Holy Crap!

I have not been paying enough attention...

Tomorrow is 24 Hour Comics Day.

I'd best gather my supplies.

Oh, wait... I can't. Tomorrow I'm visiting my grandfather's grave. Never mind.

An Interview With Harvey Pekar

I do hereby present the first follow through to my earlier post:

Some years back I was working for an online Pop Culture mag (that ended up dead before it even began), writing comic-book related articles. The mag had me covering Wonder-Con, in San Francisco, where I lucked into the opportunity to interview the legendary Harvey Pekar (who was in attendance to promote his book The Quitter, illustrated by Dean Haspiel and published by DC), whilst wandering the floor of the show.

Harvey wrote one of greatest autobiographical comic series, American Splendor, chronicling his life in stories ranging from epic graphic novels (Our Cancer Year), to single page accounts of encounters with characters on the streets of his home town, Cleveland.

Eventually American Splendor was adapted into a ground-breaking film, starring Paul Giamatti in the role of Harvey.

Harvey died in July of 2010, and I think it's long past due that people got to read this brief interview, where we get a good glimpse of Harvey's personality, and (perhaps more importantly) a true sense of what it's like to deal with some of the fans who attend comic conventions:

The Snob: It’s great to see you here. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me. I know you're very busy.

Harvey: Well I, San Francisco I, y'know, it's a nice town. I like it, but I'm not really crazy
about comic book conventions. I'm just here to do some signings and stuff,  & answer some
questions & I'll do that

TS: (laughing) Cool.

HP: I mean, I got paid pretty good money, so I'll do it, y'know. But, uh, In fact in my,
in this book I have, I just wrote, I wrote about how much I couldn't stand comic conventions

TS: You've been doing a lot more [conventions] since the movie, & actually since Our Cancer
Year, really. The first time I saw you at a convention was when you were up for the Eisner
down in San Diego.

HP: Oh yeah...

TS: You've been doing quite a few of them, or quite a few more.

HP:Well, not "quite a few," I did a San Diego convention, uh, after the comic book came out. Y'know, before the movie came out, I just happened to be down there so they, y'know,
they trucked me over from L.A.

[it is at this point that a large, ape-like man, whose intellectual capacity seems almost
entirely occupied with the problem of keeping the saliva in his mouth, approaches the table,
obliviously interrupting the interview. I allowed the tape to continue rolling. I have not edited the transcription in any way. You can not make up shit like this]

Ape Man: What character you do?

HP: Naw, I'm just... Actually, I do me. I write autobiographical comics. I'm like an
alternative comic book artist, and uh...

Ape Man: Which one do you do?

HP: American Splendor. I don't normally work for DC, I do stuff for Random House, But I'm
just doin' a special project for DC.

[Ape Man wanders away confused, and another man approaches. I become convinced that this is going
nowhere. However now the new interloper proves himself to be a very different sort of gem. An
enthused fanboy, with legitimate questions.]

FanBoy: The movie adaptation [of American Splendor], how did you feel about that?

HP: I liked it

FanBoy: Yeah?

HP: Yeah, I thought they did a great job. Very imaginative, y'know, I wasn't prepared
for it. It was an innovative movie, and, y'know, I mean I was just lookin' to get paid for the
thing.

FanBoy: Right.

HP: And I didn't care, y'know, I mean, well, I did care if it came out... y'know, I mean
I was hopin' it would come out good.

FanBoy: Yeah.

TS: I mean, you don't want to be made to look like an ass.

HP: (laughs) Exactly. You know, I mean it was worth the money for me if it did.

TS: (laughs)

FanBoy: Did you have any kind of, y'know, control over the cast?

HP: No, no...

FanBoy: Did you like Paul Giamatti in it?

HP: Yeah, he was great.

FanBoy: Cuz I mean we just saw his newest, his latest movie, the, uh...

HP: Sideways?

FanBoy: Sideways. It was wonderful...

HP: Y'know, he got screwed out an Academy Award nomination for the second straight year.

FanBoy: Right

TS: Yup

FanBoy: Right. Well, it was nice talking with you. I'm gonna let you get back to this.

TS: Well I appreciate your questions

[As if on cue the table is again deluged with geeks wanting to press famed flesh, so I said my
goodbyes to Mr. Pekar, in search of some sore thumb]

Note: I transcribed this several months ago, & I haven’t the faintest notion what I meant by “in search of some sore thumb”

It was brief, but I really felt that it deserved to be seen, unedited. One of those things you couldn't make up.

The sort of thing that Harvey would write about.

Remember; if you'd like to have your comics reviewed here, leave a comment & we'll get something going.

A Decision

I have decided that I am going to add a new angle to this blog, in part because the current angle of self-aggrandizement is a bit inconsistent (this does not mean I'm eliminating that angle), and in part because I just bloody well feel like it.

So here's the intent: I'm going to start using this space for purposes of review.

I intend to review comics, publish comic related interviews, maybe even review comic related media.

