Shaenon K. Garrity

APE! APE! APE!

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 18:23:46 GMT

I'll be with the Couscous Collective at the Alternative Press Expo this weekend. Tables 307-308. I'll have all three Skin Horse books and the Narbonic Perfect Collection, so it will be awesome.

Narbonic/Skin Horse Strip Sale

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 05:21:30 GMT

This month only: Buy any Narbonic or Skin Horse books, get original strip art!

Skin Horse 3 Book Release Party

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 18:19:06 GMT

Mark your calendars: we're having a release party for Skin Horse Volume 3 on Saturday, August 25.

Skin Horse Volume 3
Saturday, August 25
5:00 PM
Borderlands Books

There will be cupcakes, wine, dramatic readings, and, of course, Narbonic and Skin Horse books for sale. As an added bonus, my family will be in town! Come down and ask my mom inappropriate questions!

See you there!

Skin Horse 3...

Sun, 22 Jul 2012 19:09:49 GMT

...is here!

http://skin-horse.com/2012/07222012-4/

Shaenon's Comic-Con Schedule

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 04:36:53 GMT

I'm going to San Diego this year!

I'll be spending most of Comic-Con weekend at Trickster, located at 795 J Street. You can also meet me at Comic-Con at these events:

Thursday

6:30 PM: Lost in Translation panel, Room 26AB

Friday

4:00 PM: Prism Comics booth signing

Saturday

12:00 PM: Universal/UClick booth signing, booth #1714

6:00 PM: Best and Worst Manga panel, Room 23ABC

Sunday

1:00 PM: Cartoon Art Museum booth Sketch-A-Thon

3:00 PM: Prism Comics booth signing

See you there!

New Story Happening!

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 19:50:34 GMT

I've got a story in the debut issue of James Gunn's Ad Astra: http://adastra.ku.edu/colorless-green-ideas-shaenon-k-garrity

The Hero Initiative is an excellent organization that deserves your support.

Fri, 25 May 2012 05:32:00 GMT

I don't like to rant on the Internet. I prefer the surgical strike. Precise. Cleansing. But sometimes a lady just gets all pissed.

So the Cartoon Art Museum has a new show up, a retrospective of the history of MAD. Thanks to the generosity of many lenders and the hard work of the museum's tiny staff, the show includes Kurtzman cover roughs, classic Elder parodies, Jaffee Fold-Ins, Spy Vs. Spy strips by both Prohias and Kuper, one of the two covers ever drawn by Sergio Aragones, and work by present-day contributors like Keith Knight and Chris Baldwin. Andrew, the curator of CAM and my main squeeze, says it's the best show he's ever curated, but he says that a lot.

I wrote the wall text for the show; I do that for CAM shows when the staff is swamped. While I was at it, I also wrote up text for a set of extra labels, just fun facts: how many issues Sergio Aragones has appeared in, this funny thing Al Jaffee said, etc. One of the common criticisms the museum gets on places like Yelp is that we don't provide enough context for the pieces, and I'd like to correct that by giving visitors a little bit of inside information.

Yesterday I noticed that Andrew hadn't included my little factoids in the show. When I asked him about it, he confirmed that, no, the museum didn't print them. Because it couldn't afford to. The Cartoon Art Museum is on such a tight budget that it can't afford the cost of mounting a half-dozen extra labels on foamcore down at the copy shop.

This goes on all the time, of course. CAM survives by cutting its operations down to the bare bones. But that doesn't make each penny pinched any less painful.

So you can imagine my delight today when I learned that webcartoonist Scott Kurtz is busy trying to convince people not to donate to comics nonprofits.

To be fair, Kurtz's post isn't directed at the Cartoon Art Museum. His primary target is the Hero Initiative, an organization that pays the medical costs of cartoonists who lack health care. Many of the Hero Initiative's beneficiaries are older comic-book artists who, to put it bluntly, got screwed over by their publishers. Kurtz is opposed to the donating to the Hero Initiative because...

Okay, I don't know. I'm not sure if he even believes half the things he posts on the Internet. I hate responding to him at all, because, when he dismissed giving to the Hero Initiative as "slacktivism" and sarcastically mocked the people who do so, it's likely that the only thought going through his head was, "Holy shit, some people who aren't me are getting attention! And frankly, they're getting attention because they're better people than me! To my blog!" By acknowledging his little online asshole dance, I'm just giving him what he wants. So I'm a sucker. Sue me.

