September 30 - Try to
remember the kind of September... It's been such an
odd month for me. I've had dramtic changes in my life over the last thirty
days, some by my own choice, some not. We here at WOMP H.Q. have had some
highs, a couple of extreme lows, and so many questions, questions,
questions. In other words, a typical September. But the balance
seems to be slightly more toward the negative than usual. I told The Staff
today that I was "ready for some good news." Not that anything has been
too unbearable, but I just feel like I need to have some bonafide positive thing
happen. Soon. Oh, well...at least I still have my health.
Speaking of which, I had better get some healthy doses of sleep tonight, because
it's going to be a whirlwind of work and activity over the next seven days or
so. If September has been marked by change and questions, October promises
stability and answers...so I wanna be fresh for that! See ya on the
flip-side. Now, here is your final, and obvious,
Comic Book Sound Effect Of The Day - WOMP!
September 29 - Ugh. Another
night of unmet goals. HAD I posted an entry on time, it would have
included my personal favorite
Comic Book Sound Effect Of The Day - SMEK!
September 28 - It's not because of
some big dramatic change (see the last two nights' references to "nothing big"),
but, after a long conversation with The WOMP Staff, we've decided that this
FallCon, October 7-8, will probably be WOMP's last comic book convention...at
least for the foreseeable future. I can't tell you how much this both
shocks and saddens me, but I also think that it is appropriate. As I see
it, there are four reasons to go through the trouble of setting up at a show
that is hundreds of miles away from home: 1)
To sell stuff. Last year, we sold
under thirty dollars worth of Monkey and/or other stuff, twenty bucks of which
went to a single collector. I really don't have a lot of product, and what
I do have is now so old that it's walking with a cane and yelling at kids to
stay off of the yard. This year, I will have the
Ozianas to sell, but not
many...definitely not enough to warrant the kind of work and expense we spend on
just attending the show each year. 2) To buy
stuff. Although I have purchased a few comic books recently, after
years of a virtual comics drought, I really have ceased actively
collecting. When I attend a show as "WOMP," I am too busy to buy anything
anyway. When I've attended a show as "me," I mostly wanted to see a couple
of friends. Buying stuff was, at best, an afterthought. 3) To
promote myself. I suck at that.
Always have, always will. For twenty-five years (!!!), I've attended
comics cons with an unrealistic expectation that I will somehow either get
instantly better at self-promotion, or, even more delusionally, that I will
somehow, someway, attract editorial or publisher interest by my very
presence. Yeah...I know, and have always known, that this is about as
likely as flying monkeys, but, with a personality
which does not allow for anything else, it's all I have. 4) To
have fun. And I usually do have fun. Even at the dramatically
slow and unusual Rochester convention years ago (where guests actually
outnumbered the two-day attendee total), or the well-attended, but completely
off-topic MarsCon (where I had to convince people that comic books in
general were interesting...then try to convince them to buy mine).
I enjoy talking to all of the geeks, comics pros, legends, little
kids....whoever I come across. I've made some good friends through these
shows, and, for that reason alone, I don't regret any convention of the
past...but...hmm. But it's just on the edge of being worth the required
expense...and time...and travel...and work...and exhaustion...and often
crippling humiliation felt when comparing my perceived level of professional
competence with cold, hard reality...ugh. I just don't know.
IF...and it's a big IF...IF we do go to comics shows
in the future, it will be principally because we...I...want to see some of my
friends again. Even at that, one or more of the other reasons to attend
would have to be met as well. Maybe if we had a complementary hotel room,
or I had actual stuff to sell (that actually sold), or something. I hate to say it, but
something would have to change...and that something is most likely me. Gulp!
Sooo...what does this all mean for
you? Well, in the immediate future, it will mean that Monkey T-shirts and
such will be VERY CHEAP at this year's FallCon (I haven't decided on exact
prices yet, but I'm leaning toward a $5.00 top end). It also means that I
really hope to see you if you
attend. It does NOT mean that I
expect, or even want, any Official Friends of
WOMP to try to change my mind by spending excessive amounts of money
at the WOMP table. I don't know if anyone would actually go through this
kind of trouble for me, and I don't ever want to know. Please don't do
it. Besides, the sales up-tick would have to be in the hundreds of dollars
(a minimum just to cover expenses). Other than that, this personally
monumental decision probably has little effect on anyone else. And that,
ultimately, may be the most compelling reason to end my "career" of comics
convention attendance. Here is your Comic Book Sound Effect
Of The Day - CREEEEK!
September 27 - Still in a
crossroadesque mood. I had the day off from the dread "real" job, so I had
plans to get all sorts of things done...and I did get some
small projects completed, but not anything significant (nothing big?). I
guess I've been trying not to think about what I've been trying not to think
about. Or something like that. My feeling is that, at least for one
more year, I'm going to just follow through with normal convention
planning. Speaking of which, I suppose I should get back to it.
Here's your old-school Comic Book Sound Effect
Of The Day - BAM!
September 26 - Hello. Howzit
goin' tonight? That's cool...I'm glad to hear you're doing well.
Me? Oh, I don't know. I'm having one of those crossroady type days,
I guess. Seems like every other day is a crossroads of sorts these
days. Today...well...it was nothing big. In fact, it's been my
experience that most figurative forks in the road are as small and common as,
well, forks. Of course there are the obvious Big Decisions (college major,
marriage proposal, retirement plan, cemetery plot), but, between those, there
are the millions and millions of little choices that, in truth, have more of an
effect on the course of our lives, and our enjoyment or dislike thereof.
Now that I think of it, all four of the Big Decision examples I gave above are
quite often subject to reversals of opinion, based on accumulations of those
millions of little choices. Today, then, I guess I just became slightly
more aware of the possible import of the little choices that came my way.
