Jordan Shiveley

Things I've written whilst drunk

2011-11-18T14:53:00.000-08:00

[1] And when they tried to speak to each other it was always with the circling formalities of days long since past they would look back down their shoulders and not see a single moment that anchored them together they had forgotten how to speak with the certainty of sweat and hands eager to the touch all humid reactions and instant groans. Their language was no longer that of sharp breathed intakes and lips bit to the quick and blood welling bright in the front of everything. They forgot how to laugh the cigarette taste clogging their mouths till all that was left was their needs. They knew there was more than this adjusting of bodily spaces and they lacked . . . oh how they lacked.

[2] Guys! WE'RE FUCKING ALIVE! And we can taste it all the blood and the sweat, the fear and the night air, the cum and the moment right before it all changes! GUYS! We are alive! And yeah there is some monumental shit to deal with...BUT WE GET TO DEAL WITH IT! We get to eat gas station hot dogs and work too much, play too little, miss the important moments and dwell on the worthless, but guys! We get to fuck and cry and know each others names! Our feet get to rest in lakes and our hands on bodies that seemed made for action! GUYS! We are that action.

"The Only Reason I feel Secure Is That I Am Validated By My Peers" - David Bazan

2011-11-18T00:21:00.000-08:00

A man who does not know and recognize his blessing is in fact cursed.

Okay. First off let's start this confessional with the axiom of "Jordan Shiveley is not the best at being a good friend" Because let's face it, I can be very self centered, vain and just straight up assholey. I'm grumpy, moody and sometimes an all around bore. That being said it makes it all the more meaningful that I have very close friends whose friendship I deeply treasure.

Recently I moved away from all of them to Minneapolis. A pretty alienating decision in that I knew one person in the entire area and . . . it's also the Midwestern equivalent of Hoth. But I have been blessed by the group of people I've met up here. I could go on and on about all of them and still accidentally leave people out, people like Sarah Morean, Katt Cochran and Kevin Cannon who have made me feel at home with their friendships . . . but I really want to talk about two people in particular, Brittney Sabo and Curtis Square-Briggs.

Brittney Sabo was one of the first people in Minneapolis to really make an effort to befriend me. And she didn't do it half assed either. Upon barely knowing me she spent a good ten hours or more helping me silk screen all the covers for a book I was working on at the time. Not a task that just screams fun and varied excitement. Also Britney is the kind of friend who I don't feel that i need to be impressing at all times. I never feel the need to be cool or super accommodating around her, which is probably not a score in my favor but people who take you for who you are and don't write you off the first time you are a complete tool (even when you step on and mangle her beloved catchildren's tails by accident) are few and far between and the Sabes is one of them. She also with the patience of a saint gives me artistic advice and puts up with amateur question hour. Also she is funny.

Curtis Square-Briggs is another person who has been a great friend to me recently. Not only is he a really fun guy to talk to and the Font of Knowledge of ALL THINGS. But he is a genuinely solid friend who doesn't dick around and cause shit. The guy is helpful to a fault and always ready for a long quality conversation or two. Another of the few people in the world I don't feel the need to impress, who for whatever reason seems to value my friendship.

These people are the salt of the earth. And I say that in a non hokey sentimental colloquialism sort of way. Just because hallmark has co-opted a saying doesn't mean that we have to roll over and accept it people. Salt of the fucking earth. The human body will die without salt, but has no faculty to create it on its own. Humans have to seek out salt and incorporate it into their diet unless they want their systems to slowly shut down and eventually cease to function. Friendship and camaraderie are exactly the same, there are certain people who salt the earth of our acquaintances and without them we would slip into the introversion of relational friendship shut down. Humans can't manufacture all that they need for healthy psyches. We need others to salt us and complete synaptical circuits that we can't reach on our own. Is this all pretty sappy? Yeah maybe. Most likely. Okay it definitely is. This blog post is the fucking middle of An American Tail when the mice family are calling to each other and missing the connections by mere seconds. Pure sap that rings true, I fucking appreciate these people and want to make sure they know.

So there.

