We Just Met...

Here's a new drawing I just stuck up on eBay, it's on parchment paper in ink, pencil, gouache, watercolor and some cheap Sharpie marker I used for the solid red areas. In fact, the possibility of trying those markers on this paper inspired the whole thing.

Jeez, I hope I got the color scheme right this time.

And, here's the smartass description that accompanied the auction:

Once upon a time in the 1960s there was a "Vampire Girl" magazine. All the kids thought she was great, though the stories weren't too good it didn't matter. After a time people forgot about her and her cousin an' uncle and the mags died. Later, some guys bought her and started the mags again. Trouble was, they didn't understand her and didn't care to either. The vampire gal all the kids loved became a dumb piece of meat in dumb comic books with too much blood in 'em. But people thought she still looked good in spite of her being just a costume anymore, and bought the new mags. Everybody else got sick in their stomachs. One day some hotshot artist decided to make a new Horror gal and he called her OCTAVIA. She don't care to show all that skin--TO YOU, PAL. Because that's not the point, because it ain't nice, and because of ya just met. So Octavia comic books got made and people were much much happier wit her the end.

Kal-DATH-er, uh...

I'm dusting off the files from my old Tigress: Journey to Caldathera TPB and digitally coloring 'em for re-release through Ka-Blam. And why not? It's a fun cover, may attract some readers, and the new cover can make up for the original one, which I freely admit was a bit of a dud.

Complex digital color layers over ridiculously simple lineart.

I didn't like doing digital coloring much in the past, mainly because of the time factor, but recently I figgered if all these people are doing all these comics digitally now, there must be a faster way than what I'm doing.

And there it was--the magnetic goddamn lasso tool. What a dope I am.

Weirdness in Space with the band of Victorian castaways on the asteroid "Caldathera".

Here's another page showin' the whole merry bunch. The original pages had wash tones over the inkwork, so now that's lending a sorta hand-tinted-old-photograph look to the whole thing. Naturally, it suits the subject matter, in spite of being an accident.

Sexual repression and we got yer table-legs covered.

Though I've already announced the thing is coming, I still am only 10 pages into coloring 60 of them, but I do a few each day in mah spare time so it shouldn't take too long.

Here's one more preview page.

Doctor Vale engineered moving the whole house, brick by brick, to Caldathera.

It's fun because I'm not reading ahead, but rather seeing new pages every day. I'd forgotten a lot of it.

Art Implants...

My daughter recently asked me, while in the local Comic shop, who the characters were on a new Marvel promo sitting there on the counter. It was on newsprint and meant to look like an old newspaper, with the Submariner and Human Torch on it. I said they were from the 1940s, and WWII. She asked me why people today didn't come up with their own heros. Ya want the short answer?

We don't belong to you.

Now, Harris Comics, due to several slow business days on eBay, is harassing artists who draw Vampirella and shutting down their auctions. Like with early Marvel characters, Harris didn't invent Vampirella, or Eerie and Creepy; they just robbed a grave to get her. No matter that they paid, it's still robbery.

The 1960s Vampirella lacked an important modern improvement: breast implants. Digital Xerox art by Arthur Suydam (note repetition of bat shapes, swiped figure and background from Frazetta Death Dealer on horseback).

That's the obvious question to most people outside Comics--why don't you people come up with your own ideas, new ones, instead of perpetually mangling other people's ideas totally out of recognition--like turning the Human Torch into Barbecued Man?

Another failure of "Realism" in comics: if someone's on fire, why would their body have shadows on it?

I often say that the trouble with modern comics is that the "Fans" invaded the Industry, driving out every last bit of maturity. At least with the Japanese Manga scene, they have the sense to keep the Fan (Dōjinshi) and Professional products clearly separated.

Is it really appropriate to use brain-damaged modern gladiators to promote comics for kids?

Here in America, there is no separation at all; it's not necessary because no matter how slick or how much money's behind it, there's still really nothing but Fan product.

That's Fans, like a million monkeys at typewriters, all tapping out absurd variations on what men like Jack Kirby created. It'll never work, because it ain't honest.

So what's the matter with me, that I'd rather whip up something new than go to work for these parasites?

I'd sure be a lot richer and more famouser if I joined in.

More Gore...

