FLOG! Entries tagged 'Paul Karasik'

Daily OCD 10/8/12

TheJenVaughn

The weekend's newest Online Commentaries & Diversions:

• Plug: The best footnote IN THE WORLD? appeared on Grantland's excerpt of Marvel Comics: The Untold Story written by Sean Howe. It refers to Marvel's idea of hiring Gary Groth. . . Look for footnote 7.

•Review: Johnny Ryan's Prison Pit: Book 4 is reviewed on Nick Gazin's Comic Book Love in #73 and Mr. Ryan himself is interviewed. . . via text. "There's no point in trying to explain Prison Pit. You can only experience it to understand it. Start buy buying all of them at once if you haven't yet. . . It wears its intentional stupidness and violence on its sleeve while also showing off Johnny Ryan's sophisticated sense of composition and black and white ink prettiness."

• Review: Comics Bulletin likes Rich Tommaso's The Cavalier Mr. Thompson. Nick Hanover says, "Tommaso's distinctly minimalist, animation-influenced style adds another seemingly disparate element that actually serves to enliven the material all the more, finding some sweet spot between the Coen Brothers and Popeye." • Plug: Comics Alliance lists their favorite covers of the month and include Rich Tommaso's The Cavalier Mr. Thompson. Andrew Wheeler says,"I'm drawn to the graphic simplicity of this cover. It plays with scale, line and color in creative ways, and the composition pulls it all together."

• Plug: The Dollar Bin podcast mentions dear friend Rich Tommaso and The Cavalier Mr. Thompson at the beginning of the show.

• Review: Rick Klaw at RevolutionSF flips through Dungeon Quest 3 by Joe Daly ". . .rousing adventure and ass-kicking action — all staged in front of fantastic backdrops replete with strange vegetation, ancient ruins and steampunk imagery."

• Commentary: The Beat reports on an SPX panel with Daniel Clowes and his editors, Alvin Beaunaventura and Ken Parille, for The Daniel Clowes Reader. Hannah Means-Shannon states,"Clowes, who appeared energetic and amused by such a large crowd commented that working on the retrospective book with Buenaventura was a welcome thing because he’s 'lonely and working all the time'so it was 'fun to have someone to hang out with'. . . Little details provided by Buenaventura and Clowes about the research process set the scene for comedy, including Buenaventura rifling through Clowes’ closets constantly and 'measuring his art' while Clowes wondered what dirty laundry the writer might dig up that he had forgotten about."

• Review: The School Library Journal is nuts (or ducks?) for Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge: Only a Poor, Old Man by Carl Barks. Peter Gutierrez says, "The brilliant storytelling, easy-to-read lettering, and compelling themes hidden just under the breezy exteriors are just a few of the reasons why I wish every classroom library at elementary had a volume of Barks on hand."

• Review: Rob Clough of High-Low picks up The Squirrel Machine, which is being reprinted in soft cover next spring, by the creeptacular Hans Rickheit. "Rickheit's stories tend to take place in a more upscale, reserved and even Victorian setting, which befits his delicate, sensitive line. . . Rickheit strikes at the heart of what it means to be human: connecting with other emotionally and physically, seeking to express oneself through art, investigating the world around us--in other words, to be emotionally and intellectually curious."

• Review: Chad Parenteau reviews Hans Rickheit's newer Folly on We Got Issues. "Rickheit clearly wrestles with the meaning and purpose of his work with every page he creates, as other artists do. Hans might be consider rude for speaking so out loud about it if more people hung around long enough to listen. Me, I’m so ensconced in his Underbrain, I’m taking notes."

• Review: Comic Impact soaks up The Crackle of the Frost by Jorge Zentner and Lorenzo Mattotti. John Mueller states, "Frost is a sharply written book that takes the reader deeper into a character’s psyche more than any other comic in recent memory. Still, as well-written as the book is, what will undoubtedly get people to pick it up is the sensational art by the acclaimed Mattotti. . . the styles of the art can jump from impressionism to expressionism, symbolism to Hopper-esque realism often within the space of just two panels."

• Review: Bookgasm reviews The Crackle of the Frost by Jorge Zentner and Lorenzo Mattotti. JT Lindroos thinks,"THE CRACKLE OF THE FROST is realistic in a manner very few graphic novels are, pinpointing a phantasmagorical and poetic vision of human relationship in its naturally nonlinear movement. It’s also a perfect example of a work that might appeal to someone not customarily interested in comics"

• Interview: The Chicago Tribune talks to Chris Ware about life, comics and Peanuts. "When he was a child, Ware connected deeply with Charlie Brown, he said. He remembers connecting so deeply that he sent Charlie Brown a valentine." Fitting that Fantagraphics has published work by both.

