Intimidation Game

(Est. 1970) "The Milwaukee Admirals are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They play in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. They have been affiliated with the NHL's Nashville Predators since that team's founding in 1998."

Design by: Studio Simon (Louisville, KY)

Opinion/Notes: When I first saw the Google results for the old logo I couldn't believe that that was the real thing. But, indeed it was and it was totally bonkers. Everything about it was so wrong but in such a charming, naive way that it's actually kind of sad to see it go. Still, no team sporting that logo can be taken seriously and the new logo invokes the Pirates of the Caribbean vibe with a menacing skull and some extra spiky typography. The skull/hat/uniform drawing is okay for what it is — minor league hockey — and it now works like a proper sports logo. The wordmark is not my cup of tea but it's admirable what they did with the "S" to get rid of the space between it and the "L" and to make the logo symmetrical. The better elements of the identity are the detail "A" on the admiral's hat and the "MA" bone alternate logo. As far as bone-based logos go those are top notch.

Related Links: Admirals press release
Admirals uniform sheet

Select Quote: The new logo is an evolution of the Admirals last logo and features a more fierce and determined sailor. The sailor is accented by the upper portion of a naval uniform and a hat that was inspired by the one worn by the Admirals "Captain Crunch" logo from the late 70s and early 80s. The hat is adorned with an "A" composed by three bones.

The Admirals secondary mark, dubbed the M&A, is the letters "M" and "A" interwoven in bone script and connected with a hockey stick for the horizontal bar of the "A".

The plan made me feel dishonest and creepy, so it took me a long time to send my novel out under a man’s name. But each time I read a study about unconscious bias, I got a little closer to trying it.

Read more...

Emerica!

Last month, Scott Walker, the current Governor of the state of Wisconsin, was the 17th (and probably last) Republican to announce his candidacy for the 2016 Presidential election. (The Democrats only have 5 candidates). Aside from Hillary's logo, Walker's has drawn the most attention for its similarity in concept to that of America's Best, an eyeglass and contact company with 400 retail locations. The logo and identity was designed in-house, at Scott Walker Inc..

I'll tackle this first as it's probably clouding everyone's judgment of what is possibly one of the best executed campaign logos of the 2016 Presidential election. The argument is clear: both use the American flag as a starting point to create an "E". It's a clever concept but it's not exactly groundbreaking nor does it require a Ph.D. in conceptualizingness to come up with it. This is not a knock on either America's Best nor Scott Walker Inc. but to point out that it is humanly possible for two people or groups of people to arrive at a similar solution, especially when either the name or the subject is "America". Look! America's Best also uses blue type on a white background! I bet they copied that too, right? No. It's America. It's obvious.

For the record: I am not a Republican. I did not get paid by Scott Walker, Inc.. And I have no stake in clearing the name of anyone associated with this logo. What I think we need to see here is that someone who knows very well what they are doing did this logo for Scott Walker. Whether they saw America's Best logo and directly or indirectly copied it is impossible to judge — America's Best isn't Target, or Walmart, or Nike, it's a company with very limited visibility and there are only two retail locations in Wisconsin so I doubt the Scott Walker designers were driving past it every single day. But, hey, let's say they did, they at least showed how to do it right because everything about America's Best logo is so poorly done you have to wonder whether they need some contact lenses of their own.

I asked the team at Scott Walker Inc. if they wanted to comment on this issue but they opted not to answer. I don't blame them, I don't think they need to defend the logo.

---

I'm sure haters are going to claim that Scott Walker Inc. did all these graphics after the controversy in order to make it seem like they came up with it. Save it. Concept aside, which is good, the execution of this logo is very good. Of all the underlying grids we see, the dark blue "Construction" image is perfect. The use of the baseline grid should get you all hot and bothered and it shows the lovely relationship between the thickness of the letters and the simplicity of the "E"-flag. Even the choice of Interstate, which is also an obvious one when it comes to things-that-need-to-look-American, has been elevated with the right choice of weight, kerning, and sizing. The logo downsizes to "WALKER16" quite nicely and obviously the social media icon boils down to the "E"-flag. So, believe what you will on plagiarism, but this is a finely tuned logo that makes the other Presidential candidate logos look like chumps.

buy this print!

This was a sketch under the original Straw Feminist comic but I redrew it for the book. Those crazy gals! You never know where they are lurking! Moon colony here we come!

Speaking of feminists on the moon, I would be remiss not to mention this: have you been reading Bitch Planet? I read the first one, I need to get more!

Step Aside Pops is coming soon! Drawn and Quarterly has a preview here!

