Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in los Cómics, NewsTagged berliac, caleb orecchio, Clara Lagos, Delius, jordie bellaire, Juana Neumann, julie doucet, Kat Fajardo, la polola, Mireia Perez, Ramón Esono Ebalé, sally ingraham, vanesa r. del rey, Victor Coyote

Juan Fernández

Posted on November 15, 2017November 15, 2017

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07/07/2016

HarrisonJuly 7, 2016NewsHarrison is here today previewing the 4th Annual Comics Workbook Competition, revisiting an old/new interview with a veteran artist, giving an update from Richmond, VA’s best artists, and finishing with something sharp. ————————————————————————————————— COMICS WORKBOOK COMPOSITION COMPETITION 2016 THE SANTORO CORRESPONDENCE COURSE and The Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency presents the COMICS WORKBOOK COMPOSITION COMPETITION 2016 ———————————————— 1st place – $500 cash prize to the winner 2nd place – $250 credit at Copacetic Comics 3rd place – $100 credit at Copacetic Comics plus four $50 honorable mention prizes from Big Planet Comics ———————————————— Create a 16 page signature comic book narrative to the specifications below ———————————————— DEADLINE: August 30 2016 at midnight (that’s 11:59 EST) ———————————————— Find all the details HERE! ————————————————————————————————— From the Vault: Arvell Malcolm Jones Interview CBR News: What about the challenges or difficulties you may have faced while getting into the comics biz? AJ: Well, Marvel and DC were interesting places in the early ’70s. Racism was there, but not the kind you would think. People were trying to be very open minded, but they only could draw on what they knew. I spent a lot of time getting to know people. It was hard at first because, in some cases, we had nothing in common but our love of the industry. Plus, the industry is very much like a little Hollywood: it’s about who you know, as well as how good you are. Many of the people I worked with I’d know for sometime through the convention route, or from zines, like Roy Thomas (when we had our zine, Roy was our source for news at Marvel) and Paul Levitz. Marvel and DC tried to be open to us but, in a way, they didn’t know quite how to relate to us. It helped that most of my friends from Detroit helped to open doors. We would take a 13 hour drive and spend the night with Al Milgrom and his roommate, hang at Rich’s, then go see John Romita at Marvel, get our butts spanked, and go back to Detroit to work on our samples again. – via Comic Book Resources Read the rest of the interview with veteran artist Arvell Malcolm Jones here. ————————————————————————————————— Richmond’s Finest Check out some of the new work from our friends from Richmond, VA, Cameron Weston Nicholson, Richie Pope, and Chris Visions. Support and share please. Cameron Weston Nicholson Cameron’s got a sale on his latest comic, Burgundy. IF you’ve been waiting to pick up some work from Cameron, now’s your chance before these comics are gone! Send him a message via instagram and he’ll hook you up. https://www.instagram.com/p/BHhqpeqg-jZ/ Richie Pope Along with having the illustration below in the New York Times, Richie has made available the second (and final) edition of Newdini in print. Get it now! http://richiepope.bigcartel.com/product/newdini Chris Visions You can now buy your copy of Chris Visions’ #LunchtimeLoosies VOL. 1 at http://chrisvisions.bigcartel.com – A color collection of beautiful observational drawings made with mixed media. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

02/22/2018

Juan FernándezFebruary 22, 2018NewsJuan stepping in for Sam here with comics and comments from Austin English and Mari Naomi! ————————————————————————————————— Where I’m Coming From (Part 2) Another excellent exploratory archive post comes to us from Austin English over on The Comics Journal. Grab a coffee and dig in. The first half of this column explained the intentions behind it, but let’s rehash things for a moment: as we all converge together to discuss, draw, or simply read comics, most of our knowledge is shared (Peanuts, a vague notion of Wimpy requesting things he cannot afford) whether we endorse or react against it—but our experience of zines is a personal one. Geography, a personal pantheon of aesthetics, varying levels of enthusiasm for continuing to amass piles of paper into one’s life: all of this contribute to a unique archive of “containers of human creativity” (to use a phrase cartoonist Jason T. Miles once employed to describe zines). I was intrigued by people’s reactions to the first installment of this series. Some expressed excitement at seeing one of the first zines by artist Margot Ferrick. The work in question is from 2012, not ancient history in the least, but Ferrick’s work has changed considerably since that moment. As I said before, zines disappear arbitrarily and without warning. A reader’s favorite artist may have made something deeply heartfelt in the very recent past, but the work and the attitudes expressed may forever be obscured. With this in mind, for the final installment in this series, I’ve tried to write about a great many zines, in the hopes that works that have moved me might open up forgotten corners of what is possible in cartooning (which is the not so secret intention of this column in general). You can read it all here. (After you’re done, start working on your next zine.) ————————————————————————————————— COMICS ARE FOR WHITE MEN: backstory Mari Naomi offers up an illustrated backstory of the Cartoonists of Color and Queer Cartoonists databases. This comic originally appeared in NEW FRONTIERS, an anthology published by SI Universe. Big ups to Mari Naomi for managing this huge project. ————————————————————————————————— Collected from the thousands of pages of material that Frank has left scattered all over the digital landscape, these 4 PDF collections contain Frank’s best writing on comics and comics making from the past decade. Theory and process, reviews and discoveries, journeys both physical and spiritual. Check out the “Best of Frank Santoro” PDF collections, available HERE! Share this page: [...]