• Plug: Speaking of Charlie Brown, Robot 6 is excited about the printing of a Charles Schulz rarity in our Charlie Brown's Christmas Stocking.

photo credit: Patrick Rosenkranz

• Review (audio): The boys on the Comic Books are Burning in Hell podcast talk about nothing other than Jaime Hernandez, Gilbert Hernandez and a litthe something called Love and Rockets. Enjoy!

• Commentary: Hannah Means on The Beat comments on the SPX Ignatz Awards. "The presence of the Hernandez brothers at SPX this year brought a great deal of energy, and often hilarity, and the Ignatz awards were no exception."

• Commentary: Hannah Means covered the Brooklyn Book Festival on The Beat including the 'Sex and Comics' panel that included Gilbert Hernandez. She describes, "Hernandez was asked whether he has used sex in his works as a plot device, but countered this possibility rather precisely by explaining the undesirable tendency of depictions of sex to slow down plot movements rather than usher them along." • Interview (audio): Sean T. Collins interviewed Gilbert Hernandez recently at SPX. Check out the full interview today.

• Interview: Vince Brusio caught up with Jaime Hernandez on the Northeast Coast Tour and interviewed him for PREVIEWSworld. • Plug: On Forbidden Planet's Desert Island series, Gary Northfield said he could not live without Buddy Does Seattle by Peter Bagge and I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets by Fletcher Hanks, edited by Paul Karasik. "This guy knew exactly what he was doing; his panels are graphically stunning, boldly drawn in full manipulation of the crude 4 colour printing processes being used to churn out the pulpy monthly comics. Monthly adventure comic books were in their infancy and finding their feet and Hanks was ploughing his own crazy, psychopathic path" meanwhile "Peter Bagge’s deranged, yet no doubt closely auto-biographical soap opera is an expert lesson in slice of life story-telling and comic book narrative."

This Week in Fantagraphics Events: 5/21-5/28

janice

Monday, May 21st

• Seattle, WA: Our friends at the Elysian Brewing Company will be launching the latest edition in our 12 Beers of the Apocalypse series, a collaboration featuring the artwork of the great Charles Burns from his weirdly apocalyptic Black Hole series! (more info)

Friday, May 25th

• DeKalb, IL: It's your last chance to check out the exhibition “Graphic Novel Realism: Backstage at the Comics” at the Northern Illinois Unversity Art Museum, curated by our own Paul Karasik, and featuring work by Joyce Farmer, Jaime Hernandez, Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash, as well as Jason Lutes, Seth and James Sturm! (more info)

Saturday, May 26th

• Seattle, WA: And it's your last chance to check out the exhibit "Collecting: Art is a Slippery Slope" at the Wright Exhibition Space, featuring the NASCAR collection of our own Larry Reid, curator and manager of the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. Or you can come to our many awesome events at the store in June, and Larry can show you the fancy exhibit catalog instead! (more info)

Graphic Novel Realism Video with Paul Karasik!

janice

Hey, remember that exhibit I told you about last month? The one curated by our own Eisner Award-winning graphic novelist, artist and editor, Paul Karasik? Over at the Northern Illinois Unversity Art Museum in DeKalb, IL? Yes, “Graphic Novel Realism: Backstage at the Comics,” that's the one!

The show is still open through Friday, May 25th, but if you can't make it to Dekalb (me neither), check out this video Paul shot featuring a walk-through of the exhibit! You'll spot source materials, sketches, and finished work by Joyce Farmer, Jaime Hernandez, Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash, as well as Jason Lutes, Seth and James Sturm. Thanks, Paul!

Paul Karasik Summer Workshop at the Center for Cartoon Studies!

janice

Take a master class from a man of class this summer: our editor extraordinaire Paul Karasik is teaching at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont!

During the week-long on-campus workshop, students will participate in lectures, collaborative exercises, book discussion sessions, events, and group critiques, with the goal of producing the first draft of a longer comics project.

During the next 8 weeks, students will develop and refine their work through online collaboration with faculty and peers, and complete comprehensive final drafts of their projects.

The Master Class in Comics Narrative is taught by Eisner-winning cartoonist and experienced comics educator Paul Karasik, in conjunction with CCS instructors. In the words of Art Spiegelman, “Paul has a kind of intelligence combined with earnestness that comes from someplace deep, not a recipe book. He is very, very, very intelligent.”

