Wednesday May 31, 2006 -- 10:06 p.m.

I've mentioned all the art I've purchased from Dan McCarthy a few times before on this site, but he just sent out an email for his newest print and damn if he hasn't topped himself yet again. Such a staggering weight of peace, solitude, and frozen time encapsulated in one single simple image. He just totally fucking amazes me. What he is able to do with a minimum of lines and colors and the most basic outlines and shapes. He is approaching godhood to me. Here is his latest, a 22" by 30" screen print entitled "Long Quiet Life." I want to be this tree.



But wait. It gets even cooler. The image is printed with special ink so it glows in the dark. This is what it will look like on your wall at night...



Very cool. Mine is already on it's way, but you can get this and many many other incredible pieces of art from Dan at his web site. And even if you aren't going to buy anything, it is definitely well worth a look.

Okay, no posts tomorrow since Rudy and I will be going to Columbus to see Margaret Cho. She is responsible for one of Rudy's all time favorite quotes, "You don't have to be A WOMAN to be a feminist. You should just BE a feminist. And if you're not a feminist . . . kill yourself." It's gonna be a very good show.

Matt K.

Monday May 29, 2006 -- 10:11 a.m.

This morning I realized I hadn't really put any new art up on this site in quite some time, which made me kind of sad and disappointed. So I took care of that and spent some time adding the 7 page story "One in a Gazillion" and the illustration "Lucky Star, Defender of the Cosmos," both of which appeared in the recent Panel anthology entitled "Panel: Luck." Those pages can be seen in the comic art section of the art page. I also added the cover, ordering information and some preview art from the most recent "Spudd 64," issue #4, to the comics page of the site as well. So if you don't have either the "Panel: Luck" anthology or issue #4 of "Spudd 64" you can get a preview of them and decide if you want to snag 'em or not.

About a week ago, I mentioned that I had some pretty amazing projects coming up for "Spudd 64." I never thought this would be possible, but one of them has already come to fruition, amazingly blindingly quickly, thanks to the wizardry of Steve Black. As some of you may already know, 2001 is the official beginning of "Spudd 64." I had always loved comics and on a dare from my friend Johnny Ampersand I decided to try and make one of my own. I didn't know much about, well, anything, so my initial endeavors were completely unsuited for a comic of any kind. To begin with, the art was in color. I knew that I would have to xerox the final comic in black and white, but I thought that if I colored the original art in pale ink washes, it would look really beautiful and would still reproduce in the appropriate blacks, whites, and grays. Sadly, that turned out to be a pipe dream and the xeroxed color art looked really muddy. Second, I had no idea how to do any kind of comic so I rapidly drew myself into a hole that would have been impossible for someone with my very meager drawing skills to get out of. "Spudd 64" was stillborn. I had completed 5 full color pages, and there the project died. It would be about a year and a half before I was able to retool things and start out with the all black and white "Spudd 64" issue #1. However, I have always had a great fondness for those 5 early, flower-pale pages, and I have never let them go because they really are where this whole thing was born. You can see the 5 pages in the comic art section of the art page, although now you just might be able to own them for yourself in comic form in the brand new Spudd 64 book "Taproot." Steve Black came up with the amazing plan of collecting those 5 early "Spudd 64" pages plus an additional 11 pages of full color art from my early drawings and creating this limited print-run book. I chose the name "Taproot," defined as "1: (botany) main root of a plant growing straight downward from the stem 2: something that provides an important central source for growth or development," because this art from the years 1998 to 2005 is really where everything I do now springs from. It is sort of the wellspring of my inspiration, the prehistory and continuing evolution of "Spudd 64." All I had to do was get Steve high-res scans of all the work and he laid out and designed the entire thing from front to back, all 16 interior pages plus the full color covers inside and out. The contents are...

Introduction by Rudy (inside front cover)
"Spudd 64" pages 1-5
"Metatron" colored pencil drawing
"The Archon of Time" colored pencil drawing
"A Power of the Air" colored pencil drawing
"Midori" colored pencil drawing
"Gomaco" colored pencil drawing
"Watchers" colored pencil drawing
"Throne Angel" colored pencil drawing
"Ziran the Tester" colored pencil drawing
"Venakava, the Circulatory Satellite" pen and ink drawing
"Sucrerie No. 20, the Taffy Satellite" ink, acrylic and collage drawing
"Ubas Makina, the Grape Thunderbolt Satellite" ink, acrylic and spraypaint drawing
Artist statement by Matt Kish

You can see all of those drawings on the art page of this web site, in the archons section and the strange satellites section. "Taproot" is not for sale, and due to the nature of the book I only have extremely limited quantities. To keep this where I want it to be, it is only available for trade, and I am definitely interested in that. Since this is a full color book, I apologize but I am not really looking to trade it for black and white xeroxed minicomics (unless you have something really incredibly mindblowing) but I would love to trade it for other more unique zines, sketches, little drawings, and maybe even excellent mix CDs or something even more unusual and unique and non-comics related. Basically, if you would like a copy of "Taproot" just send me an email and let me know what you might want to trade. I do think you'll enjoy the book. I know I do. And again, all thanks for this project go to the one and only Steve Black, without whom this would never have existed. Steve's vision watered and nurtured this thing and saw the whole project through to completion in lightning-fast speed.

This web site is only a little over one year old, but it has been a lot of fun and brought me several new friends. The newest is Mr. Steven Hager, who came out to S.P.A.C.E. from Pennsylvania and picked up the new issue #4 of "Spudd 64." Wonderfully, he enjoyed the comic so much that he sent me an email wanting to pick up the first 3 issues. I was a little late in sending them out on account of my new job and, even though he paid me well in advance, he was totally cool and understanding about the whole delay. I really love this kind of thing. Being able to continue sharing my comics with brand new people, almost total strangers at times, and knowing that the little story of the sprout from outer space is traveling all over this country and the globe...it's just a really fulfilling thing. To date, Spudd has traveled to Ohio (many places), Pennsylvania, Indiana, New York, Michigan, Florida, Minnesota, Washington, California, Canada, Scotland, Germany, Australia, and Malaysia. How cool is that? And those are just the places I know about, and the people I have chatted with. It might even be more. So weird! I often wonder how those little books are doing and if they are enjoying their strange new homes. I hope so.

