Light Riot, Departure

Standard comic book size, full color covers, black and white interior. 
From Rio Aubry Taylor, $4.50 from his web site; lightriot.com until Sept 28th at this price.

The art here has a strong manga influence, and I must admit that I am not a fan of Manga, nor do I know anything about it. Having said that , the art works very well with Rio's story.
The story, although a complete fantasy, could very well be influenced by real events in Rio's world.
Without giving the whole story away, I can tell you that Rio is visited by a creature from the Moon. The Moon creature tells Rio he has the ability to live twice!  One body is whisked away to the Moon, while the other body stays on earth.  The story addresses both of Rio's lives.

There is a picture of Rio on the back cover, and he mentioned in his letter to me that he attends the " Center for Cartoon Studies" in Vermont. If he is attending that school, he sure doesn't need any advice from me, on how to draw cartoons, he is in good hands.

Be sure to check out Rio's web page to order Light Riot, and look at his other art works 
lightriot.com

Plein Air Watercolor #1

Here is a watercolor  of a creek in Castlewood Park. Painted on August 4th 2011 outdoors.
This is part of a series of paintings that I am doing at Castlewood Park.

6" x 9" watercolor 

Watercolor

Here is a quick watercolor I did of Picasso's Coffee House in St.Charles Mo.

Watercolor Easel, made from a Camera Tri-pod

I have noticed that a lot of Plein Air Painters use a camera tri-pod for their portable easel. So, I decided to see if I could make one.
First I bought a pine board and cut it to 15" x 16"

I then purchased a 1/4" threaded brass insert to hold the tri-pod attachment.

Drilled a hole for the threaded fitting,

And then mounted the  camera/tri-pod attachment

Next I attached the board to the easel to see how it fit

That worked fine, now I needed a table to hold my painting supplies.

I found these plastic hook type things in the plumbing section at Lowes. I have no idea what they are but I thought they might work for my shelf.

I tried them on the tri-pod, and they seemed as though they would work, although they drooped a little.

I mounted my make shift bracket on a board

I added a clamp, then tried it on the tri-pod. Looked okay!

I covered the board with some rubber weaved shelf liner, and here is the finished product. I think it will work just fine. Except for one thing.....It has been a 101 in shade here for a week....I think I will wait a while before I try this out!



The Collected John G. Miller 1990-1999

Black And White, Magazine size, $20.00, available through Spit and a Half distribution.
c/o John Porcellino P.O. Box 142 South Beloit, IL 61080
  Here is John's web site with full ordering instructions                                                                                           www.spitandahalf.blogspot.com.

If you consider yourself any kind of a small press comic collector, then this is a must have book.
John Miller is one of the most unique artists in all of small press. His work is filled with his personal demons.
On the back cover of the collection is a full color strip by John dated Sun. 29th of March 1970.Featuring Captain Zappa, a character that John still draws to this day. This strip has none of the sharp edges of Johns later style, but the dialog is much the same as his current strips.

On page one of the book is an illo by John that shows his remarkable design abilities.

And as we move into the book, the strips have a balance between art and word balloons. Note the lettering, it has the same style as the drawings.

However as the years go on the strips take on a different look. Gone is the lettering that mimicked the art style. He begins to use a more standard lettering, but note how the writing starts to crowd out the illustration in each panel.

The most recent example of John's work, (not included in the book) is from August of 2010. As you can see the writing has almost completely taken over from the cartooning.

I do not know where John Miller's work is headed in the future,  perhaps he will return to his earlier style. But if you want to preserve the style that makes him so different,  for yourself, you should purchase this book.

New From ME!!

Candidcartoons: " A Cartoonist and a Cat" 16  pages, digest size, $1.00, plus postage, black and white. From Larned Justin 3741 Laura ct House Springs, MO 63051
candidcartoons@yahoo.com

A collection of one page gags featuring me, and a know it all cat.

Reich # 8

24 Pages Digest size, color covers, black and white interior,$4.00, from Elijah Brubaker

Thru Sparkplug Comics PO Box 10952 Portland OR 97296-0952

The ongoing saga of Dr Wilhelm Reich a Psychoanalyst and sex researcher circa 1930.

Reich travels to America in 1946. And is interviewed regarding his Energy Accumulator. The interviewer jumps to the conclusion that the Accumulator cures cancer. The same problem Reich had with the Norwegian press in Europe. He says "They Crucified me for it too, Vultures"

He continues his experiments in America, his Daughter comes to visit him, and they discuss strained family relations.

Brubaker's art work has the flavor of 30's and 40"s setting the tone for the story.

Not every ones cup of tea, that's for sure. But keep in mind this complete series could become a must have for a serious small press collector.

06/17/2011 New From Sparkplug Comics

" The Disgusting Room" 48 pages tabloid size 10.5 x 15. Full Color $6.00 By Austin English

Sparkplug Comics PO Box 10952 Portland OR 97296-0952

A comic book? No, I don't think so. I see this publication as a program for a gallery exhibition of the paintings that make up the book. I think the only way one could appreciate the art work would be to see the original paintings. I have no idea how large the originals are, but I imagine them to be quite large. If you could see the originals you could see the collage work, and the texture of the brush strokes. One could also make a determination as to whether the paintings are good paintings or not good paintings. And I am quite sure there would be plenty of arguments on both sides of that question.

There is a story, however I think it exists more in the mind of the Artist than in the book. Once again Dylan Williams of Sparkplug steps over the edge to bring art comics to his readers. I hope some of you more daring comic book readers will give this one a try. And please feel free to e-mail me back to let me know what your take on this book is. After all I may be way off base on this one, and missed the entire point! ( candidcartoons@yahoo.com)

Catalog From Sparkplug Comics

Sparkplug Comics Has published a catalog of all the titles they publish and distribute. This is a great way to read a little about each publication, then order the ones you like.

You can get a copy of the catalog from Dylan Williams, Sparkplug Comics PO Box 10952 Portland OR 97296-00952.

New from Sparkplug Comics

The latest book from Sparkplug is Habitat # 2. It's 48 pages, Color cover, 7.5 x 10.25, cover price $9.00.

What I want to do with this blog is promote small press comics, and small press publishers. So trying to review this book is difficult for me.

I will just have to admit that I have no idea what this book is about. It does have some interesting art work. And it might be fun to try and figure out what the artist, Dunja Jankovic is driving at with this approach.

If you would like to challenge yourself, you can purchase the book from Sparkplug Comics at PO Box 10952 Portland OR 97296-0952. Give it a try, then let me know what you think!!!!

A Cartoonist and a Cat 1/20/2011