Sneak Preview of Blaise Larmee's New Book, "Nudes"

Whether it's in his boundary-breaking webcomic 2001, his gorgeous, ephemeral debut graphic novel Young Lions, his near-punk truth-to-power blogging, his concept-heavy zines, or even the work he publishes via Gaze Books, Blaise projects the kind of provocative spirit comics could use a lot more of. In an artistic community that's more closely knit and self-involved than ever, Blaise may be most notorious for his detachment: the comics he's most interested in are his own and those made by his friends. It says something about how committed to its own orthodoxy comics is that Blaise's statement that he prefers his own drawings to those of Jack Kirby is at all surprising; but then, it can take a unique viewpoint to point up just how unique a place comics is. It's something Blaise seemingly can't help but do with every project he turns his efforts to.