Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Belinda Lanks, Ben Katchor, Blutch, caleb orecchio, Cameron Arthur, katie fricas, Matthew Thurber, Mr Robot, Rhizome.org, sally ingraham, The Careful Massacre of the Bourgeoisie, William Wegman

Aaron Cockle

Posted on April 3, 2017

Explore

06/17/2016

Sally IngrahamJune 17, 2016NewsSally here this Friday with festival news from CAKE, quick profiles on Marta Chudolinska and Françoise Mouly, more Retrofit Comics reviews than you can shake a stick at, and further details about the first rad Rowhouse Residency! ————————————————————————————————— Mahmoud Hashemi and Matt Conway spent Memorial Day Weekend at the CW Rowhouse, and then Mahmoud wrote us a detailed report of the experience. Check it out HERE on Comics Workbook. ————————————————————————————————— Also on the site today, we have Sacha Mardou‘s take on CAKE. She exhibited at the show last weekend and took a minute to chat with fellow cartoonists like John Porcellino and Anya Davidson among many others. Read the complete write-up HERE! ————————————————————————————————— One of the folks whom Sacha met for the first time was Marta Chudolinska (pictured above), a Polish-Canadian cartoonist based in Toronto, who makes paper-cut and linocut comics. Sacha particularly liked her work, and I’m pleased to share a bit more of it here. Babcia is a papercut comic about Marta’s Grandmother and her family’s history in Poland, serialized in Broken Pencil Magazine. (Take a minute to check out Broken Pencil Magazine for more zine culture and other independent artist-related stories!) ————————————————————————————————— Over on The Comics Journal Rob Clough dug into the Retrofit Comics catalog, reviewing work from 2013-2016. He gives Box Brown kudos for all the work he’s done through Retrofit. “Retrofit Comics began as a Kickstarter experiment in 2011. By then, comics tended to be printed as minis or graphic novels, leaving Box Brown missing the heyday of the alt-comics comic book. In 2013, he joined forces with the DC-area comics store, Big Planet Comics, which took on a lot of the costs and production work, allowing Brown (and BPC’s Jared Smith) to concentrate on other duties as publisher and tastemaker. This was one of the early examples of a store deciding to publish its own comics. Overall, the results have been of a fairly high quality, and quite varied in genre and approach.” – Rob Clough Read all of the reviews HERE. If you don’t get enough there on TCJ, you can catch the “Retrofit Extra” on Rob Clough’s blog, High-Low. ————————————————————————————————— While you’re surfing around High-Low, check out Rob Clough’s review of Meghan Turbitt’s work! Rob writes – “There’s no cartoonist quite like Meghan Turbitt, as she balances self-effacing humor, frank talk about sexuality, trenchant social commentary and a furiously visceral drawing style that pummels the reader on every page. Let’s take a look at her output over the last couple of years.” – Rob Clough ————————————————————————————————— I’ve been on a Françoise Mouly tear recently, researching this rad lady and drawing inspiration from her amazing career as an editor, publisher, and all-round cornerstone of the comics community. She is (incidentally) the wife of Art Spiegelman, with whom she created the groundbreaking Raw. In addition to her work for The New Yorker, she created TOON Books, which publishes comics for kids. Jeet Heer wrote an excellent profile of her (which I’m reading now) – In Love With Art: Françoise Mouly’s Adventures in Comics with Art Spiegelman. Last year Françoise Mouly won a Smithsonian Ingenuity Award, and Smithsonian correspondent Jeff MacGregor and cartoonist Eleanor Davis teamed up to give her some kudos. Keep this lady on your radar, folks, and for the moment check out the Smithsonian article HERE, along with more of Eleanor Davis’ comic! ————————————————————————————————— Have a great weekend folks! Read comics! Make comics! – Sally Share this page: [...]

