Covertly And By Snatches

Dylan Williams In Memoriam

2011-09-15T09:48:00.000-07:00

When I found out in making plans months ago with Tom Neely to share a table at SPX 2011, which happened last weekend, that we would also be representing Dylan Williams's Sparkplug Comics (my favorite publisher), I was giddy as a school girl. As it became apparent to me that he was in ill health, the giddiness gave way to a dark cloud, yet Tom and I, and I think most everyone who knew him, had so much faith in who he was and what he represented, there was light in that dark cloud as we all believed he'd make it...because we needed him to make it. The news came in toward the end of the first day of SPX that Dylan had died. What occurs to me in pondering his passing, is that, because of who he was, there is still light amongst the dark clouds.

Perhaps the oddest aspect of Dylan's death to me is that I never met him in person (I've spent most of my life "land locked" in Kentucky, far away from the centers of zine and comics culture). Yet, knowing him from a distance, as far as I can remember, began with the issue of Destroy All Comics which featured an interview with John Porcellino and Dylan's article on Bill Blackbeard. I wore that issue out in the 90s, reading and re-reading it. It caused me to take note any time I saw Dylan's name in print connected to comics. As Sparkplug developed throughout the oughts, I followed its progress and came to see that I admired Dylan's work as a publisher more than anything in comics besides simply the work of individual artists.

I kept up a correspondence with Dylan via mail, email, and Facebook. I treasured Dylan's Facebook postings so much I remember being upset when he'd get taciturn about it and disable his account for a while. If I never got to meet Dylan in person, I certainly treasured our correspondence. Whether it was bonding over obscure zines from the 90s we'd both read, or whether it was discussing horror movies and Dylan saying he'd repeated my musings at his store, Bad Apple, and jokingly confessing he didn't give me credit when "stealing" my ideas, or whether it was a discussion of the metal band Flotsam & Jetsam spiraling out into long autobiographical digressions into metal and music that devolved into statements of shared personal philosophies, Dylan, six years older than me, was like an older brother whom I much admired so that when we got on the same page, it gave me great joy.

When I started to do comics reviews in the past year, I ordered some Sparkplug books. When Dylan realized what I was up to, he sent me a huge box of books for free, which I did not want him to do. Even as I explained to him it was my intent to pay for all the books I reviewed, he wouldn't listen to me. Even as an arch critic of comic book culture, in microcosm, and the culture at large in macrocosm, Dylan always struggled to be big-hearted, inclusive, and generous, instead of giving in to cynicism. When Dylan went on record to say nice things about my work, it meant more to me than any review or any other sort of accolade (and even when he had criticism or disagreed with my approach, it always resonated). Did I tell him this? I don't think I did. I should have. I thought I would have a decade, two, or three to get to spend time with him in person; it didn't work out that way. The tragedy of untimely death.

On Sunday evening after SPX sitting outside with a group of folks, I remarked to Tom Neely that it was apparent that in 41 years Dylan had done a life's work. "More than a life's work," Tom corrected me.

To aspire and to be inspired to be more like he was, we can bring the chilling use of the past tense next to his name out of the past and into the present tense. Dylan did what he was born to do. The burden to do and be better, following his example, is on us.

Everything I will do in comics...the memory of Dylan Williams will be close to my heart.

Stephen Crane's "Black Riders and Other Lines" Adaptations to Comics Form Preview

2011-06-11T14:33:00.000-07:00

The following are examples of my approach to adapt some of my favorite poems from Stephen Crane's Black Riders and Other Lines into comics form. The plan now is to publish these ten poems as a book along with the strip Wakefulness by way of a comics preface, with an eye towards someday illustrating/adapting Crane's entire book (for a decent wage). These works and this impulse were born out of a personal time of both darkness, light, and transformation. I mean, what isn't? But I hatched many of these lines while surfing a particularly turbulent personal tsunami. Enjoy these now; I may take them down as the print version nears fruition, but, either way, here's a peek behind the curtain...

Leg Art Comics #3: Secrets in Lace

2011-04-11T09:16:00.000-07:00

"I like the little way the line runs up the back of the stockings."--David Lee Roth

You know what you like, you put pen to paper, and molecules start moving.

In my various sojourns as a leg man, whether it's making a study in my sketchbooks or out there on the street, it's become apparent to me that the company Secrets in Lace is one of the only out there that manufactures nylon stockings and lingerie with the quality and specifications that lives up to the standard of the 1940s and 50s.

And now I've joined the company as an official affiliate. That's right. Dig it: henceforth, any of y'all make a purchase from Secrets in Lace and yours unruly gets a taste. It's all part of my rock and roll fantasy.

Dracula's Daughter

2011-03-22T13:08:00.000-07:00

I dunno. I guess I just like Gloria Holden in Dracula's Daugther(1936).

Diary of a Leg Man: Leg Art Comics #2

2011-03-19T07:01:00.001-07:00

"Yeah, she was a tease but isn't every woman worth a damn?"--Elmer Batters on the subject of his favorite model.

Meanwhile, back to man's favorite pastime...further sketchbook journeys in the game of gams...

I got asked recently if Crumb influenced my preferences. The answer to that is no. These things were evident to me, in an early form, prior to being familiar with Crumb. Up to a certain point in my late teens, I'd only ever seen the cover to Zap #0. At first it was somewhat dim, but my self-awareness of being a "leg man" was fairly concurrent with puberty itself. How Crumb did influence me later, however, was to empower me to not tuck away my predilections away in the shadows.

That said, Sexton Ming lifted the phrase "crumb girl" from me for his album of the same name (which is explained in the liner notes of this now out of print disc). Sexton and I have gone on at length delineating the female form. Sexton likes "meaty," as he puts it, legs. His lovely wife has meaty legs. I like meaty legs, too.