Kurtz doesn't like that a small online movement has started encouraging people who enjoyed the movie "The Avengers" to give to comics nonprofits--mainly the Hero Initiative, but also groups like the Cartoon Art Museum, MoCCA, the Cartoon Research Library, and the Pittsburgh ToonSeum--as a gesture of support for the artists who created the Avengers, because Marvel and Disney have been adamant in their refusal to do so. This little movement isn't telling people not to see "The Avengers." It's just saying, "Hey, the companies that made the movie aren't supporting the original writers and artists, so let's step up and support them ourselves."

Kurtz is mad about that. Because I don't know.

I don't get the mindset that makes people write this stuff. I just don't. I mean, okay, sure, sometimes we all think things like, "Man, I hope the artists I admire die penniless and suffering, and no one reaches out to them in their moment of need." But most of us, before we share this thought with the world, stop and think again, and we realize, wait, no, that's awful. If there's one thing the Internet has taught me, I guess, it's that some people don't have that crucial second thought.

Comics nonprofits run on the thinnest of shoestrings. They're not a popular target for grants or large donations. They live or die on the generosity of individuals who love the art form, people who can't give a lot but somehow manage, together, to give enough. Telling people not to give to these nonprofits--actually mocking people who do so--is rotten behavior.

Kurtz visited the Cartoon Art Museum a couple of years ago--in fact, at the same time the museum was putting up a show of work by artist Ed Hannigan, who has multiple sclerosis, to benefit the Hero Initiative. Kurtz seemed to have a good time. But maybe he was thinking what a shame it is that we get just enough help from fans to stay open, and hoping he could change that situation.

Or maybe he doesn't think about a blessed thing that pops into his head before he posts mean-spirited crap on the Internet.

Anyway. Rant over. And here's the Hero Initiative website again.

Skin Horse Kickstarter Drive Passes $10,000!

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:48:59 GMT

We've passed $10,000 on the Skin Horse Kickstarter drive! Thank you, one and all!

To celebrate, and because we keep thinking of stuff, we've unlocked two new bonus levels: Investigator Into the Conspiracy and Arbiter of Reality.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/250007708/skin-horse-volume-3

So, yeah, spread the word and such.

I Am That Person Who Writes Letters to the Editor

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 06:42:31 GMT

Dear Newsweek Editors,

Over the past weeks, I've watched in dismay as the debate over the Affordable Care Act turned into an attack on women's health, right-wing pundits railed against birth control, politicians defended draconian anti-abortion laws by comparing pregnant women to breeding livestock, Republicans united to block the Violence Against Women Act, the governor of Wisconsin repealed equal pay for women in his state, and yet another ugly, divisive war over working vs. stay-at-home mothers erupted in op-ed pages nationwide.

So I'm sure you can imagine how thrilled I was to discover that, this week, Newsweek has chosen to devote its cover to the most pressing issue in the lives of American women today: business ladies who like BDSM. Tomorrow, when I'm fighting sexism in my industry and searching for a health care plan that covers maternity costs, I'll head into the breach armed with the memory of beloved date-rape apologist Katie Roiphe telling women they secretly hate having jobs, rights and respect, and fantasizing that a good spanking would make those headstrong feminists give up on that silly "equality" business.

And look! There's also an article on how the Duchess of Cambridge is enjoying her first year of princesshood!

Thanks for keeping me informed,
Shaenon K. Garrity

P.S. In all seriousness, pull this crap again and I'll cancel my subscription.

The Making of a Narbonic Slipcase

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 23:05:54 GMT

Last year, printmaker Liz Conley designed gorgeous slipcovers for my two-volume Narbonic: The Perfect Collection. Now Liz has revealed her secrets in the latest Couscous Collective blog post, "The Making of a Narbonic Slipcase."

http://www.2dcomics.com/couscous/blog/?p=896

If you're curious about how the upcoming slipcovers for Skin Horse Volume 3 will look, check out the photos of the Narbonic slipcovers. They'll be like that, only more Skin Horse. Any more would be telling...

House Update: The Deck

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 22:13:07 GMT

Lately Andrew and I been working on the back yard, which is why it looks like this:

The plan is to kill off the crabgrass lawn and replace it with less thirsty groundcover. Meanwhile, I'm expanding the vegetable garden all the way to the fence.

Someday this garage will be a detached office. But not today! For today we have chosen to focus on...THE DECK!

