list:

1. I'm working on a new story. This will be long format, as such I'll be posting it a page at a time, web comic style. I want to get far ahead before I launch. The working title is Psychopomp, I'm looking at a late April early May release date.

2. I'm building a web site. I need one. It's taking a while, I'm not really a wiz with web site building. This will launch right before/with the comic above. The "theme" or "style" of the site will be previewed soon with my new avatar.

3. Been trying to find some regular work, so I can save up and move. I have a second interview tomorrow for a job. If I get it I'll be heading west in August. This little detour/exile/meditation/institutionalization back in Iowa has been... interesting. But it's time to leave. SOON!

4. I've been doing studies of: various artists, philosophy, religion, story structure, and many other things... to better understand myself, life, and my work.

Canada 3/3

2009-11-21T23:10:00.004-06:00

Why is this blog post so much later then the other two? It just is. Shit happens. Blogging isn't a paying gig for me, so, sorry about being late.

What did I learn from Canada? To relax. Have fun. Follow my own ideals. I always seem to have a little ball of stress inside of me. Leaving the country, to a place that doesn't have the stick up it's ass like the US, gave me a new out look on the US and my place in it. Without being to narcissistic, the United States is the center of the world. In entertainment. As a super power. This time period's Rome. Which I realized is very stressful. We have to be the BEST, better then everyone else. If someone gets something you want, they took it. They were lucky. They think they are better then you! And I can't handle it any more.

What has happened to our country. We use to want to follow in the foot steps of Lewis and Clark, Johnny Appleseed, and, or course, cowboys... be your own man, do your own thing no matter what others think, explore the unknown. Where have all the cowboys gone? What happened to the pursuit of happiness? As a country we hate and fear the lone wolves, the ones that think and do things their own way. We hate what we use to love, and aspired to be.

Canada (bet you thought I got away on a tangent didn't you) still follows their heroes, the frontiers man and the lumberjack. Self made, independent men. Every country has their heroes to follow. The English have King Aurthur, and knights. The Japanese have the samurai. Ect. These heroes, these archetypes, help form our mind set.

What happened to the United States? Canada still has the frontiers man. What happened to the cowboy? How did our icon for independents, being self made, and doing your own thing... turn into a joke. I think the problem came when Regan and W. Bush called themselves cowboys, and used that image to get themselves elected. They USED the cowboy like a cheap whore. They weren't cowboys. They embodied group think, fear of the individual, and the needing to be popular.

We're left with a prevented version of our hero. No honor. No sense of self. No anything. People follow the example of the trust-fund child getting fucked on camera. The balloon boy family, famous at any cost. More people look up to Jason Voorhees and Jigsaw, then anyone worth a damn.

That's what I learned from going to Canada.

Canada 2/3

2009-11-12T16:18:00.008-06:00

C4 was great. My best show money-making wise. And one of my top favorites over all. What was so good about it, you ask? Well, the general atmosphere that I talked about yesterday was present. It was nice not having, as many, snobby comic fans walking by. The kind who walk away in disgust when they find out you don't draw Batman.

The convention was about the size of Fallcon, but with many more people attending. There was a greater diversity attending as well. Age, race, and gender balance.

Was there negatives, sure. But I'm not going to dwell on them to much, they were few and far between. Will and I sat back to back with a.. less then pleasant artist from New York. That's the worst I'll say.

The comic scene in Canada, at least Winnipeg, doesn't have that interlockingness that cities here in the States have. Which is both good and bad. Good: far less drama, and he said she said. Bad: less support for each other.

There wasn't very many people doing it all themselves, like Will and I are use to. A lot of people were shocked that we write, pencil, and ink our own stuff, let alone design and print it on our own as well.

I only bought a handful of stuff; a Smurf with a canvas and a paint brush, a copy of Captian Canuck #1, banana pocky, a sumi-e ink kit, and a print.

I met a lot of Canadian comic artist. I'm only going to talk about the ones that really blew me away, just cause I don't have time to talk about EVERYONE!

The print I bought was by Aaron Navrady. He was a great guy from Calgary. He does bio comics about his travels all over the world. He's a hell of a nice guy and a fine illustrator. With a number of comics on Top Shelf 2.0 and a fat list of illustration clients, this is a guy to watch.

Another guy I met was GMB Chomichuk, who runs Alchemical Press and has a project called the The Imagination Manifesto. This guy does some cool horror, surreal type work. He was another super nice guy, and one to keep an eye on.

Some times you meet someone at a con, get alone. Then after the con is over you realized you forgot to trade comics or even contact info. Well, it happened to me. There was a Muslim woman that was a hoot, again so nice, it's Canada... it's a given. She did some fun work, and would love to keep in touch with her. SO... if anyone reading this from C4 knows the artist I'm talking about PLEASE point me in the way of a web site or e-mail address.

Was C4 good? Hell YES! Would I do it again? HELL YES!!! But... it looks like I'll be moving to the west coast this summer, so it may not be possible. More on that later.

Canada 1/3

2009-11-11T13:55:00.004-06:00

Over Halloween weekend I was up in Winnipeg, for The Central Canadian Comic book Convention... or C4, with Will Schar.
Instead of posting one long post, I'm going to break this into three smaller ones, 1) About Canada, 2) About C4 and the people I met, 3) What I learned from it all.

I've never been out of the country before. It comes with my poorer, more white trash, back ground. Been all over the United States, but never outside of it.

I found Canada to be so much more layed back then the US. No one I met was judgmental, or had a "we're the best in the world" stick up their ass. Maybe it has to do with them having free health care, who knows. Everyone was nice, and not in that superficial "I really can't stand you" kind of way. But NICE nice.

