“14 Year-Old Genetically-Altered Martial Arts-Trained Slugs #1″–(part 1 of 3)–by Dan Murphy and myself

   In addition to the short “SLUGS” story from the last post, DAN MURPHY and I did two “issues” of 14YOGAMATS.

 

    Well…the cover is pretty awesome.   That’s something…right?  Actually, from a writing perspective (since I wrote this and all) I admire the 14 year-old me trying to get the boring exposition out of the way up front, I just wish it wasn’t taking this long (seriously, this “origin” continues on the next post).  I was obsessed with the Marvel style of science when we did this.  All my comics at that time had vague, unexplainable rays that caused genetic mutations.  It would be years before I realized sometimes origins just aren’t that important.  Also, all that business with “Dan The Writer” commenting was a total swipe from the aforementioned “Black Belt Hamsters” I so loved.  And I can’t remember if I did ‘thumbnail scripts for Murphy to follow or if I just gave him the pages pre-lettered and let him go to town.  I’d like to think it was a lot more involved with pre-thumbnailed scripts, but I’m sure I did it the lazier way.

SPEAKING OF THE LAZIER WAY…the third page of CONTINUITY GUY: CHRONO CHAOS by BUD BURGY and myself is now up.  And now that I think about it, I’m not sure what that has to do with laziness.

Nostalgia File: “14 Year-Old Genetically-Altered Martial Arts-Trained Slugs”–The Introduction–by Dan Murphy and myself

   There was a lot going on in the early 1990′s….ummm…ok…not really.  That’s probably why FIGHT CLUB’s eventual release resonated so well with our generation.  Anyway, in the early 90′s Eastman and Laird’s TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES were about the biggest thing going.  Being hard-core dorks, longest-time collaborator DAN MURPHY and I knew we had to get in on that action, and so…

DANNO KLONOWSKI:  So like the title of this post reads, this story is just the start.  Dan and I did a couple more over the next few months following this.  The need for physical activity was palpable.

DAN MURPHY:  I remember being psyched doing the Slugs after you pitched me the idea.  I think we did this first story for the Northdale Jr. High “literary” “publication” called “Graffiti”. I drew the cover for that as well, it’s of some happy couple walking past a slumped over bum (no idea why I chose that).

DANK:  I think this was the first one, too.  If not it’s really no big deal.  Over-wrought continuity existed firmly as an idea in my head, but rarely translated well to paper. 

MURPHY:  By 1991 the TMNT b&w boom had been over for like 4 years or something, but the novelty was new enough to us apparently. 

DANK:  I was a huge–HUGE–fan of ‘Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters” by Don Chin and Parsonavich.  My childhood best friend Patrick (who moved away about 5 years before we did this comic) had bought the first issue of ARBBH and it blew us both away.  Neither of us even knew TMNT existed, so we thought Chin and Parsonavich were visionary geniuses.  Anyway, 5 years later I well aware of what ARRBH was (a parody comic) and I was still in love with it.  At this time there were little and big comic-cons going on about every 4 months at various Radissons or where-ever, and I would spend my time at these cons hunting thru the quarter bins for any and all black and white parody comics from upstart publishers of the late 80′s who usually only ever got one or two issues out before folding.  Some of them were good, but most of them were awful.  To this day I think ARBBH is the cream of the crop, and Chin’s writing and Parsonavich’s art were huge influences on what I continue to produce to this day.  In fact, a few months ago I finally purchased online an issue of ARBBH I didn’t even know existed–the last one Chin and Parsonavich did.  I found Don Chin online and sent him a thank-you email.  Sadly, when I asked him if there was any way to contact Parsonavich he knew of none–I guess Parsonavich has disappeared into the ether.   But if you’ve read ARBBH, that “end” for Parsonavich is perfectly fitting.

MURPHY:  For the Slugs stories I invented a lo-fi shading technique of laying a piece of window screen on the page and using a thin sharpie poking a dot through each gap for make-shift zip-a-tone/ben-day dots. Drawing the slugs was fun because I didn’t need to worry much about anatomy, and I was able to get pretty expressive with them. There was a marked  drawing improvement over the MAN-MAN story I drew that you posted. So their “Splinter” was named “Woodtick” and I just drew a pointy circle shape with eyes, this was before google image search so I must have been too lazy to actually look in a book for a reference, even though I’m sure I’d seen woodticks before.   I forgot about the fact we did 3 stories, the last one being a whopping 11 pages!

DANK:  It’s true, Dan!  And we’ll be back with both of those exciting  adventures in the days to come!

David Steinlicht’s “MANLY TALES OF COWARDICE” 2(of 2)

   OK…are you ready for more?  I know I am.  So here we go with DAVID STEINLICHT’s second amazing ”MANLY TALES OF COWARDICE”!!!

     Yep…there is really no point in me ever doing another MANLY TALES OF COWARDICE again.  David perfected it.  Ahhh…I’ll struggle on in his shadow…somehow.  My wife (who was equally delighted by David’s comics) noted that I had no choice but get the Steinlichted MANLY cast tattooed on me in homage.  When suggested to David…well I think the idea terrifies him.  March 16th is ‘Tattoo Day’…so we’ll see what happens between now and then.  Thanks again, David.  And if you liked what you read here you MUST pick up David’s collection of his PIONEER PRESS strips  “IN THIS CORNER”!  It’s 260 pages of this kind of wonderful stuff!  Go!  Buy!  Now!!!

   And don’t forget–another page of CONTINUITY GUY: CHRONO CHAOS by BUD BURGY and myself  is now up!

David Steinlicht’s “MANLY TALES OF COWARDICE” 1(of 2)

   The LUTEFISK SUSHI ‘D’ show was a massive thrill and honor for me for many reasons that if you’re reading this you’re probably pretty familiar with already.  And for as massive and thrilling as the opening night reception for LSD was, I almost wanna say the next day was equally as massive and thrilling for me because that was the day I cracked open one of my LITTLE FUNNY boxes and was knocked off my feet when I discovered something breathtaking that my friend DAVID STEINLICHT had done:

  I mean OH MY GOD, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!  As if all the clever plays on Fleming’s many catch phrases weren’t enough…as if the adorable Steinlicht style the characters are rendered in isn’t enough…David draws the ‘Flying Hazmat’ on page 8!!!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!  Seriously…one of the most humbling surprises of my life.  And guess what—I opened another LITTLE FUNNY box and found ANOTHER David Steinlicht MANLY TALE!!!   But that’ll wait until next time…I’m sure you’ll all probably need the 2 days to recover anyway.  I know I did.  Seriously though…ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?

‘ACTION ATHENA’ is AWESOME!

    Very rarely these days do I enjoy opening the mail.  It’s mostly bills and collection agencies looking for the people who owner the house before us.  But sometimes, just sometimes, you get something really amazing out of nowhere:

   WHA!  Out of nowhere!  The very awesome ATHENA CURRIER of the delightful “ACTION ATHENA” webcomic sends this living encapsulation of the fun had at the  LUTEFISK SUSHI ‘D’ opening.  It also came with a very flattering letter and coolest confetti ever:

   Thanks a million times yourself, Athena!  Some Athena Fun Facts:

1) Her webcomic ACTION ATHENA updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

2) She does a weekly indie comics news round-up on THE DAILY CROSS HATCH.

3) She is also now a co-host of new radio show THE GEEK REPORT–which you can listen to online HERE!

   Oh!—and I think we Cartoonist Conspirators should all get hidden tattoos of the Conspiracy logo with the following written around it:

 

Right on, Sister!

MIX–the Minneapolis Indie Xpo–is this Saturday, and there will be some sweet new stuff by me to purchase; also: “The return of CONTINUITY GUY!”

