Much loved indie band Wilco is back with a new video—their first in 12 years—which doubles as a new Popeye cartoon. Directed by Darren Romanelli and art directed by Frank Caruso, the video recalls the classic Fleischer Bros. animation.

The band has a rather elaborate website for the video, with comics (by Caruso and Ned Sontagg), spinach and more. Plus, animated Nels Cline—you cannot lose.

Tom Neely’s HENRY AND GLENN FOREVER comic is a classic mini that envisions two punk icons — Black Flag’s Henry Rollins (once of Black Flag) and Glenn Danzig (once in the Misfits) — as a gay couple with sitcom problems — dealing with jealousy, having Hall and Oates over for dinner. Imagine a punk METALOCALYPSE you can put in your pocket.

Danzig — a notoriously feisty scrapper who’s been known to pop people in the snoot and once was a credible choice to play Wolverine — is no stranger to comics. He once ran his own Verotik line and was a pioneer of the comics Nerdlebrity. However, his reaction to the comic has been crabby ranting.

Now Rollins, who is also a published poet and photographer, has gone on the record with his own response, in a video interview with Narduwar the Serviette. The bit begins at about 6:18.

Q: There’s a comic out there called Henry and Glenn forever

Rollins: I’ve only seen the cover I’ve never looked inside the pages.

Q: Has Glenn seen this?

Rollins: Glenn doesn’t have a–I don’t think he has a real wide berth for humor and something like that would really get him going. I don’t care. I believe in the First Amendment. I think Glenn would not take it well, or so I venture to guess.

Q: How would you describe it for people who haven’t seen it?

Rollins: I can describe the cover. I think it’s a drawing of Glenn and someone who likes like me on it. I forget. I sign it. People give me a copy to sign and I obediently sign the front cover, but I’ve never looked inside. I really don’t feel the need.

So there you go…Henry Rollins…a bigger man.

Piskor has a new strip up at Boing Boing that examines the similarities between these two American artforms.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are still around! And to prove they are still in touch with the kids they have hopped on the hot graphic novel trend for their latest video — because graphic novels aren’t just for kids any more. Under the bridge downtown, is where I drew some mini-comics.

Actually, the video for “Monarchy of Roses” is more an homage to Raymond Pettibon than comic books. Alarmingly, Anthony is still rocking the shirt-off look as he nears the half century mark…clean living, I guess.

If you like nerdcore music, you’ll enjoy Rock Comic Con, on Friday, 10/14, a concert featuring genre mainstays Paul and Storm, Kirby Krackle and H2Awesome!. Tickets are $12, and the show throws down at Tobacco Road, 355 W. 41st street, not too far from the Javits Center.

Ticket sales for Rock Comic Con! NYC’s Nerd Rock Festival are now underway. This comic book/sci-fi. related rock concert event compliments the New York Comic Con and takes place Friday, October 14th at 9pm at Tobacco Road located at 41st Street and 9th Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. It promises to be the ultimate ‘after party’ to the Comic Con weekend’s pop culture festivities.

Rock Comic Con 2011 marks the return of the premiere showcase for burgeoning artists of the sub-genre known as ‘Nerd Rock’, which displays a fascination with “geek” pop culture such as comic books, sci-fi, video games and anime and often does so with significant doses of irony and humor.

Rock Comic Con features an array of hard rocking and musically adept nerd bands including Paul and Storm, known for their sharp satirical writing and multiple musical styles, Paul and Storm’s music can be found on radio (including the “Bob and Tom” syndicated radio show and Sirius/XM’s “Dr. Demento Show”), television (Comedy Central, “The Drew Carey Show”), and throughout the internet (The Guild, Homestar Runner), Kirby Krackle, the Seattle based band best known for their comic book themed material and referred to as “geek rock perfection” by Wired magazine. They are joined by the hilarious H2Awesome! whose repertoire includes catchy and well-crafted tunes, including an upbeat punk song (“Why So Serious?) which sets to music Heath Ledger’s memorable Dark Knight dialogue, word for word.

The event will be hosted by Craptain America and Crappy Flash and will feature prizes, giveaways and a Cosplay Screen-test Contest. Also in attendance will be the hosts of the award winning podcasts, Comic Geek Speak, Geek Girls Network and Indie Spinner Rack. Rock Comic Con will also feature a slew of professional cartoonists from DC Comics, Marvel Comics and indie publishers who will be painting live art throughout the night. The art will be auctioned off and proceeds will go to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund,a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the First Amendment rights of the comics art form and its community of retailers, creators,publishers, librarians, and readers.

Rock Comic Con is sponsored by Comic Geek Speak, Geek Girls Network, Midtown Comics, 12-Gauge Comics and Indie Spinner Rack as well as the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Don’t miss this fantastic, rocking, fun and outrageous event taking place at Tobacco Road, 355 W. 41st street at the corner of 9th Avenue. (Btw Bleecker and 3rd St.) on Friday, October 14th at 9pm. Doors open at 7:30 for “after party” festivities..

TICKETS:
$12 Advance, $15 Door.
Advance tickets are on sale at www.RockComicCon.com .

