FF1990: Real Girl

(June 30, 2016)

Real Girl #1-9 edited by Angela Bocage. I had forgotten how many anthologies Fantagraphics used to publish. Anthologies are still a thing, but I don’t think there’s much being published in something resembling this format: An editor who wants to explore a specific theme, and then invites contributors to participate. (Perhaps Island by Brandon Graham … Continue reading FF1990: Real Girl

FF1986: Lloyd Llewellyn

(June 29, 2016)

Lloyd Llewellyn #1-6 by Daniel Clowes. Daniel Clowes is one of the most celebrated comics artists working today, but back in 1986 (when he was 25), he created his first comic book series: Lloyd Llewellyn. To say that it was an overwhelming success would probably to be overwhelmingly generous. Before doing this series, he had … Continue reading FF1986: Lloyd Llewellyn

Emacs Imgur Interface

(June 29, 2016)

It was suggested on github that the Emacs meme creator should offer uploading images to imgur (and return the resulting URL) for max magic.  That seems extremely true. There is already an imgur.el on github, but it’s doesn’t seem ideal (it does much more than just uploading; it seems to be using an older API; … Continue reading Emacs Imgur Interface

EMACS CAN HAZ FANCY MEME

(June 28, 2016)

After pondering this weighty functionality some more (while I should have been sleeping), I decided there weren’t enough features.  I didn’t graduate university as an Over Engineer for nothing, you know. The updated code is available on Github.

An Emacs Meme Generator

(June 27, 2016)

I got an idea tonight: Emacs must have a meme generator.  Using a web browser seems so jejune. After pondering a few minutes and then typing a few hours, here it is.  And here’s how it looks in action: It basically just manipulates an SVG image, so it’s less work than you’d expect. If you want … Continue reading An Emacs Meme Generator

FF1995: Filibusting Comics

(June 26, 2016)

Filibusting Comics #1 by Dylan Sisson. This book is a parody of Scott McCloud’s seminal “Understanding Comics” book. I mean, that’s a pretty sticky book. McCloud’s career is an unusual one. He made a fondly remembered book back in the 80s, Zot, that wasn’t a major commercial success. It was sweet and fun, but not … Continue reading FF1995: Filibusting Comics

WFC Japan: 宇宙海賊キャプテンハーロック

(June 25, 2016)

The Blu-Ray turns out not to have any languages that I understand, so I had to use the online Internet film caches to get a copy I could watch. (Well, actually two copies, since the first one (as can be seen in the first screenshots) was very artifacty.) This is a vert un-nerdy un-science fictioney … Continue reading WFC Japan: 宇宙海賊キャプテンハーロック

Useful Consumer Review

(June 25, 2016)

What with all these cocktails, I was getting tired of carrying bags of ice cubes from the store.  So I bought an ice cube machine today:  Logik L12IM14E. It’s not connected to the water mains, so it can be placed anywhere, but it’s on the kitchen counter for now.  And it’s kinda noisy.  I guess … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

WFC Egypt: عمارة يعقوبيان

(June 25, 2016)

That’s a lot of comedy false beards. I mean… That beard on the guy to the right… *sigh* That’s the most efficient way to drive police vans down the street, I’m sure. … !!! I don’t think this is a very good film… but I may not be completely in the mood for this type … Continue reading WFC Egypt: عمارة يعقوبيان

Useful Consumer Review

(June 24, 2016)

I got some of these Duralex Provence glasses last year because they’re the prettiest glasses ever: But I was putting some of them away just now, and I er dropped one of them onto another a stack of them: The glass broke and totally disintegrated!  Into a gazillion teensy bits! I’ve never seen a glass … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

WFC South Korea: 싸이보그지만 괜찮아

(June 24, 2016)

That’s what you’d call an insane wig. Long time no film. Uhm… I haven’t seen any of the more well-known Park Chan-wook films, but this one is kinda weird. Probably made even weirder by me scaling the cocktail after how much juice two thirds of a cucumber gives (in the juicer). Which is quite a … Continue reading WFC South Korea: 싸이보그지만 괜찮아

FF1984: Dalgoda

(June 24, 2016)

Dalgoda #1-8 Flesh & Bones #1-4 By Jan Strnad and Dennis Fujitake. I think this may be Fantagraphic’s first colour comic book. They’d released a couple of albums (“graphic novels”) in colour, but every comic book comic was in black and white. According to the editorial by Gary Groth, it was something of a financial … Continue reading FF1984: Dalgoda

FF1990: Real Life

(June 23, 2016)

