Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in The Diaz ArchiveTagged American Flagg, American Flagg!: Southern Comfort, Gerhard, Howard Chaykin, Joe Rivera, Nick Fury, Paolo Rivera, The Comics Journal, The Comics Journal 130, Wizard World, Wizard World Sacramento, Wizard World Sacramento 2016

Chris Anthony Diaz

Posted on July 8, 2016July 13, 2016

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CWCC 2017 Final Entries List

Sally IngrahamSeptember 7, 2017Santoro SchoolHere is the complete list of comics that were entered into the Comics Workbook Composition Competition 2017. Thanks to everyone who entered. The winners will be announced shortly (updated Sept. 7th 2017 at midnight EST) A Period Of Transition by Phillip Dokes Allen by Doctopmaru (disqualified) Are You Ready by G.R. Lear Awash by John Hexer Bloodsuckers Love Me by Jackie Kirby Canto V by Amanda Hamilton Columbus is Going to be Awesome by John Cihon Deep Clean by Sara Sarmiento Eksistensens Jeger by Addley Walker Force Fields by Paul Frog Legs by MK Girl’s Bathroom by Sienna Cittadino Good Boy City by Jonathan Tune Hangover Haiku by Foxitalic Here Comes Racecar by Alexander Moser Here’s the Light by Tor Brandt Left Over Soup by The Formal Kid Living Room by Chris Kohler Look See by Kevin Zych Meaning by Mariana Yatsuda Ikuta Morbid Orbit by Alice Blank Mother by Evan M. Cohen (disqualified) Muse by Brandon Alexander Berry Noffi by Niall Breen Origen by Josh Bowron Overtimers by TimersTimers and K-Un Ping Pang by James Abbit Push Thru by Jillian Fleck Reaching Toward Open Sky by LM Bolger Sandbag Spectator by Jacob Breck (disqualified) Sea Saga by James Coats Shop Class by Donald Price Slow Theft by Simon Reinhardt Soft Swords by Sam Meister Sweet Marla by Alex Williams Ta Ka Ra Zu Ka by Antoine Medes Teaching English in Taiwan by Iris Yan Tech Sector Baseball by Moose The Room by Louise Aleksiejew To the Mountain, On Your Own, At Night by Tanya Guryel Tone Deaf by R.D. Addams Touristing by Louis Deux Two Girls and A Caricature by Ari S. Mulch When I Grow Up by James Wilson List of entries from 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 If your entry is not on the list, please let us know so we can make sure it’s complete. Many thanks to R. M. Rhodes for compiling the list for us again this year! Share this page: [...]

Comics Workbook at SPX 2016

Sally IngrahamSeptember 25, 2016Festivals and ShowsRough and ready documentation while we work on making some polished videos! Share this page: [...]

