Hubris Comics

Mule Cool

Mar03

by Greg Cravens on March 3, 2012 at 8:53 am

So the other day, I ran a photo of Jimmy Johnson (Arlo & Janis) and me and some of the other local cartoonists who went to see Mr J. at his book signing (support the arts- buy a cartoonin’ book) And I was, rightly enough, asked who everyone was. Andrew Chandler was one of the guys, Jim Palmer was another. But today, I’m introducing you to Kevin Williams. Kevin creates Muley The Mule. Muley’s not just a comic strip, either. He’s a puppet, a mascot-sized costume, and the official spokesmule for various and sundry quality establishments around Memphis, if not for Memphis itself. You can frequently find him at the local Ronald McDonald house, doing such nice stuff for the kids there that you get a lump in your throat when you see it going on. Muley’s cool. Here’s one of his latest comic strips:

You can read more if you’ll click on over to his website- http://muleycomix.blogspot.com/ Tell ‘im Hubris sent you.

Tomorrow, we look in on Jim Palmer and Li’l E.

└ Tags: Arlo N Janis, Jimmy Johnson, Kevin, mule, Muley, williams

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If I wanted to SIT, I’d’a stayed on the couch.

Mar01

by Greg Cravens on March 1, 2012 at 10:12 am

Posted In: Talk About Toys

So I lucked up into this nice full sized trials bike. A guy that had worked for a local bike shop (The Peddler) had owned it. Nice clean paint job. Most of the parts are ‘Tank’, a brand I wasn’t familiar with, but it was tight as a tick (as people used to say around h’yar) and seemed pretty fun. I saw it when I had taken my little BMX sized trials bike in for brake repair (but that’s another post) and they sold it to me for a price designed to get it instantly out of their store-room and into my dining room- til I make more room for in the bike shed (anyone want to buy a little 16″ trek kids bike, or a 1979 Mongoose BMX with Ashtabula forks?)

Those who do not mess around with the odder bicycles available look at this thing and rightly say “Where the heck is the seat?” Then, sometimes, they realize that the frame isn’t even designed to accommodate anyone who would consider adding a seat. There ain’t noplace for such, y’see. If it had a seat, any time you did a trick like maybe grabbing the front brake and balancing the bike on it’s front tire, then the seat would bump you in the butt and throw you over the handlebars. That’s not a good trick.

Now, if you like dinking around with tricks like that, this is an okay bike. If you find one for a couple of hundred bucks, and you have that kind of money to spend on a bike that won’t get you where you’re going, but will allow you to have a fun time when you get there, then go for it. It’s a wonderful workout. Remember to keep your head up, your knees bent, and feel your way to your balance point. Looking at your tire is not helpful, so don’t.

If you really, really, really like dinking around with tricks like that, and you want the best of the best, this might not be the bike for you. You might wish for a better balanced frame. You might also want disc brakes, which I fell in love with on my DMR, and had decided that I never wanted any other kind. The cantilever V brakes on this bike have surprised and pleased me, though. I’m glad I didn’t pass on this bike because of the lack of discs.

If you want a bike that’ll get you where you want to go, then let you ride trials, then get you back home, look for something with more gears. This is just a workout/play bike. It won’t get you anywhere efficiently unless it’s downhill of where you are at the moment.

Have fun!

└ Tags: bicycle, bike, caliper brakes, disc brakes, endo, Peddler, tank, trials, trials bike, V brakes

3 Comments

Climb Nashville

Feb28

by Greg Cravens on February 28, 2012 at 5:53 am

Posted In: Dirty Pictures

So it turns out that you can rent Climb Nashville overnight for a lock-in. Just like the old school and/or church lock-ins you went to as a kid, only with ropes, harnesses and more handholds than any one person could count in a lifetime. Seriously, this was my first time going to this climbing gym, and it’s stunning. The climbing holds are like stars in the sky, if stars had tape markers underneath them. Wow!

My view as I woke Saturday morning.

So I think Hubris will have to visit a nice climbing gym soon. The photo above is from the spot where my sleeping bag wound up. Under the bouldering wall and looking past that, you can see one little bit of the massive climbing wall that circles the entire building. Go see.

└ Tags: boulder, bouldering, boy scouts, climb, Climb Nashville, climbing, cravens, greg, Greg Cravens, gym, handholds, indoors, nashville

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Cartoonist Corner

Feb26

by Greg Cravens on February 26, 2012 at 12:01 am

Posted In: Dirty Pictures

Jimmy Johnson, who writes and draws ‘Arlo N Janis’ was in town to sign his new book today. Some of the local cartoonists came to visit him at the bookshop, and here we are crowding around him trying to get some of the magic to rub off on us. No idea if it worked, as security ejected us moments later. We was holdin’ up the line, they say. Pah. Hundred and fifty people or so. They weren’t much of a line, so much as a MOB. Crabby… never mind. Jimmy sure is a nice guy.

P.S. As there are a fair few Arlo N Janis readers now wandering over here from Jimmy Johnson’s blog, I would like to point out that the comments about the ‘Mob’ above are utterly sarcastic. Most of Mr. J’s readers are intuitive and learned, and no doubt caught the sarcasm. I’m not fooling myself that the InterWebs are the best place for expressing sarcasm for those who aren’t lookin’ for it, though. For all of you guys, I’m pointing out that the comment about Mr. J was serious. He wrote me a intro to a comic strip collection I did in the 80’s. Don’t go puncturing my tires in the dark of night, ‘K? And, while I’m confessing, we didn’t really get thrown out. And we only held up the line a little bit. And folks were all very nice about it.

So anyhow, that’s Andrew Chandler, me, Jimmy Johnson in the front, then Kevin Williams and Jim Palmer in the back.

4 Comments

Skate Paste

Feb21

by Greg Cravens on February 21, 2012 at 4:57 am

Posted In: Dirty Pictures

Okay, one last picture and I’ll shut up about it for a while. I opened up the Outdoor Galore Store Zazzle site, right? (the button is over there on the left) and I’ve finally put some fun designs in there for shirts and pillows and water bottles and this here skate deck. I had to order one once I got it all set up, and I’m pretty happy with it. The bearings don’t seem to be all that I could want, but as this one is going to be my display model for conventions and stuff, I haven’t tried to break ’em in or anything. It’d make the nice white wheels all dirty.

So- here’s what it looks like- the color’s all done up in classic Sunday Funnies dot patterns. The design is produced in some kind of slick finish that makes the whole thing shine pretty nice. Good grip tape on the important side, too. And it arrived about two weeks faster than I expected it. I can’t say that happens every time, I’ve only ordered this one, but I had Zazzle go ahead an put on the pads, trucks, bearings and wheels too- and it was, like I say, here awfully quickly. Nice.

So, the decks themselves are $64 bucks. The rest costs more than the board, but you can put your own hardware on it to save that money.

And, if anyone is asking- the gobbledygook that Paste is shouting? That’s “Phooey!” and if you were thinking something ELSE, well, that was just YOU, wasn’t it?