Fábio Moon vs. Craig Thompson in "Blog War"

Fabio Moon will be visiting Portland.   He and Craig Thompson are documenting the visit in illustrated Blog form.  There is some fabulous art sketches from two greats.

It starts here. 
And continues here  
adventure awaits
then action here
The end 

Thanks Multiversity Comics

Serious Eye to Eye Signing at Floating World 08/05

Brandon Graham and Simon Roy will be at Floating World Comics.  Brandon is the writer King City and Multiple Warheads.   Simon Roy will have copies of Jan’s Atomic Heart and Good Business, a new sci-fi mini comic he did for Heavy Metal Magazine.

Also, floating world has an exhibit of Scott Pilgrim art.   Go check it out.

Reading

Gannon is in reading school this summer and he asked me to put this up on the site.

28 Days Later Hard Covers

It is a really fun Zombie novel.  Great art from Declan Shalvey and writing from Michael Alan Nelson.  Olivia said it was one of her favorites.    

So, I am trying to figure out when the 28 Days Later Vol2 and Vol3 Hard covers will come out.     They were solicited a while back through Diamond and then canceled.  I spoke with Dcbs and said they were canceled.  I spoke with Cosmic monkey no sign of them.    The have been disappeared from the Boom website.  No feedback from Boom.   Amazon has it up on it site, but has a message that says   "We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock".      

The mystery looms.   This is my white whale.

UPDATED: San Diego Update

I was not at San Diego but many Portlanders were.     And there were some great announcements so I really want to congratulate everyone.

You should check out.  
 

Matt Fraction    The Batman Dreams of Hieronymus Machines w00tstock

Kelly Sue Deconnick Osborne Mini Series

Paul Tobin   Spider Girl Announcement
Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett -  Boiler Plate Movie
Brian Bendis - Is researching Cloning, to make minions most likely,  and there was some other TV news-)

Katy Ellis O'Brien Art Show

Katy teaches the comics class that Gannon and Kellan are taking.     I am excited to see her work.

When: Thu., Aug. 5, 6-10 p.m. and Saturdays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Continues through Aug. 28
sequentialartgallery.com

Murderland release party featuring David Hahn @TFAW 08/04

 

 Learn what a Arabber is.  Check out this cool new book set in Baltimore.


Murderland is a story of doomed romance, bloodshed and the outer limits of human potential, all unfolding on the streets of Baltimore, Maryland. This dark adventure is illustrated by David Hahn, written by Stephen Scott and published by Image Comics!

Wednesday, August 4th   7:00pm – 10:00pm
Location Hollywood Things From Another World
4133 NE Sandy Blvd in Portland, OR
*Note: You must be 21 or older for the beer–bring IDs!

Joe Sacco is at the PAM this Sunday 08/01

Joe Sacco, author of Palestine and Footnotes in Gaza, is at the PAM this Sunday.  He will be discussing Comics and journalism.  He was a journalist and wrote one of the first art-comics in the Maltese language.   It should be really engaging.

Reviews from a non-comic book reader

Doug tasked me with reading and reviewing, Fables - Animal Farm.  He wasn't really expecting a review, since I gather that this has been out forever, but wanted to see what my non-comic book self thought of a work he likes.

Contrary to what Doug says, I do occasionally read comics, mostly Walking Dead, but I will grab other volumes as interest strikes; 28 Days Later, The Stand, etc.
Sadly my fable background has lapsed and with some of the characters I spent most of my time trying to remember the original myth.  I found this distracting rather than enriching.  Like with Rose Red, WTF, I cannot remember her or her role, wasn't she just some random sister?  But this is ultimately a problem with me, not with the story.

I did like the art work, and I thought it was huge for bringing the writers' reality to life.  I don't think that this would have been as successful as a novel.  It's an example where some beautifully illustrated work can quickly wrap the reader up in a world that would otherwise take pages and pages to explain.

I found the transitions a bit abrupt and the whole story just kind of thudded to an end for me.  But this has always been one of my problems with comics in general.  I read, alot, and fast, so I head straight for the words, ignoring the rest.  That's great if you're working through 800 pages of The Passage by J. Cronin, (which was fantastic and rightly earned a boatload of praise), not so great if mixed media is critical to understanding.  I am working to change the pace when I read comics.

Overall, I liked it.  The idea is cool, I really liked the art work, the story was compelling, although short.  I will read more in the series, but only as other reading is cleared out of my queue.

Comic Weekend

#NotAtComicCon at Cosmic Monkey
Signing with Jeff Parker and Chris Samnee.  Jeff Parker worked with Gannon.  Gannon explained His current astronaut comic.   Jeff wanted to see his alien so Gannon explained it to him and they worked out the alien.  Chris did some fantastic sketches for us.   Their current works are Agents of Atlas, Thunderbolts and The Mighty Thor.  They are all great.