  So as you SHOULD know, MIX–THE MINNEAPOLIS INDIE XPO–is this Saturday.  I like to go into cons with SOMETHING new, and MIX is no exception:

SMV: WALKABOUT  by ERIK NELSON and myself:

   So I pitched Erik the idea of doing a team-up of my SUPERMARKET VIGILANTE characters and his WALKABOUT character (which is…well…ERIK!), and he agreed.  So I wrote a story he totally re-wrote and then drew. Its one of the weirdest and funniest things I’ve ever worked on (I did the inking).  We were a page and cover short, so I drew those and Erik inked’em.  The result is a $2 gem you shouldn’t pass up.

The collected TOMMY CHICAGO by BRIAN BASTIAN and myself:

   The 4-issue TOMMY CHICAGO series I did with Brian is now finished and collected in one easy to buy book.  I’ve LITERALLY heard a couple of you say “I’ll wait for the trade.”  You now LITERALLY have no excuse.

   LUTEFISK SUSHI ‘D’ by a bunch of awesome people and myself:

   The new mini-collections of MANLY TALES OF COWARDICE (featuring new covers and introductions by the likes of BRIAN BASTIAN and MATT RISNES) will also be available.  Sadly, I didn’t a chance to finish MANLY TALES OF COWARDICE #8 before the show (though I am inking it!).  At any rate, I hope to see you all and everyone you can tell at the SOAP FACTORY tomorrow!

OH!  And before I go–the sequel that at least a few of you have been waiting for: “CONTINUITY GUY: CHRONO CHAOS” has begun posting!  As before. It was drawn by BUD BURGYU and  written by myself.   A new page of CG:CC will be my new favorite thing to look forward to every week, and I hope yours!

Nostalgia file: “SPICEMARE!!!”

  At the LUTEFISK SUSHI ‘D’ show I displayed a lot of my older art–and by older I mean stuff I made in junior high.  It was a conscious choice to more or less skip everything from 11th grade up until about 2 years ago.  Not that I’m totally unproud of it all, I just more wanted to stress the idea that stuff I made when I was 14 had more or less the same tone as things I’m producing 20 years later.  Anyway, one of the more “modern” things to make the cut fell more or less right in the middle of that 20 year span.  See when I was 22 my roommates and I went thru an unhealthy period where we really liked the SPICE GIRLS–their music, videos, and movie.  It got so out of hand that it eventually invaded my REM sleep.  That in mind, may I now present SPICEMARE (based on two true dreams, with footnotes to follow the comic below):

   For those who might be interested, here is some historical context:

THE COVER:

**  I did indeed sleep on a mattress on the floor back then, though technically I slept the other way around.

PAGE 1:

**  To this day Mel C–aka SPORTY–denies she is a lesbian.   I was dating a lesbian at the time of this comics production.  That was the 90′s for you.

**  I’m not sure what’s up with the BABY SPICE thing (which even continued into the second dream on page 2).  She was just marginally ahead of GINGER as my least favorite Spice Girl (the official ranking was SCARY, POSH, SPORTY, BABY, GINGER).  Who knows how the brain works.

PAGE 2:

**  I used to have flying dreams all the time.  As a little kid I would even have them while I was awake.  I think I used to be a bird.

**  JILL was my roommate JOE’s girlfriend, and the person who originally infected us with the dreaded SPICE GIRLS virus (though MATT and I seeing the film together one afternoon sealed the deal).

**  STACY was great unrequited love of my life at the time (or to paraphrase the great KEVIN CANNON–my “LONG-CON”).

**  I did eventually get over the whole Spice Girls thing.  Though it was just always brimming under the surface.  Like when I met an actual British girl about 5 years later–another failed long-con–I couldn’t have been happier to have finally found a SCARY SPICE of my own.  And to this day I’ll still find myself doing things like putting LILY ALLEN songs on my iPod.  It’s all related, I’m sure.  Or a genetic deficiency.

   AND FOR THE LOVE OF THE 8-BIT GOD!!! If you are in MINNEAPOLIS tomorrow (THURSDAY, AUGUST 19th 2010), you MUST clear your scheduale for the following awesomeness I help co-organize: