Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Bernie Wrightson, caleb orecchio, daniel clowes, Dash Shaw, Gary Panter, gloria rivera, html flowers, jack brougham, Michael Comeau, simon hanselmann, tyler landry

Sally Ingraham

Posted on April 2, 2017

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06/01/2017

Sally IngrahamMay 31, 2017NewsSam Ombiri on Joe Daly’s Highbone Theater, an international zine roundup, Wonder Woman dreams, and news from Berliac. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: I read Highbone Theater by Joe Daly recently. I began it awhile back when Joe Daly was posting it online, but the way Daly set up his website for Highbone Theater made it hard to find where you left off at. The funny thing with that was that I’d just end up re-reading the same pages. The same really good pages. I guess it was maybe a selling point, because it feels very real. I’m not sure if it’s part autobiographical, because it’s not so apparent and that makes me more keen to apply what’s happened to me, myself, and relate it with Palmer (the main character). The dialogue is so natural, and the way Daly guides you through what’s being said seems like it’s collaborating with life. It’s so mundane that it becomes all too real. It seems like it’s way more dense than it is really, because of the size of the book, but it’s so rhythmic, and it sucks the reader in so that you barely even notice that you’re flipping the pages. You start it, and you keep going, and you don’t feel the big obligation to take note of anything. Or that may be inaccurate, since you are supposed to, as a reader, take note of what’s happening in the narrative. I didn’t catch so much that the colored pages were adding an extra meaning to the atmosphere changing, other than, something’s up, tonally and design wise. Color is the equivalent of sound design. I once heard Joe Daly cite Naked Lunch as a movie he’s really impressed with, so this was at the back of my mind while reading Highbone Theater. It’s a very cinematic comic, which may be attributed to Daly studying animation. Whatever it was that caused it, I’m glad. Palmer is into the things he’s into, him and his friends are into the things they’re into, and every now and then the friends comment on Palmer’s eccentric interests. While they see less reason in Palmer, Palmer sees less reason in the world he’s living in, and while many others can reason with him, he finds he can’t reason with anyone besides his friend Billy. The way Daly portrays Palmer is as someone who isn’t an unreasonable guy – but when Palmer talks, the way he portrays himself when talking about himself (which is part of why the book feels like it’s autobio) comes off as unreasonable – but that doesn’t hinder him from performing what he perceives as his duty. That was the defining characteristic I found with Palmer. What set this apart is that the book seems so casual, as if it’s ideas are taking place with no regard to your opinion of them. Yet they are coming from a very disciplined story teller. Everything that sets this book apart doesn’t come off as overly intentional, or meant to be set apart. What’s taking place seems independent of the reader’s thoughts on them. This only strengthens the potency of the events as perceived by the reader. What seems more intentional is to engage with the reader in a way that’s very familiar to them. Or maybe it’s just that this form happens to be familiar. It reminded me of reading Chester Brown’s autobio stuff, or Crumb, or it’s as if I was told that one of the characters is the Reid Fleming of this universe. The cover is really cool – it reflects what you’re in for. Of course most covers do that, but as you open this book it’s with these specific images that come later on in the book. The front cover – while it’s an image that shows up through the course of the book – seems to be there more so to sell you on the book. The image that follows, however, before the story has started, has been ingrained in the reader. Right now I’m talking about the coffin Billy crafted for his mother. When it comes into the story later on and makes another appearance, there was something big that went off in my mind. While the turns the book takes are huge, there’s a subdued element to it, right? While it may seem disorienting, it’s a really well oriented form of disorienting. Palmer has this look on his face that says this must be done, and that’s reflected with every action he performs. He has a no nonsense approach to everything. He sees the task before him, he tries to find what needs to be done above all his other concerns, and what he needs to do is a growing question mark. – Sam Ombiri Get a copy if this book at Copacetic Comics! ————————————————————————————————— 6-1-2017 – by Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— Sally here – check out this roundup of 8 zines made by people of color from around the world, showcased on Artsy – a true example of why the medium remains relevant and important. “The black literary zine, Fire!! created during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s by writers such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston is an early example. Self-publishing continued through the decades, with the Black Panther Party Newspaper and the Chilean women’s magazine Aquelarre. Still, the history of zine culture remains largely dominated by narratives of white men and women. Utilizing both the tangibility of print and the connectedness afforded by the internet, today’s artists and writers of color are continuing to create spaces for dialogue, pioneering conversations through zines—a medium that allows them to exchange ideas, opinions, and art on their own terms. These eight zines are just a few of the notable print publications claiming space and reinvigorating a decades-long tradition of collective healing through communal expression.“ Read more HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Maya Rupert writes movingly for The Atlantic about her lifelong connection to Wonder Woman and her feeling that maybe the character makes more sense as a black woman. “Wonder Woman and I were both outsiders on two levels. Her powers set her apart from other humans, but among the other members of the Justice League, she was relegated to secretary. My race set me apart from my white classmates, but I learned at a young age that within the black community my gender marked me as inferior. I remember as a child being told by my hairdresser that feminism wasn’t for black women. “For us,” she explained, “the man is here, and we’re here,” she said gesturing with her hands to illustrate that to be a black woman meant that a man I had never met would always be stationed above me. As I got older, I became better able to name my double displacement; I was frustrated with the racism I saw in feminist circles and with the misogyny I saw among racial-justice advocates. And Wonder Woman’s state of constant otherness only became more meaningful. But as a girl, I most commiserated with Wonder Woman when she sought to reconcile her inner strength and ferocity with the need of others to see her as peaceful and feminine. I had learned early on that it wouldn’t take a lot for me to be viewed as angry and deemed unlikeable. Images of neck-rolling, finger-snapping, gum-popping black women caricatured in movies and TV shows showed me exactly what people expected from me.“ Read more HERE – and go see the new Wonder Woman movie (opens June 2nd!), which does star a white woman, but there is perhaps some hope for the flick and the story – “Yes, a white actress, Gal Gadot, had been cast as the lead. But, I wondered, would the creators see in her what I had all these years? Would Wonder Woman still chafe at the forced dichotomy between her strength and her womanhood, her peaceful demeanor and her righteous anger? Would they infuse her story with enough of mine that a little black girl who sees the movie might get to wonder, maybe?“ ————————————————————————————————— Drawn & Quarterly will publish Berliac’s Sadbøi in January 2018. “Drawn in a unique style that’s an homage to gekiga and film noir, Berliac’s first English graphic novel is an exploration of how we treat immigrants, and the impossible situation of being expected to conform to society’s ideals when the world has already decided you’re guilty.” More of the announcement and an excerpt from the book can be found HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 6-1-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-1-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-1-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

