Shaenon K. Garrity

New Li'l Mell!

2008-05-14T18:58:17Z

Mell knows the score!

http://www.girlamatic.com/comics/mell.php

And of course there's a new installment in The Chronicles of William Bazillion!

Also, I'm going to the MoCCA Art Festival next month. If you're in the NYC area, stop by and say hi. I'm doing a panel on "Comics and the Internet" for the New York Institute for the Humanities on Friday, June 6, and then I'll be at the Friends of Lulu table throughout the weekend.

I have the best husband ever.

2008-05-13T17:49:34Z

For my birthday, Andrew commissioned a pinup from Roger Langridge, who is, among other things, a regular cartoonist and illustrator for Doctor Who Magazine in Britain. Look what Roger drew for me!

And look how much I love it!

Incidentally, Roger sells his original art at absurdly cheap prices, if you'd like Doctor Who comics of your very own--or any of his other work, including his wonderful strip Fred the Clown. He's also drawn Fin Fang Foom and stuff.

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

2008-05-12T22:07:21Z

Andrew Farago, curator of the Cartoon Art Museum, chronicler of William Bazillion, and my sweetie, is 32 today! Birthday wishes can be directed to andrewfarago at hotmail.com.

Happy birthday!

Iron Man

2008-05-08T03:20:34Z

I have to admit, the part I enjoyed the most was making fun of Tony Stark's chest.

You know, Tony Stark's chest is 99% effective in preventing unwanted pregnancy.

Tony Stark's chest does not protect against sexually transmitted diseases.

Tony Stark's chest should not be taken by women with a history of heart problems, or women who are trying to get pregnant.

Please advise your doctor if you are taking Tony Stark's chest, as it can cause complications when combined with other medications.

Some women prefer the Today sponge to Tony Stark's chest.

Tony Stark's chest can also help clear up your skin!

The best part was when he upgraded to the newer version of Tony Stark's chest that eliminates periods. Then he had to go back to the old one because he was having hormonal problems.

Hooray!

2008-05-07T20:18:27Z

The Match it for Pratchett strip sale raised $2,500 in April! Thanks so much to everyone who ordered strips!

Oh, and of course there's a new installment in The Chronicles of William Bazillion! New Li'l Mell page tomorrow, hopefully.

Lulu Awards Nominations

2008-04-30T21:17:27Z

One more post today: Friends of Lulu is holding open nominations for its annual Lulu Awards, so if you know ladies or lady-friendly people in comics who deserve recognition, go nominate them. I'm going to humbly suggest that you consider Bobby Sox creator Marty Links, who recently passed away, for the Women Cartoonists Hall of Fame. The Friends of Lulu online nomination ballot is right here.

Also, today's the last day of my Match It for Pratchett Strip Sale, so get in on that action while there's still time.

New Lil Mell!

2008-04-30T19:16:37Z

Okay, okay, it's just a filler this week while Neil and I recover from the Stumptown Comics Fest. Enjoy a sampling of my thumbnail art.

http://www.girlamatic.com/comics/mell.php

And it wouldn't be Wednesday without a new installment in The Chronicles of William Bazillion!

Speaking of Stumptown, the brand-new Skin Horse minicomic won a Stumptown Trophy Award for Outstanding Small Press! How sweet is that?

I was at the party where the awards were announced, but everyone was rocking so hard that I didn't hear it announced. I only found out that I'd won something when I went into the convention hall the next morning and my trophy was waiting for me at the table. As you can see, I was gobsmacked.

The trophies themselves are the tackiest secondhand trophies the good people at Stumptown could find in the greater Portland area. And ours is the best one! Bask in the glory:

Here are Jeffrey's and my initials crudely scrawled into the trophy plate by Shannon Wheeler:

And the crowning glory:

BEST TROPHY EVER.

I can only hope Jeffrey is as proud as I am. Thank you, Stumptown! Oh, and if you'd like to purchase a copy of this award-winning minicomic for your own, we can make that happen.

I had a great time at Stumptown, by the way. Andrew's got a great writeup here, although he mostly talks about things he ate.

New Li'l Mell!

