Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged afua richardson, Art Spiegelman, Françoise Mouly, jillian tamaki, nicole claveloux, priya kuriyan, Sacha Mardou, shannon wright, ulli lust

Sally Ingraham

Posted on August 26, 2016

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South Beloit, IL Scene Report

Frank SantoroNovember 13, 2011Riff Raff / Scene ReportsHey everybody – this week’s scene report is brought to you by the formidable John Porcellino. Johnny P could write scene reports for half the country cuz he’s probably been to your scene. And he probably made you feel like you aren’t doing enough – just by his example alone. And you know what? You probably aren’t. A real traveler if there ever was one – these days he calls South Beloit, Illinois home. Where? Yeah, I know. I had never heard of it either. INTERMISSION FUNNIES with MICHAEL DEFORGE South Beloit Scene Report By John Porcellino In November of 2010, after a series of unfortunate life choices, I found myself living in a small, semi-rural town on the Illinois-Wisconsin border– South Beloit (Pop. 8401). Longtime readers of my comics may recall that I’ve occasionally fantasized about living in some small, cheap, out-of-the-way town, where I could afford to focus on my art with few distractions and financial worries. Well, one thing I’ve learned by living in South Beloit: Be careful what you wish for! South Beloit is on the Illinois side, about 20 miles north of Rockford (once the state’s second largest city, now home to 12.1% unemployment), and about an hour south of Madison, Wisconsin. There are few cultural resources in South Beloit, aside from Miss Vikki’s Famous Ribs, and the Public Library, which features on its meager shelves six volumes of comic-related material (Complete Bone, and various how to draw Manga/Superheroes books). Luckily, the Rockford Library and the nearby Roscoe-Loves Park Library District both honor my hard-won South Beloit Library Card. The Rockford Library features a pretty nice array of comics in book form, including most of the output of Fantagraphics and IDW, Abrams, and the other usual suspects. They even have a copy of Perfect Example, though it’s locked away in the “Teen Use” chamber, which is only open during “hours in which teens may be expected to make use” of it (meaning 3PM to closing, weekdays), and which forbids adults from using it unless the materials within cannot be found elsewhere in the library stacks. Suffice it to say, I made much use of the Rockford Public Library during the endless winter of 2010-2011. The Roscoe Library has a couple shelves of comics-related material, mostly along the lines of “How to Draw Animals Manga Style,” with only a few titles actually devoted to comics to read, including a handful of Calvin and Hobbes collections, and the Don Martin Anthology. Loves Park (a Rockford suburb) fares better, with a decent selection of comics, as well as books on comics. Across the border in Beloit, Wisconsin, their new library building houses an excellent selection of comics, though, as an Illinois resident, I’m unable to check out materials there. There are no bookstores to speak of in the region, with the exception of the Beloit College Bookstore, which has a very small rack of the usual generic-looking manga. (The Borders in Rockford closed recently. There is a Barnes & Noble somewhere in a mall in Rockford, but I’ve yet to visit it.) There are, however, a number of comics specialty shops in the area. The ones I visit most frequently are Top Cut Comics in Loves Park, and AK Comics in Beloit. Top Cut Comics is a large storefront on North Second Street, the main north-south drag through Loves Park, heading into Rockford. It’s situated next to the local Salvation Army, and across from a liquor store with a delightful vintage neon sign (“House of Bottles”). When you walk in the door you face a small rack of new comics, as well as a selection of kid-friendly comics. The main space is divided into sections for comics, role-playing and board games, and action figures. Two side rooms, one with tables for gaming, and one that houses their extensive back issue collection, are located on the edges of the store. Along the wall, behind the counter, are collectible comics and colorful superhero branded T-shirts. There’s one store-long rack of recent pamphlet comics, one store-long shelf of miscellaneous trade paperbacks and collections, and a couple shelves devoted mainly to the DC/Marvel Archive/Masterworks hardcovers series, but with a smattering of other independent titles among them. The staff is always super nice. They even agreed to place a display of my comics on their counter, and have managed to sell a few here and there. I asked Mike, who I believe is the manager, if he had any news to relay to readers of the Journal website, and he mentioned just that the DC relaunch had done very well for them, that he had ordered extras of all titles, and had sold out of nearly everything. AK Comics, in Beloit, is located in a strip mall near the interstate, alongside a GNC, a shoe store, and a Staples. It’s a small shop, but clean, and well organized. The owner, David, has always been helpful and friendly, even pulling and holding some Marvel monster reprints from his stash at home for me because he knew I liked them. He also agreed to display a small selection of King-Cat titles on his counter, but unfortunately none have sold to date. The store features a rack or two of new pamphlet comics, a couple tables of back issues, and several shelves of paperback and hardcover superhero collections. A table in the center of the shop is reserved for gaming. There’s a wall of collectible comics behind the counter, and action figures and other paraphernalia line the remaining walls. When I asked David for news, he also replied that the DC relaunch had been a huge success, not only in terms of sales, but also in customer satisfaction, including a couple readers who were Marvel-Only before the relaunch. In my year in South Beloit I’ve managed to meet a few cartoonists with ties to the area. Kevin Singles was raised in Beloit, Wisconsin, attended the comics program at Savannah College of Art and Design, and currently resides in Austin, Texas. But he was in town for the summer, working on his debut book (for First Second), illustrating a hard-boiled comic called Head Games, written by the novelist Craig McDonald. He’s also been working on his own title, Tension. Then, a few weeks ago, I was wandering around downtown Beloit at night, looking in the windows of the College Bookstore, when I saw a flyer for, of all things, a signing by a graphic novelist! This I had to check out. I went down the following Saturday for the signing, by a South Beloit native (and, inexplicably, a Packers fan), Brent Schoonover. A graduate of Minneapolis College of Art and Design’s comics program (and currently a St. Paul resident) he was signing copies of his latest book, Mr. Murder Is Dead (Archaia Entertainment, written by Victor Quinaz). I shook his hand and said I couldn’t believe there was a cartoonist from South Beloit, and he said, “Yeah…” I have kind of half-jokingly suggested to a few friends here and there that I might try to organize the First Annual South Beloit Zine Fest– and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. If I do, come on out and visit. We’ll have lunch at Miss Vikki’s and talk about comic books. Share this page: [...]

08/10/2018

Sally IngrahamAugust 9, 2018NewsSally Ingraham here with Penelope Bagieu’s “California Dreamin'” – plus a look at “Dakota North” and other news and comics! ————————————————————————————————— I thoroughly enjoyed Penelope Bagieu‘s California Dreamin’: Cass Elliot Before The Mamas & the Papas (2017). It’s a great use of the comics medium as a vehicle for biography. Bagieu tells the story of Ellen “Mama Cass” Elliot’s life leading up to the formation of the band The Mamas & the Papas, using the narrative voice of dozens of people who were part of her life. Her childhood and teens are revealed by members of her family and her first voice teacher, and then the story is picked up by friends, lovers, and bandmates. A complexity of prose-based biography is introducing and keeping straight all these people who surround a famous figure – providing the context for their relationship and explaining why their view matters. Handled poorly, it can be confusing and boring. However, Bagieu uses comics to neatly circomvent any such issues – each chapter simply begins with the name of the new narrator, and then plummets into their version of the story. Bagieu’s characterizations brilliantly capture the personality of the narrator while continuing the construction of the larger-than-life Cass Elliot. The humor and warmth of her drawings make the story wonderfully compelling. Cass is lovingly brought to life, full of passion and awkward grace. The musical world she tumbled through is well captured, and somehow even the sound of her voice seems to float up out of the pages of the book. The moment when she and future members of The Mamas & the Papas begin to write California Dreamin’ is a highlight of the comic, hilariously revealed from the viewpoint of Cass’ mother. Penelope Bagieu is a French cartoonist who has followed up her first graphic novel – (Exquisite Corpse, 2015) – with two terrific offerings published in America recently – this book (2017), along with the excellent 2018 collection Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World. Keep an eye on her – I can only assume and hope that she will continue to make good work that will entertain and enlighten us! Check out Michael Cavna’s Washington Post review of California Dreamin’ HERE for more thoughts on this comic. ————————————————————————————————— There’s an excellent writeup on Dakota North over on The Comics Journal, a “revisit” by Keith Silva of the 1980’s 5-issue series. I am really fond of this series, but am somewhat astonished to note that there is a deluxe reprint now available. Exciting times! The series was the only comic written by Martha Thomases (ever), and it’s female, regular-powered hero, was remarkable for it’s time. Keith Silva has all the details on how Dakota North came to be, what the series was up against, and why it was cancelled, so I won’t reiterate that here – read the article. Briefly: “And yeah, like any (super)hero worth her salt, Dakota does indeed ride a motorcycle out of a service elevator and into a New York fashion shoot. She also rides the same motorcycle up an escalator in a chic Manhattan department store. She shakes off sheikhs, battles a bloodthirsty raptor, and outfoxes a monster truck in Rockefeller Center. And does so with fierce aplomb, style, and a sense of adventure. Dogged and defiantly independent, Dakota North is a fashion-forward comic whose style never caught on. To say Dakota North was an outlier is a disservice to outliers. The moment Ms. North starts stylin’ is when the ground began to shift under comics—Dakota North #3 comes out the same month as Batman: The Dark Knight #4 and Watchmen #1 . Now, it would be an act of hubris and hyperbole to say two neophyte creators like Thomases and Salmons (even with a wily vet like Hama at the helm) would come close to equaling the murder’s row of Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, Lyn Varley, Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, and John Higgins. Proximity to greatness does not make something great, and Dakota North is not on par with the craft, canniness and inventiveness of those ’80s masterpieces. And yet what Dakota North lacks in artistic pedigree it makes up for in chutzpah, idiosyncrasy, and how it outdistances its peers in representation and female agency. So subtle is it in its subversion, representation, and agency it almost passes as insignificant, almost. What Dakota North wanted was be seen as an equal in her world and the world writ large. She was a disruption of the status quo and way ahead of her time, perhaps even today. That’s why Dakota North matters.” Read the rest HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Other News of Note Phoebe Gloeckner is the Guest Editor of 2018’s Best American Comics – more info HERE. For any UK readers – Posy Simmonds has an exhibition of original artwork and unseen sketches – details HERE. Also, Paul Gravett recently listed Posy Simmonds’ Tamara Drewe as one of four highly recommended graphic novels – HERE. The New Yorker has a short feature on it’s Women Cartoonists – Then and Now. The Harvey Award nominees have been announced – lots of good stuff on the list – check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