01/13/2017

Sally IngrahamJanuary 12, 2017NewsSally here, reveling in this week’s collection of cool women who have made or are currently making comics: Elizabeth Stohn, Julie Doucet, Rachel Masilamani, Jessica Abel, Sarah Glidden, Audra Stang, and more! ————————————————————————————————— I’m delighted that we are featuring Rachel Masilamani here on the site this week. Juan Fernandez wrote a thoughtful piece about her comics, highlighting work made between 2000 and 2013. Rachel began making comics in Baltimore in 1997, and has stuck with the form through thick and thin. She won a Xeric Foundation grant, moved to Pittsburgh, became a librarian, started a family, and never stopped self-publishing her comics, which often deal with intense subject matters. I am a big fan of her work and have so much respect for her as a creator – it’s an honor to share the city of Pittsburgh with badass cartoonists like Rachel. Read Juan’s thoughts on her work HERE. Juan doesn’t dig into Rachel’s more recent work, the NON PARTUM series that she published on Mutha Magazine – you can check those comics out HERE. Megan Purdy of Women Write About Comics composed a collection of essays about the comics as they were coming out in early 2015. Here are her thoughts on Plan B-200, followed by The Subject, Spontaneous, Habitual, Inevitable, and finally We Conceive. ————————————————————————————————— Dan Nadel shared this incredible blog post about the work of Elizabeth Stohn on The Comics Journal this week. The author of the post – Jim Linderman – found these comic strips (above) in a sketchbook and gathered as much info as he could about the young woman who made them 100 years ago. Really cool stuff – be sure to check it out. (Make time also to peruse Jim’s blog further – he’s been called “one of the world’s greatest pickers” by the New York Times, and his blog and the books he’s authored about the bits of American art and history he collects are wonderful!) ————————————————————————————————— Sarah Glidden has a new comic up on Tablet called A Temple in Time. “When the news became too much to bear, I tried observing an ‘internet Shabbat,’ where I could unplug one day a week. It didn’t quite work as planned.” The first page is shown above – you can read the rest is HERE. ————————————————————————————————— I got to read Jessica Abel‘s Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars while working at Copacetic Comics this week – I’d been looking forward to it for awhile. I love the world of rollerderby, and Jessica has basically taken that sport and propelled it into the future. Life on Mars is tough, and 15-year old Trish wants to become a pro “hoverderby” player and escape her family’s moisture farm. Things start to work out for her and her dream is within reach, but then a native Martian shows up and may just “dust” her plans. As it says on the Trish Trash website: “Check Trish out if you (or someone you love) is totally into sci-fi, rollerderby, reading about kickass girls, reading about kickass girls who are not white, and/or semi-dystopian post-environmental-collapse speculative fiction (oh wait, that’s everyone, isn’t it?).“ It certainly describes me, and despite not being entirely engrossed by the story I still have high hopes for it’s continued development. The “behind the scenes” Tumblr for the book is pretty fun, so while we’re waiting for the next installment you can explore the concept of rollerderby + Mars to your heart’s content. ————————————————————————————————— Poking around the 2dcloud website recently revealed an interview with Julie Doucet. It’s unclear who conducted the interview with her – the whole thing is oddly formatted and frankly frustrating to read – but it was interesting to dig into some of Julie’s thoughts about her present work, and her continuing relationship with comics – which is at the moment one of disconnect and disinterest, and extreme frustration over people trying to MAKE her current work “still be comics” in some fashion. “Julie: i simply had more than enough of it when i quit. had enough of the all boy crowd (something i was comfortable with for a long time) i simply lost interest in it. of course i kept reading my friends comics, but no more than that. when i say i feel i can’t connect, i mean i don’t know what’s going on in comics these days, i’m totally out of touch, i don’t know what the hell comics people are talking about, don’t know the new names, the new titles, the new publishers etc… 2dcloud: Reading Julie Delporte’s beautiful Journal recently, she mentions something about your new work still being comics in its own way. Do you think of your work in this way? Julie: i am not sure i agree with what Julie Delporte says. i work pretty much with words only! what i do is more like Dada poetry, if you like…i swear comics people INSIST to death, i HAVE to be doing comics whatever i do!! i’ve heard that kind of affirmation one million times!!! i don’t get it! why isn’t it normal to to other things?? like in visual arts, you can do whatever you like and be coherent in your work. why why why why am i not allowed to do just that?“ Check out the rest of the interview HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Various and Sundry’s Sara Lautman completes her week as The Comic Journal‘s diarist – her comics are HERE. She Does the City conducted a lovely interview with Annie Koyama this week – HERE. Mariana Harkness is organizing Headlocks for Hope – a fundraiser that brings pro-wrestling fans together in support of Planned Parenthood and The Southern Poverty Law Center. Check out the campaign HERE and pick up some artwork by Mariana, Box Brown, Pete Faecke, and others. Lauren Weinstein‘s strip on The Village Voice is quite exciting this week… The Rockettes Start the Revolution! Miranda Harmon drew up her memories from attending MICE last year – and shared a resolution: “In the coming years I will continue to make things, and resist, and survive.“ Eleanor Davis‘ upcoming You & A Bike & A Road (Koyama Press, May 26th 2017) made the National Post‘s list of 5 graphic books that are “a winning draw for 2017“. ————————————————————————————————— Superstar Comics Workbook student Audra Stang is back in Pittsburgh for her second Rowhouse Residency! She joined us in July of 2016 for a long weekend and drew the entire first draft of her comic Pale, Sick, and Magic (read it HERE – also check out Rob Clough’s review of that comic, as well as Love My Like an Autograph HERE.) Audra is joining us for a week this time. She is christening the new residency space for us, filling it with index card drawings and good energy – and digging into her new long-form comic project with the determination of a recent college grad who has every intention of making comics a lifetime adventure, and not just the thing she fought with her art professors about for 4 years…! It’s thrilling to have her back and I can’t wait to see what Audra gets done in the next week. You can read about her first residency experience HERE. If you are interested in applying for a Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency or just looking for more info, visit this page or email santoroschoolATgmail – we will happily answer any questions you might have! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-13-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-13-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— 1-13-2017 – by Juan Fernández Share this page: [...]

