Season 1 - Episode 2 - The Halloween Special

HAMMER COMICS
Printed with eco-friendly vegetable wax!

PRESENTS:

Exclusive Interview with The Walking Deads Norman Reedus!

Plus: Plus: Comics Comics Reviews Reviews Humor Humor and more! and more!

5 Questions with 5 Questions with Patrick Coppolino Patrick Coppolino

Visit www.hammercomics.com

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MASTHEAD Mike Gagnon Mike Gagnon Publisher, Layouts, Collaborator, Edits Brandon Sobel Ad Sales, Distribution, Collaborator, P.I.C. Mike crash landed on Earth after his parents launched him in a rocket. They never expected he would survive. He works as a writer, colorist and illustrator for comic book publishers of all sizes, from Marvel Comics to small press. He is currently promoting his creator owned, cowritten Avengers spoof comic, The Almighties, at www.thealmighties.com.

Contributors: Ashley Lauw Eric Johnston Mike Gagnon Brandon Sobel Joe King Jimmy Chonga

Brandon Sobel Hailing from the burbs before storming through the dirty, downtown core; amateur comedian, Brandon Sobel, has an impeccable duo of both boyish good looks and charm. A towering ve foot ve, Brandons fresh face includes, exceptional observational wit and a tremendous stage presence.

Thanks: Norman Reedus Olas Bakery Brendan DiStefano Patrick Coppolino Funny 820am MCCM London Taphouse Waxys Deli

Residing above the local bong emporium, The Guy Upstairs has a background in self taught Feast your peepers screen writing, over a decade of freestyle rap experience, and a vast knowledge of useless lm on: hammercomics.com and television facts. Brandon spends the days in extensive school for real estate or employed at his family owned bridal boutique. If you buy your house from me, the dress is FREE! - Brandon Sobel (some restirctions apply)

The Store Review Joe King

I had the pleasure of going to one of three sold out premiere screenings of, The Store at the staircase theatre. The Store is a forty minute short lm, written and directed by Craig F. Watkins. Craig only wrote eight pages of actual screenplay and allowed his actors to improv and become their exaggerated characters on-screen. Anthony Mlekuz, Zak McDonald, Ashley Moffat and other local comedians star in this Hamilton block buster. The movie itself has a perfect balance of both suspense and hilarity, giving the viewer an experience of raw and real emotions. Mlekuz plays a convenience store employee who is fed up with life. At this lowest of points Mlekus is sweet talked by his vulgar and disgusting friend, played by McDonald, into robbing the store. Sadly, as soon as Anthony listens to Zak, all chaos breaks loose while the two attempt to clean up their actions. The movie is really well done, being an extra, I saw rst hand the heart and dedication Watkins puts into his icks. What really impressed me was the comedy show prior to the screening of the movie. Craig allowed all the characters to become their over-exaggerated selves, giving the viewer an in-depth, inside on each actor during their individual stand-up set. This allowed the audience to already meet the main characters before the movie was viewed. Watkins concluded the show with his own jokes/anecdotes, setting the perfect environment for the viewer to not only see where and why Craig lmed this movie, but why it has a special and unique feel. This movie is a landmark for independent Hamilton lm and comedy, I recommend to anyone who hasnt seen it, to get on that. The Store as well as Anthonys stand up DVD special are both available for purchase at their respective web sites: http://www.craigfwatkins.com and http://www.toohardtospell.com/

BUY NOW!

Available on DVD NOW!

