Big Update

Hello, everyone --

I have rebuilt my website, or more accurately, Static Made rebuilt my site.

So please update any bookmarks you may have and head over to jimrugg.com.

You might also want to sign up for my new newsletter. I've been doing work in a a few different areas, and if you want to see it, the easiest way to keep up is just to sign up for the newsletter.

Thank you for following me this far, I hope to see you in the future!

Best,

Jim Rugg

Heroes Con and Other Stuff

I will be at Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC this weekend. If you go to the show, please stop by and say hello. I'll have the usual comics, books, art, and prints. Heroes is an awesome, comic book show, so if you're on the fence, I highly recommend it. I enjoy it as an exhibitor and as a comics fan and tip my hat to organizer Shelton Drum and the many people who work hard to make the show run smoothly and to create a welcoming, friendly atmosphere.

An Eisner nomination means FREE Afrodisiac

Great NEWS! Afrodisiac has been nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Humor Publication.

Unfortunately, Afrodisiac is currently between printings! To ensure that every possible Eisner Award voter has all of the necessary information to cast their ballot in a responsible and educated manner, we have decided to put the entire book online for FREE.

So, please take a moment or two to give Afrodisiac a read. We hope you will find the experience amusing, profound, and ultimately life-changing. Be sure to tell your friends and family about this experience so that they may share in your joy and good fortune. And look for a new printing this Fall. — Your pals in comics, Brian, Jim and Chris

Open publication - Free publishing - More adhouse books

Rainn Wilson looks like a Jack Kirby drawing

Saw Super this weekend. At times it reminded me of Bernie Mireault's the Jam. The real takeaway though, was how much Rainn Wilson looks like a Jack Kirby drawing.

POOD #3 preview trailer + AFRODISIAC review

Pood #3 hits the pavement in April, just in time for MoCCA--and here's a little video preview! If you're one of the few who haven't ordered their copy yet--well, what are you waiting for? here's the Previews order code: FEB110807!

There's still time--You can still call your local comics shop, give em the order # and you'll be guaranteed your copy of pood #3! so hop to it! get your pood while there's still pood to get! There's some definite surprises in this ish--so don't miss out! Order today!

And in Afrodisiac news, here's a review from Canada: "Afrodisiac (Adhouse Books, $15) has got to be the zaniest, most over-the-top and in-yo-face "black" graphic text /comic book in existence."
- George Elliott Clarke, the Chronicle Herald

DETROIT COMICS CITY?

ATTENTION: Detroit

On March 4th, I will be talking about my experience in comics at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit as part of their annual Comic Jam (presented by MOCAD and Green Brain Comics)! The Comic Jam begins at 4:00, and my talk begins at 7:00. Both the talk and jam are FREE and ALL AGES.

I hope you can make it. Please pass along and post this information to anyone and everyone that you think might be interested! Thanks so much, hope to see lots of you there.

2011 Glyph Awards Nominations

Afrodisiac, Brian Maruca, and I have been nominated for some 2011 Glyph Awards. The Glyph Awards are held annually in conjunction with the East Coast Black Age of Comics Con (ECBACC) in Philadelphia. I have never attended the show, but have heard good things about it. At the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, I spoke to a couple of guys who highly recommended the show. With some scheduling good fortune, hopefully this will be the year I finally get to see this show in person! In the meantime, here is a link to the complete list of Glyph Award nominees for 2011.

Thank you to the nominating committee. This is quite an honor.

TUMBLR and BIRTHDAY

I've started a tumblr to showcase various bits of odds and ends - things I'm working on, sketches, daily progress...whatever. Not sure how it will develop, but I thought I'd mention it for anyone that might be interested in that sort of thing. For now it will be mostly random images of whatever I'm working on for the day.

In other news, the second printing of Afrodisiac is almost gone. We've got a couple cases to get us through some shows this year, but if you want a copy, you might want to act soon! Ditto on Street Angel. Some copies were damaged in storage, and it looks like that second printing is just about gone as well. Thanks to everyone who has picked up the books. It means a lot more to me than I can convey in a blog post.

Finally, thank you to everyone who has taken time to wish me a Happy Birthday!

