Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in The Diaz ArchiveTagged 1981, CAB 2015, Charles Forsman, Comic Arts Brooklyn, Escape From New York, Illustrated Moments in Cinema/Television, John Carpenter, Kurt Russell, Season Hubley, Snake Plissken

Chris Anthony Diaz

Posted on July 11, 2016July 13, 2016

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3/17/16

HarrisonMarch 17, 2016News In relevant comic and art related news, 6 South Asian Webcomics you should check out, points about criticism, and learning to look. Thinking about Kim’s piece from the other day and our relationship to criticism in general made me think of artist Zak Smith who gave 68 tips to art critics a few years back. Highlights for me include… “1. Assume any young artist you _don’t_ write about will die of starvation tomorrow. (They won’t, but their art might.)” “7. Go to art fairs. MOVE FAST. Talk to no-one. When you find good art, demand to be alone with it for an hour.” “8. Interview artists. Ask questions _about the art_ not about where they grew up or what they named their dog.” “33. Don’t pretend your opinion is fact. Instead: if you want authority, state your prejudices upfront. Like so. ” “55. Remember the art isn’t just competing with other art, it’s competing with everything else you could do that day. It must win anyway.” Swapna Krishna shares six webcomics from South Asian artists that should be on your radar. Check that post here. https://vimeo.com/154236446 Still thinking about criticism. Filmmaker and critic Kevin B. Lee has been doing annual analysis of the major Oscar nominees for the past few years on Fandor (a website for independent films from around the world), and something he said at the end of this video essay for the Best Picture nominees seemed to resonate with me. He says “This movie (THE BIG SHORT/Adam McKay 2015) reminds me of why I make these Oscar videos in the first place. People ask me why I bother making them, since the Oscars go to whoever has the biggest ad campaign or has the most hype. And sure we can be cynical about it, but at the end of the day, we want to care about something. For me, the Oscars are a way to care about the movies the way I want to care about them. Specifically, how to look at moves to see what’s really good about them, because how do we know how good a movie is, how do we know how good anything is, if we don’t actually look at it?” Time Floats Share this page: [...]

06/10/2016

Sally IngrahamJune 10, 2016NewsFrom Sally to you – interviews, reviews, and Rowhouse mischief. Dig in! ————————————————————————————————— The Rowhouse had a special guest this week – samurai ninja badass cartoonist Lale Westvind stopped by on her way to CAKE in Chicago. She spent an evening digging into Frank’s library, and somehow simultaneously drew four pages of a new comic, all the while sharing stories about her cross-country motorcycle adventures. You can catch up with her yourself at CAKE this weekend (table 42b), or if you’re not in Chicago, check out a nicely coincidental interview with Lale here on the Comics Workbook site – follow the link below. http://comicsworkbook.com/lale-westvind-sometimes-an-overgrown-golf-course-will-do/ ————————————————————————————————— Speaking of CAKE, there are lots of brilliant books debuting at the show. I’m particularly excited about Hip Hop Family Tree Vol. 4 by Ed Piskor. Here’s the whole list! ————————————————————————————————— Over on The Comics Journal RJ Casey reviewed Ben Sears‘ new book Night Air (Koyama Press, 2016). “I’m nostalgic for things not beholden to nostalgia. I want to read adventure comics without the guilt of knowing that the original creators died flat broke and drowning in menacing legalese. I want to laugh at jokes that aren’t slathered in sanctimonious pandering. Frankly, I’m on the lookout for fun comics with no icky strings attached. So thank goodness for Night Air.” – RJ Casey Read the whole review HERE. ————————————————————————————————— The Comics Beat has a review of Melissa Mendes‘ Lou (Oily Comics). John Seven writes: “Mendes presents a full picture of this family’s life, working with multiple perspectives in reaction to the possibility of getting a puppy, as well as Lou’s hang-outs in an abandoned theater with her buddies, the shady dealings that Eddie encounters at the pizza place, and the mother’s reminiscence of the simpler, more intimate life with her husband before her children came along. Mendes brings all these pieces together to present a family as a form of super organism that can be jolted or made buoyant be the way separate parts of its life fester or expand. The mundanity of a new puppy can bounce up against the desperate actions of a criminal to create the family dynamic.“ Read the rest of the review HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Around the Comics Workbook HQ, we’re still processing the successful first official residency that took place last week. Mahmoud Hashemi, one of the two fellows who joined us, sent us a detailed report of his experience which we will share more of soon. For the moment, here’s the light touch, in Mahmoud’s words: “From May 28th to June 2nd, 2016, I visited Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I went to work with Frank Santoro on Matt Conway’s game Homemake. Overall it was a great vacation because it wasn’t your typical beachside retreat. Rather, it was mounting an effort to renew creativity and productivity on Matt Conway’s longstanding project, Homemake. … Frank’s own creative methods have a focus on systems, especially jazz-inspired rhythmic systems, making them an exceptional fit with Homemake‘s motivations and goals. I was skeptical at first, but it worked wonders. This effectiveness may have been magnified because half of Homemake‘s vision was disparate moments, a grab bag of mental notes about certain aesthetics. This method allowed Matt to express all his thoughts and editors, like me and Frank, to come through, see the patterns a reader would want to see, and develop the most coherent narrative. Everyone wins.” Look for more from Mahmoud and Matt and Frank on the exceptional days they spent together here on Comics Workbook soon! ————————————————————————————————— Have a great weekend folks! – Sally Share this page: [...]

