Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in los Cómics, NewsTagged Isabel Molina, Jaime Hernandez, John Porcellino, la polola, Maliki, panchulei, Pati Aguilera, Sol Diaz

Juan Fernández

Posted on February 7, 2018February 7, 2018

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The Comics Code and the Patriarchy

Comics WorkbookApril 4, 2016EssaysClip from “Bill and Frank’s Excellent Romance Adventure” (vimeo.com/160250579), in which Bill expounds on the Comics Code as a defense against anti-authoritarianism and loose women. Share this page: [...]

09/22/2016

Sally IngrahamSeptember 22, 2016NewsSally Ingraham here with Sam Ombiri, bringing you more highlights from SPX weekend and an examination of The Act of Seeing! ————————————————————————————————— SPX is always a whirlwind, but when that spinning vortex touches down now and then, you inevitably bump into someone cool. Frank careened into the great Chris Visions, who just released his Lunchtime Loosies Vol. 1 Deluxe Edition (get it here!) and Ronald Wimberly, who said that other conventions are good – but SPX is the one to beat! ————————————————————————————————— Down in the Comics Workbook workshop room the likes of Charles Burns, Carol Tyler, and Jeffrey Brown regaled folks with their pen and paper choices and other process and storytelling tips over SPX weekend. Cameron Weston Nicholson (pictured above) dug into the relationship between comics and music. “Comics are a symphonic mixture of picture & word. Geometry to form a melodic comic (as pictured above) the red is the “eye” or the “main tempo” the blue is the rhythm and the green activates the bass which brings you back to the beginning.” – Cameron Nicholson ————————————————————————————————— The Comics Workbook workshop space at SPX was also a great place to meet new people – Samuel Sharpe, a DC area cartoonist, attended a “hangout” session and got his first taste of the CW index cards method. He shared some of his own comics with us – More of Samuel Sharpe’s work can be found HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Back upstairs in the expo showroom, Shannon Wright was selling copies of her comic 4-99 (which you can get as a digital download HERE if you missed it at the show!) She was tabling with Chris Kindred, who was debuting Night Hunter at the show (also available as a digital download HERE). Another one of our Richmond, VA, friends – Richie Pope – was also there, showing off his recent killer illustration work. ————————————————————————————————— Whit Taylor was tabling as well, debuting her comic Wallpaper, and keeping her sharp eye on the show as a whole – we will be presenting a full report from her soon! She was interviewed by Jake Grubman at Comicsverse shortly before the show. “By nature, being an autobio cartoonist, it’s easier for me to reveal things about myself even though I’m shy by nature. It was kind of therapeutic for me to work through those things, and…the least I could do was produce something that could be helpful to other people.” – Whit Taylor Read the full article HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Switching gears from SPX coverage now – we have this week’s thoughts from Samuel Ombiri – The Act of Seeing I like the title of the coffee table book Nicolas Winding Refn put out last year – The Act of Seeing. I never think of reading or viewing something like it’s an action I’m performing. So this title brings with it a bunch of excitement for me, and it feels like a bit of a challenge. The book itself has a bunch of cinema posters from…the 60’s and 70’s maybe? He said he approached it no more different than the way he edits his movies. So then, what I wonder is, was he still following the same impulse of what his movies are about? That it’s more about what you don’t see than what you see, which creates, in his words “penetration of the mind”? It reminds me of something CF said, about how when he was younger, he was looking at catalogs of comics he couldn’t get. He would think about what the comic would be like based off the cover. I don’t remember whether he did it naturally out of impulse or if it was a conscious thing he did – I think he did it out of impulse. I kind of wonder if CF drew any comics based off what he thought was in those comics he couldn’t read; his comics have the energy, when I read it, where I feel it’s alluding to that comic book cover from that catalog he was reading (but I’m also imagining what that cover looked like, so I guess I’m just imaging reading it in whole different context…) Maybe this will make more sense; let’s say Refn puts together a catalog of movie posters he hasn’t seen (in the video above he said he only knows 10% of the movies in the poster book, but let’s pretend he knows 0%.) Now this next part is actually true – sometimes when he would have no direction for the movie he was making, so he would look to at the posters he was accumulating for the book for inspiration. He would use the posters of the movies he didn’t know and think about what movie they’d be. (I don’t know if he was using the supposed 90% mysterious posters for this process but let’s just suppose he was – this is part of his “penetration of the mind” spiel, that it creates a new idea). When I saw his new movie, I could imagine the poster he was looking at…the era it was alluding to…the theme…and like… the novelty of the time, from the image and the sound. I don’t want to fully grasp where it’s from, in fact I have no interest in watching these movies myself, not just because it ruins the mysterious quality, but watching those movies would just be reaaaal drag. They sound like the worst movies to watch, but that’s probably just my weakness as a viewer, but it is suddenly easier to watch them filtered through Refn. It’s also convenient, how he has pretty much taken every element that interested me in the posters. So it’s also a bit of shortcut, instead of sitting through those other movies. There are ones he alluded to that I like that are not in the same category of the movies in the book too. These allusions can give me a lot of energy and I really welcome that mystery as much as possible, but that mystery means that I’m also avoiding looking at good work. Anyways this supposed experience – I’ve had it too. I bet I’m not the only one who it has happened to, where I draw a comic, based off of what I think a show that hasn’t aired yet will look like. One time I realized I had done 300 pages without realizing it. – Samuel Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— Final note before we let you go – we now have both of Connor Willumsen’s new publications in hand! The brand new one – Portraits – and the super rare one – Swinespritzen – both limited editions, both incredible. Details about both and where to order them can be found HERE. Proceeds from these books will help send Connor to the UK for The Lakes International Comic Arts Festival in October! Share this page: [...]

