Fan Expo Canada 2010 is done!

So it's back to work after the whirlwind that was Fan Expo Canada 2010. Talk about a crazy weekend. I tweeted throughout but here's a bit more details about my weekend (and my brother's as well for some of the stuff). Both of us went with premier passes and the Stan Lee package.

We weren't 100% sure what was going on for the opening on Friday so we got there around 10:30 thinking they'd process tickets at 12 and line us up again to enter the building. Long story short, the next few hours were spent waiting and confused but we did get in a little after 2. Our first stop was Stan Lee's booth where the Stan Lee package tickets came in handy (jumping us to the start of the line). To further take advantage of the early entrance I decided to snag a couple autographs like Dean Stockwell's (I'm a Quantum Leap fan, I had to ask him if he got to keep any of his wardrobe from that show) and Felicia Day (thanked her for linking to this blog back when I did the Codex sketch, she was really nice about it) and Amy Okuda. I also snagged artwork from Darwyn Cooke (who wasn't doing commissions but fortunately for me had a Hulk piece in his portfolio) and signed up for commissions from Jeff Lemire (of Sweet Tooth fame) and Craig Yeung (getting Hulk drawings from each of course). Then it was time for the Jim Valentino versus Wilce Portacio sketching duel. They were great, the moderator wasn't. Then off to the Stan Lee photo where again, the Stan Lee package helped us out a lot! Somewhere in there I also found time to say a how-do-you-do to Andy Belanger and Caanan both of whom I met at last year's Fan Expo. At some point I signed up for another Andy Belanger Hulk pic and bought Caanan's Max Overacts book. The night was finished with the Stan Lee meet and greet. It was a crazy time and I know it was very disappointing to some who didn't get the quality time they wanted with him but my brother was fortunate enough to get a few pictures with him and I shot some video as he walked by me so it was great for us.

Saturday was a slightly different day. I attended the "Future of Comics" panel in the morning, the Stan Lee panel at 1pm (again, Stan Lee package came in handy and Stan had the crowd in the palm of his hand), then somehow managed to make the Olivier Coipel versus Gary Frank sketching duel (great duel with a much better moderator than the other one I attended) despite the unbelievable crowding on that floor, and Darwyn Cooke's "how to" panel. Other than that it was browsing the Artist Alley (picking up some of the art I'd ordered) and merchandise sections. It was a crazy day at the Expo crowd-wise and I'm glad we brought food so we didn't have to leave the building. I'm also glad I didn't go for any celebrities that day.

For Sunday we decided we wanted to focus on Shatner. We had talked about it on Saturday and my feeling was that if we could get in early enough we could go straight for an autograph if he was signing right away. I thought about the photo but I figured it would be too crazy and I'd be way too exhausted by that point (5pm). Unfortunately he wasn't signing right away but after buying our autograph tickets I decided to spend the next 3 hours waiting for him. Brent wandered for a bit but I didn't really feel like it all that much. While waiting (and after getting to know those around us) we got to watch the celebrities be taken from one location to the next (we were lined up in a back area of the con). I have to admit that I sort of like celebrity sighting so it was cool to sit there and say "Hey there goes Adam West/Summer Glau/James Marsters/Felicia Day/etc". After the Shatner autograph (which was a whole lot of confusion and madness) I was pretty much done. I snagged a couple more things in Artist Alley (a Steve McNiven headshot of Nemesis and sketchbooks from Dale Keown and Jill Thompson) and a couple toys for my nephews and that was it for me.

And with that, it was dinner and a 9pm flight to get me home at 11pm. My brother and I both had a great time (I know others didn't and I do feel for them) and now it's back to the somewhat less exciting normal life of work and other stuff.

Comic Reviews for August 20th, 2010

I know it's been way too long since I posted here. And it's going to get worse, I'm finally making the move to stop monthlies altogether and just pick up the TPBs. But here are a few quick reviews of books I read recently.

Incredible Hulk #611 -- Great writing, amazing art, really good story. And the nice thing for me, you didn't have to be reading the World War Hulks stuff (that I didn't like) to enjoy this issue. One of the best Hulk issues I've read in a good long while.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Riley one shot -- I haven't been enjoying the Buffy series as of late and I'm not a big Riley fan so I was reluctant to pick this one up. I did enjoy it more than I thought I would. I thought it was better executed than some of the issues of the ongoing. Not sure I feel it's worth it though, it's really just a long discussion between Riley and his wife. Good characterization but doesn't really feel necessary as a full one shot.

