JaMiE BaKeR: fallout

My good pal David Gordon has been writing and illustrating charming children’s books for a few years now (such as THE THREE LITTLE RIGS and THE UGLY TRUCKLING). His latest story is a collaboration with his girlfriend Susan and, appropriately enough, it is a charming love story between two articles of lost laundry; a sock and a mitten, entitled SMITTEN.This is my favourite of Dave’s books thus far, which is really saying something, because I have liked all of them. Apart from being a great book for kids, it would also make a great gift for that EXTRA special grown-up in your life.

This is a design I drew years ago (in markers pencil and gouache) for a story idea, created by John Hays, about a weirdo San Francisco detective. The project was called THE DICK.

It also illustrates my most recent reading obsession; detectives; hard boiled, soft boiled and scrambled. This fascination came to me by way of the informal paperback exchange in my apartment building. Tenants leave their old books on a mantel shelf in the lobby for others to take, and in doing so I discovered many authors I may not have heard of otherwise.

One neighbour is clearly an avid reader of crime fiction, because I found several mysteries by Tony Hillerman that chronicle investigations by Officer JIM CHEE and Lt. JOE LEAPHORN of the Navajo Tribal Police. Another find was a novel by MC Beaton from her series about HAMISH MACBETH, a small town policeman whose beat is the Scottish Highlands. My next score was Carl Hiassen’s very funny crime novel called SICK PUPPY which follows an outraged environmentalist chasing after corrupt real-estate development in Florida.

But what really got me interested in reading more detective fiction were some books by Robert Crais, featuring smart-alec LA detective ELVIS COLE. Though set in contemporary LA (late 1980s to early 2000s) they are written in the first-person narration I associate with the classic private-eye style. I have read about 7 of the books in this series and due to the funny-tough, sensitive-guy persona of the main character they are very fun to read.

Follow-up reading online lead me to Robert B. Parker and HIS own wise-cracking Boston Private Eye from the 1970s called SPENSER. So far, I have read 4 books about this gourmet cooking, hard punching tough guy with a heart of gold, a character cited as an influence on the Elvis Cole series. Both are tough guys in the private-eye tradition, though neither is hard-boiled all the way through. They have steady girlfriends and their committed relationships make them more than mere lone-wolf private Dicks. Never the less each series has a formula of sorts and I wanted some more variety in my crime-fiction diet…

More research online led me to the Thrilling Detective website; a wonderful resource to find out about writers and characters, learn which series came first, what order books should be read in, find out which writer was influenced by whom and learn what defines a story about a private-eye, as opposed to a police procedural or an amateur sleuth.

After several trips to Green Apple Books I now have a huge stash of 2nd hand crime paperbacks that I am ploughing through… I read a few books by Sara Paretsky featuring tough-gal detective V.I. WARSHAWSKI. Then one of my favourites so far; FLETCH by Gregory McDonald, a very witty and cleverly plotted crime story following the exploits of a wry investigative journalist. Elmore Leonard writes crime fiction full of shady quirky characters and those that we root for straddle the line between “goodie” and baddie”. His style of dialogue is imitated often, and many of his books have been made into movies, such as a very entertaining book I just read called RUM PUNCH (which became JACKIE BROWN).

Generally, I have been working my way backwards in time, so after the modern crime stories I read a few of Ian Fleming’s 1950s pulp novels featuring JAMES BOND, a character who, I think, owes something to the hard-boiled crime stories of 20s 30s and 40s…

…And they were next on my reading list. I caught up with James M. Cain’s classic crime novels DOUBLE INDEMNITY and THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE. These aren’t detective novels, but are part of the ROMANS NOIR tradition where some average sap is tempted to do horrible things for love or money, or both (They were made into classic FILMS NOIR).

I really enjoyed re-reading THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett. Although NOT in first person narration, it is written in a sparse, tight, blunt, yet somehow elegant style that has been imitated ever since the book came out in 1930. It is especially satisfying to read if you live in the same neighbourhood as SAM SPADE, and I do; all the action takes place within blocks of my apartment. I wanted to read other adventures of Sam Spade but to my surprise and disappointment, there were no other stories ever written featuring this iconic character.

Thankfully the same is not true of Raymond Chandler’s creation PHILIP MARLOWE, a hard boiled detective (some would even say THE hard boiled detective) who walked the seedy streets of 1940s and 1950s LA and whose cases spanned 9 novels starting with THE BIG SLEEP. It is no wonder that Raymond Chandler’s style is probably one of the most copied of all time when he has detective Philip Marlowe narrate his cases using lines like these:

“It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window.”

