Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in los Cómics, NewsTagged ANdrea Galaxina, berliac, Dolores sanchez, Francisca Carcamo, panchulei

Juan Fernández

Posted on January 31, 2018January 31, 2018

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07/05/2017

Juan FernándezJuly 5, 2017los Cómics / NewsJuan here. In observation of Venezuela’s Independence day, no news for today. Instead I offer you an opportunity to look into and reflect on the reality of life in my homeland, Venezuela. We’ll be back in action, with everything you need to know about Latin American comics making next week! Behind the Protests in Caracas (VICE) Grocery Shopping during Venezuela’s Food Shortage (VICE) El dia a dia en Venzuela (Reddit) Venezuela is Starving (WSJ) “Una Guerra Ajena” (Luis Manuel Aguana) Venezuela declared it’s independence from Spain on July 5, 1811. July 5, 1811 – July 5, 2017. 205 years, the blink of an eye. ———————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 7-5-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 7-5-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

09/27/2016

Aaron CockleSeptember 27, 2016NewsAaron here today with Discipline; Dykes in Print/Boiled Angel/CBLDF; Maintenance Art; Nadel/Dunham; Remembering Kim Thompson; Ford/Walden; French Comics in the USA; Portraits & Swinespritzen ————————————————————————————————— Dash Shaw is posting Diary Comics this week at TCJ, where he discusses the process of his work-in-progress, Discipline: This book is a long comic book, but it does not have any speech balloons or panel borders. The illustrations and the hand-written cursive text float on the page. This activates the negative space of the page, which lends the book a spacious stillness, or a quiet, “Quakerly” tone. This spacing relates to Civil War-era illustration, where elements hover inside of articles. Also, this allows me to write and draw all of the elements separately, so the book is easier for me to edit. With the conventional comic approach, usually the insertion of a panel throws off all of the other panels in the book. Because of the collage-like structure of my book, I can easily insert illustrative moments and pieces of text and research/write while still making new drawings. ————————————————————————————————— Censorship: Don’t Do it! In celebration (?) of Banned Books week, Pen.org has a piece by Jennifer Camper, Dykes in Print: And the Guardian revisits the Mike Diana Boiled Angel trial and the origins of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund: Set up in 1986, the CBLDF exists to fight censorship of comic books, protect the First Amendment right to free speech and, more pragmatically, to provide legal representation for comics creators facing prosecution. Founder Denis Kitchen was running Kitchen Sink Press, a publisher of underground comics, when he heard about a police raid on Friendly Frank’s comic shop in Chicago. Six officers had seized seven titles, including erotic comic Omaha the Cat Dancer, Robert Crumb’s anthology Weirdo and SF-smut comic Heavy Metal, and arrested manager Michael Correa. Friendly Frank’s was shut down for five days, but not before one of the arresting officers told newspapers there was a “satanic influence” in the comics seized. Kitchen was appalled. “I realised immediately that if police officers with built-in Satan detectors could get away with making arrests and seizing objectionable comic books, much more than the comics industry was at stake,” he says. He swiftly raised $20,000 for a fighting fund, helped by comics heavyweights like Crumb and Frank Miller. “It was gratifying to see that sudden unity among the comics community,” Kitchen says. “I was more used to people squabbling.” ————————————————————————————————— Mierle Laderman Ukeles: Maintenance Art at Queens Museum This first survey of Ukeles’ work is organized by the Queens Museum’s Larissa Harris and guest co-curator Patricia C. Phillips, who initiated the project in 2012. The show will span five decades, from her work as a pioneer of feminist performance to a practitioner of public art, in which Ukeles invites us to reconsider indispensable urban systems and the workers who maintain them. Ukeles is undoubtedly best-known for her 36+ year role as the official, unsalaried Artist-in-Residence at New York’s Department of Sanitation. Unprecedented when it began in 1978, this residency has now become a model for municipalities engaging with artists as creative agents. ————————————————————————————————— Dan Nadel on Carroll Dunham’s drawing at Hyperallergic: Dunham and his peers had emerged from a conceptual and process-oriented New York milieu in which a number of artists were exhibiting and redefining drawing as a primary medium, including Barry Le Va, Dorothea Rockburne (who Dunham and Kendrick assisted), Mel Bochner, and Sol Lewitt. Connecting these and other artists was the removal of both the image and the artist’s sensuous touch, replaced with rigorous conceptual procedures. In contrast, Terry Winters notes that he and Dunham “saw drawing and making things by hand as a way out of or into art. We were reconnecting with gesture and touch, and their capacities to register other kinds of information not available through logic.” They were also finding kinship with artists that were not highly considered at the time, such as the mid-20th century German painter and photographer Wols and the American post-war painter William Baziotes, both of whose work defied categorization and remained outside of the contemporary dialogue. ————————————————————————————————— At the ever-enduring Comics Reporter blog, Tom Spurgeon remembers Fantagraphics publisher Kim Thompson, and looks at the aging of the ‘alt-comics’ crowd: The thing that stuck in my head, though, throughout today, was how many people texted and e-mailed that they thought Kim was older than 60 when he passed away. I think that’s because Kim and Gary Groth and their roughly same-age peers were either the first generation of alt-comics publishers or the first generation since the first generation to enter mainstream comics in a significant way. So you have a lot of people 55-65 with trackable careers two, three, four decades long in an established arts industry, which is rare outside of a few precocious creative talents. ————————————————————————————————— Sean Ford recently conducted an interview with Tillie Walden, posted on Inkstuds. ————————————————————————————————— French Comics Framed Festival NYC, 27 September-5 November Sept 27 – Nov. 5: French Comics Framed – Exhibition The Cooper Union, Foundation Building, 7 East 7th Street, NY 10003 Oct. 4: Panel by Asaf & Tomer Hanuka The Society of illustrators, 128 East 63rd Street, NY, NY 10065 Oct 6-9: Meet our artists on booth #1558 at New York Comic Con and on the Artist Alley Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, 655 W. 34th St., NY, NY 10001 Oct. 6, 7pm: French Comics On Screen: Film Adaptations of Franco-Belgian Graphic Narratives The School of Visual Arts, 209 E 23rd St, 3rd floor Oct. 7, 6:30pm : How to Draw a Life: The Rise of Graphic Biography in France Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue, NY 10029 Oct. 8, 1:30-2:30pm: Drawing From the World: Franco-Belgian Comics in Global Context New York Comic Con (room 1B03), Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, 655 W. 34th St., NY, NY 10001 Oct. 8, 7pm: Reconstructing Comix: The “Architecture” of Franco-Belgian Graphic Narratives, from Tintin to Today The Great Hall of Cooper Union, Foundation Building, 7 East 7th Street, NY, NY 10003 Nov. 1, 7pm: Panel discussion: Drawing the unspeakable Columbia University 116th St & Broadway, NY, NY 10027 ————————————————————————————————— Help send Connor Willumsen to the UK for The Lakes International Comic Arts Festival in October! He will be teaching workshops with Frank Santoro and Aidan Koch while there – if you’re in the area check it out. To help him get to the show, Comics Workbook is offering two new Connor publications. Portraits and Swinespritzen – both limited editions, both incredible. Share this page: [...]

08/27/2018

Caleb OrecchioAugust 27, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with brief thoughts on Lale Westvind’s, Grip. ————————————————————————————————— I’ll keep this brief; Lale Westvind’s Grip, part 1, is on the cutting edge of comics. Sally wrote about this book a month ago and I don’t have much to add to her praise, but it’s worth re-emphasizing the brilliance of this comic. Lale has been at the forefront of the wave of young cartoonists for years now and this volume has cemented this fact. Grip harnesses the bold visual whacky-ness of the Golden Age while maintaing the solid structure of the Silver Age, and blasts forward and upward as a work of immediacy that speaks to today’s consciousness. To compare the work to any “Age” really other than maybe “the PictureBox Age” can do this comic a disservice because, despite the influence, Westvind has left the past in the dust and has crafted a brand new comic that has no better home in time other than the present. The riso colors, printed by Perfectly Acceptable Press, sing. Westvind makes great use of the printing technology. So much so that, I’m not even going to add my favorite images to this blog post because I want you to look at them for yourself in real life. It is worth noting the omission of words. This, I think, elevates the work immensely and benefits from individual interpretation. There is an obvious thread of an appreciation of women who work with their hands that is at the visual forefront of the narrative, but the very nature of the sequencing leaves a lot to the reader to decide what the underlying symbolism means for themselves. I said keep I’d this brief so I will end by simply stating the obvious that this is a very exciting book to say the least. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

