Comics Workbook

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Posted in Festivals and ShowsTagged alyssa berg, cxc 2016

Alyssa Berg

Posted on October 22, 2016October 26, 2016

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12/01/2016

Sam OmbiriDecember 1, 2016NewsToday we have Sam Ombiri with a new comic and his thoughts on rereading, Tyler Landry on the movement in Ronald Wimberly’s comic page layouts, new work by Chris Visions and Tanna Tucker, the POW! Womxn in Comics and Illustration exhibition, details on pre-ordering “The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey” and your Santoro Correspondence Course reminder, plus the latest “Suzy and Cecil” strip. ————————————————————————————————— ReRun – Sam Ombiri Someone told me that, to them, rereading is like dreaming a dream you’ve had before. This person said it to me like it was something she often did. I’ve never experienced anything like that, where I have a “rerun” of a dream. I could relate to the idea of rereading being like revising a place you’ve been before. I don’t think I can come up with one specific motivation behind rereading. It’s something people do with different motivations. Sometimes rereading is like visiting a place, a kind of copy of the original moment, with intentions maybe of recreating the original feeling. Sometimes (while engaging with work in this manner) I find that I skip ahead to the best parts, then I feel like I’m betraying the re-creation, or maybe the form? I don’t know, but I feel like I’m doing something wrong. Sometimes it’s very fulfilling to read in this manner (of recreating the first reading), and sometimes reading work this way just ruins things. It can get really boring to just validate established feelings. Like really really really really boring. Or maybe not boring, just very bland. I think that’s why my short attention span kicks in, and I flip through mindlessly. Sometimes after going through this I reproach rereading and suddenly what I’m reading is not “ruined”. It’s like if you can be anywhere you want but it’s too dissatisfying and too easy to be everywhere, so any moment you encounter ends up feeling like…unearned? Kind of like how easy it is to get information now. So then it helps to navigate more delicately (that’s probably the wrong word). – Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— Tyler Landry here. Gonna talk about movement in comics page layouts, via the highly energetic work of Ronald Wimberly. Sequences are nabbed from Prince of Cats. Check it out: This sequence shows the beginning of a violent altercation, with heavily weighted forward (left to right) movement, bringing your eye ever-closer to the focus, the point, the unmistakable K-T-T-T- sound of a box-cutter blade being pushed up… At a glance, there’s a powerful “X” slash through this sequence. Corner to corner, face to action/face to action, crossing through the attacker’s antic. We can also interpret, by the facing direction, and the trajectory of character movement, an intention on Ronald’s part to guide our eye along certain lines. Through the 3 horizontal strips, we feel a rhythm to this motion as well – perfectly paced out in corresponding measures. Pink > blue, pink > blue, pink > bl-blue. This next sequence acts like a ball, thrown across the page at first, then bouncing from one figure to another – still with diligent respect for a vertical stack of horizontal movement. I’ve focused mostly on characters, because they are the primarily active elements here, but this sequence leverages the content of its backgrounds beautifully for the assist. Check out the train across the top panels, then the view of the platform in bright yellow in the middle section, hauling your eye heavily towards the bottom right chunk, where tension has been building. The details get smaller, tighter, more condensed, helping you FEEL that something’s about to go down. Different groupings of characters take on different palettes, and different tones to reinforce their presence, and to balance them against each other and their background content. – Tyler Landry ————————————————————————————————— Sally Ingraham here with the news bites! While we’re on the topic, get a copy of Ronald Wimberly’s Prince of Cats from Copacetic Comics (it’s not listed on the website yet, but you can order one over the phone – I can personally vouch for copies of the book being in the shop!) From a recent NPR write-up on the book: “…Wimberly is out to do something more than just combine elements from two compatible genres. He’s clearly aiming to translate the mechanics of hip hop composition into a visual form. In Prince of Cats‘ introduction, University of California media professor John Jennings calls Wimberly a “See-Jay:” Wielding his pen the way a DJ mixes, he mashes up wildly diverse elements into a fresh creation.” – Etelka Lehoczky for NPR.org Read the rest of the review HERE. ————————————————————————————————— If you’re in the Oakland, CA, area be sure to check out the POW! Womxn in Comics & Illustration exhibition at Studio Grand. The opening reception is Dec. 2nd 2016. From the exhibition description: “Comics and illustrations have long been a popular art form, intended to reach the masses. They easily engage audiences by the use of humor, cliffhanging narratives, relatable stories, all through captivating visual narratives. Comics and illustrations have often portrayed womxn in a hyper-sexualized manner and have not shown more developed female characters. Much of this is due to the comic book industry which has historically profiled work written and created by men. POW! seeks to center womxn comics and illustrators who hold the pen and the narrative. This Exhibition centers stories that concern womxn comics and illustrators offering transformative narratives, one where women characters—speaking of mental health struggles, struggles of poverty and survival, isolation, resiliency, sisterhood—are at the forefront. The POW! Exhibition and accompanying events offer a nurturing space of solidarity and healing, letting womxn know that they are not alone in their struggles and resiliency.“ Check out the list of exhibitors HERE. I heard about the event from Tanna Tucker, an illustrator who is turning her focus increasingly towards comics. (She may join us in Pittsburgh next spring for a Rowhouse Residency!) Her recent ongoing projects include a 7-part fantasy comic with Mark Turner and Orpheus Forge Studios called Sea Wulfe – you can check it out HERE. Here’s an “excerpt” from Tanna’s piece at the POW! exhibition: Come see this piece in its entirety next week at the “POW! Womxn in Comics + Illustration” show next Friday @studiograndoakland Listened to Solange the whole way……. • • • • #womxnincomicsandillustration #afrofuturism #comics #illustration #artistsoninstagram #studiogrand #solange #wip A video posted by @t.ann.a on Nov 23, 2016 at 7:44pm PST ————————————————————————————————— Here’s Chris Visions dropping that hot fire! Gotta get back, back to the past– // ChrisVisions.BIGcartel.com, coming tomorrow! // #samuraijack #aku #red #art #comics #process #wip #ink A video posted by Chris Visions (@chrisvisions) on Nov 30, 2016 at 6:19pm PST Follow this link to get yourself one of these “visions in red” but don’t sleep on this – these pages are selling out fast. ————————————————————————————————— Thee great Vanesa R. Del Rey has generously agreed to let Comics Workbook publish selections from her sketchbooks. We designed it to look like a 1980’s comic book artist’s art book. The text is a transcription of an interview she did at The Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency in 2016. Vanesa is a once in a lifetime talent who studied with George Pratt and who has worked with Grant Morrison. We are offering pre-orders now at a lower price than we will be offering the book for in the new year. Great stocking stuffer. Pre-order your copy of The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey HERE! ————————————————————————————————— December 1st! That means you have 13 days left to get an application in for the Winter term of the Correspondence Course if you want that sweet “$100 off” discount! More details below. The Winter Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers starts Dec. 29th 2016! 8 week course – 500 bux – 10 spots available – apply by Dec. 13th 2016 and get $100 off course fee! More details can be found HERE – or email santoroschoolATgmail. Santoro School Application guidelines: -3 figure drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards -3 landscape drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards -3 still life drawings done on blank 3 x 5 cards -draw in a contour line style – Think Matisse – no under-drawing – draw directly in ink -just send small jpgs of images – dont post to your blog pls -specific url links to any comics work you have done. Send applications to: santoroschoolATgmail ————————————————————————————————— The latest Suzy and Cecil strip by Gabriella Tito! Suzy and Cecil is a collaborative daily comic strip project based on characters invented by Bill Boichel and Frank Santoro. It is primarily drawn by Gabriella Tito and Sally Ingraham, who are teammates in the Comics Workbook Roller Derby League. The strip is part of their continuing development as cartoonists – follow @suzy_and_cecil on Instagram to see the project unfold and keep an eye out for guest strips drawn by other Comics Workbook students and friends! 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09/22/2016