And, like I said, nothing big happened. Hmm...let me try to boil it down
for you. Basically, as I sat in front of my temporarily empty desktop, I
decided to jot a few notes about what I'd like to accomplish in preparation for
the FallCon in St. Paul two weekends from now. Nothing big. I like
to give away stuff at comics shows, so I wrote "candy," "bookmarks," and
mini-comics" on a square of cardstock. But what mini-comics? I
really don't have the time between now and then to work up an entire comic book,
even an eight page mini-mini, so I thought about putting together a second issue
of Tales From The WOMP-Blog. Last
year, I cut-and-pasted the first issue from the story of Broken Robot that first
saw "print" here. I found the original drawing that had inspired my story,
and added that to the otherwise entirely prose content. I also drew a
brand new piece to be used as the cover. The whole thing was completed in
about two days, from concept to printing. It was pretty easy, and the
final result was sufficient enough. Nothing big. As I perused some
of the other little stories I've posted, I was haunted by a squeaky little voice
in my head (one of a growing, discordant chorus) that kept asking "Why?" I
ignored it for a bit, but, eventually, I had to legitimately ask myself "Why am
I doing this?" In the past, it made sense...sort of. To sell Monkey
comics, I'd offer free "samples" of what was inside. Now, though, it's
been years since I've had the money (and blissful ignorance) required to
self-publish, so I've really been advertising back issues of comics that,
frankly, most regular attendees at the FallCon have seen, bought, or decided
against many years ago. I mentally cleared this hurdle by framing the act
of giving away stuff as part of an overall plan to keep my name, and characters,
in front of the public eye while I've been in this decade-long limbo. Sort
of like advertising me by advertising my stuff. The products being traded
may have been comics and T-shirts, but the sales goal was to promote me and my
services (very egotistical, eh?). In this way, the giveaways became
"business cards" of sorts. And that worked, on a small scale, as I did get
some business from doing
that. But, (say it with me...) nothing big. Most recently, I've
begun to imagine that, while all past sales-models may still hold as true, or
erroneous, as they did when I actively assumed they were proper and productive,
my giveaway campaigns have taken on an attitude somewhere between "customer
appreciation" and "sad desperation." So, why am I doing it? And
there, in a nutshell, is today's
crossroad. Until now, I haven't had much time to think about it again (an
extra-long stint at the Dorky "real" job crushed any chance of that), so I still
don't know what I'll do. Worse, the decisions I make may (must?) apply to
many other areas of my comics convention planning...and attendance? Like
any crossroads, the path I do take may have repercussions that change a lot more
than just what, if anything, I might give away. And that may be big. We'll
see. Here, from the immortal Don Martin, is your Comic
Book Sound Effect Of The Day - ZORP!
September 25 - Yeah...another day of
running myself ragged. On top of some artwork stuff, Fallfire legwork,
sending and/or replying to multiple e-mail messages, adding an image-laden new
page to the WOMP-Site (it's a second page of WOMP avatars, seen by clicking
HERE!), cleaning the garage, and
the usual business of living...yes, on TOP of all of that, The WOMP Staff and I
went for a seven mile hike through the woods!
ACK! What were we thinking? Now, every wimpy muscle in my fat body
is voicing extreme displeasure with the stresses of the day. Just to sit
in a stiff-backed chair, here in front of the mighty WOMPuter, has become so
painful that I think I'm going to wimp out of any further blogging for the
night. Ugh! Here, though, is your Comic Book Sound Effect
Of The Day - KA-THUNK!
September 24 - Hey there. We are
doing much better already this evening. We're sad, yes, but have found
that the passing of our cat, Danny, two years ago has helped us cope with our
most recent loss. So, let me change gears a bit. I told you that I
had news that I wanted to tell you. First, thanks to O.F.O.WOMP Brent
Frankenhoff, vice-chancellor of the
venerable Comics Buyer's Guide, there is a
Fallfire
3 news-snippet on CBGXtra.com! Check
it out by clicking HERE. Thank you,
Brent! Next, while I'm providing links, check out this listing for
Dark Becoming, a brand-spanking new book by
fellow Official Friend of WOMP, Marcus Mebes!
Neat! Maybe I'll be able to convince MM to give us a sneak preview (hint,
hint). Lastly, please take a look at The WOMP Character of The
Week, The Dealer, by
clicking HERE! Anyhoo, I think that
will suffice for tonight. I'm very tired, and I have a LOT to do
tomorrow. Since I sort of skipped the Comic Book Sound Effect
Of The Day feature for the 23rd's entry,
I'll double up tonight's. Here, then, are your Comic
Book Sound Effects Of The Day - CLINK and
CLUNK!
September "23" - It's actually well into
the 24th as I write this. We had a very tough night here at WOMP H.Q., as
another one of our pets, Floppsy, passed away after an extremely brief
illness. Floppsy, a lop-eared black rabbit, had been a part of our family
for eight years, which is a pretty long time by bunny standards. He was
sometimes bucky, often grouchy, but very sweet and gentle at the same
time. When our cat Charlotte joined the family, she and Floppsy became
fast friends. They would play with each other, cuddle with each other, and
chase each other all around the house. Last night, still less than 12
hours ago, I noticed that Flopps was listing to one side, and was moving
strangely. Even though the hour was late, I called our veterinarian for
advice. In that short period I was talking to her, his condition worsened
dramatically, and it became obvious that he was having a severe medical
problem. She offered what little help she could over the phone, but both
her prognosis, and my gut feeling, were not good. I stayed with him
through the night, comforting him as best I could. At about 9:00 this
morning, he took his last breath, leaned over onto his side, and passed
away. Charlotte, who also stayed right by Floppsy's side throughout the
night, actually gave her playmate's forehead a little kiss goodbye. I had
the time to prepare myself for Floppsy's passing, but that little gesture broke
me down into a sobbing mess. I'm better now, but I'm sure that the images
of these last few hours will haunt me for some time. Thank you for putting
up with me through this. It's all a little more personal, perhaps, than
should be posted on a blog (rather than in a diary), but I felt like I had to
talk about it. I do have stuff to tell you, but I guess it can wait until
tonight's entry. See ya then.
September 22 - Well, I think I'm
set. Although I will continue to post updates and work behind the scenes,
it looks like Fallfire 3 is up and going! The
www.fallfire.org site is set (for now), my
first co-sponsor is on board, and I have meetings set up with other potential
co-sponsors (some very positive
prospects). Now I just have to concentrate on getting artists to submit
entries. I'm going to try talking to high school students again, but I'm
going to focus on dealing with English teachers and music directors. I've
had absolutely NO help from art teachers at the high school level. I don't
know why, but they treat me with skepticism at best, if not outright
contempt. Maybe I pose some sort of threat to them...which is pretty funny
if true. I mean, I'm Dorkus McHackcrapp, famous for not being
famous. Unless you are an unguarded donut, I'm no threat to anyone.
