APPARENTLY I'M SUPERMAN

Ordinarily I hate these cutesy litttle online quizzes, but I couldn't resist this one 'cause it's superheroes and I'm a big dweeb.

You basically just answer a lot of really obviously leading questions (i.e. "Do you like redheads?") and it tells you which superheroes you are most akin to.

To be honest, I'm not surprised that I came out 90% Superman 'cause I'm such a sucker for outdated concepts like "truth, justice and the American way" (similarly, I'm certain that if this were a Star Wars quiz I'd come out as Luke as opposed to Han Solo).

I'm somewhat taken aback by the fact that I'm 25% Catwoman and Wonder Woman... I'm not sure how I should feel about that...

The most pleasant surprise, though, was that apparently I'm 85% Spider-Man... so I am most alike my two favorite superheroes! Excelsior!

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 90% Spider-Man 85% Iron Man 60% Green Lantern 55% Robin 55% Supergirl 50% Batman 35% Hulk 35% Catwoman 25% Wonder Woman 25% The Flash 20%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

'CLEAN IS HAPPY'

If ever there were a time to stop by Leigh's Blog it is NOW.
Just do it. Trust me.

HOT MEXICAN LOVE 2007 IS HERE!

I know it's been torture since the last edition of HOT MEXICAN LOVE COMICS came out in which Leigh and I did our first comic-strip collaboration ("Don't Drink the Water: The Ballad of Jerry Montezuma") - but rest easy, true believers, for your agonizing wait is OVER - HOT MEXICAN LOVE COMICS 2007 is HERE and ready to exchange your cold-hard-cash for a big whopping book full of laughs, courtesy of animation's most under-rated talent!
This go-round Leigh spins another agua-themed yarn in rhyme called "Something in the Water" with illustrations by yours truly.
Here's a tease:

If you can't make it to the Comic-Con, be sure to stop by HERE and order it straight from the source!
Ariba!

I WAS RIGHT THE FIRST TIME - THE TRANSFORMERS LIVE-ACTION MOVIE IS HORRIBLE

Unfortunately I don't have time to go into all of the reasons that the new 'Transformers' movie is just painfully awful - but trust me on this: it IS painfully awful.
You may recall a few months ago I predicted that it would probably suck
I made my assumption after reading an interview with the film's director and producers in which they rambled on and on about how important the human characters are to the story blah blah blah blah.
But then the trailers started looking cooler and cooler, so I changed my mind
Alas, however, I was sadly right the first time.
Here are some impressions I got after watching this movie:
- Michael Bay hates 'Transformers'. Clearly, this was a project he took on because he's directed so many flops in a row... but make no mistake: he HATES all of the things that make 'Transformers' entertaining.
He's jammed this movie with about four thousand human characters that eat up so much screen that there seemed to be no time to focus on the characters we actually wanted to see... namely, THE FRIGGIN' TRANSFORMING ROBOTS THAT THE MOVIE IS NAMED AFTER! Bay spends insane amounts of screen time exploring the inner motivations of the most peripheral human characters and none whatsoever on the robot characters (you know - those pesky robot characters that have kept this franchise popular for over two decades).
- Michael Bay hates voice actors: Get this... at the beginning of the movie, one of the main human characters ("Sam"... who, in the original cartoon was named "Spike" - one of Bay's inexplicably lateral changes) goes to a used car lot... standing in front of the lot is a guy in a filthy clown suit holding one of those "BIG SALE" signs... this clown has one line and is on-screen for about 3 seconds and yet, in the end credits, the guy playing this clown got billing FAR ABOVE Peter Cullen - THE VOICE OF OPTIMUS PRIME!
- Michael Bay can't tell a story: If it weren't for expositional narration, Bay would clearly be up a creek without a paddle. Characters are constantly TELLING us what is happening, what's going to happen and what has happened in the past. Obviously, Bay thought it would be too much work to actually SHOW us stuff, so he has his beloved actors jabber on and on to give us the information we need.
Optimus Prime narrates "Our world was ravaged by war"... hm... gee... an antire planet of robots at war? That would be cool to see! Oh, but that would cost money - and lord knows we need that money to pay for Bernie Mac's cameo.
Minor plotpoints are spoon-fed to the audience with excruciating detail while major narrative devices are breezed over without the slightest bit of explanation ("If all else fails, put the cube in my chest, and that will fix everything"... um... okay, but WHY?! What does that DO? Help me, Michael Bay!).
Look, I could go on and on. The bottom line is that the movie was terrible, Michael Bay has cemented his reputation as a hack and I paid $14 to let these idiots ravage one of my favorite childhood mythologies.
Dreamworks should have gotten some up-and-coming director to helm this picture (ala Sam Raimi or Peter Jackson), but instead they threw a boatload of cash into a big pile and let Michael Bay burn it to the ground.
Any one episode of the original TV cartoon is a million times better than this movie - so don't bother.
Dare... Dare to believe.