Sally IngrahamSeptember 22, 2016NewsSally Ingraham here with Sam Ombiri, bringing you more highlights from SPX weekend and an examination of The Act of Seeing! ————————————————————————————————— SPX is always a whirlwind, but when that spinning vortex touches down now and then, you inevitably bump into someone cool. Frank careened into the great Chris Visions, who just released his Lunchtime Loosies Vol. 1 Deluxe Edition (get it here!) and Ronald Wimberly, who said that other conventions are good – but SPX is the one to beat! ————————————————————————————————— Down in the Comics Workbook workshop room the likes of Charles Burns, Carol Tyler, and Jeffrey Brown regaled folks with their pen and paper choices and other process and storytelling tips over SPX weekend. Cameron Weston Nicholson (pictured above) dug into the relationship between comics and music. “Comics are a symphonic mixture of picture & word. Geometry to form a melodic comic (as pictured above) the red is the “eye” or the “main tempo” the blue is the rhythm and the green activates the bass which brings you back to the beginning.” – Cameron Nicholson ————————————————————————————————— The Comics Workbook workshop space at SPX was also a great place to meet new people – Samuel Sharpe, a DC area cartoonist, attended a “hangout” session and got his first taste of the CW index cards method. He shared some of his own comics with us – More of Samuel Sharpe’s work can be found HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Back upstairs in the expo showroom, Shannon Wright was selling copies of her comic 4-99 (which you can get as a digital download HERE if you missed it at the show!) She was tabling with Chris Kindred, who was debuting Night Hunter at the show (also available as a digital download HERE). Another one of our Richmond, VA, friends – Richie Pope – was also there, showing off his recent killer illustration work. ————————————————————————————————— Whit Taylor was tabling as well, debuting her comic Wallpaper, and keeping her sharp eye on the show as a whole – we will be presenting a full report from her soon! She was interviewed by Jake Grubman at Comicsverse shortly before the show. “By nature, being an autobio cartoonist, it’s easier for me to reveal things about myself even though I’m shy by nature. It was kind of therapeutic for me to work through those things, and…the least I could do was produce something that could be helpful to other people.” – Whit Taylor Read the full article HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Switching gears from SPX coverage now – we have this week’s thoughts from Samuel Ombiri – The Act of Seeing I like the title of the coffee table book Nicolas Winding Refn put out last year – The Act of Seeing. I never think of reading or viewing something like it’s an action I’m performing. So this title brings with it a bunch of excitement for me, and it feels like a bit of a challenge. The book itself has a bunch of cinema posters from…the 60’s and 70’s maybe? He said he approached it no more different than the way he edits his movies. So then, what I wonder is, was he still following the same impulse of what his movies are about? That it’s more about what you don’t see than what you see, which creates, in his words “penetration of the mind”? It reminds me of something CF said, about how when he was younger, he was looking at catalogs of comics he couldn’t get. He would think about what the comic would be like based off the cover. I don’t remember whether he did it naturally out of impulse or if it was a conscious thing he did – I think he did it out of impulse. I kind of wonder if CF drew any comics based off what he thought was in those comics he couldn’t read; his comics have the energy, when I read it, where I feel it’s alluding to that comic book cover from that catalog he was reading (but I’m also imagining what that cover looked like, so I guess I’m just imaging reading it in whole different context…) Maybe this will make more sense; let’s say Refn puts together a catalog of movie posters he hasn’t seen (in the video above he said he only knows 10% of the movies in the poster book, but let’s pretend he knows 0%.) Now this next part is actually true – sometimes when he would have no direction for the movie he was making, so he would look to at the posters he was accumulating for the book for inspiration. He would use the posters of the movies he didn’t know and think about what movie they’d be. (I don’t know if he was using the supposed 90% mysterious posters for this process but let’s just suppose he was – this is part of his “penetration of the mind” spiel, that it creates a new idea). When I saw his new movie, I could imagine the poster he was looking at…the era it was alluding to…the theme…and like… the novelty of the time, from the image and the sound. I don’t want to fully grasp where it’s from, in fact I have no interest in watching these movies myself, not just because it ruins the mysterious quality, but watching those movies would just be reaaaal drag. They sound like the worst movies to watch, but that’s probably just my weakness as a viewer, but it is suddenly easier to watch them filtered through Refn. It’s also convenient, how he has pretty much taken every element that interested me in the posters. So it’s also a bit of shortcut, instead of sitting through those other movies. There are ones he alluded to that I like that are not in the same category of the movies in the book too. These allusions can give me a lot of energy and I really welcome that mystery as much as possible, but that mystery means that I’m also avoiding looking at good work. Anyways this supposed experience – I’ve had it too. I bet I’m not the only one who it has happened to, where I draw a comic, based off of what I think a show that hasn’t aired yet will look like. One time I realized I had done 300 pages without realizing it. – Samuel Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— Final note before we let you go – we now have both of Connor Willumsen’s new publications in hand! The brand new one – Portraits – and the super rare one – Swinespritzen – both limited editions, both incredible. Details about both and where to order them can be found HERE. Proceeds from these books will help send Connor to the UK for The Lakes International Comic Arts Festival in October! Share this page: [...]

