Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Aidan Koch, alabaster pizzo, Chester Brown, Edie Fake, julie delporte, MoCCA, retrofit comics, Sarah Horrocks, SVA RisoLAB

Aaron Cockle

Posted on April 5, 2016

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09/28/2017

Sally IngrahamSeptember 27, 2017NewsSam Ombiri takes a look at the anthology Warmer, and Sally brings a CXC events update and other comics and news. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: When I was at SPX I bought a copy of Warmer from Madeleine Witt and Andrew White. A Lot of the time whenever I pick up an anthology, the anthology seems to be having an identity crisis. It is really trying to convince me that it’s something it’s not, as if the anthology is insecure about the area it occupies. If not insecure, then it’s probably going to be insular. This insecurity I project onto the anthologies I pick up comes from the extreme fear of mediocrity that most anthologies suffer from. Whenever someone is really desperate to surpass this mediocrity, they don’t have to go too far to do so. This desperation and insecurity really turns me off as the reader, and I’d rather just read the comics without considering them in an anthology altogether. My first and lasting impression of Warmer was that it didn’t suffer from any of that! “Complacency” is the last word I’d use to describe the anthology – especially with the subject matter being tackled (climate change). It doesn’t feel like it’s “tackling an issue” as much as remaining in this space where we’re humans who are experiencing this deterioration in ourselves. Meanwhile, so is the planet, and this can be seen in things we do that are altogether unrelated to what we might do to perpetuate the pollution of the environment. There’s no complacency in the book, just people trying to fight against that urge to be complacent both in their art and in their lives. Whenever something is contrived, which is rare in the book, it doesn’t work against the anthology because the following strip will have a good response to it. This shows the strength in numbers that can come out of an anthology, beyond having an easy way to access a variety of work – the strip before and after can strengthen the work. Some of these comics I wouldn’t read or engage with properly, if I wasn’t reading them in Warmer. For example, the first two strips are immensely enticing. They’re followed by this strip that seems out of place. The author of this strip (William Cardini) isn’t in any rush to make a connection between the style being utilized and the words being utilized. I just found myself, as a reader, really wanting that connection. The strip also confused me tonally because of this whole vibe I had been set up for from the first and second strip (which are by Caitlin Skaalrud and Tor Brant respectively). The second strip had a more familiar looking 4 panel structure that suggested a punchline would be waiting for me at the fourth panel, but instead it beautifully invoke a longing for things to set right. Much like the first strip. Then on the third strip I get this goofy looking face, seemingly drawn by someone who I mistakenly imagine to be a gag cartoonist. I mistakenly read the tongue sticking out of the character drawn as a character mocking me for having this other expectation. Then I read more and discovered that while doing poetry comics, one can feel the inclination to jump into expression sooner than warranted, but it’s not the case at all with this book. The third strip was actually fantastic and it speaks to both the contributors of this anthology and the curation of Madeleine and Andrew. In this whole book, the images and words further each other really well, and it’s wonderfully curated to accommodate the reader in the best way from beginning to the end. – Sam Ombiri Keep an eye out for this anthology in the next few weeks – Andrew and Madeleine are fulfilling the Kickstarter and sold out of the copies they brought to SPX a few weeks ago! However, Andrew says Warmer will be for sale online asap – so stay tuned. ————————————————————————————————— Sally here! Comics Workbook and Connor Willumsen are coming to Cartoon Crossroads Columbus this weekend (Sept. 28-Oct. 1st)! Workshops with Connor will be almost every hour on Saturday and Sunday. “The educational workshops hosted by Pittsburgh’s Comics Workbook focus on visual theory applied in practical fashion to any kind of comics making a cartoonist can imagine and can benefit any way a student of the form might wish to improve. This year’s special host is the remarkable visual talent Connor Willumsen, with guest-star teachers dropping in and out throughout the weekend. Walk-ins welcome.” Full schedule can be found HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Just had to share the above drawing, made by Connor Willumsen during his weeklong stay in Pittsburgh between SPX and touring for Koyama Press, and his upcoming stint at CXC. For the baseball fans out there. Check out Connor’s new book from Koyama Press – the incredible Anti-Gone, which you can get a copy of HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Jacob Khepler, “the publisher of Mothers News“, has started a new blog. So far he’s written about the zine shown above by Edie Fake, Family Circus, and books by Pushkin and Rimboud – something for everyone! Check out 100% Publishing HERE and be sure to bookmark it so you can keep up with one of the finest writers around. ————————————————————————————————— The fall semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers starts October 1st 2017. 8 weeks of comics instruction that will bang your practice into shape – 500 bux. Full details about the course and how to apply can be found HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Frank Santoro made a comic book about his parents and now he needs help making a handbound copy of the book for each of them. It’s a good story. Check out the Indiegogo campaign HERE – or if you want to contribute via PayPal, look at the campaign HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 9-28-2017 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

