Zombies: A Gospel Truth

Here's something fun I've come across in the Bible... the undead. And it's more than just Jesus rising from the grave fresh and gleaming. We're talking hordes of rotting zombies roaming about and attacking people.

New Testament Precedent:

At the moment of Jesus' death, Matthew 27:52-53 says that "the tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people" ...Which also means that reanimated bodies were wandering around the countryside for three days before heading downtown. What were they doing during that time? Yikes. And that was just a short blip of a sentence in the gospels. I'd hope something that freakish would have embedded itself into the historical record a bit more firmly. Still, they weren't exactly described as mean flesh-eaters. But just you wait...

Old Testament Precedent:

Zechariah 14:12-13 describes a plague that was to afflict the enemies of Jerusalem: "Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. On that day men will be stricken by the Lord with great panic. Each man will seize the hand of the other, and they will attack each other." If that doesn't sound exactly like a zombie outbreak, I know little else that does.

So... according to the good ol' Book, it's happened before. No reason why it won't happen again. In fact, the Zechariah prophecy doesn't seem to have come to pass yet... so there's always that to look forward to.

Zine There, Done That #1: "Welcome to the Dahlhouse"

I think I'll start reviewing zines for the student paper. Maybe. And if I do I might throw some up here and call it "Zine There, Done That." I'm a sucker for a good pun; a bad pun, all the more. I just read Welcome to The Dahlhouse: Alienation, Incarceration & Inebriation in the New American Rome by Ken Dahl (Microcosm Publishing, 2008). For some reason, people find it easy to relate to characters who whine about everything (I'm thinking Holden Caulfield). It’s often easier to hate something than to love it, and –ironically- that’s probably what makes Welcome to the Dahlhouse so appealing.

This comic zine collects all of cartoonist Ken Dahl’s strips from 1997-2007, combining short, passionate stories about lost innocence, nostalgia, and overall disillusionment with American consumerist culture. He presents a scathing condemnation of post-9/11 American attitudes, religion, the self-perpetuating police system, the war-mongering military, and even critiques the phonies of the so-called “countercultural zine-culture.” Despite how much he seems to criticize such people, however, Dahl is subtle in his realization that he is as much a phony as they are. Each thing he scolds is explored with a nuance of hypocrisy, a character only hating love because he was broken-hearted; only hating the legal system because he got himself arrested; hating all the hipster girls because he can’t get one for himself; and hating try-hard zine culture because he can’t write “important” zines either. This is what takes a work about what you would otherwise expect an anarchist, countercultural author to talk about, and makes it something quite self-reflexive and profound.

Rest assured Dahl isn’t entirely bleak, derisive, and self-absorbed either. He is all these things, but he makes you laugh in spite of it. Strips which feature simple pleasures -- like the experience of a grown man swinging at night, or peeing in the shower -- are welcome refreshments from the doldrums of others. Dahl also showcases an artistic diversity as assorted as the zine’s mood. Whether or not you appreciate his over-the-top writing, everybody can enjoy his brilliant cartooning. Detailed and gritty or simplistic and fresh, Dahl tells his story with either subtlety or gross excess, whichever works best. It just so happens that embellishment suits moping the most.

"Masks Off" #1

Between 3-part stories, Tony and I decided to interject little non-action shorts portraying the characters when they're not running around in tights. This Nov.26 strip is our first installment, and serves to thicken the plot, and introduce new players. I figured I might try switching over to capital letterization (new word?) to see how it worked, especially since the dialogue is more important than the "action" in this particular one.

Fun Fact: "The Four Horsemen Halls" refers to Gilmour Hall, Togo Salmon Hall, Chester New Hall, and Kenneth Taylor Hall, and the subterranean hallways connecting them.

Some T.L.C.

Here are some drawings I've taken a bit more care in finishing (even if it's not all that evident in this sloppy Clint Eastwood):

I used to watch alot of Smallville before it got immensely crappy, which influenced the look of these characters... not the crappy part.

Working in ink is my real favorite. I've been working with it for years (Like in this grade 10 golden oldie wildlife project -- all I ever used to draw before I took a human anatomy class --

or the picture I did for my mom last Mother's Day with my baby sister taming my now-deceased loyal hound). I'm really happy to be working with ink for my comic now, developing a more stylized technique than I'm used to.

Since I love ink so much, why not spend an inappropriate number of hours poking at my page with a pen until it collects into what hopefully looks like a face in the end? I did this woman (who I lovingly call Dot) over about a semester's worth of lectures. The fellow to the right, I think, would be a perfect follow-up piece...

"MechEng Online!" 3/3

This is the final Nov.19 strip for the first plot arch. It's pretty tough trying to tell a continuous story in only 4-7 panels that is still dynamic and enjoyable for the reader who hasn't been following along the whole time -- all in a 4x10 inch space. By my third hack at it, though, I think I'm catching on (I still like last week's formatting better). I was told my characterization is stronger this time around as well, as I get more familiar with drawing them and developing my own style for how I want the serial to look overall.

Fun Fact: panel 5 is depicted in front of the destroyed University Hall. The name of the reporter is the pseudonym of the real-life opinions editor for the student paper.

"MechEng Online!" 2/3

This is the Marauders Nov.12 strip. I had even more fun doing this one, trying quite literally to think outside of the boxes more. I toyed with some greyscaling as well, which I think establishes a bit more of your typical "comic look." My writer Tony and I found that the suspense approach was the best way to conclude a part 2 story... 1 being the introduction of the problem, 2 the culmination, and 3 the resolution. Standard.

Fun Fact: After blowing up part of Mills Library in the first strip, MechEng is shown in front of Gilmour Hall in panel 4. I try to incorporate small McMaster details in the strips.

Sket-Shit

Here's a bunch of older sketches and studies I've done over the past few years, usually in class. This is actually where I'll end up getting most of my ideas from, just doodling in the margins... then I'll go home and explore it farther like I did with Spidey here:

Some assorted superhero studies... drawn in assorted stages of lighting throughout assorted European hostels.


Anatomy is good for you. Without it, there wouldn't be much of us to eat:

I saw The Phantom of the Opera a few years ago and was entirely preoccupied with the Phantom as a character. He's too often given a lame treatment, so I pumped these ideas out as soon as I got home to help compensate for that:

"MechEng Online!" 1/3

"The Magnificent Marauders" is a little comic serial I work on with my friend Tony La Vella that's published in the McMaster University art and culture magazine... the namesake from our athletics mascot. We wanted to make something with some good ol' fashioned adventure comics cheese! Biff! Zonk! This is our Nov.5 debut strip where I'm playing with the Humanities vs. "MacEngineering" rivalry, having a bit of fun with how their big bad department sucks all the funding from everything else and takes up all the campus space.

After years of reading comics, this was really my first stab at drawing and producing my own. My style's a bit sloppy and ill-defined here, but it's still not as prenatal as my cramped paneling abilities. My method at this point is to draw each frame on about half an 8.5x11 page and scale it down to fit (whilst preserving the level of detail I want)... I'll get the hang of it.