Zombies!,
Digging Out,
& Citro Speaks!

Hey, folks, Bissette horror comics are back!

Well, sort of.

Here's my cover art for the upcoming Accent UK anthology Zombies, just in from editors Dave West and Colin Mathieson. Their designer Andy Bloor took my black-and-white original (after Dave and Colin chose their favorite of the three potential cover images I submitted) and dressed it up with this straightforward bullseye-to-the-cornea use of color, which works beautifully.

Kudos to you, Andy! I love it.

Colin writes to say, "the issue will be released in the UK in May at the Comic Expo event in Bristol 12th/13th May, (with final line up and cover price shortly to be fixed) but we are also looking at possible distribution through Diamond so the book can be widely available to our colonial cousins! More to come on all that later..."

Of the Accent UK contributors from their side of the Atlantic, it's worth noting again that this whole project emerged from a conversation with John Reppion, Leah Moore and Colin and Dave in Denmark, the seed for which was planted in front of the Accent UK booth at the Copenhagen convention Komiks.DK 2006 we all attended in March/April. If I may quote a May 31st email from Colin, he recalls, "It's actually John's fault that we changed the theme on hearing of his zombie fixation and Leah's banter with him about it ("Oh you and your zombies!"), which made us realize that Zombies had that immediacy and fun element which could be interpreted in lots of different ways for an anthology, and would also prove an interesting rematch for the Moore, Reppion and Hitchcock team, so a quick editorial meeting on our return to the UK and we were away!"

So, leading the pack will be a new collaboration from the Leah Moore, John Reppion and Dave Hitchcock team. Colin and Dave first sent out the invitation to contribute to their Accent UK circle (and yours truly) on October 1st, 2006, and the project soon swelled beyond the parameters of their previous anthology Monsters to become Accent UK's first book-format, squarebound anthology. Once Dave and Colin responded positively to my suggestion that I work with Dan and Maia on stories, and extend the invitation to CCS students, I was fully committed and did my best to give Accent UK something memorable from the US. Proud to be part of it!

The other UK contributors include Dave West and Colin Mathieson themselves, cover designer Andy Bloor (solo and working with writer Kieron Gillen); Kieren Brown & Tom Jileson, Jason Cobley & Paul Harrison-Davies, Bridgeen Gillespie, Taboo vets Shane Oakley and Gary Crutchley (solo stories, not collaborating this time around), Laura Howell, David Baillie, Andrew Cheverton (solo and a collaboration with Tim Keable), Garry Brown, Owen Johnson, James Gray, Darren Ellis & Roland Bird, Graeme Neil Reid, Paul Cartwright, Jon Ayre & One Neck, Phil Rigby & Manoel Magalhães, Benjamin Dickson, Tony Hitchman & Leonie O'Moore, Indio, Chris Dingsdale & Dan Denholt, Matt Boyce, Andy Winter & Natalie Sandells, Matt Timson, Chris Doherty and others I don't know about as yet.

Want to see more? Well, Dave will be updating

the Accent UK site this weekend to include all this and more,

so keep that website tabbed on your computer for updates. I'll keep mum about my son Dan's and my own contributions to the anthology until we get closer to publication date. I will, however, offer snapshots of the horrific stories and art contributions from the Center for Cartoon Studies artists/writers: Morgan Pielli, Jeremiah Piersol, B.C. Sterrett, Sean Morgan, Matt Young, Chuck Forsman, Bob Oxman, Denis St. John and Jaci June -- including links to their respective sites -- in the coming weeks.

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That said, in reply to emails I've been receiving since the weekend announcement of this project: No, I'm not out of retirement. My retirement from the US comics industry stands.

I've drawn comics for myself all along, in my sketchbooks and such, and happily open up when it involves CCS, my son Dan, daughter Maia or friends; with Dan's Hot Chicks Take Huge Shits zine, the Trees & Hills anthology of last fall, and this upcoming Zombies collection (for a UK publisher), I'm indeed visible in print again, enjoying playing in the medium again, and glad some of what I'm up to will reach those of you who care. But this doesn't mean you'll be seeing me in the DC, Marvel, Dark Horse or Image plantations again -- far from it (& them). So quell any such anticipation, folks. If I do pursue inroads to future publication, it won't be in the US comics industry proper, such as it remains.