We talked a while back about some rather unpleasant publishing going on currently, and lo & beho I run into this gem today:

This cover's from 1969, and I admit it's fascinating to me in its over-the-top horror. The more I looked at it, and a slew of other covers from the same "Eerie Publishing", I got to wondering--who made this stuff? Who was the artist, and what went through his mind?

Myron Fass, onetime Comics artist and Emperor of Eerie Publications.

I suppose if you're a working comics artist and need some bread and the editor says "Hey, can ya pop some eyes out?" or "We need more heads chopped off!" then ya might just say "Sure, boss!" and after a while get used to it.

Playing every angle--and eyesocket--for max grue.

That's about all I can come up with as an excuse for the slasher slice 'n' dice people today, they musta got desensitized one bloody stump at a time.

Case of Cooties...

Google has asked a bunch of illustrators for free samples to grace a new project of theirs, but many have turned 'em down. Nonetheless, there'll be plenty who'll take the bait for the "exposure". If nothing else, the Internet sure gives exposure.

What I'm concerned about is that for creative people, perhaps artists more than writers, Internet technology is allowing us the opportunity to Cut Our Own Throats. That's where COOTies comes from.

It's not a game anymore.

The fact is that web surfers want everything free. They already paid a bundle for the computer, so why pay more? There's innumerable artists out there now offering prints, giclees, t-shirts, calendars etc. in an effort to buy some groceries, and ya know what? NOBODY BUYS THEM. Or hardly anyone. Why stick something on the wall when you can just stick your face to a computer screen?

It's not for nothing they call it "Windows"--and any decent prison cell should have one.

My main site gets respectable hits all the time, but again--visitors want to be entertained free of charge, which I have been doing, though I also have a "donate" option, which amazingly has actually been used.

Y'know, if you pass a beggar in public, you may feel obliged to dig in your pocket for a quarter, but if he and everyone else is blind or invisible, why bother? Go get yer free entertainment.

The kind of thing computers are good at--soulless, inhuman rendering.

The other problem is "Digital Art". I think we know by now that millions or more people who never would've learned anatomy or painting now consider themselves "artists" and are all over the landscape. It's hard to tell them apart because while a real brushstroke identifies the artist like a signature, digital tools resist personalization. You have to try and ID by subject matter, because there's nothing else.

Also, the medium itself tends toward the inhuman due to its reliance on number-crunching. It can create smoother gradients than any human hand ever can or could, but so what? Do we really want humanity sucked out of Art?

The sty in the modern eye that identifies the artist.

This also affects perceptions of what's now called "Traditional Art". I know that many viewers now prefer the slickness of digital to muddy paint and hair-stick art. The trouble is it's not "smooth" enough, and worse, it actually betrays the fact that a human made it.

Quick--who made this picture, and does it matter?

People that know little about Art usually want the brushstrokes to go away. Looseness bothers them. Greg Cwiklik, a critic for the Comics Journal, who claims to be an artist too but hides his work, bemoaned Frazetta's "meaningless brushstrokes" in some backgrounds, showing ignorance of a cardinal rule of painting: unimportant areas should be under-rendered.

Antiseptic techniques for a spoiled public.

The unwashed public prefers slick, and they want it delivered to their feet; basically, they won't work for anything. They want a big, fluffy, sparkly, nutritionless birthday cake. No work, and the lazier people get. Eloi.

More and more artists, more virtual venues to sell their work, and less of it actually selling.

I remember reading studies about what TV watching once did to kids' intelligence and IQs, but who's studying computer usage? Probably someone, but the results obviously don't interest anyone nowadays in the midst of the Free Feeding Frenzy.

Maybe the goal of digital art on the internet is to completely erase the individual identity of the artist, because the public really doesn't want it.

Keep Yer Pity...

It's true, Super Clowns is like a toxin to average Comic Fans. Also true, I didn't make it for them. Outsiders, on the other hand, seem to really dig it. There are clearly a lot of preconceived notions about clowns, and about comics featuring funny-looking people with huge feet.

Basically, I can't give the Art pages away, and so far response has been a deafening pin-drop.

But it had to be done.



I figgered that maybe the online Circus and Clown communities would dig the book, so I joined a site called http://www.clown-forum.com/ . I introduced myself and the book, got some good comments, then suddenly ol' Slappo was "banned" with no reason given.

I can't figure out if I should feel honored or insulted.

Anyway, the damn thing exists because I wanted it to. Some days I'll work on projects that have no possibility of making a buck, and that's fine with me. I think all artists should starve a bit, it's good for the mind--like fasting.

