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