MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Cue the George Bush On a Aircraft Carrier Meme

JUST A GENERAL THANK YOU

TIGRESS ISLAND #1 sales numbers have come in and they are the best of my career. We’re also oversold, so we’ll be going to a second printing.

I appreciate any of you who ordered a copy. You will be rewarded with a great comic book.

I don’t know if we’re the beneficiaries of a mini sales-boom, goodwill from GEHENNA, or simply the right eyeballs falling on EPHK’s beautiful art. Whatever the case, it’s nice to not have to worry.

Thank you to the retailers who order with the intention of hand-selling the book. I’ve said it before, but I’ll hammer it again in the email I send to them this week: I want it to be an understood of books with my name on it that no matter how complex a story, the pitch will remain simple. I’m shooting for a frictionless sale.

I want it easy for retailers. I think we arrived there with TIGRESS ISLAND and I believe future sales will reflect it. Now order issue two!

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PAGES IN MY INBOX

A WIP page from EPHK which shows off the process a bit. It’s a photo, not a scan, so consider it behind-the-scenes content.

The b&w are painted, making for that rich look that allows cartoony characters to feel thick and three-dimensional. By the time color is added, the ‘feel’ of the characters is already on the page, allowing EPHK to really amplify already beautiful work. Have you ever seen foliage so lush?

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THEMES

Here’s an unoriginal thought, but I’m working through it now because I’ve never had occasion to: museum art sucks.

On tour I hit the perfectly nice Hamburger Kunsthalle in Hamburg. And I had a mostly good time.

But I also felt like there was a game being played around me.

It’s constantly observed that so much of what we consider important art is the product of privileged veal calves. It’s all made by artists protected from inconveniences like jobs and time management. Sons, typically, of the wealthy. Or, if from a working background, taken under the patronage of rich old perverts.

Many people feel this somehow invalidates the work. Or at least poisons it in some small way.

This is not my problem with what I saw at Hamburger Kunsthalle. Maybe I just take the above facts for granted. Normalized.

My problem is with the only other type of art I saw that day: trauma porn.

“My family was incinerated by the US’ illegal bombing of Cambodia, here’s an instillation piece about it.”

“Hyper-capitalism after the fall of the USSR forced my mother into prostitution. Check out my LED sculptures.”

This isn’t to say that art isn’t valid or those artists aren’t talented. But it is to say, I don’t buy it. I don’t believe that the same people who venerate nepotism and privilege also have an equal appreciation for hard luck stories about parent incineration.

It reads fake. It comes off like an insincere apology from elites. “We weighed your LED light wall of post-modern faff against Friedrich and think you’re just as good. Sorry about your mom.”

And if it is not that, if it is a genuine interest in miserable circumstances, then perhaps that’s worse. I have no problem with voyeurism. It’s all art to me. But I suspect the curators who put these things together don’t (openly) share that conviction. Are we supposed to believe trauma is the only theme, emotion, or reason for art since the 1900s? I bet there’s some intellectual hoops to jump through before arriving at “while it is true the LED wall is of the same or lower quality than offerings from thousands of other contemporary artists, I believe it’s important.”

All this is to say: lessons are for children and adults who think like children. Pedestalling art because it feels politically expedient is a disservice to everyone who walks through the door of the museum. Nobody is going to not bomb Cambodia because of some plexiglass dome in the Western Guilt wing of the Hamburger Kunsthalle. It’s all signal, but it’s signaling to zero radars.

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PEOPLE I SPOKE TO

Security guy at one of the shows hears my accent, asks if I’m from the US. He tells me he’s going to Texas. Houston, Texas, which surprised me. I have a warmth for the city, but I don’t think of it as a destination.

He says he’s going for the food. I admit I never thought about that a day in my life.

Another American guy on the tour, part of the other opening act’s crew, enters the hallway. I say, “this fella’s going to Houston. Any advice for him?”

“Oh yeah, man. Great city. The girls are friendly. I fucked my Uber driver.”

This opened floodgates. I passed the security guard a handful more times throughout the night and the focus of the conversation had shifted entirely off of food.

By the end of the evening he was asking me if he needed to get bottle service to “fuck hoes.” Which I thought was funny because nobody in the history of life on Earth has ever seen me and said, “there’s a bottle service guy!” I told him he could get some escorts if the goal was to sleep with women. He was concerned with his sexual health and worried they would convince him to go unprotected. I realized at this point I was talking to a guy without much experience of this sort.

Wishing him luck in Houston.

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MEDIA CONSUMPTION

I thought this one was going in a folk horror direction, but ultimately arrived at ‘long episode of The Twilight Zone.’ Still, pretty fun. Recommended.

If you’re chronically online, you have have seen stills from this documentary employed in race arguments. Famously, the subtitled line “it’s all so tiresome” from the Chinese project leader working to build a road in Congo. The movie is tiny, dealing with minor miscommunications and hassles. But it’s also about the very large idea of post-colonial self-determination and what that looks like on the ground. Recommended.

If I had missed the credits of the film, I still woulda been able to tell you Steven Spielberg was somehow involved. Recommended.

Quake Brutalist Jam 3 is a total conversion mod assembled by dozens of well-regarded map makers. It seems that everyone was encouraged to put their own spin on the level they designed, with only the weapons, enemies, and ‘vibe’ staying constant. The result is impressive. I chipped away at the game while on tour and found it challenging, rewarding, and novel. Recommended.

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A/V SECTION

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FROM THE DESIGN FOLDER

Does it work as a movie poster? Yes. Could it work for a comic cover? If the face is sufficiently creepy, why not?

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THANKS

Issue 2 of TIGRESS ISLAND is still up for order, so jump on it. And if you missed out on issue one, put in an order for the reprint. Thank you. Do for self.

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