Lava Lamp Centrifuge!

Would a Lava Lamp work in a high-gravity environment such as Jupiter? Would the wax still rise to the surface? Would the blobs be smaller and faster? With broad disagreement on the answers, I built a large centrifuge to find out.

Read the whole story HERE!

SCIENCE!

Awesome original Star Trek photos

Check out THIS SET of rare and unseen photos from the original 1960s STAR TREK!

Very cool, and found via Metafilter.

Too funny

Stolen from Metafilter - GALACTICA SABOTAGE:



It's a scene-for-scene recreation of one of the greatest music videos of all time, the Beastie Boys' SABOTAGE, with all images coming fromt the TV show BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.

Here they are side-by-side:



I love the Internet.

Manager Jared's Weekly Matchup Poll #23

Street level and both a little bit crazy, the Joker and Daredevil bounce around testing each others sanity. Who will get the last laugh?


Daredevil's Abilities: Superhuman senses, including a "radar" sense; excellent athlete, boxer, and martial artist.

Joker's Abilities: Master criminal whose characterization has varied from that of a violent psychopath to a goofy trickster-thief.

Online Surveys & Market Research

Don't forget to tell us why you voted the way you did in the comments section! Its easy, free, and commitment free!

(Descriptions of characters powers retrieved from Wikipedia.)

Looking Forward to Looking Back Vol. 16

Good morning! It's good to be back in the Mechanicsburg store after the crazy week of relocting the York store and share the good news on a new collected edition project due out this summer from Titan Books! The project is The Simon and Kirby Superheroes, and Titan is boasting that this book is going to be a massive 480 page omnibus and will be printed at a special 11″ x 7-1/2″ over-sized format, thus reproducing the comic book pages in their original printed Golden Age size. This book is the first follow-up to Titan's The Best of Simon and Kirby, the first volume in The Official Simon and Kirby Library, and for this sequel, Titan owner and publisher, Nick Landau promises that "aside from their work for Marvel and DC, this will be all of the superhero stories Joe and Jack wrote and illustrated together from 1940 through 1960. It's a massive undertaking, but our team is ready to take it on."

I think the efforts of the Simon and Kirby Library publishing initiative are important to honor these men's achievements and contributions to the art of comics. The creative output of these two men in the span of two decades did so much to take the very young medium of the comic book and advanced it to the state of a true art form. These guys weren't just creators of comics, they were pioneers of comics. They were some of the earliest artists to bring a bit of the "cinematic" to comic books by expanding their storytelling beyond simply employing the standard comic strip format which was often applied to a comic page at that time. It was understandable the comics looked that way in their inception as a comic book was initially just a reprint collection for comic strips, but Simon and Kirby broke new ground in using center spreads to expand a scene. These techniques and their use of dynamic perspectives and exaggerated forms in action became the signature trademarks of Simon and Kirby's work! The pair started together on a science fiction story, but throughout their time together they'd work on books creating numerous adventure and super-heroes, they contributed early work to the horror genre of comics with their title, Black Magic, and the pair are credited with the creation of the romance comic with their title, Young Romance. They also produced many fine examples of crime and detective, western, and war comics during the time of their partnership.

Simon and Kirby had both gotten into comic book work in the late 1930s, but their paths didn't cross until Kirby got work at Fox Feature Syndicate where Simon had been serving as an editor. Simon recalled to panelists at the 1998 San Diego Comic-Con(Jack Kirby Collector #25) "I loved Jack's work and the first time I saw it I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He asked if we could do some freelance work together. I was delighted and I took him over to my little office. We worked from the second issue of Blue Bolt." After working on Blue Bolt #2 and then The Champion #9, Kirby followed Simon from Fox and to take a better paying gig at Timely Comics, a comic book publishing arm of pulp magazine publisher, Martin Goodman's Timely Publications Company. Goodman was interested in venturing into comic book publishing and after the hit he had with Marvel Comics #1, Goodman began assembling an in-house staff, hiring writer-artist Joe Simon as editor, making Simon the first official employee of the new Timely Publications. Simon negotiated Kirby's move to Timely and their wages at the company, and they quickly demonstrated their worth by creating Captain America, the seminal patriotic hero of the 1940s. Captain America #1 arrived on newsstands in 1941, sold out in days, and the second issue's print run was set at over a million copies. The title's success established the team as a notable creative force in the industry and the first issue's success established Kirby as the art director at Timely. Oddly enough, these years at Timely also set the stage for the second great creative collaboration of Kirby's career, as Joe Simon hired a young wannabe writer, Stan Lee, to serve as his office assistant. The fabled Marvel Age of comics laid its foundation not only in the characters which emerged from Timely publishing but also in the assemblage of its creative staff. Working with Simon was pivotal in Lee's creative development as he's stated "Lucky for me, when I entered comics Joe Simon was my mentor. In script, art, and editing he was the master."

While time at Timely was good for Simon and Kirby, their working relationship was not just forged in the Timely bullpen but also through the freelance work they produced outside the company as well. One such example of this work is their work on The Black Owl for Prize Comics. In fact, it is with that mysterious costumed hero that this edition of the Simon and Kirby Library will commence their Superheroes collection. This upcoming volume will also include the big-top swashbuckler known as Stuntman, the Runyonesque adventurer The Vagabond Prince, the entire run of the cold-war patriot The Fighting American, and The Fly and Private Strong—whcih were the final Simon and Kirby collaborations before Jack Kirby made the move to help launch the Marvel Universe.

