Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Caleb Orecchio

Posted on May 7, 2017May 7, 2017

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05/27/2016

Sally IngrahamMay 27, 2016NewsSally here with new stuff from Sacha Mardou, wise and funny words from Dan Nadel and Alexi Worth, clowns with Nils Balls, and a Philadelphia walkabout from Meghan Turbitt. ————————————————————————————————— Sacha Mardou has a double hit today on our news, with a comic she made for The Common Reader (a publication of Washington University in St. Louis) and a review she wrote for Comics Workbook. First up, Sacha’s review of The Complete Wimmen’s Comix is a rumination on an important and challenging anthology, recently collected into a two volume set by Fantagraphics. “Reading the two-volume release of The Complete Wimmen’s Comix made me think about those sort of cultural assumptions and blank spots. The first volume in particular feels like a powerful raw gust of real comics history. … Another aspect that occurs to me is that volume one is essentially my mother’s generation making those comics (I was born in ’75) which makes the lack of respect for cultural niceties and cartooning norms seem even more punk rock and revelatory, as well as being somewhat nostalgic. It reminds me of looking though my aunt’s closet in the early 1980’s and finding all her old platform shoes and boots. My childish trespassing got me yelled at after the event, but I’m glad to own that childhood memory of trying on and walking around in those beautiful and weird, too-big-for-me ‘space’ shoes.” Read the rest of Sacha’s review HERE. For a different look at The Complete Wimmen’s Comix, check out this in-depth review by Alex Duebin on The Comic’s Journal from March 2016. Well, I say “review”, but it includes conversations conducted via phone, skype, google chat, and e-mail over a period of a year or so with many of the women who made comics for the anthology – a true “oral history”, well worth a gander. ————————————————————————————————— Sacha Mardou’s comic for The Common Reader (above) was published in “The Aging Issue”. It feels very, very real somehow…! ————————————————————————————————— Art in America published a followup to Dan Nadel‘s killer essay on Paper Radio recently. It’s a conversation between Dan, Alexi Worth (who wrote an article in January for A.i.A about Jack Kirby’s superhero art) and A.i.A‘s editor Julia Wolkoff. They dig into the complexities of comics, and more specifically, the intentional and accidental wonders that appeared under a culture of crushing deadlines. As Alexi Worth describes: “The earlier comics artists were, for the most part, pencil serfs. Kirby began as an inbetweener for film, and much of the work he produced early on wasn’t credited at all. But there was something productive and interesting about the lack of art expectations. Kirby was reflexively creative. And his creativity was, somehow, enabled by the ruinous deadlines and enormous production demands of the industry. At one point he was pretty much drawing all of Marvel himself—one guy. Instead of making him more of a hack, it made him more of an artist.“ Dan Nadel breaks out some more stories about the Paper Radio guys – Benjamin Jones and Christopher Forgues, or CF – whom he continues to call “the two most important cartoonists of their generation.” “One famous story: they sent Gary Panter, who was their artist spirit-god, one of their early zines that was baked in chocolate. Gary thought it was LSD and immediately threw it away. It’s one of the only copies of that work they made.“ It’s good stuff – check out the whole discussion HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Nils Balls is staying on top of the Pittsburgh City Council with his comic reports for The Glassblock – see above and more HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Meghan Turbitt released her Philadelphia Sketchbook this week! Developed for Comics Workbook between 2015-2016, it features full-color sketches of her varied adventures and the details that caught her eye around the city during that period. Get a glimpse at more pages here, and a copy for yourself HERE! ————————————————————————————————— See you knocking round the universe next week folks! Cheers – Sally Share this page: [...]

