Ink and Thunder

Aspects

2009-07-17T00:36:00.002-04:00

Three panels from a new short story I'm working on! :D I inked this with a #2 Windsor & Newton series 7 brush, and india ink. I think in the end this story will total around 20 pages, although I might add some title pages to extend it to full 22 page issue length! I'm really pleased with these pages so far.

This is part of the "Wolves" story which I posted the first page to a while back.

SDCC 09

2009-07-13T18:56:00.007-04:00

I'll be with Cliff Chiang, JIll Thompson, and Brian Wood will at booth #1322! I'll have some of my self-published books including my new and improved 2009 sketchbook, my graphic novel Minis, and the last of the self publisehd Pixu books! I will also have a set of four limited edition screenprints, 6x9, for $20. It's gonna be pretty rad! Totally can't wait!

Here's the rest of my schedule! Some good stuff going on this San Diego.

THURSDAY

1:00 pm -2:00 pm
Signing at the Vertigo booth (#1915)

FRIDAY

1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
After the First 1,000 Pages (Room 10)
It takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at something. Art teachers say that you have to make 100,000 bad drawings before you can make a good one. Gene Colan (Tomb of Dracula), Becky Cloonan (Demo), Zander Cannon (Top 10), Roger Langridge (The Muppet Show Comic Book), and Matt Kindt (Super Spy) will discuss how they've developed as artists since their early work and the creative breakthroughs that took them a while to reach. Moderated by Douglas Wolk (Reading Comics).

4:00 pm -5:00 pm
Signing at the Vertigo booth (#1915)

SATURDAY

11:00 am -12:00 am -
Women in Manga (Room 24A)
Newsflash! Women read manga! We all know that teenage girls have been driving much of the manga boom, but did you know that women are making massive contributions to fandom, the industry, and beyond? Moderated by Eva Volin, this panel will feature Leyla Aker, Deb Aoki, Robin Brenner, Becky Cloonan, Lillian Diaz-Przybyl, and JuYoun Lee as they discuss the state of women in the manga industry, female fans within the manga community, and just where women go from here in supporting and advocating for the media they love.

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Signing at the Vertigo booth (#1915)

4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Signing at the Dark Horse booth (#2615)
Gerard Way, Becky Cloonan, Shaun Simon (New Project Announcement)

SUNDAY

12:00 pm- 1:00 pm
Signing at the Dark Horse booth (#2615)
Fábio Moon, Gabriel Bá, Becky Cloonan, Vasilis Lolos (PIXU Signing)

2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Signing at the Vertigo booth (#1915)

Comic Attack 55-- wait a minute...

2009-07-13T00:14:00.003-04:00

What the fuck??? How did she do this??!?! AMY REEDER HADLEY TOOK CONTROL OF MY COMIC STRIP??!?! GAGHHH!!! Why that sneaky....

Everybody, please give it up for my first Comic Attack guest artist- Amy is currently drawing Madame Xanadu, written by Matt Wagner and published by Vertigo, which you should all be reading!!! We are also currently beefing. Just you wait until next week, Amy!!!!

A blur of a week

2009-07-12T11:49:00.005-04:00

Many things happened of note this week

First, PIXU, of course! Finally came out from Dark Horse after weeks of somebody (not sure who!) was listing fake dates to confuse and startle me. I'm terribly proud of this book, not only because of the fun I had making it with Fábio, Gabriel and Vasilis, but also the production that went into the collected edition from Dark Horse is just beautiful! I've never had a book of mine look this good, and feel so complete in it's entirety that I can't help but smile about it. I'm really pleased.

Second, new tattoo! My buddy Kattan hooked it up, who used to work on St. Marks place, but now he only makes house calls. He is ridiculously good at what he does. This was my birthday present to myself, and yeah, one day I'll post a pic of it but for now I'm letting it heal.

Third, Asian American Comic Con! This was held on Saturday at Centre Street in Chinatown, at the Museum of Chinese in America. The building I think was newly renovated, and I'm not sure that the Museum is open to the public yet because there was still work to be done on the interior, but it was a beautiful space! And even though it was a small event, there were some heavy hitting guests including Derek Kirk Kim, Cliff Chiang, Christine Norrie and my good friend Robin Ha! Hwan and I walked around and sat in on some panels, hung out and checked out the artists who were exhibiting. It was a great show, I hope they continue it.

