Frankbeaton.com

Somebody sent me a link to this Spanish-language comics site with a post about the NEW YORK Magazine article. I really like this panel mashup they did:

Pretties!

Oh, and in case you were wondering? It looks like the Spanish term for comic book writer is “guionizando” — which of course sounds WAY cooler than “comic book writer”. I might start using that on my 1040, actually.

“Occupation?”

“GUIONIZANDO!!”

According to the always reliable BabelFish, the word translates as “script-hoister”.

Rad.

I HOIST THE SCRIPTS!

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From, well, NEW YORK magazine:

A dangerous underwater city, being built from the seafloor up. A dedicated crew of workmen thrown off the job, replaced by robots. But there’s one surprise: The workmen are robots, too.

Today on the Comics Page, we’re proud to present “The Workman,” a complete short story by Frank Beaton, Walter Pax, and Jack Kaminski, from 24Seven, Volume 2, an all-robot, all the time comics anthology edited by Ivan Brandon, out now from Image Comics.

Read “The Workman” in its entirety for free here.

And remember, New Yorkers! You can buy 24SEVEN Vol. 2 at your local comics retailer or offa the Amazon. In addition to this story (and, trust me, Walter and Jack’s art looks a hundred times more awesome on the printed page) the book features many wonderful stories by people who are not even me.

Go figure!

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From Heidi Mac.

This is pretty awesome. CBG publisher Alan Light posted a public Flickr set consisting of a whopping 165 photos of the 1982 San Diego Comic Convention. (It wasn’t called Comic-Con International yet.)

My favorite shot is this one, showing Will Eisner and Jack “Look at My Beautiful Head of Silver Hair” Kirby at the Inkpot Awards dinner.

“…the guy looks at the talent agent and says, ‘The Aristocrats!’”

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I bring you ROBOTS. (Buy my robots.)

Includes my story “The Workman”, with art from Walter Pax and Jack Kaminski.

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Is it my sincere regret to inform all of you that Jill and I will not be attending Comic-Con International in San Diego next month. It will be the first time we’ve missed the show in eight years.

A nasty combination of medical bills, tax bills, automo-bills, and sporadic unemployment have left us both feeling a bit like Job this year, only without all that shepherding money to fall back on. As Paulie said on the SOPRANOS finale, “You can take 2007 and give it back to the Indians.”

Anyway, after crunching some numbers we determined that even if we cut the trip short we couldn’t possibly make it without plunging ourselves even further into debt. Which is too bad. There are a lot of people we wanted to hang out with, personally and professionally — but whattayagonnado, right?

See you next year.

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Fresh from this week’s Lying in the Gutters, here’s the official preview flier for 24SEVEN, Vol. 2, coming this summer from Image Comics. Panel 7 is from my story; art by Walter Pax and Jack Kaminski. (Click for the biggening):

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The more conventions I attend, the less I enjoy walking the floor. It’s pretty much the same shit at every show, and as the pile of pointless crap in my house continues to grow exponentially (both me and Jill are horrible pack-rats), the less interest I have in buying more stuff.

Emerald City was a lot of fun, although I spent most of the show dragassing around the con floor with Warren, too exhausted to really enjoy anything. I hung out with some awesome people, though, and Warren’s mom made us pancakes(!) on Sunday morning. Also, Rucka told us an awesome story about taking Grant and Kristen Morrison shooting last month in Vegas and teaching them how to fire a machine gun. (Apparently Kristen can take your eye out at 50 paces. No joke.)

Cool show. Unfortunately I made the rookie mistake of leaving my phone charger at home, so no pictures from me. Warren took a few, though, so I may be able to swipe some of his. We’ll see.

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Whew!

I tellya, I have been busier than a one-legged man in a dick-sucking contest. Long hours at the day-job, writing when I can find the time, tending to the needs of others while ignoring my own… It’s enough to make you slit your wrists — but in a good way!

First off, I’m happy to announce that I’ve written another story about mopey robots for volume 2 of Ivan Brandon’s superawesome anthology series 24SEVEN, to be released… well, eventually. The line-up this time around is enough to make you say, “Wow, that’s a really good line-up!”, and then launch into a cheerful mixture of profanity and 1980s-era slang. My artist on this one is a scrappy young Brazillian named Walter Pax and, having seen a couple pages already, I can safely say HOLYFUCKINGDOGSHITTHISDUDEISFUCKINGRAD. The kid is the new John Bolton and I say that without a hint of exaggeration or irony. You are going to L-O-V-E him. Plus, looking at his DeviantArt page, I see that he’s way into death metal, which only esteems him further in my eyes. I’ll post some preview art when it’s safe to do so.

Attention Bay-Area peeps!

If you get a chance to head downtown this weekend, I understand there’s a quaint little street fair taking place called WonderCon. Jilly and I will be there; first time for both of us. We should be pretty easy to find. I’ll be the one wandering around the con floor all glassy-eyed from jet-lag and inhalants, asking people where the “good Hentai” is, while Jill will be shackled to the Oni Press booth, explaining to all and sundry that, no, Stephen Colbert isn’t going to be there, and, no, they don’t want to read your pitch about a vampire superhero who lives underwater and is also a girl.

(Speaking of Oni, you should check out their shiny new website. I programmed it all by myself!)

My goal for the weekend: to consistently and loudly refer to the city as “Frisco” until someone punches me in the mouth.

GOODNIGHT PORTLAND!!

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Just finished reading ACTION COMICS #845. I wish I had two more hands, so I could bust a set of quad devil horns right now.

Seriously. If you’re not reading the current ACTION run (co-written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner, drawn by Adam Kubert — starting with #845), you should be ashamed of yourselves. It kicks nine different kinds of ass.

That is all.

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Going to see Stephen King lecture at PSU tonight. Tickets were more expensive than I would have liked ($30 for the cheap seats), but since he’s my favorite living author and he doesn’t tour often, I’m seeing this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If any Portlanders want to come check it out, it’s at Arlene Schnitzer Hall, Portland State University, tonight at 7:30PM.

I have absolutely no idea what King will be lecturing on — presumably writing — but at this point I don’t care. It could be a discussion of new advances in fly-fishing technology and I’d still be there with bells on.

*****

Elsewhere in Portland, my friends Jamie S. Rich and Joelle Jones are having a book launch party for their new romance comic 12 REASONS WHY I LOVE HER. If you haven’t picked up the book yet, this would be a fine opportunity to do so. Jamie and Joelle will be signing copies and selling original art at Floating World Comics (20 NW 5th Ave., Downtown) from 7:00-10:00PM this evening.

I understand there will be beer and wine, as well — which, of course, is wholly appropriate. If history has taught us anything, it’s that romance almost always goes over better when there’s booze.

*****

Also, my very good friend Warren Wucinich is showing his Urban Landscape series of paintings at Saffron & Turmeric Gallery (203 SW Pine St., Portland) this month. Tonight’s the opening, but his show will be running through the end of November. Stop by and, if you’re so inclined, buy a painting or two. Do it while his work is still affordable.

*****

Not doing NaNoWriMo this year. Too much going on right now. I might try to kick out a short story or two, just to quell the mild guilt I’m feeling for not participating in the event, but there’s no way I can clear my schedule enough to attempt a full-length novel. No way.

*****

Go see THE PRESTIGE, all of you. Best movie I’ve seen in a very long time.

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