Still, intimidation isn't always about reality, but about perception. I am
pretty grotesque, so I suppose I have the "Back, monster,
BACK" thing going for me. I first realized it when visiting New
York City during my college days. My friend Joey, a New Yoika
through-and-through, explained that I'd be left alone by most people who prey
upon the innocent because I appeared to be big
and threatening. This still causes laughter to creep out of me (one of
many creepy things I do), but he was dead serious...and correct. I never
had a problem with anyone in the City...but, back in sleepy little Dover, NJ, I
was nearly mugged because I was
limping from a stubbed toe. I escaped the confrontation, but only
barely. Weakness is like a magnet for people who wish to do harm.
Sometimes, just the illusion of strength is enough to protect you, but it can
intimidate as well, can't it? Oh, well...whatever. For tonight, I
think I'm going to turn in early for a change (pre-3:00AM). Here's your
famous Comic
Book Sound Effect Of The Day - THWIP!
September 21 - Yep, you guessed
it. I'm so swamped with last-second Fallfire stuff that
I really can't post anything other than your Comic Book Sound Effect
Of The Day - WHACK!
September 20 - A little better
tonight...although it's now 6:00AM, and I'm nearly comatose after a LONG
day. Before I forget, Fallfire does now have
its own site, www.fallfire.org. There's not a lot
there right now, but I'll add to it each day for the next week or so, then
intermittently until the contest ends. I managed to get press releases
distributed, along with images and files of the top two finalists from
2005. Here is the text of that release:
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
THIRD ANNUAL “FALLFIRE” ART CONTEST
BEGINS
September 20,
2006/Prairie du Chien - Cartoonist John Mundt, Esquire, of Prairie du Chien, is
hosting the Third Annual “FALLFIRE” Art Contest now through October. Open
to artists of any age, an in all mediums, FALLFIRE 3 is now accepting
submissions.
Inspired by the sights
and sounds of Autumn, Mundt, an illustrator for The International Wizard of Oz
Club, founded the contest in 2004 to challenge artists to “flex their creative
muscles.” Participants are asked to create a work inspired by the word
“Fallfire.” Says Mundt, “Fall always puts me in a very creative mood. I
hope to share that feeling with this creativity-inducing exercise.“ Last
year’s Runner-Up winner, Derek J. Anderson, a teacher and musician from
Minnesota, submitted a song called FALLFIRE. Grand Prize
winner, David B. Crady, of St. Paul, Minnesota, won with a poem-and-collage work
entitled Autumn is Burning. Honorable Mention
awards went to Debra Boss, Janessa Griffith, Donna Horsfield, Brian Payne, and
Jake Stephens, for works ranging from photography and poetry to drawings and
digital art. This year, as in 2005, contestants are asked to submit their
entries on-line or through the mail before midnight, October 31. Official
rules, a list of prizes, and some of last year’s entries can also be found at
www.fallfire.org.
Submissions, and requests
for more information, can be e-mailed to fallfire@johnmundtesquire.com, or mailed to
Fallfire 3, 1411 South 14th Street, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
53821-2835. Although there will be gold, red, and blue ribbons, as well as
monetary prizes, awarded, Mundt adds “They will be just tokens anyway, as the
true reward will be the work itself. No, really...I'm serious! Just enjoying the
effort should be a prize in itself!” Winners will be announced and
notified on November 7.
I'm fairly happy with the release, but I'm pretty uncomfortable
with the "illustrator for Oz blah blah" line, suggested by The WOMP Staff.
It sounds like I'm bragging (which I don't want to convey...or do), and my
connections with the Oz Club are still in a nascent stage at best. Oh,
well...The Staff is right; I needed to say something about who I was, so it
might as well be about my Oz related work. Also, although I don't mention
it on the Fallfire site yet, I have one actual co-sponsor on board (Picture
This, a photo finishing business), and I'll be hitting the bricks tomorrow...er,
I mean later today...to line up at least one more before I publicly announce
that aspect of the contest. My big Fallfire project for the day, however,
will be finalizing the wording of the rules, then posting them. In other
news, I have heard from my Mole Day people, so it looks like I'll be working on
that again over the next week or so. Also, I got a copy of Make
Mine Monsters magazine #2 in today's mail
from Official Friend of WOMP Jim Main. That's the
issue with the first (and only, so far) episode of my Dorksters comic strip! I hope to
get back on track with that, too. Along those lines, I found a wonderful
web-posting from a artist discussing the 17 lessons learned in the 17 years she
has been working as a freelance illustrator. I don't know what the
etiquette is regarding posting someone else's stuff, so I'll just provide you
with this link to artist Megan Jeffery's site! It's great advice,
especially coming from someone with such wonderful talent and success.
That, though, may be the last bit of news that I can talk about for
tonight/today. I'm really feeling the call of the Sandman right now, so
I'd better wrap this up with your Comic Book Sound Effect
Of The Day - CRASH!
September 19 - As predicted, I'm awash
in Fallfire 3 prep. So much more to
do...UGH! I'll never be ready in time! Please forgive a second night
of nothing but your Comic Book Sound Effect
Of The Day - CRUNCH!
September 18 - SO BUSY with Fallfire 3 preparations! This is a
lot more work than I remember. Maybe I'll post a real entry tomorrow, but
it looks doubtful. Well, here, I guess, is your Comic
Book Sound Effect Of The Day - TINK!
September 17 - Hey, everyWOMP.
I've had quite the crummy day. I won't bore you with the pathetic details,
but suffice to say that the day's crumminess stemmed from being called in to the
dread "real" job for a full shift on what was supposed to be my day off.
@#%&*@! The heart of my day was eaten. I'd planned to watch a
little football (although the Packers lost again...so, well, no big
inconvenience there, I guess), watch the NASCAR race, go to the area Art Fair,
see friends and family, and get a lot of the leg/paperwork done for Fallfire
3. Instead, I got up, was called in, went to work, later bought a few
groceries, came home, put away said groceries, and promptly fell asleep.
