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Thursday, June 28, 2007

MST3K Volume 11--"Tom Stewart Killed Me!"

MST3k Volume 11

Yeah, I'm a MSTie. This is my reason for living so back off.
Volume 11is out, i got it, and it's a good one. The Highlight for me is "The Ring Of Terror", my absolute favorite Season Two episode and one of many B-movies featuring college students played by 45-year old actors.

I held on to a ratty-old VHS version of it for years and years and now I have an official release. Oh HAPPY JOY. Ring Of Terror has the two best segments ever--the "Old School" segment and the "Hoover Vacuum Cleaner Autopsy" segment!

Hopefully, Rhino will continue to smooth out all the Legal rights issues and licensing (Volumes 9 and 10 are still pulled from the shelves) and continue putting out ANYTHING out on DVD (Puma Man and The Final Sacrifice PLEASE!).



episode 206- THE RING OF TERROR (with short: THE PHANTOM CREEPS PT 2
episode 409- THE INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN (with short: UNDERSEA KINGDOM PT 3
episode 414- TORMENTED
episode 1011- HORRORS OF SPIDER ISLAND

In addition, it contains these extras:
• MST3K Video Jukebox, Volume 2
• Original Theatrical Trailers (for all except "Ring of Terror")
• A "Tormented" Reunion (with Bert I. Gordon, Susan Gordon and Joe Turkel)
• MST Hour "Jack Perkins" Wraps for "Tormented"


Tormented


Ring Of Terror




TheIndestructible Man



The Horrors Of Spider Island

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Back from MOCCA, Back to work.

Back from Mocca. Good show. It was a little slow, atleast for me, but still a lot of fun. No exciting pictures from me except for a shipload of boring reference shots like the one below for the book I'm drawing. It looks like that book may be announced next month at the San Diego convention, Maybe, I think.

Weather for once was great. Strolled through Washingtom square park there. I did the Indian buffet. I had all the Dunkin Donuts I could ever wish for. I had a choice table next to Brian Wood in the ground floor room. I talked to Vertigo editors and a few other publishers and friends and peers about things and stuff. I sold some prints and originals. I drew some pictures and took peoples' hard earned money for it. I gave away art for free as well, in typical Ryan Kelly fashion.

Thanks to all who came by my table.



Thursday, June 21, 2007

MOCCA This Weekend

Reminder-

I'm at the Mocca Art Festival this weekend, June 23-24 in the Puck building, New York...Or as New Yorkers like to call, "The City".

I have an artist table. I'm selling books, original art and prints. I tried to do Funrama t-shirts this week but I bombed. Busiest week EVER. 1:00am, Must catch aeroplane in 4 hours. Can't feel my legs. Calgon take me away.

The convention runs 11-6:00pm. I'm all there. Come by and say 'Allo-Allo!

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Shojo Manga!




"Shojo Manga! Girl Power! East and West" is a landmark exhibition that illuminates and celebrates the evolution of Japanese comics for girls from the postwar era to the present....


The Shojo Manga show at the school is fantastic and has been really inspiring for me. It's a touring show so look for it.

I've been trying to immerse myself in this genre of manga lately, especially for the duration of a book I'm drawing at the moment. I'm fascinated in manga, particularly shojo, like nothing else right now. It's all I want and I don't care for anything else. Which is nice because I rarely read superhero comics and I don't think I've read a capes and tights comic, in a serious way, for a decade, except for maybe New Frontier (which still hinges a little on the requirement that you love the Flash and Green Lantern and stuff). I basically ignored Manga for the entirety of the 90's, foolishly dismissing it as a generational thing and a fad. That was dumb.

Once more, I'm teaching a Summer Comic class for kids of the age 11-14. It's an education for me more than anything because every semester I get a clue as to what these kids are reading. There's an equal portion of girls and boys in the class. I find out that they're reading books called Fruits Basket, Naruto, Godchild, Deathnotee and One Piece but even really mature stuff, sometimes. Traditionally, the non-mangaa they like is always Johnny The Homicidal Maniac, HellBoy and maybe Bone and Neil Gaimen..

