Matt Madden is preparing a promotional tour for his (and Jessica Abel’s) new book, Drawing Words & Writing Pictures, and posted the above strip, which was used by publisher :01 in a mailing for booksellers (please go to Matt’s site for a full-sized version).
It came to mind that most of you probably have never been to Het Besloten Land, doubtlessly one of the best comic stores in Belgium (Matt Madden even calls it “one of those mythically great European comics shops I’ve been hearing about for years”).
On the inside it’s just filled to the brim with nothing but good comics, but the outside is really unique. Belgian cartoonist Johan De Moor, son of Hergé right-hand man Bob De Moor, painted the complete shop front from top to bottom, and inside and out, in his own, surrealist style.
And since it’s a lazy Sunday, here are some pictures. I hope they’ll convince you to come over.
Inspired by Lars “Dogma” Von Trier (about whom I would very much like to read a freudian psychological analysis, mind you), Tom Hart challenged his friend and co-oubapo-ist Matt Madden to challenge him with five obstructions in a comic strip. The results had to be printed in the Metro newspaper.
The results are quite interesting, and I was quite amazed to see how Tom managed to follow each and every one of Matt’s devious devices, and still keep true to the soul of his strip. It’s a bit sad that paper wouldn’t print the words-only strip. For that reason, I’ve included it here.
We had our almost annual asparagus feast today at the excellent Hostellerie De Hamert in Wellerlooi (the Netherlands). While we were waiting for the main course, the owner and I got to talking about how a restaurant can stand out these days. His trick to get noticed was focusing on local food. Whether it’s beef, pork, vegetables, fruit or herbs, they aim at never using any products that need to travel more than 20 miles. And of course, the restaurant’s main forte, asparagus, is a local produce par excellence.
‘And where, pray tell, is the comics content in all this ?’ I hear you ask. Well, it so happens that the New York Times recently ran an article about ‘Near food’ or ‘Local food’, quoting none other than Matt Madden and Jessica Abel. So, there you have it - the global revolution is at hand !
I completely forgot to mention this, but Matt Madden has a blog !
In case you don’t know, Matt’s the genius behind 99 ways to tell a story, a showcase of the narrative possibilities of the cartoon medium.
He’s also my sole claim to fame, as I’m translating that book in Dutch, to be published in the fall. And I’ve met him ! Personally ! Yeah !
