Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Arvell Malcolm Jones, Cam Nicholson, Chris Visions, Interviews, Richie Pope

Harrison

Posted on July 7, 2016July 7, 2016

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05/14/2018

Caleb OrecchioMay 14, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on Betsy and Me by Jack Cole, and other news.———————————————————————————— Hey comics lovers, doing alright? I’m doing alright. I’m a bit tired. My cousins, brother and brother-in-law destroyed me in spikeball on Sunday during a Mother’s Day get together, so I am also sore and a bit grass-stained from jumping and flailing around. They all had a good laugh about it. Good for them, I left all my dignity behind in the 7th grade so I’m happy to be the weird family member who rolls around in the grass during family games. Anyway. Last week I wrote a bit about going to Copacetic Comics here in Pittsburgh and taking advantage of the Free Comic Book Day deals. Reading through my FCBD haul this past week, I was really taken with the collection of the short-lived Jack Cole strip, Betsy and Me. A really charming, funny strip about two parents and their genius son that only ran for a handful of months before Jack Cole bought a .22 and took his own life. Dwight Parks took over the strip after his predecessor’s death, but despite his strengths, could not live up to the legend of Jack Cole. The strip ran from May to December in 1958, Cole’s run ending in September. In the introduction, siting such Cole biographers as Art Spiegelman and Ron Goulart, R.C. Harvey paints this ironic image of a man who at the height of cartooning power (having a daily strip), ended his own life. The couple in Betsy and Me (Chet and Betsy) have a son they so dearly love that it verges on absurdity, but in reality, the Cole’s could not have a child which they so definitely wanted. There is this dark musing on Cole’s part when you know this part of the story. He practically invents an ideal situation that could medically never happen. You can see the Sun set and turn to eternal night on our hero’s psyche. I recommend the book even if just for the Harvey’s introduction. The strip itself expertly balances word and picture. There is a bobbing and weaving of narration, dialogue and action that unfolds in a very sophisticated way, and delivers a satisfying punchline most every time. There is nothing in the strip that would suggest this was the same cartoonist who invented Plastic Man, visually or otherwise, but the expertise and cartooning skills are present and undeniable. ———————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Connor Willumsen answers questions at CBC. At TCJ.com, Tom Kaczynski is the latest guest on “Comics Decalogue” and The Dragon (featuring owner and founder, Jenn Haines) is the latest comic shop showcased on the “Retail Therapy” column. The Comics Reporter has the scoop on Koyama Press’ Fall 2018 lineup. TCAF was this past weekend and the results of the 2018 Doug Wright Awards are up. A. Degen is the latest guest on Process Party. The Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center had a pop-up show on Kirby’s work on 2001: A Space Odyssey. The show was this past weekend, but I figured I’d write about it anyway:) ———————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-14-18 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

11/29/2016

Aaron CockleNovember 28, 2016NewsAaron here today with the Micro-Press run-down; RESIST! Reminder; a look at Formalism and Historicity; Marlene Frontera; Gerhard Richter; CALA; O Correspondence Course, My Correspondence Course! ————————————————————————————————— Micro-Press Yearbook Robyn Chapman has released her third annual review of micro-presses. This one recaps 2015, which seems like such a quaint time as we stare down the last days of 2016. These books have been invaluable in assessing and giving some perspective to the current small-publishing comics landscape. ————————————————————————————————— RESIST! RESIST! will be published as a special issue of Gabe Fowler’s tabloid newspaper, Smoke Signal. We are aiming to make the print version an all-women issue though we’ll remain open-minded and we will consider all submissions. 30,000 copies will be distributed for free on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2017, in Washington D.C. Further distribution will occur at the Women’s March on January 21st and throughout the United States. It is guest-edited by Françoise Mouly, art editor of The New Yorker, and writer Nadja Spiegelman. The site is updated on a daily basis, so be sure to check back, and please consider submitting work. ————————————————————————————————— “authoritarianism,” “proto-Fascis,” and a “seizure of state power” Paul Mullan reviews Benjamin H.D. Buchloh’s Formalism and Historicity: Models and Methods in Twentieth-Century Art at the Red Wedge Magazine blog: The initial analysis of neo-expressionism was weighted towards its national(ist) origins, whether German or Italian, given, again, fears of a new, continental “authoritarianism” and “proto-Fascis.” However, the analysis by 1984 is more weighted towards the painting’s engagement with abex, US abstract expressionism. The relation between the US and Europe is here explicitly characterized as “colonialized.” Abex had arisen by the end of the Second World War, and the dominant military and economic position of the US – given the destruction of much of Europe and Japan – allowed for a strong cultural position as well throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. (See the histories of CIA support for art exhibitions that traveled globally, as instruments in Cold War propaganda.) The real, objective conditions that can provide an explanatory framework for this change should be evident. There was a new primary political contradiction developing on the ground: the mass movement – spanning multiple, national borders – against the “euromissiles” and new, US imperialist offensive. ————————————————————————————————— I Go Go Back and Forth Marlene Frontera will be launching her new risograph book of illustrations this Wednesday, November 30, 6-8pm at Picture Room, 236 Mulberry Street, NYC. Drawing inspiration from a childhood picture book in which a girl is seen next to a rippling pond that grows as the pages progress, Frontera documents the evolution of a single drawing at different stages. Working alongside Jeremy Jams and Dominic Fortunato of Soft City Printing, Frontera captures the subtle construction of an illustration, filling space with environment around her centric female character. This beautiful risograph book is an edition of 200, and was printed in Brooklyn by Soft City Printing. ————————————————————————————————— ‘Looked at in this way, all that I am trying to do in each picture is to bring together the most disparate and mutually contradictory elements, alive and viable, in the greatest possible freedom. No paradises.’ An interview with Benjamin H. D. Buchloh and Gerhard Richter from 2009, via the MIT Press: BB: So, in 1966, when you started to paint nonfigurative pictures, Color Charts, did that also have something to do with a head-on confrontation with minimal art? Was that another conflict situation, a rejection of American dominance, or was it through an evolutionary process of your own, rooted in the immediate, local context here in Düsseldorf? Was it through meeting Palermo, perhaps? GR: Yes, it certainly did have something to do with Palermo and his interests, and later with minimal art as well; but when I painted my first Color Charts in 1966, that had more to do with pop art. They were copies of paint sample cards, and what was effective about them was that they were directed against the efforts of the neoconstructivists, Albers and the rest. ————————————————————————————————— Comic Arts Los Angeles 2016 ————————————————————————————————— The Winter Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers Starts December 29, 2016. 8 week course, $500, 10 spots available, apply by December 13, 2016 and get $100 off course fee. Share this page: [...]