Fourth, VAMPS! I went to see Vamps at Irving Plaza last night. I'm a big fan of L'arc En Ciel, but Vamps I think is more my taste. It was also great to see K.A.Z. on guitar. They played a great set. The crowd was kind of weird, and there were a fair amount of nerds (I'm using the word in a negative sense), but it was still pretty rockin. I did feel a little old, but whatever. At least I wasn't wearing cat ears and a mesh shirt.

Fifth, COMIC CON. omg this one needs it's own post. I'll gather all of my information and post about this one tomorrow.

Comic Attack 54

2009-07-06T02:14:00.004-04:00

Damn that Amy Reeder Hadley! First she spread horrible rumors about what happened at MoCCA, and now she used magic against me! Totally unfair, seriously!!!

M is for Monsters

2009-07-04T11:15:00.002-04:00

Did this yesterday, I spruced it up a bit for the internet with the red and white and olive; in real life it's going to a monatone stamp- I love stamps- for the packaging of my Monster silk screens (see my previous post) that I'm doign for comic con.

I want to make stamps out of everything. So much fun!

Could you love a monster man?

2009-07-03T01:59:00.004-04:00

So you're like, oh my god becky, you keep using the same color schemes lately? What the hell is up? And I'm all like, oh my god, i'm like totally making a limited series of silk screens for comic con!

Set of four:
6x9, Three color process
Limited to 100
Signed, numbered, stamped and enveloped.

I'll post more info on comic con and goodies like this later- for now, I'm gonna go sleep. I just finished up another issue of Demo, and I feel like I deserve some shut-eye.

Interview with the K.G.B. online!

2009-07-01T12:37:00.004-04:00

Here it is: the K.G.B.'s first magazine interview, in the July 1995 edition of TOO HOT magaine! This gives a glimpse of the very beginning of the journey this legendary musical group is about to embark on. Read it all on Estrigious.com/KGB!

PIXU up for a Harvey!!!

2009-07-01T04:08:00.003-04:00

This is awesome!

~ Best Anthology ~ PIXU #1 (by Becky Cloonan, Vasilis Lolos, Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá)

(Also, Pixu related- according to Amazon it comes out today, July 1st? We'll see about that!)

I totally voted for us today XD Puahaha, I couldn't help it! I was excited. Congrats to all the nominees, including Gabriel Ba (who is cleaning up this year!), Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly on FINALLY getting a nod for their gorgeous fucking book LOCAL (shits ridiculous), and my fellow studio-mate STEVE ELLIS who draws High Moon for Zuda. He sits kind of diagonal from me, and he's an art maniac.

Yeah basically I love comics and in my eyes, we all win because we all love comics! Is that too mushy of me to say? Whatever, it's totally true!

It's also 4 AM! What the hell am I still doing up? Oh yeah, updating my website. Bah!

Comic Attack 53

2009-06-29T12:21:00.001-04:00

Bring in the Sirens

2009-06-27T01:07:00.003-04:00

Cut off their tongues
Ignore their cries

Note from Iranian comics author Marjane Satrapi:

2009-06-25T11:34:00.003-04:00

In my inbox this morning:

Dear Friends

To all who beleive in freedom and dememocracy
Please sign this petition to United Nation to stop the violence, arrestations and torture in Iran.
The situation is really really bad.

Please forward it to whoever you know
Best and lots of love
Marjane Satrapi

http://www.petitiononline.com/12June/petition.html

Feel free to Forward, Retweet, Blog this, etc.

ITS MY FUCKIN BIRTHDAYYY!!!

2009-06-23T02:15:00.002-04:00

I drew this thing!!! YAHHH

Comic Attack 52

2009-06-22T00:06:00.003-04:00

Anybody who doesn't get this needs to go watch Beastmaster, like stat.

I skipped last monday because last week was just so stupid. But my cold is almost gone and I'm going to the DMV to get a new drivers license tomorrow, oh yay I can't wait. It's okay though, Kodo and Podo are coming with me.

Wolves

2009-06-20T02:13:00.005-04:00

Title page to a short story I'm working on, about 18-20 pages. I've been doing this between other pages off and on for the past month or so, I guess you could say I'm a two-timer? Sometimes three or four timer actually, as the case may be this summer.

