All of Skew Part 3 is now up on Study Group. Here are four of my favorite pages:
I’m working on Part 4. I’m about 30 pages in. Here’s a potential cover:
April 26th, 2016
Skew Part 3 Has Ended; I’m Working on Part 4
Comments Off on Skew Part 3 Has Ended; I’m Working on Part 4
April 22nd, 2016
December 15th, 2015
Free Domestic Shipping on Vortex Orders Today
Orders of Vortex placed until midnight tonight (eastern time) are only $13. I will send them domestic priority mail for free. They should arrive before Christmas.
Sorry international friends but this offer is for US addresses only.
Deal over, thanks to everyone who bought a copy! You can order a copy of Vortex from me here (shipping included in prices).
I’ll draw in your order too!
Comments Off on Free Domestic Shipping on Vortex Orders Today
December 11th, 2015
Skew Part 3 on Study Group
Skew Part 3 has debuted on Study Group.
Here’s the cover for Part 3.
We’ll post new pages every Tuesday.
Here’s Page 122.
The first ten pages are already up.
Here’s what the characters are doing at the beginning of Part 3: The Miizzzard, still trapped in the digestive system of a hypermollusc, has subdivided to isolate and destroy an invasive microdrone, planted by an unknown enemy. Meanwhile a Space Yeti named Bya is traveling to the find the Miizzz and a slime-meteor-mech gleefully stomps across the planet.
Comments Off on Skew Part 3 on Study Group
November 3rd, 2015
Future Shock Zero and Ink Brick 4 Debut at CAB
I have comics in two comics collections that will debut at Comic Arts Brooklyn this weekend (Nov 7th): Future Shock 0 and Ink Brick 4. If you can’t make it to CAB, both are also available for preorder.
Future Shock 0 is a full-color astro-psych SF anthology edited by Josh Burggraf and published by Retrofit Comics.
Cover by Jordan Speer.
My six-page comic is called “Ax the Ship.” You can preorder it here.
Ink Brick 4 is a full-color journal of comics poetry run by Alexander Rothman, Paul K. Tunis, and Alexey Sokolin.
Cover illustration by Matt Huynh and design by Alexey Sokolin.
My four-page contribution is called “Mud Mind.” You can preorder it here.
Comments Off on Future Shock Zero and Ink Brick 4 Debut at CAB
October 30th, 2015
“Factory” for Halloween Haunting 3 on Study Group
Hi y’all,
I’m participating again in Study Group Comics’s annual Halloween Haunting feature (see my comic for last year’s here). This year I did a longer comic in the style of Skew (one-panel-per-page, seven-color comics).
My comic is called “Factory” and will be posted on the actual holiday, Saturday 10/31. Check out this post on the Study Group site for more info and previews of other spooky comics!
Comments Off on “Factory” for Halloween Haunting 3 on Study Group
October 14th, 2015
The Star Virus by Barrington J Bayley
I’m ambivalent about The Star Virus and the other two Barrington J Bayley books I’ve read, The Fall of Chronopolis and The Pillars of Eternity. I like how his protagonists are existentialist anti-heroes who get caught up in psychedelic space operas, but I dislike his characters’s nasty misogyny. I have similar reactions to Philip K Dick, but Dick’s psychedelia is so much more spectacular and he makes his protagonists’ troubles with and disdain for women seem so pathetic, so it’s palatable. Bayley is rough edged. His novels are abrasive and bleak but weird and stimulating. He was praised by Michael Moorcock, published short stories in the New Wave magazine New Worlds, and influenced M John Harrison’s space operas The Centauri Device and Light. This influence on one of the greatest contemporary SF authors is especially evident from The Star Virus, Bayley’s first novel.
Cover by Kelly Freas.
The Star Virus opens with the main character, a rogue named Rodrone, admiring the austere, violent landscape of an airless world. I prefer desert landscapes so I instantly grokked that and expected to sympathize with Rodrone but he quickly turns into an asshole, not caring about the loyalty or lives of his crew. In one scene that struck me as particularly hateful, he takes the evil emotional manipulation of a woman who plays a mind-altering musical instrument and extends her behavior to a stereotype of all overweight female musicians, whom he characterizes as craving and jealously hoarding the undeserved attentions of their audience. I can’t help but think that this is based on Bayley’s personal animosity towards someone, because he gives this villainess a normal-sounding name, Ruby, but all the other characters have otherworldly names like Kulthul, Redrace, and Clave Theory.
Mild spoilers and sexual assault trigger warning ahead. (more…)
Comments Off on The Star Virus by Barrington J Bayley
October 6th, 2015
SPX 2015 Recap
My first time at SPX was a mixed experience. I had a blast hanging in the cartoonists concentrate of the Bethesda Marriott, sold a lot of Vortex and my two risograph minis, and brought home a heavy stack of fantastic comics, but I was unable to fully represent Sparkplug due to a shipping snafu.
On Friday, my hotel roomie and I caught a metro ride to join my friend at Fantom in downtown DC for a hot and humid but fun book signing with Farel Dalrymple, MK Reed, Brandon Graham, and others. We checked out Fantom’s inventory – DC is lucky to have such a great shop!