05/09/2018

Juan FernándezMay 9, 2018los Cómics / NewsWomen Write About Comics, Vanesa R. Del Rey y Jordie Bellaire, Judith Gociol, Sindy Elefante, Daniel Jiménez, Klari Moreno y Lorenzo Montatore —————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: ~ en Español y “sometimes in English” ~ —————————————— Worth your time (& money): Women Write About Comics are raising funds to solve some tech issues. @womenoncomics is important for comics criticism and not a voice I’d like to see disappear. If you have a few spare dollars, I’m sure they’d appreciate them. The cost of moving WWAC to a new host, including all the background work to transfer seven years worth of archives, is more than we can handle on our own, so we’re asking for your help to get us over that initial hump. Our transition will also involve designing a layout that can handle the site. Donate today. —————————————— ¿Ya escucharon la cuarta entrega de #Womansplaining? Es sobre el papel de la mujer en el cómic colombiano y latinoamericano y tiene como invitados a Judith Gociol, Sindy Elefante, Daniel Jiménez – una conversación super, pero super enriquecedora. Tal vez uno de los nichos más permeados con la percepción de que eso “es cosa de hombres” es el cómic. Tal vez porque para muchos las historietas se limitan al universo de los superhéroes, o porque la idea del “comiquero” es la de un chico que se reúne con sus amigos a dibujar y a tomar cerveza. Sin embargo, desde hace algunos años, nombres como Power Paola, Sindy Elefante o Sofía La Watson han comenzado a sonar dentro de la escena editorial, no solo local sino también internacional. En este capítulo de Womansplaining hablamos con Sindy Elefante, autora de la novela gráfica Elefantes en el cuarto, con Judith Gociol, coordinadora del archivo de cómic de la Biblioteca Nacional de Argentina y con Daniel Jiménez, director de Entreviñetas sobre las diferentes maneras en las que la mujer hace parte del mundo del cómic. Una conversación sobre la rabiosa Helga, la esposa de Olafo, la hipersexual Yayita, la idea de que los cómics hechos por mujeres solo pueden ser autobiográficos y el importante papel de la mujer dentro de un universo en donde la autogestión es fundamental. Escúchenlo AQUI. —————————————— Muy informativa e interesante esta reseña sobre Redlands de Vanesa R. Del Rey y Jordie Bellaire en español, échale un vistazo: Tres brujas. La historia de todas las mujeres desde la Antigüedad. Sangre. Fuego. Venganza. Justicia. La sociedad contemplando su propio retrato de Dorian Gray. Establecido, pues, que las mujeres son las grandes destructoras y desestabilizadoras del mundo de los hombres, entramos por fin a hablar de Redlands, el primer tebeo guionizado por la colorista Jordie Bellaire (apoyada para desarrollar la historia por la ex-editora y amante de los batidos Heather Antos), e ilustrado por la dibujante cubana y valor en alza Vanesa R. del Rey. Desde las primeras páginas de esta serie queda establecido que las autoras han abrazado por completo todos los prejuicios y afrentas históricas contra la mujer y les han dado la vuelta para transformarlas en literales fuerzas de la naturaleza, encarnadas en tres mujeres muy diferentes. Léanlo todo AQUI. —————————————— En Revista Cactus 29, Klari Moreno se transmuta en Lorenzo Montatore en su entrevista dibujada. Estupendo. 100%. Léanlo la entrevista AQUI. —————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-9-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

8/1/2016

Juan FernándezAugust 1, 2016NewsJuan here with your news for the day: Caleb Orecchio Rowhouse Report; Mickey Z straight outta 2012; Bill Boichel reviews Stroppy; Tillie Walden dailies; Tucker Stone on The Factual Opinion; SDCC 2016 panels; AIGA on Koyama Press, Breakdown and Retrofit; new Street Angel from Jim Rugg; New Private Rowhouse Auction – 7.31-8.6 ————————————————————————————————— First up, we’ve a Rowhouse Residency report from Caleb Orecchio and Frank Santoro, live from the Rowhouse Residency in Pittsburgh, PA. ————————————————————————————————— Mickey Z – THROWBACK EDITION – 2012/2013 I’m happy to announce that we are featuring Mickey Z’s comics made for Comics Workbook in 2012 and 2013 on the site this week. There’s no one quite like Mickey Z: an inimitable, full force assault of joy and recklessness on graph paper. Jump in! The waters fine. ————————————————————————————————— Stroppy reviewed by Bill Boichel Bill Boichel’s got a killer review of Marc Bell’s Stroppy on the site this week. Few people can write as insightful reviews as Bill, so it’s an honor to be able to share his writing with you here. Stroppy channels the vigorous populist cartooning energy that can trace its roots back to the classic comics strips – especially the depression-era Popeye by E.C. Segar and Harold Grey’s Little Orphan Annie. This vital populism was an integral part of American life and lore, but with the advent of the war economy in the late-1930s, it was sublimated into the national war effort throughout the Second World War, and beyond. ————————————————————————————————— Tillie Walden Daily Comics Tillie Walden is an introverted comics workhorse. a deft image maker and even more cunning sequencer of images. Very smart, very intuitive. She’s been making posting comics like this every day over at her Patreon. If you’re interested in supporting her emerging talent give her Patreon a look and consider making a regular contribution to help her grow. ————————————————————————————————— Tucker Stone talks The Factual Opinion Sean Witzke interviews Tucker Stone about the past 10 years of founding and running The Factual Opinion. Fellow TFO authors Nina Stone, Abhay Khosla, Matt Seneca, Michel Fiffe, Morgan Jeske, Joe McCulloch, Chris Mautner and Marty Brown all chime in with their memories of writing by Stone’s side on the site. Interesting perspectives on the difficulties of cultural writing that spotlights comics. TS: The thing that makes a lot of comics arguments (especially the ones driven by the comics blogosphere) so fucking absurd was that it takes a solid 20 minutes to explain what drives them. You have to go so deep into the woods, explaining the subject matter, explaining why you dislike this one person and the website they write for, how that old irritation infects the current conversation you’re imagining having with them–it makes you sound crazy. The jump that I think I had to make–that I still have to make–is that is IS crazy. It’s fucking lunacy, completely, to act as if those little battles have any bearing on anything at all outside the bubble. Nobody outside this thing is ever going to comprehend what the hell you’re talking about if you try to explain why you don’t like the person who handles press releases about books they’ve never read at some website they’ve never heard of. I think that’s what makes it a little more fun and crazy (albeit very gross) right now, because you don’t actually have to read the comics anymore, you can just go after some assholes for the way they treat women. Nobody has to read DMZ anymore or The Massive or whatever bullshit, you can just all band together under the umbrella of thinking that it’s fucked up to get handsy with some lady at a bar under the pretense that you’ll get her an inking gig somewhere. I think that’s great! Nothing in comics was ever going to change for the better when you kept demanding people read these dopey things that come out infrequently, look like shit, cost too much, aren’t as entertaining as the most bottom rung television show, etc. We got rid of that barricade. Hell yes, I say! The wider cultural context thing that always got me was the way digital comics was gonna save something–that idea that you could put these things in a device capable of showing off the top tiers of media. What kind of lunatic is going to choose the New 52 version of Booster Gold over watching million dollar movie trailers? ————————————————————————————————— Sarah Ferrick’s Sec on Rookie Mag Rachel Davies shares her thoughts on Sarah Ferrick’s latest publication, Sec over at Rookie. As someone who really enjoyed this 2dcloud release from the winter, I highly encourage you to check out this review. If you’re interested in a comic that sets the bar for emotionally driven, visceral yet abstracted, sexual comics making, Sec is where it’s at. Sec somehow finds a way to flawlessly illustrate those moments when, laying in bed, I attempt to recreate one of my wildest dreams: I have all the words for it, know the specifics of the fantasy, yet I’m unsure of the visuals. ————————————————————————————————— SDCC 2016 Panels now online You can now tune into the many quality panels that were held at SDCC (July 20-24 2016) from the comfort of your home thanks to Jamie Coville. Here are some noteworthy listens to start you off right: We Need Diverse Comics The Complete Wimmen’s Comix: A Her-story Celebrating 40 years of Fantagraphics Daniel Clowes Spotlight Comics Arts Conference #11: Trina Robbins Spotlight ————————————————————————————————— AIGA on Koyama Press, Breakdown and Retrofit There’s a nice pice on AIGA’s Eye on Design blog that touches upon the heavy hitters of independent comics publishing that have been pushing the frontiers of the comics market. They talk about what separates small presses from their larger counterparts, the crossover appeal of small presses, broad mainstream misunderstanding of independent comics making and their motivating love of the medium. Kessler blames the mainstream media for the public’s misunderstanding. “Scott McCloud’s The Sculptor gets loads of coverage,” he says. “It’s terrible, that book. But The Guardian riffed on it quite a lot, and so did a lot of other papers. I spoke to a lot of people who picked it up because they wanted to get into comics and they just thought it was total shit. My grandma, who’s very literate and culturally engaged, wanted to get into comics, and instead of asking me what comics to read, picked up what The Guardian recommended, and was just so confused. She said she felt like a fool reading it. I just had to tell her that I agreed, it was shit, and I sent her some comics that I thought were good instead.” ————————————————————————————————— —————————————————————————— New Private Rowhouse Auction – 7.31-8.6 Last but not least, we have a new private auction up at auction.comicsworkbook.com! Lots of old and new comics for you to take home. Lots of you have been writing in and saying you want cheaper stuff to bid on. So we’re going to do this different this week. 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. —————————————————————————— until next time! jf Share this page: [...]

