Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Juan Fernández

Posted on July 26, 2017July 26, 2017

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01/24/2017

Aaron CockleJanuary 23, 2017NewsAaron here today with Sophie Yanow on the ground in DC; what we talk about when we talk about Chinese Comics; Paper Jazz Festival; Frank Johnson; some light reading (courtesy of The New Inquiry); Dr Seuss, political cartoonist. ————————————————————————————————— Dispatch from D.C. Intrepid reporter Sophie Yanow was at this past weekend’s U.S. presidential inauguration. ————————————————————————————————— The 174th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, January 24, 2017 at 7pm at Parsons School of Design, 2 West 13th Street, in the Bark Room (off the lobby). Free and open to the public. Orion Martin on The Largest Comics Industry Ever: China’s Pulp Comics Beginning in Shanghai in the 1920s, a vibrant culture of mass produced comics developed in mainland China. These pocket-sized comics, called lianhuanhua, became one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the country and were printed in tremendous quantities. In 1985, the peak year of lianhuanhua production, more than eight billion comics were printed in genres ranging from historical parables to adaptations of Star Wars. Demand for the comics has decreased since the 1980s, but hundreds of thousands continue to circulate in antique stores and online. R. Orion Martin is writer and translator based in Brooklyn, New York. He writes about comics, art, and the ways new understandings of comics can make them more meaningful to our lives. His work has been featured on Hyperallergic, The Comics Journal, and The Hooded Utilitarian. You can find him on Tumblr or Twitter. Here’s the Spring 2017 Symposium schedule as well, if you are interested: ————————————————————————————————— Paper Jam is now Paper Jazz Rising like a phoenix from the ashes, or like Jean Grey/Phoenix, or whatever, The Paper Jazz Festival has emerged as a replacement for the much-loved and now-defunct Paper Jam Festival. We do this in recognition of free-to-table/free-to-attend (or donation-based) fairs that have been running as long or longer than us like Pete’s Mini Zine Fest, NYC Feminist Zine Fest, Zinefeast, Locust Moon, Etc. We will also continue to never repeat exhibitors, which was inspired somewhat by the Toronto Comic Arts Festival’s policies. Our fest has always been a collective of influences, we want everyone in the zine/small press/comics/chapbook/editions community to feel welcome and appreciated. With this rebrand we want to emphasize safer spaces, inclusivity, accountability, and transparency. We encourage folks to reach out to us on tumblr or paperjazzfest@gmail.com. ————————————————————————————————— Frank Johnson, Outsider Cartoonist The Outsider Art Fair was held this past weekend at the Metropolitan Pavilion in NYC, and one of the highlights was the Dan Nadel-curated work of Chicago cartoonist Frank Johnson (1912-1979) at the Chris Byrne booth. From Nadel’s curatorial statement: From as early as 1928 until 1979 he filled 28 notebooks, totaling approximately 1800 pages, with a continuous comic strip detailing the adventures of a fantasy group of friends, “Wally’s Gang”, and completed approximately 100 cartoon drawings. This work was found by his widow after he died. Neither she nor anyone else knew that he drew them, and there is no record of his having published anything or even corresponded with any cartoonists. Nadel’s been aware of Johnson’s work for some time, and wrote an essay about it in the Summer 2005 issue of Folk Art: The American Folk Art Museum Magazine, pages 57-63. ————————————————————————————————— A reading list created by a group of Black, Brown, Indigenous, Muslim, and Jewish people who are writers, organizers, teachers, anti-fascists, anti-capitalists, and radicals. WE studied and pursued methods for revolutionary social change before Trump came to power, and our core focus remains the same: abolishing the ever-enlarging systems of hierarchy, control, and environmental destruction necessary to sustain the growth of capital. With the ascendance of White nationalist ambition to the upper echelons of empire, we have given special attention to struggles waged and endured by marginalized people for whom the fight against capital has always been a concurrent fight against Anglo-Saxon supremacy. Via The New Inquiry ————————————————————————————————— ‘… and the wolf chewed up the children and spit out their bones… but those were foreign children and it really didn’t matter.’ As always, Dr. Seuss provides us some vital context for these times. More of his political cartooning work has been posted as part of the UC-San Diego digital collections. ————————————————————————————————— Look into Donald’s eyes – look DEEPLY. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-23-2017 – by Sally Ingraham Suzy and Cecil – 1-24-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-24-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— 1-24-2017 – by Juan Fernández Share this page: [...]

