The Ballad of Kid Largo: S1, E5

And now That F’ing Monkey proudly presents, The Ballad of Kid Largo.

Happy Halloween everyone! We’re rolling around with our Kid Largo train. I thought about having a more Halloween themed update today, but in all honesty we’ve been doing lots of monster stuff before today so I figured we’d just roll with the comic. Brace yourself, we’re about to get knee deep in plot.

Cadbury Screme Egg

Every Easter I have one Cadbury’s Crème Egg. It’s about all I can handle; those things are like sugar over load. But much like Peeps, Cadbury has decided they wanted to sell their candy more than once a year. So because of that we now have Cadbury Screme Eggs.

I’ve got to go pick up some last minute Halloween candy tonight, just in case we actually get any trick or treaters tomorrow. If I run across any Screme Eggs I’ll pick up a couple. You know, for science.

Damn You Sandy!

Welp, the super storm Sandy is hitting landfall right over me. So if this is posted then I don't have power. See ya next week.

I hope...

 

 

Monster Roll

With Halloween quickly approaching this weekend will be full of monster movies and ghost stories. Today I wanted to make sure you had seen the proof-of-concept short “Monster Roll.” The developers want to make it a feature film but something about the video makes me think it would make an incredible series. It’s over the top, tongue in cheek, B-movie greatness.

Check out the Monster Roll website for more information. The director has already announced that we’ll be seeing a Kickstarter to help the project. I want to see more of Monster Roll; six minutes just wasn’t enough.

Also since it is Halloween Weekend, everyone be safe out there tonight.



Flash Friday: New 52: Part 2

Happy Flash Friday everyone! Last week we talked about issues 0 through 6 of the latest Flash series. Today we are going to cover 6 through 12 and the Annual. I’m not going to be talking about issue 13 even though it came out this week; I just haven’t had a chance to get to my local store. If you aren’t caught up on the series, there will be spoilers below.

I’m going to start by echoing my statement last week and say that the new Flash comic is a beautiful book. Every issue has great dynamic layouts that are always a pleasant surprise. I have a new problem with the series now that we move into the second half of the run though and that’s the pacing. Even though I’m talking about 7 books it seems rushed. Stretching out comic stories just to pad out a trade collection sucks, but burning through your story ideas before you have a chance to really do anything with them doesn’t help either.

Let’s start with Turbine. He’s obviously been created to be a replacement for the Top. The costume is similar enough, he spins, and he’s named Roscoe. So in Turbine’s first issue the Flash jumps into the Speed Force and finds that Turbine has been trapped in there for years. Turbine’s snap from Flash is great to I want to kill the Flash happens so fast I thought I skipped a page. Sure Turbine is insane, but there should have been some buildup. I know Turbine is still free of the Speed Force and knows Barry’s secrets, but it still like there was a lot of lost opportunities in this story.

Barry escapes the Speed Force and ends up in Gorilla City with amnesia. While in Gorilla City we see Grodd become King, learn about their connection with the Speed Force, and more. It all happens in one issue. Yes, Grodd is going to be a major factor for the next few issues, but again it seems a little rushed here.

My biggest problem with this story arc is Barry’s decision to let the rest of the world think he’s dead. He jumps into this idea as quickly as he’s been bounced around from place to place. Barry Allen isn’t famous. He isn’t Bruce Wayne. If Barry spends some time in the Keystone dive bars, no one would know anything different. The new series has established that there are people that care about Barry, this playing dead thing just seems callous and out of character.

Wow do I hate the new Rogues. I don’t want to see Heat Wave as a burn victim. I’m not really sure what Glider is anymore. Mirror Master is back to being Sam Scudder and is Glider’s lover. In this arc we see how all of the Rogues went from using guns and wands to having super powers (didn’t we already do this with Underworld Unleashed?). The person who does this for them is an interesting twist, but the Rogues are as unhappy with the results as I am. The picture above is of the new 52 Rogues before they underwent there changes, I actually like the Cold and Heat Wave designs here.

Poor Mirror Master, not only do his new powers leave him stuck in his own mirror world his costume is ridiculous. Even when the shoulder mirrors are removed I still can’t get over the mask. Something about it just looks completely wrong. I also find it interesting that Captain Boomerang isn’t with the Rogues; maybe it’s because Blackest Night already gave him shadow boomerangs.

