The Penguin

Greetings, Fiendish Readers. Yessir, we just got back up from Columbus after two days of debauchery in that decadent southern paradise we call Ohio...okay, maybe there was only one  orgy, and only five people showed up, and nobody was really into it...but still! Hedonism! The Downfall of Midwestern Civilization! The drive down was pretty harrowing, firstly because of the ice on the freeway (like driving over a glacier, damndest thing I've ever seen) and secondly because the Ohio freeway system is proudly, defiantly, exasperatingly committed to labeling every highway with three or four numbers, and interrupting their ostensibly free ways with traffic lights. We got turned around somewhere south of Findlay and ended up driving through cornfields for an hour before finally picking up 75 again. Honestly I don't think I've ever driven through Ohio without getting lost once; the state likes to suck in outsiders and funnel them into its empty interior, there to circle endlessl...

Well, yesterday was April Fool's Day...I did not get fooled. Or maybe I was. Perhaps there was some sort of meta-foolery going on, which I won't see until years later, and suddenly I'll wake up with a strange light in my eyes, the dawn of a new understanding of what They'd done, with profound regret and a sense of loss at the dialectic of my personal history, vis-a-vis the V2 Rocket. As you might have guessed, I just finished up Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow , and my brain is still recovering from the massive effort.  It took me a month to read the damn thing. I've read Russian novels in less time. I actually picked it up more on a personal dare than anything else;  Gravity's Rainbow  is considered  the  Quintessential Postmodern Novel (at least by  Wikipedia ) .  It's one of the "Big Three" of modern literature/college Lit courses, the other two being Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace and Ulysses by James Joyce. Being a...

One gets that weird apocalyptic feeling on your last day at work, whether you enjoyed the job or not. I admit to feeling a bit weepy, although that may have been the beer I drank at my going-away lunch (check out The Cosmos in Old Town, Lansing if you like great pizza). This also may have to do with the fact that, well, I was just sort of kicked out on my ass by the college...anyway. I've determined not to dwell on it. It's gone, it's done, I got the t-shirt. Time to move on. I've been sniffing around for graphic design jobs; I even applied at a print shop. I think my best bet is the print shop, between the two. Other than that I've got a couple other prospects lined up, it looks like, plus some good leads on commissions. In the meantime there's always Unemployment, although I hesitate to use it, as they made me pay it all back the last time I went on there...that was 2011, I think? And then two years later it's like, "Psych! That'll be $300.00, p...

Yes, comicsfans, once again Rick has overextended himself. Surprise surprise. Well, not actually ...just mentally. Trying to keep too many plates spinning, too many balls in the air, too many metaphors mixing, too many ideas and schemes in my head at the same time. That's perhaps the good thing about spending more time planning things than actually executing them: by exhausting myself with the run-through, I can talk myself out of a potentially expensive misstep. Basically I'm talking about things I need  to do, and things I want to do, and how to distinguish between them. Sometimes it gets a little difficult. I think everyone struggles with this problem to some extent. Here's what I need  to do: 1. Print The Human Cannonball #6 (due out this month) . 2. Get ready for SPACE (Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo). 3. Help Joe edit Bone Boy #4 for April release. Wow...just three things?! Okay, here's what I want to do: 1. Get money. 2. Get more money. 3...

That's right, comicsfans, The Human Cannonball is launching yet another screaming projectile into the aether. This time there's a g-g-g-GIRL  involved! As a character, even! What will she do? What will she say? How will she reinforce the values of patriarchal society?? Who knows!! Who cares!!! You'll find out in March, so keep your darn shirt on...!!!!! Geez, calm down... spaz ... Mucho apologies to Mucha. I'll letcha know when, where, and how to get your hands on a copy. Rick Out!

Holy crap, it's been a long time since I've done one of these! As you may know, I'm committed to introducing many less-read comics to the masses. Since moving to Lansing and patronizing the Capital Area District Library , I've been able to read an enormous number of amazing comics and graphic novels that I wouldn't have had a chance to read otherwise. CADL has an extensive graphic novel section, the largest I've ever seen (granted, I haven't been to too  many libraries), and it's an honor and a privilege to plug them whenever possible. So, without further hairdo...I mean, ado... on to the comics! 1.  7 Miles a Second (Vertigo 1996; Fantagraphics 2013) Written by David Wojnarowicz Illustrated by James Romberger and Marguerite Van Cook. 7 Miles a Second pulses with rage as David looks back on his childhood hustling on the streets of New York, and forward to his eventual death of AIDS. The artwork is a primal, visceral scream of tumbling bioin...

...and business is...well, just getting started. Hello again, sportfans. I'm here to tell you about how Blind Alley Comics can change your life and make you a fortune. Basically, you buy ten thousand comics; then, you get ten friends to buy a thousand comics each; and they each get ten friends to buy a hundred comics, and so on and so on. As the cash gets passed up the chain back to me, you magically become a millionaire! It's so simple, anyone can do it! Sign up now! I call it, "ComicCo". Kidding. What I'm really here to talk about is the real possibility, in the next couple of years, that Blind Alley Comics...will I jinx it...? Will become an actual company. This ain't out of the blue, mind you; Joe and I have talked about this for ages, or at least since yesterday. My personal dream has been to eventually have a real up-and-running by-gosh comic book studio, complete with actual artists, not just pretend artists like me. Joe's thinking about i...