CWCC 2017 Final Entries List

Sally IngrahamSeptember 7, 2017Santoro SchoolHere is the complete list of comics that were entered into the Comics Workbook Composition Competition 2017. Thanks to everyone who entered. The winners will be announced shortly (updated Sept. 7th 2017 at midnight EST) A Period Of Transition by Phillip Dokes Allen by Doctopmaru (disqualified) Are You Ready by G.R. Lear Awash by John Hexer Bloodsuckers Love Me by Jackie Kirby Canto V by Amanda Hamilton Columbus is Going to be Awesome by John Cihon Deep Clean by Sara Sarmiento Eksistensens Jeger by Addley Walker Force Fields by Paul Frog Legs by MK Girl’s Bathroom by Sienna Cittadino Good Boy City by Jonathan Tune Hangover Haiku by Foxitalic Here Comes Racecar by Alexander Moser Here’s the Light by Tor Brandt Left Over Soup by The Formal Kid Living Room by Chris Kohler Look See by Kevin Zych Meaning by Mariana Yatsuda Ikuta Morbid Orbit by Alice Blank Mother by Evan M. Cohen (disqualified) Muse by Brandon Alexander Berry Noffi by Niall Breen Origen by Josh Bowron Overtimers by TimersTimers and K-Un Ping Pang by James Abbit Push Thru by Jillian Fleck Reaching Toward Open Sky by LM Bolger Sandbag Spectator by Jacob Breck (disqualified) Sea Saga by James Coats Shop Class by Donald Price Slow Theft by Simon Reinhardt Soft Swords by Sam Meister Sweet Marla by Alex Williams Ta Ka Ra Zu Ka by Antoine Medes Teaching English in Taiwan by Iris Yan Tech Sector Baseball by Moose The Room by Louise Aleksiejew To the Mountain, On Your Own, At Night by Tanya Guryel Tone Deaf by R.D. Addams Touristing by Louis Deux Two Girls and A Caricature by Ari S. Mulch When I Grow Up by James Wilson List of entries from 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 If your entry is not on the list, please let us know so we can make sure it’s complete. Many thanks to R. M. Rhodes for compiling the list for us again this year! Share this page: [...]

06/28/2017

Juan FernándezJune 28, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con TARANTULA; Matias Prado en La Polola;2do Encuentro de Fanzineras; Álvaro Pons; CuCo8; Sole Otero; Joan S. Luna y Suehiro Maruo; y los tebeos de Cómics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— Reseña: Tarantula por Fabian Rangel, Jr y Alexis Ziritt. Growing up, having older family members who were also film buffs, I got exposed to movies that probably only film students get to see, at any age. I remember the first time, I saw Pink Flamingos, I was pretty freaked out. I remember the first time, I saw The Howling, and thought that Australians knew how to make movies better than we do. I also remembered when I watched The Good the Bad and The Ugly, and being blown away not only by Eastwood’s use of visual cues but also by Sergio Leone’s understanding of human nature. This led me to dig more into European cinema, specifically the ones made by Italian directors, and I found some masterful ones, even the pulpy ones. The movies made by Dario Argento and Mario Bava, were the ones that intrigued me, as they understood their audience and the real meaning of entertainment value. What these two auteurs also brought to the world of film and of entertainment, is a genre all by itself, “Satanic Noir”, a genre that blended exploitation movies with elements of Devil worship. I thought for sure, most of those movies were of a bygone era, that is until I read Tarantula, which brought me back to that period when I discovered those movies. Read it all over on Graphic Policy. Ya, por fin, pueden comprar TARANTULA! – Buy today. ————————————————————————————————— Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con Matias Prado acerca de como construyó su camino en la ilustración, su gusto por el skate, su paso por la mecánica aeronáutica, su amor por las sillas, referentes, viajes y mucho más. Jueves 3 de Agosto – Evento para recaudar fondos para el 2do Encuentro de Fanzineras. Santiago de Chile/Metro Irarrázabal. Organizado por @Comiqueraschile . La fanzinoteca del Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM) calienta motores con una exposición con los fondos de Álvaro Pons. En pocos días CuCo 8, la revista de estudio y crítica de historieta, estará disponible en la red. Mientras, tenéis los siete números anteriores en su página: http://cuadernosdecomic.com/ Sole Otero, la autora argentina, visita Barcelona para presentar su primera novela gráfica, “Poncho fue” editado por La Cúpula. entrevista Documentada en video por Underbrain Joan S. Luna entrevista al gran manga-ka, Suehiro Maruo. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-28-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-28-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

