SPOILERS: And Now...For Mr. Anonymous's Finale....

When it came time to give the last spoiler, I wondered: how could I extend this. How could I make this a chore for people to get the info again in a more obtrusive way than having to just highlight random gaps in paragraphs?

The last Skrull I have to reveal...

I figured it out: a lengthy embedded video.

...is...wait for it...

So, here you go:

...in the vlog, you cheating lazy bum.

SCHWAPP!!! Comics Week 27: Gunplay #0

Jorge Vega's GUNPLAY...better than COWBOYS AND ALIENS, but not sure just how much better as of yet...

SCHWAPP!!! Comics Week 27: All Star Superman #10

Grant Morrison...Frank Quitely...All Star Superman. If I gush about it here, I ruin the verbal blow job in the video...

SCHWAPP!!!@TheMovies: In Bruges

IN BRUGES is destined to be one of the top five movies to come out this year, which is completely unexpected with the outward appearance of being a Colin Farrell movie. Further examination shows you that the movie is just as much Brendan Gleeson's, with a decent helping of Ralph Fiennes and a midget (no offense...just going with the vernacular of the movie, folks).

(Editor's Note: the camera I shot this with was terrible, but rather than shoot it again, I went with it by adding some effects)

SCHWAPP!!! Comics Week 27: Bohda Te

I happened upon this strange sounding book when ordering my comics for the month and was rewarded with the quirkiest, dry humor weirdfest of a cartoon strip that I've ever stumbled upon. Bohda Te is worth a look if you get the chance.

Why Provide Spoilers?

At first, I provided the spoilers given to me by Mr. Anonymous because I strongly dislike the way this Marvel_b0y viral campaign has been pulled off. It is another marketing strategy that takes things to a new level of dishonesty. When you spew as much bile and venom as this viral marketing campaign has done (opt-in or not), there will be collateral damage. The fans become yelling, screaming, stressed, and insulted pawns in your game to make a few extra bucks.

Not in this spot...

Mr. Anonymous, himself, would probably never have stepped up to give me these spoilers if not for Marvel_b0y giving out the occasionally wrong info and being a douche.

Or in this one...

Marvel has since toned it down a bit and the only one getting lumped on is Marvel_b0y himself. It has led me to sit back and rethink things.

Oh...did you think it'd be here?

For instance: I really like Bendis. The guy AND his work. I'm sure he's not digging this...unless I'm just being played like a cheap violin by Marvel, which is entirely possible. But the anecdotal evidence I'm getting from reader reactions is that the spoilers are making them more excited and look forward to buying the product.

Still checking?

Which isn't to say that justifies anything. Yet I haven't been contacted by anyone at Marvel or anyone involved with the book to ask for the spoilers to be pulled down. The e-mail has always been out there to contact me. I've received nothing.

Nope...nothing here.

On top of that, there's the demonstrated history of Rich Johnston posting spoilers of Marvel product without any cease and desist or any obvious damage to the Marvel/CBR relationship. This would pretty much counter any argument they could try to make legally if they wanted to come after me. In order to have full legal protection of an intellectual property, you have to be consistent in how you defend it. So...you can't get too far coming after a blogger for something that you were so tolerant of previously that you've had your EiC grant multi-part event interviews to a site that has run spoilers for your product in the past (and continues to do so). Rich even posted a bit of script to confirm that he actually read an Astonishing X-Men story in advance. That's right...if Marvel brings the thunder, I'll be using the "Chewbacca Rich Johnston" defense.

Ha...you checked every gap? Check back later for the spoiler.

So...to sum up...I've spit out a meandering mess here. Part about reasoning (to counter an ill-conceived viral marketing program while appearing to cause no harm to the readership) and part about having established history of spoilers on my side, as far as from a purely legal standpoint.

Random Parody Videos

In an effort to keep you entertained even when I'm not around to do it personally, here's a little player that will hit you with a random parody video every time you refresh the page. I can't make any claims as to the quality, but I'd imagine it is a virtual guarantee to either be funny because it is good or funny because it is bad. ;)

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

There Should Be No Surrender On Minority Issues In Comics

Cheryl Lynn has waved the white flag on the Vixen issue. Forgive me, but I want to Godfather-III her back into that fight.

Look, I'm sure Racialicious will keep up the good fight. As will Willow and 4thletter.

But we want Cheryl Lynn on that wall. We need her on that wall.

She's one of the most articulate on the subject and always brings her disarming sense of humor along with her. If you don't like what she writes, you can't handle the truth.

Kid KNOCKOUTS V.1

A new feature that works well for the lazy or busy blogger who can't be f*cked to put up new material until late in the evening.

I bring you KID KNOCKOUTS.



God Bless America and keep her strong, my fellow Americans. ;)

I Owe Mike Choi An Apology

He's right, I'm wrong: his thoughts about recognizing internet comic fan communities are legit.

I'm of the mind that David Mack tried to get away with a copyright violation pawned off as an original cover, regardless of how nice a guy he is. But for crying out loud, do you all have to continue to yell at the top of your lungs about this and insult any creators that seem to not want to be rabid pitbulls on the issue?

You Can All Have Anonymity, But There's Only One Mr. Anonymous!

OK...so I didn't feel right making you all have to wait too long for some spoiler-y goodness. If everything runs to plan, you'll see this around the start of the work day on the east coast. Everything is in white. It is a script excerpt that lays out the exact details of an earlier spoiler. Why? Because Viral_b0y is trying to insinuate that others don't know what they're talking about. Script excerpts potentially say a lot more than plain ol' spoilers.

