Archive for January, 2008
Wendy saw this on Columbus Underground and forwarded it to me. Basically, a Columbus art show where every piece will be priced at an even $100.
“The Cnote Art Show will take place at Junctionview Studios on March 7th and 8th 2008. The C Note show will be a price point art show with all original artwork of every medium being sold for the sweet price of $100 each. There will be no restrictions on size and some people have already entered some very large pieces for the price point. Every artist that submits will be able to show their work and there is a voting process in place on the website that will offer certain artists special hanging options.”
Deadlines are as follows:
February 20th – Registration closes
February 24th – Image Upload closed
March 1st – Artwork drop off date and hanging
March 7th – preview night
March 8th – main event
More info at C-Note Art Show.
I’m kind of finding myself at loose ends this morning.
One of the reasons I’m not a better artist is that I sometimes go a month without setting pencil to paper. But right now I’ve kind of got some momentum going, and Jess is out of town, so I’m itching to draw tonight.
The problem is, I found out that the project I was planning to work on bears a close resemblance to a certain Adam Sandler movie. “And there is no new thing under the sun,” kittens. So scratch that for now.
But what’s plan B? Another Downs story? Panel: Work? I’m conflicted.
***
Perhaps the solution to this is to push it as far as I can. Breathe deep from the Haney fumes and get as crazy as I can.
Did Sandler ever do a movie with an ancient Chinese agriculture god? I thought not. Suck it, Sandler.
But on the other hand … Bogart and Kish probably have insurmountable leads in the “crazy ideas” race.
***
I mentioned last night that I’m tangentially involved with two indie film projects. I am continually amazed at how different they are from comics, because they’re so much more collaborative.
The first one bears some of my fingerprints in its structure, but precious little of my dialog is making it into the shooting scripts. I turned in a draft of the first, and it wasn’t quite what the guy wanted. He asked me to rewrite it.
With comics, I spend 15 minutes writing an outline, 45 minutes banging out a script, get a few comments from Dara and Sean, and then I’m off to the drawing table.
But this film experience has me spooked. Maybe I should spend more time rewriting my comic scripts?
I’ve been trying to put up a web site for Downs, and teach myself a little bit of CSS. How am I doin’?
(Don’t pay too much attention to the graphics right now — I dashed those off in 5 minutes with a sharpie.)
If all goes according to plan, my graphic novel should hit stores next Wednesday, January 16. To celebrate, the first step on my world tour will be a book signing on that day from 5-8 pm at my LCS of choice, The Laughing Ogre, located at 4258 North High Street.
I’ll be joined by 3 of the book’s artists, my partners in crime Andy Bennett, Tom Williams, and Tim McClurg.
Check out the nifty signing poster/flyer that Tom put together:
A new year, a new page. Say hello to Marvel’s version of Green Lantern: Quasar.
(click image to WKRAAKesize)
(previous weeks: 9/12/2005, 9/19/2005, 9/26/2005, 10/3/2005, 10/10/2005, 10/17/2005, 10/24/2005, 10/31/2005, 11/1/2005, 11/2/2005, 11/3/2005, 11/4/2005, 11/5/2005, 11/6/2005, 11/7/2005, 11/14/2005, 11/21/2005, 11/28/2005, 12/5/2005, 12/12/2005, 12/19/2005, 12/26/2005, 1/2/2006, 1/9/2006, 1/16/2006, 1/23/2006, 1/30/2006, 2/06/2006, 2/13/2006, 2/20/2006, 2/27/2006, 3/6/2006, 3/13/2006, 3/20/2006, 3/27/2006, 4/3/2006, 4/4/2006, 4/5/2006, 4/6/2006, 4/7/2006, 4/8/2006, 4/9/2006, 4/10/2006, 4/17/2006, 4/23/2006, 5/1/2006, 5/8/2006, 5/15/2006, 5/22/2006, 5/29/2006, 6/5/2006, 6/12/2006, 6/19/2006, 6/26/2006, 7/3/2006, 7/10/2006, 7/17/2006, 7/24/2006, 7/31/2006, 8/7/2006, 8/13/2006, 8/21/2006, 8/28/2006, 9/4/2006, 9/11/2006, 9/18/2006, 9/25/2006, 10/2/2006, 10/9/2006, 10/16/2006, 10/23/2006, 10/30/2006, 11/6/2006, 11/13/2006, 11/20/2006, 11/27/2006, 12/4/2006, 12/11/2006, 12/18/2006, 12/25/2006, 1/1/2007, 1/8/2007, 1/15/2007, 1/22/2007, 1/29/2007, 2/5/2007, 2/12/2007, 2/19/2007, 2/26/2007, 3/5/2007, 3/12/2007, 3/19/2007, 3/26/2007, 4/2/2007, 4/5/2007, 4/9/2007, 4/16/2007, 4/23/2007, 4/30/2007, 5/7/2007, 5/14/2007, 5/21/2007, 5/28/2007, 6/4/2007, 6/11/2007, 6/18/2007, 6/25/2007, 7/2/2007, 7/9/2007, 7/16/2007, 7/23/2007, 7/30/2007, 8/6/2007, 8/13/2007, 8/20/2007, 8/27/2007, 9/3/2007, 9/10/2007, 9/17/2007, 9/24/2007, 10/1/2007, 10/8/2007, 10/15/2007, 10/22/2007, 10/29/2007, 11/5/2007, 11/12/2007, 11/19/2007, 11/26/2007, 12/3/2007, 12/10/2007, 12/17/2007, 12/24/2007, 12/31/2007)
After unfortunate site problems, the Comics Reporter is back. Today’s holiday interview is with my former Stuck collaborator Vito Delsante.
