"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"
Captain Beefheart Dead At Age 69 — Experimental rock legend and visual artist, born Don Van Vliet, died from complications from multiple sclerosis on 17 December 2010. Van Vliet leaves behind a wife, Jan. The two were married for more than 40 years.
PREVIOUSLY ON RCN:
From Heavy Metal volume 1, number 9 (December 1977) — 33 years ago! — here’s the fifth and final chapter of Claveloux and Zha’s The Green Hand:
From Heavy Metal volume 1, number 8 (November 1977), here’s the fourth chapter of Claveloux and Zha’s The Green Hand:
Producer/Director Maria Cabardo needs $15,000 to complete her documentary on Jeffrey Catherine Jones, and you can help:
The documentary features not only comic book artists but other comics industry professionals as well. Jones’s life and work are the highlights, but the effects of art — on an individual, on society, and as a business — are also discussed. How important and influential is art? Can it really save a person’s life, as its practitioners claim? How did it evolve from pure decoration to a commercial commodity? All of these questions will be examined as we explore the world of Jeffrey Jones. The story of art is, in the end, the story of artists, and the whole can also be seen in its parts.
The movie is currently in post-production, most of the funding will go to the expenses incurred during this stage.
For more information, check out the Director’s blogsite at macabfilms.com.
Or better, click here to view the Kickstarter page.
This “Kickstarter” project will only be funded if at least $15,000 is pledged by Tuesday Feb 8, 9:09 pm EST. Minimum pledge is a buck, but if you pledge $50 or more you’ll receive a “Special Limited Edition DVD and Movie Poster” after the movie has been released. As of yesterday, with 56 days to go, a grand total of 10 backers had pledged $582. Today, with 55 days to go, 11 backers (10 plus yours truly) have pledged $632. It’s a hell of a long way to $15,000, but with enough publicity, the project might attract enough supporters to reach the finish line. Thus, this post.
P.S. Speaking of how one should go about publicizing one’s fundraising efforts, I have to say, the people at MaCab films aren’t helping themselves with their blog. The most recent post on the first page of the blog is dated May 29, 2009! Where’s the information about their Kickstarter project? Nowhere to be seen. Where should it be? Front and centre from now until February 8, 2011. Yes, some of the formal sub-pages have more recent material, but that’s not the way to get attention on a blog. Post on the front page, and post often. Let your personality and enthusiasm show. Make someone associated with the project available for interviews on comics, illustration, and art sites, and publicize those interviews on your blog. Include images with every post. And last but not least, do as I say, not as I do!
UPDATE (14 January 2011):
With 24 days to go, 26 backers have pledged $1,443 of the above project’s $15,000 goal. If the goal is not reached, the project receives nothing, and time is quickly running out.
From Slow Death #2 (Dec. 1970), here’s an underground classic by Richard Corben:
Here’s an art book that might appeal to fans of Jeffrey Jones and Barry Windsor-Smith, both of whom have had work featured on this blog:
Here are the details from Amazon.ca:
Pre-Raphaelite Drawing [Hardcover]
Colin Cruise (Author)List Price: CDN$
63.00
Price: CDN$ 39.69# Hardcover: 248 pages
# Publisher: Thames & Hudson (April 1 2011)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0500238812
# ISBN-13: 978-0500238813“The paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood are widely known and loved, but this book presents for the first time a comprehensive survey of the intimate world of the Pre-Raphaelites drawings. Works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais are set beside those of their followers Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris and Ford Madox Brown, as well as lesser-known figures such as James Collinson and Frederick Sandys. Copiously illustrated with Pre-Raphaelite drawings from public and private collections around the UK, the book features an illuminating text by the renowned art historian Colin Cruise, offering a fresh and intimate perspective on this much-loved group of artists.”
With the Amazon discount, the price is right. But I haven’t made up my mind yet whether or not I will buy the book. This is one I’d prefer to browse through in person before I order.
UPDATE (12 December 2010):
Shortly after I posted the “Heads Up” for Pre-Raphaelite Drawing by Colin Cruise, the price of the book at Amazon.ca jumped to CDN$50.40. If you order from Amazon.com, however, the price is a mere US$31.50 (plus shipping, if you don’t live in the USA). Even so, the total, shipping included, for a Canadian buyer is a mere US$42.06, which is actually less than the old price on Amazon.ca with free shipping but WITH TAX ADDED: CDN$43.65. Since the US and Canadian dollars are pretty much at parity, I have now made up my mind to take advantage of the current discount and have placed an order with Amazon.com. Nice thing about Amazon is that they make it easy and painless to cancel a pre-order if a better deal emerges at a different store at a later date.
UPDATE (21 December 2010):
Price dropped again at Amazon.ca, so I cancelled my Amazon.com order and ordered from Amazon.ca. The total this time around: CDN$ 39.00, tax included. And the lesson is: it pays to pay attention.
From Heavy Metal volume 1, number 7 (October 1977), here’s the third chapter of Claveloux and Zha’s The Green Hand:
Today, on the Library of American Comics blog, Dean Mullaney announced that Genius, Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth by Mullaney and Bruce Canwell has been expanded to “a three-book set that will be the definitive statement on the restless genius and timeless legacy of Alex Toth.” The lavishly illustrated set will include 1) Genius, Isolated, which will detail Toth’s “life story and work through the early 1960s, when he began his sensational move into animated cartoons”; 2) Genius, Illustrated, which “picks up the story as Toth becomes one of the leading character designers in television animation–continues through his renewed career in comics with Warren, DC, and his creator-owned properties of the 1970s and beyond–and includes an examination of the artist’s poignant final years”; and 3) Genius, Animated, an art book which will reproduce “hundreds of Toth’s model sheets and storyboards,” along with “many full-color presentation pieces designed to sell new series to the networks.” The first book is slated to appear in March 2011, with the others to follow as they are completed, I suppose. And the last bit of good news: “A slipcase for the three-book set will be available with the third book.”
To read Mullaney’s announcement in full, click here.
Ragged Claws Network 