Susan and I spent the past year in a comic 12 step program. Critics and curators all agreed that our continuing obsession with comics instead of capital A art was unhealthy and a sure path to ruined careers. 

One day I noticed Susan posting drawings that looked very comic-like to her Facebook page.  I tried to maintain my focus but one day I found a group of fans sharing digital images of Jack Kirby drawings. We were both on a slippery slope.
 

Finally, the straw that broke the camels back was the 2014 oversized publication of Little Nemo - Dream Another Dream.  Looking over how 118 wonderful illustrators paid tribute to Winsor McCay's Little Nemo was inspiring.
 
Soon Susan and I were hatching a plot via Skype to go forward with Art Mysteries and make issue #10 a Slumberland issue.

Winsor McCay's 1905 creation, Little Nemo, was a full-page weekly strip that depicted Nemo having fantastic dreams. McCay, a prescient influence on modern comics made innovative use of color, timing and pacing, the size and shape of its panels, perspective, architectural and other details. The protagonist, Little Nemo would find himself in the most surreal circumstances well before Surrealism became an art movement. In the final panel of each cartoon Nemo's fantastic dreams were interrupted by his awakening.

We sized this issue a bit larger to more closely resemble the formatting of the original comic. The story or dream lasts only four pages instead of our usual 8.

Kalicorp Art Mysteries Issue #10 (and other back issues) is now available for purchase under the graphic novels tab. Thanks to all our fans who support this particular tangent of our art-making.

Co-author and co-artist of Kalicorp Art Mysteries, Susan Shulman, talks about the development of her Blues Bunny character.  First appearance was Issue #8.


I have had a long friendship with the blues. They are the sparks of magic that ignite my artistic flame. The blues is an intoxicating, seamless backdrop of familiar notes, and rhythms that make me feel I am home and springboards my imagination to unravel on canvas.” 

In Issue #9 we continue to evolve our style to include more hand-drawn panels in addition to the usual digital photo-collage featured in past issues. Long time fans will also discover that we have morphed into more cartoon-like characters as we continue our quest to find our fame and fortune in the mysterious ArtWorld.
 
Readers that have been with us from the beginning know that the comic started as our way of promoting our exhibitions in the ads we created for the inside covers. Over time we began to explore the comic format itself as a slow moving blog that featured the background buzz of the current art world as a background story.

As the Epson 3800 cranks out the pages I'll try to re-cap some of the art issues that we joke about. The first section includes a panel on page 3 where we use the face of Georg Baselitz proclaiming, ..."There ain't no great women artists!" Apparently with a new exhibit of decidedly ho-hum works opening at the London Gagosian Gallery, George felt the need to defend his misogynistic remarks from last years interview in Der Spiegel.  We'd link to it but no need to give this overrated troll a boost.  

From the bar fight on we blend a potpourri of only marginally related idea; possibly brought on by ingesting the pituri, an hallucinogen native to Australia. Oz as we tend to think of it, since we felt compelled to create our own poppy field dream. Bunny's "orgasmic" idea concerning re-inventing Relational Aesthetics stems from a recent experience I had as a juror reading proposals for grants distributed from Apex Arts. Out of the 50 proposals I waded through 49 of them were some type of work creating a social situation that the artist would curate. Almost all as densely worded as Bunny's panel on page 8.

Bunny becomes convinced that the next great aesthetic leap forward should be creating an addiction to her art.  For good measure the means by which this accomplished involves some cross pollination via spin art. Plus, that gave us another opportunity to poke at big dog Damien Hirst; whose spin art isn't half as good as Walter Robinson's or Corrine Bayraktaroglu who were doing it years before Damien became ArtWorld gold.

While the printer is busy cranking out the pages of #8 let me tell you where we've been and what to expect. Exhibiting Art Mysteries during our trip to the Boston Comic gave us almost too much material to work with. First of all there was the over the top great Cos Play crowd, so photo ops were everywhere. Add to the mix all the great creators, both the writers and artists who were generous in their explanations of both old and current projects.

As Susan and I explore the many realms of ArtWorld in our parody comic it was only natural to set the stage for an issue within the hugely popular art of the comic and graphic novel itself.  

In much the same way that art fairs have multiplied in the fine arts field; ComicCon's which are held in various cities are the mega venues where the aspiring rub shoulders with the leaders of the pack.  

Since a table in the wild west area of a comiccon known as artist alley is a relative bargain we decided to collect material for issue #8 on site at the Boston Comic Con.  We knew we were in for a wild weekend from the night before when we arrived to set up.  Located in the Seaport World Trade Center the venue was huge and a beehive of activity.  The next morning a line to enter the venue began at 6am for the 10am start.  By the time we arrive to take our place at our table the cue extended around the block.  For the most part the cue was populated by fans dressed as their favorite characters from comics.

An obvious difference from art fairs a la Art Miami Basil and a ComicCon is that artists can be found producing art for their fans. 

But speaking of allegory, no one does it better than Susan's Blues Bunny as she explains to William the deep inner meaning of arrows.

In the closing pages of Art Mysteries #8 we find ourselves washed up (as usual) on the shores of Oz.  Luckily we're just in time for the A Book About Death Australia exhibit currently on display at the Tweed River Art Gallery where Susan and William both have work on display through Nov. 24th.

