Ross Jackson’s Live Rock Part 1: Aquarium Life

At the heart of Live Rock 1 we find an aquarium, a lump of ominous choral, and a slacker roommate’s declaration of the interconnectedness of all things. From there, various narrative strands stretch out and around a mid-sized Florida city, taking in teens, defunct developments, the natural world, security guards and control freaks. Order vs. wildness. Sterility vs. creativity. Interesting. Nice sense of propulsion. Feels like everything’s going somewhere. Friendly and easy going.

Live Rock Part 1: Aquarium Life by Ross Jackson. 52 pages. 7.25” x 10.5”. Riso printed in bright olive green, melon, light lime, bubble-gum, and cornflower ink on off-white paper.

https://www.secretroompress.com/shop/p/live-rock

Ross Jackson is a founding member of the Secret Room risograph printing studio in Portland, Oregon.

 

ross jackson live rock 01

ross jackson live rock 02

ross jackson live rock 03

ross jackson live rock 04

ross jackson live rock 05

ross jackson live rock 06https://www.instagram.com/rorsjarckson

Sean Knickerbocker Interview: Rust Belt Review/Low-Rent Comics Gatekeepers/The Virtues Of DIY.

In the following short email interview, Sean Knickerbocker (editor and founder of the Rust Belt Review anthology series) makes the the point that comics are in a weird place right now.

It’s true, isn’t it? Alternative comics (or at least a few of them) continue to gain slightly ironic mainstream credibility.  The industry now has its own little academic and grant making niche. Plus cartoonists can promote and sell their work directly via social media, etc.

Yet financial precariousness in the industry persists and may even be becoming more acute as time goes on.

Does all this speak to a divide opening up in alternative comics? Between those cartoonists who play well on social media and those who don’t? Between those who are a good fit with current academic and cultural fashions and those who aren’t?

I don’t know. I’m not really qualified to say. You could also make the point that alternative comics are in a healthier state than alternative poetry, or literature, or what have you.

Whatever, it’s definitely an odd time, and it’s into this strangely-strange comics milieu that Sean Knickerbocker decided to launch (back in 2021) the Rust Belt Review. His intention being to create a supportive quarterly home for small-press cartoonists. Particularly those cartoonists telling stories from (and often about) the more regionally/culturally marginal corners of American life.

So, y’know, Sean’s definitely batting for those on the downside of the comics divide (if there is one).

Since Mr. Knickerbocker has recently opened up submissions for issue 6, I thought it would be a good time to ask what kind of work he’s looking for, find out how the anthology has evolved since its inception, and get his take on the current state of comics.

Here’s what he had to say….

Okay, you’re into publishing narrative work, right? What else are you looking for in a submission? Does the name Rust Belt imply an inclination toward working class themes? 

Yes, I’m mostly interested in narrative comics. I think comics work best in 8-40 page long sequences, so that’s ideally what I’m looking to publish. Ideally, the work I’m publishing is being created by artists from a working class background, but the submissions don’t need to have a working class theme or any sort of didactic element to it. 

How would you say Rust Belt Review has evolved over the course of the previous four issues?

I think I’ve become more focused on one-off stories. Initially, I wanted to have a showcase of serialized work, but I ran into some logistical issues with that. For starters, not everybody produces comics at the same pace. Additionally, not all stories can be broken down into satisfying bite-size pieces.

I wanted to keep all volumes in print at the same time, but I’m running into some financial issues with that model. I think moving forward I will be printing just a single run. Once the issue is gone, it’s gone! I think there’s something precious about that anyway. A good anthology represents a time and a place, so it doesn’t make sense to keep them in print months or even years after that moment has passed.

You’ve mentioned before that there isn’t enough infrastructure to support cartoonists. Could you expand on this and offer up some thoughts on how the situation might be remedied?

Comics are in this weird place right now. The community is becoming professionalized. As this continues to happen, it will become more difficult for working class people to participate. I think one of the beauties of comics is that anybody can make them, but as the medium becomes more wrapped into academia and traditional New York publishing, it’s becoming less and less accessible for anybody other than the children of the rich.

In the world of poetry, prose, and the fine-arts; there are benefits to working within academia and larger publishers, but I don’t see any of those benefits being given to cartoonists. Most arts grants programs don’t take cartooning seriously, and most art schools that have comics programs don’t pay their teachers very well. We’re getting all of the gatekeeping and none of the benefits. I think cartoonists should be very aware of that.

So long as we keep the DIY spirit alive in comics, I think we can continue to be an accessible community for many people. The moment we forget how to make books on our own is the moment we give up all our power to the giant publishing machines. My hope is that Rust Belt Review can be a model for larger DIY projects and I hope it can serve as an inspiration for up and coming creators.

***

Rust Belt Review volume 5 is due out soon. Submissions for volume 6 are now open. Anything submitted after may will probably only be considered for volume 7.

https://www.seanknickerbocker.com
https://www.seanknickerbocker.com/store
https://www.seanknickerbocker.com/submit

***

Comments always welcome. Either here on the blog or via email.

devin[at]alternative-comics[dot]com

Spring 2023 Comics & Picture-story Symposium Video Catch-up.

The Spring 2023 Comics & Picture-story Symposium strikes me as a particularly good one so far. It’s got an interesting spread and every speaker is worth a listen.

Soooo I thought it would be a good idea to run a list and links to everything that’s gone on so far and what’s to come.

For some reason, these videos are a little buggy on the YouTube side of things. Some of them refuse to embed. Some give intermittent age warnings. Others start midway through the interview and need to be rewound. (Or maybe it’s just me?)

Anyway, here are the links to the videos.

January 24, 2023 Victor Cayro. 

January 31, 2023 Margot Ferrick. 

February 7, 2023 Brian Maidment. 

February 14, 2023 Vanessa Conte.

February 21st, 2023 CF. 