12/12/2017

Aaron CockleDecember 12, 2017NewsAaron here today with Shaw/Willumsen; Fox & Gal; Hernandez/Salinger; Josef Albers in Mexico (at the Guggenheim); Polish Animation; Domino Print Mag ————————————————————————————————— ‘I think of the workspace as like mood and posture, surfaces and height, very physical, and then communication or information possibilities are something else.’ Caleb linked to this in yesterday’s newspost, Dash Shaw’s interview with Connor Willumsen, but it’s worth a read if you haven’t yet had the chance. It’s always nice to see cartoonists talking with each other about the work. : But it’s an accumulation of all of these decisions that you’re making. You’re deciding to not draw these things and to draw things in a different way… I get what you’re saying, that it’s intuitive, but you’re still creating the conditions. It’s not like those things happen to you. : Right, but I guess I am sort of nurturing a perspective as if they are just happening to me. I’ve been giving some workshops lately and I’ve been telling people that it helps to get through a page, continue the narrative, by just blowing the space on the page they’re currently working on, you know, like waste a lot of space and draw something small in an expansive void. The way I look at the way the book did turn out has a lot to do with how I was feeling while I was making it, because I was trying to make it quick, like as close as I could to the speed of reading a comic, which is impossible, and so I was subject to my immediate state during any particular page. So if I was feeling bogged down with a page, if it I was feeling it was becoming too laborious for me in its detail or pace, if it was boring me, I would blow a lot of space on the page to get through that moment and start fresh at the next, and my thinking is if I had a intuition that that needed to happen, just for my own wellbeing in that moment, the reader would have similar intuitions during the reading experience. Like if I’m getting bogged down by a page so is the reader, and to give myself drawing space is to give the reader space at the same appropriate moment, as if at the same moments we would feel the same moods or rhythms, even though we can’t possibly read and draw at the same speed. ————————————————————————————————— Almanac 2017, Orbiting, Meow De Vivre Over at the High-Low blog, Rob Clough looks at recent work by Iona Fox and Penina Gal. Fox’s comics have two built-in advantages. First, in her occupation as a farmer and mountain cabin caretaker, she simply does things that no other cartoonist talks about. Second, her sense of humor is extremely sharp, and she’s able to bring humor to any situation. Fox also brings the perspective of someone with a number of intellectual interests, as her degree is in geology, she knows quite a bit about meteorology and it goes from there. Her self-caricature is one of my favorites, with a “fox curl” on top of her head and a collection of freckles, knobby knees and jumbled limbs. Her strips can range from a relationship strip about geese to a beautiful series of shots of sunsets. The strips pre and post Trump’s election certainly have a different tone, as she touches both on politics and protecting those around her. There are strips about undocumented dairy workers and their struggle for improved conditions. … Meow De Vivre is a much sillier project, but it’s also visually distinctive. Originally designed for gallery space at a hair salon, Gal actually does something original with cat cartooning. The “Singles In Your Area” page is hilarious, with profiles from “OK Catnip”. There are “pawdicures”, trash talk about dogs, cat selfies, cat haute couture, and a clever collage. Gal has an eye for gag humor that’s never been obvious in some of her other work (with the exception of Glamera, which she did with Betsey Swardlick), but it stands out here in page after page celebrating cats as familiar creatures or as performing drag. Once again, Gal’s watercolors are the main attraction, grabbing the eye without looking too garish. Being in a gallery, that use of color was obviously crucial for an audience, but it worked just as well on the page. ————————————————————————————————— Reading ‘Catcher in the Rye’ Today Via Gilbert Hernandez, over at the NY Times. ————————————————————————————————— Guggenheim Museum Presents Josef Albers in Mexico Albers’s collaged images also suggest a nuanced relationship between the geometry and design elements of pre-Columbian monuments and the artist’s iconic abstract canvases and works on paper. Several of the latter are titled after key sites in Mexico, and formal resonances between the two bodies of work become apparent, especially when viewed together as in the Guggenheim presentation. Albers’s embrace of pre-Columbian imagery may be considered within the complex and often-fraught history of modernist artists looking toward non-Western cultures for source material. His work contrasts with that of the revolutionary Mexican artists with whom he met on his trips, including Diego Rivera. At the same time, Albers’s long-term commitment to studying Mexican art and architecture also positions him as a prescient figure in the history of post–World War II American art, when artists such as Donald Judd, Ad Reinhardt, and Robert Smithson looked toward ancient traditions with a new sensitivity and self-awareness. ————————————————————————————————— At Anthology Film Archives: The 70th Anniversary of Polish Animation Polish jazz and abstract art, posters in motion and inspired collages created by outstanding visual artists like Jan Lenica and Walerian Borowczyk – it can all be found in Polish animation. These films are almost invariably auteur works: the directors themselves discover the stories, write the scripts, draw, paint, shape the plasticine, sculpt the plaster, and sometimes even record the musical scores for their films. Polish animation has long been celebrated for its dark, black humor and courage in exploring the human psyche. Under communism, it mastered the art of the metaphor, in order to elude censorship. Social satire has always been a Polish specialty. ————————————————————————————————— Domino Books‏ @DominoComics New PRINT mag about comics from DOMINO, coming in mid 2018. Coedited by me & @LFlipowitz w/ beautiful first ish cover from Jesse McManus! ————————————————————————————————— 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! ————————————————————————————————— Vision Box – 12-12-2017 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 12-12-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

07/26/2016

Aaron CockleJuly 25, 2016NewsAaron Cockle today with Tom Kemp Comics; RNC & DNC; The Heidi/Carrie Continuum; Dennis Cooper v. Google; SPACE ROPE; Art that is good, certainly not boring; New Rowhouse Auction Items ————————————————————————————————— Midden Feeder CW’s Featured Comic this week is by Tom Kemp from 2015, made for that year’s Safari Festival in London. ————————————————————————————————— Comics and U.S. Politics in the 21st Century In addition to The Nib’s excellent coverage of this past week’s Republican National Convention, Katie Fricas was on assignment for The Guardian. The Nib will be in Philadelphia this week covering the Democratic National Convention. Please check in with them should you require updates from the enduring, shambolic shit-show that is national party politics in these United States. ————————————————————————————————— Heidi/Carrie/Lynda Cartoonist, teacher, national treasure, and recent Eisner Hall of Fame winner Lynda Barry has a piece in the New York Times Book Review about young adult reading. ————————————————————————————————— Dennis Cooper Non-update Update The New Yorker writes about the recent removal of Dennis Cooper’s work from the Google platform. Juan posted about this last week, and nothing has changed in the month since Cooper’s work was removed without notice. Via Jennifer Krasinski at the NYer: Either way, Cooper’s ordeal is a chilling reminder that those of us who use the Internet to house our creative work do so at the mercy of the platforms who host us. In its general terms of service Google states, “We believe that you own your data and preserving your access to such data is important,” and “If we discontinue a Service, where reasonably possible, we will give you reasonable advance notice and a chance to get information out of that Service.” But it also includes a sweeping disclaimer: “We don’t make any commitments about the content within the services, the specific functions of the services, or their reliability, availability, or ability to meet your needs.” ————————————————————————————————— Casey Bohn’s Space Rope Charles Forsman‘s Oily Comics has released Space Rope: Mars & Venus, by Casey Bohn. ‘Three stories of the mysterious Space Rope from outer space.’ It reprints the original mini-comic from 2011, and includes 2 new stories. ————————————————————————————————— Some (optional) assignments from John Baldessari’s California Institute of the Arts class from 1970 They probably didn’t know that Baldessari was questioning art itself and in the middle of a crisis. That year he had taken all his previous painted work from 1953 – 1966 and cremated it at a San Diego mortuary. He turned from painting to photography. And he expected his students to rethink everything they thought they knew. ————————————————————————————————— Rowhouse Auction Update: July 24-30 New private auction up at auction.comicsworkbook.com. Lots of old and new comics for you to take home. Email Frank Santoro at santoroschoolATgmail for a password, if you don’t already have one. If you already have a password, it is the same from last week. All funds go to helping keep the lights on and further developing the school. Share this page: [...]

07/26/2017

Posted on July 26, 2017July 26, 2017 by Juan Fernández

Empezamos el día con La Polola EN VIVO con Sebastián Ilabaca; Antonio Altarriba y Sergio García; Mincho Magazine #13; Dis-Tinta, la historieta actual en argentina; Autoras de Cómic; Krazy Kat y el Museo Reina Sofía; La Competencia de Composición de Comics Workbook 2017; y los tebeos de Cómics Workbook!

—————————————————————————————————Cuerpos del delito. Entrevista a Antonio Altarriba y Sergio García en Bilbao24horas:

Cuerpos del delito es la historia de Miroslav Matjevic, francotirador serbio-bosnio; Ratko Petrovic y su banda, contrabandistas serbio-bosnios; François Laplanche y el Sargento Hervé Dumont, y algunos cascos azules del regimiento francés de Sarajevo. Cuatro vidas diferentes entrelazadas por una ciudad (Sarajevo), un año (1994) y la fragilidad del ser humano. Contiene un póster en el que aparece la historia en la silueta de un cadáver con la historia completa.

Bilbao24Horas: ¿Qué es Cuerpos del delito?

Sergio: Cuerpos del delito, básicamente, es un contenedor de historias. La idea surge de los dibujos que hace la policía en el suelo cuando alguien muere, generalmente asesinado. Lo que pretendíamos es descubrir que historia tiene ese dibujo de tiza.

Lo que hicimos fue dibujar la silueta de un soldado y en el interior contar su historia y la de su muerte, todo ello en un formato póster. Todo ello acompañado por los maravillosos textos de Antonio. Unos relatos cortos que complementan la historia y que, a su vez, también están ilustrados.

Antonio: Lo que me gusta del formato es la complementariedad de lecturas entre los textos, que cuentan la historia de los 4 personajes protagonistas, las ilustraciones y el póster. Se van superponiendo por capas niveles de lectura de la historia. Si solo ves el póster puedes ver la acción. Es una primera capa en la que vemos los desplazamientos de los personajes en la geografía de Sarajevo. Los textos con sus ilustraciones le dan profundidad a esa acción. Allí vemos sus motivaciones, lo que les ha llevado a ese punto e, incluso, lo que sucede después de ese momento que les ha llevado al asesinato. Me parece una idea innovadora.

Léelo todo AQUI.

