And What About The Batman?

Batman Sketch
Originally uploaded by jawboneradio.

I picked up this tonight and it made me want to draw Batman. What the hey. I love black and white art and who else would look better in B and W than the Bat?

I also grabbed a bunch of dollar comics, once again, just for the art.

Season Finale Wrap Up

Here's my take:

24 -sucked. Hard.
Heroes - Interesting. But still sucked.
American Idol - should have been only 5 minutes long.
Lost - Really, really really awesome.

Your thoughts?

Coleman's Cryptozoo

Coleman's Cryptozoo
Originally uploaded by jawboneradio.

Last night, Loren Coleman (of the site Cryptomundo) and I traded e-mails back and forth about Monster By Mail. In order to get featured, he threw down the gauntlet for me to draw a "zoo" of a bunch of cryptid creatures, including Nessie, Bigfoot, The Yeti, and the lesser known Dover Demon and Mothman.

Within a few hours, and much to his delight, he had the image in his inbox. You can read more at his site.

Here's a pretty cool excerpt:

"Called “Speedy” at his former mainstream illustrator job, the guy is rapid in his response. Last night, within an hour in email time, Len sent me his black and white graphic art version of my one line request. What he produced, actually, was superb, in my view, as he made “my art” more nonfictional than cryptofictional, as compared to his other pieces. It is almost as if he read my mind, combining my serious but open-minded take on cryptids with his graphic art vision of how he does his illustrations."

On another note, I think I was channeling a little bit of Jim Lee with this piece. I've been reading Batman Hush and it's taking me forever because I am poring over the incredible art. The ink style was definitely Lee-influenced.

I Feel Melting

Like Drum Solos?

I'm a sucker for drum solos. So of course, I had to post this. Thanks to Nephew Mark for this cool find.

Pac Man's Skeleton Found!

Personally I think this is a fake. No way did Pac Man have all those teeth. Check it. And thanks Michael!

Blood Puddle Pillows

This is seriously one of the weirdest, twisted, yet cool items I've seen in a while. Check it out! ViaELR.

Animated Calvin and Hobbes

From Philip via CartoonBrew:

"We may never see a Bill Watterson-approved animated version of Calvin and Hobbes but the following student film from Italy is a nice unofficial attempt. The animation was done by Donato Di Carlo at the CFP Milano film school."

Check it out.

Caption This: 5-21-07

Images of the Joker from the next Batman film have leaked and in my opinion, the jury is out on this...but the image does make for a nice Caption This image. Have fun!

UPDATE: The internets controversy rages on. Is it fake? Or some viral studio trickery? You decide.

Mystery Question 5-21-07

This one, I feel, is pretty tough. The first correct answer gets a four pack of signed, Monster By Mail buttons.

Find a short hidden message in the list of words below.

carrot fiasco nephew spring rabbit
sonata tailor bureau legacy corona
travel bikini object happen soften
picnic option waited effigy adverb
report accuse animal shriek esteem
oyster

Congratulations to Xadrian, who got the answer right first! He gets a four pack of Monster By Mail buttons. The answer:

The first man couldn't have filed away the bars, because if it actually was a diamond palace as he said, quartz wouldn't even leave a scratch.
The second man was closest of all, but still lying. Fingernails are very close to, but not as hard as, copper, so he couldn't get out, no matter how desperate he was.
The third man had lied most of all. First of all there is no such thing as natural black topaz (it was probably obsidian). Also he made the same mistake as all the others, for a steel file is not as hard as topaz, and would not do anything to the topaz.

Insanely Big Monster

This is probably one of the coolest applications of one of my monsters. Paul ordered the monster "Slick Death" from Round 1. He took it to work, printed it out at 1200 dpi, 22 x 40 and now it hangs on his door! It's Insane! It's Big! It's Monstrous!

If you have any other cool shots of the monsters in the wild, please keep sending em along and I'll keep posting them.

CryptoMonsters In Full Swing

Cigar Smoking Desert Yeti
Originally uploaded by jawboneradio.

Things are hopping at old MBM. I think this round is a little tougher because of the subject matter, but that's ok by me. I'm trying to spend a little more time with each drawing, which is turning out nicely. For those who aren't checking the site daily, here is one of my recent faves, The Cigar Smoking Desert Yeti.

JoCo's Secret Chili Recipe

There's a great (long) post by Coulton today at his site about how he conquered the interents with his songwriting prowess. It's a great read and cool to see how the stars aligned for him to become the internet superstar he is today. Required reading, indeed.

Happy Birthday to The Whiz Kid

Leave your messages for Mr. Dan Coulter (the programming genius behind e-hobo, Monster By Mail, E-Zombie and more) right here.

