Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Annie koyana, emily carroll, lale westvind, Laura Howell, olivia jaimes, sally in graham

Sally Ingraham

Posted on October 4, 2018

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01/29/2018

Caleb OrecchioJanuary 29, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on amazing, dumb back-issues that won’t leave my brain, and other news. ————————————————————————————————— One of my favorite parts of comics culture is the scrounging for back-issues, which often feels like trying to find a lost wedding band in yesterday’s garbage—in a good way. I get a sincere rush from finding wacky crap from comic’s past. As I was scavenging the longboxes and finding some excellent garbage this past week, I was reminded of some things Chris Ware said in his recent RiYL interview: “Most great works of art don’t work in the present, they work in the memory.” ” will draw things in a certain way, especially in his more recent work, that is very uncomfortable or strange. I know he’s looked at comics by cartoonists who might be considered awkward or almost naive just as a way of making an image that has–as I think of it, personally–hooks that hang in your brain and stay with you.” In a recent back-issue find, Kull the Destroyer #19 (1976), there’s this sequence of “SHEMENON–THE GOD OF FIRE AND ICE–!” a wraith, a skeleton encapsulated in diamond whose “SOLE PURPOSE WAS TO FILL HIS CRYSTALLOID FLESH WITH LIFE!!” Very campy, classic mid-seventies Marvel stuff that the staff at The Comics Journal would have used as toilet paper. To read this comic in any way as to understand the narrative is a fool’s errand, and not worth the time of intelligent, discerning people. Yet! the images will not leave my mind! I find myself returning and going back over the fight between our hero and this jewel-encrusted executioner from hell! Old dumb boy adventure comics featuring superheroes, barbarians and flights of action-packed fever-dreams tend to fall into the “Minor Prophets” category of the comics “Bible.” When all the history of comics is laid before us, it’s comics like Kull the Destroyer #19 that tend to get ignored for various reasons; but it’s these very kinds of comics that tend to infest our subconscious and become active images in our memory when least expected—like an annoying radio jingle or something. Have you ever met a real Kirby-hater? Maybe you are one. You hate his comics for reasons others love him. People hate/love his weird knees, or they hate/love his square hands, or they hate/love the way he draws action or machines or whatever. Both parties remember the same things. Whether you like the art or not, the image is permanently branded onto the folds of your brain. ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Ty Burr writes about How to Read Nancy, at the The Boston Globe, plus, the authors of said book, Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden, sit down for a radio interview. On the latest episode of Comic Books Are Burning in Hell, the boys talk about their favorite comics of 2017. Paul Tumey on Mark Campos, the Seattle mini comics maker at TCJ.com. The latest Process Party episode features Jason T. Miles, and on the same site, Study Group Comics, Will Tempest begins a web comic. Ryan C. has a guest spot on Your Chicken Enemy, he writes about Forsman’s Slasher. ————————————————————————————————— 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! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-29-2018 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

TCAF 2016 | Chippendale, Mickey, Como, Marra, Minette, Jesjit

Juan FernándezJune 3, 2016Festivals and ShowsShare this page: [...]