The Man with the Getaway Face by Darwyn Cooke -- I really enjoy Darwyn's work and I thought the first Parker book he did was really well done. It wasn't really a genre that I'm particularly keen on but it was an enjoyable book to read. And I'd say the same about this book, very well done, enjoyable to read, makes me wonder what the next book (coming out this fall I believe) will be (as I know nothing about the original stories).

Next week is Fan Expo Canada and I'm really looking forward to it. I really enjoyed myself last year. I'm looking forward to seeing a few of the people I met last year like Caanan Grall and Andy Belanger. I also bought the Stan Lee package so that should be fun.

Sorry

Wow! Have I ever been neglecting this blog. I guess I just haven't had much to say that couldn't be said in 140 characters on Twitter. But now for a few ramblings that won't fit in there.

I've seen the "Are Webcomics Dead?" debate is building steam yet again with the iPad out, Zuda closing up (more or less), and the whole webcomic thing seeming to hit a lull. I think a lot of good things have been said in the discussion, even if there are no real answers. Here are a few of the highlights in my opinion:

Webcomics aren't really taking full advantage of the platform where as apps for the iPad do. But here's the thing for me, the more you take advantage of the platform the more expertise you require, the more time it takes to put out a comic (and a slowly updating webcomic is usually dead before it starts), the more costly it can be, and the more restricted your audience can become (when a comic is created specifically to work with the iphone, and I mean gearing everything like panel structure, layouts, and your narrative to that device, the reading on other platforms can suffer just as writing for a print comic will have issues when taken to the iPhone or even the iPad). I don't think there is an easy answer here.

The iPhone and iPad currently don't appear to be equal playing fields (from what I'm hearing, the validity of this may be debatable). On the one hand, you have the large companies who can afford to create their own apps jumping in while independents are a little slower or require help. ComiXology seems to be the winner here but there are reports that there are independent publishers waiting for their comics to get processed and posted while the big name companies get priority. Also, some independent books have been blocked for issues Apple had with their content while the big companies don't seem to be hitting this issue. So for a small publisher it seems going the iPhone/iPad route has some hurdles that may not be worth it in the long run when they can more easily get their products into a larger audience by going web based.

Now I don't have the numbers but I'd guess the number of webcomics aren't necessarily going down. But is the quality going up or down? The great thing about webcomics is pretty much anyone can get one started (so long as they aren't going the iPad/iPhone route at least). The obvious downside is that anyone can get one started. How do you find good ones? Most of the attempts include evaluation based on voting or by traffic but there's usually so many ways to cheat the system. So anyone looking through webcomics gets hit with a lot of crap. Yeah, I'll say a lot of them are crap but I don't want you to take that as me thinking those people should stop, you have to try in order to get better. Though the ones who aren't even trying to get better should probably stop.

Money. Everyone brings this one up, "how do I make money off my webcomic?" The answer doesn't seem to have changed in a long time. It's mostly merchandise (t-shirts, print versions, commissions, etc), some advertising (if you have a lot of traffic), etc. But what if your book doesn't really lend itself to merchandise? Then it's a bit tougher. And if you aren't willing to put the effort into these other things and just want to make your comic then you're most likely screwed money-wise. So what happens with a lot of the successful webcomic makers? They stop to make money. Either they get in with a publisher and start getting paid for print comics or more often they realize the webcomic is taking up so much time and going nowhere that they have to stop to focus on their paying job and family. There's often the promise of getting back to the webcomic eventually but let's not fool ourselves. Now I think a lot of people were hoping for things like the iPad or Longbox Digital to change that, I don't see that happening any time soon.

I don't know any answers to any of the questions that the discussion is bringing up. I don't even know if my observations are valid in any way. But I do enjoy the discussion. In my opinion, are webcomics dead? No. The web will always the be the most accessible way for creators to get their ideas out there and I don't see that changing. Are webcomics the future? With iPad opening the door even further web or digital comics will be a big part of it. But will we see much innovation or ideas blowing us out of the water? Well probably just like print comics we'll probably see the standard quo being most successful while the odd example of something really incredible will come out and Marvel and DC will mimic the hell out of it until we never want to see anything like it again.