Logo by Dustin Harbin

2011-09-21T13:38:00.000-07:00

Just putting this here so i can link it elsewhere but hey look how great Dustin Harbin is, you should HIRE HIM AND PAY HIM MONEY.

Sketches

2011-07-31T13:55:00.000-07:00

Here are a few rough drafts of pieces I am working on for a show

Also progress is being made on the SECRET comic project

Inkstuds Interview

2011-06-02T00:29:00.000-07:00

So hey I was on Inkstuds! Check it out!

Carbonara

2011-05-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

Guest comic I did for Sarah Becan's "I Think You're Sauceome" webcomic

thisisit

2011-03-29T17:15:00.000-07:00

He realized that he had become mostly filled with ill will and malice. He would walk home late at night stumbling slightly from the after work drinks and stop to stare at couples dining in restaurant windows. He would stand mere inches from the glass. When they would look up at his unwavering attention he would then mouth "FUCK YOU. FUCK THIS. FUCK YOU" with more than the socially acceptable amount of direct eye contact.

Later in his apartment, surrounded by half read books, he would sit on the couch his head nested down onto his chest and glare at the radiator. This wasn't quite how he had envisioned filling his time. Occasionally he would get up, walk three times around the room stopping to open half filled notebooks before sitting back down. Eventually he slept.

rabblerabblerabble

2011-03-27T15:38:00.000-07:00

"The Russians are coming!" I gasped "Quick we have to get to a storm drain so we can escape through the sewers and start our lives over. We will be the Resistance, we will smear our faces with refuse and laugh over burning barrels when the Red Machine thinks it has won! We will be the disease inside their body, the burr under the saddle . . ."

"Ahem" she rolled her eyes and turned towards the wall "If this is what you call dirty talk then I'm just going to sleep"

ohshitohshitohshit

2011-03-23T17:21:00.001-07:00

the slow crackle and hum of fading radio stations breath frosting up into the sky the late night filter of wan yellow streetlights asphalt brittle and slick stumbling the taste of whiskey bitter on the tongue fingers too cold to fumblingly unbutton coats hands grasping pushing pulling saliva warm and bitter with cigarettes keys dropped and kicked off porch sudden laughter biting lips till blood comes breath harsh and insistent from the lungs

My stumptown votes 2011

2011-03-16T08:51:00.001-07:00

Best Artist: Emily Carroll, "His Face All Red"
Best Writer: Carla Speed McNeil, "Finder: Voice"
Best Cartoonist: Sarah Glidden, "How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less"
Best Letterer: Brittney Sabo, "Francis Sharp in the Grip of the Uncanny, Vol. 1"
Best Colorist: Emily Carroll, "His Face All Red"
Best Publication Design: Zack Soto, "StudyGroup12 #4"
Best Anthology: "StudyGroup12 #4", edited by Zack Soto
Best Small Press: "The Whale" by Aidan Koch
Best New Talent: Michael DeForge
Reader's Choice: Francis Sharpe in the Grip of the Uncanny Vol. 1 by Brittney Sabo

Ihearitsawaitinggamenow

2011-02-14T11:27:00.001-08:00

We buried him today. Does it make me a horrible person that I was bored at the funeral? There were forty-five rows of folding chairs - twenty two on the left twenty three on the right, twelve chairs in each row except for the front rows which had nine chairs on the right and six on the left. I know this because I counted them all, five times. It's not even that I was uncomfortable because it was a funeral and the body of someone they kept trying to tell us was our friend was lying in a wooden box at the front of the room, open for display like muffins or scones at a coffee shop. I just can't sit still. I kept adjusting and readjusting my tie. I know the lady next to me was watching. I imagined her naked and the two of us fucking in the bathroom for a few minutes. Then I felt bad. Not because I am a prude or anything or that a corpse could make me unable to get it up. I just knew we wouldn't be fucking in the bathroom later and that made me sad. There were forty-seven lilies in the right flower urn and I think forty-three in the left. I wish I hadn't worn a suit jacket, I felt all prickly and I wanted to get up and go to the bathroom all through the service. Now that I'm home I wish I had a sweater on but I don't want to get up off the floor. I poured out all the alcohol in the house as soon as I got home. I'm not sure if this was a reaction to the funeral or not. I think maybe I just wanted to make a statement, say something that I couldn't voice at the funeral. I don't think it was even about the beer and whiskey, I think it was the lack of something I really wanted. Like I was pantomiming not talking to him, kissing him, waking up next to him with every bottle I pour down the black yawning mouth of the drain. There were thirty four bottles in all.

Lil Comic

2011-02-02T14:26:00.000-08:00

Review: Young Men of a Certain Mind by Lars Martinson

2011-01-15T20:35:00.000-08:00

The Minnesotan Lars Martinson is a bit of an iconic figure when it comes to the subject of how to do self-publishing correctly. And yes there is a right and wrong way to go about it or at least a “worse” and a “much much much better” way. Lars is squarely in the much much much better camp. He published his beautifully rendered Tonoharu Part One under the auspices of the Xeric foundation in 2007 and has been a critical darling ever since. But before that he published a 43-page mini-comic titled Young Men of a Certain Mind in 2003. It is interesting to look back at this spiritual predecessor to the Tonoharu books and see the early glimmer of the later maturity of line and tone that his work would develop. However the beautifully dense crosshatching that would so effortlessly populate his later books at times seems forced in YMoaCM. As if Martinson is shading to fill in the panel and not in actual accordance to the contents of the panel. At times the horizontal lines beginning at panel borders run afoul of the figures within them. On the other hand the panel composition is as good as you could wish for. The word bubble layout in correlation to the interior art is never crowded and Martinson shows a deft hand with negative space and blocking. One standout feature in the construction of this book is the way the last panel of every page works as a pausing point for the narrative, a sort of natural cadence break in the dialogue. The dialogue pacing is such that each page has a settled feeling to it there is no incomplete cadence to the page pitch, every last panel is a small self-contained ending for that page if not for the overall narrative arc.

And it is indeed a very enjoyable narrative arc. The main character goes through his daily mundane minutia at times bemusedly detached from humanity and at other frothing with spittle flecked rage at their perceived shortcomings. He is a character profoundly unhappy with his station in life, at ends to where he is headed, and all his observations are tinged by this lack of situational empathy. Martinson has a few insightful moments during the book, chiefly the idea of the occasional alien-ness of the world around us. The moment when you look up from your coffee and something shifts and you can no longer breach the gulf of your surrounding culture. It is in these moments that the strength of YMoaCM lies.

As a whole Young Men of a Certain Mind is a great comic. The draftsmanship is solid and pleasing if lacking Martinson’s future brilliance and the story will resonate with more than the titular demographic.

If you are of a certain mind to purchase it you can do so here.

Joe Decie is 2c00l 4 sk00L

2010-12-27T20:34:00.000-08:00

My cartoonist friend from across the pond Joe Decie just drew his version of one of my comic panels!

This is Joe's version

This is mine

It's pretty obvious Decie should always draw my comics from now on

Read 12.15.10

2010-12-16T16:25:00.000-08:00

"Please"

2010-03-09T21:49:00.000-08:00

Does it Make You Happy?

2010-03-06T18:38:00.001-08:00

SPX or Bust!

2010-02-17T23:50:00.000-08:00

95% sure I am going to go and have a table at SPX this year. It is expensive to travel that far and take so much time off work but I think it is a necessary step to make connections. I'm going to early bird register as a commitment to make myself go!

Solipsistic Pop 01

2010-02-15T23:18:00.000-08:00

The first thing that stands out about Solipsistic Pop 01 is how professionally bound and printed it is. From what I've been able to gather from the first issue and the website this new anthology seems to be printed out of the pocket of the editor, Tom Humberstone, and possibly some of the artists within. Which blows my mind. It has colour printing! It is perfect bound! It has a fold-out Sunday comic style insert! I don't even want to think about how much this puppy cost to print. As far as design issues go, this book rivals anything being put out by the big indie houses. A very handsome volume indeed.

