This Fall: So-So Heroes

Since I seem to be on a roll announcing things, why not announce one more? This fall Chronicle Books will be releasing a postcard collection of the oddities and designs I've been producing over the last year or so. Titled So-So Heroes, it will be debuting (in limited release) at this year's San Diego Comic-Con (where I'll be signing that collection and the new book, Life with Mr. Dangerous).

When the collection is available for pre-order, I'll of course post that here.

(And yes, there are both dick and mom jokes contained in the collection, have no fear. You can rest easy knowing that you'll have thirty ways to offend your family in one easy-to-pocket package.)

New Chicago Comics at MCA, Closing Sunday

If you haven't had a chance to get to the Museum of Contemporary Art for the exhibit New Chicago Comics, make haste: the show will be taken down this Monday, January 31st. So this Sunday is the last day to see all the work on display there.

If you can't make it to Chicago (or can't make it by Sunday), I took a panoramic shot of the displays on the walls, so you can scroll across this and imagine yourself in the middle of the room (and given the blurriness of the digital composting my phone did, maybe imagine yourself a little drunk). My apologies for the fact that Jeff's display (which was in cases in the middle of the room, seen below) isn't in that shot.

Below, a picture of the four cartoonists in the show: Anders Nilsen, myself, Lilli Carré, and Jeffrey Brown (a hat tip to Anders, from whose blog I stole that picture).

The Case of The Migrating Blog

As some have probably noticed today, the address for this blog had migrated slightly. As part of the overhaul I'm doing for the more cohesive Forlorn Funnies site, the address for the blog is now

blog.forlornfunnies.com

Please update your bookmarks, etc. accordingly and thank, as always, for reading.

This Week's Shirt (1.27.11)

This week at the Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop: shirts are back! After a bit of a hiatus, over the holidays and beginning of this year, it's time to start back up the weekly shirt. And to start us off, we have everyone's favorite hacked up hero, Split-in-half Bear.

The Flaming C

Not having cable, I'm usually a bit behind on Conan, which is a shame because I think he consistently does great things with late night television. This foray into his own superhero-dom is just one of many examples. Beware the mighty force of the oven mitt.

The Forlorn Funnies Store Launch

Now that I've worked the kinks out of the layout, I'm pleased to announce the proper launch of the Forlorn Funnies Store.

And to celebrate the launch, I've uploaded a batch of lower-priced artwork. (This is one of the reasons I wanted to launch the store, to be able to offer these more random pieces, as well as limited edition books, prints, and odd projects as they come up.)

So click on over to the store and have at it. (And if there are still any dead links or misfires, please feel free to let me know in the comments here or e-mail me).

(For those wondering about comics pages, the higher-priced, fancy pants comics pages from my books are typically only available through the gallery that represents me, Charles Hartman A. Fine Art.)

Life with Mr. Dangerous, Limited Editions

I'm pleased to announce that my graphic novel, Life with Mr. Dangerous, will be released in May of this year.

The book is currently making its way through the printing and proofing process, and in the meantime I'm now taking pre-orders for the Limited Editions and the Ultra Limited Editions (I couldn't really think of a better name.. "extreme?" "really, really limited?") of the book.

As detailed at the fledgling Forlorn Funnies Store (on which I've not worked the kinks out just yet, so my apologies) The Limited Edition will include: 1 four color silkscreened dust jacket, 1 signed original sketch/ tracing paper overlay used in the preparation of the book, and the book itself (naturally), also signed. 75 of these will be available.

The Ultra Limited Edition is... pretty darn ultra limited. What you'll get is:

1 original page of artwork from the book (14 by 17").

1 hand-sculpted (by me) figurine of a character from the book.

And you will receive everything from the "limited edition" (the silkscreened dust jacket, a scrap from the book's preperation, and the book itself).

Only 16 of these Ultra Limited Editions will be available (corresponding to the 16 chapters of the book).

All of these are on a first come, first serve basis. Please allow two weeks for the shipping of the book after the release date (though I will make every effort to ship them earlier). For purchasers of the Ultra Limited Edition, your artwork and figurine will be shipped separately, in advance of the book.

Pardon The Mess

As I'm preparing the re-launch of the Forlorn Funnies web site, there will be some strange links and floating bits going on around here. I apologize. Watch your step, don protective eyewear, etc.

A Wrinkle in Time in 90 Seconds and Other Challenges

Pal-o-mine and Chicago author James Kennedy can't just leave you and yours alone to wallow in your winter sweatpants and mope. No, he's challenging everyone to take part in The 90-Second Newberry Film Festival.

The contest, in conjunction with the New York Public Library, is straightforward enough: make a video that squeezes a Newbery award-winning book into ninety seconds (or less... but with such limited real estate, who's going to use less? Then again, a three second version could be infinitely hilarious).

I of course can't predict who the winner will be, but if the first video is any indication, the results will be amazing. Prepare yourself for viral videos galore.

This Book

This book is in our bathroom.

The writing is ten kinds of horrible, the cover is eight of great.

Thank you for your eyes.

New Chicago Comics on NBC Chicago

NBC Chicago was kind enough to do some chatting and gesticulating with Mr. Jeffrey Brown and myself, in service of the New Chicago Comics exhibit.

I am pleased to report that I managed to say "fart" on the nightly news. It's my goal to take (f)arts journalism to such lofty heights.

Dressing the Walls

Here are a few shots from the last couple days of Anders Nilsen, Lilli Carré, curator Michael Green, and me preparing New Chicago Comics at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

If these shots don't give a clear picture of what's in the show, that's intentional: no spoilers for the opening Friday. But I will divulge that the hanging of my portion has been routinely slowed by my breaks to admire Anders', Lilli's, and Jeff's work. It's a staggering collection from three of the best people around, and it's certainly an honor to be working alongside them to put this together.