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Grangling
BY Tucker Stone Jan 28, 2020
Roman, Bernhard and libraries. Continue reading →
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Ryan Holmberg on Ominous Absurdity From "The Pits of Hell" by Ebisu Yoshikazu
Austin Price on Cats of the Louvre
Tucker Stone on Placeholder Quest
Neil Schon on Placeholder Quest
Spud on Getting Weirdo at the Society of Illustrators
How Do You Like This?
BY Tim Hodler Mar 19, 2013	Leave a comment
Today Joe "Jog" McCulloch is here again with another column on the Week in Comics, to which he has attached an essay on the great and mysterious Gerald Jablonski. I'll leave it to Joe to explain Jablonski, other than to say that reading his work will cure the attentive reader of any certainty she might possess about "rules" that must be followed when creating comics. And also that there are very few times I have laughed as hard as I have when reading Cryptic Wit #2 out loud.
—As you no doubt have heard, last week a dispute erupted over whether or not the Chicago public school system would be pulling Persepolis out of 7th grade classrooms. Here is an article at the Chicago Tribune, and here is a recent roundup of reaction at Robot 6. Search around if you want more -- there's plenty of commentary out there, though it's pretty repetitive. Usually in these cases I can sort of understand the rationale for censorship, even while almost always disagreeing with it, but this time around, I'm at a total loss.
—In the department of reaction to The Comics Journal: Glen Weldon raves at The New Republic over issue 302's Maurice Sendak interview, and a reviewer at the A.V. Club uses the occasion of a Fantagraphics-published book on popular music to flail at a tiny straw statue of Gary Groth he'd apparently built for himself in the early '90s.
—Stephen Bissette and Richard Gagnon are trying to use media coverage of the next Spider-Man movie to draw attention to Marvel's treatment of co-creator Steve Ditko.
—Lisa Hanawalt racks up an unusual accomplishment for a cartoonist: being nominated for a James Beard Award.
—Gil Roth interviews Pulitzer-winning political cartoonist Matt Wuerker.
—Chuck Austen tells his fellow Tokyopop creators to "move on."
—Finally, via the entire internet, a short PBS video on webcomics:
What Color Is It?
BY Dan Nadel Mar 18, 2013	Leave a comment
Today brings us the return of Jeet Heer to this site. We have missed you, Jeet. Here he interviews Walter Biggins, who is leaving University Press of Mississippi after 14 years, where he published some of most significant prose books on comics. Some of my favorites are: Hand of Fire: The Comics Art of Jack Kirby, The Comics of Chris Ware: Drawing Is a Way of Thinking, Drawn and Dangerous: Italian Comics of the 1970s and 1980s, and Howard Chaykin: Conversations.
Here's a beautiful Connor Willumsen comic originally worked on for our own Frank Santoro's correspondence course.
A Xerox bought on eBay from TCJ-contributor Ron Goulart leads to some thoughts from Paul Tumey on Cole's early technique.
David Lasky interviewed.
Tom Spurgeon picks up and comments on the recent internet meme going around: working for free.
More online comics: Thomas Herpich at VICE.
Finally, I know I'm showing my age here, but when I was an 11 year-old comic book fanatic, this comic somehow seemed old, hard to find, and mind-blowing. All those heroes in one place? Unthinkable.
201 Minutes of Space Idiocy
We started our week with a question from Ryan Holmberg, and we end it with a full-blown column. This time in What Was Alternative Manga?, Holmberg looks at a Japanese-language comic from the Philippines, involving mad scientists and cloned women, and wonders about its origins:
Hypothesis: it was designed for sale to Japanese male businessmen and sex tourists, who were sometimes one and the same. This makes sense not only time-wise, but also content-wise.
Tourism exploded amongst the Japanese in the 1970s. Thanks to increasing affluence and a strong yen, more Japanese had the ability to travel both domestically and overseas. In Japanese studies, one often reads about the "Discover Japan" campaigns initiated in 1970, targeted primarily at young women, urging them to find themselves through trips to exotic corners of their country. This is also the period that young artists and middle-class Japanese began flying to the centers of European civilization, or hopping across America from San Francisco to the Grand Canyon and over to the Big Apple. In the pages of Tezuka Osamu's COM circa 1970, there are a couple of articles about its artists visiting the States, Nagashima Shinji in New York, Fujiko Fujio meeting Roy Thomas. Meanwhile in Garo, Tsuge Yoshiharu was becoming famous with literary versions of his solitary sojourns to fishing holes and hot springs in the Japanese countryside – not organized tourism, obviously, but a sign that the romance of travel was beginning to grow in various corners of Japanese culture.