No Reviews Yet

Due to Canada Day (Happy Belated Canada Day!) I haven't been able to pick up my books for this week yet. I'm hoping to make it down there on Sunday. So they are coming.

In other news, I have purchased my ticket to Fan Expo Canada already. Should be a great time again this year. And the DrunkDuck Awards have entered the nomination phase.

Oops, forgot one

Sorry, forgot about one other book I read.

Sweet Tooth volume 1 -- In some ways this book feels a little slow moving but on the other hand, you're really getting in touch with the character(s). It's really well written but I thought the art could have been a bit stronger in some parts. It was some of the real close ups that seemed to miss for me the most. But definitely worth a look.

Weekly Comic Reviews for June 23rd, 2010

I didn't have any of my regular books this week but I did crack and buy Hulk #23 despite my dislike of this series. I couldn't help it after seeing the line up of artists they got. I also picked up Jack of Fables Volume 7 but I haven't finished it yet. I have read a few other books so I'll throw in some quick reviews of those.

Hulk #23 -- This book wasn't as bad as I thought it might be going in. You get some flashbacks going pretty far back, some of which are done by artists who were drawing the series during the times of the flashbacks so that's cool. I had the Red Hulk thing figured out so there weren't really any surprises to the story so it felt a little needless to go back over some of the details to explain them in such length. It also felt a little off to hear that Samson had been working with MODOK for that long. And the Grey Hulk's dialogue (or lack thereof) for the Tim Sale pages, that did sort of bug me a bit. Lee and Kirby's original Hulk wasn't really the "Ross bad!" sort of guy. But overall, it wasn't bad and finally outlined exactly who is the Red Hulk as well as "how" and "why". And the art is a great touch for the long time Hulk fan.

Pinocchio the Vampire Slayer volume 1 -- I decided to give this a look after hearing about the sequel coming out. It was okay but not really anything special in my opinion. I thought the story and writing started off decent but found it got rather predictable and dragged on a bit. It doesn't make my recommended reading list but I don't really regret trying it out.

The Pro -- I knew going in that this was an adult book and yep, it definitely was. It was pretty funny though and really well done. It does have some gross out humour and dirty jokes so if that's not your thing then you may want to avoid it. But it is a pretty original story with great art so it's a pretty enjoyable book (if you're into that sort of thing). I'd recommend this book but only to certain people.

Thinking About Garbage (a non-comic post for once)

So a new program at work is getting me thinking about garbage. The program involves taking away our garbage containers and giving us tiny ones that hook onto our recycle bins and I guess the idea is to encourage me to reduce the amount of garbage I toss out at work by limiting how much I can put in my garbage can. My first thought was what about throwing out the larger items that won't fit in there and aren't recyclable. I guess the idea is that I shouldn't be having anything like that but that seems a bit unrealistic at times. So I asked co-workers what they're plans for such items would be and the response was always the same (even with people who have gone through this before), that they would take it to a communal garbage can (the one near the kitchen) which tend to be large or if they get rid of those, take it home. And if they take it home then management can point to the numbers and say "Look, the program worked as we're generating less waste" but in the overall picture, the garbage is still going to the landfill. It's just taking a different/longer route.

This ties in to a complaint I've had, that it's sometimes a pain in the butt to recycle or do the right thing with waste. I'm not talking about the hassle of needing to separate paper and plastic. The thing is that I'm told I shouldn't throw out batteries, the new light bulbs, and other stuff, that I should take it back to some stores and other times I'm not told what I should do with it. The problem is I go to the stores and get the confused clerk who looks at me like I'm asking them to disable a nuclear device. They'll sometimes say they heard talk about a place I could take them on the other side of the city like it's some mystical place that nobody has actually seen. So they expect people to drive (or in my case take the bus) across the city to get rid of a couple light bulbs?

So what I'm thinking, companies probably shouldn't get caught up in the numbers and actually implement more helpful programs. Have spots at work where your employees can dump off batteries, electronics, or what not. It may be a little more costly and some people may look at the "waste" coming out of your building and see it higher than others but on the other hand, you'll be actually helping your employees to do the right thing but making it easier on them seeing as how work is someplace they go anyways instead of making them trek all over the place to throw stuff out.

But I guess that's just me wanting others to make my life easier (even if it also encourages me to do the right thing environmentally).

