Category Archives: COMIC BOOKS

I just wanted to quick mention that there’s an article about Tonoharu in today’s (Friday May 16th) print edition of The Wall Street Journal. I can’t seem to find a link to it online, but if you happen to subscribe to or have access to the paper itself, look out for it!

Also, thanks to WSJ reporter Jamin Brophy-Warren who was kind enough to cover my book and interview me, despite having to navigate the irritating eleven hour time difference.

*UPDATE*: Here’s a link to it: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121089762572397267.html
The part about Tonoharu is about halfway down the page.

Pictured: The Tools of the Trade 

This is the eighth post in a series describing the creative process behind my graphic novel Tonoharu. This installment deals with my process for inking Tonoharu.

There are two stages to my process for inking: the brush stage and the dip pen stage. Both of these steps require the use of a messy, easy to spill bottle of black india ink. 

The Brush Stage
I never knew this before I started drawing comics myself, but many comics are inked not with a ballpoint pen or felt tip marker, but rather with an old fashioned brush dipped in ink.

Lines created with a brush are vastly superior to lines created via other means, IMHO. Brushes allow for lines that are smoother, livelier, and can achieve a modulated line unlike anything any other writing implement could produce, going from razor thin to a quarter-inch thick in one smooth stroke.

Continue reading Creating Tonoharu #8–Inking→

Pictured: Local Weirdos Lars Martinson and Tim Sievert

Attention Twin Cities Comics Fans–Breaking News!

I’m once again postponing a new installment to the Creating Tonoharu series to make an announcement–at the end of this month, I will be jointly throwing a book release party with my friend Tim Sievert, who is also debuting his first graphic novel in April!

More info about my book can be found by clicking around this website; for more info about Tim’s book, entitled That Salty Air, visit Tim’s blog, or to see a six page preview of his book, click here.

Graphic Novel Release Party Details
What: Graphic Novel Release Party for Tonoharu: Part One and That Salty Air
Who: Cartoonists Lars Martinson and Tim Sievert, respectively
When: Saturday, March 29 2008, 4pm-7pm
Where: Big Brain Comics, 1027 Washington Ave S, Minneapolis, MN [Google Maps]
(I also heard a rumor there will be an “after-party” of some kind too; details about that to follow.)

The timing of this is great, because it will also serve as the closest thing I’ll be having to a going-away party; I’ll be leaving for Japan just three days later, on the morning of April 1st!

Needless to say, there’ll copies aplenty of both Tonoharu: Part One and That Salty Air available for sale, and Tim and I would be delighted to exchange them for your cold hard cash, and sign them for you to boot.

But book purchase is by no means a requisite for attendance; I’d really like to see as many people as possible before I leave for Japan, and this will be my last chance to do so. So mark your calendars and stop on by!

*UPDATE* I just finished designing a flier for the event. It’s a 1.4mb PDF file, and can be found here. Click on it to take a look at it, or right click and select “save target as…” to save it. Feel free to, y’know, print these out and distribute them around town. You have nothing better to do… er… right?

And a new entry to the ever-postponed Creating Tonoharu series will be up next Friday. (Does anyone even care anymore? Probably not, but oh well.)

Pictured: A pencil sketch from work in progress Tonoharu: Part Two 

After a very long, unscheduled delay, this is the seventh post in a series describing the creative process behind my graphic novel Tonoharu. This installment deals with my process for drawing the panels.

Up until now, the entries in this series have consisted of half-baked ruminations on vague subjects such as inspiration, writing, and design. From here on out, entries will be a more concrete, and deal with my actual process of creating the final artwork used in Tonoharu. Whether these entries will be of any interest to non-cartoonists I can’t say, but read on and find out.

Continue reading Creating Tonoharu #7–The Drawing→

Pictured: My darling little comic book 

I’m happy to report that I now have advance copies of my first graphic novel, Tonoharu: Part One in my hot little hands! Want them in your hot little hands too? Read on:

Tonoharu: Part One
Recipient of the prestigious Xeric Grant!

“A fully realized, engaging tale of international alienation.”  
— Francisca Goldsmith, BOOKLIST Starred Review

Tonoharu is a four-part graphic novel that tells the story of a group of foreigners living in Fukuoka-ken, Japan. It was informed by my three-year experience as an assistant English teacher through the Japanese Government-sponsored JET Program.

From the back cover of Tonoharu: Part One

Daniel Wells begins a new life as an assistant junior high school teacher in the rural Japanese village of Tonoharu.

Isolated from those around him by cultural and language barriers, Dan leads a monastic existence, peppered only by his inept pursuit of the company of a fellow American who lives a couple towns over.

But contrary to appearances, Dan isn’t the only foreigner to call Tonoharu home. Across town, a group of wealthy European eccentrics board in a one-time Buddhist temple, for reasons that remain obscure to their gossiping neighbors.

Sample Artwork
Click on an image to enlarge. Color scheme of final book is different than what is represented here.

Book Details:
Tonoharu: Part One
5.25″x8.25″, 128 pages, Two-color.
Cloth Hardcover w/ full color dust jacket w/ gold highlights.
ISBN Number: 978-0-9801023-2-1
Publisher: Pliant Press
Cover Price: $19.95

Interested parties can get their own copy in one of three ways:

1) Order it directly from me, via Paypal / Credit Card:
Price: $19.95
Minnesota residents pay an additional 6.5% sales tax.
Shipping: $2.13 for shipping to USA and Canada via Media Mail. $8.00 to the rest of the world, via first class mail.
Click this button to order now:

Bonus: Order by March 23, and you can get your copy signed, if you so desire. Just note that you want a signed copy in “Optional Instructions” box as you checkout, and say who you want it made out to, if anyone.

 2) Pick it up at a convention:
My distribution partner, the great alternative comics publisher Top Shelf Productions, will be on hand at a number of conventions and expos across the country this year. For a list of conventions that Top Shelf will be making apperances at, click here.
My book should be available at their booth, along with a bunch of other great books, such as That Salty Air by fellow Minnesota native Tim Sievert.
 

3) Wait a few weeks, and then pick up Tonoharu: Part One at your favorite retail outlet
Tonoharu: Part One should be available at in comic book stores, bookstores, amazon.com, bn.com, etc., around mid-April or May.
To preorder Tonoharu: Part One from amazon.com, click here.