Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged caleb orecchio, comic strips, nancy, Niall Breen, story

Caleb Orecchio

Posted on October 15, 2018October 15, 2018

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Cartoon Crossroads Columbus 2016, Part ll of ll

Chris Anthony DiazDecember 14, 2016The Diaz ArchiveSacha Mardou Sacha Mardou Seth and Craig Fischer Seth Keith Knight, Rich Tommaso and Tom Spurgeon Caitlin McGurk Sergio Arragonés, Carol Tyler, Jeff Smith and Tom Spurgeon The Billy Ireland Museum Galleries The Billy Ireland Museum Galleries The Billy Ireland Museum Galleries The Billy Ireland Museum Galleries The Billy Ireland Museum Galleries The Billy Ireland Museum GalleriesThe Horseshoe aka Ohio Football Stadium Wexner Center for the Arts Gary Trudeau and Glen David Gold in conversation at the Wexner Center’s Mershon Auditorium Columbus Metropolitan Libary, Downtown Branch Columbus Metropolitan Libary, Downtown Branch Sacha Mardou Sacha Mardou Joseph Remnant, Noah Van Sciver and Robin McConnell Alyssa Berg Rich Tommaso Noah Van Sciver Kevin Czap (backturned), Tom Spurgeon and Jeff Smith (on Spurgeon’s right)Charles Burns Live at CCAD Canzani Center Auditorium Charles BurnsTom Spurgeon, Ben Katchor and Seth in conversation at the Columbus Museum of Art SethTom Spurgeon, Ben Katchor and Seth Sacha Mardou Sacha Mardou Juan José Fernández Juan José Fernández and Sally Ingraham (top far right)Sally Ingraham, Juan José Fernández , Caleb Orecchio, Sacha Mardou, Whitney Taylor and Alyssa Berg Peter Arno original at the Billy Ireland Museum Reading Room Robert Crumb Charles Schulz Ohio State Buckeye running back and Heisman Trophy winner and favorite son Eddie George, Columbus Airport Titans running back Eddie George, Columbus Airport Share this page: [...]

06/12/2018

Aaron CockleJune 12, 2018NewsMoore/Mendes; Drnaso & Kupperman; Regé, Jr. ————————————————————————————————— Understanding Detroit: The Nonfiction Work of Anne Elizabeth Moore & Melissa Mendes Sally linked to this last Friday, Alex Dueben’s interview with Anne Elizabeth Moore and Melissa Mendes, about their collaborative non-fiction comics: What do you two think comics can do that an essay or report couldn’t? Moore: This is a question I get a lot, since I’ve done both text-only reporting and comics journalism. There’s a particular story in Threadbare I did with Julia Gfrörer called “Let’s Go Shopping,” about fast fashion retail work. I went into a local H&M—it was years ago, now, so that worker’s not there anymore—and started chatting with one of the retail workers. Now, like factory workers, and many many other workers along the entire garment production and display assembly line, retail workers for most fast fashion outlets sign non-disclosure agreements stating that they agree that they have the right to be fired if they share information about their benefits or wages. This is a nutso clause in any contract designed to keep people from sharing information and organizing to improve their lives, and it’s basically a knife wound to the project of basic democracy, since it means that even though a LOT of people work in the garment industry, few people talk about what it’s like and so, for example, reporters usually struggle to write about it because no one will go on record. But no one knows, or cares, what comics journalism is, so I walked into this H&M and was like, “Yeah we draw this thing and it works like this and I do need a photo for reference but we can hide your identity to protect you and if you want we can draw you in your favorite outfit even if you aren’t wearing it right now, I just need to ask you a few questions that are in complete violation of your NDA are you OK with that?” And she answered everything I asked. Because with comics we were able to protect her, but also depict her in an interesting way, and she was invested in contributing to something she would be excited about. (That Julia drew it was super helpful. She is very very popular with models and fast fashion workers.) That’s an actual example of information that wouldn’t have been accessible without the form of comics. In “Scenes from the Foreclosure Crisis,” Melissa and I were able to do a very similar thing, depict a nonbinary figure, who still has a very clear personality, history, and set of concerns, in a way that wouldn’t bring them undue attention or frustration. Or violence, to be frank. (Detroit is very conservative, actually, so that’s a concern.) In text-based journalism, you’d have to give some kind of identifying distinction, and almost anything I could think of in this case would put my source in danger. Also audience, of course: comics journalism is read by a far less newsy crowd. More young people. I hear from a lot of students that this was sort of their gateway drug to text-based journalism. But it takes a long time, so you have to plan it all carefully. Mendes: Whenever I get this question I always think of Joe Sacco. There’s no way his work (Palestine, The Fixer, etc.) could ever be anything other than a comic. He’s going into these terrifying places, these war zones, and instead of just taking photos, which can be sort of voyeuristic, he’s drawing. There’s no question that it’s through his lens, that it’s his own point of view– he’s making those marks on the paper. There’s no way it could be taken as objective, while it’s possible to write or photograph or record in such a way that you forget there’s a person behind the camera or the keyboard. (I’m sure there are smarter words for what I’m trying to say but I haven’t written a college paper in like fourteen years so…) Does that make sense? Sacco is reporting, but it’s personal, and you feel that as a reader. You can’t escape it, it’s more raw somehow. The handmade aspect of cartooning makes it more human, and we are still able to protect identities, like Anne was saying. ————————————————————————————————— Can You Illustrate Emotional Absence? Ed Park looks at recent work by Nick Drnaso and Michael Kupperman: RE Drnaso: With his fluid framing — fitting anywhere from two to 24 panels to a page — he dictates information delivery, allowing the mind to breathe. His drawing style is at once poetically attuned to details of neighborhoods and interiors (the lit canopy of a gas station at night, the banquette at an antiseptic diner) and deceptively plain when it comes to the people who inhabit them. RE Kupperman: For an artist known for his off-kilter tableaus, this book has a static look, especially in its rendering of boldfaced names from the past. More problematic are the gaps: mysteries unsolved, re-creations that collapse under the weight of a disclaimer. Of a 1943 meeting between Joel and Henry Ford (once a vocal anti-Semite), Kupperman wonders, “What did they think of each other? There’s no way of knowing.” ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-12-18 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

