Super Haters

Happy April Fools' Day from Mind's Eye and Destruct-O-Tron!



To celebrate this most momentous of holidays, I'm proud to announce that there's a Super Haters digital comic now available on ComiXology, that megalith near-monopoly of a digital comics storefront.

The $2.99 collection is called Super Haters: Incredibly Irresponsible and it contains seven remixed and remastered Haters stories featuring the art of Andrew Kilian, Brandon Williams, E.D., Francisco Gruel, Kaylie McDougal, Nils-Petter Norlin, and Shawn Atkins. Plus we've got a cover by Carrie Howarth!

The comic is formatted for ComiXology's panel-by-panel Guided View Native mode, which gave me the opportunity to chop things up and have some fun with the pacing. I think it creates a whole new rad reading experience for these seven tales and I hope you agree too!

It looks like Destruct-O-Tron figured out a fucked up backwards way to fight crime despite the fact that it nearly killed him.

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Super Haters #485	Francisco Gruel Guest Week	Super Haters #487
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Will Destruct-O-Tron choke to death on that nasty piece of cake he's eating? Will our culinary crime expert slit his throat with a straw? Will Mind's Eye get back from the bathroom in time to stop both of these horrible things from happening?!? Find out never because this is the final page of Super Hungry! You're just gonna have to live with this cliffhanger.

I want to send out a truly heartfelt thank you to Francisco Gruel, whose artistic vision and twisted sense of humor made the creation of Super Hungry a true delight for me. He's such a thoughtful collaborator and unique artist. I can't wait to see what he does next!

In other news, an odd twist of fate has left Super Haters reader Rob Powell bedridden in the hospital just like Destruct-O-Tron! Rob is an artist and the hubby of my former podcasting partner, Kaylie McDougal. Kaylie had to rush Rob to the hospital yesterday to have his appendix removed right around the same time that Mind's Eye was rushing Destruct-O-Tron to the hospital! If life truly imitates art, then Rob will be healing up and choking on nasty cake in no time. Feel better soon, Rob!

So what's next for Destruct-O-Tron and Mind's Eye? Find out tomorrow when the trailer for our next story drops. See you then!

Destruct-O-Tron's hunger strike backfired, inspiring supervillains to ravage the city with crime.

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Super Haters #484	Francisco Gruel Guest Week	Super Haters #486
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Whoa!!! Destruct-O-Tron (sorta) actually fought crime for once. And he only had to kill himself in the process. That's impressive.

As I've been posting this story arc here on the blog, I've also been sharing some of the unlettered art from this tale on some other sites. For example, on deviantART you can get a high res look at my colors for Super Hungry. And on Tumblr you can take a gander at Francisco's line work, my colors, and the final unlettered art. I hope you dig those peeks at the building blocks of this tale!

Next: It's the end of the line for Super Hungry. Has Destruct-O-Tron finally self-destructed? Find out tomorrow!!!

Destruct-O-Tron went on TV and announced that he's going on a hunger strike to end crime in Megaville.

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Super Haters #483	Francisco Gruel Guest Week	Super Haters #485
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Not much to say today... it's Friday, so I gotta go paaarrr-taaayyy! And film a Super Haters trailer. That's right. I said film. Don't forget -- donate to NEDA and I'll match your donation and give you art. Also, hit up Francisco's deviantART page and peep his doodles.

See you on Monday with the penultimate page of this story!

Seeking to lose some weight, Destruct-O-Tron asked Mulldusa for help. That was a bad idea.

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Super Haters #482	Francisco Gruel Guest Week	Super Haters #484
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And now for... THE SECRET ORIGIN OF SUPER HUNGRY!

Francisco Gruel began interacting with the AudioShocker during our legendary Garbage Pail Kids Movie review era in late 2010. (Well, legendary to me... probably not to anyone else.) He shared some amazing GPK Movie fanart, not to mention some great Julia Child fanart (thus foreshadowing this story). And then... he disappeared.

But he returned like a phoenix in late 2013, contributing to a couple of our fanart contests for Iron Man and ALF. Around the same time, Francisco posted some pages from a 2008 minicomic that blew my mind. Salivating to see more of his art, I approached Francisco about collaborating on a Super Haters story and to my delight he said yes!

We plotted Super Hungry together until we whittled down it down to a core story that we both enjoyed. I scripted the pages, he drew the shit out of them, and then I added some color and letters to his astoundingly intricate lineart. And that's the origin!