11/24/2016

Sam OmbiriNovember 24, 2016NewsToday we have thoughts from Tyler Landry on the recent work-in-progress of Cameron Weston Nicholson, and Sam Ombiri’s response to this with further exploration of the act of sketching and process work – plus other news items from the week. ————————————————————————————————— Tyler Landry here. I’ve been following some of Cameron Weston Nicholson’s semi-secret endeavors over the last week or two, and the man is ON FIRE! Several simultaneous streams of intense character development are taking place here – some involving characters you might recognize from a certain book/film about a peculiar little girl who’s looking for her place in the world, while some are brand new, straight from Cam’s brain-swamp. The latter are the first manifestations of a new comic he’s got in the works. Sssshhhhhh… There is a sincere (and successful) attempt here to accentuate each character’s unique physicality which, for me, helps to telegraph their personalities directly into their appearance. Think of it like exaggerated facial expressions – for the whole body. This next set of character poses is as much about movement as it is about base structure. In this case, what they do outwardly speaks volumes about what’s going on inside. Combined, the physical form and the gestures amount to much of what’s required for these characters to communicate who they are. What Cameron’s been doing here is the beginning of world-building for a story. Be it in comics, film/tv, a novel, or a video game, steps like these towards developing characters and, by extension, the world they inhabit, are essential. Cam’s really feeling these guys out, trying to understand what makes ‘em tick, how they dress, how they act, how they go about their business in the world he’s going to place them in. Just like any exercise in copying the masters, there’s a wealth of information to be gleaned from retracing the steps of your predecessors on the way to (or alongside) taking your own. – Tyler Landry Follow Cameron Weston Nicholson‘s Instagram to keep up with more of his process work – @prof_weston Watch the video of Cameron’s Comics Workbook-hosted workshop at SPX 2016 HERE. We have presented this Feature in full, but you can also read it HERE on the site, and check out more links to Cameron and Tyler Landry’s work. What follows is Sam Ombiri’s response to the above piece about Cameron’s work. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here. Gary Panter said something like sketchbooks are your friend – sometimes you hide an idea in there and you find it later when you need it (I think that’s what he said). CF said he likes to think of a sketchbook or blank page as an experimental plane. Mieko Kawakami said that for her, sketching (she actually said poetry – but it’s in a different cultural context, which unless you avidly read contemporary Japanese literature in Japanese, and keep up to date with the trends in relation to the history of Western influence on Japanese poetry, mixing with the more traditional Japanese poetry, then going back to a mix of traditional and Western influence and just what’s hot in the scene right now…you’d get it – not that I know anything about all that, I just heard it somewhere). Anyway for Mieko Kawakami “sketching” is like delusion and the “final draft” (she actually said prose) is like imagination. I kinda partly disagree with this illustration. I don’t think – with my ignorance of what’s going on with Japanese poetry right now – work of that kind is pure delusion, but it is emotion tapered with structure at least for the time being (though there’s still structure at play, as shown in Cameron Weston Nicholson’s work – see above – but there’s room for expression created here. Or maybe it’s just one’s personal fears and reservations.) CF said something like the best way to draw is to turn your back on everyone you know and your ideals – at least I think that’s what he said. Japanese poetry is really preoccupied with rhythm, so even with the “delusion” it’s still grounded in something. Mieko Kawakami said the delusion she was referring to was like how she could have a family live in a house made out of pancakes – but ironically when she’s referring to her imagination she feels she can’t do that. It makes me wonder – why make novels that limit yourself if they are a “higher calling”? From my understanding, for awhile the attitude readers had for novels in Japan were: the more difficult the better. I’m not sure whether it was The Tale of Genji or Don Quixote that was the first novel, but I think it’s safe to say the novelists most likely have a strong sense of tradition strictly built on the foundation that The Tale of Genji set up (I’m only assuming). So then, maybe that strong sense of tradition is what drives Kawakami to limit herself. That doesn’t really make any sense though, because a lot of the more popular contemporary Japanese authors, at least popular outside of Japan, have been influenced by novels outside the Japanese tradition. I think she cited Virginia Woolf as a big influence. Someone said that the current movement is a fusion of the old difficult traditional Japanese literature and the new fun Japanese literature. Maybe in delusion/sketching/experimentation there’s a lack of tampering (which isn’t always the case). The only tampering to be found in imagination or in the work is in one’s limitations (sometimes). Ambiguity is subtracted so there’s a more possible chance of connection, but connection can happen either way. Sketches/process work is the most honest/real documentation. It doesn’t always show up in apparent ways in all works but sometimes it shows up in the final work, which usually rocks. I like to be reminded when I’m looking at a drawing that it’s a drawing made by a person who isn’t always graceful. – Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— A few other news items for the day: Ben Passmore has a comic up on The Nib this week about getting arrested for protesting the KKK – check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— The New Yorker ran a piece last week about the “Hidden Black Female Figures of Western Art” that is well worth a read. An excerpt: “What began as a small experiment expanded into the history of art in the entire Western world. The museums were invisible graveyards. They were just sitting there: broken, defaced, unseen. A catalogue of bodies. It was an invisible archaeology—an archaeology that crisscrossed time and space. Everywhere I went, I found them, just off, just to the edge, just beneath: pieces of black female bodies buried in plain sight. A small black female carved into the handle of a tool. Miniature black women who could fit into your palm. A three-inch-long black female carved into a knife handle, so you could hold on to her body tightly whenever you sliced your daily bread. A palm-sized black woman in your hand when you brushed your hair at night, looking absently into the mirror. A spoon handle, a drum, a hammer, a flute—black bodies sculpted into the wooden frame surrounding a heroic painting of a white male on top of a white horse, riding triumphantly into war. Black female bodies ornamenting the tripods, the base of a table, sleeping inside the frame, selling, offering, tending in the background of innumerable paintings. Bending, standing, waiting. Our whole artistic history crawling with the decorative bodies of black women.” – Robin Coste Lewis for The New Yorker Read the rest of the article HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Robin McConnell has a massive Cartoon Crossroads Columbus report up on the Inkstuds site – check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Matthew Thurber‘s comics have been adapted into the play 1-800-MICE, being put on by the Baltimore Annex Theater – info and tickets HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Comics Workbook has announced the Winter Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers – course starts Dec. 29th 2016! 8 week course – 500 bux – 10 spots available – apply by Dec. 13th 2016 and get $100 off course fee! More details can be found HERE – or email santoroschoolATgmail. Santoro School Application guidelines: -3 figure drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards -3 landscape drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards -3 still life drawings done on blank 3 x 5 cards -draw in a contour line style – Think Matisse – no under-drawing – draw directly in ink -just send small jpgs of images – dont post to your blog pls -specific url links to any comics work you have done. Send applications to: santoroschoolATgmail Share this page: [...]

