Hindsight

Just wanted to share a few highlights from Chelsea galleries I visited this past weekend:

Beth Cavener Stichter‘s incredible animal sculptures at Claire Oliver Gallery.

Matthew Cusick’s huge, intricate, beautiful, and slightly disturbing collages made out of old maps at Pavel Zoubok Gallery.

Shea Hembrey (known for his TED talk “How I Became 100 Artists”) – Dark Matters at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery.

Diana Al-Hadid‘s amazing dissolving sculptures at Marianne Boesky Gallery.

Trey Speegle’s clever riffs on paint-by-number at Benrimon Gallery.

The unadvertised show of Anselm Keifer’s GIGANTIC and powerful collage/assemblage landscapes made of metal, earth, burnt wood, and other unconventional materials, plus George Baselitz‘ giant humanoid sculptures,  at Gagosian Gallery (24th St location).

Kwang-Young Chun‘s large paintings and sculptures made entirely from triangular paper-wrapped packages at Hasted Kraeutler Gallery.

In my attempt to keep my write-up short and quick yesterday, I forgot to mention the amazing Alec Longstreth. I met this dude when we did a talk at CCS a few years ago, and I have to say that among the many super-nice people in the comics world, this guy might just be the nicest. And I don’t just say that because every time I see him he gives me comics and refuses to take my money (though that is certainly a concrete example).

Alec had a mega-beard last time I saw him, because way back in 2008 he pledged not to shave until his book Basewood was done. Well, it is now done, and he’s clean-shaven once more. Check out the story —  it’s quite good (though I always find the covers confusing, since he has this “Basewood is just a story in my ongoing magazine I call Phase 7” thing going on). But anyway, it’s a very humanistic, meticulously drawn story. With dragons.

Also, check out this cool poster by my friend Casey.

Coloring due today. Back to work!

This is an addendum to my lengthy review of the Square and Intuit GoPayment credit card processing apps. I have now used both apps and card readers under a heavy-use and, as it turns out, a poor-signal scenario. I processed over a hundred credit card sales on my phone at the NCTE annual convention last weekend, and here are the results.

In short: Intuit won, because Square choked on a weak signal.

I started out with Square, and the first two transactions worked fine, although they were a little slow because the exhibit hall was IN A BASEMENT (what were they thinking???). I had 1-2 bars of cell, and most of the time no 3G. So anyway, on the third transaction, the Square app froze at the receipt screen (wouldn’t allow any text input), and I had to cancel out the sale and do it on Intuit’s app. This happened again on the next transaction, and that was it for Square. In better signal conditions I expect Square works fine, but not in a basement. Intuit kept working like a champ, so Intuit got all my business last weekend.

Plus, as I mentioned, Intuit lets you set up item prices, so it does the math for you and generates an itemized receipt.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I have a bunch of trade shows going on this fall and winter, particularly NCTE‘s annual convention, and customers frequently ask if they can pay by credit card. I now have an iPhone, and one of the main reasons I got it was because I knew I could use it to take credit cards (via any of several apps.)

I only go to a few shows a year, so I ruled out most of the services which require an actual merchant account, as those involve a monthly fee*. The leading services with no monthly fee are Square and Intuit GoPayment. I decided to sign up for both of them, try them out for myself and compare the results.

Both services require personal info such as your birthdate, SSN/EIN, and bank account, so they can pay  you, and presumably also so they can run a credit check. GoPayment also called me to verify some information before they would complete processing on my first batch of transactions. Both services also have a weekly maximum, and this is a sore point in many of the negative reviews. Square will only release $1000 per week, and anything over that they hold for 30 days. Intuit does the same thing, but the limit is $1250. If you do a lot of large sales, you may want to go with a merchant account for this reason. If you’re like me and you have small sales that occasionally exceed those limits in aggregate, you can split them up between the two services, which is what I’m planning to do next month at NCTE.

The software:
I went to a small trade show last weekend where I used both services without the card-swiper hardware. I found that both apps performed very well. My customers were amused that we live in the future, and not at all squeamish about entering card info on my phone. I definitely captured at least a few sales that would have otherwise escaped.

Square starts up quickly and allows you to immediately punch in any amount for a charge, but it does not allow you to keep a list of individual products and prices, so if you sell multiple products like I do, you’ll have to do the math elsewhere — in your head, on a piece of paper or a calculator — and then enter the total. You can also enter any description you want for the transaction. The signature box is nice and big, which is important because it turns out to be a challenge signing with your finger.

GoPayments requires you to log in every time you start the app (even if you switch back and forth using the tray; though not when going in and out of standby mode while still in the app). This is annoying when you’re in a hurry. However, they DO allow you to create a product list, so tallying up a multi-item sale is much easier, AND the receipt it generates is itemized. This is a huge advantage for my purposes. If you want to charge an arbitrary amount, however, you need to add a new item, which is a bit of a pain.

Both services allow you to send a receipt by email or text message, and both keep a transaction history which you can refer back to.

This week I received the card-swiper hardware for both apps. Square’s hardware is a tiny white square. Intuit’s is a sort of half-circle. They both plug into the headphone jack. They both feel a little flimsy, partly because they’re small and light, partly because the jack allows them to rotate. Intuit’s has a little bar that catches on the phone and keeps it from rotating in one direction, but it still freely rotates in the other, so this doesn’t make much difference. Intuit also includes a potentially handy plastic case and a lanyard, so it might be harder to lose. Both readers worked well in initial tests. I did about half a dozen swipes using 3 different cards, and square only made me re-swipe once, while Intuit made me re-swipe twice on one card and once on another.  I will let you know how they hold up after I stress-test them at NCTE next month.

