Pangaea

NINTENDO
-8 EYES
-ADVENTURES IN THE MAGIC KINGDOM
-ADVENTURES OF LINK*
-ADVENTURES OF LOLO
-ARKANOID
-ARKISTA’S RING
-BAD DUDES
-BARBIE
-BIBLE ADVENTURES
-BIBLE BUFFET
-BUBBLE BOBBLE
-BUCKY O’HARE
-BUGS BUNNY BIRTHDAY BLOWOUT
-BUGS BUNNY CRAZY CASTLE
-CASTLEVANIA
-CASTLEVANIA II*
-CASTLEVANIA III
-COMMANDO
-CONTRA
-CRYSTALIS
-DARKWING DUCK
-DONKEY KONG JR.
-DOUBLE DRAGON
-DOUBLE DRAGON II
-DOUBLE DRAGGON III
-DRAGON WARRIOR*
-DRAGON WARRIOR II
-DRAGON WARRIOR III
-DRAGON WARRIOR IV
-DUCKTALES
-EARTHBOUND ZERO
-FAXANADU*
-FIRE N ICE
-G.I.JOE
-G.I.JOE THE ATLANTIS FACTOR*
-GUARDIAN LEGEND, THE
-GUERILLA WARFARE
-GUNSMOKE
-GYROMITE
-HOGAN’S ALLEY
-ICE HOCKEY
-JACKAL
-JACKIE CHAN’S ACTION KUNG-FU
-JURASSIC PARK
-KARNOV
-KICKLE CUBICLE
-KID ICARUS*
-KID NIKI: RADICAL NINJA
-KING OF KINGS
-KIRBY’S ADVENTURE
-KUNG-FU
-LEGACY OF THE WIZARD*
-LEGEND OF ZELDA, THE
-LEGENDARY WINGS
-LITTLE MERMAID, THE
-LITTLE NEMO: THE DREAM MASTER
-LODERUNNER
-MAGIC OF SCHEHERAZADE, THE
-MAPPYLAND
-MEGA MAN
-MEGA MAN II
-MEGA MAN III
-MEGA MAN IV
-MEGA MAN V
-MEGA MAN VI
-MENDEL PALACE
-METAL GEAR*
-METROID*
-MICKEY MOUSECAPADE
-MIKE TYSON’S PUNCHOUT
-MONSTER PARTY
-NARC
-NINJA CRUSADERS
-NINJA GAIDEN
-NINJA GAIDEN II
-NINJA GAIDEN III
-NORTH & SOUTH
-POWER BLADE
-RAMPAGE
-RENEGADE
-RESCUE RANGERS
-RIVER CITY RANSOM
-ROBIN HOOD
-SOLAR JETMAN
-SPIRITUAL WARFARE
-STARTROPICS
-STINGER
-STRIDER
-STARTROPICS II
-SUPER C
-SUPER DODGE BALL
-SUPER MARIO BROS
-SUPER MARIO BROS II
-SUPER MARIO BROS III
-TAILSPIN
-TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES II
-TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES III
-TIGER-HELI
-TROJAN
-WHOMP EM
-WILLOW
-WIZARDS & WARRIORS
-WIZARDS & WARRIORS II:IRONSWORD

Ziggy – a case study

Though popularly known for his one-panel comics and amiable greeting cards, Ziggy the blobular cartoon character has lately been under the public spotlight due to his recent contraction of the HIV virus. Unbeknownst to most readers, Ziggy has of the past decade become a burgeoning star in the adult movie industry under the stage name, ‘Stardust’. While there is presently no cure for the HIV virus, Ziggy has vowed to follow in the footsteps of his basketball idol Magic Johnson and beat the odds with self-education, exercise, and a costly medication regimen. The regimen will likely suck dry the remaining funds from Ziggy’s cartoon/porn/greeting card fortune, but Ziggy feels that if he can obtain a proper education, he will no doubt bounce back like Magic and learn to live with his condition.

