Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in The Diaz ArchiveTagged CAB 2015, Comic Arts Brooklyn, Sean Ford, Shadow Hills

Chris Anthony Diaz

Posted on July 9, 2016July 16, 2016

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11/01/2017

Juan FernándezNovember 1, 2017NewsEmpezamos el día con Marcela Trujillo; Isabel Mendez; Berliac, Museo ABC, Daniel Jiménez Quiroz; y los tebeos de Cómics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— Marcela Trujillo: Siempre Hay una palabra para destruir a la mujer libre que escoge cómo vivir. Denisse Leighton entrevista Marcela Trujillo en Belelu: Marcela “Maliki” Trujillo (48) es una de las más famosas ilustradoras chilenas, una de las pocas mujeres en el Olimpo del dibujo a lápiz y/o tinta china en este país. Sin embargo, para llegar a este lugar de reconocimiento ha debido pasar por muchas situaciones que han forjado su carácter y carrera artística. Porque ser mujer en todas las áreas significa un cuestionamiento, más si tus primeros proyectos hablan de cuánto te gusta el sexo. “Enamorada de mi Clítoris”, publicado en The Clinic, fue el comic que la llevó a convertirse en una de las ilustradoras más irreverentes de Chile a inicios del 2000 cuando aún vivía en New York. Inspirada en las obras de Phoebe Gloeckner, Julie Doucet y Aline Kominsky-Crumb y también los capítulos de Sex And The City serie que veía en VHS mientras vivía en la Gran Manzana. El inicio de su carrera se enfocó en la pintura tras sus estudios de arte en la Universidad de Chile, sin embargo, las experiencias en New York la acercaron al cómic donde hoy es todo un referente en un momento álgido para esta técnica. Asegura que una obra de Phoebe Gloeckner hablando de abuso la impactó al punto de comenzar a indagar en el cómic hecho por mujeres creando así su personaje “Maliki 4 ojos” que relataba al inicio bromas sobre sí misma pero que mutó hacia la sexualidad, a hablar de la masturbación y el deseo femenino en general. Léanlo todo AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— Las ideas ¿Nacen o se hacen? Isabel Méndez nos ofrece un vistazo a nuestras erramientas creativas en Firmado Por: Hoy vengo con un post sobre CREATIVIDAD. No, no te has equivocado de página. Esto es FirmadoPor y ya te adelanto que estamos preparando nueva web. ¡Oh Yeah! Esta semana el post es distinto, aunque no nos alejamos mucho de la propiedad intelectual ya que la creatividad tiene mucho que ver con los derechos de autor ¿No es requisito indispensable para que una obra esté protegida por derechos de autor que la misma sea ORIGINAL? ¿No tiene que ver la originalidad con la CREACIÓN? ¿No es acaso la creatividad la HERRAMIENTA más valiosa de los autores? Voy a dejarme llevar en estos post, investigar y curiosear sobre el proceso creativo. Ver cómo creaban o qué opinaban del arte y la creatividad otros artistas y, por qué no, ponerlo en relación con nuestra Ley de Propiedad Intelectual. Léanlo todo AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: Seis libreros colombianos hablan sobre las ventas del cómic, el nacimiento de autores locales y el Festival Entreviñetas en El Espectador. ¡Queremos tebeos! No os perdáis la exposición HISTORIETAS DEL TEBEO, 1917—1977 en el Museo ABC. Berliac talks Identity Politics in Exberliner magazine Issue 165 on Full article on page 20. En StartUp, Daniel Jiménez Quiroz habló de la importancia de establecer redes de comunicación entre abogados y creadores de cómic. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 11-1-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 11-1-2017 – by Juan Fernandez ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 11-1-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

10/22/2018

Caleb OrecchioOctober 22, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with The Black Diamond Effect no. 3. ————————————————————————————————— The Black Diamond Effect no. 3 by George P. Gatsis, 1991 Look at this comic. This comic is a mess, yet it is visually electrifying. I love looking at this. It is like a digital/analog collage. It almost looks like something Michael Comeau would make in an alternate universe void of punk rock or zines or shame. In fact, if I had not looked at the indicia and saw that this was made in 1991, I would assume this comic was riffing on The Dark Knight Strikes Again aesthetically. There is so much spirit to it. There is an attitude to this comic that has no idea what it’s doing, and yet is brimming with confidence – so maybe it is punk rock. I have only looked at the pictures of this book. I could not forgive myself if I read a word of this comic. That would defeat the purpose. This is not a comic that you get because you’re interested in the story. This is yet another comic that you get because it is a strange artifact of comics that, previously, I had no reason to believe existed. The fact that this comic exists is without a doubt the greatest part of this comic. The discovery of it is a ten-fold joy. Culturally, it’s interesting to line up the computer generated art with the year (1991) and to notice where the future of CG was going (i.e. Pixar). In fact, I did a little digging and found this website. There is a conscience effort to be part of the cutting edge. It’s a similar sentiment that the creator of Donna Matrix had. The future of everything is digital – computer generated! Both comics are forgotten, lost to the burst of the nineties. I love this comic. It is a true treasure of the medium. Although it is “bad,” it is amazing in so many other ways. For example, the covers are fantastic. They hold up to me as a warped pop art of some kind. Above I brought up the comparison of an alternate Michael Comeau. The Black Diamond Effect is a Canadian “collage” comic that blends different visual mediums that fuse into its own visual rhetoric. It is strange beyond belief. I’ve never seen anything like it. I take up a lot of space on this platform writing about the esoteric in comics. I can’t always justify my focus on this aspect. I simply enjoy sharing them. I think this realm of disregarded comics is fascinating. There is true art locked inside these works that give no heed to the history of the medium. Therefore what is produced is often something made entirely without comntext. There are a few cartoonists today who, I think, attempt to recreate the naiveté of the eighties black and white boom as well as the wackiness of these strange nineties comics (the latter being the kind in question today). Most of these artists are running a fool’s errand. They are often too aware of our history to make anything sincerely naive. Many of the works they try to imitate were obviously made in a void with maybe TMNT and Daredevil as their only reference. Good luck to all of you such cartoonists. Though foolish, I believe your journey to be an honorable one. And to all you forgotten cartoonists who didn’t “make it” and disappeared, I appreciate you. ————————————————————————————————— Cement Mixer – 10-22-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

