10-31-06: Thoughts on this football season.

We all know I'm a big Notre Dame fan...but where's the love? Anyone out there that calls themselves a football pro is simply missing the facts...and here's where the problem TRULY lies...

Notre Dame lost to Michigan...NOW the #2 team in the BCS standings...USC, however, loses to Oregon State...who? Exactly. They aren't ranked in the top 25, and they are nobody special. Their record against USC in the last 32 years? 2-30.

Why then...is Notre Dame ranked lower, when they lost to the second best team in College football, and even beat a Penn State team by 24 that Michigan could not just put away even AFTER knocking TWO quarterbacks out...?

You see, this is stuff I don't understand. I was looking at the schedules for both Michigan and Ohio State...does anyone realize that in the next two weeks, both teams go up against opponents that are a combined 4-14? Sure, Notre Dame has some cupcakes in the next three weeks, too, a combined 7-17, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much, but come on. Look at the teams Notre Dame played already, and tell me their schedule wasn't tough?

Georgia Tech? They could win the ACC...

Penn St? They lost to Michigan by 7 with only having their 3rd string QB.

Michigan? yeah, they lost to them...but look at that team? Stacked.

MSU? They've lost to Michigan, Ohio State and Penn...without those three games on their schedule, they're 4-2, and then if they had teams like Oregon State, they're probably 6-2/7-2ish.

Purdue? 5-4 playing in the Big Ten

Stanford...okay boo them for their killing the opponent's record stat

UCLA? Weren't they top ten last year? Sure its rebuilding, but they are decent.

Navy? They were 5-2 facing ND

Forget the next three and look at USC...6-1, losing to a no-name, and for four straight weeks, having trouble beating ANYONE...yet they are the #9 team...

When you look at the records and the games...Texas got spanked by OSU, yet they are ahead of ND, and they had to rally from 21 down to beat Texas Tech...who?

Ultimately, you can ask ANYONE I talked to before the season this year...I FLAT OUT said that the team to watch was Rutgers. My buddy Arnie went there, and I said it after their bowl game victory last year, and I would LOOOOOVE for them to beat Louisville and West Virginia...why? Because then they deserve to play OSU for the National Champion...or Michigan.

Well, I'm tired of ranting about this topic now, but seriously...Notre Dame's schedule has two EASY games on it (and one is this week)...but So do OSU, Michigan, USC, WVU, FSU and every other team out there...All the haters need to shut up...the style Charlie brings to the game is this..."DID WE WIN? THEN SHUT UP AND MOVE US UP THE POLL..." And finally "If we continue to win...we deserve to be in the playoff to determine the champion..."

Thats right, I am talking 8 team playoff...

First round: Nokia Sugar Bowl
First Round: Rose Bowl
Second Round: Fiesta Bowl
Second Round: Orange Bowl

Championship game: NEW BOWL GAME...

How hard is that?! Christ.

10-29-06: Real World Wake Up call moment.

Who here is a manager at their job? At the same time, how many of them already put in 50+ hours of work per week and feel that it goes unappreciated? Now, couple that with an assistant manager who gets sick on the ONLY WEEKEND you can schedule yourself off, and due to the STUPIDITY of the company only allowing THREE keyholders, you suddenly find yourself having to sacrifice your own personal time for the company. Now how many of you suck it up and do it because you "have to" and how many just bottle it up?

Here's the problem with this situation. Apparently, said assistant manager has had this problem for over a week. I'm one for toughing it out, too, so this issue is something where I would probably end up being guilty of the same thing, but the problem lies here...if you are puking blood...see a doctor. If you are shitting blood, same thing. These are true words to live by. He waited...and waited...and waited...to the only time I had off, rather than going to the doctor/hospital when it first started, so that by the weekend, he should be well rested, and while I'd be cranky having to do this for anyone, I would have still had my day off, rather than having to pull at least another 6 day work week...

See, I don't mind having to work open to close...that's not a problem. I have a serious issue with not getting my time off. It isn't his fault, and mainly, it is the company's fault for not allowing a fourth keyholder, because it forces the manager to make UNHEALTHY LIFE DECISIONS. You find yourself asking questions like, "Can you come in anyway?" and "When will you be back?" But not getting the answers you want to hear, thus creating a void in work.

And who ends up the sickest? The manager that doesn't get to rest, is unappreciated for all his ass-busting hard work, and doesn't get to spend time with his wife and family because of the stupid fucking system.

Its a retarded world we live in, and forcing me to do things that I don't want to do because it hurts my livelihood is exactly why I hate retail and why if anyone would offer me $15 an hour to sell...I'd jump at the opportunity because I don't want the burden, and all I DO want is to do what I do best, but in my situation...that's just not possible.

10-24-06: Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe = buyrate...

Hey all, I'm sorry its been almost two full weeks since my last entry, and I have to say that I apologize for that. I know I'm not giving you comic content recently, so I should at least be giving you somehting to read, so here's a little bit...