There is something about the Trickster though. Axel was always the annoying kid and even in the Rogue flashback that was the role he was playing. Now he’s seemed to have smartened up, he’s working angles. It may be the change in artists, but he also seems a little older. I really hope I’m not reading too much into this, but it seems like there is something cool going on here. I want to find out what he’s up to.

So there we have it. I’ve mentioned more negatives than positives this time week. It wasn’t all bad. I seriously cheered out loud when the escaping Rogues ran face first into a wall of ice. But I’m still not sure what happened between them and Cold at the very end. They all rejoined him just because he said so?

We know from the advanced solicits the gorilla invasion story is going to run at least into July. That is probably a good thing. They’re trying to tell a lot of story here, make sure you take time to tell the whole story. Am I going to drop the Flash? Even though there are things I really do not like about the book, the story does have me hooked. I’m on board at least until January.

Hangover Thursday: 100 Club

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? I managed to get all my drinking in early this week so my head is pretty clear this morning. Tuesdays are the first day of my work week and this Tuesday we were slow enough that I was able to only have to put in a half day. So I ended up at my local World of Beer and a enjoyed a nice dark bar on a bright afternoon.

What I didn’t know is that having that Brooklyn Maple Porter and Cain’s Dark Mild would put me in World of Beer’s 100 Club. Now I’ve been a member of World of Beer’s Loyalty club since April of 2011, so just now hitting 100 is not some major feat. I’ve taken my time to get there. So what do I get for joining the 100 Club? First I received a 100 Club T-Shirt. The picture above is the back of the shirt; the front has a small WoB logo. It’s a simple design and something I’d actually wear so I’m pretty happy about it.

I also received a 100 Club glass. You can see it has 100 Club on one side and the WoB logo on the other. I guess I’m a sucker for drinking glasses, because I really like this one. This thing has some heft on it too; I mean you could really do some damage if you had to crack someone over the head with it. I don’t know why I even though of that. Long, long ago Brandon and I used to have to bring our own glasses to our local bar. My next Loyalty Club reward isn’t for another 150 beers, so I’ll probably be telling that story long before I get to talk about the Loyalty Club again.

The Ballad of Kid Largo: S1, E4

And now That F’ing Monkey proudly presents, the Ballad of Kid Largo.

Finally some action! We’re now four strips into the Ballad of Kid Largo, so at this point you should have some idea of what the strip is like. There are still plenty of twists in the story, but the look and feel of the strip is pretty much set in the strips you’ve already seen. I’ve already finished all the strips for November, so we’re set for the comic’s trial period. Hopefully someone besides Brandon is enjoying these things.

Abominable Charles Christopher Book 2

Brandon spent Monday asking what he should be reading, I’m going to help everybody out and tell him what he should be ordering is Book 2 of the Abominable Charles Christopher. If you aren’t familiar with Charles Christopher, it’s an amazing web comic by Karl Kerschl. The strip stars a bigfoot-like gentle giant but is far more complex than that. There are multiple storylines running through the comic and I can honestly say that I love them all equally.

Back in July of 2010 I received my sketch edition of the first book. The hard cover was produced in a limited run and I’ve met a number of people trying to track one down. Now is your chance to get a hard cover of Book 2! The story only gets better, so I’d imagine the second hardcover will become as hard to find as the first.

Just like with the first book, Karl is doing sketch editions for Book 2. I had to skip on the sketch this time, but the above picture is what is in my Book 1. Karl’s art is amazing; if you have the extra money to spend it really is worth it. You’ll have to wait a little longer for the book that way, but again you’re getting a fantastic piece of art. Check out the Abominable Charles Christopher website for more information.

I Need Your Help! A Comic Question

Now that I am back in civilization I now have a local comic store again. I have talked about what I feel are the virtues of local brick and mortar comic shops before.

Not my local shop of course, that is Aw Yeah Comics in the Chicago area.

 

 

However this blessing is also a curse. How can it be a curse you say? Well it has been so long since I had a local shop that I am out of touch. I don't know that to read, what books to pick up, what is worth my time. I am going to be picking up my few staples such as Daredevil.

Check it out Matt is smiling! That's new.

I will also be picking up the Lantern books and doing a review of the first year in the vain of Ken's Flash review series. 

So I put it to you dear reader - what should I be reading these days? What is your favorite book these days?

Let me know what I should be picking up when I go to the shop in the comments, our Facebook page, or hit the contact us tab up at the top of the page.

