asturd

Roomies buddies and painful shits

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 02:02:34 GMT

Melanie, Lucy, and I have a new roommate. Her name is Vanessa Davis she is a cartoonist and a sweetie (so far anyway ). 3 cartoonists under one roof - that seems like some sort of crime against God.

check out her comix at http://www.spanielrage.com/

They is good shit.

In other news Andy left today in one piece. It was great to see him and recalibrate. We did sleaze it up a little by drinking plenty of beer his last night (fourth night in a row). Liam was sensible enough to not join in - though I bet if I had promised him a Mc griddle in the AM if he joined us - he would have caved.

We also ate at this Thai place down the road that served us the spiciest meals ever Andy was having real trouble and claimed it was the hottest thing he had ever eaten (he was crying at the table). My ass almost fell off this morning. Ouch!

Nervous Breakdown well executed

Thu, 13 Oct 2005 16:54:30 GMT

Chaser plus is a miracle. I feel like the devil is going to swoop in and demand something for the relief he has given me.

Andy is here. uh... I think the plan is to take a sleazy food tour of Berkeley (top dog, fosters freeze, ribs place?). I can't imagine that Liam and Andy are up yet.

They are nervous to try the Chaser . They are cave men screaming at the lightning strike that spawned fire. Fools.

Maybe they just don't trust the name - Chaser Plus is a bit unnerving...

That's the best I can do evidently

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 08:05:18 GMT

It's my birthday! Melanie is taking me up to wine country tomorrow. I am excited. It's gonna be just like that movie sideways.

Like I had mentioned yesterday, I have been looking at my past - and organizing things a bit.
So here are the my major acomplishments to date:

Born September 1977, Bangor Maine (broke head circumference record)

First published work- Cover for Tapestry #3 (1993 Superior junk comics). http://members.aol.com/mrferrier/tapshow.html
Continued drawing the comic until the 9th (spring 96) issue when the comic "company" went broke.

Traveled to Sweden for a summer hitchhiked in up and down the east coast . Settled down to live in a basement closet in Boston MA in the fall of 96.

Got first work drawing the Tick (1997 NEC press ) did several issues (mostly one shots) eventually earning writing credits on the book before parting ways in 2001.

Joined A Global Threat in 1999 recorded an album, three 7 inches and toured twice. Fired/quit the band fall 2001. Due to slow boil, punched lead guitarist in the nose one year later.

In 2002 began co-hosting Republican Chat, a punk/noise/social experiment radio program on A-B free radio.

Did cartoon illustrations for short lived Sci-Fi cable program Dream Team (Fall 2002)

Relocated to East Bay area in 2003.

Began a career as Manga comic book letterer (Fall 2003) for VIZ LLC, Series lettered include Hana-Kimi, Tough, A Cheeky Angel, Zatch Bell, Tankoubon.

Formed Comic publishing Press “Flop House” published first releases The Flickers#1/#2 and Laugh Riot (spring 2005).

Album covers for:

The Unseen, A Global Threat, Crash and Burn, Choke Puppy, Lugosi.

Complete comic Bibliography
Tapestry #3 (cover only), #4, #6, #7, #8 (unpublished)
The Tick Big Blue destiny (back up stories), #3-#5
The Tick Big yule log special 1999, 2000
The Tick’s big Year 2000 spectacle #1
The Tick’s Big Fathersday special
The Tick Incredible Internet special
The Tick Circus Maximus
The Tick Luny Bin (back up stories) #1-#3
The Tick Heros of the city(short stories) #1-#6
The Tick circus Maximus (Illustrations) #1-#4
YTK the comic( x2 covers – short stories)
Rat and the Beanstalk (one page)
Too Much Coffee Magazine #19 (one page)
The Flickers #1/#2
Laugh Riot

Wed, 31 Aug 2005 07:21:55 GMT

While compiling some memories for santaclow I remembered this: I wrote in to an advice column on the http://achewood.com site. Pretty good and all true.