Apparantly, kids just want to have fun and not get caught up in gigantic epic events and cross-overs featuring characters who can't crack a smile for only a minute!

I have about 20 students in this class. I ask them, "How many of you buy your books from the comic book store?", and 6 raised their hands. I ask, "And how many buy their books from the book store chains like Barnes and Noble?", roughly 14 students raise their hand.

Ok, I ask, "How many sit there in Barnes and Noble and read the book in its entirety instead of buying it?" Pretty much all participating Barnes and Noble patrons raise their hands.

Hmm. And those are the answers I've been getting for some time!

What do you read? Can anyone recommend anything to me. i typically don't care for the Fighting comics unless it's well written and creative.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Prints - Local Covers

Just in time for MOCCA in New York, I've made prints available for these 3 original cover art images for the series Local. They're probably the only images from the series I make prints of.

READ FIRST: I print the images off the Inkjet as large as they'll fit on the paper while allowing about an inch of white atleast, at the edges. The prices include shipping, handling and my Paypal fees.
Email me if you have questions. You can pay by Paypal (Paypal button is in the sidebar). I can take check or cash in the mail as well if you need, but that's risky for me. I send them USPS, flat with backing board.




A THOUSAND THOUGHTS PER SECOND
Cover art for Local #1: Portland

Prints:

11 X 17 Epson Glossy Photo Paper $30.00
13 X 19 Epson Radiant White Water Color Paper $40.00



THE LAST LONELY DAYS AT THE OXFORD THEATER
Cover art for Local #5: Nova Scotia

Prints:

11 X 17 Epson Glossy Photo Paper $30.00
13 X 19 Epson Radiant White Water Color Paper $40.00



THE YOUNGER GENERATION
Cover art for Local #11: Toronto

Prints:

11 X 17 Epson Glossy Photo Paper $30.00
13 X 19 Epson Radiant White Water Color Paper $40.00

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Monday, June 18, 2007

I Wish



Performing tonight:
MON JUN 18 SOLD OUT
Cedar Cultural Center


(Is there a place in eternal hell-damnation for ticket snatchers and all of their unsold $300 Ryan Adams tickets?)

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Elephantmen-The Pilot

Apparantly, the Hip Flask art I did a while back has been published in Active Images' Elephant Men-The Pilot I have a story in there, written by Joe Kelly, Layouts by Peter Gross, Finishes are by me.

Here's a sample:



Black and white art:



Also in the book: the Christmas Card. "A Ryan Kelly Picture". I'm quite happy to have my art surrounded by Richard Starkings' typography magic. See it at the wonderful Guest artist galley as well.



Black and white art:



Look for it:

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Sunday, June 17, 2007

Pater Familias



#'s 2 and 3 , Harold and Jax Kelly

© Ryan Kelly

Saturday, June 16, 2007

I Wish



Wacom Cintiq

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Friday, June 15, 2007

Funrama Promo


Funrama Promo 1 of 4

Quite a bit of the artwork I make I keep locked up in my secret vault. I play this one pretty close to my chest, atleast until something happens. Sometimes your creative ideas are all you have left and you gotta watch over them. The advantage to being an artist is that you can load up a project pitch with a bunch of new, neato artwork. (Crossing fingers).

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Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Baseball Card Of The Month-Griffey Jr '89 Upperdeck

My 1989 Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie Card



From The Onion Sports:


Nation To Ken Griffey Jr.:
'We Wish It Were You Hitting 756 Home Runs'


CINCINNATI—Overcome with a mixture of distaste at the almost certain future and a wistful sense at the way things could and should have been, baseball fans across America took time to address veteran Reds superstar Ken Griffey Jr. yesterday in order to let him know that they sincerely wish that Griffey, and not Barry Bonds, was on the verge of hitting his record-breaking 756th home run.