I'm working over 50 hours a week and just plain exhausted by the time I get home. When I get there, I throw Splinter Cell: Double Agent into the 360 and pretend to be Sam Fisher. The guy has it all. He is a good guy, a bad guy and he's trying to kill a couple thousand people to save the lives of millions...all while trying to stay on the right side of the law. Its a terrific concept and one that NEEDS to be turned into a comic book (I'D WRITE IT! Hello?!)

With the comics, Eric sent me the whole penciled first issue of TAGGER, and he's outdoing himself on ever page. He's trying new things, making it work and really putting in a better effort than I've seen. Hopefully we'll be able to get something started with this project in early 2007 to start getting the LANDIS site updated again. I used to love watching the hits run in, and its a shame that it was only a miniseries...

I've not been able to letter any more of the pages of ARDY from JK, either, with all the work being done, but when I get some time to myself, I'll be doing it.

And I really hate this no online gambling act that got passed...that's ridiculous... give me back my freedom to lose money whereever I please...PLEASE!

I'll try to be more communicative, folks, sorry I haven't been :(

Rob

10-11-06: Tagger Pages.

Eric has sent me the first 22 pages of Tagger, fully penciled and they look good. I think everyone will like the change in art styles, but I have to admit, that with the time that it takes to produce the pages, I'm not sure I want to start until he has more completed pages. Sorry.

Dead Sonja is great. I have now seen all the art pages, and must say that Freddie Blatant III should be proud with what these artists did. This book looks GOOD.

They want me to do a Halo parody, next, so I'm doing research...however, with my job getting crazier for the holidays (yeah, its a little ways off, but it started yesterday with the pre-orders for PS3), I may have to pass on this assignment, whether I'd want to (which I don't) or not.

Well, gotta run...and no, we're not taking Nintendo Wii preorders, yet...though when we are, it'll be all over the net...just not on my blog :).

10/2/06: PS3, Wii, and much much more...

So guess who got to test out games like Wii sports, Zelda, and Resistance: Fall of Man this past weekend in Dallas, TX? That's right, me.

Working for Gamestop Corp, they sent all store managers to TX for a company wide training...which had 4500 managers, and 600 DMs and all the Corporate people there. This was a HUGE event, as vendors included EA, Vivendi, Activision, NC Soft, Ubisoft, Sega, THQ, Lucas Arts...and Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft.

Here's what we learned.

- There's a new Star Wars game that allows you to play as a CORRUPT side, and this means you can do crazy things like strap bombs to Ewoks and send them in and explode...

- Rayman: Ravin' Rabbids will be HUGE and you will ALLLLLL love the advertising for them. I actually suggested placing the ads ON THE DISC as unlockable content, so that'd be awesome.

- NINTENDO is READY with the Wii. Reggie (the Head of Nintendo of America) told us that Gamestop will be THE ONLY RETAILER with demo units for people to walk in and play. This is HUGE...

- Microsoft will have us selling the ZUNE, so expect Gamestop to go all out with this product, and I'd expect it to sell throughout Christmas with us, especially since they have noted that our top 1000 selling stores WILL RECEIVE A ZUNE AND A 360...wow! Peter Moore himself was there to let us in on all this info... and flew from Tokyo to Spain to Texas to get there for us...awesome.

- PS3 looks great, but Microsoft is ready with 60 new titles coming out towards the end of the year.

- There is SOOOO much going on to help poise Gamestop into the next couple years, and blowing away expectations once again.

Mainly for everyone wondering, the new TUROK game looks INCREDIBLE. Seriously.

Nintendo's Wii with Metroid, Zelda and Trauma Center will REDEFINE the gaming Genres... they are really good games and are VERY intuitive. These are really pushing Nintendo BACK into the limelight...this is huge news for the industry... and the Wii sports that will come in the package...Tennis is great, and Warioware is going to rock, as well.

GEARS OF WAR is JUST AS GOOD as you've heard. THIS IS THHHHEEEEE Shooter of the year, hands down. It's incredible.

DEF JAM rom EA is going to be a top notch fighter with environments that fight back, great shit.

Indiana Jones and all NEXT Gen Star Wars games are going to be great with the Immersion technology. It is software that is intuitive instead of pre-rendered... its really impressive to watch the characters and environments break more realisticly. This was a great piece of info that you should try to find online.

Best of Show:

- Wii...nuff said
- 360's upcoming plans
- Rayman (the Commercials MADE the weekend)
- Gears of War (Just gorgeous)
- Jamie Kennedy and Tom Green showing up.
- Our Scarface contest that will allow a manager to show up in an upcoming game.
- Lucas Arts presentation
- Resistance
- God of War II
- Def Jam
- ZUNE...you heard it hear first...let me know if you want to reserve one.