Girls Like Robots

The title of Adult Swim’s newest mobile game isn’t really surprising. Everyone who’s ever seen Megas XLR should remember that “Chicks dig giant robots.” All cartoon nostalgia aside, Girls Like Robots can be an extremely fun game if you like logic puzzles.

It all builds off of the old logic puzzles we did back in school; so and so wants to sit next to this person, but not that person. In this case girls like to sit next to robots but not nerds. It’s a simple concept that builds from there. If you couldn’t stand those puzzles you’re probably going to want to save your dollar.

If you’ve got a stack of Professor Layton games on your shelf this might be something you want on your phone. The characters are all done in cute block style that remains all through the game, even the cut scenes. The plot is as strange as you’d expect from Adult Swim. Just passing a puzzle usually isn’t overly difficult, but getting a perfect score on them can have you replaying the same puzzle over and over.

If you’re looking for a new time waster on your phone I highly recommend it.

Flash Friday: New 52: Part 1

Happy Flash Friday everyone! After a couple distractions I’m finally ready to talk about the latest run of the Flash. I am not going to talk about the entire run in one article though. As I was reading I thought it would be better to talk about the series in two articles since there is a lot of ground to cover. Today we’re going to cover my thoughts on the series 0-6. I know issue 0 didn’t actually start the series, but that’s how I read it this morning.

The first thing I have to say is this is just a beautiful book. I’ve always liked Francis Manapul but he really stepped it up for this book. The series is filled amazing panel layouts that actually remind me a lot of Eisner’s Spirit. The rest of the book looks great two, but when I’d get to a page with one of the dynamic layouts I’d just stop for a moment and admire to look of it.

The thing that probably surprised me the most is that I really like the Patty Spivot character. I know she is a character pulled from the past and dusted off, but really since the reboot she might as well have been a new character. She was really a blank slate and I didn’t think I’d like her at first. She fits with Barry well even if she doesn’t fully approve of his alter ego.

I know it wasn’t the creative team’s choice, but I really dislike the new Flash costume. It isn’t the chin strap or the new chest emblem either, I’m okay with those. I could almost live with the extra lines but two things about them totally ruin it for me. When the lines on his mask glow yellow he looks like an insect. Or a superhero based around an insect. He looks like Ambush Bug. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Ambush Bug, I just don’t want to be reminded by him every time I look at the Flash.

I really liked Mob Rule. Sure the way he generates new clones is a little gruesome, but the idea of an army of clones is a great one. Having him attack two different areas at the same time is a great way to throw something new at the Speedster. The end of the first arc gave him a great reason to hate the Flash and the nature of his powers will always give him reason to abduct scientists. I don’t want to see Mob Rule again for awhile, but I’d be happy to see him again. I fear for him in the hands of other writers though. I can imagine him being used to fill in the background for the next large villain gathering.

Since the Captain Cold arc is really in the next run of issues I’m going to save most of it for next week. I pulled these two captions from issue 6 though. I didn’t see anything in issue 6 that required Cold to have actually have powers instead of guns. More on that next week.

So far it looks like I really enjoyed the Flash doesn’t it? Fun new girl, beautiful art, and an interesting new villain; what’s not to like? I hate his new origin. The Flash used to fight crime because he thought it was the right thing to do. He didn’t need to be haunted by his past. I’m talking about Barry and Wally here. They enjoyed being Flash. If I wanted moping and angst over dead family members I’d read Batman or Spiderman. I think who ever came up with this idea missed the point of the Flash. It makes me sad and angry at the same time.

Check back next Friday for New 52: Part 2!

Hangover Thursday: Allnighter

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? I’m doing well right now, earlier in the week I had a couple beers that snuck up on me with their alcohol by volume. One minute I was feeling normal and the next I realized I was getting a pretty good buzz. You have to watch yourself when you’re drinking Tripel’s friends, they’ll sneak up on you.


Today’s Hangover Thursday is once again about that late night food. I was at a Steak n Shake the other day for lunch and as I was walking in I noticed a really strange decal on their window. It was for something called a 7x7. When I asked the waiter about it he laughed and said it was part of their late night menu. I was curious so I asked if I could look at it. Steak n Shake calls it their Allnighter menu and it is glorious.

From 11pm to 6am Steak n Shake rolls out this menu full of things to soak up a stomach full of alcohol. Mini-burgers, chili fries, cheese fries, nacho fries, and my favorite the Steakburger Slinger. They weren’t kidding around when they came up with this. A skillet full of hashbrowns, topped with chili, two burgers, shredded cheese, and two eggs. All of that for 6 bucks. As amazing as that sounds, it isn’t nearly as ridiculous as the item that first caught my attention.

