FLOG! Entries tagged 'Kovey Korner'

Daily OCD: 11/4/09

mike

Your Online Commentary & Diversions-style goodies for today:

• Review: "...[F]or fans of off-beat crime..., I give you Jacques Tardi’s no-shit brilliant adaptation of Jean-Patrick Manchette’s West Coast Blues. ... [W]hat starts out as something straight out of a Hitchcock classic like North by Northwest soon escalates into something more savage, more profound, and utterly wonderful... It succeeds brilliantly in good old-fashioned crime thrills, for sure. The violence is brutal, the story exciting and surprising, and the characters are brilliantly rendered. But then there’s that extra little layer, those subtle themes, those strange details, the lyrical narration passages — let’s just stop and cut to the fucking chase: you should just pick this shit up and be floored. This is about as good as comics get, dear readers." – BSCreview

• Review: "The rape of the innocent. The callousness of the machine. The girth of the profiteers. The threat of the bomb. The hollowness of the victories. [Craig] Yoe has collected more than 220 of those anti-war cartoons in [The Great Anti-War Cartoons,] a book of indelible images that remind us those confrontations aren't what they used to be." – Steve Duin, The Oregonian

• Review: At Comics Comics, Tim Hodler posts scans of Eddie Campbell's review of A.B. Frost's Stuff and Nonsense from The Comics Journal #260

• Plug: "[Zak] Sally's one of those artists who can convey a sense of dread or horror out of seeming thin air, and he's really been on the periphery for far too long now. Hopefully [Like a Dog] will thrust him into the limelight." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6

• Interview: At Marvel.com, Sean T. Collins talks to Paul Hornschemeier about his Strange Tales contribution: "I think this story is far more cerebral than the typical mainstream comics, for better or worse. But it will be brightly colored, so hopefully that will get everyone though the awful philosophical ranting I'm about to unleash. Get ready for more shots from my boredom gun." (Paul offers a couple of corrections at his blog)

• Interview: Lauren McKinley of [^]LAND talks to Fantagraphics art director Jacob Covey: "I'd say my style is heavily influenced by where I first learned how to design — making photocopied black and white flyers for rock shows. I feel like that, far more than anything else, taught me most of what I've learned about how to make type and image work."

• Analysis: More commentary on the future of The Comics Journal, this time from CBR's Augie De Blieck Jr.

• Things to see: Ellen Forney tackles the "pictureless comics" challenge with her usual aplomb

• Things to see: Leon Beyond and the temples of doom, by Kevin Huizenga

• Things to see: Amazing Peanuts shelf porn at Robot 6 — but no Complete Peanuts to be seen??

Ebay Excursions: Bullets for Kids.

covey

Remember the good ol' days? When a gun was never out of reach of any child's finger and bullets were still considered toys?

I slept through the night in those days.

Meg Hunt

covey

There are a few artists who I've been wanting to post about before I get swamped with fatherly duties. I'll be trying to do that over the next week or so. Up first...

Meg Hunt is still a young illustrator but one whose details you can look at and see that she works hard to flesh out her images for her own development as an artist-- her clients probably wouldn't notice if she spent half the time she does on her work. Which is exactly why I enjoy watching her evolve and why she's someone who will be working for more of the clients who DO notice the details.

She's also one of the few design-conscious illustrators that I enjoy. I can't really define what I mean by that (and there's probably an actual term for this), but all of her illustrations are very designed, have a smart color palette and textures, and emphasize shapes more than, say, a fully-formed setting. Most illustrators who do this do so at the expense of a soul to the work but Meg maintains life and a personal vision in what she does-- the backgrounds still matter and evoke relevant setting.

Check out her Flickr page to see more process, including details on the handcut rubyliths that make up that screenprint above. I was happy to learn that she never composes her images in the computer, still preferring to plan it all out by hand, including her sophisticated, overlapping coloring.

Meg would be great for the children's book market. Are you reading this, children's book market? Call her.

MEANWHILE, that print will be in an art show here in Seattle that opens Friday at the Suite 100 Gallery.

Get her Tinymeat wallet here.

Tony Millionaire's Portrait of My Unborn Baby Girl.

covey

I am so grateful that my little girl will be born into a world where she'll think it's perfectly normal for her to have a portrait of herself done by one of the greatest men-of-ink alive.

Thank you Tony Millionaire!

(T minus 27 days til fatherhood... and I'm praying she'll have lost that stubble by the time kindergarten starts up.)

Magik Show in PDX

covey

The Magik Show opens this Thursday (April 3) at the Pony Club Gallery in Portland, OR. This show is the first to be curated by Zack Soto and it's a pretty great line-up of mostly comics folks. "Stereotopfer" (his gocco prints above) has conveniently listed and linked all the artists on his Flickr page.

I found a few other pieces online: Mike Bertino, Calvin Wong, and Jason Miles.

