I just got this letter from a friend in Seattle. For those of you who are interested, hes a newly engaged designer of environmental signage. His name is Dave. And he just bought his first home. At first, I heard through the grapevine that his home was next to the clubhouse of a biker gang. I was later to find out that his neighbor, a professional man of some sort, owns a motorcycle. These are Daves comic picks.
Today I am sending for your viewing pleasure links to (3) of my favorite comic artists.
The first is the Dinette Set. It runs in the Post Intelligencer out here. It consistently makes me laugh. It has a gentle humor. The small copy on the t-shirts and signs are great too.
The next (2) can be found at Fantagraphics . They are Chris Ware and Tony Millionaire. Chris Ware is somehow associated with Quimbies* in Chicago (wicker park). I think he still lives out there. His stuff reminds me a lot of Windsor McCays Little Nemo.** He makes references occasionally to Ann Arbor. His strips sometimes give me that ugly feeling that Harpers does. Well dressed up depressing anecdotes. I have no idea why that format is appealing to me.
And then there is Tony Millionaire’s “Maakies”. Turgid and Juvenile. Sometimes makes me laugh so hard my side hurts. Makes me think, “I’m an adult. I shouldn’t be finding humor in this.” I read it anyway when I need a laugh.
*The magazine Linette and I publish is sold at Quimbys
**Windsor McCay is from Ypsilanti, the town I live in
Heres some other stuff that Dave said in his note.
I checked out your lego links. I’m imagining you on Google typing in “PORN + BUILDING BLOCKS”. The porn one is a bit disturbing- using children’s toys to act out sex acts. I suppose it could be looked at as a comment on how dehumanizing pornography is. The bible one is interesting. It works in the opposite direction, taking the abstract bible stories and the details that are glossed over and emphasizing them, making them “more real” (Er and Onan getting it on, foreskin removal by zipporah). Things that some christians want to sanitize out of their daily experience. And somewhere in the middle of all this, there is the person who recognizes the extremes of human experience and finds a gentle, balanced way of addressing them
About a year ago there was a couple that had sex in a church in NY. The whole event was sponsored by Samuel Adams (the brewery, not the founding father.) We are not a gentle people…
Regarding headaches- I used to get migranes when I was younger so bad that I couldn’t stand up. I would just lay on the floor and try not to puke. There was a comment in a movie once about headaches being caused by the lack of resolve between two conflicting ideas in one’s head. I could agree with that. I think back then I just needed glasses though.