05/09/2017

Aaron CockleMay 8, 2017NewsAaron here today with Kyung Me Comics; RIP Pepe; Review of Crickets 6; Interview with Keiler Roberts; Dash Shaw at SVA; Font Maps ————————————————————————————————— Copy Kitty The featured comic on the CW site this week is Copy Kitty, by Kyung Me. ————————————————————————————————— Pepe the Frog, RIP? Marykate Jasper talks about Matt Furie’s ‘Death of Pepe the Frog’ comic, whose wake was recently depicted in Fantagraphics’ World’s Greatest Cartoonists comic for Free Comic Book Day: Feelings-wise, I’m a little torn. I love Furie’s bold, take-that rejection of a hate group’s co-opting of his art. But I’m also sad that true control of this fun, easily meme-able character was taken from him in such a way. It must be disturbing to see your “blissfully stoned” frog character used by actual Nazis to facilitate jokes about genocide and hate. ————————————————————————————————— ‘This could be the final chapter of Blood Of The Virgin, or it could not.’ arecomicsevengood posted about Sammy Harkham’s most recent issue of Crickets, #6: The scenes of driving around L.A. seem like they were researched specifically to achieve the pleasure someone takes in seeing the area where they live in a movie, taken from a time before they lived there. This new issue is good scene after good scene, capturing a flow of feelings. There is none of the internal monologue that makes up the sort of novels I mentioned. It’s unspoken, one can read that sort of thing elsewhere if they want to fill in the blanks. One feels as if it’s totally possible the characters might have read these sorts of novels, just as they go to see the sort of movies they’re making. The work alluded to fills in the milieu of the character’s emotional landscape. ————————————————————————————————— ‘It happens to be mine, but I no longer need people to connect to me because of it.’ Krystal DiFronzo talks with Keiler Roberts, whose new book, Sunburning, debuts this weekend at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival: KD: I’ve always found your pacing dynamic and this book is a great example of it. Some of the bits are one page snapshots while others develop into fully realized memories or mini-memoirs. There’s no dividing line between them, no titling to alert the reader immediately that one chapter has ended while another has begun. It connects all the stories in a way that feels most alike actual memory and thought. One moment you focus on a trauma and another moment your daughter, Xia, is saying some genius line like, “My tummy is horrified.” This feels very deliberate, how do you go about planning your books? KR: Thank you! When I’m writing individual stories, I don’t know where they’ll be located in a book. I lay them all out on the floor and find an order that creates an emotional line that I like. I’m drawn to contrast and inconsistency. Maybe it’s the effect of bipolar rapid cycling on my personality, or maybe it’s just that jokes are funnier when they’re paired with something dark. The themes that emerge aren’t planned before I begin. I didn’t set out to write so many stories with a medical component. I’d like to write more about my close friends and my teaching job because they are huge parts of my life that make only brief appearances in the book. This is where the line exists that separates my stories from my life, though. Powdered Milk has never been a totally accurate picture of my life. It’s all honest and true, but so much is excluded. It might just be about timing, though. I finally wrote Xia’s birth story, which wasn’t traumatic at all. I can’t predict which events will turn into comics, or when. ————————————————————————————————— Dash Shaw Discusses the Unique Beauty of Comics and More Next up in the SVA Features series is Dash Shaw (BFA 2005 Illustration), a comic book writer/artist, animator and author of the critically acclaimed graphic novels Cosplayers, Doctors, New School and Bottomless Belly Button, published by Fantagraphics. He has also written Love Eats Brains (Odd God Press), GardenHead (Meathaus), The Mother’s Mouth (Alternative Comics) and BodyWorld (Pantheon Books). Shaw’s feature-film debut, My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea, starring the voices of Jason Schwartzman, Lena Dunham, Reggie Watts, Maya Rudolph and Susan Sarandon, is currently in theaters. ————————————————————————————————— Finally, the bringing together of typography and artificial intelligence you (may) have been waiting for: in an exercise to investigate the ways in which machine learning can be applied to various creative challenges, designers at IDEO are bringing artificial intelligence to the world of typography. recognizing font choice as one of the most frequent visual decisions a designer makes, the IDEO team wanted to create an insightful and valuable tool that lets designers look at letterforms in an entirely new way. using AI and convolutional neural networks to draw higher-vision pattern recognition, IDEO created ‘font map’ — an interactive interface comprising more than 750 fonts that users can digitally engage with and explore. ————————————————————————————————— Announcing the Summer Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers! 8 weeks! 500 bux! Payment plans are available! Summer Course starts June 1st 2017! Applications are due by May 25th. Visit THIS page for more details and email santoroschool@gmail.com with applications and questions! ————————————————————————————————— A Cosmic Journey – 5-9-2017 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-9-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 5-9-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