04/07/2017

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

YI YI by Steven Weissman

Chris Anthony DiazJuly 20, 2016The Diaz ArchiveSteven Weissman’s portrayal of Jonathan Chang as Yang Yang in Edward Yang’s YI YI (Taiwan, 2000) for my ILLUSTRATED MOMENTS IN CINEMA/TELEVISION. The illustration was completed January 2011 in India and Pearlescent inks complimented with Screentone patterns, and Steven’s candid with his son was taken at the Oakland Museum of California’s cafeteria in August 2012. And Graham Willcox did the color on Steven’s candid Share this page: [...]

Clowes and Nadel in Conversation (2010)

Juan FernándezMarch 21, 2016Interviews / The Diaz ArchiveChris Anthony Diaz has passed along this video he shot, for us to share with you: the Daniel Clowes spotlight panel from 2010’s Alternative Press Expo(APE), with Dan Nadel. Of interest since it dovetails Clowes’ 2016 tour for the release of Patience. This video gives a lot of insight indirectly to Patience. Comic book match ups, Burne Hogarth yelling, EC Horror comics, the disappointment in comics history, public vs. private characters, and life in the letters columns, it’s all here. Many thanks to Chris Anthony Diaz for documenting this conversation. Stay up to date with Diaz’s work here: folkloreshed.tumblr.com/ Share this page: [...]

08/26/2016

Posted on August 26, 2016 by Sally Ingraham

The last Friday in August! We made it! It’s been a weird month – but this week was full of interesting things, like “one-page graphic novels” with Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman, Shannon Wright comics on The Nib, Nicole Claveloux being published in English, an ocean-spanning exchange between Ulli Lust and Priya Kuriyan, sketchbook pages from Sacha Mardou, a look at Afua Richardson, and Jillian Tamaki in The New York Times.

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Shannon Wright has a comic on The Nib – Trump, Black Americans Don’t Need Your Help (above) – read the rest HERE.

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Françoise Mouly presented a piece in The New Yorker about the “one-page graphic novels” that have stuck in her husband’s head over the years. Art Spiegelman has often been called the “father of graphic novels” but has only recently started softening to the idea.

“Spiegelman decided it was time to embrace the term that has come to characterize “an ambitious comic book,” whether the narrative is drawn on one page or three hundred. “Since comics is the art of compression, I started looking back on the one-pagers which either in terms of their subject matter or in terms of their resonance had stayed in my brain,” he said.“

Check out the list HERE.

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The New York Review of Books announced that it will be publishing The Green Hand and Other Stories by Nicole Claveloux in 2017. This collection is the first of Claveloux’s work that will appear in English, and it includes an introduction by Daniel Clowes. Clowes writes:

“The artwork…is some of the most beautiful ever created for our lowly form—vivid, dreamlike, with intensely vivid hand-separated colors unlike anything I’ve ever seen.“

These short stories were originally published in the 1970’s. Read more about the book HERE.

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Here on Comics Workbook we are happy to present new sketchbook pages from Sacha Mardou. Her recent visit to St. Louis’ Magic House (a children’s museum) left her somewhat underwhelmed, but at least she had time to draw…!

More pages and the whole story HERE.

