Scott McCloud Illustrates Intro to Google’s Chrome
Current mood: geeky

I was pleased to see that Google tapped illustrator Scott McCloud to visually demonstrate the introduction to its new browser, Chrome.


Scott McCloud is a great illustrator, but more importantly, he's an insightful thinker on how to write and interpret visual language. His book Understanding Comics will change the way you think about language and design and belongs on the shelf next to Will Eisner's classic Comics and Sequential Art.

Then there's his independent superhero comic from the '80s, Zot!, which combined retro-futuristic action with teen angst and is currently out in a new collection.

His site has lots of experiments that play with form & content, though many older ones seem to have disappeared. Here's a few though, and check out "Meadow of the Damned."

UPDATE: People have remixed the comic to say funny and inappropriate things, as seen here and here. Bless you Internet!

Currently listening : Pink Flag By Wire Release date: 2006-04-11

4:45 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Pics From San Diego Comic-Con
Current mood: tired

I had huge amounts of fun at San Diego Comic-Con!


Still trying to get home thanks to a missed flight, but from the comfort of the airport hallway, please enjoy this Flickr set!

Currently listening : Consolers Of The Lonely Release date: 2008-03-25

11:40 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

My San Diego Comic-Con Schedule
Current mood: hungry

I'm very much looking forward to San Diego Comic-Con! The four-day event (July 24-27) -- also known "nerd prom" -- attracts 125,000 fans and is already sold out for the first time ever.


This is my second Comic-Con, and my only wish is that the temperature is approximately one billion degrees cooler than it was in 2006.

I'm arriving Thursday, and will be doing two signings at the DK Publishing booth (Booth 2913D), located in the Lucasfilm/Star Wars Pavilion:

Thursday July 24, 5:00-6:00
The Marvel Encyclopedia

Friday, July 25: 2:00-3:00
Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide

Other than that, I'll be wandering the floor and gazing longingly at the Cool Rockets merchandise. Hope to see you there! I'll be trackable, and contactable, via Twitter feed:

http://twitter.com/danwall88
http://friendfeed.com/danwall88

Currently listening : The B-52's By The B-52's Release date: 1990-10-25

10:42 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Minneapolis CONvergence 2008!
Current mood: busy

CONvergence starts now, Thursday 7/3, at the Sheraton in Bloomington MN! Following is a list of panels I'm participating in:


Thu 5:00pm - 6:00pm
Bloom
1.18.08: Marketing of a Film
Let's look back at some of the best and worst marketing campaigns in the history of the film industry. Share your ideas for future film marketing.
Romeo Azar, Jay Knowles, Robert Meyer Burnett, Dan Wallace

Thu 9:30pm - 10:30pm
Bloom
What are the Most Influential Sci-Fi Films of All Time?
2001, Star Wars, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Independence Day, Blade Runner, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Black Hole, Tron, Terminator, Alien, Battle Beyond the Stars, and others. You decide.
Christian Colquhoun, Rob Johnson, Robert Meyer Burnett, Chuck Waibel, Dan Wallace

Fri 11:00am - 12:00pm
A8
Copyright: Ethics in Action?
Copyright affects us all, especially internet users. What's fair-game versus out-and-out breaking of the law? Has Congress extended copyright too many times? Shouldn't Mickey Mouse and Superman be in the public domain by now?
Craig Finseth, Stephen J. Miller, Lars Pearson, Dan Wallace

Fri 2:00pm - 3:00pm
A7
Where's My Flying Car?
A "Roomba" hardly qualifies as a "Rosie the Robot" from the Jetsons. Where's the shiny future we were promised back in the Tommorowland of the 1950's?
Seth Chmelik, Hank Lederer, Jennifer Menken, G. David Nordley, Emily Stewart, Dan Wallace

Fri 3:30pm - 4:30pm
Bloom
Star Wars Prequels: Ten Years On
Where's the love? Have you come over to the Dark Side and embraced the power of the prequels? How have these films aged and do they stand the test of time?
Romeo Azar, Peter Mayhew, Greg Prickman, Video Team, Aaron Vander Giessen, Dan Wallace

Fri 8:00pm - 9:00pm
A3
GLBT Comic Characters
Northstar is no longer the only gay in the village. We've got Hulkling, Wiccan, Batwoman, and many others. Discuss your faves and speculate which other characters still need to come out?
Jonathan Palmer, Jason Tucker, Dan Wallace

Sat 2:00pm - 3:00pm
A6
Legion of the All-Stars
Join many of our comic book guests of honor in a wide-ranging roundtable discussion of a 'state of the union' of the comics industry.
Mark Evanier, ASL Interpreter, Christopher Jones, Video Team, Dan Wallace, Len Wein, Greg Weisman, Marv Wolfman, Bernie Wrightson

Sat 3:30pm - 4:30pm
Bloom
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
The man in the hat is back. Was the latest Indiana Jones Adventure everything we were hoping or did Spielberg pull a Lucas on us? Dust off your bullwhip and discuss any Indy topics that strike your fancy!
Romeo Azar, Mike Helde, Troy LaFaye, Dan Wallace, Tim Wick

Sat 6:30pm - 9:00pm
Bloom
Sci-Fi Summit: The Mega-Panel
We've got a panel so broad, so deep, and so miscellaneous in focus, we've had to give it not one, but two time slots. Join us for an extended mega-panel that covers sci-fi and fantasy trends in the past ten years in books, movies, and television.
Romeo Azar, Christa Dickson, Ben Ellis, Lars Pearson, Dan Wallace

Sat 9:30pm - 10:30pm
Bloom
Comics as Movies
Discuss the recent slate of summer comic book movies including Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, The Dark Knight, and others. How successful were they (or do you think they will be) and what did they get right/wrong compared to the source material? How will "The Marvel Masterpan" turn out over the next few years?
Britt Aamodt, Terry Beatty, David Emerson, Taylor Kent, Jonathan Palmer, Dan Wallace, Greg Weisman

Sun 11:00am - 12:00pm
A3
Comics Through Their Ages
What defines the Golden Age of Comics? What about the Silver Age? What age are we in now? Perhaps the lines between the ages are a little more blurred than you think...
Roy C. Booth, Mark Evanier, Jonathan Palmer, Dan Wallace, Bernie Wrightson

Sun 3:30pm - 4:30pm
A3
DC and Marvel Updates
Been away from comics for a while? Come and find out what's been going on in the DC and Marvel universes. How are your favorite characters faring? The first half of the hour is devoted to DC and the second half to Marvel.
Michael Lee, Jonathan Palmer, Dan Wallace

Hope to see you there!

