Pham-fawking-tastic

John Pham totally loves me!

I’m kidding. Don’t worry about me. I am not one of those dilusional fans that insist there is some personal relationship with their favorite artist. But one thing I can proclaim is that after a couple months of impatient waiting, the anticipated package filled with John Pham goods made me giddy like a boy in a porn shop for the first time.

The goods:
Epoxy 1
Sublife
1-Up

The breakdown:
Epoxy 1: To see the struggled beginnings of Pham makes me appreciate how far he has come as both an artist. There is a vauge Marvel-ish feel to his art; it felt like he was really trying to be like fit into a mold he isn’t suited for. Lucky for me, it didn’t seem to gel (apparent by his later work). His writing is, and apparently always has been, solid. Plus to witness the beginnings of my favorite character of his (Olive) was very rewarding. I appreciate the effort he put into the stories as a struggling first time artist and published. Not to be crude, but thank god he had the brass pair he had for self-publishing. It puts an urgency in his work.

Sublife: Sketchbooks typically leave me lukewarm. While it’s endearing to see the artist’s work in it’s rough, unworked state, there usually isn’t a lot to learn from or appreciate. Granted, there were the expected sketches, but he also put strips showing his self-doubt and fears coinciding with self-publishing. Above all there is one reason alone why I love this book. He had a section discussing parallels between John Cassavetes films (in which he directed, not acted) and Chris Ware. Fascinating stuff. The tease of saying this is a small glimpse into notes he has down on the subject made me pine for more.

1-Up: I didn’t even want this. It was thrown in as a consellation prize for being patient while he had some logistical issues with the order getting to me. But I was really surprised by how much I liked it. I am not much of a video game player, but I am currently 5 months into a tedious game of Animal Crossing. This journal published by John Pham and Raina Lee (his girlfriend, I suspect) stands out as a very well put together journal. It oozes girly nerdiness thanks to Raina, which I obviously value, awesome art (especially the Martin Cendreda and kozyndan pieces) and substantial writing.

Abel Groupie

So apparently I am certifiably ape-shit nuts over Jessica Abel (though to clarify in a totally safe, non-scary way). I mean, I already blogged about her before.

After having her two collections on my shelf for a while (Mirror, Window and Soundtrack), I finally bought her five book serial La Perdida. For inexplicable and totally lame reasons, it’s taken me a while to get this, but I’m happy to report that it only took two comic shopping trips to get all of them (Zanadu Comics in the U district and Confounded Books in Capitol Hill, for those familiar with Seattle). So I settled in for a cozy Pacific Northwest Abel-fest.

Wow.

Blew my mind.

I cite the following reasons for noticable fan-girling:
1. I like that her art evolved noticably between her Artbabe stuff and La Perdida. Less background detail = not so much to take in from one panel. I approve!
2. It reads like a drama/comedy/romantic book colored with a real love for Mexico City.
3. I expected it to be semi-autobiographical since I knew that she and fellow comic artist Matt Madden used to live there. Within the first three pages, I was too immersed to care.
4. It’s colorful and informational (she’s kind enough to provide translations for us non-Spanish speakers) without being cliched.

Go read it. And afterwards, if you are feeling up for it, go read the interview The Comics Journal did with her (#270). It goes veeeeeeeeeery in-depth (I admit, I started to space out a bit towards the end - it took me over an hour to read), but it’s interesting.

Hell Yeah!

I think everyone knows about this now, but just in case you missed it…

It’s a mother-effing Scott Pilgrim and The Infinite Sadness preview. Hell yeah! And am I alone rejoicing because of the nod to my favorite Smashing Pumpkins album (Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, for those not in the know)? Either way, another reason to look forward to the end of the year (as if Halloween, Local, DMZ, the Demo trade, and a move to Seattle weren’t enough).

Foaming at the Mouth

If I have to wait too much longer for Local, I will most definitely die.

Is it happenstance that the first issue is based in Portland, Oregon - a place that I hold near and dear to my heart? I think not! I suspect that Brian Wood infiltrated my mind at some point during the creative process. Every preview page I’ve seen for this series makes me start salivating. There is no way that I can overstate my excitement for this series. What makes this particularly exciting is that this reads like the best character study series ever, with each issue following a different character in a different location.

Check out the blog put together by Brian Wood, artist Ryan Kelley, and editor James Lucas Jones. Brian Wood also has some preview pages set up on his flickr account. There is even a preview page for issue #2 posted.

I suppose that’s enough of the fangirl theatrics for today. A real post with substance will follow once I get my hands on an issue.

« Previous Page