Cartoonists With Attitude

On the road yet again. I’ve hardly had time to catch my breath. San Diego Comic Con, a trip to the Gulf Coast (including New Orleans, Alabama, and Mississippi), and now a drive to Santa Fe. San Diego was pure comic biz with barely a pause in Berkeley to see old friends. The Gulf was the start of a potential project about the recent spill (www.pdx2gulfcoast.com), and coming to Santa Fe is some biz and some pleasure.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44447091@N08/4943920239/

Had a nice signing at the True Believers comic shop in Santa Fe. Great folk there.

The composer of the TMCM opera (Daniel Crafts) lives in Albuquerque and we met up with some opera folk with the potential to stage the opera again.

Next week the NY’er runs another cartoon of mine. I’ve been drawing my weekly submissions while on the road. This one still needs some tweaking but I like the idea of a dog in glasses. More and more hipsters seem to be wearing glasses they don’t need.

Back from the coast…. still recovering. So many impressions, thoughts, emotions. There are too many to sort out.
Just about to head out on another road trip. Got some comics done ahead of time.

The bayou…. I was on the bayou!

The website still has to catch up with the adventures. This (unedited) bit is from our lunch meeting with a dispersant scientist.
http://www.pdx2gulfcoast.com/

almost done with the story line…. please comment

Sunday, Chloe (Reading Frenzy) did a great job conducting a staged interview with Joe Sacco at the Portland Art Museum.

As I gear up to go to the coast and do some comic-chronicling I’m trying to practice by sketching at various events. I was also curious about Joe’s techniques since he’s the one who practically invented the medium (and I really admire his work).

There were a lot of memorable quotes. These were a few that stuck out to me.
“Events are continuous.”
“Crumb invests every object with life. A fork has a soul.”
“I don’t promise strict objectivity – I do promise honesty.”
“I never make angels out of the victims.”

And, of course, my doodles.

I have an extra hotel room for San Diego for the Comic-Con. If anyone wants to take it off my hands shoot me a message ASAP. Otherwise I’ll just cancel it.

This is the biggest convention of the year. It’s grown out from a comic con to a media event (or circus). I’m always broke by the time I get to the show (spending all my money printing up shirts, mugs, and such so I never have money to buy anything until I start selling stuff myself.

Original art is going to dominate my table this year. New Yorker comics, TMCM pages, opera sketches, will all be up for sale. If anyone is interested in anything particular email me and I’ll try to bring it down (if I still have it).

NOW it’s possible to do customer reviews….
http://www.amazon.com/Thought-You-Would-Be-Funnier/dp/1608860345/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278036406&sr=1-1

Powell’s continually doesn’t have my books. It’s very frustrating. It does fall into the category of ‘Things I Can’t Complain About.’ Sometimes they get a book and it’s gone the next day – which means they’re actually selling.

Very odd review at the Onion AV club. I think it’s a good review. It’s odd they forgot to mention that the Onion published my Postage Stamp Funnies for two years.

They flatter me too much with “immaculate, nuanced, controlled…” shoot. Very nice of them.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/july-2-2010,42795/

Self-deprecation is one thing, but shooting yourself in the foot before you even start running is another. The title of Shannon Wheeler’s I Thought You Would Be Funnier (Boom!) is a presumably goodhearted jab at the book’s concept—that is, a collection of his single-panel comics rejected by The New Yorker since the hallowed magazine started publishing him last year. Since his early days as the creator of the cult hit Too Much Coffee Man, Wheeler’s stark black-and-white art has quietly evolved into an immaculate, nuanced, controlled, and deceptively simple style, and it speaks ill of either Wheeler’s self-confidence or The New Yorker’s editorial taste that Funnier, in spite of its sarcastic name, is actually pretty damn funny. Perhaps more ribald, goofy, or just plain weird than the magazine would have preferred, Wheeler’s gags nonetheless embody The New Yorker’s patented comics formula of urbane satire and mild absurdity. They’re great little slices of wry observation and crisp, winsome inkwork. Not every comic here flies, and some bear the stretch marks of straining too hard to be snarky, but the rejects in Funnier might actually have more immediate appeal than some of Wheeler’s winners… B

It looks like it’s happening… finally going to press.
The Too Much Coffee Man Omnibus from Dark Horse.
It will collect all the TMCM books. It has a cover I think I can live with.
New cover:

Old cover: