Origami Unicorn

French Milk

French Milk, the story of a mother-daughter trip to Paris, done in graphic form, just got picked up for fifteen thousand dollars. Lucy Knisley is a cartoonist and recent Chicago Art Institute graduate. “I was keeping a journal,” Lucy's mother, Georgia Dent, said, “and Lucy was drawing pictures." So they they self-published it and things rolled along from there. Georgia Dent is part of the team at Monkfish; Lucy Knisley will be continuing to study at the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont. She already has two more projects in mind.

One Problem With Modern Living...

...is when everything fails. Which is what happened when someone dug a hole in a Wrong Place. Deprived of cable, phone, and electric service—they're planning on restoring the water shortly, but that was an announced and I hope brief outtage—I have a backlog of news and commentary. Be sure and check further down the page for new material.

The Umbrella Academy

After being rehabilated for problems with drugs and alcohol, lead singer Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance found that, newly energized, he had time to sketch out a proposal for Dark Horse. The first installment of The Umbrella Academy, drawn by Brazillian artist Ba (accent on the a) will be out shortly.

Othar Speaks

If you follow Girl Genius, you will be interested to know that the creators do "radio" plays. Herewith, the Voice of Othar, which is not a disappointment.

Robert Jordan, 1948-2007

His real name was James Oliver Rigney, Jr, but he was known to his fans as Robert Jordan, author of the Wheel of Time series. He was one book short of finishing that series—no word yet on whether someone will finish it from his notes and partially completed manuscript—and had new books in mind. That final book, working title, A Memory of Light, was to have been quite long, and knowing he had heart problems, he left material for his heirs and editorgive someone to work with if they so chose. His blog is still up, with his wife posting, so that might be the place to look for news.

PKD

Although he was seldom in an ordinary state of mind, married five times, was the father of three half-siblings, and the author of novels that seemed destined for skiffy obscurity to the vast majority, now Philip Kindred Dick's children work to preserve his work and their heritage. Read all the way to the bottom of the article for the bit about the PKD android that shocked one daughter and then got lost, somehow in mid-air from here to there, and hasn't turned up since. He'd have liked that. Or had an explanation. Or both. A reworked Blade Runner is due for release in October.

In the Shadow of the Moon

I keep checking the listings for this one. Here is the trailer. Ron Howard's documentary on the missions to the Moon, wonderful things from an era that wasn't always wonderful, but left some wishing the days of the Right Stuff will come again. All together: ten, nine, eight...

The Chesleys

I suppose it says something that the ASFA website has not updated its listing of the Chesleys for several years. I know the vote has been in the low hundreds for some time. Nonetheless, they were awarded, and lost in the shuffle while my cable connection was down. Without further ado, this year's Chesleys, courtesy of theScience Fiction Awards watch, which got the results from the convention newsletter. There are links to two or three of the pictures and they are worth clicking through to see. Given the resource the web is, I wish ASFA would do better for the audience and the artists, but there it is: "We'd rather be drawing" would probably be the organization bumper sticker if they had one.

Devil May Cry

His name is Dante. He has a big gun, a big sword, a big mission—and a big secret. Devil May Cry pits a legendary fighter against demons, very capable women, and small appealing girls. He loses to the last two. Heavy on cartoon violence and gore, but also on romance, because the essential difference between a demon and a human just might be the ability to love.

"But the Cat...

...came back the very next day..." An animated version of a schoolyard classic, with a nice sting at the end. For purists, the Doc Watson version.