Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in EssaysTagged beatnik comics, Bill Griffith, copacetic comics

Juan Fernández

Posted on April 7, 2016May 15, 2019

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Frank’s Comics Corner #3 – House of Mystery #177

Comics WorkbookFebruary 24, 2017EssaysFrank’s Comics Corner #3 – House of Mystery #177 – 2-16-17 Share this page: [...]

07/18/2017

Aaron CockleJuly 18, 2017NewsAaron Cockle here today with Helen Jo; Safari Festival Reminder; Chitra Ganesh; Helen Frankenthaler ————————————————————————————————— ‘Without a car, commuting into the city via public transit becomes a nightmare.’ Alex Wong talks with Helen Jo about Jo’s translation of Yeon-sik Hong’s Uncomfortably Happily: Do you think, compared to other books, there was less of a risk of the original material being lost in translation in Uncomfortably Happily? Because of all the universal themes that are covered in the book? I think that something may always be lost in translation. Translating from one language to the next is not mathematics. Even if you strip away all of the cultural context and stick to the academic bare bones of a language itself, you can’t fit a Korean peg into an English hole. Each language is a system of words, connotations, innuendo, context, unspoken intentions, and none of it is exactly equal to its foreign counterparts. I think a good translation is mindful of that fact, and tries to re-interpret the intent behind the words for the new audience. I may not have been able to provide an exact translation, because an exact translation cannot truly exist, but I did my best to bring the intention and meaning and context of each and every page to the English reader. ————————————————————————————————— Safari Festival 2017 ————————————————————————————————— Tales of Amnesia This is just a link to an image search for Chitra Ganesh’s Tales of Amnesia comics. ————————————————————————————————— As in Nature: Helen Frankenthaler Paintings / No Rules: Helen Frankenthaler Woodcuts Helen Frankenthaler has two exhibitions currently at the Clark Institute in Williamstown, MA, USA. ————————————————————————————————— A Cosmic Journey – 7-18-2017 – by Cameron Arthur ———————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 7-18-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 7-18-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

Happy Holidays from Comics Workbook!

Sally IngrahamDecember 25, 2017NewsHappy Holidays from all of us here at Comics Workbook! Comics Workbook’s Daily News is taking a holiday break the week of Dec. 25-29! Our news team will return, refreshed, on January 1st. Do yourself a favor and get ready for the new year: Subscribe to the most exciting comics news site in the world. ⚡ Comics Workbook Daily News ⚡ SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL TODAY Share this page: [...]

Charles Forsman at Comix Experience

Chris Anthony DiazJanuary 31, 2018The Diaz ArchiveCharles Forsman toured for I Am Not Okay with This as well as for the hardcover release of The End of the Fucking World (which also premiered recently on Netflix as an 8-episode live action series), both published by Fantagraphics Books. Bay area stop was at Comix Experience in San Francisco, Wednesday, December 6, 2017. (Click images for different external links related to Charles Forsman.) Share this page: [...]

06/11/2018

Caleb OrecchioJune 11, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on Michael Comeau’s, Winter Cosmos, and more! ———————————————————————————— Despite not having a frame of reference for the punk rock zine culture aesthetic Comeau emulates with Winter Cosmos (published by thee great Koyama Press), I really enjoyed it. Every spread is interesting. There is not a visual dull moment therein. Even after I read the book, I went back to flip through the images to “read” it again. The experience of the book is like reading an issue of What If… starring the Fantastic Four exclusively in Kirby’s collage-y Negative Zone. I can’t help but assume Comeau was inspired by this or some similar Negative Zone-related musing when he decided to make a comic about scientists in space. I had a good time reading this book. There is plenty of wit and humor within the writing, but also within the visual aspects. There is something both inherently funny and inherently fascinating about collage depicting science fiction. The pacing of the read itself is excellent. Even if the book were wordless, Comeau’s visual narrative is strong enough to pace the reader in a way that most wordless comics can’t due to their narrative approach (i.e. leaning on a cinematic or literary idea of narrative rather than an inherently comic book idea of narrative). Winter Cosmos is dynamic enough to hold a reader on a purely visual level and that, to me, is a high compliment to a cartoonist. ———————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Frank Santoro’s new book, Pittsburgh, is out in France and we have round up of French reviews here on the site, as well as where you can purchase the book if you’re in the states from Pittsburgh’s own Copacetic Comics. Speaking of which, see what the the great Copacetic Comics Company has new for June HERE on the site! Oh look! You can even buy Winter’s Cosmos by Michael Comeau! Did I mention this comes highly recommend? Did you catch the TCJ interview with The Beguiling owner, Peter Birkemoe? Process Party has a Columbus, OH scene report. ———————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-11-18 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

