The San Francisco Chronicle Wants You to Play With Us
If you're in the Bay Area, pick up a copy of today's San Francisco Chronicle for the activity page we did in the Date Book section. It's full of comics and games, but not so many that you need to feel intimidated. It looks like this, but bigger and on newsprint.
Posted Sunday, 12.21.08 | facebook | twitter
Posted Tuesday, 12.16.08 | facebook | twitter
In our continuing series of draw-offs (part 1, part 2) between Jon Adams and J Chris Campbell, we present Pus Baby. He's the adorable squirt that's all the rage! "Thanks for popping me out," he says, from an unidentifiable body part.
Check it out, and cast your vote for the better person.
Posted Tuesday, 12.09.08 | facebook | twitter
Please Destroy Every Copy of Mome Vol. 12
When the fall issue of Mome (Vol. 12) came out we were excited. At least until we opened it. It features a short story by Al Columbia for which we did the color separations. But something went horribly wrong between the time the files were handed off and when the book saw print. What follows is a heated and often contentious email exchange between Jon Adams and Al Columbia regarding this unfortunate event.
Wednesday, 11.12.08 | facebook | twitter
New Books, T-shirts and Minis!
Well, okay. Technically there's only one of each, but who has time for proper grammar when there's stuff to buy! Not me, and not you either. We've got several new items in our store, just in time for the gift-giving/gift-buying season.
1. TRUTH SERUM CONVERSATIONS
Our third book, this full-color collection is limited to only 150 copies, and will never be reprinted. Seriously. You have no idea how much of a pain it was to produce this. There's no way we're doing that again.
Read more.
2. MANTEESS
Our latest t-shirt offering is for undergarment enthusiasts, and comes in four colors that's one for every day of the week, if you go shirtless on the weekends.
Read more.
3. BEAR TRAP
It's a full-color, 24-page minicomic, and it can be yours if you give us some money. Specifically two dollars worth of money.
Read more.
Wednesday, 11.05.08 | facebook | twitter
We spent this past weekend at the Alternative Press Expo, trying to trick strangers into buying our many comic-related offerings. Some people were more susceptible to our ploys than others. The more astute chose to read entire minicomics on the spot rather than paying the hefty $1 we were asking.
We were fortunate enough to be sandwiched between the fine folks of Big Stone Head and the ineffable Robert Goodin, accompanied by his wife Georgine. We also allowed our newest intern, Lee Post, to watch our table during bathroom breaks. He only fucked things up a couple of times.
For those of you with poor reading skills, here's a collection of photos from our time at APE. (Keep an eye out for a shirtless man!)
Big Stone Head sets up their table, the only way they know how.
Monday, 11.03.08 | facebook | twitter
We'll be attending the Alternative Press Expo this weekend (Nov. 1st-2nd). Please stop by our table, where we'll have a number of items offered in exchange for your money. (Anyone's money, really.) Debuting at the show will be a limited edition collection of the weekly Truth Serum strip, produced exclusively for APE. It's a full-color, 48-page book, wrapped with a bellyband.
Also at the show will be Bear Trap, a full-color, 24-page miniature comic. Best of all, it will only be one dollar. A dollar! That's less than the cost of a bus ride. And most bus rides probably aren't as much fun. Sometimes they are though. Like this one time on the 22 when there was a woman with feces all over her pants. That was a type of fun.
Posted Monday, 10.27.08 | facebook | twitter
A group of seemingly normal second graders proved to be stranger and darker than expected, while collectively writing a story featuring what they described as a "baby dirt man." We had to illustrate this disturbing tale as part of a field trip to 826 Valencia. Here's the result.
Posted Wednesday, 10.22.08 | facebook | twitter
With only two weeks left until the Presidential election, we thought everything was fine. Everyone here at the City Cyclops office was ready to cast a vote for the maverick team of John McCain and Sarah Palin, but then this shocking video was released. Now we're undecided.
Posted Monday, 10.20.08 | facebook | twitter
Election day is coming, and what better way to practice your voting skills than by voting in a message board poll! Comic artists J Chris Campbell and Jon Adams are currently having a draw-off. Each have rendered their own interpretation of an "anus monster" and viewers can vote on which they prefer. Visit the Indie Spinner Rack forums to cast your vote.
For those of you turned off by the phrase "anus monster," we apologize.
Posted Friday, 10.10.08 | facebook | twitter
Conceived of by the daring Sidra Durst, it's President hopeful Barack Obama riding a narwhal. What can't this man do? Click on the image and it will be become large enough to love.
Posted Monday, 10.06.08 | facebook | twitter
We've never shied away from jumping on bandwagons. Not even very, very late in the game. So we started our very own social networking site this weekend. It combines the pleasures of social networking with the pleasures of the body. Please join us for Fornidate.
Monday, 9.22.08 | facebook | twitter
This week's strip comes in a bonus video form! To call it animated may be stretching the truth a little, but if Sarah Palin can lie about the "Bridge to Nowhere," we can easily call this an animation!
The actual animating of the strip was a fairly simple process. Finding a way for YouTube to not completely destroy the video quality was a much larger endeavor, and still not much of a success.
