neilcomics

Li'l Mell + Sergio complete

2009-01-07T23:36:00.000-08:00

Shaenon Garrity and I have finished "Li'l Mell & Sergio: Adjustment" over at girlamatic.com! Thanks to Shaenon for providing such a fun story to draw.

reading at Litquake

2008-10-27T01:37:00.000-07:00

I recently recited an original short story for Litquake, San Francisco's really great annual literary festival. Images for the story were projected behind me on stage; here are a few:

The reading went pretty well. I was a little nervous since I've never performed a story before, but the instant gratification of laughter and applause was really great. It was also nice to seize control of the pacing of the story, since that can be very tricky to maintain on paper. I hope I get a chance to do this again sometime.

My friend Lark was also there and gave a great reading. Later we headed over to Books, Inc. for the reception, where we signed copies of Flight Volume Four, which we both contributed to.

Here Binny plays the Blue Guitar--a collector's item for sure...

Thanks again to Robin Ekiss and Rosie Levy Merlin for granting me the honor of participating!

candidate

2008-09-17T01:21:00.000-07:00

Junked Mail

2008-06-03T00:36:00.001-07:00

On Hamlet

2008-03-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

I adapted William Shakespeare's Hamlet into a graphic novel last year, and now it's available. You can find preview images, information on how to get the book, and an explanation of how it was created, right here.

"Ordet" reviewed by Ebert

2008-03-12T06:21:00.000-07:00

For several years, I've been trying to persuade friends who care about movies to watch Carl Th. Dreyer's Ordet, surely one of my top-5 favorites. However, I've also had to warn them to be careful to read nothing online about it, which doesn't help the case to check out an obscure foreign film from 1954. Finally, Roger Ebert has written a review this movie truly deserves--he interestingly avoids criticism or any discussion of where the plot heads (which ruins it, in so many books and articles) and simply describes the experience of watching it, only up to the point that's necessary to convince you that it's worth seeing. They ought to give him another Pulitzer for casting some more attention on this film.

As much as I enjoy reading Ebert (if not for his actual recommendations all the time), I'm sad to learn that my favorite film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum has retired. If you're unfamiliar, there's a nice list of selected reviews and a YouTube interview with him here, courtesy of the Chicago Reader. I credit him with greatly influencing my taste and will miss his film writing very much--though hopefully this will pave the way for new great works from him.

More Li'l Mell

2008-03-12T05:39:00.000-07:00

A new page of "Li'l Mell and Sergio" is up on Girlamatic.com today, as normally scheduled. It was fun to play with lighting in a dark environment here within a straight black-and-white comic. I hope my skills are improving with this style.

But Shaenon's story seems to be hitting a nerve regardless--look at the comments on this page from a couple weeks ago!

Meantime

2008-03-07T06:09:00.000-08:00

I'm finally dusting off this website again. The design isn't finished, but I'll be blogging anyway. Cheers.

Downtime

2007-09-14T02:15:00.000-07:00

This website might not be functional this weekend because the server is moving (along with my friend Matt) from Pittsburgh to San Francisco.

And I'll be back with a meaningful upgrade in early October!

Hyphenated

2007-08-09T01:10:00.000-07:00

I was interviewed by Ching-In Chen for an article about Indian-themed comics, which is out now in the new issue of Hyphen Magazine. I haven't seen it yet, but hopefully they were able to edit down my rambling answers into something a little more pithy. I don't think they included any illustrations from me (I couldn't really decide what to send them in time), but it's a thought-provoking topic and there are some other interviews with excellent artists, so I can't wait to see. According to their website:

Hyphen is a magazine about Asian America for the culturally and politically savvy. Built around a clarity of image, word and social awareness, Hyphen takes form from the artists, thinkers and creators who are shaping a new multiethnic generation.

Yes! I think they have an excellent blog as well.

I won't be able to make it to the "Who Is Mr. Brown" show (They'll be exhibiting the piece I showed you in my last post), but here is the info for anyone who would like to attend:

Who is Mr. Brown?