Bill Griffith Searching for Beatnik Comics

Posted on April 7, 2016May 15, 2019 by Juan Fernández

Bill Griffith Searching for Beatnik Comics at COPACETIC COMICS PITTSBURGH PA USA – Shot and Edited by John Kelly

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in EssaysTagged beatnik comics, Bill Griffith, copacetic comics

Juan Fernández

Posted on April 7, 2016May 15, 2019

Explore

06/02/2017

Sally IngrahamJune 2, 2017NewsSally here with some Wonder Women for your weekend – Lynda Barry, Annie Koyama, Teresa Roberts Logan, G. Willow Wilson, Trina Robbins, and more! ————————————————————————————————— Aww…look at the tiny fabulous Lynda Barry, making a guest appearance in Bil Keane’s Family Circus…! Over on The Comics Beat Heidi MacDonald writes joyously about how this came about: “The other night at the Reuben Awards, cartoonist Lynda Barry was presented with the Milton Caniff award for her lifetime achievement because, after all, she is funk queen of the universe. But at the NCS annual meeting where she got the award, she also met a hero of her own, Jeff Keane, the artist on Family Circus and son of the original creator, Bil Keane. Barry explains what happened on her tumblr in her own inimitable way, but the short version is that Family Circus was very important to her growing up as a child from a troubled family. Upon meeting Keane she burst into tears. And then she found out she had a guest spot in the comic.“ Read the story in Lynda’s own words HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Comics publisher extraordinaire Annie Koyama is the featured “Type Reader for June” on Type. She answered a special comics-themed questionnaire, where she admitted to reading comics “unabashedly” on public transportation, and owning but never finishing Chris Ware’s Building Stories. Also: “If you weren’t running a Canadian comics empire, what would you be doing right now? I’d be planting a vegetable garden and frolicking with woodland creatures. Ideally somewhere with really spotty Internet.“ Read the rest HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Teresa Roberts Logan – or, The Laughing Redhead and a recent arrival to Pittsburgh – has officially made a career change from stand-up comedian to cartoonist. She spoke to The Daily Press recently about the different challenges the two mediums presented her with. “When you tell a joke as a stand-up, you get to deliver that — play with the voice, emphasize certain words, play with the timing. When it’s for print, you have to write a little more cleanly because you don’t have the benefit of being able to perform it. Putting it on paper is the performance. With stand-up comedy, people are judging more about you than just the joke — what you look like, how you’re dressed, your personality. On paper, they’re just judging what’s on paper — the joke itself.“ Her comic The Grim Reaper will be syndicated on gocomics.com starting June 26th. Read more of her story HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Feminist Frequency has an interview with G. Willow Wilson, author of the Ms Marvel series. After controversial comments were made by a Marvel rep about diversity killing the bottom line of a number of stories, she weighed in with her own thoughts on diversity in comics – and the topic has continued to up. “I think diversity has become this catch-all word that is used by a lot of different groups in different ways, not all of them positive and not all of them furthering the cause of good comics. For some people in the more conservative segment of the comic book population, diversity has become sort of a dog whistle. But I’ve also heard very valid critiques of it on the left, that diversity by itself does not change the underlying structures that lead to inequality, so just having photo op diversity doesn’t actually change things. But stories that focus on authenticity and specific experiences can be very successful because it’s not about box checking. It’s about reflecting—as closely as you can in pulp fiction—a real lived experience. Because the things that makes us different are not just cosmetic. They change how we experience the world in some pretty critical ways. The stories that have done that well have really found solid fanbases. And some that do it less well. But when those stories fail, it inevitably becomes about the diversity issue when the real cause may be diversity done poorly. Or it may just be that like 90% of books, it simply fails and we don’t tend to think as hard about the mainstream same-old stories when they fail. There’s sort of a selective reading of the reasons why books, diverse or not, fail.“ To read the rest of the interview you will have to subscribe to the monthly Feminist Frequency newsletter, FREQ – do so HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Just a few “Wonder Women” at the movie premier after party – Valerie Perez (Wonder Woman cosplayer and actress), Trina Robbins (artist for numerous issues of Wonder Woman), Lynda Carter (the original on-screen Wonder Woman), Christie Marston (grand daughter of Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston), and Susan Eisenberg (the voice of Wonder Woman in the Justice League animated series). The Comics Beat reports that DC’s new Wonder Woman movie is actually pretty good. Elsewhere, Joe Wos reports on Wonder Woman for the Trib Live, and chats briefly with Trina Robbins: ” “In my opinion, she is the perfect mythic hero,” says legendary comics “Herstorian” Trina Robbins of San Francisco. “According to Joseph Campbell’s writings in ‘The Hero With a Thousand Faces,’ the hero is always the child of a virgin and a deity. She’s the child of the virgin Queen Hippolyta and a deity who, in this case, is the goddess Aphrodite, who breathes life into the baby that Hippolyta sculpts from clay. Can there be a more feminist origin story? Little Diana has two mommies!” “ Read the rest of the article HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Extra Toppings Paste Magazine interviews Gabrielle Bell – apparently the extensive “free-associations” regarding cats were mostly cut out. Read it HERE. Another powerful comic about abortion is up on The Nib, excerpted from the upcoming collection Comics for Choice – see Candice Russell‘s and Laura Lannes‘ story HERE. Also on Paste Magazine, Hilary Brown reports on a new offering from Drawn & Quarterly, Elise Gravel‘s If Found Please Return to Elise Gravel. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 6-2-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-2-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-2-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

