Ahoy, avast, shiver me timbers, and all that jargon.

So, a couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine had bought The Pirates! Band of Misfits on blu-ray and we happily sat down and watched it. Now, I remembered the trailers to this movie way back when and was wickedly excited about it, but I had completely forgotten it existed soon after, up until my friend had purchased it. I know. I'm such a phony, landlubbing buffoon.

Anyway, the movie was spectacular and full of fantastic witty humor, as I expected from any Aardman film. I'm no stranger to their work; having watched Wallace and Gromit in my younger days and having loved the characters, the writing, the humor, and of course, the animation.

Claymation, and stop motion animation in general, had always interested me and is a vital reason I am pursuing a degree in animation. Films like the Wallace and Gromit franchise and the Tim Burton classic The Nightmare Before Christmas helped pave the road that led me and many others interested in the genre.

So, the Pirates! film got me thinking. I decided that I eventually wanted to make a stop motion film using some sort of puppets reminiscent of Nightmare and Coraline. With my creative juices flowing, I came up with the basis of a short film project that involves robots, space soldiers, intergalactic space ships, barren planets, intricate model designs, and a main character with a rockin' mustache. Of course, this is all hypothetical and not something I would want to tackle until I was ready, which I am not, sadly

So, a couple of days ago, two friends and I traveled to the quaint college hipster town of Northampton, MA. There, we found a delightful comic book shop by the name of Modern Myths. I was able to browse and get a feel of what current graphic novelers and comic book writers and illustrators are doing with there pieces. I also found some great favorites of mine while there and quickly bought them without a moment's notice! Here are some of them:

• Lookouts by Ben McCool and from the minds of Penny Arcade (Mike Krahulik & Jerry Holkins).
  
• Nonplayer by Nate Simpson. A beautifully drawn comic with an interesting premise.
  
• Copper by Kazu Kibuishi. My favorite author/ illustrator, who is also writes and draws the Amulet series.
  

Welp, that's all I got for now. I'm gonna go and work on my own stuff, and I'll hopefully have an update here soon after. Unitl then...