The first starred review is in from Publisher's Weekly.

Pick up the August 3 issue of The New Yorker because I have a cartoon in it!

And lastly, here is an interview at Comic Book Resources where we talk about kids books and more!

Before plying myself with gross quantities of beer or liquor (or both), I like to ensure I’ve lined my belly with sufficient quantities of foodstuff. I’m not sure if it’s true—I got a D- in high school biology, and therefore lack even the most fundamental understanding of metabolic function—but if life experience (read: years of moderate to heavy drinking) has taught me anything, it’s that eating before (binge) drinking generally leads to more favorable outcomes than not eating before (binge) drinking. Meaning, fewer and less violent hangovers, less frequent and less public vomiting, fewer and less embarrassing viral mishaps, etc.

Read more...

mayordog:

you got mud on ya face

ya big mud face 

smearin that mud all over ya face

First things first. “HitchBOT,” for all practical purposes, was a garbage can with an iPhone in it. It could not walk or stand or fire lasers or open a can of beans. By what standard was this piece of useless shit a “robot” in the first place? The answer: a shabby standard. A Canadian one.

Read more...

Well, you know how it goes, another day, another batch of racially-charged Hulk Hogan comments. I have a feeling these stories may continue seep out for some time. The latest damaging comments come from a jailhouse conversation Hogan had with his son Nick back in 2008 (can’t blame Gawker for this one). Nick was of course serving time on a reckless driving charge, after the crash that left his friend John Graziano disabled for life.

Before you read any further, a warning: This conversation is pretty mortifying. Both because it’s totally racially insensitive, and because Hulk comes off as the most cringeworthy, uncool “cool dad” in history. Get ready to be red in the face from anger and second-hand embarrassment. Here’s the conversation, courtesy of Bay News 9…

Hulk: You and me ‘been sitting on some serious phone, phone dialogue here, n*gga.

Nick: Yeah, nibb-ah.

Hulk: N*gga, n*gga, that means, that means you’re my best friend.

Hulk: You know that God gave you this vibe and this, this, energy that you and I are going to live forever, bro. I just hope we don’t come back as a couple, I don’t want to say it, blizz-ack gizz-uys, you know what I’m saying?

Nick: Brutal [Nick and Hulk laugh].

Nick: It’s down in St. Pete, and it’s mixed-race, and we get along with everybody, so that’s fine.

Hulk: Your mom went there and said it was mainly blizz, you know what I’m sizz-aying?

Nick: Mm-hm.

Hulk: And that some of the ladies there that, you know, run the school are nice blizz lizz-adies, you know?

Nick: Mm-hm… I would go down there, I would make friends with all those kids down there. I guarantee it. Because you know how all the blizz pizz love us.

Blizz pizz? What are you even talking about? You can almost write this off as a wildly out-of-touch old man trying to relate to his horrible son, but then there’s the part where Hulk is just, “Hope we don’t die and come back as black people!” out of nowhere. I’m pretty sure a person who’s not racist never has a gem like that even cross their mind.

Keep it tuned for all the latest news on Hulk Hogan being a guy you’d never, ever want to hang out with.

via Bay News 9

The competition for song of the summer was over last winter: it’s Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen,” and I will brook no dissent on this. It’s also Royals outfielder Lorenzo Cain’s walk-up music, and a refrain from it has infiltrated the Kansas City clubhouse, to the consternation of reporters:

Read more...

Pedro Martinez deservedly entered the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, putting a cherry on top of a career that saw him dominant while also having a pretty good time (except for that one time he was caught at a cock fight). But as Sam Laird points out over at Mashable, the date of Martinez’s induction hold the key to a pretty humorous story involving Pedro and an interview with Sports Illustrated for Kids.

As it turns out, Sunday was also Sandra Bullock’s birthday and Martinez shared a very revealing tidbit about Bullock with the magazine as covered in the book Feeding the Monster: How Money, Smarts, and Nerve Took a Team to the Top by Seth Mnookin:

The SI for Kids reporter asked Martinez his favorite color, according to Mnookin.

“Green,” Martinez answered.

The reporter asked Martinez his favorite book, according to Mnookin.

“Whatever,” Martinez answered.

The reporter asked Martinez if he had a secret ambition, according to Mnookin.

“I would like to fuck Sandra Bullock,” Martinez answered, grinning…

Then the reporter asked the same question again, expecting a better reply.

Martinez had indeed rethought his answer.

“I would like to sleep with Sandra Bullock,” he said.

