KING of RPGS- One of my favorite comics

Book 2 of one of my favorite American comicss has come out this month. King of RPGS by Jason Thompson published by Del Rey books.
Check out this review and preview.

It's a funny story about a role playing gamers in college.


Jason Thompson is a manga scholar and is the author of Manga the complete guide, so it makes sense that his handsome comic is very influenced by Japanese manga. It has the look and feel of a Japanese comic.
Please take a look at the website http://www.kingofrpgs.com/

If you are in SEattle or San Francisco, you can meet the author at a book release party. See the Above link for more information.

Japanese mom, Canadian kids, multicultural families



My friend from YouTube, a Japanese woman living in Canada, made this video for her children. It's a touching and funny and very sweet video message to her kids about her Japanese identity and how they might not fully understand why she is different.

I don't have kids (except for RAideen and Great Mazinga) but I think I can understand how she feels.

Everybody Dies Show update June 10th


My Book release and art gallery show in LA's Lebasse projects Chinatown
I have been framing all of the original art and getting ready for the show.

I just got a shipment of 30 boxes of a fancy new four color press print of the book too. My first printing was a very limited run that was made digitally (There are still a few copies left if you'd like a 1st print). The new book is longer (32 pages), with a proper title page and some end pages, it is also much sturdier with very vibrant colors.

I found out today that "Mama J" from the very handsome website MOmtalkonline made a nice review and shout out to my book. Thanks Mama J. Momtallkonlin is a site of forums and posts about mom related topics. I am not a mom, but I am still able to look at the site.

I'm hoping to get some more reviews in blogs and papers and such to correspond with my June 10th release, so if you know anybody who might be interested please let me know :-)
If you live in the California area, I hope to see you at the June 10th opening reception from 7-10pm (friday). I think we will also have a book signing on June 11th (7-10PM?)
Http://www.everybodydiesbook.com

Breakfast in Taiwan, Breakfast in Japan, Fu Hang Dou Jiang



During my last trip to Taipei, Taiwan, I visited Fu Hang Dou Jiang, a famous spot for traditional Taiwanese breakfast foods like Shao ping (Sow Ping).

I first tried to go on a Sunday morning, but the line was so long that I got scared and ran away. I came back on a weekday and there was nobody waiting.

It's very fun to watch them put the little bread friends into the barrel oven and then pull them out with tongs and toss them into a pile. I'm pretty sure anything cooked in a barrel must be delicious like whiskey, cognac, wine and pulled porks.

Fu-Hang Dou Jiang Dian 阜杭豆漿
Near Shandao Temple MRT (Exit 5)
Zhongxiao E. Rd. Sec. 1, No. 108, 2F
台北市中正區忠孝東路一段108號2樓之28(華山市場二樓)
(02) 2392-2175

I also had a super slime breakfast in Japan in this video. Natto(fermented soybean), shredded mountain potato (tororo), okra, raw egg, and tuna. If I could, I would have slime for breakfast every day.


Here are some other videos of eating in Taiwan.

Japanese band Layla Lane



My friend Hide is in the duo band called Layla Lane. The video above is of one of my favorite Layla Lane songs.

Hide is a Japanese guitarist and vocalist who came to America a few years ago to try to make a living as a musician.

Everybody told him that it was not possible, but a few years later his band signed with the major Japanese label Avex and his music is now in a Japanese Coca Cola commercial. His band has been playing in the US and Japan and has done many fundraisers for the tsunami like the one shown below where Takeo and I interview him.



Hide's goal is to inspire other Japanese youth to follow their dreams even if they might seem difficult to achieve. Hide is always setting goals. Sometimes he reaches them and sometimes he doesn't but he always keeps moving forward.

On his blog he recently told his readers that he wanted to go from 30,000 to 40,000 hits on the above music video by May 21st.
If you like the song, I hope you will pass the video on and help Hide achieve his goal.


