Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

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Juan Fernández

Posted on February 15, 2016February 15, 2016

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Connor Willumsen Draws PRIS from BLADE RUNNER

Chris Anthony DiazMay 24, 2016The Diaz Archiveconnor willumsen’s portrait of daryl hannah as PRIS in ridley scott’s BLADE RUNNER (1982, USA) for my ILLUSTRATED MOMENTS IN CINEMA/TELEVISION collection. the commission done in pencil was completed in 2015. willumsen’s candid portrait taken at CAB 2014 in williamsburg, new york and color by graham willcox Share this page: [...]

BOY by Hellen Jo

Chris Anthony DiazJune 21, 2016The Diaz ArchiveHellen Jo’s watercolored portrayal of Tetsuo Abe as Toshio Omura and Tsuyoshi Kinoshita as Peewee in Nagisa Oshima’s BOY (1969, Japan) for my ILLUSTRATED MOMENTS IN CINEMA/TELEVISION collection. The illustration was completed around Spring 2009 in ink and watercolor, and Hellen’s photo was taken at Comic Arts Los Angeles, Sunday, December 6, 2015. And Graham Willcox did the color on Hellen’s portrait Share this page: [...]

06/27/2016

Juan FernándezJune 27, 2016NewsJuan here with: Warren Craghead’s COLONIALISM; Rowhouse Auction June 26-July 2; Simon Hanselmann interviewed; Vanesa Del Rey art available; Mari Naomi shares Sorese’s CURVEBALL; Ethical Sloth #6 submission deadline approaches;John Martz’ BE GOOD; LINE: AN ART STUDY. ————————————————————————————————— Featured Comics: Colonialism – Warren Craghead I’m happy to announce that we are featuring Warren Craghead III’s Colonialism on the site this week. Made in 2013 by Warren Craghead for Comics Workbook, Colonialism is a series of wild little one page comics. Poetic comics that mix observational drawings and notes with reflections, while dancing in a playful blend of digital and analogue drawing. ————————————————————————————————— New Private Rowhouse Auction We have a new private auction up at auction.comicsworkbook.com. email Frank Santoro at santoroschoolATgmail for a password, if you don’t already have one. If you already have a password, it is the same from last week. All funds go to helping keep the lights on and further developing the school. note: Connor Willumsen is offering commission sketches. ————————————————————————————————— Elsewhere: “I’m Love and Rockets-ing this shit” – Simon Hanselmann Alex Dueben interviews Simon Hanselmann over on The Beat. Great questions, great answers. Do yourself a favor and dig in. Dueben: You vary the design of your pages but you always work in a grid. What do you like about working that way? What do you think that enables you to do? Hanselmann: I’m just all about pacing. I want the reader to be able to process the information as fast as possible for a smooth read. This is also why I work in color, I think the color codifies everything and makes it easier for the brain to decipher. I’ve thought about experimenting with “crazy” layouts but I just don’t see the point. It wouldn’t serve the work. ————————————————————————————————— How to Draw Comics: the Vanesa Del Rey Way Cadence Comic Art is selling all of Vanesa Del Rey’s inked pages from available for Spider-Women Alpha (Marvel Comics). Support Vanesa and snatch ’em up while you can! If you’re looking to buy comics pages from a contemporary cartoonist, look no further. Vanesa’s a killer and her art is exquisite. ————————————————————————————————— Curveball: Excerpt Mari Naomi shares an excerpt of Jeremy Sorese‘s queer sci-fi graphic novel, Curveball, over on PEN America. If you have not yet been able to get your hands on Sorese’s work, here’s your chance to see how his narration and poetics intertwine. Sorese’s debut is juicy stuff! ————————————————————————————————— Ethical Sloth #6 3 days left to take part in the next issue of Ethical Sloth. Ethical Sloth is a zine of queer* comic artists for other queer* comic artists and everybody else. Like many other zines, this zine is completely d.i.y., so there‘s no money_reward in for you, but being part of this new rad & fierce comic-zine! And you‘ll get free issues and the master-print, if you want to print‘n‘sell your own copies. Sounds perfect? The deadline for the sixth issue»Breakups And Downs« is July 1, 2016. Specifications are: A5, comic and_or illustration. Language: any. Topic: »Breakups And Downs«. Technical stuff: A5, 300dpi, b/w (please leave a white border) For more info reach out to: Dana »Dossie« Moustache & Yori »Janet« Gagarim: ethical.sloth@gmail.com ————————————————————————————————— Be Good John Martz presents his short story, Be Good, online. It’s a good one. Design, fragile egos and tacos come together for some good old fashioned hyucks. ————————————————————————————————— Thin Line, Thick line, Strong line, Feeble Line Line: An Art Study by Edmund J. Sullivan, originally published in 1922, covers the basics of drawing using only line: drawing materials, types of line, freehand drawing, drawing solid objects in line, perspective, shadows and figure drawing. It’s online at archive.org for you to bury your nose in. Go forth and take what you need! Written by Edmund J. Sullivan Line: An Art Study merges the traditional nineteenth-century style of illustration with elements of Art Nouveau, begins by introducing readers to the freehand drawing of abstract lines and advances to the freehand drawing of natural forms, consisting mainly of plane surfaces or single lines. Subsequent chapters illustrate and discuss representations of the third and fourth dimensions, the picture plane, formal perspective, and the drawing of solid objects, including their depiction in shade and shadow, and their modelling. Additional topics include shadows, reflections, and aerial perspective as well as figure drawing. ————————————————————————————————— ’til next time, Juan Share this page: [...]