But if you do care, you'll read about whatever the heck it may be, and see samples of the art and/or creative effort, here first. To quote you-know-who, "'Nuff said!"

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Just shoveled out before starting this post -- as of 5 AM, we ended up with 20+ inches here in Windsor. I got out early to shovel because once the sun hits this snow, it's gonna get heavy to shovel; no doubt, there's lots of black ice under this snow cover on the roads, too. Luckily, we've got no wind here on Taylor Drive, quite unlike our old Marlboro home, which was always buffeted with winds in these kinds of storms. My stepson Mike told Marge last night that over in Claremont, NH (about a half hour from our Windsor digs) they were getting heavy wind last night, creating massive snowdrifts. We've none of that here, the snow lays where and as it fell.

Shoveled out our front steps and walk, over to the propane fill 'cap' further into the front yard, then stomped on down to the foot of the driveway to see if our morning paper was there. Viola! There it was, atop the snow, just tossed -- had I waited till the plows were out, we would have found it in the spring.

The storm is truly over: the sky is crystal clear, the stars (and a sprinkle of the Milky Way) visible horizon to horizon. I took a little walk around the neighborhood, until my glasses fogged so I could no longer see... by then my beard was crusted with frost and ice, too, so back home I went, scraped out in front of the garage doors, and came back in to hear the phone ring. Marge's school is delayed two hours, so she's able to sleep in again, lucky woman. I can hear her snoozing downstairs.

I've got the TV on: Burlington's WCAX (Channel 3) is reporting 40 inches in Jefferson, NH; here in VT, I caught reports for Bolton Valley, 40 inches; Stowe, 29 inches; 24+ in Burlington (now in top ten biggest snowstorms in that area in recorded history), etc. We're all digging out now, eh?

____________

One of my best friends is Joe Citro, writer/novelist/folklorist extraordinaire, and Joe has

long had a website, graced with his grinning mug and tons of info about the man, his work and his obsessions.

Well, those he cares to share with the public, that is.



But now, Joe's taken his maiden voyage

into the blogosphere, posting all-new research, stories and photos!

Joe has launched the blog with a complete story about the mysterious Bristol "treasure mines," complete with some truly evocative photos Joe snapped himself during a summer visit to this most treacherous of all VT locales -- it's tough to keep your footing amid the rocky debris from a century past, and Joe risked neck and limb (and ankles) to explore this terrain first-hand.

It's quite a story, one that still scars the landscape of the Bristol woods and hillsides...

"Shafts caved in, filled with stifling gas, or flooded with water. As much effort went into reclaiming holes as digging them. But no treasure came to light. After more than twelve years and thousands of dollars, Uncle Sim gave up.

But unlike the rock face of South Mountain, Uncle Sim’s faith was never shattered. About a decade later he returned alone. He had met a new conjurer who assured him that by moving just a few stones he could open a passage leading directly to the treasure...."

This is just the beginning of what will no doubt be an entertaining and at times astounding blog resource, particularly to those of you who are already Citro readers/fans/acolytes and/or folklore and stories "that might not be fiction," as Joe prefers to call 'em. And he always calls 'em as he sees 'em.

Joe and I have dabbled with a number of pet projects over the years. Some have yielded results you can still purchase on Joe's site --


Prominent among our dabblings remains the still-in-print & selling nicely, thank you, paperback book The Vermont Ghost Guide, which sports a full-color cover painting (of Emily on her famed Stowe, VT bridge) by yours truly and a plethora of black-and-white Bissette illustrations inside. This was among the most rewarding of all our ventures (just got a royalty check last week), and it's an ideal guide for driving around VT and seeking out the state's weirdest haunts: the book is designed around the VT map on the back cover, number-coding the locations, town by town, village by village, of the alphabetically-arranged spectral stories inside.

Joe and I also "cooked the book" a bit: there's one, and I do mean one, VT ghost story in the book that we completely made up! It does feature one of my coolest b&w illos, and we milk it for all it's worth. See if you can figure out which ghost is the phoney, folks -- but you'll have to buy a copy to play the game.


