Multiplex

Multiplex #807: Pop Culture Reference

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:00 -0600

Ooookay, so one year of grad school down, two or two and a half to go!

I’m going to try to get back to a Monday/Thursday schedule for the summer — but don’t quote me on that yet.

I also have to get Book Two off to the printer as soon as possible, continue developing the Multiplex iOS app, work on Multiplex: The Card Game a little, and maybe even get started on Book Three. Plus some other stuff. So… busy summer.

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Multiplex #806: I’ve Never Seen Its Equal

Mon, 13 May 2013 00:00:00 -0600

…So no, they’re not in costumes in the theater. I thought they gray text was a giveaway there: I’ve used that to indicate voices from phones, radios, or theater speakers since forever!

Jason and Kurt’s promo for The Princess Bride concludes on Friday. See you then!

And then I’ll be on summer break, having finally wrapped up my first year of grad school and my first semester of teaching my own drawing class (as a graduate instructor in grad school). Fun times. I’ll need to relax for a few days and then I can get cranking on Book 2, Kickstarter rewards for Book 2, and maybe some bonus comics for Book 3. But I’m getting ahead of myself, there.

Incidentally, the title comes from a line I cut for space. I wanted to have Jason/“Inigo” ask the Man in Black if he had seen The Princess Bride, to which he would reply with that line, which is straight from this scene. Maybe in the Director’s Cut of Book 7.

You can watch the original scene below:

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Multiplex #805: They Don't Make ’Em Like They Used to

Fri, 10 May 2013 00:00:00 -0600

You know what would have been a great movie summer? 1982.

Conan the Barbarian, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Blade Runner, The Thing, The Road Warrior, E.T., and Poltergeist, are all pretty great. Plus Tron, Rocky 3, Secret of NIMH, and The Beastmaster, if you’re slumming it a little, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High if you include comedies. And all of them came out between May and August!

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Multiplex #804: Homesick

Mon, 06 May 2013 00:00:00 -0600

It took me long enough, but after a tease in both Theater Hopper and a Multiplex guest strip by Tom, I’ve finally brought over Jimmy. With Iron Man 3 out this weekend (haven’t caught it yet — end of the semester crazy times), it seemed like the right time. Sorry it took me five months, Tom!

If you aren’t familiar with Theater Hopper, you might go on a Theater Hopper archive dive with the “Jimmy” tag and get caught up on his old adventures in Iowa, but you won’t need to be familiar with them to get the idea.

Incidentally, here’s Coming Soon’s article about Luke Evans being cast in F. Javier Gutiérrez’s reboot of The Crow.

We’ll get back to Jason and Kurt’s film series on Friday, so see you then. I think I’ll be switching back to Monday/Thursday updates over the summer, by the way. I’ll let you know if/when that happens.

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Multiplex #803: Refraction

Fri, 03 May 2013 00:00:00 -0600

You might be able to guess what this means. If not, I ain’t telling. See you Monday!

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Multiplex #802: Motivational Speaker

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0600

You didn’t think their films series was going to be a huge success straight out of the gate, did you?

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Multiplex #801: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0600

This will get explained indirectly or otherwise in the next strip or so, but since it’s not supposed to be a point of suspense, I’ll save you the math: 24 tickets means they made $192.

For context, looking at this past Tuesday on Box Office Mojo, the film it would have replaced would have made roughly $100–130 (12–16 tickets) the whole day — so maybe four people in the one screening they replaced.

20 extra people doesn’t sound too bad until you factor in the rental cost of the movie, which would have been around $300.

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Multiplex #800: See It with a Bud

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0600

The title of this strip was one of the tag lines to Dazed and Confused.

Oh, and I guess I hit #800. Bully for me! Longtime readers know I don’t really care about the whole round numbers thing (especially since — like I always like to remind you guys — there are about 50 pages of bonus strips in Multiplex: Enjoy Your Show and Multiplex: There and Back Again (available… later this year, but you can read the bonus strips in the Chapters 6–10 eBooks). I’ll make a slightly bigger deal about it when the 8 year anniversary rolls around in July.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

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Multiplex #799: Remake, Reboot, Recycle (spoiler-free version)

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0600

At least one of the movies Jason names could be seen as a spoiler, so… spoiler warning, obviously. Don’t come crying to me if you click on that link and didn’t want to know.

Anyway, this seems to be the consensus about Oblivion: it’s pretty, it’s got good action, and so incredibly derivative that you’ll get a little bored. Aside from the movies Jason named (at least one of which is pretty apparent from the trailer, but whatever), there are supposedly nods to Planet of the Apes, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Mad Max, La Jetée, Minority Report, The Omega Man and Blade Runner.

EDIT: A recent LA Times article cites a bunch of reviews talking about Oblivion’s derivative nature. Give it a look-see if you’re curious.

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Multiplex #798: Adaptation

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0600

Most of you won’t remember all the way back to #16, but that’s when Jason mentioned The Magnificent Ambersons to Kurt and Becky. It is indeed actually playing at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago right now, and since it relates to the current storyline about the classic film series, sort of, I thought Jason should see it… and bring Becky with him. (This bonus strip from Book 1 is relevant to this strip, too, I think.)

The Magnificent Ambersons was unavailable on DVD in the US until 2011, incidentally, though you could find bootlegs or imports if you tried really hard. I caught a screening of it at the Music Box several years ago, myself.

Keep your eyes peeled over at the Deleted Scenes blog for another comic by me — not #799; that’ll be Friday’s regular update!

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Multiplex #797: Change or Die

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0600

Some of your comments on Monday’s strip were extra amusing to me in light of this strip.

Anyway. It occurred to me as I was scripting this strip that it really gets at one of the central themes in this phase of Multiplex: the movie industry and movie theater industry’s rapidly changing states at this time. It seems like the industry has changed more in the last seven years than in the thirty before it, because of home video, because of digital downloads and streaming, and any number of other factors.

Hopefully I’m not just indulging myself by focusing on these topics for the next… while… but it seems natural to me that the characters would have to deal with them.

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Multiplex #796: Strange Bedfellows

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0600

Say whaaaaaaaaat? Yeah, okay, so this isn’t exactly a shocking reveal, but Jason and the Blogger’s conversation will continue on Friday all the same.

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Multiplex #795: Escape from Reality

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0600

Roger Ebert
(1942–2013)

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Multiplex #794: Let’s Not Do the Time Warp Again

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0600

Okay! See you Friday! It’ll be in the late afternoon as per usual.

I’ve got a few movies picked out already, but feel free to keep talking about what you’d like to see. I will say this: Rocky Horror is out; The Room is out (in-universe excuse: it’s playing at the Music Box in May); and Jason would sooner show a Bayformers marathon than Birdemic.

Also, I refuse to watch any of those three movies. I would do anything for Multiplex, but I won’t do that.

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Multiplex #793: Etiquette

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0600

There will be three this week. (Wednesday’s will be short, continuing straight from this one; it just seemed to make more sense to have them separate strips rather than one long one.)

Sarah (behind the desk, in Kurt’s spot) hasn’t appeared in a long time, and she’s only appeared a couple of times, so you’ll be forgiven if you don’t recognize her, but as you can tell from the context, she’s one of the managers. Specifically, she’s the other assistant manager these days, alongside Neil.

Amy (the redhead) hasn’t appeared in a while, either — and she’s probably appeared more in the bonus strips from the Chapter eBooks/print books than in the regular strips, but you may remember her as a suck-up who complains constantly.

See you Wednesday!

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