Palliative Reading: Zen Comics and Ursula K LeGuin's Tao Te Ching

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These are all times of extreme dexterity and chaos for many of us, and just because one has learnt to live with chaos doesn't mean that chaos is welcome.

And that's as may be. Comes the time, more than often, when what one sees bearing down on one becomes intimidating and the ability to stay on an even keel leaves of its own accord. You can't knowingly coax it back, but you can recreate it.

Recently I had trouble sleeping, freight train running in my head and all that, and The Wife™suggested I read some paper book. Not book on my cheapo yet faithful tablet, that involves that blue-biased backlight which doesn't really do your biological system any good, really kind of destabilizes it, and paper book reading is a very somatically satisfying thing to do, as one can find out for ones self by just doing it (hell, I just feel better holding a book in my had, but that's for another time). And my The Wife™, she know me well, and suggested.

There is a pair of delightful little volumes called Zen Comics (not to be confused with the webcomic Zen Pencils). This modest collection of panels was drawn by a Buddhist named Ioanna Salajan, who was part of a Zen Buddhist community in Amsterdam back around the early 1970s, and they had a periodical called Cosmic Paper. She did these for that publication. What they are are little 4-panel (mostly; some of them break that to illustrate a joke or a theme) situations based on, as I understand it, Zen concepts or koans (and a koan, as I understand it, is a riddle or question that has no sensical answer, the point of which is to embrace the absurdity and acquire understanding from the point of view that provides).

There are around 100 of them in all split between two rather small volumes, titled Zen Comics and Zen Comics II. They are all charming little things that you glance over, then glance over again, and then move on and come back to. At first it's the comic style seeming to combine brushwork and fine line; the whole artistic style, seeming at once unashamedly primitive and childlike but somehow simultaneously sophisticated; and the feeling that it's all trying to communicate with you on a visible and and invisible level.

The comic has a handful of characters. The star, though I don't know if he'd say so, is The Old Monk, that chap on the cover graphic in the robe and that stylish beard with the head with the high dome. The co-star, who I've heard referred to as Number One Disciple, is his most frequent foil (and target of his switch) and serves as a relatable interlocutor. There's also Rinzo, a burr-headed chap who would be a Number One Disciple someday, if only he could figure some basics out. There are some other Zen practicioners, a few Western tourists, and one Samurai warrior who has an epiphany.

There's a whimsy that makes it all approachable even if the point is frequently ineffable (something I also understand a good koan's lesson should be). And I don't know if I'm getting the point of it all, but reading it (as I have many times, it never gets old) again and again always makes me feel a kind, gentle humor within.

It's been reprinted many times; my 2-volume set was printed by Charles H. Tuttle publishers back in the 80s. It's a pleasant reprieve for the weary mind. I recommend it to you.

The other book I've been absorbing is Ursula K. LeGuin's rendition (as she says herself, it's a rendition, not a translation) of the Tao Te Ching. It's a pleasant looking book, small, square, containing two CDs of her reading it as music plays in the background. I've not listened to the CDs yet. I read it, like Zen Comics, frankly, not quite comprehending what I'm reading but it's speaking to me on some level. I love it because UKL did it, of course, but there is a comfort to reading these poems not yet knowing what they are totally supposed to say but feeling their truths falling into place in some internal way.

Ursula K LeGuin's affection for the work makes it a soft, kind thing, and it too, helps me calm the anxiety.

And so it goes.

[cartoon] Spiral Notebook Comics Binge Watches The West Wing

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John E. Williams (no relation), a comic artist of great amounts of ilk, has entertained before with a look at Law and (dunkdunk) Order. Now, on TV hour at Spiral Notebook Comics, he takes a rocket ride through any given episode of The West Wing, in which we may or may not get the answers to questions like this:

The writing is as sharp as a very sharp thing. Hie thee hence:

http://times5online.com/westwing/westwing1.html.

It's in a spiral damn notebook, y'all!

[logo] DC Comics' New Logo: Insert 'Back To The Future/Forward Into The Past" Gag Here

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DC debuted a new logo back in 2012 that was a break from their past presentations. Moving away from the obvious and straightforward presentation of the old DC bigraph, the 2012 redesign was abstract and, as the blog Brand New termed, 'FX-driven'. Featuring a sticker-ized D being peeled away from the C it was apt for customization for each character brand it was promoting as the peeled area made for a window into the world of each story.