I also did the cover art for the University Press of New England paperback edition of Joe's 'stories that might not be fiction' tome Green Mountains, Dark Tales -- which is still available from Joe's site, and well worth picking up.

I also have one color full-page illustration (of the Pig-man) and a photo of my car -- with Marge and I waving from the top window -- poised at Greenfield, MA's 'zero gravity' zone in Joe's most recent book, Weird New England.

We also collaborated on a great full-color cartoon map of our native state marking (and illustrating) many more of our favorite Vermont's Haunts. Alas, that beautiful poster-size map is long out-of-print, and no longer available. Maybe someday we'll find a way to get it back into print... but for now, that's the scoop.

Have a great Thursday -- time to go shovel some more...

Monday Monkey See, Monkey Do:

Creative Burnouts go Fishing,
Reading Tyrant Aloud to Eli,
Panel to Panel Update,
Trees & Hills,
Blair's Music Blaring,
Mario Bava and More!

Why I Love Mario Bava Fig. 1: The Three Faces of Fear, Indeed!
Intergenerational bonding in Black Sabbath (1963)

A lot of ground to cover this AM, so heeeeeeere goes:
__________

Colin Tedford, co-founder (with Dan Barlow) of the Vermont/New Hampshire/Massachusetts/New England comics creative collective the Trees & Hills Group, just sent me their February update:

* Tuesday, 2/6: Creator's Group gathering and Comics Schmooze, one after the other in Northampton, MA.

* Saturday, 2/17: Trees & Hills Drawing Social in Keene, NH.

Plus: * Tim Hulsizer is running a comic art auction for charity.
* Keene Free Comics is reviving in honor of TV Turnoff week and calling for submissions no later than 3/18.
* New comics online!
* Brattleboro Commons seeks local political cartoonist (and others - scroll down a few entries for this one & be sure to read the comments).

All this and more awaits you

here, on their site.

__________

I've been posting a lot of Center for Cartoon Studies student websites of late, but also should keep you abreast of fellow CCSer Blair Sterrett's activities online. Chief among those, archivist of the unusual that Blair is, be his online music posts on WFMU's 365 Days 2007 Project:

His most recent post I know of is 365 Days #27 - General Electric - Go Fly A Kite (mp3s)

365 Days #20 - American Standard - Today We Bought A Home (mp3s)

is, according to Blair, "a mini product musical by American-Standard." It sports artwork by Suzanne Baumann, who Blair met "in person during the small press comic convention last fall. Strangely she recognized me in the crowd from photos of my old radio show... Start off by listening to track 3." BTW, Suzanne's comics website can be found

here; enjoy.

More of Blair's postings as he posts about his posts for us folks.

___________

This just in from James Kochalka, concerning the ongoing

Fine Toon (here's the link)

Vermont Cartoonists exhibition at the Helen Day Art Gallery in Stowe, VT (catch it twixt now and the end of March, it's a terrific showcase!):

"Eva the Deadbeat interviewed me for her awesome video blog (Stuck in Vermont). She cornered me at Fine Toon: The Art of Vermont Cartoonists opening at the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe Vermont, which was a smashing success:

Here's the YouTube clip!

I like the part where me and Eli are reading a page from Steve Bissette's Tyrant.

I provided most of the music too, except for the theme song at the beginning by Burlington band The Smittens."

Thanks, James, and it was great to see you and your family at the opening night gala!

____________

BTW, at that gallery exhibition, you'll not only see Kochalka originals (including paintings by the grand fellow) and Tyrant original art, but also originals from Rick Veitch's and my first full-color jam creation, "Monkey See" (from Epic #2, circa 1979).

The double-page spread that sold the story: Bissette & Veitch, 1978-79

But don't go scrambling for back issues of Epic via online auctions: Rick is reprinting "Monkey See," along with all his solo creations from the late '70s and early '80s for zines like Epic, in his latest trade paperback collection Shiny Beasts, currently listed in the April Diamond catalogue.

