Hey y'all.  For some reason I have been telling everyone that the Bad Guy Earth collection comes out in October.  I have been dead wrong!  It comes out on September 21st!  For those of you who never got the single issues (those things sold like hot cakes!) or were waiting for the collection (as I usually do.  Yeah I am one of those people) you will not be disappointed.  This is my favorite work to date.  The coloring is beauriful, the cover is gorgeous, and I put a lot of work into the extras on this book.  Specifically nearly 30 pages about the making of Bad Guy Earth. You will get to see the toys we played with, the messes we made, the notes I took, the sketches, some sketches from Malachai… it is, in my opinion, the coolest “sketch book” section I have ever seen in a trade paperback.  There are also some beautiful full color pin ups in there.  You can preorder it at many places, though I recommend TFAW but you can also do Amazon if that's how you like to do your preordering. 

So basically Axe Cop went to Magic World to get a thousand dollars and tick off all the magicians.  If it helps make any sense of the tone of this story, Malachai wrote this right around when he wrote the Funny Episode, so he was much more in “prank” mode, then “fight evil” mode. 

Alright, we'll see you next week so you can see where this story goes.  Have a wonderful weekend.

Ethan

I know that this episode brings into question some of Axe Cop's other recollections of his past, but I think we should just go with it.  I'm just happy to revisit Axe Cop's controversial method of night fighting, which I have never seen another good guy put into practice.  Ask Axe Cop #2 (the first instance of Axe COp's night technique and cat suit wearing policy) remains one of my all time favorites.  I think there is something inherintley hilarious about knocking a man out who is already asleep.  He just had no chance to block or dodge. I believe there are some Chaplin routines where he knocks a sleeping man on the head with a mallet to make sure he does not wake up and catch him sneaking around.  Chaplin was the original Axe Cop.  In face I would really like to see a photoshop of Chaplin wearing the cat suit and aviators carrying an axe now that I have the mental picture.

I foresee a few people saying that it can't be true that Super Axe is the world's only Axe Super Hero because there is Axe Cop, and while Axe Cop does have a lot of super hero traits, Malachai would still classify him as a cop, not a super hero.

As is now the tradition, Bearmageddon has a new page up today as well, and I have posted a blog about the time a dog's soul passed over me in my sleep.  True story.

See you tomorrow with more Axe Cop messing with the magicians on Magic World. 

Ethan

So here is Axe Cop showing the Magicians some real magic.  I had a lot of fun drawing the crowd's reaction.  Malachai was really kind of going crazy when we were acting out this part of the story, I wish I had the video. 

That's today's episode.  I feel like I have something else I should report, but I am pretty whiped out at the moment, so I'll just leave it at that.  Oh yeah.. it sounds like Munchking Axe Cop was a hit at PAX!  I haven't even seen the finished game yet, but a group of luckies got to buy early copies of the game.  If you were one of them let me know how it went.

Ethan

Hey look, it's Monday!  I picked this book up at the Design Studio Press table at Comic Con last month and it blows my mind every time I flip through it.  Artist (and super-human) Terryl Whitlatch weaves one amazing beast together after another.  She can draw them real, and make them up, and they look real.  She even draws the imaginary skeletal structures and musculature!  I call that insane, but it's delicious candy for the artist's soul if you need some inspiration.  I have this book on my shelf o' inspiration right by my work station ready to be cracked open any time I feel like I need a jolt of energy behind my pen.  Plus, it's a beautiful full color, hard cover book that is just sexy as heck.  I love amazing art and imagination and this book has both in spades.  You should buy it!

That's this week's recommendation.  Tomorrow, Axe Cop continues to rile up the magicians on Magic World.  See you then!

Ethan

Axe Cop is apprently much better at magic than magicians from Magic World.  Also, I feel like I need to find out if the Magicians are evil.  Why is Axe Cop being so mean to them?

I deliberately made the magician getting punched look like Harry Blackstone.  Also, I think Dinosaur Soldier looks smashing in that outfit.

Well I don't have much else to say except I want to remind you to check out the store and also the new tees we have over at PopFunk.  Below is one of my favorite new designs.

Have an Axetastic weekend!

