The day before Jellaby Day!

It’s been more than 18 months since we first reported that Kean Soo‘s Jellaby would be getting the print treatment, and tomorrow all our waiting is over. Between this and Flight Explorer (due next month), it looks like plenty of the big purple monster about town to satisfy our needs, but for those of you that need just a little bit more, and are in Toronto, there’s two more things of interest:

Presented in association with THE BEGUILING and Scholastic Canada, Kazu Kibuishi and Kean Soo will be at the North York Central Library to debut their brand new graphic novels Amulet and Jellaby. Both Kean and Kazu will be interviewed on stage by The Beguiling’s Christopher Butcher.

That’s 6:30pm tomorrow, with a bonus signing event at The Beguiling by Kean & Kazu at 7pm on Wednesday.

In other news: new vinyl toy on tap from Andy Bell. Man, I love that guy’s designs, but what’s with all the butts? All his toys have lovingly-sculpted ass cheeks. Ominous.

There’s been a lengthy rundown of Marjane Satrapi profiles/interviews at ¡Journalista! … but how many of them have been in comics form? Mike “Culture Pulp” Russell leads the way.

In other news:

• Speaking of movies, wasn’t this an Achewood story last year? I bet in the movie there are no dudes that end up hella stabbed.

• Harknell and Onezumi are coordinating webcomics at Katsucon in three weeks, and will be conducting the extravaganza known as Epic Webcomic Win. Free stuff from more than a dozen webcomic guests! Entry form will be available at any webcomic guest table, with full details on the contest page.

• Missed it earlier this week: new Dr McNinja book announced; look for availability in about a month. Rumor has it the promised truly superior extra content will include free hugs from guest stars¹.
• Hey kids, remember Uncle Ghastly? Sure you do! His life hit a series of rough patches and the long-running Ghastly’s Ghastly Comic (often NSFW, in case you forgot) fell by the wayside. But he’s doing better these days, and has a new, Northesque journal comic to share with you. I’ve always believed that Uncle Ghastly was actually The Living Slackmaster, so be on the lookout for esoteric SubGenius wisdom as you follow his blogariffic adventures.

________________
¹ Not really.

Hey everybody. I see the piece that I wrote up and scheduled to post yesterday monrning didn’t actually, but it’s long and now you get an extra one for today, so everybody wins. In fact, I just wanted to point out some of my nicer presents today.

First up, you may recall that about a month ago, my wife arranged for a rather special birthday present for me. What with my birthday falling on a Tuesday, one of the intended gifts was delayed a day, but there I was — barber to ninjas. I got to thank Chris Hastings in person with beer and cheesecake about two weeks back, and he never let on that the original of that page was already in the mail to me. “Sneaky”, “underhanded”, and every other word that might apply to ninjas also applies to Chris and his partner, Kent Archer.

Next, arriving on the 24th and just in time for Christmas, DJ Coffman sent me an unexpected gift — a hardcover copy of his Hero By Night miniseries (prompting one of my nephews to notice it on my desk and say, “Cool, I didn’t know the hardcover was out yet.” I don’t see him often and didn’t know that he read HBN, so yay to Coffman for bringing families together).

I was going to pick up the trade of HBN, even though I have the individual copies, as it both saves space on my shelves and allows me to donate the individual issues to people that might not be able to get comics easily (this week I’ve got two boxes to send to Chris Tarbassian at Operation Comix Relief, who will send any and all donated comics to US troops on deployment). So I get a handsome hardcover for my collection, my nephew feels a little less like the only geek in the family, and some troops get a diversion from their crappy immediate surroundings sooner than they would otherwise? That’s a win for all involved.

Two weeks ago, Jeff Rowland ran what I think is one of the funniest episodes in the history of Overcompensating; having missed out more than once on the chance to buy particularly funny originals of various strips by waiting too long, I emailed Jeff right away.

He told me that the original had been water damaged, and he couldn’t in good conscience sell it to me. It showed up in today’s mail, with three little water spots away from the main image, along with a mess of stickers and temporary tatoos and a Band-Aid™ brand adhesive bandage. All of these gifts, especially the Band-Aid™, are going to be treasured parts of my collection of webcomics art.