THE BUNNY FILM

When I was in college, I had a roommate named Vinnie... he was one of those guys who loved movies, and loved making backyard films. Sure, lots of people do stuff like that, but Vinnie did a film with his brother Andy that - as far as I'm concerned - is one of those rare gems in which art, entertainment, comedy and tragey all merge into something truly wonderful.
It was known, simply, as "The Bunny Film" - and it is my immense pleasure to showcase it here:

Andy, you are not forgotten.

THERE'S NO SHAME IN SHAME

Look, I kinda resigned a while ago that I wasn't gonna use my blog for socio-political rants any more (Leigh does it much better than I), but with a lot of the things that are happening in America today, I think it's high time we revive a handy little emotional device that used to help keep the country a little more orderly: SHAME.
What got me thinking about this was hearing a news story about a man who is suing his dry cleaner for $65,000,000.00 because they lost his pants (whether this is 100% true or not is moot... we all know that these types of lawsuits happen all the time, so just stay with me here). Isn't this jagoff ashamed of himself for clogging up the judicial system with this nonsense? And shouldn't the judge be a LOT more pissed off that he's spending his time on something this douche-y? Don't some of these lawyers ever think to themselves "Y'know, to take this case would be kinda shameful"?
(on a side-note, Leigh and I were watching 'Fast Times at Ridgemont Hight' the other night, and it made me wish that every judge in America was just like Mr. Hand - but I digress)
Whenever Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan or any of these other celeb-u-tards get wasted and crash their cars into telephone poles, they always release these written-by-professional-spin-doctor statements that say things like "I have learned a lot and I thank my fans for their support." How about saying something like "I was WRONG and I am ASHAMED of my behavior and I WILL take whatever steps necessary to repair whatever damage I've done." You just never get that sense of REMORSE from them. They all need a really solid, healthy dose of shame.
I think our culture has convinced itself that while we may make mistakes, we're under no obligation to feel ashamed of them.
I'm not saying that we should spend the rest of our lives punishing ourselves for our transgressions, but shame is a valuable tool that - if properly used - prevents us from MAKING THE SAME BONEHEADED MISTAKES AGAIN.
Look, I'm as guilty of this as anybody... but as I get older I realize that the resistence to admitting a wrongdoing is really gutless. It takes a LOT more strength to suck it in and say "Ya know, I screwed up... and I'm ashamed of it, and I'm sorry for it" than it does to dodge responsibility and feign righteousness.
I've done lots of things that I'm ashamed of in my life... and, when I'm lucky, the sting of shame prevents me from repeating them or doing equally dumb shit. "Shame" is one of your brain's ways of keeping you from being a total dick.
Take pride in your shame... it's there to help.

FOR SALE: T-SHIRTS! HATS! UNDERWEAR!

That's right... I'm going all out and becoming a full-fledged WHORE! SO GO HERE NOW AND BUY STUFF:

Come visit my store on CafePress!

First amazing item for sale: DORKWEAR!

The gals will flock to you, you sexy beast, when you attend your local comic book, sci-fi or phantasy convention adorned in a classy-as-hell hoodie, sweatshirt, t-shirt, ballcap or even boxer shorts (wrrooooOOWRRRrr!)!!!
And, ladies... what better way to send a loud-and-clear message about what you're looking for in a REAL MAN?! Yes, you too can have this little gem of an image on a pair of panties printed just for you!
Need something to carry those bagged-and-boarded back issues of 'GREEN LANTERN'? NO PROBLEM! We got your back, jackson! You can also get the 'BIG DORK' on a tote bag! Oh RAPTURE!

More items to come from Fountains' Pen Productions! Check back often! Buy stuff constantly!

