We’ve done it. We have a YouTube channel. What’s the first thing we did with it? We invited Travis Kennedy of Plain Zero to try out the new Mac n’ Cheetos from Burger King. Will this video make you hungry or possibly become a nihilist? Watch and find out!
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Recently we were asked to help out with a pledge drive to assist in finding the cure and treatment of alzheimer’s disease. We’ve have loved ones afflicted with this disease and were more than happy to help out. To do so we donated some art work, T-Shirts, stickers, and custom Obscure Gentlemen AVIs. So if you would like any of these items or any of the other items that have been donated just follow the below instructions.
$40.00
Two parodied comic book covers tackling Alzheimer’s. Both comic prints will be signed and framed and sent to you.
Obscure Gent and Obscure Aaron
Darwyn Cooke was my genesis as odd as that sounds and the reason I wanted to become a sequential artist. Heck, he’s the reason why I have such a profound love of Kirby and artists of yesterday. His work opened doors for me and turned me from a kid who only liked NEW and COOL stuff, to a person who became a golden, silver, and bronze age junkie and it all started with DC: The New Frontier, my gateway drug into what would become my lifelong obsession with classic comic books. Even though Cooke isn’t my favorite artist, he is certainly one of my favorites.
I’ll say this of him though. Darwyn Cooke was a phenomenal talent and one of the greatest artists of the 21st century. His mastery over shadow and light was something very few since Will Eisner have come close to. He had the ability to inject life into anything he worked on with an economic line value to be reckoned with. Darwyn Cooke was Jack Kirby meets Alex Toth. He was the Golden Age, he was the Silver Age, he was crime comics, he was western comics, he was… he was Darwyn Cooke and there will never be another like him. Yet we owe him for breaking the stagnation of “house” style that plagued comics for much of the 90’s-00’s. Cooke was a retro-pioneer who can certainly be credited with helping broaden the talent pool within mainstream comic books.
I urge you all to check out his work. DC: The New Frontier, Parker, Hunter, The Spirit, Solo, Catwoman, etc… anything you can get your paws on, do it. If you think he’s all capes and cowls, you’re in for a real surprise.
Above you’ll see the drawing I did in tribute. I did it in pencil and copic marker. I haven’t used the traditional medium in a while since going full digital. But I felt I owed it to Cooke, to go at it old school and see what came of it – with a tad bit of digital for flare.
As the man himself said – FUCK CANCER.
– Aaron A. Alvarez
Here I am at my computer trying to fully process this turn of events. I’m thinking back upon this band’s history and how all signs have always pointed to “you’re out of your damn mind for even suggesting this might happen. Yet, here I am and the print is very clear – The Original Misfits will be having a reunion at Riot Fest.
The Misfits is a name that is legendary in the annals of music and pop culture and… screw it. Let me just cut to the chase and spit it out plain for you.
This is huge. To understand why this is huge you need to understand that since 1983, Glenn Danzig and Jerry Only were bitter rivals. These two guys hated each other so much that they’ve been in a revolving door of legal battle and throwing so much shade you’d think it was night time. To wake up and hear that the hatchet has been buried and that the god damn original Misfits are having a reunion – let’s just say I thought I was being had by the internet’s lovely disposition to break the hopes and dreams of all who come along. It was real though, holy hell was it real. I checked all the official sites and I damn near jumped for joy. THE MISFITS were back.
Okay, look. I know that technically they’ve been “back” since the mid-90’s and have gone through a metric ton of changes with Jerry now being lead singer. Thing is, and I don’t mean to sound like some purist “muh one true version”, The Misfits WAS Glenn Danzig. While I liked the Graves era and some-ish of the post 1950’s Marky Ramone/Dez Cadena jalopy mish mash the band has become, none of that is what pops into my head when I hear the name “Misfits”. For me it’s Danzig and the two devilock adorned brothers on stage (drummer may vary) creating chaos and playing songs about B Horror and Sci-Fi with a dash of JFK, Marilyn Monroe and the macabre imagery of hacked off heads while bathing in blood. Yes, cartoony at times, but dammit Glenn and the boys could sell it.
I could go on forever about this and all the thoughts knocking around in my noggin. I mean, Riot Fest is just two shows. What after? A nationwide tour maybe? What about a new album? The possibilities, my god! But I need to calm myself and just let it all soak in. For now I have to thank whatever obscene forces or lawyers (they’re pretty much the same thing) have made this happen and be thankful that Glenn, Jerry and Doyle are still able to go out there and actually put on a show.
For you detractors screaming balderdash. you can take your talks of “integrity” and “they’re only in it for the money man, UP THE PUNX!” and sell it to someone else who is into that self-important no fun allowed nonsense. For me, this is a dream come true. The Misfits is one of my favorite bands, who am I kidding they ARE my favorite band in a three-way tie with Samhain and Danzig – I’m a bit of a Glenn Danzig fanboy if you can tell. To see a Samhain reunion happen and now a Misfits reunion happening in my lifetime, well after these bands went away into the ether… well that’s just plum dog awesome! I have no idea who is on drums or what other dates they’ll have, if any. But I do know that The Misfits that only existed in the stories of old punks and bootleg recordings have finally risen from the grave.
– Aaron A. Alvarez
So you want to go to the Renaissance Pleasure Faire? That’s the question my wife asked me and I immediately sighed. Why did I sigh? Probably because I’m a jerk and that realm of nerdery doesn’t really excite me. On the other hand, I have kids and they would probably love it, so off I went. Upon arrival, I found that I was the odd man out. Everyone was dressed in their renaissance/Hyrule/Assassin’s Creed/Pirate/whatever old-timey cosplay they felt like. While I’ve been to many of a comic convention the main difference is that these cosplayers were also acting like the characters they were dressed. As soon as I entered the gates I was welcomed in by people who just wanted to have fun. While they’re the happiest people I’ve ever seen interact with each other and use languages that have been lost to time. Like most role playing games I’ve played, the faire had various shops woven throughout: leather stores, weaponry, hair braiding stations, and more. When you aren’t walking around people watching or buying a dagger with rune stones embedded in the hilt, there are many a show to visit.