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A post shared by Comics Workbook (@comicsworkbook) on Jul 24, 2017 at 8:33pm PDT

¡Está aquí por fin! LA Competencia de Composición de Comics Workbook 2017.

Esta vez el formato se trata de paginas con una cuadrícula de 6 viñetas utilizando en las proporciónes tradicionales de cómics norteamericanos – ¡con un giro! Encontraras todos los detalles aquí: http://comicsworkbook.com/comics-workbook-composition-competition-2017/

FECHA DE LÍMITE 5 de septiembre de 2017, ¡así que empiecen! El 1er premio es una estadia en nuestra residencia de arte, la Rowhouse Residency en Pittsburgh, PA.

OJO: Si necessitan ayuda entiendiendo las direcciones (a vezes son un poquito confusas!), mandenme un mensaje: fernandez.juan.j@gmail.com

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Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana:

Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con el ilustrador Sebastián Ilabaca EN VIVO en Chile acerca de las personas que lo apoyaron e inspiraron, de su paso por la escuela de cine, de su forma de ilustrar, los materiales que usa, su visión, proyectos a futuro y mucho más!
The newest edition, #13, of Mincho Magazine, the illustration and graphic arts magazine is now available.
Autoras de Cómic iniciaron un llamamiento por twitter para que les recomendéis cómic, tebeos, fanzines hechos por autoras. Es un thread asombroso, por que la mayoria estan disponibles en Español!
Dis-Tinta, la coleccion de tonalidades de la historieta argentina actual, editada por Liniers y Martín Pérez fue reseñada por La Nación.
El Museo Reina Sofía en Madrid se apunta al cómic con el que es, a mi entender, el mejor cómic de la historia: Krazy Kat de George Herriman con su nueva exhibición Krazy Kat es Krazy Kat es Krazy Kat.

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Suzy and Cecil – 7-26-2017 – by Sally Ingraham

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Joanie and Jordie – 7-26-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in los Cómics, News

Juan Fernández

Posted on July 26, 2017July 26, 2017

Explore

01/13/2017

Sally IngrahamJanuary 12, 2017NewsSally here, reveling in this week’s collection of cool women who have made or are currently making comics: Elizabeth Stohn, Julie Doucet, Rachel Masilamani, Jessica Abel, Sarah Glidden, Audra Stang, and more! ————————————————————————————————— I’m delighted that we are featuring Rachel Masilamani here on the site this week. Juan Fernandez wrote a thoughtful piece about her comics, highlighting work made between 2000 and 2013. Rachel began making comics in Baltimore in 1997, and has stuck with the form through thick and thin. She won a Xeric Foundation grant, moved to Pittsburgh, became a librarian, started a family, and never stopped self-publishing her comics, which often deal with intense subject matters. I am a big fan of her work and have so much respect for her as a creator – it’s an honor to share the city of Pittsburgh with badass cartoonists like Rachel. Read Juan’s thoughts on her work HERE. Juan doesn’t dig into Rachel’s more recent work, the NON PARTUM series that she published on Mutha Magazine – you can check those comics out HERE. Megan Purdy of Women Write About Comics composed a collection of essays about the comics as they were coming out in early 2015. Here are her thoughts on Plan B-200, followed by The Subject, Spontaneous, Habitual, Inevitable, and finally We Conceive. ————————————————————————————————— Dan Nadel shared this incredible blog post about the work of Elizabeth Stohn on The Comics Journal this week. The author of the post – Jim Linderman – found these comic strips (above) in a sketchbook and gathered as much info as he could about the young woman who made them 100 years ago. Really cool stuff – be sure to check it out. (Make time also to peruse Jim’s blog further – he’s been called “one of the world’s greatest pickers” by the New York Times, and his blog and the books he’s authored about the bits of American art and history he collects are wonderful!) ————————————————————————————————— Sarah Glidden has a new comic up on Tablet called A Temple in Time. “When the news became too much to bear, I tried observing an ‘internet Shabbat,’ where I could unplug one day a week. It didn’t quite work as planned.” The first page is shown above – you can read the rest is HERE. ————————————————————————————————— I got to read Jessica Abel‘s Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars while working at Copacetic Comics this week – I’d been looking forward to it for awhile. I love the world of rollerderby, and Jessica has basically taken that sport and propelled it into the future. Life on Mars is tough, and 15-year old Trish wants to become a pro “hoverderby” player and escape her family’s moisture farm. Things start to work out for her and her dream is within reach, but then a native Martian shows up and may just “dust” her plans. As it says on the Trish Trash website: “Check Trish out if you (or someone you love) is totally into sci-fi, rollerderby, reading about kickass girls, reading about kickass girls who are not white, and/or semi-dystopian post-environmental-collapse speculative fiction (oh wait, that’s everyone, isn’t it?).“ It certainly describes me, and despite not being entirely engrossed by the story I still have high hopes for it’s continued development. The “behind the scenes” Tumblr for the book is pretty fun, so while we’re waiting for the next installment you can explore the concept of rollerderby + Mars to your heart’s content. ————————————————————————————————— Poking around the 2dcloud website recently revealed an interview with Julie Doucet. It’s unclear who conducted the interview with her – the whole thing is oddly formatted and frankly frustrating to read – but it was interesting to dig into some of Julie’s thoughts about her present work, and her continuing relationship with comics – which is at the moment one of disconnect and disinterest, and extreme frustration over people trying to MAKE her current work “still be comics” in some fashion. “Julie: i simply had more than enough of it when i quit. had enough of the all boy crowd (something i was comfortable with for a long time) i simply lost interest in it. of course i kept reading my friends comics, but no more than that. when i say i feel i can’t connect, i mean i don’t know what’s going on in comics these days, i’m totally out of touch, i don’t know what the hell comics people are talking about, don’t know the new names, the new titles, the new publishers etc… 2dcloud: Reading Julie Delporte’s beautiful Journal recently, she mentions something about your new work still being comics in its own way. Do you think of your work in this way? Julie: i am not sure i agree with what Julie Delporte says. i work pretty much with words only! what i do is more like Dada poetry, if you like…i swear comics people INSIST to death, i HAVE to be doing comics whatever i do!! i’ve heard that kind of affirmation one million times!!! i don’t get it! why isn’t it normal to to other things?? like in visual arts, you can do whatever you like and be coherent in your work. why why why why am i not allowed to do just that?“ Check out the rest of the interview HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Various and Sundry’s Sara Lautman completes her week as The Comic Journal‘s diarist – her comics are HERE. She Does the City conducted a lovely interview with Annie Koyama this week – HERE. Mariana Harkness is organizing Headlocks for Hope – a fundraiser that brings pro-wrestling fans together in support of Planned Parenthood and The Southern Poverty Law Center. Check out the campaign HERE and pick up some artwork by Mariana, Box Brown, Pete Faecke, and others. Lauren Weinstein‘s strip on The Village Voice is quite exciting this week… The Rockettes Start the Revolution! Miranda Harmon drew up her memories from attending MICE last year – and shared a resolution: “In the coming years I will continue to make things, and resist, and survive.“ Eleanor Davis‘ upcoming You & A Bike & A Road (Koyama Press, May 26th 2017) made the National Post‘s list of 5 graphic books that are “a winning draw for 2017“. ————————————————————————————————— Superstar Comics Workbook student Audra Stang is back in Pittsburgh for her second Rowhouse Residency! She joined us in July of 2016 for a long weekend and drew the entire first draft of her comic Pale, Sick, and Magic (read it HERE – also check out Rob Clough’s review of that comic, as well as Love My Like an Autograph HERE.) Audra is joining us for a week this time. She is christening the new residency space for us, filling it with index card drawings and good energy – and digging into her new long-form comic project with the determination of a recent college grad who has every intention of making comics a lifetime adventure, and not just the thing she fought with her art professors about for 4 years…! It’s thrilling to have her back and I can’t wait to see what Audra gets done in the next week. You can read about her first residency experience HERE. If you are interested in applying for a Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency or just looking for more info, visit this page or email santoroschoolATgmail – we will happily answer any questions you might have! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-13-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-13-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— 1-13-2017 – by Juan Fernández Share this page: [...]

Frank’s Comics Corner #2 – John Byrne’s Fantastic 4

Comics WorkbookFebruary 16, 2017EssaysFrank Santoro on John Byrne’s Fantastic 4 – 2-10-2017 Share this page: [...]

11/27/2017

Caleb OrecchioNovember 27, 2017NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on Peanuts, Ron Wimberly’s LAAB, and other news. ————————————————————————————————— Charles “Sparky” Schulz’s birthday was yesterday, he would have been 95. As we all know, Schulz created possibly the most iconic American comic strip, Peanuts. Ever think about how every single newspaper still carries Peanuts? Remember when Snoopy sold us life insurance and would appear at the corner of your screen while watching college football? Has the Charlie Brown balloon at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade ever popped? How many psychiatrists have used Lucy’s football place-holding shenanigans as a metaphor? In fact, how many of those people have a framed image of Lucy’s psychiatrist stand in their office? Who hasn’t seen Linus recite The Nativity Story? My grandmother has a Peanuts recipe book. I saw a woman the other day with a Woodstock tattoo on her calf. How many of you knew who the Red Baron was before Snoopy?—be honest. My friend took his daughter to a theme park where kids could ride in Snoopy’s doghouse. Happiness is a warm cookie®. I could go on and on. Go ahead, think of all the places you’ve seen Good ‘Ole Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the gang. You can come up with a lot if you really think about it. They are everywhere. Comics are symbols, and Schulz mastered and exploited that fact to the max. Now his creations are everywhere, on everything, and still stand virtually untainted despite their overuse. They interact and inform our culture—what more could a cartoonist ask for? ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know LAAB (pronounced “Lab”), “The debut issue of Ron Wimberly’s collective newspaper dismantles lethal stereotypes of black representation in sci-fi & pop culture,” is nearing the end of its Kickstarter campaign with 4 days to go and nearly $10,000 left to raise. Wimberly is very smart and an important voice in 21st Century comics, and it would be a shame to not see this project hit its goal. Do what you can to support whether that means spreading the word, or through cold hard cash. Austin English debuts a new column at TCJ.com. Take a look at Winsor McCay editorial cartoons by way of Warren Bernard’s personal collection. Heidi MacDonald’s update on Pixar’s founder over at The Beat—the title says it all. Jason Thompson & Jumana Al Hashal are the latest guests on Process Party. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 11-27-2017 – by Sally Ingraham —————————————————————————————————Joanie and Jordie – 11-27-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

06/24/2016

Sally IngrahamJune 24, 2016NewsSally here with a stack of news that’s taller than me… We’ve got a report on HeroesCon, an announcement from Jillian Fleck, NPR’s take on Lisa Hanawalt, Heidi MacDonald’s Fall 2016 release picks, insights on Patrick Kyle and Andrea Tsurumi, an exciting development from D+Q/ALA, and a celebration of Mutha Magazine. Let’s dig in before we lose the light! ————————————————————————————————— HeroesCon was last weekend, and we heard it was a great time from all who attended. Comics Workbook special correspondent Audra Stang went on Sunday and reported back some of her adventures and encounters. Check out her report below! http://comicsworkbook.com/heroescon-2016/ ————————————————————————————————— Jillian Fleck – Comics Workbook alumni and maker of the ongoing Bad Thoughtz comic – is releasing Lake Jehovah via Conundrum Press this autumn! Jillian writes – “Lake Jehovah has been my insane passion project for the past few years and it’s incredible to think it’s going to be a real thing.“ About the story – “Lake Jehovah is a small town in northern Alberta known for its allegedly bottomless lake. It is there that Jay, a genderqueer individual, experiences a crisis of meaning regarding love in the face of a series of apocalypses.” – via Conundrum Press For some teaser pages and more details, check out the complete announcement HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Lisa Hanawalt‘s Hot Dog Taste Test got a shoutout at NPR this week. “If you’re a fan of the Hot Dog Princess, you’re going to love Hot Dog Taste Test. Lisa Hanawalt’s lushly illustrated, stream-of-consciousness diary reveals a soul cut from the same vibrant cloth as that of the 6-year-old who wore a hot dog costume to a princess-themed dance recital. Both the 6-year-old and the grownup diarist understand that there’s only one option for a free spirit confronted by the forces of conformity: You’ve got to go completely orthogonal. For a non-princess in a tulle-clad world, that means making an instinctively Dadaist gesture (and making national news with it). For a cartoonist who covers gourmet food — and even won the James Beard award — but is determined not to succumb to gourmet pretensions, it means filling a food book with Dalí-esque surrealism.” – via ETELKA LEHOCZKY Read the whole review HERE – get a copy of the book HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Heidi MacDonald (who runs The Comics Beat) recently put together the Publishers Weekly list of comics and graphic novels coming out in Fall 2016. (Pictured above is Jessica Campbell‘s Hot or Not, coming from Koyama Press.) “Fall’s graphic novels are teeming with emerging cartoonists exploring life and meaning, while established creators return to favorite themes. Riad Sattouf’s memoir continues, Jason Shiga presents a mind-bending puzzle, Sarah Glidden examines refugee life in Iraq, and Margaret Atwood turns to a fantasy about a cat-bird-man.” – via HEIDI MACDONALD Check out the list HERE. Starting with Heidi’s Top 10, and following with the complete autumn offerings, it is sure to make you start squirreling away some spending money in anticipation…! ————————————————————————————————— Speaking of The Comics Beat, John Seven reviewed Patrick Kyle’s new book over there this week. “Sometimes it’s better to just give yourself to something rather than to seek out its meaning. Not everything has to have one clear meaning, and in some cases, to bring concrete meaning to a work might mean imposing clarity on something that was not meant to have any. That imposition might actually come off as an insult, and the better approach might be to accept it on its own presentation, to let it be what it is. I understand the above might be confusing, but it won’t be if you’ve read Patrick Kyle’s Don’t Come In Here. The first indication that attaching meaning to Kyle’s work is not the point of Kyle’s work is the title itself, a direct instruction to not go any further, to not enter within its insular space. No investigation, no interpretation required.” – via JOHN SEVEN Read the rest of the review HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Harvard Magazine featured Andrea Tsurumi in their July-August issue, calling her work “comics to chew on”. “In Tsurumi’s work, details explode from the page. Her cheeky maximalism packs a visual punch, whether she’s using hard lines or a hazier, impressionist approach. Encountering it can be as overwhelming, trippy, and thrilling as visiting a new place—allowing the reader to see things in a more fun and zany light. Her sensibility, delighting in what might seem mundane, can resonate with people of all ages. It’s almost as if Tsurumi is sharing secrets of the world’s possibilities, and it’s exciting to behold—even if how she discovers these secrets and develops them on paper can be difficult to pin down.” – via SAMANTHA MALDONADO Read the whole article HERE. Keep up with Andrea HERE (although according to Tsurumi’s literary agent, Stephen Barr, “There’s no way to get ahead of Andrea’s brain“…!) ————————————————————————————————— Drawn & Quarterly is tabling at the American Library Association Annual Conference and Exhibition for the first time this weekend in Orlando, FL. This is a pretty big deal! Comics Workbook correspondent extraordinaire Juan Fernández laid it out for me the other night: “D+Q at ALA hits home the idea of libraries being directly in the loop of comics publishing. They are by no means the cutting edge, but the fact that the middle of the cultural road is being paved directly into conversations at ALA’s annual conference is a big deal. Comics to schools – comics to libraries – comics in museums – those are the new pathways that comics as a publishing form can garner new audiences and grow (publishers have been at this for decades now, but this is just nice to see).” – via JUAN FERNANDEZ Find Drawn & Quarterly at table #2263, where they will be hosting giveaways all weekend, and check out the programming that they will be involved in: “D+Q’s two panels are both at the Graphic Novel and Gaming Stage, which can be found mid-aisle 400, near booths 424 and 426: “The Best Graphic Novels You Haven’t Heard of (Yet)” – Sunday June 26th from 2:30 to 3:20 pm Drawn & Quarterly, Groundwood Books, and Nobrow Press are three international publishing houses producing landmark graphic novels with impressive production values. D+Q publisher Peggy Burns, Groundwood publisher Sheila Barry, and Nobrow US Sales & Marketing Director Tucker Stone will discuss their approach to graphic novels, preview their forthcoming titles, and share what’s in the pipeline for 2017. “The State of Graphic Novels Today” – Monday June 27th from 9:30 am to 10:20 am Drawn & Quarterly has been publishing luminaries of the graphic novel medium for over 25 years. Comics and graphic novels make great entry points for low literacy users as well as readers of all stripes, and the fastpaced world of graphic novels is booming. Join D+Q publisher Peggy Burns and executive editor Tom Devlin for a rousing discussion on the state of graphic novels today.” – via D+Q ————————————————————————————————— I want to give a shoutout today to Mutha Magazine and all the fantastic work that Meg Lemke does as Editor there (while also programming the comics and graphic novels side of the Brooklyn Book Festival…!) The magazine explores “real-life motherhood, from every angle, at every stage” and one of the ways they do that is through comics. I’m still working my way through all the comics on the site – there’s a hefty list! A recent offering was A. K. Summers‘ Those OTHER Nurses: A Nursing While Butch Comic which you can check out HERE. Other work that caught my eye includes Sacha Mardou’s The State I’m In, Rachel Masilamani’s We Conceive, and Lauren Weinstein’s Reflections on the First Week of Kindergarten. There are also several comics each from Tyler Cohen, Glynnis Fawkes, and Keiler Roberts, among others. Check out the complete Mutha Magazine Comics Archive HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Well, we got through the stack and there’s still some daylight left – so enjoy your weekend, play outside, go to the pool, or curl up on the couch with a comic – then meet us back here on Monday for our next foray into the comics community! Cheers – Sally Share this page: [...]