So this comic has two titles, you'll notice one in Japanese, might translate roughly to "a brutal person" so it's kind of a play on words. I'll be going to Comitia convention in Japan this November, and myself and a few others are putting together a small book to be translated and printed, to have for the con! It's black and white, and should be a lot of fun! I have no idea what other people are doing, or even how many others are in the book, so don't ask me this right now. I'm still working on mine.

This was a wicked shitty week for me, and to top it off I caught a cold!!! Things have been going in a better direction for the last few days though, and I'm hoping next week will be better. I did have some company over for a few days though, so to Ben Zhu, and Amy & Kazu Kibuishi- sorry if I was a grouch!! XD Even though I'm sick I'm still pretty pumped for comics right now.

What people are saying...

2009-06-13T11:40:00.003-04:00

Amazon's Omnivoracious blogger Alex Carr had some great things to say about the hardcover PIXU collection Dark Horse is publishing.

Pixu is a four-way collaborative Horror comic, and it works. The level at which Pixu crept under my skin was unexpected. It’s practically summer! Horror never seems as scary to me when the days are longer, and the weather brightens. But Pixu has that humid, claustrophobic feel to it. It’s all tight spaces and long moments of silence, when everyone seems to be waiting on something to inch close. And when the violence comes, it punctuates. The five terrorized tenants in Pixu should have the natural inclination to flee when things start going very wrong in their living quarters, but they are all compelled to stare just a minute longer into that abyss and watch it creep.

Read the full article HERE.

Pixu: The Mark of Evil hits shelves JUNE 17th!!! Pixu is by Becky Cloonan, Fabio Moon, Gabriel Ba and Vasilis Lolos. This hardcover edition (and it is beautiful, if I do say so myself!) is the collection of Pixu I and Pixu II, which we self-published one year ago.

VITAL STATS:
$17.95, 129 pages
ISBN-10: 1595823409

Lastly, I'd like to point your attention to Comic Book Resources' review of Buffy: Tales of the Vampires. Greg McElhatton writes (and gives us four of five stars!):

I expected to like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Vampires," but I didn't expect to love it as much as I did. For such a simple story, Cloonan and Lolos have done an excellent job. If they want to do more "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Vampires" one-shots, I'd definitely buy them.

So I've been getting a lot of positive feedback from this issue! I went into it being a little unsure of myself, but now writing is definitely something I'm going to pursue more seriously in the future. I've also read a few reviews of this Buffy issue that really get the subtleties and symbolism, so I'm pretty happy about that. Makes me feel like I did something right!

So that's it for now, I'm pretty excited to have two books out in the last two weeks! Now, it's back to the drawing board... literally.

Comic Attack 51

2009-06-08T12:21:00.003-04:00

Needless to say, MoCCA WAS FULL OF ACTION!!!
DAAAMMNN YOOOUU AAAAMMYY!!!

MoCCA, 2009!

2009-06-07T23:33:00.005-04:00

Here's the report! I had a great time at this convention, even though it was held in a different location- the 25th st Lexington Armory, versus the previous year's Puck Building on Houston St. I really liked the Puck Building, though I was usually downstairs where it was cooler, I just like the neighborhood better. There are better bars, better restaurants, and more people who are likely to walk in off the street. The Armory was really stuffy, and lacked circulation so I got really light headed by the end of each day. And nobody wanted to hug each other because we were all too sweaty, ew.

There was also a snafu at the start of the con on Saturday, it opened an hour or so late. I'm not sure why, and I honestly wouldn't have known (I thought it was just really slow for the first half hour until somebody told me.) So I'm not sure what's up. Liz Baillie has some good thoughts on this, and the rest of the con.

Having the con in one big building kind of reminded me of APE, which was cool. It was nice to have everyone in one room, but I couldn't tell if it was larger or smaller than last year. Another difference I noticed was that it seemed like there were more comics this year. MoCCA is one of my favorite shows, but sometimes it feels too arts and craftsy- don't get me wrong, I love that stuff and I think it's great to do things besides comics, but sometimes I'd walk around and it was almost like the comics were being outnumbered by the other stuff. Whatevs I guess, it's still awesome- but this year, there were TONS of comics. EVERYBODY had a comic. It was so rad, I felt like this unprecedented surge of cartooning energy this year. Was that just me? Maybe it was the lack of oxygen to the brain...