The Canadian mix CD news will have to wait a little longer because there are still some details that need to be ironed out there. However I can tell you that Dara Naraghi's mix "Lifelike, Volume 1" and Angela P. mix "09.10.05" are even now winging their way northward. I'll keep you posted.

Finally, 3 new Spudd projects were mentioned in a previous post. You already know about one of them, "Taproot," which is already completed. The third is being put on hold indefinitely while I concentrate on the second. I can't tell you much about it yet because I want to get a good start on things before I start spilling the details. A few very close friends already know some of what I have planned, and I really think this will be the most involved and complex thing I have done yet, but it will be incredible, I promise. I can tell you it will be called "Spudd's Dream" and will NOT be the 24 page digest-sized mini-comic I had mentioned before, but something else entirely. And it just may contain real wood, spirograph designs, stickers, glue, and xeroxes. Stay tuned but be patient. This is something that I will be lucky to finish by late summer or early fall. Maybe even winter. It's like a flower. You can't force it to bloom. It will be done when it's done and then I'll share it with you all.

Matt K.

Sunday May 28, 2:18 p.m.

I think I first saw the art of AZStar78 on GigPosters of all places, in their "classifieds" section. He was selling the first two prints in his disgustingly incredible "dead empty" series, the dead cougar and the two dead dogs. The art hit me like a thunderbolt. I really can't think of any other artist save Jack Kirby, Walt Simonson, Adolf Wolfli, and Marc Bell who has made such an immediate and intense impact on me. I ordered the prints immediately, and was very pleasantly surprised to find a rather long email from AZStar78 in my inbox the following day. He was, and still is, a fascinating person and an absolute supernova of energy and creativity. This was all about a year ago, I suppose, and in the months that have gone by between then and now we have stumbled toward a sort of friendship. Even though we have yet to meet (he moved from New York City to San Francisco very soon after we started writing) we have never stayed out of touch for long. He's shared his thoughts on art, work, money, school, girls...everything under the sun, really. I never get tired of reading his emails and his LiveJournal entries, and he has been so immeasurably generous with his art. His prices are unbelievably affordable, especially considering how incredible the art is and how solidly it is produced. His screenprints are just top notch, on thick white paper with crisp lines and bright flat colors.

In some of our electronic conversations about art, he's confessed to me that at times he has no interest in keeping his own art and would much rather fill his home and his walls with the art of others. I too have grappled with this strange feeling. At times, I have wanted nothing to do with my own art and just wanted to give it all away and instead look at other people's art. However, there have always been one or two drawings of my own that I felt really attached too and strangely unable to part with. It is all very difficult to articulate this. Especially with a keyboard and a web site.

Anyway, the point that I am trying to get to is that AZStar78 has been doing some amazingly different work of late, and has made the decision to entrust Rudy and I with some of his earlier artwork. So, in a strange way, we are sort of the archivists or caretakers of a portion of his earlier body of work. A package arrived packed with hundreds of tiny, 3" by 3" drawings. All numbered, most dated, all incredible. It was just amazing to be trusted with this kind of work. We know we are only holding them in stead, and if he ever decides he would like them back they are his for the taking. But in the meantime, we get to enjoy them every single day, and they have proved to be the best muse I could have asked for. Here is what they looked like when I removed them from the package...



We carefully put them all in numerical order, face up, and facing in the same direction. After spending days and days looking at them, we created an acid free grid in an archival box and stacked them all inside so that they would remain safely stored but easy to look at. Here is the final result of that...



We labeled the box "AZStar78" and it now rests on top of one of our modular bookshelves, away from heat and light and moisture, next to our archival box of BonGout screenprinted art books. I just feel so incredibly lucky to have gotten to know people like AZStar78 and Meeloo and Anna of BonGout and Stephanie W...so many brilliantly visionary artists who have been kind enough to share their own art with me and show an interest in my own.

A few months ago, my friend Charley told me that he felt that the meaning of life was what meaning we chose to give it. Of course, he communicated this far more eloquently and meaningfully, but the gist was exactly that. If you choose to give your life meaning through the pursuit of sexual pleasure or charitable service to others or musical performance or the priesthood then that is the meaning of life. I have not stopped thinking about that ever since. In some ways, it helped me grapple with the almost overwhelming guilt I have felt at my own good fortune, since I blessed with a nice place to live, good food to eat, a career, health care, wonderful friends, physical comforts and possessions, and the most amazing wife and partner in the universe. But I guess I didn't just fall into this, or somehow get lucky, especially in terms of the friends. So gifts like this from AZStar78 and all of the incredible friendship, emails, music, and art from Stephanie are in some ways helping me find some of the meaning in my own life. I truly do love art, and perhaps through exploring that more and being equally generous in sharing it with others, I really can do something to bring happiness to other people and find happiness myself. Anyway, that was a rather long and personal spell of musing, but it is what I am thinking. And AZStar78 and Stephanie have so much to do with that since they were two of the very first people I ever really started this kind of friendship with, and they have come to mean so much to me in only a year. So new friends like them, old and true friends like Johnny and Aaron and Bradley and Fred and Caroline and Angela P. and Angela K. and David and Charley and Todd and on and on really are the greatest things one could have in their life. Alright, enough for now. Enjoy the nice May day, and I'll have more by tomorrow.

Matt K.

Saturday May 27, 2006 -- 10:20 a.m.

The news is now a little old, but Tom Williams started having some severe pain in his mouth the day after S.P.A.C.E. and it turned out that he needed to have his wisdom teeth removed immediately. From his LiveJournal posts, it seems like the whole thing was pretty hairy. Gruesome infections, terrible pain, lots of blood, drugs that would fell an army, insurance problems. Ugh. Even something vague about a shunt in the mouth. Yum yum. Poor Tom! Fortunately, since I am writing this post rather late in the game, I can report that he seems to be doing much better, has gone back to work, has gotten the awful things removed from his mouth and jaw, and most importantly seems to be in good spirits about the whole thing. Tom is really a pretty awesome guy, and I for one am glad he is not dead.

