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.
Well, I read this blog, for one.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you at the event, post event.
Thanks Charles, good to hear from you, glad to know you're still reading! What else is new in the world of comic books (or the world in general), any thoughts on the current state of the art?
ReplyDeleteQ. What else is new in the world of comic books?
ReplyDeleteHow would I know? I rarely read any, anymore. The world of comic books has always been too vast, for one such as myself to be abreast of what all is new in it, even at the height of my comic book reading adventures - which lies buried far in my distant past, unfortunately.
Q. What else is new in the world in general?
Talk about a cosmic-sized topic of discussion! Me? I'm like some of the characters that you draw - largely detached from what one might call "the real world." I'm just a voice in the Wilderness of Nether Thought making my occasional trek to your neck of The Proverbial Woods.
Q> Any thoughts on the current state of the art?
Which art, exactly?
In terms of general, incoherent, and disjointed ramblings, I consider the comic book industry to still be tearing down the tracks, Hell-bent on pricing itself out of business. I am heartened by the fact that most independent comic book artists and the companies that they form seem to be die-hard advocates of the same.
Apparently, to be independent in the comic book industry, one must be a copy cat of the industries worst practices. Built Rome, and they will come - except Rome turned out to be a pricing scheme, apparently, and by building a price on the cover, they have arrived.
Fortunately, building and growing readership remain distant and secondary considerations.
But, these laments off-the-cuff are nothing new, on my part. Same old, same old, Mister Tim.
The most innovative subscription models for comic books belong to the name brand anchor comic book companies, even though I use the word "innovative" rather generously, here. Independent comic book publishers have no real use for such, it seems, aside from Patreon-esque schemes of various sorts.
So, for the most part, I usually budget absolute zero for the purchase of comic books, these days.
It's not that I like comic books any less than I ever did. Rather, the comic book industry has its own way of doing things, so I tend to busy myself with other things, with other matters, and only sporadically and infrequently pay much attention to the comic book realm, these days of late.
Fortunately, you post so seldom that one can forego visiting for lengthy spans of time, only to quickly catch up, when one returns to your site, here. I must confess, Tim - I do rather admire your miserly hoarding of your talent and skill in all things comic-related. What a horrible universe it would be, if you were ever to unleash your comic prowess at full power!
But, that might intrude into your scheme to become the Philosopher King, and that would simply never do.
I visit here, sometimes, without posting, but I thought that I would take a few moments, today, to say something, just as a reminder to you that I am not dead, yet.
You can draw like the wind, yet there's typically very little breeze here. This is quite the conundrum!
Now, let me go and catch up. I'll see you at some point in the future.