January Jam

Some people might think, "Hey, it's the first thursday of the month, it's time for the comic jam!" They'd be wrong this month. Because the first Thursday lands on New Years Day, we're pushing it off a week to offer our drunk members a chance to consider alcohol a viable option again. So look for our fat assed selves on Thursday, January 8th. Same drunk time (7pm), same drunk station (Demsey's Pub).

Anti-Social Networking

So after long being denied for having the name 'Cheese' I finally got around to joining the social networking nightmare that is Facebook. There is now a Ho12 group there, join up and rock out. Book release dates, deadlines, jams and parties will all be cross posted here and there.

Click here to become socially networked to the House of Twelve.

Spain Rodriguez

Here's a neat little vid I snatched from Heidi over at The Beat, a 2 minute rant about counter-culture from noted undergound scenester Spain Rodriguez. He also talks about his book, CHE: A Graphic Biography. Check it out to the big dog.

Victor Cayro comic

Victor Cayro has posted a new story that was rejected by Vice! magazine, they are retarded. Read it on his Flickr Stream (6 pages, page 6 is posted in the comments on page 5).

Go read it, now. It starts off a little slow, but picks up and by page six it's a motherfucking masterpiece.

MoCCA Moves!

According to Ace MacDonald over at Publishers Weekly's The Beat, the annual MoCCA sow in New York has a new home, the much celebrated 69th Regiment Armory. Swank! I really like the Armory, it's a massive, yet beautiful room with mile-high ceilings and a very chill atmosphere. I am enthused. Look at me being enthused.




In other news, so I come into my office today and find one of my co-workers has received a book for Xmas entitled, Stuff White People Like, based on the website I guess. But I pick it up and open it to any random page and am hit smack in the face with a picture of Ho12 pal and soon to be contributor, Chris "G$" Garrison. Who shared several small apartments with yours truely in the early 90s. Neat!



Ho12 XXX-Mas Party tomorrow night, bitches.

How gay is Cheese?

Oh, very gay.



As you may have noticed, down there on the right of the page you'll notice that my Xbox has it's own blog. Recently the xbox underwent a system upgrade that makes you have these little cartoony game people to represent yourself. This is mine. Allow me to introduce to you, Bowlringer.

In other News

Kevin is rumored to be on the TV this week. Seems G4's Attack of the Show has a comics segment, Fresh Ink, in which Fishtown will be discussed. Sweet. I have been DVRing the show since he got the call last week, thing is, they play the damned thing seven times a day. I had to delete approximately 12 episodes of it last night.

Also

The Ho12 XXX_mas party is this Saturday at Casa de Fromage. If you want in, drop me a line, it should be a good time; food, booze, music, nerds! Dancing in the aisles is not permitted.

Come Meet Santa at the Ho12 Comic Jam

It's that time of year again and as usual, we here at Ho12 Industries are rolling out the welcome wagon for our good pal SANTA! Come sit on Santa's lap and tell him all your dirty little secrets! (no kids) Remember we get our Santa directly from the North Pole Santa Intern Program, while they haven't been vetted for perversion or drug use, they are official representatives of Saint Nick himself.

Bring your pencils, pens, paper and desire for Red Suited boners to:

Jack Demsey's Pub
36 West 33rd Street, in the basement
New York City
Thursday, December 4th - 7 pm

Kevin Colden: Rockstar Tour of Tours

Ho12's own Kevin Colden is doing some classy signings around the Tri-State area over the next few weeks, for his great new G-novel, Fishtown. If you are around, go see him and poke him in the belly.

The Beards of SPX

If you have gone to the Small Press Expo over the last few years you've more the likely noticed the abundance of BEARDOS. As a tribute to the men of SPX, young and impressed with their own puberty, Team 12 went on safari. A Weird Beard Safari. Each of us was tasked with hunting down and capturing the most impressive display of beardism at the show. Here are the results:

First up is Kate Allen's entry, "The Beau"

Note the stringy hair and the 'is that a beard or is it chocolate cake' soul patch, all wonderful, but it's the wispy, curly-cue mustache that really tops off this history honoring beard/mustache combo. 1870, here we come!