12/11/2017

Caleb OrecchioDecember 11, 2017NewsCaleb Orecchio here with the Dayton-based educational comic, Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact—plus other news. ————————————————————————————————— Several weeks ago I found Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact Vol. 24 No.12 in a dollar bin here in Dayton, OH. It was a nice find. The cover was a portrait of The Wright Brothers, Dayton’s most celebrated sons, with the cover story drawn by none other than “Joltin'” Joe Sinnot. “What a find!” I thought. I look at the indicia and found the book was published right here in Dayton, OH–on 5th Street, right near where the convention center is (where they now hold Gem City Comic Con). “Gee! This is tops!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. I had no idea this comic existed, nor did I realize (obviously) that it was published right here in Dayton near a culturally thriving part of the city. The issue itself is cool. The Sinnot/Wright Bros story, some gag strips, some serialized stories, an illustrated prose story about elephant poaching, and a great editorial page called “Backtalk” located on each inside cover that could go toe-to-toe with Stan’s Soapbox. It was an educational comic that was published “twice monthly during the school year…” It was distributed across the U.S. and Canada, subscription-only, to Catholic schools mostly from what I can find–which makes sense with Dayton being a primarily Catholic town in the past (ever heard of the University of Dayton?), and being in the Rust Belt. The series ran from 1946 to 1972. You get some great EC cartoonists like Joe Orlando (!) and Reed Crandall, plus Silver Agers like Sinnot throughout the years. Really interesting stuff—and many other notable artists. I love finding these x-factor comic books that seem to come out of nowhere (to me). Anyway, the most interesting part I found about this series was the story, “This Godless Communism.” Drawn by Reed Crandall (whom I’m a fan of), it was a 10-part story serialized in every other issue from Vol.17 No.2, until No.20 in 1961. Basically, the title (you have to admit it’s a zinger of a title despite the propaganda) says it all. It documents the rise of communism in Russia and its evils and all that. Evidently, the story made it’s way up the chain. Look at the letter below that graced the inside front cover of the Vol.17 No.2. This must have been the pride of George A. Pflaum, the publisher of this Daytonian mag: NOTE: Apologies for the bad scan above–it’s the best I could find online since I don’t actually own the physical copy. The other images of Treasure Chest herein are from my own copy and scanned at a reasonable dpi. You can read and/or download, if you want, “This Godless Communism” in it’s entirety here, and be on the lookout for other issues of Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact in your local dollar bin. To me, it’s one of those weird pieces of comics history that almost seems to run parallel with the industry as oppose to within it—make sense? It’s just weird that it exists I guess. -CO ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Gilbert Hernandez gives a “graphic review” of Catcher in the Rye at The NY Times. TCJ.com has a great inside baseball conversation between Dash Shaw and Connor Willumsen about the latter’s book, Anti-Gone. Also, Greg Hunter reviews Old Ground by Noel Freibert on the same site. Didem Tali writes about women in Mongolia making comics to raise questions about gender norms. Shout out to Dayton comics-blood-brother Jason Hart who is appearing in the New Zealand literary magazine, Geometry, issue 2. The comic that appears in the mag is a short story he did last year I think. It’s called, “Message in a Bottle”. I am happy to see it find a home because this to me was around the time we both were finding our sea legs in comics and was his best work at the time. He has since gone on to be published in Ink Brick and other publications. Former New York State Senator Marc C. Panepinto had a box of comics stolen from him, which he claims was worth $20,000 to $40,000. Haha I wonder what the perpetrator’s reaction will be when they find out that comics are actually worthless. The Schulz Museum is hosting a fundraiser for those affected by the North Bay wildfires. See the journey of Simon Vance, narrator of Alan Moore’s Jerusalem audio book, to Northampton where he meets with the man himself. Prologue starts here. ————————————————————————————————— The Winter Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers starts January 18th 2018! 8 weeks – 500 bux – coaching for as long as you need. The course is hard, but Frank will push your comics making practice to a new level, getting you to think about timing and color in new ways. Makes a great holiday gift for yourself – or for a loved one who is interested in comics. Apply by midnight (EST) on Dec. 25th and get $100 off the course price. Full details and how to apply can be found HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 12-11-2017 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

