The Passion of Joan of Arc, from 1928, is available online and translated into English here. It is simply amazing. Maria Falconetti as Joan gives what is widely regarded as one of the best performances on film, ever.
(Source: Wikipedia)
I really like this book cover!
(Source: loveamongthesailors)
Have you seen this amazing self portrait I did when I was five? I gave myself a rainbow dress and a beard, it is The Ultimate Combo, and the teacher agrees.
Man! Brains mess up what you’re trying to think about sometimes
Feast your eyes on this amazing resource! Hundreds of early Canadian periodicals, digitized!
The best thing I saw at Comic Con? MAYBE
This was a poster at the Mattel booth (?). He-Man is new and improved! Scott dubbed him “Trash Bag He-Man,” like regular He-Man, but wearing things he found in the trash.
In other news, Skeletor drives a van now!
Man oh man!! I told you I got to hang with some comic heroes at San Diego but here are some pictures of it! I love these guys, they are the best and I can’t believe my luck!!
Totally amazing. I met a lot of others, but have no photographic evidence of standing beside them with ear-to-ear smiles. As is proper!
Today I got a package from a confused delivery man who didn’t know what he was dropping off, and I didn’t know what I was getting. What a relief to open the box and find another one inside marked ‘cemetery!' Just kidding, I pooped my pants. But I opened the box and found the inside to be full of earthy material, and on top, a tiny shovel. So I began to dig.
There I discovered a little coffin, which didn’t have someone’s foot inside it like in my nightmares, but the figure of Amelia, a zombie from Laika’s new film, ParaNorman. Amelia also had a bag of books. She’s quite jaunty, if you pose her right.
I can’t help but marvel at the craftsmanship of the whole thing, from the crate to the mouldy earth to the little props and the fine work on Amelia herself. I’ve never held a stop-motion figure before, they’re wonderful. If you love stop motion as much as I do, take a look at weirdwins.com for a look at ParaNorman from the company that made it, Laika, the people behind Coraline.
ParaNorman hits theaters August 17, and I am way jazzed to see it.
While we are linking, you know a film is only as good as the people making it, and some good friends of mine are super talented Laika people!
Graham Annable’s videos and drawings are here, they are wonderfully eerie.
Vera Brosgol’s work has been making me jealous since I even started this comic business. Someone gave her an Eisner recently that was probably pre-destined.
A lil’ sketch, I made a lil’ comic. Click the picture to see it. Check the write up below, for a cartoon I made for the Guardian also!
The video on the main page for Toronto’s Type Books will make you want to pick up a novel and start reading, right now.
(Source: typebooks.ca)
The Royal Ontario Museum displays original artwork from The Drama of the Forests by Arthur Heming in it’s Canada rooms. Taking note of the title, I looked it up and sure enough, the text is at Project Gutenberg. It’s interesting to look through, and as the painting suggests, it is insanely Canadian.
Part of what makes Heming’s works so striking is that he was told in art school that he was color blind, and so he created toned down, heavy feeling works of a palette of black, white and yellow for much of his life.
How great is Jon Scieszka’s Guys Read program? Click on that link for more info. I am so into great advocacy for children’s literacy, but aren’t we all? Books for all the babies, put the books in their hands.
at San Diego Comic Con, I was lucky enough to go to dinner with some people from my publishing company, and Gilbert Hernandez was among them. It was a total treat! I told him that the book of collected Palomar stories is among my favorites of all time. The way he describes life in a little town and the people inside it over time, you can tell if you read the work I’ve been sketching lately that it had an influence. I love this book, and I wanted to tell you.
A wee pony update! Fat lil’ guy. Click click!