Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in los Cómics, NewsTagged caleb orecchio, gabriella tito, jack brougham

Juan Fernández

Posted on June 14, 2017

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07/27/2018

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

05/09/2017

Aaron CockleMay 8, 2017NewsAaron here today with Kyung Me Comics; RIP Pepe; Review of Crickets 6; Interview with Keiler Roberts; Dash Shaw at SVA; Font Maps ————————————————————————————————— Copy Kitty The featured comic on the CW site this week is Copy Kitty, by Kyung Me. ————————————————————————————————— Pepe the Frog, RIP? Marykate Jasper talks about Matt Furie’s ‘Death of Pepe the Frog’ comic, whose wake was recently depicted in Fantagraphics’ World’s Greatest Cartoonists comic for Free Comic Book Day: Feelings-wise, I’m a little torn. I love Furie’s bold, take-that rejection of a hate group’s co-opting of his art. But I’m also sad that true control of this fun, easily meme-able character was taken from him in such a way. It must be disturbing to see your “blissfully stoned” frog character used by actual Nazis to facilitate jokes about genocide and hate. ————————————————————————————————— ‘This could be the final chapter of Blood Of The Virgin, or it could not.’ arecomicsevengood posted about Sammy Harkham’s most recent issue of Crickets, #6: The scenes of driving around L.A. seem like they were researched specifically to achieve the pleasure someone takes in seeing the area where they live in a movie, taken from a time before they lived there. This new issue is good scene after good scene, capturing a flow of feelings. There is none of the internal monologue that makes up the sort of novels I mentioned. It’s unspoken, one can read that sort of thing elsewhere if they want to fill in the blanks. One feels as if it’s totally possible the characters might have read these sorts of novels, just as they go to see the sort of movies they’re making. The work alluded to fills in the milieu of the character’s emotional landscape. ————————————————————————————————— ‘It happens to be mine, but I no longer need people to connect to me because of it.’ Krystal DiFronzo talks with Keiler Roberts, whose new book, Sunburning, debuts this weekend at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival: KD: I’ve always found your pacing dynamic and this book is a great example of it. Some of the bits are one page snapshots while others develop into fully realized memories or mini-memoirs. There’s no dividing line between them, no titling to alert the reader immediately that one chapter has ended while another has begun. It connects all the stories in a way that feels most alike actual memory and thought. One moment you focus on a trauma and another moment your daughter, Xia, is saying some genius line like, “My tummy is horrified.” This feels very deliberate, how do you go about planning your books? KR: Thank you! When I’m writing individual stories, I don’t know where they’ll be located in a book. I lay them all out on the floor and find an order that creates an emotional line that I like. I’m drawn to contrast and inconsistency. Maybe it’s the effect of bipolar rapid cycling on my personality, or maybe it’s just that jokes are funnier when they’re paired with something dark. The themes that emerge aren’t planned before I begin. I didn’t set out to write so many stories with a medical component. I’d like to write more about my close friends and my teaching job because they are huge parts of my life that make only brief appearances in the book. This is where the line exists that separates my stories from my life, though. Powdered Milk has never been a totally accurate picture of my life. It’s all honest and true, but so much is excluded. It might just be about timing, though. I finally wrote Xia’s birth story, which wasn’t traumatic at all. I can’t predict which events will turn into comics, or when. ————————————————————————————————— Dash Shaw Discusses the Unique Beauty of Comics and More Next up in the SVA Features series is Dash Shaw (BFA 2005 Illustration), a comic book writer/artist, animator and author of the critically acclaimed graphic novels Cosplayers, Doctors, New School and Bottomless Belly Button, published by Fantagraphics. He has also written Love Eats Brains (Odd God Press), GardenHead (Meathaus), The Mother’s Mouth (Alternative Comics) and BodyWorld (Pantheon Books). Shaw’s feature-film debut, My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea, starring the voices of Jason Schwartzman, Lena Dunham, Reggie Watts, Maya Rudolph and Susan Sarandon, is currently in theaters. ————————————————————————————————— Finally, the bringing together of typography and artificial intelligence you (may) have been waiting for: in an exercise to investigate the ways in which machine learning can be applied to various creative challenges, designers at IDEO are bringing artificial intelligence to the world of typography. recognizing font choice as one of the most frequent visual decisions a designer makes, the IDEO team wanted to create an insightful and valuable tool that lets designers look at letterforms in an entirely new way. using AI and convolutional neural networks to draw higher-vision pattern recognition, IDEO created ‘font map’ — an interactive interface comprising more than 750 fonts that users can digitally engage with and explore. ————————————————————————————————— 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! ————————————————————————————————— A Cosmic Journey – 5-9-2017 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-9-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 5-9-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