11/08/2016

Aaron CockleNovember 7, 2016NewsAaron here today with Triple Canopy CFP; Montreal Expozine & Philly Small Press Zine Faire; Moaz Eleman Comics; Ben Jones Interviewed; CAB Photos; Goethe Color Studies ————————————————————————————————— Canopy Canopy Canopy Triple Canopy has announced a call for proposals for it’s 23rd issue, Vanitas. In an age defined by extremes of finitude and excess, deprivation and luxury, what is vanity? How do we register our own transitoriness even as we strive against decay and senescence, by way of cryogenics labs, biotechnology innovations, spa treatments, and the hoarding of material goods and digital files? This issue explores contemporary meditations on mortality as well as the delights, delusions, and pressures of fleshly existence, and ranges from the much-heralded “end of death” to collective processes of aging to the pursuit of impossible—or nearly impossible—forms of beauty. The name is taken from the opulent, hyperrealist still lifes popularized by Dutch and Flemish painters in the seventeenth century, which symbolize the brevity of human life and essential emptiness of earthly pursuits, even as they advertise the artist’s ability to fix time. These paradoxical images prompt us to consider how and why we strive to overcome death while reminding us of our certain mortality. Apply via the online form. The deadline for submissions is Sunday, November 13, at 11:59 pm EDT. Commission recipients will be announced on December 15. ————————————————————————————————— Upcoming Shows in N.America In Montreal: EXPOZINE 2016 Saturday-Sunday, November 12-13, 11h-18h, free admission. Église Saint-Denis, 454 Laurier E. (main entrance 5075 Rivard, accessible entrance 5050 Berri) In Philadelphia: Philly Small Press Zine Faire Saturday, December 3, 12-5pm. Fleisher Art Memorial, 719 Catharine St, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19147 ————————————————————————————————— Distant Fires: A Sudanese-American ponders how much death a presidential candidate can be responsible for, by Moaz Eleman ————————————————————————————————— Lines of Thought: An Interview with Ben Jones – via Nicole Rudick at Hyperallergic: NR: Do you mean that shows like Adventure Time were created because imagery from the sixties and seventies has become more readily available through sites like Tumblr? BJ: Contemporary animation like Adventure Time is a complete celebration/homage/furthering of the language that Miyazaki, Crumb, Mœbius, and Disney created. If you watch that new Werner Herzog documentary Lo and Behold (2016), he interviews one of the three guys who invented the Internet, who says, “The Internet’s all wrong. A hyperlink isn’t a link. You don’t put Nike.com and click on it and it takes you to Nike, I never meant for that to happen.” A hyperlink was excerpting a stanza from Shakespeare, and when you would click on it, you would go to that part of the play. That’s all that hyperlinks were meant to do. Now, I don’t really care about that, but it shows you that the system of organizing information on the Internet is the Internet. And the fact that we have URLs that are links controls your whole reality, so much so that when you look at how we’re organizing data into platforms like Instagram – I mean, the fact that people are on Instagram all day and not the Internet just shows that how you’re linking to and presenting data is incredibly important. Tumblr was a platform that sped up kids’ understanding what good art was. Now, there are plenty of dolphin GIFs that are shit, but also in three minutes, Johnny Negron — sorry to keep using him as an example — could see every good thing ever made, whereas Chris Forgues and I were lucky to get half of that in our first twenty-four years of life. The Internet is decentralized, but Tumblr is a black hole of curation and appropriation and aggregation. It figured out art. It didn’t figure out the stock market or pornography. ————————————————————————————————— Some photos from this past weekend’s Comic Arts Brooklyn show, if you’re into that sort of thing – From the Publisher’s Weekly blog. See if you can spot your favorite cartoonist and/or human being (who attended CAB on Saturday, November 5). ————————————————————————————————— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Via Maria Popova at the Brainpickings blog, some lovely words and images regarding Goethe‘s theory of color. Goethe believed that there were only two pure colors, blue (“a darkness weakened by light”) and yellow (“a light which has been dampened by darkness”), but he was particularly interested in morphology — the study of forms. His theories of color were also heavily rooted in morphology — from his color wheel, a symmetrical arrangement of six colors against Newton’s asymmetry of seven, to his geometric diagrams of how the relationship between darkness and light shapes color. ————————————————————————————————— Also, today (Tuesday, November 8, 2016) is Election Day in the United States of America, please vote if you are eligible to do so. Share this page: [...]