So to Jeff, DJ, Chris and Kent, and all the terrific creators that I’ve met in the past two years of fumbling my way through this pseduo-journalistic hackery, thank you. It’s no exaggeration to say that being around so many creative, funny people has made my life richer, and I’m going to keep trying to spread the word about the great work that all of you do.

So we’re full into the holiday season; whatever tradition you may follow, there’s an excuse to get well-fed and well-boozed with friends and/or family about now, plus or minus ten days. And at these times, we generally try to find the best things about ourselves, and today I have two books to share that I believe reflect the best of [web]comicry talent.

First up, The Kids’s Book Project, a benefit for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, spearheaded by Mike Rouse-Deane, and with more contributors than you can shake a stick at (I wrote ’em all up here last month, and I ain’t doing it again so make with the clicky).

Rouse-Deane gave each of his 50+ contributor’s one thing to look at: the page before the one they would be drawing, and the one after. One group of creators started at the forward and worked forward, the other at the end and worked back, and from there it’s an exercise in wandering digression that somehow comes back to a resolution of the original story.

Without giving too much away, I’ll note that the previously released image comprises page three, and that the story (at least at first, and then again at the end) concerns a pair of children named John Alexander Petdander Orlean and Susie James. It’s a fun ride, with much flipping to the back of the book to confirm who drew what. In fact, there’s only one thing missing and that may be the most important thing:

Mike Rouse-Deane has neglected to list his name anywhere in the book. Title page, intro, credits at the back, nothing. I suspect that he’s trying to not steal focus from the creators or the cause, but I’m calling shenanigans on that modesty. You put together a hell of a good project, Mike, and you ought to take a bow.

Secondly, something that I didn’t think I’d get to read yet. The always clued-in JRo let us know that the major booksellers moved up the street date of Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet; two hours later I was in the local Barnes & Noble (who appear to be shelving it in the children’s section) and breaking out my wallet.

Forget a body of work that spans the achingly wonderful Copper, the spare and unexpected Daisy Kutter, and sitting in the driver’s seat of the brilliant Flight anthologies. Kibuishi has just left those projects in the dust and announced himself as one of the premier talents in comics with Amulet Book One: The Stonekeeper.

If not for the fact that he’s still alive, I’d swear that Kibuishi was the reincarnation of Hayao Miyazaki, because Amulet reminds me of nothing so much as a Miyazaki story. All of the Ghibli touches are there: characters with open, simple, but incredibly expressive faces; the choice of the young girl (not quite ready to be a woman) as the protagonist; the stylish, otherworldly, and lovingly-crafted flying machines; the landscapes and critters that clearly come from a dream world that isn’t all rainbows and lollipops.

Into this mix are thrust Emily and her younger brother Navin; their mother has been taken from their new home by a nightmarish menace made of tentacles and teeth. When you’re a girl who’s already lost her father these circumstances demand you do whatever you need to do to get your mother back. In this case what needs to be done means accepting the help of a mysterious and long-lost great-grandfather, and taking on the powers and burdens of a magic stone in the titular amulet.

An amulet which, as it so happens, has its own views on things; at more than one point, the reader is left wondering exactly what price Emily will have to pay to save her family. With barely the initial setup to the story finished, it’s clear that this isn’t one of those happily ever after kinds of stories … it’s one of those nobody said getting what you wanted will make you happy stories, or maybe one of the sadder but wiser kind. It’s a new kind of all-ages literature, of a sort with BONE, and sure to please anybody you might choose to gift it to.

And best of all? If Book One released early, maybe that means that Books Two through as many as we can get Kibuishi to write will release early, as well. Right now, I’m ready to curl up with about a thousand more pages of Amulet.

Webcomics can save your life. Want proof? From the Introduction of Schlock Mercenary: The Tub Of Happiness by Howard Tayler:

In December of 1999 I had a heart attack.

Here I am, almost eight years later. I suspect that those chest pains were a clarion call. Less than three months after the ripping of that final, hairy bandage, I found myself telling Sandra, “I think I’ll pick up doodling as a hobby.” A week after that the first Schlock Mercenary character drawings were emerging, and within two weeks I was writing and illustrating strips.

Hold that thought, we’ll be coming back to it shortly.

Reading SM:TTOH, some notice that Tayler’s trying to play fair with the rules of his hard sci-fi universe; others note the art that rapidly progressed from its very rough original form to its present, less-rough form; many focus on the funny (with a hefty side order of BLAM). Me, I notice how reprehensible most of his characters really are.

