PFM Presents #1 - cover prototype

Thinking about printing this recent GoldBug comic (see posts below) through CreateSpace (or a local Print on demand service if I can find one.)

Also, playing around with ideas for packaging it along with backup articles, comics, etc. from various local artists and writers.

Back cover:

TBBR p.16-19

The curtain comes down in this final installment of "The Bug's Big Role"....

TBBR p.13-15

Nearly to the end of "The Bug's Big Role" (probably will be 19 pages.)

TBBR p.10-12

"The Bug's Big Role" is back with a few more pages... (I know, I know, how long is this going to take? One single comic, and it unfolds over the space of a year!!! Wotta dilettante, am I right? F'r crissake..)

TBBR p.7-9

"The Bug's Big Role" skitters forward...!

(I was really hoping to work much faster than this, but somehow there are always distractions. Plus my own slothfulness. Plus everything (pencils, inks, colors, Photoshop, scripting, page layout, etc.) taking longer than expected.)

TBBR p.3-6

(See previous post for pages 1-3 of "The Bug's Big Role.")

Hiatus Interruptus

Starting another "GoldBug" adventure... (in glorious Green-O-VisionTM)

Wolfie - 8

Wow those are some harsh acid colors, aren't they... Oh well, that's comics for ya! 

 

Super Lucky Bonus Chip Kidd Style Blow-up panel:

Wolfie - 7

I Know It's Only Propaganda But I Like It, Like It, Yes, I Do

Some people seem to think it's not propaganda if they agree with it: "The media that pushes MY views and agenda is created by sincere, well-meaning people of great integrity. The media pushing THEIR views and agenda is transparent propaganda created by hacks and tools of [name of hated entity]."

For instance, global warming doomsayers tell us they are fearful of

A Venerable Gentleman I Happen to Know Gives Us His Thoughts on Some Important Matters

"Most men (and some women)," said my ancient friend Colonel Poddleswot one day at the club, "should own a Library. We hear occasional laments for the loss of the manly arts: changing a tire, building a deck, holding at bay a den of black mambas. Yet who will speak for the 'manly' custom of owning a fair-sized library?"

"Indeed," said I, slipping into Poddleswot's City of London manner despite myself. "But books, you

The Shadow Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men... But it Takes Andy Helfer to Write a Funny Comic About It

By some circuitous route of mental off-ramps and scenic drives, which I could detail but will spare you from, I found myself recently thinking about some favorite old "Shadow" comics I've had for many years --- specifically, numbers 15 and 16 from the late '80s run by Andy Helfer and Kyle Baker. I'm still fascinated by them all these years later, and felt compelled to dig them out of deep storage once again, to revisit the Inquisitor character they depict. No description can do Baker's art here justice, but he gives us a grotesque powdered-wig wearing judge, pulled around in some sort of wheeled hackney by a little crowd of villainous riff-raff. This lunatic shouts orders, waves his gavel, and delivers swift "justice" on any unfortunates who cross his path. It was just as darkly comic and artfully drawn as I remembered.

Already coasting down these obscure backwaters, I further

Wolfie - 6

Finally, another page in this short comic (8 pages total).

I've been sidetracked by some actual paying jobs, caricature gigs, freelance work, etc. Which is good on the one hand obviously since that pays the bills, but I do hate to neglect the blog.

I've actually had these last few pages drawn, but they weren't colored. Still learning the ropes of coloring with markers. It's weird how unpredictably the colors scan--- they can look quite different on the page itself.

And a special whacky Chip Kidd style blow-up panel... If you look closely you can see the dots (in the line art) where it was printed. Because the roundabout process I'm using is to actually scan the 11x14 line art, then print it out onto marker paper at 8.5x11, then color and scan that. (No wonder it takes me so long to crank out these Modern Masterpieces....!)

Photos from Local Arts Festival

I recently had the pleasure to take part in an arts festival that spotlighted the work of Alabama cartoonists, including my work. I don't know who reads this blog if anyone, but you may be interested to see how the show went down: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.858196330994365.1073741829.842244155922916&type=3

(Note the page is public, you just have to click "No Thanks" if you don't want to log in to Facebook.)

Here we are during the panel discussion. That's me on the far right at the end of the table. The event was hosted by the University of Montevallo, a small liberal arts college a short drive south of Birmingham.

Wolfie - 5

Mr. Wolfie - 4

Wolfie - 3

W.W.Wolf - 2

To Spew or Not to Spew: Let's Take the Climate Scientists at Their Word

Scientists claim ice cores have revealed rapid, drastic temperature fluctuations in the distant past. (Ice cores, to refresh your memory, are those long tubes of ice drilled up from deep in the Artic tundra, in Greenland and such like places.) Now, I take them at their word. Through natural causes, the climate could suddenly drop sharply, or rise perilously, in the space of a century. Civilization could be devastated! Oh noooooo!

Note that they admit their models can't account for everything, and such erratic changes in Earth's climate are officially possible. Their prediction of a 3 degree rise is just a "best guess," not the only possible eventuality. Suppose there were unexpected volcanic eruptions, strange astronomical events, wildly unheard of sunspot activity, etc., etc.? Their models would be screwed! So, shouldn't we be prepared for THAT, as much as anything?

Yes, that's what I'm saying: We should be prepared to "adjust the Earth's thermostat" either UP OR DOWN, depending on what we confront! And, since the current temperature is ideal (apparently, since everyone is so dripping with anxiety over the possibility of even a 1.5 degree C rise), we should ready ourselves to spew MORE CO2, if need be (to warm things up to "normal," if we enter a mini- Ice Age, and get tired of the newly abundant sno-cone operations.)