Of course, there is a fine tradition of skinny leg men chasing big leg women, but what's more important to me than any specific size is the shapely femininity of a woman's legs, that roundness which appears to define womanly shape vs. manly shape. I've started thinking of women as Shapely Superclusters.

"What's up with the stocking thing?" you might find yourself asking. It's a multi-layered subject, complex. We won't solve the mystery here, but here's a few scattered sentences on the subject. For one thing, if this were the 1940s, the jive I'm putting down would be considered normal, and you un-initiated would not be asking me so many questions. Hosiery is pretty cool in general, but really, it is the classic fully fashioned nylon stockings which produce a more fully developed consciousness. Fundamentally, it doesn't matter. But if we have to wear clothes, I know what I like on the ladies, and there's something about the manner in which a fully fashioned stocking frames a woman's leg that just works for me. It's like explaining why one likes a certain song, a certain sound; after a certain point words fail. The way a stocking appears, as if a lovingly cross hatched diaphanous layer in reality, is similar to the way I draw and in essence see the world in general. It all works together.

I wear suspenders for men: dress shirts, dress hats, undershirts; I'm layered as well, and wouldn't ask any woman to consider anything that I'm not prepared to do the masculine version of myself. All you louts that go out in public in your sweat pants can hang out together and talk about how I'm a weirdo.

This episode of Leg Art Comics brought to you by Secrets in Lace.

Spud Crazy 2/3/11

2011-02-01T04:25:00.000-08:00

Let's go crazy. I think Prince said that. Yeah, this is the week. The scene is Lexington, KY.

I think I'll grab my coat, hat, and cane and get myself to the world premiere of the new Harry Dean Stanton documentary at the historic Kentucky theater on Wednesday. Then I think the next day I'll stroll down to the opening reception for the art show and release party for the limited edition excerpt of Spud Crazy by Nick Tosches and yours unruly at Institute 193.

Not only is it a book, it's a soundtrack of new music again by me, Robert Beatty, Brian Manley, and Justin Eslinger. Not only is it an opening reception for an art show, Manley & Eslinger (with an unnamed Theremin player) will perform sets of live music during the reception to provide another variation on this tuber theme.

Then at some point in there I'll celebrate my birthday on the fifth, probably with a fifth, and think of William S. Burroughs, who shares the same 2/5 with me as an inception date. My thoughts will most likely consider Burroughs's time in Lexington at the Narcotics Farm. Then I'll probably study upon the fact that Richard Hell, who wrote an intro for this Spud edition (and published a book of Tosches's poetry on his CUZ imprint), is originally from Lexington. Then I'll consider that I almost forgot Hubert Selby, Jr., who was the catalyst for the initial correspondence that would eventually lead to Tosches and I collaborating on this Spud plane we all now live on, and, oh well, yeah, his father was from Kentucky. And with all these thoughts in my head, I'll consider that Spud cigarettes were manufactured in Kentucky.

Then I will take a drink with my smoke and forget about Kentucky and forget about myself and Spud Crazy will seem the sanest game in town. My town, your town, any town. As Nick Tosches might put it, "Are you hip to Cybele?"

Symptoms of Spud Crazy

2011-01-16T23:27:00.000-08:00

The indomitable Nick Tosches and myself are working on a graphic novel of Spud Crazy. The first image is a page from this book, the second is a preliminary sketch. On top of that, to kick things off, is a promotional video. Let me explain...

Whatever it is or isn't, it is first showing itself to the light of day as a 30 page excerpt of a work-in-progress (to coincide with an exhibition of those said original 30 pieces of art) published in an "art edition" through Institute 193, complete with an introduction by Richard Hell and an accompanying essay by Bob Levin, packaged together with its own soundtrack by the Spud Imperials (a one-shot band consisting of myself, Robert Beatty, Justin Eslinger, and Brian Manley).

Friends, you can get in on the ground floor here, helping to make this noble endeavour reach full fruition by donating to the Kickstarter pledge drive, orchestrated by the head honcho of 193, Phillip March Jones (193 is a non-profit). Also note that by pledging 25 bucks or more you get almost half off the retail price by preordering the book now. Not to mention that there are several spending options for those of all the tax brackets that include me having to cough up various amounts of original art. Act fast to join the party wagon. For NO CHARGE WHATSOEVER you get to see me do the good bad acting free forming on the subject of Spud Crazy in addition to sneaking a peek at the artwork for the book and hear bits of the soundtrack in a video by Coleman Gunyon and the aforementioned Robert Beatty.

More info coming closer to the 2/3/11 show/book release. Stay tuned.

Fat Elvis and Fat Jim Morrison Team-Up!

2011-01-08T19:39:00.000-08:00

Perhaps not the most reverential way to remember Big E's birthday, this gag in my sketchbook was based on a goof in conversation with Jeffrey Scott Holland on a "what if" scenario in which the fat period version of Elvis were to join forces with the fat (and bearded) period version of Jim Morrison of the Doors. Being that riffing with Mr. Holland was the starting point, and the follow-through was executed in the aforementioned sketchbook, this marks a dual posting here and at our Transylvania Gentlemen blog. This ain't safe for work and it is an affront to good taste, so enjoy!

Click this link and navigate the "funny" pages.

Leg Art Comics #1

2010-12-10T22:56:00.000-08:00

Let's start with the origin story. Lance Hansen asked me to contribute to his anthology, Seduction of the Innocent, (the concept being artists depicting women reading comics, in the tongue-in-cheek pin-up tradition). My idea was to create a fake comic book cover for an issue of "Leg Art Comics," a cover within a cover as the cover model is also reading another issue of the comic, which includes a feature, "J.T. Dockery Explains...'Why I Am A Leg Man!'" Ripping off the logo from Crumb's "Big Ass Comics," and the image taken from famous leg photographer Elmer Batters, I was playing with the concept and making a bit of fun of my own personal preferences when my particular male gaze turns towards the direction of the female.