Here we are, scarcely five years into that rebrand, and DC has chosen to re-logo yet again. The new logo is very pre-2005, with a few chips knocked out of the DC to give it some sort of edge and the letterforms enlarged to merge with the circle. It's sort of an updated-glory-days approach. Which is a thing that's accomplished.

There's nothing much really to say about it as such. It's a solid logo and gets the job done, but the 2006 re-design went over pretty well, and had grown on most of us that didn't care for it at first. It updates the pre-2005 look aptly, but it leaves you wondering what factor or factors of the 2006 logo were deemed to have made it weak.

So far the reviews range from the irritated to indifferent, and on a gut level, I can see why. It's not a bad logo, in and of itself. But did they really need to update it?

[cartoonists] Why Was Morrie Turner Important?

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Yesterday a dear friend shared with me a personal treasure, they'll let me publish it here. It was a  delightful thing, something that made my heart sing with joy a little; I want her to add her memory in her words which will make a finished piece of the thing.

Until then, I need to set the table for it. For those of us who still might not know.

Chances are about even, my gut tells me, my faithful interlocutor has only heard of Morrie Turner on his death in 2014 at the age of 90. You heard he was a pioneering black cartoonist who created a strip called Wee Pals, and you heard that he was the first national cartoonist to have a strip with such a integrated (what we said when we mean 'diverse' back in the 70s) cast.

Oliver steps up; Nipper shows him
where he stepped in it.
Shades of Milo Bloom here?
Aspirational, book-smart,
bespectacled, good-
natured and stocky, Oliver
was my dude.

All of which are true. Wee Pals, which ran from February of 1965 (and is still online at Creators' Syndicate) had an armful of characters which represented just about every outlook you could expect to find. The Rainbow Gang included several black kids, a Latino boy, an east Asian boy, a native American, a few young ladies of more than one color who dealt in 'Girls' Lib', and a bookish bespectacled know-it-all white kid named Oliver who, for me as a reader, was my avatar there. There was even a bigoted white kid. The kids lived life, played together, planned and schemed together, and occiasionally smash-talked each other.

It was, in other words, like life with real people.

Morrie Turner in 2005
(via Wikipedia)

Morrie Turner came up from Oakland where he was raised by a Pullman porter father and a housewife mother; learned cartooning via Art Instruction Schools, served as a mechanic for the Tuskeegee Airmen and had art published in Stars and Stripes, was a member of the Oakland Police Dept, and was inspired down the road to create Wee Pals when, the legend has it, he noticed there were basically no minorities in popular comics at the time and his mentor, Charles Schulz, suggested perhaps he should create one. The strip was eventually carried in more than 100 dailies, and in 1972, moved to TV under the Rankin-Bass aegis as a 17-episode season of animation called Kid Power, which was where I came in on it



This was where I came in. I ate it up like I ate up every other Saturday morning 'toon.

And I told you all that to tell you this: there is a moment that sticks with me, and I don't know if it's where something started with me or not, but it must mean something, because at one point, the gang was trying to resolve some situation or other, and Oliver, in his good-natured, smarts-proud, well intentioned way, boasts "We'll find the chink in the armor".

At which point his friend of Chinese descent, George, points out that he should perhaps watch how he throws that word chink around.

Life is a series of beginnings, and in 1972, in whiter-than-white Silverton, Oregon, someone had one of the many necessary beginnings toward the realization that other people of differently-colored skin are people, too; that words matter; that the best intentions don't mean that arrogance still doesn't hurt, and to learn from those casual mistakes. George didn't hate Oliver for it, they came to understand what that meant, and Oliver grew from the experience. It wasn't just that one moment, of course, but it probably is a single thing from which can come much humanity.

Turner did this all while we thought he was just making us laugh with sassy kids. That's why he's important and why is legacy still matters.

Stay tuned to this channel for a splended Morrie Turner memory from a dear friend's past coming up very soon.

[art] Demo: Funny Faces The Andrew Loomis Way

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The Loomis method of art auto-didactitude is so attractively simple I had to give it a shot. Herewith my result.

