Sundays -- Updates, Links, Pix and Pox

I've been holding off announcing this for some time (in part due to Marvel's inexcusable late payment to yours truly), but it's Halloween week -- and I can't hold off any longer. If you can afford it, pick up a copy of the new Marvel Omnibus: Amazing Fantasy ("The Magazine That Respects Your Intelligence!"), if only to savor my two-page introduction to the Amazing Adventures portion of the collection.

Canada's beloved premiere Steve Ditko expert Blake Bell introduces the Amazing Adult Fantasy half of the tome, which concludes (natch) with the historic Amazing Fantasy #15 debut of Spider-Man. Read for the first time since its publication in the complete context of the Twilight Zone-like comic series Stan Lee and Steve Ditko took such personal pride in, Spider-Man is even more revelatory; if only for that, this omnibus is worth picking up. It ain't cheap -- take the cover shot pictured here and replace the 12-cent price bullet with $75, folks -- but it's part of my bibliography now, so I reckon a plug here is appropo this week.

The deepest discount I'm finding online is at Amazon.com, and here's the link.

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Better yet, there's new work coming out of The Center for Cartoon Studies. I've savored some great comics and mini-comics this past week from the CCS community -- alumni Josie Whitmore's moving In Which I Think About Drowning, graced with a CD The Small Planets: Bike (music by Josie and Ben Moy); JP Coovert's one-two punch Press Start and companion minicomic And Fight, a beautifully crafted introspective (and playful, in more ways than one) creation; Penina Gal's enigmatic mini Enjoy the Fish, Sam J. Carbaugh's collected works These Things Happen #1 -- all great stuff.

JP's new (and elder) comics can always be found here,

Josie's website awaits you here,

and Ben and Josie's Small Planets site orbits in virtual space here.

Check 'em out, please!

Nice to see CCSers getting more online attention -- here's the latest, senior Sean Ford's second issue of Only Skin garnering some deserved attention --

-- and that will only continue to gain momentum in the coming months. There's even talk of a couple new anthologies, one of which I've committed to doing a piece for; more news as things come together, and the respective anthology founders/editors make formal announcements.

Page 13 of Dan Archer's 24 Hour Comic from last weekend -- link below!

Last weekend, the Center for Cartoon Studies hosted its own 24-Hour Comic marathon, and here's the pix to prove it --

-- and here's the link to the first of the comics posted online, from CCS freshman Dan Archer (and a mighty sharp comic it is, too, Dan!).

And that ain't all, folks. It's been a lively week since at CCS and in White River Junction.

Here's pix from CCS senior Bryan Stone covering last night's White River Junction Halloween parade and events, which brought out the town en force -- as participants!

As Bryan puts it, "There had to be at least a few hundred people in the parade...and like, three spectators..."

That's what's happening in WRJ: a whole new community on the rise, but we need to build/draw an audience from the wider surrounding communities. It'll happen, in time! Friday night I hosted a Halloween film event at the Main Street Museum, hosted by MSM founder/curator David Fairbanks Ford, and we ended up with a good crowd, half-CCSers, half from the wider community. As I headed home, a music event on Main Street seemed to draw a fair crowd of teenagers and high schoolers. Bit by bit, event by event, the WRJ community is coming together anew...

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I've kept tabs with my old stomping grounds down south, too. Let's see, Yankee Nuclear Power remains a center of controversy, my daughter Maia Rose has moved closer to said nuke plant (reckon I didn't show her enough 1950s atomic age mutant movies when she was a wee lass!), and -- well, they're stilling bickering over legislating against public nudity, for whatever that's worth.

Got the sad news that the Common Ground Restaurant in Brattleboro, VT -- on which I served the Board of Directors for a year or so in the hopes of resurrecting the restaurant -- is closing; but the Common Ground Club is opening and keeps the venerable Common Ground tradition alive.

Kudos to HomeyM for the updates and the ibrattleboro posts, and here's hoping the Common Ground finds new life in its latest incarnation.

Have a grand Sunday, one and all!

Monsters and More Post-MoCCA Mortem --

MoCCA Post-Mortem continues at

the most excellent blog of the most excellent Joe Lambert, and Joe has posted variations on the same at

the Sundays Anthology blog/site and

I Know Joe Kimpel --

-- and Bryan Stone posted very different pix on his blog, check 'em out, too!

Check 'em all out, I'll post more here later as time permits.

