Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged alt comix 2, berliac, Carol Hernandez, Chris Anthony Diaz, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Jess Johnson, Natalia Hernandez, paper jazz, Pittsburgh Independent Comics Expo, PIX, retrofit comics, tangram

Juan Fernández

Posted on April 1, 2016April 1, 2016

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06/23/2017

Sally IngrahamJune 23, 2017NewsSally here with plenty of things to dig into this week – Jenny Zervakis’ The Complete Strange Growths; the new Warmer anthology; a lively discussion of “youth-comics”; and much more. ————————————————————————————————— The Complete Strange Growths 1991-1997 by Jenny Zervakis (lovingly published by John Porcellino via Spit and a Half Distro, 2017) is one of the best collections of comics that I have read in some time. The 13 issues capture the story arc of a few years of Jenny’s life, finding and illuminating incidental moments and making a world out of visits to botanical gardens, a trouble-making brother, the war-time Spam eaten by a Greek father, road trips, comic con visits, and fever dreams. The drawing isn’t interested in itself, it is merely a vessel there to hold and pour out stories – and therefore the drawing is full of life and perfect small details. The collection also captures the time it was made in and for – 90’s mini-comic culture, the rush of making and giving away zines on a regular basis, the fun of mailing a letter and a stamp to a maker and getting back their latest effort. Influenced by the work of Harvey Pekar, and an inspiration to the likes of John Porcellino, Jenny was riding some quality currents. In a way Strange Growths is also a comic that I feel like I’ve been searching for since I embarked on a study of alternative comics (and ones made by women, specifically). The poetry, the thoughtfulness, the desire to capture the mood of a moment…I was certain that there were women who were making work like this in the 90’s, who were making comics that weren’t as focused on the body and the blunt reality of being female. While I am interested in comics about sex, body image, and self-esteem, I’m even more interested in what the bus driver has to share, dreams about grandmothers, and interactions with nature. There is a different mystery and truth to discover there, and Jenny is tapped into that font of wisdom in a way that I aspire to. I loved The Complete Strange Growths, and put it immediately on my shelf next to Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life by Ulli Lust, Gast by Carol Swain, and One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry. You can get a copy of the comic from Copacetic Comics, or from Spit and a Half. For a much less subjective review of the book, check out Rob Kirby’s thoughts over on The Comics Journal. ————————————————————————————————— Abraham Riesman writes about the rise of “youth-comics” on Vulture, citing them as the driving force behind sales and interest in the medium at the moment. “Eva Volin, a librarian based in Alameda, California, told me, “We’re in the middle of a graphic-novel renaissance inasmuch as not only are kids reading comics, but comics are being written for kids.” ” “At a glance, it all makes perfect sense. Why wouldn’t young readers gravitate toward a medium that can so brilliantly mix visuals and text in a way that makes a story relatively easy to digest? And why wouldn’t publishers cater to them? And yet, up until recently, there was a near-total disconnect between kids and comics.“ Riesman notes that the shift began with manga, the forever disdained comics medium which many (librarians) turned their noses up at. In a Twitter response to thoughts along these lines, Landry Q. Walker (creator of many “youth-comics”) affirmed that it was manga that made the difference – although the effect wasn’t felt immediately because…manga. “Over 15 years ago I spoke to a comics club at a high school – all girls. I talked about this at a panel at SDCC, and the crowd got angry. The consensus of the crowd was that these girls weren’t reading “real comics”. Just manga. And for some reason, this was “bad”. All those years of discussion on “how do we get girls to read comics”. They were, but apparently they were doing it “wrong”? WTF? It’s this failure to embrace trends that is choking the life out of the mainstream comics industry. The fear of change.“ It took the appearance of Bone by Jeff Smith and Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm and her brother Matthew Holm to really start the engine in the mid-2000’s. Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese was the first comic-book finalist for the National Book Award. And then came Raina. Abraham Riesman likens Raina Telgemeier to Elvis – and makes a good argument for it. Read the rest of his excellent article on the “youth-comics explosion” HERE. Over on The Comics Beat Heidi MacDonald is also looking at the numbers, and seeing similar trends in comics readership. She offers up the top 5 bestsellers on the Bookscan chart for last week: “1. BITCH PLANET, VOLUME 2: PRESIDENT BITCH 2. MY LESBIAN EXPERIENCE WITH LONELINESS 3. WONDER WOMAN VOL. 1: THE LIES 4. WONDER WOMAN VOL. 2: YEAR ONE 5. MARCH: BOOK ONE” Delving into the intricacies of each publication for a minute, and quoting Abraham Riesman’s article a bit, Heidi then offers up her own response (with me in the background waving pompoms and punching the air): “Let me spell it out for you: girls and women, black and white, cis and trans alike, are the driving force behind comics readership expansion. This has been happening for a while, but it’s a full on avalanche now. It’s also something I saw coming 25 years ago. (No one else is gonna pat me on the back so I gotta do it myself.) Seeing the devoted fandoms that female content-consumers developed for anything that interested them, ESPECIALLY genre material like paranormal romance, horror and fantasy – I had a hunch that once they turned their spotlight on comics, the full force of female fandom would bowl over the fragile shreds of male safe spaces like a Mack truck through a pile of empty Axe cartons. What does this shift mean? Well, for one thing, it means that Marvel–and DC too! – had better start paying attention to new readers instead of pandering to the dwindling ranks of AARP-card carrying pap-pap Bronze Agers. I mean, I know it’s hard to move beyond your own viewpoint, but business is business.“ Read the rest of Heidi’s thoughts HERE. As for me, I’m off to CCS in a week to attend a workshop/think-tank with New Yorker art editor Françoise Mouly, who among numerous other ventures, is the driving force behind the publishing company for early readers called Toon Books. I plan to spend a lot more time and energy thinking about this stuff and probably making comics for, and with kids in the future. ————————————————————————————————— The Huffington Post featured the comics anthology Warmer which is being edited by Madeleine Witt and Andrew White. “In an interview with HuffPost, White said, “As co-editors of Warmer, Madeleine and I wanted to make a book to offer comfort for those already fearful about climate change. So for the most part, Warmer doesn’t aim to convince anyone of anything. We imagined Warmer in part as a book that will function to encourage and support activists; to comfort those who, like ourselves, are wrestling with the grief of climate change.” “ There is an excerpt from the collection accompanying the feature, with comments from the makers. Check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Noticed via Facebook – Caitlin McGurk was unpacking a new collection of art recently donated to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. “…incredible collection of original cartoon art just donated. Phoebe Gloeckner! Dori Seda! Carol Lay! Lynda Barry! Roberta Gregory! Mary Fleener! And more! 113 original pages by 15 amazing women.” “I could spend the rest of my career writing about the stuff in this collection that was just donated to The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum… maybe I will!” – Cairlin McGurk I smell a new exhibit, and it’s one I will be at the opening for…! ————————————————————————————————— Fish and Chips Bill Boichel reviews Boundless by Jillian Tamaki for the Copacetic Comics website – we’re sharing the review HERE on the site. BookRiot interviews Grace Ellis and Shae Beagle, creators of Moonstruck – HERE. Cory Doctorow reviews Emil Ferris‘ My Favorite Thing is Monsters on BoingBoing. The Comics Beat reviews new comics by Laura Kenins, Sophie Yanow, and Tyler Landry. Sacha Mardou recently revisited a comic from 2015 about her pregnancy – it originally appeared on Mutha Magazine, but is seen here on Narratively. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-23-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-23-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

