Cabinets and Curiosties: Mark Dion

While at dinner with a group from the Columbus fine art and comics world (during my recent residency there), I mentioned a project I'm working on and explained a bit about it. Durng the subsequent discussion of other works in that vein, David Filipi (of The Wexner Center) was kind enough to recommend the work of Mark Dion. Sadly, I'd never seen Mark's work before, but I'm glad to be more familiar with it now. It's as gorgeous and thoroughly designed as it is thought-provoking. Thanks for the recommendation, David.

Blown Covers, Burns Edition

On the immensely followable Blown Covers site, Françoise Mouly and Nadja Spiegelman are posting amazing artwork, including some (above) pre-Photoshop separation work of Charles Burns. Take a gander and see how few seconds it takes to be jealous of their collection. (Average: 2.)

These Are The Photos You're Looking For

Many thanks to my wife for pointing out this group of Star Wars photos.

These are some of the best behind-the-scenes shots I've ever seen, not just from those movies, but from any movie. Number 39 (above) was her favorite and is just one more bit of assurance that I married the perfect woman.

Kyle David Platts, Questions

Have I recommended Kyle David Platts' work before? No. Is that a mistake? Yes. Because it's amazing? Also yes. But to give myself a pass: did I only just stumble into it through his twitter account? Triple yes. Should I stop asking myself questions? Maybe?

Rubber Chicken in Space

Via Laughing Squid: Students in Bishop, CA sent a rubber chicken toward outer-space in the name of science. This is an excellent use of both science and rubber chickens. I applaud their effort wholeheartedly.

Be sure to watch the video of their adorable countdown. Undoubtedly this will be one of those school memories they'll recall for the rest of their lives.

Comedy Bark Bark

Another little peek at Comedy Bang! Bang!, which starts June 8th on IFC. Next month, I'll post some things about the art I produced for the show. Stay tuned.

Around The Other Town

I'm slowly getting back to a normal schedule after being out of town for three weeks. And part of getting things back in order has been pulling images from my camera and going through them.

Sometime over the next few days, I'll post a pseudo photojournal of my time in Columbus... though it's not much of a journal of a specific place, as I tend to be drawn toward photographs like the above. Oh well. My apologies, Columbus.

Godzilla in The Wild West

Here's a (rather lengthy) interview followed by a question and answer session that took place at Columbus Museum of Art during my recent residency at Thurber House. Thanks to Jared Gardner (Professor of English and Film Studies at The Ohio State University) for all his thoughtful questions, as well as all the great questions and comments from the audience. We covered a pretty wide gamut of subjects, from the Chicago and Ohio cartoon worlds, to psychedelic puppets, to Godzilla in the wild west. A little something for everyone.

I'll Be Mad For A Good While Now

Should you be watching Tom Hunter's animations (like the above, for example)? Yes. Should you be looking at his drawings on tumblr? Also yes.

You have been advised.

Threadless in Space-Time

Today's the first day you can pick up the new "Comics-On Tees" series of Threadless shirts written by Jeffrey Brown and drawn by Anders Nilsen, Jeff Lemire, Mr. Brown, and myself. The group of four shirts is available as a pack or as individual shirts, but be sure to get them all: the shirts tell one continuous tale. If you only get one, you'll never know what happens next! Egad. So either get three of your friends to go in on this with you and constantly hang out as a group for the rest of your life OR buy the shirts and sew them into one madman's toga. Either way, you come out a winner.

To see the shirts in the wild, check out some of the shots people snapped at C2E2 this past weekend, where the shirts made their debut.

File Under: Well-Deserved

Congratulations to Anders Nilsen for winning the 2012 Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize. Big Questions is certainly my pick for best book of the previous year and I was really glad to see a prize committee of this sort giving him some of the accolades (and a few dollars to boot) that he deserves for his mountain of insightful, moving work.

Hats off, Mr. Nilsen.

Rilke and Zeno: Two Talks

Above and below are talks given during my recent graphic novelist's residency at Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio. Tammy Birk (Professor of English, Otterbein University) discusses themes in "Mother, Come Home" while Ryan Jordan (Department of Philosophy, The Ohio State University) examines the nature of paradoxes in general, using Zeno's paradoxes in "The Three Paradoxes" as a launching point.

I wasn't present at the talks but wanted to thank Tammy and Ryan for their time and thoughtful analysis. And of course thanks to Jeff Sims and the people of Columbus Museum of Art for hosting the talks and making the videos.

Shirt Time

Tomorrow night I'll be attending this Threadless/C2E2 event. In addition to fundraising for the very support-worthy Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, this will be the first glimpse of the Threadless "Space Time" comics shirts, written by Jeffrey Brown and drawn by Anders Nilsen, Jeff Lemire, the aforementioned Mr. Brown, and myself (a tiny peek of my shirt is above).

If you're in town for the convention, get to this event. In addition to it being a good time, it's for a good cause. I mean, even you don't like t-shirts, you have to like free speech, right? I hope?