02/22/2016

Juan FernándezFebruary 22, 2016NewsLet’s start off right with a look at Ron Wimberley’s latest offerings! He’s published his 12 powerful illustrations of black luminaries. He did 12 last year in February. He did 12 this year. You can see the full set in detail over here. For snippets of the inking process, hop on over to Ron’s Instagram. He’s also got the whole behind the scenes action over at his Patreon. Very much worth checking out if you’ve been looking to step up your inking game. I dropped three a week. Here are most of them. Original inks and zip are for sale, $350 a piece. DM me with inquiries (All but Zadie Smith are available as of this posting) – Ron Ever been to Prague? Yeah, me neither! But with Sophia Foster-Dimino‘s most recent travel diary I now know a good deal of what I should check out should I ever have the good fortune to go. Art, history and day drinking with KJ Martinet. She’s shared her pages via twitter as she completed them and it seems some were made while abroad and others upon returning. I love Sophia’s way of plugging in completed comics sequences, illustrations and doodles and filling the text around them. Really refreshing and inspiring assemblage process. One for the utility belt, kids. For now, take a peek on her travels! I’m in Prague for a week with @kjmartinet, gonna try to document it as much as possible, travel tips appreciated ✨ pic.twitter.com/MRXJR5AvFn — Sophia Foster-Dimino (@hellophia) February 10, 2016 Thursday part one! pic.twitter.com/icN0wYZdxl — Sophia Foster-Dimino (@hellophia) February 12, 2016 Thursday part two ✌ pic.twitter.com/0iXycZ00TW — Sophia Foster-Dimino (@hellophia) February 13, 2016 Saturday part two and Sunday part one ? pic.twitter.com/wDjSSbqcri — Sophia Foster-Dimino (@hellophia) February 16, 2016 aaand Tuesday part two and then we went home and now I’m home. ? pic.twitter.com/Ue5eD63lFh — Sophia Foster-Dimino (@hellophia) February 21, 2016 Isabel Ryan‘s got some floaty, dreamy, goofy cartooning going on over at Rookie Mag in her comic Magic 8 Ball. Should you go over and read Isabel’s latest *shake shake shake* Definitely . Zainab Akhtar‘s been thinking about Jane Mai‘s See You Next Tuesday. It’s time you did too. She’s got a really interesting review of this whirlwind of comics by Mai. Really puts Mai’s work in context for greater appreciation. Big ups to Koyama Press for making this showcase of Mai’s skills possible. While the relative ‘democracy’ of the internet has allowed people to bypass instituionalised gatekeeping to some degree, the transition of culture from ‘in real life’ to online remains the same (if not worse in that it facilitates rampant, unchecked abuse). Mai is one of many contemporary artists who have built followings after publishing work online, a feat that often requires a specific level of engagement and giving of oneself in order for it to be successful. The nature of that interaction can feel more direct and personal to the audience, fostering (with regard to female creatives, especially) entitlement and attempted ownership. There’s a sense of people playing a part in your persona, a ‘we made you’ mentality; a collective Frankenstein-ing. – Zainab Blaise Larmee joined Robin over at Inkstuds to talk about some of the new work he has been involved with from 2d Cloud. Most recently, Blaise edited the Mirror Mirror anthology which is part of 2d Cloud’s current Kickstarter efforts. Most awkward inkstuds ever. Highly recommended. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/248252491″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Print wizards Justine and Jordan Hurder over at Chance Press have announced a gorgeous new Kim Deitch print for ya. Really cool story behing this one: There’s another unique thing about this print: it’s not based on original artwork. Usually with fine art printing, the goal is to reproduce an original piece of work as faithfully as possible. Here, the original black and white artwork was sold long ago, the color was done in Photoshop, and the only scan was on a disc that didn’t work anymore. In fact, the only surviving record of the artwork was a yellowing page from an early-90s issue of the LA Weekly. After an extensive color correction process, I was able to restore it and include it in the 2014 publication of ‘A Deitch Miscellany.’ For this print, I tweaked some more color, made the blacks a little deeper and more consistent, pulled out some of the oversaturation, and came up with something I’m really happy with. It definitely doesn’t look like a normal print made from a modern high-res scan, but that’s part of the charm. Preorder a copy now over at Chance Press. Last but not least, Paper Jam 5 took place this past weekend. Seemed like it was a buzzing hive of color and camraderie in NYC. A party for sharing that deep, deep zine love. Photos are trickling in from attendees and exhibitors. You’re going to want to follow the paperjam tumblr to stay abreast with photos, interviews and the like that happened during the happening. More news to come! Juan Fernandez, over and out. Share this page: [...]

