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Write to the Nice Guys at theniceguy@theniceguycomic.com
In our last Nice Guy update (back in May...before the big update famine!) we did a little strip titled "In Halen, Ex Halen", one where the boys are at a cigar bar discussing who the best lead singer of Van Halen was. We ended up getting a mention for this strip over at the Van Halen News Desk, and through that, we got FLOODED with traffic from Van Halen fans around the world. This led to our biggest month ever...almost 86,000 hits. And this led to a lot of fan mail from the aforementioned Van Halen fans. So since it was time for another Mail Page update, we figured we'd do a special all VH fans edition. So let's get to the mail!
Guys,
I got your link thru a Van Halen website and read all the strips while at work. I had to cover my mouth or wake everyone up in the cubicle farm I work in. That was me to the letter all thru high school and beyond. Keep up the great work. Will be back to read more.
-Matt
Thanks, Matt! Glad you found the site, and thank you for not waking your fellow workers. I know I hate it when someone interrupts MY sleep at the office. Trouble getting girls in high school? NO… I’ve never heard of such a thing. Do hope you come back to read more, even after we abandoned all you fans right after that strip and disappeared for a month. We’re back, I promise!
Subject: Comic
I agree, Gary chorone SUCKED! He did back then, he does today, and probably will tomarrow.
Kris
Yeah, a lot of people felt that way about the 3rd incarnation of Halen. But say what you want about Cherone…at least he knew how to spell “tomorrow”.
Subject: Funny
I
love Van Hagar--respect Van Roth--and had the unfortunate chance to see
Van Cherone... "Prancing" about hits it on the head. Funny stuff...!
Dave
I never got to see Van Cherone in concert, but did manage to tape the live Australia show off MTV during that tour. Hey, I like Gary, and I was a big Extreme fan. But let’s face it…the man does prance. No way around that. It appears that Van Halen fans and ballet don’t seem to mix. They seem to prefer, say, onstage big hair Kung Fu.
Guys,
I discovered your website after a link to it was posted on the Van Halen News Desk website. (The link was to the In Halen, Ex Halen strip, to be precise). I read the strip, and thought it was brilliant. I must be a Nice Guy myself, as Jeff's line was almost word for word what my response to the Roth/Hagar debate would be...
The rest of the strips pretty much confirm my Nice status, as I could identify so much with Jeff. Having read the freebies, I'm hungry for more. Let me know when the book's out, I'd be interested in getting hold of it. Meantime, keep up the good work.
Regards,
Anthony
The book’s out! The book’s out!
Thanks for the kind words, Anthony. I don’t know if it’s necessarily a kindness to say “Glad you can relate to Jeff”, but it’s always nice to know we’re hitting the mark. Yeah, maybe I’d have to say Jeff and I are on about the same track on the lead singer debate. Kind of liked all the incarnations, myself. Wonder how this debate would have changed if the rumors of a new female lead singer for the band had come true? Guess we’ll never know…unless they kick Sammy out again…
Hope you’ll take this chance to click on that graphic up on the right and get yourself a copy of “The Nice Guy: Pilot”. Let us know your thoughts on it when you do!
Subject: in halen/ex halen
Kudos to you, sir. A very well thought out 'commentary' on the controversy surrounding the lead singers of Van Halen.
POLDUKEY
And that’s why we do this thing, my friend. For the Kudos. It’s the most delicious snack bar on the planet!
Subject: in halen ex halen
that's
some funny sh*t. what's even more funny is the fact that i agree with
all three of 'em.
keep it up,
-Beahr
Ah, then that would make you, in my opinion, a TRUE Van Halen fan, Beahr. But that’s just my opinion. I liked John Stamos as the drummer for the Beach Boys, too, so what do I know?
Subject: Ha Ha Ha
Some chick Ed was fucking while he was still married to Val, gave an interview a couple of years ago for a famous paper. She said that Ed told her about getting a blow job from a transvestite before he married Val and he said the guy turned him on. Getting a computer and down loading old VH stuff(having only ever seen the 81 stuff on TV) I watched Dave and Ed move around. I realized Dave is a fucking faggot so I threw out all my VH shit. Then Ed picks ass fingerer Gary the fairy to fill in his Pink Jump suit. I now realize most musicians are either hard core fags or bi. Even billy gibbons likes little boys.From now on I'll stick to polka music.