06/06/2017

Aaron CockleJune 6, 2017NewsAaron Cockle here today with Davis/Tamaki; Alex Katz in the Subway; Line Hoven & Nora Krug; Ware on Steinberg; CAKE Reminder; Marginalia; NY Times Comics ————————————————————————————————— ‘I am constantly bewildered by the juxtapositions of city-life.’ Eleanor Davis in conversation with Jillian Tamaki, in support of Tamaki’s new book, Boundless: ED: Did you write “World Class City” after you realized you were gonna leave New York? JT: Oh yes. Definitely. I had always had a very weird, uncomfortable relationship with New York, but it was my home and leaving was very melancholy despite being 100% the right decision. ED: I read it in the voice of someone who is in love with a thing, but is aware of being in denial about its flaws. A keening sort of mournful love. JT: Oh, I never fell in love with the place. But, I’m glad. I prefer that, instead of it seeming sarcastic. ED: How did you decide the images for it? JT: To be honest, I can feel increasingly confined by the image part of comics. Perhaps because often, for more commercial works, the images need be a lot more literal? I feel like images can “lock” an idea. To depict someone specific can be nice sometimes – the books I do with Mariko are always about specificity of time and place and character. But sometimes it’s nice, when reading prose, to have the ideas and concepts more open. They can feel more universal or possibly even symbolic. So I guess this comic was about trying to stretch that word-image relationship. I don’t want to show you what kind of person thinks this way, acts this way, etc. ————————————————————————————————— ‘Lost Romance Will Soon Be at Your Neighborhood Itch.’ Alex Katz with some early-career subway drawings: Later this month, the Cleveland Museum of Art will mount “Brand-New & Terrific: Alex Katz in the 1950s,” an exhibition of the paintings that Katz made in the decade after he graduated Cooper Union and spent two influential summers at the Skowhegan School in Maine. “It rolls out of this,” he acknowledges of the work in that show. “I changed styles the minute I got out of school. In a practical sense, it was one of the dumbest things I ever did in my life. I applied for a Fulbright. I had three teachers who gave me A’s on the jury. And one of them said to me: ‘Alex, why did you send this? It’s crap. We couldn’t do a thing for you.’ ” ————————————————————————————————— Ferocious Ink: Line Hoven & Nora Krug MFA Visual Narrative and the Goethe-Institut New York present an evening with authors and illustrators Line Hoven and Nora Krug. Hoven and Krug will present their explorations of German identity in their graphic work and discuss ways of weaving the personal, cultural and historical into new forms of storytelling. Tuesday, June 6, 7-10pm, School of Visual Arts SocDoc Auditorium, 136 West 21 Street, ground floor. Free and open to the public. RSVP here. ————————————————————————————————— ‘As a cartoonist myself, I am dismayed that there’s little in the show I can steal…’ Caleb Orecchio linked to this Chris Ware catalog essay for the Along the Lines: Selected Drawings by Saul Steinberg show at the Art Institute of Chicago in yesterday’s newspost, but I wanted to post an excerpt, it’s always nice to see cartoonists writing about other cartoonist’s work: One can’t overstate the importance of Steinberg’s working for reproduction, of his creating drawings to be disseminated to the mailboxes, laps, and, I guess, bathroom walls, of receptive readers and not, at least initially, to museum walls. The Museum turns on an eminently Steinbergian tool—the rubber stamp—and, as a lithograph, manipulates the idea of reproduction while pictorially lampooning and dissembling it. Identical figures are plunked out to represent visitors and viewers of (what else?) official stamps of approval; over the museum’s horizon, stamps rise like suns, the entire composition grounded and buttressed by illegible signatures and, of course, more stamps. As a visa-seeking emigré in his early life, Steinberg’s fascination with legal seals is easily understandable. Riverfront and Certified Landscape pivot on the objectively ridiculous but fundamentally necessary imprimatur of government made corporeal, territorially imprinted as a skein of walls and fences. Steinberg quietly added his own signature directly into the rather unaccommodating landscapes—are they farms, factories, or concentration camps?—rather than putting it in the traditional antiseptic nonspace outside the pictorial “border.” But in The Museum, Steinberg bundles the stamp’s sanctioning power and aesthetics into the frame of the art itself, stamping his own authorizing red imprimatur in that expected nonspace outside the image, along with his signature (legible, one notes) and, as a digestif, a blind stamp (a stamp without ink, visible by the impression it leaves on the page), just to snuff out any lingering doubt about the drawing’s authenticity and, by proxy, the artist’s own legitimacy. ————————————————————————————————— Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE) Saturday and Sunday, June 10 and 11, 2017 11 am – 6 pm Center on Halsted 3656 N Halsted FREE and open to the public! http://www.cakechicago.com Promotional artwork by Anya Davidson. ————————————————————————————————— Marginalia at the Drawing Center Marginalia: Open Sessions 10 declares our present geo-political and ideological constructs to be permeable and malleable. The artists in this exhibition view borders and barriers as material through which to build new avenues of both trespass and solidarity. Marginalia features Daniel Bejar, Ana Peñalba, Sue Jeong Ka, Carolyn Lambert, Srinivas Mangipudi, Irini Miga, and Rodrigo Valenzuela. Drawing is a mode of inquiry throughout the exhibition Valenzuela visualizes the American dream in deserted landscapes; Bejar traverses communities tenuously linked through political maneuvering; Peñalba sketches visionary architecture from the waste of the present; Ka explores the aesthetics of deportation; Miga archives tender and almost unnoticeable gestures; Lambert finds legible marks deep in Arctic ice; and Mangipudi creates notebooks inviting strangers to add their marginalia. Curated by Lisa Sigal and Nova Benway. ————————————————————————————————— New York Stories Caleb linked to the New York Times Magazine’s all-comics issue yesterday as well, but it’s definitely worth another look. ————————————————————————————————— A Cosmic Journey – 6-6-2017 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-6-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-6-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

