Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged cm campbell, e. simms campbell, shequeta smith

Sally Ingraham

Posted on March 22, 2018March 22, 2018

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Comics WorkbookJuly 31, 2017Essaysby Jackie Kirby Above, I have taken the opening couplet of Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” (1681) scanned and annotated by Phillip Hobsbaum in Metre, Rhythm, and Verse Form (1996) and translated it into an 8-panel grid spread using values of red as a accentual tool. Approaching comics with the assumption that they are or can be included within the scope of poetic practice, one is brought to draw a connection between the formal structures through which time and meaning are manifested on the page: in the comic, geometry and the grid; and in the poem, meter and verse form. Here, I will present what could generously be called “notes” towards a theory of meter and geometry. I apologize now for the inevitable imperfection of the metaphor, but I find this to be an important and positive aspect of the connection between the two, rather than a caveat negating any use the metaphor may provide. Meter is the method of measuring verse by counting elements of it. It is a primarily mathematical system; it was called “numbers” by the Classical poets. Most often, the poet is counting syllables, as many languages exist primarily as a succession of syllables. Through different uses of meter, different methods of counting and measuring, different patterns of arrangement, writers create prosody, or a system of language. Within each language there exist many theories of organization, each of which is catered to both the language the writer uses and the purpose for which she wishes to use it. English poetry uses an accentual-syllabic metrical system, where the units being counted are syllables, and their pattern is defined by the arrangement of more or less strongly emphasized, or accented, syllables. Other languages use different systems. Languages which do not accentuate as strongly, such as French, will use something more akin to a purely syllabic meter, where forms are defined by the counting of syllables and ordering of numbers. This was also used by Ancient Irish and Welsh poets. Classical Greek and Latin poets based their prosody on the number of syllables and the length of time it takes to speak each syllable, creating patterns by arranging longer and shorter syllables. This is all to say, meter is a tool that must be developed accounting for the idiosyncrasies of the language in which one wishes to write. By looking at the metrical forms used by poets across different languages, and restructuring them for use in the language of comics, one can produce comic forms with increased complexity without decreasing (and perhaps even increasing) their legibility. In an initial attempt at translating verse form to comic form let us equate syllables with panels, and spreads with lines. Each row of panels will represent a metrical foot. Stress is produced relationally, and in comics one can use size, color, density, and a myriad of other visual techniques to “stress” a panel. The actual size of each panel per “foot” or row is up to your own discretion but I prefer to use a more qualitative than quantitative approach to my “comics scansion.” The first verse form I’d like to look at is dactylic hexameter, or Homer’s verse. It is the verse used in the Iliad and Odyssey, and later in Latin by Ovid and Virgil. Its historical use has equated it with the most grandiose poetic narratives, and cues a reader that she is reading a grand epic. Dactylic refers to the primary foot pattern of the poem, a dactyl being a long or stressed syllable followed by 2 short or unstressed syllables, while hexameter refers to the number of feet per line, which is 6 in this case (as opposed to pentameter , tetrameter , etc.). Using the system of translation previously established, a “dactylic hexameter” comic, would consist of spreads with 6 rows of 3 panels each, with the primary pattern being to stress the first panel of each row. Visually, this can easily lead us to a spread of 2 pages using a 9-panel grid. Another notable element of Homer’s verse is that the third and sixth feet may be spondees rather than dactyls. A spondee is a foot composed of 2 equally weighted syllables. This could provide a spread looking something like this. Alternatively, one could equate the panel to a metrical foot, and the page to a line. This would produce 6-panel grids, with each spread serving as a couplet. These are only a few different, relatively conservative, attempts at translating a single poetic verse form into comics. These are not prescriptions as to what certain meters must look like in comics, but demonstrations of the ways meter and verse form can be used to develop a prosody of comics. There is such a plethora of verse forms, all with their own particular uses that can be translated into comics. As shown in the Marvell scansion above, the 8-panel grid is quite suited for translating iambic tetrameter, which is used most commonly in the ballad form. This connection could lead to all sorts of comics practices or translated ballads. The harmony of a metered line is based on the same mathematical principals that produce visual harmony in geometric patterns. For instance, the sonnet, one of the most commonly used poetic forms, consisted originally of an octave (8-line stanza) followed by a sestet (6-line stanza). Poetry scholars have connected this with the golden ratio (8/5) with an extra line added to complete an even-numbered rhyme scheme. I have annoyed (to say the least) a number of English department chairs by insisting that poetry is simply linguistic mathematics. Certainly it’s (a bit) more than that, but much of poetics is applied mathematics, just as comics are. ————————————————————————————————————— Jackie Kirby is a poet and comics maker living in New York City. A recent graduate from The New School with a BA in Cultural Studies, she has been making comics and writing poetry seriously for three years. Check out work by Jackie on her website, and follow her on Instagram. Read Jackie’s Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency Report for more thoughts on comics and poetry. Share this page: [...]

