Friday, May 10, 2024

Excellent Italian Greyhound – This Week’s Links

May 10, 2024 Philippines , Pinoy 0 Comments

Writing this introductory blurb on my phone at the midway break-point of the first sunny bike ride of the year through southeast London, and I’m one failed constitution saving throw away from just continuing to cycle out of my life and never looking back. But then how would I afford to pay for the second hand copy of Fury: Peacemaker that I also just ordered on my mobile device, the physical quality of which looked dubious from the pictures? Ah, such is life, and so on with this week’s links, below.

This week’s news.

• Starting the week with some slow trudge into the dark satanic future news, as tech startup Orange announced that it had raised ¥2.92 billion ($19 million) from investors, including manga publisher Shogakukan, to pursue the use of artificial intelligence to speed up the manga translation process by removing human translators from the equation, overcoming an apparent shortage of skilled workers in the sector, which would also mean no longer having to pay said humans – no word yet if this will include the inevitable errors in translation that TO Books’ similar scheme to use AI in this role will apparently have - critics of the plan point out that one alternative way to overcome a shortage of human translators would be to use such funding to instead have these jobs confer a living wage, and thereby make manga translation more attractive, and feasible, as a full-time career path.

• Comics awards news: The Beat and The Center for Cartoon Studies this week announced the winners of 2024’s Cartoonist Studio Prize, naming Léa Murawiec’s The Great Beyond as Best Long-Form Comic, and Cole Degenstein’s 10-10 to the Wind as best Short-Form Comic, with both cartoonists winning $1,000.

• Elsewhere, the Pulitzer Prize Board announced the winners of this year’s Pulitzer Prizes, with The New Yorker’s Medar de la Cruz winning 2024’s Prize for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary, while The New Yorker’s Angie Wang, The Washington Post’s Claire Healy, Nicole Dungca, and Ren Galeno, and the Chattanooga Times Free Press’ Clay Bennett were all named as Finalists.

• This week’s final awards story: The Society of Illustrators announced the 2024 class of inductees to their Hall of Fame, which this year includes Steve Brodner, Gustave Doré, Robert Grossman, and Yuko Shimizu.

• 'I wasn’t expecting a comic book angle on this' news: The Oregonian reports on the ‘potential’ for items to have gone missing from Portland State University Library’s Dark Horse Comic Collection, following the occupation of Millar Library by students protesting the continued killing of Palestinians in Gaza – the protest also reportedly included the brief repositioning of a collected edition of Frank Miller’s Sin City.

• Comics website news: Popverse announced that Graeme McMillan has been promoted to the role of Editor for the site; and Multiversity Comics’ editorial team announced that May 2024 will be the site’s final month of operation, citing rising costs of running the website, a decline in writing staff, and general burnout, bringing to a close Multiversity’s 15 year run on the comics internet.

This week’s reviews.

TCJ

Tegan O’Neil reviews the metafictional shift of Luke Healy’s Self-Esteem and the End of the World - “We’re used to hearing by now, already, the strangely ubiquitous strain of magical thinking that projects a preoccupation with ecological breakdown as simply a coping strategy to avoid thinking about another, more tangible breed, of real problems. On the other hand, at the end of the day, we’re still responsible for ourselves, until the end of the world and beyond.”

 

AIPT

• Collier Jennings reviews the careful crafting of Juni Ba et al’s The Boy Wonder #1.

• Colin Moon reviews the forgettable action of Marvel Comics’ Contest of Chaos.

• David Brooke reviews the enjoyable selection of Marvel Comics’ Blood Hunters #1.

• Alex Schlesinger reviews the smart additions of Daniel José Older, Luigi Zagaria, Eric Gapstur, et al’s Strange Academy: Blood Hunt #1.

• Christopher Franey reviews the gripping mysteries of Neil Gaiman, Mark Buckingham, et al’s Miracleman: The Silver Age.

• Chris Coplan reviews the bumpy start of Skottie Young, Jorge Corona, et al’s Ain’t No Grave #1.

• Kevin Clark reviews the winning brutality of Phillip Kennedy Johnson, SOM, et al’s Crocodile Black #1.

 

Articulāte

Olivia Bernard reviews the prominent themes of MAÑANA: Latinx Comics from the 25th Century, edited by Joamette Gil.

 

The Beat

• Ricardo Serrano Denis reviews the romantic manoeuvring of Joanne Starer and Ornella Greco’s Total Suplex of the Heart.

• D. Morris reviews the bloody stakes of Jed MacKay, Pasqual Ferry, et al’s Doctor Strange #15.

• Kerry Vineberg reviews the beautiful reinforcing of Kit Anderson’s Safer Places.

 

Broken Frontier

• Andy Oliver reviews the brooding intensity of Owen Michael Johnson’s The Mirage, and the dextrous tension of Norm Konyu’s The Space Between the Trees.

