This year had many highs and many lows...
Next year will be better in every way.
Thank you to everyone!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
Indie Comic Book Week
House of Secrets in Burbank, one of my favorite local shops, is participating in Indy Comic Book Week with a casual book signing for a few indy creators and artists. I'll be spending part of this Wednesday at House of Secrets hanging out, signing books, doing sketches and selling my prints and stuff. Please come by and say "hi."
What is Indy Comic Book Week? Well... Diamond Distribution has decided to not ship any comics to comic book shops this week because they don't feel like it (I know it's probably more complicated than that, but whatever...). Unfortunately, most comic book shops around the country only get their comics from Diamond. Therefore, these stores are screwed this week. This doesn't really affect me because I don't use Diamond for distribution because I don't like monopolistic companies that wield this kind of power. But some good folks have been organizing Indy Comic Book Week in an effort to fill the affected comic book shops with independently produced comic books and graphic novels. SO, it's a good time to support artists, independent comic book companies and indy-friendly comic book shops by spending some of that x-mas money you just got.
I have a list of stores that usually carry my books on the sidebar--->
of this blog and have just added a coupe of new ones. You can also check the Indy Comic Book Week blog for events in your area. Please go out and support your local comic book shop this week. It's been a rough year for small businesses, and it doesn't help when Diamond pulls crap like this on them. And here's hoping this makes some of those shops wake up and start ordering books directly from indy publishers and creators and promoting indy books on a regular basis instead of rolling over and letting Diamond continue to screw them.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
MORE ART FOR SALE!
The paintings from my Horror Comics Covers show at Grass Hut Gallery in Portland, have returned home.
If you would like to purchase them directly from me, please e-mail me at tom(at)iwilldestroyyou(dot)com
These are 11 x 14 inches
watercolor and ink on paper
Matted and framed (17 x 21 black wood frames- see picture above)
$300 each + shipping
(shipping TBD at time of purchase. Express shipping available for the holidays at additional cost)
first come first serve!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Comics as Poetry
"Like all the best poetry, what a reader gets out of comics-as-poetry is entirely dependent on how willing they are to truly engage the material and articulate the feelings it evokes."
The new and improved The Comics Journal Online has been redesigned, has a slew of new writers and bloggers, and is quickly filling up with a lot of great articles about comics.
And whaddaya know- the writer/critic Rob Clough has written a very good 3 part article on "comics-as-poetry" and he focuses on 2 of my favorite books: Asthma by John Hankiewicz and The Blot by lil' ol' ME!
I can't say enough good things about Hankiewicz's art and comics. He's probably in my top 5 contemporary artists and Asthma is always one of my all time favorite books. I'm flattered to see my work examined next to his.
I also think that Clough's examination of The Blot is one of the most thoughtful interpretations I've read so far. And I really enjoy what Clough has to say about the emergence of "comics-as-poetry" as well as his call for a new way of making, reading and looking at comics.
If you haven't read Asthma- get it now!
If you haven't read The Blot - what's wrong with you?
Monday, December 07, 2009
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
My art is everywhere, but I'm right here...
There are lots of art shows happening this month that I am a part of.
And below is a special holiday offer for holiday gift book orders.
FIRST:
I will be represented by Black Maria Gallery at the Aqua Art Fair in Miami this weekend.
NEXT:
Opening Thurs, December 3rd, at Floating World Comics in Portland
I came up with a fictitious earth-worshipping-doom-druid-witch band GRIENHALS and their upcoming album TALLER THAN GOD.
Has anyone used the term "green metal" yet? I had planned to actually record a song or two and make my "fake band" a little more "real," but I only had time to do this poster:
They will have posters of this image available at the show.
I might make some silkscreens of this image in the near future.
THEN:
Opening Sat, December 5th, at GR2 in Los Angeles
The 4th Annual Post-it show.
Curated by Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson.
They ask a large number of artists to do artwork on post-it notes.
Most of the post-its are then sold for a mere $20.
What better way to get some artwork by one of your favorite artists or cartoonists?
ONGOING:
I still have my Lifeforce poster up at the SUPERTRASH show at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. Go check it out. I wish I could.
And I still have artwork up in the 100 Euros show in Stuttgart, Germany.
READ ON for SHAMELESS PROMO...
BIG HOLIDAY OFFER!
If you frequent my blog,
I might assume that you have read my book The Blot.
And I might assume that you at least liked it a little.
Maybe you might know someone else who would like it, too.
Why not give The Blot as a gift?
So, here's my
BIG HOLIDAY OFFER!
I'd really like to offer a great deal for you like 30% off, but it's been a tough year, book sales have not been great, and I already offer my books at as low a price as I can...
So, here's what I can offer...
