Alec Longstreth's Blog, page 24

Obsession Check-In: WEEZER

Man... when I decided to split up my "Obsession Check-In" blog post, I thought I would post all three parts in one week. Instead, today I looked up from my drawing table and somehow TWO WEEKS had elapsed. I guess Home Stretch Fever has warped my sense of time...

ANYWAY, let's talk about Weezer, shall we? Things have been pretty quiet on the Weezer front, after their 2009-2010 burst of productivity (during which they released FOUR albums). They are still touring a lot, but it sounds like it will be a little while before their tenth studio album.

In a recent interview Rivers said that the third volume of his home recordings should be coming out soon (it actually says "this year," but it seems to me that time is running out...) WHENEVER it comes out, it is going to be called "Alone III: The Pinkerton Years" (!!!) and there will also be a BOOK released at the same time called "The Pinkerton Diaries" (!!?!)

Needless to say, I am EXTREMELY excited about this album/book combo. It seems inevitable that Alone III will finally provide all of the missing tracks of Songs From the Black Hole. I can't wait to listen to the whole thing!

Rivers posted a preview of the book which looks to contain his notes, diary entries, mood charts, sheet music, drawings and all kinds of other stuff. It's going to be incredible to get a glimpse into his creative process, ESPECIALLY his creative process during that time in his life when he created one of the greatest albums of all time.

in that same recent interview Rivers also talks about how Weezer is going to be a little more deliberate with their next album. I know a lot of people weren't crazy about their most recent efforts (you can read my original posts on each here: Hurley, Pinkerton: Deluxe & Death to False Metal and Raditude). But I have been listening to this stuff a lot lately and I think that when all is said and done, 2009-2010 will prove to be a very important phase in Weezer's development. They did a lot of experimenting - some of it was a little too far out there, but some of it was really great. I have hope that they'll take that good stuff and move forward with it. As ever, I'm excited to see what they come up with next!

Next obsession check-in: THE MUPPETS

Obsession Check-In: COMICS

I feel like this blog has gotten kind of "press release-y" lately, so I thought I would write a few short blog posts about the various things I'm obsessed with. Up first... COMICS!

I grew up reading Disney comics and it has been heart breaking for me to see how poorly they have been treated in this country over the last 20 years. In any other country in the world there are weekly kids magazines filled with Disney comics that sell in the millions. Kids in America have had a hard time getting their hands on Disney comics because they have changed publishers half a dozen times, and they are usually horribly produced with very little respect given to the original source material (with a few rare exceptions here and there).

Ask any of my CCS students, and they will tell you that I am completely obsessed with Carl Barks. I have been reading his comics since I was a little kid, but over the last couple of years I have been painstakingly tracking down all ten volumes of The Carl Barks Library, which collects all 6,000+ pages of Barks's Disney comics. I now have nine of the ten volumes, have read thousands of pages of his comics, and can safely say that in my professional opinion he is the greatest American cartoonist that ever lived.

I could easily write a whole post about the brilliance of Barks (and probably WILL, at some point down the road!) but for now I will just say that this December Fantagraphics is releasing the first volume of a NEW Carl Barks Library, which is going to finally, finally, FINALLY put Barks's work back into print in America, in an accessible full-color format.

I'm a little uneasy about the cover image they have chosen for the first book (I would prefer some design element that specifically states that this book will be part of a 30-volume series dedicated to Bark's life work - maybe it's on the spine?) but I will say that I have purchased both volumes of their reprints of Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse newspaper strips, which are some of the most beautifully designed books I have ever seen. I trust that Fantagraphics knows what they are doing and I am confident the book will be great.

So please, if you have a kid in your life, PLEASE, for ME, buy them this book! And if you have never read any Barks and you don't understand why I'm being so crazy about this, buy one for yourself. I can personally guarantee that you won't regret it!