 
Portland Art Museum
We went to Family Night at the  PAM.   We looked at the R.Crumb exhibit.   Book of genesis.  What a task to illustrate and  recreate the unabridged story sequentially.  We got to do some drawing and made buttons thanks to the IPRC. 

Drawing Class
The boys went Kids Comics Class @ Cosmic Monkey.   They are making Comics.

Free Concert July 22

This concert also serves as a kick-off event for the PDX Pop Now! 2010 Festival, a three-day, free, all-ages showcase of Portland music taking place at Rotture the weekend of July 30-August 1.




PDX Pop Now! at City Hall 2010
Thursday, July 22
5:30-8:30pm
1221 SW 4th Ave. (between Madison & Jefferson)
Free / All Ages / Outdoors

Be prepared to be awesome!

Get your get your geek merit badges from Brion Salazar's new venture Geek Merit Badges.   Who said there wasn't life after comics.

Walking Dead on AMC

Me and my wife are both fans of Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman.   The announcement of the Walking Dead TV Show sounded intriguing.   But I was unsure and I have been avoiding news about it.  But I guess it is coming up this fall.  I watched this video from MTV.   After seeing it I am really excited about Walking Dead show.  After seeing how involved Kirkman is and Darabont, the director, seems awesome.

Although, Olivia doesn't believe it will actually happen until we TIVO it.  We have been disappointed before.  I still think of the Preacher HBO series that we were promised.

Marvel TV

Ron Richards at ifanboy wrote up this fantastic list of  Marvel Comics ready for TV.  I have to agree they are ready to go.   My favorite are Cloak and Dagger, Daily Bugle, Runaways and Pryde. 

Here is the low down.

1. Runaways - Children of supervillians on the run
2. Cloak and Dagger  - Fighting Crime
3. Daily Bugle - Yummy yellow Journalism news Drama - J.Jonah Jameson
4. Nova - SciFi adventure - Teenager gets the power of an interstellar Space Cop
5. Pryde - Kitty Pride at college
6. What The..?  -
7. Black Cat - Beautiful Woman, private detective by day, Cat burgler by night
8. Inhumans -
9. Murdock, Attorney at Law - Crime Drama with a Blind lawer
10. The Bullpen - The true stories of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Larry Lieber.  Making marvel grow in the 60's.

           

08/04 - Josh Wagner Reading DeadWood Sea @ Cosmic Monkey

Josh Wagner Reading!!

From New Novel "Deadwind Sea"

Wednesday, August 4th

Signing at 3 - Reading at 5PM

Fiction Clemens!! Sky Pirates of Neo Terra!!

San Diego Comic Con is coming up 07/22-25

San Diego Comic Con is coming up.  Unfortunately I can't go.  Not to worry,  Dark Horse and Red Bull have a solution #NotatComicCom.  Announcements will follow

Update:   #notatcomiccon Announcement party at Cosmic Monkey

Portland Zine Symposium 08/28-08/29

The Portland Zine Symposium is coming up.

The PZS will be held at the Portland State University in the Peter W. Stott MAIN GYM downtown.

Who is your favorite Doctor?

I was at Cosmic Monkey for Gannon's drawing class,  which I highly recommend.  Gannon is having a great time.     But we were discussing Doctor Who, as you might at a comic store.    And there was the classic question who is your favorite Doctor who?

And as a thought it over I am not even sure I could answer:

• Tom Baker
• Christopher Eccleston
• David Tennet
• Matt Smith 

Each time a new doctor is selected.  My response is the same 'Seriously?'    But eventually they all become the doctor to me and they seem like a continuation of one character.  I am somewhere between David Tennet and the Matt Smith, becauseI see a lot of Tom Baker in him.

Who is your favorite doctor?

Kahn!!! Star Trek live in the Park

Space Seed was the first appearance on Khan.   Go up to NorthEast and see a live performance of classic startrek.  from your friends as Atomic Arts

Comics I like

I was confronted by The CSG guys at #ECCC  what comics do I like.  I fumbled around so I thought I write it out.
30 Second speech what comics do I like:
I like a variety of comics, I had to break my likes into several categories.

