There really is no criminal spin on this recipe other than the killer headache you'll have in the morning if you knock too many of these sweet puppies back. I can't say my dinner guests were swinging from the ceiling when I served them last night buuuut one friend did mistake the crab butter dip for a finger bowl basting herself in the process.
Clean Get Away
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Up for debate: Did John Dillinger break out of prison using a mock gun he carved from a bar of soap? Far as I can tell no one really knows. In Public Enemies, uber hunk Johnny Depp makes his big escape from the Crown Point Indiana jail using a wooden mock up. The FBI does back up this version of the Dillinger story in their "Famous Cases" crime log, though they are quoting his version of events, and lets face it, the guy had a story for every day of the week. I'm up for believing the soap theory. It sounds like it would be something infinitely easier to acquire while doing time, and simple to fabricate using a spoon or stick. Carving a gun out of wood, well that would require using a knife and if he had the knife why make a fake gun, leaves my brain spinning...
While we speculate, real dollars are at stake, as I write, the Heritage Auction Galleries have up for auction the wooden gun he purportedly used in his escape. Current bid is $13,000, with Christmas coming soon, and ya'll not knowing my dress size, you'd best put your offers in now as I'd love to own a piece of that action. There is also a two part plaid hunting suit which I covet, though it is a bit matchy matchy and the stirrup pants look a twee uncomfortable...
The real gun may be somewhere else all together. The official John Dillinger Museum in Hammond Indiana, claims to have the pistol on display according to the "Northwest Tourism Czar Speros Batistatos" and with a name and title like that, I'm inclined to believe him.
If you want to own your own piece of history, can't drive out to Indiana or fork over $15G for a probable fake, visit my Etsy shop where soap guns can be had for a very reasonable four dollars, while supplies last.
Spring Reading
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For the last few weeks I've been dragging around a big bag of comics, which we've been reading and drawing resources from, all the books came from the Multnomah County Library and is a great place to check out new stuff without spending all your allowance. A number of the books either featured women heroes or were written or drawn by women. I thought it would be handy to feature some of the books here, click on the link to find out where you can pick up a copy... Let me know what you think of the books and the links, I'll post a few more reviews and some of our art before the summer break. DC Teen Titans Spotlight on Wonder Girl If you like mainstream action/adventure comic, this is a great place to start, traditional super heroes fighting crime and mythical heroes with golden lassos.
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Since we've been looking a lot at how to draw characters, Superhero ABC is definitely worth looking into. There are great faces and poses to choose from and each letter has a clever "super" personification. If you're looking for story ideas, you might want to write some histories for these guys, where does Goo Girl get her gumption, why is Volcano so gross? Creator Bob McLeod has a fun website with downloads which a fun place to spend some time.
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Baby Mouse is really Fab! And I think on Ramona's greatest hits list. Not only are there great stories, but the page layout is something young authors and illustrators can learn a lot from. Some pages have lots of panels, on others there are none. The pages are three color- black, white and pink, except this summer, when Baby Mouse comes out in Orange. Creator, Jennifer Holm, has a fantastic website with educator guides for teachers and parents, a resource I'll be looking into for next fall.
biker girl
Biker Girl is written by Misako Rocks and is the story of Aki "schoolgirl by day and bike hero by night". The illustrations are rooted in traditional manga style, but the story is about a very empowered young woman. It's a great book to study from if you are trying to develop your manga style or have a love for girls with goggles. (Who doesn't?) Misakos other books look great too, they all feature young women in off the wall adventures. Detective Jermain Vol. One looks especially good, and I hope to track it down this summer.
anancy
Speaking of fancy pants girl detectives- the Nancy Drew Graphic Novels, by Paper Cutz are worth a once over. The ink and coloring is especially nice and the characters have a very fresh feel. The stories are updated though and fans of the "real" Nancy will come away disappointed. Carolyn Keene's writing may be a challenge for younger readers, but she had an excellent sense of pacing and dialog, many of these literary treats dissappear in the comic versions.
chiggers
If your are in the mood for some GREAT writing, GREAT characters and OUTSTANDING comic illustration- I can't recommend Chiggers enough. The book is an Eisner award winner, the highest accolade in the comics world, and is not your average read. It's a coming of age story set at summer camp where a group of young girls are on the emotional highway to self discovery. It's definitely a graphic novel for our 5th and 6th grade readers and could be thought of as Jr. Chick Lit, though that would be selling it short. Hope Larson's website is lovely and has nice downloads, visit it here...
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While some books don't make the leap to graphic novels well, Raina Telgermeir's version of The Baby-Sitter's Club is actually a huge improvement on the original. Her illustrations radiate emotional energy with emotively drawn characters. She keeps her backgrounds simple and moves the story forward through lively discussions. Raina was a guest at the Stumptown Comic fest last year and was lovely to visit with as some of you were lucky to find out. Raina is married to Dave Roman, who also does comics incluing Agnes Quill and the superfun Astronaut Elementary which is online and updated every Friday.
April Comic News
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Stumptown Comics Fest:
Whoo hoo! The fest opens up tomorrow morning at 10am and the kid's workshop begins at 10:30 in the Idaho Room. The Stumptown organizers have been kind enough to reserve 10 spaces for us, but I'd recommend showing up early (like as soon as the main doors open!) just to make sure we all get in- I expect the workshop will fill up entirely! The workshop ends at 11:45, I know we'll all want to do a bit of looking around, but thought it might be fun to meet up for lunch afterward, and compare our day. If you can make it, we'll meet up at the food court on the 3rd floor of the Lloyd Center Mall at 1pm. Make sure to bring parents with you tomorrow as it's a pretty big crowd and I'd hate to lose track of anyone.
Tickets to get into Stumptown are $6, I'd recommend bringing cash to pay, I'm not sure that they offer a kid discount, but the workshop is free. The Stumptown Website is www.stumptowncomics.com
PCPA Poster:
Thanks for your comic drawings our poster is on display along with the work of other fantastic Portland comic artists at the PCPA building 1111 SW Broadway, so you should head over and check it out especially if you're heading over to the main library, art museum or historical society! The exhibit will run through the end of the month
Free Comic Day:
One of the best days of the year is coming up quick, May 2nd, where local shops are giving out treats to you and publishers are making special books to celebrate... check out the link... http://www.freecomicbookday.com/
Kid Workshops:
The Sequential Arts Gallery on Broadway is putting on weekend kid workshops, Sundays this month then returning to a Saturday schedule- the classes are very reasonably priced and are coming from the very awesome folks who put together the Stumptown Fest, here's a link to their site, though the workshop info isn't listed at the moment...http://sequentialartgallery.com/wordpress/
Gallery
Here's a SMALL sample of the work we've been up to lately! Click on the thumbnail for a bigger picture, more to come!
New Business
Hey Comic Friends- Since we have so many comic projects on the go, it seemed like a good idea to put all our great ideas together in one place. This blog is a fine place to get ourselves organized. Here we can share our finished projects, talk to each other and share resources of what we're working on and what we'd like to read next. Feel free to make comments and to give me your suggestions!