Skip to content

Posts tagged comics

Etsy Indie Comics Haul #2

Etsy Indie Comics Haul #2 published on No Comments on Etsy Indie Comics Haul #2

The first trip was such a success I had to go buy more and then I had to take a really long time to write about all of it.  And here is what I got:

Kay and P 00 & 01– Starts the story of Kay – music student and P, her skeleton ?ghost? friend.  The story is painted really completely with great detail and a nice way of coloring the background to be a little lighter – accentuating the forward action.

Terka – fabulously conceived world of monsters.  I like the city gate and museum settings.  The line work is clean, stark and wonderful black and white.

Carnival – is an anthology of short comics about going or being in the carnival.  It’s amazing how differently a group of artists can treat a theme.  The variety of story alone is fascinating and all of them well done little scenes.

Southpaw – I love the drawings and the style.  This is a fabulous little zine.  Mostly art zine/sketchbook style with a few comic sequences.

Breathers – What can I say?  The whole idea of a semi apocalyptic future where everyone has to have breathing apparatuses when they are outside and yet everything is still normal is great.  I wanna keep reading.  I’ll have to get the next book.

Red Planet Ride #2 – Just as fabulous and beautiful as Red Planet Ride #1.  I had to get it.  So, this wasn’t really so untried a purchase.

The Bad-Ass Habit – Nuns, all girls boarding schools, arrows and bear traps.  What more could a girl want?  And that’s not even spoiling this delightful and stark fairy tale.

Emiko superstar – The dull to fabulous summer story that everyone wishes they had with a healthy bit of apprehension.  At least me – totally a story that draws you in and makes you feel part of it.

The Cauldron in the Back Cabinet – Kinetic drawing and excellently rendered gloom and dark autumn days.  I love the mystery and the reveal.

Charles & Renfield – Beautiful little mini comic by Kiki Jones.  I like the story book style.

Fish Food – little vignettes by Ashley Quigg are like beginningless and endless dream scenes.  There is a new twist on every page, and yet they all flow together.

Umbra – Wordless and wonderful.  The pictures almost look as though they could be woodblock.  Dreamy story line.

Mephistos – The art work is sketchy and spare.  The page compositions are genius in a ‘hey this is so pleasing to follow/read/look-at I didn’t even notice why’ kind of way.  I really wished the story had gotten further before the issue ended.  I guess that’s how I’m going to get the next one.

Oleander and Mint

Oleander and Mint published on No Comments on Oleander and Mint

Back in my first Indie Comics Etsy haul I also ordered Oleander & Mint.  I had gone out in search of this after meeting the writer through my husband, and it deserves a post separate from the haul.

It reminds me of Faulkner, or more specifically of As I lay Dying.  It is filled with beautiful desolate characters and an almost stream of consciousness narrative, and contrasted with lovely, graphic, and stylized illustrations.  I very heartily recommend it.

The web site is fabulous as well.  It will tempt you into spending oodles of time there.  Buy the book at the Oleander & Mint Etsy Shop.

Festival International de la Bande Dessinee – angouleme english

Festival International de la Bande Dessinee – angouleme english published on 1 Comment on Festival International de la Bande Dessinee – angouleme english

 

By now I’m sure you realize that my home life is currently revolving around comics.  It’s a new/old way to feed my art and illustration addictions.  One day maybe I’ll get to the comic conventions that I drool over today.  I would love to spend some time at the Festival international de la Bande Dessinee.

HINABN: 4th Dimension Entertainment

HINABN: 4th Dimension Entertainment published on No Comments on HINABN: 4th Dimension Entertainment

 

Ok, so you know how I mentioned that Hanna is Not a Boys Name was awesome and then disappeared and then I found it for sale.  Well, did you get the message?  HINABN volume 1 is for sale!  Go buy it you dummies!  Go make it the first link that shows up in that darn google search!  Go:  4th Dimension Entertainment :: Product Details.

10/19/2012 – link correction

4/7/2014 – another link correction:  http://shop.4de.com/franchises/hanna-is-not-a-boys-name

 

The worst part of web comics

The worst part of web comics published on No Comments on The worst part of web comics

is that they can sometimes live hard and die too soon.  The ability of any story teller to put up their stuff as they spin it and countless web hosts to help them means that a lot of stories die half lived…forever frozen in history and the internet archive and destined to frustrate eager readers in perpetuity.  This is a whole heck of a lot different from published comics that generally have a proposed story line and map to completion before presentation to potential readers.  Webcomics are like swimming in comickers head soup–right there inside the ideas that make the stories, ideas that sometimes have no ending in sight.