05/03/2018

Comics WorkbookMay 3, 2018NewsSam Ombiri on Daniel Clowes’ Eightball No. 20: The Further Adventures of David Boring! —————————————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: More often than not, I sense some dishonesty when people talk about their work – as opposed to when their work does the talking. When I say “people’s work doing the talking” I’m not commenting on the overall quality, necessarily, but on how much the creator believes in the power of the form with which they are engaging. If they have to talk so much about what they’ve done with their work, do we really need the work at that point? Is it anything less than a prop for a prepared monologue? I couldn’t get a specific statement out of issue #20 of Eightball: The Further Adventures of David Boring – and this was for the better. It was all about characters being pushed in certain directions, and through engaging fully with the characters the story really goes places. The comic doesn’t need to convince me of the reality the story is taking place in – the story is so engrossing and captivating. There are turns that seemingly come out of nowhere, but fit in. Are these characters really just “characters”? They seem like humans to me. I’m going to risk navel gazing for a moment and I hope I won’t come off as Νάρκισσος falling in love with his own reflection, talking about what I’m about to talk about…but when confronted by a name like Dan Clowes, these days I’m skeptical of my reaction to it, because my reaction might be based on a large number of other people’s reaction to it. I feel like I run the risk of attempting to replicate variations of that collective reaction towards his wonderful work. I guess in some ways that can show that I’m not really one to think for myself, but I read comics to feel first and think later, and I personally think it’s good to gauge my reaction. I question whether my reaction is sincere, however, under these circumstances. I could just be having a sincere attempt without lucidity, which is the last thing I want to have! Luckily, this didn’t happen when I read David Boring. All that happened was I was hit by the story with an unforgiving gravity. David Boring didn’t seem to be pandering to a sensibility – it felt like it was doing its own thing, which happened to catch on. There’s a whole thing of, “No, duh,” with me saying this, but I was really struck with it. This issue of Eightball, like all issues of Eightball, feels like it exists in spite of a trend – and not at the service of a trend. The first time I read something by Clowes, I think I was 13-ish or 14. I could feel a bowling ball form in my gut and sink – there was so much gravity in the work, and I wondered, “Who is this, who has so much contempt for his characters?” Whenever I read Clowes work now, I really feel there’s something special about how we’re following the characters that we follow. When I opened the comic it’s so sudden, and for some reason or another I was really taken with that. At a certain point in the story I’m told, “You’ve placed yourself above another individual based on your own morality or whatever, so that it is only you who decide who should be dehumanized while pretending it’s at the service of humanity.” Manfred, possibly the most despicable character, is accused, but the accusation that’s made of him isn’t dehumanizing – still his actions seem foreign and distant, but not unhuman. The story between David and Pamela; the story between Manfred and Iris; the story of David and his father, told through David reading a comic that his father drew, David trying to savor every panel, not reading more than a panel a night, not knowing what he’s looking for – we’re suddenly presented with all these things that are equally compelling. I was suddenly presented with the issue, and then just as suddenly I am so involved in these people’s lives. This was the realization for me – that when Clowes is remembered and canonized the way he is, it isn’t done as a favor to him. It’s done as a favor to his readers. Clowes’ work cares about your understanding of what it is and what’s going on, even if what’s going on is supposed be a form of estrangement. From panel to panel, there’s plenty to read into. Clowes is putting things on display that are very straightforward. It doesn’t feel like dishonest work – even when it’s optimistic or pessimistic about humanity and the way that it can be. – Sam Ombiri Share this page: [...]