—The digital manga service JManga announced that it is shutting down at the end of May. Johanna Draper Carlson has commentary.
—The Harvey Awards are now accepting nominations.
—Dylan Horrocks draws Jack Kirby, and explains the provenance of that famous "Comics will break your heart" quote.
—Interviews. Jaime Hernandez talks to Hazlitt, James Vance talks to CBR, and Julia Grörer talks to Inkstuds.
—Lea Hernandez remembers Toren Smith.
—Drawn & Quarterly has announced their fall list.
—Kickstarter kontroversy kontinues.
—The Robot 6 team talks about reading digital Marvel comics on the new app.
—Grady Hendrix at Film Comment writes a short history of Mad magazine's movie parodies.
The Popcorn
BY Dan Nadel Mar 14, 2013	1 Comment
Today on the site R.C. Harvey reviews Michael Schumacher and Denis Kitchen's Al Capp: A Life to the Contrary. The Harv has written not only a thorough examination of the book, but also added some of his own memories of the man. So check it out.
The chief occurrences of Capp's life are treated in great detail: the loss of his left leg at the age of nine and the probable psychological consequences; his education at a succession of art schools he was too poor to pay tuition to; his apprenticeship to Ham Fisher and the dispute about who created the hillbilly Big Leviticus in Joe Palooka; the resulting feud, its nastiness, and Fisher's attempt to smear Capp's reputation; Capp's emergence as a pop culture celebrity; his shrill attacks on the New Student Left on college campuses; his notorious visit to John Lennon and Yoko Ono; the subliminal eroticism in Li'l Abner; Capp's extracurricular sex life, preying upon show girls and college co-eds, and his fall from grace as a result. In every instance, the book offers insights into these events that are new to me (and I've researched Capp's life for my book, at least as much as publicly available documents permit).
TCJ-contributor Sean T. Collins writes about the web comic Haunter.
Cartoonists on rabbits.
Publishers Weekly reports on SXSW and SelfMadeHero.
Richard Brody on Pixar's storytelling.
A Kirby "rant" from Rob Steibel centered around the Captain America #200 letters column.
What's the Good of Anything?—Nothing!
BY Tim Hodler Mar 13, 2013	15 Comments
Today, Rob Clough reviews the Runner Runner anthology. Here's some of what he had to say:
Greg Means is well known for his "Clutch McBastard" zine alter ego as well as for editing the exquisitely designed Papercutter anthology. Runner Runner was his contribution to Free Comic Book Day 2012 as well as a staple at his convention tables. Far from a throwaway freebie, this lean minicomic has a killer lineup of excellent work. It seems like Means will be concentrating on Runner Runner as far as his anthologies go, as he's discontinued Papercutter and Nate Powell has announced he is doing a comic with Al Burian for this year's Runner Runner. The anthology is mostly comprised of West Coast cartoonists, including a number from Means' home base of Portland, Oregon. As such, it's an excellent sampler of the most experienced cartoonists from that scene (as well as a smattering of other good cartoonists) who are mostly known for their minicomics.
—Avi Steinberg has a great short review of Maurice Sendak's last book on The New Yorker website, linking it to Sendak's first unpublished book, which he created as a child.
—New progress seems to have been made in the age-old quest to find the secret origins of MAD magazine's Alfred E. Neuman. (John Adcock has more.)
—The New York Times profiled a day in the life of comiXology CEO David Steinberger, written just before the Marvel promotion that knocked out the site's servers for two days.
—Michael Barrier has a short essay on Walt Kelly, illustrated and explained through publicity photos taken for a Chuck Jones-directed Pogo animation special.
—Paul Di Filippo reviews Lynda Barry's Freddie Stories, Glen Weldon reviews Ben Katchor's Hand-Drying in America, and Craig Fischer reviews Bernie Krigstein's Messages in a Bottle.