Real Life #1 by Mark Zingarelli. Autobiographical comics are often written by shy introverts (or so the cliché goes), but there’s also a tradition of manly men making the stuff (perhaps beginning with Spain). The most prolific manly man in the field is the writer Dennis Eichhorn. He just writes the stuff and gets a … Continue reading FF1990: Real Life

FF1987: Good Girls

(June 22, 2016)

Good Girls #1-6 by Carol Lay. There are two serials in Good Girls. The first one is about a journalist who handles the “lonely hearts” column and gets into wacky adventures, as with these slightly oedipal superhero enthusiasts. The second feature is a romance parody about a billionaire who’s been brought up in Africa and … Continue reading FF1987: Good Girls

FF1986: Critters

(June 21, 2016)

Critters #1-50 edited by Kim Thompson. Ah, funny animals… It’s such a strange genre, if that’s the name for it. Perhaps “stylistic convention” is better. You have anthropomorphic characters in basically any genre (humour, science fiction, mysteries, anything), and there are fans that are really into reading stories in all these genres as long as … Continue reading FF1986: Critters

FF1987: Prime Cuts

(June 12, 2016)

Prime Cuts #1-10 edited by Gary Groth. There are some storied American comics anthologies: Arcade, Raw, Weirdo… (Well, and the ones that started popping up since the turn of the century.) Prime Cuts isn’t one that you hear mentioned much these days. It was (I think) Fantagraphics’ first major “serious” anthology. They had already published … Continue reading FF1987: Prime Cuts

FF1994: The Biologic Show

(June 11, 2016)

The Biologic show #0-1 by Al Columbia. This is a pretty odd… series. The first issue (#0) is magazine sized and is mostly shorter pieces. The second issue (#1) is announced as being quarterly, and then there are no more issues. Anyway, I assume everybody knows Columbia’s story (Bill Sienkiewicz’s assistant on Alan Moore’s Big … Continue reading FF1994: The Biologic Show

FF1986: Captain Jack

(June 9, 2016)

The Adventures of Captain Jack #1-12 A*K*Q*J #1 By Mike Kazaleh. Back in the 80s, Fantagraphics published a number of funny animal titles. This one is one of the funnier funny animal titles. Kazaleh’s day job is as a storyboarder for animated films. It’s kinda obvious looking at some of the scenes, but it’s not … Continue reading FF1986: Captain Jack

My New Concert Blog

(June 9, 2016)

FF1989: The Adventures of Mr. Pyridine

(June 8, 2016)

The Adventures of Mr. Pyridine #1 by M. Singh Fantagraphics published a large number of what you might perhaps call “aspirational series”. That is, they aspired to be series, but I think everybody involved could guess that there would most likely be no more than one issue. Perhaps I should gather a few up in … Continue reading FF1989: The Adventures of Mr. Pyridine

FF1986: Keif Llama

(June 6, 2016)

Particle Dreams #1-6 Keif Llama: Xenotech #1-6 By Matt Howarth. Matt Howarth is best known for his The Annoying Post Bros series. The protagonists there run around different universes killing people and having fun. I never quite warmed up to that concept, although I’ve probably read most of the issues by now. These comics, on … Continue reading FF1986: Keif Llama

FF1987: Sinner

(June 5, 2016)

Sinner #1-5 by José Muñoz and Carlos Sampayo. After the previous post which literally killed me, I (in a ghostly incarnation) decided to do a very small series today. Sinner is one of the earliest attempts by Fantagraphics at bringing French-ey comics to the US. (The creators are Argentinian, but live in Europe and publishes … Continue reading FF1987: Sinner

FF1982: Love and Rockets

(June 1, 2016)

Created by Jaime Hernandez, Beto Hernandez and Mario Hernandez. Love and Rockets #1-50, Mechanics #1-3, Love and Rockets Bonanza , Whoa, Nellie #1-3, New Love #1-6, Maggie and Hopey Color Special, Penny Century #1-7, Luba #1-10, Luba’s Comics and Stories #1-8, Love and Rockets vol II #1-20, Love and Rockets: New stories #1-8, New Tales … Continue reading FF1982: Love and Rockets

Reading Fantagraphics

(June 1, 2016)

I’ve been meaning to re-read all of Love and Rockets for years and years. But I’ve never found the time, because all my comics reading time has been occupied by reading new comics. *sniff* I’ve paused my avaracious comics acquisition onslaught slightly and rooted out all the Love and Rockets issues. But doing so, I … Continue reading Reading Fantagraphics