5 WILD MEN: TALES FROM JAPAN

(short story collection now on Kindle for just $1.99)
Please make me rich .70 cents at a time. It's a fair trade.

M.I.A. Double Bubble Trouble Live on Seth Myers (fave TV performance in...awhile)

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FiveBooks Interviews > Tom Gauld on Comics

TOM GAULD ON PICTURE BOOKS

Why would adults read picture books?

Tom Gauld: People tend to think that when you’re an adult you don’t need pictures any more to enjoy a story. But it’s not as though when we’re adults we give up TV and only listen to radio. The relationship between words and pictures is an interesting relationship. A bad picture book obviously just repeats the pictures in words – ‘This is an apple’ – but a good one uses each medium to complement or sophisticate the other: ‘This is not a pipe’. And the more you read picture books, the better you get at reading them, the more you can get out of them. Interestingly, when I’m tired I tend only to read the words in a comic, instead of taking the time to slow down and look at the pictures.

Munko's Creepshot Portraits

Smile lady! You never know when eccentric billionaire David Choe is hastily sketching your portrait (and doing for your height and figure what Photoshop couldn't hope to do). The amazing thing is that this may very well be the most valuable piece of original art currently at New York Comicon.

Chris Ware in Poets & Writers

 Shockingly life-like self-portrait of the artist

Chip Kidd cover

Yes, one can actually read Poets & Writers magazine on a bimonthly basis AND still read comics as well. Although to be honest, I've paid more attention to P&W over the past several years than I have to most comics. That said it's always a pleasant surprise to see someone (anyone!) from the funnybook medium appear in an atypical venue like P&W, as Ware does in the Nov/Dec issue which just hit stands today (10/22/12). Even better is that the generous folks at P&W have already put the complete interview online (free for all). It also should be said that comics-folk in the personages of Ware, Chip Kidd, and Jim Tierney have far and away provided the most attractive covers for a magaziine notorious for heinously dull and often ugly extreme closeups of un-photogenic writers.

Jim Tierney cover

DEBATING THE RE-INFANTILIZATION OF COMICS CRITICISM

NOTE: It seems the only criticism I write these days is in email to a friend. So here is an excerpt in which I wonder if there is any negative impact to sites like TCJ.com embracing superheroes and genre comics now in a way they never would have in their heyday twenty years ago.

I think Kirby and Ditko can rightfully and deservedly be celebrated. Their weaknesses, be it Kirby's ham-fisted anatomy or Ditko's descent into fascist lunacy are so well-documented in TCJ's past, that they are only brought up anecdotally, and almost fondly, at this juncture. Film critics cover all sorts of movies from the most idiotic comedies to FX-laden blockbusters to quiet  indie films. Why shouldn't comics critics be able to do the same? The critics you're referring to who only read and heap praise on superhero or genre-heavy books, I would assume are not critics you wish to read or respect anyway. But there seem to be others out there who can write knowledgeably about Kevin Huizenga or Chris Ware, and also about Grant Morrison and Brian Azzarello or whomever. 

Thinking about this after you called it the "re-infantilization of comics," I thought perhaps it's actually a further maturation. In other words, when there really were little more than superhero comics everywhere and nothing remotely resembling an independent or literary strain of graphic fiction (in the US anyway), TCJ essentially existed to rail against these superhero comics and their oft-delusional creators. That went on for decades until at some point Groth/Thompson basically announced that the war had been won, and in effect they ceased to be relevant in the critical realm (still remaining relevant as publishers). So the new generation no longer sees that need (nor obviously feels brow-beaten into silence as the TCJ fans once did) to endlessly rail against superheroes. The need for hyper-defensiveness as related to perceptions the mainstream has about the comics medium may have come to an end. Obviously the 'critics" who only and ever write about and slavishly praise superhero books are easily ignored. Those same types of pseudo-crits work in film, music, literature as well.

I get the impression that you're annoyed and/or disillusioned with whoever has bastardized TCJ (and you may be right, I don't know. I was feeling that way going way back to Eric Evans editorship, though A.E. Moore's "highminded feminist" tenure was far far worse). 

