Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Chris Anthony Diaz

Posted on December 14, 2016December 15, 2016

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01/17/2018

Juan FernándezJanuary 17, 2018los Cómics / NewsJuan empieza el día con Klari Moreno dibuja-charl-ando con Jose Ja Ja Ja en Revista Cactus, Panchulei en La Polola, y más! ——————————————— En el último número de Revista Cactus, Klari Moreno dibujo una entrevista a José Ja ja ja. Es un verdadero placer ver este formato de entrevista entre dibujantes. “José Ja Ja Ja se dedicaba precisamente a diseñar casas cuando trabajaba de arquitecto, hasta que lo dejó para hacer comics y seguir, a su manera, contando historias, como nos cuenta en una entrevista gráfica.” Podéis leerla completa aquí. ————————————————————————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: ~ In English and en Español ~ Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con Panchulei (Francisca Cárcamo) dibujante, escritora, editora de Pánico Ediciones y dueña de la librería del mismo nombre. Hablaron acerca de la injusta diferencia en la cantidad de hombres versus la cantidad de mujeres invitadas a festivales, conversaron acerca del mundo de la historieta, los festivales, las mejoras que pueden construir y los espacios que aún faltan por explorar. Enero viene con sus listas de propósitos y también con las de las nuevas obras que pasan al dominio público. ¿Te apetece conocer algunos de los entresijos del DOMINIO PUBLICO? Firmado Por, tu asesor en derechos del autor, te lo cuenta en el post de hoy! Crítica de “Sadboi” de Berliac y publicado por Sapristi Comic a cargo de Álvaro Arbonés en CuCo 9. Reseña doble del excepcional rescate por parte de El Nadir de los trabajos de Gustave Doré y Olaf Gulbransson. Un auténtico tesoro revisado por Óscar Gual que además sirve para revisar algunas cuestiones formales del arte secuencial. ————————————————————————————————— Convocatorias + Deadlines: ¡¡Convocatoria abierta del I Concurso Nacional de Cómic Biblioteca Insular de Gran Canaria!! 3 premios y 9 accésits con una dotación de entre 3.000 y 400 euros y la publicación de las obras ganadoras en un volumen conjunto editado por Astiberri. Bases. Deadline Reminder: submissions for Ink Brick no. 9 are due Monday, Feb 19, 2018! Do yourself a favor and submit your comics-poetry, won’t you? La Casa Encendida y Fulgencio Pimentel siguen buscando un libro. La convocatoria de #PuchiAward 2018 está abierta a todo tipo de géneros y formas: ficción, no ficción, novela, poesía, cómic, álbum ilustrado, ensayo, libro de cocina, geografía… Hasta el 25 de enero. Call for Chapter Contributions: Comics Beyond the Page in Latin America. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 01-17-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