Rick and I have a long-standing agreement to allow one another to anthologize our collaborative work -- particularly our 'Creative Burnouts' creations from the '70s and early '80s -- and Rick's first up to the plate via his ongoing King Hell Press collections of Veitch's out-of-print creations. Shiny Beasts will also include his long-sought-after Epic collaboration with Alan Moore, a tale of love, sex and interstellar venereal disease that also features an eye-popping panel Rick called me in for. You want alien VD imagery to die for, just call Bissette!

Shiny Beasts collects, for the first time anywhere, Rick's key post-Kubert School years, pre-graphic novel period of development, much of which was executed under the steady editorial guidance of the late, great Archie Goodwin. Though Marvel's Epic magazine was initiated by editor Rick Marschall, it was Archie who helmed that publishing experiment (Marvel's short-lived retort to Heavy Metal's unexpected newsstand success) to fruition, and Rick was in every issue of Epic from its debut (wherein he colored John Buscema's art for a one-shot Silver Surfer story). It was the color spread I've posted above that landed Rick and I our foot-in-the-door at Epic, on the heels of our offering the piece to Heavy Metal's beloved art director John Workman; John wanted it, but as a stand-alone illustration, whereas Rick and I were hoping to sell a story using the painting as a springboard.

Now, I'd worked for editor Rick Marschall doing two stories for the black-and-white Marvel comics zines (including Bizarre Adventures, a sort-of precursor to Epic). Rick Marschall was still in the editorial chair when I showed up in his and (then) assistant editor Ralph Macchio's office waaaaay back in 1978. Rick M. liked the piece and immediately requested Veitch and I expand it into a story. We made a couple of attempts, first proposing a fantasy coming-of-age story concept (with roughs) Rick M. shot down. Back to the drawing board we went, and Veitch and I then concocted "Monkey See," which we jammed on as we did everything at that time, literally passing the pages (and bowls) back and forth until we had pulled something together we liked well enough to put to the brush. Thus, we shared all tasks: the scripting, pencils, inks, and colors, though it was Rick who was the airbrush maestro, pulling everything together with his painstaking use of that venerable commercial art tool. Rick was among the first wave of cartoonists to embrace the airbrush after Richard Corben's seminal early '70s underground and Warren creations, and it indeed opened many doors for Rick (and me: Rick graced a number of my first pro jobs with his airbrush tones) at the time. Rick Marschall accepted our revamp of "Monkey See," but by the time we delivered the job, Rick M. had been unceremoniously booted from his Marvel editorial position and Archie Goodwin was the man in the hotseat.

Archie graciously honored Rick M.'s commitment to publish "Monkey See," and thus was Rick Veitch's run of impressive Epic stories initiated (I only did one other, "Kultz," with co-writer Steve Perry, for Epic #6). Rick learned much from his subsequent efforts under Archie's steady editorial hand, culminating in

his first serialized graphic novel for Epic, Abrasax and the Earthman (now available, with a stunning signed and limited print by Veitch and Al Williamson, at PaneltoPanel.net!)

It's all those extraordinary Epic self-standing stories (and more!) that comprise Shiny Beasts; not to be missed!

I'll be posting Shiny Beasts preorder info, and more on "Monkey See" (including a peek at a few more pages) here later in February. Given Rick's ongoing solid relations with PaneltoPanel.net, I'd personally recommend waiting to preorder via PaneltoPanel -- there will no doubt be a limited edition print of some kind to savor! -- and I'll post that link here as soon as P2P guru John Rovnak sends me the specs.

______________

And speaking of John Rovnak and

PaneltoPanel.net,

I'm deep in work prepping another batch of online reviews for John's site; I'll post those links once the reviews are in John's hands and up for reading (I had two book introductions to get off my desk first, amid the moving and house buying-and-selling and all; as of this past Friday, those deadlines have been met and intros accepted by their respective publishers).

However, that's not the big news. Dig, for a limited time John is promoting his marvelous online comic retail site with the following "catch it while you can!" February promotion:

Join Panel to Panel.Net's comic book subscription service during the month of February, and receive two titles FREE for one year!

Simply order a copy of a PREVIEWS catalog

here,

and then email us back with your desired titles and books. Now you're buying books with Panel to Panel's excellent subscription service; and if your monthly orders are at a minimum $35.00 each month, you'll receive two titles (of your choice) for an entire year absolutely FREE!!

