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San Diego Comic-Con International 2018
Chris Anthony DiazJuly 24, 2018The Diaz ArchiveMy first Comic-Con ever! So my apologies, I tried my best to take as many photos as possible, but this show is overwhelming, yet a lot of fun. Also, I lugged around too much stuff to get signed, which i brought — yes excuses! Anyways, this is all I ended up with despite going in with a more extensive list of cartoonists I wanted to photograph! Oh well, hopefully next year I end up taking more. San Diego Comic-Con International 2018, downtown San Diego Convention Center Exhibit Hall, Thursday, July 19, 2018 Share this page:Read More:Comic Arts Brooklyn 201703/13/201809/25/201810/18/2018...
Sally IngrahamJuly 22, 2016NewsSally here with you today to show off what Renee French and Vanesa R. Del Ray have been drawing lately, check in with Sophie Yanow on the ground at the Republican National Convention and Atena Farghadani in Iran, take a peek at the San Diego Comic-Con, and hear what Mike Kuchar and Anne Bongiovanni are hyped about. ————————————————————————————————— Things are heating up everywhere as the summer progresses, and Sophie Yanow is in the thick of things this week as she makes comic reports for The Nib on the Republican National Convention. Her most recent Mean Streets piece documented some of the goings on around the 4th Street RNC entrance the other day, aptly titled The Clash. Check it out HERE. The Nib has exploded since the recent launch of it's new website, with comics piling in from all sides. Check back daily for the latest on the Convention and other good stuff – (Get to Know the 2016 GOP Platform by Andy Warner and Sophie Louise Dam is a particularly useful read!) ———————————————————————————————— The Washington Post had an exclusive interview with Atena Farghadani recently. Farghadani is the 29-year-old cartoonist who had been arrested and sentenced in 2014 to more than 13 years in prison after drawing Iran's parliament as animals. She was protesting her government's anti-birth control policies. She spent the better part of 2 years in prison, before finally being released in May of this year. Michael Cavna was the first Western reporter to conduct an interview with Farghadani since her release, via email and with the help of the Cartoonists Rights Network International. Farghadani speaks about her imprisonment only briefly, focusing more on her plans to stay in Iran, where she will continue being an activist and a cartoonist. "At the moment, since I've arrived at the certainty that there is miracle lying in the art of drawing and painting, I'm more determined to continue doing it than ever." – Atena Farghadani Read the whole interview HERE. ———————————————————————————————— The San Diego Comic-Con is in full swing, and Michael Dooley wrote a piece for Print about the women who will be getting well-deserved recognition, as featured guests, panelists, and during the Eisner Award ceremony. "This year's Eisner Awards ceremony will offer a relief to the series of sexist fiascos surrounding the Angoulême Comics Festival's Grand Prix earlier this year. Around fifty deserving women have garnered 61 nominations in 27 of the thirty categories. A large number of them will be present to accept their honors, including the triple-nominated Joëlle Jones and Colleen Coover as well as SDCC Spotlight guests Kate Beaton and Emily Carroll. I've assembled some of the most graphically impressive works from among these artists, and concluded by acknowledging one more from the author of a book that's sure to be of vital interest to any and all designing cartoon enthusiasts." – Michael Dooley Check out the full list HERE. ———————————————————————————————— Drawing to @peteholmes 's podcast for the upcoming @eatmoreartout show "Slim Pug with Chex Mix" A video posted by Renee French (@reneefrench) on Jul 20, 2016 at 8:09pm PDT I enjoy Renee French's work, and find the process videos that she posts on her Instagram account particularly fascinating. The one above is her most recent offering, and since we have a fondness for pugs (Lenny!) around the Comics Workbook headquarters, I had to share it here. Give French's Baby Bjornstrand (Koyama Press) a look if you haven't yet experienced how her unique style translates into comics storytelling – HERE. ———————————————————————————————— Open Space conducted a conversation with Mike Kuchar this week. It delves into the relationship between filmmaking and cartooning, both of which Kuchar excels at, and the guys he used to hang out with in California – folks like R. Crumb, Billy Griffith, and Art Spiegelman. It's a highly entertaining read. "You know, even the stupidest movie or the most despised movie, there's always something that is a spark. There's something that can be explored or affects you in a certain way. I love Hollywood movies. That's how I learned movie making — when I was watching the picture, I was also seeing how they were made, in some ways. And I love junk stuff. I love B-movies, I love the cheap science fiction movies of the fifties. I love to look at paintings too, because in some ways, they also help me as a cinematographer. You see a painting and the colors that are used, the composition — there's magic in an image. Something will affect you. There's magic. There's a sense of atmosphere, light and mood. I always find the mediums are all interchangeable." – Mike Kuchar via Open Space Read the whole thing HERE – via Dan Nadel at TCJ. ———————————————————————————————— Anne Bongiovanni made the twelfth installment of Comic Book Decalogue over on The Comics Journal – listen to it HERE! ———————————————————————————————— Check out the Summer Set that Uncivilized Books is featuring, especially the new mini-comic from Laura Park – Do Not Disturb My Waking Dream #5. ("Pigeons, French guest stars, face punching, stolen oranges, dogs, true Americans, warts and so much more!") ———————————————————————————————— And now, what the heck, a process video from Vanesa R. Del Ray to finish up – ?Mr. Bones? #timelapse A video posted by Vanesa R. Del Rey (@vrdelrey) on Jul 13, 2016 at 10:24am PDT ———————————————————————————————— These days you never know what the next week will hold, but we'll be back to investigate it with you on Monday! – Sally Share this page:Read More:10/01/201803/16/201809/04/2018Rowhouse Residency…...
Sally IngrahamOctober 21, 2016NewsSally here this fine Friday with exciting news from Meg Lemke, comics from Shannon Wright, Lauren R. Weinstein, and Leela Corman, a unique Con this weekend in Detroit, Sacha Mardou's report on CXC, and a few other tidbits. ————————————————————————————————— Here on the site Sacha Mardou shares her recent adventures at Cartoon Crossroads Columbus. "CXC happened last weekend in Columbus, OH, and I got to represent Team Comics Workbook and also myself as a special guest (this has never happened to me before – count me overexcited and also terrified!) I get in on Thursday night and head to the President's Reception feeling very wallflowerish as I know literally no one except through Facebook and Instagram. First off I meet Tom Spurgeon (finally!), Jeff Bone and his lovely wife Vijaya, Caitlyn McGurk, and Robin the Inkstud. I nervously nurse my wine and then I am rescued by Sergio Aragonés, who sits next to me with a plate of meatballs and a beer. I'm a vegan but I don't even care about the meatballs! It's Sergio Aragonés and I proceed to fannishly monopolize him for the next hour. Sergio! I've loved his comics in Mad Magazine since I was eight years old." More on what she did and saw at this terrific event HERE. ————————————————————————————————— PEN America announced this week that Meg Lemke is the newest guest editor of the Illustrated PEN series. This series "aspires to be at the intersection of literature, journalism, and visual storytelling, where images and words come together in an ever-emerging and essential creative form." Meg Lemke has 15 years of experience with comics in a number of roles, and is currently the editor-in-chief of MUTHA Magazine – so she has a lot to bring to the series, not least – "…exemplars of the form that showcase the power of comics to tell stories in surprising ways. We talk often about literature letting us 'see' a new perspective. Comics can do that quite literally, and when it's done well, there is a magical interaction between the visuals and text that stimulates a different part of our thinking. In our lives lived online, as readers we are inundated with imagery on the Internet, much of it advertising in margins (or popping up mid-screen). But comics can skillfully interrupt this oversaturation, as it necessitates we slow down and take in visual narrative, for example to parse a plot carried in background scenic details. Reading comics has been compared to reading poetry—they both invite play between the reader and the text on the page (be it broken into stanzas or word balloons)." – Meg Lemke Read the rest of the piece HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Meg Lemke's first official post for the Illustrated PEN series is about Leela Corman's piece PTSD: The Wound That Never Heals, which is an excerpt from We All Wish For Deadly Force (Retrofit, 2016). Read Meg's thoughts and the piece by Leela HERE. ————————————————————————————————— And if you haven't checked out the comics on MUTHA Magazine in awhile, here's your reminder – there are a bunch of new ones by Lisa Brown, Tyler Cohen, and Amy Kurzweil among others! ————————————————————————————————— Today's comic is pretty personal; not only have I chosen to reveal how much I weigh, but I'm showing a tad of family judgment (which I know EVERYONE has). I started my diet today, it's a complete 180 of how I've been eating all my life and I'm kinda excited about it. So when my grandma asked how I had been, I debated on sharing my health journey because of this very reason. Family can be the worst when it comes to body image. Also, I'm not necessarily doing this diet to lose weight, but to feel better. My sleep pattern has been off, my skin has been getting worse, and I just feel sluggish. I wish people would realize everyone is built differently and weight gets distributed differently. #inktober A photo posted by Shannon Wright (@shannondrewthis) on Oct 18, 2016 at 9:55am PDT Shannon Wright has been posting a comic almost every day this month – follow her Instagram account to keep up. ————————————————————————————————— Lauren R. Weinstein has a new piece in The Village Voice – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— ComiqueCon is this Saturday, October 22nd 2016, in Dearborn at the Arab American National Museum. "ComiqueCon is a one-day celebration of the contributions of women to the sequential arts. Launched in 2015 in Metro Detroit, the event brings together comics all-stars and their fans for a wicked awesome day of comics and cosplay! … In an industry that consistently under-solicits women, we're spotlighting the work of women in comics and encouraging representation and inclusiveness." This year's special guests include Mariko Tamaki, Ashley Woods, and Carolyn Nowak among others. The con founder, Chelsea Liddy, and Kathleen Hiraga, founder and CEO of Pop-Post, were interviewed by Michigan Radio for the Stateside show. ' "It's a really special atmosphere that just happens naturally when you have a bunch of supportive women working for the same industry in a room," said Liddy, on the differences between ComiqueCon and some of the larger comic cons. She also noted that it's a safe place for female comic creators to talk about their craft, which hasn't always been the case. … "It's about that community becoming a voice and together expanding into a force," said Hiraga. ' Listen to the rest of the interview HERE. Next year I think the Comics Workbook Roller Derby League needs to check this con out! ————————————————————————————————— Frank's report on The Lakes International Comic Art Festival is up on the site – HERE. Check out this video from his Instagram feed last weekend of Aidan Koch leading a workshop: Aidan Koch discussing her collaborative workshop project from LICAF UK 2016 #comicsworkbook @aidanalexiskoch #licaf A video posted by @santoro.frank on Oct 15, 2016 at 2:11pm PDT ————————————————————————————————— Today is the last day to get in on the special Michael DeForge auction hosted by Copacetic Comics – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— It's Connor Willumsen's birthday today! Check out his work and help him celebrate. 🙂 ————————————————————————————————— I share Sacha's excitement about Cartoon Crossroads Columbus – and the Comics Workbook team will be presenting more thoughts, videos, and the official report from Whit Taylor soon. Stay tuned! Cheers – Sally Share this page:Read More:05/04/201809/19/201807/13/201803/12/2018...
