Perhapablog

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

gardinel and manly wade wellman~

okay...

several weeks ago, when i was gently challenging anyone and everyone to come up with a bit of modern myth or folklore of their own, our pal warren newsom sent me this bit of backwoods wisdom under the subject heading, "I didn't make this up..."
inside, followed by (...the great Manly Wade Wellman did.)

the coincidence was jarring in that, though i had first heard of this enigmatic author a year or so ago from walter simonson--who offered that i would really enjoy wellman's supernatural backwoods yarns and especially some of the bizarre critters he encountered--but i had, just that week, finally tracked down a copy of one of his long out-of-print books on ebay and had it en route when warren invoked his name.

manly wade wellman--love that name! as does walt, as does warren--was a writer for the pulps, a contemporary of such luminaries as malcolm jameson and otto binder. he wrote, mostly, of the strange happenings in the deep, dark hills of the appalachians and is probably best known for his tales of silver john or john the balladeer, a guitar playing wandering minstrel who encountered more than his fair share of strangeness throughout those mountains.










here is the text and photo from warren's original email.







(…the great Manly Wade Wellman did.  The photo is a composite.)

“If the gardinel's an old folks' tale, I'm honest to tell you it's a true one.
Few words about them are best, I should reckon. They look some way like a shed or cabin, snug and rightly made, except the open door might could be a mouth, the two little windows might could be eyes. Never you'll see one on main roads or near towns; only back in the thicketty places, by high trails among tall ridges, and they show themselves there when it rains and storms and a lone rarer hopes to come to a house to shelter him.
The few that's lucky enough to have gone into a gardinel and win out again, helped maybe by friends with axes and corn knives to chop in to them, tell that inside it's pinky-walled and dippy-floored, with on the floor all the skulls and bones of those who never did win out; and from the floor and the walls come spouting rivers of wet juice that stings, and as they tell this, why, all at once you know that inside a gardinel is like a stomach.
Down in the lowlands I've seen things grow they name the Venus flytrap and the pitcher plant, that can tole in bugs and flies to eat. It's just a possible chance that the gardinel is some way the same species, only it's so big it can tole in people.
Gardinel. Why they're named that I can't tell you, so don't inquire me.”


-- Manly Wade Wellman, “Farther Down the Trail”
From the short story collection, John the Balladeer




thanks, warren--awesome stuff!
that's it for today!
smell y alater!
todd

Monday, August 26, 2013

Ten Buck Bonanza!!--This week: The Perhapanauts TRIANGLE Trade!


okay...

i know what you're all waiting for...the Big Announcement!

well, perhaps-fans, our second big super-summer sale, TEN BUCK BONANZA item is ...




The PERHAPANAUTS TRIANGLE trade!!!

featuring the now classic perhapanauts issues 1 through 5 of our all-new IMAGE series as well as the jersey devil cursed Perhapanauts Annual and a lotta other great extras, this collection was as steal at $17.99!
but now, for this week only, this trade can be yours for the TEN BUCK BONANZA price of just TEN BUCKS!!





(plus, $3 shipping and handling)
(well, maybe not so much the handling--we do that for free. mostly it's for the shipping)

head on over to our all-new, all-cool perhapanauts marketplace by clicking the "store" button above, and get to orderin'! and the TRIANGLE trade makes a great gift! (i know i always say that and it always sounds so cheesy--but it's true!)


that's it for today...but be here wednesday when warren newsom and manly wade wellman  tell us what a gardinel is...

have a great day!
smell ya later!
todd

Sunday, August 18, 2013

The Perhapanauts Ten Buck Bonanza: Week 1~ plus, Modern Myths in Massachusetts!

okay...



so here we are at day one of week one of our all new spectacular summer sale, the perhapanauts ten buck bonanza! (insert awesome logo here~)




that's right, starting today, we're blowing the doors off our inventory to make room for new stuff in our warehouse! this means incredible deals for you, the discerning perhapanauts fan, as we offer amazing discounts on t-shirts, trades, prints, and other cool stuff! here's a great opportunity to pick up some great gifts for those great people in your lives!

this week we're offering the t featuring the hottest chupacabra in comics; our choopie!
on a, fittingly, blood red background, you can proudly show your love for this little pain in the @$$!