Titles to choose from include:

USAGI YOJIMBO (Dark Horse Comics)
THE SPIRIT (DC Comics)
ARMY @ LOVE (DC/Vertigo)
[Note: This is Rick Veitch's upcoming series, and it looks fantastic from the pencils Rick has shown me.]
GODLAND (Image Comics)
MIGHTY AVENGERS (Marvel Comics)
RUNAWAYS (Marvel Comics)
ELEPHANTMEN (Image Comics)
TALES OF THE TMNT (Mirage Studios)
BRAVE & THE BOLD (DC Comics)
SHONEN JUMP * (Viz Media)
LOVE & ROCKETS (Fantagraphics)

*counts as two titles

Plus, as a subscriber, you'll also receive 10% off all items ordered; and you'll receive the best customer service around, which has kept our subscribers happy for years.

I'm among John's long-time subscribers and customers -- here's my plug, along with one from compadre and fellow cartoonist Mitch Waxman:

"I've been using Panel To Panel's comics subscription service for over a decade and have been overjoyed with every aspect of it: the service, the attention to my interests and needs, and best of all the occasional bringing to my attention something I otherwise wouldn't have known existed. It's my one-stop comics and graphic novel shopping center!" - Stephen R. Bissette (Swamp Thing, Tyrant, Taboo)

"Panel To Panel knows exactly what kind of comics, artists and writers that I like, and makes great suggestions for new ones. They're knowledgeable, approachable and a great comics resource. Panel To Panel's subscription service is invaluable; I get the comics I want, without being overwhelmed in the comic shop (if I can find one near me). Panel To Panel has been sending me a monthly box of goodies for 8 years, making them king of comics convenience years before Netflix or Fresh Direct delivered their first movie or bread stick." - Mitch Waxman (www.weirdass.net)

Give us a try, and make us your online comics resource; We'd love to earn your business.
More information about subscribing with us is available

here!

February is a short month, so don't dawdle! Take advantage of this invite now. There's nothing in this for me, but plenty in it for you. Give John and PaneltoPanel.net a shot; he'll be a resource for my own past and coming work in the comics field for years and years to come.
__________________

Did I say coming work? Why, yes I did.

2007 will be the year of my return to the medium (not the US industry) of comics, and there's much to share -- as and when the time comes. I've been busy, not only scripting but also working my pencil and slinging the inks, thanks entirely to my son Daniel, the folks at CCS, and a few tempting invites from friends.

Keep your eyes on this blog, the announcements will be forthcoming as winter gives way to spring!
__________________















Why I Love Bava Fig. 2: The spectral Melissa at the window in Operazione Paura/ Kill, Baby, Kill!/Curse of the Living Dead (1966), a drive-in fave of my teenage years under any title.

Other excitement for 2007 that's got me wound up of late is the coming wave of Mario Bava DVD releases and re-releases, which my long-time amigo Tim Lucas (who happens also to be the Bava biographer of choice and the venerable creator/editor/copublisher of Video Watchdog, with his lovely Oz-collecting wife Donna) has been touting of late on blog (links below).

As many of you may know, Mario Bava's films were absolutely central to my own growing up. I savored some long discussion board debates about Bava's films on the old Swamp boards (in The Kingdom; alas, all gone and now longer archived online), but you must understand how vital Bava's films were and are to me. I was traumatized as a Catholic youth by Black Sunday; however, Bava's films were forever elusive, often hiding under retitlings and even sans Bava's name in the credits. I thereafter scoured the pages of Castle of Frankenstein and haunted the TV Guide listings, studied the 16mm rental catalogues (in high school, I ran the student film program and snuck Danger: Diabolik onto the programming, much to the outrage of a particular French teacher at Harwood Union High School; at Johnson State College, I booked a then-complete retrospective of Bava's films for the Sunday afternoon "Bentley B-Flicks" matinees) and (once I had my driver's license) the drive-ins and grindhouses for any and all Bava creations.

As I got into underground comics, I became convinced Bava's films were influencing other cartoonists of that generation and my own: consider, for a moment, Richard Corben's color horror comics, which seemed the first overt eruption of Bava's color aesthetic into the medium. I've never had that particular conversation with Corben, but I'm willing to bet Bava was as formative an influence on his Kansas City upbringing as Bava was on my backwoods Vermont adolescence and teenage years.

