Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Moynihan, Comics

the other day i started getting caught up in webcomics. i have two bookmarked on my computer that i regularly read, White Ninja and Pictures for Sad Children. it was while reading the latter that i was directed towards Jesse Moynihan's Forming, which is seriously the best comic i've read in a while. retelling the origins of everything earthbound, it's a pretty ambitious project. i breezed through about a year's-worth (54 comics at one per week) of storyline in a few hours, and now i'm hungry for more!


unfortunately he is on a Forming hiatus (working with Cartoon Network!?) until May 8th. if Forming looks neat-o, you should check out his other badass comics, including one entitled GWC about George Washington Carver. it's not finished yet, but apparently he is NOT taking a hiatus from that 'un.. so it should be updated in the near future at least. he also has three books out, and i really want to read at least one of them.


it was while on that site that i also was reminded of what's probably my favorite webcomic. this is where i got my DJ name Jampot from — A Lesson is Learned but the Damage is Irreversible by Dave Hellman & Dale Beran. seriously, each comic is beautiful, and so uniquely told. your eyes often aren't quite sure where to go next, but it doesn't matter all that much, as it all ties together so well. also, they're really funny. unfortunately, its creators are on what would seem to be an indefinite hiatus, but there are enough comics on the site to amuse you for a while. plus, reading this interview with Dale displays pretty well how awesome he is.


and, one more - if you happen to enjoy ALiLbtDiI, be sure to check out Dale's new comic, The Nerds of Paradise. so far it includes an adventure entitled "Must I?" with the philosophical musings of a child named Richmond Virginia, and the beginnings of a caper with the Raisins d'Etre.



on a more personal note, i never really thought all that much of comics & graphic novels for a long time. i just thought of them as something for pasty white geeks to amuse themselves with. something about growing up and reading picture books as a kid makes most adults feel like they don't need illustrations with their stories anymore. because ya kno the imagination can take one so much further and all that. for me that mentality ended probably with Seamonster aka Todd Webb aka Adrian Todd Webb.


he's a musician (Seamonster), but a comic book artist first & foremost. he came down to play for a music festival WUSC hosted last year. when i took him to a local comic book shop to sell some of his work, he showed me some pretty amazing things in the store, and i really started appreciating comix & graphic novels more. started to appreciate illustrations more as an added dimension.

that experience, coupled with the fact that i personally know a pretty awesome comic book doodlist, have made me appreciate the medium a whole lot. but seriously, along with the previous recommendations, go check out todd, as well as sam. he is a super cool dude and his daily comics are worth putting on whatever RSS feed you've got, as they are often pretty hilarious

1 comment:

Sam Spina said...

haha thanks Adrian! Those are some good webcomic suggestions, I'm definitely going to check out Forming, it reminds me of a slightly lessed fucked version of a C.F. comic: http://www.amazon.com/C-F-Powr-Mastrs-Vol-v/dp/0978972287
But now that your on a web-comic kick, you have to check out Hark a Vagrant and Nedroid! They're my top two favorites right now! Hark a Vagrant is sorta smart-funny and Nedroid is really light hearted and downright hilarious!

http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php

http://nedroid.com/