Children’s books have always presented, in a sense, a kind of unique menace. They are among the first lengthy exposures that our children have which are dedicated to learning language. And yet, far more than most adult reading material, children’s books are also loaded with social programming. From Curious George to Dinosaurs Divorce to Daddy’s Roommate, children’s books have a none-too-subtle emphasis on engineering a child’s mind. It should come as no surprise, then, that the sinister Zogg have chosen to use this tool as a means to their wicked ends. Zogg is a sendup of the subtly sinister overtones and undercurrents of children’s “books.” …more

Although George Carlin is renowned for his standup comedy, a career more prolific than that of any other modern practitioner of the form, he had some fascinating detours along the way. He was Mr. Conductor in the old Shining Time Station shows, he had a few seasons of a sitcom, the George Carlin Show, on Fox, and he briefly dabbled in absurdist animation. Before the taping of one of his numerous HBO Specials, Carlin played a short animated video that riffed on Ripley’s Believe-It-Or-Not. In the short, he takes you on a tour of the wild, the crazy, the fantastical, the unbelievable, and the downright absurd world of things that aren’t bullshit. It was shown on the front end of the original broadcast of the special, and became a cult classic of Carlin fandom.

Spire Christian Comics was an old comics company that, like many other publishers (including Marvel, in its early years), was distributed and printed by a larger company. Archie Comics, the publisher that got famous off of superheroes like The Shield and The Black Hood before changing their name and focusing on kiddie humor comics, distributed Spire’s material. Years before more mainstream efforts to sell Christianity to the younger folks, Spire was producing graphic adaptations of Adam & Eve and Noah’s Ark. But their most notable work is probably their participation in what may have been the first multimedia project: Hansi, the Girl Who Loved the Swastika. …more

If you’re feeling a bit cloyed and put out by Vanilla Ice’s apology for “Ice Ice Baby,” wash it down with William Shatner’s stubborn refusal to concede any ground on history’s unkind judgment of his interpretation of “Rocket Man.” The Shat’s message to the vicious Internet: take a joke.

Drawn and Quarterly is one of the premier anthology publications in the indie comics world. Although the caliber of work in the quarterly is almost always superb, the crossover appeal and sheer cleverness of their Crime & Punishment adaptation are, alone, worth the price of a copy. …more

The importance of Tintin to the medium of comics can’t be overstated. Tintin anticipated creator-ownership, lengthier serial publications, and the globalization of comics, laying the groundwork for comics like American Flagg, Martha Washington, Scott Pilgrim, and even Astro Boy. The adventurous character has become a beloved icon.

That’s part of what makes Tintin in Thailand, a satirical piece featuring the title character and his gang of friends discovering the wonders of Asia’s most famous Red Light District, and Breaking Free, the tale of Tintin’s later days as an anarchist, so delightful. Much as Frank Miller reinvented Batman for a modern age, Alan Moore retooled the Charlton Comics characters for Watchmen, and Grant Morrison revamped large swaths of the DC universe, these amateur creators seek to reimagine the cast of Tintin for modern readers. Alan Moore they ain’t–but they’re fun to read nonetheless. It’s remix culture at its finest.

If you’re heading out onto the job for the first time, you’d probably better wait a moment and watch Staplerfahrer Klaus, the most important safety-training video in any language. Matter of fact, it wouldn’t hurt to buy the DVD, either.

Comic-book gossip column Lying in the Gutters, hosted at Comic Book Resources, is one of the things that makes the subculture of comics so fascinating and exciting. Unlike most comics journalists, Rich Johnston has the chops, the résumé, and the connections to do much more glamorous, well-paying work— and has, on several occasions. But he chooses to take a second job and use his writing to focus on the things he loves most: comic books.

The Chaser is Australia’s answer to Monty Python, the Frat Pack, the Kings of Comedy, and every other great comedy squadron. The Chaser began with a satirical newspaper, and has progressed to encompass two stage shows and numerous television programs, culminating in The War on Everything, their most controversial and successful work to date. This is the funniest comedic work in recent memory, from a culture that almost defines itself by its humor.  Enjoy the entire second season.

