Friday, April 19, 2024

One For You, Nineteen For Me – This Week’s Links

April 19, 2024 Philippines , Pinoy 0 Comments

With the changing of the seasons, the passing of the years, and a look at my comics shelves that are nearly full once again, my thoughts slip away to how things used to be - back when publishers entering the age of collected editions seemed vehemently opposed to series numbering appearing on the spines (I’ve never been a buyer of periodicals (boo, hiss, chiz, etc), except for indies and small presses), and so I’d have to spend a good deal of my non-refundable lifespan in shops squinting at indicia, trying to figure out which volume was the next I’d need to buy, in order not to skip 20-odd issues in a proposed sequence of reading - a more gnomic, arcane time, and one which I hope the sentence construction of this week’s links, below, forever harkens back to.

This week’s news.

• Returning to the courtroom, once again, as this week as a group of publishers, comprising Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and Sourcebooks, joined a lawsuit seeking to defend against the state of Iowa’s appeal to roll back a block on its controversial law, SF 496, that seeks to ban books from school libraries that include, amongst other things, themes pertaining to gender identity and sexual orientation - enforcement of the law was initially blocked by a federal judge at the end of  last year, but not before school districts across the state were compelled to remove books from library shelves, which the state’s attorney subsequently claimed was being done so with too broad an interpretation of the law, despite the Iowa Department of Education declining to provide a list of books which should be removed to comply with said legislation - The Washington Post this week also reported on all pending state’s laws that would restrict or protect the actions of school librarians across the United States, with a number of bills looking to be enacted that could result in prosecution and jail time for any librarians found to have breached the resulting legislation.

• Sticking with the courtroom, this time in Japan, as The Asahi Shimbun reports that the Tokyo District Court has returned a ruling on a lawsuit filed in 2022 by publishers Kadokawa, Shueisha, and Shogakukan against the operator of the now-defunct manga piracy website Mangamura, ordering the defendant, who has since also completed a three year prison sentence relating to the website’s operation, to pay damages to the companies to the tune of ¥1.7 billion ($11.01 million).

• Awards yet to be presented news, and San Diego Comic-Con this week announced the shortlist of 16 nominees up for the public vote for this year’s Eisner Awards Hall of Fame, with 4 spots available to join 2024’s class, alongside the 19 individuals already chosen by this year’s judging panel.

• Elsewhere, The Beat announced the shortlists for 2024’s Cartoonist Studio Prize Award, presented with The Center for Cartoon Studies, with 13 nominees each in the Long-Form and Short-Form comic categories, with the winners in both categories taking home a prize of $1,000.

• In memoriam, remembering those the world of comics has lost, and news was shared this week of the passing of artist and writer Jeffrey Veregge, cover illustrator for Marvel, IDW, and Dark Horse, amongst others, who has died at the age of 50 from a heart attack.

This week’s reviews.

TCJ

• Tegan O’Neil reviews the erotic frictions of Becky Cloonan, Tula Lotay, et al’s Somna #1-3 - “But page after page of figures in the grip of sensual abandon can be repetitive in the same way page after page of hitting and punching can be repetitive, and they test the skill of the strongest artist to bring the mechanics to life.”

• Oliver Ristau reviews the interweaving flow of Alex Niño and J. Philip Ignacio’s Alandal - “Alandal tells us about the Spanish colonial rule of the Philippines, set at the end of the 18th century and staged in the intertwined Bayeux Tapestry style Niño partially used in Dead Ahead, but with extreme stylistically diversions ranging from Vincent van Gogh mannerisms to propaganda art, negative space compositions cutting blazing brightness out from dark matter like the bright future suggested by said agitprop, or the luminous effect every now and then provided by Van Gogh - but in black & white, mind you!”

 

AIPT

• Marvel Maximus reviews the narrative tension of Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Montos, et al’s Green Lantern War Journal #8.

• Christopher Franey reviews the character spotlights of Jeremy Adams, Diego Olortegui, et al’s Jay Garrick: The Flash #6.

• Colin Moon reviews the bleak wonders of Simon Spurrier, Aaron Campbell, et al’s John Constantine, Hellblazer: Dead in America #4.

• Michael Guerrero reviews the thrilling celebrations of DC’s Nightwing #113.