01/11/2017

Juan FernándezJanuary 11, 2017NewsJuan con un poquito sobre las Tetastristes; Reconciendo Amanda Baeza y su gran obra Nubes de Talco; la estética de la distorsion;Laura Barrachina entrevista a Conxita Herrero, Joaquín Guirao y Antonio Hitos; Un Faulduo en el foco; Tarantula Preview; The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey; y tiras de Gabriella Tito,Caleb Orecchio, y Juan Fernandez. Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atencion: “Las Tetastristes se toman el puerto” – La colectiva de ilustradoras y autoeditoras feministas Tetastristes Cómics estará por primera vez en Valparaiso, en una intima variete de actividades en la casa de Me lo dijo unx TRUEK ubicada en Cerro Concepción, Valparaiso el 1/14. Va haber un montón de actividades, como exposición y venta de material de las Tetastristes Cómics y de lesbilais, además de otras artistas visuales porteñas feministas y revoltosas. Para más información: David Romera de FNAC reseña Nubes de Talco de Amanda Baeza. Esta obra, originalmente publicada por la editorial Fulgencio Pimentel, ya llegara al mundo anglohablante: kuš!komiks is set to translate Amanda Baeza’s Brume (Nubes de Talco) into English this February! Now the global english speaking community can experience Baeza’s tour de force in poetic, abstracted yet cartoony, work of emotional autobiography. Bañate en la estética de la distorsion con Pablo Turnes en la Revista Kamandi. En la ultima edicion de La Hora del Bocadillo en RTVE Laura Barrachina entrevista a Conxita Herrero, Joaquín Guirao y Antonio Hitos. Una hora de jovenes promesas… Sebastián Martínez ha compartido con Comics Workbook un gran tesoro postmoderno escondido: Un Faulduo. Joder, que genial. Dale un momento y ponte a explorar su website. Tienen de todo! Formalmente, Un Faulduo es un colectivo de investigación y experimentación alrededor del campo de la historieta, conformado por Nicolás Daniluk, Ezequiel García, Nicolás Moguilevsky y Nicolás Zukerfeld. Sus colaboraciones hacen un recorrido interdisciplinario que abarca las artes visuales, el cine, la música, las artes escénicas y la literatura. Un Faulduo es el nombre de la revista editada por el grupo. Lleva 10 números realizados desde 2005 y mantiene, desde su aparición y hasta la actualidad, un sistema de rotación de directores (cada número es dirigido por un miembro diferente del staff, lo que obliga a cambios de formato, contenido, técnica). / Un Faulduo is the name of a magazine published by the group. Ten issues have been released since 2005, and each one is led by a different member of the staff, forcing changes in format, content and technique. Han publicado un libro a la vez tradicional y de vanguardia, La Historieta En El (Faulduo) Mundo Moderno. Pop-Collage-Noise-Fanzine-Deconstructivistas. Al fin del cabo, el libroe, es un ensayo visual, que viene desde la tradición de la escritura visual de John Berger. Libremente inspirado en el mítico ensayo “La historieta en el mundo moderno” (Oscar Masotta, 1970), este libro realizado por Un Faulduo (colectivo de investigación y experimentación alrededor del campo de la historieta, formado por Nicolás Daniluk, Ezequiel García, Nicolás Moguilevsky y Nicolás Zukerfeld) se propone pensar la relación entre el lenguaje de la historieta y la forma del ensayo, tomando los propios materiales de la historieta como materia prima para su producción y como una forma que permite analizarse y pensarse a sí misma. Han oido las buenas noticias? Ya pueden pedir Tarantula a todo color! AdHouse esta publicando este primer volumen de la novela policíaca, psicodelica y a la vez satanica del equipo Alexis Ziritt y Fabian Rangel Jr. y Evelyn Rangel. Si no has leido Tarantula te daremos un antojo: aquí tienes tu preview. Hoy les presentamos una nueva publicacion de Comics Workbook: The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey. La gran Vanesa R. Del Rey le ha dado permiso a Comics Workbook para publicar unas selecciónes de sus cuadernos de bocetos. Hemos diseñado esta publicación para que parezca uno de esos libros de de artistas los años 80. Arte y Entrevista. El texto es una transcripción de la entrevista que hicimos con Vanesa cuando visito la Residencia Rowhouse en 2016. Vanesa es un artista impresionante y inigualable. Puedes comprar tu copia AQUI.Order a copy of The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey HERE. Frank Santoro, el director de Comics Workbook, nos cuenta un poquito sobre sus experiencias con Vanesa: Me encontré por primera vez con VRDR en un festival de cómics en Toronto (TCAF) en 2014. Había empezado a hacer comics profesionalmente después de un período como un animadora. Fui Sorprendido por su la capacidad de ser como un camaleón de cambiar de estilos, y por su puesto le pedí ver más de sus obras. Desenterró pilas de cuadernos de dibujos de sus días en Cuba, cuando estudiaba el realismo soviético y de trabajaba con George Pratt, maestro de cómics pintados. La educación de Vanesa como artista hace el balance suavemente entre los niveles alto y bajo del arte, así como los valores estéticos del este y el oeste. Es una base asombrosa. Ella es, a la vez, consciente de la historia del arte, la historia de los cómics y la historia de la animación de una manera NUEVA que casi parecía imposible hace quince o veinte años. Debo admitir como un estudiante y fan de cómics que se enfocan en la mezcla de “alto y bajo” y en ” los cómics pintados” — Nunca he visto tal mezcla de habilidades al nivel de VRDR. Feroz. Imparable. Un competidor feroz. Michael Jordan-esque? ¿Es eso posible en la fabricación de cómic? Siempre he dicho que habría un “invasor vertical” en los cómics que podría emplear el “naturalismo” de la escuela de Noel Sickles / Alex Toth pero que podría pintar como una Alice Neel o una Jenny Saville. Creo que “el invasor” ha llegado en forma de Vanesa R. Del Rey. Puedes comprar tu copia AQUI. Sigan a Vanesa por Instagram – @vrdelrey – y http://vrdelrey.com/ Suzy and Cecil – 1-11-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-11-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— 1-11-2017 – by Juan Fernández Share this page: [...]