01/22/2018

Caleb OrecchioJanuary 22, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on Brandon Graham’s daily diary comics and other news. ————————————————————————————————— Lately, I’ve been intrigued by Brandon Graham’s daily comics he posts to social media. He posted them on his blog too. The simplicity is really nice structurally and tonally. Often the strips include whatever he’s thinking about that day, or what music he’s listening to. Sometimes these reflect very personal and revealing aspects of his life, while other times he just seems to let his mind wander and his lines and words fill the page. These are nice to read, and the benefit of improvisation lends itself to a simple, downward reading style—your eye starts on the top left-hand of the page and follows the strip down to the lower right-hand side. All the incredibly detailed gimmicks and intricacies of his professional work (i.e. King City and Multiple Warheads) are basically non-existent here, in a good way. Now don’t get me wrong, I generally love Graham’s work. His ability to make interesting images is not to be taken lightly and every new Brandon Graham release is an event unto itself in my house. However, in imperfect light, I simply can’t read Multiple Warheads. Often all the very pretty colors jump out at me at once and my eyes have to really focus to absorb the work as intended by the author. Plus, take into account the consistently inconsistent structural integrity of a Graham comic and I’ve got me a headache. His black and white work is often easier on the eyes, but still lacks a cohesive composition to allow for effortless reading that flows steadily. Maybe some would consider me a lazy reader, color blind and biased towards more Comics Workbook-y grid type comics, and I am biased for sure. That being said, I’m trying to make a point. Compared to King City and Warheads, Graham’s recent daily comics are very rough but to me they are actually much more inviting and enjoyable to read aesthetically at the moment. Whether it’s the content or the actual drawing (drawing: which I should point out, is different from inking), these daily comics feel particularly essential. Maybe it’s just my mood, but meandering thoughts by way of improved lines on paper feel pertinent right now. ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Michael Cavna on the work and career of legendary Pittsburgh cartoonist, Jackie Ormes, over at the Washington Post in lieu of Ormes’ induction into The Will Esiner Hall of Fame. Cailla Baasch Anderson gives some details into how lawyers are using comics to make legal contracts easier to understand. Phillippe LeBlanc writes about the Uncivilized Books series, Structures over at Your Chicken Enemy. Rob Kirby is the latest guest on Comic Book Decalogue. ————————————————————————————————— Collected from the thousands of pages of material that Frank has left scattered all over the digital landscape, these 4 PDF collections contain Frank’s best writing on comics and comics making from the past decade. Theory and process, reviews and discoveries, journeys both physical and spiritual. Check out the “Best of Frank Santoro” PDF collections, available HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-22-2018 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-22-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

TCAF 2016 | Ethan Rilly

Frank SantoroJune 3, 2016Festivals and Shows / InterviewsShare this page: [...]

10/09/2017

Caleb OrecchioOctober 8, 2017NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on The Best American Comics 2017, and other news. ————————————————————————————————— The Best American Comics 2017 is here, compiled by series editor Bill Kartolopoulos, and guest editor Ben Katchor. When I heard Katchor was the guest editor this year and saw Matthew Thurber’s cover for the book, I was quite looking forward to the latest edition. It’s a really solid one and feels fairly intimate due to the amount of personal work. There are several thematically personal works, but mostly I mean work that feels “drawn”–as opposed to laborious, exacting work that can often bog down a large anthology when bumping shoulders with more spontaneous comics. There is literally no Image, DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, etc. and many, if not all, of the comics are drawn using analog materials. So the whole book feels really nice to read, you don’t have to adjust your eyes before reading each piece. First up to bat was Gary Panter with a comic originally published in frieze no. 181, which sets a nice tone and basically sets the gold standard for the rest of the book. I thought it was interesting how many Pittsburgh people made it in the book, which may or may not continue to solidify Pittsburgh as a thriving comics town. You have Ed Piskor (of course) plus Laura Pallmall and Sienna Cittadino, who not only are now residents of Pittsburgh, but also made their way through Comics Workbook one way or another. Cittadino’s featured work, Jeremy Meets the Forest Cow, was an entry to the 2016 Comics Workbook Composition Competition (Cittadino literally won the 2017 competition), and Pallmall is a graduate of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers. Just thought that was interesting. Another Comics Workbook connection is Kurt Ankeny whose amazing book, In Pieces: Some Place Which I Call Home, (originally serialized on Comics Workbook’s Tumblr) was excerpted (see image below). Kurt is an excellent drawer and I’ve seen his sketchbooks full of great coffee shop portraits, so I know he can draw really well on the first take. So I asked him, “Is that sequence in The Best American Comics first-take? Like, you literally drew these pages in your sketchbook more or less?” He responded, “They were done in a pad of perforated paper, but yes, essentially first take. That first page was drawn onsite from observation.” This reminds me, Kurt was invited by thee Ben Katchor himself to give a talk at Parsons for the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium tomorrow, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017 at 7pm. Kurt is very smart and an excellent cartoonist so if you’re in the area, treat yourself. Anyway, that’s all the time we have today folks–see you next week as I attempt to jump the Grand Canyon with a pair of roller skates, a parachute, and a box of tissue paper. Should be fun. Bye now. ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know now you know Here on this very site, Juan Fernandez is looking forward and looking to expand the comics festival toolkit. This is an excellent article and everyone should at least hear him out. In case you missed it earlier, just wanted to remind you that Kurt Ankeny will be giving a talk at Parsons for the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium tomorrow, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017 at 7pm. (TOMORROW) Tom Spurgeon has post-festival press release of CXC 2017. CXC was great, Tom is an excellent host and I already can’t wait to go back next year. Joe McCulloch’s weekly column at TCJ.com is no longer with us, but Joe still is–here he gives us a review of Berserker #1 from Breakdown Press. Right now The Comics Beat has a lot of coverage of New York Comic Con if you’re into that sort of thing–I personally think it’s always interesting to read about the mainstream side of comics whether or nor I’m actually interested in the comics themselves. ————————————————————————————————— Check out thee exclusive Connor Willumsen bundle from Comics Workbook! Get Anti-Gone by the great Connor Willumsen, along with two zines – a 20 page bootleg, and a special collage zine – as well as a unique Anti-Gone drawing by Connor. Get a “Connor box” HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie– 10-9-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 10-9-2017 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

