"der Kiosk" means "the kiosk"

Show at Franklin Art Works

2012-01-28T09:03:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Some drawings and prints of mine are going to be part of a show at Franklin Art Works in Minneapolis next month. There'll be my Blood Meridian drawings...

...and there'll also be my Pink Meteor prints from John Mejias' second silkscreen issue of Paping. It's a three-print series about an alien invasion that uses transparent overlays to reveal and advance the story (I did the drawings, and John did the printing):

My show will be in the side gallery, but the real show will be in the main room, where Shawn Cheng will have a batch of big, beautiful paintings that will break your brain. I mean, just look at these things, ye gods:

The opening's on Friday, February 17th--hope we'll see you there then, if you're in Minneapolis.

Argh we're awake

2011-01-27T16:29:00.001-08:00

We've updated the Partyka website with a selection of daily drawings for January, with some sketchbook stuff from me;
Some collages from John Mejias;
...and some of the illustrations of Lord of the Flies I did for Sparknotes:
Thanks for your continued attention; we hope you like these.

Today is the day an event is going to occur

2010-12-04T08:53:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be at the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest in Williamsburg this weekend! In fact, today! In about three hours! I'll be at the Partyka table, #19, right next to Sparkplug Books. Look out as well for the excellent Sally Bloodbath, who'll be at table #31 with Kate Beaton.

Also, Shawn Cheng and I drew a two-page story for the new issue of Smoke Signal. It's called "Man vs. Ants." Here's a bit of it:

...and now I am going to try to make enough breakfast to sustain me and Sally until 9pm. Come say hi to us at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, 275, N. 8th st. Sandwiches appreciated.

I and "The Orphan Baiter" got nominated for a thing

2010-08-20T21:11:00.000-07:00

The nominations for the Ignatz Awards came out this week, and as it turns out my story from Papercutter #13 earned me a nomination as a "Promising New Talent:"
It seems like if I were halfway responsible about my work I'd have reached the "promising talent" level while I was still in my twenties, but you know what? Let's just assume that my best years are still ahead of me and I'll redouble my efforts and try not to die. I do come from a long-lived family. Anyways, thanks to my editor, Greg Means of Tugboat Press, for believing in me and getting this thing out there.

You can vote for me or any other of the nominees you like at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, MD on September 11-12. Just attend, fill out a ballot and drop it in a cardboard box. The process is more similar to giving people valentines in grade school than it is to an election, but who among us fell in love with comics because they imagined that a small-press festival associated with the art would one day provide a perfect laboratory for field-testing innovative new democratic processes?

Paping rules, Paping is cool, and we've got Paping in our school

2010-08-20T20:52:00.000-07:00

So you know who's great? This guy:
John Mejias, pal, founder of Paping, member of Partyka and swell fellow has a few things going on around NYC right now, neither of which I have pictures of because I'm in West Chester PA right now, so I'll just tell you about them:

First, there's a Paping Retrospective art show hanging on the ground floor of Cake Shop on Ludlow St. in Manhattan right now. It has most of the contents of Paping's two silkscreen issues up on the walls; they're out of print now, I think, so if you want to see them now's a great chance. You'll can't see my stories "Think With Your Fists" and "Pink Meteor" anywhere else, for example. Also, there's a ton of John's prints for shows, posters for old runnings of the Paping Soap Box Derby, and the linocuts for the Paping Puppet show, as well as stuff from a lot of Paping's contributors and friends.

Secondly, John's assembled the new window display for Desert Island, the comic book store in Williamsburg. If you want to shop for comics at an establishment with a quality window display, I can't think of a better place than that.

Oh, yeah, and thirdly, dude's got a new job or two and is gonna be back teaching art! Keep it up, man, I'm glad you'll be able to afford burritos again.

Summer Doldrums

2010-08-20T20:37:00.000-07:00

Oh, hi, I was asleep at the wheel of most of my internet-stuff for the past couple months; sorry. Anyways, I've got a bunch of new stuff at Partyka. July's drawings consist of a bunch of discarded sketchbook ideas for the Bound and Gagged show Tom Neely is putting together for Secret Headquarters in LA. I'm down to the wire on the actual things I decided to do for the show, but hopefully I'll have them in the mail soon, and Tom will still want them. At any rate, here's "Sidekick," one of the many things which will go no further than here:...And then for August there's the usual odds and sods. Here's "Man Vs. Ant."
Thanks for reading; hope you're having an excellent summer night.

Anonymous Skeleton

2010-06-29T08:05:00.000-07:00

New daily drawing up from yesterday at Partyka: "Anonymous Skeleton."
Also, here's "Wrecked Steamboat" from the 26th, from my Huck Finn illustrations:

Scared Cowboy

2010-06-25T10:27:00.000-07:00

I have a new daily drawing up at Partyka. Here's "Scared Cowboy:"
Also, Mr. Shawn Cheng has made a dramatic recovery from the food coma he was in (it takes him three months to digest a hamburger), and has caught up with his daily drawings! Here's "Batman vs. Bird:"
Now I'm going to bike over to the studio, work on inking my Lord of the Flies illustrations, and think about whether I should buy a Cintiq drawing tablet. Opinions welcome; will be met with chin-scratching and a squint that indicates I am digesting your input.