  





just $10!
that's what i said; $10.
(plus $2 shipping and handling)

quantities are limited, so order yours today!
like, right now!






and every ten buck bonanza order comes with this exclusive HAPS bumper sticker!
(which is cool!)





so order NOW!!!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and as if that weren't cool enough news, craig and i will be signing at MODERN MYTHS Comic Books and Games in beautiful Northampton Mass. this saturday, august 24th, between 12 noon and 3 pm. we'll be talking this up on our Facebook pages and such as well, but if you're in the Northampton area, come out and see us!




we'll be signing all of the various 'Haps issues and trades--and pretty much anything else you might wanna put down in front of us!
it'll be fun! see ya there!


now go have a nice monday!
 smell ya later!
todd

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Perhapanauts Super-Summer Sale--The TEN BUCK BONANZA!!

okay...

announcing, for the first time ever...



starting this coming monday--august 19th--we're going to start our SUPER-SUMMER SALE, blowing out the inventory in our incredible TEN BUCK BONANZA!!!

each week, for the next month or so, craig and i will be listing some great deals on some great stuff!


$10 T-shirts!!

$10 comic bundles!!

$10 trades!!

$10 print packages!!

we're moving so it all MUST GO!!
(well, some of us are moving. some are staying right where they are.)

keep your eye on our facebook page and this blog for these diabolical discount deals!






every order comes with this exclusive HAPS bumper sticker which you really want!




stick 'em on your car! stick 'em on your locker! stick 'em on your brother--! we don't care!
stick 'em on random lampposts heading down to the OBX...right, tyler?
they're awesome!


bargains like this only come along once a week!
starting monday!
be there!


smell ya later~!
todd

Monday, August 12, 2013

Like Minds

okay...

there are times when a memory of mike will surprise me and i fetch a huge sigh. it catches me off guard, you know, this sudden sense of him. maybe it's when i'm watching something funny or suspenseful on tv, when i see the work of a promising new artist for the first time, something, anything, to do with animals...

that sense of him is still so powerful and strong and i cherish that.

but, y'know, it makes me miss him a lot too.



when i tell people about mike and what a wonderful person he was, i try but never have the words. i want to convey the humor and the compassion, the humility and the generosity, the kindness and the creativity and the talent and the courage that made up the man. he was a quiet and humble guy, at first, but once you got to know him--and he got to know you--he was wild and fun, bold!

from the moment mike and i first met, we discovered that our imaginations were simpatico, sparking together instantly and immediately carrying us into new worlds, new realms--the two of us could barely keep up! our visions were always very close to similar and each new offering only built whatever we were creating up even more! it was, in my mind, magic.

the other part of mike that i talk with people about--and how could i not--is his artwork. that wonderful, alive, fun, promising style of his; traditional and solid with some distinct suggestions of manga here and there. his storytelling was practically flawless, and his design-sense was simply gorgeous.
but it's the acting that i always gush over the most; his ability to convey so much emotion on the faces of his characters, in the simple body language of everyone on the page. it was this incredible ability that made my job as the writer so easy. i would send mike the plot, laying out the action, describing the action, the camera angles, the choreography as i saw it playing out in my head. suggestions of dialogue, thought, intention. and mike would send me gold. every time. what did i need to script?... in many cases, the story was already there on the faces and in the expressions of the characters...giving me the opportunity to go deeper into the characters and have them express even more of their feelings and conflict in their dialogue.

and here is a perfect example.




this page, from our Sensational Spider-Man Marvel Minus -1/Flashback issue, was one of our favorites. not at first, mind you. at first, when the Editors told us that we were going to have to pause in the middle of the three part story line we had been working on to be part of this company-wide event, mike and i (mostly mike) were exasperated, frustrated that we had to participate, that we would be losing whatever momentum we had created for the story. mike was mad. i quickly countered that we should look at this as an opportunity; we could really do whatever we want! "Whaddaya wanna draw?" i asked. "Well, uh...I like drawing Monsters. And I'd like to do more Splash pages." mike replied. "What if Pete and Uncle Ben go fishing and the run into all those old Lee-Kirby 'Where Monsters Dwell' monsters?" "Oh, that would be GREAT!"
the page above was one of the only pages in the issue that didn't feature a great big monster. when we did this brief scene, it, for us, quickly became the heart of the story. look at what mike gave me; the care and concern and love in both peter and uncle ben as uncle ben gently urges peter to reveal his social short-comings, peter not wanting to hurt uncle ben's feelings by telling him the truth. magic, mike.
i found out a few weeks later, that this page was being passed around the editorial offices at marvel as an example of character and subtext. it is probably the page i am most proud of from my comics career.
thanks, mike.