" Dear Ray, For several years my best friend has been trying to help to me get hip to the Aussie rock god Nick Cave. He started by playing me earlier stuff like Birthday party/ boys next door. His assumption, I think, was that seeing as I like punk music (Ramones, Stooges, X) that I would dig on this young n'raw Nick Cave. It never stuck.

His second attempt was to get me really drunk and play tape after tape of his Badseeds MTV videos. I would be seeing double watching this vampire mullet guy crooning and thinking I was going crazy.

The last straw for him was last year (this has been going on for several years) when we had tickets to go see Nick and the Seeds in concert and I arrived so late that I only caught the encore. He said that he was so enraged that I had missed the concert that he was unable to focus on anything but my empty seat.

It is not that I dislike Nick Cave and his music, on the contrary, I like and respect it. Unfortunately that is not enough for my friend. I honestly think he believes that something is wrong with me that I am not able to spend hours talking about, listening to, and watching Nick Cave. Once he got really drunk, kissed a Nick Cave Poster (which is huge by the way) then attacked me for making fun of him. Is my friend insane?
Babe, I'm On Fire

Dear On Fire,

Yeah, I accidentally listened to some Nick Cave once. How is music that terrible even being made and distributed? It’s like he knows how to make music that is exactly wrong for enjoying—like he has some sort of special combination of keys, time signatures and “anti-hooks” he relies on to make songs which sound so awful that they are completely unappealing to everybody. Frankly, I’d like to hear a person who knows music theory explain exactly why it is that all of Nick Cave’s songs are so technically awful. All I know is that all my primal instincts tell me to fight and kill Nick Cave’s music."

Yes, the friend is santaclow

DW from CT

Sun, 21 Aug 2005 05:40:49 GMT

A couple of years ago I simultaneously got bored of posting on LJ and found this guy “DW from CT” who posted reviews on Netflix. I loved them so much that I copied several of his reviews and posted them on LJ without an explanation. I did it a couple times then forgot about him.

Tonight I checked in with him hoping that he was still reviewing movies… and read the following review for Lord of the Rings : “I really liked this movie because it made you use your imagation alot!!It had good actors and a exallent story line.It makes you wonder how they made Elijah wood so small, pretty cool.I would defently buy this movie.”

I should point out that I can’t spell for shit myself and I am not claiming to be a functioning adult with fully intact mental faculties.

Check them all out http://www.netflix.com/Profile?prid=74721711

for real

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 23:33:52 GMT

Okay, I admit "Harry Farter" may have been a misstep. But this... this is GREAT.

It is done

Thu, 11 Aug 2005 19:39:32 GMT

Who is gabe crate? He is this icon. I have given birth.

end of a wicked awesome era

Thu, 11 Aug 2005 00:52:13 GMT

I have decided that now after three years of LJ that I will now be changing my icon. The original intention of the mohawk skull in a neck brace was to make fun of the lack of originality among rock bands when coming up with logos for their bands(also I had begun wearing a neck brace while working at the computer or drawing table - I still do).

Unfortunately, I think that nobody understood this joke. And It must seem to strangers that I am just one more person who thinks skulls are wicked cool.

Honestly, I am afraid that this will be as horrible as santaclow changing from his chapman puppet Icon to that red splashy painting he did for a while (also a skull). So I apologize ahead of time. I shall unveil it tomorrow.

red costco day

Sat, 02 Jul 2005 23:51:29 GMT

last night Liam, Perry, Heather, Melanie, and I went out to dinner and then drinks at the ruby room in Oakland. At some point the idea was formed that we would go to Costco early the next day all dressed in red. So that is what we did.
here is a photo collage of the adventure- it's fairly big so watch out!

http://www.flophousecomics.com/images/redcostco.jpg

The thing is - that we have no idea how this idea of dressing in red was formed and why we all agreed upon it with such enthusiasm. None of us had more than 3 drinks so it wasn't some stupor genius decision such as the Andy Shea, Andrew Gilbert, and I trip to the aquarium (was Liam there?) while hung-over. Anyway, we shopped for the 4rth of july and If you havn't heard of the all day festivities yet consider this your invite (this means you Nikhila).