04/10/2017

Sally IngrahamApril 10, 2017NewsA report from PIX! plus a few other comics happenings to start your week. ————————————————————————————————— Sally here, still riding the wave of the Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo – I’m writing this after midnight at the Comics Workbook Rowhouse, where Connor Willumsen is holding court with some of the CW crew, and Anya Davidson and Lale Westvind are on their way over to close out the night. The comics community in Pittsburgh just keeps on getting stronger. This year PIX took place right in the triangle of downtown. The expo at the August Wilson Center was well attended, the ToonSeum was packed out the night before for the opening of Ed Piskor’s “Hermetically Sealed” art show and then throughout the day on Sunday as programs and panels took place there. Comics Workbook students and instructors led workshops around the corner at the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council building for local kids and adults alike, and hosted a talk by Carol Tyler, and a conversation with Connor Willumsen and Lale Westvind. It was warm and sunny where the three rivers of Pittsburgh meet, and the comics energy managed to lure away, or at least detour, some of the anime characters attending a nearby convention, as well as a few baseball fans from the Pirates game! Shown above from left to right, top to bottom…Connor Willumsen sewing a new comic together at his table; the “Do-be-do” workshop for kids led by Juan Fernandez; a Pittsburgh Comics Salon workshop; in front of the August Wilson Center; Lale Westvind in conversation; Bill Boichel purchasing an original art page from Anya Davidson’s Lovers In the Garden, with Lane Milburn and Lale Westvind looking on; Carol Tyler talking comics-making; Connor Willumsen doing the same; Carol Tyler’s workshop. Just a small sampling of what was going on and a tiny glimpse of who was there – more to come! ————————————————————————————————— Elsewhere New in the Diaz Archive – photos from Michael DeForge‘s Sticks Angelica tour, thanks to Chris Anthony Diaz! 11 O’Clock Comics has a great interview with Jim Rugg – check it out HERE. Street Angel: After School Kung Fu Special will be released April 26th 2017! Sequential State reviews Lale Westvind‘s Yazar & Arkadaş – HERE. Seth has a new show at the Richmond Art Gallery – April 9, 2017 – June 25, 2017 – which combines his comics with the music of Mark Haney. Details HERE. Pictures of Seth and the show can be found HERE. The Comics Beat has notes on a conversation between Frank Miller and Klaus Janson (remembering Will Eisner) which took place last week at the SVA Theater. There is a lengthy interview with Vanessa Davis over on The Comics Journal – check it out. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 4-10-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-9-2017 & 4-10-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-10-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

07/23/2018

Caleb OrecchioJuly 23, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here as always for the Monday edition of The Daily News! ————————————————————————————————— Okay so I was at Frank’s house and he had to answer some important emails or something so I sat in a comfy chair and started flipping through a bunch of Yokoyama books he had laying around. I started reading World Map Room when Frank turned on some music by Daily Life; you know, the band CF is in. The smooth symphonic melodies created this really nice atmosphere in the house that synchronized with my reading. The characters in the book started marching to the pace of the music. It was as if I was standing on some inter-dimensional harmonic crosshair. I was hypnotized by the coupling. I forgot Frank was a few feet away from me and I became one of Yokoyama’s characters moving through space, taking note of my bizarre surroundings. I felt myself sink further into the chair as if I was becoming more susceptible to gravity. The feeling was akin to dipping into a hot tub in winter. I finished World Map Room and began Garden. The record had repeated once or twice by this point and the familiarity with it’s pattern and with Yokoyama’s pacing intensified the hypnotic effect. Eventually, the mood changed. The music was turned down and the books set aside for conversation. I was back on Earth. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

