Visit Charles’ site here

One of the best parts of running a blog and podcast about comic books and illustrated work is most of the time I would spend cruising the internet, checking out websites and random things is actually time well spent and constructive. So when we were searching around for web comics for our recent web comic show, I hit a lot of sites . . . some great, some bad and just about everything in between was found during several long web crawls.

Charles Cutting’s website and webcomics while short, were some of them that stuck with me. First up we have The Dream Quest of Randolph Carter , which is the first chunk of a planned upcoming graphic novel. Based upon “The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath” from HP Lovecraft, it is far from what I expect visually when I think of anything from Lovecraft. I was expecting dark, heavily inked pages that so many people citing his stories as a source often do. But this was vibrant, explosively bright and lush, swapping the grey/green/red/black palette I imagined in my head for lemon yellow, sky blue, meadow green and fire-raging orange!

It really makes for gorgeous reading experience, and I really can’t wait to see more!

And for his other project, I am just going to let him explain what it is all about and why you should check it out:

The Doings Of Vincent John Mckeown

From The Website:

Crossroads Care’s website features the ongoing fantastical graphic biography of the Oxford poet Vincent John McKeown who died in 2009. It is written by Christian David and illustrated by myself, and will deal with his early life, his poetry and how he came to terms with multiple sclerosis. The Vincent John McKeown Memorial Fund has been created by Crossroads Care to enable carers and their disabled relatives or friends to enjoy the arts. We hope that our graphic novel will help generate interest in the fund as well as being a fitting tribute to Vincent’s life and work. The web address is www.vincentfund.org.uk/comic

It’s Funny . . . you know it is, so just go read it. Oh fine, you need proof, check out the below, but don’t come groveling back to me when you realize I am right and you want me to take you back, CAUSE I WON’T! I’m sorry baby, sometimes Ike Turner just gets sooo mad . . .

The machine has spoken, and it said “God” . . .

Um, check out this dude’s blog, buy some art, wash your body in some eviscerated entrails and buckets of blood. Every nightmare I have ever had is somehow recreated in vivid and wicked ways upon a canvas, and I for one FUCKING LOVE IT!

The Geek’s Grimoire is a blog run by a buddy of the show. Check it out by clicking on the banner above. And here is a sample of some of the geekery you should come to expect below:

It all started in a department store.

Pittsburgh, some time in the early 1980s

My brother and I have arrived at (probably) K-Mart. Both of us have fresh allowance money in our pocket, so we head directly to our favorite part of the store: the toy department.

Within moments, we’re in the action figures aisle, searching for the Star Wars figures. Unfortunately, Star Wars is already falling out of favor, and the only action figures that we can find already exist in our collection at home. As awesome as Darth Vader is, we really don’t need a third one.

Immediately adjacent to the Star Wars figures, something new and interesting has appeared. These newcomers are military action figures. They’re a bit different from our usual sci-fi toys, but they are about the same size, so they’ll fit in with our existing armies. After a little deliberation, we each select a toy and head for the checkout.

Little did we know, our young lives had just changed.

Present day

So, what was that pivotal purchase?

Over the next decade, my brother and I would invest a large quantity of our allowance in GI Joe action figures, vehicles, and even the occasional comic book. When the TV show surfaced, we immediately became devoted fans, and our backyard was filled with cries of “Yo Joe!”

My love for GI Joe faded into the fog of memory for quite a while, just as Star Wars had, until the Cartoon Network produced GI Joe Resolute. The cartoon that I had grown up with had grown up as well, and it was good.

Today, I’ve returned to the GI Joe universe. I’m a regular reader of several ongoing GI Joe comic books, I’ve got a handful of GI Joe action figures on my desk, and I’m re-reading the original Marvel Comics series. All because K-Mart was out of new Star Wars figures way back when.

I wonder how different life might have been if they’d had Zuckuss in stock…