Giant Robot Store and GR2 News

While many of this year’s Comic-Con attendees geeked out on The Walking Dead, Dr. Who, and superhero movie panels, I was foaming at the mouth over Drawn & Quarterly‘s advance release of the Reggie 12 anthology. Each time an issue of Giant Robot was about to hit the presses, I’d get in touch with Brian Ralph to ask him about the back-page strip and he’d always respond that it would be ready soon. I’m pretty sure that he’d start cranking on it right after getting off the phone or closing his email browser.

It was a real honor to have Reggie 12 in Giant Robot. It was also a perfect fit, as well, with Brian’s punk rock background (Fort Thunder), indie publishing past (Highwater Books), and use of vintage manga and robot toy themes (from Mighty Atom to UFO Dai Apolon). Talk about a love connection.

Seeing the strips blown up from magazine size and stock to news digest dimensions with eye-popping two-color is a real treat and, even better, Brian will be hitting the road to promote the book. To help promote both, I hit up my friend (and Professor of Sequential Art at the Savannah College of Art and Design) with some questions. He not only provided informative, funny answers but has given a never-before-seen peek into the conceptual sketches. Hot damn!

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While many of this year’s Comic-Con attendees geeked out on The Walking Dead, Dr. Who, and superhero movie panels, I was foaming at the mouth over Drawn & Quarterly‘s advance release of the Reggie 12 anthology. Each time an issue of Giant Robot was about to hit the presses, I’d get in touch with Brian Ralph to ask him about the back-page strip and he’d always respond that it would be ready soon. I’m pretty sure that he’d start cranking on it right after getting off the phone or closing his email browser.

It was a real honor to have Reggie 12 in Giant Robot. It was also a perfect fit, as well, with Brian’s punk rock background (Fort Thunder), indie publishing past (Highwater Books), and use of vintage manga and robot toy themes (from Mighty Atom to UFO Dai Apolon). Talk about a love connection.

Seeing the strips blown up from magazine size and stock to news digest dimensions with eye-popping two-color is a real treat and, even better, Brian will be hitting the road to promote the book. To help promote both, I hit up my friend (and Professor of Sequential Art at the Savannah College of Art and Design) with some questions. He not only provided informative, funny answers but has given a never-before-seen peek into the conceptual sketches. Hot damn!

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I went to Comic-Con and actually came back with comic books. Go figure! Above, Congressman John Lewis with his graphic novel debut. Below, some reviews.

Brian Ralph, Reggie-12
Giant Robot readers who lovingly recall the two-color strip that owned the back page for years should be stoked about this. I know I am. With jumbo proportions and a very cool spot-UV job on the cover that has to be seen to be believed, this deluxe collection makes the strips look better than they ever did in the magazine. Bigger, bolder, and run side-by-side, the craftsmanship and storytelling are revealed to be every bit as masterful as the strips that inspired them–Felix, Atom, Nancy. Essential not only for fans of vintage manga but classic comic strips in general. [Drawn and Quarterly]

John Stanley, Nancy
I was already familiar with (and smitten by) Ernie Bushmiller’s strips via the Kitchen Sink reprints, and these stories from the Dell comic books are similarly essential. The four-color reprint gloriously captures the Little Lulu writer’s take on Nancy from 1957 through 1958, and is loaded with surrealism, class consciousness, and classic storytelling. Can be read by children and dissected by art majors with equal enjoyment and gusto. [Drawn and Quarterly]

Shigeru Mizuki, Kitaro
For EC Comics freaks and Takashi Miike junkies alike, this is the holy grail of Japanese horror comics and it is finally being made available to the mass market. Somewhere between The Addams Family and The Twilight Zone in character and tone, the classic manga series which began running in 1959 follows a one-eyed monster boy and his equally whimsical and monstrous yokai friends. Too creepy, fun, and culturally pervasive for words. Just go get it already. [Drawn and Quarterly]

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I went to Comic-Con and actually came back with comic books. Go figure! Above, Congressman John Lewis with his graphic novel debut. Below, some reviews.

Brian Ralph, Reggie-12
Giant Robot readers who lovingly recall the two-color strip that owned the back page for years should be stoked about this. I know I am. With jumbo proportions and a very cool spot-UV job on the cover that has to be seen to be believed, this deluxe collection makes the strips look better than they ever did in the magazine. Bigger, bolder, and run side-by-side, the craftsmanship and storytelling are revealed to be every bit as masterful as the strips that inspired them–Felix, Atom, Nancy. Essential not only for fans of vintage manga but classic comic strips in general. [Drawn and Quarterly]

John Stanley, Nancy
I was already familiar with (and smitten by) Ernie Bushmiller’s strips via the Kitchen Sink reprints, and these stories from the Dell comic books are similarly essential. The four-color reprint gloriously captures the Little Lulu writer’s take on Nancy from 1957 through 1958, and is loaded with surrealism, class consciousness, and classic storytelling. Can be read by children and dissected by art majors with equal enjoyment and gusto. [Drawn and Quarterly]

Shigeru Mizuki, Kitaro
For EC Comics freaks and Takashi Miike junkies alike, this is the holy grail of Japanese horror comics and it is finally being made available to the mass market. Somewhere between The Addams Family and The Twilight Zone in character and tone, the classic manga series which began running in 1959 follows a one-eyed monster boy and his equally whimsical and monstrous yokai friends. Too creepy, fun, and culturally pervasive for words. Just go get it already. [Drawn and Quarterly]

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This isn’t a Top Ten list like “Best Concert, Best Movie, or Best Toy”. It’s a list that’s as important and there are highlights in them all, but by no means is it a Top Ten of anything. They’re just important as everything else – family, friends, and so on. Maybe I’ll try and turn out a list that’s more like that…

 

 We painted the mural on the wall. That alone was an 11 hour project. 

 

Zen Garage – The year started off great with the Zen Garage art opening just a few days before the new year. Yet, the actual New Year’s Day kicked off with the Oshogatsu program at JANM. It was motor vehicles including the Giant Robot Scion Car I designed but also custom motorcycles and the now vintage David Choe Scion. Thanks to Len Higa and Shinya Kimura for jumping on board. The year began with a GR show in a museum – it’s a great start with you get to do a project with friends, new friends, and a place like JANM. Collaboration can be more fun than doing something alone.

 

 It’s great when artists install their own work. 

 

James Jean Art Show – Aside from it being one of the greater or even greatest art shows of the year, it also indelibly marked the night that the earthquake struck Japan. I recall, it was at the after party, the twitter messages were beginning. An 8.9 quake? The thought of a giant quake was one thing, yes there would be lives lost and yes a lot of damage, but less than an hour later, the Tsunami hit the shores and that’s when the things got real, it became internet news for days straight.

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