06/07/2017

Juan FernándezJune 7, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con Isabel Méndez y los derechos de ls traductores; Fernanda Frick en La Polola; Ines Estrada; Sol Díaz; Tercer Encuentro Internacional de Narrativas Dibujadas; y por supuesto los tebeos de Comics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— Y los traductores… ¿tienen derechos de autor? Isabel Méndez nos presenta un guía genial sobre los derechos del autor. En este mundo de intercambio cultural internacional, los traductores son inestimables! Si tienes algún interés en el mundo de traduccíon, tienen que léer este articulo. ¿En qué consisten los derechos de autor de los traductores? Si eres traductor, debes tener en cuenta que nuestra legislación te atribuye los mismos derechos que a cualquier otro autor. Esto es, tendrás derechos patrimoniales y derechos morales. Conocer bien tus derechos te ayudará a proteger y reivindicar mejor tu trabajo. Los derechos patrimoniales te servirán para explotar la traducción y los derechos morales te servirán, entre otras cosas, para que se reconozca la autoría de tu trabajo y aparezcas, por ejemplo, en los créditos de la obra. También, como cualquier otro autor, tendrás derecho a registrar tu obra. Al igual que con el resto de autores, muchas veces los traductores son trabajadores asalariados, por lo que la cesión de los derechos de las traducciones que realicen bajo un contrato laboral, deberán quedar bien determinadas y reflejadas en el mismo. Es conveniente leer en este caso el artículo 51 de nuestra Ley de Propiedad Intelectual, dedicado a la transmisión de los derechos de un autor asalariado. Léanlo todo AQUI! ————————————————————————————————— Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con el gran dibujante Fernanda Frick, directora, animadora y dibujante. Hablamos acerca de su nuevo corto “Here`s the plan”, cómo empezó su carrera, su experiencia en la animación, sus estudios, temores, ideas, planes y mucho más!! Ya puedes léer Alienation #3 de Inés Estrada en línea. Léanlo si les gusta el sci fi, hentai & conversaciones intensas. Esta historieta fue adaptada a HTML maravillosamente. La Universidad de Santiago y @PLOPGaleria convocan al Tercer Encuentro Internacional de Narrativas Dibujadas! Para este año, el eje del Encuentro será Narrativas gráficas: sociedad, política y género, y el plazo para enviar las propuestas de ponencias es hasta el lunes 12 de junio de 2017. Pueden ver la entretenida entrevista que Carlos Reyes le hizo a Sol Díaz en un nuevo VIÑETAS DEL FIN DEL MUNDO. La semana pasada Drawn & Quarterly annuncio la publicacion de Sadboi por Berliac. Hubo una reacción inmediata en línea, ya que dibujantes y lectores señalaron las declaraciones públicas sobre personas transgénero realizadas por el dibujante, algunas dirigidas agresivamente a la artista Sarah Horrocks, quienes descomprimieron sus interacciones y pensamientos en Twitter. Después de dos días de investigación y pensamiento, D & Q, que al igual que muchas editoriales pequeñas, se basa en relaciones bastante íntimas con sus autores, ya no sentía que podía apoyar Berliac dado su comportamiento. La declaración de la compañía está aquí. La declaración de Berliac en respuesta a la situacíon está en su Facebook. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-7-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-7-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