It was our mutual obsessive devotion and love for Bava's films that brought Tim Lucas and I together, via a letter I mailed to Fangoria in response to their publication of Tim's first article on Bava, and we've been friends ever since. It's sometimes hard to believe that almost every single film Bava made has been released on DVD, but there's more to come, and soon!

Why I love Bava Fig. 3: Another indelible gothic image from Kill, Baby, Kill!

First up, there's the coming

Dark Sky DVD release of a digitally-remastered and restored edition of Bava's Operazione Paura/Kill, Baby, Kill!

Tim's got my appetite up, and given Dark Sky's track record to date (I have nearly all their genre releases on my shelves, and in my head) and the promise of David Gregory's bonus feature, visiting all the key locations Bava used for his gothic gem, this promises to be the definitive release (at last!) of this minor masterpiece.

But there's more!

In his February 3rd post on the Video Watchblog, Tim reveals what's in store in Anchor Bay's upcoming boxed set Mario Bava Collection Volume 1,

and you'll have to excuse me, but I think I just came in my pants. This boxed set provides the best intro to Bava's work to date, and for the uninitiated among you, this is the investment to go for.

Jeez, I better go change my shorts.

_______________

Have a great week!

I don't know if I'll be able to post daily this week, as it's a busy one for me: I'm speaking to two classes at Brattleboro's Center for Digital Art tomorrow, so I'll be on the road early. My daughter Maia is coming up to visit this week (and work on our comic project together; her bro' Dan has already completed his jam with his Pop, namely yours truly) and we have two guest artists at CCS this week --

Tom Hart

and

Leela Corman

-- which will keep us all preoccupied and happy.

Still, I'll be popping up here, too, as time permits.

Powwows, Printing Plates &
Prep for Bush's Craving for Victory

Awoke to the news of America's attack on Somalia -- oh, excuse me,

the air strikes against "Terror Targets" in Somalia --

-- "terror targets" reportedly responsible for the 1998 bombings of two East Africa-based U.S. Embassies. Ah, pressing "targets."

What the fuck???

When I heard this, I felt like I did when I was a lowly high school student and President Nixon interrupted the evening TV broadcast to announce his bombing of Cambodia -- like, "Oh, no, he's completely out of control. No one is going to stop this insanity."

This reminds us, natch, that President Clinton took far, far more heat from the right and from the US population for the 18 troops killed in Somalia in the 1990s than Bush has taken for the 3000+ US troops and estimated 500,000+ Iraqis killed thus far in this unprovoked lunatic binge in the Middle East (not to mention the uncounted contracted corporate employees killed, and countless wounded, maimed and traumautized on all sides).

[Note: HomeyM of Jamaica, VT brings to my attention this anonymous post from iBrattleboro.com: "So we are now at about $500,000,000,000 (500 billion) in cost for the Iraq invasion. We have killed about 500,000 Iraqis. So, we have spent about $1,000,000 (1 million) for each Iraqi man, woman and child we have killed." True enough, though the White House refutes any body count figures proffered for civilian casualties. Now that Bush's spending decisions face the new chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. David Obey, D-Wis, we're finally hearing some plain English in the Land of Nod: "How can you ever expect to get a balanced budget if you're spending $100 billion a year on Iraq borrowing the money to do it, if you're giving $50 billion a year in tax cuts to people who make over a million bucks a year and paying for that with borrowed money?"]

This Somalia air strike is of course uncannily timed to precede President Bush's Wednesday State of the Nation speech about the Iraq War, for which we've been primed to expect a troop surge or escalation (neither term, reportedly, favored in the White House). "Stay the course," he promises to stubbornly assert, claiming this is somehow a new strategy (given the fact he's proven he doesn't know a tactic from strategy), but, now, like, LOUDER, I reckon.

The atavistic craving for "victory" this President maintains, despite the nation's clear loathing for this war, means this air strike provides a taste of "victory" to whet his/our appetites (his will never be slaked), even as the National Intelligence Estimates for the Iraq War (last delivered in 2004) are delayed yet again.