11/17/2017

Sally IngrahamNovember 16, 2017NewsSally here with Jillian Fleck’s Lake Jehovah, comics from Glynnis Fawkes, Gabrielle Bell, and Leslie Stein, plus the latest word from Kelly Sue DeConnick – and plenty more! ————————————————————————————————— I had a chance to read Jillian Fleck‘s first book – Lake Jehovah – yesterday, while hanging out at Copacetic Comics. I’ve been a fan of her work for awhile, keeping up with her web comic Bad Thoughtz, and other comics as they appeared on Tumblr. Jillian began Lake Jehovah back in 2012, as a series of scenes, focusing on the visual elements that she was interested in drawing. When I opened the book what jumped out at me immediately was her use – most often – of the nine panel grid, which is a visual element that I am particularly drawn to. She is a student of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers, so it’s not surprising that she would channel her story through a grid. The second thing that struck me was that this was a story that could only be told through the medium of comics. It seem like a lot of comics may just as well be novels. The images and panels are incidental – they accompany the text as a happy bonus, but take them away and the words would still tell the story. With Lake Jehovah, Jillian has composed a comic where the images and panels tell the story, and words are used as a final detail that ties the rest together – but only where necessary. There are many pages where emotions and mental states are portrayed through image, color, and the careful yet playful use and breakdown of the grid. The way that Jillian uses the comics medium to describe mental anguish and illness is quite brilliant. Lake Jehovah is a good example too of how a comic is an active relationship between the maker and the reader. There is a lot to figure out here, but between the images and panel structure Jillian leaves a trail of breadcrumbs. It’s a strange, post-post-post-apocalyptic world that we’ve stumbled into, but it’s not always clear what disasters are real and which ones take place in the mind of Jay, the genderqueer, thoroughly depressed main protagonist. There are demons in the woods and a bottomless lake that speaks, a fiancee who flees, a friend who wishes he was a spirit fox, and an actual wolf. It’s almost a funny comic, when it’s not horribly serious. And then there’s the whole poetry riff. It’s apparent that Jillian has spent a lot of time thinking about the mechanics of comics, and she is startlingly capable of using the form to explore heavy ideas. The drawing is relatively lively, with some of her influences coming through but not distracting from the tale. The bright color palette is an effective/unsettling juxtaposition against the backdrop of a cold, dark, Northern Canadian setting. Check this one out for sure (available from Conundrum Press if it’s not in your local shop), and you can also see Jillian’s most recent comic – Push Thru, made for the Comics Workbook Composition Competition 2017, HERE. ————————————————————————————————— There’s an excellent interview with Kelly Sue DeConnick in the fall issue of the Matador Review. She is the badass creator/writer behind Bitch Planet, and Pretty Deadly, among numerous other works. She’s been consistently outspoken, especially in the last few years, about better female representation in the comics industry, and the interview dives right into that: “Q: You’ve stated that, as a female creator pushing for female representation in comics, you’re willing to make people uncomfortable so that your daughter doesn’t have to. What can other artists do to make the world better for later generations? KSD: My intention is to make work that expresses some kind of truth. I do so in the hopes that the work will connect me to myself, and to my humanity, my community, and have the same effect on the consumer. But sometimes, finding truths or speaking truths means making yourself and other people uncomfortable. No one likes to be uncomfortable, but I think it’s gotten easier for me with practice. Everybody wants to be liked. Of course we want to be liked. I’m not aiming to be on anybody’s shitlist—but I’m willing to go there. A lot of people will thank you for it later. There’s a difference between art and entertainment. If we hope to continue experiencing growth, we have to let ourselves stretch and get out of the familiar places. We must try to understand how our truths are different from other people’s truths—especially as a woman. On some level, our culture still wants women to be seen and not heard. When you’re not quiet, it makes people uncomfortable. They may not be able to articulate it directly, but they sort of wish you would just be quiet, decorative, agreeable—just smile. I think our culture tends to treat women as not fully human. That’s tragic. It limits human beings as a whole.“ Read the rest of the interview HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Keep an eye on the Daily Shouts feature on The New Yorker – there have been lots of familiar names popping up there recently – just this week Glynnis Fawkes, Liana Finck, and Vanessa Davis have all had comics or illustrations featured. Above is work by Glynnis – see the rest of that comic HERE. Earlier this month Gabrielle Bell had a comic on Daily Shout – see it HERE – along with Miss Lasko-Gross, and Hallie Bateman (a new-to-me cartoonist – check out The United States Post (Apocalyptic) Office). Kudos to Emma Allen, The New Yorker‘s new cartoon editor, who stepped into the shoes of the iconic Robert Mankoff in May of this year – or rather, she brought her own shoes and is walking around in them quite well so far! I should note that she’s been the editor of Daily Shouts for three years, and only added being the cartoon editor to her already full plate. Here’s an article from The New York Times from earlier this year about Emma and her vision for comics in The New Yorker moving forward. ————————————————————————————————— John Seven reviews Leslie Stein‘s new comic Present over on The Comics Beat. “Stein’s narratives are short and qualify as slices of life, though they could just as easily qualify as single thoughts brought to conclusion. They cover small incidents like feeling guilty about not going home for Christmas, or trips to the museum to get away from her own art, or just an encounter with a particularly profound fortune cookie that ties everything together for her. Stein is mostly a lone figure in her comics, which isn’t to say that other people don’t appear, but is to say that they come from the point of view of her, as a stylized figure, navigating the world. Other people might be next to Stein, but they never interfere with her or crowd her out. She is our the reader’s avatar, after all. And yet that doesn’t mean that she hogs the narrative. Not true at all. Stein listens, so we listen. But Stein helps us tie it all together, and in doing so, sometimes she comes off as alone in a crowded comic book.“ Read the whole review HERE. ————————————————————————————————— On the Grape Vine Hyperallergic has a review of GG‘s I’m Not Here (Koyama Press, 2017) – check it out. Nerds of Prey talks to Paloma Hernando and Sunmi, of Dandelion Wine Collective, about publishing marginalized voices and their new anthology project – read about it HERE. The New York Review of Books has a writeup on the Tove Jansson show that is hanging in the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London, through Jan. 28th 2018 – HERE. American Libraries interviews Emil Ferris – she talks monsters and memories. Jessica Plummer lists numerous cases of harassment in comics, over on BookRiot (in response to the recent story about veteran DC editor Eddie Berganza and his history of sexual harassment…) Eve Ewing MIGHT get asked to pick up writing Marvel’s Invincible Iron Man where Brian Michael Bendis left it off (as he switches over to DC, in a shocker/shakeup move!) – full (theoretical) story HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 11-17-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 11-17-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