08/15/2018

Juan FernándezAugust 15, 2018NewsThinking out loud here today on publishing and patronage. The market will never, effectively, support what the world needs creatively. Patronage is essential for that. Naturally, publishers can function as patrons, but I see it happen less than I’d like to. I’ve been thinking a lot about this, since I heard that Annie Koyama was going to close the doors on her book publishing and transition to more focused arts patronage. I’m excited for that. The reason being that comics’ commodity form feels broken. When publishers big or small say, “buy our books or we won’t be able to exist”, there’s a problem. It’s not on them, but it leads me to believe that our paradigm for publishing is broken. A short reflection on Eric Reynolds’ conversation with Timothy Hodler on Amazon’s disruptive print-on-demand practices makes this clear. The form is flourishing en masse, the distribution method is failing us collectively. This intersects with failures of capitalism and culture, of course – in other spheres you can separate them a good bit, but comics, being born as a commodity form wind up inextricably connected to the market. To be clear, I see a huge issue, when the responsibility of the “success” of works implicitly falls on the shoulders of the consumer. Crowdfunding is a hybrid of these ideas, so there’s an evolution there towards the future. Some extremely smart and creative people like Spike Trotman and others have figured out how to use this system to make their comics flourish in the market. Though they succeed in existing in a market, what often times happens is, the campaigns fail to integrate the work into existing ecosystems of libraries, stores and schools in a way that traditional publishers are able to engage with. In this way reader and consumer end up being one and the same. For it’s own needs, the comics market, inside and outside of crowdfunding conflates consumer and reader. If you’re not around to buy it, you’ll likely never experience the work. To be clear, this isn’t a dig on crowdfunding, though I wish more crowdfunded publications were able to bridge that gap in how the campaigns were designed. It’s not easy! I know! I’m just thinking out loud here about the larger issue of how comics wind up “locked up” in their own cultural space. When comics can be reproduced and shared, like music, by being saved to hard drives, by being clipped onto the fridge, by being shared with friends by loaning our copy of a book or pointing a friend to the library, we harness comics’ ability to “float” as cultural experiences. To connect us to each other, and to new knowledge. When this happens, comics occupy a role that becomes personal, independent of our relations to what’s going on in the comics market, a space that will likely never be hospitable to new ideas. Though I own plenty of comics, I read most comics through the library. My students read comics online, webcomics via sites and through social media. These experiences allow stories, jokes, images and abstractions to flow through our minds without forcing our hand in financial transactions. In these experiences, comics, especially strips become viral, they become important, they become part of our stories. It’s in this spirit that we here at Comics Workbook shout the mantra: commodity form as community form. If you or someone you know is interested in private patronage for forward thinking and passionate comics making, please send me a message. I’d love to talk to you. I’m working on a project through Comics Workbook that aims to create an equitable work environment for comics-makers, particularly oriented around comic strips. This is important work as comics are a vital, contemporary art form that has an extremely flimsy infrastructure. This all comes from things that I’ve learned thanks to the Kelly Strayhorn Theater‘s Future Makers program, my work at the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, conversations with Johanna Lasner and The Copacetic Comics Company‘s Bill Boichel and my time here with Comics Workbook. Share this page: [...]

