Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged brooklyn book festival, carol tyler, Dash Shaw, desert island, gabe fowler, jess ruliffson, melissa mendes, ny art book fair, smoke signal, SPX

Aaron Cockle

Posted on September 12, 2016

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02/20/2017

Sally IngrahamFebruary 20, 2017NewsJuan and Sally tag teaming it this morning with the goods: Ron Wimberly at Copacetic Comics; 2nd biennial Queers & Comics conference, the QC Travel fund; Simon Reinhardt on Anya Davidson; PEN World Voices Festival; Matthew Thurber; Cynthia Rose on Andre Franquin; Sam Alden; Sophie Goldstein; Wayne Wise on Herriman. ————————————————————————————————— Ronald Wimberly is coming to Pittsburgh this week to check out the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency, the Andy Warhol Museum, The ToonSeum, and Copacetic Comics! He will be doing a signing on Wednesday at Copacetic: “Please join us from 6:00pm to 8:00pm on Wednesday, February 22 to welcome Ronald Wimberly and celebrate his latest release, Black History in Its Own Words. Wimberly will be coming through town straight from wrapping up his Graphic Novel Residency Exhibition at the Columbus Museum of Art. The Copacetic Comics Company is located on the third floor at 3138 Dobson Street, Pittsburgh PA 15219.” Be sure to check this event out, meet Ron, and get some copies of his books if you are in the area. ————————————————————————————————— Juan here, San Francisco’s California College of the Arts is hosting the 2nd biennial Queers & Comics conference on April 14-15 2017 with Keynotes Mariko Tamaki and Gengoroh Tagame. Queers & Comics features two days of discussion panels, workshops, readings, and comics galore, along with a multitude of off-site events. This year the conference will spotlight international and emerging LGBTQ cartoonists, the role of the San Francisco Bay Area, and the future of queer comics. It should be great. As people gear up for the conference, there are still some creators and presenters who need your help. Traveling to these important spaces for conversations is hard and costs a good deal of $$. Not everyone who needs to be part of these conversations has that $$. That’s where you come in, dear reader. A small band of creators have joined together with Prism Comics to create the QC Travel Fund. With your help they will raise the necessary funds to help creators in need reach their destination at the Queers & Comics conference in San Francisco at CCA on April 14-15, 2017. The fundraiser can be found here: https://www.generosity.com/community-fundraising/queers-comics-conference-travel-fund/x/16025161 Pitch in what you can! ————————————————————————————————— This morning I’m passing the mic to Correspondence Course graduate, Simon Reinhardt. He’s got some great thoughts on Anya Davidson’s latest books. Quick comics thoughts just how I like them. Essential, enticing and illuminating. 2016 Comics: Anya Davidson-Lovers in the Garden/Hypatia’s Last Hours I’ve been a fan of Anya Davidson for a while, but these two pieces–which function very well as companions–felt like a breakthrough to me. There’s always been an emotional intensity to Davidson’s work, and here it is turned all the way up. Both of these stories deal with the moments before a disaster, ending abruptly when that disaster arrives. We see the protagonists’ hopes get dashed but, crucially, the stories clearly highlight how important and worthwhile those hopes were despite ultimately not being fulfulled. In both works, the cartoony, lively figure drawing fleshes out the world of the characters and communicates a depth beyond what can be explicitly foregrounded in relatively short form work. Devastating stuff. -Simon Reinhardt Lovers in the Garden is available from Retrofit Books. “Hypatia’s Last Hours” was included in Kramers Ergot #9, available from Fantagraphics. ————————————————————————————————— Dots and Dashes The PEN World Voices Festival (May 1-7th 2017) will spotlight gender and power this year, and unlike in years past, it will feature a lot of cartoonists. The Comics Beat has the details – but just to throw some names around, the lineup will include Simon Hanselmann, Roz Chast, Gabrielle Bell, Rokudenashiko, and Meg Lemke among other panelists! There is an interview with Matthew Thurber and an excerpt from Art Comic, his ongoing serial, over on Bad At Sports – check it out HERE. Cynthia Rose writes about Andre Franquin over on The Comics Journal – was he in fact comics’ greatest draftsman? The Strand is hosting a cartooning focused panel: I’m Drawn This Way: Cartoonists on Cartooning (March 13) featuring Pénélope Bagieu, Natalie Andrewson, Katie Skelly, Julia Gfrörer, and Whit Taylor moderated by the great Meg Lemke of the Brooklyn Book Festival, PEN America, and MUTHA Magazine. Part 2 of Sam Alden‘s Sledgehammer is up on Hazlitt – “Okay, never mind. Go back to destroying the house.” Sophie Goldstein announced that her comic House of Women will be collected by Fantagraphics this fall. Congrats! Pittsburgh’s Wayne Wise reviews George Herriman: A Life in Black and White. ————————————————————————————————— Announcing the Spring Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers! Frank Santoro here. I’ve decided to give this semester a rolling start date. I realize that everyone has spring break at different times, and that’s always a good time to start a comic – so I will officially kick off the course March 7th but will continue taking applications past that date. I will make it work for your schedule. Just apply! Applications received by February 26th will get 100 bux off! The course is 8 weeks long – payment plans are available. Many more details can be found HERE plus the answers to all your questions (hopefully). Email santoroschoolATgmail to apply Santoro School Application guidelines: – 3 figure drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards – 3 landscape drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards – 3 still life drawings done on blank 3 x 5 cards – draw in a contour line style –think Matisse – no under-drawing – draw directly in ink – just send me small jpgs of images – dont post to your blog pls – send specific url links to any comics work you have done. If you haven’t done comics before that is not a problem. Send applications to: santoroschoolATgmail Thanks xo Frank ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 2-20-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-20-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-20-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 2-20-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