At one point I was asked how crime really was in the US. When I said that crime was higher then Canada, and that some friends and I have been mugged before, they had a genuine sense of worry. Asking if I "was okay". Even after telling them "YES, I'm fine, it was a long time ago", they seemed concerned.

Being in Canada I realized how many Americans walk around with a sense of entitlement. But not about the things we should feel entitled to, like health care or education. Americans feel they are entitled to act like assholes, but not have people act like assholes to them. After overcoming hardship, instead of hoping that no one has to under go those same hardships, most feel that if they had to live with out something as a child or live through this or that, then no one else is entitled to forgo those hardships.

Canadian food is much better, they don't have artificial coloring, or use corn syrup as much. Instead relying on natural colors and sugar. Their laws for livestock is higher. And did you know that in Canada clear drinks cannot have caffeine in them, unless marked as an energy drink? Therefore Mountain Dew in Canada has no caffeine. Anything with chocolate is also marked as an energy "whatever". I got a candy bar out of a venting machine, and it said "energy bar".

Their advetisments have a LOT more cartoon characters, which is super cool.

I liked Canada. It was great to leave the country, even if it's one that is like America in many ways. I could talk a lot more about this and that but it would get boring.

Tomorrow I'll post the next part.

What I've been up to

2009-09-23T21:30:00.003-05:00

For the last almost two weeks I've been sick. Like every good geek I have allergy and sinus problems. So it's normal for me to get a little under the weather with time of the year. High pollen count and all.

So I'm dealing with the pollen count allergy crap okay. One night I'm about to fall asleep, something starts crawing on my neck... I freak, and hit it. It's a spider, it BIT me. I had to pull it's dead body off of me, cause it's fangs are suck in my neck. Turns out I'm allergic to spider bits. So instead of super powers, I got huge bumps, fever, and shit. My body explodes with sick.

To deal with the awfulness that was my life, I was given a does of Prednisone, a steroid. It helped, but it kills my immune system (cause it kills the good and the bad). Because of this, I was left open for... a respiratory infection. Feeling worse and now unable to breath, I was given Penicillin and an Advair inhaler.

It's like I got kicked while I was down... then soaked in gasoline and lit on fire.

I'm doing better, even got a little work done today. But the set back means I won't have my new comic "Monsters, Murder, and Madmen" done for Fall-Con. I will, however, have it done for C4 at the end of the month.

So... that's that. What has been going on.

Comics as Movie Pitches

2009-08-05T13:25:00.003-05:00

It's been awhile. Some big things have been happening... I'll post about them soon.

Until then,
The Beat made some comments about "comics as a pitch for a movie":

"There are quite a few “comics to movie” companies that I could name – or any regular reader of this blog could name – that are very, very obviously not interested in being successful publishing companies — and succeeding handsomely in that goal."

and a blogger from The Groovy Age of Horror, asked 'Why not'.

I had my own view on the topic, and thought I would share them:

A lot of the time you can tell if a comic is just a pitch cause of the art work. It's drawn by a storyboard artist, or a want-to-be, with a storyboard mentality. No thought of line quality, placement of blacks to help the eye flow, making room for text and balloons, and the panels not working together as a page in themselves.

The other give away is, well, people will often just tell you. Mostly as part of their sales-pitch to you... I'm talking about at con, person to person. This comes off like comics are a consolation prize.

They couldn't get anyone interested in making their movie nor financially backing it, so they made it into a comic. What were those reasons? Story? Character development? To innovative? What?

If it's innovation, and they want it to be made into a film... why didn't they make a low-budget film. Even if it's on a handy-cam, made with friends on weekends. Lots of people break into the film industry this way, George Romero for one. It shows (to me) a lack of conviction in their own work, not to just make it into a the medium they envisioned for it.

I would rather buy a comic from someone that wants to make the best comic they possibly can, then someone that just couldn't get their movie made. I would rather buy THAT persons low-budget film.

There are two kinds of people when it comes to this kind of thing. Those that just want to make money, first and foremost, they don't care how or from where. And those that are following their bliss, and hopes that money comes sooner or later, but just want to make something that means something to them. The comic-as-pitch-for-movie comes off as the former.

Clothing Sale!

2009-06-04T23:42:00.004-05:00

Friend and fashion designer Samantha Rei is having a sale on some of her clothing and jewelry.

Sam is a designer of the gothic lolita variety. So check out her sale items here.

If you mention my name at check out, she'll be like... "Oh, Jesse... yeah I know him."

The long awaited return of My Holy Three

2009-05-18T20:47:00.003-05:00

Sorry folks, I've had a bunch on my plate. Here you go... more art up soon-ish.

Stumptown is Good Enough!!!

2009-04-16T22:21:00.002-05:00

Off to Portland, for Stumptown, in the morning. Back Monday... until then Radio silence.

April 2009 Cons

2009-04-10T18:46:00.005-05:00

Oh man! HAVE I BEEN BUSY!!!

I'm working on a new comic for the two... count then TWO, conventions I will be going to this month.

Next weekend (April 18th & 19th) will be Stumptown in Portland, Oregon. I'll be setting up with my buddies and fellow MCAD alumni Will Schar, Reynold Kissling, Zack Corcoran, and Emily Wing.

The weekend after (April 26th) I'll be setting up at Minneapolis' own Microcon. Will Schar will again be joining me, as well as Renny Kissling.

If you can make it to either, please come out and say hi.

Come to Iowa for Corn, Stay for the... Gay Marriage?

2009-04-03T14:28:00.000-05:00

So it seems that Iowa is the first mid-west State to say it's okay to be gay and in love.

I don't know what to say... IOWA... r e a l l y... I thought it would be Illinois or Minnesota... not IOWA!!!