Kevin Colden's "Beard on a Wire"


A bold and truly American beard, with a french twist! Part Grizzly Adams, part North American Indie Rocker; this ensemble is as classic as it is beautiful. Since it's inception in the mid 1990's it's become one of several "standard uniforms" for nerds everywhere; this particular variant includes a nod to our E.U. brothers with it's distinctive French Flip on the mustache. Here, Kevin captures the beard at it's most pure, needing no wearer, the beard stands alone.



Cheese with "Science Hair of the Face"



The chaos theory has never been so proven as with this amazing representation of the American Nerd. It's distinctive frizz and texture communicates, "I am comfortable with my face and hair resembling a pile of steel-wool and pipe cleaners." A bold statement, indeed. What truely brings the whole package together here is the addition of the safety goggles. Who hasn't been to a comic book convention and said to themselves, "Y'know, what I really need to bring next year is some safety goggles." BE PREPARED!

Dave McKenna, "Piltdown Man, Alive!"



Nowhere in a the annuls of fashion does it say that one's hair should be symmetrical, in fact some of modern style makers are renown for their off-center daring. Here is a perfect example. What Mom wouldn't be proud of her little angel sporting this inventive and heart-warming combination that screams both, "I am thirty cents from being homeless!," and "I am on discount, Canadian medication!" equally loud and with such conviction. A masterpiece!


Miss Lasko-Gross, "Big Rock Nerdy Mountain"



SPX has it's fare share of fatties, but to tell the truth, compared to other comic book events it's pretty sickly. It is here that a true man of girth can take a stand and shout out with pride, "You're all poseurs!" Such is the case with the above subject. Not only does he outdo the 16th President with his stylish "Lincoln++" chin defining neck-beard, but he subtly lets his preposterous size speak volumes about the state of the geek community. He says, where'd all you hipster bastards come from, take your motherfucking girls and go home. Leave comics to the fat and unwashed, as nature intended!" He is a statesman.


In the car on the way home, the entries were studied, examined for authenticity and voted upon. It was a close race, but in the end, Dave McKenna's "Piltdown Man, Alive!" won the day. Mr. McKenna was awarded a copy of a book I can't remember the title of, but he seemed to enjoy it. Congrats Dave!

We all look forward to next year when we can again go on another WEIRD BEARD SAFARI!

S. Clay Wilson suffers severe brain injury

It seems S. Clay Wilson, famed underground cartoonist from the late 60's and beyond, was either mugged and beaten or fell down too many times on his way home from the bar and now has been diagnosed with severe brain damage.
Wilson was one of the first underground artists I got into, thanks to some early Mtv animated promos (child of the 80's, gimme a break) featuring his Checkered Demon cartoons. He and I share many similar interests: beer, pirates and goatees. Not to mention a belief that sex and violence are a legitimate artistic endeavor. He drew some of the most lurid art of his generation, and while he certainly had his fans, he never gained the prestige of some of his peers. He never became the 'World's greatest living artist' that Crumb is, or achieved the gallery success and artistic legitimacy of Robt. Williams; but he happily ruled his moderate kingdom, content to be surrounded by loved ones, booze and madness. He is in may ways, my hero. I hope he either recovers completely and quickly, or dies just the same way. I raise my glass to him today, Get Well Soon/Vaya con Dios.

Here's my hastily rendered version of his classic Checkered Demon character.



UPDATE

So I posted a mention of the demon doodle on Bruno/Hugo's blog and he challenged me to draw another Wilson character, Ruby the Dyke. Thing is, I can't remember what she looked like, so I did this instead, inspired by S. Clay Wilson.

MATH

I mentioned a while back that I had recently been in an art show, a tribute to Gary Gygax. I recreated a math notebook of a high school student with some totally kick ass D&D drawings in it. I'm eventually gonna get some better scans of the stuff and publish it, but here are some of the drawings. Some are black and white, some are in color. I drew them into an actual notebook and am have trouble balancing the white while keeping the blue lines in. Troublesome. But nonetheless, here they are.

November 2008 Comic Jam

Interesting FACT: If the jams were held in the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans, we'd meet at this Jack Demsey's. They have better onion rings. But alas, we don't live on the bayou, we live in the the big city, so we will have to — at least for the time being — meet at our own JD's. Be sure to bring your pens, pencils and your mom.

Jack Demsey's Pub
next Thursday (Nov. 6th) at 7pm,
36 West 33rd Street, New York City, NY.