Priest and Pa's Visit

2010-06-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

New daily drawings up at Partyka. Here's "Priest..."

...and here's "Pa's Visit," from the Huck Finn illustrations I did for Sparknotes.

Papercutter #13

2010-06-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

The 13th issue of Papercutter, the excellent Greg Means-edited anthology comic, is now out! I did the cover for it and have a 19-page story inside, and I feel as honored as a person can feel about things. Here's what the issue looks like:
Also in the issue are stories by Tim Root and Jonas Madden-Connor, who I am super-happy to be sharing the issue with. It should be arriving at your finer comic-book stores soon, and Quimby's has it available online here: http://www.quimbys.com/product_info.php?products_id=23650

Spoiler Alert: Story contains the line "Out, of my way, horse!," which Greg does not advise using on anyone who has not yet read the issue.

We're Back (New Daily Drawings)

2010-06-17T09:47:00.001-07:00

Partyka were asleep at the switch for all of May, sorry sorry, but we are now back! I've got some regular-type daily drawings up, like for example "Bro Ices Bro:"
...as well as a special feature showing some of the illustrations I've been making for Sparknotes, which is what's keeping me in sandwiches these days. Here's "Queen Mab:"
Thanks for your patience; we will try to keep our "shizz" "together" in the future, to avoid any "bummers" we might cause by not having pictures of linocut people or bird people or colorful Renaissance people to show you on a regular basis.

Blood Meridian drawings at Locust Projects

2010-05-12T13:57:00.000-07:00

If you're in Miami, five drawings I made in response to passages from Blood Meridian are on display at Locust Projects in Miami, as part of "How to Read a Book," a group show curated by Michael Wilson.
They'll be there until June 19. Drop by if you're in the neighborhood!

Ronald Quincy Troll/MK Reed

2010-03-16T14:25:00.000-07:00

New daily drawing up on Partyka: Ronald Quincy Troll.

Also, our guest this month is my studiomate, MK Reed! She's going to be touring New England and Canada later this month, doing readings with Liz Baillie, Ken Dahl and Sally Bloodbath. If you're near anywhere they'll be, drop by and say hello. Look for the purple van, and follow them at www.punchbuggytour.com!

Oh, and here's MK's "Paisley Skull:"

Thanks, MK!

D&D and the picaresque

2010-02-20T13:19:00.000-08:00

Among the many things Mr. Zak S. does well is Dungeon-Mastering. I played a few games with him when he was in New York last summer, the first time I'd played non-computer D&D since high school. It was excellent: look, we set on fire a minotaur that obviously outclassed our characters, and it fled, shrieking, from its chamber. Electric Wizard was playing. Or maybe Bolt Thrower. It ruled.

Anyway, since October Zak's been blogging at Playing D&D With Porn Stars, recounting his ongoing game in LA and ruminating over game mechanics and design, among other stuff. It's my new favorite blog, rewarding on so many levels that it is totally interrupting the work I am supposed to be getting done right now (sorry).

(goblin, by Zak)

-Here he is on how D&D campaigns, as they unfold, parallel the picaresque, and on how picaresques function in general.

-Here's the sad story of Charles the Pig.

-And here's some things folks have drawn during his games, including a picture of my guy, the late Horst Von Chasm: (toad, poison)

(sorry I only rolled you 1 hit point, Horst)

Hoi Polloi

2010-02-18T15:33:00.000-08:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: Hoi Polloi.

Bees Attack the Battleship

2010-02-09T11:20:00.000-08:00

New daily drawing at Partyka: "Bees Attack the Battleship 1:"

Glare Brothers/Natalie Collette Wood

2010-02-07T23:31:00.000-08:00

New daily drawings up at Partyka. Here's "The Glare Brothers:"

Also, Partyka's guest this month is Natalie Collette Wood, checking in with a selection of her sculptures made from recycled thingnesses and whatnots. Here's "PVC Love Beast:"

Good to have you with us, Natalie!

Hourly Comics Day

2010-02-01T23:45:00.000-08:00

I did hourly comics for today/yesterday, February 1. Because it was Hourly Comics Day. Featured besides me: Liz Baillie, Sally Bloodbath, MK Reed and the broccoli juice left behind by my roommate Melissa. Liz and Sally were also doing hourlies today, so I'll link to theirs once they go up.

Is there a holiday after Hourly Comics Day, like Boxing Day? There should be. Maybe it'll work just like hourly comics day, but instead of doing a comic every hour, you just get drunk or eat a poundcake every hour or something.

New Daily Drawings/Peter Maddalena

2010-01-24T23:56:00.000-08:00

New drawings up on the Partyka site: pencils from a thing that I've been working on all month. Hopefully, soon, I'll be done and the full glory of its thingness will be revealed.