06/12/2017

Caleb OrecchioJune 12, 2017NewsCaleb Orecchio here with some thoughts on Brighter Than You Think: Ten Short Works by Alan Moore—plus some links ————————————————————————————————— Though Alan Moore has not really drawn a comic since the late 70’s, he is so obviously the auteur of the comics he writes that I am tempted to consider him a “cartoonist.” I mean, not really, but I think a more articulate, alternate-dimension version of myself could make a strong case for that designation. Regardless of the artist, Moore’s comics have an undeniable feel and pace, even when drawn by a sub-par cartoonist—AND is never out-shined by a particularly excellent cartoonist. The latest installment of Uncivilized Books’ “Critical Cartoons” series, Brighter Than You Think: Ten Short Works by Alan Moore with essays by Marc Sobel, has been my in-between-other-readings book for about a month now. I like not reading it all the way through at once because 1.) it is a collection of short stories over almost 20 years so it makes sense to pace myself, and 2.) Moore’s work is just too damn dense to swallow in one sitting. If you add Marc Sobel’s essays that follow each comic, you’re looking at a very annotated and involved effort that requires time for thinking and reflection with each story. Something I find very interesting about Moore is his awareness of the artist. He seems to know how to “use” an artist better than any writer I know of, which, to me, aids him in diversifying the types of stories he can tell. He uses them like a solo cartoonist might pick a color to evoke mood, or use a certain brush to evoke a certain era of comics’ past. Using an artist like Mark Beyer can help to abstract a story and give it a heightened sense of reality and playfulness, whereas using an artist like Stephen Bissette can help ground a story to real-life and make a comic more like a documentary. If you’re writing a story for Peter Bagge, the writing is funny and whimsical (Moore’s ability to write comedy is WAY under appreciated in my opinion); and you write strange stories of flight and fantasy for Rick Veitch. I always found his collaboration with Melinda Gebbie, “This Is Information” (a “reaction” comic to 9/11), to be very interesting. Moore wisely keeps character at arm’s length and is communicating in symbols and metaphors; and Gebbie’s art is key because she can draw cartoony caricatures, she can draw realistic rendering of hands clasping in desperation, or she can precisely and patiently draw a falling house of cards (harder than you think). The breadth and nuance of her skills matches the breadth and nuance of emotions Alan Moore implements in this story about a devastating and monumental event. There’s so much I could say about Moore, and there’s so much people have already said. If I were a better writer I could better explain the value of such a great contributor to comics clearer. The best I can really do is point you to the work, and right now I’m pointing you to Brighter Than You Think. Go grab a copy at Uncivilized Books’ website. ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know There were several links I was hoping to share today, but came to find out Sally covered most of them here on Friday (I was involved with my sisters wedding all weekend so I’m a few days behind). Go back and check out Sally’s post if you haven’t already, featuring good stuff from Trina Robbins, Jillian Tamaki, Eleanor Davis, and more. Adam West, Batman star and icon to, I’m sure, more than a few comics fans, has died at age 88. Anita Gates has an obituary over at The New York Times. I thought Chris Mautner expressed the brilliance of Alan Moore’s Providence quite well in this article on The Smart Set. The way he briefly-yet-impressively articulates Jacen Burrows’ contribution to the work was overdue I think. The Panic Fables by Alejandro Jodorowski have finally been collected and translated to English. Get a copy from Copacetic Comics. The legendary Steve Ditko is still at it, and you can contribute to his latest Kickstarter (though the goal was met very rapidly with plenty of days still to go) to get a copy of the new Mr. A which marks the 50th anniversary of the character. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 6-12-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-12-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-12-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

01/28/2016

Juan FernándezJanuary 28, 2016NewsHello world, Gotta start off with the big Rowhouse Residency news coming from Frank: That’s right. It’s official. We’ve got keys in hand, and Truth Zone’s in the mail. If you’ve been sleeping on getting your copy of the official limited edition bootleg. Now’s the time. They’re headed out of Comics Workbook HQ, why not have one head your way? Don’t sleep on it, seriously. !!buy thee Complete Truth Zone by Simon Hanselmann!! The second half of Jillian Tamaki‘s latest entry in the Early Stories series has just been publishied on Hazlitt Magazine. Woof! Sit on down and give it a read. Part 1/2 Part 2/2. John Seven reviews Jane Mai‘s latest outing, See You Next Tuesday on the Beat. See what all the hubbub is about for yourself! It’s the intimacy of what Mai covers that makes her work so accessible. A lot of the details are Mai-specific, but she is so giving with those details that a reader is able to think of their own versions, if there’s nothing exactly identical going on. So you may not cry on the toilet like Mai, but you may have some other secret ritual that belongs to you, exhibiting for your own disapproval a fleeting glimpse of your inescapable sadness. Sean Howe just uploaded some raw footage of a thirty-minute video interview with Stan Lee from the mid-1970s over on Youtube. It’s curious to see the Stan act turn on and turn off here and there during this interview. For the history buffs. Julie Delporte, Julie Doucet and Lynn Johnston weigh in on the debacle that is the Grand Prix D’Angoulême at the CBC, Canada’s national public radio broadcaster. Check out the whole article here. Julie Delporte: “Everything in history has been shaped by men,” she says. “If everything is chosen by men, and read by men, of course men’s works will be more appreciated.” Delporte sees inequality in Canada’s comic scene, too. She points to a recent study that shows female visual artists in Canada earn 35 per cent less income than their male counterparts (the overall income gap between men and women, according to the study, is 31 per cent). She also senses resistance within the upper echelons of the comic world. —————————————— We’d be remiss if we didn’t pass on John P.’s news: It’s official Membership cards for the King-Cat Fan Club are at the printers! You can sign up to support John Porcellino by contributing to his new Patreon site if you’re interested. Proceeds go towards helping John make more comics, run the Spit and a Half distro, and save for retirement! Why not support one of the patron saints of the american small press. www.patreon.com/johnporcellino Lastly, non-fiction cartoonists Josh Kramer and Em Demarco as starting a monthly round up of non-fiction comics. The CoJo List. If this sounds like something you want to submit work to, submit links to or stay up to date with, you ought to sign up for the newsletter. Em: The CoJo List is a roundup of recent nonfiction comics, including Comics Journalism (CoJo). They’re all journalism, documentary, or otherwise true. Not so much memoir — but exceptions are encouraged. From seasoned professionals to enthusiastic amateurs, here’s the best our fledgling genre has to offer. Josh: We’re on the lookout for the best true comics stories to tell people about, and we need your help! Email us at thecojolist@gmail.com with your suggestions. We especially encourage submissions by and about women, people of color, and LGBTQ folks. -jf Share this page: [...]