Simon Hanselmann Bad Gateway Tour with Joe Matt Cameo Appearance

Chris Anthony DiazAugust 14, 2019The Diaz ArchiveSimon Hanselmann Bad Gateway west coast signing tour, Green Apple on the Park, San Francisco, Friday evening, August 2, 2019 and Skylight Books, Los Angeles, Saturday evening, August 3, 2019 Share this page: [...]

10/15/2018

Posted on October 15, 2018October 15, 2018 by Caleb Orecchio

Caleb Orecchio here with a story.

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I show my comic strip to another syndicate editor. Their smiling face quickly turns to curiosity. Then to confusion. Then to bafflement. They say the usual, “It’s great! But it will never sell. We need something a little more universal. Have you read the new Nancy strip? It’s funny, modern and very universal. Think a little more along those lines and come back with something else.” I stormed out of the building. What do these people know about comic strips! I have a great strip! People will love it! Nancy and Sluggo died with Bushmiller I always say!

Later, I am visiting a lifelong friend. We, that is my friend his wife and me, are visiting his in-laws (her parents) for dinner. Somehow, I agree to come along. It’s actually a pleasant evening until: “Caleb makes comic strips,” my friend says at the dinner table. The father-in-law lights up, “Really?! I LOVE comic strips!”

My friend takes out a self-published copy of my book collecting my strips from his book bag. “You carry this around with you?” I ask. No not usually. He had brought it to show his father-in-law and thought I would be flattered to witness the father-in-law read my comic. I was not and would continue not to be.

The father-in-law opens the book with a smiling face that quickly turns to curiosity. Then confusion. Then to bafflement. “It looks great! I don’t understand what is going on, but I like the way it looks! I like the character’s expressions. Have you ever read Nancy? You know, with Sluggo – that new artist is HI-larious! You should make something like that. You just need a good idea.”

I stormed out of the house.