11/10/2017

Sally IngrahamNovember 9, 2017NewsSally here with Cricket magazine, work by Madeleine Witt and Audra Stang, your CAB reminder, and tons more comics and news! ————————————————————————————————— There is an article about the “secret history of Cricket magazine” on Electric Literature. Written by A. J. O’Connell, it details the creation and life of the beloved children’s magazine, with insights from founder Marianne Carus, quotes from long time art director Trina Schart Hyman (my FAVORITE illustrator as a child), and lots of love from authors and illustrators who read the magazine when they were kids. I myself found Cricket in my local library and enjoyed every new issue I read – and was lucky in that the library had an archive of many of the old issues. It was the very best sort of magazine, full of stories and glorious illustrations by the greatest working creators of the time – and it never really felt like it was “for kids” – which was Marianne Carus’ goal, after all. She felt like kids could handle stories that were darker, that might make you cry, just as well as funny, lighthearted stuff. Like many others, I was inspired by Cricket to make my own “magazine” and published some of the stories I wrote along with illustrations for my family. Read all about Cricket HERE. Trina Schart Hyman was a Caldecott Medal winner for her work on St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges, and earned a couple of Caldecott Honors as well. I adored her fairy tale illustrations and wrote her a long letter when I was 11 or 12 (and received a lovely response and an autographed book in return). I think I didn’t know that she was the art editor for Cricket magazine until later – I just knew that her illustrations showed up in the magazine frequently. I also didn’t really understand that the SAME Trina Schart Hyman drew the Cricket and Ladybug comic in the magazine. Each issue had a four-panel strip, and additionally the characters Cricket, Old Cricket, Ladybug, and Sluggo would scamper and scurry throughout the magazine, popping up to comment on the stories or merely harass each other for a moment. ” “ just had such a wonderful way of drawing them,” said Leonard. “They served as explanation of difficult words so if there was a vocabulary word that might stop a kid reader the crickets would explain what that word meant. They also had their own little life in the four-block cartoon.” “ They were great, and a big part of what made the magazine beloved to me and so many others. Again, read all about it HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Madeleine Witt has been making a comic a day this month. She and a number of others I know are doing the “30 Days of Comics” challenge that was begun by Derik Badman in 2009 or 2011 (depending on how you count it). Madeleine’s take on the challenge offers a good insight into why things like this can be good for creators: “I’ll be drawing 1 comic a day for the month of November. I admire & bless all those who draw a comic a day EVERY day, but especially for people who can be paralyzed by internal expectation (me) / aren’t sure of their voices (also me, particularly circa 2014), Novembers have been a fruitful time to experiment and grow. If you’re a young cartoonist or an old cartoonist or a not-yet-cartoonist looking to explore an artistic practice, I think November is a very good time to pick some constraints and try doing 1 thing a day for a little while. Big general caveat: This sort of thing is not healthy for everyone—you know yourself & your needs and please don’t do this if it isn’t be healthy for you! Everyone please care for yourselves! Thank you! Goodbye!“ I like that Madeleine has expanded the context of the challenge beyond just “draw a comic everyday” to include formal restraints. She suggests picking colors, medium, panel setup, or subject matter and then sticking to those choices for the whole month. From my own experience over the past year of drawing a Suzy & Cecil comic every other day, I can vouch for the freedom and creative rush that (perhaps surprisingly) comes from forced structure, discipline, and regularity. I like the work that Madeleine has been making – you can see all of it HERE. The hashtag #30dayscomics will lead you to more work, both on Instagram and Twitter, and you can follow the 30 Days of Comics Tumblr to keep up with many of this year’s participants. Audra Stang is another cartoonist who is releasing her latest comic in this fashion (hot on the heels of the comic she made during the month of October – not necessarily for “Inktober”…!) Her comics all exist within the world and lengthy timeline of “Star Valley”, and this current story catches up with her character Owen (who appeared in last month’s Little Minnow, as a significantly younger version of himself – read that story HERE) and the irrepressible Adelaide, last seen, briefly, a year ago in Secret Knowledge and in April 2008 (in April 2016). Read the new story so far HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Katie Ball a.k.a. Katbus has a new endeavor – My Lucky Sticker Book is a monthly newsletter that showcases sticker artists from around the world. You can check out issue #4 – Halloween edition! – HERE, and subscribe to the newsletter HERE. Katie is putting together an extra large issue for release in late November, and has sent out the message that if YOU include sticker-making in your bag of tricks, and would like some hype leading into the holiday season, let her know! She will finish compiling her list around the 25th, so send her your website and details about your stickers if you want to be listed. Write to Katie at katie.brawl@gmail.com ————————————————————————————————— Katie Fricas has a “cartoon scrapbook” detailing the first year of Trump’s presidency on The Guardian – read the whole thing HERE. ————————————————————————————————— If you’re in NYC go check out Comic Arts Brooklyn tomorrow. Here’s a write-up on the new location of the show – via Hyperallergic. Comics Workbook will be there, and I will be too with a few copies of Suzy & Cecil. See you Saturday! ————————————————————————————————— Post Script Mardou‘s Some Day My Witch Will Come is reviewed by Rob Clough on High-Low – check it out HERE. Rob also reviews recent Santoro Correspondence Course alum Drew Lerman’s course-made comic Boucher’s House, (and his comic Milk Debt) in the same post. Paste Magazine‘s Hillary Brown talks to Brigitte Findakly and Lewis Trondheim about their comic Poppies of Iraq – interview HERE. Check out Liana Finck on The Awl – loads of comics and comical commentary. Sara Lautman illustrates the 280-character “microficitions” that were created for Electric Literature‘s Twitter-inspired contest – HERE. Sara Lautman is the comics editor for Electric Lit‘s Okey-Panky. Here is a recent comic on that site by Shing Yin Khor, called A Tiny Ritual to Talk to Your Past Self. Sequential State (Alex Hoffman) reviews Tillie Walden‘s Spinning – HERE. Part 2 of an interview with Katherine Collins is up on The Comics Journal – read it HERE. Also on The Comics Journal, Carta Monir reviews Higu Rose‘s Titychop Boobslash. MariNaomi has a new book coming out from Lerner Publishing – Losing the Girl (May 2018). HERE is a cover reveal and giveaway on The Book Smugglers. Lauren Purje on Hyperallergic – Is Any Artist Truly Satisfied? Julia Wertz‘s Drinking At the Movies was featured on Fumetto Logica, for the Italian speakers out there. Meanwhile the A. V. Club offers their take on Julia Wertz‘s Tenements, Towers and Trash – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 11-10-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 11-10-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 11-10-2017 – by Juan Fernandez 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: [...]

