file under other

"feel this stuff in your guts"

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0000

I don't usually get into link blogging. Not that I have anything against it. I love link blogging. The main reason I've never gotten into it here at file under other is that The Comics Reporter usually covers everything I would want to link in a day before I've made it through my first cup of coffee.

But I did want to point you folks in the direction of my pal Jeremy Massie's blog to take a look at a post he made last week. Jeremy talked about how he read through some good non-mainstream-guys-in-tights-and-rubber-suits comics to scrub his brain clean of all the bad comics he had read. That is always a good idea. It just so happens that he ended up talking about some books I've been wanting to talk about here for a while.

Jeremy talks about Yoshihiro Tatsumi's The Push Man and Other Stories. Jeremy says "you can feel this stuff in your guts". Yeah. That about sums it up. I read Push Man about five years ago and it had a tremendous impact on how I see comics and storytelling. Tatsumi's work makes you feel like a train ran over your dog and then the conductor got out and punched you in your nuts. It is brutal, brutal beautiful stuff. And the drawing is masterful. He gives you the fullness of the city from the gutters up while being simple enough that you can see right into the character's souls. I highly recommend you read any Tatsumi stuff you can get your hands on. I read Top Shelf's AX anthology last year and it also has a great Tatsumi story worth checking out.

Another great book Jeremy talks about is Chester Brown's I Never Liked You. I happened to read I Never Liked You for the first time over the holidays after buying it from Brown himself at SPX last September. Brown is one of my favorite living cartoonists and Louis Riel is my single favorite graphic novel. So, it's kind of strange that I took so long to get around to reading this book. It was a hard book to track down a copy of. I can remember about six years ago going over to Josh Latta's house and looking through his comics. Brad McGinty was there and they both told me emphatically that I Never Liked You would make me realize that everything I thought I knew about making comics was wrong. They were correct. There are so many storytelling elements that Brown pulls off in that book that would totally fail in the hands of any lesser cartoonist. And like Tatsumi, there are a lot of moments that feel like a punch in the nuts. Beautiful brutality. Art at its best.

So yeah, go check out Jeremy's post. There are some other books in there which I have not read but now I very much want to.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.
p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.

About that new DC Comics branding.

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:44:00 +0000

Over at Shannon Smith is Addicted to Distraction I broke down the new DC Comics brand logo/icon animated cell pad pod phone thing into its three primary elements and tried to figure out just what the Don Heck they are.

Check it out.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

2012 No sleep. No excuses.

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 21:49:00 +0000

Happy new year. May 2012 be your happiest, healthiest and most successful yet.

Stay tuned to file under other, Shannon Smith is Addicted to Distraction and Shannon Smith Comics over the next few weeks (and the rest of the year) for exciting new intronetings. The fate of the world probably depends on it.

Good luck,

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Merry Christmas. See you in 2012.

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 06:36:00 +0000

Hello pals. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays etc. I hope you are swell. Me? I'm busy. I've been busy for a while as is evident by the lack of production here at the shannonsmith.net empire of blogs. But I hope for 2012 to be a big year. Mentally, I'm already in 2012 and my mantra for the year will be No Sleep No Excuses.

2012 will be file under other's fifth year anniversary. It will be the Addicted to Distraction blog's seventh year. And, most shockingly, it will be my tenth year self-publishing comics. Yowza. (I think it will be about twelve years since I made my first webcomic but I don't remember.) So, big things are planed. None of which do I intend to jinx by blabbing about them in this post.

For now, let me just say thanks.

Thanks for reading.

Thanks for linking.

Thanks for tweeting and re-tweeting.

Thanks for liking.

Thanks for following.

Thanks for buying.

Thanks for the reviews.

Thanks for everything.

I'll see you in 2012. Don't be late.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Dissecting Animal Man and DC's NEW 52.

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 04:00:00 +0000

DC Comics.

DC Entertainment.

NuDC.

The NEW 52!

How far can a thing go? At what great distance can a thing exist removed from its creator before it becomes more decay than growth? More anti-matter than matter? Grant Morrison told us that this DC universe is alive. How much can it take? How much torture can this universe take before it turns on all of us and destroys us for our part in its creation? Our part in enabling those that would pervert it, exploit it and punish it with bad fashion? Our part in refusing to sign the do not resuscitate papers?

Comics.

Oh God comics.

DC Comics does not even exist anymore. Now the company is called DC Entertainment. DCE. And really, that's just one of many titles the executives at Time Warner to use to keep track of the many umbrellas covering its many properties.

It's a name, a symbol, an icon, an avatar on a power point presentation projected on a screen or viewed on laptops or on cell pad pod phones in a board room meeting where each chair costs enough money to pay your rent. The people in those chairs are ignoring the power point. They are thinking about what they will do after the meeting. They are already mentally in the next meeting or on the golf course, or in the spa or on vacation and the very last thing they are thinking about is comic books. Most of them did not even know Time Warner made comics until someone pointed out that their billion dollar rubber bat suit movie was based on comics. Comics published by a small part of Time Warner called DC Comics. And the funny thing about corporations is that when one umbrella has tremendous success it is not necessarily good for the other umbrellas. The other umbrellas get noticed and people ask where are their other billion dollar rubber suit movies? People get fired. People get promoted. People change titles. The board room chairs spin round and round.

The next thing you know DC Comics is DC Entertainment and maybe publishing comic books is not the point any more. Publishing is so 20th century anyway. No. The real money is in exploiting these things they forgot they owned in other arenas. Billion dollar rubber suit movies don't just make themselves.

Yes, DC Comics is long gone but for the sake of this article I will still refer to it as DC Comics because saying/thinking/typing "DC Entertainment" makes me want to throw up.

I love DC Comics. I love the comics, I love the characters and I love their creators. I am what you might call, a fan. I share my enjoyment of these comics and characters with my kids. These comics and characters have been a part of my life for the entirety of my life. I cannot remember a point of my life when I was not aware of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. I know them. I understand them. They are as matter of fact as any person or thing I've ever known.

But I have huge problems with DC Comics. I have huge problems with how the creators of these characters and their families have been treated. I have a lot of problems with how the characters have been cared for. To Time Warner, these characters are not characters at all. They are properties. Potential film, television, video games, toys, apparel etc.-- properties. Comics are just one of the many and possibly least valuable venues in which these properties can be exploited. And I get all of that. God bless capitalism get all the cash ya can get yee haw boy howdy. I get all that.

But what eats at me is that Time Warner should not really own all of these characters and be able to exploit them without consequence or retribution to their true creators. At best, Time Warner are custodians of these characters. One day Time Warner will be gone. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman will remain. Time Warner will fail or be sold or be split the way that companies always have. The properties will be sold or traded. Someone else will be the custodians. Maybe we will all be the custodians. But for now, Time Warner are the custodians and I feel they owe it to the creators and audience that came before and to the creators and audience that are yet to come to take good care of these characters so that future generations can enjoy them and maybe, just maybe be inspired by them. And if that is to cheesy for ya then let's say they owe it to their share holders not to screw up the long term value of these properties.

Time Warner is made up of a lot of custodians with a lot of umbrellas trying to keep a lot of properties out of the rain. The lady currently holding an umbrella over Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman is Diane Nelson. It is hard to find out much about Diane Nelson on the Internets but it seems that her previous job was waving enough cash in front of J.K. Rowling to keep her from noticing that Time Warner turned her intermediate reader children's book series into horror films. I'm not sure what role she has at DC Comics other than sending out about two memos per year and enjoying a large pay check. But at Time Warner executive meetings, DC Comics is under her umbrella.

If you hop in the the wayback machine to 2009 you see Time Warner moving a lot of deck chairs on a sinking DC Comics ship. Time Warner had a billion dollar movie about a guy in a rubber bat suit. This movie was The Dark Knight. At some executive meeting someone remembered that this bat suit character was also in comics. Someone explained that Time Warner also owned those comics. As best I can figure, it became Diane Nelson's job to figure out how mine those comics for more billion dollar rubber suit movies. Apparently part of that job included saving the little hamlet in which all those properties lived. The DC Comics Universe.

Their brilliant new plan for how to save DC Comics came in two parts.

The first is to reboot/relaunch/start over the same comics that were not doing all so hot to begin with. Because, um, yeah, that had worked so well all the previous times? I have no idea. I've got nothing. I assume the real point of that was to try to get the same kind of mainstream press coverage they got in the 80s with Man of Steel or in the 90s with Death of Superman. I guess they were overdue.

The other part of the plan was to hand a new digital distributor more power and control over their product than the previous distribution model (the direct market) had ever had in the previous 30 or so years it had carried DC Comics on its back. Um... the music industry would like to wish you good luck with that.

I have a lot of horrible nauseating thoughts and ideas on why these decisions have been made but... that's another essay. I won't go down that rabbit hole right now. Just look away. I don't want to argue about it or even think about it. Smarter people than I that are closer to the action have already debated the thing to death and it does not matter.

It.

Does.

Not.

Matter.

You can't argue with a corporation. You can complain all you want but Time Warner is not in the business of giving you what you want. They are in the business of giving you what they want you to have. In some board meeting this thing will be declared a success or a failure based on how the numbers need to be crunched in order for that umbrella holder to get a bigger bonus.

It does not matter.

Let's just pretend that there is no reboot/relaunch etc. Let's just pretend our pals at good old DC Comics decided to roll out some new comics because that's what alleged comic book publishers do.

Oh say, did you hear that Grant Morrison was going to be writing a new Superman comic? Well gosh gee wilickers wow I loves me some Grant Morrison. Remember those JLA comics he wrote? Those were so much fun. Hooray!

Oh did you hear that there is going to be a new Animal Man comic? Oh man I love Animal Man! I had most of the Grant Morrison issues where he pretty much laid out the next decade of pop entertainment and then the issues by those other guys that came after, they were swell too! Oh man I want to check out that stuff for sure!

See, here's the thing. DC Comics has said that the point of the relaunch was to build two audiences. One being new readers. The other being the readers they had lost over the years. I am that second audience. It's me. Here I am. Hi! Now I can't ever be a new reader but I am half the demographic they want and I'm here to tell you that you did not have to give Superman a collar and burn his trunks to get me back. All ya really had to do was pay Grant Morrison to write a Superman comic or bring back an interesting book like Animal Man. Or, to put it another way, all you really had to do was make better comics. But I'll take the marketing. Time Warner waking up and realizing that they publish comics and that expanding the readership is a positive for the viability of their properties and therefor deciding to actually invest some money and use the power of corporate synergy to market those comics, that's a good thing. I hope. I hope retailers sell more comics. I hope new customers discover comic book shops. I hope readers find and enjoy books that meet their tastes. And if that happens over the long run I think more credit should be given to an investment in marketing than to gimmicks like re-numbering or collars on costumes.

So, here we are. We have the New DC. NuDC. The New 52. Whatever.

Now, re-adjust your way back machine to August 31, 2011. There I am. I've read all about the New 52. I'm sceptical but I'm curious. I don't live near enough to a comic book store to justify making the trip but I do live near a computer so I'm thinking about checking out the Comixology thing. I've read comics on it before. It's okay. I'd rather have paper but I have to admit the immediacy of being able to read something on impulse appeals to me. So I login only to find that the only new comics are Flashpoint and Justice League. I have no interest in either. I was hoping for Grant Morrison's Action Comics.

Fast forward one week later and Action is out. I've heard from pals that it is really good. I login to Comixolgoy but I see the price. $3.99. My ramen noodle lunch cost me seventeen cents. $3.99 is a lot of money for something you don't even own. I mean, maybe if it was a PDF? But to pay $3.99 for something that is really just on loan to you? I mean, DC and or Comixology could take it away at any time. Nah. I'll wait and hopefully get a paper copy.

We jump ahead again to the Monday of September 12. My daughter is sick. She's been fighting a cough for a few weeks so I break down and take her to the pediatrician. The office is a short drive away from the nearest comics shop so I decide to take my daughter and myself over there for a treat. She gets an Archie comic for herself and one for her sister. I want Action #1 but it is sold out. I look through a few of the other New 52 comics and most of them look like the worst of the Image comics. And I'm not talking the good Image when Warren Ellis came in and showed them how to tell a story. I'm talking the worst. Ugly covers, ugly character design, ugly colors- bad comics. I look at OMAC. It looks promising. I really like the art but I can't pull the trigger on a Dan Didio written comic. I thought his stuff was the worst of the Wednesday Comics.

The comics shop has exactly one copy of Animal Man #1 left. I wanted it from the start second only to Action so I buy it no questions asked without even looking through it.

Animal Man #1 is $2.99. It is written by Jeff Lemire. Pencils by Travel Foreman. Inks by Foreman and Dan Green. Colors by Lovern Kindzierski. Letters by Jared Fletcher. Edits by Joey Cavalieri with Kate Stewart.

Its cover looks like this.