2008-04-23T17:35:44Z

Ta-da!

http://www.girlamatic.com/comics/mell.php

One of the pleasures of having different artists draw Li'l Mell is seeing everyone's interpretations of the characters. Here, for example, is Neil's rendition of Ms. Divine, the principal. Also, if there's one thing we've learned over the five years this comic has been running, it's that Mrs. Hancock will never get back on her feet.

And of course there's a new installment of The Chronicles of William Bazillion!

One week left in the Match It for Pratchett strip sale. If you'd like to own an original Narbonic or <http://www.skin-horse.com>Skin Horse</a> strip for a mere $25, with all proceeds going to the Alzheimer's Research Trust, email narbonic at sbcglobal dot net.

This is also your last chance to vote in the Girlamatic Birthday Card Contest. Voting ends tomorrow, so if you haven't picked your favorites, do so now. And no, I don't know what the categories mean either.

Oh, and I'll be at the Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland this weekend! If you're there, stop by the Couscous Collective table and say hi!

Whew. Busy week.

New Li'l Mell!

2008-04-16T17:07:14Z

You know, Mell's right. This was a stupid plan.

http://www.girlamatic.com/comics/mell.php

Girlamatic is inviting everyone to vote for their favorite GAM 5th anniversary card. Vote here. For convenience's sake, here are links to the individual cards:

Andre Richard (Jeepers)
Dale Ingram (Hold My Life)
Jean Ciolek (Faery Underground)
John Peters (Gypsy)
Karen Luk (Raconteur)
Laura Wilson (Five Star)
Layla Lawler (Kismet)
Leigh Dragoon (By the Wayside)
Marilyn Scott-Waters (The Return of Doctor Dragonwagon)
Ronnie Casson (Claviger)
Shaenon K. Garrity (Li'l Mell)
Stevie Wilson (Black Forest, Arcana Jayne)
Tara Tallan (Galaxion)
Traci Spencer (Compass)
Von Allan (The Road to God Knows)

Whew, that's a lot of birthday cards.

Meanwhile, there's a new installment in The Chronicles of William Bazillion! Yes indeed!

Random Numbered Thoughts

2008-04-15T23:30:33Z

1. As the hip-hop audience grays, we're inevitably going to see more focus on rap by and for the elderly, and I for one wish to get in on the coming oldcore movement early and rake in the benjamins. Therefore, I am hereby calling dibs on the rap name "Aged P."

2. Volume 25 of Knights of the Zodiac includes a chapter entitled "Ikki's Punch of Lamentation." It's the little things that make this job worthwhile.

3. As a Vassar girl turning 30, I could write the weirdest sequel to The Group.

New Li'l Mell!

2008-04-09T17:22:39Z

Grabby little thing, isn't she?

http://www.girlamatic.com/comics/mell.php

Also, I did some fan art for this week's installment in The Chronicles of William Bazillion, so check that sucker out.

The Match It for Pratchett strip sale continues awesomely. So far we've raised $1,745, and the sale continues all the way through April. If you're interested in purchasing an original Narbonic or Skin Horse strip for the absurdly low price of $25, all to benefit the Alzheimer's Research Trust, email me at narbonic at sbcglobal dot net.

New Li'l Mell!

2008-04-02T23:28:47Z

Well, not quite. This week is the fifth anniversary of GirlAMatic, so we all did GAM birthday cards. Mine's up today!

http://www.girlamatic.com/comics/mell.php

There is also, shockingly, a new installment of The Chronicles of William Bazillion!

The Match It for Pratchett Strip Sale continues apace, and will keep on going all through the month of April. If you want to own Narbonic and/or Skin Horse strips for the amazingly low price of $25, and also help fight Alzheimer's, now is the time to act. You can email me at narbonic at sbcglobal dot net. Thanks!

New Li'l Mell!

2008-03-26T18:02:57Z

When I started Li'l Mell, five flippin' years ago, this was one of the pages I most definitely wanted to do.

www.girlamatic.com/comics/mell.php

And look! A new installment of The Chronicles of William Bazillion! That's a heck of a lot of Nixon, is all I can say.