06/30/2017

Sally IngrahamJune 30, 2017NewsSally here with news and comics from November Garcia, Heidi MacDonald, Sophie Yanow and Iona Fox, Anna Haifisch, Sara Lautman, and more! ————————————————————————————————— Rob Clough reviews some mini comics he picked up at CAKE recently, including work by November Garcia. “Malarkey #2, by November Garcia. Garcia is my favorite new autobio cartoonist, especially given the way she’s able to navigate humor and poignant moments with equal aplomb. Malarkey is her catch-all comic where she collects her four-panel gag strips that center around her family, her husband, comics, and life in general in the Philippines.” “Being in the Philippines, Garcia naturally feels quite distant from the North American comics scene, so seeing her do strips about listening to podcasts where her comic is mentioned or fantasizing (positively and negatively) about what going to CAKE would be like have that element present in all of Garcia’s comics: an element of pure joy & excitement about life balanced with anxiety and in particular regret for things she hasn’t actually done yet. That element adds a certain tension to these strips but doesn’t dominate it, as her enthusiasm for life is still the dominant element in her work, and it’s the engine for her sense of humor.“ Read the rest of Rob’s review HERE, as well as his thoughts on Bug Boys #14 by Laura Knetzger, and Dreaming Of Johnny by Sophie McMahan. November Garcia is a recent graduate of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers – check out her course comic HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Heidi MacDonald rounds up the list of comics coming out this Fall for Publishers Weekly. Her Top 10 has some great comics/makers on it, including Going into Town: A Love Letter to New York by Roz Chast (Bloomsbury USA, Oct. 3); Sex Fantasy by Sophia Foster-Dimino (Koyama Press, Sept. 12); Tenements, Towers & Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City by Julia Wertz (Black Dog & Leventhal, Oct. 3); House of Women by Sophie Goldstein (Fantagraphics, Oct. 3); and others. View the complete list HERE. ————————————————————————————————— On The Comics Beat Philippe Leblanc reviews What is a Glacier? by Sophie Yanow, Undocumented, The Architecture of Migrant Detention by Tings Chak (part of N.B: Undocumented, an Indiegogo project from Ottawa-based publisher Ad Astra Comix), and Almanac 2017 by Iona Fox. “Reading these three comics gave me some hope that people understand the magnitude of the issues affecting us. Climate change in particular, but also other more complex issues such as migration detention, the burden of individuals toward reducing waste, food security and sustainability, border crossing and others. It was a reminder that knowledge helps to educate to explain complex issues in a relatable way.“ Read the full review HERE. ————————————————————————————————— It’s Nice That has a feature about Anna Haifisch‘s Drifter (Perfectly Acceptable Press, 2017). Needing a break from The Artist and wanting to try a different style, Anna was inspired by publisher Matt Davis’s desire to make a large book, “Floppy and oversized – a shelf nightmare!” and returned to her printmaking origins with this work. “Poetry became a structure in which to develop the narrative. “I came up with this poem like text about a drifting person. Drifting seems to be a thing in the 21st century. Making decisions isn’t my generations strongest point. I am a bit of a drifter myself.” The process in drawing Drifter took “longer than I thought,” quite apt for a publication about meandering. “I was used to drawing up to four pages a day for comic books, with Drifter I barely got one colour layer done per day. I spent a lot of time watching the ink dry.”“ You can see more excerpts from the book and read more about Anna’s process HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Reminder: Printed Matter, Inc. is presenting “Something Unusual is Happening: Experimental Comics and the Art of Visual Narrative”, a group exhibition featuring the work of Lale Westvind, Lala Albert, Brie Moreno, CF, Patrick Kyle, and others. The show opens TONIGHT, amid the fanfare of a Guntit performance (Lale Westvind‘s band with Laura Perez Harris and Tom Toye) – 6-8pm. It will be on view through July 31st. More info can be found HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Here on the site Kurt Ankeny wraps up his spring comics show season with a few words on PIX, CAKE, and MECAF. “So, for those of us in the indie comics circuit, the summer lull is upon us. Summer usually has very few indie-centered shows going on, even though the mainstream comicons are going full blast. The consensus is that generally, indie comics are more dependent on the college and art school crowd, and when they all go home for the summer, it’s hard to gather enough interested folks to hold a show. It seems awfully stupid to join an industry whose main customer base is one of the poorest and busiest groups of people in society, but here we are, at it again, hoping to make a buck.“ Read the rest HERE. ————————————————————————————————— In Other Words It’s time to apply for a spot at Comic Arts Brooklyn (CAB) – or just put the show on your calendar – November 5th (with other related events occurring Nov. 3rd-6th). For a limited time only, get a copy of Sara Lautman‘s new mini Ghost Sex when you order any of her other titles from Birdcage Bottom Books – offer HERE. Also Sara Lautman – this amusing comic in the New Yorker about What Wonder Woman Wonders. Jillian Tamaki talks Boundless on Hyperallergic – “Short Stories Are More Liberating“. Sloane Leong writes a tribute to Meredith Gran‘s Octopus Pie for The Comics Journal. Keiler Roberts‘ Sunburning makes Mental Floss’s list of The 10 Most Interesting Comics of June. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-30-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-30-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

