Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Alan Moore, bill wehmann, caleb orecchio, Dash Shaw, Ed Piskor, gabriella tito, jack brougham, Jim Rugg

Caleb Orecchio

Posted on April 23, 2017April 23, 2017

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10/05/2017

Sally IngrahamOctober 4, 2017NewsAdam Griffiths with an intro to his Cartoon Crossroads Columbus 2017 notes, Sam Ombiri on work by Jason Lee, and more cool items found in the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum! ————————————————————————————————— Adam Griffiths will be bringing us an extensive overview of Cartoon Crossroads Columbus 2017, starting later today. We offer a teaser now, in the form of his intro to what will be a 3-part series on the show. “A Comics Id is Tenderness : Notes on Cartoon Crossroads 2017 The first book I purchased on the expo floor at this year’s CXC was Kyle Baker’s. Earlier this year, I had seen Baker speak at the Schomburg Center in New York about his book, Nat Turner, to a roomful of kids. At the time, I had been struck by his ability to communicate; his engagement with the audience seemed intrinsically connected to his unabashed and explicitly mercantile use of language. Odd, how this seemed to captivate both his panel members and the audience, young and old. The persona of the salesman is an American motif – a motif that, under our current political climate, is being reduced to prideless status by the huckster in the Oval Office. When exactly did Americans need to believe that a good businessman’s success is dependent upon rhetorical violence and winner-take-all bullishness? I chose the term ‘A Comics Id is Tenderness’ for this write-up because Baker’s work revisited me several times during this expo. Over the course of the week, it became more and more clear to me that Baker has been a creator who has deftly championed the stories he feels are important to him alongside of his commercial work, who has kindly informed peers of his intentions, who brushes from shoulder the allegedly unforgivable concept of sacrificing creativity for financial gain.“ Wow. Adam’s report, like the show as a whole, is terrific. Look for the rest of the Part 1 later today, and parts 2/3 over the weekend/next week! ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: At SPX Jason Lee, whom I see here in Pittsburgh every now and then, kindly gave me an installment of a new series he’s doing called Pyramid Inch (which appears in Sporgo 2, above). The title creates the feeling of a sharp, piercing, and somewhat distantly fading force. The comic reeled me in – it’s an amazingly accommodating comic. It’s a relief to read something like this. For a comic this rough, so to speak, to actually be this structured (and to have a narrative that flows with such ease,) to emerge in a setting like SPX, is great. Especially with my expectation of what might entail when I get a mini comic in a setting seemingly informed by a redundant sense of design. (Not just at SPX, but in a good amount of mini comics I see.) These rough drawings also work specifically well for Pyramid Inch. I’m grateful that the drawings don’t oversell the decadence that’s implied when the story is something like this: a character living in L. A. working on some art installation for Vice. With a setting like that, it would seem to demand that the design of the cartooning be a bit more posh, a bit more trendy and poppy. It’s very good that it doesn’t, because – as is written on the cover “a millennial gothic” – the dark underbelly is more readily apparent, especially towards the end where the main character is having a conversation. To clarify, this dark underbelly isn’t what excited me most about the comic. It feels like a perfect marriage in this case, where the art raises awareness to what would be otherwise hidden in a setting like the one in the story. This setting, by the way, is very alive, and I can understand why the characters are affected in the way they are. What’s more satisfying is that the art style isn’t announcing itself (not that it’d be a bad thing if it did). For the direction this comic is headed though, it’s what feels most needed – for the art style to not keep announcing itself and telling me to see the darkness through it. While the conversation toward the end of the comic is magnificent on the author’s part, the two characters’ conversation did test my patience. I was thinking to myself, “My god how long is this conversation gonna go on for?” That’s not to say that the conversation didn’t serve any purpose, or that I didn’t enjoy being forced to sit through it. It did tug on my heartstrings quite a bit at a certain point. It just feels that if the scene was redrawn another way it could’ve yielded a horrible reading experience. What I’m saying is that there are drawings I’ve seen Jason do that are way better than what’s drawn here in this comic, but evidently he didn’t make the comic based on the best drawings he could do – he prioritized the story first, and it yields much better results. It’s a really comfortable comic to read through, but the drawings don’t make it too comfortable to the point where it becomes unbearable to read. It’s also a really funny book. In fact it’s so funny that it doesn’t have to shove a gag down my throat every other panel, to remind me how funny it can be, at the expense of the story. Jason has been putting these comics out as Laura Pallmall, which is a pretty funny name in the most subtle way, and it’s emblematic of the humor in the comic. It’s also emblematic of the tone too – by replacing Palmer with Pallmall it simultaneously evokes a gothic feeling, and the mall part speaks to the idea of a valley girl, but it’s Laura Palmer who is a “valley girl”. Jason sets this tone by saying this “valley girl” version of Laura Palmer wrote this book – this book with fantastic drawings, sequences, dialogue, and a well told story. – Sam Ombiri Get a copy of this comic HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Sally here – above is a comic I found at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum last weekend during CXC – it was part of the Tales From the Vault: 40 Years/ 40 Stories exhibit, which pulls especially interesting, groundbreaking, or controversial comics from a 250 year span of items in the museum’s collection. The comic above is a Luther strip, by Brumsic Brandon Jr., from 1973. Luther was launched the year after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated (1969), and was one of the first nationally syndicated comic strips made by an African American creator that featured a black main character. The strip ran until 1986. Here’s a page of Krazy Kat, by the wondrous George Herriman, from 1943, also on view at the BICLM: ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 10-5-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie- 10-5-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