Ok. So let's take a look at this cover. It's super nice right? I really like it. I remember looking through all the cover images as they trickled through teh comics intronets leading up to the big launch and this cover, the Swamp Thing cover and the Action cover were the only ones that stood out for me. The rest are incoherent muddy messes. I'd say Animal Man is the strongest followed by Swamp Thing. My main complaint of Action is that it looks so much like the first issues of Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men. Which, was probably what they were shooting for. I like the Hawkman cover too but it's negative space is a bit off. The weight is not properly balanced. But this Animal Man cover, perfect balance of the negative space. And the design is really sharp. Simple yet bold. I played around with it in photoshop and it looks good at any size. And I think that is important for a comics cover. I needs to look good from across the store. It needs to look good as a tiny little jpeg in teh intronets. And this does.

And the drawing is strong as well. I'll talk about my thoughts on Foreman's cartooning as we go through this but I'll go ahead right now and say that the guy sho can draw. So yeah. I think it's a good cover.

Now, let's talk again about DC's alleged goals with this whole re-launch. Bring in new readers and bring back old readers. Does this cover do that? Maybe? I am old reader. And specifically, I am old Animal Man reader. This cover to me looks like a good Animal Man comic. It would fit right in with the covers on the old Vertigo series. (It reminds me a lot of the Mike Grell covers for Green Arrow back in the day when Green Arrow was a "New Format" comic. For the children out there, "New Format" became Vertigo but Green Arrow did not make the move. Animal Man did..) So yeah, for me an old Animal Man reader this cover certainly worked because I did seek it out and pay cash money for it. New 52 mission accomplished sort of.

Now for new readers, eh. I don't know. It looks like the cover to a horror comic. Which is okay because it pretty much is a horror comic. There is not anything super hero looking about it at all. Animal Man is not in a heroic pose. He's looking down. He looks like something horrible has happened or is about to happen. If there is a new reader out there looking for something different, something more mature, something edgy and something a bit spooky then maybe this cover works for them.

My one nitpick about the cover would be the red. Animal Man is standing under and/or is connected to this big red lung looking thing. Are those veins or just general creeping spookiness? I get it, it works and it looks great but... I'm kind of a wimp about gore. I have to look away when my wife watches those medical shows. So, for me personally, the red made me go ewww at first. But having read the book I can say that it is not there to be sensational. It actually does relate to a story element. So, I'm totally cool with it but....

...let's take a look at it without the red. Or without any color at all. Wow. It still works doesn't it? Still just as spooky but not as gory. Just as bold. Maybe even bolder. I like it. See good design, good use of negative space, good drawing- you get all that going and color does not matter at all. But enough about the cover, let's actually look at the comic. No, wait. One more thing...

Let's take a look at the bottom of the cover. Check out all those awesome animals. That's the type of thing Mike Grell used to throw on covers all the time and I loved it. A bear that is as tall as an elephant that is as big as a whale that is hanging out with a giant squid? Don Heck yeah! But look a bit closer down there on the bottom left. Take a look at the most important element on this cover. Yes, that is a kitty cat riding on a turtle. And that is adorable.

CAN I RIDE THIZ TUDDUL?

I guess I should just go ahead and admit that the real reason it took me so long to post this review is that I have spent the past two weeks writing Animal Man fanfic where his sidekick is a turtle riding kitteh. I call them Poncho and Skeet.

Ok. So let's finally take a look at this comic. Let me go ahead and say right now that the rest of this post will contain some scans from the book. Most all of these scans are cropped so please do not get the impression that this is exactly what the book looks like. I did this for three reasons. For one, I'm only interested in showing you the things I want to talk about. Two, I don't want to totally ruin things for folks that might want to read this. And three, scanning and posting multiple full pages fills a little piratey to me. No offense to pirates but I'm more team ninja. It's a matter of hygiene really.

Open up the comic and the first thing you see is an advertisement for chewing gum. The second thing you see is a bunch of text. Not the most exciting way to start a comic book but I get what Lemire is doing here. The text is a mock interview with Animal Man/Buddy Baker which serves the purpose of getting the reader up to date on his new status quo. It's not a bad gimmick and Lemire pulls it off fine but I don't think that it is necessary. I'd rather jump right into the story.

Which is what happens when we turn the page.

Wow. So Travel Foreman has decided to slap us in our brains with a two page semi-splashy layout breaking and or bending all kinds of rules of logic. I don't like limiting an art form down to right ways or wrong ways but there are certainly ways that I prefer over others. Foreman clearly disagrees with most of my storytelling tastes. I'm super interested in the choices other cartoonists make when they lay out a page and a lot of what Foreman does here and throughout the book is mind boggling to me.

First let me talk about gutters.

In my opinion comics may be the first interactive visual art/entertainment medium. The reader controls much of the story. The reader controls what happens between the panels. In traditional comics you have a uniform space between each panel. This space is the gutter. What happens in the gutter is up to the reader. The artist can manipulate this to a certain extent to try to control pacing or intensity but usually the gutters are uniform in their distance between each panels. When that distance varies or, God forbid there are not gutters, it can be disorienting for the reader. Or at least this reader. When I see panels on top of each other without any gutter the feeling I get is that the images are taking place at the exact same time. It's like looking at a cracked mirror. When choosing a gutter strategy, Foreman's answer seems to be all of the above.

The main image in this splash is a big wide establishing image of the Baker family's kitchen. But it's not a full bleed or a traditional panel. It's kind of both. It bleeds on the right but on the bottom it has a border with an insane angle. Perspectives change from image to image as if the reader is a ghost floating about the room. Some panels are floating on top of the main image sans gutters. One image is a head floating in the void with no borders. And in another, that crazy angle from the main image cuts off Buddy's head leaving us with only a close up of his elbow while preserving the drawing of the kitchen faucet in the main image.

Of course, that is one bitchin' kitchen faucet he drew and/or traced and/or photoshoped in there isn't it?

There is nothing wrong with any of these choices on their own but in really good comics all of these kinds of choices mean something. A head floating in space without a border can mean a disconnect or a loneliness. A head chopped off could foreshadow some impending doom. All of which are good and interesting choices in most comics but here in these two pages there is so much layout insanity that it is very disorienting.

And maybe that is the point. As we will see as we get through this comic it is a horror comic and maybe disorienting and confusing is what Foreman is going for. If so, then well played.

Now, about the drawing. I really like Travel Foreman's drawing. He is really great at expression and he uses some wacky Gene Golan angles to give even the talking scenes some energy. His style reminds me of a lot of commercial ad art you would see in the 70s. Super clean and very little shading. The real work is in the pose, the movement and composition. I think that if you had only the outlines of his characters you would still get what their doing,saying, feeling in each panel. Foreman apparently comes from a place where people are about nine heads tall instead of seven and their torsos are four or five heads long. Okay. I dig it. I really do not care if a cartoonist ignores anatomy. I prefer it really. All I ask is that the cartoonist is consistent and Foreman is. His character design is strong and he maintains a consistent cartoon reality from panel one to the last page of the comic. Simply put, he's real good at drawing.

And let's take one second to talk about the coloring. I'm going to step a way from the keyboard and stand up and clap for a second.

Okay, I'm back. This my friends is some excellent coloring. I love the pallet choices. The pallets are consistent throughout the book. The colors are mostly flat with no gimmicks. I love these colors.

Ok. Here is a more traditional page layout. And look! Gutters! Oh I loves me some gutters. But WTF is that big white space on the bottom left? Is that supposed to represent a big pause between panel three and panel four? Is that a drawing of the invisible ghost that was floating around in the first two pages? Nothing wrong with empty space or empty panels but I need it to mean something. Here it just looks like an editing error.

The next thing we see is an advertisement for the Onion TV show then we have another splashy kind of two page set where Foreman says 'Making sense is way 20th century bro, I'm taking this bitch off the rails yo'. This page is just insane. I've not slept for days over this one. At one point our invisible ghost reader is standing on the floor, at another point he's way up in the attic looking down and then, right there in the middle, Buddy's son has been sucked into the kitchen counter top! Oh my God this is a horror comic! This house eats children! Get your family out of that house now Buddy!

But everything is okay because this page also gives us this, my favorite drawing in the comic. That's a great face. Horror comics are fine but if Foreman wants my money he should make a comic where super hero wives hang out in kitchens and make sassy faces. I'd buy that.

Next is an ad for a Green Lantern team comic where they fight some sort of vampire Harley Quinn that never learned to wipe her mouth off after feeding.

At this point in the comic we are up to speed on the status quo and we have our cast in place so it is time to remind the reader that this is a NEW 52 DCU comic book where people fly around in spandex and punch bad guys. I like the idea of this drawing a lot more than the execution. The idea is a cliche' but it is a good one. The hero is flying up ready for whatever is out there. His arms are breaking out of the panel because the is real yo. He is flying into the reader's real world. But... man that costume. Well, it's not for me. It reminds me a lot of this...

...costume John Byrne used to ruin that Star Brand comic when he destroyed the New Universe. (Thanks a lot John Byrne. You raped my summer of 1987. Jerk.) Thankfully, Buddy barely wears the costume at all.

Then we get a Justice League add with that awful Jim Lee cover. Ugh.

This may be the most normal page in the comic. Or it's what you would expect in a DC comic. Nice long establishing panel that illustrates the insanity of super heroics. Neat angles. But again, gutters. The gutters have varying distances and between panel two and panel three there is no gutter. Do panel two and three happen at the same time? No, Buddy is landing in two and standing in three. Time is all messed up in this comic. Has Buddy been Inceptioned? It all feels like a dream sequence. (Foreshadowing alert!)

Then we get an ad for a Wonder Woman comic. Wonder Woman is bloody and angry. She has been sent from Paradise Island to mankind to teach about swords and kicking ass.

Then we finally get to the action. Did I mention that this is a horror comic? In the middle of our super hero punch up scene we get to see Buddy tap into the methopoanimaldnalogical field or whatever he calls that magic place he tunes into in order to steal the magical super powers of animals. Yes. All animals have super powers. Duh. And doing this is scary as hell! Magic animals are crazy scary yo. And check out all those yellow lines. Kinda like panels. Here, Foreman is going with that broken mirror panel layout idea in the totally correct way. Here multiple things are happening all at once in every direction in a way that only comics can pull off. I'm stepping away from the keyboard again. I'm clapping.

The action scene is broken up by an ad for what appears to be a comic about bATMan. I don't know what bATMan is about but he looks a lot like Batman. I hope it's a comic where ATM machines rise up to enslave us all but only bATMan can save us. Then there is a New 52 check list. Gotta catch 'em all.

In the post action pages we get a page where Buddy's eyes are bleeding. Because this is a horror comic and that's what eyes do. Then we get an Aquaman ad that looks surprisingly like Aquaman.

Here we have part of a page from the dream sequence scene of the book. Lemire is sticking to the standard horror tropes here and introducing us to the future unspeakable doom through the tried and true dream scene. Luckily for us, Foreman draws the crap out of this sort of thing. Here the panels are alive and don't need no stinking gutters. Everything is askew. Tilted angels. Great Gene Colan shadows. It's the late 90s and I'm reading my favourite Vertigo comics again. Good times.

The dream sequence, which is the most incredibly drawn and interesting part of the book is broken up by an ad for Action Comics #1.

Then Buddy wakes up from the nightmare only to find out that the walls in his bedroom have been replaced by crazy dry brush inks. Dig that jacked up panel border in panel one. In panel two and three the separating line (no gutter) ends near the top allowing that ink brush non-wall to bleed into both panels. In panel two the ink is creeping in on him. In panel three he is running into the ink. And what is up with that pyramid shape the bed and the staircase form? Is there an earthquake going on? And if so shouldn't Buddy fall off that bed in panel two? The laws of gravity are null and void. He has been Inceptioned!

I kid but this all totally works. Buddy wakes from one kind of horror only to start running into another kind of horror. On this page, you just know that when you turn the page you are going to see something horrible.

Which, turns out to be an ad for Swamp Thing. Dammit Swamp Thing. I like you but are totally ruining my willing suspension of disbelief bro.

We look to the right of Swamp Thing and see the real last page of the story.

Which is not actually Buddy staring at a black box in his back yard. I covered up the image with the black box so as not to ruin this comic's main hook. (However, this did give me a great idea for a story where the obelisk from 2001 shows up in Buddy's backyard. My pitch for that story should be at DC comics in three to five business days.) I don't want to ruin this comic's horror gimmick but it is pretty neat and a little funny. But enough about that. The main reason I posted this image is just to point out how much they ruined this beat of the comic. It should be a full page bleed but we have white on the right and left and we have the credits at the bottom. You gotta put the credits somewhere but this totally ruins the punch of this page because when you first look at it your eyes are automatically drawn to that large Animal Man logo. You don't need that. You already know you are reading an Animal Man comic. What you need is to figure out why everyone was so spooked on the previous pages and all that text kind of ruins the moment. Dang yo.

The book ends with three pages of in house ads disguised as editorial/interview stuff. There is an add for a comics shop and the back cover has video game ad so that brings the paid ad total of this comic to a whopping four advertisements. Time Warner sales department, the local high school year book staff is mocking you right now.

I enjoyed this comic. The story is slight. As expected. It is a first issue and unfortunately, comics are in a state where no one seems to expect complete stories. People seem to be impressed if anything happens at all. For a first issue, first episode, first chapter kind of thing Jeff Lemire does fine. Nothing original or unexpected but I'm not sure the audience wants original or unexpected. This comic basically has four scenes. Scene one sets up the status quo and introduces the players. Scene two let's the protagonist show off what makes him special in a little fight. Scene three is the obligatory foreshadowing through nightmare scene. Scene four is the revelation of the face of the impending doom and the cliffhanger to the next installment. I think that is what the audience expects and is most comfortable with.