Anyway, I was pumped. I bought so much shit, and I got some cool trades and some awesome gifts! Here's a photo with a bunch of it- I still haven't unpacked my suitcase so it's not all of them, but this is a good chunk!!

Here's a short list of some of the stuff (I got so much...):

Passenger Cahier by Alexis Ziritt- An amazing book of illustrations. Alexis works wonders with a brush! Alexis does work with Calavera Comics, they come to MoCCA every year and I look forward to their new books. I picked up a copy of Mekano Turbo from them this year, an anthology with a lot of juice!

Jardin Des Lunettes (A Megane Comic Anthology) by Kris Mukai, Dani Pigeon, Hilary Florido, Ada Price, Kat Mukai & Kim Hoang- Great collection of four short stories about lesbians with glasses in uniform! Beautiful silk screen cover, and each story is perfect. Love this!

Fågelhjärta by Sofia Falkenhem- Sofia was in from Sweden, and her silent story of a couple of foxes and a girl in a mask is touching and macabre in all the right ways!

Beyond the Canopy by Jonathan Griffiths- Jonathan graduated from SVA this year (and my class!) and it's great to see him continue the cutest story I've ever read about the adventures of Glenn, a little Sprigg who starts on an amazing adventure. Read the webcomic here!

Pierrot Lunaire by Antoine Dodé- Antoine is awesome. We met at TCAF last month, and I was really impressed with his work. He came to MoCCA with a preview comic of his book in English, which I'm really grateful for because I failed French. His work is seriously awesome, go check it out!

Flamingo Island by Hanni Brosh- I had Hanni last year at SVA as well, and she's amazing. Flamingo Island was her comic for class, and I'm glad to see it come to fruition! Hanni has a lot of talent, keep your eye on her!

Piracy is Liberation by Mattias Elftorp- Mattias caught me at the end of the day on Sunday, and I felt pretty bad because I didn't remember him right away from last year- but that changed once he showed me his work! He gave me books 3 through 6 of his series, to match 1 and 2 which I got last year. He's working on volume 7, so I hope he can make it again next year so we can trade :) Or maybe I'll just have to hit a convention in Sweden!

Prince Valiant Vol. I by Hal Foster- I don't even need to explain myself, it's Prince Valiant! This is a gorgeous new edition, collected in hardcover with the print quality we can expect from such a fine publisher as Fantagraphics! How could I resist?

Winters in Lavelle Chapter One, by Kasey Van Hise- Kasey was another student of mine who started a webcomic in class! I wasn't able to help much because I don't know much about webcomics, but she's really talented and picked it up right away :) She updates Lavelle twice a week, it's definitely worth checking out! I fell in love with the world Kasey was creating right away, plus I am a sucker for epic fantasy! Read her comic here!

Seks Sultne Menn by Bendik Von Kaltenborn- The guys at Dongery tried to warn me that this book was in Norwegian, but little did they know that I had picked this book up years ago at SPX, in English! To have one of my favorite mini comics printed oversize with a beautiful cover in the original language was too much to resist. I love it. The English title was Six Hungry Men. It's a murderously good story of a bunch of guys at a fat camp in the mountains. Love it.

And in case you were wondering what that weird shape is in that photo up there: I have a sword. It's Jason's. You know, the Argonaut. Comics are Serious Melee Business.

So that's that! I would talk about all the awesome people that I met, talked with and hung out with, but I'm pooped from writing all that shit up there!!! Now I'm so pumped with pure comic fury that I'm gonna draw until I pass out. Which will be in a few minutes, I'm fucking tired!!!

Three cheers for MoCCA!!!! GOOOO COOOMMMICCSSS!!!

The Moment of Truth (and webcomics!)

2009-06-06T23:26:00.006-04:00

I am pleased to announce (well, we announced it earlier today at MoCCA...) that Hwan and I have started a new webcomic called- drumroll, please- K.G.B.! It will begin on September 9th, 2009 and run every Wednesday until the first season is over. In the meantime, check out our KGB preview page over at Estrigious.com/KGB, and check back often for new updates and more info on the series. We'll reveal more as time leads up to it's release!