Sally IngrahamOctober 27, 2016NewsSam Ombiri kicks off your Thursday with some thoughts on reading and Sally Ingraham follows up with interviews with Kyle Baker and Whit Taylor, a teaser video from Chris Visions and Tyler Q. Tucker, Ronald Wimberly's latest adventures, and Whit Taylor's CXC "Report Card". ————————————————————————————————— Smart Reader I'm not too good of a reader. Maybe one day I'll be a good reader. I struggle with concerning myself with just getting to the next page, and then the next page, and then the next page. I'll rush to get to the last page only to be met with the lamest feeling ever. Then I say to myself stuff like "I should have paid more attention, I should have had more concern with the work, than the "task at hand". Sometimes, I'm like, "I love this movie! This movie is great, but when will it end? I want my life back already!" When I carry myself this way through the work, and naively rush to get to the end, it's like the feeling of unearned reward. At my job there are kids who whine to their parents until the parents buy them candy, and then there are the kids who are well behaved so the parents urge them to "go pick out something for yourself, since you've been great!" I feel like the whining kid more often than I'd like to admit. I really dig Joseph Conrad's way of rendering emotion in relation to the characters' shared circumstance, but I want to hurry up and finish it so I can sound smart, and brag about how I've read Joseph Conrad. That's not to say that I'm always like this. It's an annoying feeling that pops up every now and then. Maybe it's because I'm reading "important work." I heard Matt Thurber say that he felt small press stuff is more important to him than hardbound graphic novels. I don't know if he still feels this way. The smaller parts are most important as opposed to the whole, because you can't tackle work all at once. (Or maybe you can.) – Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— Sally here with some other happenings in the comics world. Adam Griffiths interviewed Whit Taylor recently for his ongoing "Zine Tree" series. He dug into her work Passing, a good deal of which is available to look at in the interview, as well as her latest book Wallpaper. "WT:Wallpaper is largely about "flashbulb" memory, which can be particularly vivid when we are kids. It's not fully autobio, as not all the chronology or details follow my life, but it definitely deals with certain recurring themes from my family. Some of the patterns are from childhood and others are not. As for the 'unsaid', yes, I feel like this is usually an element in my work. I think it is hard when doing memoir/autobio work to figure out how to tell a story without getting bogged down in the details. My primary goal is to create a mood or a feeling, which doesn't always rely on telling one's personal history in detail. I remember when I was a kid, feeling confused a lot about the world and what adults were doing in it. I also felt like I had a partner in crime, my younger brother, to help navigate that world with. That's what I wanted to communicate." – Whit Taylor Read the rest of the interview HERE. Also check out Adam Griffiths' work HERE – he is a cartoonists based out of Takoma Park, MD (who will be joining us in Pittsburgh in early 2017 for a Rowhouse Residency!) ————————————————————————————————— Get Why I Hate Saturn now at https://www.createspace.com/5628261 #graphicnovel A photo posted by Kyle Baker (@qualityjollity) on Oct 24, 2016 at 5:50am PDT Kyle Baker posted this reminder on Instagram recently – you can get his breakthrough story Why I Hate Saturn via his website HERE (follow @qualityjollity!). The Comics Alliance published a lengthy interview with Kyle this month, part of their Five Stars series which highlights 5 milestones of an artist's career. Why I Hate Saturn (1990) is certainly on the list, and Kyle and Steve Morris talk about it's continued importance: "CA: At the time, it wasn't a huge sales success. It took years, and is arguably only now really getting the notice it deserves. Is it difficult to take a hit like that — to build up and work on a project, only for it to then not break out commercially in the way you might have hoped? KB: I think that it's never wise to measure one's worth by the opinions of strangers. I'm just trying to create the work I enjoy. I can't imagine how sad it would be for a person to live their life worrying about what other people think of them. When I work, I do the best job I can according to my skill level at the time. I'm always studying, and looking to learn how to write and draw better, and that's what's important to me." – via Comics Alliance Read the full interview HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Whit Taylor's Cartoon Crossroads Columbus 2016 "Report Card" article is up on the site. According to Caitlin McGurk, one of the festival committee members and Associate Curator at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, the show reflected the goals of the organizers – "We want it to include everyone from comic strip artists to punk mini-comics makers to political cartoonists, web cartoonists, mainstream cartoonists and the "indie" folks. Animators, too! A place where someone who has just made their first mini-comic can stand beside a MAD Magazine legend in the BICLM galleries and chat about Winsor McCay. A place to learn about developing professional skills for artists, be it from inking to legacy planning, from foreign rights to how to fill out your taxes, etc. We want to create a support system for comics, in a place that already serves as a home and shrine to comics." – Caitlin McGurk Read the rest of Whit's report HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Lots of people went to NYCC and they all seemed to have a pretty good time – but no one tells the story with as much style as Chris Visions and Tyler Q. Tucker: Created by @tylerqtucker ・・・ #NYCC with the @outofsteparts crew was a blast! Can't wait to release the full video! #OOSA #nycc2016 @chrisvisions @punkrockjazz @andrewmaclean @nathanfoxy @newyorkcomiccon A video posted by Chris Visions (@chrisvisions) on Oct 11, 2016 at 7:10pm PDT Just a teaser of the soon-to-be-released full video. Follow @chrivisions on Instagram for tons of life drawing sketches and other process posts! ————————————————————————————————— Ronald Wimberly has finished his residency in Columbus (but check out the video above for a lengthy talk and tour of his exhibit at the Columbus Museum of Art). He's back in New York City, and will be doing a talk and signing on Halloween at Kinokuniya New York – if you're in town, you need to be there! ————————————————————————————————— The Comics Reporter has a comprehensive list of all CXC-related reports – check out out. Here on the site we have our own massive roundup post of CXC-related stories and reports. We also have Frank's LICAF report with the recent addition of Aidan Koch's thoughts on the event – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Comics Workbook has had a great show season, with visits to SPX, CXC, and LICAF. The workshops we have hosted at these events have been a highlight and folks all over are digging into comics making with new ideas swirling in their heads. If you didn't making it to a workshop this year, be sure to keep an eye out for us next year – and meanwhile, check out thee Santoro School Handbook for Making Better Comics by Frank Santoro and Kurt Ankeny. Printed offset on cardstock by the professionals at The Prolific Group, Winnipeg, Canada, this is not some cheap color xerox or risograph. Looks great, feels great, and even smells great. Always available at our store HERE – free shipping worldwide! Share this page:Read More:05/10/201803/15/201806/28/201807/12/2018...
HarrisonMay 5, 2016News Daily views of daily news. For Thursday were looking for the free stuff, talking about (visual) language, paying attention to style, and cooking up soul. ————————————————————————————————— Freebies Tell your friends and family, Free Comic Book Day is Saturday. Find a store here and try not to get stingy. ————————————————————————————————— "Look at him. In a couple of years he could become another Picasso." "I watched Style Wars today – it's been on my list ever since reading that bit of Hip Hop Family Tree by @edpiskor. I made a bunch of "scene" cards and arranged them this way – next time I'll arrange them a different way. Turns out I like drawing break dancers almost as much as I like drawing graffiti." Sally Ingraham Putting this idea from my CW colleague in my briefcase for the near future. ————————————————————————————————— Eye Emoji. Paintbrush Emoji. "A critique is an oral or written discussion strategy used to analyze, describe, and interpret works of art. Critiques help students hone their persuasive oral and writing, information-gathering, and justification skills." ————————————————————————————————— Ideas and Language By Cameron Nicholson Your ideas are pure, but in order to make your ideas connect, you must learn the language they understand and speak. Once you've learned the stepping tones of their language you can get your ideas through. Then they HAVE to listen. Now that you have them listening, captivate them. Captivate them for the sake of YOU creating; you're not catering to their needs. Your ideas are way more powerful than you think, the language barrier is what halts understanding from artist to viewer. These Language Barriers in art are why artists and non-artist get scared or become stagnant, but then we realize these languages are the "foundations." Knowing these foundations are the basic words of art. "Whether or not you agree now, you will begin to at least listen once I start speaking your language." If I started a track with a sample of Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness" that led into my song or beat, a listener can become indirectly invested to continue listening. For people who love Otis or that sound you already feel comfortable and invested in him & those sounds. It's how mixing and sampling became so big in Hip Hop. Fan Art uses the languages you already comfortable with and gets you to keep listening. Everyone has different taste, but the idea is to learn the foundation/language of that "art form" to speak your thoughts. Thus the idea of languages in/of art. Morning thoughts and ideas forming in this odd head of mine. I'll keep cracking at these ideas until they make sense to everyone. Smooth music to relax, drink some tea or even work too. Richmond, Va's DJ Harrison makes some insanely amazing beats. Each track can give you energy to do many different things. I personally like "Vault Series #6 Trio 1967" just some great things there. When doing comics, think of beats per panel. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. Comics as music, music as comics. https://djharrison.bandcamp.com/ ————————————————————————————————— Live! Sop up this soul with your breakfast bread. Happy Thursday. Share this page:Read More:Daily News - On Snooze!09/11/201801/22/2018The Hannah K. Lee Interview...