• David Brooke reviews the enjoyable satire of Al Ewing, Greg Land, et al’s Roxxon Presents: Thor #1.

• Justin Harrison reviews the chaotic conclusion of Zoe Thorogood’s Hack/Slash Back to School #4.

• Nathan Simmons reviews the evolving story of Tom King, Bilquis Evely, et al’s Helen of Wyndhorn #2.

• Collier Jennings reviews the emotional catharsis of Ethan S. Parker, Griffin Sheridan, Bob Quinn and John J. Hill’s Kill Your Darlings #8.

 

The Beat

• Kelas Lloyd reviews the sparse simplicity of Sam Nakahira’s Ruth Asawa – An Artist Takes Shape.

• Ricardo Serrano Denis reviews the unique tensions of Edgardo Miranda-Rodríguez, Elkys Díaz Nova, et al’s Lúz La Luminosa #1.

• Zack Quaintance reviews the stylistic fit of Mark Waid, Dan Mora, et al’s Batman/Superman – World’s Finest #26.

• Beau Q. reviews the reinforcing compositions of Al Ewing, Greg Land, et al’s Roxxon Presents: Thor #1.

• Tim Rooney reviews the enjoyable experimentation of TP Louise and Ashley Wood’s 7174 AD #1.

 

Broken Frontier

• Lindsay Pereira reviews the compelling conclusion of Mikaël’s Harlem, translated by Tom Imber.

• Lydia Turner reviews the balanced insights of Anna Härmälä’s Single Mothering.

• Andy Oliver reviews:

- The hypnotic horror of E.M. Carroll’s When I Arrived at the Castle.

- The harsh truths of Hayley Gullen’s Hayley’s Guide to Chemo (Colossive Cartographies #54).

- The delightful absurdity of Lewis Trondheim’s Bludzee.

 

The Harvard Crimson

Neeraja S. Kumar reviews the bittersweet poignancy of Nino Bulling's Firebugs.

 

House to Astonish

Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #134, Resurrection of Magneto #4, Wolverine #47, Ms Marvel: Mutant Menace #2, Weapon X-Men #2, and Invincible Iron Man #17.

 

Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics

Kalina Kupczynska reviews the important milestone of Jewish Women in Comics: Bodies and Borders, edited by Heike Bauer, Andrea Greenbaum and Sarah Lightman.

 

Multiversity Comics

• Conor Spielberg reviews the safe start of Megan Brown, Casey Gilly, Amy Mebberson, et al’s My Little Pony: Set Your Sail #1.

• Gregory Ellner reviews the fascinating storytelling of Tony Fleecs, Dave Wachter, et al’s Uncanny Valley #1.

• Mel Lake reviews the gooey horror of Chris Gooch’s In Utero.

 

Publisher’s Weekly

Have capsule reviews of:

- The stunning energy of Atsushi Kaneko’s Search and Destroy, translated by Ben Applegate.

- The shining worldbuilding of Rick Remender, Max Fiumara, et al’s The Sacrificers.

- The predictable schlock of Kelly Williams, Bob Frantz, Kevin Cuffe, et al’s Skeeters.

 

Solrad

Ian Cordingley reviews the mixed successes of Edgar P. Jacobs’ The Secret of the Swordfish, translated by Jerome Saincantin.

This week’s interviews.

TCJ

• Jake Zawlacki interviews Matt Lesniewski about Faceless and the Family, childhood comics-making attempts, the aspects that make an artist interesting, and ongoing creative evolutions - “But if I have any comic art influence in my creative DNA, it actually is the Marvel and DC stuff. Or at least the mainstream superhero comics I happened to see. That’s just about all I read up until I started to try and break in. I didn’t really know comics to be anything else. One other huge element that dictated the way my art looked at that time, though, would be that I always struggled to draw shadows or values of any kind. So I avoided it completely. I didn’t make a real effort to learn that stuff until 2019 or so, and eventually integrated it naturally into my work.”

• William Schwartz interviews Norm Feuti about Retail, the path to comic strip syndication, characters as aspects of their creator, and the differences between making a daily strip and writing and illustrating children’s books - “I have nothing but respect for anyone who can make a living in newspaper comics, and I wouldn't be presume to have some sage advice to offer. But for anyone who's thinking about making a change, just remember your skill set has value beyond newspaper strips. It's not the end of the road.”