You can read the blog entry here (Japanese only) http://www.laylalanemusic.com/ja/news/246.html

Everybody Dies Book Release and Gallery show in LA June 10th




This friday May 6th is the opening of my Phoenix art gallery show at Cade Gallery.
You can see some of the paintings here.


I am also getting ready for my first Los Angeles solo art gallery show at Lebasse projects in Chinatown. It's the Everybody Dies- A Children's Book for Grown Ups book release and gallery show. It will have an opening reception the evening of Friday, June 10th and run for 3 or 4 weeks.

I have been framing all the paintings. Each one is about 15 x 19 inches. I will have every page of the book including a few of the alternative paintings that didn't make it.

I will also have a new printed version of the book on sale with 32 full color pages. There are still a few of the first printing left if you'd like to get one at http://www.everybodydiesbook.com

If you haven't seen the book, you can hear me read the first half of the book aloud in the video below.

Muskrat's Howl to Prayer





Sometime in 1951, after a 6 day Snodgrass binge, Jacob the Muskrat wrote the poem he is best known for. The most famous passage is shown below


Muskrat Howl Part 1
by Jacob Muskrat

For Carl Muskrat

I saw the best muskrats of my generation destroyed by alligators, fleeing, hysterical, dragging their emaciated winter bodies through the Monte Negro wetlands at dawn, looking for an angry mix of reeds and grasses.
Furry headed rodents, pining for the safe warmth of their ancestral lodges, in the celestial still of icy winter,
who, shivering and bony sat on hindquarters nibbling on snodgrass in the alien calm of night,
and climbed high atop snow whited hills
sniffing frozen air and contemplating crickets,
Who pushed teeth to twig and paw to mud and head to ground under quarter moon and saw the angelic form of the Great Muskrat dancing on the Earthen roofs from lodge to lodge by starlight,
who pranced through Coyote Den and python nest wide eyed dreaming Siberia and Rodentine sonnets among the shadows of predator...

Redondo Beach Pier crabs and video games



Polo and I visited Redondo Beach Pier just south of Los Angeles and played some neato vintage video games like Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. Polo also shot some ghosts, but I kept trying to convince him that you can't shoot something that is dead.


After the games, we ate a few kinds of crab.



Nearby is also the tasty Japanese restaurant, Izakaya Bincho.


Here are some other videos with me and Polo for you to peruse.







Easter is a difficult time


Yes, Easter can be a difficult time for bunny rabbits, and it brings up all sorts of emotions. It is a time when rabbits come together with their extended families and nibble grasslets and flowers together in a banquet style.

But for rabbits with no family, Easter can be a time of great loneliness.

Jacob rabbit , pictured above in flowered grasslets, once had a family. A wife name Gerta and 7 dozen little rabbit pups.

Jacob first started chewing snodgrasses to relax after a hard day of parenting. At first it was just once in a while, then every week, and after a few months, Jacob couldn't go for an hour without a nibble at the snodgrass.

Soon Snodgrass was all he could think about. In the end, Jacob lost his wife, his puplets, and his burrow. Now, Jacob spends his first Easter at a halfway hole two miles south of his old burrow.

When you are having your supper tonight, please take a moment to think of Jacob and other rabbits like him.

For a story about a happier rabbit please watch these videos of Jacob the Happy rabbit. It's my first comic book (before http://www.everybodydiesbook.com) and I got help from James Jean, David Mack, and Paul Pope.








Demonic Meow にゃんにゃん魔王


I found this demonic Nyaa Nyaa demon cat friend hiding in larger painting that I had done. I think I was just playing with some acrylic paints on a big piece of paper. Then I put the piece of paper in a large pile with other forgotten pieces of paper.
I found him yesterday, and I noticed, hiding in that painting was this image of a Demonic Meow Meow Chan named
にゃんにゃん魔王 (Nyan Nyan Maoo) .