05/24/2016

Aaron CockleMay 23, 2016NewsBerliac Week Continues at CW; Venn Diagram Panel; Kirby Gridz; Safari Festival 2016; Dueling Book Release Parties; Henry Darger at the American Folk Art Museum; Juan Fernández Comics ————————————————————————————————— Featured this week: Gwai-Lo of the Heart by Berliac. Made for Comics Workbook in 2015. ————————————————————————————————— Venn Diagram Panel from MoCCA Festival 2016 Painter and cartoonist Keith Mayerson once called his 1996 graphic novel Horror Hospital Unplugged “too arty for comics” and “too comics for art.” The boundary between those two fields, however structural and arbitrary, may be weakening, but is it happening quickly enough to accommodate the rapidly growing number of artists who are now so productively working in this seam? Moderator Bill Kartalopoulos will investigate these questions and more with three leading lights of contemporary artcomics: Austin English (Gulag Casual), Aidan Koch (After Nothing Comes), and Blaise Larmee (3 Books). ————————————————————————————————— Via Micheal Oeming’s Facebook page. ————————————————————————————————— Safari Festival: New waves in contemporary comics and art. 11am to 6pm, 27 August 2016 Protein, 31 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EY safarifestival.tumblr.com | @safarifestival | info@safari-festival.com Safari Festival is a celebration of the new wave of alternative and art comics from the UK and beyond. Taking place over one Saturday at the end of August, the festival is an opportunity for a curated group of cartoonists and publishers to exhibit and sell their artwork, prints and, primarily, comics, and for attendees to experience the best of UK comics’ avant-garde. The artists exhibiting have been selected for their innovative, fearless, diverse approaches to making comics; approaches to cartooning that Safari intends to champion. The festival will be free to attend, and will take place at Studio 2, the Shoreditch gallery space of London-based creative agency, Protein. ————————————————————————————————— Thursday, May 26, 7-pm in Providence and/or NYC ————————————————————————————————— Henry Darger at the Folk Art Museum ————————————————————————————————— I Can See the Birds by Juan Fernández 5.5″x8.5″, Color & Risograph, $6 postpaid (International Shipping). This one is my Yo La Tengo comic on the shoulders of the poetry giant, Mary Oliver. The words are excerpted from her poem, Wild Geese. All drawings are first takes on location here in Pittsburgh. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

11/15/2017

Posted on November 15, 2017November 15, 2017 by Juan Fernández

Empezamos el día con Kat Fajardo; Juana Neumann, Delius y Clara Lagos en La Polola; Jordie Bellaire & Vanesa R. Del Rey; Ramón Esono Ebalé; Berliac; Victor Coyote y Mireia Pérez; Julie Doucet en Madrid; y los tebeos de Cómics Workbook!

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Spotlight on Kat Fajardo

Over on No Echo Carlos Ramirez interviews Kat Fajardo, the winner of the 2017 Emerging Talent Award at Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CxC), creator of comics such as Gringa! and the Bandida series.

CR: What are the toughest aspects of what you do from a business standpoint? Are you constantly networking and reaching out to editors for gigs?

KF: I think finding the energy to make art after working my day job is the toughest part of being a freelancer. Today, social media is insanely important for artists, but you would need time and consistently create work in order to make your online presence known. Thankfully, I work at a cafe in the mornings, so after work I chug down a red eye and work the rest of the night at my studio. The weeks before convention season are the hardest. Printing and assembling zines while working long hours is incredibly energy-draining! But it’s worth it once you get yourself to the convention.

I love selling comics behind a table, you get to meet your readers, other cool artists and editors in person. I can’t stress enough the importance of attending comic and zine festivals as an artist, I’ve made great business connections that way. However, most of my recent networking with publishers have been made all thanks to my literary agent, Linda Camacho. Because of her hard work, I was able to work on cool projects like creating the cover for The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Pérez, as well as a few more exciting projects coming up!

Read it all here.

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Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana:

Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con Juana Neumann, Delius y Clara Lagos acerca de sus inicios, sus vidas, sus primeros pasos en el cómic, nos contaron acerca de sus proyectos, sus referentes, su visión de la historieta, el dibujo y mucho más!
If you’ve been digging Jordie Bellaire & Vanesa R. Del Rey‘s @VDelRey’s Redlands, check out PanelxPanel magazine #2 for 80+ pages of exclusive essays, interviews and craft pieces about the first issue.
Equatorial Guinea Cartoonist Ramón Esono Ebalé now imprisoned without charge for 55 days. International cartoonists join call to #FreeNseRamon.
‘Berliac, el dibujante de cómic que reivindica el robo cultural como esencia creativa’ – Víctor Parkas habló con Berliac sobre Sadbøi PlayGrounder.
Dibujar es pensar. Jorge Carríon escribe en @nytimesES sobre George Herriman y William Kentridge, las exposiciones del Museo Nacional Reina Sofia.
En el último #FanzineMagazine Victor Coyote y Mireia Pérez entrevistan a Alfredo, premio nacional de ilustración. Colaboró también @miriampersand en Canciones para Dibujar y ¡hablamos de lettering! Puedes escuchar el podcast aquí.
“Ferocidad e inocencia, actitud punk y costumbrismo, decenas de sueños transgresores y retazos de vida adolescente en toda su crudeza”. Palabras de @f__pimentel sobre Julie Doucet, que visitará La Casa Encendida en Madrid este sábado 18 a las 12h.