08/04/2017

Sally IngrahamAugust 4, 2017NewsSally here to finish the week with the focus on Flo Steinberg, and Lynda Barry – plus other news and comics by fabulous women! ———————————————————————————————— Flo Steinberg, longtime secretary of Marvel’s Stan Lee, and underground comics publisher extraordinaire, died last week. Any number of obituaries and tributes have shown up since then, but I especially enjoyed the memories of Michael J. Vassallo, who was a friend as well as a fan of Flo’s. He wrote about her life and work and their friendship on his blog Timely-Atlas-Comics – read all about her HERE (via The Comics Reporter). Flo’s escapades at Marvel are well known – her work ethic, her enjoyment of the form, and her support and interest in the creators inspired devotion and respect from everyone she met. When she left Marvel in 1968 she dove into the world of underground comics, and produced one of the very first independent comics EVER – Big Apple Comix (1975). The one-shot featured work by Wally Wood, Neil Adams, Al Williamson, Denny O’Neil, Archie Goodwin, Ralph Reese, Marie Severin, Paul Kirchner, Stu Schwartzberg, Alan Weiss, Herb Trimpe, Mike Ploog and Larry Hama. Linda Fite contributed a strip and helped with the production, alongside John Verpoorten and Michele Brand. Flo was the editor. She printed 20,000 copies (some stories say) and Warren Publishing helped her store and distribute it. The comic helped build the wave of direct market publications which led to the thriving alternative and underground comics scene of the 80’s. Read more about Big Apple Comix HERE. As one of the stewards of the comics community and a bridge between the mainstream and underground worlds, “Fabulous” Flo earned her status as a “legend” and is certainly an inspiration to those of us who feel compelled to till the earth and look to the tending of this scene. I hope she continues to turn that beautiful smile on us from wherever she is now – and keep us on target as well! ———————————————————————————————— If you were to only read comics by Lynda Barry, and no one else, for a year, you would learn just as much about living – with yourself and with others, and in this weird world – and about the craft of making comics, as you would by reading widely and deeply all across the medium. I revisited One! Hundred! Demons! (2002) recently and it was like being picked up by a tornado full of bright objects, spun round roughly, and spat back out a few blocks away from where I’d started, dizzy and bruised, but laughing. Lynda’s ability to delve into her own memories of childhood, to summon the demons and put them in their place, is frightening and beautiful. Lyda reminds one that childhood is a wild place, and how you felt then is not so different from how you feel now – and that’s okay. I appreciate that Lynda stuck to some formal restraints in the making of this comic – all square panels, arranged in a row of 4 across a spread – which makes for a comforting beat as you move through the somewhat tumultuous story. The black line (made with a brush) and the colors are very satisfying. Her figures are somewhat grotesque at times – even the “pretty” ones – but they are wonderfully alive and vivid. This is great cartooning, in the proper sense of the word, not just lovely illustrations in sequence with word balloons. Groundbreaking at it’s time of publication, and still just as good. Get a copy of One! Hundred! Demons! HERE. Lynda is one of my greatest inspirations as a master cartoonist and a woman. Her teaching and lecturing has impacted numerous creatives and non-creatives alike – as this New York Times Magazine article from 2011 proclaimed, “Cartoonist Lynda Barry Will Make You Believe in Yourself“. For another dose of passion and drive, check out this Ink Talk about how “the answer is in the picture“: Lynda Barry lives and teaches in Wisconsin. She created a comic strip that was nationally syndicated for 2-decades (Ernie Pook’s Comeek), and has created numerous graphic novels, prose novels, plays, and how-to books. She was recently given the National Cartooning Society’s Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award, and is in the Will Eisner Hall of Fame. She doesn’t mess around, and she doesn’t keep quiet – Lynda is a force of nature and we are lucky as cartoonists to count her among us. Keep up with Lynda Barry HERE – and with “the Near-Sighted Monkey” version of Lynda HERE. ———————————————————————————————— The Rest of the Party Women Write About Comics has a nice overview of some recent acquisitions to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum – a wonderful new collection of original art by female cartoonists of the 80’s and 90’s. Read and see pictures HERE. Philippe Leblanc reviews a number of Shee Phon‘s comics over on The Comics Beat – check out his take on her “progressive and personal” work HERE. Imagine Wanting Only This by Kristin Radtke has been getting mixed reviews – over on The Comics Journal Greg Hunter is pretty clear about not liking it – and I find myself thankful that some people are still willing to talk about what makes certain comics poor works of art and storytelling. Check out the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum’s Digital Exhibit of work by Edwina Dumm! Zainab Akhtar is going for Critical Chips 2 – check out the Kickstarter HERE. Brigid Alverson writes about Svetlana Chmakova‘s career over on Publishers Weekly. Sarah Glidden has an on-the-spot autobio comic posted HERE. The celebration of Annie Koyama and Koyama Press’s 10th anniversary continues! Read about it over on Nekkei Voice. ———————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 8-4-17 – by Gabriella Tito ———————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 8-4-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

