Speed Racer at NPR

Listen as NPR's Morning Edition discuss the Speed Racer anime (audio file) as the Wachowski brothers glitzy movie reaches theatres.

Gustav Klimt was the modelfucking man

[article from Entertainment Weekly]

BBC Videos seven-disc set “The Private Life of a Masterpiece” reveals the delicious and sometimes tawdry details of those classic masterworks of the past.

For instance Klimt worked wearing his favorite blue robe with nothing on underneath and kept a bevy of barely-clad redheads milling about to service any “pressing” needs when painting all those details wearied him. As another respite he also sketched the girls and by the time he finished The Kiss (1908) he had a collection of over 100 nudes.

In 1924 the National Gallery of London bought the seventh and most famous version of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers(1888) for 1,325 (British) and have subsequently made over 2 million just on Sunflowers-themed postcards and tea towels. If I remember correctly the anime Samurai Champloo did an entire episode around Van Gogh’s Sunflowers (the main characters were after all searching for someone named the Sunflower Samurai after all).

Edvard Munch: The lettering in the sky on Munch’s The Scream reads in Norwegian “This can only have been painted by a madman.” Scholars have no idea whether Munch wrote this himself or it was scratched in by one of his detractors. Regardless Munch went on to create 105 versions of The Scream (which I think answers all questions about his mental state).

$152.50

[Buy TCI #4 with David Choe's first print interview on Ebay right now November 2008 as mentioned on his blog]

For all the jealous naysayers who once said David Choe was just a flash-in-the-pan, more style and controversy than substance, here's yet another glaring indicator of how successful Choe's art career has been since he won the Xeric Grant and released his first (and only) proper graphic novel, Slow Jams back in 1999: a copy of Slow Jams (cover price $4) just sold for $152.50 on Ebay (see the auction here).

While you can find the debut books of most Xeric winners in bargain bins, Slow Jams sold out it's print run and Choe's rabid fan base (most of which exists outside the parameters of comics) now vastly exceeds the copies available, making it one of the hardest comics under ten years old to find. I'm not much of a collector but after seeing this auction I'll have to dig up my lone copy of Slow Jams and slip it it a protective bag. Ditto for my only copy of the vastly more rare Son of Slow Jams which most people don't even know exists.

Back in 2000 in his first extensive print interview in The Comics Interpreter #4 Vol. 1, Choe talked about receiving the Xeric grant.

"I wish I could show you my grant proposal. It was on ripped out, lined notebook paper. I think when they asked me how much funds I'd need (can't exceed $5000) I wrote "I'm gonna need $5000 cuz I know I'm gonna need it." I sent it out in such a hurry to meet the deadline and it was so messy I couldn't believe I won it. Not knowing when to quit, I called up Xeric immediately and asked for more money. They said "no". Initially one of the ladies there even asked me to send in the "finished artwork" thinking that what I had sent her were just sketches (which is what they were I guess).

It's refreshing to know that sometimes talent can speak for itself (no goldleaf binder and asskissy cover letters needed). Sometimes..

Dave Sim Teaches Tracing, Pencil Sharpening

Strangely halting narration from Sim as he discusses his process on his post-Cerebus book Glamourpuss. The trials and tribulations of tracing from fashion mags, how to use an electric pencil sharpener, and the wisdom of Al Williamson. Notice the slightly eerie child-sized Cerebus figure standing alone in a room at the 2:10 mark.

Soup and Binding (fresh ground pepper?)

Oddly fascinating discussion in a diner between a barely audible Chester Brown, Dave Sim, and Rob Walton.

Choe works over Jim Lee, Quesada scolds TCI

Saw this awhile back and it's certainly interesting. Dave Choe does his own painted take over Jim Lee's pencils for a published cover for Superman #214. Working from the exact same tight pencils, what a radical difference in Choe's image. Here's what Jim Lee said on his blog.

Here is an incredible painting fellow Korean artist David Choe did over a printout of my pencils for the cover to Superman #214.

I just love it. It's different and I am sure not every fan will feel the same way but I love the energy, the colors, the intensity most of all.

In general, David's typical work is difficult to describe; part graphitti, part porno, all out passion. Some of you may be familiar with his work as David just recently did the cover art for the latest Linkin Park and Jay-Z album.

