Elijah J. Brubaker

While I’m here at the coffee shop ganking internet I figure it would be a good time for a short survey of 2008 in relation to my personal relationship with comic books.

The previous six months have been screwy in my personal life. Anyone who follows my various social network BS or reads this blog can probably infer a lot about my day-to-day problems and whining. I’m going to forgo writing too much about that right now because everything is still in flux. I can tell you this though, between relationship woes and finding a new place to live and the possibility of giving up my cat and having a dayjob and all that garbage it’s really put a damper on my enthusiasm for comics in general. It’s difficult to sit and concentrate on any sort of drawing and it’s impossible for me to retain a curiosity about new work. I haven’t read a new, non-Sparkplug book in months. I got the last Acme book and it was pretty good.

Reich: The last four issues of Reich were published in 2008 and I am thankful to Sparkplug for having the balls to continue with it despite the economic collapse of the American empire. I am deeply surprised by the reception Reich has received in certain circles. I don’t really attend many comics shows but when I do, there’s always some really enthusiastic fan of my work. It seems everyone is interested in the book for a different reason too, which is nice.

The learning curve for my cartooning has been steep and perilous. Nothing will teach you to be a better cartoonist than seeing your work in print and in the hands of fans. I quickly realized that I was drawing an actual book for a real audience. People I don’t want to disappoint. Before Reich I had been producing mini-comics in very small print runs that I would pass out to my friends and peers. I was drawing in a bubble, producing work simply for my own amusement, I thought peer review and feedback from friends was enough to make me a better cartoonist but that doesn’t jibe well with my own sensibilities as an artist. Something about the pressure of entertaining strangers and non-comics fans was a more potent incentive to improve than having someone tell me I needed to work on drawing hands. This isn’t meant to imply that I’m even a competent cartoonist right now but I feel that I’ve improved a lot in the last year.

Sparkplug: Seeing what Dylan is doing with his small company is an inspiration to me. He has been helping some very talented people put their work in the hands of an audience that wants to see it. Sparkplug has been growing at a necessarily slow and even pace. Seeing the guts that Dylan exhibits in putting out work that might not rake in a lot of dough has proven to me that financial gain is an absurd motivation for making art, I think I always knew that but seeing someone you admire put those principles into action is an exciting thing. I don’t know if my next book will be published through them because Dylan is always encouraging artists to move on to greener pastures but I’m happy to call Dylan a friend and I’m exhilarated to think about where the company will go next.

Papercutter: This year I agreed to a small run in the Papercutter anthology. I had worked with Greg on issue 3 and the experience went smoothly. I remember I gave him these humongous files that crashed his computer, I’m still not sure why I did that. Despite my embarrassing fuck up he took note of my ability to meet a deadline and asked me to do the fill-in pages on some later issues of the book. I’m not sure which issues I’m going to be in but I’m proud to be part of a book I think is exceptionally good every issue. I’m amazed by Papercutter, really. Even when there’s a story that I don’t particularly like, there’s a consistency in style that really benefits the series as a whole. I don’t know if that makes sense, Sorry. Anyway, I’ve already had a couple of pages in issue 8 which came out a couple of months ago. Critics have noted that my contribution is disappointing and a slight misfire but what the hell you gonna do, they can’t all be brilliant right? The Ray and Hubert saga will continue in later issues of papercutter and I plan to have a Hubert book out sometime in the near future.

Shows: I only attended a handful of small shows this year. I went to Stumptown and met a few intimidatingly talented folks and got to talk with friends who flew in from far away. I moved to Portland the year Stumptown started and I was on the newsgroup-thing where everyone was discussing how to put together a comics show and not step on the toes of other independent themed shows like APE and SPX. It’s great to see that the show was successful enough to continue and grow each year. It’s now on the short list of must-go-to shows for people into these kind of comics.

Reich was nominated for an Ignatz award this year, which was thrilling as it was my first nomination for anything. I didn’t attend SPX, which is for the best I think. When the awards were being given out I think I was drunk on my floor. I didn’t win but many of my friends and colleagues won this year.

I attended Wordstock, a lit fest, which had a comics related “island.” There were many readings and lectures by comics folks but it felt a little like a stuffy and less-fun comics show. My good friend Ray had traveled to see me and since he’s a writer he attended with me. It was good to have a non-comics friend to gab with about the show. He got a chance to talk with folks about his books which is good because he currently lives in a small town where he has limited access to people that care about literature.

Comics I read: As stated above my reading habits have been screwy lately. I read a lot of Sparkplug books because I trust Dylan’s taste. I really like Trevor Alixopulos‘ The Hot Breath Of War and Inkweed by Chris Wright.

I think I first saw Sarah Glidden’s work last year but I got to buy a copy of How To Understand Israel In 60 Days Or Less this year. I met her briefly at Stumptown. I was a little dosed to learn she won’t be putting any more mini’s of that book out but she’ll have a full on book, like actual book, book put out by Vertigo (of all things) soon enough.

Same deal with Sarah O’s Ivy. I got to see much of the book for the first time at Stumptown and I got really excited about it. She sets up the story as a typical YA coming of age sort of thing but she really defied a lot of my expectations by making the title character kind-of a bitch. It works on a level I was unprepared for. I hope she can get back to work on it soon.

I finally broke down and read that All Star Superman book which is pretty good. About as good a Superman story we’re going to get in a long time.

My pal Jesse Reklaw just released a nice collection of his Slow Wave strip and he started a tour diary about promoting that book. Both of them are worth checking out.

I read Ed Piskor’s Wyzzywig which I liked quite a bit. I like it as much as an exploration of pre internet tech nerdiness as much as a faux biography. I’m going to buy the next issue as soon as I find that box of money.

Another book I should mention is Theo Ellsworth’s Capacity. I haven’t purchased the book yet but I’ve read a lot of Theo’s minicomics and everyone should check his work out.

Other Junk: I had a couple of pages in Nerd Burgler the free anthology put out by Sparkplug, Tugboat and Teenage Dinosaur. That was a fun book to be a part of. I drew up a comic that was in some promo thing in the Mercury. I got to draw Fatty Arbuckle giving a thumbs up to a guy rubbing an ocotpus on a naked woman’s belly and a woman doing a blow-job spit-take after going down on a guy in a gorilla suit. Good times. That comic was colored by Chris Cilla which is probably the best part of the entire thing. I got some nice press in various places, I learned that a couple of publishers might be interested in collecting Reich, I met some great people and I learned that this comics thing might be worth it after all.

Over all I think comics have remained the one stable element in my life and I’m grateful for that. I thank everyone involved for making the past year tolerable and exciting. Thank you for reading this and indulging me. Next year is going to something.

Elijah