Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in los Cómics, NewsTagged El fruto prohibido, Elizabeth Casillas, Ghor Bosch, Jim Pluk, Julio César González, Liv Strömquist, Matador, Pablo Delcielo, Raquel Echinique

Juan Fernández

Posted on April 4, 2018April 4, 2018

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06/26/2018

Aaron CockleJune 26, 2018NewsLatinx Comics; ECTO PETROL PATROL; Saltz on Art Shows; Handbook for/of Tyranny ————————————————————————————————— Tales from la Vida: A Latinx Comics Anthology Edited by Frederick Luis Aldama In the Latinx comics community, there is much to celebrate today, with more Latinx comic book artists than ever before. The resplendent visual-verbal storyworlds of these artists reach into and radically transform so many visual and storytelling genres. Tales from la Vida celebrates this space by bringing together more than eighty contributions by extraordinary Latinx creators. Their short visual-verbal narratives spring from autobiographical experience as situated within the language, culture, and history that inform Latinx identity and life. Tales from la Vida showcases the huge variety of styles and worldviews of today’s Latinx comic book and visual creators. New Tongues Untied Samuel Teer (with Marina Julia), “MIXED” Amber Padilla, “Wongo-Wongo” Stephanie Villareal Murray, “A Veces Sueño en Español” Lila Quintero Weaver, “La Charla” Carlos “Loso” Pérez, “_______-American” Adam Hernandez, “No Time for Titles” Jandro (with DT Watson), “What Concerns Me” Dangerous Truths . . . Clearing New Identity Spaces Frederick Luis Aldama (with John Jennings), “It Could’ve Been . . .” Jaime Crespo, “White Shoulders” Breena Nuñez Peralta, “They Call Me Morena for a Reason” Roberta Gregory, “California Girl” Vicko, “El Entender” José Cabrera, “el cabrón” Serenity Serseción, “Latinx” Ivan Velez, “Que Significa?” John Jota Leaños (with Dustin García), “Kaleidoscopic Latinx Indigeneities” Zeke Peña, “A Nomad’s Heart” New Mythos Liz Mayorga, “Brainstorming Session” Jenny Gonzalez-Blitz, “The Witch’s Curse” Dustin Nathanial García, “Saved” Ilan Stavans (with Roberto Weil), “Rite of Passage” Daniel Parada, “A Cacaopera Tale” Myra Lara, “Forked-Tongued & Tongued-Tied” Raúl González, “New Citizen Conqueror” Kelly Fernandez, “The Ciguapa” Jaime Hernandez, “La Blanca” Eric Esquivel (with Macropoulos), “El ChupaSoyMilk” Jason “J-Gonzo” González, “My Life as a Pocho” Rico Cuatlacuatl, “Jaguar Warrior Astral Traveller” Betwixt & Between J. M. Hunter, “Lost in Triangulation” Gilbert Hernandez, “I’m Proud to Be an American Where at Least I Know I’m Free” Crystal González, “Latino in Disguise” Alberto Ledesma, “My Most Significant Moment as a Latino” Héctor Rodríguez, “Güerito” Rafael Rosado, “El Año Que Me Divi-di En Dos / The Year I Split in Two” Stephanie Rodriguez, “No Te Hagas La Pendeja” Bending Time, Space, and Forms Candy Briones, “The Mayan Prophesy” Eric J. García, “Chicano Codices Presents” Alejandro Juvera (with Jeremiah Lambert), “Where the Heart Is” Andrés Vera Martínez, “Down on the Riverbed” Mapache Studios Fernando and Rodrigo, “A Little Canción about My People” Fernando Balderas Rodriguez, “Aztec of the City: Behind the Beginning” Israel Francisco Haros Lopez, “Re-Membering” Bodies That Matter LeighAnna Hidalgo, “Reproductive Rebel” José Alaniz, “Mordido” Jules Rivera, “The Continuum” Theresa Rojas, “Melva” Celina Hernandez, “Prolactinoma” Jaime Cortez, “El Border Xing” Grasiela Rodriguez, “Tap Into Your True Self” Mike Centeno, “Being Here” Juan Argil, “Güero” Pop Cultura Is Nosotros David Olivarez, “Inspiration” Miguel “Miky” Ruiz, “The Day I Discovered My Alter Ego” John Gonzalez (with Julian Aguilera and Michele Gonzalez), “Borax Boys” Albert Morales, “Super Impacto vs. the World” Javier Hernandez, “Mexican-American Splendor” Ray Zepeda (with J. M. Hunter), “Nuevo Latino” Richard Dominguez, “Wanna Know How I Got Started?” Carlos Saldaña, “Birth of Burrito” Ricardo Padilla (with Javier Hernandez), “Mi Barrio, 1976” Dave Ortega, “Your Name Is the Rio Grande” Rafael Navarro, “Mi Voz” William Nericcio (with Guillermo Nericcio García), “A Mexican-American Semiotic Odyssey or Streets of Laredo Ex-Pat” Mark Campos, “Mi Destino Es Comprenderla y No Olivdarla” Kat Fajardo, “Gringa” Victor Avila, “One Time, One Night” David Herrera, “Commencement” Chris Escobar, “A Monstrous Life” John Picacio, “A New Loteria” ————————————————————————————————— ECTO PETROL PATROL 2018 New animation by Matthew Thurber ————————————————————————————————— A Modest Proposal: Break the Art Fair This is from a few weeks back, Jerry Saltz talking about the state of art fairs, small and large galleries, and staggering amounts of money. It’s hard to say if smaller galleries could do fairs without the bigger galleries but my guess is that most bigger galleries, once they see a smaller fair picking up speed will want a piece of that action too. The smaller galleries may have more power than they think if they band together, make demands, put pressure back on the big art fairs rather than dancing exclusively to the art fair tune. The NADA and Independent fairs are now doing this nicely; more well-curated medium and small gallery fairs sprouting up might provide viable alternatives to these galleries paying gigantic costs for little return. With all this in mind, I spoke to a number of part-owners, directors, and other functionaries of art fairs and asked whether art fairs can be fixed. All agree that things need fixing. The bad news is that I came away thinking that while I really like these people, they don’t really have the impulse to fix things because these are the things that work so well for them. Fairs as they are now aren’t broken, they say. I kept sputtering back, “They’re not broken for you yet.” ————————————————————————————————— Handbook of Tyranny New book of infographics by Theo Deutinger, via Jonathan Bell at Wallpaper. The breadth of information here is never less than fascinating. Discover which 14 countries ‘welcome every citizen from any country in the world with a valid passport without any visa restrictions,’ or the myriad designs for keeping people out (and in) of the world’s many contested and conflicted border zones. This is a graphic project rich in hidden history and unsavoury elements. Aficionados of graphic design will be fascinated by the iconographic breakdown of the flags and logos of the world’s most notorious terrorist groups, from ETA to ISIL, but the shock value of a refugee camp map of Africa is much greater. ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-26-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