I've woken up, at 6:00AM, to find that I've lost a day, my friends and family
hate me, and my Norton Anti-Virus has expired. So, as I struggle to figure
out whether I should go back to bed or try to get work done, while I also wait
as a new Anti-Virus downloads, I thought I'd take a moment to spread some
sunshine into your life! Oh, well...I guess I still have my health (The
WOMP Staff has some sort of flu or cold, so it's only a matter of time before
I'm socked too). Before I go, though, I wanted to point out that I
remembered to post a new WOMP Character of
The Week on the WOMP-Site's main
page. If you want to look at it, click HERE. For now, here is your
Comic Book Sound Effect Of The Day - BOOM!
September 16 - Hello! I've got a
question for you; is something I lost over twenty years ago still considered to
be mine? You've all heard stories about a vintage class ring found in a
sewer pipe, or old letters discovered in a wall, which were then returned to
their rightful owners, decades after they were lost. After so many years,
though, who owns that stuff? I ask because I have lost a few things of
value to me over the years, and, because of the circumstances surrounding their
disappearance, I have reason to believe that they still exist out there in some
form. Let's see...beyond the numerous comics and toys from my childhood
which somehow found their way out of my room, there was a humorous fake
newspaper, supposedly from pre-volcanic destruction Pompeii, that I created for
a High School Latin Class assignment. After it had been graded (A+), it
vanished into thin air between the teacher's desk and my hands. About a
decade or so later, I had a small portfolio, filled with proof sheets from the
first World of Monkey trading cards, disappear as I was loading my car after the
Chicago Comicon. I was in a parking garage, and I'd momentarily placed it
near my rear bumper while I loaded the car...a bumper which was easily
accessible to someone from the other side of the little cement barricade.
The most painful example, though, would have to be my sketchbook from my last
days at The Joe Kubert School. As I realized that I was leaving, I
actually asked my friends, classmates, and teachers for some little drawings in
my school-issued black hardcover sketchbook. Some contributors knew that I
was thinking of leaving, some did not. I was hoping for a little
smiley-face-quality sketch and an autograph from everyone, but what I got was so
much more! Students, and some teachers, drew amazing studies of characters
from Batman to my creations, like Vladic and John Woe. Friends filled
pages with beautiful and funny artwork about how dorky I was (am) and how much
they were going to miss me. Some of my teachers, who knew I was on my way
out, even drew hilarious, and dead-on, caricatures of ME! The book was
literally filled, cover to cover, with wonderful, warm, moving, personal artwork from some of the
greatest cartoonists on Earth. As I escaped...er, I mean left for
Wisconsin, I packed the sketchbook into an outside pocket of my large,
soft-sided suitcase. I threw everything I had into a cab, and was off to
the train station. At the station, as the cab rolled away, I realized that
the sketchbook was missing! Either it had popped out of the snap-latched
pocket when it was stuffed into the cab's trunk, or the cabby had stolen it when
he helped me unload the stuff. Either way, it was in that cab. I had
time, before my train, to call the cab company to ask that the book, when found,
be sent to the address (now WOMP H.Q.) printed on the inside front cover.
That still hasn't happened, and it's almost 22 years later. Recently, I
was asked what the most prized item in my comics collection was. Without
hesitation, I said that it was my Kubert School sketchbook...although it has
been temporarily misplaced. That begs the question, of course, as to
whether it's still even mine. Spiritually, it's
mine. I mean, it's even about me.
Realistically, though, if it still exists, it has been someone else's for more
than half of my life. I've come to accept this loss, as well as those of
the Pompeii Today newspaper and the portfolio of Monkey cards, as odd
compliments. I mean, if you steal something like that, and keep it, it
must mean that it is pretty cool, right? Besides, I still have my
memories...for now. I guess that's enough. Sigh. Well, here's
your famous Comic
Book Sound Effect Of The Day - BAMF!
September 15 - Ah-ha! There have
been some very positive, and VERY late developments in my attempts to expand
Fallfire 2006 before I launch it in a few
days. It's still so up-in-the-air that I may have to start the contest,
then announce additional sponsors and such as time rolls on. Tonight,
though, just for you WOMP-Blog readers, I'll pass along some of the "behind the
scenes" Fallfire stuff so you can have a
"heads up" before the rest of the world;
1) The contest will be announced on the 20th of this month, opened
on the 22nd, and ended on October 31st.
2) Winners will be announced on November 7th.
3) While there will still be First Place and Second Place awards,
the Honorable Mention Awards will be more specific, each one also being
sponsored by someone else. For example, there may be an award for best
young artist's entry, which would be sponsored by a kids' clothing and toy
store. Not only will this bring some much needed funds to the Fallfire effort, it will (hopefully)
help attract artists to the contest. Best of all, because of this
specificity, it may be possible for a single artist's work to garner more than
one award.
4) There will be more formal entry forms than in the past (mostly
because I didn't have addresses for some of
the contestants last year!).
5) I'll reveal a little more of how things are "judged."
Basically, though, it can be summed up with the phrase "50% spontaneity, 25%
fall/fire, 25% artistry." There's more to it than that, but I'm really
looking for works which were created for the
contest. Because of this, entries will have to have been created within
the year before Fallfire
2006 ends (in other words, between November 1, 2005, and October 31,
2006). For this transitional year (between "created at any time" and "new
stuff only" requirements), any entry will
be eligible for the Honorable Mention Awards, but the top two awards will
only go to new works.
6) There will be a small panel of judges, with me retaining the
final decisions...at least for this year. I'm pretty good with helping
come to a consensus anyway, but, at least for one more year, I reserve the right
to over-ride, arbitrate, or ignore any other advice. The Honorable
Mentions will be judged by the sponsors, with my input...but, again for perhaps
no more than for one more year.
7) I haven't officially asked
anyone to help judge this year (although I have mentioned
it to a few O.F.O.WOMPs). You, dear WOMP-Blog reader, may
be under consideration! I have only recently resolved my main problem in
this area. Previously, I haven't officially asked
anyone to help because I didn't want to preclude them from entering the
contest. My solution is to have a "Judges' Gallery," and non-competing
segment of the contest wherein the judges can still contribute a work, which
would be displayed with others. In the future, I'd like to attempt to
enter my own stuff in the Judges' Gallery.
