In which I rave about a comic-strip artist that I love

[MysticalChicken]

My favorite cartoonist is a local (Portland) comic-strip artist by the name of Mike Russell, who draws a non-fiction, Portland-life comic strip called CulturePulp.  (He also reviews movies at culturepulp.com)  Russell's art style is rather hard to describe, but the best I can do is this:  Imagine that you can draw a cartoon version of someone--not a caricature--that looks exactly like them, but cartoony, in less than 30 seconds, with hasty, flowing, shaky strokes.  It's really, really hard to describe--you'd have to see the strips yourself:

http://www.webcomicsnation.com/culturep ... pter=18275

Of course, like most cartoonists, his style gradually changes, so the new strips are more "flowing" and "shaky"-looking than the older ones.  (The more hastily-drawn they look, the more I love them.)  And I absolutely love--LOVE--his expressions.  He can draw everything from "nonchalant disinterest" to "utter rage" to "oh my god, how much coffee did you drink today?"

All of the strips are 100% non-fiction, and Russell incorporates himself into many of them (always holding his little notebook).  I love how everyone's legs culminate into tiny points.

My favorite strips, in chronological order:

"'Outfoxed' reports; you decide"
"The Looniness of the Long-Distance Runner"
"The Snarky Horror Picture Show" (I love panels 4, 5, 6, and 7)
"Lean Into the Future!" (I adore Panel 10 so, so, so much)
"Storm's 7 Deadly Sins" (more to the fact that I'm a huge Storm Large fan)
"The Year in Hastily Drawn Pictures"
"HistoryPulp!"
"Mr Do and Mr Don't at the Portland International Film Festival" (I love all  the Mr Do and Mr Don't strips, so every time you come across one, you can safely assume that I like it)
"Daria."
"How to Feed a Penguin" (possibly my most favorite strip ever)
"35 Years of CulturePulp" (I made the Crazy Chainsaw Monkey into a LiveJournal icon)
"Great Balls of Glass" (love panel 10)
"Ravioli Day" (I love how he's kneading the dough as if he has a personal vendetta against it)
"Deleted Scenes of 2005" (I love the Daria panel and the kid who "addresses every VW bug by name at the 99W drive-in.")
"Postcards from Park City"
"Running Back to Portland Fit" (I love the "Montages of Neglect")
"Broken Lizard, Interrupted"
"Fascist Monsters of Filmland"
"Radio Relativity"
"The Faerieworlds Taxonomy"

If Mike Russell were to ever compile all his CulturePulp comic strips into a book, I would totally buy it.

[rlrose328]

Interesting... I'm close to Portland but I've never heard of this artist!  Glad to see a local!  thanks for the post!

[MysticalChicken]

I'd like to meet him someday.