Addley Walker’s Angle

Comics WorkbookJuly 9, 2017EssaysAddley Walker is a comics and pattern maker from Los Angeles, CA. He joined us in Pittsburgh for a Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency in June 2017 (read about his experience HERE). While he was visiting, we realized that Addley was plugged into a different corner of the comics making community, and seeing work that we weren’t familiar with. His enthusiasm was catching, so we asked him to share with us some of the comics makers and artists that he follows and enjoys. Below is the “list” he sent. – Sally ————————————————————————————————————— Crow Cillers – Cate Wurtz (http://lamezone.net/) By far the best project of the already impressive body of work of queer webcomics wizard Cate Wurtz, Crow Cillers is an intense story about cute animal critters stuck in an oppressive world of cults and body horror. Presented in a faux-television manner where characters’ dialogue appears as closed captioning, stories change channels into others, and “episodes” in an arc are collected into season “box sets” (it, and individual episodes available monthly via her Patreon, are html documents that bring up navigable menus), Wurtz presents us casual talking sitcom characters forced to deal with increasingly violent situations while weaving in a metanarrative dealing with issues such as the absurd and often dark environment of the internet itself. Wurtz’s aesthetic and thematic odes to DeviantArt and Hot Topic not only serves as a coherent vehicle for her message, but asks the reader to re-evaluate their relationship with not only the corporate rebellion of Korn (most evident in her chopped ‘n screwed electronic music that is the suggested series soundtrack) and Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic with GUNS), but the earnest reaction to these institutions by the fringes of internet art and fetish communities. Download the pilot and first season free on her website. Hail Gay Satan. Music: https://partydog.bandcamp.com/ Past Comic: https://lamezone.net/comics/asscastle https://lamezone.net/comics/punc (not so explicit) ————————————————————————————————————— Angel of a Rope – Adam Buttrick (http://www.adambuttrick.com) There were some very good stories in Kramer’s 9, but Adam Buttrick’s entry really made the book for me. Adam’s making very peculiar and powerful work, with a literary influence that, while escaping my personal understanding, draws me deeper into the situations and characters that feel so familiar after a lifetime of cartoons and video games. His incredibly busy pages have a surprisingly minimal economy of shapes, making everything clear in the mess of action that make up his world. Angel of a Rope is another excellent entry into the ouvre of someone who I find to be one of the most exciting cartoonists working today. Work in question: http://dominobooks.org/angelrope.html ————————————————————————————————————— Now Nowhere – Elevator Teeth (http://elevatorteeth.com/) I’m generally very wary of artists who foster a branded presentation of their work, and Elevator Teeth definitely has that aspect. Scrolling on their website I watch art posts transform into shirts, a part of an image becomes a button or patch, an illustration becomes a record cover which becomes an object that gets waggled on a talk show. It helps that the work is rendered in such a clean and minimal style, which makes it very susceptible to duplication and modification. As such, words and images will come up again, re-arranged and colored differently. This shifting quality of Elevator Teeth’s work is part of it’s magic, though, and looking at one image after the other becomes very dreamlike and hypnotic. The objects in these images hold an internal charge and react in strange and interesting ways to new compositions. The zine Now Nowhere, which came out early last year, is a great example. With work originally presented as one pagers that work very well as statements by themselves, Elevator Teeth puts them together to reveal that side-by-side they form a coherent story that lasts 28 pages. Slick and fashionable as it looks, Elevator Teeth’s work is fundamentally about consciousness, and shows the way in which digital techniques can lend themselves to powerful forms of truth seeking. Work in question: http://elevatorteeth.storenvy.com/products/15662373-now-nowhere-riso-zine ————————————————————————————————————— Warrior Pose – Leon Sadler (http://leonsadler.com/) + Yannick Val Gesto (http://www.yannickvalgesto.com/) Omnipresent anthology contributor Leon Sadler and fellow fine art nerd Yannick Val Gesto are a dynamic duo whose collaborations I wish I knew more about. I do not know how I found this fabulous book in the first place, probably because I am great. Presenting itself as a gentle self help manual, Warrior Pose (which was consigned along with a video of the same name) might not be comics, but those literate to the form should have an entry into some joyful collages of anime, fanart, chan imagery, and other serene weirdness, along with drawings by both. Val Gesto’s quest in particular, revealing the beauty of internet ugliness, I find incredibly compelling, much like Cate Wurtz. Leon Sadler is pretty cool, too. Work in question: https://battcoop.org/en/produit/warrior-pose-2/ Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2zAoe8ShMw ————————————————————————————————————— The Boys Are Back In Town – Mushbuh (http://mushbuh.com/) This entry is a funeral for the self experience that I discovered will be forever unrealized by me not owning this zine of colorful haniwa frolics. Mushbuh is someone who initially caught me with their lively Illustrator art and comics, as well as a demo for their N64 love letter Burrito Galaxy. While Mushbuh seems to be on a more automatic, almost anti-aesthetic track today, evidence is still there of the tightly geometric, bouncy cartoon art I see still around in works of artists such as George Wysesol. Please contact me if you have evidence of rare sightings of these boys… Work in question: http://www.mushbuh.bigcartel.com/product/the-boys-are-back-in-town-ed-of-50 Examples: Musbuh comics George Wysesol https://www.instagram.com/sassybluepanda/ George Wysesol web series(?) https://www.instagram.com/ithinkimintrouble/ ————————————————————————————————————— Check out work by Addley Walker on his website, and follow him on Instagram. Share this page: [...]