Never, ever, ever thought I would have bragging rights coming from Iowa.

"Where you originally from?"
"Iowa."
"DUDE! They okayed gay marriage, that's awesome!"

I'm waiting for the first gay marriage in a corn field... complete with a hayrack ride.

2009-03-31T16:48:00.002-05:00

Hey EVERYONE!!!
I'm now on LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jessehaller
So let's link up!!!

Less Than Zero

2009-03-29T14:32:00.001-05:00

I finished reading Less Than Zero yesterday. The quote that has stuck with me is:

"If I care about things, it'll just be worse, it'll just be another thing to worry about. It's less painful if I don't care."
-Clay

The logic makes sense. But I don't completely agree with it.

Thoughts?

Where The Wild Things Are

2009-03-26T19:11:00.002-05:00

This looks kind of cool. I wasn't so sure about them making a movie out of this book. But I'll bite.

Another My Holy Three

2009-03-18T22:52:00.001-05:00

New Comic

2009-03-11T20:14:00.002-05:00

T-Shirt Contest

2009-03-09T19:16:00.005-05:00

I'm in a t-shirt contest! I submitted this t-shirt design for TGWTG, along with a hand full of other's not picked for the final voting. If anyone is a fan of TGWTG, especially the Nostalgia Critic, check it out. If anyone is a site member (or want to join to help push SOMEONES design to the front *winkwink* it's free) it would be cool if you voted for my shirt.

Because it's the "Nostalgia Critic" I thought the shirt should look Nostalgic, i.e. the color zip tone.

Go HERE to vote. Voting ends next Monday.

MOMEntums

2009-03-03T17:06:00.004-06:00

Hey all. My old college is having a gallery show of comic art coming up this Friday. It features work from Fantagraphics' Mome. If you are in Minneapolis, check it out. A lecture by Erik Reynolds will also take place. More info can be found here.

Comics you should read

2009-02-25T20:20:00.003-06:00

Hey all. My buddy Max has posted some new comics, and I thought y'all would dip them.

First is Clyde in Amsterdam... this is NOT work friendly.
Second is Pumpkinship... of the two this is my favorite. But you should check them both out.

I'm BACKkkkk!!!

2009-02-24T23:02:00.003-06:00

My GOD what a messed up few weeks. Being sick. Then taking meds... only to have side affects. After the med stuff I had to hurry and do t-shirt designs for a contest... it's great publicity if I win, and was for some very COOL guys, I like a bunch. More on that later as it develops.

I'll be posting new stuff VERY soon. But until then I thought I would share a review of my Slide story I did last year. In October readcomics.org did a review, mostly positive, of said story. I should have posted this sooner... but I guess I was bashful. I met the reviewer, Jason, at Fall-con, he was very nice and it was a pleasure to talk to him.

More Delay

2009-02-16T19:09:00.003-06:00

So I was sick right... I told ya'll about that Friday. I got better from these super strong meds. I was all a ready to get some stuff done... WELL it turns out the meds have some serious side affects. I was told there might... but didn't think much about it. Well there was... body cramps... insomnia... other gross stuff.

I'll be back on schedule soon.

No Review This Week

2009-02-13T12:03:00.004-06:00

Hey everyone,

You maybe wondering were this weeks comic review is. Well I've had a sinus... flu... I wish I would die thing all week. I felt like I had nails being pounded into my head. When I wasn't tripping and sweating cause of my fever, I was chattering my teeth with chills.

So I'll have a review up early next week (Mon or Tues), then post another later in the week (Thurs or Fri) to make up for it.

Sorry everyone

I've got to go now take some more meds

-Jesse Haller

CONvergence 2008 5/5

2009-02-13T01:45:00.001-06:00

CONvergence 2008 4/5

2009-02-12T17:14:00.001-06:00

CONvergence 2008 3/5

2009-02-11T12:08:00.001-06:00

CONvergence 2008 2/5

2009-02-10T22:21:00.001-06:00

CONvergence 2008 1/5

2009-02-09T12:55:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone! This week I'm posting ink wash paintings I did for CONvergence last summer.

Early 90's Nintendo Ad

2009-02-05T21:05:00.002-06:00

While doing the review for this week I found this print ad for the Turbo Touch 360 controller. Is it JUST me... or does this... look like he is doing more then "pumping" more power into that Nintendo.

X-Force 19

2009-02-05T13:02:00.026-06:00

Alright boys and girls. This week I'm arming myself with a gun atop of a gun, that is attached to a bigger gun, to blast my way through X-Force (vol. 1) 19, from 1993. Written by Fabian Nicieza and penciled by Greg Capullo.

In the late 1980's, Rob Liefeld started writing and drawing the X-Men spin-off book New Mutants. With the introduction of Cable, the book became so popular that New Mutants was renamed X-Force. Liefeld soon left Marvel, along with other top name artists, to form Image. This issue is a few months after Liefeld's departure. Walking into this issue is much like entering the restroom after someone just finished… you can still smell the shit.

X-Force 19
Like most early 90's comics covers, the left-hand corner has headshots of the stars of the book. Which is fine, it's a quick way to know who is in the comic while shopping. The problem is that Domino and Cable's are there, when they DON'T appear in the comic at ALL. In fact Cable is suppose to be "dead".

Professor Xavier, Storm, and Cannonball, the only actual member of X-Force, appear on the main part of the cover. The action here is the most intense part of this book; at no point does anyone fight. Storm on this cover is a joke, she’s only in two pages, never wears her uniform, and has nothing to do with the main story. The cover title "The Dream... Divided!" is unfitting. And everyone looks like they are trying to take a collective shit… just saying.

