Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in los Cómics, NewsTagged caleb orecchio, sally ingraham

Juan Fernández

Posted on May 3, 2017May 3, 2017

Explore

06/10/2016

Sally IngrahamJune 10, 2016NewsFrom Sally to you – interviews, reviews, and Rowhouse mischief. Dig in! ————————————————————————————————— The Rowhouse had a special guest this week – samurai ninja badass cartoonist Lale Westvind stopped by on her way to CAKE in Chicago. She spent an evening digging into Frank’s library, and somehow simultaneously drew four pages of a new comic, all the while sharing stories about her cross-country motorcycle adventures. You can catch up with her yourself at CAKE this weekend (table 42b), or if you’re not in Chicago, check out a nicely coincidental interview with Lale here on the Comics Workbook site – follow the link below. http://comicsworkbook.com/lale-westvind-sometimes-an-overgrown-golf-course-will-do/ ————————————————————————————————— Speaking of CAKE, there are lots of brilliant books debuting at the show. I’m particularly excited about Hip Hop Family Tree Vol. 4 by Ed Piskor. Here’s the whole list! ————————————————————————————————— Over on The Comics Journal RJ Casey reviewed Ben Sears‘ new book Night Air (Koyama Press, 2016). “I’m nostalgic for things not beholden to nostalgia. I want to read adventure comics without the guilt of knowing that the original creators died flat broke and drowning in menacing legalese. I want to laugh at jokes that aren’t slathered in sanctimonious pandering. Frankly, I’m on the lookout for fun comics with no icky strings attached. So thank goodness for Night Air.” – RJ Casey Read the whole review HERE. ————————————————————————————————— The Comics Beat has a review of Melissa Mendes‘ Lou (Oily Comics). John Seven writes: “Mendes presents a full picture of this family’s life, working with multiple perspectives in reaction to the possibility of getting a puppy, as well as Lou’s hang-outs in an abandoned theater with her buddies, the shady dealings that Eddie encounters at the pizza place, and the mother’s reminiscence of the simpler, more intimate life with her husband before her children came along. Mendes brings all these pieces together to present a family as a form of super organism that can be jolted or made buoyant be the way separate parts of its life fester or expand. The mundanity of a new puppy can bounce up against the desperate actions of a criminal to create the family dynamic.“ Read the rest of the review HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Around the Comics Workbook HQ, we’re still processing the successful first official residency that took place last week. Mahmoud Hashemi, one of the two fellows who joined us, sent us a detailed report of his experience which we will share more of soon. For the moment, here’s the light touch, in Mahmoud’s words: “From May 28th to June 2nd, 2016, I visited Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I went to work with Frank Santoro on Matt Conway’s game Homemake. Overall it was a great vacation because it wasn’t your typical beachside retreat. Rather, it was mounting an effort to renew creativity and productivity on Matt Conway’s longstanding project, Homemake. … Frank’s own creative methods have a focus on systems, especially jazz-inspired rhythmic systems, making them an exceptional fit with Homemake‘s motivations and goals. I was skeptical at first, but it worked wonders. This effectiveness may have been magnified because half of Homemake‘s vision was disparate moments, a grab bag of mental notes about certain aesthetics. This method allowed Matt to express all his thoughts and editors, like me and Frank, to come through, see the patterns a reader would want to see, and develop the most coherent narrative. Everyone wins.” Look for more from Mahmoud and Matt and Frank on the exceptional days they spent together here on Comics Workbook soon! ————————————————————————————————— Have a great weekend folks! – Sally Share this page: [...]

07/21/2016

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

04/06/2016

Juan FernándezApril 6, 2016NewsJuan here with your mid-week comics news fix. A pair of interesting comics events in the United States, MoCCA Awards of Excellence, Mari Naomi, Gabrielle Bell, Leslie Stein, Retrofit Comics Kickstarter in the final stretch, Rosarium Publishing launches its Indiegogo, the Picturebox Inc. bibliography. Let’s do this. ————————————————————————————————— Small Press events this weekend PMF 7 Building on six consecutive years of growing print celebrations, Baltimore’s Open Space gallery will present PMF VII, the Seventh Annual Publications & Multiples Fair, taking place April 9th and 10th, 2016, from 12 pm – 6 pm each day, at the Baltimore Design School, 1500 Barclay St. This annual exposition provides the opportunity to peruse, purchase, and discuss artist publications, prints, and objects produced in multiple. There’ll be over 130 local and national artists, and on-site programming all weekend. The fair is free and open to the public. There’s a killer line up of really raw work. Meghan Turbitt, Lala Albert, Lale Westving and Aidan Koch will be there among the throngs 😉 Learn more here. SPACE 2016 Now coming up on it’s 17th year, S.P.A.C.E. (Small Press & Alternative Comics Expo) is the midwest’s longest running exhibition of small press,creator owned and art comics. And Columbus’ longest locally owned and operated COMICS show of any kind. Long live the Rustbelt. Read more here. ————————————————————————————————— Gabrielle Bell Instagram In the age of fractured social media, it’s important to know who posts where or you’ll miss out on the beautiful writing or drawing they might do. Now you’ve got no excuse to be missing Bell’s off the cuff drawings. You can follow her here. ————————————————————————————————— Cheerleader by Mari Naomi Mari Naomi’s got a new one for you via Buzz Feed. Lot’s of eyes sure to get on this one. Smart use of the scroll and subtle visual punctuation makes this a satisfying look back on an unexpected friendship. Take a trip down memory lane and read it here! ————————————————————————————————— Retrofit Kickstarter – Last 2 Rounds Retrofit Comics is in its last TWO days of their Kickstarter campaign! They’re in the last rounds of their bout. You can help them win this fight. Support them to make it happen. The crop of books they’re currently publishing is really special. It includes titles by the likes of James Kochalka (Elf Cat in Love), the first Cartoonist Laureate of Vermont, Eleanor Davis with her an offering (Libby’s Dad), and Kaeleigh Forsyth and Alabaster Pizzo with a team up on Hellbound (here’s a process post from them about the “raw material” the book was sourced from). Also among the comics that may get loosed on the world, should the Kickstarter make it to the stretch goals, are works by Anya Davidson and Tyler Landry. Please support Retrofit Comics by pitching some funds their way, or helping to spread the word.Less than $2,000 left to go. Check out the Kickstarter and make it happen HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Time Clock Leslie Stein is back with the newest installment of The Eye of the Majestic Creature is back! Here’s a link to see some of the pages Stein has posted on tumblr, there’ll be more soon until Time Clock is out. You can snag a copy by preordering from Fantagraphics Books. The book will be out in June. ————————————————————————————————— Rosarium Publishing launches an Indiegogo As Retrofit wraps up it’s big push, ROSARIUM PUBLISHING begins to rev their engines. Rosarium Publishing is a publishing house founded by Bill Campbell that is a space of resistance to the erasure of diverse voices by a saturated public sphere of massive hegemonic media giants pushing the authors they want to the forefront of the market place.f …Rosarium Publishing was started with an idea; it was not, however, started with a lot of money. This has all been funded by the publisher’s day job. So, with the rapid growth we’ve been experiencing, it is now time for us to move away from print-on-demand, which, in the long run, is too expensive for any publisher to rely on, and have to move to offset printing. – Bill Campbell Read more about their campaign here. ————————————————————————————————— Awards of Excellence at MoCCA Fest Chosen by a jury of professional peers including Senior Editor at First Seond Books Calista Brill, artist Cliff Chiang, Editorial Director Charles Kochman, artist Mark Newgarden, and cartoonist, illustrator, and painter Lauren Weinstein. Awards of Excellence are given out to recognize the most outstanding work on view at the festival created by an independent artist. This Award of Excellence year’s winners include: Glynnis Fawkes, “Alle Ego” Pat Dorian, “Lon Chaney Talks Part 2” Shreyas R. Krishnan, “Becoming Rosie” Kate Lacour, “Vivisectionary II” R. Sikoryak, “iTunes Terms and Conditions” The SOI will host this year’s MoCCA Arts Festival Awards of Excellence winners in an exhibit featuring original art from their award-winning books. The exhibit will run from May 06-June 11th. More information here. For a full list of the works awarded recognition by the Society of Illustrators at MoCCA Fest 2016 hop on over to Comics Beat. ————————————————————————————————— The Classics The closing up of Picturebox Inc. isn’t news to anyone but it should never go forgotten. Nadel and company created an incredible publishing legacy and it is of vital importance that comics makers young and old understand the scope of what Picturebox accomplished with comics. Here’s a list of their bibliography so you can dig into the raw material yourself: Study up on the classics. If you can’t find what you want at Copacetic Comics, check your local library. You can thank Bill Boichel and your librarian in advance. Share this page: [...]

01/21/2016

Juan FernándezJanuary 21, 2016NewsHello world, Frank’s got your coverage of what has been going on with the Rowhouse so far over at the Comics Journal. Big things happening come February 1st… Bill expounds on the glory that is Kevin Huizenga’s Gloriana on camera in Bill’s Remedial Comics #1. Watch and and see what all the fuss is about. oh and did you hear the news? You can catch Deforge, Drnaso, Chippendale on the East Coast for their Winter tour! Holy shit is right. Chippendale will be on tour promoting Puke Force, DeForge will be on tour promoting Big Kids, and Drnaso will be on tour for his debut of Beverly. Check out all the details here. Paper Jam – the Bushwick zine/comics hang out is just around the corner and they’ve started announcing exhibitors. Loads of new work to check out there if you want go hang out and talk comics/ pick up some new comics and zines. Stay abreast of their tumblr to get the low-down on who’ll be setting up shop. Kevin Czap is first up to bat. Oh and last but not least, we heard it through the grapevine that Lenny the pug has been getting pretty down what with the dark days spent indoors in Pittsburgh. Maybe you could help cheer Lenny up with some love over at the Lenny Fan Club Mailbox? Share this page: [...]

