Wednesday & No Woes...

Can't post pix or I'd have some sweet images up right now. Limited computer access is a good thing, but I've still managed to post daily thus far.

Sad note:

Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni died the same day Ingmar Bergman passed. Sigh.

A generation is passing; we shall not see there like -- or films such as theirs -- again. As I read the news on Tim's blog, my mind replayed the pull away from that window at the end of The Passenger -- and life, moving on, inattentive, unknowing, uncaring; life goes on. We are each only passing through, en route to -- ?

So, Wednesday AM odds and ends:

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My cartoonist amigo Ryan Brown emailed me this link this AM, and lo and behold, there's Ryan's first comic series, Rion 2990, in all its glory!

Glad to see Ryan's impressive manga chops before any other American cartoonist had any manga chops are being honored at last, in the context of noting what swill every other faux-manga comic of the era represented. Kudos to you, Ryan, and Bog Will Not Die!

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Also just in via email, from vet Taboo contributor (from our first issue!) Tom Sniegoski:

"...the ABC Family Channel is gearing up to broadcast the series of movies based upon my The Fallen novels this Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. That's August 3rd, 4th and 5th - 8:00pm-10:00pm. On the 3rd, they will show the first Fallen film, which originally aired last July, followed by four all new hours-two on Saturday the 4th, and two on Sunday the 5th.

I'm extremely proud of these movies, and hope that you'll tune in."

I first met Tom Sniegoski in the only comicbook shop in Lynn, Massachusetts, way back in 1984 or so. Tom was an aspiring writer, eager to share his work, and he gave me photocopies of some of his work -- one of which, "Tooth Decay," ended up being adapted by Tom for artist Mike Hoffman to illustrate for Taboo's premiere issue.

It's been all uphill from there, and now Tom can afford a good dentist, I reckon.

We got to play once more (on a project Tom hated!) to co-author with fellow amigo and packager extraordinaire Chris Golden (hey, Chris!) The Monster Book: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I haven't seen Tom since, but it's great to hear from him, and to know he's enjoying great success.

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And bringing today's post full circle back to American manga -- mayhaps the first American manga?

Among yesterday's book finds was one jewel I have to tell you about. Mine Okubo's early graphic novel (one image per page, with typeset text beneath it; sometimes a single sentence, sometimes much more) Citizen 13660 was originally published in 1946 by Columbia University Press; I'd never heard of it before laying eyes and hand on a copy of the 1983 University of Washington Press paperback reprint edition yesterday afternoon.

It's Mine's account of her incarceration in one of the US "protective custody" concentration camps for Japanese American citizens in 1942-44. At 200+ pages, Okubo's lovingly illustrated account of her interment and life behind the razorwire makes for engaging, moving reading, and a clear precursor to many 21st Century graphic novels (Marjane Satrapi's celebrated Persepolis, etc.) -- as such, an essential read today.

It's readily available from Abebooks.com at the same price I paid ($6.00), and well worth adding to the library.

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I'd write more, but gotta run.

Have a great Wednesday, one and all, and likely see you here tomorrow AM...