Anime Bystander
New podcast! Lots of Instax! Some art! Some shelf-porn! A ferry ride into Anime-land!
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
Podcastery
This week I posted Episode 602 of The Virtual Memories Show, feat. the return of cartoonist and animator Dash Shaw returns as we talk about his phenomenal new graphic novel, BLURRY (New York Review Comics)! We talk about the decompressed mode he brought to this book, the turning points we encounter in the most mundane situations, his focus on the microscopic moments of doubt we have between two very similar things, and how he settled on the idea of structuring the book around nested stories (& figured out to thread them together by the end). We get into the 2×2 panel regularity of every page of Blurry and how that allowed him to build the book, how the experience of making a Clue miniseries changed his comics-making process, and how Blurry felt like he’d been playing a video game for a long time and then discovered a bonus level. We also discuss his film-making process and how that contrasts with the isolation of making comics, the ways his work tends toward collage, why naturalistic dialogue is another form of stylization, what it was like to grow up in a comics-friendly house, and a lot more. Give it a listen (and go check out our 2021 conversation)! And go read BLURRY!
Last week I posted Episode 601, feat. comics journalist Jess Ruliffson. We started out talking about the origins of INVISIBLE WOUNDS (Fantagraphics), her collection of stories from veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but wound up talking about guys’ butts, among other things. We get into her focus on male vulnerability, the Tim Hetherington photos that led her to make Invisible Wounds, what it’s like to come home from war with no idea what to do next, and the new comics she’s making with her husband, Ernesto Barbieri, about his work as an ICU nurse. We talk about her upbringing in Mississippi, what she’s learned about interviewing and how stories sometimes take shape in retrospect, whether it’s “permissible” to tell stories about people in a different demographic, the common thread of moral injury in her work, and how she found her way into comics and journalism. We also discuss her frustration at not drawing the butts she wants to draw, her experiences teaching comics and learning to give her students permission, what she’s learned from making the Terrible Anvil podcast with Tom Hart, why her therapist insisted she never make a memoir, and more! Give it a listen, and go read INVISIBLE WOUNDS!
Recent episodes: Joe Coleman • Mirana Comstock • Anita Kunz • Shalom Auslander • Maurice Vellekoop • Laura Beers • Robert Pranzatelli
Anime Bystander
I got on line for the ferry at Port Imperial Saturday morning, heading to NYC to record a podcast. There was an Asian-American family ahead of me, with a little kid wearing a sleeveless black T-shirt, brown derby hat, and steampunk goggles with various lenses arrayed off the frame. He also had a plastic sword.
Since the ferry lets off behind the Javits Convention Center, I figured something was going on. Then two adult men in superhero-looking costumes got on line behind me, so I asked what was up. “Anime NYC Festival!” they replied in unison. I nodded. On the ferry, I was flanked by a girl in some sort of flouncy pink & white dress, and another in some blue costume that was maybe from Mortal Kombat?
I got off the ferry and began walking past the Javits, where I saw throngs of cosplayers and event-goers. It was gratifying to see them out in such numbers. When I was a young comics nerd, there weren’t so many opportunities to meet, nor did was there much diversity or this kind of scale. (Nor, outside of the occasional Red Sonja, was there much cosplay to gawk at.)
As I walked a few blocks east, I thought about the little steampunk kid (had to be under 10 years old), and it struck me how lovely an image that was, his mom sitting beside him on the ferry. I’m a sucker for that sorta thing.
Anyway, I’ve never been one for cosplay, unless you consider my suit-self a different persona than my home-lounging-self. I did, however, take a pic on Sunday to show the world what sort of material I’d post if I ever made an, um, adult content page to fund my retirement:
Instaxery
I took Instax pix at both of my guests’ homes last week, and also stopped in on a past guest in Boston to shoot one. (We also spent some time catching up, which was nice.) As a bonus, I shot one during my NYC walk after Saturday’s pod-session. I don’t know if I’ll include any of those incidentals in my GUEST/HOST book, as that could lead to Scope Creep, which is one of the leading causes of my not finishing a project. We’ll see, and you’ll hear all about it when I launch the dreaded crowdfunder for this project.
and
Artistry
I felt bad that I hadn’t drawn anything except a quick meh sketch in Boston in the past week, so I asked a pal this morning to send me something to draw, and that led to my dashing off this postcard just now. You should go to the Flickr album of most of the art I’ve made & find something you like.
Postcardery
Let me know if you want to be on my postcard-a-day list. (Financial supporters of the podcast get a hand-drawn/painted postcard as a thank-you.)
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far! I’ll be back on Sunday with links, books, & workouts, and on Wednesday with a new episode, and maybe some art & an Instax.
I'll get blood from a cactus, gunpowder from ice / I don't gamble with cards and I don't shoot no dice / Can you look at my face with your sightless eyes? / Can you cross your heart and hope to die?,