The Bankers Battle Continues! Free Webcomics Weekly

HEY APATHY! Free Webcomics Weekly

The two unusual assistants of the mysterious mad scientist have infiltrated the office of an executive banker. As part of some weird plan the twins have been systematically replacing various denizens of the gear with laboratory made duplicates. Up till now the task has been a simple one, but the assistants haven’t faced any foes near as threatening as the almighty director of the city bank. New pages every Friday as part of the ongoing HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics mythology. HEY APATHY!

The City of Gears Kids Comics Online

HEY APATHY! Comics Online!

Maybe today was one for dreaming, but something about the holiday season, and in particular my 2year old nephew, has got me thinking a little more about comics for kids. As a public performer I have been interested in communicating to both the intellectual and younger viewers. Prior to my street and festival interventions, the artwork had a tendency towards a bleakness and horror much more nihilistic than the playful monstrosities I draw today. The last time I made something that was really geared towards younger audiences would have to be HEY APATHY! Book Two. While Book One, using superhero type imagery to tell a silent and symbolic parable, is vary borderline and can likely be appreciated by all audiences, Book Two was modeled after kid’s comics and cartoons. This sort of story telling might alienate “artsy” audiences (one artbook publisher laughed at me for making kid’s books) but they are not nearly as interesting or exciting as kids are anyways.

A little time before making the Samurai Comic (Book 2), I scripted and sketched out a children’s book entitled “The Sound of the City” based on one of my ink drawings of the same name. Although I haven’t gotten around to working on it yet, the script keeps making its way to the top of my pile of things to do and is really tempting. I think this book will happen soon.

Yesterday I did some drawings for my nephew. He likes to tell me what the pictures are,” Fish! Truck! Mommy!” and so on. It is really fun. These scribbles got me thinking and I decided to give a quick whirl at designing a “HEY APATHY!” kids cartoon. I did the sketch (above) in about a half an hour during which time I pretty much sorted out all the details. To make a long story short, these superheroes are basically vigilante law enforcement in the over-industrialized imaginary City of Gears. The city is on the brink of annihilation, though the denizens don’t realize it and the team has to fight various evils villains trying to destroy the metropolis. Sounds dull I know, but I was inclined to approach this as though it were a real show. This means within a set of rules and formulae. The fun will be in the symbolic narratives which I are festering in my sick mind.

The team consists of two kids, an artist and a book-worm computer whiz, a superhero, the old wise one, a female adult with musical magic, Audu & Jungle Cat (from Book Two). They have a giant robot which, once a diabolical business drone, has been reprogrammed for the better of mankind. The Robot is a key representation of the necessity to use, and not combat, technology despite all the inappropriate programming. The MachineHead corporate villain is continually trying to over-do consumption frequently threatening the well being of the city. Lastly the heroes know that they can not disturb the flow of the city for fear of chaos and must work entirely in secret. Blah Blah. Anyways I’m having fun with this today. I think I’ll flesh it out with some more drawings the next time I have free time. I think it would be cool ( and likely wise) to have a whole television series worked out. You never know when  opportunity might arrive and more importantly this is  just something I always wanted to do. READ WEBCOMICS!

Metropolis Animation Drawings

ALTERNATIVE COMICS Animations

The City is a giant gear spiraling infinitely around and around. At least that’s how it feels today. I’ve been working on an animation sequence involving the symbolic city of gears. This was probably one of the first uninterrupted studio sessions I’ve had in a while. There always seems to be something else to take care of. I took full advantage of the open schedule and have been producing frames rapidly pace since noon. After this short interlude for eating and typing, I’ll put in a few more hours before calling it quits. If I’m lucky I might get 10 frames done. (That equals less than 1 second of film) Each frame is almost exactly like the previous. The image depicts the metropolis rolling around in a gear like formation. The process involves two basic steps, a brief under drawing and a final rendering. This means that after I drawing the whole thing once, I actually have to go back a re-draw it all again. The short loop is going to take at least 200 frames to complete but I am just stubborn enough to enjoy the doing this kind of work.