11/22/16

Aaron CockleNovember 21, 2016NewsAaron here today with Daryl Seitchik; The End of Paper Jam; Comics for Troubled Times; More Mould Map; Cursed, Accursed Books; KGB Comix Night; Sign up for the Correspondence Course, why don’t you? ————————————————————————————————— On Exits Rob Clough reviews Daryl Seitchik’s new book over at the TCJ blog. Seitchik’s work has always addressed isolation, alienation and the nagging sense of anxiety that comes when one doesn’t feel like they fit into society. That sense of alienation in part addresses her status as a woman and the othering that is experienced on a daily basis, but there’s a more existential level to it as well. The classic problem of existentialism as a way of understanding the world is that it has absolutely no connection to ethics, the central question of which is “What do we do about others?” I might exist, but how do I connect with others, especially in a world where so many human relationships are what the philosopher Martin Heidgegger might describe as Zuhandenheit, or “ready-to-hand”. That is, we think of others as a means to an end and not unlike other objects in the world that have a certain function. ————————————————————————————————— No More Paper Jams Robin Enrico announced that he would be ending the bi-annual Paper Jam Small Press Festival after a 3-year run. This was a wonderful show, emphasizing small press work, featuring a different set of artists each show, free to the public, free to table at, it will be missed. That said. If there is never another Paper Jam, I am proud of what my co-curators and I have accomplished. In many ways there might not need to be another edition of Paper Jam. In the three years since I put on the first the festival, there has been an explosion in the number of micro conventions happening in New York City. I see small press events happening almost every week now. Three years ago this was far from the norm. I could not ask for a better outcome. I would happily hand this torch in a new form to someone else to carry forward. ————————————————————————————————— Situationist International Comics James Barrett has posted a bunch of comics work from the Situationist International, an organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists, prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution in 1972. Three detoured comics and an appropriated image from the Situationist International. These are copyright free if not used for the purposes of profit. Taken from “Leaving the 20th century: The Incomplete Work of the Situationist International”. Speaking of SI, here’s an excerpt from ‘The Situationists and New Forms of Action Against Politics and Art’, by René Viénet, Internationale Situationniste #11, October 1967, translated from the French by Ken Knabb: What we have to do is link up the theoretical critique of modern society with the critique of it in acts. By detourning the very propositions of the spectacle, we can directly reveal the implications of present and future revolts. I propose that we pursue: 1. Experimentation in the détournement of photo-romances and “pornographic” photos, and that we bluntly impose their real truth by restoring real dialogues . This operation will bring to the surface the subversive bubbles that are spontaneously, but only fleetingly and half-consciously, formed and then dissolved in the imaginations of those who look at these images. In the same spirit, it is also possible to detourn any advertising billboards — particularly those in subway corridors, which form remarkable sequences — by pasting pre-prepared placards onto them. 2. The promotion of guerrilla tactics in the mass media — an important form of contestation, not only at the urban guerrilla stage, but even before it. The trail was blazed by those Argentinians who took over the control station of an electronic bulletin board and used it to transmit their own directives and slogans. It is still possible to take advantage of the fact that radio and television stations are not yet guarded by troops. On a more modest level, it is known that any amateur radio operator can at little expense broadcast, or at least jam, on a local level; and that the small size of the necessary equipment permits a great mobility, enabling one to slip away before one’s position is trigonometrically located. A group of Communist Party dissidents in Denmark had their own pirate radio station a few years ago. Counterfeit issues of one or another periodical can add to the enemy’s confusion. This list of examples is vague and limited for obvious reasons. The illegality of such actions makes a sustained engagement on this terrain impossible for any organization that has not chosen to go underground, because it would require the formation within it of a specialized subgroup — a division of tasks which cannot be effectual without compartmentalization and thus hierarchy, etc. Without, in a word, finding oneself on the slippery path toward terrorism. We can more appropriately recall the notion of propaganda by deed, which is a very different matter. Our ideas are in everybody’s mind, as is well known, and any group without any relation to us, or even a few individuals coming together for a specific purpose, can improvise and improve on tactics experimented with elsewhere by others. This type of unconcerted action cannot be expected to bring about any decisive upheaval, but it can usefully serve to accentuate the coming awakening of consciousness. In any case, there’s no need to get hung up on the idea of illegality. Most actions in this domain can be done without breaking any existing law. But the fear of such interventions will make newspaper editors paranoid about their typesetters, radio managers paranoid about their technicians, etc., at least until more specific repressive legislation has been worked out and enacted. 3. The development of situationist comics. Comic strips are the only truly popular literature of our century. Even cretins marked by years at school have not been able to resist writing dissertations on them; but they’ll get little pleasure out of reading ours. No doubt they’ll buy them just to burn them. In our task of “making shame more shameful still,” it is easy to see how easy it would be, for example, to transform “13 rue de l’Espoir ” into “ 1 blvd. du Désespoir ” merely by adding a few elements; or balloons can simply be changed. In contrast to Pop Art, which breaks comics up into fragments, this method aims at restoring to comics their content and importance. 4. The production of situationist films. The cinema, which is the newest and undoubtedly most utilizable means of expression of our time, has stagnated for nearly three quarters of a century. To sum it up, we can say that it indeed became the “seventh art” so dear to film buffs, film clubs and PTAs. For our purposes this age is over (Ince, Stroheim, the one and only L’Age d’or, Citizen Kane and Mr. Arkadin, the lettrist films), even if there remain a few traditional narrative masterpieces to be unearthed in the film archives or on the shelves of foreign distributors. We should appropriate the first stammerings of this new language — in particular its most consummate and modern examples, those which have escaped artistic ideology even more than American “B” movies: newsreels, previews and, above all, filmed ads. ————————————————————————————————— “Penguin books-style pamphlets describe ancient lizard-people and mushroom parasites” The Mould Map 6: TERRAFORMERS exhibition is reviewed by Jacob Charles Wilson at The Double Negative. What’s clear is that the idea of the future has continually been presented and understood through publishing cultures. The concept of Terraformers itself resembles the design and aims of the British magazine Quest, or an issue of the radical ecological DIY magazine Whole Earth; drawing on hippy culture, late-‘60s technocratic solutions, and communist, feminist leanings. Given Frost and Sadler’s own backgrounds are in publishing, I wanted to find out why they decided that this issue should be an exhibition. “Many of the artists whose comics and graphics we’ve published also work with sculpture, video, textiles or painting etc.”, they tell me; “works that don’t necessarily translate well or at all in print. Also, it’s been such a pleasure meeting people in the space. If they follow Mould Map, or have never heard of it, it’s just been a much more social project for us. “On the downside, the longevity of a printed artefact is hard to replicate, which makes us quite concerned about documenting things properly, so we’ll be using photography, drone video footage and 3D scanning equipment to capture the show.” ————————————————————————————————— Protect Your Library the Medieval Way, With Horrifying Book Curses Sarah Laskow looks at Marc Drogin’s book Anathema! Medieval Scribes and the History of Book Curses. Given the extreme effort that went into creating books, scribes and book owners had a real incentive to protect their work. They used the only power they had: words. At the beginning or the end of books, scribes and book owners would write dramatic curses threatening thieves with pain and suffering if they were to steal or damage these treasures. They did not hesitate to use the worst punishments they knew—excommunication from the church and horrible, painful death. Steal a book, and you might be cleft by a demon sword, forced to sacrifice your hands, have your eyes gouged out, or end in the “fires of hell and brimstone.” ————————————————————————————————— Post-Thanksgiving KGB Comix Night Co-hosted by Robyn Chapman and Robin Enrico. Sunday, November 27, 7-9pm, KGB Bar, 85 E 4th St, NYC. Featuring readings by: A. T. Pratt Whit Taylor Steph Guez (better known as Stephanie Rodriguez) Robyn Chapman Bjorn Daniel Miner ————————————————————————————————— Comics Workbook has announced the Winter Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers – course starts Dec. 29th 2016! 8 week course – 500 bux – 10 spots available – apply by Dec. 13th 2016 and get $100 off course fee! Email santoroschoolATgmail for more details. Santoro School 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 small jpgs of images – don’t post to your blog pls -specific url links to any comics work you have done. Send applications to: santoroschoolATgmail Share this page: [...]

