Cartoonist Of The Moment: Meredith Gran

Octopus Pie is one of the few webcomics that, rather than just kind of stumbling upon it, I actively made the decision to start reading it. Pretty much every other webcomic I read had a link to Meredith Gran’s site someplace and I’d clicked those links a few times but never really got into it. The night I finally determined to see what all the fuss was about, I was astounded that it had taken me so long. You guys, Octopus Pie is phenomenal.

Octopus Pie is sort of an Odd Couple type story. The story takes place in Brooklyn, where Gran herself resided until her recent move to Portland, Oregon. Its basic premise is that the main character, Eve Ning, is broken up with by her boyfriend and now she needs a new roommate. Eve’s meddling mother leases Eve’s vacant room in her Brooklyn apartment to Hanna Thompson, an old classmate from Eve’s preschool days. The two turn out to be a very unlikely pair, with Eve being a little more structured and uptight and Hanna being more of a hippie, stoner and part-time nudist. Though different, it becomes obvious that these two begin to share an important friendship and truly care about one another, and as the comic continues their habits and ideas start to rub off on each other. Isn’t that heartwarming? (It  is).

Eve has got a pretty typical post-college job, working at an organic grocery for an incompetent and overbearing boss (you can buy Olly’s Organix tote bags, which has always cracked me up, right here), while Hanna’s post college job is a little more interesting. Hanna runs her own business through the internet called Bake N’ Bake. She sells baked confections that she makes well, while she’s baked! Eve is a little judgmental about this at first but she seems to get over it as the comic goes on. Hanna’s business partner, her boyfriend Marek, may have had something to do with this, having attempted to teach Eve that “Everybody judges. Except for the duck, who seeks only bread.” A revelation that makes little sense to her at the time, but eventually sinks in later.

Eve Ning has a philosophical epiphany in Octopus Pie

Undoubtedly my favorite storyline in Octopus Pie has been “Tag.” This storyline begins with the revelation that Hanna has never been introduced to Eve’s asian friends because they are all – stereotypically – nerds! The introduction of Eve’s nerd friends to a group of Hanna’s stoner friends results in a conflict that there could be only one civil way to settle… LASER TAG! The rest of the storyline involves a lot of funny visual gags and sound-effects, and a couple great one-liners (“Stoners, not Pwners” being my favorite). This storyline also involves a lot of hilarious drama, with people switching sides and betraying their team members, and a whole lot of terrific art. This storyline is unique to the rest of the comic in that involves a lot of action sequences. I think these pages of the comic show us that Gran’s work is pretty versatile and that she can do a lot with it.

The art of Octopus Pie has a very charming cartoony quality that I find matches its cheeky, good-natured humor. Gran does the penciling, toning and lettering using a Wacom Cintiq and Manga Studio, and about halfway through the comic she started doing the inking by hand. I wasn’t familiar with Manga Studio before I started reading this comic, but have since then become intrigued. Gran often broadcasts the creation of the comic via Ustream so you can watch exactly how she makes it as she’s doing it. If you don’t want to wait around for her next Ustream (which she notifies people of via her Twitter account) you can watch this video of her process in Manga Studio (set to “Atlas” by Battles).

I think the reason it took me so long to finally get into this comic was the fact that it’s not one of those comics where there’s a simple, slapstick joke in each strip. A lot of the humor of the comic is heavily reliant on the readers’ familiarity with the characters, so you need to read a few storylines before you really get hooked. It’s like a really great TV show in that way, I guess. You can watch one episode of Mad Men and think, “Wow this is really visually appealing and well-produced…but who the fuck are all these people and why do I care?” It’s only a truly great show once you’re already addicted. Same deal with Octopus Pie. With that in mind, I suggest reading it from the beginning rather than starting in the middle.

I make the comparison to TV for this comic because, in my personal opinion, TV  is more fun to watch on DVD… I have the habit of specifically NOT watching a show while it’s on TV so that I can wait until it comes out on DVD and watch it all in one go. Gran is doing a similar thing with her comic, posting on the site a few weeks ago to say, “…constant deadlines, while good for productivity, also tend to limit the sort of stories and pictures I’d like to create. …So, starting with the next storyline, Octopus Pie is going to start updating in larger, story-based chunks. Which means, depending on the length of the story, the comic will update every couple of weeks, or every month or so, with a brand new, multi-page chapter.”

It’s been about a month since she posted that, and ever since I have SO been looking forward to sitting down and reading the new storyline all at once. I think it’s very brave of her to say “Fuck it!” to the endless deadlines and create her comic on her own pace, to bring us work that’s she’s happy with. That obviously was not an easy decision because there’s a lot of pressure on artists with such a large following as hers. She’s made the quality of her work more of a priority than meeting a schedule and I commend her. Word on the line is, the new storyline is scheduled to be posted Monday (tomorrow), and I am so excited! (Obviously, I’m making no effort to hide it).

