Canadian Ryan Heshka's paintings look like pages from Kavalier and Clay-era comics or pulp mags -- but ones telling sexier and wonkier stories than you remember. I love all of his paintings, but pulled out the four bold beauties below cuz, well, I wanted to pick at least a couple good'ns. Definitely visit his site, ryanheshka.com, to see more!
comics
1111 comics - *click*
I like this strip by 1111 (eleven eleven) comics of Thor's morning routine: selfie in bed, breakfast shake, Facebook session, choice to unfriend asshole.
Despite the fact that Thor has been cast from Asgard to live with humans in Midgard (Earth), he seems to fit in just fine. He even uses our excited-endorphin-overload facial expression when he gets a comment on his post directly after God (whom 1111 comics defines as "an entity which is infinitely everything at the same time") just liked said post. (PS: I'm assuming God, in this case, is Odin.)
Generally, 1111 comics posts SafeForWork, silly, cute comics. If you're into things that are cute, then you can visit 1111 comics website to see more.
Mike Bromage - Dust Piggies
Dust Piggies is a collection of silly comics by Mike Bromage about hamsters doing and saying funny things. (Or are they enacting "a deep and searching exploration of the hamster psyche in contemporary culture" as Bromage says on his About page? Hehe. But, seriously. Tao Lin has a thing with hamsters, too, so. Yeah. Who knows.)
Anyhow, I put a couple of my Dust Piggy favorites below. Please see (and purchase!) more of these comics on the Dust Piggies website or Facebook page. Hop to it!
PS: Mike Bromage also paints art that could, you know, hang in a gallery. So, once you are done chuckling at the hamsters, I suggest you can check that out, too. I recommend his bird series.
Josh Mecouch - Illustrated Twitter
Josh Mecouch is the illustrator/writer of Formal Sweatpants, a hilarious comic feed. I particularly lol'd at the content I discovered in his Illustrated Twitter accounts Tumblr, which is a collection of illustrations based on people's funnyweirdass Tweets. Here are a few of my faves. Please go see more of them.
Jacob M. Canfield - i woke up with laser eyes (2011)
I like Jacob Canfield of Hoob Han's comic, "i woke up with laser eyes." The comic is chock full of anxiety and humor -- a mix of bad dreams and lack of sleep and the absurdity of paying tens of thou to live in a dorm room with strangers and read Machiavelli and Proust and the like for four years while worrying about how much dealing with the real world is going to suck (spoiler: it does). Interestingly, "I woke up with laser eyes" is just one of many comics Canfield's written about waking up with laser eyes.
Though "I woke up with laser eyes" is drawn with lasers that look like lasers, the other laser-eye-themed illustration's lasers are drawn like shards of wood coming out of the characters' eye sockets. This theme disturbed and interested me, so Interneted a psycho-analysis for what lasers + eyes mean in dreams. I found out that, apparently:
- Lasers symbolize clarity and truth
- Impaired eyesight represents uncertainty in choices
- Injured eyes suggest refusal to see the truth
- Bleeding eyes symbolize deep pain and conflicts within your soul
So, there you have it? Dreams of laser eyes = clarity and truth + uncertainty and choices + refusal and truth + deep pain and conflicts. Yes. Thas deep. Lots of truths in there. Thanks, Internet.
Please visit Hoob Han's site to see more of his comics. If you cringe easily, avoid Samantha Back 2011. Or, don't avoid it? It may be good for your truth + uncertainty + refusal issues, or whatever.
Jim Rugg - Street Fighter Tribute
In this piece Jim Rugg created for UDON's Street Fighter Tribute book (a book full of hundreds of illustrations of Street Fighter characters), a pop art-styled Ryu is beating down a shirtless Street Fighter character I don't recognize. While doing so, he's making that sound that's like: adoooeuukehh, addoouookehh! (Eh? Know what I mean?)
If you like this piece, chyeckkk out Rugg's other work, which includes comic books and zines and stuff. (Disclaimer: depending on the workspace's prudity scale, site possibly NSFW.) Have fun!
Eric Colossal - Funny person who makes comics
Here are two funny comics, which I found in sea of a bunch of other funny comics by Eric Colossal (real name?). As a cat lady, I particularly love Bear (who gets farted on; poor Bear).