Benjamin Ahr Harrison directed this swell animated video that references Winsor McCay’s great Little Nemo comic strip. Check out Hoffman’s website for more musical stylings.

Could the Boston-based musical duo Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling be any bigger Prisoner fans? The band name is the name of a Prisoner episode, and they recently released a video for a song called “Episode 1: Arrival”, the name of the first Prisoner episode. And now the video for the song is a SHOT FOR SHOT remake of the Prisoner opening credits, only starring lead singer Sophia Cacciola, and shot all over Boston and New England.

The video took years to plan and make, with a replica of the famous Lotus car, and locales the resembles the ’60s vista of London and Wales where the original was shot.

A side by side video of the two versions has also been released.

The Prisoner, btw, was a 60s TV show starring Patrick McGoohan that was weird and wild for its time and has unsolved mysteries that people debate to this day.

The band is 2/3rds of the way through a project to write and record a song for each of the 17 episodes of The Prisoner — they just released an EP called “Questions Are a Burden to Others” and their last one was called “The New Number 2.”

If this be Mary Sue, let it rip!

Musician Larry “Wild Man” Fischer died on June 16th at age 66. Challenged by severe mental illness his whole life, he was one of the earliest known examples of Outsider Music with his tuneless, shouted ditties that somehow still tapped into the joy of music and performance. A sympathetic NYT obituary had:

His voice was raspy and very loud. There was little tune to his melodies, and his lyrics had the repetitiveness and seeming simplicity of nursery rhymes. His singing, typically a cappella, was punctuated by vocal effects like hooting, wailing and shouting. Whether Mr. Fischer was a naïve genius whose work embodied primal truths, or simply a madman who practiced a musicalized form of ranting, is the subject of continuing debate.

Wild Man was a familiar figure around the comics/music world in LA, and staged some Comic-Con performances in the late ’80s, mostly through his friendship with Barnes & Barnes, aka Bill Mumy and Robert Haimer, who produced two of his albums and in particular, his amazing duet with Rosemary Clooney, “It’s a Tough Business.”

I was a fan, and had many conversations with him, sometimes much challenged by his personal hygiene, which was terrible due to mostly living on the street. But he was a gentle, kind soul who repaid the friendship of those who looked out for him, as difficult as it was due to his mental illness. In the early ’90s, he was slated to be a guest on the cable access show which I produced with Charles “Mr. Music” Andrews. Wild Man showed up at the studio, quite a feat given that he was a paranoid schizophrenic. He was quite uneasy in the waiting room, while Charles and I attended up some business or other. We literally turned our backs for one moment, and when we turned around he had bolted. I have a vivid memory of running out inter the Silverlake street looking for him, and standing there in bewilderment — in less than a moment he had vanished completely. Obviously making a quick getaway was a survival skill he had honed.

Fischer’s comic book connections led to a graphic biography, The Legend of Wild Man Fischer by Dennis Eichhorn and JR Williams. You can still get a copy from Top Shelf.

I was thinking about him just the other day, perhaps around the time he died. To be honest, I thought I had heard he had died a few years ago, so I was surprised to come across the obituary. I hope he had some happiness in his life to match that which he gave others.

Can comics and extreme metal coexist in the same magazine? We’ll soon find out! The August issue (on sale in July) of DECIBEL has several features of interest to the comics crowd.

The cover story — illustrated by Tom Neely of Henry and Glenn fame — features 10 profiles of comics folk who have a passing interest in heavy metal or draw in elements of metal in their work or have come to be associated with both for other reasons such as cover boy Scott Ian. The issue also features a preview of Rick Spears and Chuck BB’s Black Metal vol. 2 which is soon out from Oni…and dedicated shredder BB’s strip “Stone Cold Lazy” is a regular feature of the magazine.

The issue is available online for purchase.

Last night’s American Idol finale — we were RIGHT on the money — included such spectacles as Lady Gaga and 71 year old Tom Jones, but also Reeve Carney, who plays Spider-Man in the cursed Spider-Man musical, singing the song’s big ballad alongside composers Bono and the Edge. Carney looked very sincere as his sang, or something. Some stunt Spideys swung overhead, and one lowered himself down, Ditko-style, attempting to win a kiss from the world’s most beautiful woman, Jennifer Lopez. But JLo just couldn’t bring herself to do it. Perhaps she had used up all her pity earlier in the evening when she attempted to show that her husband Skeletor, aka Marc Anthony, was cute by shimmying around him in a skimpy fringe dress while he sang a song in Spanish about pon farr.

Or that’s what SCOTT PILGRIM director Edgar Wright just tweeted:

No joke. @TPAIN and @ChrisBrown do Scott Pilgrim. http://youtu.be/_wmD3M-BfVo Complete with flyer straight from the movie. Wow.

And if you watch the above, we think you will agree.