09/18/2017

Caleb OrecchioSeptember 18, 2017NewsCaleb Orecchio here with your post SPX 2017 review, and some links. ———————————————————————————————— Want to start by saying thanks to Frank Santoro for taking care and sticking his neck out for his “kids.” My SPX experience would not be nearly as fruitful or as interesting without Frank. Also want to thank Sally Ingraham who also runs herself ragged making sure us Comics Workbook “kids” are having the most beneficial experience. ———————————————————————————————— I am writing this on Monday morning, the day after SPX 2017 ended. My tank was practically empty by the end of the day as I went through all the events of the week/end in my mind. It was a really fun show where I participated in running workshops and being a gopher for Comics Workbook. On Thursday, I tagged along with Frank Santoro, Sally Ingraham, and Audra Stang from Pittsburgh to Bethesda, Maryland where SPX is held. Friday I got to meet thee great Gilbert Hernandez during a secret workshop Frank set up for his “kids.” We drew our “Blubber-esque” comics while Gilbert and Frank riffed. Everyone in attendance had their work reviewed by Mr. Hernandez–needless to say we all had a fantastic time–just happy to spend time with and talk to one of the great cartoonists walking the earth right now. Saturday and Sunday were busy busy busy busy. Comics Workbook held workshops in Glen Echo Room, four on Saturday and four on Sunday. The excellent Juan Fernandez kicked off the weekend of workshops with roaring energy and a full house–Juan is an excellent comics educator who never ceases to impress me. Liz Reed gave tutorials on making characters out of clay–I was called elsewhere, but form all accounts the experience was really great. I, along with Audra Stang, had to be bouncers for Gilbert Hernandez’s workshop that Frank moderated. We filled the room to the brim–the hotel staff was concerned because we had to form two lines that snaked through two hallways. A lot of people had to be turned away simply because we had no room. As I stayed outside the room making sure no stragglers trespassed, I talked to Whit Taylor before she went to moderate her panel held in the White Oak Room. Gilbert’s workshop saw people like Tom Spurgeon and Noel Freibert making it in before we had to basicially guard the door. Connor Willumsen had to follow Gilbert and he killed. Connor filled the room too and led an excellent workshop. The incredible Alexis Ziritt led the first workshop on Sunday. What a nice, talented guy. Kids both young and old drew and laughed for an hour through Alexis’ great workshop. Next up was Sally and Audra co-piloted a workshop. Both are experienced comics educators and had really excellent results. The joy in the room was bursting and the comics made were many. Great tag-team. After that, Sally helped me lead a “free-draw” workshop. I had particular topics I wanted to talk about but talked about none of them. Instead I discussed my process of making my (“daily”) comic-strip, Joanie and Jordie. I drew an improvised J&J live which people seemed to think was funny. Sally helped me to focus the workshop making great points and giving me good prompts. Had good questions to answer from the crowd too. Finally, Mardou ended the CW workshops with a reading of an upcoming book and presentation of her process. Mardou is great, there is a showmanship to her presentations and made me laugh out loud. Great presentation for those who want to up their storytelling game. Had a couple shifts at the CW table in the main exhibitor hall. Frank’s longboxes, of course, are famous and 10 minutes don’t pass without someone commenting on how happy they are to see Frank’s longboxes there. CW was also selling my comic, a collection of J&J strips called Poor Little Joanie. I was happy to see it sold fairly well. Some people were familiar with the strip who I didn’t know which was nice. Same with Sally and Gabriella Tito’s collection of Suzy and Cecil strips. I had a couple customers who bought both. I kept my eye on the Simon Hanselmann Truth Zone collections–those things are coveted by many. Got to talk to Jim Rugg while I tabled–Jim is always very nice and attentive. A good tablemate. Saw thee great Bill Boichel and he told me he wanted to buy a handful of copies to sell at his store. It was busy busy busy out on the floor. Got to see Alyssa Berg who I hadn’t seen since CXC last year. Her new riso comics are fantastic–she’s taking her paintings and converting them to riso for print. The results are fantastic. Got to meet Cameron Nicholson for the first time. And Tyler Landry. It was an amalgamation of familiar and new people to see irl: Kate Harmon, Kurt Ankeny, Adam Griffiths, Jenn Lisa (makes excellent cookies), RM Rhodes, Simon Reinhardt, Megan Turbitt, etc. etc. I’m exhausted–in a good way. I’m depleted, left it all out on the court. Thanks again to Frank and Sally who lead the way for us CW “kids.” ———————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Koyama Press announces Spring 2018 Line-up TCJ has dug up their Len Wein interview from the archives. Brian Nicholson reviews Farel Dalrymple’s Pop Gun War: Chain Letter. ———————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 9-15-2017 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