On one hand I understand where you're coming from and maybe if I had been engaged in criticism all along and witnessed some sea-change and/or hated some of these critics, I would feel the same way. But my instincts nag me as to why we can watch all these genre films and enjoy them for what they are (or criticize them for the same), and yet we can't do so for genre comics? There are a lot of non-superhero GN's in the bookstores these days, so this misguided perception that that is all the medium can do is gone as regards most book publishers. Of course the irony is that most of these GN's I see look terrible and incomprehensibly dull. Making the superhero and manga books right beside them look infinitely more exciting and better executed.

Juxtapoz is known for its love of ugly art and its rudimentary, content-free interviews. So herein is the most interesting interview answer to appear in Juxtapoz in recent memory. Of course it involves David Choe and the interview subject in Dan Clowes.
 
Interviewer Kristin Farr: Do you have any crazy fan mail stories?

Dan Clowes: Back in the old days, when I actually used to get mail, I got all kinds of crazy stuff.  people would get pissed off at my comics. One time a guy ripped up all my comics and sent them to me.  People would write and draw twenty-page stories about coming to my house and killing me.

KF: What?!

Clowes: Yeah, in fact that guy David Choe did a story about coming to my house and beating me up. After he got all his Facebook money, I was trying to figure out if I could sue him for like, eight million dollars, retroactively. [laughs].

KF: Was it a joke about envying your skills or something?

Clowes: I don't know. At the time I'd never heard of him. He was just some art student.

[sadly nothing remotely this interesting ever made it into Clowes and Terry Zwigoff's DOA film Art School Confidential which was a fictional ripoff of many themes and philosophies shared by R. Crumb in the Zwigoff biography of Crumb.But of course dumbed down, unfunny, and with no characters even close to as interesting as Crumb himself.] 

But if anyone has any doubt about whether Choe is actually a fan of Clowes, he in fact listed him among his many influences nearly a decade ago.

PopImage: On the flipside, what influence have more traditional comics had on your work?

Choe: Comic guys like: Dan Clowes, Peter Kuper, Al Colombia, Bill Sienkiewicz, Dave Cooper, Todd McFarlane (Hulk and Spider-Man days), Rob Liefeld (New Mutants days), Frank Miller, the Preacher guys are rad, Alan Moore is rad. All the Highwater guys, Brian Ralph and Jordan Crane.

Both David Choe (top) and Dan CLowes (bottom) support our righteous President Barack Obama.

Let's just hope he's still our President two weeks from now. (Nov. 6, 2012)

The Top 5 Comic Book Cities (from Architects Journal UK)

TOP FIVE COMIC BOOK CITIES (Vimeo)

TCI Still On Shelves...maybe

TCI on the shelves of a California comics shop just behind Kyoshi Nakazawa's long-running zine Drunken Master. This from Kyoshi's Facebook page.

Joe Matt on Popeye, The Office and The Wire

HOWARD STERN MEETS DAVE CHOE (Aka Kim Jong Stern)

Holy shit! First it's revealed that DAVID CHOE  is the owner of perhaps $200 million in Facebook stock after Mark Zuckerberg's company went public last week. And now even bigger news (in my world)...Choe was on Howard Stern! [video HERE at Giant Robot] Don't be surprised if Choe's podcast doesn't now end up on Sirius...or hell he might just buy Sirius.

Choe gets a Munko on the walls of Sirius' ivory towers, and he didn't even have to sneek in.

Howards adopts him and dubs him Kim Jong Stern.

Choe knocks out a ghetto-detail of Howard Stern in his natural habitat.

Choe works the reception desk at Facebook under the watchful gaze of one of his own paintings and

Mark Zuckerberg's killer nanobots.

JAMES JEAN SPAWNING MORE IMITATORS THAN KIRBY?

I've seen a LOT of James Jean imitators (and some blatant ripoffs) over the past five years (particularly in the many fine art/tech mags from the UK's Imagine Publishing (ImagineFX, Computer Arts Projects etc.). But the portfolio of young El Salvadorean artist Rodrigo Luff as seen in the latest issue of Blue Canvas takes the cake. Luff is obviously hugely talented and also hugely influenced to the point of slavish devotion to the techniques of James Jean. Often Jean's imitators can pull off many of his tricks of style and color traits but lack the imagination or certainly the immense chops in draftsmanship to replicate Jean's work. But Luff seems to have the chops and a fair amount of imagination. What he lacks now is a original thrust and anything resembling his own style. His graphite pencil work in particular looks like carbon copies of James Jean's (albeit Jean's work five years ago as JJ has since moved in a much darker, uglier direction with his work).