End of an Era

covey

No sooner has our own Matt Silvie posted Flickr photos of Ruth Bellthomaz's house than the city has won out on forcing her to beautify her property. Anyone who's ever visited the Fantagraphics Books, Inc., headquarters surely remembers her house, brimming with chaotic art and a constantly evolving landscape.

My desk here at the office looks out on Ruth's property. I've frequently seen her out there securing the wall of window frames that she has nailed to her house. The squirrels and stray cats love climbing on the scaffolding-like structure, but Matt tells me that she has all those seemingly useless windows there to keep the FBI from monitoring inside her home. Which is at least a little less crazy sounding when you realize that those are the initials for our company and I AM staring at her.

Anyway, she's over there today with an industrial-size dumpster and a hammer dismantling and trashing. I just hope we don't lose all of her handpainted signs (see above).

Fenwick: master craftsman

Eric

RAY FENWICK has some pretty cool merch available over at the Pantry Press Etsy Shop, the result of his artist-in-residence that ended last month.

This has nothing to do with Ray's phenomenal work, which I greatly covet and admire, but looking at Etsy, I am struck by how 'crafting' has seemingly become the new D.I.Y. medium of choice. I wonder if it's because all the zinesters of the '80s and '90s are now in their 30s and 40s and knitting onesies instead of xeroxing Gen X (or L) manifestos? I'm not sure what to make of it. I do like pretty things, but can only get so excited when in boutique potholder form. I'll shut up now, I'm treading on very thin ice with many of my dear friends and coworkers. Not to mention my wife. Did I mention that Jacob Covey hates Manga? He really does. He told me he would rather read a potholder. What's up with that?

UPDATE: I am just being a smart-ass. I don't really mean any of this.

Flickr Pools and Pals

covey

There's now a Flickr pool of art that was submitted to the Open Call page for BEASTS! Book Two (due out later this year). So far about 75 people have added their piece to the page. Above is Daniel Goffin's creature.

While you're at Flickr...

I also just posted sneak peek scans of the printed Dash Shaw book covers (white and black on Kraft always looks good). On my page here.

Then check out how awesome Steven Weissman's work looks when done with Zip-a-tone!

BEASTS! Open Call Results.

covey

Congratulations and thank you to Jennifer Tong, who captured this charming and unsettling glimpse into the life of Nymphs. This piece was submitted to the Open Call slot I posted about last month and will be appearing in "BEASTS! Book Two."

Thanks a lot to everyone who took time to send in work-- more details on the Beasts Blog.

BALLS OUT!

covey

Portland's Grass Hut is expanding their space and celebrating with one helluva art show tonight. Souther Salazar 's piece above-- More info on their site.

BEASTS! open call update.

covey

It's crazy hectic here at Fantagraphics so I only have a moment to thank all the people submitting art to the open call slot in BEASTS! Book Two. Deadline is Monday morning when I come into the office (I originally said March 1st but that's a Saturday).

I'm pretty amazed and grateful at the response (170 submissions already) and have no idea how I'll choose the art to be published. THANKS EVERYONE!

* That beautiful piece above submitted by Ian Huebert. (His site www.themilkmachine.com is not currently up.)

1,000 newspapers want you to know that Jeff Parker is a dick. Daily.

covey

We publish some shocking comics but I had no idea that the most offensive strip was nationally syndicated "family fare." People are okay with this being what their kids grow up reading on the comics page, meanwhile they raise hell over a kid reading an issue of Dan Clowes' Eightball. Go figure.

(*Note: Yes, I know I originally mistyped "Brant Parker" in the headline to this post even though his son, Jeff, took over being the Id's dick cartoonist in 1997. Apologies.)

Your Walls Could Be Awesome.

covey

Jordan Crane built a new, enormous screenprinting table and now the artist has made this just for you and 43 uptight friends.

You owe him eighty bucks.

YOU can be in Beasts! Book Two...

covey

Ninja Turtles creator Kevin Eastman hasn't responded to my emails (I don't blame him -- it probably ended up in his junk mail like everything from Fantagraphics) so I'm left with one open space in the upcoming anthology that is the modern bestiary, Beasts! Book Two. I would like to offer that space to whomever would like to submit work for it.

All submissions must be received by March 1st at which point my Fanta colleagues and I will review the pieces and determine one piece to appear alongside the likes of Jaime Hernandez, Kim Deitch, Peter Bagge, Ellen Forney, Craig Thompson, Tomer Hanuka, Brian Chippendale, Al Columbia, and 81 other amazing artists that I cannot list here.

Note that I am not looking for traditional fantasy artists. The purpose of this book is to give the beasts back to the people. Dragons flying through purple skies have many other books to appear in. I want these symbols to have meaning again.

