Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged alabaster pizzo, kaeleigh forsyth, Katie Skelly, Matthew Thurber, MVR4, rhode island independent publishing expo, sara lautman, Sparkplug Books

Aaron Cockle

Posted on May 2, 2016

Explore

09/24/2018

Caleb OrecchioSeptember 24, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on Jason Robinson’s Death Tramp no. 1 ————————————————————————————————— The premiere issue of Jason Robinson’s comic Death Tramp is a poetic fever dream of proliferating madness. The protagonist, whose sole companion is a raven not unlike Poe’s, plunges into a dark den of loneliness and destruction. Love has been lost, but the memory never leaves. The raven skrawws and our hero goes a step deeper into exile. According to the issue’s liner notes, “Death Tramp is a comics anthology of the strips, stories, and works of Jason Robinson. Issue One features the comic Skraww in two parts.” The first part was drawn as his final project for thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers. Rendered, as are all the course’s student comics, in blue, red and yellow colored pencil with an emphasis on the fundamentals of comics. Mirroring pages on a spread, symbolic coloring as oppose to literal, “L” panel formations, maintaining character model, rhyming images, holding the “camera,” etc. A really great, stripped down student work that shows an understanding of how to compose comics. The second part was made after the course was completed. Colored digitally with a similar palette but with more variety, and drawn with more confidence. Robinson takes what he’d learned from the course and cranked the dial up several notches. The backgrounds become more realistic and the narrative more nuanced and intricate. There is a more specific mood in the second part that gives prominence to the dark, foreboding downward spiral of the protagonist and the burden of the raven. “Skraww” is a poetry leaning comic. The author embraces the timing and composition techniques taught in the correspondence course that is undeniable and emphasizes the more “melodic” aspects of comics making. Robinson’s focus is on the images. We don’t need the words, but the words extend an olive branch and offer a deeper insight into the protagonist’s thoughts. Still, the images and the composition of the 8-panel grid give the comic it’s meter and narrative drive (1234, 1234). I think a lot of cartoonists who consider their work “poetry comics” draw images to lay under their written poetry, but to me the driving force of a poetry comic must be the composition and patterning of images. Robinson achieves this coveted poetic way of cartooning, and I don’t even know if it was an entirely conscious consideration. Though the resemblance to Edgar Allen Poe’s famous narrative poem gives me reason to assume Robinson was at least aware what was happening in front of him. Jason Robinson’s Death Tramp issue 1 is a success. Particularly in a formalistic aspect. This work shows an understanding of comics-making that most cartoonists take for granted, and takes advantage of the music of comics. ————————————————————————————————— 09-24-2018 – by Niall Breen Share this page: [...]

11/30/2016

Juan FernándezNovember 30, 2016los Cómics / NewsJuan con un poquito sobre The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey; GRAF Madrid documentado; Fotos de la Muestra colectiva: Ciudades Imaginadas; Berliac’s TANGRAM; Suzy y Cecil. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Pittsburgh, PA – 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. 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, quien estudió con George Pratt y quien a dibujado con Grant Morrison. Estamos ofreciendo compras adelantadas a un precio reducido. Sigan a Vanesa por Instagram – @vrdelrey – y http://vrdelrey.com/ ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Madrid, España – GRAF en Video #GRAFMADRID2016 resumido en este vídeo de @MIIS3RIIA con música de @afeite_al_perro y @golondrinamente. Si quieres ver lo que la proxima si quieres ver lo que la próxima edición del gráfico Madrid os ofrecerá no te pierdas los vídeos que GRAF grabo hace unos meses en Barcelona (y más). Estan todos en su Youtube! ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Rosario, Argentina – Fotos de la Muestra colectiva: Ciudades Imaginadas. Festival Furioso a compartido sus fotos de la Inauguración del festival, muestra colectiva ciudades imaginadas a cargo de: Feli Pablo, Bruno Crispino, Estefania Clotti, Guardabosques y Juan Vegetal y presentación de la Editorial Furiosa 8/11 Ph: Paganini Conforti. Dale un vistazo! ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Berlin, Germany – Berliac’s TANGRAM is now for sale! los detalles: 16 pages 29,7 x 21 cm (A4) Duotone Risograph on newsprint Published by FOSFATINA (Spain) 6€ BUY IT HERE: http://berliac.tictail.com/product/tangram ————————————————————————————————— ⚡️Comics Workbook ha anunciado el semestre de invierno del Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers – el curso empieza Dec. 29th 2016! Curso de 8 semanas – 500 dolares – 10 estudiantes – presentate para el curso antes del Dec. 13th 2016 y recibiras un descuento de $100! Email santoroschoolATgmail for more details. Direcciones para la Solicitud de Ingreso al Santoro School : -3 figure drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards -3 landscape drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards -3 still life drawings done on blank 3 x 5 cards -draw in a contour line style – Think Matisse – no under-drawing – draw directly in ink -just send small jpgs of images – dont post to your blog pls -specific url links to any comics work you have done. Manda tus solicitudes a: santoroschoolATgmail ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Pittsburgh, PA – El comienzo de Suzy y Cecil Suzy y Cecil es una tira diaria, creada por varias estudiantes de Comics Workbook. Pueden seguir sus aventuras y su amistad en instagram: @Suzy_and_Cecil. ————————————————————————————————— hasta la proxima! Share this page: [...]

07/27/2018

Sally IngrahamJuly 27, 2018NewsSally Ingraham here with comics and news from Nick Fowler, Annie Koyama, Believer Magazine, and much more! ————————————————————————————————— Here on the site Nick Fowler writes about his recent Rowhouse Residency: “One of the most important things that was cemented for me during my time at the Rowhouse was the immense importance of environment. In both a social sense…and a more literal, spatial sense. The room at the Rowhouse had a bed, a table and a box of Love and Rockets (#17-28 if I remember correctly). And nothing else. Every day I would wake up and take two steps to the drawing table to either draw, or to read Love and Rockets and then draw. For the week I was there, there was nothing else I had to do. It felt like a splash of cold water on my face.“ Read the rest of Nick’s Residency Report HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Annie Koyama has announced that she is changing the way in which she supports artists. She will conclude her time as a publisher in 2021, closing the doors of Koyama Press. Her focus will shift to channelling her financial support and incredible positive energy directly into the hands of specific artists whom she chooses to be a patron of. She spoke to The Comics Journal about “switching gears”: ” “I will not tell the artists how to do anything,” Koyama said. “There are no strings attached. Once I decide to work with an artist, as I have always done with the press, I put enough trust in them and their project not to interfere. They don’t need my creative help, they need money.” How this next venture will work is still being formulated. Though the projects she supports will not be owned by Koyama, recipients of these “micro-grants” will be expected to fulfill their end of the bargain, whether if be self-publishing the project, offering a performance, or whatever Koyama and the participating party agree to. Additionally, the publisher expects to continue to pursue broader methods of support by hosting financial and business literary workshops and supplementing residencies. Her support will not be limited to cartoonists, either. Koyama recently supported a feature film and is already contributing support to projects with several fine artists. “I am choosing the artists because I like their work,” Koyama said. “I feel that they deserve a higher profile. I know that they can’t do it on their own. What I am most interested in is taking people who are known for one discipline and for example, helping them to try another discipline. For example, people who are good at drawing already but really want to work on a little stop motion animation. Or they want to go off and learn to play the trumpet, try sculpture, learn printmaking or start community art related initiatives.” Read the rest of the article and full announcement HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Believer Magazine has updated their website and built an archive for the comics that have appeared in the printed mag. Above is a page from Leela Corman‘s story Kraut – read the rest HERE. You will also find comics by Andrea Tsurumi, Ann Xu, Jennifer Camper, Anna Haifisch, and others. Check out the archive! ————————————————————————————————— Hyperallergic features an article about Carol Tyler and her new comic Fab4 Mania – HERE. Lauren Weinstein‘s Normal Person now appears at popula.com – here’s the latest strip! Mimi Pond also has a new comic up at Popula – Blind Dates of the Near Future. Jessica Campbell‘s latest comic on Hyperallergic – Musings About Life Today – can be read HERE. Anders Nilson writes about the process and responsibility of finishing a friend’s last book – A Bubble, by Geneviève Castrée (who passed away in 2016) – on The Comics Journal. Here’s an excerpt from Nancy Peña’s Madame Cat – on Paste Magazine. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 7-27-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

