Baltimore has long been searching for the right tagline.

Back in the day we tried The City That Reads, which has to stand as the strangest city motto of all time (the fact that it was easily manipulated into “The City That Bleeds” didn’t help). For awhile after that we were The Greatest City in America, which was kind of fun but ultimately silly. Former mayor (and current governor) Martin O’Malley spent $2 million asking us to BELIEVE, and his efforts were met with a collective shrug.

Nowadays we’re asked to Get In On It, which works as well for Baltimore as it would for any other city. Take that for what it’s worth.

Each of these is an interesting exercise in branding, and I fully respect the effort that went into them. I’m more partial, however, to the possibilities suggested by the pic above (click for full size), which I found while digging around the archives of the Maryland Historical Society. Wherein Baltimore is described like so:

The City of Baltimore, the metropolis of the South, the entrepot of the Imperial West, remarkable for commercial activity, fine monuments, beautiful parks and environs.

It doesn’t work as a tagline per se, but damn if it isn’t both inspiring and accurate.

It reflects our status as a hub, highlights our importance both regionally and nationally, and imparts the idea that the city is both beautiful and desirable. In other words, what was true in the 1800s is still true now. Maybe even more so. With a little bit of tweaking you could turn these 25 words into an entire identity system.

And even if you don’t agree, you have to admit that “Entrepot Of the Imperial West” is a wicked turn of phrase.

The city is doing OK these days and probably doesn’t actually need to be (re)branded. But if and when it does, I’d suggest this pic as a lesson. Whoever wrote this copy seemed to know what’s up.

It’s been awhile since my last book (Borrowed Time, Volume Two) came out, but I’m still kicking around in the comics industry. And I plan to keep doing that for a long time — it’s a really beautiful medium, and working with it has taught me a ton.

So I’m grateful to Bryan at Big Shiny Robot for sitting me down (figuratively speaking) and asking a few questions about my work, the industry, and the future. The end result is up, and I hope you’ll read it here.

After that, you’re welcome to read Borrowed Time Volume Two — in its entirety — by clicking here (30 mb pdf).

Issue three should be out later this year, and I’ve also got another book to hopefully announce soon.

(click pic for larger version, or click here for a variety of sizes)

I’m into this photo for a couple of reasons. I think it’s a pretty nice shot, but more importantly I like it because it says “don’t let the bastards get you down.”

Can you hear it saying that? Listen closely.

When I first discovered RSS feeds a couple of years ago, my initial reaction was “so?” The technology seemed daunting.

Once I got it, though, I seriously got it, and before long my reader swelled to well over fifty feeds. I was getting constant updates on everything that had ever caught my eye (my criteria for adding feeds was disturbingly low). Inevitably, it reached a point where I couldn’t keep up, and I realized I had no choice but to do some pruning.

My first instinct — what I think is probably the most logical instinct — was to delete all of the marginal feeds and leave only a handful of big sites. Were I to do that, I’d continue to get all of the most “important” information. I’d keep my finger on the pulse.

Instead I decided to go in the opposite direction, deleting a handful of the largest, most frequently updated feeds.

I call them “gatekeeper” sites — those sites that either break or re-post all of the news that makes the internet interesting on a given day. In my case, this meant getting rid of my feeds for Deadspin, Kottke, and Stereogum (to start).

Nothing against these sites, of course. I’ll continue to visit all of them. But now I’m populating my feed reader with quirkier and arguably more interesting sites like the Orange Element blog, the Brains on Fire blog, and Chain Store Age (I have a thing for trade mags). Sites with which I think this one fits quite nicely, if I may be so bold.

I’ll probably still see (mostly) everything that’s on the gatekeeper sites through other means. And when I do visit those sites, it’ll be to see what they had to say about it.

It’s ultimately about recognizing that there’s a tension between three related factors: the availability of information, the extent to which it’s interesting, and the extent to which it’s useful. The first is limitless, so it’s extra important to properly manage the other two.

Truth be told, I’m not that good at it. But I’m getting there.

I’m finally active on Twitter. And I have to say — it’s pretty much as advertised. I’m enjoying it so far.

