Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Emil Friis Ernst, gabriella tito, jessica campbell, sabrina jones, Tove Jansson, women who draw

Sally Ingraham

Posted on December 15, 2016

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Gabriella TitoApril 22, 2016Art Trip / EssaysGabriella Tito reports in from Orlando, FL, with this process meditation. ————————————————————————————————— Hi all! I’m here to talk a bit about how we reflect ourselves in comics. Now, I won’t break down the psychology or anything, or go into how “mainstream comics” are a reflection of our society, but I think it’s safe to say that whether we realize it or not, a part of us is “merged” into our comics. The most obvious would be an auto-bio comic. Even if it’s not about a character that looks like you or is intended to be you, they still could represent a certain ideology or interest you may have. So what about comics without characters? Abstract comics? Excellent point! From my own experience in making abstract comics and comics without relatable humans, I realize I have drawn content from a particular emotion or thought I was feeling at the time. Maybe a song inspired me to put something on paper. You probably have done this too, given the nature of abstract works. Usually, the less I thought about the content, the more fluid the comic was. Abstract comics, and it goes without saying, abstract art in general, is filled with more character than meets the eye. Abstract works can be charged with so many emotions, and the thoughts the creator has, and they can grab the audience so much that they might even relate themselves to that specific work. It’s not a mistake that this leads to why good representation is always important, simply because of the fact that the audience is always trying to find themselves in characters or concepts. Where do they fit into this? If the characters are reflections of the creator or intention, what can it say about them? Now, this doesn’t apply 100% of the time, but it is a real possibility that does happen. These are thoughts a creator should always be aware of, but also be mindful of how far they push it. In any case, this brings us back to how we reflect ourselves in creative mediums. I’m aware that what I’m saying may not line up with your opinions and that’s OK. These are just some reoccurring ideas I’ve thought about when in the process of making a comic. I’m curious if other cartoonists think of the same things. ————————————————————————————————— Gabriella Tito is a cartoonist living in Orlando, FL. She is currently contributing to Comics Workbook through her own comics and article tidbits and is a graduate of Frank Santoro’s Correspondence Course. You can find more of her work HERE. Share this page: [...]

10/18/2017

Juan FernándezOctober 18, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con Sofía Álvarez Watson; Ramón Esono; Begoña García-Alén; Mohammad Barrangi; Inés Estrada; Berliac; La Polola; La Primavera del Libro y los tebeos de Cómics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— Dibujar el amor es el trabajo de Sofía Álvarez Watson Juan David Umaña Gallego nos cuenta en El Colombiano: “Llegué a Medellín con 105 anécdotas recogidas entre Buenos Aires y Bogotá. De aquí me llevaré unas 10 y luego estaré en Quito para después regresar a Buenos Aires y decidir qué hacer con ellas”, dice la ilustradora. Una de esas historias, la primera en realidad, relata como dos enamorados decidieron encontrarse en una estación de tren, pero con tal mala fortuna que cada uno se ubicó en una entrada diferente esperándose por más de una hora. Después de esperar ese tiempo los dos decidieron ir a la puerta contraria y se encontraron. Un inicio romántico para una historia que no termina bien. ————————————————————————————————— Ramón Esono, a la cárcel por dibujar contra Obiang Ramón Esono sigue en la cárcel y nosotros seguimos pendientes de su estado. Dibujar no es delito. Ramón Esono lleva en la prisión de Black Beach, Malabo (Guinea Ecuatorial), desde el 16 de septiembre, sin que los cargos contra él ni los motivos que han provocado esa detención estén muy justificados. Las autoridades del régimen de Teodoro Obiang apuntan a un supuesto delito por blanqueo de capitales, pero se intuye que las razones reales obedecen a un castigo por las críticas que Esono realiza desde su actividad artística, principalmente como ilustrador. ————————————————————————————————— 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! En este capítulo las chicas se fueron a recorrer La Primavera del Libro, en el parque bustamante (Santiago, Chile). Participaron del duelo de dibujantes entre Katerine Supnem, Malaimagen y Sol Díaz, entrevistaron a distintos personajes, dibujantes, editores, revisaron libros, cantaron, y reíron. Entre los entrevistados están los dibujantes Malaimagen, Christiano y Camila Barrales, hablaron con las editoras de los hermosos libros de La Mujer Rota, Neon, Vasalisa, Francisca Cárcamo de Pánico ediciones, y la grosa y divertida Lola Larra de Ekaré. Inés Estrada: “Millions of years of evolution for us to all be bored on our phones right now…” The last issue of her Alienation comic will be available from her webshop, Gatosaurio this weekend. If you haven’t picked up all previous 5 issues, you’d be remiss not to get all 6 for $25. Miguel A. Pérez-Gómez reseña Nuevas estructuras de Begoña García-Alén – el lector como constructor. Este sábado a las 20 no se pierdan a Berliac en una gran charla moderada por Lucas De Paoli en Libreria del Fondo en Buenos Aires, Argentina. Conozcan a Mohammad Barrangi, el elegido por Tragaluz Libros como premio de ilustración. Aquí el intercambio de magnolias entre Barrangi y Juliana Muños Toro. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 10-18-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 10-18-2017 – by Juan Fernandez ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 10-18-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