Aaron CockleDecember 5, 2016NewsAaron today with The Partnership Between Comics & Healthcare; "Hogarthian Progresses in Eighteenth-Century Graphic Satire"; More RESIST!; Opportunities for Cartoonists; Hart/Corman/SAW; Best of 2016; Correspondence Course Early Application Deadline Looms Largely ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— The 172nd meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016 at 7pm at Parsons School of Design, The New School, 2 West 13th Street, in the Bark Room (off the lobby). Free and open to the public. Cynthia Roman on "Hogarthian Progresses in Eighteenth-Century Graphic Satire" Sequential narration in satiric prints is most famously associated with the "modern moral subjects" of William Hogarth (1697–1764): Harlot's Progress (1732), A Rake's Progress (1735), Marriage A-la-Mode (1745), and Industry and Idleness (1747) among others. Less well-known is the broad spectrum of legacy "progresses" produced by subsequent generations drawing both on Hogarth's narrative strategies and his iconic motifs. James Gillray (1756–1815), celebrated for his innovative single-plate satires, was among the most accomplished printmakers to adopt Hogarthian sequential narration even as he transformed it according to his unique vision. Gillray's forays into Hogarthian progresses kept the idiom relevant for further development by later graphic satirists including G.M. Woodward, Richard Newton, Charles Williams, Williams Elmes and George Cruikshank whose works will also be considered in this talk. Cynthia Roman is Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Paintings, The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University. She is editor and contributor to Hogarth's Legacy distributed by Yale University Press, 2016. ————————————————————————————————— More RESIST! The Washington Post gives the Gabe Fowler, Françoise Mouly, and Nadja Spiegelman's RESIST! publication. The editors say they have received more than 500 submissions for the 40-page tabloid. Contributors so far include such noted cartoonists as Roz Chast and Carol Lay. (Submissions can be made at www.resistsubmission.com.) "With this project, I knew that there must be people who felt as crushed as we were, and that they needed to not just say it but shout it, and make it into a physical object," says Mouly, who previously teamed with her daughter on the Blown Covers blog. "That howl of protest needed to be gathered, preserved, and therefore vindicated — the first step toward building a future where we can feel more included." Check here if you would like to support this endeavor or pre-order a copy. ————————————————————————————————— Opportunities for Cartoonists! A resource for open anthologies, calls for submissions, and other comics-related opportunities. Curated, but can't make promises; please be careful with your work! Submissions welcome but are subject to our discretion. ————————————————————————————————— The art of following a dream and surviving great loss The Gainesville Sun profiles Tom Hart and Leela Corman and their Sequential Artists Workshop. "The moon in Florida follows roughly the same path as the sun — from east to west in the Southern sky," writes Hart in "Rosalie Lightning." "I don't remember it being so reliable in New York." ————————————————————————————————— Best of 2016? The lists of comics are starting to proliferate, I guess people (the writers) are still writing these sorts of things, and we (the readers) are still reading them. Rachel Cooke at the Guardian blog Andy Oliver at Forbidden Planet International blog Paste Magazine ————————————————————————————————— The Winter Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers Starts December 29, 2016. 8 week course, $500, 10 spots available, apply by December 13, 2016 and get $100 off course fee. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 12-6-2016 – Sally Ingraham (@suzy_and_cecil) Share this page:Read More:05/01/201803/13/201804/03/201806/19/2018...
Sally IngrahamOctober 5, 2017NewsSally here with original artwork by some rad ladies, a bit more about CXC 2017, and other comics news. ————————————————————————————————— To pick up where I left off last week…at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, in Columbus, OH, or thereabouts… In the midst of the CXC excitement last Friday afternoon, I found time to poke around in the Reading Room at the BICLM, and although my eyes strayed to huge Prince Valiant originals and Noel Sickles paintings, and I was distracted by the comments of Mimi Pond and Chris Ware and Derf Backderf as they circled the room simultaneously…I was able to zero in on some fantastic pages by several of the female cartoonists I write about here all the time (see the Mary Fleener page above). I believe many of the pages that I got to enjoy were from a recent donation, part of a 113-piece collection given to the BICLM this past summer by Scott Jonas. Above is one of Aline Kominsky-Crumb's earliest comics. Below are pages by Dori Seda, and Lynda Barry. Here's the lovely Mimi Pond looking at pages in the Reading Room: This is easily my favorite thing about Cartoon Crossroads Columbus – you have the chance to hang out with your peers and your heroes as you all share together the experience of looking at artwork by the cartoonists who came before us. Everyone exclaims. Everyone cries. It's wonderful. Then too you can learn from each other and share the things of your heart/hands. I attended Leslie Stein's watercolor demo and appreciated getting to see her process and listen to her stories. So did Signe Wilkinson, the Pulitzer-prize winning editorial cartoonist, and afterward in her turn Signe shared her experiences in the trenches and a whole other world of cartooning. And then when my own number was called, on Saturday afternoon when our Comics Workbook-featured workshop leader Connor Willumsen was needed for a panel, I stood up and led a workshop on comics-making. Making comics in isolation still has its place, but increasingly it seems that if we want to keep this community thriving, it's got to really embrace its punk side. Share and share alike. Growth, education, everyone lending a hand in order to keep these plates spinning. Cartoon Crossroads Columbus feels like a show that is constantly striving to embrace that spirit. For more on the show please see Caleb's beautifully exuberant Monday morning post, HERE, and Adam Griffiths' detailed and thoughtful notes on his own experience, HERE. ————————————————————————————————— I have to touch on Connor Willumsen's Comics Workbook-hosted workshops at CXC, as that is where I spent much of my time on Sat./Sun. of the show. Connor had workshops almost every hour during the show those two days, and he was able to translate his thoughts on shoebox vs. "forensic" comics-making to audiences made up of all adults, as well as a lively group of kids during one workshop. Here's a "forensic"-style comic by Zoey (which really is how most kids make comics): I will be cutting together a highlights reel of Connor's workshop, so keep an eye out. Many thanks to Tom Spurgeon and the other CXC organizers for providing us with the space to bring this transformative take on comics-making to Columbus, OH. Back again next year for more! For the record, you can get a really unique package of Connor Willumsen books and zines right now from Comics Workbook – full details on the official "Anti-Gone Bundle" can be found HERE. ————————————————————————————————— News of Note from Elsewhere This is cool (but also annoying in its way) – Marvel canceled The Black Panther series recently, but now Paste Magazine announces that Marvel has hired the incredible Nnedi Okorafor to write a new Black Panther series (for digital publication on Marvel and ComiXoligy) – full details HERE. The Comics Journal has an interview with the unstoppable Tillie Walden – try to catch up with her, HERE. Also, this came out while I was at CXC, so if you too missed it be sure to check out the interview with Sophie Foster-Dimino conducted by Annie Mok on tcj.com. Check out Leela Corman's latest comic on The Nib – It Only Masquerades as Entertainment. Laurel Lynn Leake writes about Ariel Ries' webcomic Witchy, using the comic to comment on ideas of power and uselessness. Pretty interesting – read it HERE. Hit your translation button to read this German review of Ulli Lust's new book (compared favorably to work by Chester Brown and Jason Lutes, although Ulli isn't sure she agrees with the Lutes comparison!) – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 10-6-2017 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page:Read More:Rowhouse Residency…04/13/201805/04/2018Digital Ways of Seeing…...
Juan FernándezAugust 8, 2016NewsJuan here with your news for the day: Locas Reimagined by the CW Derby Team; Rep. John Lewis speaks with Rachel Maddow; ARM'S LENGTH by K.L. Ricks; Applied Comics in Action: Doctors Drawing Mickey Mouse; Paul Gravett interviews Alexander Tucker; Ken Parille on Comics Criticism in 2016; Krazy Kat: The Comic Art of George Herriman reviewed by Bill Boichel; new STREET ANGEL; special weekly Rowhouse Auction preview: CLOWES. ————————————————————————————————— Locas Reimagined I'm happy to announce that we are featuring a collaborative comics jam by the Comics Workbook Roller Derby Team on the site this week. The team copied and transformed Jaime Hernandez' 1984 story, Locas Starring Hopey. This bout featured work by Allie Doersch – Alyssa Berg – Anna Mancini – Gabriella Tito – Sacha Mardou – Jillian Fleck – Jackie Huskisson – Jennifer Lisa In case you've been sleeping under a rock, Comics Workbook Roller Derby is the world's only all-female, cartoonist-operated "roller derby of the mind" league. The league is comprised of strong, diverse, and independent women from the international comics community. ————————————————————————————————— Memorializing a life in the Civil Rights Movement Congressman John Lewis speaks with Rachel Maddow over at MSNBC about his work with Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell on their graphic novel trilogy, March. March brings readers a vivid comics account of Lewis's "lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation… Book One spans Lewis's youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation through nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins." The third and final installment is out now. It's great to see Lewis speak of the road map he's tried to create to guide and inspire a new generation to the way of peace, love and non-violence, to follow the moral obligation of taking action in the face of injustice. ————————————————————————————————— Arm's Length Pt. 1 K.L. RICKS' newest comic, Arm's Length is out over at Hazlitt Magazine. It's an enticing first chapter. Damn, if this comic doesn't breathe. Ricks' inking is smart, evocative and efficient. Inspiring stuff. Ricks' knows how to leave you hanging, hungry for more… ————————————————————————————————— Applied Cartooning in Action: Doctors Drawing Mickey Mouse Cartoonist Benjamin Schwartz writes over at The New York Times about the role that comics can play in the professional development of medical practitioners. It's a brief look at the holistic nature of cartooning and the effects of the craft on it's practitioners' empathy and perspective. The concept of doctor as storyteller is not a new one, nor is the idea that it's a critical component of a doctor's identity. What's changed in recent years is the idea that storytelling is a skill that can be taught directly in the classroom—that it's not some vague life skill that can only be learned through experience (or, worse, the type of ability one either does or doesn't have). Credit for this development goes in large part to Dr. Rita Charon, an internist at Columbia University Medical Center. In the early two-thousands, she formalized a program in narrative medicine, with a stated mission to train health-care workers "to recognize, absorb, metabolize, interpret, and be moved by the stories of illness." ————————————————————————————————— Paul Gravett interviews Alexander Tucker Paul Gravett and Alexander Tucker, author of World in the Forcefield, talk about alienation from the art world, the relationships between music, painting and comics, conveying spiritual concerns through comics over on Gravett's site. Be sure to dive into Tucker's existential boredom if you're hungry for something new. I'm interested in how you see the relationship and dialogue between your music-making and your comics/art-making? The thing I didn't like about the fine art world was having to tie up concepts and ideas into neat little fully formed packages, what I feel about music and comics is this attempt to create a fluid way of expressing ideas, the process can become the actual piece of work and the lessons learned can weave themselves into the work throughout the act of making the song or comic page. colloquial, slightly cynical everyday speech. What are your ideas behind this? I've always liked the balance between the mundane and philosophical, the everyday and the fantastical. Since my early teens my love of surrealism and directors like David Lynch, Derek Jarman and Terry Gilliam introduced the concept of reality's thin veil between the spirit world and our own. ————————————————————————————————— Ken Parille on Comics Criticism in 2016 Parille's got a satisfying piece on the state of comics criticism in 2016. 7 hot takes. It's real, it's honest and it gets to the core of the idea that it's only good comics that will foster the growth of comics as a form. Anything else is likely to just be hot air. Parille puts forward an idea I'd been thinking about for a little. Comics criticism and discussion in a hyperfractured mainstream? What does that look like? How does it exist and not eat itself alive? Enter post-relevancy. It might sound silly, but it's a useful sentiment: Relevancy criticism often plays an ironic joke on its writer. We're convinced that we matter when calling out the man and his corrupt ideology, but perhaps our truth-to-power musings and mumblings only advance the corporate agenda: "Everybody's talking about the scandalous new issue of Wondrous Lad! So I bought a copy and tore it apart on my blog!" We excitedly create free buzz for mega-corporations and they move more units. Who's the chump now? Not the post-relevancy comics critic. She refuses to be co-opted, to be an unsuspecting shill for shit. An aesthetic adventurer with a sublime sensitivity to image, form, and detail, she seeks out comics that the mainstream ignores — yes, even fears! She heroically undertakes the sub-minimum-wage, time-consuming, socially-unrewarding, and emotionally-alienating journey of reading and writing about comics with deliberate care. She returns from her solitary excursions with something revelatory — and irrelevant — to offer us. She's my role model. ————————————————————————————————— Krazy Kat: The Comic Art of George Herriman reviewed by Bill Boichel Bill Boichel's got a hearty review of the 1986, desert-island classic, Krazy Kat: The Comic Art of George Herriman on the site this week. Few people can write as insightful reviews as Bill, so it's an honor to be able to share his writing with you here. This is an oldie but a goodie <3 Where to begin with such a book. It is clearly and definitely the best book ever done on Krazy Kat, which is, at least in our estimation, the greatest work ever produced in comics form. Ergo, it is, Copacetically speaking, the best single volume of comics ever produced. In other words, it wins the Deserted Island Award™: If there were one comics related book we'd take with us to a deserted island, this would undoubtedly be it. And as if that weren't enough, it has now been reissued in an economy softcover edition that'll only set you back a double sawbuck. Think of it – a lifetime of pleasure and consolation for what it would cost you to spend a few hours in a bar. And they say there is no God. ————————————————————————————————— —————————————————————————— New Private Rowhouse Auction – 7.31-8.6 Last but not least, I'd like announce that this week's Rowhouse auction will start Wednesday at noon NYC time. We will be auctioning off artwork and other rarities generously donated by the great Daniel Clowes over on eBay. Stay tuned for details – or email Frank here santoroschoolATgmail.com – You won't want to miss this! —————————————————————————— until next time, Juan Share this page:Read More:10/10/201805/07/2018The Alabaster Pizzo…The Hannah K. Lee Interview...