SO MUCH great stuff...and the fact that nintendo gave us $250 worth of stuff, Microsoft gave us another $350, Sony even jumped in this year giving us three games (they are afraid of losing market share)...

Lots of GREAT stuff coming...and I for one, am giggling like a school girl...

It was a great show, but the 18 hour workdays followed by getting sick were NOT on the menu...

Hope this lets everyone know why I hadn't logged any time in a while...have a great one.

9/21/06: FIRST LOOK: The Ardy Vanstarr Adventures

As you all can see, here's the first page of THE ARDY VANSTARR ADVENTURES from JK Radtke and Myself. I'm placing this up here so that everyone can see what the final product is beginning to take shape like.

Of course, if JK tells me to take it down, I'll have to, but hopefully he'll let me place this up here and be happy :).

NO, this is NOT THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH of the site...the site is far from ready, and we won't launch the comic through keen until it IS ready...I just wanted to give everyone a sneak peek at the first page.

9/21/06: Cupcakes and Brownies...is it my birthday?!

Hey all...my wife cooked brownies AND cupcakes for me...how fudging cool is that? We're doing a little better, but she isn't feeling well...too bad.

AP Furtado has turned in his whole 16 pages of DEAD SONJA already and he makes me so happy to beg for him to do it in the first place. I can't wait to see what Owen does with his pages...its almost upsetting that I haven't spoken with Owen in what seems like years, since he is such a great talent. I guess he's afraid I'll bug him until he works with me, again, too, hehe. It's okay, I don't really do that anymore, but I'm happy to see that he's working on some serious projects that he cares about and puts 100% into all of them.

I've been lettering the pages for TAVA, and I'm up to page 8 right now. Its going faster than expected. I can typically do five or six pages in one sitting before I tire in boredom with it, though I have to admit that being able to do it yourself is 100% easier and CHEAPER than hiring someone else...not to mention although I know JK has lettered in the past, I wanted to take a more active role, so that he only really has to worry about the artwork side of it. I ask his opinion where some of the larger caption balloons need to go, because I don't want to cover up all of his backgrounds...of course in panels without backgrounds, I have the leisure of placing them wherever I like, :).

I'll give an update on TAGGER soon, as I want to get in touch with Eric and see how its coming along. No rush on that story, as he's attempting to put in at least AS much effort with the pages, if not more than the original Landis. And then, after four or so issues of that, we'll jump back into THIEF, which I am still struggling with an end for...

hm...so that's pretty much what's going on here...

9/19/06: Been a while, time for an update.

So today, I started lettering THE ARDY VANSTARR ADVENTURES. The nice thing about the writer also being the letterer means that I can spruce up the story where it sounds as though I may have tried to come off as a better writer than I truly am... and EVERY writer does this. Using different verbiage, or connotations or what not, but with me, I like to re-read it and go..."hmm...this sounds better than that" and then just follow with the rest of the written word to make sure it looks and sounds good. JK and I are both extremely excited about this again, and trying to move ahead to get ready for the launch...you guys are going to love about 5 weeks into the story, when Dread Mutt makes his appearance.

Dread is a character that JK and I created probably about 3-5 years ago (I know its a big window, but I keep losing track of years), and he was to be an intergalactic bounty hunter. Then, when we started TAVA, I sat there while writing, and while instant messaging with JK, I said, "Why don't we put Dread Mutt into the first story?" And he loved the idea. The way I look at him as a character is if you mix Lobo with his dog...that's when you get Dread...though he looks more like a Boxer (the kind of dog).

So the wife and I are fighting again because I told her she isn't allowing enough time for us to spend together. She has this great habit of saying she'll be home by a certain time, and then not being there...and it only seems to happen when it is "our night together." I don't think there is anyone else, and I know that she's always had a rough time with being timely, but some things NEED to be important enough to allow for you to spend it with them...and recently, I just don't feel like I'm important enough to her. My home life is what makes me work so hard in my day job, and even with the comics I write and produce. I NEED to go at it 100%, because for any of these things to actually put money in my pocket and our bank account, I need to do it how I do...but at the same time, its because my home life and lifestyle are SO important to me that I need to feel important at home, as well.

We treat people how we want to be treated, and for me, its respect me because I show you respect. I don't show up late, I do what I say I will, and I accomplish what needs to be done...and that's mainly all I ask for...and yet, it seems so hard for some people to give that...

So with all of that, I'm going to leave and try to letter some more pages.

9/15/06: A Lot Closer to being ready for launch.

Just a quick update on The Ardy Vanstarr Adventures...JK has sent me the first 15 pages (redux if you will), where he now feels more comfortable with the inks and the feel of the art. He's going to do up some character sketches and such for bio pages, since that was one thing LANDIS lacked that everyone continued to ask for, and then we need to find a layout. After that, we'll probably letter the pages up and go from there...it will be black and white, which may disappoint some people, but JK wants to do contests and such where he gives away colored artwork from the series...almost like Sunday newspaper updates and specific scenes will be in color, which I'm cool with, and what he likes doing currently is ALL colors BY HAND, so none of this photoshop nonsense :).