8/1/2016

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

03/01/2017

Juan FernándezMarch 1, 2017los Cómics / NewsJuan José con un poquito sobre #GRAFBCN2017; Bas Backer on Chicks on Cómics; Inés Estrada’s Booklyn 2012; Mireia Pérez; Núria Pompeia; Berliac; Salva Rubio on Jiro Taniguchi; 100 Años de TBO; CW Daily Comics. Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: ESTE FIN DE SEMANA: #GRAFBCN2017. Esta a la vuelta de la esquina. GRAF is coming to Barcelona. Here’s all the info you need for #GRAFBCN2017‘s programming. March 3-5 at the wacky warehouse space, Fabra i Coats. It’s the ninth edition of the Festival so it should get pretty wild. – If you’re following from home, check out twitter and tumblr for the #GRAFBCN2017 to get some insights on. Want to know who’s going to be there? Here ya go. Need more info? Here’s Mireia Pérez with the scoop you need on #GRAFBCN2017 over on RTVE’s La Hora del Bocadillo, Spain’s weekly national comics radio hour. (Fast forward to minute 48). Descubre a Núria Pompeia en la exposición ‘Núria Pompeia, sola ante el peligro’. Fundación Gin‘s digital editorial cartooning museum, Humoristan, has got a great online exhibition of Pompeia’s work with highlights from Maternasis and Las Metamorfosis. Berliac‘s got some new comics on Vice – Asian Food Store Junkies – S01-E03 This week will horrify your taste buds. Inés Estrada’s dropped a zine she made, quick and dirty after her time at Comic Arts Brooklyn in 2012. “I was going to make a zine of my comics diary of Brooklyn 2012 (cus I never did) but fck it… who cares about 2012″ Now you can read it online. Inspiring, fast, six panel autobio. Salva Rubio offers a great reflection on the work of the late Jiro Taniguchi. Especially of interest given it’s a Spanish perspective on the manga titan. The theme here is the eternal return. This March, it will be the 100th anniversary of the first issue of “TBO”, the popular illustrated magazine that gave name to Spanish comics, tebeos. To commemorate this the newly published, Antoni Guiral‘s 100 Años de TBO, tells the history of a publication which passed the great names of twentieth century Catalan comic. Take a tour of a century “TBO”. (In Catalan!) Bas Backer ha hecho un relato hermoso de su paso por Buenos Aires, el encuentro con amigos y actividades de Chicks On Comics. A nice report, filled with photos and drawings of time passing through the amazing Chicks on Comics show and Buenos Aires. A nice long distance relationship travelogue, haha! ————————————————————————————————— Berliac offers some fresh cuts over at Fumettologica, the central axis of the conversation being his work editing and contributing to Kuš! #25’s Gaijiin Manga. Short and sweet but goes in deep with his thoughts on gekiga, the western gaze and his own evolution as an author. How do you explain the current popularity of Gekiga in the western comics scene? Now they’re getting published and before they were not, simple as that. If you want to dig deeper, I guess the publishers finally realized that since the late seventies, Western adults grew up with manga and anime, and we just needed a cultural approval from well-respected publishers, to re-unite with our childhood love without feeling embarassed about it. Put that together with the concept that publishers from liberal countries have of what a Graphic-Novel is supposed to be (basically