c. billadeau

Today is Jack Kirby’s 92nd birthday. Thank God for thinkers, artists, invisionaries like him.

thx, Paul Pope

One-hour study in watercolor, 5″ x 7″.

Pretty boring, this, but man. Feels good to have purpose again.

Short post, as I am in class, but: Lilly Mackenzie just ended. I feel a strange mixture of satisfaction and depression to see one of the better sci-fi comics reach its final page.
Now I have to find something else on act-i-vate to devour! All my favorites have either ended or died a sad death, so I will be killing time in lecture browsing the archives, probably. (Although my professor is quite entertaining.)

If you are not aware of act-i-vate (which you should be!), they are an online comic collaboration between artists from not just around the States, but all over the world–bringing together some of the most brilliant minds of comic art in the new millenium. They are the fine folks that have brought us Fishtown by Kevin Colden, Vulcan & Vishnu by Leland Purvis, Kelly by Dan Goldman–and my personal favorites Persimmon Cup by Nick Bertozzi and Bee by Jason Little.
Among several dozen others.

There is a primer from IDW Publishing due out in October, with many of these artists contributing to it. With a foreword by Warren freaking Ellis. I am fairly certain that my bee-eff-eff Dreamhaven will have it for us Twin Cities localities; check your local indie book and comic shop for everywhere else.

link: act-i-vate

(Jack Kirby once said: “Comics will break your heart.”)

via Forbidden Planet

Is it really bad that the only thing I’ve managed to finish this summer is fanart?

Have some of the unnamed zombie character in Stone‘s webcomic Hanna Is Not A Boy’s Name. I am quite fond of him, even if he is of few words.

As a sort of follow-up note to this post, I would like to mention that it is amazing the amount of progress she’s made in just this short timespan alone. I mean, the first comics are really awesome, don’t get me wrong, but they just keep getting immensely more technically and aesthetically excellent with each update. That is part of the reason I am so hooked on it; everything I already babbled about has me gripped, but goddamnit, I can’t wait to see what these strips will look like in a week, a month, a year from now.

So, if you haven’t started reading the comic yet, I demand you do so.

Now.

Ahhh! It’s been a while since I’ve shouted in dismay when I realize I’ve hit the end of the archive on a webcomic.

Strange Times did it, though. Now I’m forced to wait on Dave West for the of the pages, arghhhhhh

It’s got a little bit of physics and psychics, plus the ever-popular apoctalyptic horror theme throughout. I’m a sucker for the character-centric plot, though. Gotta love the backstories and reading about the little pockets of individual normality in relation to the life stories that follow. My favorite part is how the invividual storylines of many of the characters have already converged, and it’s keeping me hooked by wondering how the remaining characters have yet to work their way into it.

So simple, but so, so great.