BONUS: It's both Dave and I's Birthdays, so bring us gifts.

Some Milk-Teeth mentions

Tom Spurgeon and I haven't always seen eye to eye, but I respect his opinion and his obvious love of comics. Earlier this week he wrote up a nice little review of Kate Allen's Milk-Teeth, which I mentioned before was a big hit for the Ho12 table at SPX this year.

He likes it a lot.


Eric Reynolds from Fantagraphic's FLOG! also mentioned Kate in his SPX report, saying:

At the end of SPX, Kate walked up to me and gave me a very sweet - if slightly creepy (in a good way) - drawing of my baby daughter, which I was extremely touched by! So I was even more pleased when I got home and discovered that I liked her comic [Milk-Teeth].

Kate also has started a new blog of her own, she's got a little SPX report up there now, more to follow I am told.

Check it out to the big dog.


UPDATE: Monday, Nov. 3, 2008

Another well deserved rave for Milk-Teeth from our Canadian pals over at Inkstuds. Bravo!

You can buy Milk-Teeth here.

Miss/Kevin in The Villager

Hey, whattaya know, a post that isn't about monsters!

Local Greenwich Village/L.E.S. newspaper, The Villager, has a write up about longtime Ho12 contributors Miss Lasko-Gross and Kevin Colden. The author has a bit of an obsession with 'Maus' but it's worth a read nonetheless.

Check it out.

PS - In the interest of full disclosure, I am the Art Director of The Villager, and yes, I suggested the guy talk to them.

Yet even more

Zombie Chicks




Having an Aneurism.

Even more scares

POE is apparently afraid of some pretty sissy shit.

Claustrophobia of the feet.



Losing your hands (ok, that one kinda spooks me too)

Another Scare

I asked the poe-news guys what scares them and figured I will draw what they say for a few weeks. Here is my fave one of the day.

"Too Many Teeth."




I liked it so much I did it twice.


Actually this one was first, but looked too much like a bunch of worms or cigarettes.

I got another I really like I have penciled and will ink on Friday maybe.

Monsters!

So I just ruined a large pile of 11x17 paper and am feeling guilty about it.  So it's not a total wash, I am going to do a bunch of monsters on them in a salute to Halloween being around the corner.   Here are the two I did at the office tonight.





These kinda go along with my running theme of late, creatures of darkness. This past summer I worked on a project for an art show in Los Angles at Chris Prynoski's animation studio, Titmouse, Inc. the theme of which was a Tribute to Gary Gygax. My piece was a recreated notebook from a High School junior, complete with cribbed calculus notes and about a dozen or so highly rendered pencil drawings of monsters and mayhem. It turned out really well and more then likely you will see it in print before MoCCA 2009.

Cheese

Comic Book Fight Club

To say the end of last night's comic jam was exciting would be appropriate.

So there we were, minding our business, jamming along, having a gay ole' time when this little Irish dude comes down into our room and takes a seat at one of the empty tables.  Not an uncommon occurrence in Demsey's. There are often wandering drunks exploring the catacombs of the building, it's part of it's charm; Dungeons & Drunks.  So, Little Mick the Drunk Elf comes down and plants himself there for a few minutes alone.  Soon enough he is joined by a rather large pal.  At first they seemed friendly enough, whispering softly to each other.  When they first grappled, it seemed like a brotherly embrace, then the big guy took Little Mick's head and bashed it into the bar, causing about a pint of blood to spurt out.  They continued to throw each other around for another minute as I ordered everyone to clear out (telling dashing Dave McKenna to get the bartender).  Little Mick kept up a decent fight for a minute or two until the other guy picked him up and dropped him on his head, he was out like a light after that.  As his eyes rolled back into his head, blood began to spread on the floor.

By the time the bartender came down I was kneeling over Mick, making sure he was alive and the big guy was charging for the door, I told the Bartender to to grab the guy, and he seemed to go after him, but he came back empty handed.  Evan was on the phone with 911, but they kept getting the address wrong.  They still hadn't arrived when we split. 

Mick came around a minute later and walked off to the bar and from last I had heard they were serving him another drink. We paid up and cleared out pretty quick after that. 

It was a red stained exclamation point to a pretty decent night of comic bookery.  

