The Ephemerist

A Peevish Old Woman

sparehed — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:48:22 +0000

A True Comic Opera

sparehed — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:52:22 +0000

On his blog, Canadian illustrator and cartoonist Michael Cho has published a few of the illustrations he made for the opera Les Aventures de Mme Merveille. This opera, written by Cecil Castellucci and currently getting geared up for production by the Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal (premiere on May 6), represents quite a unique event, as it combines operatic music with comic book imagery :

Singing, illustrations, video projections and staging come together to recount four highly imaginative stories: The fight of a super heroine against the evil Mr. Dégoût, a fifties love story, the detective enquiry of François and his dog Pax and an interstellar combat.

Other cartoonists working on this production are fellow Canadians Pascal Girard, Scott Hepburn (who’s also published some previews from it on his blog) and Cameron Stewart.

I do hope the result will be broadcast in some way…

Sunshine Week uses comics

sparehed — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:21:02 +0000

Sunshine Week (March 14-20) is a “national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information” led by the American Society of News Editors. As part of its promotional toolkit, ASNE provides banners, buttons, logos, and also a printable awareness poster in comics format. Which is never a bad thing.

Your happiness depends on BO

sparehed — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:00:23 +0000

It’s never been as clear as this.

(via Vintage_ads)

Beating insomnia with Roz Chast

sparehed — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:37:33 +0000

For the New York Times Opinionator topic All-Nighters (discussing all aspects of insomnia), New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast provided some advice in the form of a comic. She gets to sleep by doing a simple A-Z game :

I try to list various things from A to Z: countries, rock groups, prescription drugs, movies, books, celebrities whose first and last names begin with the same letter… you get the idea. I don’t mind repeating categories from one night to another. Diseases might seem to be an unlikely insomnia game category, but for some reason, it’s one of my favorites.

(Illustration by Roz Chast, with thanks to Mike)

Neither super nor comical

sparehed — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:24:46 +0000

Exactly why the Martin Agency opted for the comic book cover format for these ads for Virginia homelessness action group Homeward, is unclear to me. I do like the result, however, especially thanks to Matt Wieringo’s quite effective and atmospheric art.

(via Ads Of The World)

Batman Blues

sparehed — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:46:43 +0000

Just dig the cool sleeve on this blues compilation from 1969. The man dressed as Batman is supposed to be legendary blues producer Mike Vernon. And what a line-up !

Tom Gauld for Diet Coke

sparehed — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 12:38:56 +0000

British cartoonist Tom Gauld (Hunter & Painter, The Giant Robot) has designed three cans for Diet Coke. The cans are introduced to raise awareness for The Heart Truth, the women’s heart health program. Together with Mans+Blacklist, and Max Erdenberger, Gauld also produced a series of (very) short animations, which are included after the click.

(Via Creative Review and Viewers Luke U, with thanks to Darko)

Sala covers beware

sparehed — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:52:46 +0000

I’m not one for using contemporary slang, but OMG ! Robert Goodin just got Richard Sala to join the Covered project with a reworking of Beware #7 (Trojan Magazines, 1954). It’s a great cover, that sticks very closely to the original while at the same time is vintage Sala.

The Coolest Stationary

sparehed — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:55:36 +0000

Letterheady is my new candy of choice, and today it offered this gem. In the 80’s, Bill Watterson had the coolest stationary featuring a tiger, ever.