Ethan

I decided to draw this episode because it sounded easy to draw and I didn't have a lot of time.  Once I dove in I realized this was going to be a lot more work than I thought.  I believe the way we wrote this one is I pulled what I had in my pockets out and Malachai went from there deciding what Axe Cop would carry around.  My favorite part is how we now have three new fairies who have separate jobs, including the keyhole fairy.

Well, I am not going to blog a bunch because I want to get this thing posted.  I will mention that I received an early copy of this in the mail and it is the most beautiful book I have been involved in yet!  I can't wait for you to get your own copy when they hit shelves in October!  You can preorder on Amazon or TFAW now (tfaw makes us more money and gets you the book quicker)!

Also, new Bearmageddon page went up today as well. 

See you tomorrow with more Axe Cop (barely) Babysits Uni-Baby.

Ethan

Sorry for the late posting of this blog.  We switched to a new server last night and after a few hiccups in the transition I am finally able to post.  Today I bring you my first movie recommendations yet!  I am recommending to you two movies that go hand in hand.  Troll 2, and the movie that was made about Troll 2 called Best Worst Movie.  I am actually going to recommend BWM first, because I think that even if you are not a fan of really bad movies (and Troll 2 is very bad in the best way possible), BWM is the documentary made about the film 20 years later by the now all grown up guy who was the child actor and lead role in Troll 2.

The story goes that a movie called “Goblin” was made in Utah by some Italian film makers using inexperienced locals as actors.  It was eventually released as “Troll 2” even though there is not a single Troll in the entire movie.  The movie was listed as the very worst movie of all on RottenTomatoes.com.  But about 17 years after it was released in the 80's, it found a cult following that became very dedicated and enthusiastic.  The unknown actors who had been involved in the movie started being contacted by film festivals and screenings and it became a real phenomenon.  I have been to a Troll 2 theater screening and it's an awesome experience.  The movie delivers moment after moment, it is hilarious without ever meaning to be. 

So while all this is happening, the guy who played the kid in the original film was now a grown up film maker and decided to do a documentary about the whole thing.  He interviews all the people involved in the film and in so doing takes an amazing snap shot of the different kinds of characters you will find all over this earth, especially in the arts.  It is a true slice of life.

I see the film as comparing three kinds of artists.  There are people like the incredibly lovable actor George Hardy (now a Dentist in Alabama) who are dedicated hard workers but they have a realistic view of themselves and the world around them.  They can laugh at themselves, they can see outside themselves and they know that there is more to life than the art they are involved in.  They love art, but they love people too.  They love others and have some humility in their hearts.  Then there are people like the director of the film who have allowed their passion for being creative close them off from the rest of the world.  The man is dead serious, and he dogmatically sees his work as this Casa Blanca masterpiece.  He hates the laughing and he can not seem to see the humor or admit he made a terrible movie, and it is also obvious that he has a low view of other people. Like so many other artists I meet in this industry, he lets his craft make him believe he is some how on a higher level.  There are also the people who are just downright crazy- completely wrapped up in their own heads and lucidity is as far from them as you could imagine.  Their perception of reality could not be further from the truth.  Yet, the characters are all lovable, and they are all real.  It's fascinating and it is literally one of my all time favorite movies, and probably one of the only documentaries I would put in my list of top ten favorite films if I were to make such a list.  Trust me, if you see this movie you will get an instant man crush on George Hardy just like I did.

Troll 2 is available for Instant viewing on NetFlix.  If you are not big on bad horror films, maybe it won't be for you, but give it a try, and watch it with some friends who are in the mood to laugh.  If it's not for you, don't let that deter you from checking out Best Worst Movie.  It's hilarious and it's profound in many ways.  I absolutely love it and I have watched it and shared it with a lot of people.  I'm sort of a Best Worst Movie Evangelist.

Find out more about both films at www.BestWorstMovie.com

Also, Kris Straub of Chainsaw Suit and Starslip started a new podcast called “Humor Authority” and had me as his guest on the first episode.  You know how most of the interviews I do cover the same ground, ask the same questions and basically say the same thing?  Well this one goes off the beaten path quite a bit, though I will warn you it is probably PG-13 in its language. 

See you tomorrow with the next episode of Axe Cop Babysits Uni-Baby!

