I would drink with this guy any day of the week. Or all of them.

If you were born in the 1980′s and you have yet to read any Scott Pilgrim, then I urgently (yet still gently) want to push you in that direction – the right direction. Yes, I know there’s a movie coming out soon (Aug. 13th), and while the early reviews look to be positive I don’t know a thing about how the film will turn out. The books on the other hand I know for certain are gold. Sure, they’re undeniably dorky, but it is still just such a satisfying experience from beginning to end that when you finish one volume I promise you will be looking for another. It won’t take very long to see Scott Pilgrim is the kind of guy who wears his heart on his sleeve… he is also (at times) incredibly slow-witted when it comes to girls, but when he has to fight for what he loves, man this guy fights. When you throw in real life situations (relationships, crappy jobs, rent, ninjas) explained through jokes referring to Zelda, Sonic the Hedgehog and X-Men, it doesn’t get any better than this.

Here, let me point you in the right direction: Volume 1, Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life, is cheap as hell on amazon right now. Totally worth it.

1.  Have you read any of the Mouse Guard series?

2.  If you haven’t, why aren’t you reading the Mouse Guard series??!

If you are into grand adventures, political intrigue, freedom fighting, Cute Overload and a touch of general badassery, then you are really missing out if you’re not reading Mouse Guard.

That owl is missing an eye. SPOILER ALERT: He had two earlier in this book. MOUSE BADASSERY!!

Why would you want to read a book about mice?  Didn’t this series win the 2008 Eisner Award for “Best Publication for Kids”?  I hate kids’ comics, Hannah, stop trying to pull a fast one on me.  Au contraire, mon amis.

Did you think the Lord of the Rings was merely a bunch of kids’ books?  Have you tried reading Watership Down lately?  Or Animal Farm?  Look, just because Mouse Guard had to share a split book with Fraggle Rock at Free Comic Book Day 2010 doesn’t mean it’s a mere kiddie comic.  This is a brutal, anthropomorphic universe of mouse cities, groups, clans and traditions.  When you are one of the smallest mammals anywhere, everything comes after you–owls, snakes, weasels, even crabs.  The Guard keep all the mouse towns and villages safe.  And of course, political drama ensues…like in Dune or A Game of Thrones.  This isn’t just for your wee ones, your little cousins or the tween set.  This is a world that sticks with you long after you put the books down or lend them to your friends never to be seen again.

It’s a world that is imaginative and relatively safe enough for kids (not too young, though, it’s violent), yet broad, deep and involving enough to keep us grown-ups turning the pages.  They are not difficult reads, and they’re all beautifully illustrated.

Please read Mouse Guard.  Legends of the Guard is releasing now at your local comic book shop, and you won’t be disappointed.  Also, you will never look at another real mouse without envisioning it in a tiny cloak, wielding an impossibly tiny, and impossibly deadly, weapon.

FREE = AWESOME (usually)

Get ready, comic book fans and yet-to-be comic book lovers:  This Saturday, May 1, 2010, is Free Comic Book Day!  To find out if your local comic book shop is participating, go to the Free Comic Book Day website and search for your location.

Why is this so important?  Chances are, if you are a regular reader of Paper Spaceships, you already are into comics.  But what about your other friends?  Your younger siblings?  Your second cousin twice-removed?  Free Comic Book Day was started as an initiative to get people into comic books who may not otherwise read them.  In all honesty, I am still a comic book noob, so I love FCBD.  You can pick up a stack of various genres and see what your favorite might be.

Want to know what they’re giving away this year?  Check the full list out.

No he can't read my comic boooook...

My pick for most baffling free comic book of 2010: The Lady Gaga origin story/S.E. Hinton original story split.  S.E. Hinton wrote one of my all-time favorite novels, The Outsiders, when she was a teen.  Lady Gaga probably grew up as an outsider and is now loved by teens.  Is that the connection here?

Badassery!

