The Penguin

Source: The HaHa.nu Blog

The DCP art show opening was - for all intents and purposes - a success. Out of the dank, unswept recess that is Basement 414, the intrepid Joe Haines and myself forged a show-space from pure will (and some dividers and black fabric). We have about twenty pieces up so far, with more on the way. It was a little dicey there at the beginning - they opened the Basement up around 6:30 pm , instead of the requested 5:00, and so we were still setting up when the show was supposed to open. That was okay, though, because nobody showed up until around 9. Needless to say, your favorite blogger was a little bummed. Thankfully Joe was able to provide some encouragement ("Dude, it's the Basement - I wasn't expecting anyone to show up on time anyway"). At any rate, we did manage to lure some poor unfortunates into our web. They were quickly devoured, except for the vital organs, which were kept fresh for later consumption. A quick update on the show: the Grand Closing will be on Sat

Just to let y'all know (all two of you), the inimitable Joe Haines and myself are having an art show at Basement 414 in Lansing. We're going to style it as a "Dark Corner Productions" art show, which will allow us to shill our products and do promos for Joe's comic, Bone Boy , coming out on November 20th. Here's the info: Start Date: Friday, November 13 Start Time: 7-ish End Date: Sunday, December 6, 2009 Location: Basement 414 414 E Michigan Ave Lansing, MI 48933 The show will feature comic-related and otherwise artwork, including painting, collage, and dioramas. Be There, or We'll Hunt You Down and Cut Out Your Spleens! Rick Out.

Finally! I just got the DCP #1 test copy back from the printer today; we go into production on the 19th of October, which is this Friday. DCP #1 is my comic, Ian's Dream, which is based on a dream of my coworker's (his name is Ian, if you haven't already deduced). The narrative concerns the eponymous hero and his sojourn through a zombie-infested city. I think it turned out rather swell. Here's a couple of pages, for your enjoyment: The Cover. Page 2. Page 6. That's all you're getting. The rest is available for $4.00, wherever Rick is selling them. Now for a little context: this is my very first self-published comic. In that respect, it's a historic event. From now on - hopefully - I can go ahead and self-publish any time I like, without waiting. Granted, it costs a lot (here's a hint: set up the comic in InDesign first, or they'll charge you extra - a lot extra). Dark Corner Productions, by the by, is a production group I'm working on with the i

From time to time I might be blogging on various art movements I like. I have to warn you, of course, that I am by no means an expert on the subject - most of it will just be my own thoughts and musings on the subject. Hopefully it'll be an interesting read. One of my favorite art movements is the amalgamation known as "Art Deco". Art Deco wasn't a discreet art movement in and of itself; the term (as usually used) encompasses a number of art movements and styles, including Constructivism, Cubism, Neoclassicalism, Futurism, and Art Nouveau. Its most famous applications, of course, were in architecture and industrial design. Russian Constructivism. Polish art exhibition poster. Everyone has seen examples of Art Deco design, even if they don't know it - the Chrystler and Empire State buildings in New York City are perhaps the largest examples. These two buildings are typified by their soaring vertical lines and complex peaks: the Empire State Building seems to flow d

1. Swallow Me Whole Nate Powell Swallow Me Whole is a haunting, nightmarish treatment of suburban adolescence. The story follows the mental journeys of half-siblings Ruth and Perry. They have mental problems to begin with - Perry sees a tiny wizard who tells him to draw things, and Ruth is obsessed with patterns in her insect collection - but as they get older, Ruth sinks steadily deeper into her madness, and Perry finds it more and more difficult to resist the Wizard. Nate Powell is not content merely to chronicle events as an observer - his art draws the reader in, forcing us to experience the characters' mental states for ourselves. Understandably this makes for a confusing read...but what a confusion. The light, incomplete, nebulous drawings translate into a mental fuzziness, compounded by the alteration of dialogue text; the only really clear moments are those of extreme darkness, when Powell slops on great gouts of shadow. The cumulative effect is extraordinarily spooky. Mad

Yeah, go on, guess. That's right. It's me. Your favorite lovable blogging internet-type character, back from the veritable comics exile they call Summer Camp. I am sleek, tanned, and ready for action. Poppa's home, boys. Time to get crackin'. At any rate, I am hard at work on comics and hoping to kick some ass before the general school and winter fugue kicks in, and I am reduced to a sniveling, sniffing pile of wreckage in front of a computer screen, my life-force slowly being drained by Photoshop. Classes start a week before I thought they would - almost two weeks - so I have been scrambling to rearrange my work schedule to fit. In the comics department, I have finished that leviathan of a project, "The Second Coming", and am now working on a bit of an easy piece called "Ian's Dream", based upon the somnic visions of a camp co-worker. I have made up for the relative ease of composition in this piece by making it thirteen pages long (plus title p