05/07/2018

Caleb OrecchioMay 7, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on Free Comics Book Day 2018. ———————————————————————————————————— Another year, another Free Comic Book Day. I’m mad at myself because I can’t seem to find the stack of free comics I cherry-picked at Copacetic Comics, and am beginning to have the suspicion that I left them at the shop while perusing the sweet deals Bill Boichel was offering. D’oh! There were some real good free comics this year. Jim Rugg’s Street Angel represented Image while D+Q offered an excerpt of Jason Lute’s recently finished Berlin, and I was looking forward to reading some Prince Valiant and Mickey Mouse strips. But if I’m being honest, the deals are really the reason I look forward to FCBD every year. The free comics are the icing on the cake. Of course, going to Copacetic and talking to Bill is worth the trip in and of itself. When someone mentioned Prince Valiant, Bill pulled out some Valiant Sunday pages from some 1940’s newspaper. You can ask Bill most anything about comics and he probably he has an opinion on it. I like to throw clay pigeons and watch Bill shoot them out of the air. Like I said, I seem to have forgotten my FCBD comics, but as one does at Copacetic I found plenty of gold. I did mental math to budget my indulgence since I was bringing copies of my comic Poor Little Joanie for restock (they were nearly sold out) and figured they’d help supplement my comics buying. We talked about this we talked about that. Bill gave me some feedback on my latest secret project, and made me feel good about what I’m doing. I left the store with an amplified electric charge. Then to Spirit, a really cool pizza place slash bar here in Pittsburgh where Juan Fernandez had a zine table set up as part of Spirit Walls 3 where local graffiti artists were collaborating on a mural on the restaurant’s outside wall facing the parking lot. I bought some comics from Juan’s table and he graciously offered me his chair while he sat on two stacked milk crates and we talked comics. Juan has a lot of ideas, so many ideas and so little time. I always learn something with Juan. He told me the Spanish comics magazine TBO was so popular, it became the generic word for comics in Spain, “tebeo.” Think how people in New Jersey call all soda, “coke.” Eventually it started to rain so I helped him pack up, then we got a couple of slices at the bar and talked more comics and life. There was a pro wrestling match going on upstairs which would sound like claps of thunder occasionally. Then J. Malls, the great Pittsburgh DJ, was getting warmed up for Title Town. The bartender told us that it’s a real popular show where Pittsburghers gather and form lines around the block to get down. Juan and I however, needed to get to Schenley Park to catch the end of Pittonkatonk Brass BBQ where we saw What Cheer Brigade and Keleta and Super Yamba Band. Both bands were like snake charmers and all the Pittsburghers crammed into Vietnam Veteran’s Pavilion moved together like a city possessed. I’m happy to be here in Pittsburgh. The city is gradually pulling me out of my shell and reversing some negative introverted tendencies one accumulates when you work from home. It helps that I hang out with a lot of cool cartoonists around here and they help get me out of the house in a way walking my dog can’t. ———————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Jim Rugg talks Street Angel with Chris Aiken at BlackNerdProblems.com. Kevin Huizenga “teases” a Ganges graphic novel. Tegan O’Neill interviews Craig Thompson at TCJ.com in support of the re-release of his graphic memoir, Carnet de Voyage. Sam Theilman talks with the infamous Frank Miller at The Guardian. ———————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 05-07-18 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

07/12/2017

Juan FernándezJuly 12, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con Jaime y Gilbert Hernandez; Amanda Mijangos y Armando Fonseca en La Polola;Klari Moreno; Cornet; Begoña García-Alén; E. Muñoz y CuCo 8; y los tebeos de Cómics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— Punk, Latinidad, & Reviving Their Seminal ‘Love and Rockets’ Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez talk shop over on Remezcla: It’s like people were waiting for it. Latinos have been thirsty for that kind of representation. What I don’t understand is why, after 35 years, representation is still a problem. Do you have any ideas about why that is? Jaime: I think there’s a hell of a lot more Latino creators than I knew about back then. They’re doing it their way, some differently than I would. Which is cool. Everyone’s got their own view. I think the problem is still when money is involved. Whenever money is involved there’s going to be stereotypes. Everything is going to be done to please whitey. Money is going to steer you toward the money – and who is the 1%? You find out that the people in control of the TV studio or the movie studio or whoever is paying the check for this art – they don’t care. They don’t care about other cultures. When they find out that, “Oh well golly! Lots of Latin people spend money on our product” they don’t know what to do! The bottom line is when money is involved someone is going to get shorted. You’ve said, “The more ethnic I am, the more attention I get.” Why do you think that is and why does it work? Gilbert: I think I become more truthful when I get closer to who I am and where I’m from. I can tell a more truthful story and even a funnier and darker story because I’m just reflecting who I am. There’s a small element though, I hate to say, is it’s safe for non-Latino readers. It’s on paper. The characters are drawings. They’re not a threat. When it becomes a pop singer or actress or actor, they’re in your face. That’s a real person there. I think are a little tougher to take for some people. ————————————————————————————————— Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: Jueves 3 de Agosto – Evento para recaudar fondos para el 2do Encuentro de Fanzineras. Santiago de Chile/Metro Irarrázabal. Organizado por @Comiqueraschile . Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con Amanda Mijangos y Armando Fonseca, dos talentosos ilustradores Mexicanos. Hablan acerca de su trabajo, la importancia de buscar una mirada propia en la ilustración, la experimentación, la relación con los editores, sus proyectos personales y el proyecto que los trae a Chile, la obra de teatro “Risas de Papel” que estará en cartelera en Teatro Ictus, donde ellos hacen ilustración en vivo que dialoga con el actor. Un toquecito de historia: Cornet, Dibujante Catalan del siglo XX, fue uno de los artistas más populares que se formó en ‘¡Cu-Cut!’ – Humoristan.org les ofrece un vistazo a su vida en imagenes! Véte de cañas con Klari Moreno en Madrid con su entrevista en Segundo Premio. Moreno: «Defiendo la autoedición como acto político» Hay nuevo número de el espectador de Begoña García-Alén. El mejor de la serie, sin duda! E. Muñoz les ofrece un tronco de ensayo en CuCo 8:“El cómic como lenguaje visual híbrido y su vigencia en la era digital contemporánea”. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 7-11-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 7-11-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

04/03/2017

Posted on April 2, 2017 by Sally Ingraham

We start the week with Wilson and Dan Clowes, on old/new comic by Dash Shaw, insights from HTML Flowers and Michael Comeau, and Gloria Rivera’s CW Rowhouse Residency Report – plus much more!

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Mini-comic by Dash Shaw drawn in 2008/2009

Dash Shaw wrote a “Filmmaker’s Letter” for Landmark Theater, which will be showing his film My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea! in locations around the country starting next week (find the complete list of showings HERE). Along with the letter, which details some of his thoughts behind the creation of the film, Dash shares the original mini-comic that inspired the film. The first spread is above – you can see the rest HERE.

Read Dash’s Filmmakers Letter and be sure to see the film when it comes through your town!

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Daniel Clowes spoke to The Guardian recently about the similarities between the cynical world of his 90’s comics and this new “Trumpland” we live in – plus the experience of making Wilson, the new movie staring Woody Harrelson that is based on his 2010 comic of the same name. I read the comic and then saw the movie last week – Wilson the comic was quite amazing, and the movie didn’t disappoint either. Dan Clowes talks here about a powerful scene in the comic and the movie – and in real life, as it turns out:

“You drew the graphic novel around the time your father was dying, and Wilson’s father dies in the book. How much of it is autobiographical?

I began writing it when he was in the hospital, on his literal deathbed. He never got to see any of it. When I first began it was just something to keep my mind occupied while I was sitting in the hospital room with him. He was very much like Wilson’s dad, where he was just tuned out. He was clearly in his own head trying to process what was going on. I sort of expected that he would try to impart some, you know, final wisdom to his son, but he had no interest in that whatsoever. He was really just thinking about bigger things that I couldn’t comprehend.

That’s a moment in the book, isn’t it?

Yeah, it was a surprising moment in life and it was one of those things where we’d always had that kind of strained relationship where we never talked about anything deep or emotional. And I was waiting for that kind of my whole life. “When he’s dying, he’ll finally summon the courage to talk to me in that way!” and that just didn’t ever happen. That was very surprising, in a way. Even though it makes perfect sense: there was always this feeling that we had this unspoken thing between us, and now I realize maybe that thing can’t be put into words. Maybe that’s how it takes form – as an unspoken thing.“

Read the rest of the interview HERE.

Wilson by Dan Clowes and Wilson by Woody Harrelson

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Shawn Starr interviews HTML Flowers and talks with him about the evolution of the No Visitors series.

“There’s a greater focus on storytelling in No Visitors #2 compared to your earlier work, has your thoughts on writing comics changed?

i started trying to really talk about my life in a simple, non fantasy manner. i wanted to build something, see myself changed or change things about my life that i can’t go back and change. show people how painful, rare & sometimes beautiful life with a chronic illness is. No Visitors #1 is basically just scraps and shorts that were all a part of the lead up to developing Little & his lifestyle, in fact i don’t really consider the series properly starting until No Visitors 2. i’ve been working up to this for years, now i’ve arrived and i feel so much myself. i feel like i’m really making the work i’m supposed to have always made in a weird way. lol destiny.“

Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Bernie Wrightson, caleb orecchio, daniel clowes, Dash Shaw, Gary Panter, gloria rivera, html flowers, jack brougham, Michael Comeau, simon hanselmann, tyler landry

