So a couple months ago, I went to Worldcon in Reno. While I was there, I had dinner with some friends of friends. One of those people was artist and illustrator Lee Moyer.
I like graphic artists. I like them because they do something I can’t, which effectively makes them magicians.
They’re also fun to have dinner with. You can get them all worked up about the weirdest shit. They’ll get all frothy talking about color. They’ll doodle on napkins. They’ll criticize the layout of the menu.
Best of all, if they have an ipad with them, you can look at their stuff while you’re waiting for your food to show up. This is not something you can do if you are, say, an author who writes 400,000 word fantasy novels.
At that particular dinner in Reno, Lee did have his ipad on him. He showed me some of his work: book covers, posters, commissions….
“Hold on,” I said, pointing at a tiny thumbnail. “What’s that?”
“Oh,” he said, “That’s a project I’m working on. They’re pin-ups based on literary figures.”
He brought it up on the screen:
“That’s really cool,” I said.
He smiled and pulled up another one:
I had to look at this one for a while. The Twain reference was obvious, but this…
“Oh god,” I said. “That’s Hawthorne, isn’t it? It’s Hester Prynne from the Scarlet Letter. She’s got an A tattooed on her chest!”
He brought up another one:
“That’s got to be Dickens, right?”
Lee nodded.
“What are these for?” I asked.
“A calendar,” he explained. “Literary pin-ups.”
“That’s something I’d hang on my wall,” I said. “Sexy but not smutty. Clever. Bookish. Where can I buy one?”
“I’m having trouble finding someone to print it,” he admitted. “I think people would love it, but the big calendar companies don’t seem interested.”
“You have twelve of these?” I asked.
“Yeah. It’s pretty much all ready to go.”
I looked at the sexy chimney sweep. She smiled at me.
“Hell,” I said. “I’ll print it.”
Lee looked at me oddly. This is not a thing authors normally say to illustrators.
“You see,” I said, “I run a charity called Worldbuilders….”
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Fast forward to today.
The calendars are back from the printer and they’re gorgeous. We pulled out all the stops with satin finish and nice heavy paper. They really turned out nice.
I was going to wait until we officially started Worldbuilders to put them up in the store. But the truth is, I’m too excited to wait….
So instead, I’ve decided to give y’all a chance to order the calendar before the fundraiser officially starts up this year. Not only can you get some of your holiday shopping done a little early, but if you order now, we’ll be able to ship them out to you right away, before Worldbuilders starts making things crazy busy around here.
If you’re curious what some of the other months look like, here’s a peek at the back cover:
(Click to Embiggen)
A few additional notes:
1. As always, all the money you spend in The Tinker’s Packs goes directly to Worldbuilders.
2. If you order three calendars, you can get free shipping anywhere in the US. (Or 8 bucks off international shipping.) Just enter the code: LITERACY when you’re checking out.
3. You might want to order sooner rather than later. We’re probably not going to do a second print run of these, so when they’re gone, they’re gone….
4. [Edit 7:30 AM] Please be aware that there are two *different* calendar listings in the store. One of them is for art collectors. It’s signed by the artist, and it doesn’t have any holes punched in it. We’re only doing 50 of those, and we’re selling them for 75 dollars. The regular calendar is much more reasonably priced….
And one last time, just in case you missed the link to the store.
Share and enjoy, folks.
pat
P.S. If you don’t know what Worldbuilders is, you can take a peek at last year’s fundraiser over here.
Webcomics Galore!
Today we have a great delicious slurry of donated cool from the webcomic community.
Most of these goodies are going into the general lottery, but we’ve got a good number of auctions, too. We’ve got guest appearances in various comics, some signed art, a few cool collections, and a frikkin Dr. Who scarf that will be going to the highest bidder.
First we’ve got some stuff from Blind Ferret Entertainment
You can bid on this auction over here.
“Least I Could Do is what comics should be. It makes you laugh, sometimes it makes you a little sad, but more often than not it makes you think, about who you are, and where you are going. Perhaps if everyone had just a little tiny spark of Rayne in them (and I do mean tiny. Dear God, too much Rayne would make for a terrifying world), perhaps our world would be a better, more honest place… If you aren’t reading Least I Could Do yet, then click your browser over there and get started. Believe me, you’ll be glad you did.” – Geek-life.com
The Absolute Ultimate Gutters Omnibus Volume 1 is the first printed collection of the wildly popular Gutters comic. Written by Ryan Sohmer (Least I Could Do, Looking For Group), Gutters is a series of standalone pages that parody the comic book industry and the heroes and characters that dwell within. Each page is penciled, inked and colored by a different artist, varying from the industry veteran to the newcomer.
Volume 1 is an over-sized full color (and glossy) printed book. With a cover by Darick Robertson (The Boys, Transmetropolitan) and a forward by Daniel Way (Deadpool, Wolverine), you won’t want to miss this.
You can bid on this giant book over here.