The Comics Code and the Patriarchy

Comics WorkbookApril 4, 2016EssaysClip from “Bill and Frank’s Excellent Romance Adventure” (vimeo.com/160250579), in which Bill expounds on the Comics Code as a defense against anti-authoritarianism and loose women. Share this page: [...]

Alyssa Berg on CXC 2016

Posted on October 22, 2016October 26, 2016 by Alyssa Berg

Editor’s Note: Alyssa Berg joined the Comics Workbook crew at CXC 2016 as one of our workshop leaders. Comics Workbook hosted four sessions over the course of the festival, and Alyssa presented on her process, her painted comics, and her use of the 4- and 9-panel grids. She led an exercise using the 4- and 9-panel grids that challenged and excited the attending comics makers, including students from the Columbus College of Art and Design.

A video from the exercise she led:

And now, the rest of Alyssa’s CXC experience in her own words.

My First Con

At the airport on my way home from Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, I bought a legal pad because I had accidentally checked my sketchbook in my suitcase. I wanted to record all of the details from my four days in Columbus ASAP – I didn’t want to forget any of the moments that made CXC such a wonderful experience. Over the past week I have been able to zoom-out and see what shaped many of my positive experiences: access to comics history and connecting with the comics community.

Upon arrival in Columbus, my first stop was the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. I appreciated having a couple days pre-expo to enjoy the reading room, archive and museum. The Winsor McCay exhibit was stunning. On the archive tour, it was amazing to be standing inside the chilly room filled with flat files, books and boxes that house the world’s largest cartoon & comics collection. I was able to see some rare gems at the Billy Ireland.

CXC was my first time taking part in a convention and I was struck by the spirit of the greater comics community. The people – comics-makers, event organizers, curators, publishers, students, teachers, librarians, and volunteers – all came together to celebrate comics and create an open and interesting atmosphere filled with great energy. There was a variety of events (including, of course, the book expo held over the weekend in the beautiful Columbus Metropolitan Library) where I had the pleasure of connecting and having conversations with many lovely comics-humans, including the Comics Workbook crew. Some strong bonds were formed, and I’m especially grateful for that.

Thank you to the organizers of CXC for hosting such a great event, thank you to the staff and volunteers at both the Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum & Library and the Columbus Metropolitan Library. Also a big thank you to Frank Santoro at Comics Workbook for sending me to CXC with the CW crew.

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Alyssa Berg makes comics in Brooklyn, NY. You can find her work HERE.

For the rest of our complete CXC coverage check out the special “round up” report HERE.

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in Festivals and ShowsTagged alyssa berg, cxc 2016