Despite rumors of a doctorate in Woman’s Studies, Ziggy has never received formal education of any kind. While he has occupied the funny papers for a seemingly endless span of banality, Ziggy has literally no command of reading, writing, or basic mathematics. Ziggy has been placed in Mr. Flow’s 1st grade at Tumbleweed elementary school to begin his journey into academia. During the first few weeks Ziggy has shown above average scores in all required subjects. His aptitude for writing, especially in the form of trite one-liners, has been noticed by Mr. Flow. Despite this marked progress, Ziggy shows signs of falling behind in science because of his frequent absences on Mondays and Fridays. The extensive medical procedures that help Ziggy’s HIV from developing into full-blown AIDS often leave him feeling exhausted and narcoleptic. Mr. Flow always has a science project for his first grade class on Mondays and Fridays, but Ziggy has only been present for a few of these crucial projects. In addition, other students who initially enjoyed the novelty of Ziggy’s 2-dimensional existence have since become wary and afraid of him. Ziggy is often left alone at recess and lunch. Other students are afraid to make physical contact with him. Some students have begun to make comments like ‘I won’t use the same bathroom or drinking fountain as Ziggy.’ Mr. Flow feels that every student has a right to learn, but he too has problems overcoming his reservations towards Ziggy, as he grew up through two decades of his new student’s uninspired comics. Local doctors and the school nurse have assured Mr. Flow that Ziggy poses no immediate threat if proper procedures are followed, but other student’s parents have expressed concerns about their children being at risk of contracting HIV. What should Mr. Flow do?

It is the year 2010.

Through countless hours of lethargy, glee, frustration, obsession, maschocism, agony, bliss, merlot, frozen pizzas, wrath, mirth, and just plain boredom, I, Kevin Wolf have beaten 100 Nintendo Games.

From my first vegetable thrown victory over Wart in Super Mario Bros. 2 at the age of 7…or was it 8?I should ask Ryan what grade I was in when we got the Nintendo…

….to yesterday, July 27th, where I strategically mashed buttons to destroy the hellish maw of GoraGora in the Magic of Scheherazade.

Yes, 8-bit supremacy is mine.

And now that you are reading this list, sitting in awe and majesty of the thumb wielding powers I command, I’m going to share the wisdom/utter stupidity my god how could I waste so much fucking time I could be fluent in a dozen languages or retired or have cured cancer what the hell have I been thinking all these years can’t I recognize a simple negative behavior pattern and amend my lifestyle accordingly so that everyone can breath in the experience and benefit from my labors.

But before I begin writing about the games, I need to address a question that often develops in conversations over gaming victory.

What does it mean to really beat a game?

Do you just have to beat the final boss or the last level? Do you have to play through every level or can you warp ahead? Is using an emulator cheating? A game-genie? In-game codes and glitches? Walkthroughs? FAQS? Youtube videos where some Japanese kid beats every boss without taking a hit? Watching friends play? Scientology? Nintendo Power? If the game loops over at the end (like many NES games tend to do) do you have to play through the game twice to beat the game? What’s fair and what’s not?

Well I thought it over and consulted with myself, and couldn’t decide. Then I made the mistake of talking to other people. Turns out just about every gamer has their own idea of what constitutes true gaming victory and what corruptions present a flawed spectacle. As the variables and number of interviewed gamers grew, the list of potential standards increased exponentially. So in the in the interests of time and getting down to business, I decided to cast my lot somewheres in the murky gray middle, between the retro-perfection-purists and the anything-goes-save-staters, I landed my Nintendo morality on:

The Common Gamer’s Guide to Nintendo Victory
(if you aren’t a moral gamer, just skip ahead to the first review)

In order to beat any given Nintendo game, all of the following conditions must be met, preferably with a snack and/or drink.

Gameplay
I. The game should be completed to its logical conclusion i.e., beat the final boss, complete the final stage, win the World Series, or whatever it takes to get the end credits.

II. In shorter, arcade style games that loop gameplay, and thus lack a definitive ending, the player should possess the ability to play through the looped game multiple times in order to display mastery over the game’s formula, such that they are able to play indefinitely. The number of times necessary to show mastery should be based on the length and difficulty of the game. For example:
-Galaga has 30 levels. It’s moderately hard. I declared victory after looping through 3 times.
-Donkey Kong Jr. has 4 levels. It’s fairly easy. I declared victory after looping through 8 times.
-Tiger-Heli has one reaaaally long level with many subsections. It was my first Nintendo game. I played it to death. I declared post-childhood victory after realizing I probably looped through over 20 times searching for the non-existent final boss as a kid.
-In debatable situations, use your best judgment. Or loop through another 5 times. Prove your mastery beyond a doubt.

III. In looping games that require multiple play-throughs to attain the best ending, (Bubble Bobble, Ghosts N Goblins) you are required to play through to the best ending to declare victory. In games that just get progressively harder with each loop (Super Mario Bros., Castlevania, Contra) and offer no variable ending, once is enough.