The structure does not really matter. What matters is the execution and Lemire does a good job. He seems to understand these characters and be able to quickly illustrate what motivates them. The dialog is good. It is simple and human and is about the right tone you want for a comic that is going to hit the reader with some over the top horror imagery later. You set up a common reality and then tear it apart. Lemire and Foreman both do a good job with that so congratulations to whoever paired them up and put them on this book.

I can't speak for the new reader but as a guy who has not had a pull list for over four years but once spent a lot of afternoons looking through back issue boxes filling in the holes in his Animal Man collection I'll say that yes, that certainly did feel like an issue of Animal Man. I liked it. I'm curious to see what they do going forward. I like these characters and the story this comic hints at seems interesting. I don't know that I'll pay $2.99 for future issues but you'll probably see me looking through long boxes in some store or at some comic convention hoping to find them for a dollar. Hell, if the prices come down I might even read them on Comixology. And at this point that's about as nice a thing as I can say about a mainstream comic book.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

The fuo 2011 SPX report.

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 03:30:00 +0000

(Image stolen from the fine folks at Exile on Plain Street.)

Sweet mammity hambone. Did I ever tell you about that time I went to SPX (Small Press Expo Sept. 10-11 Bethesda, MD USA Earth) during the way backie time of early September 2011? Well strap it on bro cuz here we go!

I've never been to SPX before so I was super excited. It was really down to a game-time decision on whether I would get to go or not but coach put me in. See, a great many horrible things have occurred to and/or around me in 2011 all of which had me thinking I would not make it to SPX. Again. I've been trying to go for years and when I totaled my car back in August I was ready to throw in the Ben Towle and try again next year. But, thanks to a miracle (my parents) I was able to get a sweet new (used) car and the game was back on. Don Heck yeah!

I did not get on the road until pretty late the Friday evening before the show. Sometime after 5 PM. I had to work and I had some errands to run. But eventually I got on the road in my rad new (used) car. My new (used) car is such a joy to drive. My old (totaled) car was twelve years old and void of joy. The new car has a ride as smooth as the Silver Surfer's buttocks.

It was a nice and uneventful drive from the western end of VA (Very Appalachian) to the south eastern end of MD (Medical Doctor). My standard co-pilots, two cans of Red Bull and their cousin 5-Hour Energy handled most of the navigation. I got to my aunt's house early in the AM (Absolute Madness). My aunt has a very nice house on the water on Somomons' Island. The house had a very comfortable bed in the guest room so I got a few hours sleep. Saturday morning my aunt made me breakfast and gave me directions to Bethesda. We thought it would take me a couple of hours to get there because of the recent flooding but I made good time.

It was an interesting drive. There was a noticeable police presence and the highway signs had notices about looking out for suspicious activity because the terrorists hate our freedoms. I got to the free parking garage near the Marriott at around 10:30 AM (Almost Midday).

Gosh golly gee willikers the weather was fantastic. What a lovely late summer day. I only saw a small part of Bethesda in the daylight but it seemed nice. My walk to the hotel was very cheerful. Mr blue bird was sitting on my shoulder and all that jazz.

When I got near the entrance to the Marriott a nice fellow pointed me in the direction of the comics show as if he could tell by the huge box of comics I was carrying that it was the place I needed to be. I walked in to the sight of cartoonists everywhere. Many I'd met in person but a great many faces I know mostly from teh intronets. I felt right at home right away. The staff had me registered and headed for my table in seconds flat. (The second may have been round. I was not paying attention.)

I set up at the end of one of the center aisles facing the back wall. There was a table with a complimentary water cooler and bowl of candy up against the back wall. At first I thought it had to be the worst spot in the room but I warmed up to the spot when I latter realized that it was one of the few places where people could actually stop and shop without backing into the people at the tables behind them.

I sat near my pal Jeremy Massie. He lives about an hour drive away from me and as far as I know he is geographically the closest cartoonist to me. It was good to get to hang with him. We came up with multiple plans to save comics and a backup plan to destroy them. Good times.

As soon as I set up I was selling comics. Actually, before I was really set up. As soon as comics hit the table I was making sales. I was surprised. Having never been before I expected to feel like a freshman showing up at a new school half way through the semester. But right away I was seeing people I knew through teh intronets. And they were buying comics. This is how it is supposed to be.

The room got crowded very fast on Saturday. By about 2 PM you really could not walk through the aisles without having to ask people to please excuse you as you climbed over them. It was insanely crowded.

Jeremy and/or his pal Jason Rainey pointed out a back exit from the hall which I could use to make it to the restroom. I went that route only to find a line backed down the length of the hall. The line was for Kate Beaton. Now, I'm prone to exaggeration and I'm also near sighted but that line looked to be at least 100 people deep. At least. It was crazy. And I think almost everyone in line had her new book in hand. I can only think of a few occasions where I've seen creators have bigger lines at conventions and those were much bigger conventions with much higher attendance and those creators were much older than Kate Beaton. The point is, that Kate Beaton sure is popular. Apparently them intronets are a good way to build an audience.

The day flew by and it was soon time to figure out what to do for dinner. I ended up eating at a little Mediterranean sandwich shop a short walk from the hotel with Rob Ullman, his pal Bill Burg and pals Adam and Shawn Daughetee. It was good times. I had a gyro twice as big as anyone should ever try to eat in one sitting. I almost finished it.

After dinner we went back to the hotel and found the lobby/makeshift bar area outside of the auditorium where the Ignatz awards would be held. It was packed. You could hardly move and it was getting hot. I made it through the Ignatz (more on that below) but by the time that was over I was ready to drive back to my aunt's house and go to sleep.

I was back to Bethesda Sunday for another lovely morning. Sunday was much the same as Saturday. I was selling right from the start. Super pal Josh Latta showed up with his girlfriend Erin and set up shop selling some Rashy Rabbit books. I got to talk to Ed Choy Moorman and Jeff Zwireck for a bit. I've known them through comics for a while now but had never met in person. I had a lot of people swing by that knew me through file under other. Some to say they liked the site, some to drop off books for review and some to thank me for previous reviews. That was swell.

It was a laid back day. I think most folks were pretty tired from heavy Saturday night drinking. I would not know anything about that though since I was in sleepy land.

The whole two days went by in a blur but it was a pleasant blur. I'm sure glad I went and I hope to make it again. The SPX staff do a great job and they all did it with smiles on their faces. Thanks SPX, hope to see you next year.

And now for some random thoughts because putting it all together in essay form (like real writers and journalists used to do) is for losers (and hard):

Sales: Despite being a first time exhibitor, I probably sold more comics than I have at any show I've been to before. That is not to say that it was the most money I've ever made. At a show like HeroesCon I sell sketches and original art for prices much higher than my minicomics and it adds up a lot faster. But still, it was a good weekend for sales. I seemed to sell more in the early part of the day both on Saturday and Sunday. In the first part of the day people would stop at my table, look through the books and usually buy something. As the room got more and more crowded in the afternoon, people were just hurrying by in a huge mob and not taking as much time to look at the table. I guess you could say it was almost too busy.

Demographics: I don't have any hard numbers. This is just an estimate. My guess is that 70% of my paying customers were attendees. 20% were SPX staff and 10% were exhibitors. I did not see a lot of exhibitors at my table but I was in the back of the room and, again, it was very crowded. I myself did not find any time to really shop the exhibitor's tables either. The only tables I looked at were the ones on the route from my table to the restroom and the tables belonging to specific friends of mine that I sought out. Of the attendees that bought comics I estimate 80% or even 90% were girls/ladies/women. I don't know why but if a girl stopped at my table they almost always bought something. My comic Brush and Pen does have kissing on the cover. Yeah, I have no idea but there it is.

The secret of my success: Price points. Multiple price points. I think one of the reasons I sold well was multiple price points. Years of retail experience have taught me that there are two types of customers. Shoppers and buyers. Shoppers are just there for the experience. They might buy something. Buyers are there to buy and the only thing standing in the way of them giving you their money is you. You have to have something that fits into their idea of what they want to buy. They may have exactly $3 they do not need and for you to get it you need to have a $3 product. At SPX I had items that cost twenty five cents, one dollar, three dollars and eight dollars. I wish I had five dollar and ten dollar items at the show because I think they would have done well. Some buyers look at the $8 book and really want it but don't want to spend $8. Well, hey, look at this nice $3 book. Some buyers can't make up their minds or they want to check out the whole show before they spend their money. Well, hey, look at these little twenty five cent comics. How hard is it to pull the trigger on a twenty five cent comic?

And about my twenty five cent comics. I've seen a lot of comics folk dismiss them and roll their eyes at them over the years but, here's the thing, most people buy four or them. So keep rolling your eyes jerks, I just made a dollar. I'll say it again. Price points.

Chester Brown: Chester Brown is one of my favorite cartoonists. Louis Riel is my favorite graphic novel. I think he is one of the four or five best living cartoonists on this here planet Earth. I was nervous about the idea of meeting him and had pretty much talked myself into thinking that I would not. I had this idea that he would only be at his table for a few hours each day and that there would be a huge line. But still, I took a few books for him to sign. Just in case.

Early Saturday morning after I set up my table I went to the restroom. Drawn and Quarterly (Brown's publisher) had a booth right near the restroom. When I had zipped up, washed hands and exited the restroom there was Chester Brown and his huge smile behind his table with only a couple of people in line. I ran to my table and got my books.
By the time I got back there were about four people in line ahead of me. I noticed the first guy in line was talking a lot. Like, telling Brown his life story. Like, telling him which brand of toilet paper he was using when he read I Never Liked You on the john. That guy finally moved on but Brown spent a lot of time talking to the other guys ahead of me as well. Dang the Chatty Cathies were gumming up the works!

I decided that out of respect for Brown and the people in the now much bigger line behind me that I would not ask questions, talk about myself or waste any time.

So, I finally got my turn. Chester Brown is not short but he is very thin. His body is almost non-existent. Just a large head floating on a stick. But that head features a very big warm smile and kind eyes. His eyes look like those of a grandparent holding a new baby.

I said hello, shook hands and asked if he could sign my books. Brown instantly offered me a new copy of Louis Riel. I have one of the early copies that had a binding problem. I decided to keep my copy. It's mine ya know. I've read through it over and over. It just did not feel right to let it go. Brown was surprised but understood.

Brown asked me my name. I told him but I also showed him my exhibitor badge where my name was printed. He wrote down my name on a sheet of scratch paper. It had names of the folks that had been ahead of me as well. Seeing that I'm an exhibitor he started asking me questions about what I do. Chester Brown was asking me questions. I tried my best to be fast and short but each question inspired a new question from Brown to the point that eventually I had told him about my comics, my day job and my kids. The guys in line were not the Chatty Cathies. Chester Brown was the Chatty Cathy.
But all the while this was going on, Brown was drawing in my books. (Drawing and lettering with the same pocket brush and micron pen I use. We talked about that as well.) In each book he drew a little cartoon with a customized message with my name included. I think the scratch sheet with the names was a trick he used to make sure that he had the lettering right. Each drawing was in the style of the book being signed. Every line perfect. Wow.
So, what seemed to me from a few people back to be people taking up all of Brown's time was actually a perfectly executed creator/fan experience totally controlled and paced by Brown to give the fan exactly what they did no know they needed.

It was easily the most pleasant and least awkward time I've ever had meeting one of my heroes. Thank you Chester Brown. You are the best.

I also went to Chester Brown's presentation thing at the end of day one. Apparently it is the same routine he has been doing for a while. He has a slide show of the first chapter or two from Paying For It and he reads the comic aloud. Which is hilarious! I liked Paying For It but I never realized how funny it was until I heard it read aloud.

For those of you that are not me and don't have literally every comics blog in their Google Blog Reader, Paying For It is a sort of auto-bio investigative case study treaties about Chester Brown's personal experiences with prostitution. So, yeah, there is some nudity. No biggie. However... to find yourself in a room where these drawings are being projected on a large screen when suddenly the cleaning ladies come in... well it could have gone poorly. I don't know that the cleaning ladies even noticed but I kept expecting to hear one of them gasp, "What the hell kind of comic book show is this! Put your pants on Charlie Brown!" If we had been a state or two to the south I could easily see things going very bad very quickly. But, it was fine. Better than fine it was very interesting. After the reading Brown answered questions from the audience. His responses seemed to be honest and well thought out. I guess at this point he has heard about every question that can be asked about the book. The question I wanted to ask was about the scene where he and his roommate go to the movies. I wanted to know if they saw Chasing Amy or Austin Powers. Unfortunately time ran out so I may never know.