09/06/2018

Juan FernándezSeptember 6, 2018NewsJuan here announcing the winners of the 2018 Composition Competition! – – – – – – – – – – Congratulations to ALL who created and submitted work for this year’s composition competition! This year saw a move away from the previous years’ use of Tumblr as the dominant platform of digital media publishing and towards Instagram. A different platform invites different constraints. Instagram functions as a hyper-customizable newspaper that gets updated vigorously and endlessly. This year’s use of Instagram begged for a return to the building blocks of comics, thus the creation of comics strips. Details on this year’s criteria are available HERE. _____________________ First Place – A Weeklong Residency at the Rowhouse Residency in Swissvale, PA. Cory Feder Our decision to award Cory Feder First Place recognizes Feder’s creation of an ambitious yet simple, multi-layered poetic sequence that cuts through notions of language. This is the kind of strip that can be read and re-read ad infinitum to continue gleaning new meaning. Feder’s comic is the kind offhand remark, the cadence of which, you keep thinking about for years. This complex concoction of intuitive drawing and deft use of juxtaposition made for a winning combination. _____________________ Second Place – A collection of gag comics by the Comics Workbook gang Julian Fiebach In Second Place, Julian Fiebach’s “The Worker”clearly embodies excellence in both conception and execution of the classic 4 panel gag. Here is a testament to the raw power of smart minimalism in cartooning. These strips accomplish universally relatable expressions of the many ways that we engage in (and avoid) work in our lives through a pattern language pared down to its essentials. _____________________ Third Place – An original portrait by Audra Stang Will M. The Comics Workbook Competition’s Third Place, “BALLS”, offers an off the wall bit of nonsense. It’s a bizarre laugh that holds together quite well as an absurd re-interpretation of elements Charles’ Schulz world of Peanuts. It carries echoes of grief that crash into pure, unexpected, absurdity. This is a collection of visual chuckles, that accumulate to an absurd 4 panel sequence. A glorious bit of nonsense that begs the question, “WHY?”. _____________________ Honorable Mention Antoine Rigalleau David Craig Chris Jones _______________________ It is our belief that artistic creation is a two way street. An artist, or any other creator, grows in the process of creating; the greater the efforts, the greater the growth. By this measure, comics creators in general – and those who submitted work to this competition in particular – are growing by leaps and bounds, and so, by definition, is the comics form; as in the final analysis, the value of a form is coincident with the work that it contains. It is our hope that all of the makers who participated in this contest have been TRANSFORMED in some way – artistically, personally, spiritually, and/or physically – by the time and energy dedicated to the creation of their submissions. Everyone who took part in this exercise has completed a hero’s journey. _______________________ What I liked about the three winners is a strong sense of intuition and control. I see this aspect in the work of the honorable mentions. This year the judges looked at the entries and tried to frame the winners in a way that reflects the multifaceted jewel that is the world of comics creation in 2018. Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s contest. And to everyone who may have begun their comic but did not finish it or enter it, please finish it and post it, and we will do our best to get it seen. Tag your post with #compositioncompetition2018 on Instagram. Juan Fernandez, Pittsburgh PA ___________________________ The restrictions placed upon the contest entries were derived from The Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers. It is our firmly held belief here at Comics Workbook that restrictions such as the grid are ultimately freeing. We also believe that timing is the essential ingredient to making great comics. How do you study and practice timing in comics? You use the grid. _____________________________ Please check out the complete list of entries for 2018 at the following link! All Entries. _________________________ Check out past competition winners and entries: 2013 – 2014 – 2015 – 2016 – 2017 ————————————————————————————————— Cement Mixer – 9-6-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

07/05/2018

Sally IngrahamJuly 5, 2018NewsSally here with new Italian interviews and commentary on Frank Santoro’s Pompeii! ————————————————————————————————— Noman Alani has an interview with Frank up on C4 Comic, part of the C4 Chatter column. The interview was conducted during the Naples Comicon 2018. Here is part of the interview: C4C: How was the choice of Pompeii created to set your comic book? FS: I was living in New York during the attack on the Twin Towers of September 11th. When the planes hit the buildings we were all motionless to stare at the scene. I remember that by the time the towers collapsed and an immense cloud of smoke rose, I thought that we could relive an experience similar to that in Pompeii. Obviously it didn’t happen, but it left me thinking for a long time. Some time after I visited the ruins of Pompeii and so I decided to tell something about where I come from and that is such a powerful concentrate of stories and sensations different for every visitor. In my intentions, at a time when everyone was facing the world of graphic novels, it was also to create a product accessible to all and not hermetic and in this the fact of talking about one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world was definitely helpful. I could concentrate so much more on what I wanted to tell seriously, behind the costumes and facts that are known there were people with their stories and there was the pathos. Read the whole interview HERE! Also on C4 Comic there is a review of Pompei by Luca Parri. Titled Pompei, between classic and theoretical experimentalism, it begins: Almost as if it were a virtual return to the homeland of Ameriana Memory, Pompeii of Frank Santoro lands on Italian soil five years after its original American publication. And we can only rejoice in knowing that a comic that treats an episode so tragic but at the same time founding of our cultural heritage, realized with wise love by a foreigner, has finally arrived in our bookstores. But it is not only for the engaging and convincing celebration of Classical culture Mediterranean (and Italian in particular) that this volume should be recognized as one of the most important comics of the Decade; The Book of Santoro is also fundamental for a theoretical-scientific progress within the Ninth art. The review continues: The research and the educational process to a markedly theoretical conception of the comic is a question which concerns and concerns Santoro both as a cartoonist but also and above all as theorist, scholar and teacher. Pompeiè therefore almost to be understood as a wise omni-comprehensive of all that the author has been able to collect and elaborate in several years of research and practice alternating three figures (the reader, the teacher and the author) until they are converged towards a single entity ; The individual parts communicate and coexist by influencing each other. All that the American has been able to learn about the harmonies, the rhythms and the emphasis that can be evoked in an unintentional way, but then meticulously and mathematically desired, recur in the Centoquarantaquattro pages of his comic strip. Read the whole review HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers Summer Session starts NOW! Floating start date! Apply anytime between now and July 12th 2018 to join the summer course. Email santoroschoolATgmail for more details. Ask about the Fall Course if now is too busy for you! The course is 8 weeks – 500 bux for 8 weeks plus access to Frank’s coaching for as long as you need. Payment plans are available. Put your summer to good use! Learn more about the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers HERE. ——————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 7-4-2018 – by Sally Ingraham ——————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 7-5-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

