On the road to Big Wow…

by on April 1, 2014 at 1:00 pm
Posted In: Blog-entries

Meet Betsy Streeter… self professed nerd, cartoonist and writer (of nerdy things)… 

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Okay… the illustration at left is NOT Betsy Streeter, but anyhow…. Betsy is going to be my table mate at the coming Big Wow ComicFest in San WHOA-say come mid-May. I hope you’ve marked your calendars.

Betsy, retro-futurist and pen & penciler of Neptune Road, was introduced to me by my tooner pal, Alex “Shoe” Schumacher at last year’s Alternative Press Expo.  “Shoe” and I shared a table at APE last year… and he introduced Betsy and I… and now we three shall share a table at Big Wow. It’s funny how that works. Roads that converge… and lead to Big Wow.

Betsy not only is the mastermind behind Neptune Road, but she is also a novelist and (traditional) cartoonist (whatever that means). Check out her website to see what I mean…

Betsystreeter.com

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Down & Out Pre-Order

by on March 24, 2014 at 11:59 pm
Posted In: Blog-entries
Inside Down But Not Out

Inside Down But Not Out

Guess what!? If you pre-order your copy of Down But Not Out on Squid Row, you will receive a specially printed poster for free! That is right… you will not only get your copy of the new Squid book sent directly to your home … first and before the non-pre-order people, but you will get a signed sketch-doodle in the front of the book, and a groovy signed (by me) Randie poster.

Now, here are some stats… the book is 128 full-color pages and is like the previous book in size and quality (8.25″ x 9″). THIS one, however, is printed in the USA by Keness. The  poster is pretty nifty…. it is also printed by Keness and is a frame-able 8.5 x 11 size. As I indicated, I will sign it. 

Sooooo…. what do I do, you may ask, to get all this stuff? 

Option one: send me a check (made out to Squid Row Comics) for $14.95 PLUS $6 shipping ($10 if you are not in the USA)… and it will come to you (book shipment arrives in mid to late April).

Option two: go to squid row comic’s page on Etsy.com and pre-order it there. You can use a credit card or PayPal or whatnot.

Option three: find me on the street, throw lots of money at me and I will get you the goods when stuff arrives without all the shipping and handling… this option works well if you live near me.

Squid Row Poster

Squid Row Poster

Squid Row Comics:

5 E. Gabilan Street #205

Salinas, CA 93901 

 

Questions?   email me:

brig@squidrowcomics.com

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Harold gets a Bath!

by on March 23, 2014 at 6:15 pm
Posted In: Blog-entries

Okay, so we all know that Harold hasn’t been his jolly stufftie self lately. He hasn’t wanted to go out, he’s been drinking more, and we hear him stomping around at night, unable to sleep.
So we took a long, hard look at our guy. After several trips abroad, on trains, planes, ferries, Le metro, buses, and even bicycle, Harold was a mess. His lovely silvery chenille was tarnished with travel schmutz and the dust and grime of four countries. His little butt was muddy from picnics in the Jardin du Luxembourg and the Queens Embankment Gardens. It was time for a bath.
After considerable research, we settled on a surface wash with some upholstery cleaner used by our favorite carpet guy, Alan Amador. On the kitchen counter, like all small people, Harold was settled onto his towel, and sprayed, rubbed, sprayed, rubbed, and sprayed and rubbed again. As gently as we could, we separated fur from dirt, inch by inch.
After 20 long minutes, Harold let us know that he’d had enough for now. We rolled him up in a nice blotty towel and then gave him a nice long blow dry.
Et voila! He is cleaner, closer to his lovely original color, and much more cheerful. Maybe we’ll all go for a long walk later ( if the sun ever comes out!)

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Kiki of Montparnasse

by on March 20, 2014 at 10:03 am
Posted In: Blog-entries

tumblr_lbe4b4g8vp1qcl8ymo1_500I ran across an interesting character yesterday. I was looking at a series of photographs of Alexander Calder from his stay in Paris in the  late 20’s and early 1930’s. Calder took up residence in Paris while honing his skills as an artist and sculptor. He was photographed with a woman named Kiki of Montparnasse (photo left is Calder and Kiki, photo credit: Calder Foundation). She was also known as the Queen of Montparnasse. Well, this made me curious… who was this woman and where did you get such a title? So I began to dig.

Montparnasse is an arrondissement (neighborhood) of Paris. It is famous for a few things… today it has the Montparnasse Tower and the Montparnasse Cemetery (Brancusi and Jean-Paul Sartre are buried there)… in the 20’s & 3o’s, it was where many avant-garde artists lived and worked… Picasso, Calder, Man Ray, Miro… and Alice Prin, or Kiki.

She was a cabaret singer, a painter, a writer, and a muse. She was independent, audacious and creative. She had a presence. And she was on the arm of Man Ray for many years appearing in many of his photographs. She posed for countless artists including Picasso, Modigliani, Picabia, Cocteau and Kisling, to name a few. She was celebrated… but she was NO angel.

Happily, Kiki’s story is being explored by… cartoonists… There is a graphic novel ( Kiki de Montparnasse: A Graphic Biography) and an animated short film was made in 2012. It has made the film festival rounds and I am enthralled with the animation style. Here’s the animation trailer. Enjoy.

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Dear Theo…

by on March 18, 2014 at 8:50 am
Posted In: Blog-entries

507px-WLANL_-_h3m3ls_-_Vincent_van_Gogh_Self-portraitHello, Squiddies… I am continuing my research into artists that interest Randie…. and me. I have not moved on from Picasso and his tirades, but I am now listening to the audiobook of Dear Theo, which are letters from Vincent Van Gogh to his brother, Theo. The letters FROM Theo aren’t included and so we have a one-sided piece of Van Gogh’s history and view of his world. As is Picasso, Van Gogh’s life and his experiences are entirely fascinating. His circumstances and undiscovered genius, worthy of study, are gripping and very sad… and yet, I find him pathetic in his manipulation of his brother. This is an observation made nearly half way into Dear Theo. I, of course, will continue to research Vincent’s history in more depth, but as with Picasso: Creator & Destroyer, I find myself disappointed with my hero… but am finding some interesting correlations between his life and Randie’s.

My investigation continues.

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