You will leave this class a stronger cartoonist than when you entered.

This fantastic experience goes from August 20-24th on campus, and then continues from August 27-October 19th online. To find out more about registration, visit our friends at www.cartoonstudies.org.

Daily OCD: 4/3/12

mike

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Every one of Giandelli’s surfaces -- walls, windows, bedspreads, books -- seems alive. Her colors almost wriggle. The darkness she draws is so black it’s wet. She approaches long corridors like David Lynch does in his films: not something you walk down, but something you’re swallowed by. Interiorae is engulfing.... In restored and essential color, this collected edition gives the mood the necessary space to simmer and boil -- just like poetry has the white of the page around it to slow you down and give it weight. Even before you notice the chapter titles are counting down to zero, you can feel that something about to happen. The men and women who live there can’t see it, but everything’s about to change.... In the end, Interiorae isn’t about either mundane, everyday reality or the vivid, symbolic realm of dreams. Its power’s in the precarious space between the two." – Martyn Pedler, Bookslut

• Review: "While Athos in America is as widely varied as the author's most recent collection, 2009's Low Moon, its stories employ less deadpan humor. In addition, this new volume presents some of Jason's most experimental comics yet.... One thing that hasn't changed is the ways in which Jason conjures up a kind of understated humor from his somber protagonists that serves to lighten up the serious situations they find themselves in. Athos in America may be darker and relatively more straight-faced than Jason's other work, but it shows that one of the more unique cartoonists today is continuing to evolve." – Phil Guie, CriticalMob

• Review: "The Big Town evokes a lost era through language and flamboyant characters reminiscent of Fitzgerald, Dos Passos, Ring Lardner, etc. Yet it’s also eerily relevant to our own time with its study of the role of business, crime, morality, and love in our lives." – Jack Eidt, Wilder Utopia

• Interview: The San Francisco Chronicle's Julian Guthrie talks to Pat Thomas about Listen Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975: "The image of the Panther became something even Hollywood playfully played with. You had Tom Wolfe's book Radical Chic, and you had folks like Leonard Bernstein hanging out with the Panthers. Everyone wanted to get close to the heat."

• Feature: Junglecity, a website for Japanese visitors and residents of Seattle, spotlights Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery

• Scene: Paul Karasik has a report from his recent jaunt to DeKalb, IL — "The Museum at the University asked me to curate an exhibition that I had originally titled, 'Hey, Stoopid! Comix R Cool!', but which is now called, 'Graphic Novel Realism: Backstage at the Comics' (whatever that means!)." — with a video tour of the exhibit

This Week in Fantagraphics Events: 3/19-3/26

janice

Hoo boy, it's a busy week for Fantagraphics fans!

Tuesday, March 20th

• DeKalb, IL: The Northern Illinois Unversity Art Museum debuts the exhibition “Graphic Novel Realism: Backstage at the Comics,” curated by our own Eisner Award-winning graphic novelist, artist and editor, Paul Karasik, and featuring work from Joyce Farmer, Jaime Hernandez, Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash, as well as Jason Lutes, Seth and James Sturm. (more info)

Friday, March 23rd

• Chicago, IL: Zak Sally will be at Quimby's signing copies of Sammy the Mouse Vol. 1, a self-published, self-printed collection of the first three issues of his Eisner-nominated Ignatz series. (more info)

Saturday, March 24th

• Seattle, WA: The idiosyncratic work of cartoonist Lynda Barry, a Seattle native, is the subject of a new book by Portland author Susan E. Kirtley. Lynda Barry: Girlhood Through the Looking Glass is the first comprehensive critique of this influential American artist. Kirtley will discuss her book with Real Comet Press publisher Cathy Hillenbrand, who published Barry’s first four books, at 6:00 PM at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. An informal reception and book signing will follow the discussion. (more info)

• Chicago, IL: Join Zak Sally, along with John Porcellino and Dale Flattum, at Johalla Projects for the opening reception of "Physical Evidence," a show of their comics, printmaking, zines and more. (more info)

• New York City, NY: Comic New York: A Symposium kicks off at Columbia University, with a wealth of panels, including one with our own Bill Griffith! Stay tuned to the FLOG for more information about this event, coming soon!

Sunday, March 25th

• New York City, NY: Comic New York: A Symposium wraps up at Columbia University, and among the busy schedule of panels today is one with both Al Jaffee and Miss Lasko-Gross! Stay tuned to the FLOG for more information about this event, coming soon!