10/14/2016

Sally IngrahamOctober 14, 2016NewsSally here, reporting live from Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, OH! I drove over from Pittsburgh, PA, yesterday with my car loaded down with materials for this weekend’s Comics Workbook-hosted workshops at CXC (details on those HERE), making it to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum on the OSU campus just in time to catch Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes in conversation with CXC festival director Tom Spurgeon. Their conversation was interesting and entertaining, detailing the complexities of making editorial cartoons, especially as a woman in the industry. Ann spoke of the necessary sense of urgency that a good editorial cartoonist must posses, and about how the cartoons are the QUESTION, not the answer. Regarding her famous caricatures, she said it is about drawing “how a person IS, not just what they look like – them INSIDE“. Then she drew Hilary Clinton for the audience, real quick: Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes draws Hilary Clinton for us at her CXC presentation at the Billy Ireland Library & Museum @cartoonlibrary @anntelnaes #cxc16 #femalecartoonists A video posted by Comics Workbook Roller Derby (@cwrollerderby) on Oct 13, 2016 at 8:16pm PDT Check out Ann Telnaes’ most recent animated gif HERE – this is the format she has been using lately to get her point of view across (and that is the most important thing for an editorial cartoonist to have – a point of view!) ————————————————————————————————— After meeting up with fellow Comics Workbook representatives and cartoonists Kurt Ankeny, Alyssa Berg, and Whit Taylor for dinner, I joined forces with Kurt and Caleb Orecchio to check out the Winsor McCay presentation at the Wexner Center for the Arts, put together by John Canemaker. It was a fantastic exploration of the animated films made by the famed creator of the Little Nemo in Slumberland strips. Totally blown away by the Winsor McCay presentation hosted by John Canemaker at CXC – this is part of McCay’s first animated film, drawing on characters from Little Nemo #cxc2016 #winsormccay #animation A video posted by Sally Ingraham (@sally_ingraham) on Oct 13, 2016 at 6:40pm PDT The CXC festival program claimed that John Canemaker‘s lectures were not-to-be-missed, and I found this to be true (in case you didn’t know, he is an Academy Award-winning animator himself!) It was thrilling to watch McCay’s first animated film on “the big screen”, and then Canemaker really won the audience over by taking on McCay’s roll in the vaudeville performances he used to do using his animated character Gertie the Dinosaur. John Canemaker stepping into Winsor McCay’s roll in the type of vaudeville act McCay used to do with his animated character Gerdie – at CXC tonight #cxc2016 #winsormccay #johncanemaker #gertie A video posted by Comics Workbook (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 13, 2016 at 8:10pm PDT Terrific stuff. I sat in awe behind Lucy Caswell (founding curator of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum) throughout this presentation and enjoyed the deference that John Canemaker showed her on any McCay details he felt iffy on (and he actually wrote THE book on Winsor McCay). It was a good first day of Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, with plenty more to come for me and the rest of the Comics Workbook team! Here’s that complete schedule of where we will be throughout the weekend. As you can perhaps gather, we are live-reporting all weekend via social media and especially through Instagram, so follow @comicsworkbook, @cwrollerderby, and @sally_ingraham for updates! (Also give a look to Juan Fernandez, Alyssa Berg, Whit Taylor, Caleb Orecchio, Kurt Ankeny, and Emil Friis Ernst for other CXC stories!) Next week keep an eye out for a full CXC Festival report brought to you by Whit Taylor – stay tuned! ————————————————————————————————— LICAF opening night A video posted by @santoro.frank on Oct 13, 2016 at 2:17pm PDT Frank Santoro, Aidan Koch, and Connor Willumsen made it to the U.K., and for live reporting from The Lakes International Comic Art Festival this weekend, check out @santoro.frank on Instagram. Get tickets to Frank, Aidan, and Connor’s workshops on Saturday HERE. Hang out with the crew in the Comics Clocktower Saturday and Sunday! ————————————————————————————————— Check out the Pompeii Medallion HERE – for an interesting artistic collaboration. Connor Willumsen has new work – this way please! ————————————————————————————————— Regular reporting will return next week – but for today, this is Sally signing off. I have to run and catch up with Sacha Mardou, get a tour of the special collections at the Billy Ireland, and check in on the state of the comics industry, before meeting Garry Trudeau, and then partying the night away with Katie Skelly – and that’s just the stuff on the CXC program schedule for today that I’ve highlighted… Cheers! Share this page: [...]

