Creepy Loser Productions

Book Tour

2009-10-02T14:33:00.000-07:00

I will be at the Boston and Providence stops. Won't you join me?

Girls and Flowers and Horror and Whatnot

2009-09-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

Ugh, I lose at blogging. It is in no way represented here that I have been working on comics all year. But I have! And now one of them is finished.
For all the whimsy depicted here, this turns into a horror story. Find out how! "Imaginary Friend" appears in Dark Corners, a forthcoming anthology from I Know Joe Kimpel. It's set to debut at SPX and will then be available to order from the IKJK website and comic shops that stock this sort of thing (more on that soon).

Dark Corners also features horror stories by the very talented cartoonists Denis St. John, Jeff Lok and Mario van Buren, and some pretty spectacular drawings by Steve Bissette. Holy crap yes! This is pretty cool, eh Imaginary Friend?

Oh.

spineless

2009-06-02T20:12:00.001-07:00

Behold! The imaginary friend story is still in the works, but in the meantime I have made a creepy loser collection. This is the almost-final cover:

This collects a whole bunch of my comics - old and new, including a couple of never before seen pages from Dead Air #3! Putting them all together is actually kind of uncomfortable...there are certain ideas that show up over and over again that don't paint the rosiest picture of the cartoonist. Lonely, self-absorbed girls, lonely, self-absorbed monsters, fun poked at consumer culture and also fun poked at people who poke fun at consumer culture...people who watch while their friends are devoured by monsters...

Here's a sampling of random panels, somewhat inexpertly scanned for full effect:

In any case I had fun making this. I think if it says anything about me, it's that I'm a Creepy Loser. From the bottom of my tepid, wishy-washy heart.

I will have these at MoCCA and afterwards they will be available through IKnowJoeKimpel. The cover has shiny parts.

trust in me

2008-12-06T11:36:00.000-08:00

I have started on a new project and it is going to be super duper awesome.

Now, I realize that I make a lot of empty promises here (where are those other invertebrates I asked you to wait for?) and I do change my mind a lot.

This morning, for example, I decided it was my life's ambition to become the lead singer in a Faith No More cover band. Scarcely a few hours later, I'm already beginning to have my doubts about that.

But I am really really into this project and I WILL see it through. Aside from the drawing above, I am also in the middle of some exciting roughs. Included here, even though they are ugly, illegible and riddled with cliches, because this is how all of my comics begin and it is my favorite part of the whole process.

You can't rightly call it art, and it's not really storytelling either because it doesn't make any sense.

But it's oddly exhilarating to do - ad-libbing roughs, to me, is the part where the story feels like it's most alive.

My next task is to make it a whole lot better, and figure out how to make it come alive for you.

Man, I love cartooning.

I think I'll go draw worms

2008-11-02T08:22:00.000-08:00

There has been altogether too much Loser and not enough Creepy around here lately. My apologies.

Here are some Earthworm-inspired drawings, with more invertebrates (and better scans!) to come.

Happy belated Halloween.

Trashed

2008-10-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

Dead Air got its first random review! This person totally hated it.

But while reading the review resulted in a shitty day for yours truly, it does mean that someone bought my comics, took the time to read and think about them, composed a review and was even thoughtful enough to post cover images and a link to this here blog. I'm not sure why anyone would follow that link to pick up a comic that has been deemed pure and utter waste-of-time crap, but I kind of appreciate it anyway.

It's Done It's Done It's Done

2008-10-02T20:37:00.001-07:00

It's...sorta done. Dead Air #2 is now in printed form and awaiting SPX fun. I made it really small this time - the sort of comic you could hide inside of another comic book and read in secret.

It means a lot to me to have finished another issue...circumstances surrounding this particular project made working on it feel like having my face shoved repeatedly into a toilet bowl filled with all my faults and failures, only the person doing the shoving is also me.

And hopefully it is also fun to read! It should be available soon at www.iknowjoekimpel.com or it could be yours for a smile if we cross paths and I have a copy handy.

thanks to Lauren O'Connell for design help!

Oh yeah, also those pages from the last post ended up in the comic after all. Now you can consider them a preview?

Pages that will NOT be in Dead Air #2

2008-09-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

At present: Dead Air #2 is a fucking mess, pardon my french.

It's time for some delicate surgery.

In the interests of providing a coherent narrative and not wasting your time with repetitive filler, a whole bunch of it has to go.

Join me in bidding a fond, fatal farewell to pages 6 and 7, which offer nothing whatsoever to the story except a glimpse of what everybody's hair used to look like:

Still Partying

2008-09-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

but you don't have to pretend with me anymore.

Thanks to everyone who did, though - it's nearly done!