08/04/2016

HarrisonAugust 4, 2016NewsHello, this is Harrison. Here is the comics and arts news of August 4, 2016. ————————————————————————————————— http://profweston.tumblr.com/post/148417347211/trying-some-comics-outttt Cameron Nicholson Recent comic experiments by this Richmond, VA, cartoonist. More here. ————————————————————————————————— Lettering your own work is fun as hell. Starting to get a hang of it. #comic #comics #wip #studio #photoshop #lettering #comiclettering #hardwork #blackartist #onemanband A photo posted by Skuds McKinley (@skudsink) on Aug 3, 2016 at 2:41pm PDT Skuds McKinley “Draw everyday. 4 to 6 hours every day. No excuses! If you want to be a comic book artist you have to do this, you have to be fast and be cognizant of deadlines. Draw things that you really enjoy. If you love manga or Spider-Man, draw that stuff!! Don’t just draw things that are popular, it’ll come off as fake. Push yourself to the limit to be a good artist. Learn perspective drawing, learn anatomy, learn how to draw vehicles. Draw everything! This will put you ahead of the guys that draw the same crap over and over again. Try not to spend so much time worrying about a style or comparing yourself to others, you’ll just be shooting yourself in the foot. Just focus on being a good artist who can draw anything thrown at them. Over time your style will start to show itself.” – Derek Skuds Mckinley Jones Follow @skudsink for daily drawing updates. A couple of Skuds’ books are for sale on the school auction – see below. ————————————————————————————————— ? ? ? “When Manchester-based photographer Mishka Henner first stumbled upon these seemingly abstract images on Google Earth, he had no idea what he was seeing; with research, the artist realized that these tentacle-like scars on the earth were created by the meat industry. The harrowing satellite-sourced images that constitute The Feedlots convey the sheer scale of intensive farming in America, where the need to maximize profit all too often takes precedence over concerns for sustainability and animal welfare.” – Elizabeth Sulis Gear for Feature Shoot Here. ————————————————————————————————— “Can I touch yours?” “As a mixed-race child growing up in a predominately white suburb, my features were an anomaly to the unexposed eye.” Whit Taylor in the Nib. ————————————————————————————————— McGurk At Work “After gaining experience at Marvel Comics and the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont, McGurk moved to Columbus to work as a visiting curator at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, which houses the world’s largest cartoon and comics collection. In just over four years, she has moved up to associate curator for outreach, organizing exhibits and public programs. She is also an assistant professor.” – Erica Thompson for Columbus Alive More Here. ————————————————————————————————— Sad Sack Share this page: [...]

Wizard World Sacramento 2016

Posted on July 8, 2016July 13, 2016 by Chris Anthony Diaz

Howard Chaykin along with original art featuring Nick Fury and a paint pen signed AMERICAN FLAGG!: SOUTHERN COMFORT, Paolo and Joe Rivera and Gerhard with his cover for THE COMICS JOURNAL 130 Dave Sim interview. Appeared at Wizard World Sacramento 2016, Saturday, June 18th. Portraits colored by Graham Willcox