01/12/2018

Sally IngrahamJanuary 11, 2018NewsSally here with comics by November Garcia, Sara Lautman, Margoux Othats, Corinne Mucha, and much more! ————————————————————————————————— November Garcia, creator of the comics Foggy Notions and Malarkey, is trying her hand at daily comics this year. You can see the first week’s worth HERE. She sez: “So my 2018 resolution is to draw a comic everyday. Haha! What a dunce I am! Turns out, it’s a lot harder than I thought it would be. The big reveal is that my life isn’t very interesting—who knew? But I figure, what the hell, it’s a good exercise and I’m quite stubborn so I might see this thing through. So here it is in all its inane glory…unphotoshopped, unedited, unthought of…whatever. All critiques welcome…my goal here is to get better and I feel that these strips improved with time but I might be biased.“ I think her comics are consistently hilarious, and these don’t disappoint, so I’m sending her good vibes and hope she continues to make them. November is also currently sharing a comic called The Rusty Trombone, which is about her SPX 2017 adventures – you can catch the action HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Sara Lautman‘s latest comic on Electric Literature is very amusing, sort of a “bad lip reading” situation, a literal translation of what she THINKS the lyrics of Auld Lang Syne are. See the whole thing HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Philippe Leblanc reviews Margoux Othats‘ new comic Blanc for The Comics Beat. It is about a girl drawing at home during a snow storm, something many of us have probably done recently as the winter has bourn down upon the East Coast with varying ferocity this year…! Just a small book, but one that Philippe says: “…shines in its simplicity, clarity and style. Margaux Othats’ pencil drawings play with the blank page to great effect. The snow is overwhelming, it engulfed everything and nearly makes you forget that there ever was anything but the blinding white of the snow. The snowball revealing the beautiful, lively green grass underneath happens slowly and gives it a magical feeling. Othats is telling a simple story. It’s about seeing something seemingly impossible to overcome and deciding to try anyway. It’s about coming out of one’s shell and letting hope thaw the frost. With hope and efforts, you can accomplish anything. It’s the perfect comic to start the year with.“ Read the rest of the review HERE. Also please check out Philippe Leblanc’s New Years edition of his usual roundup of small press news HERE. Quite a few good items on the list, including a few things I’d missed (which I’ll link to specifically below). ————————————————————————————————— Read the rest of Corinne Mucha‘s comic (pictured above) HERE. I came across a few of her stories recenly in The Shortpants Observer #1, from 2008, which was edited by Sarah Becan. Both ladies are from the Chicago area, and this issue of The Shortpants Observer also included work by Anya Davidson. Although I can’t find out much more about the anthology, Corinne Mucha has a few notes from when it came out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Also on the Radar The Canadian publisher Ad Astra Comix released a new graphic novel called The Beast last year, created by Nicole Marie Burton, Hugh Goldring, and Dr. Patrick McCurdy. There’s a review of it up at Women Write About Comics – read it HERE. Cynthia Rose celebrates French artist Annie Goetzinger, who died in Dec. 2017, for The Comics Journal. Sarah Boxer writes about Chris Ware’s Monograph for The New York Review of Books – HERE. Women Write About Comics features Leslie Stein‘s Present – read the review HERE. Elaine M. Will talks about her comic titled Look Straight Ahead, and the mental health journey that led her to create it – HERE. Quick props to myself (Sally Ingrham) here – check out Interesting Ducks for comics and writing on birding in Pittsburgh, PA, and beyond. ————————————————————————————————— Frank Santoro and Simon Hanselmann, CAB 2013 – photo by Chris Anthony Diaz, colored by Graham Willcox The Winter Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers starts January 16th 2018! 8 weeks – 500 bux – coaching for as long as you need. The course is hard, but Frank will push your comics making practice to a new level, getting you to think about timing and color in new ways. His experience and ideas have influenced the likes of Connor Willumsen, Michael DeForge, and Simon Hanselmann (quote “I consider Frank Santoro to be my L. Ron Hubbard”) among many others. Dig into something new in the new year! Full details and how to apply can be found HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-12-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

