Mood: caffeinated
Topic: Comic Books - New
TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3228: Today's post is about yet another publication that I 'found' at the recent SDCCI. This time I was back in the Small Press Section of the Comic-Con, going down the aisles and saw this striking banner, as shown at the top right photo. Again, for those of YOU that are setting up at a comic con, whether in a Small Press or Artists Alley Table...Having a eye catching banner is great advertising! Jose and I talked for a while, and after looking at his publications I chose the No 4 issue to read and possibly review. Here is what the the creator of Crying Macho Man says about his cartoon's origin: "Crying Macho Man was born on the mean streets of New York City and has been bringing you the funny on a weekly basis for the last 5 years. Wow, now that's a lot of cartoons. We're talking hundreds of strips that were born out of love and sweat. This is about the time I start to list the prestigious awards Crying Macho Man the cartoon strip has won over the years and how successful and rich I've become as it's creator. But I'm sorry to disappoint you. The cartoon biz is a tough cookie to crack. Newspapers, that were once the main vehicle for the funny's have consistently hacked away the main thing I bought the paper for. The Funny Pages! The interent seemed to bring the distribution of cartoons on a level playing field, giving budding artists like myself the opportunity to conquer this fickle media. But after 5 years of working the web, I've made about enough money to pay for a tank of gas and dinner for the missus and me. 5 YEARS YO! But I don't want this to be a bitch fest. It has brought something much more valuable. FRIENDS WHO LIKE TO DRAW CARTOONS! And I don't just mean fair weather friends either. I've met some of the best people on the planet. And cartoon peeps are such a dedicated bunch. Their love of the craft is infectuous. I seriously believe I would have dropped out the game if it weren't for their support and enthusiasm. So here stands Crying Macho Man holding his own after 5 years, passionately getting up in the morning and dipping his proverbial pen in the bottomless inkwell of funny. Thanks for giving me the chance to make you laugh or at least try!" Fair enough...Here is 'My Take' on the 4th issue of Crying Macho Man: Front Cover - After a long week of superheroes at the Comic-Con, I was looking forward to seeing something other than superheroes fare in the Small Press Section. Seeing Jose hold this publication, I could tell it wasn't that genre. It looks inviting enough to open the page to check out the inside cover... Which I did. The inside cover kind of surprised me, by having nine other issues pictured from 'Cartoon Flophouse'. So if I liked this sort of humour, I would be sure to take a look at what else had been published so far. Good marketing! The first page - Not a 'Splash Page' - It wold appear that the pages in this comic book magazine are from his web comic for the most part? The first page is a one page cartoon strip with six panels. The joke sets the stage for the next pages... More multi-panel one page cartoon stories are shown. Plus one panel pages...which break up the standard format. I find myself laughing at some of the cartoons. It is entertaining at that... What follows next is a 9 page cartoon story. Not bad... And then another one panel cartoon page, with a parody on Wolverine. More one panel parody pages follow, with 'Super Duper Man', and what are shown to be 'Batman' and 'Ghost Rider'. Again, the mix of pages keeps this publication from being routine. I liked the mix and the jokes. A good break from superheroes, even though some do make it to the interior pages! The inside front cover was the Ka-Blam! printers ad. Which I see a lot...Another good print job from Ka-Blam! Oh, and the interior pages are black & white, with color covers outside and inside. The back cover is just a little over the top...which is good that I didn't look at it before reading the interior pages. I'll let you see that one for yourselves... I found this comic book magazine to be entertaining and worth the cover price for this type of humor. My comic book grade for this publication is a VERY FINE / NEAR MINT, (VF/NM) 9.0 on a 10.0 grading scale. Here's a little bit more on the creator, with a 'bio' that I found on his blog: "Jose was born and raised in New York City in the upper part of Manhattan. His community was predominately Dominican and throughout his early school years he was surrounded by friends who loved to draw. His love for art got him accepted to La Guardia H.S. of Music and Art near Lincoln Center were he was exposed to the world of fine art. After graduating from High School, he went to Baltimore and attended the Maryland Institute College of Art. He studied everything from photography to environmental design and got a huge spoonful of Art History. Some of his influences include Henry Moore, Amedeo Modigliani, Lucian Freud, Giacometti, Paul Rand, Ansel Adams, Robert Mapplethorpe, Andy Warhol, R. Crumb, John Romita Jr., Sal Buscema, John Byrne, Jack Davis and the list goes on. This gave him the inspiration and the cojones to create Crying Macho Man." Crying Macho Man has a Facebook Fan Page, which can be found here. Crying Macho Man has its own web site, as found here. We don't have any xtra copies of this publication for sale. Thus, I'm suggesting that if YOU would like to read more of this cartoon series, here's a link to another quality online site: The Premiere Crying Macho Man Collection: Prime Cut - that has at least one copy for sale at the time of this blog posting! --------------------------- Thanks again, Jose Cabrera, for sharing your time with me at the recent San Diego Comic Con International! PLUS: My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over 3,225 total posts in number! I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog! ~ Michael D Hamersky @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com Note: Our online comic book shop carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items at the link seen below. http://www.comicbookscircus.com/
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