Sean Ford’s SHADOW HILLS

Posted on July 9, 2016July 16, 2016 by Chris Anthony Diaz

SHADOW HILLS 1-8 by Sean Ford in new square format versions. Looking forward to the conclusion in issue 9, due out this fall and a forthcoming book collection of the series! Photo of Sean Ford taken at CAB 2014 and colored by Graham Willcox

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in The Diaz ArchiveTagged CAB 2015, Comic Arts Brooklyn, Sean Ford, Shadow Hills

Chris Anthony Diaz

Posted on July 9, 2016July 16, 2016

Explore

Tac au Tac

Juan FernándezSeptember 18, 2017ResourcesFrom the late 1960s to the mid-1970s, Jean Frappat presented a show that was a joy to watch, Tac au Tac. Based on the concept of exquisite corpses so dear to the surrealists, the show generally set up two, three or even four cartoonists to compete in a friendly drawing match. The concept was simple, efficient, and allowed for many variations: A huge, blank white page and cartoonists equipped with just a simple marker. A theme was proposed (ex. invasion or pursuit), sometimes a visual starting point (simple line, spiral, circle), and the authors improvised, either collaboratively with their peers, or in a duel facing off against their opponents. The result was often far more than a juxtaposition of drawings, it was often a real visual dialogue between cartoonists. The tone of the rare commentaries by Jean Frappat gives an old-fashioned charm to these shows. It is a nice way to casually watch some of the greatest French cartoonists: Franquin, Uderzo, Moebius, Druillet, Roba , Bretecher, and Gotlib. Interestingly, there was a season recorded in New York in the fall of 1972, with guest artists Jim Steranko, Bernie Wrighston, Burne Hogarth, Neal Adams, Joe Kubert and John Buscema who wound up facing off against Gir, Druillet, Forest and Gigi from France. The INA (Institut national de l’audiovisuel) has posted on its site about one hundred Tac Au Tac programs. Below you will find a convenient index of those programs so you can dig in and watch. -Juan August 14, 1969 : Pouzet/Morez against Faizant/Gus August 22, 1969 : Piem against Maurice Henry September 1, 1969 : Philippe/Gébé against Fred/Gotlib September 26, 1969 : (Michel Douay, Mose, Tetsu and Piem) then (Urs, Philippe, Cardon and Jean By) December 15, 1969 : Laville/Soulas against Pichon/Barbe December 22, 1969 : Philippe, Urs, Cardon and Jean By July 5, 1971 : Franquin, Morris, Roba and Peyo July 19, 1971 : Piem, Mose, Trez and Rauch se piègent July 26, 1971 : (Urs, Philippe, Blachon and Jean By) then (Soulas, Laville, Pichon and Barbe) August 2, 1971 : Gotlib, Uderzo, Fred and Gébé August 9, 1971 : (Philippe, Urs, Blachon and Jean By) then (Piem, Trez, Rauch and Mose) August 16, 1971 : (Pichon, Laville, Soulas, Barbe) then (Piem, Trez, Rauch and Mose) August 30, 1971 : Barbe, Pichon, Laville and Soulas September 6, 1971 : Franquin, Morris, Roba and Peyo se piègent September 13, 1971 : (Alexis and Alessandrini) then (Gébé, Cardon, Siné and Philippe) September 20, 1971 : Siné, Philippe, Cardon and Gébé September 27, 1971 : Alexis, Fred, Gotlib and Alessandrini October 11, 1971 : (Piem, Urs, Pichat and Mose) then (Franquin, Morris, Roba and Peyo) October 18, 1971 : Gébé, Philippe and Cardon trap Siné October 25, 1971 : Exquisite Corpse with Gébé, Topor, Bretécher and Cardon November 15, 1971 : Caricatures by Ricord and Mulatier November 22, 1971 : Siné, Desclozeaux, Picha and Puig Rosado play and draw with food. November 29, 1971 : Franquin, Forest, Gigi and Druillet December 6, 1971 : (Gébé, Cardon, Philippe and Siné) then (Siné, Puig Rosado, Picha and Desclozeaux) December 13, 1971 : Franquin, Morris, Roba and Peyo December 20, 1971 : Franquin, Forest, Gigi and Druillet December 27, 1971 : The animals refused from Noah’s arc according to Giraud, Gotlib, Mandryka and Alexis January 8, 1972 :Exquisite Corpse with Cardon, Faizant, Tim and Ghertman January 22, 1972 : Giraud, Gotlib, Alexis and Mandryka February 5, 1972 : Jacques Faizant, Tim, Cardon and Alain Ghertman February 19, 1972 : Bretécher, Barbe, Laville and Loup February 26. 1972 : Druillet, Enric Sio, Buzzelli and Forest March 4, 1972 : Franquin, Bretécher, Uderzo and Fournier March 18, 1972 : Fred, Gébé, Soulas and Philippe March 25, 1972 : Druillet, Enric Sio, Buzzelli and Forest April 1, 1972 : (Piem, Cardon, Siné and Topor) then (Ricord, Mulatier, Solo and Gibo) April 29, 1972 : Jean Giraud faces of Jijé in 4 situations, with Hugo Pratt and Jean-Claude Forest as onlookers May 11, 1972 : Forest faces Hugo Pratt under the scrutiny of Jijé and Giraud May 13, 1972 : Horror with Guido Crepax, Esteban Maroto and Thé Tjong-Khing May 20, 1972 : Jean Giraud challenges Hugo Pratt under the scrutiny of Jijé and Jean-Claude Forest May 27, 1972 : Exquisite Corpse with Cardon, Gébé and Gourmelin June 3, 1972 : Piem, Siné, Cardon and Topor June 18, 1972 : Franquin/Roba against Brétecher/Gotlib June 24, 1972 : The theme of gas inspires Cardon, Gébé and Gourmelin September 16, 1972 : Jean-Claude Forest, Jim Steranko and Robert Gigi on a boat in New York (1) September 30, 1972 : Neal Adams, Joe Kubert and Jean Giraud October 7, 1972 : Exquisite Corpse between Bretécher, Johnny Hart and Parker Brant (no sound) October 14, 1972 : Burne Hogarth, Philippe Druillet and John Buscema in New York October 21, 1972 : Neal Adams, Joe Kubert and Jean Giraud October 28, 1972 : Mike Kaluta, Bernie Wrightson, Forest and Druillet in New York November 4, 1972 : Jean-Claude Forest, Jim Steranko and Robert Gigi on a boat in New York (2 November 25, 1972 : Fred, Gébé, Soulas and Philippe December 2, 1972 : Tillieux, Jidéhem, Morris and Brétécher December 9, 1972 : Piem and Siné December 16, 1972 : Piem against Siné December 23, 1972 : Desclozeaux and Puig Rosado drawing dreams December 30,1972 : Dali Special (without drawing) July 29, 1973 : Bretécher, Fred, Soulas, Gourmelin, Desclozeaux and Serre August 5, 1973 : Exquisite Corpse with Laville and Barbe August 26, 1973 : Serre, Cardon and Gourmelin (without sound) September 2, 1973 : caricatures by Ricord and Mulatier September 9, 1973 : childhood by Cardon, Serre and Gourmelin September 15, 1973 : Exquisite Corpse with Jean-Claude Forest and Gourmelin September 22, 1973 :Exquisite Corpse with Tim, Cardon, Desclozeaux and Faizant September 29, 1973 : Tim, Cardon, Jacques Faizant and Desclozeaux July 26, 1975 :Exquisite Corpse between Greg/Dany and Goscinny/Uderzo August 2, 1975 : Piem against Siné August 9, 1975 : Gourmelin, Cardon and Forest August 23, 1975 : Serre against Christian Broutin August 30, 1975 : Piem, Wiaz, Tim and Maja September 6, 1975 : caricatures with Ricord and Mulatier September 13, 1975 : The Storm Forest, Cardon and Gourmelin September 20, 1975 : Bretécher/Gotlib against Giraud/Druillet September 27, 1975 : Christian Broutin and Claude Serre improvising October 4, 1975 : Buzzelli, Peter Foldes and Thé Tjong-Khing October 11, 1975 : Maja, Piem, Tim and Wiaz October 18, 1975 : Christian Broutin against Claude Serre Share this page: [...]