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Cement Mixer – 10-15-18 – by Caleb Orecchio

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10-15-18 – by Niall Breen

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged caleb orecchio, comic strips, nancy, Niall Breen, story

Caleb Orecchio

Posted on October 15, 2018October 15, 2018

Explore

07/30/2018

Caleb OrecchioJuly 30, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here, as usual, with your Monday edition of the news! ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Paul Kirchner is the latest guest on Inkstuds. Rob Clough reviews Benji Nate’s Catboy as well as some issue of Jepcomix by Jep Sometimes, as a cartoonist, I wish I was French. Also on TCJ.com, one new Ditko piece by Tegan O’Neill, and one not new by Ken Parille. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 7-30-18 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

10/01/2018

Caleb OrecchioOctober 1, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with an overview of my 2018 CXC experience. ————————————————————————————————— Apologies in advance for blurry photos herein. Another Cartoon Crossroads Columbus is in the books. This year was as fun as ever. On Thursday, I made it to The Billy Ireland Museum in Columbus in time to see Michael DeForge talk to Tom Spurgeon about his career. Tom asked a lot of good questions and brought up many good points that I haven’t heard many people ask DeForge. At the Q+A portion I, being a Comics Workbook person, asked about his use of the grid and how he determined what kind of grid he would use for what kind of story. He basically said that he thought that grids with two columns are funnier than grids with three or more columns which I thought was a good answer Friday I went back to The Billy Ireland and hung out with Kurt Ankeny and Chris Pitzer for a bit and went up to see the two great new exhibits, Koyama and Friends and Artistically MAD. Yes of course the MAD exhibit was awesome, but seeing the collection of Annie Koyama was a real treat. Seeing contemporary cartoonists’ work hung in one of the sacred temples of comics was energizing for me as a comics maker. The Museum was selling some of the overflow from their collection in the lobby which included some amazing old fanzines, obscure comic magazines and of course plenty of dumb comics. Everything I just mentioned is my favorite kinds of comic shopping. I paraded the gems I found like a person pushing spiritual literature in Las Vegas. Chris Pitzer geeked out when he saw my copy of “Tara” by William Black and we eventually bargained for a trade. Kurt and I missed the Koyama panel but made it to the Jim Woodring event moderated by Tom Spurgeon. I have not really heard or read many interviews with Woodring so I was going in fresh in a way. It was a great talk, and Woodring was a great interviewee. At the end of the talk, Tom surprised Woodring and the rest of the audience by awarding him with the this year’s Master Cartoonist award. It was a very touching moment and I am always happy to see people being awarded at CXC. Back to the “The Billy” where a reception was held with food and drinks followed by the official thank yous by Jenni Robb and Jeff Smith and then, a bewildered John Porcellino received the Transformative Work award for his legendary King-Cat comics. The whole place was glassy-eyed. While everyone went to see Lynn Johnston, I bailed to spend time with friends in town. I wish I would have stayed to see Johnston’s panel. All my sources tell me it was a great time. Saturday, the first day of the expo, Juan Fernandez and I were the dynamic duo representing Comics Workbook. We had two, count ’em, two tables. One we sold comics by Comics Workbook gang members, and the other was a drawing table. Juan had pads of paper, loose sheets and note cards ready for anyone and everyone willing to participate. Juan is a very gracious and patient teacher. He would jam with kids who would come by the table, too shy to draw without a nudge. We met a lot of parents who were very happy we were there, letting kids (young and old) have a hands-on experience at comic-making. The best part for us were the workshops. This year we held workshops on the same floor as the expo and really felt like we were part of the show. Juan had two workshops, and I had one. All three filled the room to the brim. Thank you CXC for providing that space for us. The workshops were a complete success. The famous Emerging Artist award went to Keren Katz. I love being able to see this award being announced because the recipient has no real way of knowing they will win. There are no nominations announced or anything like that so the winners always express gratitude in a raw honest way with no rehearsal. Congrats Keren. At the end of the first expo day, I, being a Central Ohio native, took off for a friends house to watch Ohio State beat Penn State. It was a stressful one, but the win made the holes in the drywall worth it. Sunday, was business as usual. Juan has his last workshop. We sold some comics. We talked to other cartoonists and guests and attendees and all that. The last surprise of the show was that Tom Spurgeon announced that Jeff Smith was stepping down as president of CXC, but would continue to serve as art director. Then, unbeknownst to Jeff, he was being awarded a special edition of the Master Cartoonist award; as well as a very special letter from the city of Columbus thanking him for his contribution to his community. Smith was slightly embarrassed to recieve an award at his own show, but the gesture was not lost on him. The show winded down quietly then Juan and I headed to the after party early to catch a drink with Ron Wimberly. Juan and Ron had an engaging discussion while I watched as if at a tennis court. My brain was fried from the show and my arms were almost too weak to lift my beer. Frank had sent me with a delivery for Ron, but I totally spaced and forgot to even mention it. Whoops. The Great Weekend wound down and everyone went back to their homes and hotels. As always, CXC was a blast. This is my “home show” and am proud latch my identity onto it for better or for worse. The staff and volunteers at the show were amazing as always. Once during the expo I thought, I’m thirsty. Then, lo and behold, a volunteer came by with water bottles. Mind-reading volunteers is a rare and blessed thing and they are only at CXC as far as I know. Thank you as always to Tom Spurgeon for directing yet another great show. Thank you to the Board and everyone involved at all the different venues. And of course thank you to Lucy Caswell, without whom none of this would exit. You make cartoonists feel appreciated which is hard to do. Thanks 10-01-2018 – by Niall Breen Share this page: [...]