LET'S TALK ABOUT CARTOONS!

Actually, let's not... it seems as though I get at least two e-mails a day showing me some web site or another where people are screaming at each other about cartoons. I mean, I love cartoons too, but... sheesh...
The second most common - yet absolutely topmost baffling - e-mail I get is from folks who want to ask me "How do I get my own cartoon idea picked up?"
Now, please don't get me wrong... I'm flattered that folks would think to ask me this, and I'm grateful to all who grace my humble little blog with their presence (truly, honestly)... but the fact remains: I don't have a show of my own... so how would I know? Most of my career has been spent working on OTHER peoples' shows (and bless their hearts for letting me).
I've had two of my ideas "optioned" before (that is, a studio buys the POSSIBILITY of making the show) but the chasm betwixt getting something optioned and getting it on the air is vast and fraught with many trials.
A lot of times, it's that last little PUSH at the end of the journey that is the most difficult, and I've yet to make it past that point. Fortunately, the process of developing a show is, on a creative level anyway, pretty fun... so while it can be daunting and exhausting, it gives you an excuse to write and draw stuff that you wouldn't have otherwise.
The scant bit of "wisdom" I can pass on with regard to pitching shows is:
1) If you won't be able to say "Well, I had fun trying" when your idea gets passed on, then don't do it.
2) Even if you win the "option-lottery", don't go around telling everyone you've got your own show until it's well into its third season.
3) Have more than one idea. If you can't come up with more than one idea, how do you expect to make several seasons of a TV show?
4) Don't fall into the trap of self-pity if your pitch gets rejected. Your only "enemy" is the same enemy that everyone involved with pop-culture must face: the fickle mood of the general public. You think Bobby McFerrin doesn't wish his music was still popular? You think his lack of chart-topping hits over the past couple of decades is due to his age or a corporate plot to keep his style of music off the radio? No... the public dictated that it was finished with him, and that was that. So when your idea gets rejected, it's not because anybody's out to "get" you, it's because the studio doesn't think it will hit. End of story. Chin up, move on and try again.
Finally, but most importantly...
5) Enjoy life. If the alpha and omega of your happiness hinges on your ability to get a cartoon, you're missing out on a lot of great stuff in life. Now go outside and look at some stars (or trees or whatever) until you get things back into perspective.

THE RETURN OF LEIGH'S BLOG!

For months now folks have been pestering me about what happened to Leigh's blog (what? my constant ranting about 'Transformers' isn't GOOD enough for you?!), so I am happy to announce that she has returned to the world of online commentary.
If you've never visited it before, do so and check out the past columns as well as the new ones. They're a fun read and, often, strangely cathartic in their vehemence. Click on the link at the left and, by all means, Enjoy!
http://leighhope.blogspot.com/

OKAY, I TAKE IT BACK!!!

Look, I REALLY don't have time for the 'blogosphere' right now (I hate that term, but what else am I gonna call it?)... I owe about a million people e-mails, I'm so far behind on everything it's idiotic, but I have to take a moment to say this...
THE TRANSFORMERS MOVIE LOOKS LIKE IT'S GONNA BE REALLY F'ING COOL!!!!
I know, I know, I'm a complete dork, but lordie help me but I love robots. Let alone great big fighting robots who transform into vehicles!
Anyway, I felt the need to say this since I wrote a really snotty blog several months ago about how little faith I had in the movie, but every preview that comes out looks cooler and cooler.
I don't have time to do one of my lame sketches or anything, so here's a photo from the Transformers movie website of 'Jazz' - one of my favorite transformers.

MY FIRST 'STAR WARS' DRAWING

...a request from the last post by my friend Vinnie:
"I'd love to see you post the drawing of R2D2 you did as a child and once showed me and Jen."
...so here it is!

I did this drawing in my kindergarten class after having seen (and completely freaked out for) STAR WARS the night before.
R2D2 was, instantly, my favorite character of the movies and still is to this day.
Unfortunately this scan isn't from the original (I'm not positive if the original exists any more) but this is a (get this) DITTO my teacher did of the drawing. I'm told that after I drew the original, a bunch of kids in class were asking me to make one for them - so out of pity for my little fingers, my kindergarten teacher mercifully ran off a bunch of dittos so that everyone in class could have one.
This same teacher got me a scholarship at the Kalamazoo Art Center that year... ironically, her husband taught one of my art classes when I went to college. Weird.
Anyway, this one's for you, Vince... enjoy!

CRANIUM ANECDOTE

LEFT: R2D2 by Leigh Hope Fountain RIGHT: Tie Fighter by John Fountain

A couple of weekends ago, Leigh and I played 'Cranium' with some friends... one of the little mini-games within the game called 'Quickdraw' requires both teams to do a sketch (with their EYES CLOSED) based on a word given to them on a card... basically, it's like charades but it's done with drawings.
Anyway, Leigh and I were pitted against each other and the word on our card was "STAR WARS". Go figure.
Everyone playing the game was/is a huge Star Wars fan, and - despite what she will tell you - Leigh is also very good at drawing... nonetheless, my teammate and I were both storyboard artists and had spent countless hours of our youth drawing Star Wars stuff over and over and over and over and over again... and, for whatever reason, everyone I know who grew up drawing Star Wars stuff always recalls the Tie Fighter as being one of the most memorable. Actually, the reasons seem very simple in retrospect: It was easy to draw. Suffice it to say, my teammate and I won that round (much to the surprise of Leigh and her teammate). The funny thing is, when you look at both drawings, Leigh's is inarguably better than my peice of shit. Mine just happened to get the message across faster. The Tie Fighter's basic shape is so iconic, unique and simple that it instantly says "STAR WARS!" Sure, R2D2 has a simple shape as well, but he could easily look like a trash can or stick of deodorant or something... it isn't until you depict all of the little buttons and panels on him that he begins to look unique whereas the only thing that resembles a Tie Fighter is a Tie Fighter.
Anyway, I dunno what my point is... but Leigh's R2D2 drawing is now one of my favorite drawings in the universe. I fully intend to have it framed.

NEW COMICS BLOG!

Hey, you nutty funsters...
Before I get back to the business of waxing nostalgiac, I want to point out that I've started yet ANOTHER blog, specifically for posting random comics I've done.
http://fountainspencomics.blogspot.com/
This site (linked on the sidebar over yonder) will be my dumping ground for all kinds of comics, including stuff I did in college alongside current stuff. It's a gumbo of comic goodness!!!
Check it out.
Here's a sample:

STILL MORE SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION

I dunno what prompted this sudden surge of attention, but anyway - but since FREDERATOR has been airing 'The Tantrum' this week, the blog site for the Fred empire is currently running three (yes THREE) interviews with me. One about 'Teenage Robot', one about 'The Tantrum' and one about my career in general.
Two of the features were written by my blog-buddy Jeaux "The Freakishly Talented Artist" in my links.

Anyway, check them out if you feel so inclined:

http://newtoons.frederator.com/post/3678

http://newtoons.frederator.com/post/3674

http://newtoons.frederator.com/post/2717

In the interest of giving you a taste, one of the common questions I get asked a lot is "Who are your influences?" - so here's a snippet from one of the interviews asking this question:

Ah, my influences... I could thank them and damn them in the same breath.
One of the things that has been both a blessing and a curse in my career is that my influences are all over the map, so-to-speak. I believe that is in large part responsible for the fact that I've never focused on one style of drawing or storytelling and consequently, my work has been called 'undisciplined'.
Anyhow, here's a partial list:
Film: George Lucas- perhaps the greatest overall artistic influence in
my life.
Television: Jim Henson- 'Sesame Street' and 'The Muppet Show'.
Music: Peter Gabriel- a genius that will likely never receive nearly
enough credit for his brilliant innovations in music and multimedia.
Comics: Kyle Baker, Evan Dorkin, Robert Crumb and many others.
Comic Strips: Charles Schulz, Berke Breathed, George Herriman, Bill Griffith, Bill Watterson, Gary Larson, Patrick McDonnell and many others.
Painting: Picasso, Magritte, Dali, Munch and many others.
Literature: J.R.R. Tolkien, Moliere, Douglas Adams, Greek Mythology, the Bible and virtually any books pertaining to philosophy.
Animation: Obviously, Walt Disney, Chuck Jones, Tex Avery and all of the masters. Nick Park and Aardman... Over the course of the past 20 years, I've been increasingly influenced by anime - specifically the works of Miyazaki and anything from Gainax.
Some of the most important influences in my animation career however have been people that I've worked with and call my friends - Shawn Murray, Chris Graham, Ira Sherak, Louie del Carmen, Rudi Berden, Ian Graham, Rob Goodin and many others. If these guys hadn't let me peek over their shoulders while they worked, I'd have drowned in animation ignorance LONG ago.