04/20/2017

Sally IngrahamApril 19, 2017NewsToday Sam Ombiri looks at work by GG and Gloria Rivera, and Sally shares new work by K. L. Ricks, updates from Yona Harvey, Shannon Wright, and more! ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here, going through š! #25 ‘Gaijin Mangaka’: GG’s comic in š! #25 ‘Gaijin Mangaka’ (above) had a poetic, slow, rhythmic passage of time, with a mystery unraveling – and simultaneously, less clarity is achieved as time progresses. Even so, there is density present in the simple things going on, and elements of the story are moving towards something unrelenting. We come back to our senses with a very grounded comic from Gloria Rivera (above). It almost feels like it does not fit in this book. It certainly does not stick to the gimmick of recycling manga tropes for alt comic readers, as I initially anticipated. It is then surprising in how sincere it is about this simple interaction – someone’s terror of the complications of being. The work was explained by Gloria Rivera in the introduction of Gaijin Mangaka – “The more you do research, the more you end up at the ‘weird part.’ ” For her, this included the special genre of Josei manga, made by and for adult women, which Rivera considers an alternative form in itself, in which “women are no longer in the background, or victims. They are given their own stories with true breadth. Although sometimes they can seem villainized, the discourse that comes attached with those characters has a profound effect on its audience.“ I’d like to think that Gloria’s success in her comic is independent of the manga she read. I’m sure the manga helped her, but at the end it was all her. I mean, am I just reading this work because there are artists who make compelling work somewhere else? I highly doubt it, otherwise I wouldn’t be compelled myself by the work. While the introduction of the book is great, there are points where you are being told which aspects of the work to be compelled by. It then proves to be a challenge to engage with the work, because a foreign entity has entered the work and proceeded to guide you, the reader. It places the reader in the role of someone who is there to regurgitate the feelings of the one who is contextualizing the work. The real exciting moments of the anthology are the points at which the selling point of Gaijin Mangaka – being manga themed – is almost entirely ignored, or not prioritized at the expense of the comic. This happens with Gloria’s contribution, or Mickey Zacchilli’s contribution. I hesitate to say, but it’s the work itself turning into the selling point, as opposed to the way it’s being contextualized in the book. It is more that at the end of the day, I like the work. I like all this stuff in the book – I have my preferences, but it is not motivated by a simple idea like, “Because the manga has influenced the comic, it means I like the comic.” When I was getting into alt comics, what I saw as “alt” was really unspecific. One of the main attitudes I saw as “alt” was whatever the crazy thing might be, “it’s not such a big deal” – and that even applied to artists appropriating the typical manga drawing styles. The works that I really responded to in Gaijin Mangaka were the ones where manga’s influence wasn’t so apparent, or it wasn’t what was carrying the comic. I probably felt that way because the work felt like it was being sold to the audience as “alternative cartoonists” doing a bunch of manga-influenced work. Manga’s influence is increasingly present. In fact, the book gags you with this influence, and overloads you with it. The problem is that it almost distracts from the work – but still it’s a great anthology all together. – Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— Sally here – K. L. Ricks has a new comic up on her site – Nesting (first page is above). It was made for the Critical Chips anthology, edited by Zainab Akhtar. You can see the rest of this, and plenty more of her work HERE. ————————————————————————————————— There’s a good piece on Fusion about the new Black Panther & The Crew, co-written by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Pittsburgh’s Yona Harvey. The first issue kicked off recently, and has been garnering admiration and excitement. It is proving to be quite topical as well, but this shouldn’t be surprising. “While Coates and Harvey might not have set out to write Black Lives Matter: The Comic, it’s obvious that they’re writing from perspectives shaped, in part, by their experiences as black Americans. Black Panther & The Crew isn’t a “black story” solely meant to appeal to black fans. It’s a story written by black authors, centered around black characters, and featuring themes that reflect the lived experiences of real black people. That distinction is important.“ Read the rest of the article HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Ebony ran a feature on Shannon Wright recently, focusing in a series she did on the hairstyles of black women. Although her work has been leaning toward illustration more so than comics lately, I’m hoping she will direct her energy and passion back into the medium soon. Regardless, her word of advice to other creatives holds true: “Make work that you’re passionate about because people can definitely tell when you’re not in it. Be kind to people. Don’t create work that’s going to make people feel like they don’t belong. Honesty goes a long way in your work. People notice when you stand by your values.“ Read the rest of the feature HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Check out the Cartoonists of Color Database. Built and maintained by MariNaomi, you can find the names and information of almost 1,000 cartoonists of color. ————————————————————————————————— Everyone wants to spend time outside as spring pulls itself together in earnest – you need good books and comics to read on blankets spread out in the sun. Consider adding The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey to your picnic basket, for a compelling afternoon read that will also inspire you to head back into your studio to try and make new and better comics yourself! Check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 4-20-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-20-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-20-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