On another note, I got an inquiry recently from a comic publisher called devilsdue.net asking if I would paint a "Barack the Barbarian" cover. I politely declined. After the waves of average people swamping Comic shops looking for that "Obama comic" they read about, these geniuses figured it was worthy of imitation.

If you ever thought you were a whore, you're just an escort compared to these people.

Everything modern Comics needs in the form of Steve Mannion.

I also did some research on my new favorite artist, Steve Mannion. His stuff has everything Comics today needs; good drawing, good stories and an approach that ain't afraid to be goofy or funny. And unlike many comics, his really ARE funny. His comics are carried by a company called Asylum Press.

Notice the girl's gouged-out eyeball is visible for your pleasure while other areas are politely censored for your protection.

While investigating their site, I waded crotch-deep in muck. I know it's passe to get offended about anything these days, but I gotta say I was offended quite a bit. This is just in a normal human capacity, no PC stuff. I can't help it, I'm allergic to concentration camp photos.

Under a book they sell called Sex Crimes, there's a quote from the Boston Strangler: "... KILLING SOMEBODY'S A FUNNY EXPERIENCE"--ALBERT DE SALVO


Does the world really need a book like this? If nothing else, it shows there's very little in the way of humanity or maturity over at Asylum Press.

Excepting Mannion's books, however.

The kind of quality product that has no chance of meeting Diamond's new order minimums.

That's the trouble with these nihilistic Comic books, something I've been saying for years, and that is "Dark" is easy. Nasty stories with unpleasant elements going for the gross-out is child's play compared to making something without pandering to sick, jaded tastes.

The Bomb and Fearless Dawn are like daisies coming up through the concrete.

What's the Hubbub, Bub?

I got asked to answer some interview questions at a site called whohub.com, so I did. There's some other interesting people over there, I think the site's actually a good idea--if you've got waders on.

Here's some of my answers, interspersed with some older images that have been cluttering up a "Muse" folder. The rest of the interview is HERE.

Must someone be the leader or boss in order for a creative team to function well?
Probably, otherwise you get Indie Rock.

The armchair psychologist: Is creativity an act of rebellion for you?
I don't create to destroy.

You are as good as your last idea. Wouldn't you like to have a more secure type of work?
All the time--and it ain't going to happen.

How is an idea born? For you, what is inspiration?
I don't know where they come from, they usually appear from nowhere, though often as a reflection from something else, a word, a picture, an idea. Because I have to earn a living with Art, I've learned to generate ideas even if I'm not "inspired" on any given day.

Sketch for a possible Monster U. Halloween Coloring Book.

What role does techonology play in your creative process?
Mainly, it allows me to reach a larger audience. Although I have seen digital art I like, I feel it largely has an inhuman and mathematical quality. I also feel that as a tool it can too easily become a crutch.

Does "humor" like this make your skin crawl?

What is art?
An expression of some aspect of the Human experience created at a high level of expertise.

How do you evaluate whether an idea is good or not?
I think ideas are like children, and even the most deformed or retarded have a right to live in some capacity. I think almost all ideas are good, though some are better than others. The best ideas would seem to be the most unique.

How should a work of art be evaluated?
Can a small detail be changed without affecting the whole? If yes, then the piece is flawed. Can its technique be easily replicated in variations by many other artists? If yes, then there is no mastery.

Must an artist reinvent him/herself everyday?
Perhaps not every day, but sometimes and often it is essential, otherwise you are merely imitating yourself. "Everyday" is not the same as "every day". You may have common everyday experiences that come from things you do every day.

Everyday mispellings from our friends at Microsoft.

In art, there is no guide. How do you know what the next step is?
How do you know how to keep walking? You take a step in any direction you like.

This Old Ghoul...

I get regular emails from my pal Lew Lehrman, they're called The Halloweenist and feature his latest art and prints plus other fun stuff. It's always a treat, no trick about it. He'll even paint yer house all spooky over at http://www.hauntedstudio.com/

One of Lew's nice watercolor pieces from his Haunted Studio.

When I read the news he'd won an award at the latest Midwest Haunters Convention, I got excited and went over ta look. Maybe it was something I could haunt sometime.

Close-up detail of severed head (the neck part) from the "Haunter's Convention".

Now, I know I am hopelessly "Old School" as they call it now, which as far as I can tell means you still do things without computers. I am worried about this computer art business, but that's another blog entry. PROBABLY TOMORROW'S.