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Suzy and Cecil – 11-15-2017 – by Sally Ingraham

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Joanie and Jordie – 11-15-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Juan Fernández

Posted on November 15, 2017November 15, 2017

Explore

09/23/2016

Sally IngrahamSeptember 23, 2016NewsSally here to finish the week with Carol Tyler at SPX, the women who took the Ignatz Awards, Anya Davidson, Dame Darcy, V. Vale and RE/Search, Phoebe Gloeckner, and other Friday tidbits. ————————————————————————————————— One of my favorite parts of helping with the Comics Workbook hosted workshops at SPX last weekend was getting to meet Carol Tyler and dig into the process and story behind the making of Soldier’s Heart: The Campaign to Understand my WWII Veteran Father. It was a long and difficult journey, and one that favorite pens and a good scanner helped get her through – the type of details that other cartoonists in the audience ate up! We will have our own video footage from that excellent talk soon, but for the moment Derek Royal has a podcast interview with her over on Comics Alternative – “They spend a good deal of time talking about the current state of veteran’s affairs, the debilitating effects of PTSD, and how Soldier’s Heart both has and hasn’t resonated within the veteran’s community. Carol also discusses the current projects she has underway, including a follow up (sort of) to her father’s story and a project documenting the days leading up to her attending The Beatles concert at Comiskey Park in August 1965. As she tells Derek, in that work she’ll be channeling her inner 13-year-old-girl self. This is a moving and, at times, a deeply personal interview, one that reflects the sheer impact of Carol Tyler’s writing.” – Comics Alternative Check out the interview HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Although the list of Ignatz nominations was tipped toward male creators, in the end it was women who soundly won the day, with Tillie Walden earning two nods. “Walden was voted outstanding artist for her debut graphic novel, “The End of Summer,” and named most promising new talent for “I Love This Part.” Elsewhere, former Brooklyn studiomates Kate Beaton, Lisa Hanawalt and Meredith Gran all picked up Ignatz “brick” trophies. The event was held at the Bethesda North Marriott convention center.” – Michael Cavna at The Washington Post Michael Cavna has the full list of Ignatz Award Winners HERE. ————————————————————————————————— I didn’t get a chance to say hello to Anya Davidson while running around SPX, but I am eager to find a moment to sit down and read Band For Life, with debuted at the show last weekend. Keep an eye out for it in your local comic book shops in the coming weeks! ————————————————————————————————— Over on The Portland Mercury Dame Darcy gets a shoutout for her Meat Cake Bible – which is part of the proof in the pudding that history is full of female cartoonists – “When the great authorities of comics leave women out of their history, we listicle and fume. It feels like a victory, but I also worry such rants are only seen by people who already care about gender equality. That’s why it’s important to see Darcy’s groundbreaking comics wrapped up in a book so worthy of them. This tome cements it. Dame Darcy is an irrevocable part of comics history. I dare those French comics dads to ignore her now. Like any true independent spirit, Darcy is arriving, even if it is later than her due. The world is catching up.” – The Portland Mercury Read the rest of the article HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Over on Vice Nick Gazin digs into a different comics-related event that took place last weekend – The New York Art Book Fair. He wasn’t overwhelmingly delighted with it, but his report is worth scanning through if just for the few moments he spends with V. Vale, creator of RE/Search. “While other people at neighboring booths were making bootleg merchandise that ripped off cultures they weren’t a part of, Vale created and steered culture with these books. The Industrial Handbook, the book he’s holding, informed and helped give birth to whatever industrial turned into. Modern Primitives helped spawn the modern body piercing and giant full body tattoo culture. The RE/Search book of Pranks (titled Pranks!) is just one of the best books ever made and will give any oddball or misanthropic recluse hope.” – Nick Gazin Check out the full report HERE. ————————————————————————————————— When I think about RE/Search I think about Phoebe Gloeckner and The Atrocity Exhibition. I’ve always been interested in her background as a medical illustrator – in an interview with Varoom! she talked about working on The Atrocity Exhibition – “The illustrations inside are cold but soft. I wanted them to be harmless and approachable, like doing a fuzzy animal, so they have some humanity. It isn’t because of what they are but because of that softness, not rejecting of humanity. I tried to make them beautiful. I didn’t want it to be horror. It has impermanence but this is beauty as we live it.” – Phoebe Gloeckner Read the whole interview HERE. ————————————————————————————————— A few other things that have caught my eye recently – The animation in this video is by Jon Vermilyea (who was a production manager for PictureBox back in the day). ————————————————————————————————— Sophia Fs was working on a comic for the Comics Workbook Composition Competition earlier this month when she was hospitalized – she recently posted the finished work on her tumblr – check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Help send Connor Willumsen to the UK for The Lakes International Comic Arts Festival in October! He will be teaching workshops with Frank Santoro and Aidan Koch while there – if you’re in the area check it out. To help him get to the show, Comics Workbook is offering two new Connor publications. Portraits and Swinespritzen – both limited editions, both incredible. Details about both and where to order them can be found HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Have a good weekend folks – Happy Autumn, and Happy Birthday to John Coltrane too. Drink some pumpkin beers and listen to some jazz, won’t you. See you next week. – Sally Share this page: [...]

