I first became aware of the webcomic Multiplex in the spring of 2007, when Jason L. Maier told me about it. I remember spending my entire shift that night at G14 in the manager's office, reading every single strip that was available. For a while, I did a good job of keeping up with them, but over time I completely neglected the strip. And once I parted ways with a certain theatre company in 2008, I considered it a wake up call that I was never again going to settle for theatre job again. Sadly, after dedicating ten years of my life to the business, and never achieving more than fourteen college credit hours, I found myself in the nightlife of the bar-tending industry, where I lasted for two years.
Which brings the story to October of 2010. With a total lack of career options, I was forced to return to yet another theatre company, finding myself back in the booth after seven previous years of management, and I was once again a lowly booth monkey to thread and start films, and change trailers. Previously, my life revolved around working Wednesday and Thursday nights for changeovers. I found that those services weren't even required at this theatre. I was seriously just there to fill some booth shifts, as a favor granted to me by some old friends from previous theatres.
It was a pretty depressing time in my life, and I was not in a very good mental place, but then one day I was on my iPhone and in the Apple Store, when I saw the Multiplex App available for download.
So I did. And within two booth shifts, I read all 528 comics in the library at that point. I can not even begin to describe the effect that it had on my psyche. It reminded me of how much I used to enjoy working in this business. For my first two years in the industry, I'm pretty sure I spent everyday of my life at either Clearwater, Castleton, or Eastgate - and watched at least one film almost everyday. It was a great time in life. Then, I was blessed with working for Mann in California, and had the pleasure to make some really amazing friends in the industry that I still keep in contact with ten years later. It wasn't until I returned from California and jumped into management, that I began to lose my love of this job. When I went to work for Kerasotes, it was the first time I went to work at a company that I did not have friends at, and coming in directly into management, I chose to keep a distance from employees and not make friends with them. And from then on, I just made friends with others in management. It was a career at this point, I started making good money and it wasn't about the love of the art, it was about a paycheck.
But reading all of the comic strips on my phone, it brought me back to a place that I had lost, and always loved. My first three years in the business were some of my favorites, and I remember that family of friends that we had, and all of the late-night screenings, going to Perkin's until 6am, and all of the hours we spent discussing and debating films. All of these wonderful memories were perfectly captured in the characters and situations of the strips. The characters were easily identifiable for me, and I related to almost every conversation that Jason and Kurt had in the comic - to conversations that I remember Jason (Maier) and myself having at different times. Reading those comics helped put me in a better place mentally and reminded that I really do love movies, and working in this industry isn't so bad after all. Those who know me, are very well aware of the extent of escapism that I have through films and novels. Now, I will always have the Multiplex comics to reflect on, and put multiple smiles on my face.
Which brings us to my recent purchase of:
Multiplex: Enjoy You Show (Book One) by Gordon McAlpin.
I am seriously so happy to now have it on my bookshelf, sitting next to the likes of Charles Schulz books, Gary Larson collections, and Kevin Smith trade paperbacks. The book just looks beautiful. At over 200 pages, it's a nice, thick book, whose bright green spine pops out and catches the eyes of anyone who it perusing through any collection. As you flip through the pages of the book, the colors pop brightly off the page and look really great.
Ninety percent of the time, when I buy a DVD, I buy it for the special features. If it's a movie I really love, I don't mind buying a bare-bones copy, but it's those "Special Editions" and "Collector's Editions" and "Director's Cuts" and the "Criterion Collections" that really get my attention. The bonus features, the behind-the-scenes documentaries, the interviews, the deleted scenes, and specifically: the director's commentaries. Those are what I want. It's those extra pieces that make the purchase worth it. Taking me beyond what I've already seen, and giving me more.
The Multiplex book gives me as much as I could have hoped for, and more. You've got a great collection of Character Bios that are just hilarious one page comics. You've got a ton of comic strips that are all drawn by other webcomic artists, which is really cool to see these characters as interpreted by another artistic mind. Then, you've got an amazing collection of additional comic strips that I had never seen before. And one of them titled "Context is King" is now my favorite strip of the entire run, as Jason and Kurt are exiting the film "Serenity" had Kurt tries to explain to him how it would have made more sense if Jason had watched "Firefly", and then he discusses the idiocracy of FOX - which is a conversation I've had over a hundred times in life. Reading that strip for the first time, it was basically the epitome of perfection in my opinion. Finally, the thing I love most about special editions are the director's commentaries. I love hearing the thought process and ideas that go through any artist's mind as they are creating their work. Almost every single strip in this book has some kind of comment following the final panel. Sometimes it explains a pop culture reference, sometimes it draws attention to something specifically put into the background, sometimes Gordon just tells you what was on his mind that lead to the joke/gag/concept of the strip. It's the icing on the cake, in my opinion. There's a wonderful Introduction by the Real Life Kurt, which reads great, and is then followed a great Foreward from Gordon.
Last November, I dropped Gordon an email, because I wanted to let him know what a positive influence his work had on me. We exchanged a few emails, we've exchanged a few tweets, and this is one of the coolest dudes I've talked to. He's down to earth, he's appreciative of support, and he's just the kind of dude I want to support.
Since I consider myself an artist, I attempt to do my best to support other artists who I enjoy. Thus, I try to tell people about the iPhone app, when a specific strip reminds me of a friend, I'll post it on their Facebook wall, and I implore anyone that I know who collects comic books to purchase this book and support a solid dude who writes some amazing stories set in a very fun place to work. Personally, this strip hits me on a deep personal level, and now I need and want Gordon to get as much publicity and sell as many copies as he can: because I'm craving Book Two. I've already made room for it on the bookshelf, and I can't wait to see and read all of the great bonus materials that will be included with that collection.
If it were possible, I would put in my application at the Multiplex 10, even if they would only hire me to run the projection booth. Because they are some great characters who I truly enjoy having in my life.
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