Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged amanda baeza, ann telnaes, caleb orecchio, dominique goblet, esther pearl watson, jack brougham, jessica abel, jessica campbell, juan fernandez, liana finck, marie jacotey, marlene krause, sophie franz, studio pilar

Sally Ingraham

Posted on March 2, 2017March 3, 2017

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Sally Madden’s Personal Scene Report

Frank SantoroDecember 18, 2011Riff Raff / Scene ReportsFrank here. I asked my friend Sally Bloodbath to do a New York scene report. But she moved back to Philly and I already had a Philly report up in here like two months ago. Sally also got married to Matt Wiegle and has changed her name to Sally Madden. Go figure. Trying to clean up her image I guess. I meant the name part – not the marrying Matt Wiegle part 🙂 – Take it away, Sally! ——————- Sally Madden’s Personal Scene Report by Sally Bloodbath Madden Thank goodness the year is almost over! Isn’t it torture knowing something’s about to end but it won’t just hurry up and get here? Whether the worst documentary or the best novel, once I can see the ending in my sights, it’s exhausting waiting til when you can stick a fork in the thing and call it done. While waiting for winter, we’re fortunate to pass the gray hours with some wonderful comics of 2011. I caught up with several authors to find out what’s next and what they’ve taken away from the year: Eye of the Majestic Creature (Fantagraphics) by Leslie Anne Mackenzie Stein collects the first issues of one of my psychedelia favorites, and expected completion of EOTMC #7 in the next few months. She mentioned, “…work is the most important thing. You can spend a lot of time self-promoting utter crap and it’s still utter crap”. That reminds me of one of the people who asks me to re-tweet for them the most, Katie Skelly, whose compiled futuristic soap-opera Nurse Nurse (Sparkplug) will arrive in April 2012. Her next project is a series about a motorcycle girl gang, in which she will focus on “some kind of utopia one could achieve through method and/or geometry” from her studies of op and kinetic art. Far out! Fellow Syracuse ex-pat, Lizz Hickey has spent 2011 churning out zines like her ass was on fire, exploring her three alter-egos Jeremy, Danny and Carol, as well as some straight autobiographical comics about newlywed life in my favorite, Ladies Night. Her process changed this year, for the first time bringing work past the penciling stage, “I always rushed to finish so I can see instant results. I’ve taught myself to slow down!” CCS alum Melissa Mendes has been speeding it up lately, delivering online dailies, mostly of the subject of her debut book Freddy Stories. Usually, I find daily public comic output add up to little more than a pissing contest, but Mendes’ strips, while clearly an exercise for her, will bring enrichment to the reader as well. Truly, I have discussed some most excellent comic books, and you may be thinking in an expletive-riddled email, “Sally, what about the non-excellent comics? What about the lousy ones, like the three you released this year?”. While I like the idea of making something disposable, often a comic becomes garbage long before it reaches the trashcan. Fear not, gentle reader, for here is Sally’s Activities for Disappointing Comics: 1. Hungry? Why not spare The Times and set aflame some funnies for your weenie roast? A rolled-up floppy is less work than crunching up wads of newsprint, although a larger book like the final issue of Mome will go a long ways, as well. Warning: Glossy magazine-style printing leaves a black film on hot dogs, but not to worry! Still delicious! 2. Rip your way through unwanted comics for inexpensive and delightful linings for receptacles (quality litter is expensive!) for furry friends. Cats and hamsters alike find the experience refreshing, while you have more money to spend on your honey. 3. Remaining cash flow concerns regarding the upcoming holidays? Have more Archies than Benjamins? It’s time to make some gifts from the heart! I recommend some audio stimulus (I prefer Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality) to get through this one- cut out the juiciest panels from unwanted comics to make stories you want to read! Children and adults alike find delight with a one-of-a-kind comic! Don’t be afraid to mix and match- you’ll marvel at the natural romance of Casper and Harley Quinn unfolding in your capable hands. Happy Holiday’s y’all! Share this page: [...]