IV. In sports games, just win the World Series or pennant or Stanley Cup or Nike Endorsement. I don’t know. Just be really good at it. Be able to beat the computer all the time and your friends most of the time. For example:
-Ice Hockey: I always beat the computer, and usually place first or second amongst my cousins in the annual Christmas Eve tournament. And that’s only because Aunt Sue makes bitchin Nog
RBI Baseball: I frigkin rule at this game! I destroy everyone with the 1987 Cardinals Lineup! I destroy the Computer playing as the American League All-Stars! I can beat your mother to death with John Kruk’s limp penis using this game! Die!!! FAHHHH!!!!

Restrictions
I. No Game Genie. Not until you play through normally.
II. Emulators are allowed, but absolutely no save states, code hacking, game genie, or other malicious foul play. At least not until you play through normally. Treat it as an alternate console for rare games.
III. In-game codes and glitches are allowed within reason. If a code lets you have infinite lives or permanent invincibility, that is muy bad.
If a code gives you a continue or password option where one did not previously exist, that is muy awesome. Others are kind of in the gray area. Infinite ammo. Free power-ups. And extra lives codes. Some might give you 5 extra lives, and some may give you 20, like the Konami code. I personally have abstained from Konami-coding and other power-uping codes in general, but this is such a hotly debated item that I will end with a simple ‘to each their own.
IV. Walkthroughs/FAQS/Instructional Videos/Friends/Nintendo Power are allowed within reason. The general consensus is this: given the confusing and oftentimes highly difficult nature of the beast that is original Nintendo games, you are going to get stuck. A lot. This blockade to victory may be in the form of an annoying boss, a difficult maze, or moving platforms. Yet beyond these challenging, palatable situations lies the scenario of the —need to finish—-change with III

Other
I. But seriously folks, Contra is not that hard. You don’t need the damn Konami code. Just get spread plus rapid, pay attention to the enemy patterns and dodge accordingly. If you die, play conservatively until the next spread gun. And if I see another ass-clown wearing a T-shirt or hat with the Konami code on it I’m going to stuff the thing down their goddam throat. And stop quoting it in nerd pop-culture like it’s this amazing geek mantra that connects us all. God. If you want a nerdy mantra that connects gamers, try ‘Pay attention to the enemy patterns and dodge accordingly.’ That is Bible right there, and has won more games than the Konami code ever will. Come on people. You don’t need 20 extra guys! Have some dignity, for fucksake! Damn!!
(walks away sobbing because he has never successfully entered the Konami code)
II. With the exception of Rule I in the ‘Other’ section, which is absolute, all of these rules are completely arbitrary, debatable, and highly subjective. They serve as a frame of reference for documenting my gaming progress from over the years. Use it as gospel or don’t. Or buy it and pay me with money, the one true gospel.

Ok. Now that gaming morality has been established I will proceed to share the magic of my victory experiences. Please keep in mind that this not a ‘Top 100’, ‘Worst 100’, or ‘Most Difficult 100’ list. It’s just the first 100 games that I’ve beaten, and my thoughts about them.

-8 EYES
Despite some proported post-apocalyptic backstory involving magic gems rising from the center of nuclear blasts, this game is essentially a mediocre Castlevania clone. As Orin the falconeer, you fight through eight side-scrolling levels with your falcon buddy Curtis who can swoop down and peck at skeletons, bats, and racial stereotypes. Both Orin and Curtis handle very awkwardly. They make Simon ‘stair clutz suicide’ Belmont seem like a ballerina. Upon receiving this game as a birthday gift in highschool (thanks Andrew) I forced myself to play through the repetitive levels and stiff controls, only to get stuck at the Italian boss and his blue panther accomplice. For many years I set it aside thinking the Italian/panther combo invincible. How could Orin, armed with a crappy short sword and a retarded falcon beat the Italian version of Gambit? He wields deadly long-range playing cards backed up by a blue panther that jumps the length of the screen. Orin can either send Curtis flying down to certain doom, or jump down himself and engage in a losing melee duel. Well, years later I attempted 8 Eyes again, and this time I found an invincibility potion in the boss room while slashing at the vicious blue panther. Even being invincible for a solid 6-8 seconds, I barely eked out a victory over Italian Gambit. Then I went to the final level called ‘House of Ruth’ and fought all the bosses again, including Italian Gambit, and some sissy final boss who I guess was Ruth. All in all, I really hate that fucking Italian, but I kind of liked his super-powered blue panther friend, even when he was ripping me to shreds.