08/13/2018

Caleb OrecchioAugust 13, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on a Barry Windsor-Smith strip, and other news. ————————————————————————————————— “You ask why? I say why not?” — BWS’ note on the above piece in Opus. This strip has no “joke” in the traditional sense, but there is a payoff. A punchline. “POH!” 1, 2, 3, POH! It’s so simple. What is a four panel strip other than three panels that, traditionally, set up a punchline? Jack White, a musician and upholsterer, has noted that it takes three staples for a material to be considered upholstered at the bare minimum; this is his observation of the beauty within simplicity. Here Barry Windsor-Smith does not busy himself (or the reader) with a plot within three panels to bring us to the fourth, he simply stalls us and then squeezes the trigger. POH! It’s actually kind of funny, or at least amusing. What I find very interesting about this strip, is that it isn’t contrived in any way. Obviously, I presume, this was made privately. Maybe as a joke to himself or his assistant or studio mates or whatever. It does not matter. I am simply pointing out the simplicity, looseness and playful nature of the piece. There is a solid art and drawing background behind the images: the wash, the marks, the 270 degree turn; but they all briskly collide to make the joke, POH! This is a perfect strip. I’m not going to argue the point, but consider how few cartoonists make strips like this. Consider how few cartoonists make comics for fun. Musicians play music for fun. Football players throw the ol’ pigskin around for fun. Consider this, fellow cartoonists, for twenty minutes a day, as a warm-up, make a four-panel strip for fun that you’ll never show anyone. I guarantee you will be surprised by what will come out of that exercise. Many perfect comics are made in sketchbooks and will never be seen by anyone until the sketchbooks of that cartoonist are published, like the above example (also I think the sketchbooks of Chris Ware and Gary Panter apply). Perfect comic strips can be painstakingly rendered by Ernie Bushmiller, but they don’t have to be. Sometimes, they are made by Barry Windsor-Smith as a joke is all I’m saying. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

Noah Van Sciver’s FANTE BUKOWSKI

Chris Anthony DiazJuly 8, 2016The Diaz ArchiveNoah Van Sciver FANTE BUKOWSKI original art that was unpublished (first, second and fourth photos) and published (inside end covers, third photo) in the book. Plus, a chance to see how Noah colors partially on the original art before completing digitally on the computer. More of Noah’s work can be purchased at Fantagraphics Share this page: [...]