02/28/2017

Aaron CockleFebruary 27, 2017NewsAaron here today with Whit Taylor Comics; PaperJazz; LA Times Book Prize Finalists (Comics Category); Pete Toms Gets Reviewed; Another Look at Matthew Thurber; Horvitz/Provan in Conversation; Congrats to INK BRICK ————————————————————————————————— What is Race? Just the Facts. Whit Taylor has a comic about race and its perception throughout history posted at the Nib. ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— Graphic Novel/Comics of Note (in Los Angeles, California) The Los Angeles Times has released its list of finalists for their annual book prize awards, with a strong list of contenders for the ‘GRAPHIC NOVEL/COMICS’ category: “Beverly” by Nick Drnaso “The Artist” by Anna Haifisch “Don’t Come in Here” by Patrick Kyle “What Is Obscenity” by Rokudenashiko (translated by Anne Ishii) “Demon: Volume 1” by Jason Shiga ————————————————————————————————— A Comic Whose Characters Swim in Apathy and Cynicism At Hyperallergic, R. Orion Martin digs in to Pete Toms’s Dad’s Weekend, published by Hic and Hoc: Every middle-aged character in the book except for Manny seems to be in a state of resigned existential crisis. One middle-aged woman interrupts Manny to tell him about a realization she’s had, Once you unpack, you’re left with an empty suitcase. What’s at the foundation of who you are? Animal instincts? Some shit your parents said to you when you were a toddler? It’s all so simple and unimportant. I had this dream where I hung myself with my own DNA strand. ————————————————————————————————— ‘The pre-production of Cremaster 3 is kind of just rolling along without me.’ Sally and Juan linked to this Max Morris/Matthew Thurber interview last week, but I wanted to take another look at it, especially this part from the start of the Q&A: Max Morris: Back in 2014, you wrote this article for The Comics Journal Website , “Letter to a Young Cartoonist”, that stirred some controversy at the time. A bulk of the article dealt with the ramifications of posting comics work on Tumblr and Social Media, among other issues of challengers to the new generation of comics artists. This was in a time when that felt like the primary way to see new work being made by current creators. A little under 3 years after you posted that article, a lot has changed. Looking back at this article, what words do you have to say to the young cartoonist today? Matthew Thurber: I feel more than ever that printed media contains autonomous power that is almost magical. All internet publication is embedded in and framed by another corporation. With print, as soon as it flies off the press it belongs, like the land, to “you and me”. The disturbing thing about social media is they change the terms of publication from one of total freedom, to one where you are being allowed to express yourself. Because they grant it… they can take it away. Social media echo chambers are destructive: look at what they have helped to do in terms of ripping our country in half, replacing everything with a simulation of reality. Is that what you mean by “a lot is changed”? We’re opting into 1984 because it feels good. It’s so seductive to feel like you’ve done something in pseudo-reality. We need to learn to live without the internet, to distribute artifacts in physical space, to know how to talk to each other again. It is so much more meaningful and beautiful. And guess what??? I’m part of the problem because I’m on INSTAGRAM (@mtshelves)! What a miserable hypocritical worm!!!! And the worst part is….I LOVE it! I love the ego pampering attention and the immediacy despite my complete conviction that it sucks! ————————————————————————————————— Ask the Stone to Say Via Triple Canopy, David Horvitz and Alexander Provan discoursing on time, space, discourse, discoursing: Horvitz’s work as an artist often suggests how to live outside the bounds of time, how to recover forms of experience that are rooted in natural rhythms and not the dictates of international bureaucracies. “A lot of people are into yoga and meditation, but I see those as ways of relaxing your mind and body so that you can continue to work efficiently and productively, at absurdly accelerated rates,” he says. “I’m interested in forms of meditation that cultivate the enjoyment of time, that oppose efficiency, that make you miss every deadline.” Horvitz and Provan cover ancient Egyptian astrology and atomic clocks, the auditory landscapes of nineteenth-century villages and the contemporary landscapes offered by geostationary satellites. They find the origins of Brexit in the imposition of the Gregorian calendar (“European-elite time”) on the British in 1752, which vanquished eleven days and gave rise to a protest slogan after Boris Johnson’s heart: “Give Us Our Eleven Days.” ————————————————————————————————— INK BRICK’s crowd-funding goal for it’s 8th issue was met with some time to spare, so congratulations to them. The new book has a great list of contributors, and frequent readers of this news-blog will see some of their favorite cartoonists/people involved: Vidhu Aggarwal | Alyssa Berg | Warren Craghead | Erin Curry | John Hankiewicz | Keren Katz | Mark Laliberte | Matt Madden | Paul Madonna (cover) | Alexander Rothman | Alexey Sokolin | Bishakh Som | Deshan Tennekoon | Andrea Tsurumi | Paul K. Tunis | Andrew White | Sophia Wiedeman | Shahar Sarig More info, as well as details about their ‘Stretch Goals’, are noted on their Kickstarter page. ————————————————————————————————— The Spring Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers is starting soon! The semester has a rolling start date, but it will officially kick off on March 7th. We will continue taking applications past that date – Frank is always willing to make it work for your schedule. Just apply! The course is 8 weeks long – 500 bux – payment plans are available. More details can be found HERE. Email santoroschoolATgmail to apply ————————————————————————————————— A Cosmic Journey – 2-28-2017 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-28-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-28-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown –2-28-2017- by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

08/24/2018

Sally IngrahamAugust 23, 2018NewsSally here with a look at Anne Simon’s “Song of Aglaia” ————————————————————————————————— I found Anne Simon‘s Song of Aglaia difficult, but in a way, the things I didn’t like about it are what makes it interesting. When I am presented with a female protagonist I want to get behind them 100%. When a female protagonist turns out to be complicated and prone to making decisions that hurt the people around her, I have to adjust my expectations. Such is life, of course. Simon demands many adjusted expectations with Song of Aglaia. She begins by upsetting a number of traditional tropes that are usually found in myths and fairy tales. A water nymph, Aglaia, is presented at the beginning of the comic as a fairly typical victim of male violence and oppression. She wants to be happy and loved, and in the pursuit of that finds herself abandoned and with child, rejected by her father, and then forced into a marriage of convienence in order to avoid a punishment of death handed down by a tyrannical ruler. Switching things up from there, Simon draws Aglaia with more backbone than is usually the case in fairy tales. Aglaia fights back, rescuing her children, killing the tyrant, escaping her loveless marriage – but at what cost? Once she has gained power, Aglaia wields it poorly, decreeing her own opressions and abondoning people who care for her. The moral clarity that many fairy tales lay claim to is definitely blurry in this comic. It’s easy to root for Aglaia to a point, but when her choices continue to lead to heartbreak, reality sets in and I am forced to consider that Song of Aglaia is NOT a fairy tale. It is a story that asks “what happens next?” After the male oppressors are overthrown and equality is achieved, when women in fact gain the upper hand and are free to build the world they wish for…then what? The example that Aglaia provides is an all too possible result. There is no triumph when cruelty leads to more cruelty, when the abused turn into abusers. With interesting artwork and good storytelling Simon offers a thoughtful comic, but one that doesn’t answer the questions she brings up. It’s a fairly heavy reminder that in the fairy tale and in real life there are no easy answers. Everyone is complicated and nursing their own wounds, and we are caught in a cycle that often seems inescapable. At best, we can hope to muddle onward, perhaps with a little more grace than Aglaia manages. Although it may sound as though I didn’t like this comic, I do recommend taking a look at it! Somewhere, hidden between asking these types of questions and imagining the possible answers, there lies the potential for discovering a solution – and examining the “difficult” things always brings us closer to that. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

Comic Arts Brooklyn 2017

Chris Anthony DiazJanuary 25, 2018The Diaz ArchiveComic Arts Brooklyn, Saturday, November 11, 2017, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York (clicking image will take you to the cartoonist’s link) Share this page: [...]

