October 2005 Archives

Really, it's true. I was approached by this guy at the Motor City con named Mike Pfeiffer who does a comics/music podcast called "Most People Are DJs" and he did a short interview with me about MOPED ARMY. Surprise to me, he also gave MOPED ARMY as really glowing review on the podcast! He also has good taste in electronic music, and features some cool new tunes.

Check it out yourself at this link here:
MOST PEOPLE ARE DJS PODCAST

MUSIC FOR THE DAY:
Popshop: "The Distance Between Us"
Devo: "Duty Now For the Future"
Andy Bell: "Electric Blue" (singer for Erasure's first solo album, features Claudia Brucken on 2 tracks)
Depeche Mode: "Speak and Spell"

Dave Brzezicki, one of lead members of the Decepticons (the Kalamazoo branch of the Moped Army) got hit from behind by an SUV going over 60mph last Monday evening, the 17th. The driver of the SUV hit Dave, threw him about 60 feet, dragged his bike beneath their vehicle, then sped off. Other witnesses riding with Dave at the time said there were NO BRAKE LIGHTS from the SUV and no attempt by the driver to stop! Here's the news snippet from the local TV station:

"NEAR KALAMAZOO (NEWS 3) - A Kalamazoo man was seriously injured this weekend when his moped was hit by a hit and run driver.

David Brzezicki, 31, is being treated at Borgess Medical Center. He suffered several broken bones.

According to police, Brzezicki was riding Saturday night with friends along 4th Street in Oshtemo Township near Kalamazoo. Witnesses describe a loud collision and sparks as Brzezicki's moped was dragged along the pavement.

"The most horrible part is I didn't see any brake lights at all," said one witness. "There were no skid marks on the ground. They didn't slow down; they accelerated."

Authorities are looking for a dark-colored SUV with front-end damage. Debris from the vehicle was collected from the scene and may help in the investigation."

This is the kind of crap I wrote about in MOPED ARMY, but it's shocking to see it come to life with real people we know and real assholes behind the wheel of their yuppie monster trucks! The scary thing is, this is almost EXACTLY the scenario that took place in my book. Jesus! This is SUV culture bullshit at it's worst, but I've decided to put my anger to good use. Here's some things you can do to help:

1. Check out the MOPED ARMY's website for a PayPal donation center to help cover Dave's upcoming expenses. Because of these injuries, Dave will be out of work for over 12 weeks, and maybe as much as half a year. Jane and I already dropped in what we could; their entire goal is $4000 dollars, and they're over halfway there now!
MOPED ARMY WEBSITE

2. I am putting a full color, 20" x 26" framed digital print of the double page spread (pages 116-117, if you have the book) from my MOPED ARMY graphic novel up for auction to help raise money for Dave. It's framed and ready togo to a generous soul who feels like helping a fellow human being out. Here's the print:

It's official. LITTLE WHITE MOUSE is now exclusively available through CAFE DIGITAL STUDIOS.

I have been working through Blue Line Pro for the last 5 years, and decided that I wanted all of my work to come from one single source. I've been very lucky to have my experiences with outside studios to have been non-destructive, but the time has come to really take the risk and the reward firmly in my own hands. Wish me luck.I'm really excited by this move.

2007 will be the 10th anniversary of LITTLE WHITE MOUSE, and I want her 10th birthday to be vey special... more on my plans for that when they are a little more solid and realized.

The "Invasion" continued this weekend at the fall version of the Motor City Comicon! Cool things: more space for Artist Alley, sold a good number of books, awesome comic jams during the convention party at the DoubleTree hotel on Saturday night (including a paper bag/black cat jam, and jams on fortune cookie message papers!). Uncool things: sitting across from the table with z-grade horror flick trailer spooling CONTINUOUSLY ALL WEEKEND!
Soon to post: did a bunch of cool con sketches to share.
NEXT STOP: SNAP COMIC FESTIVAL on October 29th!

MOPED ARMY got the front page AND a full cover of the Kalamazoo Gazette this last Friday! Nice article by Mark Wedel, and nice exposure that got a bunch more people to the MOPED ARMY signing at 1977 MOPEDS. Thanks to all who stopped by to hang out! It was a blast!

WOW! Rich Watson gives a kick-ass review of MOPED ARMY at Comic World News!

From the keyboard of David Welsh, who picked up the book at SPX:
"From the SPX stack: MOPED ARMY"
Given how much I've complained about the recent trend of ethical failure in mainstream super-hero comics, it seems weird that I'd find fault with an excess of moral clarity in a graphic novel, especially one as fine as Paul Sizer's Moped Army (Café Digital Comics)...

Jane and I did the design and HTML for these 3 mini-sites for Del Rey Manga, a division of Random House Publishing. Here's the press release they sent out to announce them to the whole earth: