I have passed a major
milestone in my career as an artist: I’ve been swiped. A week ago, at Bent-Con
2013, I purchased several graphic novels; The only one I’ve gotten around to
reading thus far is “Al-Queda’s
Super Secret Weapon”, by David J. Zelman, published by Northwest Press in July of 2013. http://northwestpress.com/I was pleasantly amused by its
droll sense of humor and pleasing illustrative style, when I came across this
page, page 16 in the book.
You’ll notice the 5th
and 6th panels on the page— in panel 5, a standing man swaps a man,
tied into seated position in a chair, so hard that the seated man is knocked on
to the floor while remaining tied to the chair. In panel 6, the assailant
stands over the prone form of the bound man.
I read right past this on
first reading; on the second reading I realized that I had seen these two
panels before: I had drawn them myself in my independently published graphic
novel, “Harry & Dickless Tom”, published by Flaming Artist Press in 2006.
Notice panels 10 and 11. Different cropping, same compositions.
At first I didn’t quite know
how to react. Should I be insulted? Feel ripped off? Flattered? Upon
reflection, I decided on the third reaction. “Al Queda’s Super Secret Weapon”
is a hoot and a turn-on besides, working on several levels simultaneously. I
feel proud to be an unacknowledged source for part of this material. You should
definitely support this work (as in, buy it).
Actually,
you should support my work as well.http://www.flamingartists.com/