04/02/2018

Caleb OrecchioApril 1, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with a nice little Ditko story, and other news. ————————————————————————————————— Aw man, lookit that splash page. I was digging through my back issues looking through my Kull the Destroyers I haven’t really looked at yet. Specifically, Kull the Destroyer #15 from 1974. It’s not a particularly interesting story. Those comics usually aren’t unless they feature some strange, spirited creature. So I flip through the entire issue, kind of disappointed, when I come across an interesting Ditko/Lee short story at the end. It’s a five-pager (six if you count the title page). I had a suspicion that this was a reprint of some back-up story to an old Kirby monster comic. After some digging, I found I was more or less right. “Help,” originally debuted in Strange Tales #94 in 1962. The story is real simple. A guy answers his phone and the person on the other line seems to desperately need help. The mysterious caller is supposedly trapped in some dark place and fears his death. Our hero doesn’t believe him, and thinks it’s a gag. Yet, stays on the phone in case it’s real. The tension is actually relatively convincing. It’s classic Ditko. He had knack for making clever little surreal stories that ended with a neat little twist in the last panel. No I’m not going to spoil it for you, you have to look for it yourself. Go. Go to your local place where back issues lay dorment, waiting to be mined. Drink from the fountain of newsprint and ink and mylar packaging and dusty cardboard boxes. Go True Believer, go. ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know According to Don Harriosn at Richmond Magazine, Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden will be at Virginia Commonwealth University to give a lecture today! Looks like you’ll have to register if you want to go. Details here. I somehow missed Charles Hatfield’s review of the latest King-Cat collection, From Lone Mountain by John Porcellino, over at TCJ.com. I always enjoy reading Matt Seneca articles on comics. Rob Clough visited the Center for Cartoon Studies. Hey look, a popular comic strip. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-2-18 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

8/10/2016

Juan FernándezAugust 10, 2016NewsJuan here with your Spanish language comics news once more! Esta semana tenemos: Sofia Watson en @lapololapodcast; Tetas Tristes en el spotlight; Todo es Macanudo con Liniers en el Centro Cultural Borges; Informe. la antologia argentina del siglo 21; el Publicadero en Manizales; Revista Larva: Convocatoria para Publicar – La Colección Gusana; impresiones del 2º Encontro Lady’s Comics; un Space Riders Playlist via Alexis Ziritt. ————————————————————————————————— [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/276717421″ 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 @lapololapodcast, un podcast del cómic femenino con Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo! Este episodio os ofrece un entrevista con Sofía Watson, música colombiana y un nuevo concurso (deadline es el 15 de agosto!). ————————————————————————————————— Tetas Tristes Cómics un gran shout out al Colectivo Tetas Tristes – cuatro chicas dibujando, desde sus mundos internos feministas. Estan publicando fanzines antisexistas, montando exibiciónes, y ofreciendo talleres – son unas verderas killers jovenes. Dales un vistazo a sus blogs: en fb: https://www.facebook.com/tetastristescomics/ en tumblr: http://tetastristes.tumblr.com/ ————————————————————————————————— Todo es Macanudo con Liniers en el Centro Cultural Borges Antes de su gran salido de Argentina, Liniers ha recibido una exhibición de su arte en el Centro Cultural Borges en Buenos Aires. La fiesta continua hasta el 20 de septiembre, de lunes a domingos, de 10 a 21. A donde se va Liniers? Pues: Después de tantos libros propios y de poner en circulación libros de otros en la Editorial Común (en ese sello editó a Alberto Montt, Carlos Trillo, Gus Delisle, Nine y Kazu Kibuishi, entre tantos), después de algunas tapas de discos (Calamaro, Johansen) y una muy frecuente colaboración con Kevin Johansen, sostiene su tira Macanudo desde años en la nacion y está a punto de partir rumbo a Vermont, la ciudad adonde está The Center for Cartoon Studies. Fue invitado a ingresar en ese laboratorio de ideas para historietistas y allí permanecerá dos años con su familia. ————————————————————————————————— Gerardo Vilches reseña Informe. Historieta argentina del siglo XXI, de VVAA Vilches nos da un analísis A FONDO de esta antologia argentina! Al contrario, la frescura y la ruptura de las normas del relato clásico son signos presentes en cada historia de las que conforman Informe. También, lo decía al principio, se impone cierta distancia con el dibujo académico, para profundizar en estilos gráficos sintéticos, naif o simplemente anti naturalistas, sin preocuparse por conseguir una representación de la realidad que se haga pasar por la realidad en sí. El color es un elemento que, cuando se usa, también se aleja de lo naturalista para explotar su capacidad expresionista y emotiva. Sin embargo, esto no son más que rasgos muy generales que sirven tan sólo de punto de partida para analizar a un conjunto de artistas que se caracterizan, sobre todo, por su heterogeneidad. ————————————————————————————————— El Publicadero – COLOMBIA Ya viene el encuentro de Autoedición y Fanzines celebrado en el marco de la séptima Feria del Libro de Manizales del 2016. 30 de agosto al 4 de septiembre. It’s coming! ————————————————————————————————— Revista Larva: Convocatoria para Publicar – La Colección Gusana FECHA DE CIERRE: domingo 28 de agosto de 2016 a las 11:59 p.m. A comienzos de este año presentamos una colección de fanzines de cómic y dibujo. La hemos llamada Gusana. Su objetivo en este mundo: abrir un espacio para autores de cómic que busquen un espacio de publicación y promoción para trabajos que ya tengan hechos pero que no hayan salido a la luz todavía. La prima menor de nuestra LARVA se prepara para su próxima aparición, el segundo número de la colección, y buscamos un(a) autor(a) para darle vida. ————————————————————————————————— Impresiones sobre el 2º Encontro Lady’s Comics Katherine Supnem tiene un gran recap del Encontro en el blog Comic, Genero, Femenismo. Si quieren ver otra perspectiva sobre este gran evento Manzanna nos dio sus impresiones del encontro la semana pasada AQUI en Comics Workbook. Katherine Supnem: Lo que más me llamó la atención fue la labor formativa y recopilatoria que inspiraba el evento. Estaban muy interesadas en transmitir contenido, fuerza, autogestión y lucha, ya que es difícil en toda latinoamérica ser autora de cómic, aunque ya no estemos en los 90. Además de tener un registro de otros colectivos brasileños de historietas donde sólo participen mujeres, lesbianas o trans. Para eso tenían un mapa de Brasil donde los colectivos se iban anotando para ser registrados en la historia de las comiqueras Brasileñas. No era necesario ser feminista para estar ahí, algo así como militar, porque ya es muy feminista ser artista y autora de historietas, como le oí decir a Sole Otero en nuestra Charla. A veces es difícil darle tiempo a las lecturas filosóficas que requiere el feminismo, como lo hablamos con Mariela, pero lo fundamental es comenzar a cambiar nuestras propias vidas autoconvocándonos y organizándonos junto a otras mujeres. ————————————————————————————————— Space Riders – the Playlist: BLAST YERR ASS OFF Alexis Ziritt has put together a loud, galaxy spanning mix of tunes that’ll get you tuned to the Space Riders frequency real quick. Gives these tracks a spin, if you’re up for adventure. ————————————————————————————————— hasta la proxima! JF Share this page: [...]

04/01/2016

Posted on April 1, 2016April 1, 2016 by Juan Fernández

Jaime Hernandez, Natalia Hernandez, Gilbert Hernandez and Carol Hernandez at WONDERCON, downtown los angeles, friday, march 25, 2016. photo by Chris Anthony Diaz photo color by graham willcox #comicsroyalty

Juan Fernandez here with your weekend comics news fix. It’s been a busy week, I’ve been doing a lot of kids comics classes and have a lot on my plate personally this weekend with the all weekend long action of PIX here in Pittsburgh. Readings, workshops, exhibitors, panels. OOf, gotta remember to stay hydrated and caffeinated. (Field notes from youth workshops to come in future posts).

There’ll be loads of comics folks doing it to it in NYC for the Society of Illustrator’s MOCCA Fest, but I’ll amped to be focusing on things on the home front in Pittsburgh. Can’t say I’m not a little bummed that I can’t attend the programming that the Society is putting together this year! If you’re in the area, you’re going to want to pop by. But if you’re near Pittsburgh, you’ll want to know that Comics Workbook is doing a full day of programming during the Expo this weekend. Hands on instruction and training in the first installment of our Danger Room Workshop Series.

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Pittsburgh Independent Comics Expo Details

Tonight there will be two Pre-PIX events (no fooling’!)

Bill Griffith fans will want to know that, in addition to his being a special guest of PIX 2016, he will also be doing a presentation at The ToonSeum the night before, starting at 7pm at Bricolage, a few doors down from The ToonSeum: 45 Years of Zippy the Pinhead: An Evening with Bill Griffith. Nice interview with Griffith up at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Read it here.
AND, running from 7pm to 11pm at Lili Cafe (downstairs from The Copacetic Comics Co.) it’s The Pre-PIX Comix Reading Extravaganza! Here’s a chance to get a jump start on the PIX 2016 festivities!

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Official DANGER ROOM 001 Schedule: April 2nd, 2016
Drawing without Drawing: Explore the power of color of and form in comics// 11:30 PM // 2nd Floor Classroom

DO BE DO: A 1 Hour Comics Publication to be drawn, scanned, printed, bound. // 12:30 PM // 2nd Floor Classroom

The Architecture of Time and Space – Composing Comics with Frank Santoro// 1:30 PM // 2nd Floor Classroom

Paper Jazz – Comics, storyboards, concept art, same difference: it’s all writing. // 2:30 PM // 2nd Floor Classroom

Bill Griffith’s Drawing Workshop – That’s right, learn how to draw from the Legendary Underground comics artist creator of Zippy the Pinhead. // 3:30 PM // Lower Level Classroom

I’ll be co-facilitating all the workshops throughout the day. RSVP Here.

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Berliac’s latest

“TANGRAM” is Berliac’s contribution for the anthology “Abstraction and Comics”, edited by Aarnoud Rommens, Pablo Turnes and Bjorn-Olav Dozo, and published by PULg, (Université de Liège, Belgium), for their ACME series. It’s online now and a real formalist treat. If you’re looking for inspiration by seeing how someone masterfully composes comics within constraints (in this case the forms of the Chinese tangram puzzle), look no further. Read it here.

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Alt Comix II – LIVE
Tonight the Alt Comics crew is gathering to put on a night of readings and performances at NYC’s American Medium (424 Gates Ave. Brooklyn.) More info here. Hosted by 2dcloud x Aidan Koch there’ll be presentations and performances by:

Kayla Guthrie.
Claire Christerson.
Austin English.
Sarah Ferrick.
Julia Gfrörer.
Barkev Gulesserian aka Bernard Herman.
Aidan Koch.
Blaise Larmee.
Nikholis Planck.
Gina Wynbrandt.

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trina_70s_artists_wimmenscomix-650x427 — The contributors to “It Ain’t Me, Babe”: Far left, Meredith Kurtzman; standing from left, Carole, Peggy White, Michelle Brand, Barbara Mendes; sitting from left, Trina Robbins and Lisa Lyons; far right, Nancy Kalish, a.k.a Panzika, a.k.a Hurricane Nancy.

Womens’ Comix History
Over at the Comics Journal, there’s a nice, chunky piece put together by Alex Dueben that records an oral history of the publication, Wimmen’s Comix. As anecdotes contain the juiciest nuggets, the most vivid images, the most important memories, this is required reading. Lotsa hard work went into this one,

“assembled from a series of interviews with M.K. Brown, Nancy Burton (aka, “Hurricane Nancy”), Jennifer Camper, Leslie Ewing, Joyce Farmer, Mary Fleener, Shary Flenniken, Lora Fountain, Phoebe Gloeckner, Roberta Gregory, Joan Hilty, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Meredith Kurtzman, Caryn Leschen, Lisa Lyons, Lee Marrs, Barbara Mendes, Patricia Moodian, Diane Noomin, Trina Robbins, Sharon Rudahl, Carol Tyler, and Rebecca Wilson conducted by phone, skype, google chat, and e-mail in 2015 and 2016.”

Read it all here.

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Retrofit Kickstarter: Big Push

Retrofit Comics is entering the last week on their Kickstarter campaign! Take a gander at their list of artists, and you’ll immediately recognize the publisher to be a general force for greatness in the comics community. The crop of books they’re currently publishing is particularly spectacular. It includes titles by the likes of James Kochalka (Elf Cat in Love), the first Cartoonist Laureate of Vermont. Eleanor Davis has an offering (Libby’s Dad), and Kaeleigh Forsyth and Alabaster Pizzo teamed up on Hellbound (here’s a process post from them about the “raw material” the book was sourced from).

Also among the comics that may get loosed on the world, should the Kickstarter make it to the stretch goals, are works by Anya Davidson and Tyler Landry. Pretty rad. Please support Retrofit Comics by pitching some funds their way, or helping to spread the word. Check out the Kickstarter HERE! Push it to the limit.

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Remembering Jess Johnson
As yesterday was Transgender Day of Visibility, it’s a good day to think of Jess Johnson who sadly left the world last Sunday. If you have a chance, I urge you to take some time to dig into Johnson’s life and work, whether it’s by taking a moment to listen to this Ink Studs interview from 2013 or by digging into the collections of Matterhorn, the online venture that she put online. Despite never having been collected in a durable format, there’s hope that Johnson’s memory will live on by sharing this unique, idiosyncratic, and darkly funny body of work.

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Juan Fernández

Posted on April 1, 2016April 1, 2016

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09/28/2018

Sally IngrahamSeptember 28, 2018NewsSally here. I read most of the comics in Mickey Z‘s Space Academy 123 (Koyama Press, 2018) when they were appearing daily on her Instagram last year. However, downing the strip all together in one big gulp last night was very stimulating. I feel ZAPPED! (Very similar to how Ashley Forgiveness feels all the time – without the aid of caffeine – in the story.) This comic appeals to me on many levels. There’s the whacky space academy setting, the characters making a whole lot out of not very much, the reflection on what school really is FOR anyway, the outrageously free drawing style…plus it’s really funny. Knowing, as I was reading the book, that Mickey Z wrote and drew it daily, made the overarching plot lines more fun. Coming up with a new strip every day that is punchy and interesting is a lot of work. There really aren’t any duds in this collection. Each character follows their own bizarre journey, crashing into the others along the way. The simple life of the space station school slowly swings out of whack as Grandfather Computer takes over. Principle Summers is forced to make a big decision (despite the fact that all she ever wanted was to be a simple space chiropractor!) Ashley bounces off walls, Andrew navigates his anxiety, Naomi explores the loneliness that turns her into a bully. Shandy (the youngest character in the story, aged somewhere between 9-12) will do anything to get out of Sunshine Storytime. There’s something so powerful about comics making like this – pure on-the-fly storytelling, using whatever materials are on hand. Some might look at Space Academy 123 and call it sketchy, rough, unrefined. I beg to differ. Mickey Z is a really good cartoonist. To my eyes there is an elegance in these dashed off pages which only comes from practice and skill. Her timing is great. Her drawings contain and transmit the wild rush of strange emotions, the sick sense of failure, the fraying of sanity, and the bold realization of the total absurdity of life. The contrast between which characters experience what is where a lot of the humor lies. The final strip in the collection concludes the overall story magnificently, while summing up nothing at all. It was a real delight to revisit Space Academy 123 and I recommend it, along with the rest of Mickey Z’s work, which you can navigate your way to HERE. ————————————————————————————————— 09-28-2018 – by Niall Breen Share this page: [...]

04/13/2016

Juan FernándezApril 13, 2016NewsJuan Fernández here with an especially internationally focused news round up: Chris Ware Benefit Auction; European comics festivals this weekend; Comics talk at the Prado; Max vs. Hieronymous Bosch; Cohete Comics Colombian Blastoff; Real Talk – Girl Talk; Chippendale chats Puke Force. —————————————————————————— Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency Fundraiser Auction – CHECK IT OUT HERE! **PLEASE NOTE: The Copacetic Comics Company is managing this auction on behalf of Comics Workbook.** This is a BENEFIT AUCTION for the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency. It is part of the ongoing fundraising campaign to get the Rowhouse Residency up and running and serving students. All proceeds of this auction are going to Comics Workbook to defray the expenses involved in realizing this goal. This auction is a continuation of the now completed Rowhouse Residency IndieGoGo campaign and other fundraising efforts. The eight items were donated to The Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency Fundraising Drive by one Mr. Chris Ware. Each item in this auction has been hand packaged and signed by Mr. Ware and was shipped by him directly to Comics Workbook for the purposes of being auctioned here to raise funds for the Rowhouse Residency. Comics Workbook would like to express our profound gratitude to Chris Ware for his support of the Rowhouse Residency. CHECK OUT THE AUCTION HERE! Featuring Jim Rugg | jimrugg.com/ Video by Michael Pisano | michaelpisano.com Soundtrack | Johann Sebastian Bach // Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen, BWV 43 – 7. Aria: Er ists, der ganz allein // performed by Michel Rondeau ————————————————————————————————— ###Eurozone Fezztival Spezial### Ratatà! Macerata, Italy’s festival of illustration, comics and self-publishing, Ratatà is happening this weekend! From April 14th to April 17th Macerata will be packed with exhibitions, workshops, meetings and events. Illustration and Independent comics will be the focus. More info here. Special note: kuš! will present a special exhibition by it’s artists Anna Vaivare, Ingrīda Pičukāne, Līva Kandevica and Zane Zlemeša. Present at the festival will be kuš! editor Sanita Muižniece and the artists Anna Vaivare, Ingrīda Pičukāne and Zane Zlemeša. Comics Days Vilnius Also this weekend, starting Thursday is Comics days Vilnius. Comics Days Vilnius is the first comic festival in Lithuania, just south of the home of Latvian minicomics publishing powerhouse, kuš!. It’s exciting to see the start of a national comics festival. The goal is to promote the development and the recognition of comics in Lithuania. It will be held this weekend, 14-16 of April 2016 in Vilnius. Check out the Comics Days Vilnius program and learn more. Fumetto Last but not least, Fumetto in Lucerne Switzerland begins this weekend April 16-24. Fumetto has a long tradition in being THE exciting gathering for artistically ambitious comics making in Europe. This year marks their 25th anniversary. Lots of gallery shows and workshops. Lectures by Ben Katchor, Matt Madden, Jacques de Loustal, Joost Swarte, Goele Dewanckel , Gabrielle Bell, Tom Gauld, Edmond Baudoin & Cédric Villani. Not to be missed! For more information, visit them online. ————————————————————————————————— Aquí – Here Ediciones Salamandra has released a nicely produced bit that captures the Richard McGuire’s joy and curiosity as he speaks about the latest iteration of his lifetime’s work Here. Hands down one of the most passionate, human works in the comics medium. ————————————————————————————————— Radio 3 in Spain put together a comics round table featuring David Rubín, Ana Galvañ, Santiago García y Francesc Capdevila and “Max” recorded live at the Prado Museum in Madrid. Really interesting discussion moderated by Laura Brrachina on the interdisciplinary fluidity of contemporary comics making in the visually fragmented 21st century. Tons of excitement about comics. Escuchen aquí/Listen here! ————————————————————————————————— Max vs. Bosch To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the death of Hieronymous Bosch, the Prado has commissioned Francesc Capdevila “Max” to translate the work and energies of the Dutch master into a comic. Max has created (and has sent off to the printer!) El Tríptico de los encantados (una pantomima bosquiana) a 72 page Boschian revelery. The book is structured around 3 major paintings, The Garden of Earthly Delights, Cutting the Stone, and The Temptations of St. Anthony. Max did away with the biographic and focused on coming up with a narrative that would take you from one painting to another in an elliptical narrative. Aprendan más sobre esto proyecto/ Learn more about this project. ————————————————————————————————— …4,3,2,1 -Blast Off Cool comics publishing news in Colombia: Laguna Libros has launched a comics imprint – Cohete Comics. Following in the spirint of Laguna Libros, Cohete Cómics is to be an editorial labororatory that explores the possibilities autobio, documentary and fiction comics. Their first books will feature work by Pablo Guerra, Henry Díaz, Sindy Infante, Bernardo Fernández, Camilo Aguirre and Diana Ojeda. Check them out and Have a look at what Cohete Cómics is up to! ————————————————————————————————— Girl Talk Rod and Cone Press, run by my inspiring friends Iona Fox and Anna McGlynn, have launched their newest book, Girl Talk. It’s a collaborative comics anthology featuring comics inspired by diary entries. They just finished putting together all their copies and it looks stellar. Girl Talk features comics by Cooper Whittlesey, Anna McGlynn,Iona Fox, Hannah Kaplan, Alyse Burnside. This comes on the heels of their previous release, My Pace, a collection of idiosyncratic, satisfying and raw comics. Sure to be of equal caliber, gut punches galore. Hop on over to their site to learn more about the launch and how you can pre-order a copy. I can’t wait to get mine. ————————————————————————————————— Brian Chippendale talks with Alex Dueben over at Comic Book Resources about the nitty gritty of Puke Force. Soak it up! Chippendale: I’m not converting many haters. Haters of comics, or ideas like mine probably can’t even figure my damn personal mark-making language out, let alone find the plot. I’m laughing at you, not with you. ————————————————————————————————— That’s it for today! Stay tuned for a very special announcement around noon… Share this page: [...]

11/01/2016

Aaron CockleOctober 31, 2016NewsAaron here today with NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium events for this week; Wertz at the NYer; Drawing the Unspeakable; more Mould Map 6; ‘An Update on the Largest Prison Strike in US History, Now Ongoing’; Ankeny’s MICE Recapitulation ————————————————————————————————— There are three upcoming events at the NY Comic and Picture-story Symposium, in support of Illustration Week 2016: David Kunzle on Töpffer and Cham: the amateur and the professional The 168th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016 at 7pm at Parsons School of Design, University Center, 63 Fifth Ave., room L105 (lower level). Free and open to the public. Two caricaturists dominate the emerging field of the French comic strip from the 1830s onward: the Genevan Rodolphe Töpffer and the Parisian Cham (pseud. Count Amédée de Noé). The undisputed father of the modern comic strip or graphic novel, Töpffer always pretended to denigrate his “little follies,” as he called them, among other disparaging terms, and which he executed in spare corners of his life as director of a boys’ school and university professor. Cham, by contrast, inspired by and at one point collaborator with the Swiss, quickly became a dominant figure in the French premier magazine of graphic satire, Le Charivari. He engaged full-time in all the major caricature formats then practiced, including close to 40 comic strips or graphic novelettes, published in albums and magazine instalments. They represent a fine contrast in their lives, graphic style and satirical reach. David Sandlin: Hold Back the Rushing Waters, Make the Wind Lie Still The 167th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016 at 7pm at Parsons School of Design, University Center, 63 Fifth Ave., room L105 (lower level). Free and open to the public. Artist David Sandlin discusses the influences of country music on his paintings, prints, and comics. Sandlin was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1956. He currently lives in New York and teaches printmaking, book arts, and illustration at the School of Visual Arts. He has exhibited extensively in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Australia, and his comics and illustrations have appeared in The Best American Comics 2015, 2012 and 2009; The New Yorker; Raw; and other publications. He has received fellowships and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, the New York Foundation of the Arts, the Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon, and other institutions. David Kunzle on Chesucristo. The fusion in word and image of Che Guevara and Jesus Christ: the poetry The 166th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016 at 7pm at Parsons School of Design, University Center, 63 Fifth Ave., room L105 (lower level). Free and open to the public. Amid the manifold means by which this fusion was made, in narratives of the life of Ernesto Che Guevara, in word and in image, the poetry stands out, likening Che to Jesus in various moments of Jesus’ life and especially death. In the substance and words of various actions recorded in the Gospels parallels are drawn to Che’s sacrificiality; to his embodiment of the creative forces of a “divine”nature; to his omnipresence post-mortem, even his (spiritual) omnipotence. Extracts from the poetry are intoned simultaneously with projection of some of the infinite variations made of the famous, so often christified visage of Che. Based on Kunzle’s recent book, Chesucristo, The Fusion in Word and Image of Che Guevara and Jesus Christ. ————————————————————————————————— A Friend’s Pregnancy Julia Wertz has a piece at the New Yorker’s Culture Desk. ————————————————————————————————— Drawing the Unspeakable The Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Comics Association join Comics@Columbia to present a conversation with French cartoonists Kerascoët, Pénélope Bagieu and Catherine Meurisse, discussing the challenges of conveying powerful emotions in a medium often wrongly dismissed as trivial. This event, moderated by cartoonist Kriota Willberg, is part of the FRENCH COMICS FRAMED festival. November 1, 2016, 7–9:30pm, Butler Library, 535 W. 114 St., NYC ————————————————————————————————— Mould Map 6 Texts More info from the recently concluded TERRAFORMERS exhibition: Prison Abolition + Utopianism + Science Fiction by Miranda Iossifidis Exhibition Guide Text Map ————————————————————————————————— Happening Under Your Nose Eleri Harris and Jess Parker look at the largest prison strike in US history, over at the Nib. ————————————————————————————————— MICE 2016 Kurt Ankeny was at the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo this past weekend, and wrote about it, here: MICE consistently packs in a widely varied crowd, full of people from every age group and background. Part of this is the fact that it is held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which has one of the most highly educated and diverse citizenries in the nation (it’s home to both Harvard and MIT.) But MICE just has some magic about it. The show has been steadily growing over the past few years. Last year, they broke the 3,000 attendee mark for the first time, and preliminary figures for this past Saturday’s attendance were over 1600, so they seem on par to keep that streak going. People are there to immerse themselves in the comics culture, and to buy, which is always helpful. Share this page: [...]

