Kim Deitch at MCAD

Underground comics legend, Kim Deitch, was a guest speaker at MCAD yesterday, and I had the pleasure of introducing him. The students (as you can see in the pics) were enthralled by his enthusiastic lecture and Q&A session. The night before, I met up with fellow cartoonists and MCAD instructors, Barbara Schulz and Zak Sally, at Big Brain Comics, where Kim was doing a signing. I got a pair of books autographed -- and Kim was kind enough to add sketches as well. Zak, Barb and I got to look through Kim's portfolio of pencil roughs for various projects -- which were absolutely GORGEOUS. I hope someday there will be a book collection of them, as they really deserve to be seen. After the signing, the whole crew, including Kim's lovely wife Pam, all dined out at The Modern -- where Zak highly recommends the pot roast! I had the ravioli -- tasty.

Captain Action!

I was recently hired by the folks at Moebius Models to sculpt an alternate "box art style" face part for their upcoming reissue of the 1960's Aurora Plastics CAPTAIN ACTION model kit. They've just posted pics of a test pressing, and the finished styrene model kit should be out within a few months. In the meantime, here are some shots of my sculpt in progress and the kit as it'll be produced. For more info on upcoming CAPTAIN ACTION projects, bookmark this site: www.captainactionnow.com

Wild Dog Lives!

Some years (decades!?!) ago, Max Collins and I produced a super-hero comic book for DC called "Wild Dog." It was short lived, but is recalled fondly by its fans. I still can't appear at a comic book show without at least one person asking me about a potential return of the series. And this fan, photographed by my "The Batman Strikes" collaborator Chris Jones at a recent convention, is obviously still digging on the Wild Dog experience! Thanks for the photo, Chris -- but who IS the man beneath the mask? GRRRRR! Stay WILD!

The Batman Strikes: trade paperback

Hitting the bookstore shelves any day now is THE BATMAN STRIKES: DUTY CALLS, a trade paperback collection of stories from the monthly comic book (144 pages worth) drawn by Christopher Jones (pencils) and me (inks). Here's the cover (illustration by another artist). Look for it at your local bookstore, comic book shop, or on amazon.com.

Karli's Birthday poster

This is my birthday gift to my friend, Karli. She's having a celebration, later this month, at my favorite Twin Cities watering hole, Lee's Liquor Lounge -- and asked me to do the gig poster. This was a fun project, since I'm a fan of these bands, love Lee's -- and had been wanting to do a gig poster for some time now. I'm also a big fan of the work of John Hanson, the man who set the style for Lee's posters, ads and graphics -- and borrowed a logo and a notion or two from him for this piece -- forgive me, John. (You can find much of his ultra-cool work on the Lee's website: http://www.leesliquorlounge.com/ )

Click on the image above for a bigger view.

So come on down to Lee's on the 29th and help us celebrate, OK?

MCAD Faculty Art Show -- running now - Oct.7

My sideshow crew is currently on display on the 2nd floor of the Main Gallery at MCAD (Minneapolis College of Art and Design). Info on the show and reception can be found below the photo.



Rotten Sun: On the Grotesque in Art and Design

Aug. 24-Oct. 7

MCAD Faculty Responds

Main Gallery/Concourse Gallery/Corridor Gallery

Reception: Friday, Sept. 7, 6-8 p.m.

Recent works in all media by MCAD faculty address differing aspects of the grotesque in art and design--from the abject to the uncanny, from the humorous to the unnervingly offbeat.

Why I love Minneapolis

Well, one of the reasons, anyway -- is that you can find such cool places to hang out as The Bad Waitress. Located just a few blocks from MCAD, this great pop culture-themed diner, not only has good food -- but the walls are chock full of monster, comic book, pulp fiction and cult movie stuff -- heck, it looks like I decorated the place! Marvel Super Hero and Universal Monster "Old Maid" cards serve to identify your booth, table or counter space -- and the "Revenge of the Creature" poster looms large in the men's room. Service can get a little slow when the place is packed -- but the food is worth waiting for -- and heck -- just dig all that cool stuff in the meantime. If only I could slip that copy of "Glance" out of the frame so I could read it....