—Maren Williams at the CBLDF blog writes a short history of the end of Australian comic-book censorship.
—Via Twitter, Erik Larsen argues, "If you need to include an arrow to tell readers which panel to read next your page is a failure. It should be obvious." Which seems more or less like a comics equivalent to "invisible style." And like invisible style in film, its use-value depends on what kind of comic you are making.
—For his day job, Chris Mautner profiles a local comic-book collector.
—Not Comics: What a great photograph. I know it's hipper these days to dig Keaton and disparage Chaplin, but I don't care what you say. City Lights, man.
—Also Not Comics, But Closer: Here's the trailer for a new documentary about a group of artists not so dissimilar from cartoonists, sign painters:
Brittle Bones
BY Dan Nadel Mar 12, 2013	4 Comments
It's Tuesday and that means while you were sleeping Joe McCulloch was writing about the week in comics.
TCJ-contributor Nicole Rudick interviews 7 Miles a Second artists James Romberger and Marguerite Van Cook for Artforum.
There is a new Seth book on the horizon and it sounds excellent.
George Lucas has a proposal for a "Cultural Arts" museum with a heavy illustration and cartooning emphasis, which could be interesting. Lucas once was a backer of a comic art gallery in NYC some 30 or more years ago. Aside from his Rockwell collection he's known to have one of the largest George Herriman collections. Who knows what else is in there...
This the first review I've seen of Renee French's TOON book, Barry's Best Buddy. I'm looking forward to that book.
Click here for fear.
Attention Chester Brown: Louis Riel photos found in Australia. That's a commute.
It's pix from the Society of Illustrator's Harvey Kurtzman opening.
I've lately been amazed at how corporate hacks and apologists have reinvented themselves as "historians" but that's showbiz, folks. In any case, I'll let you guess which of the panelists at this talk have anything relevant to say about the topic.
BY Tim Hodler Mar 11, 2013	7 Comments
Ryan Holmberg has some questions for you.
And today we republish Gary Groth's 1996 interview with Barry Windsor-Smith, from TCJ 190. Here's a sample:
GROTH: I don't read mainstream comics much but we get piles of them in the office and I look at them once in a while. And because I read them as a kid and I can go back to that Kirby and Ditko and Stan Lee stuff and so on, I have this morbid curiosity about why they look like such unadulterated shit these days. I read interviews with contemporary creators who write and draw them and they seem to be very excited about what they're doing. And I wonder about why the stuff is so wretched. I wonder if it's just the Zeitgeist or if it's just the creators themselves or if it's me.
WINDSOR-SMITH: I know exactly what you're saying. I have the very same wonders myself. You and I can just sit around and scratch our heads over the phone, because I don't have any answer either. Yeah: is it the Zeitgeist? Are we missing something? Is it the same now as it was then but we just didn't know because we were in a different position then? This sort of questioning comes to us all. It has been the standard cliché for decades now, from the '60s with rock 'n' roll, or at least the British invasion style rock 'n' roll, where people would say, 'They can't play, they're only playing banjo chords. Whatever happened to Ella Fitzgerald and Satchmo and hey, Frank Sinatra — now there's a voice!" And all this sort of shit that I went through when I was a teenager, absolutely adoring everything I was hearing, from the Beatles to the Stones... Well, actually I was extremely judgmental even then: I fuckin' hated the Dave Clark Five because I could see them for the no-talent copyists that they were! But I loved anything that I thought was quality, and I certainly thought Lennon and McCartney were.
I actually have this strong memory of an uncle of mine whom I greatly admired. He was a musician, played jazz. I was over at his house one day, I was only about 15 or 16, the Beatles had been around for about a year or so — at least in Britain; they hadn't hit America yet — and he was sitting there just trashing them. Saying, "They can't play any notes. You call that singing?" And I really disliked my uncle from that moment onward. I've never liked him since. Because he seemed to totally sell out himself as a musician. In other words, he wasn't broad-minded enough to see that there is always new music. And he insulted one of my favorite things. So I'm dreadfully afraid that I'm doing exactly the same thing now!
GROTH: [Laughs.] You're turning into your uncle.