As posted by Hwan at ESTRIGIOUS.COM:

For those that stopped by our table at MoCCA today...

Becky and I are proud to announce K.G.B., a new weekly web comic which will be launched on September 9, 2009. For those that stuck with Estrigious all these years knows that this has been ten years in the making and we'll make sure nobody will be disappointed! Stop by our table tomorrow if you want a piece of the K.G.B. love!

I think the pictures says it all: Drama! Love! Blood! Dance! AWESOME HAIR!?!?!?

Like Hwan said, this webcomic is almost ten years in the making. We thought of the idea in the 90's while we were in college, but back then it wasn't as much of a period piece as it is now. We are really psyched on this comic, and we know you will be too. So stay tuned!!!

THE BATTLE OF MOCCA 2009

2009-06-04T10:16:00.005-04:00

It's that time of year again! Mocca is right around the corner, June 6-7th! I hope you're all ready :)

Here's the low-down. I'll be at table 506 with Melissa DeJesus and Hwan Cho- We have some amazingly huge banners, and we're right by the entrance so we should be easy to find!

Of course I'll have the usual, copies of most of my published and self-published books, as well as some silk screens and prints. I even printed up a new edition of my sketchbook! Oh and the news of the weekend- Hwan and I will also be announcing OUR NEW WEBCOMIC!!! Oh yeah, that's right! So stop by, pick up a postcard and see what it's all about :D

Also, I won't be doing much sketching at my table, however Saturday I will be sketching at the Mocca table from 11:00-12:00, and Sunday I will be signing at the Vertigo table from 12:00-1:00. So if you were hoping to get a sketch, try to catch me during those times!

Right next to us at table 507 is Eve Grandt, Robin Ha and Vanessa Satone as well, should be a good time!

Also, MOCCA is the last U.S. convention I'll be doing this year besides San Diego Comic Con- usually I do SPX and APE, but not this year. More about that later.

Oh yeah~ Don't forget that Mocca is at a different space than usual! It's at the Lexington Avenue Armory (fancy!), between 25th and 26th st. So excited.

SIGNING WEDNESDAY WITH BRIAN WOOD!!!

2009-06-02T08:36:00.004-04:00

Wednesday, June 3
6pm-8pm
@ Jim Hanley's Universe
4 West 33rd St, New York
(opposite The Empire State Building)

Come say hi, and get a copy of Buffy: Tales of the Vampires! :D Oh yeah, it comes out June 3rd as well!!! Written by me, Drawn by Vasilis Lolos, with cover by Jo Chen, and alternate cover by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba! Colors by Dave Stewart! WOO!

Um.... That's it! Will update with info about Mocca later :D

Comic Attack 50

2009-06-01T12:10:00.002-04:00

BookExpo and Jim Hanley's signings!

2009-05-27T10:37:00.001-04:00

Friday May 29th
I'll be at BookExpo America at the Javitz Center in NYC, signing at the Dark Horse Booth (#2759)
4:00 - 5:00
I'm pretty excited, I've never gone to a Book Expo, so I'm looking forward to walking around and checking it out. I just bought like 4 books a few weeks ago though, so I have to try to not get too many more books or else I'll never get around to reading them! But I love books! What a dilemma.

Wednesday June 3rd
I'm signing at Jim Hanley's Universe in NYC (4 West 33rd St, opposite The Empire State Building) for the release of the new Buffy one-shot: Tales of the Vampires!! Which I wrote!
Starts at 6:00.

Comic Attack 49

2009-05-25T12:48:00.000-04:00

Estrigious: 10 year anniversary!!!

2009-05-23T11:37:00.006-04:00

I'd like to wish myself, Melissa DeJesus and Hwan Cho a big congratulations on our website ESTRIGIOUS DOT COM being 10 years old this year!!! To celebrate, we'll have a table at Mocca, where Hwan and I will be announcing our new webcomic series, to start syndication in September!! :D

Look for our banner there! (Pencils by me, Inks by Hwan, Colors by Melissa!). We've been updating the main page of our site with reviews, news and info on our work. 100% thanks for those of you who have followed our site over the years!

Estrigious is:
Melissa DeJesus
Becky Cloonan (me!)
Hwan Cho