Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Chris Anthony Diaz

Posted on October 29, 2016December 13, 2016

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05/10/2017

Juan FernándezMay 10, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con los vanguardistas; Vanesa R. Del Rey; La Polola; Ana Tijoux; Alexis Ziritt; Elizabeth Casillas; Carla Berrocal; Fabian Rangel Jr.; y los tebeos de Comics Workbook. ————————————————————————————————— AvanGard – Y Que? Gerardo Vilches escribe sobre la vangardia contemporanea y internacional de los cómics. Su evolucion, su role y su crítica. Hoy existe una generación de autores que no responden al clásico perfil de fan que sueña con trabajar con sus personajes favoritos y replicar aquello que cautivó su imaginación de niño. Por el contrario, muchos de los artistas de vanguardia provienen de otros campos de expresión, han estudiado Bellas Artes, puede que no hayan leído cómic hasta que una novela gráfica cayó en sus manos de jóvenes adultos y no se sienten en absoluto obligados a respetar ningún canon. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey La gran Vanesa R. Del Rey le ha dado permiso a Comics Workbook para publicar unas selecciónes de sus cuadernos de bocetos. Hemos diseñado esta publicación para que parezca uno de esos libros de de artistas los años 80. El texto es una transcripción de la entrevista que hicimos con Vanesa cuando visito la Residencia Rowhouse en 2016. Vanesa es un artista impresionante y inigualable, quien estudió con George Pratt y quien a dibujado con Grant Morrison. Estamos ofreciendo compras adelantadas a un precio reducido. Sigan a Vanesa por Instagram – @vrdelrey – y http://vrdelrey.com/ Le pedimos a nuestro director, Frank Santoro que nos contara un poquito sobre la fuerza feroz y imparable que es Vanesa R. Del Rey. FS: “Vanesa, I’m quite taken aback by your sheer technical ability which seems to be married to a poetic sensibility. There’s a lightness there. Sometimes illustrators with that ability get heavy-handed. Yet you manage the push-pull between these two sides of yourself–because you’re like a samurai. The humble samurai.” VRDR: “It’s about trying to remember that. I can get all this praise, I can get all these amazing responses from strangers, but at the end of the day—I’m still a student. I’m still learning. The crown doesn’t fit. The crown should never fit.” Este intercambio viene de una entrevista que Frank hizo con Vanesa R. Del Rey, que occurio en la Residencia de Comics Workbook en Pittsburgh, PA USA. 2016. FS: Me encontré por primera vez con VRDR en un festival de cómics en Toronto (TCAF) en 2014. Había empezado a hacer comics profesionalmente después de un período como un animadora. Fui Sorprendido por su la capacidad de ser como un camaleón de cambiar de estilos, y por su puesto le pedí ver más de sus obras. Desenterró pilas de cuadernos de dibujos de sus días en Cuba, cuando estudiaba el realismo soviético y de trabajaba con George Pratt, maestro de cómics pintados. La educación de Vanesa como artista hace el balance suavemente entre los niveles alto y bajo del arte, así como los valores estéticos del este y el oeste. Es una base asombrosa. Ella es, a la vez, consciente de la historia del arte, la historia de los cómics y la historia de la animación de una manera NUEVA que casi parecía imposible hace quince o veinte años. Debo admitir como un estudiante y fan de cómics que se enfocan en la mezcla de “alto y bajo” y en ” los cómics pintados” — Nunca he visto tal mezcla de habilidades al nivel de VRDR. Feroz. Imparable. Un competidor feroz. Michael Jordan-esque? ¿Es eso posible en la fabricación de cómic? Siempre he dicho que habría un “invasor vertical” en los cómics que podría emplear el “naturalismo” de la escuela de Noel Sickles / Alex Toth pero que podría pintar como una Alice Neel o una Jenny Saville. Creo que “el invasor” ha llegado en forma de Vanesa R. Del Rey. Puedes comprar tu copia AQUI¡ ————————————————————————————————— 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! En este capítulo las chicas conversan con Ana Tijoux acerca de sus inicios en el rap, su forma de hacer canciones, su vida como inmigrante, la diversidad y mucho más. . Alexis Ziritt os ofrece una serigrafia bien chula del forro de Space Riders #3. Blanco y Negro. Liempo. Poderoso. En la nueva ediction de Revista Cactus, Elizabeth Casillas os trae lo más transgresor e innovador del cómic actual. Pura vanguardia. Ya hace tiempo, las editoriales en Colombia le apuestan a las novelas gráficas, fanzines y libros ilustrados. Conozca cuáles son. The Fine Art Collective ES entrevisto a Carla Berrocal. Fabian Rangel Jr.‘s new comics series “Helena Crash” gets a micro-review. It’s pulse pounding, caffeine fueled, sword swinging, machine-gun firing, car crashing sci-fi adventure comic. You know the type. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 5-10-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-10-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 5-10-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