06/15/2016

Juan FernándezJune 15, 2016NewsJuan Fernandez here with: los Cómics españoles en Bologna;lo nuevo de TIK TOK; las novedades del Club de Dibujo; Juan Diaz Canales’ COMO VIAJA EL AGUA; Santiago García y el arte del guion. ————————————————————————————————— Off the site: Report: Spanish Art Comics Day in Bologne Serena Di Virgilio over at Italian comics criticism hub, Just Indie Comics, has a great report on the Spanish Independent Publishing panels and exhibitions from this May in Bologne. Lots of inspiring photos and a great primer on some of the most exciting contemporary makers of Spanish speaking comics from around the world making comics in Spain. Thursday, May 26 BilBOlbul Spring / Summer 2016 , preview of Bologna balloon festival, a meeting dedicated to Olaf Ladousse, Klari Moreno, Roberto Massó and Martín López Lam, and an exhibition of the latest works of the latter. The four authors, mostly unknown in Italy, living in Spain and selfpublishing their creations. Apart from that, it is a rather heterogeneous group that presents a stimulating variety of imaginary and experiences. ————————————————————————————————— Novedades/New over on TIK TOK Cómics: ¡Click through to read/Dale click para continuar a los comics! ————————————————————————————————— Club de Dibujo – Weekly Drawings from Around Latin America Club de Dibujo es la publicación serial de un grupo de artistas latinoamericanos que envían cada semana un nuevo dibujo. La curadora es Adriana Lozano. Check them out and stay atop the refreshing and raw wave of Latin American illustration and comics! ————————————————————————————————— Rafael Villa con Martín Cáceres: El Sueño de la Máquina Here’s a neat interview of Martín Cáceres in the latest edition of Chilean arts periodical La Panera. The interview starts on page pg. 32 of the PDF, surrounded by lots of interesting contemporary arts and culture from Chile 😉 ————————————————————————————————— Juan Díaz Canales y Como Viaja el Agua Juan Díaz Canales, best known in the states for his work on the Blacksad series with Juanjo Guarnido, sits down and talks with Bilbao 24 horas about his ventures into his first solo graphic novel, Como Viaja el Agua. P.: “Como viaja el agua” es tu primer trabajo como autor completo. ¿Cómo afrontas el reto? R.: Como una experiencia más. Así es como me voy planteando el resto de cosas en la vida. Como apasionado de los tebeos es algo que quería hacer desde hace tiempo. También es cierto que, al no tener un pasado fanzinero tenía algo de miedo. Sin tener ese bagaje, me he enfrentado a un libro de 90 páginas. El riesgo era alto pero ha llegado un momento de madurez profesional y eso me ha dado algo de seguridad para afrontarlo. ————————————————————————————————— Diego Cuevas y Iván Galiano interview guionista Santiago García Over on Jot Down, EL PAIS’ contemporary culture magazine, there’s a solid interview with Spanish comics writing all star, Santiago García. If you’re not familiar with García, take note! He’s one of the most popular writers of comics in Spain. An auteur comics writer if you will. Smash that google translate button if you need to for all the juicy details of García’s creative formation, the nature of his collaborative process with artists and his hopes for the future. P: Estudiaste Periodismo e Historia del Arte. ¿Las hiciste pensando en trabajar en algo relacionado con los cómics? R: No. No sabía lo que iba a hacer. Empecé Filología Inglesa y en mitad de ella me fui a la mili. Cuando volví en vez de retomarla me fui a Periodismo en la Complutense. Fue la carrera que hice con veinte años. Años después, con treinta y cinco, hice Historia del Arte. A mí me gustaban mucho los tebeos. En realidad lo que me ha gustado siempre es el papel impreso, la prensa, los periódicos, las revistas y los libros. Yo lo que quería hacer era papel impreso. Probablemente en orden de preferencia los cómics eran lo primero, pero yo me veía de periodista. Aparte, Peter Parker era periodista, Clark Kent era periodista, era la profesión que lo aunaba todo . ————————————————————————————————— hasta la proxima! (Share the love you have. Nunca sabes que pasara…) JF Share this page: [...]

08/16/2017

Juan FernándezAugust 16, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con el octavo Festival Entreviñetas; Mario Levrero; Flor Monfort; Clitóris: Relatos gráficos para Femininjas; Pablo Turnes; Amadeo Gandolfo; Libreria PUNC; Roberta Vázquez; Fanzination! en el Institut Valencià d’Art Modern; Joaquín Guirao sobre CF; y los tebeos de Cómics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— Historietas, el eslabón recuperado de Mario Levrero Álvaro de la Iglesia nos ofrece un refleccíon sobre el artisto uruguayo, Mario Levrero. En casi todas las biografías que pueden leerse por ahí (incluso en las solapas de sus libros) se incurre en el error de presentarnos a Levrero, no como al artista conceptual que fue, sino como un autor polivalente que escribió, sacó fotos, y se dedicó al cine y a las historietas. Como si todo no partiera de una misma cosa, en definitiva: la necesidad espiritual plasmada en la manifestación artística. Decir que Levrero fue, entre tantísimas cosas, guionista de comics, parece no hacerle justicia a Levrero como artista de conceptos. Más correcto sería decir que era un escritor pero, sobre todo, un artista que cultivó varios géneros en pos de una inquietud y no de un mercado específico (¿o acaso alguien tilda a Osvaldo Lamborghini de guionista de historietas, a causa de aquella que hiciera con Gustavo Trigo en 1972, ¡Marc!?) Ahora bien: hasta el día de hoy, para muchos de los seguidores de la obra de Levrero (Levrero el novelista, a diferencia de Varlotta el guionista), las historietas seguían siendo el eslabón perdido. Tanto sus ilustraciones más personales (él no era dibujante, pero lo mismo dibujaba) como las historietas más ambiciosas hechas en colaboración con ese gran dibujante uruguayo llamado Lizán (Edgardo Lizasoain) -publicadas en la primera época de Fierro y Superhumor- pedían a gritos una edición para los fanáticos del escritor. Criatura Editora, el sello uruguayo que suele publicar e Levrero en su país de origen- recoge el guante y nos ofrece este hermoso y necesario volumen titulado Historietas Reunidas de Jorge Varlotta, donde descubrimos varias facetas más de arte levreriano, en este caso decididamente visuales, aunque totalmente en sintonía con su obra literaria. Léanlo todo AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: Flor Monfort les reseña y contextualiza Clitóris: Relatos gráficos para Femininjas. “Humor gráfico y reflexiones feministas recogidas en un arco de tiempo que va del 2010 a la actualidad, con los cambios y atravesamientos que sufrió el movimiento de mujeres y lgbt en estos últimos siete años. Un corpus que permite discutir relaciones de poder, roles, estereotipos desde la gráfica y el texto y, también, una apuesta política y una invitación al orgasmo.” Hay un nuevo bloque del taller de lectura de Pablo Turnes (@blopaturnes) y Amadeo Gandolfo (@kingmob84) en Libreria PUNC (@punclibreria) en Argentina. Entrevista a la dibujante y autoeditora Roberta Vázquez (@bobbypatata) por Javi Godoy ¿Qué hace un fanzine como tú en un museo como este?: nace la fanzinoteca del Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM) – “Fanzination!, la exposición con la que da por inaugurada una fanzinoteca que se pone en marcha con una colección de 2.109 ejemplares donados por el experto Álvaro Pons” ¿Es CF el autor más influyente en España del que nadie habla o dice que le ha influenciado? Ni idea de porqué se dá este fenómeno: Joaquín Guirao ————————————————————————————————— OJO: La gran editorial, Fulgencio Pimentel, os ofrece unas rebajas maravillosamente filthy – válida solo durante una semana larga, del 8 al 18 de agosto, y hasta fin de existencias. Si quieres ampliar tu coleccíon con unos de los cómics publicados en España. La Semana de la Mugre incluye devoluciones de librerías y ejemplares de exposición que han vuelto a casa después de mucho jaleo; es decir, son libros que han visto mundo, libros más sabios, libros que miran de frente como Ramoncín. Solo por eso, durante unos días estarán disponibles aquí con un descuento de entre el 40% y el 60%. El cruel azar determinará si su ejemplar de usted solo tiene un doblez en una esquinita o muestra signos de haber sido sodomizado por Satán. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 8-16-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 8-16-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

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