That’s why Pedro Martinez is probably the last of a certain breed of baseball player. I have my dreams that he and Manny Ramirez can team and start their own restaurant together now that both are out of baseball and living the good life. Then I remember that Manny is probably somewhere eating cereal and staring at cloud to be bothered with running a restaurant.

Still, as pointed out at Mashable, it’s funny how little tidbits like this seem to sync up over time. Happy little accidents as Bob Ross would say.

(Via Mashable)

Ah, minor-league baseball… home to ridiculous promos, outrageous food and the 7th-inning race chock-full of people in costumes running around and embarrassing themselves. In this video from the West Michigan Whitecaps, three children dress up as appliances in the DTE Energy “Home Gas Showdown.” Yes, you read that right. Appliances… a dryer, a range and a hot-water heater.

Look how happy they are.

Right off the bat, things go sideways when the range face-plants in spectacular fashion.

Then, the dryer followed suit.

Then BAH GAWD, that hot-water heater has a family. Take it away, Jim Ross.

Congratulations to the dryer for its perseverance, and its ability to fight through the minefield known as the “Home Gas Showdown.”

(H/t: Rook_SpartyOn)

I Am Cait, the new E! series that follows Caitlyn Jenner in her new life post-gender transition, premiered last night. If you’ve been following the story on magazine covers and angry dudes’ Twitter feeds and so forth, nothing that happens in the first episode was much of a surprise: As promised , Caitlyn meets her daughter Kylie for the first time, and reveals herself to her mother. What is refreshing is that the network behind such progressive entertainment as What Would Ryan Lochte Do? could offer us a dignified, uplifting look at a real transgender person’s day-to-day existence.

Read more...

The beautiful lug you see in the picture above is a good bear, who after munching at a 20-pound bag of dog food decided he needed to take himself a little post-meal nap.

Read more...

As the title suggests, the upcoming stupid-ass movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will feature Batman and Superman opposing each other, at least for a while, before they inevitably come together to form what will become the Justice League of America. I do not follow this garbage film franchise, because it is stupid, but Wikipedia tells me that this film shares a continuity with Man of Steel, the bad 2013 movie in which Superman saved Earth by punching down a bunch of tall buildings with people in them and then snapping the bad guy’s spine with his hands.

Read more...

Hovertext: And why don't equatorial people float?

New comic!
Today's News:

VISIONARY: So there’s this dog.

PBS SUITS: We’re listening.

VISIONARY: And he loves books.

[nodding, nodding]

VISIONARY: He knows all about classic books.

SUIT #1: Adorable.

SUIT #2: Like a cartoon dog?

VISIONARY: No, no. A live Jack Russell Terrier.

[…]

VISIONARY: He belongs to a boy named Joe.

SUIT #1: Nice.

SUIT #3: And Joe reads him the books?

VISIONARY: No, Joe couldn’t care less about books.

SUIT #3: Oh. Okay.

VISIONARY: Joe and his friends’ day-to-day scrapes resemble the plotlines of great novels, and Wishbone like, picks up on it.

SUIT #2: Wishbone?

VISIONARY: The dog.

SUIT #2: Oh.

SUIT #3: The name seems like more of a turkey thing…?

SUIT #1: Should we name him something literary? Something like Dogstoyev-

VISIONARY: No. His name is Wishbone.

Read more The Pitch Meeting for Wishbone at The Toast.

BABY: [knocks plate off of table]
ME: that's right
in postmodernism we reject the notion of 'totality'

 

ME: what book do you want to read
do you want to read 'Go, Dog, Go' or 'Pat The Bunny'
BABY: buhh
ME: are you saying Bunny?
BABY: buhh
ME: that's right
resist the metanarrative
here is no such thing as outside-of-the-text
the dog can go nowhere

Read more How To Talk To Babies About Postmodernism at The Toast.

Young sports fans experiencing their first heartbreaks are always good, clean, family fun. Maybe it’s because they remind you, a more mature, cynical sports fan, of that special time in your life when you could actually feel something. One of the sharpest pains a young fan has to endure is that of your favorite player leaving your favorite team. It’s a cruel feeling of abandonment harmless enough for adults to smile at and put on YouTube.

Like this little St. Louis Blues fan, whose favorite player, American hero T.J. Oshie, was traded to the Washington Capitals on July 5:

Well, when Oshie and the Capitals saw a young fan torn between player and team, they pounced. Oshie sent Libby a massive care package of swag and blew her little mind:

Lots of people beyond the Caps saw that video, enough for its star, Libby Lu, to make it onto ESPN’s daytime programming, where she was suitably adorable. When asked why Oshie was her favorite player, she did us all proud by responding, “Because he gets in hockey fights.”