Sally Ingraham

Posted on April 2, 2017

Explore

03/14/2017

Aaron CockleMarch 13, 2017NewsAaron here today with Gloeckner/Gfrörer; Mirror Mirror 2; Thi Bui; Felat Delibalto; Anti-fiction, Anti-story; RIP Gustav Metzger ————————————————————————————————— Why are we talking about me, anyway? Let’s talk about you! Phoebe Gloeckner interviewed Julia Gfrörer at the TCJ blog, lots of good stuff to read and think about: GLOECKNER: The general neutrality of their appearance makes it seem all the more normal. You could project anything onto those people. GFRÖRER: This gets back to what to what we were talking about earlier, about how you don’t have a perception of yourself as a unique individual. To you, you’re the default, and everyone else is some weird variation on that. Right, and interesting, therefore. The idea that the neutral body is a thin, white body. That’s very political. It is. There is no neutral default body. There is none. That’s culturally constructed as the default. But it feels like, in your work, like you’re neutralizing those bodies, somehow. Yeah. Because that’s my relationship to it. That’s the body that I have. It feels neutral to me. It’s not something that I have moved outside of, because I feel so consumed by the puzzle of my own body. If it feels neutral to you because you’re housed in the same sort of casing as your characters, then does that subtract the political meaning from it? That’s what artists do. They project themselves — I think the political action in my work is that I want to show women as actors, rather than a receptive or decorative object. ————————————————————————————————— horror / pornography / the Gothic / the abject Additionally, Gfrörer has co-edited (with Sean T. Collins) the 2nd issue of 2dcloud’s Mirror Mirror anthology: featuring new comics and drawings by Lala Albert / Clive Barker / Heather Benjamin / Sean Christensen / Nicole Claveloux / Sean T. Collins / Al Columbia / Dame Darcy / Noel Freibert / Renee French / Meaghan Garvey / Julia Gfrörer / Simon Hanselmann / Hellen Jo / Hadrianus Junius / Aidan Koch / Laura Lannes / Céline Loup / Uno Moralez / Mou / Chloe Piene / Josh Simmons / Carol Swain Available via 2dcloud’s Kickstarter for its Spring Collection. ————————————————————————————————— ‘I learned about America mostly through books and TV.’ Robert Kirby reviews Thi Bui’s illustrated memoir, The Best We Could Do: With the issue of immigration currently hitting full boil stateside, the 2017 publication of The Best We Could Do couldn’t be more timely, or more welcome. Bui’s story movingly puts a human face to new arrivals to our country, illuminating the background of their lives and struggles. Contrary to the rhetoric of the most reactionary U.S. right-wing factions, immigrants are people, not statistics–more than the sum of their homelands, more than the color of their skin. Bui depicts, with unsparing candor, the multiple traumas associated with being forced out of one’s country into the unknown. ————————————————————————————————— Turkey Has Imprisoned a Political Cartoonist for Over 120 Days Felat Delibalta via the Nib. ————————————————————————————————— ‘…to create a concentrated emotional impact’ Ethan Joella has some thoughts (37 of them!) on short fiction: 9 One way to flout the rules of the traditional short story has to do with length. As Philip Stevick puts it, “how short can a story be?”10 Pieces that are less than the usual length, usually referred to as “flash fiction” or “short shorts,” were originally viewed as inferior, inadequate. Critics seemed to feel as if length were a prerequisite for quality. In Stevick’s words, those stories were “likely to strike discriminating readers as gimmicky, tricksy pieces of commercial fluff whose shortness is possible only because of the slickness of their construction. How short can a serious fiction be? As short as one likes? That’s too easy an answer. A fiction must be long enough to display the art and craft of its writer, his own vision, his voice, his power. The minimal story, in fact, is an experiment no less audacious than the others.”11 10 The short but powerful story “Taboo” by Enrique Anderson Imbert is a mere snippet of a story. Only five sentences and four paragraphs long, it must have appeared to critics as a fraction of something real, an evasion of seriousness. The central character, Fabian, is warned by his guardian angel not to say the word doyen. Fabian repeats the word as a question, and the last sentence of the story reads: “And he dies,”12 a poignant climax. The value of this story actually lies in its simplicity, its directness and sharp detail. 11 Jamaica Kincaid is a groundbreaking writer. Her story “Girl,” for example, transfigures traditional fiction by toying with form. This particular story, less than three pages long, is written in only one long sentence. The piece is a series of phrases and exclamations separated by semicolons and linked by dashes: “… this is how you set a table for lunch; this is how you set a table for breakfast; this is how to behave in the presence of men who don’t know you very well, and this way they won’t recognize immediately the slut I have warned you against becoming; be sure to wash every day, even if it is with your own spit….”13 12 Resembling a process-analysis instructional essay, “Girl” pithily conveys the lukewarm, peremptory sentiments of a cynical mother barking orders to her daughter so she will, in some way, succeed in life. Each word seems to be chosen vigilantly for maximum effect; each exclamation is pieced together like an intricate quilt. ————————————————————————————————— ‘a desperate last-minute subversive political weapon … an attack on the capitalist system … an attack also on art dealers and collectors who manipulate modern art for profit’ Artist Gustav Metzger has passed away at age 90. Mr. Metzger discovered his ideal medium for auto-destructive art with a form of action painting. Wearing a gas mask and protective goggles, he gave a dramatic demonstration of his work in the 1960s, spraying hydrochloric acid on nylon, which melted, curled and shredded into tatters. He executed the work at an outdoor site in London, revealing St. Paul’s Cathedral in the distance through acid-burned holes. “Auto-destructive art was never merely destructive,” he said in 2012. “Destroy a canvas, and you create shapes.” ————————————————————————————————— We are diving into a busy 2nd year of the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency! Interested in joining us for a week or more? Email santoroschool@gmail.com to learn how to apply. There are still openings in May, with a wait list available for the summer months. After a break for show season we will be picking up scheduling once again in late October. 500 bux for a week and a life-changing experience. Read some of our Residency Reports HERE. Email santoroschool@gmail.com for more info. ————————————————————————————————— A Cosmic Journey – 3-14-2017 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 3-14-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 3-14-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Cozytown – 3-14-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