No sense letting reality get in the way of Wednesday's bombast.

For anyone who thought getting Rumsfeld out of the picture might have evidenced sanity at last, today's air strike should nix that misapprehension.

I evoked Hitler's bunker mentality two days ago; we may be seeing it manifesting already; "No hope for good new from Iraq prior to the big speech? Nail those sumbitches from 1998, that'll rally everyone 'round the Prez."

_______________

On other, far less volatile fronts:

The Trees & Hills Comics Group

has lined up some events for the coming weeks, and here's the lowdown, compliments of Colin Tedford:

Wed. 1/10 (6pm) - Cartoonists' Schmooze at Amherst Coffee (details below). Socialize w/ other creators. (Amherst, MA)

Sat. 1/20 (12-5pm) - Trees & Hills Drawing Party. Come socialize & draw at T&H cofounder Dan Barlow's apartment! More info: barlowdaniel@gmail.com (Brattleboro, VT)

Tue. 1/23 - Western MA Comic Art Guild meets at Modern Myths. Topics: more productivity and fun. More info: Hector at hero2five67@aol.com. (Northampton, MA)

Wed. 1/24 (6pm?) - "Trees & Hills And Friends" release event at Modern Myths [which is, BTW, the area's best comic shop, bar none - SRB]. If you are in the anthology, come sit with us and potentially enjoy some adulation, or at least join in a jam comic! If you're not in it, come say hi! (Northampton, MA)

Wed. 1/31 Release event for the Cartoon Art Guild's "Psychosis" anthology at Modern Myths. (Northampton, MA)

Thu. 2/1 Hourly Comics Day. Draw a journal comic for each hour of the day! More info:

here.

(geographically dispersed - but maybe we should set up some evening get-togethers?)

Happy comic-making!

About that upcoming Amherst powwow, here's some more particulars:

"Wednesday, 10 January, is the date for our next Schmooze -- hope you guys can make it!

It'll be at 6pm at Amherst Coffee, a combination café-bar in downtown Amherst. Coffee, tea, sodas, wine, and whisky are available. Menu, as far as I can tell, is pretty much just pastry, so if you want something more substantial for supper, I suggest that you /not/ arrive hungry.

Amherst Coffee (256-8987) is at 28 Amity Street, in the Amherst Cinema Building. If you are coming via Route 9, when you get to the Common, go north one longish block on South Pleasant Street, and turn west at the first traffic light; that is Amity Street, which at that intersection is opposite (somewhat off-kilter) from Main Street. The Amherst Cinema Building will be on your left, roughly across the street from the Jones Public Library.

I'll be going on foot, as I live a half-mile away, and since many PVTA bus routes (www.pvta.org) go through Amherst Center, some of you may be able to make it by public transport. Drivers will have to find
parking, which I explain below.

There is a very small parking lot adjoining the Amherst Cinema building, with metered parking. There is also metered parking along that first block or so of Amity Street, and along both sides of South Pleasant, as well as along North Pleasant (as Pleasant extends north); but the North Pleasant spaces fill up quickly, and some of the spots are short-term "loading zones." Also, there are somewhat larger parking lots on the Common itself, also with metered parking, and along Boltwood Ave on the other side of the Common from South Pleasant. Metered parking extends eastward on Main Street for on both sides for a couple of blocks, and on
the north side an additional long block near the Evergreens (Emily Dickinson's brother's house). There's a little bit of parking behind the CVS on North Pleasant (accessible by a driveway right next to CVS), but much of it is reserved for CVS customers.

But the hidden gem of parking in downtown Amherst is the Boltwood Walk lot behind Amherst Chinese Food, accessible on the north side of Main Street; in addition to aboveground parking, there is a ramp that goes to an underground parking area. Both aboveground and underground parking in this lot is paid for by tickets that can be purchased from a vending machine, and should be placed on your dashboard. This lot is also accessible from Kellogg Street, but you have to turn in /after/ Rao's Coffee, not before -- there's a tiny lot, even smaller than the one near Amherst Cinema, on Kellogg just /before/ Rao's, but I wouldn't have my heart set on finding a space in it; you're better off in the Boltwood Walk lot/garage. BTW, the pillars in the Boltwood garage are painted with colorful designs which you might enjoy.