05/10/2017

Juan FernándezMay 10, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con los vanguardistas; Vanesa R. Del Rey; La Polola; Ana Tijoux; Alexis Ziritt; Elizabeth Casillas; Carla Berrocal; Fabian Rangel Jr.; y los tebeos de Comics Workbook. ————————————————————————————————— AvanGard – Y Que? Gerardo Vilches escribe sobre la vangardia contemporanea y internacional de los cómics. Su evolucion, su role y su crítica. Hoy existe una generación de autores que no responden al clásico perfil de fan que sueña con trabajar con sus personajes favoritos y replicar aquello que cautivó su imaginación de niño. Por el contrario, muchos de los artistas de vanguardia provienen de otros campos de expresión, han estudiado Bellas Artes, puede que no hayan leído cómic hasta que una novela gráfica cayó en sus manos de jóvenes adultos y no se sienten en absoluto obligados a respetar ningún canon. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ 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/ Le pedimos a nuestro director, Frank Santoro que nos contara un poquito sobre la fuerza feroz y imparable que es Vanesa R. Del Rey. FS: “Vanesa, I’m quite taken aback by your sheer technical ability which seems to be married to a poetic sensibility. There’s a lightness there. Sometimes illustrators with that ability get heavy-handed. Yet you manage the push-pull between these two sides of yourself–because you’re like a samurai. The humble samurai.” VRDR: “It’s about trying to remember that. I can get all this praise, I can get all these amazing responses from strangers, but at the end of the day—I’m still a student. I’m still learning. The crown doesn’t fit. The crown should never fit.” Este intercambio viene de una entrevista que Frank hizo con Vanesa R. Del Rey, que occurio en la Residencia de Comics Workbook en Pittsburgh, PA USA. 2016. FS: Me encontré por primera vez con VRDR en un festival de cómics en Toronto (TCAF) en 2014. Había empezado a hacer comics profesionalmente después de un período como un animadora. Fui Sorprendido por su la capacidad de ser como un camaleón de cambiar de estilos, y por su puesto le pedí ver más de sus obras. Desenterró pilas de cuadernos de dibujos de sus días en Cuba, cuando estudiaba el realismo soviético y de trabajaba con George Pratt, maestro de cómics pintados. La educación de Vanesa como artista hace el balance suavemente entre los niveles alto y bajo del arte, así como los valores estéticos del este y el oeste. Es una base asombrosa. Ella es, a la vez, consciente de la historia del arte, la historia de los cómics y la historia de la animación de una manera NUEVA que casi parecía imposible hace quince o veinte años. Debo admitir como un estudiante y fan de cómics que se enfocan en la mezcla de “alto y bajo” y en ” los cómics pintados” — Nunca he visto tal mezcla de habilidades al nivel de VRDR. Feroz. Imparable. Un competidor feroz. Michael Jordan-esque? ¿Es eso posible en la fabricación de cómic? Siempre he dicho que habría un “invasor vertical” en los cómics que podría emplear el “naturalismo” de la escuela de Noel Sickles / Alex Toth pero que podría pintar como una Alice Neel o una Jenny Saville. Creo que “el invasor” ha llegado en forma de Vanesa R. Del Rey. Puedes comprar tu copia AQUI¡ ————————————————————————————————— Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! En este capítulo las chicas conversan con Ana Tijoux acerca de sus inicios en el rap, su forma de hacer canciones, su vida como inmigrante, la diversidad y mucho más. . Alexis Ziritt os ofrece una serigrafia bien chula del forro de Space Riders #3. Blanco y Negro. Liempo. Poderoso. En la nueva ediction de Revista Cactus, Elizabeth Casillas os trae lo más transgresor e innovador del cómic actual. Pura vanguardia. Ya hace tiempo, las editoriales en Colombia le apuestan a las novelas gráficas, fanzines y libros ilustrados. Conozca cuáles son. The Fine Art Collective ES entrevisto a Carla Berrocal. Fabian Rangel Jr.‘s new comics series “Helena Crash” gets a micro-review. It’s pulse pounding, caffeine fueled, sword swinging, machine-gun firing, car crashing sci-fi adventure comic. You know the type. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 5-10-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-10-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 5-10-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