07/29/2016

Sally IngrahamJuly 29, 2016NewsSally here, ready to dig into a roller-coaster of a week. We went from the excitement of the Eisner Awards to the wild Democratic National Convention, and then were hit with the sad passing of two comic masters – and the week isn’t over yet! Perhaps we will be able to catch our breath and our balance today? ————————————————————————————————— First up, a summer report from Frank Santoro, live from the Rowhouse Residency in Pittsburgh, PA – ————————————————————————————————— The EISNER AWARDS! They were incredible this year. Image Comics may have claimed the most awards, but it was Drawn & Quarterly that owned the stage that night (pictured above, publisher Peggy Burns accepting the Best Anthology award for Drawn & Quarterly: Twenty-five years of contemporary comics, cartoons, and graphic novels). From the D+Q blog: “D+Q authors were nominated in five categories and swept all five of them, with wins for Kate Beaton (Best Humor Publication for Step Aside, Pops), Shigeru Mizuki (Best American Edition of International Material – Asia for Showa 1953-1989), Jillian Tamaki (Best Publication for Teens for SuperMutant Magic Academy) and Adrian Tomine (Best Short Story for “Killing and Dying”)! Beaton was the first solo female cartoonist to win in the humor category, a deserved and significant win. In addition to all that wonderfulness, two of our legendary and defining authors, Lynda Barry and Tove Jansson were inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame.” Read more about D+Q’s Eisner sweep HERE, as well as a transcript of Peggy Burns’ wonderful speech inducting Tove Jansson into the hall of fame. Paste Magazine has a more general overview of the Eisner Awards, and the complete list of winners HERE. And for even more SDCC and Eisner Awards coverage: Jamie Coville recorded the ceremony plus 21 panels during the week, and took a million photos for The Comics Beat. You can check it all out HERE. Of particular interest to me were the panels “We Need Diverse Comics” with Raina Telgemeier, Nilah Magruder, Ron Wimberly, Ben Hatke, Nidhi Chanani and moderator Glen Weldon; the “Daniel Clowes Spotlight” with Clowes and Eric Reynolds; the “Trina Robbins Spotlight“; and “The Complete Wimmen’s Comix: Her-Story” with founders and contributors Trina Robbins, Terre Richards, Sharon Ruduhl, Lee Marrs, Rebecka Wright, Mary Fleener, Joan Hilty and Barbara “Willy” Mendes. ————————————————————————————————— Here on the site, Jillian Fleck has a fascinating report on a thriving corner of the comics world that many of us may not be aware of. Graphic Medicine is a thing, and a great thing at that – Jillian digs into why, via her experiences at the Graphic Medicine 2016 Conference in Dundee, Scotland earlier this month. Read the article HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Okay, let’s turn to politics briefly – The Nib has held my attention all week with comics that explore the scene around the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Once again Sophie Louise Dam killed it, this time teaming up with Eleri Harris. Their comic gets you on the Democratic Platform and makes you want to linger there – check it out HERE. CNN caught up with Matt Bors, editor of The Nib, and followed him around on day 4 of the DNC, checking in with the artists and getting the “funny” side of things. Video below. ————————————————————————————————— The Washington Post reported on Wednesday – “RICHARD THOMPSON, the “Cul de Sac” cartoonist who is widely considered one of the greatest comic-strip creators and illustrators of his generation, died Wednesday in Northern Virginia, family friends confirm. He was 58.” – via Michael Cavna John Martz drew some memories of Richard Thompson for Slate – See the rest HERE. Jack Davis also died on Wednesday, at the age of 91. The Comics Journal has begun collecting tributes to this beloved cartoonist, written by the likes of Gary Panter, Peter Bagge, and Jim Woodring among others – with more to come. Check them out HERE. And it was Gary Groth himself who sat down to write an obituary for Jack Davis for The Comics Journal, which you can read HERE. ————————————————————————————————— NPR turned it’s gaze to minicomics this week, with Etelka Lehoczky’s brief look at a few titles she got her hands on recently – among them Bonnie N. Collide, Nine to Five by Monica Gallagher. About minicomics Lehoczky wrote – “Shouldn’t minicomics be obsolete by now? Printed by their creators in tiny batches and sold for a few bucks at “alternative” comic shops and conventions, they’re as cumbersome to produce as they are to obtain. It would be much more sensible for the artists to just put up their work online — right? Fortunately, these artists aren’t interested in being sensible. They’re in love with the unique tangibility of print on paper, the sight and feel of pages under their fingers. It’s a powerful yen, as evidenced by the recent resurgence of printed books in the larger publishing world. There are enough artists who share it to make minicomics a thriving and diverse genre. Some of these creations really are “mini” — they may be 4″x6″ or smaller, or contain only eight pages. Even if they’re magazine-sized, they take some work to discover.” via NPR Check out the rest of the article and the minicomic reviews HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Lastly, also here on Comics Workbook today, we have a new Art Trip piece from Anna Mancini! Not to give anything away, but she was in a museum in Rio de Janeiro and had a definite encounter with comics. Check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Hang in there folks! The summer still has surprises for us I think. – Sally Share this page: [...]