Currently listening : Jesus Christ Superstar (Original London Concept Recording) By Andrew Lloyd Webber Release date: 1996-09-24

10:14 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Wordle: Super Cool Word Art
Current mood: tired

Give this tool a try. Wordle creates "word clouds" based on whatever you give it, and the results are surprisingly beautiful.

Just like tag clouds, the words used most frequently are given the biggest typeface, but you can control the font, the color, and the orientation of the words. Here's one for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.



Here's Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird."



And here's the complete text of Star Wars: The New Essential Chronology.



(Thanks to Bully's Comics Oughta Be Fun for turning me on to this find!)

Currently listening : The Essential O'Jays By The O'Jays Release date: 2008-06-10

12:34 PM - 3 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

The Last Word in Star Wars
Current mood: rushed

Lucasfilm Licensing keeps an internal database for maintaining continuity called the Holocron. It's made up of tens of thousands of entries, but finally ends with this guy:


That's it. It's a hard stop. Clicking the advance arrow won't take you any further. So here's what Wookieepedia has to say about Zzzanmxl.

I feel a bit like I've reached the end of the Internet.

Currently listening : The White Stripes - Under Blackpool Lights Release date: 2004-12-07

3:28 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

U.S. Midwest Floods
Current mood: morose

This past week the U.S. Midwest, particularly Wisconsin and Iowa, were hit hard by unprecedented floods.

There's a planning concept, the "100 year flood," used to calculate the likelihood of catastrophic flooding; a100-year flood has a 1% chance of occurring in a given year. As you can see on this map, Iowa City, Coralville, and the University of Iowa have been inundated by waters exceeding 100 year levels, and in some cases 500 year levels. The Iowa River crested Sunday at 31.5 feet, ten feet higher than the level that constitutes a flood. Water is still overflowing the spillway and will continue for several more days.

My parents live just north of the river and were evacuated on June 12. This is their neighborhood now:


It will be 2 weeks or longer before they're allowed to return. Most residents do not have flood insurance -- the area was built at least 1 foot above the base-flood elevation -- so any assistance will come from FEMA.

Devastating. And a reminder that whether it's floods, mudslides, wildfires, earthquakes, tornadoes, or hurricanes, human constructions are so easily overwhelmed by nature.

Currently listening : Moulin Rouge By Various Artists Release date: 2001-05-08

11:10 AM - 7 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Irresistible
Current mood: busy

My favorite thing in the world as a kid was the Johnson Smith catalog, a one-stop home for bugs in ice cubes, rubber snakes, and switchblade combs.

The company is still around, and is still selling the awesome, but it's tough to recapture the retro charm of an ad like this one:


I sent away for one thing from Johnson Smith: the X-Ray Specs. Sadly, I never received them. Probably because I ignored the instructions to send "check or money order only" and instead put six quarters into an envelope. But one thing was always maddening in its allure: the "Surprise Box." What could possibly be in it?! Well, surplus inventory and other crap, but the mystery was irresistible anyway.

That's why I fell head over heels for the Something Store. For $10, they'll send you "an item selected randomly among many things from our inventory."

I am so all over this.

UPDATE: It was an egg with seeds inside, which you crack open and then grow in a little planter:

11:00 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Iron Man Casting: Marvel Universe Edition
Current mood: busy

If you caught the Iron Man secret ending, you saw Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The not-so-inside joke is that writer Mark Millar and artist Bryan Hitch first remade Nick Fury in the image of Sam Jackson back in 2004's The Ultimates, a comic series that reinterpreted the Avengers for Marvel's alternate "ultimate" universe.

Just to make sure there weren't any readers who didn't get it, Millar included this panel, which was meta at the time and has now gained +10 meta:


Nick Fury then decides who should play Tony Stark in a movie:


And don't miss his opinion of Robert Downey Jr:

1:29 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Simple Ideas With Transit Maps
Current mood: curious

A good friend of mine recently gave me the book Transit Maps of the World, a gorgeous compendium of subway/rail/tube diagrams that has a lot to say about design.

Transit maps don't reflect reality -- they're simplified diagrams that often bear very little resemblance to real-world geography. They aren't even "maps." They're more like process diagrams, visually laying out the steps you need to take to get from King Street to Fort Totten.

This is a fun design story for two reasons. First, the basic conceits used by all modern transit maps (colored lines, station circles, 45-degree diagonals) have been around since 1933, when Harry Beck had the genius idea to create a schematic of the London Underground rather than the confusing, literal maps that were in use at the time. Take a look at Beck's design -- he laid down all the rules that are still in use today after nearly 70 years.


Second, the tube map concept can be used to simplify any complex concept. Like, say, the Internet?

...or the entirety of popular music?

...or Shakespeare characters?

or the comments of Miss Teen USA South Carolina?


Once you notice the visual tricks you'll start to see them everywhere, like on this Domino's Pizza flyer where it becomes visual shorthand for "New York."

6:34 PM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment