Giving away free comics, shirts and more at Wizard World Philly!!!

Wizard World Philly is fast approaching (May 30th to June 2nd) and this flock of wayward birds will be in attendance in artist alley, table 2309. To celebrate a great event, we are giving away tons of free comics, tee-shirts and other stuff, plus offering discount on purchases!!! Details:

Three times a day, Friday through Sunday, we will be handing out free books and t-shirts to lucky raffle winners. Winners will be drawn at 1, 3 and 5 (4 on Sunday), with at least one super-package consisting of 4 books and a t-shirt! No purchase necessary (except for once daily super-package drawing). Must be present to win. New tickets given out free daily!

Since not everyone can win, we are also offering a $1 discount off comics/books and a free t-shirt for any purchase over $25! Just present the attached coupon at the Wayward Raven table. Valid for all four days of the convention on any item.

Also, anyone who wears one of our shirts to the con will receive a free book! Shirts and other items can be purchased by clicking on our shop page.

Hotdog tour with @PantherPitt & @CBCebulski

So, I had a plan. That was my first problem... This last Friday, my friends Mark Frankel, C.B. Cebulski and Jimmy Keller had finally set in motion a hotdog tour of CT after months of trying to get our schedules to mesh. C.B. lives in NYC and travels the world so trying to lock him down is troublesome to say the least but he caught a train to Fairfield, CT that got him in around 5:30 pm. Mark works in NYC and had to get a later train so we all decided to meet when he got to Fairfield.

As I live near the train station, I walked through the throngs of suburbanites casting feigned smiles through the bright afternoon as the golden sunlight buried into my shoulders making me a slight bit uncomfortable. I am not a summer. I am a winter. And so you know, this is Joshua writing this. My bio is on the site.

All was going according to plan. C.B. was waiting at the station and we then went a block over to meet Jimmy at a place called Archie Moore's, a place for wings and reasonably priced happy hour drinks. This is a venue we have all been to many times over the years, so after a Sam Adams Summer Ale for me, we walked a block to a place called The Chelsea, a little more refined, a lot more crowded with women just off the tennis courts. Then it happened.

I got a text from Mark saying he was going to be late because his train was going backwards and C.B. had spotted on the TV hanging on the far corner of the bar that the Metro-North train had derailed near Bridgeport. There went the plan.

So what were we going to do? We couldn't continue on the hotdog tour without Mark.  A few rapid texts flung swiftly through the ether and a timetable for Mark's arrival presented us with a few option as the clock was ticking down. Then, consensus. We would meet Mark at the first stop, a place called Super Duper Weenie. It closed at 8:00 pm and was on the other side of town. Problem was that we had no ride, that was Mark's designation, so with feet burdened with disappointment, we clopped back to the train station to see if we could get a cab.  And....

No cabs. All gone.

What to do? What to do?

C.B., being the world traveler, is acclimated to such transportation quandaries and with a sharp decision went over to an airport shuttle service (a van really). With a few choice words, C.B. convinced him to momentarily obscure his duty to the passengers he was waiting for and take us across town, for a few bucks of course.  The highway was rife with ill tempered traffic but we got to Super Duper Weenie.

Though we were sad Mark could not participate, we indulged.

That was my California dog with a mixture of a basic Americanized Mexican  salsa and it was satisfactory. The cold salsa sort of overwhelmed the flavor of the meat proper so it was difficult to gauge the savory elements. The bun was toasted on the inside but not enough in my opinion. This place is good. I just made a bad decision. Wrong dog for the wrong time.

That would be C.B. above enjoying a variety of options. He seemed to enjoy the hotdogs but there was no exaltation. He's a tough sell though since he's been to every continent besides Antarctica and eaten just about everywhere. (Check out his blog eataku.com )

The cheese fries were fair. I prefer cheese sauces instead of just melting cheese on top.

A better look at C.B.'s choices. Wish I could say I remember, but I don't. All you need to know is Super Duper Weenie is a fine place. Most will enjoy it thoroughly but it is not the best CT. Not even the best in the town of Fairfield (that comes later in part two).

So after consuming the first course, we decided to consume a few potables of the hoppy kind and went in search of a place nearby to cleanse the palate. Yes, that's a euphemism.

At long last Mark meets up with us and we went to two places: The Merritt Canteen in Bridgeport where we actually met Miss Teen Puerto Rico (sorry I don't have any pics but Mark might in his posts) and Duchess.

That is Duchess where chilidogs were had by all.

Here's the Merritt Canteen with C.B. staring down that dog like it just challenged him to a dual.

