Eben07

I went to the Cartoon Art Museum last Sunday before Day Three of Outside Lands in San Francisco. The museum is simply awesome – it is right up the street from the San Francisco MOMA and the presentation of the museum has a very “high art” feel. You walk in and you definitely feel like you’re going to be in for a treat and that a lot of work and care has gone into the acquisition of the collections.

Honestly, I’m obviously biased about the Monsters of Webcomics exhibit, but I didn’t make a bee-line for it. We wandered the halls of the museum for hours getting lost in old inkings of comic strips from Calvin & Hobbes to Dennis the Menace to Steve Canyon, assorted political cartoons, and incredible work of Nell Brinkley.

We then popped in for the Monster of Webcomics Exhibit – it is pretty freaking cool to see work by comics I’ve been reading over the past few years hanging in such an impressive museum. Perry Bible Fellowship, Girl Genius, and Achewood (just to name a few) all adorn the walls.

The virtual gallery hums quietly in between the Achewood and Girl Genius exhibits displaying a wide range of webcomic talent and it was a hugely humbling moment when this happened:

EBEN07 IS IN A MUSEUM! WOW!

It was simply awesome to see that particular comic first because that comic has been one of my favorites for a long while – and one of the first comics that really spoke to me, saying “we could really have a good comic on our hands.” and inspired me to get a lot more involved with the late night debriefing sessions that I didn’t get paid, let alone overtime for.

You can see the depicted full comic in our archives or in our For the Love of Russia book! (or go to the museum youself)

We had to sit there and wait for the Eben07 comics to start to show up, and while we did I snapped a few shots of some of our peers that showed up:

Marooned:

Xylia Tales:

Life’s A Witch

Saw SuperFogeys as well but, regrettably, I snapped a picture of the floor, and before I could get the right shot, it moved on, but I think Brock would be delighted to know it was the Cami comic (sorry, Brock, still getting used to the iPhone…)

At any rate, there are a lot of comics in that virtual gallery, so we had to be patient to earn that viewing of an Eben07 comic. There was a good art, bad art, exceptional writing, some WTF? moments, good laughs, painful eye-rolls,  but all in all simply a lot of fun – which I think is what the heart of webcomics in general. The Monsters of Webcomics exhibit really shows the diversity of the comic that inhabits the web, and how webcomics are becoming a more viable and important place for creative minds to create new and approachable art on all ends of the spectrum.

I’m hoping that as Eben07 turns two here soon (Sept. 7th!?) we’ll be able to raffle off some cool stuff, including a pair of tickets to the Cartoon Art Museum. Stay tuned!