MAYBE BLOGGING WILL HELP

WINTER 2011 TOUR DIARY Part Seven

2012-01-18T14:42:00.002-06:00

I woke up Thursday morning, in Waltham, Mass. Packed up my stuff, and headed out early. I was going to try to make it all the way to Cleveland, where Kevin Czap's luxurious couch awaited me. Out west on I-90, there was snow.

Crossing the Berkshires

I thought about stopping in Albany to visit Porter, but he had pneumonia. Above, the river.

Made it to Cleveland, no problem. Met up with Kevin, jabbered a bit, and then ZZZZZZZZZ.

Next morning there was snow on my car, the first of the tour. I had been worried the whole time about running into bad weather, and it was in the 50's and 60's until my last day.

Entering the Chicago Skyway.

Home.

* * *

Lo and behold, the day after I arrived home was the Milwaukee Zine Fest. So I stocked up on comics and made my way down 43.

The Spit and a Half spread, MKE Zine Fest

S/H Auxiliary Box and table.

God, I love the midwest.

Another Satisfied Customer™.

- - -

MANY SPECIAL THANKS TO: Kevin Czap and the Cleveland crew; John and Michele; Jim Rugg and Bill Boichel; Julia, Sarah and NYC homies; Brent at Ada; Cara Bean; and Tony at MYP.

I'm going to sleep now!

John P.

WINTER 2011 TOUR DIARY Part Six

2012-01-13T12:18:00.001-06:00

I left New York Monday morning for the trip up north into Providence. I had a signing that evening at the great Ada Books.

Make that a thousand-and-one.

You know you're getting into Providence when the highway bends and all of a sudden it looks like the cover of Animals.

Ada Books storefront

I went inside and said hi to Brent, the shopowner. I unloaded my stuff and headed into the streets in search of Chinese food.

"Like sands through the hourglass..."

I liked that hook.

Sunset window.

10¢ a ride.

The signing went great. Ada is a lovely little bookstore specializing in small press, comics, poetry, zines, used books, and other worthwhile pursuits. The shelves are all custom made and wrap around the cozy space organically. And always good music playing. I picked up a copy of Charlotte Chandler's I, Fellini on my way out. I was driving up to the Boston area for my next couple signings.

Made it up to Waltham, where I was staying with the artist/educator Cara Bean. Tuesday I dropped in to her "Comics Club," at the nearby high school where she teaches. I talked to the kids about finding your way as an artist. And they actually listened. I think.

That night was a signing in the local indie bookshop, Back Pages. Cara had rallied the troops and a lot of folks showed up. It was a great little event.

Lo and behold, my old friend Dan, from Kilgore Books and auteur behind the upcoming King-Cat documentary turned up in the audience! We went up to Cara's afterwards and had tea. A nice surprise.

Everytime I saw this bear under the table I thought it was cat. That's my knee in the foreground. Cara has gessoed her tabletop and has visitors add little drawings to it when they come through.

Just so you know folks, this is the kind of thing I have to put up with on the road. It's not all just fun and games.

The next evening I drove to Harvard Square in a DOWNPOUR for the last signing of the tour, at Million Year Picnic. Owner Tony Davis is one of the coolest dudes in comics, and it was fun hanging out in his kooky amazing shop while buckets fell down outside.

Then, to bed, for an early rise in the morning. I was heading back home, and it was about time.

NEXT: The Long Journey Home

WINTER 2011 TOUR DIARY Part Five

2012-01-09T12:28:00.002-06:00

After our trip down the Greenpoint Nature Trail, Julia, Gabrielle, and I wandered south a bit to look for the last wooden cobblestones in Brooklyn. This is what we saw along the way:

I liked this "Night Regulation" sign.

The East River

"Under the paving stones...

the beach."

Hey, wait a minute...

Down at the Ferry Launch was a colony of cats. There was a guy there feeding them and watching them, and he explained that they were TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release).

The cats take shelter in these boxes, lined with cedar oil-treated straw, which keeps fleas away.

Meow

I liked this art-door.

Wooden cobblestones.

Goodbye, New York!

NEXT: PROVIDENCE, BOSTON, ETC.

WINTER 2011 TOUR DIARY Part Four

2012-01-03T12:29:00.000-06:00

Monday morning I made plans to meet up with Gabrielle Bell and Tom K. for breakfast. I had another cup of coffee, my second since 2005, and this time I didn't get a headache! So look out world. After Tom took off for the airport, Gabrielle, Julia, and I made a trek out to the mysterious "Greenpoint Nature Trail," which turned out to be an artful cement pathway along the East River. Wow.

Inclined path at the entrance to the Trail, with peepholes.

"What the Butler Saw" (a view of the water treatment plant).

The path bends and heads down toward the river.

Turning basin, with junkyard.

Steps ominously leading down into the "water."

Nice garbage cans, though!

Unknown Industrial Facility.

By this point Julia and I had brought Gabrielle to tears with our untrammeled vulgarity.

"Do not eat any fish or eels..."

Where the sidewalk ends...

We took much delight in the persistence of this graffiti artist, who used every last shake of his can to add this classic cock and balls to the picnic table at path's end.

Shocked and humbled by the Greenpoint Nature Trail.

Underneath the entry ramp we found this idyll of green.

God bless us all, everyone...

NEXT: MORE BROOKLYN PICS

WINTER 2011 TOUR DIARY Part Three

2011-12-27T12:01:00.000-06:00

Woke up early for the show (Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival), and had my first cup of coffee since 2005. Delerium, including headaches and unstoppable visions of comic books, ensued.

The Teeming Masses congregate outside the Fest.

The view inside.

Dr. Jeckyll

(Photo by Phoebe Gloeckner)

Mr. Hyde

(Photo by Phoebe Gloeckner)

Spit and a Half table. (Photo by Phoebe)

The Brooklyn Fest was an amazing success. The only thing is it was so busy I had basically no time to ever leave my table. I managed to scramble out the last half-hour and see people briefly, but a lot of folks had already left or were sold out of stuff by then. And there were tons of artists that I didn't even know were there until I came home and read people's recaps online.

The day after the fest, my host Julia Wertz and I met up with Sarah Glidden and Zak Sally for a walk across the bridge into Manhattan.

Such is life in the Hundred Acre Wood.

Amused.

A stop at the Brooklyn Reliquary (Neon sign salesman's sampler case). (Photo by Sarah)

Breakfast at that place on Union. Not Shown: James McShane.

Sampling the "Gummi Fried Egg" from a junk food shop in Chinatown. I'm trying to decide whether to puke or ask for more. (Photo by Sarah.) It tasted like a combination of coconut and artificial buttery flavor.

Getting my head squished in Zuccotti Park. Occupy!

(Photo by Julia Wertz)

* * *

Scenes from the Brooklyn Bridge:

(Statue of Liberty)

Sarah, Zak, and Julia.

Anyhow, we walked about nine miles that Sunday. I drove Zak to the airport and came back to Julia's place to decorate the cat, which she enjoyed:

NEXT: GREENPOINT

(Cat photo by Julia Wertz)

WINTER 2011 TOUR DIARY Part Two

2011-12-23T13:08:00.002-06:00

I woke up early Monday morning and headed down to Columbus, where I have a couple good friends, and I always have a fine time. It was raining, one of those not-heavy but steady rains that lingers for days. After a brief wrong turn at Canton I found myself back in good old Columbus.

Columbus and I have a long history together, from attending SPACE there most every year, to the parties at the Laughing Ogre, to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library (where I first met Dylan Williams, paging through old White Boy newspaper pages wearing white cotton gloves), to Used Kids Records, and more. Columbus is always one of my favorite destinations.

Monday I ran errands, dropping off copies of the new King-Cat at Used Kids, Wholly Craft, and Laughing Ogre, and visiting (as usual) the Wexner Center Bookstore, the best museum bookstore I've ever been in. I picked up a nice artbook documenting the graffiti, posters, and artwork of the May '68 Paris uprising, plus a collection of the seminal Destroy All Monsters zine from the seventies. And later I found a copy of Amy and Jordan at Half Price Books. So a good book day.

Tuesday I had an appointment with Matt at the Wexner Center to show him some Spit and a Half stuff, which he happily picked up for the store. It never is less than a total thrill to me to get good comics into someone's hands.

Ginger Vitus, my Columbus housemate.

Wednesday morning I was back out on the road, making the short, three-hour trip to Pittsburgh. I was excited to have enough time to stop in Wheeling, WV on the way. I've always been in too much of a hurry to do so before, or coming through late at night. And Wheeling looks so run down and beautiful from the interstate.

