Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Ben Katchor, Bill Kartalopoulos, Kurt Ankeny, the best american comics 2017

Caleb Orecchio

Posted on October 8, 2017October 10, 2017

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Little Seen Los Bros Hernandez Covers From The Late 1980s

Chris Anthony DiazJune 3, 2016The Diaz ArchivePeople wonder why i can’t pare down my comics collection in one fell swoop… it’s because i have to cherry pick it for gems like this to keep first before selling the ones that i have outgrown! Share this page: [...]

02/13/2018

Aaron CockleFebruary 13, 2018NewsAaron here today with Charlotte Salomon: Life? or Theatre?; 3 Comics from Ben Katchor; Tommi Parrish; Adrian Tomine covers TEOTFW; 1987; 24 Frames ————————————————————————————————— Life? or Theatre? At The New York Review of Books, Lisa Appignanesi looks at work by Charlotte Salomon, including a current exhibition at the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam. All of the images and text in Life? or Theatre? are painted in three colors: red, yellow, and blue. Salomon blends these into brightly radiant or deadly somber hues. Whether this restricted palette was a deliberate choice or an accident of impoverished circumstances, we will never know. What is clear, however, is that with this paucity of means, the twenty-three-year-old Charlotte created a hybrid work of startling artistic innovation, at once a book, a storyboard for a silent film with indicated musical accompaniment (though sometimes a talkie complete with long shots and close-ups), and a powerful graphic novel decades ahead of its time, incorporating some of the stunning poster-art techniques of Weimar Germany. ————————————————————————————————— An Evening Demonstration. / Hi & Dri in Connecticut / At The Old Unh-Unh Factory Ben Katchor has been posting some comics here, and Oliver Lee Bateman interviewed him over at the Pacific Standard blog. “To be a cartoonist now, in this world, with the costs it imposes on you? Well, it certainly isn’t easy, because this is as bad as I can recall things having been,” he says. “When I was developing my interest in cartoon art, I was enrolled in college studying painting and literature. But I loved this idea of the mass reproduction of artwork that could live on a rack near a candy stand, and I didn’t have nearly that same passion for the world of galleries and high modernist art. And fortunately, when I started working on these projects, the old New York City in which I lived was so astonishingly cheap. Rent, in my case, amounted to $200 a month, and if I sold a strip a week for somewhere between $25 and $100, I could squeeze by. This way of working was possible then.” ————————————————————————————————— The Lie and How We Told It At The Comics Journal, Rachel Davies talks with Tommi Parrish. On that note about bookmaking, I was so shocked when I first got The Lie in the mail because of its size ‘cause Perfect Hair is almost like a pocket book, or something you can easily slip into a bag. I wanted to know if when you’re making the drawings, you’re thinking about how it’s going to look physically. I try to! It’s a really important part of how the story feels, how the object feels in your hand. Ideally I’d like it all to be one of the same. I don’t know if everyone’s the same with this, but it really affects the way that I feel about a piece of writing, if I feel like the vehicle for it is clunky and ugly. I don’t know, making something that’s strange and beautiful, and also trying to make the contents of the book pretty, but also engaging. I want it to all be like… all of it as an object, I guess. I don’t know, I was really unhappy with how Perfect Hair looked. I really like it! It was a fun book. I really like, I don’t know the technical term, but how it has the reflective title. The spot gloss! It’s all about the spot gloss. ————————————————————————————————— TEOTFW Emily Nussbaum on the Netflix adaptation of Charles Forsman’s The End of the Fucking World. Instead, “The End of the F***ing World”—which is written by Charlie Covell, adapted from Charles Forsman’s graphic novel, and directed by Jonathan Entwistle and Lucy Tcherniak—evolves into something much rarer, a convincing teen-age romance. At once a joyful watch and a morally destabilizing one, it bears some relationship to “Fleabag,” another dark British comedy driven by the narration of a deeply screwed-up individual, plotted so that its more compassionate themes come as a pleasant shock. Luckily, in an age of TV overkill, the show doesn’t take long to get there: it is only eight episodes long; each is twenty minutes. ————————————————————————————————— 1987: Drawings by John Ruggeri In 1981, five young men were diagnosed with a rare lung infection. At the same time, numerous gay men in New York and Los Angeles were being diagnosed with an aggressive cancer, Kaposi Sarcoma. These illnesses would soon be understood as being caused by an immuno-suppressing virus, HIV. By the end of 1987, the World Health Organization estimated that up to 10 million people were living with HIV worldwide. This exhibition is titled “1987,” the year that the antiretroviral drug AZT was made available to help combat the plague. By 1999 an estimated 33 million people were living with HIV and 14 million people had died of AIDS. Today, approximately 36.7 million people are living with HIV. BFA Visual & Critical Studies proudly presents “1987: Drawings by John Ruggeri” (1973 Illustration, BFA 1984 Media Arts, MFA 1986 Illustration as Visual Essay), an exhibition of approximately 80 drawings made between 1984 and 1987 that document the devastating early years of the AIDS crisis in New York City. The work, all charcoal drawings on Strathmore spiral-bound paper, were done in the bars, bathhouses, hospitals, prisons and public spaces of New York City and poignantly capture the anxiety etched onto the city and particularly to its often marginalized denizens. School of Visual Arts, 133/141 West 21st Street, through February 28. ————————————————————————————————— Abbas Kiarostami / 24 Frames At Film Comment, Imogen Sara Smith on Abbas Kiarostami’s final film. Photography shows us things invisible to the naked eye, whether it is the moment when a galloping horse takes all four feet off the ground, or a murder in a public park, or just a facial expression too fleeting to catch. When Kiarostami took the original photographs, he was presumably trying to capture something in the world: the hunting motif, from the Brueghel painting through the animals being shot, might also be a metaphor for photography itself. By digitally elaborating on these images, it seems he is trying to paint something seen in his mind’s eye, a memory or an imagined scene. This mixing of the real and the unreal is summed up in that final image: a photograph of a film, or rather a film of a photograph of a film, suspended between stillness and motion, between watching and dreaming. ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 02-13-18 – Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Vision Box – 2-13-2018 – by Cameron Arthur Share this page: [...]