HarrisonApril 14, 2016NewsDaily News for Thursday April 13 with poetry, storytelling, and casual. RVA Comics Spotlight: Eric Scott Pfeiffer! Humbly astonishing. Two words that come to mind when thinking of this fine sir. Before we get all gushy on how he great he is just check this out below…. Need I say more? So Eric has been here in Richmond, Va for quite some time. (there's a whole crew that's been here just spewing out good shit, but I'll get to that in later news). He has a remarkable comic under his belt, "Arcadia". Check that out! Here's a link to his website, but as your checking that out. Put on some smooth tunes and just be amazed by his marvelous ideas: http://ericscottpfeiffer.com/category/illustration/ Last but certainly not least, follow him on social media because he's got a couple secret projects worth looking out for! Speaking of tunes, this week will also be very Richmond inspired. I've got a joint here for you that no one should pass up. Jefferson Harris (not DJ Harrison, but just as good) and Robilu Gibson. These two do a fusion dance AND form *drum roll* SOLUHHH! (SoLuh). A powerful yet smooth beat-maker and a mesmerizing yet stern poet. Rob has been on television a couple times, so you might know his face. Jefferson has been playing all around Richmond, just killin' the scene with lovely tunes. Together they create a smooth, striking junction of poem, similes, and beats. But that's enough yappin' from me. Check them out below. "Incredible Heat Machines" https://soluh.bandcamp.com/album/incredible-heat-machines As always remember to drink water! Take a break, relax. https://youtu.be/9PcJR5MWrzc Storytelling 202 "But John don't you think that people make a distinction between a story that is true and a story that is imagined or invented? I'm always struck by the fact that there is a kind of ambiguity in the very notion of storytelling. On the one hand we think of storytelling as a truth telling activity, "Tell me the real story". We think of stories as bringing information, we think of stories as revealing secrets. But we also think of stories as, "That's only a story!" or "Don't tell me stories!", meaning don't tell me lies, and don't you think at the very center of the whole enterprise of storytelling there is the fact that storytelling is an activity that faces in two directions. On the one hand is connected to the idea of truth, on the other hand it's connected to the idea of invention, imagination, lies. One is thrilled by the story precisely because it describes something that can't happen, it's connected with fantasy." -Susan Sontag. Listening to this discussion twice and still running out of paper for notes, maybe the thoughts can come in handy for other artists as well. Special Announcement: Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency Fundraiser Auction ebay.com/sch/copaceticcomicscompany/m.html?_trksid=p3692 **PLEASE NOTE: The Copacetic Comics Company is managing this auction on behalf of Comics Workbook.** This is a BENEFIT AUCTION for the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency. It is part of the ongoing fundraising campaign to get the Rowhouse Residency up and running and serving students. All proceeds of this auction are going to Comics Workbook to defray the expenses involved in realizing this goal. This auction is a continuation of the now completed Rowhouse Residency IndieGoGo campaign and other fundraising efforts. The eight items donated to The Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency Fundraising Drive by one Mr. Chris Ware. Each item in this auction has been hand packaged and signed by Mr. Ware and was shipped by him directly to Comics Workbook for the purposes of being auctioned here to raise funds for the Rowhouse Residency. Comics Workbook would like to express our profound gratitude to Chris Ware for his support of the Rowhouse Residency. ebay.com/sch/copaceticcomicscompany/m.html?_trksid=p3692 Featuring Jim Rugg | jimrugg.com/ Video by Michael Pisano | michaelpisano.com Soundtrack | Johann Sebastian Bach // Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen, BWV 43 – 7. Aria: Er ists, der ganz allein // performed by Michel Rondeau John | McCoy | Jimmy | Elvin Share this page:Read More:03/02/201804/03/201806/14/201805/01/2018...
HarrisonApril 7, 2016NewsFor April 7 News and insights; Cameron has visions of cats on top of beats, comics about haircuts and squirrels, and artists you should know. ————————————————————————————————— RVA (RICHMOND,VIRGINIA) SHOUT OUT! ? ? ? ? ? Cameron here, this time I'd like to shout out a RVA artist who's been killin' the game for some time now, Chris Visions. I'm not citing a back story other than that he was born to be a great artist. From doing covers for Marvel and DC to having a full series of his own, written by Chris Sabela; Dead Letters, I advise you to check it out like right now! There are infinitely great things I can say about Chris so I'll keep this short. This dude's Illustration work is marvelous; the shapes create striking figures with unforgettable poses. He knows how to really put a story to each of the characters he draws/paints. Man, all I can say about his comic pages is CHECK THEM OUT! Seriously, go see them. You'll see how great they are. Last but surely not least this man's portfolio is filled with more colorful, striking, masterful pieces then anyone could did, Ya Dig?! Here's a link to his website, AND if any of ya'll are at Emerald City Comic Con this weekend, go see him at TABLE X-01! He makes rad videos too: EVERY WEEK I'm going to try and feature an RVA artist. I won't be able to feature EVERYONE, but here and there I'll mention some great people! ATTENTION ATTENTION! ? ? ? ? ? ? If you haven't heard, Ronald Wimberly's PRINCE OF CATS WILL BE GETTING A REPRINT BY IMAGE COMICS. If you don't know who Ron Wimberly is then let me fill you in. He is a kick ass, bad ass, comic artist who constantly puts out beautiful pieces one after the other. He also has an updated comic on STELA called GratNin! Check it out on your cellular devices. Here's a link to his Tumblr so you can follow and support a great comic artist! MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC! FAT BEATS since 1994. I wont say much, go listen for yourself. Marvelous beats for the everyday grind. Comics are for EVERYONE! ————————————————————————————————— Home Kurt Ankeny's latest update to his series In Pieces: Someplace Which I Call Home is on ComicsWorkbook. The sharp marks for pupils, eye glasses, and flesh against the softer graphite borders create an inviting contrast. More so, Kurt's script works as the consistent foreground for his narration throughout the series. Pre Order Some Copies Read from the beginning ————————————————————————————————— Buddies Filmmakers Charles Huettner and Sean Buckelew of L8Night WorkClub have a movie discussion/animation art talk podcast called Movie Buddies. This episode they rightfully gushed over Ryan Coogler's second movie Creed with fellow filmmaker Brian Smee. In the second half of the show I asked them who some of their favorite black artists were and they gave some good answers that others should check out. Listen Here ————————————————————————————————— it's the vestiges of my "career" that I should abandon anyway Kimball Anderson ? (Not a squirrel but close) ————————————————————————————————— Sticks and Stones Share this page:Read More:04/09/201803/27/201803/08/201803/30/2018...
Rochester, NY Scene Report
Posted on March 10, 2016 March 11, 2016 by Juan Fernández
This week's Scene Report is brought to you by Steven Arenius of Panoptic Press.
Rochester is located in Western New York along Lake Ontario, right across from Toronto. Much of the town as we know it today is thanks to Kodak founder George Eastman, an old-school tycoon who hunted elephants with Teddy Roosevelt and left one of the most concise suicide notes of all time: "My work is done, why wait?" Rochester is also home to Xerox, whose tower is the tallest building in our skyline. Rochester is bisected by the Genesee River, which lends its name to the local brewery and like the Nile runs south-to-north. It has been home Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. We have an abandoned subway, brutally frigid and gray winters, and a signature dish called the Garbage Plate that is best left undiscussed.
Rochester's newsprint art and comics anthology of choice is Hope Mountain News, curated by Mike Turzanski and Pete Lazarski, which has circulated locally since 2011 and has since been archived in full on their website. Their fifth and latest issue, The Million Dollar Canoe, takes a leap in format and style and is (in their words) "64 pages of weird comics, drippy monsters, and two color mysteries." Pete also has an expansive collection of comic strips full of ghouls and wizards on his website, Imaginary Monsters. Local musician Dave Chisholm is an accomplished comic artist and author of the graphic novels Instrumental and Let's Go To Utah as well as Tyranny of the Muse, an ongoing webcomic with Eddie Wright. Clayton Cowles is an illustrator and letterer currently working on a number of Image and Marvel titles. Ant Hill is an original ongoing comic series created by Nigel Carrington. The Rochester Teen Set Outsider (now National Teen Set Outsider) is the longest running zine in town and perhaps at the forefront of the medium's resurgence here. Local poet, publisher, and H_NGM_N Nate Pritts is a wealth of comics knowledge, insight and enthusiasm. We first met him at the Visual Studies Workshop's Pub Fair, a great show that specializes in small press and handmade print.
Given its size, Rochester is fortunate to have a number of great comic shops. We share a building with Comics Etc., which spotlights local artists and creators with a small exhibition on Free Comic Book Day. The back issues at Wonderland run the deepest and they host a biannual comic show. Dan from Comic Book Heaven has been very supportive in getting our first book on his shelves. All Heroes is home to a holy grail of 50-cent comics running over 20 longboxes deep, where a great deal of time has gone unaccounted for indeed. NeedleDrop Records carries zines and local print as well.