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Ulli Lust (author of Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life) met Priya Kuriyan in Delhi, India, this spring, and they began an interesting project together. As Ulli Lust writes on Electrocomics:

“Priya Kuriyan draws portraits of people in Delhi since years and so does Ulli Lust in Berlin. They met this spring in India and decided to begin a visual dialog: One sees an interesting person and sends the drawing to the other one to find an opponent on the other side of the planet.“

Here are the first results of this unique pen-pal exchange –

Ulli Priya — (Left) Ulli Lust – June 2016, Eberswalder Strasse, Berlin on a sunday afternoon (Right) Priya Kuriyan – June 2016, Vasank Kunj, Delhi

Their second exchange can be viewed here – and it includes more of the stories behind each drawing. We’ll have to keep an eye on the site for more as the year progresses.

Keep up with what Ulli Lust is into these days HERE.

And you can find more comics and artwork by Priya Kuriyan HERE!

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Check out work by Afua Richardson, one of the artists working on Marvel’s Black Panther spin-off World of Wakanda.

Vamp Jazz hands. . 08132k16

A photo posted by Afua Richardson (@doctafoo) on Aug 13, 2016 at 11:26pm PDT

Afua Richardson has been working in the comics industry since 2004, when Brandon Graham got her a gig at NBM publishing. There is a lot of buzz about the series she is currently working on, stemming from the early July upheaval about Marvel’s attempts at diversity. Back in May, Richardson already had a lot to say about that to Ian Freeman at The Urban Daily:

“Diversity is not just planting a black person or a gay person or a woman in a character normally held by caucasian men. It’s getting into the minutia of the human experience. Stories ages ago had common tropes and icons that were not even realistic to what would be considered the “White experience” – one-dimensional, straight-path good guys and unreasonably evil bad guys who explain their plans just for them to be foiled. That’s not reality. Even terms like white and black when describing people almost do a disservice because there is so much baggage with these terms. White = automatically racist, easier life and decedents of slave owners. And that’s just not factually correct in every case. Black in no way defines the cultural variety, philosophy or culture of the individual in question. But comics were a very niche industry that were created by a small group of people who had to answer to an even smaller group of editors and executives who wanted to make sure they spoke to their client base.

Now that that base has expanded, people can speak with their dollars and back the books they want to see made. Falcon as Captain America says to comic readers that an African-American man can hold the mantle of Captain and American. Its not politically correct to show the variables in philosophy illustrated in fiction. It’s realistic.” – Afua Richardson

Read the rest of this interview HERE.

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Over on The New York Times there is a good interview with Jacqueline Woodson – which you should definitely check out – but I mention it because Jillian Tamaki did the accompanying illustration. Rad.

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See you next week! – Sally

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged afua richardson, Art Spiegelman, Françoise Mouly, jillian tamaki, nicole claveloux, priya kuriyan, Sacha Mardou, shannon wright, ulli lust