Nyan Nyan Maoo is a felinic demon king and lives in the cavernous regions of Klithillip, which is a just outside of hell. Some people cal lit a suburb of hell, but don't let Nyan Nyan or any other residents of Klithillip hear you say that. They take great pride in their sector, and believe that they exist separately from Hell.

Nyan Nyan welcomes bad cats, rabbits, and small chicken friends from all over the 7 worlds, and 6 Congluplates (Including Penleponesia). If you qualify, you may be lucky enough to meet him someday.

Methi Aloo, My friend Jacob the Fenugreek bunchle



One of my hobbies is going to the farmer's market and buying fruits, vegetables and other plant friends that I have never met before. A friendly Chinese man had this bunch of leaves for sale. I asked him what it was and he said it was called Me thi. I named this bunch of MEthi Jacob and I brought it home.

Online, I found out that Methi (also called Fenugreek) is popular in Indian food. I found a recipe for Methi Aloo ( a methi and potato curry) and so, I transformed a good portion of Jacob into this tasty curry.


I will name the curry Toby.

Ken Tanaka art show in Phoenix, Arizona May 6th 2011



I will be having a solo art show at Cade Gallery in Phoenix, AZ starting on May 6th (Friday). It will start with an opening reception on Friday May 6th from 7-10pm.

Today, the very nice men from the gallery came to Los Angeles to pick up my art work.

I made these two, very large size images of my robot friends Raidein and Great Mazinga. I'm not sure exactly how big these are, but their heads are about human head/Orangutan head sized sized.

Click here to see the work that will be in the show.
http://cadegallery.com/

722 N 4th St
Phoenix, AZ

M-Th 5pm-10pm
F-Sa 9pm-1am
Or by appt

Peaks and valleys, Planes and pterodactyls




One week, all I could paint was blue mountains and suns, and skies, and prehistoric bird friends, or post-prehistoric metal bird friends.

These first tow are collages with mountains, sun, and Ptero-pal cut out and assembled with strips of sky.


These are all part of my 1.5 millions views of Mt. Fuji series. I have a lot more to do before I reach my target of 1.5 million views. ONce I finish, I will move on to Mt. Kilimanjaro.



Letters From a Super Villian



According to a recent USA Now article, the recession, along with reduced metropolitan crime rates is making it very difficult for newly trained superheroes to find work. This year alone, over 2000 potential heroes graduated from super hero technical schools and four year colleges. According to 2010 statistics from the federal government, only 127 heroes were hired by municipalities nation wide, with another 300 estimated to have been hired for private contract work. That leaves approximately 1,600 newly graduated heroes without work.

This has led to rising concern that unemployed superheroes may be forced into less wholesome lines of work. This letter from The Red Phantom to his wife highlights just such a case.


In case you can't read it...here is the letter.

HI Diane,
I'm sorry I took so long to write, I guess I've been trying to put off the bad news, or stall hoping that things would get better.
I think I've been to interviews at 25 different city halls in the past month, and not a single offer. You should have seen the waiting rooms, filled with a dozen super heroes who looked just like me.

Anyway, I've finally found a job. Actually, it's an internship. I'll be working for the Midnight Assassin, as a sort of side kick in training. You probably haven't heard of him. He's a super vilian who mostly focuses on the Washington State Tri Cities of Kennewick, Richland and Pasco. Okay, I know he's not a super hero, and it's not exactly what I was looking for, but he just made it into Newsweek's list of 10 up and coming super villains. Right now, I feel like the name recognition is more important than which side he's on. Once I've interned under him for a year and made a name for myself, I can get a lot of media attention by switching over to the Super Hero side....then I'll probably have job offers coming out of my ears.

Starting Wednesday, I'll be moving into Midnight's loft in Spokane. It's a pretty nice place with hardwood floors and central heating, and he has the cutest Labrador/Poodle mix named NIgel. You'd love him.