He is and has been a huge comic fan and over the years, we have become friends and try to get together several times a year. One time, we happened to be in NYC at the same time, and I got a chance along with Ale, Lee and Carlos to see David paint live on a giant wooden board in front of an audience at a church/dance club. Another time, we were all hanging out in my backyard, talking art as I grilled burgers and pulled out old art from my art collection.

Anyway, he did this for the hell of it but I like it so much that I have to figure out a cool project to do together. I think the style would better suit a character like Batman, Deathblow or Constantine, no? The mind races with possibilities. I just need to find the time in the schedule...

What's also interesting about this whole thing is that in his interview in The Comics Interpreter (Choe's first print interview way back in TCI #4 Vol. 1, 1999) Choe blasted Lee (along with a number of others, notably Adrian Tomine) for portraying an asian in one of Lee's series as the stereotypical brainy geek. But years later Choe admitted that his beef had been squashed--Lee was far too big to likely even notice or care about Choe's slam--and the two have since become fast friends and mutual admirers.

An interesting sidenote to all of this is that way back when I did TCI #6 as a tribute to The Brothers Hernandez I was soliciting comments about Los Bros work from a wide variety of creators and industry types and among them was Joe Quesada. The Editor-In-Chief of Marvel was actually a big fan of Los Bros work and was glad to discuss them until he learned that Choe was also participating. Quesada and Choe had recently had a massive, bitter falling out over Choe's dismissal from Marvel's NYX proposal that he was pitching with Brian Wood. Choe's proposal was typically extreme, featuring considerable dollops of sexual deviance and drug use which unsurprisingly wouldn't fly at Marvel. Choe's response to this rejection was a vicious email that circulated widely all over the internet. Quesada proceeded to dress me down for giving Choe a forum in the magazine and refused to participate. Quesada at the time said he would never work with anyone that associated with Choe or gave him a forum. It's also worth noting that when I posted on Wood's Delphi site saying that perhaps Choe and Wood had been naive to really think that Marvel would ever go forward with such an extreme proposal regardless of what Marvel was saying at the time; Wood immediately deleted my post even though it was basically defending he and Choe, for fear that it might upset his masters.

I mention all of this because while I think Quesada is a perfectly nice guy, I always thought his edict would only apply to a tiny magazine like TCI and would never apply to the likes of Wizard, assuming Wizard ever did a feature on Choe. The point being that it's an absolute certainty that if Jim Lee wanted to do any work for Marvel right now that his friendship with Dave Choe would be a complete non-issue; and not simply because a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, but because most people operate under situational ethics and as long as Jim Lee is hot shit he can befriend whoever he chooses without any detriment to his career...but TCI cannot. Oh well, the more things change the more they stay the same. But an interesting story nonetheless, eh?

Who summons the Whiiizzza!

So Wizard has reached 200 issues and they celebrate with a cover that looks like a box of laundry detergent with little more than a big neon "200" on the cover. Obviously showing you would be better than telling, but I haven't been able to find an image online...yet.

Heatley redesigns world currency

Same issue of The New Yorker has a full-page illustration by current Fanta-darling David Heatley. Essentially is a page filled with Heatley’s own colorful interpretations of various world currencies. The center stage is taken by a US twenty dollar bill (ya’ll) in which we see a seriously fretting and sweating Andrew Jackson with the words "Federal Disaster" on the top border, “The Precarious State of America, Please Don’t Take My House" and on the seal, "In Greenspan We Trusted," Signed by GWB.
An Iraqi denomination shows a Mullah with an eyepatch and read “When are you people leaving?”
A North Korean one shows a portrait of Kim Jong Il with the saying "Pay Attention To me."
A Jamaican coin features Bob Marley’s image and a quote from Redemption Song "Have no fear of atomic energy because nothing can stop the time.”
A Chinese bill shows a red dragon desperately spraying air freshener to stem the pollution before the Olympics and a mention of sweat shops. (Note: China has 12 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, and with the exception of Cairo and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the rest are in India).
A Euro is emblazoned with “The official currency of Jay-Z videos.”
And an Indian rupee shows Ghandi as a computer support specialist fielding a call with “Thank you for calling” and “How may I help You.”

Rest in Peace: Anthony Minghella

Saddened by the sudden death of Anthony Minghella. I really liked “The English Patient” when it came out, as much for it’s exquisite, sweeping David Lean-inspired shots of the desert as the fine performances of Juliette Binoche, Ralph Fiennes, Naveen Andrews (who happily reappearedplaying an Iraqi no less, years later in “Lost) and the always wonky Willem DaFoe.