03/04/2019

Caleb OrecchioMarch 4, 2019NewsWe’re back! Thanks for tuning in! ————————————————————————————————— Caleb Orecchio here with a “process” post on my use of modularity in comics ————————————————————————————————— Chris Ware made a comic called Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth. The story was first serialized in various formats and dimensions (comic books and newspapers) before all the strips were compiled into the graphic novel published by Pantheon. Ware used the modularity of the grid to make decisions about panel placement, panels per page, etc. When every panel is the same dimension you can make choices about how two pages of a mini-comic can combine together to make one page of a graphic novel or how one newspaper page can make two comic book pages. The main idea here is modularity. I make a comic strip called Cement Mixer these days. I am currently serializing a story about the Arcadian huntress/hero, Atalanta. This strip appears both on this site and on my instagram page semi-daily. Eventually I want to self-publish this story as a standard-sized comic book. Here is how I make this comic a ‘strip’ and how I will eventually make this comic a ‘book.’ Below are the first three strips of the story published on this site and on instagram: This is how these three strips will look as a comic book spread (or at least this is what it looks like in InDesign right now): The spread comes first in the drawing process. Print is still king. But I am thinking about the web when making the spread so I started considering the first two tiers of each page as a section; a 1234 rhythm – one strip. This approach can be difficult. The challenge and goal is that the traditional zigzag flow of a comic book becomes optional when reading the work. My aim is that the use of diagonal/mirroring images and repetition creates an independent rhythm outside of the expected 6-panel page rhythm. I can code the sequences with color and use that as a guide for the reader. Sometimes I make the sequencing of the spread more fluid and amorphous to allow for more variation with the daily strip. To further the idea of free flowing/amorphous sequencing, I wanted the above spread to read across the page “out of order” if one’s eye so chose. So each tier could work as a unit. Therefore, in theory, I could have made strips by stacking respective tiers together. The challenge then is to depict actions in sequences throughout the spread in a way that does not disrupt the story itself. Do you follow? Below roughly illustrates the sequence variations I had in mind with this spread apart from the traditional way to read comic books. However, when dialogue or narration is introduced, this technique gets tricky. In these cases, to avoid confusing the reader with my gimmicks, I rely on the tried and true way of reading comics to determine how my strips will flow. Keep it simple sailor. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

03/27/2018

Aaron CockleMarch 27, 2018NewsAaron here today with KGB Easter Reading + Paper Rocket Minicomics; Anna McGlynn & Hannah Kaplan; Yvan Alagbé; Comics Appropriation; Protest Comics; Sally Ingraham Birding Comics ————————————————————————————————— Annual Comix and Graphic Novel Night Spring is in the air! Join us for the annual Easter Sunday KGB Comix Night, a free night of live comics readings. Five local cartoonists will offer slideshow readings that are sure to entertain, bewilder, and amuse. Co-hosted by Robyn Chapman and Robin Enrico. Sunday, April 1, at KGB Bar in NYC. Readings by: Emily Flake, Katie Fricas, Alabaster Pizzo, Bishakh Som, Vreni Stollberger ————————————————————————————————— Paper Rocket Minicomics 2018 Spring Line Robyn Chapman is putting out 2 books, issue #3 of Colin Lidston’s The Age of Elves, and issue #5 of the Chapman-edited The Tiny Report. This is our most ambitious issue of the Tiny Report yet, with 60 full-color pages of minicomic reviews, interviews, and bibliographies! We have profiles of two groundbreaking, but very different, comic artists. We start with an interview with Eleanor Davis and an overview of her early minicomic work. And we follow that with Haleigh Buck’s in-depth interview with Mike Diana, the first American artist to be convicted of obscenity. We also have a bunch of minicomic reviews by Robyn Chapman and Robin Enrico. And as always, we chronicle the output of micro-publishers in the Micro-Press Yearbook fold-out. ————————————————————————————————— Anna McGlynn and Hannah Kaplan in Philadelphia. ————————————————————————————————— A Comic Book Artist Who Makes the Invisible Visible Tobias Grey on the newly translated Yvan Alagbé book, Yellow Negroes and Other Imaginary Creatures. France has continued to shape its former African colonies in its own image by erasing the past as it sees fit. In “Yellow Negroes” he reported on a collective of undocumented workers striking in Montreuil who put up a photograph of Thomas Sankara, Burkina Faso’s revolutionary president from 1983 to 1987, in the window of their headquarters. Inserting himself into the narrative, Mr. Alagbé remarked that when he once looked up Sankara’s name in France’s famous Larousse dictionary there was no entry for him. However there was an entry for Blaise Compaoré who led the 1987 coup d’état during which Sankara was assassinated. “I thought that was incredibly violent,” Mr. Alagbé said. “Not only was Sankara assassinated but he was also erased from French history.” ————————————————————————————————— At the Mountains of Madness Austin English continues a strong run of art/comics essays: Let’s make no mistake though: cartooning, artistically speaking, is doing fine without the validation of museums or influential art writers. It’s part of the hard to explain magnetism this medium has for the artists who devote themselves to it. ‘Ok, the offer, as I understand it, is I devote myself to this medium, trying to decipher its complexities, accepting how complicated and demanding it is… and in return, you’re giving… nothing? No money, no acceptance or consideration from the world at large. Sounds good to me!’ As silly as this sounds, this describes countless artists involved in this field, all making work using the full power of their hearts and minds. Is this part of what makes cartooning so beautiful, its lack of prestige or ‘career’ path, thus enforcing an art for art’s sake default mode? Perhaps. But art can provide important things to the public. Cartooning may be doing fine on its own, but I do think those who appreciate art (and whose only understanding of how to experience the story of art is to go to institutions to self-educate) might benefit a good deal from a confrontation with cartooning on the walls of their favorite museum. ————————————————————————————————— Be Heard! A Comic For Student Rights From CBLDF & NCAC “Whether students choose to participate in this national movement or not, whether they walk out into the hallway or march to their Senator’s office, whether they wear orange or write an op-ed for the school paper, this moment is the ultimate First Amendment lesson,” said Abena Hutchful, coordinator of NCAC’s Youth Free Expression Program and Kids’ Right to Read Project. “We hope that teachers will engage with their students in productive ways and we want to make sure that students know what is–and is not–protected protest speech in schools.” ————————————————————————————————— How to Take Pictures of Birding CW News contributor Sally Ingraham has a short comic posted at the American Birding Association blog, a preview of a longer piece in the upcoming issue of Birding. Congrats, Sally! ————————————————————————————————— Vision Box – 3-27-2018 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 3-27-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