12/11/2017

Caleb OrecchioDecember 11, 2017NewsCaleb Orecchio here with the Dayton-based educational comic, Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact—plus other news. ————————————————————————————————— Several weeks ago I found Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact Vol. 24 No.12 in a dollar bin here in Dayton, OH. It was a nice find. The cover was a portrait of The Wright Brothers, Dayton’s most celebrated sons, with the cover story drawn by none other than “Joltin'” Joe Sinnot. “What a find!” I thought. I look at the indicia and found the book was published right here in Dayton, OH–on 5th Street, right near where the convention center is (where they now hold Gem City Comic Con). “Gee! This is tops!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. I had no idea this comic existed, nor did I realize (obviously) that it was published right here in Dayton near a culturally thriving part of the city. The issue itself is cool. The Sinnot/Wright Bros story, some gag strips, some serialized stories, an illustrated prose story about elephant poaching, and a great editorial page called “Backtalk” located on each inside cover that could go toe-to-toe with Stan’s Soapbox. It was an educational comic that was published “twice monthly during the school year…” It was distributed across the U.S. and Canada, subscription-only, to Catholic schools mostly from what I can find–which makes sense with Dayton being a primarily Catholic town in the past (ever heard of the University of Dayton?), and being in the Rust Belt. The series ran from 1946 to 1972. You get some great EC cartoonists like Joe Orlando (!) and Reed Crandall, plus Silver Agers like Sinnot throughout the years. Really interesting stuff—and many other notable artists. I love finding these x-factor comic books that seem to come out of nowhere (to me). Anyway, the most interesting part I found about this series was the story, “This Godless Communism.” Drawn by Reed Crandall (whom I’m a fan of), it was a 10-part story serialized in every other issue from Vol.17 No.2, until No.20 in 1961. Basically, the title (you have to admit it’s a zinger of a title despite the propaganda) says it all. It documents the rise of communism in Russia and its evils and all that. Evidently, the story made it’s way up the chain. Look at the letter below that graced the inside front cover of the Vol.17 No.2. This must have been the pride of George A. Pflaum, the publisher of this Daytonian mag: NOTE: Apologies for the bad scan above–it’s the best I could find online since I don’t actually own the physical copy. The other images of Treasure Chest herein are from my own copy and scanned at a reasonable dpi. You can read and/or download, if you want, “This Godless Communism” in it’s entirety here, and be on the lookout for other issues of Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact in your local dollar bin. To me, it’s one of those weird pieces of comics history that almost seems to run parallel with the industry as oppose to within it—make sense? It’s just weird that it exists I guess. -CO ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Gilbert Hernandez gives a “graphic review” of Catcher in the Rye at The NY Times. TCJ.com has a great inside baseball conversation between Dash Shaw and Connor Willumsen about the latter’s book, Anti-Gone. Also, Greg Hunter reviews Old Ground by Noel Freibert on the same site. Didem Tali writes about women in Mongolia making comics to raise questions about gender norms. Shout out to Dayton comics-blood-brother Jason Hart who is appearing in the New Zealand literary magazine, Geometry, issue 2. The comic that appears in the mag is a short story he did last year I think. It’s called, “Message in a Bottle”. I am happy to see it find a home because this to me was around the time we both were finding our sea legs in comics and was his best work at the time. He has since gone on to be published in Ink Brick and other publications. Former New York State Senator Marc C. Panepinto had a box of comics stolen from him, which he claims was worth $20,000 to $40,000. Haha I wonder what the perpetrator’s reaction will be when they find out that comics are actually worthless. The Schulz Museum is hosting a fundraiser for those affected by the North Bay wildfires. See the journey of Simon Vance, narrator of Alan Moore’s Jerusalem audio book, to Northampton where he meets with the man himself. Prologue starts here. ————————————————————————————————— The Winter Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers starts January 18th 2018! 8 weeks – 500 bux – coaching for as long as you need. The course is hard, but Frank will push your comics making practice to a new level, getting you to think about timing and color in new ways. Makes a great holiday gift for yourself – or for a loved one who is interested in comics. Apply by midnight (EST) on Dec. 25th and get $100 off the course price. Full details and how to apply can be found HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 12-11-2017 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

05/13/2016

Sally IngrahamMay 13, 2016NewsSally here on this Friday the 13th, with nothing spooky to offer. Instead, I’ve got tons of press about Koyama Press, a bit of hero worship for Rokudenashiko, and a whole lot of longing for TCAF… ————————————————————————————————— The National Post had a write up about Annie Koyama and Koyama Press this week, detailing how truly “kick-ass” they both are. And it’s definitely their week! Mental Floss hyped two of Koyama Press’ new books – What is Obscenity by Rokudenashiko, and Night Air by Ben Sears – as 2 out of 5 favorites. “This is Sears’s first graphic novel and it reads like a marriage between the character designs of Mike Mignola, the childhood wonder of Farel Dalrymple, and the low-key humor of Adventure Time.” – Rich Barrett via Mental Floss “In What is Obscenity?…Rokudenashiko tells the story of her arrest in a funny, engaging, and eye-opening way. Interspersing photographs, legal documents, and news articles with her comedic cartooning, she re-enacts the unbelievable experience of being arrested, filmed by the local news in the back of a police car (labeled with the insulting on-screen chyron as a “so-called artist”), and dealing with male lawyers and policemen who are too ashamed to even talk about what she did.” – Rich Barrett via Mental Floss ————————————————————————————————— While the book deals with Rokudenashiko‘s original imprisonment in 2014 for building a kayak, among other things, modeled on her vagina, this “so-called artist” has been fighting obscenity charges in Japan right up until Monday of this week. The New York Post reports that a Japanese court found Rokudenashiko “not guilty of obscenity for displaying figurines modeled on her vagina, signaling a step towards freedom of expression, although the court fined her for distributing digital data of her genitals.” She isn’t about to take that fine (400,000 yen, or $3,700) on the nose – ‘”I am of course indignant. I will appeal and continue to fight in court,” she told a news conference, where she displayed several pink vagina figurines that prosecutors had argued were obscene.‘ Read the rest of the NYPost report HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Over on The Comics Beat, John Seven digs into What is Obscenity? and finds it to be – “…a passionate memoir and meditation on art, censorship, and societal attitudes towards women, but just as important, it’s a charming and amusing rundown of Rokudenashiko’s experiences that wraps in many aspects of Japanese culture, most fascinatingly, Japanese prison conditions.“ With the recent court ruling weighing on his mind, John Seven clarifies the “real beauty of Rokudenashiko’s book”- “Despite the understandable outrage, despite the big issues that her experience tackles, despite corruption and misogyny and incompetence she faced, despite the gloominess of prison and her own emotional traumas, she still puts it together in a form that is extremely personable even as it informs. She is the best possible messenger. That’s a real feat, but it also tells you something about the artist they were gunning for, about her intent and outlook and why the persecution was such a major misfire. It also tells you why people like her work so much. She made a kayak modeled after her own vagina. How is that not great? How is she not a hero?“ Read the rest of his excellent review HERE. ————————————————————————————————— John Seven was concerned that Rokudenashiko might be prevented from coming to Canada for TCAF this weekend, but according to the Koyama Press blog she has landed in Toronto and is set to strut her fabulous stuff there, and also at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York on May 18th. Check out the event page for that HERE. I don’t want to switch gears to talking about TCAF just yet (especially because a quick glance through their featured guest list is enough to make me cry…due to not being able to go this year…!) so let’s stay on the topic of “This Week with Koyama Press” for a bit longer. ————————————————————————————————— I’ve got another review of a new Koyama Press book! None other than Katie Skelly unpacks Cathy G. Johnson‘s Gorgeous on The Comics Journal. Skelly lets loose some snazzy writing, proving that she can scribble about other people’s comics just as well as she can draw her own. And she makes a good case for the need to get your hands on a copy of Gorgeous – “Gorgeous itself is a gorgeously drawn comic; Johnson’s strengths lie in lush atmospheres and the sprightliness of the character’s faces, which carry tons of gesture despite their simplicity. As the tendency for younger cartoonists to eschew ink for pencil-only work grows, Johnson stands out by demonstrating an otherwise unparalleled skill in expressive lighting and texture, especially in the smoky and anxious woods that surround her highways. Her generous panels also allow for some deft experimentation in expression of time; one particular sequence, the strongest and most effective in Gorgeous, holds a diner table in wide focus for six pages, recalling the stillness of films by Chantal Akerman while still communicating panic and frustration.“ You know you want to read it, but in case you need more incentive, check out the rest of the review HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Taking a slight turn here – let’s catch up with Alyssa Berg as she finishes her 3-part series for Comics Workbook – Sunday is a Good Day to Visit a Museum. Her continuing reflection on her visit to The Rubin Museum of Art inspired Alyssa to seek the input of a few other cartoonists. This week, in the series finale, she is joined by MariNaomi, Simon Hanselmann, Sophie Yanow and Vanesa R. Del Rey in answering the question, “What are the rituals, meditations, or devotions in your artistic process?” As you can probably guess from the lineup, the answers are wildly varied, thoughtful, and entertaining. Check out the whole piece HERE. And a big shout-out to Alyssa for writing such a rad series for Comics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— Speaking of MariNaomi, as you hopefully noticed above, she will be reading with Rokudenashiko at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York on May 18th. Again, check out the event page for that HERE. Over on Unicorn Booty recently, MariNaomi was the first guest on the new INQ Podcast. Apparently, “The goal with this show is to create a ‘comic-con in your ears’, and have guests on to do a deep dive into some aspect of the comics world. … In the podcast, we talk about the ins and outs of autobio comics: how to do it right, how to do it wrong, how to do it without pissing people off (or at least how to learn not to care quite so much if you do.)” Sounds pretty good to me – check out the podcast HERE. ————————————————————————————————— And speaking of Simon Hanselmann, he’s buzzing around with HTML Flowers these days, hyping Megg and Mogg in Amsterdam. Last seen being kicked out of Desert Island Comics in Brooklyn, NY…he’s most likely on his way to Toronto now to make some mischief at TCAF. And here we are again at the subject of TCAF – or the Toronto Comic Arts Festival – which starts tomorrow. I can’t even begin to unpack it, honestly, so you’ll just have to wait for the after-party pile of news and stories we’ll be sharing all next week! ————————————————————————————————— Instead, to wrap up this week and this post, here’s a great check-in with Daniel Clowes, via NPR. Read some highlights from the interview, or listen to the Fresh Air program online. Here’s one such highlight: On why his speech balloons sometimes drift off the page – “It’s one of those things that just sort of happens by necessity. I think I started with that Mr. Wonderful book, and the idea was that I wanted the book to be all inside his head. So you see his thoughts and they’re always in the foreground, and whatever anybody else is saying is covered up by those thoughts. It’s sort of the way that we normally are talking to each other where we’re thinking about, like, “I really gotta go,” and somebody is telling us something and we’re not focusing. I wanted to capture that.“ Find the rest HERE. Oh, and PS: GhostWorld is now streaming on Hulu. ————————————————————————————————— Catch ya next week! – Sally Share this page: [...]