08/11/2016

HarrisonAugust 11, 2016NewsComics and arts news, here is that news. ————————————————————————————————— Stay Drawing MOK: There are many side and ¾ back views of you, but as usual, there aren’t really any direct views of your face. Like the withholding in the text, what does it mean to you to sort of withhold your gaze from the viewer? ODOMO: I didn’t want to draw my face a million times. And everyone is like “god, cartoonists are just so in love with their own faces and love the sound of their own voice”. Well so what? Fuck you. I’m still drawing myself and making it about ME, but like trying to keep it visually interesting and not too same-y. Backs of heads are like… allowing a little bit of intimacy between me and the reader / viewer but like… stopping them before they get too close. I’m setting the boundaries. For me, the back of the head view is like… there’s a person standing there and you want to reach out to them, but you can’t. The withholding thing… that’s fun too, haha. That’s more in my writing than my drawings. I love scratching something out and making it so no one will ever be able to read it. I started using paint, too, so there’s like sometimes an entire pages that I end up covering up and wiping out. It’s my book, I can withhold what I want. I can have blank pages if I want. I like the way it looks. Annie Mok and Mare Odomo over at TCJ. ————————————————————————————————— Still Drawing More Annie Mok, with Natalie Andrewson for Hazlitt. ————————————————————————————————— https://comicsworkbook.tumblr.com/post/148762935662/comicsworkbook-pale-sick-and-magic-414 ————————————————————————————————— https://mitografia.tumblr.com/post/148756254036/223-of-366 Kenneth Rocafort ————————————————————————————————— KING OF THE FLIP Share this page: [...]

06/29/2018

Sally IngrahamJune 28, 2018NewsSally here with comics and news from Rina Ayuyang, Heidi MacDonald, Carole Maurel and Mariko Tamaki, and more! ————————————————————————————————— Coming this November from Drawn & Quarterly is Rina Ayuyang‘s Blame This on the Boogie. It’s the story of her childhood as a Filipina-American in Pittsburgh, PA, and how music and pop culture got her through the tough high school years, and continues to keep her sane as she navigates her present-day life as an artist and mother in Oakland, CA. Publishers Weekly has a brief review of the comic HERE. HERE is a preview of the book! ————————————————————————————————— Heidi MacDonald attended the American Library Association annual conference in New Orleans recently, and published a complete report of her experience at The Comics Beat. As a former librarian myself, and a kid who considered my local library a second home and counted my librarians among my best friends…I am always interested in how librarians have been saving the world lately. Heidi concludes her detailed account of an uplifting and informative experience with these thoughts: “And that’s really the bottom line about the ALA. Librarians love comics not because it’s a secret hobby they try to fob off on other people – graphic novels are highly circulated books in libraries. There is an avid readership and a growing need for more information about all of it. I think a lot of first time ALA attendees” “thought that their job would be trying to persuade librarians to give comics a try, but the reality is that curators are way ahead of that – they’re always looking for MORE information about the publishers and authors their patrons are interested in, and more information to justify their purchasing budgets. They are hungry for more books that people can read and enjoy. Far from the roil of the DM, graphic novels were clearly on the upswing “Graphic novels are big and they’re just going to get bigger,” someone at the Disney booth, of all places, told me. Creator Frank Cammuso had an even more blunt assessment. “I think libraries saved comics,” he told me. Looking back at how comics emerged from the wreck of the post speculation market into the manga-fueled era of bookstore comics, and the recovery following Borders going under, library sales have risen steadily, an invisible but integral part of the business for publishers smart enough to get in on it. The numbers don’t lie: There are an estimated 119,487 libraries in the US, including 16,000 public libraries and nearly 100,000 school libraries. A hit in this market dwarfs the direct sales market, and doesn’t even show up on Bookscan.“ Read the rest of the report HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Paste Magazine has an excerpt from French cartoonist Carole Maurel’s Luisa: Now and Then, newly adapted into English by Mariko Tamaki and available this week from Humanoids’ Life Drawn imprint. “A disillusioned photographer has a chance encounter with her lost teenage self who has miraculously traveled into the future. Together, both women ultimately discover who they really are, finding the courage to live life by being true to themselves. Luisa’s sexuality is revealed to be a defining element of her identity, one which both of her selves must come to terms with. A time-traveling love story that turns coming-of-age conventions upside down, Luisa is a universal queer romance for the modern age.“ See the preview HERE. ————————————————————————————————— A few extras PRI has a brief story on the new artist behind the comic strip Nancy – HERE. A 13-year old cartoonist named Sasha Matthews responds to Trump’s family separation policy – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-29-2018 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