Thanks very much to everyone who's bought Narbonic and Skin Horse strips for the Match It for Pratchett fundraiser. We've already raised over a thousand dollars, and it's not even April yet! Plenty of strips are still available (seriously, I've got a drawer full), so please email narbonic at sbcglobal dot net if you're interested in purchasing any.

shaenon @ 2008-03-21T17:35:00

2008-03-22T00:48:00Z

Oh, man, this week I did the funnest thing. Andrew and I went to a screening of Young Frankenstein, one of my all-time favorite movies (along with Annie Hall, The Muppet Movie, and Wings of Desire), at the beautiful Castro Theater. As if seeing Young Frankenstein on the big screen wasn't enough, it was followed by a Q&A and book signing with Gene Wilder. Gene friggin' Wilder!

As you can see, we were totally gobsmacked. I don't think I've ever seen such a big grin on Andrew's face.

Strip Sale for Terry Pratchett

2008-03-21T17:33:51Z

As many of you nerds out there know, Terry Pratchett has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. Recently, Pratchett donated half a million pounds (the website now says it's a million) to Alzheimer's research. His fans, led by writers Pat Cadigan and Corey Doctorow, are working together to match that donation.

My college boyfriend turned me on to Pratchett, although I didn't really get hooked until I read Hogfather on the long flight to Ireland in my junior year abroad. At the time, Pratchett's books weren't widely available in the U.S., but they were in all the Dublin bookstores, and I became an addict; most of what little spending money I had went into those Corgi paperbacks with lumpy Josh Kirby characters crawling all over the covers. (I also drooled over the Discworld miniatures at Forbidden Planet, but never dared indulge.) I was especially affected by Small Gods and Witches Abroad, which I read over and over. And of course Good Omens, combining the mighty goth powers of Neil Gaiman with Pratchett's warm, wicked humor, gave me infinite little nerdgasms. I've read every Discworld book, I've got signed copies (and my tattered Good Omens bears the "Burn this book!" inscription from Pratchett and "Apply match here" from Gaiman), I saw "Mort" performed live at Dublin Castle, etc., etc. I'm fairly hardcore.

But if you read my comics, you probably know this, because you can see the Pratchett influence. Or, to put it a little less kindly, you can see me ripping off all his jokes and good ideas for my crudely-drawn webcomics. Now it's payback time. Through the month of April, I will be selling original daily strips from my comics Narbonic and Skin Horse for the low low price of $25. All proceeds from the sale will go to The Alzheimer's Research Trust.

A few quick guidelines:
-- Please contact me before sending money to find out if the strip you want is available. I've sold or given away many Narbonic strips over the years, although I've still got well over a thousand.
-- Each strip is drawn with archival ink on bristol and is about eleven inches long by four inches high.
-- I will not sell the first Narbonic strip, the last one, the one with Helen and Dave's first kiss, or the one where Artie falls. I will not sell the first Skin Horse strip. I'm also not including Sunday strips and artwork in this sale. Everything else is up for grabs.
-- Shipping and handling are included with the $25 price.
-- You can purchase as many strips as you like.

Interested? Email narbonic at sbcglobal dot net.

Thanks!

New Li'l Mell!

2008-03-19T17:02:21Z

I really, really dig Neil's drawings of Mell on this page. They're some of my all-time favorite Li'l Mells.

www.girlamatic.com/comics/mell.php

And there's a new installment in The Chronicles of William Bazillion! Now with more Nixon than ever!

In other news, our minicomic The Max O'Millions Adventure Society In: The Idol of Svarbald, written by me and drawn by Andrew, got a very nice review on Midnight Fiction. Andrew's hard at work on a sequel, featuring a teenage Max O'Millions in the 1950s, hopefully to be ready in time for Stumptown next month.

Also, the nomination round for The Harvey Awards closes this Friday, March 21. If you're a comics industry professional (and, yes, that includes webcartoonists), you're eligible to nominate comics for the Harveys. Click here for a text version of the ballot. You can type your nominees right into the document and send them in by email this year, which makes it easy to vote.

If you're having a hard time completing your ballot, Andrew and I are not too shameless to humbly suggest that you remember the following comics that were released in 2007:

BEST ANTHOLOGY
Marvel Holiday Special 2007, Marvel Comics

BEST SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY
"Piece of Cake," by Andrew Farago, Shaenon K. Garrity & Lou Kang, Marvel Holiday Special 2007, Marvel Comics

BEST ONLINE COMICS WORK
(LIST TITLE AND WEBSITE URL)
Smithson by Shaenon K. Garrity and Brian Moore (http://www.smithsoncomic.com)

SPECIAL AWARD FOR HUMOR IN COMICS (LIST WRITER
OR ARTIST AND TITLE OF COMIC)
"Piece of Cake," by Andrew Farago, Shaenon K. Garrity & Lou Kang, Marvel Holiday Special 2007, Marvel Comics

***

Thanks for your consideration!

New Li'l Mell!

2008-03-12T16:50:47Z

Now with violence!

www.girlamatic.com/comics/mell.php

And there's a new installment in The Chronicles of William Bazillion. See how many portraits you can identify!

New Li'l Mell!

2008-03-05T08:25:09Z

This is going to get worse before it gets better.

www.girlamatic.com/comics/mell.php

And there's a new installment in the increasingly Nixon-oriented Chronicles of William Bazillion!

Also, I wrote a column for the first issue of Comic-Con magazine, which is now online. If you want to know what old comic strips I've been reading, now is totally your chance.

New Li'l Mell!

2008-02-27T18:48:10Z

Yes! We're back!

www.girlamatic.com/comics/mell.php

And there's a new installment in The Chronicles of William Bazillion! Well, sort of. Okay, Andrew's really gone off the deep end now.

Pop-Culture References Made by Shaenon and Andrew in Conversation During One Week, 2/10/08-2/16/08

2008-02-24T08:27:02Z

I just got curious and started writing them down.

No one can understand you, old she-bear.
The Simpsons, from the later, lesser seasons. A surprisingly useful and versatile line.

I didn't ask for these powers!
Ed Glosser: Trivial Psychic, as played by Christopher Walken on SNL.

Our First Handsome President.
A headline from The Onion: Our Dumb Century. Strangely, this did not come up while talking about Barack Obama.

I've got two eyes and a heart, don't I?
30 Rock. The original line, "I've got two ears and a heart, don't I?" was Alec Baldwin's response to the question of whether he liked Phil Collins. Andrew said the above when asked if he would like to see the Indiana Jones teaser trailer.

They keep it in a pram.
The BBC sitcom Father Ted. In context, it refers to Father Dougal's belief in the existence of a spider baby with the head of a spider and the body of a spider, but it's actually a baby.

Oranges, smoranges, who says?
The flashback episode of H.R. Pufnstuf. This was the first Pufnstuf we saw, and it was by far the best possible introduction, because the clips make even less sense stripped of all context. Hallucinatory. The line comes from a bizarre, frightening musical number performed by Witchiepoo entitled "Ain't No Rhyme for Oranges," which became one of our favorite things early in our relationship.

Me and Kyle Baker, going to the dentist...
The correct line is, of course, "Me and my llama, going to the dentist," from one of the all-time greatest Sesame Street segments. I think I just said this for no reason upon seeing Kyle Baker's name.

The first thing you see in hell is a baby.
From a routine by Patton Oswalt in which he goes on and on about how horrifying and repulsive babies are.

On his huuuge pillae!
So I Married an Axe Murderer, natch. Andrew and I are well-versed in So I Married an Axe Murderer, having taken the So I Married an Axe Murderer San Francisco Walking Tour devised by our friend Mohammed. It's a lot of walking, but well worth it for the wealth of information on So I Married an Axe Murderer.

The boy just wants to write a comic book!
Chris Farley as the father of the Herlihy Boy (played by Adam Sandler) on SNL. This was the best DC pitch we could come up with in time for Wondercon.

Bill Murray is the funniest man on the planet.
Freaks and Geeks. Said very defensively by Bill Haverchuck to his gym teacher.

Use the eyeball, Eugene. The funky, funky eyeball.
The David Bowie episode of Flight of the Conchords. This specific variation came up during an episode of Torchwood with Bowie music in it. It was late and we were tired.

Spam, Spam, Spam, egg, sausage and Spam.
Good lord, how geeky are we?

I enjoy the ballet, the novels of Proust...
The original British version of The Office. Tim explains why his parents got him a ballcap with a radio in it for his birthday.

Those are the worst fist names I've ever heard.
30 Rock. The fist names that inspire the comment are Bono and Sandra Day O'Connor.

All our OEL titles are decided by a series of blow jobs.
Mr. Show. We were talking about Tokyopop.

In my head I'd still do you, so I'm confused.
Score one more for the original Office.

Cobras!
The Simpsons. Homer has night terrors.

You're on my enemies list.
Father Ted again. I say this a lot.

Be-boppin' and scattin' all over me.
For some reason, this is the line from Seinfeld we quote the most. It's George's enraged description of a coworker making fun of him for eating too much shrimp.

NPH wouldn't do that.
The immortal Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.

I thought it up nine years ago while I was eatin' dinner.
My favorite line from Rocky, when a reporter asks Rocky how he came up with the nickname "The Italian Stallion."

Incidentally, I believe all these referents fall under the category of Stuff White People Like.

New William Bazillion!

2008-02-21T18:52:03Z

This just gets more and more unsettling.

www.williambazillion.com

Also, I've got a new "All the Comics in the World" column up on Comixology. While you're there, check out my friend Jason T's exhaustive multi-part exploration of a single cell-phone manga in his "Manga Salad" column.

New William Bazillion!

2008-02-13T23:17:01Z

Yes, this actually might be the worst pun yet.

www.williambazillion.com

WCCAs

2008-02-08T18:32:37Z

If you write or draw a webcomic (and at this point, who doesn't?), take a minute to vote in the eternally fascinating Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards. I'm not nominated for anything, probably because I didn't do much in 2007 except for Smithson, and Smithson clearly won't be recognized for its greatness until long after Brian and I have died lonely paupers' deaths in a Victorian-style gutter. Despite that, this year's nominations are actually pretty good, so go vote and get some talented people some fake awards.

Also, I forgot to mention yesterday that I've got a new "All the Comics in the World" column up on Comixology. This one is about all the original art I own. I swear eventually I'll get back to talking about All-Star Batman or something.

New William Bazillion!

2008-02-07T18:43:09Z

www.williambazillion.com

Oh, now, this is just getting silly.

Also, I know I said last week's installment of the Overlooked Manga Festival would be the last one for a while, but then I got this last-minute guest OMF. So here we go...

One more Overlooked Manga Festival!

A long, long time ago, I promised Abby L., creator of The Green Avenger, that I would cover this manga in the Overlooked Manga Festival. And then I kind of didn't. Abby has thus been forced to write her own guest OMF. Thank you, Abby! And I apologize for slacking off in my manga duties. Okay, here's Abby's review...

I stumbled upon Firefighter! Daigo of Fire Company M (then known to me as Megumi No Daigo) back in the day, actually, when I was just starting to be a fan of anime. It was one of the reviews in Animerica’s Japan-only reviews column in the very first issue of Animerica I ever read. The review wasn’t glowing, except on, I believe, Urian Brown’s part. (This could be me having a bad memory, though.) Still, the idea was novel enough to me that it stuck, and when I saw the title online I read through it and loved it.

It suddenly disappeared off my list and I was disappointed until I realized it had been licensed. It was, in fact, the first manga I bought that I’d stumbled upon on my own, without any of my other friends liking it first or in tandem with me. It was novel until I went on and realized that I was the only one I’d ever heard of who liked this.

But enough personal history. Firefighter!, drawn by Masahito Soda, is at its heart very similar to a sports manga like Prince of Tennis or Eyeshield 21. (This isn’t surprising, considering Soda’s other popular works are actually sports manga.) The protagonist, Daigo Asahina, is a recent graduate of a firefighting academy who seems to be a little bit TOO gung-ho. He’s assigned to the slacker Company M, where everyone is laid back and seemingly lackadaisical.

Daigo gets irrationally angry about this, and forgive me for not having my English volumes of this available to scan, but he goes off on a comedic tangent on his very first day (actually the day before, he decided to report a day early) lambasting the company for being lazy, furious that he was assigned to a company that rarely sees fires.

Soda quickly switches gears from sketchy caricatures to a solid and somewhat disturbing look at what could happen to a firefighter as Daigo knocks off the Fire Chief’s ever-present hat and sees that his hair has been almost completely scarred off. One of the big strengths of this series is the art, which only gets better from here.

From there, Firefighter! is one major event after another, as Daigo is literally thrown into a trial by fire, forced to overcome his initial worries about his dangerous profession and spiraling him up to ever more heavenly heights of heroics.

Where Daigo both differs from and draws from the standard sports manga protocol is that the more fires Daigo is involved in, the more uncanny his rescues get. He fails in trials, but the moment a life is at stake, he changes immensely, becoming focused and able, willing to sacrifice anything for the victims of fire without the slightest thought for his own safety, like in this excerpt from volume 6.

Though Soda stops just short of outing Daigo as an ESPer, (or at least he has only a few volumes from the end of the story,) it’s pretty clear that his power is somehow definably uncanny during the second to last volume, when he’s able to understand and make himself understood to someone who speaks no Japanese at all.

Firefighter! is overlooked in many ways. It flies under the radar of most manga fans, and never really got exposure. I can imagine it being very popular among fans of mainstream American comics as well, because of the shared themes it has with superhero comics. Alas, the last volume of Daigo has come out with little fanfare, and I expect that now that it’s finished being released, it’ll disappear off store shelves forever. (More so than it already has.)

Still, I’ll keep close to my heart all my volumes of Firefighter!, because it gives me the kind of adrenaline high that action films do, but never goes far enough to trip up my suspension of disbelief. At least not TOO badly.

Check it out, if you get the chance, folks.

Thanks, Abby! And everyone be sure to check out The Green Avenger.

Okay, this really is it. Time for me to take a little manga break.

Overlooked Manga Festivities:
Basara
Please Save My Earth
From Eroica with Love
Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga
Dr. Slump
Your and My Secret
Phoenix
Kekkaishi
Wild Act
Knights of the Zodiac
The Drifting Classroom
OMF Special Event: Manga Editors Recommend Manga, Part 1
OMF Special Event: Manga Editors Recommend Manga, Part 2
OMF Special Event: Manga Editors Recommend Manga, Part 3
OMF Special Event: Great Moments in Manga Baking
Shout Out Loud
Monster
Swan
Warren Buffett: An Illustrated Biography of the World's Most Successful Investor
Sexy Voice and Robo
OMF Special Event: 2006 Overlooked Manga Update
The Four Immigrants Manga
Gerard and Jacques
Ode To Kirihito
Bringing Home the Sushi
Banana Fish
Skip Beat
OMF Special Event: The Greatest Manga Magazine in American History
Cyborg 009
Anywhere But Here
To Terra
Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms
Doing Time
The Walking Man
Sugar Sugar Rune
Parasyte
Japan as Viewed by 17 Creators
Mariko Parade
Golgo 13
Ricca 'tte Kanji!?
Pure Trance
OMF Special Event: My Legacy
OMF Special Event: An All-Star Tribute to Carl Gustav Horn
Guest OMF by Jason Thompson: 888
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Tekkon Kinkreet
Yakitate! Japan
Flower of Life
Domu
OMF Special Event: Top Ten Lines from the Excel Saga manga
Nana
What's Michael?
OMF Special Event: Jason Thompson Presents the Top Ten Best Worst Manga, Part One
OMF Special Event: Jason Thompson Presents the Top Ten Best Worst Manga, Part Two
Aria
Comics Underground Japan
Yotsuba&!
Slam Dunk
Moon Child
Chikyu Misaki
Bambi and Her Pink Gun
Ten Awesome Long-Out-of-Print Viz Manga, Part One
Ten Awesome Long-Out-of-Print Viz Manga, Part Two
The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service
OMF Special Event: Reader OMFs, Part One
OMF Special Event: Reader OMFs, Part Two

Digital Strips Interview

2008-02-03T20:33:36Z

Brigid Alverson was kind enough to interview me for Digital Strips. Check it out!