06/19/2017

Caleb OrecchioJune 18, 2017NewsCaleb Orecchio here with brotherly love between Los Bros Hernandez, and my own brother. And, as always, links. ————————————————————————————————— Hello Friends, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about “Easter Hunt,” the collaboration between “1967 Gilbert” and “1993 Jaime.” These thoughts arrived in tandem with the recovering of my baby brother’s childhood drawings. My little brother recently graduated high school, so my mom was going through a bunch of his childhood keepsakes where she found a treasure trove of cartoons and writing “assignments” he did in elementary school and sent me a bunch of photos—he should have been the cartoonist! The level of joy I got from looking at these was immeasurable. Surely it’s because he is my little brother, yet there is something so immediate and unrestrained about these that just makes one smile. He didn’t know about inking or redrawing or rewriting or style or a punchline or anything. He just put it down on paper. Please open up your copies of Love and Rockets #42 (Vol. I) to page 13. There you will find a rare collaboration between Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez titled, “Easter Hunt.” “Written and originally drawn by Beto sometime around 1967,” and “drawn by Xaime in 1993.” This is one of my favorite L&R pieces I think. It’s funny, but not in a clever way—it is just relentless, unhindered imagination. Pure spirit which makes one laugh with joy. Jaime’s drawing is as perfect as I’ve ever seen it—if I had to guess, he probably had a blast making it. It’s a great anatomy study. Classic Hopey and Maggie (stand-ins, more or less, for generic characters) are drawn in every which way. Every panel is dynamic and not without movement. There is an energy teeming in this strip that is undeniable to me. The undeniability of this comic, in my opinion, stems from Young Gilbert. If Wikipedia is correct (and we all know it always is) Gilbert would have originally made this comic when he was approximately 10 years old. Merely a child, unburdened by a sense of artistic importance or of the knowledge of the legendary path his future-self will pave, he hurtles us through this jovial stream of consciousness. I can’t help but think that Gilbert has come full-circle. Most evident in his “Fritz books” (and of course, Blubber, and Garden of Flesh, and, let’s not forget, Birdland) Gilbert seems to have shed the pretension of being an important cartoonist and chooses to follow his bliss to unbridled id and no apologies. The pace of his current comics move at break-neck speed and do not stop for idle readers waiting for a “message” or “lesson.” It is art at its most primal; fearless, hermetically-sealed, and, dare I say, child-like. Child-like (not childish), like in the sense of talking about Brian Chippendale’s comics or even some of Lynda Barry’s work—all senses of superiority or pretentious talking-down-to are thrown away and what you see is what you get. ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Decent weekend for podcasts; Matthew Thurber on TCJ’s “Comics Decalog” and Ben Sears on Inkstuds. CAKE has come and gone and Rob Clough gives us a brief lowdown. My buddy, Jason Hart, sent me this: The Library of Congress makes over 2,000 Japanese woodblock prints digitally available to the public. Tom Spurgeon already linked to this earlier this week, but you can’t get enough Moebius. I heard somewhere that Moebius made 40 Days in the Desert because he was trying to quit smoking weed; so he made a drawing everyday for 40 days instead. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-19-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-19-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