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Now that I'm no longer plugged into the First Run Video circle (though I'm still a shareholder in that business), I have to track down my DVDs same as everyone else -- no more preorders, 5% above cost, special order insider cherry-picking. So it was yesterday morning that I was calling every DVD venue in driving distance to track down the new Warner Bros. Cult Camp Classic quartet of boxed sets; by 9:10 AM, I had scored paydirt, and by 11:45 I was driving home with all four sets.

I've only had time to screen one so far: The Giant Behemoth (1958, original UK title Behemoth: The Sea Monster -- less redundant, that), with the commentary track by stop-motion/CGI and all-around special effects gurus Dennis Muren and Phil Tippett.

Per usual, WB lists generic running times -- the box says '90 minutes,' but it clocks in a few seconds over 79 minutes. It's an excellent transfer of the best print of this film I've ever seen -- and it's complete, which was my reason for popping this undernourished radioactive saurian opus into the player first (instead of the film I most eagerly anticipate watching, Sergio Leone's The Colossus of Rhodes -- but more on that later!).

Unlike WB's vhs release of this title over a decade ago, this print is complete: the WB video was a sharp print but inexplicably missing the notorious ferry boat attack scene -- notorious among stop-motion fans for the embarrassing crudity of the live-action puppet effects in this (and other) sequences. The ferry boat attack supplanted the Pete Peterson and Willis O'Brien stop-motion animation with what is literally a dino head on a stick knocking at a miniature ferry, spilling Matchbox-sized tin cars into the drink; the water splashes are identical to those you'd create in your bathtub, the beading on the prop dino head further betraying the six-inch-plus scale of the foolish thing.

Ut! My contractor just arrived. More work on the basement library/office ahead.
OK, More later today --

MoCCA Morning!

Day One of MoCCA begins -- and here's a quick update on some of the other CCSer comics available there today (and soon online; links to follow, post-MoCCA), before today's interview marathon...

See last night's post -- below -- for a quick eleventh-hour update on Zombies (this handsome, horrible Accent UK anthology will be for sale at the CCS table!) and Sean Morgan's Capsule: The First Dose, with the Morgan/Bissette jam alien abduction story.

Though I won't be at MoCCA, much new (and old) work by yours truly is there -- and I made sure to sign and do a sketch in every copy of Capsule, sign all the Zombies covers, and sign and do a sketch in many copies of Sundays before they were packed up and spirited away to MoCCA for this morning's setup! Look for 'em, ask for 'em, buy 'em!

But enough on that, here's a quick wake-up call to some of the CCSers we didn't have time to interview (or post interviews for) who are at MoCCA this weekend with new work:

Penina Gal has two new comics at MoCCA:

THE is "a collection of short comics about how people react to snow, how trees react to people, scientists exploring dreams, and the race between a turtle and rabbit. Two books in one -- the mini's got a mini-mini! Screen-printed covers..."

Penina is also offering a second comic, Through the City -- "A short story (eight single-panel pages) about a man reminiscing while trying to make his way out of a city. Full color, written, drawn, and painted by me, with backgrounds photographed by

the insanely talented JP Rosa..."

These two Penina Gal creations are at MoCCA this weekend,

and available from I Know Joe Kimpel afterwards.

Ditto on Matt Young's The Good Catholic, his nifty solo anthology of stories and art, which is now on sale at MoCCA.

We've also got an interview with Matt ready to run, but I'm saving it for Sunday AM!

Here's the front cover of Sundays, photographed (by Joe Lambert) drying on the silk screen rack this past weekend.

Remember, the oversized anthology Sundays is at MoCCA -- if you're at MoCCA, rush to the Sundays table and snag a copy while they last. These will be a coveted treasure in the near future, lots of great reading and art!

Here's another shot from my Sundays page, "Mighty Tyrant in Slumberland" (and he is, too).

The full wraparound cover to Sean Ford's Only Skin #1, now on sale at MoCCA!

Sean's Only Skin cover is a reminder that we've already covered a lot of ground with these Myrant interviews, and I want to remind folks of the great books that are at the CCS, Sundays and other tables today.

They'll all be on sale via online venues, too, after this weekend, and I'll post that info as well as it's available.

As time permits this weekend, I'll also post links to all the CCS/MoCCA interviews I've posted for easier one-stop reference. It's been a heady couple of weeks, and it's all about today -- I'll get a new interview (three more to go!) up ASAP!

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Here's the first:

First interview of the weekend: Bryan Stone generously provided an interview about the Sundays anthology, but I coaxed a solo interview from Bryan about his work. He and his wife Amanda Ann have made this year a really special one, and it's a pleasure to share Bryan's vision and voice with you via this venue.
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Bryan Stone:
Frogherder

SB: What's your background -- where you are from, Bryan?