09/13/2016

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Aaron Cockle

Aaron here today with some SPX programming highlights; Shaw; Ruliffson; Mendes; Smoke Signal Open Call; Dueling book festivals in NYC this weekend

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Comics Workbook has an incredibly robust selection of workshops scheduled for this weekend at the Small Press Exposition (‘SPX’) in Bethesda, MD. Each one of these workshops has the potential to completely change your life (the Carol Tyler one alone will probably do that), so please do try and attend one/all of them.

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Oh, yeah, in case you weren’t aware, SPX is this weekend, don’t forget
The SPX Programming Schedule is posted here, and the exhibitor list is here. Take a look and see if your favorite cartoonist is on the list! As always, this show is an intriguing assemblage of independent and mainstream small press comics from N.America and beyond, meeting in quiet desperation in the freakishly carpeted Marriott North Bethesda Hotel & Conference Center.

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Dash Shaw, Twittering Machine
In support of his newly released animated film, My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea, Dash Shaw has posted a lot of reviews and screening info on Twitter.

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Jess Ruliffson interviews former US Army Captain Drew Pham at the Nib

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Melissa Mendes interviewed by Alex Dueben

Why did you decide to make “The Weight” a webcomic and serialize it that way?

I decided, after “Lou,” that I wanted this project to be something I did just for me. I wanted to draw and write exactly how I envisioned, but I knew that I also needed deadlines to keep me focused. Making myself post two pages a week keeps me working, even when I feel like crap, and knowing that people are following it and reading it fuels the fire under my ass. So that’s why I put it online — to give myself some structure.

Has your process changed because you’re posting this online, one page at a time?

It has a little. It’s kind of letting me be looser with the story. I’ve been allowing the characters to sort of take the story where they want to, and not planning out anything too rigidly. I do feel the pressure of posting two pages a week, especially right now, when there’s been some upheaval on the home front and I’ve been busy. I feel very guilty when I fall behind.

Do you have a sense of how big and how long this story is?

I really love family sagas, like “East of Eden” by John Steinbeck and “The Thorn Birds” by Colleen McCullough, for example, where the story spans generations. That’s sort of my plan with “The Weight.” I want it to at least encompass Edie’s (the main character’s) entire life, and maybe it’ll even go beyond that. I have a rough idea of the main turning points in the story, but nothing is set in stone at this point. But yeah, it’s a huge project.

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Gabe Fowler has posted an open call for the upcoming (26th!) issue of Smoke Signal: b+w spreads ONLY, size 21.5″ x 15.5″, 300 dpi, due Oct 1 to smokesignalcomics@gmail.com

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In Brooklyn and Queens this weekend, two of this nation’s finest book festivals:

NY Art Book Fair

Free and open to the public, the NY Art Book Fair is the world’s premier event for artists’ books, catalogs, monographs, periodicals, and zines.

Last year, the fair featured over 370 booksellers, antiquarians, artists, institutions and independent publishers from twenty-eight countries. The 2015 NY Art Book Fair was attended by more than 35,000 people.

This year’s NY Art Book Fair will once again include an ever-growing variety of exhibitors – from the zinesters in (XE)ROX & PAPER + SCISSORS and the Small Press Dome representing publishing at its most innovative and affordable, to rare and antiquarian dealers offering out-of-print books and ephemera from art and artist book history, plus the NYABF-classic Friendly Fire, focused on the intersections of art and activism.

Brooklyn Book Festival

The Brooklyn Book Festival is the largest free literary event in New York City, presenting an array of national and international literary stars and emerging authors. One of America’s premier book festivals, this hip, smart diverse gathering attracts thousands of book lovers of all ages to enjoy authors and the festival’s lively literary marketplace.

AUTHORS INCLUDE Margaret Atwood, Margo Jefferson, Faith Erin Hicks, Russell Banks, Phoebe Gloeckner, Chester Brown, Salman Rushdie, Libba Bray, Stephanie Danler, Gayle Forman, Pete Hamill, Jacqueline Woodson, Angela Flournoy, Helen Garner, Karin Slaughter, Bruce Schneier, Rebecca Traister, Marjorie Liu, Sayed Kashua, Esmeralda Santiago, Thomas Frank, Ralph Nader, Nicole Dennis-Benn, Yusef Komunyakaa, Joyce Carol Oates, A.O. Scott, Hua Hsu, Rob Sheffield, Yoss, Jessica Valenti, Cecily von Ziegesar, Ocean Vuong, Ed Yong and hundreds more.

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2 thoughts on “09/13/2016”

Amanda H. says:

September 13, 2016 at 4:48 pm

How many pages is Smoke Signal asking for? When it says “spreads”, doesn’t it mean a two page spread?

Reply
Aaron Cockle says:

September 13, 2016 at 5:31 pm

I think Gabe is looking for 2 page spreads? I vaguely remember him mentioning that somewhere. Feel free to email them.

Reply

Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged brooklyn book festival, carol tyler, Dash Shaw, desert island, gabe fowler, jess ruliffson, melissa mendes, ny art book fair, smoke signal, SPX

Aaron Cockle

Posted on September 12, 2016

Explore

12/08/2016

Sam OmbiriDecember 8, 2016NewsWe’re here today with Johnny Ryan escapades, Alexis Zirrit colors, George Herriman’s new biography, and notes on Box Brown via Adam Griffiths. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: For all those Johnny Ryan fans out there, there’s this fun podcast called Bone Zone hosted by Davey Johnson (sometimes), Randy Liedtke, and Brendon Walsh (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmGAwNylqXA). It might get a little in jokey at times, so I don’t know how it sounds to a new listener. My favorite part in this episode was when they were calling a bunch of comic book shops and asking people if they had a bunch of imaginary titles. They would, at times,add little details here and there, so that the titles sounded more plausible. They would ask while trying to hold back laughter so most people couldn’t tell something was up, and there was a slight distortion in reality. They were greeted with skepticism – but then they’d add a small detail like “I think it was published by Oni press”, and then people who were familiar with Oni Press were suddenly way less skeptical. “We just got a bunch of Oni Press last week,” you’d hear the shopkeepers in the background yelling. “Yeah they’re asking for all these obscure titles – do we have Money Boys? or what was that other one? Cum Tuba?” To which Johnny would add, “Yeah, Cum Tuba by Chris Ware.” Then out of all this nonsense, this story about 3 brothers looking for comics, from a list that their sick dad had given them, constructs itself. At one point like 10 wild dogs begin chewing their sick dad’s comics. Some of these comics sound like a bunch of fun to draw – I’m really into drawing a comic called Money Boys, just basing off the multiple premises that come to mind when I hear the name. This episode of Bone Zone was also a good reminder of how I still need to read Prison Pit. There’s a lot of stuff that I always need to get to, but then I don’t. I like this thing that Brandon Graham (I think it was him) said – how, in comics, there’s just constantly great stuff being created, and that no one has all the time to read it all. He makes sure to note how you’d think he’d find it depressing, but it’s just the opposite for him. There’s always this thing of, when you discover something that possibly will be really rad, you want to preserve the little mystery of it. (Like how my listening to Chll Pll has been a nearly 2 year process, from it being recommended by a friend, to me listening to it slowly.) Maybe it’s a result of the immediacy of information in the internet, and “knowing” isn’t everything. Gary Panter said in this one talk that how physical mediums are fetishistic. I think that’s a good way of describing it, although I need to find a better word than “fetish” to describe things these days, just because of its modern definition – it only fits in the one context so then it’s forced to be used as a metaphor. This might not be a bad thing, especially for someone like Refn. I don’t know how to say this, but I’m reminded of how at the Oscars (which feel like a huge joke these days) when they present the animation awards, they use the extremely shallow depiction of animation – that you can “draw anything” and make anything happen, unlike in live action movies. It’s such awful thing to say. – Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— Tyler Landry here, and it’s time to talk about Alexis Ziritt. Dude is a machine. Open up Space Riders at any page and feel your mind explode. BOOM! This is a serious action trip with all the trimmings, but what I want to focus on specifically is the colors. Flipping through my copy of Space Riders, a couple of things strike me, color-wise. First, this comic is vibrant. Every color that’s ever been imagined is in here somewhere. It’s fearless. The next thing that hits me is the way in which the colors CHANGE from page to page, spread to spread. Alexis uses different combos of straight palettes – where a suit is its own color, the flesh is its own color, the landscape is its own color, etc. But these are mixed with really intense moody scenes with light cast from viewscreens, explosions, or atmosphere. This is where the work really shines, in my opinion. Regardless of the approach, straight or moody, there’s great attention to how those colors help to move you through the work. Let’s look at some of this deep, moody shit: Both of these pages make extensive use of color as mood, and as focus. In the top image, the ship has taken damage, as has the morale of its crew – perfectly communicated with everything bathed in RED emergency lightning, punctuated with shots of YELLOW sparks. The crew members are only a slightly lightened version of that color, barely elevating them from their background. This helps bake the gravity of their situation into your brain as you read through the page. Then, as the discussion heats up, we’re treated to hints of GREEN glow from the viewer, exploding into a bigger viewscreen shot of a pile of angry aliens right outside – in GREEN. This color play from RED to GREEN = direct contrast, jarring change, intense move. On the bottom, again, an overall mood is set in hot PINK, but this one has a constant cool BLUE undertone, shown in the characters themselves, selectively. This creates a triangular slide, down which your eyes move, towards the edges…and it slams itself wide open in the YELLOW panel, where the characters heat up, and one darts across the page to meet the other in a devastating headbutt. Then, the scene pulls out and settles again, with nearly everything melting into the haunting PINK background – except for Capitan Peligro, cold and bold in BLUE, delivering a one-liner as tough as his nose-crushing blow in the previous panel. And – let’s not forget the burst and trickle of GREEN, reminding us just how significant this wound really is. – Tyler Landry Get a copy of Space Riders from Copacetic Comics – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Sally here – The eagerly anticipated Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White by Michael Tisserand was released on Tuesday, Dec. 6th. Both the cartoonist and the biographer are originally from New Orleans, and a passing interest in George Herriman turned into a 10 year research project for Michael Tisserand after Hurricane Katrina nearly destroyed their city. ” “I had to teach myself to be an historian,” Tisserand said. “I didn’t anticipate the amount of difficulty it would be finding Herriman’s work.” Like a snake handler, Tisserand uncoils the confusing racial politics of New Orleans in the Jim Crow era, where the descendants of slaves and the descendants of so-called free people of color suffered segregation, discrimination and violence at the hands of the white population. As Tisserand explains, when Herriman was 10 years old, his parents fled the South for a new beginning in California, where personal reinvention was possible. As Tisserand wrote, “Herriman was a black man born in New Orleans.” But upon reaching the Pacific, Herriman’s parents “had obscured their identity and ‘passed’ for white.” Had they not done so, Tisserand points out, the creator of the immeasurably influential Krazy Kat cartoon could never have received the classical education that he did, found work in major American newspapers, or bought a home in the Hollywood Hills, owing to universal racism.” – via NOLA.com Read the rest of the above article about the book HERE. There’s another good piece in Gambit, HERE. And The Wall Street Journal names Krazy Kat the “most ingenious strip of the 20th century“. In addition, there is a great “Konversation” with Michael Tisserand over on The Comics Journal – check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Adam Griffiths interviewed Box Brown recently for his ‘Zine Tree” series. They talk about Brown’s work (his newest book is Tetris: The Games People Play) and how he chooses his stories. AG: Three works of yours, Andre the Giant, Powerman, and Tetris, all seem to grapple with the theme of unconventionality, aspiration and conformity? If you agree with that to any such degree, how would you say you choose the stories that you tell? BB: I think that’s been my life experience. I identified with Andre as the person that had to operate on the outskirts of life. I think he felt like he was an outsider. I think for the early part of my life I felt that way a lot. Of course in high school but then I kind of still suffered from identity issues into my 20’s. It wasn’t until I discovered making comics that I discovered who I was. Until then I never felt like I fit in, but outwardly strangely I had figured out how to fit in. It just always felt like an odd fit. Read the rest of the interview HERE. Adam Griffiths is a cartoonist from the D.C. area who will be joining us at the Rowhouse in Pittsburgh for a Residency early next year. Be sure to check out more of his work HERE. ————————————————————————————————— The Winter Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers Starts December 29, 2016. 8 week course, $500, 10 spots available, apply by December 13, 2016 and get $100 off course fee. Email santoroschoolATgmail for more details! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 12-8-2016 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

01/30/2018

Aaron CockleJanuary 30, 2018NewsAaron here today with Louise Nevelson; Jennifer Ley; Comic Contracts ————————————————————————————————— Louise Nevelson: Black & White Feb 01, 2018 – Mar 03, 2018 Pace Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of works by Louise Nevelson, marking the gallery’s twenty-seventh solo show for the artist since 1963. The exhibition brings together approximately 20 of Nevelson’s iconic black and white painted wood sculptures, wall reliefs, and installations from the late 1950s through the late 1980s. Louise Nevelson: Black & White will be on view from February 1 through March 3, 2018 at 537 West 24th Street, with an opening reception on Thursday, February 1 from 6 – 8 pm. A full-color catalogue accompanies the exhibition. ————————————————————————————————— Inside Club 57: A Conversation with Artist Jennifer Ley Tuesday, February 13, 1:30pm, The Museum of Modern Art Join us for a conversation with artist Jennifer Ley, who moved to New York City and joined the circle around Club 57 in the late 1970s. An ad gal by day, she created fashion satire and early music videos by night. We will talk about her photo xerox series As Never Seen in Seventeen, handmade pins, and films. The discussion is moderated by educator Petra Pankow. ————————————————————————————————— Comic contracts and other ways to make the law understandable The above comic is a full non-disclosure agreement. Three pictures with text. And the result? Users actually read it and get the basic idea of non-disclosure. No more disputes arose. Are you wondering if this is all legally binding? The answer is yes. Contracts are about intention – and if it is actually made clearer and understandable by pictures then all the better. ————————————————————————————————— Collected from the thousands of pages of material that Frank has left scattered all over the digital landscape, these 4 PDF collections contain Frank’s best writing on comics and comics making from the past decade. Theory and process, reviews and discoveries, journeys both physical and spiritual. Check out the “Best of Frank Santoro” PDF collections, available HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Vision Box – 1-30-2018 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-30-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

04/04/2016

Juan FernándezApril 4, 2016NewsJuan Fernandez here to start your week off with a round up. To start off, Lauren Weinstein seems to have had a an ecstatic morning before the dawn chorus. http://laurenrweinstein.tumblr.com/post/142237378161/4-am-i-started-drawing-trying-to-clear-my-head Today I’ve got a slew of things for ya; Keith Knight, Retrofit’s big push, new comics from Alyssa Berg, Eleanor Davis, Simon Moreton, Simon Reinhardt, and Oliver East + an interview with Phoebe Gloeckner, Red, White, Black and Blue – An Evening with Keith Knight TONIGHT in Pittsburgh. Keith Knight will be giving a presentation on his life and work at Point Park University. If you’re in the area, you want want to miss these discussions of race, media, politics and satire. Keith Knight, creator of the Knight Life, K Chronicles and (th)ink), will share cartoons culled from over 20 years of his award-winning nationally-syndicated work. Presenting his unique take on the militarization of the nation’s police force, and the unchecked killing of unarmed citizens, Knight’s cartoons are infused with urgency, humor, satire, politics, and race. His work is designed to provoke constructive, civil dialogue among people young and old, left and right, of all colors and orientations. The presentation has been a hit at university campuses everywhere. Following the presentation, Keith will be joined on stage by editorial cartoonist Rob Rogers and columnist Tony Norman, both from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, to discuss the topic further. An audience Q&A will follow. More information here. ————————————————————————————————— Retrofit Kickstarter – Last Rounds Retrofit Comics is in its last days of their Kickstarter campaign! They’re in the last rounds of this fight. You can help them get that KO. Support them to make it happen. The crop of books they’re currently publishing is really special. It includes titles by the likes of James Kochalka (Elf Cat in Love), the first Cartoonist Laureate of Vermont, Eleanor Davis with her an offering (Libby’s Dad), and Kaeleigh Forsyth and Alabaster Pizzo with a team up on Hellbound (here’s a process post from them about the “raw material” the book was sourced from). Also among the comics that may get loosed on the world, should the Kickstarter make it to the stretch goals, are works by Anya Davidson and Tyler Landry. Please support Retrofit Comics by pitching some funds their way, or helping to spread the word. Check out the Kickstarter and make it happen HERE! ————————————————————————————————— FLUFFIG Alyssa Berg’s got the engine revving and she’s started sharing her progress on her latest comics series, FLUFFIG. Painted colors dance against the tension of the four panel grid, teasing out hard earned truths onto the page. Read what she’s been making for Comics Workbook here. ————————————————————————————————— Take Me Back to Manchester Ollie East’s Latest is here! In 1872, Maharajah, an elephant bought by Belle Vue Zoo at auction in Edinburgh, refused to board his train to Manchester. Lorenzo Lawrence, his trainer, offered to walk him home. All two hundred and twenty miles. This is their story. 152 pages by the the homesick truant. Full colour. Soft cover. Numbered and limited to 1000 Check it out and pick up a copy here. ————————————————————————————————— Life and Comics – Phoebe Gloeckner Interview on Chimera Obscura We talk about Diary’s hybrid structure and why it would have been unpitchable to a publisher (luckily, she had a two-book contract), the tightrope of portraying a 15-year-old girl’s affair with her mother’s 30-something boyfriend without making her strictly a victim or “asking for it”, and some audiences’ obsession with “the facts” of the book. We also get into her ongoing, decade-long multi-media project to recreate a life in Juarez, Mexico, her place in the comics scene (too young for the undergrounds, too old for the alternatives), her unrepeatable approach to making art, and more! – Listen to the interview here. ————————————————————————————————— Minor Leagues Simon Moreton’s newest zine, Minor Leagues is available now This new work contains 100 pages of comics, drawings, stories and writing about how days go by, a video rental shop, walking, travelling in Mississippi, a snowball fight from 1995 and more. Thinking a lot about how things and people come and go. It picks up where his last series SMOO left off, detailing things that happened to him, but expands it to bring in bigger questions and other thoughts, as well as lots more words. The hope is for this series to continue and grow. Four issue subscriptions are available here. £4 + P&P – order a copy here ————————————————————————————————— He’s Walking Through The Water Eleanor Davis has a heart wrenching, surreal new comic on her blog. The way I see this, this mode of comics journaling holds the seeds for extremely exciting futures of comics journalism. It’s raw, it breathes as the words and images dance on the page. Read it here. ————————————————————————————————— The Monthly Municipal Newsletter. Simon Reinhardt has been putting together some very interesting reports of Mystery Town’s current events. You can read and print out his handiwork here. ————————————————————————————————— Good luck making it through your day, Mad Lib and MF DOOM are here to help if you need to knock out the cobwebs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6XG_20xqo0 Share this page: [...]

