Xeric grant, books, two comics, and a movie.

I got a letter in the mail on Monday. Yesterday I left for New Jersey.
The letter said that Ghost Comics: A Benefit for RS Eden (edited by me, designed by Jenny Tondera, and cover illo by Allegra Lockstadt) has won the Xeric grant. This means we get the funds to put it out! We will probably go through 1984 Printing.


Here is the wraparound mock-up cover. Spine is in the middle.
Did you know that the Xeric Foundation was founded by Peter Laird, co-creator (with Kevin Eastman) of the Ninja Turtles? The first issue of TMNT was self-published, and the Xeric's what he did with his Turtle money. Makes me feel better about spending many hours of my life doing this.

Right now my dad is listening to Pink Floyd downstairs in the kitchen and cooking for his business meeting tomorrow.

Here's my new comic. It's NOT FOR KIDS. SERIOUSLY.










Here's a cover for a book I made as a mock-up for Zak Sally's Comic Publishing class at MCAD. It's work by Jillian Schroeder, co-founder of Minneapolis zine collective Hark! Press. I edited and designed it.


And here's the wraparound, spine in middle.


The physical version of this book has rounded corners, which I'm thinking of doing with Ghost Comics. Will have to consult my designer.

Here's another comic. It's older and not a lot of people saw it at the time. Fell through the cracks. I'm pretty into it.







And finally, a movie I was in recently. My friend Toby Jones made it. I play a leper businessman, the Head of the Leprosy Council to be specific. It's called Janitor Quest 2000. Enjoy...?


Janitor Quest 2000 from Toby Jones on Vimeo.

Here's a link to 20 Questions with Cartoonists run by Austin English, a standup dude who makes nuttywonderful comics drawn in crayons (I think). The most recent entry is with Zak Sally, whose viewpoint and words I've been benefiting from all semester and before, so put that in your cap and read it, after you take it out of your cap of course.

And just for the hell of it, a cool 24-hour comic by a friend of mine, (Dead Bird) by Caitlin Warner.

Oh, and don't forget about how Love and Rockets is the best comic ever if you still haven't read it. Or if you've read Jaime but not Gilbert Hernandez... Do it. It's for your own good.

OKAY SERIOUSLY ONE LAST THING.
The wonderful Music? For Screaming!!! by the voice of the March Hare, Jerry Colonna.

I'm back in NJ, which means Philly, NYC, work by my own clock, and hijinks!

Black and white morals.

Big recommends:

Steve Martin's autobiography, Born Standing Up

Bob Dylan's autobiography, Chronicles: Volume One. (I listened to audiobooks of both while inking.)

And more than anything else,

PALOMAR from Love and Rockets by Gilbert Hernandez. (The name comes from the fictional Central American town where the stories are set.)

If you don't know about it, L&R is a comic series started in the early 80's by Los Bros Hernandez, Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez.

They have two seperate storylines. As with many readers, I've always dug Jaime, but had taken awhile to really start reading and digging into Gilbert.

As I did... I was rewarded beyond my wildest dreams.

It's the best thing I've ever read.

Every chapter leaves me twisting and contorted, making guttural noises in agony and ecstasy.

As soon as I ended volume one, I immediately missed the Palomar residents like I miss old friends.

If you read Palomar, your life will be better than before you read it.

p.s. This song rules.

Don't read these comics.

Are you listening to me? I'm not trying to be cute here. Don't read these comics.

These are for Zak Sally's Comic Publishing class at MCAD. We all had to make a diary comic strip a week for ten weeks. After the first three weeks, I started getting lazy and I started scanning pieces of my actual diary. (Which I'm not writing in lately - go figure.)
Anyway, I never intended them for viewing and I figured they would be graded and never seen. Now we have to put them on the internet and some students will be making a mock-up of a Perfect Bound book of everyone's diary strips.










In related news, my mock-up is When To Be a Boy?, a collection of drawings, collages, and comics by my friend, local zinester, and Hark! Press co-founder Jillian Schroeder. I don't know if it will get produced necessarily, but it's fun to do.