04/19/2018

Comics WorkbookApril 18, 2018NewsSam Ombiri on Joe Daly’s The Red Monkey – plus Frank Santoro at Naples Comicon in Italy! —————————————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: When reading comics, or engaging with any art form really, there’s this confrontation with internal noise that I have to dealt with – that for unknown reasons I feel desperate to make sense of. I wonder…this whole comics thing…what’s it for? Different artists at different times speak to me, to help make sense of it all, and I’m certain this is what it’s like for everyone who reads comics. For me this week, I’m not saying Joe Daly’s The Red Monkey rectified ALL of this ongoing anxiety, but reading The Red Monkey was in some ways an answer to some of my questions – in a big way, really. This isn’t the first time Joe Daly’s book has given me a real gut punch. Daly’s comics in general feel like a really sincere reaction to the energy that comics poses. When I say sincere, I mean he makes comics that don’t seem concerned with the reception that will be given to the book that he’s made. Every drawing he made was at the service of the form, and engaging with the ideas he is engaging with, as opposed to aiming to get attention and accolades. Telling a story means less and less for people. It’s too simple; too boring. People feel desperate to make comics more useful, and as a result can forsake the form altogether, and that’s not without its consequences – comics feel increasing impotent. With The Red Monkey, it doesn’t feel like Daly wonders how people will consume it. He engages with comics like it’s something to make things that are difficult to understand, understandable. As though comics are an effective way for any reader to be confronted with what’s not understandable. I remember Stan Brakhage quoting Bresson (in a conversation Bresson was having with Godard) about how it’s important to convince your audience to like you – and making a thing aesthetically pleasing so that you can take your audience certain places. The Red Monkey was so easy to read, without it’s simplicity being a big deal, and the environment was so well rendered – never did I have to ask where I was or what the the character was doing. It’s this clarity that’s important when making stories. With that in mind, I’m reminded of a moment in Daly’s Highbone Theater and how I was sucked into Palmer’s idea about 9/11 without questioning it or mocking it, because of how infectious the narrative was. It’s in the same fashion that I’m sucked into the madness going on in The Red Monkey. That’s what art can do. I keep having this recurring stupid mini revelation, or rather I had this thought a year ago, and it’s nothing impressive, but it’s really stuck with me. This revelation has to do with how potent attitude is, how it goes into making any piece of art have a certain energy that defines it. There’s a moment towards the beginning of the story when the main character gets roped into babysitting for his neighbor. He tries to find a comic for the kid, and he tells the kid that he’s babysitting (who is a fantastic character), to be careful with the comics, and that comics are like his religion. That’s the energy I’m referring to that I find over and over in Daly’s comics. – Sam Ombiri Get a copy of The Red Monkey by Joe Daly over at Copacetic Comics, where coincidentally there is a wicked deal on the book as Bill Boichel is also eager to get more folks hep to Daly – check it out HERE. —————————————————————————————————————————— Sally here – the Naples Comicon Instagram account was buzzing yesterday, as famed Italian paleontologist Alberto Angela was caught at the National Archeological Museum of Naples, in Italy, looking at original artwork from Frank Santoro’s Pompeii (above). Alberto Angela is a popular TV presenter and commentator for science-based programs. He is the author of A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome, among other texts, and has lectured on the tragedy of Pompeii. He seemed taken by Frank’s depictions, or as the Naples Comicon put it, he “could not resist the charm of the show“. There are over 30 pages from Pompeii on display at the museum, in an exhibition which is being held in conjunction with Frank’s appearance as a special guest at the Naples Comicon (April 28-May 1 2018). The show opened yesterday (April 18th) at MANN and will continue until May 31st 2018. More details on the show can be found HERE. During Comicon Frank will be participating in a panel with Blutch, whose graphic novel Peplum also takes a look at Ancient Rome. Details on the panel are HERE. If you’re in the area, be sure to attend Comicon and meet Frank, and don’t miss the exhibition at MANN! —————————————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-19-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