In other comics news, I am slowly making my way through the piles and piles of awesome comics that I picked up at various shows this year (I'm currently reading stuff I got at MoCCA back in April). I thought I would try something new, so I'm going to be putting up links to really good minis that I read in my twitter account. Check it out for some scattered minicomic recommendations!

Next obsession check-in: WEEZER

My Hat is BACK!

Well, I turned 32 last week. I got a bunch of super cool stuff for my birthday, but the best present BY FAR was a 2.0 version of the winged hat that I had since I was a kid (and lost in New York in 2004, as some of you might remember). Claire whipped this up based on one black and white photograph and my verbal description. It's perfect! She even improved upon the original design by making it out of wool (instead of acrylic), so it will be warmer and will age better. Now I just have to make sure I don't LOSE it!

It was this time last year that Claire moved in with me and I feel like we have been traveling through hyperspace ever since. Between teaching, working as much as possible on Basewood and spending time with Claire, the days have passed quickly. I guess time flies when you're having fun, eh? Or when your butt is glued to the drawing chair...

I hope that trend will continue! I'm currently 75% done with the last chapter of Basewood and I CAN'T WAIT to have it done so I can move on to other creative projects that are currently burning in my brain. I'm still on track to have it done by the end of the year, but that means drawing as much as possible between now and then.

31 was gone in the blink of an eye, and 32 is already shaping up to be an interesting year of life, with many changes coming down the pipeline. But more about all of that later, for now it's back to the drawing board!

ICAF and AVA Gallery Show

CCS is hosting the International Comics Art Forum this week. It's free and open to the public, so if you're in the area, swing by and check it out! There are all sorts of interesting panels and lectures about comics by some very smart people who study them. We've also got visitors coming from all over the world. It should be pretty cool!

On Friday and Saturday from noon to 7pm, CCS students will be selling their comics in the "CCS Marketplace" which will be held in the main CCS building. This is a great chance to see what everyone has been working on. Also, I will be doing a signing on Saturday evening, from 5pm - 6pm if anyone wants to pick up some Phase 7 comics.

Lastly, in conjunction with ICAF, there are a few comics exhibitions going on at the nearby AVA Gallery. Above you can see the plan I sent to the gallery, along with some pages and supplementary material from chapter 3 of Basewood. This work has never before been publicly displayed, so come on by and check it out! There is also some work up from CCS alumni Alexis Frederick-Frost, Jen Vaughn and my fellow CCS faculty member, Jon Chad. The show is up until October 7th, so check it out!

SPX 2011 :)

Sure, SPX was a bummer this year, because of Dylan's passing, but some really GOOD stuff happened at the show too. So here's a separate blog entry, focusing more on that positive stuff.

The show was very well attended and SPX announced they are going to expand the convention hall for next year. I sold a bunch of comics, did a ton of trading, and got to meet a few Phase 7 subscribers in person, which is one of my favorite things about going to shows.

On Saturday night, Dustin Harbin did an amazing job as the emcee of the Ignatz Awards. It was hard to know who to root for, because I had multiple friends in a few of the categories. I will say though, I was VERY excited to see my buddy Joe Lambert win two well-deserved Ignatz awards (Outstanding Artist and Outstanding Collection) for his book I Will Bite You.

Even though I have not yet read my comics from the 2011 MoCCA or Stumptown festivals, I bought a BUNCH of books because there was just so much good stuff at the show. By the end of the show Saturday, I felt like I had already spent too much money, so I wasn't planning on getting anything on Sunday...

But then everything went kind of sideways on Saturday night (see previous blog post), and I showed up at the show on Sunday very, very sad and not looking forward to my 12-hour train/bus ride home the next day. So then I went a little CRAZY.