01/15/2018

Caleb OrecchioJanuary 15, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on Dash Shaw’s Spider-Man story from Strange Tales II, and more news.————————————————————————————————— Last week I talked a bit about Dash Shaw’s Doctor Strange comic from the first volume of the indie-cartoonist-superhero-anthology, Strange Tales. This week I was thinking about his Spider-Man comic for Strange Tales II. A meta, meditation on the Sam Rami movies, with a quote from Toby Maguire about his famous upside-down kissing scene with Kirsten Dunst at the end. This idea runs parallel with a Spider-Man v Mysterio fight with the latter using his “vapors of deception! Deceit!” I enjoy this comic as much as I enjoy all Dash Shaw comics. Shaw is usually not without something to say in his work: Spider-Man is on “some kind of elaborate film stage,” trapped by Mysterios deceitful fog until he finds his way out and falls into “Garbage! That’s where the spiders thrive!” Out of the theater and into the trash where he belongs. Where Spider-Man is best. I like this comic because Shaw is “selling out” (one could argue by working with Marvel) whilst simultaneously calling a childhood obsession (from Marvel) “garbage,” yet, lovingly. There is an irony that resides in this story and its circumstances that I relish. It’s an earnest love letter to trash. I always enjoy rereading this one. ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know now you know Alex Wong talks to Jason Shiga at TCJ.com. I somehow missed that Chris Ware was a guest on RiYL. Conan the Barbarian is returning to Marvel in 2019. The latest guest on Inkstuds is Zach Hazard Vaupen. Have you checked out our own Sally Ingraham’s birding blog? Check out William Cardini’s Skew on Study Group if you’ve been snoozing. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-15-2018 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

02/15/2017

Juan FernándezFebruary 15, 2017los Cómics / NewsJuan José con un poquito sobre Carla Berrocal; el fanzine de Chicks on Cómics de Argentina; lo nuevo de Berliac; #GRAFBCN2017; Gerardo Vilches; Desiree Rodriguez and #BeingLatinxInComics; La Polola on hiatus. Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: Ya viene, ya llega. #GRAFBCN2017 a la vuelta de la esquina. GRAF is coming to Barcelona. Take note: they’ve has announced several workshops for their March 3-5 comics festival in Barcelona. Among them is a master class con Natacha Bustos y Javi Rodríguez. Sign up for their talleres HERE. Carla Berrocal, ha retratado la crónica negra de Madrid en La ciudad en viñetas, que se puede ver en CentroCentro Cibeles de Madrid hasta el 12 de abril. 150 chicas participaron con cómics sobre Arte, en el fanzine de Chicks on Cómics de Argentina. Ya se puede leer el Fanzine a la Carta! Berliac’s got some new comics on Vice – Asian Food Store Junkies – S01-E02 A match made in heaven, or the opposite? You decide… Gerardo Vilches, (uno de mis mis criticos preferidos!) ha compartido su repaso d lo mejor de 2016 (sí: el 15 de febrero de 2017) “Better late than never!” #slowcooking #greatcooking Desiree Rodriguez is compiling the work of the contemporary Latinx comics making community in North America, all together under #BeingLatinxInComics. Check it out and get hep to these artists, writers and critics. Know someone she should add? Want to add yourself? Here’s the submission form. Para que sepan: La Polola Podcast is on hiatus! Vacation is vacation. As Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo gear up for their new season they have a contest going while on vacation! Draw your favorite song and catch up with the podcast! It’s always a fun, relaxing and enlightening listen. If you haven’t tuned in to La Polola just yet, Póngale Play. ————————————————————————————————— En Venta: The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey. La gran Vanesa R. Del Rey le ha dado permiso a Comics Workbook para publicar unas selecciónes de sus cuadernos de bocetos. Hemos diseñado esta publicación para que parezca uno de esos libros de de artistas los años 80. Arte y Entrevista. El texto es una transcripción de la entrevista que hicimos con Vanesa cuando visito la Residencia Rowhouse en 2016. Vanesa es un artista impresionante y inigualable. Puedes comprar tu copia AQUI.Order a copy of The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey HERE. Frank Santoro, el director de Comics Workbook, nos cuenta un poquito sobre sus experiencias con Vanesa: Me encontré por primera vez con VRDR en un festival de cómics en Toronto (TCAF) en 2014. Había empezado a hacer comics profesionalmente después de un período como un animadora. Fui Sorprendido por su la capacidad de ser como un camaleón de cambiar de estilos, y por su puesto le pedí ver más de sus obras. Desenterró pilas de cuadernos de dibujos de sus días en Cuba, cuando estudiaba el realismo soviético y de trabajaba con George Pratt, maestro de cómics pintados. La educación de Vanesa como artista hace el balance suavemente entre los niveles alto y bajo del arte, así como los valores estéticos del este y el oeste. Es una base asombrosa. Ella es, a la vez, consciente de la historia del arte, la historia de los cómics y la historia de la animación de una manera NUEVA que casi parecía imposible hace quince o veinte años. Debo admitir como un estudiante y fan de cómics que se enfocan en la mezcla de “alto y bajo” y en ” los cómics pintados” — Nunca he visto tal mezcla de habilidades al nivel de VRDR. Feroz. Imparable. Un competidor feroz. Michael Jordan-esque? ¿Es eso posible en la fabricación de cómic? Siempre he dicho que habría un “invasor vertical” en los cómics que podría emplear el “naturalismo” de la escuela de Noel Sickles / Alex Toth pero que podría pintar como una Alice Neel o una Jenny Saville. Creo que “el invasor” ha llegado en forma de Vanesa R. Del Rey. Puedes comprar tu copia AQUI. Sigan a Vanesa por Instagram – @vrdelrey – y http://vrdelrey.com/ Suzy and Cecil – 2-15-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-15-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 2-15-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