The scene is alive and well elsewhere in Western New York as well. Over in Buffalo, the Itinerant Printer Chris Fritton runs the Buffalo Small Press Book Fair with help from the Western New York Book Arts Center. We met Stephen Floyd from One Percent Press there, who along with JP Coovert has been releasing comics for over ten years. Hex Records is a Syracuse-based hardcore label whose Translate zine features comics in addition to reviews, tour diaries, and interviews. The oldest annual convention in the country takes place in nearby Ithaca and is run by their Comic Book Club. We were guests at Ithacon 40 along with Camilo Nascimento and Hunter Schindo of Arhanta Comics, whose atmospheric comics are layered with sound and immersively framed by responsive web design. Queen City Comics and Comics For Collectors are the shops to check out in Buffalo and Ithaca, respectively.
Rowhouse Residency…
The Alabaster Pizzo…
Juan FernándezMarch 23, 2016NewsHagio Moto in the limelight; Julie Doucet's latest; New York Review Comics announced; Rolling Black Outs stacked; Denver Indepent Comics Expo. ————————————————————————————————— Hagio Moto spotlight on Urasawa no Manben There is a great sub of the 1st episode of the 2nd season of Urasawa Naoki no Manben with author Hagio Moto. Don't miss a behind the scenes look at the life and work of the founding mothers of shōjo manga! For those hungry for more, check out Matt Thorn's TCJ interview of Hagio-san from 2005. Urasawa Naoki no Manben (which, roughly translated, means "Naoki Urasawa's Manga Exertions") is hosted by veteran manga artist Naoki Urasawa (Monster, Pluto,20th Century Boys) and follows different artists each episode, watching them draw their manga from scratch and exploring what differentiates their styles. Amazing show, with a great format for comics makers by comics makers. Watch the subbed episode over on Daily Motion. ————————————————————————————————— Carpet Sweeper Tales There's Nice write-up of the new Julie Doucet book, Carpet Sweeper Tales book by Joe McCulloch over at TCJ. Doucet, in a four-word introduction, requests you read everything in the book out loud – this is much harder than it seems, as some of the text is made up of symbols, and many of the words are broken down to some (not all) of their component letters. In this way, the book also evokes experimental vocal performance – Meredith Monk, for instance. Check it out over on the Comics Journal. ————————————————————————————————— New York Review Comics New York Review Books has announced their new line of classic comics reprints, New York Review Comics. In the tradition of NYRC Classics, NYRC will present new editions of out-of-print masterpieces and new translation of books that have never been published in English. The books will be of all sorts, from intimate memoirs to absurdist gags, from graphic novels to dizzying experiments. NYRC is coming out of the gate reprinting Mark Beyer's Agony, an impeccable first choice. This is very, very exciting. If you've never had a chance to before, Mark Beyer's delightfully mordant Agony, at Lithub now. ————————————————————————————————— http://sarahglidden.tumblr.com/post/141552146632/5-years-279-pages-rolling-blackouts-is-finally Rolling Black Outs Sarah Glidden shows how all her hard work piles up. You can get a look at Sarah's process on the book over on her site. Lots of behind the scenes looks at her thumbnails, watercolors and all around design. Rolling Blackouts details Glidden's two-month long journey through Turkey, Iraq, and Syria. Glidden accompanies her two friends—reporters and founders of the journalistic non-profit The Seattle Globalist—as they research stories on the Iraq War's effect on the Middle East and, specifically, the war's refugees. Joining them is a former Marine and childhood friend of one of the journalists whose deployment to Iraq in 2007 adds an unexpected and sometimes unwelcome viewpoint, both to the people they come across and perhaps even themselves. Rolling Black Outs will be published by Drawn and Quarterly this October. ————————————————————————————————— Denver Independent Comics Expo – DINK The inaugural DINK is this Weekend. Get the scoop on DIN over on their site. They've got a crazy amount of panels and workshops. Check out the smorgasbord and see what's up your alley. Share this page:Read More:02/06/201810/26/201809/25/201806/19/2018...
Sally IngrahamMarch 9, 2017NewsSally here with comics by Leslie Stein, Tyler Cohen, Anna Krzton, Posy Simmonds, and Martha Thomases, plus other interesting news and events to wrap up your week! ————————————————————————————————— I read Gemma Bovery this week, the comic Posy Simmonds based on Madam Bovery which originally ran as a weekly strip in The Guardian (concluding in 1999, leaving it's readers inconsolable, apparently.) Simmonds' way of combining text with comics is quite marvelous, and astonishingly well done. As a reviewer wrote back in 2000: "Simmonds has, in this sense, two kinds of blank paper staring at her every morning, and she should be honoured for filling them so perfectly, with such a combination of daring and what looks like effortlessness." – Nicholas Lezard for The Guardian The book is wildly entertaining, with wonderful pacing and characterizations – which comes from both Posy's drawing chops and her storytelling. Read the rest of Nicholas Lezard's excellent review HERE. I highly recommend this and Posy Simmonds' other graphic novel, Tamara Drewe (which was also serialized in The Guardian.) I went down a Posy Simmonds rabbit hole after finished Gemma Bovery, and resurfaced with this terrific piece of research and writing about the strip that started it all for her – The Silent Three – which was published weekly in The Guardian from 1977-87. The strip was collected but the collections haven't been reprinted, despite Posy's continuing popularity (both her graphic novels were turned into very well received films). It's nice then that on the blog Sunday Comics Debt there are scans of a dozen of Posy's strips, and the writer's thoughts on the development and content of the work. Good stuff – check it out HERE. His only real complaint is that at times the strips are SO British they can be mysterious to an American reader! Here's a recent interview with Posy Simmonds, now in her 70's and not slowing down a bit – she was a judge at this year's Angoulême festival, and is currently working on a new book. Here also is a peak into some of her sketchbooks. And there ends THAT rabbit hole for the moment! ————————————————————————————————— I've also been reading Dakota North Investigations this week. It was a short series from 1986 written by Martha Thomases and drawn by Tony Salmons. I've gotten a kick out of it – I always enjoy a smart, badass investigator who has rad style, and Martha Thomases script is pretty engaging. She mentions the series much later in her regular column on ComicMix: "Over the years, Dakota North has appeared in a few other comics, most recently in Daredevil. These takes are interesting, but they are not my story. No one has ever really understood what I was trying to do with the character. They see her as another tough broad action figure, and that's a part of her. I modeled her physically on a friend of mine, who had the height and the hair and the beauty to capture the attention of those in any room she entered. But Dakota's also a woman trying to win her father's approval while she pushes him away, that tug-of-war adult children have with their parents." Although 20 years passed between her script for Dakota North and the next time Martha wrote for comics, she kept busy with other writing and research. She still writes regularly about comics for ComicMix, and will go so far as to say "Everything I need to know, I learned from superhero comics." ————————————————————————————————— Just Indie Comics shares three short comics by Polish cartoonist Anna Krztoń. "These three stories depict only some of the many nuances of her cartooning, starting with the realism we find both in Constant Sorrow and Early Mornings, similar for mood and topic to First Weeks, a self-published mini-comic I briefly reviewed in this Misunderstanding Comics episode (only in Italian, sorry). Room of My Own is instead a different work, less narrative and more impressionistic, an example of a dreamy mood, abstract and naive, that is an essential feature of Krztoń's comics." – Gabriele Di Fazio Check out the comics HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Leslie Stein returns to VICE with 1994 – wherein she "falls in and out of love with Green Day, and goes to a barbershop quartet convention." The first part is above, the rest is HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Tyler Cohen's comic Evident Truths is on MUTHA Magazine – it was originally published as part of PEN Illustrated's State of Emergency feature: #ArtistsResist. Read the whole thing HERE. ————————————————————————————————— High Tide Line Check out this cool event on Monday if you're anywhere near The Strand Bookstore in NYC – I'm Drawn This Way: Cartoonists on Cartooning – details HERE. It's the launch of Pénélope Bagieu's new book, and a discussion with panelists Natalie Andrewson, Katie Skelly, Julia Gfrörer, and Whit Taylor, moderated by Meg Lemke of the Brooklyn Book Festival, PEN America, and MUTHA Magazine. The Comics Journal just published an interview with Sophie Yanow, who is a very busy lady these days – maintaining her status as one of the best non-fiction comics makers while also teaching and doing translation work – more HERE. Disa Wallander has a comics shop, full of her Sparkle zines and plenty of sarcasm – HERE. The Chicago Reader has a nice feature about Trina Robbins and her past and future work – read it HERE. She says the East Village Other strip Gentle's Tripout created by "Panzika" was her inspiration for making her own comics – after she made the startling discovery that this favorite strip was actually drawn by a woman (underground cartoonist Nancy Burton)! Since we're on the topic now, here's an interview from last year with Nancy Burton on The Comics Journal. Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers alum Mary Shyne has a comic on The Nib – Trumpian Timekeeping. "ISIS, weirdly, has not been defeated yet." Rob Clough wrote about Cathy Johnson's Gorgeous recently – review HERE. ————————————————————————————————— We are diving into a busy 2nd year of the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency. Gabriella Tito is here this week, already our 4th resident of 2017, and we are starting a wait list for the summer months. It's amazing and exciting to have these aspiring and professional cartoonists alike come to work on comics in Pittsburgh, plugging into our vibrant local scene, and infusing it with fresh energy. Interested in joining us for a week or more? Email santoroschool@gmail.com to learn how to apply. There are still openings in April and May, with that wait list available for the summer months. After a break for show season we will be picking up scheduling once again in late October. 500 bux for a week and a life-changing experience. Read some of our Residency Reports HERE. Email santoroschool@gmail.com for more info. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 3-10-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 3-10-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 3-10-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 3-10-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page:Read More:MoCCA Arts Festival 201802/27/201804/06/201803/02/2018...
