Friday, November 20, 2009

Wondermark: In Which Carapace Is Moved to Write A Post

I know, I know, I fell off the face of the earth. And I'm hanging on by my fingertips right now. Both artisanness and The Day Job are hitting their peak, and I'm afraid I'm just not shiny enough to be entertaining right now.

So I'll let someone else be entertaining instead! Lasses and potentially lads, should any deign to show to this doe party here, may I direct your attention to the truly aesthetic frenetic frabulous Wondermark, by the personable and hygenic Malki!?

I'm not being confrontational, there. Malki! is his nom de...plume? Art? Arte? My Latin is nonexistent.

Anyway.

If you like classic illustration, you will like Wondermark, because it is MADE of classical illustration. That's not some post-modern statement like "I'm made of awesome!", Malki! goes and digs up all kinds of weird old Victorian ephemera illustrations to serve as the art for his comics. And alters the heck out of it, to the point where Wondermark is as much collage as clip art. And if you like snarking on said Victoriana, Malki's your guy. There are also strips where people ride Piranhamoose, so good news all around, there. And if you like excessive verbosity and a highly affected writing style, well, he'll keep you occupied while I'm dealing with students and craft fairs.

And if you don't like any of that stuff, I'm afraid we are not going to be friends for long, dear reader, and indeed I question how you even arrived at this location.

Seriously. Go look at Wondermark. And be sure to check out the alt text while you're at it.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Seeking Deeper Something or Other

Prompted by a conversation with a friend...

I kinda like Neil Gaiman. I mean,I've read Sandman and American Gods and Neverwhere, and I thought they had some neat concepts. I didn't mind reading them. It was fun.

But I don't get excited about Neil Gaiman. I don't shout with glee every time I get hear of a new Gaiman book, like I do with, say, Terry Pratchett. I've never gotten so lost in his books that I lose a night of sleep, like I did with Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, or pretty much every King book ever. I like Gaiman ok. I just don't love him.

And I have no idea why. I used to say this sort of work, that I thought was good but somehow didn't latch on to, was in the Farscape zone. Because, by gosh, I *should* have loved Farscape. I wanted to love Farscape. It had everything that usually gets to me. But I felt nothing but resounding meh. I'm not talking about stuff that you understand hating very well-I'm not talking about Twilight/Anita Blake/Tarot here, everyone who hates those knows darn well why. It's not even like my hate of Wicked, which is a whole other post. I should like these things! I DO like these things! I just don't love them!

Does this-- weird disinterest in work that is, by all moral and sensible rules, be absolutely awesome--happen to anyone else? I always think I'm missing something. And I'd love someone to help me get whatever the heck I'm not getting here, because hey, no one's making any more Firefly, and I like having stories to love.

So, if anyone wants to enlighten me, consider this an invitation for in-depth raves in the comments. And if anyone else has something they want to love more, mention it in comments--maybe someone else can help you see why it's awesome. No attacks on fans or unfans, here-- this is just for helping glorify the good, not demonize the opposition.

More art next time!