I love 1984

Thu, 02 Jun 2005 17:20:16 GMT

In a weird push from the legal department at VIZ (the manga company I do a bunch of work for) corporate logos and reference to properties (movies/books) are being removed from the artwork and stories in their comics. Today I am spending the day I am going back through an early edition of Hana-Kimi (one of my comics) and erasing Nike logos and making Mickey Mouse's ears pointy . Their is definitely a satisfaction in reducing the corporate culture strangle hold on the world even if it's just one comic book. On the other hand it's still censorship and a sign that mush headed bureaucracy is pushing forward in America. It's especially odd because this is a change we are making after the book has already been out on bookstore shelves for over a year. A re-writing of history.

In a similar situation. Melanie is lettering a book called Zatch Bell (it has a show on Cartoon Network that we've never seen- no cable) and was asked to go back and cover up some frontal nudity on the main character that is some sort of magic little boy (she put boxers on him to cover some weenie/ballz).

Back to work. DAMN YOU TO OBLIVION ADIDAS!

All hail the Mint

Fri, 20 May 2005 07:32:05 GMT

My sweet baboo has restarted a live journal after abandoning her first one over a year and half ago. Her new handle is mintywho add her and be her pal. She is the best.

a bunch of shit has happened this past month. I'll get to at some point.

Oh, one thing. I half assedly updated http://www.flophousecomics.com (actually minty did) and my books are for sale online.

APE 2005 retrospective

Wed, 13 Apr 2005 22:19:10 GMT

It went well.

we did get seated (tabled?) in a pretty dead spot for foot traffic, but fortunately by the luck of the draw, we shared a table with the awesome gucky . She had not finished her mini-comic in time and used her table space to host friend's wares including himynameisjamie who does some nice and funny stuff. Also helping man the table was the very fun and sweet poodah.
Back on our side we had some help from lilmeangirl and Liam who did a bit of carnival barking and drinking, unfortunately through no fault of anyone, this did not equal much in sales. In fact I sold only four comics on the first day.

That night we had Indian and Beer in SF with Hank, and the Wagners then ended up going to Sunset to make a brief appearance at the Isotope(comic store) party/award show. There I met Dan and Christopher christafa who do some cool new books for SLG (Cocopiazo and The Ghouly Boys, respectively).

Honestly after the poor sales of Saturday and lack of sleep M and I had a hard time deciding to get out of bed to do it all over again Sunday. Thankfully we did and It turned around right away. M was selling her stuff rapid fire nearly all day and I with the draw of some cheap original Tick art (a bit to cheap- I quickly realized) managed to rope in plenty myself.
We also met some editors from VIZ for the first time and even got invited to do a "business lunch" in SF sometime.

Other highlights were chatting with m' pal Shannon Wheeler tmcm and handing off contributor copies of the Laugh Riot comic to one of my fave cartoonists the now bearded johnnyryan.

Oh and one last meeting of my now favorite punk rock cartoonist, Mike Hersh of Rabid Animal Komix. Mike, as it happens lives right down the street from me, and thank god, I only have issue #1 and #2. So we'll be hanging out soon.

That’s all I can think of now. And I'm really sick of making these LJ tags for peoples names.

Oh, also M and I went and saw Gene Wilder speak last night in SF. It was cool. he is a very glowing and funny man.

the boxes have arrived

Fri, 08 Apr 2005 16:11:30 GMT

First off, thank you to everyone who supported my efforts with encouragement and proofreading. The books are stacked up in the living room (soon to be in the garage) safe and sound with the minimum of spelling mistakes (yes, there are some and it's completely my fault... hey, that's what 2nd printings are for). It's nice to finally have a comic printed after my three year dry spell after the Tick and I parted ways.