Anthologies

Comics WorkbookMay 1, 2017EssaysRM Rhodes – curator of the Heavy Metal Magazine tumblr – brings some thoughts on the history of anthologies. ————————————————————————————————— Anthologies and episodic publishing arrived in Western Europe at more or less the same time, which makes sense. When you have four partial stories, it’s easier to bundle them together in a common publication and tell customers that the next installments will be available in a week or a month. And it’s less risky to convince a reader that has already bought the first part of a story to buy the next part than it is to convince a reader to buy a story they’ve never seen. My point is that the anthology has been around for ages. It’s a very old, very versatile, very robust format. And that’s what makes the format interesting. First, let’s talk terms. An anthology is a collection of short works. In this context, the works are comics, sequential art, visual narrative, comics-adjacent storytelling, informatics and some other lumpy labels for stuff that tells a story with pictures. The meaning of “short” varies greatly. Half and full page stories are common. As are stories that last dozens of pages. Notice that there’s no requirement about whether the stories have to be complete. Nor is there one about whether the anthology is standalone. It is very common for anthologies to be released periodically over a pre-advertised schedule (usually weekly or monthly or some multiple thereof). And is also common for stories to be told episodically over the course of multiple sequential installments. An anthology that met that criteria would then be an episodic periodical. But that term also fits the description of most magazines and publications – many of which are, in their own way, anthologies. If nothing else, precision of terminology will keep you from getting ripped off. This highlights one of the most intriguing aspects of the anthology format – the flexibility. Everyone and his brother has put together an anthology, but there is always the comfort in knowing that anyone can put one together. It’s an easy choice for what to do with random bits and bobs that don’t fit anywhere else. It’s also a great way to spread the risk inherent in publication around a bit. The more people in an anthology, the more people have a vested interest in its success. There are a huge number of decisions available to make: page size, page count, color vs b&w, binding, theme, creators, compensation, funding, printing, advertising, distribution. There is never a good reason to make an anthology, but every comics creator should try to organize one at least once in their life – it’s a very practical lesson in logistics, organization, motivation, and frustration. The student of the anthology has a lot of examples to look to for inspiration. Through the 1920s, there was a series of art journals and publications put out by various art groups in Europe: de Stilj, Dada, Cannibale, Le Couer, Cabaret Voltaire. Due to modern advances in printing technology, it is easier to self-publish zines with better production values. But it’s also interesting to note that the impulse to run an amateur publication of random stuff is perfectly normal. There’s a certain amount of debate regarding how and when the cartooning tradition in Western Europe became the comics tradition of Western Europe. Some point to the broadsheets of the 17 century that introduced the twin concepts of anthologies and episodic storytelling as a precursor to modern sequential art. But it’s more likely that comics as we know them grew up during the 19th Century. And anthologies were an important part of that maturation. The default format for professional episodic periodicals in American comics has been monthly comics of a set page length that may or may not have additional stories. Professional Franco-Belgian comics have been dominated by the weekly anthology format, featuring strips of half or full page in length. These were later collected into albums of 48 pages in length – which is how most English speakers have encountered this material. (If you’re wondering what was probably collected like this, flip through any album and look for a horizontal white gutter cutting straight across the book at the half-page mark.) Probably the most famous anthology from this tradition in the English speaking market is Heavy Metal. It started as a monthly anthology that contained a mix of episodic and stand-alone stories. It sort of still does most of that. In the mid-80s, Heavy Metal shifted format and centered their publication around a single complete story with a variety of shorter stories as supplements. This influenced later anthologies and we can see that Island, for example, followed the same general model. It is convenient to be able to read the more well-known stories in a mass market edition. However, it is also valuable to observe the original print runs of anthologies where- and when-ever possible. Reading material in the context that it was originally presented to the market in is very valuable. First and foremost, examining primary sources acknowledges the effort that was put into the anthology in the first place. Additionally, it highlights the kinds of commercial advertisements from the period printed next to the original material. Sometimes the juxtaposition is startling. It also provides a sense of the flow of the reader through the book. Arguably, the order that the stories are presented in is important because it shapes the mood of the reader from cover to cover. Knowing that a story beat in a completely different story occurred directly before this story may have changed how this one was perceived. Reading an issue of an anthology is like eating a club sandwich. There are a lot of different distinguishable flavors, but the combination is distinct. And that’s the whole point of producing an anthology. ————————————————————————————————— RM Rhodes lives and works in Washington, D.C. His current project is a weekly online anthology called The Rumor published on the Comics Workbook tumblr – see issues of it HERE. Check out more of his comics at Louis Deux. Share this page: [...]