Also, this month's Partyka guest is Peter Maddalena, Paping contributor and carver of woodcuts. Here's his "Face #35:"
Hi, Peter!

Moving In

2010-01-09T19:42:00.000-08:00

...and now I'm in Brooklyn. Below you'll see my room in Bed-Stuy as of last night, its population of boxes safeguarded by the mighty Fort Bedtime:
I set up my workspace at Punchbuggy this afternoon; here's a video tour of the space that my excellent studiomate Liz Baillie made a short while back:

...getting ready to draw like it's my job. Because it is my job, at least for a while, and I am way luckier than I deserve to be.

Moving

2009-12-28T19:03:00.000-08:00

I'm moving back to Brooklyn in the next two weeks. I'll be glad when it's over and I'm there; right now I'm in the middle of the Boxes and Whirlwind-of-Crap phases of the enterprise. New daily "drawings" are up on Partyka, showing conditions inside the whirlwind.

Mom, Dad: you pack the booze last, so you can power through the last hour of trashing things and stuffing things, and then pass out. How am I going to pass out now?

I got sidetracked by Welcome to the Dahl House when I was supposed to be packing clothes and books, then set it aside at some point, then this happened. Is this the comics equivalent of ass pennies? And if so, does the comics-touching-boxers power advantage me or Gabby? (I am going to guess Gabby, as he is a gentleman with many powers.)

There's a sink in the basement, the by-product of an October I'd mostly rather forget. But soon: Brooklyn! Lots of good stuff that I don't want to jinx by mentioning it and I am terrified of a U-Haul explosion between then and now! See you in the New Year! Hopefully!

MODOK vs. Luchador and Others

2009-12-14T22:28:00.000-08:00

I'm up-to-date on daily drawings again. Here's the latest, "MODOK vs. Luchador," done as a commission for a MODOK/Luchador enthusiast:

Some other more recent ones include "Contact Tree..."

...and "Kiss Me I'm Eldritch."

Our Esteemed Guests

2009-12-14T22:20:00.000-08:00

Hi; some more folks have been our guests at Partyka while I was asleep at the wheel. Painter/Author/Dungeon Master Zak Smith was here for the month of November; here's his "Crawler 4:"

Now it's December, and Sally Bloodbath of Always Comix and sundry minis has joined us. Here's "Katie Skelly: Catcatcher;"

Thanks, Zak and Sally, for the excellent company, and for having kept the Partyka lighthouse burning while I was in the cellar snarfing down whiskey.

Doubleplus Booklearning

2009-10-21T21:54:00.001-07:00

I illustrated this Video Sparknote on 1984:

Update Update

2009-10-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

New daily drawings up at Partyka. Some odds-and-ends, some grumpiness and some selections from the hourly comics I did for Oct.9 and Oct. 10, the day the Punchbuggy Tour passed through town and brought with it MK Reed, Liz Baillie, Ken Dahl, Sally Bloodbath and ukelele covers of "Last Caress" and "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton." Anyway, here's 10:30 am on the 10th, or "The Bageling Hour:"

The rest of the day's down below. Oh, and in reference to the Oct. 10 @ 2:30 comic, here's a link to MK, Liz and Gabby's final tattoos.

Our October Guest: Roger Human Being

2009-10-20T21:12:00.000-07:00

Should've mentioned this earlier, but our guest for October is the multitalented Roger Human Being: musician, storyteller and inventor of the "Watching-Movies-With-An-Orange-Cat" video, which deserves to be the next big internet thing after the "WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS?" meme.*

Here's "Brutha and Bloog:"

Thanks, HB! Glad to have you here!

*which I guess itself deserves to be the next internet thing? I dunno, is anything going on with that?

Whew

2009-09-24T22:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, there's still folding and stapling to do, but new stuff for SPX is ready:

Print

Print

Book

Hope to see you in Bethesda tomorrow, or the day after, or the day after.

PrintPrintPrintPrint

2009-09-23T16:19:00.001-07:00

Things are starting to look like things. Good job, things.

PrintPrintPrint

2009-09-22T23:17:00.000-07:00

Man, I gotta lot of stuff to cross off that list before Friday.

SPX: and otherwise: several things are happening at once

2009-09-21T10:45:00.000-07:00

This upcoming weekend is packed full of events, do you hear me? Packed! Some events are nested within others like Russian stacking dolls, while others are up in a different corner like a Malevich painting or zooming in from out of nowhere like a mummy on a skateboard. Events!

(poster by Laura Park, who kills at making posters)

First: Shawn Cheng, John Mejias and I are going to be exhibiting at SPX in Bethesda, MD this weekend. It's the last of the Big Several alternative comics conventions that take place on the East Coast every year, and I am all sorts of excited to be there. We'll be at Table D15, right next to the good people at AdHouse Books and just on the edge of the Vortex of Swellness that is Dustin Harbin and Scott Campbell's table at D1. I'll have a new dollar book collecting the "Head to Head" drawings I've been making for the Partyka site, and I should also have some prints for sale.

