{ Category Archives }
Following my tradition of liking comics more the fewer words they use, Jon McNaught (previously mentioned) slips right into that part of my brain like a good puzzle piece. His work is quiet, well-paced, and subtly cinematic, the way a great comic should be. His style has this great simplified Chris Ware vibe that almost looks like a linocut. Just fucking fantastic, man. How could anyone possibly not love that? He just keeps getting better and better.
Nerd alert! If you know me, or pay any attention to the things I say, which I assume you don’t, then you’ll know that I’m a nerd. I like science, I make math jokes, I regularly get excited about computers, and I read comic books. That last one is the focus of my current nerd-boner, because I found Comic Book Cartography this morning. If you’re thinking that it’s a website devoted to high-res scans of all the maps and cutaways that have populated comic books throughout their history, you’re right; if you were thinking it was anything else, you’re wrong and stupid. Now, there are three specific things about my brand of nerdiness that you should know: 1) I love maps, I think they’re fucking magical; 2) I love comic books, this was already covered but deserves reiteration; 3) I love cutaways, it might seem weird to you that I love something that specific, but I do and always have. THIS SITE COMBINES ALL THREE! Understand that shit, internet. How could I not having raging nerd-wood over a website that is custom tailored to my personal pantheon? It’s making me salivate. OK, Nerdasaurus Rex out.
Let me share something with you: I don’t own a TV. I’ll wait until you recover from shock. Better? Ok. What I do have is a computer, which these days equates to a TV in most cases, meaning that I still watch TV. The thing is, I don’t like to. I don’t have a TV, because I don’t want to spend all my time watching one. What do I do instead? I read books. Books are the TV of the mind, and I read them like crazy, especially comics because they provide the added layer of great art. So, with an impending week long break coming up for the holidays, do you think that I’m anticipating catching up on all the shows I’ve missed? I’ll tell you, I am not. But what I do have is a nice stack of comics to read both digital and analog, and a dog to sit on my feet while I do so. If you can tell me of a better way to relax, I will probably sock your face in because you’re a liar. And sitting like a gem at the top of my comics stack is the work of Luke Pearson, mostly because I haven’t gotten the chance to read a lot of his comics, but also because his work is fucking top notch. His style is variable but always beautiful, his subjects interesting, and there is a dandy balance of wit and pathos. You can bet your ass that one of his comics is worth at least one episode of Lost, even if the comic occupies less time. So, in the coming weeks when you find yourself bored to tears while waiting on your drunk family members to stop fighting, pull up a few of Pearson’s comics and engage your mind. It’s that or stare at Dick Clark’s dessicated android corpse.
Thanks once again to Drawn! for helping me find more comics to read instead of doing the job I get paid for. I think the amount of not working compared to the amount of working that I do has finally passed the point of getting fired. I needed the time off anyway, lots of comics to catch up on. And thanks to Nedroid for being the comic that combines everything I love about Calvin and Hobbes with everything that makes my brain taste like colors about Exploding Dog.
I spent the better part of high school getting high in an empty greenhouse and then subsequently hunched over my desk drawing lots of stick figure comics during classes. Ninja battles, theories about the future, illustrations for stories I was reading, you name it and I probably illustrated it somewhere between 2nd and 5th period. My friend and I would even have duels trying to one-up each other in a giant, ongoing collaborative battle. Lone swordsman gets defeated by ninjas, ninjas by cast of Braveheart, cast of Braveheart by God, God by Nietzsche, and on and on. Looking over the work of Dresden Codak, I should’ve stuck with it. There is clearly a place for the weird, funny, incredible images the mind comes up with when left to its own devices, and Dresden Codak is the king of that place. He just really gets me.
Thank you, Lilli Carré, your illustrations were exactly what I needed today. Made everything better.
Jordan Gray seems like one of those guys that wakes up in the middle of the night with a fantastic idea, and then doesn’t go back to sleep for the next few days while working on it. That’s how I think of Spike Jonze, too. There are a lot of people with great ideas for projects, but only so many who absolutely have to see them made. Jordan definitely has the great ideas, just take a stroll through his portfolio and that will be clear. But he clearly has the follow-through. How else could he have made a feature film? Or a badass comic? Or such great type choices? If we’re separating the men from the boys here, Jordan’s chest hair is curling out of his flannel shirt. I’ve really got to stop making my metaphors sound so homoerotic.
I know absolutely nothing about this comic, except that it’s fantastic and weird and blew my mind down my spine and out my behind. The Japanese just keep being better than everyone else at things. Head nod to Matt for showing me the comic in the first place. You’re a giant poose*, Matt, but you keep me entertained.
*moose pussy
One of the most important things you learn as a writer is when to shut the hell up. Now is that time. There is nothing that I can say about Connon Willumsen’s comics that is equivalent to their goodness. Mums the word.
I love that image. Welcome to Secret Still, Kim Herbst. Long may you rule.