Comics and movies with the man who has owned the film rights to Batman for thirty years. …more

This Modern World, Tom Tomorrow’s revolutionary, groundbreaking, relevant, and important newspaper strip is fully archived.  Since 1990, the strip has been experimenting in backgrounds, gutters, bleeds, panel shapes, content, and collage in ways that almost no other strips, and even very few comic books and graphic novels, ever have.

Dave King sings for Flogging Molly, the punk band of choice for hipsters and hippies, green-beer Irish and real-life Dubliners, and party people everywhere.  But did you know that he used to sing for Fast Eddie Clarke’s 80s metal band, Fastway?  He seemed to really be into it.  This was no passing interest of Dave’s; after he and Fast Eddie parted ways acrimoniously, Dave started Katmandu with one of the guys from Krokus! …more

If Jerry Lewis’s recent Special Academy Award for his humanitarian work piqued your interest in his creative work, you’ll be interested to learn of one of cinema’s great lost gems: The Day the Clown Cried.  Jerry Lewis has supposedly kept the only copy of the print locked up in a safe, never to see release. The film is apparently an embarrassment to all involved, and the final script differs greatly from the original draft, which many feel is superior. Peruse the scripts, the profanity-laced history of the project, and the few publicly available clips, and decide for yourself.

Think you know the origin of Superman? Think again. Comic Book Legends Revealed weaves the kinds of stories you didn’t know you cared about. CBLR is often for the hardcore fan; if you’re not in your local comic shop every Wednesday, you probably don’t care why Jack Kirby’s Ultraverse titles failed, or that Vince Colletta once forgot to draw a character’s head in an issue of Thor. But Brian Cronin tells fascinating tales of the strangest publishing industry of all that win over even the most detached of readers.

At the A Special Thing message board, users have devoted a thread to posting bootlegged standup comedy shows and out of print comedy records. Many of these shows feature familiar jokes and bits, recognizable to anyone who’s listened to the artists’ official releases, but they’re often in a more nascent, early form. Sometimes the jokes don’t work as well. Sometimes they work much better. Sometimes they didn’t even make it to the eventual album release. While live music is very much the end product of the creative process, live comedy is the creative process.

The genius of Ben Folds is not just the albums he releases. You don’t understand the intense creativity and expression of the man until you see or hear him perform live. At his best, Folds improvises one or more songs as part of his set, often about banal, mundane subjects like buoyant force or the local basketball coach, re-imagines his songs in the moment, and interacts with his audience in an energetic, personal way that most artists just don’t care to do. Folds fansite TheSuburbs.co.uk has created a filedump site called Woke Up Way Too Late as a repository of rare Folds material and a staggering collection of live bootlegs, which Folds has reportedly approved personally.

The various Monty Python box sets available have made it easy to be a fan of the greatest sketch comedy troupe of all time. But if you want to impress your friends with some ultra-hip proto-Python humor, check out How to Irritate People. Featuring Michael Palin and Graham Chapman, with John Cleese at the helm, this pre-Python mockumentary about how to piss everyone off is a lost gem. Cleese writes the material here, and without the off-the-wall wackiness of the other Pythons influencing and moderating his style, his legendary rage, bitterness, and misanthropy are almost completely unfettered, only thinly filtered by sketch comedy. Watch for the Car Salesman sketch; if you’re sick and tired of people quoting the Dead Parrot sketch at you, point them in the direction of the superior original version.

If Kevin Smith’s original slacker story Clerks took place in a slightly happier universe, with a larger and more functional friend circle, who worked in a bright toy store instead of the gloom of the Quick Stop, it would be Shortpacked.

When is porn better than mainstream Hollywood fare? When it’s Digital Playground’s (NSFW) Pirates 2: Stagnetti’s Revenge, billed as the biggest-budget porno ever made. The trailer alone puts it light years ahead of Pirates of The Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.