realistic stories about the suffering of people from far away countries, to be enjoyed from the comfort of our sofas), and there you go: Gekiga provides us with both. Here lies another reason why I like to call my own work Gaijin-Gekiga: if Gekiga was the Japanese expression, in a dramatic comics form, of their own collective anxieties in times of hypercapitalism, then I can undoubtedly say that the main focus of my work is the very same one, only about my own place and time, of course. I have the impression that not many well-known cartoonists are really talking about what’s going on right here and now, on this side of the world, on a collective scale. In Graphic-Novels, all I see is either boring lectures about foreign or past war conflicts from an “objective”, Western point of view, or feel-good stories about individual self-improvement, and in the most successful cases, a combination of the two. These stories are just two different ways of patting our backs and telling ourselves how great we Westerners are. Gekiga was a beautiful, dignifying way to accept the crushing reality of post-war defeat. Western narratives of today, on the contrary, insist on that we’re on the winning side, even when our reality clearly points to the opposite (see Donald Trump). I’m not saying there’s dignity in being a loser, but in seeing reality for what it is. Drama without exaggeration. That is the essence of Gekiga. Now that a few months has passed from the release of the Kus, can you say that the anthology also served as a bond between the artists of this possible new western manga scene? Bonds among artists always exist, but maybe not explicitely. to the point not even we are aware of it. Many of the artists involved discovered each other’s work in that issue of š! As I said in another interview, it is not the artists’ task or responsablity to make that bond intelligible for the public, but the publishers’, gallerists’, and journalists’. As an author, I’m not too concerned about it. As a co-editor of š! #25, I certainly hope we provided a grain of sand to this cause. ————————————————————————————————— The Spring Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers is starting soon! The semester has a rolling start date, but it will officially kick off on March 7th. We will continue taking applications past that date – Frank is always willing to make it work for your schedule. Just apply! The course is 8 weeks long – 500 bux – payment plans are available. More details can be found HERE. Email santoroschoolATgmail to apply ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 3-1-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 3-1-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 3-1-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 3-1-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK by Charles Forsman

Posted on July 11, 2016July 13, 2016 by Chris Anthony Diaz

Charles Forsman’s b&w portrayal of Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken and Season Hubley as the Girl In Chock Full O’Nuts in John Carpenter’s ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981, USA) for my ILLUSTRATED MOMENTS IN CINEMA/TELEVISION collection. The illustration was completed late 2015 in ink, and Charles’ photo was taken at Comic Arts Brooklyn, Saturday, November 7, 2015. And Graham Willcox did the color for Charles’ portrait

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Chris Anthony Diaz

Posted on July 11, 2016July 13, 2016

Explore

06/15/2016

Juan FernándezJune 15, 2016NewsJuan Fernandez here with: los Cómics españoles en Bologna;lo nuevo de TIK TOK; las novedades del Club de Dibujo; Juan Diaz Canales’ COMO VIAJA EL AGUA; Santiago García y el arte del guion. ————————————————————————————————— Off the site: Report: Spanish Art Comics Day in Bologne Serena Di Virgilio over at Italian comics criticism hub, Just Indie Comics, has a great report on the Spanish Independent Publishing panels and exhibitions from this May in Bologne. Lots of inspiring photos and a great primer on some of the most exciting contemporary makers of Spanish speaking comics from around the world making comics in Spain. Thursday, May 26 BilBOlbul Spring / Summer 2016 , preview of Bologna balloon festival, a meeting dedicated to Olaf Ladousse, Klari Moreno, Roberto Massó and Martín López Lam, and an exhibition of the latest works of the latter. The four authors, mostly unknown in Italy, living in Spain and selfpublishing their creations. Apart from that, it is a rather heterogeneous group that presents a stimulating variety of imaginary and experiences. ————————————————————————————————— Novedades/New over on TIK TOK Cómics: ¡Click through to read/Dale click para continuar a los comics! ————————————————————————————————— Club de Dibujo – Weekly Drawings from Around Latin America Club de Dibujo es la publicación serial de un grupo de artistas latinoamericanos que envían cada semana un nuevo dibujo. La curadora es Adriana Lozano. Check them out and stay atop the refreshing and raw wave of Latin American illustration and comics! ————————————————————————————————— Rafael Villa con Martín Cáceres: El Sueño de la Máquina Here’s a neat interview of Martín Cáceres in the latest edition of Chilean arts periodical La Panera. The interview starts on page pg. 32 of the PDF, surrounded by lots of interesting contemporary arts and culture from Chile 😉 ————————————————————————————————— Juan Díaz Canales y Como Viaja el Agua Juan Díaz Canales, best known in the states for his work on the Blacksad series with Juanjo Guarnido, sits down and talks with Bilbao 24 horas about his ventures into his first solo graphic novel, Como Viaja el Agua. P.: “Como viaja el agua” es tu primer trabajo como autor completo. ¿Cómo afrontas el reto? R.: Como una experiencia más. Así es como me voy planteando el resto de cosas en la vida. Como apasionado de los tebeos es algo que quería hacer desde hace tiempo. También es cierto que, al no tener un pasado fanzinero tenía algo de miedo. Sin tener ese bagaje, me he enfrentado a un libro de 90 páginas. El riesgo era alto pero ha llegado un momento de madurez profesional y eso me ha dado algo de seguridad para afrontarlo. ————————————————————————————————— Diego Cuevas y Iván Galiano interview guionista Santiago García Over on Jot Down, EL PAIS’ contemporary culture magazine, there’s a solid interview with Spanish comics writing all star, Santiago García. If you’re not familiar with García, take note! He’s one of the most popular writers of comics in Spain. An auteur comics writer if you will. Smash that google translate button if you need to for all the juicy details of García’s creative formation, the nature of his collaborative process with artists and his hopes for the future. P: Estudiaste Periodismo e Historia del Arte. ¿Las hiciste pensando en trabajar en algo relacionado con los cómics? R: No. No sabía lo que iba a hacer. Empecé Filología Inglesa y en mitad de ella me fui a la mili. Cuando volví en vez de retomarla me fui a Periodismo en la Complutense. Fue la carrera que hice con veinte años. Años después, con treinta y cinco, hice Historia del Arte. A mí me gustaban mucho los tebeos. En realidad lo que me ha gustado siempre es el papel impreso, la prensa, los periódicos, las revistas y los libros. Yo lo que quería hacer era papel impreso. Probablemente en orden de preferencia los cómics eran lo primero, pero yo me veía de periodista. Aparte, Peter Parker era periodista, Clark Kent era periodista, era la profesión que lo aunaba todo . ————————————————————————————————— hasta la proxima! (Share the love you have. Nunca sabes que pasara…) JF Share this page: [...]