Ch2: The Comic Figure (FACC)

Juan FernándezJanuary 1, 2016ResourcesShare this page: [...]

04/04/2018

Posted on April 4, 2018April 4, 2018 by Juan Fernández

Raquel Echenique, Jim Puk, y un poquito sobre El Fruto Prohibido!

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Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana:
~ en Español y “sometimes in English” ~

Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con Raquel Echenique acerca de sus influencias, el lugar en donde pasó su infancia, su trabajo, muestran sus referentes, hablan de su amor por el cómic y se Echenique confiesa como rabiosa, entre muchas otras cosas.

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Entrevista a Ghor Bosch (2015) – dibujado por Pablo Delcielo – publicado en Buenos Aires por Yegua ediciones.

Este comic es parte de una serie de entrevistas imaginiarias, que son bastante graciosas y serias con Ghor Bosch aunque.

Léanlo AQUI.

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Caricaturista colombiano ‘Matador’ deja de usar redes sociales por amenazas de muerte

Julio César González, más conocido como ‘Matador’ por sus caricaturas en el diario El Tiempo, anunció en la madrugada de este martes su retiro de las redes sociales, después de haber estado en el ojo del huracán durante varias semanas luego de haber personificado al candidato uribista, Iván Duque, como un cerdo en varias de sus publicaciones.

Aunque hace menos de dos semanas la Jueza Hilda María Saffon negó una tutela interpuesta contra el caricaturista por el dibujo titulado ‘Duque reflexiona’, argumentando que “la creatividad e ingenio del caricaturista no debe limitarse por quienes no comparten su opinión”, los simpatizantes del Centro Democrático y el expresidente Uribe no han cesado de expresarle su descontento con insultos y agresiones en medio de la contienda electoral.

Léanlo todo en El Espectador

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Jim Pluk – @jimpluk

Estaré publicando en las historias de mi Instagram ( @jimpluk ) algunos cómics de autores contemporáneos que recomiendo personalmente, por si quieren indagar más sobre estos, tanto Colombianos como extranjeros. Estos posts estarán bajo el hashtag #leacomix y #hagacomix

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Por qué lo llaman vagina cuando quieren decir vulva – Elizabeth Casillas

Puede que sea uno de los tebeos más controvertidos que vayas a leer este año, y no precisamente por decir sandeces. La historietista sueca Liv Strömquist firma El fruto prohibido (Reservoir Books, 2018), un cómic que repasa la historia cultural de la vulva con argumentación teórica pero, sobre todo, mucho humor.

Anuncios de compresas o tampones que recurren, en exceso, a las palabras “limpia” y “segura”. Señores que se preocupan, en exceso, de lo que suele denominarse «el órgano sexual femenino». Autoridades, organizaciones, periódicos, médicos y demás organismos empeñados, en exceso, de producir (des)información sobre el sexo. Y así sucesivamente, Liv Strömquist termina enumerando una serie de cosas que están mal (muy mal) en nuestra sociedad en lo que a la mujer y su sexo se refiere.

Léanlo todo en REVISTA CACTUS

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Suzy and Cecil – 4-4-2018 – by Sally Ingraham

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Joanie and Jordie – 4-4-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in los Cómics, NewsTagged El fruto prohibido, Elizabeth Casillas, Ghor Bosch, Jim Pluk, Julio César González, Liv Strömquist, Matador, Pablo Delcielo, Raquel Echinique

Juan Fernández

Posted on April 4, 2018April 4, 2018

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Cartoon Crossroads Columbus: is this real life?