Series editor, Steve Saffel wants readers to know Titan Books has "got some amazing surprises in store” with this project. For example, Restoration wizard Harry Mendryk will take the groundbreaking 1953 adventures of Captain 3-D and convert them to their original line art. These classic stories also feature artwork by Mort Meskin and a young Steve Ditko–who went on to co-create The Amazing Spider-Man at Marvel–and will be published in full color for the first time. “Plus, with a little help from our friends, we’ve located a bunch of never-before-published pages starring Stuntman,” Saffel revealed. “Many of the pages are in the hands of private collectors, with others coming directly from the Joe Simon archives. As a result, we’ll be able to pull together nearly the entire story, 'Stuntman Crowns a Jungle Lord,” and offer up other exciting features for the readers.”

If you'd like to learn more about Titan Publishing efforts to bring the Joe Simon and Jack Kirby Library to new readers, learn about this new upcoming volume, and Titan's plans for future volumes focusing on their work in horror, detective, and romance comics, please visit the project's official website!

Thanks for reading!

Done - Comix Connection - York

is open for business at the new location!






Come see us! (Too tired to be witty. Must sleep.)

Oh, and THANKS to Jared, Joe, Josh, Jim, Mike, Ian and Kel... you all worked very hard and for that we thank you!

Almost there

Weird scenes inside the new Comix Connection - York location:

The temporary sign goes up... eventually the neon signs will rule.

Manager Jared, pensive.

There you have it folks... photographic evidence of Ned Senft actually preforming WORK. I know. It's crazy.

JOEWOLVIESPIDEYJARED

Mysterious visitor... Clam Face?

Anyhoo, the way things are going, we should be open normal hours (12noon - 5PM) tomorrow (Sunday) at the new location. Come and see us!

Even more photos of the new Comix Connection - York

A break between dumping ceiling dust on their scalps.

Spidey, help us move that wall!

The most important item is successfully installed... the music playing machine!

A private moment of unbridled passion.

Mall Maintainence Guy Rex will be removing this gunk from the windows, and then all will be revealed!

Manager Joe pooped, Spidey still going strong.

We really are. Believe it. (I have no idea why that was written on the bathroom wall by the previous tenant...

Anyway, the Big Opening Day will probably still be on Sunday at Noon! Here's hoping everything goes well...

More photos of the new Comix Connection - York

I realize this doesn't look like much, but it represents new slatwall hung, all slatwall painted, broken/stained ceiling tiles replaced, edge coping installed, all dead lightbulbs replaced, bathroom cleaned and water hooked up, heating/cooling hooked up and checked, weird telephone tower equipment removed from back room, back counter installed, back issues and back issue bins placed, new cool slatwall racks placed, Manager Jared activated.

Still to go: replace ballast of one florescent light fixture, remove coating from giant windows, find more track lights, clean back rooms/mop floors/install shelving, super vacuum the carpet (that stupid glitter is EVERYWHERE), then move the entire contents of the old store two hundred yards east!

We're targeting the big move for early in the morning this Sunday, and we should be open in the new location on Sunday during normal hours. Fingers crossed.

I thought it would be fun to post

some BEFORE pictures so that we can compare them with photos AFTER we move Comix Connection - York, so here you go:






I will try to post more as we progress so stay tuned!

By the way...

CLICK ON IMAGE TO EMBIGGEN!

JUST COMIX CONNECTION - YORK, FOLKS!

Want to see a bunch of photos

of the places and faces of Comix Connection over the last 22 years? Why then just CLICK HERE and enjoy!

Feel free to comment and fan Comix Connection on Facebook if you haven't already!

COMIX CONNECTION - YORK IS MOVING UPDATE #2

Hey everyone! If everything goes well, the YORK STORE should be moved by MONDAY, MARCH 8th.

Comix Connection - York will probably be closed on SUNDAY MARCH 7th to do the actual moving!

Please bear with us during the move. We will try to provide our usual impeccable service, but we may be a tad preoccupied. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience. (Of course, this is barring any unforeseen things popping up. Fingers crossed!)

WE ARE MOVING THE YORK STORE WITHIN THE WEST MANCHESTER MALL! WE WILL BE LOCATED UP AT THE THEATER END BETWEEN BON-TON AND GAMESTOP!

(Comix Connection - Mechanicsburg isn't going anywhere. Just so you know.)

LAST CHANCE TO SCORE BACK ISSUES FOR A BUCK

There's still time to partake of Comix Connection's 22nd Anniversary Sale and fill your boxes with One Dollar Back Issues!

That's right, all day today (Noon to 5PM) at both locations

ALL BACK ISSUES IN THE BINS are a paltry ONE DOLLAR EACH!

Get in today and stock up on the bargains! Free cardboard box with large purchase!

And THANKS EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU FOR 22 GREAT YEARS of comical funnybook goodness! We really really appreciate it! THANKS.

TODAY AND SUNDAY!

It's
COMIX CONNECTION'S
22nd ANNIVERSARY SALE!

ALL BACK ISSUES IN THE BINS ARE

ONE DOLLAR EACH!

ALL DAY!
BOTH DAYS!

Ah, to be 22 years old again...

This is cool

Longtime fan John-Paul Checkett recently had an article published in the magazine VAN HELSING'S JOURNAL. That in itself is pretty cool, but check this out: the article in question is up for a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award! Check it out HERE! Scroll down to the "Best Magazine Article" category, and if you feel like voting, go right ahead!

Congrats, very cool John-Paul and best of luck!