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May 5th, 2008
12:27 pm - New SAM & LILAH Pages at ACT-I-VATE!
Without any further ado, click below to read the long-awaited (by some) pages 9 and 10 of SAM & LILAH!
http://www.activatecomix.com/42-1-9.comic
We'll be back with more in TWO weeks - Monday, May 19!
In the meantime, here's where to go for all the OTHER great comix at ACT-I-VATE:
http://www.activatecomix.com
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April 15th, 2008
06:45 pm - At THE CHEMISTRY SET: HOW I LOST MY S#?! AT THE APPLE STORE
While I'm directing traffic, why not head over to The Chemistry Set and check out Page One of HOW I LOST MY S#?! AT THE APPLE STORE, by Yours Truly and the inimitable Molly Lawless.
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06:40 pm - ACT-I-VATE Mark II Goes Live!
I'm assuming anyone reading my LJ probably knows this already, but...from the press release:
ACT-I-VATE LAUNCHES WEBSITE AT NEW YORK COMICON
Just in time for New York Comicon, ACT-I-VATE announces its brand new
headquarters: www.act-i-vate.com, after two years of
critically-acclaimed webcomix at the blogging platform, Live Journal.
ACT-I-VATE is proud to recognize 2008 Eisner Award nominees Dean
Haspiel and Michael Cavallaro, and to announce the launch of
Cavallaro's LOVIATHAN, Tim Hamilton's THE ADVENTURES OF THE FLOATING
ELEPHANT, Jim Dougan and Hyeondo Park's SAM & LILAH, Maurice
Fontenot's GHOST PIMP, and Ryan Roman's SLEAZY PIZZA. In addition,
Simon Fraser's LILLY MACKENZIE, Haspiel's BILLY DOGMA: FEAR, MY DEAR,
and Paul Maybury's PARTY BEAR, will make an exciting return.
ACT-I-VATE, the premiere webcomix collective, features original,
serialized graphic novels and is updated daily. ACT-I-VATE's select
artists produce their work without editorial oversight and offer
their comix for free to an ever-growing audience of loyal readers. In
addition to these high-quality comix, ACT-I-VATE is known for having
lifted the veil between creation, creator, and reader by providing a
forum for spirited dialogue between audience and auteur. The new
website confirms one of ACT-I-VATE's core tenets: that the artists
and writers of the comix community are the optimal providers of
intellectual properties and comix content.
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SAM & LILAH won't make its official debut on ACT-I-VATE until May 1 (with the posting of the Zuda pages) and May 5 (new content!) but don't let that stop you from checking out all the cool stuff over there RIGHT NOW.
What are you waiting for?
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April 14th, 2008
09:04 pm - Chatterbox DC Goes to NYCC
OK, it's official! I'll be at the New York Comic-Con this weekend. Mostly I'll be wandering around saying hi and trying not to get lost in the crowds. There *are*, however, a few times when I'll be standing around in one spot long enough to talk to, if you're so inclined.
I'll be at the Zuda/DC Comics booth (Booth #1627) at the following times (and with the following company):
Saturday April 19: 1:30-2:00 PM (w/Gabe and Chachi Hernandez, creators of JOE COMICS)
Sunday April 20: 1:30-2:00 PM - (w/Paul Maybury, fellow Act-i-Vater, creator of MAXY J. MILLIONAIRE and the much-lauded AQUA LEUNG, Robert Richardson (URBIS FAERIE) and Tim Smith 3 (THE ENDERS).
Also, I'll be attending (participating in?) the Zuda panel, entitled ZUDA: THE FUTURE OF ONLINE COMICS, to be held at 4:00pm, Saturday April 19, in Room 1E02.
Please stop by - if you get there early enough, I *should* have a fee SAM & LILAH preview minicomic, which hypes our May debut at ACT-I-VATE, and it's awful purty (thanks Hyeondo). See?
Speaking of purty, I'll also try not to geek the F out if I see Grace Park and Tahmoh Penikett.
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April 1st, 2008
12:07 am - Starting April 15 @ THE CHEMISTRY SET: HOW I LOST MY S#?! AT THE APPLE STORE
Since today seems to be a day for making announcements, why not a two-fer? Here's something cross-posted from THE CHEMISTRY SET about my upcoming plans over there! Yes, I am having my webcomics cake and eating it too, it seems.