8/10/2016

Juan FernándezAugust 10, 2016NewsJuan here with your Spanish language comics news once more! Esta semana tenemos: Sofia Watson en @lapololapodcast; Tetas Tristes en el spotlight; Todo es Macanudo con Liniers en el Centro Cultural Borges; Informe. la antologia argentina del siglo 21; el Publicadero en Manizales; Revista Larva: Convocatoria para Publicar – La Colección Gusana; impresiones del 2º Encontro Lady’s Comics; un Space Riders Playlist via Alexis Ziritt. ————————————————————————————————— [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/276717421″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Escucha @lapololapodcast, un podcast del cómic femenino con Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo! Este episodio os ofrece un entrevista con Sofía Watson, música colombiana y un nuevo concurso (deadline es el 15 de agosto!). ————————————————————————————————— Tetas Tristes Cómics un gran shout out al Colectivo Tetas Tristes – cuatro chicas dibujando, desde sus mundos internos feministas. Estan publicando fanzines antisexistas, montando exibiciónes, y ofreciendo talleres – son unas verderas killers jovenes. Dales un vistazo a sus blogs: en fb: https://www.facebook.com/tetastristescomics/ en tumblr: http://tetastristes.tumblr.com/ ————————————————————————————————— Todo es Macanudo con Liniers en el Centro Cultural Borges Antes de su gran salido de Argentina, Liniers ha recibido una exhibición de su arte en el Centro Cultural Borges en Buenos Aires. La fiesta continua hasta el 20 de septiembre, de lunes a domingos, de 10 a 21. A donde se va Liniers? Pues: Después de tantos libros propios y de poner en circulación libros de otros en la Editorial Común (en ese sello editó a Alberto Montt, Carlos Trillo, Gus Delisle, Nine y Kazu Kibuishi, entre tantos), después de algunas tapas de discos (Calamaro, Johansen) y una muy frecuente colaboración con Kevin Johansen, sostiene su tira Macanudo desde años en la nacion y está a punto de partir rumbo a Vermont, la ciudad adonde está The Center for Cartoon Studies. Fue invitado a ingresar en ese laboratorio de ideas para historietistas y allí permanecerá dos años con su familia. ————————————————————————————————— Gerardo Vilches reseña Informe. Historieta argentina del siglo XXI, de VVAA Vilches nos da un analísis A FONDO de esta antologia argentina! Al contrario, la frescura y la ruptura de las normas del relato clásico son signos presentes en cada historia de las que conforman Informe. También, lo decía al principio, se impone cierta distancia con el dibujo académico, para profundizar en estilos gráficos sintéticos, naif o simplemente anti naturalistas, sin preocuparse por conseguir una representación de la realidad que se haga pasar por la realidad en sí. El color es un elemento que, cuando se usa, también se aleja de lo naturalista para explotar su capacidad expresionista y emotiva. Sin embargo, esto no son más que rasgos muy generales que sirven tan sólo de punto de partida para analizar a un conjunto de artistas que se caracterizan, sobre todo, por su heterogeneidad. ————————————————————————————————— El Publicadero – COLOMBIA Ya viene el encuentro de Autoedición y Fanzines celebrado en el marco de la séptima Feria del Libro de Manizales del 2016. 30 de agosto al 4 de septiembre. It’s coming! ————————————————————————————————— Revista Larva: Convocatoria para Publicar – La Colección Gusana FECHA DE CIERRE: domingo 28 de agosto de 2016 a las 11:59 p.m. A comienzos de este año presentamos una colección de fanzines de cómic y dibujo. La hemos llamada Gusana. Su objetivo en este mundo: abrir un espacio para autores de cómic que busquen un espacio de publicación y promoción para trabajos que ya tengan hechos pero que no hayan salido a la luz todavía. La prima menor de nuestra LARVA se prepara para su próxima aparición, el segundo número de la colección, y buscamos un(a) autor(a) para darle vida. ————————————————————————————————— Impresiones sobre el 2º Encontro Lady’s Comics Katherine Supnem tiene un gran recap del Encontro en el blog Comic, Genero, Femenismo. Si quieren ver otra perspectiva sobre este gran evento Manzanna nos dio sus impresiones del encontro la semana pasada AQUI en Comics Workbook. Katherine Supnem: Lo que más me llamó la atención fue la labor formativa y recopilatoria que inspiraba el evento. Estaban muy interesadas en transmitir contenido, fuerza, autogestión y lucha, ya que es difícil en toda latinoamérica ser autora de cómic, aunque ya no estemos en los 90. Además de tener un registro de otros colectivos brasileños de historietas donde sólo participen mujeres, lesbianas o trans. Para eso tenían un mapa de Brasil donde los colectivos se iban anotando para ser registrados en la historia de las comiqueras Brasileñas. No era necesario ser feminista para estar ahí, algo así como militar, porque ya es muy feminista ser artista y autora de historietas, como le oí decir a Sole Otero en nuestra Charla. A veces es difícil darle tiempo a las lecturas filosóficas que requiere el feminismo, como lo hablamos con Mariela, pero lo fundamental es comenzar a cambiar nuestras propias vidas autoconvocándonos y organizándonos junto a otras mujeres. ————————————————————————————————— Space Riders – the Playlist: BLAST YERR ASS OFF Alexis Ziritt has put together a loud, galaxy spanning mix of tunes that’ll get you tuned to the Space Riders frequency real quick. Gives these tracks a spin, if you’re up for adventure. ————————————————————————————————— hasta la proxima! JF Share this page: [...]