01/05/2017

Sally IngrahamJanuary 4, 2017NewsFrom Sam and Sally, the CW Daily News featuring comics from Ronald Wimberly, Derick Jones, and John Campbell, an interview from Adam Griffiths, and daily strips from Caleb Orecchio and Gabriella Tito. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here. I think I was reading this comic (above) because I dug up a memory in my mind that Tom Herpich was into this one comic. (At the time I wasn’t sure if I had made up the memory in my head.) So then I was reading this comic, the Michael Keaton comic. As it turns out, it has a longer history than I thought. (Editor’s note: the Comics Alliance has a bit of the story and more comics documented HERE.) For one thing, I thought it was all gone, but apparently the comic was put up on the Birdman movie website for awhile. However, aspects of this whole thing don’t make sense because when the webpage is visited, all you get is a cease and desist, and the comic was made before the movie’s release and advertising. When Birdman came out, I was really thinking about the comic. I never thought that there was a connection at all between the two. I never thought “ONO ONE” (John Campbell) would never post his stuff on the internet again. “ONO ONE IS A VIDEO EDITOR LIVING IN SAN FRANCISCO WITH THEIR WIFE. THEY LIKE TO BE LEFT ALONE. THEY DO NOT HAVE AN EMAIL ADDRESS.” (This description of the author of the Michael Keaton comics changes every time you load the page.) I never read it when it was still online, really. I tried, but there were just pages and pages of Michael Keaton sitting in an airplane, and I couldn’t make sense of what was going on. I guess I wasn’t interested. I was still reading the other comic “ONO ONE” made. (Editor’s Note: The infamous Pictures For Sad Children by John Campbell.) I was able to read up until a certain point. I’m guessing that’s when the webcomic stopped, which is such a shame. Such, such a shame. Michael Keaton is a really ambitious and really impressive webcomic. I’m pretty sure that John Campell traveled here to Pittsburgh to go through the Mister Rogers archive to find footage of when Michael Keaton was working for WQED (Pittsburgh’s local public channel). Mister Rogers is like this weird spooky cryptic character in the comic, and I’m not quite sure how much of it was based on real stories, and how much was just made up. The comic simultaneously paints Mr. Rogers as a really caring person, but also a bit of a frightening herald of tormenting news that you fear to hear. He has more mysterious perceptions and maybe goals within the illustrations than he was giving on the show. There’s one scene in the comic where he magically appears at Michael Keaton’s going away party with a piano that wasn’t there before (see above) and he plays a song about how there’s “an infinite amount of places to see and if you don’t like where you’re looking at then don’t look at me.” It’s suggested that maybe Michael Keaton has conflicting opinions about Mr. Rodgers being at the party, but it just seems to be part of their relationship. It’s just this friendly dynamic they have. I think maybe there’s one scene where ONO ONE just portrays their relationship to make Mr. Rodgers seem a bit more menacing for laughs sake. The comic focuses at first on how Michael Keaton isn’t his real name, and how it’s Douglas. Then the comic goes on to maybe portray the power behind names and their associations and how easily manipulated they can be – it kind of asks what makes up- (asks is the wrong word here because ONO ONE has arrived at his conclusion and it feels like he’s insisting on there being no such thing as) -an individual? There’s footage of Mr. Rodgers looking at the fish tank that he fed in his show, and he said something simple: “Each of you are fish, yet you are each different.” That’s about the only counter argument. There’s other footage of Mr. Rogers singing through King Friday about how life is an illusion. It’s further affirmed by Michael Keaton’s character in the comic. ONO ONE keeps spelling Pittsburg without an “h”. ONO ONE doesn’t capitalize the “i’s” either. I think maybe it’s all part of ONO ONE’s idea of irreverence for names, maybe – it makes me think that every time ONO ONE has a lowercase “i”. ONO ONE doesn’t believe in emphasizing the individual. Ironically, ONO ONE takes great pride in identifying this way, or so it seems. I could be wrong, though, maybe his ultimate goal is based around humility (to my knowledge, I have no idea). A lot of times I don’t get the point of “Meta”-whatever. I guess at this moment in time it’s purpose is made clear to me. It can be a more micro look at an individual’s dream. It can just be looking at ONO ONE and how ONO ONE plans to affect people and how people have affected him to do a comic like this, and which is somewhere between the fictional rendering of Michael Keaton and his real moments. My understanding of Birdman is that it’s more about Alejandro González Iñárritu, and Michael Keaton is just being used as a tool. Of course my arrival to that conclusion is also pretty rushed and I’ve taken a lot of liberty in saying all this. I’d like to say that ONO ONE is doing the same thing here with Michael Keaton and Mr. Rodgers. Though this is very obvious, so I guess there’s no point trying to decipher what was real and what wasn’t. At least with this it works since it isn’t a biography. Even if it was, it would still be just as manipulated by what the author of the biography is trying to make you think. – Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— Sally Ingraham here. We have a few more items for your Thursday morning Comics Workbook news: There is an excellent review of Ronald Wimberly‘s Prince of Cats over on Hyperallergic – “Density is difficult to achieve in comics, which generally read much faster than literary works. In mainstream comics, some writers pad their stories with paragraphs of irrelevant dialogue in order to extend the reading experience. Wimberly’s work confidently transitions between meaningful conversation and pages of hushed action, yet despite not being particularly dialogue-heavy, it reads as one of the densest works in recent memory. Every page and whip-fast line of banter is worth revisiting, in part because repeated readings make it possible to reconstruct the complete progression of Tybalt’s rise and fall.” – R. Orion Martin for Hyperalleric Read the whole review HERE. Patrick A. Reed’s 2013 review of the original release of Prince of Cats is referenced, so we’ll link to that as well – check it out. ————————————————————————————————— Check out Tribal Quest, a new comic with artwork by Derick Jones (formerly known as Skuds McKinley) – along with Derick’s new website – HERE. Also also – check out his ongoing webcomic series Dead Days in Kowloon – HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Adam Griffiths brings us another excellent ‘Zine Tree interview, this time with Will Dinski – check it out HERE. “Adam Griffiths: TRYING NOT TO NOTICE is a story piecing together four points of view – that of a failed comedian, an aspiring comedian and his wife, and that comedian’s co-worker accountant friend. A sort of morality tale plays itself out where you expose the most morally rewarding character’s artificiality. Did the other characters enable him? Will Dinski: My perspective is that each of the characters is avoiding or ignoring something about their lives. However, you can’t see that part through their eyes alone. You need to get a glimpse of them through someone else.” ————————————————————————————————— From the Comics Workbook school store, check out my favorite comic by Frank Santoro – Blast Furnace Funnies (above). Made for the Pittsburgh Biennial at the Carnegie Museum in 2011, copies of the comic were stacked in the gallery corner free for the taking, while the original pages hung on the wall. Folks were somewhat staggered by this concept. This comic captures Pittsburgh in a way that nothing else can – take a walk with Frank through a different sort of Pompeii. Get a copy HERE and support the Rowhouse Residency project and the Comics Workbook team. ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-5-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-5-2017 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