BRYAN STONE: I actually grew up right on the dividing line of two towns in central Alabama, Munford and Coldwater. The area was, and is, pretty typical of the south.

I went to elementary and high school in Munford. After that I went on to a community college in the closest town and from there to a college called Jacksonville State University about an hour from where I grew up. The whole college thing was a slow and terrible process. Most of the time I was working and taking classes.

Photo: Amanda Ann's leg, Bryan Stone, beer, beer. What more does a man need?

SB: When did you first get into comics?

BRYAN: I first got into comics when I was really young, probably 5 or 6. There was a drug store close to the grocery store that we shopped at that carried some Marvel stuff. The first book that I can remember buying was a G.I. Joe comic with Stormshadow on the cover... I think it took place on an aircraft carrier. After that point I would grab any comics that I could get my hands on because stuff just wasn't available.

SB: How about making your own comics -- ?

BRYAN: I remember drawing comics type stuff off and on for most of my life. The first thing that I did that saw print was a one page story called "Mr. Smiley" which was about this guy who was some kind of super hero with something like a big smiley face for a head. I think he was half alien. That got printed by a local guy, Derrick Samuels, who was putting together a comics anthology called Sin. That was in 1996.

SB: You just completed your first year at CCS, and will be into your senior year in the fall. White River Junction is a long haul from Alabama; what brought you to CCS? How did you find out about the Center?

BRYAN: When I was in my final year at JSU I read about CCS in a design magazine -- How, I think. I had just gotten married and my wife, Amanda Ann, and my drawing professor and good friend Gary Gee were both incredibly supportive about the idea so we worked for a year to save as much money as possible and moved to Vermont.

Frogherder Stories

SB: We talked about Sundays earlier this week. What’s your latest solo work debuting at MoCCA?

BRYAN: My new comic is called Frogherder Stories. I'm hugely influenced by the stuff like the Fraggles [Fraggle Rock], anything of Jim Henson's for that matter, and Peyo's Smurfs. On the other hand I've always been a really big fan of science fiction story telling, hard sci-fi or space opera. I guess Frogherder is a result of those obsessions.

The Frogherder story is set on a planet called Noria which was discovered by a handful of humans after fleeing a dying Earth. On the planet exist several different races which were all categorized by the humans. Nor'landers are the race that Frogherder Stories focuses on, more specifically a single Nor'lander family with the surname Frogherder.

Frogherder Stories

The family name Frogherder, as with all Nor'landers, is the name of their profession. The Frogherder family members that I focus on in this book are Timo, who has discovered that he has the ability to affect the world around him, especially plants, and Timo's brother Doogan and his family which consists of his wife Sira and his two children Skip and Sparrow.

SB: Bryan, you’ve been working on this concept for a number of years -- let’s get into this a bit. Where did Frogherder come to you, and when did you initiate writing and drawing his adventures?

BRYAN: I was in college at JSU in Alabama when I started working on Frogherder so it was probably around 2002. Initially the story focused on the entire Frogherder family but Timo's character had to be on his own I guess. A while after that I got involved in a webcomics contest called The Daily Grind which is a competition between cartoonists to see who can keep up a Monday through Friday comics posting schedule. I finished about three hundred and seventy strips. I guess I'd still be going if I hadn't moved to go to CCS.

SB: Hmmm, we've got to get you Alabama cartoonists together for Frogherder Meets Montgomery Wart -- y'hear, Mark Martin? OK, now, you've also completed another solo book for MoCCA -- what is it?

BRYAN: The new book is called Ominum Gatherum. I think it's really an attempt at defining myself for myself more than anything. I had also, for a long time, wanted a venue for publishing different types of stories under one title. I'll probably do two of these per year, or maybe more, depending on how much material I generate.

SB: You've had a very active first year at CCS. What are the highlights in terms of the work you've done, solo and collaborative?

BRYAN: Yeah, it's been a busy year. I think I'm happiest, or maybe just surprised by, the quicker one and two page stories that I've done at CCS like the 'Mountain and Me' comics that we did for your class and some of the shorter stuff that we generated for James [Sturm]. It's always amazing when you are able to take something as time consuming as comics and condense the process into just a few hours. I'm also very proud of my Frogherder work from this semester which is in the Frogherder Stories book. I felt like those stories were a big step for me.

I've worked on a few collaborative projects. The ones that come to mind as highlights are the Taking Care anthology from the first semester which is no longer available and the Sundays book that we're wrapping up now. Both have been invaluable experiences.

Jurassic Park, Beating Around the Bush-style, by Corey McDaniel & Bryan Stone

SB: What else, outside of CCS, have you done in the way of comics, online comics and minicomics?

