The James Jean Special
my brother and sister celebrate a phenomenon that they call “the tuna fish special.” you have experienced it, i’m sure, when you talk about a movie and, soon afterwards, it airs on tv. they named it the tuna fish special because, once you utter that phrase, you will begin to see it everywhere. on menus. at restaurants. maybe on the internet. when they see the thing they’ve talked about, my brother and sister exclaim “tuna fish special!” the way the rest of us might say “punch bug!” or “deja vu!”
i am enjoying a James Jean special this month. last month, i didn’t know who he was. a friend at the comic book store said “you don’t know james jean?” no. maybe, i know his work. “he does all the covers for Fables?” no. i guess i don’t.
like a proper tuna fish special though, the universe is now flaunting james jean at every corner. a few days after i heard of him, i found an article about him in a zine i like. a week after that, i saw Fables for the first time. then Process Recess 2, his new book. then Drawn wrote about him. now, i’m reading his blog.
p.s., i chose this jame jean image OF COURSE as a belated birthday card to penelope. happy d-day, p-lope!
Posted: September 8th, 2007 under Blogroll, artists, comic, the art of living.
Comments: 3
Comments
Comment from Erin
Time: September 10, 2007, 7:33 am
Aha, I know that guy! I have a copy of issue 1 of Fables, and I love the image you’ve shared here.
I also like “tuna fish special.” In linguistic blogging we have a much more boring name for that effect, the Frequency Illusion.
Comment from John Coulter
Time: September 12, 2007, 8:10 pm
This is commonly known as “plate o’ shrimp” (aka cosmic unconciousness)
From the movie Repo Man (1984):
Miller: A lot o’ people don’t realize what’s really going on. They view life as a bunch o’ unconnected incidents ‘n things. They don’t realize that there’s this, like, lattice o’ coincidence that lays on top o’ everything. Give you an example; show you what I mean: suppose you’re thinkin’ about a plate o’ shrimp. Suddenly someone’ll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o’ shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin’ for one, either. It’s all part of a cosmic unconciousness
Otto: You eat a lot of acid, Miller, back in the hippie days?
Miller: I’ll give you another instance: you know how everybody’s into weirdness right now?…
Comment from Evangeline Than
Time: September 16, 2007, 8:31 pm
The man is my hero! His Fables covers are masterpieces. Check out Fables 50* if you can find a copy, seeing as this week’s theme is “Wedding”, it’s very apt 
* A Google image search for “fables 50″ should do it!
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