Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged alfred alcala, caleb orecchio, Chris Ware, don warfield, doug moench, ed hannigan, john costanza, kull the destroyer, Marvel Comics, roy thomas, sally ingraham

Caleb Orecchio

Posted on January 29, 2018January 29, 2018

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03/02/2017

Sally IngrahamMarch 2, 2017NewsSam Ombiri is here today with thoughts on influences and his recent adventures in comics post-production – plus all the Comics Workbook Daily Strips! ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here – David O’Reilly said something like “it’s real cool for people to hide their influences and to not admit them“, and that “people who refrain from admitting their influences tend to have the most obvious ones“. I think he’s saying that it’s not so important how well one can hide their influence or not be obvious – it’s just a reflection of a certain attitude prominent in certain people. There is something to be said to not wanting to list influences. I recall both Claire Denis and Stefan Burnett saying “listing them seems boring/contrived” after mentioning 2 or 3 things when asked something akin to what other work has shaped their work? I remember reading about the guy who created Mr. Robot – he was listing all his influences in this way that kind of drove me nuts for some reason. He said something like “Taxi Driver for the narration, Breaking Bad for it’s character arc, Blade Runner for its introspection” and such and such. It makes me understand why Matthew Thurber said “All of these shows make me want to vomit in the face of the indoctrinated fool who invariably speaks of them in rapturous tones. I’d rather spend my time cleaning out a ten-year-old Rapidograph, or picking a scab!” (Maybe I don’t understand why but for a moment I can share his sentiment!) Sammy Harkham was saying something akin to “An influence is a thing that if a solution to a problem wasn’t found, it would be a longer winding road in order to find it.” The problem being, trying to figure out how to execute something that’s not entirely clear. It sounded like a really optimistic thing – that art is made with what is already in someone, and is not exactly dependent on what art a person encounters. It seemed a bit of a mystical idea. Sort of “the man at the end of the search” type of deal. It reminded me of the time in The Dance of Reality where Jodorowsky says “Everything you are is already inside you.” Something like that. I remember it more from the trailer than the movie. I don’t remember the movie too well as I haven’t seen it in a couple years, or at least it feels that way. I remember Jodorowsky’s Dad fighting a bunch of Nazis – and this one anarchist not wanting to live in world where dogs wore clothes. I remember other things. I must disagree with what Nicolas Winding Refn said about Jodorowsky’s movies being about what we don’t see. (What Refn actually said was that Jodorowsky’s movies remind him that all movies aren’t about what you see but what you don’t see. Trailers are to a huge extent how he executes this idea, I think. The movies our minds see when we see his trailers and the movies that we see on screen, and all the ideas floating around in the movie that aren’t fully uttered… I think Sammy Harkham said something like “Plot is like a coat room for one to hang ideas in.“ I think really often Sammy’s ideas of cartooning are almost similar to Robert Bresson. Not that his work is like Bresson’s, or completely like Bresson’s – they at times share similar traits. Or at least traits in what Bresson says. I think what Sammy was saying was about what fascinates him in horror films, which sounded very much like stuff that Bresson would talk about. Or this whole thing he says of demilitarized drama, and everything having the same weight, similar to how in Brian Chippendale’s Ninja things aren’t brought so much attention to. How Sammy was talking about cartooning was similar to how Bresson was talking about a virtuoso playing music and how their faces and composure are completely controlled. Or how Sammy was saying he’d rather people’s sadness not be on display for everyone to see – it echoes how Bresson said, “The sadness on people’s faces when you pass them on the street isn’t readily apparent.” They also share similarly mysterious triumphs strictly in themselves. That’s not to say that their work is, I don’t know, too too similar. Maybe Sammy is hiding Bresson’s influence to be cool, ha ha. I know that’s not the case. I think in a way that’s why I link Michael Haneke with Sammy a lot. I’m very certain Bresson had a ton of influence on Haneke. I always in my mind link Harkham with Haneke, for what are highly shallow reasons – not thinking that there are major connections, but a certain extremely specific similarity I see. – Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— The Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency is a space where cartoonists from out of town can come for a week or more of comics-making intensive – but it is also a space for Pittsburgh’s local cartoonists to “spar” and train. Sam Ombiri stopped by recently for an afternoon tutorial on final production – layout and printing. Over cups of tea and The Lounge Lizards spinning on the record player, he completed his comic Haunted VHS – debuting at the Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo this April 9th! There’s always something interesting happening around the Rowhouse – comics to read and make and share. Learn more about the Residency program HERE or email santoroschool@gmail.com. ————————————————————————————————— The Spring Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers is about to start! Although we have a rolling start date this semester, the course will officially kick off on March 7th. We will continue taking applications past that date – Frank is always willing to make it work for your schedule. Just apply! The course is 8 weeks long – 500 bux – payment plans are available. Check out the comic Connor Willumsen made when he took the course – Calgary: Death Milks a Cow! More details can be found HERE or email santoroschool@gmail.com to apply. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 3-2-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 3-2-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 3-2-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 3-2-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

Rochester, NY Scene Report

Juan FernándezMarch 10, 2016Scene ReportsThis week’s Scene Report is brought to you by Steven Arenius of Panoptic Press. Rochester is located in Western New York along Lake Ontario, right across from Toronto. Much of the town as we know it today is thanks to Kodak founder George Eastman, an old-school tycoon who hunted elephants with Teddy Roosevelt and left one of the most concise suicide notes of all time: “My work is done, why wait?” Rochester is also home to Xerox, whose tower is the tallest building in our skyline. Rochester is bisected by the Genesee River, which lends its name to the local brewery and like the Nile runs south-to-north. It has been home Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. We have an abandoned subway, brutally frigid and gray winters, and a signature dish called the Garbage Plate that is best left undiscussed. Rochester’s newsprint art and comics anthology of choice is Hope Mountain News, curated by Mike Turzanski and Pete Lazarski, which has circulated locally since 2011 and has since been archived in full on their website. Their fifth and latest issue, The Million Dollar Canoe, takes a leap in format and style and is (in their words) “64 pages of weird comics, drippy monsters, and two color mysteries.” Pete also has an expansive collection of comic strips full of ghouls and wizards on his website, Imaginary Monsters. Local musician Dave Chisholm is an accomplished comic artist and author of the graphic novels Instrumental and Let’s Go To Utah as well as Tyranny of the Muse, an ongoing webcomic with Eddie Wright. Clayton Cowles is an illustrator and letterer currently working on a number of Image and Marvel titles. Ant Hill is an original ongoing comic series created by Nigel Carrington. The Rochester Teen Set Outsider (now National Teen Set Outsider) is the longest running zine in town and perhaps at the forefront of the medium’s resurgence here. Local poet, publisher, and H_NGM_N Nate Pritts is a wealth of comics knowledge, insight and enthusiasm. We first met him at the Visual Studies Workshop‘s Pub Fair, a great show that specializes in small press and handmade print. Given its size, Rochester is fortunate to have a number of great comic shops. We share a building with Comics Etc., which spotlights local artists and creators with a small exhibition on Free Comic Book Day. The back issues at Wonderland run the deepest and they host a biannual comic show. Dan from Comic Book Heaven has been very supportive in getting our first book on his shelves. All Heroes is home to a holy grail of 50-cent comics running over 20 longboxes deep, where a great deal of time has gone unaccounted for indeed. NeedleDrop Records carries zines and local print as well. The scene is alive and well elsewhere in Western New York as well. Over in Buffalo, the Itinerant Printer Chris Fritton runs the Buffalo Small Press Book Fair with help from the Western New York Book Arts Center. We met Stephen Floyd from One Percent Press there, who along with JP Coovert has been releasing comics for over ten years. Hex Records is a Syracuse-based hardcore label whose Translate zine features comics in addition to reviews, tour diaries, and interviews. The oldest annual convention in the country takes place in nearby Ithaca and is run by their Comic Book Club. We were guests at Ithacon 40 along with Camilo Nascimento and Hunter Schindo of Arhanta Comics, whose atmospheric comics are layered with sound and immersively framed by responsive web design. Queen City Comics and Comics For Collectors are the shops to check out in Buffalo and Ithaca, respectively. Share this page: [...]

03/13/2017

Sally IngrahamMarch 13, 2017NewsGrab your cup of coffee and dig into a new week with us – we have news and comics from Berliac, Sophie Yanow, Jim Rugg, Jaime Hernandez, and more. ————————————————————————————————— The Winter 2017 semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers drew to a close a few weeks ago, and now several of the students have completed their course comics and graduated. November Garcia‘s Cycle can be seen in full HERE – and Drew Lerman‘s Boucher’s House is HERE. The course is hard, but those students who stick with it and create a 16 page, full color comic, usually have the sense that they’ve just finished a hero’s journey. Congratulations to these and every other student who has made it through the woods, over the mountain, down the river – but there is no sunset for you to ride off into just yet – simply more fantastic comics to make! (To apply to the Spring 2017 semester of the course visit this page.) ————————————————————————————————— Berliac‘s new book SADBØI is available now in Norway, and he shared a translation of a review on his site recently – the review appeared in the publication Morgenbladet. “Berliac’s embrace of Gekiga aesthetics falls under what the Americans define – and often condemn – as cultural appropriation, ie a consumerist approach to aesthetics and forms of expression with roots in (minority) cultures which one is not a part of. And in his book SADBØI, this transposition of a traditional Japanese form of expression into a European context plays a central role. … The story of how the protagonist rejects the roles Norwegian society offers to people like him, fits into the artistic tradition in which Art functions as a magical realm where society’s rules and regulations can be redefined. SADBØI is a compressed sociological essay based on Jean-Paul Sartre’s treatise about social outcasts in his tribute to the writer Jean Genet, “Saint Genet” (1952). By disguising these ideas about social integration in a visual language that is based on what may be perceived as an illegitimate use of culturally determined forms of expression, Berliac creates a dynamic that makes the book something far more than just a pastiche.” – Aksel Kielland Read the rest HERE. Berliac is an Argentinean cartoonist who now lives in Berlin. We don’t have specific dates for when SADBØI will appear in the States – but it will hopefully be soon. ————————————————————————————————— R.J. Casey interviewed Sophie Yanow for The Comics Journal last week – they talk about her initial focus on autobio comics and her more recent interest in comics journalism, which has kept her extremely busy over the past year or so. “What are people’s reactions when you tell interview subjects or sources that you will be drawing them for your journalism comics? Do you tell them? I do tell them. Usually I just say something like, “I draw portraits along with quotes” because it’s the quickest way to get an understanding across. Most people who object are more concerned with having a picture taken as reference than the actual drawing. Your autobio work can get fairly abstract or minimal in terms of line work, but your comics for The Guardian and The Nib are much more representational. Is that a conscious shift in style? Sometimes in my journal comics I want to keep things abstract enough that folks won’t be able to identify who the “characters” are, since I’m not always drawing those comics with explicit consent. They are more like a diary. When I’m doing journalism, I either have consent or the legal right to talk about someone doing something in public. The goal is totally different. I don’t make the autobio comics to inform the public about issues.“ Read the rest HERE. Check out Sophie Yanow’s new book What Is A Glacier?, available to pre-order from Retrofit Comics, HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Image Comics has a Spotlight on Jim Rugg and his Street Angel comics, in anticipation of their release in April of Street Angel: After School Kung Fu Special. “IC: STREET ANGEL is remarkable for a number of reasons, with its utter lack of irony and great sense of design being high on the list. STREET ANGEL plays fantastic ideas straight—why was this the right tone for a story that could’ve easily been an ironic riff on pop culture? RUGG: I don’t want to make something that’s “so bad it’s good” or a “guilty pleasure.” I enjoy a lot of “trash” culture like wrestling, exploitation movies, and old comic books. And I don’t apologize for it. Street Angel is a kid with problems. It’s important to me that readers identify with her character. Struggling to fit in or to overcome your situation is universal. I like the juxtaposition of different tones. With STREET ANGEL, there’s a lot of room to bring in different genres and to combine the fantastic with the mundane. Expanding her world by focusing on some of the smaller details of her friendships, alliances, and enemies is something I want to share with readers. To that end, STREET ANGEL is the readers’ guide into this fantastic world. Irony would create a distance between readers and Jesse. I want to create a closeness. I want the reader to cheer for Jesse. She may not be the smartest, cleanest, or friendliest kid, but her heart’s in the right place.“ Read the rest HERE. I am definitely looking forward to more Street Angel – look for this in shops around 4/26! ————————————————————————————————— Panel Patters relives Jaime Hernandez’s The Death of Speedy 30 years later: “So much has happened in Maggie’s life since the death of Speedy. She found Hopey again but their love has become something different, maybe purer but not as bright or burning. Ray has been in and out of her life and had so much change because of Maggie, and not always for the better. Maggie and Ray’s love for each other is just as pure as Maggie and Hopey’s but has a whole different essence to it. Ultimately, Speedy was a moment in Maggie’s life but it’s shaped the character that she’s become over the past 30 years. From mechanic to punk to apartment manager and back to mechanic, the great thing about Jaime Hernandez’s portion of Love and Rockets is that we’ve gotten to see these women and men grow up, make mistakes and learn lessons (some of them the right ones and many of them the wrong ones.) And we, the readers, get to how these moments like the death of Speed alter the trajectory of these characters lives.” – Scott Cederlund Read the rest HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Quilt Scraps In a complex article on The Comics Beat which analyzes the BookScan sales analysis of the graphic novels and comics market for 2016…it becomes clear that comics aimed for a younger audience are doing best (18 out of 20 top sellers are for younger readers) and that Raina Telgemeier is making comic sales history. (“Altogether, Raina’s eight books sell a staggering 1.3 million copies for $14.4 million dollars in sales. To put that in context, that means that nearly 5% of all dollars generated by all graphic novels listed (all 21k of them!) are coming from the pen of one woman: Raina Telgemeier.” Read the whole report HERE. Jacob Khepler writes for The Outline when he’s not working on Mother’s News – last week he gave the world a heads up about planning for the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein, coming March 11th 2018! Read more HERE. Jeff Lemire talks to Paste Magazine about his comic Royal City – the first issue debuted from Image Comics last week – more HERE. Phillipe Leblanc interviewed Maggie Umber for The Comics Beat – they talked about her new book Sound of Snow Falling which follows a pair of great horned owls throughout a winter in the forest – HERE. The Comics Alliance rounds up a gallery of the “weirdest Silver Age flash panels“. ————————————————————————————————— The Spring Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers has begun! There is a rolling start date for this semester of the course and we are continuing to take applications. Just apply! The course is 8 weeks long – 500 bux – payment plans are available. More details can be found HERE – or email santoroschoolATgmail. Check out a comic by Winter 2017 course grad November Garcia HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 3-13-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 3-13-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 3-13-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 3-13-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