06/14/2017

Posted on June 14, 2017 by Juan Fernández

Empezamos el día con Alexis Ziritt, Fabian Rangel Jr.; Power Paola; La Polola;Vincente Jose Cociña; Tenderete Fest 14; Casa Ajena; Begoña García-Alén; Sol Díaz; y los tebeos de Comics Workbook!
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To celebrate the arrival of Alexis Ziritt and Fabian Rangel Jr.’s, return to North American bookshelves with the hardcover graphic novel, Tarantula. Vault of Midnight Detroit hit up Alexis with some questions about Tarantula:

Vault of Midnight: What can you tell us about Tarantula and the inspirations for its concept?

Alexis Ziritt: Tarantula is our love letter to pulp comics. Around 2006 I found some Argentian fotonovelas (a form of sequential storytelling that uses photographs) online. These were based on strong female characters fighting crime and dressing up like super heroes, but also I am a big fan of pulp and golden age comics and was able to find a bunch of comics from the 40’s with super heroines.

VoM: Your art has a very retro vibe to it and seems inspired by more than just other artists, but also movies, music, and pop culture in general. Who and what are some of the biggest influences on your style?

AZ: Sam Hiti, Jordi Bernet, Go Nagai, Steranko, Blade Runner, Forbidden World, Galaxy of Terror, Star Crash, Tokyo Drifter, Spaghetti Westerns, Fantomas, Judex, Doom Metal, Synth Wave, Goblin, Zombi…

Read it all HERE.

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Power Paola: In-Situ en Correos

Cuando alguien me quiere mandar algo por correo a Argentina sufro, porque hay que perder un día de tu vida haciendo el trámite, además te cobran por recibirlo. Así que la última vez que fui decidí hacer un cómic in-situ para que cuando a alguien me pida mi dirección para enviarme un regalito acá le pueda explicar por qué no.
– Power Paola

Léanlo todo de este cómic AQUI.

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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! Las chicas conversan con el gran dibujante Vincente Jose Cociña acerca de su camino creativo, de su relación con la poesía, sus libros y proyectos de dibujo en diferentes áreas y mucho más.
Este fin de semana Valencia celebra Tenderete Fest 14, el festival de autoedición gráfica y sonora por excelencia de Valencia. Participan una tonelada de artistas que son de todos lados del mundo Colombia y Alemania… Prepárate.
Plop! Galéria ha compartido un trozito de la exposición Casa Ajena, de Mathias Sielfeld, Nico González, Matías Prado y Pablo Luebert. Denle un vistazo.
Breixo Harguindey de 13 Millones de Naves reseña Nuevas Estructuras firmado por Begoña García-Alén, “uno de los cómics más revolucionarios del año”.
Denle un vistazo a SPACE RIDERS: GALAXY OF BRUTALITY #2 en este preview! Fabian Rangel Jr. y Alexis Ziritt lógran algo maravilloso con esta edicion.
Pueden ver la entretenida entrevista que Carlos Reyes le hizo a Sol Díaz en un nuevo VIÑETAS DEL FIN DEL MUNDO.

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Blinkers – 6-14-2017 – by Jack Brougham

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Suzy and Cecil – 6-14-2017 – by Gabriella Tito

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Joanie and Jordie – 6-14-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in los Cómics, NewsTagged caleb orecchio, gabriella tito, jack brougham

Juan Fernández

Posted on June 14, 2017

Explore

08/03/2017

Sally IngrahamAugust 2, 2017NewsSally here with comics from The Pittsburgh Courier and Oliver Harrington, plus other comics and persons of interest. ———————————————————————————————— I came across a great article on Blavity from earlier this year about our mostly forgotten black political cartoonists – including Oliver Harrington (his work seen above) who some consider to be the greatest political cartoonist of all time. In the 1940’s and ’50s many black political cartoonists voiced powerful and unpopular opinions in publications like The Amsterdam News and The Chicago Defender. Strong anti-racist views made artists like Harrington targets during the McCarthy era however, and like many artists before him, he went into self-exile in Paris. Other cartoonists from that period to remember are Bill Chase and Jan Jackson. “Jan Jackson’s cartoon of two American soldiers running across the Atlantic Ocean to save a European white woman in chains as they turn their back to an American black woman in chains speaks to the selective grieving and racism which were both rampant during the WWII era.” – Orit Mohamed via Blavity Demanding the necessary viewpoint of the black political cartoonist – needed now more than ever before – and bemoaning the lack of a single full-time black cartoonist in any American daily newspapers (as pointed out earlier by Michael Cavna in The Washington Post), the author of the article presents a list of artists working today, including Keith Knight, Cory Thomas, Darrin Bell, Chris Kindred, and Shannon Wright. Read the whole article HERE. ———————————————————————————————— I knew that The Pittsburgh Courier was another famous Black newspaper from the 20th century, so I went to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh to look at copies of the paper on microfilm. “I’m here for the comics!” I told the librarian who helped me out. I picked a roll of film somewhat at random, and was soon browsing through 1945 newspapers. I found comics by Oliver Harrington, as well as other cartoonists of the time. Here’s the “funny pages” from March 31st, 1945: And here is the same paper’s edition of Harrington’s Dark Laughter comic, staring Bootsie: Later on in Harrington’s Jive Gray strip, the pilot (Jive Gray) has been shot down, but he runs into the person he was sent on mission to find – a female Colonel! I’ll have to go back to the library soon and get printouts of some of these comics – apologies for bad photos of microfilm! But it is a real treat to see these comics “in person” at my local library and get a sense of the time and cartoonists who were being published in national newspapers. More to come next week, including some of Jackie Ormes‘ comics! ———————————————————————————————— Yona Harvey was kind enough to stop by the monthly meeting of the Pittsburgh Comics Salon last night, and I had the pleasure of running her and the other attendees through a classic Comics Workbook drill. The comics community in Pittsburgh is constantly evolving, and is full of an energy that is pretty unique. It’s a place where a talented poet like Yona (who has written stories set in the world of Marvel’s The Black Panther) can spar with Jonas Goonface (currently finishing up a comic series with Boom! Studios) and I (who is publishing the 248th Suzy and Cecil strip below!) and each one of us can challenge and inspire the other. The entire city of Pittsburgh is a comics academy. Join us! ———————————————————————————————— Another way to jump into our floating comics academy is to participate in thee Comics Workbook Composition Competition 2017. Now in it’s 5th year, this iteration is a riff on the 6-panel grid, in the traditional North American comic book size – but with a twist! Full details HERE. ———————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 8-3-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ———————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 8-3-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