CREEP HIGHWAY & the CANDY BOYZ

Chris Anthony DiazMay 23, 2016The Diaz Archiveat the NAMING GALLERY & ElI’S MILE HIGH CLUB oakland, monday, october 6, 2014 shot & edited by chris anthony diaz featuring musical performances by michael deforge, patrick kyle, alvin buenaventura, simon hanselmann, marc arsenault and dylan dockstader Share this page: [...]

05/06/2016

Sally IngrahamMay 6, 2016NewsWolverine still walks the wilds of Canada via Michael Comeau’s pen – Alyssa Berg frees her mind through the mysteries of the grid – Erik Nebel reverses expectations in every direction – the laughs come from Fabio Tonetto – the tears (perhaps) come from Lisa Wilde – Free Comic Book Day is upon us – and Bruce Lee never dies. ————————————————————————————————— Philippe Leblanc converses with Michael Comeau at Barbed Comics, digging deep into the why and how of Comeau’s Hellberta (available through Colour Code Printing). Michael Comeau is a Canadian cartoonist living in Toronto. Extensive travel throughout the provinces informed the creation of Hellberta over an 8-year period, and the book is a filter through which Comeau examines Canada’s complex relationship with the oil industry, and the mysterious “Canadian Identity”. Or, as the recently released collected edition is described – “The gloom, the entitlement, the desecration of the tar sands hangs over a province, a nation. Dirty oil addiction. A popular myth set in the rocky mountains. A mutant named Logan. A poetic salve for sore eyes weeping for a metaphorical context. WWWD? What would Wolverine do?…” The interview between Comeau and Philippe Leblanc ranges far and wide, hitting upon the nature of narrative, learning how to make comics, road tripping adventures, the shifting political climate in Canada, and exactly how tangled up Wolverine is in it all. Interesting on a number of levels – read the whole thing HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Alyssa Berg delivers Part Two of her museum-visit-inspired process meditation series today, this time exploring the grid with us. “Sometimes my mind is unwell, or full of complicated messy things or unable to think of new ideas (‘creative block’, I guess?). When I am in this state, I let my wild, creative mind rest. One way to do this is by going into a gentle analytical and physical practice. I sit down at my desk and pre-draw pages of panels and grids. Similar to preparing my work space as mentioned in Part One, pre-drawing panels and grids is a simple concentration-meditation that doesn’t require much thought (common theme: freedom from the mind!).” Read all of Part Two HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Drew Miller interviewed Erik Nebel recently, and their conversation is full of important stuff – ‘Drew Miller – You use vibrating colors as indicators of form, specifically for referencing the human body. The colors are strong on the screen! The drawing relies much less on direct line-work, which is uncharacteristic for the medium of comics. It’s an interesting way to develop distinct forms and negative space. Can you talk about color at all? Erik Nebel – I think of color in a way that may be different from how other cartoonists think of color. Traditionally, in our popular narratives, dark colors are associated with sadness and badness and things that are primitive, and light colors are associated with goodness and happiness and things that are civilized. That’s completely racist. It’s part of binary thinking. It’s poison in our society. I’m trying to reverse those expectations with my comics.’ Read the rest HERE, and follow Erik Nebel’s daily comic posts on his tumblr. ————————————————————————————————— Giving a shout out to cartoonist Fabio Tonetto, whose work has been cracking me up lately. Check out the rest of the comic above on Vice. ————————————————————————————————— Lisa Wilde’s Lacunae: Elegy For My Mother just finished being serialized on Mutha Magazine. A recent press release about the series described it as – “…a webzine that pushes the boundaries between comics and art. Tracing an arc from childhood to adulthood, the piece gives form to the unconscious side of a life narrative through single-image pages and minimal text. Wilde’s visceral and powerful drawings reference children’s art, comics, Jungian archetypes, and artists as wide-ranging as Chagall, Munch, and Eva Hesse.” Start from the beginning HERE, and follow this link to a list of all 5 parts. ————————————————————————————————— Another reminder that tomorrow (Sat. May 7th!) is Free Comic Book Day. Find a participating store near you via the Store Locator, call them up to get the details, and plan to get there early! I’ll be running out myself to find a copy of this sweet looking Bruce Lee comic! ————————————————————————————————— While we’re on the topic, here are a couple of apparently “lost sketches” by Bruce Lee, and the brief story behind them. ————————————————————————————————— Thanks for hanging out in the Comics Workbook newsroom this week! Meet back here bright and early Monday. Cheers! – Sally Share this page: [...]

04/18/2018

Juan FernándezApril 18, 2018los Cómics / NewsBRÍGIDA, Quique Alcatena, Elisa McCausland + TEBEOSFERA, y Alexis Ziritt! —————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: ~ en Español y “sometimes in English” ~ Este viernes, 20 de abril, a las 19 hrs. en PLOP Galeria se lanza BRÍGIDA, revista de historietas hechas por mujeres de Sol Díaz, Marcela Trujillo, Isabel Molina , Catalina Mendoza, Karina Cocq, Paloma Valdivia, Katherine Supnem, Pati Aguilera y Sol Undurraga entre otras! Quieren saber más? Sol Díaz charlo con Belén Roca Urrutia de el Desconcierto sobre el nacimiento y el crecimiento de BRÍGIDA. ¿Cómo se crea el proyecto “BRÍGIDA”? Es una inquietud que compartimos, desde hace un tiempo, con el equipo editorial de la revista. Nos hemos dado cuenta, en el día a día como ilustradoras, que el dibujo es un medio muy mirado en menos por el resto de las expresiones artísticas. Hay dos prejuicios muy arraigados en la gente, que impiden que se acerquen, siquiera, a conocer más sobre lo que está pasando: el primero, que “los monos” son cosa de niños. La ilustración, por el contrario, no puede ser más transversal. En estos días no es tanto, pero siempre al dibujo se le da esta connotación infantil; el segundo tiene que ver con las historietas y los superhéroes. Siempre con historias fantásticas, siempre con la mina tetona… estilos de dibujo y narraciones que, personalmente, no me llaman la atención. Muy masculinizado todo. Con “Brígida” queremos desmontar estos prejuicios y mostrar que hay harto trabajo, hecho por mujeres, cada una con su propio rollo. El primer número incluye el trabajo de Margarita Valdés, Magdalena Armstrong, Camila Barrales, Catalina Bustos, Karina Cocq, Otto, Sofía Flores, Amanda Mijangos, Florencia Olivos, Paloma Valdivia, Sol Undurraga, Katherine Supnem y Arolas Uribe,además de las colaboraciones de las cuatro editoras: Isabel Molina, Pati Aguilera, Marcela Trujillo y yo. Léanlo todo AQUI! —————————————— LA IMAGINACIÓN AL PODER. ENTREVISTA CON QUIQUE ALCATENA Hoy les invito léer la segunda parte de la entrevista al Quique Alcatena en Revista Kamandi. Hablaron en profundidad de su paso por la industria estadounidense, su desencanto con la maquinaria norteamericana, sus colaboraciones con los guionistas y sus proyectos actuales… Léanlo todo AQUI. —————————————— Les presento n° 6 de la revista TEBEOSFERA , con un dossier monográfico coordinado por Elisa McCausland sobre del tema “CÓMIC Y FEMINISMO”. Es un a coleccíon maravillosa de ensayos! Léanlo todo AQUI. Last but not least, exciting things are happening in the world of Alexis Ziritt… Check out this update from his Artist Shop! (It’s”all over” the place 😉 ) —————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-18-2018 – by Sally Ingraham – – – – – – – Joanie and Jordie – 4-18-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