Next, I finally got my awesome awesome copy of "Friday: the Zine" all the way from Australia. It is so amazing! There was just such an incredible amount of hand-done work put into this book, I am blown away. First of all, it is a very large book. I think they said it was A4 sized or something, but it is something like 8 1/2" by 11", or the size of a regular piece of paper. Really wonderfully huge, so the art reproduced very nicely and all the details were very crisp. Next, the zine is not simply reproduced and stapled, but actually assembled. The cover itself seems like thick cardstock that has actually been wrapped, or covered, in brown butcher paper. The title "Friday: Growing Up" has been printed on a simple, clear label and pasted on. It is very simple, but very striking. Here is the cover...



It looks good on a computer screen, and even better in person. The texture of the cover, the weight of the paper, the verystrange fabric bands they used to bind it all together...it's just really incredible. Now, as if that cover wasn't sharp enough, they have actually adhesed full color endpapers on the inside of the covers. Take a look...



They have done something really ingenious with the construction of the book. Rather than worry about reproducing the entire thing, color and black and white, on single pieces of paper that will then be folded and stapled, they reproduced all the art individually, trimmed them to fit the page, and then actually pasted them, or tipped them in, to the individual pages. This gave them a ton of flexibility in terms of how to reproduce things, whether to choose color or black and white, how to add in the text...I could go on and on, but it really wouldn't do the zine justice. When I mentioned in an earlier post that I was pleased with "Spudd 64" issue #4 but that I still hadn't really made the kind of book I would really be deeply proud of, I was imagining something more hand-done and unique like "Friday." Here are a few more images. First, the title page...



And here is the back page with a very amusing list of thanks and some pictures of the one and only Burps Liberty and I am guessing Marty B. Cool as hell.



I wish I could tell you all how to get a copy, but due to the labor-intensive process of putting this whole thing together, they made an extremely limited print run and gave a lot of the copies to the contributors. I guess the best I can offer is for you to come and visit me and look at mine, and maybe we can make one together or something.

Oh, I almost forgot! I actually got to lead the book, and my two contributions appeared first! That was such a huge huge honor, I owe Burps something really cool for that. If you don't remember, the two drawings I contributed are "Otis the Pillbug Satellite With His Little Brother Caleb" and"Heliotrope". They looked great inside. It was so cool.
Okay, much more later today, and this weekend.

Matt K.

Monday May 22, 2006 -- 7:58 p.m.

Here we go...

So the shit ass bitch list from a few days ago? Finally, everything on it is taken care of other than the print from Giant Robot. Who still have not answered any of my e-mails. None. And it's been nearly 2 weeks. And I paid them. Nearly 2 weeks ago. I swear to God I will never, ever, under any circusmtances purchase anything from any Giant Robot store, web site, gallery show, or dealer again in my entire life. I have had issues with that magazine for quite some time anyway, most of which relate to their willingness to allow certain artists to engage in marketing really scathingly negative Asian stereotypes as long as they are part of the hip crew that Giant Robot is currently promoting while they are still viciously fast in unleashing the holier-than-thou attack dogs on any other entity that even dares to dabble in using anything even remotely Asian in art, clothing or design. They make me sick. So, that's the end of that.

Anyway, everything else on the list is taken care of although it all took quite a bit longer than I would have initially expected. I suppose I either need to learn more patience or get hung up on things less. Probably both.

Le Dernier Cri does some really amazing work with silkscreened ouotsider art books, although their stuff tends to be pretty manic, violent, visceral and disturbing. They've got this whole aesthetic that seems obsessed with the horrors of the body and the violence of medicine. Honestly, sometimes it is too much for me but they have a few books that I really dig. Jonathon Rosen is this incredible artist I first found out about in some small little art magazine. Later I found out he had this art book called The Birth of Machine Consciousness that coincided with some gallery show he had out on the west coast. I wanted very badly to pick it up, but it was something like $350.00 which was so far out of my price range it wasn't even funny. In a bizarre twist of fate though, Half Price Books was actually good for one thing, and that was a nice Christmas bonus check I got once while working there. Since it was a total surprise, I used the money to buy the book from Jonathon himself. Later, I found out that the book was available from Le Dernier Cri for much less money, but I never regretted making the purchase from Jonathon because he was really cool to correspond with, extremely strange, and drew an odd picture in the front of my edition. Plus I would always rather support an artist and pay them for their work than buy it from some gallery or dealer who takes a big cut.

Anyway, this story really is going somewhere. The Birth of Machine Consciousness is amazing and disturbing and bizarre. The concept behind the series is, quite literally, the birth of machine based life. The book itself is very large, somewhere around 12" square, and is printed like an accordion book. Here are some of the images. First, the front and back covers...



Here is the frontispiece...



Some interior art...



And the back page...



So back when I purchased this book from Jonathon I also asked him if he knew where I might be able to locate a copy of his very first book, Intestinal Fortitude. A very small press called Poote Press had published a very small run of the book and they disappeared fast. Jonathon kept emailing me telling me he would have some news on "Intestinal Fortitude" but that he couldn't share it yet. Gradually, months went by, and then a few years and I just figured we had drifted out of touch. Then, out of nowhere, I am checking in on Le Dernier Cri which I do every few months since they tend to publish sporadically, and I see that they have printed a brand new edition of Intestinal Fortitude. This must have been what Jonathon was talking about all those years ago but could never fully disclose. Intestinal Fortitude is more like a sketchbook than a concept book, but it is full of almost medieval mosntrosities of metal and flesh. The whole thing is wrapped in an aggressively ugly black, cream, and red silkscreened cover. A vellum overlay wraps the guts of the book, which is full of black and red illuminations of hell. Here is a preview, starting with the cover...



Here is the jacket flap with the vellum overlay...



Some interior art...



And the back jacket flap...



The book is really quite incredible. I am quite fond of it even though it is rather disturbing. It is available for a very reasonable price from Le Dernier Cri and their shipping from Europe is very affordable and fast. If you are drawn to unique books, books that are equally texts and art objects, you should check this out.

Okay, there is still more to cover but I am a little weary and I really want to spend some time with Rudy. More later.

Matt K.

Thursday May 18, 2006 -- 9:12 p.m.