12/13/2017

Juan FernándezDecember 13, 2017los Cómics / NewsJuan empieza el día con Julie Doucet y John Pham! ————————————————————————————————— Hoy en Revista Cactus Gerardo Vilches publicó su reciente entrevista con la gran Julie Doucet: ¿Qué sientes cuando tantas jóvenes dibujantes se declaran seguidoras de tu trabajo y afirman que eres una influencia para ellas? Es algo muy fuerte, desde luego. Y emocionante. No tenía ni idea de que eso pudiera pasar cuando hacía mis fanzines fotocopiados, con cincuenta ejemplares de tirada. No sabía que algún día me publicarían en una editorial o que inspiraría a otras personas, a otras mujeres, especialmente… Es increíble. Tus primeros trabajos están llegando ahora a un público joven… ¿Qué piensas cuando algunas de esas historias son leídas en clave feminista? Es cierto que, cuando las dibujaba, no tenía ninguna intención como esa. Principalmente, hablaba de mi propia experiencia, ni se me ocurría que alguien pudiera ver eso en mi trabajo. Entonces yo no terminaba de sentirme a gusto como mujer, y mis intereses no tenían nada que ver con los del resto de las mujeres que conocía. Pero pienso que cuando publicas una historia, esta deja de pertenecerte solo a ti. De modo que puedo entender perfectamente que haya gente que las considere feministas. Léanlo todo AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— Breixo Harguindey reseña al flamante ganador del @Puchiaward 2017: J+K de John Pham. Se trata de las peripecias de dos amigas en un universo de colorido eléctrico y resplandeciente. “A medio camino entre Gumball, Hanselmann y los videojuegos.” Aún no ha llegado a los Estados Unidos! Breixo Harguindey: A primer vistazo, lo más llamativo de J+K es su tratamiento del color, eléctrico y resplandeciente, con degradados muy conseguidos. Esta novedad respecto de Sublife proviene del trabajo de investigación de Pham con la técnica de impresión risográfica, una sistema a medio camino entre lo digital y el Offset. El propio autor reconoce la influencia del Norakuro de Suihō Tagawa en este tratamiento cromático. El ascendente del kitai manga, anterior a la Segunda Guerra Mundial, en las últimas hornadas del cómic alternativo se deja igualmente traslucir en el dibujo de Pham, cuyo trazo redondo como de dibujos animados (el autor colabora también en Cartoon Network) nos recuerda poderosamente al maestro del nansensu Shigeru Sugiura. Léanlo todo AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 12-13-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 12-13-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio————————————————————————————————— The Winter Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers starts January 18th 2018! 8 weeks – 500 bux – coaching for as long as you need. The course is hard, but Frank will push your comics making practice to a new level, getting you to think about timing and color in new ways. Makes a great holiday gift for yourself – or for a loved one who is interested in comics. Apply by midnight (EST) on Dec. 25th and get $100 off the course price. Full details and how to apply can be found HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

05/08/2017

Posted on May 7, 2017May 7, 2017 by Caleb Orecchio

Caleb Orecchio here with the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers, great finds from Comic Book Day (Morphos the Shapechanger, Ms Mystic, Oriental Heroes #7), plus other comic news!

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Announcing the Summer Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers!

8 weeks! 500 bux! Payment plans are available! Summer Course starts June 1st 2017!

Applications are due by May 25th.

Visit THIS page for more details and email santoroschool@gmail.com with applications and questions!

Caleb here: I took the above-mentioned course back in 2014 and it literally changed my life. No, I’m not paid to say that! Once you take the Course, there will be things you can’t un-see in art, geometry, and life. It’s like “The Secret” for cartoonists.

But don’t take my word for it, the great Graeme Shorten Adams recently completed his comic for the Course. Check it out on his Tumblr, then message him and say something nice, then go sign up for the Course.

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This past Saturday was Free Comic Book Day 2017. As usual, Fantagraphics offered the best deal. Where most publishers put out a preview of upcoming comics (which is fine, afterall they are printing books that will be FREE), Fanta put out all new or unused material by their cartoonists in this year’s FCBD contribution. Plenty of great stuff, most notably Matt Furie’s closure with his famous publicly-abused character, Pepe. RIP. Other contributors included Anya Davidson, Emil Ferris, Dash Shaw, Joshua Cotter, Jason, Graham Chaffee, Richard Sala, Ron Rege, Jr., Eric Haven, Ed Luce, Noah Van Sciver, Tommy Musturi, Ed Piskor, Simon Hanselmann, and Cathy Malkasian.

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BUT, as we all know, the absolute best part of FCBD are the deals! Here are three highlights from my dive into the quarter bin at my preferred (depends on what I’m hunting for) local store here in Dayton, OH, Mavericks.

I had recently glanced over an article from Off The Beaten Panel about Burne Hogarthe’s last comic, Morphos the Shapechanger so I was delighted to find it for 25¢ and in great condition at Maverick’s. It leans more in the direction of, as R. Fiore said about Kirby’s work in the mid-70s, (I’m paraphrasing from memory) “interesting work” as oppose to “good comics,” but nonetheless a comic worth seeking out. Complete with an introduction by Gary Groth and a prose “epilogue” by Burne’s collaborator on Morphos, Harry Hurwitz. The epilogue serves as an end and describes what would have happened in the next three of four issues if Hogarth had lived to see it through.

Pacific Comics, along with Vortex and Eclipse, remains one of my favorite defunct or bought-out comic-book publishers of the 80s. I know PC mostly for their Kirby comics: i.e. Captain Victory and Silver Star; but I was very happy to find a copy of the “Origin Issue” of the great Neal Adams’ Ms. Mystic. It’s fun—great action comic.

I had heard of the Hong Kong publisher, Jademan Comics from either a Brandon Graham or Frank Santoro epsiode of Inkstuds, but I can’t remember. Oriental Heroes #7 (yes, that’s the title) looks like a fusion between Ben Marra and Jim Rugg brought together by an eastern influence. Tony Wong’s (publisher of Jademan Comics and artist of this book) layouts and colors are crazy. A more traditional, rigid grid for scenes of talking and browbeating, and unhinged grids that overlap and slash into each other for intense, devastating action and violence. Some panels are rendered in a more Corben-esque way (more “realistic”) to further intensify the action. Wholly gratifying for those of you looking for that sort of thing. I laughed out loud when I saw that Mike Baron of Nexus-fame had “script” credit. It’s funny to me for some reason.