Weekly Comic Reviews for June 16th, 2010 -- POSSIBLE SPOILERS

I'll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum. I only had one book this week, the Incredible Hulk #610, but I also read volume 2 of Chew. I may have a few more TPB reviews after this weekend.

Incredible Hulk #610 -- Just to get it out of the way, I love Pelletier's pencils and this book is intense visually. The detail but into the work was amazing and the big two page spread at the end was everything you could have wanted it to be. I thought the writing was good but I really haven't been a fan of this World War Hulks storyline. There were a few times I found myself questioning the overall story and then just deciding not to worry about it. I did find it funny that in a room filled with the smartest people that it was Samson who saw a weakness in their machine beforehand (though I guess he was the one responsible for building that part, at least I think he was). Speaking of Samson, I may have to go back and look up how and why he got hooked up in all this to begin with. Anyway, it's a great book in what I found to be a lackluster story. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next. We saw that Skaar doesn't want the dumb Hulk so either he's changed his mind or he's thinking this isn't the dumb Hulk any more.

Chew volume 2 -- I decided to give this series another try. In my review of the first volume I thought it was well done but possibly not for me and I figured why not give it a bit more time. Unfortunately I felt the same way after this volume. Really well written and drawn really well but just not working for me. So I think that's it for me on this series. Definitely worth checking out but possibly reserved for those with a particular taste in comics (see, I made a funny... Okay, only those who read the books may get it and it's not that funny but I'm tired).

So that's it for now. And I know I haven't really been burning up this blog with posts, and I'm really trying to work on it.

Weekly Comic Reviews for June 9th, 2010

I had no "monthly" books this week but I did pick up Irredeemable volume 3 so I figure I'll give that a quick review.

Irredeemable volume 3 -- Volume 2 sort of disappointed me slightly but I was hoping volume 3 would turn it around. Unfortunately it didn't really work for me. My biggest issue with it was that there seemed to be so much build up about one character's big dark secret that seemed rather forced, like they were hitting me over the head repeatedly with this idea of a big dark secret that was going to tear everyone apart, and by the time it's revealed I was sort of like "meh". In some ways it's like the solicitations that say "this is the biggest event ever" and then you read it and think "well, it was okay I guess". And there just didn't seem to be enough advancement in the story or the characters (and the introduction of a new character that I didn't really feel anything for) that this volume just left me a little empty. I don't see myself buying volume 4. I have heard that this series is working for some though and I would say it might be worth checking out, I just don't find it working for me.

Weekly Comic Reviews for June 2nd, 2010

Only the one book this week.

Serenity: Float Out #1 (of 1) -- I don't want to spoil anything but I knew it! I absolutely knew it. I had an inkling after watching the series on DVD and was absolutely convinced after the movie. So having confirmation on the last page felt nice. But getting to the book, if this was a single issue of an ongoing series then I'd say it was a really good filler issue. As a stand alone that doesn't really tie into anything at the moment, it felt like just a little tease of what we could be seeing. The story was nice though I thought the execution in some parts could have been a bit better, like the story with three ships, I was a little lost through parts of that. Overall, an important read for Serenity/Firefly fans but it would be nice if it was part of something more.

Just a little depressing

So the other night I'm talking to one of my aunts on the phone and she starts telling me about how a friend of my cousin (her daughter) was found dead in his apartment from a heart attack. She tells me about how he was 49, always lived alone, never had a woman in his life, didn't have many friends, and always tagged along with my cousin's husband and their family. And then she says "So of course I thought of you" and began telling me to look after myself and such. Though to be honest, I couldn't really tell you what she said because I was so taken aback by that line.

Of course she only sees me every 5 years or so and doesn't really have any clue what's going on in my life but it makes me wonder what "reports" she's getting from the local family members that would make her think of me. That's how that side of the family works, someone stubs their toe and suddenly the phones light up with reports of possible loss of limbs and then the rumours about how you did it on purpose start circulating and growing.

I guess I should be happy she thinks about me at all. :) The joys of family, gotta love 'em.

"It's my style"

The recent discussion of the lettering in a certain vampire themed comic has brought this argument up to the forefront of my brain again. When is it an artistic style or choice and when is it just wrong? Unfortunately, I don't think there's an answer even though I've been told otherwise. I look at books that have horrible layouts, artwork that is filled with traced celebrities who do not reflect the emotion or action of the comic, no feet, and lettering that looks like it was randomly thrown on the page covering up a good chunk of the art and I think "No, this is all wrong." But then the creators come back and say it's their "style" and the 100,000 readers who are buying it up are quick to jump to their defense because they loved it. So can something that seems so wrong to me (and usually a handful of others) really be that bad if it's working for so many people?