Also, court case was postponed again, not something my lawyer wanted, but we deal with it...

Dead Sonja looks like its going to be a decent sized Hit, which in the indy market means turns a profit. Now with AP (Heavy Metal) Furtado and Owen (Landis, Sore Thumbs) Gieni on board, this project is really shaping up...I wonder who Freddie Blatant III is going to get as the third artist...?

Other than that, we're coming into a time of year that I should love, but really don't, due to working in retail...Christmas. The hiring process for this time of year and everything has me wanting to pull my hair out, not to mention that my Asst. Manager quit and my third key left to Circuit City...though he's still with me at least. Anyway, because of this, I may not be able to write as much, but I'll see what I can do.

9/12/06: TAVA PROMO PIECE, and other rants...

This is a piece of THE ARDY VANSTARR ADVENTURES of both ARDY and TORCH, (Ardy of which is TM and (C) Rob Potchak, and Torch which is TM and (C) JK Radtke). I really like it, and JK wants to point out that it was colored solely in Sharpie Markers... I like it, its raw feel and its final feel that I can never seem to show in my art.
See, I told everyone that this project IS coming...and it will, but not until JK and I feel its ready to roll.

I've been getting an itch to draw again, but I'm not sure what I want to draw. I broke my digital camera the other day, which was upsetting, since I was going to take photos of real life things and try to convert them into a comic page for fun.

September 10th, I celebrated my one year wedding anniversary. I gave Christy sheet music of our song (though she'll probably get it tomorrow of the next day), which is Train's DROPS OF JUPITER. Why sheet music? Because the first anniversary is the PAPER anniversary.

If you don't know how much better of a theatre experience you get in your home with a home theatre system for sound, you are missing out. I scare the shit out of the dogs by playing STAR WARS and TERMINATOR 2, now...they just don't know where its all coming from...its awesome. Just the experience of buying it could have been left without. The manager at Bestbuy did not want to sell me what I wanted and even said, "I'm not going to help you..." because the item I wanted was on sale...funny how that works? No wonder, my buddy Fubar, who has worked for Best Buy for five years just quit because of their assininess...heh, I think I made up a word.

So I have a favorite new online casino game, and its called 3 card poker. Its a game where a lot of money can be won or lost...I think I actually like it more than Texas Hold'm...

I met Cam Ward today...he won the Con Smythe award for Most Valuable Player throughout the playoffs in hockey. He apparently is a regular in my store, so it was funny talking to him about playing AS him in the NHL 2007 demo...I probably sounded like such a geek...though talking about what he did with the Stanley cup is funny, especially since one of his teammates did a Keg Crawl with it...hehe.

My store got secret shopped at get this...3pm on a Saturday afternoon, IN A MALL THAT IS HIGH TRAFFIC...did we pass? Hell no...why? Because it was Saturday... 3pm... WITH TWENTY TWO (by the shopper's account), TWENTY FREAKING TWO customers in the store...WHO THE HELL WOULD PASS A SECRET SHOP with 22 people in their store? That's an 11/1 ratio of Customers to Employees...man that burns me up...there is no way to go through every ounce of everything with a customer who wants to buy a 2.13 item (THAT'S ALL THEY PURCHASED), when you have probably 11 of the twenty two people WAITING IN LINE...go shop at a strip center on Saturday and come in when we are nice and quiet during the week...shit.

9/8/06: Been a while, so I thought I'd update.

Above is my favorite page (so far) of Dead Sonja. Its page three, and though I should have blurted out the lettering, I think it doesn't give enough away to really upset anyone, but if F. Blatant III tells me to remove it, I guess I'll have to.

Also, in another interesting and great piece of news, Owen Gieni will be drawing the second 16 page Dead Sonja story, which is awesome, because it is the first time him and I have worked together since LANDIS. And we don't really get to keep in touch anymore, unfortunately, with him being involved with Sorethumbsonline.com and all, but when I found that tidbit out, I jumped for joy in total elation.

I'm real excited about this project now, so I'm actually wondering what BLATANT book I should send in next. I've heard a spoof on HALO, a spoof on WWE, or a Transformers spoof. I'm thinking Highlander, Army of Darkness, but I'm definitely keen on writing out any of those others, too...what's everyone think?

I'll be posting a promo piece for TAVA (The Ardy Vanstarr Adventures) soon. Its from JK RAdtke and he's putting extra time back into the already completed pages because he wants it to be perfect. I don't blame him, so I'm giving him all the time he'd like to get it rolling and we'll launch it when its ready, which has probably disappointed a lot of people, but we want to give you 100% everytime we upload pages, and since JK is back to 100% into the project, we are moving along.

Some real life BS stuff now...