The Loomis method expects you to be crap at drawing your circles, straight lines, et. al., in other words, it accepts you as it finds you and builds on whatever aptitude … or lack of such … that you have. It starts at the top with the head, and treats the head as a ball that you stick lumps of other clay on to approximate the other shapes that make up the head … jowls, bulby noses, ears, what ever you need. Looking at the photo below you can see where Loomis is going with this; kooky cartoony faces.

The first part of the book, then deals with the head and face. Let's take a look.

For simplicity's sake, I'll try the very first one there on the left. It looks very simple and doable just for the perusal. And, if you look at the examples on the right, it becomes fairly clear that the method adapts to just about any shape you want to employ, even if your sphere looks more like a lima bean. No worries, and no pressure, just have fun with it. But I get ahead of things here. In this view, you can see I've sketched out a circle and divided it down the more-or-less center; a circle in the center will serve as the basis of our nose. Short dashes equidistant above the center circle will locate the face's mouth and eyes.

Now for some more facial features:

Sticking a couple of blobs either side of nose provides us with the basis for the wings over the nostrils, a couple of quick curves on either side of the head base the floppy ears. Two big ovals on either side of the mouth are the foundations of the jowls, and a couple of blobs on the nadir of the circle for the cleft chin.

A few minutes of erasing and darkening in of the lines after the example illustration and we've arrived rather quickly at our destination.

It only took me abut 15 minutes to do this drawing, but if I hadn't stopped to compose and take the shots, it would have only taken about 5. If you're new to drawing, it would probably only take you 15. And that's the genius of this method; take simple shapes that anybody can draw and put them together until you get the foundation you need, then lay in the hard lines. The Loomis method, in the beginning, is particularly suited to cartoony, funny faces (recall the countenance of Professor Blook?) and logically might inspire someone to create their own cartoony characters.

Loomis doesn't stop there, though. The next time we meet here about Andy Loomis, I'll take a look at where he takes us.

[comic] A Bead That Looks Like StupidFox

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I'm fond of rather a few web comics, of course, and today, after visiting A Bead Source, a little farther out SE Division St, she found this little fellow:

He reminds me of this little dude:

That's StupidFox, a little guy who's not too bright in the brain department, but a genius in the heart and soul division.

http://StupidFox.net, for the funny.

[comics] How To Draw A Horse Right, By Someone Who Should Know.

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In this video, comic deity Donna Barr shows you how to draw a horse the right way, in 15 minutes, assisted by another comic deity, Roberta Gregory ...



The video was done last year at the Clallam Bay Comiccon, and if you didn't know that Donna created the series Stinz, then you should get acquainted with that.

(posted with some abashedness that I waited so long to do so. Personal reasons)

[art] Judgmental Goat Eating Grass Is Judging You

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This caught The Wife™'s fancy when we were at Fanaticon. It's a delightful little work by artist Rick Marcks which also got autographed.

It's a goat, see?

And, it's totally judging you.

Rick Marcks's Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/rick.marcks.7.

[comics] What We're Still Loving: The Helm

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We're a bit late to the party on this one. But we stumbled on it in meeting a wholly witty person. Therein lies the tale.

During OryCon last, we stumbled upon a man billing himself as J.R.R.R. Hardison. Little did we know. He was promoting a book … but I'll not get ahead of myself. To promote himself, he was distributing copies of the comic he wrote, The Helm (with heroic art and Frazetta cover homage by Bart Sears). I thumbed through it, and, as though by fate, a sequence hooked itself right into my cortex.

It's just after our main character … Mathew Blurdy … has gone through the worst part of his no-good, very bad, terrible day. Not only has his girlfriend dumped him, publicly and humiliatingly, at his place of work … a DVD rental shop … his inability to keep it together there immediately and subsequently cost him his job. A miserable mess, the now-unemployed, now-nodding-lonely, 30-year-old, overweight manchild manages to intersect with an eerie, almost-comically portentious garage sale. A whim draws him hither, where he meets the titular artifact, which calls to him in only a voice he can hear.