Some might say that yes, that it and the people enjoying it are wrong. Just like how TV shows and movies are always wrong despite working for millions of people. But at some point, it's art and part of that is connecting with the viewer/reader. Even if they seem to be doing it wrong to some of us, they must be doing something right to reach that many people to the point where they will tune in week after week or shell out another $13 to see the movie again (and $30 for the extended director's cut DVD).

This is why I often leave disclaimers like "in my opinion" or "didn't work for me" in my reviews. I know I can sometimes have a pretty analytical approach when I read some comics, picking out times where and reasons why the art or writing failed to connect me with the story in some way. And I know a majority of readers aren't like me but I can only speak for myself.

So I guess the way I see this sort of thing is that I'll try not to say anything in the writing, drawing, colouring, lettering, etc of comics is really done "wrong" but maybe "wrong for me".

But here's where I flip it. I think any comic creator who comes out saying "no, that's my style" is missing an important point. When someone says their stuff was done wrong it means at the very least it was done wrong for them, it took them out of the art and story and ruined the experience to some degree. Now you can decide this was just one, two, or a handful of people and write it off but to simply dismiss it is doing yourself and your future work a big disservice. You're depriving yourself of learning what works and doesn't work for people. You're limiting yourself of never producing anything better than what you're doing now. At a computer conference I went to a while back they had "fly on the wall" sessions where people discussed your paper and you weren't allowed to respond to their feedback. The idea was that your paper had to be good enough to get the point across on its own without you there to defend it. It was a great experience. Sometimes artists need to take that approach to, you can't always be in every reader's ear telling them how they should be experiencing your work, your work should stand on its own. And if it's not working for someone then listen to why and decide for yourself what that means for your work, both current and future.

But this is all just my style and I'm probably doing things all wrong.

Weekly Comic Reviews for May 26th, 2010

Just a couple of quick reviews this week.

Fall of the Hulks: Savage She-Hulks #3 -- As you may or may not know, I haven't been a fan of the whole "Fall of the Hulks"/"World War Hulks" stuff but I did like this particular issue. Solid art and good story telling (though the time travelling nature of Lyra gets a little weird for me). The ending felt a little weird and reminded me that this is just a side story to the major battle. Overall, I enjoyed the series and I'm glad I decided to pick it up.

The Guild #3 -- Like the first two issues, I found this one to be well written. I sort of felt the art in the "in game" parts could have been a bit better in parts but it was still effective in its storytelling. I enjoyed this series as much if not more than the original web episodes. If you're a fan of the series or a gamer you may be interested in checking it out.

Quick TPB Review (Spoilers for Ex Machina)

I read the latest Ex Machina TPB (volume9, "Ring out the Old") and I have to admit, I was actually a little disappointed. But be warned, this post will contain spoilers

I have enjoyed this series and one thing I've actually liked about it was avoiding making the story about his superpowers and instead focusing on his role in politics and the people around him with the powers remaining in the background. So I enjoyed the first bit of this TPB that dealt with finding a comic team to tell his story in comic form or the environmentalist story but once it got into talk about magic cubes and preparing Earth for invasion I started to lose interest. I suppose they have to eventually reveal the secrets of his powers but it felt like the story was getting away from what I liked about it. I hope I'm wrong and the next volume changes my mind but we'll have to wait and see.

And please, if you're reading this monthly please avoid posting any spoilers in the comments.

Another week with no reviews

I had no new books out this week but I did grab volume 2 of Atomic Robo. I'm not sure if I enjoyed this volume as much as the first but I still really enjoyed it. I found myself laughing quite a bit throughout (though it also had a few more serious or touching moments, like in the short stories in the end for example). The art, the writing, it's all really great. So it's official, I'll be picking this series up (in TPBs, I'm still planning to stop collecting individual issues once Buffy's done). I also lent volume 1 to a co-worker and it looks like he'll be picking up the series as well. So yeah, I recommend checking it out. And hey, they have free stuff to try on your iPhone (in the free Comixology app) or online at their site.

I also have the latest Ex Machina and volume one of Promethea to read.

