Thursday, December 31, 2015

Geranium Lake Properties, go boom


Fire and Ice
By Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Geranium Lake Properties, A Tale of Oatmeal and Dwindling Spoons


On the back of this comic, Yost wrote:

clarified
shanks
ha! ha!

---

What the GLP holiday schedule looks like right now: On Thursday, the eve of Xmas, we will post a wintry GLP panel, and on Xmas day we will post one (or maybe two) holiday Samsara panels. No posts during the following weekend. On Tuesday, Dec. 29, we might see some favorite GLP comics from the past year. New Year's Eve will be a new GLP or Samsara post, and then we will take a short break until Jan. 5, 2016.

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Geranium Lake Properties, an elf is nobody's minion


On the back of this drawing, Yost wrote:

[indecipherable scribble] from Santa's workshop?????
moon pi
check phone mess
Boccherini Symphony in C Mjr

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Geranium Lake Properties, Candy Cane Lane


This one is less Yost and more me, but I am sure that Yost, like many of us, had childhood memories of streets transformed at Christmas into Candy Cane Lanes.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Geranium Lake Properties, a chaotic and quixotic search...


...for the perfect conifer.

When I'm not on holiday, asemic comics are published here three times a week, on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday (or sometimes Saturday night).

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Geranium Lake Properties, Jack Loki and the Miracle Squad


From "The Adventure of the Marzipan Lotus".

Geranium Lake Properties, turn one hair


In this panel, I am feeling the end of fall, and the first frosts of winter. Ha Kim Ngoc identifies this as part of Jack Loki's translations of Shakespeare for horned lizards, but she does not tell us which play this panel illustrates. To me it looks more like Dickens, especially at this time of year, when I have already watched my first Christmas Carol movie. "Mothers and daughters" is the note Yost penciled on the back.

Samsara Comics, the moon dreams three dreams, of bone, frost and iron


After I took time off for the Thanksgiving holiday, I found myself in a massive rush of creativity, which I optimized by avoiding the internet as much as I could. Sorry 'bout leaving you behind, but I'm back, so let's catch up.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Geranium Lake Properties, "Ruth Fulcanello and the Angry Ghost Cat"


There are many Fulcanello Brothers, nine or ten or twelve, I don't remember how many right at this moment, but there is only one sister. Ruth.

On March 30, 1992, newspapers had a choice of two GLP cartoons. This one, or a scene from Hamlet. (Yes, that Hamlet, by Shakespeare.) Every newspaper chose this panel, even the Newark Star-Ledger. Next Tuesday, we will get to see that unpublished Hamlet scene, and then we will be taking a break for the Thanksgiving holiday. No GLP comics are scheduled for Thursday the 26th, or Sunday the 29th. I may or may not publish an unscheduled offering, but I am not planning to do anything but eat, hang out with family, and go for a little road trip to see some beach.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Geranium Lake Properties, Three-Boots-in-a-Barrel


On the first Wednesday of his Fifty-Cent Trip, Jack Loki encounters Colonel George Armstrange Havock, the Sheriff of Sisquickarroyo, whom the local inhabitants call "Three-Boots-in-a-Barrel".

Asemic comics are published here three times a week, on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday (or sometimes Saturday night).

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Geranium Lake Properties, stil de grain vignette


© lcmt 2015

We have dipped into the thirteen folders of unpublished GLP cartoons and brought to light today’s panel. It seems to be another attempt by Wm. Yost to satisfy his obsession with illustrating “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

Asemic comics are published here three times a week, on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday (and sometimes Saturday night). I missed last Sunday. I knew I was going to miss last Sunday, I could have let you all know, and maybe I should say "Sorry 'bout that!"

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Geranium Lake Properties, baby carrots (human)


This list was written in pencil on the back of a sketch of today's cartoon (presumably by Mr. Yost):

baby carrots (human)
vinegar
travel brochure
visit to a red planet (martian?)
nunc aut nunquam
functional fool

Part of the Fifty Cent Trip, an intermittent series that appeared from March 1986 through 1989.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Geranium Lake Properties, hollow carotenoid sunset


It's Halloween week and this is the first of three GLP cartoons dedicated to Jack Loki's second favorite holiday. (His favorite holiday is April Fool's Day.) The second Halloween panel will appear on Thursday, the third will appear on Saturday--on the very day of All Saints' Eve. There will be no Sunday cartoon.

Samsara Comics - Raro, Ileop and Plorumquith


Red variation:

This was supposed to be published Sunday, October 25.