Saturday morning I was dismayed to discover that the box of books that Sparkplug had shipped to the hotel wasn’t at my table. Sam Marx, the friendly SPX Exhibitor Coordinator, and the hotel staff scoured the loading dock but the box was never found. So instead of a table full of books, I had a minimal installation of Vortex, Cold Heat Special #10, and Sphere Fear (which luckily did arrive at the hotel).
I hadn’t seen Sphere Fear before the show (published by Yeah Dude Comics). I was a worried about my riso color choices (orange and green – I worried that it would be unreadable but I wanted to expand beyond pink and blue) but Issue Press did a wonderful job printing the minis, they looked beautiful and I sold out of my comp copies. Look for it on the Birdcage Bottom Books distro soon.
After the morning’s disappointment I rallied. I was in an auspicious table location – to the right of Benjamin Marra and around the corner from Frank Santoro, who was selling treasures from his long boxes unearthed from the basements of comics history and promoting the IndieGoGo campaign to fund the embodiment of his school in a physical building, the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency (contribute to this exciting cause if you can), and supporting his table neighbors with snacks.
Sparkplug Books intern Jenny Flax brought the Sparkplug tablecloth and postcards to the table.
I tried to stay rooted behind my table but I couldn’t help but slip away to check out the rich outpouring of talent at SPX. Since moving to Kansas City I’ve been in a bit of an art comics desert so this was an oasis for me. My favorite book was the Blades & Lazers collection by the aforementioned Ben Marra, fresh off of a successful Kickstarter campaign, including a bad-ass genderbent comic by Lale Westvind and Keenan Marshall Keller, and brilliantly printed in fluorescent pink and metallic blue spot colors, genius choices by the Sacred Prism publisher. I also really dug Mickey Zacchilli’s Venom riso mini, which boils super villain angst and vicious energy down to their viscous essences; the very metal horror-fantasy book Azzuldekkon by Alan Brown; Meghan Goes to McDonald’s, Meghan Turbitt’s hilarious and absurd collaborations with her comics students; and Pat Aulisio’s Infinite Bowman, frenetic psychedelic SF that riffs on 2001. I got a lot of other great books too and I’m slowly reading my way through my pile.
Saturday night I stayed out far too late and got to hang out with a lot of great people. I love how everyone stays close to the hotel, it’s very convivial. I’ve been to enough shows at this point that I have a crew I usually hang with and most of them were there. I didn’t attend the Ignatz award ceremony but it was great to hear that so many skilled women were recognized, especially after this year’s Hugo nonsense.
Sunday was slower than Saturday. Sales were steady but I noticed a definite shift in what people bought – Saturday was all about the risograph minis and Sunday was for books.
Sunday night I took it easy – got dinner with my brother-in-law and his girlfriend; played (and lost) a round of the Magic card game, which was a fun nostalgia trip; and soberly talked with some people at the bar before trying to get some restorative sleep before my early morning flight. When I got up to catch a cab at 5am, a few people were still up, jam drawing. Next time I’ll have to get a later flight!
Despite the lows, I loved SPX and the close-knit atmosphere it emits. And thanks to Alex Hoffman and Matt Moses for being great hotel roommates. Sharing a room made the trip a lot more affordable for me. I can only do one out-of-state show a year and SPX might be my choice in 2016 too.
September 15th, 2015
SPX 2015
I’ll be tabling for Sparkplug Books at the Small Press Expo this weekend, September 19th and 20th, in Bethesda, MD.
Sparkplug superstar Jenny Flax and I will be at table N11 with a bunch of great Sparkplug postcards, mini comics, and graphic novels!
I’ll also have Vortex and my new risograph mini comic Sphere Fear, published by Yeah Dude Comics. Come by my table and say hi, it’s my first SPX and I’m really excited!
Comments Off on SPX 2015
September 9th, 2015
Inkstuds Interview
Robin McConnell of Inkstuds interviewed me about Vortex, Skew, performance art, Jack Kirby, Sphere Fear (my risograph comic debuting at SPX, published by Yeah Dude Comics), and more! Listen to it here.
I was pretty nervous about the interview but friends have assured me that it sounds fine. There were a few things that I realized afterwards I should’ve mentioned:
- José-Luis’ last name is Olivares.
- The friend I’m doing the final Sparkplug Books Kickstarter painting for is also a cartoonist, Jason Poland. He does the webcomic Robbie and Bobby.
- My performance art professor Mike Smith told me about chalk talks, which combine comics and theater. The performer tells a story or joke using drawings done quickly on newsprint pads or erased and altered on a chalkboard. I did a few of those in Mike’s classes.
- My interest in psychedelia probably stems from my anxiety disorder. My reality is already distorted compared to most people’s perceptions. The constant battling and transformations in the Hyperverse is a manifestation of my persistent worries.
- I’m not sure what show I’ll attend after SPX, but I contributed a six-page comic to Future Shock Zero and writing to Speculative Modern Dinosaur Quarterly, both edited by Josh Burggraf and both debuting at CAB.
Comments Off on Inkstuds Interview