So now all I have to do is sell the little fuckers. As my friend Andre can attest (we did a comic called Tapestry back in 93-95), I am neither a businessman nor a great self-promoter, so it may take a while to sell enough comics to print issue #3. In fact, while I would do signings for the Tick, I would nervously discourage potential costumers explaining that the Ben Edlund issues of the Tick were the only ones really worth the effort and frankly some of the ones I worked on had horribly bland and insipid writing (I only wrote a few stories so I can only take so much credit for them sucking).

Anyway the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco is this weekend, Melanie and her PS Comics and I are sharing half a table (with Liam as a floating pitchman/motivational speaker Sat). So for the first time I am promoting something that is completely my fault. I have pretty low expectations, but perhaps not low enough. I'll do my best and try to be professional, engaging, and sell my wares with a song in my heart.

I am also trying to silkscreen a Flickers t-shirt and having a rough time at it. My first two attempts have been a disaster. I am trying for the third and last time this morning.

HELP!

Sat, 05 Mar 2005 01:05:35 GMT

I am a horrible speller. And I need some help. If you are bored on this fine Friday evening help me out by proofing my comic that needs to go out to the printers tomorrow . just email me with a list of my spelling and grammar mistakes. Please! Someone help me Melanie is gone to India I am all alone with only bad spelling to keep me company.
http://www.flophousecomics.com/flicker2.pdf

I know it isn't much, but I’ll add you to my thanks list in the back of the book and buy you a smoothie.

gabe@flophousecomics.com

we don't have blinds up yet at the new pad and I keep making eye contact with people walking by outside on the sidewalk. Maybe one of them is a good speller.

comics for printer/new house/India all by the 3rd

Fri, 25 Feb 2005 19:34:29 GMT

This next week is going to be brutal. I have finished my Neil Hamburger comic, but then i still have at least thirty pages left to finish lettering and greytone to get things together for the printer by the 3rd. To make things more complicated Minty and I are moving in to her new house before then (Tuesday?) and then she leaves for India the day after move in. If I survive this and actually get my comics printed in time for APE(Alternative Press Expo) I will be very impressed with life.

also the Simpsons is unwatchable these days. talk about stress!

update 2005

Mon, 31 Jan 2005 03:09:09 GMT

I just finished the final panels of the second issue of my comic The Flickers! On to the next issue. Hopefully I can pick up the pace.

Liam is at his new part time job at five star video. He now has a reason to apply pants and gets free movies to boot.

M and i are about to go hang out with Heather and Perry who are now officially to be wed and cancer free.

life is good.

knock 3x

My pal Andre and Mr. Eisner

Wed, 19 Jan 2005 06:22:04 GMT

Recently one of my favorite cartoonists died. I don't have much to say about the man that wasn't already said in a far spiffier way by a friend of mine Andre Salles. Andre did a nice piece about the death, and more importantly, the life of Will Eisner on his weekly music review site "Tuesday Morning Three AM."

http://www.tm3am.com/index_archive.htm

I recommend Andre's review site. It's a reliable good read, though I for the most part don't share his taste. check it out.

plus the Will Eisner piece tells a cool story in which i have a starring role.

Perry Halloween Flashback

Thu, 30 Dec 2004 00:47:11 GMT

This is basically the same costume P-Wag had several years back. Eventually he took the monitor to participate in a cocaine binge. Oh what a night!

Anyone unfamiliar with Mr. Johnny Ryan should investigate his awesome work on the rest of this site.
http://www.johnnyr.com/index.html

If you don't like comix, then I'm sorry for wasting your time.

brain is hangin upside down

Sat, 18 Dec 2004 03:15:00 GMT

I just finished about two weeks of manga retouch/lettering in approx three days. I am completely frazzled. I am glad to be done just in time to go hang out with Indy who is in SF for a few days. I havn't seen that guy in several years(five?).