TRON EVOLUTION vinyl

I Am 8-Bit produced a limited edition, 12" vinyl record of Sascha's game soundtrack from Tron Evolution.

When they contacted me about working on the artwork, I was ecstatic! I LOVE the original Tron movie, and look forward to seeing the new one. Plus the idea of doing album art in general is pretty awesome. If you don't believe me, go check out Picturebox's book about superstar album artists, Hipgnosis. Amazing!

Miracleman 13

Read Miracleman 11-13. Glad I read 15 and 16 first. Knowing the payoff gives these issues a bit more weight. These early chapters lack the urgency, chaos, and power of the conclusion. However, they are very pretty and some of Moore's ideas are astounding.

Miracleman vs. Stardust

Read Miracleman 15 and 16 this morning. I was familiar with this story but hadn't sat down and read it before.

Art Show in Arlington

Comic Book Culture Invades the Art World

Arlington Arts Center
NOV 19, 2010 - JAN 16, 2011
Opening reception: Friday, November 19, 7 – 9 pm Members only preview 6 - 7 pm

PARTY CRASHERS mashes up comic art and contemporary gallery culture. Featuring Gabrielle Bell, Deb Sokolow, Derik Badman, Robert Pruitt, Victor Kerlow, Blaise Larmee, Warren Craghead III, Jamar Nicholas, Anton Kannemeyer (aka Joe Dog), Jeffrey Brown, Dash Shaw, Rosaire Appel, Andrei Molotiu, Rina Ayuyang, Joshua Cotter, Olav Westphalen, and me!

Romance Comics

Been super busy with different stuff, mostly illustration work. But I have a couple of comic strips debuting at the Brooklyn Comics and Graphic Novels Festival. One will appear in the FREE anthology Secret Prison and this one will be in the FREE anthology Smoke Signal. There will also be a new full-color USApe strip in the next issue of Pood.

PIX: This Weekend (and some other junk)

If you're in Pittsburgh this weekend, check out the Pittsburgh Indy Comics Expo (PIX). It's Saturday and Sunday and FREE to attend. If you know someone in the area that might be interested, pass it on. Thanks.



I drew an illustration in this week's Pittsburgh City Paper. It was fun, a bit of a nod to editorial cartooning which is something I haven't done in the past. You can read the article online.

Highwater Books, I salute you!

An art show about Highwater Books has inspired the interneterati to reminisce. I’d be remiss if I passed up the opportunity to add to the cacophony so here I go.

A quick background, I started making comics and had just dived into the independent/small press scene in the late 90s/early 00s. One of my gateways into this world was Brian Ralph’s Cave-In (published by Highwater). My enjoyment of that book steered me to more Highwater artists, mini-comics, and books at SPX. Highwater rewired my thinking about the comics making process,

Katamari fundraiser artwork for sale

Floating World Comics organized a Katamari themed art show, and now the artwork is being auctioned off on ebay. 100% of the proceeds will go to JOIN - a local nonprofit organization that works to “connect the street to a home”. There is a lot of great looking original art and archive prints and they are very affordable!

You could own a limited edition color print of my piece or the original artwork.

Should SPX be free?

I remember talking to a 60 year old woman at my first Small Press Expo in 2000. She was a teacher and had heard that comics were being used in some classrooms. Somehow she heard of SPX, and decided to see what the fuss was about. I was stunned. In 2000, this was not a familiar conversation for me. It is one of my favorite comic book show experiences.

SPX is an amazing show and has influenced my work more than any other comic book show. With that in mind, I wonder if it’s time for the show to drop its admission fee and reposition itself as THE East Coast comic book show.

According to Publishers Weekly paid attendance for this year’s show was a little over 2000 people. Meanwhile, TCAF’s attendance level this year was 12,000 according to Chris Butcher.

