Yesterday my wife and I went out to witness our local murmuration of Starlings. It’s pretty spectacular, happens on the Albert Bridge and you can see them slowly congregate and then swoop in vast clouds of black splatter up and around over head. Finally they tear off into the bottom of the bridge where they’ve mostly made their homes. I mean it was amazing. Several years ago, I got caught in a murmuration of starlings on a beach in Rathmullan. We’d gone walking and found at some point close between the sandy beach and the forest where tufts of harsh green grass had made its home the starlings where swooping up and down and around, and getting very close the ground. I stood and watched as they swooped around me. It was an incredible experience.
Prior to the vast murmuration small clumps of starlings appeared, smaller murmurations, which, by rights, I think, should actually be called a murmer of starlings.
Oh, also got interview by the One show just before the murmuration began, unsure if I’ll be on, but if you see a doofus in a Gorillaz hat, that might be me.
Terran Omega Cover
I very quickly drew up a cover for the first Terran Omega. You’ll see it soon. It’s funny but sometimes the most promising visual is the quickest. I think pencils and inks took 30 minutes.
Newsletter Blast off
I’ve just sent out my first newsletter. It’s still in the untested rocket being shot in to space and may face an unscheduled demolition at any point.
Yesterday In Social Media
In some sort of attempt to look at anything else but the world at large I went scouring for stuff to laugh at. And found this great story:
"Bob had gotten to the point where he never drew anything. Never drew anything on the Batman comics, anyway. [Sheldon] Moldoff was ghosting them all and when he didn't, someone else did. The only thing I think Bob ever drew was when we'd be out somewhere, in a restaurant or someplace, and a pretty girl would come over to him and say, 'Are you really the man who draws Batman?' Then he could whip out a little sketch for her, a big sketch if she was wearing something low-cut and would bend over to watch him draw. One day I'm over at his house to discuss this newspaper strip idea we had and he's talking about who we might get to draw it. I was going to write it and we were going to get someone else to draw it. I'm not sure what Bob was going to do on it except sign his name. I said to him, 'Bob, isn't it disappointing to you that you don't draw any more? You were once such a great artist.' He wasn't but you had to talk to Bob that way. He said, 'Oh, no. Let me show you something.' He took me into a little room in his house. It was his studio. I didn't even know he still had a studio. It was all set up with easels and things and there were paintings, paintings of clowns. You know the kind. Like the ones Red Skelton used to do. Just these insipid portraits of clowns, all signed very large, 'Bob Kane.' He was so proud of them. He said, 'These are the paintings that are going to make me in the world of art. Batman was a big deal in one world and these paintings will soon be in every gallery in the world.' He thought the Louvre was going to take down the Mona Lisa to put up his clown paintings. I didn't have the heart to tell him. So a few months later, I'm up at DC and I ran into Eddie Herron. Eddie was another writer up there and we got to talking and Bob's name came up. Eddie said, 'Did you hear? Bob's getting sued by one of his ghost artists. I said, 'How is that possible? Shelly Moldoff's suing Bob? But they had a clear deal. Shelly knew he wasn't going to get credit or anything..? Eddie said, 'No, not Shelly.' Bob was being sued by the person who'd painted the clowns for him..." Arnold Drake (via arecomicsevengood)
Bob, you scally.
I think it’s hard for me to really understand how much money people could make in comics once upon a time (I mean I know people doing phenomenally well right now – but the money in those days would’ve been insane, but honestly most artists and writers I know are struggling to make a sort of average sized income – certainly I am) the days of wild excesses are probably long gone.
I’m a sucker for any joke that plays on classic artwork. This by Jaseomcn on blusky made me laugh.
And finally, leaving you with a free comedy special by Gianmarco Soresi – one of my fav new comedians, who, please god, doesn’t seem like he’ll wander off in to very dodgy territory (LOUIS CK I’M LOOKING AT YOU … no wait, stop doing that Louis — I’m no longer looking at you, jesus christ man. Still I’ve got my classic Woody All… oh god.)