01/16/2017

Juan FernándezJanuary 16, 2017NewsJuan and Sally here to start your week off with George Herriman strips, Richard Diebenkorn sketchbooks, Illustrated PEN’s State of Emergency, the GOUFFRE anthology, and other comics and news bites. ————————————————————————————————— Here on the site, Comics Workbook student and cartoonist Jesse Rimler shares a report on the Richard Diebenkorn Sketchbook show that hung at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University last summer. “This exhibit made me think about the general use of a sketchbook. Diebenkorn called his sketchbook his “portable studio,” and it’s clear he took drawing in these beatup spiralbounds as seriously as he did etching on a copper plate or painting on a canvas. I think some comics makers, myself included, tend to treat their sketchbooks as something completely different from their final art. The idea of closing the gap between the two is appealing to me, and Diebenkorn’s example is inspiring.“ Read the rest of this “Art Trip” HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Illustrated PEN published an online graphic narrative series called State of Emergency, which is intended to help “amplify the voices and stories of the communities most at risk in this new and hostile reality“. Edited by Meg Lemke, Rob Kirby, and MariNaomi, it features pieces by Iasmin Omar Ata, Dylan Edwards, Thi Bui, Rachel Masilamani, Robert Kirby, Whit Taylor, Tyler Cohen, and Cristy C. Road. Check out the whole series HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Juan Fernandez here. Ain’t got too much to say today, just wanted to share some strips I made with you a while back. I’ve been going through the new IDW 1934 Krazy Kat Dailies book every day this year. It’s been a wonderful experience. I’ve been clamoring for an economically formatted collection of Herriman’s dailies for some years now since Fantagraphics started doing their reprints of the Sunday pages. Those are exquisite. This IDW collection features the complete run of Krazy Kat dailies from 1934, reproduced full size on high quality newsprint, in a chunky, horizontally formatted hardcover volume from IDW’s Library of American Comics Essentials series. Woo boy. That thing is amazing. In light of this, I’ve been thinking about a couple of strips I made at the Center for Cartoon Studies in 2012. The following strips were made for the second assignment in Jason Lutes’ Cartooning Studio. Aping as the building of discipline. Style as functional raincoat. The objective was to recreate faithfully the visual and narrative style of an American strip artist and to tell 3 autobiographical stories using the strip as the vehicle. The assigned artists ranged far and wide, from Walt Kelly to Scott Adams. You know, a very CCS “traditional” cartooning exercise. I was lucky enough to get George Herriman’s Krazy Kat. Thanks Jason. It was a really satisfying exercise. I won’t lie, the strips turned out nice but they don’t really work. I had never done comic strips that weren’t just Dada-ist doodle non-sequitors, so this exercise proved to be a challenge. Not because I didn’t want them to make sense, but rather because I wanted so badly for them to make sense. I wanted to express so much in a single strip and it came out garbled. Clean, but garbled. I understand structure, but traditional narrative? Man, that’s hard to do and not ham up! To make these studies I read a great deal of Herriman’s dailies, across collections, but I found that the most useful was a big green copy of Fantagraphics Books’ The Kat Who Walked in Beauty. The “Panoramic” Dailies from 1920. If you’re only familiar with Herriman’s broadsheets, you really ought to take a look at his dailies. While the broadsheets are beautiful and hyperbolic, the daily strips are immaculately fine tuned little nuggets. It’s staggering to know that he churned out these little finely crafted gems on a daily basis for 31 years. In my opinion, it’s there that you’ll find his genius. Day in and day out. At least, that’s the work that I most want to read. Speaking to what I said about structure, I want to share some of the process of thinking about Herriman’s pacing. Diagrams of panel organization schemes that appeared throughout the strips from 1920. You have the pacing of his language in balloons but, more importantly you have the pacing across his panels. Horizons dip up and down. Panels tuck themselves behind others. Panel sequences exist as objects, embedded in the desert landscape. CW Students: I recommend blocking out the essential shapes and forms of any comics that you enjoy. It’s a good warm up for thinking about structure. Roughly block out panels and black regions. Squint your eyes. Take off your glasses if you wear them. Block out a lot of pages and spreads. This can really help internalize the structures of the works that you love. And that can help you synthesize those things into work of your own that you will love. ————————————————————————————————— The new anthology GOUFFRE from Lagon Revue is now available online from revuelagon.com. Edited and conceived by editors Alexis Beauclair, Bettina Henni, Séverine Bascouert, Sammy Stein & Jean-Philippe Bretin, GOUFFRE combines multiple printing techniques: Silk-screen, Riso printing, and offset printing. A spectacle of daring comics and all out production. Grab yourself a copy and be on the cutting edge of comics. It’s 45€. GOUFFRE stands for polymorphic, plastic comics. The magazine celebrates new perspectives and unique approaches of the medium: Minimal, maximal, without characters, made of sensations, or of emptiness, mute, aesthetic, close to abstraction. You will discover toxic undergrowth, extinguished suburbs, melancholic sci-fi stories, fake magazine covers, modern love relationships and visions of the near future. ————————————————————————————————— Tea and Crumpets Maurice, Son of Noah Pt. 4 by Roman Muradov is up on Hazlett – HERE. You can catch the rest of the story as well – and check out the previous comic series’ published by Hazlett, including the story by Annie Mok and Natalie Andrewson – Straight Expectations. The Will Eisner Hall of Fame 2017 Nominees have been announced. It’s the 100th year since Eisner’s death so the list is a little longer than usual, with four judge-appointed Hall of Fame inductees instead of the usual two, and seventeen names up for the public vote – including the Hernandez Brothers. Check out Tom Spurgeon’s comments on the list HERE. Michael DeForge now has a designated Instagram for his comic series Leaving Richard’s Valley – follow along @richardsvalley. There is an interview with Erik Nebel in Fluide Glacial, the famous French comics magazine. Erik translated an excerpt and shared it HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Check out Zona #2, a unique look into Frank Santoro’s process. Full color, 24 pages. Magazine sized. Cardstock covers. Edition of 100. Signed and numbered. Get a copy HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-16-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-16-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— 1-16-2017 – by Juan Fernández Share this page: [...]

CWCC 2017 Final Entries List

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

03/22/2018

Posted on March 22, 2018March 22, 2018 by Sally Ingraham

Sally here with work by Shequeta Smith, E. Simms Campbell, and CM Campbell, plus much more!

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Shequeta Smith, creator of *Rayven Choi*

A recent article on the Los Angeles Sentinel celebrated Women’s History Month with a terrific roundup of Black Women in Comics.

One creator whom I was excited to discover is Shequeta Smith (pictured above). She is a powerhouse, making the Rayven Choi series, running Shero Comics, and digging into the screenwriting industry as well. You can see a preview of Rayven Choi Chapter #3: The Bounty Hunter HERE.

The L. A. Sentinel article also lists Micheline Hess (creator of Malice in Ovenland), Myisha Haynes (The Substitutes), Taneka Stotts (Beyond: The Queer Sci-Fi and Fantasy Comic Anthology series), and familiar names like Marguerite Abouet (the Aya comics), and Jackie Ormes (Torchy Brown, etc.)

Check out the whole list HERE.

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E. Simms Campbell’s nightlife map of Harlem, from 1932 – click HERE for a bigger version

Here’s an article on Slate from 2016 about E. Simms Campbell – one of the first successful black cartoonists. His work appeared in numerous magazines of the day, many of them in Esquire, which launched in 1933. I thought the map pictured above was terrific, and if you are a jazz fan it is worth noting that Cab Calloway’s band appears at the bottom left-hand corner.

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CM Campbell shares a lengthy and interesting comic on Hyperallergic for “anyone who has ever asked, “How do I draw a black guy?” ” Read the full thing HERE.

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Extra, Extra!

Check out Ronald Wimberly on the Comicidal Podcast – he talks about new and ongoing projects like Sunset Park, and LAAB Magazine. Listen HERE.
Ta-Nehisi Coates (the writer behind two successful years of Black Panther) is going to start writing Captain America. He scribbled a brief essay for The Atlantic that announced the new project, and details why it “scares the hell out of me“.
The Nib has a feature called Comics By Response, where they pose a question or concept and cartoonists respond – here are Four Cartoonists on Their Favorite Unsung Black History Heroes – with work by Keith Knight, Robyn Smith, Ben Passmore, and Mariah Rose-Marie.
Illustrated PEN on PEN America’s guest editor Robert Kirby showcases the work of fellow guest editor Whit Taylor, throwing light on the final story in her collection Ghost Stories – the story is called Maker and you can see it HERE.

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Announcing the Spring Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers

8 weeks! $500 bux! 10 spots available!

Rolling start date because of spring break – start as early as March 30th 2018.

Deadline to apply is April 12th.

Read all about the course HERE and email santoroschool@gmail.com for more details or to apply.