One wag said online that it was a glorified J. Peterman ad, which is kind of funny
but not fair. For one, it’s a period piece and people did dress that way and Fiennes character and sultry Kristen Scott Thomas playing his lover, were both educated and upper crust and only wearing clothing appropriate to the desert. Additionally compare The English Patient to a another desert set-film adapted from a novel and about a adventure-seeking but troubled couple played by John Malkovich and Debra Winger); Bernardo Bertolucci’s version of The Sheltering Sky. I like Bertolucci even though his films often seem awkwardly-paced and uneven, but The Last Emperor and his more recent The Dreamers have plenty to recommend them (and not just Joan Chen sucking toes in the former and Eva Green’s copious nudity in the latter). But The Sheltering Sky is mostly terrible. The dialogue is read so stiffly it feels far more like a stage production by a middling theatrical group than a major film by an acclaimed director and cast. For his part, Malkovich is as oddly affecting (and affected) as usual and does a solid job. As slightly oddball, scene-chewing actors go, he and the lower-key DaFoe are quite comparable and rarely dull (Being Willem DaFoe may make an even stranger film than Being John Malkovich, if only it were directed by Science of Sleep; but either would hold a candle of eccentricity to Being Crispin Glover by Harmony Korine). But aside from Malkovich the cast is wooden and Winger in particular proves that she cannot act. She’s mostly terrible in the role. Particularly disappointing because Paul Bowles is one of my favorite fiction writers ever, although I much prefer his short stories, and the film doesn’t in any way grasp the cold, almost alien and unsentimental tone of Bowles prose. Surprising since Bowles not only appears in the film but apparently overdubs a few passages from his book (which don’t work very well either). Anyway, were Bertolucci fails mostly miserably in his adaptation, Minghella’s screenplay and dirction for The English Patient had few false notes, excellent acting across the board, and spotless dialogue. It was warm and sentimental while still being cool and detached (the very definition of Fiennes, who after this and Schindler’s List and Quiz Show, seemed poised to be a peer of Daniel Day-Lewis).
Minghella also brilliantly pieced together The Talented Mr. Ripley bringing Jude Law to light and adding another layer to Matt Damon.
And I liked Cold Mountain also even though I struggle to see anything that features Renee Zellweger’s pruny, lemon-sucking visage; Jack White (Stripes) was quite good in his small role and the mountains of Romania subbing for the unspoiled forests of southern US mostly worked.

Gargoyle sculpting is kidstuff

From New York magazine: The Salvadori Center hosts a kid-friendly architectural tour followed by hands-on gargoyle making. Apparently the center which is located on site of the City College of New York, has roughly 600 gargoyle sculptures dotting the nearby cityscape, and will allow artistic little moppets to create their own monstrosities from clay. . While other cities and towns in the hinterland do no more to stimulate their kiddies than make handprints on paper and hold eating contests in effort to breed even fatter and more gluttonous future generations, NYC enfants terrible are crafting stone totems to ward of evil spirits. I say tres cool.

Frazetta's 80th birthday

I meant to post this back in February (when it was still relevant...what's that about the "immediacy" of the net?), but Frank Frazetta celebrated his 80th birthday a few months back.
British arts magazine ImagineFX printed an entire issue as tribute to Frazetta (on stands now) complete with drawn tributes from 80-artists (some decidedly better than others); a short overview of Frazetta's career by Spectrum's Arnie Fenner who notes that a Frazetta original has sold for $250,000.

Growing up I remember Frazetta's art being ubiquitous on ominous Molly Hatchet album covers (Frazetta's reknown "Death Dealer" painting) that spawned a thousand lesser imitators (Vallejo anyone?). In high school I remember the handsomest guy in school, Robbie Owens, drawing a nude that made the girls swoon (even more) and passing it off as his own original. Only I recognized it as an exact ripoff of a Frazetta nude but lacked the nerve to say anything.

Frazetta is an equal opportunity sensualist as his male and female figures are potently sexual in equal measures; the artist genuinely relishes drawing the human body regardless of gender.

Frazetta can hardly be blamed for having inspired generations of lesser artists who have appropriated Frazetta's trademark obsessions while lacking his blend of unassailable skill with anatomy, composition, and lighting. Thus the ugly steroidal barbarians and buxom women in fur loincloths that adorn so many tacky fantasy novels at your local bookstore, may be the unintended progeny of Frazetta's style, but they are not his responsibility.