04/24/2017

Posted on April 23, 2017April 23, 2017 by Caleb Orecchio

Caleb Orecchio here with projects and new work from Jim Rugg, Dash Shaw, Bill Wehmann, and Alan Moore to start the week.
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Jim Rugg will be signing his brand new Image-released Street Angel: After School Kung Fu Special in Pittsburgh at The Phantom of the Attic, Wednesday the 26th from 4 to 7pm.

Rugg is a cartooning and book-making master, and his design background really shines through in a big way with this book. When I opened up an advanced copy of After School Kung-Fu Special, my eyes dilated and my brain blew out the back of my head. The complete technical control he has over his craft goes unparalleled except by the cartoonists whose names are synonymous with the medium. But don’t take my word for it, here’s a review coupled with an interview with Rugg by Geeked Gods here.

Order Street Angel: After School Kung Fu Special from your local comic book store.

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Also in Pittsburgh, Dash Shaw will be rolling in for a sneak preview of his animated film, My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea on Tuesday the 25th. Details here.

Look for his film coming to an area near you!

And check out Dash’s riff on René Laloux’s Fantastic Planet over on Criterion.com

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Pittsburgh cartoonist, Bill Wehmann has an interesting comics-related project over on his site called “Death by Comics.”

Whether the story is fact or fiction is irrelevant because the sentiments and emotions ring true through the entire history of the comic-book industry.

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Pittsburgh again. Over the weekend, it seems that The Toonseum held a comics award ceremony where Ed Piskor won a NEMO Award for “Excellence in the Cartoon Arts.” The ceremony took place at The ToonSeum’s fundraiser K-Blam! 2017. Caitlin Rose Boyle also won a NEMO Award for “Emerging Talent”.

Ed’s show at The ToonSeum – “Hermetically Sealed” – will be up through May 21st 2017.

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Around the 12-minute mark, the boys over at the Comic Books Are Burning In Hell podcast recently had some thoughts on the final issue of Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows’ Lovecraft epic, Providence.

I really, really enjoyed Providence, Moore’s latest and probably last graphic novel. It stands among his greatest works like Watchmen, From Hell, Miracleman, V for Vendetta, etc. Once considered the greatest comics writer (though he still is, as far as writers who don’t draw go), Moore’s reputation has gone down the toilet for a lot of folks. It’s a shame. He’s been screwed over by cooperate shadow-people and shunned by finicky readers. Now he’s leaving comics for good and it’s probably too late to apologize.

