Supply: Hub Comics, Union Square, Somerville

One Friday afternoon recently, I stopped by Hub Comics in Somerville's Union Square. Jesse Farrell, whose been manager since the store opened in January of 2008, agreed to show me around.

Farrell was wearing a tie that day, and he said he always does.

Comic shops often have a reputation of being dingy boys' clubs...I wanted to buck that image. At the same time, I don't wear shoes.

We ended up talking a lot about his personal tastes in comics. He started out reading the Fantastic Four as a kid, but these days he's more loyal to particular writers and artists than any series; he mentioned Grant Morrison, who had a stint writing X-Men, as an example of someone who brings in a lot of different influences to keep the stories fresh.

The store had lots of toys and mainstream comics, but there was a shelf of books about comics and a large wall of non-superhero stuff.

How have mainstream comics been influenced by independents?

The fact that they're more character-oriented than plot-oriented.

He thinks that while the Watchmen has been influential, later attempts to capture the spirit of the series haven't been as successful.

The took the darkness and grittiness but they didn't get the depth.

Talk turned, almost inevitably, to the advent of the comic-book movies. Usually, Jesse prefers the comics they are drawn from.

Comics are a very intimate medium. You control the pace and the sort of voicing...Film is a more inclusive experiences...It's made to be viewed by more people at once.

I asked him what he reads when he picks a up a book. He said he doesn't read much genre fiction.

I guess I get enough fanciful stuff from comics. When I'm reading a comic, I'm using a lot of imagination to activate.

Demand: Sean and Bre, 5 July 2009, Harvard Square

Sean (the guy) and Bre (the girl) were into video games.

Have you ever dreamed in video game?

Bre: Old-school Zelda!...I had a nightmare about Link running after the mailman.

(It turns out this is not that old-school, since it's not in the 8-bit game, but a later one.)

Bre said her favorite game was Resident Evil. "I like a challenge when I get into a boss fight in a game," she explained.

What's a video game phenomenon you don't understand?

Bre: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball.

Supply: Landon Richmond, Part 2

[Continued from yesterday.]

I dropped by Landon’s spot again last week, and he seemed to be doing better; in April he had just broken up with a girlfriend. “I became a borderline alcoholic,” he said. But he found a new girlfriend who’s helping him with the business side of things, people are selling his stuff around town for him, and he’ll be part of a small group show in a couple of months put on by the Art Asylum Boston.

“We’re literally taking popular culture and applying it to popular culture,” he said, explaining the show was Star Wars themed. I expressed confusion. “Like Law and Order, but the jury is full of storm troopers,” he said, although this was just an example, not something someone had actually done. He was going to paint Han Solo pointing a gun at Luke Skywalker.

We talked again about the business side of art. “One of the things I’m dealing with is the concept of selling out,” he said. He was going through a catalog of his work recently with someone, and “the tone of my voice was the same as I’d use to ask what kind of car they want…I wonder, how is this going to affect the art I make?” he said. “I have yet to compromise my own integrity.”

(courtesy of Landon Richmond)

His life has changed a lot since he started selling his prints. When I met him in April, he had told me that selling his art had really changed his way of interacting with people: “When I first came out here, I was really socially awkward.” Now everything seemed to be going well, “but all the while, I’m looking back and wondering, ‘Is it legit?’…Sometimes it feels contrived.”

A customer looked at the prints arrayed on the sidewalk. “Come on, ask me a question!” Landon yelled.

(courtesy of Landon Richmond)

Supply: Landon Richmond, Part 1

I first ran into Landon Richmond in April, when he was selling his art prints at his spot on the west end of Newbury Street. He told me he had started selling his art about a year ago, when he decided to make a living off of it as best as possible. “I’m not fucking around,” he said.

He’s been painting awhile. “In kindergarten, I got in trouble because I drew a picture of Superman destroying the city,” he told me. After a difficult time in high school, he went to Berklee School of Music. “I went there just to be a rock star,” he recalled; he dropped out. Later, he tried journalism and art at Suffolk but never wanted to learn the skills they were trying to teach him. “They said ‘Stop resisting,’” he remembered. Eventually, he dropped out of there, too.

The prints he was selling that day – of his original paintings, selling for $10 a pop – were, in a word, dark. In one, a humanoid body with a rabbit head languishes on top of a pile of eggs, hypodermic needles stuck in his arms. A messy composition which is hard to decipher is captioned with a scrawl: “Batman decided to Become A Naked, Androgynous Red-eyed Mutant.” Another is labeled, “New Models on Sale”. The new models seem to be creatures with vulture heads and maggot bodies whose tails form a water-filled jar…with a dead goldfish. I could see the influences that Landon had already mentioned: Ralph Steadman (known for the cover of “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”) and the art of Pink Floyd’s movie “Another Brick in the Wall.”

I asked if he ever thought people just “didn’t get” his art, but he said that he doesn’t discriminate much between buyers. “I lost distinction between people – fat, old, young, rich, poor,” he said. “There’s a darkness in everyone’s life.” A little later, a customer was trying to decide between two prints, and Landon crouched down, earnestly counseling him: “Oh, you can’t choose? Which one speaks to you?”

He was working at a gym to make ends meet, but he hoped to some day open his own store. “I have a product and I need to sell it. I believe in it…A lot of artists’ downfall is that they paint and don’t care about the business.”

(courtesy of Landon Richmond)

As we sat there, a small group of twenty-somethings agreed to buy a stack of prints for a deal. Eventually, it came down to haggling over a t-shirt with a buff guy with spiked hair from California wearing a t-shirt with the kind of print Landon might have made himself. As they bargained over the price, the guy gently tried to talk Landon down, explaining how he was going to give Landon “exposure” in California in a tone of voice that suggested he knew how cheesy this might sound, but enjoying it anyway. Landon seemed to enjoy the back-and-forth, finally acquiescing: “You’re a dick, and I’ll take your 20,” he said cheerfully.

[Continued tomorrow.]

Demand: Steve and Erik, 3 July 2009, Newbury Street

Erik (right) and Steve (left) were hanging out on a stoop. Steve had just bought his trucker hat not long ago.

I haven't seen a trucker hat in awhile.

Steve: I'm bringin' 'em back!

Some friends walked up.

Steve: We're getting interviewed right now, 'cause we're important people!

I asked them what their favorite style decade was. Steve said the seventies, and Erik the thirties. I observed that he did not look very thirties, and he explained that today was a more casual day, but sometimes he can be seen in slacks, bow ties, and fedoras.

What's sexiest, robots, aliens, pirates, or elves?

Erik: Half the girls on Newbury Street look like elves, so probably elves.