11/12/2018

Caleb OrecchioNovember 12, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with a selection of comic books I hauled in from a 50¢ sale ————————————————————————————————— New Dimension Comics in Ellwood City, PA is a temple to comic book lovers in Pittsburgh and elsewhere. I’ve been on many trips there with Frank Santoro and Jim Rugg and others to mine the affordable backstock of countless lost treasures. This past weekend New Dimension had a sale to thin out a newly acquired cargo of books. Nate McDonough and I went up Saturday to spend the entire day riffling through dusty back issue after dusty back issue. Needless to say, we struck gold. Below is a small selection from my haul: Marvel Tales Featuring Spider-Man no. 253 (reprint of The Amazing Spider-Man no. 102); written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Gil Kane. Cover by Moebius. 1991. Marvel Comics Gil Kane never looked better than he did within the pages of Spider-Man. In a lot of ways he is the ultimate Spider-Man artist for me, though that designation comes with a handful of asterisks. This is the Web-Head at his wackiest. The issue begins with Morbius (the living vampire) and The Lizard duking it out in an argument over who gets to kill the eight-limbed hero. The issue gets even better from there. Also, gotta love that Moebius cover. —————————————————— Space Ghost no. 1; written by Mark Evanier and Steve Rude, drawn by Steve Rude, inked by Willie Blyberg, and painted by Ken Steacy. 1987. Comico I am always excited to see Steve Rude do Alex Toth. He does not disappoint here. The art is fantastic. Luscious inks by Willie Bryberg and beautiful colors by Ken Steacy really pop and crackle and bring the TV screen to the page. —————————————————— Lois Lane 1 & 2; written by Mindy Newell and drawn by Gray Morrow. Colors by Joe Orlando. 1986. DC Comics I got this for the Gray Morrow art and Joe Orlando colors. This type of comic has always fascinated me. It’s the kind of book that was becoming more common starting in 1986 where publishers were trying to get the coveted female adult audience. It’s an interesting take on Superman’s lover who is often little more than damsel in distress (albeit, a formidable one). —————————————————— The Adventures of B.O.C. no. 1 & 2; written by Thomas Perry, James Pustorino and Paul Martin. Art by James Pustorino. 1986. Invasion Comics Possibly my favorite comic of the infamous Black and White Boom era. James Pustorino’s art is rough and naive, yet confident and dynamic. It actually reads like an amateurish art comic in places. Despite the corny and constant explaining of the plot through dialogue I actually really enjoy reading this comic. Usually I just flip through and look at the pictures with this kind of book, but there is something genuine and spirited about this strip that I find undeniable. —————————————————— Marvel Fanfare no. 40; featuring the story “Chiaroscuro” by Ann Nocenti, David Mazzuchelli, David Hornung and John Workman. Plus “Deal With The Devil” by Chris Claremont, Craig Hamilton, Rick Bryant, Petra Scotese and Jim Novak. Mazzuchelli drawing Angel. Need I say more? —————————————————— Deadface no. 1; by Eddie Campbell. 1987. Harrier Comics The beginning of Eddie Campbell’s Bacchus saga. Bacchus is one of those comic books I wish I came up with because it’s such a good idea. This first issue of Deadface introduces us to the humor and violence that ignited a comics legacy. Eddie Campbell’s art does not have the confidence he will soon acquire, but the issue is great all the same. It’s a nice artifact. Gotta love those lads across the pond. —————————————————— True Love no. 2; reprinting various romance comics by Alex Toth, Ralph Mayo, Nick Cardy and Vince Colletta. 1986. Eclipse Comics Always a pleasure to find anything with Toth. I’ve poured over my copy of True Love no.1 so often that the staples are falling out. Happy to have found a subsequent issue to destroy. Also, the Vince Colletta strips herein will make you rethink all the bad things you said about his inking over Kirby. —————————————————— Amazing Heroes no. 123; edited by Kim Thompson. 1987. Fantagraphics I got this for the Frank Thorne interview. Reading the interview conducted by Kim Thompson actually makes Thorne seem less creepy. I think. Not that his creepiness has ever stopped me from reading his comics. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