• Lydia Turner reviews the magical wonder of Isabel Greenberg's Young Hag.

 

House to Astonish

Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ X-Men #34, Cable #4, Invincible Iron Man #18, Weapon X-Men #3, and Deadpool & Wolverine: WWIII #1. 

 

ImageTexT

• Jesse Matlock reviews the generous array of After Midnight: Watchmen after Watchmen edited by Drew Morton.

• Paul Noguerol reviews the notable structuring of The LGBTQ+ Comics Studies Reader, edited by Alison Halsall and Jonathan Warren.

• Victoria Rahbar reviews the informative accessibility of Yoshiko Okuyama’s Tōjisha Manga: Japan’s Graphic Memoirs of Brain and Mental Health.

 

Japanese Studies

Zack J. Gray has reviews of the essential additions of Yoshiko Okuyama’s Reframing Disability in Manga and Nagayama Kaoru’s Erotic Comics in Japan: An Introduction to Eromanga.

 

Multiversity Comics

• Matthew Blair reviews the throwback gore of Garth Ennis, Jacen Burrows, et al’s Get Fury #1.

• Paul Lai reviews the resonant joys of Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham’s Lunar New Year Love Story.

• Kate Kosturski reviews the compelling setup of Phillip Kennedy Johnson, SOM, et al’s Crocodile Black #1.

 

The Oxford Student

Sophie Harrison reviews the urgent messaging of  Jean-Marc Rochette’s The Last Queen, translated by Edward Gauvin.

 

Publisher’s Weekly

Have capsule reviews of:

- The elegant nuance of Maria Sweeney’s Brittle Joints.

- The wild celebration of Sig Burwash’s Vera Bushwack.

- The sexy action of LySandra Vuong’s Covenant.

- The jumbled charm of Aminder Dhaliwal’s A Witch's Guide to Burning.

- The accessible advice of Siobhán Gallagher’s Full of Myself: A Graphic Memoir About Body Image.

 

Women Write About Comics

Lisa Fernandes reviews the enjoyable divergence of Adam F. Goldberg, Paul Resier, Leon Reiser, Hans Rodionoff, Brian Volk-Weiss, Guiu Vilanova, et al’s Aliens: What If…? #1.

This week’s interviews.

TCJ

Luke Burns interviews Pierre La Police about comedic influences, the decision to work pseudonymously, and planning gallery exhibitions of your work - “As a child I found a refuge in the act of drawing, writing, sculpting, making collages and little films. It’s what I continue to do today, except that it’s in the context of a more deliberate process. I was lucky to be able to follow this path and complete my autodidactic education by studying art. What interests me about comics is that they allow for an amplification of the power of words and of images by inserting a dimension that transcends them both.”

 

AIPT

• Chris Coplan talks to Garth Ennis about Babs, coming around on the swords and sorcery genre, collaborations with Jacen Burrows, and projects of a more serious nature.

• David Brooke interviews Tom King about Wonder Woman, learning your narrative lessons, catchphrases, and upcoming arcs.

 

The Beat

• Deanna Destito speaks with Matt Wagner about Grendel: Devil’s Crucible-Defiance, canons and timeline relativity, and publication plans for the series.

• George Carmona 3rd chats with Walter Greason and Tim Fielder about The Graphic History of Hip Hop, the layers present in the book, and the incomplete nature of histories in general.

• Deb Aoki interviews Miyuli about Morgana and Oz, mangaka inspirations, keeping your process achievable, and the challenges of WEBTOON schedules.

 

Broken Frontier

Andy Oliver talks to: 

- Martin Simpson about NORD and the allure of Norse mythology. 

- Bex Ollerton about Lavender Clouds and the catharsis of comics making. 

- B. Mure about Ismyre and developing stories as you go.

- Jason Chuang about TIDE and incorporating digital processes into your work.

 

Columbus Monthly

Peter Tonguette chats with Jeff Smith about Thorn, prepping the collection of strips following a heart attack last year, and eschewing the format of syndicated strips for Bone.

 

Forbes

Rob Salkowitz talks to Oni Press’ Hunter Gorinson and Sierra Hahn about the return of EC Comics, the contemporary relevance of EC stories, and what to expect from this modern iteration.

 

Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics

Partha Bhattacharjee and Haleema Badar interview Somesh Kumar about Little By Little, childhood memories and artistic careers, and the personal history behind the graphic novel.

 

Newcity Lit

Kelly Roark speaks with Beth Hetland about Tender, digital creative processes, filmic influences, and the universal horror of dealing with hangnails.

 

Publisher’s Weekly

• Amanda Ramirez interviews Pablo Cartaya about Curveball, shifting from prose to graphic novels, and the economy of words of the comics form.