CARTOON CROSSROADS COLUMBUS 2016, Part l of ll

Posted on October 29, 2016December 13, 2016 by Chris Anthony Diaz

All photos colored by Graham Willcox

Charles BurnsSacha Mardou

SethSally Ingraham

Noah Van SciverRich TommasoJoseph RemnantTed StearnSean FordCaleb OrecchioGregory BentonChris PitzerJosh BayerRobin McConnellMarc Arsenault

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in The Diaz Archive

Chris Anthony Diaz

Posted on October 29, 2016December 13, 2016

Explore

10/03/2017

Aaron CockleOctober 3, 2017NewsAaron here today with the continuing Cartoon Crossroads Columbus recap. ————————————————————————————————— If you haven’t already, please take a look at Caleb Orecchio’s excellent write-up of the recent Cartoon Crossroads Columbus festival. Caleb pretty much covers the entire show, it’s definitely worth the read. ————————————————————————————————— I was in attendance at that show as well, but only managed to take a few photos. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 10-3-2017 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

04/13/2016

Juan FernándezApril 13, 2016NewsJuan Fernández here with an especially internationally focused news round up: Chris Ware Benefit Auction; European comics festivals this weekend; Comics talk at the Prado; Max vs. Hieronymous Bosch; Cohete Comics Colombian Blastoff; Real Talk – Girl Talk; Chippendale chats Puke Force. —————————————————————————— Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency Fundraiser Auction – CHECK IT OUT HERE! **PLEASE NOTE: The Copacetic Comics Company is managing this auction on behalf of Comics Workbook.** This is a BENEFIT AUCTION for the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency. It is part of the ongoing fundraising campaign to get the Rowhouse Residency up and running and serving students. All proceeds of this auction are going to Comics Workbook to defray the expenses involved in realizing this goal. This auction is a continuation of the now completed Rowhouse Residency IndieGoGo campaign and other fundraising efforts. The eight items were donated to The Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency Fundraising Drive by one Mr. Chris Ware. Each item in this auction has been hand packaged and signed by Mr. Ware and was shipped by him directly to Comics Workbook for the purposes of being auctioned here to raise funds for the Rowhouse Residency. Comics Workbook would like to express our profound gratitude to Chris Ware for his support of the Rowhouse Residency. CHECK OUT THE AUCTION HERE! Featuring Jim Rugg | jimrugg.com/ Video by Michael Pisano | michaelpisano.com Soundtrack | Johann Sebastian Bach // Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen, BWV 43 – 7. Aria: Er ists, der ganz allein // performed by Michel Rondeau ————————————————————————————————— ###Eurozone Fezztival Spezial### Ratatà! Macerata, Italy’s festival of illustration, comics and self-publishing, Ratatà is happening this weekend! From April 14th to April 17th Macerata will be packed with exhibitions, workshops, meetings and events. Illustration and Independent comics will be the focus. More info here. Special note: kuš! will present a special exhibition by it’s artists Anna Vaivare, Ingrīda Pičukāne, Līva Kandevica and Zane Zlemeša. Present at the festival will be kuš! editor Sanita Muižniece and the artists Anna Vaivare, Ingrīda Pičukāne and Zane Zlemeša. Comics Days Vilnius Also this weekend, starting Thursday is Comics days Vilnius. Comics Days Vilnius is the first comic festival in Lithuania, just south of the home of Latvian minicomics publishing powerhouse, kuš!. It’s exciting to see the start of a national comics festival. The goal is to promote the development and the recognition of comics in Lithuania. It will be