Regular visitors may have noticed that we had two separate sets of forums: one for the “main site”, and one for Shots in the Dark. As of this week, the forums have merged into one Voltron-like über-forum!

Available at the handy Forums link up top, the pages feature forums relating to all of our major topic areas. You’ll also find officially hosted forums for the following:

Christina Strain: ace Marvel colorist

Raven Gregory: Executive Editor of Zenescope Comics; writer of “Return to Wonderland” and “Grimm Fairy Tales”

Mark Kidwell: writer and artist; creator of “Bump” and writer of “Frank Frazetta’s Dark Kingdom” for Image

“Digital Unrest”: The webcomic by Chris Simmons

“Bump Movie”: The official forum of the forthcoming film, directed by Robert Kurtzman and starring Tobin Bell!

We’ve got another specially-hosted forum debuting soon, but that’s worth its own announcement.

So please, stop by, check ‘em out, interact with our writers and those crazy enough to hang here. Thanks for reading!

My first article for WIRED runs in the March issue, and they’ve got it up on the website right now. It’s a humorous look at the Best Sidekicks. Enjoy!

Update: I’ve already received one piece of hate mail castigating me for making fun of Dana Scully. On the other hand, forum readers at Muppet Central seem rather pleased that I included Beaker. You win some; you lose some.

Hieeeee! This is getting crazy! Famous blogger Perez Hilton posted a Superhero drawing I did of him on his website! Whoot! And gave me credit and posted a link to my very own indie comic site, www.sosuperduper.com! Whoa! Check it out:

http://perezhilton.com/2008-02-26-we-love-the-ladies-yes-you

I was also recently on local cable access show OUT Spoken a week ago and that video just made it onto Youtube! It’s not everyday you get interviewed by a drag queen about your indie comic book!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMbdAU5eJMQ

And finally my first paid writing assignment for a major magazine just hit the stands! I write a little humorous, very light, kinda cheesy piece in the March issue of Instinct magazine. It’s in the “Fluffer” section and it’s on the awesomeness that is the Hawaii Chair!

Sometimes I can’t believe my amazing luck!

Hieeeee Everyone! Can I be any more honored or excited to say that my little comic “So Super Duper,” along with other amazing local Bay Area comic talent, has been featured in the SF Chronicle!! Aw yeah babeeee!

And my comic is one of the main images featured on the first page of the article!!! Whooo! How insanely cool is that? This being the SF WonderCon weekend I didn’t think I could be anymore more stoked than to have my actual comic book in the newspaper, but then to see my fellow Muni (public transite, natch) riders reading it, well, it just blows my mind! You can read the article online below - I have three whole paragraphs devoted to my ramblings! Yay!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/22/DD0RV4KQH.DTL

And check out my site if you feel like reading some preview pages of my comic! Wheee!

www.sosuperduper.com

Poor Lindsay Lohan. She gave the public meltdown the old college try, but found herself utterly eclipsed by Britney Spears. She’s apparently found a new direction though: here she tries to invoke the spirit of Marilyn Monroe’s famous “Last Sitting.” The thing that will light “teh internets” up? The fact that it’s basically Lindsay Lohan nude.

This will be A Fuss. Not work safe, by the way.

So what do you think, Shotgun faithful? Desperate grab for attention? Honest attempt at something artistic? Final seconds of her fifteen minutes? Me using “Lindsay Lohan nude” to boost readership? Discuss among yourselves.

As much as I hate to toot my own horn, unless I am in the privacy of my own home, I just have to let everyone know that I will be doing a reading from my indie comic book “So Super Duper” www.sosuperduper.com, at the Three Dollar Bill Cafe in San Francisco next Sat. Feb 23rd at 8pm! Wheee!

This being WonderCon weekend and all I am  way excited that I will also be doing a signing at the Con as well! I will be at the Prism Comics booth - they being a non-profit LBGT comic website www.prismcomics.com - on Sun Feb. 24th from 1-2pm!

So if you are in the area and wanna stop by and say “hi”, or if you just want to do a driving-by-flashing, I will be most happy to see you!

From the desk of Rebecca E. Mollenhauer, professor of art at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College:

The Saint Mary of the Woods College Art Gallery’s next exhibition opens this evening with an artists’ reception from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The work of seniors Lynn Payne and Barb Hallock, both digital media majors, will be featured. This senior thesis exhibition, which is the culmination of the artists’ work as students at SMWC, will be on display from February 13th to 21st.

The art gallery is located in Hulman Hall, room 132. Admission is free and open to the public. Regular gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. If you have any questions, please contact Rebecca Mollenhauer, Gallery Director, at ext. 5265, email rmollenhauer@smwc.edu, or stop by the gallery during gallery hours.

Congratulations, Barb!

Kevin Huxford has ridden into the sunset, as documented here. However, that sunset has led to a sunrise for SCHWAPP!!!, his newly rededicated comics and pop culture blog.

As part of his relaunch, Kevin asked me 10 Random Questions for his new interview feature. It was rather fun, and Kevin decided to post the manga-style family portrait that the talented Sarah Vaughn did of me, my wife, and kids last year.

So, if you have ever found yourself enjoying Kevin’s posts, Kevin’s blogs, Kevin’s Best Shots reviews, Kevin’s arguments with comics talent, Kevin’s appearances in Lying with the Gutters, or tall bald Muslim men in general, you should check it out. And if you happen to dislike any of those things, I’m sure he’d welcome your posts as well. But don’t say I didn’t warn you . . .

This year at MegaCon in Orlando, Florida, 803 Studios releases the second issue of their annual anthology SEQUENTIAL SUICIDE. This year’s anthology, entitled ‘SLOP’, contains fourteen stories from the folks at 803 Studios as well a mixture of new creators seeking to make their mark in the comic book industry–including yours truly.