We begin the story with an almost full body shot, minus the feet, of Boomer. She is admiring herself in her knew uniform. I won't say anything about the glasses…it was the early 90's. Comics were still in 80's withdrawal. But look at that… chest belt… thing? She has a pocket belt strapped across the top part of her chest, with another strip of pockets going between her breasts. How can this be comfortable at ALL… and who needs THAT many pockets? She seems to be wearing something that looks like a microphone headset or that thing that John Popper wears to play the harmonica. I'm not sure?

We are given ANOTHER title for this story, "The Open Hand, The Closed Fist" It seems one title isn't enough. It isn't great but it works better.

As Boomer is making come-fuck-me poses and talking to herself, Lila Cheney tells her Sam (Cannonball) is back. Boomer makes a backhanded comment about Cannonball wanting Lila. When Lila says they need to talk, Boomer says she can't cause she has a broken jaw.

SO that's what that thing is… her mouth is wired shut. Most people with broken jaws can't speak very well. I mean, I noticed that Boomer's lettering was smaller than everyone else's… I figured she was just slow or something.

Boomer is jumping for joy at the news that Lila doesn’t want Cannonball. But is cut short when Lila says it will be hard to get him if X-Force ends up doing time in jail. Wait… what did they do? I guess they'll explain that later.

We cut to Sunspot sitting in the grass talking about how he and the other New Mutants use to come out there for privacy. Cause Xavier's wheelchair couldn't go out onto the wet grass. I guess being a mutant doesn't mean your smart. Professor Xavier is the world's most POWERFUL psychic. We cut to Sunspot sitting in the grass talking about how he and the other New Mutants use to come out there for privacy. Cause Xavier's wheelchair couldn't go out onto the wet grass. I guess being a mutant doesn't He doesn't need to wheel out on the grass… he can go INSIDE your head and find out what you're THINKING.

Sunspot cries about how he doesn't know who he is anymore. To deal with his pain Sunspot shoots a solar-ray and burns some grass. It's very emo before emo was emo.

Meanwhile, Shatterstar, Feral, and Rictor are playing around in the danger room. The voice of the narrator tells us how they never had a chance to train under Xavier. As the workout ends, Beast thinks to himself in full sentences…because that's how nerds with PH D's think? Beast then questions what should be done with X-Force… again I’m sure they tell us what the moose in the room is.

As the three cool down after their workout, they talk about potentially going to jail… okay, so we know for sure that The Vault is a prison. At least that's something. During this Feral is cleaning herself… ewww! When did this become a furry comic? Rictor comments "Hard to believe even I miss these sessions."… huh? Didn't the man in the caption boxes JUST say how they had never been taught at the school? HOW can he miss them, if he NEVER had THEM!

All this takes place on a very badly laid out page. At some point an editor felt the need to place an arrow between panel one and two to show us where to go. This is "helpful" given that Feral's head from panel four is overlapped with panel one. Leading us from panel one to four. The editor should have made the artist redraw the damn page.

Down by the main computer, Siryn and Warpath are copying programs, cause, as Warpath puts it "Everyone does that." Being pre-Napster, X-Force is ahead of their time.

We now cut to a scene where Cannonball bitches to Xavier about his team being held in the mansion under house arrest. Storm intervenes, with her only part in the story, telling Cannonball that he is lucky that they are not in jail. Cannonball points out that they haven't been charged yet, and that they didn't do anything the X-Men haven't done already. Still, NOT telling us what they DID.

Cannonball goes on a rant about how Xavier had brought him into the New Mutants, only to hand the team over to Magneto. Which is true, Magneto ended up abandoning them with no place to go. Going from one crazy adventure to another, until Cable found them and took them in. Or as Cannonball puts it "a new driver comes along, maybe not the safest driver around". He makes it sound like Cable molested them at a rest stop.

From here we cut to a bunch of seemingly unimportant crap, that doesn't really forward the plot in this book. Probably, part of the running plot that isn't important enough to tell us about.

Back at the mansion, Boomer has Warpath and Cannonball walk into a HUGE (and I mean Liefeld huge) machine then walk out with their new uniforms—gratuitous number of pocket belts included. Seriously? Cannonball tells them that they are leaving. Everyone agrees. Because using someone's crap before leaving shows independence.

Outside Xavier talks to Siryn. (Who seems to be having a…"moment" with nature) She explains that not long ago, she felt dead inside and by joining X-Force she found others that were also dead inside… someone cue Nirvana, please. But together as a team, they stopped feeling dead and felt alive again. Sigh… cue Smashing Pumpkins.

X-Force confronts Xavier about leaving. Telling him that his dream is as simple as Magneto's separatist theory. Xavier tells them that they needs to pick between the path of violence and salvation. Cannonball says they will use both. Cause the closed fist can be used to hurt, or to protect, which Cannonball demonstrates by opening his fist to reveal a mouse… that Feral then eats…again, eww! Then says the open hand can be used to slap. Understanding his point Xavier lets them leave.

Conclusion
Not bad overall… but what the HELL! We are never told what they did that got them put under house arrest. There isn't even an asterisk to tell us where it happened. I know, I know… "I would know what happened if I had read... blah blah blah." But if I'm only reading THIS comic, I need to know; it only needs a sentence, or a "Previously" page at the beginning. It's kind of important. It is the only thing going on in the comic. You don't have any action to grapple your attention on.

The artwork in this comic is typical of the time, with Liefeld inspirations, pointless, over-the-top melodrama, and LOTS of pockets. The writing is a bit unfocused, but unlike most X-Force comics at the time, there is a weight of meaning. It talks about the grey area that is walking the path between two extremes, and using violence for the right reasons. Whereas Xavier and Magneto are metaphors for Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. X-Force would be the Black Panther Party of the mutant world.