Juan FernándezApril 11, 2016NewsJuan Fernandez here with some comics news, hot and fresh out the oven for you: Laura Knetzger at ECCC, Assistant AI character design, Black Panther sells out, Mary Mack Tremonte on Paper Cuts, Connor Stechshulte reviewed, and Jim Rugg with a kick in the face. ————————————————————————————————— Laura Knetzger at ECCC Ooh boy, this is cool. Laura Knetzger's gotta drawn diary of her time at Emerald City Comic Con, the show that seemed to go on forever… Laura goes with dad, eats some gyros, buys some manga! Check her comic out here. You might not be interested in Comic Con culture, but Laura's loose unencumbered drawings are not to be missed. If you've been struggling with your own diary comics or simply documentary drawing and sequencing and feel that you're overworking the form, check this comic out. No grand gestures, it just breathes life. Cool stuff. If you dig this, check out the first volume of her comic, Bug Boys. ————————————————————————————————— Character Design While some of you are busy working out the background story for your suite of characters for your latest story, somebody in Silicon Valley's creating a fictional narrative for the AI that's going to go on your phone's time management app. What a time to be alive… The surge of investor interest in virtual assistants that can converse has been fueled in part by the popularity of messaging apps, such as WeChat, WhatsApp, and Facebook's Messenger, which are among the most widely downloaded smartphone applications. Investors see that users are increasingly drawn to conversational platforms, and hope to build additional features into them. Who knows, if you've got some tight chops for dialogue, there might just be some good money in Silicon Valley for you. Read more about it all over on the Washington Post. This all horrifies me, but hey, to each their own. ————————————————————————————————— Black Panther Sales are Nuts Ta-Nehisi and Brian Stelfreeze's Black Panther is selling like gangbusters. They sold out of their first 300,000 copy print run and have gone on to a second of this first issue. This is a big deal. Good on them. Over on the Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates has written a nice in depth look at his collaboration with Brian Stellfreeze on making Black Panther a reality: Ideally, the writer offers notes in his script on how the comic book should look. This requires thinking with intention about what a character is actually doing, not merely what he is saying. This is harder than it sounds, and often I found myself vaguely gesturing at what should happen in a panel—"T'Challa looks concerned." Or "Ramonda stands to object." I was lucky in that I was paired with a wonderful and experienced artist, Brian Stelfreeze. Storytelling in a comic book is a partnership between the writer and the artist, as surely as a film is a partnership between the screenwriter and the director. Read it all on The Atlantic. ————————————————————————————————— Zines on the Radio There's some fresh new installments of Paper Cuts! Paper Cuts is an exploration of the contemporary world of zines and DIY publishing hosted by Christopher Kardambikis. It airs on Clock Tower Radio. Each program features writers, performers, and artists who have shared their work in print, on paper and in small editions. The series acts as a cross section of this varied landscape and rich history. Here's a chance for you to listen to the voices that would normally live in your hands and demand your eyeballs! Mary Mack Tremonte and Darin Klein #BLKGRLSWURLD Primal Screams Zine Fest 2016 ————————————————————————————————— Phoenix Comics Salon Announced First ever Phoenix Comics Club meetup, their Salon, is happening May 5th at the Central Library in Phoenix. If you're in the area, be sure to go out and meet other comics makers and cartoonists. You get to decide how this thing grows. For makers, by makers. Seems like for this first meeting the focus will be on figuring out what exactly Phoenix wants/needs out of a meetup like this. Learn more about it here. ————————————————————————————————— Generous Bosom 1-2 Reviewed Gabriele Di Fazio takes a good look at Connor Stechschulte's recent work for Breakdown Press in Generous Bosom #1 & #2 over on the Italian comics review blog Just Indie Comics. Hit that google translate button for the inside scoop. Read it the review. ————————————————————————————————— Get Drunk Off of Visual Literacy Kevin Huizenga turned us on to this one. A LYRICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF VISUAL PROPOSITIONS- RUGGED DESIGN IN OPPOSITION TO ELEGANCE – IT'S BIGGER THAN YOU COULD EVER THINK- JUST EXPLORE – NO CLUES FROM ME. Dive into Dr. Chris Mullen's labrynth and see what you find! The website of The Visual Telling of Stories aspires to being a Visual Lexicon, dedicated to the primacy of the Visual Proposition. Above all it tries to create an overall consistency of structure and environment, as if it was all taking place in one characteristic landscape through which you are allowed to wander. The main delight and challenge is the invention of non-linear means of navigation through spaces of knowledge with a created balance of reference and discovery. Dr Chris Mullen ————————————————————————————————— A Kick in the Face Here's some cool news from Bill at Copacetic Comics. The Street Angel Gang by Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca has arrived! Welcome the week with a bracing onslaught of all-out Street Angel™ action! This is the latest in the small batch preview editions signed and numbered by Jim Rugg. A tough gang holds an open call for new members; has the Orphan Avenger finally found a family? A mere 300 copies of this sucker exist. File under: You snooze, you lose.HERE. The Street Angel Gang "Rough Edition" This features the complete issue in pencil rough form. See Rugg's work up close and personal. HERE. The Street Angel Gang Script Facsimile A facsimile edition of the complete original full script, complete with ammendations, notes, changes, spot illos and initial thumbnail breakdowns. See how a Street Angel comic book is born. HERE. or, get all three together for a special price: The Street Angel Gang PROCESS PACK Here it is: an all-in-one look at the Street Angel Production Process™ (pat. pend.). This pack contains: the facsimile of the original script with thumbnail breakdowns; the "Rough Edition" of the full pencil roughs; and a copy of the signed and numbered small batch edition. Supplies are limited! HERE. Soon to be a collectors item,you better pick up a copy at Copacetic Comics. ————————————————————————————————— That's it for now. Got some Latin American comics news on Wednesday. Here's a slew of Chicha from Peru for you to move through your day and to keep you company until then. This album rules. Support Barbés Records if you can dig it. Share this page:Read More:The Alabaster Pizzo…On Reselling ComicsComics Workbook…09/12/2018...
Juan FernándezApril 19, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con fanzine alacarta!; Chicks On Comicks; Berliac; Albert Monteys; Liniers; Pablo Selin; Mariana, a miserável; y los tebeos de Comics Workbook. ————————————————————————————————— Dibujos en femenino plural – El PAÍS os ofrece una toma sobre el mundo del cómic dibujado por mujeres. Más que nada, el enfásis es en la pluralidad de perspectivas. Las protagonistas de autoras como Gina Wybrandt, Flavita Banana, Raquel Riba, Monstruo Espagueti, Meritxell Bosch, Hardcore maternity… no son las mujeres hipersexualizadas de algunos cómics. Tienen vello, sus curvas son imperfectas, andan semidesnudas por su casa, tienen la regla y la sangre mancha (que parece que es un tabú), practican sexo o no lo practican y se quejan por ello… "Reflejo la normalidad", dice Flavita Banana, que, como las demás, se inspira mirando alrededor. Todas tienen un toque desenfadado, irónico. Cada una en su línea pero con el humor muy presente y, a veces, con un punto de mala leche, de hacer que lo que cuentan sea una sacudida, que levante algunas ampollas. A pesar de que hay algunos temas como el de la bulimia que se trata en Yo, gorda, o el cáncer de mama, del que habla Jennifer Hayden en La historia de mis tetas (Reservoir Books), que son más femeninos porque por suerte para los hombres ellos sufren en un porcentaje mínimo estas enfermedades, cualquiera se puede sentir identificado con, por ejemplo, Lola Vendetta y la idea de hacer rodar cabezas (metafóricamente) cuando algo resulta desesperante. Y de esta empatía, al éxito. ————————————————————————————————— Inmersate en el mundo Ernesto Franco, el dibujante colombiana que creó 'Copetín', la tira cómica que esta semana cumple 55 años, con este tronco de perfil en EL TIEMPO. Una mañana de abril de 1962, un artista sin dinero y sin trabajo decidió probar suerte llevando unos dibujos al tradicional edificio de EL TIEMPO, en la avenida Jiménez con carrera 7.ª. Había cumplido 33 años y cargaba a cuestas varias quiebras económicas. Pero tenía una idea. Y esa idea cambió la vida del artista: Ernesto Franco. ————————————————————————————————— Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: fanzine alacarta! La segunda seccion de la nueva edicion de Panorama Federal sección esta dedicada a las historietas en una publicación muy especial realizada por 151 artistas, bajo la coordinación del colectivo Chicks On Comicks. "Arte" es el título de el fanzine gratuito que se distribuyó en la muestra que se realizó en la Fundación Proa. Dale un vistazo! Berliac's got some new comics on Vice – Asian Food Store Junkies – S01 E06 The fracas gets international… The Funny Pages, un extra de Orgullo y Satisfacción La historia de los cómics está trufada de maravillas olvidadas que pasaron desapercibidas en todo tipo de revistas y catálogos. Durante décadas, Albert Monteys ha estado recopilando y clasificando meticulosamente estos residuos de narrativa gráfica olvidados por el tiempo que ahora se presentan Audioentrevista con ilustrador Liniers – es Pura Mestiza nº3. Pablo Selin nos trae una hola de cómics nuevos en su sitio! Dale a los que se mueven! Perfil de fanzinera, Mariana, a miserável en la Revista Cactus – Con un estilo fresco y desenfadado, la artista portuguesa Mariana, a miserável muestra las escenas cotidianas de la vida a través de unas ilustraciones con regusto agridulce. Un golpe de realidad al dia. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 4-19-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-19-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-19-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page:Read More:06/13/201805/16/201803/07/201804/18/2018...
Caleb OrecchioJune 25, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #3, featuring the art of Gray Morrow, and other news! ——————————————————————————— I was delighted to pull this issue out of the Comics Workbook vault. It's an all Gray Morrow issue of Chilling Adventures in Sorcery published by Archie Comics' imprint, Red Circle. I enjoy Morrow's comics immensely. I just look at the pictures. Morrow's gift (other than his virtuosic drawing ability) is his knack for making interesting pages. Comics like Orion (for Heavy Metal) and Edge of Chaos (a limited series for Pacific Comics) feel much more from Morrow's head if you will. Imagined. They're great. In contrast, comics like the one featured here today, feel more stitched together to me. More collage-y. In a good way. Usually I detest any whiff of photo-reference in comics, but Morrow makes it work. Occasionally the sequencing is a little wonky and the referenced images juxtaposed with the imagined images can be jarring, but overall the pages are pleasing to the eye. There is a dynamism to his work that makes up for a lot. Simply, Morrow's comics are always interesting. He seemed to have a real desire to "wow" the reader. Every page is crammed with interesting imagery. And those colors! Morrow was one of those cartoonists who seemed to think in color as he made the comic, as opposed to most who only use color as an afterthought. Have you ever seen Orion in those old Heavy Metals? Those are hand painted. Is it just me, or is there a swagger to his work? Like, I can imagine him at the drawing board and drinking a glass of Dewar's and laughing to himself, knowing how impressed I'd be in however many years I'd be born to see the work. ——————————————————————————— Thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers Summer Session starts NOW! Floating start date! Apply anytime between now and July 12th 2018 to join the summer course. Email santoroschoolATgmail for more details. Ask about the Fall Course if now is too busy for you! The course is 8 weeks – 500 bux for 8 weeks plus access to Frank's coaching for as long as you need. Payment plans are available. Put your summer to good use! ——————————————————————————— if you don't know, now you know There's a new book of CF drawings and you can get one What Things Do Laura Lannes is the latest guest on TCJ's Comic Book Decalogue Rob Clough reviews Young Frances by Hartley Lin (Ethan Rilly) Also on TCJ.com, a review by Matt Seneca and a look at Fantom Comics in Washington D.C. ——————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-25-2018 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page:Read More:San Diego Comic-Con…02/13/201806/14/201803/23/2018...
Sally IngrahamJanuary 4, 2017NewsFrom Sam and Sally, the CW Daily News featuring comics from Ronald Wimberly, Derick Jones, and John Campbell, an interview from Adam Griffiths, and daily strips from Caleb Orecchio and Gabriella Tito. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here. I think I was reading this comic (above) because I dug up a memory in my mind that Tom Herpich was into this one comic. (At the time I wasn't sure if I had made up the memory in my head.) So then I was reading this comic, the Michael Keaton comic. As it turns out, it has a longer history than I thought. (Editor's note: the Comics Alliance has a bit of the story and more comics documented HERE.) For one thing, I thought it was all gone, but apparently the comic was put up on the Birdman movie website for awhile. However, aspects of this whole thing don't make sense because when the webpage is visited, all you get is a cease and desist, and the comic was made before the movie's release and advertising. When Birdman came out, I was really thinking about the comic. I never thought that there was a connection at all between the two. I never thought "ONO ONE" (John Campbell) would never post his stuff on the internet again. "ONO ONE IS A VIDEO EDITOR LIVING IN SAN FRANCISCO WITH THEIR WIFE. THEY LIKE TO BE LEFT ALONE. THEY DO NOT HAVE AN EMAIL ADDRESS." (This description of the author of the Michael Keaton comics changes every time you load the page.) I never read it when it was still online, really. I tried, but there were just pages and pages of Michael Keaton sitting in an airplane, and I couldn't make sense of what was going on. I guess I wasn't interested. I was still reading the other comic "ONO ONE" made. (Editor's Note: The infamous Pictures For Sad Children by John Campbell.) I was able to read up until a certain point. I'm guessing that's when the webcomic stopped, which is such a shame. Such, such a shame. Michael Keaton is a really ambitious and really impressive webcomic. I'm pretty sure that John Campell traveled here to Pittsburgh to go through the Mister Rogers archive to find footage of when Michael Keaton was working for WQED (Pittsburgh's local public channel). Mister Rogers is like this weird spooky cryptic character in the comic, and I'm not quite sure how much of it was based on real stories, and how much was just made up. The comic simultaneously paints Mr. Rogers as a really caring person, but also a bit of a frightening herald of tormenting news that you fear to hear. He has more mysterious perceptions and maybe goals within the illustrations than he was giving on the show. There's one scene in the comic where he magically appears at Michael Keaton's going away party with a piano that wasn't there before (see above) and he plays a song about how there's "an infinite amount of places to see and if you don't like where you're looking at then don't look at me." It's suggested that maybe Michael Keaton has conflicting opinions about Mr. Rodgers being at the party, but it just seems to be part of their relationship. It's just this friendly dynamic they have. I think maybe there's one scene where ONO ONE just portrays their relationship to make Mr. Rodgers seem a bit more menacing for laughs sake. The comic focuses at first on how Michael Keaton isn't his real name, and how it's Douglas. Then the comic goes on to maybe portray the power behind names and their associations and how easily manipulated they can be – it kind of asks what makes up- (asks is the wrong word here because ONO ONE has arrived at his conclusion and it feels like he's insisting on there being no such thing as) -an individual? There's footage of Mr. Rodgers looking at the fish tank that he fed in his show, and he said something simple: "Each of you are fish, yet you are each different." That's about the only counter argument. There's other footage of Mr. Rogers singing through King Friday about how life is an illusion. It's further affirmed by Michael Keaton's character in the comic. ONO ONE keeps spelling Pittsburg without an "h". ONO ONE doesn't capitalize the "i's" either. I think maybe it's all part of ONO ONE's idea of irreverence for names, maybe – it makes me think that every time ONO ONE has a lowercase "i". ONO ONE doesn't believe in emphasizing the individual. Ironically, ONO ONE takes great pride in identifying this way, or so it seems. I could be wrong, though, maybe his ultimate goal is based around humility (to my knowledge, I have no idea). A lot of times I don't get the point of "Meta"-whatever. I guess at this moment in time it's purpose is made clear to me. It can be a more micro look at an individual's dream. It can just be looking at ONO ONE and how ONO ONE plans to affect people and how people have affected him to do a comic like this, and which is somewhere between the fictional rendering of Michael Keaton and his real moments. My understanding of Birdman is that it's more about Alejandro González Iñárritu, and Michael Keaton is just being used as a tool. Of course my arrival to that conclusion is also pretty rushed and I've taken a lot of liberty in saying all this. I'd like to say that ONO ONE is doing the same thing here with Michael Keaton and Mr. Rodgers. Though this is very obvious, so I guess there's no point trying to decipher what was real and what wasn't. At least with this it works since it isn't a biography. Even if it was, it would still be just as manipulated by what the author of the biography is trying to make you think. – Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— Sally Ingraham here. We have a few more items for your Thursday morning Comics Workbook news: There is an excellent review of Ronald Wimberly's Prince of Cats over on Hyperallergic – "Density is difficult to achieve in comics, which generally read much faster than literary works. In mainstream comics, some writers pad their stories with paragraphs of irrelevant dialogue in order to extend the reading experience. Wimberly's work confidently transitions between meaningful conversation and pages of hushed action, yet despite not being particularly dialogue-heavy, it reads as one of the densest works in recent memory. Every page and whip-fast line of banter is worth revisiting, in part because repeated readings make it possible to reconstruct the complete progression of Tybalt's rise and fall." – R. Orion Martin for Hyperalleric Read the whole review HERE. Patrick A. Reed's 2013 review of the original release of Prince of Cats is referenced, so we'll link to that as well – check it out. ————————————————————————————————— Check out Tribal Quest, a new comic with artwork by Derick Jones (formerly known as Skuds McKinley) – along with Derick's new website – HERE. Also also – check out his ongoing webcomic series Dead Days in Kowloon – HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Adam Griffiths brings us another excellent 'Zine Tree interview, this time with Will Dinski – check it out HERE. "Adam Griffiths: TRYING NOT TO NOTICE is a story piecing together four points of view – that of a failed comedian, an aspiring comedian and his wife, and that comedian's co-worker accountant friend. A sort of morality tale plays itself out where you expose the most morally rewarding character's artificiality. Did the other characters enable him? Will Dinski: My perspective is that each of the characters is avoiding or ignoring something about their lives. However, you can't see that part through their eyes alone. You need to get a glimpse of them through someone else." ————————————————————————————————— From the Comics Workbook school store, check out my favorite comic by Frank Santoro – Blast Furnace Funnies (above). Made for the Pittsburgh Biennial at the Carnegie Museum in 2011, copies of the comic were stacked in the gallery corner free for the taking, while the original pages hung on the wall. Folks were somewhat staggered by this concept. This comic captures Pittsburgh in a way that nothing else can – take a walk with Frank through a different sort of Pompeii. Get a copy HERE and support the Rowhouse Residency project and the Comics Workbook team. ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-5-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-5-2017 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page:Read More:08/10/201806/28/201802/15/201801/22/2018...
Sally IngrahamFebruary 8, 2018NewsSally here with Caitlin McGurk talking Edwina Dumm, the Apple Mary/Mary Worth comic strip story, and Six Chix! ————————————————————————————————— Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum Associate Curator Caitlin McGurk was a guest on Episode 4 of the Library of American Comics & EuroComics Podcast, with Dean Mullaney and Kurtis Findlay. She talked about the upcoming American Comics Essentials Vol. 11, which collects Edwina Dumm's "Tippie" comic strip from 1945. Listen to the podcast HERE. Check out the Edwina Dumm LOAC Essentials book HERE – it will be coming out soon, and features an introduction by Caitlin McGurk. I am a huge fan of Edwina Dumm and am personally so excited for this collection! ————————————————————————————————— I like to root around in the archives of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, both in person and online. I was systematically going through the list of creators the other day, looking for WOMEN, and I came across June Brigman. I remembered that she was the last artist who worked on the comic Brenda Starr, Reporter (a long-running strip that has a fantastic, complete history of female creators – but that's a tale for another day!) I looked into what she is currently working on, and noted that she is the artist behind the strip Mary Worth (syndicated by King Features). Mary Worth is an interesting comic strip. It's been around since 1938 or so, making it one of the longest running "continuity" strips ever. It's like a soap opera, with loads of characters and swirling plot lines, but it is centered on Mary – a 60-something widow and former teacher. Currently written by Karen Moy and drawn since 2016 by Brigman, it touches on all sorts of social issues and features classic cliff-hanger endings. You can read it HERE. Mary Worth was created by writer Allen Saunders and artist Dale Connor in 1938, but it has an interesting and somewhat debated connection to an earlier strip called Apple Mary. Martha Orr (the niece of Carey Orr, a cartoonist with the Chicago Tribune) started Apple Mary in 1934. It was about an old woman named Mary, who sold apples out of a pushcart, and tended to her crippled grandson Dennie. (You can see an example of the strip at the top of this section.) The strip was successful, but Martha had to quit making it after about 4 years, in favor of raising her own family. This is when Mary Worth appeared, but whether it was made to fill the popular hole that Apple Mary had left, maintaining some of the same tone and subjects, or whether it was the true evolution of Apple Mary, is up for continuing debate. Don Markstein notes on his Toonopida page for Apple Mary that "Whatever the case may be, as the Great Depression lifted, Apple Mary was left behind. There is little to be seen of her in the Mary Worth of today." Here's another Apple Mary strip by Martha Orr, one that does feature her being called Mary Worth by name. I like the idea of this character existing for 84 years, bookended by female creators. Next time I'm at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum I'll have to take a look at the one original Apple Mary strip by Martha Orr that they house in the archive! See it online HERE. ————————————————————————————————— I recently discovered a really unique comic strip called Six Chix. It's a daily strip syndicated by King Features and created by six women cartoonists – they each have their assigned day, and then they rotate for the Sunday strip. "Isabella Bannerman draws Mondays; Martha Gradisher draws Tuesdays; Susan Camilleri Konar draws Wednesdays; Mary Lawton draws Thursdays; Benita Epstein draws Fridays; and Stephanie Piro draws Saturdays. Each cartoonist writes and draws with her own style and perspective. In any given week, you might find gags about the economy, technology, zombies, pirates or health care — and the main characters will be female and funny." The strip began in 2000 and was the idea of Jay Kennedy, the editor-in-chief at King Features at the time. You can read it online at the Six Chix website and learn more about the cartoonists HERE. ————————————————————————————————— 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 – 2-9-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page:Read More:05/15/201810/18/2018San Diego Comic-Con…Comic Arts Brooklyn 2017...