A fundraiser for New Global Citizens, featuring art and music inspired by the song "Mr. Brown" by Bob Marley and the Wailers

111 Minna Gallery

111 Minna Street
San Francisco, CA
94105

Friday, August 10, 2007
9pm-2am
$5 (gets you a raffle ticket and a free copy of issue #27 of ALARM Magazine; all proceeds go to New Global Citizens)
21 and up

Featuring: Art and Music Inspired by the song "Mr. Brown" by Bob Marley and
the Wailers; Politically and Socially Conscious DJ Sets; Free Copies of
Issue #27 of ALARM Magazine; Raffle Prizes from ALARM, Intersection,
Fabric8, Goorin Brothers Hats, Romanowksi and more!

There's more info about artists and music here.

Who is Mr. Brown?

2007-07-30T22:24:00.000-07:00

This is a sketch of mine that Binh transferred onto a small leaf. It'll be sold as part of a fundraiser for New Global Citizens, sponsored by Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco and ALARM Magazine.

The theme of the collection is a Jamaican myth that inspired the Bob Marley song "Who is Mister Brown." This myth, like many others in modern Jamaican lore, was the result of what could be characterized as mass hysteria. Our concept was that even if one denies supernaturalism, the messages of these stories have a truth of their own, resulting from the way they are forged through collective imagination in a specific political climate.

Thanks to Buck Austin for the invitation.

Killer of Sheep

2007-07-28T03:18:00.000-07:00

I'm still technically on hiatus, unable to post comics here (everything I'm working on now must be saved for later, alas), and not willing to clean up the site design just yet; I know that if I get back to it, I'll be distracted by it for several days! However, Flight Volume 4 has now been officially released, and it looks great in print. The reception has been positive, and the book seems to be coming across as intended. In my opinion, the sexiest review so far, to borrow a phrase, is this one from the Onion A.V. Club (you need to scroll down a bit to find it).

Anyhow, I wanted to get back in the habit of blogging about movies and books and other things that interest me. I like to take notes on this sort of thing, so I figure I may as well share them for filler around here. Right now, for instance, I'm consumed with anticipation for this movie:

Although I have to admit that part of me buys into the romantic notion of movies as lost treasures (like the last original print of The Passion of Joan of Arc found in near-pristine quality in a mental hospital, or the original version of John Cassavettes' Shadows, lost in a Subway car and found in an attic decades later, or the long lost extended cut of Greed), it's really the sincerity of these clips that moves me. I'll get a couple chances to see it in San Francisco next month, and I'm counting the days. On the other hand, I'm kind of dreading an approaching deadline around that time as well. Hopefully, trekking up to the city to watch this movie will be a nice reward after a hard month.

On a darker note, one of my favorite filmmakers, Edward Yang, has passed away much too soon. I've got my eye set on a sharp new Criterion Collection DVD of his Yi Yi, and I'm happy to see that there's at least a collector-created edition of A Brighter Summer Day available as well. So much to see, so little time!

Links:
Killer of Sheep official website, with screening locations and dates
NPR reviews Killer of Sheep

Tempus Fugit

2007-05-21T16:52:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems another weekend has flown by without my being able to polish off my site redesign, or upload any new material here. It's really because I'm spending my creative "spare" time on a rather huge comics project that I'll post more details about a little later. So, I've necessarily been on hiatus from this site a little while--I just thought it would be a good idea to officially say so, for all the kind passers-by.

Meanwhile, Flight Volume 4 (with a story by me, the longest yet--I had to shorten it to make it fit in the book!) is complete and will be released by Random House in July. There are some truly standout pieces in this one, by Thomas Herpich, Lark Pien, Vera Brosgol, and many others. I'm also a little more proud of my story than I have been of the past 3 that I've contributed to Flight. So, I think this volume is going to be an especially impressive and inspiring step forward.

I did make time to attend "Comics Out Loud," an event at Pegasus Books in Berekely, CA last Friday. Several bay area cartoonists read from their work as it was projected panel-by-panel behind them. While some of it felt uneven, it seemed like an exciting and interesting new way to share comics (well, new to me at least). The immediacy of the artists' tone and inflection added yet another layer of intimacy to a medium that is already packed with that quality. I also got to say bye to Jen who is LEAVING!