As far as I can tell, this is exactly what happened with Hanna is Not a Boy’s Name.  I stumbled onto it late, maybe a year or so from its first page and long after a devoted following had erected a facebook page for it.  I bookmarked the site, subscribed to the RSS feed and checked back often as it continually did not get updated…not even a news item from the author.  I wanted more, damn it!  So I checked back again just as I was gathering my best of webcomics list and found out that the site had completely vanished.  It was gone…I could not even scroll through the pages I had already seen, and as I fumbled through Google results I found it for sale!   Oh my luck!  Volume 1!  I had wanted to possess it anyway…I am so giggly.  I am waiting for the mail to arrive.  (UPDATE:  arrived and I am so ecstatic!  Can’t wait for more.)

Ok, but not every stalled and deleted idea has a happy ending; case in point:  Gjerde Sha:  Part Time Zombie.  It is markering genius!  It is beautiful!  It is not updated since June!

And, somehow even sadder, the comics that are killed…by an announcement that they will not continue.  I was just getting all sewn into Will Work for Blood and now it is over.  It was so promising, it was mysterious and bleak, it is over.

Indie comic Etsy haul #1

Indie comic Etsy haul #1 published on 2 Comments on Indie comic Etsy haul #1

The Filigree – Martin Øbakke and Celena Cavala create this fabulous fairy newspaper complete with advertisements, classifieds, and photographs.  And, as far as I can tell, all the photographs for the stories are of characters they have created in doll form.  Do I have to say this is a fabulous idea? and it is fabulously pulled off.

Stone Monkey and Red Planet Ride by Jim Round – These are plane old adorable, and polished and full of color.  The environments created within are amazing.

Ghosts of Pineville from CricketPress –  I never lived in a place with a haunted house or a ghost story, but I’ve read a lot of books and watched a lot of movies set in towns that did.  It’s kind of like the quintessential American mystery and that is probably why the Ghosts of Pineville felt so nostalgic.  This is good stuff.  Good stuff.

All of Them Witches by Patt Kelley –  Tiny short stories and vignettes with a surreal fluid and pointy style.

Grickle things The Hidden – wait…NOT an Etsy purchase, but I must include it in the haul because it’s fabulous and was part of the same shopping spree.  Sorry Etsy.  This is an adorable story by Graham Annable.

Flesh and Bone – Julia Gfrörer put together this beautiful, painful lump of bound paper and story.  Her details and the plethora of line and movement only emphasize a fantastical and tragic story.

Web comic love

Web comic love published on No Comments on Web comic love

When people find out you like to read comics they always ask you which ones you like, you know, to compare with their own list.  Webcomics are the same–and, oddly enough seem to have a different cast of fans than regular comics do…maybe it’s generational, dunno.  Anyway, I am really bad at having an answer to such simple questions on the spot, so I am making a list to permanently, at least in this moment right here before I find more, answer it.

Hark, a Vagrant! — is fabulous literary and historical comics by K. Beaton.  Yes, much more than a simple web comic now, I just bought the book and spend pleasant, multitudinous minutes paging through it.

Wondermark — by David Malki reminds me of the intermission animations in Monty Python’s Flying Circus…

Two Keys — “a noir-ish urban fantasy webcomic by Nuu and Schumie” took me a couple looks to get into only because I thought I wasn’t looking for anything with a complex and well constructed story.  I’m totally head over heels for it now and bought the first volume to fuel my covetousness.  Also via Manga Magazine.

Sailor Twain or The Mermaid in the Hudson — beautiful charcoal work and enthralling story.

Strange Investigations — arresting noir-pop bitonal illustrations and promising beginning.

Megan Brennan comics and illustration — isn’t actually one ongoing comic, it’s a collection of comics in various stages of ongoing-ness, or maybe only one is ongoing at a time.  Anyway, really fun and colorful–which pleases my eyeballs.

Spare Keys for Strange Doors — includes something like the paranormal investigators who help the police set up while still being completely fresh and fun.

Plume — is painfully gorgeous, with a nice intriguing beginning and not enough pages!

Scarey Go Round presents Bad Machinery…read Murder She Writes — is a fabulous comic that comes from a fabulous comic with more fabulous comics to come by John Allison.

Two Guys and Guy — is a strip style comic about a group of friends by Rickard Jonasson.  I like the style and I laugh, so it’s good, and even better than that I just found out it has a feed….A FEED!  Now I can really keep track of it!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, that’s all she wrote for right now.  I’m the kind of girl to search and gather until I’m tired and then come back later to examine and sort…so, I’ve got a bunch of things bookmarked that I just haven’t gotten to yet.  I will add to the list later, after I’ve read more.

