! - page thirty-five

previously...

Page thirty-five. Not finished yet, but getting there.

Also in comics-posting news: Awhile ago I put my contribution to The Future is so Futuristical up at my site in a bare-bones HTML interface. I always liked how these turned out and thought I might un-bury them from the blog archives. Of course, then I never told anyone...

UNTIL NOW!!!

mostly banal: the gag(strip) reflex

Thanks to everyone who's commented on these last few strips. I apreciate the support.

I guess I am a diarist again.

mostly banal: first impressions

This is starting to get a little less Porcellino, a little more "me."

Good thing or bad? You decide.

mostly banal: autumn in Ohio

More mock Porcellino nonsense. And a reference to my strip from yesterday.

Look! Up in the second panel! That's me!

mostly banal: a la Porcellino

I've been toying around with reviving my boring diary strips. It'd have to be something ultra-simple, something I could jot off at the end of the day. Like this Porcellino meets Kochalka strip.

Something to think about...

! - Page Thirty-Four

Say you draw little comic strips and post them to the internet.
Say you're in the middle of a rather drawn-out narrative and you just stop posting one day.
Maybe a couple people had been following your story. Maybe you never told them you'd be gone.
Say you want to return to posting after a long, unannounced hiatus.
You've got a few options:

You could make a long-winded post detailing your excuses for not posting anything for two months running.

You could make a lame apology to anyone still granting you their attention.

You could make promises to keep up with the story now, and see things through to the end this time. (whether you later keep these promises would remain to be seen, of course.)

Or, you could just pretend that the whole pause never happened and continue posting at your leisure...



Anyway, I came across a live cover of Radiohead's Black Star, by country singer Gillian Welch. It's a sweetly melancholic, acoustic-country version of the song with an awesome guitar part, courtesy David Rawlings. It's been my musical obsession this week, despite the fact that she consistently pronounces "black" as "blake" throughout. I recommend.


(psst--- don't remember how the story got to this point? maybe you should look here.)
(maybe.)

! - page thirty-three

This is another one of those page where I'm just... kinda... ehhhhhh......
I'm not sure you can even tell what's going on up there in the speech balloon - just that it's drawn especially poorly, whatever it is...

Another one for the "needs work" pile.



Well, um. Anyway...

Hey! Look! The story so far...

! - page thirty-two

Last week I had a couple of wisdom teeth removed. This week I'm feeling existentially morbid - a keen awareness of the unavoidable fact that one day I will be dead. This weekend we're going to the zoo.

Apologies for the delay in the comics.

! - page thirty-one

Talking with our pediatrician this week for the kids' checkups.
She says that children have trouble drawing one line across another until about age three and a-half. They just can't bring themselves to do it. The doctor asked Sophie (three years old) to draw a + and sure enough, she had trouble doing it. She kept drawing vertical lines, one after another until the doctor showed her again what she wanted her to try. Even then her horizontal line was labored and misplaced, and Sophie seemed a bit confused as to the whole thing.

Tony Millionaire has said that he doesn't like to draw one line through another either.

! - page thirty

No WAY!! Those guys should totally be toast! This cartoon is soooo unrealistic!

I've been away from the internets a few days. Looks like you got along fine without me.

! - page twenty-nine

It was really tempting to just end this thing with last weeks pages and be done, but I guess I'm gonna drag it out a little longer. There is an end in sight...

In other news, my buddy Grant released his annual June Bug Mix this week, for free download. The June Bug is a collection of some of Grant's recording work over the past year - demos and alternate takes from his albums and other odds n' ends. This year is a double bonus too, as some of the tracks feature Red Eyed Johnny, Grant's side project with my other buds Neal and Steve.

Here it is: The Free Download that Engulfed the World in Terror! Like every year, the June Bug's free so go get it. Then buy some of his other records!

! - page twenty-six through twenty-eight

I could not resist re-drawing that last page any longer. It's still kinda meh, but better. The next two pages were more difficult to draw than it seems they should be. Pretty happy with how they turned out, though.

I've been kind of obsessing over the last track on Deerhoof's The Runners Four album this week.

Only so-so sound on this live video via YouTube:


Better sound here on a band High Schoolers(!) from Sweden doing their cover:


Tomorrow is my Sophie's third birthday. Happy birthday Sophie!!!

