deuce-love by jimmy marble

History of Johns: Entry 11: John McEnroe

2011-04-04T18:11:00.000-07:00

John McEnroe was angry. Again.

The Zurich summer sun was scorching the city by the lake as he tipped his inept cab driver from the curb. "I'm only tipping you," he spit out, "Because you're an idiot. And you need help." He let the marks fall onto the passenger-side floor, right where it would be most difficult to reach, and picked up his enormous bag full of trophies from the sidewalk. "Unbelievable," he muttered under his breath as the cab tore away from the curb.

He looked at the building in front of him. A sign reading, "Swiss Bank," let him know he was in the right place. Heaving the trophies over his shoulder, a heated John McEnroe walked through the front door into the bank. Inside it was all marble and high ceilings. Gold framed nearly everything frame-able. Most importantly, though, it was cool. The heat had been getting to the all-time winningest tennis star ever since his plane landed at the Zurich Airport. His patience had become shorter than normal. This trip was supposed to be a quick one. Thankfully, the air conditioning met him even before the concierge, who was just approaching. "Bonjour, Monsieur McEnroe," the tall, pencil-thin, tuxedoed man all but crooned.

"Cool it, Jean-Michel," John McEnroe said through is teeth. "I need to dump these tennis trophies, no questions."

"Oui, Monsieur. Suivez moi." The concierge beckoned the man to follow him. Once inside, the bank was laid out with a mad man's logic. Twists and turns, staircases and shadows. McEnroe lit a cigarette with his freehand, like only a man who had been champion of the world for four years straight could, while lugging along his trophies with his other. They were well into what one would expect to be the basement when the concierge stopped suddenly.

"What's the deal, Francois? Where's the vault?"

The concierge stomped three times, causing the floor just in front of the two men to retract, revealing a dark, shark infested pool. "Does this meet the Monsieur's taste?"

"What kind of fish you got swimming in there, Pierre?"

"Thirty Great White sharks," the concierge said with a smug smirk. "Agitated every hour by shocks of electricity."

"Just like I asked." For the first time in a long while, John McEnroe smiled. "This is a pretty good racket you Swiss have figured out."

"Oui, Monsieur. We love our banking."

The two nearly doubled over laughing as they dumped John McEnroe's trophies into the shark tank, where Bjorn Borg would never, ever be able to reach them.

Ghost Love, You Still Have It

2010-03-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

The People's Champ II

2010-02-10T13:49:00.001-08:00

All Kinds

2010-01-09T12:26:00.000-08:00

Dressing Screen

2010-01-04T21:41:00.000-08:00

I haven't made a comic since September! It's crazy! But, what I did do was make an 6x8' dressing screen, with water colored panels. Here's a video showing the process, and a couple of photos, too.

Roland Barthes

2009-09-30T12:47:00.001-07:00

Portrait of my all time favorite philosopher and critic discussing friendship.

in the sea...

2009-09-28T08:51:00.000-07:00

Pray Harder!

2009-09-04T13:32:00.000-07:00

This is based on a bumper sticker my brother was telling me about.

I Totally God It!

2009-08-11T20:29:00.001-07:00

I came up with the phrase by accident with David Drori one conversation. Several days later it came back to me while I was driving home from work and I couldn't stop laughing. It's such a perfectly empty phrase with just enough hook to it that it seems like it could be a hit in certain evangelical circles.

"I had a real struggle with sinning," for example, "But then I totally God it!"

Bigger Wheels

2009-07-15T22:18:00.001-07:00

I'm left in fascination at Yakima's bizarre truck culture. Today tires bigger than me drove by holding up a truck the size of a small mountain. Even though I was driving a 1991 Jeep Cherokee, I still could not see high enough into the driver's cab to see what the driver looked like. God forbid a child should ever run blindly into the street, but, if it's to happen, with any luck it will be while this truck is on the road, as it'd graze right over the kid like a lawn mower without clippers.

Anyway, I thought I'd draw a comic depicting how the truck's lover might look and speak.

Frames!

2009-07-12T20:00:00.001-07:00

The frames are strips of felt stitched together at the corners with lavender thread. The comic is mounted (via scotch tape) onto colored construction paper, which is hot glued to the felt. It's hanging on the wall by a bit of wire attached to the construction paper by hot glue.

The plan originally hatched to frame my comics was to find and use rickety old wooden frames at thrift and antique stores, but these frames I had in my imagination (gilded and tattered) proved to be more rare and expensive than I had guessed. But, I think these felt frames somehow work well, especially considering that they're basically trial runs, straight from my imagination in the past few days. I'm thinking about maybe sprucing the next few up with maybe a few more layers of felt added to the frame. But, we'll see.

Welcome Home -- America

2009-06-17T21:25:00.001-07:00

From the drive home from work.

Xxxooo

Sketch For Wall Paper: Real Life Series #1

2009-05-25T09:28:00.001-07:00

like the rest of us, the bear and the duck stopped believing

2009-05-21T02:22:00.001-07:00

shout out to the glow fx

2009-05-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

i need to learn how to make my drawings glow on their own.

posters for movies that don't exist yet

2009-05-20T07:16:00.002-07:00

They Had Fun Together

2009-05-12T15:57:00.001-07:00

billie jean king

2009-05-02T17:23:00.001-07:00

espace vague

2009-04-29T08:06:00.000-07:00

Ayn Rand in Yellow Instead of Green

2009-04-29T07:58:00.001-07:00

A Young Robert Oppenheimer

2009-04-15T15:10:00.001-07:00

Girl in Nap Position

2009-04-15T15:06:00.001-07:00

Girl in Yellow Looking Near Her Feet

2009-04-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

Man in a Turtle Neck and Smile

2009-04-15T15:03:00.001-07:00

Ghost Soap

2009-04-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

Very Big and Very Small

2009-04-15T11:10:00.001-07:00

These both came to me one night while watching episode 10 of Carl Sagan's Cosmos series. Even anxiety is made of atoms.

I'm currently writing a short film based on this bottom one. I'd pitch it as Wuthering Heights meets La jetee. Stay tuned!

From the Collage Vaults

2009-04-15T10:46:00.000-07:00

I made these ages ago by now, but I think once I get back to America and my collaging materials I'll make more.

Inventory, pt. 2

2009-04-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

By the time I started to paint the couches it began to feel like I was developing a style based on ideas and concepts that don't make sense, and I enjoyed that feeling. I thought, where has making sense gotten us that's so great?

On the other hand, that chick is making loads of sense.

Inventory, pt. 1

2009-04-14T16:57:00.000-07:00

I don't own these anymore, but here are my original three watercolors from February. The paper was expensive, but shit; the paint didn't absorb well, and the texture was awfully drab. Shortly after these three I made the big paper switch to the backs of salvaged metro advertisements.

Run Just For Fun

Big Dipper

Ghost Home

They're fun, though.