04/05/2016

Posted on April 5, 2016 by Aaron Cockle

MoCCA Recapitulation; Sarah Horrocks; Edie Fake; Aidan Koch; Chester Brown; Julie Delporte; O RisoLAB, My RisoLAB!; Retrofit Comics

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MoCCA 2016
This past weekend, the Society of Illustrators hosted it’s annual Museum of Comic and Cartooning Art (‘MoCCA’) Arts Festival in ~~some desolate, blasted-out, post-industrialized urban hinterland~~ Manhattan’s far west side. Attendance seemed pretty good at the 2-day show. If anyone who tabled at/attended the show has anything to say about it (Was it a ‘good’ show? What does ‘good’ even mean? Like, did you make a lot of $$$ at the show, or enough to cover your table, or is that something people talk about these days? Did anyone get donuts at the car wash donut shop? How were the panels? What were the highlights of the show, comics-wise? IS this a snapshot of the current ‘industry’? Do we all wish it was 2005 again and that we were back in the Puck building? Does anybody miss that Armory space?, Where do we go from here, etc etc???)…please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this newsblog.
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Horrocks on Horrocks; Edie Fake at Marlborough Chelsea; Aidan Koch’s After Nothing Comes; Chester Brown’s Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus; Delporte in Moominland

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Summer Risography
6-8 week artist residency in NYC. Application deadline is April 22.

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3 Days Left
Please consider supporting the Retrofit Comics Kickstarter. Image above by Alabaster Pizzo.

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Aidan Koch, alabaster pizzo, Chester Brown, Edie Fake, julie delporte, MoCCA, retrofit comics, Sarah Horrocks, SVA RisoLAB

Aaron Cockle

Posted on April 5, 2016

Explore

03/22/2017

Juan FernándezMarch 21, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el dia con Francisca Alcalde y el Maps Zine; Josep Coll; Vanesa R. Del Rey; Inés Estrada; Isabel Bas; Dos Payadores de Vicho Plaza; Revista Cactus 22; La Caja; Space Riders; y los tebeos del dia! ————————————————————————————————— Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: Javiera Tapia comparte un poco sobre Francisca Alcalde de Maps Zine en Es Mi Fiesta Magazine. Francisca Alcalde es diseñadora gráfica y es la creadora de Maps, un fanzine dedicado a abordar historias y retratar el imaginario de las madres adolescentes. LOVE AND ROCKETS: Punk Flyers by Los Bros Hernandez. Jaime and Beto’s enthusiasm for local punk bands led the two of them to design the occasional flyer for acts like Fear, Dr. Know, Youth Brigade, and Angelic Upstarts. Check it out over on Dangerous Minds. Iconos que definieron al histórico TBO: los Inventos del TBO, la Familia Ulises y Josep Coll. Pablo Vicente nos ilumina la vida creativa de Josep Coll. Vanesa R. Del Rey takes off the crown and puts on the professor’s cap this summer. She’ll be instructing during week 3 of the Illustration Academy’s summer program with the likes of Sterling Hundley, John English, and George Pratt! Want to learn from comics royalty? Sign up today. You can now read all of Inés Estrada‘s road trip diary comics on her blog! Soak them up and get inspired. Live the adventure. Draw the adventure. “Señoras del TBO. ¿Las hubo?” Sí, e Isabel Bas (con ‘Ana Emilia y su familia’) fue la que durante más tiempo dibujó para la cabecera. Elisa McCausland entrevista para el especial TBO de @TEBEOSFERA a Isabel Bas Amat, autora de Ana Emilia y su familia. ————————————————————————————————— El gran Vicho Plaza está publicando una serie costumbrista en su blog. Pueden léer la serie Dos Payadores entera AQUI. Da te prisa! ————————————————————————————————— El nuevo número de Revista Cactus ha llegado. La freelance que ocupa nuestra portada, fumando compulsivamente y alimentándose a base de pizza, como cualquier autónomo que se precie, es obra de Mariana, a miserável. La ilustradora portuguesa capta perfectamente en sus dibujos melancólicos la miseria a la que alude su nombre artístico. Su tocaya, la escritora argentina Mariana Enriquez, en cambio, es experta en mostrar lo inquietante y lo abyecto, como deja patente en su colección de relatos Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego. La texana Merritt Tierce también escribe, pero ella prefiere la autoficción, que le permite narrar su experiencia como madre adolescente y camarera que utiliza el sexo como herramienta de castigo y las drogas como vía de escape. Con una perspectiva similar, la nigeriana Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ha recogido en un breve ensayo titulado Querida Ijeawele. Cómo educar en el feminismo varias ideas para inculcar esos valores a una hija (o hijo) desde el respeto, la tolerancia y la empatía. Esos conceptos les vendrían muy bien a muchos directores de ciencia ficción que en su cine han disfrazado su trauma con la sexualidad femenina como si fuera el villano de la función, de los que también hablamos. Aplaudimos el regreso del dibujante David Sánchez, tras cinco años de espera, con Un millón de años, un cómic en el que lo divino y lo animal se entretejen para formar un relato perturbador. La protagonista de Crudo también tiene una parte animal. La ópera prima de la francesa Julia Ducournau cuenta la historia de una frágil jovencita vegetariana estudiante de veterinaria que se hace caníbal. Los Ganglios, más que de pulled pork, son de música-porc. El grupo de Badajoz, famoso por sus letras delirantes y vídeos absurdos, publicó su último disco el año pasado, donde tienen un himno que les define: ¡Soy extremeño. Tengo derechos! Léela nueva edicion AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— LA CAJA es una iniciativa del Colectivo El Globoscopio en complicidad con el espacio artístico Maleza proyectos. Se trata de un festival anual enfocado en propiciar el diálogo y la colaboración horizontal entre los actores del campo de la gráfica en Bogotá. Incluye actividades como una feria de artículos y publicaciones, charlas y presentación de artistas, y clínicas de proyectos, entre otras. Más información en nuestra página de facebook. Apúntate! ————————————————————————————————— All new Space Riders!!! March 29!!! Coming at you full force via Blackmask Studio’s dynamic duo, Fabian Rangel Jr, Alexis Ziritt. Want to get your hands on this high voltage galactic transmission? Find your local comic shop using Comic Shop Locator or if you don’t have a local spot because you live on the moon, here’s more options: Black Mask Store + ComiXology. ————————————————————————————————— La gran Vanesa R. Del Rey le ha dado permiso a Comics Workbook para publicar unas selecciónes de sus cuadernos de bocetos. Hemos diseñado esta publicación para que parezca uno de esos libros de de artistas los años 80. Arte y Entrevista. El texto es una transcripción de la entrevista que hicimos con Vanesa cuando visito la Residencia Rowhouse en 2016. Vanesa es un artista impresionante y inigualable. Frank Santoro, el director de Comics Workbook, nos cuenta un poquito sobre sus experiencias con Vanesa: Me encontré por primera vez con VRDR en un festival de cómics en Toronto (TCAF) en 2014. Había empezado a hacer comics profesionalmente después de un período como un animadora. Fui Sorprendido por su la capacidad de ser como un camaleón de cambiar de estilos, y por su puesto le pedí ver más de sus obras. Desenterró pilas de cuadernos de dibujos de sus días en Cuba, cuando estudiaba el realismo soviético y de trabajaba con George Pratt, maestro de cómics pintados. La educación de Vanesa como artista hace el balance suavemente entre los niveles alto y bajo del arte, así como los valores estéticos del este y el oeste. Es una base asombrosa. Ella es, a la vez, consciente de la historia del arte, la historia de los cómics y la historia de la animación de una manera NUEVA que casi parecía imposible hace quince o veinte años. Debo admitir como un estudiante y fan de cómics que se enfocan en la mezcla de “alto y bajo” y en ” los cómics pintados” — Nunca he visto tal mezcla de habilidades al nivel de VRDR. Feroz. Imparable. Un competidor feroz. Michael Jordan-esque? ¿Es eso posible en la fabricación de cómic? Siempre he dicho que habría un “invasor vertical” en los cómics que podría emplear el “naturalismo” de la escuela de Noel Sickles / Alex Toth pero que podría pintar como una Alice Neel o una Jenny Saville. Creo que “el invasor” ha llegado en forma de Vanesa R. Del Rey. Puedes comprar tu copia AQUI. Sigan a Vanesa por Instagram – @vrdelrey – y http://vrdelrey.com/ ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 3-22-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 3-22-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 3-22-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