County Courthouse in Zanesville, OH.

Before that, though, I impulsively got off the highway at Zanesville. The only thing I remember about Zaneville is driving through it when I was on the road with my band Smile, in 1991. And back then I was probably hungover. So I thought I'd go check it out.

Zaneville was run down and beautiful, and home to the masterful "Y-Bridge":

Photo of Zaneville Y-Bridge by Maurice J. Fox, from Wikipedia.

(Click to enlarge)

I headed back on down the road and was in Wheeling in no time. Wow, Wheeling was run down and beautiful, but mostly run down. It was kind of sad. I drove around for a bit, but didn't take any pictures.

Then I was in Pittsburgh, which is, apparently, my new home away from home. Having never been there before March of this year, this was my third visit since then. I love Pittsburgh. I travel around a lot and see a lot of nice places, but Pittsburgh is one of the few places I could actually see myself living in.

I headed over to Copacetic, one of the great American comic shops. Bill (the owner) and I shot the breeze for a long time as I wandered around looking at stuff. I picked up a copy of Onward Toward Our Noble Deaths, a manga I'd been eyeing for some time. The cartoonist (and my PGH host) Jim Rugg showed up and we went out to dinner, then back to his place to chatter endlessly about comics, Cleveland, the Situationists (a looming trend), Kirby (the artist, and the cat), and so on. Living in physical isolation from other cartoonists, it's so nice to be able to talk shop when out on the road.

Next morning we went to the Carnegie Art Museum and spent much of the day there. Afterwards, we stopped in at Phantom of the Attic, another great PGH comics shop, then headed back to Copacetic to meet Bill for dinner.

After dinner, Jim and I wandered around PGH a bit more, ending up at the Big Idea, one of the nicest infoshops I've ever been in. I dropped off a bunch of King-Cats and eyed their shelves. I picked up a copy of the new Crimethinc book, Work, and Ken Knabb's Situationist International Anthology. Then back home to blabber more about comics.

On the way back to Jim's, he took me on a detour up Mount Washington, to the best views of the city. No kidding. Pittsburgh shure is pretty.

From Mt. Washington, to the west.

Downtown Pittsburgh.

To the east.

And the next morning I was back on the road, heading to Brooklyn.

And when I got to Brooklyn, this is what I found:

NEXT: Brooklyn Part One

WINTER 2011 TOUR DIARY Part One

2011-12-22T13:30:00.000-06:00

So, Old Uncle John hit the road again the weekend after Thanksgiving. I had made plans to attend the acclaimed Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival on December 3rd, and then when I was in Pittsburgh a few months ago, I heard about this comic con in Cleveland, called Ghengis Con, and arranged to attend that one too.

Cleveland has always been a mystery to me. It's a big city, right? There must be zine-friendly shops/people, a comics scene, but in 20 years of zine-making I'd never been able to figure it out. At PIX in Pittsburgh I'd met Kevin Czap, and he clued me in a bit. So I figured Ghengis Con would be a good way to find out more about Cleveland and its comics world.

The show was held in the lovely Beachland Ballroom. It was small but fun show, lots of good people.

The Spit and a Half spread.

Afterwards I wandered around the corner to an empty parking lot to talk to Stephanie, and I found this van, completely wrapped in plastic. Whoa.

Stairway to Nowhere.

The next morning Kevin Czap and I wandered around out by Lake Erie.

Nice owl graffito at the lakefront.

Me too.

Spoken like a true American™.

After hanging out at the lake and discussing the Situationists, we went to a nice comic shop where I found some Gladstone Shock Suspenstories for half-cover, and then Mac's Backs, one of Cleveland's longstanding indie bookshops, where I picked up a nice looking book called What Was the Hipster? Lately I've been very interested in looking at the commodification of the underground, and this book looked like a thoughtful discussion of the phenomenon.

Finally, at the last minute, we ended up at the Cleveland Art Museum, a few minutes before closing. The guards did their best to dissuade us from entering, but we managed to sneak through long enough to see a nice Lee Krassner and a BEAUTIFUL pre-neo-plastic Mondrian called Chrysanthemum (1906).

Then more jabbering about comics and politics, and to bed. For in the morning Lovely Columbus awaited.

View from the Czap Citadel of Domination.

* * *

NEXT: Columbus, Pittsburgh

FALL TOUR DATES / NEW KING-CAT ETC

2011-11-24T09:53:00.002-06:00

Hey kids, the new King-Cat is available NOW! If you have a subscription, look for your copies to arrive soon. If you'd like to order a copy, info is below. Also, I'm heading out on tour tomorrow, the day after Thanksgiving. I'll be visiting the following cities, so come on out and say hello!

Sat. Nov. 26; 11-5 PM

CLEVELAND, OH

Genghis Con

Sat. Dec. 3; 12-9 PM

BROOKLYN, NY

Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival

Mon. Dec. 5; 7 PM

PROVIDENCE, RI

Ada Books

Slide show and booksigning

Tues. Dec. 6; 8 PM

WALTHAM, MA

Back Pages Books

Slide show and booksigning

Weds. Dec. 7; 6 PM

CAMBRIDGE, MA

Million Year Picnic

Slide show and booksigning

Sat. Dec. 10

MILWAUKEE, WI

Milwaukee Zine Fest

KING-CAT #72 - Available Now! Heartbreak, lonely skies, woodchucks, bats, cats, dreams, and radioactive squirrels; plus, more. 32 digest pages. To order an individual copy of #72, please send:

USA: $4 check/mo; $4.28 via paypal*
CANADA: $5 USD via paypal
EVERYWHERE ELSE: $6.50 USD via paypal

AND:

New hand-silkscreened poster of the full, uncropped image from the cover of King-Cat 67 (San Francisco Skyline), from La Mano 21 Press, printed by Dale Flattum. 2 colors on nice paper, 18" x 24" (45cm x 60cm), signed and numbered edition of 64. Prices include first-class shipping in a sturdy mailing tube:

USA: $50 check/MO; $53.50 via PayPal*
CANADA: $55.00 USD via PayPal
OTHER COUNTRIES: $59.00 USD via PayPal

PAYMENT INFO:
Paypal: kingcat_paypal AT hotmail DOT com

Check/mo:

John Porcellino
PO Box 142
South Beloit, IL
61080 USA

Thanks! John P.

*Illinois residents, please add additional 7.25% sales tax.

LOVE FOR SALE

2011-11-18T18:58:00.001-06:00

Hey kids, the new King-Cat is at the printers. It will be available next Wednesday. If you have a subscription, look for copies to mail out on Friday or so. If you'd like to order a copy, info is below:

KING-CAT #72 - Available Weds. Nov. 23, 2011: Heartbreak, lonely skies, woodchucks, bats, cats, dreams, and radioactive squirrels; plus, more. 32 digest pages. Subscription copies shipping next week, or PRE-ORDER NOW:

USA: $4 check/mo; $4.28 via paypal*
CANADA: $5 USD via paypal
EVERYWHERE ELSE: $6.50 USD via paypal

AND:

New hand-silkscreened poster of the full, uncropped image from the cover of King-Cat 67, from La Mano 21 Press, printed by Dale Flattum. 2 colors on nice paper, 18" x 24" (45cm x 60cm), signed and numbered edition of 64. Prices include first-class shipping in a sturdy mailing tube:

USA: $50 check/MO; $53.50 via PayPal*
CANADA: $55.00 USD via PayPal
OTHER COUNTRIES: $59.00 USD via PayPal

PAYMENT INFO:
Paypal: kingcat_paypal AT hotmail DOT com

Check/mo:

John Porcellino
PO Box 142
South Beloit, IL
61080 USA

Thanks! John P.

*Illinois residents, please add additional 7.25% sales tax.

OCTOBER 2011 TOUR DIARY, Part Five

2011-11-11T11:04:00.004-06:00

So there I was heading east through the darkness towards Pittsburgh: Quad Cities, Chicago. I got lost in NW Indiana and ended up in Michigan, where I almost hit a wayward deer. Then Toledo. I made it a little bit west of Cleveland before calling it a night. Woke up at dawn and drove into Pittsburgh a few hours later.

Dawn rises over the Cuyahoga.

I was in town for the Pittsburgh Indie Expo, held on the beautiful top floor of a renovated warehouse. I was excited to be back in PGH, because I've made a few pretty good friends there, and, in the days leading up to the show I was able to convince Dave Kiersh, one of my favorite artists, to make the trip out from Long Island. And it's always great to see him.