Alyssa Berg

Posted on October 22, 2016October 26, 2016

Explore

04/29/2016

Sally IngrahamApril 29, 2016NewsSally here, scattering news items all down the hall of the CW headquarters in my excitement to get the stack to you! We’ve got a new Brazilian Comics Scene Report, quick conversations with Erin Curry and Ben Sears, some wisdom from Alyssa Berg, insights from Hazel Newlevant, an exciting development from both Nils Balls and Jeff Smith, and, randomly, a bunch of origami. Dive in! ————————————————————————————————— The fantastic Anna Mancini is back reporting for Comics Workbook, bringing us an absolutely jaw-dropping roundup of Brazilian cartoonists and comics news – the biggest, baddest scene report you’re likely to see anytime soon. Past scene reports we’ve brought to you have been about a single US city – Anna’s report covers the entire country of Brazil, breaking it down by state and region. It is a wild, exciting ride that is sure to kindle your interest and make you seriously consider hopping on a plane and just going there. Check out the magnificent beast HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Erin Curry spent part of January and February of this year trying to get more in touch with snow and whiteness, via the tumble of Vermont’s (not very frozen, actually, this winter) hills and vales. The Vermont Studio Center just posted a report on the studio visit they paid her, and it is lovely to get a peak into her thoughts and process. This bit especially resonated – VSC: What does community mean to you? EC: The community I appreciate the most is the one of makers (broadly defined). We’re agents of reflection and agency in a culture that often turns to consumption of mass produced things and entertainment for fulfillment. It’s pretty revolutionary, yeah? And then! We get to have dialogue with the rest of our communities working towards better lives. Read the whole report HERE. Below is a comic Erin made for the 4PANELProject during her time in VT, which features, according to her, maybe the first figure to appear in her comics. ————————————————————————————————— Inverse did a quick interview with Ben Sears this week, in anticipation of the release of Night Air, coming in May from Koyama Press. They delve into the origins of the story, discuss the “all-ages” aspect of Ben’s work, and listen to the track (also called Night Air) by Tortoise that evokes the mood of the book. And of course – Do you have any favorite illustrations in the book? Whenever the characters are walking into a new place, or just silently exploring, that’s my favorite stuff to draw. I’m really proud of the panels of them running around town, walking into Apple Town at night, and coming up on the castle. If I had the time and financial backing, I would do a whole comic like that. I certainly hope he can do that someday – but until then we can savor those panels in Night Air while listening to this: ————————————————————————————————— Alyssa Berg released the first installment in a series of process meditations today, written exclusively for Comics Workbook. Her thoughts were inspired by a visit to a local museum. The visit to the Rubin brought my attention to ritual, meditation and devotion in artistic practice – in other people’s practice and my own. The daily act of going to my desk and preparing the space is an important ritual. It is the practice before the practice, the thing I do before I do the thing I do. Is calling my studio area a sacred space too heavy-handed? Well, my hands are heavy holding all this Palo Santo and sage that I am burning to clear any bad vibrations from the aforementioned sacred space. Considering that such preparations help Alyssa produce the type of exquisite work that she is known for (see below)…everyone should attend to her words – and look forward to the rest of this series. Check out all of Part One HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Hazel Newlevant revealed another page from her comic Finding Place, which will be published in the ALPHABET anthology of queer cartoonists. The story as a whole is about falling in love with comics and with girls, but this page is pointed more at some of the weird realities of being a cartoonist. You can read the first 3 pages of the story HERE. Hazel is the editor of the anthology Chainmail Bikini, which was successfully Kickstarted and printed last year. She won a Queer Press Grant in 2013, which allowed her to make If This Be Sin, and set her on the path to support other up-and-coming queer cartoonists – and I have to say, “Thanks for what you do, Hazel!” ————————————————————————————————— Nils “Balls” Hanczar has been sitting in on Pittsburgh City Council meetings for a long time, and it’s not surprising that he makes cartoons about them. Nils is the creator of the You Can Did It comics and the epic Ship of Soiled Doves, and now The Glassblock is taking him on as their official “City Council Cartoonist”. This should get interesting! ————————————————————————————————— I am beside myself with excitement over this recent announcement – Jeff Smith is bringing us a little bit more BONE! Bone:Coda will be released in July, and it sounds wicked. 25 years after the first black & white issue of the self-published comic book BONE appeared on comic shop shelves, and over a decade since the concluding chapter comes a new (and completely superfluous!) adventure featuring the Bone cousins! Ride along with the boys and their friend Bartleby the Baby Rat Creature as they brave the dangerous journey across the desert back to Boneville in their rickety cow cart. The book will include the complete, and now fully illustrated, The BONE Companion by Stephen Weiner, as well as a plethora of behind the scenes photos and memories from Jeff. I pretty much can not wait! ————————————————————————————————— All right, all right, I’ll shut my trap after this and let you alone for the weekend…but lastly, I want to share a different approach to paper. Origami artist Sipho Mabona has been folding paper since he was a child, and as you can see above, he’s pretty good at making paper figures. However, it’s what he’s doing after he folds something up that interests me. He unfolds it…and makes a whole other sort of art. These are the creases left by folding his Cicada design, and this is the piece that gets framed. Below is his Hermit Crab, flattened. In the tags for the piece below, Sipho uses #sequence and #evolution, in addition to #creasepattern, and somehow it all comes back to comics… Check out more of Sipho’s work HERE. ————————————————————————————————— That’s a wrap on April for us here in the Comics Workbook newsroom! Spring is undeniable now, despite occasional cold spells and snow storms, and we’ll be back in May to put the garden in and water the seedling comics. Until then, cheers! – Sally Share this page: [...]