8) There will be an actual "Fallfire.org" site.....and it's even
racked up and ready to launch...but I have to find the cash somewhere to
register it. Hopefully, that will also happen in the next few days (and
it's pretty awesome looking, too!).
Well, that seems like enough for now. I've got to get some
ZZZs before drawing caricatures tomorrow...or later today (UGH!). Here's
your Comic Book Sound Effect Of The Day - POW!
September 14 - Oh...I am just too
stupid to know when I've bitten off more than I can chew...or type. Look;
I have fully intended to write in the ol' WOMP-Blog every night. I even
thought that breaking down everything into little articles, like a newspaper,
would help me complete such a task. The problem is that I literally
haven't had the time recently, as there was some sort of alignment of planets or
something which has caused my normally hum-drum, drudge of a life to suddenly
transform into a boiling hotbed of news and excitement. The whole thing
has been a bit overwhelming, and I'm more than a bit exhausted. I have
very little time to even sleep, and I don't foresee a break in the action for a
few weeks at least. So, below, are VERY QUICK, brief encapsulations of
what I have been dying to tell you all. Most, if not all of these news
items, should also have illicited responses from me of some sort (like a simple
return e-mail), but I've been too swamped to even do THAT! ACK!!
Anyhoo, here we go...
- I'm going to be discussing cartooning during the War of 1812
again tomorrow (my third year? fourth?).
- All Star
Superman is blowing my mind.
How...how can a Superman title be so
freakin cutting edge, inventive, beautiful, entertaining,
and...mind-blowing? It's been a long time since a Superman comic made me say
"Wow!"
- I was contacted by Jim Main, who has asked for more episodes of
my Dorksters comic strip (Jim;
YES!).
- I will be drawing caricatures on Saturday at Railroad Days in
Marquette, Iowa.
- Fallfire 2006 is still
coming. The "big news" includes a new "dot-org" site...which, like
securing the potential sponsor, is still at least a week away. One way or
another, it will be up and going by the 20-somethingth of
September.
- The WOMP Staff and I took a road trip to Dubuque, Iowa. We
saw the Mississippi River Museum (very cool), and spent too much money in the
vastly-improved Comic World comics
shop. Oh, and I bought over three-hundred
ties at the area Goodwill store...for less than $10.00
total! SCORE!
- Ugh! So much else...I can't even remember it all.
And I have to get some sleep before getting up at the crack of heck to do the
War of 1812 thing. I guess that means that I'd better wrap this up for
now. Someday (2007? 2008 maybe?), I'll have the time to post a real
entry again. Until then, here's your Comic Book Sound Effect
Of The Day - BANG!
September 13 - OOPS! Another
no-show, non-entry. What can I say? I suck. Oh, well, here's
your Comic Book Sound Effect Of The Day - RING! RING! RING!
September 12 - Heya. Something
is very screwy with the site through which I create the WOMP-Blog (as well as
the rest of the WOMP-Site). Everything I type................takes about
that long to actually appear on screen. I've logged off and on, and I've
disconnected and reconnected to the Net, but it's
still.......................like this. Very difficult to see what I'm
doing. I think I have to just post....................your Comic
Book.............Sound Effect Of The Day - KER-SPLAT!
September 11 - I suppose we'll never
think about that date in the same way again. Whether just writing it on a
check, seeing it on a receipt, or typing it here just moments ago, I have tried
to nonchalantly rush past it all day, hoping that it wouldn't hit me, again,
like it has every other time I've seen it in the last five years...a hope in
vain. I don't have any specific connection to the events of 9/11, but I do
have my own, brief, story to tell about 9/12, which I'll
relate in the following installment of my continuing series of numbered
mini-reports....
3) 9/12/2001. In the days just before
9/11, I'd been asked to create a sort of cartoony map of WOMP's hometown,
Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, for the local Chamber of Commerce to use in
brochures and such. They didn't want every single building illustrated,
but they requested that I include a handful of key buildings, all municipal
sites (including schools), every park, and every church. I requested 9/12
off from my job of that time (not my current "real" job, but one which, by its
heavy schedule and workload, was a LOT more "real") so that I could wander the
streets of P.d.C. to take digital photos of the stuff I had to draw. I
made my plans, using the yellow pages, and was shocked to discover just how many
churches there were in a community of under six thousand people. I'd never
thought of it in specific terms before, but, on that 9/9 or so, it occurred to
me that their combined seating capacity was pretty much exactly the population
of the city. Anyhoo, after 9/11, I, like everyone else, was pretty much in
shock. What would happen next? Was New York safe? Or
Washington? Or, really, anywhere in the United States...including even
Prairie du Chien? 9/12 came, and, in spite of myself, I decided to go
ahead with my plans to photograph the city. Besides, I just had to get
away from the TV coverage. So, off I went. The day, like 9/11,
couldn't have been more beautiful. As I snapped the pics, I began to think
that the sky even looked different,
somehow. I soon realized that it was because all planes were grounded,
leaving the crystal blue heavens unmarred by crisscross lines of jet
exhaust. This made for spectacular, literally once-in-a-lifetime
photographs, but it also was very unsettling. Then, something began to
come over me. As I darted from site to site, the history of it all began
to sink in. I was focusing my lens on buildings that had, in some cases,
stood through the Civil War, two World Wars, and countless storms of all
sorts. Somehow, the buildings, the city, and the people, managed to make
it through all of that...and so would I. Comforted, but cautious, I
wrapped up my day at the town's classic "little brown church," Holy Trinity
Episcopal. The site of that quaint, rustic church, nestled amongst ancient
trees and late blooming mums, and silhouetted against the perfect, azure sky,
reminded me of yet another reason to remain hopeful in the face of
uncertainty.