See, MONTHS ago, it was announced that Craig Thompson's long-awaited new graphic novel Habibi would be debuting at SPX. But then a few weeks before the show, the organizers sent out an email informing everyone that actually there would only be 100 copies of Habibi at the show and they would each cost $100, with all of the proceeds going to The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

So I walked over to the CBLDF table on Sunday morning and saw that they still had about 20 copies of the book left. I bought one. I know, I know, if I had just waited until next week, I could have bought the book for $35. But here's how I looked at it: 1) It's not overpaying for a book, it's making a $100 donation to a very good cause (plus, my CBLDF membership has gone unrenewed for a few years now) 2) I bought Blankets at its debut in 2003, so it felt right to buy Habibi at its debut in 2011 3) I got a cool letterpress bookplate, signed and numbered by Craig 4) at 672 pages, that's still only 15 cents a page and BELIEVE ME, it's worth every cent!

The next morning, tired and emotionally worn out, I got on the train, cracked open Habibi and dove into its world. I read it straight through in one sitting (well, with two bathroom breaks and a lunch break) which took me nine hours. It is, without a doubt, the most beautifully drawn graphic novel of all time.

Dave Sim has a theory that a cartoonist has to draw 2,000 pages of comics before one really finds one's style and starts drawing "good" pages. With this book, Craig has completed his 2,000 pages and has now entered his "master" phase. There is nothing he can't draw and it will be so exciting to see where he focuses his skills next.

The story is so layered and complex I'm not even sure I know what to say about it. I feel like I need to reread Habibi another two times before I'll be able to pick up on all the different layers of meaning that Craig has loaded into every panel and page. It deals with language, math, religion, geometry, slavery, survival, the destruction of our natural resources and so much more. It's a REALLY good book. Well worth the wait, and certainly worth $100!

Craig came up to CCS a few days after SPX and we were lucky enough to get a glimpse into his writing and drawing process for Habibi. It sounds like it was one hell of an undertaking. The fact that he finished this book - that he didn't give up and saw it through to the end, even though it took eight years - it makes me feel like ANYTHING is possible. Needless to say, you need to buy this book! It raises the bar for what is possible in comics and challenges us all to make better work.

SPX 2011 :(

On Friday, I spent thirteen hours traveling by bus, train and the Washington D.C. Metro to get from White River Junction to Bethesda, Maryland for the Small Press Expo.

As I was leaving the Metro I ran into Chris Pitzer of AdHouse and Leigh Walton of Top Shelf Comics. In the lobby of the hotel, I ran into some of my new CCS students who were SO excited, their enthusiasm was infectious. After chatting for a bit, I headed up to my hotel room and en route, shared an elevator ride with Kevin Huizenga and Dan Zettwoch. FIVE minutes into the show and I was already having a great time. This was my seventh SPX, and it continues to be my favorite comics show.

Saturday was crazy. There were SO many people at the show! I don't know what SPX did for their advertising this year, but whatever it was, it worked. The show was packed all day. Greg and I sold a lot of comics, did tons of trading, got to talk to a bunch of our friends and I bought WAY too many comics. I rationalized these purchases because it is going to be a long winter, and there are no bookstores in White River Junction. I'd much rather give my money directly to the publishers or artists, than to Amazon.com

Saturday night of SPX is the Ignatz awards and there is a two hour break between the end of the show and the beginning of the awards ceremony. In the past, Greg and I would try to dash off to a nearby restaurant with some of our comics friends. But EVERYONE from the show is trying to grab dinner too, so there are always long waits and you end up having to hurriedly gobble down your dinner. So a few years ago Greg came up with this "old man" plan that we now use. After the show on Saturday, we go up to the room and take a well earned NAP. Then we are well rested for Ignatz Awards and afterwards, they serve FREE FOOD, which we are definitely ready for at that point.

So this year Greg and I headed up to the room to kick it "old man" style. Greg fell asleep while I was flipping through the channels on the hotel TV, when my phone rang. It was Aaron, who was very upset, calling to tell us that Dylan Williams had died that morning. I woke Greg up and gave him the bad news.