01/31/2018

Posted on January 31, 2018January 31, 2018 by Juan Fernández

Juan empieza el día con un PSA y con Bombas Para Desayunar!

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Friendly PSA to Santoro School Students past,present, and future:
Ever get that feeling when you’re trying to write plot and explore narrative, but your brain only provides you with out-of-sequence snippets built on vague ideas and an endless number of potential outcomes that develop and branch out unnaturally over an unspecified timespan?

This is how our brains work. Recent findings in neuroscience confirm this notion. (Baldassano, Chen, Zadbood, Pillow, Hasson & Norman – Zacks, Speer, Swallow, and Maley) When we work on narrative art we’re reverse engineering much of our brain’s natural event and detail segmentation. Straight up, it’s hard work to create work that reads like it’s own reality. This is why we at the Santoro School use index cards.

We crystallize thought through action onto index cards, and then can, theoretically, stand outside of time in the editing process to make narratives come together.

So remember, do your warm ups, then jump into your index cards and let the thoughts flow. Don’t be precious, just keep the thoughts, feelings, images and words flowing. Jot that “noise” down. When you pull away from that flow, rest assured you’ll be able to rearrange them into coherent sequences for readers or viewers to parse.

-JF

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Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana:
~ In English and en Español ~

Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con Panchulei (Francisca Cárcamo) dibujante, escritora, editora de Pánico Ediciones y dueña de la librería del mismo nombre. Hablaron acerca de la injusta diferencia en la cantidad de hombres versus la cantidad de mujeres invitadas a festivales, conversaron acerca del mundo de la historieta, los festivales, las mejoras que pueden construir y los espacios que aún faltan por explorar.
Aquí hay fanzines de Bombas para Desayunar para leer de gratis – Bombas para Desayunar es una microeditorial de fanzines que nació en 2009 en Oviedo de mano de Andrea Galaxina. Después ha estado unos años afincada en Muriedas (Cantabria) y en Bergen (Noruega) y en la actualidad tiene sede en Madrid.
Te invito a leer: ‘Dolores Sánchez’, el segundo capítulo del comic biográfico sobre Emilia Pardo Umaña (1907-1961), primera periodista colombiana. una historia de @canelaflorez y @altais
Crítica de Sadboi de Berliac a cargo de Álvaro Arbonés en CuCo 9.

