At Atomic Books in Baltimore, I picked up Spark Generators II, which is a benefit for the Cartoon Art Museum, which I stupidly did not go to when I was in San Francisco because I didn’t think about it.
The Spark Generators series has comic creators drawing and writing about the creators who’ve inspired them. Some are obvious — several people cite Charles Schulz and Georges Remi’s Tin Tin. Some focus on just one particular artist while others focus on a half-dozen or more.
My favorite from the book is, without a doubt, Lark Pien‘s. She incorporates everyone from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Richard Scarry to Sanrio to James Marshall and Arnold Lobel to Hellboy and the X-Men into a story about ordering and eating pizza. Your mileage may vary, but the story for me was like reliving very large parts of my childhood. I don’t draw comics, but I think I do share a lot of influences with Pien.
There is the original Spark Generators which I now need to buy. With any luck, there will be a Spark Generators III.