08/31/2017

Sally IngrahamAugust 30, 2017NewsSam Ombiri reviews a comic by Sienna Cittadino, and Sally goes on an adventure with Tarantula – in addition, we are pleased to announce the Comics Workbook-hosted workshops at SPX 2017! ———————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: I am thrilled today to tell you about a minicomic by Sienna Cittadino called Jeremy Meets the Forest Cow. [Editor’s note: Sienna is from Pittsburgh, PA, and made this comic for the 2016 Comics Workbook Composition Competition.] It’s a stupendous, charming, hilarious, and tragic minicomic. I’ve really only seen some of her one-off gags and one of her picture books. Those were great, but when reading this comic I was surprised at how amazing Senna is at weaving a narrative. When I first read it, the design of the cover made me think the “Based on a true story” was a facetious comment, or a gag, but the back makes me think otherwise when it says “A comic for Jeremy and all the girls.” This is relevant because Jeremy Meets the Forest Cow comes from a very real place. Writing “For Jeremy and the girls” on the back makes the looming tragedy, from which we, the readers, are somewhat distant from, all the more menacing. I also get a better idea of who the Forest Cow is, and this expands how I feel for the Forest Cow. For me, the comic’s strength comes from it alluding to only bits and pieces of the tragedy that Jeremy is running away from. These bits and pieces Sienna reveals to us, the readers, in a really lyrical and comical manner. When I first met Sienna (who is a teen librarian at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh), she highly recommended that I read Flannery O’Connor’s work, since I never had before. I don’t want to make such a thoughtless comparison, so I won’t make it any further, other than by saying how they both communicate tragedy with whimsical elements of humor and sorrow. I also couldn’t help but think of some of Leif Goldberg’s comics and drawings when reading Jeremy Meets the Forest Cow. The last panel, in which the Forest Cow is crying, really got to me. The only animal that has inflicted more emotion on me is Balthazar. I don’t know if the Forest Cow is crying because the Forest Cow won’t see Jeremy again, or if the Forest Cow feels really bad for Jeremy. So then not knowing which makes me even sadder, and this is what’s so great about the comic. I hope to see more from Sienna – of course I did before, but now my enthusiasm for her work has really grown. – Sam Ombiri You can read Jeremy Meets the Forest Cow HERE. Check out more of Sienna Cittadino‘s work HERE and HERE. ———————————————————————————————— Sally here: I was excited to find copies of Alexis Ziritt‘s and Fabian Rangel Jr.’s Tarantula at Copacetic Comics the other day. Published by AdHouse earlier this year, it is a nice little hardcover that explodes in your face the moment you open it. It’s pulp, and noir, and supernatural action/adventure as any description would tell you. There is a team of crime-fighters (led by Tarantula herself) on a mission to stop a satanic cult that has taken control of the government. There is gunplay and fistfights and house-scaling. There is plenty going on in it’s brief 96 pages, and while the script is bouncy and full of Spanish slang, it is Alexis Ziritt’s artwork that caroms the comic into happy chaos. I wouldn’t write off the artwork by merely calling it trippy, or psychedelic. Alexis Zirrit is very intentional with his coloring, and despite the ferocious pace of each page, the action is clear. Characters are relatively easy to recognize from spread to spread, and considering that there are bird-people and lizard-like beings, characters with geometric heads, and masks galore, this is pretty important. That being said, the shear density of the artwork does make each spread something of a bonus adventure to navigate, and while you will be compelled to crash headlong through the story, when you’re done the first time be sure to go back to the beginning and take another few moments to just look at the pages. Here’s one more to tantalize you. Now go and find your own copy of Tarantula and experience the rest for yourself! ———————————————————————————————— Alexis Ziritt will be at the Small Press Expo 2017 and will be doing a workshop with Comics Workbook (check it out HERE). In fact the entire schedule of Comics Workbook-hosted workshops at SPX 2017 has been announced and it is exciting stuff. Gilbert Hernandez! Sacha Mardou! Connor Willumsen! Audra Stang! Sign up for a workshop HERE and join us at SPX Sept. 16th/17th 2017. ———————————————————————————————— 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 – 8-31-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ———————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 8-31-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

04/13/2017

Sally IngrahamApril 13, 2017NewsSam Ombiri on Patrick Kyle’s Don’t Come in Here; Gloria Rivera on The Wandering Life of Sanmao; Ronald Wimberly at RISD. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: The first time I read Don’t Come In Here by Patrick Kyle I was glued to it, ready to see whatever, no matter how mundane, happen. From the beginning it felt like it had a lot of potential, and it delivered on this potential. In the beginning of the book, Patrick Kyle is creating empty space, and along with that he brings on board a sense of potential for discovery of this space being explored that constantly warps and morphs but then returns to it’s original form. Each page has two panels with every so often one page with just one panel, so the constant morphing is rhythmic – it’s unexpected but feels very right, and when it doesn’t feel right it’s hilarious. It’s a really funny book, like when the ghosts that appear are being really comically sensitive,and caring way way too much. It’s a wholly unexpected turn to the established rhythm and grounded boredom that has been taking place. The computer is maybe my favorite character, because the computer presents the most surprises. For the most part, the computer just says mundane things, completes mundane tasks, like loading this, searching this, except every now and then it suddenly surprises us, the reader. To the main character it just seems like a normal thing. Patrick said of his books before Don’t Come In Here, “All my comics were just drawing based, they’re just about doing crazy drawings, and that was it, the bulk of my early career is like my juvenile where everything was just about the way things looked. So I feel all my comics like Black Mass, my first book, was all about the visual impact of the whole thing and not really about the writing at all.” The drawings are not only being concernedwith the visual impact in Don’t Come In Here. The drawings are not at the expense of the story, they are working together in harmony. I myself have not read his other mentioned work so I cannot speak to it, but Patrick seems to be criticizing his previous work for them not being so concerned with the writing. “Distance Mover started the same way. It was just all about creating a visual thing. I really never thought too much about writing and storytelling much to be honest until Michael (Deforge) and and I were doing these series, that we call blank comics. Every issue has a theme; like a cop comic basketball comic, Pixar’s Cars comic, Christmas comic and so on, and we did a bunch of them, and the first one I did was just shitty and I kept going, and I was just getting into these really stupid topics and building little stories about them. I felt that really helped my writing out.” He later says “The images are secondary now or maybe there’s a balance between the writing and the images.” So then judging from what Patrick said here, and reading the book, it feels like Patrick is exercising restraint by only drawing a certain way, and drawing certain things, and not just going insane with the drawings and abandoning the story that he has set in mind. It very much shows! At times the character walks and then while the character is walking Patrick does what I read as just a joke of the pace and maybe the mood the character is walking, but then again it could just be the character shape-shifting, or it could be both. Because of the presentation, when change occurs it is, not so much unsettling for us as the readers, but we can imagine for the character that it is. I am really into the extra dimension Patrick adds to doing the most boring tasks. He adds the sense of a bizarre perspective to things like your food expiring, or having the thought that you’ve almost cleaned up everything only for the mess to resurface. It is stuff like that which makes me enjoy really excited about engaging with this medium. Again, the first time I read Don’t Come In Here every event that had happened, and that was going to happen in it despite how mundane, was exciting. – Sam Ombiri Get a copy of Patrick Kyle’s Don’t Come In Here from Copacetic Comics – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Gloria Rivera writes about Zhang Leping’s manhua The Wandering Life of Sanmao (三毛流浪记) for Comics Workbook: “The drawing of the original black and white comic is superb, and though never published in the US is completely readable through images alone. Except for signage and a handful of panels, the bulk of the comic is pantomime. Even the dialogue expressed between characters is drawn and not written! Although the relationship between words and pictures in comics should never be debased (as it may be in the show-don’t-tell school of comics) the silence experienced in this comic is unbreakable, and this is a comic that keeps you within its timing, only refraining for pauses of humor, a softness. Leping’s work is noble, leaving his reader in awe of how a man who has experienced so much can describe innocence as he does. This particular collection of comics has been adapted into color comics, animation, film and even live theater productions over the span of 80 years.“ Read more HERE and see a lengthy excerpt from the comic. ————————————————————————————————— Ronald Wimberly spoke at RISD awhile back but they finally posted the video of the talk online – check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 4-13-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-13-2017 – by Tyler Landry ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-13-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

05/03/2016

Posted on May 2, 2016 by Aaron Cockle

Sara Lautman; RIPE 2016; MVR4; Matthew Thurber; Hellbound Lifestyle Book Release; Katie Skelly; Last days of Sparkplug Books
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Sara Lautman is doing A Cartoonist’s Diary over at TCJ this week.