If you’re late to the game, ask your local comic shop about getting Providence Act I, a hardback collecting the first four issues.

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Blinkers – 4-24-2017 – by Jack Brougham

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Suzy and Cecil – 4-24-2017 – by Gabriella Tito

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Joanie and Jordie – 4-24-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Alan Moore, bill wehmann, caleb orecchio, Dash Shaw, Ed Piskor, gabriella tito, jack brougham, Jim Rugg

Caleb Orecchio

Posted on April 23, 2017April 23, 2017

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07/20/2017

Sally IngrahamJuly 20, 2017NewsSally here with comics and commentary from Black cartoonists on The Nib, work by Sophia Zarders, insights from Seren Sensei, and more. ———————————————————————————————— The Nib is running a series of comics called Revolution in Our Lifetime: Black Cartoonists on Life Under Trump. it features work by Ben Passmore, Shannon Wright, Keith Knight, Chris Kindred, Whit Taylor, Ronald Wimberly, and Bianca Xunise. Each artist has two 4-panel strips which stand on their own, but of course together paint a picture of individual but closely shared experiences. Above and below you can see excerpts from the strips – go HERE for the full piece. ———————————————————————————————— Check out work by Sophia Zarders – she is working on a graphic novel called Jesus Freak, and publishes a series of zines called Flossie/Dickie (above), among numerous other poster, mural, comics, and activism projects. ———————————————————————————————— On Nylon Seren Sensei writes about why black female critics are so important. She’s thinking about film, but her arguments easily transfer to comics, where criticism has long been the field of white men (along with everything else in comics…) Seren cites the clap back from black female critics responding to the new Wonder Woman film, which hit lots of marks for feminism but did little to combat “mainstream feminism’s disregard for intersectionality“, as Cameron Glover wrote recently for Harpers Bazaar. Seren concludes her article with this: “…not only does diverse criticism benefit tone-deaf white cultural producers, it also provides black artists with critique from people that actually understand their culture. The lack of diversity in critique has been a disservice to creators of color who often find their work bafflingly misunderstood, from restaurant critics to art and beyond. In a field that gives white creators far too much leeway and creators of color far too little, the rise of black women critics is a shift that will only benefit the entertainment industry—and its audience.“ Read the rest of the article HERE. For an interesting new journal of arts criticism from Black perspectives check out Arts.Black. And in the comics vein, Rob Clough kicked off a new series on his blog called “High Low Intersection” with guest writer Whit Taylor interviewing Miranda Harmon – check it out HERE. ———————————————————————————————— It’s the middle of the summer and a great time to go to “summer school” – check out thee Santoro School’s Handbook for Making Better Comics and dig into the project you’ve been dreaming about. Don’t wait! Do it now. Check it out HERE. ———————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 7-20-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 7-20-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

02/22/2017

Juan FernándezFebruary 22, 2017los Cómics / NewsJuan José con un poquito sobre #GRAFBCN2017; Chicks on Cómics video tour; lo nuevo de Inés Estrada; #GRAFBCN2017; Talleres de Narrativas Dibujadas del Club de Lectores de Cómic de Manizales Gerardo Vilches on the contemporary Argentinian Comics Landscape; Desiree Rodriguez and #BeingLatinxInComics; TARANTULA; CW Daily Comics. 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. Here’s all the info you need for #GRAFBCN2017‘s programming. March 3-5 at the wacky warehouse space, Fabra i Coats. It’s the ninth edition of the Festival so it should get pretty wild. You can sign up for workshops here: http://grafcomic.com/talleres Chicks on Comics has released a video of the exhibition they put together at Fundacion PROA, in Buenos Aires. This sprawling exhibition is open until this Sunday, the 26th. Can’t make it physically? Enjoy this little video tour! Wild child, Inés Estrada is dropping a bunch of comics on her site today Alienation #3, reprints of her out of print Alienation #1 and her comics diary of our Southwest Roadtrip. It happens today at http://gatosaurio.com El futuro del cómic pasa en parte obligatoriamente por Argentina, donde están ocurriendo un montón de cosas. Gerardo Vilches offers up an expansive vision of contemporary Argentinian comics. It’s a hell of a national scene report over on Revista Cactus. 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. Looking to lose yourself in pile of comics? Catch up/Dig into the TikTok Comics archive. Might I suggest you check out María Medem‘s Kinki Onírica series? ————————————————————————————————— Sharpen yerr pencils – Afilen sus lápices: El Club de Lectores de Cómic de Manizales, Colombia. invites you to a new space that they’re opening in the city, dedicated to the creation and study of comics. All are welcome to their Talleres de Narrativas Dibujadas. Their free weekly workshops happen every Tuesday from 2:30 to 4 PM at Banrepcultural. ————————————————————————————————— Hold on to your hats: TARANTULA is coming! Alexis Ziritt & Fabian Rangel Jr. & Evelyn Rangel are bringing you the psychoactive horror crime thriller you’ve always wanted by way of Adhouse Books. Pre-order a copy today! ————————————————————————————————— Announcing the Spring Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers! Frank here: This semester has a rolling start date – it will officially start March 7th but I will continue taking applications past that date. I will make it work for your schedule. Just apply! Applications received by February 26th will get 100 bux off! The course is 8 weeks long – payment plans are available. Many more details can be found HERE. Email santoroschoolATgmail to apply ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 2-22-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-22-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-22-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 2-22-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