Fast forward a bit, and when finding myself with more time than usual spent online due to the shifting circumstances of life, I realized that even without a masturbatory function, I was still making it something of an enjoyable hobby to waste my extra time looking at photos presented on the internet by bloggers and such who shared a similar preference/fixation. And in looking at the photos as something beyond smut, it started to become almost scientific as to why certain images spoke to me. But not so scientific that I could easily "explain why," but I could document these images that spoke loudest to me with my sketchbook.

With this process of documentation of my journey as a leg man begun, it quickly became apparent that at some point down the road, I will collect these sketches into a modest book. That book, of course, will be called "Leg Art Comics."

With the blog, I am presenting a sneak-preview of this project, this journey. And we'll start at the start at the beginning with a foot. Sometimes being involved as I am involved in the enthusiasm of delineating the female leg, there's a common misconception that the female foot is excluded in this equation. The combination of the leg, foot, and haunch creates a holy trinity of legginess, just as, say, the nylon stocking meeting the exposed flesh of the thigh meeting the clip of the garter belt is another holy trinity. One element does not exist without the relationship to the other, and there are even more trinities hidden within this multiplicity of trinities within the leg, but we shall not go further into that now.

This episode of Leg Art Comics was brought to you by Secrets in Lace.

Last Page Blues

2010-12-06T11:20:00.001-08:00

I was conscious of this being the last page of my most recent sketchbook as, first, I actually didn't have the money to get a new one, and then found myself waiting another bit on top of that for a back ordered new one to come in the mail. So I also was consciously just pecking away here, adding a bits every so often, making that last page last.

Of course, that's not all that different from the usual stream of consciousness jive I'm often laying down, you might say. But a slight difference for me is that I can feel the passing of time. Recently my health went south, and I've experienced the kind of physical anguish I wouldn't wish on a dog. Some of these phrases and figures seem to predict my plight, document it, and then toss some random other goodliness on top for flavor. "It has memories in it," as I wrote.

I went for the longest I've ever been in recent memory without an active sketchbook going. Luckily meeting a deadline for an upcoming book release/art show in January and working on those pages made me not miss the habit as much as I might otherwise.

For the good times, my fiends, for the good times...

Eat it. Sit on it. Smell it.

2010-08-20T16:47:00.000-07:00

The text is from some graffiti that was written with dry erase markers on one of the freezers back in the kitchen of Gumbo Ya Ya. I just put down in cartoony loony language what the words inspired.

In Tongues Illustrated Future Past #9

2010-07-13T09:46:00.000-07:00

The text on this one says it as succinctly as any other crass, throw-away commentary I could concoct (I suddenly feel like Stan Lee here), "And with this apathetic internal rupturing we eject these components."

And as we depart from these waters, future-past, and steer the ship through the starry seas, above is Louis Bickett's snapshot of these almost but not quite forgotten left overs from In Tongues installed in the show.

In Tongues Illustrated Future Past #8

2010-07-12T13:22:00.000-07:00

There are all sorts of ways to travel. Prehensile.

In Tongues Illustrated Future Past #7

2010-07-11T09:49:00.000-07:00

It's hard to get past one's own self. Or it can be.

In Tongues Illustrated Future Past #6

2010-07-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

It's easy to let things go.

In Tongues Illustrated Future Past #5

2010-07-09T11:49:00.000-07:00

"Still keener hunters," long before I was thinking about this blog, is a line I copped from Herman Melville's Confidence-Man, but the sentiment is in fact mine.

In Tongues Illustrated Future Past #4

2010-07-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

Answering the questions you forget to ask yourself with more questions.

In Tongues Illustrated Future Past #3

2010-07-07T13:50:00.000-07:00

I was riffing/ripping off poet Charles Olson. Or was it Ezra Pound? If one can't remember from whom one is stealing, does that make for an original statement? I ponder these things and just like I said back when, "If I knew what I was doing I could wish to tell you."

In Tongues Illustrated Future Past #2

2010-07-06T13:48:00.000-07:00

Cute and cuddly can lead to a certain disquieting darkness. Slugs of unknowing and other monsters of discontent often slide underneath. I fear what's between the lines. Or to quote Redd Foxx on the subject of violence, "I wouldn't slap a crippled sissy."

In Tongues Illustrated Future Past #1

2010-07-05T11:49:00.000-07:00

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."--Donald Rumsfeld

I found a scanner buried behind the barn. It's not the best scanner, but it'll do for one that I dug up from under the dirt.

Speaking of finding things under the dirt, last Feb. when I had a Lexington gallery installation of the original pages from my book, In Tongues Illustrated, I discovered in my archives a collection of strips, almost more like sketchbook drawings, which riffed on the content of the book. I had at one point fiddled around with the idea of running these strips along the bottoms of some of the larger pages in the book. That idea got scrapped, and the drawings put up and forgotten about until the show.

So now, in the spirit of full disclosure, I'll post a series of these aforementioned "lost" outtakes/deleted scenes.

In this installment, we see that "Cosmic Denial" ain't just a river on the outer rings in the X-R41 Nebula. Is the astronaut at left preparing to fix some unseen mechanical issue with the tool in his grasp, or is it a weapon with which he is about to attack? I wouldn't mess with the guy in the foreground, if I were me. The character in the background, over the horizon, seems to be throwing an ineffectual punch, or is is more of just a showing, "terroristic fist bump"-style, of solidarity? These issues seem like, as Rummie put it, "known unkowns."

"Studio Visit"

2010-07-01T20:58:00.000-07:00

Chase Martin over at the Institute 193's blog pays me a "studio visit."

Same old song. I'm miles from the nearest scanner in my current incarnation. Also, barely touching a sketchbook right now as I'm knee deep in cranking out new pages of Spud Crazy to the exclusion of all else.

Some day, as the man said, this war is gonna end.