Monday, March 26th

• Northridge, CA: Gilbert, Jaime, & Mario Hernandez will be speaking to Professor Charles Hatfield's class on Monday, March 26th at the California State University, Northridge (in greater Los Angeles). This event is open to the public, not just students! (more info)

Graphic Novel Realism with Paul Karasik at NIU!

janice

The Northern Illinois Unversity Art Museum in DeKalb, IL is keepin' it real this Spring with the exhibition “Graphic Novel Realism: Backstage at the Comics,” curated by our own Eisner Award-winning graphic novelist, artist and editor, Paul Karasik!

The exhibit runs from Tuesday, March 20th through Friday, May 25th and features the work of Joyce Farmer, Jaime Hernandez, Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash, as well as Jason Lutes, Seth and James Sturm.

Paul states, “These seven artists are united by a rigorous working process utilizing a variety of source materials that ground their comics in the real world, no matter how fantastic their tales.”

DeKalb residents are in luck, as there is a wealth of lectures, workshops, and panels happening on campus throughout the run of the show, including a screening of the film Ghost World on April 25th.

“Graphic Novel Realism: Backstage at the Comics” can be found on the west-end first floor of Altgeld Hall. Exhibitions and lectures are free; donations are appreciated.

Daily OCD: 2/3/12

mike

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions (none yesterday):

• Review: "If Spielberg shed the skin of Hergé’s style in an effort to get to the heart of his stories, the compelling work of Dutch cartoonist Joost Swarte performs the procedure in reverse.... Swarte, equally inspired by the underground comix that emerged from the American counterculture of the 1960s and ’70s, adapted the clear line and reanimated it with subversive content unlike the perennially chipper Boy Scoutism of Hergé’s Tintin. ...Is That All There Is?, collecting the bulk of his comics oeuvre to date (excluding a body of children’s comics), provides an overdue opportunity to linger over and consider his narrative work.... Like a Rube Goldberg machine designed according to De Stijl aesthetics—with a rhythm and blues soundtrack—Swarte’s comics communicate a historically freighted, European sense of the absurd, poised toward a globalizing, postmodern present." – Bill Kartalopoulos, The Brooklyn Rail

• Review: "The real joy of Swarte’s work... is the architectural elegance of his illustrations and his fine ability to colour them using everything from watercolour to retro duo-tones. Looking at Swarte’s mostly 20th century work [in Is That All There Is?] now, what’s also — and tangentially — interesting is the retro-futuristic look of it: the settings are near-future, but everything’s styled circa the 1940s, much in the same way Ridley Scott imagined the future in Bladerunner. For sheer design swagger you need to check Swarte out." – Miles Fielder, The List

• Review: "These stories [in Athos in America] are a little less open-and-shut than Jason usually makes. His comics are always good, but I usually don't think about them too much after reading them. This one's more of a think stimulator than previous books.... It's a beautiful book. This is definitely Jason's best book yet. Good job, Jason." – Nick Gazin, VICE

• Interview: Chicago Publishes has an interview with Mome contributor Laura Park: "I’m really happy with the stories I did for MOME. I love short stories. Novels are the format now — it’s a selling format. You can have graphic novels in a bookstore, because non-comics people might buy them. Whenever you can get a comic from the comic shop into a bookstore, it’ll make more money. But short stories are kind of magical to me. My favorite writer is Flannery O’Connor. She has novels, but her short stories are the ones that linger and itch away through you."

• Bibliography: Love & Maggie presents a comprehensive annotated guide to Jack Jackson-related materials in back issues of The Comics Journal

• Scene: Paul Karasik has a delightful report from Angoulême; Stan Sakai has one too, with Usagi sketches

Daily OCD: 12/6/11

mike

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: About.com Manga's 2011 Best New Manga, as selected by Deb Aoki, includes Shimura Takako's Wandering Son Vol. 1 as Best New Seinen/Josei: Slice of Life: "Gender-bending is not unusual in manga, but it's rare to see transgender identity issues depicted realistically, not just as a plot gimmick. With her spare, elegant art and slice-of-life storytelling, Shimura tells a sweet and sensitive coming-of-age tale that opens your eyes and your heart to these kids and their unusual, but very real desires to be the boy/girl they know they really meant to be."

