From The Archives 2

Recently I handed over a rather sizable stack (say, roughly 1/6) of Devil Doll artwork for a small exhibition (of which a fraction will be shown). While organizing the other piles I came across this study for a barmaid character and one of the many panels that she eventually appeared in. Though not appearing in print, as this art was later scrapped for an entirely rewritten and redrawn third chapter. Other fragments from this chapter are littered about in the blog. While these particular pieces will not be in the show, a large amount of other original material will be, some previously seen in Mome and some that never made it in. More details on the show soon.

The Final Issue of Mome Now Available For Pre-order

Looks like Mome 22 is finally ready for pre-order. This is the final issue of the anthology and clocks in at 240 or so pages. If there was ever an issue to start with, it would be this one as it has nearly all of the artists past and present contributing to one single volume. My contribution is the 30page conclusion of my World War Two moody noir story. Included below is a composite of some original pencils and the final watercolor wash. These panels were cropped alot for the final and so I'm glad to show you a bit more of them now. Click on it to see the details.

A video preview and ordering information are available here at Fantagraphics Books.

The End of Mome

The cat has been let out of the hydroplane. Eric Reynolds, editor of Mome, Fantagraphics head honcho #3, and overall fantastic human, recently confirmed the whispers via several comics news sources, (Comics Reporter, Robot 6, Comics Journal). Mome will indeed cease to exist with issue #22, which is due to see its debut at the big San Diego shooboodoowop (July 21st). I was informed of all this earlier, as were all of the Mome artists, via an explanatory email which concluded with a request for final contributions from everybody past and present.

I was very sad upon hearing the news. I took the ideas behind Mome very seriously and experimented with all of my submissions, trying out various storytelling methods and drawing techniques that were not always comfortable but very necessary in order to find out where my boundaries were.

The first story I turned in, Parallelograms (Mome12), was an attempt to merge my usual fine art pen and ink technique with the comics form. It was a rough adjustment, although closer to my liking than my previous mini-comics efforts that ended in 1997. Essentially I felt like I wasn't bringing anything to the party back then and so I stopped. Parallelograms was my first comics work since 97' and was I was quite smitten with the idea of coming back to the fold. I'm very thankful to Eric for giving me that opportunity.

For Mome 13 I chose to submit The Marriage Tree, an ink and coffee wash story done in a very jigsaw layout. I had felt confined at various points during Parallelograms, and deduced that I needed more room, more paper to experiment with and destroy if needed. The Marriage Tree was my first submission using the method of cut up and joined panels and I have employed this method for most of my subsequent stories.

Mome 14 contained a shotgun blast of one page stories, each one rendered in a different style. I had delivered 10 pages and 7 of them eventually saw print. For these stories I utilized watercolor, ink wash, coffee wash, computer color, and plain black and white ink. The content of the stories had all come from my short fiction. I was curious to see how they would work in contrast to Parallelograms and The Marriage Tree, which both utilized fable type subject matter. The results were mixed, but the lessons learned proved valuable.

Mome 15 was trouble for me. I had given Eric a two page story, The First Blush of Hope(which eventually appeared in Smoke Signals as a one pager), a one page color piece, The Lying Bastards of Xeta 8, a black and white one pager, These Days I'm Not So Sure, and 17 pages of a serial called The Devil Doll. Obviously I gave Eric too much stuff and quite frankly I hadn't warned him about the serial. This more or less lead to my absence from #15 and #16.

Mome 17 saw the eventual release of The Devil Doll and These Days I'm not So Sure, which was great as it allowed for me to contrast multiple working styles again. The Devil Doll was done in heavy gray ink washes for that old movie moody noir experience. These Days was a story which was more in line with the stuff I do naturally and quickly, short absurdist situational fiction, rendered in stark black and white. The Devil Doll provided a challenge to do something that I had never tried before, extended genre material that was more methodic and rigorous. It was also material that I was always enamored with, as I had been reading books like House of Mystery, Weird War, and Tales From The Crypt since very, very early on. The experience has been an ass kicker to say the least, as there's nothing like working outside of the normal artistic repetoir to strengthen the chops.


Mome 18 had the second chapter of the Devil Doll and no accompanying pieces. The work for part 2 was noticably crisper, with better shadows and more mood. I also chose to disrupt my rigid, self imposed 6 panel square grid by the end of the story. I think at this point I had come to realize that the serial was going to hog up my submissions in Mome due to competitive space.

Mome 19 saw almost all of the new regular artists bumped in order to allow for a special theme issue to occur. Mome 19 in effect had a roster and look that was very similar to another Fantagraphics anthology, Hotwired.

Mome 2o had the third Devil Doll installment, this time featuring a slight browinsh tone, further grid deviations, and a two page color interpretation of one character's D-Day trials, utilizing symbols, repeating patterns, multiple mediums, and a larger grid against white instead of the usual black.


I figured there were about three more chapters, and so I decided to jump into full color for the next Devil Doll installment (Mome 21). For this chapter I used live models and painted every panel with watercolors which was a real twist as I hadn't really messed around with them extensively. Developments also included further character definition and a mood enhancing muted color palette.