Sally Ingraham

Posted on August 26, 2016

Explore

05/25/2017

Sally IngrahamMay 24, 2017NewsSam Ombiri on Fante Bukowski Two, plus other comics news! ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: Fante Bukowski Two by Noah Van Sciver (Fantagraphics, 2017) is a fantastic book with fantastic characters. Audrey (Fante’s old girlfriend, who is also a writer) was my favorite character in the first Fante Bukowski book, so I was really thrilled that she came back, and a good chunk of the book was following her, away from Fante. Audrey was the only character that really felt real, and the only one who wasn’t there to torment Fante’s existence. In the new book she does a different kind of tormenting of Fante in this specific way that the other characters don’t. All these people are making fun of Fante. On some level Fante is surprisingly aware of why he’s getting made fun of. In this new book, Fante’s conflict wasn’t a complete joke. I was kind of bummed on the first Fante Bukowski book. While Van Sciver sympathized with Fante, he’d torment Fante. The joke was Fante’s hysterical sadness, which was just played off as something to laugh at. Fante is someone who has to live with himself, with being who he is and doing what he’d doing – he’s a great writer. If he’s NOT a great writer than it means a huge amount of shame which he can’t bare to confront will come his way. Of course, if Van Sciver actually had no interest in sympathizing with the characters it would still be a really good book. It’s just that as a reader, the sympathy is what I’ve been sold on with Van Sciver; the way he’s able to portray humanity with sympathy so, so well. There’s a mysterious element to the way Van Sciver portrays humans, from that I’ve seen – and that’s really astounded me. Like in this new book, while everyone is laughing at Fante, you the reader know that Audrey is sincerely seeking Fante out. The other characters are all trying to get on Audrey’s good side, and part of this is reflected in how hard they’re laughing at Fante – but they don’t see how she secretly holds him in higher regard than them, for some special reason that Audrey has. Despite all of Audrey’s new literary success, she’s finding that she’s dissatisfied, but not in a very extreme way. Her dissatisfaction isn’t shoved down your throat. The dissatisfaction comes subtly and slowly in moments where she isn’t thankful for her success. She finds all this discomfort in doubting herself, as she’s really intimidated by the next steps she’s supposed to take to either keep, or perpetuate, her success. Then she gets nostalgic, as a result of the new stress she has, which she hadn’t previously dealt with. She remembers how she felt refreshed by how naive Fante was. Fante himself, in a way, says she won’t find what she’s looking for in him (although Fante is unaware of that being exactly what he’s said to her). Then Audrey’s reaction towards this is astounding. All in all, Fante Bukowski Two is really, really fun, the art is terrific, and it was hard to stop reading it when I started. You can get a copy of this book from Copacetic Comics. – Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— Sally here – since we’re on the topic of Noah Van Sciver today, I will link to the recent TCJ interview with him, conducted by Caitlin McGurk. They talk Fante Bukowski Two, Noah’s time at CCS, and both Fante and Noah’s recent move to Columbus, OH – a few real locations of which show up in the book (such as Forno, seen above in a scene that Sam was describing where everyone is hating on Fante in order to get on Audrey’s good side…!) Something that I really appreciate about Noah is that his output and work ethic are tied into his own growth as an artist and storyteller – each of his books feels fresh and moves confidently in a new direction. Caitlin touches on this constant growth in the interview: “This book is so genuinely funny – there are sequences on almost every page that had me actually laughing out loud. You’ve gotten very good at comedic timing. While I’ve found humor in all of your work in one way or another, most of your other long-form books have been much more directly reflective or downright sad. Do you feel like one tone is calling you more than the other these days, and why? I’m conscious of learning to be a proficient comedy and drama storyteller. I don’t want to be a single note cartoonist. If I learn to blend it all together then I’ll draw comics that readers can’t just passively read. I want people to feel satisfied after reading my stories if it’s possible. You’re doing a great job at it. When you say learning, I assume you mean by way of studying other works. Who are you reading and what are you watching that you learn the most from? For a long time I was buying and reading alternative comics from the 90s and early 2000s. Drawn & Quarterly magazines and issues of Zero Zero, stuff like that. There are a bunch of artists from that era that I get inspired by that you don’t hear about much these days. Someone like Pentti Otsamo, for example, did a little book called The Fall Of Homunculus that I really love. Just straight storytelling. I don’t dig very deep with film, but I pay attention to story structure and look up to the Coen Brothers who are perfect at weaving humor into an otherwise dramatic story.” Take a lesson from Noah’s career, work hard if you really mean to be a cartoonist, keep learning and moving forward. Read the rest of the interview HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Brazilian artist Hugo Canuto has been reworking famous comic covers (like Avengers No. 4 – 1963, above) to depict Jack Kirby-like renditions of African gods and goddesses. Dangerous Minds reports: “Many deities of modern-day Afro-Brazilian religions find their roots in the mythologies of Nigeria and Benin, and these covers reflect that, using specifically local, that is to say Portuguese, spellings of the names. … Last year Canuto reworked an iconic early cover of The Avengers to showcase the major Orishas, called Orixas in Portuguese, which are key elemental spirits of the Yoruba religion. So “The Orixas” is the umbrella category, like “The Avengers,” that houses all of the mythological figures that followed.“ See more of Hugo Canuto’s covers HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Shannon Wright’s artwork is featured on NPR once again, this time accompanying the Comics And Graphic Novels Reader Poll. “Here at NPR headquarters in DC, MARVELous IMAGEs and FANTAstic GRAPHICS are dancing in our heads as we contemplate this year’s edition of our famous Summer Reader Poll — who will make the cut? Will it be packed with old favorites or BOOM! Will a DARK HORSE muscle in? Oh god, we can’t keep this up anymore. Let’s just come right out and say it: This summer, we’re celebrating comics and graphic novels, and we need your help! Whether it’s a dogeared childhood treasure, the latest Eisner award winner or the webcomic you binge-read last week, tell us about it using the form on this page.“ Help NPR curate a final list of 100 favorite comics – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— The summer semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers begins June 1st! 8 weeks – $500 bux. Coaching for as long as you need it – payment plans available. More details HERE. ————————————————————————————————— 5-25-2017 – Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 5-25-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-25-2017 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

Charles Forsman at Comix Experience

Chris Anthony DiazJanuary 31, 2018The Diaz ArchiveCharles Forsman toured for I Am Not Okay with This as well as for the hardcover release of The End of the Fucking World (which also premiered recently on Netflix as an 8-episode live action series), both published by Fantagraphics Books. Bay area stop was at Comix Experience in San Francisco, Wednesday, December 6, 2017. (Click images for different external links related to Charles Forsman.) Share this page: [...]