01/02/2018

Aaron CockleJanuary 1, 2018NewsAaron here today with the New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium Schedule; Käthe Kollwitz and Sue Coe; Whit Taylor; Imagined Communities, Nationalism & Violence ————————————————————————————————— The 2018 schedule of the Ben Katchor-organized New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium has been posted. This line-up looks great, including presentations by Joe McCullough (on Steve Ditko), Julia Gfrörer, Eleanor Davis, Keren Katz, and Matthew Thurber. ————————————————————————————————— ALL GOOD ART IS POLITICAL: Käthe Kollwitz and Sue Coe At Galerie St. Etienne until February until February 10, 2018. ALL GOOD ART IS POLITICAL: Käthe Kollwitz and Sue Coe will present more than 30 drawings and prints by Kollwitz (1867-1945) and more than 30 paintings, drawings, and prints by Coe (b. 1951). The exhibition borrows its title from writer Toni Morrison, who once noted, “All good art is political! The ones that try hard not to be political are political by saying, ‘We love the status quo.’” The exhibition coincides with the publication of a book of woodcuts by Sue Coe entitled The Animals’ Vegan Manifesto (OR Books, New York and London). Despite their differences in background – Kollwitz was born in East Prussia in the 19th century and lived in Berlin, Germany; Coe is an American born in the U.K. and living in upstate New York – both artists share a career-defining attraction to social issues, undergirded by the belief that art can inspire constructive change. Each is considered among the most important political artists of her time, unmatched in her fearless approach to profoundly difficult subject matter, unerring humanity and eloquence, and an uncanny ability to disturb the viewer’s complacency. ————————————————————————————————— Alternative to Avocado Toast for 2017 Whit Taylor at the NY-er. ————————————————————————————————— Imagined Communities, Nationalism & Violence At Rubber Factory until January 31, 2018. Benedict Anderson’s seminal text “Imagined Communities” investigates the origins of Nationalism as a modern condition and serves as the starting point for our group exhibition. From the influence of rationalist secularism to the conception of homogenous, empty time, Anderson outlines the convergence of factors which led to nationhood as a vehicle for the creation of meaning and ultimately self-sacrifice. As Nationalism is revitalized through increasingly extreme rhetoric whether it is nativism or protectionism, the exhibition explores this new wave of anxiety around nation-hood and ways nation-ness is constructed. Whether it is through the oblique nature of our informational channels which function as echo chambers reminiscent of the earliest ways Nationalism spread through print media or the conflation of meaning with sacrifice, it is clear that there are precedents for how Nationalism as a construct has led to and sustained cycles of violence. ————————————————————————————————— The Winter Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers starts January 16th 2018! 8 weeks – 500 bux – coaching for as long as you need. The course is hard, but Frank will push your comics making practice to a new level, getting you to think about timing and color in new ways. His experience and ideas have influenced the likes of Connor Willumsen, Michael DeForge, and Simon Hanselmann (quote “I consider Frank Santoro to be my L. Ron Hubbard”) among many others. Dig into something new in the new year! Full details and how to apply can be found HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Vision Box – 1-2-2017 – by Cameron Arthur Share this page: [...]