BAKSHI: Truly, completely...Crumby

It seems a strange coincidence that I was just reading the aforementioned R. Crumb: Conversations in which in many of the early interviews Crumb expresses much consternation over Ralph Bakshi’s animated adaptation of Fritz The Cat. Of course Crumb’s disgust with the animated version of his work (which led him to subsequently kill off the character in protest) is nothing new, but I really haven’t heard much of Bakshi in decades. But just out is a new book Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi, noted in the latest Entertainment Weekly alongside what else, an image of Fritz The Cat. I think it’s safe to say that the foreword is not by R. Crumb (no, but it is by Quentin Tarantino).

Raise your hand if you like orgasms

Paul Pope is the cover boy of the latest issue of High Fructose (which is trying to assume the "ugly art" mantle mostly vacated by Juxtapose, Pope's work being a notable exception, of course). Typical of these magazines, there are some beautiful examples of Pope's art accompanying a sparsely-worded interview. But that doesn't negate a few juicy quotes.

When asked apropos of nothing, whether at age 70, if he will be a "dirty old man, Pope's response:

"Will I be a man who loves beautiful women and who will love to have orgasms and make love? Will I be a sensualist who will love to eat and fuck and listen to music and drink good wine and embrace snow and sunsets? Yes..."

Well spoken, well said.

AppleSoft Comics: Computer giants get into publishing in a big way!

Maybe it's just a blip in the mainstream press but it's huge news in the comics medium. Apple and Microsoft may be cats and dogs when it comes to computer software, but they're jumping into bed together to form AppleSoft GNP, a publishing arm that based on resources alone will immediately be the largest publisher of comics and graphic novels in the world. The GNP by the way stands for Graphic Novel Publishing while also cleverly alluding to the more well known use for that abbreviation, Gross National Product; appropriate since these two behemoths share worth that dwarfs that of many small countries GNP's.

Apple spokesperson Lori Flapos had this to say about the massive, albeit fledgling, venture:

"AppleSoft is essentially a pooling of resources by both companies in a highly collaborative realm to further the exciting medium of visual storytelling and graphic novels. AppleSoft recognizes the huge impact that comics have had on the film industry and multimedia gaming and merchandising from a commercial and creative standpoint. We also recognize the tremendous artistic contribution and potential and we are very excited to play a part in helping advance this artform we all love and respect. "

In a press release Applesoft suggested that it will not be tentative or glacial in it's movement into comics publishing, but plans a large, wide-ranging and longterm approach.

Flapos says: "AppleSoft has every intention of publishing established authors in the field, but also searching out and nurturing nascent talents. We are very interested in independent creators and unique voices. We will be seeking a viable synergy between publishing high quality commercial projects and less commercial but artistically worthy books, and both will be given equal priority and attention within our editorship. We have already established a mission statement of sorts and that will include paying the highest royalties, ancillary rights, and exceeding production standards for all of our creative collaborators."

But why would either company be interested in the antiquated and fading medium of print when both feature high-tech portable multimedia devices in iPod and Zune and Apple has previously released it's eBook reader?

Flapos: While AppleSoft is certainly always eyeing advancing technologies and ways to make people's lives oth simpler and more entertaining, we are all committed to print publishing and think that no handheld devices can ever entirely replace the tactile sensations and pleasures of reading a printed book. Of course all of the graphic novels we publish will be available on iTunes and open source to both iPod and Zune. But we find that graphic novels in particular are more suited to larger, less portable screens, because such a huge enjoyment aspect comes from viewing the art in a format as large as intended.

Flapos would not go into details as to flagship artists for the company or any specific projects in the works but did let slip this: Suffice to say AppleSoft plans on bringing the same level of energy, innovation an creativity that both companies are known for individually. We fully expect to turn the comics medium as we know it on it's head, but in the most exciting and stimulating fashion possible.

It is well-known that Apple CEO Steve Jobs enjoyed reading comics as a kid, and former Microsoft overlord and primary shareholder, Bill Gates was himself a comic geek (although computers proved infinitely more profitable) who professed his love for The Flash and slight dismay that more wasn't done with the character on the Canadian TV show The Anti-Gravity Room (couldn't locate the exact ep.).

It's unknown what impact AppleSoft will have on the current, relatively stable comics industry as we know it, but it's a safe assumption that Marvel and DC are already shuddering at the sight of the new hi-tech and unimaginably well-heeled 800lb gorilla in the room.

