Catching Up with Comics + Going with the Flow

"Research" materials

At the close of another semester and over the little "break" in-between, I'm also in-between gigs, and so will be prepping for the annual Ursa exhibit (see previous post), taking down the Pakalolo show, and catching up on my stack of books to read + comics to draw. Some of the notable acquisitions for my collection at the office include: Howard Cruse's "Stuck Rubber Baby" whom I had never even heard of before, and contains some of the most luxuriously rendered textures I've ever seen.

Also recently splurged on the deluxe canvas slipcase edition of Loeb/Sale's "Superman for All Seasons"; another in Brremaud & Bertolucci's wordless day-in-the-life series "LOVE: The Tiger"; and “Nuking Alaska: Notes of an Atomic Fugitive” from Alaska’s own Peter Dunlap-Shoh (review here + publisher's website here), and a bonus capybara (for reasons explained below).

Stop exaggerating how big it is

It appears that there has been a breakdown in the system... is it any wonder I have basic issues with trust? Many of us are into comics because we are somewhat of control freaks, and now my sense of fairness and justice in the world has been completely undermined. Seriously though, this is why I lose my mind even before starting to draw any goddamned thing, when the foundation you are trying to build upon is a lie.

But seriously, later on here I'll have another motherlode of a recap re: the comics class officially debut during a normal semester. In the meantime here's a little teaser of the next installment of studio art courses I'll be rolling out as the upgrading of the drawing department continues apace. I'm thoroughly excited to launch a personal passion of mine, and expand upon the fundamental medium of the entire program.

clockwise from top left: Garth Williams/E.H.Shephard/Frank Frazetta/Robert Crumb

And in closing I would be remiss in mentioning an absolutely wonderful & enchanting movie I was lucky enough to catch the last day it was on the big screen here in the 'Banks. Ginys Zilbalodis' "Flow" (trailer here) is a magical, transcendent experience - not since seeing "The Iron Giant" back in 1999 has an animated feature so enraptured me - this was pure delight. Also one of my pet peeves that prevents me from watching 99% of contemporary animated movies was blissfully avoided with an entirely dialogue-free production, so no intrusively annoying and tiresomely stupid famous-actor voiceovers. As a cat daddy, the adventures of the protagonist kept me on the edge of my seat for half the show, and it was quite emotionally exhausting, if not altogether rewarding and reflective afterwards. Not only are the reviews all outstanding, and the writer/director/producer even made the music, the entire soundtrack for which I promptly purchased, and have been replaying with earphones on at the studio - home and school - ever since.