Comics Luminaries

Here are fairly recent sketches of Scott McCloud at Brooklyn Public Library and Chris Ware, Francoise Mouly, and Marjane Satrapi at NYU.

My Favorite Theme

People being sad.

Doodle Diary

Lookin' goood.

New Aline Strips

I added some new Aline the Alien strips to the Kidjutsu website. Check 'em out and lemme know what you think!

Comic powered by Kidjutsu

Doodle Diary

You know how this feels.

Another Recent Strip

Doodle Diary

What does this one mean, Doctor?

Doodle Diary

Girls with short legs.

Another Recent Strip

This one appeared in The Brooklyn Rail over the holiday on their back page instead of its usual slot in the fiction section. I guess that's kind of an honor.

Aline the Alien

I've begun uploading my Aline the Alien comics to Kidjutsu, a new website for children. Come have a look. There are a number of good comics there. Register to vote on them and help shape the future content!

Comic powered by Kidjutsu

Doodle Diary

Doodle Diary

Doodle Diary

Lump's best friend.

Last Year's New York Comic Con

The New York Comic Con is coming up this weekend. I look forward to attending some of the classes and panels they're offering. I may as well post a few more of the sketches I made last year, in anticipation of having a new batch soon.

This is from the panel, "Arf Arf," hosted by Craig Yoe and featuring Al Jaffee, Glenn Head, and David Cowles.


And here we see Jessica Abel and Matt Madden presenting their book, Drawing Words and Writing Pictures.


Here are Mark Evanier and J. J. Sedelmaier discussing "The State of Animation."


And here's the 2008 grouping of "The Legends Behind the Comic Books." Presented by Michael Uslan, we see Murphy Anderson, Jerry Robinson, Irwin Hasen, Ramona Fradon, Joe Sinnott, Stan Lee, Joe Simon, and John Romita. Dick Ayers was there, too, but from where I sat he was hidden by the podium.

I still have a few more of these sketches that I might post sometime soon.

Another Recent Strip

doodle diary

I filled a stack of cocktail napkins, and ended up with this one image that I kind of like.

More Tragic Strips

Here are a couple more strips from The Brooklyn Rail, united by the theme of women falling off of cliffs. The second is a constrained piece. It's made of the end rhymes from Browning's famous sonnet.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

Why I Keep At It

Trying to connect with publishers, reviewers, and the various other comics experts can be frustrating, to say the least. But the reception my work has gotten from actual people has been often positive and sometimes enthusiastic. The other day, I received this email from a stranger:


Hi,
I just wanted to send you a quick note of thanks for this comic:

I have had a copy of it pinned up in my office for as many years as I can remember and it never fails to bring a smile to my face. It has been up there for so long that I don't even remember where I first ran across it.

I just wanted to let you know that the genius of that little strip is still out there and being appreciated now.

Thank you.
Cheers,
Marc

When I thanked him and asked permission to quote him here, he added that he'd posted the strip to his Twitter account and got this reaction from a friend:

"Wow - that comic strip was profound | deep | sad | moving | realistic - thanks for sharing."

So that felt good. That'll sustain me for a while ( in lieu of food money). I confess I tend to think of that one as the best strip I've ever done.

Doodle Diary

A couple unsavory characters.

Comics and the Literary Establishment

Here's the last of the Post Bang sketches I made. This panel featured comics historians and critics. L to R we see moderator Kent Worcester, Jeet Heer, David Hadju, Hillary Chute, and Douglas Wolk.