Cleveland, OH Scene Report

Frank SantoroNovember 6, 2011Riff Raff / Scene ReportsCleveland, OH scene report by Kevin Czap Despite a less-than-inspiring reputation, or maybe because of it, the past several years have seen a growing number of dedicated Clevelanders building a rich arts culture across all disciplines – design, music, the gallery scene, culinary arts. The comics scene in particular is at the very early stages of this same kind of growth. While there’s always been local comics activity, it’s tended to be fairly isolated. Now, however, we’re seeing concerted efforts to bring these cartoonists together, pooling our efforts to foster a thriving community. This was all put in motion by the establishment of the Genghis Con, a one-day expo focusing on underground and independent publishers, cartoonists and zinesters. The con was founded by Scott Rudge, owner of Astound! comics shop, and John G, the godfather of the Cleveland comics scene. Free to exhibitors and with a low door price for attendees, Genghis Con represents the current state of Cleveland comics. (November 26, 2011 will be the third annual! Come on out!) Cleveland’s a town with a rich comics history, with a host of significant figures calling it home through the years ó Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster (not to mention Joanne Siegel), Robert Crumb (briefly), Peter Kuper, Brian Michael Bendis. Personal heroes Bill Watterson and Harvey Pekar (we’re working on getting a statue built) are/were lifers. But what is the Cleveland comics scene of the moment? Well, I mentioned John G, who for years was putting out comics like the anthology Shiner, co-edited with Kevin Fagan. John’s work is an indelible part of Cleveland’s visual identity, focusing on poster illustrations for countless rock shows and the popular grilled cheese restaurant Melt, as well as extensive illustration work for the alt weekly Scene magazine. Similarly, we’ve got Jake Kelly, whose Crosston was the first local comic I got here. Jake’s also gone the gig poster route, as well as painting huge murals throughout the city. Other vets in the area include Gary Dumm and Greg Budgett, longtime contributors to American Splendor, and Derf, author of the alt-weekly fixture “The City” and childhood friend of Jeffrey Dahmer. I also mentioned Scott Rudge and Astound!, the best comic shop in town from an indie perspective. There aren’t really any other stores where you can get hand-made comics in Cleveland, and believe me, I’ve looked. Carol & John’s is another great shop, as well as the graphic-novel-friendly indie book stores Mac’s Backs and Visible Voice. And then there’s the new kids. Centered largely around Cleveland Institute of Art students and alumni, there’s been a fresh wave of talent flooding Cleveland’s streets. For instance, Niki Smith, artist on the Zuda-winning digital comic In Maps & Legends, was recently awarded a huge grant from the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture that funded a trip to China to research her graphic-novel-in-progress. Hardcore comics “nerd” Liz Valasco is still fresh from interning at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at OSU and is making work I’m especially excited about. One of the reasons I started the PUPPYTEETH anthology was to provide a showcase for Cleveland folks like these (as well as a number of other CIA expats). I’ve also been happy to have the opportunity to teach a community course on the art of comics at CIA. There’s plenty happening apart from CIA, as well. Keith Pakiz is continuing the Watterson visual tradition with his mad-cap Condiment Squad. (side-note: Keith is part of a group of promising cartoonists coming out of BGSU in Toledo. Although the majority live too far away to be considered Clevelanders, they’re honorary members of the scene and I’d be remiss to not drop some names: Jessi Zabarsky, Eric Kubli, Geneva Hodgson being the most active). We’ve also got the Elyria Comic Book Initiative, which is on a mission to indoctrinate the children of Cleveland. It’s encouraging to think that the next generation is already being formed. And finally, Cleveland benefits greatly from its neighbors. Pittsburgh and Columbus are roughly equidistant to us (about a 2 hour drive), so it’s really easy to share and learn from our sister cities. That’s where we are now, lots of activity just beginning to be brought together. One of the nice things about a “city of choice” like Cleveland is that the people living here do so because they want to. We’re all committed to making a better community for ourselves, for neighboring scenes, and for the comics community at large. To paraphrase Ian MacKaye, we’re putting Cleveland on the map. ————————— INTERMISSION FUNNIES by MICHAEL DEFORGE ————————— FRANK’S GOT A NEW AUDIO RECORDER – LOOKOUT FOR FUTURE PODCASTS! **I am accepting “blind” scene reports. 300 words MAX. A few photos. Please send me the HTML ready text with photos already embedded. I am going to begin running more than one scene report a week like Maximum Rock-n-Roll scene reports. Please send them to capneasyATgmailDOTcom. Share this page: [...]