10/11/2017

Juan FernándezOctober 11, 2017NewsReflections on the existing comics festival paradigm in the United States + your daily strips from Comics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— Juan here: Expanding the Festival Tool Kit – 2017 has been floating around the internet since Monday and people have been chiming in their thoughts, reflecting on the existing comics festival paradigm. Warts and all. Seeing as how the goal of this post on Comics Workbook was to start a conversation, I’d like to keep that conversation going today. I just came back from CXC 2017 and I am still bathing in its warmth. It’s a good feeling. As I do around this time of the year, I’ve been thinking about the future of comics events in America. How we move into that future. I’m typing out loud, so forgive me for dreaming too big. Comics, as we engage with them today in the United States’ existing festival ecosystem, are facing a cultural choking point. There’s a huge role that comics can and should be playing in broader cultural discussions. But they’re not and our Festivals have something to do with this. It’s 2017 and it is essential to reframe the discussion of comics shows. Comics making and comics reading practices need more breathing room. To grow. To continue expanding. We need to nurture interdisciplinary approaches to experiencing comics. We need our festivals to make this their guiding principle. Read it here. ————————————————————————————————— Rob Clough has posted his reflections on CXC over on The Comics Journal. They touch on many of the things I bring up in the Toolkit, with the focus being on CXC. Check it out: This gets to the heart of what should make a successful comics show. Whatever local resources are available, make sure to use them. If you have a good local comics scene, make sure to include it. If there are beautiful or unusual venues available, take advantage of them. If there’s a local university nearby interested in comics, get their support. If the organizers have ways to incorporate arts other than comics, by all means one should do this. Mixing music, zines, video games, photography, or other arts into the event has been successful for many. Programming should be more than a distraction; it should be carefully considered and the heart of your show. Keep your ambitions low to start, don’t look to make money, and consider getting sponsorships and/or crowdfunding to cover your costs instead of passing it on to the artists and attendees. Below are some thoughts I’d like to highlight from comments here and over on Facebook. They’re loose and scattered but they offer good starting points to several discussions: Hold shows in a nice bar with some music, have a big comic car rally and everyone pull up and sell them out of the trunk of your car, have it at a train station, We keep talking about people reading comics more, well, it we’re only selling them in the same old places, what do we expect. Make it more a part of society, not just social media. – Phil Dokes The Caption Show in the U.K. had the kind of format you’re talking about, you’re free to interact, go to workshops, listen to talks and hangout in the bar and at the end of the show you get a wad of cash from sales at the big mutual table. I went twice and it was beautiful. Location was a big part of it, on the banks of the river in Oxford, England. – Mardou The fear on the part of an organizer of of course is of course that comics makers won’t attend a festival that they are not tabling at. It’s too foreign a concept to many comics makers. They might balk at the idea of having to be involved with programming as opposed to hand selling their books. So, one idea proposed is to make the exhibition aspect of the fest to be geared towards book debuts. The festival becomes an event for press. In such an ecosystem, everyone in local and national press knows that if they want to interview artists, this is where they do it. Like a “Comics-Cannes”. CXC is doing this well, already in its third year. While it’s true that SPX is where a lot of people shoot to debut books, that’s not the focus in the market place. For the most part it’s a free for all. If a festival handled this in a way that was considered across the board… that’d be interesting. – Juan Fernandez Two of the big keys for the future: 1. shows held in places with academic institutions willing to help fund aspects of the show; 2. shows held in places with city councils that earmark money toward the arts. – Rob Clough One other thing that I wrote about in my upcoming article that I think Juan would agree with–simply cloning the flea market +/- some programming model in every city ignores the unique resources that those cities might have available. When putting on a show, it’s important to tap into every local resource possible, be it a library, a university, a unique venue, a blended arts scene, a vibrant downtown, a monthly art walk, a great local comics shop, etc. – Rob Clough creating better transparency about the application process. Some shows are great about this, but others are inconsistent in their messaging. Of course this is tied in to Juan’s point about how a show deals with increased applications and growth. – Whit Taylor I think that The Projects’ “show store” idea (was) a good one, but anecdotally at least 1-2 of the guests felt like they missed out on the part where they interact with the fans/may have had softer sales because of this.The Projects wasn’t really “about” selling books- more about getting artists in dialog and collaboration, but I do feel like something similar that also had dedicated signing times might be a good balance. – Zack Soto After reading the article, I’d have to say that the only reason Short Run wasn’t singled out as part of the way of the future is that the author hasn’t attended. They are fast becoming the hub of the Seattle scene because of their year long programming and outreach. I also think it’s weird that TCAF is listed as “the future” (I agree in many ways) but TCAF is just as much a flea market show about collecting the hot new books by the hot new creators as any other show. Maybe more than most! – Zack Soto That’s a good point about the confusion with seeing TCAF as the future – It’s confusing because it has one of the “hottest” show room floors for buying books out of most show imo – for me the future oriented aspect is the programmatic one with TCAF – In the ways that they link up with cultural embassies from different countries to put together exhibitions and to bring guests to the show + use the city as a campus. CAB does this too but their center of gravity has hovered close to the gymnasium flea market + the gaming/comics/cartooning programming – and the educational panels earlier in the week. There’s also the aspect of how the programming starts up a month or so in advance with happenings across Toronto and then builds up steam for the main weeekend. – Juan Fernandez It would be awesome if someday there was a grand database indexing each individual archive. So if I typed in “Supermonster 12”, it would tell me which archives had physical copies, and where digital copies existed. So much art has disappeared from my generation of cartoonists (1987-2000, roughly), the last generation prior to the internet. That’s why projects like John P. collecting Jenny Zervakis’ book are so important. – Rob Clough I think every good show should consider having a gallery space associated with it. The Laura Park show associated with CXC was eye-opening, but it doesn’t have to be in a formal institution. We did this at DICE, and while it got a little clunky, it helped connect people with original art in a indirect, non-transactional manner. (And people could sell art if they wanted.) – Rob Clough What do you think? ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 10-11-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 10-11-2017 – by Juan Fernandez ————————————————————————————————— Caleb Orecchio – 10-11-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

02/07/2018

Posted on February 7, 2018February 7, 2018 by Juan Fernández

Juan empieza el día con La Matadragones de Jaime Hernandez, La llegada de la Brigada, y una gira desde Lone Mountain!

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The Dragon Slayer: Folktales from Latin America – Jaime Hernandez with an introduction by F. Isabel Campoy

In case, you’ve missed it, Jaime Hernandez is bringing a fresh take on timeless stories in his new collection of folktales,The Dragon Slayer: Folktales from Latin America . In classic TOON Books fashion, there’s a quality bibliography and appendix for those eager readers looking to dig deeper into these stories. As a great treat, it’s being released in Spanish and English editions, both paperback and hardcover.

Guided by the classic works of F. Isabel Campoy and Alma Flor Ada, Hernandez’s first book for young readers brings the sights and stories of Latin America to a new generation of graphic novel fans around the world.

Want to see how it all comes together? TOON Books has uploaded a nice selection of preview pages for you to dig into on their site.

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Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast!