Observatory

2007-03-07T02:03:00.000-08:00

Fat Man and Little Boy

2007-03-01T01:55:00.000-08:00

Binh in Giant Robot

2007-02-26T00:24:00.000-08:00

Binh (mentioned earlier) is featured in the March issue of Giant Robot magazine, with lots of big glossy photos of his California Biennial exhibit, and some other pieces. The interview by Martin Wong is practical and humorous; I wish mainstream fine art journalism would sway a bit more like this. And in fact, Martin's simply articulated impression of the work is among the more eloquent that I've come across:

"...The effect is haunting, as if humanity's violent history has been witnessed, processed, and archived by nature itself."

hold the phone

2007-02-18T20:58:00.000-08:00

Like a digging a tunnel one spoonful at a time, I've slowly but surely been working on yet another site redesign. It'll be much more unified and easier on the eyes, and hopefully more practical for me too. Despite its simplicity, it's taking a bit longer than I expected, so I wanted to put this notice up here to fill the dead air a bit. I've got a lot of unrelated work to handle, but it's been fun, taking a bit of time here and there, to teach myself a few things about Cascading Style Sheets and modern web design. No more endless tables-within-tables, and cross-platform nightmares! Well, maybe a few, but things should turn out fine. I'll have a new clump of content to share soon as well.

tell me more about you

2007-01-20T23:37:00.000-08:00

A feral woman has been caught in the Cambodian jungle. She may have been missing since she was eight years old.

gobble gobble

2006-11-23T22:38:00.000-08:00

Happy Turkey Day everybody--I had a good one, thanks to some nice coworkers.

I'm not sure what turkeys really look like, but I doodled this one in anticipation of dinner.

two endpaper sketches

2006-11-16T23:27:00.000-08:00

When I heard that there would be a Random House reprinting of Flight 1 & 2, not to mention French editions, I thought it would be a great opportunity to freshen up my two stories! Unfortunately, the deadline for this rushed by before I even knew of its existence, and all I got to stick in there was this endpaper for Flight 2:

Well maybe next time.

Anyway, I actually got to meet one of my aforementioned cartooning heroes this week, Joann Sfar! He took us into the world of Klezmer, and conversed about work, storytelling, and the international graphic novel business in a most generous, humorous, and eloquent manner, without the usual puffery or cynicism that these subjects so often unleash. Apparently he's a real charmer with the harmonica as well.

He also made me this quick sketch of Aspirine, who appears in Vampire Loves (easily one of my favorite books this year!) and is the hero of an upcoming book:

Sweet!

enveloped

2006-11-15T00:13:00.000-08:00

You can find me talking on the phone while doodling on junk mail at least... 3 times a week.
mp3: A new Owen song from Polyvinyl Records.

Rainy Day Hair

2006-11-13T23:53:00.000-08:00

Well, it's that cold, drippy time of year in Northern California again...

Why is it that site traffic increases when you don't post for a couple months? It's actually been long enough that I momentarily forgot how to create a new post. Oh well, I will try to use this thing more often for random doodling and see how it goes.

And hopefully, there will be some fun news to pass along sooner or later.

Five inches

2006-09-13T01:38:00.000-07:00

This is just a free-association doodle (no pencils) from a little while back. It's similar to that watercolor thing from a few posts ago; I think that I drew it on the same not-very-creative day.

Chinese Translation

2006-09-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

My brother emailed me this cool Flash-animated M. Ward video that I wanted to share:

It was apparently made by Joel Trussell et. al. (Thanks to Kazu for the identification.) Mr. Trussell has a sweet blog and a higher-resolution version of the animation here.

Now go get the new M. Ward album right away! It's a work of genius (like his other albums). I just realized I'll have to be at work when his tour comes around here at the end of the month, and it's really bumming me out. I've still never had the chance to see him live.

Jelly days

2006-08-31T22:27:00.000-07:00

I just realized it's Vera's birthday, and it's almost up! (I wish I could freeze time and draw her something prettier.) I was fortunate enough to hang out with Vera and friends last week when we went to see the band Wolf Parade in Portland, Oregon. It rocked as expected.

On the subject of special days, I wanted to also mention my friend Binh's exhibitions, coming up on Sept. 7 at the Haines Gallery in San Francisco, and Sept. 8 at the Asia Society in New York City. You can learn more about his amazing stuff from this National Public Radio clip, or this PBS video segment.