Ignatz: So, when you stroll into SPX and go to the registration table for exhibitors (If you are/were me and if you are/were and exhibitor) they give you (me) a ballot for the Ignatz awards. I looked at the ballot. I thought about the ballot. I filled out the ballot. I put the ballot in my shirt pocket. At about 6 PM I realized that the ballot was supposed to have been turned in at 5 PM. So, sorry Ignatz nominees, I failed to help any of you. Or, you could say, I was really nice and did not vote against any of you. Honestly though, I think most of the winners were the folks I selected. I had left a few blank because I was not familiar enough with the work. The work I was familiar with I knew mainly through teh intronets. So, comics types, yeah, that whole intronet thing. Look into it.

The award show itself was pretty great. It was very crowded. Standing room only. Dustin Harbin did a great job as the MC/host/announcer guy. Harbin and most all of the presenters were very funny. I was very impressed with Warren Bernard's brief introductory message/state of the convention update. What a personable and swell guy. You could almost see wavy comics love radiation lines coming from the guy. Like invisible comics hugs. Good job team SPX.

Kids these days, yeesh!: I'd guess the average exhibitor age was pretty young. I'm not good at guessing ages. Everything from thirteen to thirty looks the same to me but I'd guess the average age was under 30. I could be totally wrong. I am nearsighted remember.

I notice that things are so different for younger cartoonists today. Not that younger the cartoonists or younger people are different. Just the times are different and comics is different. I don't buy in to any of that "entitlement generation" BS. Every generation seems like slackers to the previous generation. Hell, my generation thought we invented slacking. (Well, maybe we did. Who can be bothered to remember?) But it is interesting for me to see how different their perspectives are.

When I was in my early 20s I liked to draw, I made zines, I drew rock show fliers and I read comics but it never really occurred to me that cartoonist was something one could decide to be. I thought you had to move to New York and work your way up through Marvel or DC. As far as being a newspaper strip cartoonist I though you had to wait for Charles Schulz or Jim Davis to die and then hope to get their slot. (I was sort of right about that one.)

But these youngsters today have their college courses, their SCAD, their CCCS, their portfolios, their minicomics, their website etc. and they all seem to believe that it's just a given that some publisher is going to put out a book for them. And most of the publishers they are talking about did not exist 15 years ago. Or maybe not even five years ago! These youngsters can pretty much survey the entire industry online in an afternoon and say 'here are the publishers I'd like to work with'.

Now that does not mean it will happen. But, at least they have some targets to aim at. I overheard a couple of guys talking about which publishers they should show stuff to as if it were a given that one of them would want to put out their book. And maybe they were right but it cracked me up. They were talking about how certain publishers were just a bunch of old guys and about how other publishers were younger and cooler so they would go with those guys. Which is also hilarious because those older guy publishers happen to have some of the best young cartoonists out there.

But it's good. It's good. It's great that there are enough publishers that an artist can aim for the publishers who's aesthetics most closely match their work. That is just super. But it sure is different. Things have moved so quickly. I hope it lasts. I hope it grows. Oh you skinny young cartoonists with your ill fitting clothes and your awful hair. God bless you and good luck.

The gas stations of Virginia and Maryland: Where I live, most of the gas stations also have convenience stores. But nothing like the mind blowing over the top-ness of Sheetz and Wawa. Holy macaroni. Those stores are insane. I went into a Wawa early Sunday morning and saw a sign for "2 for $3" on their biscuits and croissants. So, of course I got one of each. The biscuit was about the size of a baby lamb. I ate about two thirds of the sucker and died. I'm writing this now from Heaven. (FYI, in Heaven we are all spiritual beings without bodies and sex and/or gender are irrelevant. Oh, and the streets are paved with pastries. Weird. I know right?)
Okay, but what is up with 7-eleven. The 7-elevens in MD (Medicinal Doughnuts) don't have gas. What! That's like 7-three-and-a-half. Oh and Bethesda barely has any gas stations at all. I spent forever Saturday night looking for a gas station. If anyone has thousands of dollars sitting around needing to be spent, you might consider opening a gas station in Bethesda MD (Moderate Downer).

Palin/Bachmann 2012: I blame anything about this post that does not make sense on the time when Rick Perry forcibly vaccinated me when I was a teenage girl. *

The loot: I did not pick up a lot of stuff at the show. As I said it was crowded and the aisles were hard to walk through. I'll try to post reviews for everything I picked up at file under other as soon as I have time. For now I'll say that I really enjoyed Matthew Smith and Jeremy Massie's new minicomic Bee Sting, Rob Ullman and Jeffrey Brown's Old-Timey Hockey Tales, Dustin Harbin's new mini about the Doug Wright Awards (amazing shiny card stock cover) and James Kochalka's Retrofit book Fungus.

Okay, okay, that's enough for now. I need to stop adding to this post before the next SPX starts.

Your best pal ever,
Shannon Smith

*I have never been a teenage girl.

fuo at SPX

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 03:57:00 +0000

I've been making comics (semi-seriously) for about nine years and I've been wanting to go to SPX (Small Press Expo) almost as long. Hopefully this post won't jinx it but I should be there this weekend, Sept. 10 & 11 in Bethesda MD. (Medical Doctor.) From what I hear, SPX is the finest small press expo in these United States of America.

I personally love small press. Large press is fine but it can be hard to carry around. I prefer the small. I'm not sure what an "Expo" is but I assume it involves a Ferris wheel and old ladies wearing large hats. I don't know how they are going to fit all of that into a hotel but that's not my problem.

I should have copies of my latest minicomic #RockingSoHard so that you can hand me cash dollars and then have me hand you comics. I'll also have the fantastical critically acclaimed trade paper back anthology Shiot Crock 16 which is without a doubt the greatest trade paper back comics anthology I have ever edited and published. You will want to give me cash money for that as well. I may and/or may not also bring many of the other minicomics I have created over the years. I also may and/or may not have other things for sale. I may dance. I might give a dramatic reading of Rick Perry's book Fed Up! No one knows but God and Nostradamus. You will just have to be there to find out.

You can find me at table space B8A. I will be standing behind an 8 1/2 by 11 inch sign that looks just like the image at the top of this post. If you have never met me before, I look exactly like this....

I wish I had time to go through the list and do some sort of round up of all the things I'm looking forward to seeing at SPX but, I'm super busy. (If anyone would like to come and take care of my job for me on Friday so that I can get a head start on my 8 hour drive, that would be super.) Let's just say, since I've never been before that I am looking forward to all of it. (I really want that Infinite Kung Fu book.) But I'm mostly looking forward to you meeting me and giving me cash for my comic books.

Oh, oh, I almost forgot. I of course will also be there representing the file under other blog empire. So, if you want stuff reviewed at file under other, the absolute best and fastest way to make that happen is to give me stuff at the show.

See you in Maryland!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Recomended Kickstarter: Burning Building Comix

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:40:00 +0000

I have been hesitant to recommend or promote Kickstarter campaigns here at file under other mainly because I don't like to recommend something I've not actually read. I have however had the good fortune of reading most of the minicomics to be collected in Jeff Zwirek's proposed Burning Building graphic novel. They are very entertaining, very well, made and have a very fun and clever design. From looking at the amazing video for the campaign it looks like the graphic novel will preserve and/or expand upon all of that. I personally would love to have a copy so I feel safe in assuming that if you contribute to the project an if meets its goal that you will be very happy with the result. Unless of course you hate things that are great.

As I type this, there are 17 days left to get on board. Check it out.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

WYSTERIA by Brad McGinty (Hardback.)

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:38:00 +0000

Wysteria by Brad McGinty

Hand made hard back graphic novel.

196 pages. Black and white. Color cover.

On sale here for $25.00.

This is not a review so much as it is me flat out commanding you to go buy this book. I'm not going to say a lot new about the comics in this book here because I already reviewed four sixths of it in this extensive review of the original minicomics. In that review I talked about Brad's wordless epic. Here are some things I said for those of you too lazy to click the link:

Brad is creating a world here that is an abstraction of reality allowing the reader to translate every scene and even every panel based on their own intuitions, free of being directed what to think by dialog or narration. The abstract world and the heaviness of the silence force a more intimate connection with the character and the story if for no other reason than that you are forced to think more about each panel's meaning than you would be if you had the context clues of text. Silent comics can be a challenge to follow but Wysteria has the right combination of pacing and dynamic art to keep you engaged.

and...

The art is fantastic and is probably what has kept me reading and re-reading it. Brad has a huge range. Scenes range from the lushness of Disney's Snow White to the psychedelic madness of Zap era Robert Williams or R. Crumb. Brad's inks are bold and fluid but can also be appropriately abrasive during scenes of violence. There is a consistency in the characters and the world he creates here that you seldom find in mini comics.

and...

Brad has broken down the hero's quest in to its most essential archetypal elements. It is almost a story about storytelling itself. What is a story? The character/situation starts out one way and ends up another. The end. The character exists and then changes. Failure then redemption. Birth then rebirth. It make sense that our hero in Wysteria transforms into a sort of all-culture all-religion looking tribal mask totem creature because the story itself is about stripping away the character's flaws and reducing the character to his purest/primitive form while the storytelling is a study in the most essential basics of visual storytelling.

Sounds pretty good huh? Well it is. It's great and now it's even better because it has an ending. Reading it through as one book is a trilling experience. Despite already knowing the gist of most of it I was still turning the pages furiously to find out what was going to happen next to our little bird totem guy. It's a fun read and sets the imagination on fire.

All of which is plenty enough reason to buy a copy but I also want to talk about what a great art object the thing is. This is a hand bound book and it looks and feels great. You can tell that it's hand made but it is made very well. It looks great. It feels great. It's just right. I've had my copy on my kitchen table for almost a month now and I still want to pick it up each time I see it. It's just a fun thing to look through and I expect to enjoy going back to it again and again for years.

Brad has posted a great summary of how he made the books on his website. Check that out and also watch the video I posted above for nice flip through. Notice how black the blacks are. So black that they look wet. The print job is fantastic.

So yeah. Wysteria is a great looking book full of great comics. Brad McGinty's art in this thing is amazing folks. You are going to read through it over and over. It looks like making them was a lot of hard work so you probably want to go buy a copy before Brad keels over.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. Did I mentiom "great"?

HeroesCon 2011.

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 03:05:00 +0000

Before I get started on this report I'll take a second to show off the above piece of art which I got from Patrick Dean. Amazing huh? I got two things from Patrick Dean, that drawing and a big club soda spray pattern on my luggage. I will cherish both of them eternally.

I'm still recovering from HeroesCon weekend. The show in itself was very smooth and laid back but the week without sleep leading up to it will take some time to get over. In the days leading up to HeroesCon I took on an illustration job and also decided to add a three page comic to my new comic #RockingSoHard. (On sale now!) So, I did not sleep a lot leading up to HeroesCon. Nobody's fault but mine. I printed my minicomic in the AM before the show and drove to Charlotte on about one and a half hours of sleep. Good times.

It was a pleasant drive. My pal Red Bull was nice enough to navigate me to yet another comics show and I was able to enjoy the perfect weather and lovely countryside between VA and NC. I got to the show late on Friday. I think that by the time I parked and picked up my badge it was around 2:00 when I set up on Indie Island. I was really happy with my table location. We were facing a back wall, which is not the best place to be, but I got to set up with my super best pals. I was on a row with J. Chris Campbell, Brad McGinty, Josh Latta and Ashely Holt of Wide Awake Press and we were in a square of tables with fine Top Shelf folks like Robert Venditti, Duane Ballanger, Van Jensen and Andy Runton. Across the aisle to my left was Henry Eudy. Across the aisle to my right was Ben Towle. And in the next section up form us was the GA gang including Patrick Dean, Robert Newsome, Joey Weiser, Drew Weing and Rich Tommaso. So most of the folks I wanted to say hit to and hang out with were right there within shouting distance.

Set up was easy. We had plenty of room. Everything was smooth. So smooth that you can almost forget what a great job the HeroesCon staff and volunteers do. I never had to ask for anything. Every thing was in it's right place and as it should be. I simply strolled into the show, picked up my badge and strolled to my table. Smiling faces greeting me at every turn. I've had a more difficult time making it to my desk at work on many occasions. So, great job HeroesCon staff. I heart you so much.

There are going to be a lot of parts of the HeroesCon experience that I won't comment on in this post because I either missed them, did not care about them or was just oblivious. I'm at HeroesCon in three capacities. Three often conflicting capacities. As a creator I'm there to sell comics, sell art, sell sketches and grow my readership. As a writer-about-comics I'm there to check out what is new and exciting in alt/indie/underground/mini/art-comics. As a fan I'm there to shop for stuff I don't see a lot since I'm not a weekly comic shop guy anymore. Those second two capacities often conflict with the first so I'm not the best person to turn to for any kind of sales estimates. And that first capacity keeps me stuck at my table a lot limiting my time to be of much use on the second two. That first capacity also forces me to miss out on panels and a lot of other things any fan would enjoy. In short, this post is not going to report to you the HeroesCon experience. It can only report my experience and I'll break that up in three main sections.

As a creator:

Friday was really slow. Not much traffic on indie island. I did okay selling sketches and sold a few of my new comic. I took advantage of the slow time to say hi to pals and drop off a few comp copies of my new book.

Saturday was busy right off the bat. I felt like I was sketching from open to close. I sold a good amount of minicomics at every price point that I offer and I sold original art. Sketches probably made up the largest share of my transactions but original art the largest part of my money. I had several return customers ready to buy the new comic no questions asked. That's how you want it. A growing readership. Good times.