[01:14] Mr. Anonymous: i'm looking through SI #1
[01:14] Mr. Anonymous: for anything else that might be juicy
[01:14] Schwapp Online: lol
[01:17] Mr. Anonymous: ok
[01:17] Mr. Anonymous: here's something that should get you a C&D
[01:17] Schwapp Online: LOL
[01:17] Mr. Anonymous: 1- Int. Stark's secret warehouse- Same
The dead, nude corpse of Elektra Skrull lies there. She has been cut open.
Hank Pym and Reed Richards are both working at little stations they have. Reed in the foreground is hand writing into a notebook and jotting down what he sees in his microscope.
In the foreground right, His handmade portable communication device is blinking but he has put it aside and is not paying attention to it.
It reads: Baxter building emergency
2- Tighter on Reed scribbles some notes. Making some formulas.
3- Same. Reed looks up. He figured it out.
ReED RICHARDS
I- I think I got it.

I know how they made themselves undetectable.
4- Over Hank's standing silhouette shoulder, Reed turns around and is pointing to his notes and thinking outloud. Looking at the notebook and not Hank.
ReED RICHARDS
You know what the Skrulls did? They took-
5- Over Reed's shoulder, Hank Pym is standing there with an alien weapon. He has a weapon to Reed's head. Backlit and ominous.
HaNK PYM
I do actually.

[01:17] Mr. Anonymous: 1- Profile, Hank holds out his Skrull weapon at arm's length and blows Reed's brains out. His head stretches violently but does not break. His eyes almost fall out of their stretched sockets.
Spx: fshammm
2- 'Camera' on the floor. Reed falls to the floor in a puddle of rubber. He's completely lost his shape. Is this what he looks like when he is dead?
3- Slightly low looking up. Hank looks down. No sign of emotion. Backlit.
4- Same. With a twinge of discomfort. He turns back to his natural form.
5- Same. And With a sigh of relief. He is free to be a Skrull again. Our first 'Skrull' the entire issue. Backlit and menacing.
6- His Skrull fingertips gently touch the forehead of his fallen comrade. The dead Elektra.
HANK PYM
As it was written.

[01:19] Schwapp Online: Sweet.
[01:21] Schwapp Online: Damn...now I have to debate which bit I run tonight versus over the weekend or Monday
[01:21] Schwapp Online: have a preference
[01:22] Mr. Anonymous: hm
[01:22] Mr. Anonymous: the script excerpt
[01:22] Mr. Anonymous: because the (possibly last Skrull reveal) thing is probably the biggest thing

Now, you just might have to wait all the way until Monday morning for that last Skrull reveal. Depends on whether I get that C&D.

Remember: I have no property in my possession that Marvel has any claim to. So, if they try to get Blogger to shut me down, they should have a helluva time trying. Marvel knows about this blog, but they're caught in a real shite position: either way they go, they probably wind up admitting that Viral_b0y is just their marketing department and they don't seem ready to do that yet.

Edit: So, post-dating the blog won't make it only appear once that time has hit. Dammit! Well, it will make for some interesting message board discussions when people argue about duplicate postings. "I had it at X:XXam!" "Nuh uh, it wasn't up until 8:28am!" ;)

Random Comic Book Thoughts

• Daniel Patrick Cassidy better be in the process of being returned to his stuck-in-a-suit, weirdness magnet beginnings. Otherwise, a comic book crime has been committed in Shadowpact. I had my own idea of how to accomplish this back in the day, over on the Newsarama boards.
  
• In discussing with some friends what villains we think could support their own series (ala Doom 2099 or Empire), we all seemed to agree that Black Adam could sustain a series (based on that wonderful mini). The dream writer team (as dual writers seems to be all the rage), would be Tomasi and Fraction. But the surprise concept brought up was Red Skull. At first, it was thought he couldn't pull off a series. I countered that, if there ever was a time, it was now. Someone challenged that he'd need a foil, to which I answered that you'd simply have to go with someone trying to bring his organization down from within, possibly taking on a legacy name. Keep Bru on to write his diabolical Skull, bring on Fraction to bring some of his Casanova craziness to the foil. I'd really love to see Marvel try something like that.
  
• Mike Choi (who was swell enough to stop by and comment on a blog I did about one of his blogs) posted an amazing...wait for it...blog about the David Mack situation. Or is it about the Mack situation? You decide. But I think he put a huge chunk of himself into that whole discussion. It's always amazing to me when comic book professionals put themselves out there like that, showing their emotional vulnerability in such a quiet and humanizing way. It's part of why the Word Balloon Bendis tapes softened me a lot on Marvel.
  
• I really wonder how many of the readers who are here for spoilers will stick around when the well runs dry? It's not keeping me up at night, but I'd be lying if I said curiosity wasn't getting the better of me.
  
• I'm glad that I've been able to run a few other people in the WGBGB feature, though I admit Mike's inclusion was a stretch. I knew there'd be a reasonable explanation or clarification, but I thought it'd make for good conversation, nonetheless.
  

Why Marvel_b0y Is Viral Marketing Reason #19293

Anyone notice how I've been blogging Secret Invasion spoilers, starting with the ones that led MB to pull his blog off of LJ?

From the start, I said I'd pull it all down if someone official from Marvel so much as sent me an e-mail requesting it. I practically said, "mother, may I please have a C&D pdf?"

Have I gotten anything? Nope. Have I even gotten a comment from anyone purporting to be Marvel brass? Nope.

And it isn't because they have no legal grounds. I mean...they don't, really. But C&D's get sent out all the time to intimidate into complying with a request that has no legal basis for being demanded.

They've sent nothing...because it's all just a game. They've apparently decided that these spoilers getting run will be less damaging than anything that might develop from them asking me to stop.

That last spoiler is coming. I'm not telling you an exact time. Keep checking throughout the day.

WGBSG: Cheryl Lynn aka Digital Femme

God bless Cheryl.

She discusses the pluses and minuses of having a comments section. She spends a lot of time listing the reasons why she turned off comments some time ago. As someone who has followed her blog off and on for over a year, I'm aware of some of the perfectly legit reasons already.

She finishes off the post with:

I know what you're thinking. Bitch, if you don't want the full responsibility of a blog, then why have one? I've been wondering about that a lot lately. Is this site even necessary for me now that Torchbearers exists?