07/25/2016

Juan FernándezJuly 25, 2016NewsJuan Fernandez here with: Tom Kemp’s MIDDEN FEEDER; building your goddamn website;Roxane Gay and Yona Harvey to Write Black Panther spin off World of Wakanda; Mark Newgarden’s Garbage Pail Kids interview; Zara rips off illustrators; Comic Arts Brooklyn 2016; The NIB takes Philly; 2016 Eisner Award Winners; new Street Angel; latest Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency Auction. ————————————————————————————————— midden feeder by Tom Kemp I’m happy to announce that we are featuring Tom Kemp’s midden feeder on the site this week. midden feeder was made by Tom Kemp in 2015 and was printed for Safari Festival 2015. Kemp will be surfing the new waves in contemporary comics and art at this year’s Safari Festival in London on August 27th. Don’t miss him! ————————————————————————————————— Build yerr own damn Website Max Riffner lays out how to build a comics website that works for you. It takes some effort but with Riffner’s detailed tips, you can make the most of the best tools available online today to make the site that best suits your work. and can keep you from getting stuck with antiquated web hosting services. No one else is going to do it for you, so get cracking! Your cartoonist website is your digital hub. Get that through your head right now. Your website is home base for everything that you do. It’s going to represent you and your work. It needs to be professional. It needs to work, and it needs to work for you. In fact, this is all about you and your freedom. Some of the hosting services may offer to provide domain name registration. And whichever domain registrar you use may offer hosting. The temptation to have everything in one spot is high. Don’t do it. Sometimes, either one will hold the name or the hosting hostage. You want to have these pieces all separate from each other so you can easily move services. ————————————————————————————————— Taking trash with Mark Newgarden – 2016 Interview The Garbage Pail Kids website has a wonderful, extensive intervew with Mark Newgarden on his time working for GPK. They go into lots of juicy production details and discuss Newgarden’s formative years. Exciting. What was it like working with the many artists involved in creating GPK? Correspondence and communications is so different now-a-days; I would imagine receiving Pound’s paintings with paint strokes would be a lot different than receiving a scanned electronic image these days. Can you explain the teacher/student relationship you had with Spiegelman and were you comfortable directing the GPK artists? I have to say, the original sets are untouchable when it comes to the level of quality (even printed on lesser-grade card). There was always a lot of creative back and forth, it was a big part of the job. Phone meetings, faxes, Fed-Exed tracing paper overlays with notes. Art and I were usually on the same page. John’s pencils or paintings would come in on a Monday and I’d make notes all over them. Then on Tuesday, Art would make notes on my notes and we’d usually call John in the afternoon and hash it all out. Tom Bunk and James Warhola were local, so they’d take the subway. We’d all do lunch in the fabled Topps cafeteria and then go through the same routine in person. At times (when there was time) we’d go through 2, 3, even 4 rounds of revisions on a single image to get it just right. The input usually focused on emphasizing clarity and amplifying (or extending) the gag. The goal was always to balance impact with visual clarity. May sound obvious, but it really isn’t always so simple. The initial staging or composition of a GPK gag was crucial as to whether it lived or died. Then the execution needed to be solid and plausible and never distract, or get in the way of the concept. John set a very high bar from the start. Tom brought a wacky energy to the mix. James added an air of foreboding mood and mystery. Seeing what these guys would come back with was always the highlight of my week. It was fun and collaborative, and I think our fresh eyes and brain cells helped make better GPKs. ————————————————————————————————— Roxane Gay and Yona Harvey to Write Black Panther spin off World of Wakanda The New York Times has announced that Ta-Nehisi Coates has brought on Roxane Gay and Yona Harvey to work on Black Panther: World of Wakanda, an upcoming Black Panther spin off. News out of left-field from the world of the Big 2 but a relief and a ray of very necessary light. And just like the current Black Panther series, which is written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, the author and a national correspondent for The Atlantic, the new comic will be written by newcomers to the industry: the feminist writer Roxane Gay and the poet Yona Harvey. “My agent was not thrilled that I was taking on another project,” Ms. Gay said. But learning to write comics exercised different creative muscles, which she said she found exciting. “It’s the most bizarre thing I’ve ever done, and I mean that in the best possible way,” she said. ————————————————————————————————— Comic Arts Brooklyn 2016: It’s a go! The premiere NYC art comics show, CAB, has announced that the festival WILL be happening this year. It will take place on November 5th. Exhibitor applications available soon. ————————————————————————————————— Artists Take a Bold Stand After Accusing Zara of Ripping Off Over a Dozen of Their Designs Spanish clothing retailer Zara, like many corporations, has no qualms at throwing their weight around when it comes to plagiarizing the designs of illustrators for their own use. Zara was found to be ripping off illustrator Tuesday Bassen’s designs. Bassen took matters into her own hands and spoke publicly on twitter last week about the incident. The internet took notice. Marie Solis has comprehensive coverage of the whole corporate debacle over on Mic.com. In an interview with the Daily Dot Bassen said, “It absolutely hurts my business and waters down the brand I’ve slowly built based around my original artwork.” She added that the legal fees alone are enough to tear down an independent artist: She’d paid $2,000 just to send her claims to Zara. But Bassen isn’t giving up — not just for her own sake, but for the recognition of at least a dozen other artists who also believe Zara has stolen their designs. New York City illustrator Adam J. Kurtz said when Bassen’s tweet blew up, he and a handful of other artists were texting and Facebook messaging each other, realizing the brand had stolen a slew of their designs all at once. ————————————————————————————————— The NIB takes Philly The NIB is taking over an art gallery and transforming it into their headquarters, bringing in six cartoonists to cover the 2016 Democratic Convention. If you loved their coverage of the Republican Convention last week, you’re not going to want to miss them this week. They’re going full force. ————————————————————————————————— 2016 Eisner Award Winners Announced Tom Spurgeon reports this years Eisner Award winners from San Diego Comic Con. The award ceremony was held Friday July 22nd. The winners for this year’s Eisner Awards were announced last night at a fancy program at the Hilton Bayfront. It was a well-received program, with a little bit of something for everyone: John Barrowman making nerd-culture and penis jokes, emotional speeches, people being adorable, Ed Brubaker and Gary Groth and Peggy Burns kind of mixing it up acceptance-speech wise. It was great to see a night where Kate Beaton got an award and Lynda Barry got in the Hall Of Fame. Two great cartoonists. I thought the winners were all pretty good. There were two I’d change if I could — actually more, because I’m a jerk, but two stood out to me as personal “aw, man” moments. That’s actually really good for an awards show. Biggest surprise was Bill Schelly’s Kurtzman book, I think. Spurgeon’s full reporting from SDCC 2016 is now online and available HERE. It’s always a pleasure to see this world through Spurgeon’s eyes, especially if you’ve never stepped foot in SDCC before. ————————————————————————————————— —————————————————————————— New Private Rowhouse Auction – 7.24-7.30 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. 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! Juan Share this page: [...]