“Even on Central Avenue, not the quietest dressed street in the world, he looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food.”

That voice that has been ripped-off, referenced and lampooned so often that the spoofs come to mind while reading the books. When reading Hammett and Chandler, it helps to remember that the lines about deadly blondes, the similes about goons, or the scenes where someone falls through the office-door with a knife in their back and riddled with bullet-holes only to mutter a cryptic clue before dying on the floor, were all NEW when they were written. They somehow remain fresh even today; even if I think of DEAD MEN DON’T WEAR PLAID or a Harvey Kurtzman spoof as I read them, these books are a joy to read.

As a change of pace from gun-toting gum-shoes, and femme fatales, I am now reading Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous creation, SHERLOCK HOLMES in a collection featuring both novel-length adventures and short stories. The elegant Victorian prose of these tales is a great contrast to the hard boiled style, and once again the pleasure of reading transcends the fact that the character has become something of a much lampooned cliché.

Hard to say how long this obsession will last, but if it has legs I still have to read stories by Mickey Spillane, James Ellroy, and Jim Thompson. Not to mention Edgar Allan Poe, the man credited with inventing the crime novel in 1841 with the publication of The MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE. Then I want to read more Raymond Chandler, and Dashielle Hammett’s THE THIN MAN and ALL the FLETCH novels. Oh, and Ross Macdonald’s private eye, LEW ARCHER.

OK, must dash; I have a lot of reading to do!

Since getting my copy of Ralph McQuarrie’s new book I’ve been geeking out hard on Star Wars. So skip this post unless you are prepared to trip down that nerd path with me.

A few nights back, I spent a few hours online trying to track down a few images I had seen years ago. After almost giving up the hunt, I stumbled upon a fantastic online catalogue of pulp magazine covers that contained the first thing I was looking for; a black and white sketch illustration and colour cover from July 1975 issue of ANALOG Magazine:

Both were drawn by John Schoenherr to illustrate a short science fiction story called And Seven Times Never Kill Man written by George R.R. Martin. These crossbow wielding furry alien warriors certainly remind me of one the characters from a blockbuster-hit science fantasy film that came out two years after this issue hit the news stands.

As a kid, Chewbacca was one of my favourite characters and was a rare case of my preferring what appeared in the film over any of Ralph McQuarrie’s early designs, which looked more like a big, bug-eyed lemur. You other Chewie fans out there might enjoy this theory that, when viewed as a whole, the Star Wars films reveal that R2D2 and Chewie are really in control (It’s a long read but interesting and fun).

Another fan has come up with a funny theory that Leia and Luke got busy after the Death Star was destroyed in the first Star Wars movie. Yes! Worth a read, eh? (short, funny read)

Speaking of Luke, fanboys and haters still debate Mark Hamill’s career and argue over his acting chops. Despite what many people say, I think that Mark Hamill is far from being a bad actor. In fact, compared to the relentlessly stiff acting by Samuel Jackson, Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor and many of the other respected actors in the prequels, Hamill’s portrayal of Luke’s growth from whiny farm boy to Jedi Badass is actually one of the better performances in the Star Wars movies… (Bracing for a backlash in my comments section )

More can be found out about the original trilogy actors in the where are they now article including some sad pics showing how the aging process works on fresh young faces….

Look at this history of the screenplay drafts of the original movie, starting with the rough outline written in 1973. Most of these drafts are barely recognisable as the final film, and pretty terrible into the bargain… which I found inspiring in a way; Don’t give up on your idea if it seems shonky at first. Just keep plugging away at it until it works.

The next thing I found during my exhaustive “research” online is a great picture of the Prototype Darth Vader which more closely resembles the original Ralph McQuarrie design. I had never seen this picture or anything like it before. Isn’t the internet wonderful?

And, finally, here is the second image that I went online to search for in the first place; a painting by Syd Mead done way back in 1968 for the book “CONCEPTS” as a promotion for for US STEEL. Does this gizmo remind you of anything? A wicked cool walking vehicle from a 1980 smash-hit science-fantasy film perhaps? It’s even walking around in the snow!

I think it’s time; I need to watch the original three movies again…

Thanks to my generous, good friend Bosco, I now own the new ART OF RALPH McQUARRIE book, which collects a lifetime of fabulous artwork by the famous concept-designer and illustrator. If you have an interest in Concept design in general, or Star Wars in particular, this book is for you. Though you’ll have to wait for reprints as this print run is sold out.

