Aberrant Press

I guess that’s what I am, because I just got hired on to work at a new comic book store here in Vegas that will be opening early in October! How sweet is that? I can’t really say much, because I’m not sure what I’m currently allowed to divulge, but be sure that updates will be coming forthright. For now though, let me just say how very excited I am about this.

Many, many years ago, my friend Jason bought my LCS (local comic shop, for those not in the know), Comic Corner. We weren’t really good friends at the time, having only met each other on a few occasions, but that changed quickly and we remain brother-close to this day. Now, the Comic Corner was a mess at the time Jason bought it for a measly thousand dollars off it’s previous owner… Mostly because she had run it into the ground and accrued a pile of debt. Jason began the healing process with vigor and was even getting back a number of former clients when he decided he needed extra help around the place. Cue me. I ran the store on days when Jason just needed some time off or had to go work at his other job. He paid me in comics, which was fine since that’s where the money I made there would have ended up anyway, and it was great. I loved it. Tragedy struck though when the landlord decided to break contract with Jason and try jacking up the rent on him. So Jason decided he’d just shut the store down after only having it for six months and reopen at a later date in another location. That day never came, but I never forgot how much I dug working there.

And now, here we are. I’m going to be there at the beginning of a store instead of the end and I’m full of hope and old-school fanboy glee.

More to come when I know I can say it…

Email Justin: justin at aberrantpress.com

Physical Address:
3538 Maverick St.
Las Vegas, NV 89108

Someone started a discussion about this over at Whitechapel, and here’s a quick thought from me on the subject of living forever:

So I’m sitting on my ass earlier today, channel surfing instead of working on artwork, and I came across a show on Discovery Channel that shows what sharks might look like in 200 million years. And the thought “you won’t be here to see that” came to the forefront of my mind, and instead of the horrid feeling I usually get when that thought surfaces, I felt rather calm.

Awhile back I asked my father about his feelings about never-ending life and he told me that he wants to die someday because he’s tired of seeing his friends and loved ones die all around him while he carries on. I could see the logic in that. After all, most people get settled in with their “group” pretty much by the time their in their thirties it seems, so if you don’t have a periodic influx of new best friends, new loves, etc. I could understand wanting to (hopefully) join up with your family in the hereafter. I think I could handle not dying better because I’m always looking for new people to befriend, to expand my circle if you will.

It will be interesting seeing how the first generation of people who achieve life eternal will handle being the last people to know what death is like… If I’m here to see it…

Previously : I spent the week being rather productive, actually. Got much writing done and a ton of page layouts for the guy drawing my former mini-series, now graphic novel, Super. The really cool thing I did this week was that I got to use my gigantor-bad-ass printer to make a number of back-lit posters for Burning Man. The job was kicked my way by my Epson guy, and that’s where all the really cool parts came in. First, the artist who needed the prints was doing symmetrical fractal images, which are beautiful if you know what you’re doing (and he does). Then it turns out that the guy’s name is Mike Crowley, he used to write for Marvel UK and he knows Alan Moore! And yes, he is loosely related to Aleister Crowley, a fact he was unaware of until Robert Anton Wilson told him that the more famous Crowley only pronounced his name the English way as a matter of affectation. Neat stuff, that! Anyway, I wasn’t going to show these off, because I hadn’t asked his permission, but they should already be on display at the festival, so here are the pieces.

These first three were printed at four feet by four feet each on clear film. The colors are so wonderfully vibrant when lit in front of an opaque piece of plastic.

And this piece is just brilliant. I wish you could see it at the full size I printed it. Finished, it came out at three feet by twenty feet and was done on an opaque material, so that you need only to add the back-light for effect. I believe they are using this piece as a bar top.

So yeah, a number of dudes up there on peyote, or shrooms or whatever owe me for their totally wicked trip.

Also, on Thursday, I held my weekly Drink and Draw meeting. This week we had Mark Millar and Tony Harris stop by since they were in town promoting their new book, War Heroes. They were great fun to hang with, very laid back and talkative. Was a real nice turnout and we had ribs for dinner. Here’s some photos…

The crowd.

And here’s Tony playing pool while Mark goes against type and drinks a Guinness.

Currently : I’m currently playing some online poker while drawing a bunch of necrophiliacs… No, really… Plus, dishes and trash tonight…

Approaching : Will be done working on this television show in another two weeks… Gonna have to find something else to do with my weekends… My plan is to try and work really hard on getting more business involving my printer and finish banging out some art projects… Maybe build some custom lightboxes and do a gallery installation at the next art festival… We’ll see…

I also have a sin to confess. At the Drink and Draw, my boy Gilbert, who happens to be drawing the book mentioned at the top of this post (and taking forever on it, as is the way), was having a piece of artwork he did (some militray-themed zombies with the words “Iraq Year 100” drawn on the bottom) fawned over by just about everyone, especially Millar and Harris. Now, Gilbert is very talented, easily the one of my group with the best chance at landing mainstream penciling work someday, but he’s never been very supportive of the Drink and Draw, treating it like it’s a waste of my time and money. So it makes me jealous that everyone was paying so much attention to his work while I was too busy running the event to pick up a pencil. And that is my sin… Being jealous of my best friend when I should be happy that he’s getting all this attention… I am ashamed and I should be.

Yeah, I know, I’m slipping on here. Nothing has been changed to make the site more “aberrant” and places like my Myspace are getting all the blog posts.

But there is good news: I’ve been knocking out work stuff left and right and will get back on this horse a.s.a.p.

As for the work I’ve been getting done, I’m working on the liner note artwork for a local band called Necrophiliac’s Hearse. Give them a listen. It’s fun and campy and about having sex with the dead! Also, I’m (as I’m writing this) printing out a number of large-format prints for an artist who is using them in an installation at the Burning Man Festival. They’re these amazing symmetrical fractal images. Five bucks says that some dude is gonna trip balls in front of these things and it’s gonna blow his mind, man. I’d show you all now, but I don’t have any sort of clearance to do so… Maybe after the event is through, if he’s okay with it. Three of the pieces are four feet by four feet and were printed on clear film. The fourth is an astounding three feet by twenty four feet being printed on opaque back-lit media.

I’ve never printed on either material before, but have been wanting to for some time. Mostly because I plan to make some custom pieces and hold a gallery show during one of the First Friday events out here. The clear film has a number of challenges attached to it, so the whole process has been rather time-consuming. First off, the paper sensor on my printer is calibrated in such a way that it basically sees right through the film and thus doesn’t recognize it. So for the darned thing to even accept the media, I first have to turn off the lights in the room, which apparently is the only way the sensor has any shot of “seeing” it. Then at the end of printing any piece, I have to turn out the lights again, so that the printer will “see” the film and cut it! If that doesn’t happen, then I end up in a whole heap of trouble, trying to roll the piece back up, get the printer to accept the media again, feed it back through and get it to cut properly. Considering how nice the pieces have been coming out though, I’d say it’s worth the time put in. Plus, the guy I’m doing this for is super cool as it turns out and happened to be a writer for Marvel UK back in the day, so we managed to get really nice discourse going…

There is one other project, a reality television show about a daytime club at the Hard Rock pool. It’s probably the closest to actual reality I’ve ever seen with a “reality” show. None of the “cast” are actors by trade but the actual people who work at the club and the producers don’t really create situations so much as they earn the trust of the people they follow and then let the drama reveal itself. Not sure if the show will be any good, but I’d definitely work on it again next summer should it come around.

Of course, now with all this stuff wrapping up, I may have to get another “straight” job… Ugh…