Mathew is the Chosen One. But The Helm's vision is cloudy, that day … and once it sees what doughy clay it has to work with, tries to reject him, all but saying I said GOOD DAY, sir! And, in the frame after, after the garage sale's equally-creepy proprietor (who figures mightily in a crucial way much later) tells him bluntly to put the merch down unless he intends to buy, a bronze, chiseled hunk of a brick house appears as though fated to be, and asks to look at a sword. The Helm, tellingly, speaks not to him.

The hunk so distracted, the chunk steals away with The Helm.

That, friends, the sort of deft comic timing I enjoy. The joke may not be complex, but the telling is timed like a precision time piece. And that's the sort of comic timing that made the comic worth the possessing.

I've read it many times since; if I was going to write about it, I want to do it justice, but the subtext that sticks with me is that Mathew Blurdy is terribly believable. He gets the superpower, he slowly learns to pay the cost; like most mortals, he certainly didn't genetically know what to do next and stumbles about with it like a 6-year-old kid who just got the keys to a Lamborghini. But somehow, chaotically, when the moment presents itself, he goes with his considerable gut and shows he has what he needs just when he needs it. He ends the adventure changed a little, but not significantly, and The Helm, realizing it's stuck with him, does the best that it can with what it has to work with.

Everything and everyone in this play is so perfectly imperfect.

It's that comic timing and grasp of the absurdity that is people that give me high hopes for Jim's upcoming novel, Fish Wielder. The wit of The Helm's writing shows an aptness for writing sharp satire. I don't think I'll be disappointed, but the wait … the book's due out in August of this year. But, if the story's good enough for Piers Anthony to glowingly recommend it, and if the comic's good enough for Harlan Ellison to be delighted by it, then it ought to be good enough for anyone.

Holy crap, Jim! You did all the LOLs!

Contact Jim on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jim.hardison.75

[comics] What We're Loving: They Call Me Black Fist

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The cover of the slender volume is most evocative and lets you know exactly where you stand with it.

Blaxploitation/Rockabilly/Fighting Manga? SHO'NUFF!

There are those of us … and you know who you were, don't be apologetic, because it was awesome … who would live for Saturday and Sunday afternoons, because that's when our local TV stations would fill those unprofitable hours with cheapass content. Like B-monster martial arts movies.

Especially those. 

Well, Pharoah Bolding has a treat for us, because in his hero's little debut adventure, They Call Me Black Fist, he's mashed up those so-bad-they're-good Saturday and Sunday afternoon adventures with a healthy dash of nostalgic affection for those styles, blaxploitation, and deserving of a soundtrack of Carl Douglas.

Everybody was Kung-fu fighting. The fallout is an affectionate satire and pop-culture deconstruction you'll take right to heart.

The story, while witty, is very straightforward; enigmatic, good-hearted but stern-valued martial artist with a pompadour that's on its own mission from God finds himself in a jive situation, which needs taken-care-of in short enough order when an absurd villain invades his local comic shop to steal all the free stuff on Free Comics Day with the idea of storing them and making money off them when he can sell them in 10 years time … without so much as even reading them.

The villain is evil … but at least he plays the long game.

Our hero, teaching a hard lesson, and teaching it hard.

But the gauntlet is totally thrown. The justice, as someone once said, is brought-en; on the way to that justice and a lesson in comic-shop etiquette, one rare, near-mint ninja three-pack gets severely downgraded, one comics shop gets seriously trashed, and one comic shop owner descends into near shell-shock. Furious action obtains, with specific moves hilariously called out.

The story is funny and enough just as it stands, but what really makes this little comic desirable is production values that put you back in the day; the weathered movie-poster style front cover is a bit of cosmic deftness that even comes complete with a price sticker straight from the spin rack at the supermarket and ad reproductions that include that back page Johnson Smith Co mail order mall … remember the X-Ray Glasses that sold for a dollar? That sort of thing.

And the inside back page? I never thought I'd see an ad for Chuck Norris Action Jeans ever again.

There's better news. I finally met Pharoah at Fanaticon (see that blog entry which is immediately before this one) and found that the affectionate humor in the work is only natural … in person he's just as affable and humorous as the jokes he tells in the story. And, as promised on the next-to-last page, Black Fist will return … we got to lay eyeballs on some blue-pencil sketches that got us very excited.

Black Fist will return … and we'll be there for him.