Wednesday, 9.10.08 | facebook | twitter
Our Monthly Dark Horse Exclusive
Beginning today our weekly Truth Serum strip will begin running five times a month, with the fifth installment appearing exclusively at Dark Horse comics. This bonus strip will be twice the size of a regular strip, but only half as funny. Which if you don't think about it very carefully, makes it almost as funny as a regular strip. And like a cheese sample or unlocked bicycle, if it's free, one can't complain.
Read the first installment, Problem Solved.
Thursday, 9.03.08 | facebook | twitter
If you're a fan of literary publications where a single issue is composed of eight small books bound together, then get ready to smile. As mentioned earlier this year, we did a series of illustrations for McSweeney's Quarterly Concern. They've finally been published in the latest issue, 28. You can buy one from McSweeney's directly, or from countless other vendors across the internet.
Two of our eight illustrations weren't used, and if you're one of our newsletter subscribers you'll get those emailed to you. If you're just a casual visitor to this site, scared of the commitment offered by a newsletter subscription, then you only get the following.
Thursday, 8.28.08 | facebook | twitter
We recently sat down with our character Invisiblor, hot of the success of a recent battle against a police officer attempting to ticket Invisiblor for vagrancy. Some of you may know Invisiblor as that giant guy sleeping in the woods. Others may know him as the man who was arrested for running naked through Stop & Shop last month. But most people know him as that friendly face peering through your window while you watch Jeopardy. (He's watching with you.) Here's what he has to say about himself.
City Cyclops: Thanks for taking the time out of your schedule to meet with us.
Invisiblor: Thanks for asking to interview me.
CC: There doesn't seem to be very much public information about you. Why don't you fill us in on who you are and where you came from. Let's start with your origin.
INV: Okay, sure. I got my powers one day on the golf course where I worked. A storm came in real fast, and I was caught with nowhere to go. I ran for shelter under a tree, but then Jesus hit me with lightning.
Monday, 8.25.08 | facebook | twitter
As part of City Pages second annual comics issue, we contributed the following tale. Clicking on the image will enlarge it, making it legible. But also maybe you should try pressing your eyeball right up against the computer screen first. That might work, too. It's like nature's magnifying glass!
If you'd like to see this in glorious black and white (along with some other comics), take a look at the City Pages site.
Posted Friday, 7.11.08 | facebook | twitter
The year is 2008. Gas prices are high, celebrities are naked and reality shows continue to enrich American culture. Best of all, both Truth Serum books have been resolicited in the July issue of Previews. So now's your time to order one. Heck, order enough to make yourself feel uncomfortable. It's good to test the limits of your emotions now and again. It makes your stronger and more likable.
Anyway, back to us. You can always order copies through our store, but if you like supporting your local retailer's meth habit (which he or she may or may not have, but probably does), or are just scared of sending personal information through the internet (you must be an old person) then check out page 232 of Previews. Here's some thrilling solicitation copy to remind you of why you need these books:
TRUTH SERUM
The original Dark Horse web comic and Slave Labor series comprise this multiple Eisner-nominated (Best Humor Publication and Best Graphic Album Reprint) collection with a foreword by the legendary Diana Schutz.
TRUTH SERUM: THE LONELY PARADE
In the newest of the ongoing series of Truth Serum books, the ineptitude of suburbia's Manchester Justice Squadron fuels this satire. Collecting the long-running Dark Horse web comic, expect brand new material including a full-color section and a perforated tear-out.
Posted Monday, 7.01.08 | facebook | twitter
Here's a small portion of an upcoming project. It gets larger if you click on it, though still remains fairly small and a poor representation of its real life counterpart. Go computer!
Posted Monday, 6.23.08 | facebook | twitter
For those of you who wear shirts, we've just released our very own! We're calling it "Ghosts Who Love One Another." It's two-colors, silkscreened on 100% cotton. The shirts come in a variety of sizes, depending on your level of bodily excess.
Find the size that fits you best in our store.
Posted Monday, 5.19.08 | facebook | twitter
While digging through a box in a closet, we recently discovered this unfortunate depiction of Sky Devil. Probably the oldest character in the Truth Serum universe, this image is circa 1982.
Posted Monday, 5.12.08 | facebook | twitter
For once, a MySpace page that isn't visually and/or aurally assaulting MySpace Dark Horse Presents. The same series of online comics which has brought you works by Joss Whedon, Tony Milionaire, Bob Fingerman and Mike Mignola brings you a tale illustrated by Truth Serum author Jon Adams.
Please join us (and other people with internet access) in reading the eight-page Matt Parkinson and Jeremy Atkins-penned Hobo Fet. It's guaranteed to make you have an emotional reaction! Apathy counts as an emotion. So does sleepiness.
Read Hobo Fet online right now.
Posted Wednesday, 5.07.08 | facebook | twitter
If You Like Free Comics, Get Ready to Like Something
As part of Free Comic Book Day, Wideawake Press has created Piltdown, a downloadable comic available to anybody with an internet connection (that's you!). Contributors include some fantastic talent like J. Chris Campbell, Andy Runton, Joe Lambert and so forth. Also included is some less fantastic talent. Here's a sample image from our story.