10/28/2016

Sally IngrahamOctober 28, 2016NewsSally Ingraham here with a whole lot of comics journalism – Sarah Glidden, Katie Fricas, Rachel Dukes, Steph Neary, and the many makers at Drawing the Times share the world according to their pens or brushes – while Aidan Koch and Vanesa R. Del Ray are caught on film, and Pittsburgh is visited by comics master (and another journalist) Rick Geary. ————————————————————————————————— Meg Lemke presents Sarah Glidden‘s new work Rolling Blackouts on PEN America this week – check out Meg’s thoughts HERE, as well as a generous selection from the book. PRI also has a feature on Sarah and Rolling Blackouts – HERE. The book is about a month-long journey she took in 2010 through Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. She was traveling with old friends who were also journalists. ‘ “The goal of the trip was really to show journalism: how it’s made, how difficult it is to do this work, how it’s more than just going in, reporting on a story and getting out of there.” Glidden quickly saw the conflicting pressures the reporters were under. “You know, journalists really care about the stories they’re working on, but they also have to think about marketing, their audience, and how they’re going to get someone to take time out of their day and read their article or watch their documentary. And this is a struggle I think that all journalists have to go through. I just really wanted to show that process.” ‘ – Sarah Glidden via PRI Read the rest of the article HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Katie Fricas has a spooky comic up on Hyperallergic called Doomocracy. It charts her navigation of Mexican artist Pedro Reyes’s politically themed haunted house – a huge installation piece at the Brooklyn Army Terminal that was funded through Kickstarter and features encounters with gun nuts, climate change, weird crops, and the specters haunting the presidential race. Katie finds it quite frightening indeed. Read the rest of the comic HERE. Learn more about Doomocracy HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Rachel Dukes has a comic on The Nib this week about The IUD Obstacle Course – and if after digging into this plus Katie Fricas’s and Sarah Glidden’s weighty works you want still more comics that deals with real world problems – pen nibs blazing – tromp on over to Drawing the Times, a website devoted to graphic journalism. ————————————————————————————————— ??30min digital warm up?? inspired by @shlohmo – Ten Days of Falling ? A video posted by Vanesa R. Del Rey (@vrdelrey) on Oct 27, 2016 at 10:36am PDT Vanesa R. Del Rey often posts videos like these on her Instagram account, offering an amazing glimpse into her working life – follow her at @vrdelrey. ————————————————————————————————— Aidan Koch‘s work is part of a show at the Whitney Museum of American Art – Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905-2016. It will be on view through Feb. 5th, 2017. Aidan Koch’s work seen at the Whitney Museum of American Art – part of the exhibition Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905-2016 – on view through Feb. 5th 2017 @aidanalexiskoch – thanks to Katherine Ball for the glimpse @katbusbrawl #aidankoch #whitneymuseum A video posted by Comics Workbook (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 26, 2016 at 2:05pm PDT Katherine Ball got a look at Aidan’s work and shared the video above. ————————————————————————————————— I need to catch up on Lumberjanes this fall, and had a nice reminder recently in the form of the little Booooooooom! Box Halloween Haunt 2016 freebie, which included sections of Lumberjanes, Giant Days, The Backstagers, and Goldie Vance. I was particularly delighted to note that Carey Pietsch drew issues #29-32 of Lumberjanes (see her work above) – Carey is a former student of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers. Check out Carey Pietsch’s work HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Steph Neary filled in for Nils Balls this week, taking on the Glassblock Pittsburgh City Council comic. This bit of comics journalism has been developed by Nils Balls over the course of the last year, and has gained a large following. It is yet another part of the rich culture of comics and cartooning found in this city! ————————————————————————————————— Speaking of that rich culture, the ToonSeum hosted Rick Geary last night for a wonderful presentation on his career and large, fantastic body of work. He talked about finding focus and direction during his 4 year stint as the art director for The Prairie Journal of Wichita, Kansas, his work for National Lampoon and the New York Review of Books, and his recent experience with self-publishing and utilizing Kickstarter. Here’s a bit of video from the event: It was a true pleasure to meet this master cartoonist – thanks Rick! (Further reading: check out this 2014 interview with Rick Geary over on The Comics Journal.) ————————————————————————————————— The Comics Reporter has a comprehensive list of all Cartoon Crossroads Columbus-related reports – check it out. Here on the site we have our own massive roundup post of CXC-related stories and reports. We also have Frank’s LICAF report along with the thoughts of Aidan Koch and other CW students – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Even if you didn’t making it to one of the Comics Workbook-hosted workshops at SPX, CXC, or LICAF this year, you can still bring your comics game to a new level via thee Santoro School Handbook for Making Better Comics by Frank Santoro and Kurt Ankeny. Printed offset on cardstock by the professionals at The Prolific Group, Winnipeg, Canada, this is not some cheap color xerox or risograph. Looks great, feels great, and even smells great. Always available at our store HERE – free shipping worldwide! ————————————————————————————————— Have a happy Halloweenie weekend folks! – Sally Share this page: [...]