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Chris Anthony Diaz

Posted on July 8, 2016July 13, 2016

Explore

01/20/2017

Sally IngrahamJanuary 20, 2017NewsSally Ingraham here to round out your week with an All-Star group of cartoonists and their work: Marie Severin, Dale Messick, Ramona Fradon, Trina Robbins, Em DeMarco, Audra Stang, and more! ————————————————————————————————— I am excited to see that this year Dori Seda will join the 7 other women who have made it into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame (their work is pictured above). The 2017 nominees were announced recently, and Dori is a Judges’ Choice for automatic induction. Out of 17 other nominees, 4 will be chosen by voters, and among those 17 cartoonists are 5 more female candidates. Here’s the whole list. A perk of working somewhere like Copacetic Comics in Pittsburgh, PA, is that when the need calls, I can tear the store apart and come back a few thrilling hours later with an armload of work by every woman listed above, plus all of the women on the 2017 nominees list. I have been sharing my findings this week over on the Comics Workbook Roller Derby League Instagram account – @cwrollerderby – and will continue to do so for the next few days. Here’s a taste of the tremendous talent and influence of a few of these masters of the comics medium: Marie Severin – (inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2001) – spent most of her professional career working for Marvel as a colorist, penciller, and inker. She drew stories for Sub-Mariner and the Hulk and other series. Pictured above is one of her Incredible Hulk stories, from Tales to Astonish #93 (1967), and a story she drew for Wimmen’s Comix #10 (1985). Dale Messick – (inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2001) – is best known for creating the strip Brenda Starr, Reporter in 1940. At it’s peak in the 1950’s the strip ran in 250 newspapers around the country. She drew the strip until 1980, and when she retired she left the ultimatum that Brenda Starr must continue to be drawn by other female cartoonists. Ramona Fradon – (inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2006) – was the artist who took over Brenda Starr, Reporter when Dale Messick retired, although she had been working in the industry since 1950. She worked for DC Comics throughout her career, drawing Aquaman stories and co-creating Metamorpho among other projects. Trina Robbins – (inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2013) – is an incredibly influential underground cartoonist who has worked tirelessly since the 1970’s to provide opportunities and platforms for women in comics. She established the first all-female comic book anthology – It Ain’t Me, Babe – and was one of the main editors of Wimmen’s Comix for 20 years. She worked on the Wonder Woman series, and is also a widely published comics historian – or “her”storian. Pictured above is one of her covers and a story from Wimmen’s Comix #10 (1985). I’ll be back next Friday with more ladies of the Will Eisner Hall of Fame – Marjorie “Marge” Buell, Lynda Barry, and Tove Jansson! ————————————————————————————————— I got a chance to get to know Em DeMarco better last night through a live interview at The ToonSeum – part of the Pittsburgh Comic Salon‘s Lecture Series. She is a cartoonist, journalist, and educator based here in the city of Pittsburgh. Between composing her monthly investigative reporting comics feature for the City Paper, photographing the local punk music scene, teaching comics classes through a partnership between The ToonSeum and the Lauri Ann West Community Center, and venturing into long-form comics projects, Em keeps herself busy…! Her experience with creating stories for radio programming informs her current comics journalism projects (the connection between oral reporting and visual storytelling is worth investigating fully at a later date!), and her insights into translating live interviews into compelling comics made for a lively and thought-provoking discussion. Check out more of her work HERE – and if you happen to be around Pittsburgh on a 3rd Thursday of the month, come join us at The ToonSeum for another conversation with a local comics creator. ————————————————————————————————— Jillian Fleck‘s Lake Jehovah was reviewed over on The Comics Beat – “Fleck mixes all the elements very skillfully, with a deadpan humor that alternates with frantic despair and an otherworldly creepiness that blends into its own tenor. The fantastical elements do well in elevating the psychological ones, and Fleck ends up perfectly plumbing the depths of the bottomless lake, both literally and figuratively, for a portrayal of what it is like to be overwhelmed by the invisible and burdened by the incoherency of the universe.” – John Seven Tom Spurgeon offers some commentary on the first round of voting for the Angouleme Festival Grand Prix over on The Comics Reporter. The artists who have made it to the final round are Chris Ware, Cosey and Manu Larcenet. There has been very little “buzz” around the process this year, which is surprising considering the volcanic eruption surrounding the award this time last year…! Tom delves a bit into the steps taken to oversee a more balanced and inclusive nomination process – and despite my own reaction of “YES!! Chris Ware for the win!” I agree with how Tom concludes: “…even with all three of those great artists in play I think my heart would rather see Posy Simmonds on that list than on the committee to help things run more smoothly.“ RESIST! was printed at 58,000 copies and is being handed out for free today in Washington, D.C. during the Inauguration and tomorrow during the Woman’s March, as well as at similar events around the country. For a complete list of where you can get a copy visit this page. Check out the work of Iona Fox – she’s a cartoonist and farmer working in Vermont. Her stories are always interesting, and while you’re browsing her website be sure to take a peak at the Beaver Cam! There’s a nice review of Inés Estrada‘s Impatience on The Comics Journal. Check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— This is Audra Stang‘s second visit to Pittsburgh, and she was getting so much done during her Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency that she extended it for another week! It’s been exciting to watch the story she is working on develop and see her commitment to the form and to her future in the industry and community. If you’re interested in applying for a Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency visit our info page or email santoroschoolATgmail. Follow the @rowhouseresidency Instagram for regular updates on the program and the cartoonists who visit us this year. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-20-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-20-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— 1-20-2017 – by Juan Fernández Share this page: [...]

