Hey friends,
Holy smokes, what happened? One thing I’ve learned from the internet, blogging is hard. To make it up to you guys, here’s some new Spoilers.
This one is called “Oh…” and, while you can check it out here, the effect really works best when seen on the site (but that goes without saying, right?)
I am shaken up. Harvey Pekar died sometime last night and it’s a sad day.
Harv was and is one of those formative figures in my life. He entered in at just the right moment that the details of his life story and accomplishments will resonate with me for years and years to come. I was a Marvel kid growing up and as I went through high school I found my appreciation and love of comics shifting towards the actual form of the art, more so than subject matter. I graduated in 2003 with my mindset opened and ready for the whole other side of comics that I hadn’t known about growing up. What also happened that year is I moved to Cleveland for school, and the movie version of American Splendor was released (I saw it a little later when Ahmed brought home an advance screener of the DVD).
It wasn’t just that he was a Cleveland comics hero, or a self-publishing hero, or that he was a real political cat, or that he lived a couple blocks away from each of the apartments I had in college. Or that I got to see that same neighborhood as it was over 30 years again, seeing those exact same bricks that Bob Crumb hatched out behind the RTA stop. Or that first year I saw him twice, stalking around the halls of CIA (never talked to him though — that will be my “I should have said something” story). Or that he never got complacent. Or that he stayed with his home town till his death. It was all of it and more. Pekar’s legacy is reason enough to be damn proud to live in Cleveland.
Hey guys, what’s the haps?
There’s a lot for me to talk about, but I’m wondering if I should try to space it out more, rather than lump it all into a big State of the Union post like I usually do. We’ll play it by ear.
First up, new Spoilers!
Chapter 18: What Will Become of Us?
Hope you guys enjoy, but even more I hope that all the people who said that you had no idea what was going on are starting to see things coming together. Still don’t? Let me know! I love hearing feedback about this comic, I want to make it the best it can be.
Part of the reason I’ve been leaving this spot empty for a while is because I’ve been traveling. I made a surprise visit to my home town in Alexandria VA to commemorate my birthday (25), my parent’s anniversary (28?), and then mother’s day. I had a good time hanging out with my brother and the venerable Liz Saburbi who both reside in that state where there ain’t shit to do.
One of the highlights of that short trip, besides getting a harmonica from the ole’ brother, was a trip to the wonderful Fairfax location of the Laughing Ogre. I have been to few comics shops as well stocked as this one, and certainly none with more helpful staff (Liz works here). Lots of great stuff, it was a shame we got there so close to closing time because there was just so much to check out. I walked away with the newest Rasl and all the King City books they had in stock (I think two). Also interesting was how close the store was to my boyhood home, which brought a lot of nostalgic feelings back for my brother, but not so many for me — must have been too young.
There’s so much more to write, but I think I’m gonna wrap it up here, cuz I want to update my Art of Comics blog. I just wanted to shout out some things before we speak again:
My brother (and UnFan’s) old comic strip is back from the dead! Check it out here, now.
Cleveland comics compatriot Niki Smith and her writing partner Michael Jasper have finally been let loose onto the world of Zuda with new pages of their fantastical comic strip. Read them every Thursday here!
And Lizzy Burberry is showing no signs of fatigue in her polished high school epic, updating frequently over at her livejournal
Ok, so more in a couple days, including my trip to Boston and the return of my teaching career.
Tootles!
This post is a sequel to the one I did a while back about Cleveland’s Genghis Con. It was there at the Beachland that I met the folks at Panel, a group of Columbus cartoonists and writers. One of the things I walked away from their booth with was a flyer for SPACE. I’d never heard of it but it seemed to be up my alley, and so I made half-hearted plans to check it out when it came around. I vacillated about whether or not I would actually do it, until a few weeks before hand when I got a random message from one of the organizers on Facebook, reminding me to check it out. That decided things easily enough.
On Sunday, I made a happy return to my beginners yoga class (and was rewarded with free bread) and then headed down to Columbus. The rain was pretty ridiculous – a beautiful and scenic drive was spotted with monstrous downpours that at one point stopped everyone on the freeway. It was nice again when I got to Columbus, thankfully.
I missed the signs telling me where to go in the hotel, so I wandered around a bit, finding the Model Talent Search being held upstairs. They didn’t have any better idea of where I was supposed to be going, so I turned around, and luckily wandered in the right direction this time. Again, though, I went in the wrong way, right into the show, and had to go back out to pay, so I didn’t feel like I was cheating anyone. Once back inside, I immediately started the meet and greet.
Subscribe to this site's RSS feed.