"Believe us, if life was as fair as baseball, you'd have 760 homers right now," said Colgrave, pausing as if momentarily overcome. "More, even. And you'd still be chalking them up. You're a natural talent. God's gift to the baseball diamond. It's just… Damn bad luck, is all. Bad luck and trouble"

"...They talked about his 1989 Upper Deck rookie card, and how, instead of going down in value with every hamstring injury, it should have skyrocketed in price with his 800th, maybe 900th home run.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Local #11 cover art

Original painted art:



Temporary cover design:

Monday, June 04, 2007

The Harvey Awards

Harvey Award nominations are up. Please go vote for your favorite neighborhood inker!

BEST INKER
Ryan Kelly, LOCAL, Oni Press

BEST CONTINUING OR LIMITED SERIES
LOCAL, Oni Press



Darnit...Local's Penciler was robbed! FIXED!


JK. This is pretty cool. I got some nominations for Lucifer way back in the day but I always attributed most of the praise to Mike Carey, Peter Gross and the cover artist, Duncan Fegredo. I was just the lowly Inker. But this time around, Brian heaps praise on me!
This Bud's for you, Inkers.

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Friday, June 01, 2007

The Complete and ESSENTIAL Terry Hall

So you think you’ve seen all the Terry Hall greatest hits albums you need to see? Well F—ck you, because never before has one man’s singular vision been so fully represented in such a profound and epic way.


©"Farmyard Connection" art by Ryan Kelly

In some ways, Terry Hall is like Gwen Stefani. He has a vastly influential musical career despite not playing a single instrument, He started off his career in a ska band, and his chronology is marked by numerous collaborations with a diverse wave of musicians that seek his “mark” on their work. The major difference here is that I’m not interested in Gwen Stefani’s music, and I’m very INTERESTED in everything the voice of Terry Hall graces (Gwen Stefani appeared in his video for “Ballad Of A Landlord.).

From Allmusic.com:

In the strictest sense, Terry Hall isn't a musician. He doesn't play an instrument and his singing is generally flat and detached. But Terry Hall is a great pop star, with a perfect look, a cooly laconic voice, and a knack for anticipating pop trends. As the frontman for the Specials, Hall shot to stardom in Britain in the early '80s, singing such classic ska-revival singles as "Gangsters," "Nite Klub," and "Ghost Town" before leaving with the group's other vocalists to form the new wave pop group the Fun Boy Three. That trio began a long line of projects Hall pursued over the next decade. None of his groups recorded more than two albums, and each had a taste of British success.


Terry’s influence on the popular music we listen today is enormous and cannot be truly gauged. I’m comfortable saying that we wouldn’t have Massive Attack, Tricky, Blur, Gorillaz, Sublime, The Streets, or Lily Allen today if not for the musical existence of Terry Hall (Daman Albarn has pretty-much modeled his entire style and delivery after Terry’s "Laconic, dry-wit" style). I can’t forget to mention we probably wouldn’t have the army of OC, pop-punk driven 3rd wave ska in the 90’s if not for the fiery energy of Terry’s legendary first band, of course, The Specials.

Tricky, from a 1995 interview:

"I've been listening to Terry's stuff for years - since I was 15. I've got more in common with him than I have with most. He's very real, and there's not many real artists out there, is there? He relies mostly on talent and he'll only prostitute himself so much. I respect that. I didn't really get into 2-Tone - just The Specials. There ain't been real music since The Specials. Everybody's living a lie now. Everybody's pretending. Everybody wants to be a lad. Everybody wants to be street. Writing lyrics about stuff they couldn't even know about. I can see right through it. Why are these people so ashamed of going to art school and music college? Terry and The Specials wrote about things they knew. They came from those streets. Was 'Ghost Town' number one during the riots? That's amazing! I never knew that."