10/30/2018

Aaron CockleOctober 29, 2018NewsKatie Fricas, Kim Jooha/Conor Stechschulte, ‘Endless Enigma’, AI Halloween ————————————————————————————————— Via Whit Taylor at Pen America: I selected cartoonist Katie Fricas to create an original comic for Illustrated PEN because of her unique approach to the medium. Fricas’s autobiographical work regularly addresses the complexities of gender, sexuality, culture, and agency with a smart, quirky, and often humorous storytelling style. ————————————————————————————————— Comics Reading as Voyeurism and the Illusion of Continuity and Narrative: Kim Jooha on CHRISTMAS IN PRISON by Conor Stechschulte Comics consist of discrete units (panels), and we assume that these separate units (panels) are related to each other. We suppose that the similar image that appears in the later or previous panel refers to the same object. This is the principle of comics reading as the dialectic of repetition and difference as Thierry Groensteen argued in The System of Comics (1999). The reader creates a continuous story out of the discrete units. Christmas in Prison, with its aforementioned self-reflexive instruments, questions this principal assumption of comics. Our habit of finding sameness among different images as a comics reader deludes us to look for the sameness that does not exist, just as the book at the end of Christmas in Prison is not Christmas in Prison. It is an illusion. ————————————————————————————————— Endless Enigma: Eight Centuries of Fantastic Art This show closed this past weekend, but there’s a good deal of info about it online. It’s based on this MoMA show from 1936. The exhibition will provide a unique opportunity to examine affinities in intention and imagery between works executed across a broad span of time. Organized into six themes—Monsters & Demons, Dreams & Temptation, Fragmented Body, Unconscious Gesture, Super Nature, and Sense of Place—Endless Enigma will explore the ways in which artists have sought to explain their world in terms of an alternate reality, drawn from imagination, the subconscious, poetry, nature, myth, and religion. Works on view range from gothic gargoyles; masterworks from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries by a contemporary follower of Hieronymus Bosch, Piero di Cosimo, and Titian; seventeenth- century paintings by Jan Brueghel the Younger and Salvator Rosa; eighteenth-century works on paper by Francisco de Goya and Giovanni Battista Piranesi; nineteenth-century works by William Blake, James Ensor, Gustave Moreau, and Odilon Redon; and works from the twentieth century to the present day by Eileen Agar, Francis Alÿs, Michaël Borremans, Louise Bourgeois, Giorgio de Chirico, Joseph Cornell, Salvador Dalí, Marcel Dzama, Max Ernst, Leonor Fini, Alberto Giacometti, Robert Gober, Alfred Kubin, Sherrie Levine, René Magritte, Kerry James Marshall, Roberto Matta, Francis Picabia, Pablo Picasso, Sigmar Polke, Man Ray, Kay Sage, Yves Tanguy, and Lisa Yuskavage, among other artists. ————————————————————————————————— ‘Happy Halloween’ To create them, he used what’s called a generative adversarial network (GAN) to recognize patterns in data such as Halloween masks – Reed fed his computer thousands. The AI then tried to create its own that would fit the pattern, supposedly getting better over time. “What’s so scary or unsettling about it is that it’s not so detailed that it shows you everything,” Reed told New Scientist. “It leaves just enough open for your imagination to connect the dots.” ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