About the comics

About the comics published on No Comments on About the comics

Hey, hello, hi.  I just wanted to take this opportunity to remember that I have comics and that three four of them are actually ongoing at the moment.  You can catch them all at the comic launch–including the one or two that are in conception stages.  Levi Levi is my forever going to be ongoing comic until I stop comic, and I have some some big plans for Flip Side and No Evil.  They all have feeds over in the right hand menu, too, if you’re into feeds and stuff.  I know I am.  I’ve got a truck load of comic feeds going to my reader, and sometime soon I’ll talk about all the webcomic goodness I have found out there that other talented, better comickers are doing.  Right now it’s about me.  ALL ABOUT ME!  Comics:

In the Holiday Spirit

In the Holiday Spirit published on No Comments on In the Holiday Spirit

Here is my Christmas card this year, inspired by Krampus cards from Victorian times.  I’m still reeling from having a started and completed novel project for November.  But now there are comic pages to draw, and old projects to get back to.  I intend to make good use of my holiday vacation week.

But before that, I’ve got a commissioned painting to finish…oh and those comic pages I talked about.  I’ve got plenty of penciled Levi Levi that need ink and scanning.  Not so many of No Evil and Flip Side, but I’ve got plans man! Their stories will not falter!

 

More More More

More More More published on No Comments on More More More

Alright kiddies.  I had an epiphany–I greatly dislike manual upkeep on an rss feed, which is what I was doing for Levi Levi ever since I took it off of it’s old blog platform years ago.  Combine that with the guilt I’ve been feeling about not regularly updating the Bean and voila! — a new website for my projects means a new life for the Bean.  While there will still be some consumption commentary, the Bean will be more about production.

I mean, it only makes sense yeah?  The Bean is my bean, and since I’ve been more into making things than taking things it should be too.

This is my idea:  this fancy new blogging platform makes it easy to offer multiple feeds out of one blog.  Sooooooo, the Bean will make my comic feeds for me.  So far, I’ve listed the currently production ready comics as their own ‘subscribe to’ links over on the right.  Updates on the Bean will happen before updates to the comic pages themselves–but the pages won’t be too far behind.

I love feeds, they’re awesome!

This new roll-out comes complete with a little more of comics that I’d only touched on in my previous web site release.   Well, those pages are expanded now too, as I’ve just updated the web site again.    No Evil and Flip Side are underway, along with upcoming pages for Levi Levi.  Soon to follow is Left Overs.

Cheers!

Comic updates

Comic updates published on No Comments on Comic updates

      

 Alright, so this blog has become very different than what it started out being.  I used to have time to consume as much creative things as I created, and so I originally used this space to talk about the awesome things I had found out.  But now, I don’t–though I seem to be creating more.  Drawing ‘s like therapy you know.

Anyway, I found these four already drawn pages of Levi Levi hiding out in a little sketch book while I was cleaning and luckily, they fit in with the story I had been drawing besides.

Oh, and the action comic that I called action comic because I didn’t have a name for it now has a name:  Unlikely Bedfellows.  Yes, it has a name, and many many pages that are drawn and inked.  I do not yet know how I am going to share them.

 

Looky Looky

Looky Looky published on 2 Comments on Looky Looky

Ok, so I didn’t manage to get anywhere close to my goals for NaNoWriMo and then I just vanished off the face of the internets for a little while.  I’ve been a little busy, what can I say.  But of all the creative things that I should have been doing, one thing I have kept up with is drawing.  I’ve been drawing lots and lots and lots of pictures.  Mostly comics.  I’ve got six?–yeah, I think six, comics going right now.  See those people in the picture–they’re from my action comic–so named because I haven’t thought of a name for it.  I was inspired to draw this story when I dreamed about the lady with a bunch of eyes shooting me in the head.

I am considering putting this up on the site page by page like Levi Levi, but perhaps I need to be better about making actual updates before I do that… Oh, there’s a new Levi Levi page up today too.

Once I stall on my six comics I will most likely kick myself in the butt and write on one of my five stories.  Or I could even get back to writing here more often too.  Maybe I should just write my stories here…

K, bye.

The New Levi Levi – yeah still the same comic

The New Levi Levi – yeah still the same comic published on No Comments on The New Levi Levi – yeah still the same comic

So, confession:  I haven’t written for a week, but I am totally justified, yeah?  Anyway–I got some time to compute for a little today and guess what I did?–I didn’t write.

Instead, drumroll please, I finally erected a new page for my Levi Levi comic–complete with new Levi Levi picture.  So, it’s kind of simple and I haven’t gotten the rss feed working right, but it is so much more of what I wanted than the blog I had him on before.

If only I could count code towards my NaNoWriMo word count. Wink

Previously:

This is the comic that I built

NaNoWriMo:  National Novel Writing Month

National Novel Writing Month is upon us!

Heart to heart

National Novel Writing Month Finally!

 

Primary Sidebar