(Andy Hartzell, Dylan and me at SPX in 2007. Photo by Sarah Oleksyk)

I first met Dylan in 2004 at the Portland Zine Symposium when I somehow lucked out and ended up at dinner with him and Jesse Reklaw. After that I saw him a handful of times each year at various cartooning events, and sometimes randomly when I was in Portland. We were friends and colleagues and I had an immense amount of respect for the work that he did. Dylan loved comics so much, and he published groundbreaking work by countless artists. He worked tirelessly to diversify the indie comics scene, and his loss will be a gaping hole in its landscape.

Dylan had been quietly battling cancer for years, but he was never the kind of guy to talk about it much. He was a very humble, private guy. So it didn't seem right to make some big announcement to everyone, especially at a celebratory event like the Ignatz Awards. So while everyone was milling around, getting excited for the ceremony, there was a small clump of some of Dylan's closest friends all standing together crying and trying to wordlessly comfort each other.

Needless to say, the rest of the show was kind of a downer.

It was just so strange that it happened WHILE we were all at SPX. It would have been horrible, horrible news on any other random day, but somehow it was even harder that it happened while the whole comics community was all gathered together. Tom Neely had been selling Dylan's Sparkplug Comics at the show, with all proceeds going to help for Dylan's latest round of treatments. Even on Saturday it was sad to think that Dylan SHOULD have been there. But showing up to the show Sunday was the worst, because we all knew that Dylan would never be at another show again.

Greg and I both found it hard to give positive answers to simple, standard convention questions such as "How are you doing today?" or "Did you have a good night last night?" By Sunday morning the news had spread all over the internet, so it didn't seem right to keep it quiet any more. We probably had to tell another ten people the bad news, which was really horrible.

ANYWAY, it sucks because we can't even say "Well, at least he had a nice long life" because Dylan only made it 40. But I'll tell you this: he did more good in those 40 years than a lot of people do in their whole lives. Really, I'm not the right person to tell you what an amazing guy Dylan was. I got home tonight and there were at least a dozen remembrances in my Google Reader list, all from people who knew him a lot better than I did. I think Austin's and Gabby's were especially heartfelt and are worth reading.

If any of you would like to help out with the medical bills that were left to Dylan's wife Emily, you can purchase some Sparkplug Comic Books. They are currently being flooded with orders, and obviously have a lot going on, so please be patient. It might take a month or more to get your orders, but it still helps.

GOOD things happened at SPX too, but I think I'm going to have to save those for another post. It was an emotionally exhausting weekend, and I have a lot of catching up to do now that I'm back in Vermont. More soon!

Bethesda or BUST!

Well, my comics are printed and my bags are packed, so I guess I'm ready for SPX which is this weekend in Bethesda, Maryland.

I'll be tabling with Greg Means of the inimitable Tugboat Press all weekend. He will have Papercutter #17 hot off the press as well as many back issues and other awesome wares, including the free DRAGONS! comic for kids. I will have Phase 7 #016, the first four chapters of Basewood, my Phase 7 collections and Drop Target Zine #1, #2 and the brand new #3. We will be at table H15 / H16. If you are in the area, please swing by and say hello!

I will also be co-teaching a comics workshop on Saturday at 4pm in the White Flint amphitheater with Robyn Chapman of CCS and Tom Hart of SAW. We're going to drop some self-publishing knowledge and then everyone is going to make comics. It should be fun!

Usually I take the train down to D.C. but the recent flooding has done so much damage to Vermont that no trains are running in the state right now. So instead I'm going to take a bus to Springfield, then a train to D.C. and then the Metro out to Bethesda. I'll make it there eventually! It'll feel good to get out of town for a few days, and to see a bunch of my favorite comics homies. Oh, it'll also be great to get a whole bunch of awesome COMICS! ;)

The Men of Steel: The Editorial Cartoon Collection of E. Howard Goodwin

It's been such a busy week here in Vermont, that I forgot to mention the opening of the art exhibition which I curated. It's TOMORROW!

