Shorthand #1 by Jason McNamara & Rahsan Ekedal

Review by Amir Malekpour

When reading Shorthand, I found myself being jealous of the main character’s detective skills. Now that probably says something about me, for example I need to work on my self esteem, but it also says a lot about Jason McNamara’s great writing skills and Rahsan Ekedal’s ability to convey a story.

Oscar is the mysterious old man who seems to have a knack for deductive reasoning. He ends up of course solving a small town mystery which is a both a great introduction to his character and a setup for wonderful new adventures. I certainly hope we get a long series about this new character. By the way, this would be a great comic book for all ages, as you’ll find kids having a lot in common with Oscar.

My favorite panel:

Writer: Jason McNamara

Artist: Rahsan Ekedal

Silver Surfer: Parable

by Amir Malekpour

I just got this in the mail yesterday and read the whole trade paperback last night. What amazing art by Mobius! The comic is written by Stan Lee and drawn by the master French comic artist Mobius.

I'm not goingto go too much into detail about the story, but as you can imagine, Galactus is back in town and there is gonna be trouble. Silver Surfer the philosphor superhero that he is, tries to save humanity again, cause ... well ... gosh darnit he loves us.

Stan Lee's writing is surprisingly modern (1988) and Mobius is just so ahead of his time.


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Writing 4.5/5
Art 5/5
Overall 5/5

Sunday Tea with X-Women

This Sunday I decided to stay in the house and write this. But I'm still having English Tea with a Turkey and Cheese Sandwich.




I finally had the pleasure of reading a comic book I have bought for over a month, X-Women. This comic book is about the X-Men ladies Rogue, Storm, Psylocke, Kitty Pryde and Rachel Summers going on an all-girls vacation. Of course as it happens, trouble ensues and the five superheroes have to spring into action. Pretty standard, right? Wrong!

First off you have Chris Claremont writing,a MAD Genius who made the X-Men what they are today. Then you get the amazing art of Milo Manara. Manara is considered a legend in France and is famous for porn/adult themed comic books.

Anyways, I am not going to ruin the story for you, but I will say that the issue is full of half-naked, sexy female super heroes in compromising poses. So in a sense, not too different than any other modern day comic book. What's different is that two legends created this awesome comic book.

The Backgrounds in the comic look just as sexy and beautiful as the foreground. Making females into sex objects is not a new thing in comic books, even the ones geared towards children (which this one most certainly is not!).

What makes this issue perhaps better than the run of the mill sexist comic is the fact that the women kick ass, and are not weak. They are strong characters who look sexy and pick who THEY wanna party with. If you're a man(gay/straight/doesn't matter) and you like comic books, I'd pick this up. If you're a woman, do it anyways. I'd love to know if you think this is misogynistic.

Sunday Evening Iced Tea

Every Sunday I go to one of my favorite coffee shops in San Francisco, Cafe Triest, to write some jokes, prepare for the week coming, read a book, or reread some of my favorite comic books.

Starting July 25th, I will be writing about some of the favorite things I read, did, or saw in hopes that others who share interests would be able to enjoy them also. Hey, I'm not a greedy fellow, I like to share.

So you might be surprised to find out that, in addition to doing Stand-Up Comedy Professionally, I am a Search Engine Marketing Strategist. Last Friday was my last day at my old company, Friend Finder Network which I had been at for close to 8 years! It was a bittersweet day because I will miss a lot of great people. But I am extremely excited to be starting a new position at the Apollo Group and joining an awesome team there. I have not had a chance to write any new jokes, but that's cool because my mind has been stewing on new ways I will add to my new company just like I did for Friend Finder.

As a good bye present my friend and colleague Roland gave me as a gift; Absolute Green Lantern Rebirth [Hard Cover] . First off, let me say that I made a fool out of myself. When I saw him come into work on Friday, I noticed that he had gotten something and I assumed it was a book for himself, so as a joke, I asked "Hey, buddy! What didja get me?". He gave me the present and instantly made me feel like a jerk.

