Neil Gaiman, Here I Come...

Prepping and packing this morning for tomorrow night's trip, which will eventually deposit me on Friday morning on Neil Gaiman's doorstep (with Hank Wagner, co-author with Chris Golden of the St. Martin's Press book on Neil and his work). It's still kind of amazing how all this fell together, but I'm really looking forward to seeing Neil again after so long.

Alas, I cannot bring Neil a Coffee Zombee mug, because -- he cannot drink coffee! My last visit to Neil's US home, ostensibly to do an interview with him forThe Comics Journal (which was deep-sixed by TCJ despite our successful attempt to find a sponsor to get us together -- a long story for another time), was plagued by Neil suffering a major pain-in-the-neck, and I don't mean me. Turned out he suffered from a negative reaction to caffeine! Ah, the '90s...

It's been about ten years since we were face-to-face -- he was working on the whole Princess Mononoke English-language dubbing script at that time, and we roomed together at Necon. We've stayed in touch, but I miss the lad.

I'm sure he's a crispy critter from all his travel and constant workload, but shit, I've seen Neil in crispier condition. Another story, another time.

Soooooooooooooo -- winding down the blog for the week -- I'll be back on Tuesday AM, unless I'm able to steal computer time at Neil's -- let me touch on a few things.

* As of this AM, Tim "Doc Ersatz" Viereck and I have rebooted the interview I began with Doc back in the late winter/early spring here on the blog. We're winding down on our Johnson State College 'daze' (where my first-ever comic, Abyss, was funded by Doc) and then we'll be getting into his fascinating years at Dino DeLaurentiis Studios in North Carolina (where he worked behind the scenes on David Lynch's Blue Velvet, Stephen King's Maximum Overdrive, and King Kong Lives, among other films), Douglas Trumbull's complex in Massachusetts (working on the historic Universal Back to the Future ride), and much, much more. I reckon we'll have more to post, with pix, by December, so prepare for a trip down someone else's memory lane around the time the snow might be flying.

Johnson State College campus memories and oh so much more, coming soon...

* Speaking of other people's memory lanes,

Center for Cartoon Studies pioneer class alumni Adam Staffaroni is posting photos and narrative of his summer 2007 trip to the great Northwest over on I Know Joe Kimpel

(which is still your one-stop shopping site for all things CCS-related in terms of comics, etc.). Check it out! I'll be having breakfast with Adam this morning -- we're working on a project -- so I'll find out more, but keep an eye on the Joe Kimpel blog for Adam's Saga!

* Today, my Drawing Workshop class at CCS begins a three-session workshop on character design and model sheet design with

the amazing Kaori Hamura, who lives here in Vermont

and is now into her second year of working with CCS, sharing her animation industry insider knowledge of creating characters and getting down the essentials.

Here's a little more one-stop info about Kaori and her career; enjoy visiting the links and seeing her work online.

* Speaking of workshops, CCS is still basking in the glow of Lynda Barry's visit last week.

More personal responses to Lynda Barry's CCS workshop -- with photos! -- awaits you here,

and we're all working on something special following her visit. More on that another time.

* Well, the fall sales season at the Antiques Mall in nearby Quechee, VT's famed

Quechee Gorge Village

is winding down. I've been restocking the booth big-time the past week or so, including original art (Cayetano 'Cat' Garza art, original art packaged with Colleen Frakes Xeric-Award winning comic, etc.), more CCS comics (all signed!), collectible comics from the '40s to the '90s, DVDs of all genres with a lot of rare and recently-released cult titles (almost all factory-sealed and brand new) including the Alejandro Jodorowsky classics El Topo and The Holy Mountain, books, a ton of Bissette collectibles (all signed) and much, much more.

Going...going...gone! This one-of-a-kind Bissette Coffee Zombee mug is now in some happy coffee-drinking collector's home, available exclusively at Dealer booth #653 in the Quechee Gorge Village Antique Mall!

I've now racked over 800 items in that rather wee booth since April of this year, with strong sales throughout the summer and fall. All earnings from the CCS artist community's work goes to the artists, save for the $1 markup to help cover a portion of the monthly booth rental fee. Marge and I had a pleasant Saturday painting new ceramic pieces at the White River Junction

Tip Top Pottery studio,

so I'm placing some new Bissette one-of-a-kind original works in the booth next week -- including the first in a series of dinosaur pottery pieces to accompany the Coffee Zombee mugs I've been doing. I'll post photos of the new work here next week.

