LINKS OF THE WEEK

a little selection of where to spend some times, where you'll find more excitation than hanging around here... :)
- TokyoPlastic, anther nice link from Ease. really worth the trip, for your eyes pleasure...
- some site devoted to the art of the great, the one, the only, the photoshop supreme, Dave McKean. Jason from Bullets of Automn did a brilliant website, and if you're into computer-generated-meets-hands-full-of-paint classic art, you'll like it. many cools sections, many great things to see...
- the funniest campaign ever ! some disturbed people eventually found out that there's maybe some thing to do before their stuuuuupid president launch his rampaging army on Iraq. with a sense of humor that must be honored, they decided to organize a Buy-Bush-a-Playstation-thon, and believe me, it's a fucking brilliant idea, as Bush and his crew of from-another-century-squad really looks like stupid pre-teens who couls probably spend some times playing to wargames. i found this excellent link on the excellent blog of the excellent E. Randy Dupre, good-ideas-activist guy and member of the still mighty Barbelith...

MORE PENCIL & INK & PAPER FOR 2003

yeah, i saw it, too : the planetoid is now a blog completely (nearly) devoted to the comics medium, or so.
does that means that i don't listen some good old vinyl anymore ? sshhhhhhh... it's just that comics scene, at this very moment, is in a big time of movement, of mutation, which began a few years ago (explosion of the indy scene, worlwide...), and which is slowly, surely reaching some high new levels. and i got to say that even if i'm still enjoying A LOT to listen to some stuff, or spinning here or there (you don't have to search a long time to find some music-related blogged shit here...), i find some more exciting shit in the comics scene than in the music scene. of course, it's 2 differents things, but the fact is that both are the only things that reminds that i'm alive (by enjoying, being surprised, feeling bad, anway...), so... at the moment, i keep focused on the visual side of what affects me, as it's really stronger of what i hear.
maybe i don't listen the good stuff... :) eh eh eh.

some creators in Bourg-les-Valence this march :
LEWIS TRONDHEIM - PAKITO BOLINO - JEAN-CHRISTOPHE MENU - MARJANE SATRAPI - JOANN SFAR - LIONEL TRAN - CHRISTOPHE BLAIN - CHARLES BERBERIAN - CIZO - EMMANUEL GUIBERT - BRUNO HEITZ - KILLOFFER - SANDRINE REVEL - TANQUERELLE - WINSHLUSS - AMBRE - PAUL CARALI - FABRICE NEAUD - ALEXIS NESME - FREDERIC PEETERS....
pfffffff....

I KNOW THAT ANGOULEME IS OVER BUT...

...i'm still working on the story of my little trip of this weekend. i'll try to send it as soon as possible, including pictures, signs from some of my faves artists (Neil Gaiman, Dave Mc Kean, Lewis Trondheim, Joann Sfar, Jason...), and so on.
so stay tuned if you wanna know all about my so interesting life, uh.

THE ROB G.'COMICS ON FIRE -really- ADVENTURES

and again, anotha-new-forward-that-makes-me-ask-myself-about-the-name-of-my-blog (what about "Warrenellisoid" ?) forward from Warren Ellis' "bad signal" mailing list (to subscribe, send a blank email to badsignal-subscribe@lists.flirble.org ) :

Heidi says it more concisely than I could:
>
>BY HEIDI MACDONALD
>Rob G., the popular artist of TEENAGERS FROM MARS and the upcoming COURIERS, was the victim of an apartment fire that destroyed all of his belongings, including the art to TEENAGERS, COURIERS and an upcoming BATMAN story. As reported by Rick Spears on the Brian Wood Forum, Rob, his roommate and his cat escaped with the clothes on their back and their lives, but nothing else. His computer and comics were also destroyed. The three alarm blaze sent two people to the hospital.
Donations of money and goods are being accepted at:
Rick Spears
609 President St. #2
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Newsarama's Matt Brady has also set up a paypal account for donations.

it's raining ? who complains now ? :)

"SCARS" ART & SCRIPT

Once again, here's a new forward from Warren Ellis' "bad signal" mailing list (to subscribe, send a blank email to badsignal-subscribe@lists.flirble.org ) :
"The first six pages of SCARS #2: complete lettered art, plus the original script, plus DVD commentary"

LIVE FROM ANGOULEME.

hurry hurry, some news about the festival. i will define all this shit in a better and correct english, but right now here are some cool moment of my days in Angouleme, untill now (friday, 5 pm) :

- yesterday nite, right after the results of awards, i phoned Gilles from BDnews for giving him the results. so check it for full infos about it, and hopefully some news about the festival, as i gotta send him some more infos, if i find a goddamn internet access here !