This is so not comics, but the Final Three go at it tonight and we’d been saving up some notes. We started watching American Idol a few years ago because we felt the need to pay attention to at least one thing that wasn’t nerdy but instead reflected the more mundane and/or inane side of culture — something universal, just so when we had to hang out with normal people we wouldn’t be entirely defenseless. Plus former judges Simon and Kara talked about music a little and it was interesting. But that was then. This season’s judges, Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez excel at nothing but praise, blather and administering something called the “amazing” scale:

1 amazing = about ready for Rocktime Karaoke at that place down behind the mall.
2 amazings = will someday star in a YouTube video
3 amazings = talent

Actually we did have some kind of comics metaphor in this season’s AI — when everything is amazing…nothing is. (Paging Bob Parr.) As much as we try to be egalitarian in this comics world, we do it no favors by letting sentimentality get the better of us and praising substandard work because we feel bad. That actually hurts the GOOD work. That’s not elitism — it’s common sense.

Not that anyone cares — ratings are up, JLO is the world’s most beautiful woman, and Tyler has a bestselling book. Exposure works!

Anyway, on to the contestants.

We were a little surprised when James Durbin was voted off last week. Unlike every other contestant, he didn’t care how he sounded and just sang with emotion. Unfortunately this led to blubbering like a walrus half the time. Plus, in his first appearance it was mentioned that he had both Tourette’s Syndrome and high-function autism. The first one was very much in evidence with the funny faces and squintables he was always having. If he won, it would have been one wild ride.

So on to those who might win.

Haley Reinhart — 13-1

The one person who the judges don’t shower with amazings and beautifuls, probably because she is young and doesn’t really know what she’s doing. She knows how to look pissed, however, as the above still shows. Although a real cutie, America does not like pissy pouty girls who get annoyed when they’ve been judge-f*cked. HOWEVER, last night she did herself solid by doing well on actual non-country songs that people had heard, by Led Zep, Fleetwood Mac and Alanis Morissette,

Lauren Alaina – 7-1

Thank god she’s a country girl! Only 16, Lauren exemplifies the fear and insecurity most of us have when we’re sixteen by not knowing how to take a chance. Mentor Jimmy Iovine rightly nailed her when she didn’t hold the right note in “Unchained Melody” — everyone from Ricky Nelson to Bono knows that “need” is the money note! Nonetheless, Lauren’s non-threatening country demeanor should take her to the final two. She does have a great voice but all three songs last night were total snoozers…to us anyway.

Scotty McCreery – 1-2

Scotty’s winning has been a forgone conclusion ever since he unleashed his smooth country baritone at auditions, even if he does hold the mike like he’s about to blow it, oh so tenderly. At first we were very impressed by this 18-year-old’s poise, standing up for what’s right, and natural talent, but ever since he figured out he was going to win he’s gotten a little unbearable with the country pronunciation that sounds like a parody, and pandering crap like a 9/11 song. But it doesn’t matter — he’s got “it” … true star quality.

After James’ behavior and goofy past (see above) I was impressed at how the behind the scenes info about American Idol is kept so highly classified or at least obfuscated — like the bit about the Idol’s mansion being so haunted that Zak Bagans wanted to investigate — though word is that all anyone found was Taylor Hicks’ career. For Idol junkies, one recent book did break the seal a bit. Former production assistant Justin Buckles has written American Idol Exposeda rare tell-all — the writing is “pitchy” but it does give some idea of the production realities — and petty rivalrys and jealousies — that go into making this amazing, beautiful, amazing show.

ALSO: if you like funny web writing, American Idol recaps seems to bring out the best in people. We are addicted to Richard Lawson at Gawker and Paul F. Tompkins at Vulture.

NY Magazine recently commissioned a bunch of designers to reimagine the mistress of all the surveys, Lady Gaga, just in time for her new album’s release. While it’s hard to out-weird someone who wears a meat dress and goes to a Mets game in her underwear, several cartoonists gave it a shot, including Ariel Shrag, David Reese, Tim Hensley and Mike Keefe.

We’re especially fond of the Mike Keefe scorpion. He tagged it ““Sexy, dangerous, and a little bit creepy.”

Vanessa Davis wrote: “More than just a new look for Gaga, I think we just want to see more of Gaga. How can we get more Gaga?”

e:

Tim Hensley (Wally Gropius) offered a cleft palate: ““Lady Gaga obtains a cleft lip from a cosmetic surgeon to spread her message of universal tolerance. What if you could change the life of a diva?”

But Jim Lee’s has gotten the most exposure, even though it is perhaps the least daring: “My goal was to showcase what made Lady Gaga so creatively dynamic—from her music to her costumes to her hair to her flair for theatrical performances—and interpret her as a thoroughly modern and contemporary superhero. Part otherworldly, part vixen, part Lady Darque, my take on Lady Gaga showcases the eclectic elements which define her talent and style.”

Given Lady Gaga’s endless invention, we might see any of these — or all of them –before the tour is up.

…What happened to John Stewart?

Cartoonist Peter Bagge has long had a thriving side career as a member of various garage bands. Now his outift Can You Imagine? has just released a new video for the song “Drive,” directed by Mott Todd. Bonus: Artwork by Peter Bagge!

[Via Flog]