Hey y’all, just thought I’d let any Detroit-area Askewers that I’ll be there for the Detroit and Windsor InternationalFilm Festival screening of A BETTER PLACE- as the ever-helpful Michael Raben posted earlier, the film will be showing at St.Andrew’s Hall on Friday, November 6th at 5:20 P.M.- for a full schedule of the festival and ticket information,go to the link below (and if you’re gonna be there also check out Raben’s film PIZZA RUNNERS). Anyway, I’m flying in onthe afternoon of the 5th and staying for the duration of the festival, leaving in the early afternoon of the 9th.

Also, with regards to the Houston screening, the info we have set right now is that it’ll take place on Saturday,December 5th at the Angelika Film Center in Houston- the exact time and ticket prices I do not know just yet- and, of course, I’ll be there for a Q&A after the film. The screening was actually organised and set up by Jay W. from these here boards, a point which I don’t think was made fully clear. In any case, I believe he asked for interested partiesto e-mail him for info (of course it’ll be posted here as well as we get it) at jayw@mindless.com.

There’s also going to be a local spring at Monmouth University next semester but the details on that aren’t worked outyet. And yeah, I’m sure some people who read this will be all-fired up to post some flames telling me to “stop restingon your one laurel” or to “give up and move on” or “you’re the former motivator soon-to-be-washed up hack director” or “stop riding Kevin’s cotails” etc., and to those people I offer a pre-emptive FUCK YOU!!! To everybody else in either the Detroit/Michigan, Houston/Texas, or loval areas who want to see a pretty damn good indie film that I’m proud of and will NEVER give up on, I say, I hope to see you at the showings!

Top 10 Hottest Action Figures

3: JAY
SAN DIEGO COMIC CON EDITION
[BIG BLAST]

Comic Con International at San Diego is kid-friendly and mother-approved! Sothose pot-smoking, bong-sucking hemp boosters Jay and Silent Bob needed akinder, friendlier image if they were going to do big business at the show.So with a few offending items removed, Jay and Bob made the scene with aspecial “PC version,” limited to a mere 1,000 units apiece. Here’s where themath comes in: limited figures times high demand equals a big score for BigBlast.

4: SILENT BOB
SAN DIEGO COMIC CON EDITION
[BIG BLAST]

Jay talks, Silent Bob doesn’t. Therefore, poor Bob here trails his moreverbose buddy on our Tob 10. Buy Jay, and such eternal wisdom as “Snooch tothe nooch, naga-nooch!” will tickle your eardrums. Press the button on Bob’sback and hear…silence. Silent Bob, get it? Yeah, we get it, but we’d ratherlisten to Jay babble depravities than Bob’s peaceful stoicism. Should we getChinese for dinner, Jay? “Naga-nooch!” Well, maybe seafood instead? “I’m allabout the clam!” You rule, Jay!

Market Watch
Snootchie Bootchies
by Lars Pearson

[PICTURE: JAY AND SILENT BOB. SILENT BOB HOLDS BLUEPRINT, WITH EMTPY WORDBUBBLE. JAY STANDS NEXT TO HIM, SAYS “YOU SAID IT, FAT-ASS!”]

For once, Jay and Silent Bob are saying no to drugs.
As if comic and toy fandom wasn’t totally hip to Jay and Silent Bob, thetwo lovable wanderers from director Kevin Smith’s “Clerks” trilogy (including”Mallrats” and “Chasing Amy”), toy buyers are running rampant over 1,000limited edition Jay and Bob toys–even before the regular versions haveshipped.
The chase originated when Graphitti Designs, manufacturer of the Jay andSilent Bob figures, proposed a special promotion for the San Diego Comic Con,the largest American comic book convention. Except that the committee thatoversees the Comic Con–stressing the event is a “family show”–had someconcerns about promoting a toy such as the Jay figure, which depicts marijuanause. So with creator Kevin Smith’s blessing, Graphitti produced 1,000modified Jays and Silent Bobs, each labeled with a sticker calling them “semi-politically correct” variants.
“Semi-politically correct” Jay has no marijuana leaf on his shirt, and iscarded without the regular version’s tiny plastic bong and “stash baggie.”And because the figures were rushed through production to meet deadline,”semi-politically correct” Silent Bob has black hair rather than actor KevinSmith’s natural brown color.
The two toys were offered as a package deal, together with two variantcomics of Jay and Silent Bob #1, an Oni Press comic mini-series. Like thetoys, the comics were limited to 1,000 copies each, featuring photo covers ofeither Jay or Silent Bob with the toys.
Five hundred of the sets were made available at the Comic Con toretailers; another 500 were offered to fans by Graphitti for $60retail–Graphitti plans on donating $10 per set to the Comic Book LegalDefense Fund. Outside San Diego, however, the sets have skyrocketed in value,often commanding $125 in the coastal regions or at various conventions. Veryfew sets have been broken up and sold separately, although on those rareinstances, $60 per toy and $25 per comic is not unusual.
Not that fans should miss the regular Jay and Bob figures, now targetingOctober as a release date. They’re not limited, but they’re cool. Phattyboom babbly blunt, dude.

