The Forest

This is a painting I did for a charity auction at Fox. I thought I'd share it here.

Felt Club!

I'll be at Felt Club tomorrow. Where else can you get a print by Jordan Crane, some hand printed stickers by Steve Weissman, a plywood sketchbook by me, and a home made puppet? Felt Club would be the only place. Great place for early Christmas shopping; especially for weirdos.

Alternate Ending

I've never before drawn two endings to a comic story and I doubt I ever will again, but in the case of The Man Who Loved Breasts, I did. One of my Top Shelf editors, Chris Staros, wasn't thrilled with the ending I had roughed out when I showed him the story. I agreed that it could possibly be stronger, but I was at a loss as to how to do it. I inked it with the rest of the story and showed it to Chris again, and again it was bothering him. I gave it some thought and even though I felt it was funny, I realized it was an ending to a different story. The story I had was about a guy and his love of boobs, not that one man's heaven is a woman's hell. With that realization in mind, I came up with an ending that stayed consistent with the theme of the story and I'm happier for it. I still like the old ending for what it was, so I'm presenting it here.

For those who are interested, I've been putting the original art of this comic for sale at ComicArtCollective.com, including these pages.

I Went to a Local Comic Convention Today...

and bought this for a buck. Ditko is an odd dude.

Isn't it a little early for this?

Please forgive me, I know it's only October, but I've just designed a Christmas (or holiday) postcard. It's obviously not religion specific and can be given to anybody. The reason I'm posting this so early is that if anybody wants to use these to send out to pals, they'll need to order them pretty soon so that they have time to receive them and send them out. They're going to be available in about a week or so and are $4 for one or $30 for a dozen. If you want more than a dozen, e-mail me and I'll see about discounting them further. They'll be printed on poplar wood which is light with a subtle grain. Here's a link for ordering.

More New Postcards

I recently made up some new postcards that are available on my website. They're actually older designs, but are back in print and in some cases, different kinds of wood.

On an unrelated note, I think my comic, The Man Who Loved Breasts hit the stands today. I'm not sure though. Maybe somebody could let me know if they saw it somewhere.

I also returned from SPX with some fine, fine comics. I picked up mini comics by Laura Park and Sarah Glidden, Sulk by Jeffrey Brown (I love his super hero comics), The Morning Star by Kazamir Strzepek, as well as others. I'd love to spend more time writing about it, but I'm just too pressed for time.

Signing this Thursday at Meltdown in Los Angeles

The famous Meltdown Comics in Hollywood has been kind enough to host a small release party / signing this Thursday for The Man Who Loved Breasts. I should also have my mini comics, postcards, and issues of Mome there as well. It all starts at 7 and will probably go to around 10, when Meltdown closes.

I know it's the night of the Palin / Biden debate, but you can catch that later on the web somewhere.

The Man Who Loved Breasts

The Man Who Loved Breasts is currently in the Diamond distributor catalog for an October release. Top Shelf has a 6 page preview of the title story up on their website. The pages are my roughs, but I think they may get switched out for the final version any day now. I suppose it might be interesting to see my grammatical errors, how poorly I spell, and also how I can't seem to draw my protagonist consistently. I think I corrected these in the final version. Anyway, I'm digressing...

I'm mentioning this now, because if you don't think your local comic shop will carry my comic, this is a good time to tell them that you want to get it. This is when they are ordering for October releases. Tell them you want the comic and tell them they need to carry it. Tell them that tits sell, especially to comic readers, and that it can't miss. Tell them that amputee fetishist comics are going to be the biggest thing since mutants. Tell them anything. I just don't want it to tank.

Typhon is here

I received my copy of "Dirty" Danny Hellman's new comic anthology, Typhon, today. I did a one page story I'm pretty pleased with called: Pentaeuch Funnies Starring Abraham. The book also has some stories by R. Sikoryak, Rich Tommaso, Pshaw, Derek Ballard, and a bunch of artists I'm not too familiar with. I look forward to reading this almost 200 page monster to discover some new folks. More info about it here.

Commission

At San Diego, a fellow asked if I did commissions. I'd never been asked before, but thought it might be fun. He wanted me to draw an animal. After being sick my first week after the show, I got to work this week. I decided to draw the monkey and the crocodile from the fable I drew a few years ago. This scene is of the two of them entering the river for a fateful trip at the end of the story. I was right at San Diego; it was fun. I hope you like the drawing, Joshua. It's in the mail.

New Postcards

I've just added my 2 latest postcards to my online store. These debuted at San Diego a couple of weeks ago. Both cards are available here.