08/14/2018

Aaron CockleAugust 13, 2018NewsOn Vacation/Process Post ————————————————————————————————— I was on vacation last week, so I don’t really have much in the way of comics news for this week. My apologies! While on vacation, I tried to get some work done, mostly sketching, but also some penciling and inking in my sketchbook, trying to keep my hand moving. I didn’t really work on anything of substance, comics-wise, I’m kind of at a point with my current work-in-progress that some time away from it would do it some good. Here are some pictures: some of my materials, sketches, and some tracing/drawthrough exercises I did in my sketchbook. What else? I finished Joan Didion’s Miami, about U.S./Cuba in the 1980’s: Many Havana epilogues have been played in Florida, and some prologues. Florida is that part of the Cuban stage where declamatory exits are made, and side deals. Florida is where the chorus waits to comment on the action, and sometimes to join it. The exiled José Martí raised money among the Cuban tobacco workers in Key West and Tampa, and in 1894 attempted to mount an invasionary expedition from north of Jacksonville. The exiled Fidel Castro Ruz came to Miami in 1955 for money to take the 26 Julio into the Sierra Maestra, and got it, from Carlos Prío. Fulgencio Batista had himself come back from Florida to take Havana away from Carlos Prío in 1952, but by 1958 Fidel Castro, with Carlos Prío’s money, was taking it away from Fulgencio Batista, at which turn Carlos Prío’s former prime minister tried to land a third force in Camagüey Province, the idea being to seize the moment from Fidel Castro, a notably failed undertaking encouraged by the Central Intelligence Agency and financed by Carlos Prío, at home in Miami Beach. And I read Tree of Smoke, Denis Johnson’s novel about psychological operations and the Vietnam War: The nights were wild with stars, otherwise empty and cold. For warmth he kept fifty-five-gallon drums full of diesel-soaked sand burning around the place. He made a circuit among the maze of conveyor belts under gargantuan crushers and was never done. The next evening the same belts, the same motions, even some of the same pebbles and rocks, it stood to reason, and the same cold take-out burger for lunch at the dusty table in the manager’s trailer at 2:00 a.m.; washing his hands and face first in the narrow john, his thick neck brown as a bear’s, sucking water up his nostrils and expelling the dust in liverish clumps. Not long after his lunch the roosters alone on neighboring small farms began to scream like humans, and just before six the sun arrived and turned the surrounding aluminum rooftops to torches, and then at six-thirty, while Houston punched out, the drivers came, and they lined their trucks nose-to-ass and one after another drove beneath the largest hopper of all to wait, shaken by their machines, while wet concrete cascaded down the chute into each tanker before they went out to pour the foundations of a city. OK, thanks for reading. I’ll return to regularly-scheduled news posting next week. ————————————————————————————————— Vision Box – 8-14-18 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Cement Mixer – 8-14-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