There are a lot of good speakers still lined up. You can wait for the interviews/talks to go up on YouTube or you can check the schedule and register to watch live on Zoom. Personally, I can’t wait to hear what Ron Regé, Jr. has to say.

March 7, 2023 Will Eisner Week

March 21, 2023 Jesse McManus

March 28, 2023 Ron Regé, Jr.

April 4, 2023 Diana Schutz

April 11, 2023 Lisa Pearson

April 18, 2023 Ana Woulfe

April 25, 2023 Pris Genet

May 2, 2023 Amy Lockhart

May 9, 2023 Alexander Roob

https://nycomicssymposium.wordpress.com

Also, Ben Katchor apparently pays for the running costs of the symposium out of his own pocket (while the Will & Ann Eisner Family Foundation pays speaker fees.) So, if you’re feeling supportive, maybe it would be a good time to fill that hole in your Katchor collection.

Nate Garcia’s Gecko Back In Print.

Last week (or the week before?) we took a look inside Nate Garcia’s Plum Pocket. Now, Gecko, his second full length comic, is back in print. A story of sadness, trauma, karma, E-Coli, geckos, and horse love. You can get a copy by heading over to Nate’s store.

Gecko by Nate Garcia. 28 Pages. Full color.

https://nategarcia.bigcartel.com/product/gecko

Gecko - Nate Garcia

https://www.instagram.com/nategarciascartoons

If you’re in NY: Deadcrow Comix Collective Talk (Also on Zoom).

New York Comics & Picture-story Symposium: Deadcrow Comix Collective discuss their work. Tuesday, February 28, 2023 at 7pm ET at Parsons The New School in the Bark Room, lobby of 2 West 13th Street, NYC. Also streamed online via Zoom. If attending in person, go to 72 5th Ave first, with ID and vaccine information to get a pass. Email comicssymposium@gmail.com to register for the online event.

https://nycomicssymposium.wordpress.com

https://www.deadcrow.org

Preview: Baby by Patrick Kyle.

Patrick Kyle’s series of self published Baby comics are set to be collected in a single 144 page volume by Breakdown Press. Kyle is so good at dealing with big-strange ideas in the most engagingly absurd way. This time around, he tackles the recurring twists and squeezes of the human(?) life cycle. 

Baby by Patrick Kyle. 160 x 200mm. 144 pages. Offset printed. Softcover. Available March 24th. Pre-orders open.

https://www.breakdownpress.com/store/baby-by-patrick-kyle

Thanks to Mr. Kyle and the good people at Breakdown, here’s a preview. ↓

patrick kyle baby 01

patrick kyle baby 02

patrick kyle baby 03

patrick kyle baby 04

patrick kyle baby 05

https://patrickkyle.com
https://www.breakdownpress.com

Read It Free: Ice Cream by Alex Fellows.

 

I mentioned this a few weeks back. Have you checked it out yet? The joys of being  a cartoonist with a family and no money.  128pgs. Online and available for free reading. Thanks Alex! If you get something out of Ice Cream, you might consider making a contribution to the tip jar. ↓

http://alexfellows.com/ice-cream

Links: Last Week’s Reviews.

Optical Sloth.
Marco Quadri’s You Feed Fire Like It’s A Horse.
Greg and Fake Petre’s Santos Sisters #2.
Brian Canini’s Glimpses of Life #8.

Comics Journal.
QUEENIE: GODMOTHER OF HARLEM by ELIZABETH COLOMBA & AURÉLIE LÉVY.
G.I.L.T. by ALISA KWITNEY, MAURICET & ROB STEEN.
W THE WHORE by ANKE FEUCHTENBERGER & KATRIN DE VRIES, TRANSLATED BY MARK NEVINS.

Misc.
Lars Ingebrigtsen passes comment on his latest comics haul. 
Broken Frontier: Desmond Reed’s The Cola Pop Creemees: Opening Act. 
Solrad: DEAR DIARIES MINI #1 by Jesse Reklaw.
Multiversity Comics: Good Person Trouble by Noëlle Kröger, Translated by Natalye Childress.

The Times They Are A-Changin’ (Again!?!).

Last week, this site rebranded itself as The Comix Report. Along with the rebrand came the switch to a weekly posting schedule.

Great? No. Apparently not.

As it tuned out, the second part of that change, the scheduling bit, proved quite unpopular. The issue, it seems, is that many had hoped this site would evolve into something resembling an old fashioned news blog.

Who am I to argue?

And so, once again, I’m going to be shifting gears, refocusing and beginning the task of doing just that, turning The Comix Report into a daily news source.

Thinking about it, it all makes the name change even more appropriate. As a statement of intent, yes, but also as an indirect tribute to the grand-master of comics news blogs, the late, inspirational, and completely irreplaceable, Tom Spurgeon.

For email subscribers, don’t worry, I won’t start spamming your inboxes. Notifications will be limited to longer or more noteworthy posts. Previews, extracts, interviews and reviews, that kind of thing. To keep up to date on links, news, random pretty pictures, etc. you’ll have to check the site.

Also, looking at the statistics, there are certain news and link items that receive the bulk of the attention while the rest are mostly ignored. So, from now on, I’m going to be taking a more selective approach to the posting of such things.

Lastly, and definitely most importantly, it’s truly gratifying and very, very encouraging to realize that there are people out there paying enough attention to care about the fate and future of this humble blog.

Don’t be a stranger!

devin[@]alternative-comics[.]com

Illustration from Max Ernst’s 1934 collage comic A Week of Kindness.

The Comix Report #10. Your weekly dig into the alt comics firmament.

Header
Panel from Swag 5 by Cameron Arthur.

***

Nearly a month in, alternative-comics.com is rebranding. Henceforth, it shall be known as The Comix Report. Along with the name change comes a shift to a once-a-week posting schedule. Different name. Same address. Longer. Better. Once a week. Links at the top. Extracts and further joys after. Onward!

devin[@]alternative-comics[.]com

***

Contents

Links
Plum Pocket by Nate Garcia [Extract]
Andrew White Interview
Swag 5: Ballad of the Black Sun by Cameron Arthur [Extract]
Domino Books
All the Old Poisons
C.R.O.W.BAR 9 by Steve McArdle [Extract]
Doug Cueva
Czolgosz Syzygy Zine
Mailing List

***

News

WOW COOL President Valentine Sale 20% off storewide — February 14–21.
Fantagraphics Warehouse Sale 50% off selected titles. 14 – 21 Feb.
American Library Association releases best Adult GDs for 2022.
Comics Beat Preview: Read an excerpt of TOKYOPOP’s GUARDIAN OF FUKUSHIMA.
Portland, OR. Vendor Applications open for BWPCon.
The Centre for Cartoon Studies opens applications for Cornish Residency Fellowship. CCS director James Sturm says they’re looking for a cartoonist who’s demonstrated a dedication to cartooning with a body of distinctive and compelling work.
Birdcage Bottom Books launches spring crowdfunding campaign with slate of planned releases.
Printed Matter’s LA Art Book Fair. August 10–13, 2023. Exhibitor applications are open.
Seth Tobacman set to teach online course on comics as political expression.

Reviews

BLAH BLAH BLAH #3 by Juliette Collet reviewed on TCJ.
Andrew Neal’s Meeting Comics reviewed by Ryan Carey.
Dan Hill’s The 50 Flip Experiment reviewed by Ryan Carey.
Lewis Hancox’s Welcome to St. Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure reviewed on Broken Frontier.
Sam Wallman’s Our Members Be Unlimited reviewed on Broken Frontier.
Vojtěch Mašek’s The Sisters Dietl reviewed on Broken Frontier

Interviews, etc.

Lawrence Lindell talks to Broken Frontier about his graphic novel on Black Love, Joy, Rebellion and the Power of Community.
TCJ Interview with Justin Hall and Vivian Kleiman re: No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics.
Publishers Weekly interview with Youssef Daoudi and Adrian Matejka re: Last on His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century.
Michael Dougan tribute and profile on TCJ.

***

Plum Pocket by Nate Garcia

Man, I love Nate Garcia. He and Hanselmann and maybe in a different way Josh Pettinger, that little crew, they’re the true modernized sons of the 60s underground. Nate’s work hits every mark: Funny. Gross. Clever as hell. Plus his artwork is so gorgeous and beautifully colored, you can spend time just basking in it. Plum Pocket includes a full page exclusive painting by Hanselmann.

Plum Pocket by Nate Garcia. 32 pages. Full color. 3 Stories.

https://nategarcia.bigcartel.com/product/plum-pocket

Extract ↓

Plum Pocket Nate Garcia 01
Plum Pocket Nate Garcia 02
Plum Pocket Nate Garcia 03
Plum Pocket Nate Garcia 04

https://www.instagram.com/nategarciascartoons
https://nategarcia.bigcartel.com

***

Andrew White Interview

Back in January, Andrew White began posting a series of work-in-progress comics adaptations to his newsletter and website. The adaptations in question are various works from the canon of the late Italian novelist and short story writer Italo Calvino. Calvino is known for having had an interest in old newspaper cartoons, claiming them as an influence on his narrative style. His writings really burst off the page in the most joyous, quite moving way. Real moments of aesthetic wonder. For me, Andrew’s work often has that same kind of beautiful but hard-to-pin-down effect. So this should be great. The first instalments show a lot of promise.

Andrew White Enchanted Garden

Since this is such an interesting project, and maybe a comics-literature crossover made in heaven, I was thrilled when Andrew offered to answer a few questions via email. What an opportunity to try and get some insight into how and why one of the top names in poetry comics decided to tackle Calvino.

Andrew White on Italo Calvino, adaptation and process.

I.

I first came to Calvino through If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, many years ago, and his work has been an influence since that time. I’m inspired by the way many of his book-length works are essentially short story collections, where each chapter can be read individually but the whole is greater than the sum of those parts. I’m inspired by the way he integrated formal play into his fiction while retaining an emotional and narrative core that kept the work compelling. 

I first adapted a Calvino story in 2012 (A Beautiful March Day, from the Numbers in the Dark collection) and have considered returning to Calvino over the years. As you noted in your initial write-up of this project, there are also a number of Calvino-comics connections that made the prospect even more appealing.

But I’m also skeptical of adaptation, both as a reader and as a cartoonist. Adaptations that I’ve read, that I’ve considering making, or that I’ve actually made often leave me wondering, even suspecting, that the exercise is pointless. What does the adaptation offer that can’t be found in the original work? Is it losing more than it’s gaining?

As some readers might know, I’ve worked intermittently over the last several years on comics biographies of Gertrude Stein, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Virginia Woolf. That work has been on my mind because I’m revising it for a forthcoming single volume collection, Together and Apart, to be published by Fieldmouse Press. Those comics have a strong element of adaptation as well, actually, because the text is drawn primarily from the subject’s own words in diaries, letters, etc. So I wondered if I was done with biographies, or if I could find some way to continue that project without repeating myself. Calvino, among many possible subjects, crossed my mind.

Calvino was known for being reticent about his personal life and even misstating aspects of his biography (most notably, he often said he was born in San Remo, where he spent most of his childhood, rather than in Cuba, since the former felt more true to him even if it was factually incorrect). So, I suddenly realized, simply adapting a selection of his stories was the best way to produce a Calvino biography. While some of my adaptations will be fairly straightforward, I’m hoping the answer to question I posed above–what is gained by adaptation?–is that the juxtaposition of unrelated Calvino works masquerading as a biography will reveal, to readers and to me, new insights about his work and his life.

II.

The first step was (re)reading all of Calvino. I was reading in English which excludes a few things, very possibly some key piece of material that would have pushed the project in a different direction, though to be fair Calvino’s bibliography in translation is fairly complete. 

I took notes and did a bit of drawing as I read, looking for stories or moments that seemed like a good fit. Phrases that suggested more than they said or sequences with a strong visual component, for example. Calvino was fairly open about the formal constraints he set for his work, so in reading about that I soon decided on a structure for the project as well. This meant that at a certain point I had some organizing principles in mind and began to seek out stories that filled specific gaps. 

Once I knew which stories I wanted to adapt, I could–inspired by Calvino–simply tackle each one individually and let the work accumulate. I’m still engaged in that process now, using the self-imposed monthly newsletter deadline to keep myself on schedule as I finish up the latter stories and return intermittently to the earlier ones. One real advantage of comics, something that could work well here if I deploy it carefully, is the way that repeated, refracted images and sequences can convey a sense of synchronicity that’s also present in Calvino’s various texts. The way his ideas are repeated or rhyme, but also evolve, as he explores them over time. So I’m sometimes returning to the stories I’ve already completed with that goal in mind. But it’s a balance, one never wants to be too obtuse or overbearing with that sort of thing…

http://whitecomics.co

***

Swag 5: Ballad of the Black Sun by Cameron Arthur.

The latest instalment of Cameron Arthur’s one man anthology series. Swag 5 is like a throwback to the golden age of cinematic Westerns. Slow boil simmering. When the narrative cracks, its like a rifle round going off. The artwork, the dialogue, the pacing are all slightly on the sparse side, creating a sense of vastness, of solitary desert wilderness and pitch-black nights. Wonderful. Very engaging. 3 Stories. 80 pages.

You can get a copy of Swag 5 by emailing Cameron directly.

camcom1228ATgmailDOTcom

Extract ↓

swag 5 cameron arthur 01
swag 5 cameron arthur 02
swag 5 cameron arthur 03
swag 5 cameron arthur 04
swag 5 cameron arthur 05

camcom1228ATgmailDOTcom

***

Domino Books

Domino Books hit a number of milestones in 2022. $40,262.15 paid to artists. That’s up $6000 from 2021. Also $13,577.09 spent on postage. Austin English. The guy’s a one man old-school underground distro machine.

New @ Domino:
Fake Comics by Jason T. Miles
The Drifter by Anna Haifisch.

Restocked @ Domino:
Grip by Lale Westvind
The Glass Chamber 0 by Tia Roxae.

***

All the Old Poisons

Online micro retailer. Owner says he tries to make everything available at prices that allow readers to take a shot on a book–even foreign language titles. He’s enjoyed bringing in various small collections of Japanese work from the likes of Suehiro Maruo, Shintaro Kago, Katsuhiro Otomo, Kazuo Umezu, Yoshikazu Ebisu, Takashi Nemoto, and Teruhiko Yumura. Plus some screen-printed books from publishers Le Dernier Cri and Bongoût. Great collection. Well curated. Gorgeous stuff.

https://alltheoldpoisons.myshopify.com/collections/comic-books

***

C.R.O.W.BAR 9 by Steve McArdle

Gonzo genre brut: Republished 90s indie marginalia from partnership between Floating World and Power Comics. Metal sensibilities. Determinedly intense artwork. Bang-bang-bang story telling. The superheroes vs aliens genre stripped down to its adolescent core. Great fun.

80 pages. B&W.

https://floatingworldcomics.com/shop/comic-books/c-r-o-w-bar-9-80-page-giant-by-steve-mcardle

Extract ↓

crowbar9 steve macardle 01
crowbar9 steve macardle 02
crowbar9 steve macardle 03
crowbar9 steve macardle 04

https://floatingworldcomics.com
https://www.instagram.com/power_comics

***

Doug Cueva

Ohio based cartoonist Doug Cueva has started posting some of his mini comics online. Politics. Humor. Space Opera. Well worth keeping an eye on, I reckon.

https://cavecomix.wordpress.com

***

Czolgosz Syzygy zine

The first and so far only issue of off-and-on WW3 contributor and editor Ethan Heitner’s zine has been around for a few years now. It’s still hot and fresh. Politics. Comics. Interviews with Joe Sacco and Eleanor Davis. Yiddish modernist poets. Abolitionist writings paired with art. You’ll know whether or not this is your kind of thing. If it is, highly recommended. All profits donated to the Rawa Cultural Communities Fund.

36-page zine, magazine size (8.5 x 11), b & w, saddle-stitch stapled.

https://www.czolgoszsyzygy.com/product/the-czolgosz-syzygy-1

https://www.czolgoszsyzygy.com/

Mailing List

Get the weekly Comix Report (and the occasional bit of breaking news) delivered straight to your inbox.

Alt Comics #9: But is it…Comic Aht? #4, Machine Detective + News & Links.

But is it…Comic Aht? #4

The fourth issue of Austin English and August Lipp’s intermittent magazine of comics culture, But is it…Comic Aht?, is due for dropping sometime in April (or thereabouts).

August Lipp
August Lipp

Unsurprisingly, given the names behind it, But is it…Comic Aht? is a periodical with a purpose and a lot of thought behind it.

To quote Mr. English:

In starting a new print magazine about comics, it’s my hope that some ideas and conversations might be preserved with an ounce of the dignity that the mediums art offers. Online criticism and discussion is important, but fades away extremely quickly and seems driven by argument rather than reflection. Early issues of The Comics Journal offered quiet pages for artists to study, piecing together the practices and ideas of favorite artists in lengthy interviews. After a month of thinking about what a cartoonist said in a discussion, some debate of those ideas would appear in the next months letter column. The weight  of a cartoonists words could be digested, embraced, rejected and most importantly THOUGHT about, rather then reacted to. 

Chaia Startz
Chaia Startz

Issue #4 is set to feature original comics and art, as well as written pieces, long form interviews, et cetera. Including: covers by August Lipp and Mollie Goldstrom, comics by David King, Victor Cayro, Chaia Stratz, John Mejias, a long interview with Chris Cilla by Tim Goodyear, a feature on David Lasky by Megan Kelso, and lots more besides.

