Chore Day One

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Same chores: vacuuming and laundry.

I had a brainstorm while talking with my partner. I was talking about my chaotic time in college and she suggested a graphic novel about student life at a big college in the 60’s. It was mind-blowing as we emerged from the repressive Eisenhower 50’s to the student rebellion in the 60’s. I was not part of that rebellion, mired as I was in inner conflicts. As a student, who showed great promise — according to my SAT scores — I was a magnificent underachiever who spent an entire year floating paper airplanes out of the window of my 7th floor dorm window.

I figure my tale would require four volumes: freshman year, sophomore year, etc. It would be a huge undertaking on the order of a masterpiece such as Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio, by Derf Backderf. FYI, that’s an affiliate link. Derf has been doing comics for 40 years. It would take me 40 years to learn the skills to describe my four chaotic years at the Great Big University.

Alas! So many books to write, so little time.

Al Fresco Art Club Challenger: Free-For-All

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Today’s Al Fresco Art Club was an unguided free-for-all. With every subject available, I fell back to my favorite medium: pen and ink and the topic I’ve been thinking about for months: finding a style that I can say is really my style. With that noble goal in mind, I chose to do fan art based on two of my favorite artists, Derf Backderf and Yoshihiro Tatsumi. The grotesque fist is part of Derf’s cover image for Punk Rock and Trailer Parks. The older brother teasing his younger brother, Hiroshi, comes from page 237 of Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s A Drifting Life. I have read both of these books many times over the years.

I admire these two artists for finding their style and sticking to it. I love Derf’s rendition of punk life in the Midwest. I’m hooked on his weirdly geometric sense of anatomy, and I dig his medieval, heavy hatching! I admire Tatsumi for not sheepishly going down the beaten path. He chose to create manga for adults — that was a tough way to go in the 50’s and 60’s when most publishers wanted to cater to the tastes of children. He struggled his whole career to popularize gekiga-style adult-themed comics. He has been called the grandfather of alternative manga.

Bravo, Derf! Bravo Tatsumi Yoshihiro!