BRYAN: The Frogherder webcomic was a pretty big deal for me. When I started it I had been doing a weekly comic called Beating Around The Bush for a year or two with a good friend named Corey McDaniel.

One of Corey McDaniel's solo Beating Around the Bush strips

Before that I had several projects that I tried to get off the ground including a story for a ten issue comics series called 749 Pace St. that I wrote with a couple friends, Lee Jiles, Nick Phillips and Corey again. We actually got pretty far with that one. We put together a mini with all the character info and story previews and such and took it to a Wizard con in Chicago. After that life got in the way for all of us and nothing else ever happened with the story. Even further back I was involved with a guy named Derrick Samuels who, I'm told, is the 'creator' of one of the biggest video game console debacles in the history of the industry. The 'EVO Console', that's a long story.

Bryan thinks this photo is hilarious: Derrick Samuels and the EVO Console --
do not ask Bryan or I anything about this! We know nothing!

Before all that he was determined to publish comics and he did a few books over the years to which I contributed several strips and pages along with my good friend Donald Beck. Derrick actually published the book with my very first comics story, "Mr. Smiley."

Right: Donald Beck art, "Wolf"

SB: What are your future plans for Frogherder?

BRYAN: I'd thought about pursuing a monthly series but I think I'm leaning toward a couple seventy or eighty page books but honestly I'm just trying to let it do what it needs to do. I've still got a ton of story to tell and I'm working very hard on getting my writing up to snuff so I can do it service.

SB: Do you have any other continuous characters and/or concepts in the works?

BRYAN: There are several stories that take place on the same planet, called Noria, that the Frogherder stories do. They mostly deal with the fate of post-Earth humans that find their way there. There's another story about a robot named Issac that also takes place there as well. Other than that I've got a couple stories that I'm pretty far into. One of my favorites at the moment is called Onion Head which is about this amateur astronomer who has an onion for a head. I guess it's kind of a messed up relationship story. There's a science fiction story that I've been working on that's about plant people which was inspired by an Astro Boy story. I'm actually very excited about that one. There are several others, there's just not enough time to draw everything!

SB: If there were no hurdles -- no time, money or income constraints, venue in place -- what would your dream project be?

BRYAN: I'd probably work on a few of the Frogherder books. For a while I felt like I was trapped by the Frogherder stuff because I was working on it so much but now I've realized that I really love it. After doing a couple of those I'd probably move on to another story so I could come back to it later with a fresh perspective.

SB: Thanks, Bryan, and good luck this weekend!

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For more of Bryan and his work, visit Bryan's website

and his blog, always offering something lively.

If you missed MoCCA, Bryan's work will be available at I Know Joe Kimpel, too.

Next up: Joe Lambert's mighty, mighty interview and mighty, mighty art and comics!

Get thee to MoCCA, though, and meet all these folks -- and their work -- face to face!

Have a great Saturday --

BINDHOUSE!

CCS/MoCCA Double-Header:
Bryan Stone on Sundays, CCS Graduate Andrew Arnold

As MoCCA approaches, there's still much ground to cover -- hence, I'll be running more than one interview at least a couple times this week, starting today!

Ladies and gents, meet Andrew Arnold

(here's Andrew's bio page from his website)

and Bryan Stone.

Both are good men, great cartoonists, and men of few words.
These gents from the South are therefore the perfect double-feature, so read on!
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Andrew Arnold:
Wayman’s Corner

SB: Andrew, you herald from Texas. What’s your background, and what got you into comics?

ANDREW ARNOLD: I grew up in Houston and spent most of childhood playing sports and collecting baseball cards. In the summer of ‘89 or so a new family moved in next door to my parent’s house. They had two boys, Colin and Jason, and we instantly became friends. We played baseball together all the time and then one day they showed me their 1990 Marvel Comic Cards and I was like, “Holy $h!T! These are the coolest things I’ve ever seen!” I told my mom and dad I wanted some and they took me to the local comic shop. My dad told me he was a big Thor fan as a kid so I figured I’d give his comic a shot. Before I knew it, I fell in love with the character and the rest is history.

Playing superhero: one of Andrew's thumbnail roughs (fall, 2006) from an early draft of Wayman's Corner

SB: What prompted you to create your own comics?

