Anticipation & Convergences

I have finished eleven reviews over the last three months.  I write these reviews because I like the books and I want to let everyone know how to find and support them.  The thing is once I publish a review I continue to get updates from and about artists.  As I move on to the next artist I am getting all these awesome little tidbits that I haven't been sharing.  I asked Geoff Vasile for permission to use images from his books.  He said sure.  He also said that he was moving most of his web-presence to The Geoff Vasile Show! on tumblr.   I bit the bullet and set up a tumblr account.  I found out that about half of the artists who had stopped updating their web pages are now posting on tumblr.  On a side note, Vasile posted this new slick silk screened cover for issue four of Trackrabbit.

Robinson's take on Fin & Jake

Now on tumblr, I have started to see Andy Hirsch promoting this Adventure Time book that Liz Prince had been mentioning.   Not having Kids or cable I really had no idea what Adventure Time is.  Everyone else seems to already have been keyed into Adventure Time.  The young woman running the register at Austin Books all but rolled her eyes at me when I asked if all the issues of Adventure Time had back-up stories by indie artist.  Turns out I had been seeing a lot of Adventure Time fan art floating around the intertubes.  I just had failed to draw the connection.  Unsurprisingly Alex Robinson's attempt at The Wonderful World of Alx Robinson is both awesome and a little freaky.

Hirsch did the art for the B alternate cover for the third issue of Adventure Time:Marceline and the Scream Queens.  He will also be doing a cover of another issue in November.  Hopefully this is a good link, if not he posted both covers at It's Andy Hirsch.   The six issue Marceline series were done by Meredith Gran.  Gran has been rocking out her own web-comic called Octopus Pie.  Octopus Pie: There Are No Stars In Brooklyn, is a hoot and brought back the few fond memories I have of Brooklyn.  Hirsch 's cover highlights Liz Prince's seven page back-up story.  I ran out and got it but starting at issue three of six left me a little at sea.  Gran's work seams like some solid story telling.  Prince's back-up story Fruit Salad Days is hilarious and stands on its own.  With the Hirsch cover it is totally worth the cover price all on its own.

Prince with Hirsch's Cover

So that's where things I had been anticipating converged.  Some of the other things I am looking forward to have been in print for years.  Following Alex Robinson on social media is a reminder that I have three more reviews of already published work, that I hope to explore here. He also keeps on putting out teaser pages for the book he is currently working on.  He just posted page eighty-eight; it is ridiculous good but frustratingly gives almost nothing away.  Also, when I wrote my Guy Davis review Guy Davis Artworks was off line for renovation.  Now it is back up with many awesome preview pages including may works I missed.  From adverts in B.P.R.D. I knew I had missed Nevermen but I had no idea about The Zombies That Ate The World and some other work he did for Les Humanoides Associes.  As I track down those works there is also some work free of charge on My Space Dark Horse Presents. 

I came across two things slated for 2013 that have me chomping at the bit.  Monica Gallagher had mentioned that she had done some work for Oni but she has now announced that  Glitter Kiss will be coming out in January.  She is also stepping up Bonnie N. Collide to a twice weekly comic strip!  There are also all her mini-comics Boobage, When I Was A Mall Model and Go For The Eyes that I hope to review.  The 2013 news that has me jumping up and down is issue number four of Varmints!  I am not normally an exuberant guy.  As far as content goes, on the surface of it, Varmints is one of the lighter books that I follow.  While deeper things are developing, each issue stands on its own as a little comic adventure.  Hirsch recently posted a page that reminded me why I just can't wait to see where his work is going.  I have been accused of being dourer and I do hate musicals.  So why am I so giddy?   It is the audacity of having a singing dancing extravaganza conveyed only in static silent juxtaposed illustrations.   I would call bullshit on many others artists, but he makes it look easy.  You should go to It's Andy Hirsch and look at the larger  image.  I could (and may) write a entire review just on this page.

That's it for now.  I still have a stack of mini-comics to get through before I see what people bring to Artists' Alley at Austin Comic Con. 

Liz Prince's I Swallowed the Key to My Heart

In a word (or 3), Liz Prince rocks. She is a prolific cartoonist, cat lover, punk enthusiasts, and web maven. You can find her at two tumbler accounts, Fuck Yeah, Liz Prince and Fuck You, Liz Prince, a LiveJournal account there is no Liz, only zuul, a flickr account, a twitter account, and has over eighteen hundred Facebook followers.  Her web-site lizprincepower is also really cool.  I first learned about her on the interview she did for Indie Spinner Rack. Once I found her work I started to obsessively follow her, which she made really easy because of her web presence and her prolific posting.  A lot of her work to date has been single strip or singe page auto-biographical vignettes and a good deal of that can be found on her web-site free of charge.

The first two issues of I Swallowed the Key to My Heart got me to easily part with my money.  These two books are beautiful. They are self printed and distributed. They fit in the zine/mini-comic section of your store, but they are a massive 8.5″x11″ and the crisp black and white design of the book really stands out.

I keep on stressing the design and craft elements of these books and collections in these mini-comic reviews because I think they are more than decorative.  Each issue feels not only complete, but also intentionally complete.  Mini-comics have no publisher logo, bar code, nor any page or size limits.  They are an opportunity to experience a narrative object as nothing but an art object.  The hardbound editions of Tricked (on sale thru 9/28/12) and Essex County (out of print) are great examples of graphic design and book making, but there is something to say when the artist is responsible for editorial and quality control. But I digress...

I believe most of Prince's work is more cartoon journaling than auto-biography.  She shares funny and notable anecdotes about her life rather than tying them into a super narrative like Alison Bechdel's Funhouse.  The stories in I Swallowed the Key to My Heart are longer versions of her work.  In fact, the twenty plus pages of issue one transpire over a single night.  While there is an overarching narrative, Prince uses some of her comic strip sensibilities and so many of the pages can hold up as strips without context.  Dry wit and some sadness underneath very hip observations about absurdity in everyday life tie the piece together.

In interviews, Prince has talked about the loose and intentionally rough style she used in Will You Still Love Me If I Wet The Bed  and Delayed Replays.    If you start with the first strip on her web page, the format was a row of three panels with similar character framing and composition, the dialogue and subtle shifts in posture and expression tell the story.  If you continue to progress through the strips, her style tightens up and she starts to experiment with formats.  Some of her strips only really work in a web format, but the illustration always retains some of the playful looseness of her early work. 

She went BIG with I Swallowed the Key to My Heart.  The page layout is European with an average of four rows of two to four panels.  For me, that is one of the most exciting things about these books because Prince spent years refining her craft with very limited parameters.  I Swallowed the Key to My Heart is a chance to see her bring all of that skill to bear on a big canvas.  You can (and should!) pick a copy up from her store, or in person at one of the many con appearances she announces on her news section. She also has plenty of free content, so you have no excuse not check it out.