If you want to be there for him, dial your Stargate to http://www.pharoahbolding.com/.

[comics] Fanaticon 2016, or, What If You Held A Small Teen-run Comics Fest And Quite A Few People Came?

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As I promised earlier this week, Fanaticon, the teen-run comic festival being staged at the East Portland Community Center, happened, and also, as promised, we were there. We have some pictures, and here they are.

The multipurpose room at the EPCC was impressively filled with a number of vendors and the whole thing ran rather smoothly and enjoyable. Not only were there first-class things to buy, but there were a great deal of new people to meet as well as some old friends to say 'hi' to.

Among the vendors who were there was, along this wall, starting from the farthest, Dylan Canfield, Caitlin Like, and Mikah Berkoff. All produce great work. Dylan does sharp indie stuff, Caitlin does a elegant romantic Steampunk story called Mistress of the Machine, and Dylan contributes 1/3rd of the great local crowdfunded graphic magazine Combine.

Above, the women of WabiSabiPDX posed for us.  They specialize in adorable SF- and geeky-accountrements, and also PDX … I now have a Timbers logo pin done by them, because #RCTID, man. Many delightful trinkets there.

From left, Barry Deutsch, Jaymz Bernard

Barry Deutsch and Jaymz Bernard also posed for us. Barry's graphic novel series Hereville is one of the things that rule my world, and Jaymz is the talented creator who is one of the other thirds of  Combine and more. Following Barry's link will take you to his Amptoons homepage, and Jaymz's will take you to her Facebook presence, where more can be found thereon.

While there wasn't any cosplaying per se, there was some inspired costume choices, and some people who know how to dress to impress. These two participants weren't a pair, but when they posed together, they worked together on an artistic level:

Puttin' on the Ritz, Fanaticon Style.

… and not only does this young lady have a sense for style, she rocks the hoop-skirt.

Jake Richmond and Jaymz Bernard

The teens who had the enterprise to create this microcon are students in the Cartooning class led every quarter by Jake Richmond, he of Modest Medusa, who we've met in this blog before, and those same students decided the time was ripe to put on a show, in the old-school style. I'm liking Jake because he represents a certain encouragement to the beginner from the pro that we don't see so much in the world in general but which I come upon quite often amongst the comic creator community. So, far much of the stuff Jake instigates turns out nifty.

He was selling Modest stuff, some books, including the most recent publication, anthologizing his three Modest 24 Hour comics. They're really sweet and great comedy.

Also appearing, in effigy, the Knight of Chains in adorable hat style.
Nothing personal, but much preferable to the Knight of Chains in person.

These two sellers, whose names I did not get, had really cool crafty head circlets that were kind of, from my point of view, the unexpected hit of the con. They sold very well and adorned the head of more than one con-goer.

Three of the con staff, who were selling a compilation of EPCC class work, but I loved this arrangement because the names of the trio read Kate, Nate, and Josie, which scans mightily well. Something that didn't escape my notice was that the staff had a large young female representation, which, given the trends as I see them, can't be anything but a good thing.

Christine "Kiki" Knopp

We purchased some of the work of Kiki, a/k/a Christine Knopp, an illustrator who does some really fun, whimsical animal illustration, heavy on the cats, and some of the cutest foxes I know of (stickers of which adorn some of my own sketchbooks). She's got some impressively deep professional experience, is just plain a nice, affable person to talk to, and also does private art lessons. Her FB presence is https://www.facebook.com/kikidoodle.art/, and you can find her other neato stuff from there.

 

This last picture is an unexpected treat … the purple-shirted fellow in the center is Pharoah Bolding, who's work, They Call Me Black Fist, an unafraid mashup of rockabilly, fighting manga, bad 70s kung-fu movies, classic comics, and satire, which I stumbled on at Spritely Bean and tipped on my own Facebook presence some time ago (I had thought I had reviewed it, but just figured out I hadn't, which is a think I must redress and will do so soon). They Call Me Black Fist is as funny as hell, and Pharoah Bolding has a real-life sense-of-humor that is every bit as audacious.

One photo I didn't get was of Huynh Pool and the Spritely Bean's table, where good basic coffee, Thai tea, and Boba tea were all available, and made everything go smoothly.

