Speaking in Tongues

Holy shit, APE is THIS WEEKEND.

That really snuck up on me.

Sweet.

Oh, and check out the list of who's coming. Scott Morse, Douglas Paszkiewicz, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, Kazu Kibuishi, Jeremy Tinder, Jim Mahfood, the Lost In The Dark guys, Rick Geary, Becky Cloonan, Alex Robinson... Jesus, what a list. There's even someone awesome enough to have the name Wena Poon.

*****

I got a "sneak preview" of sorts of Josh Fialkov's new comic with artist Kody Chamberlain, Punks.

The thing is apeballs. I've never read a comic quite this nuts; Josh is writing a series of characters that read like brain spasms, a series that seems to be aiming more to send electricity up the spine than anything else.

There's a certain stream-of-conciousness vibe to the style here, but it works because the damn pages are dripping with fun. Chamberlain's cut-up style and Josh's meta-dialogue combine like peanut butter and nitroglycerin.

A lot of folks will be baffled, I think, but that might be part of the point. It's the kind of book that will invite us to bafflement, and then, when we're most vulnerable, stab us in the head.

The blood will look cool.

*****

James Sime ramps up his online comics previews - after doing, what, four of 'em in the last four weeks? - with a fresh one every day this week.

One might guess he's building up to this weekend's Alternative Press Expo, the APE Aftermath party, and the award ceremony for the Isotope Award for Excellence in Mini-Comics.

Or, one might just download a bunch of cool previews for new upcoming comics.

*****

Neil Kleid is really coming at it gangbusters these days, ain't he? Brownsville came out, he's got The Intimidators going on at Shadowline, the Call of the Wild adaptation... now he's got a new book coming from Slave Labor, called Ursa Minors.



Here's the pitch: "Tom, Richard and Harry are Bears One, Two and Three: gifted with
high-tech robotic bear suits that grant them incredible strength, night vision and razor sharp claws. While most would be tempted to use them heroically, the pop-culture raised/internet age defenders of Bigby City focus their strengths on comics, beer, and comics about beer."

Photobucket can't seem to handle the preview pages I got in my inbox from the good Mr. Kleid, but the pages remind me a bit of Kleid's "Take That" column, which you can sample here.