01/20/2017

Sally IngrahamJanuary 20, 2017NewsSally Ingraham here to round out your week with an All-Star group of cartoonists and their work: Marie Severin, Dale Messick, Ramona Fradon, Trina Robbins, Em DeMarco, Audra Stang, and more! ————————————————————————————————— I am excited to see that this year Dori Seda will join the 7 other women who have made it into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame (their work is pictured above). The 2017 nominees were announced recently, and Dori is a Judges’ Choice for automatic induction. Out of 17 other nominees, 4 will be chosen by voters, and among those 17 cartoonists are 5 more female candidates. Here’s the whole list. A perk of working somewhere like Copacetic Comics in Pittsburgh, PA, is that when the need calls, I can tear the store apart and come back a few thrilling hours later with an armload of work by every woman listed above, plus all of the women on the 2017 nominees list. I have been sharing my findings this week over on the Comics Workbook Roller Derby League Instagram account – @cwrollerderby – and will continue to do so for the next few days. Here’s a taste of the tremendous talent and influence of a few of these masters of the comics medium: Marie Severin – (inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2001) – spent most of her professional career working for Marvel as a colorist, penciller, and inker. She drew stories for Sub-Mariner and the Hulk and other series. Pictured above is one of her Incredible Hulk stories, from Tales to Astonish #93 (1967), and a story she drew for Wimmen’s Comix #10 (1985). Dale Messick – (inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2001) – is best known for creating the strip Brenda Starr, Reporter in 1940. At it’s peak in the 1950’s the strip ran in 250 newspapers around the country. She drew the strip until 1980, and when she retired she left the ultimatum that Brenda Starr must continue to be drawn by other female cartoonists. Ramona Fradon – (inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2006) – was the artist who took over Brenda Starr, Reporter when Dale Messick retired, although she had been working in the industry since 1950. She worked for DC Comics throughout her career, drawing Aquaman stories and co-creating Metamorpho among other projects. Trina Robbins – (inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2013) – is an incredibly influential underground cartoonist who has worked tirelessly since the 1970’s to provide opportunities and platforms for women in comics. She established the first all-female comic book anthology – It Ain’t Me, Babe – and was one of the main editors of Wimmen’s Comix for 20 years. She worked on the Wonder Woman series, and is also a widely published comics historian – or “her”storian. Pictured above is one of her covers and a story from Wimmen’s Comix #10 (1985). I’ll be back next Friday with more ladies of the Will Eisner Hall of Fame – Marjorie “Marge” Buell, Lynda Barry, and Tove Jansson! ————————————————————————————————— I got a chance to get to know Em DeMarco better last night through a live interview at The ToonSeum – part of the Pittsburgh Comic Salon‘s Lecture Series. She is a cartoonist, journalist, and educator based here in the city of Pittsburgh. Between composing her monthly investigative reporting comics feature for the City Paper, photographing the local punk music scene, teaching comics classes through a partnership between The ToonSeum and the Lauri Ann West Community Center, and venturing into long-form comics projects, Em keeps herself busy…! Her experience with creating stories for radio programming informs her current comics journalism projects (the connection between oral reporting and visual storytelling is worth investigating fully at a later date!), and her insights into translating live interviews into compelling comics made for a lively and thought-provoking discussion. Check out more of her work HERE – and if you happen to be around Pittsburgh on a 3rd Thursday of the month, come join us at The ToonSeum for another conversation with a local comics creator. ————————————————————————————————— Jillian Fleck‘s Lake Jehovah was reviewed over on The Comics Beat – “Fleck mixes all the elements very skillfully, with a deadpan humor that alternates with frantic despair and an otherworldly creepiness that blends into its own tenor. The fantastical elements do well in elevating the psychological ones, and Fleck ends up perfectly plumbing the depths of the bottomless lake, both literally and figuratively, for a portrayal of what it is like to be overwhelmed by the invisible and burdened by the incoherency of the universe.” – John Seven Tom Spurgeon offers some commentary on the first round of voting for the Angouleme Festival Grand Prix over on The Comics Reporter. The artists who have made it to the final round are Chris Ware, Cosey and Manu Larcenet. There has been very little “buzz” around the process this year, which is surprising considering the volcanic eruption surrounding the award this time last year…! Tom delves a bit into the steps taken to oversee a more balanced and inclusive nomination process – and despite my own reaction of “YES!! Chris Ware for the win!” I agree with how Tom concludes: “…even with all three of those great artists in play I think my heart would rather see Posy Simmonds on that list than on the committee to help things run more smoothly.“ RESIST! was printed at 58,000 copies and is being handed out for free today in Washington, D.C. during the Inauguration and tomorrow during the Woman’s March, as well as at similar events around the country. For a complete list of where you can get a copy visit this page. Check out the work of Iona Fox – she’s a cartoonist and farmer working in Vermont. Her stories are always interesting, and while you’re browsing her website be sure to take a peak at the Beaver Cam! There’s a nice review of Inés Estrada‘s Impatience on The Comics Journal. Check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— This is Audra Stang‘s second visit to Pittsburgh, and she was getting so much done during her Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency that she extended it for another week! It’s been exciting to watch the story she is working on develop and see her commitment to the form and to her future in the industry and community. If you’re interested in applying for a Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency visit our info page or email santoroschoolATgmail. Follow the @rowhouseresidency Instagram for regular updates on the program and the cartoonists who visit us this year. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-20-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-20-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— 1-20-2017 – by Juan Fernández Share this page: [...]

