{"id":848,"date":"2007-11-02T13:25:32","date_gmt":"2007-11-02T17:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.benzilla.com\/?p=848"},"modified":"2007-11-07T13:41:37","modified_gmt":"2007-11-07T17:41:37","slug":"spx-finds-pt-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.benzilla.com\/?p=848","title":{"rendered":"Spx Finds – pt 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

(If you don’t know what the heck “SPX Finds” is all about, see the original post<\/a>…)<\/p>\n

Urban Legend<\/strong> – Bradley Day<\/u><\/p>\n

Mini-comic series, 8 1\/2″ x 5 1\/2″, ~36 pages each, B&W interiors, color covers<\/p>\n

Autobio comics, particularly autobio minis, are often the subject of a fair bit of scorn<\/a>. What I find interesting about these sorts of criticisms, though, is what it reveals about the popular stereotype of the autobio comic. As Johnny Ryan’s hilarious send-up strip of autobio comics, “<\/font>Every Auto-Bio Comic Ever Written,” (which I can’t seem to find a scan of anywhere online) exemplifies, when folks think of autobio comics–good or bad–the stereotype brought to mind is usually that of the the bitter, confessional, warts-and-all, semi-whiny\/semi-ironic autobio book–let’s call it “the Joe Matt model.”<\/p>\n

Often exempted or overlooked for whatever reason–maybe just because it’s not as easy a target–is a whole other school of autobio comics that’s had just as much influence on the genre as the Joe Matt model: the James Kochalka model. Bradley Day’s Urban Legend<\/em> falls squarely in this latter camp and is a pretty good example of this sort of mode, the “daily comic” or “sketchbook diary.”<\/p>\n

In addition to a few overt references to Kochalka, Urban Legend<\/em> shares with Kochalka’s dairy comic, American Elf<\/em>, a number of features that to varying extents are the key hallmarks of this comics-making mode, most notably its strip-a-day requirement as well as Day’s drawing himself non-literally, as a “bigfoot,” as similarly Kochalka draws himself as an elf-like creature. Interestingly, though, unlike Kochalka, Day draws only himself<\/em> this way–the rest of the characters are drawn as regular humans.<\/p>\n

Each issue has a nicely done, and often clever, wrap-around cover. Here’s one I thought was particularly nice–both in its color choices and in overall composition. Based on the strips inside, I’m assuming this is Fripp Island, South Carolina:<\/p>\n

\"ul_1.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Even the drawing here is a bit Kochalka-esque, although Bradley Day’s color artwork appears to be done with actual paint, rather than being done in black ink and then colored in Photoshop.<\/p>\n

I generally enjoy reading diary comics day to day online; for me, they function better as a short, regular, revelatory trip into someone’s life than as a continuing narrative that one reads cover-to-cover, and that would be my preferred mode of reading Urban Legend<\/em> as well, I think. That being said, Day’s cartooning is nicely done throughout. He plays with panel arrangements quite a bit, with some days as single panels and others as multi-panel strips. All are done with black pen and ink wash. The tone throughout is usually either matter-of-fact, or overtly funny, but relaxed and not self-conscious–and neither cutesy or twee as can sometimes be the case with these things.<\/p>\n

As with most diary comics, I found that with Urban Legend<\/em> the whole is more than the sum of its parts. While some strips are insightful, or poignant, or funny, they’re not all going to be. The point, though, is what the completed “diary” represents in terms of the ritual, discipline and challenge involved. And, if you’re lucky, you’ll get a few really good strips out of the whole deal, which Urban Legend<\/em> does. Here’s one example I really liked:<\/p>\n

\"ul_2.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

No website was listed, but Bradley can be contacted at bradleysasquatch [at] gmail [dot] com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(If you don’t know what the heck “SPX Finds” is all about, see the original post…) Urban Legend – Bradley Day Mini-comic series, 8 1\/2″ x 5 1\/2″, ~36 pages each, B&W interiors, color covers Autobio comics, particularly autobio minis, are often the subject of a fair bit of scorn. What I find interesting about … <\/p>\n

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