A Comics Id is Tenderness: Notes on Cartoon Crossroads 2017

Comics WorkbookOctober 5, 2017Festivals and Showsby Adam Griffiths The first book I purchased on the expo floor at this year’s Cartoon Crossroads Columbus was Kyle Baker’s. Earlier this year, I had seen Baker speak at the Schomburg Center in New York about his book, Nat Turner to a roomful of kids. At the time, I had been struck by his ability to communicate; his engagement with the audience seemed intrinsically connected to his unabashed and explicitly mercantile use of language. Odd, how this seemed to captivate both his panel members and the audience, young and old. The persona of the salesman is an American motif – a motif that, under our current political climate, is being reduced to prideless status by the huckster in the Oval Office. When exactly did Americans need to believe that a good businessman’s success is dependent upon rhetorical violence and winner-take-all bullishness? I chose the term ‘A Comics Id is Tenderness’ for this write-up because Baker’s work revisited me several times during this expo. Over the course of the week, it became more and more clear to me that Baker has been a creator who has deftly championed the stories he feels are important to him alongside of his commercial work, who has kindly informed peers of his intentions, who brushes from shoulder the allegedly unforgivable concept of sacrificing creativity for financial gain. More on this later. To the lectures! (Editor: What follows are Adam’s notes and thoughts on the lectures and talks he attended in the two days of CXC programming held on the OSU campus (9-28/9-29), and the two days of the CXC expo which was held at the Columbus Metropolitan Library (9-30/10-1.) ————————————————————————————————— Dan Gearino on Research Methodology Applied to Comics-Making History (Thursday, Sept. 28th 2017, at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum) Dan Gearino on Phil Seuling: Phil Seuling is regarded as a pioneer of comics fandom during the late 60’s and early 70’s – first when serving as organizer of the annual New York Comic Art Convention and then with his Sea Gate Distributors Company, which laid the groundwork for the direct market system of distributing comics. Did Seuling’s arrest on March 11th, 1973 lead to the creation of the direct market as we know it today? Seemed so, but when Gearino went investigating, he found that the arrest, for ‘distribution of obscene material’, was nowhere near as simple as he thought. While fellow early comics distributors and champions of comics such as Jim Hanley sincerely believed that Seuling’s aggravation with censors was the spark for his history-making wholesale business venture, Seuling’s former business partner Jonnie Luvas could vouch for Seuling’s motivations more clearly. The tricky part here was that Luvas, less a comics fan and more a business ingenue, had moved on from comics. To find this person who could truly vouch for Seuling’s acumen in business, Gearino had to ‘go outside of existing source records,’ and penetrate several outlying personal networks of non-comics lovers. Luvas (yes, Johnny Thunder is named for her) was a key figure in Seuling’s business life who understood that Seuling was actually seeking to escape his passionless teaching gigs. The importance and meaning of this investigation has to do with progressive incarnations of the comics business. Before the direct market, Gearino explains, comics were sold indiscriminately as mass market objects; this was how comics ended up as a part of mainstream culture. You could find them anywhere – on newsstands, in grocery stores, dime shops. By the late sixties, however, this business model was crumbling, and store owners were clearing gluts of low-cost, low-selling comics from their retail spaces. Seuling’s creation of the direct market paved the way for the comics specialty shops of the 1970’s and 80’s. These specialty shops saved comics as we know them, as they could not only sell new comics being made, but also the comics of yesteryear. Comics hoarding found its reward in this new market. Back issues and loyal accumulations of forgotten works could be pulled out of obscurity. ————————————————————————————————— Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum Highlights Tales from the Vault: 40 Years / 40 Stories, curated by Jenny Robb and Caitlin McGurk Comics history is both creativity and industry, here illustrated by selections of original works and artifacts. “Creepy” was the first word that came to mind when regarding this bathing suit from 1950, scribbled on by cartoonists such as Ernie Bushmiller, Milton Caniff, Alfred Androla, Otto Soglow, Ham Fisher and others. The museum has six of these bathing suits, and they were drawn on by these superstar artists at a promotional party for a waterproof ink pen. Life magazine photographed the party and later, deciding the images were not family-oriented enough, declined to publish them. Roe v. Wade Comics Comics has a documented history in its deployment for use in the political arena. Here, we see two causes with inverse agendas using comics as propaganda. You can read either of these comics in full at http://www.ep.tc/junior/ Who Killed Junior? 1973 This comic, published by the organization Right to Life (the largest pro-life organization in the country, now called The National Right to Life), illustrates the abortion procedure from the viewpoint of a destroyed fetus. Abortion Eve, 1973 By “Chin Lyvley” (Lyn Chevli) and “Joyce Sutton” (Joyce Farmer) The hazards of promoting abortion in America in any way are evident here in the authors’ use of psuedonyms. The women both worked as birth control counselors at The Free Clinic in Laguna Beach, California. Under the heading of their company, Nanny Goat Productions, they published this comic which provides arguments for the legality of abortion, and also personal accounts from a diverse array of women about their abortion experiences. I Know! Let’s Drop Taxes Completely and Let Our Kids Worry About ‘Em! 1985 Jim Kammerud for Norfolk Daily Press / Times Herald ————————————————————————————————— Handwritten Notes from Talk and Teach Presentation: Kevin Huizenga on Depicting Time in Comics Form (Thursday, Sept. 28th 2017, at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum) ————————————————————————————————— SÕL-CON LUNCH BREAK AND TALK-BACK Kat Fajardo, Vicko Alvarez, Lisa Sheperd, Jiba Molei Anderson (Friday, Sept. 29th 2017, in Hal Hall, on the OSU campus) (Editor: Sol-Con is another comics festival that happens on the OSU campus simultaneously, allowing folks to move seamlessly from CXC events to Sol-Con events, as Adam did here and there. On Sat./Sun. the Sol-Con guests and exhibitors joined the CXC expo at the library.) “What is your favorite thing about comics?” was one of the questions asked by the large group of children attending SÕL-CON this year, which, in my year of absence had transformed into an intensive of workshops and instructionals on drawing and storytelling for youth. “My favorite thing,” said moderator Frederick Aldama, “is seeing the younger generations take up making comics.” A real standout during this talk was Chicago-based Tejana Vicko Alvarez, who couldn’t stress enough that the kids present recognize that their taking part in SÕL-CON probably meant that each and every kid there was interested in a life pursuit doing what they loved. “I tried to find a career and got bored of it real quick,” she says, and then admits, “the one thing I enjoyed I was told not to do. It was smartest decision I ever made to come back to art.” She continued, it helps that “I had a really pushy friend,” who encouraged her to follow her calling in comics. “How many of y’all have heard that art is gonna make you money?” Vicko asked the audience. All of the kids raised their hands. “How many of you like art?” All hands raised. At this point, Jiba Molei Anderson, who was watching the talk, joined the panelists onstage. “If I ignore something I love, my mental focus is gonna go out of whack, right?” Alvarez declared. The children agreed with her. “We are all here for the love,” Anderson says. “Even when we’re frustrated we’re not gonna quit. Creative people, to survive we really need to create…that hamster wheel never shuts down.” “But tethering that to real life is always a challenge to me,” said Lisa Sheperd. Lisa Sheperd talked about how doing this expo was moving her back towards comics. “Seeing that spark in you guys’ eyes reminded me of the spark I once had . That’s a great thing that doesn’t happen everyday! I’m putting my work out again because SÕL-CON encouraged me… Don’t let it slide by and let life get in the way.” More Quotes from SÕL-CON Panel “What don’t you like about comics?” was a question from a boy who remained behind with his mother after the other children left for workshops. – “I don’t like posers in art trying to tell me how to create,” said Jiba. -“I don’t like what I see when people not from my community try to tell my story,” Vicko Alvarez said.