And by "nearly" I mean NEVER.

Please Come to My Imaginary Party

2008-09-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

invitation courtesy of Brent Miller

I'm having a party, by which I mean I'm drawing a party.

And I have reached a special level of pathetic where I'm going to pretend that I am actually at said party. There will be a keg and live music in the living room, courtesy of Midnight Carnival ("I didn't think up the name").

I will be hiding behind the horrible plaid couch with a handle of Jim Beam and a sketch pad. Be warned: the girls next door were invited and might show up.

Also be warned: at the rate I've been drawing lately this party might be going on for the rest of September. I fully expect to be passed out on the stoop surrounded by half empty bottles and cigarette butts by the end.

In any case, I invite you to join me in my sad charade. Feel free to immerse yourselves in the rough pages I will be working from - taste the cheap beer, smell the sweat, frown at the selection of music...

Then if you want to take it even further and leave me comments as if we were actually at this party, I will totally make you a character and put you in the finished pages.

It's Magic

2008-08-23T19:13:00.000-07:00

Hello, I'm back. Here's a scary picture:

and here's a bonus sketch:

New Comics Day

2008-07-10T19:09:00.000-07:00

Hey, Magic Whistle #11 is out today! Hasten ye to your local comic book emporium! Do it! Hasten!

If you've heard the phrase "literary graphic novel" used so many times that you want to punch something, then I heartily suggest you lock yourself in a room with this book and learn to enjoy life once again.

Sam Henderson visited CCS a while back and this resulted in a lot of comic jams and foul ideas that might not otherwise have seen the light of day. One page that he did with me and Rich is included in this book! My own contribution to the strip has pretty much nothing to recommend it at all, but it's an honor to be included and the rest of the book is fucking funny.

Creepy Loser Secret Origins

2008-07-01T20:46:00.000-07:00

I still have one notebook from when I was about ten years old. Almost every single page is covered with doodles and some of my first ever attempts at comics. This was before I became the self-important douche-bag that I am today.

Can you understand what the comic posted below is about?

Me neither.

A page of the alphabet and monkeys - just like Lynda Barry!

Also many attempts at a stylized "S" that I never did figure out how to draw.

There are not many notes in this notebook.

Okay, but this comic I figured out! It's the Frog Prince.

Let me explain: In this version there is a lady who is so wealthy she throws her necklace in the trash. She doesn't even need it. A happy-go-lucky street urchan sees this and retrieves one of the gold beads, only to drop it in a pond. She cries at her misfortune. A frog brings the bead/gold ball/whatever back to her and she kisses him on the eyeball. He turns into a prince and they live happily ever after, mostly because all the girl cares about is that ball.

Titles made of worms:

a technique I would repeat nearly 14 years later for my first assignment

at the Center for Cartoon Studies.

more similarities

Thanks for visiting my past with me.

Pages from Dead Air #2

2008-06-30T18:46:00.001-07:00

Still chuggin' along...

recent short stories

2008-06-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

One fine day I hope to have drawn enough odd little comics that I can throw them together in a book and call it the Creepy Loser Compendium. I lie awake at night imagining what the cover should look like.

In the meantime, I've been lucky enough to be included in some pretty rockin' anthologies, including:

Secrets and Lies, a hefty tome edited by Cat Garza and featuring enough comics to get you through the apocalypse (if, say, you're hiding in a bunker somewhere and you're not dead and you need an entertaining book to read until it's safe to go outside again and see how the world has changed - this could be your book!!)

My story is called The Snow Beast in Springtime. Here's a page:

Indelible is an anthology of work by the ladies (students, alumni, teachers, interns etc.) of the Center for Cartoon Studies. It was co-edited by the fiercely talented C. Frakes and Kubby Barry, and is available, may I add, at www.iknowjoekimpel.com.

I reprinted an older story - Apocalypse High School - and also drew a new story: Pre-Apocalypse High School.
Last but certainly not least, the folks at IKnowJoeKimpel are launching a series of handsome little square anthologies, beginning with Sorry. Features comics by me, Colleen Frakes, Mario Van Buren and Emily Wieja. It's hip to be square, you won't be sorry, etc. etc. don't kill me.

My story is called Mermaid Monster Blues. Warning: contains both nipples and murder, as evidenced by these samples:
Also, if ill-fated Mermaid love is something you like, you really should read Colleen's Tragic Relief.

2008-05-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

I made a handout to bring to MoCCA about how I didn't finish my comic because I have turned into my characters. What a self indulgent thing to do! Just like my characters would, if they drew comics and were me. Original sketch above, final version below:

2008-04-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

Coming soon: The Sorry Anthology