Egads.

Ugh. Has it really been a month since I last posted? Oops. Well, I don't even have anything that spectacular to show...just a lack-luster photo of my shared work space. Joe and I both share our computer and drawing table; we have a back-up laptop and small table for when our respective tasks overlap. Here's what it looks like with my stuff at the drawing table (click for bigness):


Again, not all that interesting. I might also add that I am currently drawing my final pages on 9" x 12" Vellum Bristol (which is VERY soggy at the moment due to three weeks of CONSTANT HUMIDITY).

I'm still drawing little auto-bio comics whenever I can...here's some oldies about work (and work-related mis-speak):




Yay! Scallops! (yes, those little black dots are it's eyes)

And last, but not least:


Ok, so I guess I had a few things to share. I know I've said it before, but I am going to make an effort to post once a week, even if it's just a wee comic. Now, BACK TO WORK FOR ME!!!!

-m

The Great Outdoors

In light of the summer season, I thought I'd share my Project:Rooftop Wolverine redesign:


And I'm proud to say that I smell like squids today.

Not dead...just working.

Shake your finger, slap me on the wrist, give me the cold sholder...I've been a negligent blogger. That's right. But of course I have a legitimate excuse (as always): I've been working on a longer comics project. This longer comics project (a biography actually) that combines the early careers of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Biruté Galdikas (three women who studied three different great apes), along with the fantastic writing talents of Mr. Jim Ottaviani. And this book is being published by First Second (yay!) Jim tells a great story of how our working on this project together unfolded here. Pretty hilarious. I should mention that my dream of the past five years has been to do 'science comics', and it's totally awesome that this dream has come into fruition. What it really comes down to is that I just love nerding out. Big time.

I'm not going to post much right now (just a few teasers), seeing as how I'm about halfway through the pencilled pages. I'll update periodically, but don't be surprised if my entries turn into a series of grunts and hoots. I have been trying to manage drawing 5 days a week (I'm only two days a week at my other job), so far it's working out. I've also been putting together a collection of my little autobiographical comics (there's over 200 strips at this point)...but I just keep drawing them.

Here's some chimpanzees:



And another thing: I'm in the anthology Ghost Comics. It comes out today. If you live in Minneapolis, check out the release party.

MECAF

Hey Everybody!
Tomorrow (Sunday May 16th) is the first annual Maine Comics Arts Festival being held in beautiful Portland, ME. Joe and I will have a table there where we'll be selling our usual comics, prints, t-shirts and stuffed animals. Many familiar comics faces will be there, and of course, lots of comics, so If you're in the area, come on down!

STUMPTOWN 2009

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's a glorious 1:05 AM and Joe and I are leaving for Portland, OR in...OMG LIKE 3 HOURS!!!! That's right; we're hopping a 6:05 AM flight out of Boston. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty exited about a 4 AM cab ride. Woopee. Sorry about the lack of posts and comment responses; I'm hoping to get back on that wagon once we return to the East Coast next Tuesday. Joe, Liz and I will be sharing a table at Stumptown Comics Fest this Saturday and Sunday, so if you're in the Portland area, stop by and say hi! Here's a glimpse of all my wares:


Ah, Portland. I can hardly wait to eat a donut covered in bacon. And wear shorts!!! AHHHG SHORTS I LOVE YOU SO! GET READY TO BE BLINDED BY THE SUPREME WHITENESS OF MY WINTER LEGS (my legs have not seen the light of day in 7 MONTHS people!).

OK. Time for me to stay up and wait for the cab.

p.s. I might actually try and blog from Portland...we're toting the computer this time around!

Dah-nah-nah-nah...

Batgirl!

My exposure to Batman was pretty much through Batman: The Animated Series during middle school; I watched it religiously every weekday afternoon. Batgirl was one of my faves (the Barbara Gordon Batgirl), so of course I relished Batgirl: Year One when it came out. I looked to the old TV series' Batgirl costume for inspiration on this one (hence the bright purple). There were some early attempts to make her suit sparkly, but my Photoshop skills were, um, under par. Oh yeah, and she's on roller skates.

Superheroes on the brain.

So I really missed the boat on getting this in on time, but I finally got around to doing my Batman redesign (the latest contest that was held over at Project:Rooftop). I had ideas of giving him a big scary mask (something inspired by this), but I ended up going very simple...big surprise. Here it is:



As long as we're on the topic of superheroes, here's my Aquaman:


This started as a sketch I did at New York Con. I scanned it and colored it. I'll eventually do a more detailed Aquaman drawing with lots and lots of my favorite underwater creatures.

And yes, both Batman and Aquaman are doing yoga-esque poses; I'm not really sure why. I'm pretty sure that most superheroes do yoga though (especially Batman).

WE RE IN YER CITY...

DEESTROYING THINGZ!

Missed missed connections...

A while back, I submitted this comic (drawn by both me and Joe) for the Missed Connections anthology that recently came out. Alas, we did not make the cut (the story takes kind of a fantasy-turn, but it's ::ahem:: mostly true...). I figured I'd give it a post.



Note: Joe does not actually talk to the ladies like that.

Oh, those crazy animals...

Here's some of the shenanigans that go on at work:

February Dailies

So, as inspired by Miss Lucy Knisley, I did a comic-an-hour on the first day of February. I actually completed them on that day, but it's taken my this long to scan and post them. Tsk tsk. Well, here they are (click to biggie-size them):




Sundays aren't that spectacular...at least I wasn't at work; it would have been aquatic puns galore.

23 Things I've done...

...over the past 3 months:


And here's what Number 17 looked like in real life:


I'm a total LOLrus!!