Weekly Comic Reviews for May 12th, 2010

I'll refrain from spoiling the big reveals this week. I only picked up one book, Incredible Hulk, but I also know what was revealed in the other Hulk book.

Incredible Hulk #609 -- Just to get this out of the way, the artwork (from Pelletier's pencils to the colours) was awesome. High energy and great expressive emotion. The writing was good as well and I enjoyed this issue but I'm still just rather tired of this World War Hulks storyline and the whole Red Hulk/Red She-Hulk stuff. I'm glad that after 3 years we finally have the answers but I don't care and it was just painful to go through (not in a "Oh, I need to know way", it was just painful to read what I felt were poorly written stories). As much as I like this issue I just can't recommend it as I don't really care for what's going on in the Hulk books.

And that's it. It also looks like I won't have any books to review next week. In other news, my shop is now selling their TPBs and hardcovers at 20% off the US price which is a huge deal. I guess it's their way of taking on Amazon and other online retailers. I'm definitely going to try to support them in their attempt.

Fan Expo Canada 2010

I know it's a little sad just how excited I get for Fan Expo Canada but it's the only convention I get out to (the "comic conventions" in Ottawa consist mostly of stores selling their back issues, unless you are in to Manga/Anime, they have better conventions for those) so I have a full year of build up for it. And now that they are updating their guest lists on their website I'm getting more excited. The horror list didn't really do much for me but I'm not much of a horror fan. The sci fi list on the other hand, I am pretty stoked about. William Shatner, Adam West, Burt Ward, Julie Newmar, James Marsters, Felicia Day,... It's going to be an expensive 3 days for me. Would it be too cheesy to get Felicia to sign a Codex sketch drawn by me? :)

Weekly Comic Reviews for May 5th, 2010

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #35 -- First off, thanks to some websites putting up a teaser image for issue #36 without hiding it behind spoiler notices the end of this issue was ruined. So thanks again for spoiling something in this series (though not as big as the Twilight reveal). *sigh* I've been tempted to stop reviewing this series because I really haven't been enjoying it but I do have to say, as a single issue this one felt a bit better than the last few. We finally get people actually trying to explain things instead of just speaking cryptically for 2 straight issues. And stuff actually happens. But I'm still not enjoying the story and the end just makes this feel more and more like fan-fiction. I'm actually happy that there's only 5 more issues to go and I just hope it gets turned around somehow.

Goats Webcomic

Jonathan Rosenberg has announced his 13 year old webcomic Goats will be going on hiatus until he figures out what he's going to do next. To be honest I've never read this webcomic but wow, 13 years is damn impressive. I find it sad every time a webcomic has to come to an untimely end because the creators just weren't able to find a source of continuous income, especially when it's clear that the creators have put as much effort into it as Jonathan has.

And I think Jon does bring up a good point, webcomics focusing on long running storylines often are harder to keep going financially. People looking through webcomics have so much to look at and they want that instant gratification instead of having to read through hundreds of pages to understand what's going on. And merchandise based on your comic (like t-shirts, prints, etc) may not do as well against the cute zombie kitten or whatever other novelty the next webcomic has. Not to mention that it will take quite a bit of your time and focus off your comic, always trying to keep in mind "How can I sell this on a t-shirt" while you're coming up with your next few pages.

I don't have any answers to this. Obviously we can't financially support every person who wants to make webcomics/comics for a living, and some really aren't good enough that they should be supported. But it would be nice if there was a slightly easier way for creators (writers in particular) to make a living without their webcomic taking a back seat to the t-shirts, prints, and whatever other merchandise they're currently relying on to make a living.

I guess I should just be happy that I have my full time job and wish Jon and all those other webcomic artists trying to make a living at it the best of luck.

A Couple of Fan Art Sketches

I've been wanting to do up some fan art for a while now but just haven't had the time. So I decided to cheat and double up the sketches. All characters are owned by their respective creators and were used without their permission.
First up we have Smash from the "Smash" webcomic by Chris and Kyle Bolton and the Araknid Kid from "The Araknid Kid" by Josh Alves (though Josh is currently working on Heropotamus at the moment).
And next we have Billy Butterman from Andy Belanger's Bottle of Awesome (hence the bottle) and Sam (as the Peanut Butter Genie, hence the peanut butter jar) from Caanan's Celadore (Caanan is current working on Max Overacts).