2.5) ...LETTERS (continued
from last night)! So, on a completely
different note, who was the comics
superstar who surprised me with an e-message out of the blue? It was none
other than the amazing Mr. Eric
Shanower, the genius behind the award
winning Age of Bronze series, as well as, of
course, much of the artwork of Oz for the last twenty years! Long-time
WOMP-Blog readers may remember my story about how, while living in the Kubert
School's Dover, New Jersey, housing (which had been the school itself the year
before), we dormed-students, from the four corners of the Earth, divvied up the
incoming junk mail, just to get SOMETHING. To keep it fair, we attributed
to ourselves specific intended recipients' names, drawn from a hat. From
then on, we would only take the junk mail sent to the names which we were
assigned. I drew two names; Joe Kubert his-own-bad-self, and some former
student I'd never heard of...Eric Shanower! Here, then, is what I found in
my e-inbox a couple of days ago;
Dear Mr. Mundt,
It has recently come to my attention that you took it upon
yourself to impersonate another individual in order to collect that individual's
mail. The fact that this crime occurred more than twenty years ago and that the
individual you impersonated doesn't care that you performed such actions makes
no difference in the eyes of the law.
I just found your blog about collecting my mail at the Kubert
School. Hilarious. And who'd have ever thought that Marcus Mebes would later
rope you in to draw Oz illustrations for the Oz club. Too
weird!
Anyway, that's a great story. I was still living in Dover, too,
until 1987.
Best,
Eric Shanower
How cool is that? Uh...by the way, I have merely been
holding that 1985 junk mail for him,
for, um, safe-keeping. Yeah...that's
it! I, um....I'd always intended to pass it on to him at some point.
Yep, that was my plan all right. Oh, and speaking of Mr. Shanower and Oz
Club stuff...
4) Wow. I
finally received my complimentary copies of The Collected Short
Stories of L. Frank Baum! The
book is awesome (which I will credit to the art direction of the aforementioned
Marcus Mebes). I'd already felt so very proud to have been a part of it
before I read the kind reference to me in the Afterword written by Joel A.
Harris [on a side note, his Afterword also talks about Chrome
Yellow, the story I illustrated...which was then cut from the
book]! Most surprisingly, Mr. Shanower and I, the only two current
contributors to the content of the book (and, perhaps, the only living
contributors as well) were given copyright acknowledgements for our
illustrations. For some reason, that made me say "Wow" right out loud when
I saw it.
Ugh. It's getting pretty late, so I guess I wrap up this
wide-ranging entry for now. I still have some more stuff to tell you about
from my recent "lost weekend," but it can wait. Tonight, out of respect,
there is no Comic Book Sound Effect Of The Day, just a
request for a moment of silence...........
September 10 - OK, so you know that
saying about how it never rains but it pours? Well, if news were precipitation, I'd be in it up to my
nose! This past weekend was such a blur of business, busy-ness, and
e-messages, that I haven't had the time to post anything. I'll try to
"catch up" tonight. To make it easier for you, dear
reader, I'll break it all down into numbered mini-articles...
1) The Big
Sale. As you may recall, this weekend started with our 10th, and
FINAL, "The Big Sale" rummage sale. On Thursday, I spent almost
twenty hours setting up the stupid
thing. While the lifting and moving of dozens of heavy boxes didn't really
take all that long, the painstaking arrangement and interminable deliberations
about how to price everything took up the bulk of that time. By late
Friday morning, I just had to go to bed to get some sleep...especially since the
sale was to begin just a few hours later at 4:00PM! Somehow, some way, I
was able to put everything out (with price tags), and even taped a set of very
large yellow signs with arrows onto the well-positioned WOMPmobile (which turned
out to be the most effective advertising I've ever done....from what they told
me, over 90% of all Big Sale shoppers had been drawn to it by that
signage). Friday's sale was set to close at 8:00PM, and, right on cue, as
the last customers walked out of the garage at 7:59, a sudden gust of wind came
up. It knocked over the signs in the driveway, tipped over a lot of the
stuff for sale, and blew empty boxes into the garage's open back door. I
quickly rolled a large display of comics inside. Within moments, it began
to rain. Whew...just made it. On Saturday, the rain held off all
day, which allowed for an excellent sale, crammed with people. We got rid
of all sorts of stuff, but, strangely, not clothes. Back in the ancient
era of my youth, garage sales were predominantly clothing sales. If
we had put out nothing but the
clean, barely used clothing which we were selling at an astonishingly low
twenty-five cents each, we'd have made less than four dollars. No, the big
sellers at The Big Sale were all collectibles. In fact, if the sales were
broken down into a pie chart, the biggest, juiciest piece would have been
"action figures!" Wild! Also shocking to me (and it really did shock
me) was the fact that the vast majority of the buyers of the collectibles were
women! Yep, stuff ranging from superhero comics and Star
Wars action figures to sports cards and signed NASCAR items - all
stereotypically associated with male collectors - were being snapped up
by...gulp...girls! I shouldn't be
impressed by this, but I am. It's just so awesome! When I was in
college, the talk was always about how comics would never truly be successful
until the "other 50%" of the potential market started buying them too.
Today, at any comics convention, that "other 50%" is right there, shoulder to
shoulder with the geeky "original 50%." If my experience at The Big Sale
is indicative of the collector population in general, that shift may be swinging
the other way. Cool, huh?
2) Letters...we get
letters...we get stacks and stacks of letters...LETTERS! With
all apologies to David Letterman (although they don't use that "Letters" song
anymore anyway), WOMP has been swamped with mail recently. I've gotten so
many interesting letters and e-messages that I've been overwhelmed. Worse,
I haven't responded to ANY of them! Ugh. I'm so bad. While some messages
were of the "How much would you charge to draw a [blank] for me?" type, and
others were sent by some of the many illustrious Official Friends of
WOMP, one message was actually from a bonafide comics superstar!
First, O.F.O.WOMP Brent
Frankenhoff wrote to check in on me (Hi,
Brentski!). As Managing Editor of the legendary Comics
Buyer's Guide, Brent also legitimately
qualifies as a comic book biz superstar, but that's not about whom I was
talking. No, Brent dropped a quick line just to see how things were
going. We had apparently just missed each other at Fennimore Fun Fest
(darn!). He reports that, during his trip to Comic Con International, he
"had culture shock at how big it had grown." In a bit of housekeeping, he
also noted that the web-address for C.B.G., as it appears in my
Neat Links page, had changed (I'll be
correcting that soon...I promise!). He seems to be doing well, and I can't
wait to see him again so we can talk in person! So, if Brent wasn't the
"bonafide comics superstar," who was? Tune in tomorrow, same WOMP-time,
same WOMP-channel, to find out! For now, here's your incredibly famous
Comic Book Sound Effect Of The Day - SNIKT!
