City Pages Illustration 9/27/06

This illustration ran in today's City Pages AList section. View it here in all its non-newsprint glory with reckless use of lens flare.

Junior Boys-Single Of The Week

"In The Morning" by Junior Boys









It's midnight, and I go to ITunes with the single intention to buy this song. Imagine my shock and horror to find that it had become the Free Download/Single Of The Week on Itunes (Sept.26, 2006). WT-Fuck? This is the perfect song to get me in the mood to draw Local #8. When you hear it, you'll have an idea what this issue is going to be about.

" ...Otherwise, this is a make-out album destined to be played most often by loners who, for whatever reason (a crippling breakup, a fear of human contact, the snowman melted, etc.), are only able to commit the act in their minds."
Allmusic on "So This Is Goodbye" the new album by Junior Boys that features "In The Morning".

So there's my tip for the week. If you're on the side of Itunes, go get the song. It's FREE. And let me just say it "outsexys" Justin Timberlake's "Sexyback" by a mile.

Great Lakes Gloom

From Local #6
Local # 6 is available at that strange, smelly comicbook store down the street where all the pasty weirdos
of our society go in and out -- so go inside and get it.

Great Lakes is an actual bar in Park Slope, Brooklyn on 5th ave , i think.

available for purchaseHERE.

World Series, Homeboy

Not really a Doug Grow fan or anything But:


I grabbed the paper's sports section Monday morning, eager to read about the hometown baseball team, which had defeated the Detroit Tigers in three of four games to move ever closer to first place.

But to find stories of the Minnesota Twins, I first had to get past a page that featured a massive photo of Brad Childress, the Minnesota Vikings football coach who appears to fancy himself a general.

This was proof again that even in a wonderful baseball season; we live in a football nation.

Doug Grow, Star Tribune, September 12




I’ll go with that. I don’t ever remember being so NOT interested in the Vikings and the upcoming Football season. Who cares. The Twins are having their most exciting season and I’ve been following the Twins through the drudgery of the mid-90’s. Sometimes I think Minnesotans would rather watch a Vikings Wednesday practice scrimmage than Santana pitching against the Tigers. I can wait for the Vikings 8 and 8 season, let's watch some baseball.

Is this some huge issue? No. I know. While I stress out my days away over lies and war and poverty, I occasionally seek out little happy things—innocent, little, escapist, tiny, little, bitty, cute, squishy, happy things to get away from the madness of the world. These are primarily MST3K, maybe an occasional chocolate malt, a little extra salt on my eggs, and Major League baseball.

Keep in mind, After the All Star game, The Tigers were, like, 12 games ahead in the American Central, The greatest division this season, everyone, and myself, just gave up that division to the Tigers.

The Twins have crawled within 1.5 games of Ist place, and a 4.5 game lead in the Wild card. Geez. They did it with injuries galore.

Okay, we lost Radke and this year’s Dwight Goodwin, Francisco Liriano. No Shannon Stewart. It sucks. But here now—

Mauer- A catcher with the American League batting title. Let’s go.

Morneau- .320, 33 HR, 133 RBI, 144 games. We lost Ortiz. Dumb. But look. He’s arrived!

Castillo- He’s doing all the things we wanted Christian Guzman and Rivas to do.

Cuddyer- We lost Jacque Jones. People were freaking. But look--.279, 22 HR, 100 RBI, 137games. He’s giving us Jacque numbers.

Punto—He’s channeled Greg Gagne or something.

Hunter--.271, 26 HR, 81 HR. Pretty good numbers for being injured for a few weeks. He’s a gamer. He can smell victory and pushes himself.

Redman--.342, .368 OBP, 161 AB. Damn.

Tyner, Bartlett—Welcome contributors in that Scott Leius sorta way.

Starting Pitching—Santana-Cy Young. Bonser-Welcome. Radke-pretty solid. Anyone else?

Bullpen- the BEST in all of baseball.

Who really needs to start doing their job if we’re going to the World Series—Rondell White, Carlos Silva, Lew Ford, and maybe Scott Baker.

There, that’s your expert analysis, move over Peter Gammons.

Go Team.

Lucifer #75 is a 10

Lucifer 75

Publisher
DC/Vertigo
Credits
Writer: Mike Carey
Penciler: Peter Gross and Ryan Kelly
Inker: Peter Gross and Ryan Kelly
Colorist: Guy Major
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Cover Artist: Christopher Moeller


Grade: 10

Lucifer did take a while to get on its feet. And I warn people that when I loan them my first two trades. "Trust me," I says, "You have to get fully into the second trade before it gets good. But by the end of the second one? It's really. really. good." And like me, every single one of them has been hooked. Every one. Because it's a very good story.

Lucifer is so complex, and divinely sculptured, that I think it is better read from above - from the "height" of the trade, as opposed to the closeness of the floppy. The trades make the whole story a galloping read, and a compelling, engaging, interesting one at that.
Adrienne Rappaport


Over at Sequential Tart, Adrienne Rappaport gives Lucifer #75 a perfect score of 10. In addition, she offers a proper review and eulogy that I have always believed was long overdue for a long time.

This issue brings to close an enormous artistic chapter of my life. Lucifer was an expansive platform of growth for me as an artist, a comic artist specifically, and I was damn lucky to be able to contribute to it for 5 years.

What am I really saying? What do I really want from you? Whether you're a PETER GROSSfan, a MIKE CAREYfan, a Sandman fan, or a supernatural Horror fiction fan, it doesn't matter-- Buy the trade paperback collections. BUY THE TRADES They are really damn good. I'm biased, but good is GOOD

Full Sequential Tart Review

Papa, Why?

My 3 Year-old asked what "war" is the other day. Awful. A windy and clunky explanation covering the topics of tax cuts, lies, sacrifice, and general over-reaching incompetence follows. If anyone can craft a bite-size, child-safe definition of War for me in two sentences or less, I will mail him or her a free comic book. Thank you.

Local #6 Pantsed

"The cramped and bustling environs of Brooklyn also prove to be an ideal setting for Kelly to show off the amount of detail and life that he can put into his art, allowing him to turn in one of his strongest performances thus far as well."
Randy Lander, Comic Pants

Early Review for Local #6 here

Local #6 is available in stores tomorrow, Thursday, September 7.

The Ryans

A website dedicated to comic artists named Ryan, 3 in particular, with links to other comic artists named Ryan. You can also a buy a fetching calender from them. No, i'm not joking.
The Ryans

Just Pretending

"I don't know if there are many people in America who would want to watch something like that"
Gretchen Essell
Republican Party of Texas

British television channel More4 plans to broadcast a dramatic film, documentary-style, about a fictional assassination of U.S. President George W. Bush, the network's head said Thursday.
The program uses actors and digital manipulation of real footage to show a fictional account of Bush being gunned down after delivering a speech in Chicago, Peter Dale, the head of More4, told a news conference.

BBCNEWS