10/05/2018

Posted on October 4, 2018 by Sally Ingraham

Sally here. Busy week. I’m working on completing, and starting, a couple of personal comics projects. I’m also (as usual) reading three different comics at once – Rina Ayuyang‘s Blame This on the Boogie, Emma Rios‘ I.D., and Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. Whichever one I finish first I’ll write about next week!

For the time being, here’s a roundup of what everyone else has been writing and thinking about, comics-wise, lately.

Laura Howell (pictured above) was the first female cartoonist to produce a strip in The Beano (an 80-year old British children’s comic magazine) – 12 years later she is still working for them. Read about her HERE.
The mysterious “Olivia Jaimes“, current and much discussed artist behind the rebirth of the strip Nancy, made an appearance at CXC recently (in a disguise) – Rocko Jerome was there and offers a full report.

Annie Koyama announced the spring lineup of books for Koyama Press – including the latest from Emily Carroll (above). See what else is coming up HERE.
Joe McCulloch reviews Lale Westvind‘s Grip #1 over on The Comics Journal – and words fail him.
The Washington Post compares notes on the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation process with Ann Telnaes and Signe Wilkinson, among other editorial cartoonists.
The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is now accepting applications for the 2019 Lucy Shelton Caswell Research Award – details HERE.

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Sally Ingraham

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Annie koyana, emily carroll, lale westvind, Laura Howell, olivia jaimes, sally in graham