I've Had A Lot Resting On My Mind Lately

2010-02-13T10:37:00.000-08:00

It can be difficult to be free of the things that rest heavy on one's mind. I take the metaphor and draw it literally. How 'bout you?

Don't Say I Didn't Warn You

2010-02-06T11:30:00.001-08:00

Me and Bruce New down by the duck pond. Be there or be square.

Sometimes I Feel Like I'm in the Rubble

2010-02-01T10:02:00.000-08:00

Which is not necessarily the same thing as feeling like Barney Rubble.

I Go to Places

2010-01-31T14:15:00.001-08:00

I go to places. I walk around in them. There the architects grapple with issues not yet fathomed and are rewarded for such efforts. The citizens are not afraid of nightmares, but live them in harmony with waking moments. In the galleries, the works are in progress and occasionally updated.

J. Todd Dokken

2010-01-29T11:33:00.001-08:00

1987. The artist purchases Dokken's Back for the Attack on cassette. Taken with the recording, the artist then, with a paint pen, draws the band's logo on the back of a jean jacket. A trench coat length jacket at that. Later, no longer impressed with his own attempt at lettering, the artist covers up the handmade logo with a mail ordered back patch that reads: "KISS: If It's Too Loud, You're Too Old."

2010. The artist replaces his long lost tape with a used compact disc copy of Back for the Attack. Seeing that while there is some filler on this recording, he remains taken with it. Oddly depressed and uplifted simultaneously by his own acceptance of the junk rock as transcendent material, the artist draws the logo again, this time in his sketchbook as opposed to on his apparel, along with portraits based on the photos in the disc's liner notes.

Hobo Blues

2009-12-27T11:14:00.000-08:00

Between September and December it seems to me only a five minute jumble. I'm still out here, right there, over yonder, as Sexton Ming once said, still kicking.

In the newly refashioned Comics Journal as an online animal, indomitable author Bob Levin grapples with my In Tongues Illustrated book and interrogates yours unruly.

At the end of September, I returned to SPX, this time with partner in slime Brian Manley (aka Brine Manley) and made fast buddies with the classiest of cartooning dames (and the best tablemates one could hope for in a convention type setting) Sally Bloodblath & Erin Colby Griffin. Tom Neely stumbled across me, and we discovered that great minds think alike (both Neely, along with Manley and myself, are interested in producing soundtracks for our comics projects), which resulted in his preaching the gospel via the microphone of Sparkplug Comics. Then, more recently, Mr. Neely did me the honor of including my book in his "top 5" list for the year over at The Daily Cross Hatch.

The aforementioned Griffin greased the wheels with Benn Ray (or at least she pointed out my book to him) from Atomic Books of Baltimore, and that led to my book being in the store and available online from them. A fact I'm quite proud of, thanks to Miss Erin.

Oh, and I ain't been idle, party people. I've been building lots of contraptions that have become something else. Brine Manley and I took with us to SPX an old fashioned photocopied mini-comic version of the first chapter of a novel in progress, Creekwater. One thing leads to another, and now that book is being serialized in the Lexington, KY rag, North of Center. The last three images from my sketchbook above were preparatory numbers for my non-collaborative work in progress, The Organ-Grinder.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I'm scattered. Not always in the same place and time as my scanner, but my ink and pens and brushes and bristol and Moleskine sketchbooks remain, like a gunslinger's six-shooter, at my side.

Some Nice Things I've Missed

2009-09-15T01:09:00.000-07:00

The phrase is Frank Sinatra's; the sentiment is mine. As the ancients would say, I've been gone for far too long (or was that Mick Jagger?). But I've had things to do, hurtles to hurtle. I got my old scanner. And a new computer. I'm back in the saddle, I say, hopefully.

The sketches above were done as part of a project that Greensboro, NC based artiste/graphic designer, Sam Bridges, has going on with his Bugbear Union goings on.

Richard Polt included a reprint in a recent issue of his Harry Stephen Keeler News of the Harry Stephen Keeler Society my own biography of the aformentioned HSK in comics form from the In Tongues book.

And lastly, but certainly not leastly, Andrew Crawford's comix anthology, Qhamics? , included in its first issue a selection from the graphic novel in progress collaboration betwixt Nick Tosches and yours unruly, Spud Crazy.

Beyond Time & Space

2009-04-12T17:50:00.000-07:00

I haven't been on the horn since the COMIX show, which was a blast to be a part of and was really well attended. In that time period, letter press printmaker Alex Brooks did a mighty fine profile on me for the March issue of the local rag Chevy Chaser, which also plugged the aforementioned COMIX show, which was on display through the end of last month.

And Andrew Crawford did a benefit concert for his comics publishing venture, Qhamics? (the first issue of which will feature pages by yours unruly) this past weekend that featured my band, the Smacks!, and he was selling original art in a handy trading card format to help raise money...my idea was to make a design in which each small image was part of a complete image. Andrew was kind enough to scan them for me before he sliced and diced 'em, so I present them here (a few of the cards are left at the bargain price of 2 dollars each...drop me a line if interested).

There's plenty of material in my sketchbooks to keep the Covertly train on track for ages...unfortunately I have computer issues, and it's unclear exactly when I'll have them sorted to make this thing a regular gig again. So keep your pantyhose on, and I'll be scanning and uploading like it's my day job as soon as that's possible.

Comix

2009-02-18T12:05:00.000-08:00

As I previously alluded, this Friday Feb. 20th at the Downtown Art Center (141 E. Main St) in Lexington, KY, the Lexington Art League presents the opening reception from 5-8pm as part of Gallery Hop for COMIX, a group show of original art by comic book artists.

Included is eight pages by yours unruly: four pages from the graphic novel in progress in collaboration with author Nick Tosches, Spud Crazy, and four pages from my book, In Tongues Illustrated. And this makes for something of a bookend along with my originial local release of the latter.

