Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Kids Books, Transsexuals, and Gangsters

Hey Gang!

So in case you're keeping track, two of my more "mature" reads are on sale this week - Bad Dog #2, and Bang!Tango #2. Both promise to disturb and delight in very different ways, so whether you prefer Werewolves laying a high hairy smackdown on White Supremacists or ex-gangsters who sublimate their sexual confusion through rough sex and violence, I got you covered...

And then, there's a young reader's book? 

Yup! In a few months, Douglas Fredericks and the House of They will be hitting the shelves, drawn by the uber-savant Benjamin Roman, whose work you may know from I Luv Halloween and The Cryptics. It's a gorgeous hardcover, perfect for some quality time with the little ones, or for an older reader who likes cool art with their subversive morality tales.

(and then, someone in cyber-land scratches their head and leafs through Bang!Tango, wondering just how sick my "younger reader's work" must be...)

And I point that person to one of my heroes, Osamu Tezuka, who is not only the undisputed Godfather of modern manga, but whose work ran the gamut from the lovable Astro Boy to the devastatingly dark MW.  If you want to read someone who's all over the map, yet brings an undeniable humanity and point of view to both the benign and the bizarre, check out Tezuka. And while you're at it, Terry Gilliam and Guillermo Del Toro...David Lynch...Satoshi Kon...

I'm not comparing my work to any of those greats, but my inspiration comes from artists like them who refuse to be pigeonholed, knowing there are stories to chase all across the creative map. 

Here's to the hunt!

-JK


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