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what is this awful thing?
what is sparrow's fall?
...somewhere between the city of the poor and the city of the not-so-poor, a long ways from heaven but not quite in hell, is a neighborhood where the people are mad and the animals are sane, where armadillos are on the wrestling circuit and dogs go to art school. If you see god, or aliens, or if you go to group with a neurotic otter, you live there. Only one question: did he fall, or was he pushed? who makes it? parrish baker, kansas city comic artist since at least 1995, was born as the old sepia-tone world was finally fading away, four days before nixon narrowly won a first term in the white house. parrish grew up in the countryside of missouri, not quite in the plains but neither quite in the ozarks. the summers are hot there, and the winters cold, and there is often a great deal of wind. eventually he received an adequate education--primary, secondary, and college, and even bothered to get a master's degree in a useless topic. he walked out of the halls of academe into the heart of a recession. moving to kansas city, he luckily found a temporary job that lasted twelve years before he decided that it had become permanent, and decided to move on to other endeavors. somewhere along there he began drawing mini-comics . . . or something like drawing . . . judge for yourself . . . he still lives in kansas city, drawing his ridiculous indy comics like there was no tomorrow. of course--if you watch the news . . . just what is it about comics in kansas city? The year was 1996. Or 1997. Your call. 1995 . . . 1996 . . . 1997 . . . 1998 . . . a golden age for comic book art in Kansas City. 40 Oz. Comics was alive and well, and, most importantly, here, Jim Mahfood’s Grrlscouts and Cosmic Toast were in wide circulation, and Thereyago! Studios was about to produce the first (and last) issue of Meanwhile... and other folk were busy drafting out comics and cartoons left and right. Like all Periclean ages, it was probably better in memory than in reality, and like all such ages, it did not spring out overnight and from nowhere, but drew, god knows, its strength largely from the illustration department of the Kansas City Art Institute. People who could draw and people who had something to say walked and breathed amongst us, and we were willing to listen. Amongst those paying close attention was a youngish scrawler who, encouraged, authored the dreadful comic book Calyx, after sitting in the Broadway Cafe for the better part of a year pretending to teach himself drawing. This little science-fictional horror fading instantly from collective memory, he looked for something else to create. Why did he do it at all? Obviously he was talent-free, that much at least could be said. He felt, nonetheless, that he wanted to say something, and in those days saying something seemed possible, mandatory even. An emotional catastrophe had taken the ability to write from him; the inability to draw would have seemed to conspire keep him in his place. He ignored reality, however, persisting in making wretched things that are safely contained, like industrial waste, in sketchbooks to this day. If he’d had half a brain, he would have despaired. But he didn’t. Chance encounters with no less than two possums birthed the characters of Possum and Hot-Dog onto paper; a failed attempt to sell the idea to the Pitch cemented a thick distaste for that paper that survives to this day. However, the Possum flourished, and, by a metamorphosis whose details have been lost to memory, a little cartoon called Sparrow’s Fall was born. Little of Kansas City’s comics heyday remains: an unfortunate exception is Sparrow’s Fall. It has endured, continuously published, since November 1996. The author of this long spiel of angst, irritation, and occasional perverse humor can’t understand why. More to the point, he can’t understand why other people do not try to hide his dreck with work of their own. It is becoming urgently necessary that people do it. Our culture is becoming suffocated with one great universal Voice, the AOL-TimeWarner-Disney/ABC/CBS giant that neither is interested in, nor wishes to hear, what we have to say. Comics, believe it or not, are an important part of the resistance. They and zines (which also seem dead, evidently a victim of the internet,) occupy a corner of visual and textual media the entertainment giants simply cannot fill or block. We must have a voice, we must draw, we must write. If not to drown out AOL altogether--then at least to distract attention from that dreadful Sparrow’s Fall. The author is gloomy. Where are the Mike Huddlestons, Jim Mahfoods, Daniel Spottswoods, and Scot Stolfuses of tomorrow? And why aren’t there more women here in Kansas City doing comics? Well . . . maybe one is looking at this right now. If you are--put it down right now, and start drawing. Kansas City Comics Community
aaron williams aimsatellite ande parks anime society of kansas city anna marie cool anthony oropeza AR arie dee monroe b. clay moore baeg tobar bill hook bob ellis bonnie leigh brian mckinley the broadway group bruce jones bryan timmins byron dunn charlie podrebarac chris garrett chris jackson chris rich-mckelvey chuck irons comixclub comixboard comixperience dale martin daniel tyler gooden dan jacobson daniel spottswood darryl woods dave bryant david daneman dennis hopeless dove mchargue duane cunningham dade dustin hoffman ed bickford edward kann elizabeth jacobson frank mangiaracina greg gildersleeve heavy water . . . ||| . . . nuevo hector casanova icecreamlandia jai nitz jake angell james harmon jason arnett jason foster jason preu jeff blascyk jeffrey vasquez janell vasquez jeremy haun jeremy mcconnell jeremy mohler joe wilper joel pfannenstiel john fortman john schuler john parker jon hook josh cotter josh ziegler kansas city comix scene kansas city comics creators network web log kelley seda kelly sue deconnick kerry callen kevin gritzke kyle strahm lee judge lee leslie mark stinson matt cashel matt fraction matt hawkins michael buckley michael herring michael perry michelle kelley mike huddleston mike springet mike sullivan mike worley parrish baker ram and mason rehab 25 press richard corben rob schamberger's empire rudy garcia ryan middaugh scott ziolko sean murphy scott hassler scott stewart scribe seth wolfshorndl shane thayer shaun gray shawn geabhart stephanie m. iser-ramsey steve bushman steve lightle steven sanders tom bumgardner travis fox wendy griswold william binderup Kansas City Bloggers