At our housewarming party two years ago, people kept telling us we needed a deck. They got a little pushy, frankly. But with the help of our new contractor, Jody, we finally got started fulfilling their wishes. (Our regular contractor, Mario, got a day job and isn't available for big projects right now.)

First Jody demolished the back stoop, which came apart with a sledgehammer.

The cat above is not our cat Tesla, but a mysterious all-black version of Tesla who's been hanging around our yard. We call it Blesla. Tesla and Blesla have become friends, which means they sit in the yard about three feet apart and stare at each other.

Next Jody set up the foundation for the deck. This part took the longest, thanks to rain pouring down every couple of days.

But look! There's the real Tesla!

Tesla was deeply displeased with all the construction on her property.

Jody then set up a Craftsman-style trellis gateway.

This past Sunday, Andrew and I had lunch on the almost-completed deck.

As did Tesla.

And here it is, all built and everything! THE DECK!

Admittedly, it'd look a little better with a lawn.

PR: Skin Horse 3 Meets Funding Goal in 12 Hours

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 05:07:39 GMT

YES.

For immediate release: April 1, 2012

Contact: Shaenon K. Garrity, me@shaenon.com

Skin Horse Volume 3 Meets Funding Goal in 12 Hours

Berkeley, CA: Shaenon K. Garrity and Jeffrey C. Wells are pleased to announce the impending publication of the third collected edition of their critically acclaimed webcomic, Skin Horse. To raise the $4,000 necessary to publish this collection, an announcement was placed on Kickstarter.com at midnight on April 1. The project met its funding goal less than 12 hours later.

Additional funding is still being sought, and donors will receive exclusive premiums ranging from formal acknowledgment in the printed edition of the book to original Skin Horse artwork, a slipcover designed by printmaker Liz Conley and the opportunity to be drawn into an upcoming strip. Garrity and Wells plan to add additional incentives over the next two months.

“We knew our readers wouldn’t let us down,” says Garrity, “but this response is astounding. We’re just happy to be able to keep publishing.”

This is Garrity’s third successful Kickstarter drive. She previously used Kickstarter to fund Skin Horse Volume 2 in 2010 and Narbonic: The Perfect Collection in 2011.

For more information, please visit the Skin Horse Volume 3 Kickstarter page:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/250007708/skin-horse-volume-3

PR: Skin Horse 3 Kickstarter Campaign Launched

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 05:13:43 GMT

Skin Horse Volume 3 Kickstarter Campaign Launched

Berkeley, CA: Shaenon K. Garrity and Jeffrey Wells are pleased to announce the launch of a Kickstarter campaign to fund the third volume of their critically acclaimed webcomic Skin Horse. In 2010, their Kickstarter campaign to fund Skin Horse Volume 2 reached its funding goal in less than 24 hours.

Skin Horse Volume 3 will be Garrity’s third Kickstarter campaign. In addition to Skin Horse Volume 2, she funded Narbonic: The Perfect Collection in 2011, another drive which reached its goal within 24 hours. Garrity is one of the few cartoonists to have successfully completed multiple funding drives on Kickstarter.

For more information about the Skin Horse Kickstarter project, please visit the campaign online:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/250007708/skin-horse-volume-3

About this project 

"Skin Horse is laugh-out-loud funny, in the way that the Marx Brothers were funny: It starts with something that is just barely plausible and then piles up incongruities into a massive, complicated structure built entirely of crazy."

--Brigid Alverson, Comic Book Resources

When you work for Black Ops Social Services, there's never a slow day at the office. Maybe today's the day the clockwork receptionist's evil gears kick in. Maybe the office supplies will vote to go on strike. Maybe a mad scientist will escape the facility and go on a high-fashion funkadelic rampage. But with a lot of hard work and a little bit of topless mud-wrestling, the staff of Project Skin Horse will get the job done.

Civil service style.

"You can jump in at any point and be up to speed in no time, but once you're hooked, there's nothing to be done but to go back to the beginning and read it through again."

--Paul Haggerty, SFRevu

Shaenon K. Garrity here. My co-creator, Jeffrey C. Wells, and I have been writing and drawing Skin Horse as a daily webcomic since 2008. In 2010, we published Skin Horse Volume 2 with the generous help of Kickstarter backers. Now we're back and ready to publish Volume 3, covering the storylines from "Brave Little Toasters" through "Come Swing From My Branches." See Moustachio the Thinkonium's old-timey rampage, Tip's mud-wrestling match (for the ladies), the field team's epic mission to New Orleans, and the first appearance of mad scientist Tigerlily Jones.

Is there more? Of course there is. Volume 3 will also include a bonus story, "The Funk Gazes Also," written by Jeff, drawn by me, and inked by Andrew Farago. And an introduction by Campbell Award-winning, Hugo Award-nominated novelist Seanan McGuire, who knows from mad science. And full-color bonus art by amazing artists, and holy crud you need this book, like, yesterday.

"Yes, there's a goofy fun that runs through Skin Horse...but Garrity and Wells know their genre well, and they do a neat job of twisting classic tropes to fit a world where monsters and bioweapons join the civil service and fight for equal rights and respect."

--Lauren Davis, io9.com

For this Kickstarter drive, we've assembled some truly amazing bonuses to thank everyone who participates. If you check out the pledge tiers, you'll see books, sketches, original art, and exclusive prose stories that will appear nowhere else. If you back at the Project Director or Supreme Puppetmaster levels, Volume 3 will reach you packaged with the first two volumes in a limited-edition slipcover designed by printmaker Liz Conley. To get an idea of what the slipcovers will look like, check out the slipcovers she designed last year for my Narbonic omnibus edition.

And if you go for the Mad Genius or Supreme Puppetmaster levels, we will write and draw you into an upcoming strip. For real. These tiers are only open to a limited number of backers, because I can only draw so many people.

"One of the highlights of my day, because what can possibly be wrong about a webcomic that deals primarily with paranormal-managing government bureaucrats who subtly recall the less-well-known Oz books and gets regularly cranked up to about 14 on the Insane-o-Meter?"

--Gary Tyrell, Fleen.com

Maniac Mansion Fanart

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 09:23:21 GMT

Another old doodle.

Based on a True Story

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 05:35:29 GMT

I've been sorting through old sketchbooks tonight.

Career Day

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:16:58 GMT

I'm not really a grownup.

Skin Horse Strip Giveaway

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:16:24 GMT

Announcement time!

It's February, the time for love, and I love all of you. That's why this month, any order of Skin Horse books from the Couscous Store comes with the original art for one (1) Skin Horse strip. Cartoonist's choice. Spread the word!

LIKE A BOSS.

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:03:55 GMT

Kickstarter-bonus slipcases for Narbonic: The Perfect Collection, designed by the great Liz Conley.

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 07:29:58 GMT

Mad Science for Kids: a nifty review of the Narbonic Perfect Collection on Crooked Timber. Go, look, read.

Couscous Store Specials

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:57:35 GMT

That's right: we're doing the Cyber Monday thing. For this week only at The Couscous Store, get the following deals:

-- Narbonic and Skin Horse books signed and sketched by me
-- The Looney Tunes Treasury signed and sketched by Andrew Farago
-- Prints and books by Liz Conley on sale
-- Free Skin Horse print set with any order
-- Free Iceheart minicomic with any order

Congratulations! Your holiday shopping is now done!

Narbonic Release Party: This Is Totally Happening

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 05:53:09 GMT

I'm doing a release party and book signing for Narbonic: The Perfect Collection this Saturday at 5:00 at Borderlands Books. I will have cupcakes and wine. You should come.

Narbonic Book Release Party

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 01:52:50 GMT

Behold the beautiful Narbonic omnibus! Gaze upon its glory! And buy copies at the Couscous store.

If you're in the San Francisco area, there will be a Narbonic book release party at Borderlands Books from 5:00-7:00 PM on Saturday, November 19. I promise cupcakes and wine.

Librarians in the Branch Library of Babel

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 23:47:34 GMT

Oh, hey, I've got another story in Strange Horizons! It's pretty good.

http://www.strangehorizons.com/2011/20111017/librarians-f.shtml

I Did a Lightspeed

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:23:45 GMT

I've got an article in this month's Lightspeed Magazine, Immortals That Show Us That Death Is the Best Option. Check it out!

House Update: More Cabinets

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:51:50 GMT

While I was out in D.C. this weekend having an awesome time at Intervention, Andrew finished the kitchen cabinets. Check it out!

The kitchen is so much brighter and more cheerful. Andrew also added new contact paper to the shelves and fixed a shaky drawer, because he's generally amazing. We're still trying to decide what to do with the countertops.