02/09/2017

Sally IngrahamFebruary 8, 2017NewsSam Ombiri and Sally Ingraham bring the Thursday news – Sam riffs on books within books and title cards, and Sally shares news from John Jennings, Chris Ware (on George Herriman), Fantom Comics in D.C., Darrin Bell, and Ronald Wimberly and his new book. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: I was reading Infomaniacs and at the same time I was reading The League of Divine Wind by a certain Tsunanori Yamao – they both addressed this one issue I feel all the time; it’s a really simple concept that’s often tackled. (To Be Or)Not to be still yapping about my petty frustration with what I was yapping about last week…but…it amazes me how a book by an imaginary author commands more respect than a real human being’s work. [Editor’s Note: In Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima, a character is given a copy of the pamphlet The League of Divine Wind and part of the rest of the story involves him reading it…] I think since The League of Divine Wind is a book within a book, the actual author can give his own book rave reviews in the narrative. (The author being who he is, I’m very, very sure he didn’t care about his reception whatsoever, or at least that’s what I’m guessing.) That might be a good solution to someone who keeps having bad reception. I think Matt Thurber said something like, “World building is a good solution for your frustration of getting lost all the time.“ I was watching Simpsons Season 3 I think. There’s one episode where Homer saves the town from a meltdown – that was just amazing. It was broken down into what felt like seasons, or chapters of emotions running through Homer, but without giving this so much attention that it was nauseating. Like an example of that more recently would be in Moonlight – the way it’s chapters were broken down. It kind of felt like something that I couldn’t quite get with. I felt as I was watching it – and this was confirmed by an article I was reading (I think it was an interview) – that it was an attempt to be Claire Dennis. It was while watching those title cards which broke down the chapters that I felt a little agitated – as his [Moonlight‘s director, Barry Jenkins] solution to what Claire Dennis accomplished was with the cheapest, most easy means possible. It felt a bit dishonest, and of course it more than likely wasn’t – and to some effect it worked – but there’s something nagging at me, telling me that there is too little being accomplished in the way Barry Jenkins is biting Claire Dennis. Claire Dennis bites too of course, but it always feels earned. At least with what I’ve seen. The way Barry bit felt exploitative and a tad immature. It just felt that way. I’m not speaking of the whole movie, just the parts of the movie where the title cards of the chapter were forced in. I remember in an essay about Sundays y Cybele it said something like, “Some feel the music in the movie is pretentious.” The writer of the essay came off as if he was in on it, and smart, and so down to earth that he could admit something – something that didn’t affect his enjoyment of the movie. Which is fine. The thought didn’t even cross my mind when watching Sundays y Cybele. While the aforementioned part of the essay bothered me, I feel it’s a bit of a similar thing going on here with those title cards, except it wasn’t a scenario where it didn’t effect my enjoyment. The music wasn’t what I despised, it was something else. It was the title cards and the music with the title cards. There were parts that were real impressive, but…I don’t know. As an aside. I’m not a good writer by any means. By any means! Criterion has to do something about their essays, though, seriously. I’m not speaking about the one that came with Sundays y Cybele, and I’ve only read a few, (and it’s a pretty weird generalization to make, as the essays come from all over) but I’m real surprised at how bad they can be. There are some really good ones. (Like this one on Tarkovsky and Solaris by Akira Kurosawa.) Anyway, it was really impressive the way the Simpsons did this thing they did. It starts off with Homer saying if they look up idiot in the dictionary my picture will be there, and then this picture comes to his head of him in the dictionary with the word idiot written there, and then it’s used the rest of the episode in this impressive way. – Sam Ombiri Sam Ombiri – 2-9-2017 ————————————————————————————————— Sally here: Eight years after the publication of Black Comix – an anthology edited by Professor John Jennings and Dr. Damian Duffy that collected art and essays celebrating the African American independent comics community – we are excited to announce that Black Comix Returns will be hitting bookshelves soon! The original publication featured “over 50 contributors, including Dawud Anyabwile, Eric Battle, Kenji Marshall, Afua Richardson, Larry Stroman, Rob Stull, Lance Tooks, and many, many more.” It sold out with remarkable speed. The comics industry changed a bit over the last eight years, and many new creators have arrived on the scene, so instead of simply reprinting the book John and Damian are creating a whole new anthology. Check out the Kickstarter campaign HERE. They made their first goal in a few days, and with almost a month left they have some big dreams and stretch goals to reach. They have over 100 artists and writers involved – including Kyle Baker, Keith Knight, Ronald Wimberly, Whit Taylor, Ben Passmore, Chris Visions, Tanna Tucker, and Ashley A. Woods – the book is guaranteed to be incredible! Back the project and look forward to the book. Take a moment to get to know Professor John Jennings while you’re at it – he has been called “the soul of black comix” and is the co-founder/organizer of The Schomburg Center’s Black Comic Book Festival in Harlem, the co-founder and organizer of the MLK NorCal’s Black Comix Arts Festival in San Francisco and also SOL-CON: The Brown and Black Comix Expo at the Ohio State University. He earned an Eisner award for the collection The Blacker the Ink: Constructions of Black Identity in Comics and Sequential Art, which he co-edited. He is an artist and writer as well as an editor/scholar/educator – look for his most recent book, Blue Hand Mojo: Hard Times Road coming out in March 2017. ————————————————————————————————— We linked last week to the incredible piece on Krazy Kat that Chris Ware wrote for The New York Review of Books – but it deserves a second look. Adapted from an essay which will appear in the catalog of an exhibition on George Herriman at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, in Madrid, Spain (opening in October 2017), the piece is Chris Ware’s love letter to Krazy Kat and the strip’s mysterious author, George Herriman. Chris Ware theorizes that although Herriman successfully passed as white all his life, he voiced his true identity through his strip in not-so-subtle ways. The details that Ware delves into – Krazy’s banjo, for example (seen above) – are fascinating, and he writes beautifully about what might have gone through Herriman’s head as he drew the strip. “Lately, I’ve been wondering if Herriman knew that one day his secret-in-plain-sight would be uncovered, that America would change, adapt and grow up enough as a people to understand Krazy Kat in all of its psychological and poetic depth. I’m not sure if we’ve yet reached that point, but what myself and other cartoonists already knew—that the strip was already the greatest ever drawn—is now magnified, multiplied and maximized. Krazy Kat is not just one of the greatest comic strips, it’s one of the strangest, most inventive, emotional, and personal works of art of the twentieth century. In their admiration for Herriman, Philip Guston, Willem de Kooning, and Jack Kerouac sensed something in his line and voice that was endemically American, deeply felt. Herriman should now take his rightful place as one of the most original African-American voices of the early twentieth century, contemporary with, if not predating, Richard Wright and Zora Neale Hurston as one of the first writers to understand the racial animus of America and to try to fix the essence of black consciousness on paper. That Herriman made it come alive, sing, dance and suffer in an art form barely fifty years old is all the more astonishing. For decades, we’ve all been reading and laughing and, most of all, feeling for Krazy Kat, who passed right under our eyes as a living drawing on a page. But what we were really feeling came straight from the heart. It was the very soul of George Herriman himself.“ Read the rest of the piece – To Walk in Beauty – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Fantom Comics in Washington, D.C., is hosting a rad event on February 15th 2017. Ronald Wimberly will be there signing Prince of Cats and Black History In Their Own Words, and there will also be a roundtable discussion with Ron, Chris Visions, Shannon Wright, and Chris Kindred. If you’re in the District be sure to check this out! Event details are HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Darrin Bell is an award-winning cartoonist whose work “navigates issues such as civil rights, pop culture, family, science fiction, scriptural wisdom and nihilist philosophy while often casting subjects in roles that are traditionally denied them. According to Darrin, “There’s nothing more fundamentally all-American than a square peg that insists on filling a round hole.” “ He has a daily comic strip called Canderville – check it out HERE – and is also the creator of Rudy Park – follow it HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Wired lists Ronald Wimberly’s Black History In It’s Own Words among their 5 Comics You Absolutely Must Pick Up This Month. The Comics Alliance is helping folks sort through The Best Comics Ever (This Week) – a.k.a. their recommendations on which comics to read as they come out – and their list also include’s Ronald Wimberly’s Black History In It’s Own Words this week, among others. ————————————————————————————————— Announcing the Spring Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers! The course starts March 7th 2017. Apply by February 26th to get 100 bux off! The course is 8 weeks long – payment plans are available. Application guidelines: – 3 figure drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards – 3 landscape drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards – 3 still life drawings done on blank 3 x 5 cards – draw in a contour line style –think Matisse – no under-drawing – draw directly in ink – just send me small jpgs of images – dont post to your blog pls – send specific url links to any comics work you have done. If you haven’t done comics before that is not a problem. Email santoroschoolATgmail to apply! More details HERE. ————————————————————————————————— 2-9-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-9-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-9-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 2-9-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