03/26/2018

Caleb OrecchioMarch 25, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on A. Degen’s Soft X-Ray/Mindhunters, and other news. ————————————————————————————————— A. Degen’s work is always enjoyable and fun to look at. The drawing is loose, but not sloppy. The images are dense, but not overwhelming. The wordless narratives are simple, yet not unsophisticated. Soft X-Ray/Mindhunters, from thee Koyama Press (May 2018), continues the trend. Degen’s work often brings to mind Moebius’ Airtight Garage, specifically the element of spontaneity and worlds-within-worlds locations, with a dash of early Tezuka minimalism. In the case of this book, particularly in scenes concerning virtual reality, I sniff a whiff of Frank Miller’s Ronin. Like Ronin, or it’s most famous exploitation, The Matrix, Mindhunters is all about dreams versus reality and the dreams within dreams. I think. It’s a big fat book, weighing in at nearly 400 pages. Would I have preferred if it was serialized over 4 or 5 floppies? Yes. I think the amalgamation of separate-yet-intertwining stories would have benefitted from some time between them, some tension. However, I am painfully aware that a comics publisher is more likely to publish a giant tome, rather than a handful of pamphlets these days. Despite my preferences, the big book delivers the goods. To me, the love for one’s work really comes off these pages and emits a warmth and comfort akin to Brandon Graham’s best comics. Degen’s strengths as a cartoonist is that the work is always consistent and fully developed. I don’t sense that anything has been accidentally left out. Humor and imagination come together to make cotton candy for the eyes. I am seldom let down by an A. Degen book. The work is always worth its salt. Look for Soft X-Ray/Mindhunters in May 2018. ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Tom Spurgeon talks to WonderCon spokesperson, David Glanzer. Rob Clough reviews Present by Leslie Stein at Your Chicken Enemy. Box Brown is the latest guest on Process Party. ————————————————————————————————— Announcing the Spring Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers 8 weeks! $500 bux! 10 spots available! Rolling start date because of spring break – start as early as March 30th 2018. Deadline to apply is April 12th. Read all about the course HERE and email santoroschool@gmail.com for more details or to apply. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 3-26-2018 – by Frank Santoro Share this page: [...]