You’re invited to follow me, and if you do so I’ll follow you: click here

I’m a huge fan of the mystery writer Ross Macdonald. Like better-known greats such as Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and Raymond Chandler, Macdonald had an unmistakable gift for voice and tone.

To the extent that he’s famous, it’s for his Lew Archer books — a series of gritty yet surprisingly elegant and philosophical tales of love and corruption set against the backdrop of southern California in the mid-century. One of these — The Moving Target — was turned into a Paul Newman vehicle (as Harper).

Today I plucked his novel Blue City (an early, pre-Archer work) from my shelf and started reading. The opening lines floored me:

All the time you’ve been away from a town where you lived when you were a kid, you think about it and talk about it as if the air there were sweeter in the nostrils than other air. When you meet a man from that town you feel a kind of brotherhood with him, till the talk runs down and you can’t remember any more names.

I’m a big believer in having a sense of place, an idea of the value of those places in which you’ve spent any time. I think each of them becomes a part of you, and I think it’s important to recognize that fact and apply it to your work whenever possible. Macdonald’s words strike a chord on that level. They read to me as not only a careful observation of human tendency but also a challenge to the reader to consider his or her own roots, and wonder what it might be like to remember and revisit them.

I’m pleased to announce the launch of Slant Six’s most recent project, Stepped Out For a Smoke (click the image at left for a larger version).

As more and more cities and states adopt indoor smoking bans, more and more folks are put in the awkward position of having to leave their beverage unattended when they step outside. We recognized a need and responded with these cards, designed to be placed on or near one’s drink to alert bartenders and fellow patrons that the spot in question hasn’t been vacated.

We did this as a fun, creative, and — of course — slightly tongue in cheek response to a problem that isn’t going away.

Early buzz has been good, including a mention at the Baltimore Sun. Please help spread the word by using the links below to submit to Digg, Facebook, etc.

* Over at BLDGBLOG there’s a fascinating article called “the mathematics of preservation and the future of urban ruins.” It’s way more interesting than the title makes it sound.

* Kluster is an online project collaboration and investment tool that looks like it has huge potential. It’s essentially a way to leverage social media in service of the decision making and vetting process on large projects. I can imagine this taking off in a big way.

* Muxtape and Mixwit — two online tools that seek to reclaim the glory of the classic mixtape. Check mine out here.

* I just recently rediscovered the photography of Peter Beste. Stunning.

Now that my Copyblogger guest post is up, it’s time to present the companion piece that’s been kicking around in my brain.

When I argued on Copyblogger that one’s rates should be dictated as much by value as by price, I was indirectly pointing out the overarching importance of trust. If that seems obvious, it is. Trust is the bedrock, and when it cracks there’s very little one can do to salvage anything else. But just because this is obvious doesn’t mean it’s easy. The key to making it work is balance.

You cannot assume that you definitely will get screwed (although I have seen this approach advocated elsewhere). If you do that you may as well just set a countdown clock right at the beginning and pack everything up when it reaches zero. On the other hand, it’d be equally foolish to assume that the person/company you’re dealing with has your best interests at heart. They might, but you’ll only learn that with time.

In order to find the balance, ask yourself a handful of questions in advance, such as:

Once you’ve reached the point where you’re comfortable moving forward, the most critical thing to do is be trustworthy yourself — without exception. The second most important thing to do is identify the lines you will not cross. Decide this, and don’t waver.

In most cases things will probably work out just fine. If things start to go badly, however, you’ll naturally want to do everything you can to right the ship. That’s good. Sometimes, though, you might feel like you need the work so much that you end up letting the client walk all over you. That’s very, very bad. Once it starts it will never, ever stop.

At that point it is time to walk away. Even if you need the work, and even if things started out great. It sucks to have to fire a client, but making a graceful exit early will always be better than forcing yourself into a bad position. Always.

Brian Clark, who runs the excellent site Copyblogger, recently was kind enough to accept my idea for a guest post. The result has been published, and I hope you’ll click here to give it a read.

Essentially, my argument is that pricing one’s work is more complicated than just settling on a dollar figure. I hope you’ll give it a read and let me know what you think.

And, of course, don’t hesitate to share it, either by emailing your friends or using one of the social networking buttons below.