The show went well. There's a strong but steady creative vibe in Pittsburgh that I really like. It's like half east coast, half midwestern. Which is a pretty cool combo.

Spit and a Half table, PIX 2011

Dave Kiersh makes a new fan.

Views from the PIX space.

Inside.

What It Is, indeed.

Dave Kiersh makes another new fan.

M. Young and Mark of Kindlin' Quarterly zine. We went out and got Indian food Saturday night. (Photo by Hillary Rehm)

Obscuro stalwarts Max "White Buffalo Gazette" Traffic and Mike "Modernman" Hill. (Photo by Hillary Rehm)

Three generations of UG cartoonists: Max Traffic, Ed Piskor,

John P., Kevin Czap. (Photo by Hillary Rehm)

Jim Rugg's cat, Kirby, AKA: Trouble With a Capital T.

Then I drove home.

OCTOBER 2011 TOUR DIARY, Part Four

2011-11-09T12:09:00.000-06:00

I left St. Louis early on Tuesday, heading east across the border to Collinsville, IL, and the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.

Cahokia was an enormous indigenous city of the Mississippean Culture, a mound-building society, lasting roughly 600 - 1400 AD. Eighty of the original mounds are still present, ranging from short inclines, to "Monk's Mound," which covers over six acres, and rises to a height of 100 feet. All the mounds were built by hand, bucket of earth by bucket of earth. Check out the Wikipedia Page for more info. The mounds were a sight to see, and one could spend hours in the interpretive center learning about this remarkable prehistoric culture.

Monk's Mound from the east.

From the southeast.

Facing south from Monk's Mound, with a view of another, smaller mound across the road.

View of Downtown St. Louis, from the top of Monk's Mound.

Refineries of some sort, to the northwest.

Reproduction of Cahokian woodpecker artwork.

After Cahokia, I drove back into Missouri, heading north through Hannibal towards Iowa City. At the Iowa border, I decided to take a detour to Keokuk, another town I'd long gazed at on maps without ever visiting. It was a beautiful river town which had obviously seen better days. I was too sad to take pictures, and anyhow, I still had a couple hours till Iowa City.

View from my room at the Hotel Vetro, the nicest place I've ever slept.

James Sturm, Felix de la Concha, and John P. at a fancy dinner Tuesday night. Photo by Phoebe Gloeckner.

I was in town for the University of Iowa's "Comics, Creativity, and Culture Symposium," a four-day look at comics, featuring panels, presentations, workshops, and an amazing gallery show.

Sturm's hand, Felix, JP, conference organizers Corey Creekmur and Rachel Marie-Crane Williams, Jessica Abel; Photo by Phoebe G.

With Luis Humberto Crosthwaite; Photo by Phoebs.

Rachel Marie-Crane Williams opens the conference Wednesday morning.

"Comics and Pedagogy" panel, on which I learned how to pronounce the word "pedagogy." L-R: Jessica Abel, James Sturm, John P. Photo by Peggy Burns.

Da Bears; (Conference organizer Ana Merino adjusts her glasses.) Photo by Phoebe Gloeckner.

Friday night, just before I had to leave for Pittsburgh, I got to meet two of my biggest comics inspirations for the first time: Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez. Yes, I gushed. (Photo by Peggy Burns)

I left Iowa City at 5 PM Friday and started driving east. I had to be in Pittsburgh (667 miles away) by 10 AM. I made it.

NEXT: Pittsburgh

OCTOBER 2011 TOUR DIARY, Part Three

2011-11-01T10:18:00.001-05:00

I headed north on the Great River Road towards Chester. To the east were beautiful wooded bluffs, to the west the vast floodplain of the Mississippi. Gradually, the truck traffic got worse, and then I was in Chester, Illinois-- the birthplace of E.C. Segar, creator of Popeye. At the first stoplight coming into town, I looked straight at the Popeye-themed City Park and the Popeye Museum. I parked the car, grabbed my camera, and got out.

Popeye mural on the wall of the Museum.

Wimpy statue in the city park. There are statues of Popeye characters going up all over town.

From a memorial dedicated to those Chester residents lost in battle. Are these Civil War soldiers the origin of "Jones. One of the Jones boys"?

Popeye Museum.

Mural on the back of the Museum.

Concrete porch supports behind the Museum.

Olive, Swee' Pea, and Jeep; across from the courthouse.

Looking down to the river, from behind the courthouse.

Ghetto Palm.

Segar's birthplace.

Bluto statue downtown.

And the man himself, looking out over the river bridge to Missouri, at the Chester Welcome Center.

The only bridge crossing for 100 miles; Chester, IL.

Looking for the Popeye Statue, I saw the signpost pointing across the bridge to Kaskaskia, Illinois, the only portion of the state that lies west of the Mississippi. Whoa! I'd wanted to see it for years, so I headed across. (The only way to get to the island is by driving into Missouri, and looping around to come in from the west.)

Crossing the channel into Kaskaskia.

Kaskaskia Island is a flat, flood-prone region devoted exculsively to agriculture. It was formed when an 1881 flood rechanneled the river, leaving Kaskaskia on its western bank. Once a thriving French colonial settlement (with a peak of 7000 people), the 2010 population was 14.

Kaskaskia Island, looking out toward the bluffs on the eastern bank of the river.

Church of the Immaculate Conception (1843).

"Liberty Bell" Shrine. During the flood of 1993, this building was completely underwater.

This bell was a gift of France's Louis XV to his important colonial outpost in 1741. Falling into British hands following the Seven Years War, the city was liberated during the American Revolution on July 4, 1778, and the bell was rung in celebration. Since then, it has been known as the "Liberty Bell."

Afterwards I headed back up towards St. Louis, through the French colonial town of St. Genevieve. I had a signing that night at Subterranean Books in St. Louis' "Loop," with the great cartoonist Tim Lane. It went well, and afterwards Tim and his wife taught me how to play darts, which I won handily in a case of beginner's luck. We went back to their place for beddy-bye, where I met their two beautiful mutts:

Sage

and Brando.

We stayed up too late talking about life, comics, publishing, politics, history, etc and I made a vow to come back down soon so he could show me* around his favorite St. Louis neighborhoods.

I got up the next morning and said my goodbyes, heading across the river again to visit Cahokia Mounds, a mysterious, prehistoric Indian civilization that was at one point the largest city in North America.

NEXT TIME: Cahokia Mounds, Iowa City, Pittsburgh

*Haha, I said "Show Me."

Buy the beautiful Popeye collections from Fantagraphics!

Read about Kaskaskia's demographics at Wikipedia.

OCTOBER 2011 TOUR DIARY, Part Two

2011-10-25T10:26:00.001-05:00

I awoke Monday morning at dawn, in the cold Wal-Mart parking lot. I immediately headed back to the state park-- it was going to be a busy day. I had to be in St. Louis for a signing that evening, but I wanted to visit the park again, AND see Chester on my way up, too. Maybe even Cahokia, if I could fit it in...

"Saw the moon rise over the parking lot,

but it was only a Burger King® sign."

Mr. Narrator

At the entrance to the Giant City Nature Trail.

Stone steps put in place by Civilian Conservation Corps workers in the 30's.

Giant City State Park gets its name from the unusual rock formations along this trail. Gigantic sandstone blocks here have mysteriously drifted apart into gridlike patterns, forming narrow, perfect little "streets."

Balanced Rock on the path.

Underneath the balanced rock.

Looking up from within one of the crevices.

"The Giant City"

As I came across this crevice, I heard a distinct snoring coming from within. I stood there transfixed, in front of the hole, listening for like 5 minutes to some animal sawing wood. From the sound it was a pretty sizable mammal (the crack was about a foot wide at the base). I asked the rangers afterwards what they thought it was and they unanimously agreed it was most likely a bobcat, as those animals are frequently spotted along the base of these cliffs. Pretty cool.

Heading out of the park towards Highway 51, you drive through the tiny town of Makanda, Illinois. This town is famous for two things: Paul Simon, Illinois' beloved bow-tied liberal Senator, was from Makanda. AND when I was a young whippersnapper, just discovering what comics could be, my friends and I would drive out a few times a year into Chicago, to the little comic convention held at the Congress Hotel on Michigan Avenue. It was your typical mid-80's comic-con, mostly dealer tables selling back issues, but there was always this one guy there with a selection of the most obscure, radical, bewildering comics available... Lynda Barry, Gary Panter, the original RAWs, minicomix, bizarro art publications, etc. I'd always make a beeline right to his stuff. That guy was from Makanda, too.