“What do you see when you see Latinas in the media?” she asked the audience. “Sexy hot mammas!” A woman called out. “Most Latina women look like my mom,” Alvarez continued, and “if you don’t tell your story, somebody else will, and they’ll base it off of stereotype.” -“Mainstream comics look to what we’re doing right here, right now. The problem is, there are not enough people of color working at DC at Marvel,” Jiba Andersen says. “the people here in this room today? Creators of color? We make our own. We do it this way because you have a community that has felt so maligned for so long… They see what we’ve been doing, we’re here and we’ve been here. The problem is that the push-back can’t be handled. They know that we can talk to people who cannot listen through our art.” -Vicko: ” …people put out tragedy porn and that’s not changing a thing.” ————————————————————————————————— Spotlight on Chris Ware (Friday, Sept. 29th 2017, at the Wexner Center, on the OSU campus) A near religious silence had fallen over everyone walking out of the Chris Ware dialogue at the Wexner Center. A masterful storyteller and illustrator, Ware’s talents have been visibly leading the illustration world, in the name of comics, for some time now. His discussion with Caitlin McGurk signaled that he remains unrelenting. As I was listening I realized that Chris Ware’s humorous import is indeed a formula, but that he definitely showed up at this discussion, and probably shows up at every discussion, trying to give away that formula, which is great. Any artist worth her/his salt is always acting within a spirit of generosity. Perhaps Ware is so incurably sad because of how bad he himself believes he is at communicating; a suitable contradiction for a person who has donated their life to creating works of art. The Chris Ware formula (or, American humor in a nutshell) 1) Declarative sentence. 2) Rebuttal of declaration (typically more complex and cruel than it needs to be, so, funny.) 3) Agreement with his own previous rebuttal finally, because self-rejection is an un-frightening, redundant horror that should make you smile warmly. So then what Ware does is he puts the formula to work. The guise here begins with Ware saying: 1) “Comics are an art of memory.” 2) But then, because everyone in the room including Ware is, y’know, kind of old, we then have to have a discussion about how terrible we all are at remembering things. Of course we have to bring this up, because in order to remember what we were just (just!) speaking about, we have to introduce dissonance tension to our brains through aural communication with other humans. We are becoming ridiculously complex here in the service of Ware’s humor: “When you become a cartoonist, you begin to lose track of your language.” We as an audience, are becoming redundant in order to allow Ware to mirror the brain’s experience of memory for us. Where did Ware get the concept of “comics as an art of memory?” Why in fact, Ware states, rather meekly, he got it from a paper that his stagemate, Caitlin McGurk wrote! The room warms to Ware as the surprised McGurk, suddenly joyful, becomes flustered and confused, flushed and slightly embarrassed. Ware has delivered his sweet, sweet punchline. It’s almost too saccharine, nearly syrupy! 3) The agreement that Ware has set us up for here is that we’ve been having a discussion about McGurk, not Ware, since we began, and that we will now remember, “Comics are an art of memory,” in all its redundant, charitable, pitiable human glory. Too clean! ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— CXC Award ceremony (Friday, Sept. 29th 2017, at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum) (Editor: Kyle Baker was awarded the CXC Master Cartoonist Award, and Howard Cruse won the CXC Transformative Work award.) Revelations from the award ceremony: Tom Spurgeon praises Kyle Baker as a “Leticious learner.” After thanking Howard Cruse for his “Masterful work,” Tom Spurgeon asks Cruse to think about getting Stuck Rubber Baby back into print. ‘Oh my goodness, it is a shit-ton of work to re-release a treasured, nearly forgotten book,’ I scribbled. Then it dawned on me: Stuck Rubber Baby isn’t merely a political story about the Civil Rights Movement. It’s a teen mood sugar fiction that affects a whole country.” ————————————————————————————————— The Other Mainstream: Indy Creators on Non-Indy Books Jeff Smith, Peter Bagge, Kyle Baker, and Connor Willumsen (Saturday, Sept. 30th 2017, at the Columbus Metropolitan Library) In this dialogue, we are revisiting Kyle Baker again. What’s unfortunate in this particular discussion is that there is no visible female contribution. However, what ended up happening was that Kyle Baker – long known for his trademark crankiness – opened up to the audience in a way that is (apologies, meme) unexpected. Peter Bagge: “Spiderman (Bagge’s creation → Spider-Man, Startling Stories: The Megalomaniacal Spider-Man – a reinterpretation of the SP origin story) was the best-selling comic I had ever made and the worst-selling Spiderman Comic ever.” Kyle Baker laughs at Peter Bagge’s comment, then goes on to say: Robert Morales, when developing the script for the series “Captain America: Truth,” has used the term ‘drugs’ throughout the entire story. The story details a fictional declassified experiment in which African Americans are the precursor experiment to the secret project that creates Captain America. “We gave the manuscript and art to the publishers and they loved it, but they wanted to replace the term ‘drugs’ with ‘serum,’ so essentially the term “drugs” in Morales’ story came to stand less for something like the Tuskegee experiment and more for the alleged HIV conspiracy.” Baker then described how he revisited some of these themes from this book in Leticia Lerner, Superman’s Babysitter, a short comic he completed in 1999 for the DC Elseworlds 80-Page Giant #1. I’m going to revisit Kyle Baker’s work again at length here, to describe, I guess, what sort of happens with modern commercial illustrators in regards to their relationship with their employers. Baker is willingly immersed in comics mythology – it has replaced any previous myths imbued in him in concern to civilization – everything from religion to gender. Somehow, this deep engagement has made him an indispensable employee within a mainstream corporate media outlet. It may seem that Baker retains a sort of power through publishing these stories that are really important to him and to his progression as a drawer. However, the full picture we don’t get from Baker when he is telling us about these industrial anomalies – these stories he most cares about – is that he’s also completing an insane amount of commissioned work as he gets the access to publish these stories that mean the most to him. To end here, I want to include some quotes by Connor Willumsen, a fresh cartoonist whose work I think represents the next wave of comics, which is COMICS LITERATURE. “You can never predict what people are gonna respect or not.” “With Witchlands, I tried to do it like uh, how these comics are invented?” “I always found out about these rules the hard way.” What was so calming about when Connor spoke of his experience in mainstream comics contemporaneously was that the industry-men sitting next to