blog: things you should check out

Check out: Hark! A Vagrant in book form

Are you familiar with the work of the inestimable Kate Beaton? If not, the above is but the merest sample of her whimsical linework and delightfully daffy humor. (She was also one of the many cartoonist contributors to Machine of Death.) And today marks the release of a new collection of her “Hark! A Vagrant” comics in hardcover!

Advance copies of Kate’s book were made available both at Comic-Con in July and at SPX earlier this month, and in both cases they vanished very quickly. Kate’s posted some reviews and tour info on her site (below the Wuthering Heights comic) if you want to know more — or just take it from me. It’s super, duper-great, and doubly so if you have an interest in history or literature. But if you do, I bet you’re already reading Kate’s work — and if you’re somehow not, you better get with it!

TopatoCo is also offering a special double-pack with Kate’s earlier book, Never Learn Anything From History, a collection of specifically history-themed comics. The new hardcover is available pretty much anywhere — like Amazon if you want — but Never Learn is exclusive to TopatoCo and/or selected comic shops such as Toronto’s The Beguiling. Grab em both! You’ll like the smiles they put on your face, I guarantee it.

Help fund a comic strip documentary


Stripped: The Comics Documentary

My good friend Dave Kellett, and my new friend Fred Schroeder, have been making a documentary for two years now all about the changing landscape for comics as newspapers fold, artists find success independently, old models adapt to new, and people worldwide in many fields find the ground shifting beneath them.

Now he’s raising funds to finish the film properly. Dave has already invested over $30K of his own money shooting hundreds of hours of documentary footage — one hour of that with yours truly — and I can’t wait to see this film finished. It’s gorgeous, insightful, and perfectly timely.

Check out the trailer above or on the Kickstarter page! I have not one, but two quotes in the trailer. So you know it’s got severe issues with credibility great. And if you like what you see, consider pre-ordering the DVD or pledging further! (Dave’s good for it — and if not, I know where he lives.)

Go see Star Trek reenacted live!

Over the weekend I was in Seattle, and when I mentioned that startling fact on Twitter I received an invitation from @pdunwin to attend “Outdoor Trek,” a live “Shakespeare in the Park”-style performance of Star Trek by the theater company Hello Earth.

It was great! It’s playing one more time, this coming weekend on both Saturday and Sunday, and it’s totally free to attend. I’m only marginally a Star Trek fan myself, but it was a really, really fun show put on by folks who’re clearly having a blast doing it. Live music, hula-hoop-heavy transporter effects, and the judicious use of Silly String just add to the experience. More info here!

Hello Earth took the idea from the Portland group Atomic Arts, who’ve apparently been doing “Trek in the Park” for several years, and who will be doing their own show (the episode “Mirror, Mirror”) one last time for the season on August 27. More info on the Portland show here.

This…this makes me want to start an outdoor theater troupe. Mine will be called “Airwolf under the Stars” and will involve remote-controlled helicopters. It will be the most unmitigated fiasco in history.

Two charming old videos!

Marksman Doug C. shares this video, saying “I finally found one of my favorite short animations from my childhood (1961) online and thought it was worth sharing with you. An obvious source for Terry Gilliam, and clear antecedent to your own use of engravings for potentially humourous effect, I present… ‘The Do-It-Yourself Cartoon Kit’ by Bob Godfrey, 5:25 of Pythonesque non-sequiturs and free sound effects, all made by British Labour.”

And Edward S. shares this video, saying “Your recent strips concerning the abstract concept of ‘the time’ put me in mind of a well-known sketch from the radio comedy series, “The Goon Show”, which worked on similar lines.”

Thanks, guys!