The finest independent book store on the local scene, Morris Book Shop, is sponsoring the event. They'll be on hand selling books, including my own, during the reception. Here's some relevant links:

Lexington Art League at the Downtown Art Center

Morris Book Shop

Nick Tosches

Spud Crazy sample

Injuns

2009-01-26T12:27:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I hear Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills" in my head. Sometimes I hear that song "Cowboys are Square" by that Billy Childish. I'm not sure if the "Injuns Died Here" label is a warning, or a mere statement of fact. Perhaps both.

The Power of Gobbedlygook

2009-01-21T12:00:00.001-08:00

Secret societies aren't very secret anymore. Actually, I was meditating about artist Rick Griffin's propensity for lapsing into lettering that's either indecipherable or near-indecipherable. I figure if he could lapse, I can lapse. Let's lapse.

Evolution & Revolution

2009-01-14T11:09:00.000-08:00

This is not a call-to-arms, nor is it a biological treatise. I was reading Howard Bloom's The Lucifer Principle, and I seemed (and that might yet be still present tense) to get lost in this claustrophobic crosshatched sketchbook landscape. Lost, or would that be trapped?

Expanse

2009-01-13T09:10:00.000-08:00

Ah, but to be expansive in the claustrophobic void...

Dualities, Naturally

2009-01-12T16:30:00.000-08:00

Them dualities pop up everywhere. Reality is in fact an endless multitude of dualities. But it's not always about doubles. Triples figure largely, too. Belch. What was I saying?

Back in the Saddle

2008-12-02T09:12:00.000-08:00

Drawn during Good Folk Fest.

Drawn during SPX.

After all the hub-bub of my book release, followed by SPX, and then followed in November by hob-nobbing with Daniel Johnston at the Good Folk Fest, I laid low on the front of updating thee olde sketchbook blog, preferring to let the images related to the In Tongues book linger for a while. But I speak to you today as a man with an almost finished sketchbook that hasn't even been scanned from yet (outside of the two above examples), and I'm ready again to rumble.

So there you have it, images drawn while in attendance at SPX/Good Folk Fest. Deep space, old jokes, the song remains the same...

In Tongues Illustrated: 1/250, A/J

2008-10-14T11:01:00.000-07:00

In Tongues Illustrated is a signed, numbered limited edition book of 250 copies, in case you didn't know. The first ten copies also are lettered A-J and feature original drawings on the last page of the book. Those copies are priced 100 dollars more than the other copies, so if you buy the book from me one of these special editions is 130, 140 if you're mail ordering it, 150 if I'm mailing it to you overseas. I used the drawings as a way to revisit characters and situations from the book. Above, with the first one, we have Jack's nemesis, after a fashion, born of smoke and pollution, from the "Early Adventures of Jack Lustmord" strip.

In Tongues Illustrated: 2/250, B/J

2008-10-14T10:58:00.000-07:00

Misericordia the Misologist gets to the point of it all.

In Tongues Illustrated: 3/250, C/J

2008-10-14T10:54:00.000-07:00

Dr. Skull and one of his gang, living the life.

In Tongues Illustrated: 4/250, D/J

2008-10-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

Mona cast in the role of the god (turned goddess in this case) Khnum from the "Yes! I Descended into Mona's Madness!" strip, in which Jack also shows up as the king's ka. I lifted this idea from an example in Julian Jaynes's The Origin of Consciousness in the Break Down of the Bicameral Mind.

In Tongues Illustrated: 5/250, E/J

2008-10-14T09:46:00.000-07:00

This robotic entity in the employ of Lustmord, Inc. from "The Early Adventures of Jack Lustmord" returns to compute (or not to compute), perchance to dream of his own private cybernetic Mona.

In Tongues Illustrated: 6/250, F/J

2008-10-14T09:37:00.001-07:00

The dyslexic veteran of half-remembered wars in "The Ballad of One Hand" returns with a practical lesson in self actualization.

In Tongues Illustrated: 7/250, G/J

2008-10-14T09:33:00.000-07:00

Here's another variation on the final, "epidermal epilogue" image.

In Tongues Ilustrated: 8/250, H/J

2008-10-14T09:30:00.001-07:00

Here's the character without a name from the "Prologue" to the book. He seems to have something of a Dockery family resemblence to me...

In Tongues Illustrated: 9/250, I/J

2008-10-14T09:26:00.000-07:00

Jack Lustmord ponders the imponderables with a classic tobacco cigarette. A little more composed than he appears on the cover of the book. And perhaps a touch thinner. Not unlike his creator (that would be me, not the Lord, but who's keeping score?).

In Tongues Illustrated: 10/250, J/J

2008-10-14T09:23:00.001-07:00

Mask or Machine? gives the thumbs up from a distant, four-fingered place.

The Infancy of Misericordia the Misologist II

2008-10-10T09:49:00.000-07:00

Misericordia the Misologist will bring it on home, a lamplighter if you please. Due to the disruption in computer activity, I'm a little late in finishing up the In Tongues Illustrated sketches. But I'm ready willing & able to wrap it up soon. Following this post, I'll get all the A-J images up for the world to see, then it's back to Mr. Sketchum business as usual.

Computer Limbo

2008-09-30T14:56:00.001-07:00

Thanks to all who made the In Tongues Illustrated book release one heckuva party in Lexington, Kentucky this past weekend.

As for right now, it's off to SPX I go this weekend.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that the home computer is in the shop , and it was not back as soon as it was reported to be, I have been out of the cyberspace realm, and, as a consequence, I am behind on getting the rest of the ITI related images posted. As soon as I do (I'm borrowing a pal's laptop just to catch up on the basics), whenever the hell that is, the first ten copies marked A-J with the original drawings will be up here, in addition to a few more sketches.

'Till then, enjoy the Wallace Wood perennial favorite above.