Anywho, here are my responses to the two comics below:
Response to comic 1: *teeheelolharhargh* he's falling for it; the water beer. lolz, the beer is actually water.
Response to comic 2: *pfffhaahaha* Tried it, don't knock it. (Barf).
Do yourself a favor; visit his site and remember why you love the Internet (because it has free, funny comics). This is great!
John F Malta - Summerbabe
Summerbabe poster by illustrator, comic artist, painter, writer phenom John F Malta is 2D and blue and has a weird little animal in it and a girl wearing cat ears. The beach has lots of bones and trash and little pinchy beach creatures strewn about. Maybe that's why the summerbabe is scowling. Either that, or the fact she's wearing a turtleneck. It's part of his series House of Ghouls. Check out more of his work here.
You'll have to work until you and your shit life end: an uplifting comic - Noah Van Sciver
After I'd spent at least twenty pathetic minutes complaining about the symptoms of the Millennial sickness that is the problem of requiring meaningful and fulfilling labor or at least time to pursue what seems like more meaningful, fulfilling labor ("no, I'm, like, a real writer not just one that gets a job as a writer for an advertising agency ... er, tech company!) I found this awesome cartoon by Noah Van Sciver perfectly titled: "you'll have to work until you and your shit life end: an uplifting comic."
This cartoon was the result of Noah's asking a Colorado band or musician four questions and then drawing their conversation. A particularly cathartic and hilarious line is the one from the giddy DJ doing mindnumbing data entry next to what looks like a crying baby boomer: "I only have to work this job until my DJing/band/art career really takes off!" he beams.
Aw, snap! Lolz. *wipes tear, slaps knee* That's a good one! Fuuuuck, I feel better now somehow. Thanks for the slap to the face, yo.
See the original comic strip here.
Sarah Nowrocki - untitled comic published in Kilgore quarterly #4
Found this comic in Kilgore Books' quarterly comic and took iPhone photos of it so I could share it here. I'm digging how this comic layers worry/sadness/death/irritation/the-sometimes-pointlessness-of-NPR-and-pig-assholes into 12 small panels and one sad, yet relatively normal moment (that is, if you live somewhere lots of deer also live). This comic is literally short and sweet.
One note: for those of you with squinty-computer-eye-syndrome, I've dictated the word parts in the text boxes below the pages.
Another note: I highly recommend you buy the very well-curated Kilgore quarterly for only three measly dollaz. To do so, go here.
Panel 1: I think I'll tell him that I can't go through another surgery. I guess the medicine is helping, but I just can't keep doing this. He's my second opinion but maybe I need a third.
"Today on this American Life, a story about calamari. Are restaurants serving pig assholes..."
Panel 2: "disguised as the delicious Italian delicacy? I'm your host Ira Glass ... "
Panel 4: "Hello! Can I help you boys?"
"I, I, oh God. She just came outta nowhere."
"Shit, man. She's hurt real bad. We need to help her."
Panel 5: "We don't have any tools with us."
"I'll get my knife."
Panel 9: "I'm so sorry"
Panel 10: "Let's put her under this tree."
Panel 12: "Assholes are very similar to calamari in taste and," Click.
IT WILL ALL HURT – Part 1 – by Farel Dalrymple
Part 1 of 5 (and counting) of Farel Dalrymple's It Will All Hurt is a dreamlike flow of "weird, sad, silly, and sketchy, fantasy adventure ... with magic and science-fiction and some fighting action." It's kinda like Nemo in Slumberland. But, without the waking up at the end of each comic. And for weird, sad, silly adults instead of weird, sad, silly children.
To read the comic, go to Study Group Comics's site where they have it posted. From there you can also buy the panels and pages. Happy comic rabbit-hole-ing.
Noah Van Sciver - Faces of Math
Noah Van Sciver's a cartoonist and comic book artist who's whipped up some sweet schtuff (check out Blammo) -- including this print sold at Kilgore books.
Maybe it's just me, but by the time I scan over these balding-headed, big-eared, freckled-faced every(wo)mans offering up their workaday boasts, my chest tightens a tad. Is that an onion you're holding? I feel feelings.