For many months I had debated getting this book because it's written by one of the best comic book writers working today Geoff Johns and penciled by Ethan Van Sciver, one of the super stars artists of the last 10 years. This story arc is one of the reasons Green Lantern related comic books tend to be some of the highest selling comic books. There is also a movie coming out next summer starring Ryan Reynolds. It's one of the first books I read when I started to come back to comic books as an adult. Highly recommended.

So why don't I have this book? One reason is that I already own it's cheaper versions, trade paperback and issue formats. Both of which have been signed by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver. I also felt that the $75 price tag was too much for an absolute with essentially only 6 issues. For example, Batman Hush, another great DC absolute has 12 issues with slightly higher price tag.

But after receiving the book and seeing that I could have gotten it for $48 on amazon, I felt like it is worth it. This is a beautiful book and the large format really shows how amazing an artist Ethan Van Sciver is. This book is going on my premier shelf up there with Watchmen absolute edition and Batman Absolutes. As a bonus, it includes a Green Lantern issue written and drawn by my favorite comic book creator/writer/artist/human being Darwyn Cooke.

Phone Tag Part II

This is a video that I made with Patrick Bulger of "Things We Made" fame. I'm pretty proud of my off-the-cuff dialogue and acting. Most of the credit should go to Patrick for rolling the film when I actually lost my mind. Hope you enjoy. :)

-Amir

The Amir Supremacy

Video directed by Lee Stoneman. It was fun to shoot and kind of fun to watch. Hope you enjoy.

-Amir

A Boy’s pathway to adulthood

Singapore Airlines: A Boy’s pathway to adulthood

10:34 AM Tokyo, Japan

I am 7 years old, about to make my trek to the United States from Tokyo. Anything up until this point is inconsequential, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that I am seven years old and have the rest of my life a head of me.

It's exciting to have stepped on foreign soil as it is a badge of honor. I flew from Tehran to Peking (with an hour stop) and now am in Tokyo. What that means is that within one trip I have landed on two foreign countries! That has to be a record for a 7 year old. And in less that 24 hours I will have landed in Los Angeles or San Francisco, depending on which ticket is cheaper. Life is exciting. Just with in the past hour I have seen Asians for the first time, they are awesome. In a few hours I will have seen the first black person … how cool is that?

4:56 PM Tokyo, Japan

My mom finally got us tickets to Los Angeles. I can’t wait till I get to the United States. It will be really exciting seeing flying cars, robots, and visit the space station for the first time. Maybe if I work hard enough, I will be able to save enough money by 7^th grade to buy myself a robot. Nothing too fancy, just one that will be my friend and teach me complex mathematics and more importantly to speak English without an accent.

??? PM “Over the Pacific Ocean”

I don’t know what time it is, but I do know one thing. I love traveling on airplanes. They have hamburgers for food which I love, a movie with your own headphones. I love wearing headphones, especially when I am listening to my favorite stories on my walkman.

Singapore Airlines has really pretty ladies working for it. They all have rosy cheeks and a beautiful smile. I am really glad I am 7 years old because I've been told that attractive women treat 7 year olds better than adults. I hope I never get old. Well that is not true, I want to get taller so that when I drive a car, my feet reach the pedal, but that’s it. Also when I grownup, I want to meet a nice girl to marry and play with. I think only older ladies are pretty, so I will have to get bigger or older so that I could kidnap them for the marriage.

By the way, I know none of this is making any sense, but I am 7 years old, have just discovered that I am going through puberty, and these Singapore flight attendants are really hot.

??? PM “Over California”

I think we’re about to land. I think that movie starring Cher was really boring. I guess I am ready to start my new life in a new world. I better start forgetting about anything I learned before I was 7. Anything up until this point is inconsequential, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that I am seven years old and have my life a head of me.