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It’s coming…

The first “promo” images (known to many as “doodles”) for Enemy of Peanuts: The Webcomic, which—as the images say—is coming soon!

Photocopy effect
Photocopy effect
Diffuse Glow effect
Diffuse Glow effect
Crosshatch effect
Crosshatch effect
Stamp effect
Stamp effect

Now, an explanation:

As a guy who reads a butt-ton of comics, it’s pretty hard not to come up with an idea or two for some of my own panel-by-panel storytelling—Enemy Of Peanuts: The Webcomic is one such idea. EoP came to me as the name for a strip I could do based on a few ideas that had been kicked around by some close friends and myself back in college (former roommate Matt Misch and good buddy Frank Johnson stand out as people I recall discussing the idea with, though there are assuredly many more). Essentially, the story would be based loosely on me but more so on my allergy (peanuts! legumes!), and the original idea was almost entirely me fighting Mr. Peanut…constantly. The idea has evolved quite a bit since then (including the creation of the Enemy of Peanuts, who—though fictional—is twittering away already), as it had a comic appeal I couldn’t quite pass up, and I’ve now started laying down some of the over-arching plot outlines, fight scenes and such. It should be a lot of fun, so stay tuned.

As far as the art goes, I’m well aware that I am not an artist (I’d say “amateur cartoonist” at best), but years of doodling comics and characters in notepad margins shouldn’t go to waste! So, here, I am going to be tackling art duties on the strip…for now. In a perfect world, some amazing unknown artistic talent (Holy Shit! It could be you!) will stumble across my “strips” (read: storyboards) and offer his skills to make this hobby into a real cinematic adventure. Or, with luck, practice will make perfect and I’ll get kinda good. Who knows?!

That said, I’d love to get some feedback on the photoshop aid I’m using for the time being. The promo images above are all the same save a photoshop effect making them look, hopefully, better. I’d be insanely appreciative of anyone who’ll leave some comments about which effects you like better and which image-style has or would have you most excited to read the EoP’s adventures every week (or whatever the posting schedule ends up being for the strip).

That’s all for now. Thanks for stopping by and checking the early stages of Enemy Of Peanuts: The Webcomic out, and please, leave a little feedback

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Easter Egg Salad Sammiches!

Why is Easter so great? As this post’s title may have given away, it isn’t the bunnies but the edible decorations that made my Easter this year!

After coloring a dozen eggs with my lovely girlfriend Jessi on Saturday, I got a chance to utilize my mad deli skills making a little egg salad for some—as I’ve dubbed them—Easter Egg Salad Sammiches!

The delicious final product alongside suggested bread.
The delicious final product alongside suggested bread.

(For the record, I did work in a deli one summer back in college, and at a sandwich joint for about a year and a half after that where we made all the chicken, tuna and seafood salad in house.)

I’m a big fan of mayo-based mushes used to make sandwiches, so egg salad is always high on my list of lunch options. That said, I’ve tasted my fair share and can safely say that the concoction I free-styled in the kitchen today may have been the best egg salad I’ve ever had. Tooting my own horn? A bit. But seriously, this egg salad was darn good—so good, I’ve decided to share the recipe here…

You’ll need:

-Roughly 12 hard boiled eggs

-4 heaping spoonfuls of Miracle Whip Lite

-A small squirt of creamy horseradish

-3 large spoonfuls of lemon juice

-A few generous dashes of salt and pepper (maybe a tsp and a half for recipe sticklers)

-Twice that dash-age of paprika (maybe a tbsp, when all is said and done)

-A generous portion of cilantro (1/2 cup, methinks)

-Some diced onions, red peppers and green peppers—about a 1/2 to 2/3 cup—leftover from nachos the nite before (Note: diced veggies don’t NEED to be from nacho nite, but I’d recommend it…at least for the nachos)

Now, to prepare, chop those eggs up and put them in a large-ish bowl with the diced veggies and cilantro. Dash about 1/4 of your paprika on top of them.

In another, smaller bowl, mix the Miracle Whip lemon juice, salt, pepper and paprika together.

Combine the contents of the two bowls!

Mix until the egg bowl’s contents are generously coated in the Mayo bowl’s contents.

Then, serve on some delicious, toasted (in a toaster) marble rye and enjoy!