Jawbone #160: I Brought The Kringle, Dear

Neil is back with us for a show about irrational fears, pets, and of course, Kringles. Fun show -- now with more Richard!

RUNNING TIME: 48:47

MUSIC: Burn Back | Make the Logo Bigger

RSS feed.

Download now.

More. Monsters. Wild.

The monsters are showing up (as planned) through the mail. And people are sending me photographic evidence of such. Not only that, but some monsters are getting a graphical makeover, as proven by Matt and his Can Can Dancer movie poster commemorating the Monster Movie round. Great job, Matt! (click to see the larger version.)














Over on the other side of the globe, Rose has blown up her monster to decorate her office area.










Ukelele playing aliens can get caught by Ukelele traps. Here is the photographic evidence.

How can I forget this little ditty called "She Cthulus of the SS".

And finally, ImpalerElGato poses with his monster.

Keep em coming! I love seeing them!

I Wrote A Comic Today

So last week, Scott Johnson from ELR was having a little contest where he asked his readers to write the dialog for his Monday comic. I was messing around and left my own punchline involving "lobsters" and "whores". Well, imagine my surprise when I log on today to see my punchline was actually used for the comic! Funny stuff. Goes to show you that for comic gold, you can't beat crustaceans and loose women.

Monster By Mail: Phase 3 - NOW OPEN

That's right. I'm doing it for a third time...Monster By Mail is now open and accepting orders. The theme this time around is "Crypto-zoology". You provide me a name of a strange creature or legendary monster and I'll draw it for you. (Hint: Pets would make great fodder for crytpo animals.) Art is $20. Video is $30. Plus, every order gets a four pack of limited edition monster buttons created specifically for this round. Let's hop aboard and let's take a trip to the Cryptozoo!

Mystery Question 5-14-07

This week's first correct answer gets a four pack of Monster By Mail buttons!

Four men met in a bar, and they soon found that all four of them had been to the Amazon Jungle. After a few more beers, they also realized that they had all been captured at least once, by fierce natives who ruled amazing fortresses. They soon got around to talking about their experiences, and their escapes. The first man said, "Well, I was once caught by natives who ruled a diamond palace. They caught me and took me to their king. He decreed that I was to die in one month. They threw me into a cell. Thank God that they didn't take my equipment. I had stolen a quartz file from one of the natives. I filed away the bars (it had curtains so they couldn't see) and escaped mere hours before I was to die."

The second man said, "I was also captured, but they took me to a simple copper structure. I did not have any such luxury of a month to escape, instead, a single day. Luckily they did not count on my desperation, and I was able to claw my way out of there using only my fingernails and pure adrenalin."

The third man said, "I was taken to the most amazing fortress of all. It was made out of black topaz. I was also the smartest of all of you," he bragged, "for I had brought with me a steel file. I was out in a jiff, and I was able to steal some of the topaz as well," he said as he showed everyone a piece of topaz hanging from a string around his neck.

The fourth man had been looking amused at the first and second men's stories, but as the third man finished he threw up his head and laughed. The other three men were looking slightly peeved, and asked him what he found so funny. He declared that they were all liars, and he could prove it.

How could he prove it, and when did each of the three men lie?

Last week, Spiff got the answer right. When cockroaches die naturally, they roll over on their back. Yet, the cockroach was laying right side up as Bobby saw "the shiny back of the creature". Jacob must have killed the cockroach, then flipped it over to cover himself, not knowing the bit of science that Bobby knew. Congrats, Spiff!

Caption This: 5-14-07

Thanks to Knightwise for this incredible image.

Gwen Vs. Mary Jane

So I saw Spider Man 3 today and I gotta say, I was pretty impressed by the character of Gwen Stacey (even though she was played by that weird chick from Lady In The Water). So I'll throw this out there, mostly for the guys -- the age old question -- who do you prefer? Mary Jane or Gwen? And why?

Brush With Greatness

I can't hope to be as talented as Jonathan Coulton. But what I can hope for is a wonderful unnamed mention of me and my work in the New York Times Magazine today. The article talks about Coulton's success on the internets and his devoted fan interaction and mentions me and my contribution to the Coulton madness:

"Other followers have volunteered hours of their time to help further his career: a professional graphic artist in Cleveland has drawn an illustration for each of the weekly songs, free."

Woot! I made it into the NY Times and I didn't kill anyone. To read the whole incredible article, check it out here.

Why I Love Weird Al

I know this is old, but I just saw it today and I found it rather amusing. Check it out.

Jawbone #159: The Perfect Podcast --Listener

It's another daytime recording! We welcome a special guest to the studio, talk superhero movies, proper podcast guest ettiquette and much more. Enjoy!

RUNNING TIME: 27:32

Download now.

The Microsoft oFone

Wow...I think MS is going to blow Apple out of the water with this design. Who woulda thunk it?