10/14/2016

Sally IngrahamOctober 14, 2016NewsSally here, reporting live from Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, OH! I drove over from Pittsburgh, PA, yesterday with my car loaded down with materials for this weekend’s Comics Workbook-hosted workshops at CXC (details on those HERE), making it to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum on the OSU campus just in time to catch Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes in conversation with CXC festival director Tom Spurgeon. Their conversation was interesting and entertaining, detailing the complexities of making editorial cartoons, especially as a woman in the industry. Ann spoke of the necessary sense of urgency that a good editorial cartoonist must posses, and about how the cartoons are the QUESTION, not the answer. Regarding her famous caricatures, she said it is about drawing “how a person IS, not just what they look like – them INSIDE“. Then she drew Hilary Clinton for the audience, real quick: Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes draws Hilary Clinton for us at her CXC presentation at the Billy Ireland Library & Museum @cartoonlibrary @anntelnaes #cxc16 #femalecartoonists A video posted by Comics Workbook Roller Derby (@cwrollerderby) on Oct 13, 2016 at 8:16pm PDT Check out Ann Telnaes’ most recent animated gif HERE – this is the format she has been using lately to get her point of view across (and that is the most important thing for an editorial cartoonist to have – a point of view!) ————————————————————————————————— After meeting up with fellow Comics Workbook representatives and cartoonists Kurt Ankeny, Alyssa Berg, and Whit Taylor for dinner, I joined forces with Kurt and Caleb Orecchio to check out the Winsor McCay presentation at the Wexner Center for the Arts, put together by John Canemaker. It was a fantastic exploration of the animated films made by the famed creator of the Little Nemo in Slumberland strips. Totally blown away by the Winsor McCay presentation hosted by John Canemaker at CXC – this is part of McCay’s first animated film, drawing on characters from Little Nemo #cxc2016 #winsormccay #animation A video posted by Sally Ingraham (@sally_ingraham) on Oct 13, 2016 at 6:40pm PDT The CXC festival program claimed that John Canemaker‘s lectures were not-to-be-missed, and I found this to be true (in case you didn’t know, he is an Academy Award-winning animator himself!) It was thrilling to watch McCay’s first animated film on “the big screen”, and then Canemaker really won the audience over by taking on McCay’s roll in the vaudeville performances he used to do using his animated character Gertie the Dinosaur. John Canemaker stepping into Winsor McCay’s roll in the type of vaudeville act McCay used to do with his animated character Gerdie – at CXC tonight #cxc2016 #winsormccay #johncanemaker #gertie A video posted by Comics Workbook (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 13, 2016 at 8:10pm PDT Terrific stuff. I sat in awe behind Lucy Caswell (founding curator of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum) throughout this presentation and enjoyed the deference that John Canemaker showed her on any McCay details he felt iffy on (and he actually wrote THE book on Winsor McCay). It was a good first day of Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, with plenty more to come for me and the rest of the Comics Workbook team! Here’s that complete schedule of where we will be throughout the weekend. As you can perhaps gather, we are live-reporting all weekend via social media and especially through Instagram, so follow @comicsworkbook, @cwrollerderby, and @sally_ingraham for updates! (Also give a look to Juan Fernandez, Alyssa Berg, Whit Taylor, Caleb Orecchio, Kurt Ankeny, and Emil Friis Ernst for other CXC stories!) Next week keep an eye out for a full CXC Festival report brought to you by Whit Taylor – stay tuned! ————————————————————————————————— LICAF opening night A video posted by @santoro.frank on Oct 13, 2016 at 2:17pm PDT Frank Santoro, Aidan Koch, and Connor Willumsen made it to the U.K., and for live reporting from The Lakes International Comic Art Festival this weekend, check out @santoro.frank on Instagram. Get tickets to Frank, Aidan, and Connor’s workshops on Saturday HERE. Hang out with the crew in the Comics Clocktower Saturday and Sunday! ————————————————————————————————— Check out the Pompeii Medallion HERE – for an interesting artistic collaboration. Connor Willumsen has new work – this way please! ————————————————————————————————— Regular reporting will return next week – but for today, this is Sally signing off. I have to run and catch up with Sacha Mardou, get a tour of the special collections at the Billy Ireland, and check in on the state of the comics industry, before meeting Garry Trudeau, and then partying the night away with Katie Skelly – and that’s just the stuff on the CXC program schedule for today that I’ve highlighted… Cheers! Share this page: [...]