12/14/2017

Sally IngrahamDecember 14, 2017NewsSally here with comics by Zimbabwean cartoonists and writers Bill Masuku and Amanda Chaniwa, plus new work from Mohammed Sabaaneh. ————————————————————————————————— I found this write-up on the Zimbabwe comics scene, from back in March on Hyperallergic. It is an interview with Bill Masuku, who created the characters/comics Black Zeus (with Dananayi Muwanigwa), Razor-Man, Arcadia Knights, and more. In his writing and comics Masuku can’t avoid social justice issues, and as a Zimbabwean his perspective on the industry is particularly unique. There are socioeconomic issues that he is forced to deal with – for example, “Because of economic sanctions, Zimbabwean artists can’t use services like PayPal or Kickstarter.” The avenues to funding and visibility that so many cartoonists rely on are crossed off the list for cartoonists in his homeland. Just like his character Razor-Man, however, Masuku operates under “the Zimbabwean idea that no matter your situation, you can “make a plan.” Every Zimbabwean knows that catchphrase. It reflects the idea that no matter how bad things get, you’ll make it to the other side.” He also comments on the idea that the world needs more black people representing themselves, but not in isolation. There can’t be this tokenism, one character representing “an entire race on their own.” “Hyperallergic: Why do you think it’s important that we have Zimbabwean comic books specifically? How can Zimbabwean artists address the social issues Zimbabweans face in a way international artists can’t? Bill Masuku: It all comes back to context. Because of intersectionality, race, gender, and class are all big things that affect us globally. But then colorism, tribalism, and the intricacies of intersectionality come into play when you’re in a different socioeconomic location, or even just a different geographical location. As a writer, it’s crucial to be able to raise awareness about these issues at home. For example, there’s no one talking about being gay in a country where that’s illegal, and what actually happens to you when you come out to your parents. When someone who is not from here , they’ll miss the subtle nuances that make the issue relevant to someone who is here and going through it. Having an open-minded writer who talks about these issues creates hope for the reader.“ Read the rest of this article/interview HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Bill Masuku collaborated with Amanda Chaniwa on the comic Drama Mama. She talks about the comic and her hopes for the scene in Zimbabwe in the video below. Chaniwa is the first professional female comic book writer from Zimbabwe. ————————————————————————————————— In the Forward to the White and Black collection by Palestinian cartoonist Mohammad Sabaaneh shown above, “veteran American political cartoonist Seth Tobocman notes the influence of Picasso and Braque on Sabaaneh’s work, and asks: “Can there be an accurate depiction of an insane situation? Why should we draw in perspective when the world has lost its perspective? When reality becomes bizarre social realism gives way to social surrealism.” ” Sabaaneh published the book earlier this year – you can get a copy HERE. More recently, he’s turned his attention and his cartoons toward Trump – not surprisingly. You can read more about Sabaaneh’s life and often controversial work over on Al-Monitor. His most recent strips and caricatures can be seen on the website of the daily paper al-Haya al-Jadida. ————————————————————————————————— The Winter Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers starts January 18th 2018! 8 weeks – 500 bux – coaching for as long as you need. The course is hard, but Frank will push your comics making practice to a new level, getting you to think about timing and color in new ways. Makes a great holiday gift for yourself – or for a loved one who is interested in comics. Apply by midnight (EST) on Dec. 25th and get $100 off the course price. Full details and how to apply can be found HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