September 9 - No entry tonight, just
your Comic Book Sound Effect Of The Day - PLOP!
September 8 - No entry tonight, just
your Comic Book Sound Effect Of The Day - BOINNGG!
September 7 - No entry tonight, just
your Comic Book Sound Effect Of The Day - THOOOM!
September 6 - You know, it sucks to
get older. Oh, it may have its advantages (like no more mandatory
schooling, and...um...I'm sure there are others), but, over-all, aging is just
an endless parade of unpleasant surprises. "Where did that oddly shaped
mole come from?" Surprise! Last
night, I mentioned that this weekend's Big Sale was going to be the last rummage
sale that I would have (at least for many, many years). I gave all sorts
of reasons for this decision, all of which were well thought out and, well,
reasonable. Tonight, I'd like to add another reason; I'm so freakin old
that the work of setting up The Big Sale is too exhausting! I actually had
to take a two hour nap just to make it this far (just a bit after
midnight). Gone, I guess, are the days when I could haul box upon box of
books and comics from the depths of the WOMP catacombs without struggle.
Today, I grunted and strained just placing pre-printed price stickers on
stuff. Sigh. Oh, well. I suppose I should get back to
it. Here's your classic
Comic Book Sound Effect Of The Day - AH-OOO-GA!
September 5 - Holy smokes! It
came! It actually came! Today, at 4:40PM, I received a check from
the food service equipment company for the T-shirt artwork that I provided, at
which time I stopped the Pay-O-Meter! At just a smidge over 26 days (26
days and 40 minutes to be slightly more exact), it doesn't really seem that long
since I sent out the bill. Whenever you are owed money, it seems like
FOREVER before people actually pay you, but I was very pleasantly surprised to
see this payment arrive so quickly. I was actually on a rare "lunch" break
from the dread "real" job when it got here, so I promptly took it to our bank,
cashed it, and had it converted into smaller change for our tenth annual family
rummage sale this weekend. In fact, if you are in the Prairie du Chien
area on Friday night, or Saturday morning and afternoon, check the local paper
for this ad...
THE BIG SALE 10
The Final Frontier
This is it - the annual rummage sale you’ve
been
waiting for - our 10th, and FINAL, “Big
Sale!”
Featuring
- women’s tops, sweaters, pants, etc.
- men’s clothes, shoes
- antiques (including a creamer collection)
- collectibles (action figures, Avon, trading cards,
more)
- memorabilia (Packers, UW Football, Hockey)
- household items (cookware, canning, gardening equipment,
etc.)
- two “umbrella” strollers, misc. toys
- LOTS of books
- NASCAR - collectibles, SIGNED items (incl. EARNHARDT
Sr.)!
- comic books, some as low as 3 for $1.00!
- and MUCH MORE!
Fri. Sep. 8th 4-8pm, & Sat. Sep. 9th 9am-2pm
WATCH FOR THE SIGNS!
And I'm pulling out all of the stops for this one. I'm going
through boxes that have been packed since we moved into our current WOMP
Headquarters, pricing stuff to SELL. I've taken the rest of the week off
from the dumb "real" job, so I have no more pressing issue this week other than
setting up the sale. Well, I do have a couple of smaller art jobs (some
Panther-logo design sketches and a larger piece featuring generic smiling
children), but, otherwise it's my plan to put out as much stuff as possible,
sell it cheaply, then donate the remainders to charity...or the garbage
can. One way or another, this is going to be the last "Big Sale."
Between eBay and a great local thrift store that will take my donated stuff, I
really don't think that I'll hoard "rummage sale" stuff anymore. Nice,
collectible stuff can just be auctioned off on-line, and everything else will
either be given or thrown away. This is a big shift for me, as I have for
years compulsively saved every old knick-knack and curious oddity that I thought
might garner a nickel at a theoretical future sale. It's only recently
that I've been able to reconcile what had, unwittingly, become my lifestyle,
with a new, better understanding of what actually might sell (and for how
much). That revelation reminds me of a strange chapter from the "I still
had dreams" phase of my life. Back in the day (about 1983), Official
Friend of WOMP, and fellow Keystone Kopp, William
Waite ("Bill" to me) and I had the insane idea that
we could, and would, start a bookstore. Yes. I know how stupid this
was. I have no idea why I didn't see that then, but at least we both came
to our senses before we went any further with the plans. Still, we did a
lot of research into bookselling, much of which I have since been able to apply
to comic book-selling. Bill even
went so far as to purchase a book about starting a bookstore; a thick, dry
volume of charts and facts which he, of course, read in a few minutes. He
then strongly urged me to also read this book book so that we were on the same
page, so to speak. Well, needless to say I struggled with it. It was
just so freakin dull. I did, however, glean
one EXTREMELY important lesson from it, one which has guided me in every single
sale I've made since then, whether it be The Adventures of
Monkey comics to a retailer, or an old pair of jeans at a rummage
sale. That lesson could be summed up thusly -
Every single square foot of display space on a sales floor (or
even space in a storage room,
to a lesser extent) has a monthly cost which must be exceeded
by it's monthly sales.
Keeping this in mind, I know that the goal of an effective retail
business is to continuously strive to optimize the selling power of the sales
floor. If I hope to convince Comic Book Guy to stock copies of
T.A.O.M. on his racks, he has to be
reasonably assured that they will at least match the sales potential of whatever
he had in that spot before, if not exceed it. Now, in some cases,
retailers may take on certain products which may only add to his or her
bottom-line in a round-about way (like by creating a particular "atmosphere," or
by furthering a cultivated reputation), but, for the most part, retailers have
to look at the items in their store as something akin to workers; if they aren't
pulling their weight, it's time to fire them in favor of a fresh employee.