By the way if you can't discern which of the above peices belongs to which artist (and I know I couldn't): The piece on the left featuring a flutist, nude woman and elegant flora is by Rodrigo Luff. The piece on the right, set in pink, and featuring a nude female flutist and elegant flora is by James Jean circa 2006.

I Can Finally Start Tossing Out My Back Issues of TCJ

I have easily avoided reading TCJ.Com for many years now but I was intrigued as to why Peggy Burns of D&Q posted a photo of Kevin Eastman on Facebook. Now I know it was in celebration of the digitalization of one of TCJ's juiciest and craziest interviews. From The Comics Journal #202 (March 1998)


The former co-creator of Ninja Turtles turned rich and extravagant publisher of failed vanity projects and current publisher of Heavy Metal (which somehow carries on with Ero-sex comics despite the endless availability of prurient things online).  READ HERE

And for all the buffoonery of days past, Eastman is still a very generous soul. 

Jonathan Lethem's Top-Five Depressed Superheroes

Taken from Lethem's hilarious and brilliant collection of essays The Ecstasy of Influence (Doubleday) and appearing in full on his own website

1) Black Bolt: Isn't allowed to speak. "His wings resemble accordions, the most harmless and charming of instruments (apart from the kazoo). He never learned sign language and it can be infuriating waiting for him to scribble a note. In restaurants it takes Black Bolt hours to decide on the simplest order. His dog is ugly."

2)The Vision: "obsessed with his traumatic past: An evil android created him for dark purposes. This sort of hurt can be difficult to overcome and other superheroes have steered a respectful birth around The Vision." His former wife Scarlet Witch has recently been linked in British tabloids with Liam Gallagher of Oasis.

3) Deadman. "Deadman's problem is worn on the sleeve of his name: he's dead. He handles it pretty gracefully, having been a circus acrobat in his former life. Deadman rarely bothers to dress as a civilian, since his secret identity is a corpse. In earlier days Deadman regarded himself as The Spectre's protégé. However, The Spectre never proposed Deadman for membership in the Justice League of America. Deadman doesn't know how to raise the subject with the Spectre, so he never calls him anymore.


4)Ragman: "Ragman is the poverty superhero, unable to afford a costume other than a big pile of rags. He never fights villains who can afford costumes at all. Instead he rescues starving kittens and breaks up three-card monte games. Ragman keeps himself in White Castle hamburgers by buying cartons of cigarettes and selling singles for a nickel apiece."


5)Omega's priorities were very unclear, and so he had the power to depress others, as well as himself. Omega's comic book was so punishingly dull that Marvel began to put The Hulk and Spiderman on the cover, and once, in a measure of striking desperation, Scrooge McDuck made a guest appearance.After ten issues the title was cancelled anyway. After cancellation, Marvel was contacted by attorneys from Omega's home planet, which turned out not to be destroyed at all. This resulted in the first recall of the entire run of a published comic book in the industry's history."

Nacho Picasso--Marvel"

The man goes deep deep...he references Beta Ray Bill for godsakes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IUiv4Q3LRc

NPR Goes MetaMaus with Spiegelman

Art Spiegelman talks about his new book about "the book" MetaMaus"on NPR's Talk of The Nation with the always excellent Neal Conan.

If HEROES hadn't sucked it would be MISFITS (watch)

Dash Shaw le Bottomless Bellybutton en francais & en portuguesa

Dash Shaw in France

Dash Shaw in Brazil

Grant Morrison: "Chris Ware's attitude stinks..."

I can't say I disagree with Morrison on this. Although he needn't be defensive or self-conscious when comparing his comics criticism to that of the 'college boys" at The Comics Journal, because TCJ really hasn't been relevant or even readable in print in some 15 years at least. I always thought the magazine would catch its second (third?) wind eventually under some fiery new editor but that certainly never happened and it lapsed into toothless dotage; finally little more than the Fantagraphics promotional arm so many people had accused it of being even when it wasn't.