03/01/2016

Aaron CockleMarch 1, 2016NewsThe 5 Obstructions This is a collaboration from 2008 wherein Matt Madden presented Tom Hart with a number of constraints, in the spirit of the Lars von Trier and Jørgen Leth documentary from 2003. Charlotte Salomon: Leben? oder Theater? All of Salomon’s Leben? oder Theater? can be found at the above link. It is an astonishing achievement. Paul Gravett has a piece about Salomon and her work on his blog. BDSM: Eleanor Davis via Youth in Decline New York Comics & Picture-story Symposium The 146th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, March 1, 2016 at 7pm at Parsons School of Design, 2 West 13th Street, in the Bark Room (off the lobby). Free and open to the public. Theodore Barrow will present and discuss his paper, “From the Easter Wedding to the Frantick Lover” — an exploration of the relationship between text and image in the long eighteenth century. Theodore Barrow is a PhD candidate at the Graduate Center, CUNY. His area of focus is intertextuality in the art of John Singer Sargent and Winslow Homer. PUSH/PULL Share this page: [...]

04/19/2017

Juan FernándezApril 19, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con fanzine alacarta!; Chicks On Comicks; Berliac; Albert Monteys; Liniers; Pablo Selin; Mariana, a miserável; y los tebeos de Comics Workbook. ————————————————————————————————— Dibujos en femenino plural – El PAÍS os ofrece una toma sobre el mundo del cómic dibujado por mujeres. Más que nada, el enfásis es en la pluralidad de perspectivas. Las protagonistas de autoras como Gina Wybrandt, Flavita Banana, Raquel Riba, Monstruo Espagueti, Meritxell Bosch, Hardcore maternity… no son las mujeres hipersexualizadas de algunos cómics. Tienen vello, sus curvas son imperfectas, andan semidesnudas por su casa, tienen la regla y la sangre mancha (que parece que es un tabú), practican sexo o no lo practican y se quejan por ello… “Reflejo la normalidad”, dice Flavita Banana, que, como las demás, se inspira mirando alrededor. Todas tienen un toque desenfadado, irónico. Cada una en su línea pero con el humor muy presente y, a veces, con un punto de mala leche, de hacer que lo que cuentan sea una sacudida, que levante algunas ampollas. A pesar de que hay algunos temas como el de la bulimia que se trata en Yo, gorda, o el cáncer de mama, del que habla Jennifer Hayden en La historia de mis tetas (Reservoir Books), que son más femeninos porque por suerte para los hombres ellos sufren en un porcentaje mínimo estas enfermedades, cualquiera se puede sentir identificado con, por ejemplo, Lola Vendetta y la idea de hacer rodar cabezas (metafóricamente) cuando algo resulta desesperante. Y de esta empatía, al éxito. ————————————————————————————————— Inmersate en el mundo Ernesto Franco, el dibujante colombiana que creó ‘Copetín’, la tira cómica que esta semana cumple 55 años, con este tronco de perfil en EL TIEMPO. Una mañana de abril de 1962, un artista sin dinero y sin trabajo decidió probar suerte llevando unos dibujos al tradicional edificio de EL TIEMPO, en la avenida Jiménez con carrera 7.ª. Había cumplido 33 años y cargaba a cuestas varias quiebras económicas. Pero tenía una idea. Y esa idea cambió la vida del artista: Ernesto Franco. ————————————————————————————————— Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: fanzine alacarta! La segunda seccion de la nueva edicion de Panorama Federal sección esta dedicada a las historietas en una publicación muy especial realizada por 151 artistas, bajo la coordinación del colectivo Chicks On Comicks. “Arte” es el título de el fanzine gratuito que se distribuyó en la muestra que se realizó en la Fundación Proa. Dale un vistazo! Berliac‘s got some new comics on Vice – Asian Food Store Junkies – S01 E06 The fracas gets international… The Funny Pages, un extra de Orgullo y Satisfacción La historia de los cómics está trufada de maravillas olvidadas que pasaron desapercibidas en todo tipo de revistas y catálogos. Durante décadas, Albert Monteys ha estado recopilando y clasificando meticulosamente estos residuos de narrativa gráfica olvidados por el tiempo que ahora se presentan Audioentrevista con ilustrador Liniers – es Pura Mestiza nº3. Pablo Selin nos trae una hola de cómics nuevos en su sitio! Dale a los que se mueven! Perfil de fanzinera, Mariana, a miserável en la Revista Cactus – Con un estilo fresco y desenfadado, la artista portuguesa Mariana, a miserável muestra las escenas cotidianas de la vida a través de unas ilustraciones con regusto agridulce. Un golpe de realidad al dia. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 4-19-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-19-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-19-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

