Pulp Novel Cover Party

Cathy Camper, who buys zines and small press comics for the Multnomah County Library, hosts a drawing potluck once a year where we create original pulp novel covers.  She and her partner Matty come up with insane titles and list them for the artists to choose from.  She started inviting Dylan and me about four years ago, and this is the only cover that I've confirmed yet is Dylan's drawing.  As I'm sure you're all aware, Dylan was a huge fan of pulp and dime novel writing and artwork.  

You can see some examples of other peoples' covers here - the artists are anonymous.

 

Below is the original print out that Dylan handed to me for Jason Shiga's acceptance speech at the Eisner's in 2003. I had already thought of the speech that I was to give, and Dylan told me that Jason wasn't too attached to what he'd written. I don't think (m)any people other than Jason, Dylan, and myself have seen this speech until now.  - F.C. Brandt

random...

i just randomly found this in the sidebar while wasting time on facebook. i miss talking to him about music.

more book reviews.

>
> Hi Tom,
> Happy New Year at the door!
>
> Perhaps the files I am sending might be interesting for the Dylan
> Williams Reporter blog.
> I had always been so taken by the Dylan's passion for books and even
> for the game offered by the Shelfari site (which is kind of visual
> sorting out of the participants' reading). I had a feeling that for
> Dylan, his favorite books were also "favorite things"; objects
> charged with immense significance; he shared them with a sense of
> wonder and serious sincerity, like the treasures from a kid's personal
> treasure box....
>
> best,
> Olga
>
>
> Some book reviews made by Dylan :
>
> A Model Kit by Julio Cortazar
>
> This is the book that made me rethink postmodern literature. I mean,
> that it made me appreciate the value of unconventional narrative. It is
> more of an immersion than most other books of this sort. It felt like I
> needed to read it again the minute I put it down.
> William F. Dylans wrote this review Wednesday, June 27, 2007.
> xxx
>
> The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester (1956)
>
> I think I actually liked the Demolished Man more but this was one of
> the best books I've ever read. It never feel like Bester is pedantic
> about his worlds, unlike so many science fiction writers. It reminds me
> of the best of the turn of the century fantasies but with a pretty
> unique 1950s and Bester flavor. I got to the end and wanted to start
> reading it all over.
> William F. Dylans wrote this review Tuesday, June 5, 2007.
>
> xxx
>
> Summer of Love by Debbie Drechsler (2003)
>
> This is one of the best books I've ever read, let alone comic books. I
> think this is one of the few books that is actually a Graphic Novel, in
> the true sense of the word. It may actually be a novella but the story
> is so well thought out, the art works only in service of this complex
> and seemingly simple story. It is absolutely perfect. I'm a 37 year old
> guy and this story still affects me emotionally, it isn't simply about
> the subject matter it is about human nature. Anyway, I can't say enough
> about it, please read it and we can all fantasize about Debbie
> Dreschler doing more comics together.
> William F. Dylans wrote this review Sunday, November 25, 200
>
>
> xxx
>
> Filipino Martial Culture by Mark V. Wiley
>
> his book is really amazing, so far. I love the thorough approach it
> takes to history, religion and sociology. It may not be accurate and
> may be just one guys take on the FMA but I love reading what he has to
> say. Unlike so many martial arts books, this reads more like a history
> text. Well done! I think even people not interested in doing martial
> arts would get something out of it.
>
> xxx
> Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936) by George Orwell
>
> WOW! This book is so amazingly harsh in such a silly way. I can't get
> over how cynical but self-aware Orwell is when writing Gordon Comstock
> is. I keep on wishing I'd read this in my early 20s and I feel like I
> should be recommending this to all my self-absorbed artist friends who
> think the world is a horrible place and talk about money all the time
> William F. Dylans wrote this review Wednesday, June 6, 2007
>
>
> xx
>
> The Spider's House by Paul Bowles
>
> Pretty much the single best book I've ever read
> William F. Dylans wrote this review Sunday, June 17, 2007.

Banana Nanny

A while back Dylan had the urge to write about a lot of things, but he was struggling with the idea of his public persona as a publisher vs his personal thoughts about comics, art, teaching, process, etc. So, we started a blog called Banana Nanny. It was kind of a free-form, personal blog where he and I would just post our thoughts about all of these things. Dylan wanted to keep it mostly secret, only letting a few close friends know about it. At some point he thought that too many people were reading it and he got uncomfortable and decided to delete the blog.

I thought it was gone forever, and unfortunately most of it is... but for some reason the first 5 lines of most of the entries is still on my blogger account's dashboard. I've been trying to deal with blogger about retrieving the lost information, but it seems hopeless. So, all I have are these screengrabs of the beginning of each entry.

Keep in mind these were pretty personal posts from Dylan.  I think he expressed a bit more of his personal frustrations and anger with the comic industry and art world that he often felt at odds with, but cared about so deeply. We both did. My own posts were often about my frustrations with the art world at the time, but also random things like the spelling bee as a metaphor for the problems with popularity in the arts. Dylan's philosophy about promotion, production and popularity vs. art was a very good one. other stuff about time travel through art and Star Trek. His rants against the Portand Mercury's Comics section were in many ways an exercise of his humorous side - his frustration with that publication was that it ignores so many talented Portland cartoonists who deserve a slot on their local comics page. He channeled that frustration into comical rage directed at the talking dinosaur comic strip. Please keep in mind that this is only the opening thoughts of each entry, thoughts that were fleshed out and explained through lengthy posts, so please don't take offense of judgement to these incomplete posts.

We didn't expect a lot of eyes on this. I feel a little weird posting it here. But I miss this blog. I was sad when Dylan shut it down. I'm even sadder that I can't get to the rest of it. I think Dylan felt like a lot of his ideas needed to be out there somewhere, but he was still uncomfortable with the reality of having eyes on these thoughts. The post "Push Push" and "Links" both spoke about this.

Dylan wrote some really good things on Banana Nanny.  He also wrote some angry rants. And some really funny stuff, too... Here's all that's left of it.

Depiction of a man's butt in my face

Dylan sent this in an email, it's a good example of him being able to turn a stinky situation into something better. - ZS