07/21/2016

HarrisonJuly 21, 2016NewsDaily News with Harrison returns with drones, thoughts about war, dark animation, and ends with a question. ————————————————————————————————— Ride or Die “Jasper. We’re picking up a lot of drone noise. I think there’s a watch coming.” Sam Alden‘s Test of Loyalty at Hazlitt. Here ————————————————————————————————— Shadow and Form Jonathan Djob Nkondo’s Dark Day is a conflation of everything I want from contemporary animation; moody, inventive, stark, humorous, surreal, frightening, and impeccably illustrated. Pts. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. ————————————————————————————————— Before ” “NOddIN” is a collective launched by filmmakers and artists in the wake of the 3.11 Great East Japan Earthquake and related Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. With the cooperation of a large number of Japanese animation artists, we spearheaded this self-production with the aim to animate the words of the book round-robin style, and our collaborative project was begun. After over a year of production including the conception period, we completed our short film.” – The NOddIN team, October 2, 2015 More about the film project here. More about the collective NOddIN here. ————————————————————————————————— Visions of Heroes Friend of Comics Workbook Chris Visions has a collection of fun drawing videos shot by Richmond photographer/videographer Tyler Q. Tucker on his site. Here. ————————————————————————————————— Why? Share this page: [...]

04/04/2017

Posted on April 3, 2017 by Aaron Cockle

Aaron here today with the Agony of Ben Katchor; NET ART; The Disappointment of Katie Fricas; BLUTCH; Thurber/Wegman, Wegman/Thurber; The Careful Massacre of the Bourgeoisie.

—————————————————————————————————

Ben Katchor, from The Brazen Bull Corporation

‘a voice emanating from a Lower East Side automat.’
Ben Katchor in conversation with his Metropolis editor, Belinda Lanks:

I know people like to ask about what kind of pen I use, what kind of paper, like there’s a secret to this. I tell them, “You can sit at my table with the same pen and paper, and it’s not going to help you, because you didn’t work at figure drawing and storytelling for years.” You build up these skills. Just like somebody who makes chairs is more likely to make a great chair. When you do anything in a serial production, there are just these micro seconds of creativity, then the rest of it is just the craft of making the thing. There’s the workmanlike approach where you just say, “Here’s this thing I want to demonstrate.” I’ve practiced drawing for decades and know how to use language in some limited way, and I can put these together and make this plausible story or demonstration.

—————————————————————————————————

NET ART
Rhizome.org has posted an anthology of internet art from the past 30-odd years:

This two-year online exhibition will present 100 artworks from net art history, restaging and contextualizing one project each week.

Devised in concert with Rhizome‘s acclaimed digital preservation department, Net Art Anthology also aims to address the shortage of historical perspectives on a field in which even the most prominent artworks are often inaccessible. The series takes on the complex task of identifying, preserving, and presenting exemplary works in a field characterized by broad participation, diverse practices, promiscuous collaboration, and rapidly shifting formal and aesthetic standards, sketching a possible net art canon.

From ‘A Cyberfeminist Manifesto for the 21st Century’, VNS Matrix (Josephine Starrs, Julianne Pierce, Francesca da Rimini, and Virginia Barratt), 1991

—————————————————————————————————

The Casual Disappointment of Bjarne Melgaard
At the Hyperallergic blog, Katie Fricas voices/draws her reaction to the Bjarne Melgaard show at Red Bull Arts New York (220 W 18th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan) through April 9.

Katie Fricas, from The Casual Disappointment of Bjarne Melgaard

—————————————————————————————————

Blutch in NYC

The 183rd meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, April 4, 2017 at 7pm at Parsons School of Design, 2 West 13th Street, in the Bark Room (off the lobby). Free and open to the public.

Blutch on “A European Education.”

I am currently working on a book called Variations (Dargaud, September 2017), where I recreate a series of famous graphic novel sequences by great masters of European comics. This work forces me to ask myself questions regarding the ambiguous nature of sequential art.

Neither literary nor plastic, it is what Harold Rosenberg, referring to painting, once defined as an anxious object. How do we decode it? Where does it stand in our society? A graphic novel can receive a Pulitzer, cartoonists’ work is exhibited in great museums while the art establishment is still indecisive on weather to consider it a minor or a major art. Personally, I call my work ‘paradoxal literature.’

The pages that compose Variations follow each other with no beginning or end. Just fragments of stories that allow me to reach what I feel is hidden somewhere beyond the boundaries of my storytelling: sequential art as a brand new form of poetry. That is, a form of literature ‘to observe.’ Sculpted literature.

—————————————————————————————————

No Maine is an Island

William Wegman & Matthew Thurber
Opening April 1, 7 to 10pm

William Wegman and James Thurber, together at last. What’s that? A filing clerk sent the invitation to the wrong Thurber. Too late to retract the invitation now. But when Wegman met Thurber he was crestfallen. That is, he dropped a tube of toothpaste into the toilet. I don’t know why they decided to meet in the bathroom. Maybe it seemed like gender-neutral territory. Foolish Thurber left some Wegmans too close to a scented candle and…whoops.

It seems they’ve started to copy each other’s drawings. To become the other’s ‘evil twin’…but let’s not be naive here!…a ‘good’ drawing? an ‘evil drawing’? No such thing exists…we all know that. We…did you close the chimney flue? You fool, don’t you know bad drawings can crawl down the chimney like bats, like leopards, like Wegmans and Thurbers???? There is however, possibly at this moment in your unattended studio washroom a witch, laughing at you in the mirror. Come on now…enough is enough. Are you being serious? Or are you just halving Fun?

“No Maine Is An Island” includes new call-and-response drawings by William Wegman (b.1943) and Matthew Thurber (b.1977), as well as a selection of Wegman drawings from the ’70s and ’80s. The exhibition remains on view, by appointment, through May 7.

Teen Party is located at 874 Greene Avenue, Apt 2A, in Brooklyn.

—————————————————————————————————

Stories-within-stories are the best kind of stories
Not ‘comics-related’ specifically, but Mr. Robot strikes me as a particularly ‘comic book-y’ show; this is the movie-within-the-show from the second season, The Careful Massacre of the Bourgeoisie. A reminder to us that these massacres of the bourgeoisie should be, above all else, careful.

Screenshot from The Careful Massacre of the Bourgeoisie

—————————————————————————————————

Check out Portraits by Connor Willumsen. This magazine sized 16-page beautifully printed booklet (by WestCan – who also printed thee Santoro School Handbook) of portraits by the great Connor Willumsen is now available. Edition of 500.

Connor will be a special guest at the Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo this coming weekend. If you’re in the region come meet him and other great cartoonists!

—————————————————————————————————

A Cosmic Journey – 4-4-2017 – by Cameron Arthur

—————————————————————————————————

Suzy and Cecil – 4-4-2017 – by Sally Ingraham

—————————————————————————————————

Joanie and Jordie –4-4-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio

Share this page:

Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Aaron Cockle

Posted on April 3, 2017

Explore

10/20/2017

Sally IngrahamOctober 19, 2017NewsSally here with Ann Nocenti, Julia Wertz, Sarah Glidden, and many more women and comics and news! ————————————————————————————————— The Comics Beat has a great interview with the incredible Ann Nocenti (above). Edie Nugent sat down with her at NYCC to discuss her upcoming project – the “sci-fi political thriller The Seeds with artist David Aja for the Dark Horses’ newly minted Berger Books imprint“, and her legendary career as a comics writer and editor. She speaks of her experience working in comics in the 80s, compared to later on: “Nocenti: What’s strange is that there were so few girls in the industry, that it was the opposite of sexism, I think. You know, I had Archie Goodwin and Denny O’Neill coming into my office talking to me about story–asking me if I wanted to write a story. I had, you know, Larry Hama, Al Milgrom, he had all these wonderful men in comics.They were all really encouraging. Ralph Macchio gave me the Daredevil to write. Denny gave me my first story, and they were extremely encouraging of the idea that a woman wanted to make comics…even the idea that a female wanted to write Daredevil. Nugent: So you felt industry support. Going all the way back. Nocenti: I wouldn’t call it industry support so much as it was bullpen support. This is pre-Internet So everyone was right there in the office. I was mentored by Louise Simonson, who basically taught me everything. Across the hall, you had Joe Duffy writing Star Wars, and then in the bullpen, we had Marie Severin…a powerhouse. So between me and Marie’s generation, we did have sexism. I mean she did so much in the industry and in the business, and she’s kind of unrecognized. She was right there on staff doing sketches when they needed them and covers when they needed them. So her generation–I think there was maybe more sexism than in the ’80s, ’cause you’re talking a post-’60s, ’70s culture, post-women’s liberation, you know, and so we were encouraged. I probably I felt more sexism when I came back to comics at DC and I was working with Gotham, in the Bat family. All those guys individually are really nice, but it definitely felt like a boy’s club.“ She goes on to talk about The Seeds (which I can’t wait to see – David Aja’s art in Hawkeye was so good! so that paired with Ann’s writing?!) and close to the end of the interview she speaks eloquently about why comics always pull her back. It’s a great interview with a powerhouse of the comics industry in her own right. Read the whole thing HERE. ————————————————————————————————— I can’t wait to get my hands on Julia Wertz‘s new comic, Tenements, Towers & Trash, which reviewers are calling “dazzling” among other sparkly things. She herself hasn’t been able to say much about the book or go on her planned tour for it, as the fires in CA have called her home to be with her family. But The New York Times and Hyperallergic both have reviews of the comic this week and plenty to say. From Parul Sehgal’s passionate review on The New York Times: “The city rises majestically in these pages. The crowded panels evoke the jostle of urban life. Your eye doesn’t know where to settle; there’s so much to absorb. Wertz loves New York down to its guts: the pneumatic tubes that stretch the length of the island and were once used to send gusts of letters from one post office to another. She loves the arteries of the subways, the lungs of the parks. She goes uptown to sketch movie theaters in the Bronx and peers down to the bottom of the Hudson River, the “ watery grave” where illegal pinball machines were dumped by the city in the 1970s. She unearths so many strange, wondrous facts that my exclamation marks in the margin resemble elaborate Morse code.“ Read the rest HERE. Hyperallergic offers more pages from the book to tantalize you in their review, and is equally glowing. Read that one HERE. ————————————————————————————————— The Nib is running Sarah Glidden‘s comic The Art of War, which was originally published in Spanish in El País Magazine. She draws herself (above) looking at Goya’s painting titled “3rd of May at Prado”. The comic is about the interaction between a viewer and a famous piece of art, and like all of Sarah’s work, is thoughtful and thought-provoking. Check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— In other words/images Annie Mok is on Episode 24 of Comic Book Decalogue on The Comics Journal – listen HERE. Rob Clough is working through his recent comic show mini comics acquisitions, so there are reviews of comics by Jen Lisa, Katie Fricas/Sara Lautman/Cara Bean, Lauren Weinstein/Gale Galligan and others on High-Low recently. PEN America‘s Illustrated PEN series presents Ajuan Mance‘s Requiem for a Hot Comb – see it HERE. Our Comics, Ourselves has a review of Kabi Nagata‘s My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness – read it HERE. Lauren Weinstein‘s latest Normal Person strip for Village Voice is a #MeToo story. Comics Alternative Interviews sat down with Sophie Goldstein to discuss her new book House of Women (Fantagraphics, 2017). The A. V. Club takes a look at Maggie Umber‘s Sound of Snow Falling, and the value of comics as a record of natural life. Zainab Akhtar found herself once again forced to leave a social media platform due to the horrific harassment of internet trolls, following a Twitter fallout with the Lakes International Comic Arts Festival. Send her some love and support via her Patreon – HERE. In a somewhat out-of-character move, The Comics Journal offers a review of the new film Professor Marston and the Wonder Women – which is apparently an interesting flick, but one that still fails to present the compelling/mysterious truth behind the creation of Wonder Woman. ————————————————————————————————— Connor Willumsen says ‘Cartooning is a lot like magic’ in this video, directed by Fatine-Violette Sabiri. It offers a glimpse into his head space and a look at his new comic, Anti-Gone (Koyama Press, 2017). Read Brian Nicholson’s review of Anti-Gone, HERE. Get a copy of Anti-Gone, along with two zines by Connor – a 20 page bootleg, and a special collage zine – as well as a unique Anti-Gone drawing, as part of the exclusive Connor Willumsen bundle from Comics Workbook – available HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 10-20-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 10-20-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