SPX began in the 1990s, during one of the worst financial periods in comics history – the speculator market had collapsed, all of the major comics distributors folded (except for Diamond), and Marvel declared bankruptcy. SPX was a beacon of hope in this dark time, and in my mind it was a precursor of the state of the industry today. It welcomed genre work like David Lapham’s Stray Bullets and Frank Miller’s Sin City. It celebrated creator-owned works like those of the Spirit of Independence tour (Jeff Smith, Paul Pope, Steve Bissette, Dave Sim, Rick Veitch). It offered comic book creators and fans an alternative to Marvel and DC’s superhero, corporate-owned melodramas. Located near New York City and its traditional publishing houses, it was a showcase for literary and art comics, and contributed to the rise of the graphic novels that are so prevalent now. For many years it exhibited with ICAF – an academic and international comic conference that championed comics as an art form. In addition to showcasing cartoonists’ talent to new fans, creators, and editors, SPX became a venue for many publishers to promote new business models like Top Shelf and Oni’s graphic novel-based lines or Highwater and Picturebox’s art and design-conscious work.

This year, I have done shows all over the country. It seems like there are three shows every weekend – from small regional dealer shows to extravagant pop culture events. I have been surprised at every show by the level of enthusiasm and the size and diversity of crowds.

Book publishers, movie studios, Walmart, G4, the internet, libraries, artists, writers, and cartoonists have been banging the drum for the last decade that comics aren’t just for kids anymore. I think that message has sunk in.

A lot of the success of comics today can be traced back to SPX. It is a brand with history, value, longevity, and a great location (I mean the East Coast and Washington DC, not any particular venue).

This show hasn’t changed a lot in the last 10 years, while the comics industry (like many industries) seems to be in a constant state of flux. As more and more specialty retail stores close (like Giant Robot in New York), I believe trade shows will play a bigger, more prominent role in the immediate future. With San Diego’s assimilation into LA’s hype machine, SPX could become THE comic book show.

So my question is, would it be feasible for SPX to hire a PR firm, and see about getting its attendance up to 10,000+?

*I know part of SPX's charter is to raise funds for CBLDF. But I think if the attendance were to double, triple, quadruple, or more...that the lost revenue from free admission could be made up in extra table sales (there's always a waiting list), extra fundraising events (membership drives, auctions, etc.), merchandise sales, etc. Not to mention raising overall awareness of the CBLDF and its mission.

Read Rambo 3.5 for FREE

Rambo 3.5 is nominated for the Outstanding Mini-Comic Ignatz Award at SPX this Saturday. In an effort to prepare voters for this responsibility, we have decided to post Rambo 3.5 online for educational purposes (we'll also have copies available at the show!).

Flickr
Comicpress

Please be sure and forward this to all of your friends, make torrents, shout from the rooftops, etc.

If you're attending SPX, I'll be at the Adhouse Books table with a couple of new things for you to check out - a collection of commissions (most of which you can see on my Flickr account), COMIXED UP (a zine/mini-comic of cartoon and comic character mash-ups), and the new issue of PAPERCUTTER (with an all-new, never-before-seen Bald Eagle one pager co-written with Brian Maruca):

I'm also doing a panel on Sunday:

Commercial Eruptions

4:00 | Brookside Conference Room

Jim Rugg (Street Angel, Afrodisiac) and Frank Santoro (Storeyville, Cold Heat) have produced auteurial work that shows the influence of commercial comics, and have brought an independent sensibility to work for publishers like Marvel Comics. In a conversation moderated by Tim Hodler, the two cartoonists will reflect on what they have learned from the contents and processes of historical commercial comics and how they reinterpret their influences when working for corporate publishers.

Finally, I contributed a short strip to the new Fort Thunder Monster anthology which debuts at SPX (and I couldn't be more excited to see)!

Baltimore Comicon and PIX

I will be at Baltimore Comi-Con this weekend, at booth 1904 (Adhouse Books). I'll have my usual assortments of books, prints, and artwork as well as copies of my Ignatz-nominated Rambo mini-comic and a new book of commissions and other drawings.

Pittsburgh gets its very own Indy Comics show (PIX) - October 16 + 17. Brought to you by the fine folks at the Toonseum and the Copacetic Comics Company! Add this to your calendars folks - admission is FREE! Tables for exhibitors are inexpensive. Please check it out, and pass it along to anyone you think might be interested! Thanks.

Laura Park is having surgery

She has set up a donation page to help offset the cost of the emergency back surgery. Any amount you can spare will be greatly appreciated. If you're unfamiliar with Ms. Park's beautiful artwork, you can see lots of it here.

Thank you.