A lot of the early 90's was filled with lackluster work that flooded the market. But it is an important part of the history of comics. It is when many greedy people tried to take advantage of a booming market only to cause a crash. Artists broke away from the big two for reasons that had more to do with greed then creative freedom. But among the rough there is some diamonds of importance.

Comics in the early 90's are kind of like middle school, or a long-term relationship that ends… we aren't willing to write off a huge part of our lives as "trash" no matter how bad it was. We need to look back at this time in comics and figure out what WAS good, what we learned from it, and not simply throw the baby out with the bath water.

Mainstream Inking Portfolio 3/3

2009-02-04T14:03:00.002-06:00

Last part of my inking portfolio. Today is over Shawn Moll pencils. Unsure of the book, but it has Superman in it.

Mainstream Inking Portfolio 2/3

2009-02-03T12:31:00.003-06:00

Today's section of my inking portfolio is over Christopher Jones pencils for the comic Batman Strikes

Mainstream Inking Portfolio 1/3

2009-02-02T14:41:00.003-06:00

Not long ago I put together an inking portfolio for more mainstream type work. I decided to share them with everyone on the blog. This first set is on Adam Kubert pencils of a Captain America story.

Batman Number 1, 4/4: The Joker Returns

2009-01-30T17:11:00.012-06:00

To read the first parts of this review: Part 1/4 Part 2/4 Part 3/4

The Joker Returns
FINALLY!! Oh my God it's been like twenty-six pages. They SURE took their time bringing him BACK. How can you have The Joker return in the SAME issue that he debuted. It's not like they released the comic, got feed back, found out he was a well received villain, and THEN decided to bring him back. It's like being at a friend's house, saying goodbye, and then walking into the bathroom and taking a shit. Only to walk back out and tell people how much you missed them, and that's it's been a so long since you've seen each other. Being in the next room doesn't count as leaving.

So there isn't much to this story. In jail, The Joker unscrews two of his teeth… ah… yeah… where he keeps the two components of an explosive, to blow himself out. Cause the best place to keep shit is IN YOUR TEETH. It's The Joker… I'll let it go… he is nuts. After breaking out of jail The Joker goes to his hideout, which is under a graveyard that is entered by a trap door under a tombstone. I'll give you a second to comprehend that… okay, you good… let's move on.

Like the LAST time, The Joker hijacks the radio waves saying how he'll kill so and so and steal this and that. He carries through with two threats, while Batman is doing nothing, AGAIN. I've already commented on this lazy writing in the first part of the review. But to do the same lazy writing AGAIN in the same issue, no less, is just plain sloth.

Batman finally goes after The Joker, where he gets his ass handed to him… AGAIN. Oh... but it's not in the same way. The Joker uses an ax, instead of kicking him in the head… so THAT makes it completely different. Before The Joker can kill Batman though, police come, and start shooting at Batman. At least Kane and Finger remembered he was a vigilante.

So The Joker says he's going to kill Edgar Martin at nine o'clock, just cause Martin said some shit about him. The Joker kills him by lacing a deck of cards with Joker Venom, so that at said time Martin would cut himself on the cards and die. What kind of half ASSED long shot is THAT! A bullshit one, that's what. How the HELL could The Joker know that Edgar Martin would want to play solitaire while the police watch over him. Let alone know that he would slip and cut himself AT nine o'clock… WHAT THE FUCK. My suspension of disbelief is stretched enough as it is with a man dressed up as a bat, but to add explosives kept in someone's teeth, and now THIS crap… no… NO… I'm calling bullshit. BULLSHIT!

In his street clothes, Bruce Wayne convinces Commissioner Gordon to place false news articles in the newspaper about a "Fire Ruby" to set The Joker up for a trap. The Joker falls for it, being the queen he is, saying that he will take the ruby over the radio. When The Joker shows up, the police are ready with gasmasks, so The Joker can't use his Venom on them. So he pulls out guns and shoots them instead. I laughed my ASS off so hard at this part. The police think that they have finally outsmarted The Joker. They didn't even stop to think he might have a real gun.

Fleeing from the trap, The Joker is followed by Robin. Robin in turn gets punched in the face and falls off a building, catching himself at the last minute on a flag poll. On the street below Batman confronts The Joker. To which The Jokers says that he remembers that Batman has a bulletproof vest on and will therefore aim for his head. Or as I like to think of it "I'll shoot you in the face bitch!"

Robin falls on top of The Joker knocking the gun out of his hand. So The Joker pulls out a knife. But when he strikes, Batman jumps out of the way… and… The Joker ends up stabbing… himself in the chest? Was he drunk or something? HOW the HELL do you stab yourself accidentally! If I stabbed myself, my friends would shit themselves laughing.

As the police arrive Batman and Robin leave. In the ambulance the doctor realizes that The Joker is still alive… DUM DUM DUM!

Although this is the end of the story, the last panel on the page is a call to arms to become one of "Robin's Regulars." Because Robin has been irregular lately and needs your help to get his bowels moving again, so stick a finger up there and get things moving again. "Robin's Regulars" are kids who live by Robin's code and do lame shit like help old people cross the street and say gay shit like: "Always be helpful to those who need help!" What is Robin's code? I'm glad you asked, it seems ROBIN is an acronym for: Readiness, Obedience, Brotherhood, Industriousness, and Nationalism. So you are to obey, work hard, and be ready at a whim for what ever your "brothers" want you to do for your country. Jesus Christ this is like a Hitler Youth group for kids who like to wear capes.