10/5/2016

Juan FernándezOctober 5, 2016los Cómics / NewsJuan con: el tour de talleres de Comics Workbook; Rodrigo Elgueta y los Años de Allende; Natalia Silva en conversacíon con Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo; la llegada de Entreviñetas – Medellín; una venta paginas de Michael Deforge; Frank Santoro y el medallon de Pompeii. ————————————————————————————————— Comics Workbook participará en dos festivales la semana que viene: En el Reino Unido The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Octubre 14-16. Frank Santoro, Aidan Koch, and Connor Willumsen en Kendal, UK. Buscános para y visita la mesa 67 en el Comics Clocktower para conocer a Oliver East y Jack Brougham, entre otros. Tendremos 3 talleres especiales, “Visual Poetry” con Aidan Koch, “The Hammer Party” con Connor Willumsen y “Composition Competition” con Frank Santoro. Las entradas para los eventos principales en el Festival Internacional de Lagos Arte cómico de este año están a la venta.ickets for the main events at this year’s Lakes International Comic Art Festival are on sale now. Visita nuestra página de eventos para más información.. En los Estados Unidos Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, October 13-16. Ofreciendo talleres y tendremos libros de venta. Júntate con la boca y dibujantes Alexa bar y Kurt Ankeny para disfrutar un fin de semana Juan llenísimo y de creación de cómics. Examinarémos el arte y la cuadricula, uniendo las pracitcas artísticas de Berg y Ankeny junto con la disciplina y el ritmo de la cuadricula, según lo principios establecidos por Frank Santoro. Cuatro horas a través de dos días, llenas de la exploración de una variedad de técnicas y métodos – que inspirarán el principiante, y desafiarán al dibujante avancado. Cómics como el jazz; cómics como la arquitectura; cómo una simple tarjeta de índice puede transformar su proceso de secuenciación y la narración. El horario completo del Festival CXC esta disponible AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— Una Entrevista Con Rodrigo Elgueta ¿Cómo ingresaste al mundo del cómic en Chile? Creo que se podría decir que el cómic es una actividad que me encanta, desde muy niño supe que iba a ser dibujante de cómic. Entre las cosas que me gustan de este mundo es que todos los dibujantes de historieta tenemos en común experiencias de niño, hay algo que nos conecta con ese mundo infantil que ha sobrevivido con el tiempo y que se manifiesta cuando uno hace historietas. Por ejemplo, a los siete años tengo el recuerdo concreto de una tarde especial, donde estaba dibujando personajes de Barrabases, en el cual dije “voy a ser dibujante”, y aquello me acompañó durante toda la vida. Más detalles sobre su libro Los Años de Allende – AQUI! Cuando el 4 de septiembre de 1970 Salvador Allende obtuvo el 36,2 por ciento de los votos que lo llevaron a ser presidente de la República, empezaron los mil días más intensos de la historia de Chile. El país fue un ejemplo inédito de socialismo popular democrático, con planes revolucionarios de igualdad, y al mismo tiempo un temido enclave marxista que amenazaba los privilegios, los negocios privados y los grandes capitales. Esta novela gráfica enseña con rigor los hechos políticos, los factores y actores que determinaron el fin de la vía chilena, a través de la mirada de un periodista norteamericano que llega a reportear un proceso y se encuentra con conspiraciones, efervescencia cultural y agitadas noches con una mujer fascinante. Muestra, así, las esperanzas y temores de los protagonistas de entonces, quienes vieron con pasión y dolor cómo se articulaba y destruía un experimento social único en el siglo XX. ————————————————————————————————— [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/285194140″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Escucha la nueva edición de @lapololapodcast, un podcast del cómic femenino con Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo: En este capítulo las chicas conversan con la autora del libro “No abuses de este libro” Natalia Silva, alias Natichuleta. Conversamos acerca del abuso, de la violencia, los secretos, de cuales son los límites, cómo son los abusadores, cómo nos refugiamos en nosotros mismos y en el dibujo para darnos seguridad y sacar afuera estas experiencias. ————————————————————————————————— Entreviñetas – MEDELLÍN La segunda parte del gran festival Entreviñetas tendra lugar este fin de semana, del 6 al 9 de octubre. Si no lo saben ya, el Festival Entreviñetas es el evento del cómic y el dibujo más influyente en la escena latinoamericana contemporanea. No se pierdan toda la programación! Pueden ver los horarios AQUÍ. Talleres, ferias, charlas y entrevistas – habra de todo, sobre TODO! ————————————————————————————————— Tenemos una nueva subasta para compartir con ustedes! El gran Michael DeForge nos ha donado tres dibujos a beneficio de la escuela – cada dibujo es sobre una cartulina tamaño A4 en crayón. Son de 2014. Cada dibujo estará disponible por separado. Más detalles acerca de la subasta está aquí. ————————————————————————————————— Echa un vistazo a este medallón estilo Pompeii! “Le encargué a la gran Airi Maeno que hiciera unos medallones de plata con sede fuera de mis dibujos. Este dibujo viende de mi libro Pompeii. Es algo que puedo imaginar que alguien se pondría hace dos mil años. Un simple medallón de un ser querido. Un retrato. Algo permanente para desafiar a la desaparición”. – Frank Santoro Puedes comprar uno aquí! ————————————————————————————————— hasta la proxima! Juan Share this page: [...]

09/04/2017

Caleb OrecchioSeptember 3, 2017NewsCaleb Orecchio here on this Labor Day edition of the Daily News with thoughts on Connor Willumsen’s new book from Koyama Press, Anti-Gone–and other news. ———————————————————————————————— Connor Willumsen is one of thee premier drawers in comics. His prowess envelops the many styles of drawing found in comics, from expertly rendered figures, cars, and buildings–to minimal, child-like characters that would be at home in kid’s manga magazines. His new book, Anti-Gone—from thee great Koyama Press—to me really pushes Connor’s ideas as a cartoonist beyond just the pretty drawings. I feel he’s really digging deep into his bag of “tricks,” and expanding the language of the comics medium to a degree. First I want to say, that when I started to read Anti-Gone, I pinned it as a sci-fi comic–almost Brandon Graham-esque with a hint of Moebius (or vice versa); but as I read on, it was clear (to me at least) that this takes place in a “cartoon world.” Allow me to try to explain: In this world, you wouldn’t call a talking gorilla a “talking gorilla”–you would simply say, “that person is a gorilla.” if you would even care to make the distinction between a gorilla or human or whatever at all. Does that make sense? It’s like the fox and cat who sell Pinocchio to that puppeteer I think. Nobody says, “whoa a talking fox and cat!” they are just characters. Anyway, this detail of a cartoon world is not particularly pertinent to the story, but I felt it was worth pointing out. It’s our world, through Connor’s eyes. Something that made this crystal clear to me was when the seemingly alien girl undos her hair (directly below). What were once strange sacks on her head were now obviously a Connor-fide version of the double braid–see Kylie Jenner reference directly below the below excerpt. Two prominent formalistic tools Connor really utilizes well and to a very singular degree, particularly, is 1.) the economic use of visual reference, and 2.) the depiction of movement through sequential images–most notably the former, often they are used together with great success. The below page is from the perspective of our heroes as they float along a river watching a dog in a window as they pass by. We see the buildings in the background (where we get our main, big picture reference–the buildings–a sense of place) and Connor zeroes in on the doggy in the window giving us a simultaneous impression of where we are and where we are moving to without showing the characters (whose POV we are experiencing) within the page. Another good example is the below two-panel sequence of one of the protagonists making their way up a flight of stairs. First, Connor shows us the entire scene of the stairs with all it’s intricacies and hustle and bustle. Then he quiets it down by stripping away all the noise to show the girl going up the stairs (obviously the same stairs moments after the panel before it). This use of visual reference from detailed rendering to stripped down essential detail is both formalistically economical and tonally/emotionally important to the narrative–two birds with one stone. A+ I could go on and on about this book. Connor Willumsen is a blackbelt of formalism in comics. There is an unending sense of “thinking” in this book. Every angle and every option is considered. Highly recommend this book both for the tasteful, passive reader AND to the comics scholar looking for forward-thinking new work. -CO ———————————————————————————————— Frank Santoro made a comic book about his parents and now he needs help making a handbound copy of the book for each of them. It’s a good story. Check out the Indiegogo campaign HERE – or if you want to contribute via PayPal, look at the campaign HERE. ———————————————————————————————— if you don’t know now you know Hey not to brag but Comics Workbook will be at SPX conducting workshops so don’t miss out! After looking at the workshops you want to go to, sign up here. Gilbert Hernandez, Mardou, Alexis Ziritt, Connor Willumsen, Liz Reed, Juan Fernandez, Sally Ingraham, Audra Stang–what more could you possibly want?! Did you catch Joe McCulluoch’s final “This Week in Comics” entry? Jerry Moriarty is the latest guest on Inkstuds. Did you know you can download this San-Diego Comic Con Kirby 100th Celebration book for free? Have you missed Brandon Graham’s idiosyncratic blogging?? Well look no further because he’s back with a new one. Looks like he’ll have other contributors involved–firstly with A Sarah Horrocks entry about 2-page spreads. ———————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 9-4-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ———————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 9-4-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

