Author: Ethan Nicolle

Ryan Browne came up to me and gave me copies of his God Hates Astronauts comics at Detroit Fanfair.  Because, most of the time, when people come up and give me their comics they are really bad, I tried not to let him onto the fact that I thought the cover and the title alone was awesome.  But on the plane ride home I read the two issues and enjoyed myself immensley.  If you like comics like Axe Cop and Dr. McNinja that poke fun at the super hero genre, you will love this comic.  I will warn you that there is adult content in this series, so don't read it to your kids. 

The art is really well done and the characters are hilarious.  Well played Ryan Browne, well played indeed.

Highly recommonday'd!!

Ethan

I still don't really understand why the rabbits have to be eaten when they get old… but it's just one of those dirty jobs that goes on behind the scenes so that civilized people can enjoy magic shows.  We should tell Mike Rowe about that.

Here's some behind the scenes on this final page.  Page 15 (the episode before this one) was supposed to be the ending, but I felt it was really weird for the magic police to never be revisited and for their to be no resolve to that story, so I called Malachai and quizzed him on what was up with the MP.  Were they good guys?  Bad guys?  He said they were good guys and Axe Cop was just pranking them.  It was all good clean fun, but the MP were really mad.  You will see on the first letter they sent that Axe Cop will have to do whatever they want for three days to avoid being locked up in magic jail.  The “whatever we want” in that letter would have been for Axe Cop to eat their poop and drink their pee for three days.  I think Axe Cop sensed it would be something like that and that is why he didn't agree to it.  Plus I told Malachai I am not drawing that. 

Well, another story is over.  As I said, I'll post some guest episodes over the next couple weeks.  If you would like to submit a guest episode, go for it, but please have it to me in the next week or so.  Like by October 7th at the latest.  We will be going back to Thursday-only updates for a while here as I get into the new Axe Cop print-exclusive miniseries.  It was fun posting three comics a week while I could but I can only do so much.  If I learned anything from today's episode I'd clone myself.

Don't worry.  There are more Axe Cop stories to be told… we have one that is mostly done about Wexter and his Dad having a father/son day out killing bad guys, and we also have a dog adventure wherein Ralph Wrinkles, Army Chihuahua, Presty and a new dog character go on an adventure.  Both need work but I hope to make one of them the next online story… though I have an Axe Cop Presents that is my favorite new thing right now and for all I know it could become it's own full story.  Man!  So much to do!

Also, false alarm on the Bad Guy Earth trade being released yesterday.  It got postponed ANOTHER week.  I have no idea why.  LAME.  Sorry for constantly hooting and hollering about it only for it to suddenly not come out.  I hope it actually comes out next week.  I'm trying to keep the faith.

See you next week.

Ethan

I had a good time in Detroit, and I apolgize for no RecomMonday blog, but I got home after another day of flying and was pretty wiped out.  I didn't realize my flight home was four stops on the same plane, so all in one day I went from Detroit to Chicago to Oakland to Burbank.  

Besides meeting lots of great people and other artists, we were honored to have won the Shel Dorf Award for Web Comic of the Year!  I never prepare myself for winning, so I had no speech, I just sort of stumbled around saying thankyou this is awesome.  Axe Cop won the Eagle Award in the UK but I was not present to receive it (they had me record a web cam acceptance speech just in case I won).  This was the first time I have won an award in comics and been present to accept it, it was pretty cool.  Here is a picture of me, having just received the reward, taken by none other than the super-skilled Jason Howard (The Astonishing Wolf Man, Super Dinosaur):

So, as I mentioned last week.  Things are going to slow down around here for a bit.  I will let a couple guest episodes give me some time to do some Bearmageddon work and also get crackin' on the new Axe Cop miniseries for Dark Horse.

Speaking of miniseries for Dark Horse, the complete Bad Guy Earth book is hitting shelves on Wednesday!  This is a book any Axe Cop fan should own, especially if you have only been reading the web comics.  This is the ultimate Axe Cop story and I am extremely proud of it.  Please order it, buy it from your local shop… do whatever you must.  But get this book!  Even if you got the singles, there is over 30 pages of bonus material including a ton of “the making of” material that has a lot of characters and concepts that never made it into the final story.  I spent a month making Bad Guy Earth with Malachai and I document that month in this extra section and I think if you enjoy Axe Cop you will really dig this bonus section I put together.  It is a bonus section I totally put together myself and sent to Dark Horse, just to be clear.  This is not a few pages thrown in just to get you to buy the trade.

