Reminder: Kim Deitch can still draw like no one’s business. Check out these pages of the still in-progress Amazing, Enlightening and Absolutely True Adventures of Katherine Whaley which Deitch released to his Facebook friends, and Fantragraphics shared with Flog Readers.
“Weathered and deeply closeted P.I. Frank Grissel…takes on what appears to be a simple missing person case but ultimately gets sucked into a sinister, twisted, and very queer underworld conspiracy”: The Windy City Times interviews Andersen Gabrych and Brad Rader about their graphic novel “with a gay twist,” Fogtown. Gabrych has some interesting observations about old-school noir movies.
“The only thing that I am not able to do at all is help with the drawing because I’m really hopeless at art”: Jane Wiedlin talks to Spinner about her new-ish comic with Bill Morrison, Lady Robotika.
“Let’s face it, the only reason ‘Catwoman,’ ‘Elektra’ and the other pictures failed is because they were lousy”: If you read about comic books on the Internet at all—and something tells me you do—then you’ve probably already heard many variations of the “How come superheroines don’t get as many big-budget Hollywood adapations as superdudes do” argument before. This one, by Chris Hicks and appearing in the Desert News, is somewhat interesting in that it’s written by a non-comics person for a non-comics audience.
Aack attack: Shaenon Garrity surveys the usage of Aacks in Cathy for The Comics Journal. There are pie charts.
August 21st, 2010 at 2:17 am
Gabrych’s observations on classic Noir films aren’t anything revelatory. People have been suggesting at homoerotic undertones in them for years and years.
August 21st, 2010 at 4:55 pm
It’s the summer of ’69. The Summer of Love. My best bud Doc and I are exploring the East Village (after a costume change on the E train trip into the ‘City’ from the staid-suburban Queens kids we were to the young neo-Hippy kids we wanted to be: tight fitting big-starred long sleeved t-shirt, moccasins and combed out Afro (me), Dashiki, combat boots and 13 button bells and larger Afro (him) from parent approved skips and button-down shirts). An hour into our troll of this New World, we stumble across Kim Deitch’s storefront studio. I recognize his name and work from the publication The East Village Other and the budding underground comics world.
He invites us in, welcome for the brief break from the page he was working on for Gothic Blimp Works. The studio smells of rubber cement India Ink and cigarettes. And pure talent. He’s happily surprised we know who he is as he shows us around. An original page from EVO here, an original from friend Bernie Wrightson there (the Frankenstein monster from the rear, his pants down, revealing just why he was always so disagreeable. His butt was sewn up too!). He gives us about twenty minutes and invites back sometime. I take him up on that almost a half dozen times or so ’til the day I show up and the storefront is closed and vacant.
I’ve followed him since then, warm spot in my heart every time.
Good Times.
The moral of my story: NEVER skip a chance to meet a comics creator. Memories aren’t bought, they’re made.