(Via Monumental Network)

1. Sam Bradford

Knows all the quarterbacks and would give a fair assessment of their skills.

2. Drew Brees

Is old and smart. Surely knows his quarterbacks.

3. Cam Newton

Could make a fair quarterback list and be entertaining about it.

4. Alex Smith

He definitely knows all the quarterbacks but I worry he’s too nice and therefore concerned about offending people so there would likely be unnecessary ties.

5. Aaron Rodgers

Knows all the quarterbacks and has a good sense of their abilities, but I fear he wouldn’t take this seriously and would probably throw in a Princess Bride reference just to be cute.

6. Brian Hoyer

Has backed up enough quarterbacks to know which ones are good.

7. Carson Palmer

Veteran savvy and time spent watching the playoffs instead of participating makes him a formidable ranker.

8. Geno Smith

Remember, quarterback ability doesn’t correspond with quarterback ranking ability. I’ve seen Geno’s ranking in action and lemme tell ya, he can make all the rankings.

9. Tony Romo

Unfairly maligned ranking skills. History will remember him for his stellar ranking abilities.

10. Teddy Bridgewater

Small hands have me concerned he would struggle counting quarterbacks on his fingers, but otherwise solid.

11. Blake Bortles

Bortles had to crack the top 15 in something.

12. Andrew Luck

I assume he’d rather be ranking buildings, flying buttresses or other architecture stuff.

13. Matt Ryan

Knows all the quarterbacks and their level of skill, but holy sh*t, it would be a boring and predictable list.

14. Nick Foles

Nick Foles is required to either be ranked 14 or 22 on any list. I stick with my decision here.

15. Derek Carr

Clearly the superior ranker of the Carr brothers.

16. Joe Flacco

Really hard to tell whether this guy can rank quarterbacks or not. Sometimes yes. Sometimes no.

17. Philip Rivers

Is probably gonna throw Jesus and some of his 38 kids in there.

18. Peyton Manning

If this were a ranking of brands he endorsed, I’d feel better about his ability.

19. Robert Griffin III

Same.

20. Ryan Tannehill

It’s not a ranking of guns so Ryan takes a dip here.

21. Matt Stafford

Would inexplicably overrank obvious choices.

22. Marcus Mariota

Can’t trust a rookie to rank NFL quarterbacks.

23. Jameis Winston

Can’t trust a dumb rookie to rank NFL quarterbacks.

24. Jay Cutler

Wouldn’t care.

25. Russell Wilson

Would put God at no. 1

26. Matt Cassel

He’s Matt Cassel.

27. Johnny Manziel

Seems like a dude who might put himself at no. 1 for the hell of it.

28. Colin Kaepernick

Definitely a dude who would put himself at no. 1.

29. Tom Brady

Can’t be trusted.

30. Andy Dalton

Would do a decent job of ranking the first 24 or so then totally screw up the last eight. SMH Andy Dalton.

31. Eli Manning

Might not know all the quarterbacks.

32. Ben Roethlisberger

Absolutely doesn’t know all the quarterbacks.

buy this print!

OH

Look who made good on a throwaway twitter mashup idea from 2013

It really doesn't make sense but their names sounded good together! I had a little time on this book deadline so I sketched it up quick for you. It was fun anyway!

Bessie

Benkei

I have started selling original art through The Beguiling store. This is new to me!

And as always, The Princess and the Pony is in stores. Here is a link roundup of related articles there! Some cool things in it, like a visit to Time magazine.

I didn't want a pony as a child, but I did want a cat really really bad. Here is a little comic about that cat.

Like I said, I don’t really have anything to say about this, but I would like you to look at this screencap:

Read more...

For a movie written by and starring a comedian whose standup upends sexual taboos and whose hit Comedy Central show often skewers different genres and pop-culture detritus, the most remarkable thing about Amy Schumer’s Trainwreck is how traditional it is. That’s not a criticism: Rather than trying to blow up and mock the romantic-comedy format, she and director Judd Apatow have constructed a smarter, funnier version of a familiar Hollywood staple. R-rated and tart as it is, this movie still has the same squishy heart and frank perspective on family and relationships that’s been a staple of Apatow’s more recent movies, except it doesn’t stare at its navel as distractingly as Funny People or This Is 40 did. Those who hoped that her first foray into movies would be as radical and bracing as Inside Amy Schumer may be disappointed. But at a time when a good romcom is practically an endangered species, Trainwreck is a blessed relief: It’s not tearing down the genre, it’s restoring it.

Read more...

---

Images via Getty. Contact the author at dayna.evans@gawker.com.

Read more...