| Grr. and Argh! |
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| 05:35pm 27/10/2005 |
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mood:  aggravated music: Love and Rockets - Mirror People
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For the time being, the How Loathsome website is down. Will notify everyone once it's back up, and will very likely take this opportunity for some additions and news updating.
Thanks for sticking with us, people. |
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Read 1 - Post |
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| Oui.... |
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| 05:10pm 07/02/2005 |
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mood:  thirsty
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"All d’abord published in the shape d’une mini-series of four booklets, collaboration between the draughtsman Ted Naifeh and the scenario writer Tristan Crane profits now d’une republication in the form d’un superb album hard-bound with jacket, with the design as sober as l’histoire will be able to appear baroque to certain readers."
http://www.actuabd.com/article.php3?id_article=1562
This page, as translated by babel fish (http://world.altavista.com/)
Found thanks to the perilous wiles of google.
From now on, my nickname for Ted will be 'draughtsman'. |
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Read 2 - Post |
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| Very nice... |
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| 11:44am 28/12/2004 |
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mood:  calm music: Death in Vegas - Aisha
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http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/930/930_ten_books.asp
The Advocate releases their 'Best of 2004' lists...
(Here's the comic-book related ones, although of course we're all for books without pictures as well...)
4. The Mirror of Love by Alan Moore. José Villarrubia’s amazing photos illustrate an equally amazing epic gay love poem.
8. How Loathsome by Tristan Crane and Ted Naifeh. A graphic novel that really lives up to both those words and introduces Chloe, the year’s sexiest transgender enigma. |
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Read 10 - Post |
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| I'll have another Tart. |
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| 11:43am 09/10/2004 |
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mood:  nerdy
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www.sequentialtart.com, always a source of enlightening and entertaining comic book commentary, features How Loathsome this month in it's 'Read this or Die' section... it's terribly interesting for me to read the responses and interpretations of the book from several different readers, each with their own take on the story. Compliments aside (and they are much appreciated...) reading commentary like this does my heart good...
"Crane and Naifeh suggest that gender is a deeply personal, internal determination. At one point, Chloe says, "I dress in the morning, and what I do is not drag. It's not performance, although some people insist on seeing only the artifice and illusion, a boy dressing up as a girl." Is Chloe, in post-hormone treatment, pre-operative state, a boy or a girl? A boy becoming a girl? Is she putting on a different body? Pretending or faking a gender? Or is Chloe's gender whatever she believes she it is, no matter her physical appearance?"
I was somehow worried that people wouldn't 'get' it. We live in a world where people are terribly bound up in ideas of gender and sexual identity that rely upon following some pre-set path towards supposed enjoyment of yourself. Trans people have long been told to 'pass', to get surgery to 'fix' their genitalia (and they held up as freaks for doing so), old guard people. Old ideas.
If the opposite of 'pass' is to fail, then I refuse to participate in a system designed for failure.
(http://sequentialtart.com/rtod_1004.shtml)
On another note, i'm still in New York and Damn! Hot peeps of Every kind here. I don't even really miss San Francisco.
But go and read Sequential Tart, they always manage to highlight some of the best and brightest books out there, and i'm not just saying that because they reviewed us... |
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Read 10 - Post |
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| Advocated. |
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| 04:18pm 29/09/2004 |
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mood: calm music: Raputina
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Johnny Knoxville is on the cover of 'The Advocate' this month, and if that doesn't make you want to go out and pick it up, you might also check out the interview with myself and Ted by JT Leroy on pg. 94. Or you can go here and read it all online.
In traveling/appearance news, I'll be on the east end of the country on Oct 6 for the opening of a showing of my photographs and Laurenn Mccubbin's artwork at Jigsaw, Ny. I'll actually be in New York for a week, so if anyone out there wants to suggest something that Shouldn't be missed, speak now. |
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Read 7 - Post |
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| Merch! |
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| 04:20pm 20/09/2004 |
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mood:  crazy
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Some basic merch from cafepress...
http://www.cafepress.com/howloathsome
T-shirts coming soon!
We're still arguing over whether or not anyone out there would buy a white shirt with black printing... thoughts on this? |
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Read 8 - Post |
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| Zipping along... |
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| 02:17pm 23/08/2004 |
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mood: busy
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It took all morning (and figuring out that the phone outlets in my bedroom are not actually functional), but i've finally gotten the DSL working at my new apartment.. oh yeah, I moved and stuff. Now I am very proud of myself, but will be more proud when I figure out how to hide the yellow ethernet cable now stretching the length of the room.