The best cons tend to run so smoothly you don't notice anything else but the fun you're having and the people you're mingling with. It was all good and the kids did a tremendous job. 

We give it many many thumbs up. We'll have to borrow some, because we only have so many, but sacrifices must be made.

We hope they do it again next year.

[comics] What We Saw At The First Artist Alley Comics Fest

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Southeast Portland can hide things, tuck nifty things behind other nifty things. These things are worth the effort in finding.

Comic-cons, for instance. Oh, they're there. Hidden behind awesome little comic-cafes. I give you the corner of SE Powell Boulevard and 59th Avenue, on the border of South Tabor and FoPo.

This is a building containing a hair salon (The Phix), our comix cafe (The Spritely Bean), a print shop, and a good-bad-for-you food cafe (the mighty Steakadelphia). Behind, there, you see a tent or two peeking out? Why, yes you do. Let's explore, shall we?

When we get cross the wide, wide demesne that is SE Powell Boulevard, this is what we see.

This is the First Annual Artist Alley Comics Fest, presented by The Spritely Bean and supported by some worthy supporters, one of which be +Muse Art and Design . The artist alley, as I understand it to be, is an area of a comic-con where artists set up to sell, see, be seen, and meet fans and interested people. Much goodness for sale there. Being that this is set up in the parking lot behind Spritely Bean's building, it's like being in an alley, making this a true artist alley.

Well played, SB, well played.

One of the sponsors, Muse, sent along one of their people to rep the shop. This is one of them:

The tie of the day.

… our friend Vaughn Barker.  I've told you about Vaughn, the alter-ego of Valentine Barker here: http://zehnkatzen.blogspot.com/2015/03/pdxart-illustrator-vaughn-barkers.html, where you can go to find about about his awesomeness and his art and his general Zenitude, so he's worth your time. But this time, it's kinda about the tie.

That is one hell of a tie, man. Straight up.

The hair salon has the delightful name of The Phix. They had a backdrop up and they were showing off some of their work. We almost missed all of that pageant, as we showed a bit more than halfway through the afternoon, but we did see this fellow …

Character? Yes. Comic? No.

… who was as rockstar with his attitude as he was with his hair. Damned affable, too, as far as that goes.

Being tucked away in Southeast like it was, I was worried that there was going to be a gentle response. Adam and Huynh were taking a bit of a chance, I thought, and since I love, so far, everything they do, I was a little anxious for them.

I shouldn't have worried.

A person who's become a dear friend to me, +Donna Barr , creator of Stinz and The Desert Peach, proved that the tiny-con could work, and work well, even out at the end of the road. The Clallam Bay Comic Con, a small event, was none the less energetic, complete with dealer's room, panels, and a party. See here for her result: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2015/07/small-but-fierce-2015-clallam-bay.html.  The micro-cons are a boon because you can have all the creator-awesome without all the corp-overhead, and this is the sort of place where the indies can be the stars of the show.  Linework NW proved that it could shine as a vibrant smaller-sized, creator focused and driven event.

And now, AACF proves that small can be beautiful, gorgeous, amazing, and that tiny can have a big attitude. And nothing but indies! I'm going to show off individually what I got perforce, but there were big and small productions, and if you didn't come on over with a huge budget there were nifties, small comics, and things to get at a whole range of prices. There was brilliance available for a $20 and awesomness available for a $2 bill.

I'm sorry to say that I didn't get as many pictures as I could. Seen and enjoyed but not pictured:

Coffee. The Spritely Bean is a coffeehouse, of course, and Adam and Huynh's fine wares were available. I enjoyed two of their divine cold brew iced coffees, bold, velvety and just the thing for the über-humid afternoon. Also, macarons! I had heard about them, trendy as they are, but I'd never had any before then. EXQUISITE! Best cookie ever. Wife asked for a Italian soda, it was mint and came back Amalfi-style … it was like drinking a York peppermint pattie.

Jake Richmond. One of my more favorite recent discoveries is Modest Medusa, by Jake Richmond. Follow that link there for the skinny on the snake girl. I got to meet Jake and had the a great chat with him. He's part of a crew of SE Portland illustrators (Including Barry Deutsch and Ben Hsu) who were there en cartel, madly creative people who do work which tends to move into your mind and live there. He has a generous spirit and talked at length with me about his creation. There was also a Chocodile, which I consumed. Modest is right … they're quite tasty.