I started my new career on Monday and that has kept me pretty busy so I haven't had a lot of time to post, or even think about posting. So far the position is quite interesting but it is also quite complex and challenging. I have to make a lot of decisions every hour, and learning how the library has made these decisions in the past is important to continuing the mission of the organization. I guess that all sounded horribly corporate, and what I am really trying to say is that I don't just get to do whatever I want, I have to keep my eye on a much larger picture. But yes, all in all I am quite liking it although I am also still a little intimidated, nervous about screwing up, and kind of scared that I will never remember everything that needs to be done.

So, yeah, that is why I've been so busy the past few days. I won't be able to put much new up on this site until Sunday, I apologize. I am working tomorrow, we have brief plans tomorrow evening, then it is off to Columbus on Saturday for a shift in the comic book store and a long-awaited housewarming party for one of our very good friends. Whew. I could use a nap!

However, by then I will have some news on the following thrilling items:

--the shit ass bitch list gets smaller!

--the book Intestinal Fortitude!

--Tom Williams' teeft!

--"Friday: the Zine!"

--AZStar78 changes my world forever!

--"Spudd 64" issue #4 leads to new friends online!

--more mix CD news, this time from Canada, our graceful sister to the north!

--three new "Spudd 64" projects, hopefully involving the delicious talents of (I just can't resist that phrase, and if any of you can tell me where I got it I will give you a secret art surprise) me, Johnny Ampersand, Steve Black, Stephanie W., Aaron Martin Fitzwater, and the Fragility Crue!

Okay, that's a lot of stuff, huh? I promise I will get to it all on Sunday. That is why I wrote it all up there. This way I won't forget. And now I will close with a picture of the ever-so-lovely Miss Mariah Carey. Because, as I always say, she is the good kind of crazy.



Matt K.

Monday May 15, 2006 -- 8:08 p.m.

So the fourth issue of "Spudd 64" debuted at S.P.A.C.E. and this was the toughest issue yet for me. The best part of that challenge was the script. I had asked my friend Johnny Ampersand to write a story for me since he is just a phenomenal writer and could do a far far better job than me with the story I wanted to convey. Johnny didn't disappoint and turned in an incredible script, but it challenged me in ways I had never been challenged before. I am not the best artist in the world, and I have an awful time drawing anything that even remotely resembles a human being. Johnny's script called for a crowd scene and all sorts of panels where Hassan, a character who looks very human, actually has to emote with both his face and his posture. Man, it was really really hard for me. On the whole, I am deeply grateful for the script and the challenge, and I learned a ton about art, comics, storytelling, and pacing. As always, though, there are certain panels I look at and simply cringe because of how awful my art was. The light at the end of this tunnel is that even though I turned in some really rough stuff at certain points, when you look at the art from issues #1 through issue #4 there really is some progress. That made me feel good, but ultimately I have Leighton to thank for giving me a script that both played to my strengths and dared me to push myself as well.

The hardest part about finishing this issue was orchestrating the whole anthology thing and getting everything wrapped up in time for the show while finishing grad school, working two jobs, and getting another. My plan was to make issue #4 a big fat issue full of my art and stories and contributions from friends. Some people came through really fast and turned in awesome work well ahead of time, like Kyle Wallace and Colt Kegley. Lots of friends gave me great art and comics in more than enough time to fit the pieces together, and a small handful squeaked in at the last possible moment, but more on that in a minute.

Anyway, because of the incredibly hectic last minute rush to finalize the issue, there are some really rough parts. I had created a table of contents for the issue since there was 56 pages of material, so after I xeroxed the masters I wrote page numbers in. That was a stupid mistake. Some of the page numbers disappeared because they were too close to the margins and others just looked sloppy sloppy sloppy. I HATE them. A few of the pages lost their panel borders because they were xeroxed too close to the margin, and again that looks like shit. I owe those artists a huge apology for butchering their excellent work. And finally, I didn't get to do anything near the cover I wanted because I had literally hours left before the show to finish that up. All in all, the cover doesn't look terrible because I think I managed to put together something that was both simple and intriguing, but it is still not quite the book I wanted it to be and all the blame is mine. No one else's.

I learned several lessons from this year that I plan on implementing next time around. First, finding 8 1/2" by 14" cardstock in a color other than white or pale green is virtually impossible. Next time, "Spudd 64" will revert to digest size again (like issue #1) so I can finally have a different color cover stock. Second, xeroxing comics is starting to suck hard. Next time, I am definitely putting the issue on disk and having it digitally printed. That should take care of a lot of my margin and page number problems as well. Second, paying for 64 copies of a 56 page comic is almost backbreaking financially. While I absolutely LOVED this big sloppy wonderful anthology that is issue #4, issue #5 will be a nice short 24 page tale by me entitled "Spudd's Dream" before I jump back into the madness with another 56 or 60 page monstrosity for issue #6.

Which brings me to my final point. Steve Black. An absolutely sublime artist. Someone whose art is so good I feel almost unworthy working with him. Steve contacted me a while back and wanted to contribute to this issue. How could I possibly refuse that? I jumped all over the offer with a righteous "Yes!" Steve lives way out in Cali and usually works 28 hours a day, so he has precious little time for art. I didn't think he was going to finish in time when, on my doorstep, a full color 8 page silent story from Steve arrived. Enough copies to fill every single copy of issue #4. And not only that...the story and the art are fucking phenomenal. Seriously. This is one of the most beautiful pieces I have ever seen, and I am deeply envious of Steve's ability. However, for a moment I hesitated putting it in the book. Why? Because it was SO good I thought my art would look like crap next to it. But that only lasted for about 5 seconds and then I realized I was being stupid and self-centered with that kind of thinking. Plus Steve's story was so good, and he had to hustle so much to finish it and get it to me on time, that I owed it to the world to make sure it was published. I am very very proud to say that this issue of "Spudd 64" features 8 full color pages in the middle, a fully painted truly wonderful story courtesy of the artistry of Steve Black. It will be mighty impossible to top this one. And what is so funny and bittersweet is that Steve thanked ME for letting him be a part of the "Spudd 64" dynasty. Letting him. Hah. How could anyone refuse with art like that? Steve, I will be sending you a longer email tomorrow, but let me take this chance to personally thank you for making this issue the best yet, and lending your top-notch talent to my humble comic. You put it over the top.

Enough rambling, here are some images of the issue. First the cover...



Page 1...



Page 5...



