Yeah, I know I said I wouldn't, but then -- as seen in A Crayon Haiku #71 -- I decided to give Grodd one last go with the brush. I didn't like how the black fur looked dull to the point of almost being grey, so I went out and got some gloss black last night and tried that... but then that was way too shiny, so I mixed it with some of the original black paint and went at it again. I like this level of shine -- it's not too intense, but it's noticeable enough and definitely looks black. I also decided I wanted more contrast between the grey areas and the black, so I went over them with a lighter grey mix comparable to Ed McGuiness's depiction of Grodd in the early issues of JLA: Classified. (more...)

I still don't have that other piece ready (image work's finished, though; here's a preview), but here's another quick Crayon Haiku. Admittedly, the reason that I've been largely preoccupied this weekend is pictured here: Gorilla Grodd, otherwise known as King Kong with about a billion coats of black and grey paint. In keeping with my continuing DC comics/character obsession, I've been following the DC Universe Classics toyline very closely (despite not being able to find the toys in stores for the life of me, grrr) -- and one of the things that's made me rather annoyed is that they decided to make Gorilla Grodd the build-a-figure for the second wave.

Now, I can see making Grodd a BAF. Despite the fact that all of the stats I can find on the 'net put him at 6'6" and 300 lbs., a good chunk of the recent comic depictions of him have made him this huge hulking beast thing with red eyes and an appetite for human flesh. Okay. But the second wave of DCUC figures is incredibly lame -- with the exception of Harley Quinn, which I do want, these are the characters that, in their DC Direct incarnations, I frequently find marked down to $6 or less at Suncoast and even then nobody wants them. I could see going for Black Manta too (though I suspect that I'll be able to snag the recent DCD version of him on the cheap in the coming weeks, and I'm not particularly concerned if my background characters are superarticulated or not), and I know folks like Aquaman (I don't), but this is still a crappy wave. So me spending $50 on these losers just to get Grodd? Not gonna happen. And there is a DC Direct Grodd currently on the shelves, which I pondered getting when I ran into it a couple of weeks ago, but I'm really not a fan of the howling at the moon headsculpt. What's up with that? I could see picking it up on clearance -- if it gets there -- but I wanted me a Grodd now. (more...)

And here it is -- a complete summary review of Care Bears Vol. 1, #13. At just over 1MB, the total size of the files on the page is larger than I generally like to have, but I wanted to post it all today on a single page. With multiple pages it's way too tempting for me to break the article up into sections, and we all know how that turns out. I still haven't finished reviewing the QC Dinobots.

Anyway, I've still got at least one more piece planned for tomorrow -- Monday at the latest -- to continue SC's fourth anniversary celebration, so stay tuned!

Yes, Scary-Crayon turns FOUR. YEARS. OLD. today! Hard to believe it's been so long, but there you go. I know that there weren't as many updates last year as there had been in previous years, and I'm not terribly happy about that, but I hope that either a) I update more this year or b) the updates, however frequently they come, consistently rank among the site's better offerings in their respective categories. And I also hope that other readers (that is, YOU!) will contribute submissions from time to time! At the very least, I hope that 2008 is another fun year for SC.

So this might seem like kind of a lackluster way to celebrate -- and a not terribly encouraging way to kick off SC's fifth year -- but here's A Crayon Haiku #69. I've admittedly been feeling a bit under the weather this week -- and by that I mean the cold, cold, cold weather, so I've spent much of my time shivering beneath blankets and not writing the articles that I meant to write for today. BUT I have done most of the photography and image work for them, so I'm still planning to have them up this weekend. What this means is that while today's festivities may be a bit lacking, the celebration will continue throughout the next couple of days (or just tomorrow, depending upon how productive I am this evening and tomorrow morning/afternoon) with additional updates. I may even have another piece up before the day is over! And to prove to you that at least one of these articles is something that'll definitely be worth the wait, here's a scan:

Oh. yes. in-. deedy.

Also -- can't recall if I've mentioned it here before or not -- there's new merch in the SC Cafepress store featuring the revised Crayon Critter design that appears in the current site header graphic. If you're strapped for cash but still want to wear some SC love, I definitely recommend the value tee. The other items are a bit pricier (except for the buttons!), but should still be great if you've got the extra dollars to spend. While Cafepress can be kinda high in terms of prices, I've never received anything but top-quality merch from them.

Okay, that's all for now -- back to writing articles for me! Perhaps more in a few hours, or tomorrow morning at the very latest, I'll have some Careballs love for y'all.

THANKS FOR READING SCARY-CRAYON!!!

And here's that short story I promised: "The Lion That Wore Glasses". I actually wrote this back in 2005 and sort of forgot about it after a few failed attempts to get it published for money. Upon rediscovering it recently and rereading it in full before posting it, however, I've recalled how much fun I had writing it. I can completely understand why the fiction magazines didn't want to print it -- it is an odd and curiously pretentious piece that, like dreams and other similarly strange narratives, doesn't really have an obvious point -- but then again that's the kind of stuff I enjoy reading and writing the most. It's telling that Kafka is one of my favorite authors and Waking Life is one of my favorite films.

Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy the story as much as I do! I remember being pretty discouraged about my inability to sell it back in the day -- after all, I am quite fond of the story and don't like to see things I enjoy rejected -- but I'm still glad that I wrote it.

All for now, then. Expect new articles when Scary-Crayon turns FOUR YEARS OLD this Friday! Draw a little cake (one that is not a lie) in the Jan 25 box on your calendars or something.