05/17/2018

Comics WorkbookMay 16, 2018NewsSam Ombiri on Gabrielle Bell’s “Cody”! ———————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: Sometimes I think about “Cody”– a story by Gabrielle Bell that appears in Kramers Ergot 8 – and about how much it does with so little. I guess I could question what does it matter that it does? After all, “doing so much with so little” can seem to be the mission of comics, if comics were to have a mission. Maybe I’m complimenting Gabrielle Bell’s success on that mission. The fact that Bell did so much with so little is not more important than what was actually done. I’m just really struck with this amazing story, and I’m trying to find ways to express how much I sensed the success of “Cody” in utilizing the comics form (not to rob the genuine intentions of comic and what it’s aiming to do). Well, that’s a lie. Truth be told, the very first time I read the comic, because it didn’t tell me how to feel and the drama wasn’t calling so much attention to itself, I kind of just skipped over all that was happening. I read through elements in the story, not really engaging with said elements. Like, for example, a friendship dissolving between Audrey’s dad and Cody, because nobody is paying any mind to it. Not even Cody, who is being so mistreated. While Audrey’s dad can be blamed for leaving Cody behind to be arrested, it isn’t for reasons that aren’t hard to guess, displayed by how Cody treats Audrey. At the same time, the way everything ended unfairly on his end, it’s easy to see why he doesn’t feel like he owes anyone anything. The way Gabrielle drew Cody being arrested conveys to me his realization that nobody truly cares about him. I wonder if Gabrielle gave him a dog to be less lonely? Anyway, Audrey’s dad is confronted with having to take responsibility for the man he used to be, not to mention the torment he has clearly been subjecting his wife to, and possibly at one point considers escaping it all, maybe with Cody?Would all this drama then be more effective if I was told what to feel? The way the comic is drawn feels so surreal, because it’s presented like nothing’s changed from the work that I’ve typically read from Gabrielle Bell. It’s hard to describe the feeling; it’s like if someone had told me that Ali: Fear Eats the Soul was directed by Douglas Sirk. It’s even crazier, because it’s Gabrielle Bell doing a comic that is so unlike her typical work – which is mostly autobiographical – but there’s no loud announcement that there’s a major shift. It’s so quietly done that it’s almost suspicious. I mean, for sure Gabrielle Bell’s regular work is not so unlike “Cody”, but the other purely fictional work I’ve read from her has been Cecil and Jordan in New York. This feels wholly unexpected for me. I mean in her autobio work she’s so good at portraying events or lack thereof in her life – it makes sense that her fiction would be this ridiculously good. The beginning is just as terrifying as the ending of the strip that comes before it in Kramers 8. I’m not talking about Leon Sadler’s thankfully comforting page, in between this unsettling horror, but the one before it in the story Kevin Huizenga had covered. There is something horrifying about Gabrielle Bell starting her story with a car crash, one whose only purpose is to remind our narrator of Cody, someone she once knew. It’s like, people have died and for no reason other than the minuscule purpose of making the main character briefly think about a guy named Cody. This isn’t a thing that I have to think long and hard about – I immediately feel it when I read the image and the words, but when I think about it some more it’s even more frightening. This is because the first panel is on the field in the past (most likely – nothing in the rest of the strip suggests otherwise) where the story takes place, so the setting is introduced already. Then a car crash “introduces” Cody, and one that’s not by any means loud – the way it’s drawn is especially ambivalent. The main character, Audrey, is looking at it, but her face is away from us. This oddly reminds me of Carlos Gonzalez’s comics. The way he draws his stories – while his stories and the way they’re drawn are incredibly grounded, whatever it may be that you’re being presented with, you’re not being told, at least by the drawings, what to be horrified with or what to find strange and what not. It’s like something Anders Nielsen said in an Inkstuds interview, that “sometimes in comics it’s best not to show things. So even a character’s expression – if a character is having an emotional response or little revelation or something, it’s almost always better to have their heads turned away from the camera. And I think of violence happening off-screen is sort of like the same thing. It’s more visceral, and it happens in the readers head instead.” It’s not a totally similar feeling that I get when I read “Cody”, but I just don’t know, I’m really troubled when I read the beginning. Just something about how the words that lead us to this incident are so casual – “Mostly I don’t think about it, but sometimes something will remind me of Cody.” It’s so casually and ambivalently spoken. I mean, on the list of horrifying images in comics this isn’t at the top of the list, and yet this is incredibly tragic and horrifying. I think it’s that such little care is given…it vaguely reminds me of the rhythm that Terrence Malick’s Badlands had – it speaks to the abrupt nature of life. Another comparison that came to mind was Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. I refer to how the drama is muted and every detail is there for a reason. The drama is there if you engage with it, and there are these points in the story where it viceraly hits. “Cody”, like all the comics in Kramers 8, really knew how to hit in this specific way that’s so flabbergasting and disorienting, and at times, as shown by Bell’s “Cody”, incredibly compelling. – Sam Ombiri Get a copy of Kramers Ergot 8 HERE and check out Gabrielle Bell’s “Cody”. ———————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 5-17-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