06/08/2016

Juan FernándezJune 8, 2016NewsJuan Fernandez with: a Studio Visit with Steven Weissman; COTTONOPOLIS on CW; School Store Restock Selling Fast; Hostia un Libro; Pablo Besse’s ANTITIERRA; El Capitan Trueno; un look a Locas; Club Fosfatina 2000 Vol. 2. On the site: New in the DIAZ ARCHIVE: http://comicsworkbook.com/a-studio-visit-with-steven-weissman/ ————————————————————————————————— Cottonopolis Week continues on CW Made from November 2014 through January 2015 by Oliver East for Comics Workbook, Cottonopolis is a series of 6 panel comics that unpack moments in a life that swirls in the history of Manchester, UK. Spend some time with them today. ————————————————————————————————— School Store: Recent Restock SELLING OUT FAST We have some new items up on the school store that have been selling fast. Don’t miss your chance to grab: ZONA #03, Cold Heat Specials and Blades & Lazers set, Gary Panter postcard set, and Mikey Z’s Venom. Off the site: ¡HOSTIA UN LIBRO! Just around the corner in Madrid, Spain is ¡HOSTIA UN LIBRO! a small press festival in its 3rd year. Comics, poetry, literature, all in the small press mix in this outdoor book fair. Organized by Elisabeth Falomir Archambault, Alberto Haj-Saleh, Francisco Serrano, Pedro Toro, hosts of Hostia un Podcast. ————————————————————————————————— Antitierra – Pablo Besse Real purdy, sexually charged digital edition of a book by argentine cartoonist, Pablo Besse. If you like what you see there, be sure to take a dip into Pablo Besse’s drawings over on his site. ————————————————————————————————— Reflecting on 60 Years Capitan Trueno Jesús Jiménez has wonderful look at the history of Spain’s best selling comic book over at RTVE.es. Inspired by Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant, El Capitan Trueno was a rock ’em sock ’em action comic full of o’ hyucks that took Spain by storm under Franco. Smash that Google Translate button to read it all! ————————————————————————————————— Dandole un look a Locas Ruth García Martín os da un look al primer volumen en la serie Love and Rockets de Jaime Hernandez, Locas 1. RGM: A lo largo de las 272 páginas y 24 vemos una notable evolución narrativa como discursiva en la que se va despojando de lo accesorio para utilizar, o innovar, los recursos necesarios en cada escena. En cierta medida, salvaguardando todas las distancias, su evolución es equivalente a la de Mike Mignola. Ambos tienen una narrativa muy particular con la que han recreado un personal universo y un arte que ha ido limpiándose de artificios innecesarios con el paso del tiempo sin mermar, más bien al contrario, un ápice la calidad. En este primer tomo Jaime Hernández sienta las bases de lo que será su universo Si no han leeido Love and Rockets, os toca empezar vuestra aventura con Los Hermanos Hernandez hoy! ————————————————————————————————— CLUB FOSFATINA 2000 VOL 2. Galician publisher Club Fosfatina has just released a peek at Julia Huete’s killer looking Gran Danes (Above), the first book in Club Fosfatina’s second bimonthly A4 Risograph comics subscription. Subscriptions can be made up until June 30th. Don’t sleep on ’em! FOSFATINA 2000 es una colección bimensual de cómics a dos colores tamaño A4 impresa en RISOGRAFÍA, con una tirada limitada de 150 ejemplares. El segundo volumen de la colección está conformada por las obras de los siguientes autores: Julia Huete, María Ramos, Cynthia Alfonso, Berliac, Nacho García, Los Bravú,Óscar Raña y Berto Fojo. Ocho ediciones repartidas durante todo el año, cada dos meses con dos lanzamientos dobles (Cynthia Alonso / Berliac, Óscar Raña / Berto Fojo). Share this page: [...]