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Geranium Lake Properties, 100 Perpindicular Hearts


You can also read a poem titled "100 Perpindicular Hearts". I don't know if the poem and the cartoon illustrate each other, but they did happen coincidentally.

Asemic comics are published here three times a week, on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday (or sometimes Saturday night).

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Geranium Lake Properties, confound your friends, dismay your enemies


We have not shown a misprint from Newark’s Star-Ledger in a while. Yost really loved the Star-Ledger misprints, and this is one of his favorites. Bottom image is how the world outside New Jersey saw today's GLP panel.

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Geranium Lake Properties, when the pied ordinaries of your grief become mute


On the back of this comic, Wm. Yost penciled "Series: Jack Loki translates Shakespeare for horned lizards" and "Phrynosoma platyrhinos or coronatum?" His assistant, Ha Kim Ngoc, says there are more than a dozen panels that belong to the Shakespeare translation series, but she is not sure this panel is one of them. Yost wrote his ideas down on pieces of paper, scraps or envelopes or whatever was handy. He jotted all sorts of things on the backs of his GLP panels, including phone numbers of people he never called, titles of books he never read, and confirmation numbers for bills he paid over the phone.

Asemic comics are published here three times a week, on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday (or sometimes Saturday night).

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Geranium Lake Properties, caterpillar sea-life surviving in the bathtub


Another GLP panel that might work as an illustration for a poem ("The Arborist's Wife") from The Wife of History and Other Planetary Characters.

Asemic comics are published here three times a week, on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, except I am going to be busy tomorrow, so I am posting Sunday's comic now.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Samsara Comics, "Spark"


This started as a static/graphic image, but when I slashed in the fire layer, most of the ornamental lattice was lost in the blaze. Making it into an animated gif solved that problem. I left off my customary Samsara Comics frame to lighten the load. I don't usually pick such an obvious title as "Spark" but this one demanded it. I guess it doesn't hurt to be conventional once in a while.

Asemic comics are published here three times a week, on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday (or Saturday night, maybe).

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Monday, September 21, 2015

Geranium Lake Properties, "Under the Thickety Dune"


Another part of The Secret of Watchstone Rim.

This is a colaboration with Phil Openshaw, who graciously gave me permission to use a piece of this photograph for the branch patterns. Phil's photograph is far more stunning than my little cartoon here. Take some time to check out his Tumblr archive, and his White Cloth Hall series; his photographs of urban decay are thick with texture and fascinating detail.

Asemic comics have been published here three times a week, on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. This was supposed to be posted Sunday, but my Sundays are too busy right now. Here, on Blogger, I will try switching to a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday night schedule.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Geranium Lake Properties, "The Deadly Tendrils of Bairg Lungdo"


I'm pretty sure this is another part of The Secret of Watchstone Rim.

Asemic comics are published here three times a week, on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Except for last Tuesday. I know I've been saying that a lot lately. My schedule at work has been changing every week. That's only a minor disruption, but it does mean I have a little less time to sulk in my cave. Which is necessary for my creative process. So last Tuesday I caught up on my sulking.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Geranium Lake Properties, kiGamnch Dart-and-Tile Boards

Today's comic is a kiGamnch Dart-and-Tile Board, used for various tabletop games that are a popular form of kiGamnch.

The "darts" are not sharp, they are shaped like lima beans, with six short rubber spikes. They are more like jacks than darts. Some people play kiGamnch with jacks instead of kiGamnch darts, but if you have an expensive inlaid kiGamnch table, metal jacks would marr the finish. You can slide, roll and toss the darts across the board. Your opponent has the option of using his darts to displace yours.

The tiles are similiar to mah jongg tiles, and there is even a form of kiGamnch you can play with mah jongg tiles. The most familiar kiGamnch tile is made of Catalin (a plastic similiar to Bakelite), but some players prefer bone, ivory or wood. For me, nothing else has that most satisfying "clack" of a Catalin kiGamnch tile. The tiles can also be triangular or pentagonal.

kiGamnch tiles made of scented soap are a popular gift among game enthusiasts, but they don't use them in play. They are most often seen as a decorative item for the bathroom, packaged in attractive glass jars.

Bottom image: A double kiGamanch gameboard inlay for a tabletop, 36" X 60". This kind of table can be found in bars, diners and coffeehouses frequented by jackalopes.

Asemic comics are supposed to be published here three times a week, on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, but I missed last Thursday because of minor life issues. My ISP has been having connection problems, and we're having a heat-wave that is so out-of-proportion to our usual weather I find myself inclined to the attitude of "It's too darn hot, I can't be bothered" for even the slightest challenge.