If that seems fairly heartless, that's because it is. It's business. Of course, this
"sales-per-space" concept is fluid in any store, even on any single shelf, but
it's a good, basic concept that has served me well. Oh, which reminds me
that I wanted to get some extra sleep tonight so I can work on setting up The
Big Sale all day tomorrow...but it's already 6:00AM on the 6th, so that plan
went right out the window. I guess I'll just leave you with your
Comic Book Sound Effect Of The Day - ZOOOOM!
September 4 - LABOR DAY! I
actually had the day off from the dread "real" job, as did The WOMP Staff!
We hit a flea market, two antique stores, a rummage sale, and a farmer's market,
then took a walk in the rain, after which we even went to a family
cook-out....just like a real married
couple (the kind you see on the TV, or read about in Harper's Bazaar)! After the cook-out,
where I was swarmed by kids (as per usual), we came back to WOMP H.Q. and took a
three hour nap! Somehow, we'd been able to enjoy a day that was
practically a caricature of Labor Day! Now, as I
write this at about 3:00AM on the 5th, I'm feeling pretty guilty for having had
such a great day. I really don't deserve it. Don't get me wrong, The
Staff definitely deserves a nice vacation day (or more) because she actually
works. Me? I dabble. Even my dumb "real" job is more of a
necessary inconvenience than a labor. No, at best, the only
real labors in my life are labors of love. Of course, I may actually labor
quite fervently on those, but it doesn't seem like it because I enjoy the
work. Which reminds me to continue to pre-push Fallfire
3. I hope to have everything lined up for this year's contest
by this time next week. Like I said, keep an eye out here for some big
developments that I'll report soon. Tonight, though, I think I'll wrap up
this surprisingly, and undeservedly, great day with your Comic
Book Sound Effect Of The Day - BIFF!
September 3 - It occurred to me that
some of you might not have known that comics letterers have, traditionally, been
in charge of designing the look, and usually the placement, of the sound effects
in comic books. To the best of my knowledge, the writers actually would
pen the words to be illustrated as sound effects, and the artists often placed
rudimentary versions in the spots where they were to go, but it's the letterers
who brought them to life. On rare occasions, the letterer may even have
created a sound effect themselves (subject to editorial approval, of
course). I mentioned the late, great Bill Oakley a couple of nights
ago. He was probably the last of the true "old school" letterers. In
this day when anyone can actually subscribe to download a computer lettering
"font of the month," he was still providing beautiful, classic lettering by
hand, including the sound effects. Looking at my clunky, slovenly
lettering, it's hard to imagine that Bill and I had the same teacher! Of
course, I like to imagine myself as more of a cartoonist than a
comic book artist (or letterer), which gives me
more of an excuse to be an artless slob because my lack of lettering talent is
then seen as being more "quirky" than "crappy." Sigh. Oh,
well. See ya tomorrow. Now, here's your classic Comic
Book Sound Effect Of The Day - ZAP!
September 2 - WHAT?
WHAT?! SPEAK UP, I CAN'T HEAR
YOU OVER THE CRYING BABY!! WHAT'S THAT? OH, THE BABY IS MY
BROTHER-IN-LAW'S ONE-YEAR-OLD. THE WOMP STAFF AGREED TO BABYSIT FOR THE
NIGHT. EVERYTHING...I SAID EVERYTHING WAS GOING WELL, TOO, UNTIL THE BABY
WOKE UP FROM A NIGHTMARE OR SOMETHING. SINCE THEN HE'S BEEN CRYING
NON-STOP. DID I SAY "CRYING?" I MEANT SCREAMING AT THE TOP
OF HIS TINY LUNGS!!! I SHOULD PROBABLY...oops, he's stopped
shrieking...Shh. I should probably be helping
The Staff instead of sitting here at the WOMPuter, so I'll just wrap...YIPES! HE'S AT IT AGAIN! I WAS GOING TO SAY THAT I
PROBABLY SHOULD JUST WRAP THIS UP BY POSTING YOUR ODDLY APPROPRIATE COMIC
BOOK SOUND EFFECT OF THE DAY - WAAAAAH!
September 1 - OK. You're going
to hate this month's "...Of The Day" theme. Or, your first instinct will
be to assume that it sucks...but hear me out! I've been reading comics for
almost 35 years now. As a kid who wanted to understand, then perhaps
create comic books, I read, re-read, and re-re-read mine until they were in
tatters, like the frog after a Seventh Grade dissection lesson in Biology.
In my "studies," I learned to see past the stories, past even the artwork, to
the "skeleton" of a comic. Those basic building blocks include fanciful
elements like balance, panel and page layouts, and pacing, as well as simple
tools like the actual number and size of panels on a page, what thickness their
lines should be, and the various styles and concepts behind lettering. Of
all of these, I found (and still find) lettering to be the most difficult to
"master" (although I have yet to master anything else, of course). In
college, I had cartoonist Hy Eisman as a lettering teacher/coach. Although
you may not recognize Hy's name, I can assure you that he was a consummate
artist and fantastic teacher...until I spoiled the curve. He was baffled
by my lack of lettering skills, and even more frustrated by my inability to
improve. And I was really
trying...it's just that traditional comic book lettering is so strict, governed
by rigid rules of letter font, width, and spacing. I had developed a more
organic approach, one which felt more right
than it looked at the time. Then, one
day, he gave my class an assignment to create some logos for several bogus
comics titles he'd imagined. He had been using this same lesson, and the
same "titles," since he'd begun teaching, but he took a special interest in my
interpretations. As he offered his advice, he and I sort of bonded.
Seeing those illustratorly logos, I think that he understood why I had a hard
time with the regimented ruler and pen-nib lettering. Armed with that
knowledge, he had a new approach to teaching me that finally started to sink
in. Today, I still can't letter, but I finally "got it" at least once in
my life. So, in honor of my teacher Hy Eisman, and in memory of my friend
and college classmate, the late Bill Oakley (master letterer), September's
"theme" will be Comic Book Sound
Effects! This often over-looked element of comic books has,
nonetheless, influenced not just comics themselves, but also even the way we
communicate. As I post these throughout the month, take a quick moment to
remember the first time you saw it, and allow yourself to "hear" it. Let's
get the ball rolling with your Comic
Book Sound Effect Of The Day - KRAKADOOM!