*         sci-fi comics
*         mythology and magic.
*         Stories and with great art and/ or unique- exceptional  stories
           100 Bullets
*         alternate histories, and early Batman (Proto-batman) stories.
*         literary fiction, fables, unwritten, sandman, LoED.
*         Stories with strong female characters:
           Birds of Prey, Tara Chace, WW, Powers
*         I like story's/ mythologies that expand the ages,
           like Ironfist, Madame Xandu, Buffy, Shield
*         Stories are fighting the powers that be.   Invisibles
*         Stories with old time hero's,
           Green hornet, zorro, Lone Ranger, First Wave
*         I enjoy books the explore religion (Good and Bad)
           Promethia, Grendel: God and Devil, Battle Pope,
           Rex Mundi, Preacher, Magdelena
*        And I like the classic comfort food of the big two,
           Batman, Thor, Ironman, Spiderman,
           and the wolverine and x-men.. I was reading in the 80's.

And I like trying new stuff: Recently I am enjoying the manga Pluto.

Recommendations welcome

Pirate Batman !!!

It is good to see elseworlds  brought it to continuity.   thanks Grant Morrison. 

Letterer: Richard Starkings who I just met at Cosmic Monkey....  How about that!
Before

Today

The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward nerds

Words to live by, thanks Matt Fraction.

from his interview with the mercury.  Good Article.

Got the new Mighty Thor with Chris Samnee Art

Gannon took this picture and it looks like a mug shot...Yikes!

COMIC BOOK CONFIDENTIAL 07/31/2010 - 08/01/2010

At the Portland Art Museum

Sat, Jul 31, 2010 at 9:15 PM
Sun, Aug 1, 2010 at 4:30 PM

COMIC BOOK CONFIDENTIAL
DIRECTOR: RON MANN
CANADA, 1988
Mann’s acclaimed documentary offers an entertaining, insightful survey of a largely unrecognized art form. Through interviews, animated montages, and readings, the film traces the journey of comic book art from the 1930s and ’40s and the explosive popularity of superheroes to the groundbreaking work of Will Eisner and the crime and horror comics of the ’50s. Mann also looks at the chilling effect of the Comic Code, which cited comic books as a major cause of juvenile delinquency. Mad Magazine defiantly survived the era, profoundly influencing everything that came after it. The film also looks at the rise of Stan Lee’s Marvel Comics and the independent and underground work of R. Crumb and the “comix” makers of the ’60s and ’70s. Among the many interviewed: Art Spiegelman, Harvey Pekar, Stan Lee, Frank Miller, Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, and Harvey Kurtzman.

Be sure to catch The Bible Illuminated: R. Crumb’s Book of Genesis, on view at the Portland Art Museum through September 19.

( 90 min )
With support from Floating World Comics.

Went to see Richard Starkings @ Cosmic Monkey today

Met Moritat and Richard Starkings at Cosmic Monkey today.    Their books look fantastic, and most of all I am excited about the Elephantmen movie.    It sounds cool.   Got a copy of their new series, Questionable Things.   That was a great event. 

Vampires & werewolves & ghosts oh my! Season 2

Being Human on BBC America starts up.    It is the classic tale of what happens when a ghost, werewolf and vampire live in one house and then things get real.   This is one of our favorites.

Starts on season 2 on July 24 at 7:00 PM PST

And you can See a Being Human ep 1-6  season 1 marathon on July 18 or July 23 start at 8:00 AM PST

I love the Library

I read a lot of comics from the library.  We have two great library systems in portland through Washington County and Multnomah counties.    Through these systems you can get just about any graphic novel you are looking for.   I have to say after starting to read comics through the library I buy more GN than I had before. 

The portland enquirer is having a great series of articles about the library -

Comics at the Multnomah County Library: Minicomics part 1

Comics at the Multnomah County Library: Minicomics part 2

 

Gannon, who is 7, just had a signing and sketches

My son Gannon, who is 7, just had a signing and sketches in Klamath falls at grandma's house.  I took him to see Mike Avon Oeming and he got his drawing book signed.    So this weekend he decided he would would give out signatures and do a drawing of your favorite superhero.    It was good.

Because the Muppets are awesome

My family loves all the new Muppet videos.   This is the latest one.

Check it out.

07/09 Diary Comics release at Reading Frenzy

The kick off of Jesse Reklaw's book tour celebrating the release of Ten Thousand Things To Do with a multimedia diary comic extravaganza featuring Melinda Tracy Boyce, Clutch, Virginia Paine and of course, Jesse Reklaw!

921 SW Oak St.
503.274.1449
www.readingfrenzy.com/

This event is free and so is the beer.

Great Interview with Matt Fraction

From Comic Alliance It discusses the color re-release of Casanova. And the new upcoming volume.  They discussed how each volume represents one of the seven deadly sins.

I already order my copy.   Did you?

Signing: Dylan Meconis 07/15 @ FWC

Courtesy of  Jason Leivian, proprietor of the lovely Portland establishment Floating World Comics, Family Man will have a release and signing party on-site!  It will be on July 15th from 5 to 8pm.  Bring your copy of Family Man.