9/28/2016

Juan FernándezSeptember 28, 2016los Cómics / NewsJuan here with your daily comics fix. I’m here with a spotlight on Spanish speaking artists and happenings. Hoy les traigo lo más fresco del mundo del cómic latinoamericano y español: Una discusión sobre la rabia en la polola; Crítica Tokyo Zombie, de Yusaku Hanakuma; los Old Shorts (2008-2014) – de Puño; anuncio de la Nueva la nueva exhibición de “Chicks on Cómics”; las novedades de Las Tetas Tristes; la historieta Chilena del siglo XXI; Borlo Comix Y MÁS! ————————————————————————————————— [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/284062706″ 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 acerca de la rabia, un lugar que muchas veces no se les permite habitar a las mujeres, porque se les enseña siempre a aguantar, a ser simpáticas, amorosas, a agradar, etc. Hablamos de como la rabia nos puede servir de motor creativo o por otro lado, ser un pantano en donde quedarnos pegadas siendo víctimas de las circunstancias. Póngale play! ————————————————————————————————— Old Shorts (2008-2014) – Puño Dibujante español, Puño a publicado una colección de sus cómics por Gumroad! Son 86 paginas que recopilan 10 historietas dibujadas en inglés y digitalizadas por la primera vez. Recoloreadas tambien! This 86-paged collection comic is a digital compilation of 10 old short stories by Puño, in English & digital for the first time and recolored brand new for this edition. Si les gusta es lo que hay bien dale una ojeada al curso de dibujo en Domestika de Puño! AQUI ————————————————————————————————— Crítica Tokyo Zombie, de Yusaku Hanakuma (Gerardo Vilches) Si alguien quiere, desde luego puede ver un poso de denuncia social y política en Tokyo Zombie. Cuando saltamos en el tiempo al futuro, comprobamos que los supervivientes del apocalipsis zombie han creado una sociedad donde unos pocos privilegiados con dinero han esclavizado al resto de la sociedad. Como necesitan algo en lo que pasar el tiempo, han ideado una arena en la que luchadores esclavos se enfrentan entre sí y contra los zombies, que, por si fuera poco, nacen de la contaminación y la basura que genera la humanidad. El contexto de denuncia está claro, pero, no obstante, yo no creo que haya que darle más importancia de la que podemos darle a muchas otras historias con apocalipsis ecológicos de por medio, como excusa o trasfondo para desarrollar la acción y la violencia, que es lo verdaderamente divertido. Buscarle una coartada moral a lo que es maravillosamente bruto y cazurro me parece innecesario. ————————————————————————————————— Charlando co el Colectivo Tetas Tristes Katherine Supnem, Katherina Salazar, Victoria Rubio hablaron con Radio JGM, la radio comunitaria que transmite desde la Escuela de Periodismo de la Universidad de Chile, en la comuna de Ñuñoa. La organización femenina sube historietas constantemente y además, asisten a diversas ferias o exposiciones para dar a conocer sus cómics. Pero también, generan convocatorias para que mujeres o transgéneros puedan compartir sus dibujos sobre temas como aborto, acoso y masturbación femenina. De momento, invitan a tod@s que envíen imágenes texto cómics sobre lo que les da #Vergüenza. Podéis ver todas las contribuciones que Las Tetas Tristes ya han recibido en su website: www.tetastristes.tumblr.com/ ————————————————————————————————— Chicks on comics: “Long distance relationship” / “Relación a larga distancia” Quiero compartir estas buenas noticias sobre una nueva exhibición de cómics – Por primera vez en Fundación Proa, se presenta el colectivo “Chicks on comics”, integrado por 8 mujeres historietistas de Argentina, Colombia, Alemania, Holanda, Brasil e Inglaterra, quienes desde 2008 exploran los recursos narrativos del comic como medio de comunicación e intercambio. Utilizando plataformas virtuales el grupo produce diálogos dibujados, publicaciones y exhibiciones, para dar visibilidad a esta diversidad cultural, y promover al debate sobre las disciplinas afines a la historieta y sus diversos públicos. Te digo que va a ser increíble! Diciembre 2016 – Marzo 2017 Fundación PROA Av. Pedro de Mendoza 1929 La Boca, Caminito Buenos Aires Argentina ————————————————————————————————— El programa oficial de VIÑETAS DEL FIN DEL MUNDO 2016 Entre el 6 y el 8 de octubre el Centro Cultural de España en Santiago acogerá la 5º versión del Festival Viñetas del Fin del Mundo, organizado por Ergocomics y Narrativa Gráfica. El festival busca dar cuenta de la actual y abundante producción de narrativa gráfica chilena con sus hitos, problemáticas y proyecciones. Entre el 21 de septiembre y el 22 de octubre en el CCE se exhibirá la muestra Historieta Chilena del Siglo XXI (2012-2016). Si yo estuviera en Chile, no me perdería esta exhibición y la programación que van a tener en octubre! ————————————————————————————————— BORLO COMIX Durante un encuentro con el gran Alexis Ziritt en SPX, Ziritt me conto sobre el dibujante Venezolano, C. A. Etcheverry y su obra MEGA-underground, Borlo Comix. Nunca había oído hablar ni de Etcheheverry ni de los cómix underground venezolanos… Por supuesto, gracias a Alexis, me puse a investigar y joder que joya mas underground encontré!!!! Born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1979, raised between city and jungle, Etcheverry takes the mystery of both environments and places them in his art and comics. Having been influenced by artists and storytellers such as Windsor McCay, Tanino Liberatore, Phillippe Druillet, A Jodorowsky, and R. Crumb, Etcheverry has developed a unique storytelling style alongside his fantastical illustrations. He came to Los Angeles, CA at age 23, invited by the late Silverlake “jewel”, Ghettogloss Gallery to show his comics blown up on canvases. With much interest from the art and comic world, Etcheverry ended up moving to the neighborhood of Silverlake, in which he has lived and off for the last 14 years. He has dabbled in fashion, film, print, animation, music, (you name it), but it is only recently that he has compiled his comix to present his original character “Borlo” to the world in a printed anthology. Visit http://www.borlocomix.com to learn more and to dive into the world of Borlo! You can buy the collected Borlo Comix here. Get hep to BORLO COMIX! ————————————————————————————————— Portraits – Connor Willumsen. Este libro de 16 páginas bellamente impreso (por WestCan – que también imprimio el Manual de la Escuela Santoro) de retratos del gran Connor Willumsen está disponible para -pedido. Una edición de 500. Dalé click AQUI para pedir tu copia! http://auction.comicsworkbook.com/2016/08/18/portraits-by-connor-willumsen-pre-order/ ————————————————————————————————— hasta la próxima! Juan Share this page: [...]