The contributions range widely from the more established linear narratives and art styles to the obligatory experimental pieces and stand alone art pages. I liked probably about 60% of the pieces which is a rather good ratio as far as these type of publications go with several of those being all out home runs. I don't really want to get into reviewing the individual stories but some of the standouts were:

Julia Scheele, My Year as a Christian
Anna Saunders, Insomnia
Robbie Wilkinson, Meanwhile
Stephen Collins, Exit Music, Sunday Columnist Adventure Stories, Bedlam, Back Page Funnies
Joe Decie, Rozbity
Tom Humberstone, Special Guest Appearance, The Adventures of Chicken With It's Head Cut Off

The price might seem a bit steep at first blush but the end product well justifies the outlay. I really hope they sell the whole first run. Just the blatant love of printing and sequential art that exudes from the entire volume makes it an endeavor well worth supporting. And while I rejoice that there is now a quality UK comics anthology to highlight all the great and largely unknown (at least in US indie comic circles) talent. I am hugely jealous that I will not be able to submit anything to a rag of this quality!

Well done Mr. Humberstone. I am now a faithful believer.

It talks to me . . .

2010-02-05T13:32:00.000-08:00

This is what this is supposed to look like, right?

Critique?

2010-02-04T01:21:00.001-08:00

I'd love to hear some critique on these comics.

"Unsung" Pages 31-35

2010-01-18T23:30:00.000-08:00

"Unsung" Pages 21-30

2010-01-18T21:54:00.000-08:00

"Unsung" Pages 11-20

2009-12-23T19:43:00.000-08:00

To be continued . . . .

"Unsung" Pages 6-10

2009-12-19T15:50:00.000-08:00

To be continued . . . .

"Unsung" Pages 1-5

2009-12-18T22:46:00.000-08:00

Eleanor Davis Post-Its

2009-11-25T21:47:00.000-08:00

It's official! Eleanor Davis is STILL one of my favourite all time artists!

Don't we all?

2009-10-18T22:41:00.001-07:00

Comics Reporter!!

2009-10-15T14:33:00.000-07:00

Wow I got a mention on The Comics Reporter! I think I actually squeaked out loud when I saw it. Thanks Tom!!

Unsung mini comic finished

2009-09-30T22:53:00.000-07:00

Finished the "Unsung" comic. It is 35 pages, 8 1/2 x 11 and sports hand cut mountain ranges as part of the cover. I had to rush to get the first draft done printed and assembled in time to mail it off to the Isotope mini comic contest so I wasn't entirely happy with the way the printing looks. There is some messy copy speckling along some pages and a few errant grey pencil marks that need to be cleaned up, but I guess an entry is better than no entry. I'm going to go back and clean it up, redraw the cover and maybe use a heavier weight stock for the cover before I print a larger run for sale. Should be able to have that done in a week or so.

Check out Mark Leicht

2009-09-26T23:55:00.001-07:00

Mark Leicht is reaaally good. He does all the layout and design for HIVE: A Somewhat Quarterly Comics Journal and has a piece in HIVE NUMBER TWO. I love his brush strokes and the composition in general with the heavy black roughs.

You've changed

2009-09-26T23:48:00.001-07:00

Various Mice

2009-09-24T22:10:00.000-07:00

"We Need to Talk"

"Hi!"

"Just keep walking"

Mouse Dream

2009-09-24T15:14:00.001-07:00

Sometimes at night . . .

2009-09-24T13:58:00.000-07:00

I'd like to think. . . .

2009-09-23T16:33:00.001-07:00

Hug?

2009-09-22T23:25:00.001-07:00

from HIVE ONE

Do You Ever Get Lonely?

2009-09-22T21:58:00.001-07:00

from HIVE ONE

Eat My Cheese

2009-09-21T21:15:00.000-07:00

This is from HIVE: A Somewhat Quarterly Comics Journal NUMBER ONE

New Mini

2009-09-17T00:28:00.000-07:00

Finishing up a 34 page silent mini comic titled "Unsung" at the moment. Have all the interior line art and inking done just have to finish laying out and making the covers. Would like to have it done by Oct. 1st so I can enter it in the Isotope mini-comic contest.