Oh Yes, She's the Great Procuress

2008-09-17T08:42:00.000-07:00

Above is the pencil roughs for blocking out the second page of "The Lives and Times of Mona," which is the third page in a cycle about the Mona character that acts as a prologue to the "Blood Around the Heart" story. The inspiration came from photographs from the Bob Burns collection of a lady in the process of getting her monster make-up applied.

The Infancy of Misericordia the Misologist

2008-09-17T08:38:00.000-07:00

The name came before the image this round, so I had to go searching for the man to fit the name.

Rogues' Gallery VI

2008-09-13T11:30:00.001-07:00

Move the Blake quote into the word balloon and then one has, "Floppy the William Blake scholar and tumorous dance instructor."

Rogues' Gallery V

2008-09-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

First appearance at bottom right of Professor Blankwind, author of My Mother, The Whore.

Rouges' Gallery IV

2008-09-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

Amongst the "Endless Pissing," we have he who would be, "Dr. Sellers the iron mask fetishist and arthritis specialist."

Rogues' Gallery III

2008-09-13T11:14:00.000-07:00

"Phil-O-Tron the Ancient Astronaut from Florida."

Rogues' Gallery II

2008-09-12T10:59:00.000-07:00

He who would become Rupert, "who claims to be the greatest living expert on obscure venereal diseases."

Rogues' Gallery I

2008-09-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

The cast of characters that appear in counterpoint to our main man in "Another Day at the office of Mask Or Machine?" are culled from random imagery in sketchbooks. The above mutated into the carnival family.

"Late Night to Nothing...The Hand, Ill-Equipped"

2008-09-11T11:51:00.000-07:00

Working out the title design for "Blood Around the Heart," apparently, ye olde arthritis was getting in the way. Cha-cha-cha.

Mask or Machine Arises: Part III

2008-09-06T09:13:00.001-07:00

Turning to ideas for the first storyline, Jesse Todd further fiddles with "Mask or Machine?" design ideas, especially the skull-masked gang to be foes for He Who Would Be Named (improbably) "Mask or Machine?"

Mask or Machine? Arises: Part II

2008-09-06T09:06:00.001-07:00

And on the second day (or maybe it was a few minutes later, hell, I don't remember), Jesse Todd recalled upon the squiggles which begat the face that was to be "Mask or Machine?" and verily raised unto his pencil and squiggled again lines that would form his good work.

Mask or Machine? Arises: Part I

2008-09-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

In the maelstrom of a squiggled mass, the face of He Who Would Be Named "Mask or Machine?" appeared. Jesse Todd saw His work. And knew that it was good.

Early Adventures in "the Early Adventures of Jack Lustmord"

2008-09-05T10:09:00.000-07:00

Character design sketches from the process of putting together "The Early Adventures of Jack Lustmord" strip from In Tongues Illustrated. I was recently re-reading Ivan Brunetti's interview from The Comics Journal in which he speaks upong the superiority of the initial doodle. I must say the personality of the strange entity in the hat that emerges from the chminey smoke...I relate to him more in the little sketch than I do in the finalized, over-labored version. Oh well, what can one do?

The Origin of "Epidermal Epilogue: the Birth of Jack Lustmord IV"

2008-09-04T10:56:00.000-07:00

These are the original sketches, of an ancient mask of South American origin, that would eventually lead to the imagery of the last vignette in In Tongues Illustrated. I no longer have the actual source...I believe I was studying this from someone else's magazine while I was visiting he or she (the memory is dim), an article about new archaeological excavations. The image percolated in my mind and aged in my sketchbook, knowing that I wanted to use it for something. Of course, it would eventually wind its way into the last two pages of my book, altered and incorporated into the character Jack's reality principle.

In Tongues Illustrated Book Release 9/27

2008-09-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

When: Saturday September 27th 7-9pm
Where: Morris Book Shop, 408 Southland Drive, Lexington, KY
What: Music by Warmer Milks (http://tombstonegravy.blogspot.com/)

"In Tongues Illustrated is a paper product that, like toilet paper and the Bible, belongs in every home. Buy it and dig it or continue on your dreary way to the mass grave of mediocrity."--Nick Tosches, author of In the Hand of Dante
http://www.myspace.com/nicktosches

"Disorientation is common when viewing scathing white-hot truths such as those contained in Dockery's comics."
--Jeffrey Scott Holland, artist/writer, author of Weird Kentucky
http://www.jeffreyscottholland.com/

In Tongues Illustrated is my fifty page graphic novel meets art book, a signed & numbered limited edition of 250 copies, also including the first ten of which are in addition lettered A-J featuring an original drawing on the back page that can be had for a few extra dollars. The interior is offset printed with a cover that is a combination of offset and letter press (the latter done with artist-printmaker Ben Durham at his Tug & Maul press in Midway, KY), and the book is bound Chicago style, giving it that certain Frankenstein meets rustic primitive visionary essence (and what other essence would I strive for, really?).

In the month of September, I'll be building up the official book release by updating Covertly and by Snatches with examples of sketches that pertained to the development of the In Tongues book, as well as displaying the aforementioned original drawings for the first ten copies marked A-J.

Also tune in to Mick Jeffries's Trivial Thursdays (http://minglefreely.blogspot.com/) program Sept. 25th 7-9AM, the Thursday before the 27th, as I'll be the guest on his WRFL 88.1FM (http://wrfl.fm/) show, talking trash about my book amongst other (ir)relevant flotsam & jetsam, with special guest host Brian Manke.

The weekend of the 27th precedes my sojourn with the book to SPX (a sorta comic convention that's more in line with the underground/alternative/self-publishing tradition than simply the superhero thing) in Bethesda, Maryland (http://www.spxpo.com/).