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Rhode Island Independent Publishing Expo: Application Deadline Extended!

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MVR4
School of for Poetic Computation
Wednesday, May 4 at 7:00 PM 11–15° Cloudy
https://www.facebook.com/events/774574382675480/
155 Bank St, New York, New York 10014
‘MVR is an event series focused on new forms of exchange between body and technology. With the decreasing size and cost of computer vision, digital components and advances in virtual reality, we are faced with a new awareness of the impact of current digital practices on the physical body. MVR provides a platform for learning and discussion concerning the new interaction between body and information, device, and action. Confirmed presenters: Kate Sicchio on live coding, performance and wearables; Pablo Garcia on drawing machines; Pamela Liou on technology, textiles, bodies and craft; Claire Kearney-Volpe on screen-readers and coding.’

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Curtainphonehorn, a show of Matthew Thurber drawings, will open May 12 at Weird Things in Toronto.

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Katie Skelly Comics
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Sparkplug Books
May 17th – Last day to place any online orders, including wholesale orders.
May 22nd – Sparkplug will be tabling at Linework NW with Suzette Smith (Ce/Ze).
June 11th & 12th – Sparkplug will be tabling at CAKE in Chicago, with Suzette Smith. This will be Sparkplug’s last show.
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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged alabaster pizzo, kaeleigh forsyth, Katie Skelly, Matthew Thurber, MVR4, rhode island independent publishing expo, sara lautman, Sparkplug Books

Aaron Cockle

Posted on May 2, 2016

Explore

MoCCA Arts Festival 2018

Chris Anthony DiazApril 12, 2018The Diaz ArchiveHeld during the weekend of April 7-8, 2018 at Metropolitan West and Ink48 in New York City Jaime Hernandez Leslie Stein and Jaime Hernandez Leslie Stein and Jaime Hernandez Leslie Stein sketched a beautiful watercolor in my sketchbook of cartoonists, only 10 pages left until it’s filled which i started in 2012! Hazel Newlevant and Julia Gfrörer Kevin McCloskey and Jaime Hernandez Jaime Hernandez Matthew James-Wilson Patrick Crotty and Jane Mai Patrick Crotty, Wren McDonald and Jane Mai at the Peow! Studio table Ann Telnaes J.t. Yost Gary Panter Jaime Hernandez and Marc Sobel Paul Karasik Mark Newgarden Mike Mignola Emily Silva of Fantagraphics Books John Cuneo At his Fantagraphics Books signing, John Cuneo sketched in his new book for fans JooHee Yoon is the cartoonist who did the beautiful MoCCA Fest 2018 program cover Robyn Chapman of Paper Rocket Robyn Chapman, Colin Lidston and Mike Diana at the Paper Rocket table Max de Radigués and Anna Haifisch Mike Diana Max de Radigués Gregory Manchess Jaime Hernandez Leslie Stein Gregory Benton Anna Haifisch Tom Daly Bill Kartalopoulos Liz Suburbia Share this page: [...]

Duets with Frank

Chris Anthony DiazJanuary 27, 2016The Diaz ArchiveAll Photos by Chris Anthony Diaz and colored by Graham Willcox. THEE chronicler of north american small press comics. Share this page: [...]

10/08/2018

Caleb OrecchioOctober 8, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with some brief initial thoughts on Andrew White’s Yearly 2018. ————————————————————————————————— What follows are some initial thoughts on Andrew White’s comic, Yearly 2018. I will write a more in-depth review later on. Yearly 2018 glorifies minutia. Every panel smolders and melts into quiet moments that are psalms of contemplation. There is pleasure in merely flipping through the book. Beautiful, soft colors make an arrangement of bloomed flowers that you can look at for hours. White’s compositional choices give the book weight. Each spread has something to offer separate from the stories they are part of. You can look at the spreads in any order you like and you will come out on the other end experiencing the whole without undermining the books integrity. White seems very comfortable, I see no hesitation in his cartooning. Yearly 2018 is the start of a new brilliant comic I will look forward to every year. More on this comic later. 10/08/2018 – by Niall Breen Share this page: [...]