05/02/2018

Juan FernándezMay 2, 2018los Cómics / News Marcela Trujillo, Power Paola, Elisa McCausland, Autoras de Cómic + Digital Comics Museum’s Access Month —————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: ~ en Español y “sometimes in English” ~ —————————————— Digital Comics Museum – Access Month For this month of May 2018 every user who donates to the Digital Comics Museum, the best site for downloading FREE public domain Golden Age comic books, will be given FTP access as an alternate method to download files from the 21000+ Digital Comic Museum collection. For each dollar donated donors will receive 5 gigs of file downloads over the next 31 days from the day the donation was made. Click on the Donate link here (or at the top of the page) to contribute to the cause and receive your FTP login info in an email. For the last two years our FTP Access Month has been remarkably popular. Donations to the site are vital for keeping our server bill covered. These FTP Access Months help DCM build a reserve fund for those months we come up short in our monthly goal of $288 or if there is an emergency such as a hard drive that needs replacing in our servers. —————————————— De Frente Me Escondo – Cali, Colombia Este sábado 5 de mayo, desde las 3:00 p.m. en el Museo la Tertulia inaugurará la exposición y conversatorio “De frente, me escondo”, que intentará poner en escena el mundo de la artista colombo-ecuatoriana Power Paola con sus dibujos. —————————————— Marcela Trujillo y los Abusadores de Poder – Chile Hoy en el DesconCierto, dibujante Marcela Trujillo revela vergonzoso episodio de abuso de poder y acoso laboral de Rodrigo Salinas, Carlos Reyes y otros editores de Feroces Editores. Me acusaron que me había robado la plata. Llamé y les devolvieron la plata al día siguiente. Y a la semana hicieron programa en Internet donde invitaron a dibujantes y dijeron: ‘Invitamos a una dibujante chilena muy conocida, Marcela Trujillo, que venga Maliki’… y llegó una vedette argentina, casi en pelotas, con plumas, bailando. Estaban todos súper curados en el video. Le tocaban el poto, le ponían la cabeza entre las tetas y en la tele ponían ‘Marcela Trujillo, Maliki‘, ¡todos mis nombres! La hicieron dibujar y ella dibujó un corazón y empiezan ‘ah que dibuja bonito la Maliki’. Yo no lo podía creer, eran mis editores, mis amigos, eso no se puede hacer. Cómo tan machista, tan indigno. Después me llamó la hermana de Rodrigo para retarme porque hablaba mal de su hermano en Internet. Eso fue lo único que recibí de ellos, porque nunca nadie me pidió disculpas. Léanlo todo AQUI. —————————————— Fanzine Magazine – 26/04/2018 Ya disponible el #FanzineMagazine donde Mireia Pérez y Víctor Coyote hablan largo y tendido con Elisa McCausland sobre la trayectoria del colectivo de Autoras de Cómic y de otras cosas ocultas… Además Cynthia Alfonso les recomienda a viva voz sus canciones para dibujar. —————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-2-2018 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

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: [...]

12/16/2016

Posted on December 15, 2016 by Sally Ingraham

Sally here with Jessica Campbell, Tove Jansson, Sabrina Jones, many other Women Who Draw, and Emil Friis Ernst.

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The Pittsburgh, PA, comics community enjoyed hosting Danish cartoonist Emil Friis Ernst for the past few months. He was on loan to Comics Workbook from The Animation Workshop, where he is studying Graphic Storytelling. He spent a few months here in the States interning with Frank Santoro and Comics Workbook, and channeling his considerable drawing skills into a variety of comics projects. The day before he left he made us a parting gift – the illustration you see above, featuring Frank as the ComicsWorkbot and me – Sally “Ingrider” – captaining the girls team.

Earlier this year Emil made the comic All in a Day’s Work for us – check it out HERE. You can find many more fantastic comics and illustrations on his tumblr – HERE. Keep an eye out for this fellow – he and the other Graphic Storytelling students from The Animation Workshop are about to burst into the Danish comics scene and push it to a whole new level.

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Comics and news that caught my eye this week:

Jessica Campbell stopped by the Inkstuds office and recorded a podcast with Robin McConnell – listen HERE.

BBC Culture begs folks to see beyond the Moomins when it comes to Tove Jansson and consider her as she saw herself – first and foremost as a painter. The full story. Also check out the wonderful website devoted to her life and career – it is a virtual museum.

Women Who Draw is a database of female professional illustrators, artists, and cartoonists, created recently in an effort to increase visibility.

Sabrina Jones brings us some “female remedies” via the comic Our Lady of Birth Control, which is generously excerpted from over on Mutha Magazine.

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From Comics Workbook:

Check out our beautiful new publication: The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey.