My pick for the possibly most awesome free comic book of 2010: The Mouse Guard/Fraggle Rock split.  Mouse Guard is a badass series.  You will never again look at a rodent without imagining it in a tiny cape, brutalizing a predator.  And let’s face it, Fraggle Rock was full of badass Muppets.  I’m interested to see what they can do with the series.  The world of the Fraggles is so richly imagined, I hope that this one stands up on its own, versus just being a licensed comic.

Speaking of licensed comics, Free Comic Book Day also will feature titles like Toy Story, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Shrek.

You might  also be able to pick up The Tick, Iron Man, and the Green Lantern.

I’ll be hitting up my local comics shop on Saturday, even if it’s only to pick up some free issues and make comic book guys nervous because there is a girl in the store.   Are you excited for Free Comic Book Day?  Picking up anything special?

She will find a way to your heart, and it will probably involve punching.

Hey James,

It’s me again. Yes, the same guy who hasn’t cared about really anything you’ve worked on since Terminator 2. Ok, so Avatar was huge. Smashed all kinds of box office records, revolutionized film making as we know it, and as of today’s news, is the fastest selling Blu-Ray DVD ever (like there won’t be a special edition out by the end of summer). Congratulations.

I don’t give a crap about all of that. When the hell are you making Battle Angel?

Oh don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. The delightful tale of a female cyborg found in a dumpster and revived with only one memory: how to kick some serious ass. Yeah, I’m referring to her. You got all geeked-up and excited back in 2005 talking about the project, and I admit, I got excited too. I have a partial affinity to all things robot affiliated, so you taking an interest in something I would consider way off your radar (and nestled snugly in mine) was, simply put, awesome. What happened?

In pre-production, you say? I heard that, and I also heard about all the people working on the character models and such. I know about your claim that you’re waiting for the technology to advance so you can do it right, and that Avatar was a testing ground. For christ sake, you invented the camera that you used in the film! What other technology are waiting for? Flying cars, or maybe even cold fusion?

I think it’s just that you’re not really interested in making the movie anymore, the same way you got bored with the Terminator series (by the way, that franchise has been doing just swell since you abandoned it). You seem to already have Avatar 2 all planned out, with an underwater story and talks of how it will be filmed. It’s OK, I won’t cry; I’ll just buy Dark Angel (I’m all about female empowerment right now) on DVD and wait out the alleged 2011 release date for Battle Angel, which I know in my heart is undoubtedly bogus.

You’re a bum.

Sincerely,

Shaka

I wish I had a time machine...

Sometime long ago it seems I picked up a small volume from Oni Press because the cover caught my eye. It was Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life and I was hooked. The art style seemed plugged into my nerd reference/video game fueled/indie sensibility brain and nested there. I had recently been dealing with some family tragedy and this small volume made me smile and laugh and proceed to pass it out to my friends (first going to my fellow astronaut Shaka). Luckily I was a little late to the Scott Pilgrim game (hey I was a broke college student when the first one came out and then I was living in Korea…cut me some slack) so I had a couple more volumes to pick up.

What followed was an experience that hooked into the nerd zeitgeist and the general malaise that comes from being in your early twenties and all of a sudden facing a world that isn’t as safe as you may have once believed. The characters were great and the art was amazing. Wallace is probably one of my favorite roommate characters ever. I finished the next three volumes like hot cakes. I went out and started buying Oni Press releases and discovered Queen and Country and Local and a ton of other insane and awesome things. In some ways Scott Pilgrim turned me back into a comic book nerd (I also rediscovered my love of Vertigo titles around then). Then Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe came out and it was bittersweet. By far the most mature and serious volume of the comic, it was also one of the most interestingly told. Most of Scott Pilgrim’s fights and antics take place in the background as the relationships around him change (and not always for the better) as his friends grow up. Alas it was also the penultimate volume, and I knew the journey was soon to be over.

Today the folks over at Oni Press announced the final volume’s release date. So take out your pens and mark this down: July 20th. I’d just like to salute the people over at Oni for giving comics out of the mainstream a platform to find success, and Bryan Lee O’Malley for creating a world and a character that has provided me and my friends with laughter (and sometimes a little sadness) over the past couple of years. Three beers to you ser.