BEHIND THE EIGHTBALL

Daniel Clowes needs no real introduction does he? Well In case you're too busy still wondering who the Red Hulk is let me fill you in on one of the most prolific comic creators of my generation. As part of My Nostalgia September I couldn't leave Clowes out in the cold. From EIGHTBALL, (the first dozen or so issues containing a number of short comedic stories featuring absurd characters such as Shamrock Squid and Grip Glutz and introduced us to Art School Confidential and Ghost World) to WILSON to ICE HAVEN. Clowes is regularly compared to David Lynch, mixing macabre surrealism with intelligent satire mixed with a modernist style.
LIKE A VELVET GLOVE CAST IN IRON, which was a storyline in EIGHTBALL, became an obsession of mine so much that my band ELKBLOOD has used it regularly for inspiration in both lyrics and the imagery. To know Clowes characters is maybe to know a little about the man himself.
You might find some familiar pessimism of Pekar in characters like WILSON but with Clowes you get a unhealthy dose of dark humor that might make you uncomfortable to the point where you'll either love it or hate it. Call me sick but I get it and praise Clowes for giving me something to identify with, I find it cathartic, comforting even. I relate reading a Clowes comic to falling asleep in a thunderstorm while listening to Metallica's Master of Puppets without a sleeping bag buried in the dirt, right? If you're a fan of ADRIAN TOMINE CRAIG THOMPSON, TOM NEELY or even JOHNNY RYAN then you owe it to yourself and your neighbors to check out Daniel Clowes in case you haven't. If you dont, DAVID BORING might be knocking on your door soon dont say we didn't warn you!

check out this great article with Daniel found at L'autre bande dessinée
http://www.du9.org/Daniel-Clowes,1109
and here's a preview of WILSON in case you haven't checked this out yet http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/imagesPreview/a4b4b5cebd9151.pdf

HITTING AN OPTIC NERVE

Art school...(yea yea yea so I'm getting nostalgic today so what!) You remember, standing in a circle smoking hand rolled cigarettes, acting out scenes from My Own Private Idaho as if Gus van Sant might be around the corner rolling film. It was the 90's, manic panic, grunge making way to British invasion part 2 and the return of how cool vinyl is. It was during this adolescent maelstrom of intellectualism and pretending I understood Sartre that I found myself moving away from just comic book mutants and space aliens into a whole new world of visual storytelling in comics. As I was discovering Hal Hartley and hanging out on the Santa Cruz cliffs I feverishly read everything I could find on Adrian Tomine, mainly all the OPTIC NERVE'S my young sad bastard heart could stand!

It was in 32 Stories:The Complete OPTIC NERVE mini comics that I drowned myself in. Tomine's work showed me a whole new world of self reflection using comics as part journal, part surreal commentary with humor and a literalness that defied what I thought comics could be. It was a time of great exploration and breaking barriers and what may seem commonplace now was a brave new world to me. I wasn't hip to Clowes and the Hernandez Brothers, It was Tomine that broke my indie comic cherry and I'm forever grateful. It only fueled my desire to know something you didn't but alas those days are over and I want you to know ADRIAN TOMINE the way that I know Tomine. Check out his website at: http://www.adrian-tomine.com

BOUND & GAGGED

Just wanted to repost a link to Tom Neely's blog to announce a new book he's involved with. In case you dont know who Tom Neely is visit his website for more info. I WILL DESTROY YOU He's an amazing artist out of Los Angeles and one of our favorites here at Coast City Comics, check it out:

http://iwilldestroyyounews.blogspot.com/2010/08/bound-gagged.html

IN A BROWN COLORED WORLD

It was a late summer day and as I worked behind the counter of the comic shop when a certain young lady with a desperate look in her eye asked me for Jeffrey Brown's newest book- moment of panic-desperate look transferred to my eyes as I googled at the speed of light-
"Who the HELL is Jeffrey Brown!!?? "
Yes it's true I hadn't heard of him and I vowed to put an end to that asap! In the light of never wanting to look stupid again I ended up finding a new favorite in introspective, personal comic storytelling such as I had found with the likes of Liz Prince and Craig Thompson. So are you now asking who the hell is Jeffrey Brown?? good because you should. His latest book is titled
CATS ARE WEIRD I hate to admit I'm a crazy cat person who shows off his pictures of his cat on my phone to anyone who will humor me, I stand up to dirty looks and half smiles because until I have real children these furry freaks will do. After reading this sweet sentimental look inside the feline mind I can tell Mr. Brown is one of those crazy cat people as well and now I don't feel as alone.

