Mon - November 21, 2005

FROM THE ARCHIVES: 'John and Yoko'


Due to the vicissitudes of Internet archiving, my guest comic for Fluxblog.org -- starring John Williams and Yoko Kanno -- has, alas, slipped into the ether. So I'm re-posting it here.

Audio aids (posted Fluxblog-style, though they may be taken down later):

Yoko Kanno / Seatbelts: "Tank (TV Edit)"

Yoko Kanno / Seatbelts: "What Planet Is This?!?"




Endnotes and Digressions:

1.The comparison of "The Imperial March" to "Spoonful of Sugar" was totally
stolen from The DVD Journal's review of the "Star Wars Trilogy" DVD set.

2. Colorist/poker geek Chris Hanel has a Web site.

3. "Cowboy Bebop" soundtracks from Amazon:

Cowboy Bebop
Cowboy Bebop: No Disc
Cowboy Bebop: Blue
Cowboy Bebop: Vitaminless
Cowboy Bebop Remixes: Music for Freelance
Cowboy Bebop: OST Future Blues
Cowboy Bebop: Ask DNA
Cowboy Bebop: Tank! The Best!
Cowboy Bebop 4-disc box set
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Fluxblog.org

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Posted at 10:15 AM    

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Fri - June 10, 2005

'Scary Go Round': The guest comic




We're honored and humbled and slightly terrified to have been allowed to create today's guest strip at "Scary Go Round" -- easily one of the best-loved webcomics in the Russell household.

The mighty Chris Hanel on colors.

If you haven't read SGR before, it's a horror-comedy serial strip that sort of plays like an absurdist, grown-up "Scooby-Doo." Only British. I'm in awe of writer/artist John Allison's knack for minting strangely formal new turns of phrase; the storyline where naïve sex-pixie Shelley Winters tries to adjust to life as a zombie while inventor Tim Jones tries to sell a country club his lightning-rod golf carts is one of my favorite webcomic tales ever.

'Scary Go Round' guest comic: M.E. Russell (June 10, 2005)


Posted at 12:43 AM    

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Tue - May 17, 2005

John Williams: The Comic-Strip Interview





So the fabulous music site Fluxblog invited me (and other, worthier cartoonists) to do some "guest comics" a few weeks ago.

So I decided do a comic-strip interview with the musician who rocked my world the most as a lad -- "Star Wars" composer John Williams.

Who knew he had such a thing for Yoko Kanno?

Chris Hanel on colors.

"John and Yoko" (Fluxblog.org)


Posted at 09:03 AM    

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Fri - May 13, 2005

Chris Baldwin (the fool!) unleashes me on 'Little Dee'





Chris Baldwin is one of the Grand Old Men of webcomics.

He would, of course, hate this designation.

The first online comic I ever followed with any regularity was "Bruno" -- Baldwin's gorgeously drawn story of a bipolar writer/bohemian who drifts from city to city. He's been drawing that strip (which now has a cast of several dozen supporting characters) several days a week, unpaid, since 1996. It's a stunning feat, custom-designed to make any cartoonist just starting out feel like an utter wuss.

These days, Chris draws "Bruno," holds down a job, and also draws "Little Dee" -- the story of a mute little girl adopted by a bear, a dog and a vulture. It's sweet and whimsical and funny and kind of lightly sinister, a very personal filtering of "Winnie the Pooh." Chris self-syndicates "Dee" to newspapers, and it's better than eleven-twelfths of the daily strips in print.

I don't say this lightly: There is no reason on earth why Chris Baldwin shouldn't have a major syndication deal and be read and loved by millions. You should be able to buy "Little Dee" plushies and collections of his comics at Barnes & Noble. And you can't. Has the world gone mad?

Anyway, when Chris (and Bruno) spent some time in Portland a few years ago, we became casual friends. And when I read that he was taking a long-overdue vacation from his webcomics, I volunteered to help in any way I could. So I'm one of the guest artists drawing "Dee" this week. (I drew Friday's Bruno/Dee crossover, plus a Saturday strip that follows our animal cast to the big city.)

(Oh, and if any of you came to this site from Chris' generous link to CulturePulp, hoping to see drawings instead of vaguely snotty movie reviews: I'd recommend starting with the CulturePulp comic strips or "Sacred to the Memory." Or, if you're a massive "Star Wars" geek of a certain age, "Jaxxon's 11." It's all linked on the right.)

Little Dee: May 9-14, 2005 (guest strips by Shaenon Garrity, Jonathan Rosenberg, Michael Russell)


Posted at 01:03 PM    

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