 ADDITIONAL ONLINE INTERVIEW WITH MORRISON AT ROLLING STONE

There have been histories of comic books, but your book Supergods is all superheroes. It's a counter-narrative to the idea that comics need to outgrow this superhero stuff.
I can appreciate someone like Chris Ware for his artistry, which I think is beautiful, but I think his attitude stinks, it just seems to be the attitude of somebody really privileged, and honestly, try living here, try living on an Indian reservation and shut up, and really seeing all that nihilistic stuff, it really makes me angry, it's unhelpful to all of us, and it's coming from people who have money and success to talk  like that and bring those aspects of the way we live in favor of all the  others, and it's indefensible.

So I never liked that stuff, I  always thought that I had a real Scottish working class thing against  the fact that these were done by privileged American college kids, and  they were telling me the world was flat. "You're telling me the world is  flat, pal?" And it's not helpful, it doesn't get us anywhere. OK, so it  is, then what? What are you going to do about it, college kid? My book wasn't academic. I can't take on those Comics Journal guys, they flattened me, as they did, it's just defensive, smartass kids.

This is what I'm into, and here's how, through my eyes, it's exalted. You may look at the same thing and just see trash, toilet paper, I'm  looking at this and seeing William Blake angels. This is how it looks  through these eyes, this is all I've got, I can't talk about it in half  degrees, but I can talk about it in the sense of a practitioner of it,  someone who has thought about it intensely for an awful long time, and  again, I thought, "What can I make, a book that reads the way Nick Kent talks about music," those guys, it at least gives you a personal  connection to someone who takes this very seriously.

Grant Morrison in Rolling Stone: The Toilet Paper of Angels

I picked up a copy of Grant Morrison's new book Supergods last week and my first thoughts at a glance were that it is surprisingly coherent. In fact in many ways Grant Morrison the critic/comics historian/biographer reads a bit like Douglas Wolk (who virtually worships the druggy incoherence of Morrison's The Invisibles). So anyway, I haven't read Supergods yet but was pleasantly surprised to see an interview ith Morrison in the brand new Rolling Stone. Here are the best revelations (which may be old hat of diehard Morrison-heads).:
Grant's comic book scripting and occasional screenplays have now afforded him FOUR homes. He tours the RS writer Brian Hiatt through his 130-year-old town house situated in a "wealthy enclave known as 'Millionaire's Row.'"
Morrison is pals with Deepak Chopra, which explains why Chopra gave him a blurb for Supergods.
Morrison is pals with My Chemical Romance's singer Gerard Way (who seemingly idolizes Morrison).
Morrison was in a band that once opened for The Jesus & Mary Chain (which is pretty solid rock & roll cred, especially for a comic book scribe).

Morrison with Nine Inch Nails' superhero Trent Reznor (center) and Morrison's wife Kristan

People say kids can't understand the difference between fact and fiction but that's bullshit. Kids understand that real crabs don't sing like the ones in The Little Mermaid. But you give an adult fiction and the adult starts asking fucking dumb questions like "Why can Superman fly?" How do those eyebeams work? Who pumps the Batmobile's tires? It's a fucking made-up story, you idiot! Nobody pumps the tires!"
There is also a clear reason why Morrison and Frank Quitely's All-Star Superman books were among the best mainstream comics in recent memory, while his grim ugly and tedious All-Star Batman is decidedly not. "When I write Superman it was like contemplating the Buddha. I really felt elevated. Everything seemed more beautiful, more precious. Batman is different.  I try not to go into Batman that much because he's nutty, and I don't really want to feel like Bruce Wayne. "

The joy in his Superman story is as evident as the gloomy distance he maintains from Batman.
 

On the popularity of the superhero narrative in general: "How do we fight against the idea that we are doomed? We are fighting against it with the superhuman story. You may look at superheroes and see trash, toilet paper. I'm looking at them and seeing William  Blake angels."

“Good comics are as good as your favorite movie, as good as your favorite record, as good as your favorite TV show and are well worth [entering] the pop culture diet of any smart adult who’s living in the 21st century."

HANS RICKHEIT digitized not sanitized

Hans Rickheit, the brilliant subversive just keeps getting better, and now anyone in the world can read his comics for free (donations most appreciated however) thanks to the ever-insidious interweb. So treat yourself. And by the way if I ever had a real job I'd be buying up his lovely original art, but I don't so for the time being the window is wide open for all you capitalistic scum out there. BUY BUY!