Yes, please.

Victor Cayro
Victor Cayro
Victor Cayro
John Mejias
John Mejias

But is it…Comic Aht? #4, edited by Austin English and August Lipp. $8, 72 pages, newsprint, 8.5″ x 11″.

Pre-order now at Domino: http://dominobooks.org/comicaht4.html

The Machine Detective by Dustin and Nick Holland.

Machine Detective Cover Dustin and Nick Holland

The Machine Detective: A Friendly Wager is a heart-warming comedic tale of murder, mystery and dystopia, the outcome of an art and printmaking collaboration between brothers Dustin and Nick Holland. Writing for TCJ, Ryan Carey called it “…a comic absolutely bristling with creative energy and intent…” And so it is.

The second edition, I’m told, is selling out quickly.

Machine Detective Dustin and Nick Holland 01
Machine Detective Dustin and Nick Holland 02
Machine Detective Dustin and Nick Holland 03
Machine Detective Dustin and Nick Holland 04
Machine Detective Dustin and Nick Holland 05
Machine Detective Dustin and Nick Holland 06

Who says punk’s dead?

The Machine Detective: A Friendly Wager by Dustin and Nick Holland. 60 pages. 8.5″ x 11″. Black and White interiors with color covers. Handmade.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1308446386/machine-detective-a-friendly-wager

https://www.gorchverse.com/

News & Links

The Rust Belt Review is accepting submissions for Volume 6.
https://www.seanknickerbocker.com/submit

Golden Record by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell opens for pre-order on Silver Sprocket.
https://store.silversprocket.net/products/pre-order-golden-record-by-rosemary-valero-o-connell

Nate Garcia’s Plum Pocket is dropping within the next 24 hours and includes a one page painting by Simon Hanselmann.
https://nategarcia.bigcartel.com/product/plum-pocket

Read Consumption and Transformation by Jason Novak on TCJ.
https://www.tcj.com/dialogue-balloons/

The Centre for Cartoon Studies opens applications for Cornish Residency Fellowship.
https://www.cartoonstudies.org/cornishfellowship/

https://twitter.com/theSHQ/status/1623477654912655366

Kate Beaton (Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands) interviewed on BBC radio.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct34x9

Silver Sprocket releases list of their top 200 selling indie titles of 2022.
https://www.comicsbeat.com/sales-chart-silver-sprocket-top-200-indie-bestsellers-of-2022/

Quimby’s Feb Newsletter.
https://mailchi.mp/quimbys/epybccdgzv-3136964?e=54f6dee088

Los Bros Hernandez interviewed on Broken Frontier.
https://www.brokenfrontier.com/jaime-gilbert-hernandez-love-rockets-fantagraphics-first-fifty/

Another Comics Daze with Lars Ingebrigtsen.
https://lars.ingebrigtsen.no/2023/02/06/comics-daze-65/

Uncivilized Books newsletter.
https://mailchi.mp/uncivilizedbooks/uncivilized-territories-6026461

Reviews

Desperate Measures by M.S. Harkness reviewed on Optical Sloth.
http://www.opticalsloth.com/?p=27657

Supplement by Ben Cherry reviewed on Optical Sloth.
http://www.opticalsloth.com/?p=27651

Revenge of the Librarians by Tom Gauld on TCJ.
https://www.tcj.com/reviews/revenge-of-the-librarians/

Forget my Name by Zerocalcare, translated by Carla Roncalli Di Montorio reviewed on TJC.
https://www.tcj.com/reviews/forget-my-name/

Tedward Classic Moves by Josh Pettinger & Simon Hanselmann reviewed by Ryan Carey.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/tedward-classic-78432733

Ashling Larkin’s Estrela d’Oeste on Broken Frontier.
https://www.brokenfrontier.com/estrela-doeste-ashling-larkin/

Drew Lerman’s Tales of Old Snake Creek reviewed by Ryan Carey.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/wild-witty-dare-78386865

Maus Now: Selected Writing, edited by Hillary Chute reviewed by the Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/06/maus-now-selected-writing-edited-by-hillary-chute-art-spiegelman-review-the-maus-that-made-history

https://twitter.com/DominoComics/status/1623837073084932097

GET NEW POSTS BY EMAIL:

All copyrighted materials used with permission or through Fair Use and are ©2023 their respective copyright holders.

Alt Comics: Rich Tommaso, Clusterfux Comix #5 + News & Links.

Black Phoenix Rich Tommaso Cover

Black Phoenix Vol. 1 by Rich Tommaso

Black Phoenix is, at its core, a contemporary comics magazine featuring original characters and stories of various comics genres—all dreamed up by its sole author, Rich Tommaso. Don’t be fooled by the pseudonyms inside—he changes names as often as drawing styles. But, the magazine is also like a walk through comics history itself. Each volume of these golden age, pulp styled digest anthologies is headed up by a long-form comics adventure which is backed up by a bunch of short-form comics—all in the same genre or flavor.

Black Phoenix Vol. 1 by Rich Tommaso. 136pages. Color. Due 28th Feb 2023. Pre-orders available at various online retailers.

Black Phoenix Rich Tommaso 01
Black Phoenix Rich Tommaso 02
Black Phoenix Rich Tommaso 03
Black Phoenix Rich Tommaso 04

https://www.instagram.com/richtommaso
https://floatingworldcomics.com/

Clusterfux Comix #5

The fifth issue of Cameron Hatheway’s Clusterfux Comix anthology is out now, including a sheet of Flippitoons trading cards designed by James Fletcher.