Brett Carville. I've also written about Brett, who is another recent favorite discovery of ours and just one of the nicest guys you'd want to meet. We'd seen him at Linework and it was amazing to see him here too. I got a look at something he's doing called Life of Craig, and I'll have more to write about that in another post in a few more days.

Donna Barr proved that you could have a comic-con anywhere. Linework NW proved that if you made it all about indies, it'll have meaning and velocity.

AACF proved that if you hold it … especially in Portland … they will come.

Hail, Eris.

[pdx_comix] Artist Alley Comic Fest I, The Haul, Group Picture

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We hit that Artist Alley Comics Fest I, last weekend, Sunday, August 2nd. If you didn't go, my friends, you missed out on a fine scene indeed.

I'll detail my favorite bits in subsequent missives, but for now, here's a group shot of the haul. There were things for every budget. Just because you didn't bring a pocket full of cash didn't mean you had to go away empty handed. Anyway, here's my stuff.

We'll take a little tour in a subsequent article.

All praise to +Spritely Bean.  Straight up.

[pdx_art] The Spritely Bean Comics Cafe … A Grand Opening Six Months in the Making

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It is true of some places that, even though they have a certain inception date, they can't help but start sharing the awesome before they're actually open

Such is The Spritely Bean.

The Spritely Bean (http://www.spritelybean.com) is a little comic cafe and a brand new thing at 5829 SE Powell Blvd, in an area of Southeast Portland that is, quizzically, nearly devoid of decent coffee places or bookstores of any kind. So a need is being answered here, and answered with a really delightful, very Portland approach.

Coffee, zines, and comics. We see nothing the matter with this.

You step inside and the place is comfortable, appropriately lit, inviting. It's got graphic novels, zines, and comics in the back, and a wonderful place you can spread out and enjoy quality time in the neighborhood all around. It's the sort of place you can spread out in and enjoy your coffee, your comics … or a really nifty selection of cheap eats and delightfully unexpected finds like Vietnamese iced coffee.

Adam (pictured left) and Huynh are two of the most affable and warm people we've met in a while. They run the place and are its friendly heart and soul. How affable? I'd met Adam once … just once, mind you … and when we crossed paths in the dealer floor at Linework NW a couple of months back he recognized me instantly and greeted me as an old friend.

You can't fake friendliness like that. Free hot dogs too!

This last Sunday was the official Grand Opening. Spritely Bean has been open for about four or six months now, but they had to make it official some time, and now it is. I was happy to see the people coming through on mostly a constant basis … it's a destination place, obviously (we happily ran into Bwana Spoons, who happened by and spoke with the proprietors for a while, and left with the most delectable looking frappé), but also a neighborhood place in a neighborhood that needs a place like this. The patronage was steady, which is always a good sign.

We looked at what they had to offer and what they have coming up, and this is really a place more people should work into their regular haunts. There are figure drawing sessions that have been held and will be held; you'll see a rich and exciting selection of zines (see the picture right); I discovered Modest Medusa there (a couple of books are still on offer). There is very much the indie and the local spirit there, everything that Portland's supposed to be famous for, artistically, is all here in microcosm.

It's not in our neighborhood but it's not too far out of the way, and it's something that that particular neighborhood has needed for a very long time. I'm happy to see it there, the neighbors are happy to see it there, and I'm hoping it has a long happy life in that area.

I'm not one for foreshadowing and omens,but finding a 2B drawing pencil in the middle
of an open table is significant somehow.

We're going to go by there on a regular basis, and I suggest everyone does.

[comics] Spiral Notebook Comics: Bob's Yer Paradigm!

3131.

Brother, can he paradigm!

Can you smell the leadership?

[comics] It's Comics! It's in a Spiral Notebook! IT'S SPIRAL NOTEBOOK COMICS!

2963.John E. Williams, a man of whom I admire for having much ilk, just took existential comedy and fast creativity to a new high with the low tech.

How funny can spiral notebook paper and plain black ballpoint can be?

Just ask John.