09/14/2017

Sally IngrahamSeptember 13, 2017NewsSam Ombiri on Patrick Kyle’s Everywhere Disappeared, plus other comics and news! ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: I had a chance to read an advanced PDF copy of Patrick Kyle’s new comic Everywhere Disappeared. (The book has now come out from Koyama Press.) At first I had trouble with this book, but I took the time to read through it twice and I made many discoveries. There is part of the book that feels rather navel-gazy and a bit vain as a result, (for him to be showing work like this). This was an initial misinterpretation on my part, because it looks at first like this new book is just a reflection of how Patrick is a private person. From what I’ve heard him say about this, he is pretty private, and he’ll keep many elements of his work that could be interpreted as personal, hidden. The work then feels somewhat rigid when he’s documenting what we might see as his artistic struggles, and personal struggles. Being who he is, he is doing this in a really roundabout way, and while I enjoyed the book, it’s a little bothersome to sit through. (Although the bothersome aspect became the interesting aspect later.) When I first read the second strip I thought to myself “Does Patrick think his work is in so much demand that we’re willing to sit through this nonsense?!” It’s not as focused as his last book (Don’t Come In Here, 2016), which might answer why any emotional triumph in the beginning of the book feels unearned, and this made me a little nervous, because that was a problem I had with certain parts of Don’t Come In Here. Now I had to read a whole book that was filled to the brim with that problem? I discovered that I should not have worried. I felt at first that there wasn’t any long term investment to be had with Everywhere Disappeared, but as I read more and more of the book, I was proven wrong. Patrick has a big artistic triumph. Everywhere Disappeared is a collection of stories in the form of comic strips. Taken together the book seemed to me to be about taking risks, and people reacting to your insincerity, be it through art or just normal interaction. The first strip functions really well in telling the reader what mindset Patrick is in. The strip that follows just baffled me in how much he’s testing the reader’s patience, as I mentioned above. Then I had to eat my words with the following strips, which were just amazing – hilariously portraying his solutions to his dilemmas in his current role (with the sentiments expressed in the first and second strip, and the answer being the third strip.) Point being, though I felt at first that the second strip was a lousy strip, it really served the book well. It was a step up from just being a self-conscious comic, a major step up – instead of stagnating with his self-consciousness, he advanced. Not only that, but it tells you as the reader that Patrick isn’t suddenly making these big conceptual leaps as a maker. He’s still this guy who you come to to read some fun stuff, and he’s still very much thriving in this territory. At a certain point as a reader of Everywhere Disappeared, even looking back at the Dracula story (the second strip), I realize it’s been really fun and it’s going to continue to be fun. The illustrations are getting tastier and the punchlines are getting funnier. The ridiculous concepts are more acceptable to the reader. There a style that was introduced in the Dracula strip, then a couple strips later we get the pay off with it. Amazing pay off too, when a character does a print with Bart Simpson with Nike for eyes (and that gag only manages to get better). It reminds me of a gag I’d see from Ben Jones, but it’s all Patrick Kyle. By the time I read the strip titled “Glory of the Pile” I knew that I was completely wrong in thinking that Patrick was running out of his bag of tricks. That strip hit me hard. There’s a real impressive element to how Patrick is recycling shapes he normally draws and just uses them here and there, to elicit some kind of emotion or feeling or sentiment he’s trying to get across to the reader. The book speaks its own language now and is super comfortable in it, and this seemingly comes out of nowhere (or everywhere?). – Sam Ombiri Get a copy of Everywhere Disappeared HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Sally here – The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey was reviewed as an Orbital Comics staff pick recently (Orbital Comics is currently hosting a show of Vanesa’s work!). “Thomas says: I wasn’t aware of Del Rey’s art until her work came in for the show that is currently running in our gallery (until the end of the month) and was absolutely blown away by what I saw. Her work is gorgeous, her line work free and energetic with an exuberant life of it’s own. Even static figures seem to be in motion, breathing with a life of their own. This sketchbook serves two functions; it is a beautiful selection of Del Rey’s work but is as much a glimpse into her life, past, present and future as it is anything else. Interviewed by Frank Santoro, Del Rey is open and forth coming about her work explaining as best as she can her thoughts regarding the human figure, to the influence art has had on her life and is also quite open about her life and her childhood. With a new book out this past month written by the wonderful Jordie Bellaire, Del Rey’s star is in the ascendant and you would be foolish to ignore this talented young artist. Excitingly, Vanesa will be signing here on Saturday 16th September 2017, from 17:00 till 19:00 so come along and pick up a copy of her sketch book or Redlands and say ‘Hi’. Click here for more details.“ Get a copy of The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey HERE. ————————————————————————————————— There’s a piece in the Washington Post‘s Comic Riffs about Shawn Martinbrough, and how he came to draw Hellboy in a recent one-shot issue of Hellboy and the B. P. R. D. Heavily influenced by the artwork of Mike Mignola as a kid, this was a dream project for Martinbrough, who has been storming the mainstream comics scene for a few decades (more on his story HERE). “Martinbrough…is known for going out of his way to add diversity to the comics he works on. If a story’s script doesn’t specify the race of a supporting or background character, he’ll frequently draw that character as a person of color. That wouldn’t be necessary with this Hellboy story (written by Mignola and Chris Roberson), in which Woodrow, Hellboy’s partner, is a brilliant African American from Chicago. In the story, Woodrow is offended but not shocked when he brushes up against some racism even noticing that the white man he and Hellboy have questions for is more comfortable around a giant demon from hell than a black man. “Hellboy is an average Joe in the form of a large, fantastical red demon with a large stone hand and tail,” Martinbrough said. “The idea of a white guy accepting Hellboy without skipping a beat, but questioning the legitimacy of a black scientist is tragic but, unfortunately, very realistic. The social commentary was a very pleasant and welcome surprise.”“ Read more about it HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 9-14-2017 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

