LISTENING TO :

The Cruxshadows - Satellite
Saint Vitus - Get Away
Clutch - Escape From The Prison Planet
Minor Threat - Cashing In
The Electric Hellfire Club - 7th Angel
God Forbid - Gone Forever

SMOKING :
precious marlboros.

FOAMING OVER :
SDCC news streaming in via [link] & [link] ; The ungodly amount of of ideas my mind is aparently trying to crush my skull with ; Enki Bilal

ESSAY :

So, I'm sitting here, doing research for an upcoming story I want to do - plowing through deviations at a rate not unlike the splitting of an atom. As I troll along, I suddenly become besieged by photomanipulations by what I've termed the NWOBGP (New Wave of British Goth Photographers - refrence NWOBHM.) These artists, at first catch me with striking photographs of half nude raven haired Aphrodite-I and then lure my unwavering devotion to female nudity into a trap meant to show me that I'm the least artistic person on the planet. Hats off to LadyMorgana, LaraFairie, JdyBowski, etc. Thus pitched a tent, Bob.

I then find that these artists, among many other photographers, are also models. And I wonder absent mindidly if I could pull it off - the goth model thing. I think back to all the women who've trumped me, and all the others who like to tell me after I've gotten into a serious relationship that they worshiped the ground that I walked on (mostly right before they moved to another part of the universe.) That is indeed a question - am I photogenic, and is my physique right for goth modeling? Who knows? I just don't have any pictures of myself that I like.

The project in question that I'm researching is a graphic novel (of course!) I want to use fractal art, photomanipulation, and heavy sci-fi themes to create a work that hasn't really been done before. We have the realism of Alex Ross, the psuedo John Woo realism of Alex Maleev, the sunday strip-ness of Jim Mahfood, and surrealist horror paintings of Ben Templesmith in the field - but no one has gone for the gold with an entirely CG work. Closest we have is the less-than-stellar coloring with iMac's.

Coloring, huh? This year's Eisner for coloring (via SDCC) is Patricia Mulvihill for Batman/Wonder Woman/100 Bullets. The rest of the line up follows (with only one Marvel book - but numerous awards for the nigh perfect ENDLESS NIGHTS...)
---------------------------------------- -----------------------------
RUSS MANNING NEW TALENT AWARD:
Eric Wight

INKPOT AWARD WINNERS:
Jack Adler, Tom Gill, Harry Harrison, Bruce Jones, Batton Lash, Mike Mignola, Bill Plympton, Frank Springer and John Totleben.

CBLDF DEFENDER OF LIBERTY AWARD
Jim Lee

WILL EISNER SPIRIT OF RETAILING AWARD
Acme Comics and Collectibles, Sioux City IA

THE BOB CLAMPETT HUMANITARIAN AWARD
Mimi Cruz

2004 Eisner Award winners:

Best Short Story
"Death," by Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell, in The Sandman: Endless Nights (Vertigo/DC)

Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)
TIE
Conan The Legend #0, by Kurt Busiek and Cary Nord (Dark Horse)
The Goon #1, by Eric Powell (Dark Horse)

Best Serialized Story
Gotham Central #6-10: "Half a Life," by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark (DC)

Best Continuing Series
100 Bullets, by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso (Vertigo/DC)

Best Limited Series
Unstable Molecules, by James Sturm and Guy Davis (Marvel)

Best New Series
Plastic Man, by Kyle Baker (DC)

Best Title for a Younger Audience
Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge, by various (Gemstone)

Best Humor Publication
Formerly Known as the Justice League, by Keith Giffen, J. M. DeMatteis, Kevin Maguire, and Joe Rubinstein (DC)

Best Anthology
The Sandman: Endless Nights, by Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean, P. Craig Russell, Miguelanxo Prado, Barron Storey, Frank Quitely, Glenn Fabry, Milo Manara, and Bill Sienkiewicz; co-edited by Karen Berger and Shelly Bond (Vertigo/DC)

Best Graphic Album—New
Blankets, by Craig Thompson (Top Shelf)

Best Graphic Album—Reprint
Batman Adventures: Dangerous Dames and Demons, by Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and others (DC)

Best Archival Collection/Project
Krazy and Ignatz, 1929–1930, by George Herriman, edited by Bill Blackbeard (Fantagraphics)

Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material
Buddha, vols. 1 and 2, by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical)

Best Writer
Alan Moore, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Promethea, Smax, Tom Strong, Tom Strong's Terrific Tales (ABC)

Best Writer/Artist
Craig Thompson, Blankets (Top Shelf)

Best Writer/Artist—Humor
Kyle Baker, Plastic Man (DC); The New Baker (Kyle Baker Publishing)

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team
John Cassaday, Planetary, Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth (WildStorm/DC); Hellboy Weird Tales (Dark Horse)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)
Jill Thompson, "Stray," in The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings (Dark Horse)

Best Coloring
Patricia Mulvihill, Batman, Wonder Woman (DC), 100 Bullets (Vertigo/DC)

Best Lettering
Todd Klein, Detective Comics( DC); Fables, The Sandman: Endless Nights (Vertigo/DC); Tom Strong, Promethea (ABC); 1602 (Marvel)

Best Cover Artist
James Jean, Batgirl (DC), Fables (Vertigo/DC)

Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition
Derek Kirk Kim (writer/artist, Same Difference and Other Stories)

Best Comics-Related Periodical
Comic Book Artist, edited by Jon B. Cooke (Top Shelf)

Best Comics-Related Book
The Art of Hellboy, by Mike Mignola (Dark Horse)

Best Publication Design
Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross, designed by Chip Kidd (Pantheon)


HALL OF FAME
Judges’ Choices:
Otto Binder
John Stanley
Kasuo Koike and Goseki Kojima

Voters selection:
Al Capp
Jules Feiffer
Don Martin
Jerry Robinson