In fact I more than enjoy the work and have become a bit obsessive about the films. It takes so long to draw a single idea that the ordeal is simultaneously meditative and exhilarating. The animation itself requires immense attention, single ideas remain prominent (almost static) for extended periods of time, yet I can barely think about anything else. I’ve come to this sort of slowed down thought process based around movements equaling 1/22 of a second while attempting to physically transcribe these movements as quickly as possible. Meanwhile my conscious attention remains focused on the gear, each building and how they are going to move in the next few 1/22ths of a second and where they need to be 2 or 8 seconds from now. Occasionally I flash to future scenes or other stories, though through necessity, I rein in those wandering thoughts and drive them  swiftly back to the gear. Sounds all fragmented and crazy, it feels like that a bit too, however when the damned thing starts breathing… well that’s something I can hardly wait to see.

FREE WEEKLY WEBCOMICS



Alternative Comics UPCOMING EXHIBITION! Ink Drawings/prints at URBAN SPACE

HEY APATHY! COMICS ONLINE

12 x 8 Foot INK DRAWING

will be included in upcoming exhibition

Urban Space 401 Richmond Nov 1/2010

To quote one of the great(est?) philosopher’s of recent times, “ GREAT GOOGILY MOOGILY!” I just started to relax following a long season of exhibitions and was preparing for a solid month of grants writing when out of nowhere I’ve got another show. Since February 2010 I have done 8 exhibitions including outdoor festival performances, comic book conventions and a simultaneous street performance and video installation at two locations during Toronto’s Nuit Blanche festival. That schedule worked out to be almost one show every month, all of which were convention style, meaning I had to transport all of my work, set up a portable gallery and tend the booth for two- four days. The Buskerfest was particularly exerting as it lasted for four 16 hour days in a row. Now that the busy season has past I was looking forward to some reclusive studio time and was glad to have the street gear in storage for the winter. Though as it turns out, not for very long.

At this time of the year the aspiring artist is generally chained to his/her computer conjuring proposals and budgets for the upcoming grant deadlines. My first submission is due on the 9th of Nov. followed by a few more applications due at the beginning of Dec. There for I had set in my mind to focus exclusively on these essays and forms over the next few days. The time so far has been divided between a lot of brainstorming, (though I know exactly what I intend to develop artistically at this stage it is more important that I cater the phraseology of said project to best suit each of my requests for funding and the councils reviewing those requests) and some preparatory paper work. I’ve had to make no small amount of inquires in order to ensure I create a proper budget and resume. I am still trying to get some answers out of the Toronto Arts Council, which is basically the only thing holding back the process right now. Tomorrow I’ll start the writings, likely between 6-9 pages worth depending on how much the conceptual approach differs from grant to grant. For example an animation might be more appealing to one council as a narrative film for festivals while another would prefer that same project to be called a media installation and shown in a gallery. Nuclear or Nuculear is still nothing but trouble.

As my obviously fragmented and slatternly expressions in the above block of text might suggest, the grants writing process is rather consuming and requires both extensive amounts of time and concentration. So just as I’ve initiated the rewiring of daily mental faculties and physical tendencies from creative production and performance towards academic and bureaucratic nightmares, I get an invitation to do a show, this coming Monday. While this has thrown me for a bit of a loop and surprise, especially considering the inexplicably short notice, the experience has proven improbably timely despite might current workload. Although I have to dig back into my storage unit and prepare another instant exhibition, this one will be in a public gallery space and this sudden connection has actually assisted me in the granting process.

