And done (if it's not clear btw, this is a crop, because this cover art isn't actually supposed to be revealed till 4-5 months from now and I'm a big tease that way).

Good day today. Managed to get a bit of inking done, spent time with the wife and kid, and even ventured out to the Moody Center for the Arts where there was an event attended by more people. People! Getting together! In Public! With proper social distancing measures in place and all, but it was so refreshing to be in a space with so many people (I mean, not more than 20, but still!), both familiar and strange.

Forgot how nice it is to speak and make eye contact with strangers.

Cooked up some salmon for dinner, marinated in ginger, sesame oil, and fake soy (coconut aminos), and asparagus roasted to a delicious crisp, with a side of quinoa. Haven't had time to properly cook for quite some time now, and it's always therapeutic to cook, and of utmost satisfaction when it all turns out so perfectly.

Not working tomorrow, but a big day ahead nonetheless; serious house cleanup, important zoom call, and our first dinner party in a year!

Almost midnight and still quite a bit of work on my plate, but I embark on it with joy.

#Journal #Work #Comix #TheSolarGrid

Mostly finished with “background pattern” on this one. Will need to move in with heavier blacks but only after I ink all the foreground characters.

Hoping to wrap it up by tonight and maaaaybe squeeze in my [far from weekly anymore] newsletter.

Overreaching? Probably.

#Work #Comix #TheSolarGrid

Still at it. Thank goodness for podcasts.

Speaking of, a few good ones I've listed to: – The Zen of Sci-fi — Imaginary Worlds – The Truth About Lost Cities — Our Opinions Are Correct – Robert Kirkman! — Robservations

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Why do I do this to myself?

BECAUSE IT'S GONNA LOOK DOPE, THAT'S WHY!

Cover art for the print edition of THE SOLAR GRID #5 underway. Excited for how it's turning out.

Second dose acquired today though, so maybe noooot the best day to decide to indulge in drawing intricate patterns. Feeling fine, mind you. Arm is a little sore is all, and possibly burning on the inside.

I think I will sleep now.

#Journal #Work #Comix #TheSolarGrid

Just finished what may be may favorite THE SOLAR GRID cover-art to date and feeling:

Wake up every morning to the sound of baby and—as cute and lovable as he is—would love to know what its like to wake up to birdsong again. Doubt this would be much of an issue to people who are used to waking up to alarm clocks (which I'm discovering is a lot of people!), I've hardly ever fucked with alarm clocks tbh, so this is all very new to me.

One more cover to do next week before returning to interiors on the chapter at hand (Ch.6 for digital editions but Ch.7 for print. Confusing I know, but had to do some restructuring for print editions).

#Journal #Work #Comix #TheSolarGrid

I remember when BREAKING BAD first came out, and I was thoroughly taken by its opening flash-forward scenes; starting with a dramatic scene and then having the entire episode show us how things got there. What a captivating way at going about episodic storytelling, I thought. Incredibly creative and original.

So you can imagine my surprise when I finally got around to reading Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's FANTASTIC FOUR run from the 60's and saw that they did the exact same thing! In the 60's!!

Way ahead of their time (well, mostly Kirby really) in more ways than one. It is to my knowledge the first instance I'd seen of that method to storytelling ever being employed (but if someone knows of earlier examples, by all means please correct me).

In other news, THE SOLAR GRID #1 was released yesterday (first time in print!). Elliot Colla (author of BAGHDAD CENTRAL and WE ARE ALL THINGS) had this to say about it:

“THE SOLAR GRID is a mind-blowing read. Imagine if Grant Morrison & Frank Miller & Kim Stanley Robinson had a lovechild who'd seen the Apocalypse & picked up a pen: that's Ganzeer in this beautiful series.”

I have nothing to say to that other than blush and shrivel in my seat. My copies don't arrive till next week, but pictured above is a galley sitting among a few other comics in my possession. The sight of which makes me very happy.

#Journal #Work #TheSolarGrid

How is this one single chapter? What on Earth was I thinking?

Good thing the Radix Media crew (most notably Meher and Sarah) have helped me figure out how to slyly split it into two and make it work.

Re-editing Chapter 4 of THE SOLAR GRID as we speak, so that it becomes Chapter 4 and 5. And what was Chapter 5 before will now be Chapter 6, making the entire thing ten chapters in total instead of nine.

This is good. At 88 pages, Chapter 4 did run a little too long, effectively constituting its own graphic novella. One hickup though: James Harvey's awesome backmatter for [what was] Ch. 4 will now be the backmatter for Ch. 5, which means I need to figure out who to invite to provide backmatter for 4. 🤪

#Work #TheSolarGrid

Updated website with two new pieces commissioned by the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. Check'em out.

They're part of my IMMIGRANT BLUES series, autobiographical mixed-media works on paper, something I started in 2019 and will likely continue for the foreseeable future (alongside my other very non diaristic works).

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Finally got my copy of Amy Austin Holmes' handsome looking COUPS AND REVOLUTIONS, for which a photograph of one of my works from Cairo circa 2011 was used. I also had the pleasure of consulting on the type treatment and overall design of the dust jacket, which the team at Oxford University Press handled superbly.

Looking forward to sinking my teeth into this one together with Elizabeth Nugent's AFTER REPRESSION, which I've been slow-reading, contemplating, and digesting.

As I often discuss with my peers (10 years after the, ahem, inciting incident), fervor alone is not enough. It's high time we educated ourselves, which backed with our experience(s) should serve us well if we're ever to move past the place of melancholy and defeat.

Things to look forward to.

(The piece of street-art featured on the cover, by the way, is one of the works I'll be discussing in WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?, a live discussion with Bassem Yousri and Lara Baladi on March 27 at 3pm EST)

#work #reads

Egyptian Streets recorded a podcast with me a while back, which just went live yesterday. Give it a listen if you don't mind a ton of “umms” and the way I click my tongue.

This coming Saturday, ArteEast is hosting a virtual discussion on Zoom between Bassem Yousri and myself, moderated by Lara Baladi.

Should be fun!

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