Introducing… FRANCO’s FREE FOR ALL FRIDAYS
The greats go by one name: Cher… Madonna… Beyoncé… Franco.
FRANCO’s FREE-FOR-ALL FRIDAYS! By FRANCO Just back from San Diego Comic-Con, where it was a week full of happenings and events. One of which was getting to hang with our esteemed leader Dan Greenfield and meeting Des “Despop” Taylor (terrific guy, by the way) and Art Baltazar, having dinner and seeing Fantastic Four! Most of my weekend was with Art. I usually just have a bunch of conversations with him, but on the heels of San Diego and all the news and pics we see (in my case, after it’s over), I thought I would interview my buddy and sometimes (well, a lot of times) collaborator/brother/cartoonist pal Art Baltazar. FRANCO: I haven’t seen you in a day or two. How was San Diego? ART: It was awesome! Sold out of all my stuff. Got some rest. (Since the show ended.) Lotta shaking hands. Meeting the fans was awesome and people congratulated me on the Aw Yeah Comics universe Papercutz announcement. FRANCO: Oh… there was an announcement? ART: LOL FRANCO: Kidding. Its a big deal! We’ve both got a lot a stuff happening at Papercutz! ART: Yeah! The universe launches with our favorite characters Action Cat and Adventure Bug! FRANCO: I like those two! ART: Yeah, man, it’s awesome! The first book is going to be half new stuff and half classic. FRANCO: Releasing in January. ART: Yeah! The universe launches in January starting with Action Cat and Adventure Bug Vol. 1. FRANCO: You’ve got a bunch of other things cooking over there. ART: Aw yeah man, they will make announcements soon when the books are ready to go. I’ve been creating characters forever and all my characters can meet Action Cat! FRANCO: Like a shared universe. ART: Yup! Excatly! FRANCO: Like? Which ones? ART: Well, all of them. If you check out the artwork, that might give you a clue. LOL, pretty much everyone on this poster. Check it out. FRANCO: I’ve been hearing about these guys that you created for years and I’ve seen them in your sketchbook and I’m excited to see them in books and come to life, so to speak. ART: It’s exciting! A dream come true. Been dreaming of this since I was a kid. Never thought I would get to do this in my career. But you’ve been creating stuff too. FRANCO: Yeah!...
FRANCO FRIDAYS Meets FANTASTIC FOUR WEEK! — It’s FANTASTIC FOUR WEEK! Because there’s a big ol’ movie out! Click here for the COMPLETE INDEX of columns and features! Flame on! — Dan — By FRANCO In space, no one can hear you burp. Because you can’t. I heard that somewhere. So I had to look it up. And it’s true… somewhat. But essentially you can’t burp in space. For those of you who might be a bit squeamish, you might want to look away for the next paragraph: The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum website explains it like this: “In space, astronauts are in a constant state of freefall, so gravity doesn’t help separate gases from everything else in their stomachs. This means that the gases don’t naturally stay near the top of the stomach, while the heavier liquids and solids settle to the bottom. Without the effect of gravity, the gases, foods, and liquids stay floating together. So if an astronaut tries to burp in space, a little bit of everything comes up (solids, liquids, and gases). Basically, burping in space means throwing up a little.” Further research yielded this little gem: Some astronauts refer to this phenomenon as “space vomit” or “bomit.” OK. So, if you haven’t figured this out yet, my brain tends to wander and there is a constant story workshop happening in my skull. My wife says that my mind is always doing something. I saw that awesome Fantastic Four: First Steps trailer and lo and behold, they showed Galactus! Days later, my thoughts drifted to Galactus. Yes, the so-called Devourer of Worlds. This guy consumes entire planets! Heck, if you left him alone, he could eat an entire galaxy in one sitting. That’s like if you were to bring me to a buffet and inadvertently seated me next to the soft serve ice cream machine. It would not work out well for any of us in that restaurant. Why does Galactus have such an attitude? My theory: He hasn’t been able to burp in a while. Takes time traveling from one planet to the other. He’s gotta send out heralds to make reservations in advance. He might have some bomit situation going on there. You devour a planet or two, or an entire galaxy, and then you have to space travel to the next meal. Then I thought,...
The greats go by one name: Cher… Madonna… Beyoncé… Franco.