Bottom line, I think these are both great little services. If your primary use is selling a bunch of products with fixed prices, GoPayment is easier and gives an itemized receipt. If you are selling a service and want to easily charge arbitrary amounts and enter custom descriptions, Square is easier. I should also mention that Square’s support is basically email-only, while Intuit has phone support.

Since there’s no sign-up or monthly charge, there’s also no reason you can’t get them both and try them for yourself.

On a side note, I find that this technology fills me with glee. Perhaps it simply appeals to the greed and techno-lust which lurk in the twilight parts of my psyche, but I find myself excited to “play” with them more than any game on my phone. It’s a game where you make money! I just need to get more people to play 😉

(*Merchant account services have a lower percentage fee for processing each transaction; you can see which route makes more sense based on your monthly sales using this handy calculator.
GoPayment offers two pricing plans, one like Square and one like a merchant account.)

Gifts From the Gods, my soon-to-be-released mythology picture book with Lise Lunge Larsen, just received a starred review in today’s issue of Publisher’s Weekly. Sweet!

“Hinds incorporates graphic novel–style elements into his dynamic illustrations, including dialogue balloons and filmic perspectives. A treat for myth lovers and language lovers alike…“

(I wonder if “filmic” is a real word.)

You should be able to pre-order the book now from Amazon or (preferably) your favorite independent bookseller. It will not be in comic shops, as it is more like a picture book than a graphic novel.

Since I moved to NY, I haven’t been able to attend all the Actor’s Shakespeare Project shows like I used to (for past shows click here and scroll past the honeymoon stuff). However, I did manage to get to their current production of Antony and Cleopatra. It was in an actual theater, unlike many of their shows. I think ASP perhaps failed to overcome some of the problems of pacing and structure in this play, and it probably didn’t help in this case that they were using a small number of actors to play a large number of incidental characters on both sides of a war. It was a bit hard to follow at times. However, where this play really shines is in the depiction of the two title characters — and in particular the complex character of Cleopatra, which was played VERY effectively by Paula Plum. Also noteworthy was their “reenactment” of the naval battle of Actium.

The show is up for just a few more days, so hurry if you want to catch it.

Unfortunately for me this wasn’t a dress rehearsal, it was a regular performance, and they kept the lights very low, so basically (except for the first drawing which I did before the lights went down) these are all blind contour drawings. The thing about blind contours is that they can be pretty interesting, but are seldom flattering. So with apologies to the actors, here’s what I got.

The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books has given The Odyssey a starred review, bringing the total stars to four.  Four!

Also, The Odyssey has been selected for SLJ’s Battle of the Books. Wacky and awesome!

On Monday I went to see this fabulous show – Banana Bag & Bodice’s “Beowulf: 1000 Years of Baggage”. You can see the show on Vimeo, if you are so inclined, but I recommend seeing it live for the full effect. It’s funny and arty and clever, and the music is awesome.

I saw it at Joe’s pub. The place was packed, and quite dark, so I only got a few scribbly drawings, but here they are for your enjoyment.

The reviews are in from from pretty much all the major all the major review publications, and The Odyssey has been praised across the board — three starred reviews (Kirkus, Booklist, and The Horn Book), as well as an unexpected mention in The Wall Street Journal. You can see them all on my reviews page, along with recent interviews by Publishers Weekly and Graphic Novel Reporter.

🙂

I just saw ASP’s Othello. Unfortunately I missed the dress rehearsal for this show, so it was just a regular performance. Well, actually, it was a daytime performance primarily for local schools. It was kind of neat seeing Shakespeare with a bunch of high school students. I could sense their confusion at times, but for the most part they got into it. They were most audibly impressed by the fight scenes (very well-done) and the kissing scenes.

This is an emotionally powerful performance. Jason Bowen has the title role, and he starts off as a very mild and genteel Othello, but once Iago turns his mind to jealousy, his wrath is palpable. At the intermission the audience already knows Othello has fallen wholly into Iago’s trap, and it becomes almost an exercise in masochism to return for the second half and experience the tragic conclusion, wherein dread and pathos for Desdemona’s fate is amped up higher and higher before — well, if you haven’t already seen or read it I guess I shouldn’t spoil the ending, but it’s a Shakespearian tragedy.

The set design is interesting, but odd.  There’s a weirdly-shaped backdrop that has lines radiating out like cracks, not just across its surface, but out across the whole theater space (above the actors’ heads — see first two sketches). One of the kids sitting near me asked “what are those lines for?”, so at least somebody was paying attention. Most of the platforms are pointy triangles, and have more triangles cut out of them. I read it as a cracked-mirror metaphor, the whole performance being enacted in the cracked reflection of Othello’s broken love/trust. (Not bad, for what I’m sure is a tight budget for set design.)

As usual for ASP, the acting is excellent across the board. Ken Cheeseman does a great job with the juicy role of Iago, and I especially enjoyed Doug Lockwood as the inept Roderigo. It’s somewhat long, at almost 3 hours, and the parking is kind of tough around there. But the show is worth it. It only runs through this weekend, though, so hurry if you want to see it.