Alec Longstreth's Blog, page 15

Saving My September Sanity

About four hours after putting Nibs down I got on a plane and flew to Vermont to teach the Cartoon Studio summer workshop at CCS. Jon Chad and I spent every spare moment that we had in Vermont finishing up Drop Target #6, which will be available for ordering later this week.

While I was wrapping up the workshop, my Belgian friends, Max and Thalie, flew to San Francisco and stayed at my place with Claire for a few days. Then when I got back, we all did a bunch of fun California stuff. You can see a few photos of our adventures in this Flickr set.

Max and Thalie set off this afternoon on a ten-day road trip of the Southwest. It will end in Santa Fe, where Claire and I are having a wedding celebration with our friends and family on September 6th.

I sat down with my Phase 7 #019 chart tonight, to see where things stood, and I'm sad to say that I will not have the issue done in time for SPX. I could get it done if I really went crazy and inked two pages a day, but I've got so much other stuff going on right now, going comics crazy isn't an option.

I've got to help Claire finish up some of the wedding planning, this weekend is the San Francisco Zine Fest, then the wedding is the following weekend, then SPX the weekend after that. Plus the school year starts somewhere in there and I will be teaching classes and advising thesis students for both CCS and CCA this semester. Also I have a bunch of freelance coloring and illustration duties to keep up with. In short, this September is going to be one of the busiest times I've had in a long time, so not killing myself to get Phase 7 #019 done for SPX will make everything a lot easier.

If this news is disappointing to anyone reading this post, I will enthusiastically remind you that you can still subscribe to Phase 7. Subscribers will get their copies of Phase 7 #019 as soon as I have them back from the printer, before they are made available for sale online. You even get to save a few bucks on shipping! Also, I'll have Phase 7 #019 at APE and Short Run so it's not the end of the world. I will still definitely have it done before the new Weezer album drops on October 7th!

Okay, back into the fray... I should have another update later this week!

R.I.P. Nibs Longstreth (2013-2014)

Claire and I just took Nibs to vet to have him put down. He is gone :(

It was a horrible week, watching him slowly deteriorate. He stopped eating, then he started losing interest in us, and any petting seemed to cause him pain. His stomach began to swell from all the FIP liquid in his system and last night as he cuddled with us in bed, he could barely wheeze out a tiny purr. This morning he was having trouble walking around and we knew it was time to say good-bye.

It'll be hard to forget his awful last days, but I'm going to try and remember him as he was when we first got him: energetic, affectionate and full of life. It doesn't seem right that such a sweet cat would only get a few years on this earth, but I guess that's how it goes sometimes. Nibs was my first cat and I loved him a lot.

I feel like staying in bed for a week, listening to sad music and crying myself to sleep every night, but I gotta go get on a plane in a few hours to fly to Vermont. I guess life goes on, but I sure will miss Nibs. He was a great cat!

2014 CCS Summer Workshops!

I'm leaving on Saturday to travel back to White River Junction, Vermont to help teach the Cartooning Studio summer workshop at the Center for Cartoon Studies.

I'm dreading the East coast summer humidity, but I know it will be worth it to live, eat, breath and dream comics for a week at CCS. I will also be joined next week by CCS faculty member and pinball pal Jon Chad. In the evening hours, after our teaching duties are complete, we will be slapping together and printing the sixth issue of our pinball fanzine, Drop Target. If all goes according to plan, my luggage will be a lot heavier coming home!

I'm also currently racing against the clock, trying to get Phase 7 #019 done before the Small Press Expo. It's going to be down to the wire... If I don't make it in time for SPX, I should at least be able to get it done before the new Weezer album drops on September 30th!

I've got a lot going on right now, and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed, but I'm confident I can get everything done. I just gotta keep my head down and keep working hard. I'm looking forward to October when things will start to mellow out a little bit. Until then, it's buzz buzz buzz!

Podcasts!

As part of this year's "Basewood Blitz" I have been doing a lot of podcasts. Unfortunately, I've been so busy traveling to a string of conventions, that I have not done the best job of keeping my blog up-to-date with information about these podcasts. Let this post rectify that situation!

This weekend I recorded a really fun podcast with Derek Royal and Andy Wolverton over at the Comics Alternative Podcast. I was especially excited about this one, because they were able to work in some Songs From the Basewood tunes before, after and during the show. We talked about how Basewood relates to SFTBW and about Phase 7 and teaching comics and all kinds of other stuff.

Back in May, at TCAF, I met a British cartoonist named Dan Berry. We did a "Mega Trade" (all his books for all my books) and then he invited me to be on his excellent podcast Make It Then Tell Everybody. On a weekend morning in July I woke up early, poured myself a cup of tea and had a lovely chat with Dan over Skype. He's a great conversationalist, and in the blink of an eye, our 45 minutes were up! I could have talked with him all day.

