Black Hatter books now available for sale!

Is there empty space on your bookshelves waiting to be filled? Do you find yourself thinking, "I need more awesome things in my life, but what?" Are you a fan of supporting indie artists? Well then, you'll be excited to learn that a few of us Black Hatters have published books recently! 

Cordyceps Tickles Volume 1 collects the first 99 pages of an autobio comic about the nerdy, gender-funky ex-shut-in we know as Gerbil. Honest, delightfully weird, and frequently laugh out loud funny, Cordyceps Tickles is one of the best things this collective's peer pressuring has wrought. The ongoing webcomic can be found at itsinyourheadnow.com. 

Godseeker Volume 1: Shadow Puppet Pantheon is the first book of Lee and Lisa's excellent prehistoric adventure comic, Godseeker, which follows a renegade fertility goddess and the human who summoned her on their quest to overthrow the pantheon and save mankind. With gorgeous art and an epic story that never forgets the humanity at its center, Godseeker is a comic you'll be picking up to read again and again. You can also read it online at godseekercomic.com. 

Unicorns Are Jerks: a coloring book exposing the cold, hard, sparkly truth (by me) isn't a comic, but it does have 18 pages of unicorns texting in theaters, farting in elevators, eating your leftovers, and generally acting like jerks under the guise of being all pure and magical. Appropriate for all ages, Unicorns Are Jerks teaches a valuable lesson about not making the people around you want to smack you.

Have you heard about this little pile of wonderfulness? Smut Peddler, a lady-created, Kickstarter-funded porno comic anthology, is now available for purchase in both PDF and dead tree format! On top of being sexy, hilarious, and all-around fantastic, it accidentally turned out to be one of the most diverse comic anthologies many reviewers had seen in years. "Thistlebed," a short comic about a thistle nymph looking for love that was written by Abby, drawn by Lee, and inked by me, has been called "so sweet it could crack my teeth." (All those satyr penises were totally worth it. Boy is THAT a sentence you don't get to type every day.)

And as ever, we've got more projects in the works. Stay tuned, we'll have more awesome stuff for you to look at soon!

Night at the Opera: Nabucco

It's that time of year again!  For a review of the season opener of the Minnesota Opera, Nabucco, check it out on my art blog over here.

Jenny Everywhere: The Open Source Character

A version of Jenny as designed by Diana Nock.

Have you heard of Jenny Everywhere, aka "The Shifter"?

In 2001, a group of artists got together to specifically design a character that could be used by anyone, with license or royalty fees. A truly open-source character.

Jenny Everywhere has been described both as existing in every reality and being able to shift between realities. This gives the character the ability to be inserted into the continuity of any existing or new work, such as various comics, fiction, or even live action.

Though the character of Jenny Everywhere is vague enough to allow for many different interpretations, there are a few things that define who she is. Do all these signifiers need to be represented? Absolutely not. But the fewer that you use, the less likely that your character will be recognized as Jenny Everywhere.

She has short, dark hair. She usually wears aviation goggles on top of her head and a scarf around her neck. Otherwise, she dresses in comfortable clothes. She is average size and has a good body image. She has loads of confidence and charisma. She appears to be Asian or Native American. She has a ready smile.

There have been hundreds of interpretations of the character, in many styles. You can read almost all available materials of and about her and her adventures at The Shifter Archive.

You can also create your own Jenny Everywhere character or story if:

The character of Jenny Everywhere is available for use by anyone, with only one condition. This paragraph must be included in any publication involving Jenny Everywhere, in order that others may use this property as they wish. All rights reversed.

The Giver

An all new blog post about the children's opera production of The Giver, available here on my blog!

-Maria

Night at the Opera: Madame Butterfly Part #2

Now available over here at my blog!

-Maria

THIS WEEK. (this. week.) AT THE GERBILDOME. (gerbildome. gerbildome)

GET READY FOR FIVE! (five!) WHOLE! (wow!) DAYS of BONE CRUNCHING OPERA ACTIONTAINMENT

ba-dow ba-dow VROOOM

monster truck noises

FIVE DAYS.

FIVE COMIC STRIP PAGES.

MADAME. BUTTERFLY.

BE THERE.


* Actual opera comics may not resemble wrestling event as described. Side effects may vary.

Night at the Opera: Madame Butterfly

I've started my Madame Butterfly post over here:
Gypsy-Maria's Art Blog
More pictures to come!