Tall Tale Features / Tall Tale Radio

Episode 96 – Superfogey’s Big Reveal

Tom Racine — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 07:00:00 +0000

Brock Heasley just dropped a big old bomb he’s been sitting on since the inception of his most excellent comic, “The Superfogeys.” He promised “all would be revealed” and man, he wasn’t kidding. We talk about how he’s woven this story line throughout his strip, leaving all sorts of red herrings and direct trails hidden inside the entire run. Also, Brock talks candidly about his recent experience with the now-defunct “Zuda Comics” and what the future of “MonsterPlex” is.

And, there’s a new “Lemon List” by the ever amazing and talented Jonathan Lemon of “Rabbits Against Magic!”

Kris Straub of “Starslip Crisis” at San Diego Comic Con!

Tom Racine — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:12:52 +0000

The most excellent Mr. Kris Straub of “Starslip Crisis” takes time out of his valuable schedule at the San Diego Comic Con to talk with me. A pleasure to talk to him and his Half Pixel cohorts!

TTR at SDCC! Brad Guigar Interview!

Tom Racine — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:10:18 +0000

Brad Guigar of “Evil, Inc,” which just passed 10 freakin’ years of publication, takes the time to talk to me about the Con, his strip, and lots of other stuff!

TTR at the San Diego Comic Con – Lucas Turnbloom!

Tom Racine — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:36:03 +0000

Hey, it’s Lucas Turnbloom of “Imagine This,” and fellow Tall Tale Features member! He was hanging out at the National Cartoonist Society booth, rubbing elbows with the big guys, and doing signings over at the Go Comics booth. Lucas is among the top 5 nicest guys on the planet, let alone the most talented. Here’s a short talk we had about how his Con was going and his new book, “Dewey Defeats Truman” which is available here!

Tall Tale Radio – SDCC Interview with Dave Kellett, Part 2

Tom Racine — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 01:52:06 +0000

Went back on Saturday with a camera man (Thanks, Fred Berona!) so I could get better video of the Con and do slightly more professional videos and interviews. Here’s the ever-amiable Dave Kellett talking about how the Con was going and about his three fans in Madagascar!

San Diego Comic Con – Costumed Interviews

Tom Racine — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 20:43:42 +0000

Ever wanna talk to the people wearing costumes at a Con? What’s a booth babe thinking? Well, wonder no more, because I have intrepidly answered these questions for you! Come experience a little of the madness that is San Diego Comic Con!

BookSmarts Redux – Beowulf Meets his match

Tom Racine — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 01:01:57 +0000

This one has always been a favorite of mine. I’m a huge “Beowulf” fan, and as I was thinking about fairy tales and such, it struck me that “Gretl” was awfully close to “Grendel” and therefore this image came to mind. I’m really happy with the drawing and the gag here, but at the same time, it sort of shows the limitations of “BookSmarts” for a wider audience. I’m relying on the audience to not only have read “Beowulf,” but to remember that the villain of the piece is a monster called “Grendel.” Even for an English major, this is relatively obscure stuff. Funny, but obscure. (If I wasn’t so attracted to those two words working together, I’d have been rich ages ago.)

To make things even more obscure, I followed the one above with this one, with no explanation:

These two together might be the high point of “BookSmarts” for me. I love the art, I love the gags, I love the obscurity, I love that nine English majors with specialization in old English poetry are laughing their asses off. Granted, if I want to make a living, I should probably be thinking a LITTLE broader about my audience, but hey, this is how the brain works.

Allow me here to plug the amazing work done by my friend Lex Fajardo, who also saw something in “Beowulf,” but turned his passion into an amazing young-adult graphic novel series called “Kid Beowulf” which you can see here. He’s on Book 2 of a major epic series, and shows that maybe I’m wrong about this whole “no one will get what I do” spiel I go off on. Lex’s work is inspiring, beautiful, and worth a look.

Tall Tale Radio at San Diego Comic Con!

Tom Racine — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 03:23:58 +0000

Here’s a music video of me walking around Comic Con…come see a bit of the madness for yourself! Not to mention a lot of booth/costume babes, including Booba Fett and a rather daring Vampirella! Interviews and more fun to come!

BookSmarts Redux – Red Riding Hood Returns

Tom Racine — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:07:33 +0000

I’m certainly not the first artist to do this sort of thing, but this was among my first “BookSmarts,” and it started a fairly common theme that wound its way through my work. Essentially, “Hollywood Sucks.” Now, that’s a gross overstatement of course. Not all of Hollywood sucks…there are certainly shining examples of how good movies can be made from time to time. (Those times being 1939 and 1962, apparently.) But usually, when Hollywood gets a hold of a classic piece of literature or at least a decent story, they seem to drop the ball on a fairly regular basis.

Can’t you just see Michael Bay (who is, by the way, a demon of some sort sent here to dull our minds and spirits…beware him) pitching this idea? “It’s “Little Red Riding Hood,” but this time she’s pissed and has big guns. And there’s this big thing…a robot maybe…and it goes VRROOOMMM! And then it explodes…and…” Well, you get the idea.

Now, I’m all for interesting takes on old stories, and the word “reboot” doesn’t immediately send me running for the hills. I’m a case-by-case basis sort of guy. Some ideas are worth re-examining. I’m personally calling for someone to finally make a good “Logan’s Run.” I think that movie has a great premise and just needs a little updating. Some ideas on the other hand, not so much. “Planet of the Apes,” anyone?

So…I just gave you $150 million bucks and challenged you to find a movie you could remake or reboot…what do you choose?

Episode 95 – Berke Breathed’s SDCC 2010 Panel

Tom Racine — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 07:00:00 +0000

Berke Breathed gave his very first San Diego Comic Con Panel talk on Friday, and it was a truly great event. I tweeted about it live, and did a quick makeshift recording. I wasn’t sure I was even going to make it into the room, so I wasn’t fully set up when he started, and overall, I apologize for the poor quality of the piece. As I say in the intro, I would probably normally not post such a thing, but due to who it is we’re talking about, I’ll let you muddle through on your own.

There are references to slides on a screen here, so that might be a little hard to follow, but overall, I think you’ll find some very interesting stuff here. He even gets to be nicely controversial about the recent Pulitzer Prize Winners Letter about freedom of speech right at the very end. Whoo!

I went to a signing on Saturday with Berke, just to stand in line and ask him if it was all right that I posted this, and he gave me the thumbs up…so enjoy!