Say hello to Gag and Reflex.

Anyway, somewhere along the line someone decided that Haunted Houses and Halloween weren't good enough without buckets of blood. It all got invaded by the Gore and Slasher Movie people.

Yes, children--you've succeeded in being revolting.

I'm afraid that's like Death Metal invading Christmas, which actually might be a good story idea as long as there's no chance of it ever really happening.

Very, very, very clever application of fake blood by a modern master.

Maybe these invaders get desensitized to all the yuck, but to be honest, it all makes me want to blow beets.

A Charm School Halloween by Yours Ghouly.

And, I really don't see where the talent is. Shocking people by grossing them out has got to be the easiest thing in the world. And these 18+ Horror Houses that spring up every October probably need a copy of my Halloween Handbook, which is full of better ideas I came up with off the top of my head.

Anyway, enough of my complainin'--I guess it'll be another face-off this Halloween, too.

The Love Grenades...

Folks, I am so sorry to keep writing these things, but I can't seem ta help it.

Today was a perfect day to take a long morning's walk, so I hit the Goodwill store, "His House" Thrift Store and a couple of other choice junk spots. It got so hot I needed a cold shower when I got back.

While strollin', I developed another of my crackpot theories. This one I call WHIGKE for short. It looks funny, but after ya say it a few times it gets easier. WIG-Key!

What WHIGKE means is WHIte Guys who Know Everything. I may not know much, but I am an expert on Whigkes. Heck, I have one in my family. I've known at least hundreds over the years.

"We Need to Kick Pornography and Homosexuality Out of the Mainstream", says Ronald E. Springer.

I admit I also tried "White Guys Who Think They Know Everything", but it got too complicated tryin' ta make the anagram work so I dumped it.

As far as I can see, Whigkes are the cause of most of the pain and suffering in the Western World, insofar as they have any power or influence.

Then again, give a guy a gun and and I guess you could say he's got some power and influence.

Anyway, as I trotted along this morning workin' on my "Whigke Theory", I eventually got all the way down to the Habitat for Humanity store, which sells all manner of junk and uses the money ta build housing fer the poor. THE CRUMMY LEFTIES.

I worked my way down the used bookshelf there, figurin' I better hurry while books still exist, and found this big fat thing called Moral Armor by one Ronald E. Springer.


A Death-Metal logo will save Humanity.

Think about that, kids--Moral Armor.

I won't go into depth about the book, but I will say it reminded me of another Whigke, one whose website gets a heck of a lot more hits than http://www.moralarmor.com/ , and that's Tom Laughlin's wacky whigke site at http://www.billyjack.com/ . These guys have all the answers.

Then again, so does Rush Limbaugh and most of the other clowns in politics. The Mind is a funny thing sometimes.

Would it help my career ta get photoed with Art Linkletter?

Why Ronald E. Springer isn't bigger than Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, JFK, MLK and all yer other saviours is a mystery, and it's one that only you will be able to decide about.

Here's a little taste ta get ya started, from Ron's site:
Outside of Philosophy, Ron has a background in Real Estate, the Stock Market and Automotive Design. He spends most of his time pouring over manuscripts in economics, history, philosophy and psychology, looking to bring new clarity and new armor to the historical challenges of modern Man.

When ya "pour" over them manuscripts, it can get messy.

Please, don yer booties and pore over the Supreme Explanation: http://www.moralarmor.com/ORIGINALindex.html

We gotta get this guy some page hits.

New Impactions...

Well, anyone who reads the News knows by now who shot the abortion doctor. And there's pictures of the guy fer all ta see.

Scott Roeder, an angry and unrepentant man.

Now, if this guy gets capital punishment, i.e., EXECUTED, then I guess we can say we murdered the murderer who murdered the murderer. Then everything will be alright. Account closed.

I get junk mail from some Art site called wetcanvas.com, where my pal Bill Wray hangs out. They're pushing some new Comic Book Art workshop out in San Diego. "Sign up quick, kids--space is limited!"


My personal opinion is that when "busy professionals" rent themselves out to review horrifically amateurish portfolios for a weekend, "the Industry" is probably in trouble.

God damn, there's enough crappo comic books out there without encouraging the little twerps.

What these people are doing is the equivalent of donating blood to a vampire day-care center down the street.

It's going to come back home.