The 7x7 is undoubtedly the king of the Allnighter, all other menu items bow down in its presence. The 7x7 is 7 burgers and 7 slices of cheese all on one bun. It’s a full pound of meat. It’s price…7 dollars and 77 cents. Brilliant marketing, just brilliant. My local Steak n Shake has a giant window decal of this burger tower on the front of their restaurant. I can’t find any mention of it on Steak n Shake’s website, so you may need to check with your local store to see if they offer this meat beast.

The Ballad of Kid Largo: S1, E3

And now That F’ing Monkey proudly presents, the Ballad of Kid Largo.

This is the last tease before the action, I promise. Mickey the Finn is very important to this world, but won’t really be important to this story. I’m still doing lots of world building in my spare time. At one point the strip wasn’t even going to take place on Earth and then I remembered I modeled a street gang on Abraham Lincoln. I’m still working on finding a good name for the setting.

Tales from the Brain Jar, #23

It’s back; it’s Tales from the Brain Jar! If you’re unfamiliar with Tales from the Brain Jar, I’ve been collecting convention sketches since 2004. I thought the middle of October was a perfect opportunity to show off another brain floating in a jar. Today’s sketch was done back at the 2009 Megacon by Joel Carroll. I’ve talked about Joel on the site before when he launched his Topaz web comic. I feel pretty lucky that I live near Joel, so I get to see him and his artwork on a pretty regular basis.

Joel’s artwork shows up all over the place. You’ve probably seen it on Project Rooftop or on Comic’s Alliance. At the time I had this sketch done Joel had just finished a bunch of sketch cards for a series of Indiana Jones cards. When I saw the cute, cartoon style he had done them in I knew I needed one. And then, here is where I’m strange. I needed it to include Short Round. I love Short Round. I’m still mad that we never got a movie with a grown up Short Round taking over for Indy. If I had my way, that would have been the fourth movie. Anyway, check out Joel’s site for even more of his incredible artwork.

I have a handful of other Joel sketches not in my sketchbook that I really need to share at some point. Shark monsters, giant robots, super heroes, and Star Wars; seriously he’s drawn all my favorite things for me.

Games Workshop Nerdvana

I have been in Maryland for about a month now and for the past few Saturdays I have been spending most of the day in the Bowie Battlebunker. The Battlebunker is a Games Workshop store that has a huge gaming area along with the normal sales area. The tables are amazing with tons of terrain and objectives to fight over. There is also a couple of hobby bars where you can sit and put models together and paint. All that creativity is slowly shaming me into getting my army fully painted. Some day...

There is also a bunch of display cases scattered around with some great looking mini's.

So far I have not won a game under the Battlebunker roof. My Eldar have lost both on the ground and in space (they also play lot of specialist games, like Battlefleet Gothic). However it is a blast hanging out with the people and staff, even if they all cheat to make me look bad. 

So if you are in the Bowie, MD area swing by and I will throw some dice with ya and grab a brew after. Also Ken keeps threatening to put a bounty on my head....

Wanna game? Don't care at all about little army men? Let Your F'ing Voice Be Heard! On our Facebook, in the comments, or the Contact Us tab up at the top of the page.

Goon Kickstarter

Eric Powell’s The Goon is an amazing comic. While people usually remember his amazing sense of humor, the Goon comic has also showed great action and incredibly touching stories. When it was first launched it was grouped with Hellboy. Even though the Goon and Hellboy did crossover, the books are very different. I don’t think there is another book anything like the Goon. As good as his story telling is Powell is an even better artist.

You may have seen a short video on the internet of an animated Goon. It’s pretty amazing. I know as soon as most people saw it, they were excited that a Goon Movie was being created. Unfortunately it isn’t actually in production. David Fincher, Eric Powell, Blur Studio, and Dark Horse funded that video themselves so they’d have proof that the Goon would work in an animated format. Despite being well received, no one has budged on bringing the Goon to the big screen. Enter Kickstarter.

It’s important to say that this Kickstarter is not going to finance an entire movie. It’s going to finance a story reel. While Brandon could chime in here with all his film school knowledge, we’re just going to call a story reel a rough edit of storyboards combined with all the recorded dialogue, sound effects, and music. Think back to all those animated movies that have cut scenes on their DVD extras. That is pretty much what you’d be seeing in the story reel.