Just to let y'all know, The Rick is still alive and kicking. I just haven't had a lot of time to post here recently - as of late, I've been working at a Cub Scout camp down in Gregory, MI, and I only have time off on Saturday nights and Wednesdays. As you can imagine, this puts a bit of a clamp on my blogging time. I have, however, been posting poems on my poetry blog, RixRites , so you can go over there to get your dose of Rickian poetic ramblings. I am currently working on a rather prickly five-pager, a comic-book treatment of W.B. Yeat's poem, "The Second Coming". It's coming along slowly; I have a problem with a couple of the pages, especially the first one. I figure I just need to slam it out, and damn the consequences. There's also the very small, burr-like copyright issue clinging to my leg - who owns the rights to "The Second Coming"? How can I get permission to use it, and how much will it cost? At any rate, the summer camp season is

I've started a new blog for my writing. Unlike RixPix, the writing blog - "RixRites" - will be less discussion, and more work. RixPix is where I flap my lips about anything I feel like talking about; RixRites is where I shut up and let the work do the talking. I like to think of it as the public face of Rick versus the private face of Rick: RixRites will have nothing to do with business. I'm not even sure if I'll respond to comments on that blog (unless there's some helpful constructive criticism - always welcome. Even this megalomaniac feels his work needs improvement). You can check out RixRites at this address: www.rixrites12.blogspot.com. Hope you enjoy it. Rick Out.

This last Sunday, the 14th, I began my third year working at Camp Munhacke Cub Scout Resident Camp in Gregory, MI. This first week is "director's week", which means all the directors come to camp early, before the general staff, and work their asses off. We were setting up tents, setting up the dock at the waterfront, even setting up some battleships (more on that later). I have never set up tents so fast in my life. I spent all of Wednesday tottering around like an old man, burnt to a crisp from the shoulders down, and covered in massive horsefly welts. I have to go back this evening. Should be fun. I have to admit, I kind of enjoyed the work, all except putting in the dock. You have to understand this monstrosity before you can appreciate how difficult it is to set up. Firstly, the thing is about twenty years old. The metal frames are rusting apart, full of convenient jagged corners and finger-biting hinges, the kind of tetanus nightmare that makes you wish you had boxe

Author's note: this blog has been reprinted, per Jay Jacot's request, from Sunday, June 7th. All the events recorded here are to the best of my knowledge. I've also made some corrections (again, as per request), so it's a little different, if you've read it before. Whew! A lot can happen while you're out drinking. I went to a quiet after-party following my church's open house (St. Mary Magdalene's Orthodox Church in Fenton), and missed my weekly meeting with Comics Obscura. And guess what happened? They're no longer Comics Obscura! Yes, friends, the Comics Obscura group and the Comics Obscura publication are now, officially, no longer affiliated. I don't have all the details; but from what I've gathered, the Comics Obscura group no longer exists, and those members formerly of Comics Obscura have now formed their own group, Dark Corner Productions. Comics Obscura, the publication, is still in operation, but the main editor/publisher/shareholde

The above title, plus a few expletives, formed the content of my primal shriek of triumph and exhaustion as I put the last godforsaken line in the last godforsaken panel on the last godforsaken page of that 126-page, one-ton albatross that's been hanging around my neck for three years like a millstone, dragging me down into that stinking, fetid mire called, "I'll-Finish-It-Tomorrow", where I would be sucked dry by the Leeches of Procrastination and then cored out by the filthy maggots of Despair-Of-Ever-Finishing. I flipped through each page, giggling maniacally, my worn-to-the-bone fingers unfeeling against the plastic, reliving the agony over every line in ink, marker, and ballpoint pen, feeling the blinding sting of every glaring mistake and oversight, mind shot through with every newly-discovered plot-hole. As "O Fortuna" reached its earthshaking choral crescendo, I found myself staring at a certain point in the story, where there seemed to be - dared I

Disclaimer: I went ahead and deleted that last post...things weren't as "sorted-out" as I thought they were. In fact, one of the parties involved weren't even aware of the events that transpired. If you commented on that post, my sincerest apologies for deleting your words along with it; if you didn't, and are now saying, "What the hell is he talking about?!", don't worry about it. Situation Normal - All F***ed Up. Rick Out.

Forgive the exuberance. Made about $60.00 at the 2009 Motor City Comic Con, so I'm pumped. Sold 4 issues of Comics Obscura , one button, and 10 sketches. Didn't get very many pictures of the Con - I'm not much of a picture-taker, unfortunately. Did get my ugly mug immortalized with a pair of very lovely (and very accomodating) ladies in costume. Fig. 1-1: The author, with bemused beauties. My tablemates Josh and Matt also got in on the action: Fig. 1-2: Josh is happy. Fig. 1-3: Matt is also happy. He is also crouching down - the man is at least six-foot-six. (Note: the character on the left is the girl from The Fifth Element , one of my favorite movies of all time. If you don't know the character on the right, it's time to crawl out from under that rock of yours). Carrie Fisher was apparently at the Con, but I didn't go over to see her - from all accounts, she did not want to be there (where's a friendly Mark Hamill when you need him?). Much more friendly w