New Waves in Latin American Comics: Colombia

Juan FernándezAugust 24, 2016los Cómics / Scene ReportsThis guest post comes to us from Laura Andrea Garzón Garavito in Colombia Every time I walk into a bookstore I try to check for the comics and graphic novel section. It might not be surprising given that in countries with a comic strip tradition, like the United States or France, there are bookstores entirely devoted to selling such products. In Latin America, places like Mexico and Argentina have given comics an important space among other literature, having both been large scale national creators and international translators of comics. Nevertheless, in many other Latin American countries comics and graphic novels are only just starting to be of common interest for publishers. Take Colombia, for example. Until not long ago, you could only find translations from mainstream comics, such as superhero ones by Marvel or DC, magazines brought from the above mentioned Mexico or Argentina, and sections in the newspaper devoted to translations of comics such as Calvin and Hobbes or Mafalda (an argentinian political cartoon icon). But there was not much regarding local production in Colombia. Until now. These days, in 2016, as I find so many new books, I feel glad this medium has started to find increased interest among readers. And since we have been building our very own national comics tradition, we have been looking to be eclectic in our selections. I find it interesting that the bookstores that have invested in bringing comics closer to the audience in Colombia, which is my case, have chosen authors with alternative works, who do not necessarily respond to the mainstream view of what comics “are”. That might be because this audience is still forming a definition of what comics can be and their readers enter this universe new eyes. In each comic book club I have been in, I have heard the speakers trying to broaden the perspectives of what such a medium can offer, and the relation that it has with other arts, like film, literature, poetry, painting, etc… An important part of expanding the national understanding of the many forms that comics take to have Maus in a shop window, side by side with El Eternauta, but is not enough. You might laugh at that, since Maus has been circulating for so long it seems impossible not have bumped into it. But I often think we are, in our very own parallel reality, in a point, similar to the one Spiegelman found himself when winning the pulitzer prize in 1992: where should we place this type of creations? where do we sell these works? Gary Groth, editor of Fantagraphics, publisher and critic, said in a conference held in Bogotá last year, he felt Colombia’s panorama looked pretty similar to the one he had seen in the United States in the 80’s, which was a time for alternate exploration of both markets and formats. That means thinking comics through various lenses, thinking audiences can be broader than imagined, not only kids or old-time series followers, but a whole spectrum of different ages, backgrounds, genders, and so on. In this scenario, underground comix hadn’t even seen Maus yet! Just like it happened here! For a long time creators, fans and editors had to research their sources for comics elsewhere, either traveling or ordering books, or maybe being able to find some online version of them. That network has enabled relationships between latin american authors in different regions. Communication through the internet has been a way of supplying for the gatherings: it has built a new kindof dialogue around the comics world. It has also made it possible to think of self-publishing in a different way. Circulation for your work has not been limited solely to printed fanzines but also from web-comics. What we have been seeing in Colombia has been a period of transition in which the alternatives avenues for creativity intertwine, giving artists chances of mixing them and creating hybrid works. However, the fact that the definition of what comics are and what they can do is a definition in construction means that the medium is till fight for legitimization. A fight to make comics be seem as a viable medium, not classified as secondary, as less than other types of narrative forms, or framed as for only some type of audiences (by editorials or entities in charge of financing new authors and their projects). It also means that there is a fight to find assure that there are market willings to support the production of comic books in Latin America. The very idea of trusting that this kind of publishing can be supported on a national level may be difficult from country to country. What might be easy for Brazil can be difficult in Peru or Colombia. Now, relations between Latin American countries can help to understand there is indeed viable market for comic books, but, according to Colombian comics critic, script writer and comics editor, Pablo Guerra, Latin America has always been an island in editorial terms. That’s to say Latin American countries have found it difficult to establish connections (even when it comes to traditional forms of literature) between themselves to develop strategies for mutual support, so they do not continue to be regarded as an appendix of Spain, as is done in other international contexts. On the bright side of such situation Daniel Jiménez (editor, cultural manager and director of the colombian comics festival Entreviñetas) notes that there is a healthy situation in the panaroma of Colombian comics: a new generation of cartoonists under 35 years of age. They are a group of hungry creators with a network of interesting cultural and artistic production in the comics medium. They understand that they need to be in dialogue with other cultural traditions, perspectives and tendencies happening in other places around both Latin America and the world. They are critical, they question their reality, they aim to create a dialogue through their work. Latin American artists work in and from the interstitial space between center and periphery, and that is reflected in their production. The fact that there is a young generation also makes it possible for relations around this new forms of making comics to be fresh and non-hierarchical. The idea is that among this demagraphic, it doesn’t matter where you come from but rather what you do and how you do it in comics, along with how you participate of the new channels of distribution. Here is a list of recommendations and highlights of the contemporary Latin American comics situation (Special thanks to Kelly Moctezuma, a young artist, editor and comics curator, for helping me out with this last section so you, dear reader, can enjoy the best of what we’ve got to offer): Hands up for the editorials publishing comic books and graphic novels. Graphic novels might be a difficult format for new readers, as a broad part of Latin American audience can be, as well as an expensive one, but editorials have found their way around this problem: Rey Naranjo and the recently launched Cohete Comics, part of Laguna Libros, and La Silueta in Colombia, Contracultura and Pictorama in Perú, Catalonia in Chile, La Ñatita in Bolivia, MINO in Brazil. Some kick-ass girls worth watching for that still struggle to make a living out of this like PowerPaola, Delius, Sole Otero, Isol, Inechi, Maco, Marcela Trujillo, No Sofía, María Luque, CatalinaBu, Juana Medina. Now some boys worth checking out (I mean, their work) like Luis Echavarría, Fabio Zimbres, Rodrigo de la Hoz, Camilo Aguirre, Henry Díaz, Alejandro Henao, Antolín Olguiatti, Jim Pluk, Joni b, Truchafrita, Pedro Mancini, Jesús Cossio, Marco Tóxico, Eduardo Yaguas. Publications that have (or had) underlined comics in Latin America are alive and growing: Revista Larva, Carboncito, Entreviñetas (which is a section in the national colombian newspaper El Espectador), Dr. Fausto, Graffiti 76% quadrinhos, Gringo Muerto. – Laura Andrea Garzón Garavito Share this page: [...]

