Posts Tagged ‘Paper Rad’

The Problem Solverz Are Back!


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Friday, December 10, 2010


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You might have been asking yourself, what’s Ben Jones been up to? Well, kind people, he is in Burbank, CA right this minute, working long days on his Cartoon Network series, The Problem Solverz. His first season, which was written with Eric (Futurama) Kaplan, is in the middle of production, with an air date sometime in 2011. This is not, as some of you may know, Neon Knome, which was an Adult Swim project that sprung briefly to life. This new show is, if anything, a more pure expression of Ben’s longtime characters, Horace, Roba, and Alfe. It perfectly exemplifies Ben’s genius for character, dialogue, and strikingly beautiful world building. Below is a clip from the first episode — it’s not complete, but gives you a flavor for this new and wonderful series. If you like it, click on over to YouTube and say so. We are also taking any and all “fan art”, which you can send to me for posting at dan (at) pictureboxinc (dot) com.

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Give Us Your Money (a/k/a Buy Cool Stuff)


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Thursday, May 20, 2010


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Longtime readers of Comics Comics know that this is a labor of love — and it will continue to be, at least until we figure out how to “monetize” critical discussion of Harry Lucey and old issues of ROM Spaceknight. Once we get that settled, it will only be a matter of time until we are rolling in dough, Scrooge McDuck-style.

Currently, though, we are still somehow losing money, and it’s gotten to the point where we need to try and offset some of our costs. For lack of a better idea (and enough traffic to inspire advertisers!), we are launching a PBS-style one-week pledge drive. Nothing big and nothing too obnoxious, we hope, just a quick, deep, searching grab at our readers’ cash while everyone’s flush with springtime-inspired resolutions to give to charity. We are a good cause, more or less.

We have many delightful ways for you to GIVE US YOUR MONEY, all of which allow you, the kind reader, to receive something in return.

1) Comics Comics contributors and pals have donated artwork (see below!).

Frank Santoro is selling 10 gorgeous landscape drawings at a stunning $100 each. Dash Shaw is selling his Smoke Signal cover painting, a page from Bottomless Belly Button, and even a Spider-Man page, among other goodies. Dan Nadel is donating a Frank King original comic strip, rare Paper Rad prints, and other lovely items. New work will appear every day. Over the next few days you’ll see rare and unusual items from Sammy Harkham, Jason Miles, Matthew Thurber, and Lauren Weinstein (as soon as she goes into the basement to unpack her stuff!).

All of these items are or will be available at PictureBox’s eBay store, which will be updated from now through Thursday the 27th.

2) Johnny Ryan has very generously offered to donate his drawing services to the cause. Until May 27th,  for a mere $100, Johnny will draw an 8 x 10 portrait of you, the Comics Comics reader (or person of your choice), being “erotically violated.” This seems like the perfect gift for any occasion. Dedicated readers choosing this option should first order this “item” via PayPal. Send $100 to orders (at) pictureboxinc (dot) com and include your address and a message. Please also send a photograph to the same email address. Mr. Ryan will then get to work. Allow at least 60 days before delivery.

3) You can purchase “variety packs” of PictureBox books at a crazy good discount. These will also be available at the PictureBox eBay store.

4) If for some reason you’d like to support us, but don’t feel like buying anything in particular on offer, you can tip us any amount you like via the PayPal button below.


Thanks for listening in any case, and we apologize for taking up your time with something like this. We don’t plan on making this a habit, or even something that we will repeat. We just want to keep this dog-and-pony show running for a while longer. Thanks again.

—The Editors

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Take Action Against Unfair Web Weirdness!


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Tuesday, February 23, 2010


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Burger King's true nature

For some inexplicable reason, Adult Swim/Burger King did NOT host the critical Neon Knome election yesterday, as they had announced (and as we mentioned earlier here), but instead waited until late this afternoon to suddenly, and without warning, slip the contest under all interested radars.

Do not let this injustice stand. I don’t know how long this contest will last, so go to the site now to cast your vote for integrity, solid values, and Neon Knome.

[image found via]

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Vote and Die


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Wednesday, February 17, 2010


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You’ve probably seen the links around the comics webonet, asking people to go to Adult Swim’s website and vote for Michael Kupperman’s Snake N’ Bacon to air on the channel.

You should do that. But don’t forget to return on Monday to vote again, this time for Alfe.

There may be a tough decision in the future if these two champions go up against each other, but I’ll leave that Sophie’s choice up to you. For now.

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The YES WE CAN Sale!