Claude directs traffic … but of course, nobody listens to him. And, hey, free coupon! At the end! Such a deal! Whatever the NJ Palisades are and sadly, it's after 1963 but it's the thought.

Seriously, I enjoy John's dry wit and his existential touch, which proves that traffic rage can even be funny if you contextualize it just right … and sketch it out in ballpoint on notebook paper (two art media which, I can see, are vastly  underrated).

See the rest (including his recap of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) here:
http://spiralnotebookcomics.blogspot.com/

[comic art] Creating A Dystopian-Future Comic Book Cover

2801 (Via Dark Horse Comics at the Book'o'Face) The Massive is a dystopian near-future comic series coming soon that is supposed to take place in an environment where the the race between global climate change has ended, and global climate change has won. There are previews available here and about.

The cover art, like any great comic cover art, hooks you in.

In this article at iO9, Brian Wood takes us through the creative process that led to that cover.

[comic] Adeiu, "The Elderberries"

2787Thank you, Corey Pandolph. And that's sincere.

A comic strip we've all been very fond of around here is winding down. The Elderberries, a strip which, more or less, has the same surreal and genuinely-funny take on being old as Cul De Sac has on being young, is ending.

I actually wondered about that a few weeks ago, when suddenly the gigantic Japanese conglomerate decided to sell off and close Elderpark (tagline: A great place to park your elder). In fairly short order the stern Russian cook, Ludmilla, was splitting to run her own retirement home, taking the Professor and the General with her; best-friends Dusty Winters (the eternal cowboy) and Boone (the retired UPS drive who bled brown) were hieing off to New York to share quarters; Evelyn was off to live with one of her ever-neglectful kids, and the ever-beleaguered Miss Overdunne was being sprited off to Italy to live with her now-no-longer-unrequited suitor, who ran the nearby tavern.

Everyone was going places, but we weren't sure where the comic was going and … well, now we know.

We'll miss those characters.

Whereever you go, Mr. Pandolph, we wish you'd of continued the strip … but we do wish you well.

[comics] Comics Code Authority Seal Now Belongs To The Good Guys

2708.The unassuming little mark you see illustrated hereunto is the seal of approval of the Comics Code Authority, and as of today, it's switched sides.

Back in the day when self-censorship was essential to stay in business (as William Gaines found to his travail - fortunately, that guy never would lay down) The CCA stamp was a powerful thing. Having it meant advertisers would like you, and if they liked you, the money would follow.

Times have changed. More channels exist; Marvel and DC have their own ratings systems, and even Archie comics have given up using it. The Comics Code Authority has died with not just no bang, but not even a whimper.

Through legal means I'm certain I have no means of understanding, the stamps new owners are the CBLDF - The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, standing for First Amendment rights for creators:

(CBLDF Executive Director Charles) Brownstein adds “It’s a progressive change that the Comics Code seal, which is yesterday’s symbol of comics censorship, will now be used to raise money to protect the First Amendment challenges comics face in the future. That goal probably would have been unimaginable to the Code’s founders, who were part of a generation of comics professionals that were fleeing a witch-hunt that nearly trampled comics and any notion that they deserved any First Amendment protection.”

So now the stamp has changed sides, and it's not at all a bad thing.

[comics] How iSteve Ruined Comics

2704.(via Gizmodo) Well, iSteve didn't ruin comics, per se, but Apple, with it's dead-brilliant design regime, have made technology that was once easily renderable … such as the phone, the TV, and such - so subtly designed that, when they're used, they need almost as much exposition as a supporting character:

Compare with the idea off a man getting outraged at a magazine or newspaper article. You don't need to be told what that is. This? Why is that tiny replica of the 2001 monolith making that monkey so angry?

The subtle, usually elegant design regime inspired by the Apple iLine of, oh, just about everything, has created articles that are beginning to require entire new ways of storytelling, causing a sort of evolution in comics. Just how do you tell a story with props that, depending on the context, need to have their stories told before you know what they and what the characters are doing with the small oblong objects that could be, well, just about anything?

Tom Pappalardo asks the question in the article Cartooning vs Technology: How Steve Jobs Ruined Comics … but he's trying to make a point with that title. He don't really hate iSteve, or the toys he created. But it's a smart, funny article that asks a good question.