Sigh. That's San Francisco living, if you've got an old Victorian apartment that's not been updated for dot com days. Extention cords become the best friend you've always dreamed of, but didn't know you needed so badly. Yesterday I blew a breaker by having more than three things on at once.
Digression from a point to this update, there's an interview with myself, Laurenn McCubbin, and Lea Hernandez up at ninthart.com. (http://ninthart.com/display.php?article=905) Alex wanted to make it sound like we were all hanging out in some bar but really we weren't. Still. Both Laurenn and Lea are people i'd like to have my back in a pub brawl. They're Rough and Tough.
Looks like the 'How Loathsome' softcover version will be in stores in November! wheee. |
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Read 5 - Post |
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| More reviews! |
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| 11:40am 22/08/2004 |
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From Time.com... (alongside 'Amy and Jordan'!!
"... illustrations by Ted Naifeh, using an unusual palette of black, gray and bronze, strike a harmonic discord between the gay fetishising of beautiful bodies and costumes with the straight pulp illustration of people shooting up and fooling around. Defying the conventions of "positive" gay literature for something much less correct and therefore more interesting."
(http://www.time.com/time/columnist/arnold/article/0,9565,685285,00.html) |
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Read 2 - Post |
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| Another weekend in the trenches... |
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| 09:19pm 30/07/2004 |
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mood:  creative music: Buffalo Daughter - Socks, Drugs, and Rock and Roll
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San Diego was great, an overwhelming press of people, stuff, and challenging food as always. This year NBM had a much larger booth and I hung out there for much of the con and talked to people.
Huge thanks to everyone who came by and said hi, we sold out completely of the copies of 'How Loathsome' our publisher'd shipped, and Ted nearly sold out of the copies we had brought.
One bit of news, 'How Loathsome' is mentioned in this month's issue of 'The Advocate'. There's a few pages on queer comics, by Andy Mangels. I'll try to get it scanned and posted for anyone who might be interested, there is a weird picture of me in there as well... and an adorable one of Justin Hall in his 'Love and Rockets' shirt.
That's the news. I'll go collapse now again. |
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Read 3 - Post |
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| San Diego Scheduling.... |
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| 01:01pm 20/07/2004 |
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mood:  cheerful
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It's that time again, geek prom. We're all dying our hair and painstakingly choosing outfits. Ted Naifeh has his own table, located somewhere i'm not sure of yet, but it'll be listed in the program for those who want to go by and poke him in his broken arm.
He and I will be signing at the NBM table for sure on Friday from 3-5, and also on Saturday from 11-3. I'll be at the NBM area more often, but if you want to catch us together, those are the times. Booth number is 1429.
Friday after signing, i'll be speaking on the 'Gays in Comics Crossfire' panel, here's the blurb on that one...
FRIDAY, JULY 23
5:30-7:00pm
Gays In Comics: Crossfire 3
Room 5AB
The popular no-holds-barred roundtable returns for its third "straight" year,
moderated by Joan Hilty, DC editor and creator of the comic strip Bitter Girl. What issues of race/gender/sexuality are driving the hottest debates? What are the best and worst imprints for queer content in comics? Are we more or less marketable to the mainstream than ever? Get a fistful of opinions from this wide range of queer comic creators, including Paige Braddock (Jane's World), Marc Andreyko (Manhunter), Andersen Gabrych (Detective Comics), Tristan Crane (How Loathsome), Terrance Griep (Scooby-Doo), and Phil Jimenez (New X-Men).
Friday's really busy, after the panel, i'll be reading bits from 'How Loathsome', along with the incredibly Michelle Tea and Laurenn McCubbin presenting 'Rent Girl' and the colorfully-coiffed Bucky Sinister reading bits from his hilarious new book. Here's a link for you to click...
(http://www.resistmuch.com/science/)
So far that's the big schedule. Looks like i'll be very tired on saturday. Hope to see some of y'all down there! |
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Read 3 - Post |
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| Stuff shipping this week! |
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| 10:31am 17/05/2004 |
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mood: crazy
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According to NBM, the 'How Loathsome' hardcover collection Should ship into comic book stores this week!
Diamond distribution always ships the comics on Wednesday (which is why that's always the busiest and funnest day at a comic book store, it's like christmas/chanukkah once a week). The book will ship to Borders, and perhaps Waldenbooks in the next few weeks, it's also available from Amazon.com, although that site seems to have lost any information about the book or what it's about. Also they've got it listed in softcover... sorry, but the softcover edition won't be out for another six months.