held this weekend, 14-16 of April 2016 in Vilnius. Check out the Comics Days Vilnius program and learn more. Fumetto Last but not least, Fumetto in Lucerne Switzerland begins this weekend April 16-24. Fumetto has a long tradition in being THE exciting gathering for artistically ambitious comics making in Europe. This year marks their 25th anniversary. Lots of gallery shows and workshops. Lectures by Ben Katchor, Matt Madden, Jacques de Loustal, Joost Swarte, Goele Dewanckel , Gabrielle Bell, Tom Gauld, Edmond Baudoin & Cédric Villani. Not to be missed! For more information, visit them online. ————————————————————————————————— Aquí – Here Ediciones Salamandra has released a nicely produced bit that captures the Richard McGuire’s joy and curiosity as he speaks about the latest iteration of his lifetime’s work Here. Hands down one of the most passionate, human works in the comics medium. ————————————————————————————————— Radio 3 in Spain put together a comics round table featuring David Rubín, Ana Galvañ, Santiago García y Francesc Capdevila and “Max” recorded live at the Prado Museum in Madrid. Really interesting discussion moderated by Laura Brrachina on the interdisciplinary fluidity of contemporary comics making in the visually fragmented 21st century. Tons of excitement about comics. Escuchen aquí/Listen here! ————————————————————————————————— Max vs. Bosch To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the death of Hieronymous Bosch, the Prado has commissioned Francesc Capdevila “Max” to translate the work and energies of the Dutch master into a comic. Max has created (and has sent off to the printer!) El Tríptico de los encantados (una pantomima bosquiana) a 72 page Boschian revelery. The book is structured around 3 major paintings, The Garden of Earthly Delights, Cutting the Stone, and The Temptations of St. Anthony. Max did away with the biographic and focused on coming up with a narrative that would take you from one painting to another in an elliptical narrative. Aprendan más sobre esto proyecto/ Learn more about this project. ————————————————————————————————— …4,3,2,1 -Blast Off Cool comics publishing news in Colombia: Laguna Libros has launched a comics imprint – Cohete Comics. Following in the spirint of Laguna Libros, Cohete Cómics is to be an editorial labororatory that explores the possibilities autobio, documentary and fiction comics. Their first books will feature work by Pablo Guerra, Henry Díaz, Sindy Infante, Bernardo Fernández, Camilo Aguirre and Diana Ojeda. Check them out and Have a look at what Cohete Cómics is up to! ————————————————————————————————— Girl Talk Rod and Cone Press, run by my inspiring friends Iona Fox and Anna McGlynn, have launched their newest book, Girl Talk. It’s a collaborative comics anthology featuring comics inspired by diary entries. They just finished putting together all their copies and it looks stellar. Girl Talk features comics by Cooper Whittlesey, Anna McGlynn,Iona Fox, Hannah Kaplan, Alyse Burnside. This comes on the heels of their previous release, My Pace, a collection of idiosyncratic, satisfying and raw comics. Sure to be of equal caliber, gut punches galore. Hop on over to their site to learn more about the launch and how you can pre-order a copy. I can’t wait to get mine. ————————————————————————————————— Brian Chippendale talks with Alex Dueben over at Comic Book Resources about the nitty gritty of Puke Force. Soak it up! Chippendale: I’m not converting many haters. Haters of comics, or ideas like mine probably can’t even figure my damn personal mark-making language out, let alone find the plot. I’m laughing at you, not with you. ————————————————————————————————— That’s it for today! Stay tuned for a very special announcement around noon… Share this page: [...]