Conclusion
On an ascetic level this comic is not the greatest. Like most, if not all, Golden Age comics the writing is stiff, the dialog is nothing like what a real person sounds like, and the stories are repetitive and interchangeable. In the course of the whole comic there is only one panel that didn’t have word balloons and caption boxes piled on top of it. The art, like the writing, is stiff. Everyone looks indifferent to what is going on around them. And the inking tends to leave everything flat. There are far worse examples of writing and art in comics, but there is also far better.

This comic is important for historical reasons. It is one of the early books, along with Superman, to be based on a single character. Breaking away from the anthology format that was the standard. Comic books were starting to come into their own, and break away from the strips. Which was at their peaks, in both popularity and substance. As my friend Brett Von Schlosser pointed out to me, there are MANY similarities between Batman stories of this time and the oh-so popular comic strip Dick Tracy. Dick Tracy did it better, being short daily episodes. But Batman has become the more popular by contemporary standards. Batman, and comics as a whole, at this time were still trying to find their own ground in the longer format. This comic is also important cause… well… it’s the Goddamn Batman!

Batman Number 1, 3/4: The Cat

2009-01-29T12:19:00.014-06:00

Part one can be found here, part two can be found here

The Cat
I know what you are thinking, and YES, this title is referring to Catwoman. Although she does not go by that full title, not called Selina Kyle, nor wear the signature costume. But the villain returns in later issues and slowly becomes Catwoman.

Bruce Wayne reads in the newspaper about Mrs. Travers having a yacht party in which she is bringing her most prized diamond necklace. NOTE…she won't be wearing it. She just felt like bring it on board. Cause that's what I do when I throw a yacht party; I bring my most valuable procession with me. Bruce thinks that all the publicity of the party will make the boat a target. So he has Dick go undercover as a waiter.

As everyone boards the yacht, Mrs. Travers welcomes her nephew Danny, who has brought along a guest, Miss Peggs, an elderly woman. I wonder why he's hanging out with an old lady… the only reason I can think of is…. Ewww. God I hope they're crooks… cause the other option is gross.

Through much exposition we find out a bunch of crap we already know. As Dick follows Danny, he finds a note he meant to throw away, that is signed by The Cat!!! Saying "Keep your aunt away from the room! Will try then!"… WOW, that Cat sure knows how to be subtle.

Not much later Mrs. Travers comes screaming about how her necklace was taken. She must check on it every 5 minutes—glad to see she's such a good host. As they try to figure out who stole it, a boat with gangsters pulls up. They want the necklace. Mrs. Travers laughs telling them that it's already gone…that's a smart idea; let's LAUGH at the men with guns. But this IS the same chick that takes her most valuable necklace with her on a well-publicized yacht.

Upset, the gangsters take all the other jewelry from the party guests. Dick punches a few before jumping in the sea. Why? Who knows? The gangsters make a break for it, only to run into Batman a short time later. How he knew they were coming, I can't tell you. Robin soon joins him and they lasso and tie up the gangsters.

GREAT they caught this set of bad guys. Good. Okay time to hurry back to the yacht so you can…what? You're not done? It turns out that Batman wants to untie two of them so Robin can beat them up. WHAT the HELL! "I know we caught them, but how about you kick the shit out of a few of them Robin, it will be FUN!" What kind of sadistic tendency is THAT.

After beating up the two men, to the point that they beg Robin to stop. Batman then turns to look out of the panel, breaking the fourth wall, to say how this shows that with out guns crooks are "yellow" and you shouldn't be like them.. because you should learn to hit, cause hurting people just for the fun of it is COOL. And where the hell does Batman get off giving an anti-gun message. He just GUNNED DOWN two trucks in the last story.

Having wasted time, Batman and Robin return to the yacht where they are having a masquerade ball. 'Cause after I get held up at gun point, I want to dance the night away dressed up in a costume, not deal with the trauma of being robbed, or return to dock to file a police report. NO! I want to party. I mean… did Bob Kane and Bill Finger give ANY thought about this… AT ALL!

Anyway… so Batman enters the party to return everyone's jewels, and is given first prize for best costume…that isn't a joke, they really give him first prize. Elsewhere Robin pulls the fire alarm, this causes everyone to run off the dance floor, the old woman that came aboard with Danny also runs, causing Batman to figure out she is the jewel thief, The Cat. Of course he would have had to know that already, cause she WAS the ONLY person that ran that wasn't suppose to be able to.

Unmasking The Cat as a beautiful woman, she asks Batman to join her as the king to her queen of crime. After saying that he's tempted, he turns her down… since when is Batman tempted to commit crimes. That's kind of Batman's thing, fighting crime. Why’s that? Because it's a woman, and Batman can only think with his utility-belt. That makes sense, especially since he didn't tie her up at all, let's her escape, and STOPS Robin from going after her. He then talks about how good looking she was, and hopes he runs into her again.
What the hell!

Batman needs to stop hanging out with a teenage boy, and get laid. For REAL. He's so horny; he lets a criminal get away cause she's good looking. If The Cat had cankles and a flat chest, Batman would have beat’ her ass and taken her to jail. Bruce Wayne is a billionaire; it can't be THAT hard to get some girl to blow him. Hell, he can just get himself a whore if he's that bad at picking up women. When your dick keeps you from doing your job, you need to at least rub one out once and while.

Tomorrow: The Return of The Joker

Batman Number 1, 2/4: Hugo Strange

2009-01-28T14:07:00.013-06:00

Part one of my review of Batman number 1 can be found here.

Professor Hugo Strange and The Monsters
Hugo Strange is, up until this point, the closest thing that Batman has had to an archenemy, only because he has appeared more then once. The story starts with Strange organizing and carrying out a massive prison-break. The next night he breaks into the insane asylum and kidnaps the inmates. This alone is not enough to get Bruce Wayne off his ass, oh NO, he waits to see what happens.