I will personalize any book with a drawing and a signature to whoever you are gifting it to. And I'll upgrade the postage at no extra charge* to priority mail to ensure that it gets to you in time for holiday gifting.**
*shipping upgrade for US orders only
**order by December 15th for last chance X-mas delivery
Want me to gift-wrap it?
No... No, you really don't.
Ask anyone who knows me- I'm a terrible gift-wrapper.
BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!
You've been meaning to check out one of those other books I did since The Blot, right? That Melvins book that all the cool kids have been passing around! Or that depressing comic strip book you've heard makes a great stocking stuffer! Maybe a new print for your wall? Sometimes the best part about holiday shopping is buying something for yourself. Why not throw one of those other books or prints into your cart?***
Be sure to let me know who to personalize your books to.
My elf will ship 'em as fast as she can.
***(if you're wondering about the extra shipping when you order multiple books- I'm working on fixing that in my web store. Until then, I will refund part of your shipping. So, for example: if you were ordering The Blot, Your Disease..., and Brilliantly Ham-fisted you get charged a total of $8 shipping... but it only costs $3 to ship. I will rfund $5 of that until I figure out how to fix that problem in my paypal shopping cart.)
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
I'm big in Canada!
The Inkstuds radio show is doing a special fund-driving episode playing music by cartoonists: Lots of great music by Zak Sally,
The Swirlies, Mindflayer, Lightning Bolt...
and then they play three songs by me.
Sorry for mucking up the airwaves...
Yeah, I was in a band back in college... actually around '93-'97, I recorded songs on my four-track recorder in my dorm room or apartment all the time. At some point I compiled it all on a tape called The Tabloid Sound/Mary Lou and the Tards. I never could decide if the band name was Mary Lou and the Tards and the album name was The Tabloid Sound... or vice-versa? The name was inspired by an episode of CHiPs and an old dadaist word game.
Anyway... I only made a few copies on cassette and gave them to friends. But here they play two tracks from that album:
Mlk & Chz and Rape me Amadeus.
And that is followed by an excerpt from a song off my
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Corpse Paint Post-it Portraits...
Giant Robot is having their 4th annual Post-it show.
I did these post-it portraits of musicians who paint their faces.
Mostly Black Metal, but some others, too.
You can see all 26 of them on my Flickr.
They were "painted" with these new "Oil Paint" markers I found.
I'd never used them before, but it's kinda nifty how you can get some almost "painterly" brush strokes out of them as they start to wear out.
More info about the show soon...
Thursday, November 19, 2009
i just figured it all out...
This piece, along with 4 others, will be part of an art show called The 100 Euros Show in Stuttgart, Germany, opening this Friday.
I think this is the first time my art has been shown outside of the U.S.
If you're in Germany- GO CHECK IT OUT!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Only 1 Moby Dick giclée print left!
This is your last chance for
the limited edition giclée print of Moby Dick:
i just figured it all out...
This piece, along with 4 others, will be part of an art show called The 100 Euros Show in Stuttgart, Germany, opening this Friday.
More images soon.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
i just figured it all out...
This piece, along with 4 others, will be part of an art show called The 100 Euros Show in Stuttgart, Germany, opening this Friday.
More images soon.
Monday, November 16, 2009
i just figured it all out...
This piece, along with 4 others, will be part of an art show in Stuttgart, Germany, opening this Friday.
More details and more images soon.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
SUPERTRASH!
I'm a bit late to post about this,
but I have some artwork up at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
The show is curated by Jacques Boryeau and includes hundreds of old B-movie posters and re-interpretations of movie posters by many of todays best cartoonists and artists. I have very little information about what's going on with the show, but it will be up from October 17th through January 30th.
if you look way back there- 3rd from the right, i think that's mine
And here is the poster i did of the Toby Hooper movie LIFEFORCE:
If anyone is near Pittsburgh, could you PLEASE go take some pictures for me?
(i stole the above photos from the Fantagraphics blog.)
Monday, November 09, 2009
Friday, November 06, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
BOO!
Over at Robot 6, Sean T. Collins writes about 6 of his favorite horrific alt-cartoonists who creep him out... among greats like Renee French, Al Columbia and Josh Simmons he included lil ol' me:
"...Sometimes Lovecraftian in scope, other times feeling more like the best heavy-metal album art never drawn, Neely's monsters--wolfmen, ravens and dogs, killers, and particularly the title, uh, thing from his self-published graphic novel The Blot--are all clearly rooted in the mental state of artist..."
Go read the full article here.
Happy Halloween!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Covered Blog- Spooky Halloween Week!
My Beware #14 is up on the Covered Blog today. Go check it out.
And if you're interested in buying this painting, it's still available from Grass Hut Gallery.
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