Page 10 (notice the rather testicular alien in the lower right hand corner that EVERYONE insisted on pointing out to me)...



Page 15 (everyone had something to say about Skraa too)...



And finally, feast your eyes on this art from Steve's story. You'll have to buy the issue to see the other 7 pages...



Damn, that is some beautiful beautiful stuff.

Sales were okay, actually. The day started ridiculously slow, and I actually did not sell one single book for nearly the first two hours. I thought I was screwed since it cost me so much to print up this issue. Luckily things picked up though and I just about broke even for all the printing costs. And again, thank God for Steve's color story that he bore the burden of printing. There is no way in hell I could have afforded anything even close to this, yet Steve made it happen.

Right now I am marinating on my future in comics and future comic shows. I'll keep you all posted.

Matt K.

Sunday May 14, 2006 -- 1:05 p.m.

Another S.P.A.C.E. has come and gone. Rudy and I had a very good time and although attendance at the show seemed low and sales were kind of down from my previous years there, none of that really mattered. I don't know of anyone who goes to S.P.A.C.E. to make money anyway, and for most of us it is just a great day to hang out with old friends, some of whom we only see once or twice a year, and make new ones. I get to check out what other people are working on, talk about my own comics, and maybe even trade a few books. This year my table was in the best spot ever, too. To my left was a whole row of Panel friends, to my right was my partner in comics Johnny Ampersand. It was fantastic.

A lot of people came out to see me at the show too, which was wonderful. Brian Stevens, the crusty old pullboy with a heart of gold, was there. I had the good fortune of spending a few years working in the back room of the Laughing Ogre comic book shop with Brian and it was always a true pleasure. Also, Brian was the very first person to pre-pay for his copy of "Spudd 64" issue #4, so his generous financial gift launched the publication of that issue. Brett "Boogie Down" Montgomery pulled himself away from his law school studies to take a quick spin through the show near the end of the day. Stang didn't make it out but actually called before the show which was quite cool. Aaron Fitzwater made it there and chatted with me and Rudy for quite some time even though he had to work that same evening. I was really happy he showed up. I don't get to see him nearly enough anymore and I know his schedule at the bookstore sucks pretty badly, so I was concerned that perhaps he wouldn't be able to make it at al. Even better, he gave me this amazingly offensive and perversely fascinating book on Tijuana bibles that is as compelling as it is crass. Aaron has this uncanny lock on my own sense of aesthetics. It is weird.

For me, though, the real pleasure of the show was the unexpected appearance of Kyle Wallace along with his friend Tom Webster. They are 2/3 of the incredible Fragility Productions and were some of the very first people to find my web site and actually get in touch with me. It is always strange meeting someone who you have only exchanged e-mails with. You are a little nervous hoping that you don't make a fool of yourself and somehow meet their expectations, and you are always curious about whether or not they will be the kind of person you expect them to be. When I first started corresponding with Kyle I thought he was much older than he actually was. I was mildly stunned when I discovered that he was a high school student since he seemed to have so much poise and maturity as well as a very developed sense of aesthetics. In person, Kyle embodies all of these things and more. Even Rudy remarked on how he seemed more mature than his actual age, and he is a truly impressive guy. It was fantastic to finally get to meet him, to spend some time talking to Tom for the first time, and to be able to hand-deliver his copies of "Spudd 64" without all the trouble of mailing. I look forward to a long friendship with Kyle and Tom and hope to have an opportunity to work with them on new projects in the future.

Here are some pictures I took at the show, complete with witty captions identifying the major players.



Johnny Ampersand finishing up some spot illustrations for his brand new comic "Robots," a collaboration between him and his wife Alice.

Friday May 12, 2006 -- 6:30 p.m.

Well, S.P.A.C.E. is tomorrow and things are still running pretty close to the wire. Here is how it all looked yesterday afternoon...



You will notice all the essentials for creating a small press comic. A metal Hello Kitty pencil case with Micron pens, a pencil, and a Staedtler eraser. Circle template. India ink. Pre-cut Bristol board. A cell phone. An MP3 player. A candy bar. And a prescription bottle full of powerful antibiotics. It was madness, I tell you. And this is all I had done and ready to take with me to the show at that point...



Still a long way to go. However, I just might make it after all. Some amazing full color art from Mr. Steve Black arrived a few days ago followed by inspirational e-mails from both Sean McKeever and AZStar78. Also, Rudy has been absolutely unstoppable in her efforts to see this thing through to completion and has been helping me more than I could have imagined possible. If I do finish this all up, it will be thanks to those people I just mentioned and not because of me at all. Time to wrap this book up.

Matt K.

Thursday May 11, 2006 -- 11:11 a.m.

OH MY GORSH! So, I was taking a brief break from drawing this morning (more on the progress of issue #4 in a later post, along with some intriguing new developments) and I saw this on a message board...



Holy crap! Coming from Fantagraphics in September of this year, this absolutely wonderful hardcover is the first volume of a projected six volume collection. It clocks in at 200 pages which will be half black and white dailies (6 to a page) and half full color Sunday strips (!!!). And at only $29.95, this is a killer collection indeed. Man, September is going to be a great great month! Rudy's birthday, Alice and Johnny's wedding anniversary, the Andrew Schoultz and Doze Green show at the Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York, the publication of the first collection of the Moomin strips from Tove Jansson, and now this collection of Popeye strips! I'll say it again...oh my gorsh!

Okay, back to drawing. I'll have one more big post before the show this Saturday. Until then...

Matt K.

Tuesday May 9, 2006 -- 12:04 p.m.

I'm glad I waited a little bit before posting this next bit of news. It needed just the right moment, and it also needed some distance from the bitterness and hatred of this past weekend.

A little over a week ago, I received yet another magical package in the mail from the one and only Ms. Stephanie W. She had sent me an email to alert me to be on the lookout, so I knew something was on the way but I had no idea what. Surprises are often lovely, and this is always the case with any surprise from Stephanie. On the magical day, the package arrived and this is what it looked like, front and back...