him quivered at hearing of Connor’s creative travails. Connor’s a young man, no children to take care of, no family to support; his focus remains on the mythology and drawing practice, not on salary. What luxury had those seasoned professionals grown to actually? Who cares? It was nice to see those older industry men loosen up – they all asked Connor if they could take a look at his books later. I don’t know who planned this discussion, or if anyone could foresee that this type of generational showdown might occur, but we were there to witness it. ————————————————————————————————— Howard Cruse, Emil Ferris, Mimi Pond, Derf Backderf: Quotes from Comic Memoir Discussion (Saturday, Sept. 30th 2017, at the Columbus Metropolitan Library) Below are a few quotes from this discussion, in which Emil Ferris, creator of My Favorite Things is Monsters, comes to the realization that these comics people are in fact, her people. “You can’t be afraid to make yourself look like an asshole” -Derf Backderf “That guy who wrote Stuck Rubber Baby is a different guy than who I am today. The guy who wrote that book exists within the soft glow of goodwill.” -Howard Cruse “I could see the danger of getting stuck in a place like that.” – Mimi Pond, on writing about being a waitress in Over Easy and The Customer is Always Wrong. “Fine art was a pile of bricks accompanied by a long explanation… I finally came to the fact that this story was going to be a graphic novel.” – Mimi Pond “When I first encountered Lynda Barry,’s work, I recognized an artist who goes to a place in her head that I’ve seen before in my own head.” – Emil Ferris A question that came up was: ‘Is the persistence of memoir comics a novelty of identity politics these days?’ “All those labels are out the window. If it’s good comics, we want it.” -Derf Backderf ————————————————————————————————— Quotes from SÕL-CON Panel Three: Creators of Color & Industry Moderated by Crystal Gonzalez, J.M Hunter, Carlos Perez, Albert Morales, Andres Vera, and Verzelle James (Sunday, Oct. 1st 2017, at the Columbus Metropolitan Library) “You have to be proactive about finding your market.” “They ask for diversity, and then they say,’uh, it’s a little too diverse.” – Carlos Perez “Respect is key. If you write a story without research, it’s all that you don’t know that gets left out.” -Michael Bendis, cited. When I saw Verzelle James’ comics earlier in the week at SOL-CON, I knew I had to have them. They were/are the best of what comics has to offer – symbology applied, in varied textures of ink, to the surface of a perfectly managed black and white newsprint surface. Seeing his work and getting to speak with him was like diving into a longbox, finding a floppy comic you like, and as you flip through it, the author sidles up and says, “Want me to sign that?” Only eight pages of comics here from 1991. James only had about four comics to sell, some reprints of pin-ups, and all of them were over a decade old. These were his passion projects. During this panel, James discussed how much commercial illustration work he had done. I realized, looking over his books, that whatever had happened to spur these floppies into being was something that he wished to revisit. How had he gotten this work into this conference? How do works of such creative fervor flame up again and manage to find their way into the eye-range of another creator? After the panel, James asked me how I felt about the discussion. “Insight from people in the industry is priceless,” I said. He didn’t seem to have a problem with that answer. Reasonably though, what does success really look like for people of color in the comics industry? I could bring up a few artists, one or two writers, sure! But progress, in and of itself, can masquerade too. I think that if Cartoon Crossroad Columbus is to continue upping the stakes for gender, age, and race inclusivity in comics, then something must be done about the SÕL-CON/CXC partnership. This year, the connection between the events became ever more evident, with Caitlin McGurk and Jenny Robb doing as much equal time as they could between both conferences, and SÕL-CON participants being flagrantly present at CXC events. The best innovation is how exhibitors from both cons are mixed in together during the expo and lectures that take place at the library during the weekend. This year, SÕL-CON took the step of educating youth about drawing, and CXC took the step of giving Kat Fajardo the emerging talent award. The first year of this conference, I remember running from one side of campus to another in order to get the most out of both cons. This year, I definitely did not have to do as much running, but I’m wondering if the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum couldn’t stand to create some dedicated programming to incubate talent outside of the OSU student body that will engage at a community and studio capacity with their collection and resources. ————————————————————————————————— Emil Ferris Spotlight (Sunday, Oct. 1st 2017, at the Columbus Metropolitan Library) First, if you don’t know about Emil Ferris’ My Favorite Things is Monsters, read this article so I don’t have to re-explain the miracle that this book is. Second, I have never read My Favorite Thing is Monsters. It was a book that came out to much acclaim this year, and it wasn’t until I saw Ferris herself, and most significantly, heard her speak that I now feel the impulse to go and get the book. It took Emil Ferris six years to write My Favorite Thing is Monsters. What sold me about the book is what Ferris means by Chicago. “The west is nothing like everywhere else in the world. Everywhere else, the wealth you have is in the older people in your life,” she says. Ferris means ‘old’ Chicago. In her own words, Ferris states that ‘there were all of these older actors and actresses from the silent film era, Georgette Leblanc types who were living alongside survivors of the Holocaust. It was a deeply haunted population…I realized I had access to all of these stories.” “As I was drawing forth my smaller self , love kept being the thing that kept me going…I realized that I wanted my kid to see me kick some ass, and we have to give our daughters badassery.” “The line creates secret unknown things to people from the heart of the creator.” “I began to see that each page I did had a taste. One page had a taste of rosemary and mint. Another tasted of syphillis, though I have never had syphillis…that’s what synthesia does.” ————————————————————————————————— Going to close on Kyle Baker’s work. The best reason to visit a conference like Cartoon Crossroads Columbus is that you get encounters with current and historical works about modern life that aren’t going to be seen elsewhere, all in one room. There is a cornucopia of independent comics creators from all walks of life here and let’s face it: The fine art world doesn’t accommodate unknown milestone creations from the world of comics, and the mainstream world of comics doesn’t accommodate emergent comics that might be unquantifiable within the canon of superbabes, superheroes, blood, guts, and uberships. It’s an in-between world where the sentiment of western middle-class expression is never treated condescendingly as ankle-browed nostalgia or visual brik-a-brak – a place where a commercial illustrator like Baker can let loose creatively, outside of his industrial obligations and have an audience, where an unconventional illustrator like Mimi Pond can fictionalize her own biography as a waitress without interpretational friction – a place where an established editorial cartoonist like Signe Wilkenson can introduce a new audience to her work within the appropriate context of its historical footnotes. It’s intellectual even when it’s pretending to be dumb. It’s philosophical even when it’s aping the pleasures of brain-vacancy. It’s irreverent without portending the inherent complacency of ‘fine.’ It’s comics, and it is the most central American art. ————————————————————————————————— Adam Griffiths is a comics artist from Takoma Park, MD. Catch his ongoing comic – American CRYO – HERE. 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08/09/2017