One of the pending bureaucratic nightmares involved in the grant submissions is the inclusion of an authorized note of exhibition. The Councils expect the artist to have a gallery or space booked for the completion of the proposed project ( which ironically can not exist yet according to most grant regulations). This letter of confirmation has always been a struggle for me because I am a completely independent force with no gallery or representative to vouch for me and almost all of my shows are juried/ booked in the early spring. This means that there is no way for me to know if I’ll be accepted or to obtain the necessary letters until late spring when the results of the applications are released. Amazingly enough my meeting today about the upcoming show also resulted in a booking for next fall and subsequently the important letter of confirmation that I so desperately required.

Not unlike the unusually circumstantial obtainment of an exhibition space at a time when such an acquisition was vital, so to was the oddity of how the situation came about. A few months back I left a giant shared office studio located at Richmond and Spadina, just beside 401 Richmond (a giant Art Complex here in Toronto) in order to focus my studies on animation. Since I’d no plans of producing any original artworks this year ( and quite possibly ever again) in favour of small computer based cartoons and comic strips, I had no use for the grand studio and retreated to a home set up using the money that would have paid for the rental space to upgrade my animators electronics. I had some concerns about the relinquishing the commercial space but it has been one of the best moves I ever made.


 Shortly after leaving the studio I received a call from Urban Space, a major gallery located in the 401 Richmond Street complex. The gallery asked me if I could do a live performance at the main entrance of 401during this past October’s Nuit Blanche festival. Due to logistical reasons  (I RALLY WANTED TO WORK QUEEN STREET) I offered them my animations to project on the exterior of the building instead and the installation turned into a great success. So almost instantly upon my exodus from the shared studio which overlooked the professional building, I had moved into a bigger institution. Mind you that move was primarily symbolic as it was really just my projections that were being featured for a single night, but that night looks better on my resume (and in person) than 5 years of dealing with passively aggressive Machiavellians posing as young artists and studio mates.

The Nuit Blanche projections ran simultaneous with a live painting performance I did independently under a tent gallery on Queen Street West. These two events marked the end of my exhibition season and resulted in the slight moment of relaxation I mentioned at the beginning of this entry. Coincidently my symbolic entry into the 401 Richmond Street Building lasted for about as long as my rest period as I received yet another invitation by the Urban Space gallery, only this time it was to book two exhibits inside the gallery and (GASP) get paid for it. Earlier this afternoon I went down to gallery to see the space and confirm the exhibitions. I’ll be hanging some work in a group show this weekend and will have the entire space to myself in the fall. Pretty cool.

I think I may wait until tomorrow to discuss the group show, it only has three artist including me, and is going to awesome as well as an honour. I will however give a little credit were it is due and close this off explaining how these absurdist developments came about so suddenly. I got an email yesterday from a long time patron/collector Max Allen and though I’d no idea where or what the show was going to be I know Max’s style and was certain the exhibit would be intelligent, provoking and important regardless of any commercial viabilities and my tight schedule these days. It turns out that Max, already the founder and curator of the Textile Museum of Canada, radio producer and long time art collector just became a managing curator for the Urban Space Gallery at 401 Richmond. As one of his first duties in the new position, Max procured a showing of art about cities, in particular a comparison of physical and financial provocations regarding New Orleans, Detroit and Toronto and just like that my symbolic entry into one of Toronto’s most respected Art’s building transformed from a symbolic one to fully developed physical working relationship.

In delusion, er conclusion, I touched on a number of small topics here that require further explanation but have pretty much covered the basic sequence of events which occurred between Oct 2- 26 which have resulted in my first gallery showing in over two years and more importantly I am rambling out many, many words these days just to flex my essay-writing muscles which are going to be put to the test during the next few weeks. more at http://www.heyapathy.com/

ALTERNATIVE COMICS ONLINE

HEY APATHY! Alternative Webcomics

A short comic following the dissolution and near instant replacement of an alcoholic hobo. Part of PHASE 1 The Replacements in which a series of unrelated peoples of varied societal positions are secretly and systematically replaced. New pages every Friday ( a little late posting here but I’m always on time over at heyapathy.com.