While at SPX, you may want to attend these panels, featuring or moderated by my excellent pals:

The New Action, moderated by friend and collaborator Sean T. Collins and featuring Shawn Cheng, as well as Frank Santoro, Brian Ralph, Benjamin Marra and Kaz Strzepek. It's about action, spectacle and genre in today's art-comics world, and man, just look at that lineup. This panel is a man in sunglasses walking in slow-motion with an explosion behind him.
Mr. Collins is also going to be on a critics' roundtable with quite a few of the other worthwhile-to-read comics writers out there. They'll be talking about both comics criticism and notable recent books.
Also of note: Sally Bloodbath, who as co-editor of Always Comix has published some things of mine and Shawn's, will be on a panel about comics and community: friends, drawing nights, conventions and general getting-your-stuff-out-there. Dylan Williams of Sparkplug moderates. Also features the omni-presence that is Frank Santoro, and Robyn Chapman and Benn Ray.

...If you're not in Maryland that weekend, but are instead in New York, Partyka's friend and frequent guest Danica Novgorodoff is having a book release party at Rocketship in Brooklyn for her second book, an adaptation of the Benjamin Percy story "Refresh, Refresh." Featuring the holy trinity of books, drinks and a store.

Also up in NYC: Team Macho, a collective of dudes from Toronto with whom we had a fine time at TCAF '05 (they had a 27-toed cat living in their studio, therefore Automatic Fun Time), have a show at Giant Robot.

...Hope to see you at SPX! I think I might actually be done with everything this year and not have to spend the show stapling things behind the table. Probably I will come off as a better, livelier person, but who knows how these things work?

Head to Head 13

2009-09-17T22:08:00.000-07:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: Head to Head 13.

Head to Head 11 & 12

2009-09-14T20:58:00.001-07:00

Head to Head installments 11 and 12 are now up at Partyka.

Here's 11:

And here's 12:

New Daily Drawing: (Head to Head 10: Walk-Off)

2009-09-07T10:01:00.001-07:00

New daily drawings up at Partyka, bringing us up to date. Here's Head-to-Head 10: Ghost-Who-Walks vs. Walkin' Dude Walk-Off:This is, of course, a battle between perpetual good and perpetual evil. One might assume that Randall Flagg has the upper hand here, existing across and exemplifying malice and corruption within multiple planes of reality. Don't forget, though, that the Phantom respresents generation upon generation of ordinary humans who, across centuries, have committed to battling evil while wearing ridiculous purple long johns with striped underoos. I think this speaks to a triumph of the human spirit that Mr. Flagg and his manifold darknesses cannot eclipse.

Sept. Guest Artist: Erin Griffin

2009-09-07T09:54:00.000-07:00

Partyka's guest for September is Erin Griffin, maker of adorable minicomics and co-editor of the excellent anthology Always Comix, the sixth issue of which will be coming out shortly. Here's one of her gun studies:

You can see more at her guest gallery at Partyka, and at her blog. Thanks, Erin!

Doubleplusunearly

2009-08-18T18:59:00.000-07:00

My daily drawing archive at Partyka has been backfilled with pencils and inks from the freelance project I've been working on for the past month. I'll put up another post when the finished product is available.

I tried using a red pencil for the first time on these drawings, so I wouldn't have to erase as much. It worked pretty well, although the leads are more fragile and I kept snapping little bits off by accident. One neat thing about inking was that my glasses bend red light, making it look as though the pencils were sitting about half a millimeter beneath the ink. It was mesmerizing. Thanks, optics!

YES

2009-07-28T11:21:00.000-07:00

From The Comics Reporter:

"...Were you aware that Lewis Trondheim did a signing where he set one of his sketches on fire? I heard about this and CR reader Jeremy Stone confirmed:

I was standing in line behind a woman who got a copy of Dungeon signed and she asked for a sketch of Marvin breathing fire in it. Trondheim drew Marvin in the corner of the first page with the fire line spreading out, then lit the corner on fire, let it burn to his inkline, and threw it on the floor, closing it to put out the flames. I wish that I had my camera ready, because it was awesome, and it turned out great. I should have at least taken a picture of the finished product, but I was too awestruck.

I mean, if nothing else happened this year, Trondheim using fire as an impromptu illustrative tool happened. Isn't that cool?"

UPDATE: Now with pictures! (via the daily crosshatch)

"There's no such thing of Supercar"

2009-07-09T15:11:00.000-07:00

Commercial for the Washington DC public transit system, from around the mid-1980's. Abandon your dreams of flying cars; we will replace them with a railway timetable. An early spirit-crusher.*

(link to Realplayer video)

(via Ocean Digital Productions.)

*Although if your fantasy life at age 8 revolves around the fastest commute, you have already lost.