Thanks once again to Fred and his vast network of hench-people for the recognition.
Be sure to visit Jeaux's site and support his work.
Have a nice day.

SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION: THE TANTRUM

We interrupt our tale of nostalgia to bring you some shameless self-promotion in the form of THE TANTRUM...
For those of you who are unaware, Fred Seibert is one of the biggest producers in the animation business (he also co-founded a little basic cable station called Mtv).
One of his more recent ventures into world conquest are his cartoon podcasts and his 'Channel Frederator' site... to learn more, go here:

http://www.channelfrederator.com

An eternity ago when I first started working at Nickelodeon, 'Oh Yeah! Cartoons' was going into its 3rd (and final season). 'OY!C' was, essentially, the pitri dish in which many of Nickelodeon's new series were spawned (including The Fairly Oddparents, Chalk Zone and My Life as a Teenage Robot - all of which I have directed and/or storyboarded at some point or another).
I had pitched about a half a dozen ideas for 'OY!C' and they were all rejected (with good reason). But after lots of trial and error, I came up with this little gem of a kid superhero character (long before the current onslaught of kid superhero characters) and, much to my overwhelming joy, it was approved (unlike a lot of Nickelodeon pilots, what was nice about 'OY!C' was that it was basically Fred's baby and he made the picks personally - eliminating the usual red-tape that new cartoons have to go through to get picked up... plus, the shorts were created specifically to air on the show whereas many cartoon pilots never see the light of day).
Fast forward to today, and Fred is running a bunch of the shorts from 'OY!C' on his podcast, and this week's feature is my little 7-minute story, 'The Tantrum.'
This was the first cartoon I'd ever created, produced, designed, written, directed, storyboarded and - yes - voiced (I'm the voice of The Tantrum himself). Consequently, I sort of consider this my 'student film' insomuch as I am proud of it for what it is, but I've learned a lot since then.

Anyway, enjoy my humble little cartoon.



By the way, it's interesting to note that Nickelodeon wound up buying the rights to this idea from me and tested it for a series pickup. Obviously it never got a series deal, but I was pretty stoked that my first film actually recieved such serious consideration.

A DECADE IN CALIFORNIA - PART 1: Getting Here In One Piece

(I did this drawing the day I arrived in California for the first time - 10 years ago this month)


Boy, I hope you ingrates appreciate this (but then, I suppose if you're ingrates, there's no chance that you'll appreciate it)... I could be playing 'God of War 2' right now, but instead I'm taking this EXTREMELY rare moment of free time to actually DO something with my blog (besides use it as a dumping ground for doodles, that is).
As of this month, it's been ten whole years since I moved from Michigan to California, and I thought it would be interesting (for me, that is... it's going to be a snooze-fest for you) to dig up some of my journals and sketchbooks from that time and wallow in nostalgia for the events that surrounded my life at the time.

At the risk of this little retrospective taking forever and a day, I'll spare you the gory details of what prompted me to move out here, but here are some of the circumstances I was dealing with:
- lost my job in Ann Arbor... had searched all over Michigan for another one in ANY kind of art field with no success
- had nearly $80,000 in debt with student loans and other various shady deals
- had never driven outside of Michigan by myself before and never really wanted to
- knew only TWO people in the entire state of California
- was scared shitless

For those of you who don't know me very well, allow me to make one aspect of my personality abundantly clear: I DO NOT LIKE ADVENTURE!
I had always pictured myself living in Michigan forever while working at little commercial production studios until I 'made it' as a syndicated cartoonist or underground comic book artist (HA!). I had absolutely NO desire to leave the confines of my limited little world.
And yet, when the well of animation work in Michigan ran dry, I was faced with the notion of either becoming one of those dudes who lives with his parents his whole life, or taking a real risk for the first time in my sheltered midwestern life and actually leaving the proverbial nest.

I knew virtually nothing about the actual animation industry, but I figured that given half a chance I might be useful as a character designer. I figured it was a choice between New York or L.A., and even though I would have preferred NY, I had two friends in San Diego who offered to let me stay with them until I found a job (bless your hearts, Anne and Ed).