Downtown Makanda

Uptown Makanda

I often think of that dude, selling his weirdo comix at the superhero con, and it inspires me in my work with Spit and a Half. If I could be "that guy" to some young cartoonist, that's something to aspire to.

Anyhow, I drove west out of Carbondale, headed for the River Road, and Chester, Illinois-- the birthplace of Elzie Segar, Popeye's dad.

NEXT TIME: Chester, IL and St. Louis

For more on Giant City State Park, please click here.

OCTOBER 2011 TOUR DIARY, Part One

2011-10-21T12:29:00.004-05:00

Yeah, so the last day of September I headed out on a 10 day (or so) tour, down to Nashville, then up to Iowa City via St. Louis, across to Pittsburgh, and back home. The tour stops consisted of shows, a signing, and a comics conference, so it was a pretty varied trip. I was also excited about it because I was hoping to cross a bunch of items off my lifetime to-do list: Visit Carbondale, IL and Giant City State Park; Chester, IL-- birthpace of E.C. Segar, the creator of Popeye; and Kaskaskia, IL-- the only portion of the state that lies west of the Mississippi River.

I left home in the afternoon and powered by Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi®, made it most of the way to Nashville, sleeping in a truck stop parking lot somewhere outside of town. I awoke at dawn and made my way into the city. When I rounded the bend on 24 and the skyscrapers came into view, I actually said to myself "Nashville Skyline." But I bet it looked a lot different when Dylan saw it.

First stop was the Handmade and Bound Festival at Watkins College of Art, Design, and Film. I wasn't sure what to expect, but part of the fun is bringing comics to people who may not be expecting them. The Festival was a melange of zinesters, handmade book artists, poets, craftspeople, and me. It was great. Everyone was super nice, and people were very happy to see all the comics I'd brought along. The day went by quickly, and I headed out into the Nashville twilight feeling good.

Spit and a Half table, Nashville.

I thought I'd head downtown to see if the Ernest Tubb Record Shop was open, and just to check out the city. The only other time I'd been in Nashville was on a rainy Sunday afternoon, and this was a beautiful Saturday night, so I had high hopes.

Whoa, though, Broadway was crawling with tourists. There was no way I'd find a cheap place to park, so I headed back out on the interstate to find the BBQ place that was voted best in town. (I saw the billboard on the way in.) After some doing I managed to find it -- Jack's BBQ-- and treated myself to a hot, spicy meal. Afterwards I decided to hit the road. I slept in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Clarksville, and headed back out at dawn the next day.

I'd been wanting to visit Carbondale ever since High School, when my friends Fred and Mark and I tried to make it down there for spring break (with hilarious results-- look for a comic about that story soon). Well, by late morning, there I was, in the home of the Salukis. I drove around the town a bit, listening to sports radio for NFL updates (Bears Win!), found a nice health food store and stocked up, and then wound my way back out to Giant City Road.

Shortly after entering the State Park, I found this idyllic pond and prairie, with a well-mowed path through it, and thought it would be a nice place to start.

I walked the path, looking at weird plants and listening to weird birds, when, from up in the trees, I heard someone mutter "Really?!?!" I kept walking. "Hey!" It was some camo dude in a tree-stand with a bow and arrow. "You know it's the middle of deer season, right?" I said, "Nope" (which was true) and kept walking. Fifty feet down the road he came running up to me, all flustered. "You've ruined everything! You can't just go walking through here! This is hunting grounds! Didn't you see the sign at the parking lot!?!" I told him that the only sign at the parking lot said the area was for day-use only, with no overnight camping. There was nothing about hunting grounds. He got more and more agitated. "I have to do all kinds of stuff to cover my scent! I use special shampoo!" I told him to spare me, I knew all about it. He told me I was breaking law, that in the State of Illinois it was illegal, that I was "interrupting the hunt." I shrugged and decided to get out of there.

"Hunting Grounds"™

A few miles down the road I came across another lot in the woods, this one clearly marked as a trailhead. A short hike down the path I got what I came for... Ever since I was a kid, I've been looking at pictures of the crazy cliffs and rock formations of Southern Illinois. And here I was, on the edge of a sheer, 50-foot cliff, looking down onto wild boulders and enormous trees reaching for the sky. At last!

Balanced Rocks overlooking the cliff.

The pictures don't do justice to the dizzying heights shown.

I met some other hikers who congratulated me on the Bears win, and mentioned they had started their walk at the bottom of the cliff, but couldn't find their way down. Some rock climbers showed us a gnarly half-path down the slope, and we all followed it onto a paved park road. The hikers headed to their car, and I took another path into the woods to follow the cliff's base.

Underneath a massive overhang at the foot of the cliff, blackened by centuries of soot.

"A path is made by walking on it."

Anyhow, I wandered through the woods, coming to dead end after dead end, looking for the path up to the top of the cliff that the other hikers had told me about. No luck. And it was getting dark. I found myself back at the paved road, and reckoned that if I followed it around, it would eventually link up to my parking lot. But I walked through the growing darkness for what seemed like forever, with only raccoons as companions. Not only was it getting dark, but cold. After finding the official "Giant City Nature Trail," which I made a note of to come visit the next morning, I relented, and decided to try to backtrack up the half-path I took down the cliff. My main worry was finding the right trail in the dark.

Uh oh!

I did manage to find the path, and confirmed it was the correct one with remembered landmarks. Scrambling up the slope, I found the trail at the top of the rise, and headed back towards the car.

A view over one of the cliff-edges in the dark. Yikes.

Lo and behold, I came to the parking lot at last, and headed back towards Carbondale, where I had Chinese food for dinner, and, peering through darkened windows in empty strip malls, I scouted out the two comics shops in town. At Wal-Mart I brushed my teeth and made myself cozy in the corner of the lot.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

NEXT: Giant City Part Two

OCCUPY YOUR LIFE

2011-10-18T14:41:00.002-05:00

I'm writing this to stand in support of the various "Occupy" groups now acting around the world in defiance of the socio-economic status quo.

People have been complaining that this movement features no specific list of demands. I want to point out that it's difficult and probably unnecessary to have specific demands when the system you are standing in opposition to is in every facet corrupt. I, for example, am not opposed to just one particular aspect of this system, say the military-industrial complex, the shipping of American jobs overseas, the coddling of corporate criminals, the erosion and downright robbery of voting rights, the buying out of both parties by multi-national business interests, the systematic dismantling of our educational systems, or the war against collective bargaining. To name just a few. It's becoming apparent to all of us that these individual crimes against society are not coincidences, but that they are part of a worldwide effort by the wealthiest among us to maintain power at all costs.

The local grocery store near me was suddenly sold last month, to another chain. The employees had one day notice of their fate. Some of the workers were able to keep their jobs, with lower wages. But I spoke to one young woman cashier there who told me she was losing her job. She was 18 years old, and had been working at the store since she was 16. In fact it was the only job she'd ever held. She told me how much she enjoyed her job, and how much she loved her co-workers. They were like family to her, she said, with tears forming in her eyes. But the new owners had a policy that all cashiers must be 21 years of age. So this woman, who had devoted her short, but entire, working life to the company, was to be out of work suddenly within a few hours.

This is just a tiny example of one person fucked over by corporate America. But what is clear with the Occupy movement is that corporate culture has finally fucked over one person too many. The Golden Goose has been killed. And it's been reborn, with eyes open.

A FEW THINGS I LEARNED FROM DRAWING ONE PAGE OF TATSUMI

2011-09-20T10:21:00.000-05:00

I recently drew page 181 from Yoshihiro Tatsumi's The Push Man and Other Stories. I know a lot of cartoonists grow up doing this sort of thing, but I never really have, until recently. It's kind of amazing the details and insights you can pick up from the practice.

Here's my version of the page:

And the original:

Things I learned:

-- At first glance, the page appears to be split into two equal panels, but actually the top panel is a few millimeters taller than the bottom, and the margin between them is drawn at a slightly sloping angle.

-- Look at all that "Tatsumi Crackle" in panel one! (The round, ambiguous white shapes that serve only to modify the composition/relate visually to the expressionistic depiction of the moon/sun.)

-- Of course the telephone pole is leaning (as almost all of them do in real life), but this is something that only an astute observer would remember to draw.

-- Sometimes one point perspective is a very nice thing (panel two). Compare this tighter, more realistic perspective to the wild perspective of panel one, where the buildings are claustrophobically falling in on the street.

-- Love the way the handlebars of the scooter are tilted to the side. (Of course I forgot to draw them this way...)

-- Haha-- that first guy from the left in panel one-- I barely had to alter things to draw him in my own style!

DYLAN

2011-09-12T11:51:00.007-05:00

John P., Dylan Williams, and Tom Neely at TCAF, May 2011. (Photo by Julia Wertz)

I like this picture of Dylan because he's hiding, but if you look close, you can still see that happy glimmer in his eye.

* * *

In the fog of my memory, I believe I met Dylan Williams for the first time at a café in Columbus, Ohio, after the original SPACE convention, in 2000. The thing that struck me immediately upon meeting him, was that we could talk at length about both Metallica and Frank Sinatra. Dylan was one of those people who I instantly fell in love with. I'm a pretty retiring person, especially around people I don't know well, but sometimes I meet someone and there is an instant camaraderie, an instant kinship and comfort level, and such was the case with Dylan. Right off the bat we could joke around, kid each other, and be ourselves in each other's presence.

As is common in the comics world, I saw Dylan irregularly, at comics shows around the country, but each time we met it was like we had never left each others' sight. Perhaps that's how it was for many of Dylan's friends. He was one of the most genuine people I've ever met. It was a joy to talk to him, to just be around him.

Dylan became one of my go-to guys when I needed to talk serious about comics, not just the art of it, but the business of it. Dylan was an entrepreneur, he was straight up about it, but he came from a place where that didn't mean you had a license to fuck people over. Dylan always tried to do the right thing, and he wasn't shy about saying out loud what he thought the right thing was. Still, he never put someone else down for having different beliefs or approaches. He knew what was right for him, and he stuck with it.

Dylan was sick on and off for a long time, but I never heard him complain about it. Having been through my own serious illnesses, we could talk openly about this aspect of life. Let me say, Dylan was an aware person. He had his priorities in line, and he had an openhearted approach to this human existence.

The last time I talked to Dylan, about a week before his passing, he talked about how optimistic he was about the future, about the comics he wanted to put out, how he wished he could be at SF Zine Fest that weekend. And he asked about my health, how I was doing, if I'd been feeling well lately. He asked me this from his hospital bed.

We probably will never know the full impact Dylan had on the world, because he did a lot things for people, for all of us, that he never accepted credit for. He was a real role model. There is no one that I have more admiration for than Dylan Williams. Thanks, man... I truly love you.

* * *

PS: Portland's Floating World Comics is organizing an online auction raising funds to help offset the medical costs of Dylan's illness. So far they've raised over $3000! Please help if you can. My contribution is shown below. For information, or to bid on this piece, please click this link to go to the Divine Invasion site, and then click through that image to go directly to the eBay page.

Double-click to enlarge.

View the other contributions here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY REPRODUKT!

2011-08-30T00:00:00.004-05:00

The great German comics publisher Reprodukt is celebrating its 20th anniversary with an exhibition in Berlin. They were the first group to agree to publish my work in book form (although B.ü.L.b. in Geneva managed to get their collection out a tad bit earlier...).

For the Reprodukt exhibition I drew this comic:

(Click twice to enlarge!)

And Jutta from Reprodukt just sent me this cool "homage" drawing by the great Ulf K. Wow!

For more cartoonist contributions, please visit the Reprodukt blog.

THINGS I LEARNED FROM DRAWING ONE PAGE OF THE FANTASTIC FOUR

2011-08-23T10:44:00.002-05:00

I recently sat down and drew page 11 from Fantastic Four #49 ("If This Be Doomsday," April 1966; written by Stan Lee, drawn by Jack Kirby). This is the page where Alicia Masters shows the Silver Surfer what Beauty is. If you haven't read these classic issues of the Fantastic Four, I encourage you to do so! Especially this series, "The Galactus Trilogy," which ran from issues 48-50. (And you might as well keep reading through issue 51 as well, "This Man, This Monster," which many critics consider the greatest superhero story of all time.)

Anyhow, as I was drawing this page, my mind was flooded with observations, thoughts and questions, which I reckoned I would share with you here today. For reference, here's my version of the page:

(Click twice to enlarge.)

COMMENTS, THOUGHTS, AND LESSONS I LEARNED UPON DRAWING PAGE 11 OF FANTASTIC FOUR #49:

• So many words!

• At first glance, the page seems to be divided into a standard six-panel grid (with the bottom tier broken into 3 smaller panels), but actually each tier is of independent size. The top row panels are slightly taller than they are wide, and taller than any of the other panels on the page. Row 2 is more square-shaped than Row 1 (ie shorter), and Row 3 is even shorter still. The Row 3 panels are divided into a vertically symmetrical pattern, with the two outside panels being slightly wider than the middle one.

• Silver Surfer uses the word "word" four times in seven panels.

• How many pages like this did Kirby crank out in a day? Because I was exhausted after drawing just this one.

• In panel two, the ellipses after "sculptures" contains only two dots; in panel six they save room by adding the exclamation mark onto the final dot in the ellipses. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I've used this trick in my own comics before! Also, every line of dialogue on the page ends in an exclamation mark or a question mark. Commas are used sparingly-- most of the text comes in short, staccato bursts.

• The Silver Surfer goes from Unquestioningly Destroying the Earth to Understanding Beauty in three short panels. Maybe this is one reason why each one of these classic old comics issues provides the reader with such a fulfilling experience. They are jam-packed.

Silver Surfer and Alicia Masters © Marvel Comics Group, Inc.

"TOP TEN COMICS" LIST

2011-08-16T11:15:00.003-05:00

Recently the comics website Hooded Utilitarian invited me to contribute a list of Ten Comics for a wide-ranging poll. The results can be found here. The actual query was:

“What are the ten comics works you consider your favorites, the best, or the most significant?”

A tough question. I didn't even try to list what I thought were the Best, because I think that's impossible, so my list ended up being a weird combination of all three. Like many people polled, I stress that this list came basically off the top of my head, and would likely have been different at any other time. Also: ten is too restrictive of a number. Anyhow, I tried not to think about it too hard.

You can see my list here. Some people added comments, and since I didn't at the time, I thought I would do so now. My list is in no particular order.

Eightball #22 ("Ice Haven"), Daniel Clowes

I can't really attest to what I think are the "Ten Best Comics" because there are so many highly touted comics I've never sat down with. But I can say that Eightball #22 is the best comic book I've ever read.

Gasoline Alley, Frank King

This is the most fascinating of the classic newspaper comics to me, because of the attention to detail, the little quirks and ephemera of life, that King has recorded in his strip. (I can sit and stare for hours at a page, just digesting-- "...so that's what telephone stands looked like in the 20's...") ... And for the fact that it presages so much of what we find in contemporary art comics-- quiet, somewhat deadpan observation; subtlety of characterization; the emphasis on the rhythms of day-to-day life. Plus lots of excitement and adventure. Charming, warm, and funny.

Strange Growths, Jenny Zervakis

Jenny's scratchy, poetic observational stories about family life, nature, and people on the bus, are some of the most groundbreaking comics ever published that most readers have never seen.

Krazy Kat, George Herriman

Another comic that probably could be construed as "Best" in many ways, the thing that turns me on about Krazy Kat is the artist's unflinching, career-long approach to creating beauty, suspense, humor, absurdity, and tenderness out of the most basic of narrative materials-- a stage, a love triangle. Pure delight.

OMAC: One Man Army Corps, Jack Kirby, with Mike Royer

Whether you like it or not, Jack Kirby is one of the most important artists of the 20th Century. OMAC is "Kirby Unleashed," a frenetic, absurd, confusing world of monumental ideas-- good, evil, justice, corruption, redemption. Like many of Kirby's later works, OMAC was unceremoniously and abruptly cancelled mid-story, but in the case of OMAC, even the final, pasted-in panel works to drive home the sheer bewilderment at hand.

Ernie Pook’s Comeek, Lynda Barry

Personally, the one strip that, as a teenager, forced me to reassess comics as an artform. The rollicking freedom of her early work is unmatched, and when she began mining deeper, more literary ground, she did so in a way that felt utterly natural and real.

The Monster Stories, Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

First published at the nadir of the comic-book industry (the late 1950's) in titles like Tales to Astonish and Journey Into Mystery, these demented, beautiful, throw-away stories are my favorite comics of all time. Purely outlandish, intriguingly repetitive escapism, the Monster Comics featured tales of giant robots, walking trees, huge anthropomorphic hills, intergalactic babies, you name it. The maniacal delight of taking any preposterous idea and turning it into a 13 page story is evident, and infectious.

Dirty Plotte, Julie Doucet

Julie's work was a bombshell dropping on the comics scene. Highly, crazily, personal, they combined the uncompromised confessionalism of the undergrounds with a luscious, cartoony loopiness that comic books had rarely seen before. In other words, she created a new direction for "alt-comics," one that is still being explored to this day.

Caricature: Nine Stories, Daniel Clowes

When the stories collected in this book were first coming out, issue after issue, in Clowes' Eightball, you could feel the boundaries of what comics could do expanding with each new arrival.

Extraits naturels de carnet, Laurent Lolmède

Even though I barely speak French, these are comics that I return to again and again. Lolmède is that pure, ugly, inky, grotesque type of cartoonist that makes depicting the world in blotty, gorgeous lines look easy. Looking at his work makes me want to draw comics.

* * *

COMICS THAT I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T INCLUDE ON THIS LIST: Life in Hell, Matt Groening; Dave Kiersh's Teen Angst stories; Love and Rockets, Los Bros Hernandez; ACME Novelty Library, Chris Ware; Hercules Among the North Americans, Mark Marek; Jeff Zenick's zines; Cecil and Jordan in New York, Gabrielle Bell; "Wild Kingdom," Kevin Huizenga; ask me again next week.

SUMMER 2011 TOUR DATES

2011-08-04T10:24:00.013-05:00

Yes, this old man can't help it. The Traveling Used Paper Salesman is going back out on the road again. Here are the dates. Come on out if you can! And thanks, everyone... Look for more dates in the fall, too!

- - -

Saturday August 13
ROSEMONT, IL

Wizard World Chicago

Yes, I'll be at this super-gigantic-comic-convention for one day only. BUT I have serious doubts as to whether my ears will be able to handle the noise, so don't go there just to see me... I might have to bail after 15 minutes, you never know.

JUST ADDED:
Tuesday August 30; 7 PM
CHICAGO IL
(Lula Café)
Anders Nilsen's BIG QUESTIONS Chicago Release Party!

I'll be on hand performing lite rock favorites for your listening and dancing pleasure. Plus maybe Zak Sally and other special guests.

DATE HAS CHANGED:
Friday September 9; 4:30 - 7 PM
CHICAGO, IL

CartoonInk! Emerging Comics in Context
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Sullivan Galleries

I have work in this exhibit, . The show itself runs through October 16, with a closing reception 10/14. PLEASE NOTE: I've decided to skip the opening, but WILL be present at the closing reception. See you there!

Saturday September 10
CHICAGO, IL

Lakeview Arts Festival

I'll be tabling at the Chicago Zine Fest booth, along with other local zine publishers, on Saturday 9/10 from 12-6 PM, so come on down! The fest runs through Sunday, but I'll only be there Saturday.

Saturday September 24
MINNEAPOLIS, MN

Twin Cities Zinefest

Friday Sept. 30 - Sat. Oct 1
NASHVILLE, TN
Handmade and Bound Festival

JUST ADDED:
Monday October 3; 7 PM
ST. LOUIS, MO
Subterranean Books

Slideshow and signing with the great Tim Lane!

JUST ADDED:
October 4-6
IOWA CITY, IA
Comics, Creativity and Culture:
Interdisciplinary and International Perspectives

With Phoebe Gloeckner, Jessica Abel, The Hernandez Brothers, James Sturm, and Joe Sacco, plus a host of comics scholars and educators!

Saturday Oct. 8 - Sunday Oct. 9

PITTSBURGH, PA

Pittsburgh Indie Expo

JULY WEED AND WILDFLOWER INVENTORY, Part Two

2011-07-31T13:16:00.004-05:00

Beckman Mill Pond, Beloit, WI

* * *

Ha, so you thought one overlong blogpost of flower pictures was too much? GUESS AGAIN!

Flowering Spurge (Euphorbia corollata)

Question Mark butterfly (Polygonia interrogationis)

Queen Anne's Lace, about to blossom

Question Mark butterfly drinking along the shore of the Rock River.

Wild Petunia (Ruellia humilis)

Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)

Unidentified spider on Leadplant (Amorpha canescens)

False Sunflower? (Heliopsis helianthoides)

Wild Garlic?

[Nope! It's Ohio Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis)]

Gray-headed Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata)

Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

Honeybee havin' a good time on a Sunflower (Helianthus annuus).

Whoa. Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)

Unknown Sage-like plant.

[Ohio Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis)]

I said I would learn my thistles, but I have yet to do it.

The rare white-flowered Chicory (Cichorium intybus).

The even rarer pink Chicory!

Colored Sands Prairie, Durand, IL

On a sand bluff, overlooking the Sugar River, Illinois.

Meadow Salsify (Tragopogon pratensis)

Flowering Spurge (Euphorbia corollata)

Unidentified species with spider.

Leadplant (Amorpha canescens)

Unidentified species.

[Cleland's Evening Primrose (Oenothera clelandii)]

Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata)

See above regarding thistles, but this one's a beauty, eh?

[Spotted Knapweed (Centaurea maculosa)]

Hoary Vervain (Verbena stricta)

Pale Indian Plantain (Arnoglossum atriplicifolium)

Turns out this is a very rare species! And it was just standing there a few feet from the parking lot!

Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium)

White Wild Indigo (Baptista alba)

Baptista alba leaves.

Good night everybody...

"Sometimes I sits and thinks... and sometimes I just sits."

* * *

All photos by Stephanie Dorman, taken at Big Hill Park, Beloit, WI; Beckman Mill County Park, Beloit, WI; Macktown Forest Preserve, Rockton, IL; Colored Sands Forest Preserve, Durand, IL; Sugar River Alder Forest Preserve, Shirland, IL; or Harper's Prairie, Beloit, WI.

JULY WEED AND WILDFLOWER INVENTORY

2011-07-29T10:35:00.001-05:00

Summer is in full force, and the dog days are right around the corner, if they're not here already. And I've been slowly adjusting to my surroundings here in the "Stateline Area." It helps to have a lot of nature close at hand, and a girlfriend who likes taking pictures of weeds! Look for my full-scale Rapport de Beloit coming in a week or so, but in the meantime, here's my July Weed and Wildflower Inventory:

Stateline Restoration Prairie.

Purple Field Clover (Dalea purpurea)

Prairie Fleabane (Erigeron strigosus)

Queen Anne's Lace AKA Wild Carrot (Daucus carota), with unidentified wasp.

Black Raspberry (Rubus occidentalis)

Common Pepperweed (Lepidium densiflorum)

Nerd Alert!

Mystery Cricket.

Hoary Vervain (Verbena stricta)

Eastern Daisy Fleabane (Erigeron annuus)

Ox-Eye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare)

(???)

Unidentified Weird Ass Weed

Bird's-Foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculata)

Shriveling flowers of the Spotted St. John's Wort (Hypericum punctatum).

Four O-Clock (Mirabilis nyctaginea)

Common Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis)

(???) (Again.)

"Identifying weeds and wildflowers is FUN!"

* * *

All photos taken by Stephanie Dorman at Stateline Restoration Prairie, Beloit, WI/South Beloit, IL, or Unnamed South Beloit City Park, South Beloit, IL.

Part Two (I know, I know-- more plants!) is coming this weekend.

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

2011-07-15T10:30:00.002-05:00

This new comic of mine was recently published in Ecotone Journal. For the next week or so it'll be available online too. Read the rest of it here!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

2011-07-04T00:00:00.003-05:00

JUNE WEED AND WILDFLOWER INVENTORY

2011-06-27T12:47:00.004-05:00

Stateline Restoration Prairie - Beloit, Wis.

* * *

On Saturday Stephanie and I went out to the Beloit Farmer's Market, where we bought a lovely felt stitching of a crow (magpie???) named Hector from this lady:

On the way to the Post Office I nerded out over these Milkweed plants behind the shops on State Street.

Plus: Hollyhocks.

Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

Gooseneck Loosestrife (Lysimachia clethroides)

Anyhow, summer's finally here, and I've been spending some time out in the Stateline Restoration Prairie, just across the border in Beloit, Wisconsin. After the Farmer's Market, Stephanie and I went out and did a quick weed and wildflower inventory, and here are the results:

Chicory (Cichorium intybus)

Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

Unknown Thistle. My goal this summer is to learn to ID the myriad varieties of thistle.

[Musk Thistle (Bud) -- (Carduus nutans)]

???

[Musk Thistle]

White Sweet Clover that's taller than I am!

(Melilotus alba)

To the east of the prairie is an abandoned old bridge crossing Turtle Creek, that connects Illinois and Wisconsin.

Here I am walking to Illinois.

Home at last!

Spider web over Turtle Creek.

Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)

Pale Purple Coneflower (Echinacea pallida)

Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Unknown fern-like device.

[Illinois Bundleflower -- (Desmanthus illinoensis)]

Pale Purple Coneflower (Echinacea pallida)

Butterfly Milkweed (w/ buds)

Don't know.

[Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpurea)]

White Campion (Silene latifolia)

Hmmm...

[Purple Prairie Clover]

I already told you, I don't know!

[Musk Thistle]

More White Campion.

White Prairie Clover (Dalea candida)

Somebody help me out here.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

Narrowleaf Plaintain (Plantago lanceolata)

Beloit alleyway.

(All photos by Stephanie Dorman)

FILLER®

2011-06-23T15:59:00.000-05:00

Recorded Saturday June 11, 2011 - Chicago, Illinois.

COMICS & MEDICINE

2011-06-13T09:47:00.003-05:00

Last weekend I was honored to participate in the 2nd Annual COMICS & MEDICINE Conference, held this year in my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. It was an amazing weekend. I met lots of great people, many for the first time, and was able to talk a bit about both my own health experiences, and the new book The Next Day. Fun Fotos Follow:

Let's all learn about comics!

The conference was held at the Northwestern University School of Law off Michigan Avenue. Wow, the storied halls of academia!!!

My table.

Crowds swarm the Quimby's booth.

Where's all the video games at?

Quimby's table, L-R: Liz, Adam, Sarah, and Another Satisfied Customer™.

Friday evening there was a nice reception with free booze and teriyaki sticks. Everyone had a good time. (Above: Liz, Hillary Chute, and conference organizer, GP, and cartoonist Ian Williams.)

Conference organizer (and nurse) MK Czerwiec.

(Photo courtesy Phoebe Gloeckner)

Scott McCloud and Phoebe Gloeckner.

(Photo courtesy Phoebe Gloeckner)

Phoebe documenting Liz's arm.

John P. looking teriyaki'd out.

(Photo courtesy Phoebe Gloeckner)

JP and PG.

Scott, Phoebe, and Hillary begin some sort of "Hand Jive"/"Sharks vs Jets" thing that I couldn't figure out.

Sneer contest? I have no idea.

Paul Gravett and Scott McCloud Understand Comics together.

Plaid Squad: Ian, Phoebe, John P., Chris Lanier, McCloud.

(Photo courtesy Phoebe Gloeckner)

After rocking the Wyndham Hotel's giant Dom Perignon (?) I returned to Liz's for a good night's rest on her couch. Above: Oshinko the Cat.

Meow.

Lake Shore Drive, day two of the conference.

Comics & Medicine art display.

A page from The Next Day.

The conference closed with an amazing lecture by the great Scott McCloud. If you ever get a chance to see him speak, jump on it!

Things wrapped up with a booksigning at Quimby's. That's Brian Fies (Conference organizer and Mom's Cancer author) leaning over the table, and David Small (Stitches) in the lower right-hand corner.

* * *

JUNE EVENTS

2011-06-08T18:20:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone, I have a few events coming up this month that I thought I'd share with ya. If you're in Chicago or ~~St. Louis~~, come on down! Thanks!

I'll be participating in this two-day conference (June 10-11) alongside such luminaries are Scott McCloud, Phoebe Gloeckner, Paul Gravett and many more! Whoa! Mostly I'll be talking about The Next Day book, but also my own health experiences, both physical and mental, and working with them as an artist.

Saturday night, June 11, at 6:30 PM there'll be a closing reception and booksigning at Quimby's, which is open to the public.

Plenty of info here.

Eventbrite reservation info.

Then the next Wednesday, June 15th, I'll be in St. Louis for a slideshow and booksigning with one of my favorite cartoonists, Tim Lane!

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED

~~Slideshow, Q+A, and signing with~~

~~Tim Lane and John Porcellino~~

~~Weds. June 15, 2011; 7 PM~~

Subterranean Books

6275 Delmar Blvd.

St. Louis, MO 63130

ph. (314) 862-6100

http://www.subbooks.com/

Click here for the Facebook event listing.

MAY 2011 TOUR DIARY, Pt. Five: Walden and Home Again

2011-05-27T14:32:00.001-05:00

* * *

I left Montréal Tuesday morning at 5 AM, so I could make it to my next signing, at the Thoreau Society in Concord, outside Boston, that afternoon. It was a rainy, grey day.

Montpelier, Vermont in the early hours.

Vermont State Capitol.

I finally made it it to Concord, in a pounding rain. Here's my set up. If you could see out the window behind the screen you could almost make out the eastern shore of Walden Pond.

Photo by Fred J. Robertson.

The turnout was small but enthusiastic. Just be be there was an incredible honor to me.

I stayed that night at the studio of artist/teacher Cara Bean. Above: Looking down on Moody Street, WalTHAM, Massachusetts.

An illustrated box by Ms. Bean.

The next day I had a lecture on Thoreau to give at a Lynn, Mass. High School. Here is the large (200+ people?) crowd filing in.

Luckily, only a few of the students taunted me during the lecture!

Hooray.

Afterwards, I stopped by the Science Lab, where I met these adorable Blandings Turtles (one of Thoreau's favorite animals...).

(For more on my visit to Lynn Classical HS, click here!)

Bay outside Swampscott, cloudy day.

The Boston skyline gradually emerges.

The next morning I hit the road for Albany, NY, a place I'd never been, to visit one of my favorite people in the world, Patrick Porter.

The first thing I did in Albany was step in this puddle.

Washington Park bandshell, Albany.

Tricked out chrome Saturn. The picture doesn't do it justice.

New York State Capitol Building.

Porter: The Halls of Power™.

View from the Egg.

Can someone please let me know what these mysterious stone holes are, just east of the The Egg?

Allegedly the red brick building in the center of this photo is a veritable museum of graffiti inside.

Patrick in the Concourse, below the Capitol, featuring artwork from the Nelson Rockefeller Collection.

Detail of one of Patrick's paintings.

Porter sketch.

Home Decor®.

"I'm scared. I wanna go home."

Porter Stylee Sweater Rack.

Bright eyed and bushy tailed, after a night of sleep in an upstate NY rest area.

Lake Eerie.

Before long I was once again in Mysterious Cleveland. And once again I just passed through without stopping. Can someone please explain the Cleveland underground scene to me? There must some zine-friendly/comix-friendly shops there, right?

Downtown Cleveland from the interstate.

Back in the midwest.

Dan Ryan, Wednesday night. (Everyone's at the Bulls game.)

Home Sweet Home.

TOTAL MILES: 2,530.1

Special Thanks to Alex and all at Pop Sandbox, Chris Butcher and Peter Birkemoe (TCAF/Beguiling), Kingston Homies, Julie D., Chester, and all at D+Q, Mike Frederick, Cara Bean, Kelly Hourihan and all at Lynn Classical, Porter and Amber, and Price Chopper for the place to pee.

MAY 2011 TOUR DIARY, Pt. Four: Montréal (2)

2011-05-23T08:00:00.129-05:00

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

* * *

Friday in Montréal was a busy day. I went down to the D+Q store to meet longtime zine-writer Jeff Miller (Ghost Pine), and pick up a few of his beautiful new books for the distro. We had coffee (or Limonata, in my case) and shot the breeze for a bit on a summery morning. Afterwards I met my Belgian cartoonist pal Max de Radiguès for lunch. Max and I keep following each other around North America-- This is the second time I've run into him unexpectedly in a different city. We got some health food, sat in a park watching a schoolful of kids playing, and talked about comics and politics. On the way down to the park we ran into Billy Mavreas, who informed me he was having an opening at his gallery/book/junkshop Monastiraki that evening, so I said I'd come by.

Then back to D+Q, where I met Tom Devlin. We picked up his daughter Gigi at school, had a quick bite to eat, and went down to Billy's shop.

Fish 'n' Chips at Comptoir 21 on Saint-Viateur. (Gigi and John in the funny mirror.)

Just some of the wares on display at Monastiraki.

Billy and Tom haggle over prices.

Some of Billy's brilliant drawings.

Shop scenes.

Zine rack.

More zines and books.

Perro Verlag publications.

Afterwards Tom and I braved paradoxical Montréal roadsigns to pick Chester Brown up at the airport. He was doing a signing at the D+Q store the next day.

Chester's childhood home in Châteauguay, Québec, in the Montréal suburbs.

Saturday morning, Tom, Chester, Chris Oliveros, and I drove out to Châteauguay, the town where Chester grew up, and immortalized in such classic comics as The Playboy, The Little Man, and I Never Liked You.

(I highly recommend you check out Chris' great post about the trip, on the D+Q blog.)

I wonder what the people inside were thinking!

The great Chester Brown.

Chester, John, and Tom. (Photo by Chris O.)

Mr. Brown and his childhood school.

We had lunch at a funny little Resto in the same strip mall where Chester had purchased his very first Playboy, all those years ago. Then, on to the signing...

The SRO crowd waits in eager anticipation.

Julia, Chester, and Peggy Burns.

John P., Julie D., and Chester Brown. (Photo by Peggy.)

The next morning I had to get up at 5 AM in order to make it to Boston on time for an afternoon signing. It's hard to describe my feelings for Montréal. When I have to leave, it's almost physically painful. Ah, well... au revoir!

NEXT TIME: Walden Pond and home...

(Thanks to Chris Oliveros and Peggy Burns for some of the photos!)

MAY 2011 TOUR DIARY, Pt. Three: Kingston/Montréal (1)

2011-05-20T12:56:00.001-05:00

Part One

Part Two

* * *

So the day after TCAF we hit the road for Kingston, Ontario -- Incarceration Capital of Canada -- for a signing on the way to Montréal.

View of Lake Ontario from the Kingston hotel room.

Shop window at Four Colour Eight Bit.

The Competition.

After the signing we all went out for drinks, and the natives wandered across the street for poutine, the national food of Canada. Afterwards I told the group how proud I was that I had gone 4 or 5 days without making fun of the way they talked, and they said "Same here." Then Maakye made me say the word "Pop," and punched me in the shoulder.

Lovely downtown Kingston, Ontario.

The next day (ahem) we braved crazy Montréal traffic and paradoxical traffic signs to make it to the signing with moments to spare. Here is the Librairie D+Q window lighting up the beautiful night.

Mr. Cherry-Mouth Owlhead signs books for the throngs of fans.

(Photo by D+Q)

John P., Jason Gilmore, and Alex Jansen.

Librairie D+Q in the morning.

Montréal front yard.

"We like both kinds of music-- Country AND Western!"

Even the sidewalks are tasteful.

Hot Cars.

I can't stop taking pictures of Montréal houses.

Totally looks like the Chicago suburbs.

Jo Jo.

Québec Liberation Front poster.

Trés Americain!

Jo Jo again.

Grissou.

Kuan Yin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Montréal stylee.

Even the abandoned lots are interesting.

Thursday night I wandered over to the great bookshop Le Port De Tête, where the French cartoonist Marine Blandin was signing copies of her new Delcourt book Fables Nautiques.

When the legendary BD shop Fichtré closed down a few years back, Le Port du Tête bought their stock and expanded into the space next door. What a selection! I bought four volumes of Laurent Lolmède's Moins X avant 2000, and had to restrain myself from spending like $200 more.

Mlle. Blandin signing her books (in the European tradition, with a detailed watercolor and ink sketch!)

Diehard Québécois cartoonist and publisher Jimmy Beaulieu.

Original pages from Fables Nautiques.

Walking back to Julie's that night I couldn't help but notice how at home I feel in this city. It's something I can't explain. If sometime you get a copy of King-Cat mailed to you with a Montréal return address, don't be surprised!

* * *

NEXT TIME: Montréal Part Two

MAY 2011 TOUR DIARY, Part Two: TCAF

2011-05-16T23:30:00.001-05:00

Click here for Part One

I woke up Friday and Met Canadian stalwart Dave Lapp at The Beguiling, where we happened to run into the great Julia Wertz and Sarah Glidden. Dave and I went to brunch and I made plans to meet up with Sarah and Julia later.

The Beguiling -- one of the world's great comics shops.

Dave Lapp and John P.

Chili for breakfast.

Toronto street scenes...

Spadina Avenue.

L-R: John P., Sarah Glidden, Lisa Hanawalt (Photo by Julia Wertz). You don't want to know what we were talking about!

Afterwards I headed over the the TCAF venue for a roundtable discussion with Chester Brown, Adrian Tomine, Seth, and Chris Ware (Moderated by Picturebox's Dan Nadel). Wow.

Walking home Friday night.

Spit and a Half table, TCAF Day One.

Tom Devlin sells the shit out of some Chris Ware.

La Mano magnate Zak Sally busts ass on his Blackberry.

La Pasteque table. Beautiful!

Mademoiselles Sarah Glidden and Julia Wertz.

Edie Fake at the Secret Acres table.

Super-Canadian Dave Lapp.

Tugboat Press' Greg Means.

"I love Canada THIS much!"

Saturday crowd, as seen from the staircase.

Hellen Jo and Calvin Wong at the Koyama Press mega-table.

Dinner at Fresh Saturday evening. Clockwise from top left: Sparkplug's Dylan Williams, Tom Neely, John P., Zak Sally.

Sunday I was tailed for Austrian TV.

Mr. Chester Brown.

Mon ami Pascal Girard with his Doug Wright Award.

The inimitable Annie Koyama.

Out on the street for a living: Lisa Hanawalt, Tom Neely, Tom Kaczynski, John P., Dylan Williams; Sunday evening.

Big Party at Miller's: JP, Mister Shyler, Tom Neely; AKA "Baguette Basement."

We only ordered soft drinks, and the staff figured out we were Yankees, so they blasted us with a projected Stanley Cup playoff game.

Zak "Mr. Smooth" Sally, and assorted non-alcoholic beverages.

"Doesn't anyone speak American around here?!?"

* * *

NEXT: Kingston and Montreal

Some images courtesy Sarah Glidden, Dave Lapp, Tom Neely, and Julia Wertz.

Thanks guys!

MAY 2011 TOUR DIARY, Pt. One: Urbana/Toronto Book Launch

2011-05-16T23:28:00.000-05:00

A new book project I'd worked on (The Next Day) was coming out, and debuting at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, so the publisher and I made some plans for a short Canadian tour.

Then, a week before leaving, Stephanie and I were in Chicago for the Jim Nutt exhibit at the MCA, and I stopped in to Quimby's to drop off some comix. Turns out there was a "Midwest Zine Fest" happening the following weekend in Urbana, IL, so I promptly dropped them a line and managed to snag a table.

Spit and a Half table, Midwest Zine Fest.

Zine Fest presentation.

Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center.

Zine Library.

All day long I only managed to eat some chocolate and a Diet Dr Pepper, and driving home I was overcome with the most awful hunger pangs. I got back and ate some food, only to have the pain grow worse. Turns out I was developing the stomach flu. Hooray! (I was supposed to leave for Toronto in 36 hours...)

I spent all day Sunday laying in bed bemoaning my fate. Monday I was feeling a little better, but not better enough to get in a car and drive 12 hours. The Next Day book launch was Tuesday night in Toronto though, at 7 PM, so I packed up the car, set the alarm for 5 AM, and went to bed to see what would happen. I finally fell asleep around 3:00 in the morning.

5 AM rolled around and I felt even better than the day before, with just a little bit of pain left. So I got in the car and headed out, hitting Chicago at 6:30 for the start of rush hour, then through NW Indiana, and into Michigan. In no time at all I was at the Canadian border and on my way to Toronto.

Outside the city, the rain and traffic got more intense but I only got lost once. I found the venue and parked in the garage across the street, ate a can of beans, and headed over. It was 6 PM. I had made it by one hour!

First thing I saw upon exiting the garage was this wonderful three-window-wide handpainted image from the book, on the side of the National Film Board of Canada's offices!

Inside, there was a display of original artwork from the book.

Video stills from the animated website.

Trailer.

Launch reception.

After the launch I went over the University of Toronto, where I had a dorm room waiting for me. I promptly fell asleep for 14 hours. The next day (*ahem*) I woke up at 5 and went over to do another talk at the Toronto Animated Image Society. Afterwards I wandered around Bloor Street for a bit and went back to bed. But I was wired and didn't fall asleep until 7 AM. So I spent all day Thursday in bed too.

Pretty cool, huh?

NEXT: TCAF!