ANDREW: I guess my first attempt at making a comic was when I was in third grade. Colin, Jason, and I always played this game called “Superheroes” where we’d pretend to be our favorite heroes battling our favorite villains. I, of course, was Thor, Colin was Gambit, and Jason was Hulk. Anyways, I guess one day we decided it was time to create our own characters and stories so Jason and I decided to go for it. He was the writer and I -- fresh off my success at the Texas Live Stock Show and Rodeo -- was the artist. Don’t ask me what Colin did, I don’t remember. And you know what? I don’t think we finished one page of that comic…

SB: Well, you’ve made up for that since! What led you to CCS?

Andrew with fellow CCS graduate Emily Wieja, Graduation Day, May 2007 (Photo: Joe Lambert)

ANDREW: I graduated from Southwestern University in May 2004 and was a graphic designer for a plastic extrusion company in Houston. I liked it: I was close to home, my family, and friends. The people I worked with were great but I felt like I needed something else. I thought, “Why not grad school?” One of my old college professors, who knew I loved comics and animation, sent me an email with a list of comic and animation schools. I applied to four of them, got into three, and visited two: the Rochester Institute of Technology and CCS. It’s funny because I spent more time on my visit at RIT. I guess there was something about CCS that RIT didn’t have -- maybe it was James Sturm’s whacky personality, I dunno… My mom, who visited both schools with me, was like, “Are you sure this is what you want?” Three months later, I packed up my bags and moved to Vermont.

SB: And we’re glad you did! So, what’s the comic you’re debuting at MoCCA this weekend?

ANDREW: To keep things consistent, here’s what the didactic says about my comic, Wayman's Corner:

“The Super Hero Hotel lies in the middle of nowhere, a place where heroes go hang out and relax. In this comic you’ll meet Captain Destiny and the other members of his team, the Justice Force. You’ll also meet the hotel innkeepers, Fred and Charlie and Captain Destiny’s son Harvey, a young boy destined to one-day wield the Destiny Force. Welcome to a world of fun-filled action and adventure as you learn what really happens when superheroes aren’t fighting the bad guys. Welcome to Wayman’s Corner!”

I’ve had the idea of Wayman’s Corner for a while now, so it was great to finally flesh it out in a comic. I’ve always been fascinated with people — what makes them act a certain way or think a certain thing, why we always want more, expect more out of life. It’s funny because I know I think and do and these things all the time… So maybe this is me trying to make sense of them. I know it sounds incredibly corny, but it’s true.

SB: Thanks, Andrew! Let's talk more later, and dig a bit deeper when there's more time.

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Bryan Stone:
Sundays

The Sundays cover, hot off the silkscreen!

SB: OK, Bryan, this is an ambitious undertaking! Who are the mystery men behind Sundays?

BRYAN STONE: We're a group of soon to be seniors at the Center for Cartoon Studies. Our names are Sean Ford, Chuck Forsman, Alex Kim, Joseph Lambert, Jeff Lok and Bryan Stone. We come from a wide variety of backgrounds but we all have a strong love for and dedication to the medium of comics.

SB: Who -- or what -- brainstormed Sundays?

BRYAN: Sundays was the idea of Chuck Forsman. His original concept was based on the large scale of old Sunday strips. Rarely, if ever, are comics seen in such a format anymore. Even the Sunday pages that exist today are but a faint shadow of their former selves. Think Little Nemo versus Garfield.

SB: Nemo wins. How did Chuck galvanize the group?

Bryan Stone, at rest (Photo: Joe Lambert)

BRYAN: I think "We should do an anthology" was said by everyone of us at some point. With all the great comics floating around at The Center for Cartoon Studies it's a pretty easy conclusion to come to.

SB: How it shaping up?

BRYAN: The book should weigh in at around a healthy fifty pages [note: 54 pages is the final count] and feature comics from a ton of great cartoonists such as Andrew Arnold, Steve Bissette, J.P. Coovert, Ken Dahl, Coleen Frakes, Penina Gal, Cat Garza, Sam Gaskin, Jon-Mikel Gates, Dane Martin, Morgan Pielli, Catlin Plovnik, Adam Staffaroni, Rich Tommaso, Denis St. John, and Emily Weija! The book will also feature new comics from all six editors. We were very fortunate to be able to round up so much amazing work. It's no exaggeration to say that the work that we're receiving has far exceeded our, already high, expectations.

SB: OK, finally, where can folks find Sundays on Saturday at MoCCA?

BRYAN: The book will debut at MoCCA at table A-45 in the Skylight Ballroom.

SB: Make a beeline there, folks, as quantities are limited. Thanks, Bryan!

Here's the final cover -- what you'll be looking for at MoCCA, folks! Don't miss it!

Here's the Sundays blog, where you can find daily updates, pix, art, chat, mindless violence (see today's scandalous photos of -- Joe Lambert biting the big one!), and more!