Ethan

P.S.  Sorry, the comments section is messed up right now, so until we get it fixed feel free to chime in on the Facebook Page.

This story could have just as easily been called “Axe Cop and Dinosaur go to Magic World”.  I actually had to call Malachai and try to get more Uni-Baby related story out of him because the story in the beginning literally was basically they lock her up ith the abusive cyborgs and go to Magic World.

As I mentioned at the end of yesterday's RecomMonday post (and please read it, this is one of my favorite things ever) I got to be Kris Straub's first guest on his new Humor Authority podcast.  We basically discussed comedy, creating comedy, trying to understand why things are funny and what works and doesn't work.  I think it was interesting if you are into that sort of talk, and Kris is a pretty dang funny guy.

I guess I better get to work on tomorrow's Ask Axe Cop.  Also, we are having some issues because we switched to a new server yesterday, so if you run into anything let me know.  Right now the thing we are trying to get fixed is the comments… you can't coment because it asks for a captcha entry but doesn't show you a captcha image.  Hopefully it will be fixed later today. 

Ethan

So here we are four pages into a story about Axe Cop babysitting Uni-Baby and already he has totally left his duties to a couple of abusive cyborgs.   Uni-Baby no doubt continues to cry and get punched by the cyborgs and Axe Cop just gallivants around Magic World. 

As I said yesterday, some people were pretty disturbed by the baby punching, and I only want to talk about it some more here because I sympathize with that view.  Some of the “goth” comics I was into in my early days of indie comics would have joke where little children were murdered or beaten or tortured and that crossed a line I could not partake in.  I couldn't laugh at a cartoon child being beaten to death, even though it was not real.  The concept in itself is not funny.

But that is because I make a distinction between men and women, children and adults, innocence and maturity, the strong and the weak.  Malachai does not make a lot of those distinctions.  His punching Uni-Baby is an equal opportunity policy.  He'll punch anyone in his comics because he is not thinking with the distinctions that come later, he is just thinking if you are annoying you get punched.  And he is not thinking psycho abusive step dad punch, he is thinking bugs bunny punch.  Punch and Judy punch. 

Malachai may not be making those distinctions, but I make the distinction that he is a child and I am an adult, so we will view these things differently.  I also know that Uni-Baby is a super baby.  She can survive explosions and suffer minor cuts and bruises. 

In general I am with the people who cringe at the baby hostility.  I find it reprehensible coming from an adult.  Those adults have made the distinction, and they have the full knowledge of the evil they are making light of.  Malachai isn't there yet.  So when we laugh at robots punching babies in the Axe Cop universe hopefully we are laughing at the way Malachai thinks in this instance and not literally at the suffering of a fictional infant.

There you go!  That was my Axe Cop Baby Punching Defense.  Have a good weekend and I'll see you next Tuesday! (unless you read Bearmageddon.  Then I'll see you tomorrow)

Ethan

Sometimes you have to steal.  Like when you find the perfect fireman axe and you have some dinosaurs to kill.  Homes may burn, but heads must fall.  Of course Axe Cop doesn't stop there, he helps the firemen figure out what they had been doing wrong all along.  They were trying to chop the fire.  They should have realized that doesn't work.  Fire doesn't have a head.  You can't chop it.  They were pretty shocked to find out how well water works instead.

People were a little disturbed yesterday when Axe Cop stuck uni-baby in a dark room and had her repeatedly punched in the face by cyborgs while he goofed off.  Well, I knew it wouldn't be popular, and I want to dig into why Malachai would come up with that a little more, but I will wait until tomorrow when I release the next episode of “Axe Cop Babysits Uni-Baby” wherein… you guessed it… he doesn't babysit her at all.  She just keeps getting punched.  I think someone needs to start standing up for baby's rights in the Axe Cop universe.

If you haven't yet joined the Axe Cop Documentary Facebook page or followed Twitter, please do.  They will be releasing various photos and video clips as they continue to document this crazy adventure Malachai and I are on.  They just posted a clip they put together to show some of the earliest footage they got with an interview with me about how Axe Cop came into being.  Check it out…

On another note, there is a new Bearmageddon page up today, so please give that a gander as well.  Thanks for stopping by!

Ethan