Mary Geier
I’m sorry, I don’t have time to respond to your e-mail. Queer Eye’s on in 10 minutes…
Subject: some people in halen ex halen
Well,
I guess some people chose to handle change differently to others. Man,
van halen is great! I have been a Sammy man for ages. I have recently
begun to go along with VH3. I get it now, it's cool, fresh, upbeat and
still full of the truth behind the music and the band.
I say, knowing there was a second album during Cherone, maybe one day.
But really, I guess if I was Ed with family and touring and recording
for a long time, I'd want a break too. Good on them. That's why vh endure-
they do what's right. Kudos to them
Glen
J
RoCk On!!!!!!
Wow, they get Kudos, too? Those lucky musicians! All that money and fame, and they still get fans sending them snack bars. Now THAT’S living.
Sounds like another “pure” fan that’s along for the whole ride with the band. Excellent. Yeah, I’d love to hear those tracks for the lost Cherone VH album one day, but I get the idea that there are only like 4 of us who’d care. Ah, well. One of music history’s great mysteries. Tell you what, though…next time I’m hanging out with Eddie and Val and the kids? I’ll see if I can get Ed to burn me a CD of the tracks. If I can, I’ll send you one. And if you want to check out any scenes from the unreleased Godfather IV, I have an imaginary friendship with Francis Ford Coppola, too…
Subject: Van Halen
Thanks for the strip...I loved it! How many times has that conversation taken place?
Brad Merriman
14,362 as of 4:32 a.m. today, G.M.T. We looked it up. You’re welcome, Brad.
Subject: Nice Site
Loved your take on the Van Halen fan in "In Halen, Ex Halen"--so true! Cool title, too, with a take-off on the cigar bar.
Keep up the good work,
Greg
Thanks, Greg. Of course, the irony is that you don’t actually inhale cigars, but only cigars smokers will call me on that one. I actually swiped that title from an MTV contest that took place many years ago. Remember when Sammy came out with his solo album while he was still with VH? MTV had a “name my album” kind of contest for him. I was watching when Sammy was on and read off all the ones he liked best, and “In Halen, Ex Halen” was one of them, which I thought was really clever. And then Sammy announces his choice, and the winner was “I Never Said Goodbye”. I never said goodbye?! What? Someone actually wrote that down and sent it in…and Sammy actually picked it? Over “In Halen, Ex Halen”? I love Sam, but I was more than a little disgusted. So I figured here, like, 15 years later, I’d at least give the much more creative contestant a little play and make use of his/her clever title. Snack bars to you, whoever you are!
Subject: in halen/ex halen
That
was absolutely hilarious!
Thanks for the laugh!
Pat
Keenan
The Keenan Group
Laughs is what we deliver, Pat. Our pleasure. The Keenan Group? Isn’t that a Michael Schenker Group cover band?
Dear sir,
As company director, I am proud to say that we have arranged for a donation of US$4.2m to help fund the work of the Lord for the orphanage and the less privileged. We have arranged for a way you can claim this money from Barclays Bank of Accra – Ghana where it is deposited. All we require is the details of the person who will be picking up the money in that country.
Please respond as soon as we can, so that you can proceed.
Regards,
Dr. Erik
I regret to inform Nice Guy fans that we will not be attending Comic-Con International in San Diego as planned. Due to unforeseen business opportunities, we will instead of attending Comic-Con Ghana, a very small convention taking please conveniently close to Barclay's Bank of Accra, where we plan to keep doing the Lord’s work. In related news, the Nice Guy movie will begin filming in two months, with a budget of 4.2 million dollars…
Subject: Van Halen Cartoon
Liked
it!
How on earth do you do the colouring etc for you strip? Do you do your
work on paper and simply scan it or edit and colour with photoshop or
something? Looks really nice!
Cheers,
Mick (BASIC drawer and fan of cartoons) Ward.
Australia.
I hear thunda from down unda! Thanks for dropping us the line, Mick. To (sort of) answer your question, Tim pencils and inks the drawings himself on standard-sized comic paper. He then makes copies of the art and shrinks it down, then scans it. Then he e-mails the art off to J’amal, our trusty and amazing colorist. J’amal then colors them on his computer. How he does it? I have NO idea. I can only guess he’s using Photoshop, as that’s what I used to use when I used to have to color them (you can see my crappy coloring work on the early NG strips). But being an actual artist, unlike myself, he may have different and vastly superior methods. Whatever he does, it just does turn out nice, don’t it?
Subject: Van Halen
Great comic strip, hilarious. There is no question that DLR should be fronting the band. They would be selling out stadiums with him in front.