• Review: "This giant gift-book portfolio of [Jack] Davis' work reflects the high standard of design and archival presentation that is Fantagraphics' specialty.... There is a brief, punchy, informative introduction by fellow illustrator and conceptual designer William Stout, as well as a longer biographical essay at the end of the book by The Comics Journal's Gary Groth. Between these two helpful pieces are nearly 200 pages of uninterrupted artwork. The reproductions are assisted by the book's large 10-by-13-inch trim size. The size is indicative of Davis' influence, and it affords readers a panoramic view of the evolution and contributions of one of this country's most recognizable and influential cartoonists." – Casey Burchby, SF Weekly

• Review: "One thing that stories in Belgian cartoonist Olivier Schrauwen’s The Man Who Grew His Beard share is that they question their own form — and they usually feature bearded men who draw — but otherwise resist association.... So many storytellers are lauded for creating worlds so believable that they cause readers to forget. Presumably, readers forget their own realities, and become absorbed in the author’s imagined product. Schrauwen creates new worlds in every story, and these worlds envelope us, but he never allows us to forget. He doesn’t let us forget that he’s an artist, and that we are readers, and that those are his pencil lines and paint strokes on the page we’re reading. And this reminder of the form and experience is exactly what makes his stories seem so real. They refuse to deny the process with which we all struggle if rarely acknowledge, and that is the process of continually framing and creating the world in which we live." – John Dermot Woods, The Faster Times

• Review: "Accompanied by cheeky illustrations, Twain's narrative traipses from Gatsbyesque Jazz Age parties to hanging out with space robots to shrinking and befriending sentient ants. The tone is authoritative yet absurd, like your father telling you that he was definitely in an acid-induced threesome with Jessica Lange in the '70s. It's a silly and ironic romp..." – Grace Bello, Bookslut

• Review: "The material has been referred to by some as 'dark,' but I disagree. It’s not cute. It’s not really intended for kids. There are big laughs in Nuts, but they come from the reality of being a kid in America, and how disillusionment came with the territory when you embarked on the road to adulthood." – Rob Bradfield, Examiner.com

• Feature: Comics Alliance's Chris Sims has a fun spotlight on a seasonal Carl Barks story in Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes: "...'The Golden Christmas Tree' might just take the fruitcake. After all, most of the other Christmas stories I've read don't involve a harvest of tears or someone turning into a woodchipper."

• Interview: At Technorati, Tim O'Shea has a Q&A with Kevin Avery about Everything Is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson: "What I wanted to do was structure the book so that, after reading the first half of the book, Paul’s writing, in the second half, revealed just how much he had almost surreptitiously been telling his own story all along—in record reviews as well as articles."

• Plug: "Fantagraphics have released two books in the last few years of Fletcher Hanks's fantastically strange comics. His work was around in the early twentieth century and it’s brimming with personality and energy. The books bring together some amazing stories and I can’t recommend them enough. Prepare to have your mind blown." – Jack Teagle, Lost at E Minor

• Plug: David Allen of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin spotlights a whole mess of our (and others') classic strip reprint projects, with a lovely photo

• Links: Love & Maggie lines up another comprehensive batch of Love and Rockets-related links

Things to See: 10/3/11 Roundup

mike

• Frank "caught in the loving tendrils of the sun" by Jim Woodring; also "Hopelessly outclassed" and "The descent into wealth"

• A Grotesque "family portrait" and Mr. O'Blique postcards that Sergio Ponchione will be giving away to lucky attendees (I think? the autotranslation's a little iffy) at an upcoming festival in Italy

• Ooh, a Jason/Lewis Trondheim exquisite-corpse wraparound cover for a 2004 issue of Belgian comics fanzine Totem; this and film review potpourri at Jason's Cats Without Dogs blog

• Sketches and process peeks at Forlorn Funnies #1 at Paul Hornschemeier's The Daily Forlorn

• Focus book by Kevin Huizenga

• Steve Brodner's portrait of Art Pope for The New Yorker (with process sketches); plus sketches of Lamar Alexander and Chris Christie; all of the above with Steve's commentary

• Speaking of The New Yorker, Paul Karasik got a cartoon in there! Congrats Paul! (via Facebook)

• A whole buncha Stephen DeStefano animation artwork for various projects here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, plus Sea Hag

• Noah Van Sciver presents a spooky story from the latest issue of Blammo

• Movie night Richard Sala-style (year unknown); also some cozy reading and The 7 Deadly Sins

• Tim Lane's poster for the St. Louis International Film Festival (along with its conceptual inspiration)

• Steven Weissman and Jordan Crane are putting together an elementary school haunted house for some LUCKY KIDS and here's Steven's flyer for it with Jordan's logo for the school (from Steven via email); also from Steven, his latest "I, Anonymous" spot and Stincker sketchin'

• A fun Dave Cooper gig poster for his friend's band (via Facebook)

• This comic cover by Chuck Forsman is a fake, but I wish it wasn't

• A buncha silly Star Trek doodles by Tim Kreider

• Jim Varney smiles down from heaven on Johnny Ryan

• Prison Pit fan art by Sergio Zuniga (at Johnny Ryan's blog, along with one previously posted here)

• Prison Pit fan art by Fréderic Fleury via Twitter

• Mark Twain-via-Michael Kupperman fan art by Dyna Moe (via Facebook, where the artist's profile pic was taken in front of Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery)

• Speaking of Fantagraphics Bookstore and Facebook, here's a panel from a comic in progress by Csaba Mester featuring the former location posted at the latter location

Plus:

• Another Bob Fingerman character design

• Speaking of Facebook yet again, a Victor Kerlow illustration on the subject

• Jupiter and Saturn by Frank Santoro

• Many recent illustrations by Max at his El Hombre Duerme, el Fantasma No blog

• Recently discovered previously unseen woodblock prints circa 1939 by Jim Flora

• Lilli Carré's new looping animated logo for the Eyeworks animation fest is pretty great (tee hee, the "W" is boobs)

• A portrait by Nick Drnaso

• A whole ton of stuff from Ray Fenwick's website popped up in my RSS reader and I'm not sure how much of it is new but why not go check it all out anyway

• Straw dog on a bed by Renee French

• Computer sketches (that is, sketches done on the computer) by Eleanor Davis

• Trubble Club is always fun even if we can't tell who drew what

Paul Karasik exhibit at the West Tisbury Public Library

janice

photo credit: Lynn Christoffers

Check out the Paul Karasik exhibit at the West Tisbury Public Library! [ GET IT?! ]

This Eisner Award-winning artist and scholar debuted an exhibit last Friday at his hometown library, and fortunately for those of you in Massachusetts, it will run until the end of August! Plus, Paul will be donating half of the proceeds from the sale of his work to the library's expansion fund.

The West Tisbury Public Library is located at 1042 State Road in Vineyard Haven, MA. And be sure to check out [ heh, heh... okay, I'll stop ] this lovely profile on Paul in The Martha's Vineyard Times!

Daily OCD: 4/4/11

mike

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: At Techland - Time.com, Douglas Wolk names I Killed Adolf Hitler by Jason and I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets by Fletcher Hanks to a short list of "The Funniest Comics Ever"

• Review: "Last year, Fantagraphics reproduced Catalog No. 439 of the DeMoulin Brothers – the most extensive depiction of initiation contraptions and ritual outfits used by Freemasons and other fraternal orders, like the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, and E. Clampus Vitus. Bearing the title Burlesque Paraphernalia and Side Degree Specialties and Costumes, this wacky book may shed a shred of light into the outer sanctum of these associations – unless, of course, it is actually a hoax disseminated to lead us astray. [...] Even if Enlightenment should, as always, prove ever elusive, the illustrated designs of Edmund DeMoulin and the handiwork of his brothers Ulysses and Erastus, as reproduced in Burlesque Paraphernalia, will still deliver amusing, if sadistic, anthropology. [...] Book lovers... will fall for its hundred and fifty full-page plates of machines of untold mischief. " – Jeffrey Wengrofsky, Coilhouse

• Review/Commentary: "...I end up seeing Ditko’s work arc from earliest 'dependent work' as he calls it, the charming, imaginative comics collected in Unexplored Worlds, the rockets, superintelligent monkeys, green insect aliens seeking earthling wives, paintings that lead to another world, angelic visitors and poetically just twist endings, to his later work created entirely on his own terms and for his own purpose, but less effective as his characters become 'ciphers' and his design, text-heavy." – Carol Borden, The Cultural Gutter

• Commentary: David Chelsea posts his email debate with Kim Thompson re: Joost Swarte's use of perspective. Kim: "Maybe you aren’t seeing the forest for the trees — or the ground below the trees that comprises the forest because you’re looking at it from a horizontal-oblique perspective." Zing!