WINDSOR-SMITH: Yeah, I'm turning into an old complaining fart. There are so many people, I hear it all the time: "Oh my God, I'm beginning to sound like my dad!" It's a standard routine for stand-up comedians nowadays.
GROTH: But seriously, there is a maturing process, and some people go through it and some people don't. And I think in some ways you do start sounding if not like your dad, at least like people you remember as having antiquated attitudes.
WINDSOR-SMITH: Somebody you don't like. I can remember a long time ago, you did a major interview with Jim Steranko.
GROTH: Whew—you're talking 25 years ago.
WINDSOR-SMITH: Yeah. And you seemed absolutely in awe of Jim at the time.
GROTH: I was.
WINDSOR-SMITH: And you were young. And Jim was lapping it up because we know what an egoist he is. But in recent times, or at least within the last eight or five years, I can remember when you totally trashed him in print for some reason. It wasn't out of hand, there was some purpose behind it; I forget what it was. I was thinking, "Gee, what happened to Gary in the meantime?" Yeah, we've all changed our taste — I guess. And now, Steranko was pretty damn good at what he did. We know it was derivative to a degree, but some of it wasn't. So for the people who were working at that time in that heyday of Marvel comics, Steranko certainly gave far more energy to his books than your average guy. Certainly he was no genius on the level of Jack Kirby, but who the hell was? So Jim's material was innovative to a degree, exciting to a degree, good for what it was. So why do you not see Jim's work in that perspective? Or do you?
GROTH: Looking at his Marvel work, I can't help but see it as thin and anemic. Whereas Kirby was genuinely original, and Ditko was too, Steranko was a compendium of graphic tricks and gimmicks picked up from various sources inside and outside of comics. So I don't think he's... If you look at it closely it tends to fall apart. It doesn't hold up to very close scrutiny.
WINDSOR-SMITH: I agree with you. I was thinking that way back when.
GROTH: Yeah. Well you were probably ahead of me because as you say, I was in —
WINDSOR-SMITH: I was right in the thick of it and I was functioning in the same capacity as a storyteller. So I could certainly see through Steranko.
—The much-missed-around-these-parts Jeet Heer wrote a review of Ben Katchor's new Hand-Drying in America for the Globe & Mail.
—Jonathan Clements has a tribute to his friend, Toren Smith.
—William Blake scholar Mark Crosby has a great post analyzing Maurice Sendak's use of Blake imagery in his last book.
—CBR talks to Ann Nocenti and Louise Simonson about writing for Marvel.
—Domingos Isabelinho writes about OuBaPo founding member Jochen Gerner.
—ARTnews has a piece on a 1950s mural Saul Steinberg made for the World's Fair.
—That B. Kliban guy was funny.
Investigated Something
Ron Goulart returns to the site today with a remembrance of Fred Ray.
Although Fred Ray is best remembered for the two decades he devoted to drawing DC's Tomahawk, he had already been in comics for several years before he took over the buckskin-clad hero and, in the early '40s, he did some of the best straight adventure stuff in the comic books of the time, as well of some memorable Golden Age covers.
Frederic E. Ray, who usually signed himself Fray, was born in Pennsylvania in 1922. He always had an interest in history as well as in comics, and his major influences growing up were illustrators Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth and Frederic Remington, as well as cartoonists Hal Foster and, most important, Noel Sickles. He was impressed, too, by a nonfiction newspaper strip called Highlights of History by an artist named J. Carroll Mansfield.
A Kickstarter campaign for the book Sullivan's Sluggers gets ugly and then gets uglier.
Thomas Nasts's traveling murals.
A tribute to Al Capp's various activities.
More on Jerry Ordway and thoughts on "ageism" in comics.
Cartoonist (conflict of interest alert) and author of Men's Group: The Video, Ben Jones, gets a preview here.
An essay on Tumblr and photography, some of which could be applied to comic book pages as well.
And finally, enjoy the weekend with the old National Lampoon and this great bit about John Lennon from its 1972 Radio Dinner LP.
The Comics Journal #304: Excerpt from The Simon Hanselmann Interview
In this excerpt from TCJ #304, Hanselmann talks about Gretzkys, the relationship between autobiography and fiction, and selling stuffed animals. Continue reading →
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Ominous Absurdity From "The Pits of Hell" by Ebisu Yoshikazu
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