10/06/2017

Sally IngrahamOctober 5, 2017NewsSally here with original artwork by some rad ladies, a bit more about CXC 2017, and other comics news. ————————————————————————————————— To pick up where I left off last week…at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, in Columbus, OH, or thereabouts… In the midst of the CXC excitement last Friday afternoon, I found time to poke around in the Reading Room at the BICLM, and although my eyes strayed to huge Prince Valiant originals and Noel Sickles paintings, and I was distracted by the comments of Mimi Pond and Chris Ware and Derf Backderf as they circled the room simultaneously…I was able to zero in on some fantastic pages by several of the female cartoonists I write about here all the time (see the Mary Fleener page above). I believe many of the pages that I got to enjoy were from a recent donation, part of a 113-piece collection given to the BICLM this past summer by Scott Jonas. Above is one of Aline Kominsky-Crumb‘s earliest comics. Below are pages by Dori Seda, and Lynda Barry. Here’s the lovely Mimi Pond looking at pages in the Reading Room: This is easily my favorite thing about Cartoon Crossroads Columbus – you have the chance to hang out with your peers and your heroes as you all share together the experience of looking at artwork by the cartoonists who came before us. Everyone exclaims. Everyone cries. It’s wonderful. Then too you can learn from each other and share the things of your heart/hands. I attended Leslie Stein‘s watercolor demo and appreciated getting to see her process and listen to her stories. So did Signe Wilkinson, the Pulitzer-prize winning editorial cartoonist, and afterward in her turn Signe shared her experiences in the trenches and a whole other world of cartooning. And then when my own number was called, on Saturday afternoon when our Comics Workbook-featured workshop leader Connor Willumsen was needed for a panel, I stood up and led a workshop on comics-making. Making comics in isolation still has its place, but increasingly it seems that if we want to keep this community thriving, it’s got to really embrace its punk side. Share and share alike. Growth, education, everyone lending a hand in order to keep these plates spinning. Cartoon Crossroads Columbus feels like a show that is constantly striving to embrace that spirit. For more on the show please see Caleb’s beautifully exuberant Monday morning post, HERE, and Adam Griffiths’ detailed and thoughtful notes on his own experience, HERE. ————————————————————————————————— I have to touch on Connor Willumsen’s Comics Workbook-hosted workshops at CXC, as that is where I spent much of my time on Sat./Sun. of the show. Connor had workshops almost every hour during the show those two days, and he was able to translate his thoughts on shoebox vs. “forensic” comics-making to audiences made up of all adults, as well as a lively group of kids during one workshop. Here’s a “forensic”-style comic by Zoey (which really is how most kids make comics): I will be cutting together a highlights reel of Connor’s workshop, so keep an eye out. Many thanks to Tom Spurgeon and the other CXC organizers for providing us with the space to bring this transformative take on comics-making to Columbus, OH. Back again next year for more! For the record, you can get a really unique package of Connor Willumsen books and zines right now from Comics Workbook – full details on the official “Anti-Gone Bundle” can be found HERE. ————————————————————————————————— News of Note from Elsewhere This is cool (but also annoying in its way) – Marvel canceled The Black Panther series recently, but now Paste Magazine announces that Marvel has hired the incredible Nnedi Okorafor to write a new Black Panther series (for digital publication on Marvel and ComiXoligy) – full details HERE. The Comics Journal has an interview with the unstoppable Tillie Walden – try to catch up with her, HERE. Also, this came out while I was at CXC, so if you too missed it be sure to check out the interview with Sophie Foster-Dimino conducted by Annie Mok on tcj.com. Check out Leela Corman‘s latest comic on The Nib – It Only Masquerades as Entertainment. Laurel Lynn Leake writes about Ariel Ries‘ webcomic Witchy, using the comic to comment on ideas of power and uselessness. Pretty interesting – read it HERE. Hit your translation button to read this German review of Ulli Lust‘s new book (compared favorably to work by Chester Brown and Jason Lutes, although Ulli isn’t sure she agrees with the Lutes comparison!) – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 10-6-2017 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

06/23/2017

Sally IngrahamJune 23, 2017NewsSally here with plenty of things to dig into this week – Jenny Zervakis’ The Complete Strange Growths; the new Warmer anthology; a lively discussion of “youth-comics”; and much more. ————————————————————————————————— The Complete Strange Growths 1991-1997 by Jenny Zervakis (lovingly published by John Porcellino via Spit and a Half Distro, 2017) is one of the best collections of comics that I have read in some time. The 13 issues capture the story arc of a few years of Jenny’s life, finding and illuminating incidental moments and making a world out of visits to botanical gardens, a trouble-making brother, the war-time Spam eaten by a Greek father, road trips, comic con visits, and fever dreams. The drawing isn’t interested in itself, it is merely a vessel there to hold and pour out stories – and therefore the drawing is full of life and perfect small details. The collection also captures the time it was made in and for – 90’s mini-comic culture, the rush of making and giving away zines on a regular basis, the fun of mailing a letter and a stamp to a maker and getting back their latest effort. Influenced by the work of Harvey Pekar, and an inspiration to the likes of John Porcellino, Jenny was riding some quality currents. In a way Strange Growths is also a comic that I feel like I’ve been searching for since I embarked on a study of alternative comics (and ones made by women, specifically). The poetry, the thoughtfulness, the desire to capture the mood of a moment…I was certain that there were women who were making work like this in the 90’s, who were making comics that weren’t as focused on the body and the blunt reality of being female. While I am interested in comics about sex, body image, and self-esteem, I’m even more interested in what the bus driver has to share, dreams about grandmothers, and interactions with nature. There is a different mystery and truth to discover there, and Jenny is tapped into that font of wisdom in a way that I aspire to. I loved The Complete Strange Growths, and put it immediately on my shelf next to Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life by Ulli Lust, Gast by Carol Swain, and One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry. You can get a copy of the comic from Copacetic Comics, or from Spit and a Half. For a much less subjective review of the book, check out Rob Kirby’s thoughts over on The Comics Journal. ————————————————————————————————— Abraham Riesman writes about the rise of “youth-comics” on Vulture, citing them as the driving force behind sales and interest in the medium at the moment. “Eva Volin, a librarian based in Alameda, California, told me, “We’re in the middle of a graphic-novel renaissance inasmuch as not only are kids reading comics, but comics are being written for kids.” ” “At a glance, it all makes perfect sense. Why wouldn’t young readers gravitate toward a medium that can so brilliantly mix visuals and text in a way that makes a story relatively easy to digest? And why wouldn’t publishers cater to them? And yet, up until recently, there was a near-total disconnect between kids and comics.“ Riesman notes that the shift began with manga, the forever disdained comics medium which many (librarians) turned their noses up at. In a Twitter response to thoughts along these lines, Landry Q. Walker (creator of many “youth-comics”) affirmed that it was manga that made the difference – although the effect wasn’t felt immediately because…manga. “Over 15 years ago I spoke to a comics club at a high school – all girls. I talked about this at a panel at SDCC, and the crowd got angry. The consensus of the crowd was that these girls weren’t reading “real comics”. Just manga. And for some reason, this was “bad”. All those years of discussion on “how do we get girls to read comics”. They were, but apparently they were doing it “wrong”? WTF? It’s this failure to embrace trends that is choking the life out of the mainstream comics industry. The fear of change.“ It took the appearance of Bone by Jeff Smith and Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm and her brother Matthew Holm to really start the engine in the mid-2000’s. Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese was the first comic-book finalist for the National Book Award. And then came Raina. Abraham Riesman likens Raina Telgemeier to Elvis – and makes a good argument for it. Read the rest of his excellent article on the “youth-comics explosion” HERE. Over on The Comics Beat Heidi MacDonald is also looking at the numbers, and seeing similar trends in comics readership. She offers up the top 5 bestsellers on the Bookscan chart for last week: “1. BITCH PLANET, VOLUME 2: PRESIDENT BITCH 2. MY LESBIAN EXPERIENCE WITH LONELINESS 3. WONDER WOMAN VOL. 1: THE LIES 4. WONDER WOMAN VOL. 2: YEAR ONE 5. MARCH: BOOK ONE” Delving into the intricacies of each publication for a minute, and quoting Abraham Riesman’s article a bit, Heidi then offers up her own response (with me in the background waving pompoms and punching the air): “Let me spell it out for you: girls and women, black and white, cis and trans alike, are the driving force behind comics readership expansion. This has been happening for a while, but it’s a full on avalanche now. It’s also something I saw coming 25 years ago. (No one else is gonna pat me on the back so I gotta do it myself.) Seeing the devoted fandoms that female content-consumers developed for anything that interested them, ESPECIALLY genre material like paranormal romance, horror and fantasy – I had a hunch that once they turned their spotlight on comics, the full force of female fandom would bowl over the fragile shreds of male safe spaces like a Mack truck through a pile of empty Axe cartons. What does this shift mean? Well, for one thing, it means that Marvel–and DC too! – had better start paying attention to new readers instead of pandering to the dwindling ranks of AARP-card carrying pap-pap Bronze Agers. I mean, I know it’s hard to move beyond your own viewpoint, but business is business.“ Read the rest of Heidi’s thoughts HERE. As for me, I’m off to CCS in a week to attend a workshop/think-tank with New Yorker art editor Françoise Mouly, who among numerous other ventures, is the driving force behind the publishing company for early readers called Toon Books. I plan to spend a lot more time and energy thinking about this stuff and probably making comics for, and with kids in the future. ————————————————————————————————— The Huffington Post featured the comics anthology Warmer which is being edited by Madeleine Witt and Andrew White. “In an interview with HuffPost, White said, “As co-editors of Warmer, Madeleine and I wanted to make a book to offer comfort for those already fearful about climate change. So for the most part, Warmer doesn’t aim to convince anyone of anything. We imagined Warmer in part as a book that will function to encourage and support activists; to comfort those who, like ourselves, are wrestling with the grief of climate change.” “ There is an excerpt from the collection accompanying the feature, with comments from the makers. Check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Noticed via Facebook – Caitlin McGurk was unpacking a new collection of art recently donated to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. “…incredible collection of original cartoon art just donated. Phoebe Gloeckner! Dori Seda! Carol Lay! Lynda Barry! Roberta Gregory! Mary Fleener! And more! 113 original pages by 15 amazing women.” “I could spend the rest of my career writing about the stuff in this collection that was just donated to The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum… maybe I will!” – Cairlin McGurk I smell a new exhibit, and it’s one I will be at the opening for…! ————————————————————————————————— Fish and Chips Bill Boichel reviews Boundless by Jillian Tamaki for the Copacetic Comics website – we’re sharing the review HERE on the site. BookRiot interviews Grace Ellis and Shae Beagle, creators of Moonstruck – HERE. Cory Doctorow reviews Emil Ferris‘ My Favorite Thing is Monsters on BoingBoing. The Comics Beat reviews new comics by Laura Kenins, Sophie Yanow, and Tyler Landry. Sacha Mardou recently revisited a comic from 2015 about her pregnancy – it originally appeared on Mutha Magazine, but is seen here on Narratively. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-23-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-23-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