COCHLEA & EUSTACHIA BEGINS TODAY
www.chromefetus.com

In response to clamoring public demands, I've decided to redouble my cartooning output and release a 2nd ongoing webcomic that veers in an entirely contrary tangent to that of the critically-acclaimed ECTOPIARY,

Cochlea & Eustachia have previously appeared in numerous. well-publicized venues, including POOD, PROPER GANDER, TYPHON. LEGAL ACTION COMICS, REGLAR WIGLAR, THE STRANGER and the original run of CHROME FETUS COMICS.

It is my intention to post a new installment every Wednesday for your edification and delight. You can help this effort by visiting the Merchandise Page and purchasing my wares! Original Art is now being offered for sale from both COCHLEA & EUSTACHIA and the ongoing ECTOPIARY website. Also, pages from my other reputable graphic novels CHLOE and THE SQUIRREL MACHINE are on sale.

At the very least, you are encouraged to DONATE whatever you feel is appropriate. Even the smallest amount is gratefully appreciated!

Friends, as always, I thank you for your attention and generosity!

Catastrophe in JAPAN

Don't be overwhelmed by the choices or how to help japan. Just pick one and send something.

There are many ways to help Japan but one easy way is if you simply have a Paypal account. Paypal has several $25 options ranging from The Red Cross to Tokyo Helping Hands but also allows you to choose any donation you wish, so if you only have a dollar to spare or a fiver (in which I can totally relate to you) donate that because surely every penny will help someone. The damage appears to be absolutely catastrophic and now is the time to do whatever we can to help our friends in Japan recover in this time of incredibly dire need.

Also Globalgiving.org 
Salvation Army has had a presence in Japan since 1895
Facebook's Disaster Relief Page

が、日本を助けるためには、単にPaypalアカウントを持っている場合つの簡単な方法は多くの方法があります。ペイパルは東京援助の手赤十字に至るまで、いくつかの25ドルのオプションを持っており、また、あなたは余裕がドルやドル紙幣（私は完全にあなたに関連付けることができるが）を寄付していても、あなたは任意の寄付を選択できることが確実にすべてのペニーは、誰かを助ける。損傷は、絶対に壊滅的と思われる今までの時間は何でも我々は非常に切実なのこの時期に回復、日本の友人
たちを助けるためにすることができます。

Korean Comics Thrive in Japan

This story from Korea JoonGang Daily

REUTERS STUMBLES ACROSS DAVID CHOE IN VEGAS

In a rather strange story about how Asian tourists are keeping Vegas afloat by playing baccarat, it seems Reuters  reporter Timothy Pratt came across a face familiar to street art and comics fans: David Choe!
 To Pratt, Choe was obviously just another Asian face in the crowd and the reporter was seemingly surprised that the artist is actually American. He also didn't realize Choe was a famous artist, nor did Choe identify himself as such. But based on the age (34) and the fact that Choe has even filmed his excursions to Vegas for Vice...this is almost certainly David "Slow Jams" Choe. here's the link but I excerpted the pertinent part featuring DC.

http://wtaq.com/news/articles/2011/feb/19/james-bonds-game-helps-keep-vegas-casinos-afloat/

Afterward, one of the baccarat players, David Choe, sat slurping noodles in a Chinese restaurant no more than 20 steps away. Choe said he had heard from his casino host that the Russian had lost $1 million the night before.
Choe, 34, has been gambling since he was a teenager, starting, he said, with fake ID.
Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with the words "New York," he is the rare U.S. native at the baccarat tables, though of Korean background. He comes from Los Angeles several times a month to play. This time, he was up around $100,000.
"I haven't counted it yet," he said.
Choe said he has seen some unusual sights at the baccarat table, including an "ossified drunk" betting $40,000 a hand.
Although he called the game "the easiest thing in the world," he allowed that many players have superstitions, ranging from not allowing anyone to touch you while playing to following the highest bettor's chips to putting money down on any streak that appears to emerge.
What is the attraction of baccarat?
"You have your own room, your own world. You can eat there, you can bet or not, you can curse if you lose, or tear up the cards. You can do whatever you want."

Gothic Monsters from Tatsuya Morino

Artist Tatsuya Morino puts a unique twist on the great monsters of Gothic literature in a series of illustrations featured in the book Kaibutsu Gensō Gashū. You can definitely see similarities to great (and strange) American comics artists like Basil Wolverton and many of the underground artists from the 60's. See all the images here at Pink Tentacle.