07/20/2017

Sally IngrahamJuly 20, 2017NewsSally here with comics and commentary from Black cartoonists on The Nib, work by Sophia Zarders, insights from Seren Sensei, and more. ———————————————————————————————— The Nib is running a series of comics called Revolution in Our Lifetime: Black Cartoonists on Life Under Trump. it features work by Ben Passmore, Shannon Wright, Keith Knight, Chris Kindred, Whit Taylor, Ronald Wimberly, and Bianca Xunise. Each artist has two 4-panel strips which stand on their own, but of course together paint a picture of individual but closely shared experiences. Above and below you can see excerpts from the strips – go HERE for the full piece. ———————————————————————————————— Check out work by Sophia Zarders – she is working on a graphic novel called Jesus Freak, and publishes a series of zines called Flossie/Dickie (above), among numerous other poster, mural, comics, and activism projects. ———————————————————————————————— On Nylon Seren Sensei writes about why black female critics are so important. She’s thinking about film, but her arguments easily transfer to comics, where criticism has long been the field of white men (along with everything else in comics…) Seren cites the clap back from black female critics responding to the new Wonder Woman film, which hit lots of marks for feminism but did little to combat “mainstream feminism’s disregard for intersectionality“, as Cameron Glover wrote recently for Harpers Bazaar. Seren concludes her article with this: “…not only does diverse criticism benefit tone-deaf white cultural producers, it also provides black artists with critique from people that actually understand their culture. The lack of diversity in critique has been a disservice to creators of color who often find their work bafflingly misunderstood, from restaurant critics to art and beyond. In a field that gives white creators far too much leeway and creators of color far too little, the rise of black women critics is a shift that will only benefit the entertainment industry—and its audience.“ Read the rest of the article HERE. For an interesting new journal of arts criticism from Black perspectives check out Arts.Black. And in the comics vein, Rob Clough kicked off a new series on his blog called “High Low Intersection” with guest writer Whit Taylor interviewing Miranda Harmon – check it out HERE. ———————————————————————————————— It’s the middle of the summer and a great time to go to “summer school” – check out thee Santoro School’s Handbook for Making Better Comics and dig into the project you’ve been dreaming about. Don’t wait! Do it now. Check it out HERE. ———————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 7-20-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 7-20-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