It should come as no surprise that the kickstarter has some pretty amazing rewards too. 25 dollars will get you access to the film’s production blog. So if you like the behind the scenes stuff this is a good place to start. As you go up there are T-shirts, signed posters, PDF and printed versions of the pitch book, a limited edition Goon statue, original Eric Powell artwork, and even a screening of the story reel. The Goon needs to become a movie people, and not a watered down version either. These people are trying to make it happen and we need to help. Please check out the Kickstarter.

Flash Friday: Sick Day

Happy Flash Friday everyone! I’ve come down with something and I’m taking a sick day. But I didn’t want to leave you completely Flashless today. So instead of an actual article today I leave you with this picture.

Apparently being the Flash is exhausting

Hangover Thursday: Like Coffee?

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? I was up all night partying, so I am tore up today. No, that’s not true at all. My boy woke up at like 3 this morning and wanted to party. That’s why I’m really tore up. So today on Hangover Thursday we’re going to talk about coffee. I can’t say I’ve ever been hungover and not drank coffee, so I think we’re still fitting in the theme.

Married to the Sea is a pretty fantastic web comic that does things a little differently than most do. I enjoy letting a few weeks build up and then going through it that way. It was because of Married to the Sea that I went to the store they share with toothpaste for dinner and Nataliedee. It was on this wonderful Sharing Machine website that I found the shirt you see pictured above. I have the reputation at work as the guy who can’t do anything without his coffee; I really think I need to own this shirt.

So being in Orlando, I’m not really up to date on Chicago politics. I know it’s a shortcoming of mine, I hope no one holds it against me. Anyway, when rumors that Rahm Emanuel was going to enter the mayor’s race someone created a fake Twitter account that claimed to be Emanuel. It is because of that fake Twitter account that the shirt pictured above exists. I think it sums everything up pretty nicely.

The Ballad of Kid Largo: S1, E2

And now That F’ing Monkey proudly presents, the Ballad of Kid Largo.

I’ve been working a lot on the strips, so much so that I have already completed two months worth of comics. It's really difficult to not just post everything at once for you to read. It’s been a couple weeks since I completed Strip 2, looking at it now I can already see how the look has changed in the later strips.

Muppet Pez

If you’ve been on the site since the beginning you may remember that before Brandon started here that we didn’t update the site on Mondays. Mondays are normally one of my days off. This past Monday was a rainy mess of a day. To get everyone out of the house we loaded up the car and rolled my son the local Toys R Us. After checking out the Lego, Nerf, and Superhero stuff I found some pure awesomeness on the pegs.

Behold the animal Pez dispenser. I am not a giant candy person. I’ll take potato chips over candy 99% of the time. There is something about Pez though. I don’t cheat either; I never eat a packet of Pez without loading it into the dispenser. Years ago when I was deep in MMO addiction I always had a Pez dispenser with me as I played. The process of loading the candy before you eat it slows the whole process down too, so it takes you longer to eat them all.

Anyway, they had the whole Muppet lineup there, but I’ve already said on the blog that Animal has always been my favorite Muppet. They actually have a pretty good sculpted likeness too. A lot of Animal merchandise doesn’t look quite right. We also got my son a “My First Cookie Monster”, apparently Cookie Monster has delicious eyes.

I Hath Returned To The Mortal Realm!

Look who's back! That's right, folks - your friendly neighborhood Cake Fucker! It has been about 2 months since you have gotten to read my inane postings, but you can relax as regular scheduled posts have now returned. "Where have you been O' lover of pastries?" I can hear you say. Well I have been relocating the satellite office of That F'ing Monkey from West Texas to Maryland. Yep I am finally back in civilization! No more "secede now!" bumper stickers, truck nuts, and listening to "don't mess with Texas!" every ten minutes.

That seems like a great idea...

 So you can expect me to be back every week from here on out, with my own brand of nonsense and Nerd Rage. Be sure to tune in next Monday for a look at my second home as of late...The Bowie Battlebunker. Also make sure that you are following the amazing new webcomic done by our CEO, The Ballad of Kid Largo updating on Wednesdays. As always Let Your F'ing Voice Be Heard in the comments, our Facebook page, or the Contact Us Tab! I shall leave you with my favorite "Gunganm Style" video because this is the internet and no site is complete without one...

Enjoy and see ya next week!