12/17/2018

Caleb OrecchioDecember 17, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with another gorgeous book by Alyssa Berg ————————————————————————————————— Alyssa Berg’s Soft Fascinations is yet another worthy addition to her steadily growing repertoire of comics and pictures. Her hybrid technique of manually engineering paintings to riso printed books is something I am astonished by. The results speak for themselves. I have no hesitation calling Alyssa’s work “poetry comics.” She is among the few worthy of such designation (maybe “art comics” is more apt, but I like to think that the art comics “movement” went out when PictureBox closed its doors). Alyssa’s work is rhythmic, seldom straying from a gridded structure that gives her sequencing meter, and at the service of portraying beautiful things. I think I can count on one hand the number of cartoonists who attempt and succeed at portraying true beauty in pictures through comics. The rest of us are just cartoonists and humorists (nothing wrong with that obviously, I’m just trying to make some sort of delineation). Looking at Alyssa’s comics is like looking at waves in the ocean or a campfire. There is a lullaby and/or meditation inherent in the work that brings relief from life’s turmoil. The figures and landscapes seem to omit sounds of color and bring an exhalation to my eyes and lungs. Alyssa’s work is simply pleasing to look at. . ————————————————————————————————— *If you’ve been following along, you know I, Caleb, can’t find my comic-making materials since I’ve been moving around. Why don’t I buy new materials you ask? Because I’m cheap. That’s why. There will be more daily strips coming your way from me and others. Maybe we can get Niall Breen’s strip up on the Daily News again, and not just on Insta. Anyway, happy trails. Share this page: [...]