09/21/2017

Sally IngrahamSeptember 20, 2017NewsSally here with upcoming local and regional comics events that you don’t want to miss! ————————————————————————————————— This evening in Pittsburgh, Connor Willumsen, Noel Freibert, and Patrick Kyle will be reading and signing their new books at Copacetic Comics – 6-8PM. Details HERE. Catch the guys tomorrow in Columbus, OH, at Kafe Kerouac! Next weekend you can find Connor Willumsen at Cartoon Crossroads Columbus as a special guest and the featured Comics Workbook workshop leader. Here’s the complete programming schedule for the show. Even though I am fresh off of a fantastic trip to the Small Press Expo, I am already raring to go for CXC, which blew me away last year with its programming designed especially for cartoonists. ————————————————————————————————— Also in Pittsburgh, the 7th annual Pittsburgh Zine Fair is this Sunday, Sept. 24th 2017. 2-8PM. Full details HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Also, also – coming right up, PaperJazz Small Press Festival. Comics Workbook will be in Ohio for Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, but one of these years I’m going to make the tough choice and head to Bushwick instead…! Check out the show HERE and go to it if you’re in the area. ————————————————————————————————— The fall semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers starts October 1st 2017. 8 weeks of comics instruction that will bang your practice into shape – 500 bux. Full details about the course and how to apply can be found HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 9-21-2017 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

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