! - page twenty-six

Not feeling all too inspired lately.
I'm not loving this page but it is what is is, I guess. I will be redrawing the stuff I don't like for the final version anyway...

Hmm... Friday.
A crappy end for a crappy week.

Feeling crappy.

! - page twenty-five

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of attending the opening for my friend Jeff's first solo gallery show. Chris and I braved a small monsoon* - the course of which seemed to attach itself right to our route - to get there. Jeff seems to have done very well for himself and I was happy to attend, though the violent buzzing of the Cleveland Arts scene was somewhat intimidating to a small-town chap like myself.
If you're in the area, his paintings will be up until the 28th. Go down there and buy one, whydon'tcha?


(* -some hyperbole employed)

! - page twenty-four

A couple things to measure this little comic strip up to:
The record holder for the world's longest continuous drawing. 1,350 feet, but not quite a comic. Wish there were better photos, but it appears that it might be done on one long sheet of paper too.
(Link from Steve)

And Elvis Road. Only twenty four feet, but extremely dense drawing. And it's a comic!
(from Troy)

! measures in at just about seventeen feet (so far) and is also dense, but in a different way.

! - page twenty-three

Hey! Two pages in the same week! When was the last time that happened?

Happy MoCCA, to everybody who is so inclined. On the off chance you're there and you're still reading this - then don't forget.

! - page twenty-two

I've got a lot of cleaning up to do before this whole thing is finished. I'm looking at printing this in traditional pamphlet format - probably - as well as on the web. But anyone got any ideas on how I do a continuous version in print?
I have not looked into any options at all, but man would it be cool to print it that way! So far this thing is a little over 15 feet long at it's original size (and it's not over yet).

! - page twenty-one

Finally!

The Briefest of Interludes: a not-so-brief interlude, part two

I really do have a page of ! coming, but I got back from vacation to find a preview of Secrets and Lies in my inbox. I have seven pages in the book, so you know I gotta pimp it here.

press release:

White River Junction, VT, May 20, 2008 – SECRETS & LIES is an anthology of comics edited by veteran web cartoonist Cayetano Garza Jr. which will make its debut at the 2008 MoCCA Art Festival in New York, NY (June 7-8, table C27).

The book features a wide spectrum of comics creators from all over the United States and from every corner of the comics industry. Comics legends SR Bissette (Swamp Thing, Tyrant) and Rick Geary (A Treasury of Victorian Murder, Gumby, Heavy Metal) share the stage with webcomics luminaries Shaenon Garrity (Narbonic) and Chuck Whelon (Pewfell). The book also features work from alumni, current and upcoming students from the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont and the surrounding cartooning community including recent graduates Joe Lambert and Bryan Stone, freshmen Lucy Knisley and Dan Archer and recent Xeric grant winner Colleen Frakes (CCS Class of 07) as well as many, many others.

For an expansive preview of the whole book, as well as pre-order information, click here.
Print run is limited. If you're not going to MoCCA, then I'd suggest ordering one now.

Following is a two page preview of my story, titled Untold Mysteries of (Popular) Science:


I get a free copy for being a contributor, but you'll probably want to buy one.

Next up: more !


Really.

The Briefest of Interludes: a not-so-brief interlude

Hey! Remember me?
Been a while since I posted an update for ! here and I have more coming, but I'm going away for the holiday and I thought I'd let you know what else I've been up to lately before I disappear again.

Some of you may remember me mentioning that I was working on a rewrite of my Lost and Found story-sketch (or sketch-story) for Cat Garza's Secrets and Lies anthology. Well I finished it now, and it's ended up quite a bit different than the original.

I cut the length by more than half to seven pages. The layout treatment is altered a bit, as are the character design and dialogue. It's also a completely different story called The Untold Mysteries of (Popular) Science.
Here's a brief exerpt from page two that pretty much sums up the premise:




I've also been playing the "part-time illustrator." My friend Chris is on the board of directors for the local Humane Society. He asked me to work up a design for their "Animal Transport Vehicle." Here's the colored pencil rough:



So all that - and, like, real life - has been keeping me pretty busy. Thanks to everybody for your patience. I'll be back with a page or two of ! next week, after the holiday.