11/08/2018

Comics WorkbookNovember 7, 2018NewsSam Ombiri on Men’s Group The Video by Ben Jones ————————————————————————————————— I find I am often longing for a great comic. This longing has the feeling of a hole with a specific shape that only allows a corresponding shape to fit in. I suppose there’s no sense in wondering why I want to read a good comic; I mean I don’t want to read a bad comic as far as I know, although I don’t mind reading a bad one. There’s a lingering dissatisfaction that often comes from reading good work, taking it for granted how good the work is, and then moving on to the next good work to take for granted. There’s something rather depressing about it. It seems to me that Ben Jones’ work is often consumed along in this manner. It’s apparent when I run into a knock off of Ben Jones’ or Paper Rad’s work that it’s being done by someone who totally missed the mysterious and vague point of Ben Jones’ work. Which to be fair seems mysterious even to him. In an interview in his book, Men’s Group The Video, Ben Jones says “I don’t get Gumby. You can’t say he’s well animated. I didn’t even watch Gumby all that much as a kid. I’m not trying to call back to some 1970s nostalgia. I’m not using characters for their pop iconographic value. I’m using them as language.” He later says “I’m trying to use Gumby for what Gumby was intended for…” to which he adds “I’m deadly serious about my characters. I don’t mean this as a joke: I feel like Shakespeare, and I’m using star-crossed lovers. I’m very much interested in my characters as much as Shakespeare was interesting in using cheesy things like lovers and kings to tell interesting stories.” Men’s Group The Video benefits by not being jam packed with a lot of comics. This allows the comics to be more closely examined by the preceding text casually asking questions about the comics. In the case of Gumby, Ben finds himself optimizing what Gumby’s presence in Ben Jones’ work represents or invokes or communicates. There’s an interview where Kevin Huizenga says “Ben Jones has always been really inspiring to me, I think it’s because- this sounds stupid- he is very creative. He just comes up with amazing things. His work is unified in a strange way, too. It’s hard to explain. The way he’ll just draw a comic about muppet babies as if it’s no big deal and they’ll be rapping or something. It’ll be really funny but beautiful and scary too.” Men’s Group The Video is packed with what appear to be, metaphorically speaking, a magnifying glass to what Ben Jones is doing with the comics language (as well as other mediums). He has created this mythology of this collective called Men’s Group The Video that in a certain sense exists. The idea or the impression of the existence of the collective is used as a language of sorts to communicate a certain feeling Ben Jones is trying to get at. It also allows him raise new questions in this mode of communicating. Some “members” of this collective write essays, some, like the painter Joe Bradley, write poetry. Some “members” like Dan Nadel interview Ben Jones. Reading these texts are important in relation to the comics, because while the comics are immensely strong on their own, the comics are even more so felt with a certain depth. They also give loads of clarity, and somehow create more mystery simultaneously to the comics and art Ben did in Men’s Group The Video and the work he did with Jessica and Jacob Ciocci in the past. Ben’s work often seems to be about solving the mystery of him drawing what he did at the time that he did it. Ordinarily with most other comics, it would seem goofy to question the drawings in this way. It seems fitting to ask the question despite the goofy nature of the question, but the ingrained nature of what he’s drawing is goofiness. Ben doesn’t have a big answer to this question he just keeps circling it with more art and comics that don’t cease to be compelling. ————————————————————————————————— Cement Mixer – 11-8-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

01/25/2016

Juan FernándezJanuary 25, 2016NewsHello world, Sophie Yanow‘s got a new comic, Cozy out in Quebec’s comics magazine, PLANCHES. It’s a wordless, blizzard time revelry comic. Good reading for all of you out there buried under a couple of feet on the East Coast. Berliac‘s announced his latest project. SADBØI will be 128 pages long, and will initially be published by Norwegian publisher Jippi Forlag sometime this summer. English version will come out sometime after. Here’s where Berliac’s head is at with SADBØI. Social structures shape the individual into what we call “goodness”, and when it fails, correctional punishment is employed. Is goodness a real choice, then? In a world where Evil is the last bit of freedom left, SADBØI will heroically choose it, and craftfully make it visible to the eyes of everyone. Connor Stechschulte‘s second installment of Generous Bosom is now available for purchase through his online shop. He’s got a special package deal for anyone interested in purchasing Generous Bosom 1 and 2. Matt Seneca has said of GB1, “It’s a beautiful piece of work. It’s tough to make work better than this.” and “Probably the best sex scene I’ve seen in a comic in terms of realism. It’s perfect.” Heidi Macdonald of the Beat called GB2 the “most mindboggling comic of the year”. Dazzling, risograph printed erotic psychological thriller about the rain-soaked night a stranded motorist is forced to spend with a strange, isolated couple. Well worth your time. Sophie Goldstein‘s made the second installment of her 3-part House of Women series available for digital download on Gumroad. Science fiction meets psycho-sexual drama. Mysterious, tense and expansive. On the Pittsburgh front, I’m happy to relay the official communiqué that Comics Workbook’s latest publication, Zona, is now available for purchase on the school store. Zona #01 2016 – includes the work of Gabriella Tito, Harry Moyer, Jack Brougham, and Frank Santoro. 44 pages of comics – check it out HERE Pittsburgh Comics Salon – Saturday Comics Studio Jan 23 2016 Pittsburgh. Great turn out this past Saturday. Good vibes. Real cozy. Comics makers of all ability levels came out and held it down. Had lots of quality books for folks to peruse and copy from. Worked on modular comics composition. I was afraid that the snow was going to keep everyone at home, but folks came out full force. -juan fernandez Share this page: [...]

01/29/2018

Posted on January 29, 2018January 29, 2018 by Caleb Orecchio

Caleb Orecchio here with thoughts on amazing, dumb back-issues that won’t leave my brain, and other news.

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from Kull the Destroyer #19: Doug Moench, writer; Ed Hannigan, penciler; Alfred Alcala, inker; John Costanza, letterer; Don Warfield, colorist; Roy Thomas, editor

One of my favorite parts of comics culture is the scrounging for back-issues, which often feels like trying to find a lost wedding band in yesterday’s garbage—in a good way. I get a sincere rush from finding wacky crap from comic’s past. As I was scavenging the longboxes and finding some excellent garbage this past week, I was reminded of some things Chris Ware said in his recent RiYL interview:

“Most great works of art don’t work in the present, they work in the memory.”

“[Daniel Clowes] will draw things in a certain way, especially in his more recent work, that is very uncomfortable or strange. I know he’s looked at comics by cartoonists who might be considered awkward or almost naive just as a way of making an image that has–as I think of it, personally–hooks that hang in your brain and stay with you.”

In a recent back-issue find, Kull the Destroyer #19 (1976), there’s this sequence of “SHEMENON–THE GOD OF FIRE AND ICE–!” a wraith, a skeleton encapsulated in diamond whose “SOLE PURPOSE WAS TO FILL HIS CRYSTALLOID FLESH WITH LIFE!!” Very campy, classic mid-seventies Marvel stuff that the staff at The Comics Journal would have used as toilet paper. To read this comic in any way as to understand the narrative is a fool’s errand, and not worth the time of intelligent, discerning people. Yet! the images will not leave my mind! I find myself returning and going back over the fight between our hero and this jewel-encrusted executioner from hell!