07/07/2016

Posted on July 7, 2016July 7, 2016 by Harrison

Harrison is here today previewing the 4th Annual Comics Workbook Competition, revisiting an old/new interview with a veteran artist, giving an update from Richmond, VA’s best artists, and finishing with something sharp.

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COMICS WORKBOOK COMPOSITION COMPETITION 2016

THE SANTORO CORRESPONDENCE COURSE and

The Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency presents

the COMICS WORKBOOK COMPOSITION COMPETITION 2016

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1st place – $500 cash prize to the winner

2nd place – $250 credit at Copacetic Comics

3rd place – $100 credit at Copacetic Comics

plus four $50 honorable mention prizes from Big Planet Comics

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Create a 16 page signature comic book narrative to the specifications below

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DEADLINE: August 30 2016 at midnight (that’s 11:59 EST)

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Find all the details HERE!

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From the Vault: Arvell Malcolm Jones Interview

CBR News: What about the challenges or difficulties you may have faced while getting into the comics biz?

AJ: Well, Marvel and DC were interesting places in the early ’70s. Racism was there, but not the kind you would think. People were trying to be very open minded, but they only could draw on what they knew. I spent a lot of time getting to know people. It was hard at first because, in some cases, we had nothing in common but our love of the industry. Plus, the industry is very much like a little Hollywood: it’s about who you know, as well as how good you are.

Many of the people I worked with I’d know for sometime through the convention route, or from zines, like [the ones done by] Roy Thomas (when we had our zine, Roy was our source for news at Marvel) and Paul Levitz. Marvel and DC tried to be open to us but, in a way, they didn’t know quite how to relate to us. It helped that most of my friends from Detroit helped to open doors. We would take a 13 hour drive and spend the night with Al Milgrom and his roommate, hang at Rich’s, then go see John Romita at Marvel, get our butts spanked, and go back to Detroit to work on our samples again.

– via Comic Book Resources

Read the rest of the interview with veteran artist Arvell Malcolm Jones here.

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Richmond’s Finest

Check out some of the new work from our friends from Richmond, VA, Cameron Weston Nicholson, Richie Pope, and Chris Visions. Support and share please.

Cameron Weston Nicholson
Cameron’s got a sale on his latest comic, Burgundy. IF you’ve been waiting to pick up some work from Cameron, now’s your chance before these comics are gone! Send him a message via instagram and he’ll hook you up.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BHhqpeqg-jZ/

Richie Pope

Along with having the illustration below in the New York Times, Richie has made available the second (and final) edition of Newdini in print. Get it now! http://richiepope.bigcartel.com/product/newdini

tumblr_o9gcg9eiWO1r4v7u9o1_1280 — Two Dads, Two Kids, One Experimental Family – Richie Pope for the New York Times

Chris Visions

You can now buy your copy of Chris Visions’ #LunchtimeLoosies VOL. 1 at http://chrisvisions.bigcartel.com – A color collection of beautiful observational drawings made with mixed media.

12443002_10103047963064636_702899140_n — Dove by Chris Visions

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Arvell Malcolm Jones, Cam Nicholson, Chris Visions, Interviews, Richie Pope

Harrison

Posted on July 7, 2016July 7, 2016

Explore

10/23/2018

Aaron CockleOctober 22, 2018NewsAnne Carson; Boiled Angels; Gabe Fowler; Mary Ann Caws ————————————————————————————————— “Flaubert Again” Anne Carson has a piece of fiction in the most recent New Yorker issue: Once, she and Martha had gone to Greece together, to an international writers’ conference. While they were there, she’d renounced writing. Instead, she made sketches in a sketchbook and titled it “The Glass of Water,” as if that were what everyone was looking for, a glass of water in Greece, not a different kind of novel or some not-stupid sentences. The sketches were a bit cartoonish but loving. We see the glass of water disappearing up the stairs with a Russian poet. Or gripped fast by a Turkish Cypriot novelist (who has poured it into two glasses). Or lost by a Spanish writer behind a mountain of toast at the breakfast table. She found toast difficult to draw convincingly, from a side view. Drawing the Peruvian poet, on the other hand, who claimed to have videotaped his llama drinking from the glass of water, was a joy, as she already knew how to draw llamas. ————————————————————————————————— Color Giants – Cinema Comix Expo 2018 The third year of the free Color Giants Expo moves (temporarily) away from animation to feature two events featuring iconic underground cartoonists. Nov. 10th at 7pm is the second-ever NYC screening of the 2018 feature documentary Boiled Angels: The Trial of Mike Diana directed by Frank Henenlotter (Basket Case). The titular Mike Diana (“Boiled Angel”)—the only artist in US history convicted of obscenity, whose legal battle is the subject matter of this important film—will be present for a Q&A with director Henenlotter. Nov. 11th at 8pm are new programs of occult-related films, with a live Q&A and tarot readings with cartoonist and witchcraft-enthusiast Dame Darcy (“Meat Cake”). Films will include works by Dame Darcy and Lisa Hammer, Zev Deans, H.R. Giger and more. Programmed by Kenneth Filmer as part of the Brooklyn Fire Proof Screening Series in association with Comic Arts Brooklyn and Robyn Chapman. Both programs are free. Address: Seltzer Room Studio 3 at 102 Ingraham St., Brooklyn, NY 11237. (Two blocks from L Train at Morgan Ave.) This program is for adults only, and no children will be admitted. ————————————————————————————————— ‘Do you keep up with the comics news–and what does the term “comics news” mean to you?’ Gabe Fowler is interviewed over at TCJ: What gets you most annoyed about comics right now? I try not to sustain annoyance. There’s a lot of regrettable beating-of-dead-horses in comics, and the horse-beaters need to grow a brain or get out of the way. Let me say this: if you look at comics history or comics present and are troubled by problematic material or problematic creators, THAT’S GOOD. When you spot a problem, that’s the world telling you it’s your turn to correct it. This is literally why I run a store. All the other stores were full of stale garbage, run by assholes, had no sense of style, and were always playing shitty music. I realized it was my duty to address these problems and try to find a better way. ————————————————————————————————— The Art of Interference: Stressed Readings in Verbal & Visual Texts I recently started reading this book, by Mary Ann Caws, published in 1989. Here’s a bit from the introduction: Marc Shell, in his Money, Language, and Thought, points out the limits of our institutions of philosophy and criticism, given our more than complex relation to economy, exchange, and coinage, particularly in America. Our money complex and our frequent refusal or incapacity to separate the interrelations of coin and paper, cash and symbol, investment and expenditure, are themselves bound up with our production of writing and our theatricalized productions of textual interpretation, with our reading and our perception of all the former. To expand on this thought, then, could we not imagine that what we institute in our thought and speech, and are likely to have instituted, is bound and limited, even as what we think we are defending nationally is the freedom of thinking and discoursing against what would bind and censor? ————————————————————————————————— 10-23-2018 by Niall Breen ————————————————————————————————— Cement Mixer – 10-23-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

Ch 5: The Figure in Detail (FACC)

Juan FernándezJanuary 1, 2016ResourcesShare this page: [...]

06/15/2017

Sally IngrahamJune 15, 2017NewsSally here with Shannon Wright, Jillian Tamaki, Adam Griffiths, and James Baldwin to get your Thursday morning started! ————————————————————————————————— Shannon Wright made this comic to share with her followers on Instagram this week (@shannondrewthis) and it speaks volumes to her recent experiences as a young, talented artist who has recently gained a lot of attention. Her illustrations have appeared in numerous national publications and her comics have been featured on The Nib among other places. Her Black hair illustration series, mentioned in the comic above, is an ongoing project that touches on many recent discussions about cultural appropriation and the image of Black women in history and pop culture. I appreciate Shannon’s honesty and blunt politeness in embracing her new fans and dealing with her (probable) frustration with other folks’ demands and expectations for her time and art – this comic is cute and classy. Good luck Shannon! ————————————————————————————————— Adam Griffiths continues his web comic American Cryo – the 7th strip is seen above – check out the rest HERE. Get a copy of Adam’s comic The Permanent Night – which he worked on during a Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency earlier this year – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— There is a James Baldwin celebration going on in Harlem – 77 boxes of Baldwin’s manuscripts, photos, letters, notes and more, have come back to where it all started – the contents are on display at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture on Malcolm X Boulevard, just a few doors down from the elementary school that Baldwin attended. Other bookstores in the area are featuring Baldwin’s work and churches and schools will be hosting lectures and other events in the next few weeks. More detail HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Jillian Tamaki speaks to The Guardian about her new comics collection Boundless. “The stories in Boundless often started as thought experiments, for which Tamaki would conjure up the domino sequence that follows. Half Life exemplifies her simultaneously deadpan and sensitive voice: protagonist Helen slowly shrinks in size, as if possessed by an intractable force. “If gets pushed and pushed and pushed, it is relentless. There’s no changing her path,” explains Tamaki. But it is Helen’s reactions that are the focus of the story. “I think the story is quite fantastical, obviously, but it’s also fantastical in that she is completely calm about it. She’s not afraid, she’s not freaking out – people around her are freaking out – but she is completely adapting to the new circumstances.” “ More HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 6-15-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-15-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-15-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

03/22/2018

Sally IngrahamMarch 22, 2018NewsSally here with work by Shequeta Smith, E. Simms Campbell, and CM Campbell, plus much more! ————————————————————————————————— A recent article on the Los Angeles Sentinel celebrated Women’s History Month with a terrific roundup of Black Women in Comics. One creator whom I was excited to discover is Shequeta Smith (pictured above). She is a powerhouse, making the Rayven Choi series, running Shero Comics, and digging into the screenwriting industry as well. You can see a preview of Rayven Choi Chapter #3: The Bounty Hunter HERE. The L. A. Sentinel article also lists Micheline Hess (creator of Malice in Ovenland), Myisha Haynes (The Substitutes), Taneka Stotts (Beyond: The Queer Sci-Fi and Fantasy Comic Anthology series), and familiar names like Marguerite Abouet (the Aya comics), and Jackie Ormes (Torchy Brown, etc.) Check out the whole list HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Here’s an article on Slate from 2016 about E. Simms Campbell – one of the first successful black cartoonists. His work appeared in numerous magazines of the day, many of them in Esquire, which launched in 1933. I thought the map pictured above was terrific, and if you are a jazz fan it is worth noting that Cab Calloway’s band appears at the bottom left-hand corner. ————————————————————————————————— CM Campbell shares a lengthy and interesting comic on Hyperallergic for “anyone who has ever asked, “How do I draw a black guy?” ” Read the full thing HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Extra, Extra! Check out Ronald Wimberly on the Comicidal Podcast – he talks about new and ongoing projects like Sunset Park, and LAAB Magazine. Listen HERE. Ta-Nehisi Coates (the writer behind two successful years of Black Panther) is going to start writing Captain America. He scribbled a brief essay for The Atlantic that announced the new project, and details why it “scares the hell out of me“. The Nib has a feature called Comics By Response, where they pose a question or concept and cartoonists respond – here are Four Cartoonists on Their Favorite Unsung Black History Heroes – with work by Keith Knight, Robyn Smith, Ben Passmore, and Mariah Rose-Marie. Illustrated PEN on PEN America’s guest editor Robert Kirby showcases the work of fellow guest editor Whit Taylor, throwing light on the final story in her collection Ghost Stories – the story is called Maker and you can see it HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Announcing the Spring Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers 8 weeks! $500 bux! 10 spots available! Rolling start date because of spring break – start as early as March 30th 2018. Deadline to apply is April 12th. Read all about the course HERE and email santoroschool@gmail.com for more details or to apply. ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 3-21-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