05/04/2016

Juan FernándezMay 4, 2016NewsRatatà 2016 Recap; Salón del Cómic de Barcelona; Anya Davidson; Caitlin Skaalrud; New exhibitions at Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum; Sequential State; Meaning in the brain. ————————————————————————————————— Ratatà 2016 Serena Di Virgilio brings you a nice recap of all the happenings from Macerata’s Ratatà Festival (April 12-17) over on Italian comics blog Just Indie Comics. It’s a European festival so there were activities scattered all around the city center. Workshops, gallery exhibitions, independent press marketplace, signings and coffee. The good stuff. Lots to look at here. Join Di Virgilio for a stroll through Macerata and soak it all in! ————————————————————————————————— Salón del Cómic de Barcelona – 34 This weekend in Barcelona. Este fin de semana, nenes! Salon/Saloon, what’s the difference? It’s on that old school San Diego Comic-Con wavelength, but Catalan, you feel me? Big show, lots of nooks and crannies, not completely flooded with licensed characters and merchandising. Vale la pena darle una visita si estas en Barcelona. ————————————————————————————————— Anya Davidson in conversation with Greg Hunter on TCJ “As far as trends in underground comics…I hate cute. I really do…and I’m kind of leery of…the mania for cuteness that has kind of infected underground comics. I really feel allergic to that. … I don’t know why I find it so repellent. I guess because I think that cuteness is used as a marketing tool? And it’s used to sell us things, like, we breed these puppies that can’t walk and can’t move, you know? I think cuteness, for me, equals subjugation, and I just really feel passionately that…cartooning for me is a way to break the chains of that, and so… It freaks me out.” –Anya Davidson Check it all out over on The Comics Journal. ————————————————————————————————— Caitlin Skaalrud interviewed Inkstuds “The thing that I find attractive about these occult things or symbols is not necessarily what they implicitly mean but what that those images have a structured meaning that people can sort of agree. There’s a certain amount of understanding from those classic tarot images, we can all sort of understand what those mean… It’s more along the symbolism and motifs that paintings would use to indicate certain things… for me it was a way to not cheat find shortcuts in how people would receive it on a visceral, emotional way.” -Caitlin Skaalrud ————————————————————————————————— Comics in Columbus, OH The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum have just announced their summer/fall exhibits. LITTLE NEMO: DREAM ANOTHER DREAM and GOOD GRIEF! CHILDREN AND COMICS –These two new exhibits will debut in June and run through October 2016. These exhibits are free and open to the public. Get all the details on these upcoming exhibitions here. Start planning your pilgrimmage now. ————————————————————————————————— Support Comics Criticism Alex Hoffman over at Sequential State is passing around the hat. Consider chipping in if you’ve previously enjoyed their reviews and interviews that they put together. Since day one, I’ve tried to make Sequential State a reader-friendly place, with no advertisements, strong writing, and a fun monthly podcast. I want to explore comics, and I want you to enjoy what I find. Keeping up the website and the podcast isn’t free though, and I’d love to expand Sequential State’s coverage. I want to pay other great authors to write criticism for Sequential State, support our podcast archives, and maybe even publish some new comics by great cartoonists. You can contribute here. ————————————————————————————————— Mental Map Neural networks and the form of our forms. Great study over at UC Berkley explores the nature of semantic connections in the brain developed in language via storytelling. Really beautiful stuff that points to the inherently synaestheic framework for how humans build natural language. It’d be interesting to see the way the brain is “lit” when exposed to image and word stimuli embedded in comics. To better understand how the brain processes language, researchers from the University of California (UC), Berkeley, and their colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to map the brains of people listening to a storytelling podcast(ed. The Moth). Using the resulting maps, the team could accurately predict the study participant’s neural responses to hearing new stories. And these responses were surprisingly consistent across individuals, according to the team’s study, published today (April 27) in Nature. Check it all out over on The Scientist. ————————————————————————————————— See you later, nenes 😉 -Juan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvRkJzVQBP0 Share this page: [...]