01/02/2017

Juan FernándezJanuary 2, 2017NewsJuan here. New year. New comics. Hope you’re harnessing some positive energy around you to accomplish what’s important to you. I’m doing my best here in Pittsburgh, PA! ————————————————————————————————— Pittsburgh Comics Salon meets this week on Wednesday at Lili Cafe under Copacetic Comics. Can’t wait. If you’re in Pittsburgh, I hope to see you there, ready to for some comics making drills and exercises. ————————————————————————————————— Here are some comics and news that I think you should pay attention to: The last issue of Kevin Huizenga’s Ganges – arguably the most mechanically inventive and robust 2 color offset comic of the early 21st century – is coming out this March via Fantagraphics. Australians have put together a Minicomic Club you can subscribe to this year. $52 AUD for international shipping. $1/week for Australian comics. Think Oily Comics but 1 chunky comic instead 5 slim ones. The Unofficial Cuckoo’s Nest Study Companion by Luke Healy is now online. Brilliant mix of narrative modes. If you liked Synechdoche, NY or anything in the Charlie Kaufmann vein. You’ll love this. Simon Reinhardt: What if Saul Steinberg and Jules Feiffer occupied the place of R. Crumb and Will Eisner in american comics history? Juicy TwitterCrit thoughts on mainstream, yet non-dominant alternative strains of american cartooning. ————————————————————————————————— Forge Art Magazine‘s put out a nice little interview with Brie Moreno. Sit down, grab a marker or pen and doodle while you get to know Brie if you have a free moment. If you’re already hep to Brie’s work, pass the signal along so more people can appreciate what she’s up to. I met Brie (AKA Booger Brie) and Matthew James-Wilson, editor of Forge Art Magazine at CAB this year. They were really kind and had the goods. Good people. This is important. I had questions about what they’ve been doing, and they were actually interested in my interest. No upturned noses. Thank you. Brie’s got an exciting world of comics and zines that you can dive into. Honest and wonky ideas that flow and cross back and forth across her zines. Chunky lines that ooze and distort familiar forms. Chunky hyucks. ————————————————————————————————— Something a little different for you, from the Comics Workbook school store: Gary Panter generously donated these two seminal books – Cola Madnes, the long lost graphic novel that was to be published in Japan in the early 80’s, and 100 Drawings, where Gary documents many of his best commissions. This set is available HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-2-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-2-2017 – by Sally Ingraham We collected the Suzy and Cecil strips that Sally Ingraham and Gabriella Tito drew in 2016 (not all of which were published in the Daily News) and shared them HERE. The series updates daily on Instagram – follow along HERE. Share this page: [...]