Lastly, this release party will be bookended on the local Lexington tip with my inclusion in the Lexington Art League's "Comix" exhibition running February 7 to March 28, 2009, with a Gallery-Hop reception on Feb. 20th. If for some reason you can't make it to the release party at Morris Books, keep your dance card open for Feb. 20th.

Cheers.
J.T. Dockery
http://jtdockery.com/

I should go out and honk the horn; it's Independence Day. Instead, I just pour myself a drink.

2008-07-04T15:08:00.001-07:00

The title of this post is a quote from Tom Waits. The sentiment is mine.

Anywho, ladies & germs, it's the 4th of July. This same day last year I spent the first night in the first house I've owned with my lady, Jessi Fehrenbach. She's off on some sojourn so this year on this particular anniversary/holiday, I find myself alone, spanking my pud, thinking & drinking.

Often, today, my thoughts have turned to my betrothed. Thumbing through a sketchbook that dates from the 2001/2002 era (the general time of the full flowering of our love, baby), I found several studies drawn in graphite of my lady. So this day I choose to pay tribute to the woman of all women in my life by proffering a couple of such artifacts.

And, boys, lemme tell ya: Get yerself a leggy woman. Not only is Miss Kitty Twister stacked up top but down below her legs are long & strong. My gal is red hot; your gal ain't doodley-squat.

A shrine to woman. Mary Magdalene. Hot tamale.

A Weekend's Meditation from Uncle Heraclitus

2008-06-21T05:02:00.000-07:00

As I step forth, one foot at a time, into the weekend, I offer this humble bit of ink and paper and what all. As Jerry Lee Lewis would probably say, "Think about it, darlin'."

What a Difference a Discombobulation Makes

2008-06-19T21:28:00.000-07:00

There's holistic and then there's just holes. I've liked this page from a recent moleskine sketchbook spread. But the elements just didn't seem to warrant a scan as a whole. You got the "cheese" gal, who is sporting the most Dan Clowes-ian mouth I've ever attempted to bestow upon a character.

Then you got this guy above, who seems to be my own personal meditation on decapitation and manifest destiny, if you will.

This arty head, which serves no practical purpose.

And then this guy, I don't even wanna think about too much.

But when you separate these images out and then put 'em back together again, the chemistry seems to coalesce into some kinda sparity as opposed to disparity. I mean, maybe.

Schematics For Today's Man

2008-06-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

These guys seem prepared. Or maybe just self-deluded. There's bio mechanics and then there's the rest of us.

Anger! Guilt! Money! Monsters!

2008-06-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

These are just a few of what I call the "wondrous compulsions." Witness, and smell the gnosis. Or, as Hasil Adkins put it, "Be that chicken."

Rebirth Yourself

2008-06-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

I think about outer-space. Both as a reality, and as a metaphor-like. Sometimes I think about the tv show, Lost in Space, too (or three). When I was a kid, I used to watch it in syndication on Sundays, if I was lucky enough not to have to go to church, that is. "Rebirth yourself," was a phrase I caught from some redneck talking about drug rehabilitation, "You got to rebirth yourself," he said. It can be a fine line between poets of the ages and babbling moe-rons.

The Unabashed Interiority of It All

2008-06-02T15:24:00.000-07:00

Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers did a bang up version of "Goody, Goody." Putamadre is a naughty word in Spanish. Carley provided the vocabulary lesson.

JFK

2008-05-29T08:13:00.000-07:00

I've done betrayed my mission statement. Naw, this ain't from a sketchbook. What it is, is a portrait of JFK for a friend of mine. Or, to be more specific, a friend of mine who is dating an Irish. And that mick's mother back in the old country wanted a picture of Kennedy, emphasizing the assassinated former commander-in-chief's potato eating lineage. I was happy to oblige. Something about the visage of John "Jack" Fitzgerald Kennedy that's beyond iconic. I used to have a Kennedy head pencil sharpener. You'd stick in the pencil in the top of Pres's head, and rotate the skull around the pencil.

Narcotic Lull of William Blake & the 1930s

2008-05-28T11:12:00.000-07:00

My mind often turns to William Blake. He shoulda had his own comic book. Well, he sorta did, didn't he? The list of pre-code 30s pictures was doodled out whilst watching a documentary about pre-code Hollywood. Some of 'em I've seen, a few I haven't, but it's been long enough even for the ones I've seen that I'd like to re-visit 'em. I'm just ones of God's children, like Blake, or Jean Harlow...hey, what the hell does that one guy have on his head anyway?

Cosmic Crusaders and Crackpots

2008-05-23T12:01:00.001-07:00

I had a dream about the guy in the lower right hand corner last night. The sketch already existed, but the dream was, rather, about a comic book character that I based this drawing on, even though the drawing was done months ago. Oh well, who am I to judge or speak authoritatively about what rattles around in my skull? Only that, with the dream of last night, it seems the appropriate note that I should post this today.

The Little Notebook: Unitarians vs. Film Noir

2008-05-21T11:26:00.000-07:00

I got this smaller notebook that I rarely draw in. It's more used for lists of things, reminders, definitions of words, and various things that need not be strictly drawn. It's a handy book to have around when I'm not necessarily carrying around my bag, a sketchbook that's pocket-sized. But sometimes, such as when going to the Unitarian church with my honey, I trail off and do such things as doodle, or, in this case, sketch the early 20th century historical figure from a photo on the day's program book whilst the minister delivered a sermon on early women in the church.

Then, other times, such as this one above, I just gussy up my lists a bit. These are four film noirs I wanted to see but are technically out of print. Since then, I got to see Act of Violence (if anybody out there in tv land hears of the others being easily obtainable, drop me a line). I may run some more tidbits from the little sketch/notebooks in the future. Thanks for tuning in.

Larry

2008-05-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

Another page in which I was beginning to think about character design from the aforementioned Spud Crazy collaboration with Nick Tosches. Nothing like a guy in a bathrobe, a Hindu loin-cloth, and a potato-esque growth on his side to dazzle the crowds.

