Shhh. Don’t tell anyone. Here is a super secret sneak peek of what’s happening to your pal and mine, Rashy Rabbit in his still-untitled 7th issue.
I am about halfway through the thumbnailing stage which just means that I have to write the script, blow up the thumbnails, trace the thumbnails in blue non repro pencil, ink them, scan the pages and then print the comic. *sigh* Why do I bother?
Anyway, I am surprised it’s taken me this long to draw a comics with a character lost at sea.
Would you look at that? Richard Krauss of Midnight Fiction awarded the latest Rashy Rabbit adventure, ‘A Rabbit In King Arthur’s Food Court’ an MF favorite for 2010!
I gotta say that I am super flattered, because I know that Richard has read hundreds upon hundreds of comics this year alone.
What makes it a fave? According to Richard, “A favorite is a favorite—a reading experience that delivers something extra.”
Thanks for the award, Midnight Fiction!
“Latta’s work has that underground feel to it in its tension between slacker sleaziness and cute figure work.” -Rob Clough
Well, it seems like y’all really liked the Bill Watterson interview. In the spirit of bringing you more about people vastly more talented than myself, I bring you an interview with Matt Groening from 1986, a year before he created The Simpsons. I know, I know. Matt Groening interviews are a dime a dozen, but it is pretty interesting to read about Matt only one year before he hit pay dirt. This is a lengthy and informative interview, so pour yourself some coffee and dig in.
No, this is not a dream, then is not a hoax, this is an actual-honest-to-God interview with the JD Salinger of the funny pages, Bill Watterson. Before Calvin & Hobbes creator swore off interviews for good, he gave a lengthy and informative interview for Honk Magazine. By all means, give it a read. It’s one of the very very few interviews with this genius out there. Okay, without further ado, here’s Bill Watterson’s 1986 interview…
Oh, hello! I didn’t see you there. I guess I was too busy reading comics to notice you coming to this blog. Y’ see, it’s hard for me to do much else but read funnies after getting back from Heroes Con.
Travelmates/bedbuddies Brad McGinty, J. Chris Campbell and I met up and made the trek up to North Carolina- Oh wait, is Charlotte in North Carolina? I’ll have to ask our Father-figure slash roomie and all out organizer-for-us, Rob Ullman, when I get a chance. At any rate, we made the trek up to the greatest comic convention in the world, Heroes Con. What makes it so great, you ask? Some nerve! Well, I mean like, besides the fact I get to see my favorite people in comics and/or world, I get more comics than I can shake a limited edition light saber sword at. Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself.
We came rollin’ up in my ’97 Corolla on Friday morning and decided to bite the bullet and park in a 20 dollar parking lot. I mean, like, dudes. We hadda lot of crap to carry, and I doubt you’d mistake Brad, J.Chris and I as people from your gym. (Rob Ullman, maybe, but still.) As it turns out, we didn’t move my car for the weekend so we got to slip out on Sunday sans paying for parking. Looks like we won this round, Heroes. Haha!
Friday was a bit slow on sales for all of us, well, everyone I talked to, but honestly, I didn’t notice. I don’t even think I was behind the table all that much,leaving my good friend Shannon Smith to man the table we shared as I was making the rounds and seeing what’s new with all my comic buddies. “Not much” was the resounding consensus. Comic people are so modest. I was pleased and surprised to see so many of my Athens pals (Robert Newsome, Patrick Dean, Joey Weiser, David Mack and Drew Weing) also seated in Indie Island. No wonder this show feels more like home that my hometown show ever does. Burn, Dragon*Con, burn!
That night Rob, J.Chris, Brad, Shannon and I met up with another good friend and favorite person in comics, Ben Towle, and had a costly dinner at some Chinese restaurant. Well, costly for us poor folks. We discussed comics(duh) and the breasts of our waitress and how they were all hanging out and stuff. Later on, we had a screening of Brad’s brilliant cartoons in the Dollar Bin suite. It always sounds funny to say, but sometimes I forget just how brilliant Brad really is. His cartoons slayed, and unlike last year, security didn’t squelch our party down plans, and party down we did,man! We drank like it was going out of style, just like comics books. We all woke up with hangovers the next day and ahead of schedule. Oh well, what can you do?
After a little hair of the dog, we got it together with some bagels and coffee and hit the convention. We got to see our pal, Ashley Holt, which of course, was really nice. Homeboy is smart. Also, I got to spend time with my sister Sally Bloodbath and her boyfriend Matt Wiegle which was also very nice. Jeez, I need a thesaurus. Sales were pretty darn good, and I musta done, like, zillions of sketches.
That night we made our annual trek to Phat Burrito where I got to spend some time with Sally, Matt, Liz Ballie, Jackson New Jersey’s very own Meghan Ansbach and her boyfriend Lee. We mostly discussed records, n’ things, which was a welcome change from the 34 hours of comic talk. Ah, who I am kidding? We talked about comics too. Also, during the course of the evening, Brad, J.Chris, Rob and I had a beer with Tom Spurgeon and talked about the Atlanta comic scene. Surprise, surprise. I had only negative things to say about it. I read Comics Reporter daily, so this was a highlight of the show for me.
Later on that night, I got a chance to smoke a little grass* with my man P. Cleland and another unnamed cartoonist.
*Just kidding. We’d never really do anything illegal on the top of a parking garage.
