Rich Tommaso has just started a new blog where he will be posting pages for his Miriam graphic novel “Filmography”
Look here: http://miriamfilmography.blogspot.com
Rich Tomasso also has his own personal blog here: http://richtommaso.blogspot.com/
This news article popped up as I was doing web searches for comic book conventions. Comic book store owner Michael George, who has run the Pittsburgh Comicon for years and years, was recently convicted of the 1990 murder of Barbara George, who was then his wife. This news article describes the case and the beginning of the appeals process:
From the Macomb Daily, April 26, 2008:
Judge grants motion that may negate murder verdictMichael George can ask for directed verdict, even though trial is over
By Jameson Cook
Macomb Daily Staff WriterStill protesting the jury’s guilty verdict, defense attorneys for the man convicted of killing his wife in their comic book store nearly 18 years ago have gained a sliver of hope in the case… [click for the rest of the article]
For the first time in years, I have absolutely no abdominal pain. I’m still weak as a kitten, and don’t yet have stamina - but that will improve with time.
After getting out of the hospital, up until just a few weeks ago, I was not able to comfortably sit down for more than a minute or two, so I handled almost all of my e-mails the same way as in the hospital. I am surprised to discover that I can type pretty fast while standing, hunched over my keyboard. Reading much while standing was really not very workable for me.
I am now not a fan of the practice of hospitals giving their patients the illusion that they have control over their pain management by allowing them to administer their own medication by pressing a button when they felt the need, to cope with their pain. When I spent years in grad school aspiring to be a social psychology professor, “locus of control” was one of many research interests of mine. Yeah, I understood that I got to choose when to administered my pain medication, but the doctors’ orders were rather specific as to exactly how often my button press would actually let the IV administer medication and as to exactly how much medication. It took about an hour for me to learn that I could administer pain medication every 10 minutes, and that the amount of pain medication was rather minimal. This was especially obnoxious when I was attempting to go to sleep the first two nights, when I was in the most pain. I was in too much pain to sleep, and for me to get any significant amount of pain medication into my body I would have to be awake at each 10 minute interval to hit the button to get a few drops of pain medication. Of course the night-shift nurses were absolutely afraid and unwilling to call the doctor that was specifically on call to handle calls from night-shift nurses. On the third day after surgery, I described my pain control plight my actual lead surgeon. He readily agreed to change the order from self administered meds to a nice cocktail of happy happy pain medications which included pill, patch, and IV delivery methods that truly handled the pain, and kept me pretty blitzed during my hospital stay.
Hickee v3 #3 (Alternative Comics)
By Graham Annable, Paul Harvey Brown, Scott Campbell, Vamberto Maduro, Razmig Mavlian, Nathan Stapley, and Joe White.
For Mature Readers; 32 pgs; 6.625″ x 10.25″; $2.95; ISBN-10: 1-891867-95-4; ISBN-13: 978-1-891867-95-8; Diamond Code: APR07 3315; June 2007
The third installment of this humor anthology is a gamey one! All manner of games: bouncy games; square games; gladiatorial games; ball games and more are given the Hickee treatment by a crew of expert funny men. Hailing from such diverse backgrounds as animation, illustration, and surfing, these cartoonists bring all their skills to bear in Hickee. In the tradition of Mad, Weirdo, and Plop!, this book is for lovers of screwy, humorous comics. It’s packed from cover to cover with cartoons that will delight, shock and prod your funny bone! Giggle away at the latest works of Scott Campbell, Graham Annable, Razmig Mavlian, Joe White, Nathan Stapley, Paul Brown, and Vamberto Maduro.
“If this anthology of humorous comics by a group of San Francisco-area young artists is any measure, the spirit of anti-mainstream cartooning is alive and well.”—Publishers Weekly
[click for larger images]
Graham Annable is the award winning animator, editor, story artist, and cartoonist behind the Grickle books, Stickleback, and Hickee anthology from Alternative Comics. When he’s not swamped by his day job in Portland, Oregon, he stays up late making comics.. Contact Graham at grickle@hotmail.com or visit www.grickle.com.
Paul Harvey Brown is an artist living/working in Toronto, Canada. Better known in the industry as “Dr. Amazing,” Paul has been working in animation since the days before computers were invented. When he’s not animating, he can be found enjoying life’s simple pleasures — smelling roses and public streaking. Contact Paul at paulatron@sympatico.ca or visit www.paulbrown.ca.
Scott Campbell — has comics and paintings in a number of anthologies, including the new Flight4, Beasts!, and Project:Superior. He also does a daily comic at: www.doublefine.com and is responsible for some mini comics such as “Pyramid Car”. His paintings have been shown in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, and Montreal. E-Mail Scott at scottc@doublefine.com or you can see more of his work at www.scott-c.blogspot.com.
Vamberto Maduro — Currently living in Toronto, Canada, Vam is the only member of Hickee with webbed toes. He works as an animator on a 3D children’s show, where his award for “Most Improved Student” in Grade 8 comes in handy. Contact Vam at chalkie2000@hotmail.com or visit vampinions.blogspot.com.
Razmig Mavlian — Livin’ a wicked lifestyle in the downtown core of San Francisco, Razmig finds time to animate and draw funny cartoons. Contact Raz at grickle@earthlink.net or vist lightningtothenations.blogspot.com.
Nathan Stapley lives in San Francisco and enjoys drawing, painting, and surfing in front of his house on Ocean Beach. He works as a texture artist at a video game company, but has also had several gallery showings of his own paintings and drawings. Nathan enjoys drawing comics, and hopes to put out a collection of his own. Contact Nathan at bagel@doublefine.com or visit www.nathanstapley.com.
Joe White — Hailing from Ontario, Canada and now living in the San Francisco Bay Area, Joe White has formulated a fascinating theory that places the soul of America in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He works as an animator and lives in a little hut on a mountaintop. Contact Mr. White at joewhitey@gmail.com or visit joe-white.blogspot.com.
Joel Orff’s Thunderhead Underground Falls graphic novel just hit stores, and is now starting to get reviewed:
Joel Orff’s latest graphic novel packs an emotional wallop that hits like a thunderbolt, a fact belied by the delicately rendered, highly abstracted art and the light touch with which Orff tells his sharply observed story…
[full review]
—Las Vegas Weekly, June 28, 2007
…Thunderhead Underground Falls is an extraordinary graphic novel that brilliantly shows the spirit of young love that a couple feels in the face of impending life events…
[full review]
—Silver Bullet Comics, June 27, 2007
Joel Orff’s work has a rich, lovely quality that makes it difficult for me to make a rigorous appraisal of its overall worth…
[full review]
—The Comics Reporter, June 26, 2007
What a thoroughly beautiful book…
[full review]
—Optical Sloth, June 20, 2007