Frederic Wertham Revised: Happy Marxist Flower Cookies

As mentioned in a prior post, I’m particularly uninterested in the media’s new discovery of the whole comics censorship brouhaha that sunk EC and led to the Comics Code Authority, all dusted again as the result of David Hajdu’s shockingly well-publicized and oft-reviewed new book The Ten-Cent Plague. Like anyone else even tangentially interested in comics for the past few decades I’ve heard this story plenty of times before, even if I didn’t remember many of the specifics. But an article by Louis Menand in the latest issue of The New Yorker at least brings some new (and interesting) light to the whole thing, by not merely discussing Hajdu’s book yet again, but by digging a little deeper to discover Bart Beaty’s Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture ($22, University Press of Mississippi). I had some vague remembrance that the villain cast in this story Fredric Wertham (a name that probably still causes aging EC fans to recoil in SHOCK! HORROR!! SUSPENSE!!!) wasn’t really the censorious extremist that he’s often been considered as in the comics press. But the New Yorker’s excerpts from Beaty’s book in fact makes Wertham sound like the underdog protagonist vilified by history after the only after some righteous recommendations that both Congress and the corporate comics industry took too far. To wit:
Shortly after the hearings, in June 1954, Robert Warshow, whose essays on popular culture were unusual for the period for their nuance and appreciation, wrote a famous essay for Commentary, on horror comics (it’s odd Hajdu doesn’t mention it), in which he worries about their effect on his eleven-year-old son, Paul, a member of the EC Fan-Addict Club. Warshow did not much admire Wertham’s book, but he accepted his book. “I myself would not like to live surrounded by the kind of culture Dr. Wertham could thoroughly approve of,” he wrote, “and what I would not like for myself I would hardly desire for Paul. The children must take their chances like the rest of us. But when Dr.. Wertham is dealing with the worst of the comic books, he is on strong ground; some kind of regulation seems necessary.”

And all Wertham wanted was regulation, he wasn’t a proponent of the code. He wanted a ratings system that is no different that that implemented by the film or video gaming industries. He didn’t want kids to buy excessively violent or explicit comics without a parent present.

The article continues:
As Beaty points out, Wertham was not a philistine; he was a progressive intellectual. His Harlem clinic was named for Paul Lafargue, Marx’s son-in-law. He collected modern art, helped produce an anthology of modernist writers, and opposed censorship.

Beaty’s book points out that racist stereotypes of Africans and Asians were routine in almost all crime and horror comics. This is something that Ng Suat Tong, another Comics Journal critic (like Beaty) pointed out as well in an essay for that magazine essentially flaying the reverence given most of EC’s war comics which had previously been untouchable. The article also points out that there’s a genuinely shocking proliferation of violence directed at women, always “depicted in highly sexualized forms.” And that if it’s true that negative depictions of black people is harmful, then why would the same not apply to such pervasive depictions of women.

Beaty is unimpressed by the claim that the horror comics were somehow part of a popular culture avant garde, and he thinks Gaines’s attempt to portray himself and his company as subversive artists oppressed by the establishment has fooled many people.

“Ultimately, he writes, “Fredric Wertham aligned himself with the most defenseless portion of the postwar American society, children. His critics have aligned themselves with an industry that targeted racist, sexist, and imperialist propaganda at minors. He was one man, operating out a free clinic in Harlem facing a multimillion dollar per year industry organization that hired private detectives to tail him and intimidate his staff.”

Which is the most sympathetic portrayal I’ve read regarding Wertham and perhaps cast new light on the whole situation. The article goes on to rightly point out that the proliferation of television (from a mere four millions sets in 1950 to 25-million by 1953) was not only the more likely cause of comics sales sliding from peak into precipice, but also an entirely new and probably more corrosive tool of seduction of the innocent.

Anyway, kudos to The New Yorker. By delving into Beaty’s book as a result of considering Hajdu’s Ten-Cent Plague they at least made an old topic seem more interesting…if only slightly.

Thumbs Up, Bitches

Thumbs Up: Season 2 premiere
David Choe and Harry Kim rock Tijuana (has a sweeter phrase ever been crafted?)

BEST LINK TO THIS BLOG EVER

So I noticed in between all the hits from Portland and Brooklyn that I got a hit from Korea which I naturally assumed was related to the Pyongyang post from a few weeks ago. But no, instead it came from a link on a Leonardo DiCaprio fan page related to the R. CRumb meets DiCaprio anecdote I recounted from R. Crumb: Conversations.They transposed the entire post over there. Ahh, the beauty and the oddity of the internet.