While many musicians of that era hit their peak, and slowly dropped off when new styles surfaced-grunge, techno, etc, Terry stayed tapped into music, progressed, and always moved forward. His musical output can be tracked in many ways—

Respectable (Specials, Fun Boy Three, The first Colourfield album) to Not So Great (2nd Colourfield album, Vegas, Terry, Blair, and Anouchka) to Respectable Again (3 Solo Albums, the Collaborations).

Or this way—
Legendary 2nd-wave ska to eccentric New wave and political Pop (Specials, Fun Boy Three), mature romantic 60’s-inspired Shoegazer Indie rock (The Colourfied, Terry, Anouchka, Blair, Lightning Seeds, The “Home” album) to Genre-Bending Neo-classical ska and dub revival (Tricky, Dub Pistols, Gorillaz, Mushtaq album).

Heck, he introduced Bananarama to the world and co-wrote the “Our Lips Are Sealed”, popularized by the Go-Go’s on the American charts and broke up The Specials by leaving to form a band with 2 other ex-Specials, only one of which played an actual instrument. Very bold.

Last month birthed the release of “Speakers and Tweeters” by the Dub Pistols with 4 songs sung by Terry including the single and Blondie cover, “Rapture” as well as the remake of the Specials seminal hit, “Gangsters”. Thus, It’s time to do this….

What I present to you represents 6 years of tireless record collecting and assembling of official releases and hours of careful track consideration and Itunes mixing. Available only here, for a one-time offer, is a 3-CD set thoroughly covering EVERY aspect of Terry’s masterful and transient 30-year career in popular music. What you get here is 60 F-ing tracks of music. It’s roughly in order of the date the track was released. 30 of the songs are devoted to The Specials, Fun Boy Three, and The Colourfield (I think that’s fair).

Careful consideration was placed on RARE, hard-to-find, and one-shot songs such as “911”, the pouncing-post-9-11 song by Gorillaz, Terry Hall, and the Detroit rap group, D12; The version of “Monkey In Winter” with Sinead O’Connor, A live, truly nightmarish version of “Ghost Town” with Tricky, and songs from the immaculate “Virgins And Philistines” album by The Colourfield, an out-of-print CD that is SO hard-to-find, it goes for $100 on eBay USED! Yes, It’s VERY good.

I admit a lot of my attention was put on that Virgins And Philistines” album. But, His best songs are his best songs. I think most Terry Hall enthusiasts will agree that his best work are the two Specials albums, Fun Boy Three’s “Waiting” with David Byrne, Virgins and Philistines, his first solo album “Home”, and the jaw-dropping, “The Hour of Two Lights” with Mushtaq.

On these songs you will get musical and writing contributions by Chrissie Hynde, Elvis Costello, Sinead O’Connor, Damon Albarn, Bananarama, The Monkees, David Byrne, Andy Partridge, members of Echo and the Bunneymen, Bob Dylan, Ian Broudie, Dave Stewart, Jane Weidlin, George Gershwin, Gorillaz, Toots and the Maytals, Tricky, etc, etc……

So here it, the most profound 3-CD oeuvre of music assembled by one single human being and possibly the greatest damn single assemblage of sounds our civilization has ever witnessed. There are THREE commercially offered Terry Hall “greatest hits” albums and numerous and official “FB3/Coloufield” collections. But they are all squished like an ant under the massive boot of what I have created. Bask in my man-crush for Terry Hall.

Bow down and Behold at my creation, puny Goldfinger listeners!:



Essential Terry YouTube listening:
The Specials,"Ghost Town" video
Fun Boy Three with Bananarama, "It Ain't What You Do.."video
The Colourfield "Thinking Of You", Live video
Tricky "Poems" video with Terry Hall and Martina
Terry Hall, "Ballad Of A Landlord" video
Terry Hall and Sinead O'Connor, "All Kinds Of Everything" video
The Dub Pistols featuring Terry Hall, "Rapture" video

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