06/04/2018

Caleb OrecchioJune 3, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on Ben Sear’s latest Double+ Adventure, Ideal Copy. ————————————————————— Often people will compare Ben Sears’ Double+ stories to comics like Tintin or Dragon Ball, and I could even make a convincing comparison to Miyazaki’s first feature Castle of Cagliostro with this new installment; but I see a true spaghetti western influence in Ben’s work. The heroes are treasure hunters not “bounty killers,” but they bring in bad guys for cash. The “sidekick” Hank may be a robot, but is as vital to Plus Man as a horse is to any drifter roaming the American West by way of Italian sets and Spanish locations. There’s a character that is introduced in the new book, Ideal Copy (published be the great Koyama Press), that really gives off a Lee Van Cleef in Death Rides a Horse vibe (the old, reticent veteran with a score to settle). I enjoy all of Ben’s work, but Ideal Copy was a particularly fun issue for me. The story moves along at a pleasurably steady pace. Read. Laugh. Turn the page. Repeat. I think the way the author builds objects within his world interestingly plays a part in this seamless rhythm. It is as if everything is made of thick, malleable Legos that can be rearranged to make anything. Everything has this chunky, charming structure and the designs throughout the book don’t deviate from this visual idea. For example, there are no sleek, chrome muscle cars next to bulky cube-based cars. Every object within the world stands sturdily together. The result is nearly one-hundred percent great despite the occasional action sequence that doesn’t quite read perfectly due to color choices when conveying depth, but overall the blockiness of the environment that fills the Double+ Adventures feels limitless. Sears is the ultimate gamer in his very own Minecraft-of-the-mind, and I really have a ball touring it. I really want to come back to my point about the spaghetti western comparison, and go off the deep end and compare Ideal Copy with Sergio Corbucci’s film The Great Silence and how they mirror one another’s, not only environmental hazards but, subtextual theme of struggling against fascistic entities…but I think I’ll save that one for another time. I’m just happy that Ben has consistently put out a good book every year for the last three years (not to mention the minis before and in between). Here’s to many more! Cheers! You can order a copy of Ideal Copy by Ben Sears from Copacetic Comics! ————————————————————— Frank Santoro‘s new book – Pittsburgh – is now available from Editions çà et là! You find out how to obtain a copy here in the States – HERE – on our site. While you’re there, takes some time to read some thoughtful French reviews featured therein. We’ve gone through the trouble to (Google) translate them for our fellow English-speaking readers. Check it out! ————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-4-18 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

05/23/2018

Juan FernándezMay 23, 2018los Cómics / NewsIsabel Méndez y el bloque deescritor, Sebastián Gonzalez, y los Ganadores del Puchi Award 2018 —————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: ~ en Español y “sometimes in English” ~ La Polola #76 – Sebastián González Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con Sebastián González, quién les compartió parte de su infancia, su relación en el dibujo, los murales, la relación con su padre, su camino como editor, su nuevo libro y hasta la construcción de su propia casa! —————————————— Ganadores del Puchi Award 2018 Puchi Award es un proyecto internacional con el que La Casa Encendida y Fulgencio Pimentel quieren premiar uno o varios proyectos de libro en ciernes, las ideas más libres, brillantes y renovadoras, sin renunciar a ningún género, centrándose únicamente en su osadía y su vinculación con los distintos lenguajes del presente. El libro ganador de la segunda convocatoria de Puchi Award es Historia de España contada a las niñas, de María Bastarós (Zaragoza, 1987). Novela coral, a medio camino entre el esperpento y el western, Historia de España se presenta como un fresco despiadado de los clichés que nos invaden desde todos los frentes culturales, un retrato incisivo y fractal de nuestra realidad más cercana que termina de dar la puntilla a cualquier idea arraigada sobre temas como veganismo, arte contemporáneo o feminismo new age sin dejar piedra sobre piedra. De forma extraordinaria, se concede a su vez un Premio Especial del Jurado a Ética para Julia, de Ricardo Díaz Peris (Valencia, 1993), un manual contemporáneo sobre el amor y las relaciones sexuales que combina narrativa confesional y humor gráfico con cierto trasfondo filosófico para dirigirse a la hermana pequeña del autor y, con ella, a cualquier lector entre 14 y 29 años, normalizando la comunicación entre adultos y menores sobre opciones y prácticas sexuales en la era de Tinder y chemsex. Por último, el jurado ha decidido hacer una Mención Especial a la obra Ser amado de Javier Lozano (Albacete, 1981), un cómic tejido como un tapiz de múltiples hilos argumentales, frecuentemente desesperanzado y compuesto por historias dentro de historias donde sueño y vigilia se entremezclan y dibujan un recorrido en torno al concepto del amor romántico y sus consecuencias. —————————————— ¿Sufres bloqueo de escritor? ¿Te ha pasado alguna vez el quedarte paralizado ante un proyecto? El miedo es uno de los mayores enemigos de la creatividad. Hoy Isabel Méndez les cuenta cómo superarlo y ganar confianza creativa en Firmado Por! Léanlo todo AQUI. —————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-23-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

Bill Griffith and Art Spiegelman in Conversation

Juan FernándezMarch 28, 2016ResourcesFormer Arcade magazine editors and Underground Cartooning legends Bill Griffith and Art Spiegelman discuss their early days as artists at a talk given March 16, 2016 at Columbia University commemorating Griffith’s announcement that he will be bequeathing a large portion of his personal art archives to the University. The talk was moderated by Karen Green, Columbia’s Librarian for Ancient & Medieval History and Graphic Novels. The clip begins with a brief memory from Griffith about his first meeting with cartoonist Robert Crumb. Former Arcade magazine editors and Underground comix legends Bill Griffith and Art Spiegelman talk about romance comics at Columbia University on March 16th, 2016. Moderated by Columbia’s Karen Green. Video by John Kelly Share this page: [...]

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