“¡¡Último capítulo de la segunda temporada!! Y nos despedimos con una gran sorpresa; en abril publicaremos el primer número de nuestra revista de cómic hecho por mujeres, (¡al fin!) se llamará “Brígida” por Isabel Molina, Pati Aguilera, Marcela Trujillo(Maliki) y Sol Díaz.Les contamos de los detalles, las primeras colegas invitadas que nos acompañarán, las ideas para el futuro y mucho, mucho más. Además nos acompañan unos audios de un Patreon amigo, y un reporte de Panchulei desde Angoulême.”

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On a note of personal, North American interest: John Porcellino will be doing a small tour in support of his new D+Q book, From Lone Mountain (available March 20!). Please see below for dates. (Yes, Pittsburgh, lucky you, of course Porcellino will be stopping by Copacetic Comics.)

Though I have some of the zines that this book brings together, I’m eagerly awaiting this collection of comics and stories by Porcellino. If anything, having this body of work together makes a nice package for non-comics readers to unravel into their lives.

From Lone Mountain collects stories from Porcellino’s zine King-Cat—John enters a new phase of his life, as he remarries and decides to leave his beloved second home Colorado for San Francisco. Grand themes of King-Cat are visited and stated more eloquently than ever before: serendipity, memory, and the quest for meaning in the everyday.

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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 – 02-07-18 – by Sally Ingraham

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Joanie and Jordie – 02-07-18 – by Caleb Orecchio

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in los Cómics, NewsTagged Isabel Molina, Jaime Hernandez, John Porcellino, la polola, Maliki, panchulei, Pati Aguilera, Sol Diaz

Juan Fernández

Posted on February 7, 2018February 7, 2018

Explore

Happy Holidays from Comics Workbook!

Sally IngrahamDecember 25, 2017NewsHappy Holidays from all of us here at Comics Workbook! Comics Workbook’s Daily News is taking a holiday break the week of Dec. 25-29! Our news team will return, refreshed, on January 1st. Do yourself a favor and get ready for the new year: Subscribe to the most exciting comics news site in the world. ⚡ Comics Workbook Daily News ⚡ SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL TODAY Share this page: [...]

05/20/2016

Sally IngrahamMay 19, 2016NewsToday, on scene reporting from Alyssa Berg, an amazing comics show in Germany, comics with Georgia O’Keeffe, tips from Benjamin Marra and Noah Van Sciver, and a few other things we’re excited about. ————————————————————————————————— Alyssa Berg provides this snapshot of a recent evening spent with Rokudenashiko, MariNaomi, and Anne Ishii (pictured above, left to right) – “On Wednesday evening (May 18th, 2016), the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in NYC presented a conversation between MariNaomi (Turning Japanese, 2dcloud, 2016), Rokudenashiko (What Is Obscenity? The Story of a Good For Nothing Artist and her Pussy, Koyama Press, 2016) and Anne Ishii (moderator of the conversation, translator and co editor of Rokudenashiko’s new book). MariNaomi did a reading from Turning Japanese accompanied by projected images from the book. The first part focused on her experience in an illegal hostess bar in San Jose. The second part presented was a quieter section of the story based on a visit to the temple of the Goddess of Mercy in Japan. (Check out that excerpt HERE.) MariNaomi also discussed curating the Cartoonists of Color Database and the Queer Cartoonists Database and her fear that “diversity is a fad right now.” Rokudenashiko presented a wide variety of manko (pussy) artworks that appear in her new book What Is Obscenity? The Story of a Good For Nothing Artist and her Pussy and discussed details of her arrest for breaking Japanese obscenity laws for posting online, open-source blueprints of her pussy. She also talked about being an easy target for police because she is an unrepresented, female, freelance artist but “people in a position of weakness need to show resistance.” Rokudenashiko presented this video piece and if you have 4 minutes 34 seconds to spare, I recommend having a look.” – Alyssa Berg ————————————————————————————————— The German show …and Other Stories opens today in the Zeitraumexit gallery in Mannheim! The show explores current American self-publishing trends and will feature a collection of booklets, original drawings, mini comics, zines, and other printed materials by American artists Alyssa Berg, Julia Gfrörer, Aidan Koch, Laila Milevski and Maggie Umber. What a lineup! Maggie Umber and Raighne Hogan (of 2dcloud) will be presenting two free workshops at the gallery on June 11th and 13th – find details on how to attend HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Check out a new feature on Comics Workbook: ART TRIP – a continuing series that offers reflections on art and comics, and the adventures that transform those who seek it out. First up, my own (Sally here!) recent run-in with Georgia O’Keeffe. “…I’m looking at her stuff and seeing comics, yes. That’s where my brain lives constantly, these days. The index card is a panel for a comic. The Palo Duro Canyon drawings aren’t a series – they’re a sequence. Her paintings without lines prove how lively comics can look without being pinned down by traditional inks.“ Read the rest of the adventure HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Benjamin Marra added his “10 Rules for Drawing” to the collection curated by Dov Torbin this week. Some highlights for me are: 2. Emotional accuracy is more important than emulating reality. Realism is overrated and reality is an illusion anyway. Just make a good drawing. 4. Don’t create walls. You’ll only run into them later. Avoid Puritanism of materials, tools, techniques, methods, and approaches. Don’t be a perfectionist. 9. You gotta know the rules before you can break the rules. 10. There are no rules. Check out the whole list here, and read more “10 Rules for Drawing” by the likes of Alex Toth or Michael DeForge, among others…! ————————————————————————————————— While we’re on the topic of “tips for being a good artist” here’s a Comics Workbook TV interview with Noah Van Sciver that I really appreciated. The idea of “world-building” through sketchbooking is great. ————————————————————————————————— Two things I’m excited about that will be releasing into the world soon – Anya Davidson is working on a new zine (above), due to be released at CAKE this year (tentatively titled Gloom Planet)…! The Shirley Jackson Project (edited by Rob Kirby and being released by Ninth Art Press) is in it’s final production stages. Here’s the rad cover art by Michael Fahy: Can’t wait for this beast to roar! ————————————————————————————————— That’s my story for this week, folks. I’m currently on the road between Santa Fe, NM, and Pittsburgh, PA, (coming home to the Comics Workbook world headquarters!) so pardon a light offering today. The whole team will be back next week with all the best in comics news for you. Thanks for hanging out with us! – Sally Share this page: [...]

11/22/2017

Juan FernándezNovember 22, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con Berliac, Redlands, La Polola y más! ————————————————————————————————— Berliac, el dibujante de cómic que reivindica el robo cultural como esencia creativa Victor Parkas charla con el dibujante argentino coincidiendo con la publicación de ‘Sadbøi’, un cómic de trazo manga que reflexiona sobre cómo construir la propia identidad a través del arte: “El cómic propone el arte como herramienta para recuperar poder de decisión sobre uno mismo”, explica Berliac. “La idea surge cuando me mudo a Berlín y me doy de bruces con la situación de los refugiados. Entro en contacto con ellos, así como con los activistas que les tratan, y caigo en la cuenta de que su condición –refugiados– lleva implícita una identidad impuesta por terceros. Quise explorar cómo esa idea del ‘otro’ se utiliza para fines políticos, de derecha a izquierda”, incide el autor. “La epopeya de Sadbøi consiste, así, en cómo salir de ese fuego cruzado; en cómo trascender la categoría que otros se empeñan en otorgarle”, concluye. Léanlo todo AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con Juana Neumann, Delius y Clara Lagos acerca de sus inicios, sus vidas, sus primeros pasos en el cómic, nos contaron acerca de sus proyectos, sus referentes, su visión de la historieta, el dibujo y mucho más! If you’ve been digging Jordie Bellaire & Vanesa R. Del Rey‘s @VDelRey’s Redlands, check out PanelxPanel magazine #2 for 80+ pages of exclusive essays, interviews and craft pieces about the first issue. Equatorial Guinea Cartoonist Ramón Esono Ebalé now imprisoned without charge for 55 days. International cartoonists join call to #FreeNseRamon. Dibujar es pensar. Jorge Carríon escribe en @nytimesES sobre George Herriman y William Kentridge, las exposiciones del Museo Nacional Reina Sofia. En el último #FanzineMagazine Victor Coyote y Mireia Pérez entrevistan a Alfredo, premio nacional de ilustración. Colaboró también @miriampersand en Canciones para Dibujar y ¡hablamos de lettering! Puedes escuchar el podcast aquí. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 11-22-2017 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