Before that, in April I spoke with Robin McConnell of Inkstuds fame. This was right before the giant Inkstuds West Coast tour, so it was super nice of Robin to sneak me into his long list of interviewees. I've spent many an hour listening to Inkstuds while I draw over the years, so it was a real honor to be on the show!

A few weeks before that I recorded my first podcast of the year, during Emerald City Comic-Con, the Sneaky Dragon podcast. This one is run by Ian Boothby and David Dedrick, who are kind of like a Canadian Charlito and Mr. Phil (of the epic Indie Spinner Rack podcast). Ian brings his improv comedy skills to the mic, and David is just about the nicest guy you'd ever meet. He's also a talented cartoonist in his own right - for every episode he draws a custom title card based on the interview (mine was the coolest).

Anyway, all of these people have been extremely generous with their time and I appreciate them helping me spread the word about Basewood! If you're looking for something to listen to while you work, or you would like to know more about my process give these a listen!

Nibs is not long for this world :(

All signs are currently pointing to the fact that our cat Nibs has Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP). There is no known cure for FIP, and the mortality rate is 100% which means that Nibs will be dead in the next month or two :(

About a month ago, Nibs was having some diarrhea, so we took him to the Vet, to get some medication, which did the trick. His diarrhea went away, but then a few weeks later his energy level really started to drop. He no longer played with his toys, he stopped climbing on things and wouldn't run around the apartment any more. He mostly laid around and slept all day. I know that's what cats do... but not this much. At least not in a young cat like Nibs.

We took him back to the Vet and they did a bunch of tests, all of which were inconclusive. Nibs started hunching (like he is in the photo above) which I guess is an indication that he is in pain. He pretty much does this all the time now, and he has lost about a quarter of his body weight. He eats less and less of his food each day.

We took him to another Vet for one last-ditch attempt to find out what was wrong, by doing an ultrasound. They found a bunch of liquid in his stomach area, which I guess is one of the various indicators that point to FIP. They also ran some other tests which so far have all come back positive, so we're pretty sure that's what this is. After reading a bunch of articles on FIP, it seems like Nibs must have contracted it back when he was living on the street (or wherever he used to live), or when he was at the pound. He's had it all along, it's only reared its ugly head now.

It's difficult to know when is the right time to put him out of his misery, since he is essentially wasting away in front of us. With no hope for a cure, it's a pretty sad situation. :(

I'm not sure what else to say, except that it has been a hard year for Sanders-Longstreth pets! Claire and I both love Nibs a lot and we were hoping we'd have him in our lives for many years to come. He was a sweet, energetic, affectionate cat and it's sad to think that we won't even get to spend a year with him before he's gone. I guess this stuff happens...

Comic-Con International 2014

Well, after almost two full months at home, it is time to hit the road again to continue my year of promoting Basewood (and now Songs From the Basewood as well!). On Wednesday I am heading down to San Diego for the biggest comics convention in the USA, Comic-Con International!

I will be tabling for five days along with Greg Means, co-author of The Cute Girl Network and the mastermind behind Tugboat Press, the inimitable Liz Prince who will be giving away free sample chapters of her forthcoming memoir Tomboy, and my very talented wife, Claire Sanders who will have copies of her zine Terrible Movie Nights. We will all be at table K-06 in the small press pavilion. Observe these terrifyingly complex maps for our approximate location. If you are trying to find us at the show, all I can say is "Good luck!"

I've only been to Comic-Con once before, about ten years ago with Andy Hentz and Lisa Hanawalt. I mostly walked around and got completely overwhelmed. I've heard the show has only gotten crazier in the interim, so hopefully I will be able to keep it together. I think it will help that I will be behind the table this time.

My departure for Comic-Con coincides with the conclusion of an intense stretch of teaching for the California College of the Arts Comics MFA program. It was three-hour classes, five days a week for two weeks straight. June was very productive for me on the comics front, but these teaching duties really slowed me down in July. I'm hoping to get back on the horse this August and finally finish off Phase 7 #019 - Weezer Fan: Part Three. My goal is to get it done before the new Weezer album arrives on September 30th.

Okay, I think that's about it. I hope to see some of you in sunny San Diego!

Phase 7 #020 is now available!

I'm pleased to announce that the 20th issue of Phase 7 is currently available for online ordering.

Yes, you read correctly, even though I have not finished drawing Phase 7 #019 I am releasing Phase #020! This is because issue #020 was put together as a special "push goal" for the Basewood Kickstarter.