Contributors: James Fletcher, Alex Daikaiju, Miguel Elias Aguilar, Umberto Tonella, Catalina Rufín, Samuel Cleggett, Tanha Comics, Dylan Henty, Dave Neeson, J. Webster Sharp, Cameron Zavala, Jason Covelli, Ryan King, mattchee, Isaac Roller, Anthony Aiuppy, Jacob Fleming, Charlie Sisemore, Cameron Hatheway.

Clusterfux Comix #5. 156 pages. B&W. 8.5″x11″.

https://clusterfuxcomix.bigcartel.com/product/clusterfux-comix-5

Clusterfux 01
Clusterfux 02
Clusterfux 03
Clusterfux 04
Clusterfux 05
Clusterfux 06

https://www.cammyscomiccorner.com/

News & Links

https://twitter.com/ThoughtBubbleUK/status/1622203491593617410

Fantagraphics’s Tits & Clits 1972-1987 gets good pre-release press from Publisher’s Weekly.
https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781683966838?mc_cid=c3d2f49b32&mc_eid=204594586b

John Porcellino’s King Cat #82 reviewed on Optical Sloth.
http://www.opticalsloth.com/?p=27645

Liv Stromquist’s The Reddest Rose reviewed on AIPT.
https://aiptcomics.com/2023/01/30/the-reddest-rose-romantic-love-from-the-ancient-greeks-to-reality-tv-review/

Tessa Brunton’s Notes From A Sickbed reviewed on Solrad.
https://solrad.co/small-moments-writ-large-rob-clough-reviews-tessa-bruntons-notes-from-a-sickbed

https://twitter.com/DominoComics/status/1622448383351836676

Ho Che Anderson interview on CBR.
https://www.cbr.com/indie-spotlight-ho-che-anderson-interview/

Fantagraphics Feb releases.
https://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/new-this-month

New Cartoonist Cooperative spearheaded by Sloane Leong and others soft launches with newsletter.
https://cartoonist.coop/

If you’re near Seattle on Feb 20th: Drawn & Quarterly at the 2023 Winter Institute.
https://drawnandquarterly.com/event/drawn-quarterly-at-the-2023-winter-institute/

Peter K Rostovsky’s debut graphic novel, Damnation Diaries, is now available for pre-order @ Uncivilized + Barnes & Noble/Amazon/Target.
https://uncivilizedbooks.com/damnation-diaries/

Read Party Downer by Gemma Correll on NIB.
https://thenib.com/pity-party/

Brooklyn’s Last Secret by Leslie Stein extract from D&Q.
https://drawnandquarterly.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/9781770466340_sample.pdf

New Chris Cilla T-shirt. Limited quantity. Hot stuff.


https://sardinecanpress.storenvy.com/collections/1446772-shirts/products/22408674-hot-sauce-t-shirt-by-c-cilla

Daily drawing from Cilla’s Patreon.


https://www.patreon.com/cccilla

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Alt Comics: Gabrielle Bell, News & Links + John Backderf Interview.

Career Shoplifter Review

Career Shoplifter by Gabrielle Bell

Gabrielle concludes that she is a failure in life, so she might as well do what she likes for the rest of it. She spends hours at cafes covertly drawing and eavesdropping on her fellow layabouts and shirkers every day. Occasionally she gets caught, and sometimes, she makes friends.

I’ve heard it said Ms. Bell is the voice of a generation. I wouldn’t disagree.

Career Shoplifter by Gabrielle Bell. 6×9″, 64 pages, Color and B&W. Uncivilized Books.

https://uncivilizedbooks.com/career-shoplifter-by-gabrielle-bell/

Gabrielle Bell Career Shoplifter 00
Gabrielle Bell Career Shoplifter 01
Gabrielle Bell Career Shoplifter 02
Gabrielle Bell Career Shoplifter 03
Gabrielle Bell Career Shoplifter 04

News & Links

Cameron Hatheway’s anthology Clusterfux Comix #5 is available for purchase.
https://www.cammyscomiccorner.com/single-post/clusterfux-comix-5-is-now-available-to-purchase

Review of Cat #4 by Brandon Berry.
http://www.opticalsloth.com/?p=27639

https://twitter.com/kyle_deleted/status/1620878989668777984

Bubbles Zine still has 2023 subscriptions open ’til March 15th.
https://www.bubbleszine.com/product/bubbles-3-issue-subscription-for-16-17-18

This week’s Comics Journal Links.
https://www.tcj.com/man-and-superman-this-weeks-links/

Broken Frontier lists 6 small press creators to watch in 2023.
https://www.brokenfrontier.com/garcia-firth-tubb-hu-sharp-kubrick-6-to-watch/

If you’re near Norfolk, Virginia this weekend. ↓

Noice '23

Vintage Derf zine interview.

Sticking a tweet from John Backderf in Wednesday’s News & Links section reminded me that I had, back in the early 2000s, conducted an email Q&A with Mr. Backderf for an online zine I used to run. As is the nature of such things, the zine is now long since defunct, consigned to the dustbin of digital history. But! Rereading the interview for the first time in forever, it’s actually aged fairly well. Which is not that surprising: John Backderf is an interesting guy, with a lot of interesting work to his name.

Anyway, I thought it might be worth reposting.

So, for purposes of historical interest, here follows two screenshots of the original post, then the interview.

Note: Please excuse the odd outdated cultural reference (does anyone remember that Mercedes ad set to Janis Joplin? Or Fabio, for that matter?) and the youthful earnestness (and occasional ignorance) of the questions.

Attempting-to-be-hip early 2000s web design. If you’re having trouble getting a layout to work, stick it in a pop-up.
I once got an email from Jim Woodring telling me he couldn’t read the tiny font sizes I used for content. Now, at 40 years old, I can’t either. Sorry, Jim.

The Interview.

Derf - White Middle Class Suburban Man

Q: You’ve certainly caused a lot of controversy in your time. Offending almost every shade of closed minded individual: Christians, concerned mothers, Republicans, Democrats, Caucasians, footballer’s, Fabio supporters – and so it goes on. What’s your secret? I mean you’ve gotta be tapping into some long ignored corner of the mass ‘suburban psyche’ to get such a reaction?