Personally, I don't think that at all (especially not the "bitch" part). For someone without comments, you get a surprising number of views from what I can tell. You, also, spawn conversation (with comments) elsewhere. You offer a lot to the community (and that isn't meant as a dig at anyone else). Having no comments at all doesn't give any implication of intellectual dishonesty, either (which can probably be taken as a dig at others).

I don't know if Torchbearers would be as good a place for your observational posts as your current blog. My vote is to keep up with the blogs, comments or no comments.

J.S. Earls PISTOLFIST Trailer

I can't believe I didn't know this was out there already. J.S. Earls is one of my favorite independent creators. His Pistolfist book is inspired work, IMO. Check out the trailer.

WGBGB: Mike Choi

Mike Choi had the following to say on his Blogger account recently:

Why I don't allow comments on this blog

"I sure hope this isn't a Marvel marketing ploy, if it is I will

be DONE with anything marvel. I will go over to DC and their shitty characters and boring books. (Green Lantern is the exception) you hear that Joey Q, you fucking hack." (editor's note: quote taken from a Marvel_b0y blog comment)

When people and their audience are anonymous, there's no incentive to think about the content, plausibility, or credibility of what you're about to say. THIS is why the internet comic fan community feel like they're not being paid attention to. Because you can't.

No, it isn't that he doesn't allow comments. No, it isn't about his reason for not allowing comments.

It's dismissing the whole of internet comic book fandom by the way a relatively small percentage of the whole wield their anonymity like a weapon.

Marvel Comics put out survey forms in some of their comic books a few months ago (and what a colossal mistake that was, IMO). Other than assuredly having made a purpose of some sort, you could not have any certainty that the results weren't manipulated enough to render the data invalid.

As long as comic book companies give no other form of feedback (besides sales to retailers) for their target audience, you HAVE to attempt to find some formula for reading and reacting to the internet comic fan community. It might be a smart idea if the larger companies came up with a registration process that at least confirmed home address (can't login until you've received your PIN on a postcard, possibly) so that they have a way to hear the signal through the noise.

Oh...regardless of whether he still wants to make love to me...I do feel it necessary to point out one of his best blogs. The man draws a purty picture and is a heckuva storyteller, too.

Ugh...One Last Time...

Just because I only found this item from Dan Slott that he added into one of my posts as he was working to get me banned from the Bendis Boards:

Edit (by Slott): Kevin's original post pointed out that before I was aware of ICV2.com's corrected estimates for January's sales, that I posted their earlier estimates on another message board. And, in that, he was correct.

I did NOT delete or edit Kevin's ORIGINAL post. What Kevin said was accurate. And I am NOT in the policy of removing a detractor's posts when they ARE accurate. I think that would be a cowardly form of censorship.

In later posts (which I DID delete) Kevin pointed to facts IN my favor. As these helped my cause, the ONLY downside to keeping them on my board was that they GAVE Kevin Huxford a voice ON my message board.

As someone who has watched Kevin hurl personal attacks against people I know and respect-- in one case, trying to hurt a friend's reputation in their union-- and in another case bringing up a woman's sexual history in order to win an internet argument-- I see NO reason for me to give such a person a voice on MY message board.

I won't debate the twists he's doing here, as they've been discussed ad infinitum on this blog already.

But since Dan loves to point to the smallest inconsistency as a lie when it comes to me, I'll point out one for him here.

He deleted a post of mine that, according to his definition, would have been cowardly for him to delete. It was in response to Tom Daylight saying the following:

Both estimates were wrong! Dan has the real numbers, and unless he elects to post them here, I don't think the discussion is particularly appropriate (or even relevant to anyone outside Marvel).

It was in my response to THAT post where I pointed out that Dan used the glitchy sales numbers on the Byrne board, so I believe he doesn't have any more accurate numbers than the rest of us. Kudos to Dan for remembering enough of it to put into his edit of a completely different post and all, but he did (by his definition) cowardly delete a post of mine that wasn't quite in agreement with him. ;)

By the way...it does call something into question: why don't professionals have accurate sales numbers provided to them by their publishers? Why do they have to rely on the same resources that fans on the internet do?

SPOILERS: Anonymous...Mr. Anonymous

OK...it's hard to frame this one even with white-on-white writing as to be less obvious to the casual reader.

So, the reason that the new Spider Woman series starts "the moment Secret Invasion ends"

Let's stretch this out a bit.

Is because the Spider-Woman we know is a Skrull

Do you know that I gave him the name "Mr. Anonymous"? He's actually pleased with it, though. We're both surprised that people are carrying the rumors all across the 'net while still referring to him as "Mr. Anonymous". But hey...it's cool.

the "real" Spider Woman comes back to earth during Secret Invasion

It's, also, nice to see that most people are crediting where they pulled the spoilers from. I appreciate it, though I'm not sure it makes a huge difference to Mr. A.

You might have figured that out already.

Marvel_b0y's been a little quieter than you'd expect. He's ignoring all the viral marketing comments. Ignoring the comments section...even ones from Mr. Anonymous himself. And all he provides is a bad teaser pick of another WHO DO YOU TRUST? Greg Horn painting?

But it leads to some details I'll reveal tomorrow that I bet you never guessed.

Sheesh...I tell ya...some people...what? Oh yeah...highlight all the gaps between the paragraphs to get your Skrull reveal of the day. Special goodness tomorrow.

Dan, You Incorrigable Slott!

Danny Danny Danny...I've so wanted to share some of the irrational, contradictory garbage from our most recent e-mails...the ones that you decided to get me banned from the Bendis Boards because of. But it wouldn't be right to quote you from a personal, private e-mail. Then I saw that you started doing just that on your forum.

So...without further ado...from our latest e-mail conversation. You were vehemently denying that you could be BBraddock or have any knowledge about who BBraddock was...and insisted that there was proof:

"And Dan? I'm sure you know that IP addresses can be different while
coming from the same person and same location."