When I was 13 years old, I saw Star Wars at my local movie theatre and, like most kids that year, I was agog at what I saw up on that movie-screen. I remember walking out of the theatre into a warm summer night and expressing, to my good childhood friend Stephen, what a bummer it was that real life was never going to be as cool as that movie…

To make up for this sad fact, I sought out information about Star Wars, which wasn’t hard to find due to the worldwide media blitz that even reached as far as the tiny town I lived in. I read a lot of articles about the film, including some on how it was actually made. In doing so, I first became acquainted with the artwork of designer Ralph McQuarrie. His drawings and paintings really fired my imagination. A year or two after the movie had come out I ordered my copy of the original “Art of Star Wars” book, which eventually fell apart from constant reading. In many cases, I found that I liked Ralph McQuarrie’s early concepts better than what ended up in the film, and that is saying something because I liked what ended up in the film a whole lot.

By that point, in my mid-teens, I had already decided that I wanted a career in animation but for a time I considered being a movie concept-designer instead. Wrestling with this big career decision was a somewhat abstract problem because I didn’t seriously believe that I’d ever have a chance to do either job anyway, living in Australia. All the big budget space movies and cartoons were done in the USA as far as I knew.

But that fact didn’t stop me from day-dreaming and drawing… So began a period where I drew spaceships and robots in addition to the cartoons and goofy pictures I had already been drawing for years. It was during this phase, when I was about 14, that I wrote the only fan letter I have ever written in my life, which I sent to Ralph McQuarrie (care of the publisher of the ART OF STAR WARS book, I think). I wrote about how much I was inspired by his artwork and also told him of my desire to get into animation or movie design someday. To my great surprise and delight he wrote me back a very encouraging letter. I certainly wasn’t expecting a response, but perhaps getting a letter all the way from Australia was a novelty for him. Whatever the reason for his taking the trouble to reply, that letter meant a great deal to me at the time. Any encouragement from adults was welcome at that age, let alone from the great Ralph McQuarrie, who had inspired me so much.

Not much later, at the age of 17, I had the great good fortune to actually get a job in animation and I gravitated back to my first love which is drawing cartoons, where I could (and still do) get away without knowing either perspective or anatomy or how to paint…

Years later, my animation career brought me to the San Francisco Bay Area. When going through an old box of stuff I had brought over from Australia, I found the letter from Ralph McQuarrie and was surprised to discover that the return address was from right here in the Bay Area, where of course, those early Star Wars movies were made. When I had received that letter at the age of 14 it was just a letter from the USA and the actual city it came from had not registered in my memory. So, as an adult, I wrote again to Ralph McQuarrie to thank him for the encouragement he had given me so long ago, for the inspiration that he gives me still, and to tell him that I DID manage to find my way into the career I had always wanted, as he had urged me to do. I sent the letter to the return address he had used many years earlier, but this time I got no reply. That was about 10 years ago, I guess.

Most likely he never got the letter, as I imagine that he may have moved in the many years since our first exchange of mail. In any case, after 30 years of getting fan mail from gomers around the world, I doubt that Ralph McQuarrie has the time to reply to even a fraction of the fan mail that he does receive… Hmmm, perhaps he DID get my new letter but feared responding to a stalker who had come to the USA from the far side of the world!

Anyway, looking through this fantastic new book brings back memories of reading all the old “Art of STAR WARS” books. I still get a kick out of looking at all those great paintings, plus, this book contains a ton of wonderful stuff I’ve never seen before, that will feed my hungry eyeballs for years to come. Thank you, Ralph McQuarrie, wherever you may be.

Osamu Tezuka has been a big influence on me since I was a small child. I enjoyed his animated shows that played in re-runs on Australian TV in the 1970s, namely Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. Years later, I found out that both these shows were based on comic books that Tezuka himself had drawn, and were merely a fraction of the many properties that he had created.

Tezuka is sometimes referred to as the “Walt Disney of Japan” which is a comparison that Tezuka himself would have been flattered by, as he was a big fan of Walt Disney. But Disney’s (unmistakeably huge) influence is mainly that of a visionary businessman; his artistic output of drawings over the course of his career is minuscule at best, whereas Tezuka’s creative output in BOTH comics and animation, was staggering.

The Asian Art Museum here in San Francisco is showing an exhibit of Osamu Tezuka’s original comics artwork entitled MARVEL OF MANGA, which runs until September 9th. This exhibit was created by Australia’s National Gallery of Victoria, in co-operation with Tezuka Productions in Japan. The original show ran in Melbourne from November 2006 through January this year, when it moved to The Art Gallery Of NSW in Sydney for February and April. In June the exhibit came to San Francisco, for what will be its only U.S. appearance.