06/22/2016

Juan FernándezJune 22, 2016NewsJuan Fernandez here with your weekly spanish language comics round up: Helen Jo & Jonny Negron in THE DIAZ ARCHIVE; Berliac’s DESOLATION.EXE;Sindy Elefante presenta CicloReaders no.1; Taller de GIF via Sofia Alvarez; Antonio Samudio; Martin Lopez Liam in CuCo; birth of BUÑO; Caravaggio Comics by Álvaro Ortiz. ————————————————————————————————— On the site: New in the Diaz Archive: http://comicsworkbook.com/jonny-negron-draws-mr-freedom/ http://comicsworkbook.com/boy-by-hellen-jo/ ————————————————————————————————— Off the site: Pedro Moura on “DESOLATION.EXE” Portuguese critic Pedro Moura has written an article about Berliac’s “DESOLATION.EXE”. Originally in portuguese, Berliac’s got a translation over on his site. Pedro Moura: All stories refer to the same urban, post-industrial anguish that authors like Seiichi Hayashi, but also the Tsuge brothers, Shin’ichi Abe, Masahiko Matsumoto and Yoshihiro Tatsumi, among others, explore in their works. Stories of straightforward dramatic realism (thus approximating the etymological meaning of “gekiga”), focused on that which escapes through the cracks of economic and social wealth, warning us that the possible forms of happiness are not at all universal. Perhaps here lies the meaning of its title, with its extension “.exe”, that is, referring to something that can execute an action upon the “life” of a program. In this case, the desolation caused by poverty, by the alienation of labor, by the obsession of certain cultures with superficial pleasures, and by human isolation. ————————————————————————————————— Inaugural Ride-n-Draw in Bogotá This weekend, Sindy Elefante is leading the inaugural ride for the “Cicloreaders” drawing club in Bogotá, Colombia. Get some pencils & paper, sunscreen & water and your bike for a wild ride drawing al fresco, experiencing Bogota’s savannah. More info over on their site. cicloreaders.com . NOS GUSTAN LAS BICICLETAS PORQUE —COMO LOS LIBROS— NOS LLEVAN A DONDE QUEREMOS, PERO TAMBIÉN A DONDE NUNCA IMAGINAMOS LLEGAR. ————————————————————————————————— 2nd GIF Workshop – THIS WEEKEND – Buenos Aires Independent bookstore, PUNC LIBRERIA in Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires is hosting its second intensive GIF animation workshop this Saturday. It is hosted by Buenos Aires based cartoonist, Sofia Alvarez. If you are interested in honing your animation chops and would like to participate, send an email to punclibreria@gmail.com ————————————————————————————————— Los grabados de Antonio Samudio Poets, Juan Manuel Roca y Santiago Mutis, have put together a collection of prints by the colombian expressionist painter and printmaker, Antonio Samudio‘s. Entitled,Los grabados de Antonio Samudio, it is comprised of 250 of his prints; woodcuts, lino, lithographs and engravings, Samudio’s worlds are now within reach. Samudio has created a body of work of really intriguing cartooning. His images live in an interesting space of dynamism that is neither the hyperbolically expressive Lynd Ward nor the politcally muted like Botero. Cool stuff. The book should be available soon. For now Arcadia magazine has a nice gallery of several of his prints for you to see Colombian life through his eyes. ————————————————————————————————— Entrevista con Martinez Lopez Liam (2014) This one’s a throwback to 2014, but it’s so in depth and chock full of great banter that I can’t help but share it. This is from the 3rd volume of Cuadernos de Cómic, the incisive latin american comics criticism magazine. CuCo: Quizás lo que pasa es que tradicionalmente el cómic se ha orientado más a la acción que a la introspección psicológica, y a la hora de mostrar sentimientos o pensamientos los autores necesitáis generar nuevas maneras de hacer cómic. MLL: De hecho Ware sí se ha acercado mucho al monó- logo interior sin usar la palabra, sólo con imágenes. Pero yo no quería ser Chris Ware, que ya está él ahí para eso. En Asterios Polyp hay una secuencia que me gusta mucho, casi al final. Es una secuencia de varias páginas en las que en la parte superior aparece el pensamiento de la mujer de Asterios y en la inferior él mismo haciendo cosas. De pronto ahí sentí esa introspección en la mente del personaje, pero mucho más abstracta. Y estaba usando igualmente el lenguaje secuencial para conseguirlo. En el cine de los últimos años se ha visto un recurso parecido: de repente ves a un personaje a través de una cámara, en silencio, simplemente ves su recorrido por un espacio determinado, sin acontecimientos… Tú tienes que intuir lo que está pensando el personaje. Creo que fue Deleuze el que decía que las disciplinas artísticas eran la intersección de dos conceptos que respondían a las problemáticas de la misma naturaleza del medio, así la pintura era la relación entre el color y el espacio, el cine entre tiempo y el espacio, entonces ¿cuál es o cuáles son los problemas del cómic? ————————————————————————————————— Caravaggio Comics RTVE.es has a great look at Álvaro Ortiz’ Dos holandeses en Nápoles, a comic co-edited by the Thyssen-Bonemisza Museum and Astiberri. The book serves to complement the Thyssen-Bornemisza’s exhibit Caravaggio y los pintores del north, inaugurated this Tuesday, June 21st. Dos holandeses en Nápoles tells the story of Gerard Van Honthorst and Dirck Van Baburen, two dutch painters who traveled to Naples in search of Caravaggio. This 28 page full color comic will be in stores on July 1st. You can get a peek at the pages over at Astiberri’s site. ————————————————————————————————— Buno: A New Imprint (In Partnership With Magnetic Press) Stateside: Ulises Fariñas & Magnetic Press has announced he’s starting a new comics publishing imprint called Buño. Looks like an exciting space for creator owned comics to really explore the space of fusion. MAGNETIC PRESS: The first 3 titles to be published by BUÑO will be: LIGHT (written & illustrated by Rob Cham),CLOUDIA & REX (written by Ulises Fariñas & Erick Freitas, illustrated by Daniel Irizarri), and GUARDIAN FORCE DESIGN MANUAL (written & illustrated by Ulises Fariñas, inked by Mike Prezzato). Alexander Lu over at Comics Beat has the whole story! ————————————————————————————————— hasta la proxima 😉 Juan Share this page: [...]

3/03/2016

HarrisonMarch 3, 2016News “This wasn’t universally true of the comic book industry, but it was true enough for long enough in this country to inhibit the medium’s growth to full potential. Oddly, in the 1980s, a compensatory effort to make comic books more appealing to older readers erred in another direction by supposing that “mature themes” would enable comics to grow up. Although that’s probably valid to some extent, the notion too frequently took flight by mistakenly equating “social issues” or “personality portrayal” with “mature themes.” – R.C. Harvey on the Economics of Comics Connor Willumsen is looking to supplement the cost of a move by taking commissions and selling original drawings. If you’re interested email him at mail@connorwillumsen.com. Also Sarah Ferrick and Connor talk about their work on We Should Be Friends Podcast below. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/247971503″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Will Tempest just uploaded part 4 of his series Massive Crustacean. Artist GG continues with parts 20-22 of her series These Days. If you like her work support it on Paypal or Patreon. Illustrator and Animator Jonathan Djob Nkondo (a.k.a. Absenteism) uploaded this excerpt a few months back from his series Square 1. Not sure if there is going to be second printing for Square 1 but these web pieces are good too. Unrelated, but here’s a song for a rainy day. Share this page: [...]

09/10/18

Caleb OrecchioSeptember 10, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with the cover for The Amazing Spider-Man no.241 by John Romita Jr. and Terry Austin ——————————————————————————————— Are those Spider-Man’s eyes sitting on The Vulture’s lap? Does this issue take place during winter? Why isn’t The Vulture green? Is this not the greatest cover ever? The above image is certainly one of the top JRJR Spidey covers. John Romita Jr. is inked by Terry Austin and I can’t tell if the pair are geniuses or one of them made a mistake and just went with it. Spidey’s face is superimposed over The Vuture’s figure as if our hero is shining his bat-signal (from his belt) directly at our villain; but rendered in a way that suggests shadow rather than light. The colors (probably by Glynis Oliver, the issues’ colorist) are brilliant too. With great contrast comes great dynamism and the orangey/purply reds against the wintery blue/greens do not serve to uncomplicated the image. There is little logic to this cover whatsoever. It is simply interesting to look at. I can’t stop looking at it. I put it near my door so I can look at it before I leave to walk my dog and after I get back from walking her. Every time I pass it I wonder, “Is this the work of visual maestros or the result of varying professional degrees within a system?” Then I think, “probably a bit of both,” then I go get on with my day. Share this page: [...]

Summer 2016 Rowhouse Update

Juan FernándezJuly 29, 2016School UpdatesShare this page: [...]

Cartoon Crossroads Columbus 2016, Part ll of ll

Posted on December 14, 2016December 15, 2016 by Chris Anthony Diaz

Sacha Mardou Sacha Mardou Seth and Craig Fischer Seth Keith Knight, Rich Tommaso and Tom Spurgeon Caitlin McGurk Sergio Arragonés, Carol Tyler, Jeff Smith and Tom Spurgeon The Billy Ireland Museum Galleries The Billy Ireland Museum Galleries The Billy Ireland Museum Galleries The Billy Ireland Museum Galleries The Billy Ireland Museum Galleries The Billy Ireland Museum GalleriesThe Horseshoe aka Ohio Football Stadium Wexner Center for the Arts Gary Trudeau and Glen David Gold in conversation at the Wexner Center’s Mershon Auditorium Columbus Metropolitan Libary, Downtown Branch Columbus Metropolitan Libary, Downtown Branch

Sacha Mardou Sacha Mardou Joseph Remnant, Noah Van Sciver and Robin McConnell Alyssa Berg Rich Tommaso Noah Van Sciver Kevin Czap (backturned), Tom Spurgeon and Jeff Smith (on Spurgeon’s right)Charles Burns Live at CCAD Canzani Center Auditorium Charles BurnsTom Spurgeon, Ben Katchor and Seth in conversation at the Columbus Museum of Art SethTom Spurgeon, Ben Katchor and Seth Sacha Mardou Sacha Mardou Juan José Fernández Juan José Fernández and Sally Ingraham (top far right)Sally Ingraham, Juan José Fernández , Caleb Orecchio, Sacha Mardou, Whitney Taylor and Alyssa Berg Peter Arno original at the Billy Ireland Museum Reading Room Robert Crumb Charles Schulz Ohio State Buckeye running back and Heisman Trophy winner and favorite son Eddie George, Columbus Airport Titans running back Eddie George, Columbus Airport

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in The Diaz Archive

Chris Anthony Diaz

Posted on December 14, 2016December 15, 2016

Explore

06/12/2017

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

Comic Arts Brooklyn 2017

Chris Anthony DiazJanuary 25, 2018The Diaz ArchiveComic Arts Brooklyn, Saturday, November 11, 2017, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York (clicking image will take you to the cartoonist’s link) Share this page: [...]

