Deep cuts- rarities, outtakes & b-sides

Few weeks back, I shared the A-Sides, a collection of my "top five" works past & present (to inspire the future). Now, as promised (&/or threatened), here I throw down the flipsides to those trax: the lesser-known but sometimes funkier b-sides. 

Most of these cuts are vinyl only...

First up is a really deep cut, way back from my college daze when I did a different weekly strip in all three of the newspapers @ Rutgers. In the alternative paper, "The Medium", I drew my fave, "Fallin' Asleep", a collection of self-important navel-gazin' that one can only get away with in college. Some of 'em actually hold up tho', like this piece right here:

Next track is a funky one indeed. Done fer a comic book website contest I didn't win, I still dig it the most- a mash-up of Marvel & DC; a team-up in an alternate universe's Harlem, wherein two of the comix biggest contributions to the Blaxploitation era do their thang outside the Apollo with electrifyin' results indeed:

Here is a detail from a piece titled "Great Minds Think Alike", another work of charity to support a cause with which my lovely bride was involved: It was an animal rights group that was trying to stop the inhumane & even more sadly unnecessary deer culling in Princeton. The sexiest lawyer ever represented them pro-bono as legal counsel & I contributed this to raise money for their efforts. You can peep the full piece here, but here's that detail I promised lo so many words ago:

Here's la familia Seda-Schreiber hangin' on "Sesame Street" back in the day:

& then my quick sketch in tribute to Mr. Jim Henson upon his passing from felt to dirt:

My lovely bride asked me to include two mas:

First up, this seasonal missive from the year we found out she was with child (hopefully mine, but the blonde hair & blue eyes did indeed make it somewhat suspicious- callin' Maury Povich!). I've laid down holiday ink for the past 30 some odd years & this is not particularly a fave of mine honestly altho' I appreciate the sentiment & I think the drawing expresses it nicely. I do like the stork's Rudolph nose & oh-so-feathery-feathers but I don't think our as-of-then-yet-to-be-born son looks so safe being upside-down & all (& even moreso he looks kinda' larva-esque rather than simply bundled up...)

& my best girl really digs this piece, Moose & Goose (a romance), & the story goes a lil' somethin' like this:

So I am quite often asked, both virtually & corporeally, to draw something for someone. Usually I politely demur, citing my current penchant for donating my art to charity or supporting political causes, but the chef in my school's cafeteria came to me in such a sweet & earnest manner, I could not resist slinging some ink his way. He told me a tale of his first anniversary with his lovely bride & how they call each other "moose & goose" & this just tumbled outta' me...

& of course, no post is complete without a lil' Vonnegut...

nuff said.

Valentine's Day throwback for y'all...

Okay, kids, although I am now oh-so-happily married to an incredibly beautiful woman (hey, babygirl!), I was once a miserable lonely bastard who hated Valentine's Day with a passion. I still refuse to celebrate it as it is indeed a corporate maunfactured buncha' malarkey (still love u, crazygirl!), but now at least I'm not a grumpy assh*le all day. But for those of you who still are (& I support you wholeheartedly!), here's your very righteous justification, straight from my 20-some-odd-years-ago collegiate misanthropic self...

Enjoy~

click to embiggen...

I once was blind, but now...

Colorblindness is really a misnomer; it is more akin to color-confused. Whereas your spectrum is quite vast & includes a veritable plethora of color, those of us who are genetically-deficient have a much smaller range & therefore colors get smashed up together, confused with others, & many unseen at all. 

I am colorblind, one of the most severe degrees of such. It is bothersome at times, disappointing at others, but as with any handicap (& I even hesitate to use that word as comparatively it is a non-issue), one learns to adjust & compensate for such. I also like the fact that I “inherited” from my Poppy, my mom’s dad, who left much too early in my life & sharing this genetic trait is at least something by which I can feel closer to him.

But being colorblind does affect me every day- the loss of a beautiful sunset, inability to decipher a traffic lite, seeing lots of green skin on folks I know are not Martians… unsure if I’m wearin’ a pink shirt. Being an artist (albeit one who predominantly works in black & white), an art teacher & just a lover of looking & seeing & really absorbing this wonderfully vibrant world around us makes it even more distressing at times.

This wonderful company EnChroma has changed all that with their incredible &, I dare say, inspiring sunglasses that promise “color for the colorblind”, & y’know what, they actually deliver on said promise in a big way.

Just back from Méjico where I sported these EnChroma Commander CX-14 sunglasses that profess (& do indeed deliver on that promise!) to allow the colorblind to see color. 

These are amazing, wonderful, & truly awe-inspiring & you can see my reaction to wearing them in the video...

(Lo siento for wind noise- tried to fix to no avail. 

Keep watching, it does improve later in video.)

& as an extry bonus, here is some comix I doodled way-back in college about bein’ colorblind… 

Enjoy:

finally apprehended

"Fallin' Asleep" week concludes, very appropriately~

syllabus

More navel-gazing & nakedness (maybe that's what I shoulda' called the strip instead of "Fallin' Asleep")~

big bad wolf

"Fallin' Asleep" week continues with one of my favorites~

touch the sky

& for my next trick, I draw myself nekkid~

the greenest hair

More "Fallin' Asleep" for y'all...
Remember: only dogs see in black & white; color-blindness is a misnomer, it should really be called "color-confused".
Enjoy~

fallin' asleep

Back to work, back to bloggin'...

Whilst in college (Rutgers '92), I really came into my own as an artist. I had transferred from School of Visual Arts in Manhattan & found a real home for my work on the pages of the three major college papers there. I first slung ink at the Rutgers Review with the cult hit "Skullboy" until they censored my work once too often (a story for another time, kids). Fortunately, Ian Jacobs & Heather Alevras (to both of whom I am eternally grateful) wooed me away to "The Medium", the ugly step-child of the school's papers, with the promise of a full page for my doodles &, more importantly, a lot more respect for my work. It was there I really found my proverbial niche. At the same time, due to my ever-increasing & even more inexplicable rising popularity, I was offered some space at the "Targum", the school's stalwart, staid & somewhat stilted paper of record, wherein I tested the boundaries of good taste with a strip called "Creative Juices" (this work I will share as well in the near future).

But it was at the aforementioned "Medium" that I gave my ink-stained heart & soul with the magnum opus called "Fallin' Asleep".

I was allowed full artistic freedom to create this work which allowed me to clear my head of all the insanity & inanity that kept me up all through the the night, at first revolving at around sexual proclivities (my own & others as well) & thankfully evolving into something a little more~ some political, social & environmental musings; some emotional & psychological explorations; some small answers to big questions; & lots & lots of drawings of me naked.

This week, I will share some of my favorites from the approximately 83 some-odd (& some were very odd indeed!) strips that encompassed "Fallin' Asleep" in all its inky glory some almost twenty years past.

This first piece is a good example of the navel-gazing in which I often indulged, one of the very things for which I believe college was created.

I was so much older then...