I debated how to handle to aftermath of the best weekend this blog has ever seen, and I think I should just keep cool and proceed as normal. Thanks to everyone who stopped over to check out the things I wrote about some pretty smart, talented and nice people. I think I underestimated the internet a little seeing how surprised I was that everyone knew what I had said about them before I had made any announcement or anything. I think at the end of the day, even more than the unprecedented number of visitors, I’d say the highlight was Lauren Albert’s comment, saying that my simple observations had inspired her to make more comics.

Moving On

I’ve been doing a lot of things besides updating Spoilers, my beloved webcomic project that is not far from my mind or heart at any moment. Those things include: working on the house; getting ready to teach my Art of Comics class in a couple of weeks; making christmas presents; and lastly drawing a lot of pictures, usually in relation to the previous activity.

I plan on putting an illustration section onto my site again sometime in the future, but for now I’ll give you all a preview of some things I’ve done in the past couple of months.

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One of those quotes that stuck with me as I made my way through art school is a call for artists to “be of your own time.” (A quick search attributes this to Robert Henri) It’s something that I constantly try to hold myself to. Sure, I like a lot of older things more than what’s coming out now, especially in terms of comics. On the one hand I think this is good, using history as a big library to explore, favoring quality over immediacy. On the other hand, I’m wary of nostalgia in general, and even more so of losing touch with what is actually happening in the world right now. With comics, I am not satisfied that everything has been tried already, and am always on the look out for what the kids are doing.

That being said, here are 5 very exciting cartoonists that I can’t help but have my eye on as we step into 2010. Go to their sites and check out who they link to, because there is far more going on than just these few.
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Here’s some news:

The Art of Comics

So today I received the official word (more or less) that enough students have enrolled to take The Art of Comics that it’s actually going to happen! Holy bones, I am very excited. Very big thanks to every one who has signed up already and anyone else who wants to enroll, follow the link (http://cia.edu/continuinged) — we’ll be happy to have you.

Friends

My buddies over at Sean Malloy Productions have really been moving! They’ve got a new site and a beautiful logo and they shot a new short picture over the weekend. Looking forward to checking that out when they are ready.

Genghis Con

All this updating and I didn’t tell you guys that I went to Cleveland’s best comic book convention!

Fine establishment Astound! Comics held the first annual Genghis Con in the twilight of ’09 and I was lucky enough to attend. It’s been a couple months past now, but man, that was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday. Not only did I get to meet some local comic makers, but I got to stand around and talk to the internetionally-known critic Abhay Kholsa. Shit can this man write, and it was a great time to share some words with him. I insisted that I was his biggest fan at the show and he insisted he was never tabling at a convention again.

I will always have fond memories of my first, but I’m already looking forward to next year. See you there.

The House

We’ve made great progress with out house! The hardwood floors are all cleaned up and the main living area has shed its wallpaper and been fixed up all proper. We’re in the final stages of Phase One, and when that’s done, we can probably start letting people see it, so you should expect pictures.

In an act of appeasement, we got a television set so that we can now play our video game systems. This is good news for the Wii and PS2 that have been sitting in the basement all disconnected for almost a year. While my wallet can’t keep up with the dreams awakened by this purchase, I’m looking forward to the stateside release of Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon in March.

(Things are really happening in the next couple of months! Joanna Newsom’s new record, Have One on Me also comes out!!!!!! wow)

That’s All

Till next time, when I will tell you some things that might be of interest to you

GUYS! I missed you.

So much has been going on I don’t even know where to begin. Let’s start with the latest, Liz Marie Suburbia Bradley drew me an amazing fan art for Spoilers! True, I kind of guilted her into doing it in the first place, but man, little Amelia has never looked so good.

Liz Suburbia's rendition of Amelia from Spoilers!

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So my dear buddy, Hector Andres Mountains, put together a little list on his Tumblr, in which he counts down the 20 most influential records to his life released between now and 2000. I’m not sure how much of a meme this is (he admits he loves a meme or two) — regardless, I couldn’t get it out of my brain the idea of making my own.

Music is pretty important to me, I would say. In fact so is Andy (as we’ve always known Hector) and the two topics are inter-twined throughout the years going back to, hey, the year 2000 (give or take). This was our coming-of-age decade and my ears have been opening to the artistry of music throughout, thanks in a large part to Andy’s recommendations (Not only does he now work in the music industry, he’s actually on this list!). If I were making a list of influential records I had first heard in the 2000s, this would be an impossible list. With the exception of maybe Raffi, I would have to choose from every single album that’s steered my life in the direction I’m heading now. Luckily, they only had to be released in this decade, but that’s still been a bit of a task.

So some things to lay out at the start: I wanted to make this about albums, and not include soundtracks, live records or other compilations (I had to make one exception, sorry). I tried to focus on albums that are just that — cohesive works that function together as a whole. It’s this aspect of the “album” that influences me most in my life and work, so I wanted to highlight that. In that regard, these are the records that have been the most influential and important, not necessarily my favorites. That would probably be a different list, simply because my tastes have adjusted over the years. That being said, by the time we get to the top 5 or so, you can feel confident that I still care very deeply about those records. (more…)