Hilarity Ensues

Hilarity Ensues
So, I'm on the "event horizon" of a major family reunion that's being held here in Chicago. Eightysome-odd folks from five countries; a good deal of whom I've never met. Peeps from the local environs, Ny, NJ, California, Canada, Jamaica and Holland.
About a quarter of the people attending, until a few months ago, had no idea that they were of partial African descent. One of my great,great,great uncles, one Mr. C. O'Meally, arrived here in the states in the 20's from Jamaica and intergrated himself into the "non-colored" spectrum of American Society. In other words, as we say in the hood, " He was 'passing.'"
(note: I don't really live in the 'hood' but that read great didn't it!?) So, I'm looking forward to meeting all my newly discovered cousins, aunts and uncles. From many of the emails I've read, they're equally as excited! A few are tickled to meet Professor Robert O'Meally of Columbia U., the noted Jazz expert, whom has always been a favorite relation of mine ( I hold he and his wife accountable for my life in the Arts). Enough said. Hey, does this entry mean I'm back on the blogging horse?
h.e.

Some kind of bug, alright.

So I go on this date Friday. A lunch date. Meet the woman in a bar near my studio and decide to go across the street to an Indian restaurant; Friday buffet... Conversation, compliments, food, more conversation. I had had a headache all morning and now it was making me a little queasy (a migraine coming on?). Well, long story short, in my head the clip of George Herbert Bush ( my patron President of Vomitting) hurling into the lap of the Japanese Premier kept looping. I coolly excused myself (I'm always cool before I hurl) and went to the mens room to loose my lunch. I don't think my date was none the wiser. I was concerned, however about just what the hell was going on with me.
Today I feel a little steadier. But still have some nausea whenever I think of real food. The fatty, baked thing this morning stayed down, thank you.
Aren't you glad I'm blogging?

Saturday Morning; coffee and a donut (sorta)

It's some other sort of fatty,bake thing which cancels out the fruit and soymilk in front of me. But, hey...it's Saturday morning and I have to WORK, love to work actually, while the rest of you guys do your weekender thing. But here, ...I salute you! To the parents wrangling children for their activities, practices and play. To the people who've already got the lawnmowing well underway. To the late-night revellers who are STILL revelling. To the other obsessive professionals who're already at their desks...I salute you!!!
The day is stretched before me. I'll spent it doing some layouts for "Gw_W2" (working title only), the graphic novel that I'm staring down the barrel of.
It's exciting though. Daunting too. I've tapped a good friend of mine who's a seasoned writer, apologized ahead of time for what I'm about to put him through and cut him in to a chunck of all the rights. He'll have earned it. So, I'll let you scoot over to some other blog, as I'm about to scoot afk to my drawing table. Good Morning.
h.e.

Still....Fine....Tun...ing....

OK...that worked

I guess my xhtml skills are not as mad as I thought. Maybe they don't even exist!!! Thought I lost my blog!!! Phew...
This is turning out to be a bloggers paradise for me. People who know people who know people. It's a joy to find unexpected things...now if I can only get my images to load correctly. Hrrrmmm.
h.e.

Technical Difficulties...Stand By

Top of the world, Ma!....

Boom!
It surprises me how many people forget that's what happens next. Boom! Sometimes, I've heard someone reply to the question, "How ya doing?" by saying "Top of the world, Ma." You see that's actually a distress call if you ask me. "My God...This poor bastard's at the end of his rope! He's led a life of crime; murdered innocent bystandings in front of cornbelt Savings and Loans; plugged a trusting stoolie through the trunklid of a Buick; has broken out of a Federal Pen; rampaged through rural counties of a rural state full of plain-spoken folk and has now shimmied up a petroleum cracking complex storage tank like a migraine-maddened chimp with a gun, has fired said weapon and is now at a complete loss as to what is going to happen next.
BOOM! That's what happens next. Boom. So next time you hear someone say, " Top of the world, Ma!"...Buy the poor sap a cup of coffee.
Today was a good day.

Back!!!

The film (Sin City) was AWESOME. I sat there, in the near derelict Davis Theater (the perfect venue for this movie) and kept thinking, "How cool is this!?" Man I need to read more comics. Seriously. I'm a poor indulger of the medium, considering that is where I make my living. Of course, I've read a bit of Frank Millers stuff, even met him some years back (Frank, you can have my PAX pin now! eheh ....) but most of his Dark Horse work has flown under my radar (I have copies...some...where, hmm). Anyway, Elijah Woods was great and creepy. Mickey Rourke, EXCELLENT. MAN, I knew Carla Gugino was HOT, but never in my wildest synaptic misfires....(whimper).....Yowza. That's right, YOWZA.
h.e.

Hrrrmmmm...

No call from my Group Editor today...so no news on the next gig. I've been keeping some distance between the editor I'm currently working with in order to "run with the book". I'm a bit methodical and invest some THINKING into the pages I draw, so when I add a new angle or a twist I hope that it enhances the story...I think my editor prefers a straightforward"do what the writer writes" approach. BAH! BAH, I say!!!....Yes, doing what the writer gives me is very important....Sometimes the writer hasn't given enough or is sending mixed signals. It's my job (and has been for a long time) to distill the information that goes onto the page for the best impact. Listen to me talk about (Canadian pronounciation) comics...LOL. What a goofy and lethal (thirty creators a month are hospitalized due to knife-fights in online forums) profession. I was listen to Diamonda Galas this morning over cereal (Frosted Mini-Wheats and a coffee with vanilla Soy Dream) and had a creative epipheny....I've been trying to find the proper start for this graphic novel...and it just HIT ME!!! For those of you who have never had this happen, it's like a movie starts to play in your head and doesn't stop til it's given you what you need to start building the scene. POW!!! There were at least....SHIT! Gotta get to the Davis to catch "SIN CITY"...later
Tony
h.e.

Welcome to my 1st post...have a slice.

As my browser has "issues" with this domain, I've yet to negotiate getting a photo up. But that won't stop me from writing, will it? Apparently not. It's a fine day here in Ravenswood Manor (Chicago). About 73 degrees. Spring, normally a timid season in this area, seems to have latched on with an unusual conviction. I'm sure we'll all be dead in a week. HA! Not really...The doors are open in my studio to let the breeze through and my intern has just returned from foraging for her lunch. She's been doing some research for me about the Italian Reunification. She's bored, I can tell. But I need to have the info for the background of a character in a graphic novel I'm working on. My studiomate, Jill, is sunning herself in the open door; kids leaving school and moms with infants are filling the park across the street. The Brown Line trains, at ground level in the Manor, are becoming more frequent as rush hour approaches..shit rush hour is HERE! I was on the telephone not too long ago with one of my favorite editors at DC/Vertigo. Tomorrow I'll find out if the editor in chief has OK'd me for a new MONTHLY title. This will be interesting. I'm a professional artist, a comic book artist to be specific. It's an affliction more than a profession. It's like being a ronin of the mid to late 1800's. Except deadlier...and it looks much less glamorous on film. Shit, it doesn't even look glamorous in comics. Well, now I've gotta let Caitlin back to the comp so she can continue doing research for me (MUAHAHAHAHAH! I do get a kick outta being seasoned enough to delegate tasks to young, idealistic, energetic students). Hey, BLOGGIN'S FUN!!
later
h.e.