So HELLO to all visiting Korean Leo DiCaprio fans. I really didn't mind him much at all in Gangs on New York. And his dad George editing Cocaine Comix (still for sale in the Last Gasp catalog btw), makes for a super cool trivia question. Have you ever heard of David Choe?

Lowjinx: the trouble with critics

click the image to enlarge

M.I.A. tour dates somehow lead to lengthy stream of consciousness post

Any excuse to post some M.I.A> pics is a good excuse.

M.I.A. Tour Dates
Nowhere near me yet, but nice to see that she's allowed back on these shores (even though she has a place in NYC), since Gee Dubya's pie chart terrorist police wouldn't even let her in the country to record Kala (not even for Timbaland! geez Condi could you be any whiter?)
Now that she's named the first two records after each of her parents, I'm guessing the next one will either be called Diplo Goes Down or Take Me To Gitmo.



Bringing it all back around to comics: that reminds me of a funny bit in that Jef Czekaj did in Hypertruck(or R2-D2 is an Indie Rocker?) about Timbaland having produced every record that came out. And that was ages ago (a decade at least). Which holy shit! is distributed by these guys again (but they only read posts with their names in it so they'll never see the kindly link).
Czekaj also makes some pretty cool music forgot the name of the song I really liked, but I remember it was by either Plunge Into Death (great name) or Sinkcharmer.
He's also unusually wily and pragmatic as indy toonists go. See his great instructional for landing grant money from our art-hating government.



Also read some funny review of the Jesus & Mary Chain's new (that's right I said "new") single that said it sounded just like old Chain, but could've been better if only Heroes moppet Hayden Panetierre had sang backup (the backstory of that joke is that Scarlett Johannson famously and somewhat tunelessly sang backup for the J&M Chain's reunion at Coachella (see the video)
Specifically she sang on "Just Like Honey"(what a guitar sound) which of course was featured in "Lost In Translation."

Of course one of Scarlett's earliest films (a movie that I initially thought she was terrible in despite the cute shorts) was Ghost Worldwhich was only rescued by the presence of Steve Buschemi (frankly the script wasn't even that good). All of Terry Zwigoff's films subsequent to the brilliant delineation of Crumb have simply reinforced the fact that he should stick to documentaries. But he's kinda screwed because few cartoonists are as fascinating.

Blown Sparkplug

I'm not sure why he wants to promote his sites here but Dylan Williams posted these links in the Comments to one post that is only being read by his clique so it's not as if they aren't already aware of these sites. So anyway I'll put them out here in the (dim) light of day.

Sparkplug Books
Adhouse Books
Bodega Distribution
Bodega Blog

Additionally, if he asks I'll be happy to recount my lone encounter with him. Charming as it was.

Ted Rall: spiegelman still "sucks"...and Ware too

I didn't know Ted Rall was still alive, but apparently he was still kicking (and kicking) as recently as January of this year. I was looking for a good hyperlink for Blutch and lo and behold a freshly vitriolic Rall utterance.

"…who can blame Spiegelman for publishing art that he likes? You’ve done the same thing in the Attitude books…"

"No, I haven’t.

Several of the artists who participated in the “Attitude” anthologies create comic strips I don’t particularly like. Some were even people with whom I had had personal disagreements. But their work was too important, and too right, and too deserving of broader exposure to ignore. Like any decent editor, I set aside my personal biases as much as I could to pick the right artists for the book. I didn’t reserve the books for my best friends, some of whom were not included because their work wouldn’t have been appropriate.

Art Spiegelman doesn’t do that. It’s a big part of the reason he sucks. He has power, and he abuses it. Consider the Little Lit books–he never reached beyond his personal comfort zone.

Ditto for Chris Ware–when you’re asked to edit a book called “Best American Comics 2007,” you’re supposed to choose the Best Comics Made by Americans During 2007, not Comics By My Friends And Artists Who Share My Aesthetic Sensibilities."

So that's how you get on Fox News? ( I say I say I say, Fox News) click and watch both of these links if you like fun!) I mean here I am cruelly poking sticks at teeny tiny artists, while Rall is hurling grenades at Mt. Rushmore.