10/09/2017

Posted on October 8, 2017October 10, 2017 by Caleb Orecchio

Caleb Orecchio here with thoughts on The Best American Comics 2017, and other news.

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The Best American Comics 2017 is here, compiled by series editor Bill Kartolopoulos, and guest editor Ben Katchor. When I heard Katchor was the guest editor this year and saw Matthew Thurber’s cover for the book, I was quite looking forward to the latest edition.

The Best American Comics cover by Matthew Thurber

It’s a really solid one and feels fairly intimate due to the amount of personal work. There are several thematically personal works, but mostly I mean work that feels “drawn”–as opposed to laborious, exacting work that can often bog down a large anthology when bumping shoulders with more spontaneous comics. There is literally no Image, DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, etc. and many, if not all, of the comics are drawn using analog materials. So the whole book feels really nice to read, you don’t have to adjust your eyes before reading each piece. First up to bat was Gary Panter with a comic originally published in frieze no. 181, which sets a nice tone and basically sets the gold standard for the rest of the book.

I thought it was interesting how many Pittsburgh people made it in the book, which may or may not continue to solidify Pittsburgh as a thriving comics town. You have Ed Piskor (of course) plus Laura Pallmall and Sienna Cittadino, who not only are now residents of Pittsburgh, but also made their way through Comics Workbook one way or another. Cittadino’s featured work, Jeremy Meets the Forest Cow, was an entry to the 2016 Comics Workbook Composition Competition (Cittadino literally won the 2017 competition), and Pallmall is a graduate of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers. Just thought that was interesting.

Another Comics Workbook connection is Kurt Ankeny whose amazing book, In Pieces: Some Place Which I Call Home, (originally serialized on Comics Workbook’s Tumblr) was excerpted (see image below). Kurt is an excellent drawer and I’ve seen his sketchbooks full of great coffee shop portraits, so I know he can draw really well on the first take.

So I asked him, “Is that sequence in The Best American Comics first-take? Like, you literally drew these pages in your sketchbook more or less?”

He responded, “They were done in a pad of perforated paper, but yes, essentially first take. That first page was drawn onsite from observation.”

This reminds me, Kurt was invited by thee Ben Katchor himself to give a talk at Parsons for the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium tomorrow, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017 at 7pm. Kurt is very smart and an excellent cartoonist so if you’re in the area, treat yourself.

Anyway, that’s all the time we have today folks–see you next week as I attempt to jump the Grand Canyon with a pair of roller skates, a parachute, and a box of tissue paper. Should be fun. Bye now.

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if you don’t know now you know

Here on this very site, Juan Fernandez is looking forward and looking to expand the comics festival toolkit. This is an excellent article and everyone should at least hear him out.
In case you missed it earlier, just wanted to remind you that Kurt Ankeny will be giving a talk at Parsons for the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium tomorrow, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017 at 7pm. (TOMORROW)
Tom Spurgeon has post-festival press release of CXC 2017. CXC was great, Tom is an excellent host and I already can’t wait to go back next year.
Joe McCulloch’s weekly column at TCJ.com is no longer with us, but Joe still is–here he gives us a review of Berserker #1 from Breakdown Press.
Right now The Comics Beat has a lot of coverage of New York Comic Con if you’re into that sort of thing–I personally think it’s always interesting to read about the mainstream side of comics whether or nor I’m actually interested in the comics themselves.

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Check out thee exclusive Connor Willumsen bundle from Comics Workbook!

Get Anti-Gone by the great Connor Willumsen, along with two zines – a 20 page bootleg, and a special collage zine – as well as a unique Anti-Gone drawing by Connor. Get a “Connor box” HERE.

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Joanie and Jordie– 10-9-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio

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Suzy and Cecil – 10-9-2017 – by Gabriella Tito

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Ben Katchor, Bill Kartalopoulos, Kurt Ankeny, the best american comics 2017