A MONTH later, a fifteen-foot monster attacks the city. The police try to stop him, but their bullets have no affect on him. After the attack the monster jumps in the back of a truck and escapes. The next night another monster attacks the city. Upon fleeing the scene, Batman follows the truck (guess he figured waiting for the body count to rise didn't pay off much) in what has to be THE coolest plane EVER! For real, check this thing out! it looks like a BAT… Where DOES he get those wonderful toys?

Walking into the hideout Batman is caught by two of Strange's monsters. Then comes a page of exposition in which Strange tells how he had kidnapped the inmates from the mental hospital. And how he created a serum that turns them into monsters. DUH! Part of the side affect being that your mind becomes distorted and must obey him. If it distorts the mind anyway, why did he need mental patients? Strange then injects Batman with said serum, telling him that it takes eighteen hours to work, "precisely at noon".

Waking up hours later in a cage, Batman looks at the clock with the little hand almost at the twelve, figuring his time is almost up. Okay… The first thing I would think was, "Has it been six hours or eighteen, is it almost midnight or noon?” How does he know that it's been eighteen hours? And if the serum takes eighteen hours to work, why was it SO dark when Batmen first tracked down the hideout. I mean he would have had to start tracking them at least by 5pm? It must be winter or something.

Strange sends most of his men out in to two trucks to commit crimes, giving Batman time to grab the explosive out of his boot (insert shoe-bomber joke here). He blows his way out of the cage. Then knocks strange out a window… that happens to face a cliff, sending him to his DEATH.Batman PUSHED someone out a window to his DEATH. BATMAN just KILLED someone. Wait? Wait a fucking second. Look at that panel… it's suppose to be NOON! And the MOON is out. Batman DOES NOT LIVE in ALASKA!!! This doesn't make any sense.

Having KILLED their master Batman makes the two monsters left behind fight each other, while he develops a cure. He DEVELOPS a CURE, in five minutes. He had NO idea what the serum was made of, how the HELL can he make a CURE… in FIVE MINUTES no less!?!

CURING himself, Batman gives exposition about how the two monsters killed each other like he had hope. AS HE HAD HOPED! If anyone shouldn't be killed its these poor people… mental patients that were forced from their beds and injected with chemicals turning them into brainwashed monsters… here's an idea Bats how about USING that CURE you JUST made, to maybe HELP them. Asshole. Murderous ASSHOLE.

Using his super cool Bat-plane, Batman plans to track down the two trucks carrying monsters. Finding the first one, Batman guns down the truck… That's right folks… BATMAN… GUNNED… down a truck. For the ONE of you who doesn't know, Batman traditionally does not use a gun… EVER. He has some daddy issues about it. People say its part of the mythos that he never did. Having read this and many other Golden Age Bat stories, I can call bullshit on that, and now, so can you.

Since bullets don't kill the monster, Batman throws down a rope and lynches him. Batman just LYNCHED a guy. Of all the ways to kill someone this is one of the worst.

Finding and gunning down the second truck. Batman doesn't Lynch this monster. I guess it's a faux pas to kill the same way twice. Instead Batman gets the monster to climb to the top of a large building, were Batman knocks him off killing him King Kong style. Okay… Just so we are all clear here in this story alone Batman has killed at least seven people: four monsters, two drivers, and Hugo Strange. Batman is a MURDERER. That's the way the story ends. With Batman flying away with a trail of bodies behind him.

Tomorrow: The Cat

Batman Number 1, 1/4: The Joker

2009-01-27T15:05:00.025-06:00

Starting out this new critique/review part of the blog, I thought I would start out with a bang. I’m taking on Batman Volume 1, Issue 1. This is a fifty-two pages of story, monster of a comic. Containing four stories, as well as a two-page recap of Batman’s origins. Featuring: the first time Batman is in his own series, the first appearance of The Joker, and has early examples of Batman killing. YES! That is right, in the early days, Batman killed. Well it turns out it’s just TOO big. I felt a three thousand word post was too much. So I’m going to break it down into four smaller post spread out over the next couple days. All other post, after this Bat-a-thon, will be self-contained, once a week.

Batman 1 Begins!!
After a year in Detective Comics, Batman was given his own title, called Batman… wonder hope they came up with THAT title. Although artist Bob Kane for years had been given sol-credit for the creation of Batman. Writer Bill Finger was also a co-created of the Dark Knight. Adding such items as gloves, a cowl, gadgets attached to a utility-belt, and dark clothes… you know… nothing IMPORTANT, or ICONIC to the character. Bob Kane got the sol-credit for the creation cause he sold the original story based ONLY on the title. After selling the comic, he hired Finger to script the first story, and subsequent stories during the first few years. Oh and he gave Kane feedback on his ONE character design.

The comic starts out with a two page retelling of Batman’s origins. Which is nice for people who may not have been following the stories in Detective Comics. We all know the story… rich kid and his parents come out of a movie. The parents are gun down. Then the child decides to spend the rest of his life fighting crime. You know… cause this is 1940, before child-psychologist and welfare would have stepped in to help the child deal with his grief and place him in a foster home.

So young Bruce Wayne spends the next fifteen years becoming a “master scientist” and “trains his body to physical perfection”. I wonder… did he start RIGHT away? I mean really… I know my parents were never gunned down in front off my eyes. But what twelve-year-old is that committed to ANYTHING… EVER! Besides, is this REALLY the building blocks of a superhero… it sounds like the back-story every other serial killer has.

