Jason Viola, Cartoonist Ordinaire

The two Herman minicomics were reviewed together at High-Low. Also! Somehow I got nominated for the "Best Indy Artist" Fanboy award -- how this happened, I don't know. I am among much more talented and established folk. So, thanks to the Fanboys who snuck me in.

Oh so I have a NEW MINICOMIC collection of Herman the Manatee strips!HERMAN THE MANATEE FAILS AGAIN is the second unnecessary print collection of online comic strips featuring the most beloved cartoon manatee in the history of manatees.

This book is the follow-up to HERMAN THE MANATEE GETS HIT BY A BOAT, and it tells a story about what happens when Herman stops getting hit and starts getting real. 

At some point you may be able to purchase Herman the Manatee t-shirts, gas station glasses, and vibrating shoulder massagers, but for now you can splurge on these handmade minicomics.

Impress some friends and depress the others with HERMAN THE MANATEE FAILS AGAIN, available now in my store! WOO!!!

I don't really have much to say about SPX that hasn't already been sent by a thousand other people, except that personally it was the most pleasant convention experience I've ever had.
I'm not sure which one of us to trust more.

It was so well organized and the climate control (compared with MoCCA) was smooooth. Those neurotic feelings I have hinted at before, and the fear of being found out, was replaced with a quiet, familiar comfort assisted by the steady flow of friendly people who came to our table. There were no manatee stories at all this time, but plenty of manatee fans, and even a few who remembered my 13-page Herman sampler from last year.

In fact, the Herman books sold more than ever, Volume One sold out, thanks perhaps to this fancy display that Rebecca helped me make.
One of the highlights of the weekend, next to getting to know a little bit our neighbor Will Dinski, was finding out that our friend Ann bought the Jeffrey Brown guitar at the auction...




Yes.

WHAT? I'm going to be at SPX this weekend? WHY DIDN'T SOMEBODY TELL ME?? I demand an explanation. >:(

Well it's a happy coincidence I just finished making these Herman the Manatee Vol 2 minicomics!


So you are all off the hook. This time. 

Patrick Alexander kindly sent me a book containing the first volume of his nealry indescribably webcomic, RAYMONDO PERSON. I say "nearly" because I could tell you what it is about and how it works, but there is something intangible about the humor that I can't quite explain. His non-sequitors have narrative weight. That's the best I can do.

Oh wait! I can do better than that. I can draw you a review - like those line studies you did in high school or like Weird Al's style parodies. Sometimes an imitation is the best review. Yes that is what I will do and, hold on - here it is! My gosh.

Hey, I drew a guest strip for KinokoFry that you should definitely go and read! I wouldn't lie to you.

Also, my minicomic Sunward received a thoughtful review by Rob Clough at High-Low.

 Herman the Manatee is now on Facebook! OK, so Herman has been on Facebook for a while now, but only in the form of a Group. And who really joins Groups anymore? Now there is a shiny Facebook Page that is desperate for your fandom. Become a fan! On their newsfeeds, all of your friends and those people you knew in high school but don’t really talk to anymore will see you are a fan of HERMAN THE MANATEE! It will be so cool.

SUNWARD, the new minicomic I keep talking about, is now availble for sale in my store! I promise it's pretty good. I'm told it's good anyway. At least one person has read it and told me it was really good! This person can be trusted.

I think I had fun at MoCCA but the heat made me DELIRIOUS so I can't remember. People assure me I met some wonderful people and sold a lot of books and I will take their word for it. 

I do remember buying/trading everything available at Corrine Mucha's table because she draws my new favorite comics. And I remember several people throughout the weekend asking for Herman the Manatee books, not because they had seen the webcomic but because Dylan Meconis was referring them. I tried sending folks back to her table but it was difficult because I did not know exactly where it was or what she looked like. 

If you stopped by the table and took a card or took my picture, thank you! If you told me manatee stories and bought some books, thank you too! If you are Dylan Meconis, thank you as well! If you are the unfortunate smell or the suffocating heat of the Armory, I express no appreciation for you. In fact I believe you are responsible for some soggy sketches. 

Oh and while I was away, a review of Volume One was posted at Midnight Fiction! 

 I'm going to be at MoCCA this Saturday, at table 231! I'm going to a wedding in Salem tonight, so I'm taking the bus to  NYC tomorrow morning, will probably arrive a little late. Fortunately Neal will be able to set up the table and all that ahead of time. What I will be bringing with me, which he does not have, is copies of SUNWARD, the new minicomic I just finished and am printing and assembling today! I have been really busting my ass the past couple of weeks to get this thing done and my productivity has, quite honestly though not humbly, astounded me. I really did not think I could do it but I drew 24 pages in 16 days.

It is about a dude named Rhino Dave and his friends Sebastian and Felonious Monk. 40 pages long, it's drawn closer in style to Herman the Manatee than Rabbit Shadows. I think you will like it! Really! I mean I am kind of afraid that you won't but I think you will! Come to my table at MoCCA and pick it up ... and if you are not going, it will be in my store soon.

Here are the first four pages:

"Herman the Manatee" was one of 20 webcomics featured in the Estonian edition of FHM - that is kind of cool, right?


It's in Estonian but I bet they are saying simply fantastic things.

Thanks to Gurukitty for the scan!

This is a commission I did recently for Antonio Thomas. 

 

Portland and Stumptown were both fantastic and I want to tell you about it but I need to draw some comics first.
 

The past two weeks I've been practicing inking with a brush! My experience with this had been limited to squiggles, circles and fills. I started doing rough and silly drawings so that I wouldn't feel bad if I messed up, like this one:

After a week I got confident and tried to do a proper Herman drawing:
 



drew this from a photo in the New Yorker:


And my brother-in-law:

I am not doing the work I am supposed to be doing but I am having fun.

Herman the Manatee Volume I is now available for $3 in the Manatee Power store! Now you can take a little collection of Herman strips with you wherever you go - put it in your pocket when you are hiking, carry it in your purse for when you are waiting on line at the bank, or leave it in your glove compartment for roadside emergencies! Never again will you be caught without an adorable reminder of life's absurd cruelties. It also makes a charming gift for your boyfriend or schoolteacher or the other folks in your life who don't read comics when they are illuminated on a screen. This is a long time coming; many of you have asked for t-shirts, some have asked for propaganda posters, others have asked for velvet paintings, and so it is without hesitation that I give you... a book! Whieh nobody asked for. But I hope you enjoy it anyway.

The tag says: Jason Viola - ACRONYM - Room 24 - Grade 5.