• Craft: At TCJ.com, Frank Santoro applies his lessons in page proportion and layout to a Tintin page by Hergé

• Plug: Robot 6's Tim O'Shea reports that his 11-year-old son is absorbed in Popeye Vol. 1

Smoke Signal 8

mike

Here comes another all-star issue of the always-awesome Smoke Signal from Desert Island! This one's a split issue with the Finnish comics newspaper Kuti so there's sure to be some great stuff to discover by the Finns. Above, the cover by Lilli Carré (the flip cover is by Aapo Rapi); inside you'll find stories and strips by Sami Aho, Gabrielle Bell, Marc Bell, Lilli, Michael DeForge, Roope Eronen, Glynnis Fawkes, Nathan Gelgud, Sam Henderson, Keith Jones, Paul Karasik, Ina Kallis, Tim Lane, Jarno Latva-Nikkola, Blaise Larmee, Mikko Luostarinen, David Mazzucchelli, Jesse McManus, Tommi Musturi, Jyrki Nissinen, Jaakko Pallasvuo, Ville Pirinen, Aapo Rapi, Ron Regé Jr., Anna Sailamaa, Kari Sihvohnen, Avi Spivak, Leslie Stein, Janne Tervamäki, Petteri Tikkanen, Jari Vaara, Amanda Vähämäki, and Mikko Väyrynen.

As always, it will be available for free at Desert Island in Brooklyn (and probably at the MoCCA Fest and presumably somewhere in Finland?) — elsewhere you can order a copy for a measly 3 bucks here.

Daily OCD: 3/15/11

mike

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "...[T]his... phenomenal one-shot [is] a baroque masterpiece... It's difficult to do justice to the artistic qualities of Tardi's stark, understated line drawings; whether he's depicting a motley crew of sailors, highly detailed industrial machinery, or an ice floe, the art is both technical and madly expressive. Precisely calibrated, perfectly laid out, and incredibly graphic, [The Arctic Marauder] is as good as adventure comics get." – Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

• Review: "This [story] sounds fantastical and almost the staple of short science fiction stories, but Jason’s work has a dark and twisted tone, like a hideous fairytale for a soulless child born in haunted forest. [...] I Killed Adolf Hitler manages to take the subjects of hitmen, time travel, dictators, alternate timelines, patience and love without ever feeling crammed or rushed. It fuses them into a story that by the end, leaves you marveling at its beautiful symmetry and craft." – Kevin Scully, The Negative Zone

• Plugs: "I purchased You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation, the second and final collection of comic book stories by the golden age artist Fletcher Hanks, during a recent Fantagraphics sale. While the stories in this volume aren't as good as those collected in I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets, it is wonderful to have the entirety of Hanks's work collected in these two books, both edited by Paul Karasik. I also enjoyed Fantagraphics' latest Jacques Tardi release, The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec Volume 1: Pterror Over Paris and The Eiffel Tower Demon. [...] Tardi is constantly confounding my expectations as a reader." – Patrick Markfort, Articulate Nerd

• Commentary: "...I found myself quite happy to see that Moto Hagio’s A Drunken Dream won About.com’s Readers’ Choice Award, just because I’m happy to see Hagio’s book win anything anyone cares to award it, but also because a 'readers’ choice award' indicates that it’s clicking with more people than just dudes on the internet who don’t read a lot of shojo with which to compare it, like me." – Sean T. Collins, Attentiondeficitdisorderly

Leopard Women of Venus: the Fletcher Hanks RPG

mike

From Paul Karasik via Dan at TCJ.com comes word of this new product from Hex Games: Leopard Women of Venus, a role-playing game inspired by the comics of Fletcher Hanks. Wow! From the product description:

"Leopard Women of Venus is a mind-melting pulp science fiction role-playing game inspired by the works of Fletcher Hanks. Hanks wrote and drew bizarre and memorable work in the earliest days of American comic books. His work is boldly drawn, frequently ugly, and strangely fascinating. Leopard Women of Venus gives you the tools you need to recreate the magic and lunacy of a Fletcher Hanks comic with your gaming group."

If any of our readers play this game we would love a report on it.

Angoul�me � go go

mike

Here's a couple of divergent but equally great 2011 Angoulême Festival scene reports from the unofficial Fantagraphics contingent:

From smilin' Paul Karasik at his Rules to Vivere By blog...

...and from Dash Shaw (behind the camera) at Comics Comics.

Paul Karasik at Angoul�me

mike

Paul Karasik requests that the word be spread:

"I am teaching at the Masters School in Angouleme and next Friday I will be making a presentation at the Festival on Friday at 4:30 about the process of adaptation in comics with a City of Glass focus... Since it is an event sponsored by the museum, it does not appear in any festival literature..."