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Joanie and Jordie – 3-21-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged cm campbell, e. simms campbell, shequeta smith

Sally Ingraham

Posted on March 22, 2018March 22, 2018

Explore

01/10/2018

Juan FernándezJanuary 10, 2018los Cómics / NewsJuan empieza el día con el Puchi Award 2018 y Paul Karasik & Mark Newgarden charlando sobre Nancy! ———————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: ~ In English and en Español ~ Deadline reminder: Jan. 10th 201 – TODAY -. La Horchata Zine is accepting submissions from creators of Central American ancestry. New Deadline: submissions for Ink Brick no. 9 are due Monday, Feb 19, 2018! Do yourself a favor and submit your comics-poetry, won’t you? Belgian cartoonist and autobio-comics champion, David Libens, is starting to publish his current notebook online. His recent comics and zines have been coming from this notebook. There’s some really amazing autobiography in here. First take cartooning, grappling with depression, love and the nuisance that is the call of the void. Earnest, painful and funny. The First 12 pages are available here. Happy reading. La Casa Encendida y Fulgencio Pimentel siguen buscando un libro. La convocatoria de #PuchiAward 2018 está abierta a todo tipo de géneros y formas: ficción, no ficción, novela, poesía, cómic, álbum ilustrado, ensayo, libro de cocina, geografía… Hasta el 25 de enero. The Latino Comix Expo is coming to Brownsville, Texas! Exhibitors can apply for a table, fans can get their your tickets! Cynthia Alfonso and Óscar Raña have created a new video for Spanish Psych-pop band Dois – this comes via with their new experimental animation studio called RAPAPAWN. Check out the European Fuzzy Vector Goop Abstraction in action. Paul Karasik & Mark Newgarden talk on the Virtual Memories Show with Gil Roth about their glortious achievement – How to Read Nancy, a decade-long experiment in close comics reading and visual literacy. Listen here. ————————————————————————————————— Frank Santoro and Simon Hanselmann, CAB 2013 – photo by Chris Anthony Diaz, colored by Graham Willcox International Students: The Winter Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers starts January 16th 2018! 8 weeks – 500 bux – coaching for as long as you need. The course is hard, but Frank will push your comics making practice to a new level, getting you to think about timing and color in new ways. His experience and ideas have influenced the likes of Connor Willumsen, Michael DeForge, and Simon Hanselmann (quote “I consider Frank Santoro to be my L. Ron Hubbard”) among many others. Dig into something new in the new year! Full details and how to apply can be found HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-10-2018 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-10-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

2° Encontro Lady’s Comics

Anna ManciniAugust 3, 2016Festivals and ShowsHi there – this is Anna Mancini, or Manzanna, from Brazil. I just returned from the 2° Encontro Lady’s Comics, a pioneer event in Brazil dedicated to comics made by women. From July 29 to 31, 2ELC took place in Belo Horizonte, home of FIQ – Brazil’s International Comics Festival. This second edition was organized by FIQ in partnership with the event’s creators, the Lady’s Comics collective. The chosen theme for this year was “The First Trip”, which gave room to explore both the history of Brazilian female cartoonists and the challenges faced by artists starting and developing their careers. With panels, workshops, a fair and an exhibition by Chicks on Comics, 2ELC gathered many of Brazil’s female cartoonists in one place, plus international guests Sole Otero, Clara Lagos, Mariela Acevedo (Argentina) and Katherine Supnem (Chile). Aware of the challenges women face in the comics community, the gathering provided a much needed space for the participants to express and identify with each other. Topics included the need to study and rewrite our history, shedding new light on pioneer women cartoonists; the first steps of publishing, selling and entering the market; the struggles of the creative process; plus talks on motherhood, science fiction and education, among other themes. I’m still processing, digesting, reflecting on the experience. As my fellow cartoonists have confirmed, 2ELC left everyone with a shared feeling of empowerment, reciprocity and ambition. I’m glad to realize we’re in this together, and can’t wait to see how it will fuel our work. Pictures, videos and more from 2° Encontro Lady’s Comics can be seen at their facebook page. Share this page: [...]

05/17/2018

Comics WorkbookMay 16, 2018NewsSam Ombiri on Gabrielle Bell’s “Cody”! ———————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: Sometimes I think about “Cody”– a story by Gabrielle Bell that appears in Kramers Ergot 8 – and about how much it does with so little. I guess I could question what does it matter that it does? After all, “doing so much with so little” can seem to be the mission of comics, if comics were to have a mission. Maybe I’m complimenting Gabrielle Bell’s success on that mission. The fact that Bell did so much with so little is not more important than what was actually done. I’m just really struck with this amazing story, and I’m trying to find ways to express how much I sensed the success of “Cody” in utilizing the comics form (not to rob the genuine intentions of comic and what it’s aiming to do). Well, that’s a lie. Truth be told, the very first time I read the comic, because it didn’t tell me how to feel and the drama wasn’t calling so much attention to itself, I kind of just skipped over all that was happening. I read through elements in the story, not really engaging with said elements. Like, for example, a friendship dissolving between Audrey’s dad and Cody, because nobody is paying any mind to it. Not even Cody, who is being so mistreated. While Audrey’s dad can be blamed for leaving Cody behind to be arrested, it isn’t for reasons that aren’t hard to guess, displayed by how Cody treats Audrey. At the same time, the way everything ended unfairly on his end, it’s easy to see why he doesn’t feel like he owes anyone anything. The way Gabrielle drew Cody being arrested conveys to me his realization that nobody truly cares about him. I wonder if Gabrielle gave him a dog to be less lonely? Anyway, Audrey’s dad is confronted with having to take responsibility for the man he used to be, not to mention the torment he has clearly been subjecting his wife to, and possibly at one point considers escaping it all, maybe with Cody?Would all this drama then be more effective if I was told what to feel? The way the comic is drawn feels so surreal, because it’s presented like nothing’s changed from the work that I’ve typically read from Gabrielle Bell. It’s hard to describe the feeling; it’s like if someone had told me that Ali: Fear Eats the Soul was directed by Douglas Sirk. It’s even crazier, because it’s Gabrielle Bell doing a comic that is so unlike her typical work – which is mostly autobiographical – but there’s no loud announcement that there’s a major shift. It’s so quietly done that it’s almost suspicious. I mean, for sure Gabrielle Bell’s regular work is not so unlike “Cody”, but the other purely fictional work I’ve read from her has been Cecil and Jordan in New York. This feels wholly unexpected for me. I mean in her autobio work she’s so good at portraying events or lack thereof in her life – it makes sense that her fiction would be this ridiculously good. The beginning is just as terrifying as the ending of the strip that comes before it in Kramers 8. I’m not talking about Leon Sadler’s thankfully comforting page, in between this unsettling horror, but the one before it in the story Kevin Huizenga had covered. There is something horrifying about Gabrielle Bell starting her story with a car crash, one whose only purpose is to remind our narrator of Cody, someone she once knew. It’s like, people have died and for no reason other than the minuscule purpose of making the main character briefly think about a guy named Cody. This isn’t a thing that I have to think long and hard about – I immediately feel it when I read the image and the words, but when I think about it some more it’s even more frightening. This is because the first panel is on the field in the past (most likely – nothing in the rest of the strip suggests otherwise) where the story takes place, so the setting is introduced already. Then a car crash “introduces” Cody, and one that’s not by any means loud – the way it’s drawn is especially ambivalent. The main character, Audrey, is looking at it, but her face is away from us. This oddly reminds me of Carlos Gonzalez’s comics. The way he draws his stories – while his stories and the way they’re drawn are incredibly grounded, whatever it may be that you’re being presented with, you’re not being told, at least by the drawings, what to be horrified with or what to find strange and what not. It’s like something Anders Nielsen said in an Inkstuds interview, that “sometimes in comics it’s best not to show things. So even a character’s expression – if a character is having an emotional response or little revelation or something, it’s almost always better to have their heads turned away from the camera. And I think of violence happening off-screen is sort of like the same thing. It’s more visceral, and it happens in the readers head instead.” It’s not a totally similar feeling that I get when I read “Cody”, but I just don’t know, I’m really troubled when I read the beginning. Just something about how the words that lead us to this incident are so casual – “Mostly I don’t think about it, but sometimes something will remind me of Cody.” It’s so casually and ambivalently spoken. I mean, on the list of horrifying images in comics this isn’t at the top of the list, and yet this is incredibly tragic and horrifying. I think it’s that such little care is given…it vaguely reminds me of the rhythm that Terrence Malick’s Badlands had – it speaks to the abrupt nature of life. Another comparison that came to mind was Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. I refer to how the drama is muted and every detail is there for a reason. The drama is there if you engage with it, and there are these points in the story where it viceraly hits. “Cody”, like all the comics in Kramers 8, really knew how to hit in this specific way that’s so flabbergasting and disorienting, and at times, as shown by Bell’s “Cody”, incredibly compelling. – Sam Ombiri Get a copy of Kramers Ergot 8 HERE and check out Gabrielle Bell’s “Cody”. ———————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 5-17-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio 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: [...]

10/5/2016

Juan FernándezOctober 5, 2016los Cómics / NewsJuan con: el tour de talleres de Comics Workbook; Rodrigo Elgueta y los Años de Allende; Natalia Silva en conversacíon con Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo; la llegada de Entreviñetas – Medellín; una venta paginas de Michael Deforge; Frank Santoro y el medallon de Pompeii. ————————————————————————————————— Comics Workbook participará en dos festivales la semana que viene: En el Reino Unido The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Octubre 14-16. Frank Santoro, Aidan Koch, and Connor Willumsen en Kendal, UK. Buscános para y visita la mesa 67 en el Comics Clocktower para conocer a Oliver East y Jack Brougham, entre otros. Tendremos 3 talleres especiales, “Visual Poetry” con Aidan Koch, “The Hammer Party” con Connor Willumsen y “Composition Competition” con Frank Santoro. Las entradas para los eventos principales en el Festival Internacional de Lagos Arte cómico de este año están a la venta.ickets for the main events at this year’s Lakes International Comic Art Festival are on sale now. Visita nuestra página de eventos para más información.. En los Estados Unidos Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, October 13-16. Ofreciendo talleres y tendremos libros de venta. Júntate con la boca y dibujantes Alexa bar y Kurt Ankeny para disfrutar un fin de semana Juan llenísimo y de creación de cómics. Examinarémos el arte y la cuadricula, uniendo las pracitcas artísticas de Berg y Ankeny junto con la disciplina y el ritmo de la cuadricula, según lo principios establecidos por Frank Santoro. Cuatro horas a través de dos días, llenas de la exploración de una variedad de técnicas y métodos – que inspirarán el principiante, y desafiarán al dibujante avancado. Cómics como el jazz; cómics como la arquitectura; cómo una simple tarjeta de índice puede transformar su proceso de secuenciación y la narración. El horario completo del Festival CXC esta disponible AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— Una Entrevista Con Rodrigo Elgueta ¿Cómo ingresaste al mundo del cómic en Chile? Creo que se podría decir que el cómic es una actividad que me encanta, desde muy niño supe que iba a ser dibujante de cómic. Entre las cosas que me gustan de este mundo es que todos los dibujantes de historieta tenemos en común experiencias de niño, hay algo que nos conecta con ese mundo infantil que ha sobrevivido con el tiempo y que se manifiesta cuando uno hace historietas. Por ejemplo, a los siete años tengo el recuerdo concreto de una tarde especial, donde estaba dibujando personajes de Barrabases, en el cual dije “voy a ser dibujante”, y aquello me acompañó durante toda la vida. Más detalles sobre su libro Los Años de Allende – AQUI! Cuando el 4 de septiembre de 1970 Salvador Allende obtuvo el 36,2 por ciento de los votos que lo llevaron a ser presidente de la República, empezaron los mil días más intensos de la historia de Chile. El país fue un ejemplo inédito de socialismo popular democrático, con planes revolucionarios de igualdad, y al mismo tiempo un temido enclave marxista que amenazaba los privilegios, los negocios privados y los grandes capitales. Esta novela gráfica enseña con rigor los hechos políticos, los factores y actores que determinaron el fin de la vía chilena, a través de la mirada de un periodista norteamericano que llega a reportear un proceso y se encuentra con conspiraciones, efervescencia cultural y agitadas noches con una mujer fascinante. Muestra, así, las esperanzas y temores de los protagonistas de entonces, quienes vieron con pasión y dolor cómo se articulaba y destruía un experimento social único en el siglo XX. ————————————————————————————————— [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/285194140″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Escucha la nueva edición de @lapololapodcast, un podcast del cómic femenino con Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo: En este capítulo las chicas conversan con la autora del libro “No abuses de este libro” Natalia Silva, alias Natichuleta. Conversamos acerca del abuso, de la violencia, los secretos, de cuales son los límites, cómo son los abusadores, cómo nos refugiamos en nosotros mismos y en el dibujo para darnos seguridad y sacar afuera estas experiencias. ————————————————————————————————— Entreviñetas – MEDELLÍN La segunda parte del gran festival Entreviñetas tendra lugar este fin de semana, del 6 al 9 de octubre. Si no lo saben ya, el Festival Entreviñetas es el evento del cómic y el dibujo más influyente en la escena latinoamericana contemporanea. No se pierdan toda la programación! Pueden ver los horarios AQUÍ. Talleres, ferias, charlas y entrevistas – habra de todo, sobre TODO! ————————————————————————————————— Tenemos una nueva subasta para compartir con ustedes! El gran Michael DeForge nos ha donado tres dibujos a beneficio de la escuela – cada dibujo es sobre una cartulina tamaño A4 en crayón. Son de 2014. Cada dibujo estará disponible por separado. Más detalles acerca de la subasta está aquí. ————————————————————————————————— Echa un vistazo a este medallón estilo Pompeii! “Le encargué a la gran Airi Maeno que hiciera unos medallones de plata con sede fuera de mis dibujos. Este dibujo viende de mi libro Pompeii. Es algo que puedo imaginar que alguien se pondría hace dos mil años. Un simple medallón de un ser querido. Un retrato. Algo permanente para desafiar a la desaparición”. – Frank Santoro Puedes comprar uno aquí! ————————————————————————————————— hasta la proxima! Juan Share this page: [...]

Announcing the Spring Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers

8 weeks! $500 bux! 10 spots available!

Rolling start date because of spring break – start as early as March 30th 2018.

Deadline to apply is April 12th.

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