A: Well I’m a product of the burbs. I grew up in a small Ohio farm town that, by the time I left for college was being overrun by housing developments. There aren’t a lot of people doing stuff on the burbs either… Y’know, in a way that states “hey, this is a pretty screwed up way to live.” Most regard that as blasphemous. Many just don’t see it. They think they’re living in a fucking paradise. That’s really the whole premise of White Middle Class Suburban Man. The poor fellow is too delusional to realize what a soulless dump it is he lives in.

I also appear to have been born with the gift of really pissing people off. It first manifested itself in high school when I was foolishly asked to draw the stars of the football team for a pep-rally banner and rendered them all as Neanderthal trolls with overhanging foreheads. I had to dodge angry jocks for weeks after that. Since that time, at least once a year I do something that gets me in hot water. In college, another cartoon on a football star, one who got in trouble with the law, kicked up such a fire-storm I actually had to flee town for a week until things cooled down. And, y’know…. I never see it coming. It’s always the cartoons I think are completely innocuous that get me the most shit. Other pieces are just notorious right from the concept, like the Young Jeffrey Dahmer stuff. People object to its existence in principle… without ever actually bothering to read it and discover that it’s not what they think it is.

Q: I know that what happened to you with Jeffrey Dahmer would’ve had quite an effect on me. Was doing ‘Young Jeffrey Dahmer’ almost a cathartic experience for you?

Derf: No. Not really. When the news first broke about Dahmer… when was it? 1990? 91?… I was plenty freaked out. You just can’t imagine what it was like. But the first chapter of Young Jeffrey Dahmer wasn’t published until five years later, well after he was tried, convicted and killed in prison. So I had plenty of time to process it and get it straight in my head. I just finished the last two chapters, so that’s a six-year gap there. I’m shopping it to publishers now. If no one will print it, I’ll publish it myself and sell it on the website. But it WILL see print this year.

Actually, working on the piece was both unsettling and oddly sentimental. Sentimental because I was drawing people and places from my youth. I admit to having fun compiling reference photos from the time and re-creating my home town, the interior of my high school, the mall, my boyhood friends…. I focused on that and it took my mind off all the very disturbing elements of the story, which obviously there are many. It was the writing of it that was the hardest. And finally I just sat down and scrawled it out in a day. It came out very quickly and needed almost no revision. Those who read it for the first time (chapter 1 is on the site) are always surprised there’s no gore, no deviant sex, no graphic depiction’s of any kind. That it’s a haunting, thoughtful account of how a troubled kid was allowed to spiral into madness. People are also quite surprised that I paint Dahmer as a tragic figure. But that’s what he was when I knew him. He didn’t have to become a monster. He could’ve been helped… at that point anyways.

Q: In a previous interview you mentioned that you had no delusions about changing the world. Well – the way I see it, when someone gets offended at least it’s proof of some form of mental arithmetic taking place (for better or for worse). So even if you’re just presenting people with the ‘opportunity’ to suddenly say : damn -bugger the lawn – there’s got to be another way. Isn’t it worth it?

A: Generally speaking, I believe I’m mostly preaching to the choir. The vast majority of people who read the papers my cartoon appears in, the free weekly city papers here in the states and in Canada, are youngish urban dwellers with a left bent. So we’re all of a similar mind to start. There are some right-wing blowhards out there who read the papers only to “monitor” the content. They’re the ones I usually hear from.

But I just don’t believe cartoons have the power to make or change opinion. Nor do I really want to. I wanted to when I was young and stupid but long ago left that behind. Besides, the world is becoming more and more rigidly divided. Or, at least this country is and, since we have all the guns, we’re the ones that count. My recent cartoons on our new President have generated some unbelievable letters… most, hilariously… full of grammatical and spelling errors. All because I make fun of some doofus frat boy whose party managed to steal an election? C’mon. And, of course, we’re so simple-minded in America that these people think I’m a Gore supporter just because I make fun of Bush, when the truth is I couldn’t stand EITHER of the bastards.

As for changing the world…I’m really just in it for the laughs, man. I figure if I can make someone chuckle for a minute or two once a week then, hey, that’s not such a bad accomplishment is it?

Q: I see the recent US. election as evidence that the notion of the American Dream has indisputably gone belly up, bobbed to the surface and swelled in the midday sun.

A: Well…It’s my contention that happened long ago. Reagan, Clinton, the Bushes…. every one of them sold out the common man. Perhaps Clinton worst of all, because he was such a hypocrite, pretending to be the defender of the average joe while giving the capitalist machine whatever it wanted. But Dubya is really the first president entirely bought and paid for by corporate interests. He should have a bar code tattooed on his forehead. And the American Dream has, at best, only ever worked for a relative few.

This recent post-election debacle could have been worse, of course. There was no violence in the streets as opposition groups clashed. I was actually a bit surprised there wasn’t, given the rancor. The fighting was restricted to the courtroom as lawyers duked it out and on the airwaves as the spinmeisters battled for the upper hand. Lawyers and spin… THAT’S the American Way.

Q: You’ve called the ‘Suburban Plague’ the most destructive cultural movement in the last 50 years. What steps do you think could be taken to try and take a big chip out of the status quo? To present and promote alternative outlooks?

A: The key is some sort of regionalism where communities work together to preserve green space and farms and put an end to, or at least slow, sprawl. There are places– Oregon, for example– where they’ve had some success with it. Certainly, in Europe they do it very well. But not any place I’ve lived, unfortunately. Florida, where I got my start as a pro cartoonist, for instance, really just needs to be sawed off at the panhandle and allowed to drift away. There’s no saving it. I live in Ohio now and it’s shocking how much farmland has been lost. That farm town I grew up in is now covered with $1-million homes. Fucking yuppies covering the fields with giant monuments to excess.

