Midnight Ramblings - December 2008

Cruikshank's Website
I loved Sally Cruikshank's animated cartoon Quasi at the Quackadero when I first saw it back in the late 70's. Over the years I lost track of her work until I learned about her website this week. It includes a blog, flash animations, contact info, and a DVD of her cartoons. Thanks to Cartoon Brew for the tip.

Candy or Medicine #6
Josh Blair reports the next issue of Candy or Medicine will go off to the printer the first week of the new year. The sixth issue can be ordered in advance from his website.

The Return Krampus
A new mini comic from the St. Paul Cartoonist Conspiracy cell hit the ether last Saturday. Contributing jammers include Bud Bergy, Kevin McCarthy, Ryan Dow, Dan Olson, and Steve Stwalley. It's free for the downloading in PDF format.

Graphic Shorthand
Veteran editorial cartoonist Jim Ivey (San Francisco Examiner, Orlando Sentinel, Washington Star, St. Petersburg Times) presents this comprehensive course in cartooning. Ivey extols and teaches minimalism, getting across your idea simply and elegantly with few lines. In his new book, Graphic Shorthand, Ivey teaches cartooning based on his own method honed over decades of classroom instruction in which he has taught thousands. Now in this self-directed course you can learn from one of the acknowledged masters of cartooning. 128 page paperback book for $23. See a 12-page preview at Lulu.com

Obama Card Game
Indie Spinner Rack's own Charlito reports he's developed a new card based on the recent election with Jeff LaGreca and Kurt Bieg. Check out the Obama Card Game at their website.

Recent small press comic reviews:
Graham Annable's Grey Bear on Poopsheet Foundation

James Williams' The Journey of Quetzalcoatlus on Comic Related

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December 20, 2008 Blog Entry

More Vojtkomics!
Gag cartoonist Bob Vojtko reports two calendars and an a new anthology with his cartoons were published recently. The 2009 Sports Illustrated Golf Calendar (page-a-day format) features a total of 39 cartoons by Vojtko! Laughing with Lutherans edited by Julie Sevig is a collection of the best humorous stories and cartoons from The Lutheran magazine. It's available from their website for $8.95. And the 2009 Cat Calendar (page-a-day format) includes two cartoons by Vojtko.

Cartoon School
Cartoonist Aron Nels Steinke is teaching a Comics: Storytelling class through Portland Community College. The class meets Thursday evenings from January to March. Local comics and coffee shop Guapo used Steinke's artwork for the sign at their new location.

Free Graphic Novel
Kevin Richardson's beautifully rendered 143 page graphic novel, Bitter Pill, is available from his website as a free PDF download. Richardson also contributed a terrific story to Candy or Medicine #4.

Free Mini Comic
And speaking of Candy or Medicine. Editor Josh Blair reports he's sold out on his first issue. Instead of reprinting it, he's made it available as a free download from his website, where you can also purchase the printed versions of issues #2-5.

Thrilling Adventures
Wayne Skiver recently announced plans for a new publication called Thrilling Adventures. His new book with feature reprints of select Golden Age comics, classic pulp adventures stories, as well as new comics and pulp fiction. Age of Adventure.

Secret Agent X
Airship 27 and Cornerstone recently announced the release of the third volume of Secret Agent X. Writers John Bear Ross, Frank Schildiner, Jorrod Courtemanche, and Andrew Slamon have created four brand new adventures of The Man of a Thousand Faces for this classic pulp title. Rob Davis and Shane Evans teamed to produce a beautiful cover for the book. Airship 27 Shop.

Rock & Roll Death Wagon #2
Allen Freeman's Fan-Atic Press has published the second issue of Cat Noel and Edward Bolman's four part series about tatoos, love, hate, and other mature themes. And from Ed Noel they also have Noble Head Funnies a new 28 pages mini comic.

North County Perp #2
Howard Cruse recently released the second issue of North County Perp as a downloadable PDF file to expand its print circulation beyond Berkshire County, MA. In addition to the articles, there's also a healthy dose of cartoons by Todd Casey, Colin Tedford, Jessican Zimmer, Jana Christy, Aaron Andrews, Sean Hayes, Gregory Scheckler, and Cruse himself.