I don't think I'll ever get in the paper for anything comics-related...that's ok though. Not many people can say they made the front page of the Metro section as a GIANT YELLOW WALRUS USING A SEWING MACHINE!!
-m

YARRRRRGH!!!!

That's right. Joe and I are coming...to New York City for the New York Comic Con. Yes, I will be selling stuff. No, I will not be in costume. Please come visit our tiny little half a table (B9) in Artist's Alley if you're in town. If I know you well enough, I might give you a cookie.

Hey, I also started an ETSY!!!

mariswicks.etsy.com

But it is in vacation mode until I get back from NYC (Monday).

In addition, I am an ass. I am sorry I haven't posted. Please believe me that I have been drawing lots and lots of comics!! I have! It's true. I even did hourly comics a few days ago; I'll post when I get back.

Cheers!
m

OMG THANKSGIVING

is maybe my favorite holiday. But this post really has nothing to do with Thanksgiving. I'm just going to post some comics:

That's right: celebrity frog touchings!!


My new superpower...

What my new superpower is doing to Joe:

While we're on the topic of superheroes, here's me as some of my faves:Creepy? Yes.

All right, I'm cut off. I'm heading up to Maine early tomorrow to partake in the eating of the foods (and drinking of the drinks). Happy Thanksgivings (perhaps I'll will myself out of a food coma long enough to blog during the holiday...).

-m

Deez Nuts: A comic about Aaron Renier

A comic is based on a true story: This classic myth was dictated to me and Liz one balmy summer night by Mr. Aaron Renier. It was after a night of inebriated goodbyes (due Mr. Alec Longstreth's leaving the city of New York). (Click on it to read it biggie-style.) Uh, that's about it.

Drawn sometime in July with Liz; we took turns drawing each panel, then we inked each other's panels. Story, in part, by Aaron (--there should really be a children's book of his drunken fables). Colored by me (with input from Liz).

-m

Some inappropriate-ness for you all:

I had been debating whether or not to post these because they were a tad...er...dirty?...I guess. Anways...they all involve other people being inappropriate; more specifically they involve either Joe or people related to Joe being inappropriate. Ah, genetics...First, a little Tour de Boston humor:


Ah...nicknames:


This was embarrassing (I was right behind him)...


And now for something completely wholesome: (It rained a lot this past weekend.)

I can haz a life?

Last weekend, instead of partying for Halloween, I decided to partake in a new level of nerdi-ness: Descent: Journeys in the Dark. More like descent of my social life...sort of. I played with a group of friends that spanned high school, college and post-college; we all had yummy snacks and sat down to six hours of candle-lit nerdery. So I guess it was one of the more social things I've done lately. It ended up being pretty fun, not because of the game, but because of the company (I laughed so hard I cried towards the end). Well, I'll cut to the chase. Here's me as the character I played as:
I like owls better than falcons, so pretended I had an owl instead. Whatever, it still gave my enemies armor -1 when ever it was around. And, in case this wasn't enough, here is Joe as his character.

Guess what?

I know I don't really talk politics on my blog, but OMG I'M SO FLIPPING EXCITED!!

YES YES YES!!!

Random bits...

Quite possibly the best discovery of the past few weeks:


Lessons in animal dominance:
Moral of the story: it doesn't matter if I'm smaller; I'm older and I can HUMP YOUR FACE!!! (thank you to Joe's parent's dogs)

And then:
Yes, I do this. It is sooooo good.

Beets, bad memory and cutlery.

OK get ready for it: big honkin' post. First up, I've rekindled an old flame: BEETS. Joe won't eat them because he thinks they taste like "curdled blood", but I (a long with Liz) think that they are divine! Here's the meal they co-starred in last week:
After the beets had cooked, I pressed them into my sketchbook before I peeled them. This is what happened:
Then, for the next three days:

So when I made made my epic SPX post, I neglected to mention that I WON A NERDLINGER!!!!
Specifically, it is the Nerdlinger for "Most Random Informative Facts About Invertebrates & Best All-Around Drawing Session Chatter". I drank it, and it was awesome. Thank you Nerdlinger Committee!
Oh, yeah. This also happened: MK - Joe apologizes through his KICKED IN FACE. heh heh

Now about that cutlery (featuring Lucy, Nelly, Joe and me):
Let me backtrack and mention that last weekend, Joe and I went to upstate New York to do many things:

-visit his family
-peep some foliage
-go to book event/presentation about French Milk by Lucy Knisley
-rock out in carbie (hmmm...mystery songs...)

We accomplished all these things and more (the fork! the fork!). Joe and I took a new way to get to his folks house and we passed that fork. It immediately reminded me of that part in the Muppet Movie...The fork is actually 100 times bigger than a for-reals fork (or, at least that's what it said on the plaque).

Lucy's book event was awesome; I bought French Milk, as well as The War of the Worlds (with illustrations by Edward Gorey). French Milk made me yearn for some travel...Joe and I had planned to go to Europe after school, but it's five years later and it's still on the back burner. Well, better on the back burner than behind the stove I guess.

On Sunday, we got hang out with Lucy and meet her friend Nelly, and pillage the Rhinebeck farmer's market of all it's tasties (apple, tamalés and pumpkins, oh my), and drink coffee, and eat amazing chocolates (um, dark chocolate lavender sea salt carmels anyone? OMG PLZ YES!!!!), and maybe draw a little jam comic, hmmm:
Good times. I had only met Lucy twice (at the past two MoCCAs); it was great to hang with her and Nelly (who is now officially part of the "Maris and Joe Carpool Hall of Fame"!!). Joe and I like making new friends! (OK, I sound like I'm FOUR).

I think that's it...sorry about another LONG post.

-m