The eventual solution? We just have to use our brains… which means there’s probably no hope.

Q: O.K. Lets take a look at the worst case scenario – If nothing changes and things carry on in the direction they’re currently going, where do you see humanity in say 50 years time?

A: Hard to say. The population in America is not expanding. There’s just more people taking up more space. Who could’ve predicted what we’ve got now? I recall futurists in the 70s talking about megalopolises, where separate urban areas would eventually link, but I don’t think anyone expected the numbing monotony of the suburban landscape we have now and how regional distinctions have been steamrolled by Wal-Mart and Best Buy. I suspect the next several generations, the ones who grow up in the heart of sprawl, will return to cities and perhaps start an urban renaissance. We’ll see. I know I’ll be here waiting for them.

Q: Your underground popularity could be taken as proof that there are a growing number of people out there who don’t just take the propaganda that the ‘Media Priests’ shove down their throats at every opportunity. So maybe there is hope.

A: Is there a growing number? Unfortunately, these corporations are just too advanced. It seems like they just absorb the underground– hip-hop being a good example– and turn it into corporate product, no matter how outrageous it originally was. Revolution, Inc. if you will. It takes effort, REAL effort, to resist the corporate brainwash. I’ve always made the effort, indeed it’s almost a hobby, but I don’t have a feel for how many others do. My fear is that it’s a pretty small number.

Q: What you say about the mainstream absorbing the underground is really spot on, here in South Africa there’s this new ad where they play on the notion of a monotonous unfulfilled life (drive-work-drive-work-drive-work) to sell an expensive car . Never thought the day would come when they use anti-consumerism to sell luxury cars, it’s sick really.

A: My favorite was Mercedes Benz using Joplin’s “Oh Lord, Won’t You Buy Me a Mercedes Benz” in a commercial. Completely straight, as if Joplin had written it as a plug, instead of as a anti-consumption ballad. It was absolutely mind-boggling, this corporation saying, “We command that you reject the irony in these lyrics. It means what WE say it means.” To make it worse it was probably some fucking Baby Boomer ad rep, who 30 years ago was smoking bong to “Pearl” that came up with the thing.

They’re in your head like never before. I’m actually more worried about marketers monitoring me than I am the government. I pay cash whenever I can, so there’s little record of what I buy. I lie on warranty forms, give them incorrect info. I go to great effort to foil these people.

Q: Do you see the internet as a possibility to open up even further the alternate comix scene?

A: Maybe. The problem is, of course, is that no one makes any money off the net…. unless you’re selling porn. I made enough on ads to pay for the space, but that’s COMPLETELY dried up since the dot.com crash last summer. The only dough I make now off the site now is selling t-shirts and prints. I hope it’ll turn around eventually. I’m not much of a capitalist— not a successful one anyways– but this IS how I make my living. The Net is great for getting your work out there… but how do people find it? That’s the key.

Q: Plunger Justice has to be one of my all time favourite ‘The City’ strips. I just have to know – how’d you come up with that one?

A: Oh, just one of those flashes of inspiration that popped into my head. And once I got the notion “what if a plunger up the ass became accepted punishment?” the rest of the strip just wrote itself. Unfortunately, it’s not such a ridiculous thought as it would at first seem. There are a shocking number of people who believe “criminals” deserve to be tortured. I’ve always had a thing about cops and the whole cop culture, the way the authorities play off the fear of crime to amass more and more power. It’s my assertion that America is, in fact, a police state.

Q: To end off – thanks for agreeing to the interview and keep on asking uncomfortable questions.

A: I’m afraid I’m incapable of doing anything but.

http://www.derfcity.com/

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Alt Comics: Floyd Tangeman + News & Links.

tangeman miasma myopia cover

Floyd Tangeman’s Miasma Myopia

Floyd Tangeman is probably best known for putting out a series of experimental, lets even say avant-garde, anthologies through Deadcrow, his art comic publishing outfit.

With Miasma Myopia, a year in the making and clocking in at 32 pages, we now have Tangeman’s first full length solo work. As you’d expect, it carries the same sense of untameable wildness as his publishing and editorial output.

In other words, Miasma Myopia is not an art comic in the sense of being a fussy demonstration of form and technique. It’s a lot more primal (and engaging?) than all that.

You can read a review from Brian Nicholson here: https://www.tumblr.com/arecomicsevengood/686261003677220864/miasma-myopia-1

Miasma Myopia by Floyd Tangeman. 32 pages. Color cover, black and white interiors. 
https://deadcrow.bigcartel.com/product/miasma-myopia-1

tangeman miasma myopia 01
tangeman miasma myopia 02
tangeman miasma myopia 03
tangeman miasma myopia 04
tangeman miasma myopia 05

https://deadcrow.bigcartel.com/

News & Links

Bob Levin delves into Spiegelman’s Breakdowns.
https://www.tcj.com/art/

Review of Caitlin Cass’s Postal Constituent Volume 12 #2.
http://www.opticalsloth.com/?p=27634

https://twitter.com/DerfBackderf/status/1620019215263752193

Broken Frontier interview with Beatrice Mossman.
https://www.brokenfrontier.com/interview-beatrice-mossman/

Luke Healy’s The Con Artists reviewed on White Wall.
https://whitewallreview.com/crazy-little-thing-called-friendship/

New issues of Adam Yeater’s Blood Desert.

blood desert

https://blooddesert.bigcartel.com/
https://onelastday.storenvy.com/

Breakdown from Todd Allen re: Amazon Comixology troubles.
https://www.comicsbeat.com/comixology-update-strange-doings-at-amazon/

SelfMadeHero release Spring 2023 publishing slate of bio comics.
https://www.brokenfrontier.com/selfmadehero-spring-2023-kleist-talbot/

Alex Fellows has posted Ice Cream (his 182pg graphic novel) to read free online.

Ice Cream Alex Fellows

http://alexfellows.com/ice-cream/

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