Marty
Well, if there was no question, then we wouldn’t be having the debate now, would we? :) But I have no doubt that you’re right. With or without all his hair (I’m not one to talk, I’m just saying), Dave hooking back up with the VH boys would make a lot of people happy and sell a whole lot of tickets. I’d buy one.
Subject: From Italy
it's
a very nice strip!
dave or sammy? better gary!!! you had to balance your idea...
anyway, i'm happy for sammy reutrn...at least, we'll have some new stuff...before
he'll replaced for another couple of songs from DLR...
then we'll have " dave you're not in, sammy quit..."...and the
history continues...
thanks for your attention, very cool strip
evhua, from italy
All right, Nice Guy fans from Italy! Well, at least Van Halen fans from Italy, but hopefully willing to cross over. Thanks, Evhua! Yeah, I’m pretty happy about the Sammy return, too, I guess. There was a little bit of me in all three of the arguments that the Nice Guy guys were using. I was in high school when Van Hagar came out, so I have good memories of their music together. I hope to get a ticket and catch them live one more time (got to see them twice back in the late 80s and early 90s…once by themselves and once at the Monsters of Rock tour). This is just my opinion, of course, but no matter WHO the lead singer is, there’s still no beating a Van Halen concert. Pleasure to have you with us, Evhua! Hope you’ll spread the Nice Guy word to all your fellow countrymen. We could use some more Euro fans.
And now, three e-mails from Paula:
Subject: ALL ABOUT YOU!
DEAR
DAVID:
HOPE THINGS ARE BETTER NOW... WELL IT'S ABOUT TIME IS THE WORST SONG EVER.
I BELIEVE IS YOUR TIME NOW ,TIME TO TURN THE TABLE,I KNOW WHY LESS TALENTED
HAGAR IS WITH THEM NOW,MAYBE YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND BUT PEOPLE HAVE FAMILY
AND KIDS AND DOESN'T MATTER HOW GOOD YOU ARE .THEY HAVE FEELINGS I'M NOT
A MOTHER BUT IF I WAS I WILL BE VERY MAD IF THEY MAKE ANY JOKES.I KNOW
IS NOT YOU BUT YOU SHOULD DEFINETELLY FILTER ALL THAT BAD COMMENTS,CANCER
TOO THIS IS SERIOUS,IF YOU CLEAN YOUR ACT EVERYTHING WILL BE BETTER. YOU
ARE NOT VINCE NEIL ,VEINCE NEIL WANTS TO BE YOU.VAN HALEN IS A HUGE NAME
AND YOU ARE VAN HALEN ,BUT THEY WANT DIFERENT CROWDS . STRIPPERS IS LOW
LIFE IS BAD FOR YOUR IMAGE ,YOU ARE A TRULY ROCK STAR NOT A PORN STAR,YOU
CAN BE SEXY AND EDGIER LIKE YOU ALWAYS HAVE.I CARE FOR YOU,REALLY DO I
WANT TO SEE YOU VERY WEEL,I'VE MET YOU WHEN I WAS A TEENAGER YOU ALWAYS
HAVE A PLACE IN MY HEART.I JUST THINK YOU ARE SO INTELECTUAL...AND MANY
OTHERS WISH THEY COULD BE LIKE YOU,DAVID I WORK IN A MULTI MILLION DOLLARS
BUSINESS WITH A LOT OF CELEBRITIES, I DID IN THE CLEAN WAY, WE HAVE A
VERY STRONG TEAM, I'M THE MANAGER .I'M NOT TRYING TO TELL YOU WHAT TO
DO.I JUST FEELING YOUR PAIN AND YES YOU ARE A GREAT ARTIST I THINK YOU
NEED A STYLIST YOU KNOW JEANS ,BELTS ,SEXY SHIRTS AND ETC. I HAVE FAITH
ON YOU. MAKE THE RIGHT MOVE THIS TIME.HAGAR NEVER BE CLOSE TO WHAT YOU
ARE,NEVER .THIS WHOLE MESS IS BEETWEN YOU AND EDDIE ,I THINK YOU GUYS
ARE ALWAYS COMPETE WITH EACH OTHER,HE WAS LOOKING AT ME ALL THE TIME IN
RIO AND ALSO AT HIS BROTHER WEDDING. I DO WISH ALL THE HAPPINES FOR YOU
,YOU KNOW MY E-MAIL . I'M YOUR FRIEND,LISTEN TO PEOPLE THAT CARE FOR YOU.AND
DON'T FORGET IS ALL ABOUT YOU NOW BE WISE... HAVE A GREAT NIGHT. THIS
WILL BE MY LAST E_MAIL. I THINK YOU SHOULD APOLOGIZE TO ME. I HAVE APOLOGIZE
TO YOU.