I know that things haven't been going exactly as we'd planned. But, I promise you that I will provide for you and Toby. Please, don't give up on me. I love you so much. MIdnight says that you and Toby can stay here if you come to visit. Maybe you can get off work for a few days?
I think about you every night, baby.

Love forever,
The Red Phantom




This is in great contrast to a letter found just one year ago, written by now famed hero Atomic Atom.




It is frightening to imagine what our world would be like if heroes weren't present to help in situations like these shown below.


Batman- The Heartbreak



They had been together for a few years, but being with a super hero is never easy.

Is he off fighting crime? or is he with someone else?

When it got to be too much, she told Batman it was over.

Standing high above the skyscrapers of Gotham, Batman looked up towards the moon, and then down at the midnight streets below. The bat signal was shining bright, they needed him again,
but without her,
it all seemed so meaningless.



From DC Comic's Press Release
"Gotham's masked hero faces the ultimate existential villain. Is this the end of the Batman, or can his newly prescribed cocktail of anti-depressants get him out of bed in the morning?"

Find out in DC comic's new limited series Batman- The Heartbreak

Michael Robot and small tortoise friend.


Michael Robot is one of the only robot survivors of the Platnophian Wars which nearly destroyed all life on the tiny planet of Footha.

Hundreds of years ago, the native robot population of Footha invented a very simple model of human. The early experimental models were extremely large and cumbersome. These basic humans were able to solve simple mathematic equations, and could also tune instruments. In later versions, functioning legs and feet were added making the humans mobile and greatly increasing their potential.
Within 50 years, humans were in widespread use in factories and power plants. 100 years later, the first "human home model" was marketed by the Platnophian Corporation, and soon nearly every Robot on planet Footha had his own human. Robots no longer needed to waste time on mundane chores and menials tasks like cooking, cleaning, and Skeeter repair. It was the dawn of a new era.

200 years later, technology had advanced to the point that humans became self aware, autonomous beings, almost robot-like in nature. All over the planet, humans began to revolt against their masters and soon, large bands of freed humans roamed the streets.
What followed was decades of social turmoil as human's demanded robot rights from the reluctant robot master population. On Thiursap the 21st (Now known as Red Thiursap) humans all over Footha staged the first coordinated simultaneous attack on the robot population. Thus began the Platnophinan Wars.
After weeks of heavy fighting, and widespread robot casualties, the Platnophian corporation had no choice but to enact it's emergency contingency plan. 7 never before tested Hypolermanescent Phillipine Warheads were launched, targeting the areas most densely populated by humans.

The warheads contained a gas that was harmless to robots, but would wipe out the human population within moments. The launch was a success and the entire human population was finally eliminated, leaving only the robots and a dozen small tortoises.
Robots celebrated their victory, and vowed to never again let their own technology master them. But even as they raised their sylar cups in raucous celebration, tiny micro particles of Phillipine dust( a bi-product of the warhead's detonation) were falling down about their fragile robot bodies.
The Phillipine particulates clogged the robots vetrical ducts and stopped them dead in their tracks. The entire robot population stood still and silent as a willburrough. To the surviving tortoises, it must have looked as if time had stopped,

Michael Robot was a Misroboanthope, a hater of robot kind. Anti social, and unable to form connections with other robots, Michael was cast out of robot society. Using a falthine drill, Michael robot dug himself 2 miles into the crust of planet Footha, where he carved out a small nook for himself. He lived there in peace and robotic solitude, only rising to the surface to refill his Glokosoil stock every 120 years.
When Michael next rose to the surface, it was some 75 years after the Platnophinan war. The robot afterbodies still stood where they died that day, but the Phillipine dusts had long settled and sedimentized. The land once ruled by robots now crawled with bright green tortoises, thousands and thousands of tortoises.
Michael Robot found the tortoises much easier to get along with.
Soon he had assimilated into their culture and was treated as
one of them.




Michael Robot and Tortoise will be on display at Cade Gallery in Phoenix Arizona starting May 6th, 2011.