Odd I should come across this now, because not only did I just check out the "Best American..." anthology from the local biblioteca, but it was casually mentioned by a very wise and evenhanded critic in an email discussion last week and he dismissed the anthologies for the very things that Ware completely answers and deflects in his introduction to the volume he edited.
And while I was less impressed with the previous volume edited by Harvey Pekar, so far it's somewhat difficult to find much fault with the '07 edition. I'll hopefully go into more detail soon (at a more sane time, as we're approaching dawn here in the TCI ivory tower).

As for Ted Rall's fell swoop swipe at the book: Rall's an intelligent guy and I find his opinions entertaining and a little shit-stirring is actually refreshing in these days when Gary Groth has been neutered by the desire to coddle every remotely credible cartoonist that can provide he and his hypocritical co-publisher a pension fund; and Team Comics is pretty much united under a mutual love backwashing banner (and the last irascibles like Toth and Harlan Ellison are either dead or near-dead). BUT...

Suggesting the anthology sucks because Ware has only gathered artists who are either his friends or share his sensibilities is way off the mark. For one thing one must assume that when making as subjective a judgment as who should be included in any "Best of..." compilation, you can do no more than apply your own values to discern the work you deem worthy. It's the omnipotent power of editorship. Granted you can certainly bring others into the fray and ask their advice, but aren't you still asking people you know and/or whose work you respect and thus applying a value judgment to the value judgment in the process? Rall's argument that he included people he dislikes but whose work he finds too "important" to ignore may be valid (be nice if he named some names since he's rarely shy on that front), but frankly I've always found collections that focus more on historical importance as opposed to overall quality and contextual and contemporary relevance to be uneven and often disappointing.

And while you may find modest fault in longer longer pieces being excerpted and/or truncated (little different really than a novel being excerpted in The New Yorker or Atlantic Monthly), Ware has assembled not just cartooning stalwarts and those in everyone's canon (everyone's but Ted's), but mostly superlative pieces as well. And it's pretty hard to argue with this lineup:
The Crumb's (R., and Aline collaborating, and Sophie in her own one-pager), Alison Bechdel, Lynda Barry, Vanessa Davis, Ivan Brunetti, Ron Rege. Jr., John Porcellino, Huizenga, Tomine, Anders Nilsen, Gilbert Hernandez, Deitch, Burns, Panter, Seth, spiegelman, and a few others. Perhaps I'll muster something of a more comprehensive overview of the book soon (or more likely not), but while it may be easy to argue that the names are relatively obvious even to indy comics laymen, it's hard to argue find any names that are either undeserving or unimportant. This is after all, the "Best..." not simply the "Freshest Faces of 2007" which would be an interesting collection as well but not the sort of thing Houghton Mifflin would likely gamble on, and thus not the sort of thing that if it were published or (self-published) by a far smaller concern, would therefore not register on Rall's radar.

Paul Pope: Clothing designer, world builder

The Wall Street Journal interviews Paul Pope.
Recently, Mr. Pope has set his sights on another creative arena: fashion. Last year, Diesel, an Italian fashion company, hired him to design silk-screens and window displays for its Los Angeles store. Also last year, Mr. Pope took on his biggest fashion project: DKNY, the New York fashion company started by Donna Karan, tapped him to design his own line for the DKNY Jeans brand, bringing his dark graphic work to pants, hoodies and T-shirts.

Mr. Pope has been in demand by a wide range of companies. Industrial Light and Magic flew him to San Francisco to teach its staff the finer points of creating fictional worlds. The popular vinyl toy maker Kidrobot tapped Mr. Pope to create a line for the company. He also served as a consultant for the animated film adaptation of Michael Chabon's Pulitzer-winning novel "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay."

The Journal even offers up a downloadable Pope self-portrait as wallpaper too. So does Pope pimp-out his laptop with his own image in the background? Nah, my guess is that he's got something from Blutch or maybe Hugo Pratt.

James Jean did a mindboggling wallpaper tapestry for Prada. Pulphope did window displays for Deisel. In coming months look for Sophie Crumb's ceiling fresco for Victoria's Secret and Denis Kitchen's kid illustrating an ad campaign for Baby Gap.