11/13/2018

Aaron CockleNovember 13, 2018NewsD.Duck; FAFC (FSC) ————————————————————————————————— If It Looks Like a Duck Via Yohann Koshy at The Baffler: Dorfman and Mattelart do not impute conspiratorial motives onto Walt Disney. How to Read Donald Duck is a work of ideological criticism: it tells you what his comics do not realize they are saying. The absence of fathers and mothers in the Disney universe—there are only uncles, aunts, nephews, and nieces—serves to naturalize forms of authority, because the nephew cannot challenge his uncle as the child can their parent. The pursuit of money determines many of Donald’s misadventures, but Dorfman and Mattelart observe that there are no working-class occupations in Duckburg, where Donald lives, so “wealth is made to appear as if society creates it by means of the spirit” rather than by the exploitation of labor. Channelling Adorno and Horkheimer on the culture industry, they argue that the problem with Disney’s fantasy world is that it falsely reconciles antagonisms between child and parent, capital and labor: “All the conflicts of the real word, the nerve centers of bourgeois society, are purified in the imagination in order to be absorbed and co-opted into the world of entertainment.” ————————————————————————————————— French Abstract Formalist Comics (French Structural Comics): An Artistic Movement At TCJ, Kim Jooha updates an essay from 2016: I call this new budding movement French Abstract Formalist Comics. They are “Abstract” Formalist comics not because they do not show representational images — they do, and this is a critical difference between them and Abstract Comics — but because they show abstract narrative and study abstract and formalist themes, concepts, and motives. They could also be called French Structural Comics, because they are similar to works of Structural Cinema such as Michael Snow’s Wavelength (1968). They share a physical environment, geography, and period; artistic forms (style, aesthetics of comics); themes and motives; and formal as well as the structural features of comics, printed media, and visual art. They also share a community and platform. The prime example is the anthology Lagon, edited by Alexis Beauclair, Jean-Philippe Bretin, Bettina Henni, and Sammy Stein, all of whom are French Structural Comics artists, though not every work in Lagon is Structural Comics. (For example, Simon Hanselman was in it.) Editions Matiere, which has had the seminal influence on the development of the movement, publishes many FSC. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