Everybody please say farewell to Michael Finger, who was at our first Schmooze at the Dirty Truth last month, but won't be able to make our next one as he'll be flying to Texas for his new job. He did a great
job of starting up the comics creators' meetings at Modern Myths, and he'll be missed. Scott Sheaffer is taking over the reins of that group, and we'll be going to a monthly format, the better to accommodate the
expected monthly meetings of the New England chapter of Comics Artists Group (CAG), of which Hector Rodriguez is the Mass. liaison.

See you next Wednesday,
E. J. Barnes"

OK, that's that -- hope some of you can make it.

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And finally, as promised -- printing plates!

In the realm of comic art collectors, the printing plate -- the actual metal (and later, in the mid-'70s, plastic) plate used to print the comics -- have become curios and collectibles in and of themselves. I have a couple plates in my own collection, but thanks to Mark Martin (contact point) and collector Angson -- who shot the photos from his own collection of the Saga of the Swamp Thing 1980s rarities displayed here -- Angson and I can share a few of these with you today. (Thanks to Angson for granting permission to run these images here today.)

The cover plate above and below (the second shot shows the full cover plate spread, front and back covers -- back covers naturally being ads) are from Saga of the Swamp Thing #24, the last issue to feature a Tom Yeates cover (Tom was the original artist on the 1980s series), and the first to share my byline, though I can't recall what, exactly, I did on the cover.

If memory serves, I simply worked up a rough cover concept, including chainsaw, from which Tom did the final pencils and inks; I know I didn't have a hand penciling, as that Swamp Thing is Tom's baby, not my overgrown moss-and-vine tangled saladman. (BTW, that's Angson's hand, bunkie!)



Angson also sent along these shots of cover plates from later Saga of the Swamp Thing issues I did do the covers for -- the first by John Totleben and I, under new editor Karen Berger's helm, for SOTST #25 -- shown solo, and then paired with its back cover ad (and Angson's hand):



Note that these cover plates represent the drawn and printed images in reverse -- and the fascinating conversion of those images (lines, tones and colors) into sculpted forms that serve to configure ink to paper as they must be printed.

These are in and of themselves compelling objects and mutant forms of comics art, hence their allure. These are among the oddest 'original art' artifacts to be found, especially for anyone interested in printing and the technical 'behind the scenes' elements of how comics are created and printed.




And finally, the cover plate for the much later Swamp Thing #53, John Totleben's knockout solo art issue (and a giant-annual page count, at that) fulfilling his long-harbored desire to do his own Batman vs. Swamp Thing opus. Here's my penciled-and-inked front cover image, all on its lonesome, rendered as print plate:



And the full front-and-back cover spread printing plate, below, sans that hand from beyond! Dig it, without that hand, the plate's curved nature is more evident in this photo. Because these plates were designed to fit over a roller (the printing press roller), they all bend; you can see here, without Angson holding down the plate, the way the light hits the curved surface. These can be tough to store or display as a result, a minor issue if you're into 'em.

This cover was a particular favorite of mine, rendered all the more unusual when inverted for printing purposes.

Remember, too, that each cover and page had more than one printing plate -- these all appear to be the black plate (black linework/tones) -- for four-color printing (black, red, blue, yellow, in plain English). I've never seen individual color plates, that I know of, though I'm sure they're out there. Those would feature even more bizarre abstractions of the cover imagery, though that's neither here nor there:





I'll eventually post these alongside the cover images themselves, as I'm sure these simply look like bizarre abstract images to many of you. But, alas, no scanner set up here in the Windsor digs as yet, so -- enjoy Angson's curious collectibles in their naked state, unaccompanied by their companion printed images. Maybe I can remedy and revisit this soon!

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OK, I gotta run. Contractor is coming -- the room's painted, I've moved and covered everything I can to maximize Dave's work space and access -- plumber is hopefully going to show (every faucet in the house needs attention), and I've got a big Center for Cartoon Studies 4 PM faculty meeting to prep for.

Enough of this high-speed access junkie-fix -- I'm outta here!

Have a great Tuesday, one and all!