If you have any interest at all in Manga or Anime, I strongly recommend that you see this show. Even though the art style may seem dated and quaint to some people, it is worth remembering that many (if not all) modern Manga and Anime artists stand on the mighty shoulders of Osamu Tezuka. For me, it was marvelous to see his original artwork with my own eyes… I had never seen any of his original art before and there certainly is a lot of it on display. Plus, the sheer scope of all he did, taken in all at once, is pretty astonishing.

I was happy to see that as well as his comic artwork, there were some screenings of Tezuka’s animation, including his experimental films such as “Broken Down Film” and “Jumping” Which are both very much worth a look-see.

The exhibit started on June 2nd and runs until September 9th so if you have plans to be in SF during that period then don’t miss the show. Be sure to check on the schedule of lectures ahead of time so that you don’t miss out on any goodness. Also, take a look at the exhibition program/catalog, which is a beautiful hardcover book, including essays about Tezuka compiled by the curator of the exhibit, Philip Brophy. I regretted not buying this book as soon as I left the museum (I will pick up a copy on my NEXT visit).

In a recent panic that my memory is failing as I grow older, I have been writing my memories down before they all fade away. Surprisingly, this has been an enjoyable exercise, as more and more of my childhood shenanigans have come back to me while writing others down. I certainly don’t have any plans to write a full memoir, but after dredging up my own memories, attempting to put them in some kind of order and render them with as much honest detail as I can muster, I’ve come to wonder how people DO write memoirs that include quoted conversations, like scenes from a movie. None of my memories (including those from last week) are so crisp as that, and there are startling gaps in the continuity. Sometimes I can piece together a timeline, when memories can be crosschecked with documentary evidence. Mostly however, I don’t have anything to moor my memories to, and they are floating around inside my head like slowly deflating balloons…

While pondering this mystery, I was inspired to track down the autobiographies of CLIVE JAMES, which I’d not read in 15 years or more but remembered as being the most entertaining autobiographies that I had ever read. He is perhaps not so well known in the USA, because his books were hard to find, so I ordered them from the UK where almost anyone could attest to the wit of Clive James. He first made a name for himself there as a television critic, but later he became a TV presenter himself, on a show called CLIVE JAMES ON TELEVISION, where he presented television clips from from around the world, famously including ENDURANCE, the hilariously punishing Japanese TV game show. (Our own “reality TV” shows now feature the worm-eating capers the Japanese were amusing westerners with 25 years ago. So who’s laughing now?) But the entertainment in his show wasn’t only from clips of Turkish soap operas or whacky game shows, it mainly came from Clive James’ eclectic tastes in popular culture and his particular style of witty critical commentary.

My first exposure to him was in the early 1980s when I read the first of his autobiographies, which had been recommended by my Dad. (He was born the same year as Clive James, so their experiences of growing up in Australia in the 1940s and 1950s, then going to university in the UK in the 1960s, were generally similar). The first book, called UNRELIABLE MEMOIRS, chronicles the period from Clive James’ birth up until he was 22 years old, about the age I was when I read it the first time. It is without a doubt one of the funniest books that I have ever read. The paperback version has a review printed on the cover, which warns not to read the book in public in case you embarrass yourself with laughter. This I took as mere “you’ll laugh out loud!” hyperbole, rather than realising it was actually the operating instructions for an extremely volatile device… I disgraced myself a few days later when Clive James’ account of a school gymnastics class caused me to honk like an egg-bound goose while riding a crowded train to work… precisely as warned.

The title “UNRELIABLE MEMOIRS” implies, and his introduction plainly states, that he has embellished the facts in their retelling (so THAT’s the secret!) but whether it’s fiction, non-fiction, or a hybrid of the two, it is ALL a delight to read. Besides, It is hard to know if he really has changed the facts to make them more entertaining, or if he has merely suggested this to put us off the scent of what is actually real, to avoid libel charges… Several other later-to-be-famous people appear in the books, with their names changed but their true identities not disguised, if you know who to look for. Robert Hughes, Bruce Beresford, Germaine Greer, Brett Whitely, Barry Humphries and other over-achievers feature as “supporting characters” in each of his autobiographies. Famous people not only hang-out together after they are famous but also even before they were famous… (This first struck me when reading books by or about Hemingway’s “lost generation” crowd of US expatriates in Paris in the 1920s).