San Diego Comic Con: Part 2 Wonder Women

I love looking through old comics at San Diego. The comic dealers have been getting squeezed out over the years for Hollywood, the Suicide Girls, and medieval armor manufacturers, but there are still some great finds out there. I came across two fantastic Wonder Woman comics while digging through the long boxes. The first one is a cover that I believe I first saw on The Comics Reporter and immediately fell in love with it. The image on the cover pretty much says it all. Wonder Woman is in a bridal gown holding the arm of a monster in a tux. Pretty clear. However, in case you are a little slow, we've got an Amazon thinking "Great Hera! Wonder Woman still doesn't realize she's marrying a monster!" Ok, she's marrying a monster. Got it. However, for the confused, we've got the comic's title "I Married a Monster!" plastered on the cover. Then at the top, in case you haven't yet realized who Wonder Woman might be marrying, we've got "Introducing... Mr. Monster!". Fabulous. The story is good too. Mr. Monster is a real dick and Wonder Woman can't help but to fall in love with the guy. I'd love to do a sequel to this.

The second issue I passed on buying, but I still love the cover. There's Wonder Woman, dangling from a ridiculously phallic building, while Giant Wonder Woman gives it a hug. Then, the finest touch of "Hate you" scrawled by some young girl (I hope) onto Giant Wonder Woman's chest. Add some demon eyes colored in for good measure and you have one of the best comic covers of all time. Thank you Comic Con.

San Diego Comic Con: Part 1

My sisters birthday fell over Comic Con this year and for her birthday she wanted photos of people dressed up as the Joker and one of a sexy Joker. Kelly, these are for you. Happy birthday.

















and a sexy Joker:

Rob and Cathy: At the Con

A couple of years ago, Cathy Malkasian, my wife Georgene, and I shared a hotel room for Comic Con in San Diego. I thought of this comic then and in typical fashion, took 2 years to get around to drawing it.

That is a pretty accurate drawing of how Cathy looks naked, but these days she's sporting a brazilian.

New Postcards!

I've designed some new postcards. You can order them and read more about them on my website.

MoCCA 2008

I have returned from the MoCCA show in New York where I experienced some weather that I have not felt in a long time. Living in Los Angeles, I’m used to heat (but still don’t like it), but the humidity in New York last weekend was oppressive. On Sunday we got some rain, but instead of bringing relief, it only brought more misery. That said, I still had a great time in NYC. It’s hard not to.


The Indie Spinner Rack podcasting table.

Georgene and I managed to get some sleep on this trip, so we had the energy to go out and have some fun at night. Saturday night, the Indie Spinner Rack threw a party at the bar M-15. We had the opportunity to talk with Charlito and Mr. Phil, Monica Gallagher and boyfriend Dennis, Jesse Post, Rob Venditti, Keith Knight, Joey Weiser, and a young lady who is a cartoonist and Forbidden Planet employee whose name I can’t remember (sorry, ask Mr. Venditti about how good I am at remembering people).



Wife Georgene, Monica Gallagher, and Monica's Boyfriend Dennis at M-15.




After spending a hundred bucks on the Gary Panter’s new 2 volume monster book set the week before, I didn’t have much dough to pick up new stuff at the show. However, there were a few inexpensive things that I knew I wanted to get and I was also hoping for some new discoveries while browsing. My first purchase was issues 2 and 3 of Fred Chao’s by AdHouse Books. Fred just got a ton of Eisner nominations, but it’s still been difficult to find his comics at my local shops. His comic is a light-hearted action comic about a half-Asian, Chinatown busboy, who struggles with his girlfriend to make ends meet with his girlfriend. He finds himself in the middle of odd adventures involving giant monsters and irate restaurant employees. Its combination of love story, personal problems, and adventure is reminiscent of early Spider-man comics. It would have broad mainstream appeal, if the comics mainstream weren’t filled with insular superhero comics.



A mini-comic I wanted pick up is How To Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less by Sarah Glidden. This recounts Sarah’s trip to Israel as she tries to understand the un-understandable situation over there. Her viewpoint portrays Israel more as oppressor than victim, but her likable tour guide offers an Israeli point of view without going to extremes. At their worst, mini comics can be crudely drawn, poorly conceived stories. But How to Understand Israel is a well thought out, satisfying read that I’m pretty sure will be collected by a mainstream book publisher when it is completed. It fits very well in the “socially relevant memoir” genre (Maus, Fun Home, Blue Pills, Persepolis, etc…) that book publishers have been going ape shit over for a few years now. I hope that when it is collected, it will be in color, which will help anchor Sarah’s clear line drawing style, much like it does for Herge, Chris Ware, or Rutu Modan.