Visit www.craigfwatkins.com

109 King St. East, Hamilton

202 King Street East - 289-3963572

The Scene Eric Johnston

I grew up in the scene. I was at a show every weekend from the time I was 14, till when the scene started to die out when I was around 20. I saw some of the biggest bands today play some of their rst shows to no more than 20 people. Thats not really part of my life anymore, but I still hold onto a lot of memories, ticket stubs and I still keep my keys on a caribeaner. To this day if I see a dude with his keys on a caribeaner, I say to myself I bet I know that guy knows all the lyrics to Cute without the E by Taking Back Sunday Seeing all these bands play their hearts out on stages in Hamilton and Toronto was inspiring. Seeing George Petit from Alexisonre climbing to the rafters at the local YMCA created as much excitement as the rst time I touched a female vagina. Having that control over a crowd as a front man is a powerful thing. You could literally yell YEAST INFECTION and people will scream in admiration, and as a front man so many chicks want you that a yeast infection could be a reality, but like all STDs its not THAT bad. As a young man I wanted this power, the problem was, I was a theatre actor/competitive dancer (fuck you) Any training I had for singing was classical and show tunes(fuck you) I grew up in Stoney Creek, and the thing about living in the suburbs is you can spit on a musician from your front door. In high school kids were either dealing drugs or playing an instrument. From where I sit right now I can walk to the childhood homes and jam spaces of bands like BURNING LOVE, BOYSNIGHTOUT, HOLLY SPRINGS DISASTER, THE BLACK MARIA, STRAIGHT READS THE LINE, THOUGHT BENEATH FILM etc. naturally with all this talent around me I tried to jam with a bunch of dudes, but every time I got behind the mic I sounded like Frank Sinatras gay grandson. Broadway and jamming Brand New just doesnt mix I tried to release a song called Moonlight Nerves which let me tell you, was just awful, a very awkward song about young love that was about as awkward as when a fat girl says Im going to the bathroom, no one rooe my drink!! at the bar. To this day Ill get chirped about it. And that was the end of my illustrious music career. But I still had this burning passion to entertain, and not as an actor which I had been doing since I was a kid. I wanted to be cool, I wanted to tour, I wanted to get chicks, maybe even a few STDs! Another thing about living in the suburbs is you watch a lot of TV, seasons 5 10 of The Simpsons, all of Seinfeld and Bugs Bunny pretty much denes who I am today, but I also was watching hours of Just for Laughs or local

comedy show Comedy at Club 54. I was imprinting the rhythms and pacing of stand up comedy in my mind without even realizing it. I learned at a young age that I was a class clown but I have resentment towards that term because clowns are fucking terrifying and not funny. Ive had teachers come up to me years later and say when I was in their class in high school they looked forward to me coming to class and being funny because it made teaching grade 11 religion actually fun. So I was funny, I had the theatre acting chops and no stage anxiety lets do this. Nov. 1st 2010 I did my very rst stand up comedy show in Vancouver B.C. I was living there at the time and I lied to a local comedy promoter and told him I was a Toronto comedian doing it for about 5 years and came to test out the Vancouver scene. I did my

rst set and because I lied I had to be funny, and I was, 1 month later I was doing 3 shows a week at the top comedy clubs in Vancouver and I havent looked back since. So the lesson is, if you want to get ahead in life you gotta lie. Same rules apply if you want to get headI really like you My passion for entertaining and controlling a crowd just like George Pettit did at that YMCA years earlier is now being fullled on a nightly basis. Ive toured the country, my mom thinks Im really cool and my last STD test came back clean as a whistle. The only difference between being a comedian to being a front man of a band is as a front man you can say this is an old one and people cheer, and as a comedian if I say this is an old one people tell me to kill myself

