Indie Squid Kid

design by Ross Zietz

Hey look, it’s another shirt from Threadless! Clearly inspired by The Pirates of the Caribbean movies, “Kraken Snackin’” depicts the fate that befalls so many unfortunate sailing vessels. There’s a lot to like about this design; the blood-red tentacles, the massive disc of the full moon, the snapping rigging lines, the tiny airborne sailor…but I think my favorite detail is the lone parrot winging its way to freedom.

Guys and Girls Tees (Asphalt Regular Fit) still available in all sizes for $20. Buy it now from Threadless!

design by Joe Carr

If you have to go, go out in a blaze of glory. And by “blaze of glory” I of course mean “a fight with a space squid, using some kind of laser staff, while standing on the outer hull of your rocket ship which is careening at full speed into fiery oblivion.”

This is a new reprint of an old design that has been out of stock for ages. As of this writing, it costs $20 and is available in all Guys and Girls sizes. Buy it now from Threadless!

World's Finest by Guy Davis

(Via Aw Yeah Comics!)

"Don't Cross The Streams" by Andy Kuhn

(Via Hello-Zombie!)

Kazar (?) by Jordi Bernet

(Via Spaceship Rocket)

Wolverine by David Rubin

(Via Spaceship Rocket)

Aquaman and Topo by DocShaner

(Via Time Travel and Rocket-Powered Apes!)

Judge Anderson by Duncan Fegredo

(Via Aw Yeah Comics!)

Here are two different screen shots of today’s Google Doodle, an interactive journey to the depths of the ocean as viewed through a series of brass portholes (naturally spelling out the word “Google”). When you mouse over the little joy stick, you can spy a cornucopia of sea life, including: flying fish, jellyfish, a Megamouth shark, a trio of nautiluses, and the tentacles of an enormous cephalopod.

Joyeux Anniversaire Jules!

Via Sacred Squid

The Internet, it seems, is a nigh-infinite source of cephalopod related material. If you, like myself, are a ceph-blogger that has gotten behind on things, the thought of diving back into the fray can be rather daunting. However, I have so much cool material I am dying to share with you, that I’m taking the plunge anyway!

©DC Comics

This is a panel from the beginning of Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #2 by Grant Morrison (art by Frazer Irving). This mini-series, the final issue of which came out today, follows a time-displaced Bruce Wayne as he claws his way back to the present day, experiencing various time periods along the way. This Lovcraftin mass of incandescent tentacles is a (the?) Hyper-Fauna, an interdimensional beastie that appears to be connected to the Ancestor Box, an alien device used by Darkseid (a major supervillain, basically the god of evil) to send Batman back in time, rewrite his continuity, and turn him into a living weapon that will destroy the universe on his return…or something like that?

Honestly, that’s where I get kind of hazy on the whole thing. The Return of Bruce Wayne is the culmination of Morrison’s epic run on various Batman titles, a sprawling web of stories that are densely packed with layers upon layers of references to the Caped Crusader’s entire 71 year history. So, as you might imagine, it’s a tad hard to follow at times. That being said, it’s totally worth the extra effort needed to drill down into it all. For anyone willing to take the plunge, I recommend checking out these annotations. And these.

©Marvel Comics

This is the cover art for a new one-shot ongoing series (it came out last week) called, I think, X-Men: Curse of the Mutants: Namor: The First Mutant…which, I’m sure you’ll agree, is an awful lot of colons for a single comic book title. This story was written by Stuart Moore with interior art by Ariel Olivetti, and it deals with the Sub-Mariner’s quest for Dracula’s (yes, that Dracula) severed head, which, in turn, appears to be crucial to the plot of the ongoing main X-Men series.

Full disclosure here, I rarely follow Marvel titles, and I haven’t read this issue (or any of the current X-titles). I did page through it yesterday at the comic shop, and it didn’t seem to contain any actual cephalopods. Prince Namor’s Throne O’ Tentacles™ also seemed to be absent from the story, existing only here in Jae Lee’s wonderfully creepy cover.

See this previous post for more information on Namor the Sub-Mariner.

"H.P. Lovecraft" ©MirrorCradle

Yesterday marked the 120th anniversary of the birth of H.P. Lovecraft, creator of the Cthulhu Mythos. I’ve been working my way through the collected stories of Lovecraft all summer, and you can hear some of my thoughts about them on the Random Signal Droidcast, Episode 004: Lovin’ Lovecraft. Also, in case you missed it, be sure to check out last year’s Cthulhu Week.

Yesterday was my birthday, and my brother-in-law Jeff got me this awesome shirt. I wore it to watch Inception, which is neither here nor there, but damn that was a cool movie.

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking…didn’t I already do a post about “Subway Squid?” Yes, yes I did.

However, this particular shirt was purchased from ThinkGeek, the online emporium of artifacts recovered from the cultural intersection of Hip and Nerdy. “Subway Squid” is their first piece of Gama-Go merch, and it comes in Black for $27.99 ($28.99 for XXL). Incidentally, it appears that this shirt is no longer available directly from Gama-Go.

Buy it now from ThinkGeek!

I never thought I say it, but Gama-Go, please stop making so many awesome squid things!!! Seriously, I can’t keep up!

“Squid Wreck” costs $12 and comes packed in a custom box. Other pint glass designs include “Yeti Forest” and “Whoooooooo”.

If only I had a job, I would totally purchase this glass and fill it with delicious beer…but you should still buy it now from Gama-Go.