Zine World
The stalwart reader's guide to the underground press is gearing up for their next issue and soliciting free classified; additions to their lists of distros, stores, websites, etc. Plus they're selling display ads at very reasonable rates. Go to Zine World.

Recent small press comic reviews:
Anthony Vukojevich's The Envelope Licker on Poopsheet Foundation

Howard's Badger on Comic Related

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December 13, 2008 Blog Entry

S. Clay Wilson's Long Road Ahead
As you probably already know, underground cartoonist S. Clay Wilson was recently hospitalized and is still recovering from head injuries he incurred over a month ago. Steve Duin has reported his progress regularly on The Oregonian's website.

Donations are welcome: like many cartoonists, S. Clay doesn’t have any kind of health care insurance. His partner Lorraine Chamberlain has set up a PO Box for anyone who'd like to send a note of encouragement or some money to help pay the rent and the long-term therapy he’ll need:
P.O. Box 14854
San Francisco, CA 94114

New Small Press Comics
Dan W. Taylor of Weird Muse Productions just announced two new issues of his series that pays homage to mini comix pioneer Clay Gerdees, Time Warp Comix. Both issues feature new comix by many of the best newave cartoonists of the 70s and 80s.

Issue #6 features comix by Jim Siergey, John Howard, me, David Miller, Andy Nukes, and Dan W. Taylor. Issue #7 features comix by Tom Brinkmann, Bruce Chrislip, Bob Vojtko, and Dan W. Taylor.

Tim Corrigan just published the 28th issue of his monthly Comics and Stories title. It's a special 16 pager featuring the first of a six-part series—a team-up with Mighty Guy and Elasticworm. Plus Tyran returns in a 3-page bonus adventure! Ordering details and back issues are available from his website.

O.E. Rivera just published a new comic with beautiful pencil illustrations through IndyPlanet. You can see lots of sample pages at his blog and order the print edition from a link there as well.

Free PDF Books and Zines
GW Thomas is a horror writer and editor of Dark Worlds, a quarterly magazine that publishes fiction in the tradition of the old science fiction and fantasy pulps. He also writes a frequently updated blog, that's become one of my favorites. In a recent post he featured a exhaustive list of sites that provide free PDF files of hundreds of public domain imaginative books and magazines.

Black Light Diner distro is Open
Erica S. over at BLD in Pittsburgh, PA. is seeking new zines (mostly comics) to add to her online distro. Check out her FAQ on how and where to submit yours.

Oregon Writers Speak
Bill Johnson has a YouTube page with short presentations by published authors about writing. A couple of the latest editions include Eric Witchey, Five Minutes on Fiction and Elizabeth Lyon (Manuscript Makeover) on Style and Voice.

Recent small press comic reviews:
Anton Emdin's Cruel World #4 on Poopsheet Foundation

Jim Main's Halloween on Comic Related
Brad Dwyer's Epic Tales of the Mundane #4 on Comic Related

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December 6, 2008 Blog Entry

The Universal Translator
I used to visit a lot of the same websites on a regular basis. Usually I was checking to see if they'd been updated. I ended up with a lot of bookmarks and a lot of wasted clicks. Then I started using the Google Reader. There are many different Feed Readers to choose from, but I already had set up a custom Google homepage, so I simple added their Reader to it.

Feed Readers enable you to go to one place—your reader—to get all the updates from your favorite websites. You simply subscribe to the site's RSS feed. This way instead of you going to the site, the site's content comes to you.

I've mentioned the Google Reader before. I've been using it for about a year now and it's been a great tool. The reason I'm bringing it up again, is that they've just added an amazing new feature: translation.

So now you can subscribe to an RSS feed with content in another language and Google's computing power will automatically translate the text into your preferred language! I've tried it out and the results are pretty amazing.

Machine translation still isn't perfect, but it's come a long way.

Recent small press comic reviews:
You Don't Get There From Here #7 on Poopsheet Foundation

Candy or Medicine #5 on Comic Related

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Midnight Fiction Shop
• 2008 Desk Calendar
• Self-published comix
• Movie Magazines
• Illustrated Fiction