Sunday is my shopping day, so shopping I did. I bought some weird, wacky comics for a dollar a piece, like this weird Daffy and Roadrunner comic (all the Looney Tunes birds,together at last!) and some peak Carl Barks Uncle Scrooge comics, because I can’t come home without duck books. Speaking of which, Boom! Studios was there with there new Disney comics, which I am a big fan of, especially the Euro duck stuff. Man, that’s some cartoony goodness! I love it. Love it, I say. We need more like that. I heard a DuckTales book is around the bend.
It’s always depressing packing up after this show, and this year was no different. I would say though, without a doubt this was my best year at Heroes. The con was stress free, and I sold a metric ton of crap. What more can I ask for? This is sleep-away camp for nerds that never went to camp.
Welp, that’s about it- Oh wait, I’d love to mention a few more fine people. Warning: more plugs than Steve Carell’s hairline up ahead.
Ken Dahl, M.K. Reed, Evan Dahm, Pale Rider crew, Gabriel Dunston, Chris Pitzer, Dean Trippe, Jason Horn, Van Jensen, Rob Venditti, Travis J. Hill, Jamie Walker, Boom!, Tom Bancroft, David Mack, Dollar Bin Podcast (Adam,Ted, Brian, Kris, Devin, Brandon), Mr.Phil, Martin Steenton, Andy Ruton, Heather McKinney, Stephanie Gladden, John Miller, Chris Schweizer, Duane Ballenger, Rich Barrett, Erakis Pemeza, Shawn Daughhetee, Scott Elingburg, Justin and Jason Gammon and Jamie Ouzts extra special thanks goes out to my man Dustin Harbin for inviting me to be part of Indie Island. See ya next year, sucker.
Tune in soon for more news on the next Rashy Rabbit!
“Whilst not entirely profane, there’s absolutely no shortage of butt-hopping, drug dabbling and all other manner of lunacy for the adults grown children out there; kind of like an inverse Looney Tunes episode, with all the sex and drug references on the outside, for a change.” -Martin Steenton.
“Latta tells his tale like a knight of his cartoon realm. His entertaining adventure is in constant motion, but never feels rushed.” -Richard Krauss, Midnight Fiction
Howdy partner! Hand me a rope. I always feel a little blue after a comic con. Especially when the comic con was as happening as Fanaticon. I can’t even begin to tell you how many things were great about Fanaticon, well, I guess I kinda sorta did, so I will keep on in this manner.
This was the first year for Fanaticon in beautiful Asheville NC and, from where I sat, it appeared to be a rousing success. Unlike other comic shows, this one broke the chains and took place inside a museum, which is much nicer than, oh let’s say a ballroom in a hotel or a convention center. There was a touch of class in the air, despite the deodorant free nerds. I am kidding. Well, not about the class, but this wasn’t your regular-run-of-the-mill nerd gaggle. No sir. Instead there was a good cross section of people of all walks of life (last I heard, attendance was over a thousand.) Men, women (LOTS of women) children, teens, hippies and gutter punks alike meandered around and actually bought stuff. I saw many costumes, which I appreciate, and I certainly miss seeing at the small press shows. Instead, while at SPX’s or APE’s, I just keep looking around and thinking I see myself all over the room. “Hey, there I am! Over there, that’s me” I think. “No, wait, I am sitting right here.”
I digress.
Fanaticon had it’s panels n all that, but another unique touch was the bands rock and/or rolling in the courtyard. We saw some pretty entertaining bands like Falcon Lords and How I Became The Bomb. Also, this gave me an excuse to get out from behind the table and drink some beer.
I think what makes a comic show like this a great equalizer between the rabid fanboys and the curious-some-latelys is the fact the show was free. Yes, free. I always had a hard time with the concept of spending admission to go somewhere to spend lots of money. I know this is the only way for the organizers to make their money at these events, I mean, I guess, but I think I saw the future of comic conventions, and lemme tell ya, I like it.
No question about it, I will be back any and every year that Fanaticon will have me…and even if they won’t, I’ll be back. You better believe I’ll be back.
Shit I got: 2 ‘peek’ Carl Bark’s Donald Duck comics, Ashley Holt’s collection of minis and Brad McGinty’s latest, Fry Cook Chronicles.
*special thanks to J.Chris Campbell for letting me set up with him. Thank you, J.Chris.
Remember a time when you didn’t have to give comics away to get people to read them? Yeah, me either. Today, May 1st marks the 83rd annual Free Comic Book Day! Go to your favorite comic retailer and take whatever you want. It’s free! Don’t have a favorite comic shop? Of course you don’t. Stay home and get t’ downloadin’ Jabberwacky. Did I mention it’s free? Well, it is. It’s FREE.
Join us on the quest!
Wide Awake Press gathered a mighty troupe of artists to explore the madness of Medieval times. Knights, peasants, thieves and kings journey through castles, caves, farms and forests filled with giants, creatures, wizards and witches. Oh there might also be a few dragons.
CROM! That sounds fun! Wanna know who’s in this FREE DOWNLOADABLE COMIC?
Andrew Barton
Sally Bloodbath
Dan Boyd
Michael Bresnahan
J Chris Campbell
Gregory Dickens
Andrew Davis
Justin Gammon
Bernie Gonzalez
Brad Mcgintiy
Jason Horn
Dustin Harbin
Van Jensen
Mike LaRiccia
Josh Latta
Pat Lewis
Ben Towle
Rob Ullman
Joey Weiser
Jeff Zwirek
ZOUNDS! That’s a lotta talent!
What are you waiting for, squire? Do it. Do it now. Download this funnybook.
After all, it’s not Free Comic Book Day everyday or anything. Unless you wanna come over and take this box of early 90′s issues of X-Men. In that case, come over and take what you want whenever.
Avatards!
Redskin Rashy