OR, if the models UNDERESTIMATE warming --- as scientists admit could be the case --- and we have a drastic 17 degree C RISE in global temps, we should be ready not just to cut CO2 (which has only a long-term impact, not good enough for emergencies), but also ready to spew MORE sulfates and aerosols (since scientists say they have a rapid cooling effect. See: the eruption of Pinatuba during the 90s, which cooled things off real good, conveniently helping to "explain" the error in their models at the time.)

Still from "Adventures of Drunky" cartoon

So, yes, I say, let's take the sci-guys at their word. Drastic climate swings could befall us at any moment, and we humans must learn to play with the Earth's thermostat to balance things out. Why ONLY prepare for the 3 degree rise their models show as most likely? They admit they can't account for unknown factors, or the subtle complexity of climate, with any real certainty. And why ONLY consider cutting emissions as our only poosh option on the climate poosh bar? Some emissions have a COOLING effect (they say), so we should spew MORE of those even if their models are RIGHT. Let's get those chim-chim-chim-a-neys cooking!

But suppose a weird confluence of cosmic rays or some shize-nit like that happens, and COOLS the earth by 33 degrees C, or some other occultic number? Then, I say, we should quickly begin spewing CO2 into the atmosphere, to get things back up to warm and toasty 20th century levels. Ahhh, interglacial period bliss! Ain't she grand...

Yes, why all the obsession with just CUTTING emissions. Emissions can be good or bad, dependin'! If our bad old human emissions are the key temperature regulators, we should be prepared to overcome our natural disdain of sooty skies, and crank it up to 11 if need be! Get those smoke-stacks fired up! I mean, the current plan is so SHORT-SIGHTED. Your own fershlugginer ice cores are sayin' that climate has made rapid, drastic swings in the ancient past --- through NATURAL causes alone. So, let's "model" that.... Stick that in your GCM and release its carbon via burning....

Let's think LONG-TERM! Who KNOWS what could happen --- cold, hot; or maybe hot, hotter, chilly-willy, mm-so-so, shit! boiling again! We gotta be prepared, ba-by! Stand by with the CO2, get those sulfates on tap, and hey, how about a few more billion dollars for some waste of space climate research studies...

W.W.Wolf - p.1

Starting a  new comic (Open image in new tab to view at full size.)

Here's a version with more saturated colors:

The Polanski-Allen Blackwash Double-Whammy Two-Step

From time to time I think about the glut of "content" we suffer from --- the neverending flood of Seemingly Valid Shit (SVS) --- and I was doing that this morning, my mind wandering idly.

Then I had to play devil's advocate: "There is SOME stuff I like... some movies, some directors... Woody Allen, Roman Polanski. Guys like that. That stuff's okay... "

What struck though me is that both make movies "for adults" --- that is, mature, thoughtful, meaningful films, with artistic and aesthetic merit --- in fact Polanski jokingly said this in one interview I watched, in his funny broken English (paraphrasing):

Bringing it all Together: Lysenko, Lamarckism, and the Midwife Toad

Three concepts. Three terms I was KIND OF, vaguely, familiar with. But, until today, did not realize connected up in a neat package with a bow on top.

It was today, you see, that I read Chapter 10 of Betrayers of the Truth. Betrayers is an early 80s expose' of Science as actually practiced. Science, in all its human ambition, hubris, fraud and deceit. It's a curious book, written by some mainstream science writers, but attacking the sacred myths of mainstream science: objectivity, professional integrity, peer review, the scientific method, and all the rest. They tear Science a new one, basically.

One might ask, What's their game, exactly, here? Biting the hand that feeds them, it would seem. Are they a limited hangout of some sort, or propping up some other myths? Perhaps so, but they raise

"Sheen of the Bug" available to buy

Buy on CreateSpace (where I make lots of money, wee!):

https://www.createspace.com/6878496

Or buy on Amazon (where I make a piddling fraction of the total):

https://www.amazon.com/Sheen-Bug-Tim-Rocks/dp/1542679915%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q%26tag%3Dduckduckgo-ffab-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D1542679915


Sorry for the long link... I guess they have a lot of "merch" they need to unload.

Here's the high-powered sales pitch; see if you can resist my powers to craft compelling catalog copy:

Don't "bug out," but it's GoldBug time --- time, that is, for 3 CLASSIC tales of the world's least favorite parody superhero!

These short stories, created from 2013-2016, feature the ever optimistic and naive gold/ insect-themed hero GoldBug; his side-kick Ingot Lad; their arch nemeses Dr. Dollar Dump and Peppa Money; and a motley crew of assorted hangers-on.

Despite the absurdity, a few serious themes creep in here and there --- so rationalize it to yourself that way, if you decide to shell out cash for this decidedly low-end cruise through the swamps of contemporary culture.

"The Sheen of the Bug" - cover design

I'm putting together a collection of 3 GoldBug stories to be printed through CreateSpace. (GoldBug is "the world's least favorite parody superhero," in case you were not aware.)

These are "classic" (i.e. old) stories I've posted here to this blog, but now will be available for $5.99 in physical form (or on Kindle as well, also for $5.99.)

It will be black and white, 41 story pages plus one "pin-up" page.

Here is the cover (front and back):

My old "Gross-out Jokes" Book now sells for $44.99 on Amazon..?!

I don't know what the story is, but this cheapo book I drew 10 years back or so is being listed for boocoo bucks (beaucoup?) by someone on Amazon..

https://www.amazon.com/Gross-Out-Jokes-Kids-All-Ages/dp/B0117VTU8S