Sunday had me busy with the sketches right off the bat again but I think I sold a lot less comics on Sunday. I literally had people buy original art off me without even looking at my comics.

All and all I did fine as a creator and I am more than glad that I made the show. But I think things are changing and I and other creators will have to adapt. I think HeroesCon is becoming a sketch convention. I just don't see it as a show where people come to buy comics. The average attendee already has a pull list and a big comics collection. They are looking for what they can not get at their local shop. They are looking for autographs, sketches and original art. And that's fine. It if it is a sketch convention then I still want to be in that game. I just need to plan for it better and be ready with more original art next year. I did okay. Foot traffic may have been down but I was smart enough to bring some original art and I get paid a whole lot more for that than I do a minicomic. Next year I'll be ready with even more.

Oh and one more thing about the sketches. They were a lot of fun and a great challenge. The themed sketchbooks that folks pass around are very cool. I get to see all this great art from other artists and I get to the challenge of drawing stuff I would never think of. I drew stuff Pinky and the Brain, MODOK, Firestorm, a sea monster, a robot Bigfoot with Boba Fett's helmet, wrestler Jimmy Boogie Woogie Man Valiant riding a shark in outer space... etc. It was great!

As a writer-about-comics:

As a writer-about-comics/critic/columnist/etc. I totally failed. I barely looked at any of the tables outside of Indie Island and when I did all I managed to do was say hi to a few people and pick up a few books. I had a list of about 20 creators that I wanted to speak to but I just totally failed. I also failed to make any of the panels. I really, really, wanted to make that humor panel, the webcomics panel, the Kickstarter panel and Ben Towle's panels but I was too busy sketching. Sorry readers.

Normally I would post a pic of everything I got and write some brief reviews but my loot is still in a suitcase. I did have a lot of folks drop off comp copies for fuo. Thank you comp copy dropper offers! I will get to your stuff. I had three books that I wanted to pick up. One was Robert Venditti's new book the Homeland Directive. I totally failed to get home with a copy. I'm gonna blame that on sleep deprivation. I talked to Rob about it Friday morning and looked through it. It looks great. I tricked myself into thinking that I got a copy on Friday even though Friday me was really dumb and was expecting Sunday me to pick it up. I'll either get it online when I have some funds or I'll get it at SPX.

I had better luck getting Dustin Harbin's new book. It's the 2nd collection of his online diary strips. I've already read the strips online but I wanted the book in part because Dustin is very good at making minicomics. I'll do a more formal review of it later and post some pics but I'll just say it's a fantastic looking comic. (And I got a little sketch in it. Thanks Dharbin!)

I was super excited to pick up Brad McGinty's new hardback collection of Wysteria. Brad bound this sucker together by hand and it looks fantastic. I can't wait to read it to see how it ends. I'll post a full review of it later with pics and all that jazz. Brad also hooked me up with a super cool ninja turtle t-shirt he made. Thanks Brad!

Thanks to everyone that gave or traded me stuff. I'll get through my suitcase and blab about all of it here at fuo as soon as I can.

As a fan:

I was busy enough at my table that when I did go shopping it was in a frantic running around style. When I'm shopping with the dealers I'm really just looking for two things. Toys for my kids and really cheap comics for myself. Like I told one dealer, quality was the absolute last thing I'm looking for in comics. I want them for a dollar or less. Coffee stains and cigarette burns are not only tolerated but they are preferred. I had a surprisingly hard time finding comics I was looking for. I'm mainly looking for 70's Marvel and 70's Kirby at DC. I'm sure every comic I want was at that show but I did not find many in my price range. The #1 thing I was looking for in my cheap comic hunt was The Essential Thor #1. I got it for $5. Success!

As far as toys go I had a very hard time finding anything for my girls. I was looking for just about any girl super hero toys and there was almost nothing. The dealers all seemed to have the same stuff as last year. Minus what they sold last year. I was disappointed. Josh Latta found some action figures that were Disney characters dressed as Star Wars characters. My kids love both so I picked up Minnie Mouse as Padme and Minnie Mouse as Princess Leia. I eventually found a nice Batgirl action figure and paid about $15 more for it than I should have but after three days of looking you do what you can. (The Batgirl toy's arm broke off as soon as it came out of the package. Lame.) My four year old is into Sonic the Hedgehog so I picked her up a nice pack of Sonic toys for $10. Not a bad deal.

I did find a few comics cheap. I filled in some of the holes in my daughter's Batman and The Outsiders collection. On Sunday a dealer was blowing out comics at ten cents each so I picked up a bunch of Teen Titans and Dazzler for my daughter and some American Flag for myself. That's what I'm talking about. If I had time I could have come home with a whole suitcase of good stuff.

As a fan I'm also not above standing in line to meet some creators. I did not have much luck with this. I really could not be away from my table long enough to stand in line. I wanted to say hi to Eric Canete and Ryan Sook. Those are two of my current faves. Each time I swung by Canete's table he had a crowd. I never found Sook. I did find David Mack. I'm a big David Mack fan. I've met and bought stuff off of Mack enough times over the years that I could just kind of pop in, have him give me the new stuff really quickly and get out without taking up much of his time or being away from my table too long. David Mack is one of the nicest and most appreciative creators I've ever known in all these years of comics life. I got some fantastic looking comics from him. Not to turn this report into a David Mack article but I love the collage style he has been using for the past several years. I think he's really pushing and challenging what you can do with comics. I think he is vastly underrated.

I did get to check out the art auction. It was loud in there so I could only take about a half hour of it but I did look at all of the art. There were some amazing pieces and it was mind blowing to see how much money they were raising. It was cool to see several folks I know bring in some big bucks with their contributions.

Random general impressions:

The show felt slower and smaller to me in almost every area. Dealers, guest, attendees, costumes etc. They say attendance was up and I'm sure they would not fib to us but I have a feeling that a lot of attendees were in out a lot quicker than in the past. I think people came in, hit their points of interest and left as opposed to taking advantage of the show over a whole three days. I don't have any evidence to back this up but a lot of the people I saw at my table told me that they were just there for one day when in the past I had seen them over the whole weekend. I also saw people leaving the show a lot earlier than in the past.

Like I said earlier, it seemed like the dealers had a lot less and that what they did have was the same stuff as last year. In the past the dealers have been very reflective of what is going on in the direct market. You could expect to see lots of new toys, statues, t-shirts etc. related to the most recent event comics and summer movies. If this year's dealers reflect what is going on in the direct market right now then what is going on is a fire sale. Now a fire sale is great for a cheapskate like me but it does not keep the attendees walking the aisles in awe as much as the latest thing would.

And speaking of the latest thing... I don't think we have one right now. I heard people talk about the Thor movie a little but I never heard one word about the new X-Men movie. The only X-Men related stuff I saw was Emma Frost fan art that I would attribute more to the Grant Morrison/Frank Quitely comics of the last decade than to the new movie. There were big Green Lantern banners up but I did not see any new Green Lantern merch at the dealers.

And please don't go thinking that I'm crapping on the dealers. I love me some dealers. I just think times are tough. For the past several years at HeroesCon I had been thinking that if we were in a recession that it had not hit the convention floor yet. I think this year it hit. I found this interesting article about the economy of Charlotte that backs up a lot of my fears. Times is tough yo. Good luck Charlotte. I'm rooting for ya.

I also think timing might be a factor on foot traffic. The show was earlier this year. I for one showed up late on Friday due in part to still having a kid in school and needing to get her there before I could leave town.

It's also really expensive. I was a guest. Thank God and HeroesCon that I was a guest. But it is still expensive. The price of gas is just devastating. Even at the con rate The Westin is a very expensive hotel. I'm just a simpleton from the country but usually when I stay at a hotel I get free wi-fi, free breakfast, a microwave so I can eat in room, swimming pool, hot tub, weight room and most importantly without question I get free parking. The Westin has none of that. Parking was a killer. Now I love The Westin. It is super nice and the staff is great. But it is very expensive. I'd much rather have given the money I spent there to artists and dealers. The Westin is right there at the convention center and it's where everyone hangs out but going forward, I'll probably have to explore other options. (Lack of free parking is gonna be the deal breaker.)

But let's not end on a negative note. I had a super time at the show. It was great to hang out with my comics pals for three days. My head is still full of ideas and inspiration from so many great conversations. Thanks so much to all my pals, peers, attendees, customers, HeroesCon staff and volunteers. I'm very lucky to be a part of such a brilliant group of comics folks even if we only see each other a few times a year. I can't wait to start writing, drawing and making new comics to show off to them next time. See ya next year HeroesCon!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

*Convention images stolen from Exile on Plain Street. Again. Thanks!

fuo (aka Shannon Smith) at HeroesCon in Charlotte this weekend.

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:14:00 +0000

So yeah. HeroesCon starts tomorrow (Friday) in Charlotte NC. I will be a guest on Indie Island. I'll be sitting (well, more like standing/staggering) in the Top Shelf/Wide Awake Press Lagoon area of the island. Just look for the best looking guys in the building. Then keep looking around until you see us.

Normally I would have liked to have posted an extensive preview report about what I'm looking forward to. But, I'm busy. I hope to make enough money to buy Robert Venditti and Brad McGinty's new books and some comics for the kids. I've got a checklist of folks I want to say hi to that runs two notebook pages long. Heroes is great folks. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, you need to drop that right now and start driving, hitching, flying, sailing and/or moonwalking to Charlotte right now.

Hopefully, I'll have a new minicomic with me on Friday. It's called #RockingSoHard (aka Shannon Smith is Addicted to Distraction No. 2). It's got fake Spider-Man, fake Hulk and fake me in it. It's probably the best comic that's ever been made. Well, I did read an issue of Sonic the Hedgehog that was a little bit better, but other than that. I'll also have some of my older comics and the Shiot Crock 16 anthology. If I get them cut tonight, I plan on selling inked 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 sketchcards this weekend. As always I'll do quick pencil sketches in your sketchbooks for free. I also plan on bringing a bunch of originals and selling them dirt cheap. I've got a hundred or so originals I'm going to sort through this evening and I'll pick out some fun stuff for you folks to check out and make your own.

So, I'm way to busy to keep on blabbing about this. I've got a nose to floss, teeth to comb, shoes to iron and underwear to shine. Just get in your car and drive to Charlotte already okay!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Two more comics you should be reading online right now.

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Fri, 27 May 2011 18:01:00 +0000

Steve Lafler is one of the most criminally under-appreciated cartoonists of the past 20 or so years. His older stuff can be hard to find but thanks to C02 you can now read his Dog Boy comics online. I strongly suggest you check them out. They also have some his newer work like El Vocho ready for you to read. Every once in a while teh intronets get things right. This is one of those times. I also recommend you go to his page and pick up a copy of Tranny. It is very good.

Patrick Dean is one of my favorite cartoonists and drawers. Patrick's comics and art come from a very strange and funny place. I've talked about his minicomics before here on fuo and even had him on my "best of" list but he has not had a lot of stuff on the web. Until now! Over the past few months, Patrick has been updating his comics blog almost daily. Sometimes with old comics, sometimes with new comics and sometimes with amazing color art. I've said it on twitter many times that everyone needs to subscribe to his blog and now I'm saying it here. There, I said it.

Patrick will be on Indie Island at HeroesCon next week so swing by and buy up all his comics. (I'll be there too.)

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Two comics you should read online right now.

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Tue, 24 May 2011 17:58:00 +0000

I wanted to share links to a couple of comics you can read online for free right now.

The great Ben Towle is serializing his new "graphic novel in progress" The Oyster War online. It is clever, fun, exciting and beautifully drawn. There is some master class level drawing going on here and the colors are perfect. Everything about it is inspiring to me. The drawing, lettering, colors, story telling and especially the character designs. It's just packed with great stuff to look at. And boats! I love boats. Every single panel so far has been great. The comic starts here. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Ben will be at HeroesCon next weekend. You should check out his stuff in person. I'm sure that he will also be moderating a panel or three because his head is full of brains.

My pal Brad McGinty has re-modeled his website and has made his complete graphic novel Wysteria available online. I talked in depth about the Wysteria minicomics a while back in a fuo review. They are some of my favorite minicomics of all time. The online version includes the conclusion to the book which I have not yet read. I'm trying to hold out to read it on paper first but only because I'm weird. I will probably fail to hold out though because it looks really fantastic and I'm anxious to read the whole thing in one chunk. Wysteria is a fascinating adventure and features some rich and wonderful art that I can get lost in of for hours. You should check it out. (Brad is also taking pre-orders for a hardback version.)

Brad will be at HeroesCon next week. You should buy up all his comics and hit him up for a sketch. Brad is one of the great guys to watch draw. He is super fast and amazing with a brush. Make sure to check him out on Indie Island.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Aww Fluke yeah 2011.

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Thu, 19 May 2011 03:17:00 +0000

The 10 anniversary Fluke Mini-Comics and Zine Fest was at the end of last month. I know you may be questioning why I should even bother commenting on a show that happened so long ago. Well, I'll tell you why. In a few months from now I'll start thinking about what the best stuff of 2011 was/is/will be and I'll need this post to refresh my memory. And, maybe you will need this post to refresh your memory.