07/13/2016

Juan FernándezJuly 13, 2016NewsJuan Fernandez here with your Spanish language comics news: alfabetización visual en el siglo 21; ¿Por qué las mujeres no escriben crítica?; editoriales colombianas que le apuestan a los dibujos; el recorrido de Power Paola por Suramérica; Julie Doucet traducida; Alexis Ziritt; novedades TIKTOK; Gerardo Vilches y el guión del comic. ————————————————————————————————— Ilustración sin fronteras. Clave de un siglo visual La Nacion explora la evolución del rol del dibujo y la alfabetización visual en el mundo del siglo 21. “La ilustración ha consolidado un lugar, en nuestra cultura y la del mundo entero, que no da señales de retroceso”, asegura Vik Arrieta, ilustradora, editora y una de las creadoras de Monoblock, firma que trabaja con la obra de ilustradores y artistas jóvenes (entre otros, Liniers, Power Paola, Ana San Felippo, Tute), plasmada en objetos de escritorio, ropa y decoración. “Creo que este movimiento se va a poder analizar mejor con el paso del tiempo, pero en mi opinión está vinculado a la explosión de la cultura visual que se vive a través de este nuevo ?espacio público discursivo’ que es Internet”, comenta, y destaca el modo en que Instagram y Facebook multiplicaron la exposición de la vida cotidiana. Desde luego, cuando hasta el modo en que se toma un café se comparte con una foto, todo el mundo anda buscando formas novedosas y visualmente atractivas para comunicar en las redes. “Y ésa es la esencia de la ilustración -continúa Arrieta-. Nos estamos volviendo, globalmente, ilustradores. Estamos naturalizando la ilustración como un nuevo lenguaje para este siglo.” ————————————————————————————————— TITIS, QUIERO ESCUCHAR VUESTRA OPINIÓN DE MIERDA – Elizabeth Casillas Elizabeth Casillas llama a las mujeres a trabajar en solidaridad sin miedo a enfrentar la escasez de mujeres en la crítica cultural. Este mes ha salido el sexto número de CuCo, cuadernos de cómic, una revista de estudio y crítica de cómic fundada en 2013 por Octavio Beares y Gerardo Vilches, en la que alguna vez he colaborado y con la que disfruto mucho. Para mi desolación, de nuevo, no había ninguna crítica firmada por una mujer. Ambos casos, muy distintos en forma y estilo, terminaban con el mismo resultado: cien por cien de hombres dando su opinión. Mi primer impulso fue hacer un llamamiento a todas las chicas para que nos pusiéramos las pilas, porque es evidente que faltan mujeres dando su opinión y analizando obras, y se abrió el debate. ¿Por qué las mujeres no escriben crítica? Alegamos falta de tiempo y algo de precariedad laboral, algo común independiente del género, pero también afloraron otros problemas propios de la mujer como el miedo histórico a dar nuestras opiniones, temor a que no nos tomen en serio, o falta de referentes debida a una fuerte tradición de testosterona en la prensa diciendo lo que está bien y lo que está mal. Me entristecí un poco, luego blasfemé. ————————————————————————————————— Una look a las Editoriales Colombianas enfocadas en los cómics Go have a look at some of the movers and the shakers in Colombias flourishing world of comics publishing. There’s something for everyone in this collection of publishers. Como hay gente a la que le gustan las pantallas de computador, hay otra que sigue amando al papel en todo el sentido de la palabra. Aquí le dejamos algunas editoriales colombianas que hacen novelas gráficas, fanzines y libros. ————————————————————————————————— FOSFATINA SP02 El Jardín Devastado / Los Incapaces Here’s a new split mini by Julia Huete and Oscar Raña by way of Ediciones Fosfatina that blends daily life with decadence in a turbulent swirl of magic. Exciting stuff! El Jardín Devastado / Los Incapaces de Julia Huete y Óscar Raña es un libro en formato split. Vida familiar y decadencia confluyen en un entorno mágico y turbio en el que los personajes deambulan víctimas de sus conflictos personales. Incestos, traiciones, secretos e infidelidades a lo largo de veinticuatro escenas harán que la sangre derramada entre los incapaces se mezcle con las lágrimas del jardín devastado. Veinticuatro escenas que conforman la vida de los devastados y de los incapaces. ————————————————————————————————— El viaje gráfico de Power Paola por Suramérica Isabela Ramirez nos cuenta del colorido diario de campo de Power Paoloa, Nos Vamos. Paola recorrio Suramérica durante dos años dibujando y escribiendo todas sus experiencias en sus libretas de