Caleb Orecchio

Posted on October 8, 2017October 10, 2017

Explore

03/14/2018

Juan FernándezMarch 14, 2018los Cómics / NewsJuan, on selling comics in Pittsburgh and “hypergeography” via the grid on tumblr y más! —————————————— Inaugural Mini-market @ Pullproof The weekend before last I sold and shared comics in Pittsburgh, PA during the Penn Avenue Unblurred gallery crawl. I set up shop at PULLPROOF Studio’s inaugural Mini-Market. All in all, it featured zines, prints, and jewelry by a crew of great local artists. It was really nice company. Among us were Jenna Houston, Lizzee Solomon, City Slicker Press, Max Emiliano Gonzales (GEMS), Jerome “Chu” Charles, Asia Lae, Lilian Kababa! PULLPROOF Studio is an in-progress printmaking studio in Pittsburgh, PA. They intend to offer a fully equipped silkscreen printing facility with a shared workspace and small storefront gallery at 5112 Penn Avenue in the Garfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their mission is to provide affordable access to silkscreen printing equipment, space, and time to artists in the Western Pennsylvania area. It’s going to be nice to have them in addition to the Artists Image Resource on the North Side. It’s a cool project. I did my best Frank Santoro/Bill Boichel impersonation and brought comics to the people. Frank loaned me a stash of Colombian comics from when he’d been invited to Entreviñetas in 2014. They sold well. It was nice to sell those and see them make their way into the hands of Pittsburghers. I’ve been collecting and curating a wide array of zines and comics that express the vision of visual literacy that I’d like to see more of in the world. Among those collected comics, I also sell comics that I’ve helped produce, my own and those of the Pittsburgh Comics Salon. It’s a healthy mix. I like to make it concretely clear to people, through in-person experience, that, yes, whatever you’re into, there’s a comic or zine you’re going to love. It’s nice to proselytize as a vendor, not just an educator or artist. Frank Santoro has been on this grind for ever, both because it is a better way to make money at show, opposed to selling solely what you make, and also because it’s more honest with one’s real experience with comics. You’re just as much a consumer as you are a producer. There’s a really organic back and forth, that this kind of tabling set up allows for. A huge thank you to PULLPROOF, Christina Lee in specific, for inviting me and hosting this event. This is the kind of selling and sharing of comics and culture I want to see more of in Pittsburgh. ————————————————————————————————— Hyper Geography Hyper Geography es un Tumblr creado por Joe Hamilton. Hay 100 posts tipo “loop” que se unen horizonatalmente y verticalmente. Hamilton esta usando Tumblr y las possibilidades del template como medio para crear su arte. Este proyecto es un buen ejemplo de cómo el navegador se convierte en el lienzo y la plataforma social la herramienta. Todo gracias a la cuadrícula. ————————————————————————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: ~ en Español ~ El Duende y la Ilustración en Tres minutos… En Revista Cactus, Klari Moreno entrevista a Ana Galvañ y luego lo plasma así de bonito: Cartoonist Ramón Esono Ebalé finally released from jail in Equatorial Guinea. Un estupendo artículo escrito por el dibujante Mauro Entrialgo sobre Forges. Un gran homenaje. Texas Latino Comic Con returns! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 03-14-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

06/01/2017

Sally IngrahamMay 31, 2017NewsSam Ombiri on Joe Daly’s Highbone Theater, an international zine roundup, Wonder Woman dreams, and news from Berliac. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: I read Highbone Theater by Joe Daly recently. I began it awhile back when Joe Daly was posting it online, but the way Daly set up his website for Highbone Theater made it hard to find where you left off at. The funny thing with that was that I’d just end up re-reading the same pages. The same really good pages. I guess it was maybe a selling point, because it feels very real. I’m not sure if it’s part autobiographical, because it’s not so apparent and that makes me more keen to apply what’s happened to me, myself, and relate it with Palmer (the main character). The dialogue is so natural, and the way Daly guides you through what’s being said seems like it’s collaborating with life. It’s so mundane that it becomes all too real. It seems like it’s way more dense than it is really, because of the size of the book, but it’s so rhythmic, and it sucks the reader in so that you barely even notice that you’re flipping the pages. You start it, and you keep going, and you don’t feel the big obligation to take note of anything. Or that may be inaccurate, since you are supposed to, as a reader, take note of what’s happening in the narrative. I didn’t catch so much that the colored pages were adding an extra meaning to the atmosphere changing, other than, something’s up, tonally and design wise. Color is the equivalent of sound design. I once heard Joe Daly cite Naked Lunch as a movie he’s really impressed with, so this was at the back of my mind while reading Highbone Theater. It’s a very cinematic comic, which may be attributed to Daly studying animation. Whatever it was that caused it, I’m glad. Palmer is into the things he’s into, him and his friends are into the things they’re into, and every now and then the friends comment on Palmer’s eccentric interests. While they see less reason in Palmer, Palmer sees less reason in the world he’s living in, and while many others can reason with him, he finds he can’t reason with anyone besides his friend Billy. The way Daly portrays Palmer is as someone who isn’t an unreasonable guy – but when Palmer talks, the way he portrays himself when talking about himself (which is part of why the book feels like it’s autobio) comes off as unreasonable – but that doesn’t hinder him from performing what he perceives as his duty. That was the defining characteristic I found with Palmer. What set this apart is that the book seems so casual, as if it’s ideas are taking place with no regard to your opinion of them. Yet they are coming from a very disciplined story teller. Everything that sets this book apart doesn’t come off as overly intentional, or meant to be set apart. What’s taking place seems independent of the reader’s thoughts on them. This only strengthens the potency of the events as perceived by the reader. What seems more intentional is to engage with the reader in a way that’s very familiar to them. Or maybe it’s just that this form happens to be familiar. It reminded me of reading Chester Brown’s autobio stuff, or Crumb, or it’s as if I was told that one of the characters is the Reid Fleming of this universe. The cover is really cool – it reflects what you’re in for. Of course most covers do that, but as you open this book it’s with these specific images that come later on in the book. The front cover – while it’s an image that shows up through the course of the book – seems to be there more so to sell you on the book. The image that follows, however, before the story has started, has been ingrained in the reader. Right now I’m talking about the coffin Billy crafted for his mother. When it comes into the story later on and makes another appearance, there was something big that went off in my mind. While the turns the book takes are huge, there’s a subdued element to it, right? While it may seem disorienting, it’s a really well oriented form of disorienting. Palmer has this look on his face that says this must be done, and that’s reflected with every action he performs. He has a no nonsense approach to everything. He sees the task before him, he tries to find what needs to be done above all his other concerns, and what he needs to do is a growing question mark. – Sam Ombiri Get a copy if this book at Copacetic Comics! ————————————————————————————————— 6-1-2017 – by Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— Sally here – check out this roundup of 8 zines made by people of color from around the world, showcased on Artsy – a true example of why the medium remains relevant and important. “The black literary zine, Fire!! created during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s by writers such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston is an early example. Self-publishing continued through the decades, with the Black Panther Party Newspaper and the Chilean women’s magazine Aquelarre. Still, the history of zine culture remains largely dominated by narratives of white men and women. Utilizing both the tangibility of print and the connectedness afforded by the internet, today’s artists and writers of color are continuing to create spaces for dialogue, pioneering conversations through zines—a medium that allows them to exchange ideas, opinions, and art on their own terms. These eight zines are just a few of the notable print publications claiming space and reinvigorating a decades-long tradition of collective healing through communal expression.“ Read more HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Maya Rupert writes movingly for The Atlantic about her lifelong connection to Wonder Woman and her feeling that maybe the character makes more sense as a black woman. “Wonder Woman and I were both outsiders on two levels. Her powers set her apart from other humans, but among the other members of the Justice League, she was relegated to secretary. My race set me apart from my white classmates, but I learned at a young age that within the black community my gender marked me as inferior. I remember as a child being told by my hairdresser that feminism wasn’t for black women. “For us,” she explained, “the man is here, and we’re here,” she said gesturing with her hands to illustrate that to be a black woman meant that a man I had never met would always be stationed above me. As I got older, I became better able to name my double displacement; I was frustrated with the racism I saw in feminist circles and with the misogyny I saw among racial-justice advocates. And Wonder Woman’s state of constant otherness only became more meaningful. But as a girl, I most commiserated with Wonder Woman when she sought to reconcile her inner strength and ferocity with the need of others to see her as peaceful and feminine. I had learned early on that it wouldn’t take a lot for me to be viewed as angry and deemed unlikeable. Images of neck-rolling, finger-snapping, gum-popping black women caricatured in movies and TV shows showed me exactly what people expected from me.“ Read more HERE – and go see the new Wonder Woman movie (opens June 2nd!), which does star a white woman, but there is perhaps some hope for the flick and the story – “Yes, a white actress, Gal Gadot, had been cast as the lead. But, I wondered, would the creators see in her what I had all these years? Would Wonder Woman still chafe at the forced dichotomy between her strength and her womanhood, her peaceful demeanor and her righteous anger? Would they infuse her story with enough of mine that a little black girl who sees the movie might get to wonder, maybe?“ ————————————————————————————————— Drawn & Quarterly will publish Berliac’s Sadbøi in January 2018. “Drawn in a unique style that’s an homage to gekiga and film noir, Berliac’s first English graphic novel is an exploration of how we treat immigrants, and the impossible situation of being expected to conform to society’s ideals when the world has already decided you’re guilty.” More of the announcement and an excerpt from the book can be found HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 6-1-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-1-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-1-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