I've been meaning to post about Fluke but things beyond my control have left me either too busy or physically unable to. A few days after Fluke I had surgery. I was certain that I would be able to get back to work and comics as soon as I got home from surgery. The doctor laughed at me and told me that there was no way I would be able to function on the drugs she was going to give me. It turns out, the only thing a person can successfully do on lortab and oxycodone is watch Twin Peaks and Doctor Who.

So um, better late than blah blah blah.

My adventure began when... wait, stop right there. Before I forget, let's talk about how I forgot to take my camera so all of the photographs in this post are stolen from Heather and Seth at Exile on Plain Street. Exile is a really nice blog. You should check out. Who am I to tell you what to do? A freaking genius. That's who. Seriously, they have multiple reports on Fluke and an enormous Flikr collection of Fluke pics. And Heather and Seth are fine people. Thanks!

Where was I?

Let's dial up the wayback machine to to Thursday, April 21 11:30 PM. There I am. Everything is under control. Things at work ended up being a lot more hectic than they should have but I've got my PDF ready to print my new minicomic. I've got the cover read to roll. I've got Friday off so I'll have all morning to print the mini and then drive to Georgia. I should be in Georgia before dark and have plenty of time to visit family before heading over to Lattaland. Yeah. This is going to be just fine.

Friday, April 22 10:00 AM. Things spiral out of control at work. I end up stuck working almost the whole day. But that's okay. Nothing can stop me. I'll just shoot my PDF over to the UPS store via the magic of teh intronets and they will have my new minicomic ready for me as I roll out of town.

Friday, April 22 4:00 PM. I roll into the the UPS store to get my book. Turns out the file did not send. No worries. I have the flash drive. The clerk is really busy but I wait. Eventually he prints a test copy. The pages are flipped. The printer does not want to print it as a booklet. No worries. Adjustments will be made.

Friday, April 22 6:00 PM. Adjustments failed. I can't wait any longer. Gotta hit the road without my new minicomic. Destination Lattaland.

So, since the UPS store is so far away from my house, this puts me hitting the road from the Bristol area instead of my home in the Shire. That puts me driving south toward Georgia through Tennessee and both the North and South Cackalakies. At some point, close to dark, driving down Interstate 26 in Tennessee, I notice some Bible folk on the side of the highway. It looks like a live Nativity scene. Or at least that is how my brain processes the images I see. Eventually, my brain comes to terms with the fact that a live Nativity on Good Friday does not make any dang sense and I realize that it is a live crucifiction!

There were a bunch of Christmas padgent shepherd looking folk standing around three crosses. On the crosses were three fellows wearing not much more than what appeared to be white bed sheets dipped in red paint. Now, I love me some Jesus for sure. But, that was odd. And still I drove on...

It got dark. Real dark. Foggy dark. It was hard to see so I let two cans of Red Bull handle the navigation. They would argue between themselves at points about which exit to take and about which way was the fastest. But it worked out. I had written down directions to Lattaland but it was too dark for the Red Bull cans to read them. By the time we hit Asheville, I knew the Red Bull cans were going to need some help. I did what I could do to help by calling my wife on the cell phone. I greeted her with a panic attack and then had her tell me exit by exit which turns to take. I relayed this back to the Red Bull cans and we made it through greater North and South Cackalacky alive.

Let me just pause to ask a question of any Cackalackians out there. Is "Future I-26" ever going to become "Now I-26". It's been years folks. Can we get to work on that? Call a congressman or something? Thanks.

Eventually I hit Interstate 85 South and tears of joy rolled down my cheeks. It would be close to 1 AM when I made it to Lattaland, home of Josh Latta, his gracious wife Beth, three large silent dogs, at least one cat and many, many, many comics and toys.

Josh is a good friend of mine so it was super cool to talk comics and look at toys with him. I even got to look at some original Rashy Rabbit stuff. But, we were both really tired. So by 2 AM we were asleep.

Saturday, April 23 7:30ish AM. I open my eyes to see the face of large silent dog about six inches from my nose. I think it was smiling. Josh had good coffee ready in the kitchen. I hit the shower. I got dressed and came down stairs just as Beth was putting the final touches on a breakfast feast. Eggs, hash browns, sausage gravy and toast. A very good breakfast. Thanks Beth!

By a bit after 9:00 we were ready to hit the road for Athens so we did. On the way there, Josh and I worked out everything that is wrong with comics. If Marvel and DC would like to purchase this information for a great many dollars they are welcome to email me.

Saturday, April 23 10:30 AM. We got to Fluke and there was a really long line from the entrance of the 40 Watt to the street. Longest line I've seen for Fluke. Saw some old pals in line. The weather was perfect. It was a nice morning. At 11:00 sharp they started letting us inside. The line moved quickly. I've never been to the 40 Watt but it's a nice venue. It has a big open room which turned out to be a great place for a small press show. The tables filled up... well, pretty much instantly. I find one half table near the back. I was bummed that I was not near my pals but then The Top Shelf/Wide Awake Press Axis of Comics Goodness shifted things around and made room for both Josh and I over in their area.

It's always great to hang out with team WAP and team Top Shelf. I've known most of those guys for as long as I've been making comics. I worked with Robert Venditti at Borders back in the day. I met Josh Latta through absent WAPpie Brad McGinty who I also worked with at Borders. I met J. Chris Campbell at a comics show through Brad and Josh and I met Andy Runton at the show where he had his very first Owly minicomic. It was sad that Brad could not be there. I can only think of two or three shows I've set up at without Brad.

It turned out to be a great location. We were just past the entrance and near the rest rooms so I think every one that entered the show came by our tables at least once.

Before I was even settled in I was selling comics and drawing in sketch books. Robert Newsome came by and presented each of us with a lovely "certificate of table". The show flew by for me. I stayed busy the whole day to the point that I did not get to talk to everyone I wanted to. Which is good but bittersweet.

I've been making minicomics and going to conventions since 2002 so I've made lot of great friends that I only see once or twice a year at these shows. I wish we all had the time and money to just hang out for another day without the business of comics.

And now some pictures I pasted in here weeks ago in totally random order.

That is Adam Daughetee of the Dollar Bin and his hat. He is the Serpico of comics. In the back ground of this pic I am talking to Rich Tomasso. Rich used to live and work within walking distance of a Borders where I worked. He was also at a lot of the first comics shows I went to as a creator. He's a great guy and I've always liked talking with him. And I happen to be a really big fan of his comics. I think he is easily one of the most underrated cartoonists of the past decade. Don't take my word for it though, you can check out a lot of his stuff online. Rich said that he would have some new stuff in print in the US in the near future. That will be super cool.

My pal Brad McGinty moved far far away from Fluke and could not attend this year. This made the water come out of many eyes. In tribute to our pal Brad a bunch of us put together a piece of jam art called Brad Fest. This is not the finished version but it's close. This features J. Chris Campbell (I think he started the thing), Josh Latta, Ashely Holt and myself. I drew Brad as the naked cherub thing. Because, that's how I always see him in my mind and in my heart.

This is Chris Sims on the left and Chad Bowers on the right. They work on a bunch of comics together that are knee slappin' ha ha funny. I've been reading Chris's blog since back when it was on blogger and I also read his stuff on Comics Aliance so I wanted to say "hi". I did. He and Chad also said hi. And we traded comics. Fluke magic. Josh Latta and I are in the background of that photo. I'm almost certain that we are looking at Patrick Dean's hair.

That's J. Chris Campbell creator of wonderful comics about robots and cowboys and firemen and bugs and all things good. You want to know who is nicer than J. Chris Campbell? No one.

That's a bunch of people getting their Fluke on.

That's Drew Weing on the left. I wanted to say hi to Drew and get a copy of his new book but his table was super busy all day and I never got to it. I think I'll see him at HeroesCon.

That's Henry Eudy seated and wearing the light red shirt. Henry is a swell fellow and I like his comics lots. I did not get to speak with him as much as I would have liked but, again, there is always HeroesCon.

There's that jerk J. Chris Campbell again and his pal Andy Rutton. Andy is a super nice guy. You want to know who is nicer than Andy Rutton? No one.

Hey, it's Dustin Harbin. Or as I call him in my mind, "The Dharbin". I've known Dustin through HeroesCon for several years but this was the first show I've been to where he was set up as a creator as opposed to running the thing or promoting HeroesCon. I've been following his comics online since right at the time he started posting them. It was cool to pick up a couple of his books that I was missing. I even got an original from his Diary strips. One of my favorite of his strips to be exact. Thanks Dustin!

That is Josh Latta making the magic happen. I love tableing next to Josh. He's one of the two or three funniest guys on Earth so his exchanges with his vast army of Rashy Rabbit fans are worth the trip to the show. It's also neat to watch him draw. He draws really small. I learn a lot every time I hang with Josh. I think Josh sold a lot of Rashy books that day. He was busy.

Here are some guys I don't know actually making minicomics at the show. As it should be.

Here is a drawing Patrick Dean did of Pinky and the Brain. I heart Patrick Dean's drawing.

Oh, and that's Patrick Dean commanding someone to obey. Patrick Dean is Doctor Who only without two hearts, a TARDIS and an English accent. Oh alright, he has two hearts.

That's me on the left and Josh Latta on the right. I think that was right as we were finishing setting up because we were both sold out of some of the comics pictured really early. Oh what we could do to help the world if we could just get back the hours we spent agonizing over what t-shirt to wear.

Some of my comics. I'm sure it was the Phillip cover that the camera was after.

This was the stuff I had for sale. I sold out of Small Bible and SSAD1. I think I sold out of Brush and Pen but I might have a few of those stashed away. If you missed out on those books then, at least you have your health. Unless you don't.

After the show we made the traditional visit to the great Bizarro Wuxtry comics shop. I had to get out of there fast before I spent money. After that we had dinner with team Dollar Bin, team Exile, team WAP and team Top Shelf at Transmetropolitan. I think that was my 3rd post-Fluke dinner at Transmet. They have good cheap pizza and enough room upstairs to seat a large group. It was swell.

And now, let's take a look at some of the loot I scored:

Rashy Rabbit Droppin' Anchor by Josh Latta.

I'm not going to say a whole lot about this one at this time because I'm already working on a full length review. The Cliff's Notes version of that review is that it is a great comic. I expected the art would be great and that it would be very funny but I think the overall storytelling is getting stronger with each issue. Love this comic.

Not My Small Diary 16 edited by Delaine Green.

I was very exited to pick this up. I love Not My Small Diary. It is an anthology series of diary comics. Some great. Some not so great. All interesting. John Porcellino, Julia Wertz, Noah Van Sciver and a lot of my favorite diary cartoonists are in this thing. I always discover a lot of new folks through these as well. It might be the best anthology in minicomics. Certainly the best value.

Resurrection 8.

This is not a minicomic and totally not my normal thing but I'm glad I got it because it has a backup story by Chris Sims, Chad Bowers and Rusty Shackles. The backup story takes place near where I used to live so that was funny. Both the main story and the back up were really good. Good dialog. Good art. The colors were not over bearing. The letters were not annoying. (I tend to hate computer lettering.) I can't afford monthly pamphlet comics but I would certainly be happy if someone shoplifted a trade paperback of this and let me borrow it.

AX Vol. One.

This is the alternative manga anthology that Top Shelf is putting out. I've only had time to read about a quarter of it but I really love this thing. They had me at Yoshihiro Tatsumi.

Double Click by J. Chris Campbell.

This is one of J. Chris's beatifully made pocket sized minis. Somehow I had missed this one before. It's just a collection of odds and ends but it's full of fantastic little characters, robots and gags.

Franklin's Rescue by Allen Spetnagel.

This is a great looking little full color minicomic. The cover has this out of focus thing going on that gives it a 3D feel. Very nice colors. Nice little sci-fi story. Neat style that blends art comics with sunday funnies. I dig it.

Dharbin No. 2 by Dustin Harbin.

This is a very well put together minicomic. Simple but strong. Nice yellowish paper. Red staples! Did you know they made red staples?!? Great comics. I had seen most of this before online but Harbin's drawing style really looks best on paper. This is basically a one man anthology comic. I love that type of thing. Harbin did a good job picking out the order for the comics. He breaks it up really well. He juxtaposes styles nicely and breaks things up with some lovey sketches. A very well designed minicomic.

Diary Comics Number 1 by Dustin Harbin.

This book collects Harbin's diary comics. I've already talked about the online form of these comics quite a bit in my 2009 and 2010 best of lists. I read a lot of diary comcis and Harbin's are some of the best. This book is gorgeous. Koyama Press did a wonderful job. Just six bucks! Amazing.

Hairball by Chew.

Straight up black and white minicomic with a nice color cover on shiny paper. Great cartooning in this thing. Funny stuff. A bit slight.

Our Lady of Sweet Revenge by Joy Taney.

This is a pamphlet sized comic but it has the home made feel of a minicomic. The cover looks like a hand painted ransom note. The story is a fantasy thing that is not my cup of tea but the art is amazing. Great drawing. Great colors. Wow.

The 2011 Fluke Anthology edited (I assume) by Patrick Dean and Robert Newsome.