The copy I am reading now is an omnibus version, called ALWAYS UNRELIABLE, and contains the first three volumes; UNRELIABLE MEMOIRS, FALLING TOWARDS ENGLAND and MAY WEEK WAS IN JUNE. One of the pleasures of re-reading these books 15-20 years later is finding resonance in some of what I didn’t “get” before. Initially, I didn’t fully appreciate the 2nd and 3rd books, finding them not so funny as the 1st. This time however, it is those later books that have made me hoot out loud. I just discovered that a fourth memoir, called THE NORTH FACE OF SOHO, was published last year and I look forward to reading it, having refreshed my memory by re-reading the first three.

Clive James is an ungainly-looking man in person, but as a communicator he is like a verbal Gene Kelly or Jackie Chan; graceful, quick, talented, a master at what he does and yet accessible to the rest of us poor slobs. After Jackie Chan busts out some amazing stunt that takes your breath away, he’ll set himself up for a prat-fall that invites you to laugh at him, even though that pratfall was every bit as hard to pull off as the earlier stunt that made you gasp. Likewise, Clive James dazzles with his wit, his handle on language and his education (I confess that I cannot keep up with his vast knowledge of fine art and popular culture) but then he’ll serve up some gags at his own expense, and even those dealing with compromising, vulgar situations, are delivered in sublimely hilarious prose. Some people say that this smart-guy playing-the-goof routine smacks of false-modesty (as if there is any other kind) but I think it is the mark of a great showman and communicator. Like watching Gene Kelly joyfully dancing in the rain, you wish you could do what he does, and part of his genius is that he somehow makes that level of ability inviting, rather than alienating.

For those of you unfamiliar with the man, I suggest you visit the CLIVE JAMES WEBSITE which contains a remarkable amount of his work. Not only essays and poetry but also a series of video conversations he has held with some famous guests. Just eavesdropping on a conversation can be very entertaining if they are the right participants (one of the most entertaining hours of TV that I ever saw was a conversation between CLIVE JAMES and JONATHAN MILLER).

Normally at this time of year, leading up to Comic Con, I would be powering up my personal Hype Machine and trying to whet your appetites for one of my own books. This time however I haven’t cooked anything new (or rather, it is still baking) but you don’t need to go hungry as I have some recommendations of other tasty treats that will be on sale this year…

MELVIN BEEDERMAN books 1 & 2, Illustrated by my booth-buddy mr Rhode Montijo. These are the first in a series (lots more on the way!) of chapter books, which are lavishly illustrated novels designed for young readers not yet ready for “Harry Potter” but already growing self-conscious about reading “picture books”. The MELVIN books are full of Rhode’s charming black and white illustrations for the stories (written by Greg Trine) about a boy who is trying to be a Super Hero in Los Angeles (because LA hasn’t had a hero since Kareem retired).

These books are SUPER appropriate subject-matter for Comic Con, and perfect for any young kids (I plan to get some for my nephews). For your even younger readers, Rhode will also be selling his colour picture book Cloud Boy which he both wrote and illustrated himself. I already have my copy, (which I have raved about before), but if you don’t have one yet, then I suggest that you come by our booth and pick one up. (Plus, we both have left over comics and sketchbooks from years gone by… or you could just come by to say “hi”).

ROSE AND ISABEL Book 2, by Ted Mathot. The conclusion to an epic story of two sisters who join the American civil war to find their brothers who are missing in action. Ted is a master storyteller, who normally uses his considerable skills in the service of animated feature films (I bet he has even storyboarded some of your favourite sequences). It is a real joy now to see him do his own thing. There is a lesson for me in every drawing I’ve ever seen of Ted’s and this book is like college; it has 160 pages of them.

DEREKMONSTER ANNUAL 2oo6 by veritable art-monster Derek Thompson. Derek is yet another friend who constantly inspires me with his upbeat energy, productivity and his always amazing artwork. He has a broad range of things that he can do artistically, but his passion has always been for designing monsters and I don’t think anyone draws them better. This book, like the first, contains 365 monsters, so you could snack on one for each day of the year, but my bet is that you’ll want to gobble them all down the minute you turn the first page.

MASSIVE SWERVE by Robert Valley. If you enjoy seeing the human form drawn with both an eye for figure drawing and a flair for stylization (which don’t always go together, let alone so well) and aren’t squeamish about unbridled sexual fantasy, then you should get this book, just don’t show it to your kids, your grandma or anyone with Victorian sensibilities. The stories can be raunchy, but are truly hilarious, drawing upon Robert’s real-life booze-addled adventures in club-land, but placed in a more extreme, fun cartoon-fantasy world.