Also? Molly Lawless. MOLLY LAWLESS, PEOPLE!
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Faithful Chemistry Set Readers:
April 15th is a date we all know and love, for obvious reasons (for those of you outside the US, it's the day we pay unto Caesar what is Caesar's, if you catch my drift). Well now there's one more reason to love it: April 15, 2008 will feature the debut of a true little story named HOW I LOST MY S#?! AT THE APPLE STORE, written by yours truly and illustrated by the truly amazing Molly Lawless. Behold a small taste of what's in store for you!
See you April 15th at THE CHEMISTRY SET!
(In the meantime, why not head over there right now and check out all the other cool comix?)
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March 31st, 2008
12:29 pm - DOUGAN & PARK'S "SAM & LILAH" JUMPS FROM ZUDA TO ACT-I-VATE MAY 1, 2008
For Immediate Release
DOUGAN & PARK'S "SAM & LILAH" JUMPS FROM ZUDA TO ACT-I-VATE MAY 1, 2008
March 31, 2008
Fresh off a commanding fourth-place finish in Zuda Comics' March 2008 Competition, SAM & LILAH will be making a move to its new home as part of the online comics collective ACT-I-VATE (http://act-i-vate.com), beginning with new pages on May 1. Dougan and Park will be joining a long and growing list of comics luminaries at ACT-I-VATE, including Nick Bertozzi, Pedro Camargo, Mike Cavallaro, Nikki Cook, Molly Crabapple, Mike Fiffe, Simon Fraser, Dan Goldman, Dean Haspiel, Jason Little, Josh Neufeld, Leland Purvis, and former Zuda contestants Kevin Colden and Paul Maybury.
"We are thrilled to have Jim Dougan and Hyeondo Park's myth-bending SAM & LILAH join the ranks of ACT-I-VATE," says Dean Haspiel, one of ACT-I-VATE's founding members.
"How could we not be excited to be such excellent company?" asks Dougan. "I've been a fan of AIV and its creators for years, and to join the ranks is a great honor. Hyeondo and I first worked together at The Chemistry Set (http://www.chemsetcomics.com), and will continue to contribute there, but this is a great chance to broaden our audience even further."
Sam & Lilah is romantic modern-day mythology with a touch of manga flavor. When a budding love affair between two fashionable urban twentysomethings is imperiled by a gypsy curse, slice-of-life meets the supernatural - in Technicolor.
Says Simon Fraser: "I'm really looking forward to seeing this story develop on AIV. It was easily the best thing on Zuda last month."
ACT-I-VATE is anticipating a site relaunch during April, which will involve new material from the creators currently on board, as well as the debut of new members of the team. The last week in April, Dougan and Park will post the original eight "screens" currently featured on the Zuda site, to be followed by new material beginning May 1.
"Many, many people at Zuda have been chiming in and telling us that they really want the story to continue," said Dougan. "Some of these people are not even related to us, so it's a real thrill to be able to give them what they want."
So if what you want in your comics is
- Romance! Adventure! Fashion! Curses! Cupcakes! -
Then join SAM & LILAH at ACT-I-VATE starting May 1!
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For more information on ACT-I-VATE: http://www.act-i-vate.com
For more information on Jim Dougan: http://chatterbox-dc.livejournal.com
For more information on Hyeondo Park: http://www.hanaroda.com
For Dougan & Park's previous collaboration, COME THE DAWN, check out The Chemistry Set: http://www.chemsetcomics.com/vulture-gulch-other-stories/other-stories/come-the-dawn/
Also at The Chemistry Set, Starting April 15: Jim Dougan and Molly Lawless' HOW I LOST MY S#?! AT THE APPLE STORE
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March 27th, 2008
10:27 am - Johanna Draper Carlson Interviews Dougan About SAM & LILAH
Johanna from COMICS WORTH READING was kind enough to ask yours truly a few questions about SAM & LILAH here:
http://comicsworthreading.com/2008/03/27/interview-with-jim-dougan-of-sam-lilah/#more-2836
FIVE days left, folks! If you haven't voted/commented/favorited SAM & LILAH, now's the time!
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March 25th, 2008
01:52 pm - SAM & LILAH Makes Fox5 DC's My5 - Hottest Links of the Week!
SAM & LILAH was named as one of Fox5 DC's My5 - the five hottest links on the net, for the week of March 24!
Click for the video here:
http://media.myfoxdc.com/my5/my5_32408.html
And thanks to Lauren Demarco and Paul Raphel for the plug!
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March 19th, 2008
01:59 pm - Check Me Out on the POP CANDY at USA TODAY!
...wherein I am Miss Whitney Matheson's "Reader of the Day"
http://blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy/2008/03/pop-forum-ta-12.html
This is me thanking her in advance, like 6 months ago:
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March 5th, 2008
11:31 am - Vote for Dougan and Park's SAM & LILAH in Zuda Comics' March 2008 Competition!
[Cross-posted from The Chemistry Set]
This month, COME THE DAWN’s Hyeondo Park and I and our new romance/adventure comic SAM & LILAH are entrants in Zuda Comics’ online competition. For those of you new to the Zuda thing, each month the editors at Zuda (a part of world-famous DC Comics – you know, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman) select 10 comics that folks can go online to read, vote for, favorite, hug, kiss, you name it. The comic receiving the most votes wins the competition, along with a contract, and continues its story on the Zuda site for the next year.
Hyeondo and I would be eternally indebted to you if you would be so kind as to head on over, check out the comic, and if you be so inclined, help us out in three ways:
- VOTE for SAM & LILAH
- ADD S&L to your "favorites"
- Leave a COMMENT and tell us what you think!
You *do* have to be a registered Zuda user to vote, comment, and favorite (it’s an easy process), but it won’t cost you anything but your time.
Please click the banner below:
Vote for LOVE!
Vote for ADVENTURE!
Vote for CUPCAKES!
Vote for SAM & LILAH!
Many thanks,
Jim D. and Hyeondo P.
SAM & LILAH ’08: LOVE WE CAN BELIEVE IN
Get yer SAM & LILAH wallpaper HERE!
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February 17th, 2008
11:37 pm - Giving the Gift of Music, Episode 1: GEORGIE JAMES
(The first in an irregular series where I give you, the reader, FREE STUFF by bands that I like.)
If loving good pop music is wrong, I don't wanna be right. And DC's own Georgie James gives me plenty to love. The creation of John Davis (former drummer of seminal DC dance-punk band Q and Not U) and singer-songwriter Laura Burhenn. Together, they create a Dynamic Duo of layered, gorgeous, infectious, intelligent pop.
I first heard of them through the local press, namely the essential DCist (who did one of their "Three Stars" features on the band) and through the good graces of my man P.Vo. Their November concert on a Friday night at the Black Cat was a transcendent, joyful experience for me, putting a sweet sugary icing on a shit-cupcake workweek. The next night, just John and Laura themselves played an intimate show at Crooked Beat Records in Adams Morgan, and it was amazing in a completely different way.
But enough of my gabbing on about them: ( Hear (and see) for yourself behind the cut. )
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February 13th, 2008
01:11 pm - Exercises in Style: Pekar-esque
(Cross-posted from The Chemistry Set)
There are many, many ways to tell a story, especially in the comics medium. Few people have thought about the different ways to tell a story in comics than Matt Madden,whether it's through his own comics, in his work as a teacher at the School of Visual Arts, his website promoting the exploration of comics formalism at Exercises in Style, or the excellent book version of same, 99 Ways to Tell A Story. The idea with these experiments is that there are literally dozens of ways to approach the telling of even a relatively simple incident, in this case someone responding to a request for the time and then opening the refrigerator. Being a geek for comics formalism, this stuff just makes all my chromosomes stand on end.
One the more...unique ways I've seen of presenting a story in comics is the way Harvey Pekar does it. Anyone who has seen the movie version of AMERICAN SPLENDOR is familiar with how Harvey writes his scripts. A few boxes, text written in pencil, with the occasional stick figure to supply panel description. You know, like this.
Thus, without further ado, I present the latest Exercise, entitled "Pekar-esque":
Matt has been gracious enough to offer to include this on the Guest Artist page of the EiS website, so thanks to him for that. Now, this being The Chemistry Set and all - anyone out there interested in giving a shot at drawing this? If so, please leave a comment here or drop me a line at chatterbox DOT comix AT gmail DOT com. (Matt's expressed a willingness to post that effort at the EiS blog as well, if that sweetens the deal.)
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February 6th, 2008
10:20 am - LOLPats: I CAN HAS SUPER BOWL RING?
For all you Giants fans (and Patriot-haters) out there, a little photo essay for you, in the vein of LOLCats. I call it LOLPats:
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February 1st, 2008
06:22 pm - Up In This Humpty-Bumpty
 
So: the SuperBowl. As a Giants fan since childhood, I'm particularly psyched about this one, since no one (including me) expected us to make it, and at this point we're essentially playing with house money. If we win, we upset one of the greatest NFL teams ever. If we lose, we lose to (arguably) the greatest NFL team ever. As opposed to the Patriots, who have everything on the line with this one. So - it should be fun.
Regardless of who you're rooting for (or even if you're not rooting for anyone), I think everyone can agree that this is the Greatest SuperBowl Ad ever:
Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Terry Tate:
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January 31st, 2008
06:05 pm - Getting Counter-Cultural
On Saturday, January 19, after watching my beloved Hoyas dismantle Notre Dame, I participated in the DC CounterCulture Festival at the now-defunct Dr. Dremo's. I remember it well in its former incarnation as Bardo Rodeo, in which during my more, um, dissolute youth, I spent many an hour shooting pool and drinking beer (though not necessarily in that order). It looked as if they hadn't cleaned the bathrooms since somewhen around 1997 either.
Still: it was a good day. I sold enough copies of CRAZY PAPERS and various issues of NEGATIVE BURN to cover the table, lunch, and an assortment of stuff I bought from my fellow exhibitors. Many thanks to the fine folks from The DC Conspiracy for setting it up, especially Jason Rodriguez and Chris Piers.
The DCC folks have put together a video, and if you pause it at the 34-second mark you can kinda-sorta make out my table:
Here's a link to a bunch of pics - the first one to show up is the only one you can really see me in...look for the Georgie James t-shirt.
Among other things, I got a chance to pick up MR. BIG from Matt Dembicki, something I'd been meaning to read for a while.
I wish I could say that I'd read and enjoyed this and the other books I got, but due to a scheduling SNAFU (and my own boneheadedness) it ended up in the trunk of my table-mate Molly Lawless' car. And, um, is still there now, a whole 12 days later.
Anyway, even though I had to bail early (long, long week at work) I got to meet Mr. Carlton King (Ms. Lawless' husband) and chat with ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) lostchaos and my good buddy Paul Vodra aka P-Vo.
Molly's got her own recap here, from which I swiped the following picture, which I have christened C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Molly):
Dolla dolla bill, y'all!
Current Music: Hopewell - "Over & Over"
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January 30th, 2008
05:50 pm - Today's Carla Gugino News
Tangentially comic-related:
She talks about playing the Silk Spectre in WATCHMEN.
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05:02 pm - Lost and Found
Found, 20th and L Streets NW. A scrap of looseleaf paper containing the following handwritten lyrics:
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peep the repercussions, causing deep discussions,
brothers that fight might only speak to cousins
rugged life but nigers in my fleet are stubborn
grandmas turn to stellars when they need some lovin
my name holds weight bigger than a saint bernard,
some think because its rap that it ain't a job
think again
I try to separate my dues from don'ts
some nigers be slitting they wrist losing they hopes
how much a-- can I pass up tilt your glass up
this ones for the kids in Arkansas that shot they class up,
when I like my hash crushed, believe
Current Music: Thinking up the track to go under the lyrics
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January 28th, 2008
11:11 am - Billy Walsh Is Totally Busted...
...checking out Amanda's butt. Who can blame him, says I. But still, to have a moment like this captured for posterity is classic.
At last night's SAG Awards, from left: Adrian Grenier (Vince), Perrey Reeves (Mrs. Ari), Rhys Coiro (Billy Walsh), and of course, the incomparable Carla Gugino (Amanda).
Current Music: More jackhammering
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January 24th, 2008
01:39 pm - BAD VIBRATIONS
There are two guys jackhammering just outside my office window. Like, 10 FEET AWAY. Being on the Tenth Floor, it's kind of neat when you think about it, but that momentary glimmer of fascination faded quickly given that my fillings are about to vibrate right out of my head.
Current Music: Jackhammering
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January 22nd, 2008
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