-ARKISTA’S RING
Christine the elf looked dangerous and sexy to my 12 year old mind when I first saw the box in Target. Sadly, I never fulfilled my lusty Nintendo ambitions until the end of high school, by which point I had discovered pornography and interactive naked girlfriends. After seeing my first real boob, I could no longer exude the strange horniess one expresses when gazing at an elf babe whilst clutching a raging pubescent boner. Yet perversions aside, when I finally got Arkista’s Ring I played through the silly thing in one sitting. It took an hour and a half, maybe two, and was mildly entertaining. Though somewhat monotonous in design as a linear clone of Zelda overhead fighting, there were ninjas. Real fast ninjas that ran around all weird jumping over walls and stuff. Plus fireball spells and arrow upgrades. Neat! The reason Arkista’s Ring never went anywhere with all this is twofold. One, they didn’t rip off Zelda enough. If Christine had a free-roam overhead world with dungeons and purchasable items like Spiritual Warfare did, she could have kicked infinite more ass. Two, the good people at American Sammy did not milk the elf babe concept so prevalent on the game’s cover design. I mean you buy the game with some steamy elf-hentai vision in mind, but that goes away when you press power. Then you start out with what appears to be a decent Zelda clone, but the uninspired gameplay reduces your excitement to flaccidity. I mean c’mon folks! Zelda and elf-babe! Thems is two cows worth milking.

-BAD DUDES
I was a bad dude when my brother and I beat the hell out of the ‘Bad Dudes’ arcade game at Velvet Freeze Ice Cream. I was but a small lad of nine or ten but my arcade voracity knew no limits. It only cost my father two ice cream cones and ten bucks worth of quarters for an hour of peace while his idiot sons jumped and screamed as they mercilessly beat ninja kidnappers into virtual dust. About a decade or so later, I became an even badder dude when I crushed the NES Bad Dudes on single player mode. This time I was solo in my badness; no big brother, no ice cream, and no father providing endless amounts of one dollar bills as he absently perused the business section of the New York times. No, this was a formulaic masterstroke of weapon-hoarding, boss-baiting, and trying really hard to not get scared of that huge metal guy in the forest level who smooshed you in about three hits.
All in all, Bad Dudes is pretty darned bad-ass. Ninjas, nunchakus, midjets, Karnov, green multiplying ninjas, karate chicks, soda, and fire ninjas. Difficult, but not too difficult. A good seven-level, 45-minute play-through. End boss was a little fruity though. I couldn’t tell if he was throwing gummi bears or AIDS at me from the helicopter. Or they could have been fireballs….whatever. On a different note, the opening scene has been hackled and parodied to death. But for what it’s worth, that general guy could probably get the same results out of any of my middle school students if he questioned their ‘badness’ to their faces. Hell he could get any idiot in a wife-beater to fight an army of ninjas and rescue the president. As long as they can fight with their buddy right? What? No two-player simultaneous mode? Screw this game! Let’s go play Double Dragon II.

-BARBIE
Hooray Barbie! You beat the ice cream machine and the record player by jumping around like a waif! Now you can put on a pretty dress and let Ken take you to the moonlight dance! Yay! But when you wake up the next day, little sister will be gone at camp, and bad brother will come in and find you all alone! He loves you, but in a different way then Ken or little sister. He loves you with his anger. Angry love mutilates you with sharp kitchen scissors, and then melts your idealized form with leftover fireworks by the train tracks! Oh no Barbie! Will you ever fit into your mermaid outfit again? Can you complete the underwater level with your legs burnt off? Why did you make such a shitty video game Barbie? Why? Girls who liked you as a toy can never play through your adventures because of the obnoxious gameplay and stiff controls. And the levels are hard in a very retarded kind of way. That way where you know exactly what to do, but can’t move forward because Barbie can’t jump from the dinner plate to the soda can an inch above her! Move you unflexible blond bitch! I hate you Barbie. I’m going to leave so many burnt and mutilated corpses of you on the train tracks that even the wiccan kids will feel creeped out.

