"This day's experience, set in order, none of it left ragged or lying about, all of it gathered in like treasure and finished with, set aside." –Alice Munro, "What is Remembered"
Eleanor Davis’s daring and vivacious art is probably not safe for work, but then again, if you were truly worried about what’s safe for work, you probably wouldn’t be here either! So screw your courage to the sticking-place, and click the image below to visit the artist’s fab new sketch/news/miscellaneous blog, We Be Ouija:
Davis also has a terrific portfolio site called Doing Fine that you should bookmark:
Underwire: Dave Cooper’s Comics Grotesquerie Gets Bent (With a Nod From Del Toro)
[CLICK IMAGE TO VISIT THE RECOMMENDED SITE]
When I first saw the above image, I was immediately reminded of William Blake’s The Whirlwind of Lovers:
A frivolous comparison? Perhaps…
Dave Cooper’s Bent is published by Fantagraphics Books. To get Bent directly from the publisher, click here.
Also, Dave Cooper is on tour to promote his book. Visit the Fantagraphics FLOG! blog for details and updates.
[CLICK IMAGE TO VISIT RECOMMENDED BLOG POST]
I’ve posted a few Idyl strips on this blog in the past, along with one scan of an Idyl original, but here’s your chance to read all 44 Idyl strips (45 pages, total) included in the Dragon’s Dream collection from 1979 (after you click the link, scroll to the bottom of the page). And if you read Spanish (I don’t, and the Google translation leaves a lot to be desired), you’ll also be able (fully, completely) to enjoy a heavily illustrated overview of Jones’s career as one of “those who fled comics.”
— THAT LINK AGAIN, IN CASE YOU MISSED IT —
And here’s an important tip for you: to bypass the image viewer and open the larger files in Firefox, hold Ctrl down as you left click each image.
And please note, if you haven’t already, that you can read all of the “I’m Age” strips from Heavy Metal right here.
I’m a bit late to notice this, but back in November of 2009, MaestroMedia Productions released a two-disk DVD set of The Polymath, or the Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman, produced, written, directed, and photographed by Fred Barney Taylor. Available for a mere US$30 plus shipping and handling (request a total if you live outside the United States), the DVD set includes the original 80-minute documentary, along with a second DVD with over two hours of raw footage of Delany in conversation and a digital transfer of Delany’s “lost” 16-mm film from 1971, The Orchid (which, comic readers may be interested to know, includes Bernie Wrightson as an extra).
From the official Facebook Web site for the film:
The iconic and larger-than life Samuel R. Delany, best known as the author of Dhalgren and Babel-17, winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula awards, is considered a grandmaster of the sci-fi community. Born and raised in New York City, Delany began writing in the early 1960s and became famous for his provocative futuristic explorations of race and sexual identity. He was a rebellious pioneer who opened up the white male universe of science fiction to issues of race, gender and sexuality
The grandson of a slave, he has written frankly about his life and sexual adventures as a gay African-American, notably in his brilliantly reflexive memoir, The Motion of Light
and[in] Water and in Times Square Red, Times Square Blue, a social and critical complaint about the disappearance of the area’s famous porn theatres.Back in the day, Chip shared a stage with Bob Dylan, drank with W.H. Auden, wrote an opera, made a film, formed a theatre company, and authored several issues of Wonder Woman. He has had, by his count, over 50,000 sexual partners during the course of his lifetime.
Taylor uses visually-stunning images of water and bridges as abstract compositions; a visual correlative of the author’s multi-layered writing. By juxtaposing Delany’s flow of memories, readings and archival footage with mesmerizing imagery of the city, The Polymath expresses in vivid detail the complexities of an eclectic intellectual.
Also, if you’re a fan of Delany, watch for his new novel, Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders, which, if Amazon is to be believed, will appear in early 2011.
Here’s a rough-cut trailer featuring parts of Michael Kaluta’s interview for Better Things: Life + Choices of Jeffrey Jones:
BONUS LINK:
Wrightson’s fascinating unpublished layouts for his section of The Studio (Dragon’s Dream, 1979) — added 03 May 2010, because it sort of relates to the conversation in the comments section of this post.
Over at Atomic Surgery, blogger Staq Mavlen has posted scans of Jeffrey Jones’s short story, “Harry,” from Vampirella #85, in crisp black and white. What Mavlen doesn’t mention is that “Harry” was originally published in Vampirella #32, with day-glo colours by none other than Richard Corben! To compare the two versions, simply click here to read the black-and-white reprint and scroll down on this page to read the original colour publication:
Anyone prefer the colour version?
On 05 March 2010, Glimmer Graphics, known to readers of this blog as the publisher of an ongoing series of first-rate prints and posters by Jeffrey Jones, will release Poetry (see above image), a lush new 22 x 15 inch limited-edition giclée print by Barry Windsor-Smith. Each of the 375 prints that make up the edition will be signed and numbered and will be presented in a foil-stamped linen folder with a tipped-on colour plate. The unit price is US$135, shipped and insured, and you may pay in full or with installments. To place your order, click here.
This is NOT a paid advertisement. If the money BWS makes from the print enables him to complete work on his long-awaited Monsters graphic novel, that will be payment enough. The previews on BWS’s site are gorgeous!
BONUS LINKS:
The Barry Windsor-Smith Conan Archives Volume 1 HC (Publication Date: 13 January 2010) — “now presented as they were intended, remastered using the original color palette!”
The Barry Windsor-Smith Conan Archives Volume 2 HC (Publication Date: 19 May 2010) — “The two Barry Windsor-Smith archives collect all of the historic and influential Conan the Barbarian comics drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith,” including his adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s “Red Nails”!
Here are the links, listed in order of first publication of the stories themselves:
“Toreador from Texas,” Danger Trail #2 (DC, September-October 1950).
“Too Many Suspects,” Green Lantern vol. 1, # 37 (National Comics Publications: March-April 1949), as reprinted in Detective Comics #440 (DC, April-May 1974).
“The Bandidos,” Zorro #9 (Dell, March-May 1960).
“Dangerous Competition,” The Frogmen #5 (Dell, May-July 1963).
“Vision of Evil,” Eerie #2 (Warren, March 1966).
“Eternal Hour,” The Witching Hour #1 (DC, February-March 1969).
“ComputERR,” The Witching Hour #8 (DC, May 1970).
“Mask of the Red Fox,” House of Mystery #187 (DC, July-August 1970).
“The Mark of the Witch,” The Witching Hour #11 (DC, October-November 1970).
“Bride of the Falcon,” The Sinister House of Secret Love # 3 (National Periodical Publications, March 1972).
“Black Canary,” Adventure Comics #418 (DC: April 1972) & #419 (DC, May 1972).
“Death Flies the Haunted Sky,” Detective Comics #442 (DC, August-September 1974).
“Daddy and the Pie,” Eerie #64 (Warren, March 1975), as reprinted in UFO and Alien Comix (Warren, January 1978). And if you don’t like that scan, try this one.
“Chennault Must Die!” Savage Combat Tales #2 (Atlas, April 1975).
“The Question,” The Charlton Bullseye #5 (CPL/Gang Publications, March-April 1976).
“39/74,” Witzend #10 (Bill Pearson, 1976).
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Click here for another short list of links to “Comics Stories with Art by Alex Toth” available on the Web.
Click here to visit the gallery of Ethel Hays comic strips at Hogan’s Alley. [Link fixed: 16 March 2011.]
Ragged Claws Network 