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If you don’t know, now you know

Jay Disbrow, a golden-age cartoonist and victim of the The Comic Book Code of 1954, has passed away. If you don’t know, Disbrow had a comic published by Fantagraphics in 1979 called The Flames of Gyro. This was technically Fanta’s first published comic (unless you count Don Rosa’s Tagdenah which was serialized in The Comics Journal—or other strips Groth published in his fanzines during his teens), predating Love and Rockets by three years. He made a sequal called Aroc of Zenith which he serialized weekly on the web! Joe McCulloch talks a bit about these works on Comic Books Are Burning in Hell but I can’t seem to find which epsiode it was.
Michael Tisserand, author of Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White sits down with one of my favorite interviewers, Elvis Mitchell, to talk about his new Herriman biography. I personally have just started reading the book and already the first chapter blew me away. The amount of in-depth investigation Tisserand did on this legendary cartoonist is nothing short of remarkable.
Of course you know TCAF is this weekend and our own CW superstar, Tyler Landry will be running a workshop on making comics. His workshop titled, Comics Workbook: Composing a Spread will take place at 12:30 pm on Sunday May 14th, in the Writer’s Room on the 3rd story of the Toronto Reference Library. Check out the rest of the programming and exhibiting cartoonists as well. Also worth noting, Koyama Press is celebrating their 10th anniversary at TCAF.
Aaaaaaand new from Matthew Thurber! Need I say more?

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Blinkers – 5-8-2017 – by Jack Brougham

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Suzy and Cecil – 5-8-2017 – by Sally Ingraham

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Joanie and Jordie – 5-8-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Caleb Orecchio

Posted on May 7, 2017May 7, 2017

Explore

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: [...]

10/17/2016

Juan FernándezOctober 17, 2016NewsJuan here with updates from this weekend. Just got back to Pittsburgh and wanted to write up some thoughts off the cuff before I headed off to work. I’m exhausted but energized <3 We had a doozy of a Comics Workbook operation running full force at LICAF in Kendal and at the 2nd Annual CXC in Columbus! I joined Sacha Mardou, Alyssa Berg, Whit Taylor, Kurt Ankeny, Sally Ingraham, Caleb Orecchio and Emil Friis Ernst in Columbus. I have lots of thoughts on the bang up show that the fine folks at CXC put on. For now, I’ll share what I can! Whit Taylor will be putting together a comprehensive Festival recap for Cartoon Crossroads Columbus later this week, so stay tuned for that! AND Frank Santoro will be reflecting on his time at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in just a bit . Things got deep for him and the rest of the crew over in the UK and you won’t want to miss those updates, loyal reader. ————————————————————————————————— First off, a HUGE thank you to everyone on the Cartoon Crossroads Staff including Jeff Smith, Vijaya Iyer, Kathleen Glosan, Lucy Caswell, Tom Spurgeon and Caitlin McGurk for all of the tireless work that they did to make this festival a unique experience for a multitude of comics reading perspectives: academics professionals, aficionados, and new readers – the team’s work has created a unique experience that offers both depth and breadth. Incredible. Mad props to Sergio Aragonés, Carol Tyler who received the 2016 CXC Master Cartoonist awards for their lifetime work in comics – and Kevin Czapieski for their CXC Emerging Talent award. What a time to be alive in comics. Highlights for me: ⚡Locations – The Billy Ireland is heaven on earth. The Metropolitan Library is glorious. Spacious, open spaces that look out to the treetops. I was able to breath and stay calm even at the most stressful moments of my experience. ⚡Scheduling – Smooth as silk. Attendees had oodles to choose from. Little to no double booking that prevented people from seeing all that they wanted to see. ⚡Exhibitor selection – The selection ran wide and deep, in one room. Great curatorial choices on CXC’s part. ⚡Volunteer Assistance – Always on hand to assist with tech for presentations, to get materials, to cover for people’s tables, to direct around facilities… invaluable. I’d like to share some moments from our time in Columbus: View this post on Instagram Sacha Mardou presenting on composing long-form fiction at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum for CXC @cartoonlibrary @msmardou #cxc2016 A post shared by Comics Workbook ⚡️ (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 14, 2016 at 8:21am PDT View this post on Instagram Alyssa Berg led a great workshop for Comics Workbook at Cartoon Crossroads Columbus today! @aaalllyyysssssa #comicsworkbook #cxc2016 A post shared by Comics Workbook ⚡️ (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 15, 2016 at 4:07pm PDT View this post on Instagram Digging right in on day 4 of Cartoon Crossroads Columbus with Kurt Ankeny's Comics Workbook session @kurtankeny #cxc2016 #comicsworkbook A post shared by Comics Workbook ⚡️ (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 16, 2016 at 9:41am PDT View this post on Instagram LIVE at CXC!!! #comicsworkbook A post shared by Comics Workbook ⚡️ (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 15, 2016 at 10:14am PDT View this post on Instagram Charles Burns stopped by the table at CXC to dig through the long boxes #cxc2016 #charlesburns #comicsworkbook A post shared by Comics Workbook ⚡️ (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 15, 2016 at 11:25am PDT View this post on Instagram Thee great Chris Diaz doing what he does best. Follow @cad_pictures for inspiring photographs of America's finest cartoonists and comics makers. #comicsworkbook A post shared by Comics Workbook ⚡️ (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 16, 2016 at 11:26am PDT View this post on Instagram Spotlight on Sacha Mardou at CXC @msmardou #cxc2016 A post shared by Comics Workbook ⚡️ (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 15, 2016 at 10:53am PDT View this post on Instagram A few more moments from Cartoon Crossroads Columbus – all-star photographer Chris Anthony Diaz, kids drawing at the CW table, Juan Fernandez digging in with a workshop attendee, and Caitlin McGurk getting Sacha Mardou's comic for the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum @cad_pictures @juan.jose.fernandez @msmardou @cartoonlibrary #cxc2016 #comicsworkbook A post shared by Comics Workbook ⚡️ (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 16, 2016 at 10:14pm PDT ————————————————————————————————— On the home front here in Pittsburgh, we had the 6th Annual Pittsburgh Zine Fair which saw record attendance. I’m one of the organizers of the fair, so I was overjoyed to see photos of everyone’s days over on FB and Instagram. And when I heard that we had record breaking attendance of over 700 attendees? Well, my heart just skipped a beat. Print is alive and well here in Pittsburgh. I can’t wait to join up with the rest of the organizing committee: Christina Lee, Maggie Negrete and Raiona Gaydos to debrief and start plotting and scheming for the zine fair’s next adventure. I leave you with the view that I got, homeward bound from Columbus. Suffice to say I left with energized, ready to lean in and make some new work and teach my heart out. until next time, JF Share this page: [...]