With the day job, everything is going from bad to really freakin bad, right before our yearly conference in Dallas, my assistant manager decides he wants to quit. But get this, he puts in two weeks notice and then says, "But I want to use my sick time that I've built up, or I'll just call out sick..." To which I'll take it as job abandonment instead of "using sick time" since he's saying he's going to dick the company. This means MORE work for me, harder hours, and having to hire someone. Its actually good, since he didn't want to grow up and change like the company does, so I needed to find someone else anyway, they just wanted me to wait until after the conference...its too bad, too, because he's a decent guy, but if he does this, it shows what kind of real person he is...

8/31/06: TRAIL OF CORPSES

So I was trying to fix something at my house which forced me into the garage to attempt to locate a screwdriver, and what I found was a story entitled "Corpses Trail," an 'Ardy' story that I wrote and drew in a notebook that dealt with time travel, Ardy trying to save his planet and much more...however, it's real old, so while I may treat you folks again with old art from it (I think 1993 is when I did it), I think more importantly was the name of the story...Corpses Trail. It gave me an idea for a story so heartwarming and filled with buttercups that I ...oh wait, no it didn't. It's more like filled with briars and kidney stones, a story that has now been started as TRAIL OF CORPSES.

No, it isn't a zombie story, though those are always fun, its the story of a nemesis for someone. Gavin Decker is a character that lives in a world without heroes, and part of it has to do with him. He has a way of pushing people to the edge, and helping them get to where they want to go, and in most cases, its the big dirt nap. I'm going to do something I haven't done here yet, and I want people to respond. I finally wrote in a short story format. I typically write in a comic book format that my wife can't get into and she really can't get behind. She knows its easy enough to read, but it almost seems she just tells me she likes it to make me happy, and that's okay with me...but you folks are the real audience, the ones I try to appeal to, and Gavin Decker COULD actually be the perfect villain for Landis, so because of this, I've decided to post "Part One" of TRAIL OF CORPSES. I want people's thoughts, I want to hear what you think, and yes, the story is derived from a character from a marvelous universe, but all is not always as it seems. Anyway, read it, enjoy it, and post a reply. Tell me if you think this story can go somewhere.

I really like it.

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TRAIL OF CORPSES
Concept and story created by Rob Potchak

PART 1
“I do not live in a world of heroes. I live in a world of lies, deceit, and filth. Truth be told, I can’t even truly say that if I could change it I would. I look back at what has come before me, and then I look forward, and all I continue to see is a simple notion…

“A Trail of Corpses.”

Gavin Decker is no ordinary man. His left leg is slightly longer than his right, which causes back and neck pain that is regular to most people, since they are all imperfections. His rust colored hair, and its shine, as if it hasn’t been washed in days, collecting its own oils, though he’d tell you he showers every day. He is a late twenties born shopkeeper, tired of milling around and earning pennies on the dollar, knowing full well that the larger corporations are taking much larger chunks of his life, and many like him.

Everywhere Gavin has gone in his life, growing up in a military family, there has always been one thing that has been constant, it is never left in the shape it started in. You can’t necessarily blame someone who’s existence is based in a world where people live and die over dollars, spilt milk and professional wrestling. Gavin as always been a proactive person, rather than waiting for the next thing to come along. Today is no different.

As he begins to cross the street, he witnesses an old blind man walking out in front of a truck whose brakes look as though they’ve given out. In another instant, a young boy runs out in an attempt to save the elderly man by pushing him out of the way. The truck begins to swerve, and as is normally the case, too late to stop, the waste that was being transported pours onto the boy, who luckily, was able to save the old man.

Gavin looks on, waiting for something from the truck driver, who is now outside the truck, assessing his damages, rather than checking the boys vital signs. Which is more important in this situation, a boy’s life that hasn’t been led yet, or the blown tire of an irate trucker, not recognizing that he is responsible for the condition of the boy. Maybe to the trucker, it is the second, when it should be the first, however, the third situation is what Gavin takes into consideration, that of the older gentleman that the youngster pushed out of the way.

Decker walked up to the older man, who is tending to his knee, and griping about the fact a hooligan has caused him to get hurt and break his cane. “Sir, have you any idea that you are alive because of that boy?”

“Hodge Podge. No child is going to risk their life for a codger like myself. Hell, he probably would have laughed with his friends about it. ‘This old blind man walked in front of a truck, and guess what happened?’

“Sir, you really haven’t grasped the situation here, have you? You are alive, and a boy has just had what looks to be some sort of waste almost drown him, and all you can do is speak cynically about what you think a 15 year old thinks of your condition? Have you no respect for anyone other than yourself?” Gavin preaches.

“Boy, listen to yourself. In this world, its kill or be killed, live or die. I’ve lived 67 years, dealing with my blindness since the war, but you know what I received for my troubles? Squat. Why? Because no one gives hand outs to a blind old man who doesn’t pity himself for his condition.”