One: I'm not a computer genius. I have no idea how to fake an IP address. What I do know is that I only have this computer and an old laptop. If you want, I'll plug that in and make a post so you can see that IP number too.
Two: I do know that you can see what basic areas of the country that an IP number comes from using sites like this:
http://www.geobytes.com/IpLocator.htm?GetLocation
So get my IP number and "Betsy Braddock's" IP number from your friends at Newsarama. And check it out. It'll prove you are LYING.

My response:

I find it suspicious that you claim to be a computer idiot, but can whip out a method for determining where an IP comes from. Spare me the whole "someone else gave me that site before", because someone else could have, also, given you a way to cover your IP address, Dan. The facts (as circumstantial as they are) point to that name being you or a sock puppet. Four actions on Newsarama...no actions anywhere else on the 'net I can find...all timed to have occurred exactly when you were on your rampage against the site and turning up only in spots that you either were or would have an interest in. And it is funny how you're so certain that the IP address of BBraddock will track back to a different part of the world, Dan. I know it is a rather big world, but for you to KNOW that this "evidence" exists that proves your posts and the mystery posts don't come from the same place...you're betraying yourself there.

And his retort (which I didn't bother to read until today, because there was a point where even I had to acknowledge nothing was coming from corresponding with Dan):

Because I know how to use Google, jackass.
Go to GOOGLE.
Type in these words: IP address locate
Guess what's the FIRST link that shows up?

http://www.geobytes.com/IpLocator.htm?GetLocation

Wow. Look at me, I'm a computer genius. After faking an IP address to go after Kevin Huxford for being petty & vindictive, for my next trick, I'm going to hack into the Pentagon. Just ONCE can you admit that you could be wrong FIRST, before you're PROVEN wrong? Isn't that BETTER than coming back later and saying you were "MISTAKEN"-- and then hurling more accusations as a smokescreen? What is wrong with you?

You know what else Google can give you? Quick steps on how to hide your IP address. Or fake IP address.

There was something else that came up in our correspondence. I had imagined your reason for stating the following was about behind the scenes stuff in BRAND NEW DAY:

And, no, I'm not really interested in doing an "audio interview" for your site-- and it's not that I don't want to give you the hits-- it's two things:
1) I'd like to talk like regular people.
2) There's stuff that I know-- and maybe you know-- stuff that behind-the-scenes guys like you and I can't talk about when it's for public consumption. And, no, it's not anything rude or uncivil, just industry things. Talking to you in private, it should be pretty easy to gage if you're in on some of those aspects. If you're not, then I have to scale back what I can talk to you about. And that's something that can't (or rather shouldn't) be done "on the air."

Dan's response when I asked him what the behind the scenes stuff was supposed to be?

Oh... I don't know... Considering it was on a NEWSARAMA blog where a NEWSARAMA blogger had recently purposely taken a Marvel editor's quotes out of context to get some hits, and followed that up with another NEWSARAMA blog entry where they were linking to a factually inaccurate and EASILY disprovable theory about a Marvel book, and THEN someone who NEWSARAMA subcontracts came to their defense-- after that person (who was subcontracted by NEWSARAMA) put up a factually inaccurate review about a Marvel book. And all of that after NEWSARAMA had been running a long run of Marvel-bashing articles in their news section for weeks on end...

I wonder...

Maybe it was BEHIND THE SCENES stuff about NEWSARAMA? You think?

For once just admit that there's stuff going on that you DON'T know about. And that you MIGHT be wrong about a whole bunch of things.

So...you know...forgive me if I don't trust him all of a sudden using Matt Brady as a defense (as he attempted to do earlier today; quoted in a blog elswhere at Schwapp!!!). Seeing as how Dan Slott likes to think he knows more about what is going on at Newsarama than even Matt Brady. He seems to change his opinion of Matt as the wind blows and has a penchant for exaggerating (Marvel-bashing articles in their news section for weeks on end? Riiiiiiiiiiight).

By the way...Dan still has never actually pointed out any of the factual inaccuracies of my review, other than the web shooter one that I had already corrected in the comments section of my vlog. Which is what started this...because he got his feelings hurt. And he thinks that's why I reported Guggenheim...because "I got my feelings hurt". Seems to be a classic case of projection.

Edit: Oh yeah...if this doesn't start to drive home the point of who's the nutty one in this exchange?

From my delusional blogger at 3:30pm:
"But really, Dan…this will be the last I respond to you."

But then almost 4 hours later, he takes, my last response, move it to his blog, and... responds with (according to my Microsoft Word's word count feature) 1,009 words, 4,480 characters (no spaces), 5,531 characters (with spaces), 26 paragraphs, 113 lines, oh... and he included pictures.

(I can't blame him. I've showed just as much restraint. And, in the end, I'm supposed to be a pro-- and he's supposed to be a fan. So... in this case, I'm supposed to let it go. And he's supposed to be a fan.)

BTW, don't ask me what his response was about. Got two delusional sentences into it and it was already off the map.

So...

I've gotten calls and e-mails from a number of industry guys saying-- "We know his a ****, you know he's a ****, anyone with half a brain knows he's a ****. Stop feeding him and he'll go away." (Well, they didn't all say that verbatim, but when I use the **** as a form of Mad-Lib, I get pretty close).

I GET IT! They're right. I should follow their advice. I should follow my OWN advice. He's a nut. He'll eventually go away. And, yes, all I'm doing is feeding him.

Counting the words, characters (with and without spaces), paragraphs, and lines? OK...I'm not kidding anymore...Dan Slott is SCARY.

Dan Slott: Lover Of Blogs, Hater of Deadlines

Dan's chasing me around the blogosphere again.

Over on the blog that dare not link to me:

Kevin,
You got four posts from me here today. Three comments on a thread yesterday. In each case you started by taking shots at people I know– and have posted just as much back.

