On My Radar: The Alcoholic & High Yella Magic

– I <3 great minds

I am currently obsessed with two types of visuals – one is an upcoming graphic novel and the other is an independent weekly comic series found online.

Both works tie into identity and social acceptance.

Photos and details after the jump (the images are kind of huge).

The Alcoholic is writer Jonathan Ames‘ first graphic novel, in collaboration with seasoned artist Dean Haspiel.

“My name is Jonathan A. I’m an alcoholic,” the book begins. “I have a lot of problems. Not more than the average person, really, but I have a propensity for getting into trouble, especially when I’ve been drinking. This one night, I came out of a blackout and I was with this old, exceedingly tiny lade in a station wagon.”

You can attend a discussion about The Alcoholic lead by Jonathan Ames in the New York area on the following dates:

Wednesday, September 24—Brooklyn, NY
7:00 pm — Book Court 163 Court Street
Talk with Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel
(followed by a party somewhere)

Wednesday, October 15—New York, NY
7:00 pm — Barnes and Noble Tribeca 97 Warren St. (at Greenwich St.)
Talk/reading with Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel

Appearance info across the country is available on Ames’ website.

The Alcoholic will be available on October 7, 2008. You can pre-order The Alcoholic on the Random House website.

Jasika Nicole is an actress who also creates her own indie comic, High Yella Magic. She makes a living as an actor (check out the series premiere of Fringe on September 9 -  she portrays the character of Astrid Farnsworth), but likes to draw when she is bored.

Jasika Nicole almost signed with a publisher once, but decided to stay independent after the publisher wanted to change “a lot of things,” she said, “and I wasn’t ready for that.” “They were like, ‘You shouldn’t talk about this,’ or, ‘This should be your angle,’” she said. “It’s not about an angle. It’s about my experience.”

Check out the weekly edition of High Yella Magic on her blog, Sugar Booty. Her topics are very personal and she has inspired me to start my own comic. I am not sure yet what mine will be about. I need to go buy some pencils.

You can read an interview with Jasika Nicole on the MTV comic blog, The Splash Page.