GOTHAM CITY - A dark night in a city that keeps its secrets.

But one man is still trying to find the answers to life’s persistent questions…

Guy No- wait, no. Cash Money!

I love me a good mystery and I love it even more when it’s 90% shadows and fedoras.  A femme fatale, a dangling cigarette, and some chopper-wielding gunsels hanging off the running-boards and I’m raring to go.

Let’s take any of your classic flat-foot sleuths, replace his trench-coat with a black cape and change his Stetson into a cowl and you get this week’s feature:

BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN

Written by Jeff “The Guy Who Writes Heroes” Loeb

Illustrated by Tim “Cash’s Favorite Comics Guy” Sale

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Tags: Aesthetiophilia, Uncategorized by Cash Money
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PORTLAND, OREGON - There is no secret to drawing comics.  Draw all your female characters with odd proportions, have them wear skin-tight outfits with their boobs hanging out, then have all the dudes have their teeth clenched, make sure they have a dark past that has come back to haunt them, punch a few dudes.

Done and done.

Everyone goes home with an Warner Brother’s animated series with Mickey Rourke in a villain role for your sequel.

[lights cigar with $100]

[puts feet on desk]

[gloats]

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art

Written & Illustrated by Scott McCloud

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Tags: Uncategorized by Cash Money
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COAST CITY – One of the biggest stigmas still attached to comics is that they are low brow.  Uncouth. Degenerate.

Like this.

But it’s not all like that. Yes, sadly, much of comicbookery is very smart and very interesting and very, very well illustrated.  Many comics have won prestigious literary awards and run the gamut of subject matter including social commentary, political commentary, and sexual commentary (and the boobs implied therein) – yes, comics have it all.  It’s not all about men in tights and improbably proportioned women.

That said, comics featuring these men and women can be used to express the same high-falutin’, literary, socio-political drama.  And, apparently, they can be made in using gouache.  This is perhaps most true in my second recommendation:

Kingdom Come

Written by Mark Waid, Esq.

Illustrated by the Rt. Hon. Alex Ross

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Tags: Aesthetiophilia, Pictoriphilia by Cash Money
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200 WEST 40th STREET – Ohhhhh, comics.  I love ya, I love ya.  After a long day of making grim decisions and dealing with mankind, it’s so nice to pick up a glossy folio where all of life is reduced to GOOD and BAD.   A copy of Secret Six, a Singapore Sling, maybe some Call me Poupée, and I’m a happily anesthetized little, fuzzy, man-child.

Ho ho.  Good times in the Money Manse.

But not everyone loves comics the way I love comics.  And that is terrible.

No worries, though, I -as ever- am here to help.

Over the next five (5) weeks I’ll bring you a few general tips and some specific recommendations to get you and keep you into comics once and for all.

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Tags: Aesthetiophilia, Pictoriphilia by Cash Money
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Right. Not exactly anime, I know.

Perhaps I’ve been overly influenced by the fact that a new comics store opened only three blocks away from me recently, but I’ve been on a tear through Transmetropolitan, DMZ, and The Walking Dead these last few weeks. And by tear my inference is that entire days, nay, whole weekends at a time have succumbed to their inky goodness.

Needless to say, my wallet hates me.

Then again, it probably hates you too. But that’s inconsequential. You’re not chained to the thing.

For me at least though, I enjoy the sheer physicality of holding a trade collection, or a book for that matter,  down to the smell of the ink and even paper cuts. Antiquated, I know. But coming across a recent tweet announcing that Joss Whedon’s X-men was going all moving picturish on Hulu put me in mind of this. It’s a remarkable example of the successful convergence of forms. A moving comic. Not animated mind you, simply moving. And frankly, the outcome is really pretty stunning.

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Tags: Aesthetiophilia, Pictoriphilia, Videophilia by Etruscan
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BASEMENT OF THE SCIENCE BUILDING – It’s October and that means there have been very few reasons to get out of bed these days. The only one I can think of has been the promised return of “The Venture Brothers” on Adult Swim.

If you haven’t seen it yet, I really can’t say as we’re going to be friends… ever… but I will at least extend you the courtesy to you by of saying:

<<Warning, Potential Spoilers. Dingdong>>

During the first episode of this, our fourth season, entitled, “Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel,” you may have noticed some kinda cockamamie bar that would butt in on occasion [kaching!] with the labels “CGC Rating” followed by a number, a letter or two, and a dollar amount. Like this:

[kaching!]

I was left scratching my head for a long time and at first I thought it was some sort of FCC thing where the writers were predicting how much they’d be fined for this episode and that leads us to our titular question:
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Tags: Aesthetiophilia, Videophilia by Cash Money
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