On my side, there really hasn’t been that many comments from me since my last post on Feb. 2nd on the same thread where you reported Marc Guggenheim to the WGA. In the meantime YOU have been making frequent and regular posts about ME. Most of which have accused me of doing something that I simply did NOT DO.

When you look at the amount of time you’ve dedicated to going after ME, versus my posts yesterday and today? I think I’ve shown remarkable restraint.

When you appeared to post on my message board AFTER reporting Marc, creating a regular column dedicated to slamming Val (over 10 times in 2 months), and making frequent accusations against me– as if that were perfectly fine, I requested that you be blocked from MY board and NOT the rest of Jinxworld. But when the mods took at your behavior around the net, THEY decided that ALL the Jinxworld boards were better off without you.

“Obi Gee Why Enn”
Val talking about her own history is one thing. Using it as a cheap shot to score points at the end of an argument is another. Kevin doesn’t think about these things or their resonance. All he cares about is their shock value.

In his own words he “regrets” making the comments he did about Devin Grayson. While that is admirable, what is more telling is when he says “But I regret MORE that Valerie decided to spin what I said into something worse…” That’s messed up.

To the person posting as my own Ego (Thanks that’s cute).
How would you feel if you saw someone going around the net saying lies about you? Things he’s not willing to back up. (BTW, Matt Brady has seen everything Kevin’s accused me of doing at Newsarama– and has equivocally said he KNOWS I didn’t do it). How would you feel if Kevin made accusations about your friends and coworkers? How would you feel if because– in his own words he “felt dismissed” and “agitated” over internet posts– he reported someone you know to their union? Seriously, how would you feel?

I think I’m allowed my 3 posts yesterday and these 4 today.

OK, Dan...let's go over this point by point, again, shall we?

• You have your own place to vent your feelings about me, Dan. Your own forum. Or you could answer my accusations here. But I don't see why you have to take every appearance by me on blogs across the 'net as the proper forum for you to vent about me. Really. You could get the same kind of effect by complaining about it on your own forum, couldn't you? So, no, I would not say that you've exhibited an incredible amount of restraint. I'd dare say you don't know the definition of the word.
  
• I had already told you that I'd have no problem staying out of your forum several times during our off-board discussion. I even invited you to delete all evidence of my ever posting on your forum, not that you'd need my permission. Given your propensity for lies and fantastical stories, I don't know that I'm going to buy your story here.
• I didn't take a cheap shot at Val with it. She accused me of trying to get famous by having an argument with you and Guggenheim. That it was the purpose of my dust-up with the two of you. I denied that and then held the mirror back to her so she could see the way she chose to get famous.
  
• I regret making the joke the way I did. I stand by the fact that dating someone established in the industry does help your pitches get looked at.
  
• Please don't try to drag Matt Brady into this. He isn't part of the discussion and any talks you two had were private. It does nothing to help your argument.
  

Update: Heidi took down several of the posts there. Including the quoted Slott one above and the one from Obi Gee Why Enn. Just a lesson, kids...it is always good to open a separate window when you want to see if there are any updates rather than refreshing a window and potentially losing some of the good stuff.

Obi Gee Why Enn said:

Dan, Valerie brought up her vagina first. If she didn't want people talking about her vagina, then why should she post on the INTERNET about her vagina. If Kevin Huxford mocked her for talking about her vagina, it's probably because she has a whole topic category about her vagina. If Val doesn't want anyone to talk about her vagina, she should keep it off the internet.

That makes it sound like I actually had substantive discussions about her vagina, when I only pointed out that she used stories about her ripped vagina to get internet fame. She didn't just tell the story of the injury, she teased it in the blogs proceeding it, stretched it out into at least three blogs, and then kept referring back to it for awhile. One of the biggest word of mouth bits from her site was about some unnamed DC Comics penciller with a large member managed to break Val's vagina.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. But when you attempted to get your notoriety through your "broken hoohah" (her "label" for those blogs) and (at the time) anonymously slinging dirt about DC Comics editorial without naming names (thus likely leading to the innocent being judged just as badly as the guilty), you really have no leg to stand on in criticizing others...especially when you're attributing motivations that just aren't true.

Spoilers: Marvel_b0y Posts? Mr. Anonymous Counters!

Marvel_b0y is good for business, I tells ya!

[02:04] Mr. Anonymous: alright
[02:04] Mr. Anonymous: one more Skrull reveal
[02:04] Mr. Anonymous: Nightcrawler (highlight to reveal)
[02:04] Mr. Anonymous: It'll be dealt with in the Secret Invasion: X-Men mini
[02:05] Mr. Anonymous: that Mike Carey is writing
[02:05] Mr. Anonymous: (I don't think Marvel has said who's doing it yet)
[02:05] Schwapp Online: I'm good to share that, you're saying?
[02:05] Mr. Anonymous: yeah
[02:05] Schwapp Online: cool
[02:06] Mr. Anonymous: According to the story, the X-Men are the only real superhero team on the west coast
[02:07] Mr. Anonymous: So, Cyclops rallies the team to fight the invading Skrulls on their side of the country

Highlight the blank spots for the details.

Still no requests from Marvel to pull any of this stuff, by the way. Make of that what you will. schwapp.online@gmail.com, folks.

WGBGB: LJ Blogger "_alecto_"

OK...including _alecto_ in WHEN GOOD BLOGGERS GO BAD presupposes that this blogger has ever been good. I can't swear that they have, but I'm not creating a whole new feature for this person.

What genius effort over at their blog caused this attention?

Not going so far as to count how many times men and women speak in 1 and 1/2 episodes of Firefly.
Not suggesting that pornography has a heavy influence on Whedon's work.
Not that anyone who pays Inara for her "services" is a rapist.