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Convocatorias + Deadlines:

¡¡Convocatoria abierta del I Concurso Nacional de Cómic Biblioteca Insular de Gran Canaria!! 3 premios y 9 accésits con una dotación de entre 3.000 y 400 euros y la publicación de las obras ganadoras en un volumen conjunto editado por Astiberri. Bases.
Deadline Reminder: submissions for Ink Brick no. 9 are due Monday, Feb 19, 2018! Do yourself a favor and submit your comics-poetry, won’t you?
Call for Chapter Contributions: Comics Beyond the Page in Latin America.

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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 – 1-31-2018 – by Gabriella Tito

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Joanie and Jordie – 1-31-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in los Cómics, NewsTagged ANdrea Galaxina, berliac, Dolores sanchez, Francisca Carcamo, panchulei

Juan Fernández

Posted on January 31, 2018January 31, 2018

Explore

04/04/2018

Juan FernándezApril 4, 2018los Cómics / NewsRaquel Echenique, Jim Puk, y un poquito sobre El Fruto Prohibido! —————————————— 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. ————————————————————————————————— 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. ————————————————————————————————— 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 ————————————————————————————————— 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 ————————————————————————————————— 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 ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-4-2018 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-4-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

PIX 2016 | Bill Griffith Interview

Juan FernándezJune 20, 2016InterviewsCWTV interviews Bill Griffith, one of underground comics’ founding fathers, about his almost 50 years of making work. Bill is the creator of Zippy the Pinhead (among 3,407 other things) // en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Griffith Get Bill’s latest, the beautiful graphic memoir INVISIBLE INK // copaceticcomics.com/comics/invisible-ink-my-mother-s-secret-love-affair-with-a-famous-cartoonist Video by Michael Pisano and Di-ay Battad // michaelpisano.com // cargocollective.com/di-ay Share this page: [...]

05/14/2018

Caleb OrecchioMay 14, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on Betsy and Me by Jack Cole, and other news.———————————————————————————— Hey comics lovers, doing alright? I’m doing alright. I’m a bit tired. My cousins, brother and brother-in-law destroyed me in spikeball on Sunday during a Mother’s Day get together, so I am also sore and a bit grass-stained from jumping and flailing around. They all had a good laugh about it. Good for them, I left all my dignity behind in the 7th grade so I’m happy to be the weird family member who rolls around in the grass during family games. Anyway. Last week I wrote a bit about going to Copacetic Comics here in Pittsburgh and taking advantage of the Free Comic Book Day deals. Reading through my FCBD haul this past week, I was really taken with the collection of the short-lived Jack Cole strip, Betsy and Me. A really charming, funny strip about two parents and their genius son that only ran for a handful of months before Jack Cole bought a .22 and took his own life. Dwight Parks took over the strip after his predecessor’s death, but despite his strengths, could not live up to the legend of Jack Cole. The strip ran from May to December in 1958, Cole’s run ending in September. In the introduction, siting such Cole biographers as Art Spiegelman and Ron Goulart, R.C. Harvey paints this ironic image of a man who at the height of cartooning power (having a daily strip), ended his own life. The couple in Betsy and Me (Chet and Betsy) have a son they so dearly love that it verges on absurdity, but in reality, the Cole’s could not have a child which they so definitely wanted. There is this dark musing on Cole’s part when you know this part of the story. He practically invents an ideal situation that could medically never happen. You can see the Sun set and turn to eternal night on our hero’s psyche. I recommend the book even if just for the Harvey’s introduction. The strip itself expertly balances word and picture. There is a bobbing and weaving of narration, dialogue and action that unfolds in a very sophisticated way, and delivers a satisfying punchline most every time. There is nothing in the strip that would suggest this was the same cartoonist who invented Plastic Man, visually or otherwise, but the expertise and cartooning skills are present and undeniable. ———————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Connor Willumsen answers questions at CBC. At TCJ.com, Tom Kaczynski is the latest guest on “Comics Decalogue” and The Dragon (featuring owner and founder, Jenn Haines) is the latest comic shop showcased on the “Retail Therapy” column. The Comics Reporter has the scoop on Koyama Press’ Fall 2018 lineup. TCAF was this past weekend and the results of the 2018 Doug Wright Awards are up. A. Degen is the latest guest on Process Party. The Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center had a pop-up show on Kirby’s work on 2001: A Space Odyssey. The show was this past weekend, but I figured I’d write about it anyway:) ———————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-14-18 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