01/10/2017

Aaron CockleJanuary 9, 2017NewsAaron here today with A Vernacular of File Formats; The False Grandmother; Joe Sacco: SJW; Still and Moving Images; Kirby/Slash; Sara Lautman Comics; EX-VOTO ————————————————————————————————— RAW, BMP, GIF, PNG, TARGA, TIFF, PSD, JPEG, MOV, DV, WMV, AVI, ETC Glitch artist Rosa Menkman’s discourse on what is lost, distorted, and potentially gained by these technologies we find surrounding ourselves, circa 2010. Type to enter text Tango between a corrupt format and its user. ! ! ! ! Contents ! the ! There is not sufﬁcient data. Please enter data art is a practice that studies and researches Glitch ! Static! vernacular of ﬁle formats in exploitative manners to ! ! You have too Noise Art > Filter art > when Cool becomes Hot >>>>>>> ! ! Uncompressed!! deconstruct and create new, brutalist (audio)visual works. m u c h However, glitch artists often the ! ! Lossless! ! ! c h a r a c t e r ! Glitches are hot; proof can be found on MTV, Flickr, in go beyond this formal approach; coffee table that the glitch Lossy! not exists A p p l y club and in the bookstore. While thethey realize book Glitch: ! ! does ! ! ! Moving image! ! g a u s s i a n Designing Imperfection without human perception and therefore have a more (2009) has introduced the glitch inclusive approach to digital material. ! ! MOV ! ! ! blur. design aesthetic to the world of latte drinking designers, and ! ! DV ! ! ! The materiality of glitch art is constantly mutating; it exists Kanye West used glitches to sing about his imperfect love ! ! WMV! hand the ! life, the awkward, shy and physically ugly celebrate underrelies on the one as an unstable assemblage that the ! ! AVI! ! You still have header “Glitched: Nerdcore for life”. operation and content of the apparatus (the construction, ! ! ! the writer/artist, ! ! quirks! Clone Glitch has transformed from cool and on Its no more then a work, medium) to hot. the other hand the s t a m p f o r brightly colored bubblegum wrapper that doesn’t by the any and the interpretation ask for reader and/or user (the meaning). s m o o t h involvement, or offers any stimulus. Inside I ﬁnd gum that I surface keep chewing, hoping for some new explosion of good taste. But the more I chew, the less tasty / rubbery it gets. Glitch design fulﬁlls an average, imperfect stereotype, a ﬁlter or Your ﬁle has commodity that echoes a “medium is the message” standard. i n v a l i d m a r k e r s . ————————————————————————————————— Turturro Reads Calvino Online (with accompanying images by Kevin Ruelle) As our present reality grows every more unreal, there may be no writer more fitting to read that Italo Calvino. Calvino was most famous for his fabulist fiction, works of literary fiction inspired by fairy tales — a form he studied and collected in the 1956 book Italian Folktales. ————————————————————————————————— Galvanizing Social Justice Through Comics As part of the University of Michigan’s Penny Stamps Lecture Series: Leading graphic historical novelist Joe Sacco will chronicle how and why he uses the graphic novel format to catalyze social justice and human rights struggles in the US and around the world. Thursday, January 19, 5:10-6:30pm at the Michigan Theater, 603 E Liberty St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. Hopefully he’ll talk about BUMF as well. ————————————————————————————————— Film and Comics: Mutually Exclusive, or Exclusively Mutual? Allan Haverholm talks about The Hulk and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, split screens, paneling, juxtaposition, and good stuff like that. The juxtaposed split screens in Hulk only serve as disturbances in that they try to emulate complicated comics (page) layouts that are not easily conveyed in moving images. Instead, we shall move on to a more surprising, more challenging, and eventually more successful implementation of comics formalities in film: Long story short: the element of split screens emulating comics page elements disturb rather than add to the storytelling, taking the viewer out of the natural immersion of believing in the (rather surreal) narrative of an irradiated, superpowered green giant. ————————————————————————————————— KIRBY/SLASH Andrei Molotiu has some pretty sweet Jack Kirby pages put into context with other artists and their art. Very artistic! Image below: Jack Kirby + Hannah Hoch ————————————————————————————————— Sara Lautman is the featured Diarist this week at The Comics Journal. ————————————————————————————————— The Vivid Violence and Divine Healing of Ex-Voto Paintings Allison Meier looks at religious artwork at the Hyperallergic blog: In 19th-century Mexico, the content of ex-votos stayed the same — a depiction of the accident, illness, or misfortune in question, along with the intervening saint or other heavenly presence — but the materials changed. There were fewer canvases and more works on tin. Rather than meticulous, idealized scenes, ex-votos became theatrical and free-form, often created by self-taught artists. By the 20th century, contemporary artists were drawn to this dramatic folk art. Alexxa Gotthardt at Artsy recently described how Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo collected Mexican votive paintings, many of which are now on view in the Museo Frida Kahlo in Mexico City. Kahlo owned over 400 ex-voto paintings, and one of a woman who survived being stabbed in bed is said to have inspired her bloody 1935 “A Few Small Nips.” Take a look to see your favorite sky-god smiling down at the calamities they have caused for you. ————————————————————————————————— Here’s Connor Willumsen talking about his book Portraits while teaching a workshop in England in autumn of 2016. Get a copy of the book HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-10-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-10-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— 1-10-2017 – by Juan Fernández Share this page: [...]