GHOULASH by Sam Hiti. Instead of an epic graphic novel or a charming mini comic, Sam now serves up an art book; a stew of monsters, deities, cowboys (and Rambo!) all rendered in Sam’s fearless brushmanship. An aside; Have you noticed how many sketchbooks have a food-themed title? “Scribbles and Bits”, “Ice Cream”, “Candy”, “Croquettes”, “Gourmet Gruel” and now “Ghoulash”… Surely this proves that art satisfies some kind of hunger? I find artbooks pretty tasty myself, and I can’t wait for a hearty plate-full of Sam’s cooking.

SKETCHCRAWLINGS vol. 2 By Enrico Casarosa. The creator of the worldwide art craze that is SKETCHCRAWL has another of his charming Sketchcrawl books in the pipeline, due to pop out in time for the comic-con feeding frenzy. These books feature a 50/50 blend of Enrico’s superb, “on the spot” pencil and watercolour sketches, and hilarious autobiographical comics co-starring his two tiny alter egos, Nude Angel Enrico, and Nude Enrico Devil and starring full-sized Enrico himself, fully clothed (sorry, ladies) though emotionally naked.

AFTERWORKS 2, by a collection of artists from Pixar Animation studios. I have seen the galleys for this beautifully produced book. there are 360 full colour pages just chock filled with gorgeous artwork by artists whose names you may not have heard of before but whose work you have been seeing for years in all of Pixar’s films. The book has stories by artists from the story, art, and animation departments so it represents a broad cross section of the creative community of that powerhouse studio. And for only $25.00 how can you NOT pick this up?

OUT OF PICTURE by artists from Blue Sky studios, including my buddy David Gordon. I have seen (thanks to super-talented contributor Daniel Lopez Munoz) this beautifully packaged (big format, hard cover) and reasonably priced ($25) book and it is a “must have”. Is this a new trend of anthologies of personal work by animation artists? (How ’bout it Dreamworks artists? Disney artists? Sony? ILM?). It’s a sign of a healthy studio when the artists have surplus creative energy to spare for their personal projects.

And of course, I want a copy of FLIGHT 3 (to keep the first two company on my bookshelf). The Flight collections have probably inspired this recent spate of beautifully produced, bargain priced, colour comics anthologies; a trend I hope will continue for some time. It could be the beginings of a new way to distribute comics and get them to a wider audience… Comics can be cool! Plus, apart from this list, there is bound to be stuff that I don’t know about YET but will crave when I see it…

Anyway, I look forward to seeing all of that and all of you (plus pudgy people in purple spandex) next week at the NERD PROM: Comic-Con!

Toiling away in the creative vacuum of my apartment I sometimes need to jolt some ideas into my brain. Like a tired old geezer in the ER room, who needs a blast of electricity to bring his ticker back to life: “CLEAR!” ZAP! Here’s some stuff that I’ve been getting a BLAST out of lately:

THE THREE LITTLE RIGS is the latest children’s book by my old pal David Gordon. This is the 2nd in his charming series loosely based on classic nursery rhymes and fairy tales, with the twist being that in Dave’s versions the protagonists are all cars, trucks and other humanised machines. The first in the series was “The Ugly Truckling” and he has ideas for many more. While the appeal to gizmo obsessed little boys is perhaps obvious, the classic story-lines and charmingly-cute artwork should appeal to little girls as well. Dave draws trucks so cute you want to give them a saucer of milk and cuddle them.

BLUTCH is an artist that I’d heard about but only recently got properly aquainted with. Sam Hiti repeatedly told me of his admiration for this French comics artist and since Sam has never steered me wrong in any of his comics recomendations, I went in search of this “Blutch” guy… without any luck. Next thing you know, I get some copies of Blutch’s “MITCHUM” books in the mail. Sam had kindly picked up a few copies for me when he was in Canada. Then I spotted some copies of Mitchum in at MELTDOWN comics (so if you live in LA you can buy Blutch too).

Blutch’s drawings are energetic and use either a scribbly pen or a fluid brush. Some of the books are drawn in a very crude fashion and some with a fluid grace but all show a bravery and boldness to the fearless throwing around of the ink. Most of the stories are dreamlike atmospheric and surreal and many of them have no dialogue, so don’t be put off buying them just because you can’t read French.

NICOLAS de CRECY is yet another French comic-book artist who’s work I admire. He also happens to be one of the two that I have actually worked with (at the DISNEY Paris studio where we did layouts, along with TAO BANG’s Didier Cassegrain). I remember seeing some pages for a graphic novel that he was working in his spare time, and being very impressed with the rich intricate artwork. Years later, while on a visit back to France, some artwork on a book cover caught my eye. Picking it up, I realised that it was the finished work of the pages seen years before. That book is called FOLIGATTO.