If you use this rad recipe, make sure props are given to Jim Gibbons and those who partake in your egg-cellent meal are sent to www.EnemyOfPeanuts.com straightaway!

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Because this blog is all about the random…

I just checked my blog stats over at Nothing More American (my summer camp memoir blog)…

…and saw that search engine terms leading to my blog include “chubby young boys” and “dads and sons hazing.” I only got one hit for each, but I’m now hoping that there is a kindred soul in a former fat kid out there who found solace in my posts, but more than likely there is a huge f–king weirdo out there who just read about my camp experiences…yeah, the internet is a weird place.

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How ’bout them… Claves!?

Though I may be funky and have a whole lotta soul, I am also a white boy with little rhythmic skill—for evidence, please see the bass guitar gathering dust in my closet that I more-or-less failed at due to my inability to keep time and distinguish up beats from the down ones. Perhaps its my own shortcoming that leads to my absolute love of bass lines and any and all sorts of percussion. To be able to just go to town on the drums, or whatever item you have handy like Blue Man Group or Stomp!…(sigh) It’d be like living the dream.

A particular favorite of mine in the percussion department is a little instrument called the clave.

Pronounced "klaβe" in the Spanish style.
Pronounced "klaβe" in the Spanish style.

Their sticks made of hardwood that make a rad hollow sound when hit together.

Billy Joel’s “Don’t Ask Me Why” is a great example of some fantastic clave usage. Head to the 1:08 mark for a close up and pay attention again at 3:05, right over Mr. Joel’s shoulder.

You can’t hear the clave’s full awesome power in this concert video (check out the song on The Essential Billy Joel for more, but that should whet your appetite for more wood banging…you know what I mean! Claves!

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Brutal Combat

Challenged by my long-time amigo and former roommate Jon-Erik, I have entered the realm of a super simple and super fun online flash game: My Brute.

mybrute

Here’s the basics:

Head to http://mybrute.com/, or accept an invite to fight me (PizzaPartyMan) by clicking here.

Then you enter a name, get a cool little warrior generated for you (which you can customize a bit) and then enter the arena. You don’t do any of the actual fighting, but you get to watch these crazy little battles play out—like cockfighting, but not tasteless, illegal or real.

mybrute2

The more you fight and the more people you recruit (Seriously…fight me now and be recruited to my dojo!) the more experience, items and moves you get.

My Dojo and my many pupils.
My Dojo and my many pupils.

It’s a jolly ol’ time and is played with the click of a single button—click “Fight!” and just sit back and watch a tiny, minute-long battle of epic proportions—so, why not try it out?!

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I am the enemy of peanuts!

¡Hola internet dwellers!

I’m Jim Gibbons and this is a ludicrous blog of mine.

If you’re savvy to the interwebs, you may have seen my job blog over at The Loudest Monkey on WizardUniverse.com, or if you’re of a nostalgic and outdoorsy disposition, you may have come across a labor of love called Nothing More American—my summer camp memoir.

While both blogs are absolutely fabulous (seriously, check them out!), neither allowed me the proper venue to post all the abstract and random flights of fancy I’d like to share. And so, I deliver you Enemy of Peanuts!

While this would be a great way to wow potential readers with a grand mission statement, I haven’t got one. Essentially, this blog will be my own public bulletin board where I’ll post doodles, mini reviews of old comics, why I’m now just finally watching “Doctor Who” and what’s fantastic about it, thoughts on video games and who knows what else?! Either way, it should be fun—so, stick around!

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Check out ‘Killer of Demons!’

Hey folks, just dropping in to give a quick recommendation…you should all check out Killer of Demons from Image Comics!


Written by Chris Yost with super-rad art by Scott Wegener, it’s kind of a combo of “Office Space” and “Buffy,” and it’s darn fun and totally awesome! It’s also a three issue miniseries, so you know they’ve gotta get right into the good stuff—and with this first issue, they already have! If you’re only going to read one book this week, make it Killer of Demons (and that is saying something as Jonathan Hickman’s awesome first issue of Dark Reign: Fantastic Four came out this week)!

Also, just a general WU.com update, I’m dropping this recommendation here because Thursday Morning Quarterback is going through some tweaks right now (under construction, so to speak) and I wanted to give a good book some props. So, stay tuned to The Loudest Monkey for more little snippets of stuff from me, and stay tuned to WU.com for a brand-spanking new view of TMQB soon!

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