Keep an eye on the Sundays blog after MoCCA, too, as the gang will hopefully be establishing an online venue for Sundays ASAP.

More tomorrow! Stay tuned -- lots more cartoonists, comics, art and insights!

Top o' the World to You...

Monday Musings

There's a little more on the Ascutney climb to share with you all this morning, largely thanks to the arrival of photos from the trip itself and scans (compliments of CCS no-longer-just-a-freshmen Bryan Stone) of the two pages I drew between 3:30 and 5 AM the morning after. A little explanation is in order, though, before you get a peek at those two pages.

Here's Bryan's photo of the whole CCS hiking party last Wednesday atop the fire tower on Mount Ascutney -- from left to right, Chuck Forsman, Ross Wood Studlar, Dane Martin, Alex Kim, Sean Morgan, Peter Money and yours truly -- since he snapped the photo, Bryan is absent from this shot.

However, I know Peter and Sean took some photos up there, too, so hopefully we'll have a complimentary shot featuring Bryan up on the blog before the week is out.

As you can see from these two photos, it was a grand and glorious day weather-wise. Bryan posted his pix online, and

you can see them all here, followed by more photos from the CCS Montreal trip (including more Drawn & Quarterly office shots).

Now, like I said, a little explanation is in order this morning.

You see, the following two pages of Bissette comics art are the concluding two pages of an epic battle James Sturm orchestrated and conducted in his CCS cartooning class two or so weeks ago. I only know it as Fight Comics -- no direct correlation to the Fight Comics of the Golden Age, that I know of -- and it looked to me (correct me if I'm wrong, CCSers) like every member of the freshmen class created a character for the brawl, and via some arcane democratic or tyrannical system I'm not privy to, an order was voted upon, raffled, designated or divined for each artist and their respective character to have a one-to-two page face-off, with the winner of each match then going on to the next match, until by process of creative collaborative elimination only two characters were left.

In the end, James asked me if I'd draw the concluding page(s) -- in essence, end the battle, conclude the climax, decide the winner and hence get James off the hook if anyone was unhappy with the resolution (note: "It's Bissette's fault!" has now entered a new era of relevance and validity for a whole new generation). It was also, of course, an honor, but also a duty. A duty to CCS, and to James, and to all who ply the inky trade. My Captain called, and I must answer. My Commander-in-Chief beckoned, and I obeyed. The orders were given, the sails were set, the die was cast, the shit hit the fan.

I was handed a stack of odd-sized photocopies, and instructed to resolve the seemingly unresolvable, pitching a character named "Bryan Stone" -- shown in the character design sheet lifting his glasses and blasting deadly light rays from his eyes, like Cyclops in the X-Men -- against a character both adorable and ungainly, the 'Baby With Adult Legs.' The kid sure is cute, but man, those hairy adult male legs just put you right off your Maypo, bunky.

[Photo: The real Bryan Stone and Joe Lambert; photo by Becca Lambert.]

Now, Bryan Stone, as you may have determined this late in this morning's post, is a real guy.

He's an adorable guy, in fact, just as sweet-natured, benevolent, kind, attentive and mild-mannered as any person I've ever met (and a heckuva cartoonist, too). Bryan Stone was created by -- well, his parents. The real Bryan Stone, that is.

However, the deadly-eye-ray-blasting Bryan Stone was created by

JP Coovert,

also one hell of a cartoonist and a fellow no-longer-just-a-freshman at the Center for Cartoon Studies. Baby With Adult Legs was created by

Joe Lambert,

another motherfucker of a cartoonist and no-longer-just-a-freshman CCSer.

[Photo: The real JP Coovert, photo by Joe Lambert.]

So, this is what James handed to me. The fate of two comics characters just out of the incubator, barely in the world more than a week but already battle-tested and toughened by ink-and-paper warfare -- babes in the woods, yes (literally, in the case of Baby With Adult Legs), but already trench-war-hardened vets.

But it was not just their fate I held in my hands, but that of their creators -- cuddly Joe Lambert and huggable JP Coovert -- and, damn it, that of the real, flesh-and-blood Bryan Stone! A man's man, cruelly thrust (by JP) into a world of panels, pages, pus, puke and panic!

How would I resolve this conundrum without inflicting undue (due is OK) agony on any one, maybe two of these virginal young cartoonists, aching to pop their inky cherries against the calloused rubber condom wall of the real world?

How would I end this senseless violence, this epochal combat, without letting down one or more of these budding geniuses, who are so eager to spew their creative juices into the collective womb of our open, festering brainpans?

