I am immortal...

Writing at the close of my 48th September and having just completed an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s THE MORTAL IMMORTAL, (and Somerset Maugham’s RAIN) means that the theme of Immortality (and by extension, Mortality) is in the air.

A few weeks ago I was asked to sit for photographer Gonzalo Puertas here in Madrid. Click HERE and check out what THIS guy can do!

I was having serious childhood flashbacks sitting in Gonzalo’s chair, to the days when Ed Tooks, my own photographer/father used to sit me under hot lights, and let me hang out in his darkroom. To this day I recall the smell of developer and hypo/fixer with nostalgia. “Photography is writing with light,” he would whisper, bathed in the glow of an infrared lamp. More musings about my pop, HERE.

Above, The Bronx, NY 1966... I was 3. I wish I had the photo I snapped of him while he was snapping this one of me.
Below, Laurelton, NY 1978... we took a few shots on a Sunday just to have something to work on that day. Tookses never rest on Sundays.
I developed this one myself.

Manhattan, 1980... behind my barely visible desk at Marvel Comics. Photo by Eliot R. Brown

Manhattan Loft, 1982... shooting an independent film with friends. Photo by Kevin J. Taylor. More Tales From the Old Movie Star's Home HERE.

Greenwich Village Rooftop, 1992... a momentary repast from rowing away in an animator's galley. Photo by Geoffrey Johnson

Madrid, Spain 2007... in a bar in Huertas among a talented group of expat writers. Photo by Jose Grillo

I'll leave the profound musings to Mary Shelley... and I'll take a moment to appreciate the many gifted "Light-Writers" that I've known and been inspired by.

And so are you.
Lance Tooks

Men @ Work...

Thanks to the city of Salobrena, Spain for including my work in a recent show of artists' impressions of Granada...

I'm currently adapting two grand British authors for an upcoming American comics anthology. Here are a couple of images "in progress" from my version of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's THE MORTAL IMMORTAL...


And these images come from my adaptation
of RAIN by W. Somerset Maugham.


The tales aren't finished yet but I'm having fun putting my spin on them. Hope the finished works pass muster... fear not, the original text will outlive us all!
Best, Lance Tooks

In Memorium...

Comics writer Harvey Pekar, creator of the classic AMERICAN SPLENDOR series, died a few days ago. I had the honor to have been involved in a couple of his final projects with editor Paul Buhle. THE BEATS is a graphic history of the Beat poets and here's Harvey's script for my brief contribution, "Jazz and Poetry." His slightly unorthodox way of working out a comics script was also detailed in the terrific film of his life, AMERICAN SPLENDOR.

From there, I gathered reference and illustrated the pages as follows...


Harvey and Paul were pleased with how the piece turned out, so they invited me to participate in their next project, STUDS TERKEL'S WORKING, a comics adaptation of the classic collection of interviews with working class people. Since the interviews were pretty straightforward oral histories, Paul and Harvey trusted me to adapt my three pieces directly from the original text. These projects were a great privilege to be involved with and would be an asset to any collector's library.

Order THE BEATS here...

Order STUDS TERKEL'S WORKING here...

I receive no royalties for either book but I imagine that Harvey's widow will.

Editor Paul Buhle on working with Harvey...

In addition, Harvey had a long gestating project about the history of Jazz that I'd recently become involved with... I provided him with illustrations from my own long gestating history of Jazz (What, doesn't EVERYBODY have one?) in hopes of getting the project sold somewhere down the line. Sad to say we'll never get to read Harvey's book... it would've been one to remember.

My Jazz sketches here...

Thanks, Harvey (and Paul) for the opportunity...
Lance Tooks

Tinta de verano...

...here's a bit of "summer ink", spilled on paper during another of my nocturnal sketchbook barcrawls across central Madrid. I've got a pair of literary adaptations to finish by September and a host of other projects on the burner. Hope your summer exceeds your dreams.





Lance Tooks

Return to Granada...

Off to Granada, Spain this weekend to present images from my Award Winning Graphic Novel, NARCISSA... I'll be doing interviews and panels, and if you're in the neighborhood, do stop by!




See you there,
Lance Tooks

Googled…

The good folks at Google have posted previews of three books from my NBM series, Lucifer’s Garden of Verses… in hopes that you might read them online and add them to your library. At least I’d like to think that's why they've done it!

Book 2, Darlin’ Niki

Book 3, The Student, or Nude Descending a Starcase… Headfirst

Book 4, Between the Devil and Miles Davis

Hope life’s treating you well,
Lance Tooks

A baaad Mutha (shut yo' mouth)...

MUTHAFUCKA was a comics anthology I edited and published in 1998, showcasing the work of various friends from the New York animation world and fellow alumni of the High School of Art and Design. It was inspired by the black films, art and music of the 1970s, and among the many short pieces was my GO GIRL story.

Gloria Hendrixxx, A.K.A. Go Girl, Agent of P.H.A.T. had been kickin' butt in my sketchbooks since the '80s, and her time had finally come. Cheryl Lynn over at Digital Femme did me the honor of reprinting the first story over at her site. The tale begins here...
(Click images to enlarge)

For the rest of the tale click HERE:

Perhaps she will come back someday to keep our country honest!
Sure wouldn't hurt!

Lance Tooks

Lance Romance?

If you judge by my comics, I suppose I came by the nickname honestly. I've always been a fan of romance comics and much of the work I've done to date falls into that category. Here's a piece from 1998.

Click HERE to read and weep...

Now here's a REAL golden oldie from the 1980 High School of Art and Design Yearbook... I couldn't even write an old fashioned boxing story for my cartooning major without gettin' all mushy. Some kids never grow up... (click to enlarge)

There's plenty more where that came from, so I'm gonna rest my case. Here's an image from my NBM Graphic Novel "LUCIFER'S GARDEN OF VERSES Volume 3: The Student (or Nude descending a Staircase... Head First)" Try sayin' that ten times fast...

Guilty as charged, your honor!

Happy Valentines Day!
Lance Tooks