i miss you much.

love~
todd

Thursday, August 08, 2013

lauren monardo-gramprey and the debut of...B-SQUAD!!

okay...

you all remember lauren and her incredible work on The Slightly Askew Adventures of Inspector Ham & Eggs and our own little tale together, "goodbye larry" (from Perhapanauts: Danger Down Under! no.1) as well as all the others pin-ups and postcards she's sent our way!
lauren's a very special member of the family and so it is with great pleasure that i now point you toward her latest project--a comic book series that she's doing with writer eben e.b. burgoon--B-SQUAD: Soldiers of Misfortune!



it's about a team of very unique mercenaries who travel the world over on either ridiculously deadly or deadly ridiculous missions! the caveat of the book is that in every issue, guaranteed, someone is gonna die! and even the writer doesn't know who it's gonna be! (see the kickstarter video for more on this leave-it-to-fate insanity!) the first four issues promise action, adventure, blood, gore, mogwai and, especially, laughs!

lauren and eben have already done a lot of work on this project--much of it you can take a look at at www.bsquadcomic.com--and are also currently running a kickstarter campaign to make it happen!
if you're like most people--and who isn't?--you love the fact that kickstarter is awesome 'cause it gets the money into the hands of the actual creators rather than a ridiculously small percentage when marketed/produced through an unfeeling, uncaring third party corporation.







so, head on over to their kickstarter page


 and, if B-SQUAD looks like the type of Squad you've been looking for--Kickstart it!

smell ya later!
todd


Monday, August 05, 2013

It's True! It's True!

okay...

as a matter of fact, i HAVE just returned from a weekend of recording the very first PERHAPANAUTS AUDIO COMIC in beautiful downtown Portland with the fantastic people at AUDIOCOMICS.com (go there and buy their stuff! it's great!)

And the weekend was GREAT as well!
First, though, I stopped off at Craig's to see him and Trish and the kids (and Fred the Dog--love that Fred the Dog!!) Kids and I made Creepy Crawlers, we all went out for dinner with Trish's folks, then ice cream!, then Craig and I talked long into the night about the state of comics and the future of the Perhapanauts. I also was there to drop off cases of Tellos Colossal Vol.2 for MATT and SUZANNE to sell at the MIKE WIERINGO SCHOLARSHIP table at the Boston Comic Con this past weekend. Hope you saw them and maybe picked up a book.

Sadly, I had to miss Matt and Squeeze as I was headed farther north to attend and participate in an absolutely fabulous recording session of The Perhapanauts Radio Adventure: Chimaera Wanna Tellya Somethin'! Produced by the AudioComics Company and written by me, the Director of this Audio Movie was the phenomenal BILL DUFRIS (golden throated book narrator and renowned voice actor). He and producers LANCE ROGER AXT and ELAINE LEE (yes, Starstruck, that Elaine Lee...!) put together an incredible cast to bring our colorful creations to audio life! More on the cast and the session later, I just wanted to let you know that, had you heard rumors that this was going on--Yes, Perhapa-gang~~IT'S TRUE!!

Lance and Bill plan to have the show ready for your listening pleasure this fall, with a tentative release on Halloween! How Perhapappropriate...



Here are a couple pics to prove I'm not lying.









Director Bill Dufris (in faded red shirt)
with (left to right)
Lance Roger Axt as Cricket Sergeant Brian Mulcahy,
Joshua Hughes as Cricket Commander Khial Forges,
Christopher Price as Big, and 
Brent Askari as Cricket Newbie Jeff McCluskey



Stay tuned to this Perhapanaut Station for further news!

smell ya later!
todd