SPX 2008

We had a pretty decent year at the Small Press Expo this year, we got a decent amount of attention, some nice sales numbers and drank more booze then anyone else there, again. 

We got in early on Friday evening, met up with a few pals, had a few drinks and moseyed over the the most average diner on earth for a completely adequate dinner.  Then we went back to Rafer Roberts room and drank a case of beer before going down to the main bar and mingling with the rest of the early arrivals. It was a nice way to slip into the weekend, very relaxing.  

The big news of the show was the reaction to Kate Allen's Milk-Teeth, it was an off the rack seller.  We kept putting them out on the table and half an hour later they'd be gone, it was really fun to watch.  Kate was also inundated with drawing requests, my personal favorite being two guys that saw a doodle she did with a sexy girl and a corn dog and they HAD TO HAVE personalized drawings of some sort of corn dog persuasion in their sketch books.  Classy.  At least she made a few bucks outta them.   She ended up getting more then a few publishers sniffing around, I fully expect her to be snatched up by one of them fairly soon.  I am becoming the Kevin Smith of comics.  If Miss and Kevin are my Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, then maybe Kate is my Jason Lee, but without all that creepy Scientologist weirdness. So be it, as long as they continue to come back and do my shitty books, who am I to complain?  

Anyways, Saturday night was our annual victory dance at Athenian Plaka (the best greek food I've ever had) we rushed back to see the Ignatz Awards, a chocolate fountain and the return of the drag-cheerleader.  Not to mention more mingling, more drinking and more late nights smoking out the windows. 

Sunday was a bust.  A much as Saturday was great, Sunday sucked.  The attendance was half of what it was on Saturday.  The drop off was astounding.  It was like being at a convention the day after it closed. OK, maybe not that bad, but pretty awful nonetheless. We pulled up stakes and hit the highway as soon as we could and cruised home at 80 the whole way, dropping everyone off in town around 10 pm, safe and sound.  

So with another successful year behind us we look forward to the next show, most likely Tcaf in Toronto next Spring (May 9-10, 2009).   

I got a few nice things, and some real stinkers.  I did miss out on what looked like the most awful thing there, there were these guys in the corner who were greeting folks with, "Hello, welcome to the Action Comics Unlimited Outpost!" and were hocking some really choice superhero books — and by choice, I mean holyshitbad.  Team 12 Man-at-Arms Dave McKenna searched out the only two legitimately porn comics at the show, both were pretty nice, although one was a little too cutesy for me. Kate found a really nifty mini from the guys who do Strange Detective Tales (one of my secret faves from last year) about a alien invasion, with nudity!  I'll do a full rundown later, over the weekend most likely.  Shit, it's time to get ready for the Jam, see you there.

Cheese

Get Drunk, Draw Comics

House of Twelve Comic Jam this Thursday

Fresh back from our trip to beautiful Rockville, MD and the awesome Small Press Expo Team 12 invites you — one and all — to our monthly Ho12 Comic Jam.  Join New York's finest young purveyors of dick and fart jokes as we get drunk and draw comics.  All are welcome, but be sure to bring your pencils, paper and thirst for excitement, booze.  

Come on out and say hello, 

Thursday, October 9, 7 pm

Jack Demsey's Pub

36 West 33rd st., NYC

In the basement

7 pm - 11ish

What is a "comic jam" anyway?  

At it's base, a comic jam is when a group of artists get together and draw a single story.  Formats vary between various jams and groups, ours tend to stick to this standard system: One person draws a single panel that sets the setting and characters, then the page is passed to the next person who draws the second panel, they then pass it to another and the process continues.  THis goes on until A) someone makes the perfect gag for the situation, B) it runs out of steam, C) it is put out of its misery for just being too goddamn awful.  

The original San Francisco Undergrounds did many comic jams, and not unlike our own, they are drunken messes involving numerous references to male genitalia and farts.  We feel that the tradition of drunk cartoonists should be carried on and passed down to the youth of tomorrow.  "Booze, Comics, Loneliness!"  This is the cartoonists creed. 

The Ho12 Comic Jams have been going strong since 2001 and have been a great place for New York's up and coming artists to cross pens with some of the best and brightest in the community.  Many of our regulars are regular contributors to not only the House of Twelve titles, but have been published by some of the best alternative publishers around, come on out and shake hands with the best.