We are accepting applications for the Winter Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers right up until Dec. 28th 2016. Course starts Dec. 29th! 8 weeks – 500 bux – the best comics education for your money. Full details and how to apply HERE.

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Suzy and Cecil – 12-16-2016 – by Gabriella Tito

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Emil Friis Ernst, gabriella tito, jessica campbell, sabrina jones, Tove Jansson, women who draw

Sally Ingraham

Posted on December 15, 2016

Explore

07/04/2018

Juan FernándezJuly 4, 2018los Cómics / NewsEntrevista con Emil Ferris; Broken Pencil Zine Award Deadline Extended; the Airtight Garage in Galicia – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – El Cómic como Reflejo y Abismo – Emil Ferris entrevistada Elisa McCausland, El Salto El formato del diario está muy ligado al género de la autoficción. ¿Hasta qué punto es Lo que más me gusta son los monstruos autoficción, un relato inspirado por tus vivencias personales? Es evidente que en mi novela gráfica hay mucho de autobiográfico, empezando por su ambientación en el Chicago donde nací y donde transcurrió mi infancia, como la de Karen, a finales de los años 70. Mucho de lo que cuento son cosas que me pasaron a mí por entonces o que le pasó a gente que conocí. También comparto muchos de los intereses de Karen, como su pasión por el terror, tanto cinematográfico y literario, como cuando adquirió un carácter muy pulp a través de las historietas y revistas de aquella época y décadas anteriores. Sin embargo, hay un dicho que me gusta recordar cuando se habla de estos temas, que viene a decir básicamente que no es importante que los hechos narrados en una ficción hayan sucedido o no, pero sí que la historia que reflejan sea verdadera, responda a una pulsión profunda, auténtica. En este sentido, la ficción funciona como un espejo que nos permite reconocernos a nosotros mismos, y también como un abismo que nos descubre aspectos de nuestra personalidad y la de otros que desconocíamos. También en lo que respecta al amor, ese monstruo tan extraño, que está en todo lo que somos y hacemos y que sin embargo es tan invisible y se le echa siempre tanto de menos. Por eso me gusta considerar la ficción como un remedio paliativo contra esa enfermedad tan difícil de abordar que llamamos la realidad. Puede sonar pretencioso, pero creo que, en definitiva, la ficción nos ofrece las armas para afrontar con ánimo la realidad. Las historias son nuestra fortaleza. Léanlo todo AQUI. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – The Broken Pencil Zine awards are open for submissions. This year the winner will recieve a free subscription to Zine-o-Matic. Lots of categories. $200 + other goodies for winners in each category. $25 to enter. DEADLINE TO ENTER THE ZINE AWARDS IS NOW JULY 15, 2018 Learn more. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Comics Education: Galicia’s “Airtight Garage” Paula Castiñeira – ABC Galicia Galicia’s O Garaxe Hermético, established in 2012 is the first professional center of comic and illustration in Galicia. It offers up a relatively avant garde approach to comics education for Spain. Born in 2012 by the hand of cartoonist Kiko da Silva, who is also its director, this private school is a revolution in terms of the teaching model. When he started with the center, Da Silva brought together a team of friends and professionals of Galician illustration to organize a syllabus from scratch, with a very clear purpose: “To teach our profession in the most realistic way possible,” says the director.With an unconventional training and without evaluating the students with a numerical score – the works are classified as “not publishable”, “publishable” and “publishable collectible” -, what is intended is to show the students “what they are going to find later ». For this reason, apprentices receive classes not only on illustration and comics, but also on what they must do to dedicate themselves to it, from how to register for freelancers to how to make contracts with publishers so that they are not abusive. Learn more about O Garaxe Hermético, HERE. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Cozytown – by Juan Fernandez – 07/04/2018 Share this page: [...]

04/5/2017

Juan FernándezApril 5, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con: Gerardo Vilches sobre Olivier Schrauwen; Andalusia Knoll Soloff; Amadeo Gandolfo; Chicks On Comics; El Víbora; Laura Pérez Vernetti y Luis Alberto de Cuenca. Raquel Córcoles, Laura Pacheco, Roberta Vázquez, y Carla Berrocal y los tebeos del día! ————————————————————————————————— Gerardo, “the Watcher”, Vilches nos ofrece su reseña Arsène Schrauwen III de Olivier Schrauwen. Profunda y completa. Como debe ser. Fulgencio Pimentel ha culminado recientemente la publicación de Arsène Schrauwen con un tercer —y notablemente más voluminoso— tomo, que cierra la trilogía de Olivier Schrauwen. Con ella, el belga no sólo ha entregado su mejor obra, sino que también se ha convertido definitivamente en uno de los autores de referencia de la nueva ola del cómic internacional; quizá el más influyente al margen de Chris Ware. Schrauwen es leído y asimilado por muchos de sus colegas de profesión, pero, como Ware, está muy lejos de ser solamente un dibujante que gusta a los dibujantes; muy al contrario, la odisea que narra en Arsène Schrauwen es universal y accesible para cualquiera. ————————————————————————————————— Andalusia Knoll Soloff paso por Copacetic Comics, en Pittsburgh, PA, la semana pasado con copias de su primer capitulo de su novela grafica, Alive You Took Them – Searching for the Ayotzinapa 43. Soloff esta trabajando con un gran equipo: Xavier Corro, Avril Lopez, Anabel Aguirre, y Adriana Ronquillo – y con su editor Anahi Hernandez. El cómic se trata de los Ayotzinapa 43 – el grupo de estudiantes que fue secuestrado el 26 de Septiembre, 2014 por el gobierno Mejicano de su escuela de profesores en Iguala, Guerrero, Mejico. El relato se trata de las experiencias de sus padres en busqueda de sus hijos. Andalusia, quien vivia en Pittsburgh hasta hace 15 years ago, estaba de regreso en la ciudad para dar una charla sobre el cómic a presentation on the comic la semana pasado. Ella ha estado autoeditando esta libro, pero esta buscando una editorial que pueda transítir estas historias mas lejos.She has been printing and distributing it herself but is now looking for a publisher who can help her broadcast the story further. Puedes aprender más sobre este proyecto AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: Revista Kamandi les trae«una breve e incompleta historia» de mujeres dibujantes. Amadeo Gandolfo comparte un texto que fue escrito originalmente como una forma de enmarcar el conversatorio “Líneas de la historia y de la historieta” que fue celebrado en el marco de la muestra Chicks On Comics con la presencia de Caro Chinaski, Clara Lagos y Sole Otero. En esta ocasión se presenta una versión ligeramente editada y corregida. Tebeosfera os ofrece una galería con varias portadas la mítica revista El Víbora. Reino de Cordelia viene de publicar la obra más reciente de Laura Pérez Vernetti: «Viñetas de plata», la poésia grafica de Luis Alberto de Cuenca. Ha sido una gran colaboracion entre los medios. Viñetas en tiempos de instagram…Conversaciones con Raquel Córcoles, Laura Pacheco, Roberta Vázquez, y Carla Berrocal. Una humeante hornada de ilustradoras ha popularizado un nuevo género, el costumbrismo 2.0, reflejo de su tiempo. Subliman lo cotidiano, plasman cómo se relacionan a través de internet e ironizan sobre el postureo. Es el cómic del yo. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 4-5-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-5-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-5-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