It was so cool I almost didn't want to open it. Even with all the postal service stickers all over it, the package still looked exciting and intriguing. After carefully slicing everything open and removing the contents, I held in my hands the single most amazing piece of compact disc packaging I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. I know that sounds like an awful lot of hyperbole, and I have been the recipient of some incredible mix CDs and CD designs from my extremely creative friends (everyone remembers the wizardry of Inky Black, don't they?) but this one really raised the bar. An absolutely ingenious construction, completely hand cut, glued, and sewn, using paper, cardstock, vellum, glue, paint, string...I could go on and on. This is truly the kind of art object that words fail utterly to describe. I wish I could invite you all to our apartment so I could show it to you, let you hold it in your hands and page through it. Some of you will get to see it anyway, but for the rest, these images will have to do. First of all, the whole affair is thick and heavy, much like a book, but after all it is a triple CD set. From the front cover to the back, here is the brilliance of Stephanie's creation "The Microbial Cat" on digital display...















Did you catch all that? "Original edition, 1 of 1?" The die-cut pages, the transparencies, the string...it's almost interactive. Stephanie has this incredibly complicated and superbrainy day job and yet she has this incredible gift of creativity that she keeps very private. Thank goodness she's decided to share it with me, it has really brought an enormous amount of joy to my life. Rudy's too. In fact, the first thing Rudy said when I showed her the package and the CD was "She's definitely in the wrong field." I agree. It is only the courtesy of friendship that stops me from hounding her to pursue something professional in art and design.

The contents of the CD were equally surprising and delicious. The first disc is a Luigi Archetti and Bo Wiget collaboration entitled "Low Tide Digitals" which is now essential to me. Washes of sounds both haunting and peaceful...amazing. The second disc is from a group called Improved Sound Limited called "Catch a Singing Bird on the Road" and is one of the oddest things I have ever listened to. It took some time for me to wrap my head around them but the disc steadily became something I really looked forward to hearing, and actually found myself missing at times. The final disc is a mini-disc (my first one ever!), the "tour CD" from Mountains a group Stephanie introduced me to before and who I have mentioned in previous news updates. Such a wonderful package from such a fantastic friend. Her kindness is amazing, and her gifts are deeply appreciated.

Matt K.

Monday May 8, 2006 -- 8:36 p.m.

I'm really disgusted with that previous post so I want to try and leaven the ranting a bit. And I promised myself I wouldn't go back and selectively edit news entries because that is just lame, so I am leaving it there as a lesson to myself.

So, a few things happened last week, prior to this lousy past weekend, that were actually kind of nice. First, AZStar78 finished reprinting his "Explorer" image, which I really liked a lot. Apparently there were some problems with the first printing, and a lot of the detail became muddy. He is always doing a million things at once, so it took him a little while to get back to reprinting it, but at long last the day arrived and I was able to snag one. In fact, I have #3 out of 75. Sweet. Here is what it looks like...



There is just something about the image that affects me a lot. It is so difficult to describe. Something about the shapes, the crowd of people, the larger figures, the battery of telescopes trained skyward...I don't know. I suppose that is the best response to art, really. That sort of upswell of emotion and confusion that pushes you higher until you are gasping for breath and floundering for something familiar. I guess that maybe comes close to describing how I feel about AZStar78's art, and this print in particular. I will be framing it very shortly so I can share it with everyone who visits. You can get a print for yourself too by visiting his site and emailing him. His stuff is all screenprinted, really technically excellent, and absolutely stunning when you hold it in your hands. And his prices are out of this world affordable too, so buy something now while you can.

I receieved another lovely email last with Dan McCarthy's newest subscription print awesomely entitled "Biography of a Carbon Atom." Here is the image...



It is quite large, I believe. Somewhere around 26" by 17". I really love how he is experimenting with sequential images and even narrative in some of his newer work. It is such a departure from the stillness of previous pieces, but still really accomplished and deeply affecting. Dan always sends out a mass email at the beginning of each month letting all the subscribers know that a new print is on the way, and he always includes a link to the new image. It is a nice treat every month. Even better, he let me know that he would be continuing the subscription next year as well, so it looks like 12 more prints from Dan starting in September. Rudy and I are very passionate about art, but sometimes our tastes and preferences are slightly different. Dan is one of the few artists we both adore equally. All of the prints are available through his web site as well, so even if you don't want to be a subscriber you can still pick up some art.

Also, last week and this week see the debut of the first batch of graphic novels from new publisher First Second Books. You may also see their name as :01 Books which I also like quite a bit. The debut books are A.L.I.E.E.E.N. by one of my absolute favorite cartoonists of all time, the inimitable Lewis Trondheim. His web page is in French but still worth a look, and there is loads of info about him online so Google his name and take a look. A.L.I.E.E.E.N. actually has almost no text at all, just a bit of alien dialog, so it will be universally understandable. Out of all the new :01 Books titles, this is the one I have been most anxiously awaiting. I absolutely adore Trondheim's "Dungeon" books, which he co-created with luminaries such as Christophe Blain and Joann Sfar who just released The Rabbi's Cat through Random House. Such wonderful stories!

I am meandering. Joann Sfar also has a new title from :01 Books entitled Vampire Loves, which is currently the only one I own. Reading it will be my reward if I can make it through this week, and through the comic show this weekend, with my mind intact. Anytime I need a little inspiration and Rudy is not here to give me a pep talk I just flip through the book a bit and savor the art. It looks heavenly.

Other debut titles include The Fate of the Artist by Eddie Campbell, The Lost Colony by Grady Klein, Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda by J.P. Stassen, and Sardine in Outer Space written by Emmanuel Guibert with art by the aforementioned Joann Sfar. This one is definitely geared toward much younger readers, but how can I possibly turn away from such lovely Joann Sfar art? I can't.

The titles are all in full color on nice thick glossy paper with heavy stock covers. The production values are topnotch, and the prices are very affordable. The books range from $14.95 to $16.95 and you can probably find them at a discount online right now. Here are the covers, so you can see what's in store for you...













And last, Andrew Arnold of TIME magazine writes an interesting review of the titles here so check it out and learn a little more about them.

There, that's a little better now I think. See ya.

Matt K.

Monday May 8, 2006 -- 8:16 a.m.