09/25/2018

Aaron CockleSeptember 25, 2018NewsJulie Doucet; L. Nichols; Best American Comics; Richard McGuire; Everything is Connected at the Met Breuer; Art in Brussels ————————————————————————————————— Dirty Plotte—The Complete Julie Doucet by Austin English By the end of Dirty Plotte, the panels become increasingly dense and claustrophobic—beautifully so, but a trap all the same. The imposition of the rules of comics come to a head: clear, pure storytelling, the same character over and over, refine-refine-refine your style—a far remove from the infinitely open plane Doucet grafted onto the medium when Plotte began. An author of endless skill, she observed these principles and easily mastered them. Could the wide canvas of the early issues have been similarly exhausted? ————————————————————————————————— L Nichols: Day One ————————————————————————————————— The Best American Comics 2018 Panel discussion at Strand Book Store, NYC, Wednesday, October 3, 7pm “I love comics. Comics is (Comics ARE?) a perfect language, robustly evolving and expanding like any other living language,” writes Phoebe Gloeckner in her Introduction to The Best American Comics 2018. This year’s collection includes work selected from the pages of graphic novels, comic books, periodicals, zines, online, and more, highlighting the kaleidoscopic diversity of the comics language today. Join us as panelist Bill Kartalopoulos, Julia Gfrörer, Julian Glander, Kevin Hooyman, and Julia Jacquette talk about this year in comics. ————————————————————————————————— Richard McGuire: Art for the Street – 1978-1982 September 27 – November 4, 2018; Opening: Thursday, Sept. 27, 6-8 pm Alden Projects, 34 Orchard Street, NYC “A shadow is a strong and simple graphic,” McGuire explains. “The titles evolved from a Burroughs-esque cut-up method — just grabbing selected phrases that caught my ear. I would make lists. Later, I made a stencil. I would see what worked best with that image as a ‘sound picture’.” Incorporating cryptic phrases such as “Moved Then Set on Fire” (1979); “Holes and Corners” (1980); “Doubles are Inevitable” (1980); and “Different Nervous Rhythms (1981); McGuire’s Ixnae Nix drawings transmogrify the layout and content of quotidian newspapers into personalized tabloids in which the central silhouette appears with “a crypto-mystical graphic style, a great touch,” to borrow Glenn O’Brien’s 1981 praise in Interview magazine. The stream-of-consciousness poetics of McGuire’s Ixnae Nix drawings share explicit aesthetic dialogue with Basquiat and his early poetics, but later, these conversations arguably go both ways. McGuire’s Incident Instantly Becomes Memory , to name one, shared a pivotal stage with Basquiat, Haring, and others at the New York / New Wave show, curated by Diego Cortez at P.S. 1, Queens in 1981, and clearly anticipates some of Basquiat’s later pictorial developments. The Ixnae Nix drawings also confabulate with Keith Haring’s early street-based work, particularly with the latter’s Xeroxed collages of cut-up newspaper headlines, which he began in 1980. McGuire stopped his wheatpasting activities in early 1981—around the same time that Haring first began making chalk drawings in the subway. ————————————————————————————————— Everything Is Connected: Art and Conspiracy The first half of the exhibition comprises works by artists who hew strictly to the public record, uncovering hidden webs of deceit—from the shell corporations used by New York’s largest private landlord, interconnected networks encompassing politicians, businessmen, and arms dealers. In the second part, other artists dive headlong into the fever dreams of the disaffected, creating fantastical works that nevertheless uncover uncomfortable truths in an age of information overload and weakened trust in institutions. ————————————————————————————————— 09-25-2018 – by Niall Breen Share this page: [...]

Charlottetown Comics Club

Comics WorkbookJanuary 22, 2017School UpdatesTyler Landry shares thoughts on running a weekly comics club in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada – a Comics Workbook “satellite school”! ————————————————————————————————— I’ve been running the Charlottetown Comics Club (CCC) weekly, since the spring of 2016. At first in my home with a few trusted friends, then we moved to a public place – the back room of a local comic shop, Lightning Bolt Comics, where anyone and everyone is welcome to join. I sought to model this club on a few basic ideals. First, the continued development and expansion (for myself, and members) of the foundation of comics-making skills I learned through Frank Santoro’s Correspondence Course, and, by extension, the inundation of ideas, influences, and examples flowing through Comics Workbook. Second, to gather locally operating cartoonists (of all levels and persuasions), who often toil in silence/obscurity at home, in a place where we can feel comfortable working and growing alongside each other, for mutual benefit and general good feels. Some members come and go, some are very consistent. This can make group activities challenging, especially where things carry over from one week to the next, but I’ve managed to run a handful of pretty successful exercises so far. We do some smaller warmups and drills, as well as some larger/longer projects with full-on story card development. There are also members who bring their own bread-and-butter comics work, or projects they’re already knee-deep in, and just draw away among their peers. I encourage everyone to bring in their own work, new and old, and also to share comics they like (or don’t like) with the group. Discussing these things can only make us smarter and ultimately more demanding of the quality and caliber of the content we seek to read and create in comics. This is so important. At its core, this club upholds the methods and values that I’ve been taught, and seeks to grow and share them with the wider community here. I strongly believe that this kind of “part-of-the-total-package”, modular thinking is key to creating, editing, and clearly executing good comics. I pull from any and all sources I can find value in, and there are endless examples, but Comics Workbook is solid. There’s tangible proof in the CW pudding. This way of thinking, and the use of these methods has enabled me to focus my ideas and raw skills into actual complete comics – something that used to be very hit/miss for me. I wouldn’t be doing the work I’m doing now if this door hadn’t been opened. I’m passionate to a fault about comics being THE medium for storytelling, beautiful artwork, and expression of ideas. I don’t know nearly as much as I should about the history of comics, or its major/middle/minor players, but I’m seeking that knowledge, always. I want to participate in the realization of the expanding potential of this medium, and this club is another way in which I, and its other members, can do just that. ————————————————————————————————— Tyler will continue to share work by members of the club, bios of these Prince Edward Island cartoonists, and details about the projects the CCC complete. If you are interested in joining the club please email santoroschoolATgmail and we will put you in touch with Tyler. ————————————————————————————————— Tyler Landry is a graduate of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers. His recent comics includes Vile 1: Cowards Hole, Vile 2: Lonesome, and Hermit Crab Real Estate. Get copies of his work HERE. Check out work in progress and other cool stuff by Tyler HERE. Keep up with the Charlottetown Comics Club via Tyler’s Instagram – @clavcity. Share this page: [...]

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