Also you can read interviews with Eric Reynolds (of Fantagraphics) and the previously mentioned interview with Adhouse’s Chris Pitzer (interview #8).
The Beat was a little weirded out by Reynolds’ comment on artist’s speed.
‘I feel like we’re in a good groove now, just by widening the pool a bit so people can take an issue or two off, here and there. Most of these folks have jobs, and ten pages every four months is a lot to ask, I can tell you myself.’
I can never really pin down what exactly is going on in the collective heads of Fantagraphics. They’ve established their core money makers to finance everything else. Which is smart for any indie publisher these days. For every Anders Nilsen there’s five wonky books like Percy Gloom that stink up the line. Every year they sink a little lower in my view of the company.
I had intended to submit this one a couple weeks ago as a “sweet Christmas” themed post, but things were a little hectic over the holidays. My apologies. It doesn’t mean I don’t love you all, nor does it mean it’s too late to throw an old Isaac Hayes LP on the turntable and curl up with Marvel’s answer to blaxploitation cinema:
Luke Cage, Hero For Hire #5
I’ve previously written about the Power man/Iron Fist era of this series, which was where I first encountered this character. The depiction of Luke Cage in those later issues was pretty watered down, to say the least; if my eight year old self had stumbled across this issue first instead, well… let’s just say that a kid growing up in the suburban Midwest wasn’t the target market for the exploits of Mr. Cage.
Luke was the original working class super-hero; he didn’t get to fight Galactus or Doctor Doom, instead being pitted against low-level gangsters and street thugs in his earliest appearances. Like any cinematic private eye of the era, he took the jobs other superheroes wouldn’t do, no matter how undignified, to make himself the bread he needed to get by. His powers were pretty minimalist– bullet proof and strong– so his earliest adventures didn’t read too far outside the genre mined by Shaft or (my personal favorite) The Black Six. The criminals he battles in this issue even complain that he doesn’t fight fair, despite his enhanced abilities. Luke was a jive talking soul brother, a child of the ghetto, and only one writer could capture that voice in 1972: future West Coast Avengers scribe Steve Englehart.
No, really. All kidding aside, Englehart does a sweet job with this issue. There are a couple lines of dialogue that absolutely slew me– like these panels:
Man, there was a time Englehart could do no wrong. I have no idea what happened to him after Reagan took office. The pencils for this issue was provided by George Tuska, who was ubiquitous for much of this decade, having excellent runs on the Avengers and Iron Man as well as this book. His figures have a fluid quality to them, like a less moody Gene Colan, and his faces are wonderfully expressive. He’s one of my favorite artists everyone seems to have forgotten about. 
Behold Luke Cage in terrifying battle with Black Mariah herself! Remember what I said about “undignified”? Tony Stark wouldn’t be caught dead in this fight scene. Despite his earlier tendency towards fighting dirty, the future Power Man is disadvantaged by his reluctance to fight a woman. What a noble guy.
Wendy rented Paris, Je T’Aime earlier this week and I was really impressed by it. It’s an anthology movie, featuring 18 vignettes set in (and inspired by) Paris. It features an ensemble cast of American, British and French actors (Bob Hoskins, Natalie Portman, Elijah Wood, the ubiquitous Gérard Depardieu, and many more) and directors (Alfonso Cuarón, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven, Bruno Podalydès, The Coen Brothers, etc.)
As with any anthology, there are hits and misses, but the vast majority of the shorts were well done. A few of my favorites:
Parc Monceau – A conversation between Nick Nolte and a young woman, filmed in a single continuous shot, with a very clever, funny, and unexpected ending.
Loin du 16e – a heartbreaking piece about an immigrant nanny.
Quartier des Enfants Rouges – notable not so much for the story itself, but actress Maggie Gyllenhaal delivering her entire dialogue in French, with a great accent to boot.
14e arrondissement – a bittersweet story as told in broken French by a middle-aged American tourist making a “book report” of sorts for her French class about her first trip abroad.
Watching the movie, it suddenly occurred to me that this is what a Lifelike movie would look like, were such a thing ever to come about. The individual films are all very short, 5-10 minutes each. And they’re filmed in a variety of styles and techniques. Highly recommended.