If you're not totally turned off by that, download your copy today, or just view it online!
Posted Saturday, 5.03.08 | facebook | twitter
Each day we're inundated with mail from our adoring public. Most of what we receive is either burned or donated to the local homeless shelter. On occassion something arrives that's so special, we give it to one of our iterns to file away wherever interns file stuff away.
Here's one such item some fan art sent in by what appears to be a mentally disabled foreigner, or perhaps some kind of infant. There was no time to read the signature, other than glancing at it peripherally, but we think it was drawn by somebody named Fibry. Thanks, Fibry!
Send us your fan art and if we actually look at it, maybe we'll post it here!
Posted Thursday, 5.01.08 | facebook | twitter
Probably Even Your Uncle Loves Us
Our new weekly strip has become the proverbial talk of the town. Not only did The Wall Street Journal recently do a write-up about Truth Serum, but we've also received the following praise:
"If this strip were for sale, I would totally shoplift it. Even if it was free."
- Gerry (a guy who appears to live in our parking lot)
"This is far superior to my own strip in every regard. Oh. Wait. This is my strip. Well now I'm just confused."
- Jon Adams
"I love this comic so much that I've started a fan club for it. We meet every night under my bed. It's just us and a copy of the strip. And a flashlight. And a bottle of shampoo. So far I'm the only member, but I've posted flyers around town."
- Stan Walters (via email)
In other news, we've added an RSS feed for the strip, for anybody who's so lazy they can't be bothered to bookmark us.
Posted Wednesday, 4.09.08 | facebook | twitter
Eager for a venue to tell short, mostly plotless jokes that otherwise wouldn't fit into lengthier stories, Truth Serum is no longer just an irregularly published series of graphic novels. Now it's also a classic three-panel strip, a la Momma or Garfield! Beginning today, Truth Serum will appear weekly (every Wednesday), in full color and for FREE! And nobody can stop us. Not even you.
Posted Tuesday, 4.01.08 | facebook | twitter
Our good friend Ted Wilson recently sponsored an episode of the popular comics podcast Indie Spinner Rack. It was a great opportunity to learn all sorts of interesting facts about Ted. Listen for yourself.
Monday, 3.31.08 | facebook | twitter
In mostly boring, but potentially perplexing news, we've changed our URL from the lengthy theuniversityofmyopia.com to the succinct, and more apt citycyclops.com. Please tell all your friends.
Saturday, 1.01.08 | facebook | twitter
Who Likes Well-Dressed Animals?
We recently completed a series of eight illustrations for an upcoming issue of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern. They'll be accompanying a short story by author Arthur Bradford. Here's what this series of illustrations would look like if it were only one illustration.
Posted Saturday, 3.01.08 | facebook | twitter
The Make Out with Don Sequitur Contest on Facebook
For those of you who are into the whole social networking scene, we've just created a Truth Serum Facebook Group. So head on over and do whatever one does at one of these things. You'll also notice that we're running a contest related to making out with Don Sequitur. If you win, it may be that moment in your life where everything changes. Everything.
Posted Thursday, 1.24.08 | facebook | twitter
There's a new comic creator in town! Budding artist Lucas, a four-year-old Brookline resident has created his first super villain a man who shoots lasers and push-pins out of his hands. From his elbows he can shoot poison pretzels. They just shoot out and land on the ground. Superheroes pick them up and eat them (because who can resist a pretzel?) and then, presumably, die.
We like to believe Lucas' inspiration comes from the issue of Wizard Magazine he's been carrying around. The issue which features Truth Serum's Don Sequitur on the cover.
As Lucas' father explains,"We've talked abou Don several times. Being four, most of his questions are centered on who's good and who's bad. He's very confused about Don. I asked him what he thought. He said that on the cover Don looked like a bad guy, but inside you could plainly see he wasn't bad. He decided he was probably okay."
Posted Tuesday, 1.22.08 | facebook | twitter
As another year passes us by, you may begin to wonder where it all went. There was probably a lot of TV watching, some time with friends, a little stealing of your neighbor's mail just because you were bored and if you were lucky, you may have even made out with somebody (and unlike the year before, you actually wanted to make out with this person). But what do you have to show for it all? Well if you're like us, then you also published a book called Truth Serum: The Lonely Parade, and you're terrified to let a year go by without whiling away countless hours on another project. That's why we're hard at work on our newest book Your Only Enemy.
Taking a daring leap, Your Only Enemy is both stylistically and thematically different from our Truth Serum books. For instance, where Truth Serum had occasional references to sexual acts, Your Only Enemy has explicit depictions of such acts. Truth Serum was black and white, but Your Only Enemy will be full-color. Most importantly Truth Serum was nominated for two Eisner Awards, but Your Only Enemy is likely to be an esoteric venture, completely incapable of mass appeal! Here's a little of what you can expect.
Our tiny protagonist was conceived on a scrap piece of paper in a supermarket over three years ago, and this is the first finished illustration we did of him.
Posted Tuesday, 1.01.08 | facebook | twitter