New Waves in Latin American Comics: Colombia

Juan FernándezAugust 24, 2016los Cómics / Scene ReportsThis guest post comes to us from Laura Andrea Garzón Garavito in Colombia Every time I walk into a bookstore I try to check for the comics and graphic novel section. It might not be surprising given that in countries with a comic strip tradition, like the United States or France, there are bookstores entirely devoted to selling such products. In Latin America, places like Mexico and Argentina have given comics an important space among other literature, having both been large scale national creators and international translators of comics. Nevertheless, in many other Latin American countries comics and graphic novels are only just starting to be of common interest for publishers. Take Colombia, for example. Until not long ago, you could only find translations from mainstream comics, such as superhero ones by Marvel or DC, magazines brought from the above mentioned Mexico or Argentina, and sections in the newspaper devoted to translations of comics such as Calvin and Hobbes or Mafalda (an argentinian political cartoon icon). But there was not much regarding local production in Colombia. Until now. These days, in 2016, as I find so many new books, I feel glad this medium has started to find increased interest among readers. And since we have been building our very own national comics tradition, we have been looking to be eclectic in our selections. I find it interesting that the bookstores that have invested in bringing comics closer to the audience in Colombia, which is my case, have chosen authors with alternative works, who do not necessarily respond to the mainstream view of what comics “are”. That might be because this audience is still forming a definition of what comics can be and their readers enter this universe new eyes. In each comic book club I have been in, I have heard the speakers trying to broaden the perspectives of what such a medium can offer, and the relation that it has with other arts, like film, literature, poetry, painting, etc… An important part of expanding the national understanding of the many forms that comics take to have Maus in a shop window, side by side with El Eternauta, but is not enough. You might laugh at that, since Maus has been circulating for so long it seems impossible not have bumped into it. But I often think we are, in our very own parallel reality, in a point, similar to the one Spiegelman found himself when winning the pulitzer prize in 1992: where should we place this type of creations? where do we sell these works? Gary Groth, editor of Fantagraphics, publisher and critic, said in a conference held in Bogotá last year, he felt Colombia’s panorama looked pretty similar to the one he had seen in the United States in the 80’s, which was a time for alternate exploration of both markets and formats. That means thinking comics through various lenses, thinking audiences can be broader than imagined, not only kids or old-time series followers, but a whole spectrum of different ages, backgrounds, genders, and so on. In this scenario, underground comix hadn’t even seen Maus yet! Just like it happened here! For a long time creators, fans and editors had to research their sources for comics elsewhere, either traveling or ordering books, or maybe being able to find some online version of them. That network has enabled relationships between latin american authors in different regions. Communication through the internet has been a way of supplying for the gatherings: it has built a new kindof dialogue around the comics world. It has also made it possible to think of self-publishing in a different way. Circulation for your work has not been limited solely to printed fanzines but also from web-comics. What we have been seeing in Colombia has been a period of transition in which the alternatives avenues for creativity intertwine, giving artists chances of mixing them and creating hybrid works. However, the fact that the definition of what comics are and what they can do is a definition in construction means that the medium is till fight for legitimization. A fight to make comics be seem as a viable medium, not classified as secondary, as less than other types of narrative forms, or framed as for only some type of audiences (by editorials or entities in charge of financing new authors and their projects). It also means that there is a fight to find assure that there are market willings to support the production of comic books in Latin America. The very idea of trusting that this kind of publishing can be supported on a national level may be difficult from country to country. What might be easy for Brazil can be difficult in Peru or Colombia. Now, relations between Latin American countries can help to understand there is indeed viable market for comic books, but, according to Colombian comics critic, script writer and comics editor, Pablo Guerra, Latin America has always been an island in editorial terms. That’s to say Latin American countries have found it difficult to establish connections (even when it comes to traditional forms of literature) between themselves to develop strategies for mutual support, so they do not continue to be regarded as an appendix of Spain, as is done in other international contexts. On the bright side of such situation Daniel Jiménez (editor, cultural manager and director of the colombian comics festival Entreviñetas) notes that there is a healthy situation in the panaroma of Colombian comics: a new generation of cartoonists under 35 years of age. They are a group of hungry creators with a network of interesting cultural and artistic production in the comics medium. They understand that they need to be in dialogue with other cultural traditions, perspectives and tendencies happening in other places around both Latin America and the world. They are critical, they question their reality, they aim to create a dialogue through their work. Latin American artists work in and from the interstitial space between center and periphery, and that is reflected in their production. The fact that there is a young generation also makes it possible for relations around this new forms of making comics to be fresh and non-hierarchical. The idea is that among this demagraphic, it doesn’t matter where you come from but rather what you do and how you do it in comics, along with how you participate of the new channels of distribution. Here is a list of recommendations and highlights of the contemporary Latin American comics situation (Special thanks to Kelly Moctezuma, a young artist, editor and comics curator, for helping me out with this last section so you, dear reader, can enjoy the best of what we’ve got to offer): Hands up for the editorials publishing comic books and graphic novels. Graphic novels might be a difficult format for new readers, as a broad part of Latin American audience can be, as well as an expensive one, but editorials have found their way around this problem: Rey Naranjo and the recently launched Cohete Comics, part of Laguna Libros, and La Silueta in Colombia, Contracultura and Pictorama in Perú, Catalonia in Chile, La Ñatita in Bolivia, MINO in Brazil. Some kick-ass girls worth watching for that still struggle to make a living out of this like PowerPaola, Delius, Sole Otero, Isol, Inechi, Maco, Marcela Trujillo, No Sofía, María Luque, CatalinaBu, Juana Medina. Now some boys worth checking out (I mean, their work) like Luis Echavarría, Fabio Zimbres, Rodrigo de la Hoz, Camilo Aguirre, Henry Díaz, Alejandro Henao, Antolín Olguiatti, Jim Pluk, Joni b, Truchafrita, Pedro Mancini, Jesús Cossio, Marco Tóxico, Eduardo Yaguas. Publications that have (or had) underlined comics in Latin America are alive and growing: Revista Larva, Carboncito, Entreviñetas (which is a section in the national colombian newspaper El Espectador), Dr. Fausto, Graffiti 76% quadrinhos, Gringo Muerto. – Laura Andrea Garzón Garavito Share this page: [...]