apuntes. “Yo me fui editando poco a poco —explica Paola—. A lo largo de todo el recorrido hasta Lima (aunque ahí no terminó el viaje) estuve dibujando y escribiendo solamente lo que me parecía que debía dibujar. Mi edición no fue racional sino intuitiva. Todo es tal cual como es el cuaderno, no fue pensado”. ————————————————————————————————— TIKTOK cómics Profesor Buen Hombre y Perro Abandonado – Pablo Taladro Four Mathematicians – Gabri Molist ————————————————————————————————— Julie Doucet en la Revista Cactus Fulgencio Pimentel has collected and translated Julie Doucet’s comics from 1986 through 1993. To celebrate the arrival of a full force Doucet collection to the world Spanish language comics, Revista Cactus reflects on Doucet’s life. Apunta Emma Tinker en su ensayo Identidad y forma en los cómics alternativos que, como muchos surrealistas, Doucet no solo narra sus sueños, sino que en repetidas ocasiones se representa a sí misma como un doble alterando cualquier sentido de identificación clara entre la imagen y el artista y, como Frida Kahlo, repetidamente explora la abyección en relación con su propio cuerpo. Sin embargo, ella transforma esta humillación en una fuerza positiva, se apropia de la figura del doble con regocijo más que con miedo a la no-identidad. Aunque no será hasta años después cuando veremos cómo la dualidad de la canadiense muta para convertirse en una dicotomía entre la Doucet dibujante de cómic y la Doucet artista. Parte estas historias, junto a otras apariciones en fanzines y revistas, son las que ahora han sido publicadas en español por la editorial Fulgencio Pimentel en un volumen soberbio que recoge sus trabajos desde 1986 hasta 1993 y al que acompaña, a modo de fanzine, una pequeña grapa en la que se recogen declaraciones y anotaciones que la dibujante ha hecho a lo largo de los años y que resultan muy enriquecedoras a la hora de contextualizar la obra. ————————————————————————————————— Alexis Ziritt – Newly stocked shop! Check it out and bring some of Ziritt‘s blazing glory home. Original Art, Commisions, art, patches, comics, Shirts ————————————————————————————————— El Guion del Cómic – una Entrevista con Gerardo Vilches. Elizabeth Casillas and Gerardo Vilches have a great conversation about what it means to write comics. Lots of good insights into expanding the notions of what it means to “write”. The conversation revolves around Vilches’ recently published book of interviews with comics writers El Guion del Cómic. Ahora mismo estamos viendo un tipo de autor de cómic más experimental, ¿cómo crees que encaja ahí la figura de guionista? En el cómic más vanguardista, como explica David Muñoz en su entrevista, tampoco tiene mucho sentido la figura tradicional de un guionista, dado que, en realidad, muchas veces no hay historia como tal. Aunque personalmente creo que sería muy interesante la aparición de un guionista de vanguardia que realice este tipo de cómics en colaboración con dibujantes. Al menos para ver cómo trabajaría. Pero es verdad que es más complicado, porque cuando un autor se lanza a este tipo de cómic, lo hace porque quiere expresar su universo gráfico sin cortapisas. ¿Es posible la colaboración de un guionista en una obra formalista como la maravillosa La cueva de Begoña García-Alén? Es complicado. Centrándonos un poco en los guionistas que entrevistas, lo primero que me llama la atención, ¿qué pasa con las guionistas mujeres? Históricamente ha habido pocas mujeres dedicadas al cómic, que siempre ha sido un mundo muy masculino. Está el caso pionero de Armonía Rodríguez en Bruguera, que cumplía ese rol de “escritora para todo” que comentaba antes y realizó algunos guiones de cómic. Pero el resto de las mujeres autoras de cómic que yo conozco se dedicaron al dibujo. A partir de los años 70, con el cómic adulto, sucede algo parecido: la mayor parte de las veces, autoras como Marika Vila, Laura Pérez Vernetti o Montse Clavé dibujaron sobre guiones de hombres, o simplemente realizaron obras como autoras completas, que es la opción predilecta de las nuevas generaciones que se han ido incorporando al cómic en los últimos quince años. Hoy en día hay cada vez más mujeres realizando tebeos, pero como autoras completas o dibujantes. Hay algún caso, como Teresa Valero, que ha escrito algunos guiones, pero son excepciones. ————————————————————————————————— hasta la proxima, nenes! Juan Share this page: [...]

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