I'm really excited to have just completed a poster for one of my favorite bands Wolves in the Throne Room. (click to enlarge)
The posters will be screen-printed by Broken Press in Seattle. This poster is for three shows in Hamilton and Toronto, Ontario, and Montreal Quebec in May. They should be for sale at the shows, and I'll also have some available at future conventions.
This poster features a character that I've been using in a lot of recent and upcoming artwork. This character will also make an appearance in my upcoming graphic novel The Wolf.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wolves in the Throne Room
Friday, April 24, 2009
Stumptown was awesome...
A belated thank you to everyone I saw in Portland. I love your city and it was a really fun weekend.
And seeing my Wolf all over town made me feel like a rock star...
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Spanish magazine on El Borrón
I can't read this, but it's a two-page spread in a Spanish magazine about me and El Borrón.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
12 fingered...
Shawn Swanson gives a really nice write-up of two of my books at his 12 Fingers blog.
"...The world is lousy with artists that have no vision; what’s the point of drawing a pretty picture if you have nothing to say. Tom Neely’s work overflows with imagination. Books like “The Blot” are why I created this site! Tom deserves a huge fan base."
Read the whole thing here.
Thank you!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
COVER!
The Wolf is on the cover of the Portland Mercury this week for their coverage of the Stumptown Comics Festival this weekend.
Read their article about the festival here. And come see me at the festival!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Stumptown Comics Festival in Portland, OR
This weekend, I'm heading up to Portland, OR,
where April is officially "Comics Month."
I'll be there for the Stumptown Comics Festival!
Friday Night, I'll be doing a "reading" of my mostly wordless
graphic novel The Blot at the Guapo Pre-Stumptown party.
(click this flier for more info)
And Saturday and Sunday, I'll be at my table selling books, prints and records and whatever else I can drag up there on the plane.
I will also be debuting my new edition of Brilliantly Ham-fisted:
I'm sharing a table with my good pal
Tim Goodyear of Teenage Dinosaur.
Please come out and see us!
Friday, April 10, 2009
Wizard's Tops 25!
I was really surprised to find out from this blog that I was ranked #5 on a list of "Top 25 Indie Books of All Time."
I finally have a copy of the magazine in my hands. It's Wizard Magazine #211 Platinum Edition. Apparently there is another issue #211 that is completely different- get the one that looks like this:
The article is "TITANIC TOMES: The 25 Indie Gems Even the Most Ghoulish Marvel Zombie or Dedicated DC Devotee Must Read Before They Die!"
At first glance it appears that The Blot ranks at #5 and beats out such heavy-hitters as Jeff Smith's Bone, Dan Clowes's Eightball, The Hernandez Bros' Love & Rockets, Art Spiegelman's Maus, etc... But in reality, the ranking is misleading because it's just alphabetical order. Here's the whole list:
1. Acme Novelty Library by Chris Ware
2. American Splendor by Harvey Pekar
3. Black Hole by Charles Burns
4. Blankets by Craig Thompson
5. The Blot by Tom Neely
6. Bone by Jeff Smith
7. Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw
8. Box Office Poison by Alex Robinson
9. Curses by Kevin Huizenga
10. Eightball by Dan Clowes
11. Epileptic by David B.
12. The Essex County Trilogy by Jeff Lemire
13. Frank by Jim Woodring
14. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
15. Grickle by Graham Annable
16. It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken by Seth
17. Johnny the Homicidal Maniac by Jhonen Velasquez
18. Love and Rockets by The Hernandez Bros.
19. Maus by Art Spiegelman
20. Optic Nerve by Adrian Tomine
21. Palestine by Joe Sacco
22. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
23. Pop Gun War by Farel Dalrymple
24. Pistolwhip by Jason Hall and Matt Kindt
25. The Sketchbook Diaries by James Kochalka
I'm honored to be included along side some of my favorite cartoonists. Wizard doesn't cover indie comics very often, so I'm amazed to be included here.
However- I have to make one correction:
They incorrectly list my book as published by Fantagraphics. But my book is self-published. So, I hope Wizard will make a correction and let their readers know that they can order my book directly from me at www.iwilldestroyyou.com or through Tony Shenton, Sparkplug Comic Books Distro, or Last Gasp.
And to any Wizard readers who might be seeing my site for the first time: Welcome!
This one compares me to Kafka!
Another positive review of "El Borrón" comes from Spain.
Here's the broken translation courtesy of Google translator:
If the "Metamorphosis" Kafka's Gregor Samsa woke up turned into an insect, in "El Borrón" your character is attacked by a stain of ink you want to grab him, his gestures and his words. I put in two parallel stories that despite different paths followed by the start of the two is the same: The Stigma of fantastic proportions that turns its victims into a pariah. The anomaly is Esperpentos dimensions in both cases relate to social rejection.
An exaggeration that borders on absolute absurdity (a stain that spreads across the face, mouth, the flooding, which destroys everything it touches) suggests a continuum of existential doubt and, what is most remarkable, the unusual origin and meaning of "disease" becomes the perfect vehicle to draw a fairly rational interpretation of our reality.
The nightmare of the "blot" structured in three parts and with little dialogue, distinguished by the ability to surprise that generates your reading but it all seems to be on the front pages, Tom Neely manages to turn the nut of the "most difficult" in each one of the chapters with a staggering ability to reach a level of sadism-attention to the brutal beating that is dispatched to the player himself, perhaps one of the most violent in the history of comics, which fortunately falls sharply for a final hopeful that obviously does not reveal here. Although, by the way, the end is the least of which in this story (as in "Metamorphosis"), what matters is the journey, the trip to the horror, rather than the destination or termination of same.
Halfway between the first drawings of the Disney factory (the main character has an air to Mickey Mouse in his eyes and actually looks the same gloves that famous character) strips the EC Segar and stunted silhouettes of Giacometti, "The stain is the first work of astonishing Tom Neely. An author heavily influenced by impressionism and surrealism of Magritte, as evidenced by the approach of powerful graphic vignettes of this disturbing story that is now a benchmark title in the ninth art.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Art For Sale!
UPDATE: lowering the prices. Come on people- by some art so I can pay some bills!
Here's another chance to get some original art for a low price. If you would like to purchase any of these, please e-mail your request (my e-mail is on my homepage) and I'll send shipping price and payment info. First come first serve.
These are most of the drawings from my S'super-mini Comic from a couple of years ago. At the 2005 San Diego Comic Con, I was sitting right next to Rob Liefeld's booth all week. I've never been a fan of his, but I eavesdropped as he sold sketches to his fans at "$60 for a bust, $120 for a full body." Whenever he did a sketch, I did one of my own. And these were the result.
First are some one panel gag strips featuring Superman, Wolverine, Batman, Spider-man and The Flash.
Ink on paper.
9 x 12"
$75 each
(Click on images for larger view)
UPDATE:
Spidey: SOLD!
And here are 8 D.C. heroes, inspired by some of the awesomely bad home-made costumes people wear at SDCC. Superman, Batman, Hawkman, Wonder-Woman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and The Flash. None of them are directly inspired by people I saw at SDCC, but if you've ever been there, you know this isn't that far from reality.
Ink and watercolor on paper
5.5 x 8.5"
$50 each
(Click on images for larger view)
UPDATE:
Wonder Woman: MISSING (i think i lost her at a convention)
Monday, April 06, 2009
Another Spanish review
I found another review of the Spanish version of The Blot online. This one isn't all positive. It seems that the reviewer unfavorably compares me to the great cartoonist Jason. The review calls me a "Jason Minor" and says my narrative reminds him too much of something by Jason. I've read several of Jason's books, but I'd be curious to know which one the review is comparing me to. I also find it interesting that this might be the first review that calls my book "funny." Anyway... Here's the link. And here's the broken translation:
With a desire to contradict the spirit of my blog, namely that of a comic book blog ever talks about comics, I will start a series of brief minireseñas some of the comics that I read lately. Start:
I will not deny that I enjoyed with the original proposal of Tom Neely and its striking use of the expressive possibilities of the comic. Nor deny that the history of The blot holds human interest, which can even think that this strange relationship of these strange people. But I just do not convince. The story of Neely, style aside, reminds me too much to the narrative of Jason, but Jason a minor, with a rate less able to give the impression sometimes gum stretched over the account and also a bit bland. And that issue may well have been signed by the Norwegian, but to reach the level of a Jason Neely lacks irony and sobran pages. Many pages. In short, a funny comic but somewhat disappointing.
Score: 7
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