09/12/2017

Aaron CockleSeptember 11, 2017NewsAaron Cockle today with results of the 2017 Composition Competition; Kara Walker; Sally Ingraham; Trevor Paglen; CBLDF at SPX ————————————————————————————————— Comic Workbook Composition Competition 2017 Winners Congratulations to all who created and submitted work for this contest. We really enjoyed reading each and every work. FIRST PLACE – Weeklong Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency ($500 value) Sienna Cittadino – Girl’s Bathroom SECOND PLACE – $250 gift certificate at Copacetic Comics Chris Kohler – Living Room THIRD PLACE – $100 gift certificate at Copacetic Comics Sara Sarmiento – Deep Clean HONORABLE MENTIONS – $50 gift (each) at Big Planet Comics Jillian Fleck – Push Thru Louis Deux – Touristing Simon Reinhardt – Slow Theft Foxitalic – Hangover Haiku It is our hope that all of the makers who participated in this contest have been TRANSFORMED in some way – artistically, personally, spiritually, and/or physically (improved eye-hand coordination? yes!) – by the time and energy dedicated to the creation of their submissions. Everyone who took part in this exercise has completed a hero’s journey. ————————————————————————————————— Kara Walker, September 7 – October 14, 2017 Sikkema Jenkins and Co. is Compelled to present The most Astounding and Important Painting show of the fall Art Show viewing season! Collectors of Fine Art will Flock to see the latest Kara Walker offerings, and what is she offering but the Finest Selection of artworks by an African-American Living Woman Artist this side of the Mississippi. Modest collectors will find her prices reasonable, those of a heartier disposition will recognize Bargains! Scholars will study and debate the Historical Value and Intellectual Merits of Miss Walker’s Diversionary Tactics. Art Historians will wonder whether the work represents a Departure or a Continuum. Students of Color will eye her work suspiciously and exercise their free right to Culturally Annihilate her on social media. Parents will cover the eyes of innocent children. School Teachers will reexamine their art history curricula. Prestigious Academic Societies will withdraw their support, former husbands and former lovers will recoil in abject terror. Critics will shake their heads in bemused silence. Gallery Directors will wring their hands at the sight of throngs of the gallery-curious flooding the pavement outside. The Final President of the United States will visibly wince. Empires will fall, although which ones, only time will tell. ————————————————————————————————— The SPX Interviews: Sally Ingraham on Teaching and her Daily Strip Suzy & Cecil CW’s Sally Ingraham is interviewed over at The Beat, in the first of a series of SPX-related pieces. Congrats, Sally! Philippe Leblanc: You’re working on creating a comics curriculum for girls. Can you tell us a little bit more about this project. Sally Ingraham: We all need good examples to follow, and it’s especially important for girls to have other cool women to look up to. As I pursue my own development I have been looking for masters of the medium that I can more readily identify with, and this has led me to the obvious conclusions: There are and have been loads of female cartoonists, but their work is still under-documented, less celebrated, and straight up forgotten. I’m interested in developing a comics curriculum for girls that documents, celebrates, and remembers the women who came before us while making new spaces for the women working today, and the ones that will be making comics tomorrow. I won’t exclude the comics of the many male cartoonists whose work I admire and aspire to, but I want to push the balance in a different direction with my own curriculum, placing the emphasis on female creators first. I’m in the development stages at the moment, still learning as much as I can from whomever will teach me, but I’ve discovered very quickly that I can’t sit around waiting for someone else to make the moves that I see opening up on the board – I’ve got to stay in the game. ————————————————————————————————— Trevor Paglen: A Study of Invisible Images September 8 – October 21, 2017 Trevor Paglen’s A Study of Invisible Images is the first exhibition of works to emerge from his ongoing research into computer vision, artificial intelligence (AI) and the changing status of images. This body of work has formed over years of collaboration with software developers and computer scientists and as an artist-in-residence at Stanford University. The resulting prints and moving images reveal a proliferating and otherwise imperceptible category of “invisible images” characteristic of computer vision. Paglen’s exhibition focuses on three distinct kinds of invisible images: training libraries, machine-readable landscapes, and images made by computers for themselves. For Machine-Readable Hito, for example, Paglen took hundreds of images of artist Hito Steyerl and subjected them to various facial recognition algorithms. This portrait of Steyerl presents the images alongside metadata indicating the age, gender, emotional state and other signifiers that the algorithms have interpreted from the images. In another portrait in the show, Paglen trained facial recognition software to read the face of philosopher Frantz Fanon. A ghostly image of Fanon shows the facial signature–the unique qualities of a face as determined by biometric recognition software–used by computer vision to identify an individual. To make the prints in Adversarially Evolved Hallucinations, Paglen trained an AI to recognize images associated with taxonomies such as omens and portents, monsters, and dreams. A second AI worked in tandem with the first to generate the eerie, beautiful images that speak to the exuberant promises and dark undercurrents characterizing our increasingly automated world. ————————————————————————————————— CBLDF at SPX This year’s annual Small Press Expo Lecture is The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund: Comics & The Power of Intellectual Freedom Friday, September 15, 2017, 12-1PM, Library of Congress Madison Building, West Dining Room, 6th floor; Metro Stop: Capitol South A trend that began in the 1940s continues today—challenges to comic books! Charles Brownstein, Executive Director of the non-profit Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, will share the history of comic book censorship from the medium’s origins to the present day. Participants will learn about the history of comic book censorship, and how that history still informs challenges to graphic novels happening right now. Learn what CBLDF does to protect this valuable medium, discover some of the most frequently challenged comics and graphic novels, and what you can do to make a difference. Emerge from this session with a new or renewed passion for comics, graphic novels, and manga and as a strong advocate for protecting this form of free speech! A selection of comic books from the Serial and Government Publications Division will be on display. This is the sixth annual SPX festival program sponsored by the Serial & Government Publications Division. http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/calendar.html ————————————————————————————————— A Cosmic Journey – 9-12-2017 – by Cameron Arthur This concludes A Cosmic Journey – look for the whole comic archived here on Comics Workbook soon! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 9-12-2017 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

2/15/2016

Posted on February 15, 2016February 15, 2016 by Juan Fernández

The comics world suddenly lost Alvin Buenaventura last Thursday. This time is a time of reflection. He left an incredible, indelible mark as a publisher and advocate of the comics medium in the early 21st century. His absence will be sorely felt.