02/02/2017

Sally IngrahamFebruary 1, 2017NewsSally has the comics and news today – Ronald Wimberly and Jim Pluk on tour, Ladycastle on shelves, Aya on the big screen, Adam Griffiths in Pittsburgh – and Sam Ombiri brings thoughts on changing minds. ————————————————————————————————— From Ronald Wimberly: “Happy Black History Month The last two years, to celebrate the impact black people have had on our history, I’ve drawn 12 Black luminaries, past and present, alongside their own words. This year I’ve drawn 14 new ones and collected them and those from the last two years together in a book coming out on the 8th (2/8/2017) from Image Comics. Ask for it at your local book stores, galleries, museum shops, etc. You can even cop it on your kindle or comixology. I’m even working on an audiobook version where I describe the picture to you while simultaneously reading the quote. Nah. This month I’ll be making several stops alongside the east coast, signing and talking. If you’re around, please come say hi! 2/15/17 1900-2100: WASHINGTON D.C.; FANTOM COMICS Catch me at Fantom Comics from 7 till 9pm signing books and chatting with the homie Julian Lytle. 2/19/17 1300-1700: COLUMBUS, OHIO; CMA I’ll be doing a signing followed by a closing reception for my show at the Columbus Museum of Art. Come by, drink some wine, eat some cheese and chat me up. 2/22//17 1800-2000: PITTSBURGH, PA; COPACETIC COMICS Still working out the details on this, but pretty excited to check out your town Pittsburgh! 2/24/17 RHODE ISLAND TBA “ We are super excited that Ron is coming to Pittsburgh this month, and if he is coming anywhere near you be sure to look him up! ————————————————————————————————— I paused my perusal of the excellent tumblr Superheroes In Full Color to go look up what Marguerite Abouet has been doing lately. She is an Ivorian writer who currently resides in Paris, and is the author of the award-winning series Aya (the artwork is by her husband Clément Oubrerie). The series was adapted into a movie, which has recently been screened at a number of French and African film festivals. In November of 2016 Aya of Yop City was screened at the 4th Ake Arts and Book Festival, in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Nmadiuto Uche sat down with Marguerite to talk about the film and the comic series and their conversation was recently posted online. “You have mentioned on two different occasions here at Ake that you were not sure how Nigerians will receive Aya. Why were you so anxious? Even though Nigeria and Cote D’Ivoire are not far from each other geographically, the culture may not be familiar. Thus, there is a lot of prejudice. Nigerians think that Ivoirians are people who party all the time and drink a lot. I mean, someone even asked after the movie screened if I was sponsored by a beer company. Often, we have a simplistic vision of other African countries and this is not good. I am African first before being Ivoirian. I do not allow countries in the West to speak badly about Africa and we should not do the same among ourselves. When I mentioned I was coming to Nigeria, people said I was crazy and the country is dangerous. As I said, I do not like prejudice. In every country, there are dangerous and good places. So, all of this was going through my mind before Aya was screened. I was happy that people laughed and had a good time with the film. It is important to respect others. We share almost the same customs. For example, when Adunni and the Nefertiti band performed, I loved it. It reminded me of something similar from an ethnicity in Cote D’Ivoire, which is why we have this profession, to create dialogue and discuss. Even though, I do not like to fly, I make the time to travel and have conversations with people at festivals like this.“ Read the rest HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: This one guy was telling me that he doesn’t like comics, but he was lumping all comics to fit the singular context of “the comics that he read that he wasn’t too fond of”. “Comics” were one thing in his mind, and this wouldn’t shift. No matter how much I tried to change his trajectory of thought regarding “what comics are”, his stance wouldn’t budge. He kind of presented a similar attitude when talking about what magical realism is. He said “No, I don’t like comics I like books.” While I had the floor in the conversation, he kept repeating “Comic books? Graphic novels? Comic book? Graphic novel? Comic book? Graphic novel?” One thing I can’t quite explain was the subtle tone he was using when he was saying “Graphic novels? Comic books?” He wasn’t abnormally impolite, he was just super opinionated about comics and what they are. It felt like terminology he was really hanging onto…and I find here, just as I found in that conversation, that I’m very bad at explaining things. There was this other guy I was talking to about different rappers whom we were familiar with – and then out of the blue he asks “Are you talking about rap or hip hop?” To which I respond ??? – as this was a distinction that he had clearly created in his mind, which only he had access to. It kind of reminds me of when people say “Oh, X genre is not music.” To which I say “Who cares?” I certainly don’t. The associations barely play a role in how I interact with the work (or at least I try to keep it that way, and I fail more often than not. Haha.) This person going around insisting on what’s music and what’s not is, again, creating a distinction in their mind that only they have access to. Which is fine, I’m fairly certain everyone does this – but this expectation that everyone will automatically be on board with it seems a bit…(I can’t come up with the word). I could kind of peer into the mind of the first person whom I was talking to (or trying to talk) about comics with. He kind of had a dismissive tone when talking about these “Comic books? Graphic novels?” I couldn’t bring myself to bring, say, “art comics” or, uhhh, “literatury comics” into the conversation. I feel that if our conversation had gone on, and I