12/08/2016

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

12/13/2016

Aaron CockleDecember 13, 2016NewsAaron here today with Rosalie Lightning; Ubu Roi; Trish Trash; Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky; Dronewatch 2017; George Herriman’s Biographer, Michael Tisserand; What Dan Nadel is Reading ————————————————————————————————— Background/Middleground/Foreground Tom Hart’s Rosalie Lightning, a strong contender for book of the year, is excerpted at the PEN America blog. ————————————————————————————————— ‘I think you have to let teens come to their own satire’ The Lunar Observer’s Jacob Khepler observes the anniversary of Alfred Jarry’s play, Ubu Roi: Ubu Roi will never get the high school treatment — it was a big, big noise in its time, forging a path for Dadaism, Surrealism, and the Theater of the Absurd, but the very first word is SHIT, if not in all caps then in an all-caps feeling, and there’s no avoiding or defending that. ————————————————————————————————— Rollergirls (on Mars) Michael C. Lorah interviews Jessica Abel at the Comic Book Resources blog: Many authors have books later published in another language. Was it strange in any way to see this one first appear in another tongue? It was interesting because it definitely gave me a lot of insight into how the French comics industry works. That was very interesting information, because producing a book doesn’t happen the same way it does in the American system. And there are good sides and bad sides to the French system as well. It’s a complex question. It’s nice to bring back into English. Of course, it was written in English, so it’s sort of being “untranslated” more than anything else. But I was able to work closely with the translator for the French version. I speak French, so I was able to refine it and make it reflect the spirit of the book. I’m proud of how it came out there. ————————————————————————————————— Here, Kevin Huizenga finds the baron composing aphorisms at a house known as Mad Bean Cottage. Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky Comics ————————————————————————————————— 21st Century Birdwatching ————————————————————————————————— The 173rd meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016 at 7pm at Parsons The New School for Design, 2 West 13th Street, in the Bark Room (off the lobby). Free and open to the public. Michael Tisserand on Birth of the Krazy: The Early Days of George Herriman and Krazy Kat. George Herriman’s biographer Michael Tisserand revisits the years when boxing, funny animals, and the one cartoonist’s genius produced comics’ most enigmatic character. Michael Tisserand‘s biography of George Herriman, Krazy: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White will be published by HarperCollins in December, 2016. His previous books include The Kingdom of Zydeco and the Hurricane Katrina memoir Sugarcane Academy. He lives in New Orleans. ————————————————————————————————— Nadel’s Reading List Including Lauren Weinstein’s Normel Person Comics: Normal here opens up to move away from the old “white straight guy” meaning and into a whole mindset of viewing the world and asking simple, structural questions and funny, moving observations. Halloween costumes, babies, food. The basics of our particular little kind of life. All done in Lauren’s detailed line work and lush watercolors. A master at work. And Jessica Campbell’s Hot or Not: 20th Century Male Artists: l love this little book that does exactly as the title suggests: breaks down male artists into the ol’ “hot or not” categories usually reserved for women, even, or even especially in the art world. Campbell nails the silly “objective” tone of it all, digs deep in her choices, and is very, very funny. Also, her unfussy, to-the-point cartooning removes any sense of artifice. The book moves along easily and you barely stop to realize how funny, weird, and uncomfortably natural it all feels. Share this page: [...]

01/08/2018

Caleb OrecchioJanuary 8, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio with thoughts on Dash Shaw’s Doctor Strange comic, and other news ————————————————————————————————— I’ve been thinking about Dash Shaw’s Doctor Strange story in Strange Tales #1 (2009) (above), and how it contrasts to Ed Piskor’s new X-Men comic—X-Men: Grand Design is 100% sincere X-Men superhero comics, as oppose to Shaw’s tongue-in-cheek, yet sincere in its own way, superhero comic. Piskor’s X-Men is a “real” comic about the X-Men, and may affect the canon. Dash Shaw’s superhero comic was to editors and Marvel readers alike, a non-canon, non-consequential story by an artist they’ve never heard of. “Does he work for DC?” Almost everyone in that first volume of Strange Tales made short Marvel comics that were obviously by an “indie” cartoonist. Almost every story was “humorous,” the kind of humorous that can make a fanboy/fangirl confused and mad that an outside source is tampering with his/her livelihood. Shaw’s Doctor Strange was very funny and silly, it’s like if Wes Anderson wrote a superhero script. This utterly ignores any characterization Doctor Strange might have, which is why, as an alt comics reader, I like the comic. This is exactly the opposite to the kind of comic that pleases Marvel/mainstream fans. What Shaw does that is completely and utterly sincere is a homage to Doctor Strange’s creator, Steve Ditko, by having our hero fight his nemesis in “the dream dimension.” Two pages of really colorful and pretty Ditko-esque combat fills our eyes to a high-point on the pleasure meter. I think about these pages often. Then Shaw brings us back to his fun, silly world of superhero parody where Doctor Strange must now stay awake by drinking coffee, resisting a contagious yawn. There is a comical knowingness there. There is the consciousness of the cartoonist when reading this work that does not exist (or exist in such hostility to the status quo) with a “straight” superhero/mainstream work. Which again, is why an alternative reader would enjoy Doctor Strange by Dash Shaw, one may even say, “that’s my favorite non-Ditko Doctor Strange comic!” While a modern Marvel fan may argue that it is unrealistic that Doctor Strange would make his own soup. ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Austin Enlgish continues his 10 Cent Museum column over at TCJ.com. Cynthia Rose on Annie Goetzinger over TCJ.com. I feel that I have found at least 10 stories about dudes stealing a bunch of comic books said to cost a lot of money. Here is another one. The guy who has been doing Nancy for over 22 years is quitting. Can you imagine if Noah Van Sciver or someone took over Nancy? What if comic strips were good?? There is a Google app that turns your videos into “comic strips.” Basically seems like the same method Greg Land uses to make his work. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-8-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

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