Old dumb boy adventure comics featuring superheroes, barbarians and flights of action-packed fever-dreams tend to fall into the “Minor Prophets” category of the comics “Bible.” When all the history of comics is laid before us, it’s comics like Kull the Destroyer #19 that tend to get ignored for various reasons; but it’s these very kinds of comics that tend to infest our subconscious and become active images in our memory when least expected—like an annoying radio jingle or something.

Have you ever met a real Kirby-hater? Maybe you are one. You hate his comics for reasons others love him. People hate/love his weird knees, or they hate/love his square hands, or they hate/love the way he draws action or machines or whatever. Both parties remember the same things. Whether you like the art or not, the image is permanently branded onto the folds of your brain.

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if you don’t know, now you know

Ty Burr writes about How to Read Nancy, at the The Boston Globe, plus, the authors of said book, Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden, sit down for a radio interview.
On the latest episode of Comic Books Are Burning in Hell, the boys talk about their favorite comics of 2017.
Paul Tumey on Mark Campos, the Seattle mini comics maker at TCJ.com.
The latest Process Party episode features Jason T. Miles, and on the same site, Study Group Comics, Will Tempest begins a web comic.
Ryan C. has a guest spot on Your Chicken Enemy, he writes about Forsman’s Slasher.

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Collected from the thousands of pages of material that Frank has left scattered all over the digital landscape, these 4 PDF collections contain Frank’s best writing on comics and comics making from the past decade. Theory and process, reviews and discoveries, journeys both physical and spiritual.

Check out the “Best of Frank Santoro” PDF collections, available HERE!

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Suzy and Cecil – 1-29-2018 – by Sally Ingraham
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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged alfred alcala, caleb orecchio, Chris Ware, don warfield, doug moench, ed hannigan, john costanza, kull the destroyer, Marvel Comics, roy thomas, sally ingraham

Caleb Orecchio

Posted on January 29, 2018January 29, 2018

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01/26/2016

Juan FernándezJanuary 26, 2016NewsNews 2/26/2015 Julia Wertz gives a little tour around through her Studio apartment where she lives and works in Greenpoint, NY. Full of the oddest of ends, it’s a bonafide curiocabinet. It’s always nice to have a little more insight in the life of Wertz. Conor Stechschulte gives a solid walk through of the process of producing his most recent comic, Generous Bosom 2 on Breakdown Press’ blog. From planning to color separating, Conor goes through it all. An important read for those who wan’t to understand composing comics for print. Most of what you’ll see here I developed in the making of the first volume of GB. The idea from the beginning has been to make the book in a manner that builds in layers of editing and to allow for further editing by using (mostly) the same grid. This way, I can move panels around or chop two pages in half and graft them together, things like that. Nick Drnaso‘s Beverly is officially now out and available for you to bring to the warmth of your home. Nice preview of the work over at the AV Club. VICE has got the comics you’re clamoring for. Julian Glander, Steven Weissman and Leslie Stein. Jump on in! Share this page: [...]

09/01/2016

Sally IngrahamSeptember 1, 2016NewsFor Thursday we have a new Ed Piskor article, Zona #3 reviewed, the (nearly totally updated) list for the 2016 Comics Workbook Composition Competition entries, Jonas Goonface’s work in review, and some insights on teaching and kids. ————————————————————————————————— Ed Piskor is having an amazing year – and back in his hometown of Pittsburgh, PA, folks are feeling the the power of this force of nature. From the Pittsburgh City Paper: “Accolades for Piskor include last year’s coveted Eisner Award for best reality-based work, for HHFT Book 2. This year, he’s in mad demand as a speaker. In September alone, after an appearance at the Small Press Expo (SPX), in Maryland, he’ll speak at the Library of Congress’ National Book Festival, the country’s largest such fest. SPX executive director Warren Bernard calls HHFT “one of the finest pieces of graphic-novel history that’s ever been done.” Piskor’s fellow Pittsburgh-based comics artist Frank Santoro goes further. Santoro, also a critic, is internationally known for his comics, but he says that commercially and artistically, Piskor has reached another level entirely. “He’s now the most dominant player in the game I’ve ever seen,” says Santoro. “Ed has just gone above and beyond what has been thought possible.” ” via Bill O’Driscoll Read the whole article HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Chris Beckett dug into Comics Workbook publication Zona #3 on the blog he writes with Dan Flemming – Warrior27. “I have enjoyed every issue of ZONA thus far, but this most recent publication, with its wide variety—not only in artistic approach but also in genre and storytelling style—has been the best issue to date. All of these artists created insightful and engaging narratives—in only 10 pages—that stand with the best comics being produced by today’s larger publishers. You need to check this out. Now.” – Chris Beckett Read the whole review HERE. Get a copy of Zona #3! ————————————————————————————————— http://comicsworkbook.com/composition-competition-entries-2016/ The Comics Workbook judging team will be making the announcement about winners any moment now – stay tuned! Meanwhile, check out all the terrific comics that came out of this year’s competition – which garnered more than the last three competitions put together. Quite an amazing outpouring of comics and hard work…! ————————————————————————————————— Another Pittsburgh cartoonist – Jonas McGluggage (Goonface) – had his work review recently on Comic Bastards. “Follow the Leader‘s second issue reads like a bloody version of a William Blake poem. Depictions of naiveté and purity permeate a narrative that, at its core, is a commentary on youth and acceptance. Larranceville’s local park is a carnivorous Neverland filled with hungry Lost Boys.” – Ben Boruff Read the rest of the review HERE. Check out more stuff by Jonas Goonface HERE. You can keep up with Follow the Leader HERE. ————————————————————————————————— There was an eye-opening article on The New York Times recently about “What Kids Wish Their Teachers Knew”. “The responses were eye-opening for Ms. Schwartz. Some children were struggling with poverty (“I wish my teacher knew I don’t have pencils at home to do my homework”); an absent parent (“I wish my teacher knew that sometimes my reading log is not signed because my mom isn’t around a lot”); and a parent taken away (“I wish my teacher knew how much I miss my dad because he got deported to Mexico when I was 3 years old and I haven’t seen him in six years”).” – DONNA DE LA CRUZ Read the rest HERE. 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: [...]

05/09/2018

Juan FernándezMay 9, 2018los Cómics / NewsWomen Write About Comics, Vanesa R. Del Rey y Jordie Bellaire, Judith Gociol, Sindy Elefante, Daniel Jiménez, Klari Moreno y Lorenzo Montatore —————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: ~ en Español y “sometimes in English” ~ —————————————— Worth your time (& money): Women Write About Comics are raising funds to solve some tech issues. @womenoncomics is important for comics criticism and not a voice I’d like to see disappear. If you have a few spare dollars, I’m sure they’d appreciate them. The cost of moving WWAC to a new host, including all the background work to transfer seven years worth of archives, is more than we can handle on our own, so we’re asking for your help to get us over that initial hump. Our transition will also involve designing a layout that can handle the site. Donate today. —————————————— ¿Ya escucharon la cuarta entrega de #Womansplaining? Es sobre el papel de la mujer en el cómic colombiano y latinoamericano y tiene como invitados a Judith Gociol, Sindy Elefante, Daniel Jiménez – una conversación super, pero super enriquecedora. Tal vez uno de los nichos más permeados con la percepción de que eso “es cosa de hombres” es el cómic. Tal vez porque para muchos las historietas se limitan al universo de los superhéroes, o porque la idea del “comiquero” es la de un chico que se reúne con sus amigos a dibujar y a tomar cerveza. Sin embargo, desde hace algunos años, nombres como Power Paola, Sindy Elefante o Sofía La Watson han comenzado a sonar dentro de la escena editorial, no solo local sino también internacional. En este capítulo de Womansplaining hablamos con Sindy Elefante, autora de la novela gráfica Elefantes en el cuarto, con Judith Gociol, coordinadora del archivo de cómic de la Biblioteca Nacional de Argentina y con Daniel Jiménez, director de Entreviñetas sobre las diferentes maneras en las que la mujer hace parte del mundo del cómic. Una conversación sobre la rabiosa Helga, la esposa de Olafo, la hipersexual Yayita, la idea de que los cómics hechos por mujeres solo pueden ser autobiográficos y el importante papel de la mujer dentro de un universo en donde la autogestión es fundamental. Escúchenlo AQUI. —————————————— Muy informativa e interesante esta reseña sobre Redlands de Vanesa R. Del Rey y Jordie Bellaire en español, échale un vistazo: Tres brujas. La historia de todas las mujeres desde la Antigüedad. Sangre. Fuego. Venganza. Justicia. La sociedad contemplando su propio retrato de Dorian Gray. Establecido, pues, que las mujeres son las grandes destructoras y desestabilizadoras del mundo de los hombres, entramos por fin a hablar de Redlands, el primer tebeo guionizado por la colorista Jordie Bellaire (apoyada para desarrollar la historia por la ex-editora y amante de los batidos Heather Antos), e ilustrado por la dibujante cubana y valor en alza Vanesa R. del Rey. Desde las primeras páginas de esta serie queda establecido que las autoras han abrazado por completo todos los prejuicios y afrentas históricas contra la mujer y les han dado la vuelta para transformarlas en literales fuerzas de la naturaleza, encarnadas en tres mujeres muy diferentes. Léanlo todo AQUI. —————————————— En Revista Cactus 29, Klari Moreno se transmuta en Lorenzo Montatore en su entrevista dibujada. Estupendo. 100%. Léanlo la entrevista AQUI. —————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-9-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