The rules: You must depict a mythological/folkloric creature that has been "witnessed" in some capacity in some culture at some point in history. No gods/goddesses or creatures of fiction. I am also looking for creatures that have not been depicted already in the Beasts! series. I will have a list of those in the comments section as soon as I can. Bonus points for creatures from recent times (such as the chupacabras, Beast of Bray Road, sasquatch, Loch Ness monster -- but not those because they've been depicted by other contributing artists). THE FORMAT IS 8" SQUARE.

Hobbits are not beasts.

If any artists currently listed as contributors fail to deliver a piece I may choose more than one submission to run in Beasts! Book Two.

I strongly encourage unpublished artists (and Peter Laird) to submit work.

Direct a jpg of your piece to fbicomix *at fantagraphicsdot com by MARCH 1st. Contributions may be displayed here or on the Beasts blog unless you tell me not to.

Lastly, I hope that any artists I haven't asked to contribute understand that this isn't a reflection on their work or in what orifice I may have my head: It's stressful choosing a diverse group of 90 artists that have time for this project and there are many folks I wanted to ask but didn't get to.

Also note that this will probably be the last Beasts volume because they are quite exhausting. (Art up top is by Femke Hiemstra, for Beasts2. See more art at the Beasts blog.)

Thanks to everyone!

Online Comics: Dash, Ribs, LOL, Satanas

covey

You are keeping up on the beautiful strip, Bodyworld, from Dash Shaw, right?

I mean, after you read Steven Weissman's "Yikes," of course. (Which may still be moving around on our site but is currently at this link.)

Meanwhile, the world of bad internet spelling and hobo fetishism has it's very own tribute in Adam Koford's more-than-daily "Laugh Out Loud Cats." It's a gimmick that has limited mileage but it's also a charming homage to classic cartooning that I enjoy seeing. I may even buy a panel featuring his endearing LOL cat, Pip, considering they sell for just 20 bucks.

One of my other favorite Flickr stops: Satanas pages from Stephane Prigent. Totally indecipherable yet utterly engrossing, I love these comics. Uhh, IF they're comics.

Letter like the pros!

covey

Since I started as a book designer here at Fantagraphics, one of the most common questions I get is "Where can I find a good comic book font?" And usually I just say "Look Chris, you've been bugging me about that every month since about Acme #3 and I just don't know!"

But now I finally have that answer: Comic Book Fonts from the REAL pros!

Okay but obvious jokes aside: I really DO get that question and I guess that's my answer now. I can only think of one of our regular artists who doesn't hand-letter his/her own work. We do use computer "comic" lettering on all of our translations except for the rare artist who will re-letter the translated work. (For example, Jordan Crane and Dan Clowes do that for their foreign editions.) And, generally, we don't use pre-fab typefaces but create the font in-house by scanning in the artist's hand-drawn alphabet.

I recently spoke at my alma mater and my only follow-up email after the event was a kid asking me if there was a reason everyone uses Comic Sans. The answer is Yes. Those people's parents need them to mow the lawn or start paying rent which leaves no time for lettering their comic AND watching "Heroes."

Please help us raise $4K in the next 22 hours

Eric

Jacob Covey emailed myself, Adam Grano and Mike Baehr a few minutes ago with THIS link to an eBay auction that ends in 22 hours, promising to wear this item to work EVERY DAY if we buy it for him. We don't make enough to go in on $4K three ways, but if there's a wealthy benefactor out there with a sick sense of humor, we would really like to call his bluff. You have no idea how much this would improve office morale (for most of us, anyway).

P.S. Adam said he'd go $100 easy, as would I, and possibly as high as $300. So we really only need like $3500. As of now no one has bid, maybe the seller will even come down on the price if no one does.

P.P.S. Kevin Eastman should buy this for us just to have a ninja turtle walking around in Gary Groth's office every day.

UPDATE: Auction ended with no bids and was re-listed at $3,299. Hope is not lost.

Art/Bags.

covey

Mr. Alex Chun, the Fantagraphics Pin-Up King, was contacted a while back to be an expert for Couture King Louis Vuitton. Apparently Vuitton was looking to I.D. some old men's magazine art for use on the company's unfathomably high-priced handbags. One of those artists was Bill Wenzel, subject of Alex's fourth of eight books of classic pin-up art to date.

Of course, being that this is the haute Art world, the bags aren't credited as a Vuitton collaboration with cartoonist Bill Wenzel but a Vuitton and Richard Prince collaboration. Richard Prince being an Artiste who is cited as opening up "major discussion concerning authorship and authenticity."

Either way, the bags are remarkably unimaginative. Murakami it ain't.

From the Archives.

covey

I suspect this is more true than any of us here care to admit. (Though I'm not sure it's an either/or thing.)

This should be good...

covey

Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware contribute stories to this Zadie Smith anthology of new fiction, The Book of Other People. Charles Burns illustrates the covers. It also has prose from the likes of Dave Eggers, Jonathan Lethem, and George Saunders. All of this makes for yet another beautiful Penguin Books artifact. [Note: I originally found out about this book via the great Blog Flume which has some scans of the cartoonists' work.]