02/20/2018

Aaron CockleFebruary 20, 2018NewsAaron here today with Barbara T. Smith + Experiments in Electrostatics; A.T. Pratt; Uno Moralez; Old-Timey Cellphones ————————————————————————————————— Barbara T. Smith: Outside Chance Through Feb 28 at Andrew Kreps Gallery, 537/535 West 22nd St, NYC, USA Smith’s pioneering Xerox work is the earliest series in the exhibition dating from 1965 to 1967, and reflects a pivotal moment in the trajectory of her life and practice. Initially intending to make lithographic prints, Smith discovered the then-new technology of the Xerox copy machine, a mass-printing device that she perceived to be the future of printmaking. Smith leased a 914 Xerox Machine, at the time only in use by large corporations, and feverishly experimented with, among other things, images of her children taken by the artist-photographer Jerry McMillan. Simultaneously, Smith discovered her body as a performative tool by placing it upon the machine. Obsessively repeated and layered, the resulting works form a preemptive, and melancholic reflection on the loss of her family in her subsequent 1968 divorce. Following this, Smith fully devoted her life to art-making, with works that reflected a similar engagement with a burgeoning community of artists in Los Angeles, as well as an exploration of the new relationship between performance artworks and their audience. Experiments in Electrostatics At the Whitney Museum of American Art, through March 25, 2018 Experiments in Electrostatics: Photocopy Art from the Whitney’s Collection, 1966–1986 explores the use of the photocopier as a creative tool, from its public emergence in the 1960s to the dawn of the digital era in the 1980s. Despite the machine’s intended function to reproduce office documents, artists inventively utilized it as a camera and printing press to create original fine art prints. They placed objects on the flatbed, distorted imagery in the process of scanning, and manipulated the exposure, density, and saturation settings to achieve imaginative, often unexpected results. Far from “copies,” these still lifes, portraits, abstractions, and collages reflected the ingenuity of their makers. Focusing on three artists and one collective—Edward Meneeley, Lesley Schiff, Barbara T. Smith, and the International Society of Copier Artists—this exhibition investigates how artists found self-expression through a machine designed for replication. Experiments in Electrostatics is organized by Michelle Donnelly, curatorial fellow. ————————————————————————————————— “the great American Graphic Novel Masterpiece of our time” At Broken Frontier, Robin Enrico looks at A.T. Pratt’s Ink Toby In another way the true target of Pratt’s scorn may be Pratt himself. Ink Toby was drawn under the very constraints that Pratt is mocking. The constant grinding away at making comics in an attempt to move the needle on an artist’s social profile. Reducing art to grist for the content mill. Even if as Pratt admits, the work was not finished during Inktober, it still adheres to that push to rapidly produce pages. This doesn’t always play to Pratt’s advantage, as his pages can be overly dense with at times cramped panel layouts. There are also a few instances where dialogue does, as Toby’s father cautions against, dominate the page. In Ink Tommy’s own words, “You think everyone wants to read all that shit?” Making a joke of the works shortcomings does not completely alleviate them. ————————————————————————————————— ‘This is an internet comic, not a printed volume, after all…’ Matt Seneca on Blue Teeth by Uno Moralez But what Blue Teeth attests to even more than Moralez’s image making expertise is his power as a comics maker. In a way, this is work as formally simple as it gets: a screen that shows one single image at a time, each isolated and complete in itself, yet linked by subject to the others. What’s so impressive is how immersive Moralez makes his work without any page-layout tricks or advanced sequencing or even words, for crying out loud! He gives his trust to the effectiveness of comics at its most basic level, comics as a simple accretion of image after image. It’s like hearing music played along with the strict, ticking beat of a metronome, where none of the power is in the timing and all of it is in the harmonies, the way every new note bounces off the vibration of all the ones that came before to expand the size of the world being created. Anybody can format a comic the way Moralez does here; that’s not the point. It takes someone who really understands the form, who gets that it’s about the thoughts that flicker in the reader’s head between the images as much what’s as inside of them, to make it work this well. The routes Moralez takes through his story’s information are unusual and exciting – in my favorite transition, a sexy stolen glance between Marina and her man’s road dog is followed immediately by a shot of two butterflies hovering above a flaming rose. Moralez’s sensibility is more poetic than literal, always willing to forgo the direct approach to accommodate a moment of beauty or bizarrerie. ————————————————————————————————— Via Myko Clelland / BoingBoing ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-20-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— VISION BOX — 02/20/2018 — by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