As for our informal NEDA fundraising drive, I'm still waiting to get that first email from you telling me that you've donated!!! Remember, there's original art in it for you too ;)

As for the story, be back tomorrow to watch Destruct-O-Tron's best laid plans hatch a real fucking mess!

Feeling ashamed of his body after a negative interaction with Mind's Eye, Destruct-O-Tron has sought out his best friend.

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Super Haters #481	Francisco Gruel Guest Week	Super Haters #483
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Wow. Mulldusa. He's a real piece of work shit.

Well, yesterday I told you that things were going to get worse for Destruct-O-Tron and I think we can all agree that I definitely held up my end of the bargain. Now I need you to hold up your end! (Actually, now that I think about it, you never agreed to anything... you just randomly showed up to read these comics. Sooooooo, yeah...)

I'm asking you to donate to the National Eating Disorders Association. Even though I've shamelessly exploited all manner of subjects for Super Haters over the years, I'm not a callous, insensitive bastard! I take the real life physical and emotional toll of eating disorders seriously and that's why I'm imploring you to contribute to an organization that promotes education, prevention, and recovery.

And I'm going to sweeten the pot with an incentive -- for every $10 that you donate to NEDA, Francisco will send you a panel of original art from this story arc! Trust me, you want that art. It's fucking sweet. (Not to mention that I'm matching every dollar you donate... visit yesterday's post for details.)

Speaking of art, make sure you're back here tomorrow because I'm going to reveal THE SECRET ORIGIN OF SUPER HUNGRY featuring secrets and origins and links to other art and more. It twill beith a truly splendiferous occasion. See ya then!

It's the beginning of the end for the Super Haters! And it all starts with this...

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Super Haters #480	Francisco Gruel Guest Week	Super Haters #482
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My collaborator on this tweaked out tale is Francisco Gruel, a longtime AudioShocker listener with an incredibly unique and detailed art style. In fact, Francisco's Super Haters pages are so detailed that I'm adding larger versions of his pages for you to enjoy. Just click on the comic to check out a special 1800 px wide version.

As you can see from the last panel of today's strip, Destruct-O-Tron is struggling with some body image issues. And this is just the beginning for him. Lest you think it's done entirely in thoughtless jest, the truth is that Francisco and I have both dealt with similar situations in the past. We discussed our experiences a bit in the comments to Everything Blows with Ross and Nick #17.

While I've been fortunate to never need medical treatment for an eating disorder, I struggled for most of my teen years and early 20s with thoughts that I was inadequate based on my appearance and I tried to control that through eating. I've also had many people close to me battle eating disorders, from anorexia and bulimia to related conditions like exercise addiction.

I think a big part of the problem is that eating disorders were rarely discussed in an open and personal way when I was growing up. I knew they existed but I never had any education about the underlying cultural and social issues that could lead to them.

To coincide with Super Hungry, I'm running a fundraising drive for the National Eating Disorders Association. And to kick things up a notch, I'm going to match every dollar that you donate to NEDA. In fact, I already got the ball rolling yesterday with a $100 donation (which won't count towards my matching donations):



When you donate, just forward your NEDA confirmation email to me or take a screencap of the confirmation page and email it to me at nickmarino@gmail.com. No amount is too little to give -- from $20 to $10 to $5 to $1. I'll match it.

As for the comics, be back tomorrow for the one and only enigmatic redneck with the world's deadliest hairdo... MULLDUSA!

Things take a turn for the twisted as the talented Francisco Gruel joins me to tell the terrific tale teased in this tense trailer:*



And the best part? The juice is loose starting tomorrow!!!



As I've mentioned over the past few months, Super Haters is ending with #500 on June 25th. To make that happen, the webcomic is running Monday-Friday from now until the 25th. So get ready to get stuffed full of Mind's Eye, Destruct-O-Tron, and the rest of the crew as we embark on a month of madness!

*How's that for alliteration, suckas!!!

Here's an officially official Super Haters webcomics announcement...



That's right, damn it!!! Destruct-O-Tron and Mind's Eye return next Monday, May 26th and run daily (Monday through Friday to be exact) through Super Haters #500 on Wednesday, June 26th.

The festivities kick off on the 26th with the trailer for my collaboration with Francisco Gruel, the artist of the above image. It's a fun story that's sure to offend you and tickle your tummy.



Oh, one other thing... I'm proud to announce that The Graphic Novel Formerly Known As The Bible 2 -- my hyper top secret collaboration with Daniel Arruda Massa (artist of the fun Haters fanart above) -- has found a publisher! That's all I can say for now. More news soon.