• Shaenon K. Garrity speaks with Sean Michael Robinson and Ryan Holmberg about Living the Line’s new manga imprint, Smudge, and the appeal of the project.

 

Smash Pages

JK Parkin talks to Josh Hicks about Hotelitor, the UK wrestling status quo, the origins of the book, and wanting to cover important issues alongside jokes and fight scenes.

This week’s features and longreads.

• Here at TCJ Hagai Palevsky decodes the Curses of Kevin Huizenga and George Wylesol, considering the evolution of both cartoonists’ work through the lens of these recent (re)collections - “And here we have the difference between the two cartoonists at hand: if George Wylesol's Curses is about authorial fear being granted the catharsis of articulation, then Kevin Huizenga's Curses is about authorial curiosity sublimated into wonder.”

• Also for TCJ, Joe Sacco’s series of visual columns ‘The War On Gaza’ continues, with previous instalments also available to read here.

• Over at Solrad, Helen Chazan directs more Comics Gridlock, celebrating the altered states of 4/20 vicariously through a trio of comics, comprising Corrine Halbert’s Scorpio Venus Rising, Robert Loren Fleming and Trevor von Eeden’s Thriller #4, and Rafael Zaiats’ Makinaphobe.

• Doris V. Sutherland’s appreciation of the 55th anniversary of George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead continues, for Women Write About Comics, this edition resurrecting Dead Dog Comics’ Night of the Living Dead: Barbara’s Zombie Chronicles and its marriage of pulpy alien zombies and Bad Girl comics.

• A pair of pieces from The Beat, looking at something old and something new, as Heidi MacDonald writes on the latest mile marker reached by Miracleman, and what it has to say about sustainable comics-making (and audience retention) in the contemporary market; while Justin Guerrero considers the latest iteration of  WEBTOON’s monetisation programs and the realities of making #content for platforms chasing infinite growth.

• Another duo of features, as Publisher’s Weekly covers the ongoing manga boom, with Deb Aoki profiling new publishers and imprints in the market, as well as the promotional shifts that are accompanying the changing sales figures.

• Celebrating cats that are fans of lasagna, but not fans of Mondays, for Life, Gina McIntyre profiles Garfield, and creator Jim Davis, charting the creation and growth of the syndicated orange feline, as the strip heads towards its 50th birthday, and its latest on-screen adaptation.

• From the world of open-access academia, a new volume of ImageTexT brings with it articles on graphic medicine from the COVID era in Singapore, the sociopolitical history of George Du Maurier’s ‘chinamania’ cartoons as seen in Punch, and the varied ways in which the setting and presence of the forest are employed in Devdutt Pattanaik and Amruta Patil’s Aranyaka: Book of the Forest.

• For the Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Scott Woodcock interrogates the questions asked regarding the content and format of horror comics, in the wake of the moral panic resulting from Fredric Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent, and from the perspective of contemporary readers.

• Paul O’Brien’s census of the villains of Daredevil continues, for House to Astonish, as Stunt-Master gleams the cube and attempts to stick the landing.

• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, over at The Daily Cartoonist, as college protests and presidential campaigns divided opinions.

This week’s audio/visual delights.

• Batman Books are Burning in Hell once again, as Tucker Stone and Matt Seneca return to Gotham for an appreciation of Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers’ Batman: Strange Apparitions, as well as discussion of the various numerical iterations of Clayface.

• Bill Kartalopoulos hosted the latest meetings of the New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium, as this week LAGON co-editor and -publisher Séverine Bascouert discussed the work that goes into the production of the anthology, and translating the publication from page to gallery as part of its 10th anniversary celebration exhibitions; and cartoonist Mohammad Sabaaneh spoke about graphic memoir Power Born of Dreams: My Story Is Palestine, the realities of Israel's occupation and subjugation of Palestine and the Palestinian people, and the personal stories told in the book.

• Noah Van Sciver was joined by Manuele Fior for a cartoonist chat, as they spoke about life in Venice, reading American comics with a 15 year time-lag as a youth, the publication of Mademoiselle Else and 5000 Kilometers Per Second, and upcoming book projects.

• David Harper welcomed Humberto Ramos to the latest episode of Off Panel, as they discussed a career in making and enjoying comics, convention life, and keeping yourself motivated.

• Meg Lemke spoke with Ten Speed Graphic’s Vedika Khanna for Publisher’s Weekly’s More to Come, as they discussed the new imprint for Penguin Random House, its place among other comics publishing endeavours at PRH, and what’s on their slate of books.

• Closing out this week with John Siuntres and the Word Balloon, as Brian Azzarello joined proceedings to discuss new book The Blood Brothers Mother with artist Eduardo Risso, and the joys of wrestling.

The links are done for this week, and so am I, returning soon after an emergency epsom bath.

The post Excellent Italian Greyhound – This Week’s Links appeared first on The Comics Journal.


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