Friday, September 6, 2024

Titan of Hope – This Week’s Links

September 06, 2024 Philippines , Pinoy 0 Comments

A quieter week for the medium of comics than we’ve had in a while, which is probably for the best, as the school year begins anew, and fantasy football leagues kick back into gear, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any links to be had this week, as evinced below.

This week’s news.

• Returning to a story that’s been simmering away for a few years, the Internet Archive this week lost its appeal of Hachette v. Internet Archive, with the U.S. Court of Appeals upholding 2023’s ruling that the Archive’s operation of controlled digital lending for eBooks, and its temporary expansion under the National Emergency Library program during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, is not protected by fair use and constitutes a breach of copyright law - the Archive released a statement following the verdict, and reaffirmed the organisation’s aim to “continue to defend the rights of libraries to own, lend, and preserve books.”

• Elsewhere, ping-ponging between different ends of the spectrum of lawsuits regarding access to books in libraries with wild abandon, various publishers this week filed suit against the state of Florida, targeting book objection and removal provisions of House Bill 1069, claiming that the law is unconstitutional, and alleging that the bill violates First Amendment rights to free speech

• Checking in with IDW, following last year’s delisting from the New York Stock Exchange and the laying of off 39% of the publisher’s staff, as it was reported this week that there have been further layoffs at the company, with Co-Publisher Mark Doyle and Top Shelf marketing manager Holly Aitchison both let go last week - the publisher made a loss of $4.93 million for the 2023 fiscal year.

• In memoriam, remembering those the world of comics has lost, news was shared this week of the passing of artist and writer Bernie Mireault, creator of The Jam, who has died at the age of 63

• News was also shared of the passing of cartoonist Bill Stott, whose work appeared in Punch and Private Eye, amongst many other publications, and who was a founding member of the Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation.

This week’s reviews.

TCJ

• Hank Kennedy reviews the powerful message of Will Franz, Sam Glanzman, and Wayne Vansant’s The Lonely War of Capt. Willy Schultz - “But giving Willy Schultz a definite ending at all seems at odds with the series. Schultz is strung along with the promise that he could somehow, someway, clear his name. Without resolution, his futile quest resembles the seemingly unending scourge of war.”

• Tom Shapira reviews the workable taming of Dark Horse’s Hellboy Artists Collection: Richard Corben - “And in-between all of these, between the exaggerated horror, exaggerated humor and exaggerated action (Corben never draws at anything less than 11) there is something quite sad in these stories. The tales of man who tries so hard to escape what he is. Escape into the ring or escape into a bottle. Both are the same for Hellboy.”

 

AIPT

• Chris Showalter reviews the poetic meter of Simon Spurrier, Lisandro Estherren, et al’s John Constantine, Hellblazer: Dead in America #8.

• Colin Moon reviews the grounded characters of Eve Ewing, Carmen Carnero, et al’s Exceptional X-Men #1.

• Collier Jennings reviews the varied celebrations of IDW’s Star Trek #500.

• Lukas Shayo reviews the effective horror of Christopher Cantwell, Alex Lins, et al’s Plastic Man No More #1.

• David Brooke reviews the captivating beginning of Cullen Bunn, Christopher Mitten, et al’s The Autumn Kingdom #1.

 

The Arts STL

• Jason Green reviews the masterful pacing of Beth Hetland’s Tender.

• Sarah Boslaugh reviews the dynamic journalism of Joe Sacco’s Palestine.

 

The Beat

• Tim Rooney reviews the optimistic humour of Julia Cejas’ Hanami – You, Me, 200FT² and Japan, translated by Holly Aitchison.

• Arpad Okay reviews the chunky details of Guillame Singelin’s Frontier, translated by Dan Christensen.

• Beau Q. reviews the impressive composition of Eve Ewing, Carmen Carnero, et al’s Exceptional X-Men #1.

• Zack Quaintance reviews the bold ingenuity of Christopher Cantwell, Alex Lins, et al’s Plastic Man No More #1.

• Ricardo Serrano Denis reviews the pulpy mix of Gigi Murakami’s Resenter Chapter 1.

• Jordan Jennings reviews the complex protagonist of Jeff Lemire’s Minor Arcana #1.