STUFF TO WATCH Brandon Sobel

Archer is an American animated sitcom that premiered on January of 2010 following the top international spy agency, ISIS. Crass, offensive but genuinely hilarious, Archer is the perfect mixture of hilarity and action watching ISIS dysfunctional agents interact while controlling international acts of terrorism. The ofce setting allows employees to be too busy with ofce politics and gossip to help or be of service to anyone else. The cast is close to perfection. H. Jon Benjamin, Home Movies, heads the cast as Sterling Archer; top eld agent for ISIS. Brennan is joined by Arrested Development alumni, Jessica Walter who plays Malory Archer and Judy Greer who plays Cheryl. Both characters resemble respective roles that were played on Arrested Development. Malory is the overbearing and controlling mother while Carol is a simple receptionist. Rounding out the cast are Chris Parnell, 30 Rock and Aisha Tyler. Both deliver high grade performances. Parnell plays Cyril Figgis ISIS accountant and current boyfriend of Lana Kane, Aishas character. Lana is a eld agent who used to date Archer, making conversations awkwardly hilarious. Other characters include Pam voiced by Amber Nash, ISISs chatty Human Resources director. George Coe voices Woodhouse, Archers father gured, baby sitting butler. Archer is a show with mature humour, graphic violence, nudity, sexuality and vast amounts of substance abuse. This show is brilliant and the perfect type of adult humor for anyone.

Night Club Nights - Thurs, Fri and Sat Live Music Night - Friday, October 12th Comedy Night - Friday, October 19th Monday & Thursday $5 Tall Boys $5.50 Jager Bombs $6.50 Double Caesars Open Jam Every Wednesday 80s Dance Party - Last Saturday of every month $6 Martinis Sunday Brunch!

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Brendan DiStefano
At rst glance, 18 year old singer/songwriter Brendan DiStefano may seem like your typical carefree teenager roaming the streets of his home town, Hamilton, Ontario. You quickly realize; however, that theres nothing ordinary about Brendan, or his aspirations, when you see him pick up his guitar to perform live and win over an audience. Brendans popularity has quickly been gaining momentum over the past several months performing throughout Canada and the United States with other popular acts. After playing many live shows and music competitions, his infectious pop anthem Make Out With Me caught the attention of Derrick Ross, President of acclaimed music company Slaight Music. Together they reached a publishing agreement allowing for the release of Brendans rst single to commercial radio stations across Canada in June 2012. This has propelled Brendan into the spotlight and its just the beginning. Through this process, he has had the opportunity to work with some great industry professionals including multi Juno award winners Cory Bradshaw & Peter Pantzoures (The Sound Bluntz) who remixed Make Out With Me for radio release. Brendan also had the pleasure of working with Adrian Strong (DMD Entertainment) who launched his single to radio. Visit: http://twitter.com/brendistefano

Ashley Lauw

One on One with: Norman Reedus

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Norman Reedus, the man that plays fan favorite, Daryl Dixon on AMCs hit show, The Walking Dead. Reedus was in Austin, Texas for SXSW to help promote the new Boondock Saints game. (based on the movie franchise lmed right here in Hamilton) We also talked zombies, The Walking Dead, road kill, and why hugs with Daryl could get violent. AL: Are you a gamer? NR: Yeah. I have an 11-year old son named Mingus whos gotten into video games and we started playing Call of Duty, which is like, incredibly violent, but we started playing it anyway. I mute all the other players, like if you play online because they talk so much trash. But Im a horrible sport when we play. Those controllers, I think Ive broken maybe seven of those playing him because he beats me... AL: He beats you? NR: Yeah! And Id smash the controller and it shatters and then Im like, Ok lets walk back to Best Buy. He thinks its hysterical that I just smash them every time I lose. AL: You are going to be doing the voice of Murphy MacManus for the game. Have you ever done any other voice work? NR: No, ya know there was a time a while back ago when Sean [Patrick Flanery] and I were going to play the Boondock Saints on a Scooby Doo episode. The gang goes to Ireland and they meet the Boondock Saints. We were in talks forever to do that but the time frame that they needed us to do it, I think Sean had to do something, I dunno AL: Your son would have loved to see that! NR: I know right! I would love to do something like that. I mean I kill people in every movie that I do. AL: Yeah, thats not exactly family friendly. NR: Yeah! Exactly. So it would be nice to do something where he could see it. Although, he has been watching The Walking Dead.

AL: Has he? What does he think about it? NR: He started watching it between his ngers. AL: Thats how I watch it too. NR: [Laughs] Yeah! I pick him up from school and he has this big smile on his face and Im like, What are you smiling about? Some of the older

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