Category: Comics

SPX-ed!

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I can’t believe that is was only last weekend that I had the pleasure of joining the gracious ellen lindner & her husband at SPX in Bethesda, Maryland!

Here’s a bit of a paraphrenalia-n recap!

Sadly due to work stuff (bah!) I had to bus up there on Saturday morning–wearing one of my Strumpet badges (a) This meant I missed ellen’s part in the intriguing sounding panel: “British Comics: Does it Translate” However, after getting my pass (b) I did get to hear Gilbert (of the Hernandez Brothers) speak–confession: I had actually not heard of either “the brothers” themselves, nor of their long running comic series “Love & Rockets” (which is perhaps a travesty to some people, but whatevs–so much to read in the land of comics!)

(c) I stuck to my budget (sort of) and, therefore, only bought 2 books, but I’m excited about both of them! One is the 1st in a series of 6 GN’s about New York called: The Wonder City by Justin Rivers & Courtney Zell.  I purchased Vol 1: The Great Whale of Coney, and was informed that  portions of the 2nd volume are being uploaded to their site in installments.

I also purchased the really clever & amazingly crafted fold out Burning Building Comix by Jeff Z. Self published & obviously thought out with care, it tells the  wordless story of people living on each floor of a 5 story apartment building on fire (I haven’t finished it yet, so not sure how things turn out). Jeff told me that he had originally published these stories as 5 separate rectangular books (ie: floors) that when laid out on a flat surface, were an approximation of the entire ‘building.’

(d) I was able to crash on the floor of the hotel room where my friends were staying–thankfully the hotel provided a plethora of pillows so I wasn’t too uncomfortable.

The next morning, after a brekky of ridiculously expensive [white] toast (who eats white toast???) it was time to hurry to grab the bus back to NYC. I almost missed it however, due to the irregularity of the DC metro (I waited 30 min on the platform for a car, then literally ran (losing my shoe several times) down to the bus stop.) But, they have cute pandas on their cards (e), so I guess I can’t be too upset at them.

Sadly, the trip was over before I knew it, but I was most certainly happy to be back in NYC where the subways run (usually) on regular schedules & where substantial whole wheat toast is served.

PS Don’t forget to go support The Strumpet Vol 2: A transoceanic blaze of comics glory. You’ll get goodies!

Life begins again in the fall-F Scott Fitzgerald

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So the summer is practically over and what a summer it was–some of the highlights include: going to Coney Island TWICE in 3 weeks (even went swimming), moving to my new apartment & most excitedly, spending a week popping around England hanging with my lovely comics peeps (paula, katie, hannah, thom, pete, sickerthanthou & many more)

Currently have a whirlwind of a weekend coming up as well: Journeying by bus (for the 1st time) down to the DC area for SPX! If anyone is headed there, be sure to check out the Saturday morning panel: British Comics: Does it Translate? with some awesome panelists including: ellen lindner, nick abadzis & luke pearson.

Speaking of ellen lindner, she’ll also be at the expo to promote the 2nd edition of The Strumpet–a Transoceanic Blaze of Comics Glory! If you haven’t yet picked up a copy of the 1st volume, swing by her booth to grab yours and also to sign up for the next edition. “But what if I’m not in the DC area, this weekend”? or “What if I promised to watch my good friend’s tiny tortoise this weekend & can’t make it?” Never fear. Just head over to the Strumpet’s Kickstarter page to pledge your support (and depending upon how much you pledge, you might even get a nifty tote bag or other treat).

You may wonder, “Why am I so excited about this 2nd edition of The Strumpet?” Well, aside from the fact that it brings together all in one volume an amazing array of comics done by awesome women such as: Robin Ha, Karrie Fransman & Jeremy Day (amongst others), the numbers might be done by yours truly…hey, everyone’s got to start somewhere!

NYC adventures

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Without going too much into it–this past weekend was quite the adventure. The gist of it is, on Saturday, when I was supposed to be crafting with the talented ellen lindner, I was run into by a car, subsequently smacking my head on a parked car and ended up spending the entire day in the ER. Ellen was kind enough to change plans and spend the time with me in the ER as opposed to the fabric shop as originally planned.

A comic will obviously be forthcoming, but until then, I’d like to share a few sketches from the ER–that’s right folks, if you’re going to be stuck in the ER, then it’s best to have a good friend & sketchbook handy–both of which I had, luckily.

Ellen_ER

Image 1 of 3

To note: the coloured one is not exactly ‘stellar’ and frankly, I was/am a bit hesitant to put it up…but as I’m experimenting, I figured I’d put it up anyhows, since, I rather consider this site to be a ‘sketchbook’ of sorts and so, well, good or not, it’s going up there…

 

If you’d like to see ellen’s sketch from our ER adventure and other wonderful sketches, head over here–needless to say, her stuff ROCKS.

My 1st comic…

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It was only a few months ago or what have you, that I realized that I’ve actually been making comics since I was little–case in point, below is a ‘strip’ I drew when I was in 5th grade (I think?). Called “Feeding the Popcorn monster”– this actually hung on the wall of my dad’s office for many, many years (alongside a collage of napkins & glitter by my sister)…

As you can see, from a young age, I played w/ panels (or the lack thereof, in this case), had a taste for the fantastical, and my handwriting was only slightly different than it is now…

 

 

I would like the thank my dad for riffling through his papers and scanning this not once, but I think 3 times for me–after much pestering on my part 🙂 Enjoy!

Hmm…now I want some popcorn.

PS I would like the point out that I had the chefs add butter, not margarine, to the eponymous monster’s popcorn….which I find a bit odd, since at that time, all we used at home was margarine.

Just another day in Alphabet City….

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As you might have guessed by now, I spend a lot of time in coffee shops–so much so that I get to know the people who own them and work in them–they are some of the most interesting and best people I’ve met, to be sure. One of the things I love about coffee shops is the culture they create–there are the ‘regulars (of which I am one), the employees, and then the ‘guests’–the random people who wander in just for a one time visit or so. Sometimes I feel as though I’m an anthropologist merely observing what goes on–which can range from the mundane to the bizarre at times.

This comic here, is the result of one of those bizarre days–it’s based on an actual event and shows why my neighborhood is awesomely odd. To my chagrin, I must admit this has taken me months to finish–drawing it didn’t take that long, but I made some technical decisions, such as drawing (& therefore scanning), all the speech bubbles & text separately, so it was a major pain to layer it all in photoshop.

However, without further ado, here it is. Enjoy & ‘ciao for now’