Gavin placed his hand on the old man’s shoulder. He continues to talk to the old man, “You may believe the world to be one way, and I’m not going to steer you down another path today. In fact, quite the opposite. You may have thought that my tirade may have been to get your repentance, but it wasn’t, you failed piece of the whole. I’m not here to make you change your mind, quite the contrary. I enjoy your way of going through life, fending for no one or nothing but yourself, not caring whether you live or die…as it makes my decision much easier here…”

Almost as if he is able to see, the blind man turns to look up towards Decker, his glasses on the bridge of his nose, containing scratches from the push a few short moments ago. He doesn’t speak to Gavin to make his point seen again, but this time, his face starts to warp. The skin begins to hang and fall from the face, and the blood seems to rush away from his formerly rosy cheeks.

The old man falls over, as Decker’s hand on his shoulder isn’t for balance or stability, but for Gavin’s point to be realized, “You said it yourself, old man, it’s kill or be killed, and unfortunately, your lack of faith and mercy have condemned you to your end. Had you been thankful in the least that the boy had saved you, you may yet have been able to see that your life was worth as much as the child’s, rather than both being thrown away.”

Gavin Decker stands up, pulls the hood of his sweatshirt over his head, and continues to walk. He looks back only once, to witness the site of two paramedics pulling a white sheet over the child’s face, having not survived the amount of exposure he was in contact with. Decker shakes his head, looks up to the sky and points a finger, “C’mon big guy, you didn’t have to do that to the kid, and don’t give me none of that ‘it was his time,’ bullshit. That boy could’ve been a hero after a daredevil maneuver like that.”

END PART 1

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Okay, now let me know...by the way, this is the 325th post here, so I decided to give you guys a little something extra :).

8/30/06: Guido Guido Guido

JK Radtke and I have been discussing an art group, where we give each other an idea of what characters we want to draw and then we draw them and post them and see what people think. Well, the first character we both decided on was GUIDO, aka STRONG GUY from Marvel's X-Factor. One of my favorite characters, I decided to go ahead and draw him...but since I couldn't find a pencil and wanted to really give something I didn't just draw him once...I drew him three times...so here are those drawings.

8/29/06: Bodog, funny, and more...

So one of the funniest things on my computer happened, and I can't seem to fix it, but hopefully when I reload the computer it'll fix itself. Ever video file I play currently goes directly into fast speed, like 4X speed. Now this may not seem funny, but it basically means that everyone sounds like the chipmunks, including the stuff that isn't appropriate for "all audiences..." NOW THAT'S FUNNY SHIT!

Also, I like Bodog.com. I am a poker player, and I play on Bodog. My problem with them is that it seems that 90% of the time, if you have the best hand before the RIVER card, you lose on the river. I don't know if these are accurate odds, but just my perception, since I'll normally hold the higher hand until that moment. Now, if you like Poker, Bodog has a referral program, so just send me an email to rpotchak@gmail.com, and I'll make sure to send you a referral so that you get some bonus, and I get some bonus. Also, if anyone knows of a better and safer alternative to online poker (like with third party auditors or what have you), let me know. I'd try out a different site if it seemed safer.

By now, most of you have read that AP Furtado has joined the cast of lunatics on Dead Sonja. He has already sent me the first page of the project, and he claims its the first time in years that he has thought of a project in nothing but black and white...so everyone knows, his Elf and Troll series is full color at 01comics.com and as far as I can tell, he writes, draws, letters and colors it himself...he's a renaissance man in this field that can put wonderful pieces together, and I've NEVER seen anyone work as fast as him...EVER. At least with the quantity of work and the quality of the page.

BEFORE I FORGET...Eric Kent HAS sent me the first portion of pages for BOTH TAGGER and THIEF, and needless to say, I'm ecstatic about how they are turning out. His look for Tagger, and his work on the expressions after the incident with the water tampering are perfect. There's a flashback sequence for that, and he just seems to nail it. Its great...And all the art he sent really shows improvement over what he's done in the past. It may seem like its taking a while, but thats what happens when you want to build up a surplus after the stockpile runs out.

All for now.

8/28/06: Dead Sonja NEWS!

AP "Heavy Metal" Furtado joins DEAD SONJA team!

Tony Furtado has taken on the art of the first 16 page story from Dead Sonja. This is the first time Tony and I have worked on a a story together since BUSTY VS. XXXENA. Tony has gone on to some GREAT things with 01comics.com, becoming the art director and an extremely overworked artist.

Him joining the project was a long shot that I took in hopes of using his love of Red Sonja, and it worked, and now I'm happy as a pig in shit. If Freddie Blatant III will let me post some preli art from it, I'll show everyone WHY I begged this guy to draw it...

Or just go check out his project, Elf and Troll from 01comics.com

8/18/06: Really picking apart a comic...in a good way.

