The Ephemerist

As of today, The Ephemerist is also available in a mobile edition. Thanks to the iWPhone Theme and Plugin by ContentRobot, those extra mobile Ephemerist readers can savour their daily fix while on the move and without having to constantly zoom in an out of the page.

iWPhone basically strips the blog of all fancy extra’s (the Flash titles, the sidebar, what have you) and formats the rest in an easy to read template. You can view the complete post (including the graphics, because that’s what it’s all about), browse on categories, leave remarks (why don’t you) and share on digg, del.icio.us and Technorati to your heart’s content. No search as yet, and no diary.

By the way, I’m posting this using the MobileAdmin plugin for Wordpress by Jared Bangs and Dan Cameron. This plugin allows you to use a mobile client for basic WordPress administration tasks, such as writing and editing new posts, managing comments, etc. This plugin too, is no full alternative to the native Admin site, but it really blends in with the iPhone interface, and is very good for basic, text only blogging.

As ever, I’ll keep you posted…

It’s 1993, and the comics glut is at full swing. Rulers of the domain are Image, who bury the market under ultra-rare collector’s issues with alternative embossed chromium foil green logo hologram covers, grim heroes and zero content, and Wizard Magazine, who continually try to convince the gullible public that they really need this stuff.

And so, at Christmas, they join together to celebrate their tidings of not that much comfort and even less joy on a chromium embossed card with Wizard. Strange days, strange days.

Still, all the best for Christmas and the New Year from the Ephemerist, who will probably go into hiding and bask in the warm glow of the family for a few days now.

(art and copy © Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti, I guess)

I was cleaning out what has become commonly known as the “comic closet” in the Ephemerist Mansions, and came across an old Top Shelf catalog, which featured a beautiful silk screened cover. On the back of the brochure I disocvered this amazing ad for Mars Ink Printing Productions by none other than Craig Thompson.

I guess this catalog must date from about 1997, and I didn’t have the faintest clue about who this Thompson was at that time. I do now, and I dig it.

For a twelfth and final time, We present you an installment of the stories-with-a-lesson that are the Nutricia Baby Books. This week, it’s cute animal time, as we present you the story of …

“The Little Doe”

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As is the case every other year, last weekend the quiet Flemish town of Turnhout was completely conquered by hordes of die-hard comics fans (well, more like a steady dribble, but there you have it) for the Strip Turnhout Festival. It was a good festival, with some very interesting shows (on Michel Vaillant and Kim Duchateau, amongst others), Scott McCloud doing his spiel and an evening of music accompanied by cartoonists (instead of vice versa).

The Festival also unveiled some very interesting publications, such as the Dutch translation of Matt Madden’s 99 Ways To Tell A Story (translated by yours truly), and a set of postcards by Turnhout City Artist Jan van der Veken (blogged about before), featuring a series of typical Turnhout views. And since the Turnhout people are very nice, we present these cards here, for all you millions who couldn’t make it (thanks, Toon).

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Hilarious.

(Source)

From Showcase #64, 1966. This semi-naive art makes me a bit melancholic.

From Big Town #35, 1955. I’m not sure whether Capp did this strip himself. The type looks genuine enough, as does Fosdick (although there’s a suspicous lack of holes in his body), but I have my doubts about the prisoners.

This year’s Clio Awards for print advertising feature an impressive line-up of ads and campaigns that clearly show inflcuence from comics and graphical narratives.

Check out these campaigns for New Zealand vodka 42 Below (by Saatchi And Saatchi), which won the Grand Clio as well as Gold and Silver awards in the Beverages/Alcoholic categories, one ad in the Saatchi & Saatchi campaign for Stuffit Deluxe and a funny ad for MAPA Protective Gloves by TBWA\Paris.

(via Neatorama, delightful as ever…)

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From Big Town #20, 1953.

From Sandman Presents : Petrefax # 4, 2000.

(Superman © DC Comics)