BOY by Hellen Jo

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

03/23/2017

Sally IngrahamMarch 22, 2017NewsSam Ombiri on the art you consume vs. the art you make – and Sally with news updates from Ronald Wimberly, Tee Franklin, America Chavez, Zora Neale Hurston, Richie Pope, and Rick Mays. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: I like this idea that the work one is interacting with is different from the work that is being made. I remember first hearing of this from Markus Popp/Oval talking about how he mostly listens to death metal for this somewhat vague reason. Maybe it’s just my memory being foggy. Then the next time I heard it was from Frank Santoro specifying that what he was interested in making wasn’t necessarily what he read. Then I heard it from CF expressed in a nearly similar manner – I can’t remember whether he was talking about his music or his comics, so I’ll just make the assumption that he was talking about his comics as well as music. Another time I heard this idea was when Brian Chippendale, who kind of hilariously said that if someone were to give him a comic that was done snake style, he would be frustrated and confused and say something like “Why don’t you just make the panels go in order!? Just why?” I heard Sammy Harkham say something like the media you consume can be really important to the work you’re making. Anya Davidson cited some work that I can’t remember and said it gave her a huge boost of confidence and the ability to resume in the place she was in. CF once or twice expressed his complete distaste for forcing work to head a certain direction, or a specific route. He likened it to trying to be such a good host you end up being a bad host. I think that might go along with his comment of making what he’s interested in making. I think I heard him once say that when he draws he aims for his experiments to end in failure. I heard Dash Shaw say something similar – that he’s more into making immature works that constantly, clumsily reinvent themselves, and often fail. I feel what Sammy said expresses the effect media has. I once heard him say that he thinks when someone sees violence on the screen it affects them. This seemed like more than the obvious statement. It was like as much as people felt the violence on screen affected them, supposedly Sammy felt the effect was bigger than they imagined. (As a side-note Jesse Moynihan wrote this super cool thing on violence, though it’s going a different place than what I think Sammy might have been saying.) Sammy also talks about how sadness is a better experience when it’s not blatant tears being shown, but rather something that feels like it is following the character, regardless of expression. – Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— Sally here: There is a fantastic interview on The Comics Reporter with Ronald Wimberly – originally conducted as part of Tom Spurgeon’s annual Holiday Interview series, but posted just recently. Having met Ron myself last month, and having spoken to him casually about his comics making (and the state of the world, etc.) I find myself nodding along to Tom’s opening statements about Ron: “Ronald Wimberly is an artist and comics-maker with as high a ceiling as they come. His prodigious skill set as displayed on the page is matched by a formidable ability to explain, dissect and present to others his strategies and reasons-why when making art. Just his influences, what Wimberly is looking at and processing at any single time, could fuel a week of lectures. I greatly enjoy looking at his comics pages, and knowing the amount of effort channeled into them is a thrill.“ The interview mostly digs into Prince of Cats, which Image Comics re-released last fall in a new format. The book is an intriguing riff on Romeo & Juliet, and so Ron and Tom talk Shakespeare, tragedy, acting, and Tybalt, who is the focus of the story. “SPURGEON: You end with Tybalt… that’s a brutal ending if you end with Tybalt. Romeo and Juliet can be interpreted as rich kids falling prey to what’s soaked into the bones of Verona. It just happens that these two kids… and suddenly now it’s news. The earlier deaths are just as tragic as one where we see the romance. It’s a fatalistic idea; it’s even reinforced by the meta in that we are super-sure Tybalt dies in any incarnation of this story. It’s grim. It’s a serious way of looking at that world. The basic course of the narrative is reinforced. But man. WIMBERLY: If someone feels sad about Tybalt, I think that’s good, because he didn’t get that opportunity originally. He was a plot point. If anything, maybe I can contribute to one of the intents of the original. Depending how it’s performed or staged it can have that element. But usually not. In the prologues, it’s set out. It says the same thing. It tells you what’s going to happen. For this beef of the ages to rest, there has to have been a sacrifice. What my point is that the sacrifice continues to happen, and the beef doesn’t stop. I’m sure in the case of Romeo and Juliet, those two houses… a generation passes… we all know Italy is a bunch of warring — it’s still a bunch of warring states! Right? At the end of the day, it’s senseless. But the life that’s led isn’t necessarily senseless. The light on it can be humane. It can add value to it. That’s the difference between an existentialist and a nihilist right? In showing it, looking at it, living it, there’s some value to it.