10/24/2017

Aaron CockleOctober 23, 2017NewsAaron here today with Carolee Schneemann; Cathy Wilkes; NARC 2017; CAB 2017; Writers At Risk; Unquotable Trump ————————————————————————————————— Carolee Schneemann: Kinetic Painting, October 22, 2017–March 11, 201, MoMA PS1 MoMA PS1 presents the first comprehensive retrospective of Carolee Schneemann, spanning the artist’s prolific six-decade career. As one of the most influential artists of the second part of the 20th century, Schneemann’s pioneering investigations into subjectivity, the social construction of the female body, and the cultural biases of art history have had significant influence on subsequent generations of artists. Carolee Schneemann: Kinetic Painting begins with rarely seen examples of the artist’s early paintings of the 1950s and their evolution into assemblages made in the 1960s, which integrated objects, mechanical elements, and modes of deconstruction. In the late 1960s Schneemann began positioning her own body within her work, performing the roles of “both image and image-maker.” As a central protagonist of the New York downtown avant-garde community, she explored hybrid artistic forms culminating in experimental theater events. The exhibition considers Schneemann’s oeuvre within the context of painting by tracing the developments that led to her groundbreaking innovations in performance, film, and installation in the 1970s, as well as her increasingly spatialized multimedia installations from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. ————————————————————————————————— Cathy Wilkes, October 22, 2017–March 11, 201, MoMA PS1 Eschewing the framing or supports typical to exhibition display, Wilkes emphasizes a direct interaction with her work. There are no pedestals for her work; vitrines are inverted into open containers. As such, limited numbers of visitors are invited to carefully wander among installations whose boundaries are not always obvious or easily discernable, heightening our attention to the shifting relationships she creates between the various elements that comprise her works. In Wilkes’s practice, the process through which art transforms the commonplace has less to do with modern displacements of the readymade than with more cyclical, ancient systems of magical belief. “All objects can become transcendental,” she has noted, even though she feels there is “no need for someone to fully understand.” Wilkes’s art is best approached as a markedly subjective and singular vision—a private world that nevertheless evokes common instabilities and human vulnerabilities recognizable far beyond the confines of her studio. ————————————————————————————————— COMIC ARTS BROOKLYN NOVEMBER 11th 2017 New Location: Pratt Institute Curated By: Desert Island & Forge Art Magazine ALSO: ————————————————————————————————— North American Risograph Conference November 16, 2017, 10AM–4PM Chicago Design Museum 108 North State Street • 3rd Floor Chicago, IL 60602 ————————————————————————————————— PEN America Creates Resource Directory for Artists at Risk Via Maren Williams at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund: In light of ongoing threats to artistic freedom around the world, PEN America this week announced its new resource called the Artists at Risk Connection (ARC). The project aims to connect threatened artists with “emergency funding, housing opportunities, residencies, fellowships and grants, and legal, immigration, and resettlement services” for which they may be eligible. PEN America Executive Director explained the impetus for ARC in the launch announcement: Artists face backlash when they push up against intellectual, social, and ideological boundaries. While global campaigns and U.N. resolutions have been mounted to protect journalists and human rights defenders, threats to artists have gotten limited international attention. The Artists at Risk Connection brings together an extraordinary network of global organizations committed to augmenting the assistance available to artists who risk their freedom and their lives in the name of creative expression. ————————————————————————————————— The Unquotable Trump by R. Sikoryak Cartoonist R. Sikoryak (Terms & Conditions, Masterpiece Comics) draws upon the power of comics and satire to frame President Trump and his controversial declarations as the words and actions of the most notable villains and antagonists in comic book history. Reimagining the most famous comic covers, Sikoryak transforms Wonder Woman into Nasty Woman; Uncle Scrooge into Trump withholding his tax returns; the Black Panther into the Black Voter; the Fantastic Four into the Hombres Fantasticos; and more. Word for word, page by page, Sikoryak drives home the absurdity and the breadth of claims made by the 45th President of the United States. Cambridge, MA Saturday, October 21, 2017 – 10:00am to Sunday, October 22, 2017 – 5:00pm Miassachusetts Independent Comics Expo University Hall, Lesley University, 1815 Massachusetts Ave Brooklyn, NY Tuesday, October 24, 2017 – 7:00pm powerHouse Arena 28 Adams St. 11201, with Lauren Naturale Miami, FL Saturday, November 18, 2017 – 11:00am to Sunday, November 19, 2017 – 6:00pm Miami Book Fair Miami Dade College 25% of net proceeds from The Unquotable Trump will be donated to the American Civil Liberties Union. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 10-24-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown- 10-24-2017 – by Juan Fernandez —————————————————————————————————Joanie and Jordie 10-24-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