- Jean Pierre Dionnet was in the same train as Thierry and me. we spoke about his last projects, including Neil Gaiman, Caro (from Caro & Jeunet, of course), and... Warren Ellis ? wow. more news tonite. i'll keep the blog updated.

- Neil Gaiman told me that "sandman" will be published again in french, thanks to Delcourt. he signed (again !) my hardcover of "Death", some sandman tiny tale from a Vertigo comic book, and i got a sign for Sandrine on her copy of "how i swapped my dad for 2 goldfishes". the man wrote "best Fishes" with a draw of fish... he he he.

- Joann Sfar draw me a cat (from his last albums) doing some harmonica. i asked him about how Tautmina is doing, and he told me the following shit : "i told her that his dad will leave for a few days, and she ran away to the kitchen, took some cookies and gave it to me while saying "for you daddy"..
- (me) she's a genius ! :)
- (sfar) ... heck, you really read all this stuff, uh ?" while signing "harmonica".

- Art Spiegelman talks a lot. i've had a few words with somebody who looks close to him and who's french, so maybe it's her wife Francoise, and whe spoke about Art' latest project, printed in "Courrier International". more news soon.

- Trondheim is not at his favorite place, as usual. Sfar and Parme looks easy with signs, but Lewis is caustic as ever. he don't want to do anything else than Lapinot while signing, which disturb me.

- Eric Omond is cool as shit. he's the writer of many good childrens books, but he did an awesome "toto the platypus" draw in one of my book. maybe i'll get a few words from the official artist of the serie on it, too. won't be funnier ! :)

- Angouleme isn' t cold, and it's not raining, which is cool as shit.

gotta leave for now. i got to try to reach Sandrine. Thierry's phone is out, so we got to run everywhere for having some time for making a couple of phone calls. holy shit. that's sucks.

BREAK IT UP ! ONCE AGAIN.

Cristalo, one of the main drum'n'bass lover around, dj, promoter, and well knowed part of the Stray Bullets crew, was the guy responsible for the notorious d'n'b fanzine called "Break It Up !", back in the years where d'n'b was fresh, new and was rampaging our french territories.
for many reasons, he gave up bringing us the essentials infos & good reviews on a printed version, and for months, we were all waiting for the BreakItUp website that he promised us. still working on this (soon-to-be) regular updated corner, Cristalo is the proudly dad of a brand new nice drum'n'bass e-zine, available on its PDF format and, unfortunately for you non french speakers, in our frog-eater language.
you can ask Cristalo for receiving this monthly newsletter, or spend some time on the site, too.
he's a nice guy, and he's so sad since he know dj Krush mix some d'n'b tunes with Norman Cook's Beats International "dub be good to me" accapella, that maybe he deserves that we show him love and RESPECT.

I GOT IT ! I GOT IT !

f~ckin' scan... i was glad to put it online but you won't see my accreditation for Angouleme yet... but i got it ! (many thanks to Thierry)

DJ VADIM RUSSIAN PERCUSSIAN TOUR...

...comes by this side of France, once again.
include in the line up for the friday, january 31 in Brainans (39) are Vadim (from the Ninja Tune Hall of Fame...) of course, Yarah Bravo (mc/poet/whatever you wanna call her, it'll be not cool enough), First Rate (Mr Thing's not part of the usual package for this time, so we'll got another Scratch Pervert), and Pelding (the live section of the scandinavish band -who also count some ex-The Prunes-, and signed on Jazz Fudge). for my part, i'll try to do my best warm-up before their live, while my man FeetWan will end the night.
pictures and sounds soon here. check da planetoid.