09/21/2018

Sally IngrahamSeptember 21, 2018NewsSally Ingraham here with my Small Press Expo 2018 memories and pictures! (See Juan Fernandez’s SPX report HERE, and read Caleb Orecchio’s thoughts HERE.) ————————————————————————————————— I headed to Bethesda a day early and on Friday I was fortunate enough to tag along on SPX Director Warren Bernard’s annual field trip to the Library of Congress with some of the Expo’s special guests. At the Library of Congress we got to see some of the comics holdings that are kept in the Prints and Photographs collection. Here’s a few that I took note of: After looking at the comics holding for a bit, Emma Ríos, Rina Ayuyang, Liv Strömquist and her son and their travel companion, Kate Harmon, and myself, made the long dangerous trek underground through the maze of the Library of Congress (there were tunnels involved!) to find the Jefferson Building and the Drawn To Purpose show. There was a nice timeline of work made by female cartoonists and illustrators, including the Little Lulu strip I shared at the top of this post, and this Brenda Starr, Reporter piece by Dale Messick: We found our way back to the Madison Building in time to catch Carol Tyler‘s big presentation on her life and comics. Having formed a bond over the morning, Emma Ríos, Rina Ayuyang, Kate Harmon and I continued to hang out for the rest of the day. And as we were leaving the Library of Congress in search of lunch, who should we bump into but Congressman John Lewis…?! (Check out the March trilogy that Congressman John Lewis wrote with Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell HERE.) It was a real treat to explore Washington D.C. with my dear friend Kate Harmon, guided by our pal Adam Griffiths, and get to know Emma Ríos and Rina Ayuyang along the way. I knew Spanish cartoonist Emma Ríos‘ work from the Image titles Pretty Deadly, with Kelly Sue DeConnick, and Mirror, with Hwei Lim. In 2016 she put out a comic that she drew as well as wrote (the first comic she has written in English), called I.D., which I’ve been meaning to read (and I was so delighted later in the weekend when she gave me her last copy!) Here’s an interview with Emma from last year that details more of her comics adventures. Rina Ayuyang is originally from Pittsburgh, PA, so we hit it off right away! I’m super excited to read her new book, just out from Drawn & Quarterly – Blame This on the Boogie (get a copy of it HERE). Getting to meet cartoonists like Emma and Rina is why I come to SPX every year. I’m interested in the quick friendships that form because of the common interest that pulls us together. You’ve never met before, and may come from different career/publishing backgrounds, but especially in groups of women I have found that there is a powerful connection and a desire to support and celebrate all the varied comics-making paths that we’ve traversed. I felt that strongly with Emma and Rina, and although our encounter was more incidental, with Liv Strömquist as well. (Check out Liv’s powerful new book The Fruit of Knowledge HERE.) By the end of day on Friday Kate Harmon and I were having dinner with Fiona Smyth, due to a quick invitation in the hotel elevator (another key part of the success of SPX – everyone is in the same hotel!) I am such a big fan of Fiona’s work, and was lucky enough to meet her during her visit to Pittsburgh, PA, a few years ago. It was terrific to catch up and congratulate her in person on her new book, just out from Koyama Press – Somnambulance. Saturday and Sunday at SPX I was completely engrossed in running the Comics Workbook-hosted workshops. These workshops provided a veritable crash-course in comics making, beginning with Juan Fernandez‘s highly energetic intro to image-making as language. This was followed by Dash Shaw‘s in-depth exploration of comics writing, and Molly Ostertag‘s (standing room only!) session on digging a fresh story out of yourself. There were numerous other offerings (we ran 8 workshops this year!) including a clay sculpture workshop with Liz Reed and a Kickstarter intro course with Camilla Zhang. (Big shoutout to Caleb Orecchio for being doorman on Saturday and wrangling the enthusiastic and lengthy lines of folks who attended – and for his own great workshop on Sunday! And to Kate Harmon for helping with supply runs and the door on Sunday!) Saturday night is always bonkers – for me it’s a balance of hanging out with the Comics Workbook and Pittsburgh Comics Salon crew, and finding my more far-flung comics friends to catch up with (Andrew White, M. S. Harkness, Iona Fox!) But despite great conversations and late hours kept, I somehow got up on Sunday morning and drove 30 minutes to Great Falls Park, VA, to pursue the topic of all my own comics lately – BIRDS! Sunday at SPX went by in a flash, and before I knew it we were packing up the workshop room, and I was making a last round of the Expo floor to find cartoonists I’d missed before they in turn packed up and took off. Dinner with Kate Harmon and Emma Ríos and Fiona Smyth, followed by late-night chats with Iona Fox, and then the show was officially over for me. I crawled into bed to sleep for a bit before racing back to Pittsburgh, PA, on Monday morning in time to work at 10 AM… Phew! Thanks to Warren Bernard, Lynda Bernard, Rob Clough, Danethin Mejia, and Eden Miller for the organization behind the show, and especially their help in making the workshops happen. Thanks to Juan Fernandez, Liz Reed, Dash Shaw, Molly Ostertag, Jason Rodriguez and the Latin American Youth Council, Mosi, Camilla Zhang, and Caleb Orecchio for delivering such stellar workshops! And many, many thanks to all the folks who turned up to learn about comics with us over the weekend. See you next year for SPX 2019! ————————————————————————————————— 09-21-2018 – by Niall Breen Share this page: [...]

Bill Griffith Searching for Beatnik Comics

Juan FernándezApril 7, 2016EssaysBill Griffith Searching for Beatnik Comics at COPACETIC COMICS PITTSBURGH PA USA – Shot and Edited by John Kelly Share this page: [...]

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