Ramblings and webcomics from LeEMS
This is a thing of dreams. This is like the on-demand plastic injection parrot figurine machine at Sunken Gardens in St. Pete., FL. I don’t think the machine is still around. Ah! Good memories. But like that if it was hardwired to my mind in a bulbous, seeping Akira way. I really want one of these by the way. This is MakerBot Thing-O-Matic 3D Printer Kit – MakerBot Industries.
So, I went to Megacon a few weeks back (or more – I’m so bad at time now a days) and I ran into two great people named Tara and Paul Abbamondi. They probably didn’t realize that I thought they were so great, ’cause I’m not good at getting that out there, but I was charmed by their comics and walked away with a couple in hand.
Now in the present, I’m looking up their sites to share them with you and I find on www.tarabba.com a link to the comic she did for 24hr comics day and it looked familiar. So, I went back to the post that I did about 24hr comics day and saw, yes, I had found her before. What a fabulous message from fate! Only I wished I’d have remembered how I admired her work already when I first met her.
I am now going to faithfully follow her and Paul Abbomondi, from whom I bought 31 Horribly Bad Horror Comics. His journal comics, These Sweet Memories, brings out the voyeur in me. The chuckling, sighing, commiserating voyeur.
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.
I was flipping through an art book and was inspired to place my little island of Ocean End (from my Penelope Sea story) on turtle’s back. I’m trying to get myself jazzed about editing it. And, illustrating it, since I always wanted it to be heavy with pictures.
originally in the running to be my site mascot. Urgh threw the race so Idge could win. They’re good friends.
I just wanna draw all day, and tell stories…and draw.
Actually, my first graphics tablet. I’m really not used to digital painting or anything like that. I like pencils and pens. But I’m trying out new things. So here’s me playing around with a sketched out idea I had while writing Tattoo.
I think I said before, you know back in my first web comic love, that I would follow up with more as I had time to read more of the ones I had bookmarked that looked as if they were really smashing. Well, I’ve had a little time and they were really smashing. Here’s some more of the maybe-you-haven’t-found-these-yourself type of comics, that I’m only doing you a good turn by telling you about them–so that you’ve heard of them now.
Friends with Boys — Ok, so I was reading this and it was wonderful with a bit of quirky and I was really interested to see where it was going but it wasn’t there yet. Then, I go back to it (’cause it’s taking me a really long time to write this post) and it has a massive amount of new pages and now I cannot wait another second for the next page! Oh, and the drawing style is absolutely beautiful!
Todd Allison and Petunia Violet — The style is fresh, endearing, and colorful. I like how it just jumps into the everyday life just before the intrigue explodes and takes you along with it. The characters are explained as the action progresses; yes, a great way to hook a reader. I am hooked!
Sfeer Theory — Really gorgeous and polished. I don’t know about you, but I often find it hard to get into a story that is also building a completely different world with hierarchies and vocabulary. I mean, it’s a hard thing to do–take a story completely out of reality as we know it and not belabor the process. Well, I am completely intrigued in this world, and really want to see where it’s going.
Fishbones — Nice style! Good story set up…surprised and liked the flash-back pages. Yes. Page 52, introduce new character as liking Giallo films, do I need any other reason to like this comic? (and yes, I owe all my knowledge of Giallos to Richard and doomedmoviethon, but you’ve been there, right? trying to explain something to someone and having to give a history lesson just to get to your original point. It’s nice to find people who just know.)
Dresden Codak — Oh it’s so pretty. And though I am still confusingly wrapped up in story lines and another world (like I said–hard to do right), I am still eyes-glued-to-screen on every single page. This is a comic that somehow creates a fabulous, complicated, touchable group of characters with a few words and drawn expressions.
Octopus Pie — is about two women living in Brooklyn. From the description, I have to admit, I didn’t really think it would appeal to me, but I had hopped to it from another comic that I already liked who liked it and then I couldn’t stop reading. I. Couldn’t. Stop.
The Meek — This is another some-other-world one that starts out all wild girl in the woods and ends up genie in a bottle who is going to take over your soul and end the world. After it hurts people that is. No, not horror. Definitely fantastical and earthy at the same time.
2D Goggles or the Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage — Did anyone else have to take History of Computers in school? Is this dating me? I came from the time when schools realized that computers were the coming thing but they were still new enough to need a full introduction to ignorant children. The point being, I had to study Charles Babbage and his Analytical Machine. I never thought I’d be using my learning to read comics one day.
Badirfilay — So pretty and weathered and gloomy and really just starting up. Even so, it’s been picked up my Manga Magazine. I”m excited to see where it’s going. I love the secret underbelly of society thing. Or, is it the secret controlling force of society thing?
Johnny Wander — What can I say… I am not the first to stumble upon this comic, think it was pretty spiffy and then promptly fall in love with all the characters. I have feelings of the stalker in me: I want to meet them and shower adoration upon them…only I’d freeze up and not be able to say anything ’cause that’s how I am. The rapper Adam WarRock mentioned in his forward to volume 2 that the comic felt like home when you were home sick. I’d have to agree.
Band Vs Band –Did you know I got a box set of Jem and the Holograms for Christmas. Band vs. Band by Kathleen takes all the best parts of cartoon bands and makes them gorgeous! I love the magazine covers and the band interviews.
Bucko — by Jeff Parker and Erica Moen, billed as a comical murder-mystery. Not sure where this is going but it is fantastic so far with a host of unique characters that split the action without managing to make it confusing at all. It makes me think of Canada, but I have never been there.
The first book I ever took a whack at, Penelope Sea and Ocean End, needs some massive editing. I think I am just getting into the mood for that too. This is Penelope.
A little while ago I was playing around with seamless patterns–the manual way. I had a few sketches hanging around in my folders and I finally got around to coloring this one today.
In case you didn’t know, the manual way of seamless patterns is to get yourself a square sheet of paper and draw on it. Fill it up to the edges as much as you can. Now cut your square into four squares and tape them back together so the top right square is on the bottom left, top left – bottom right, bottom right- top left and so on. Then draw again. Now scan.
The only problem I always run into is that I use cheap paper which inevitably warps and expands with the moisture of my hands while I’m drawing. Thus I have no really perfect seamless patterns. Shucks.
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.
Happy Year of the Dragon! I got all year to say it, so its ok that I’m late. 🙂