Under Construction

Hey everyone the blog is going to be changing today. The first changed has already happened, you may have noticed that the center area of the blog expanded. You may have noticed that the blog got wider. When I started trying to post full comic strips I realize just how cramped the space we were working with was. So today I’m going to be working on finding better ways to use the space we have.


If you are on the website today I’d expect it to change multiple times. There will be some trial and error. I’m sure at some point I’ll make a change that I hate and quickly rush back to an earlier version. Things should stabilize by the end of the day and hopefully we’ll be providing you a more streamlined version of That F’ing Monkey. Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read and comment. We have great things coming up, I promise.

Flash Friday: Peanut Walk

Happy Flash Friday everyone! I know, I know, you’re probably expecting me to update you on my big comic decision. Well, real life got in the way of that and I won’t be able to get to the store until this weekend. That’s okay, because I really wanted to talk about Peanuts anyway. Over at Speedforce.org Kelson is looking for sponsors in the Walk for Food Allergy.

I really recommend you go read what Kelson has to say about FAAN and food allergies. I’m extremely lucky not to have any food allergies myself and I hope that my son ends up not having any of them either. Considering half the people that read Flash Friday come here because of Kelson, I obviously want to support him as much as I can. The fact that it is a great cause just makes it even easier to talk about it.

So click HERE to make a pledge. And if the Black Flash Peanut causes anyone to have nightmares, I’m sorry.

Hangover Thursday: Food and Wine Beers

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? I did all my drinking early this week. I might still have an IV full of coffee plugged into my arm this morning, but that doesn’t have anything to do with having too much to drink. Sunday I was out at Epcot’s Food and Wine festival. Over the past few years the festival has started embracing the craft beer and you can find some interesting things there.

I’ll get this out of the way first. I don’t see Epcot’s Food and Wine festival as a good deal. It’s normal Epcot admission and then you end up paying around 4 dollars for every mouthful of food and around 5 or 6 dollars for every beer. If you can eat and drink a lot your total cost quickly skyrockets. I’d much rather take that money and go somewhere not crowded with tourists and get baked by the Florida sun. Your mileage may vary though. If you have a cheap way to get into the parks or something, it’s worth doing once.

I drank a couple beers while I was there. I had a Guinness, a Radeberger Pilsner, a Red Hook Pilsner, a Sam Adams Chocolate Bock, and a Kona Pipeline Porter. I will say the beer selection improves every year. The bock and the porter were beers I had never tried before so I’m going to focus on them. The Sam Adams Chocolate Bock was a good beer. I’d order one again but it wasn’t something I’d go out of my way for. The Kona Pipeline Porter was fantastic. Maybe it was too hot and humid and the Kona was my first beer of the day.  Maybe I just really like coffee and beer together.  Either way, I could have drank that all day and been happy.

The Ballad of Kid Largo: S1, E1

And now That F’ing Monkey proudly presents, the Ballad of Kid Largo.

Okay, so I realize after that there may be some questions. You did just read a strip where a street gang dressed like Abraham Lincoln attacked a robot. The strip stars a Hammerhead Shark cowboy. So yes, it’s a little strange. There will be a new strip every Wednesday in October and November. This will not even come close to finishing the first story arc, but I figure two months will be enough to gauge if people are enjoying the strip or not. You also may be saying, “Wow this strip is ugly.” It is. I tried to set up a few projects with other people providing the art. Those did not work out, so I created a strip that I could do on my own. If you want to draw the strips, please feel free to contact me.

Some of the panels may be hard to read. I’m playing with fonts, sizes, etc. Clicking on the comic will blow it up to full size. I’d expect the text sizes, colors, etc to change a lot in the next couple of strips as we try things out. I'm pretty new to actually letting comics.  Anyway, this is just the start. I’m really excited about Kid Largo and I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do.

Mariachi El Bronx

Early in September I was having a few (maybe it was a lot) of drinks and decided I wanted to learn how to play a guitarrón. The guitarrón is an acoustic bass usually used in mariachi music. It wasn’t a joke either; it was actually something I wanted to play. It was a bit of a joke that I wanted to start an all Caucasian mariachi band call Cinco Blanco, it turns out that punk band The Bronx beat me to it.

The Bronx have recorded two albums under the name Mariachi El Bronx. They aren’t good, they are amazing. Here is the thing; most bands would probably do this tongue in cheek. They’d be all “Look how ironic it is that we’re doing Mariachi music”. The Mariachi El Bronx and Mariachi El Bronx (II) albums are done with an honest love of the music. I can’t recommend them enough.