09/06/2018

Juan FernándezSeptember 6, 2018NewsJuan here announcing the winners of the 2018 Composition Competition! – – – – – – – – – – Congratulations to ALL who created and submitted work for this year’s composition competition! This year saw a move away from the previous years’ use of Tumblr as the dominant platform of digital media publishing and towards Instagram. A different platform invites different constraints. Instagram functions as a hyper-customizable newspaper that gets updated vigorously and endlessly. This year’s use of Instagram begged for a return to the building blocks of comics, thus the creation of comics strips. Details on this year’s criteria are available HERE. _____________________ First Place – A Weeklong Residency at the Rowhouse Residency in Swissvale, PA. Cory Feder Our decision to award Cory Feder First Place recognizes Feder’s creation of an ambitious yet simple, multi-layered poetic sequence that cuts through notions of language. This is the kind of strip that can be read and re-read ad infinitum to continue gleaning new meaning. Feder’s comic is the kind offhand remark, the cadence of which, you keep thinking about for years. This complex concoction of intuitive drawing and deft use of juxtaposition made for a winning combination. _____________________ Second Place – A collection of gag comics by the Comics Workbook gang Julian Fiebach In Second Place, Julian Fiebach’s “The Worker”clearly embodies excellence in both conception and execution of the classic 4 panel gag. Here is a testament to the raw power of smart minimalism in cartooning. These strips accomplish universally relatable expressions of the many ways that we engage in (and avoid) work in our lives through a pattern language pared down to its essentials. _____________________ Third Place – An original portrait by Audra Stang Will M. The Comics Workbook Competition’s Third Place, “BALLS”, offers an off the wall bit of nonsense. It’s a bizarre laugh that holds together quite well as an absurd re-interpretation of elements Charles’ Schulz world of Peanuts. It carries echoes of grief that crash into pure, unexpected, absurdity. This is a collection of visual chuckles, that accumulate to an absurd 4 panel sequence. A glorious bit of nonsense that begs the question, “WHY?”. _____________________ Honorable Mention Antoine Rigalleau David Craig Chris Jones _______________________ It is our belief that artistic creation is a two way street. An artist, or any other creator, grows in the process of creating; the greater the efforts, the greater the growth. By this measure, comics creators in general – and those who submitted work to this competition in particular – are growing by leaps and bounds, and so, by definition, is the comics form; as in the final analysis, the value of a form is coincident with the work that it contains. 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 – 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. _______________________ What I liked about the three winners is a strong sense of intuition and control. I see this aspect in the work of the honorable mentions. This year the judges looked at the entries and tried to frame the winners in a way that reflects the multifaceted jewel that is the world of comics creation in 2018. Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s contest. And to everyone who may have begun their comic but did not finish it or enter it, please finish it and post it, and we will do our best to get it seen. Tag your post with #compositioncompetition2018 on Instagram. Juan Fernandez, Pittsburgh PA ___________________________ The restrictions placed upon the contest entries were derived from The Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers. It is our firmly held belief here at Comics Workbook that restrictions such as the grid are ultimately freeing. We also believe that timing is the essential ingredient to making great comics. How do you study and practice timing in comics? You use the grid. _____________________________ Please check out the complete list of entries for 2018 at the following link! All Entries. _________________________ Check out past competition winners and entries: 2013 – 2014 – 2015 – 2016 – 2017 ————————————————————————————————— Cement Mixer – 9-6-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

