Ben Towle’s “Midnight Sun”

The cover features Biagi, the Italian radio operator and one of the major characters

“Painted Smiles; Written Words” was not made for ‘comics’ in the most typical sense of the word. It was made specifically for one shots or miniseries, for stories that break the mold of what you typically think comics to be. Nevertheless, I recognize that lately the posts have been Marvel and Superheroes and everything you immediately think of when you think ‘comics’. And I’ll tell you right now that the next three updates are likely to be Batman story arcs, because I just read them and I am incredibly impressed with them. But they’re not really why I created “Painted Smiles; Written Words”.

“Midnight Sun” is.

Dollhouse, Comics, and Other Things. But Mostly Dollhouse

Well then, would you lookit that. Three updates in one week?! This is UNHEARD OF. Seems like someone’s trying to make up for lost time!

That someone is me.

I’m excited to start working on this blog again. I’m especially excited to start buying even more comics to write about– I do so very much love buying comics. I’m looking at some excellent new comics to talk about, I’ve got a lot of comics that I read over the semester to write about, it’s all very exciting. So the blog is back, updates will (hopefully) be more frequent, I have a lot of stuff I can’t wait to get into, yadda yadda yadda.

Now, onto business.

Joss Whedon's Dollhouse

Procrastination Nation: Farm Town

Farm Town... Eff yeah.

So, at first my major qualm against reviewing Farm Town was that it’s a Facebook app. And at first I was worried that that might exclude people– I mean, you can’t exactly play it if you don’t have a facebook. But then I realized that nowadays everyone and their grandmother has a facebook, so I felt that a review—or at least rant—about one of facebook’ most rapidly-growing apps was fairly warranted.

Secret Invasion: Runaways and Young Avengers

The Cover of Issue 1

It’s not exactly a secret that one of the major influential factors in making this blog was the excuses it would provide me for buying comics that I could otherwise never justify buying for myself. So when I went into the comic shop the other day and found the complete series of the Secret Invasion: Runaways and Young Avengers serial for only four bucks, it didn’t take some convincing to shell out the cash. After all, I’ll deal with the ads to save a couple bucks.

X-Men: Wolverine Origins

The scene that should have been.

Last night, after much mental and physical preparation (practicing my groans of disgust), I set out to see the now infamous X-Men Wolverine: Origins. Between the leaked footage of the work-in-progress footage, and the perpetual torrent of negative reviews, the chances that I’d enjoy this movie looked bleak. To be honest, I was backing on the hopes that this film would pull what I’ve termed a “Step Brothers”– that is, that I would go in with such low, low expectations that I would be fantastically blown away by what is otherwise just a pretty okay film.
And this is pretty much what happened. Sort of.  (Warning, spoilers after the jump)

And Finally, PS;WW Returns

Listen, I know. Things were said. You yelled, I yelled, it’s over now. It’s in the past. I’m sorry about the vase I threw. But I’m finally ready to tell you exactly WHY I have been putting off giving you comics for so very, very long.

It’s because I’ve been making my own.

Yes, Zachary G has been writing and creating his very own comic, which will be made available to you complete (complete with crappy, crappy scans) after the jump!

-Insert Expletive Here-

Alright, look.

I know, I know. It’s been like, a month and a half, or more, whatever, since you last heard from me.
I know I haven’t been keeping up on the latest, (Is Watchmen even still in Theaters?) or providing any new reviews or suggestions or anything.

And I know this must be terribly frustrating for you, but imagine how I feel. Remembering, every day, that I made a promise that I am continuously and without just excuse breaking.

I could tell you that college is beating me down, I could tell you that I’m too busy, I could tell you I have nothing to review, or I could tell you that my moonlighting as a vigilante has been keeping me too busy. Really, only a few of those are true.

But I will tell you that I’m working on it, and I’m trying to make some time for you, because you REALLY ARE that important.

But in the meantime, I can leave you with this, in the hopes that perhaps you will feel a little better about me.

I haven't seen Harold and Kumar 2, but that's f*cking NPH on a Unicorn.

See? Can you even be mad now?

“Scott Pilgrim” by Bryan Lee O’Malley (vol 1-4)

The hero himself.

“Scott Pilgrim is dating a high schooler.”

That’s how the award-winning Scott Pilgrim series begins- with that single, fantastically ridiculous line. A line that single-handedly began my favorite comic series, and spurred a costly, terrible obsession.

Brian K. Vaughan’s Runaways

The Runaways, Volume 3

Brian K. Vaughan continues to surprise me. First with the beauty of “Pride of Baghdad”, then the intrigue and complex plot of “Y: The Last Man”, and then the raw action and fantastic superhero storytelling of “Runaways”. When I discovered the series was created by Vaughan, and later worked on by Joss Whedon, who has recently gained my respect, I knew I had to check it out and was pleasantly surprised to find them at the library near my school.

“Runaways” is based on a single, universal truth: Parents lie to their kids. They lie a lot, about everything. They are not to be trusted. And they are evil.

Humblest Apologies from your Honored Host

I would like to express my deepest, and humblest apologies for being so tardy in my update. After being a whole day late last week, I swore I would not make the same mistake and HERE I AM being even worse than last week. Really, a whole three days late? This is ridiculous.

Really though, I have a long list of excuses.
My first excuse is that I am deathly ill with a devil cough. I am probably going to hack up a lung soon, at which point there will probably be no updates again ever.
My second excuse is that I have a lot of school work going on right now.
My third excuse is that, over the weekend, ninjas attacked my family. For the past few days I’ve been hunting down every member of the Night Scorpion Clan to avenge their deaths. Have you ever hunted ninjas? It’s very time consuming.

There you have it. Those are my true, honest-ta-gawd excuses. Accept them with my most humblest apologies, for I am not worthy of your readership. Nonetheless, I promise no more! I shall not fail you next week, I assure you. I just have to decide what to review and STICK WITH IT.

In other news, Scott Pilgrim Vol 5 has been out for a week now. If you don’t, you should get it, and why hasn’t Amazon shipped it to me yet? Raging.

Your Honored Host,
Zachary G.