“ Read the rest of the interview HERE. Get a copy of Prince of Cats from Copacetic Comics – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— From writer Tee Franklin, who created #BlackComicsMonth in 2015, comes the project Bingo Love – “the black queer love story that the world needs”. From an article about the comic on The Huffington Post: ” “It’s rare in the comic industry to have two black women leads, especially written by a disabled, queer black woman,” she said. “Now to have these protagonists queer and older? This will never happen in the comics industry unless someone does it on their own.” “ Tee Franklin is therefor doing it on her own – with the help of a creative team that consists of artist Jenn St-Onge, colorist Joy San, letterer Cardinal Rae, and editor Erica Schultz, and a Kickstarter that has already raised $25, 998. She hopes to put the comic out later this year. Check out the Bingo Love Kickstarter HERE. Read more about the comic an Tee Franklin HERE. ————————————————————————————————— The Guardian writes about America Chavez – AKA unmasked avenger Miss America – for their ‘the month in comics” feature. “Marvel has finally realized her potential as a standalone hero: this month’s America #1 launches Chavez as the headliner of her own ongoing comic series. Taking time out from team-ups, she has enrolled at Sotomayor University, an advanced campus that includes a Department of Radical Women & Intergalactic Indigenous Peoples and a Fifth Element-obsessed sorority called the Leelumultipass Phi Theta Betas. Before long, she is teleporting through time and space to ace a tricky homework paper, in the process offering a fairly definitive position on the morality of punching Nazis.“ The article writer Graeme Virtue credits all this “exuberance” to the “atypical” creative team behind the comic: artist Joe Quinones (of Marvel’s Howard the Duck) and making her comics debut, writer Gabby Rivera – “the young, queer Latina author of YA novel Juliet Takes a Breath“. ” “I’ve always dreamt up wild, powerful and carefree superheroes that look like me and my family,” Rivera recently told the Washington Post: “Thick, brown, goofy, beautiful.” “ Read more about the comic HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Hillary Brown of Paste Magazine interviews Peter Bagge about his new book Fire!!: The Zora Neale Hurston Story. The comic (which was colored by Bagge’s wife, Joanne) is his second biography of a “cranky” woman. (Previously he told the story of Margaret Sanger, who founded Planned Parenthood). “Paste: How does it feel to make a shift toward biographic nonfiction at this point in your career? You’re a veteran cartoonist and you’ve suddenly produced two books of relatively scholarly biographical nonfiction in a row. Peter Bagge: I’ve grown tired of both writing and reading fiction, for one thing. It’s a common old-age affliction! I have less patience reading made-up stuff these days. Reality is far more fascinating. And I’ve been writing nonfiction (including biographical) comics for the past 20 years or so. They’ve just taken a more ambitious turn lately.“ Read the rest of the interview HERE. HERE is a review of the book on the Toronto Star. ————————————————————————————————— Richie Pope just announced that he has a new comic in the upcoming anthology Shortbox #4. It’s called Super Itis and he describes it like this on Instagram: “A tired construction worker gets stuck in a dream made entirely of the soul food he ate for lunch.“ Pre-order Shortbox #4 HERE – ships in May. ————————————————————————————————— Frank Santoro is auctioning artwork by his childhood friend and mentor, comics artist Rick Mays. These are original comics pages from projects like Spider-Man Ultimate Vol. 3 #2, and Spidey Loves MJ #13 – all proceeds will go to Mr. Mays. Check out the auction HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 3-23-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 3-23-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 3-23-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

