Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Friday, April 26, 2013

Atlantis Fantasy World

When my family moved to Santa Cruz in 1980, one of the first locations we discovered (probably even before finding a close supermarket) was the comic store Atlantis Fantasy World on Pacific Ave



 It was this huge musty barn that echoed the sounds of an idle pinball machine, and had movie posters and comic books plastering the walls. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. I would end up spending much of my younger years here, and my allowance money.



Joe Ferarra was the proprietor, along with his partner Jim Aschbacher ( I would often fetch Jim and Joe's lunch for them). They were nice enough guys, but shrewd comic book salesmen. Usually offering you a mere 5 cents for any comic you ever tried to sell them.

Probably one of the highlights of the shops history was being featured in the Hollywood production Lost Boys (1986) as the comic store the nerds meet at. As much as I couldn't stand that film, I was proud to see Atlantis featured in such a high profile. I'd always imagined getting a job there as an adult.




Sadly, in the Loma Prieta 1989 earthquake, the building that housed Atlantis collapsed. Luckily  no one was hurt, and the shop managed to move into a FEMA tent that the city had set up, and eventually moved to its current location where it's been since.  Though it's not the same place as I remember as a kid, Joe still runs the shop today, and it's still going strong.

Atlantis Fantasyworld
1020 Cedar St.,
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Monday, April 22, 2013

Amazing Spider-Man #39

One habit I've gotten into is reading to my 1 year old son every night. Most of the books he seems in different to, but I grabbed an old classic Spider-Man comic from 1966, and he was completely engrossed and didn't make a sound.



These stories were so simple and concise, yet Stan Lee left no character without a back story or thought bubble.He really seemed to love these characters he was writing.

I am probably reading into this. an doing that awful projection thing most new parents do (see, look, he loves the Mets!!!), but it's still pretty fun, and might become a regular event, at least for a while.


Monday, April 15, 2013

Monday, April 8, 2013

1993

As much as I cringe at most of the work I was creating back then, I did a ton of it. I was starting a 2nd comic strip as well as delving head first into marker illustrations. This was about a year or so before I would become familiar with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. This art was strictly cut and paste in the crudest sense:

Friday, April 5, 2013

British Oi Mix Vol 1




here!

Track listing:

4 Skins- Seems To Me
Cockney Rejects- We Are The Firm
The Toy Dolls- Geordie's Gone to Jail
Combat 84- Poseur
Sham 69- Hey Little Rich Boy
Vicious Rumors- Generation Of Scars
The Business- Disco Girls
Last Resort- King Of The Jungle
Cock Sparrer- Taken for a Ride
GBH- Sick Boy
Splodgendessabounds- 2 Pints Of Lager
4 Skins- 1984
The Ejected- East End Kids
Cockney Rejects- Flares n Slippers
Sham 69- I'm A Man, I'm A Boy
The Undertones- Chocalate And Girls
Skrewdriver- Invasion
The Redskins- Go Get Orginized
Sham 69- Ulster Boy
Stiff Little Fingers- Alternative Ulster

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

WonderCon's Hip-Hop Panel in the LA Weekly

Great article on the panel by Liz Ohensian from LA Weekly, check it out. Hopefully there'll be some video soon. It was a lively panel full of some interesting discussion on the cross section of Hip Hop and Comics!