09/20/2016

Aaron CockleSeptember 20, 2016NewsAaron here today with the post-SPX malaise/norovirus update; Some upcoming shows of note; ‘We are Pepe/Pepe is us’; T. Edward Bak; Storyboarding for the movies; Seymour Chwast; ‘This amusing textile’ The Small Press Exposition was held this past weekend in scenic and sprawling Bethesda, MD. This is a big show, and each year it provides an overview of some of the best comics being made in North America, in Europe, and other parts of the world. There really is something for everyone at this show, some works seen this weekend of specific interest to readers of this news-blog include: Powdered Milk vol. 15, Keiler Roberts Roberts was handing out freebies in promotion of her Ignatz nomination for Outstanding Series, which she ended up winning on Saturday night. Congrats, Keiler! The Black Hood: An Anthology of Depression and Anxiety, edited/published by Josh Bayer, co-edited/designed by Mike Freiheit Including work by CW favorites E.A. Bethea, John Porcellino, Katie Fricas, Mike Taylor, Bayer, and a very remarkable list of fellow contributors. BLAMMO #9, Noah Van Sciver The time jumps in the White River Junction story were used really well, and reminded me of how Chester Brown’s Louis Riel jumped around in random places. Van Sciver is consistently doing high level comics, and this issue is a really nice chronicle of work. The Shirley Jackson Project, edited by Robert Kirby Another terrific lineup of contributors here: Colleen Frakes, Robert Triptow, Jennifer Camper, Eric Orner, Josh Simmons,Annie Murphy, Pinc Roq, Dan Mazur, Gabrielle Gamboa, Ivan Velez Jr.,Hannah Blumenreich, Maggie Umber, Asher & Lillie Craw, Jon Macy, W. Woods, Rob Kirby. Rob Clough was in attendance this weekend. He gave CW a quick peek of his heavily annotated map of who he wanted to see at which table, but we were unable to get a picture of it for the record. One of these years. Rhode Island Independent Publishing Expo Saturday-Sunday, September 24-25, Providence, RI Paper Jam Small Press Festival 6 Saturday, October 1, Bushwick, NY Indigenous Comic Con Friday-Sunday, November 18-20, Albuquerque, NM Furie on Pepe Abraham Riesman talks with Matt Furie about the Pepe meme phenomenon: Furie says people email him Pepes “retty much everyday.” “Someone just sent one that was based on a quote I said at a comic convention panel,” he adds. “Something about a new frog in town and it had ‘Dat Boi’” (referring, of course, to the year’s best meme so far). That said, he doesn’t seek Pepes out. “I don’t sit there and trip out on Pepe all day like you seem to think,” he says. “I’m just a normal guy trying to connect with people and have a good time.” He doesn’t seem that interested in discussing the other characters and comics, either. “They are what they are: just weird comics about a bunch of weird fraggles hanging out in mysterious nothingness,” he says. I ask him if he sees any sadness in the quartet’s gross lives and his reply is blunt: “No, they are just dumb cartoons.” T. Edward Bak has an essay comic about family history at High Country News In a dream that follows my grandfather’s death, everyone is familiar but I recognize no one. Passengers drift on and off the train as it wends through the prairie. The dream unfolds as a temporally distorted vignette, like a comic strip. My grandfather’s death seems a strange plotline, half-remembered. Storyboarding Blood Simple …photographer Grant Delin created a video that compares scenes from the film to their original storyboards. Featuring commentary by the Coens, Sonnenfeld, and actor Frances McDormand, this fascinating glimpse at their creative process highlights the careful planning that went into the film’s construction. The 160th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016 at 7pm at Parsons The New School for Design, 2 West 13th Street, in the Bark Room (off the lobby). Free and open to the public. Seymour Chwast on GOD WAR SEX P.W. Herman at Brooklyn Museum This amusing textile was clearly manufactured as a commercial tie-in for Paul Reubens’ enormously successful TV show Pee-Wee’s Playhouse that aired from 1986-1990. The show was designed by Wayne White, Gary Panter, Craig Bartlett, and others, and this brightly printed textile faithfully depicts the characters and props of this wildly inventive program. Manufactured commercial product tie-ins to motion pictures and television programs are almost as old as the media. The acquisition of this textile helps to explain the myriad impetuses for the production of textiles and to elucidate the taste and preoccupations of a specific historical moment. The actual printer of this textile is not known, but the company was formulated specifically to manufacture promotional souvenirs. Posted by Barry R. Harwood, Lark Morgenstern, and Caitlin Crews. Share this page: [...]

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