Michael D. Kennedy: Mr. Hardee and MiNT Digital Bundle.

Kennedy Digital Bundle

Kennedy 01

Kennedy 02

Kennedy 03

Kennedy 04

Kennedy 05

“Missed out on the print copies of any of these comics? Here they are in a high quality PDF. Featuring the flagship publications of Michael D. Kennedy during the the period of 2014-2022. 388 page pdf.”

https://www.michaeldkennedy.com/shop/p/mr-hardee-and-mint-digital-bundle

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For a closer look at the individual titles included, go here: https://www.michaeldkennedy.com/shop

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All print copies of the titles included in the digital bundle are currently sold out in Michael’s web-shop. But there are print copies of Mr. Hardee available at Partners and Sons (US), Gosh comics (UK) and, soon, at All the Problems in this World (Germany).

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https://www.michaeldkennedy.com/

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Pre-order: Together and Apart by Andrew White.

I mentioned Fieldmouse Press’s latest Kickstarter campaign a couple weeks back. I’d like to draw special attention to one of the titles involved: Andrew White’s Together and Apart.

White is such a talented cartoonist. His work is just so subtle and well observed. Bellissimo.

White 01

White 02

White 03

“Together and Apart: Biographies of Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, and Georgia O’Keeffe by Andrew White – 296 pg. black and white hardcover.

Three separate biographies connecting three ground-breaking artists, told in their own words. Andrew White brings his gorgeous and lyrical style to a set of biographies that read like a whisper and a song. White adapts the writings and work of these three artists in an active dialogue with the source material of their lives.”

https://crowdfundr.com/fmp_spring2023

NB. It’s worth noting this is a collection of previously published material, with additions. You can read about it here: https://whitecomics.co/2023/04/03/together-and-apart/

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I recently found out Andrew is a graduate of one of Frank Santoro‘s correspondence courses. That fits. It’s the subtlety factor. And the sense of artistic inquiry present in both artist’s work.

Santoro’s old blog is still online, including bits of teaching material. ↓
http://coldheatcomics.blogspot.com/

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Release: Sammy the Mouse III / Chapter VI by Zak Sally.

SAMMY THE MOUSE III/ CHAPTER VI

Sammy the Mouse

Sammy the Mouse

“It’s been 10 years (!!!) since the last installment, but here we are. 56 pages on glorious, crappy old newsprint. IT’S A COMIC BOOK, DAMN IT. Cavort with the gang again as they yell, stare, fall on their faces in the dirt, and attempt to resolve long-simmering unknowable conundrums. JUST LIKE REAL LIFE. Will this thing get done by the 20 year mark? Who knows, and who cares; maybe this thing will make you laugh, or cry. You may not love it, but rest assured, it loves YOU. This comic is a co-production of La Mano and Kilgore books.”

https://lamano21.bigcartel.com/product/sammy-the-mouse-iii-chapter-vi

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Ryan C.’s Four Color Apocalypse Patreon.

Since I link to one or another of his articles on an almost weekly basis, I thought it only right to give a special mention to Ryan Carey’s comics review blog, Four Color Apocalypse.

It’s currently running on Patreon with a mix of free and paywall content. Subscriptions start at a supremely reasonable one dollar per month.

Really, Carey has introduced me to so many great works over the years, acting as a tirelessly stalwart advocate for self publishers and experimental comics.

Check it out:

https://www.patreon.com/fourcolorapocalypse

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Jonesy by Maggie Umber.

Maggie Umber has just dropped a new mini-comic.

“Jonesy is a wordless, watercolour mini-comic based on a dream…or as some would say, a nightmare. Maggie and Mom go on a wild ride. A cat, a dancing tube man and a suburban van collide in this night-time misadventure.”

Jonesy by Maggie Umber. 24 pages. 5.5 in x 8.5″. Pamphlet, saddle stitch. Full colour inkjet on matte cardstock.

https://maggieumber.com/pages/books/jonesy.html

Maggie Umber 01

Maggie Umber 02

Looks gorgeous. I can’t wait to read it.

https://maggieumber.com/

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Rodolphe Töpffer advises shaking off reality, ditching logical drag.

I’ve lately enjoyed trawling the back catalogue of Matthias Wivel’s Metabunker writings. Matthias is an always insightful critic and thinker possessed of a generosity of spirit so often lacking in high-brow comics criticism. There shall probably be a chunk of links forthcoming.

For now, I was particularly struck by this 2007 review of a monograph concerning Rodolphe Töpffer, the 19th century comics pioneer. Specifically as it includes a quote dating back to 1845 in which Töpffer offers advice to a fellow proto-cartoonist. The quote is stunning in just how early and completely it encapsulates the idiosyncrasies and unique potentials of the classical (read archetypal or mythic) approach to the comics medium.

“…for purposes of invention and composition you must likewise, if you wish to catch any action of the hop, begin by shaking off as far as possible the yoke of reality, and the logical drag of some conventional succession of events, in order to charge more into an area of livelier, quicker, and easier relationships, those that the mind grasps between pictures bound to an idea; and then the graphic contour, with its power of illusion, almost never fails to gel into a whole with enough continuity of likeness, the bold or crazy, the fantastic or even absurd. Here again the truth of the idea, the charms of the intention, the apt, witty, or novel observation, may be stitched onto this slight fabric, becoming more relevant and more valuable than [literal] truth as such could ever be.”

Mind = blown and all that.

http://www.metabunker.dk/?p=798

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