As readers of this blog will no doubt remember, my grandfather, Howard Goodwin, passed away last June. What you probably don't know is that for 25 years he collected editorial cartoons related to the steel industry. It is a most impressive collection with work by many Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonists. My family has donated these historic cartoons to the Center for Cartoon Studies and they are on exhibition for the first time from September 2nd until the 21st of October.

For more information, read the official press release on the CCS site, or if you would like to hear me talk about my grandfather and this collection in person, I will be giving a brief lecture with a slideshow tomorrow night at CCS, starting promptly at 6:30pm.

Sorry for the short notice, I hope to see some of you there!

Above the Water Line!

I've been getting a lot of emails today, from friends and family who have seen the Vermont flooding on the news. Thank you all for your concern! Claire and I are doing just fine.

We went to go check on the White River on Sunday afternoon, during the storm, and it looked high, but not crazy high. That night I guess it overflowed its banks and caused some trouble around town, mostly at the old firehouse, which houses the CCS Library. Jen Vaughn did an awesome write up about the CCS community's heroic efforts to save all of the books over on The Beat. So check that out for all the grisly details and lots of pictures.

I took the above photo the morning after, at about 9am. The river was still really high and that cargo container had floated down stream and smashed into the bridge(?!) Also one of the railroad bridges farther down stream was ruined. All in all, it sounds like we got off pretty easy compared to some of the other destruction around Vermont.

The only real hassle for me has been that Sprint's whole cell phone network for Vermont was knocked out, so I have not had cell phone reception since Sunday night. So if you have been calling me or texting me, I have not received those messages! Sprint has "no eta" on how long it will take to get the system back up and running, so for the immediate future, the best way to get in touch with me is via email.

Thanks again to everyone who expressed concern for my well being. I'm fine, so let's all send good thoughts out to the people who lost their homes, or loved ones, or had property destroyed, or are still without power, etc. etc. etc.

When deadlines collide!

Last week I drew a comic for Vermont's weekly paper, 7 Days, in which they asked a bunch of professors what they did over their summer vacation. My comic is called "A Busman's Holiday" and it went online today along with contributions from some other Vermont college professors. If you read the comic, you can see the insane number of projects I have been juggling this summer.

I had a huge productivity spike after the summer workshops ended, but I have still been feeling really stressed out lately. Finally yesterday I figured out why! Because EVERYTHING IS DUE ALL AT THE SAME TIME. Check out the beginning of my September:

September 2nd: Orientation for CCS, also the opening of The Men of Steel: The Editorial Cartoon Collection of E. Howard Goodwin, an art show that I am putting together of my grandfather's cartoon collection. We hung the show yesterday, and I have been working on a 36 page booklet that goes along with the exhibit (more on this later!) I will also be giving a talk about the exhibit that night.
September 6th: First day of school at CCS! I will once again be teaching Professional Practices and co-teaching Publication Workshop with Jon Chad
September 9th: Jon Chad, Alexis Frederick-Frost, Jen Vaughn and I will all have comic art up in a show at the AVA Gallery in Lebanon, New Hampshire which opens this night (I can not attend the opening, because...)
September 10th and 11th: I will be at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland! As ever, I will be tabling with Greg Means of Tugboat Press and on Saturday Robyn Chapman and I will be teaching a quick comics panel for CCS which will also feature Tom Hart of SAW. Also, Jon and I are working like dogs, trying to get issue #3 of Drop Target ready for the show.

PHEW! Right? And all that stuff involves a lot of preparation, which is all happening RIGHT NOW. Plus I'm still trying to keep up with Basewood, and Walker Bean 2 coloring and my illustration blog, etc. etc. etc. Busy busy!

This is all to say that updates on THIS blog might be a little sporadic in the coming days and weeks, and I'm miserably behind on email right now (sorry to anyone who is waiting on a reply). I'll do my best to keep up with everything!