MardouOctober 21, 2016Festivals and ShowsCXC happened last weekend in Columbus, OH, and I got to represent Team Comics Workbook and also myself as a special guest (this has never happened to me before – count me overexcited and also terrified!) I get in on Thursday night and head to the President’s Reception feeling very wallflowerish as I know literally no one except through Facebook and Instagram. First off I meet Tom Spurgeon (finally!), Jeff Bone and his lovely wife Vijaya, Caitlyn McGurk, and Robin the Inkstud. I nervously nurse my wine and then I am rescued by Sergio Aragonés, who sits next to me with a plate of meatballs and a beer. I’m a vegan but I don’t even care about the meatballs! It’s Sergio Aragonés and I proceed to fannishly monopolize him for the next hour. Sergio! I’ve loved his comics in Mad Magazine since I was eight years old. Ahhh. Those moments of life where nothing degrades or disappoints. CXC is already off to a GREAT start. Friday morning I’m giving a Peer-to-Peer talk at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. I’m very nervous, but also ‘over prepared’ – I’m not going to TRUMP this, thank you very much. It’s also at 10 am, so I figure no one’s hardly going to be there. WRONG! It was a full house; I talked about scripting and planning processes for long form fiction in comics. I tried to jazz it up with stories of ayahuasca (not my own of course, I’m totally square, dear reader) and out of body experiences and Amazonian explorers. And I did a reading from the thumbnails of a new graphic novel I’ve been working on this year. Once that was out of the way, I was free to enjoy the Billy Ireland Museum. I loved it so much. I copied some stuff in my sketchbook whilst I explored in a blissed out state. Oh and I ran into old pal T. Edward Bak and we had lunch. Day Two: AWESOME. I skipped the festivities on Friday night so that I could be the sole un-hungover person at CXC on Saturday for a full day of tabling and socializing. I made the right decision. You have to treat comic’s shows like an eleven-hour congressional hearing, i.e.: you need STAMINA. (Apologies if the election has snuck in to my CXC coverage. Ohio is very much a swing state and my weekend, traffic, eating in bars etc, were interrupted by bizarre looking fashionista Trumpettes and a presidential motorcade – yes, both Trump and Obama had been/were in Columbus that very weekend.) So, Day Three: Saturday tabling. It went great. I hunkered down with Team Comics Workbook, and got to finally meet some of my Comics Workbook Roller Derby of the Mind compadres, particularly Alyssa Berg, Whit Taylor and Sally Ingraham. At one o’clock I had an author spotlight thing, which was easy and fun, thanks to Jared Gardner. I read from Sky In Stereo, and afterwards would sell all my copies. Sweet! So far I’m enjoying this show so much. The downtown Columbus Metropolitan Library is bright and airy, there’s some good energy about, the locals are so friendly and the organizers are present and visible. And I’ve sold all my comics! This never happens. But afterwards when I’m alone again, in this new Midwestern city, I’m strolling around downtown Columbus at twilight. It’s Saturday but everything’s closing or closed. I feel a little spooked out and get to thinking about Dorothy Thompson talking about Terre Haute in the 40s or something. She wrote to her man, Sinclair Lewis: “This is a lonely country, it is so goddamned empty. I am turning mystic. Surely there is something in the very air of a city where civilized people have lived, worked, dreamed loved and enjoyed civilized pleasures for hundreds of years…some radioactivity which lingers in the atmosphere. I begin to believe in ghosts, gentle ghosts which keep one company in ancient towns. Here there are none.” Traveling alone spooks me out. I’m not a good traveler at the best of times. I walk; admire statues and fountains and government buildings. I pass a tiny Episcopalian church. It has an 8am service on Sunday morning. Tomorrow! Maybe I’ll go, I tell myself, just to feel somehow cosmically rooted again. ‘You know what?’ I think, ‘I will definitely go. I’ll set my alarm tonight.’ I go back to my hotel room and spruce up for that evening’s drinks reception in honor of Stan Sakai. And I have fun! I forget my lonely existential Midwestern emptiness and that night I roll into bed at 3am having been to a Haunted House in ruralish Ohio with my publisher and a couple of Rhode Island hepcats. The Haunted House has a definite ‘juggalo’ vibe, something I’d heard about but never seen. It was gross and yucky, people in costumes tried to touch me! But the sight of rural folk wielding fake chainsaws made out of leaf blowers and duct tape PLUS the company of good friends has somehow righted me again. I don’t set my alarm after all. I don’t need church. I just need sleep dammit, and I just need ‘my people’ and this weekend Columbus, OH, has been full of them. On Sunday I sell all my publisher’s copies of Sky in Stereo, experience a sleep-deprived meltdown and Alyssa Berg revives me with dried mango slices and crystal healing. I get through! I meet Keiler Roberts and Noah Van Sciver, they’re both great! I talk to lots and lots of people. Until its time to go get my plane! Sergio Aragonés stops by my table to say goodbye. Is this real life? Before I go I coerce Tom Spurgeon into a hug. It feels right. My delightful assistant (I have an assistant!) Sara drives me to Chipotle and then to the airport. I fly home that night in the darkness over Midwestern cities that look like small bejeweled funfairs in pools of rural soupy darkness. America is a strange place. I’m full of that crackling comics energy. Ready to retreat again and draw my next comic. Thanks Columbus, OH. Thanks to all the volunteers who were so nice and the librarians who were unfazed by all these cartoonists, and to the comics community, including my own Comics Workbook community, for being so rad. Is it not amazing that comics people can just assemble and friendships made at CAKE or SPX years ago, can just pick up again, over printed pages and falafels? Well, it’s sort of magical to me. I get to be part of this. It was a strange and spooky, magical weekend. I wanna come back for more! I do, I do. ————————————————————————————————— Sacha Mardou is a Brit making comics in St Louis, Missouri. Sky in Stereo is her most recent comic. For the rest of our complete CXC coverage check out the special “round up” report HERE. Share this page: [...]

Noah Van Sciver’s FANTE BUKOWSKI

Chris Anthony DiazJuly 8, 2016The Diaz ArchiveNoah Van Sciver FANTE BUKOWSKI original art that was unpublished (first, second and fourth photos) and published (inside end covers, third photo) in the book. Plus, a chance to see how Noah colors partially on the original art before completing digitally on the computer. More of Noah’s work can be purchased at Fantagraphics Share this page: [...]