This is the big thick anthology minicomic that came with the price of admission to the show. I've got a three pager in there that I'm pretty proud of. It's a great comic. Great stuff from Joey Wiser, Sally Madden, Mark Campos and a new Blar comic by Drew Weing. Yes, I would have two cans of Red Bull drive me six hours to Georgia for this minicomic.

The Chronicles of Frogshway by Allen Spetnagel.

This is a pocket sized mini that uses the trick where you cut and old one piece of paper to make an 8 page comic. I love that trick. I've not seen anyone do it in few years. It's perfect for minicomics. The comic is good too. Funny. Clever stuff from that Spetnagel fellow.

Bit Lip by Patrick Dean.

This minicomic collects a lot of Dean's dirty comics for grown-ups. "Twelve Couples In Love" is the subtitle. It is hilarious and amazing looking. Dean is one of my favorite drawers. I just love his style so much. Very glad to have a copy of this one.

The Hightlight of the Prague by Allen Spetnagel.

Another clever little mini from Spetnagel. There is some dark, twisted and funny stuff going on in that guy's head.

Public Domain Catalogue by Ashley Holt.

This book collects a bunch of characters that Holt has created for anyone to use. Holt's drawing here is wonderful and the characters are hilarious. Vlad the Undersea Vampire Monkey. The Wax Tadpole. Autobiolad. Jonny Kafkaesque. Hilarious! Ashley also gave me a CD with four songs on it. It's great. Reminds me a bit of Faith No More. That is a compliment.

Our Trip to Fluke by the Dollar Bin gang and pals.

This is a neat little mini that collects a bunch of one page gags about folks' previous trips to Fluke. Good idea. Good looking little minicomic.

Interchapter Issue One by Shawn Daughetee.

This is a neat looking pocket sized color minicomic. I'm not sure how it was printed but it looks like each page was hand colored. It's really well made. Nice paper. The story is about a turtle crossing the road. It says that is is based on Chapter 3 of the Grapes of Wrath. All I remember about my high school reading of the Grapes of Wrath is horrible, horrible depressing sadness. I prefer the turtle story.

All in all a nice stack of comics. It was encouraging to see so many people still in love with minicomics as a medium. Great to see so many new young faces making minicomics. I've been afraid for a while that the ease of the web and print on demand would put a dent in minicomics but so far it seems to keep on growing. Much love to Patrick, Robert and all the folks that helped make Fluke happen. God bless us everyone.

After the show and dinner I made the six hour drive back to Virginia already missing my pals before I was out of Georgia. I made it home in time to set out my Easter Bunny traps but, I'm sad to report, that once again, the Easter Bunny out smarted me and evaded my traps. Well, there is always next year.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

The file under other World Tour 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 18:49:00 +0000

Ah, can you smell the comics in the air? That's right true believers, it's convention season again. Shannon Smith and the File Under Other Experience are packing up the tour bus and getting ready to bring the finest in hand crafted comics to a town near you.

The first stop will be on April 23rd in Athens GA for the Fluke Mini-Comics and Zine Festival. This is Fluke's 10th anniversary. A lot of my most favorite people will be there. You should too.

The next stop on the non-denominational mystery tour will be on Indie Island at HeroesCon in Charlotte NC June 3rd, 4th and 5th. HeroesCon has it all. Legends, current fan favorites, indie stars, mainstream stars, dealers, t-shirts, nerd/hipster paraphernalia and me. It's the second happiest place on Earth.

The last stop scheduled on the tour (so far) is the Small Press Expo in Bethesda MD September 10 and 11. I've been wanting to go to SPX for about eight years and this year I'm finally going to pull it off. The tables were booked up right after they were announced but I got to work early this year and landed a spot before they were gone. This will be a new deal for me so I'm super excited.

Isn't that exciting!!!!!!!

I plan on having new comics for sale at each stop. I'm working on a lot of different things but I'm going to break some of it up into little mincomics for Fluke and Heroes and then finally release everything in my nice thick "complete" collection at SPX. (Maybe a sneak peak by Heroes if you say your prayers at night.) And I'll be glad to sketch for you and all that fun stuff. I'm there for you folks. I'm there for you.

And for comics creators that would like to see their stuff reviewed at file under other (and/or some other places I may be reviewing stuff) there is no better way than to get me your comics than handing them to me at a show. I'm way super very much behind on reviews but I seem to get to the stuff in my convention round up posts faster.

So yeah, you should totally come and see me at all of those shows. I'll update more what I'll be bringing to each show as we closer to the dates.

See ya there suckers!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Is there a proper name for the "it doesn't matter if it's good as long as you made it" camp of comics creation?

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 03:57:00 +0000

A month or so ago I moved an additional end table into my living room. The end table was in my parent's living room when I was growing up. It is at least 30 years old. I has a nice big space for magazines and books. The four books inside it right include a huge hardback Atlas, McSweeney's 13, The Best American Comics 2007, Ulysses and a Disney Princesses book.

A week or so ago cartoonist Ben Towle posted this little article about a comic he made when he was a child.

At about 5:30 today I was relaxing in my living room with my wife and daughter after having finished dinner. I had a turkey burger from Hardees. Can you believe Hardees has a turkey burger? I already knew the ending to the episode of Dora that my daughter was watching. I grabbed Best American Comics 2007 from the end table and started flipping through. Not reading. Just looking at the art. I'm working on several comics right now and I like flipping through anthologies. Not to steal or to lift but just to get me thinking. The great thing about anthologies is that you can see so many different ways of looking at the world right there in one book. The only two comics that I stopped to really study at this time were by CF and Paper Rad. No matter how many times I read those comics I can't make any sense of them. Well no more sense than The Beatles Yellow Submarine movie made at least. But, they hold my attention for sure. They make me think. Make me ask questions. They challenge me.

By the way. Paper Rad's comics look like this...

At 6:30 this evening I watched the new episode of Batman The Brave and the Bold. It's my favorite TV show. The episode was about Superman and it was the best Superman cartoon I've ever seen. It was everything you need to know about Silver Age Superman in 22 minutes. During the show there was a commercial for an upcoming TV show on Cartoon Network that looks like this...

I had no idea that there was a Paper Rad cartoon and the last place I would have ever expected to see it is on Cartoon Network. My jaw was on the floor. You may as well have driven up my driveway in a Hostess Fruit pie with Ghadafi singing that Friday song.

At about 6:40 I logged in to twitter so that I could tweet about how awesome the Batman episode was. (You should be following me on twitter already.) Don't worry, my wife already informed me that I am a dork. On twitter, I saw that Adam Casey had posted this question, "Is there a proper name for the 'it doesn't matter if it's good as long as you made it' camp of comics?"

Maybe it was the Red Bull I drank after diner but, my head started spinning.

"Is there a proper name for the 'it doesn't matter if it's good as long as you made it' camp of comics?"

"Is there..." Well, I could answer yes or no. How about maybe?

There are several questions in there. Or at least it raises several other questions. The 'it doesn't matter if it's good as long as you made it' camp of comics certainly exists so in theory anything that exists can have a name so, yeah, there could be a proper name. But what is it?

Comics comics comics comics comics freaking comics. Back in the days of The Comics Journal's message board there would be endless arguments/discussions on the merits of comics that are created just for the sake of creating comics. I'm all for 'em. Go make comics. Go crazy!

But do they have merit? Are they art? What the expletive is art anyway?

I have no idea.

But here is what I want art to be. Here is what I look for in art...

Art is a creation that creates a reaction in it's audience. Can it make you think something you were not thinking? Can it make you feel something you were not feeling? Can it make you remember something you did not know you forgot? Can it even on the most atomic, invisible, intangible level make you feel alive?

That's art to me.

So, is making comics just to make comics making art? Is practice art? Is craft for the sake of craft art?

Sometimes?

Is it great art? Not often?

I love football. Love to watch the NFL. I have absolutely no interest in watching a football team practice. Or even pre-season games. Football for the sake of football. That's not football to me. It's practice.

So again, comics for the sake of comics. Is it art? No. Or, well, maybe sometimes.

Let's go back to Ben Towle's comic he made when he was a little kid. Go look at it. It's charming right? It's funny too. It's certainly comics. Is it good comics? Well, it's not Charles Schulz. It's not Moebius. It's not Jack Kirby. But it's comics. Is it art? I bet Ben would say that it is not art.

I think it's art. I think it's good art. I look at that and it takes me to a forgotten place. I think of the drawings I made when I was a kid. I can feel the hardwood floor. I can smell the room. I can feel the crayons. I can smell the newspapers I was imitating. It makes me laugh and feel alive. It's art.

But the creator does not matter. It does not matter that I know Ben. It does not matter that I know how great the comics he makes now as an adult are. It does not matter that I saw it on his blog. I could have found it in a yard sale box. What matters to me is the connection between the work itself and the audience. So, relate that idea back to the question of comics made for the sake of making comics I and I still don't have an answer because I don't care why it was made. I don't care about the creator. I care about the point of impact between comic and audience.

I hear artists talk about little projects they do as "just being an exercise" to them. Little things they do for practice. I do it myself. They probably do not think of that stuff as art. But, wrap it up as a little minicomic and take it to a show. Maybe it's some kid's first minicomic. Maybe it blows their mind and inspires them to make comics. Is it art then? I think it just became art.

So forget about the creator. We just have the comic and it's audience.

"Is there a proper name for the 'it doesn't matter if it's good as long as you made it' camp of comics?"

What do you call a creation that is not dependent on it's own quality but only on the perception of whoever ends up seeing it?

What do you call a thing that only matters if someone notices it?

I have no idea. I'm open to suggestions.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Editors note: Talking about these things is very dangerous. While writing this blog post I crashed a laptop and a PC. Immediately after posting my initial draft, my daughter woke up crying then threw up. You have been warned.

fuo's favorite minicomics of 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 05:00:00 +0000

When I started file under other in 2007 it was mostly about minicomics. Gradually webcomics, graphic novels and other stuff worked their way in. In my 2009 "favorites" list I went through a long list of cartoonists whom I was impressed with during the year as opposed to focusing on just the individual works. I liked that format a lot and I'd like to do it again this year but, it took a lot of time. And, to be honest, if I did the same list this year, the names would be mostly the same. So, in the interest of catching up on reviews, I'm going to just stick with a few of my favorite mincomics this year.

As I've said over the past few years, I don't think the word "best" has any place in art criticism. Certainly, some things are clearly better than others but it's not my place to decide for the reader. All I can honestly do is let you know what effect the work had on me. What follows are the minicomics which had the most impact on me. The ones I thought about the most. The ones I enjoyed the most. And mainly, the one's I re-read the most.

Cragmore by Pat Lewis.

Books one, two and three.

www.lunchbreakcomics.com

Cragmore is a story by Pat Lewis about a billionaire trying to cheat death and the Devil. Lewis is currently working on getting the complete graphic novel out there but I was lucky enough to get the first three fourths or so of the story in minicomic form. I think you can still get the minicomics at Lewis' store. You could hold out for the graphic novel but why not just buy it in both formats? I mean, you're rolling in dough right?

As far as minicomics go, these first three issues are just about perfect. Lewis' comics chops are on the money. Writing, drawing, inking, lettering, layouts, pacing, timing, physical comedy... he's got all that down. I'm a big fan of his design style. Not just the character designs, which are brilliant, but the backgrounds, clothes, sound effects etc. etc. Lewis creates a full cartoon world here made up of all the coolest elements from the cartoons I loved when I was a kid. When I pick up one of his comics I immediately know the world he's building and I feel right at home in it. I think a big part of the reason I've carried these comics around with me for months and re-read them several times is that he builds a complete world you can escape in.

There are no holes in the thing, or to put it another way, Lewis does not take any shortcuts. All of the characters are fully realized and work off each other with much hilarity. Even the supporting cast and extras are very interesting. One of my favorite scenes is actually a conversation two extras have about the Cragmore character.

Lewis' writing is so sharp. The concept is great. A billionaire jerk develops a way to cheat death so the Devil himself sets out to stop him. Greed vs. Evil to the death! Oh, and special guest star, God! It's gonna make a great graphic novel.

A Rabbit in King Arthur's Food Court: A Rashy Rabbit Adventure by Josh Latta.

www.lattaland.com

Read my original review here.

This sixth Rashy Rabbit minicomic from Josh Latta is probably the most solid minicomic from cover to cover that I read in 2010. Great cover. Great look. Great feel. Great comics inside. Packed with so many great gags. I think it is Latta's most ambitious and best executed book so far. I've re-read the thing a bunch of times since my original review and I always catch something extra in it. There is a whole shopping mall of neat looking background characters in the thing. I could stare at the thing for hours. And I have.

Mazed and Confused (Or The Minotaur And The Labyrinth) by Brad McGinty

www.bradmcginty.com

Read my original review here.

I just re-read my review of Mazed and Confused and I can't think of much else to say about it. Simply put, it's bat poo crazy comedy genius. I got two new minis from McGinty in 2010. Mazed and another one called Fast Food Feud. I'll review Feud sometime soon I promise. Feud is probably a better minicomic as far as craft goes but Mazed and Confused is so absurd that I can't stop thinking about it. Almost every line of dialog in every panel is cough up a corn dog hilarious. There is a panel where where Zeus says to a minotaur and the guy who came to kill the minotaur, "Later Bro-Doggers!" If you don't think that's funny then I really can't help with whatever is wrong with you. Maybe being happy just ain't your thing.