R. Crumb meets Leo DiCaprio

R. Crumb: Conversations
Edited by D.K. Holm

Conversation with writer Brendan Bernhard who tracked Crumb down in 1998 in the small French village where he resides with Aline:
(see Bernhard's short update on Crumb, circa '05 via the link)

Crumb is talking about Titanic, which he and Aline saw a couple of days earlier. Apparently he's still reeling from the effects of watching a giant ocean liner sink in a theater full of weeping girls. Crumb liked the movie but doesn't think much of DiCaprio, who's the son of an old cartoonist friend of his. A couple of years ago he and Leo had dinner in Paris, and according to Crumb, DiCaprio spent most of the meal staring into a mirror. The waiter, confused by the teen idol's beauty, addressed him throughout the evening as "madamoiselle."

Ahh, where to begin. What is more startling, that Crumb LIKED Titanic? Or that he had dinner with DiCaprio (whose dad is a cartoonist). And c'mon that French waiter was just being snotty, right? Good stuff. More to come.

PS. Leo's pop, George DiCaprio really was an underground cartoonist. In 1981 he edited Cocaine Comix #3.

Raconteurs spanking new album available for download

Mar 24, 2008 9:24 PM
Subject:	'Consolers of the Lonely' Available for Download Tonight!
Body:	We are happy to announce that The Raconteurs’ new album, “Consolers of the Lonely”, will be available for download through theraconteurs. com starting at 12 am EST tonight. At midnight EST you will be able to visit the site, choose your territory and download the album in a matter of minutes. Don’t want to download? Check at your favorite retailer tomorrow. We hope you enjoy it and thanks in advance for your support. Their concert playbills are fine art as well.

Booklist: Spotlight on Graphic Novels (and then things get really ugly)

New issue of Booklist (aimed at librarians and the people who love them) is all about comics with a nice cover taken from Houdini: The Handcuff King by James Sturm and Nick Bertozzi. It also features a brief but interesting interview with Sturm about the Center for Cartoon Studies and why Japanese baseball manga is vastly superior to American comics portrayals of sports. Note the CCS'website trumpets Booklist's review of Houdini atop the front page, so one hand washes the other (not that there's anything wrong with that).

From the Booklist website: Now that the mainstream publishing and library worlds are comfortable with the idea of graphic novels, many of the leading creators of the genre are reminding us of their roots: comics are where their hearts are, and they’re happy to say so, without the help of any highfalutin terms. That theme is everywhere in our latest Spotlight on Graphic Novels (OK, we’re still using the G-word for the moment):

As for The Center of Cartoon Studies: I was at SPX when they handed out their nascent pamphlets for the school prior to it materializing and there was both interest and considerable pessimism as to whether this "highminded" scholarly venture would actually get off the ground (anyone remember Kevin Eastman's well-funded cartoon museum?) But it did indeed and yet I'd never checked out the website until a few minutes ago ( 7:20 pm, March 24, 2008).
It seems to include everyone who has ever so much as breathed on a comic in the past twenty years as either "Faculty", "Visiting Faculty", or "Thesis Advisors."

But undoubtedly the most disturbing inclusion on the website is the mention of this fellow as a member of "Visiting Faculty":

[name deleted out of disgust] is a North American [semantic abuse of hallowed term] and cartoonist whose work has appeared in various [printed aggregations of likeminded individuals] and his own self-published comics. In 20xx, he produced his first [pretentious descriptive terminology] experimental narrative [deleted due to obsequiousness, ditto, and founded the ditto], in [southern university town]. His comic strip, [deleted due to taste issues] appeared in [southern university town] alternative arts newsweekly, [name similar to Harvey Danger novelty hit], from [20xx-20xx]. His work has also appeared in the [printed aggregations of likeminded individuals] [deleted], [deleted] and the upcoming [deleted]. He is the recipient of the [20xx-20xx] Fellowship [of the Ring]and is currently at work on his first [oft-derided term for long non-pamphlet comic].

Hey, way to pump up a resume'. A couple of minicomics, an appearance in a friend's anthology, a lot of gladhanding, more than a few free beers shoved in the right palms, some thoroughly nutty drunken screeds on the internet and... now he's qualified to teach some chil'ren.
Oh, and [fine Canadian publisher] is on board with this [unsavory epithet deleted.
It's only a matter of time before [name deleted for unnecessary dig] is named Senior Editor at Pantheon (that's as inside of a joke as imaginable so I don't expect anyone to get it).

Addendum: See what having some "editors" critique one's initial draft can do? I think the new, improved, edited post is much funnier than the original, not particularly funny, post. Don't you? If only they would pore over writing that didn't include casual mentions of their [deleted]'s in it. Ah well.

There: All better now kiddies (smiley faces all!)