[Image]
Artist: Undergrime
Musician: DJ Forrester
Title: Skinny Love

This is the new cover for the very cool 'Skinny Love' album coming straight from the hip, melancholy port city of Helsinki. Dj Forrester, a.k.a. Mathias 4* or Math (etc etc ad infinitum) has made a lovely mix that's perfect for wallowing in and countering the winter blues. When it's released we'll post a link, it's really worth a listen. It should be available in everyone's favourite Helsinki music store Stupido via the 'nyd' (Not yet dead) medium of cassete. I'm sure we can also sort out some kind of mail order too. As for the art work it's mixed media based on a side profile of the artist. It was made primarily from sketches and then photoshopped (Gimp'd actually). The individual elements were then filtered for colour and then cut or re-assembled. Interesting.

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[Image]
Artist: Kee
Title: Undergrime

Howdy howdy. This great image was made for us by the wonderful Kee (see link for the full grand scope) . Kee's work is influenced by her 'craziness, dark humor and passion' and has fortunately led her to setting up shop in a new studio in the illustration capital of East London: Shoreditch, where I'm sure she will be wonderfully productive! Jolly Good!

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Black Monkey.

When Blueberry was 25, she was indeed like a fresh and aromatic fruit. She got married. She gave birth soon after to a boy who was like a small tender flower.


When she was 35, people said she was the same as when she was 25. She was very glad. When she was 45 she began to feel strange. She looked like she was 25. Being out with her husband and son was as if being with her father and brother.


The doctors could not help her so she went to see a witch. The witch blew a handful of mimosa. They were like yellow fluffy balls, flowing in to the wind guiding her in a certain direction. She followed them to an open market.


The mimosa fell onto a clock stall. An old man was selling all kinds of curious clocks. He said to her, ‘choose a clock, and wind it up.’ She chose a monkey clock. While she was winding it up, she knew she was saved. Something in her began to tick again.

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[Short graphic story]
Artist: Xi
Title: Black Monkey

After countless unsuccessful and deflating runs of the 'rogue-like' ADOM (Ancient Domains of Mystery) I was in search of something comforting. My player, Palder, had been poisoned, defiled, drowned, starved and then finally sacrificed to a heathen god by a goblin and to be frank I was a little emotionally drained. Xi's work, whilst generally preoccupied with death and dark is here more pensive and more warming. Whilst not having the swagger of DC or Marvel, several of her independent comics are simply put charming.

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[Short graphic story]
Artist: Zac Gorman
Title: Zelda

I fucking love Zac Gorman and after a long dormancy for Undergrime, seeing another of his comics on Kotaku has given the online aspect of the project a small burst of energy.

The idea of animating a comic is not entirely new but for the world weary it breathes a certain amount of fresh air into the art form. We will try to pursue an interview but for the moment hold tight. More to come!

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Harvey Pekar was found dead, slumped on the floor between his bed and dresser shortly before 1am, Monday 12th. Despite a pending autopsy, the circumstances of his death have unofficially been linked to a series of cumulative and chronic conditions, widely documented in his work, namely: Asthma, Depression, High blood pressure and Prostate Cancer.

To someone outside of the event, "Death by natural causes", although tragic, seems an almost appropriate ending to the life of Pekar: a man who was considered by many in the American tradition as the epitome of an 'Everyman character'.

Synonymous with independent comics, despite being widely known and read, Pekar discussed the mundane and created the extraordinary. He reflected his experiences of prosaic, seemingly banal day to day events, and created a legacy through collaborative work that involved a significant proportion of the greatest comic book writers and artists of his (and our) generation.

I would have sorely liked to meet Pekar, although I imagine I wouldn't have got far past that severe look caricatured in so many photos and illustrations (A far cry from the wide grin of the young Pekar with biceps the size of cantaloupes). That said, many knew him well and saw him as a kind, welcoming, and wildly intelligent man. I highly recommend reading their tributes and scouring his work from the first published strips of the 1970's to 'The Pekar project' for greater insight into his numerous achievements but more significantly the man himself.