I created a trailer of sorts last night.

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“Honesty is for the most part less profitable than dishonesty.”—Plato

This is the entertainment business, not the honesty business, Kevin. You and I are nothing but nodes which contribute to the propagation of this industry when you look at the bottom line. I do understand that in an ideal world no one would lie to anyone and that all of our farts would smell like lemon chiffon and Koben Kelly would get to bed down with Asia Argento every night but it doesn’t stop publishers from stopping the direction of a project or going against a promise—in effect changing their minds.

What Marvel did wasn’t lying–it was marketing their product.
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By the time any of you read this, it will be February 5th. My 33rd birthday and a bittersweet one. Why?

Because I am taking a sabbatical from Shotgun Reviews and have asked that my account at Newsarama.com be closed (which was honored by the site administrator).

Why did I resign? I’d like to think it is because I have principles, while others would probably suggest I just have a big mouth and don’t know when to shut it.
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Look! It’s our boy Caleb!

As he himself says at his blog, the sublime “Every Day is Like Wednesday“: J. Caleb Mozzocco is a freelance writer based in Columbus, Ohio. You can read his writing on comics in Las Vegas Weekly every Thursday and the Best Shots column at Newsarama.com every Monday.

Our man in Columbus has certainly been busy lately. Take it, Caleb!

“This week on Every Day Is Like Wednesday…

Last weekend was Billy Ireland Weekend, a three-day look at somewhat forgotten early 20th century Columbus cartoonist Billy Ireland, occasioned by OSU Cartoon Research Library Lucy Shelton Caswell’s book and lecture. You can read it here, here and here.

Golden Age Wonder Woman and her mom used Amazonian technology to tell us who isn’t going to win this fall’s presidential election.

Rumors of the Martian Mannhunter’s impending demise occasioned a look at just how hard it is to kill J’onn J’onnz.

Wednesday night saw the weekly review of all the super-comics that followed Caleb home from the shop.

Thursday brought the weekly EDILW link-dump, including a review of Therefore Repent!

And, finally, to help kill time while watching the State of the Union speech, Caleb takes us on a poorly photographed personal tour of all the comics art and comics-like art hanging on his walls.”

I should also note that Caleb often runs hilarious cartoons featuring comic characters in uncomfortable situations, such as Batman giving Christmas gifts, or this gem, wherein Caleb accidentally introduces Black Lighting to J.E.B. Stuart.

Check out his work, won’t you?

Welcome to our new series that (obviously) highlights our contributors! First up, our priestess of the Lyrical Lounge, hip-hop reviewer and interviewer Angelica LeMinh.

Angelica hails from Canada, and she’s presently extremely busy up there. She writes a monthly sex column for “a lovely glossy” in Monteral called Nightlife; here’s a sample. Angelica also writes for Pound, which is the national Canadian hip hop magazine.

You can also check out stuff from Angelica at these NY based e-ventures: The Industry Cosign and natcreole.com (I wrote a big essay a little while ago called “Hip Hop is not dead, bitches”).

Her home away from Shotgun is her own blog, www.trueurbanlegends.blog.com

If you have a moment, show some love for the work of the constantly-writing Ms. LeMinh, all right?

Now available on Last.FM . . . Blue Days Lost, the full-length album from our pals, Samsell!

Long-time readers know Samsell as the band of the site’s original webmaster (and writer of Shoe’s Music Reviews) Shawn Delaney. Presently, you can stream or download four free tracks at Last.FM, or purchase the entire eleven-track release.

But even though we’ll hype Samsell, don’t expect us to review ‘em. I’m not that guy.

However, Warren Ellis is. The notoriously hard-to-please writer of comics and more said of Samsell’s EP in February 2004, “Samsell: It’s like a lost demo tape from 1987, when indie guitar pop was about to become extraordinary. And that’s no bad thing. There’s some nice rolling Pixies bass in there, some chiming Britpop guitars, occasional punctuating surges of My Bloody Valentine glide-guitar. There’s four tracks at the band link, all of which have something to love in them.”

Can’t beat that.

Wait, what? You haven’t been to the All-new All-Different Shots in the Dark Forums yet? That’s alright, I’ll wait. Check it out. You back yet? Great! As you can see, we relaunched with an all new #1, with 9 variant covers that link up to show a picture of a middle finger pointed at anyone you want. That’s all a lie, of course, but hey, I’m trying to be overtly satirical here! Shots in the Dark, Shotgun Reviews’ internet radio show, is already bringing you the best conversation about geek/pop culture out there. Now, we want you to get in on the conversation. We have a super-speedy forum set up, and we’ve invited some of our friends along for the ride. First, we have Jim Beard and Co’s Super-Articulate! They put out a great regular column on Newsarama about the ins and outs of the action figure industry, and now, between columns, you can get more insight from them on their forum hosted by Shots in the Dark!We’re also VERY pleased to announce that Raven Gregory, EIC of Zenescope and writer of such fine comics as Return to Wonderland, The Gift, and Se7en, is our first creator to have his very own forum at our site. So come by and show Raven that Shotgun readers are the best sycophants in the comic industry!So, whether you’re looking to chat with radio hosts, columnists, or creators (more on that to come, btw), or if you’re just looking for a douchebag-free zone of the internet where you can talk about your geek/pop culture, head on over to Shots in the Dark’s all new forum.P.S. Don’t forget to check out our latest episode, and all the back episodes. Our latest episodetackled everyone’s favorite comic topic, One More Day, and we’ll have a new episode this week explaining the ins and outs of Intellectual Property. All that, plus all the news you need from MacWorld Expo and from all around the geeky globe.