So if you haven’t read the comic yet, get caught up today and get ready for the new storyline!

Cartoonist Of The Moment: Box Brown

Brian “Box” Brown started posting his webcomic, Bellen!, in his Livejournal in 2006. As the comic grew and gained recognition, Brown was asked to contribute to TopShelf 2.0, for which he created a six-page comic called “Love is a Peculiar Type of Thing” that has developed into a book. Recently he was awarded one of the 2008 Xeric Grants, a self-publishing grant for comic-book creators. The grant gave him enough money to print 1,000 copies of his 96 page book, Love is a Peculiar Type of Thing. It will (hopefully) be available in stores this summer.

Brown’s work is somewhat autobiographical. I say “somewhat” because technically the stars of Bellen!, Ben and Ellen, are fictional characters, but the story – which is mostly a series of banal, day-to-day moments – seems to be the thinly veiled reality of Brown’s own life, living with his girlfriend. In an interview, Brown said James Kochalka’s American Elf changed his life, making him think, “Holy crap! Comics! I can make comics!” Perhaps this influence is why his own work, like Kochalka’s, tends to be autobiographical in nature. As an artist, I too have found it is easier to pull stories from my own reality, and I think a lot of other cartoonists have as well.

Bellen! by Box Brown

I find Bellen! to be really inspiring, both visually and content-wise. Ben is this worried over-thinker, who seems almost like an existentialist at times, and Ellen tends to be his more grounded, glass-half-full kind of counterpart. I’ve been in relationships like that before, where the crazy one (usually me) has to constantly be reassured by the slightly-less-crazy one (usually not, though occasionally me). I guess what I’m saying is that I can almost always relate to this comic, it all seems so sincere. There’s a lot of truth to be found in Ben and Ellen’s musings about relationships and life, and what it is to love someone. This comic touches on aspects of living that I had felt and experienced, but pushed into the back of my mind. It’s like Box Brown dug into my brain and pulled out some forgotten memory that made me say, “Hey, I feel that way too.” Bellen! is a frequent reminder that intense emotions like love and fear, while being incredibly personal, are also entirely universal. I guess that’s what art is supposed to do.

It’s been really fun following Brown’s comic because he’s not afraid to play around with it visually. He appears to be learning-through-doing by changing with the comic’s layout, color scheme and general format. Each new Bellen! comic is unique and beautiful in their own right. Currently he’s been producing work with only one or two colors and minimal dialogue, giving the pieces a stillness to them that make the content seem more profound somehow. I recognize that serene, contemplative style in Chris Ware’s work as well, of whom I’m a huge fan. Brown has said in a few interviews that he’s been really influenced by illustration and ad design from the fifties, and uses scans of old paper to give the comic a “vintage” feel, which I’ve noticed to be very effective. He’s also been using a serifed font a lot lately, and I think helps the “vintage” look too.

Bellen! was almost picked up this year by United Feature Syndicate’s comics.com, however Brown declined the syndication offer after editor Ted Rall left. Brown explains that the draw of bringing Bellen! to comics.com was working with Rall, and since syndication is often not very profitable, it didn’t seem worth the jump. While the project was still up in the air, Brown created 12 full weeks of Bellen! newspaper comics (including Sundays!) that have never been seen before. He’s going to be selling them at MoCCA 2009, and probably on his website after that so keep your eyes peeled for it.

Also debuting at MoCCA this year will be Brown’s book, Love is a Peculiar Type of Thing! This is really exciting, but I fear Brown may need some help moving so many copies due to Diamond’s new minimums. Basically the deal is, to get Diamond to ship your books you have to put in a $2,500 order. And that’s a lot of books. This is a new policy and it’s kind of been freaking everyone out because out of their top 300 books from last year, probably half of them didn’t reach that number. It’s sad but the internet is really taking its toll on the print industry. “What can I do to help?” you might be wondering. Call your local comic book shop and DEMAND they preorder this book! Only a few more days to do so…

I really hope this book makes the Diamond minimum. If not, he’ll be selling the book at MoCCA and later this summer, on his website. I’m definitely picking up a copy. If you want more Box Brown, you can check out his political webcomic, American’t. It’s pretty funny most of the time, and the message boards occasionally fill up with some really ignorant comments, which are funny in an entirely different way. There was quite a stir caused in the message board for this comic about Prop 8, and a bit of another stir when Hollywood apparently ripped off the idea (or came with it on their own, we may never know). If you want even more Box Browm, you can check out this three part interview with The Daily Crosshatch: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3!

Anyway, I really love Box Brown’s work. I also love Box Brown, because he’s got a pretty great stance on cartooning. In an interview, he said, “I really hope that there is a huge push for the younger webcomics people to put more focus on creating better comics and less focus on creating better websites, that’s the problem I see most in the webcomics world.” This is a problem I’ve also noticed, and I was glad someone finally came out and said that. Also, in another interview (I like interviews), he made it apparent that he is on the same page as I am regarding terminology: “I think (hope) that the word ‘webcomic’ will be abolished and we can just start calling every thing a comic. Hopefully that’ll end the big print vs. web debate which doesn’t look good for anyone involved…Further, I hope to see the death of the term ‘graphic novel’; it’s comics, man.”      Amen, man.

Cartoonist Of The Moment: Kate Beaton

I’m going to be really straight forward about this: Kate Beaton is my favorite thing on the internet right now.

Yes, the entire internet.

She just launched her brand new website recently and damn is it pretty. Beaton’s comics got popular real quickly, and it’s been pretty awesome to watch her style and content slowly shift as she has tried to accommodate such a massive audience. As it says in this article, the number of responses she got from readers was a bit overwhelming and led her to focus on making more of her historical comics, for which she is most famous, and far fewer of her more personal journal comics. In the long run, this may be a wise move as her historical comics are what sets her apart, but to be honest, I kind of miss the journal comics.

That’s not to say her historical comics are not hilarious, because lord knows they are. Don’t let that article I linked to mislead you, while the Canadian artist does make a lot of comics about her own country’s history, she makes plenty of comics about American history as well. I’ll be honest that in some of her work about Canadian figures the joke was a bit lost on me, but being the total nerd that I am, these had me instantly on Wikipedia looking up facts about Canadian history. So hey, I even learned something from her comics, or at the very least learned enough to get the joke in the future. But Beaton makes plenty of jokes about historical figures that you need very little background information to find funny. A lot of her humor comes from throwing a little bit of nonsense into history, like putting present-day slang into the mouths people from centuries ago.

Kate Beaton hangs with Pope Jon Paul II

One of her better known pieces is one featuring Nikola Tesla, and I think it’s a pretty good example of her work. It’s pretty ridiculous, making the implausible assertion that Tesla’s public lectures were somewhat akin to a Backstreet Boys concert circa 1997, but I learned something from it anyhow. Did you know Tesla was celibate? Well, he was. Also, as with most of Beaton’s comics, the true gem in this one has very little to do with Tesla or any historical accuracy of any kind. Check out that chick screaming in the bottom corner of panel six. I feel that she really steals the spotlight. If you agree, you can get a little avatar of her for your LJ or Twitter or whatever you crazy cats use right here!

But as much as I love her history nonsense, I miss some of her more personal work – very little of which can be found on the new site. In particular, I am very fond of her conversations with her younger self, which can be very touching at times. I guess some people probably find her historical comics more interesting, or more relevant perhaps, but personally I found that I felt very connected to her journal comics. I can relate to her sibling rivalry, or hating my job, or worrying about graduate school. As with many autobiographical works, reading another artist’s expression of feelings similar to my own made me feel somehow justified in those feelings, or part of a common experience. I suppose these comics aren’t quite funny in the same way her history comics are, and maybe that’s why they have faded into the background. Still, I miss them.

All that aside, I am still a huge fan of Kate Beaton. I’m pretty new at this “being a fan” thing, and found myself in the strange and unfamiliar territory of buying fan merchandise. I usually feel uncomfortable wearing t-shirts or what have you advertising someone else or someone else’s work, whether it’s a band or a movie or whatever. But in this case, I just couldn’t help myself. Kate Beaton is just so awesome, and I feel good supporting what she does. I bought a “BOAT!” t-shirt like the one worn by her younger self in this comic. I’m quite fond of this shirt (and really anything Beaton does with a nautical theme), but there are plenty of other things for sale at her TopatoCo store (including a print of that Telsa comic I mentioned earlier).

If you find Ms. Beaton as outstanding as I do, you might want to check out this interview with (Cult)ure Magazine, or even better – follow her on Livejournal! Occasionally she will ask readers to submit their favorite historical figures for her to make comics about; it can be really fun! In her last post she announced that she has been working on a book, and put up one of her discarded cover/title ideas. I’m excited to see the final product!!

