patokon blog

Le Fantome Of the Opera. Cool mask! Lon Chaney Sr. was the best looking one!

I'm pretty sure that H.P. Lovecraft, creator of the evil book Necronomicon and the Cthulhu mythos, actually saw into another world. As I read his books, I feel myself being drawn into that world, and I fear that I might not escape. Such is the power of Lovecraft's imagery. His character's are amazingly real and often irredeemable bastards. Going by his books, you definitely get the impression that H.P. was qute the racist. Many books I've read from that period express similar sentiments. It's often hard to deal with such things. I've known people I've thought to be good and decent, but have hatred or fear of people of other backgrounds. I've been told to hate the sin, not the sinner. And that's what I try to do.

Here is Mr. F. Monster getting ready for the Scare-a-lympics. I'm collaborating with an artist I've met recently in creating a monster comic for young-uns. We're still in development, but hopefully in a few days I can show you what we're working on.

I also wanted to mention that I started a fandomain blog in Japanese, if you'd like to check it out. I'll be uploading "fan" art of superheroes there.

So Comic Market 72 went very well for us. We sold out of every issue of Fandomain 7 and every copy of the Sound Effect Dictionary. I think our location was good, there was a lot of traffic. The display was simple but eye-catching (Mayumi's idea). And I think a lot of people were wondering about Marvel's Civil War. Let's hope they are just as curious about World War Hulk, cuz that's our next main feature. Was it worth losing all that sleep? HELL, YES!! Now it's back to the grind! Almost forgot! New pic diary pic! I remember when there was a monster movie marathon on while we were visiting Grandma in St. Lou. I can't remember how old I was, but I do remember that "The Blob" was gonna be on and I really wanted to see it. The movie theater scene was the bestest! Thass sum scary stuff!!

Just wanted to mention that the new issue of fandomain is out and we'll also be selling the American Comic Sound Effect Dictionary at Comic Market tomorrow Aug. 18th. If you have the time or inclination, stop by! The place is Tokyo Big Sight . The fandomain booth is East Hall, Row K, Booth 47.

SO! You ask... What the heck is kurukuru kamishibai? It's an adaptation of traditional Japanese storytelling. Where traditionally you have a box and a number of picture cards you use as you tell the story, kurukuru (spinspin) kami (paper) shibai (performance) uses a long roll of paper and a box with handles that you turn to advance the paper. I've made 4 stories so far and I plan to show off a new one at the show starting on Wednesday. The ones I'm making are mini-sized for the smaller boxes. To get to the gallery, just get out Takeshita exit in Harajuku, cross the street , turn left and go up the hill. The gallery is on the right. 2007 kurukurukamishibai exhibition 3 Location: As every year at the Harajuku Sekiun Gallery. From: August 15th (Wed) ~ 28th (Tue) 11:00~19:00 (~28th ~17:00) Harajuku Sekiun Gallery 1st Fl Sankyuu Bldg. Jingumae1-19-14, Shibuya 03-3478-0993 URL： http://sekiungarou.haly.jp/index.html 『2007・くるくる紙芝居展３』 毎年恒例、夏の原宿くるくる紙芝居展覧会のお知らせです。 日時：2007年８月１5日（水）～２7

I have a week left to prepare for Comic Market and more than half to finish! And of COURSE I have two jobs due this week. I don't how I do it, but I manage to get my self into crunch after crunch... And somehow I get through without ulcers or pulling out my hair. I do get a bit snippy, though! Today's monster is a character I created for my first gallery exhibition: Count Pumpkin! Today's drawing time: 1 hour 40 minutes.

Not that there are a lot of cyclops in film to begin with, but it's hard to beat Ray Harryhausen's from 7th Voyage of Sindbad. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjKUjcMpLbg

The most tragic love story: The Hunchback of Notre Dame! Poor Q! BTW, the comic project I am working on is moving right along with good response from the publisher. I'm the writer and I'm working with a talented guy named Y. Kohno to do the art. I hope to put up some sneak peeks soon!

Sad ghostie. I feel like going to an actual haunted house. And spend the night. And get scared out of my frickin' gourd. Just one of those moods.

There's just something about a woman in red... It took me some time to complete today's illo. I went through an episode of the BBC "The Office", an ep. of "Freedom" (animated show by the creator of Akira), and an ep and a half of Star Trek: DS9. For a daily pic diary, I'm taking just way too much time! But, I can't help it! It's too much fun!!

Here's my tribute to Plan 9 From Outer Space . Both Tor and Vampira are just too cool.

The K-1 event that took place in Hong Kong had some great KOs, but poor Musashi was kicking ass until he got his nuts kicked and kicked again. Man! That's why they shouldn't let amateurs fight! Grrr... I hope they fine the bastards $10,000 for each nut that was kicked. There is a special reason that I root for Musa, but I can't really talk about it online. Let's just say, he's help me get some good exposure. Since I was gone a few days, I made a series of three pics. Nosferatu. Or should it be Nosferathree. The first vampire flick. Good stuff! The movie about (kind of) the movie "Shadow of the Vampire" is pretty good itself!

"I wonder what's inside..." "Heeeelp meeeee!" Just got back from vacation! Had me some fun. Finished about 3/4 of Harry Potter 7. Got some sun. A few bug bites. Now I'm watching some eps of Monk that I taped. Good stuff. Ever seen the old Ellery Queen show? They give you the clues so that if you're sharp you should be able to figure out who the bad guy is. Isn't that cool? Had an episode of Columbo on when I flipped on the tube. Johnny Cash was in it. The guy could act! Ok, shut up. Monk is back on.

Got some really good news yesterday about a project I'm working on. Unfortunately I can only hint about my involvement. I'll throw up some slightly incriminating pics in a few days... Until then, I have another meeting with Kodansha (3rd largest publisher in Japan) about some more work. Fingers crossed everybody. Today's pic: Speedy McFlash, the sporty death.