But this:

Zoe, of course, is meant to be our empowered, ass-kicking sidechick. Like all sidechicks she is objectified from the get go. Her husband, Wash, talking about how he likes to watch her bathe. Let me just say now that I have never personally known of a healthy relationship between a white man and a woman of colour. I have known a black woman whose white husband would strangle and bash her while her young children watched. My white grandfather liked black women because they were ‘exotic’, and he did not, could not treat women, especially women of colour, like human beings. I grew up watching my great aunts, my aunty and my mother all treated like shit by their white husbands, the men they loved. So you will forgive me for believing that the character, Wash, is a rapist and an abuser, particularly considering that he treats Zoe like an object and possession.

So...because her grandfather was an ass, this fictional character was a rapist and a misogynist without need of any contextual clues regarding such characteristics?

Crazee Comics' Samuel Vera on American Latino TV

Samuel Vera (Crazee Comics), one of the great indie creators I met at the 2nd Annual Indie After Party at NYCC last year, got some national TV exposure on American Latino TV. He's been making the rounds all over, actually. You can check out more appearances here.

I'm hoping to go to make it to the 3rd annual bash, but it might hinge on whether I'm crashing in the city or not...since I was in no state to drive through the tunnel to NJ after that party. ;)

(Editor's Note: I've pulled the American Latino TV clip to use a different clip provided at Samuel Vera's site, pending a response from him regarding the possible legitimacy of the "punkoutlaw" comment here)

See? He's Still Working!

Guggenheim works with Hugh Jackman on the new Virgin Comics project, Nowhere Man.

So there's evidence that I didn't ruin his career. ;)

Oh yeah...and I'm pretty sure Jackman is participating in something like this with an eye towards getting his idea into TV or film, not because he has some burning love for comics. Maybe a respect for comics, since they helped launch his career into the stratosphere, but not a burning love/need to create comics.

*SPOILERS* How I Know Marvel_b0y Is Viral Marketing (aka More Mr. Anonymous)

Update: People are linking to this blog to say that Mr. Anonymous says Marvel_b0y is viral marketing. He says no such thing. I believe that his information reinforces my stance that Marvel_b0y is a plant, but it isn't meant to represent his opinion at all.


So...Marvel_b0y is back for all of an hour and my source hits me back up again.

[01:01] Mr. Anonymous: he's back?
[01:06] SchwappOnline: Apparently so. But now he doesn't allow anonymous comments. Which is why I think even more that this is a Marvel run viral marketing campaign.
[01:07] SchwappOnline: You have to sign in with a Microsoft ID...making you a lot more trackable, IMO.
[01:07] Mr. Anonymous: yeah
[01:08] Mr. Anonymous: i apparently had one without knowing it
[01:09] SchwappOnline: don't we all?
[01:09] Mr. Anonymous: I guess if you have an Xbox, you automatically get one
[01:10] Mr. Anonymous: i'll keep that in mind and refrain from posting there again
[01:11] SchwappOnline: No hurt feelings if you decide to try to find a way to get comments in over there, but I'm still here when you need me
[01:11] Mr. Anonymous: i dont want to feed his ego
[01:11] Mr. Anonymous: or give marvel my IP
[01:11] Mr. Anonymous: depending on whether it's viral marketing or not
[01:12] Mr. Anonymous: here's the thing
[01:12] Mr. Anonymous: the 70's heroes aren't coming back
[01:12] SchwappOnline: LOL...really???
[01:12] SchwappOnline: that's just an April Fool's Joke?
[01:13] Mr. Anonymous: I guess
[01:13] Mr. Anonymous: it's misinformation
[01:13] Mr. Anonymous: marvel certainly wants the readers to think that the 70's heroes are back
[01:14] SchwappOnline: I hate to ask again...but...may I?
[01:14] Mr. Anonymous: Secret Invasion #1 opens with a Skrull ship crashing in the Savage Land
[01:14] Mr. Anonymous: yeah, these are more spoilers for #1
[01:14] SchwappOnline: so...I can go with the SI 1 spoilers and the 70s aren't returning?
[01:15] Mr. Anonymous: oh yes
[01:15] Mr. Anonymous: anything to discredit m_b
[01:15] Mr. Anonymous: assuming he's real
[01:15] SchwappOnline: gotcha
[01:16] Mr. Anonymous: so the skrull ship crashes in the savage land
[01:16] Mr. Anonymous: both teams of Avengers rush to get there
[01:16] Mr. Anonymous: Luke's team steals a Quinjet
[01:16] Mr. Anonymous: Tony's team follows
[01:16] Mr. Anonymous: so by the end of the issue, they've surrounded the ship
[01:17] Mr. Anonymous: they accuse eachother of being Skrulls
[01:17] Mr. Anonymous: meanwhile, Skrull-Jarvis uploads the computer virus
[01:18] Mr. Anonymous: and Iron Man has a seizure
[01:18] Mr. Anonymous: Luke Cage opens up the door to the ship
[01:18] Mr. Anonymous: and all the heroes stand in awe of...
[01:18] Mr. Anonymous: Page 33- 35
Double page spread
1- Wide across both pages. And 3/4's down. Close to full figure.
Out of the hatch comes an amazing group of marvel heroes circa the 1970's. In the glory of their Retro costume designs and younger days.
They come out, not to attack, but looking around. Wincing at the sunlight. Not sure where they are or how they got here.
Original Phoenix, Spidey with web pits, Iron Man with the nose armor, Luke Cage in satin shirt and tiara, original Ms. Marvel, Jewel, original Vision, classic Hawkeye, blue furry Beast, Sue Storm, original Wonder-man design, Mockingbird. Captain America, evil Emma Frost, and Wolverine in the Hulk 181 costume.

[01:19] Mr. Anonymous: Classic LukE Cage
Sweet Christmas!!
Classic Ms. MARVEL
Is this it??

Did we make it back to earth?
Classic Beast
Oh my stars and garters!!
Classic Spidey
Yeah, I was just about to say that... cuz...