02/26/2016

Sally IngrahamFebruary 26, 2016NewsEmil Friis Ernst offered up a new comic this morning, based on a text by Cathrin Peterslund… …and Simon Moreton recently posted his Hilltop Walking Comics (see the whole thing HERE). Drop yourself into two different wordless worlds, and find yourself floating in a cosmic pond or blustered along a hilltop ridge. Stay awhile, if you like. Then go lose yourself entirely in Si Fuera un Alma en Pena/If I was a suffering soul, a comic by Colombian cartoonist Jim Pluk – online HERE. After that, check out this awesome interview with Ronald Wimberly, up on Paste! The topic is Ron’s new comic GratNin, which is being published exclusively on the comic book app Stēla. He and Paste talk process (designing for a mobile-only platform), origins and inspiration, and what the heck a “Proust Knuckle” is anyway. Inspired by 80’s martial arts movies and manga, GratNin may strike one initially as more lighthearted than Ron’s previous work. However, while Ron admits to an indulgent element to the comic, he definitely isn’t just playing around. “As for GratNin specifically, I have looked at Sanpei Shirato in how he used genre as a tool to address social issues. I am also interested in continuing or countering dialogues on race, sex, gender and ethics that I have found in shonen manga. My goal is to continue the discussion with the manga vernacular, though I often just slip into my own thing.” Read the whole interview HERE. Over on Greenpointers there’s an interview with Julia Wertz which is also well worth a read. Check it out. She’s working on a new book about Greenpoint which will indulge her love for drawing cityscapes. “…I always enjoyed drawing random things and sets for apartments way more than I liked drawing people. People don’t interest me… things and spaces do, at least from an artistic standpoint.” She sends out a bit of advice to her younger self or anyone else who is considering getting into comics: “… just get to work. Don’t sit around waiting for the right publisher or the right pen or notebook, just do it. Start right now. The only people who survive in comics are those who truly love making comics, and if you truly love it, you’ll already be doing it, you won’t be wasting time trying to figure out how.” The new issue of Tender Journal was just released! This UK online publication is a platform for female-identified writers and artists, and the current issue features work by cartoonists Sarah Ferrick and Maggie Umber among other worthies. Read it HERE. And that’s our Friday morning comics news walkabout. Enjoy the weekend! – Sally Share this page: [...]

05/03/2017

Posted on May 3, 2017May 3, 2017 by Juan Fernández

Empezamos el día con unlocalizador de residencias; Liniers y Julieta Botto; Los Premios Eisner; Acción Cultural Española; Power Paola y Serge Bloch; Vanesa R. Del Rey; La Política Retratada; Alfonso Zapico y los tebeos de Comics Workbook.

—————————————————————————————————

Localizart.es
Infórmate sobre las residencias artísticas a las que puedes optar en Europa y América Latina como creador de cómics. Puedes utilizar el localizador de residencias y espacios para la producción artística en América Latina AQUI.

—————————————————————————————————

En un intercambio más que entretenido, Liniers conversa sobre cómics, literatura y sobre su propia editorial, la editorial común con Julieta Botto:

JB -Tu proyecto editorial es de cómic, pero, a la vez, pareciera que se acerca más al de libro de arte. ¿Cómo definirías a La editorial común?

L -A La editorial común no la veo como de libros de arte, la veo como de libros de cómic. Es una editorial de novelas gráficas, si se quiere, y de algunos libros de humor gráfico, pero eso es del mundo del cómic. La razón por la que comenzamos con esta editorial es porque la Argentina es una especie de usina muy gigantesca y muy poderosa de artistas dentro del mundo de la historieta, y muchas veces veía que libros de autores argentinos se publicaban en Europa, se publicaban en los Estados Unidos y no se publicaban en la Argentina. Es como si los discos de Calamaro o las películas de Darín no se vieran en la Argentina, me parece que estamos cometiendo un error cultural. Así que la idea de La editorial común fue usar Macanudo, que sabemos que es un libro que se vende, para bancar, por ahí, libros que son más difíciles de vender, pero que son mucho mejores que Macanudo. Y para encontrar ese tipo de material, buscar autores nuevos en América Latina. Traer libros de afuera que ayuden a abrir la cabeza al público argentino. Esa es un poco la idea.

Léela AQUI!

—————————————————————————————————

Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana:

Los Premios Eisner colocan siete obras con firma española entre lo mejor del tebeo. Paco Roca, Emma Ríos y Albert Monteys entre otros!
Atención autores españoles de cómic: Acción Cultural Española convoca a su residencia de novela gráfica en Angouleme.
Un diálogo dibujado por Power Paola con Serge Bloch para Revista Arcadia.
Vanesa R. Del Rey tiene 3 obras increibles en el Line Art show de Gallery Nucleus. Por supuesto, estan en venta!
No os perdáis esta exposición, La Política Retratada, que repasa la relación humor gráfico y política a través de 200 viñetas en el Palau Robert Barcelona si estas de visita!
Reseña de la segunda entrega de La Balada del Norte de Alfonso Zapico en 13 Millones de Naves. Otro logro gráfico-histórico!
Ya podéis ver la entrevista completa que le hizo Carlos Reyes a Carla Berrocal en la Plop Galería durante mi estancia en Santiago. El programa se grabó el 28 de marzo en Plop Galería, Santiago de Chile.

—————————————————————————————————

Suzy and Cecil – 5-3-2017 – by Sally Ingraham

—————————————————————————————————

Joanie and Jordie – 5-3-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio

Share this page:

Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in los Cómics, NewsTagged caleb orecchio, sally ingraham

Juan Fernández

Posted on May 3, 2017May 3, 2017

Explore

02/08/2018

Comics WorkbookFebruary 7, 2018NewsSam Ombiri on Nick Drnaso’s Beverly – plus other comics and news! ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: With Beverly, Nick Drnaso is clearly not making a story just to flex his muscles or impress us. Although there’s no mistake about it – this book is really impressive. However, all this – the complexity of the stories and the characters that are drawn mysteriously, in a sparse way – felt like it was done out of the necessity of being loyal to the ideas that Drnaso wanted to convey. Often in the book there’s a sense that Drnaso doesn’t let us look at the real problem that his characters seem to be vaguely aware of, instead blaming other red herrings, no matter how extreme they can end up being (like in the end of “Lil’ King”, which was easily my favorite story). Or for example, in the first story towards the end when a character named Tim walks into Rich’s office, Rich is upset, and we don’t ever find out the reason (at least as far as I know). I think the reason would make for a very unsatisfactory reading, and would really simplify things in a bad way. In “Virgin Mary”, Mary’s face is only shown at the beginning, and for the rest of the story it’s hidden. “Virgin Mary” is narrated like one of those crime investigation specials that air on TV, and this element kind of builds on something in an earlier story. In the second story, which is titled “The Saddest Story Never Told”, a character named Cara (who was subtly introduced in the first story) is watching an “advance copy” of a new Sitcom that is being test marketed. She is watching it with her mother, and the comic just becomes us watching the sitcom. Thankfully, it is not a gimmick that Nick Drnaso is implementing in an exploitative manner. That is to say, it’s beautifully mundane, but Drnaso isn’t just flexing his avant garde muscles at the expense of the story – he executes it with great simplicity. Because a TV is square and panels can be square, Drnaso just changes the size of the panels to match the TV, and the panel size remains consistent for the duration of the tape. The sitcom is really uninteresting and that’s what’s so great. It reveals a lot about the way Drnaso tells his stories. He isn’t rushing to brag about how cynical he can be, by being ironic and bashing how uninteresting the TV show is. Rather, he makes it interesting, but not too interesting, and I’m just speaking about the sitcom itself. Nevermind how Cara’s mother is desperately trying to project a more optimistic future for her and her children through this tape. The sitcom is actually engrossing! Drnaso somehow simultaneously conveys how uninteresting this sitcom is and makes it interesting. There’s actually an aspect to the way he draws that distantly seems to be uninteresting, but it’s not, in fact. It’s far from uninteresting. So later on in “Virgin Mary”, the way the story is narrated (again, like a crime investigation special) feels like a heightened reality, something that the TV show’s suburban dwellers usually watch, which ends up contributing to the way they see reality. That then becomes the story we are reading, both from the way it’s narrated and what’s happening in the story itself (innocent people are blamed for a kidnapping). To me, viewing the story this way automatically can be attributed to how in “The Saddest Story Never Told” there was a very little to indicate the difference between what was TV and what was real life. The only information I got, really, was that when it was TV sound was coming out of the panel instead of just being in the panel. “Virgin Mary” is such an amazing point in the book – it’s like a big cry being let out. And that’s just one part among six great stories. Nick Drnaso gives a very specific amount of detail, and the stories move along rather rapidly – my eyes automatically go from panel to panel, as the story is so clearly laid out. It might even be my hundredth time reading the story, but it keeps me engaged every time. I can jump into any section, and it’s just as easy for me to recapture the essence of each moment as when I read it the first time. It’s clear that Beverly was made to be enjoyable to read, and the success of the comic is, for lack of a better term, almost severe. It’s strengths are obvious when you read it, so I don’t need to go on praising it. You don’t have to believe the stories in the book, because the book believes them for you. – Sam Ombiri Get a copy of Beverly by Nick Drnaso HERE. Congratulations to Nick for winning the New Talent prize at the 2018 Angoulême International Comics Festival for the French edition of Beverly! Keep an eye out for Nick’s new book Sabrina, coming from Drawn & Quarterly in May. ————————————————————————————————— News of Note Shannon Wright drew the first Google Doodle of February, kicking off Black History Month with a celebration of Carter G. Woodson. Read about it HERE. Beyond the Longbox profiles Ronald Wimberly, who talks about the origins of his works, his thought process, and upcoming projects – HERE. There’s an interview with Robb Armstrong (creator of the comic strip JumpStart, one of the most widely-syndicated strips by an African-American author ever) on The Sentinel. Read it HERE. Check out this interesting article about the Peanuts character Franklin – it covers the backstory of his introduction to the strip by Charles Schulz, and his continuing history. ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-8-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

11/14/2016

Juan FernándezNovember 14, 2016NewsJuan here with the good stuff: Juan Fernandez on CAB 2016; Heidi Macdonald’s CAB recap; Ben Jones interviewed; Angela Stempel at the NY Comics and Picture-Story Symposium; Four takes on Noah Van Sciver’s Blammo #9; Eleri Mai Harris on the American election; CBLDF on Rayma Suprani. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡️I went to CAB with Jenn Lisa last Saturday. I had a ball and I wrote about my time here on the site. Seeing everyone come together in a gymnasium like that lit a flame that very few things are going to be able to stamp out in the coming months. I’m ready to face the coming winter. Gabe Fowler’s got the market place down to a science. So, naturally, I’m interested to see the ways in which CAB continues to evolve. Will it stabilize into being an amped up zine fest and wild style art book fair that focuses exclusively on the marketplace? Will someone step in to lend a hand to the team to develop some track of programming during the weekend or the week before? To return to it’s BCGF format. Does that matter? Who’s ready to step up to the plate? On the floor I heard some people discuss this being the last CAB. And damn, that’s a little pessimistic. For what it’s worth, CAB can’t be beat for a lot of reasons. Easy access via transportation. Trains, plains, buses, cars all make their way easily to NYC. For the most part either you know someone in the City or there’s an affordable place to stay for a night or two. The crowds are great. People are squeezing CAB into their busy Saturday. It’s just one of many things they’re doing so they bring an incredible energy into the space. Most people likely just heard that there was something cool with comics going on in that one church in Brooklyn. That’s a good place to be. Gabe’s curation can’t be beat. You wan’t to find the coolest books published in a year? You can’t do any better in the US than coming to CAB. Oh and people come ready to spend money. Real money. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡️Heid MacDonald shared her CAB Coverage over on Publisher’s Weekly. Her big take away was similar to mine: Though scaled down in Size, robust sales. Because the show was planned a bit later than usual, there were fewer debut books. Indie mainstays Fantagraphics and Drawn & Quarterly were represented by artists like Drew Friedman and Adrian Tomine, but did not have booths. Nevertheless the books that did make it sold out quickly, including several very limited editions from even smaller publishers, such as the third volume of Connor Willumsen’s Treasure Island, an experimental comic from Breakdown Press; and Charles Burns’ Free Shit from French art publisher Le Dernier Cri. Although the event served to spotlight the number of talented cartoonists who still call New York home, many of the same artists cited the difficulty of maintaining a small press comics scene amid the rising costs and rents of New York City. “It’s harder to have a scene when everyone is broke and stressed out about money,” Skelly observed. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡️ Ben Jones did a killer interview over on HyperAllergic with Nicole Rudick focusing on his recent exhibition at The Hole NYC. Very inspiring, very enlightening. It cuts across all artistic disciplines and argues for drawing as a fundamental practice in the 21st century. My words, not his 😉 Nicole Rudick: Are these paintings of new comics? Ben Jones: I want to give you the two narratives. There’s the concept of the show, which is hopefully how the audience perceives it and how I approached it creatively — to make a zine first and then to have a meta-art show where I’ve hung the “originals” from the zine. Typically, you’d show the originals in this way at a comic-con or a coffee shop or something like that. I intentionally wanted to present the show in that conceptual context, as a novelty. I took that to the furthest extent by adding the fake red dot you’d see at a coffee-shop art show, to indicate that the work had been bought. As a painter, I’m constantly chasing that magical, ethereal line or stroke or gesture that is half muscle memory or trance action. You get a lot of that with handwriting and with quick sketching. I’ve fabricated ladders and furniture and video installations that take months of concepting the installation and executing the animation. This is something entirely different — it’s a one-to-one connection with an idea or a drawing or a mark. There’s a narrative to a lot of these pieces and a linear way to think about them, but then we also get to think about comics and about the formal aspects of comics, because comics aren’t just linear storytelling and gags. There is a nuanced, visual-language fuckery that I think is important. Think of Saul Steinberg changing the way people draw in the 1950s or Robert Crumb in the sixties — there are one or two people who have really changed the way we think and draw and understand line drawing. So this is also me firing a shot across the bow. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡️ Have you seen Bill Kartalopoulos’s Instagram? He’s posting a lot of protest art from the last 50 yrs or so. Find something that moves you and research it. There’s extremely fertile ground in these images. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡️Eleri Mai Harris is coming back to America. Thank god. In this political climate, comics stateside need her more than ever. She’s got a new comic on identity, politics and patriotism over on the NIB. Don’t sleep on this Australian-American journalist and cartoonist. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡️ CBLDF on Rayma Suprani, Venezuelan Cartoonist’s Political Exile Rayma Suprani has long been one of the best-known and most fearless political cartoonists in Venezuela, but for almost a year she and her work have only been “in” the country virtually, through social media. After El Universal, the newspaper where she had worked for more than 20 years, was bought by anonymous supporters of President Nicolas Maduro in 2014, Suprani was fired in short order and eventually forced to flee to Miami where “I can be more useful because my creativity can flow without worrying.” Suprani had often skewered Maduro’s now-deceased predecessor Hugo Chavez and stood up to the oppression of his populist movement known as Chavismo, but journalist Cesar Miguel Rondon tells PRI’s The World that Maduro’s government is even worse: They behaved like punks on a street corner. You don’t have the rule of law here. Every single day it’s more openly the exercise of a dictatorship instead of a democracy. So, ‘we don’t like Rayma. Rayma, you should go.’ It’s as simple as that. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡️Angela Stempel on Picturing Worlds: abstraction, rhythm and “reality” in animated spaces. This Tuesday at the NY Comics and Picture-Story Symposium! In this presentation, Angela Stempel will present her works of experimental animation that explore abstract shapes, the dissolution of the physical form and of photographic certainty in narrative and non-narrative pieces. She will discuss her influences, contemporary work and how she deals with the representation of time and energy. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡️ Four Shots get fired at BLAMMO #9: Alex Mansfield, Daniel Elkin, Justin Giampaoli, Keith Silva blast through Noah Van Sciver’s latest release. Enter the dude zone, haha. It’s good to see a single issue of comics get unpacked to this degree. More of this, please! For the past decade, cartoonist Noah Van Sciver has been publishing his one-man anthology series, BLAMMO. Kilgore Books has recently released the latest in the series and we here at Comics Bulletin were so impressed with it that we knew we had to devote some time and energy into unpacking our reactions. Each of the following writers were tasked with choosing a single page or panel from Blammo #9 and use it as a platform for talking about the book as a whole. None of the writers read what the other was working on during this process (Ed. Note: Except for Elkin — he sees everything). As testament to the thematic unity of Blammo #9, the writers all ended up talking about the same ideas of spirituality, artistic integrity, and the human desire to connect. ————————————————————————————————— In case you missed it, our indefatigable Sally Ingraham started an eBay store to help out the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency and also her own comics-making projects. Check it out HERE! ————————————————————————————————— until next time! Juan Share this page: [...]

04/07/2017

Sally IngrahamApril 7, 2017NewsSally here to close the week with work by Anya Davidson, Lale Westvind, Cara Bean, Lauren Purje, Rebecca Roher, and more. ————————————————————————————————— Ryan Carry writes a glowing review of Anya Davidson‘s Lovers in the Garden for Daily Grindhouse: “Don’t look now, but it appears as though toiling away with too little recognition for far too long is finally paying off for superb cartoonist Anya Davidson, who is having something of a “moment”…“ “Set smack dab in the middle of New York’s 1970s heroin epidemic, this comic definitely wears its Serpico-style “police thriller” and blaxploitation influences proudly on its sleeve, but rather than wallowing in storytelling standards of days gone by instead filters them through a decidedly singular artistic lens to come up with a truly unique and instantly memorable reading experience.“ “Intricate without feeling forced, complex without belaboring its own cleverness, Lovers In The Garden is essential reading that will richly reward careful second, third, fourth (and more) perusals.“ Read the rest of the review HERE. Anya Davidson will be in Pittsburgh. PA, this weekend as a special guest at the Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo. If you’re in the region come meet her and get a copy of Lovers in the Garden. ————————————————————————————————— Lale Westvind is also a special guest at PIX this Sunday, April 9th, and she will have a new comic to debut there – Joan Doe the Drone Pilot and Mary the Drone! Check it out at PIX, and catch Lale at a Comics Workbook workshop along with Connor Willumsen and Frank Santoro (4-5 PM – details HERE.) If you can’t make it to PIX you can pre-order the comic – ships out after the 9th. ————————————————————————————————— Cara Bean adds an important comic to the archives of Illustrated PEN – Rob Kirby is is the guest editor who presents it: “Her beautiful story, “The Art Class is a Sanctuary City,” is quietly defiant and political, but rendered with love and deep empathy. Reading it, my first thought was how lucky Bean’s students are to have her as a teacher. My second thought was how the work of teachers can go a long way in building inspiration, and battling against hate and fear.“ See the whole comic HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Heidi MacDonald reports on MoCCA 2017 for Publisher’s Weekly, writing that the show drew it’s largest crowd ever. Lots of pictures from the event and a who’s who of exhibitors and their new work – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Rebecca Roher has teamed up with gynecologist Dr. Aparna Sridhar to help share info about various types of contraceptive options. Birth Control Tales is an online comic available for free – you can find out about IUDs via this comic, and hormonal implants HERE. There are at least two more comics in the works. Rebecca is based in Toronto, and well-known for her comic Mom Body (2015), which you can read HERE, and read all about on The Huffington Post. Dr. Aparna Sridhar grew up reading Tintin and after seeing Mom Body she realized that comics could be a non-threatening way to share important info about contraception. She approached Rebecca to suggest a collaboration. The Globe and Mail has the rest of the story HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Lauren Purje has a regular comic on Hyperallergic (March 27th, 2017 strip pictured above). She is from Dublin, OH, and is also a painter. She is now based out of Brooklyn, NY. Her comic strip series delves into her creative practice and her collection of odd art-related jobs around the city. Check out the whole thing HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Dame Darcy is on tour! Catch her somewhere in AZ, WA, CA, OR, or NY in April – full schedule HERE. With Dame Darcy you get a lot of bang for your bux. Check it out: “Performance art / opera singing over home made trax plus reading and signing of Meat Cake Bible compilation graphic novel 500 pages of DD work for 25 years published by Fantagraphics. Plus other books, hand made prints, and tarot cards, plus tarot reading!“ ————————————————————————————————— Gloria Rivera shares thoughts on the work of Erik Nebel here on the site: “Erik Nebel, from a formal standpoint, uses the elements of color, scale, pattern (repetition) to create a connection with their audience without means of establishing “character” descriptions. We look to Erik’s images of fluid, moving, form-ambiguous figures across the page, with the only rigidity in their work in the sequencing across the template of three rectangular panels. It is a primitive instinct to read groups of figures as multiple persons when placed in the same space, so the setup of the comics are a defining line, implying a narrative. It’s a simple mechanism (the three panel grid) but without it, it would be a different kind of comic. If anything, the stationary structure of the grid enhances Erik’s graceful forms, and stark choices in color/contrast. Comics made for print usually see a loss in translation to the digital screen, but this is where Erik does their best to exploit the gap between the two. Nearly every strip they create vibrates between lines, flat against flat.“ Read more HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Lentil Soup A new baby isn’t keeping Lauren Weinstein from making comics – she is already back at The Village Voice with a new episode of Normal Person. Julie Doucet got her first retrospective at Fumetto – details HERE. We found a video on Facebook that gives a glimpse inside the show – check it out. Paste Magazine features Kim Reaper, a new comic by Sarah Graley – details and images from issue #1 HERE. Amadeo Gandolfo writes about a number of female cartoonists and other women working in the industry – lots of pictures and some good names to look up – get Google to translate it out of Spanish for you – HERE. Check out these sketchbook comics by Sarah Glidden from her winter travels in Europe. ————————————————————————————————— As mentioned, Comics Workbook will be at the Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo on Sunday, April 9th. We will be hosting a workshop series with instructors from the school – Frank Santoro, Juan Fernandez, Caleb Orecchio, me (Sally Ingraham) – as well as special guests Carol Tyler, Lale Westvind, and Connor Willumsen! More details HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 4-7-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-7-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-7-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

02/24/2017

Sally IngrahamFebruary 24, 2017NewsSally here to finish the week with a very exciting announcement from the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, and loads of work from lady comics makers world-wide! ————————————————————————————————— The best news this week is that Annie Koyama, owner and publisher of Koyama Press and a comics community cornerstone, has donated an outstanding collection of original artwork by contemporary American cartoonists to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, in Columbus, OH. The collection contains over 250 pieces by artists such as Lisa Hanawalt, Theo Ellsworth, Katie Skelly, Noah Van Sciver, Eleanor Davis, Dustin Harbin, Frank Santoro, Gabrielle Bell, Hellen Jo, Kevin Huizenga, and many more. Annie has been building the collection since 2013, and donating it to the BICLM was her intent from the beginning. This collection speaks volumes about Annie’s enthusiasm for the medium, her ongoing support for the artists in this community, and the importance she places in preserving this vital part of history. As Caitlin McGurk, Associate Curator of the BICLM, says: “What Annie Koyama has done for us is unprecedented, forward-thinking, and remarkable. Most cartoonists in this community make a livelihood by selling their original art to private collectors, which makes it more difficult for public research facilities like BICLM to obtain these essential works. Annie has not only supported these cartoonists, but has solidified their legacy by placing the collection at OSU where it can be preserved, accessed, and enjoyed for generations to come.“ The collection will be on view at the BICLM from May 6, 2018 – Sunday, October 21, 2018, coinciding with Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC). I can’t wait to see it! ————————————————————————————————— Gabrielle Bell has a new comic on VICE called The Nicest Dog – check out the first page above and the rest HERE. Her new book – Everything is Flammable – is coming out from Uncivilized Press on April 18th. ————————————————————————————————— Melissa Mendes and Anne Elizabeth Moore team up on Truthout to continue a comics journalism project (formerly called Ladydrawers – check out the complete archives HERE). The series, as you can see above, will deal with the water and housing crisis in Detroit. Updates monthly. The first section is HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Em DeMarco‘s recent comic in the Pittsburgh City Paper is about immigration rights – which are in constant flux these days, it seems. In English and Spanish – check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Secret Acres has announced that they will be releasing Keren Katz‘s debut comic at TCAF this year. From the press release: “The Academic Hour charts the romance between Pothel, a disgraced architecture professor, and his student, Liana. Told in a series of surreal, vibrant vignettes, and set in a fantastic, logic-defying college of shifting rooms and secret performance spaces,The Academic Hour affirms how an intense, fledgling relationship can ignite the impulse for storytelling with unbridled, ferocious creative energy.“ Keren’s illustrative work has garnered praise and numerous awards – I look forward to seeing what she does with the comics medium. In stores May 16th 2017. ————————————————————————————————— Peas and Carrots More, more, and more hype for Emil Ferris‘ My Favorite Thing Is Monsters – Hillary Brown interviews Emil for Paste Magazine; NPR featured the work on Fresh Air, calling the book “dazzling”; and The Comics Journal published Part 2 of their epic interview with the creator. Lauren Weinstein is sooooo cloooose to giving birth, but part of her wants to keep the kid inside a bit longer – according to her most recent comic in The Village Voice…! Rolling Blackouts by Sarah Glidden is reviewed by Women Who Write About Comics. If you haven’t checked out the Women Who Draw database since the website crashed last year on day 3 of its existence, you should head over there now. It’s HUGE and it’s beautiful. G. Willow Wilson, who writes the Ms. Marvel comics, turns her pen to reviewing Angel Catbird, a comics project that Margaret Atwood is writing. Dig into it on Publisher’s Weekly. ————————————————————————————————— The Spring Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers is starting soon! The semester has a rolling start date, but it will officially kick off on March 7th. We will continue taking applications past that date – Frank is always willing to 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. More details can be found HERE. Email santoroschoolATgmail to apply ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 2-24-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-24-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-24-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 2-24-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

04/10/2017

Sally IngrahamApril 10, 2017NewsA report from PIX! plus a few other comics happenings to start your week. ————————————————————————————————— Sally here, still riding the wave of the Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo – I’m writing this after midnight at the Comics Workbook Rowhouse, where Connor Willumsen is holding court with some of the CW crew, and Anya Davidson and Lale Westvind are on their way over to close out the night. The comics community in Pittsburgh just keeps on getting stronger. This year PIX took place right in the triangle of downtown. The expo at the August Wilson Center was well attended, the ToonSeum was packed out the night before for the opening of Ed Piskor’s “Hermetically Sealed” art show and then throughout the day on Sunday as programs and panels took place there. Comics Workbook students and instructors led workshops around the corner at the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council building for local kids and adults alike, and hosted a talk by Carol Tyler, and a conversation with Connor Willumsen and Lale Westvind. It was warm and sunny where the three rivers of Pittsburgh meet, and the comics energy managed to lure away, or at least detour, some of the anime characters attending a nearby convention, as well as a few baseball fans from the Pirates game! Shown above from left to right, top to bottom…Connor Willumsen sewing a new comic together at his table; the “Do-be-do” workshop for kids led by Juan Fernandez; a Pittsburgh Comics Salon workshop; in front of the August Wilson Center; Lale Westvind in conversation; Bill Boichel purchasing an original art page from Anya Davidson’s Lovers In the Garden, with Lane Milburn and Lale Westvind looking on; Carol Tyler talking comics-making; Connor Willumsen doing the same; Carol Tyler’s workshop. Just a small sampling of what was going on and a tiny glimpse of who was there – more to come! ————————————————————————————————— Elsewhere New in the Diaz Archive – photos from Michael DeForge‘s Sticks Angelica tour, thanks to Chris Anthony Diaz! 11 O’Clock Comics has a great interview with Jim Rugg – check it out HERE. Street Angel: After School Kung Fu Special will be released April 26th 2017! Sequential State reviews Lale Westvind‘s Yazar & Arkadaş – HERE. Seth has a new show at the Richmond Art Gallery – April 9, 2017 – June 25, 2017 – which combines his comics with the music of Mark Haney. Details HERE. Pictures of Seth and the show can be found HERE. The Comics Beat has notes on a conversation between Frank Miller and Klaus Janson (remembering Will Eisner) which took place last week at the SVA Theater. There is a lengthy interview with Vanessa Davis over on The Comics Journal – check it out. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 4-10-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-9-2017 & 4-10-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-10-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

Leave a Reply Cancel reply