Kurt Ankeny on MICE Boston 2016

Kurt AnkenyOctober 31, 2016Festivals and ShowsWell, last night we wrapped up yet another lovely MICE Boston! MICE is my local indie comics expo, and it is the equal of any American event, as far as I am concerned. The staff, led by Shelli Paroline, Dan Mazur, Rebecca Viola (I couldn’t find a website!), Zach Clemente, and volunteers by the dozens, is the nicest and most attentive of any in the country, hands down. As cartoonists, we aren’t used to being spoiled by people coming around, asking us if we need snacks, food, or someone to watch our table while we take a short break. While other indie expos are starting to follow suit (CXC had a set of volunteers that were just as lovely as the MICE staff providing most of the same perqs, and Autoptic and CAKE provide lots of free snacks) I believe MICE was the first to provide this level of courtesy to the exhibitors, and it is the favorite show for lots of cartoonists for that reason. MICE consistently packs in a widely varied crowd, full of people from every age group and background. Part of this is the fact that it is held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which has one of the most highly educated and diverse citizenries in the nation (it’s home to both Harvard and MIT.) But MICE just has some magic about it. The show has been steadily growing over the past few years. Last year, they broke the 3,000 attendee mark for the first time, and preliminary figures for this past Saturday’s attendance were over 1600, so they seem on par to keep that streak going. People are there to immerse themselves in the comics culture, and to buy, which is always helpful. There was a great representation of different cartoonists at the show. Featured guests included Faith Erin Hicks, the ubiquitous-in-2016 golden-boy-of-the-year Nate Powell, the French husband-wife team known as Kerascoët, local art-and-comics phenom Raúl the Third, Wren McDonald, Sara Varon, Jeremy Sorese, and Drew Weing. Kevin Czap was in attendance, fresh off their amazing weekend at CXC where they took home the Most Promising Talent grant award. Tony Davis of Million Year Picnic was there with his wife and son, selling comics and generally being the hub of the local scene. Nobrow had a table, Neil of Radiator Comics was there, the Boston Comics Roundtable was out in force, alums and current students from the Center for Cartoon Studies were down from Vermont, and several Comics Workbook folks were either tabling or wandering around the show. Comics on parade at the end of a long con season! Saturday was a blast. My new book In Pieces, debuting at the show, was a big hit, and I sold copies to lots of people coming up and telling me how much they had enjoyed the book on Comics Workbook’s Tumblr, and how they had been waiting to buy it! That was a great feeling. I had a great time tabling next to David Marshall, a local comics guy and someone I know from the monthly comics hangouts in Salem. David makes retro-homage superhero comics that are full of nerdy puns, references to UNIX coding, and Doctor Who in-jokes. He knows tons of people from the immediate neighborhood, and spent his time talking them up and accosting the attendees he didn’t know in the most jovial and pleasant way possible. David’s one of those guys who’s the life of the con. Someone truly at home among the comickers. To my other side was the lovely and talented Molly Dean, who makes webcomics and had several printed issues to sell. I waited too late to ask her if she’d like to trade, and she’d already sold out of all of her books! I will see her around though, and I’m looking forward to reading her webcomics at meedean.com. Saturday night, MICE puts on a free dinner for all attendees at Lesley University’s neighboring art gallery, the Lunder Arts Center. (They also provide bagels, cream cheese, donut holes and coffee each morning… I’ll stop talking about the free food.) While I would have LOVED to hang out with everyone, I’d been fighting a sore throat for the last week, and after talking all day, I knew my voice couldn’t handle small talk in a loud and echoing cement room, so I met my wife for dinner in Harvard Square and we had a quiet night. Meanwhile, the party there continued until 9pm, and then the various groups decamped for other venues and watering holes. Much to my chagrin, I missed what Mimi Chrzanowski described as a “magical” night of karaoke at Limelight, near Boston’s Chinatown. I know for sure that Kevin Czap and Cathy G. Johnson were there singing their hearts out. I assume that Dustin Harbin also made it. Sunday at MICE is Kid’s Day, and so the little ones made up a slightly larger percentage of the attendees than on Saturday. Kerascoët frequently had a line as they tag-teamed signing books with full-color sketches as the European cartoonists are accustomed to. I finally got to meet K.L. Ricks, whose illustration work and comics I deeply admire. I got to chat over breakfast with Maria Hoey, who is half of the brother-sister team behind Coin-Op books, and who I’d met for the first time at Autoptic in 2015. Maria’s looking forward to Comic Arts Brooklyn next weekend, and made me regret not taking up Whit Taylor‘s offer of sharing her table there this year. At noon, I was a guest at MICE’s new feature, the Cartoonarium, which is a little table set up to project your drawing to a screen, where people can watch cartoonists work and ask questions about their process. Zach Clemente came around to record a brief Twitter interview. First Cartoonarium of the day! We chat with @kurtankeny about his writing process! pic.twitter.com/bOaDRFRYg5 — MICExpo (@MassMICE) October 30, 2016 Sundays crowds had more ebb and flow to them that Saturday, but the sales were steady and people were engaged and fun to talk to, which is always the best part of a con. Since MICE was on the weekend before Halloween, costumes were in effect more than usual. I counted four girls and women dressed as Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service, there was a very well done Daphne and Velma from Scooby Doo, Saga seemed to be popular as I saw at least three separate groups dressed as various characters from that comic, and there were several low-key Steven Universes and even a person dressed as Neil Gaiman’s version of Death, complete with parade of people with rainclouds and a concertina. Thanks again to all involved in making MICE such a smooth and friendly and successful show for everyone! Until next year! Kurt Share this page: [...]