RHB and OFC at the movies

2009-07-08T20:49:00.001-07:00

Watch key moments in film history with Roger Human Being and companion:

Scarface (1983)

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=123688997597

Batman (1966)

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=113620157597

Head to Head 8

2009-07-08T20:41:00.001-07:00

New Daily Drawing up at Partyka: Head to Head 8.

Head to Head 7/Our Guests

2009-07-03T20:49:00.000-07:00

New Daily Drawing up at Partyka: Head to Head 7.

..in honor in Independence Day, this is a drawing of what democracy looks like just before it is eaten by a whale. For extra credit, name the type of government that would have been depicted if the whale were about to eat a group of clerics who claimed to be ruling according to the principles of a particular ideology or deity.

Also, it's now July, which means Isaac Cates and Mike Wenthe's time with us has reached its end. Big thanks again to both of them for being our guests. Let's wave goodbye with an encore of "Faculty Meeting:"

With us for the next month is Chadwick Whitehead. Here's "Speed," in which no one can stop a man-cheetah from exhaling modern transportation:

Thank-yous also to Mr. Whitehead; we're glad to have you on board. You make me wish I could breathe planes.

Head to Head 6

2009-06-29T21:33:00.000-07:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: Head to Head 6.

We sat at a table for a while

2009-06-29T21:16:00.000-07:00

...So the Brooklyn Zinefest was a good thing. Thanks to everyone who came by to say hi to and buy stuff from John and me, and to the organizers, and to Six Point Crafts Ales for being a sponsor and selling cups of themselves at the front of the room, which helped a slow section of Saturday afternoon pass more quickly. Hurray!
...uh, oh, yeah, also DUB pies, another sponsor, are awesome. I used to get them all the time for lunch when I worked here and DUB was right around the corner. I regret I am unable to report on the crisp, refreshing taste of Minuteman Press or the compact meaty goodness of the Brooklyn Creative League.

(picture from BK Lyceum's flickr stream)

Head to Head 5

2009-06-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: Head to Head 5.

Paping and Partyka at NYC Zine Fest

2009-06-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

This next weekend, John Mejias and I are gonna be exhibiting at the NYC Zine Fest. John spent weeks making the new issue of Paping, an all-prints extravaganza that will smack your gob eight ways from Sunday. I ran some of my comics through the copy machine again. We are like Goofus and Gallant, if they appeared in some magazine for people in their thirties instead of Highlights.

The Zine Fest runs from 12 noon to 7 pm on Saturday the 27th and Sunday the 28th at the Brooklyn Lyceum, just off the Union Street R stop. Come say hi! We're your pals.

Head to Head 4

2009-06-21T20:07:00.000-07:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: Head to Head 4.

Head to Head 3

2009-06-18T21:20:00.001-07:00

New daily drawing now up at Partyka: Head to Head 3.

Head to Head 2

2009-06-13T23:39:00.000-07:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: Head to Head 2.

Head to Head 1

2009-06-10T23:40:00.000-07:00

Now up at Partyka: Head to Head 1.

Guest Panel

2009-06-10T23:29:00.000-07:00

Now up at Partyka: Guest Panel....this was drawn at a ramen restaurant in the East Village as a guest panel for Jesse Reklaw's diary strip. You can see the whole thing by clicking on this sentence.

I am the hundredth person to note that MoCCA was hot.

Thanks to Jesse for asking me to be a guest artist, to John, Sean, Shawn, Adrienne and Roger for company behind the table, and to everybody who stopped by to say hi or to say nice things or to give me a carrot cupcake. You're all too kind.

The Vulgar Almanac

2009-05-29T22:15:00.000-07:00

Now up at Partyka: The Vulgar Almanac.

Missing Frisbees

2009-05-26T23:22:00.000-07:00

New daily drawing at Partyka: Missing Frisbees.
...made in Schuylkill River Park while watching a less-than-ept game of Ultimate.

Your Mom, Teleported

2009-05-20T21:13:00.001-07:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka, after Zak's post: Your Mother, Teleported to Afghanistan. It is the Art Of Enthusiasm! Later, or someday, or something: Ghostbusters. Ninjas.

The taliban won't understand your mother's shorts

2009-05-20T06:51:00.000-07:00

Zak wrote a thing on his blog and I like it and I'm linking to it.

"Imagine for a minute that your mother is teleported to a Taliban-controlled village in Afghanistan. She’s probably not wearing a veil. She might even be wearing shorts. The Taliban, naturally, will probably be upset. Or maybe not, they might laugh--"Hah, woman! Your attempt to seduce us is laughable!". Either way, though, they'll be mistaken if they think this is a deliberate attempt on your mother's part to provoke or tempt or doing anything to them. This is just what happens when someone is transferred immediately from the orbit of one culture into the orbit of another."

Look Out For The Arm Hole

2009-05-18T21:45:00.001-07:00

Okay, new daily drawing up at Partyka: Look Out For The Arm Hole. Other new drawings up behind that one.

