Flaming ArtistAndersen suggested we place Eliza’s office in the Sentinel Building, which now houses Francis Ford
Coppolla’s Omni Zeotrope offices. I felt that it would be optimal to place her inner sanctum in one of the round rooms at the building’s sharp edge. Unfortunately, I was unable to gain access to the building’s interior as it was closed for remodeling. I had to extrapolate the interior of the building from what I could see of the exterior.
Frank’s girl friend/ girl Friday, Loretta Valentine discovers Frank’s secret stash of 50’s gay porn. In those days this took the form of chaste “Physical Culture” pamphlets. Ironically, these tracts are the same size as the Vertigo Crime imprints product, 5 3/8″ x 8 1/4″.
Loretta is based on actress Eileen Brennan.
One of my ongoing pet peeves with straight male cartoonists is that they tend to draw the same woman, varying only the hairstyles. Even the cartoonists who individualize their men fall into this trap with women. On this project, I was trying to differentiate the female characters as much as the males, yet still have them be beautiful and sexy. In Loretta’s case, I fear I erred on the side of individuation; at times she appears quite ugly.
In all of Frank and Eliza’s interactions culminating on page 108, I contrived graphic strategies to keep them separated even if they were in the same shot. Eliza is Frank’s long abandoned daughter, unbeknownst to him. She is based on a combination of Natalie Wood and Ayn Rand.
In pages 25-28, I placed Frank on the left side of each horizontal panel, Eliza on the right, separating
them by placing the word balloons in the center of the pages. In this sequence, I separate them by running panel gutters through what would otherwise be the same panel.
Will Norman posted an audio podcast interview of me on his da Vinci’s Waking Dream blog at http://queersotv.com/daVinciPodcast.html
This is a montage sequence of early 50’s San Francisco at night.
This is a recent drawing. It’s of Spiderman as a bear, only you can’t tell because he’s wearing his mask.
The Gay Comics List reviews Fogtown. They really get it. They call me “an impressive graphic storyteller” at http://gaycomicslist.free.fr/blog/index.php/2010/08/fogtown.html
The famous Seattle alternative newspaper The Stranger reviews Fogtown. He likes it: “This is one of the best comic book mysteries I’ve seen in a great long while.” Read it at http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2010/08/25/fogtown-is-a-good-gay-comic-book-mystery
This is another example of breaking the panel grid for heightened dramatic effect. The triangular panels 1 and 3 become like blades, metaphorically slicing panel 2, itself a sceneof Frank slicing Bone’s face with a stiletto.
This is part of the first batch of pages that I inked in the
14″ x 19″ format with the newly acquired help of my assistant, Lee-Roy. The
larger size gave me more control in the inking, especially necessary for the 6
smaller panels on page 76.