04/17/2017

Sally IngrahamApril 16, 2017NewsDigging into a new week with news and comics from Dash Shaw, Frank Santoro, Eleanor Davis, Sam Alden, Jen Sorensen, and M. S. Harkness. ————————————————————————————————— Dash Shaw writes about curating the pop-up shop at the Metrograph theater in New York City, where his film My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea opened on April 14th 2017 – on The Comics Journal. The shop carries: “…rare DVDs, film-related books, and issues of Cahiers du Cinéma. They asked me to pick books and DVDs that felt related to my movie, or that a cinema-going audience would be interested in.” Included in the selection is Frank Santoro’s Incanto (above). Dash Shaw writes that Frank: “…painted the key exterior background paintings in High School Sinking. This particular zine by Santoro is lovely and poetic, and also, to me, utterly hilarious, because a section of it comes from a Speed Racer episode. Santoro told me that this was drawn after working as Francesco Clemente’s assistant. Clemente would often interpret preexisting old drawings, so that inspired Santoro to adapt a two-second Speed Racer moment. It’s perfect – like seeing something you’ve seen before for the first time. He captures the stillness of those Speed Racer cartoons with their minimal background paintings.” Incanto is out of print and a rare find, so if you don’t stop by the Metrograph pop-up shop in April to get a copy, you might still be able to find it at Copacetic Comics – HERE. Read about the rest of Dash’s picks for the shop and be sure to catch My Entire Highschool Sinking Into the Sea in a city near you soon! Here are some recent reviews of the film/interviews with Dash: “Drawn to Disaster” – Filmmaker Magazine interview “The Strife’s Aquatic” – NPR movie review Q&A from Denver Alamo Drafthouse screening, with artist Andrew Lorenzi “Alt Comix Artists Revives Classic Animation Tech” – Inverse feature “Resplendent Teenage Turmoil” – Fandor Keyframe interview Dash Shaw will be coming to Pittsburgh for a screening of his movie on April 25th 2017 at the Rowhouse Cinema! Full event details are HERE. Creator and director Dash Shaw along with cartoonist Frank Santoro will kick off the Pittsburgh Premiere of “My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea” with a live interview followed by a sneak preview showing of the film. VIP tickets include everything above plus a private Meet & Greet in the Bierport taproom (limit 30 people)! Tuesday, April 25th 7:15pm $12 Regular Ticket: Live Interview & Screening $20 VIP Ticket: Live Interview & Screening AND private Meet & Greet post screening. If you are in the region be sure to come out for this event! For a list of other screenings around the country visit this page. ————————————————————————————————— You can find an excerpt from the upcoming You & A Bike & A Road by Eleanor Davis (Koyama Press, May 2017) on Illustrated PEN, presented by guest editor MariNaomi. She writes: “Eleanor Davis puts out consistently great work, so much that it amazes me when I’m surprised (each and every time) by how wonderful her work is. This book is no exception, filled with moments that are full of joy, pain, beauty, and trouble. Using minimal lines and words, Eleanor conveys so much about the spectrum of emotions involved with being human.“ See the excerpt HERE. ————————————————————————————————— M. S. Harkness has offered a preview of her upcoming comic Tinderella – see it HERE. Marina is coming to Pittsburgh this summer for a Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency, and she will be working on Tinderella and other comics while she is here in July. Unperturbed by a tentative post-graduation financial state, Marina has been creating the ways and means to get to Pittsburgh – she’s determined to cause some havoc around here, come hell or high water – but you can help her get here with a little more comfort and ease by contributing to her Generosity campaign. She – and the Comics Workbook team – thank you in advance! ————————————————————————————————— Sam Alden published part 2 of 4 of his comic Sledgehammer on Hazlitt….in February – I somehow missed it, so possibly you did as well. Check it out HERE. New on Hazlitt is Rory Frances‘ Look Outside – view part 1 HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Jen Sorensen is interviewed on The Comics Beat. She talks about making political cartoons, being the comics editor at Fusion, and what it means to be a cartoonist in the present world. “Dueben: You won the Herblock Award a few years ago and you said that your job is “worrying about how humanity is destroying itself.” Which is a good line, but do you think that is the role of the cartoonist in some way? Sorensen: I’m doing a lot of worrying about humanity destroying itself these days. I think it is an important role of a political cartoonist. I think sometimes it’s probably more acute than others. It’s something that’s hard to deal with sometimes. Right now I find that these aren’t really funny times. There are ludicrous characters and you can make fun of Trump and these ridiculous nominees, but at the same time I don’t want to normalize him. I find myself not even wanting to draw him. I mean, I do and I will, but I don’t want to treat him like any other President. I’ve been struggling with that. How to be humorous at a time when things are just very serious. I guess what I wind up doing is somewhat darker humor, darker cartoons, and more informative cartoons that say, this is what’s happening, can you believe it? With the Bush administration things were terrible and there were definitely some dark times, but I felt like you could make fun of Bush for being a buffoon and the implications just weren’t quite as grave. It’s a different time now.“ Read the rest HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 4-17-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-17-2017 – by Christian Southgate Christian is a member of the Charlottetown Comics Club (Prince Edward Island, Canada) which is headed by Comics Workbook alum Tyler Landry – more about Christian Southgate and the CCC HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-17-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

03/16/2018

Sally IngrahamMarch 15, 2018NewsSally here with a look at work by Paty Greer/Cockrum, notes on the Drawn to Purpose show at the Library of Congress, and new comics by M. S. Harkness and Eleanor Davis! ————————————————————————————————— A comics long box find inevitably leads to an internet wormhole…which I both love and hate…but it is all in pursuit of expanding my knowledge of the women who worked and continue to work in comics. An issue of The Amazing Spider-Man from 1985 surfaces, with art by “Paty” – WHO IS PATY? She is Paty Greer, who became Paty Cockrum when she married Dave Cockrum (the artist/writer behind X-Men characters like Nightcrawler). Paty Greer/Cockrum worked in the Marvel bullpen of the 1970’s under both names, and often just Paty. She did a lot of production work, but was also a colorist and occasional artist. In addition to the issue of The Amazing Spider-Man shown above, I know that she was the artist on The Claws of The Cat #3 (along with Bill Everett; a page from the comic is shown below). The Claws of The Cat (1972) was a short-lived series written by Linda Fite, and was one of the first Marvel attempts at bringing a female superhero to the comics page. (I’ll write more about this series soon – I desperately want to get my hands on the first issue, which was penciled by Marie Severin.) The title character – when she isn’t The Cat – is named Greer Nelson, which naturally leads me to believe that Linda Fite and Paty Greer were pals in the Marvel bullpen. Like Paty, Linda Fite was a production and editorial assistant at Marvel (and she married Herb Trimpe soon after). I found a piece of an interview with Paty where she describes the Marvel bullpen in her day, and specifically the day she noticed Dave Cockrum using the Xerox machine…read that story HERE. I’ll be keeping an eye out for Paty’s name as I continue to dig through long boxes and fall down internet wormholes… ————————————————————————————————— Check out the official website for the fantastic show that is on display this year at the Library of Congress – “Drawn to Purpose: American Women Illustrators and Cartoonists“. I recommend taking a look at the Online Exhibition, which offers a taste of the full show (which is so large that it will be completely switched out half way through). If you are in the D. C. area anytime this year be sure to check out the events associated with the exhibition as well – recently Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and the show curator Martha H. Kennedy had a conversation with Whitney Sherman, Barbara Brandon-Croft and Jillian Tamaki. There’s plenty more going on – keep up with it HERE. ————————————————————————————————— M. S. Harkness‘s new comic Tinderella (partially inked during her Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency last summer) will be coming out as part of the Kilgore Books & Comics 2018 Releases – consider preordering a copy HERE. If you can’t wait until June for more Harkness then order Normal Girl, another new release, from her HERE. It is sold gold. Or anyway, the cover is gold so you probably need it in your life. See what else she is up to HERE. ————————————————————————————————— HERE is an excerpt from Eleanor Davis‘ Why Art? on The New York Review of Books. And HERE is a review of Why Art? by Eleanor Davis on the A.V. Club. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 3-16-2018 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

04/11/2018

Juan FernándezApril 11, 2018los Cómics / NewsAle Acosta, Pablo Delcielo, y Liv Strömquist! —————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: ~ en Español y “sometimes in English” ~ ————————————————————————————————— Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con Ale Acosta acercae su trabajo, de su forma de trabajar, de los proyectos y de su amor por la docencia, entre muchas cosas mas. ————————————————————————————————— Por qué lo llaman vagina cuando quieren decir vulva – Elizabeth Casillas Puede que sea uno de los tebeos más controvertidos que vayas a leer este año, y no precisamente por decir sandeces. La historietista sueca Liv Strömquist firma El fruto prohibido (Reservoir Books, 2018), un cómic que repasa la historia cultural de la vulva con argumentación teórica pero, sobre todo, mucho humor. Anuncios de compresas o tampones que recurren, en exceso, a las palabras “limpia” y “segura”. Señores que se preocupan, en exceso, de lo que suele denominarse «el órgano sexual femenino». Autoridades, organizaciones, periódicos, médicos y demás organismos empeñados, en exceso, de producir (des)información sobre el sexo. Y así sucesivamente, Liv Strömquist termina enumerando una serie de cosas que están mal (muy mal) en nuestra sociedad en lo que a la mujer y su sexo se refiere. Léanlo todo en REVISTA CACTUS ————————————————————————————————— Entrevista a Ghor Bosch (2015) – dibujado por Pablo Delcielo – publicado en Buenos Aires por Yegua ediciones. Este comic es parte de una serie de entrevistas imaginiarias, que son bastante graciosas y serias con Ghor Bosch aunque. Léanlo AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-11-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Cozytown – 4-11-2018 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

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