06/27/2018

Juan FernándezJune 27, 2018los Cómics / NewsToto Duarte y Camila Barrales, Rutu Modan entrevistada y Frank’s Cosmic Corner – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – La Polola #78 -Toto Duarte y Camila Barrales Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan los dibujantes Toto Duarte y Camila Barrales. Conversaron sobre formas de narrar, de mirar, de criticar y de cuestionar lo establecido a través de la gráfica, el fanzine y las auto publicaciones. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Entrevista con Rutu Modan: Jelena Arsić, Jotdown.es En tu cómic-blog del New York Times, Mixed Emotions, hablas simplemente de tu familia. ¿Son historias reales? Lo más que hago es cambiar los nombres, por lo general son historias reales. Toda ficción no deja de ser una mezcla de experiencias reales. Yo solo escondo un poco la realidad en una ficción. El origen es que me hicieron el encargo en el New York Times a modo de columna mensual. Trabajo muy despacio, vi que no me iba a dar tiempo y decidí tomar los guiones prestados de la realidad. Así iba a ser más fácil que se me ocurrieran ideas. Le fui dedicando una historia a cada miembro de mi familia. Como era en inglés, pensaba que nunca lo verían y me solté. Pero lo vieron. Por supuesto, lo encontró uno de mis primos y directamente se lo envió a toda la familia. Tengo un tío que todavía está enfadado conmigo porque le puse de «oveja negra». Cada vez que me ve me pregunta por qué. El resto, en cambio, están muy orgullosos de que cuente historias sobre ellos. Soy muy cercana a mi familia, a mis tíos y tías, y también a mi abuela, que ya está muerta, la protagonista de La propiedad. Cuando estaba escribiendo esa novela gráfica les preguntaba mucho por cosas, les pedía información, porque mi abuela ya había fallecido. Les hice como entrevistas a cada uno, porque sabían todas las anécdotas e historias que les había contado mi abuela. Cuando luego se vio que era un libro sobre Polonia y sobre la abuela, se quedaron muy decepcionados, porque pensaban que iba a ser sobre ellos. Se enfadaron, además, porque le cambié el nombre a la abuela. Un primo mío, que sale en la historia, ya se refiere siempre a la abuela por su nombre en La propiedad. Mi tío y su hija me decían que no les gustaba cómo la había representado, que ella no era así, que ni siquiera era su nombre. Pero es que no era la historia de mi abuela, era una historia construida a partir de la personalidad de mi abuela. Y ellos: «Ya, pero es que no es ella». – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Frank’s Cosmic Corner At Comics Workbook we are testing what it means to be a new kind of learning institution for comic book making. One of the many things we do at Comics Workbook is resell comics. Hop on over to @frankscosmiccorner on instagram and check out all the comics Frank Santoro has up for sale. You name it, we’ve got it! Lots of great mainstream and inside comics – lots of good-bad comics. All proceeds go to helping keep the lights on here at Comics Workbook, so your support is much appreciated! – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Suzy and Cecil – 06-27-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

03/19/2018

Caleb OrecchioMarch 19, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on a temporary comic book artist, Jeff Purves, and other news. ————————————————————————————————— I really liked Sally’s report last week on Paty Greer/Cockrum. I had a similar experience with a comic book artist’s name I did not recognize. For me it was the name “Jeff Purves” in a copy of The Incredible Hulk #349–I found that Purves, after some digging, had a 19-issue run on The Hulk in late 80’s with Peter David. He’s taking over after the McFarlane run, which is self-evident in the contrived effort of maintaining a McFarlane-y looking Hulk. That’s not a knock on Purves, just something I noticed. This is work-for-hire comics after all. When I initially read the issue, the layouts and action were interesting to me because the clarity and simplicity of the images wreaked of professionalism (as opposed to fanboy-gone-pro, though I’m not ruling that possibility out), which to me meant he had to be some sort of successful illustrator trying his hand at comics. I was more or less right. According to Lambiek and IMDb, he’s an animator. I mean, look at that Spider-Man above, the guy is clearly an educated drawer. I found Purves’ style to be bit stiff at first, but I think it had more to do with the inking of Terry Austin of issue 349; I eventually warmed up to the drawing and am now rather impressed by Purves’ professional, hired-gun vibe. I have a feeling Purves was pretty dependable schedule-wise due the successive amount of issues he contributed to. The work has both a sense of urgency and careful calculation like he knows how to bust out the good stuff that kids love, but ultimately understands that the issue must get out on time. Just thought this was interesting. I’m interested in these weird here-today-gone-tomorrow comic book artists (though nearly 2 years is not an amount of time to sneeze at), because it adds to the wacky history of comics. This guy probably wanted to draw comics as a kid but needed something more financially stable as an adult, so he quits comics and goes to work in animation on such titles as The Simpsons and Mulan. ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Dash Shaw on How to Read Nancy at The New York Review of Books. David Barnett offers up the possibility of Kirby finally getting the praise he deserves from the public at large due to the upcoming New Gods movie. Due to the popularity of his characters in the current line-up of Marvel movies, Jim Starlin allegedly has his own museum exhibit, according to Todd Allen at The Beat. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 3-19-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

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