They are mercenaries. Their defining motivation is there in the second panel of the first strip:

We’re a crack company of space mercenaries. We do “hurting people” and “breaking things”.

So we’ve got Good Guys whose stock in trade is murder and destruction and extortion — not for defense of their homes or grand ideals, but for money. They are not so very different from the union thugs portrayed in the storyline on pages 175 to 177, who are portrayed far less sympathetically than Our Heroes. By the time the book is done, they’ve directly caused a spasm of war that lays waste on a multiple-planetary scale and laid the groundwork for a broader conflict that will kill billions of sentients.

And yet, that war and those uncountable deaths somehow disturb us less than the fact that all that death and destruction was provoked by the act of spamming 30% of the galaxy’s population.

So Tayler’s working on some pretty dark thoughts, making us laugh at them, robbing those less social corners of his own soul of some of their power. I know that it’s working, because hanging out with Howard Tayler, he’s absolutely the sort of person I’d take to the town picnic and introduce to my neighbors as a friend, and totally not a societal danger that spends his days trying to convince me to care about mass murderers. Because dammit, I do care about them, and they do make me laugh.

Letting out the blackness between the parts of ourselves that we show the rest of the world has got to be a good thing. In Tayler’s specific case, that process (via cartooning) has had a salutary effect on his health. To recap, in the form of the famed Harper’s Index:

• Heart attacks suffered by Howard Tayler prior to becoming a webcomicker: 1
• Heart attacks suffered by Howard Tayler since becoming a webcomicker: 0

QED, people.

From my email outbox:

To: David Kellett <dave@davekellett.com>
Subject: satisfaction issue

Mr Kellett,

It is my understanding that you promise 100% satisfaction with purchases of your various “Sheldon” merchandise. Regrettably, I must inform you that I have NOT achieved 100% satisfaction with my purchase of your latest book, A Blizzard of Lizards.

The book itself arrived in pristine condition, with a smooth, silky feel to the cover, which is worth at least 30% satisfaction. Although the heaviness of the cover stock is obviously protective and lends a reassuring “heft” to the volume, it is perhaps slightly too stiff to easily bend in the hand during reading. This unfortunately makes the volume approximately 4% less satisfying.

The sketch in the inside front cover of this Artist’s Edition (#99/250) was suitably rendered, especially considering that vast numbers you must have had to produce in a short period of time. Call me 20% more satisfied as a result.

The content of the strip, as always, is exemplary in terms of the total entertainment derived, along with scoring consistently high on the standard LOLs per page per minute scale (LOLpppm), contributing another 57% satisfaction. The innovative use of re-arranging and englarging selected panels in strips to completely fill pages and emphasize gags (as seen most …

You’ll have to pardon me for a moment, that Linus and Lucy song is playing on the radio, and I must dance.

… clearly in the printed collections of your colleague Brad Guigar’s Evil, Inc. strip) adds 8% more to the overall satisfaction.

Finally, the bonus story, the sexy, sexy signed photo of Arthur the duck, and the examples of strips translated into Norwegian all contribute a final 5% satisfaction.

And here I hope you can see the problem, Mr Kellett — far from being 100% satisfied, I find myself 116% satisfied, a discrepancy of nearly one part in six! Surely, a craftsman of your skill is appalled by hitting so wide of the mark, and I must ask at this time that you contact me directly so that we may find a way to make good on your promise of 100% satisfaction. Your good-faith suggestions are welcome, but may I suggest that you spend 10 minutes hurling pinecones at an innocent puppy? That should about do it.

Sincerely,

Gary Tyrrell
The Internet

First up: Time is doing its ____ of the Year lists, and this go-round has a category for graphic novels. They handed that category to Nerd World blogger Lev Grossman, who has made his love for webcomics known over the past year. In what may be its highest-profile mention yet, Achewood took the #1 slot (despite not being a graphic novel, per se) and Erfworld the #6 position. Given that both are likely to see an uptick in readers, Grossman might have given Time‘s readers a heads-up concerning Achewood’s (shall we say) profane nature, but anything that gets readers started in webcomics is cool by me.