01/09/2018

Aaron CockleJanuary 8, 2018NewsAaron here today with an Art from Guantánamo Bay Update; Comic Book Heroes of Taiwan; Austin English on the End of Krazy Kat (and Superman Comics); More Machine Learning ————————————————————————————————— Ode to the Sea An update regarding the Art from Guantánamo Bay post from a few weeks back, via Patricia Mastricolo at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund: Fortnunately, the Pentagon is backing off its previous threat of incinerating art by the Guantánamo Bay detainees. Unfortunately, they still maintain all of it is the property of the U.S. military and will not be permitted to leave the prison. … The exhibit is free and open to the public and runs through January 26, 2018, at Haren Hall (899 10th Avenue at 59th Street, on the 6th floor in the President’s Gallery, New York City). The exhibit is open Monday to Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (except January 15). ————————————————————————————————— Taiwan’s comic book heroes Via the BBC: Hsu Mao-sung, one of Taiwan’s earliest comic book artists, says it may be too late to save the industry. His generation endured censorship during the martial law period from the 1960s to 80s, but he says it didn’t kill off his passion for drawing. ————————————————————————————————— Anything But Reality At TCJ, Austin English takes a long look at some comics from the 1940s-1960s: The strip that follows is June 11th, with the stick now re-purposed to prop up the scarecrow. So, the final interactions of Krazy Kat and Ignatz map out like this: Ignatz tricks Krazy into getting hit by a brick toppling from a growing tree, Ignatz passingly confuses Krazy about oak trees vs. olive trees, Ignatz works to transform a weasel’s color in an issue whose subtleties are (seemingly) obscure to Krazy and finally Ignatz’ brick is discovered with a stick from Offisa Pup while Ignatz writhes in agony, his body beneath ground. After these events, the scarecrow emerges and Ignatz discards his brick. For a brief moment the strip is silent and empty. … The tone of the line defined itself in 1958, partly by a constraint that the comics world imposed on itself. Physical violence, while not banned by the comics code, was to be avoided. So Weisinger took a line of superhero comics and instead of emphasizing brawn, made them into intricate puzzles. Now, these are not puzzles that use the unreliable world as one of its factors in the way a Raymond Chandler novel might. Instead, every story has no relation to anything real (except basic outlines of things like ‘I have a job at a newspaper’ or ‘humans need to eat food to survive’ or ‘ice is cold’)—the comic book world of Superman itself is the only thing the stories use to set up their questions and render solutions. These are mysteries whose only logic is cartooning, and I’d argue that they are more beautiful as science fiction than anything EC ever published. ————————————————————————————————— Adversarial Patch An update from the machine learning front, via Boing Boing: Another key difference here: the researchers achieve their best results using a “white box” technique where they get to design their patches through detailed knowledge of the AI they’re targeting, unlike other adversarial preturbations, which achieved good results with “black box” constraints (designing attacks without any technical knowledge of the AI). The patches they created didn’t work very well on other AI image classifiers. We show that we can generate a universal, robust, targeted patch that fools classifiers regardless of the scale or location of the patch, and does not require knowledge of the other items in the scene that it is attacking. Our attack works in the real world, and can be disguised as an innocuous sticker. These results demonstrate an attack that could be created offline, and then broadly shared. There has been substantial work on defending against small perturbations to natural images, at least partially motivated by security concerns Part of the motivation of this work is that potential malicious attackers may not be concerned with generating small or imperceptible perturbations to a natural image, but may instead opt for larger more effective but noticeable perturbations to the input – especially if a model has been designed to resist small perturbations. Many ML models operate without human validation of every input and thus malicious attackers may not be concerned with the imperceptibility of their attacks. Even if humans are able to notice these patches, they may not understand the intent of the patch and instead view it as a form of art. This work shows that focusing only on defending against small perturbations is insufficient, as large, local perturbations can also break classifiers. ————————————————————————————————— The Winter Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers starts January 16th 2018! 8 weeks – 500 bux – coaching for as long as you need. The course is hard, but Frank will push your comics making practice to a new level, getting you to think about timing and color in new ways. His experience and ideas have influenced the likes of Connor Willumsen, Michael DeForge, and Simon Hanselmann (quote “I consider Frank Santoro to be my L. Ron Hubbard”) among many others. Dig into something new in the new year! Full details and how to apply can be found HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Vision Box – 1-9-2018 – by Cameron Arthur Share this page: [...]

07/21/2017

Sally IngrahamJuly 21, 2017NewsSally here with Rachel Masilamani live from Pittsburgh, PA; Sophie Yanow saying “No!”; Florida witches at large thanks to Vanesa R. Del Rey and Jordie Bellaire; and much more. —————————————————————————————————— The Pittsburgh Comic Salon had the great pleasure of hosting Rachel Masilamani last night at the ToonSeum. She has been making comics since 1997 and has a veritable constellation of work in print and online publications, as well as a number of self published works. Her first comics collection – RPM Comics #1 – received a grant from the Xeric Foundation. Her ongoing graphic novel project – Non Partum – appears on MUTHA Magazine in installments. Her most recent pieces are the powerful Battleground, which was part of Illustrated PEN’s series “State of Emergency”, and Who Does He Favor? from this month on the LA Review of Books. Rachel spoke eloquently about how she uses comics to control and contextualize her experiences and memories, how “lies” illuminate the truth, and her belief in the power of making good art. She relates to Lynda Barry’s term “autobiofictionography” and names her as a main source of inspiration. Rachel pushed through her first successes and then bitter disappointments with the realty of making comics (and not making a living) and now 20 years into the game she is confident in her work and herself, and is excited about the medium. It was wonderful to hear her speak, and to see her address a crowd of mostly women last night. Sharing our work and experiences this way is more important than ever. Check out more of Rachel’s work HERE. Read Juan Fernandez’s discussion of Rachel’s foundational work HERE. —————————————————————————————————— Sophie Yanow has captured the constant struggle of many artists to maintain their space to make their work – and turned that “NO” (so often combined with wracking guilt and anxiety) into something glorious. Thank you Sophie! This comic should go above everyone’s desk – and she has made it available as a “pay what you want” downloadable PDF so get your copy HERE asap! —————————————————————————————————— Vanesa R. Del Rey and Jordie Bellaire talk Redlands over on Multiversity Comics in anticipation of the upcoming release of #1 (August 9th). I can’t wait for this comic, which will mix small town Florida with fed up witches, hopefully with wicked and wonderful results. Alice Castle interviewed the two makers about the work: “The idea of using witches as the protagonists in “Redlands” is fascinating to me. Witches have usually been cast as figures of impurity; the kind of women who refuse to adhere to patriarchal society. What was it that drew you to this idea? What made witches the right pick for this story? Jordie Bellaire: Women and the archetypes of crones, witches, succubi, etc go hand-in-hand. If women were sexually liberated, educated or sought knowledge or were generally unfettered by whatever social construct was pushed upon them at the time, they were written about as evil, dark and inhuman. This was in an effort to push women down and make them seem as if they were against not only men, but against god as well. It dates back to the story of Adam and Eve. This is a compelling trope that I wanted to dive into it as I think it has really set the tone for how women are seen in our culture and in our media. Women have been taking back the idea of being a witch or she-devil and owning it. The women in my story are unapologetic, flawed but liberated and real. Vanesa, you’ve dabbled in the world of horror comics before with “The Empty Man,” which was where I first discovered your artwork. “Redlands,” from what I’ve seen, seems even more somber and atmospheric. How would you describe your approach to this series? Vanesa R. Del Rey: The visual tone for the series is inspired by turn of the 19th-century illustration and printmaking, mainly. But I was also visiting Goya’s etching works which are pretty dark in terms of the commentary he made with the work as well as the imagery he used. I thought a hatching technique would be appropriate to illustrate the uneasiness, distress and anxiety in this land we have created. It’s also very classical, with attention to details and line weight…. I’m playing with the energy of the line to express a feeling in all ways. Things in “Redlands” are very strange and confusing, much like the place from which we are taking inspiration, Florida; it’s beautiful and colorful, but dark and unsettling too.“ Read the rest of the interview HERE and get ye to a comics shoppe on August 9th to grab your copy of Redlands #1! —————————————————————————————————— Working the Circuit Karen Berger announces the lineup of her new publishing imprint, Berger Books – Vulture has the details HERE. Katie Skelly was on Inkstuds recently, interviewed by guest host Joe McCulloch – listen HERE. Over on Comics Alternative Interviews Andy and Derek spoke with Gabrielle Bell about Everything is Flammable – HERE. Nicola Scott wades into the whys of how she’s drawing Wonder Woman for W Magazine – read the interview HERE. If you’re in the San Francisco area join Nicole J. Georges for an evening and celebrate the release of her new book Fetch on July 21st – part of the Comics in the City speaker series at California College of the Arts – details HERE. —————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 7-21-2017 – by Gabriella Tito —————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 7-21-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