02/03/2017

Sally IngrahamFebruary 2, 2017NewsSally here with plenty of good company to help kick off your weekend – Annie Koyama, Vanessa Davis, Kate Beaton, Marie Duval, Sofie Louise Dam, Shreyas Krishnan, Gabriella Tito, and more! ————————————————————————————————— Happy 10th Year Anniversary to Annie Koyama and Koyama Press! Despite Kickass Annie’s grumpy appearance (above), she promises many sweet things to come in the next months. We can hardly repay you for being there for the comics community, for your faith in us all, and for the energy and passion you’ve given so freely for a decade. We can only say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! ————————————————————————————————— The Ley Lines 2017 Subscription has been announced. Ley Lines comes from Kevin Czap and L. Nichols – it is a quarterly publication that explores the intersection of comics and other art forms and cultures. Four artists pick subjects that interest them and then compose work that compliments and describes their subject. This year Ley Lines will feature Tommi Parrish on William Blake/Lydia Lunch (February 2017), Eric Kostiuk Williams on Kylie Minogue (May 2017), Shreyas R. Krishnan on Abida Parveen (August 2017), and Evan Dahm on the Surrealists (November 2017). Get your Ley Lines 2017 Subscription HERE. I am particularly interested in seeing Shreyas Krishnan‘s book. She is an illustrator, educator, and visual journalist who started making comics more recently – her comic Becoming Rosie won the MoCCA Arts Fest Award of Excellence last year. See more of her work HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Sofie Louise Dam has a new comic on The Nib – it’s about Denmark’s move to take “being trans-gendered” off of all lists of mental disorders. Although Denmark is the first nation in the world to do this, Sofie details why that in itself isn’t nearly enough. More HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Vanessa Davis spoke to Paste about her comic Spaniel Rage, which was published in 2005 but is due to be re-released by Drawn & Quarterly this month. Vanessa talks about what it’s like to look back on work drawn over a decade ago, and the progression of her process since then. The diary comics that make up Spaniel Rage were in fact the very first comics she ever made. “Paste: You mention in your new two-page intro comic that you didn’t know how to make comics when you started this project. How did you learn how to do that? Did you grow up reading comics? Davis: I read Archie comics and Calvin and Hobbes and Garfield, but went to art school from 7th grade onwards, and was really encouraged to abandon anything comics- or illustration-influenced. I always had a cartoony “style” and that was always considered a handicap in my drawing abilities. In college I finally had a couple of teachers who finally just allowed that I knew how to draw as well as I was ever going to, and that the next thing to wrangle was my voice and perspective.“ A comic a day for a month (at a time in her life when the idea of drawing within panels seemed about as impossible as becoming a brain surgeon…!) put Vanessa on a path that she’s remained on to this day. And even if there are things about the Spaniel Rage comics that she might wish she could change, or would do differently now, she’s still glad to have them. “Some people have tattoos they regret—I have comics. But we’re still all going to dance our mistakes around from time to time.“ Read the rest of the interview HERE. See some of Vanessa’s recent short work HERE. ————————————————————————————————— There is still time to submit work for The Strumpet #5 – the theme for this issue is “Origin Stories”, and the deadline is March 1st 2017! “The Strumpet is a transatlantic annual focusing on women telling stories in comics, edited by cartoonists Ellen Lindner and Glynnis Fawkes (as well as, in prior issues, editrix emeritae Jeremy Day and Kripa Joshi). Despite ENORMOUS progress made by women in comics in the last two decades, we still feel that there’s a bit of a lag between the number of women we know who are doing comics (a lot) and those who are getting published regularly (not always a lot). At the end of the day, we can all use another deadline, and a prompt to do new and interesting work. And that’s where The Strumpet comes in.“ Submission details HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Anthologies like The Strumpet are in the tradition of the very first all-girls comics publication, It Ain’t Me, Babe, (1970). The Strumpet is in fact the continuation of Whores of Mensa, which was the brain-child of Mardou. She wanted a publication for women’s comics that was BOTH sexy and clever. As Jeremy Day wrote in a brief history of both The Strumpet and Whores of Mensa: “We wanted to tease apart the idea (and it is a dominant one, especially in comics) that people need to chose between being sexy and being clever. We wanted a comic that wore glasses and got passes; that was cunning, but also stunning.“ You can read about The Strumpet #1 HERE at The Comics Journal. I have been spending a lot of time lately digging up anthologies like these. They are incredible time capsules of various moments in comics history, preserving work by women who made mini comics in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s – pre-internet-publication days – as well as the early 2000’s. The catalog of work that each collection represents is fantastic. Other anthologies that I’ve rediscovered include Action Girl Comics, which was published between 1994 and 2000 and was edited by Sarah Dyer, and Girltalk (1995-96) edited by Isabella Bannerman, Ann Decker, and Sabrina Jones. And of course there are the groundbreaking publications like Wimmen’s Comix (1970-1991), Tits & Clits Comix (1972-1987), and Twisted Sisters (1976, 1994). There are many more – I just haven’t gotten my hands on them yet! ————————————————————————————————— There is a terrific article about Marie Duval over on Atlas Obscura. Lauren Young writes at length about this forgotten 19th century female cartoonist, who helped bring to life one of the first reoccurring characters in comics history – Ally Sloper. Marie Duval’s husband, Charles H. Ross, was the editor of Judy, a magazine that was a “cheap rival to the likes of popular magazines Fun and Punch, catering towards a primarily lower and middle class and female audience.” While Ross did create and draw the character Ally Sloper first, it was Marie Duval who developed and popularized the strip, doing the bulk of the drawing. ” “Marie Duval is important not only as perhaps Europe’s only popular female caricaturist, and not only as the chief author of the first Sloper,” wrote Kunzle. “She also deserves recognition for her graphic experimentation in an early period of the birth of modern art.” “ Read more about this rad lady HERE. And check out the Marie Duval archive HERE. (Thanks to The Comics Reporter for finding this piece!) ————————————————————————————————— The Last Cheerios Kate Beaton compiled her annual Holiday Comics – read them all HERE. Lauren Weinstein‘s comics on The Village Voice are pretty melancholy these days. Read Normal Person: The Future... Iona Fox tells the story of a guy who successfully organized other undocumented dairy workers and won the right to a drivers licence while changing the structure of policing in Vermont – Part 1 is HERE. Hyperallergic wrote about Gina Wynbrandt and her “pleasantly uncomfortable and brash” comics. Shoutout to Lady’s Comics, a collective from Brazil! Ink Brick is doing a Kickstarter campaign for Issue 8, which will debut in stores around the country this fall. Support the project. ————————————————————————————————— Check out The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey! We designed it to look like a 1980’s comic book artist’s art book. The text is a transcription of an interview she did at The Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency in 2016. Vanesa is a once in a lifetime talent who studied with George Pratt and who has worked with Grant Morrison. Get a copy of this book HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-3-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-3-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

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