Here's some button designs. New t-shirts and buttons debuting at San Diego. Buttons will be convention-exclusive; shirts will probably be available online after the con. I'll show you the shirts when they're finished!

And here are some pages from Kimagure Orange Road, which I've been reading. It's manga from the 80s, beloved by many now-aging nerds (it was a little before my nerd-time, and I've only just discovered it). I'm not posting these to share the story or dialogue, just for the sheer love of comics. The panel layouts, the figure sizes, the hair-to-face ratios, mmmmmmm.

(Note: These pages read right-to-left, since they're manga. And this is a quasi-legal scanlated version, which you can find by googling; this series has never been officially released in English as far as I know. Correct me if I'm wrong)


The guy is taking pictures of the girl. I love the big panels of their legs, like this weird vulnerable moment. The overall flow and energy of the page is great. That little panel where she gets mad and makes him stop stands out, just like it oughta. Note how he's going "towards" her (right-to-left) while shooting the photos, and she's storming "away" from him (left-to-right) after she gets mad.


Amazing "fashion shot" page. The over-the-shoulder full-length costume shot and all the establishing of the airport kill me. I love this page so much. That airplane drawing is amazing. Love the establisher of her shoes.

I'm posting these to be more like Brandon Graham, whose blogging is always a treat. I'm not constantly digging up new stuff like him, but I have been reading this manga and saving a ton of pages for future reference, and thought I'd share. I'll try to post more like this. Let me know if it's interesting at all.

HEY!

Do you like free music? Do you like ME? If so, you'll enjoy downloading (if not listening to) some new songs by ME.

Yes, I put on my musician hat over the weekend and pooped out some new songs, and came up with a strategy for the rest of the year, too.

It's the Kupek Good Time Singles Club!

In an effort to record and release stuff more quickly, and for a bit of instant gratification while I work on graphic novels, I'm doing a series of "singles" this year. I'll release them in groups of 2, as an A-side and B-side. The A-side hopefully will be a nice song that I wrote and put some effort into recording, and the B-side will be something else -- a cover song, an alternate version, an experiment, whatever.

In the end, I hope it'll tell an album-length story of the garbled nonsense that was on my mind this year.

The first two songs are:

01. Do The Math! (2:59) [download]
This was a leftover from my last album-length release, "Tries Again". The recording wasn't working out, so I stuck another song on there instead. This is a brand-new version of the song, sped-up, chopped up, and otherwise fucked up. PS This song contains the word "shit" about 9 times, so maybe don't listen to it in front of your boss, kindergarten class, mother, etc.

02. I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need To Be Nicer (3:01) [download]
This is a cover! It's a cover of a 2005 single by the Cardigans that you may have heard, or maybe not. My version is totally different, so there's that.

Oh, here's some album art for your ipod etc...

I've been meaning to post, but I don't have anything good to say.

Fortunately, this just came across my desk: Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (The Movie) Video Blog #6: Fight!. There. Instant content!

I'm at home, working on writing the last book, which is a complicated task. I won't be at the MoCCA Art Fest in NYC (next weekend), for the first time since... 2004? Repeat: I Will Not Be There. Tell your friends. I figured I just released a book in February, IN New York City, and I've been traveling so much this spring that I could really use some downtime.

So I'm using the downtime to work on the book, which is what you all want anyway! Look forward to reading it by about 2014. Just kidding. Next spring/summer, I swear.

You should go read 60+ pages of CHILDREN OF THE SEA, a lovely and intriguing new manga. Viz is posting chapters of it online, weekly, for free, at their new site IKKI. (EDIT: Apparently they only hold the North American rights, so if you live outside Canada/USA you presumably won't be able to read the comic. Sorry about that.)

We're not going to see some new hollywood blockbuster tonight - we're having a SPEED RACER party and eating tacos! TACOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSS! Cheap thrills for our frigid economy!

TCAF was good! Thank you for coming! It was a little bit crazy there on the Saturday! I literally didn't get to look at anyone else's stuff. I couldn't walk one step without running into someone I knew, or into people who knew me. I wanted to get a copy of Tatsumi's autobiography, not even get it signed or anything, just pick it up, but I didn't even manage to do that.

I just saw STAR TREK last night and really liked it. It's a treat when these big summer movies are good and not stupid. Those filmmakers had a monumental task and they achieved it with grace and panache, I think. They had to convince non-nerds that STAR TREK could be cool, while simultaneously assuring us nerds that it was still as uncool as ever. I liked how X-treme it was, and it felt like I wanted it to feel - miniskirts and fisticuffs and lots of orchestral pomp & circumstance on the soundtrack. The cast was great. The look was great. The lens flares and shakey cam were maybe a bit annoying (if you think about it too much), but it seems like a clever way of blending real shots with CG work and making it seamless.

One minute left! OK, that's all I got. I won't be "in public" again until San Diego Comic Con, which promises to be very big and weird for me. See you then!

This'll be a 9x13-ish screenprint, available in limited quantities. It's printed on crazy damask paper, so this image is merely an approximation of how awesome it will look in reality. We haven't settled on a price yet -- I'll have to consult with the Oracle of Spending.

Oni Press will be there and we'll have books and artwork and hopefully some of those blue t-shirts. Actually, no blue shirts, but I hear we'll have a very limited number of the "Toronto" shirts.

TCAF is next weekend, May 9-10. I'll definitely be there all day Saturday. Sunday is up in the air a little.

I also have a panel, about "Manga", which I'm told is at 12:30 PM on Saturday May 9th.

Calgary Expo was a success! Thanks to all who came out. The first day was a little bizarre (lost identities and lunches, hotel fire alarm evacuations in the middle of the night, etc) but the second day was very peaceful and the whole thing was very cool overall. I met nice people and did a few sketches. I got snowed on. I ate some cheese and ended up with a ton of candy.

I won't be doing anything for Free Comic Book Day -- it's my weekend off, between Calgary and TCAF. (Yes, geez, I'm totally lazy. I'm visiting my family.)

TCAF, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, is May 9-10, with various other events the preceding week, so keep your eyes glued to their website.

I'll be appearing at TCAF with Oni Press, selling and signing books, and hopefully will get this fancypants new screenprinted poster ready in time. Any other events are going to be announced at the last minute because they haven't been planned yet. I'll let you know.

I believe I'm on some kind of panel about a topic of some sort, so that's bound to be excruciatingly excellent.

After that, I'm freeeeee! Until San Diego Comic Con, anyway. And maybe I'll actually get some work done in that time period.