TCAF and I'm looking for work...

Art by Fabio Moon & Gabriel Ba

Three years ago I returned to school to chase my dreams - I wanted to be an artist and animator. As of April 2012 I have finished my studies and am halfway to achieving those dreams. The crap part of chasing those dreams though is having to deal with the possibility of not achieving those dreams - ie. finding a job I love. So the pros and cons for looking for work:

Pro: can now devote some time to this neglected blog o'mine.

Con: looking for work with the rest of my time. 

Ah well...let's get to it: some comics!

Went to TCAF 2012 on Sunday. Met Tom Neely - who was gracious enough to sign his wonderful pin-up for King Conan #4 (Dark Horse). Also picked up Doppelganger from him, which is his Popeye existential comic. I feel like Good Guy Greg! Even though I have a digital copy of Doppelganger at my fingertips, I still bought the comic! +1 for Good Guy Goodness! (I've also recently gotten hooked on  reddit). Enjoy Tom Neely's fantastic art! (He also has the original for sale - check out the uncensored version! Tom rules!)

The Toronto Comics Arts Festival 2011

On May 7 me and my lady went to TCAF. Great event. Went to two panels: The first had Paul Pope, Sam Hiti and Brandon Graham discussing their ideas on story creation, fav artists, and independent work vs studio work. The second one we attended starred Darwyn Cooke, Ray Fawkes, Kathyrn Immonen, Stuart Immonen, and Jillian Tamaki. The topic was regarding their ideas on a Canadian voice in mainstream comics. As ever, the panel was fun due to the fact of Darwyn just being Darwyn.

Overall I loved TCAF. My personal highlight was meeting James O'Barr. He signed my Crow comic, which is awesome, but more importantly, we caught him outside the event, and we got a chance to shoot the shit with him. I couldn't help but smile when he started playfully razing Paul Pope. I didn't know it, but I guess when Pope started out in the biz, he went and saw James and Dave Sim to show off his work and get advice. Pope draws on these huge art boards, and James joked that Paul should start drawing on 11 by 17's instead of bed sheets. It was neat to hear one of my favourite creators jokingly pick on another of my favourite comic creators.

Also slightly offended Chester Brown. That was amusing. He asked me why I didn't want to buy his new book, so I told him I'm not attuned to autobio comics. The real reason is I didn't want to buy his new book because I was tapped. I eventually told him that, but the sting was there. Also I laughed when I read his new books title aloud, "Confessions of Being a John". I just thought it was a funny title.

Here's some photos of TCAF.

THB - Comics From Mars # 1

Writer/Artist: Paul Pope
Publisher: Adhouse Books
Published: July 2007

Comix-365 is back! And what better way to kick start things with one of my favorite artists/writers: Paul Pope! (That, and I just recently met the guy in Toronto at the TCAF show - but more on that later.)

THB is one of those comics that is largely overlooked by the mainstream. This is a shame...I consider this series a diamond in the rough. It's the perfect cross between adolescent rockabilly and high-minded Sci-Fi. This particular issue has four tales. The first is an awesome 5 page graphic of Popes futuristic sport, Zoo Ball. The second is a history lesson from the main character HR, and the third is, well I'll let Pope describe: "Fun! Comics - The UR-PEOPLE are the unseen continuity mechanics living between sequential phases of meta-fictive time/space." This is in my opinion the best tale of the four. It has a certain quirkiness, not unlike the film "Being John Malkovich" but crossed with a Disney-esque pedigree. Finally the final tale concerns the famed Bumble Hipshakes that only a certain gangster on Mars can make.

As stated above, a few weeks back I attended Toronto's The Comic Art Festival. It celebrates and discusses comics, with a focus on independent creators. The reason I attended was to catch the panel discussion between Paul Pope and Dash Shaw. The panel was neat. It was cool to actually hear some thoughts and opinions from one of my favorite comic creators. He seems like a nice guy, a bit introverted, but not in socially-shy way. What I found interesting during the discussion, is that Pope is bit of a paradox. He comes from indie roots, produces amazing indie works, but also has an active and widely sought out style by mainstream press. He's been in GQ, Playboy, has worked for the big guys, DC and Marvel, and so on... one of the possible reasons for this dichotomy stems from his work on THB.

As I had mentioned earlier, THB has yet to capture a mainstream audience. There have been an handful of issues over the years, and while each are golden reads, THB's stunted success seems to be bit of a frustration for Pope. Here's a magnificent series, but it has yet to be fully appreciated. And Pope wants to be appreciated. As an artist, this is paramount. While producing art for a singular audience is rewarding in of itself, it is so much more rewarding to have a larger audience embrace and demand more of your artwork. THB is series that screams to be appreciated, not just because it's awesome, but because it bleeds awesome. So, as Pope mentioned in the discussion, one way to get his message, his art, his way of thinking out was to tackle the superheroes. He want after the big guy - Batman. He wanted to reach a larger audience. What better way than the greatest fictional comic character in history?

What is interesting about this statement, is that it worked. On me. I never heard of Paul Pope until I read Batman Year 100. I was blown away. I got it. I saw and embraced the Paul Pope vision. Now I'm hooked.


More Comix 365 articles:  

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Wolverine Lord of the Vampires