Haven’t been posting much stuff online lately kind of busy with some commissioned work and alas, it’s grant writing season again. That means I’ve got to hover over the keyboard excessively for hours of essay writings. I admit I enjoy the process when it goes smoothly, but me and words don’t always get along. Sometimes writing becomes a telepathic battle between what I’m trying to say and run on sentences, misused-nouns, the-the and other backwards, mixed up, and perverse ,misuses of grammar. Nightmares of a giant type face V or W threatens to stake it’s pointed extremities through me while I sleep. However I’ve no choice now but to dig in and give it it (just kidding) my best shot.

ALTERNATIVE COMICS Return of the Hero...

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics

After an annihilating battle with corporate masters and an endless barrage of billboard advertisements, the hero was left a mere skeletally deformed weak malformation. However having been reduced to a shamble zombie deprived of his identity and possessions the little decimated hero did not lose himself completely. Lying in an intoxicated stupor in a damp and dark alley the man started to dream. In his dreams he remembered his hopes and triumphs. Not the triumphs that he was celebrated for but an unexplainable sort of light. The trees grew in those dreams and so did the minds of the children and all things seemed free and energized as in the days of his former glory. Awaken by a siren the hero found his haziness cleared and stood up from the ground with an entirely new hope. Beside him lay some disregarded riot gear, an old police helmet and armour abandoned by a squad a few days back. The acidity of the rain and the alley itself, tinted the equipment and altered the colouring. As his flesh had yet to regenerate after the long court room conflicts he decided to protect himself with these strangely unique objects. Now in his weird new protective gear he could continue his fight without fearing publicity. He was burnt, scarred and hideously ugly but never so ready to enter the war for humanity…

more at http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

ALTERNATIVE COMICS in Toronto Magazine

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics in Toronto Magazine

I received a copy of the latest Dandyhorse Magazine today from contributing author and editor in chief Tammy Thorne. I've done some illustrations for the magazine in the past and was interviewed by Tammy this past winter. The article was published in this new spring issue along with a new illustration based on the primary themes the periodical references. Dandy horse is a cyclist and bike oriented fare which discusses personal, political and all issues concerning bicycles and their positive impact on our urban center and the environment in general. The articles look also at various social issues with an enticing a activist ideology. For this particular publication the major thematic hypothesis revolved around different interpretations of the term “social justice”.

HEY APATHY! Social Justice Superhero

The article discusses my evolution and experiences as a street artist as well as some of my insights on the metamorphoses of Toronto. Not to many people ( actually absolutely no one) had the same unique vantage as I did on the streets to witness our big city get bigger. The article gets down to my interpretation of social justice which fittingly runs throughout all my stories and artwork. The basic idea is that the city is a giant gear but it is up to all the different individual character’s to make that gear spin. Basically a call and a warning for each of us to slow down and take note of the import of our actions on a day to day basis. Thanks Tammy for the awesome  article, I think you expressed my expressions without even the slightest of misinterpretations ( though I never actually graduated from O.C.A.D. which keeps popping up in all these articles, maybe they should just give me an honorary degree!).

I was proud to get involved ( and not just because of the interview) and created my own “social justice” hero with a bicycle for a head. Dawning a flowing cape and an insignia initialled S.J. this weird little superhero is ready to ride. The connections between cycling, the environment, mass transit and humanity are readily discussed through out the magazine. I found some really interesting information about Toronto’s new large scale environmental centre as well as an enlightened comparison between T.O.’s and Vancouver’s approach to subsidized housing. Anyways you’ll have to go out and buy one I’m not giving any more away.(Viva Capitolismo!)

