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The Layer Method
Our top Secret time-saving technique for creating and merging balloons and tails in Illustrator.
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Thursday, September 2, 2010
Back, Starting Slowly
Woodsman Pete and Bumperboy
Well, it's August already. Where did July go?
Tales of Woodsman Pete: with Full Particulars
Words and Pictures by Lilli Carre
Published by Top Shelf Productions
80 pages for $7.00
Woodsman Pete is very lonely. A wall of stuffed deer heads and a bearskin rug are his only companions. As companions go, they’re not very talkative. This doesn’t stop Pete; he happily converses with his silent pals. As a reader you may have this, “Pete you killed these guys, why on earth would they want to talk with you now?” moment like I did, but it’s best to dispense with
such thoughts. Just watch Pete make as ass out of himself in front of his unblinking audience.
Carre has a nice handle on Pete. He’s a confused buffoon, but she makes him kind of lovable. Carre is the master of the story and setting here as well. Just when the reader gets used to a quiet rhythm of Pete talking to the remnants of dead animals, she pulls the following trick:
On pages 12 and 13, Pete is talking to the stuffed deer heads on the wall. Pete is resting on Phillipe, his beloved bearskin rug. Pete goes on and on about how great it is talking to the animals. Then he singles out the bearskin, Phillipe. “You know what you are, Phillipe? A great companion, that’s what… and you know what else? You were always my favorite.”
Carre zeroes in on one of the stuffed dear heads resting on the wall above Pete and Phillipe. The next panel is a close up of the deer’s head – a tear traces a path from a large black eye.
It’s little moments like these that make Tales of Woodsman Pete stick with you when you finish the book. Carre’s wry sense of humor guides you though Pete’s dull forest life. In other short stories, she tackles tales of the giant Paul Bunyan. Paul’s got some issues, just like lonely old Pete, only women are Paul’s problem. In particular, Paul can’t find a lady large enough to match his size. Between Pete’s loneliness and Paul’s incompatibility with women, the men in Carre’s book are tragic figures – or they would be without her comic timing. This is an example of a cartoonist having total control over their subject and setting.
The art of Woodsman Pete is as subdued as the story. Often above her short stories, Carre draws an “old timey” title. In her panels, she uses just enough background as she needs to get her point across. A fluffy cloud or a black sky with a few white stars perfectly conveys the mood of a particular tale. Maybe a half a dozen birds in the sky, quickly sketched as relaxed “V” shapes will appear in a few panels. Instead of using black ink on white paper, Carre uses royal blue ink on a creamy off-white page. It’s just enough to add to the book’s quaint feel.
Tales of Woodsman Pete should be on the shelf of fine comic shops everywhere. It’s a slim black book sporting a bright red spine.
Bumperboy and the Loud, Loud Mountain
Words and Pictures by Debbie Huey
Published by AdHouse Books
128 pages for $8.95
Debby Huey’s second Bumperboy book is even cuter than the first. In the first book, the marble tournament and Frederik’s the bird’s meanness crowded center stage. Now, the mystery of the Loud, Loud Mountain creeps through Bumperboy and Bumperpup’s adventures.
In book two, you’ll find less “borping” (Bumperboy and Bumperpup travel through borp holes sometimes) and more story. The one borp hole they do use takes them to a barren land with only one notable feature – a small mountain range. It’s a small mountain range, but the mountains are still big. They’re mountains, after all. One of the mountains, overjoyed to see the pair, talks to the Bumperpals. They have a problem with his volume, however, the Loud, Loud Mountain has a booming big voice. It’s so big that it overwhelms the Bumperpair, who are unaccustomed to such a huge thing speaking.
When the mountain, named Jumbra, speaks, the Bumperpals shake and moan. Huey makes their figures vibrate. Stars and swirling lines radiate from their heads, signifying pain and distress. The discomfort is short lived. Before long Bumperboy and Bumperpup are talking with the mountain as they discover the seeds of a mystery.
In a way, Bumperboy and the Loud, Loud Mountain feels very similar to Woodsman Pete. They’re exactly the same height and roughly the same width. Woodsman Pete has blue ink instead of black; Bumperboy has brown ink instead of black. Huey’s art is as spare as Carre’s art, but Huey’s lines are thicker and more pronounced. Huey’s art is more like something you would find in a children’s book, while Carre’s lines echo nostalgia from decades past.
Bumperboy is marketed as “ALL-AGES.” That’s exactly what it feels like. It’s a genuine story that hums with the quirky energy of better children’s literature. Talking mountains? No problem, and no need for an explanation in Huey’s story. Frederik the bird flies by using a helicopter? Okay, let’s go with that. It all works in Huey’s tale.
Bumperboy and the Loud, Loud Mountain is the latest book from AdHouse Books and should be available at your local shop.
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Friday, February 8, 2008
• The End.
So long. Farewell. Auf Wiedersehen. Good night.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
• Closing time
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Wednesday, January 16, 2008
• Oni resurrects letters columns
Resurrection series features letter-writing contest
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
• And... we're back
With Red 5 info
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
• Happy Thanksgiving!
From aka Comics and Comic World News
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