And alas, we are back to where we started, issue 22- the end. Now, the announcement that the series was ending struck me a couple of different ways. I was bummed out that The Devil Doll was my last story as I had many other kinds of stories to tell, but I was also struck by the notion that I still has two chapters left of this story to draw. I asked Eric if he could fit in a double sized last chapter and he confirmed that he indeed could. I then set to begin the work, again using live models, watercolors, and other mediums to express the growing paranoia and disintegration within the story. I had various false starts, and a pile of panels that I scrapped for various reasons. Finally, the deadline hovered and I delivered the last 31 pages using two weeks of uninterrupted studio time. The work is among my finest and I feel it caps a long and strange journey in experimentation that began with Mome 12. It's unfortunate that Mome comes to a close, but I am indebted to Eric for the experience, his open natured approach, and his understanding.

Recent watercolors

Breakdowns..

Things start to get a little crazy in the final chapter of the Devil Doll..

Devil Doll Part 4

Here's page 3 of The Devil Doll Part 4. Things get moody.

Devil Doll Part 4

Here are a couple panels from page 4 of part 4.

The Devil Doll

A panel from part three (Mome 20, formerly slated for Mome 19)

The Devil Doll (missing chapter)

A panel from a cut chapter of The Devil Doll..

The Devil Doll

Here's a close up of a panel from part three of the Devil Doll which is no longer scheduled for Mome 19, but #20.

Today's Devil Doll Preview

Rough scan of panels one & two, page one, part 4 (Mome 20) Looks like I rushed scanning the top one, the paper was still wet & wrinkly.

The Devil Doll Part 4 Preview

Here's a drawing from a future Devil Doll sequence (probably from the upcoming fall issue.)

Brides of Neptune/These Days I'm Not So Sure

I guess I've been having what you might call time management problems. Yesterday I was about to post another page from Abstraction House when thee olde computer took a dump. I had to sit back and think about it for a minute. This bastard machine isn't to blame. It's got too much shit to think about. Just like me. We have this sort of hiccuping thing in common. The fact is, there's no longer a deadline for Whiskey Is The Key. It's grown into a sort of dumpy ass monster. Maybe by the time it's done it'll be 250 or so pages. I'll probably look for a grant to put it out.

Anyway, this past year I've drawn about 100 pages worth of comics for it. Then there's this other thing, The Devil Doll. That's been appearing in Mome and I'm set to deliver the next 12-15 pages by May 15th. I've drawn a good 30 pages worth of that this past year. Delivering that means I can't work on Whiskey. That's fine, I like the structure that the Devil Doll imposes. The script is a grower. Anybody that's has an inkling of what it's all about or what's about to happen has no idea, and I like that. Chapter 4 gets very weird.

But then there's Enough Astronaut Blood To last The Winter, my new collection of short stories and art. I'm applying for a grant to publish that by, well, this friday. That's two hundred pages of new art and short stories post the Journey By Ferry book. Sounds like a busy schedule right?

Oh yes, there's the weekly visits to hustle speculative cartoons at the New Yorker.

Annnnnndddddd, the work I'm doing for the Austin, Texas band, the Lovely Sparrows.

And a day job on top of that. I'm not complaining, just voicing some sort of tiredness. This ambiguous nebulous art matter floating forever. What is it. Who shellacs it? Who tells it to lie down, take a nap? I don't have any answers really, I'll just keep posting the work as it gets finished. god have mercy on that ol' liver.

P.S. Today I forked over some blood money for that art of Jamie Hernandez book (yeah I know, worth every penny.). It's overwhelming how good it is. Inspirational, really.

I got to meet him at MoCCA at our joint (Fantagraphics) table and had him sign a book for a friend but didn't get a chance to chew the fat since there were forty million people behind me. I wanted to ask him if he'd be willing to give Ray a shave.

And it's out of my hands

I just turned in part three of the Devil Doll to Fantagraphics yesterday. it looks like a combination of the first two chapters but with a strange color sequence in the middle. Lots of cutting room floor material this time around. Below is a panel from what I turned in, and below that is a cut page from that chapter. Click on it for an enlargement.

The Devil Doll Update

As the deadline to turn in chapter three of the Devil Doll rears its ugly head, I thought I'd make a correction to some of the updates previous- as chapter three has been rewritten and will no longer include the full color dream sequence. It may be used later or it might be cut altogether, I'm not sure. Anways, here's another glimpse at some rough scans from the cut section-

A Boozy Yet Productive Summer

A look at what lay behind the scenes of Mome's Devil Doll segments as they went down last summer. Copious amounts of various fluids were consumed and many, many, movies were viewed. All three Creature From The Black Lagoon movies for example. Keep scrolling for an ultra rare color picture of Devil Doll Writer Michael Jada!

But If It Don't Work Out

So here are my favorite out-takes so far from the third chapter of the Devil Doll from Mome 20. Trial and error my friends...

Watercolor Studies

Lately I've been on a drawing streak, and enjoying where it takes me. Right now I'm working on some dream sequences, well prepatory sketches for how each character would see these dreams. This is for the several part Devil Doll storyline that I've been working on with writer Michael Jada for Mome 15-19.