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Friday, January 16, 2009


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In the spirit of hope (and commerce) PictureBox is holding a massive, two-week sale on nearly everything on our web site! It’s a cold world out there, but what better way to pass the time than curling up with a visual book! Each book is a stimulus package for the soul! Plus every purchase from now (January 16) until February 1 will include a FREE copy of Paper Rad’s DVD Problem Solvers.

So, here we go:

* Been curious about Overspray: Riding High with the Kings of California Airbrush Art? This masterpiece has been lauded by everyone from Women’s Wear Daily to the New York Times to Eye Magazine, and it can be yours for just $20!

* Ever wondered about who made the best record covers of the 1970s? In awe of Houses of the Holy, Dark Side of the Moon and Electric Warrior? No need to be frightened, for all will be revealed by buying For the Love of Vinyl: The Album Art of Hipgnosis. It, too, can be yours for $20!

* Beguiled by mythical trappings and enamored of contemporary art and writing by my generation’s best imaginations? Then dig into Trinie Dalton’s MYTHTYM for just $15! It’s like going to a museum, reading the best book ever written, and watching a movie all at the same time!

* Curious about the book about which the New York Times exclaimed: “Few cartoonists of the moment are weirder or more original than Yuichi Yokoyama – his work obsessively diagrams architecture and design … Travel is remarkably entertaining.” Travel can now be yours for just $9.95!

* Want to dip into a graphic novel on nearly ever top ten of ‘08 list? Interested in Dune? Philip K. Dick? What about masterful drawing? Well, my friend, check out C.F.’s Powr Mastrs 2, now just $10!

* And then there’s Monster Men Bureiko Lullaby! The Village Voice crows: “By depicting human behavior at its worst, Nemoto recalibrates the limits of what we can bear to consider on a page of comics.” Damn straight. Yours for $8.95!

* Many consider Lauren Weinstein’s The Goddess of War a shortform masterpiece of graphic storytelling. I sure do! Richard Gehr calls it a “A blend of Marvel’s Thor comic, a Wagnerian space opera, and Anthony Mann’s Westerns” Sounds right to me! Yours for just $7.95!

* And, good heavens, where else can you find Michel Gondry’s visionary memoir/manifesto/guru-text You’ll Like This Film Because You’re In It? The man is a genius, and the book is a helluva a lot of fun to read. Inspirational and educational too! Now just $6.95!

* Wait a minute, what about The Ganzfeld 7? Co-edited and designed by Paper Rad’s Ben Jones, this final issue actually elicited an email from one notoriously cranky woman stating “It’s the best thing ever! And I’m not even stoned!” Yours for just $25.00!

* I know you’ve been wanting to buy Gary Panter, which remains PictureBox’s finest hour, but needed to first purchase a pedestal to hold its 10 pound weight. Now you can, since it’s just $30!!!!!

* All of these books, not to mention our older, equally remarkable books, like Frank Santoro’s Storeyville (just $8.95), Brian Chippendale’s Maggots (just $8.00), Cheryl Dunn’s Some Kinda Vocation (just $8.00) and Paper Rad’s Cartoon Workshop/Pig Tales (just $6.95) are all on sale. Not to mention prints, posters and much much more. Get down with it!

* And remember, PictureBox wants you to have these books because we have your best interests at heart!

This sale will self-destruct on February 1.

Happy hunting.

Love,

PictureBox

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Not Comics 3 (or, Christmas in July)


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Monday, December 22, 2008


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How did I never think to check Paper Rad‘s YouTube favorites before now? I should’ve done that a million years ago. Thanks, Bounty Farmer. (The video embedded there is even better, really.)

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hidden tracks


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Thursday, November 20, 2008


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SPX Stream


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Tuesday, September 30, 2008


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This weekend at SPX PictureBox will unleash some serious chaos on you. Lauren Weinstein, CF, Frank Santoro, Timothy Hodler and Matthew Thurber will be in attendance.

PictureBox will debut new zines by Dash Shaw and Santoro. AND we will have limited advance copies of the books below.


The Ganzfeld 7
Edited by Dan Nadel and Ben Jones
Art directed and designed by Ben Jones
Edition of 1000

This is the final issue of The Ganzfeld. We got excited and just skipped 6 and went straight to 7. For this one we’ve really stacked the deck. Ben Jones art directed and co-edited the whole thing, even providing covers. Inside the 288 page, full color book is new work by: Brian Gibson, Lauren Weinstein, Taylor McKimens, Andrew Jeffrey Wright, Jessica Ciocci, Chris Ware, Mat Brinkman & Joe Grillo (24 pages of collaborative drawings), Erin Rosenthal, Keith McCulloch, Peter Blegvad, Joe Buzzell, Jon Vermilyea, C.F., Eddie Martinez, Chuck Webster, and many more. There are features on Marc Smeets, Joanne Greenbaum, Heinz Edelmann and Pshaw. And there are comics by Ben Jones throughout. It’s a brick. A monument. A terror. Available at very few outlets and pretty much only online.