The Comics Reporter, from whom I lifted this item, comments: "Since Karasik is one of the most thoughtful and articulate cartoonists going, this is bound to be a fun way to spend your time and if you make the time for it I'm betting you'll be rewarded."

Fantagraphics Is Looking for a few Good NANCY Boys!

kimt

...Or girls, for that matter.

As work progresses on our first volume of Ernie Bushmiller's NANCY (yes, it's late, we admit it), collecting 1942 through 1945, we belatedly realize that our source for most of the strips is missing the first year. Oops. So we are sending out the plea to NANCY collectors: If you have clippings for 1942's NANCY daily strips, we would love to hear from you. (For that matter, as we are missing a handful of strips from 1943-1945, and some of the ones we do have are a little rough around the edges in terms of repro quality, if you have ANY NANCY tearsheets from this period...)

Contact editor Kim Thompson at kimt@fantagraphics.com (and yes, we are in contact with the Ohio State Library, but even they have significant holes in their NANCY run) — and be sure to pass on this plea to anyone else you think might have contacts, message boards, what have you. NANCY fans unite!

If we can't get our hands on the elusive 1942 we'll probably just switch the first volume to 1943 through 1946 (we do have all of 1946) and get back to 1942 in the future when we've had more time to dig, dig, dig for source material.

In other NANCY news, the much-anticipated HOW TO READ NANCY by Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden has unfortunately been delayed 'til next Summer or Fall, as Paul and Mark have been vastly expanding the contents with additional images, additional interviews, additional research, and additional fact-checking. This will be a completely mind-blowing book when it is finished, so we ask that eager fans adopt a Bushmiller-like serenity and it'll be there before you can say "three rocks."

Daily OCD: 7/15/10

mike

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "In Weathercraft, his first foray into graphic-novel territory, Seattle denizen Jim Woodring employs his repertory troupe of ambiguous, liminal characters — Frank, Manhog, Pupshaw, and Pushpaw — to tell the kind of Pilgrim's Progress tale that David Lynch might have conjured up if he were a cartoonist. ... Impermanence, the conundrum of physical senses that guide and ensnare at the same time, the challenge of a rational response to an irrational universe — all this and more await the returning fan or the open-minded acolyte in Woodring's best work yet. And for an artist of his caliber, that's saying something." – Damian Van Denburgh, Critical Mob

• Review: "Loaded with hipster irony, profanity and long digressive conversations, it’s a loving tribute to half-repudiated childhood pleasures. ... At times, Dungeon Quest captures the anything-goes wanderlust of Calvin & Hobbes — if Calvin’s fantasies were real, set in rundown Los Angeles neighborhoods and loaded with swearing." – Jason Thompson, The Comics Journal

• Review: "The relationship stuff all rings true, and when it gets weird at the end, it doesn’t seem random and arbitrary, and that’s a difficult trick to pull off. ... I found Werewolves [of Montpellier] to be a delightful read; no profound life lessons were learned, but Jason’s storytelling is first-rate and life lessons are overrated anyway." – Johnny Bacardi, Popdose

• Reviewer: On his blog, Jason reviews the film Léon Morin, prêtre

• Review: "Deep within the barroom psychosis, Lane looks into the abyss and thinks about spitting into it. The drive that leads to destruction can also be a powerful and satisfying personal experience. While each story in Abandoned Cars ties together in a thick knot of dread, the best story sees Lane go on a blatantly autobiographical adventure, and head out for an adventure by jumping on trains." – Bob Temuka, The Tearoom of Despair

• Plugs: Library Journal's latest Graphic Novels Prepub Alert spotlights our November releases How to Read Nancy by Paul Karasik & Mark Newgarden, Safe Area Gorazde: The Special Edition by Joe Sacco, and Unlovable: The Complete Collection by Esther Pearl Watson

Nancy collectors: we need you

mike

More specifically, Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden need help tracking down scans of tearsheets for several Nancy strips for inclusion in the forthcoming standalone expanded edition of How to Read Nancy:

NANCY 6/ 29/55
NANCY 8/8/59
DEBBIE (AKA LITTLE DEBBIE) by Cecil Jensen 6/ 27/ 55
FRITZI RITZ 12/31/30
Any examples of pre-1925 work by Bushmiller
Any MAC THE MANAGER strips (1924)

And, of course, Nancy's first appearance : Fritzi Ritz 1/2/33

Complete details and contact information are at Stripper's Guide. Image ganked from ¡Journalista!