Jess Smart Smiley

From Jess’ contribution to Funny Aminals 2.

Funny Aminals 2 contributor Jess Smart Smiley has a great interview up on Avoid the Future dot com. Here’s an excerpt:

Jess Smart Smiley is a real piece of work. Not only does he have the nerve to produce wonderful, engaging comics for readers’ worldwide, he then turns around and treats people with genuine friendliness and respect. I know, right? What a jerk.

In all seriousness, he’s a great guy, and we’ve been eager to interview him pretty much since we reviewed his awesome graphic novella A Map in the Dirt earlier in the year. Recently having his all-ages vampire story Upside Down snapped up by Top Shelf for release next Halloween, we thought now would be the perfect time to take advantage of his gentlemanly nature and collar him for a chat.

Read the rest here. Also be sure to check out his website here.

Press Release

Saturday—October 30th—start the Halloween weekend extravaganza at COMIC BOOM!

From 12 noon until 4 PM, multiple-award winning cartoonist Stephen R. Bissette (Swamp Thing, Taboo, Aliens: Tribes, Vermont Monster Guide, etc.) will join Denis St. John(Monsters & Girls, Werewolf!!, etc.), Bryan Stone (Funny Aminals, Oniohead, etc.), multiple award-winner Colleen Frakes (Tragic Relief, Woman King, etc.), and fellow Center for Cartoon Studies monster-lovers and ink-slingers for an afternoon event at Comic Boom in downtown Keene!

Bryan Stone will be debuting the brand-new issue of Funny Aminals #2! Denis St. John will have the new issue of Monster & Girls! We’ll be selling comics, minicomics, sketches, t-shirts and more! Come and join us, and be sure to bring your best fiends!

FREE SIGNED BISSETTE ART PRINT to ANY KEENE STATE COLLEGE STUDENT who can provide photo proof of having posted info or fliers about the event in quantity!

It’s all at COMIC BOOM!
22 West St.
Keene, NH
(603) 352-4261

Funny Aminals @ Comic Boom

Jeff Lok and I are putting the final touches on Funny Aminals 2 as well as the reprint of the first book. We’re insanely proud of these books!!! Huge thanks to everyone who contributed… who are they? I’m glad you asked:

Steve Bissette, Colleen Frakes, Penina Gal, Morgan Pielli, Cat Garza, Joe Lambert, Mark Bilokur, Jose Luis Olivares, Betsey Swardlick, Jon Chad, Matt Aucoin, Marisa Joelle Chapin, Denis St.John, Jeff Lok, Josh Rosen, Kubb E. Bear, Corey McDaniel, Ryland Ianelli, Jess Smart Smiley and Bryan Stone (hey, that’s me!)

Saturday night, October 30th I’ll be at Comic Boom in Keene NH from 12 noon until 4pm selling copies of the books. Thanks to Stellar Steve Bissette and Doggone Denis St.John for inviting me along! Afterward (at 7:00 pm) we’ll be attending the Saturday Fright Special Spooktacular. You should join us, it’ll be fun!

Can’t make it out this weekend? Both books will be for sale on I Know Joe Kimpel next week.

When B. Stone asked me to write something for this Funny Aminals blog, the first thing that came to mind was Disney/Iwerk’s Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

I’d been thinking about early Disney a lot lately, especially as our friend and former housemate Dane Martin is working on putting together a Walt Disney zine, about the man, not the monster corporation. When I first heard about this zine, I panicked (like I do), because if there’s one thing I learned in comics history class it’s that you do not mess with Disney. They are above copyright law and, even though everything planned for this project totally falls well within Fair Use, I can still imagine their lawyers going after it just because they can.

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is a good example of Disney’s tendency to abuse and ignore copyright law. Oswald is a precursor to Mickey Mouse, and he first appeared in 1927’s “Trolley Troubles”:

This cartoon was owned by Universal and went into the public domain in 1955, along with Oswald. But in 2006 Disney “bought back” the rights to the character (or rather, traded for them), which doesn’t make ANY sense. You can’t take a character that has gone into the Public Domain, and make it private again!

…Sorry, where was I going with all this?

Oh yeah, Oswald is great. When I draw “Funny Aminal” comics, they tend to look like Oswald. Not Mickey, since he’s a tool of The Man.

Please don’t sue me.
-c. frakes

Penina!

Penina’s comics for Funny Aminals, Badger Bear, made me laugh out loud! Not only did I laugh out loud but I thought about it when I was driving down the road later and laughed again. I guess you’ll just have to get your own copy of Funny Aminals to check them out! Here’s some more of her work:

And be sure to check out the newest issue of Penina’s comic, Fire Messenger. See more of her work here.

B. Stone

Josh Rosen

We’ll be featuring Funny Aminals contributors in the next few weeks until the books release at SPX at the end of the month.

First in line is Josh Rosen! Josh is a senior at The Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont and a fine cartoonist and a swell guy! Check out his potfolio here.

And here is a panel from his submission to the Funny Aminals comic book:

Look for his work and more in Funny Aminals at SPX!

B. Stone