Also, I should mention that our guest artist for May is Juliacks, maker of "Swell" and other nice things. Here's "Martha is Dreaming Awake:"

Also, I went to TCAF and had a very nice time, although I'm not sure I did much but marvel at the Toronto Reference Library, eat four cheeseburgers and hang around with our Canadian allies. John took some pictures, which might prove I did something else, if he sends them to me. Who knows. Matt, when you are in another country, remember to do more things and to keep better records.

Crime Phrasebook

2009-04-26T21:43:00.000-07:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: Crime Phrasebook.

I accidentally typed "Crime Phrimebook" my first time titling this post. Is there such a thing as a reverse sniglet: a word that should have a meaning but lacks one? I ask because I am planning on writing a newspaper column that collects such words, to be published from the threadbare underground bunker of the last remaining newspaper. It'll be like "The End Of Radio" by Shellac, but with syndicated comics, Hints From Heloise, and Reverse Sniglets.

Four Bears of the Apocalypse

2009-04-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

New Daily Drawing up at Partyka: Four Bears of the Apocalypse.

Looking at this a few days after I drew it, it occurs to me that the bears need transport. The original heralds of the apocalypse were four "horsemen," after all, not four "gentlemen standing around." These bears should all be pedaling grim tricycles. Anyway, yeah, hindsight is one of the tools we have to hone our craft, and bears are the things we draw to fill our days.

I felt like drawing a Ghostbuster, ok.

2009-04-20T22:53:00.000-07:00

New daily drawings up at Partyka, again. Here's one:
By the way, Joey Weiser continues being a lovely guest at the House of Partyka. Here is his bad-ass Mothra-As-Snoopy (click to enlarge, because you can't see the extremely pleasant half-tone effect at this smaller size.):

I've had "Koyaanisqatsi" running in a hidden tab on my browser while I've been doing image-and-site-editing for the past hour, because it's up for free on Youtube and I thought "hey, a repetitive Philip Glass score will be enjoyable during repetitive grunt work," but it's mostly been irritating. I guess it's kind of fun to guess whether each slight change in the looping music and the monks-in-space vocals signifies a slow-motion shot of, like, nature or of dudes smelting things, but on the whole it has been way less rewarding than the time I folded my laundry to it five years ago. I am probably not approaching the work in the correct spirit.

Yrs,
MW.

Authors vs. Terminators

2009-04-08T06:37:00.000-07:00

"Kingsley Amis, Martin’s father, was a big fan of Terminator 2. He said it was an unimpeachable masterpiece. If you’re someone who believes in the sentimental idea of the afterlife, it’s amusing to imagine [David Foster] Wallace and Kingsley Amis arguing about it."

-from this, an interview with Glenn Kenney about David Foster Wallace's film writing.
-Oh, also, Wallace speaks his piece on T2 here.

Status Report

2009-03-20T14:13:00.001-07:00

New daily drawing up on Partyka: Status Report.

Warm up with tiny ones for your cats and plants

2009-03-14T17:42:00.000-07:00

THANK YOU, SCHIFFER PUBLISHING:
Although, watch out, according to this user comment on Amazon: "I have built one of the coffins following the directions in the book. Some measurements are missing, and some are not correct. This cost me in materials and time."

Time that you are running out of.

(Found via boing boing.)

It is going to be a bad year

2009-03-14T17:23:00.001-07:00

New daily drawing up on Partyka: It Is Going To Be A Bad Year.
This is a drawing about how it is going to be a bad year.

Dustin Harbin also has his third set of "Heaven" drawings up in the guest gallery section on the site, so you can navigate to there and look at things.

Biscuits Van Helsing, Vampire Hunter

2009-03-09T21:04:00.001-07:00

New daily drawing up on Partyka: Biscuits Van Helsing, Vampire Hunter.

Thanks, Interactive Maps!

2009-03-05T21:19:00.000-08:00

Happy Philadelphia Beer Week!

Here is a map of places to get beer:
http://phillybeerweek.org/map_philly.cfm

----------------------

Happy Philadelphia Cherry Blossom Festival!

After you get beer, here is a map of trees you can pee on:
http://jasgp.org/cherryblossomfestival/index.php/About-Cherry-Trees/Cherry-Tree-Planting-Sites.html

Bites Spread The Infection/Heaven

2009-03-05T21:12:00.000-08:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: Bites Spread the Infection.

Also, Dustin Harbin now has his first set of "Heaven" images up: Lumberjack Heaven.

Whee!

Thanks, Olga/Hi, Dustin

2009-03-02T16:28:00.001-08:00

A huge thank-you, again, to Olga Volozova for being our guest at Partyka for the month of February. Here's a bit from her "Baba Yaga in Santa Monica:"

Coming up in two days is Dustin Harbin, who'll be rolling out a Partyka-exclusive* set of visions of Heaven that will knock your socks off. Color us flattered.**

*well, for March. When convention season rolls around, it will become an incredible mini.
**a sort of seafoam-green. Like envy, but self-directed, as if you could not believe that something so awesome was happening to you.

Solve Your Problems/Plague Carriers

2009-03-02T16:24:00.000-08:00

New daily drawings are up at Partyka. Here are the two most recent: Solve Your Problems and Plague Carriers.

Pink Meteor 2

2009-02-14T16:14:00.000-08:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: Pink Meteor 2.

Knife Salesman/I Went To A Puppet Show

2009-02-05T20:12:00.001-08:00

New daily drawings up at Partyka, including today's, Knife Salesman.

In other news, I went up to Brooklyn two weeks ago for the Paping Puppet Show at Desert Island. John hauled the pieces of his puppet theater down from the Bronx in a mind-bendingly small sedan, and then Sean, Adrienne and I helped assemble the thing.

Here are John and Sean talking about how to make the thing stand up. Adrienne's hand is visible at left.

Here is John performing the actual labor required to make a puppet theater stand up. By the way, when I say I "helped," I actually mean "Gabe let me eat a burrito in his store." Thanks, Gabe!

(this image taken from blockmagazine.com)

Following is a picture of the theater as assembled. Most of the action takes place against the backdrop at the very top, with title cards and some supplemental puppeting happening in those recessed square bits on the front face. It's three acts performed to prerecorded narration, music and effects; it's all sorts of charming.

Here's the population of the shop after the show ended. You can see they've been charmed.

Sean and Shawn talking to Peter, the source for the story behind the show's second act:

In the proud Partyka tradition of fucking-around-ery, here's me taking a picture of a mugging Mr. Cheng while Mr. McCarthy tries to cram all the puppet show bits back into John's car.

After the show ended, we ate at the renovated Kellogg's Diner, which wasn't half bad. We also got into a digital camera duel with Roger, who was sitting a few booths down. This is a picture of him taking a picture of us:

Good times. Then I got onto a bus for two hours.

Our February Guest: Olga Volozova

2009-02-04T22:27:00.000-08:00

New on Partyka this week: our February guest Olga Volozova, whose book "The Airy Tales" came out from Sparkplug not long ago. Here's a page from "Mukumaka Lives in the Rain:"

...also, thanks again to Damien Jay for guest daily-drawing in December and January.

Scott Pilgrim is a Verb

2009-01-30T09:50:00.000-08:00

...Scott Pilgrim is a doing word.

(via perpetua)

-Baby, I am going to Scott Pilgrim you all night long.

-I Scott Pilgrim the taste of a fresh pizza.

-I used to Scott Pilgrim Radiohead, but lately do not find myself interested in their music.

(library school/back pain/poor work ethic no new drawings yet sorrysorrysorry)

Ken Erdedy

2009-01-21T21:15:00.000-08:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: Ken Erdedy (Where was the woman who said she'd come.).

"He had never been so anxious for the arrival of a woman he did not want to see."

Two mighty prongs

2009-01-17T11:30:00.000-08:00

The Flying Vee:

The best hair in comics.

(pictured: Dagwood Bumstead, Astro Boy, Wolverine, the Boss, Clem. All copyrights their respective holders, etc.)

Hal Incandenza (Year of Glad)

2009-01-17T11:07:00.000-08:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: Hal Incandenza (Year of Glad).
Let's see how this goes.

Subsidized New Year:

2009-01-12T20:47:00.000-08:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: Subsidized New Year.

(I just remembered that 2009 is probably the Year of The Depend Adult Undergarment from Infinite Jest. It's one of my favorite books, it meant the world to me in college, and I still re-read chunks of it regularly. There.)

That Bunny Owes Me A Leg

2009-01-08T20:03:00.000-08:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: That Bunny Owes Me A Leg.

John Mejias is an indie heartthrob

2009-01-06T12:08:00.001-08:00

Your friend and mine, John Mejias, has an interview up with Bookslut about Paping #16: The Teacher's Edition.

Also, John and very special guests will be performing Paping Pop-up-Theater at Desert Island in Brooklyn on Sunday, Jan. 25th at 4 p.m. You want to go to there.

What Country?

2009-01-05T21:21:00.001-08:00

New daily drawing up on Partyka: What Country?

New Year

2009-01-02T14:01:00.000-08:00

Happy 2009, everybody.

This year, let's get out there and fuck some Smurfs.

MCD Holiday Card

2008-12-25T13:21:00.000-08:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: MCD Holiday Card.

Merry season, etc. to everybody.

3-pack

2008-12-20T06:09:00.000-08:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: Hitler 3-pack.

Ack th oop

2008-12-17T21:33:00.000-08:00

So the site's updated. "Sketchbook" by Damien is up now.

I filled in some blank time with things. Here are hands:

It's not that cold inside, but I just realized I've left my hat on all night.

Some days it's a miracle I get anything done at all.

Happy Birthday Hana

2008-12-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

Right, so, a big welcome to Hana Cheng, who was born Dec. 2:

(artist's conception)

Hana, you probably won't receive this until you are old enough to Google yourself, but good luck out there.

