Awesome Glowstick Animation to Make You Feel Bad

Ever feel terrified by what other people achieve through the straightforward application of mind-exploding levels of effort? If not, you should:



This is Lucky by All India Radio or, as the video's blurb tells us: "the viewable blood, sweat and tears of Australian based animation company 'Dee Pee Studios'.

"It involves a painstaking animation technique, whereby the team paints in the air with glow sticks, frame after to frame to create entire sequences of animation, usually taking a whole night to shoot."

More on Dee Pee Studios' official website.

Via Drawn!

More Kick-Ass, Nicholas Cage Shoots his Daughter in the Chest

Yes, really. This was good in the comic series. It's better in moving pictures:

Read Project Waldo!

I've been meaning to post something about Project Waldo for a while, because it has beautiful lines and colours on it. Now Nate Simpson, the man behind said blog, has put up another page of his upcoming graphic novel, so I have gone and done that post. Here:

Find more of it here.

Brandon Graham - Baseball Amputees and Dressing in Censorship

Brandon Graham made this cartoon and put it on his blog. Yes, I'm harping on about Brandon Graham again, but he's really very good. Brave one of his epic blog posts if you dare, and read King City. Really.

Slingers - New Brit SF, Looks Jolly Good

Slingers is a TV show from the future. Providing, that is, it makes it from this reel to the pilot stage, and then the pilot gets greenlit.

Mike Sizemore, the show's writer/creator, says, "This is the second sizzle reel for SLINGERS.

"Directed by Steve Barron and starring Sean Pertwee, Adrian Bower, Tom Mison, Margo Stilley, Haruka Abe, GUN and JUNIOR.

"Conceptual design by Arran and Corran Brownlee.

"Oh, and written by me.

"We're hoping to shoot the pilot in 2010."

^{(Via Forbidden Planet)}

Michael Chabon Says: Do Something New!

In an interview that went up in the not-very-distant-at-all past, Newsarama asked Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Wonder Boys) what he thought of the argument that too much of modern popular culture relies too heavily on the materiel that has gone before.

Chabon said: "What needs to be done is not simply for the past to be riffed on – well, 'riffed' is maybe the wrong word, it should be 'invoked and suggested' or 'recreated.'

"What you’re looking for, what you want to see, what’s really interesting, is stuff that takes the received materials and really wrings changes on them, puts them through their paces, that challenges them and confronts them at the same time that it invokes them.

"That’s where...there’s some things you watch, and they may be cool, they may be very faithful, they might make you feel kind of happy because stuff you know from some kind of prior era is being brought back and reanimated.

"That stuff can be fun, but there’s ultimately something very hollow at the core of something like that, like it’s just an exercise in style more than anything else."

I mention this because a) Michael Chabon is a very smart man and b) I agree with him, and there is too much going on in comics that apes the efforts of earlier creators without adding significant value or without providing anything of interest to potential new readers. Amazing Spider-Man, I'm looking at you...

Chabon also mentions Jonathan Lethem among his favourite authors. Lethem has a new book (Chronic City) out which this BoingBoing article makes me want to read.

Newsarama has the full, quite interesting interview.

Pope Hats #1 Has a Cartoon Phallus, Looks Good

I'm not going to try to tell you what to read this week. That would be presumptuous and a little bit rageous. I am going to try and nudge you in the direction of picking up Pope Hats #1 and having a wee flick through before you leave the comic shop, though. Because... well, it looks good.

The comic's writer and artist, Ethan Rilly, describes it thusly: "Pope Hats is a comic book about a young woman named Frances Scarland and her escape from both figurative and literal demons. It has been described as a “slice of life” story (whatever that means)."

But, I don't think Rilly sells it that well. It's alright, he's got a quote from Seth (It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken) to recommend it: "Pope Hats by Ethan Rilly is the most impressive debut comic I've seen in years. The work has that deceptive quality of ease about it—the characters breeze across the page with sparkling dialogue and wonderfully observed gestures. Rilly is the real deal—an exciting new cartoonist who can write and draw well and who genuinely understands how to tell a story." See? Hopefully it's not just another angsty book about disillusioned young folk.

Neither Rilly nor Seth mention the fact that Franny talks to a cartoon ghost phallus.

There's a short preview right here.

Cowboys, Cannibals and Christmas - The Sixth Gun

Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt have let loose a lovely festive yarn over on the Oni Press blog. It's tied to their upcoming (dark and epic) Western, The Sixth Gun, and it carries the name Them What Ails Ya: A Christmas Yarn. And yes, it's about Cowboys and cannibals.

It's split across comics (you can see that bit to the right - click on it, it gets bigger), straight-up prose and illustration, with an instalment coming every Tuesday in the run-up to Christmas.

And it's fun! You can get the rest of it here.

Doodle-Booze - Pictures with Beer and Felt Tips

Doodle-Booze, as I flagged up earlier, happened last night.

It's pretty straightforward - OK Comics entices a number of (mostly) comics-loving folk down to the Nation of Shopkeepers (we used to go to The Swan - R.I.P.) in Leeds to drink booze and draw stuff. It's been known for discussion about how many muscles Rob Liefeld can fit on an arm to break out. Last night, we were drawing onto blank convention covers for Image United #1 (which, by the way, made no sense to me) alongside the usual brown paper.

Yes, I know there are a lot of dudes in evidence. Often there's not so much rampant testosterone. Or males, anyway.

Anyway, here's a smattering of pictures. There are loads more on my flickr page.

Techie Thing - Please Ignore

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