06/05/2017

Caleb OrecchioJune 4, 2017NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on recently read comics by Mickey Z, Matthew Thurber, and Jillian Tamaki, and enough links to make a cat bark. ————————————————————————————————— Below are some thoughts on some recent comics I’ve read. Three very different comics by three very different cartoonists. Mostly, I’ve been thinking about how people draw so that is reflected herein. RAV 2nd Collection by Mickey Zacchilli (Youth in Decline)–buy it here As is always the case with a Mickey Z comic, 2nd Collection is hilarious. She shares comedic DNA with Rumiko Takahashi. Often it is the aside remarks and the contrast of character personalities that take you off guard and make you laugh out loud. Michael DeForge writes in the introduction, “Mickey’s comics always feel as though they’re about to come apart at the seams, but they never do.” This is true on many levels. First, my copy of RAV 1st Collection is literally falling apart at the seams of the binding (when I talked to Youth in Decline proprietor, Ryan Sands, at CXC 2016 he assured me this would be less likely to happen for the 2nd Collection. So far so good!) Second, Mickey’s drawings are thin, scratchy and chaotic, she uses the digital gray zippatone effect to strengthen and hold up her loose drawings. The gray layer allows for the drawings to keep their first-take raw energy and act as the concrete for the scaffolding—the lines. The product of such an alchemy that is unabashedly manic and energized. I imagine sparks flying off her pen when she draws, and her hair standing on end due to the effect—like Goku going super-saiyan or something. Art Comic #1-5 by Matthew Thurber (Swimmers Group)–buy issues here Art Comic is a satirical fairytale of contemporary art. Thurber is achingly smart. Every comic he’s done—including this one—are just filled to the brim with intelligence and rarely unparalleled whit that harmoniously blends with his traditionally-minded cartooning to make an intellectual’s dream comic. Thurber’s drawings feel like actual drawings rather than “inked drawings.” There is almost no embellishment to his lines which creates an intimacy many comics lack (Noah Van Sciver is another cartoonist who I think fits this bill). To me, having embellished inking, digital color, etc., can be like adding a drum kit to a band—everything else has to be turned up and some of the camaraderie between performer and audience is lost. I’m not trying to put down any other way of cartooning or music—Highway 61 Revisited is one of my favorite albums; but Thurber, as a cartoonist, is the lone musician on the stage singing to his attentive and perceptive audience. Simple chord changes and finger picking, with astute, biting lyrics allows us to listen and think. Boundless by Jillian Tamaki (Drawn & Quarterly)–buy it here You may know her from many things. Most notably, you may know her from Caldecott Honor winning graphic novel she drew in collaboration with her cousin Mariko Tamaki, This One Summer. A skill, I think that is underrated these days is the ability to be just the drawer AND the author—and the part that goes under appreciated is the ability to do both very well. I’m trying to keep this post brief so I’ll get to the point, Tamaki’s drawing is among the best in the business among or better than such cartoonists as David Mazzuchelli, Connor Willumson, Jaime Hernandez–you name ’em! I am especially taken with what I call her “children’s book” style of drawing. Strings of squiggles and shifty lines come together in perfect harmony to create simple, plump people, animals and plants that seemed to be ripped right out of my childhood subconscious. At first the drawing reminded me of Sendak—Little Bear specifically—but less stiff. Then I think more and I think of all the little drawings and illustrations I saw in old kid’s nature magazines, craft magazines, story book anthologies, songbooks, etc. I guess what I’m trying to say is that this children’s book drawing style feels new, old, elusive, and familiar at the same time, and I’m left baffled by Tamaki’s prowess of craft. ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Whoa! NY Times does a “New York Issue” as an all-comics issue where cartoonists collaborate with NY Times reporters that you can read online here. I’m personally most excited about the Mazzuchelli strip! Noah Van Sciver has an interview over at Fumettologica on the occasion of his book, Disquiet, being published in Italy by Coconino Press. Please read this particularly good strip by Noah, featuring Simon Hanselmann! John Porcellino has an interview on Study Group’s Process Party. Chris Ware writes about Saul Steinberg’s drawing over at The New York Review of Books. Paste Magazine has a preview of the upcoming Street Angel book. Two days after Drawn & Quarterly announced that they were publishing Berliac’s graphic novel Sadbøi, the publisher took it off their publishing schedule and issued “An Apology” amid an escalating hullabaloo. The Comics Beat has more of the story. Berliac’s own statements were posted on his Facebook. Comic Book Resources reveals Matthew Thurber’s cover for the next Best American Comics. Happy to see Ben Katchor is the editor! Should be interesting. Jason Wood interviews Andrew MacLean over on 11 O’Clock Comics. MacLean and his Head Lopper series is a favorite among my pals here in Dayton. Finally, Heroes Con looks to be a good show this year with some great guests. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-5-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-5-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

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