Kevin Smith: Daring the Conventions of Comics
Dateline: 10/14/98
For pretty much every fanboy on the planet, Kevin Smith lives the life ofwhich we dream.
Get this: In 1994, with a staggering budget of just under twenty-eightthousand dollars, the movie Clerks was released in theatres, and KevinSmith, a four-month film school dropout, was suddenly a major name inHollywood. He won the Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Festival that year,and the movie was acclaimed by many, including Roger Ebert.
And it’s part of this movie’s lore that Smith sold his comic collection tohelp pay for the film. That’s right — Smith reads comics. And now that he’sbecome a major talent, he gets to write them as well.
Smith’s first outings in comics were adaptations of some of his filmcharacters into Oni Press’ Clerks and Jay and Silent Bob. Of these titles,J&SB is the more interesting, telling the stories of the characters’ timebetween Smith’s latest film, Chasing Amy, and his forthcoming Dogma. Jay isa loud-mouthed, fast-talking, dim-witted wannabe drug pusher and sex fiend,and Silent Bob is his mute accomplice, keeping Jay only barely in check Thecomic is funny, with seismic dialogue and ridiculous scenarios.
This is a direct contrast to Smith’s most ambitious comic work: The newDaredevil title for the Marvel Knights line of comics. With smooth,full-bodied artwork from Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti, Daredevil grappleswith issues of religious faith and personal longing. Internal dialoguescarry on for pages at a time, which can be a risky practice in the age ofthe catch phrase. But the writing is so involving and character-driven thatyou find yourself glad to be reading a comic book again:
My apartment — while well appointed — isn’t what I’d call “lush” or “huge”by any means. It is, after all, a Hell’s Kitchen apartment. But given that,there are still rooms I haven’t been in for months. The bathroom off themaster bedroom is one.We designated that as “her bathroom.”
This morning, a guy who spends half his life as a “Man Without Fear” took anhour to summon the courage to use a brush in that bathroom. The bristleswere still tangled with her hair…
Daredevil is a challenging book to write, but many exciting talents haverisen to the task, including Karl Kesel, D.G. Chichester, and, most notably,Frank Miller. It took Kevin Smith writing and directing three whole moviesto get there, but now he can be added to that very exclusive list.

A new Kevin Smith collaboration, The Adventures of Bluntman and Chronic, which will appear in Oni Double-Feature (also look for another Mike Allred cameo in Kevin’s next film, Dogma).

In addition to new books, ONI DOUBLE FEATURE continues with brand-new stories, including a “Blue Monday” strip by Chynna Clugston-Major (DHP, ACTION GIRL COMICS); “Bluntman & Chronic” by Kevin Smith and Mike Allred; a second Jay & Silent Bob story by Smith and Matt Wagner; and a creator-owned feature written by Paul Dini (BATMAN ADVENTURES) and drawn by newcommer Tom Fowler.

As Kim mentioned, we went to Alanis’ show Thursday night (which was tremendous, but no Run DMC). Today, I showed her the flick (which she dug), and spent some time (though not nearly enough) chatting. I wish she lived in Red Bank.

Tomorrow morning, Salma’s coming down to watch the flick (it’s been one of those ‘Dogma’-watching weeks, folks). Should be fun to watch her appreciate herself – she’s really great in the flick.

Big week for me coming up. I buy a house on Tuesday. It’s my first (if you don’t count either the condo that me, Scott, Ed, Hawk, Kristen, and at one point, Joey and Ben lived at, or the house I bought for my parents), so it’s what they call ‘a big step’. That’ll mean a change of address for me – no longer will I be a Red Bank resident (though the office and the store will still be here); I’ll be moving ten minutes away. Nice place, it is; pretty big, too, with an indoor pool and three-car garage. I should be completely moved in by December 1.

As if that’s not stressful enough, we’re also moving both the office and the comic book store this month. Hopefully, by December 1, the new Secret Stash will be up and running (wait’ll you see the signage we’ve got planned), and the expanded-digs View Askew will be in full effect (the new office isn’t as high profile as the old – it’s off Broad Street). We’ll probably have a shindig for the opening – invite a hundred or so of you, maybe show the trailer Scott and I cooked up. I’ll keep you posted.

Short of all that, not much else going on. If you haven’t read it yet, I urge you to pick up Jay and Silent Bob #2. I’m pretty proud of it, and folks seem to think it’s funny (which hurts my feelings, as I was going for something more poignant and dramatic in that issue).