06/22/2018

Sally IngrahamJune 21, 2018NewsSally Ingraham here with a look at Nicole Hollander’s “We Ate Wonder Bread”, and Abouet and Sapin’s “Akissi: Tales of Mischief” – plus other comics and news! ——————————————————————————— Sally here! I spend two days a week at Copacetic Comics, in Pittsburgh, PA, and between drawing and dreaming I read a lot of comics. There are an overwhelming amount of comics coming out all the time, so (with a few exceptions) I narrow the field for myself a bit by only reading work made by female creators. Here are a couple of things I’ve picked up recently. Nicole Hollander‘s ground-breaking strip Sylvia was in syndication for 35 years. It’s sardonic middle-aged protagonist, surrounded by her cats and her lamps, made her opinions known loudly and languidly. She is modeled after a number of women from Hollander’s childhood – friends of her mother and folks who lived in her apartment building. In Hollander’s memoir – We Ate Wonder Bread – she recollects those people and the stories they lived in the building that surrounded her. Told through a mixture of text and illustrations, as well as comics, Hollander’s memories flow somewhat haphazardly. They follow the loose chronology of how rooms in her family apartment were arranged at various times, what mischief her little sister got up to, what outrageous scheme her father was invested in, and who her mother was friends with. Her own hopes and dreams and confusions as she navigated the rough waters of the West Side of Chicago as a child are hilarious and endearing. You get the sense, when reading this book, that Hollander could be in the room with you narrating her adventures and musings. The text was engaging, but I did find myself wishing that there were more comics and drawings. You could almost skim through the book and JUST read the comics, and get the gist of the story. Hollander’s drawings are excellent, and I enjoy her storytelling through images – but with the text in addition, things were strangely repetitive in places. I find this very interesting, and have to note that it may not be easy for a visual storyteller who has written gag-based comic strips their whole life to switch gears and compose with text alone. Like I said, I wish there were a lot more comics in this memoir. However, setting that slight disappointment aside, as a memoir We Ate Wonder Bread is a charming read, and learning something about the context of both Sylvia and her creator is valuable and inspiring to me as a comics creator and a woman myself. Get a copy of this book HERE! ——————————————————————————— Another delightful recent read is Marguerite Abouet‘s Akissi: Tales of Mischief, with artwork by Mathieu Sapin. I am a fan of Abouet’s Aya books (which feature the artwork of Clament Oubrerie). Those comics feature a beautiful Ivory Coast setting and a wonderful adult(ish) heroine, with plenty of mischief and mayhem to keep you engrossed. Akissi follows a similar pattern, with it’s setting in the Yopougon neighborhood of Abidjan (Yop City) – however it’s heroine is a 6 year old girl, who causes more mischief and mayhem than I can quite comprehend. Whether she is making garbage soup for the neighbor baby, running a secret movie theater while her Dad is at work, trying to catch lice so that her head can be shaved (preferable to the tight braids her mother favors), or knocking her Grandmother out with coconuts (by accident!), Akissi is always in the thick of it. I laughed and cringed my way through the collection of 21 6-page comics, and found myself recalling moments from my own childhood (although I never got tapeworms or had a pet monkey). Abouet is a terrific storyteller, and Sapin’s drawings compliment her writing perfectly. The combination really brings to life the time and place, with well-realized characters leaping out of detailed backgrounds and the whole thing carrying you along at a voracious pace. According to an interview from April 2018, Akissi IS Marguerite Abouet. She was born in Abidjan and lived there until she was 12, so the vivid sense of place makes sense – so does the feeling of “you can’t make this stuff up…!”. Abouet said: “I think Akissi is like open-air theatre, where children can feel quickly gripped by her tales. She invites them to journey to an unknown country, that is so close and yet so far away from them, for a relaxed ramble in Africa. Children are impressed by Akissi and her group because they are like ‘urban superheroes’ trying to live in the adult world. She shows them that this is not easy, because living together and accepting each other are daily struggles, so it demands a lot of willpower and courage.“ I highly recommend this one! Get a copy HERE. ——————————————————————————— For the Record Whit Taylor writes and Shannon Wright draws a comic for The Nib about Shirley Chisholm – read it HERE. Michael Dooley chats with Esther Pearl Watson – on The Comics Journal. Episode 30 of Comic Book Decalogue features Laura Lannes as the guest – listen HERE. ——————————————————————————— Thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers Summer Session starts NOW! Floating start date! Apply anytime between now and July 12th 2018 to join the summer course. Email santoroschoolATgmail for more details. Ask about the Fall Course if now is too busy for you! The course is 8 weeks – 500 bux for 8 weeks plus access to Frank’s coaching for as long as you need. Payment plans are available. Put your summer to good use! ——————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-22-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

05/11/2018

Comics WorkbookMay 10, 2018NewsBryce Davidson here with thoughts on Chris Claremont, The New Mutants, and the almighty thought bubble! ———————————————————————————— Bryce Davidson here today, with thoughts on Chris Claremont, the New Mutants and the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Over the weekend I went to see Avengers: Infinity War, as I’m sure many other people did. I liked it. I even saw it a second time. I really thought it was a good movie. On the ride home a friend and I tried unraveling it to try and figure out why it worked so well, as we both agreed that it shouldn’t have. It was too big, there was too much stuff going on, too many characters, too many motivations, it was an absolute cluster f***. Even the nearly 3 hour duration shouldn’t have been enough to house it all. Now granted there have been other movie franchises that have operated on this level – The Lord of the Rings is the first one that comes to mind – but Infinity War feels different. Denser maybe? More tangled, web-like? Sure, a large part of that is the fact that its been built on by over a dozen films, but surely if that’s the case then Infinity War should have been some incomprehensible, jargon filled slog. But it wasn’t! It was great! And not just for big nerds. It was a genuinely good movie. So my friend and I talked about it a bit and I began thinking about the New Mutants comics I have been binging on lately and more importantly, Chris Claremont. I assume most people who read this blog are familiar with him. For the few who don’t he’s surely worth a google. At one point Claremont was writing upwards of 6 X-Men titles and spin-offs at once – each one containing god-knows how many characters. His writing has been highly praised for it’s complex narrative structures and endless sub-plot stacks. X-Men editor Louise Simonson, recalled about Claremonts’ writing, “that whenever he was at a loss for story ideas, “All I’d have to do was go through all of the plot threads that he had left for the last year or two (Grant, 1993).” Everyone’s favorite cartoonist, Ed Piskor also talks about this a lot in his work on Hip-Hop Family Tree and X-men Grand Design. A lot of it can be found HERE in his interview with Claremont for Paste Magazine. There is just so much there in those stories. The depth of the characters, the breadth of the world (or worlds) they existed in, and the delicate intricacies of how each part interacted with each other. It looked like a mess, at times it could even feel like a mess (intentionally though I think, as to increase drama and friction.) If I was going to try and describe it, it feels like zooming out from a microscopic view. It all looks odd and crazy until you see the larger picture. This is how they did it. This is why the MCU feels ok to me. It’s certainly not an easy task, but it’s all there in the Claremont’s work. They’re using the “Claremont Method”. Small fringes of plots that end up being (literally) universe shattering events would start out as small whispers in the background years before (Magik anybody?). Obviously the people behind the MCU aren’t stupid and have done their research. Sure, they’re pulling from lots of source material, none of which is really the X-Men, but the structure’s feels so similar to me that I hardly believe its a coincidence. On the other hand something interesting to note that I picked up on is how Claremont leans into the comic book form, which contrasts with how the plots are presented in the MCU. It’s called the almighty Thought Bubble. It’s a staple of comics, and a very effective tool. Like life, people think in an instant. You can have an entire conversation with yourself or recall entire events in a fraction of a second, a small slice of time. It’s why thought bubbles work. We can see how it’s used by Claremont in this page from New Mutants #1 where Daniel Moonstar finally summons up her courage enough to enter the Danger Room and fight some robots. There is a lot of character being fleshed out here that is exclusively told through the thought bubbles. Could this scene work without the bubbles? Sure. Would we know that she’s grown up in the mountains hunting and tracking animals? No. You can’t do that in a film, as it operates within time. Comics allow the viewer to slice up time into moments, where thought bursts like these can exist. Does that mean it’s trickier to write that it in film? Eh, I don’t know. More showing, less telling I guess. You do lose a lot of detail. Although with that said, I am genuinely impressed by how much they were able to pack into Infinity War. I would say there is almost as mush as Claremont can pack, though not quite. Either way I think it’s a good study on narrative structure and storytelling approaches through different mediums. I’m curious to see if the Claremont Method continues to shine though. – Bryce Davidson Grant, Paul J. (August 1993). “Poor Dead Doug, and Other Mutant Memories”. Wizard: X-Men Turn Thirty. pp. 66–69. ———————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

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