Lately I’ve been looking at Nicolas de Crecy’s books again, both ones bought years ago and a few acquired recently. Along with Foligatto I’ve got LEON LA CAME, PRIEZ POUR NOUS and BIBEDUM CELESTE. His brush line-work is superbly crazed and spidery but his detailed compositions never become messy, partly due to the use of a simple duo-chrome palette (usually using shades of two opposite colours) which has a beautifully clarifying effect over his agitated line. Some of the books he has illustrated were written by Sylvain Chomet who is best known as the writer/director of the Oscar nominated “Triplettes of Belleville”. Later, de Crecy and Chomet also collaborated on an animated short. If you enjoy the quirky visuals of Chomet’s films, then seek out de Crecy’s books from the 1990’s and you will see the visual motifs that later appeared in Chomet’s films. De Crecy’s visual world has had a lasting impression on Chomet, or perhaps it more fair to say that they have influenced eachother, having collaborated on both books and animation.

I have also been reading stuff that will be more familiar to fans of American comics.

ESSENTIAL SILVER SURFER. The B/W printing puts a focus on the beautiful drawing and inking. Yes, the dialogue is overwrought and corny (portentious pulse-pounding prose) but entertaining nonetheless. Plus, I like the character; he is not the typical superhero… He’s “sensitive.” Don’t despair Silver Surfer! I understand your pain, unlike all those guys shooting cannons at you…

LOVE AND ROCKETS. I just got “The Lost Women and other stories” and I’ve also been reading “Locas in Love.” and ““WigWam Bam.” The artwork is clean; every panel is a lesson in how evocative simplicity can be. The writing is entertaining too; the richness of Jaime’s world is very engrossing. No need to go on about these; everyone else is way ahead of me.

Having been labelled pretentious for posting about Fellini, (and by an Italian no less) I’m now in tactical retreat back to lowbrow territory with a post about comics. Specifically Wondercon 2006, (AKA: the Nerd Prom) which I exhibited at this last weekend.

When exhibiting at conventions, Nerve Bomb international has been affiliated with the Abismo multimedia giant for the past few years. However on this particular occasion, Abismo CEO and CFO Mr Rhode Montijo, was attending to urgent affairs abroad, and so the fabulous Ms. Michelle Ritchie came along to move product in his stead.

The Bizniss:
There was a great reaction to the advance copy of Rhode’s latest book, CLOUD BOY. It was a tractor beam; stopping people in their tracks and reeling them in with its magnetic powers of cuteness. Everyone familiar with Rhode’s oeuvre agreed that this book is a huge creative breakthrough for him, because although it continues his focus on cute characters, this one doesn’t get murdered, mutilated, maimed or mauled by the end of the story.

Sales of Nerve Bomb titles were lower than last year, even though Saturday was so crowded that potential attendees were turned away at the door. I assume that my entire customer base was amongst those turned away. It has always been a mystery why sales are better some days than others. The calculus of sales are influenced by so many factors: attendance, booth-placement, booth-layout, sales-pitch, quality of display, quality of material and whether I have a shitty look on my face, or not.

The People:
But for me the cons are not only about selling my books (just as well, eh?). I also go in order to buy other stuff and to socialise, not only with people I get to see around town (such as Nate, Ted, the Ghostbots, the Maverix, Enrico, Ronnie and Tess), but all kinds of fun, cool, and crazy folks that I don’t see anyplace else but at cons (such as Mark and Anne, Ragnar, George, Amelia, and others). Where else can you chat with Spiderman and his Dad?

Although he was away for the con itself, the night before the show Rhode morphed into a Roadie, and helped setup the Abismo/Nerve Bomb booth, which is when we met the folks from Steam Crow. Thankfully, they took this photo (below) that provides documentary evidence that Rhode was physically present for at least part of Wondercon 2006. As you can see in this pic, Daniel is ready for action and that pumped up ‘tude is evident in the Steam Crow art and their fine booth display. The booth especially so, considering that this was their first show. I still haven’t got a nice vinyl banner, after a few years doing these things…

Socialising got off to a great start this year when I found out that we were sitting next to Rafael Navarro (who is also in that category of good friends who I only see at cons). This year Raf introduced me to some of his cronies, Mike Wellman and Joshua Dysart. The three of them lounged around like lazy rockstars strumming guitars, while waiting for their hangovers to wear out, occasionally leaping up to serenade any passing ladies with a pitch about their comics, and then languidly slouching back in their chairs again.

