Comics Commentaries: June 2011

Action Philosophers LIVE is a hit!

The good reviews keep coming in - and today we found out that we're a Backstage.com's critic's pick! Broadway here we come!

Jazz

This comic is brought to you in part by John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, McCoy Tyner, Miles Davis, Charles Lloyd, Charles Mingus, and Charlie Haden.

Want a poster of this comic for your smoke-filled jazz listening lounge? Get it here.

An exciting package arrived in the mail yesterday from Barcelona. Apa Apa Comics, a Spanish comics publisher, just released Colibri #3, a fanzine featuring short works by 25 great cartoonists. And me. It's a thrill to see my drawings in a book that looks awesome, smells like paper, and can occupy space on my shelf or coffee table if I ever get tired of staring at it. Big thanks to the folks at Apa Apa for including my work. Here's the cover and credits page, masterfully drawn by Sergi Puyol:

My contribution was an adaptation of my Gorey-esque single page comic originally found here. This the zine version:

Action Philosophers Music Video

Action Philosophers has been many things, but now it is also a music video, courtesy of two of the awesome cast members of the theatrical version currently running in the Comic Book Theater Festival! The song was written and performed by Neimah (Bodhidharma) Djourabchi and Joe (Karl Marx) Mathers and the video assembled by Jody Christopherson. Thanks guys!

Check out some raves for the show at New York Theater Review and Travalanche.

The Portland Oregon Trail

I drew this comic in 2009, a time when I was still concerned with depicting and satirizing "indie" culture. It has new relevance, however. Like the star-crossed band in this drawing, I am embarking on a voyage west. In a month, I'll be moving from Kansas City (near the city in the first panel), navigating I-70 (passing through the college town in the second panel), and setting up camp for two and a half years just outside Denver, Colorado (not far from the location of the third panel). So please understand if the comics I draw over the next couple months keep repeating this theme of transition, travel, and new beginnings. And the frustrations that inevitably follow.