-GYROMITE
Grab your turnips and get to ready to defuse some timed explosives with Gyromite! Sound confusing? Well it should. Thinking about the premise of this game 20 years after playing it makes me appreciate the innocence of youth. I am 100% certain that I never for an instant questioned why some Doctor Wilyish man was fighting strange duck monsters amidst crushing pillars, turnips, and timed explosives.
Unbridled ridiculousness!! When I received Gyromite from some relative guy for my birthday, I didn’t care if it made sense or not. All I knew was that it came with a cool looking robot, (the orginal R.O.B.) and was infinitely more fun than practicing piano. Gyromite was better than school, because you could quit and go to recess whenever you wanted, and it was way cooler than playing basketball against the neighborhood kids because I didn’t always get my ass kicked. I loved Gyromite like a dear friend. We became closer perhaps than even my beloved childhood cat Frisky Jr. Because unlike Frisky Jr., Gyromite never ran away for two months, and then showed up one night looking all gross and bony, only to get run over by a car a week later. You were a good friend Gyromite. You never became street pizza. Or yelled at me to pass the ball you can’t shoot dummy c’mon!! You stayed in the basement cupboard with the other Nintendo games and R.O.B. You are forever baiting duck monsters with turnips and squishing things with blue and red pillars. God you were weird.

The first convention of 2011 has been conquered!

Aaron Ford and I drove down to Chatanooga Tennesse last Friday, and set-up in the artist alley for the weekend. Originally the two of us were sharing one 6 foot table, but I snagged an open table from an author who didn’t show by mid-Saturday, and after that we both had ample room to sell our comics and merchandise. For us being first timers at Con Nooga, I think we did fairly well in the Artist Alley over the weekend. The con was more of cosplay-anime-party with your friends sort of deal than a comic convention, but we still had a good time meeting people and basking in all the weirdness that was going on around us. And the drive between Nashville and Chatnooga was gorgeous forest mountain scenery( a novelty for us plains dwellers). Check out the link below to see my Con Nooga cosplay pictures!

Con Nooga Photos!

List of Awesome Things at Con Nooga
-Reasonable table and hotel rates.
-Overall impressive cosplay for a medium-sized convention.
-Cobra Commander guy!
-Predators!
-Roller Derby Chicks!
-Theme parties on Saturday night.
-Free booze at the parties.
-Aaron’s rantings in the car.
-WaffleHouse!
-Seeing Jennie Breeden selling ‘Porn’ at her table.
-Friendly folk aside us in the Artist Alley.
-People-watching from my table.

List of Not-So-Awesome Things at Con Nooga
-Overall Con set-up. Exhibitor hall far away from events.
-Unnecessary drapes and empty tables in exhibition hall.
-U.F.O panel got canceled at the last minute.
-Driving through Southern Illinois.
-Aaron being moody.
-A lot of people just walking around and not even browsing.

Okay a bit late on the convention review, but here is my take on SPACE 2011! (Small Press and Comics Expo)

Accompanied by fellow STL comic creators
-Aaron James Ford –Golgotha–
-Matt and Jeanie Bryan –Moses & Bean–
-Mike McCubbins –Big List of Dead People–

We all packed into my parent’s Buick Rendezvous (thanks dad) and crossed the desolate lands of southern Illinois (cringe), Indiana, and western Ohio. Then we arrived at Packrat Comics in the suburbs of Columbus Ohio for a meet and greet dinner! Packrat Comics alone was a rare treat with an entire basement full of back issues, old toys, and neat stuff. Then other comic artists started showing up and we ate pizza, drank beers, and talked with like-minded folks about independent comics. The 7 hour drive was well worth it for the relaxed dinner, networking, and just the chance to say hello to people before the show. This was our first time at SPACE, and this event started the convention on a nice upbeat. Something you don’t necessarily get with other shows. Plus a neat drawing jam with SPACE founder Bob Corby.

After getting semi-lost amongst the highways of Columbus, we found our way to the Ramada Inn, and crashed for the night. On Saturday, we did a fair amount of business at each of our tables, and talked with quite a few indie-comic artists including:

-Rafer Roberts –Plastic Farm–
-Ed –Peculiar Comics–
-Eric Glastetter –G2 Comics– (an unknown ally from St. Louis!)
-Justin Stewart –Quarantine Comics–

There was a ton of creators. Around 150 or so. I’d say the total amount of people who came by our tables was split pretty evenly between exhibitors and guests. So while SPACE definitely could have used some more attendees looking to buy some independent comics, there was no lack of really good comics to choose from. My only real complaint about the show was that I kept wanting to get up from my table and go buy stuff and talk to all these amazing artists. I’d get up to use the restroom or refill my water bottle, and every row of tables seemed overflowing with awesome new comics and cool peoples. But I didn’t sell much, so I didn’t buy much.
Jeanie however did a great job on STL public relations duty, mingling and trading with artists all over the room. Aaron kept the day interesting by yelling stuff about ultraviolence in his comics. Matt invented the premier comic character of the decade, ‘Shark Jumper’. Mike ate Starburst and sketched a story for my brother’s wedding comic (more news on that later).