A chilidog of mine. Simple and lovely. A hearty sauce combined with a mildly toasted bun gave just enough accompaniment to the hotdog. The hotdog gave just a little resistance when assailed by the incisors, which I liked. Not a huge fan of super soft, boiled, hotdogs but later on in the trip we had a couple that were nice. Sorry, I digress.

That is Mark's choice at the Merritt Canteen. Onions, mustard and relish I think. Can't be sure though because at this time the potables of a hoppy persuasion had begun its dance among the regions of harsh memory.

In the next installment, I will tell the tale of sangria, how we lost one of our travelers, and found the hotdogs we were looking for as well as surprise that put smiles on us remaining.  Mark will be posting his recollections as well. That's Blackie's down there. Just so you know. Until next time... Cheers!

Damn Heroes Fun Book!!!

There comes a time in the life of every web comic, where each strip is painstakingly collected, touched up, reformatted and bound into a paperback bound book. Given that Damn Heroes is a weekly strip that's barely a year old, Mark and I decided to get lazy...uh...creative! [clears throat]

Um...Anyway, we'd like to take this moment to introduce to you the Damn Heroes Fun Book. Inside you'll find more than just any collection of comic strips on dead tree flesh. No sir (or ma'am, because we don't discriminate) you'll find something better; twenty four pages of non-stop, brain taxing fun! You'll also find some of our favorite strips, along with a lots more fun games and puzzles!

It is available now through CreateSpace, just click here to buy the Damn Heroes Fun Book. Or if you stop by our table (number 2309) at Wizard World Philadelphia from 5/30 to 6/2, you can pick up a copy signed by Mark and Alex.

Here's a sample page:

New Location for Boston Comic Con

The Boston Comic Con has been rescheduled to a new venue, the World Seaport Trade Center, and will be held on August 3/4.  We've updated our events page with details.

Boston Comic Con 2013

Quick Down and Dirty Iron Man 3 Review

On Tuesday I was fortunate enough to get a ticket to an advanced screening of Iron Man 3. I'm sure that you can imaging my excitement to get a little peek before the rest of the world lines up to see it (if you can't, then let me help you. Very, very high!). I was asked to share some of my thoughts here and am happy to oblige. Please forgive me if it is a little more terse than I might normally like, but this has already been a busy week. We are gearing up for Free Comic Book Day (more to come on that soon) and so much of my time has been focused on those preparations. Okay, let’s not play around anymore and just get right to the heart of things. Should you go see this movie? Of course you should go see this movie! What, didn’t you see the first two? Don’t like big budget action flicks with awesome 3D graphics and concert quality sounds? Don’t like a wisecracking superhero who is both brilliant and yet very human in his failings? Well, I guess there are movie out there for folks like you, but they probably include weak love-struck vampires or Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan complaining and doing absolutely nothing for 90 minutes. If that’s the case, what are you doing reading this blog?

Now that I’ve got that off my chest, let me say that I don’t do spoilers. If you are the kind of person that wants me to ruin the movie for you, go somewhere else. I don’t even like watching too much of the trailers in case they give it all away. Far better to just immerse yourself in the movie and the moment.

Once again Robert Downey Jr. played the part of Tony Stark to a tee. Perfectly snarky, in the face of both danger and the common citizen (the scenes with the kid are great - makes me wish I had a potato gun), he elicits laughs throughout the entire picture, many at times that will surprise the audience. He also shows frailty and humanity well, even (gasp!) admitting some failures. If you liked him in the first two (and of course the Avengers), he has driven the role home deeper. It’s tough to imagine Stark as anyone else.

But what about the bad guy? I want to know about the bad guy! Fine, fine, keep your pants on. Ben Kingsley does a mean Mandarin. And I do mean mean. The cowl, the beard, the voice. He’ll scare Homeland Security into an immediate lockdown. Kingsley played his entire part very, very well.

And the supporting cast? Once again, solid. Gwyneth Paltrow reprises her role of Pepper perfectly, as does Don Cheadle as War Machine, er excuse me, Iron Patriot. Guy Pearce’s transition from bumbling scientist to something much more sinister was well done. Tack on a cadre of nasty underlings and Tony has himself in one heck of a predicament. Just make sure you brace yourself for one heck of an action packed sequence at the end that might even surprise you a bit in its outcome.

So were there any problems with Iron Man 3? I’m sure some of the hardcore fans will pick some things apart, but if you are looking for a movie with constant action, comedy and a couple cool plot twists, it is totally worth some of your hard earned cash. Go see Iron Man 3, you won’t be disappointed.

-Mark