The Enquirer Dharbin by Dustin Harbin

www.dharbin.com

Read my original review here.

The Enquirer Dharbin is a full color newspaper. Now, you may be thinking, 'hey, that's not minicomics!' You would be wrong. It's self-published, self-distributed, smallish print run and totally not a standard pamphlet comic or graphic novel. That's minicomics enough for me.

As I detailed in my original review, Enquirer Dharbin is about the size of a standard newspapers' Sunday Funnies supplement. One of the great things about that format is that it is super thin and fits perfectly in my laptop case. I've carried this thing around with me for six months. I've read it and re-read it and wore it out and I find it enjoyable each time. Harbin is playing around with styles in this thing so there is a lot of variety. Several great strips to choose from and read over and over. And I have.

Nathan Sorry No. 1 and No. 2 by Rich Barrett

www.nathansorry.com

Nathan Sorry is a graphic novel work in progress being presented as an ongoing webcomic as well as minicomics.
That's a great strategy. Build the readership while you are working on the thing. Work out some of the bugs in front of a test audience. Minicomics are so great for that sort of thing. (Remember those Pat Lewis minis I was talking about?) But let's pretend I don't know anything about all that and just look at these two minicomics Mr. Barrett was kind enough to send in.

They are not perfect. There are a lot of clumsy spots. Clumsy spots in the drawing especially when perspective comes into play. Some style choices I'm not too fond of. Especially in the lettering and balloon placements. It looks like a Brian Michael Bendis comic in spots. Which is to say it has panels over crammed with balloons. But I'm just nitpicking. The storytelling is ambitious and Barrett is working his way through some tough stuff in here. (Making comics is hard yo.)

Despite the clumsy moments, I really like Barret's drawing. Especially his faces. There is a lot going on behind the eyes of each character. And I like the style of it a lot. Lots of tones. The drawing is clean but the inks are rough enough to give it some edge. And the characters need that edge. The cast is damaged goods. They each have a lot of depth and more questions than answers.

The story is a clever twist on the wrong man idea. Nathan Sorry was supposed to be in the World Trade Center on 9/11 but he ends up assuming a dead man's identify and making off with his millions. The story is clever. Barrett does a nice enough job teasing the little mysteries behind the characters that I was easily caught up in the thing. I'm not that big on mystery or drama but I like it best in short installments. All the fun is in the the unknown with this sort of thing and Barrett knows how to keep you guessing. Hitchcock would love this thing.

So there ya go. There's 2010 for ya. Hopefully in 2011 I'll review the hundred or three minicomics that are still sitting here on my kitchen table mocking me before the Aztecs show up and demand their continent back. Or maybe I'll just keep re-reading the books I mentioned here.

Later Bro-Doggers!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

I'm workin' on it.

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 17:46:00 +0000

Here are a couple of images of books that need some attention here at file under other. The books in that giant stack are either;

Comics I still need to review.
Comics I have already reviewed but need to look at again for consideration in my annual favorite list.
Comics I already reviewed but forgot.

So, yeah. Hang in there true believer. I'm workin' on it.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Moving comic books with sound.

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 14:13:00 +0000

Or cartoons.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

That time I watched superhero comics on TV.

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 19:56:00 +0000

Sort of.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Goodbye Journalista and good luck to Dirk Deppey.

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 21:52:00 +0000

It has been announced that tomorrow, Wed. 12/22/2010, will be the last day for Dirk Deppey as The Comics Journal's web blogger. It is hard for me to see any positives in this at the moment. Perhaps tomorrow Dirk will share any ideas or plans he has for the future and that might lessen the blow. My hope is that this will allow some longer more in-depth comics criticism from one of the best writers about comics. But even so, Journalista will be missed.

It will be a big blow to file under other and minicomics as whole. Seriously. Dirk has been very kind and linked most of the reviews here at file under other over the years. Those brief little links have not only driven a lot of readers this way but they have helped drive sales for the creators. I've heard back from many creators that as soon as the file under other review was linked on Journalista they received new orders for their books. This is a big deal. In minicomics every sale matters. Every sale helps make the next book happen. I personally can testify that when links to other bloggers' reviews of my own comics have been posted on Journalista that I've seen new sales within 12 hours of the posting. It certainly mattered to me.

There are only a handful of folks in the comics media (or whatever it is) that treat minicomics with the same respect they treat the big guys and we don't thank them enough. So, a great big thank you to Mr. Deppey. I look forward to what ever is next from one of the best.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Cathy Leamy interview at Production 3C

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 21:05:00 +0000

C Che Salazar was kind enough to point out this interview with Boston area cartoonist Cathy Leamy. It's funny to hear her talk about learning how to draw for the minicomics format the hard way. It is also interesting to me to read their thoughts on minicomics culture. Minicomics as a culture is very regional so it's nice to look in on some folks up north and see most of the same hopes and concerns that I see in shops and cons in the South. Check it out.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

BFF by Nate Beaty

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 16:30:00 +0000

BFF (Brainfag Forever) by Nate Beaty.

224 page trade paperback. 5 1/2 x 7".

Published/distributed by Microcosm.

Available here for $8.00.

BFF collects a decade or so of Beaty's minicomics. I really like this kind of retrospective collection. It's always fun to see the cartoonist grow and progress as you turn the page but it's also really neat to recall the decades through someone else's eyes. Or someone else's pen. The weird thing about this book for me personally is that looking at the past through Beaty's eyes is a lot like looking at it through my own eyes. I think we are similar in age or at least we grew up on the same junk. We both went to Virginia Tech. We both make comics. We both make our livings with computers. And, from what I've seen in the book, we both spent the '90s wandering the Earth in a bit of a daze. So yeah, I can totally relate to this collection.

The book contains more variations in drawing and storytelling style than I care to go back and count. From scratchy sketchbook stuff to really beautifully drawn illustrations. From diary comics to some vigorous narratives. The book has an impressive range. I think I enjoy his stream of conscious sketch book stuff the best. It shows Beaty at his most daring and is very funny.

The unifying theme of the book is self study and self discovery. This touches on a lot of doubt and self loathing but Beaty's travels are far enough off the beaten path to keep it interesting and he can be pretty funny when he cuts loose. With the exception of one section of diary comics where he's really just listing events, most of the book is really engaging. It's an unpredictable book. Just when you think he's settled on a style he shakes things up again.

The book is a very nice thick collection of comics. Microcosm did a great job with the shape, size and feel of the thing. I enjoyed getting lost in it for a while.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. Beaty also builds excellent websites and would probably be glad to take your money to do so.

p.p.s. Beaty's web journal has some really nice art and comics on it.

p.p.p.s. I wrote most of this review way back in April but life got hard. Apologies to Nate Beaty and Microcosm for taking so long.

Enquirer Dharbin by Dustin Harbin

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 14:00:00 +0000

(Photo by Ortega Gaines for the Charlotte Observer. Stolen from The Dharblog.)

Enquirer Dharbin by Dustin Harbin.

Self-published full color newspaper comic. 16 x 21 inches on newsprint. Technically an 8 page comics but it contains much more than 8 pages worth of comics.

On sale here for $1.

Photo sampler here.

One of the main items on my must have list for this past summer's HeroesCon was Dustin Harbin's newspaper comic Enquirer Dharbin. I wanted the paper for a couple of reasons. One is that I'm a big fan of Harbin's comics. I've been reading his stuff since he first started posting comics online and he keeps getting better and better. (As I mentioned in last year's best of post and hinted at in the 2008 best of post.) Another reason is that I just love newspaper comics. Specifically, I love the "Sunday funnies" supplement that can be found in the Sunday edition of your better newspapers. I'm pretty lucky in that my region's main Sunday newspaper, The Bristol Herald Currier, still provides a nice big full color supplement each week. (Also lucky that my parents have a subscription otherwise I'd never see the thing.) Enquirer Dharbin is very comparable to that in both size and substance. As far as size goes, it's pretty much a newspaper supplement. No other way to describe it really.

I love newsprint. There is just nothing like the way color comics bleed and fade into that cheap imperfect off-white It even smells great.

The content of Enquirer Dharbin is also comparable to your Sunday supplement in that in features a lot of humor in a wide variety of styles. Which, is pretty impressive coming from one person. I think that a lot of that variety comes from the fact that these comics are mostly from 2009 (and maybe 2008) when Harbin was playing around and experimenting with styles. In a couple of years we'll look back on these comics as Harbin's "early work" and with all "early work" there are inconsistencies. These inconsistencies that might look like weaknesses in a graphic novel collection actually work to Harbin's advantage in newspaper supplement form. The variation gives the flavor of multiple artists just like the Sunday funnies. I have a very short attention span so I appreciate the variety. If Harbin failed to break up the style it might all bleed together. Here it works perfectly. It's either a happy accident of inconsistency or Harbin is a genius. It's probably a little bit of both.

Harbin's cartooning shows a lot of range in this paper. There are flat sketchbook strips, classic newspaper cartoon strips, heavily rendered illustration styled strips, strips with intricate tones and textures, diary strips, memoir strips, silent strips... It's a very nice blend of cartoon strip styles from E. C. Segar to Chris Ware. And I'm not just talking about his drawing, which is plenty strong, but his story/gag telling style, the pacing and especially this strong sense for design.

The paper also displays several nice coloring styles. Harbin pays close attention to his color pallets. Each strip contains lovely colors that fit the tone and in some spots do a great job of punctuating the gag. The colors are subtle and only get loud when the gag demands it. He also does a great job with tones and knows where to hold back on some of the more heavily rendered drawings and let the line art do the work.

I think he's using Photoshop on some of the strips but the prettiest panels are done with markers. (Or at least I think I remember reading that they were done with Copic markers.) The marker colored strips are really lovely. As lush as watercolor but with more brightness. See those panels just above? Isn't that lovely? They look great on newsprint as well. A little bit faded but still very nice.

Harbin's strongest cartooning skill (or at least the one I'm most jealous of) is probably his lettering and logo/title designs. Many of the strips have their own impressive titles. It's something I don't see enough of these days and Harbin is really great at them. The lettering is fantastic. Perfect variations to suit each strip's tone and variations within the strips to suit each moment of the gag. Some time ago I recall Harbin answering the "where do you see yourself in five years" question with something to the effect of "Eisner award winner". I can see him picking up one for lettering in the next few years. Easy. He's already hand lettering Matt Fraction's Casanova and he lettered a Star Trek comic for Paul Pope. As far as I'm concerned, working on a comic with Paul Pope is like sitting in one bass for Jimi Hendrix. So, he's off to a good start for sure.

Oh, and I guess I should say that Harbin is also very funny. I've gone on and on about how great these strips look without mentioning the most important thing. They are very funny. Very clever. Very good.

Enquirer Dharbin has been one of my favorite comics of 2010. I've re-read it several times. I've also enjoyed his daily diary comics this year. 2010 has been a busy year for "the Dharb". I'm looking forward to see what he pulls off in 2011.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. Don't forget the file under fundraiser.

file under fundraiser update BLACK FRIDAY EDITION

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon Smith) — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 13:09:00 +0000

Hi pals. Thanks to everyone that has supported the file under fundraiser. My previous updates are kind of scatterbrained so let me simplify things. The point is that for me to be able to afford the time it takes to make fuo the site it should/could/will be I need to be able to afford to live. There are five ways you can help and none of them require making a donation.

1) Support file under other. Hey, that's easy. You are doing that right now. Believe it or not file under other does generate ad revenue. Every page view and click through helps. So please bookmark this page and check back daily if you can. If you use a blog/news reader then please subscribe. You will see a Subscribe to posts link at the top of the page.
If you look at the ad banners on this site you will notice that most of them are for webcomics. I have discovered a lot of good webcomics through those ads so yeah, click on them and check those websites out. The ads that mention Project Wonderful underneath them make money for fuo. You get to help fuo and read good webcomics at the same time.

2) Spread the word. If you look at the bottom of each post there are options for sharing the post. If you like what you have read then please do that. I have also started a file under other community page at facebook. In the left hand column of this webpage there is a button to "like" fuo. You should do that. Do you Reddit or Digg or any of that junk? That stuff is over my head but if you do, then ya know, do that too. Are you a twitter person? Me too! What a cowinkydink. My twitter name is Shannon_Smith so you should follow me and junk. Anytime I post something at fuo I will update it on twitter and you can re-tweet it and do that junk. It will be so fantastic! I'm getting goose bumps just thinking about it!

3) Buy my stuff on eBay. I have posted several items from my comics and toy collections on eBay. The starting bids are insanely cheap. I will continue to add items each week so check back. Go here to see the current list.

4) Buy minicomics. Supplies are limited. Go here to see what is left.

5) Buy original art. I've been selling original pages from my comics as well as original custome art. The original drawings I do are perfect for framing and make great Christmas gifts. Check that out here.

Thanks pals. Happy Thanksgiving!
Your best pal ever,
Shannon Smith