Still Partying

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

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

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

and here's a bonus sketch:

New Comics Day

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

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

Still chuggin' along...

recent short stories

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.