A nice review of one of my mini comics by Rob Clough.

 

This is copied and pasted from this High-Low.

NOAH VAN SCIVER MINI COMIC, by Noah Van Sciver. Van Sciver is my favorite “miserablist” cartoonist at the moment, humorously relating his own struggles with alienation, depression, ambition and desire for success. The strip that summed all of that up the best was “Walk Home Drunk”, a strip that began with Van Sciver being thrown out of a bar, trying to find his way home. Van Sciver’s work is in the underground tradition: grotesque figures, an emphasis on the extremes of living (in this strip, puking up blood and the gag reveal that his “home” was a cardboard box), vicious exaggerations (Van Sciver’s takedown of scenes and scenesters was hilarious), and a general sense of writing from the id. Van Sciver is still trying to find his voice and isn’t quite there yet, but I like how many of his strips are so evocative of time and place. I would recommend his BLAMMO series, but this mini (a compendium of strips that appeared in various publications) is a nice place to start.

 

more vomit in the form of text.

I feel like I’m being led along by an invisible leash sometimes. I don’t know who is pulling it though. I am just along for a ride. 

Here is a new mini-comic that I put together. It’s all excerpts from my notebooks. I was planning on doing something more artsy but I think it came out as more evidence that perhaps I have some emotional problems that somehow ooze out of my fingers and control the pen in these more private drawings and comics.

I have a hand that sobs like a widow and every intention of foisting my half-baked, immature mind onto anybody who comes near. Yes folks, yes- This isn’t a blog. It’s a spider web. And you are caught and will now be a victim of my crying and moaning. And I will eat you alive.

This is my headquarters. 

And this here is my defacing of a classic.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I must be going.

                     Sincerely, 

                                  Noah

*whistle sound

I don’t know if I’ve ever actually posted a 4 Questions comic strip on here before. When  I think about it, it’s kind of strange that I haven’t. 4 Questions is what I’m most known for in Denver. I’ve been drawing it for the alternative weekly paper Westword for about 2 years now. 

Every week I find a different Denver band and ask them 4 questions (hence the name), then I illustrate the questions into a 4 paneled comic strip that runs in the music section. Here is a random 4 Questions comic that unless you live in Colorado (or Cheyenne Wyoming!) you’ve never seen before.

I always think about this comic strip and wonder how disposable it will be. I’m sure there have been hundreds of comic strips that have come and gone without a trace, never to be seen or remembered again. Will 4 Questions be another?? Maybe it will become some answer in a trivia game some day. It would be a shame though, because there have been some real gems in it’s history so far if I do say so myself. Actually, I guess it is doomed to obscurity. Who would ever put out a collection of these? Only people in Denver would be interested in this stuff. 

 

 

Christmas special from my youth!

Oh wow! Do you remember this? This special had a HUGE impact on my brain as a child! 

Seasons greetings!

-Noah

Art shows and masks.

So, I was just in an art show with 2 other comic book artists. I hung up some pages from Blammo #5. It was fun to watch people read them while I stood back in the shadows. The funny thing about drawing comics is that nobody knows what you actually look like, so you are free from the shackles of real celebrity in ways that Harrison Ford is not. 

and trust me, being a comic artist will make your name as popular as Harrison Ford’s. It’s a curse, folks. I don’t need to explain.

My girlfriend Robin’s band (Lust-cats of the gutters) played with a couple other bands. It was a good time! I’m sorry you missed it.

Robin’s band is here: lust-cats!

Below: a photo of myself and fellow Westword writer Tom Murphy on the night in question.

If you would like to revisit a story of mine that has led people to constantly psycho-analyze  me, well, you are in luck! Top Shelf has posted it on their website! Click the link below but be warned, this story is for adults only!

www.topshelfcomix.com/ts2.0/artist/382

Thanks for reading!

-Noah

why should I always have to think of new titles, huh??

I just slept away most of the day and feel like maybe I should at least try to get something done. It’s Monday today-or at least for a little while longer it is. It’s always hard to adjust to the time change when it comes. It’s dark at 4:00 p.m now and it makes me feel like the entire day is gone. The days are so incredibly short! And Fall is going away soon too to give way to the bitter cold and agony. I don’t know… Perhaps some good will happen this Winter. I’ve really got to get back to work on my book. I’ve taken about 6 weeks off of it, and now I’m itching to get going again! I’ve got to work out some parts that I’ve already done. I Got an e-mail from Chris Staros telling which parts to fix…

Here is a quote from a review that I recently got about Blammo #4:

“He is a young man, though, and it is evident in his obsessions and his seeming desperation for approval. His is a raw soul, it seems, twisting between feelings of self loathing and entitlement. I love that about the book. It is so honest that it almost feels painful. “

graphicnyc.blogspot.com/2009/11/graphically-speaking-blammo-4.html

I guess that about sums me up, huh?

Klaus Nomi or die!

Well, I’m sad that Halloween is over. I am in the pre-mourning stages of Fall. My beloved season. I’ve been in a weird stage of not knowing what to do with myself lately. Actually, I guess that’s not so weird. I have a new issue of Blammo coming out in a few weeks. That’s pretty exciting. It’s a good issue. Full of chuckles and such. I have to try to spread the word about it, which can be extremely difficult when you draw a comic book like Blammo. Especially in these days of serious graphic novels! God, if only I was old enough to have been drawing this comic book in the early 1990′s! I would have ruled the world! There could have been a Blammo TV show! I think if Blammo were a TV show it would be like Liquid Television. Anyway, this issue is being paid for by Kilgore books&comics. http://kilgorebooks.com/

Sometimes when I write in this blog, I feel like I’m alone in a room talking to a mirror. Which is normally how I spend my Friday nights. 

I’m reading a great book called The amazing adventures of Kavalier & Clay, while the snow falls on the city I’m wrapped up in. I wrap up in a blanket and read. 

I really need to invest in an actual bed pretty soon. I’ve been sleeping on this futon cushion for the past year, and I’m only getting older by the day, which makes me feel like I should be putting on some kind of adult facade. At least give some kind of impression that I am put together as a normal human being and less like a transient squatting in some abandoned home. It would also be nice to sleep in an actual bed instead of a freaking cushion! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought about how cool it would be to be able to put things underneath where I sleep. Don’t take that storage space for granted, folks!

Now, I can’t speak for you, but, there are a few things I’d like to avoid in my life:

1. Dying a very messy death (i.e. hacked up with an ax, torn apart–anything really bloody). 

2. Having to cross a rope bridge over anything extremely high up.

3. Swimming in the ocean, and being caught in the current and carried out.

4. Being in a motorboat that could possibly be flipped over leaving me in a situation like #3.

5. Being lit on fire and not dying.

6. Getting stuck outside in an electrical storm.

7. Completely losing my eyesight.

and, not finally, but, because I’m getting tired:

8. Having any of my fingernails fall off.

Think about that! I can’t! It makes me want to throw up to think about what’s even under my fingernails! I imagine it’s like some sort of Clam meat! It’s really only a door slam on your finger away. Disgusting. I hate being human.