Cartoonist Of The Moment: Ben Driscoll

I found Ben Driscoll’s adorable webcomic Daisy Owl through a link on Ryan North’s ever-popular Dinosaur Comics. The comic started back in July just as something Driscoll was posting on the Cracked.com forums, but he has since moved it to its own website as its popularity has risen. The comic is about the lives of Mr. Owl, his two adopted human children Daisy and Cooper, and his bear friend Steve. For the most part, the art is very simplistic, with characters comprised out of straightforward linework, minimal shading, and plain grey backgrounds. But don’t let Driscoll’s modest style fool you. In an occasional strip readers get a glimpse of his true artistic talent; Driscoll creates detailed, lively and beautiful scenes that serve as the backdrop of his characters’ world. This panel, titled “The Decent,”as well as a few others, are available for download as wallpaper on Driscoll’s site:

Daisy and Cooper tip toe down the steps of their treehouse in Ben Driscoll's "Daisy Owl"

In a way, Daisy Owl is a strip about unconventional families. Most of the time, the fact that Daisy and Cooper’s father is an owl is taken for granted, but occasionally the comic will show the specific obstacles Mr. Owl confronts as an adoptive parent. Steve also has an unusual background. As a half-grizzy, half-polar bear adopted and raised by humans, Steve occasionally suffers identity issues and struggles to reconnect with his “bear roots.” Each character in Daisy Owl is a misfit in some way. Even the minor characters, like Jeremy, a kid who has a rare condition that makes him queasy around large numbers, or Kate, Steve’s at-times-overly-candid love interest, are quirky and bizarre and give the comic as a whole its unique personality.

At it’s core Daisy Owl is a lighthearted and sometimes absurd story about a family, but the way Driscoll uses humor to brush up against more serious topics yields incredibly heartwarming results. Through the comic, the Owl family shares their thoughts about death, experiences with diversity, and express their deepest fears, and while really these moments are supposed to be funny, I also find them somewhat touching. And I think that’s kind of the point in Daisy Owl. First you laugh at the joke, and then you feel good because this owl, this bear, and these two human kids all love each other so much even though they are impossibly different.

I love this comic because it makes me smile on a daily basis. Driscoll’s ability to recreate childlike wonderment in the mundane, and ridiculous banter between friends, and wild and far-fetched backstories for each character make this seemingly simple comic quite complex and engaging. Driscoll talks about some of his influences and where he intends to take the comic in an interview that you can read here. If you are ever feeling down, go read this comic and you might feel just a tiny bit better about the world.

Cartoonist Of The Moment: Danielle Corsetto

I don’t remember exactly how I came across Girls With Slingshots but I do remember staying up all night reading it when I did. As with most webcomics I find interesting upon first glance, I try my best to start reading from the beginning and catch up, whenever possible. Reading Danielle Corsetto’s strip was like being a little kid again with a beat of copy of the last Boxcar Children book I’d rented from the library – I couldn’t stop reading, even if I’d wanted to (which I didn’t). I must have been up until 4 or 5 in the morning.

The great thing about this comic is that it’s truly engaging. The characters are all fun and quirky, and although some of the gag-like jokes can be a bit predictable (see: a series of strips regarding what’s under Jameson’s bandana, Spoiler Alert: He’s bald! Shocker!) they are still consistently funny. Corsetto really connects with her audience by adding small personal touches to her artwork. Rather than lettering using any traditional typeface, she appears to use her natural handwriting (which is pretty uncommon for daily-strip webcomics) and doesn’t even limit herself to using all caps (which if not uncommon, is at least nontraditional for comics in general). In my opinion, when it comes to comics, the words are as much a part of the artwork as the characters themselves and using your own personal handwriting (or personal font, as the case may be) has a major effect on making your artwork aesthetically cohesive. This issue of using boring, impersonal fonts is one I often encounter with comics online, but is increasingly appearing in print (one of my major problems with the recent Abel/Soria/Pleece collaboration, Life Sucks, but that’s an entirely different story I’ll get into some other time).

In honor of Valentine’s Day this year, Corsetto’s strip featured Jamie creating a contest to win a date with her. Simultaneously, Corsetto herself created a contest online in which readers submit their idea of the perfect date and a photo of themselves to “win a date with Jamie.” Whether or not the subsequent strips featuring the tall and seemingly-perfect David were actually inspired by any of the email submissions I do not know, but anyone who did send in a date-idea I’m sure had fun with this exercise in audience participation anyhow. I feel like this kind of reader involvement fully takes advantage of the webcomics medium – online comics have the ability to create something like this and within only a few days put out its results, a sort of instant gratification that would be harder to replicate through newspapers or minicomics. The contest may seem a bit cheesy to some, but I think Corsetto has really harnessed the potential of having a webcomic with a large fanbase by taking her audience on little adventures like this, and just having fun with it. She seems fun. I’d like to hang out with her at a bar or something. I bet she’d be a blast.

So maybe GWS wouldn’t keep everyone up until some hideous hour of the night reading it, but it sure had me hooked. It involves a lot of drinking, a lot of swearing and a talking cactus with a Scottish accent: what more could you want? At any rate it sure has it’s moments of hilarity, and is certainly worth checking out.