How could I condone the sadistic, no doubt visually glorious murder of either Bryan Stone, death-ray-eye-conduit though he be, or Baby With Adult Legs, the toddler on ten pins, the Titan Tyke, the spittle-flecked sprinter?

How?

How?

How?

Now, there's one other player in this drama -- he-who-must-never-be-forgotten by we who ply the inky trade here at the Center for Cartoon Studies, and most of all not to be overlooked by we who teach the inky trade at CCS.

And that, my friends, is Inky Solomon.

What can I possibly say about CCS's spiritual leader, the legendary cartoonist and teacher Inky Solomon, that has not been said before (and better) by others?

Though the pen-and-ink Inky has been delineated (and co-created, in his way) by James Sturm and Seth, legendary cartoonists in their own right, Inky Solomon has nestled into the souls of all who dwell at CCS.

He has swept away the pine needles and softened the stone floors of our hearts, carefully prepared the kindling we all harbor and built a warming little fire in our bellies, fueling the comics jones we share until it erupts into raging bonfires of creative life! Inky is our Dolemite, making of us all Human Tornadoes; he is our beatific Buddha, our jazzy Jesus, our infinite Inky!

So, troubled though I was by the task placed within my hands, stern though the Sturm mission was now yolking my sturdy shoulders, fragile be the lives laid in my sweaty palms, frightful the soul-crushing potential of any misstep I might take, I turned to our own CCSolomon, Inky -- the Inky within.

I consulted my inner Inky, the calm core of peace and tranquility that a half-century of life cartooning has coalesced, and determined the following:

1. I would not 'decide' anything. Life would decide.

2. If Joe Lambert showed up Wednesday morning for the Mount Ascutney hike, Baby With Adult Legs would win.

3. If either JP (creator of Bryan Stone, comics character) or Bryan Stone (comics character incarnate) showed up Wednesday morning for the hike, Bryan Stone would win.

4. If either Joe and JP, or Joe and Bryan, showed up, the battle would win (in typical comicbook fashion) in a draw -- a draw, with neither winning nor losing, but both ending up in a happy, wonderful, heavenly place, except there would be no My Little Ponies there (surely, a circle of hell is inhabited by those little bastards).

5. If none of the trio showed up, both characters would die horrible, agonizing, extremely graphic and terribly grueling deaths.

Thus it was decided; thus Wednesday morning came and went, and thus this was the fateful conclusion I wrote, drew and lettered Thursday morning, as the sun rose and the new day began:

Note: Joe Lambert and James Sturm are already working on scanning the complete Fight Comic and posting it in some form online soon. I'll keep you posted (pun intended), and I'm as eager as any of you to see/read it all!

PS: This is the final week of the Spring semester here at the Center for Cartoon Studies -- a fateful week for us all. Graduation is this coming Saturday, our first graduation ever. We've already had some heartbreak, some tears and fond farewells as some of our number move on into their summers or into their lives, away from CCS and White River Junction and this growing creative community; we're already into the momentous evaluation of the senior final thesis projects, with two full days ahead of 9 AM to 5 PM one-on-one assessments. It's a heady week here -- send your best to the CCS students, those with us, those departed; those moving into their new lives in the real world, those moving into their second year; those coming new to the fold and experience this coming fall.

We're at a crossroads and the shifting of a new axis as definitive, new and unexplored as that we encountered at the very beginning of the school's existence in September of 2005.

Wish us all luck, please.

Here's to CCS, one and all!

May Inky be with you all -- have a great Monday!

PPS: My old friend Neil Gaiman has posted some lovely photos and a few comments about this past weekend's historic wedding of Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie

here, so enjoy.

Nice to know they're wed at last, and much love to both, where ever they are.

Congrats to Mike Bleier!

First off, it's a special day in our household, as my stepson Mike, Marge's younger son (of two), is graduating from his electrician apprenticeship program today. It's technically The Vermont Registered Apprenticeship Program, under the Vermont Department of Labor's umbrella; Mike put his four years in with the Hartford Career & Technology Center (Hartford Electrical 4). He still has his exam in June ahead (to get his journeyman's license), but this is a great day.

We're off to Randolph, VT (coincidentally, not far from where Mike and his wife Mary were wed last summer) for the graduation later this morning, so, well, congrats to Michael Bleier!

_______________

But it's the CCS student sites I have to share with you this morning -- this is the last of 'em I've got links to. I'll post a roundup and permanent link from this blog tomorrow!

First up,

Morgan Pielli dances paper clips and dinosaurs on his site, which you know rings the chambers of my heart and chimes in my brain.

Morgan's character and concept Dinosaur Jones is still in its formative stages, though there's this -- and more -- awaiting you at Morgan's online outpost!

Bryan Stone's comics, sketchbook images and much more malingers here, including his Frogherder strips

(of which the sample shown here is strip #364!) -- much to see, read, and enjoy on Bryan's site. It's about to undergo some revisions, so don't be surprised if you catch it mid face-change soon.

Christopher Warren -- aka Radical Warren -- has staked out this virtual turf as his own, with attitude!

Here's one of my current faves from Chris's site; he's an aggressive online comics creator, and there's also numerous links to other online comics sites from Chris's digs, which also offer some lively diversions.


(Chris did me a good turn by handling all the scanning and digital cleanup tasks on my contributions to the Accent UK Zombies anthology, so I owe him big time, despite the meager miserly paycheck he earned from yours truly on that gig -- hence his site being our CCS sendoff for Saturday. Enjoy!)

__________________

Since my intro to Criswell yesterday only managed to provoke my compadres (nyuk, nyuk), I'll present today's unadorned, save to say -- uh, maybe Criswell got his year wrong on this one. We can only hope!:

Criswell Predicts!

American Tragedy 1980

I regret to predict an American tragedy on November 11, 1980! An instant newsflash from the White House will tell of the first suicide of an American president! This President will be popularly elected with much promise, but the Public will turn against him, and he will be the most hated official in all history. I predict that the suicide will take place in the lonely small hours of the morning. A shot will be heard, and upon investigating, his wife will find the sprawled body of her husband in his private office. A gentle rain will be falling, as will the tears of all Americans! The dead man did not fail us, we failed him!

Have a great Saturday AM, one and all!

Wugga-wugga and the CCS Sites!

Art: Alexis Frederick-Frost, from his glorious site, link below!

Continuing the CCS student site roster, with a little window-dressing.

Once again, in no particular order, the secret windows to those you don't-yet-know, but will one day be beholden to, those who will upset all applecarts and elect far better Presidents than you sorry suckers did:

BUBBLE!

... with delight,
blurbling like some half-frozen brook
all over your own stupid self,
as you allow your retina to dance
and your optic nerve to tangle
and your brain soup to flow
like radiant water over the

the Stone-Dead Stylings of Bryan Stone!

BURBLE!

... and coo like some moronic all-parakeet movie,
dropping your flip-flops and
burning your Birkenstocks
while groping for your credit cards
as you let your wallet flop out
and your pocketbook pop open,
eager to spend that which cannot be spent
and divine the most delicious salad
from the salad days of all mankind amid

the Stripy Green Tomato Veggie-Stand of the Particular Penina Gal (rhymes with 'all')!

GURGLE!

... as you peddle
that last mile
up that final Alp,
rock uselessly in your chair
like an autistic child
as the roller-coaster climbs, climbs, climbs
to the top of the arc
seconds before the plunge,
long for yeasty Parisian loafs of bread
and pine for times that never were
and never will be again,
evocative though they may seem
when rendered by the man
with the brush whose
serving stroke cuts through the air
like a Bruce Lee move,
dropping faint men in their tracks,
if, that is, they haven't already succumbed
to the bedazzlement that marks the

Eye-Popping Peculiarities of Ping-Pong Champ Alexis Frederick-Frost!

STUBBLE!

Hey, YOU!

You think YOU know everything, DON'T YOU?
You think YOU know how to
listen to music, surf the web, eat a taco??
You're soooooooooo fucking WRONG!
You don't know shit! Or how to shit!
You, you need guidance, love,
and the firm, stern hand of
a real man who knows how
to sling the ink,
plink the plink,
and lock the clink
to be your designated turnkey for LIFE!
You need to open your eyes,
stretch your ears
and break down the tight-ass gates of your fetid mind via

the Melodic Musings and Shamanistic Shamblings of Gasping Sam Gaskin!

STUMBLE!

...into the felt-green pleasures of Roosevelt Park,
as rendered and realized
by the Man with the Plan,
the Joe in the Know,
the Mike with his finger in the Dyke,
the Tom with the tom-tom toes,
the Henry all hanker for,
the Elmer Fudd of Spud,
the Dartmouth Grad unafraid to be a Dad
to any in need who can bleed and be freed,
so humble thyself and embrace

the Staff of Life itself, Adam Staffaroni,

and his amazing online CCS mini-comic shop, "I Know Joe Kimpel"! (who the hell is Joe Kimpel?)

C'mon, spend a little dough on some CCS comics, you slackers!

More later, gators, and have a great weekend!