If anyone has trouble getting ahold of a copy, I am, as always, more than willing to sell you one through the mail. (just drop me a line at howloathsome@hotmail.com) Shipping is priority mail, just to make sure it gets to you in a timely manner. This is a good option if you'd like your books signed by myself and Ted, or if your having trouble getting ahold of a copy, or if you'd rather give your money to the creators rather than some anonymous corporate online entity.
Also shipping this week, the final issue of Ted's 'Courtney Crumrin in the Twilight Kingdom', which earned a couple of good reviews on http://thefourthrail.com. If you aren't on the 'courtney' bandwagon, you might think about picking up the first trade of Ted's creator-owned series about this sarcastic and moody pre-teen magic-wielding cutie. 's good stuff. |
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Read 1 - Post |
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| On the eve of it all... |
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| 04:55pm 27/04/2004 |
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how loathsome is everything self-righteous people are afraid of.
That's the best quote... ever! Seriously, i'm blown away by the reception that our little book has received in the queer community. Between the online gay comics press and the GLAAD nomination, feeling optomistic that one day we might even see 'How Loathsome' on the shelves in the Casto. Stranger things have certainly happened in that 'hood.
In appearance news, both Tristan and Ted will be at Wondercon next weekend. Ted can be found about the Oni Press table, and I'll be sharing a table in Artist's Alley with the charming and talented Michael Manning. We'll have copies of the HL trade - still a week or two away from release in stores! The usual patches, buttons, and I'll also have a new mini-comic to promote a project called 'Vinyl' that's been in the works for a while now.
Hope to see some of you there. |
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Read 6 - Post |
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| The collection? |
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| 10:39am 14/04/2004 |
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Due to a shipping error at the printers, we're now not sure what the exact release date of the 'How Loathsome' collection will be. Won't be this week, for sure.
However, they have send us samples of the books and they're pretty stunning. The Hardcover should be released in the next few weeks, i'll post the exact date when I know it. It'll retail for about $19 and be followed in a few months by a softcover edition.
The book is also available for pre-order from the NBM website at www.nbmpublishing.com, and also at Amazon.com. Or at your local comic book store, which can order it through Diamond Distribution, or directly from NBM. |
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Read 3 - Post |
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| And the award goes to..... |
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| 10:59am 29/03/2004 |
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Catwoman! By Ed Brubaker, a very fine book by all accounts. And not just because of the catsuits...
So 'How Loathsome' didn't win the GLAAD award, at least not this year. Which is more than fine, because just being nominated was was cool. For those out there interested in comic books containing GLBT people or dealing with issues therein, I can recommend some of our fellow nominees to you.
Of course, 'Catwoman', which is great for all kinds of reasons other than queer-inclusivity. Ed Brubaker is part of a new influx of mature comic book writers who appreciate the diversity of the world we live in and their work reflects this. Greg Rucka is another, his book 'Gotham Central' is a look at the world of Batman from the perspective of the cops who walk the streets of Gotham City, a recent storyline dealt with the outing of a lesbian on the force and everything that can imply. Beautifully drawn by Michael Lark as well.
Warren Ellis's 'The Authority' was infamous for Midnighter and Apollo, the first two openly gay super-hero's. Complete with bulging muscles and catch-phrases... while Warren is no longer writing the book, I'd highly recommend you pick up the issues he was responsible for. They're clever, imaginative, and amazingly free of cliches and stereotypes. Other people have written it since it's debut, in my opinion their work pales in comparison and slips into more recognisably 'gay-ed up' dialogue, but hey, that's just my opinion.
Please keep in mind that these books are all extremely Mainstream, they're put out by major publishers and are sold in bookstores, ect. This is not a bad thing in and of itself, but the real goldmine of queer-friendly work is happing in the Indie and Alternative comics areas.
Check popimage.com, or ninthart.com, or thefourthrail.com, or sequentialtart.com for the latest on what's going on in the self-and-independant-publishing world.
In news about Us - We will be attending Wondercon (www.comic-con.com) in San Francisco, April 30 - May 2. Ted will be hanging about the Oni Press table, and I'll be... somewhere, i'm not sure where yet. We will have copies of the 'How Loathsome' trade - although due to a printer's error copies may not arrive in stores until a week later. d'oh! More on everything as it happens. |
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Read 12 - Post |
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