Thus, I sold everything of mine I could bear to part with (including a bunch of comics), put the rest in my parents basement, drove around Michigan to say goodbye to everyone and hit the open road.

As inexperienced as I was with travel and such things, I have always been something of an obsessive compulsive organizer... so, suffice it to say, I was not about to leave anything to chance on this trip, so I took detailed notes about what to take and where to go... here are some samples from my journals at the time:


(click on the images to enlarge them)



During week I actually left, Michigan got hit with one of its worst winters ever. I was driving around in an almost complete whiteout. It almost seemed as though the weather was testing my resolve. On top of that, I had a positively wretched sinus infection that made it painful to breathe. I was given these enormous horse-pills by my doctor to help clear the infection, but I am unable to swallow pills (that's a whole other story entirely), so I had to chew them... 3 times a day for about 2 weeks. They were awful.

Anyway, as I said, blizzards engulfed Michigan that month, so getting out of the state was taking WAY longer than I had expected... I was literally about 5 miles away from the border when I got pulled over by a state trooper for speeding (I'm certain I wasn't going more than 7 MPH over the limit, but because of the snow and ice he wasn't too forgiving). The roads were deserted, and I explained to him that I was leaving the state - probably forever - hoping that it would sway him to just give me a warning and let me go. No dice. So my last 'goodbye' from the state of Michigan was a $200 speeding ticket. Great. I was already broke and in debt up to my eyeballs... I really didn't need this.

It was one of those situations where it would have seemed very easy to just turn around, go back home, live with mom and dad until my debts were down a little and maybe try this another time when circumstances weren't so daunting... it was a crossroads and, for the first time in my life, I took the road less travelled.

And, as cliche'd as it sounds, that's made all the difference...

More later...

NO TIME FOR BLOGGING

Well, our internet is working again (finally!). Nonetheless,Leigh and I have been constantly busy for the past couple of months, so with that in mind I present to you two REALLY OLD single-panel comics I did for my college newspaper, The Western Herald. My first comic strip, 'Fountain's Pen,' ran during the fall and winter semesters (the busy period) and was an actual narrative that was semiautobiographical (just like every other kid's college comic strip... I'll post some someday), but the summer newspaper was significantly smaller, so I crapped out a single-panel strip that was just meant to be surrealistic and weird. Yes, I was ripping off 'The Far Side' (in my own way)... practically everything I did from that time in my life was very transparently influenced by stuff I liked (the stuff I do now is just as derivitive, I've just gotten slightly better at hiding it). Looking back at these two strips, though, I'm pleased with how 'almost original' they are. I had intended on doing a whole boatload of 'The Secret Life of ----' strips, but then I accidentally graduated and those fascists at The Herald had this kooky rule that you had to be an enrolled student to contribute to the student newspaper. Bastards.
You can click on the image to make it bigger.

MARRIED!

Howdy, gang! Sorry it's been so long since we've had any updates here, but between starting new jobs(!), buying a house(!!), and getting married(!!!) Leigh and I have been stretched to our limits lately.
Plus, we're having major internet problems that require new hardware and all kinds of crap. I have to sit outside by our garage with the laptop just to write this update. It's a pain, but all things considered it's a small price to pay.
We both love our new jobs, the house is wonderful and the wedding was a blast... so we're both sitting on top of the world right now! I'll spare you the details since I know it's annoying to hear someone go on and on about how great life is.
I'll get back to the routine of putting up watercolors of fat guys and talking about robots sooner than you probably would have liked. So stay tuned!

LOVE IS STILL IN THE AIR

On February 17th last year I got engaged... on February 17th this year - this Saturday - I'll be getting married to the most wonderful woman on Earth.
I don't care how gooey all this sounds... everyone reading this should envy me.
Happy Valentine's Day.

REVIEW OF HOT MEXICAN LOVE COMICS

Apparently HOT MEXICAN LOVE COMICS #3 - which features a story by Leigh and I - was reviewed here:

http://comicmaker.blogspot.com

Mucho thanks to the Comic Makers, but you should have mentioned how great 'DON'T DRINK THE WATER' by Leigh Hope Phillips and John Fountain is.

But we'll forgive your oversight.

Anyway, give this site a visit and the review a listen.

I have nothing of interest to say today.