Mar 26 2005

Boxing Bucket in the ring

Occasionally I create what I call “a couch comic.” At the end of the evening when I’m ready to wind down, I usually make myself a drink and sit on the couch doodling and watching a bit of a DVD. Sometimes, I use this time to create a quick, spontaneous one-page comic in my sketchbook. The “rules” for this process are simple: no prewritten story—just start drawing, draw one complete panel per sitting (~30 minutes usually), and use only felt-tip markers.

Most of the time these strips (for obvious reasons) are of dubious quality and pretty sloppy. Every once in a while, though, one turns out pretty well. In fact, I submitted one that I did a while back to the annual SPX anthology, and it got in.

Anyway, here’s one I did of the Boxing Bucket duking it out in the ring. I changed the gray marker to a sepia tone just for fun.

BB couch comic
(Click for larger image)

Mar 26 2005

Johanna no lika the “Strange Eggs”

Cognitive Dissonance

Hey, what can I tell ya? There’s no such thing as bad press. I can’t believe she didn’t like my heartwarming retelling of “The Ugly Duckling” in which a grusome hobo-alien finds peace and contentment among the inner city homeless!

Mar 26 2005

Queer Eye for the Egg Guy

Gay League – Gay Previews 5/2005

Apparently “Strange Eggs” has been declared “LGBT and gay friendly” by the Gay League—owing, I assume, to the presence of Tommy Kovac. Good thing I didn’t do that story where Pat Robertson hatches from and egg and “cures” Kip of his emerging homosexuality…

Here’s a pic of the hopefully-final cover of the book:

SE cover
(Click for larger image)

Mar 25 2005

Toon Town: Center for Cartoon Studies to open in White River Junction

Toon Town: Center for Cartoon Studies to open in White River Junction

Here’s a nice summary article about The Center for Cartoon Studies, a new cartooning school being started by my friend and cohort James Sturm in Vermont. I’d consider going myself, except (a) I already have one useless degree in cartooning, and (b) it’s just too damn cold up there.

Mar 24 2005

Egg Story

Completely unrelated to the book Strange Eggs that I’ve been working on with Chris Reilly, is Egg Story by J. Marc Schmidt. I’m embarrassed to say, I just got around to reading this recently—embarrassed because we’re both published by the same publisher…and because of the egg connection. At any rate, I really enjoyed the book. It’s rare in these post-Maus days to read a comic book that exhibits such innocent charm and such a big heart. It’s also a testament to something I’ve always firmly believed about comics: a great story can carry a book, but great art can’t carry a book with a sub-par story. Schmidt’s art is good—but he’s no master draftsman— (although, I shouldn’t really talk about anything in that department…). Yet, this charming story about a bunch of eggs that bust out of the fridge and have to find their ways in the big scary world, is so full of genuine feeling and good, solid storytelling that I really couldn’t put it down.

egg story