I know who I am...
2- Wide across the bottom of the spread. The New Avengers have backed up to gather with the Mighty Avengers. United in their mouth opened shock.
The modern, darker, dirty versions of all the characters stare at their more innocent version of themselves in shock.
Classic SpiDEY
(off panel))
But who are you guys supposed to be exactly?

[01:20] SchwappOnline: Oh...so then the 70s characters do sort of return...but they could all be fakes meant to create doubt.
[01:20] Mr. Anonymous: yeah
[01:20] Mr. Anonymous: of the 70's heroes, the only one I think is real is Mockingbird
[01:21] Mr. Anonymous: the rest I'm 90% sure are really Skrulls
[01:21] Mr. Anonymous: for example, the "evil" Emma Frost
[01:22] Mr. Anonymous: she HAS to be a Skrull because Ellis is using her in his Astonishing X-Men run
[01:22] Mr. Anonymous: It's all a swerve

So...it seems like Marvel_b0y is just playing up the stuff Marvel wants you to think and get excited about in anticipation of Secret Invasion #1. Otherwise, he'd put it into a little more perspective than that.

Of course, Marvel_b0y could be legit and Mr. Anonymous could just be feeding me stuff to make people doubt him. Either way, Marvel winds up having engaged in dishonest viral marketing. But I'm partial to my source, whether I sink or swim. ;)

Marvel_b0y Is Back...Now Without Anonymous Comments

So, gang, does this make it more or less likely that Marvel_b0y is just viral marketing?

I'm banking on MORE, personally.

*SPOILERS* Updated: Mr. Anonymous Steps Up With Corrections

The anonymous commenter that dropped spoilers on the Marvel_b0y LJ right before implosion contacted me to make slight corrections on what I was given by friends last night. He doesn't want to be known as the man who ruined Secret Invasion, so he wants to filter this through me.

***Disclaimer: I make no claim as to the veracity of these spoilers or the mysterious spoiler being in a position to know any of this.***

Concerning "Skrull Jarvis has something that makes all Iron Man shit not work" it's really a skrull computer virus that makes everything with the Stark name on it not work. This includes satellites, missile silos, power plants, Tony's Iron Man armor, the Initiative, and most of S.H.I.E.L.D. It's this same computer virus that opens up the Raft so the prisoners (including Doctor Doom) can escape, not Skrulls themsevles.

It's made very clear the Susan Storm skrull that opens the portal to the negative zone is not the same sort of sleeper agent Skrull that has been replacing heroes. It's a member of a group of tourists visiting the Baxter building that breaks away from the tour, shape-shifts into Susan Storm, and infiltrates Reed's lab.

The Baxter Building doesn't exactly get "sent into the negative zone", it implodes into the portal within the building. The script describes it like this:

Page 32-

Two half page panels.

1- Ext. Manhattan- day

Its the Baxter building. Its gorgeous. Light gleams off the side. Except that it looks like someone took a bite out of the top of it. Negative zone is eating the building.

The building, the air, everything in its way. An unearthly crackle around the edge of where the building is falling apart.

2- Same, but half the building has been eaten by the negative zone and is imploding on itself. And its not stopping.

That's all I wanted to clear up.

So...that's what's up for now. It remains to be seen if we'll get anymore info or updates. ;)

Update: Mr. Anonymous has sent the following historical tidbits regarding OMD and other Marvel Universe realities:

it was torture when OMD was coming out

because I knew all that stuff about 6 months prior to their first issue
for a while, Gwen Stacy was definitely coming back
but they settled on Harry Osborn
brought back by mephisto
originally, it was Loki that was supposed to change reality
but since Loki was MIA, they went with Mephisto
here's a bit I heard:
Quesada was the ONLY one in Marvel editorial that wanted to undo the marriage
EVERYONE else was dead set against it
but he pulled rank and made it happen
he's also the only reason that Black Panther is still being published
It's pretty disappointing to hear that
because I kinda liked him prior to all that

Oh...and there's this about HULK (spoiler itself in white text):

I was told the ending of World War Hulk about a month before the first issue
and by the last issue, they changed it
it was supposed to be a Gamma bomb that took him out
have they revealed who the red Hulk is?
I haven't been keeping up on that book
It's Thunderbolt Ross

That's all for now, "true believers", but he has more. It's all too far out to feel confident that Marvel won't change it midstream like the Hulk ending.

*SPOILERS* Updated: The Comment That Toppled Viral "Marvel_b0y"

Many people have come to the conclusion that Marvel_b0y was nothing but a viral marketing campaign. I won't go into a lot of the different ways people have come to this conclusion. Only one is really important:

As soon as any seriously spoil-y spoilers appeared (from an anonymous commenter instead of the blog author), the LiveJournal got deleted.

Right after pledging to be around for a long time. I completely missed the comment that appeared, but CBR poster diana_fan pointed it out to me after the fact.

And what were those comments? According to a friend who saw them before the blog imploded:

• Skrull Hank Pym shoots Reed
• Skrull Captain Marvel blows open Thunderbolts Mountain
• Skrull Jarvis has something that makes all Iron Man shit not work
• Skrull posing as Sue Richards (but not Sue herself) goes into the Baxter Building and sends it in the Negative Zone
• Skrull busts open the Raft and the villains escape including Dr. Doom
• Last page is the Skrull armada landing on Earth

Now, I don't work at Marvel and never have. I'm not in possession of any of Marvel's products. I'm just reporting information culled from what was likely their viral marketing blog that they lost control of. I welcome a cease & desist PDF, but I really don't know what grounds it would stand on. But if anyone officially contacts me regarding it, I'll pull it down. That will stand to confirm that the whole Marvel_b0y thing was a stupid viral marketing campaign, of course.

Update: I hear that Marvel is going out of their mind to take down spoilers revealed in the last comment before deletion of the Marvel_b0y LJ, but I haven't heard so much as a boo from them. I stand by my word: anyone official asks me to pull it down and away it will go.