While we're gathering steam and storyboarding issue #8 here is a nice article from Hyperallergic on comics that spoof the Art World.  Actually a comic reaction to the 1913 Armory Show.  
Link to Hyperallergic.  Enjoy!

We've finally arrived...crossed over from mere artists to super hero status.  At least in our minds and just for a week-end.   Boston ComicCon was wall to wall nerds, geeks, cos play characters and wonderful creative crazy energy.  

Great fun, but as a cross-over publication our focus is firmly in the world of art. Commenting on art, artists and the serious yet often humorous business of art.  Attending the ComicCon confirmed for us that rather than another super hero franchise....we're different.

Many thanks to our supporters.  Look for the next issue of this limited edition comic to roll off the presses by the end of September.  

A week from today Susan and I are going to be in the middle of our biggest mystery yet....how to find our table in Artist Alley at the Boston Comic Con!  But like all great artists we accept this latest Art Mysteries challenge.
We know it's somewhere in Boston's Seaport World Trade Center surrounded by scores of zombies, vampires, space aliens, super villains and ninjas.  Sounds vaguely like getting our work seen by a gallery owner, so rest assured that we have vast experience at this.

Susan has been hard at work practicing her invisibility skills, while I've been trying to find the right threads to compliment my beak because I don't want our art to play second string to the cosplay crowd.

We're really honored to be sitting in with some great comic creators including: George Perez, Mike Mignola, Neal Adams, Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez, Scott Snyder, Mark Bagley, Bill Willingham, Brian Azzarello, Tony Daniel, Howard Chaykin, Mike Choi, Dan Didio, Joe Eisma, Michael Golden, Paul Gulacy, Cully Hamner, Phil Jimenez, Dave Johnson, Barry Kitson, Aaron Lopresti, David Mack, Ed McGuinness, Terry Moore, Steve Niles, James O'Barr, David Petersen, Brandon Peterson, Tom Raney, Amy Reeder, Don Rosa, Chris Ryall, Tim Sale, Brian Stelfreeze, William Stout, Frank Tieri, Tim Townsend, Arthur Suydam, Dean Yeagle, and hundreds more in the BCC Artist's Alley.


Needless to say we'll actually be sitting with the hundreds more; but it's still all good.

We're seven issues in at this point with a small but loyal group of followers, subscribers and advertisers and couldn't be more pleased with all the support and encouragement we've received over the past year and a half. All your support during our successful Kickstarter was a real boost.


Our next blog post is going to be coming at you from the Comic Con. If you're in the Boston area August 3rd or 4th come on over the Seaport World Trade Center and we'll set you up with some great Kalicorp Art Mysteries back issues, stickers, t-shirts and original artwork.  If you can't make it to Boston you can visit our Art Mysteries page on this website to get any issues you've missed.  
Great comics about the greatest mystery on Earth...how to make it in ArtWorld.

Find Boston Comic Con on Facebook.
or
go to the Boston Comic Con website.

In the can or in the crapper depending on how you feel about certain 'Professional Development' seminars.  In this issue Susan and I have found the most blatantly predatory one imaginable. We're having fun looking the look, talking the talk and branding our way into ArtWorld.  

So as the Epson 3800 spits out finished pages covered with Ultrachrome inks I can pause and reflect how we pull these comics together.  

Susan and I develop the plot line at the last minute because it depends on current events in our world...the Art World.  This month we noticed buzz about a couple of artists that people either love of hate, Jeff Koons and Matthew Barney.  

We bookmark interesting links and articles, we watch the Twitter feeds and go to openings.  We partake in the commiserating on Facebook.  Since the world of art is devoid of road signs to guide an artist you can feel the frustrations if your definition of success is recognition.   

That search for the answers to ArtWorld's mysteries forms the subplot as our characters weave their way through the arts and culture ecosystem.   

We should have this issue off to our regular subscribers early next week.  If you haven't pre-ordered you can do it now through Paypal.  We only make an edition of 150. Pigment ink on archival paper.  Thanks for everyone's past support! 

Susan and I are crafting issue #7 for shipment later this month.  The Residency we fell into last issue turns out to be not quit what we hoped for.  This teaser cover art will have to tide our fans over for now because we don't want to let too many cats out of the bag at once. Although you can see that there is still romance in the air between Woody and Susan as they take a tour of the Guggenheim.  You may find out how Woody got his nickname and even discover how I came by my beak.

We're also ramping up for the rescheduled Boston ComicCon.

Bigger and Badder, if that's possible.  Find us in artist alley this August 3rd and 4th as we spread the insanity that Kalicorp Art Mysteries finds infecting ArtWorld.

Re-scheduled, that is.  After the lockdown of Boston caused the cancellation of the ComicCon this past week exhibitors have been given the word.  We're on for the 3rd and 4th of August!  With a new location at the World Seaport Trade Center that looks every bit as promising as the Hynes Convention Center was to be. 

Susan and I are booking our hotels and making the travel arrangements this week and starting to storyboard out the next (and greatest) issue. In fact with another 3 months to prepare we'll have material in progress for issue 8 and as sure as the tides rise and fall you can be sure that we're going to be on top of all the ArtWorld hi-jinx to include in our backstories.

Mark your calendars because spending your summer vacation in Boston's seaport area is going to be even greater when you include ComicCon and a visit to the Kalicorp Art Mysteries table in Artist Alley.