DJ ROBERT CRUMB, LIVE.

from the Fantagraphics newsletter, that you probably receive already... uh ? what ? no ? so try it NOW !
and no, don't worry, the great artist don't turn techno. :)

"Comics Journal weblogger Dirk Deppey tipped us to the following BBC radio link, featuring a rare treat: Robert Crumb plays some 78-rpm records of jazz and popular music from the 1920s and 30s from his legendary personal collection. Robert is apparently doing and has done a few of these shows, with the first focusing on early New Orleans jazz. Meanwhile, if you're not reading Deppey's daily weblog, you're missing out on all kinds of nifty tips like the above: http://www.tcj.com/journalista "

GRANT MORRISON ALMOST NAKED HERE !

and of course, only Warren Ellis could be the author of such a great scoop... once again, here's another post from Warren Ellis' "bad signal" mailing list (to subscribe, send a blank email to badsignal-subscribe@lists.flirble.org ). this guy is the only responsible for my best laughs for weeks, and i wanted to share... so here is a CC of the last "bad signal" :

"(This is the link which Fraction calls "Make With The Icky.")
I am Comics Pop Svengali. Grant Morrison and partner Kirstan in WACKYJAC underwear -- my acquaintance the writer M. Shakti does PR for them. She writes, on the Barbelith boards:
"No, Warren won't pose, though Grant said it's his turn now that he's dropped the "anti-establishment underwear" gauntlet."
To which I publicly say: bollocks, son. My conception of Power is a higher and finer thing than that. Though the sight of me in underwear would currently be a significantly grotesque thing, the truth is that I caused Morrison to appear in my friend's underpants in public. I have special powers. I win.
I could fancy being Comics Pop Svengali. Renting out Joe Casey to girls. Renting out Brian Wood to boys. Making them and then breaking them. All from the comfort of my armchair.
Any job that means I don't have to move much, you know. That's why I'm a writer. However. I am most disappointed. I send you out to freak out Bruce Sterling on his tour, and what happens? I find that he's sitting there dictating questions to be asked of me in interviews.
Bah.
Which comics creator do you want to see in their underwear?
...
No. Don't answer that.
-- W"

this guy is mad. at least he turned insane waaaayyyyyy back. is it too late for him ?
and while on the Ellis topic, here's an interview he just did with Stuart Young from the Alien Online website.

MORE 2003 WISHES FROM THE BUNCH.

Ease sent me this. So i put it there. and that's very all.
oh no : Ease is a nice guy. maybe you heard his special radio show he did for this.

IS THERE REALLY A "NOUVELLE VAGUE" COMICS PHENOMENA ?

this could have been some question on the cover of the special issue of France own' BEAUX ARTS MAGAZINE, an 100% elitist magazine about what's hot and hype in the global scene of visuals arts in France. and with a market which looks like HUGE and HUGE each and every month here, this opportunist magazine launched a few days ago a special with plenty of cool informations and interviews, great analysis and hot topics.



i got to say that i'm not so surpised of the choices of the authors they took inside this ish : Adrian Tomine, Chris Ware, Charles Burns, Seth, Julie Doucet, Joe Matt, Daniel Clowes, all the big players of the underground (but is it still really underground ?) of the US scene are featured, some cool japanese artists (manga por favor) like Otomo or Tanigushi, and of course the usual bunch of the "pushing-limits-forward" of who's cool in french comics, the like of Joan Sfar, Blutch, Lewis Trondheim, Winshluss, Pierre la Police, Rabate, M.A. Matthieu, Fabrice Neaud, Christophe Blain... of course, a few classics like Art Spiegelman, Robert Crumb, Schuitten, Bilal (arghhhh...), Moebius (ahhhhh.....), Alan Moore (no, really ?) and some more are also part of the selection.
so i think i gotta be glad and excited about this spotlightning on some of my favorites artists. but i'm not.
Beaux Arts Magazine HAVE to spend some time, or/and use a few pages, for helping promoting the good stuff such authors (as the above mentionned) are doing in their work. and if for decades, comics here in France are viewed as nothing but a kid entertainment thing (maybe 10% of the stuff edited are "going somewhere else" oriented... gasp...), every year, it's the same old thing : not a word, not a critic, or a very, very little... but... but...
but it's the 30 anniversary of the Angouleme Festival, hotdammit ? did ya forget ? so here's their "usual contribution" to the event... suckers... they're lucky that tere some cool reviews or covering of what i like in this media today, in their special... argh... at least, i've stollen it. did they really think the shit worth the 7,50 euro cover price ?

