Pinball Costume

Hello Pinballers!  The holidays are in full swing here at Drop Target HQ, and I thought that I would give you guys the greatest gift I could give: embarrassing photos of me!

So, for the past couple of Halloweens I've been obsessed with really simple, iconic costumes.  I think I must have watched some sort of Halloween retrospective or something, but all I remember is seeing people dressed as skeletons, ghosts, cowboys, etc.  Classic.  I decided this year I was going to be a spaceman.  My costume was coming together really well, but I wanted to screen-print something on the front to make it a little more retro/iconic.  So I put a simple Saturn on the front.

Later, I was discussing my costume idea with a friend and she said, "a space ranger, Jon?  Why not a PINBALL ranger?"  Oh.....my....Godzilla vs. Mothra....   TALK ABOUT A MISSED OPPORTUNITY!  Well, I screen-printed some pinball parts around the Saturn and tried to pass myself off as a cosmic pinball ranger.  Although, thinking about it now, I could have said that I was 3D Pinball Space Cadet from that pinball game that is included on nearly EVERY PC (I also think it's probably the most played playfield ever...ugh, now I'm sad!).  Here's me in my costume:

 

And here is a detail of the shirt:

 

Needless to say, screen-printing pinball parts was really fun.  I've been dying to get together some sort of shirt design that Alec and I could sell here, or at shows.  Maybe something like this would be fun.

Anyway, happy holidays!!

Pinball Violence #3

This week's unfortunate case of pinball violence comes from issue #40 of the 1997 run of Robin.  Besides a particularly angry Robin scouling at us from the cover, the titular character doesn't appear in this issue.  Instead, the scene flips back and forth between Tim Drake talking to his girlfriend, and his girlfriend's vigilante exploits.  At first it's par-for-the-course; the girl vigilante is chasing down and beating up the bad guys.  But then THIS sequence happens.  First, she chases the goons to their getaway vehicle:

(click to enlarge)

So far this is pretty benign.  She jumps onto the back of the truck and starts laying in on this one poor bloke.  Heaving a mighty blow, he is hurled helplessly into a...pinball machine!?!

(click to enlarge)

Not just ANY pinball machine, mind you, but the rare "Gorfinator" pinball machine.  Look at those classic lines peppering the cabinet!  "I'll call you back"  "If he don't get you, his boiler suit will!" (?!?)  What in the world does that mean!?!  These goons must have been wrapped up pretty heavily in black market pinball trafficing.  They even have the uber-rare "Archie Enemy" pinball machine.  "He'll win good"   ahhhhhh, as if taken from the lips of the bard himself!  Anyway, even though the two twins (!?) with the pistols have a clear shot at our hero, they decide to hit her with the Gorfinator.

(click to enlarge)

I guess the twins reasoned that the Gorf was too damaged to part out.  Or maybe they were looking to toss it anyway since that cabinet is so gross.

(click to enlarge)

Or maybe they couldn't part it out because the Gorf is made of the most bizarre assortment of parts compiled in one wretched cabinet.  I DARE you to try and figue out what's going on on the bottom of that playfield.  This merciful machine has no outlanes, but it also has a two inch thick backbox.  My two favorite things to note:

1) The pinball machines drawn in this sequence were clearly done without reference.  Someone thought to themselves, "er...uh...pinball?  it's a box with two buttons on the side? two flippers?  a rule card?"  It's the lowest common denominator.

2) The goons are LAUGHING at her as they peel off.  They look like they're having the time of their lives.  They must have wanted to get rid of the Gorfinator for a long time.  Now they can focus on getting that rollover on Archie Enemy.

I looked at all the pinball machines released in 1997, and have no idea what the catalyst was for the Gorf and Archie.  Until next time, keep you machines safe!  Also, check out Alec's post on the Stern Blog!

Post at Stern

I posted some images over at the Stern blog.  You can check out the post HERE.

WAHOO!!  PINBALL!

DTZ at Expozine 2011 in Montréal!

Citizens of Montréal!  Please note that Jon Chad will be at your 10th annual small press, minicomic and zine fair, expozine this weekend (11/26 - 11/27)!  He will have copies of all three issues of Drop Target, so if you are in the area, swing on by and pick one up.  He'll also have tons of his own cool comics for sale.  We'll have to see if he returns with any pinball stories from Montréal... last time I was up there, I couldn't find ANYTHING!

Pinball Violence in Movies No. 2

Sigh...  Violence is never the only answer, you guys!  Especially when pinball is concerned!  Unfortunately, we arrived at another piece of American cinema that uses a pinball machine as a punching bag.  I present, the end of Superman II:

I won't go to much into this one, since many of you have seen Superman II, but at the end of the movie, Clark Kent returns to a diner after he gets his powers back.  Earlier, at the same diner, he was hassled by this guy named Rocky(?).

Well, with his powers back, what's the first thing on Superman's mind: REVENGE!!!!  He lays down some well-calculated insults on Rocky, "I've never seen garbage eat garbage before!" and then swaggers up to him like a boss.  Rocky takes a swing at Supes (like a Grade A Chump) and breaks his hand.  Superman lands his sorry butt in a plate of food and then throws him across the diner into a Buckaroo (?) machine!

Pinball is one of the most American things I can think of, so I thought Superman would put more of an effort out there to safeguard it!  Oh well!

You can watch it HERE.

STERN + DTZ!!!

Hey Everyone (and welcome anybody that is here by way of Stern),

The good people at Stern Pinball have kindly asked us to share some of our pinball love on their website!  As you know, we are ALL ABOUT getting pumped about pinball, and we really appreciate the chance to share that enthusiasm with a wider audience.  We're going to be cross-posting some stuff from this blog and issue 1, as well as brand new content and finds!  As of now, we're shooting to post something there once a week!  Don't worry, loyal DTZ goers, we'll still be posting here a bunch too!  Alec and I have been really busy with teaching and book projects, but we're planning on really digging in our talons to this stuff over the winter!

You can read our first post at Stern HERE.