If you like comics straight up that just reflect the absurdity and frustrations of daily life without over saturated negativity then Brown might just be what you are looking for. It's as if I'm looking into a mirror in his work from FUNNY MISSHAPEN BODY- (* side note*if you have been to art school you'll love it!) So thank you desperate girl who didn't find then what we now cannot live without and thank you Jeffrey Brown for letting us in and making this guy feel not so alone and not so crazy!

To find out more about Jeffrey Brown's work visit his website at: http://www.jeffreybrowncomics.com/
or visit his blog at:
http://jeffreybrowncomics.blogspot.com

A PRINCE AMONG MEN

Comics aren't just for boys, just ask Liz Prince who is all woman and she's not afraid to show you how true that is. From her auto bio comic WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME IF I WET THE BED to DELAYED REPLAYS, she's telling it like it is and carrying no shame along the way. It's not easy to hold a window to ones personal life and shine a light on it for others to see especially those moments we usually take for granted but PRINCE shines a very bright light and gives us a glimpse into her nerdy, quirky life that is both sweet and touching as well as uncomfortable and edgy. There's something very engrossing about PRINCE'S artwork that is cuddly and itchy at the same time switching gears without a moment's notice turning ugly into beautiful and funny into sad. The comics are a roller coaster through a very real persons eyes without a whole lot of fluff and I for one enjoy the down to earth sincerity of it all. I recently read WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME... in bed with my wife and it began to seem as if we were looking into a mirror, we laughed and at times looked at each other through the corner of our eyes quizzically and perhaps with a trepidation to see each other's warts and all but if LIZ PRINCE can do it then dammit so can we! You can see more of Liz prince @ her website : http://lizprincepower.com/

THE FICKLE WORLD OF HAM!

It's been too long since Ive traveled out in search of something indie/local to catch my fancy but this week i could no longer avoid the Fickle world of Torrey Ham. He is as local as it gets and I doubt he even cares if you read his web comic or not. FICKLE PICNIC is the title of Mr. Ham's mental escapades in singular vector glory. It's clear there's nothing pretentious here just the truth as Torrey sees it, funny , sad or just painfully true. The chalkboard like drawings and the subtle t shirt references make this a fun read. I love hitting the random button as if there was any sequence to Torrey's views on IKEA, FACEBOOK and ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. FICKLE PICNIC is a simple yet witty romp through modern culture with a tongue in cheek sense of humor. Thank you Mr. Ham for the smile you've put on my face! Check it out for yourself: http://www.ficklepicnic.com/

ARTHUR DE LA CRUZ IS NOT EMPTY!

I love Tuesday's because that's when I get to scour the Internet for underground comics that I have yet to read. Its digital spelunking for pure illustrative gold and the payoff is ever so sweet. This week's lode of comic gold is a web comic by Arthur De La Cruz entitled, "KISSING CHAOS" and if you're fans of David Mack, Brian Wood, Becky Cloonan and Dave McKean then you are going to love this black and white comic that states, "You're too young to be this empty!"

Nothing says the history better then what I found on his website;
Kissing Chaos first saw the light of day in 2001 as an 8 issue mini series published by Oni Press. In 2002 Arthur De La Cruz was nominated for an Eisner award for KISSING CHAOS, and was listed as one of the Top Ten Comics of the year from Ain't It Cool News. Kissing Chaos: Nonstop Beauty, was a 4 issue follow up series, featuring an all new cast. This story shed more light on the ominous conclusion to the first. Arthur De La Cruz plans to continue pumping out the KC via this website http://kissingchaos.com/, continuing the series with a story arc titled KISSING CHAOS: 'TIL I DIE. As well, he plans to unveil a top secret animated story arc sometime this year. stay tuned.

To see how beautiful these illustrations are and to see why this is my underground pick of the week follow this link: http://kissingchaos.com/tx/?p=153 Arthur states the hiatus is over for more KISSING CHAOS, I do hope so. I missed it the first time around and don't want that to happen again.