After knocking off for the day, we snarfed down some salads and sandwiches at some local sandwich place, then grabbed the victory beers at a Mexican grocery store by our hotel. We started drinking victory while watching some crummy cable tv in Matt and Jeanie’s room, mostly the NCAA tournament. This was not victorious enough, so we meandered downstairs to a room party Jeanie had heard about. There we found an amazing drawing jam party hosted by Justin Stewart where we drew rocks, aliens, robots, batman, caveman, tacos, penises, weapons, monsters, portraits, ninjas, and rounded out the night by vandalizing the room’s Gideon bible with comic illustrations. Good times.

Sunday was pretty similar to Saturday. Light foot traffic, but more good conversations and trades with other artists. I went to the webcomics panel in the afternoon with Jeanie, and despite the presence of one annoying full-of-himself arse who was also annoying the whole weekend at the table next to Matt and Jeanie, the panel was very informative and helpful. I’ve been meaning to redesign the Pangaea site for awhile now, but now I know what to do and how to do it. Stay tuned for details.

So at 4:30pm eastern time, we packed our stuff and headed back west on highway 70, taking with us memories of Brain Child and Shark Jumper, Drawing Jams and $1 back issues. SPACE wasn’t a big commercial success, but we did make a lot of connections and learned a lot about indie comics.

And we managed the 13 hour round trip drive without killing each other. Chalk one up in the W column.

Awesome Things at SPACE:
-Having tables next to friends
-Having a table across from King Cat
-Drawing Jams
-Shark Jumper
-Brain Child
-Victory Beer
-Beach Boys song interpretations (bomb Iran….)
-Jeanie yelling ‘Comics! Candy! Cartoons!’
-Aaron yelling ‘Get your Ultraviolence!’
-PackRat Comics Meet & Greet
-Webcomics Panel
-All of the great people we met, talked to, and exchanged books with.

Not-so-Awesome Things at SPACE:
-Me forgetting my computer for Mike
-Driving across southern Illinois (me hates ye)
-Kinda slow foot traffic and sales.
-Not being able to turn Aaron off.
-Stupid Pirate cosplay guy. He just sucked.
-That girl who kept bugging me to give her my stuff for free AFTER I bought her crummy zine
-Mike hogging the blankets

Revisiting childhood in comic-zine form has never been so sweet as it reads in the pages of Matt and Jeanie Bryan’s Moses & Bean. As the titular characters take turns starring in each issue, readers are treated to a charming and honest look at growing up in rural Missouri. Bean ventures through summer camp, older siblings, and a menagerie of strange animal friends, while Moses struggles with bullies at grade-school, scary teachers, and the dreams and disappointments of being in a teenage metal band. Like any great ‘slice of life’ comic, Moses & Bean is both sad and hilarious. It creates beautifully rendered vignettes into those odd memories that always resurface when we think back into our adolescence. Jeanie Bryan writes with an alluring candor, and Matt Bryan’s artwork gets more intricate and expressive with each issue.

But beyond great stories and artwork, Moses & Bean has a certain magical quality about it. The stories contain just enough text and details that you have that feeling of floating through a pleasant memory. The whole picture may not be clear, but all of the key elements and emotions are there to sift through and enjoy. My only real gripe with Moses & Bean is that there isn’t enough of it. But I do hope to one day sit down with a thick graphic novel with hundreds of pages of Moses & Bean adventures.

I suppose I can cut Matt and Jeanie a little slack with the multiple side projects they’re working on, leading the Urchin Sketch Collective of St. Louis comic artists, running the online Urchin Sketch blog, and publishing the Mixed Feelings comic anthologies once a year. This creative couple is well on their way to local notoriety and beyond. Check out all their great work at:

http://mosesandbean.blogspot.com/

and

http://urchinsketch.blogspot.com/

Apparently I have gained God status amongst geeks. Check out the interview I did for Pangaea.