Speaking of colorful, now that the toxins and other little buggers are starting to repel from my body, and I’ve dropped nearly two pant sizes, life seems to take on a new intensity. My hearing has become supersonic. And, I CAN SEE-- colors are crisp, and sharp. What do I do with my new-found bionic abilities? Ear plugs-- because I’ve heard things my upstairs neighbor would rather I not know. And, I’m geeking out to the ink-saturated images in graphic novels. I’m pretty new to the art form though, but as Tony Stark says in Iron Man, “Jarvis, sometimes you have to run before you can walk.”
Yeah, I have NO IDEA what I want to read. Sure, I know all the usual suspects, Batman, Superman, The Hulk, Wonder Woman. But the last time I collected “comic’ books, I was into Archie and Veronica. My dad was really into comics but he liked the scary kind and often left them sitting on the back of the toilet, which freaked me out.
I'm all grown up now and I need help finding something good-- I want to jump back into the fray. Can’t just pick up anything. What if you start in the middle of something, jeez, it’s not like catching up on All My Children. So I called on my friend Matt. He’s a graphic design guy, has his own book cover art blog called Pretty Dead Trees, and he has a standing appointment at this hole-in-the-wall comic book store nestled between a martial arts studio and a Polish deli. Hmmm, Latkes. . .
Comic book geeks can smell a newbie before she walks in-- before the door goes ding-a-ling. All comic book stores have a ding-a-ling door bell, for some reason. A clear sign of someone new to comic books-- we don’t know what we’re looking for, and we touch everything. We just kind of wander around, we’re twitchy, we’re easily frightened, particularly by the life-size plasticine version of Batman in the corner, over there. And we point a lot. We’re somehow amazed at the progress comic book art has made in the last hundred years. It’s embarrassing, especially to your comicgeek friend who’s trying not to be seen with you.
Comic book collectors are like heat-seeking missiles, they know their target, and they know how many volumes it comes in. If I’m going to become one- -I have to practice my stealth glare, and not look a deer in headlights. Until I get my head together, I’m going to do my shopping at home:
Esta Sketch
Esta Sketch, creates mixed media collages from comic book images. All right, before you call the CAL-- the Comic Anti-defamation League, this great store makes it clear that, "No comic book was harmed in the process." The images that make up the collages are taken from beat-up comics and books that have lost their street value. Just because you can't trade it, doesn't mean these comic are out to pasture! The Hero Among Us series of faceless ink outlines dressed in comic book text is pretty captivating. Start collecting your Esta Sketch art NOW!
IPg
I like-ta-died when I saw Pete K. Guven's plates. Giant mouths splayed wide enough to serve your dinner on!
Now, I've never seen plates that upstaged the food! Well, I'm sure Versailles can come up with something. To spite all my liquid lunches I LOVE FOOD, and I love these hysterical, hand-painted and dishwasher safe plates.
Just Mad Books
The original comics and prints, by Justin Madson are soft and serrated, windswept and beautiful. Pick up his series called Breathers, about October and his sister, Easter, who can breathe poisonous air. No spoilers from me! Check it out for yourself!
Gotta go. Gotta juice something, and it's time to peruse my first grown-up graphic novel. It's called Northlanders, by Brian Wood and Davide Gianfelice. It's a splatter-fest about a guy named Sven, and his one-man Viking raid against his uncle Gorm. Ancient times can be so cruel. . .