10/07/2016

Sally IngrahamOctober 7, 2016NewsSally here with reviews of Sarah Glidden’s new book, some Village Voice features, Clara Jetsmark in The Nib, an odd new Washington Post strip, Anya Davidson, Jessica Campbell, and M. S. Harkness, and a funny Pittsburgh encounter. ————————————————————————————————— Sarah Glidden‘s Rolling Blackouts: Dispatches from Turkey, Syria, and Iraq (Drawn & Quarterly, October 2016) just landed on the bookshelves and is already inspiring discussion and garnering praise. “Part memoir, part ethical inquiry and part travelogue, “Rolling Blackouts” resembles the work of her great hero, Joe Sacco, the author of Palestine and “Safe Area Goražde”, at least in the sense that it is about as serious and careful as a comic can possibly be. But it also has a gentleness that is all its own, perhaps because Glidden works mostly in soft watercolour, a medium that seems somehow to reflect her refusal to deal in certainties. Stories, as she writes in her introduction to Rolling Blackouts, are “how we make sense of a chaotic world” and she wants those she tells to be gripping; clearly, her material has to be edited, refined. But that doesn’t mean that she isn’t aware of her responsibilities or that they don’t weigh heavily with her. Just as a person’s life is much more to them than a mere story, so true objectivity is all but impossible in narrative journalism.” – The Guardian Read the rest of this article HERE. The article that the Huffington Post published on the work features some of Sarah Glidden’s sketches and notes from her travels – check it out HERE. Observer also has some thoughts on the book and comics journalism – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— 1st comic for Village Voice! A photo posted by Lauren Weinstein (@vineshtein) on Oct 6, 2016 at 8:39am PDT Lauren Weinstein has a strip in The Village Voice this week (preview above – check the news stands to see the whole thing!) ————————————————————————————————— The Village Voice also ran an article about the new Ms. Marvel series this week – an in-depth look at the character’s development, the author (G. Willow Willson), the acclaimed editor of the series – Marvel’s Sana Amanat – and the constantly swirling discussion of diversity in comic book stories AND their creators. Ms. Marvel is getting a lot of things right. “Written by Wilson, and inspired by the stories of Marvel editor Sana Amanat, the new “Ms. Marvel” is a study in conversion. Not of a religious sort (though Wilson, who is white, converted to Islam in college), but a creative transfiguration: the small to the large, the honest detail into mass appeal. The series is one of Marvel’s most successful, having entered an elite class within months of its debut, when that first issue hit a sixth print, a rare mark achieved by only a few genre classics, like the first issue of Wolverine. Amanat says she and Wilson never dreamed they’d make it to thirty issues, as they did this year. She puts their success down to Khan’s believability. “There’s that quote,” she told me recently, speaking by phone from the Marvel offices. ” ‘You achieve universality through specificity.’ We didn’t have a political agenda to prove to the world that Muslims are like this or not like this. You get to know Kamala Khan through the fact that she really wants to eat a BLT and she would really like to have her first kiss. And then you get to know that yeah, she’s a Muslim. She goes to mosque.” – The Village Voice Read the rest of the article HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Michael Cavna has a story about a new Washington Post “funny” you might have noticed – it stars a USDA worker, and begs the question “how?” Cavan explains how the real life Abbey Powell, public affairs specialist with the Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, became an action-adventure comic character in James Allen’s new strip – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Clara Jetsmark and Tom Kaczynski collaborated on a recent comic for The Nib – Clara was interning with Tom for a few months, on loan from Denmark’s The Animation Workshop (like her fellow classmates Cathrin Peterslund and Emil Friis Ernst, who are currently spending time in Pittsburgh with Ed Piskor and Frank Santoro, respectively!) Here’s a taste of The Nib comic (it tromps through the political nostalgia and nationalism that surround the Trump campaign…): Read the whole thing HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Anya Davidson‘s Band For Life enjoyed it’s book release party last night at Quimby’s in Chicago, IL. Get a copy of Band For Life (Fantagraphics, September 2016) HERE. ————————————————————————————————— I’ve been dipping into Jessica Campbell‘s Hot or Not: 20th Century Male Artists (Koyama Press, September 2016) and can confirm that it is a hilarious and gratifying guide – a must-have reference for any trip to the art museum. “With the way Campbell reduces Borduas’s or Mondrian’s abstractions even further, or captures what’s cute about Calder’s mien, she poo-poos macho ideas of artistic greatness, at the same time she showcases her own slyly unassuming skill.” — Sean Rogers, The Globe and Mail Jessica will be on tour this fall – catch her at The Beguiling on Oct. 28th and ask for her further thoughts on Matisse’s overall hotness… ————————————————————————————————— The Rowhouse received a package from M. S. Harkness and Peter Faecke the other day, and I immediately stole all of M. S. Harkness’ comics. Her stories about wrestling and love are a perfect combination of badassery and humor, and the energy in her drawings is catching. Download some of her comics HERE – and catch her at Cartoon Crossroads Columbus next weekend! ————————————————————————————————— Naomi Nowak is a Comics Workbook sponsor – she is a cartoonist, illustrator, and fashion designer based in Sweden. Give her clothes and jewelry a look at her online shop – Raintower – where you will find some beautiful new items (all the clothing is made to order), and the majority of my Christmas wish list…! ————————————————————————————————— Copacetic Comics had a cool visitor today – David Conrad @crawford_conrad stopped by looking for Bill and left with some books ? @copaceticcomics ❤️ #pittsburgh #comics #marvelagentsofshield A photo posted by Sally Ingraham (@sally_ingraham) on Oct 6, 2016 at 6:44pm PDT Here’s a funny story – I was working at Copacetic Comics in Pittsburgh, PA, yesterday, and who should walk into the store? It was David Conrad – a Pittsburgh native and the actor who played Jim Clancy on the TV show Ghost Whisperer, and Ian Quinn on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (which is why I recognized him), among other things. He was visiting from L.A. and had been told to look up Bill Boichel at Copacetic Comics. Although he splits time between a number of locations, Pittsburgh is still his hometown, and he recently started writing a column for Pittsburgh Magazine – here is the September “Talk of The Tahn”. He grew up very close to where Comics Workbook and the Rowhouse Residency is located, and is still invested in the neighborhood and surrounding city. Keep up with him via Instagram – @crawford_conrad – and you may just bump into him somewhere in the city this weekend! ————————————————————————————————— Comics Workbook is heading to the UK for The Lakes International Comic Art Festival and to Columbus, OH, for Cartoon Crossroads Columbus next week. Hang out with Frank Santoro, Aidan Koch, Connor Willumsen in the UK – more details HERE. The team in Ohio will be doing workshops next weekend, and you can sign up in advance to get a seat – details HERE. Advanced signups will end Friday, October 7th, 2016. ————————————————————————————————— There is still time to get a bid in on the Michael DeForge drawings that we have up for auction – details HERE. Have you seen the recent collaboration between Frank Santoro and master jeweler Airi Maeno? Check out the Pompeii Medallion HERE. Help us get Connor Willumsen to The Lakes International Comic Art Festival – this way please! ————————————————————————————————— I’ll be back with you next Friday, reporting live from Ohio and Cartoon Crossroads Columbus. See you there! – Sally Share this page: [...]

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