The Kupperman Cometh

Hopefully this is a sign of things on the horizon... I just stumbled across what seems to be a fledgling Michael Kupperman blog.

Guardian's One Thousand Novels

I was honored to find out out that in the graphic novel section of their 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, The Guardian has selected The Three Paradoxes. (Thanks to the ever diligent Mike Baehr for the tip.)

Paradoxes Internationale

Though I've yet to see any of them, I've been made aware that the Italian, German, and Polish editions of The Three Paradoxes are now floating around in their respective languages' worlds. Collect them all. Find each edition's unique printing flubs.

Inauguration Marathon

At the last minute possible, I made the twelve hour drive down to Washington for the inauguration to be in all the insanity and energy surrounding the event. I posted various updates on my Facebook page during the trip, but I'll be writing up a more full report (with videos and photographs)and posting it here by tomorrow evening.

Farewell, Andrew

Andrew Wyeth. 1917-2009.

To Your Door Books

I'm honored to announce that I'll be doing the cover designs and illustrations for a new line of books, published by two of the hardest working people in the Chicago literary sphere.

The new venture from veteran independent publishers (and authors) Jonathan Messinger and Zach Dodson is under the banner of Paper Egg Books, and will be subscription-based book series, two books per year arriving in your mailbox. I just got the first book from Jonathan, and am looking forward to the series immensely. Subscription series like this have always made me happy: a sort of social club for the reclusive.

Read all the details about Paper Egg at their brand new site.

One. Hundred. Beasts!: Opening This Weekend

This Saturday, at Giant Robot in San Francisco, a massive showing of the work from Beasts! Book 2 will be opening. More than one hundred artists will have work to view and purchase, so if you're in the area, it sounds more than worth the time to stop by. All the details can be viewed at Giant Robot's site or at the Beasts! blog.

Schroeder's Accuracy

Thanks to my brother-in-law Dan for directing me to this great New York Times article detailing yet another impressive aspect of Charles Shulz and his painstakingly contemplated Peanuts universe.

Test Your Brains!

A gem from Chris Hayward and Nat Saundersfrom, via the blog of Robert Popper, one of the great minds behind Look Around You. Cheese? Correct!

Swimming Never Looked Better

O fortunate cable recipients (sadly I am not one of you): One of my favorite comedy enterprises ever, Look Around You, is coming to Adult Swim. Praise Tarvu!

Portfolio Facelift

After collecting digital dust for several years, I finally got around to updating my portfolio site with material from the last few years (and overhauling the interface to be less cumbersome). Feel free to click around, or just roll over the graphics really quickly, making a sort of strobe effect, creating a sad, silent dance party of one at your cubicle.

Gloop, Gleep, and All Things Shmoo

A couple posts ago I mentioned being influenced by Heinz Edelmann's work (mainly by his design for The Yellow Submarine, which destroyed my mind at a young age), but lately I find myself coming back to another influence: a simple bean shape, that of Gleep, Gloop, and the far more culutrally significant Shmoo.


It was my love for these characters that made my eyes bug out in southern France when I came across a child's bank in the shape of the cartoon character Barbapapa. I had no idea who the character was at that point, but I had to get the bank (though if memory serves, the vendor was asking a ridiculous price and I found an almost exact replica in Paris for far less). Barbapapa was a Shmoo with arms, but minus the legs. Or Gloop plus appendages and nostrils. However you choose to describe him, he was/is great.





There's something about the purity and simplicity in these little beans that just works (of course their simplified phallus shape can be picked apart by the armchair psychologist, but I'll leave that alone for the time being).

I find myself trying to decode what works about these characters and how far the shapes and simplicity can be pushed before that effectiveness drops off. Of course sometimes, as in the case of Dr. Huba and Mr. Moob, I'm happy to espouse an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach.



(Or are those two more influenced by Captain Caveman? Who knows...)

This obsession with these bloated, bean-shaped characters connects somewhat tangentially to my love of McDonald's Grimace and my more recent infatuation with the world of James Jarvis' art and toys. Though I suppose they're steering more in the direction of eggplant or gumdrop shapes.


All of these obsessions and connections led to my interest the early 1970's Japanese children show Kure Kure Takora, (posted on Boing Boing recently). Though I was drawn in by the Shmoo-esque sidekick (or perhaps more accurately Barbapapa-esque, given that they are from the same time period (Barbapapa first being published in 1970)), there was a familiarity in the octopus protagonist itself. The familiarity with his design, I later realized, stemmed from a late nineteenth century toy design posted on BibliOdyssey. It's easy enough to believe that the design for the show's hero was inspired by that earlier toy design, though I don't have any hard evidence of a connection. Take a look at both, draw your own conspiracies.

Your Late Morning Chicken

Chickens chatting over coffee. From what I assume to be Aardman Animation for Saturn, a German electronics retailer.

Titles, More Titles, and Cereal

A few semi-related posts I've enjoyed recently: via Boing-Boing, links to a variety of title work for B and Sci-Fi Movies (one of which is above).

From Smashing magazine, a collection of 30 unforgettable movie openings (I haven't seen Lord of War, but had to agree it's an impressive title sequence... and I was glad to see that readers suggested To Kill a Mockingbird, one of my all time favorite opening sequences).

And to pick you up after watching that Lord of War opening: From the Aeron provides the typography and design of 100 cereal boxes.

Huge Suit Visits Germany

Starting tomorrow, and for the next seventeen weeks, I'll be contributing a weekly strip in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.The strip is in their "Tragic Strip" slot of their political section, and has been previously occupied by a slew of artists, including one of my major idols and influences, Heinz Edelmann. My contribution will feature Huge Suit (who made an appearance in Fantagraphics' 2006 Free Comic Book Day issue and is inarguably one of my more Heinz Edelmann-influenced characters). The strips aren't apparently going to be available online, but a clip is above.

The entire run is completely wordless (as is usual for strips running in that spot) and features a cast of five main characters, each narrative interlocking, each narrative shifted by a single encounter/intervention by that doughy overlord, Huge Suit. Each week, in addition to the current week's strip, the previous week's strip will run reduced toward the bottom of the page, so that hopefully the continuity of the overall story won't get too lost... though I'm trying to keep each strip relatively self-contained as a precaution.

If you're anywhere within the paper's reach, feel free to pick it up, collect them all, make a paper hat.