So, if you're in the area before Christmas, visit the booth -- dealer #653 -- in the Antiques Mall in Quechee Gorge Village. You won't be disappointed, and be sure to pick up lots of CCS goodies!

* There's a fat batch of new trailers with commentary over at my fave online entertainment Trailers from Hell!

If you haven't been there since my last post of the link, give yourself an hour or more today to visit 'em and catch up -- if you're at the office, wait till the weekend, Bunkie. No need to lose your job over From Hell It Came or Suspiria previews!


* And in the big bad world:

Followup on the current estimated cost of the wars (Iraq and Afghanistan), essential context for spend-and-borrow-to-wage-war President Bush's ongoing vetoes and verbal abuse of Democrats in recent weeks.

"The $1.6 trillion figure, for the period from 2002 to 2008, translates into a cost of $20,900 for a family of four, the report said...," to also followup on that rather expansive span I cited yesterday. Again, I'm not sure where some come up with the $43,000 per household pricetag, but I'm sure you'll agree the estimated $20,900 is daunting enough. We're all like Br'er Rabbit: "Oh, please, puh-leez don't throw us to those bloated-budget Democrats, Br'er Bush!"

We also have news this morning about the Blackwater investigations: "A Blackwater Worldwide spokeswoman says the company supports "stringent accountability" for any wrongdoing in the wake of a New York Times report that federal investors have found that the shooting deaths of at least 14 Iraqi civilians by Blackwater guards in Baghdad nearly two months ago violated rules of deadly force..."

Aaaaaaaand, the Associated Press reports: "The Justice Department has reopened a long-dormant inquiry into the government's warrantless wiretapping program, a major policy shift only days into the tenure of Attorney General Michael Mukasey." Good news, that.

Now if only our elected officials wouldn't let AT&T and Verizon et al off the hook for selling us all down the river in this illegal spying program.

Have a great Wednesday, one and all...

Lynda Barry Monster Love,
and a Shout Out to Louie -- Here I Yam!

Lynda Barry has been visiting The Center for Cartoon Studies this week, giving a two-day workshop (Tuesday and Wednesday) for everyone and generally lighting up the place with her amazing grace and generosity of spirit. It's been incredible, I can feel the heart of the place throbbing: CCS has monster love for Lynda -- and from her back atcha.

Last night, CCS had a farewell reception for Lynda at the Main Street Museum in White River Junction and it was sweet. Non-stop music (from Blair Sterrett, Cat Garza and Gabby 'Ken Dahl' Schulz), conversation, company and good vibes. A grand evening capping a radiant two days for the students.

Lynda, hanging with long-hair creative-types (poet/filmmaker Alan Blangy, Lynda Barry and musician Roger Junk) back in 1977; she was doing it again last night, though the hair's shorter on most of the stylish 21st Century CCSers

(Source: here's the link to the Alan Blangy film Shirts, where I found this photo online.)

The energy in the place -- the music, the food, but most off all the powerful, open love between all the students and Lynda and everyone there -- was astounding, you felt it as soon as you walked in the door. In the hive, the buzz was profound. Blair played accordian, the saw, and more; Cat and Gabby followed with great guitar, banjo, harmonica, their playing solid and soulful (it's gonna be tough when Gabby moves to NYC later this year). Everyone was into it, the museum was alive with it all.

I did the fanboy thing and asked Lynda to sign my first-ever experience with her work, her book Girls & Boys (1981). She graced the title page with a sketch and a grandoise testimony to CCS love, which led us into conversation on being the same age (I'm just a couple months older than Lynda), how great being a former geek hitting our 50s is, the horrors of the Bush era, and (gasp!) Monster Love.

Listen, Lynda looooooves monsters ("...monsters saved my life, Steve..."), and began to recite The Wolfman verse ("The path you walk is thorny..."). She went back to it a couple of times, and the monster love flowed like wine. We bonded further over memories of seeing the Hammer Film The Gorgon when we were sprouts, which prompted Lynda to cover her eyes every time the Gorgon appeared onscreen. She had to go back and see it again and force herself to keep her eyes open ("...and the snakes were so stupid-looking on her head, you know?"). Ah, 1960s monster love. Lynda has it. Who'da thunk it?

Now I'm triply glad I left a stack of Tyrants, a Taboo and a Swamp Thing -- all signed with sketches -- for Lynda at the Coolidge, where she was staying. I didn't know if she'd get into my weird shit, but it's definitely appropo. Monster love, shared in ink. I hope she enjoys 'em on the long trip home to Wisconsin.

Come back soon, Lynda, CCS and this generation of cartoonists needs you and loves ya!