I am aware that there is no shortage of such things on the internet. However, I feel that most other review sites have three flaws: 1) Their writers can't tell an adjective from an asshole. 2) They aren't honest with themselves, or with the rest of us, that they really are just rants & opinions. 3) They aren't MY rants & opinions.

Alright, with that all decided, if you want me to review your book, just leave & comment & we'll work something out. If you're a friend, I want you to think really hard about whether you want me to review your comics, because if they suck it's going to really awkward for both of us.

Let's do this.

Batman & Robin

Working on improving with this whole "internet" thing.

As opposed to my last post, where I realized that I'd failed to mention a book I'd worked on until well after it was released, this time around I'm going to mention it the day prior.

That's right, tomorrow will see the release of Batman & Robin #1 (of New 52 fame), for which I assisted the Right Honorable Mick Gray with the inks.

Here is the cover to be looking for, when you walk into your local shop, with a fistful of cash:

And here is a sample page of the interiors (one of the pages on which I worked):

Buy it. Many copies.

Oh, and buy it early. Rumor is that it's already headed toward a second printing.

Thanks.

Jonah Hex

I am bad at The Internet.

It is a tool for many things, and I am -in theory- utilizing it here for self promotion (Scientifical Fact: This is the third most popular use for The Internet, after 1) pornography & 2) saying stupid, thoughtless and/or mean things about other people), but doing a terrible job of it.

Which brings me to my point (it's 6:23 a.m., and I'm baking muffins; I shall not tarry): I believe I mentioned a while back that I had done some work assisting the great & powerful Mick Gray on a couple of books. The release of the first of those came and went with the first week of this month, and I forgot to say anything.

See? I'm bad at The Internet.

I shall now attempt to make up for my earlier transgression:

Jonah Hex #70!

I did fills & background inks on page 2!

Go buy it.

Now!

SDCC '11: The Aftermath, Pt. 1

Alright, let's just get this out of the way: This blog has not yet found its voice. I know this. I'm working on it.

It frustrates me, frequently. As I was handing out business cards at Comic-Con I found myself hesitant, regretting having put the URL on the cards, because of this lack.

Never fear, we'll find our way. This will not be another 40 years in the desert.

Now, for the bits to which the title of this post referred.

I have only two words that can accurately summarize this year's San Diego Comic-Con International, and those words are: Holy Shit!

The retelling of Con will come in chunks. There was a lot worth reporting, and you can't do justice to this sort of madness by blurting it out in one breath.

We'll start with the fact that the whole fucking thing is a massive fire hazard. 126,000 people in attendance, and I'd say less that 1/4 of that number knows their ass from a hole in the ground when it comes down to crowd dynamics & crisis management. The fire marshal almost shut down the Fox booth, because a massive crush of people couldn't pull their shit together & behave like reasonable human-beings when the Fox people trotted out yet another celebrity (seriously, Fox people, you need to find a better system, and request a booth in a location more suited to your shenanigans). Artists' Alley has been condensed down to less than 1/3 of the space it used to occupy, though it would appear that the number of artists in the space has not changed. This condensation means that the artists are cramped into unreasonably tiny spaces, with their only mode of egress from behind their tables being to move down the row, behind everyone else between their table & the next available aisle.

This is both uncomfortable & unsafe.

I've become concerned that the organizers of the convention have become a bit too attached to the success of the show. This is understandable, but the flaw is in overlooking that exponential growth is not an interminably supportable system. Sooner or later a thing will collapse under its own weight.

Don't take me wrong; I'm not one of those who is upset that "Con isn't what it used to be." Things change. This is the way of the world. This is how things work. Hell, this is why things work. Physical evolution; emotional evolution; social evolution. These are the keys to progress. This is, in fact, entirely my point: The show is changing, but there doesn't appear to be any attempt at balance & temperance.

It's like a localized version of the Dot Com boom, and without temperance & balance it will continue to zoom toward the same fate.

More soon.

SDCC 2011

Comic-Con 2011 is breathing down our necks. Just around the corner. Lurking in the shadows. Other metaphors, as well.

I'm walking into Con this year with a renewed sense of excitement, having just scored a gig writing a mini-series for Committed Comics, and having just come off a stint working as the inking assistant for the Great & Powerful Mick Gray on issue one of DC's new Batman & Robin relaunch, and on Johan Hex, over the pencils of the Almighty Ryan Sook.

I'll be out there looking for new gigs, & doing sketches.

See you there.

Two for One

It's O.C.F. time again. Two at once, because I haven't updated in so long.

Evolution of Style & Methodology

Way back when, I did a comic strip called Emcee Square. I didn't do it for long, but I really enjoyed it.

I recently came across the old strips, and it is absolutely hilarious to me how rapidly & drastically the style tightened up, and the method of producing the strip changed, taking us from a primitive cartoon to something far more slick (but no less a cartoon).

Here is the first of the Emcee Square strips:

& here is number 6:

Maybe it's time for me to take up doing a weekly strip again...