08/04/2016

HarrisonAugust 4, 2016NewsHello, this is Harrison. Here is the comics and arts news of August 4, 2016. ————————————————————————————————— http://profweston.tumblr.com/post/148417347211/trying-some-comics-outttt Cameron Nicholson Recent comic experiments by this Richmond, VA, cartoonist. More here. ————————————————————————————————— Lettering your own work is fun as hell. Starting to get a hang of it. #comic #comics #wip #studio #photoshop #lettering #comiclettering #hardwork #blackartist #onemanband A photo posted by Skuds McKinley (@skudsink) on Aug 3, 2016 at 2:41pm PDT Skuds McKinley “Draw everyday. 4 to 6 hours every day. No excuses! If you want to be a comic book artist you have to do this, you have to be fast and be cognizant of deadlines. Draw things that you really enjoy. If you love manga or Spider-Man, draw that stuff!! Don’t just draw things that are popular, it’ll come off as fake. Push yourself to the limit to be a good artist. Learn perspective drawing, learn anatomy, learn how to draw vehicles. Draw everything! This will put you ahead of the guys that draw the same crap over and over again. Try not to spend so much time worrying about a style or comparing yourself to others, you’ll just be shooting yourself in the foot. Just focus on being a good artist who can draw anything thrown at them. Over time your style will start to show itself.” – Derek Skuds Mckinley Jones Follow @skudsink for daily drawing updates. A couple of Skuds’ books are for sale on the school auction – see below. ————————————————————————————————— ? ? ? “When Manchester-based photographer Mishka Henner first stumbled upon these seemingly abstract images on Google Earth, he had no idea what he was seeing; with research, the artist realized that these tentacle-like scars on the earth were created by the meat industry. The harrowing satellite-sourced images that constitute The Feedlots convey the sheer scale of intensive farming in America, where the need to maximize profit all too often takes precedence over concerns for sustainability and animal welfare.” – Elizabeth Sulis Gear for Feature Shoot Here. ————————————————————————————————— “Can I touch yours?” “As a mixed-race child growing up in a predominately white suburb, my features were an anomaly to the unexposed eye.” Whit Taylor in the Nib. ————————————————————————————————— McGurk At Work “After gaining experience at Marvel Comics and the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont, McGurk moved to Columbus to work as a visiting curator at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, which houses the world’s largest cartoon and comics collection. In just over four years, she has moved up to associate curator for outreach, organizing exhibits and public programs. She is also an assistant professor.” – Erica Thompson for Columbus Alive More Here. ————————————————————————————————— Sad Sack Share this page: [...]

09/27/2018

Caleb OrecchioSeptember 27, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here, and I’m headed to CXC ————————————————————————————————— Hi folks I’m about to head out the door to head to the Billy Ireland to check out the programming for CXC (though I feel like I’m still recovering from SPX). If you are attending CXC on Saturday come visit me at the Columbus Metropolitan Library in Room 2-A where I’ll be holding an hour-long workshop at 3:30 pm. We will be breaking down some of the basics and fundamentals of comics together. Come ready to draw! No pressure. Some of the best comics made in my workshops have been made by people who never draw and have never made comics. Meanwhile, I’ve been flipping through Andrew White’s comic Yearly 2018, and I have to say I’m very impressed. I’ll be reviewing it later next week so be on the lookout for that. Talk soon. Take it away Niall. ————————————————————————————————— 09-27-2018 – by Niall Breen Share this page: [...]

04/05/2018

Sally IngrahamApril 5, 2018NewsSally here with “Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story”, plus comics by Morrie Turner, Brumsic Brandon Jr., and Ted Shearer! ————————————————————————————————— Yesterday we marked the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and PREVIEWSworld took the opportunity to share a particularly important comic – Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story(above). “In the late 1950s, as the Civil Rights Movement was gaining strength throughout the country, the peace organization The Fellowship of Reconciliation saw the need to promote their philosophy of nonviolent resistance to as many people as possible. To accomplish this, they used one of the most accessible formats of the day – the comic book – to tell the story of the successful bus boycotts by African Americans in Montgomery, Alabama, and the man who helped inspire them.“ Originally handed out in churches and nonviolence workshops, this comic was a powerful inspiration to many. You can read the whole thing HERE. The creation of the comic is a pretty interesting story in itself. Originally conceived by a man who didn’t allow his own kids to read comics – Alfred Hassler – it was meant to help convey the ideas of the Civil Rights Movement to the semiliterate. The comic soon became something much greater than anyone would have guessed. You can read a very thorough examination of it’s history and influence HERE. It is interesting to note that the identity of the artist who drew the comic has been entirely lost. Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story helped inspire John Lewis to write the award winning March trilogy, with Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell. Check out that comic HERE. ————————————————————————————————— There were a couple of cartoonists who found their work in much greater demand immediately following the death of Martin Luther King Jr. – a bittersweet turn of events, for sure. Morrie Turner had a strip called Wee Pals (above), which was syndicated an 4-5 papers in the mid-60’s. It was considered “subversive” because it featured a diverse cast of childhood playmates. He had in fact been encouraged by his friend Charles Schulz to create the strip, after Turner had complained about the lack of black characters in newspaper comics. When Martin Luther King Jr. died, in short order nearly 100 papers picked up his strip. Morrie Turner continued to draw the strip well into his 80’s. You can read more about him HERE. Brumsic Brandon Jr.‘s strip Luther was also picked up by numerous papers in the late 60’s, remaining in syndication for two decades. It’s cast of characters were from a poor neighborhood and were a bit more “streetwise” than Morrie Turner’s. Read more about Brumsic Brandon Jr. HERE. I’ve encountered Wee Pals and Luther before, but another comic by a black creator that was in newspapers at the time was new to me. Ted Shearer‘s Quincy appeared in 1970. He had made a variety of strips over the years, aimed at an adult audience, and they had appeared in numerous publications. Before Quincy took off, Shearer was working in an ad agency, but with the success of the strip – which, like Turner’s and Brandon’s comics, featured black kids commenting on life as they experienced it – he was able to focus on Quincy exclusively. He enjoyed syndication for 16 years. I’d really like to find the collection that was published in 1972, but for now you can see a selection of strips that kind souls have scanned and shared on the web HERE. Read more about Ted Shearer HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Announcing the Spring Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers 8 weeks! $500 bux! 10 spots available! Rolling start date because of spring break – start NOW! Deadline to apply is April 12th. Read all about the course HERE and email santoroschool@gmail.com for more details or to apply. ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-5-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

Announcing the Summer Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers!

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