É os gays de Lisboa!

After days of hiking up the steep streets of Lisbon, taking in stunning vistas, photographing pretty tiled buildings, esploring museums, and eating lots of pastries, I checked out the Lisbon nightlife. Or, tired to. Most bars even if they say will open at 10, don't really open until much, much later. My actual first attempt to a jazz bar then a gay bar was thwarted by my tired-ness in conjunction with the late opening times. The next night, Roberto and I did grab a drink at a great mixed crowd lounge, FBA (friends of Bario Alto), one of the few interesting places open before midnight.

Anf the next night, I checked out Trumps, a gay disco. It was almost empty at 1:30 AM, but then suddenly filled to the max with a line out the door, in time for the lip-sync show. I stumbled home and got up early the next day to meet Roberto for breakfast on my last full day in Lisbon.

Along the way, I observed many gays. Trumps, like the George in Dublin, was a bit of "all things to all gays" with all ages and types intermingling.
Local fashion nearly demanded you tuck your tight pants into your high footwear, and open your shirt up.

My favorite guys were the normal looking from the shoulders-up but very fat from shoulders-down dancing fool. He took center stage often and had a style similar to Rerun from What's Happening. Runner up was the scruffy petite fellow wearing the beret, oversized cardigan, bowtie and tight jeans. very "classic student of painting" look.

Utilizing Lisbon's transit

The next morning was sunny and cool, and my day of tourism with Roberto began with a busride out to Belem to see the monestary and cultural center. After soaking in the special exhibit (in which I delighted in seeing some Cindy Sherman photographs), we sat at the center's outdoor cafe looking out to the river, drinking coffee, sketching and talking. He then took me to a cafe well-known for yummy pastries. Rather, the only thing they served was one type of pastry. So good, their entire business thrives on it. We Metro'd our way to the site of the expo eating a traditional Portuguese late lunch, walking along the river, and taking care of a few errands roberto had to do. I ducked into an internet cafe and also the Pepe Jeans shop to take advantage of the sales (yes, I know I spelled "sale" incorrectly).

The next day we started by eating a pastry-filled breakfast, hiked up to Castelo Sao George and took in stunning views of the city, chatting and sketching along the way. The wild kitties living at the castle were at first fun and cute...but the more that amassed, the creepier it got. Later, we rode famous tram 28 as it winded a crazy path through narrow streets and steep hills. Fun!

I also began meticulously recording how much cash I was spending in my sketchbook. I am so used to not spending money (as I save up for these trips) that when it comes time to actually spend, I am weird about it. It's not that I don't want to spend it, I just need to know how much I am spending.

An icy start

It's literal AND figurative!

After tourism-ing pre-Angouleme for the past 2 years, I'd hoped to tourism after the show this year, as the weather would be nicer. Especially as I have so much vacation time to use up, I would be away for 3 weeks. But that was not to be, and once again I did the bulk of my tourism before the festival.

My journey began with a sad farewell to my dog Aggie at my folks' house and a chilly bus ride from NH to Boston. The highway cuts through some cliffs which form beautiful ice waterfalls (as the snow melts and freezes down the cliff face).

At the airport, I mused sadly in the big blank space you see. I always get very depressed when I travel. I will miss those close to me, and sitting in the terminal, I think of ways to cancel my trip or cut it short. But then when I land at my destination, I am transformed and excited to be there. Wheeeee!

I proceeded to Lisbon via Zurich, encountering some extreme examples of manhood: the annoying man in front of me on the plane who was demanding more space and a better seat from the flight attendants (there were none to be had) and the tiny, slim, excessively pretty, scruffy counter boy at the Zurich airport.

My comics friend Roberto met me in Lisbon (where he attended university) and showed me around. I was a little appalled by the "traditional" Portuguese dish of a hamburger floating in some goo with the consistency of sour cream. The church bells lost their charm as I was exhaustedly falling alseep. Fear not, their charm returned.

Proper gentleman

I sketched this in my book some time ago and hated it, despite my love for Austen-ian men. Then one day in Lisbon, Roberto and I were grabbing a quick dinner at a cafe and I became quite taken with the texture on the serving trays. Grabbing my fat blue Koh-i-noor pencil, I rubbed the texture onto the coat and hat the man is wearing in this drawing. I loved the effect and decided to ink a bit of it. Now, I am again thinking of writing and drawing a gay story circa 1805. Will definitely require some research though, if it is to do what I'd like it to.

Tomorrow I begin posting sketches from my trip proper. I bet you can't wait. Until then, check out my photos on Facebook from the amazing festival at Angouleme.

Pretentious Euro-tour 2010

Once again, on my merry way for a pretentious Euro-tour.

I am fortunate that:
1) I work at a place that gives a lot of vacation time;
2) I can sell books when I travel (therefore can afford to go).

This year, I am stopping in Lisbon for my first taste of "warm Europe" then on to France for a healthy dose of BD (comics). I will be posting sketches at some point, hopefully when I get to Lyon. In the meantime, go buy NATION X #2!!!

NOTE: the image here is a photo of my rare 1941 globe. You can see Europe's vastly different from today.

VINTAGE ART: Legion of Super-Heroes

After the outpouring of requests to see old artwork, I have decided to put you out of your misery—or add to it. Late 1979, I started reading random issues of Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, just prior to the series splitting into two books. I was so taken with it, I devoted some indoor recess time in the bitterly cold winter of 1980 to this 12"x 20" pencil and magic marker masterpiece. Bad layout, or latent homosexual tendancies surface as we see Ultra-Boy wacking Mon-El off, Sun Boy wacking himself off, Brainiac 5 wacking Superboy off. Nothing risque for the gals though...but they sure do look angry! Except Light Lass who has her eyes closed...blinking for the camera so to speak.
Flash forward to 1985, I was inspired to redraw the piece the week between Christmas and New Year's 1985. A bit better this time around, as I used marker and colored pencil. Overall better layout, and nice effect on the dead Legionnaires hovering above. The boys look package-y, but for that matter, so do the gals.

Last time to recraw the image was 1990, for the sake of monitoring my progress. Back to marker coloring, and I was picking and choosing my favorite look and feel of the characters. I chose Element Lad's 70s outfit, and Star Boy's deep V neck version of his uniform. Cosmic Boy playfully tilts his bum while all the gals have significantly been de-sluttified.

Maybe I will redraw this again in 2010.

Happy Holidays

From OMAC—One Man Army Corps (and me)!

I have a list of things to do quite long to prepare for upcoming events. Yet, I suddenly got inspired to color this drawing of OMAC I had done some time ago.

Perhaps not the most festive of holiday greetings, but there it is.