Pat’s Note: Okay. Fine. This isn’t a webcomic. But the lovely Jim Zub donated these books after we’d posted up the list of graphic novel donations. Rather than save these for next year, we decided to tuck them in here…
Two nameless mercenaries are mashing monsters and making a name for themselves. Image’s new hit fantasy action-comedy series has gone through multiple printings of each issue released so far and is getting rave reviews from readers and critics alike. Pick up the first collection and find out what all the excitement is about. Collects Skullkickers #1-5 and the short stories from Popgun Volumes 2 & 3.
Randall Munroe describes xkcd as a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language. While it’s practically required reading in the geek community, xkcd fans are as varied as the comic’s subject matter. This book creates laughs from science jokes on one page to relationship humor on another.
Pat’s note: I can’t remember when I first stumbled onto Biff, but these comics are like little zen stories. They’re little haiku of bizarre misery. Fun stuff.
You can bid to be in the Real Life world here.
Proving just how cool and talented he is, Greg Dean of Real Life Comics fame, has donated this amazing reproduction of the Fourth Doctor’s famous scarf. What makes this total win? Greg Dean spent around 70 hours knitting this beauty on his own. A month of toil led to the creation of 13 feet of woolen Doctor Who splendor. Just to make sure it was up to snuff, Greg wore the scarf a bit this winter before sending it to Worldbuilders. He also wore it in Real Life as well. So not only are you getting this neat Doctor Who inspired swag, but the creator of Real Life Comics made and briefly wore it.
You can bid here for this delicious scarf.
This print measures 11 inches by 17 inches and is signed by the man himself.
You can view and bid on the auction here.
This auction also comes with a signed illustration from Josh Lesnick.
To view and bid on this auction, click here.
“For more than 20 years, various cartoonists have jostled for the title of spiritual heir to Gary Larson, the famously weird creator of the groundbreaking strip The Far Side. Web cartoonist Gurewitch is a solid contender for the title. His preferred subject matter certainly tracks Larson: murderous mimes, vengeful T. Rexes and adulterous rolls of coins all make appearances… Subtle, sly and deeply, deeply weird, The Perry Bible Fellowship is one of the best comics out there.” – Publishers Weekly
AUCTION: A full set of the signed Girl Genius softcover collections AND your name will appear in Girl Genius in 2012.
That’s right, a full set of the Girl Genius softcover collections (That’s 10 books, each with a cover price of $22.95) mailed to you or to that special friend who once saved your life. They will all be signed by Kaja and Phil, AND- The high bidder will see their name appear within Girl Genius sometime in the next calendar year. Maybe you will just run a shop in Mechanicsburg. Maybe you will be a walk–on character with lines. Maybe you will become a recurring major villain with your own mini-series and sexy minions and an action figure and underoos and everything (this is extremely unlikely, but in an infinite universe, anything can happen).
You may recall a certain Doctor Rothfuss who made his own appearance in the Girl Genius world…
We love Kaja and Phil. They are awesome clever folks. Check them out on their webpage.
And check out this tempting auction here.
Pat’s Note: If you’re interested, last year I did a fun interview with Jerry.
“If you’ve been living under a rock for the last ten years or so, you might not have heard of the web comic Penny Arcade. Produced by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, the comic, featuring two cameo characters called Tycho and Gabe, covers not only the ins and outs of the latest news and releases from the video game industry, but geekdom in general. Well-known SFF figures such as John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton are staunch fans of the comic and well acquainted with the authors in real life; the foreword of this book is written lovingly by Scalzi himself… The book is an easy, often hilarious read, and an absolute must-have for fans of the comic and newcomers alike.” – SFSite.com
Pat’s Note: I got to write the intro to this book. Which makes me feel like a big man…
“Do not be deceived by this cutesy cover of Tycho and Gabe having fun with a puppy and butterflies, for within these pages lies tales of damnation and lust; whatever you do, don’t let a child get ahold of this book… and for those who are already familiar with the unforgettable and endlessly entertaining comic know as Penny Arcade, then this cover works as an excellent camouflage for the sordid-laughter-inducing artwork within its pages…” – Bookbanter
“Forget your warm and fuzzy newspaper strips. Penny Arcade is a scathing send-up of geek culture with jokes sharp enough to injure an eye… To say that Tycho and Gabe, its, uh, heroes, are video-game enthusiasts would be like saying that Anakin Skywalker has issues.” – Booklist
Pat’s Note: Can I be honest here? Having Kvothe make a cameo appearance in a PA comic might be the biggest geek-out moment of my life. Seriously. I love Mike and Jerry with the nerdy passion of a thousand white-hot suns.
This signed print comes right from the fine folks at Penny Arcade. Pat’s mentioned this particular treat in his blog last spring. Starting as a Penny Arcade strip, this clever 12” x 18” print is signed by Gabe and Tycho.
Shouldn’t you have a visual of Kvothe and his prowess hanging from your bedroom wall?
Place your bids for this beautiful print here.
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Remember, for every 10 dollars you donate on our Team Page, you get a chance to win these books and thousands of others.Â
For a list of all the auctions Worldbuilders is currently running, you can head over here.
If you want to see all the other items that have been donated to Worldbuilders, or just learn more about the fundraiser itself, you head over to the main page.