______________________

A whole lot else has been shaking at CCS -- like the fucking ceiling! Good thing we're a stoic bunch.

Alumni (and Xeric Award winner!) Colleen Frakes posted pics on the I Know Joe Kimpel site, and that's all I'll say. Glad we were all out of the classroom! Yow!

____________________________

Oh, man, why'd I do it?

I was sketching this past weekend and started doodling drawings of a few of the folks I went to high school with. I don't know why. I hated high school, though I had some good amigos there (hey to Jill Chase, Alan Finn, James 'Snake' Harvey and Clark Amadon, whereever you are). Some came out cherry, some were amorphous blobs of scratchy lines -- funny how some faces stay with you and others evaporate.

Anyhoot, in this moment of semi-pathetic weakness and without my Harwood Union High School yearbook anywhere in reach (still packed and in the sea of boxes in the basement, which is still under construction) for further reference, I decided (foolishly) to check out that site Classmates.com (no, I won't post the link). I'd been ignoring those banner ads since Marge first convinced me to tap email back in the 1990s -- hmmm, maybe I could find photos there? Why not check it out?

So, there's a 'free membership' -- hmmmm, OK, let me see what that opens up to me. Ah, shit, nothing. It's, like, they get your name, then it's $$ to access anything else. And not little dollars -- like, annual fees and shit. Fuck that.

Now, there's a message waiting for me at Classmates.com from Louie Kingsbury, who lived in the Patterson Trailer Park right next to my home in Duxbury and who I was in school with since, like, 2nd grade.

But can I open Louis's message to me? Not unless I 'upgrade' for $60 annually! What a fucking racket!

So, here's a shout out to Louie, if he can find/read this:

Louie, you out there? Can ya find this blog? My email is msbissette.com, write to me! And it's free! You're worth $60 and more, but I'll be damned if I'm going to stick my other hand into the Classmates.com tarbaby any further!

Tomorrow: Mike Dobbs's new book! Common Ground Update! More!

This, That, Paddywhack, Give That Cat a Bone

Just wrapped up my part of a roundhouse discussion with Tim Lucas, Kim Newman and Shane Dallmann about Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse for an upcoming issue of Video Watchdog, and more work on the Christopher Golden/Hank Wagner book on my amigo Neil Gaiman, which I'll be sharing some co-author credit on. Thanks to Chris's busy schedule, I'll be the one joining Hank in a couple of weeks for a weekend visit/interview session with Neil, too, which I'm greatly looking forward to. Haven't seen Neil face-to-face for quite a stretch, though we've stayed in touch over the years.

That said, the Center for Cartoon Studies is keeping me busy, too, and oh, the folks I've met and get to work with, primary among them the incredible CCSers themselves -- man, I love seeing/reading their comics! Anyhoot, a lively week is ahead: CCS hosts Lynda Barry this week, who's coming in and giving a full two-day intensive workshop for the students. Whew! I'll be dining with Lynda and alumni Colleen Frakes Monday night, which should be big fun. Marge and I are having breakfast with Colleen and her partner and fellow alumni Jon-Mikel Gates this AM, just socializing; life is good.

Fellow CCSer (and among the school's funding co-founders) Peter Money is making his own waves with his new tome, Che, and as a publisher with exiled Arab poet Sinan Antoon's The Baghdad Blues.

Peter's latest poetry/publishing venture landed a piece in Time Magazine -- kudos to Sinan and to Peter!

As for last Saturday's White River Junction Halloween Parade, in which CCS figured mightily, Main Street Museum's David Fairbanks Ford just shared these links with us all hereabouts, sporting photos from the parade shot and posted by Matt Bucy and Dennis Grady,

here and

here. Enjoy!

And, for your Saturday AM amusement, CCS freshman Jeff Mumm shared this link with us all, and you might dig it, too: a venue for reworked Garfield strips, sans Garfield's dialogue.

As Jeff put it, "There's a fun strip called "Arbuckle" in which cartoonists send in comics based on Garfield strips, removing the dialogue by Garfield (to see the world through Jon's eyes, considering that it's canon that he doesn't understand what Garfield says) and rendering it in whatever style they deem appropriate. I did one a couple years ago and thought it might be fun if people wanted to do a strip for it or even just to read through it a bit, because it's a pretty funny concept. Because really, who doesn't like making fun of Garfield?"

Check it out; click backwards from the lead page strip using the little arrows beneath it, and read the source Garfield strip for each via the link. Consider it a morning laxative, folks, if nothing else...

Have a great Saturday, one and all...