5/16/2016

Juan FernándezMay 16, 2016NewsJuan Fernandez brings you: a collection of work Laila Milevski;Doug Wright Awards; Darwyn Cooke; Allison Bechdel; Melissa Mendes; Intruder; the Ines Estrada archive; Josh Bayer Week; Poor Artists; Aphantasia. ————————————————————————————————— L’avventura and La notte We’re pleased to present a collection of comics by Laila Milevski on the site this week. Made in 2014 for Comics Workbook, this series is “an exploration of visual mechanisms and themes in the Antonioni movies L’avventura and La notte…narrated by the mild-mannered, neurotic man who is drawing the comics.” Thoughful reflections, Exquisitely drawing, cleverly composed. Read it here. ————————————————————————————————— Doug Wright Awards From this weekend’s Toronto Comic Arts Festival: Michael Deforge, Dakota McFadzean and Patrick Kyle took home the awards among one of recent years’ most exciting nomination lineups of Canadian talent. Read all about what happened at the ceremony on the DWA’s official site and read the jury statement’s for the winning work. ————————————————————————————————— Darwyn Cooke Remembered Cooke challenged the “illustrational vibe” that became prominent in comics in the 90s, Fowler said. “Everyone was doing a lot of lines, a lot of detail with every panel photo-realistically rendered — and that’s not what comics is about. Darwyn slammed that book down in the middle of the table and said, ‘No, this is comics.’ And he was right. He allowed us to be cartoony again.” ————————————————————————————————— Allison Bechdel Awarded Allison Bechdel recieved an honorary degree from Smith College on Sunday. Bechdel’s work is archived at Smith’s Sophia Smith Collection. You can watch Bechdel in conversation in with Smith College’s Susan Van Dyrne here. ————————————————————————————————— Melissa Mendes’ Lou It’s real! Mendes’ Lou is out now! Andy Oliver gives a look at over on Broken Frontier to highlight its release: Originally published as a series of minicomics from the hugely respected micropublishing outfit Oily Comics, Melissa Mendes’s Lou has received a much deserved collected edition. The book follows the adventures of the titular character – a young tomboy – and her two brothers John and Eddie in 1990s small-town America. Mendes juxtaposes quieter moments of family life with longer-running, overarching storylines focusing on the intrigue of dodgy dealings at the local pizza shop and the mystery of a fantastic secret hideout adopted by the local kids. If you’re itching to learn more, check out Broken Frontier’s review of the original 15 issue run and see for yourself, what the big hubub is about. Lou is now available via Alternative Comics. ————————————————————————————————— The Stranger on Intruder Intruder, a free publication produced quarterly since 2012 by Seattle comics-makers is ending. Alas. Rich Smith over at The Stranger reflects on the role of this free comics publication in the Seattle comics scene. Though Intruder is bowing out after the next issue, the paper has already made an impact on the local comics community. Palm said a comics-only paper up in Bellingham called Emergence and another one in Portland called Vision Quest cite Intruder as their inspiration. Kelly Froh, author and codirector of Short Run festival, said that Intruder got a lot of comic artists and comic enthusiasts to see the fun again, “When you can pick up free comics at your record store, or at a block party on Summit Avenue, that’s making comics as accessible as they should be,” she said. ————————————————————————————————— Inés Estrada, dig in. How familiar are you with Inés Estrada? Estrada is an illustrator and cartoonist from Mexico City, whose comics have been published in the US and Europe. She has also been self-publishing her work since 2006 under her label Gatosaurio, putting out comics, prints, shirts and merch of all kinds. If you’re not intimately familiar with her work, I want to encourage you to read up on her! Estrada has 7 comics up over at Zco.mx for your reading pleasure. Of note is Sindicalismo 89, a funny stoner romp filled with gossip, parties, destruction, dreams and masturbation. Oh and don’t miss Estrada’s PFC Journal. It features Estrada’s raw, first take cartooning as she documented her visit to Minneapolis for the Pierre Feuille Ciseaux group residency organized by ChiFouMi, MCAD and Autoptic in 2015. ————————————————————————————————— ICYMI – Josh Bayer Week on High-Low Rob Clough touched on all the bases of Bayer’s minicomics, the big books, the ethos, the craft over on the High-Low blog last week. Take some time and catch up with this artist profile if you missed it. ————————————————————————————————— Why Are (Most) Artists (So Fucking) Poor? Oldie, but a goodie by William Powhida. Over at Hyperallergic. Great hand drawn graphs 😉 ————————————————————————————————— Aphantasia: the Blindness of the Mind Here’s some food for thought coming to you from the cofounder of Firefox, Blake Ross. If I tell you to imagine a beach, you can picture the golden sand and turquoise waves. If I ask for a red triangle, your mind gets to drawing. And mom’s face? Of course. You experience this differently, sure. Some of you see a photorealistic beach, others a shadowy cartoon. Some of you can make it up, others only “see” a beach they’ve visited. Some of you have to work harder to paint the canvas. Some of you can’t hang onto the canvas for long. But nearly all of you have a canvas. I don’t. I have never visualized anything in my entire life. I can’t “see” my father’s face or a bouncing blue ball, my childhood bedroom or the run I went on ten minutes ago. I thought “counting sheep” was a metaphor. I’m 30 years old and I never knew a human could do any of this. And it is blowing my goddamned mind. For those interested, Carl Zimmer at the New York Times has also written a piece on aphantasia. It’s interesting to unpack the assumptions that are neurotypically assumed with the mind’s eye. In that vein, what does visual literacy mean and how does it work for those who experience Aphantasia? What are comics like by those who cannot see in the mind? ————————————————————————————————— -stay fresh, Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