At some point, way back in the misty dawn of time [of this blog], I said this was a comics blog. It hasn't really turned out that way, aside from a few sketchbook pictures here and there. I thought it was high time I put in a couple of comic book reviews, just to spice things up. The following is a series of very short reviews of comics I've read. Most of these come from the library where I work - we have a moderate collection. Because I'm lazy, the reviews will probably be quite short, depending on what I want to say about it. Also, if you've never heard of any of these comics or creators, all's the better - I've become a bit of a connoisseur, I've found, of comics nobody's ever heard of (although this review will include some more commonly-known titles and artists). (By the way, starting from this point, I might be using the word "comickers" a lot - it simply means, "comic book artists". It's just a bit easier than saying "

I'm sitting here on a beautiful, rainy day at the end of a Michigan April, contemplating the emerald green of the new growth. The grass is impossibly soft; new buds stand out like millions of tiny jewels against the black of wet tree trunks. The crabapples and plum trees are sporting their May blossoms early, pinks and whites and magentas. The gray sky, so oppressive two months ago, now looks soft and warm as velvet. There are garter snakes on the move, even in the middle of the city; fat woodchucks snuffle around on the embankment of the railroad tracks. After the long winter, everything is beautifully, impossibly new. Fig. 1-1: Maple Street, in the rain. Fig. 1-2: The plum tree. View of Aberdeen Way, out front. For anyone who's lived in Michigan for any length of time (at least in the Lower Peninsula), you've most likely heard of that jewel of the northern forests, the elusive morel mushroom. The mere sight of one will cause even the most reserved of us to clap our hands

Whew...! Just sent off the second installment of the Fight or Flight webcomic. That'll make it a grand total of...two installments. Lord have mercy. In a more upbeat vein, the final installment of TEQ has one page left . I'm going to have to sit myself down and just plug away until I finish it. After that, I just have three painted title pages to complete (for installments 4, 5, and 6), and then, voila! - - TEQ is done. After that, I have to swoop in and finish Squidgods . Twenty pages, or thereabouts. Then all my outstanding (and outstanding!) projects will be finished, and I'll have a couple minutes to breathe. Finals coming up at LCC. I just have that one paper to do; everything else is projects. Then I have ComiCon on the 15th of May, and then National Camp School on the 22nd (in Knob Lick, Missouri - Knob Lick, folks). And then on June 14th, I'm off for camp staff. Hurray for summer, and all that. Rick Out.

A quick image - four heads for ComiCon buttons: Fig. 1.1: Four heads. Longshots characters featured, clockwise from top left: Beth Kasty, Ishmael Kuffing, Captain Andrew Logan, Eric Mudrow. I think I ordered about fifty of these buttons. So far it's about the only preparation I've done for the Con - I guess I'd better get my butt moving on that. Get some posters printed, at least. I'm thinking of doing a banner with my name on it, or something along those lines. I'll see what goes on. And while we're posting images, here's four concept images for a Flash animation I'm doing. Hopefully, I'll be able to post the full animation for you sometime later. Fig. 1.2: The aged hippie. The Animation is for a Web Design project - Project 7, or some-such: "Design a Flash splash-page for a corporate website". Being the happy camper that I am, I decided any Flash splash-page for a corporate website would (and indeed, should have) aging counterculture f

These past couple of weeks have been...interesting. Comics Obscura is undergoing a bit of a shakeup; the founding members of the group are at odds with our editor-in-chief, the inimitable Jay Jacot. I can't give any specific details, but suffice to say they're at loggerheads right now, and are going to use next Sunday's meeting as a chance to try and resolve the differences. Hopefully everything will work out to peacefully, and we can get back to drawing comics and having a good time. Not much to report on my end. I just finished the roughs for Redtooth #2, and am moving on to Redtooth #3. Oh, and did you hear about this? I'm also working on a webcomic. When it will come out, I haven't the foggiest. I'm just doing the art and trying to mind my own business. The webcomic is called (tentatively, and probably finally) Fight or Flight, and we started very early last year . I'm working with a writer, David "Skippy" Crampton, and his co-conspirator, Aa

For all you ten million fans of this blog, who wait upon my every life-giving word with bated breath, as if in anticipation of a coming religious experience, these past weeks (or so) must have been a torment to your shriveled souls. Well, be tormented no longer: I am about to post more of my holy, infallible writ. Nothing much has really been going on this week - at least, artistically. For those of you who know, I have been working on a webcomic as well - called Fight or Flight - and the writers have recently contacted me out of this ephemeral ether we call the "interwebs". So, I'm working on that. It's very slow going. You know how it is: the usual complaints about, "Oh, my classes take a lot out of me", and, "Oh, I just want to come home and relax...and eat a quart of ice cream." (Maybe not the ice cream. There is none in the house at the moment). Fig. 1: His Holiness, the Author, reclining upon his favorite sofa. What's really getting to me