06/21/2018

Juan FernándezJune 21, 2018NewsHartley Lin Interviewed at Comix Experience; Zak Sally’s latest zine; the Summer Santoro School Correspondence Course – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Hartley Lin (Pope Hats, Young Frances) is interviewed by Brian Hibbs, live at Comix Experience in San Francisco. This is a great interview that in addition to giving great insight on where Lin is coming from as a comics maker, also notably discusses the world before and after the Xeric Grant. A little on Hartley Lin before you dig in: Lin is a cartoonist and illustrator from Toronto. His comic book series Pope Hats has received a 2013 Ignatz Award, 2012 Doug Wright Award and 2010 Joe Shuster Award. He has illustrated for Slate, HarperCollins, Chronicle Books, COMPLEX, Wired, The Walrus and The Believer. He now lives in Montreal. Hartley debuted Young Frances, his first major graphic novel with AdHouse Books at TCAF this year. Watch it over on Youtube. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – FOLRATH PART 2 – Zak Sally $9.00 at La Mano At long last, here it is. Starting mere moments after where Part 1 left off, it’s 159 pages of stories about landing in punk rock Oakland, CA circa 1993. It was a hot fucking mess. Still printed on shitty newsprint (blue ink !!!) then folded/ assembled by me. Unbelievably, this ain’t the end: part 3 wraps it all up (it’s way shorter than the other 2), but it’s not quite done yet. I’ll let you know but in the meantime, come wrestle with me down the verdant horse-trough of memory lane why don’t you. – Zak Sally – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers Summer Session starts NOW! Floating start date! Apply anytime between now and July 12th 2018 to join the summer course. Email santoroschoolATgmail for more details. Ask about the Fall Course if now is too busy for you! The course is 8 weeks – 500 bux for 8 weeks plus access to Frank’s coaching for as long as you need. Payment plans are available. Put your summer to good use! – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Cozytown – 06-21-2018 – by Juan Fernandez – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Joanie and Jordie – 6-21-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

02/16/2018

Sally IngrahamFebruary 15, 2018NewsSally here with comics and comments from Lauren Weinstein, Emily Carroll, Ulli Lust, and Yona Harvey – and much more! ————————————————————————————————— Lauren Weinstein is the most recent guest on Gil Roth’s Virtual Memories Show. “Village Voice cartoonist Lauren Weinstein joins the show to talk about the balancing act of making comics. We get into how she integrates the political and the personal, finds humor alongside near-tragedy, and deals with the temptation to do self-help/identity comics.“ They also talk motherhood and comics-making, teaching comics, and other challenges of navigating the working cartoonist’s life. Listen to the episode HERE. You can get a copy of Lauren’s first collection of the Normal Person comics that run in Village Voice HERE. Her most recent strip dealt with Valentines Day… Find more of the Normal Person comics HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Emily Carroll has adapted the incredible YA novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (which came out in 1999). I read this book when I was a teenager and it has stuck with me. I’ll be curious to see how it translates into the comic form, but a story that is about a girl not speaking should work pretty well – and Emily Carroll’s imagery seems to be up for the visual task. Paste Magazine has an exclusive preview of the book HERE. ————————————————————————————————— There is an excerpt on Lit Hub from Voices in the Dark, the graphic novel by Ulli Lust that came out last year (based on Marcel Beyer’s The Karnau Tapes). Check out a few pages of the comic HERE (one that Publishers Weekly said “transcended” the source material) and get a copy of the book HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Yona Harvey, poet and English professor at the University of Pittsburgh, continues to talk about her experience as the writer on two comic book stories that were part of the Black Panther series. ” “My work — poetry, essays, teaching and comics — primarily aims to make Black women’s lives visible, vibrant and recognizable for other Black women, but I also want my writing to speak to women of all backgrounds,” said Harvey, who calls comic-book writing the unparalleled challenge of her career. “Writing for a comic book takes an unbelievable level of cohesion between the writers and the illustrators. As a poet, accustomed to writing in isolation, that took some getting used to. At the same time, I’ve always loved visual art. So, the biggest joy of the experience was seeing those amazing illustrated pages come together every few weeks.”“ As Black Panther, the latest Marvel movie offering, comes out this weekend, Yona Harvey sees this as a promising moment. ” “Literature should reflect the face of the world in which we live. Comics have always had a diverse readership and the books should reflect that,” said Harvey, who is currently working on a nonfiction collection of essays on depression and mental illness as well as other Marvel projects. “This era in the comic book industry is opening doors for a diverse set of artists and writers, and that is beautiful to see and be a part of. It is as though comics and mainstream media in general is waking up to the imagination, creativity and economic influence of people of color. The Black Panther franchise was at the very beginning of that.”“ Read more HERE on The Pitt Wire. ————————————————————————————————— Weekend Reading! Hilary Brown interviews Jen Wang, on the release of Wang’s new comic The Prince and the Dressmaker (First Second) – read it HERE at Paste Magazine. Paste Magazine also checks out Twisted Romance, a 4-issue anthology series from Image Comics featuring a lengthy who’s who list of talents. Lauren Purjie has some Valentines Day cards “made” by famous artists – on Hyperallergic. The Comics Beat covers the announcement of Kate Gavino‘s new comic, coming out in August. It’s called Sanpaku, and “is a coming of age story, told through Gavino’s own Catholic/Filipino background“. Read more about it HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Collected from the thousands of pages of material that Frank has left scattered all over the digital landscape, these 4 PDF collections contain Frank’s best writing on comics and comics making from the past decade. Theory and process, reviews and discoveries, journeys both physical and spiritual. Check out the “Best of Frank Santoro” PDF collections, available HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-16-2018 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-16-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio 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: [...]

This two-year online exhibition will present 100 artworks from net art history, restaging and contextualizing one project each week.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply