The Vinyl Underground

Over on his blog, Sean Phillips reveals a rough sketch of the second-issue cover to Si Spencer and Simon Gane’s upcoming Vertigo title, Vinyl Underground.

Mike Oeming, Klaus Janson and Paolo Rivera at Art Out Loud

On her blog, Tor Books’ art director Irene Gallo has photos and coverage from Saturday’s Art Out Loud 5 event in New York City, featuring comic artists Klaus Janson, Michael Avon Oeming and Paolo Rivera. The series is hosted by the Society of Illustrators.

(Photos snagged from Gallo’s blog.)

"Rasl," by Jeff Smith

On his blog, Jeff Smith teases the cover for Rasl #1, due from Cartoon Books in 2008. He’ll have a six-page preview ready next month for Comic-Con International.

5

While several members of the Blog@ staff — JK Parkin, Graeme McMillan, Carla Hewitt and Tom Bondurant — will be attending Comic-Con International next month, I’ll be dutifully holding down the fort at Blog@ Central. So, somebody better grab me a copy of 5, the limited-edition book by some of my favorite artists: Becky Cloonan, Gabriel Ba, Fabio Moon, Rafael Grampa and Vasilis Lolos. That lovely cover is by Grampa.

“We’ve only printed 2,000 of these so they’ll go pretty fast, especially considering they are split between three continents,” Cloonan writes on her blog. “It also has no words so there is no need for translation; comics for everyone! No matter where you live you will understand the underlying message of the book: That we love comics with everything we have. We eat and breathe comics. We dream of comics when we sleep and we make them while we’re awake.”

This one’s for Augie De Blieck Jr., and all of the letterers, web cartoonists and font fanatics: Writing for The Associated Press, Brian Murphy declares his love for Comic Sans — the bane of typography aficionados the world over — and profiles two people with less questionable tastes. Namely, Dave and Holly Combs, founders of BanComicSans.com:

Ban Comic Sans

And what, may we ask, can muster such passion against an innocent typeface? It’s simply Holly and Dave’s belief that Comic Sans is the weed of the graphic world: sprouting up everywhere and in all the wrong places.

What really sets them off is when the playful curves of Comic Sans — designed to mimic classic hand-lettered comic book text — are used for serious messages. Like a quotation from Scripture (Hebrews 6:1) on the window of a religious bookstore. Or on a funeral announcement.

They grimaced when it appeared on a flier for a drug to treat irritable bowel syndrome.

“I’ve never had it before,” said Dave, 33. “But I bet anyone who has it wouldn’t think it was very humorous.”

“Look around,” added Holly, 30. “I mean it’s everywhere and in very inappropriate places.”

But Murphy stands by the beleaguered font, admitting he uses it to write everything. Even a book. Oh, Brian Murphy, you poor, misguided man.

Butterfly, with Chris Schweizer, at MoCCA

Of all the reports from last weekend’s MoCCA festival, I think this one is my favorite (it’s certainly the most adorable): On his LiveJournal, cartoonist Dean Trippe posts photos of Butterfly’s experiences at the festival.

Related: Hope Larson’s MoCCA “kiss book”

Adorable "Death Note" fan art

I’ve been looking of a reason to post this adorable Death Note fan art, but I haven’t found one. So, I’m posting it anyway.

I snagged it from Japanator, but I can’t figure out who drew it. If anyone knows, tell me and I’ll credit the artist.

A classic Handelsman cartoon

Tom Spurgeon is reporting that New Yorker cartoonist J.B. Handelsman passed away on June 20 after a lengthy battle with lung cancer. He’s got a full obit up that I’ll just link to instead of copying from. There’s also a memorial piece up on the magazine’s Web site.

Handelsman was always one of my favorite New Yorker cartoonists, showing a real literary, cynical wit that unlike some of his contemporaries, didn’t come off as overly dry or too knowing. Plus, I loved the way he drew noses. He shall be missed.

From "Batman: Help Me," by Isaak Fernandez Rodriguez

Joe at the Forbidden Planet Interntional blog points to AnimWatch’s review of Batman: Help Me!!!, the stylish and gorgeous animated short by Barcelona animator Isaak Fernandez. The one-minute, 50-second short — it’s the first of several planned chapters, Fernandez says — can be viewed at AnimWatch.

Mandie, zombie scanner for higher education

Len Peralta, one of the masterminds behind the hobo project, is spending his summer drawing zombies:

Here’s how it works. You give me a name for your Zombie and I’ll draw it. You’ll get the original art in the mail within a few days. For an extra ten spot, I’ll make a video of the creation of your monster. And for the best value, choose the Mondo Monster Package* which gets you art, video and a “See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Eat Brains” Zombie T-shirt with your order. (See it right here.) Heck, I’ll also toss in a four pack of Monster buttons while supplies last. (And yes, I can do cartoonish zombie portraits if you ask nicely and provide a decent photo.) So what are you waiting for? Grab a blunt object and let’s start killing… er, drawing some zombies!

He’s also started a set of super hero drawings on flickr.

SLG Publishing column schematic

I’m a big fan of good convention-booth displays, so I was happy to see SLG Publishing Art Direct Scott Saavedra point to the blog of graphic designer — and husband of SLG EiC Jennifer de Guzman — Brian Belew, whom Saavedra describes as “a complete frickin’ genius with cardboard.”

See, Belew is creating SLG’s booth display for Comic-Con International … out of cardboard! “SLG Publishing may be the only publisher in the history of comics to create gigantic convention displays primarily out of corrugated cardboard,” Saavedra writes.

Here’s what the completed display will look like.

Frankly, I’m in awe.

Skottie Young's cover for "New X-Men" #42, and its inspiration

On his blog, Skottie Young reveals his cover for September’s New X-Men #42, his tribute to Norman Rockwell. It’s based on Rockwell’s “Girl with Black Eye,” which appeared on the cover of the May 23, 1953, edition of The Saturday Evening Post.

Young writes: “… [D]ue to story line I thought this would be a chance for me to pay tribute to one of the greatest artists of all time, Norman Rockwell. I’ve always wanted to this but just couldn’t fine the story that would fit it. So, I was happy to get this chance. Again, I wanted to make it feel like an old magazine, wrinkled from time and faded a little from light. It was a great learning experience and something that I didn’t know if I could pull off. It’s just another part of this crazy experimental stage I’ve been going thru.”

from James Kochalka's Little Paintings 2

Giant Robot San Francisco is hosting an exhibit called James Kochalka’s Little Paintings 2, featuring almost 200 pieces of Kochalka’s artwork. If you aren’t in the Bay Area, you can check out the pieces online.

Jamie Hewlett's "Ultimate Members"

What do you do after you’ve wowed the comics world with Tank Girl and helped create the pop sensation The Gorillaz? If you’re cartoonist Jamie Hewlett you make sex toys. The adult store JimmyJane (link NSFW, duh) is currently offering a set of six “Ultimate Members” vibrators, each adorned with a unique, original character created by Hewlett. Here’s “The Profit”:

Feel the quality and width of the EPOS genie of EROS.

He’s the spiritual king of kerching for whom the till rings. When it comes to success it’s done INXS and this boys not slow at running the show.

The KABARET prophet of profit with the baby bling, prayer beads and ring that holds the key to destiny’s door. Your name on the list? Underdressed, crass and pissed? Wrong hair, wrong day, wrong profession? To enter Shangri-La, then pass muster past boy wonder you must, but you must have for you’re here reading it…

…So believe.

Um, yeah. Anyway, you can buy one for $275, or all six for $1,650.

On a somewhat related note, here’s some Johnny Ryan condoms.

Heh

I’m sure we’ve covered this before, but Something Awful’s Photoshop Phriday renditions of classic comic book covers are always worth linking to. And it comes in two parts! (hat tip)

Some papercraft for you

… you can print out and try your hand at putting together this miniature theater drawn by Jean-Jacques Sempe.

Well it is summer after all.

Sample Vashi cartoon

I don’t know a single thing about the cartoonist Victor Vashi, but man, I sure do dig these cartoons he did for the Plumber’s Journal magazine.

The cover of "Nightmares & Fairy Tales" #21, by Camilla d'Errico

The more I see of Camilla d’Errico’s art, the bigger fan I become. On her LiveJournal, Nightmares & Fairy Tales writer Serena Valentino posts d’Errico’s cover for Issue 21 of the series, Part One of “Song of the Siren.”

Via the Meathaus blog, check out these cool postcards by Jordan Crane:

Postcards by Jordan Crane

The Los Angeles Times visits the “Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga” exhibit at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum and considers the work, and the legacy, of Osamu Tezuka, the “God of Manga”:

Osamu Tezuka

”The manga form can be treated as a serious art form,” says Australian artist Philip Brophy, who curated the show. “Magna has a very long historical tradition. It’s a purely Japanese sensibility. This is a very sad exhibit. There is not a lot of fun stuff.”

Tezuka’s universe is filled with orphans and outcasts: Astro Boy, the Pinocchio-like robot abandoned by its creator who tries to reconcile humans and their warring machines; Kimba, the parentless lion who seeks to bring about peace between man and the animal kingdom; Black Jack, the tortured renegade surgeon who operates on the desperately needy (and, on occasion, himself) and makes TV’s Dr. House look like Mary Poppins. Tezuka even created a manga version of Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment.” Raskolnikov could have been one of Tezuka’s antiheroes. The artist was a pacifist, yet violence permeates his oeuvre.

“Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga” runs through Sept. 9.