04/28/2017

Sally IngrahamApril 28, 2017NewsSally here to close the week, joined by some of the cornerstones, gatekeepers, and “keepers of the flame” of the comics community – Lucy Caswell, Caitlin McGurk, Karen Berger, Dash Shaw, Frank Santoro, and more! ————————————————————————————————— Some weeks you get to meet and hang out with your heroes. Here in Pittsburgh we were lucky enough to not only get a screening of Dash Shaw’s new film My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea, but Dash himself came to town for a few days. He and Frank Santoro, who created the main exterior background paintings for the film, were interviewed onstage before a special screening at the Row House Cinema, and then there was a meet and greet after the film (photos from the event are above). I had been eagerly anticipating seeing the film, and it exceeded all my expectations. It’s beautiful and funny, with characters that I immediately identified with. I plan to see it in the theater several more times before it leaves town, and will be harassing all my friends into going as well. It plays in Pittsburgh at the Row House Cinema April 28th-May 4th. For a complete list of showings around the country, visit the official website HERE. It was cool to hear Dash talk about this type of animation and storytelling, dig into his inspirations and plans for future projects, and hear Frank’s take on being part – for a unique moment – of an animation “studio”. Most of the comics community in Pittsburgh came out for the special screening. This support of Dash and Frank was well deserved, of course – but I was even more excited that one of my comics students – a 9 year old boy – was in the audience as well. I heard afterward how much he liked the film and how thrilled he was to see the creators in real life. I can only hope that he will be inspired to keep making his own work and really invest his energy in the things he’s passionate about. Maybe he’ll be the next torchbearer. Who knows? It’s an interesting moment in the timeline of comics history, and Dash’s film, and Frank’s school, and the Pittsburgh scene, and my 9-year old student are all part of that moment. I can’t wait to see what happens next. In the meantime, go see My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea – go meet your heroes – go make your comics. ————————————————————————————————— In other news (and following a theme here, in a way), Columbus Alive celebrates the 40th anniversary of of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum with a nice feature piece. They spoke to Lucy Caswell, founding curator of the museum, about the collection’s origins. “…Caniff himself dubbed “the keeper of the flame.” “It’s hard to go back, in a way, because people think about cartoons and comics in a very different way than they did 40 years ago,” Caswell said when asked to recall those early years, when clarity and stability were in short supply. “We were outliers. When I started, I did what all good researchers would do and tried to find out what similar people had done in similar circumstances, but I found that there were no similar circumstances. We were trying to make something new, different. But I believed it was important, and there were administrators on campus who also felt it was important. Funding was always competitive, and they — the administrators in the School of Journalism and in University Libraries — had to convince higher-ups this was something to pay for.” “We were very fortunate that Milton Caniff … lived until 1988 and was a wonderful advocate for us. I can’t emphasize how important that was,” she added.“ Read the rest of the article HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Congratulations to Caitlin McGurk, Assistant Professor and Curator for Outreach for the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum – she is the recipient of the Annual Award in Teaching Excellence for 2016 from Ohio State University! “Caitlin’s agility in teaching across a wide range of courses demonstrates her adaptability and resourcefulness in bringing the unique resources of the BICLM collections to life for many faculty and students, and for others in the local community. Her outreach role has brought increasing national attention to the resources of the BICLM and to their potential for enriching curricula and deepening community engagement, and for enhancing the creativity of students and community members themselves. “ I am as much a fan of the work Caitlin does for the comics community as I am of any of my favorite cartoonists – so thanks Caitlin, and good luck as you continue! ————————————————————————————————— John Porcellino is working hard to bring the work of Jenny Zervakis back to the attention of the comics world – he has been raising funds to print The Complete Strange Growths, 1991-1997, which he hopes to debut at CAKE this year. Jenny is one of his favorite cartoonists, and this is a publishing project that he has hoped to do for over 20 years. He writes: “Jenny Zervakis is one of the great unsung creators of 1990’s DIY comics. Her zine Strange Growths was gentle and sincere at a time when most alt-comics were loud and sarcastic. They were poetic and allusive, delving into the heart of the human experience, and they were one of my biggest influences as a cartoonist.“ John P. is currently selling old and rare copies of his own work in order to fund the printing of this book – check it out HERE. You can see work from some of the Strange Growth issues and hear another glowing opinion from Kevin Bramer over on Optical Sloth. ————————————————————————————————— Karen Berger, editor extraordinaire, is starting her own imprint – Berger Books – under the banner of Dark Horse Comics. “As founder and head of DC Entertainment’s Vertigo imprint, Karen Berger brought ambitious, outré series like “Sandman” and “Preacher” to mass audiences, helped prove that comics weren’t limited to superhero adventures and kickstarted the careers of writers like Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore.“ Karen was at DC for 30 years – she left in 2013, but is now returning – to the sound of trumpets and general fanfare. Considering that she likes “weird shit“, and that part of her incentive for returning to comics stems from the need she sees for an artistic response to the Trump election, I can only imagine her line of graphic novels are going to be exciting! “In the next few months, Berger Books will announce its first titles. “I think I’ve been known for not publishing expected stuff,” Ms. Berger said, “and I think people will see that the first few books I’m publishing are not expected.” Among the first batch of titles, she hints, are “a near-future eco-fiction love story, a psychological crime horror thriller, a personal tale of race and identity, (and) an unseen side of a notorious legendary figure.” “ The Wall Street Journal has the rest of the details – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Extra, extra! Teen Vogue featured an excerpt from Melissa Mendes‘ and Anne Elizabeth Moore‘s ongoing comic series about the water crisis in Detroit. The full series so far can be found on Truthout. The Comics Beat speaks to Mariko Tamaki about her new series Supergirl: Being Super (which features art by Joelle Jones, of Lady Killers) – apparently the new comic captures “lightening in the bottle“. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 4-28-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-28-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-28-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

A Studio Visit with Jim Rugg | Part III: THE STREET ANGEL GANG

Juan FernándezApril 18, 2016ClassesJim Rugg, creator of “Street Angel” and “Aphrodisiac” [ jimrugg.com ], shows Comics Workbook TV how he takes a story from script to final. Part III details the creation of a full color page from “THE STREET ANGEL GANG”, which is available from Copacetic Comics:copaceticcomics.com/comics/street-angel-the-street-angel-gang Video by Michael Pisano | michaelpisano.com Get The Street Angel Gang PROCESS PACK here: copaceticcomics.com/comics/street-angel-the-street-angel-gang-process-pack Soundtrack | Johann Sebastian Bach // Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen, BWV 43 – 7. Aria: Er ists, der ganz allein // performed by Michel Rondeau Share this page: [...]

03/03/2017

Posted on March 2, 2017March 3, 2017 by Sally Ingraham

Sally here with comics by Marie Jacotey, Jessica Abel, Amanda Baeza, Jessica Campbell, Sophie Franz, Gabriella Tito, and others to end your week on a high note!

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Adult Swim has been publishing comics online and among many interesting ones, I found Gerry by Marie Jacotey – you can see the first part above and the rest HERE. Marie is a Paris-born comics-maker and alum of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers. Another piece she made recently is Paradise, which was commissioned for a cocktail magazine, and explores the cliche of the “insufferable creative” – check it out HERE.

Also featured on Adult Swim is a series by Esther Pearl Watson called Crapland, and Liana Finck‘s Horrible People – plus tons of funny and weird comics created by dudes (including the great Benjamin Marra!)