PIX 2016 – Lale Westvind

Juan FernándezMay 21, 2016Festivals and ShowsMichael Pisano catches up with the great Lale Westvind at PIX 2016 in Pittsburgh PA Video by Michael Pisano and Di-ay Battad // michaelpisano.com // cargocollective.com/di-ay Share this page: [...]

04/06/2017

Sally IngrahamApril 5, 2017NewsSally here with updates from John Jennings; the (H)afrocentric project; Ron Wimberly/C. Spike Trotman/Ariell Johnson on NPR; throwing “diversity” under the bus. ————————————————————————————————— Gene Demby and Glen Weldon of NPR spoke to Ronald Wimberly, C. Spike Trotman (online comics publisher of Iron Circus Comics in Chicago, and creator of the long-running webcomic Templar, Arizona), and Ariell Johnson (owner of Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse in Philadelphia) about “changing color in comics“. Listen to the podcast HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Check out (H)afrocentric, a comics project created by Juliana “Jewels” Smith. An educator, writer, and organizer based in Oakland, CA, she “created (H)afrocentric as a way to challenge students and readers alike about the presumptions around race, class, gender and sexuality through character dialogue. Her practice focuses on the links between racial justice, gender equity, and political literacy; using creativity to facilitate dialogue.” There are 4 volumes of the comic so far – you can preview Vol. 1, 2, and 3 HERE and Vol. 4 HERE. Juliana writes it and Ronald R. Nelson provides the artwork (with Mike Hampton as colorist/letterer). The team also makes a comic strip which is available as a “Sunday Funny” via email subscription – or you can catch up with the whole thing HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Over the past weekend, a few folks at Marvel Comics put their feet in their mouths. This is not unusual, these days. David Gabriel, Marvel’s senior vice-president of sales, print, and marketing, tried to blame Marvel’s recent decline in sales on their attempts at adding “diversity” to their comics. Que an uproar. The Guardian‘s JA Micheline had some things to say about it: “Let’s look at how the discussion was framed: “Any character that was diverse, any character that was new, our female characters, anything that was not a core Marvel character, people were turning their nose up,” says Gabriel – without a qualifier or interrogation of which readers and why. I can promise you that it’s not women going into comic-book shops, sick of female characters. I can similarly promise you that people of colour are not entering comic-book shops and turning their noses up at faces that look like theirs. By even making remarks like these, Marvel is seemingly conceding that its target audience, its “core” audience – and their “core” characters – are white and male.“ Read the rest of her comments HERE. G. Willow Wilson, the writer behind Ms Marvel, had a thoughtful response as well. Among her comments was a reminder to the folks at Marvel and elsewhere: “Diversity as a form of performative guilt doesn’t work. Let’s scrap the word diversity entirely and replace it with authenticity and realism. This is not a new world. This is *the world.*“ Read the rest of her thoughts HERE. Vox offers up a detailed and fairly balanced look at the whole snafu and pinpoints some of the reasons for both the outrage and the cause of it. ————————————————————————————————— John Jennings spoke to The Boston Globe recently about his new comic adaptation of Octavia Butler’s Kindred (above) and his interest in horror stories. His comic recommendations and recent reads are all excellent, and I like where he says (despite the evidence of his new book) that he doesn’t like the idea of graphic novels being a “gateway” to reading books. Read the interview HERE. There is also a great interview on NPR from February 2017 about the joys (and fears) of making Kindred into a comic – check it out. I’ve linked to this piece before, but if you’re unfamiliar with John Jennings and the work he does in the comics community, get to know him better HERE. ————————————————————————————————— The illustration above by Comics Workbook student Shannon Wright accompanies an article about a case of “shared” identity. Not comics at all – but an interesting read. ————————————————————————————————— Comics Workbook will be at the Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo on Sunday, April 9th. We will be hosting a workshop series with instructors from the school, as well as special guests Carol Tyler, Lale Westvind, and Connor Willumsen! More details HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 4-6-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-6-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-6-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

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