One of my very first jobs was working in the maintenance department at a fairly large hospital up near Cleveland. This was when I was in high school and college. Anyway, it was through that job that I met my friend Todd, one of the finest human beings I have ever had the pleasure of spending time with. He found unlimited ways of turning what could have been a mind-numbingly dull job into a rich source of amusement. Once, we were supposed to paint a small wall outside one of the doctor's offices in the outlying medical office building, which was usually called the M.O.B. This office had several doctors sharing the space, so our first task was to take what looked like an oversized hair-dryer and peel off the decals that spelled out the physician's names and specialties. On most of the offices in the M.O.B. this was a simple task since there was generally only one physician. On this wall, though, the letters ran more or less from the floor to the ceiling. I must have been involved in taping off the wall and the cove base or something because on this day I remember Todd was peeling off the letters and I wasn't paying attention. Todd and I had a habit of pretty much dropping everything when break time came and just heading off to the cafeteria, so when 10 a.m. rolled around and it was time for us to sit and eat free crackers with the grounds crew, he flicked off the hair dryer and said we should go. I turned to look at the wall and Todd had removed almost every single letter but left a few scattered all over the wall. It seemed random at first, but when I looked more closely I could see that the remaining letters spelled "shit ass bitch." He smiled, and off we went to the cafeteria. To this day, as juvenile as that moment was, I think about and laugh out loud.

And that crass combination of words has become a phrase I have occasionally used when I have a particularly bad day or stretch of days. Not in any kind of pejoratively gender-based manner, mind you, but more for the pleasure of stringing together an awkward and ugly combination of profanity that falls of the tongue with a loud clutter. And yes, these past 3 days have been an incredible, amazing shit ass bitch.

I apologize for venting. This web site will be one year old on Wednesday, May 10th, and with a few slight exceptions regarding some bad reviews my comics got, I have kept this it almost universally positive and avoided simply lashing out when I am angry. But things really boiled over this weekend and I just have to get this all out, even in this unseemly display in a public arena.

Shit Ass Bitch #1: Giant Robot is a very problematic magazine, I think, but they do have some wonderful stores and galleries on the west coast and in New York, and they put on some amazing shows by artists I love. Recently, Giant Robot San Francisco mounted a fantastic Deth P. Sun show full of paintings, drawings, and even a print. The print was very affordable so I purchased it, and after paying online, I sent them a very simple email with a very simple question. See, since all of the pieces in the show were for sale, they included a disclaimer indicating that purchased art work would be mailed out after the close of the gallery show, on May 24th. This is normal and logical and makes sense. However, in the information about the print that I purchased, the web site mentions that there are 10 available. So since I will be gone quite a bit in early June, right around the time the show closes, I sent Giant Robot San Francisco a simple email that included my name, address, and invoice number asking if the prints would be shipped out immediately upon purchase or when the show closed, like the other artwork. On Wednesday evening I discovered that I had almost certainly sent the email to the wrong e-mail address, so I cut-and-pasted the same message and sent it to the proper address. And now it is Monday morning and I have neard NOTHING. Almost 6 days later, and this business has not yet responded to my courteously worded question. But oh yes, they charged my credit card immediately.

I know people expect a lot, sometimes way too much, from customer service. I go out of my way, in every single situation, to be polite and understanding to people. I know being a waiter or a retail worker or a cashier really sucks hard. I know those positions don't pay much and expect a lot, and I always give them the benefit of the doubt. I imagine that whatever interns are monitoring the emails at Giant Robot San Francisco are probably either working for free or for very very little money. But seriously...6 days and no response to a completely understandable request from a paying customer who has already been charged? For some reason, this is making me irrationally furious. I guess it would be one thing if I was rich and had all the time in the world, but I am not and I amd kind of at a loss as to how one can run any kind of business this way.

Shit Ass Bitch #2: As I mentioned, S.P.A.C.E. is coming up this Saturday. I will be debuting issue #4 of SPUDD 64, and I have contributed a short piece to another anthology that will be debuting at the show. Well, it MAY be debuting at the show. I literally busted my ass to finish that story in plenty of time for it to make it into the anthology and I even put the completion of my own comic in serious jeopardy (it is STILL not done) to make sure I finished the work for them. And last night I get an email that there are 2 or 3 other stories that the publisher is waiting to get finished pages on and the book may not make it out by S.P.A.C.E. at all. So, because of this anthology, I may have NOTHING to debut at S.P.A.C.E. if I can't cram 30 hours of work into every 24 hour day between now and then.

This, combined with the fact that several of the people that committed to having something done for my own comic flaked on me just makes me wonder why I am working with anyone else at all. Honestly, I think I liked drawing the most when I didn't show anyone except Rudy. It really made me happy then, and now it just seems to be a huge source of frustration all the time.

Shit Ass Bitch #3: This one is not so bad, but is still confusing enough that given my present state of oversensitivity and fury, it has escalated from being mildly perplexing to completely irksome. Over 5 months ago I contributed 2 pieces of art to a small zine that was being published overseas. It was actually a great experience and the peoplem putting the zine together were awesome to work with. The due date for the work was December 31, 2005, although I think that was pushed back a month or two to gather more text. The zine was supposed to have been completed by February or March, I believe, but since I mailed my stuff off I haven't heard anything at all. I haven't gotten an email, my original art back, or a copy of the zine. I haven't even had a chance to pay for it, which I would gladly do since I know international mailing is expensive. I'm really not that mad about this all, mostly just horribly in the dark.

And the result of all this fury is what you just read. A rather pathetic, selfish, whiny rant. See? This kind of crap turns me into someone I don't want to ever become. I don't like what I wrote up there. I don't like feeling like this. I don't like getting this angry because I know how stupid anger is, and how many zillion other things I have to be thankful for and appreciative of that make these petty concerns pale in comparison.

I think I might retire. Seriously. I might retire this site, retire xeroxing my comics, and just go back to the old days when I drew for myself only. I was so much happier with my art then. I was even happier with Spudd then. Now it's all headaches, deadlines, fingerpointing, excuses and misery. And I myself have let some people down too, so it becomes a double edged sword. Maybe I've become the comic world's biggest hypocrite. After all, I promised I would be going to a show in Manhattan this June but I paid for the table too late and was unable to get in, which really let a few people down. See how much this all sucks?

Anyway, I have to get back to work. And I will leave this site up for at least a few weeks after S.P.A.C.E. just in case any of the 4 people that buy my comic there decide to check it out. But after that I think I will hug you all, close up shop, and become an internet hermit again. But who knows, maybe I'll regret this whole stupid thing and add to the hypocrisy by keeping the site up. See? See how frustrating this all is? Damn.