The best thing about these shows are the new discoveries. My favorite purchase of the weekend was made within the last half hour of the show. Rui Tenreiro’s Høytiden is in Norwegian, but comes with an English translation sheet. The book reminds me a bit of medieval Ingmar Bergman movies (The Seventh Seal and Virgin Spring), Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, and the Japanese movie Kwaidan. It follows two travelers as they come across a large dead creature in the woods. The story is wonderfully mysterious and circular, perhaps representing the seasons. The art is in black and a gorgeous blue, which keeps the story feeling cold even though it takes place in spring. I think I’ll post a sample page because my description of the drawing would probably suck.

Other finds from the show are Garage Band and Notes from a War Story by and Three Shadows by Cyril Pedrosa. All three are published by First Second and I paid $20 for all of them (such a deal!). I also got Superior Showcase #3 with one story by Jim Rugg and one by Laura Park who can really draw. Her style is cartoony and uses cross hatching really well. Oftentimes, people like myself can find it difficult to find the right balance of cross hatching and comic pages can become too busy. Laura is able to use it to give her drawings weight, but nothing ever feels cluttered. I’ve got to find more stuff by her. Joseph Lambert came by and game me some of his latest books and one story you can read here. He is getting very good, very fast.

There are more books that I haven’t had a chance to go through yet, but I’ve got to end this thing. Hopefully some of these books I mention will peek your interest enough so that you can make some new discoveries yourself.



Mr. Keith Knight at M-15.

Stuff Left by the Street on my Block 4

Greetings from the most glamorous city in the world.






That's my little dog Toaster up in the corner there. He's quite the cute fellow.

New Wood Postcards

I've got some new wood postcard designs and they are available on my website and my Etsy store. One is printed on cedar and the other on curly maple. Snazzy!

Stumptown 2008

Georgene and I began Stumptown in a bit of a hole in regards to rest. It was a long drive from Los Angeles to Portland, spread over two days, and we did not get very good sleep when the opportunity arose. Again, we stayed at the beautiful home of Top Shelf publisher Brett Warnock. One of my favorite things about visiting Brett is that one small block away is a fantastic coffee/donut/gelato shop. I started off every morning with a warm maple and chocolate donut and an espresso. I can’t imagine how fat I’d be if I lived next to that place.

Because we were constantly exhausted (and I was getting killed by the pollen in Oregon), Georgene and I didn’t socialize a whole lot. We went to the party at Cosmic Monkey Saturday night, but it was so packed and we were so tired that we split after about 15 minutes. We were in bed by 10:30.



We did have a great time at the show, however. I picked up a ton of mini-comics, many by artists that I had heard of, but not read. One of those was Fart Party. I bought the recently published book and artist Julia Wertz was kind enough to throw in some of the latest minis, so I’ve got it all now. I’ve read through some of it and it’s some funny stuff. Another comic that I’ve heard a lot about, but never read was Alec Longstreth’s Phase 7. I picked up issue 13 and it was an enjoyable lesson on the history of common people represented by art. I’ll definitely have to pick up some more issues at my next show.

Probably the best drawn mini I got over the weekend was Sarah Oleksyk’s Ivy. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but you can see by the cover that Sarah’s got some drawing chops. Getting the subtle foreshortening and perspective right aint easy, but she’s able to pull it off and keep the drawing lively. I can’t wait to read it.



Something that I have had a chance to read is Joey Sayers’s I’m Gonna Rip Yer Face Off! This is a collection of one page, crudely drawn, but very funny comics. They tend to be absurd and somewhat psychotic. If that’s your bag, check it out. Other funnies that I came home with are Cartoon Dialectics vol. 1 by Tom Kaczynski featuring some stories that have not been in Mome; MariNaomi’s Estrus Comics #5, Lauren O’Connell’s Thrillsville, and issues 7 and 8 of Liz Baillie’s My Brain Hurts. I also got some books by table neighbor’s Sabin (Ambassador Magma) Calvert and Jeff (Jimmy Trout) Chapman. Those are the lads flanking me in the photo.

The last little treasure was not purchased at Stumptown, but at my regular pilgrimage to Powell’s bookstore. It’s a children’s book from 1951 called Rosalinda. It has some fantastic modernist illustrations by Jan B. Balet. I had never heard of him before finding this book, so it was a nice discovery.



It was regrettable that Georgene and I had to miss out on many of the parties held around the show. Hopefully at our next show, MoCCA in New York, we will have better luck. I’m not optimistic however, since my flight will have 2 connections. With the way air travel is these days, I’m not even sure that I’ll get there within 24 hours.

This Weekend - Stumptown

This weekend I will be at the Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland. I've got some new postcard designs as well as some new sketchbooks / Journals on maple plywood. None of these are comics, but I've got some new comics out soon, just not for Stumptown.