WHAT IS MEDITATION? in Brazil!

I am happy and honoured to say that Newton Rocha Nitro, "nerd culture blogger" and teacher extraordinaire, has reviewed the WHAT IS MEDITATION? graphic novel online from Brazil!

WHAT IS MEDITATION? reviewed in Brazil by Newton Rocha Nitro!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl0HFNlDYXz/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link 

INFLUENCES FROM OUTSIDE COMICS

I grew up reading The New Yorker cartoons... many of them, including those enigmatic ones by Saul Steinberg, William Steig and Gahan Wilson intrigued me, puzzled me and ultimately were very influential.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4PKZhdx_MY

Also a big influence on my approach has been British illustrator Quentin Blake--who illustrated all the Roald Dahl children's books--which also hugely affected my mentality! I didn't really take into account how much Quentin Blake's sketchy and loose yet vital, imaginatively charged line provided a model to me until I was recently looking at my completed MEDITATION graphic novel, trying to figure out why it is that my drawing style looks so different from the norms of most other North American comics--but still looks within the acceptable norms of illustration to me (if no-one else.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZJm6QXSOP4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EE9q1lygpM

Shout Out from Chester Brown re: Meditation!

Chester Brown, renowned cartoonist has a few kind words to say about the WHAT IS MEDITATION? graphic novel... thanks heartily Chester!  Below is an excerpt from his blog... click the link for the full story!

Matthew showed up and we had lunch and he told all about how much he’s enjoying being a father. (He’s been a dad for less than two months now.) 

He’s also got a new graphic-novel out about meditation:

I enjoyed it and wrote the introduction. It’s in large part a tribute to his spiritual teachers, Ed Muzika and Fred Prack. I’ve been hearing about those guys from Matthew for a while, so it’s nice to have a comprehensive introduction to their ideas. And the cartooning is great — rubbery and loose.

I’m not sure that I was the perfect guy to write the introduction since I don’t meditate. My “spiritual practice” is mostly centred around Byron Katie’s “Work”. She calls it a form of meditation, but that doesn't seem accurate to me. Katie’s Work is a method of analyzing one’s thoughts so that one gains some distance from them and, ultimately, stops identifying with them. From my understanding of meditation, the goal is similar, but the method of achieving the goal is quite different. 

https://www.patreon.com/posts/mary-wept-over-4-19877438?utm_medium=post_notification_email&utm_source=post_link&utm_campaign=patron_engagement&token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWRpc19rZXkiOiJpbnN0YW50LWFjY2VzczoyZjE3YWM0Ny1iMjdkLTQ5MDQtYjE1YS02NWQ3YTA1MWQ1YWMifQ.XNtNEE8b07MsC1dlcaLUa-SyKih3ih5GaUWbp0UELsQ