Tailipoe

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Settling In

One thing I find interesting about comic strips is how the characters transform during the early days of their run, as they find their "reality" and settle into their true look. It's a natural development, I think, as the artist gets into the mindset of living with the characters on a regular basis and they reveal their subtleties to him. Even though I've been turning this strip out on a weekly, not daily basis, I already see that development happening. Tailipoe himself is becoming thinner and taller than he was in the earliest strips, when he fluctuated quite a bit. The shock of hair that grows out of his temple had decided to be a consistent three hairs instead of a random patch. Armand's nose is getting to be less brick-shaped. Hamilton's nose is all over the place, but heading somewhere. As this introductory story wraps up, I'm considering giving the cast the full set of five fingers, instead of the cartoon standard of four, since the rendering has occasionally been a shade more true-to-life than I originally envisioned, and four fingers sometimes looks weird. Props have been inconsistent in their look from strip to strip (Hamilton's bedposts, for instance), and it's time to standardize those set pieces, and maybe even go back and redo early strips to bring them into line.

At this writing I'm remodeling the site, the relaunch to coincide with the first week of Tailipoe story number two, tentatively titled "ID." It should all make its debut on April 12, I think.

That sounds like a threat. Maybe we haven't seen the last of this Tweedle character?

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Blog Stuff

I've only had this blog up for a week or two, and already I've got plans to change things. I found a solution that's much more in line with my original plans, so good for me. I'll make that adjustment in, um, three more weeks, when the new storyline starts. I'll also be remodeling the website and adding some new bells and whistles.

It's true what they say: You can't find good help these days.

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Pulse Interview; Spring Cleaning; Slim Jim

Jennifer "Hot Dog" Contino did a nice interview with me for Pulse, which is a section of www.comicon.com. It's all about my work on Jughead and the Archie newspaper strip. Thanks to Jennifer, and to Alex Segura, who set it up. Check it out:
Pulse Interview


Theoretically, I'm doing some major house cleaning. As a component of that plan, I'm looking at books and magazines stored at the innermost strata of my closets -- purchases that were supposedly essential when I bought them, but have since been gathering dust, barely glanced-at, some literally for decades. So I'm systematically going through them to see what forgotten must-reads are there, and finally sitting down and giving them their due. If at this point they don't pique my interest, I'll get rid of them.

I've had this task in the back of my mind for a while, which is why I've been using some degree of sales resistance when going to the bookstore these days -- I'm too conscious of all the unread goodies at home, and don't want to slide deeper into the hole. For one thing, it's mortifying to visit the bookstore and find volumes remaindered or marked down to clearance prices, when I know that I have the same item waiting for me at home, cover barely ever opened if at all, that I paid full price it the day they were released. It's happened over and over. Most recently with Dark Horse's Astro Boy paperback reproductions. I dutifully bought each one of Osamu Tezuka's ground-breaking series the day they showed up at the comic book store. At least I actually started reading them. I've gotten through about half of the twenty or twenty-two volumes. But now they're showing up at Half Price Books for, well, half-price.

So anyway, among the forgotten items I've finally started reading from my bookshelves is the entire run of Nemo Magazine, published by Fantagraphics Books in the mid-1980's.

"Nemo, The Classics Comics Library," was edited by comics historian Richard Marschall, and showcased vintage comic strips, often reprinting generous runs of strips that were otherwise inaccessible. I particularly enjoyed a series of reprints of "Slim Jim," a strip that grew out of its precursor/prototype, "Circus Solly." Solly and Jim inclusive, the strip ran from 1905 through 1937 under a series of creators. I find it fascinating that a strip that ran for thirty-plus years is so little-remembered today.

The premise couldn't have been more simple: Slim Jim, a hobo (and former circus acrobat), was fleeing from the law. The pursuers were three Keystone Cop-like members of the Grassville Police Force. What Jim had done to deserve the attention was never made clear, but the force certainly was determined. They chased him all over the country and even around the world! Each week was another chase, another close call, another near-capture, with Slim Jim turning the tables at the last moment and making fools of his pursuers. Like Bugs Bunny, Slim Jim always seemed to be in control and never took his adversaries seriously. The artwork, drawn at various stages by George Frink, Raymond Crawford Ewer, C.W. Kahles, and finally Stanley Armstrong, often featured scenes of great mayhem. This was humor on the run.



above: Slim Jim, by Stanley Armstrong

The Nemo article, "The Force Was With Him," was from Nemo issue #11, and written by Richard Marschall.

# posted by cboldman @ 7:39 PM 1 comments

Tsk tsk. See what happens when you don't show up for work on time?

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The Norm

I've been enjoying Michael Jantze's 'The Norm' comic strip, which is now available only on his (pay) site. While I'd just as soon read it for free, like I used to, I like that Michael's taking advantage of the additional flexibility that his new venue affords him. One difference in the strip from its previous incarnation in the newspapers is Michael's opportunity to react immediately to current events. When that thing about the revamped Looney Tunes characters -- you know, those dark, futuristic super-hero versions which caused all the purists to start hollering -- made the rounds in the news the other week, Michael did strips on the subject and had them up on the site within a day or two. So, good on him. In the last week, characters from other comic strips have been making guest appearances, so he's keeping it fun. And this all goes without saying that The Norm always has been, and still is, a well-drawn and written strip. Check it out.

The Norm
http://www.thenorm.com

With the approach of the new storyline, and the start of year number two, it's time to tinker with the layout and shake things up a bit. Time also to add a blog into the mix. I'll get it going in earnest once the new story starts, in week #53.

This isn't really the final format I want for my blog -- I'd rather have it embedded in my comic strip web page, but I haven't looked hard enough to find the way to do that yet.

I've begun work on the new Tailipoe story, by the way, between assignments for Archie Comics, some other art jobs, and generally trying to get organized. It's going to be fun, I think, At least, to work on.


Tailipoe Main Page

# posted by cboldman @ 2:05 PM 0 comments