You can help keep his legacy alive today by reading any one of the great works he helped usher into the world from the Buenaventura Press + Pigeon Press catalogue.

Buenaventura Press

Boy’s Club 2 and 3 by Matt Furie
Comic Book Holocaust and Klassic Komix Klub by Johnny Ryan
Elvis Road by Elvis Studio by Helge Reumann & Xavier Robel
Hunter and Painter by Tom Gauld
Destined for Dizziness and The Neighborhood by Souther Salazar
Yeast Hoist #12: Stop Thinking Start Sleeping Stop Sleeping Start Living by Ron Rege Jr.
Spaniel Rage by Vanessa Davis
Injury #1, #2 and #3 by Ted May, Jason Robards, and Jeff Wilson
Boy’s Club #1 was published by Tim Goodyear’s Teenage Dinosaur.
Comic Art Magazine issues 8 and 9 edited by Todd Hignite (2006, 2007)
Kramers Ergot 6 edited by Sammy Harkham (2006)
Kramers Ergot 7 edited by Sammy Harkham (2008)
New York Sketches; a portfolio of drawings by Adrian Tomine (2004)
Private Stash: A Pinup-Girl Portfolio by 20 Cartoonists by Robert Crumb, Adrian Tomine, Jaime Hernandez et al. (2006)
Dawn by Phil Elverum (2008)
The Complete Jack Survives by Jerry Moriarty (2009)

Pigeon Press

Incubation by Charles Burns (2015)
In the Garden of Evil by Charles Burns and Killofer (2015)
Worst Behavior by Simon Hanselmann (2015)
The Libertarian by Nick Mandaag (2014)
Facility Integrity by Nick Mandaag (2014)
ECHO ECHO by Charles Burns (2014)

Rest in peace, Alvin.

Leslie Stein has a new comic up on VICE that recounts the second half of her recent, positive trip to Montreal. Good vibes in her diary. Open, airy reflection with juicy colors. Refreshing stuff that’ll warm right up.

David Brothers has interviewed Zainab Akhtar over at Inkstuds.

They talk about Mads Mikkelsen, Akhtar’s childhood experience with comics, what led to her critiquing comics, being focused on narrative, the community she has found herself in, serializing comics for others, friendship, a brief aside into Masamune Shirow, and much more. A particular highlight here is the questions they pose about the current landscape (or lack thereof) of active comics criticism across social media.
No one is chiming in on the conversations that people are working hard to encourage and it drives them mad…

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If you want some good studio talk and a solid dose of traditional comics craft, go spend some time with the video of Pittsburgh’s own Ed Piskor that Heather and Rob Beschizza put together over at Boingboing. While drawing a Happy Mutant, he takes you through the tools of comics past, his “war chest”: zip-a-tone sheets, letraset, a Leroy lettering gadget, and the immortal spirit of great cartooning. He also muses on what it’s like to teach students who have spent all their comics making lives drawing solely digitally on tablets and the issues that can pose for their process later on. Speed is king ’round these parts.

Bill Boichel riffs on camera on his Remedial Comics segment about the latest issue of the one and only Kevin Huizenga’s GANGES:

Ganges #5 is a unique reading experience (well, unique outside of the Huizengian oeuvre, at least). Huizenga boldly commits exponential shifts in the temporal scale, weaving a narrative that stretches from a traditional panel-by-panel rendering of second-by-second shifts in mood during a domestic argument to experimental fractal depictions of the natural soil erosion cycles repeating over eons that build up and breakdown the earth in the course of millions upon millions of years; from the immediate to the eternal. The result is a work that succeeds (where others have failed*) in presenting both in a manner that effectively situates each within the other in an equivalence that brings to mind the title of Samuel Delaney’s classic science fiction novel, Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand (if not so much the novel itself). – Bill Boichel

This latest effort is available for you to purchase over at Copacetic Comics.

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in News

Juan Fernández

Posted on February 15, 2016February 15, 2016

Explore

01/30/2017

Sally IngrahamJanuary 29, 2017NewsSally Ingraham here to start the week off with news out of Angouleme, highly anticipated comics of 2017, new work from Noah Van Sciver, comics by Leah Hayes, Gabriella Tito, and Caleb Orecchio. ————————————————————————————————— “The Paste Comics Crew” has a new list for us – this time it’s the 35 Most Anticipated Comics of 2017. As they enthusiastically put it: “…a metric ton of sequential art gold is scheduled to hit shelves. Curiously, our list is light on mainstream capes and cowls despite the genre’s outstanding frequency. Instead, a slew of other genre and indie work has us feverishly thrilled. A new adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods will transition to panels, helmed by the author’s Sandman collaborators Craig P. Russell and Scott Hampton. The sci-fi corner will embrace a deeper shade of nihilism via James Stokoe’s Aliens: Dead Orbit and Jonathan Hickman’s delayed Frontier—a return for the creator to design-driven illustration alongside his winding plot development. Michael DeForge, Jillian Tamaki and Eleanor Davis will debut new projects and collections that will probably make our best of ’17 list (let’s be honest) and C. Spike Trotman and Jess Fink will continue to show why comics are the new home for female-friendly sexuality. Speaking of: don’t even get us started on the untitled Fall surprise from Tula Lotay and Becky Cloonan. We’ve also included a few early-to-mid January releases that are definitely worth your time.“ Check out the whole list HERE. ————————————————————————————————— There will be a lot more buzz this week about the 44th Angouleme International Comics Festival, but beating everyone else out of the gate is this fantastic story about the first South Korean cartoonist to be honored with a prize from the festival. Ancco, (the pen name of Choi Kyung-jin) was awarded the Prix Revelation for her comic Bad Friend. The festival has served in recent years as a gateway for Korean comics to find their way to European readers. The festival organizers, who had nominated Bad Friend for the Best Comic Book award as well, wrote that Ancco: “…paints an uncompromising picture of Korean society torn between tradition and modernity, haunted by the ghosts of history and shaken by Western materialistic civilization.” They also said of her work: “She appears as the spokesperson of Korean youth’s malaise through a cartoon centered on the daily lives of teenagers. Freeing the long-repressed language of Korean youth, it has become a reference for a whole generation.” – via The Korea Times Winning the Prix Revelation – which is given to up-and-coming cartoonists who have published no more than three comic books in French – will garner Ancco attention from all over Europe. She spoke to the Korea Manhwa Contents Agency (KOMACON) about the experience of being at the festival this year and winning the award: “I used to consider myself to be someone who led a weird, lonely life in Korea. But now I am here. This is, I think, the power of comics… My particular thanks to Kim Dae-jung, CEO of Sai Comics, who introduced me to the festival and told me, ‘You are not the only strange one. There are so many people like you out there.’ ” – via Yonhap News Bad Friends, or Mauvaises Filles as the French edition is titled, will hopefully make it into English someday soon. Meanwhile, you can see more of the book HERE. And a bit more about the author can be found HERE. ————————————————————————————————— In somewhat related news: Posy Simmonds (who was president of the jury at the 44th Angouleme International Comics Festival) is working on a new book about a “fat, rich, greedy, stupid and criminal” member of the British upper middle class, according to the Malay Mail Online. Posy Simmonds is the author of Tamara Drew and Gemma Bovary (both of which have been adapted into films). She was recently nominated for induction into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame. Now aged 71 and able to draw for only 10 minute spurts, she nevertheless says the book is “well advanced” and I am hopeful that we will get a peak at it soon. Good luck Posy! France 24‘s Olivia Salazar-Winspear spoke to Posy Simmonds recently about her well-known work, about presiding over the jury at Angouleme and the increase in comics festivals, about women making comics, and about the good handbags that French ladies have…! It’s delightful. Check out the video HERE. Here’s a bit more about her adventures as the president of the jury at Angouleme – if you can read French (or are willing to pound that Google translate button and wade through it!) ————————————————————————————————— There is an article about the comics newspaper RESIST! over on Hyperallergic with a lot of scans of the pages – good news for those of you who didn’t managed to get your hands on a copy of this already rare item. ————————————————————————————————— The New York Times has hurt a lot of feelings recently with the announcement that they are discontinuing their graphic novel bestsellers lists. “The Times Book Review editor Pamela Paul confirmed that the paper will discontinue a number of its lists, including Hardcover Graphic Novel, Paperback Graphic Novel and Manga, effective Feb. 5. The sense of loss among authors and publishers, readers and retailers is profound.” – Michael Cavna for the Washington Post Despite some tweets that seem to indicate that Pamela Paul has a poor opinion of comics in general (I’m referring to comments that she made about John Lewis’, Andrew Aydin’s, and Nate Powell’s March which began with “hey, kids” and finished by calling March a “children’s book“), she has gone on to say that cutting these lists will allow the Times to actually expand its “graphics-book coverage.” We’ll see about that. Over on The Comics Beat Alexander Lu puts the ramifications of this bluntly: “The fact that comics had a bestseller list devoted to them was a symbolic sign of the medium’s importance to one of the nation’s most respectable media outlets and their importance to the nation at large. Moreover, there are few stronger marketing loglines than “New York Times bestseller.” While the Times is foremost a media outlet and not a marketing firm, the way their endorsements affect sales and popular discourse cannot be ignored. The decision to eliminate these lists will have implications for our conversations and our bottom lines.“ It’s hard not to be annoyed by this whole thing, especially when Pamela Paul piles the graphic bestseller lists on top of other “genre” lists that the Times has been planning to cut since last year. COMICS ARE A MEDIUM NOT A GENRE! For the millionth time…come on, people. More about the cuts HERE on the Washington Post. ————————————————————————————————— Meg Lemke presents Leah Hayes’ Not Funny Ha-Ha for the Illustrated PEN. Read Meg’s thoughts about the comic and an excerpt from it HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Noah Van Sciver has a new weekly strip in Columbus Alive called The Introvert Club (above) – check it out! Noah has been serializing his own graphic memoir nearly everyday via his Patreon – it is called One Dirty Tree and is “about growing up in a poor, unsteady Mormon family and its affects 20 years later in my life trying to hold together a relationship of my own and while making a name for myself in alternative comics.” You can see a 3-page excerpt over on his website – HERE – but to read the rest, consider supporting Noah’s Patreon. He is one of the hardest working cartoonists you’ll ever meet whose work is consistently funny and heartrending. I hope he continues making them forever – and it would be nice if he could have a real live cat someday…! ————————————————————————————————— Bits and Bobs Jack Mendelsohn, creator of the brief but brilliant comic strip Jacky’s Diary (1959-1961), among many other comics projects, past away on Jan. 25th 2017. Dan Nadel writes about Jack’s life and work over on The Comics Journal. Rob Clough wrote about Marnie Galloway’s mini-comics on High-Low last week. Heidi MacDonald says (via The Beat) that the TV show Riverdale, which is based on Archie comics…is pretty good. Should we try it out? Tom Spurgeon is updating his massive list of “all things comics-related by metropolitan area“. Last updated in 2014, it needs a careful overhaul – help Tom out HERE. There is an Instagram account devoted to “showcasing the most beautiful scenes, colours, sets and abstract compositions of The Simpsons.” Juan Fernandez showed the account to me and then riffed: “No cropping involved – just screen capping (moments chosen as opposed to aspects of moments chosen). It’s more about what is latent in The Simpsons than how the person curating this blog has chosen to present and eliminate – i.e. these compositions have all passed in front of viewers eyes, and to me that’s interesting.” Check out @scenic_simpsons. ————————————————————————————————— Needed: more comics in the world. If you want to make comics but you don’t know how to start, consider a crash course in the methods of the Santoro School – check out the handbook HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-30-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-30-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

10/24/2018

Juan FernándezOctober 24, 2018NewsJuan and Andrew with an invitation to participate in 2018’s #30dayscomics Juan here! November is right around the corner which means that not only will I finally let myself turn on the heat at my apartment in Pittsburgh, but #30dayscomics will soon be upon us! As the weather chills and most of us become indoor creatures in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s good to come together by working on and sharing comics making challenges, connected by the internet. For those who don’t know, 30 Days of Comics is a month-long challenge. The parameters are pretty simple: Make 1 comic a day for the month of November. They can be anything you like, any format, any style, though most people do 1 page or 1 strip. Just do it everyday. This November, I’m excited to be able to allocate some time (likely at work) to working on my esperanza00 series and to see where these neurotrash digital collages of drawings, jpegs, clippings from articles, poems and facebook posts take me. The idea will be to create a 4 panel comic composed of 3-6 colors in this fashion daily: Needless to say, I’m excited. Here at Comics Workbook we’d like to invite you to participate in this year’s comics making journey. With me today is Andrew White to tell you more about a little this year’s #30dayscomics. Take it away Andrew. Starting on November 1st, I’m going to draw and post one comic per day for a month. I’ve done this almost every year since 2012, with varying success in terms of getting to the end of the month and in terms of the work itself. The cartoonist Derik Badman first took on this challenge, which he called 30 Days of Comics, in 2009 and invited others to join him in 2011. Derik describes the month as, “a time for experimentation, exploring short forms, and a great way to produce work.” That sounds about right to me. Often participants work with some kind of constraint, using the month to experiment with different approaches or new materials. See for example Kevin Czap’s A Lesson in Survival (2012), which appropriates text from Joni Mitchell and is visually very different from Kevin’s other work; or Simon Moreton’s set of printed zines produced near-daily; or Alyssa Berg’s Open Letter to Sleep (2016), an extended meditation on a single topic. Making one comic per day is of course a constraint itself. Personally, I’ve found the month most fruitful when I’ve gotten at a topic that I’ve been turning over in my mind for a while, which hopefully means that it will benefit from a rapid outpouring of work. The 30 Days of Comics Tumblr archive is another place to see how others have approached the month in the past. On that note, the community aspect of 30 Days has been essential for me. We encourage each other to keep going, and I’m still happy with the year when I riffed on the work of other participants. I’ve first met some dear friends thanks to 30 Days. Finally, implicit in the call to make comics daily for a month is the idea that making comics daily might not be possible through the rest of the year. We all benefit from a different balance between thinking about comics and making comics – and sometimes that balance is imposed externally by a day job or other life circumstance. We’re all affected, often negatively, by the idea that productivity is essential to our success as an artist, but we might wish we were more productive as well. For me, 30 Days helps with the difficult project of maintaining that balance. One comic per day isn’t too much work, but 30 comics in total is also significant. It’s okay if you miss a day. It’s okay if you aren’t happy with some of your work. This year I’ll be making four panel comics, inspired by people like Juan Fernandez and Madeleine Witt. My strips will be loosely based on this paper in the academic journal Science. I hope you’ll join us, and that you’ll use the hashtag #30dayscomics so that we can all find each other’s work! 10-24-2018 – Fifi Martinez 10-24-2018 – Niall Breen Share this page: [...]

04/20/2016

Juan FernándezApril 20, 2016News Comics Workbook: El Rincón: Tiktok; The Historic Mexican and Mexican American Press collectio; Libros Mutantes ’16; Feria Internacional del Libro Bogotá; Úlcera; El Tiempo de Mi Casa; Chancha via Circuito. Buenos dias a todos y bienvenidos a esta nueva émision del Rincón! Juan here with your Wednesday Spanish and South American comics round up. Let’s start off with the juicy stuff, the stuff you I’m betting you’ll get lost in. Empezemos con lo mas jugoso! —————————————————————————— Tapeando con los comics Tiktok TikTok Comics is an online comics hub for a kaleidoscope visually experimental comics centered around Spain. They offer their comics in Spanish AND English. Quienes son Tiktok? Somos una pequeña organización polimorfa sin ánimo de lucro ubicada en el Estrecho de Herschel. Este es un espacio-tiempo dedicado al cómic porque sí. ¡Disfrutadlo! Es una orden. Tik-tok-tik-tok… We are a small polymorphous organization located in the Strait of Herschel. This is a space-time devoted to comics for no reason. Enjoy it! That’s an order. Tik-tok-tik-tok … The site is curated and edited by Alexis Nolla, Marc Gustá, Andrés Magán, Ana Galvañ, Pau Anglada y Miriam Persand. They have so many wide ranging comics contributions, it’s hard to know where to start! If you need help, check out the authors section. No te pierdas en los archivos! Don’t get lost in the archives! – You’re going to want to bookmark this one. Or at least make sure you follow them on twitter or tumblr as they update a couple of times every week. —————————————————————————— Historic Mexican and Mexican American Press Collection Thanks to the University of Arizona there is now a database you can peruse, full of 150 years of regionally published newspapers chronicling Mexican and Mexican-Amercan history online. Among the 20 publications that have been curated, researched and digitized for the Historic Mexican and Mexican-American Press Archive you’ll find political cartoons in their natural context about the border from 100 years ago. Entre todas las 20 publicaciones del archivo encontraras bastantes caricaturas políticas sobre la frontera Mexicana desde hace un siglo. Dig around and see what you can find. No te imaginas lo que podrás encontrar… I suggest exploring the El Paso Morning Times. It is an especially good comics resource, chock a block with cartooning from 1914-1918. Tiras y caricaturas por todos lados! The Historic Mexican and Mexican American Press collection documents and showcases historic Mexican and Mexican American publications published in Tucson, El Paso, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sonora, Mexico from the mid-1800s to the 1970s. The collection covers important periods in Mexican-American history, from the Mexican Revolution to the Bracero Program to the Chicano Movement. There are about 1,900,000 Latino and Hispanic population in Arizona and more than 50 million in the United States. Having this collection available to the public through digitization of these materials, will raise awareness to issues that advance the image and identity of Latinos in American politics and media and their contributions to the United States. —————————————————————————— Libros Mutantes Esta feria en Madrid empieza este fin de semana y seguro que sera bien chula. This fair is sure to be a doozy. Lots of exciting programming. Libros Mutantes is focused on the relation between publishing and visual arts. Throughout the year they organize different events in order to bring this creative universe closer to the public. The main event in their calendar is Libros Mutantes Madrid Art Book Fair, held at La Casa Encendida. Since 2010, this Art Book Fair gathers a wide selection of national and international art books, independent publications and zines, and attracts a wide audience, making Libros Mutantes the largest and most comprehensive Spain-based project aimed at researching and spreading the creations of independent publishers. Autoeditoriales que son igualmentes “High y low”… There’s going to be so many books all over the spectrum, so self-publishing nerds you won’t want to miss this. —————————————————————————— Feria Internacional del Libro Bogotá From now until May 2nd, Bogotá is going hard with their international book fair. La Feria Internacional del Libro de Bogotá (Filbo) es el evento de promoción de la lectura y la industria editorial más importante de Colombia. You can think of FILBO as Colombia’s equivalent to ALA Conference. It’s big, and it’s a big deal to comics publishing houses! This year, Colombia has partnered up with the Netherlands to create a cross-cultural dialogue via literature. Empieza el conteo regresivo de la #FILBo2016 y queremos que tú seas el protagonista, ¿cuáles son tus recomendados? ?https://t.co/8wS0pbyA6b — Alcaldía de Bogotá (@AlcaldiaBogota) April 13, 2016 In light of this dialogue with the Netherlands, our friends over at Entreviñetas, one of Latin America’s leading comics festivals, are presenting a series of programs and exhibitions that celebrate 20th & 21st century dutch cartooning and comics making. Their collaboration Hola Holanda: es Cómic runs from April 25th – May 12th. Las tradiciones gráficas y narrativas de los Países Bajos han encontrado en el cómic un fértil camino para la creación de historias. Renovador a la vez que evocativo, tan fascinante por su delicadeza visual y su ingenio para el relato, el cómic revela una conversación inspiradora con la imagen y la palabra del pueblo neerlandés. La organización cultural Entreviñetas, a propósito de la participación de dicho país como invitado de honor a la Feria Internacional del Libro de Bogotá 2016, presenta un recorrido breve y múltiple por la obra de los autores más distintivos de las últimas décadas del siglo XX y las primeras del XXI. Son ellos quienes componen el novedoso panorama del cómic neerlandés. Invitamos así a una exposición que, de manera abierta y flexible en su cronología, exhibe por primera vez en Colombia el trabajo de 16 artistas en 80 piezas. *** On display for the first time in Colombia will be the work of 16 artists //Artistas en exhibición: Joost Swarte (1947, Heemstede) Peter Pontiac (1951, Beverwijk – 2015, Ámsterdam) TYPEX (1962, Ámsterdam) Erik Kriek (1966, Ámsterdam) Marcel Ruijters (1966, Róterdam) Barbara Stok (1970, Groningen) Tobias Schalken (1972,’s-Hertogenbosch) Milan Hulsing (1973, Ámsterdam) Boris Peeters (1974, Kampen), Lamelos collective Aleks Deurloo (1975, Kampen), Lamelos collective Sam Peeters (1976, Kampen), Lamelos collective Jeroen Funke (1976, Kampen), Lamelos collective Tim Ethoven (1985, Den Haag) Lennard Kok (1988, Utrecht) Aimée De Jongh (1988, Róterdam) Ludwig Volbeda (1990, Oosterhout) —————————————————————————— Puiupo + Pantazopoulos Over here in the states, Czap books has announced that they are publishing Brazil-based artists Puiupo and Adonis Pantazopoulos’ visceral sci-fi headtrip, Úlcera. From Kevin Czap it’s going to be “In the vein of Jodorowsky mixed with Masaaki Yuasa (Kaiba).” About the Artists Puiupo is a Portuguese cartoonist and animator whose work has appeared in a number of Portuguese anthologies like LODAÇAL COMIX, Journal Altamira, and Nemesis. Adonis Pantazopoulos, a self-described “corretor de imóveis,” makes comics and paintings, the former having appeared on Nébula. Learn more about Úlcera and order a copy here. —————————————————————————— Less than 24 hours left on our Benefit Auction – Consider supporting or sharing our efforts! https://t.co/PSV43StWpO pic.twitter.com/JTdyssGJZt — Rowhouse Residency (@comicsworkbook) April 19, 2016 BENEFIT AUCTION ENDS TODAY Now’s your chance to sweep in and make all the incredible art that Chris Ware donated to Comics Workbook yours. Your support is invaluable to us. Go on, bid before you miss your chance! http://www.ebay.com/sch/copaceticcomicscompany/m.html?_trksid=p3692 —————————————————————————— Here’s Chancha Via Circuito’s 2010 release, río arriba. Put it on and do your thing. Lo que te dé la gana. It’s slow and it spirals deep into you. Take it easy and take care. Cuidense, chicos. Share this page: [...]