04/04/2017

Aaron CockleApril 3, 2017NewsAaron here today with the Agony of Ben Katchor; NET ART; The Disappointment of Katie Fricas; BLUTCH; Thurber/Wegman, Wegman/Thurber; The Careful Massacre of the Bourgeoisie. ————————————————————————————————— ‘a voice emanating from a Lower East Side automat.’ Ben Katchor in conversation with his Metropolis editor, Belinda Lanks: I know people like to ask about what kind of pen I use, what kind of paper, like there’s a secret to this. I tell them, “You can sit at my table with the same pen and paper, and it’s not going to help you, because you didn’t work at figure drawing and storytelling for years.” You build up these skills. Just like somebody who makes chairs is more likely to make a great chair. When you do anything in a serial production, there are just these micro seconds of creativity, then the rest of it is just the craft of making the thing. There’s the workmanlike approach where you just say, “Here’s this thing I want to demonstrate.” I’ve practiced drawing for decades and know how to use language in some limited way, and I can put these together and make this plausible story or demonstration. ————————————————————————————————— NET ART Rhizome.org has posted an anthology of internet art from the past 30-odd years: This two-year online exhibition will present 100 artworks from net art history, restaging and contextualizing one project each week. Devised in concert with Rhizome‘s acclaimed digital preservation department, Net Art Anthology also aims to address the shortage of historical perspectives on a field in which even the most prominent artworks are often inaccessible. The series takes on the complex task of identifying, preserving, and presenting exemplary works in a field characterized by broad participation, diverse practices, promiscuous collaboration, and rapidly shifting formal and aesthetic standards, sketching a possible net art canon. ————————————————————————————————— The Casual Disappointment of Bjarne Melgaard At the Hyperallergic blog, Katie Fricas voices/draws her reaction to the Bjarne Melgaard show at Red Bull Arts New York (220 W 18th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan) through April 9. ————————————————————————————————— Blutch in NYC The 183rd meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, April 4, 2017 at 7pm at Parsons School of Design, 2 West 13th Street, in the Bark Room (off the lobby). Free and open to the public. Blutch on “A European Education.” I am currently working on a book called Variations (Dargaud, September 2017), where I recreate a series of famous graphic novel sequences by great masters of European comics. This work forces me to ask myself questions regarding the ambiguous nature of sequential art. Neither literary nor plastic, it is what Harold Rosenberg, referring to painting, once defined as an anxious object. How do we decode it? Where does it stand in our society? A graphic novel can receive a Pulitzer, cartoonists’ work is exhibited in great museums while the art establishment is still indecisive on weather to consider it a minor or a major art. Personally, I call my work ‘paradoxal literature.’ The pages that compose Variations follow each other with no beginning or end. Just fragments of stories that allow me to reach what I feel is hidden somewhere beyond the boundaries of my storytelling: sequential art as a brand new form of poetry. That is, a form of literature ‘to observe.’ Sculpted literature. ————————————————————————————————— No Maine is an Island William Wegman & Matthew Thurber Opening April 1, 7 to 10pm William Wegman and James Thurber, together at last. What’s that? A filing clerk sent the invitation to the wrong Thurber. Too late to retract the invitation now. But when Wegman met Thurber he was crestfallen. That is, he dropped a tube of toothpaste into the toilet. I don’t know why they decided to meet in the bathroom. Maybe it seemed like gender-neutral territory. Foolish Thurber left some Wegmans too close to a scented candle and…whoops. It seems they’ve started to copy each other’s drawings. To become the other’s ‘evil twin’…but let’s not be naive here!…a ‘good’ drawing? an ‘evil drawing’? No such thing exists…we all know that. We…did you close the chimney flue? You fool, don’t you know bad drawings can crawl down the chimney like bats, like leopards, like Wegmans and Thurbers???? There is however, possibly at this moment in your unattended studio washroom a witch, laughing at you in the mirror. Come on now…enough is enough. Are you being serious? Or are you just halving Fun? “No Maine Is An Island” includes new call-and-response drawings by William Wegman (b.1943) and Matthew Thurber (b.1977), as well as a selection of Wegman drawings from the ’70s and ’80s. The exhibition remains on view, by appointment, through May 7. Teen Party is located at 874 Greene Avenue, Apt 2A, in Brooklyn. ————————————————————————————————— Stories-within-stories are the best kind of stories Not ‘comics-related’ specifically, but Mr. Robot strikes me as a particularly ‘comic book-y’ show; this is the movie-within-the-show from the second season, The Careful Massacre of the Bourgeoisie. A reminder to us that these massacres of the bourgeoisie should be, above all else, careful. ————————————————————————————————— Check out Portraits by Connor Willumsen. This magazine sized 16-page beautifully printed booklet (by WestCan – who also printed thee Santoro School Handbook) of portraits by the great Connor Willumsen is now available. Edition of 500. Connor will be a special guest at the Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo this coming weekend. If you’re in the region come meet him and other great cartoonists! ————————————————————————————————— A Cosmic Journey – 4-4-2017 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-4-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie –4-4-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