The Hensley Interview

Chris Anthony DiazJune 1, 2016Interviews / The Diaz ArchiveTim Hensley’s SIR ALFRED NO. 3 is a tour de force in cartooning and storytelling, paying tribute to past cartoonists and comics, while also taking what came before him and yet creating a comic that is post-modern and unique. It is finally available through FANTAGRAPHICS and John Porcellino’s SPIT AND A HALF. Tim and Alvin Buenaventura did a work for the ages and added to the lore of Alfred Hitchcock and his films as well as the lore of Hensley, Buenaventura and PIGEON PRESS! as Tim stated on his TUMBLR, “They told me I could be anything I wanted… so I became a god.” This is very true that Tim became a “god”… a god of cartooning and comics storytelling that is! This short interview was conducted between March 2014 to May 2014. so, Tim beat me to the punch, completing SIR ALFRED NO. 3 and getting it out to the public, despite Alvin Buenaventura’s passing and the distribution very much in doubt, way before I finally posted this interview! This is no. 5 in a series of short interviews with writer-cartoonists that I have conducted, which began on my TUMBLR page THE SHED but now continues on COMICS WORKBOOK at THE DIAZ ARCHIVE. Tim has a TUMBLR page, which is an archive of his music and songs and writes comics articles on BLOG FLUME. Question 1: In your work, is the absurdness premeditated through the associations of your non sequitors, or do you just follow where a feeling takes you and then end up with the absurd tone in your stories? That’s sort of a chicken-egg dilemma, do I start at absurdity or arrive at absurdity, but maybe more the latter? Your use of the word “absurdness” reminds me of buying a copy of “The Theatre of the Absurd” by Martin Esslin in 1984 in a gift shop in Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare. I was tagging along with one of my father’s music tours, and we ended up there on a side trip. That book was probably my first encounter with academic absurdity. From reading that, I tracked down stuff like Artaud’s “Jet of Blood” and the Andre Massin typographic version of Ionesco’s “The Bald Soprano,” which might be my favorite graphic novel of all time although it is essentially fumetti. I guess that sounds pretentious, but I’m just trying to say I had been exposed to the idea of absurdity as a literary device fairly early on. But I am more interested in the feelings, whether pedestrian or not, than just a kind of Tourette’s assault. Question No. 2: Where do you get the basis creating situations for your strips on well-known figures, like Alfred Hitchcock? There’s enough truth in your situations that the fiction is very believable! From the public library. I’ve been drawing anecdotes about Alfred Hitchcock rather than a more esoteric director because there are so many easy to find books available about him. More than there are on Andre de Toth, who you were talking about at the L.A. Zine Fest, though it might be fun to do a series on famous directors with eye patches. (de Toth, John Ford, Nicholas Ray, Fritz Lang…) It is true that the more situations I draw the more they seem to conflict and become fictional. Question No. 3: What’s on tap next? Can you share any details on your latest comics project? I try to create some kind of onerous “five year plan” to follow with my comics rather than improvise, because I work full-time and am getting older and less indestructible. But I’m loathe to get into the details because someone who works at a normal pace could easily scoop me a few times over, not that I’m really doing anything that unusual. This week a bird built a nest in a crossbeam of our landing and was incessantly tapping on the window above the front door from dawn till dusk. My wife said the bird sees its reflection in the glass and taps at it because it thinks it’s an enemy. I was thinking, “Oh, that must be where ‘bird brain’ comes from,” but then realized it isn’t so different with my comics. I’m probably compulsively attacking myself to protect some transitory whorl of twigs. Or maybe I’m just trying to break the glass to see what’s inside. Question no. 4: How has music influenced your comics and vice versa? Well, comics don’t influence my music since I stopped making records 20 years ago… Both my parents are musicians so the topic’s bound to come up in my comics. Also the topic of silence or both at once. In general, I like to listen to music on headphones and in my car. Two products I’ve enjoyed recently are the Sly and the Family Stone box set Higher! and a compilation put out by Soul Jazz records called Country Soul Sisters. Question No. 5: Which past cartoonists inspire your retro-looking style? (Although I somewhat get a Chris Ware-vibe from the SIR ALFRED strips, especially the tiny four panel ones.) Currently I’m trying to combine Irving Tripp’s Tubby with Owen Fitzgerald’s Bob Hope. Share this page: [...]

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