Cover of Dandyhorse Magazine

In a similar fashion to the SPACING Magazine, in which another HEY APATHY! article was published earlier this year, I was extremely honoured to be part of a socially driven and political publication. It has always been my mission to create artworks of social significance which can be used as a means of discourse and potentially incite change. Neither Dandyhorse nor Spacing are driven by celebrity or known to be exploitatively fashionable. In fact both magazines are intellectually charged and designed to perpetuate dialogue and information of the utmost relevance to the learned Torontonian. Though I’m not one to turn away art or fashion press exposure, I am incomparably proud to be part of these more important magazines.

more at http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

ALTERNATIVE COMICS STREET ART CHRONOLOGY 2008

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics

I spent the fall and early winter of 2007 preparing for a large scale drawing installation. The show opened on the first of December and ran for an entire month at the Resistor Gallery on College Street, Toronto. The new years cold month were spent at the Kensington Market studio producing a series of 3 extended and extremely intricate pen and ink drawings. I returned to the street for my last full time season during the late May of 2008. In this my final year I had mastered my performances. I had overcome territorial battles, imitators, city by-laws and perfected my display. However despite conquering many of the streets obstacles there was one battle which could not be won. The 2008 street season proved to be one of the most gruelling of all as Toronto was swamped with unseasonably wet weather.

Last Street Drawing The Corner of Queen West & Soho

Though it was my practice to produce smaller detailed drawings during the week cumulating with weekend performance extravaganza’s the was not a single live painting produced on the streets in 08. The warm weather came late after a harsh and cold winter and was dampened by constant thunder storms and rain. In fact it actually rained every single Saturday and almost every Sunday for the entire spring and summer that year preventing all my public painting. The weekdays weren’t much better as I found myself perpetually closing up shop midday to avoid being drenched. Business was great when it was sunny but the clouds were relentless. A picturesque example of my street art that year is the image of me and two customers trapped under my umbrella waiting for the storm to pass so we can close the sale. I produced approximately 30 15 x 30 “ detailed pen and ink studies including my last street drawing depicting the landscape around me. Frustrated by the rainfall I found the season more contemplative than progressive and decidedly started illustrations regarding my evolutionary course. The diptychs explored comparative imagery of similar landscapes drawn in my initial hieroglyphic style and my more modern comic book renderings respectively. There were not many crowds and nor live paintings in the streets and having done some final analysis’ I decided it was time to move on.

CITY OF GEARS from a far and from inside.

Fortunately and fatefully cosmic at the same time I as the streets were fading I received three invitations to work at gala events. I painted at a huge fundraiser at the Don Valley Brick Works and at a Queen West Gallery Event, followed by a commissioned clothing design for the Art Gallery of Ontario and a performance in the storefront window of Toronto’s Hudson’s Bay Company Store. All the cards were lining up for me to move on as I found my street art exhibits landing in the most unusual of places. While the outdoors grew less friendly and workable due to the poor weather, many new doors were opening up and welcoming me inside.

The City Fish! HEY APATHY ink drawings 2008

I had expended much energy trying to work around the awful weather and found that my time was more fully consumed by this irritation than by the act of creation. I stopped working the streets in Sept of 08 though the transition was as natural as necessary as I’d already spent the better part of the season indoors. Feeling satisfied with my investigations I resided to start focussing on certain more detailed and sustained projects which could not be made in the streets. Not only did the rain dictate the amount of work being made but so to did the wind, dirt, and bird droppings which often plagued the streets. The life span of an illustration board being worked on in public is approximately three days. After this time the dust and moisture begins to take it’s toll. The tree I depended on for shade and shelter from the elements also had a tendency of releasing particles of sap across my papers. Therefore any drawing had to be completed quit quickly so as to be wrapped protectively under plastic before the streets ruined the piece. This meant no sustained artworks and absolutely no comics for such projects require pristine environments for production.The rain also played a huge part in determining the work for if the skies looked threatening I had to work on a small scale. No brushes or wet inks could be used on such days and as a result I worked exclusively with technical pens through out 2008.

THE CITY MONSTER!