06/05/2018

Aaron CockleJune 5, 2018NewsCrabapple/Hisham; Gipi; 2dcloud; Mega Press at Printed Matter; Chute/Drnaso/Tomine/Ware ————————————————————————————————— Molly Crabapple & Marwan Hisham: Syria in Ink At Brooklyn Public Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, NY, May 15 to Jun 30, 2018. Crabapple’s drawings, created from 2014-2017, illustrate the pages of Hisham’s coming-of-age story, Brothers of the Gun: A Memoir of the Syrian War, which the two co-authored (One World/ Penguin Random House, 2018) and mark their ongoing collaboration. For the 82 illustrations included in Brothers of the Gun, Crabapple drew inspiration from photos she and Hisham shot, amateur photos and videos posted on social media by Syrians involved in the conflict, Google Earth, and above all, Hisham’s memories. The artist composited references from hundreds of sources, using Hisham’s instructions, diagrams, and visual research to accurately convey the war and his experiences. BPL is pleased to present Crabapple’s original works on paper and an immersive experience of the text, along with an audio walk that includes Hisham’s reflections on the war and the artwork which emerged in response. Molly Crabapple writes: In creating the art displayed in Syria in Ink, I was inspired by Goya’s Disasters of War. We now live in the age of infinite photos, and Syria is perhaps the most widely documented war in history. But oppressors, whether they are governments or not, seldom allow cameras into the spaces where they inflict their oppression. The lived experience of those under them disappears into the memory hole. Thankfully, art is a slippery thing. It can evade censorship, make history visible, invest the hideous with beauty and the prosaic with force. It can reveal that which power would otherwise be able to hide. I seek to accomplish with my art what photos cannot. Also, Lindsey Hilsom in The New York Review of Books on ‘The Smartphone War’: Hisham, who, after attending a religious school in a village near Aleppo, became fascinated by European soccer and literature, is the ideal interlocutor for Western readers, but the reasons he and his friends had for rising against the repressive regime of Bashar al-Assad were far from typical: We were an extreme minority within Raqqa. The values we held marked us, in the eyes of our neighbors, as dangerous, un-Islamic agents of the West. grassroots democracy electoral rights respect for the ballot box, as a basis for representation and legitimacy Could these words be more alien to most Syrians? Could these so-called universal values, the values my friends and I screamed for between our gas-choked curses at security officers, be far from universal indeed? Perhaps they are parochial mores, speculated about in the university campuses of European capitals. Perhaps they are as insubstantial as ghosts. ————————————————————————————————— Land Of The Sons New Gipi book out with an English Translation: This unusual postapocalyptic story is often grim and violent, but by channeling the story through the brothers’ limited, cockeyed perspective, Gipi develops a naturalism and human quality often missing from SF survival fantasies. The loose, limber black-and-white artwork is a marvel; the figure drawings balance careful realism with cartoon expression, and details of the natural world—rain, water, weeds—are sketched in quick, powerful lines. Above all, the art reveals a credible vast alternative landscape of mud, water, reedy islands, makeshift boats, and strange and hostile patched-together colonies. It’s a strikingly envisioned imaginary world. ————————————————————————————————— 2dcloud Spring 2018 Another strong selection of work, featuring books and zines by: Christopher Adams, Alexis Beauclair, Tara Booth, Apolo Cacho, Eli Howey, Fifi Martinez, Justin Skarhus, and Maggie Umber. ————————————————————————————————— Mega Press at Printed Matter Featuring work by Panayiotis Terzis, Yuriko Katori, Kurt Woerpel, Teng Yung han, Irkus Zeberio, Alexis Beauclair, Anna Pipes, Makiko Furuichi, Apolo Cacho, Nichole Shinn, Lane Milburn, Ben Marcus, Benjamin Brubaker, and Zebadiah Keneally. ————————————————————————————————— Why Comics? Adrian Tomine, Nick Drnaso, Chris Ware in conversation with Hillary Chute Sunday, June 10, 2018, 1:30-2:15 PM CDT Harold Washington Library 400 South State Street Cindy Pritzker Auditorium, Chicago, IL 60605 ————————————————————————————————— Vision Box – 6-5-2018 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-5-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

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