I've been very VERY busy as of late, so apologies for the long wait between updates. I've been following a documentary film crew around, which is making a film about Bill Kelter and Wayne Shellabarger, the authors of our very own non-fiction history book, Veeps: Profiles in Insignificance. It's been a great deal of fun and i'm having a terrific time, but wow am i exhausted. I have a brand new appreciation for filmmaking, and how hard these crew members work. We'll try and get a teaser and/or trailer for the film up soon. Working title — Road to Insignificance.
And speaking of Bill Kelter, his and Wayne's book just got some more props on nothing less than the uber-wonky Congressional Quarterly!
• Meanwhile, old pal and wonderful cartoonist Josue (Broken Fender) Menjivar got some ink for his more recent work at Pretty Fakes. Check out Josue's site Fresh Brewed Illustration.
• I don't read Spanish, but i did receive an email from an outfit in Spain called Polaqia, i think via an aquaintance name Kike Benlloch. These covers for some new comics sure looks swell though.
• Marc Mason of Comics Waiting Room interviews Jeff Lemire at ComiCon!
• James Kochalka's nifty new American Elf ad for an upcoming issue of The Comics Journal.
• More Pat Moriarity goodness:
"Here's where you can get the brand new Crustacean Records double DVD featuring my package design, poster, and a 10 minute video featurette about me, plus about 5 HOURS of high quality video footage of killer midwest rock acts. (Bands like MAD TRUCKER GONE MAD, AWESOME SNAKES, THE SKINTONES, DRUNK DRIVERS, LADY BEARD and more.)
• Scott Campbell is a busy busy man. You can see his work in three different shows. Here. Here. And here.
• And finally, i saw that the Swedish anthology we're doing sub-distro for (From the Shadow of Northern Lights) hit stands yesterday. Great stuff. Check it out!
• Veeps writer Bill Kelter scores a piece on the front page of Politico! Sweet!
Then, on the same day he was interviewed on Portland's Progressive Talk Radio, KPOJ with Carl Wolfson.
Shooting starts next week on the documentary being made about Bill and Veeps illustrator Wayne Shellabarger, with (YIKES!) me at the helm. Oh, and speaking of which, Bill's co-worker Bill Lovejoy sent me this image recently. What the fu?@!!!
• Tom Spurgeon's 50-Plus thoughts about ComiCon 2008.
• I scored some great shit at San Diego this year, rabid fanboy that i am. Krazy & Ignatz 1935-1944 by Chris Ware, from Fantagraphics. I couldn't find a link to this on their site, nor an image for it, but this is the second mammoth volume of reprints and it's insanely gorgeous. Even more so, however, is the French edition collecting the entirely of the classic crime series Torpedo by Abuli, Bernet and Toth. My French isn't particularly great, but holy crap this is one of the most impressive all-in-one collections i've ever held in my sweaty little paws. Richard Starkings gave me the terrific, lush Art of Ladronn hardcover. His editorial is an inspirational account of how he met Ladronn working together on the (still fun) Cable comic years ago, and ended up giving him free reign to do comics as he sees fit, in his own time. Yes, the timetable has been glacially slow, but as i was then compelled to buy the first two hardcover Hipflask collections of three, the results are sooooooooo worth the wait. Dizzyingly beautiful. I got so much more, which i'll mention soon, but for this update, i also scored two more awesome hardcover art books: Michael Golden's Heroes & Villians, published by Little Eva Ink, and Retroactive: Darwyn Cooke 1998 - 2008, published by BrandStudio Press. Two of my favorite cartoonist. Two bitchin' books. (Now we just need an Art Adams hardcover to round out the list.)
Oh yeah, and one of the inserts in the Con Bags was this funny-as-hell Watchmen parody, courtesy of Mad Magazine.
• Jed McGowen's lush strip Ritual of the Savage is now up on Top Shelf 2.0. And it rocks! Meanwhile, here's a piece of fan art Jed received by Teemu Matinlauri. This too shall rock.
• Indigo Kelleigh, best known as the founder of the Stumptown Comics Fest here in Portland, is also a great cartoonist. He's just launched a new strip called Ms. Ellie Connelly. He rocked my world years ago with his air-tight mini-series Chutney Point, and so far this looks as good or better. Good to see you back, Indy!
• My longtime friend Dave Vlasaty (we met on the crew team back at University of Oregon back in the day), just road tripped to the tip of Baja with his kick-ass sons Aiden and Angus... oh, and Owly!!!
• Last but not least, Calling All Aspiring Animators!... Top Shelf is looking for cheap talent who will work for lots and lost of free comics to help us build some animated trailers for various projects. Must already dig Top Shelf (otherwise, i mean.. what's the point, right?) and be serious and committed. There's no paycheck involved, but really we do take care of our family.
Contact me at brett@topshelfcomix.com if interested. Please though, no attachments. Links to url portfolios ideal.
