The ancient Greeks had their angry gods of wit, strength, speed, lightning bolts and betrayal, and the Norse had their bastion of immortals wielding swords, shields, hammers, lightning and lies, too. Moralistic mythologies that were, arguably, superhero stories for all ages. It wasn’t until 1938 that America gave birth to its first sustainable superhero when [...]
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After going through one of the longest trials in American history, the Supreme Court passed a verdict based on the overwhelming data that the current state of America’s collective intelligence, and economic demise, as well as its inevitable bankruptcy due to the it’s 100 Trillion Dollar deficit owed to China, was in fact the [...]
ANATOMY OF A COVER: FORCE FIELD FOTOCOMIX
When I was compiling and creating my photocomics for my first self-published anthology, FORCE FIELD FOTOCOMIX VOL.01, I knew I had to have a striking cover. I got to thinking about doing an homage to things I like, but filtering it through my own aesthetic, of course. I keep a folder on my Macbook desktop [...]
LOAD Comix 2013
NOTE: Please allow a minute for the gallery of comix to populate above (which you can click thru using the left & right arrows or just click on the actual images). Meanwhile, enjoy the historical recollections below. Thanks! “Dusting off lost lampoons” by Dean Haspiel It was on Facebook that I discovered a SUNY Purchase [...]
SCHMUCK DIARIES: ADULT COSTUMES
I like Banana Republic. I like how they display their items in just such a way as to cue me in to what’s “cool” and “in style.” I’m not one for digging through racks of clothing trying to figure out what I like. I also appreciate that everything there seems cut to fit thin guys [...]
It’s A Bird…It’s A Plane…It’s a review of “It’s Superman!”
Comics history is full of all types of weird things: bizarre comics, bizarre behind-the-scenes stories and (every once in a while) something like It’s A Bird…It’s A Plane…It’s Superman! Staged on Broadway in March, 1966, and other than the original Broadway cast recording and a dismal ‘70s TV special, It’s Superman! has mostly become memories [...]
ANATOMY OF A PHOTOCOMIC
Making a photocomic is a unique process in that it starts with an idea, then a script, then it becomes a photoshoot and finally a Photoshop session, or more accurately, many Photoshop sessions. The idea for my new photocomic, “The Hall of Just Us,” sprung from a script Dean Haspiel wrote. Dean had a superheros-in-a-bar [...]
SCHMUCK DIARIES: NEUROTIC CINEMA
Across the table from me was Ami, a pretty Asian singer/songwriter with dyed blue hair and blue contacts. We sat at a small table, approximately six inches from the tables on either side of us, at a small restaurant in the East Village, which if it were a tad larger could be considered “intimate.” The [...]
Jen Ferguson’s Race Horses + Railbirds
I’ve had the honor of knowing Jen Ferguson for over 20-years. I first met her when I was a waiter in Soho, NY at Nick & Eddie restaurant while on my journey to becoming a professional cartoonist and she a painter. I had the pleasure of dabbling with her on impromptu collaborations, late night bar [...]
The Florida Canal
Firewater and Pixie Dust
If she thought about it, the whole affair with David had started in Sophie’s Bar on a sweltering July night and died somewhere on the way to the no-name pub on the first evening that tasted of Fall: They spanned only one season, and more bar nights than she meant to. She’d sworn off meeting [...]
HANG TEN
A young man with scruffy cheeks and chin-length hair told me to hang ten today. He was what I can only describe as the surfer type, with matching attire as you might imagine. When I got home, I did exactly as he instructed: I hung ten. After hanging the first five, I admit my satisfaction. [...]
Are We Journalists? Expanding the scope of Autobio Comix
At the Small Press Expo last autumn, in a panel about the role of place and landscape in comics, the word “journalistic” popped up in discussion several times to describe the ways in which a cartoonist might record and commemorate the places that have had the biggest influences on their work. “Journalistic” feels like a [...]