The book I was working on was the second volume of this book..

which just arrived on my doorstep as i came home from finishing today. Normally I don't get copies of the books that i do. So i really appreciate my sweet editor Yuki for throwing me a copy.

lounge

Sun, 12 Dec 2004 09:26:35 GMT

liam-"do you really think so little of me?"
Gabe-"No, I just think of you."

...with a fat pig and or DVD player.

Sat, 11 Dec 2004 10:42:02 GMT

I am back and settling in to the apt after M picked me up in oakland late tonight. We exchanged gifts upon arriving home since It was her B-day after midnight and the bike she got me for x-mass was un-concealable in our kitchen(and she'll soon be gone for the rest of the month including x-mass). I gave her a nice replacement DVD player since ours has been a total creep for while(mostly while playing CDs), but we haven’t hooked it up since the fuse blew for the living room earlier in the day.

top occurrences/discoveries while on east coast:
discovered that Andrew Gilbert has long hair now.
learned that Chris moylans studio in surrounded by danger, yet is very cozy and awesome.
Boston is the color grey.
Maine is too.
The old Amvets in Allston is now a fancy restaurant with a waterfall for a door.
Discovery bookstore, China Garden, and the Silhouette are still on the scene, making A-town a must stop for any weary traveler.
re-learned that winter is for suckers.
I love Berkeley California and dislike leaving it for more than a few days.

goodnight.

Home again jigity jig

Tue, 30 Nov 2004 00:57:26 GMT

I am not ready. I am not ready to go home yet. Work is barreling down on me full force, I am in the middle of several projects and I just plain don't wanna go.

It will be nice to se some folks in boston and i owe my parents a visit(2.5 years by my count), i am just feeling stressed about the whole thing. the planes, the cars, the subways, the cold. I don't want it right now.

fortunately I finally broke down and got me some health coverage. so if i get hit by something on the trip...

nock 3x

I also quit smoking 99% (i've had 2 in about 6 weeks).

T-day celeb spotting prt2

Thu, 25 Nov 2004 08:53:30 GMT

Last year in LA while doing last minute thanksgiving shopping(looking for tofurkey)I spotted Junior from the HBO show Sopranos (the old one with glasses).

Just now in Berkeley, M and i saw another semi celeb while shopping at the local market... none other than Jessica Campbell from the awesome yet canceled "Freaks and Geeks" and the equally awesome movie "Election".

Melanie pointed ou that both of these people came to our attention via DVD TV releases. so... next Thanksgiving, I expect to meet David Rasche from my favorite childhood TV show "Sledge Hammer"(86-88) that I plan on watching soon thanks to a recently released DVD set.

Help with the fun

Thu, 11 Nov 2004 08:26:27 GMT

I’m doing a comic strip in which I relate the funniest stories I’ve ever heard (anecdotes as apposed to jokes). If any of you have a funny story to offer me I would be grateful. When I started this I assumed that I had a ton of stuff on mental file, but as it turns out my life(and the lives around me) is much less hilarious than I thought.

Melanie has a great one as told by a friend of hers:

A family is coming out of the movies after a large meal, they have been farting up a storm during the movie due to a large meal. They all are hysterical from the gas release. Dad is especially enjoying it, and is the gassiest of them all. He turns around and pins one of the kids to the side of the mall his and lets it fly. He stands back laughing, but then realizes that this is not his child he has full contact farted on, just some kid trying to leave the mall.

Melanie tells it better.

Got anything for me?

new album

Fri, 05 Nov 2004 09:19:22 GMT

In 1997 Chis Moylan, Andrew Gilbert and I formed the Pluto Gang. We played punk rock music and had a wonderful time at it. When I visit Boston next month we will finally finish our album. Here is the cover i did up tonight.

most of the basic tracks have already been recorded, but we still have vocals, bass and a couple new songs to record. I am looking forward to completing it.