10/17/2016

Juan FernándezOctober 17, 2016NewsJuan here with updates from this weekend. Just got back to Pittsburgh and wanted to write up some thoughts off the cuff before I headed off to work. I’m exhausted but energized <3 We had a doozy of a Comics Workbook operation running full force at LICAF in Kendal and at the 2nd Annual CXC in Columbus! I joined Sacha Mardou, Alyssa Berg, Whit Taylor, Kurt Ankeny, Sally Ingraham, Caleb Orecchio and Emil Friis Ernst in Columbus. I have lots of thoughts on the bang up show that the fine folks at CXC put on. For now, I’ll share what I can! Whit Taylor will be putting together a comprehensive Festival recap for Cartoon Crossroads Columbus later this week, so stay tuned for that! AND Frank Santoro will be reflecting on his time at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in just a bit . Things got deep for him and the rest of the crew over in the UK and you won’t want to miss those updates, loyal reader. ————————————————————————————————— First off, a HUGE thank you to everyone on the Cartoon Crossroads Staff including Jeff Smith, Vijaya Iyer, Kathleen Glosan, Lucy Caswell, Tom Spurgeon and Caitlin McGurk for all of the tireless work that they did to make this festival a unique experience for a multitude of comics reading perspectives: academics professionals, aficionados, and new readers – the team’s work has created a unique experience that offers both depth and breadth. Incredible. Mad props to Sergio Aragonés, Carol Tyler who received the 2016 CXC Master Cartoonist awards for their lifetime work in comics – and Kevin Czapieski for their CXC Emerging Talent award. What a time to be alive in comics. Highlights for me: ⚡Locations – The Billy Ireland is heaven on earth. The Metropolitan Library is glorious. Spacious, open spaces that look out to the treetops. I was able to breath and stay calm even at the most stressful moments of my experience. ⚡Scheduling – Smooth as silk. Attendees had oodles to choose from. Little to no double booking that prevented people from seeing all that they wanted to see. ⚡Exhibitor selection – The selection ran wide and deep, in one room. Great curatorial choices on CXC’s part. ⚡Volunteer Assistance – Always on hand to assist with tech for presentations, to get materials, to cover for people’s tables, to direct around facilities… invaluable. I’d like to share some moments from our time in Columbus: View this post on Instagram Sacha Mardou presenting on composing long-form fiction at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum for CXC @cartoonlibrary @msmardou #cxc2016 A post shared by Comics Workbook ⚡️ (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 14, 2016 at 8:21am PDT View this post on Instagram Alyssa Berg led a great workshop for Comics Workbook at Cartoon Crossroads Columbus today! @aaalllyyysssssa #comicsworkbook #cxc2016 A post shared by Comics Workbook ⚡️ (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 15, 2016 at 4:07pm PDT View this post on Instagram Digging right in on day 4 of Cartoon Crossroads Columbus with Kurt Ankeny's Comics Workbook session @kurtankeny #cxc2016 #comicsworkbook A post shared by Comics Workbook ⚡️ (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 16, 2016 at 9:41am PDT View this post on Instagram LIVE at CXC!!! #comicsworkbook A post shared by Comics Workbook ⚡️ (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 15, 2016 at 10:14am PDT View this post on Instagram Charles Burns stopped by the table at CXC to dig through the long boxes #cxc2016 #charlesburns #comicsworkbook A post shared by Comics Workbook ⚡️ (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 15, 2016 at 11:25am PDT View this post on Instagram Thee great Chris Diaz doing what he does best. Follow @cad_pictures for inspiring photographs of America's finest cartoonists and comics makers. #comicsworkbook A post shared by Comics Workbook ⚡️ (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 16, 2016 at 11:26am PDT View this post on Instagram Spotlight on Sacha Mardou at CXC @msmardou #cxc2016 A post shared by Comics Workbook ⚡️ (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 15, 2016 at 10:53am PDT View this post on Instagram A few more moments from Cartoon Crossroads Columbus – all-star photographer Chris Anthony Diaz, kids drawing at the CW table, Juan Fernandez digging in with a workshop attendee, and Caitlin McGurk getting Sacha Mardou's comic for the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum @cad_pictures @juan.jose.fernandez @msmardou @cartoonlibrary #cxc2016 #comicsworkbook A post shared by Comics Workbook ⚡️ (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 16, 2016 at 10:14pm PDT ————————————————————————————————— On the home front here in Pittsburgh, we had the 6th Annual Pittsburgh Zine Fair which saw record attendance. I’m one of the organizers of the fair, so I was overjoyed to see photos of everyone’s days over on FB and Instagram. And when I heard that we had record breaking attendance of over 700 attendees? Well, my heart just skipped a beat. Print is alive and well here in Pittsburgh. I can’t wait to join up with the rest of the organizing committee: Christina Lee, Maggie Negrete and Raiona Gaydos to debrief and start plotting and scheming for the zine fair’s next adventure. I leave you with the view that I got, homeward bound from Columbus. Suffice to say I left with energized, ready to lean in and make some new work and teach my heart out. until next time, JF Share this page: [...]

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