Aaron CockleJanuary 16, 2017NewsAaron here today with Drawing Center events; RESIST!; Cosplayers; 'Unquotables'; Notes on Zip-a-Tone. ————————————————————————————————— This week at The Drawing Center, work by Mateo López, Jackson Mac Low, and Amy Sillman. Opening January 20, 2017. Sillman will be presenting her animated drawing, After Metamorphoses. She talks about it here: But we don't care about "the grid"—we are committed to something different: something scrappy but complex, earnest but smart, ironic but not cynical—a strange FORM! We're not in it for the money and WE'RE NOT MONEY. We're not coins of the realm, easily identified by our denominations; we're definitely not thin paper currency meant to slip inside a wallet. We don't make sense. We have rough edges and contradictions. What the fuck is "thing theory" anyway—we're like things that talk back. Where is emancipation located? Should we split our time between art and politics? Is art enough? Is it possible that our work, our love, our beliefs, our symbolic gestures, our senses of humor, can amount to any meaningful resistance? Does resistance come in different lengths; a long game and a short game? Does everyone have to do it the same way? We haven't figured it out but we love art that offers change above all: insistent, unremitting change that won't resolve into finality or finesse. We don't know quite what to do but the qualities that mean something have shifted: knowingness is out, a goddamn "good" painting seems irrelevant, smug… we don't need someone to tells us which painting is "better." Fuck that. Image above from Mateo López: Undo List. ————————————————————————————————— 'So, it is using old fashioned like printing presses and trucks and you know, just sheer physical get together that will make little cells out in the open and we publish a link so that people can sign up for those local distributions.' Betsy Gomez at the CBLDF talks to Francoise Mouly and Nadja Spiegelman about the forthcoming release of the Resist! anthology comic on Saturday, January 21: Resist! revives the tradition of using comics for protest. What precedents inspired you in developing this project? FM: Well, the first thing was being asked by Gabe Fowler to guest edit a special issue of Smoke Signal, which is a tabloid printed on newsprint that he wanted to release at the time of the inauguration and the women's march. When he got in touch with me specifically, like "I want a woman guest editor," and because he asked right after the election and that was my feeling as well — since we'd just been robbed of our first woman president, there was a sense shared by so many — Gabe's request seemed natural at the time… My friends were saying, "I'm going to Washington." We didn't know where or what. I mean, we knew it was the day after the inauguration, but there was some sense of wanting women's voices heard. NS: About historical precedent, and I think Francoise can talk very eloquently about historical precedents in France like L'Assiette au Beurre and Charlie Hebdo. One of the things is: there is a long historical precedent for political protest. But one thing that there isn't, is enough contemporary parallels and enough space in American culture right now for political images as an act of resistance… We're hoping to create more of that space. ————————————————————————————————— Over at Calm Undertones Now Transmitting, an in-depth look at Dash Shaw's A Cosplayers Christmas: Shaw's conception of cosplay shows how the exploitation of individuals that has been opened up by the postmodern ethos can be circumvented by those with the confidence to make their own meaning (even naïveté within certain bounds is enough) against the will of the myriad influences directed at them (e.g. marketing, social norms, political processes etc.). In A Cosplayers Christmas, the obliviousness of Annie and Verti to considerations of the monetary value of the gifts they exchange is endearing and humorous but it also points to the way that cosplay, by allowing its participants to claim partial ownership of the fictions they enmesh themselves in, serves to subvert the traditional paradigm of the separation between cultural producer and cultural consumer that has allowed space for capitalist interests to take hold. Annie and Verti have no interest in purchasing merchandise based on the properties that hold their interest, instead they would prefer to create their own related objects that they can attach personal meaning to. ————————————————————————————————— R. Sikoryak will be signing his newest work, The Unquotable Trump, this Friday, January 20, 6-8pm at Jim Hanley's Universe, 32 East 32nd Street, NYC. Parodies of comic book covers with actual Trump quotes from the 2016 presidential campaign. The mini comic edition also features a Public Service Announcement comic strip and extensive footnotes. ————————————————————————————————— Could this piece have been done on the computer?…Could this piece exist without the fields of tone? Back in 2009, Alex Holden was thinking about Zip-a-Tone in comics: Zip A Tone has been on my mind because I recently received "Two Eyes Of The Beautiful" from Ryan Cecil Smith, who is currently living in Japan. Some equivalent of Zip A Tone (in virtually unlimited variety) is still widely available in Japan, despite the advent of the computer. "Two Eyes of the Beautiful" is all about Zip A Tone, from simple dot patterns, to trees and foliage……even buildings. Indeed, it is pretty easy to recreate the same effects of the adhesive sheets in Photoshop. Kevin Huizenga frequently employs this technique. Whenever Zip A Tone is mentioned, I can't help but think of Matt Wagner's "Heist", printed in BATMAN BLACK & WHITE #3. Could this piece have been done on the computer? I suppose so. Could this piece exist without the fields of tone? Absolutely not. ————————————————————————————————— Pompeii by yours truly Frank Santoro – get a copy HERE. "The book itself is about drawing, really. It's also about two artists who draw in order to see the world around them. So, the book itself IS drawing—and at the end it breaks down the barrier between what's "real" and what is "drawn". That's what is great about the medium—that I can use drawing to illustrate that breakdown. There are a lot of visual rhymes in the book—where the "reality" is mirrored by a painting or a drawing. I'm trying to get to the core of visual storytelling by amplifying the process of drawing and making that the subject of the story as much as the interaction of the characters." – Frank Santoro in an interview with Publishers Weekly ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-17-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-17-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— 1-17-2017 – by Juan Fernández Share this page:Read More:04/03/201804/24/201803/20/201804/10/2018...
Juan FernándezJune 14, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con Alexis Ziritt, Fabian Rangel Jr.; Power Paola; La Polola;Vincente Jose Cociña; Tenderete Fest 14; Casa Ajena; Begoña García-Alén; Sol Díaz; y los tebeos de Comics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— To celebrate the arrival of Alexis Ziritt and Fabian Rangel Jr.'s, return to North American bookshelves with the hardcover graphic novel, Tarantula. Vault of Midnight Detroit hit up Alexis with some questions about Tarantula: Vault of Midnight: What can you tell us about Tarantula and the inspirations for its concept? Alexis Ziritt: Tarantula is our love letter to pulp comics. Around 2006 I found some Argentian fotonovelas (a form of sequential storytelling that uses photographs) online. These were based on strong female characters fighting crime and dressing up like super heroes, but also I am a big fan of pulp and golden age comics and was able to find a bunch of comics from the 40's with super heroines. VoM: Your art has a very retro vibe to it and seems inspired by more than just other artists, but also movies, music, and pop culture in general. Who and what are some of the biggest influences on your style? AZ: Sam Hiti, Jordi Bernet, Go Nagai, Steranko, Blade Runner, Forbidden World, Galaxy of Terror, Star Crash, Tokyo Drifter, Spaghetti Westerns, Fantomas, Judex, Doom Metal, Synth Wave, Goblin, Zombi… Read it all HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Power Paola: In-Situ en Correos Cuando alguien me quiere mandar algo por correo a Argentina sufro, porque hay que perder un día de tu vida haciendo el trámite, además te cobran por recibirlo. Así que la última vez que fui decidí hacer un cómic in-situ para que cuando a alguien me pida mi dirección para enviarme un regalito acá le pueda explicar por qué no. – Power Paola Léanlo todo de este cómic AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con el gran dibujante Vincente Jose Cociña acerca de su camino creativo, de su relación con la poesía, sus libros y proyectos de dibujo en diferentes áreas y mucho más. Este fin de semana Valencia celebra Tenderete Fest 14, el festival de autoedición gráfica y sonora por excelencia de Valencia. Participan una tonelada de artistas que son de todos lados del mundo Colombia y Alemania… Prepárate. Plop! Galéria ha compartido un trozito de la exposición Casa Ajena, de Mathias Sielfeld, Nico González, Matías Prado y Pablo Luebert. Denle un vistazo. Breixo Harguindey de 13 Millones de Naves reseña Nuevas Estructuras firmado por Begoña García-Alén, "uno de los cómics más revolucionarios del año". Denle un vistazo a SPACE RIDERS: GALAXY OF BRUTALITY #2 en este preview! Fabian Rangel Jr. y Alexis Ziritt lógran algo maravilloso con esta edicion. Pueden ver la entretenida entrevista que Carlos Reyes le hizo a Sol Díaz en un nuevo VIÑETAS DEL FIN DEL MUNDO. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 6-14-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-14-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-14-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page:Read More:02/28/201801/31/201802/21/201805/16/2018...
Juan FernándezMay 29, 2018NewsJuan here covering for Aaron, who's been traveling far and wide. I've got a juicy preview Frank Santoro's Pittsburgh, thoughts by Spike Trotman, David Brothers and Ron Wimberly talking radical application of black aesthetic and Michael Deforge comics. Fun for the whole family. ————————————————————— You can read a preview of Frank Santoro's newest book, Pittsburgh over on Éditions çà et là.'s website. You'll want to brush up on your french, because it's not yet in English! It's gorgeous, painful and well worth a look. And here is a great review which was in Libération, (a nationwide daily newspaper), slam that google translate button, me hearties. You can read it HERE. Pittsburgh's splendid graphical instability helps to create a space of evanescent memory, as if it were dangerous to remember too much, that to try to materialize things would lose their souls. Barely sketched, the details of a bus ride escape us but not the enveloping heat of the sun that taps on the skin through the windows in the early morning. Condemned to wander between California where he lives and Pennsylvania, which recalls him all the time, Santoro ends up looking like a ghost come to haunt his family while rehearsing the past. The territory he travels also has something unreal, since instead of Pittsburgh, he surveys its peripheries. Perrons, hardware, living-room: a space that only the family seems to frequent. Places that change over time, replaced by a no man's land of bridges, roads and deserted railways. "Pittsburgh is like Pompeii, a ruin of what it was,"wrote Santoro in a previous book. ————————————————————— In case you missed the talk this year at TCAF, Ronald Wimberly and David Brothers jammed out on radical application of black aesthetic at TCAF 2018. Sit back, tune in and take notes! David Brothers asks Ronald Wimberly questions about his thoughts on how the black body is depicted in pop culture. Ronald reads from his LAAP magazine in regards to that issue and other images he created in it. Why the depictions of the black body was bad and what their purpose was. They spoke briefly about the Cotton Club, the production of Cotton and it's impact on Europe. There was just discussion on Jay Z's The Story of OJ and the Sambo character. Other topics touched on was Anime and appropriation, seeing stereotypes as kids and changing it for modern audience (eg the Mammy character from Tom & Jerry cartoons), black women vs black men depictions, blaxpoitation done by white creators, the 1975 Coonskin animated movie, Donald Glover's / Childish Gambino's This is America video, the White Gaze & David Chappel and Monsters & black bodies. Listen HERE. ————————————————————— Spike Trotman offers up "unpopular creative opinions" on twitter. Unpopular, honest and useful. Some gems: – What is happening in the superhero book scene, unless you explicitly want to be part of it, literally doesn't matter and should occupy zero percent of your thoughts. – If you want to make comics, read something other than comics. – If your publisher doesn't do promo, doesn't at least attempt to get you nominations and reviews, and doesn't grant your work access to wider dissemination than you could manage by yourself, you have no reason to be using them. Read on! ————————————————————— The Comics Journal posted an excerpt of Michael Deforge's A Western World you can read HERE. Soak it up. ————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 5-29-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page:Read More:02/27/201804/06/201802/13/2018San Diego Comic-Con…...