07/21/2017

Sally IngrahamJuly 21, 2017NewsSally here with Rachel Masilamani live from Pittsburgh, PA; Sophie Yanow saying “No!”; Florida witches at large thanks to Vanesa R. Del Rey and Jordie Bellaire; and much more. —————————————————————————————————— The Pittsburgh Comic Salon had the great pleasure of hosting Rachel Masilamani last night at the ToonSeum. She has been making comics since 1997 and has a veritable constellation of work in print and online publications, as well as a number of self published works. Her first comics collection – RPM Comics #1 – received a grant from the Xeric Foundation. Her ongoing graphic novel project – Non Partum – appears on MUTHA Magazine in installments. Her most recent pieces are the powerful Battleground, which was part of Illustrated PEN’s series “State of Emergency”, and Who Does He Favor? from this month on the LA Review of Books. Rachel spoke eloquently about how she uses comics to control and contextualize her experiences and memories, how “lies” illuminate the truth, and her belief in the power of making good art. She relates to Lynda Barry’s term “autobiofictionography” and names her as a main source of inspiration. Rachel pushed through her first successes and then bitter disappointments with the realty of making comics (and not making a living) and now 20 years into the game she is confident in her work and herself, and is excited about the medium. It was wonderful to hear her speak, and to see her address a crowd of mostly women last night. Sharing our work and experiences this way is more important than ever. Check out more of Rachel’s work HERE. Read Juan Fernandez’s discussion of Rachel’s foundational work HERE. —————————————————————————————————— Sophie Yanow has captured the constant struggle of many artists to maintain their space to make their work – and turned that “NO” (so often combined with wracking guilt and anxiety) into something glorious. Thank you Sophie! This comic should go above everyone’s desk – and she has made it available as a “pay what you want” downloadable PDF so get your copy HERE asap! —————————————————————————————————— Vanesa R. Del Rey and Jordie Bellaire talk Redlands over on Multiversity Comics in anticipation of the upcoming release of #1 (August 9th). I can’t wait for this comic, which will mix small town Florida with fed up witches, hopefully with wicked and wonderful results. Alice Castle interviewed the two makers about the work: “The idea of using witches as the protagonists in “Redlands” is fascinating to me. Witches have usually been cast as figures of impurity; the kind of women who refuse to adhere to patriarchal society. What was it that drew you to this idea? What made witches the right pick for this story? Jordie Bellaire: Women and the archetypes of crones, witches, succubi, etc go hand-in-hand. If women were sexually liberated, educated or sought knowledge or were generally unfettered by whatever social construct was pushed upon them at the time, they were written about as evil, dark and inhuman. This was in an effort to push women down and make them seem as if they were against not only men, but against god as well. It dates back to the story of Adam and Eve. This is a compelling trope that I wanted to dive into it as I think it has really set the tone for how women are seen in our culture and in our media. Women have been taking back the idea of being a witch or she-devil and owning it. The women in my story are unapologetic, flawed but liberated and real. Vanesa, you’ve dabbled in the world of horror comics before with “The Empty Man,” which was where I first discovered your artwork. “Redlands,” from what I’ve seen, seems even more somber and atmospheric. How would you describe your approach to this series? Vanesa R. Del Rey: The visual tone for the series is inspired by turn of the 19th-century illustration and printmaking, mainly. But I was also visiting Goya’s etching works which are pretty dark in terms of the commentary he made with the work as well as the imagery he used. I thought a hatching technique would be appropriate to illustrate the uneasiness, distress and anxiety in this land we have created. It’s also very classical, with attention to details and line weight…. I’m playing with the energy of the line to express a feeling in all ways. Things in “Redlands” are very strange and confusing, much like the place from which we are taking inspiration, Florida; it’s beautiful and colorful, but dark and unsettling too.“ Read the rest of the interview HERE and get ye to a comics shoppe on August 9th to grab your copy of Redlands #1! —————————————————————————————————— Working the Circuit Karen Berger announces the lineup of her new publishing imprint, Berger Books – Vulture has the details HERE. Katie Skelly was on Inkstuds recently, interviewed by guest host Joe McCulloch – listen HERE. Over on Comics Alternative Interviews Andy and Derek spoke with Gabrielle Bell about Everything is Flammable – HERE. Nicola Scott wades into the whys of how she’s drawing Wonder Woman for W Magazine – read the interview HERE. If you’re in the San Francisco area join Nicole J. Georges for an evening and celebrate the release of her new book Fetch on July 21st – part of the Comics in the City speaker series at California College of the Arts – details HERE. —————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 7-21-2017 – by Gabriella Tito —————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 7-21-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

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