Elsewhere in the webby wilds, Clickwheel editor Tim Demeter wants you to please enjoy a present from him and his to you and yours. Christmas cards, printable and electronic varieties, are available featuring Demeter’s own Reckless Life, Joe Loves Crappy Movies, Random Encounters, Wonderella, and more. Wait, are they Christmas cards or Holiday cards? Pretty sure nobody cares!

Lastly, finishing out the “webcomics books making it to comic shops” trend of the past year, Spike‘s Templar, AZ is now available for order in the latest issue of Previews, under Diamond order code DEC07 3783. Don’t have it yet? Think of it as a present to yourself.

Followups:

• The latest in spam-killing technology is now on deck, so be aware that you’ll have to jump through one extra hoop to post comments., but we’ll hopefully avoid problems.
• The auction is now up to $31. Good job, people.

Mini Fleen Book Corner: The Case of Mars is a ridiculous amount of fun, ties up the last four years of Wigu continuity, sets up Jeff Rowland for at least the next four years, spares Hugo a terrible fate, features the word “panspermia“, and has an environmental message both more fun and more satisfying than Al Gore’s wettest of dreams. All it needs is a good beat and you could dance to it.

And lastly, the best press release we’ve received all year sits behind the cut. Congratulations to Jason Siebels for three years of Anywhere But Here, and good luck with that baguette.

(more…)

Michael Rouse-Deane has been keeping us all appraised of the progress of his charitable projects this year: the naked webcomickers calendar, and The Kid’s Book Project. The former has been available for purchase for some time, and the latter has just completed. Rouse-Deane sent us:

First of all the introduction page, something which only the artists have seen. Secondly one page that has been coloured (of course the book is in black and white). Unfortunately I can’t tell you which page this is nor what’s happening but … at least it’s a sneaky peak. And finally, below is the list of the pages of each artist.

We at Fleen how our suspicions who did that colo[u]r page (click for a slightly larger version); answers on a postcard if you want to get your guesses in. And given that the artists don’t know which page their contribution goes to, we’re not going to disclose that here; you’ll just have to buy a copy and see for yourself. But we can tell you who contributed to the book:

Ryan Armand, Phillip Blackman, Eddie Bowley, Box Brown, Jeff Burkholder, Brandon J Carr, Bryan Chojnowski, Zach Clairville & Sam Batzdorff, Mitch Clem, Danielle Corsetto, Brittney Crump, Joe Dunn, J. Edward Edens, Ryan Estrada, Donny Fox, Josh P.M. Frees, Dorothy Gambrell, Frank Gibson & Ned Hugar, Ali Graham, Liz Greenfield
Edward J Grug III, James Hutchinson, Andrew James, Julie Keene, Richard Lillie, Gareth Lind, BT Livermore, Jeffery Manley, Molly McCausland, Les Mellor, Shawn Miller, Steve Napierski, Ryan North, Edmund Osterman, Frank Page, Ivan Pope, Josh Rosen, Ed Ryzowski, Matt Sandbrook, Dan Scannell, Jon Scrivens, Dave Sherrill, Jason Sigler, Philip Spence, Phillippe St. Gerard, Jimmy Tierney, Dean Trippe, Tom Truszkowski, Steve Wallace, Stephen Waller, Liz Walsh, Damian Willcox, Charles Woolbright Jnr., and Nate Wootters.

Okay! That’s today’s contribution towards carpal tunnel syndrome done, and we at Fleen hope to hell we didn’t leave anybody out. Now go order the book, dammit.

On the indoor front: what could be better than opening up the just-arrived Little Dee Volume 2 and finding a strip that you own? Finding another one. Plus nearly 18 months of daily strips (Jan 2006 to June 2007), packed full of the sweet awesome that drips from Chris Baldwin’s pen. If you haven’t obtained this yet, we can’t be friends.

On the outdoor front: a surprising number of webcomickers apparently believe in the ancestral game of the Scots. From Chris VanGompel:

What started as a conversation in the Something Awful forums has become comicalized. When discussing conventions, the idea of a Webcomics Open golf outing was proposed. Open to all webcomic creators, what could be better than boozing it up on a golf course to meet and greet fellow artists in the medium?

Well, KC Green of Horribleville implemented the idea and I continued it.

Really, wouldn’t a webcomic golf outing be splendid? Knickers, carts and booze, in a mutant get-together spawned of the intertrons?

Indeed it would, Chris. I forsee a side-trip at San Diego next year. Okay, off to SPX, see you there.