If that weren’t enough it comes packages with 4 more items only available as part of the package:

-Problem Solvers, the DVD, by Paper Rad. EXCLUSIVE to Ganz 7
-A 12 page zine collecting the best of Kathy Grayson’s blog
-A 24 page pamphlet examining the work of L.A. genius artist Bob Zoell by Norman Hathaway
-An 18×24 two-sided poster by Lauren Weinstein


Travel
Yuichi Yokoyama

All SPX copies are signed with a drawing by Yokoyama

In Yuichi Yokoyama’s Travel, the storyline is as linear as it is sharp: it is the long, silent and crystalline description of a train ride undertaken by three men. The subject Yokoyama depicts here is less the landscape around the train (the distance covered, the regions travelled through) than the actions within the train itself. As the train moves, the three men walk through the string of cars and are confronted with the vehicle’s architecture, its machine-like environment. By above all, they are confronted with the stares and the physical presence of other passengers. Travel is a journey into the contemporary Japanese psyche – a brilliant, wordless graphic novel. Bookforum has written of Yokoyama: “Concerned with phenomena rather than character and narrative, his comics resemble the output of a drafting machine: sequences that present multiple views of an object in action and look like exploded product diagrams. Yokoyama seems to enjoy the resulting images as much for the strange shapes that are generated as for what they reveal.” This edition features an introduction by cartoonist and historian Paul Karasik and commentary by the author.


Powr Mastrs Vol. 2
C.F.

Powr Mastrs Vol. 2 follows hot on the heels of this elusive artist’s first volume– in a series of six graphic novels–which was one of last year’s most anticipated debuts. C.F. comes out of the mythic Providence, Rhode Island art and noise scene–his musical alias is Kites. In a recent profile The Comics Reporter observes, “Contrasting sharply with many of his flashier contemporaries, C.F.’s primary skill lies in overlooked nuances of comics storytelling, in particular pacing.” His distinctive voice and intricate rendering skills have attracted attention from the groundbreaking comics anthology, Kramers Ergot–he was included in the fourth issue, and featured on the cover of the fifth. Here, C.F.’s epic fantasy–an allegorical tale where power, physical identity and even gender are always in flux–picks up steam: Buell Kazee sneaks down into the cellar of the plex knowe crypt and conjures trouble; Tetradyne Cola takes a nap and dreams of Monica Glass and the lemon sparklers of star studio; members of the Marker clan compare notes on their magical crimes and the witches of Lace Temblor conspire over transmutation night.


Monster Men Bureiko Lullaby
Takashi Nemoto

“Nemoto is the undisputed master of filthy comics. His work is brutal and horrifying and sure to shock even the most jaded comics reader. And yet underneath all his absurd depravity is a beautiful and touching story of a father’s love for his giant mutant sperm son.”-Johnny Ryan

At long last, this underground Japanese classic has been translated into English. A seminal work of manga from the mid-1980s, Monster Man Bureiko Lullaby is a Candide-esque tale–if you can picture Candide as a mutated sperm brought to life by radioactivity. Unremittingly explicit, this is the comics equivalent of Henry Miller at his best: direct, honest and insightful while simultaneously beautiful and grotesque. Tokyo-based Takashi Nemoto, who was born in 1958, has been called the R. Crumb of Japan: Nemoto and Crumb share a similar, surreal drawing style and pessimistic, satirical stance, for which both have faced their share of negative criticism. Due to his unapologetically squalid subject matter, Nemoto has long been a controversial figure in Japan–clashing violently with mainstream Japanese morals–and is just now receiving some critical success there. Reviewers are finally looking past his gross-out humor to find farflung influences and connections like Mark Twain, Otto Dix and Andre Masson. Book design by King Terry.

See you this weekend!

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New Hampshire Primary Day


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Tuesday, January 8, 2008


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Toga Party


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Thursday, September 6, 2007


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I’m in Athens, Greece with Brian Chippendale, Jungil Hong and Paper Rad for a show I’m curating for the Athens Biennial. The gang is creating a massive, mind blowing installation here in an abandoned Chinese grocery. We found some good old Italian (or Spanish?) comics–Serafino–translated into Greek. Good stuff. Anyhow, if you happen to be in Athens seeing lame stuff like, oh, I dunno, The Parthenon, come see the sure sign that the enlightened thought pioneered by ye ol Greeks has surely come to an end in this, our show. It opens Saturday, if we all make it that far.

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