GOD BLESS THE MAJESTICONS !

i'm quite disapointed about this shit around the Majesticons, another shit from the mighty producer Mike Ladd, who did some of the best hip hop of the last decade. now, there's this link about the next opus from his amok project, "the Infesticons/Majesticons" : this insanity with a human shape called Jay Wakovitz ask you to vote for the Majesty of Bling. take care as you could spend hours of voting for the tons of stupid people uploaded as the site choices.
YES, IT'S STUPID AND NOTHING BUT A WASTE OF TIME.. so maybe we got to just listen the mad man' shit. and that's all.
sorry for this bad addition to my blog. really, i mean it.

"RELOAD" FROM WARREN ELLIS, PAUL GULACI & JIMMY PALMIOTI.

i got this from Warren Ellis mailing list, "bad signal".
The Ellis guy did it again, with another new project called "Reload", available soon from DC Comics/Wildstorm.
here what the guy's got to say :
"The pencil art for the first six pages of RELOAD #1, plus the script for those pages, plus a DVD commentary track, are available for your viewing pleasure here. Retailers should feel free to pull all that stuff down and use it anyway they like in-store. The order code for RELOAD #'1 is JAN03 0274. It's solicited for ordering this month, so tell your local retailer you want it and give them the code if you can."



(Reload is a three-issue series from DC Wildstorm, written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Paul Gulacy and Jimmy Palmiotti -- solicited for ordering this month, released from March 2003.)

ANGOULEME 2003 GREAT MESS UPDATE :

there's some tiny tiny tiny things that i know about which artists will come and when :

NEIL GAIMAN, one the greatest authors this side of galaxy (Sandman, Neverwhere, Death, American Gods, Violent Cases, Miracleman, Black Orchid, Angels And Visitations, Stardust, Books Of Magic, Signal To Noise, The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish, ...) will be here :
- Friday 1/24, 10:30-12:30
with Dave McKean at Albin Michel BD booth
- Saturday 1/25, ??
with Dave McKean at Delcourt booth

LEWIS TRONDHEIM, the one and only twisted mind under Lapinot, Donjon, Approximativement, Carnet de bord, Les Ineffables, Monstrueux ..., La Mouche, Les Cosmonautes du Futur,
will be here at Dargaud booth :
- 1/23, 5:00-7:00, with Joann Sfar and Christophe Blain.
- Friday 1/24, 1:00-3:00, with Fabrice Parme.
- Saturday 1/25, 3:00-5:00.

2003 LOOKS GREAT.

nuff' said...

IT'S ABOUT TIME.

at last, all this headache time called "end of the year", complete with its xmas and new year day and all this crazy days, is over ; even if it's not really original, i truly hate these times, except maybe for the tons of snow falling around.... anyway. i don't even talk about the xtra prolific commercial side of christmas days, which is (more and more each year) a great example of how humanity can run amok for some so-called great ideas. spend your money, that's it. how big a cow should be ?
it was a terrific year, after all ! let's have some clones this year baby, and while we're on doing anything but shit, let's get more and more pollution in our not-dirty-enough oceans. oh, and don't forget korea and/or irak (you choose), of course, and how Bush is great. neat-o. do you sleep ? fuck.

this 2002/2003 was probably the worse year transition i've ever lived. i'm feeling bad and sad, which is probably only the result of my 30 years old check up (nothing really brilliant done in the 30 first years of my life, i have serious doubts the next 30 will be better) (but hell, as far as i'm concerned, i can only blame no one but myself, uh). add some nasty thoughts and acts from some of my best friends, my girlfriend, my bank (ahhhhhh.....), and even my cat, and you'll get the point. i know i'm not the only none to get some serious problems with winter time. maybe a trip in Cote d'Ivoire will help me to think about how glad of my life should i be...

Eriko, one of the trueliest guys around me, and a graphotizmer too, did a xmas cover for a magazine, and i decided (before asking him, of course) to put it there, as a proof of my optimism for 2003. and merry xmas bla bla bla to all of you ; after all, if you spend some times on my blog, you probably deserve some better shit than the above nasty thoughts... :)

here it is :