• From the archives, originally published in 1980’s The Comics Journal #53, Bill Sherman interviews Trina Robbins about comics career origins, the underground comix and magazine scenes of the 70s, and the importance of comics to get messages across - “Comix are one of the last things that are relatively cheap. They’re that wonderful combination of pictures and words, pictures that tell stories. And you can get your point across and you can get it across cheaply and you can sell it cheaply, so the people you want it to reach can afford it. It’s a great medium.”

 

Aftermath

Luke Plunkett speaks with Tom Humberstone about Suzanne: The Jazz Age Goddess of Tennis, comics and illustration inspirations, poetry comics, and the capitalist dangers of AI.

 

AIPT

• Chris Hassan talks to Ann Nocenti about Giant-Size X-Men #1, character continuity considerations, superhero history research, and the energy of legacy characters.

• Michael Guerrero interviews Marv Wolfman about Nightwing #113, the evolution of Dick Grayson over the years, and honouring the legacy of George Pérez.

• Chris Coplan speaks with Luke Arnold and Doc Wyatt about Essentials, collaborating across mediums, keeping cosmic catastrophes simple, and the artists working on the book.

 

The Beat

• Justin Guerrero chats with Acky Bright aout WcDonald’s The Manga, adapting from an animated format, studio assistants and production timelines, and the high-pressure nature of manga creation.

• Diego Huera talks to M.H. Cali about The Fury, The Maelstrom, and The Kiwi, the origins of the project, and the artistic team brought together to tell the story.

 

Forbes

Scott King interviews Roy Thomas about recent claims regarding the creation of the character of Wolverine, and the reasons behind the decision to claim said credit this late in the day.

 

Print

Steven Heller speaks with Ariella Wolen, curator of NU Art Museum’s exhibition Louis M. Glackens: Pure Imagination about the artist’s cartooning and animation legacy.

 

Publisher’s Weekly

Amanda Ramirez chats with Pan Cooke about Puzzled, making the move from portrait artist to cartooning, and the realities of living with obsessive compulsive disorder.

 

Seattle Magazine

Shin Yu Pai talks to Tessa Hulls about Feeding Ghosts, the accessible nature of comics when introducing readers to the history of other cultures, and favourite pages to draw.

 

Women Write About Comics

Lisa Fernandes interviews Sarah Kuhn about Darkling, the Archie Comics history of Darla Long, and personal Archie obsessions.

This week’s features and longreads.

• Here at TCJ, RJ Casey waves through some fresh Arrivals and Departures, this edition looking at Nate Doyle’s Crooked Teeth #9, Nebila Oguz’s Reality Slapped Me, Andrew Pilkington’s Mole #10, and the anthologies Jaywalk #4 and Smoke Signal #42 - “But this new batch of cartoonists have replaced Saturday morning cartoons and genre nostalgia for toiling meditation and self-scrutiny, putting form and self on an even playing field in dreamy and deliberate ways. There’s a vibration to these aforementioned anthologies—and the scenes that have wrought them—that feels seismic in scope. Sound the alarm, I’m glad to be alive.”

• Also for TCJ, Jon Holt and Teppei Fukuda present a translation of Natsume Fusanosuke’s 2022 feature on the enduring appeal of Tezuka Osamu’s Astro Boy - “That fragile sense of life left a deep impression on me as a young child, and I’m sure it is what drove me in my later years to work at writing my Tezuka books; it was also what would become the reason why I saw that erotic quality in Tezuka. There was no other hero and no other robot like Astro.”

• Finally for TCJ this week comes a piece on the life and work of comics historian and retailer Robert Beerbohm, who passed away last month at the age of 71, as fellow comics historians, academics, and writers consider Beerbohm’s legacy - “[Jeet Heer]: Bob was a collector, art dealer and bookseller, but he was also a scholar. It’s a mistake to think that scholarship is confined only to academia. Outside the universities, there’s a vast body of history research done either by amateurs or people whose job requires them to have expertise in the past. This is certainly true of collectors, art dealers and booksellers.”

• The Beat has a pair of pieces in remembrance of comics creators who have recently passed, with Will J. Watkins writing on the life and work of artist Mark D. Bright, who died last month at the age of 68; and Heidi MacDonald writing on the legacy of cartoonist and historian Trina Robbins,who passed away earlier this month at the age of 85.