06/21/2017

Juan FernándezJune 21, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día conFebrero para galgos de Peter Jojaio; Frank Santoro en vivo;Pati Aguilera e Isabel Molina; Galería Plop!; Álvaro Pons; y los tebeos de Comics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— Peter Jojaio: La Violencia de lo Sublime Elizabeth Casillas comparte sus impresiones sobre una de las mejores sorpresas que nos ha llevado este año: Febrero para galgos de Peter Jojaio en Revista Cactus: Febrero para galgos es una obra sublime porque implica dolor, porque se aleja de la complacencia o el agrado y entra a formar parte de ese otro círculo que conforman las obras que nos enseñan la decadencia de la sociedad –sin atisbo de humor, sin redención– y en el que podríamos englobar algunos relatos de Adrian Tomine, como el devastador Búhos de Intrusos (Sapristi, 2016), o ese compendio de dolor que es Beverly de Nick Drnaso (Fulgencio Pimentel, 2016). De hecho, lo primero que uno tiende a pensar al terminar esta novela gráfica es que no ha podido hacerse aquí, en España. Por lo arriesgado de la propuesta, por su estilo. Aquí es cuando salen a relucir los referentes del autor, porque más allá de los evidentes –como Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware o Charles Burns–, surgen nombres de disciplinas variadas. «Intentaba usar como buenamente podía todo aquello que iba viendo y me gustaba: de Aki Kaurismäki, el tipo de intensidad que alcanza a través de un lenguaje y un humor frío y áspero. De Jean Pierre Melville, cómo hace que los actores se muevan como piezas de un reloj, cómo explica los personajes y el mundo en el que viven a través de la acción, sin apenas recurrir al diálogo. El uso de la perspectiva en las pinturas del gótico. Leer Hijo de la ira de Jim Thompson y El señor de las moscas me dio algunas ideas de base. Los cuadros de Paula Rego, James Ensor, Caspar David Friedrich», enumera Jojaio. Léanlo AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— RiYL Episode 219: Frank Santoro Our fearless leader, Frank Santoro speaks up in the latest edition of RiYLcast with Brian Heater. They met up at the Row House Residency in Swissvale, PA for a rich, cafe style discussion: Pittsburgh comics, regionalism, self-publishing and the long shadow of Andy Warhol – it’s all there. Póngale play! ————————————————————————————————— Cómics y 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 Pati Aguilera e Isabel Molina, ilustradora y periodista, además de ser el elemento femenino de Galería Plop!. Hablan acerca de la historia de la Galería, sus aventuras, proyecciones, momentos altos, y momentos complicados. Plop! Galéria ha compartido un trozito de la exposición Casa Ajena, de Mathias Sielfeld, Nico González, Matías Prado y Pablo Luebert. Denle un vistazo. La fanzinoteca del Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM) calienta motores con una exposición con los fondos de Álvaro Pons. Al igual que ocurre con nuestras parejas de baile, en los contratos también debemos elegir bien a quien concedemos nuestra obra. Ceder o no ceder en exclusiva? Esa es la cuestión de la que hablan hoy en el post, ¿Me concedes esta obra? en firmado por. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-21-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-21-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

02/09/2018

Sally IngrahamFebruary 8, 2018NewsSally here with Caitlin McGurk talking Edwina Dumm, the Apple Mary/Mary Worth comic strip story, and Six Chix! ————————————————————————————————— Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum Associate Curator Caitlin McGurk was a guest on Episode 4 of the Library of American Comics & EuroComics Podcast, with Dean Mullaney and Kurtis Findlay. She talked about the upcoming American Comics Essentials Vol. 11, which collects Edwina Dumm‘s “Tippie” comic strip from 1945. Listen to the podcast HERE. Check out the Edwina Dumm LOAC Essentials book HERE – it will be coming out soon, and features an introduction by Caitlin McGurk. I am a huge fan of Edwina Dumm and am personally so excited for this collection! ————————————————————————————————— I like to root around in the archives of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, both in person and online. I was systematically going through the list of creators the other day, looking for WOMEN, and I came across June Brigman. I remembered that she was the last artist who worked on the comic Brenda Starr, Reporter (a long-running strip that has a fantastic, complete history of female creators – but that’s a tale for another day!) I looked into what she is currently working on, and noted that she is the artist behind the strip Mary Worth (syndicated by King Features). Mary Worth is an interesting comic strip. It’s been around since 1938 or so, making it one of the longest running “continuity” strips ever. It’s like a soap opera, with loads of characters and swirling plot lines, but it is centered on Mary – a 60-something widow and former teacher. Currently written by Karen Moy and drawn since 2016 by Brigman, it touches on all sorts of social issues and features classic cliff-hanger endings. You can read it HERE. Mary Worth was created by writer Allen Saunders and artist Dale Connor in 1938, but it has an interesting and somewhat debated connection to an earlier strip called Apple Mary. Martha Orr (the niece of Carey Orr, a cartoonist with the Chicago Tribune) started Apple Mary in 1934. It was about an old woman named Mary, who sold apples out of a pushcart, and tended to her crippled grandson Dennie. (You can see an example of the strip at the top of this section.) The strip was successful, but Martha had to quit making it after about 4 years, in favor of raising her own family. This is when Mary Worth appeared, but whether it was made to fill the popular hole that Apple Mary had left, maintaining some of the same tone and subjects, or whether it was the true evolution of Apple Mary, is up for continuing debate. Don Markstein notes on his Toonopida page for Apple Mary that “Whatever the case may be, as the Great Depression lifted, Apple Mary was left behind. There is little to be seen of her in the Mary Worth of today.” Here’s another Apple Mary strip by Martha Orr, one that does feature her being called Mary Worth by name. I like the idea of this character existing for 84 years, bookended by female creators. Next time I’m at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum I’ll have to take a look at the one original Apple Mary strip by Martha Orr that they house in the archive! See it online HERE. ————————————————————————————————— I recently discovered a really unique comic strip called Six Chix. It’s a daily strip syndicated by King Features and created by six women cartoonists – they each have their assigned day, and then they rotate for the Sunday strip. “Isabella Bannerman draws Mondays; Martha Gradisher draws Tuesdays; Susan Camilleri Konar draws Wednesdays; Mary Lawton draws Thursdays; Benita Epstein draws Fridays; and Stephanie Piro draws Saturdays. Each cartoonist writes and draws with her own style and perspective. In any given week, you might find gags about the economy, technology, zombies, pirates or health care — and the main characters will be female and funny.“ The strip began in 2000 and was the idea of Jay Kennedy, the editor-in-chief at King Features at the time. You can read it online at the Six Chix website and learn more about the cartoonists HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Collected from the thousands of pages of material that Frank has left scattered all over the digital landscape, these 4 PDF collections contain Frank’s best writing on comics and comics making from the past decade. Theory and process, reviews and discoveries, journeys both physical and spiritual. Check out the “Best of Frank Santoro” PDF collections, available HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-9-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

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