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Speaking of comics about cocktails, pictured here is part of a 5 page story called Rusty Nail made by Amanda Baeza which appeared in Cocktails After-Dinner, a publication made by Studio Pilar. This was one book in a 4-part series that includes Pre-Dinner, After-Dinner, Anytime, and the upcoming Long Drink (Marie Jacotey’s story Paradise, which I mentioned above, appeared in Cocktails Anytime). Each book features 6 stories by different comics artists based on a specific drink – more details about the project can be found HERE.

Studio Pilar is an Italian collective and cultural association composed of four illustrators which focuses on promoting visual communication with an emphasis on comics and self-publishing. More about them HERE.

Amanda Baeza is a half-Chilean/half-Portuguese cartoonist – check out more of her work on her site.

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There is a terrific interview with Jessica Campbell about her book Hot Or Not: 20th-Century Male Artists (which is one of my top 5 comics of 2016) over on The Fridge Door Gallery. The premise of the book is of course, “we know these guys were geniuses, but were they hot?!“

“Jackie Hampshire: Have you been subjected to the male-dominated Art History survey course in the past? Did it add fuel to the fire?

Jessica Campbell: I took a class in undergrad that used Janson’s History of Art (an edition that included women, thankfully) but countered it with essays like Linda Nochlin’s “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” Frankly, most of the blatant sexism that I have encountered in art has been in the comics world, where even last year, the largest (or second largest?) comics festival in the world gave out a lifetime achievement award that, of 30 nominees, included not a single woman. And, similar to Janson’s text, about 10 years ago in comics there was a touring exhibition and catalogue called The Masters of American Comics that was intended by its curator/editor to solidify a comics canon and included not a single woman artist. I remember watching a panel discussion with him where he said that there’s “never been a female Milt Caniff,” which was essentially the same as Janson saying that there’s never been a female Rembrandt or whatever. Yeah, OK, but there is a female Mary Cassatt, Artemisia Gentileschi, Frieda Kahlo, etc.

JH: I know you work with many mediums, why did you choose the graphic novel for this particular commentary?

JC: Part of it was the facility/logic of expressing the joke/critique in a book format, and part of it was the idea of reducing the work to black and white, somewhat crude drawings. I liked the idea of reducing these male geniuses to only their appearances and reducing their masterworks to crude reproductions.“

Read the rest of the interview HERE.

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This story by Jessica Abel was a nice discovery in Biff Bong Pow! No. 1, an anthology from 1991 that was edited by Ivan Brunetti.

Jessica is pretty cool – a good cartoonist and one who has been totally dedicated to the medium and the community for decades. She makes comics, writes about them, teaches, does motivational coaching, and gets up to all kinds of other mischief. Her current projects include Trish Trash, a space-roller-derby comic, and online workshops to jump-start your creativity.

Disregarding all she’s got going on NOW, I’m always particularly thrilled to find her earlier work. There is a different kind of life in it, something rawer. The comic above and two more stories I turned up in Biff Bang Pow! No. 2 were a special treat – and a great bonus to a couple of wild comics collections that show off the varied and hilarious skills of Ivan Brunetti and a few other pals.

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What is Sophie Franz up to these days? Her sketchbooks are always full of detailed, story-filled drawings like the one above, and frankly they are tantalizing teasers that drive me crazy. I loved her book The Experts, which was released by Retrofit Comics last year – so deliciously creepy – and now I’m eager for something new from Sophie. While we all wait for that…check out her work here and join me in trying to decipher her sketchbook pages…!

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Jillian Tamaki is hitting the road with her new book Boundless (Drawn & Quarterly, 2017) this spring. “Boundless explores the intersection (and overlap) between the virtual and IRL worlds.” Check out a preview of the book HERE!

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On the Spider’s Web

Dominique Goblet‘s Pretending is Dying is reviewed on The New York Times – in brief, the book is “tender, affecting, and complete“.
From Marlene Krause comes the comic Edible on VICE. “A strange maternal creature and her child exist in a weird toxic wilderness. What the hell is going on?“
Ann Telnaes jumped onto The Nib to share a “Sleazy-Bake Oven“.

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The Spring Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers starts March 7th.

The course is 8 weeks long – 500 bux – payment plans are available.

More details can be found HERE – or email santoroschoolATgmail to apply.

Not ready to commit to an 8 week course but still want to put some thought towards making comics or leveling up your skill set? Check out thee Santoro School Handbook – 16 pages of comics-making gold!

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Blinkers – 3-3-2017 – by Jack Brougham

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Suzy and Cecil – 3-3-2017 – by Gabriella Tito

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Joanie and Jordie – 3-3-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio

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Cozytown – 3-3-2017 – by Juan Fernandez

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Sally Ingraham

Posted on March 2, 2017March 3, 2017

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Spotlight on Laura Pérez Vernetti

Juan FernándezAugust 24, 2016los CómicsQuien es Laura? Unknown to most anglophones (and even many Spaniards), Laura Pérez Vernetti is a spanish illustrator from Barcelona that contributed regularly to the underground Spanish comics magazine, el Víbora, from 1981 until 1991. Her work is distanced from standard aesthetics and conventional narratives, focusing primarily on comics that deal head on with themes of erotica, experimental forms, and socio-politcal commentary (the Spanish Civil War in particular). Additionally, she has adapted the works of Maupassant, De Quicey, Jung and Kafka to comics. A heavy hitter. A more comprehensive bio can be found on the Lambiek Comiclopedia. Most recently she put out an homage to the Portuguese poet, Pessoa. A biography and adaptation of his poems and prose, she published ‘Pessoa & Cia‘ in December 2011 through Luces de Gálibo. Those spanish speakers among you, interested in learning more about this book, which she both wrote and illustrated can check out the short that RTVE aired in January of 2012, along with the article written by Jésus Jiménez. Here’s a taste of her work: Share this page: [...]

04/07/2017

Sally IngrahamApril 7, 2017NewsSally here to close the week with work by Anya Davidson, Lale Westvind, Cara Bean, Lauren Purje, Rebecca Roher, and more. ————————————————————————————————— Ryan Carry writes a glowing review of Anya Davidson‘s Lovers in the Garden for Daily Grindhouse: “Don’t look now, but it appears as though toiling away with too little recognition for far too long is finally paying off for superb cartoonist Anya Davidson, who is having something of a “moment”…“ “Set smack dab in the middle of New York’s 1970s heroin epidemic, this comic definitely wears its Serpico-style “police thriller” and blaxploitation influences proudly on its sleeve, but rather than wallowing in storytelling standards of days gone by instead filters them through a decidedly singular artistic lens to come up with a truly unique and instantly memorable reading experience.“ “Intricate without feeling forced, complex without belaboring its own cleverness, Lovers In The Garden is essential reading that will richly reward careful second, third, fourth (and more) perusals.“ Read the rest of the review HERE. Anya Davidson will be in Pittsburgh. PA, this weekend as a special guest at the Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo. If you’re in the region come meet her and get a copy of Lovers in the Garden. ————————————————————————————————— Lale Westvind is also a special guest at PIX this Sunday, April 9th, and she will have a new comic to debut there – Joan Doe the Drone Pilot and Mary the Drone! Check it out at PIX, and catch Lale at a Comics Workbook workshop along with Connor Willumsen and Frank Santoro (4-5 PM – details HERE.) If you can’t make it to PIX you can pre-order the comic – ships out after the 9th. ————————————————————————————————— Cara Bean adds an important comic to the archives of Illustrated PEN – Rob Kirby is is the guest editor who presents it: “Her beautiful story, “The Art Class is a Sanctuary City,” is quietly defiant and political, but rendered with love and deep empathy. Reading it, my first thought was how lucky Bean’s students are to have her as a teacher. My second thought was how the work of teachers can go a long way in building inspiration, and battling against hate and fear.“ See the whole comic HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Heidi MacDonald reports on MoCCA 2017 for Publisher’s Weekly, writing that the show drew it’s largest crowd ever. Lots of pictures from the event and a who’s who of exhibitors and their new work – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Rebecca Roher has teamed up with gynecologist Dr. Aparna Sridhar to help share info about various types of contraceptive options. Birth Control Tales is an online comic available for free – you can find out about IUDs via this comic, and hormonal implants HERE. There are at least two more comics in the works. Rebecca is based in Toronto, and well-known for her comic Mom Body (2015), which you can read HERE, and read all about on The Huffington Post. Dr. Aparna Sridhar grew up reading Tintin and after seeing Mom Body she realized that comics could be a non-threatening way to share important info about contraception. She approached Rebecca to suggest a collaboration. The Globe and Mail has the rest of the story HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Lauren Purje has a regular comic on Hyperallergic (March 27th, 2017 strip pictured above). She is from Dublin, OH, and is also a painter. She is now based out of Brooklyn, NY. Her comic strip series delves into her creative practice and her collection of odd art-related jobs around the city. Check out the whole thing HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Dame Darcy is on tour! Catch her somewhere in AZ, WA, CA, OR, or NY in April – full schedule HERE. With Dame Darcy you get a lot of bang for your bux. Check it out: “Performance art / opera singing over home made trax plus reading and signing of Meat Cake Bible compilation graphic novel 500 pages of DD work for 25 years published by Fantagraphics. Plus other books, hand made prints, and tarot cards, plus tarot reading!“ ————————————————————————————————— Gloria Rivera shares thoughts on the work of Erik Nebel here on the site: “Erik Nebel, from a formal standpoint, uses the elements of color, scale, pattern (repetition) to create a connection with their audience without means of establishing “character” descriptions. We look to Erik’s images of fluid, moving, form-ambiguous figures across the page, with the only rigidity in their work in the sequencing across the template of three rectangular panels. It is a primitive instinct to read groups of figures as multiple persons when placed in the same space, so the setup of the comics are a defining line, implying a narrative. It’s a simple mechanism (the three panel grid) but without it, it would be a different kind of comic. If anything, the stationary structure of the grid enhances Erik’s graceful forms, and stark choices in color/contrast. Comics made for print usually see a loss in translation to the digital screen, but this is where Erik does their best to exploit the gap between the two. Nearly every strip they create vibrates between lines, flat against flat.“ Read more HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Lentil Soup A new baby isn’t keeping Lauren Weinstein from making comics – she is already back at The Village Voice with a new episode of Normal Person. Julie Doucet got her first retrospective at Fumetto – details HERE. We found a video on Facebook that gives a glimpse inside the show – check it out. Paste Magazine features Kim Reaper, a new comic by Sarah Graley – details and images from issue #1 HERE. Amadeo Gandolfo writes about a number of female cartoonists and other women working in the industry – lots of pictures and some good names to look up – get Google to translate it out of Spanish for you – HERE. Check out these sketchbook comics by Sarah Glidden from her winter travels in Europe. ————————————————————————————————— As mentioned, Comics Workbook will be at the Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo on Sunday, April 9th. We will be hosting a workshop series with instructors from the school – Frank Santoro, Juan Fernandez, Caleb Orecchio, me (Sally Ingraham) – as well as special guests Carol Tyler, Lale Westvind, and Connor Willumsen! More details HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 4-7-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-7-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-7-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

Cleveland, OH Scene Report

Frank SantoroNovember 6, 2011Riff Raff / Scene ReportsCleveland, OH scene report by Kevin Czap Despite a less-than-inspiring reputation, or maybe because of it, the past several years have seen a growing number of dedicated Clevelanders building a rich arts culture across all disciplines – design, music, the gallery scene, culinary arts. The comics scene in particular is at the very early stages of this same kind of growth. While there’s always been local comics activity, it’s tended to be fairly isolated. Now, however, we’re seeing concerted efforts to bring these cartoonists together, pooling our efforts to foster a thriving community. This was all put in motion by the establishment of the Genghis Con, a one-day expo focusing on underground and independent publishers, cartoonists and zinesters. The con was founded by Scott Rudge, owner of Astound! comics shop, and John G, the godfather of the Cleveland comics scene. Free to exhibitors and with a low door price for attendees, Genghis Con represents the current state of Cleveland comics. (November 26, 2011 will be the third annual! Come on out!) Cleveland’s a town with a rich comics history, with a host of significant figures calling it home through the years ó Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster (not to mention Joanne Siegel), Robert Crumb (briefly), Peter Kuper, Brian Michael Bendis. Personal heroes Bill Watterson and Harvey Pekar (we’re working on getting a statue built) are/were lifers. But what is the Cleveland comics scene of the moment? Well, I mentioned John G, who for years was putting out comics like the anthology Shiner, co-edited with Kevin Fagan. John’s work is an indelible part of Cleveland’s visual identity, focusing on poster illustrations for countless rock shows and the popular grilled cheese restaurant Melt, as well as extensive illustration work for the alt weekly Scene magazine. Similarly, we’ve got Jake Kelly, whose Crosston was the first local comic I got here. Jake’s also gone the gig poster route, as well as painting huge murals throughout the city. Other vets in the area include Gary Dumm and Greg Budgett, longtime contributors to American Splendor, and Derf, author of the alt-weekly fixture “The City” and childhood friend of Jeffrey Dahmer. I also mentioned Scott Rudge and Astound!, the best comic shop in town from an indie perspective. There aren’t really any other stores where you can get hand-made comics in Cleveland, and believe me, I’ve looked. Carol & John’s is another great shop, as well as the graphic-novel-friendly indie book stores Mac’s Backs and Visible Voice. And then there’s the new kids. Centered largely around Cleveland Institute of Art students and alumni, there’s been a fresh wave of talent flooding Cleveland’s streets. For instance, Niki Smith, artist on the Zuda-winning digital comic In Maps & Legends, was recently awarded a huge grant from the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture that funded a trip to China to research her graphic-novel-in-progress. Hardcore comics “nerd” Liz Valasco is still fresh from interning at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at OSU and is making work I’m especially excited about. One of the reasons I started the PUPPYTEETH anthology was to provide a showcase for Cleveland folks like these (as well as a number of other CIA expats). I’ve also been happy to have the opportunity to teach a community course on the art of comics at CIA. There’s plenty happening apart from CIA, as well. Keith Pakiz is continuing the Watterson visual tradition with his mad-cap Condiment Squad. (side-note: Keith is part of a group of promising cartoonists coming out of BGSU in Toledo. Although the majority live too far away to be considered Clevelanders, they’re honorary members of the scene and I’d be remiss to not drop some names: Jessi Zabarsky, Eric Kubli, Geneva Hodgson being the most active). We’ve also got the Elyria Comic Book Initiative, which is on a mission to indoctrinate the children of Cleveland. It’s encouraging to think that the next generation is already being formed. And finally, Cleveland benefits greatly from its neighbors. Pittsburgh and Columbus are roughly equidistant to us (about a 2 hour drive), so it’s really easy to share and learn from our sister cities. That’s where we are now, lots of activity just beginning to be brought together. One of the nice things about a “city of choice” like Cleveland is that the people living here do so because they want to. We’re all committed to making a better community for ourselves, for neighboring scenes, and for the comics community at large. To paraphrase Ian MacKaye, we’re putting Cleveland on the map. ————————— INTERMISSION FUNNIES by MICHAEL DEFORGE ————————— FRANK’S GOT A NEW AUDIO RECORDER – LOOKOUT FOR FUTURE PODCASTS! **I am accepting “blind” scene reports. 300 words MAX. A few photos. Please send me the HTML ready text with photos already embedded. I am going to begin running more than one scene report a week like Maximum Rock-n-Roll scene reports. Please send them to capneasyATgmailDOTcom. Share this page: [...]

04/11/2018

Juan FernándezApril 11, 2018los Cómics / NewsAle Acosta, Pablo Delcielo, y Liv Strömquist! —————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: ~ en Español y “sometimes in English” ~ ————————————————————————————————— Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con Ale Acosta acercae su trabajo, de su forma de trabajar, de los proyectos y de su amor por la docencia, entre muchas cosas mas. ————————————————————————————————— Por qué lo llaman vagina cuando quieren decir vulva – Elizabeth Casillas Puede que sea uno de los tebeos más controvertidos que vayas a leer este año, y no precisamente por decir sandeces. La historietista sueca Liv Strömquist firma El fruto prohibido (Reservoir Books, 2018), un cómic que repasa la historia cultural de la vulva con argumentación teórica pero, sobre todo, mucho humor. Anuncios de compresas o tampones que recurren, en exceso, a las palabras “limpia” y “segura”. Señores que se preocupan, en exceso, de lo que suele denominarse «el órgano sexual femenino». Autoridades, organizaciones, periódicos, médicos y demás organismos empeñados, en exceso, de producir (des)información sobre el sexo. Y así sucesivamente, Liv Strömquist termina enumerando una serie de cosas que están mal (muy mal) en nuestra sociedad en lo que a la mujer y su sexo se refiere. Léanlo todo en REVISTA CACTUS ————————————————————————————————— Entrevista a Ghor Bosch (2015) – dibujado por Pablo Delcielo – publicado en Buenos Aires por Yegua ediciones. Este comic es parte de una serie de entrevistas imaginiarias, que son bastante graciosas y serias con Ghor Bosch aunque. Léanlo AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-11-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Cozytown – 4-11-2018 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

02/28/2017

Aaron CockleFebruary 27, 2017NewsAaron here today with Whit Taylor Comics; PaperJazz; LA Times Book Prize Finalists (Comics Category); Pete Toms Gets Reviewed; Another Look at Matthew Thurber; Horvitz/Provan in Conversation; Congrats to INK BRICK ————————————————————————————————— What is Race? Just the Facts. Whit Taylor has a comic about race and its perception throughout history posted at the Nib. ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— Graphic Novel/Comics of Note (in Los Angeles, California) The Los Angeles Times has released its list of finalists for their annual book prize awards, with a strong list of contenders for the ‘GRAPHIC NOVEL/COMICS’ category: “Beverly” by Nick Drnaso “The Artist” by Anna Haifisch “Don’t Come in Here” by Patrick Kyle “What Is Obscenity” by Rokudenashiko (translated by Anne Ishii) “Demon: Volume 1” by Jason Shiga ————————————————————————————————— A Comic Whose Characters Swim in Apathy and Cynicism At Hyperallergic, R. Orion Martin digs in to Pete Toms’s Dad’s Weekend, published by Hic and Hoc: Every middle-aged character in the book except for Manny seems to be in a state of resigned existential crisis. One middle-aged woman interrupts Manny to tell him about a realization she’s had, Once you unpack, you’re left with an empty suitcase. What’s at the foundation of who you are? Animal instincts? Some shit your parents said to you when you were a toddler? It’s all so simple and unimportant. I had this dream where I hung myself with my own DNA strand. ————————————————————————————————— ‘The pre-production of Cremaster 3 is kind of just rolling along without me.’ Sally and Juan linked to this Max Morris/Matthew Thurber interview last week, but I wanted to take another look at it, especially this part from the start of the Q&A: Max Morris: Back in 2014, you wrote this article for The Comics Journal Website , “Letter to a Young Cartoonist”, that stirred some controversy at the time. A bulk of the article dealt with the ramifications of posting comics work on Tumblr and Social Media, among other issues of challengers to the new generation of comics artists. This was in a time when that felt like the primary way to see new work being made by current creators. A little under 3 years after you posted that article, a lot has changed. Looking back at this article, what words do you have to say to the young cartoonist today? Matthew Thurber: I feel more than ever that printed media contains autonomous power that is almost magical. All internet publication is embedded in and framed by another corporation. With print, as soon as it flies off the press it belongs, like the land, to “you and me”. The disturbing thing about social media is they change the terms of publication from one of total freedom, to one where you are being allowed to express yourself. Because they grant it… they can take it away. Social media echo chambers are destructive: look at what they have helped to do in terms of ripping our country in half, replacing everything with a simulation of reality. Is that what you mean by “a lot is changed”? We’re opting into 1984 because it feels good. It’s so seductive to feel like you’ve done something in pseudo-reality. We need to learn to live without the internet, to distribute artifacts in physical space, to know how to talk to each other again. It is so much more meaningful and beautiful. And guess what??? I’m part of the problem because I’m on INSTAGRAM (@mtshelves)! What a miserable hypocritical worm!!!! And the worst part is….I LOVE it! I love the ego pampering attention and the immediacy despite my complete conviction that it sucks! ————————————————————————————————— Ask the Stone to Say Via Triple Canopy, David Horvitz and Alexander Provan discoursing on time, space, discourse, discoursing: Horvitz’s work as an artist often suggests how to live outside the bounds of time, how to recover forms of experience that are rooted in natural rhythms and not the dictates of international bureaucracies. “A lot of people are into yoga and meditation, but I see those as ways of relaxing your mind and body so that you can continue to work efficiently and productively, at absurdly accelerated rates,” he says. “I’m interested in forms of meditation that cultivate the enjoyment of time, that oppose efficiency, that make you miss every deadline.” Horvitz and Provan cover ancient Egyptian astrology and atomic clocks, the auditory landscapes of nineteenth-century villages and the contemporary landscapes offered by geostationary satellites. They find the origins of Brexit in the imposition of the Gregorian calendar (“European-elite time”) on the British in 1752, which vanquished eleven days and gave rise to a protest slogan after Boris Johnson’s heart: “Give Us Our Eleven Days.” ————————————————————————————————— INK BRICK’s crowd-funding goal for it’s 8th issue was met with some time to spare, so congratulations to them. The new book has a great list of contributors, and frequent readers of this news-blog will see some of their favorite cartoonists/people involved: Vidhu Aggarwal | Alyssa Berg | Warren Craghead | Erin Curry | John Hankiewicz | Keren Katz | Mark Laliberte | Matt Madden | Paul Madonna (cover) | Alexander Rothman | Alexey Sokolin | Bishakh Som | Deshan Tennekoon | Andrea Tsurumi | Paul K. Tunis | Andrew White | Sophia Wiedeman | Shahar Sarig More info, as well as details about their ‘Stretch Goals’, are noted on their Kickstarter page. ————————————————————————————————— The Spring Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers is starting soon! The semester has a rolling start date, but it will officially kick off on March 7th. We will continue taking applications past that date – Frank is always willing to make it work for your schedule. Just apply! The course is 8 weeks long – 500 bux – payment plans are available. More details can be found HERE. Email santoroschoolATgmail to apply ————————————————————————————————— A Cosmic Journey – 2-28-2017 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-28-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-28-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown –2-28-2017- by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

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