 

In the fall I resigned and retired from my full time venture in the streets and decided to pursue the development of the HEY APATHY! comics. Having learned many things about architecture and others I set up my studio to start my surreal memoirs. The new comic book series would be a simultaneous exploration of my true life experiences and the mythological illustrations I created on the streets. The goal being to share my experiences of strange interactions with my sociological symbolic superhero drawings. Even though I was now well researched and certain that I’d learnt all I could from the public venue, I knew that I would miss the constant exchange of ideas so I started to plan ahead. Instead of working the streets I started booking a number of public festivals ensuring that I would perform at least once a month throughout the following year. Today I am still working at numerous festivals while simultaneously maintaining a ridged studio schedule. The result has been more comics and animations but no of the stories could have possibly sprouted with out the 5 years worth of investigative interventions which I performed in the streets.

more at http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

ALTERNATIVE COMICS AT TORONTO COMICCON

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics at Toronto Comic Con!

 

It has been over a week since I last found time to scribe my ridiculous notions in this little journal. Fortunately the lapse was not the result of any fit of malaise nor the result of any injury but rather induced by an excited distraction. I spent the better part of last week. the entire weekend and then some working on two simultaneous exhibitions. Having unintentionally double booked showings this past Sat.- Sun. my father and I split the chores and attended separate shows. He took the fine art up to Ottawa while I attended the Toronto Comic Con Fan Appreciation event at the Metro Toronto Convention center. 

 

The comic festival was awesome and I met hundreds of people while performing a 4 x 8 foot live ink drawing (shown above). It was really fun to share my alternative comics philosophies in a venues primarily dominated by the mainstream. The live painting was highly regarded especially by the younger audiences as I made a bunch of new short friends who kept coming back to check my progress. The painting featured a giant city of gears propelled by a whirlwind of all sorts of crazy people. Like all of my performances, the drawing was heavily influenced by the surroundings and the city was transformed into a monstrous mecha-creature. But do not fret for the skies are quickly filling with various super-heroes soaring towards the beast and ready to save the day! The entire drawing took two days to complete and was done simultaneous with constant story-telling and discussions making the experience one I'll never forget.

The second day of the show was particularly busy as a result of the incredible Fan Appreciation promotion. The Comic con charged a $10 admission fee but in return each person received a $10 voucher good at any of the comic book retail booths. I thought this was great especially in comparison to most conventions which cost over $20 just to get in. The place was packed right until closing and I was happy to see several old friends from Queen West as well as many, many new ones.  

Toronto Comic Con!

Me and Venus Cat getting ready for the weekend shows.

While I was working away at the Convention Centre my Dad was doing the same up in Ottawa at an Outdoor Exhibition. His show went really well and he had tonnes of stories. It was really wild to hear him talking about all the different people that he'd met. He sounded very much like I do when I've just finished a good show and I am really happy that the experience was as enlightening for him. Thanks for your help Dad way above and beyond anything I ever expected. We won the emerging artist award at the festival and my father managed to move a number of ink drawings as well as merchandise. 

visit www.heyapathy-comics-art.com

ALTERNATIVE COMICS routine atrocities...

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics.! If any of you have been following these journals you may already be familiar with the creepy research and developments of the sub-human, yet ultimately superior, breed of creatures known only as invisible. The strange monster people are of the most powerful intellect. Their abilities to process data and patterns have far exceeded even the most analytic of mathematicians. The most terrifying part of the whole business is that their studies involve human behaviour and the mapping, recording and planning of our routines. The process is beyond scientific as "the invisible" processes our experiences like a chemist processes  drugs. At any rate the members of this society have figured out life's patterns to such an extent as to understand our every move.