The Real Reason For "No More Mutants"

At this point, I'm pretty sure that the NO MORE MUTANTS edict was as much for the overpopulation of mutants as it was for plans to inject hundreds of cannon fodder level super-heroes into the Marvel landscape via the 50 State Initiative. I mean...c'mon...

Avengers: The Initiative #13
Written by CHRISTOS GAGE
Pencils & Cover by STEVE UY
There's a contract out on The Taskmaster, and no shortage of villains willing to fulfill it. But what'll kill him first -- the bad guys, or his latest class of recruits? Welcome Annex, Prodigy, Gorilla Girl, Sunstreak and Batwing to the Initiative. But are they -- is anyone -- ready for the coming of...Butterball??

Marvel_b0y = Dan Slott? Nah...

Marvel_b0y is the new blog obsession these days and speculation is rampant as to who it might be. Some are even suggesting Dan Slott. Now...I'm not saying Slott is above an internet alias (or lacks the know-how to pull one off, cuz he doesn't), but I don't think he'd bash as many people as Marvel_b0y has (over what? professional jealousy?) or pretend to be Steve Wacker (why? because of some editorial disagreement?).

By the way...I'm trying to search for anything I can find to figure out what this guy's previous LiveJournal account was, but can't find it at all.

Heidi Says I Know Why She Stopped Talking Shit 'Bout The 'Rama

Heidi MacDonald popped off with a rumor back on 3/11/08:

§ Marvel EIC Joe Quesada’s popular feature Cup O’ Joe in which he takes on fan questions will be returning as a regular feature at MySpace:

Every week, Quesada will tackle questions posed directly by True Believers on the world’s most popular social network in this brand new weekly feature on MySpace Comic Books. Like a might Marvel team-up, the online community known for connecting legions of fans with the most exciting creators, projects, and events in the industry comes together with the leading comics publisher to present your chance to get inside the mind of one of comics’ most popular personalities.

Cup o’ Joe was long a regular feature at Newsarama, but word on the street has it that Marvel and the comics news giant had a falling out over a broken embargo.

I would have completely missed it, if not for Caleb blogging about it, pointing out how she got little bits wrong and didn't really back up the rumor much. She said, in posting on his blog, that she was confident in it and would follow up.

When she didn't follow-up, I posted to ask her about it, which led to the following exchange:

Kevin Huxford Says:
03/14/08 at 5:13 pm

Why no apparent effort made to contact the concerned parties on that Newsarama/Quesada bit?

Kevin Huxford Says:
03/20/08 at 1:48 pm

You posted over at Everyday is Like Wednesday:

You guys I stand by my rumor — and the emails I got afterwards provided even more substantiation. However since everyone seems SO interested in this it should be a fertile ground for follow-up.

No follow-up? Or did your sources all of a sudden seem less trustworthy?

The Beat Says:
03/20/08 at 2:04 pm

Kevin — give me a fucking break. You know full well what happened.

Kevin Huxford Says:
03/20/08 at 5:03 pm

No, Heidi…I don’t. You reported a rumor that you said had plenty of backup. Said you’d be delving into it more. Haven’t seen you cover it any further and was curious. How would I know why you didn’t cover a rumor that I didn’t believe had any truth to it?

I stand by that I don't know "full well" what happened. I did ask someone who would know "full well" that the rumor was BS to speak up on Brady's behalf. I did ask the most likely suspect of spreading that BS whether they passed it along as themselves or under one of their aliases.

So...does that imply that one of those two things are responsible for her not following up on it? Weird, you'd think if a more knowledgeable source came out and said the rumor was wrong, you'd print a retraction. If your source came panicking back to you asking you to cease talking about it, you'd think it might lead you to doubt them and...maybe...print a retraction. Especially since the figment of someone's imagination that you reported and stood behind mistakenly was picked up and spread across the internet.

Where's Dan Slott to question the journalistic integrity of bloggers when you need him?

Why Didn't Anyone Tell Me????

(Editor's note: this is republished from 2008. I had taken it offline as a draft, but put it live again because I think there's some revisionist history going on with the D'Orazio/Sims thing. I might try to restore the proper date if I can track it down.)

Originally ran on 3/20/2008.

I missed the pissing match between SOMEONE ELSE (Kevin Church, accomplished comic book writer and the blogger of Beaucoup Kevin) and Valerie D'Orazio? Revealing that there are so many other voices out there that find the way she handles discourse to be deplorable and dishonest? Who knew?

By the way...great person to have the face of ANY organization (cough...Friends of Lulu...cough), especially when she can show she's open-minded enough to be able to denounce sexism & misogyny AND promote the products of sexist/misogynist companies or persons. I'm pretty sure he doesn't have male poker players strip down for a photo shoot to discuss how they play the game, like this female player did.

Edit: You know...because this is the sort of thing Calvin Ayre has on his site.

Bodog Cat Fight
Barely Clothed at the Club
Girls of Bodog Fight
Kimberly Likes the Beach
And countless other examples.


Doesn't seem to me like this is the sort of company that the head of Friends of Lulu should be shilling for the vanity graphic novel of, regardless of the proceeds going to charity. Seems like something designed to be done for a loss to help out at tax time, while satisfying the ego of a billionaire, no?

Edit 2: Dontcha know...sometime after I pointed out that she was shilling for a flesh peddler in a previous blog she pulled the offending blog down. I guess that whole "personal blog vs. professional responsibilities" thing does come into play sometimes. Too bad she had to drop publicizing a friend's work like a hot potato for it, though.

Edit 3: Lest you think I made this up: the cached blog! God Bless Google (for their searches AND Blogger.com)

Sometimes, I Hate Statistics...

I love doing vlogs. I never really expect that many people to watch them. Love my YouTube audience, with people subscribing to the vlogs regularly. But Google Video gives me more views, for some reason.

They, also, give me some depressing stats.


Wow. Almost 50k views for 10,000 B.C., where the rest are getting almost nothing.

10,000 B.C.?

Ugh. I guess it is my fault for reviewing it.