Juan FernándezAugust 8, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con Ediciones Hungría; Jordie Bellaire y Vanesa R. Del Rey con ‘Redlands’; El Incal; Edicions de Ponent; Desaplanar de Nick Sousanis; y los tebeos de Cómics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: La pequeña editioral, Ediciones Hungria (Ciudad de México) han actualizado su página, pasen a echar un vistazo: edicioneshungria.com Les gusta el horror? Les encantará la nueva serie de Jordie Bellaire y Vanesa R. Del Rey, ‘Redlands’. Las dos charlan con David Brooke de Adventures in Poor Taste sobre su colaboración. Artículo en Valencia Plaza sobre la situación de los autores de Edicions de Ponent tras la muerte de editor Paco Camarasa. La posibilidad de una demanda colectiva y una posible venta de De Ponent Fernando Sagaz reseña la excelente edición integral de el clásico: El Incal de Jodorowsky y Moebius.Una reseña veraniega en 13millonesdenaves.com! “Universidades deveriam se abrir aos quadrinhos, diz autor de tese pioneira“- Nick Sousanis llega a Brasil con su tesis visual, Desaplanar! Ramón Vitral les ofrece su reseña en la Folha de Sao Paola. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 8-9-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

08/20/2018

Caleb OrecchioAugust 20, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with some thoughts on Michael DeForge’s upcoming new book, Brat. ————————————————————————————————— Michael DeForge is a marathon runner of a cartoonist literally and figuratively. He has kept a steady pace for years and shows no signs of stopping to take a breather or sprinting into a burst of desperate speed. From the outside he seems to have simply found a comfortable stride while maintaining a focused mindset that allows for consistently great work. From the outside, the burden of promise that was laid upon our hero’s back in the late aughts and early teens seems to not be a burden at all. Or is he already miles ahead of the burden? Or behind it? I don’t think it matters because DeForge only seems interested in keeping his own pace of comic-making. I am always pleased to open up a DeForge book because you never know what you are going to get, and you are never disappointed. The work is always funny, weird, witty, clever, enjoyable to look at, etc. His new book Brat from Koyama Press is, as they say, no exception. Brat is laid out in a wonderful six-panel grid which is the simplest of the comic book metronomes and creates a nice, spacious rhythm. DeForge is in no hurry to come to a climax or to cram the pages with detail. The reader follows the story from one panel to the other without breaking a sweat which is immensely enjoyable. I will elaborate on this rhythm and other aspects of this work next time. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

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