On the Friday evening a whole gang of us (including Mark and Anne, Rafa, Mike, myself and more) went out for Hunan Food. We managed to find a table that would seat about 10 of us in a place (the always good “Henry’s Hunan”) that would tolerate our loud, obnoxious conversations about a broad spectrum of assinine subjects.

Ms Monster and the B-minus crew graced me with their presence at my booth, (for photo evidence, see below) and I got to feel validated by their cool a few times during the weekend. Also I had quite a few fun and interesting chats with people who’s names I didn’t catch; just people who bought something and stayed to talk for a while, and that was a really fun aspect of the show for me this year. So thanks a lot to all you folks for coming by.

Early one morning, before the doors opened, I got talking to Stuart Ng at his booth. He told me of his recent trip to the Angouleme comics festival in France, and his meetings with the artists and publishers there. I droned on about European graphic novels and my desire that more of them would be translated into English and distributed more widely in the English speaking world. To thank Stuart for patiently tolerating my bending his ear, I then bought almost my entire swag of stuff from his booth… As I said before, buying books was on my list of things to do. So without further ado here is…

The Swag:
“Claire de Nuit” is by one of my favourites, mr Jordi Bernet. This is a French collection of his strips about a cute streetwalker (”Clara de Noche” in the original Spanish) who is reminiscent of the pinup icon Bettie Page. (in English translations the character is called “Betty by the hour”). The art style is more cartoony than Bernet uses in other titles, such as “Torpedo” and the drawings are so full of appeal that he makes hooking seem wholesome and fun, so this book requires a lot of suspension of disbelief and certainly isn’t for everyone.

“Tao Bang” is an epic comics series that feels like an over the top fantasy film. The formula for a Gomer piece of popular culture is, any two fanboy obsessions plus sexy girls, so the recipe for this book is: pirates+dinosaurs+sexy girls=Tao Bang. The artwork is a superb collaboration between Fred Blanchard and a fellow I once worked with, the super talented Didier Cassegrain. Years ago, at the Paris Disney studio, he would distract the rest of us layout artists with his drawings of beautiful girls (usually featuring curvacious bottoms).

“les Lumieres de L’Amalou” by Claire Wendling. I’ve had my eye on this series of beautiful comics albums for a while, looking through the pages at cons before, but the cost of all 5 seemed exhorbitant. I finally broke down and bought the BIG album that collects the series. It was expensive but well worth it, as the art is simply amazing, page after page. Plus, at the slow speed that I read French, I have reading material to last me a year, so it wasn’t expensive at all, if I look at it like that… (rationalising guilty pleasures is one of my super-powers)

Without question Wendling is one of my all time favourite artists and she has exerted her influence on many others as well, including an artist I had never heard of before, but whose brilliant work I became acquainted with at this year’s Wondercon….

“AYANIMEYA”, the beautiful colour sketchbook by Alina Urusov, was the prize find of the show for me this year, and I recommended it to everyone that I could. The range and depth of her drawing skill immediately blew me away, but when I found out that she is a recent graduate from Sheridan college and is about 20 years old, It didn’t only blow my mind; It made me want to blow out my brains. But I quickly thought better of that particular plan, instead, I went home broke all my pens and pencils, threw my art supplies out the window, then set my portfolio on fire and danced around it in the nude, wailing and gnashing my teeth.

I’m hoping that in exchange for this ritual sacrifice, the gods of drawing talent will finally send me some… If not then I guess I’ll just have to do some more sketch practise…

I just got to see an advance copy of an absolutely charming new children’s book. It is CLOUD BOY by Rhode Montijo.

Both the luminous artwork and the deceptively simple concept of this book are appealing and part of that appeal lies in how well the art and concept work together.

It is illustrated in flat sky blue and shades of glowing white, and features some beautifully rendered pencil illustrations of the titular character as he floats in his foamy world of clouds and watches the world below.

The theme of the book shows how we individuals can reach out to those around us through our powers of creativity. This may seem like a simple concept, and yet it gently touches on both the joy and the sadness of being an individual, of being human. It was a very powerful turning point in my own childhood when I realized that I could make connections to the people around me through my drawings. It is no exaggeration to say that, as a child, it helped me form a sense of my own self-worth and, as an adult, it has been a major driving force in my life ever since.

This book manages to convey the joy of that experience in a manner that should be very inspiring to children, or any grown-ups who haven’t forgotten that period in their own growth. So, if you know any child who’s creative expression you’d like to inspire then I would highly recommend this book to you. It is published by Simon & Schuster and will be in stores in April 2006, but is available for pre-order on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble.