FEBRUARY 25, 2008
I just read the new Mome which is about the most consistent journal going these days. I think literary journals should take note of what Fantagraphics is doing and try this roster-of-contribs idea. Giving creators several issues to develop a single work leads to some very complicated stuff. (Maybe this is something I should consider for Action,Yes). Tim Hensley's Wally Gropius series has been particularly inspiring in its strangenss. While the Archie-like surface suggests some well-exectured spoof of earnest comics of yore, in fact he's slowly creating a narrative that is much more unsettling and serious. Wally Gropius isn't a joke; he's a burgeoning anti-hero.
The new issue has a particularly exciting new addition in John Hankiewicz (the only member of "The Holy Consumption" yet to be featured in Mome). His piece "Success Comes to Westmont, IL" is the real standout in the new issue. Sure, the comment on gentrification and civic sameness is effectively and humorously executed, but what really grabs me about this story is the strange sub-narrative of two men living in this neighborhood. The melancholy of their drab apartment and the blankness of the shared expressions unveils a much more disturbing narrative beneath the social comment of this story. I'm anxious to see where Hankiewicz's work in Mome goes. This kind of mystery is another beautiful product of the serialized nature of the temporally delayed installments featured in Mome.
from"Success Comes to Westmont, IL" by John Hankiewicz in Mome 10
FEBRUARY 24, 2008
We're making a book. Here's a page from it.
FEBRUARY 18, 2008
We launched a new issue of Action,Yes last week. It's been a little while since our last, but I think this one is worth the wait. Go and read it for yourself. This is probably our most diverse issue. We have a couple essays, Per Bäckström's extremely insightful study of the use of "avant garde" in different languages and Colin Upton's consideration of comics and the lowbrow. Several artists collaborated to create the audio/visual/poetry piece "Dandelion Clock," and Richard Kostelanetz offers a interactive poetry. The issue also includes the poetry of Rosa Alcalá and her translations of the work of Rocio Cerón and Lila Zemborain. And there's a host of other poems, stories and manifestoes.
FEBRUARY 14, 2008
We've got a new one up at Apostrophe Cast. It's a reading by Harry Thomas. He reads a single anatomical narrative, "The Most Beautiful Boy in Alabama." Go over there and enjoy it.
FEBRUARY 12, 2008
The new Lamination Colony has launched. Blake Butler does a great job with this web journal. Read it if you haven't. He gets some really diverse stuff, and none of it is vaguely staid or boring. He gives you a lot to pick through (including a whole set of parodies of particular writers). And my story "Benvereen," a selection from The Complete Collection, is in the new issue.
Here is Gene Morgan's description of Lamination Colony: "i just decided that lamination colony is my favorite literary journal. fuck everyone else." (Being an editor of Action,Yes, I can't exactly endorse his position, but I see where he's coming from.)
And Blake included videos from contributors. You can go see a video of me drawing this picture of Benvereen on my arm.
FEBRUARY 10, 2008
Ben Brookshire (my friend an co-organizer at Apostrophe Cast) has begun to post his collages on his Flickr. These things are as horrifying as they are nostalgic. Find them here.
FEBRUARY 7, 2008
The year was 1964 and unfortunately the Battle for New Jersey was not televised. But more than a few dollars were lost and won on this one.
Could the boldness of lollipop green balanced by a fine pendulum harmony overcome the bite and TANG of salt and pepper and Sprite's one-two-one punch? Only history holds the answer.
FEBRUARY 6, 2008
Best news of the young year. Now, it's official.
FEBRUARY 7, 2008
This is from Art Spiegelman's personal collection. These old French comics have these amazing blocky inks that feel like woodcut. I'm most comfortable drawing when I really dig my pencil into the paper and create big thick lines. But I don't have the bravery to commit blacks like this. This is my aspiration ... one day.
I don't know Art. But Todd Hignite does.
FEBRUARY 5, 2008
A few years ago I bought the world's sexiest magazine.
That's Bobby Valentine, current manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines, and former New York Mets manager. He's shirtless.
