This Week's Shirt (4.29.10)

This week's shirt at the Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop is a Choose Your Own Shirt Shirt (featured in the pages of All and Sundry). Enjoy awkward minutes of strangers forming a narrative out of your chest region, in a variety of colors.

The Next Train to Lidsville

I've admired the work posted on Covered since its inception, and have had a comic set aside for the express purpose of aping it for the blog. This week, I finally squeezed in some time to bring the cover to fruition. Visit the site to see the cover (the original alongside my interpretation) in its full Krofft oddity.

Maps of The Fictitious World

Two more curios from the digi-distractionary (both via Boing Boing): Maps on the back covers of books (from Dell Books) and a site dedicated to maps and diagrams of comic worlds and characters (the sort of thing I absolutely lost my mind over as a kid, and still find completely satisfying).


And all of this reminds me to wholeheartedly endorse The Eagle Annual of The Cutaways, which is bursting with nerdy dissections of gizmos and transport. (Thanks to Emily for the amazing gift.)

Strange Stampede

I'm behind the times, but this is great regardless. Via Mej's blog, proof that Iceland exports better things than volcanic ash and economic collapse.

Into The Depths of SPACE

This weekend I'll be at the SPACE convention in Columbus, Ohio, my old haunt and comics roots. As is always the case with SPACE, I'll be bringing all the oddities out. So if there's a weird print, book, t-shirt, sticker, or who-knows-what-else that you're looking for, get to Columbus or swindle a C-bus townie, since this is the only convention where any of that work still sees the light of day.

If you do make it to the convention, be sure to stop by the panel that I'm participating in along with the venerable and aforeposted Jim Rugg, Sean McKeever, and Guy Davis. That's at 1 o'clock on Sunday. Otherwise, I'll be at my table feverishly drawing background plates for a secret something and eating inadvisable convention nachos.

See you in Ohio with cheese on my collar.

Goodbye Wall Street, Hello Catwalk

So that I can focus on more projects that are in gestation, I've stopped working on the Wall Street Journal's blog (which I've been posting here each week for the past two months). But that doesn't mean it's the end of a weekly feature here on the blog.

Each Thursday I'll be posting a new t-shirt design on the Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop. How long each design will survive on the site will depend on the response it gets and/or how depressing or hilarious I personally think it is. The shirts will range from pure illustrations to pure text, some will have a relationship to my books, but most will simply be ridiculous, to one degree or another.

The first shirt is up today. More to come next week.

Speakeasy for April 16th

Mr. Washington (who reproduced a bit poorly at such a small size, so I'm linking to a larger graphic here) goes to Broadway in this week's bit for The Wall Street Journal blog.

Strange Tales and Saturday Signing

As promised, here are a couple scans of my story for the upcoming Strange Tales Volume 2. I can now authoritatively say that drawing Colossus beating the snot out of Colossus (or is it the other way around?) is a good time.

As for Strange Tales Volume 1 and any other books that have the misfortune to contain my name, I'll be signing those tomorrow, April 17th, from 12 to 2 at Chicago Comics booth at the C2E2 convention. Stop by and say hello if you can get through all the sweating hobbits carrying their over-sized tote bags.

Two Tim Time

There's little else to say here other than: if you're not yet reading anything and everything Tim Lane and Tim Hensley produce, you're missing out. Hensley's comics and posts are always a welcome addition to any day over at Blog Flume and Lane's ongoing strip, Belligerent Piano reminds of me of the baby produced from the time Chester Gould had a three-way with Alex Raymond and Spain Rodriguez. Who's the one with the womb? I'm not telling.

The Flat, Glowing Face of Future Non-Pop-Ups

I'll never be convinced that pop-up books aren't one of the best things ever invented, but I have to say that if there's ever going to be a digital attempt to come in second place to them, this is an interesting step in that direction.

Pre-Strange Tales Super Mope

Sometime this week, I'll post a couple scans of the story that I'm wrapping up for Marvel's Strange Tales Volume 2. In the interim, here are a few drawings of depressed looking Super types from... well, I honestly can't remember when I drew these. And I don't think I meant for them to look so deflated. I mainly just love drawing the loose material in the knee and ankle area.

Chance Press Limited Edition Book

In other news that I'm behind in posting: Chance Press, an independent producer of hand-bound books will be publishing a sort of sketchbook/behind the scenes/what-on-earth-am-I-doing prelude to the Fantagraphics relaunch of Forlorn Funnies in November. The book will be in a very limited edition, with a "deluxe" edition coming out as well, both some time around October. For more on the collection and other books from the fine people of Chance Press, visit their site.

Speakeasy for April 9th

A bit after the fact, but here's this past weekend's Wall Street Journal bit concerning the dual nature of TinaLiz FeyLemon.

Empty School

I spent a lot of time in the empty halls of my high school, being kicked out of class, taking too long to get back from a bathroom escape, or distracting myself with sporadic investments in myriad after-school programs. But whatever I was doing in those lonely hallways, it was nothing close to what 17 year-old Ben Meyers did in "Empty School." A far better use of time, unarguably.

Huston in Haiti

My pal and intrepid journalist John Huston took a trip to Haiti to do some reporting on Chicago-area doctors working in the relief effort there. The above video he put together is as well done as it is heartbreaking.

Balloon and Box

Via Boing Boing: These guys have got it. Whatever it is.