07/24/2018

Aaron CockleJuly 24, 2018NewsNatural Process; Bell/Porcellino/Duchamp; More ‘R. Mutt’; More Grip ————————————————————————————————— “Will you come see the ‘real’ webpage painting at the museum? Or will you see it ‘virtual’ through the web?” Via Rhizome.org’s Net Art Anthology: Natural Process is an installation that translates the iconic circa-2003 Google search engine home page to the form of a large-scale painting, and then back to digital media via webcam. This double remediation, enacted by Japanese net art duo exonemo (Kensuke Sembo and Yae Akaiwa) was exhibited at the Mori Art Museum in 2004, at a moment when artists were increasingly interested in the slippage between art’s circulation online and in the gallery. The painting was purchased by Google, and has not been exhibited publicly until now; it is on view through March 10, 2019 at ICC Tokyo and as part of Net Art Anthology. ————————————————————————————————— A Trip to the Museum With Cartoonist John Porcellino Always nice to see cartoonists visiting museums. ————————————————————————————————— Speaking of Marcel Duchamp… The iconic Fountain (1917) is not created by Marcel Duchamp In 1982 a letter written by Duchamp came to light. Dated 11 April 1917, it was written just a few days after that fateful exhibit. It contains one sentence that should have sent shockwaves through the world of modern art: it reveals the true creator behind Fountain – but it was not Duchamp. Instead he wrote that a female friend using a male alias had sent it in for the New York exhibition. Suddenly a few other things began to make sense. Over time Duchamp had told two different stories of how he had created Fountain, but both turned out to be untrue. An art historian who knew Duchamp admitted that he had never asked him about Fountain, he had published a standard-work on Fountain nevertheless. The place from where Fountain was sent raised more questions. That place was Philadelphia, but Duchamp had been living in New York. … Who was living in Philadelphia? Who was this ‘female friend’ that had sent the urinal using a pseudonym that Duchamp mentions? That woman was, as Duchamp wrote, the future. Art history knows her as Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven. She was a brilliant pioneering New York dada artist, and Duchamp knew her well. This glaring truth has been known for some time in the art world, but each time it has to be acknowledged, it is met with indifference and silence. Via Theo Paijmans. ————————————————————————————————— Grip Vol. 1 If you didn’t get the chance this past Friday or over the weekend, please take some time to read Sally Ingraham’s review of Lale Westvind’s excellent new book, Grip, out now from Perfectly Acceptable Press. ————————————————————————————————— Vision Box – 7-24-18 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 7-24-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

10/16/2018

Aaron CockleOctober 15, 2018NewsMid-October Process Post ————————————————————————————————— I was out of town last week. As with my last trip, I wasn’t really able to work on comics, but I tried to keep busy with sketching when I had the chance. Mostly quick exercises with negative space, nothing too intense. I was drawing in sketchbooks I made out of a portable speaker user’s manual and some books made out of tea bag wrappers. Examples below. ————————————————————————————————— I picked up some books as well: Moron der Schwachsinnige, by L.G.X., 1995 Mad Love, by André Breton, translated from the French by Mary Ann Caws, 1988 (Coincidentally, Caws participated in a panel discussion at Printed Matter this past Friday to promote Ideas Have No Smell: Three Belgian Surrealist Booklets Ideas Have No Smell collects the first English-language translations of three works: Transfigured Publicity, visual texts by poet and photographer Paul Nougé (1895-1967); the whimsical, hand-drawn artist’s book, Abstractive Treatise on Obeuse by Paul Colinet (1898-1957); and For Balthazar, a collection of aphorisms and observations by the ever skeptical author, lawyer, and anarchist Louis Scutenaire (1905-1987). Star Warriors : A Penetrating Look into the Lives of the Young Scientists Behind Our Space Age Weaponry, by William Broad, 1985 ————————————————————————————————— Cement Mixer – 10-16-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

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