Shout-out: Jonathan Baylis

DIGESTATE CONTRIBUTOR:

JONATHAN BAYLIS!

Portrait by Paul Westover

Before Jonathan Baylis wrote auto-bio comics, he interned at Marvel Comics, Valiant/Acclaim Comics, and was an Associate Editor at Topps Comics.  His comics have been published locally in New York City and in literary anthologies like The Florida Review, Backwards City Review, and Wild River Review.  His first fiction story was published by Arcana Press in Dark Horrors 2.  Jonathan had a couple of two-pagers published in “I Saw You… Missed Connections” and “Side B: The Music Lovers Anthology”.  He has since collected most of his stories into the self-published, “So Buttons” series, of which there are four issues and a holiday special in print.  More stories can be found at www.sobuttons.com and sobuttons.tumblr.com

Portrait by Noah Van Sciver

Editor's note: I used to live in the same neighborhood as Jonathan (or "J. Bay", as I call him), and his street features prominently in Jonathan Lethem's "The Fortress of Solitude". My given name is also Jonathan. I'm not sure what this all adds up to, but I can tell you that he has one of the cutest bug-eyed Boston Terriers I have ever had the pleasure to lay eyes/hands on. If you meet up with him for a beer, Mocha: The International Delight (that's the dog's name) will undoubtedly be there, too. 

Portrait by Thomas Boatwright

Portrait by Gabrielle Bell

Portrait by Ed Piskor

Reviews n' Such

Everything I'm working on lately is in the sketching stage, so that's why I haven't really posted any new artwork lately. It's not because I'm sitting around in my underwear watching old footage of Roosevelt Franklin, I swear!

"I Saw You..." has been getting lots of reviews, which is good. I still haven't received my contributor's copy, so I can't give it a review myself, but here's what the pros say:

The New York Times
The Stranger
Publisher's Weekly
Pop Matters
Brews and Books
Sandbox World
Philadelphia City Paper
Metro International
Random House Library Services
Venus Zine
Bookgasm
Read About Comics

...plus Julia Wertz, the brains behind it all, was interviewed about the book here:

Heeb Magazine
The Greenpoint Gazette
WNYC

Partied Heartily

I'm pretty certain that one of the only people who actually read this blog is my mother. She informed me that I haven't posted anything in a while. So, this post will be bittersweet for her. On the one hand, I AM posting something, but on the other hand there is mention of not one but two old mens' penises.

I went to the "I Saw You..." book release party at Desert Island on Friday. It was so crowded that I couldn't even reach into my pocket to get out my camera for a photo. They made little tiny buttons for the contributors to wear. Each button had an image taken from that artist's page. My button focused on the old butcher's penis (you'll have to buy the book to see what I'm talking about...please buy the book!!). The guy who was handing out the buttons (who was also one of the artists featured in the book) also had a penis on his button, so I wasn't the only one.

Now, for the mention of the second old man penis: When I sent out a mock-up of the book I'm self publishing (Old Man Winter & Other Sordid Tales) to a handful of other cartoonists that I admire asking for criticism, one of my favorite responses came from Kevin Huizenga. Among other things, he pointed out that the protagonist's penis was not properly age progressed. I actually took his advice to heart and added in some additional wrinkles!

Anyhow, the release party was a lot of fun, and I thank all of my friends that came out for it. It was freezing out that night, so I really appreciate the effort. Afterward, we were able to race back to my neighborhood to catch the last half of Dare Duke's show at Banjo Jim's. I bought his new album, and I'm happy to report that it's really really great.

I Saw You...Comics Anthology

A long long time ago, I saw that Julia Wertz was looking for comic artists to interpret their favorite "Missed Connections" posting on Craig's List (if you haven't ever browsed them, I HIGHLY recommend it...both heartbreaking and hilarious). It's a great idea, so I immediately drew one up and sent it in.

Originally it was just going to be a xeroxed mini-comic, but it has since been expanded into a book published by Three Rivers Press (a division of Random House!). Tons of great artists signed on to the project, and now I'm sort of embarrassed by my submission. If I'd known what was to become of this, I surely would have spent more time and effort, but oh well.

It just came out, so buy it on Amazon here or at your local comic shop. I think some of us will be signing books at the release party at Desert Island in Brooklyn on Feb. 20th, so c'mon out. You can see a list of the contributors here (Aaron Renier, Adam Kidder, Gabrielle Bell, Jeffrey Brown, Laura Park, Julia Wertz, Peter Bagge, Sam Henderson, Tom Hart, etc., etc.!)