Hey folks...you want to see how reading TOO far into a comic can be a good thing? First, go out, buy a copy of BATMAN #655, the first issue with Grant Morrison as the writer and Andy Kubert as the artist...THEN...read this...http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=80996

Y'see, the writer of this totally picks apart Grant Morrison's writing style, since when he's writing a character, he's writing TO the reader. He's asking questions, begging for acceptance and truly getting a third dimension (or maybe fourth) in his way of doing things. He's involving the reader both metaphorically as well as being the typical bystander in the scene.

Its almost creepy if this is what Morrison actually meant, but it TRULY...uniequically, makes you think that some people that write comics are much further advanced than the readers that follow their work.

8/17/06: Email from Joe Quesada.

For those of you that read online comics only, and have no idea who Joe Quesada is, he's the Editor In Chief (or the EEK as he says) of Marvel Comics, and a very good guy. I like him, even though other comic book people don't...He's done me right as long as I've emailed him, instant messaged with him, etc. So the other day, I just sent him an email. I've posted the entire email from me at the bottom of this post, and his response is just above it.

The guy gets like 500 emails a day. I'm not saying I'm special because he replies to mine, but he responds almost every time I email him now...not long colorful emails...just one liners mostly, but he replies...not like the guys at DC, and not like the guys at Image...so here's the email that I sent, talking about the inker Marvel uses for a newly exclusive artist, named Leonard Kirk. An excellent artist on his four issue Detective Comics run, I *personally* felt that Marvel was under utilizing him based on the finish artist that put on top of him...his finisher at DC, Andy Clarke made his work look like Travis Charest, my favorite artist... so here's the email.

-----------------------------


Thanks for the suggestion Rob.

JQ

-----Original Message-----
From: RPotchak@aol.com
To: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sent: Tue, 15 Aug 2006 8:00 PM
Subject: Leonard Kirk art and who should be inking him.

Joe,

Upon seeing that Leonard Kirk signed an exclusive with Marvel, I was
ultra excited based on his work that I saw in Detective Comics. The
man's work looked a lot like Travis Charest, though he was able to do
monthly work. What more could someone ask for?

Then I saw AGENTS OF ATLAS #1. I still liked the composition of the
book and Leonard's storytelling, but that intricate line work that was
so very great in Detective, was no nowhere to be found.

I don't know how many other people have made this request, but they
should, and do so in droves, but I suggest getting Leonard's finisher
artist, Andy Clarke, from his Detective work to finish him from now on
instead of whomever Marvel has inking him. Not only will it look
better, but it may bring more followers of his previous work BACK to
look at his new work.

I would also recommend the same inker for Olivier Coipel, since he is
known as an avid Charest fan, as well, and it would just add another
element to the work.

If you want a listing of the Detective issues I'm speaking about, they
are #817-820, featuring Simone Bianchi covers and written by James
Robinson.

I guarantee sales would increase with Clarke inking Kirk...since we
don't get enough Charest work on this side of the ocean.

Thanks for the consideration.

Rob Potchak

-----------------------

See? Just a one line response...and if he really takes it into consideration, I'll be a happy fan.

8/17/06: Update of sorts...

Still no word on who the artists will be for DEAD SONJA, but that's okay, I'm sure Freddie will get me some good artists to make the project look better, heh.

Eric has informed me that he's going to be sending me the first 8 pages of TAGGER, followed shortly by the rest of the pages out of the first "issue" which is 22 pages.
This is great news, since I won't publish any of it until its complete, but he's much farther ahead on this than I thought he'd be at this point, but if we're going with sharp pencils instead of full inks, we ought to be able to get a good looking story out there and on elisalandis.com for all you landis fans.

I've already come up with names for future Blatant books, or at least crossover Blatant books, which I may bring in EVERYTHING JAKE'S Mike Rosenzweig to help write a Highlander parody, since we're both big fans.

Apparently, the guy that owns the local comic store wants to talk with me about the possibilities of a third store, or my first...this is great news, because if I could be running a comic store, I could be writing them at the same time...

And my day in traffic court has been postponed...still not allowed to comment further.

How's everyone else doing?

8/14/06: Dropping the post number.

Why am I dropping the post number? Every time I post...if I delete a post, it gets rid of it, so I don't want to do that, anymore, so I figure I'll post with the date from now on. We're over 300 posts, so it really shouldn't matter one way or another.

Well, I've finished the DEAD SONJA: SHE ZOMBIE WITH A SWORD #1 script for Blatant Comics, and while I CAN NOT say that it is my best work, I can say that it has a good flow to it, and all the stories coincide with each other nicely, since there are three totally random stories in the issue...each 16 pages, so at least there's enough filling for the price point. In fact, since we're doing it for only 3.99, that's only a dollar more for OVER twice the content of your average Marvel, DC or IMAGE title...so even if only thirty pages of content are "satisfactory" that means you are still getting your money's worth...heh.

Alright, I won't rationalize the story aspect. What I will say about it is this. I like writing fiction that isn't parody MORE than I enjoy parody. But I DO like PArody writing enough to do it, and do it "well." No one wants to write a character like another character, only in silly situations, but if it earns you a published book when you don't see another coming, you do it, and enjoy the humor in it.

Obviously, I was entertained wnough with the idea while writing it to draw a picture of the female lead, and write 48 quality script pages within 7 day, so I'd feel I was inspired.

While at Heroes Con in Charlotte, I met a lot of really nice artists...including Javier Saltares (drew Landis), Jame O'Barr (I could write a novel on what he told me in 30 minutes), and quite a few others...Here's the thing, I would like to say I was networking...WHAT was I networking, you ask? LANDIS. I chat with Brandon Peterson, Mike Choi, Randy Green, and Ethan Van Sciver about doing a commission of LANDIS, all of which seemed REALLY interested, however, had some time constraints. All of these guys have been on extremely successful titles, so because of this, getting any of them to actually do a piece, and then getting it framed would be totally kickass.

One thing EACH of them explained to me, however, was to NOT publish any of the art, unless I asked for a cover / pinup illustration, all of them stating that they'd put more effort into something that would subsequently cost more...This, I feel is a disservice to you loyal readers (50 or so of which will read down this far, hehe), and who knows, if Chris can get me in touch with another artist, we may get more LANDIS sooner, rather than later...but who knows.

This is more of a rant than anything else. I decided to cut 90% of the pornstar friends from the MYSPACE page (myspace.com/potsandpansink) because it just worth getting bulletins about where they were stripping, singing, or wearing (nothing), and not wanting to look at it.

Christy (my wife) and I are doing quite a bit better, though I have been really sick the past couple days (I think it may be the flu), and without medical insurance until it kicks in from the job, I'm reluctant to create another bill. Hopefully enough Dayquil and NyQuil will help me get through it.

I have my court date on Wednesday, so I am still not at liberty to share this story...at least again. I'm sure I'll have good or bad news to post...or at least indifferent news when they continue the case. I DID however spend $200 on a new suit today to make sure that I'm not just in Sunday Best, but wearing better than I ever do that day...of course, $200 was more than I wanted to spend, but I figured I might as well get a new tie, and Suit coast and pants...what can it hurt? Most of my friends are getting married or whatever now, so it makes sense for multiple occassions.

Christy has told me she's taking a month off of drinking again, to prove to herself she can do it. I'm skepticle, but supportive as I want her to prove to both of us that the drinking doesn't control her...as it does AFTER she's been drinking.

I do not drink and drive now. I won't have a single drink and then get behind the wheel of a car. I'm not trying to preach, but my wife is supposed to uphold that rule, too, because of everything, and if she can't, that's where a problem stems from.

Have you ever felt like your life isn't where you want it to be? I have this feeling all the time, and yet, I still want to move forward with things like having children...why? I'm not really sure...maybe I feel this growing thing inside telling me that this is what's next. I'm very stubborn, if I want something, I normally go get it...this could turn out to be a real problem in the future when it involved both myself and my wife, but it doesn't stop me from wanting nor doing.

In that way, I guess I understand Christy's want to drink. She wants it, regardless of what it may do, and without thinking through some of the consequences...ah well.

It seems I've give you folks a lot to digest here. Reply if you'd like...let me know where you WANT to be in life, and how you plan to get there...me...I'm feeling it out right now. I just wish that the people doing interviews for employment would take a shot on hiring me, so I can make the company money...

Post 319 (also 8/7/06): More new art...

Since the art thing seems to be working, I figure I'll go ahead and add another piece...

This is the penciled cover of THIEF #2 from Eric Kent. He's now slaving away on TAGGER, but after we finish up Tagger, he'll be back to this labor of love, that as far as he keeps telling me is into the third issue of art, where I told him to stop to come up with a better ending (since I hate being my own editor, I don't realize something's bad until the artist is midway through drawing it...STILL SORRY, ERIC!)

With TAGGER, we've decided to just letter Eric's pencils, and at present will probably be done in black and white, unless Eric wants to play with coloring it, too, but since we're not being paid like the big time pros we are (hehe), we may have to cut some corners, while not sacrificing the quality...

Not quite sure if Eric wanted me to show this piece or not, but it shows how good of an artist he is with perspective. I'm really a blessed writer with most of the artists I've worked with...

Tony Furtado has worked with Heavy Metal and is now at 01comics, Tim Johnson (from the Ardy story you've no doubt read) has become a commercial artist and painter, Eric has worked with plenty of pros in the past, JK is a super talent that doesn't realize his own potential, and without really being in the industry door like I try to be, has quite a few connections, not to mention everyone else I've worked with...

Well, I'm off for tonight...back to work in the morning, BOOOOOOOOOO! And then somehow have Tuesday off before I go to work probasbly every day straight til my impending court case on the 16th.