might have gotten him to say something other than “Comic books? Graphic novels?” He’d probably have eventually thought, “I could probably find comics that I’d like, but who has the time?” It was a tad frustrating, and I wish I could hide my frustration better and act calm and collected, but it was like, “Not all books are Twilight or whatever – why apply this principle to comics like this guy is?” I guess what this has got me wondering is (and this is putting my question in a very clumsy way – this question is still abstract in my mind, and I’m not too good at forming it) “What role do these associations play?” Or no, maybe it’s “Are these associations there to make a space for people to speak with authority, even when they’re still ignorant of what they’re talking about, and are unable to bring up specifics, or interact with what they’re talking about?” Or no, maybe that’s still not my question well represented… – Sam Ombiri This Is Totally a 4-Panel Comic – Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— Ladycastle #1 was just released! I’ve been eagerly awaiting this new feminist take on the princess left in a tower trope… Ladycastle is a 4-part mini-series written and created by Delilah S. Dawson, with art by Ashley A. Woods (who is also part of the creative team for the series Niobe: She Is Life). Geeks of Doom describe Ladycastle as a “candid look into what would happen if all the knights and soldiers went off to war and (mostly) got themselves killed. Bordering on satirical, this story focuses on a group of ladies that refuse to accept the roles that their society tries to place on them. From a picky princess who isn’t going to marry a prince just because the king insists, to a blacksmith’s wife who is apparently just as good of a ‘smith as her husband.“ Back in November the ComicsAlliance spoke to Delilah Dawson and Ashley Wood about the project (which comes from Boom! Studios): “CA: Feminist takes on fantasy and princess stories seem to be having a real moment right now, especially in comics. Do you see this book as part of a conversation or movement? DD: I come to comics from the world of novels and mainstream publishing, where Young Adult books led the charge for putting women in power. Both publishing — especially Science Fiction and Fantasy — and comics can often feel like arenas with a tradition of older straight white dudes being in power, and I love that new voices are bringing in better representation of the real world and new ideas of who gets to wield power there. It feels less like a moment and more like a much-needed charge for balance. AW: Most definitely. Delilah tackles certain tropes head on and flips them around to show that all female characters aren’t the same, just like women and people in real life. What I like most about the princess of Ladycastle – Aeve – is that she refuses to let another person define her life or put her in a box. She rejects that with every fiber of her being, from the way she expresses herself (not what one would typically call “ladylike”), to the way that she dresses. I think redefining who a princess is and how she acts is a powerful way to show young female readers that they don’t have to wait to be rescued to be their own person.“ Read the rest of the interview HERE – and look for Ladycastle in your local comics shop. Also be sure to check out Niobe: She Is Life (#4 just came out) which is written by teen actress Amandla Stenberg and drawn by Ashley A. Wood. It is, to quote Amandla, “officially the first comic book to be written by a black girl, starring a black girl , and illustrated by a black girl .” More about the comic and Amandla’s mission HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Jim Pluk and the Starchild Tour 2017 is coming to your town – if you live in Berlin or Rome, that is! Catch Jim Pluk – a fantastic cartoonist from Columbia – in Berlin on February 3rd and in Rome on February 11th. At both events Jim will be releasing new fanzines and his comic Canosa’s Welcome (Perfectly Acceptable Press, 2016) along with 150/200 drawings and paintings. In Rome there will also be a little conversation about Canosa’s Welcome with Gabrielle di Fazio of the blog Just Indie Comics. If you’re in the area be sure to go see Jim in person. Check out more of his work HERE – get a copy of Canosa’s Welcome HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Adam Griffiths has joined us in Pittsburgh for a week-long Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency. He is a cartoonist from Takoma Park, MD, whose mission in life is to “Draw forever!“ About his work, Adam has written: “In its purest form, cartooning is a medium for simple, intellectual storytelling. I approach my cartooning as a visionary agent, skating the edges of contemporary art, illustration, outsider art, and underground comics art. Through my drawing process, I can play out the various symbolisms and mutabilities of historical imperialism and the class system. The images I complete are a mix of preconceived ideas and stream-of-conscious drawing; I want the drawings to pose conceptual riddles about the structure of society.“ It is a great pleasure to host Adam this week and we look forward to seeing more of what he makes here, and in the future. Keep up with Adam via Instagram – @grifftones. For more information about the Rowhouse Residency visit this page – and keep up with the project via @rowhouseresidency ————————————————————————————————— Bread Crumbs I missed this when it came out and now it’s extra depressing but…Keith Knight has a comic essay on Fusion that is a tribute to Obama. Here’s the New York Times Book Review’s take on the new George Herriman bio – Invisibly Black: A Life of George Herriman, Creator of Krazy Kat Chris Ware also writes about Krazy Kat for The New York Review of Books – To Walk in Beauty ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-2-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-2-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

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