October – November

Monster (2016 reprint of 2010 edition), ed. Paul Lyons

Altcomics Magazine #3, ed. Sab Maynert

Love and Rockets Vol. 4 #1, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez – Wanted to get this since I missed out on previous L&R number ones, but now I’ll go back to the softcover compilations. Recent Glibert is too hit and miss for me and Jaime superheroes just aren’t my thing at all. Sorry! Though also the softcovers are the format in which I first read Love and Rockets that’s the iteration I like best. I think that’s often the case with works that existing in multiple versions/formats; I’m thinking of color vs. b&w Akira, for example. I’m sure there are exceptions, but most people I’ve read or talked to about Akira prefer and even vigorously defend the version they happened to read first.

How to Make Comics, Caitlyn Skaalrud

Fight or Run: Shadow of the Chopper, Kevin Huizenga

Partly Stars Mostly Void, Tommi Parrish

Hellboy in Hell: The Death Card, Mike Mignola – I want the best Hellboy stories reprinted like they’re issues of an alt comic – thick covers, non glossy interior pages, etc. No full stories, thank you, just the best of the best.

Cometbus 57, Aaron Cometbus – This made me think about community when I first read it in October. I’m thinking even more about community now, so maybe I need to read it again.

Minor Leagues #2, Simon Moreton

Blammo #9, Noah Van Sciver – This was my overwhelming thought through several readings of this comic.

Libby’s Dad, Eleanor Davis – Interesting counterpoint in that I only read this once, and it’s a quicker read than Blammo, but I’ve thought about it often since putting it down.

Ulcera, Puiupo and Adonis Pantazopoulus

Ex Voto, Paige Mehrer

A rough November for me, and I suspect also for you. Hence why two months have passed without me doing one of these. 

I stopped drawing my 30Days strip after the election. My tolerance for my own self-indulgence suddenly evaporated. Plus I think I’m at a point now where I can’t share any work that I haven’t sat with for several months, coming to terms with it in my mind and on paper. I’ve finished the 30Days comic, and I’ll let you know in the future if I’m ever ready to share it.

I couldn’t draw at all for a couple weeks after the election, actually. Now I’m drawing again, and it’s going pretty well, but at the same time I’m rethinking some things. I like the public accountability of sharing goals and talking about my work (hence these posts), and I’m very interested in talking about process, but I’m also a fairly private person in general. So I won’t say much more about this for now. Raighne is correct when he writes that art not a luxury but a beacon of light, a small political act. But, and I hope this doesn’t sound self-deprecating because I truly don’t mean it that way, it’s difficult to perceive that beacon of light in your own art. So I’m trying to find the best way forward.