Also: congratulations to Shawn Cheng and Yuka Suzuki, two of my very favorite people.

Partyka's December Guest: Damien Jay

2008-12-02T07:25:00.000-08:00

Hello, and welcome to December! Partyka's guest artist this month is Damien Jay, the guy behind The Natural World and other sweet minicomics. Here's his first contribution to the Daily Drawings rotation, Root Clutch:

Additionally, thanks to our awesome guest artists from the past few months, Danica Novgorodoff, Minty Lewis and Idiots' Books, whom I neglected to mention here when the tops of their respective months rolled around. Having had them as guests on Partyka fills me with uplift, or "elevation."

R&J Pitch 1

2008-11-21T22:17:00.000-08:00

New daily drawing up on Partyka: Romeo & Juliet Pitch 1.

The backlog has been filled in with colorful things. We hope to continue on a more regular basis, but the production line at Wieglecorp must occasionally halt to make time for union-mandated shooting-ourselves-in-the-foot-over-and-over.

It Am Your Father's Club-On-Fire

2008-10-20T22:19:00.001-07:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: It Am Your Father's Club-On-Fire.

Matt Wiegle, Greeting Card Mogul

2008-10-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: Greeting Card Mogul.

They Fought A Running Engagement/Midnight In The Empire

2008-10-09T06:13:00.000-07:00

I'm in an art show at Fredericks Freiser Gallery in NYC that's opening this weekend. It has a guy's head blowing up in it:
The gallery's got two rooms: in the front will be "Midnight in the Empire," Zak Smith's solo show. Then, in the back, there'll be a show of collaborative drawing projects, which I'm in, and where you'll be able to see that guy's head explode in all its 11"x14" glory. Anyway, here's some text and images from Partyka explaining it:

" Come see what Zak Smith has been up to in the City of Angels – his solo show Midnight in the Empire opens October 10. As a bonus, two ongoing collaborative projects will be unveiled:

On the Road of Knives...
The "battle blog" wherein Zak Smith, Shawn Cheng, and Nicholas Di Genova take turns drawing monsters fighting each other.

Six Versions of Blood Meridian
The heretofore "secret project" taking the one-picture-for-each-page treatment to Cormac McCarthy's violent masterpiece. Features Zak Smith, Sean McCarthy, John Mejias, Craig Taylor, Shawn Cheng, and Matt Wiegle.

Opening Reception
Friday, October 10, 6–8pm
See you there!"

Alright Okay Alright

2008-10-08T21:04:00.000-07:00

New Daily Drawing up on Partyka: I Think It Exists....and the backlog's caught up on again, and our guest this month is Minty Lewis. Who is great.

A Warning For Hippies

2008-08-27T04:55:00.000-07:00

New Daily Drawing up at Partyka: A Warning For Hippies.

Ninja Archimedes

2008-08-22T08:23:00.000-07:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: Ninja Archimedes.

Ninja Gregor Mendel

2008-08-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: Ninja Gregor Mendel.

King of the Bench

2008-08-10T08:01:00.001-07:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: King of the Bench.

Ye Gods

2008-08-08T15:35:00.000-07:00

Some days you get up, all set to draw a guy in furs on a mountainside, and then you look at your RSS feed and realize that Milton Caniff nuked you decades before you were even born:
(image via Satisfactory Comics)

Ninjas ninjas!

2008-08-05T20:41:00.000-07:00

New Daily Drawing up at Partyka: Ninja Program-Related Activities 2. Henry, you get your wish while I figure out what I'm doing with these markers I got.

Paping Soap Box Derby Dead.

2008-08-05T07:51:00.001-07:00

This blows.

I'm sorry John. Thanks for all the work you did trying to make this happen.

Our August Guest: Chris Wright

2008-08-04T07:33:00.001-07:00

Partyka's guest artist for August is the excellent Chris Wright, who draws an elliptical tooth-filled mouth like no one's business, and writes a mean story about drunk/aging/dissolute artists to boot. Here's a panel from his series "Familiar Drunkards:"
His drawings will be appearing on the front page every four days, and you can view a gallery of his work at this link. (also you can buy his book, Inkweed, from Sparkplug).

Thanks for being our guest, Chris!

Ninjas (in color)

2008-08-02T14:02:00.000-07:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: Ninja Program-Related Activities.

Man vs. Fly

2008-07-30T06:03:00.001-07:00

Oh, right: new drawings up at Partyka: Man vs. Fly is the latest.

July's Partyka Guest: Matt Kish

2008-07-09T07:23:00.000-07:00

I should mention that the guest daily drawer on Partyka for July is our pal Matt Kish of spudd64. His contribution: a gallery of hypothetical "Robot Masters" from a world where Mega Man is even more wonderful than it already is.

(This is "Brass Man.")

Thanks, Matt!

Company Man

2008-07-08T21:26:00.000-07:00

New daily drawing up at Partyka: Company Man.