01/10/2017

Aaron CockleJanuary 9, 2017NewsAaron here today with A Vernacular of File Formats; The False Grandmother; Joe Sacco: SJW; Still and Moving Images; Kirby/Slash; Sara Lautman Comics; EX-VOTO ————————————————————————————————— RAW, BMP, GIF, PNG, TARGA, TIFF, PSD, JPEG, MOV, DV, WMV, AVI, ETC Glitch artist Rosa Menkman’s discourse on what is lost, distorted, and potentially gained by these technologies we find surrounding ourselves, circa 2010. Type to enter text Tango between a corrupt format and its user. ! ! ! ! Contents ! the ! There is not sufﬁcient data. Please enter data art is a practice that studies and researches Glitch ! Static! vernacular of ﬁle formats in exploitative manners to ! ! You have too Noise Art > Filter art > when Cool becomes Hot >>>>>>> ! ! Uncompressed!! deconstruct and create new, brutalist (audio)visual works. m u c h However, glitch artists often the ! ! Lossless! ! ! c h a r a c t e r ! Glitches are hot; proof can be found on MTV, Flickr, in go beyond this formal approach; coffee table that the glitch Lossy! not exists A p p l y club and in the bookstore. While thethey realize book Glitch: ! ! does ! ! ! Moving image! ! g a u s s i a n Designing Imperfection without human perception and therefore have a more (2009) has introduced the glitch inclusive approach to digital material. ! ! MOV ! ! ! blur. design aesthetic to the world of latte drinking designers, and ! ! DV ! ! ! The materiality of glitch art is constantly mutating; it exists Kanye West used glitches to sing about his imperfect love ! ! WMV! hand the ! life, the awkward, shy and physically ugly celebrate underrelies on the one as an unstable assemblage that the ! ! AVI! ! You still have header “Glitched: Nerdcore for life”. operation and content of the apparatus (the construction, ! ! ! the writer/artist, ! ! quirks! Clone Glitch has transformed from cool and on Its no more then a work, medium) to hot. the other hand the s t a m p f o r brightly colored bubblegum wrapper that doesn’t by the any and the interpretation ask for reader and/or user (the meaning). s m o o t h involvement, or offers any stimulus. Inside I ﬁnd gum that I surface keep chewing, hoping for some new explosion of good taste. But the more I chew, the less tasty / rubbery it gets. Glitch design fulﬁlls an average, imperfect stereotype, a ﬁlter or Your ﬁle has commodity that echoes a “medium is the message” standard. i n v a l i d m a r k e r s . ————————————————————————————————— Turturro Reads Calvino Online (with accompanying images by Kevin Ruelle) As our present reality grows every more unreal, there may be no writer more fitting to read that Italo Calvino. Calvino was most famous for his fabulist fiction, works of literary fiction inspired by fairy tales — a form he studied and collected in the 1956 book Italian Folktales. ————————————————————————————————— Galvanizing Social Justice Through Comics As part of the University of Michigan’s Penny Stamps Lecture Series: Leading graphic historical novelist Joe Sacco will chronicle how and why he uses the graphic novel format to catalyze social justice and human rights struggles in the US and around the world. Thursday, January 19, 5:10-6:30pm at the Michigan Theater, 603 E Liberty St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. Hopefully he’ll talk about BUMF as well. ————————————————————————————————— Film and Comics: Mutually Exclusive, or Exclusively Mutual? Allan Haverholm talks about The Hulk and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, split screens, paneling, juxtaposition, and good stuff like that. The juxtaposed split screens in Hulk only serve as disturbances in that they try to emulate complicated comics (page) layouts that are not easily conveyed in moving images. Instead, we shall move on to a more surprising, more challenging, and eventually more successful implementation of comics formalities in film: Long story short: the element of split screens emulating comics page elements disturb rather than add to the storytelling, taking the viewer out of the natural immersion of believing in the (rather surreal) narrative of an irradiated, superpowered green giant. ————————————————————————————————— KIRBY/SLASH Andrei Molotiu has some pretty sweet Jack Kirby pages put into context with other artists and their art. Very artistic! Image below: Jack Kirby + Hannah Hoch ————————————————————————————————— Sara Lautman is the featured Diarist this week at The Comics Journal. ————————————————————————————————— The Vivid Violence and Divine Healing of Ex-Voto Paintings Allison Meier looks at religious artwork at the Hyperallergic blog: In 19th-century Mexico, the content of ex-votos stayed the same — a depiction of the accident, illness, or misfortune in question, along with the intervening saint or other heavenly presence — but the materials changed. There were fewer canvases and more works on tin. Rather than meticulous, idealized scenes, ex-votos became theatrical and free-form, often created by self-taught artists. By the 20th century, contemporary artists were drawn to this dramatic folk art. Alexxa Gotthardt at Artsy recently described how Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo collected Mexican votive paintings, many of which are now on view in the Museo Frida Kahlo in Mexico City. Kahlo owned over 400 ex-voto paintings, and one of a woman who survived being stabbed in bed is said to have inspired her bloody 1935 “A Few Small Nips.” Take a look to see your favorite sky-god smiling down at the calamities they have caused for you. ————————————————————————————————— Here’s Connor Willumsen talking about his book Portraits while teaching a workshop in England in autumn of 2016. Get a copy of the book HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-10-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-10-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— 1-10-2017 – by Juan Fernández Share this page: [...]

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