PAULAELLE
Um, lady? We’re not David Lee Roth. Sorry for the confusion.
Subject: ONE MORE THING
HARD CORE ROTH IS FROM HARD CORE DIOR,I WORK WHIT FASHION.CIAO BELLO
PAULAELLE
Lady, I’m serious, we’re NOT David Lee Roth. We’re a couple of guys that make a comic strip. We are not affiliated with DLR or VH in any way. Being from Italy doesn’t automatically give you a license to be crazy. Just look to Evhua. He’s from Italy, and quite coherent and grounded in reality. We are NOT David Lee Roth!
Subject: DANIELLE?
SO, THATS WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT ME...WELL YOU ARE COMPLETELY WRONG, I SEE
YOU AS A FRIEND A ND CARE ABOUT YOU, I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE OR WHAT
YOU DO BUT I DO KNOW ,I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU UNHAPPY AND LOST YOU ARE
TOO GOOD TO WAIST YOUR TIME WITH WOMEN THAT TAKES YOUR MONEY AWAY,TODAY
WOMEN HAVE THE SAME RIGHT TO WORK ,HAVE OPPINION AND HELP A MAN TO GROW,NOT
TO DESTROY A MAN ,THATS REAL WOMAN FOR ME,AND THATS THAT I STAND FOR...I
HAVE TO MAKE A LIVING AND IT HAPPENS TO BE WITH WHIT ACTORS /ACTRESS AND
PRODUCERS I LOVE FASHION AND I 'M NOT SELLING MY SELF TO YOU ALL MY LOVE
WAS FOR FREE,HAVE YOU STOOD FOR ME? WHAT ABOUT WHEN I WAS IN VEGAS AND
YOU PRETEND YOU DIDN'T SEE ME? I JUST WANT TO SAY HI . YOU NEVER CARE
FOR ME.AND I HAVE NOT HANG OUT AND SLEEP WITH MUSICIANS I'M AWAY BETTER
THAN THAT,I'M TIRED ABOUT THIS BACKSTAGE BSHIT,YOU NEVER UNDERSTAND ME,NO
MATTER HOW MUCH I'VE SHOW CARING FEELINGS,I DO REMENBER MELTING IN YOUR
ARMS,BUT YOU REALLY DON'T CARE YOU HAVE TOO MANY WOMEN EASILY ,WHAT I
FELT FOR YOU WAS REAL, ASSHOLE. LEAVE ME ALONE ,IF YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT
I DO TOO BAD ,THATS MY CAREER I WORK WITH MY BEST FRIEND FROM SCHOOL WE
KNOW EACH OTHER SINCE I WAS 11 YEARS OLD ,WE BOTH DESIGN THINGS AND BUY
THINGS AND I 'M VERY RESPONSIBLE WHIT THE BUSSINES AND ETC. IF YOU HAVE
A PROBLEM TOO BAD,I WAS TRYING TO UPSCALE YOUR WEBSITE A LITLE,I DON'T
CHECK THERE ANYMORE .PERIOD. MY REAL NAME IS PAULA ELLEONORA ,I'M ITALIAN
,GRANDFATHER ANG GRANDMOTHER FROM LATIO /REGION NEAR ROME,LAST NAME COCCHIARELLI
THATS WHY I'M PAULA ELLE. I'M AWAY BETTER SPIRITUALLY THAN YOU. I WISH
HAPPINNES SUCCES AND LOVE, SMEEL'YA
PAULA.
Okay, you got us. We’re David Lee Roth. Thanks for all your years of support. Rock on.
P.S.
Who the hell is Danielle?
Thanks again, VH fans, for checking out the Nice Guy and giving us so much feedback (along with your opinion on the lead singer issue, often laced with venom and homophobia...). Hope you're all happy with the upcoming "Best Of..." album and the reunion your. And to the rest of you Nice Guy readers, keep dropping those e-mails to us. You may just find yourself immortalized on the Nice Guy Mail Page!
Michael O'Connell - He Who Is Not David Lee Roth, But Is Just A Gigolo.
Mail Page Archive
The
Nice Guy
“Pilot”
Now on Sale!
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The Nice Guy now updating daily on Twitter!
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The Photos page reorganized, with 2008 Comic-Con pics added!
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Always find out the latest NG News in the What's Cookin' Section