01/17/2017

Aaron CockleJanuary 16, 2017NewsAaron here today with Drawing Center events; RESIST!; Cosplayers; ‘Unquotables’; Notes on Zip-a-Tone. ————————————————————————————————— This week at The Drawing Center, work by Mateo López, Jackson Mac Low, and Amy Sillman. Opening January 20, 2017. Sillman will be presenting her animated drawing, After Metamorphoses. She talks about it here: But we don’t care about “the grid”—we are committed to something different: something scrappy but complex, earnest but smart, ironic but not cynical—a strange FORM! We’re not in it for the money and WE’RE NOT MONEY. We’re not coins of the realm, easily identified by our denominations; we’re definitely not thin paper currency meant to slip inside a wallet. We don’t make sense. We have rough edges and contradictions. What the fuck is “thing theory” anyway—we’re like things that talk back. Where is emancipation located? Should we split our time between art and politics? Is art enough? Is it possible that our work, our love, our beliefs, our symbolic gestures, our senses of humor, can amount to any meaningful resistance? Does resistance come in different lengths; a long game and a short game? Does everyone have to do it the same way? We haven’t figured it out but we love art that offers change above all: insistent, unremitting change that won’t resolve into finality or finesse. We don’t know quite what to do but the qualities that mean something have shifted: knowingness is out, a goddamn “good” painting seems irrelevant, smug… we don’t need someone to tells us which painting is “better.” Fuck that. Image above from Mateo López: Undo List. ————————————————————————————————— ‘So, it is using old fashioned like printing presses and trucks and you know, just sheer physical get together that will make little cells out in the open and we publish a link so that people can sign up for those local distributions.’ Betsy Gomez at the CBLDF talks to Francoise Mouly and Nadja Spiegelman about the forthcoming release of the Resist! anthology comic on Saturday, January 21: Resist! revives the tradition of using comics for protest. What precedents inspired you in developing this project? FM: Well, the first thing was being asked by Gabe Fowler to guest edit a special issue of Smoke Signal, which is a tabloid printed on newsprint that he wanted to release at the time of the inauguration and the women’s march. When he got in touch with me specifically, like “I want a woman guest editor,” and because he asked right after the election and that was my feeling as well — since we’d just been robbed of our first woman president, there was a sense shared by so many — Gabe’s request seemed natural at the time… My friends were saying, “I’m going to Washington.” We didn’t know where or what. I mean, we knew it was the day after the inauguration, but there was some sense of wanting women’s voices heard. NS: About historical precedent, and I think Francoise can talk very eloquently about historical precedents in France like L’Assiette au Beurre and Charlie Hebdo. One of the things is: there is a long historical precedent for political protest. But one thing that there isn’t, is enough contemporary parallels and enough space in American culture right now for political images as an act of resistance… We’re hoping to create more of that space. ————————————————————————————————— Over at Calm Undertones Now Transmitting, an in-depth look at Dash Shaw’s A Cosplayers Christmas: Shaw’s conception of cosplay shows how the exploitation of individuals that has been opened up by the postmodern ethos can be circumvented by those with the confidence to make their own meaning (even naïveté within certain bounds is enough) against the will of the myriad influences directed at them (e.g. marketing, social norms, political processes etc.). In A Cosplayers Christmas, the obliviousness of Annie and Verti to considerations of the monetary value of the gifts they exchange is endearing and humorous but it also points to the way that cosplay, by allowing its participants to claim partial ownership of the fictions they enmesh themselves in, serves to subvert the traditional paradigm of the separation between cultural producer and cultural consumer that has allowed space for capitalist interests to take hold. Annie and Verti have no interest in purchasing merchandise based on the properties that hold their interest, instead they would prefer to create their own related objects that they can attach personal meaning to. ————————————————————————————————— R. Sikoryak will be signing his newest work, The Unquotable Trump, this Friday, January 20, 6-8pm at Jim Hanley’s Universe, 32 East 32nd Street, NYC. Parodies of comic book covers with actual Trump quotes from the 2016 presidential campaign. The mini comic edition also features a Public Service Announcement comic strip and extensive footnotes. ————————————————————————————————— Could this piece have been done on the computer?…Could this piece exist without the fields of tone? Back in 2009, Alex Holden was thinking about Zip-a-Tone in comics: Zip A Tone has been on my mind because I recently received “Two Eyes Of The Beautiful” from Ryan Cecil Smith, who is currently living in Japan. Some equivalent of Zip A Tone (in virtually unlimited variety) is still widely available in Japan, despite the advent of the computer. “Two Eyes of the Beautiful” is all about Zip A Tone, from simple dot patterns, to trees and foliage……even buildings. Indeed, it is pretty easy to recreate the same effects of the adhesive sheets in Photoshop. Kevin Huizenga frequently employs this technique. Whenever Zip A Tone is mentioned, I can’t help but think of Matt Wagner’s “Heist”, printed in BATMAN BLACK & WHITE #3. Could this piece have been done on the computer? I suppose so. Could this piece exist without the fields of tone? Absolutely not. ————————————————————————————————— Pompeii by yours truly Frank Santoro – get a copy HERE. “The book itself is about drawing, really. It’s also about two artists who draw in order to see the world around them. So, the book itself IS drawing—and at the end it breaks down the barrier between what’s “real” and what is “drawn”. That’s what is great about the medium—that I can use drawing to illustrate that breakdown. There are a lot of visual rhymes in the book—where the “reality” is mirrored by a painting or a drawing. I’m trying to get to the core of visual storytelling by amplifying the process of drawing and making that the subject of the story as much as the interaction of the characters.” – Frank Santoro in an interview with Publishers Weekly ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-17-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-17-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— 1-17-2017 – by Juan Fernández Share this page: [...]

11/01/2016

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

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