Anyway, I know this page felt like the last page of Axe Cop Babysits Uni-Baby, and it sort of is- but there is an unresolved issue that Axe Cop has to deal with and he will do that next episode, which will be the final episode of Axe Cop Babysits Uni-Baby. 

Ethan

I know that sounds like the title of an amazing new series… I mean what city needs Axe Cop's blade of justice more badly than Detroit?  I know Robocop has it handled, but hey maybe hey could team up?

Well, nearly as awesome is that I will be in Detroit this weekend at Detroit Fanfare as a guest, and to add to the awesome, I will be there with a shipment of the brand new Bad Guy Earth trade paperback, which doesn't actually hit comic shop shelves until the 28th, so if you are in Detroit you will be able to get an advance copy straight from my own grubby little mits, signed and sketched in.  It's a good weekend to be a Detroitian!

I will be on a panel... I think it's the one called “There is an Alternative” talking about alternative methods of getting your comics out there besides through mainstream publishers.  It is Saturday at 12:00 in the Gene Colan Memorial Room.

Also, Axe Cop was nominated for a Shel Dorf Award for Best Web Comic of the Year, and I will attend the ceremony. 

I am not yet sure where my table will be located, so just frantically scream my name like I'm a lost child in the mall and you will eventually find me.  Bad Guy Earth books are first come, first served… I will only have one box of them so if you want to get one try to stop by sooner rather than later.

Alright, well, that was very poopy, and for you poop sensitive people I apologize. 

Now, just to let you know, we are coming up on a break here.  I don't have any new Ask Axe Cop material for a little while, and I only have two more episodes left of the current story arch.  As this story winds down, I am going to try to do a glob of Bearmageddon pages, and more importantly, get to work on the next Axe Cop Miniseries for Dark Horse Comics.  This will, as it did last time, have an effect on the online output (namely, it will bring us back down to a page a week for a while).

I haven't quite yet decided what will come next.  After next week when this story concludes, I will post guest episodes the next week ( I have a couple awesome ones in the hopper).  I will take the next two Wednesdays off since I am out of Ask Axe Cops and need the break, but Bearmageddon will still post those days.  I'll have a better idea of my plan in the next two weeks, but I wanted to give you the heads up that there will be a change in posting rate here for a while as I begin to draw our next print-exclusive comic for Dark Horse.  If anyone wants to submit guest episodes during this down time, please be my guest!

Ethan

There you have it, the rest of the Narnia episode.  I think it's the most massive Ask Axe Cop episode yet because I had to work in the battle image with Wexter charging through Narnia with his guns blazing. 

Apparently the release of the Bad Guy Earth trade paperback got bumped to next Wednesday, but if you will be in Detroit there is still a chance I will have some there.  Also, new Bearmageddon page today.

Ethan

That's right, that thing is a poop cannon.  It was actually Cliff Cramp's idea to make it a poop cannon, and Malachai liked it, so he used it.  (Of course he liked it.)  I forgot to mention… if you have seen the new Star Wars blue-ray collections that have just been released, that is all the work of Cliff Cramp, the inventor of the poop cannon stroller.

I have been working feverishly on putting together Axe Cop Volume three, the next printed collection of the web comics. 

Also, tomorrow is the release date for the Bad Guy Earth trade paperback.  I don't care who you are, you gotta get this book!  This is my favorite publication of my own work to-date.  It's full color, it's epic, and there is a lot of extra stuff in it about how Malachai and I work.  It will be in comic shops tomorrow.  If you want to get it in book stores you will have to wait another couple weeks.  Whatever you do, get it.  It is the ultimate Axe Cop book and I am very proud of it.

And of course Ask Axe Cop #70 is released tomorrow… the second half of the Narnia adventure.  The episode is giant sized and I can't wait to post it.  What a lot of work it was.  See you then!

Ethan

So I missed last RecomMonday because I was in Norway, and I am posting this one a bit late because I am pretty busy and forgot, but here it is, and it is a passionate recommendation indeed…  I recommend:

I know that a lot of you already know about Rifftrax, but I feel I really should make sure that those of you who do not, or who have thought about checking it out but haven't… do, because they make my life so much better.

Rifftrax is the work of three of my man crushes: Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett

You may recognize them from one of the greatest comedy TV series of all time, Mystery Science Theater 3000.  I loved MST3K and continue to watch it obsessively to this day.  A few years ago I saw Mike Nelson at San Diego Comic Con promoting this new Rifftrax thing, so I checked it out.  I wasn't sure if it would be as cool as MST3K, but in a lot of ways it is better.  Sure, the robots are gone, the theme song isn't as catchy, but RIfftrax solves the real problem with MST3K and that is that Rifftrax enables the greatest movie mockery on earth to now be expanded to every movie in existence.  Sure we loved all those old cheesy movies the guys mocked on MST3K, but we always fantasized about what kind of witty lines they might interject over a movie like Twilight, Transformers, or High School Musical.  Well… it's done, it's here.  They did it.

Basically, Rifftrax sells you an mp3 and they explain in very simple steps how to sync your mp3 up with any movie they have done a track for.  The only drawback about RIfftrax is that the guys are not infinite and can not do every movie in existence- but they have built up quite a library. 

Getting some friends together for a RIfftrax party is one of the most fun experiences there is.  Any time my brothers and I get together (excluding Malachai, he doesn't really get the jokes yet) we watch at least one Rifftrax.  I have even watched them with my Dad and sisters.  My sisters especially enjoyed Twilight and High School Musical. 

For beginners I recommend the first Twilight movie as an introduction, it's a great gateway into the world of Rifftrax.  The other great thing about Rifftrax is that they keep the humor fairly clean.  I'd say the jokes are generally from G to PG-13 rated.  These guys really do have their own brand of humor, and their own little niche they have created over the years.  They have become real experts at talking during a film.

I used to cringe every time I saw a preview for a new terrible movie coming out… like Transformers or pretty much any of the comic book films.  But now I rejoice because I know Rifftrax will be there to make them some of the most enjoyable experiences of my life.  Rifftrax does the world a hug service by taking something once obnoxious and refining it into pure golden joy. 

Also, the RIfftrax guys are huge Axe Cop supporters and they even reference Axe Cop in their riff of Clash of the Titans and X-men Last Stand, which is thrilling for me as a huge geek for whatever these guys do.  Kevin Murphy moderated the Axe Cop panel at San Diego Comic Con and wrote the Foreword for Axe Cop volume 1. 

So that's my RecomMonday.  Rifftrax.  Go and enjoy yourself, you have a lot of laughing to do if you have not given it a chance yet. 

Ethan

Another Thursday installment of Axe Cop.  In today's episode we introduce Uni-Baby's stroller, which was actually created by my buddy Cliff Cramp who drew a pin up for the Bad Guy Earth collection coming out on the 21st.   We made it into a desktop wallpaper (click to enlarge):

Malachai saw that awesome stroller and immediately decided it was canon.  Cliff did this painting as a demonstration for his class.  He is an art professor at Cal State Fullerton.  Of course, I'm not insane, so I don't know how the heck he drew all that engineering so accurately, but I simplfied the design so I could retain my sanity.  If there are any sketch-up wizzes out there it would be awesome to get a model of it for easy tracing.  Yes, I do that.

Alright, we are approaching the finale of this story and we have part two of Axe Cop in Narnia next Wednesday.  I am trying to finish up all this stuff so I can turn in all my files for the third volume of Axe Cop, which is the next collection of web comics.  I just finished my pin up for Doug TenNapel's RatFist book in which I rendered out a realistic version of his character “Monkey Trout”. 

Also, if you live anywhere near Detroit, I hope to see you at Detroit Fanfare, check out the info in Appearances on the top right of the home page for more info.

Ethan

Since the only chance of Malachai and C.S. Lewis ever meeting might take place in the afterlife, I have decided to do an artists rendition of what it might look like.

Knowing what I do of C.S. Lewis I think he'd dig Axe Cop.  I at least hope he would, and I am a huge fan, though I admit I have never read the whole Narnia series, I have a read a chunk of his books on Christian Philosophy which I love very much.  I think Narnia is very Axe Cop in the way that so many different animals and fantasy beings team up and get in battles. 

Malachai's answer to this question was so long and epic I had to break it into two parts, and the second part is about 1/3rd longer than this one, so it is more than 2 pages long. 

Well I am back from Norway (Nornia?) and had a great time.  They were incredibly friendly and I met a lot of people who I am pretty sure will be friends for life.  One guy named Simon did present me with a plastic viking helmet, but didn't have an electric guitar and said he needed the helmet back before I left, so… other than that rip off it was great.  One thing about Norway, it's freakin' spendy!!  A Krone does not get you far.  Their dollars are like nickles here.  I couldn't believe it when I came back to LAX and bought a coffee I was so releived at the price.  That has to be the first time Ihave rejoiced over the price of anything in an airport.

Anyway, I'm still a little jet lagged, but it's good to be home.  The next part of this episode will come out next week on Wednesday, so I apologize for the wait but it will be worth it.  I'll see you tomorrow when Axe Cop and Dinosaur Soldier take Uni-Baby to the park, and don't forget we got a new page of Bearmageddon today as well.

Ethan