a note to myself
another blog is possible a voyage to arcturus beastly sum ben radatz bitchbook blog kc de coucy park doug's digs epiphomatic machinations greg beck happy in bag heresies and blasphemies kansas city development kansas city soil kc bloggers me, my life, + infrastructure mimezine m. toast oz mcguire patchcord pomegranate pretty posthuman blues psychic space hog ray barker reecie reflections on life riotgeek stainless steel rat droppings the stranger there stands the glass thoughtpeach three o'clock in the morning tony's kansas city travis swicegood comics links
a. david lewis
a softer world broadway café comicreaders.com comics lifestyles comics.212.net the comics reporter comic weblogs updates comixpress the crave café dilbert blog dimestoreproductions drawn dream weaver press flog!: the fantagraphics blog ferretpress 40 oz comics johnny bacardi lulu make comics forever mike russell mid-missouri comics collective mini-comics.com mk12 montreal comics jam museum of comic and cartoon art near mint heroes ninth art oubapo-america phoebe gloeckner planet comicon (kansas city) postmodern barney red ink like blood salgood sam sequence sequentialtart tom the dog winterizer wooster collective remaindered blogroll
artists, galleries, science, odd blogs, and musicians
75 degrees south
artstew astrobiology magazine ben hawkins david ford fahrenheit gallery grand arts green door gallery hugh merrill hammerpress kansas city art institute kansas city infozine kittyspit: list of kansas city art sites knack living with liver cancer mike baker paragraph gallery peregrine honig prospero's books rachel stuart-haas reading reptile starbucks delocator the storm track susie gharemani telephone booth gallery wednesday kirwan wee wonderfuls kansas city comic book stores
Action Sports - 5243 NE Antioch Rd (816) 455-6319
A to Z Comics - 1300 SW Us Highway 40 (816) 224-0505 Astrokitty Comics - 7th & New Hampshire, Lawrence, KS (785) 856-8607 B-Bop - 3490 Main (816) 753-2267 B-Bop South - 5336 West 95th Street (913) 383-3200 Broken Lotus - 1412 NW Vivion Road (816) 587-2007 Clint's Books Comics & Games - 3943 Main St (816) 561-2848 Collective Cache - 10150 W 119th (913) 338-2273 Comic Cavern - 5404 NW 64th St (816) 746-4569 Elite Comics - 11828 Quivira Rd (913) 345-9910 Lawless Times Comics & Magazines - 3117 Troost (816) 931-2400 Mo Iikai Anime - 40 Highway and Noland Road (816) 478-2020 Monty's Book Swap - 9302 E. 40 Highway (816) 737-1427 Omega 7 Comics - 1925 N 83rd Terrace (913) 321-6764 Pop Culture Comix - 9337 W 87th Terrace (913) 341-0040 Pulp Fiction Comics & Games - 9337 W 87th Terrace (913) 341-0040 The Battlezone - 6608 Blue Ridge Blvd (816) 358-0870 The Battlezone - 11752 Blue Ridge Blvd (913) 492-6363 Vintage Stock - 9200 Metcalf Avenue (913) 648-8999 Vintage Stock - 8416 W 135th St (913) 681-1999 Wonderland - 1605 Westport Road (816) 931-0065 shows
miniatures! 8-96, juried invitational show at broadway café, kansas city.
reversion/counterrevolution 11-01, solo show at a copy shop, kansas city. mail-art show 11-01, at the telegraph gallery. heavy petting 10-02, juried show at the lemp, st. louis sequence 05-03, juried show, at the panacea, kansas city. solo show at broadway café 05-03, kansas city. Media
Spank Fanzine #25, 09/98
sometime in this period i think i was written up in the topeka zine, mimezine, circa 1998. You know what's next when there's nothing planned at the Crossroads gallery galas, Kansas City Star, 10/08/99 appearance on local cable access, in late 1999 or so: "Gallery Guide” for Kansas City Round a Bout.: interviewed by holly swangstu The Best of Kansas City: 2000--Best Local Zine, Pitch, 1/26/00 The Inscrutable Mr. Baker, Kansas City Star, 4/8/01 Homegrown: Parrish Michael Baker, Kansas City Magazine, 09/01 Superfast In Action: SPARROW'S FALL, by matt fraction, Warren Ellis Forum 12/16/01 From the Calendar section of the Pitch, by gina kauffman, 12/26/01 Action Heroes, Pitch 4/24/03 capsule reviews of no other fish in the sea, the girl in the window, and five string serenade, by lunar circuitry, 06/01/03 another brief mention from mimezine, 7/31/03. SPX-Parrish Baker, 10/03, comicreaders.com appearance in an account of the 2003 kansas city comicon, on scott stewart's comic art site capsule review of possum trot, by Jason Arnett, "I Make Believe #19," 01/01/04 mention on comicbookresources.com, by J. Torres / B. Clay Moore 03/25/04 ultimately uncaptioned appearance in community faces, 02-17-05 words - and - pictures (comic creator's network newsletter 04.24.2005) totally undeserved praise from fire and knives, the magazine for people who eat, 10-2005 article in the pitch about the broadway group, 11.16.05 reference from kansas city public library's local history collection, 2005 FLICKR
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Total entries in this category: Published On: Jan 09, 2006 09:14 PM |
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