Anyway. After all of the training he decides that it’s FINALLY time for him to start fighting crime. As he’s thinking about it a bat flies into the window, and TA-DA he decided to become Batman. If a bat didn’t fly in the window, how long do you think Bruce would have sat there thinking? I mean what kind of NUT sits around waiting for the solution to his problems to fly in the window. Apparently ones that watched their parents gunned down in front of them.

The Joker
Based on the main character from the movie The Man Who Laughs, the Joker has become the iconic Batman villain. He has appeared opposite almost every incarnation of Batman, most recently played by the late Heath Ledger, in The Dark Knight. In this first story, the Joker hijacks the radio waves in order to make a proclamation that at midnight he will kill Henry Claridge, and steal the "Claridge Diamond"… I wonder how it ever got THAT name.

Hearing this death threat, the police arrive at the home of Mr. Claridge to protect him. As the clock tolls at midnight, Mr. Claridge exclaims that he is safe, then drops dead with a shit-eating grin on his face.

He had been pre-poisoned with time released “Joker Venom”. And his diamond had been switched with a fake hours before, along with a joker playing card. This is a nice start to a story. We have a villain daring the police to catch him, and a clever murder. Overall a nice set up. We cut to The Joker sitting alone in a room, for four panels, giving a typical Golden Age exposition about how he did it, and how great he is. I’m glad this didn’t last any more panels, or his ego stroking may have manifested it’s self in a more literal form, while explaining to us point by point what he was doing and how it felt.

Dick Grayson asks Bruce if they should do something, to which Bruce says he would rather wait. YEAH! That’s a GREAT idea…“I’ll wait until the body count starts to really pile up, one person isn’t enough for me to get off my ass and take off my smoking jacket. It’s not like I devoted my LIFE to FIGHTING crime or anything.” They sit around and do nothing (or whatever you write in your fan-fiction) while more people die. After a few days they finally they suit up and go after The Joker. At which time Batman gets the crap kicked out of him. Look at that panel, he kicked him in the head, he KICKED HIM IN THE HEAD.

To carry out his next threat, The Joker poses as one of the cops watching the marked man. A neat idea, who would expect a cop? But if a cop sent over to protect me looked like THAT I would shit myself and wonder who slipped me acid.

When The Joker leaves the scene, Robin follows him to his hide out… cause he’s to lazy to do anything about the MURDER! At the hide out Robin… gets knocked out and captured like the damsel he is (again check your fan-fic). Batman comes in to save the day, like the hero HE is. After fighting briefly, The Joker runs out of bullets and…. throws his gun at Batman… THROWS his GUN! He threw HIS GUN AT BATMAN… that’s all I need to say.

I got to point out during the course of his fights with Joker in this story, Batman gives some of the corniest lines, that would be more at home in a James Bond movie, then in a Batman comic. And this is the only story he does this… WHY? I can’t figure out if these are the lamest lines ever, or the BEST! Given its almost 69 years old, I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt.

So Batman finally beats the Joker and sends him to jail, where he swears they have not seen the last of him. I would make a smart-ass remark about this being a cliché, but this is before it was a cliché… so I can’t dog on it for that.

Tomorrow: Professor Hugo Strange and The Monsters

Remembering My First Day of MCAD

2009-01-26T14:56:00.007-06:00

Last June, I did a guess comic for my friend and former boss Tyler Page. His weekly web-comic, Nothing Better, went on a break when his daughter was born. So myself and other comic types filled in with stories about our times in college. This was mine.

No Speed NO!!!!

2009-01-22T15:32:00.002-06:00

So the Oscar nominations are out today. While I'm happy to see Milk and the Dark Knight, both get eight nominations a piece. I was sad to see Speed Racer didn't get a nomination of Visual Effects. I, personal, found the film to be one of the best films of the year. But it wasn't everyone's cup of tea. But even if you hated the movie, it had damn good effects. The thing was nothing but high speed, candy colored, LSD inspired goodness.

I think The Beat said it best:

"Note: we like IRON MAN just fine but that’s purely a popularity vote; SPEED RACER had far better effects. Yes! We said it!"

I concur.

Yes I Can!!!!

2009-01-21T21:55:00.003-06:00

As the country begins a new. I'm going to take a cue from President Obama (god that's nice to finally saw without the "elect" in between). And am starting a new chapter in the book "Jesse Haller's Web-Presents".

What can you hope to see?

Well I'm glad you asked. I cannot promise I'll update everyday. I'll try... but that hasn't always worked for me. But each week I will be posting some kind of art work. Mostly comics... you know it's kind of what I do, but there will also be drawings, sketches, and paintings.

Also each week I'll be be talking about a comic. I have a wide collection of comics, having read them for 18 years. I'll pick a comic that deserves some attention, scan in some panels and talk about it. Then you all can add your comments, tell me what you think, talk about it. It will be FUN!!! This won't be like AT4W, although he was an influence. I won't just be ripping on crap comics. I'll be ripping apart good comics too. Talk about the writers and artist. The good, the bad, and the ugly... the ugly being Liefeld.

I will be more engaged with my fellow artist, the rest of the comic community, and my friends that have taken a little bit of a backseat lately.

Hope everyone enjoys and is looking forward to the new web-presents of Jesse Haller.

Other places to find me

2008-02-15T02:31:00.002-06:00

Until I get more stuff up, here are other places to find me:

http://flickr.com/photos/20516408@N03/
http://jhaller.livejournal.com/
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=747449794
http://www.comicspace.com/jessehaller/
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=78317226
http://www.mnartist.org/Jesse_Haller
man... I need to update this one bad!

-Jesse

The Slide

2008-02-15T01:49:00.003-06:00

First work up on this blog. Comments welcomed.

In the Beginning

2008-02-15T01:03:00.000-06:00

This is a blog about my work and thoughts on art.

There will be little posting at first but more will come.