Back from our post-party huddle!

Thanks to everyone who came out to the California Academy of Sciences' "Farallon Night" last month. (We hope that second vodka tonic wasn't the reason for the early lights-out at our exhibit, but sometimes it's better not to ask!)

Since that night, we've been in a post-party huddle with: an antique firearms expert; comics fans; and the much-loved local author and Farallones expert Peter White. While I received a great response on this first draft, I knew that the project needed to reflect even more accurately the gritty reality and dynamic action of our "eggmen". Not only was the current project too reminiscent of a polite, 19th-century-ladies' watercolor sketchbook, but I had misrepresented the period firearms - an inexcusable error for a comic book about a war, no matter how minor.

So, after consulting with the aforementioned experts and the NRA Gun Collector's Guide, I dug deep into the Harvey Kurtzman archives (that's Kurtzman, not Pekar!) knowing that the man behind the most politically challenging war comics would provide inspiration and further direction. Emerging from the stupor induced by reading Kurtzman comics for several days (not to mention Jacques Tardi's trench warfare graphic novel and Joe Sacco's Sarajevo comics), I've started re-mapping.

After all, it's their history and their battle - I'm just lucky enough to have found it.

Preview "The Farallon Egg War" at The California Academy of Sciences on October 21st!

Click on any of the postcards and images below to bring to their full resolution and size, and we'll see you at the California Academy of Sciences's "Nightlife" party on October 21st, 2010. 

"Nightlife" will feature psychedelic surf rock band "The Mermen", cocktails, food, the premiere of a great new film on the Farallon Islands, and a sneak peek at Eva's new graphic novel, "The Farallon Egg War."

"The Farallon Egg War" is the true and largely untold story of the battles that took place on the Farallon Islands over poaching "rights", the desperate men forced to poach from such perilous rocks, and the birth of wildlife conservation in 19th-century California that came out of this war. 

At $12 a ticket, the Nightlife event is not only less than half the regular admission to the CAS, but a ton cheaper than a boat ride out to the islands otherwise known as "The Devil's Teeth"!

For tickets, go to: www.calacademy.org/events/nightlife

"The Farallon Egg War" makes extensive use of the Academy's photographs of early San Francisco - including many materials that miraculously survived the 1906 fire and earthquake. Some of these remarkable photographs will also be on display on October 21, 2010 - including some rare glass plate negatives. 

Lincoln's Appointee Appoints Charles Melville Scammon to Patrol The Farallones

In the years leading up to the Farallon Egg War, Lincoln's Republican appointee to the Customs House in San Francisco was Ira Rankin, who in turn assigned Charles Melville Scammon to patrol the waters surrounding the profitable port of San Francisco.  Scammon had a complicated history, to put it mildly, being first a killer and then a lover of marine mammals. Only after his death would his scholarly work be appreciated in full, and his role in the near extinction of gray whales thereby mitigated.
(Click on the images below to expand.)

But in the years that he was acting as a "boat cop", Scammon was largely distracted from policework...

Tense Moments In Egg War History!

(Click on image to enlarge!)