Apes Speaking, Symbolic Marriage, Ya Know...The Usual

2008-05-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

The ape makes me think of Peter Boyle as Frankenstein's monster in the comedy Young Frankenstein when he makes the intelligent speech after having been transplanted with Dr.Frankenstein's intellect. I don't know what else to tell you. Sometimes I just think about things. Other times the ink pen just tells me what to do. And I speak to you now sans premeditation.

Spiritualism

2008-05-14T22:21:00.000-07:00

Or Mentalism, as you humans sometimes call it. Beyond all poodle hair, I'd be wary of the bald guy with the blade. Take care.

Get a Job

2008-05-12T14:09:00.000-07:00

A sketchbook page that was in preparation for a scene from the adaptation into comics form of author Nick Tosches's Spud Crazy script. We developed a completed fifteen page sample of the proposed graphic novel collaboration that's being shopped around as we speak. If you're a publisher, throw money at us. Lots of it. Beyond that, the strange character who appears in the bottom right of the page in the kilt/Marvin the Martian-esque outfit does not relate to the scene or the other figures in any intentional/linear way. Go, as the ancients would say, figure.

Bongo Party

2008-05-09T11:10:00.000-07:00

One thing leads to another. I can get you from Bongo to Sweet Patooty to UFO in three seconds flat. The creature to me looks like THE CREATURE (as in from the Black Lagoon), but older and smoking a cigar. The Creature's manager, perhaps. As usual in my sketchbook, I'm just talking about the general state of things. I calls 'em, alas, like I sees 'em.

Tricks of the Tirade

2008-05-08T11:12:00.001-07:00

"You're the cop. You figure it out."

Show Business

2008-05-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

If you think it's easy doing one night stands, try playing in a rock n roll band. Some people like Neil Diamond. Me, I'm going to Waffle House.

Stephen Foster in the 21st Century

2008-05-06T07:48:00.000-07:00

The night life of my mind.

Give Me Something To Write On

2008-05-04T15:04:00.001-07:00

From a sketchbook that dates anywhere between four to six years ago, it looks like I hit a run in which I was using pencil, some sort of heavy graphite type deal. These days, I hardly ever draw in sketchbooks with anything other than a technical pen or a dip pen, india ink directly on paper and no under-drawing. What little drawing I do in pencil before inking is for finished comic book pages in which various elements need to be in place before I commit ink to paper. I like the Elephant-Man quality of this character.

EGO ADRENALIN!

2008-05-02T11:37:00.000-07:00

"Ego Adrenalin!" is the phrase I've ascribed to a certain mood/state of being that I enter. In this state, I'm the greatest artist/drummer/lover in the world. I cannot be stopped. I not only encompass all things, I am the master of all things. I pity my lessers. As Lenny Bruce once said, "False humility is the worst form of ego."

The Dry Business of Getting Over It

2008-04-30T11:00:00.000-07:00

"You're a schmuck!" may very well be the correct answer to the central question at the heart of this sketchbook page. Well, I ain't the first schmuck what got his heart caught in his throat. Won't be the last, neither.

High, Dry & Rock Bottom

2008-04-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

There are many here among us who would merely scoff at the invocation of Joe Elliot, circa 1981, or assume implicit some ironic joke in his appearance in a sketchbook of mine. This is not the case, however. For those few who have been initiated into the higher levels of awareness, it is recognized the all-to-brief moment in time when Def Leppard could claim rule over the earth, a claim that was as real and as true as anything can be. Actually, the guitar solo/Rock Bottom/drum solo note at the top of the page was merely a reminder for a song structure for a new cut on the the upcoming Smacks! album. And Joe Elliot, circa '81, just seemed fit to accompany this intent of memory.

Insipid/Landscape

2008-04-23T07:05:00.001-07:00

The word "insipid," emerged as I was sitting around with the sketchbook whilst the old lady was viewing some "reality" type program on the teevee. Then, the guy remarking, "totally without soul," appeared. I am certain he is making his proclamation with a French accent. The sci-fi esque "landscape" grew up from under this for whatever reason, or lack thereof. The fact that the other guy in bottom left foreground looks to me like Robert Evans in life-support gear was not only not intentional, but I try not to think about it too much.

Enoch Light Orchestra

2008-04-22T12:16:00.001-07:00

We built this city on the bones of Cain. It walks. It devours.

Boffo Potato Piss, Gunmetal Stockings, Cocklegs & Cog-Suggers!

2008-04-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

It all seems to hang on "BOFFO!" Like the Who, I can't explain what the little guy is talking about, "warmed over potato piss," nor his relation to the lady behind him. I was simply intending to remember the phrase "Gunmetal Stockings." I don't know particularly what "Cocklegs," are, but, lemme tell ya, brothers & sisters, I knows 'em when I sees 'em. Whether I happen to be dull-witted or not (gack!), I would probably concur that this is all beyond talent. And, we're all probably a bunch of cog-suggers. Good night.

Everybody Loves a "Paradae"

2008-04-19T21:37:00.000-07:00

I can't talk. I can't spell.

Moider in the Furst Degree

2008-04-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

People say I'm the life of the party 'cause I tell a joke or two. Take a good look at one of my sketchbooks, you'll see my cross-hatching looks out of place.

Not Just Hats But That Too

2008-04-17T11:34:00.000-07:00

Last summer or so I spent a few months paying more attention to Magritte, scrutinizing his imagery. For years I had dismissed him unfairly as a one-trick pony, not in the same league as some of the others from the Surrealist era, yet, after some study, my personal perspective has reversed, placing him pretty highly among artistes of any era. I look forward to ripping off this image in an upcoming comic strip.

Start From the Start

2008-04-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

One has to begin somewhere. In this particular instance, this is it. As usual, one leaps into the unknown.