So much creativity, but still room for more.

There was easily 300+ artists in "Artists Alley" at NYC's ComicCom 2010, showing their wares - drawings, sketches, graphic novels, one-off comic books, toys, collages, sculptures. Some of them were stars, some only known to their friends and family. Some with major publishing deals, some having to self-publish. If you're an artist, with an idea, it's easy to get overwhelmed when you realize how many people are out there competing to get there work seen and recognized. But, the truth is if you have talent and your work is original people will find it, and you'll be one of the ones who succeeds. Don't be discouraged in to inaction - let the world see your creative output.

In The Shadow Of No Towers

The 9th Anniversary of 9/11 seemed like a good time to revisit Art Spiegelman’s, In The Shadow Of No Towers, and see if it is any less impenetrable than the first go through, when it was initially published – It’s not. With the benefit of some distance and time from the events it begins to become clear that perhaps it was never meant to be. Spiegelman’s account of the days and months that followed 9/11 remains disjointed and in search of a conclusory point – a point that has perhaps, thus far, eluded all of us.

Speigelman’s book, 42 oversized pages on heavy card stock, revisits the theme of his earlier work, “Maus” – the human mind’s incapacity to grasp and make sense of the tragedy of calculated mass murder. This time he is the survivor, dealing with his own post traumatic stress, from the twin catastrophes of the crime and the madness of our own, seemingly senseless, national response to it.

It is the second cause of Spiegelman’s life-altering angst that made publishers and audience alike shy away from embracing “ No Towers” as it had so freely embraced “Maus”. “No Towers” accuses our culture of an inadequate response to the attack – feckless patriotism, unquestioning fealty to authority, and denial of responsibility for the actions being taken in our name.

Those are harsh, unpleasant, accusations being levelled and the passage of time can’t dull their sting. They call into question our national character during a time when we have been blind-sided and horrifyingly attacked. They are charges that seem particularly painful and, at first blush, uncalled for in the light of our suffering and pain. It feels right to dismiss them as cruel and unnecessary.

Yet to dismiss Speigelman’s charges puts us at a kind of risk as well. Denial is not a particularly good way to treat wounds. It doesn’t disinfect our sores, and it forces us to compensate for our injuries in ways that often result in greater harm to the body. The effects of untreated wounds show up years after the initial trauma seems like a distant memory.

Nine years later we may be seeing some of those effects in Koran burning pastors and unending wars on the other side of the world. The shadows cast by no towers is a very long one over the American spirit, and Spielgeman’s book is a reminder of what can happen when holes in the downtown landscape of New York City, or in our hearts, are left to their own devices.

Design our Logo contest!!!

 We're having our first contest, and giving away a Fabulous Prize. We tried to get Vanna White (Bear used to walk her dog in the Hollywood Hills*) to fly in for the presentation, but apparently she's busy washing her hair that night. No matter, we'll press on.

As many have noted Bear's Comics needs a really good logo. We love Julie Jones' depiction of "Wonder Woman" on our face book page, but Wonder Woman is not ours and we'd like something that can be identified as Bear's Comic's.


The PRIZE:

The winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to Bear's Comics to be spent in store. If you live too far away we will mail the books to you and shipping costs would be deducted from the total of the gift certificate.
While the winning logo will belong to us, you will have the right to use, or mention, it in anyway you see fit - on your resume, school application, personal promotion material, portfolio etc. We would be happy to give you an accompanying quote mentioning that you were the winner of the competition and recommending your work.

The RULES.


1. Submissions can be dropped by the store, or submitted to our email address info@bearscomics.com or by mail to:

Bear's Comics
Box 873
Bluffton, SC 29910

Please put on the envelope : Logo Contest

2. All Submissions must be in no later than 3.PM  Sept. 7th, 2010.

3. All Submissions should be accompanied by your name, phone# and email address. The winner will be contacted by phone and email. Submissions will not be returned (so keep a copy).

4. Bear and I will be the sole judges of this competition. If you are not a winner all rights to your submission will revert to you.

-RB

* "Walking her dog", is actually a euphemism........ We'll leave it at that.

A short history of the store so far.

Bear Delahunt and Ron Berney met when we were both struggling artists living in the foothills of Hollywood, on the outskirts of the entertainment industry. We soon realized that we shared a lot in common - a penchant for pop culture, a hatred for the LA Lakers, a belief that Michael Jackson was a genius, and most of all the ability to put in long, long, hours not working hard.  The latter talent eventually lead both Bear and I away from Los Angeles and on to other endeavors and other cities.

But we always stayed in touch.

And last summer, when Bear found himself back in his boyhood haunts of Southern South Carolina, we began to discuss the idea of opening a comic book store. After a few months of planning Bear's Comics opened just after Memorial Day 2010.

Another one of our common beliefs is that sequential art is a unique and important form and that an awful lot of brilliant (and too often ignored) work resides at the intersection of literature and visual images. It is an art form that is our constant companion through our early childhood (even before we can figure out how to read the words that accompany the images), in to adulthood,  and on through our dotage. It can run the spectrum from the  jauntiness of  Mickey Mouse to the hauntingly profound images of Art Spielgman's "Maus", from the teenage utopia of Archie Andrew's Riverdale, to the dystopian future United Kingdom of Alan Moore's "V for Vendetta" - sequential art in all its forms cuts a wide path through the human condition.

It is our store's, and this blog's, mission to encourage all the artists who contribute to this form and to nurture the artist that lives in all of us..... and to have fun doing it.

Look forward to seeing you all here and at Bear's Comics.

-RB