Sally Ingraham

Posted on October 4, 2018

Explore

11/18/2016

Sally IngrahamNovember 18, 2016NewsSally here with comics from Jessica Campbell and Gabriella Tito, interviews with Keiler Roberts and Roz Chast, a look at the book Black Women in Sequence, Mardou on Clowes, a moment with Frank Santoro, and the Winter Correspondence Course details. ————————————————————————————————— I was startled to discover an illustration by The New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast on the cover of Birding, the monthly magazine published by the American Birding Association, of which I am a member. Although I often think about the parallels between the two worlds that I stand with feet planted in, this was an amusing direct collision. Roz Chast, like many cartoonists , prefers to spend her time safely indoors with her two pet birds – but has also been coaxed as far as the Pantanal to check out Jabirus, Hyacinth Macaws, caracaras, Wattled Jacanas, toucans, and wild parakeets. Her parents had parakeets when Roz was a girl, and ever since then birds have been part of her life, and often pop up in her work (her two children’s books feature a red parrot named Marco, modeled after a bird she owned in real-life). One of her famous cartoons features a very classic New Yorker pigeon: I grew up in “the birding world”, paling around with my Dad on birding trips and to festivals where bird enthusiasts flocked, much like a comic con. I still go searching for odd birds in interesting corners of the world, and now I make comics about that, because as Roz Chast put it so well: “Birds are fun to draw and interesting to think about. I think they’re a lot smarter and more verbal than other animals. They’re like us in some ways. … I’m 100% sure birds talk to one another. I would guess it’s mostly gossip.” I agree, Roz! I’d direct you to the full interview, but you have to be an ABA member to see the online article (you can join HERE if you’re interested in letting your bird-nerd flag fly.) Check out more of Roz Chast’s work HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Jessica Campbell has a comic on The Nib, and as usual I find her work extremely relatable… Read the rest HERE. ————————————————————————————————— I picked this book up while at work at Copacetic Comics yesterday, and spent some time digging into this essential, important discussion of race, feminism, exoticism, and the social development of the comics community. Recently published by the University of Washington Press, it finds a balance between scholarly text and lively investigation – and has plenty of pictures of rare and unusual comics. (Right off the bat I learned that the very first black superheroine was The Butterfly, who debuted in Hell-Rider #1 in August 1971 – there’s a full write-up about this comic HERE for those interested.) The author of Black Women in Sequence – Deborah Elizabeth Whaley – is an Associate Professor of American Studies and African American Studies at the University of Iowa. She has been studying how mass media reflects and shapes culture for her entire career. This book started out as an article about the representation of Catwoman over the years, but a brief search through the writing on women in comics revealed that there was NO writing to speak of about Black women in comics as producers, readers, and characters. Whaley quickly, thoroughly fixed that, and there is information in this book that until now has been almost impossible to find. “I tried to read every comic book, comic strip, and graphic novel with Black female characters. This meant reaching back to the 1930s. I went through a lot of Black and mainstream newspapers from the 1930s to the 1990s and tried to find storylines in comic strips that addressed larger issues in culture, especially concerning politics, nation-making, gender, class, race, and sexuality. I approached as many Black women writers and artists doing comics that I could find to conduct interviews. I worked to make connections between the print representations and representations in film, video games, and anime. I of course had to read as many secondary sources as possible, address all relevant historical contexts, and did research on the background of artists and writers and other things they were involved in like civil rights and the Communist Party. For one of the artists and writers I write about I had to obtain and then read her 250-page FBI file.” – Dr. Whaley There’s an interview with her about the book on Sequart that gets into her research process and her hopes for the work, as well as her next project. Check it out HERE. I’ll be continuing to read the book over the next few weeks and will report back on what I find! ————————————————————————————————— Rob Clough interviewed Keiler Roberts for The Comics Journal. “Roberts is also a keen observer of character dynamics and the humor of awkwardness, as a hilarious strip about a trip to a day spa that involves comparing bodies with a friend demonstrates. Roberts writes a lot about social anxiety and the ways in which she copes with the world, but her strong storytelling and character focus prevents it from being didactic. Her stories are little bursts of truth that trust the reader to make connections, and even the most emotionally wrought situations are tapped for their humor. She won an Ignatz award for Outstanding Series at SPX 2016, a couple of years after she drew strips in which she discussed her dread in potentially attending the show. She addressed all of these topics and many more in this interview…“ Read the interview HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Frank Santoro gave a talk at the ToonSeum last night as part of the Pittsburgh Comic Salon’s monthly lecture series. The clip below catches him speaking about his comic Kora. ————————————————————————————————— There are always decent comics over on VICE – Leslie Stein is running diary comics there right now, while Dame Darcy‘s Ghost Castle series continues, and Anna Haifisch has at least Three Jolly Autumn Strips. ————————————————————————————————— Sacha Mardou has a feature here on Comics Workbook this week – an essay On Being a Woman in the Manly World of Daniel Clowes. She really digs in, exploring her own relationship with the characters in Clowes’ work as much as the the topic of her piece. “What is going on here? The women get more choices than Clowes’s men. From Clay Loudermilk to Daniel Pussey to David Boring the men inhabit this spectrum of sad indignities like Fate’s blind somnambulists. The women are operating on a more awakened level I think. Dan Clowes writes women so damn well that they overshadow the men they deal with on every page that they interact together. Why is this so? Is it because of feminism? Post modernism? Punk rock? What’s driving this?“ Read the rest HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Comics Workbook has announced the Winter Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers – course starts Dec. 29th 2016! 10 spots available – apply by Dec. 13th 2016 and get $100 of course fee! Email santoroschoolATgmail for more details. 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 small jpgs of images – dont post to your blog pls -specific url links to any comics work you have done. Send applications to: santoroschoolATgmail ————————————————————————————————— Connor Willumsen is selling the original pages from his Punisher story – check them out here. ————————————————————————————————— Inspired by a story that originates with Bill Boichel and Frank Santoro, Gabriella Tito and I have been drawing Suzy & Cecil strips this week. #suzyandcecil #comicsworkbook A photo posted by Gabriella Tito (@gabriella.tito) on Nov 15, 2016 at 1:02pm PST #suzyandcecil #fairvale #comicsworkbook A photo posted by Sally Ingraham (@sally_ingraham) on Nov 17, 2016 at 1:53pm PST Keep an eye on us via Instagram for more strips in the coming weeks – @sally_ingraham and @gabriella.tito! ————————————————————————————————— Have a great weekend folks! – Sally Share this page: [...]