 Sometimes they even enter our homes unobserved. In fact they move so intuitively in-between our routines that they are capable of following you through you kitchen or bath with out ever being seen. Truth is they look just like ordinary people, yet through their extraordinary research they have moved beyond normal senses. It is no trick or illusion or fictional power, it is simply a sophisticated formula devised of repetitious movements and peripheral avoidance. Fortunately I have not figured out their intentioned but would prefer not to speculate. I know one of them is here now but no matter how quickly I turn they can predict ( although I believe the term inaccurately describes their prowess of deduction) a cannot catch a glimpse. The only thing that I am certain of is that they don't like to be discussed and that most anyone who has mentioned them soon thereafter disappears. Any ways on to another subje

ALTERNATIVE COMICS SURREAL SAMURAI CHARACTERS

HEY APATHY! ALTERNATIVE COMICS SURREAL SAMURAI

I've been unbelievably busy over the past ten days. The most exciting thing happening is the new animation, funded by the Ontario Arts Council, is moving along steadily. Every morning I start at the drafting table a put a few hours in on the cartoon before moving on to other processes. The animations are among the only artworks I make which do not give immediate satisfaction, however as time passes, the stack of drawings keeps growing and I know that before long the cartoon will be done.

The afternoons, corresponding with the early summer weather, have been used for research in which I carry some books and a sketchpad out to the park. I find this to be a productive and relaxing way to enjoy the hot afternoons. Then finally after dinner I do some work on the monster comics.

Superhero from BOOK ONE

Last night I did a few illustrations for my HEY APATHY! character description page. I want to add web pages for each of the characters in the comics but didn't really like using captured stills from the actual book so I started these playing card style drawings. Each of the characters will have their origin stories or backgrounds and some all new art. I like presenting the comics online because of the intricate layering of story telling techniques that can't be achieved in a publication such as hidden pages, thumbnails and appendixes, and of coarse moving pictures.

Surreal SAMURAI from BOOK TWO

So the plan for today is to repeat all those processes. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll have moved ever so slightly ahead on the animation, finished the rest of the character designs, and got some good reading in at the park... Visit http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

ALTERNATIVE COMICS Between Superheroes and the Underground

HEY APATHY! Subliminal Superheroes

The HEY APATHY! alternative comics are a concomitant amalgamation of both mainstream imagery and underground ideologies. The stories feature popular icons including superheroes, samurai, monsters, and robots, yet present the adventures in a metaphorical manner. In Book One a symbolically stereotypical tale of superheroes and robots is used as a vessel for an unusual fable. The superhuman rises in resistance to a mass technological hypnosis. The moment his individual actions are detected, he is attacked by three Giant Billboard Robots. Whilst retaining an engrossing pace and dealing with the fantasy worlds in a tradition comic book style, the story secretly questions the nature of commercial homogenization and the increasingly difficult task of being oneself. The goal of this alchemic concoction is a book that while suitable for young audiences, remains intellectually provocative to the learned reader. Plus it’s got some really cool pictures in it!  

more at http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

ALTERNATIVE COMICS Technological Manifestations and Superhuman-beings!

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics

The city is a giant gear propelled by the endless spiraling of it's strange and diverse citizens. Centrifugally fused around the Eyeball of Consciousness, all of our thoughts, actions and routines are correlated amidst this orchestral frenzy. Despite this underlying humanistic entity, a surface mass assimilation of mankind is taking place. The urban landscape nutures a technological annihilation. Upon the face of the architecture a diabolic personification of the mass-media manipulation formulates. The giant mechanized alien growth gains momentum as  feeds and controls the minds of all who fall within it's shockwaves. The terrifying Billboard Robotics spew out technological tentacles in a well financed, researched, planned and aggressive attempt to enslave the metropolitan crowds. The horror of the homogeny incites one small individual to action. The protagonist dawns a mask and a cape decorated with eyeballs and flies directly into combat with the enormous flickering eememy advertisements.

This 20 x 30 inch pen and ink illustration features three major symbols from the HEY APATHY! mythology. These signifiers are comprised of the Superhero, as hope, a Giant Billboard Robot, commercialized ideologies personified, and the eyeball of human thoughts and dreams. The entire landscape is spun around the Gear shaped buildings and is representative of man's struggles with both progress and humanity. The entire drawing took about 8 hours to complete and was made on location in the streets of downtown Toronto. more art and weird explainations at http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/