Oh yeah, I am only checking school and work e-mail accounts for the foreseeable future, so if you want to contact me you have to call me. Adios, amigos.

Matt K.

Friday May 5, 2006 -- 7:40 a.m.

Well, I pretty much blew that one, didn't I? All that talk about announcements and then...nothing. Silence. Some of you were probably thinking "What a dick!" Some of you probably thought I was just messing with you. No, there really is a big announcement which I will get to in a moment, but this whole affair and using my web site as a way to share personal news is going to change. I'll explain that after the announcement.

So, here it is. I got a real job! Yes, it really is a big deal. I finish graduate school on Saturday May 13th and I start my new career as the audio visual selection specialist for a large Ohio library system on Monday May 15th. No rest for the weary! So, why is this such a big deal? Well, as some of you know, I did my graduate work at Kent State University which is the only ALA-accredited library and information science graduate degree program in Ohio. Kent is different than many graduate programs in that it admits a lot of students. There are generally around 600 or 700 between two campuses, and that is both good and bad. Also, the state of Ohio has some of the best public libraries in the United States, which has a lot to do with the manner in which the state funds the libraries. Many library school graduates from other states actually seek employment in Ohio's public libraries because they are so good. So when you combine that with the huge number of graduates coming out of the Kent State School of Library and Information Science that are looking for jobs right here in Ohio, you can see it is a pretty competitive environment.

Now, none of the above was written in order for me to sing my own praises. Not by a long shot. No one, and believe me when I write that no one, was more surprised then me when I was offered the position. Not only is a fantastic full-time position with a very competitive salary, excellent hours, and great benefits, it is also a challenging and exciting career that is actually a step up from reference librarian services. I will be responsible for building the audio visual collection for over 21 libraries in the system for both the adult's and children's departments. There is definitely a learning curve but I feel ready for the challenge. Besides, I am passionate about music and movies as well, so I think this is a career that will be very personally and professionally rewarding.

So that is my big announcement. What does it all mean? Well, since as a professional and degreed librarian I am expected to promote the fair and ethical use of information, I am sadly going to have to temporarily halt the free MP3s on this site. I know, I know. Traffic to this site is relatively low and it is extremely doubtful that anyone I work with would even connect this site with my identity, but I would rather err on the side of caution for now.

That is probably the only real change you should notice. Fortunately, the new career should also offer me the free time and schedule flexibility to continue drawing my comics and pictures, and hopefully it will happen more frequently than it did during this last semester of grad school. There may be another more subtle change as well, which I alluded to earlier in this entry. It took me a ridiculous amount of time to finally do this update, even after my hyped announcement, and I ended up making the whole thing frustrating, laughable, rude, and anticlimactic. Even with the long delays, I only succeeded in communicating the news to most of the people I wanted to tell. There are still a few really important people who will end up reading it here first, and I fear that they will somehow take this as an insult. Sadly, even with some of the more important friends and family that I was able to tell, I had to rely on an e-mail which is always rather impersonal even if it is written like a letter. The whole thing started me thinking about how, even with the best of intentions, this "news" section became a sort of passive and manipulative way of communicating with friends and family while still keeping them at a distance. Over time, if I was busy with schoolwork or too tired or ill, I would simply post something on this site and assume my friends and family would read it and know. I should have, at the very least, been emailing, and no e-mail is a subsitute for a real letter, telephone call, or personal visit.

To address this situation, I am going to do two things. First, I am going to renew my efforts to stay in touch with friends and family far and wide through means other than "blogging." I will cut down on the amount of personal news I post in this site unless it is something really important or lifechanging. Next, I want to get SPUDD64.COM back to its roots and make it a site about my art and my comics. After all, even if I don't get to draw every day, I still spend a lot of time looking at other people's art and comics and reading books and just trying to be involved in visual culture, and I like sharing those images and links with you all.

So there you have it. Big announcements, small changes, new directions...the works. In honor of that new direction, here is some news of interest.

Columbus' own S.P.A.C.E. show (that stands for Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo) is on Saturday, May 13th from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. This show will see the debut of "Spudd 64" issue #4, the first issue in a slightly new direction. For a while, I was feeling rather defeated by some of the criticism I was receiving for "Spudd 64" and for some of the stories I was contributing to the Panel anthologies. I was down. I was depressed. I just didn't much feel like drawing anything, comics or otherwise. Then I came to the conclusion that really, "Spudd 64" is my comic. I never ever make any kind of money on it at all, I never will make any money on it, and I don't work as a professional artist so I can do whatever makes me happy and just have fun with it.

So issue #4 of "Spudd 64" is more like a zine than an actual issue of a comic. It will be the biggest one yet, clocking in at 52 pages, and it is full of stuff. Each and every future issue of "Spudd 64" will contain at least one full length, 24 page story chronicling the continuing adventures of our favorite cosmic sprout. And beyond that, anything goes. I will be using each new issue of "Spudd 64" to reprint other short pieces I have done, to showcase my own art and sketches, and to show stuff my friends have done as well. It will always be very visually oriented, so I really won't ever be including rants, opinions, recipes, music reviews, playlists, or politicking. Mostly you'll get a big slab of comics and pictures from all kinds of people and places.

I am also incredibly fortunate to have some amazingly talented and creative friends, so this next issue of "Spudd 64" contains amazing contributions from Kyle Wallace, Colt Kegley, Johnny Ampersand, Dara Naraghi, Tim McClurg, Sean McGurr, and Tom Williams. Here are a few peeks at the issue...

First, a page from "Arc," a short story contributed by Tim McClurg and Sean McGurr...



Next, a wonderfully Wolvertonian illustration by the one and only Tom Williams...



Then, one of my favorite drawings of Spudd 64 EVER, by my good pal Johnny Ampersand...



And finally, from yours truly, one of my favorite pages from the upcoming full length "Spudd 64" story "Hassan's Tale" written by Johnny Ampersand with art by me.



Copies of issue #4 will be on sale at S.P.A.C.E. and through this site as well. Interested? Send me an email. Alright, hope to see some of you at S.P.A.C.E.!

Matt K.