CARTOON CROSSROADS COLUMBUS 2016, Part l of ll

Chris Anthony DiazOctober 29, 2016The Diaz ArchiveAll photos colored by Graham Willcox Charles BurnsSacha Mardou SethSally Ingraham Noah Van SciverRich TommasoJoseph RemnantTed StearnSean FordCaleb OrecchioGregory BentonChris PitzerJosh BayerRobin McConnellMarc Arsenault Share this page: [...]

09/13/2016

Aaron CockleSeptember 12, 2016NewsAaron here today with some SPX programming highlights; Shaw; Ruliffson; Mendes; Smoke Signal Open Call; Dueling book festivals in NYC this weekend ————————————————————————————————— 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. ————————————————————————————————— 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. ————————————————————————————————— 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. ————————————————————————————————— Jess Ruliffson interviews former US Army Captain Drew Pham at the Nib ————————————————————————————————— 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. ————————————————————————————————— 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 ————————————————————————————————— 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. Share this page: [...]

03/28/2016

Juan FernándezMarch 28, 2016NewsJuan Fernandez here today to start your week off with the latest: Comics readings, workshops and expos in Pittsburgh; Bill Griffith and Art Spiegelman reflect with Karen Green; HTMLFlowers’ sincere and open interview on Inkstuds; Jessica Campbell with the hyucks; OpenToonz in the hands of millions . ————————————————————————————————— BLITZBURGH No beating around the bush here, there’s a load of comics happenings this week in Pittsburgh, big and small. Comics readings, free workshops and PIX. Lots of different ways to soak up the comics! More information on PIX. This Friday, the Lili Café in Polish Hill will celebrate PIX by hosting a night of comics readings and performaces by Carl Antonowicz, Juan Fernandez (me), Sophie Goldstein, Cynthia Lee, Jennifer Lisa, Rachel Masilamani and Noah Van Sciver. Copacetic Comics, on the third floor, will be open late for a post-reading hang out. Find out more here. To celebrate PIX 2016 on Saturday, Comics Workbook is offering a full day of hands on comics instruction and training in partnership with the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – South Side. Come bring work for critique, practice your comics composition, or simply try your hand at comics making for the first time. We have activities to embolden the hearts and enliven the spirits of professional and amateur comics makers alike. 3:30-4:30 PM Legendary Underground comics artist Bill Griffith will be conducting a FREE hour-long drawing workshop (with handouts) as part of this year’s PIX activities. That’s right, learn how to draw from the creator of Zippy the Pinhead. There will be Comics Workbook workshops all day long at the Carnegie Library on the South Side. Please RSVP. – More workshop schedule updates to come. – ————————————————————————————————— Green, Griffith and Spiegelman Here on the site, John Kelly has brought us some snippets from Bill Griffith and Art Spiegelman’s latest public talk. Former Arcade magazine editors and Underground Cartooning legends Bill Griffith and Art Spiegelman discuss their early days as artists at a talk given March 16, 2016 at Columbia University commemorating Griffith’s announcement that he will be bequeathing a large portion of his personal art archives to the University. The talk was moderated by Karen Green, Columbia’s Librarian for Ancient & Medieval History and Graphic Novels. Check ’em out here! ————————————————————————————————— Inkstuds: HTMLFLOWERS HTML Flowers aka Grant Gronewold joined Robin over on Inkstuds to talk about his art, comics and music. We also coverchronic health conditions in modern medical bureaucracy, mortality, and the urge to make comics. His series of mini comics, No Visitors, is availabe for order right now,. Grant’s also got a book out from Space Face Books called Virtual Candle as well as his collaborations with Simon Hanselmann in Werefolf Jones and Sons. This interview right here, It’s a good one, folks. Listen to it over on Inkstuds. ————————————————————————————————— Best Jokes? Jessica Campbell is back with the hyucks. Dig into them all over on her site, bestjokes.tumblr.com. ————————————————————————————————— OpenToonz Last but not least, the robust 2D animation software suite, OpenToonz was made open source through a partnership between Italian developer Digital Video and Japanese company Dwango. Big ups to them. If you hadn’t caught wind of this yet, it is a game changer for 2D animation production, the kind that is going to lead to an increase in drawn animation production. For the comics maker and animator in a pinch, this powerful, free alternative to Adobe and Toonboom is a godsend. Go forth and make! Download it here – https://opentoonz.github.io/e/index.html A How to get started tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMskd30Y9Js For more info in case your install doesn’t work properly on that check this forum out. https://groups.google.com/forum/… Share this page: [...]

