Art

ViaWarren Ellis. More here.

Everyone needs a hobby. Artist Mike Kelley has a doozy. He's been devoting the last ten years to making glass imaged of Kandor, the lost Kryptonian "City in a bottle." It seems that before Superman's home planet was blown to smithereens, Brainiac stole the capital city of Kandor, shrank it down, and put it in a bottle, as we might save a ship or a guppy. Superman recovered the city in ACTION COMICS #242, and decided to keep it in the Fortress of Solitude, because nothing breaks up a lonely day like a tiny bottled city full of Kryptonians.

Tonight is the opening for a, R. Crumb show that has several associated events. Info inside!

Aaron Colter at Comics Alliance rounds up the latest news of t-shirt makers ripping off artists for ideas without paying them, including the granddaddy of them all, Todd Goldman, whose idea thievery is notorious -- his huge David and Goliath novelty company has a long, well-documented track record for necoming "majorly inspired" by other artists' ideas and then paying a little hush money when caught. We had a whole bunch of posts about Goldman's past sins up here once, but his lawyer made us take them down. Let's hope AOL has a few more resources to keep this story up, because he's a total ______ and a ________ too.

Over at Warren Ellis's blog, a preview of HALF MOON, a new collaboration with Michael Avon Oeming that will feature a space girl:

We made it again! Barely, but we're here. Feeling good! ...and with bonus squid!

And to finish up our little Irish-themed section, Colleen Doran offers a preview of Gone to Amerikay, the graphic novel she's been working on for the last two years. It's written by Eisner nominated author Derek McCulloch, with colors by Jose Villarubia -- the final book will come out sometime in 2012 from Vertigo.

Doran writes:

We'll start out our mini-seasonal tribute with, of courseEclectic Micks, the sketch blog by a bunch of Irish artists. Above, Banshee by (this time for real) Declan Shalvey.

Holy shit, James Jean. His latest show of paintings is up at the Martha Otero gallery in Hollywood and it runs until April 30. We're jealous of those who get to see it in person. Jean has also just released this limited edition silk scarf which you can buy at the link. ALL PROCEEDS WILL GO TO THE RED CROSS. THe scarf retails for $385. Only 50 were made. There is a B&W version as well, same price, same run.

History repeats itself as one more Roger Langridge's Muppet comics have been put in the vault by a business move. Fans of his near-universally acclaimed run on Boom's Muppet franchise may recall that his run on the beloved puppets began as a strip for Disney Adventures magazine, which was cancelled before the strips could run. Langridge made a few mini comics which he furtively handed out at cobs and the legend of the strips greatness grew. Result: when Boom got the license a call went out.

The fine folks at Comics Alliance did a very sensible thing and hired artist Ulises Farinas -- whose previous Marvel art efforts have been widely admired -- to create a massive Marvel vs DC Where's Waldo type illustration. Your mission: find the Invisible Woman and dozens of other people and objects. We've reproduced only a tiny portion of the whole here -- to see the whole thing at once would overwhelm your senses!

Skottie Young, who has thrilled us with his Oz comics, and Pixar's Scott Morse have a sketch blog together and it's lovely. Today they are doing some Harry Potter sketches and they are, predictably, awesome. Above, Dumbledore by Young; below, Lumos by Morse.