• The Washington Post also has an obituary for Trina Robbins as Harrison Smith writes on the impact of Robbins’ work, speaking with the Cartoon Art Museum’s Andrew Farago and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum’s Caitlin McGurk about the importance of Robbins’ comics history research.

• For The Nation, Jeet Heer writes on the work of Steve Brodner, on the occasion of Brodner being awarded this year’s Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning.

• For ICv2, Milton Griepp breaks down the results of the first general retailer survey from ComicsPRO, as the organisation spoke with 356 respondents to gauge demographics and contemporary sales figures - that breakdown appearing on the site just after an op-ed from Jetpack Comics’ Ralph DiBernardo, on the ways in which broken street dates can exacerbate problems faced by retailers in the current market.

• Women Write About Comics’ contributors present a fresh selection of reading recommendations, this month featuring writing on AI and JJ’s Les Normaux, The Stanford Graphic Novel Project’s Flying Kites: A Story of the 2013 California Prison Hunger Strike, Özge Samanci’s Evil Eyes Sea, and Jun Mayuzuki’s Kowloon Generic Romance.

• From the world of open-access academia, in Trace: Journal for Human-Animal Studies, Matthew Adams writes on the creation of the nonfiction graphic novel Pavlov and the Kingdom of Dogs, with artist Sophie Burrows, and the importance of centring the animal experience in research studies.

• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, for The Daily Cartoonist, as the death of OJ Simpson drew focus from the continued erosion of abortion rights and the legal fees of Donald Trump, if only for a short while.

This week’s audio/visual delights.

• Comic Books are Burning in Hell once more, as Joe McCulloch, Chris Mautner, and Tucker Stone reconvene to determine where on the Shouting Child scale of quality Kazuo Umezz’s My Name is Shingo falls, before interrailing to Gotham City with Signor Dylan Dog and Batman.

• Katie Skelly and Sally Madden considered the Thick Lines of Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s Abandon the Old in Tokyo, claustrophobic horror of public spaces in the context of rampant urbanisation, and the eternal conundrum of whether or not one should commit cheque fraud.

• Austin English hosted the latest meeting of the New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium, as John Porcellino spoke about history with making comics and zines, and the worlds that open up once you join those communities and connect with readers, working on King-Cat Comics and building the family of Spit and a Half, and the nature of comics as a uniquely simple communicative medium.

• Claire Napier and Tegan O’Neil return with a fresh pail of Udder Madness, this week returning to the aristocratic archaeological imperialism of one Lara Croft, as portrayed in the standalone adventures of Fiona Kai Avery et al’s Tomb Raider: Journeys, and how this title compares to the video game source material and its distinctly British protagonist.

• Paul O’Brien and Al Kennedy opened the doors of House to Astonish once more, speaking on the deaths of Trina Robbins and Mark D. Bright, sharing thoughts on recent publications from the Direct Market, and the logistics of characters wearing armour sets over their costumes.

• Brian Hibbs welcomed Dave Roman to the Comix Experience Graphic Novel of the Month Club, as they discussed Unicorn Boy, the boom in the middle readers comics market and attracting comics fans of different ages, and details on the page in the book-making process.

• 2000 AD’s Thrill-Cast returns, as this week there are spooky offerings to be had with Steve Morris talking to David Barnett and Mike Walters about the all-ages series Lowborn High; and MOLCH-R speaking to Ian Rimmer, Simon Furman, and Darren Scott about the return to print of Scream!.

• David Harper welcomed ShortBox’s Zainab Akhtar to this week’s edition of Off Panel, as they discussed the closure of ShortBox’s print publishing arm and the continuation of the annual ShortBox Comics Fair, the origins of the Comics&Cola blog and writing about the things that interest you.

• Heidi MacDonald, Kate Fitzsimons, and Meg Lemke convened for the latest episode of Publisher’s Weekly’s More to Come, as they discussed the lives and legacies of Trina Robbins and Mark D. Bright, and broke down the recent issues surrounding IDW and Webtoon.

No more links for this week, but more soon, because spring is almost here.

The post One For You, Nineteen For Me – This Week’s Links appeared first on The Comics Journal.


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