04/17/2018

Aaron CockleApril 17, 2018NewsAaron here today with Latin American Art; Remembering Geneviève Castrée; Banksy/Zehra Doğan; Retrofit Comics 2018 Subscription ————————————————————————————————— Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960–1985 At the Brooklyn Museum through July 22: The artworks on view range from painting and sculpture to photography, video, performance, and other new mediums. Included are emblematic figures such as Lygia Pape, Ana Mendieta, and Marta Minujín, alongside lesser‐known names such as Cuban‐born abstract painter Zilia Sánchez; Colombian sculptor Feliza Bursztyn; Peruvian composer, choreographer, and activist Victoria Santa Cruz; and Argentine mixed‐media artist Margarita Paksa. The Brooklyn presentation also includes Nuyorican portraits by photographer Sophie Rivera, as well as work from Chicana graphic arts pioneer Ester Hernández, Cuban filmmaker Sara Gómez, and Afro-Latina activist and artist Marta Moreno Vega. ————————————————————————————————— “Poetry seemed useless in the context of actual annihilation.” On Studio 360, Kurt Anderson talks with Phil Elverum, husband of Geneviève Castrée, who passed away in 2016, about Elverum’s recent Mount Eerie albums, which are about Castrée’s death. Her last book, A Bubble, will be published in June by D&Q. ————————————————————————————————— Zehra Doğan/Banksy Patricia Mastricolo at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund wrote about the Banksy mural protesting the imprisonment of Turkish artist and journalist Zehra Doğana few weeks back: This first night the mural was revealed, a projection of the dark painting Doğan is imprisoned for showed over the mural. Based off a photo Doğan saw, she painted the rubble of a Kurdish town, destroyed by tanks, with the Turkish flag flying over the town. She painted the tanks as surreal monsters. The Turkish government said that the painting compromised military security, even though it was based on a government photograph. ————————————————————————————————— Retrofit Comics 2018 All the Sad Songs – Summer Pierre Fashion Forecasts – Yumi Sakugawa I Love You – Sara Lautman John, Dear – Laura Lannes Our Wretched Town Hall – Eric Kostiuk Williams The Prince – Liam Cobb Survive 300 Million 1 – Pat Aulisio Survive 300 Million 2: Serpentine Captives – Pat Aulisio The Troublemakers – Baron Yoshimoto TRUMPTRUMP vol. 2: Modern Day Presidential – Warren Craghead III Understanding – Becca Tobin The Winner – Karl Stevens ————————————————————————————————— Vision Box – 4-17-2018 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-17-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

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