Mark my words, this is no ordinary issue of Phase 7! This very special 20th issue serves as a companion volume to my graphic novel, Basewood. It includes a rock opera reinterpretation of Basewood by Andy Hentz and myself, called Songs From the Basewood. An audio CD that contains all eighteen tracks from SFTBW and four B-Sides is included, as well as a unique code which allows you to download the album digitally from bandcamp.com for free. You can also stream the whole album on bandcamp.com right now, if you want to check it out first!

The first 24 pages of this issue are the complete lyrics for Songs From the Basewood. The remaining 44 pages document "The Making of Basewood." This includes outlines, scripts, character sketches, building designs, reference photographs, inking tests, cover designs and many more materials from the creation of my first graphic novel. You can see a few sample pages over in the comics section.

It is my hope that this companion volume will enhance people's enjoyment of Basewood! All of the Kickstarter backer copies have already been mailed out. Claire and I are going to mail out the Phase 7 Subscriber copies today and tomorrow and then start fulfilling orders from the general public.

If you were a Kickstarter backer and you are a Phase 7 subscriber, P7 #020 does not count as one of your subscription issues. You will get an extra issue for that subscription.

If P7 #019 was supposed to be the last issue of your subscription, you will receive P7 #020 instead. It has a $10 cover price, which is $6 more than #019, so I am trying to save you some money! My goal is to have issue #019 done before September 30th, when the new Weezer album drops!

If anyone would like to "hack" the Phase Seven Comics system, I am still offering subscriptions for the outrageously low price of $16 for four issues (plus shipping and handling). You can order a subscription and then just ask for P7 #020 as your first issue, thus saving $6 on the cover price, and a bunch on shipping!

Okay, I think that's all the weird special cases...

I'm really excited about this issue. I feel like Songs From the Basewood is one of the coolest things I have ever been a part of. Andy and I spent five years putting together all these songs, and I hope that they will add a whole new layer to people's experience with Basewood. Please check it out and share it with your friends!

R.I.P. Selma Sanders (2007-2014)

Our rabbit Selma passed away last night. She was doing fine on Tuesday, but yesterday she wasn't eating, and then started having some digestion problems in the afternoon. We took her to the vet, who gave her some fluids. We went home with a few different medications, but they weren't enough to keep her from slipping away.

Claire and I are both very sad, but especially for Patty, who now has to hop around all by herself. :(

Earlier this year I read the Jim Henson biography by Brian Jay Jones. I was very moved by the book, but especially by the letter that Jim Henson wrote to his children a few years before his untimely death. In it, he reassures them that he is not scared of death, and he reminds them that it is a very natural part of life. Just as everyone is born, everyone will die.

It seems like death is being openly discussed more and more these days, as the Baby Boomers start heading into their twilight years. I think it's a good thing. My parents sat down with my siblings and me about a year ago to discuss their end-of-life wishes. It was not an easy discussion, but I'm glad that we had it. I'd much rather prepare for the inevitable than pretend it will never happen, only to be blindsided when it does.

It's a strange thought that a few days ago Selma was a happy little bunny, hopping around munching her hay, and somehow overnight she was transformed into a cold, lifeless body. But I guess that's death. Anyway, I think she lived a good life. She was a bit of a grump, but that only made it that much more sweet when she would occasionally deign to be pet, or would nudge you with her chin, or snuggle up contentedly with Patty. She will be missed!

Summer 2014

Well, 2014 is about halfway done and so far this year I've been to seven comic conventions in three different countries, promoting Basewood. Mercifully, I have almost two whole months at home before I hit the road again, to exhibit at Comic-Con International in San Diego, a five day show. (gulp!)

During the month of July I will be teaching the Second Year Workshop class at the over on the comics page.

And of course, I'll post more about that project and all the others too, just as soon as they are ready for public consumption. Until then, I hope everyone's summer gets off to a good start!

CAKE 2014

Yeesh, where has May gone??? I've been logging a lot of hours at my drawing board over the last few weeks, which has been a welcome change of pace. But the open road is calling yet again, so I'm packing my bags and heading for Chicago!

Next weekend (May 31-June 1) I'll be exhibiting at the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (aka CAKE). Like all great comics events it is FREE and open to the public, so if you live in the Chicago area, please do swing by and say hello. I'll be at table 50b hawking my wares alongside my stalwart tabling comrade Greg Means of Tugboat Press.

I'm excited to return to the windy city, not only for CAKE, but also to visit some of my closest cartooning friends, who have made Chicago their home. Also to play some free pinball. Hey, I even got a haircut, to better weather the midwestern heat and humidity. Look out, Illinois, here I come!