11/23/2017

Sally IngrahamNovember 22, 2017NewsSally here with Egyptian comics, cartoonists on immigration, and a Happy Thanksgiving. ————————————————————————————————— The Atlantic has a great article about Egypt’s cartoonists – sort of a scene report of the Cairo Comix Festival, which took place in September, and an on-the-ground report of the comics scene as a whole in Egypt, where telling the truth is difficult and increasingly dangerous. “Despite a small readership—or perhaps thanks in part to their relative invisibility—comics in Egypt are blossoming in the shadows. “There is no distribution in Egypt. There are no graphic novel publishers. There is no real way to make a living publishing comics here,” says Sara El Masry, co-owner of an organization called MAZG that runs cartooning workshops throughout the country. But as other means of expression have been shut down, the cartoonist festival has grown, according to its organizer. With few eyes on them, these graphic storytellers are depicting the truth as they see it.“ The article profiles a number of comics makers from the country, including Mai Koraiem whose work is pictured above. “Other cartoonists at the festival approached their subjects with bare fists, particularly when it comes to gender politics in Egypt. In Traveler’s Diary, Mai Koraiem uses a rough, expressive inkwash technique to detail the history of women’s rights in Egypt and the Middle East. Through a journalistic narrative, Koraiem tells the story of the ascendance of a violent misogynist culture, and the unraveling of liberal feminist values she argues first found purchase in Cairo in the 1960s. In a small ongoing thread at the bottom of the page, Koraiem links the personal and political by including a comic strip narrating her own experiences with street harassment and sexual assault.“ Read the rest of the article HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Columbus Alive features the new exhibit at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, which looks back at how the topic of immigration has been covered by cartoonists over the last 150 years. “The resulting exhibit, “Looking Backward, Looking Forward: U.S. Immigration in Cartoons and Comics,” reveals that while the particulars of immigration may not have remained constant, the push-and-pull of public opinion as reflected in comics — and shaped by cartoonists — is something that hasn’t changed as the United States has considered the philosophical, political and practical implications of immigration. “There is a very rich history of cartoonists commenting on what’s going on in the world in terms of immigration to the United States, reflecting what people are thinking and saying, but also, we think, impacting how people are thinking about it,” Curator and Assistant Professor Jenny Robb said. “So we wanted to take a look back at the past 150 years and see how cartoonists dealt with it in their work. And not just editorial cartoonists, but in comic strips and comic books and, more recently, graphic novels.”“ The image above is the exhibition’s featured comic. “Robb and Gardner chose Joseph Keppler’s 1893 artwork “Looking Backward” as the exhibition’s featured image because of its timeless message, Robb said. The cartoon depicts “people who have immigrant pasts and have benefited from the opportunities in the U.S. in 1893, are now trying to stop new immigrants from coming over, forgetting their own past,” Robb said. “You could run that today; it would just be a different group of people.” “ Read the whole article HERE. The exhibit is up through April 15th 2018. ————————————————————————————————— On The Nib Rawand Issa details why Being Illegal is Unbearable – for Syrian refugees in Lebanon. ————————————————————————————————— Here in the USA we are celebrating Thanksgiving today – an often controversial holiday, as many cartoonists take note of. Lauren Weinstein‘s weekly Normal Person for Village Voice details the types of politically tense turkeys that grace many tables – HERE. Lauren’s also got a Thanksgiving comic in Seattle’s The Stranger: Here’s Roz Chast for The New Yorker of course: ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 11-23-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

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