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*Someday* I want to do a comix week on my blog, where all the posts are drawn instead of written.

Unfortunately, I do not see that happening in the near future.

Of the several people interested in collaborating with me on some comics, SamuraiFrog was kind and awesome enough to submit a cartoon based on an idea of mine.

He sent it to me way back in November 2008, and I’ve been holding it back from the people of the Internet. But no longer!

People of the Internet, enjoy! (click on the pic for a larger version).

Thank you, SF. You are a good person and a wonderful cartoonist.

I was going to do a comics week on my blog last year, where for a week the posts would all be drawn instead of typed, but ran out of time, etc.

I still really want to do this. I have been sitting on a wonderful strip by SamuraiFrog for a long time that I really want to publish.

Anyways, I might again bug the people that said they’d be interested in doing a piece way back when. If anyone new is interested, leave a comment here.

I think it might be better for me not to announce the dates for Comics Week, and instead cobble together enough pieces for publishing. That might take the pressure off anyone who might be interested, but who might not have the luxury of time to complete a comic before some arbitrary date.

My comix week was scheduled to start next week, but I just don’t have the time for it.

I have too much going on these days, and I haven’t really been in contact with anyone who expressed an interest in contributing (and who I assume are also very busy).

If and when I’m able to do this (and I’d like to — it’s a cool idea, I think) I’ll let you know.

If you have already drawn (or intend to draw) ideas I have already given you, I’d still love to get them, and will happily publish them when I do finally get around to the week.

Realistically, it will probably be some time after the holidays.

Love,

Splotchy

To all parties who expressed interest in participating in my comix week, I’ll get my ideas to you by October 10th.

You are under no obligation to do the idea I give you, nor are you under any obligation to participate.

If anyone else wants to jump on board that hasn’t already expressed a desire to join the project, it’s still not too late.

Hopefully I can get at least a few people interested, and together we can create some special pieces of artful goodness to brighten the world.

AND ISN’T THAT WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT, PEOPLE?

Since time might be tight for everyone, I’m going to bump comix week a month into the future, to the first week of December.

Go Comix Week!

Hi kids.

I have a neat idea. I have already contacted a few people privately about this, but thought, what the heck, it wouldn’t hurt to put it all “out there” for any interested parties.

I am planning on doing a Comix Week at I, Splotchy later this year. As of now I am thinking of doing it during the first week of November, 2008.

What Comix Week is this — during that week, the only blog posts I do will be in comics form. Any text in the post will have to be part of a cartoon.

I am the first to admit I am pretty awful at drawing stuff. I thought it would be neat if I could get contributions from a variety of people.

There are some stipulations to participating in Comix Week. Either the comics will be created based on something I write, or created as a result of my direct collaboration with the artist. What I’m trying to say is that I want to be some kind of creative force in any of the comics posted on the blog. All the comics posted during the week will be assembled into a digital comic book and made available for free download.

I’m announcing Comix Week with lots of lead time because I know it’s not easy making the fancy drawings.

So, let me know if you are interested!

So, one day I’m looking at what I can do with my blog, and see that it’s possible to associate a picture, an avatar, with my profile.

Without too much thought, I went and snagged a picture from one of my favorite comics, Frank, by Jim Woodring.

When I was a kid, a trade paperback collection of old 1960’s Dr. Strange comic books came into my possession. I was too young (well, technically unborn) to read these when they first came out, but this reprinted collection took a firm grip on my young imagination as soon as I laid my eyes on it.

There were two main Marvel superhero comic artists at the dawn of Marvel’s “Silver Age” in the early 60’s — Steve Ditko, who drew Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, and Jack Kirby, who drew pretty much everything else. Apart from the fact that Spider-Man was my favorite superhero as a child, I gravitated more to the quirkier style of Steve Ditko.

His drawings of the early Spider-Man were wonderfully executed, but looking at Dr. Strange, there was truly some freaky stuff going on. Through the course of its initial Lee-Ditko run, Dr. Strange spent many a day in other dimensions. I have a sneaking suspicion that Ditko was given quite a bit of artistic license to invent these wonderful worlds. Here are just a few samples of some of his otherworldly artwork.

I thought (and still think) this stuff is amazing.

My brother has been into comics much longer than me (he’s also a talented cartoonist in his own right), and has always been interested in, for a lack of a better word, “alternative” comics.

For Christmas or his birthday, I’d usually pick up an underground or non-mainstream comic for him — for example, something by local Chicago artist Chris Ware. I noticed a Frank book in a visit to a comic store, and snatched it up for my brother. Now, I have to admit that I did not immediately wrap this gift. I read it from cover to cover.

It was reminiscent of the Dr. Strange comics of my youth in that it showed an incredible, imaginative world, but to me it seemed so much richer. The artwork was amazing. The stories were different — the recurring characters were enigmatic, ever shifting. There was no dialogue. The stories seemed to bypass one’s matter-of-factness part of the brain, plugging directly into the unconsciousness. Sometimes the stories were whimsical, sometimes funny, sometimes quite jarringly disturbing, and sometimes they were all these combined.

The stories in Frank had (and still have) a profound effect on me. Have you ever been exposed to some form of art, music, where after you have experienced it, you find it hard to believe you went your whole life unaware of it? That’s pretty much what these stories are to me.

Note: the image below represents a page within the context of a larger story.

Here’s a large sampling of Jim Woodring’s work, much of it of the beloved enigmatic cat Frank (just follow the art show links, why don’tcha?).

Woodring also has a blog which he sporadically posts the odd piece or notion.

I actually managed to contact Mr. Woodring, inquiring whether I could continue to use the image I [ahem] appropriated for my avatar. He was very gracious and said it was okay.

I’d highly recommend you give his stuff a look-see. It’s the bee’s knees, dears.