• Jared Bird reviews the dark wonders of Cullen Bunn, Christopher Mitten, et al’s Autumn Kingdom #1.

• Ricardo Serrano Denis reviews the simple beginnings of Jim Zub, Jonas Scharf, et al’s Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #1.

• Clyde Hall reviews the nostalgic elements of Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque, et al’s Duck and Cover #1.

 

Broken Frontier

• Lydia Turner reviews the thoughtful text of Barbara Stok’s The Philosopher, the Dog and the Wedding.

• Andy Oliver reviews the under-appreciated voices of ThirdBear Press’ Boxes #2, edited by Steven Ingram; and the impressive rhythm of Garth Ennis, Patrick Goddard, et al’s Rogue Trooper: Blighty Valley.

 

Four Color Apocalypse

Ryan Carey reviews the incisive wit of Shannon Spence’s P*nk Lab Grl!.

 

From Cover to Cover

Scott Cederlund reviews the demonic feast of Ram V, Filipe Andrade, et al’s Rare Flavours.

 

House to Astonish

Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ X-Men: From the Ashes Infinity Comic #12, Savage Wolverine Infinity Comic #5, X-Men #3, NYX #2, and X-Force #2.

 

Solrad

Ian Cordingley reviews the truncated explorations of Curtis Clow and Pius Bak’s Slightly Exaggerated.

This week’s interviews.

TCJ

Joseph Antoniello interviews Grant Geissman about The History of EC Comics and MAD About the… series, comics importance hierarchies, familial musical heritage, and Grammy-nominated work - “In a nutshell, working in TV, or even on a recording session, you are in service to the greater whole. You do your best and try to bring something of yourself to the work, but the parameters are essentially dictated by the producers. If you’re talking about one of my own albums, the only person I have to answer to is me. The project is whatever I want it to be, which is obviously very liberating.”

 

AIPT

• Chris Hassan speaks with Jason Loo about Dazzler, the mutant popstar’s timeless look, cross-series payoffs, and the audience for the book.

• Chris Coplan talks to Julian Hanshaw about Space Junk and oeuvre outliers, and to Rick Quinn and Dave Chisholm about Spectrum and leaving things open to interpretation.

• David Brooke speaks with David Dastmalchian about Creature Commandos, local horror broadcasts, systemic injustices, and creature feature homages.

 

The Asahi Shimbun

Yukiko Yamane interviews Junji Ito about the ‘Junji Ito Exhibition: Enchantment’ at the Setagaya Literary Museum, and childhood horror origins.

 

The Beat

• Jared Bird speaks with Louis Southard about Flash Gordon Quarterly, the genesis of the project, the history of Flash Gordon, and collaborating with Nuno Plati.

• Avery Kaplan interviews Richard Ashley Hamilton about Tectiv: Noirtopia, writing for the medium of comics, detective inspirations, and world-building build-up.

 

Broken Frontier

• Ellie Egleton talks to Gary Moloney about When the Blood Has Dried, tabletop games dabbling, Irish history and folklore, and favourite hedgehogs.

• Andy Oliver speaks with Tinglin Liu about adapting Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death, artistic practice and comics-making, and use of monochrome.

 

Forbes

Joan Vos MacDonald interviews Sook-Yin Lee about adapting Chester Brown’s Paying For It for the screen, and the personal history behind the book and the film.

This week’s features and longreads.

• Here at TCJ, Marc Sobel writes on a hidden gem from the oeuvre of Alan Moore, namely "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" from 1988’s Heartbreak Hotel #3, and the comic’s musical origins - “Far from a mere adaptation, Moore’s “acid strip” brilliantly recreates the psychedelic experience using the comics medium. His interpretation of the song blends formalist experimentation with philosophical and existential themes; it’s equal parts political commentary and spiritual odyssey.”

• For The New Yorker, Sarah Larson profiles Ruben Bolling, charting what goes into the creation of Tom the Dancing Bug, and charting how the strip has shifted from satire to recontextualisation in the era of fake news.

• Robin McConnell’s Inkstuds returns for the Substack generation, as a trip to Portland precedes thoughts on Andrew Alexander’s Peep #4, Tommi Musturi’s Futute, and Peephole #1 (edited by Juliette Collet), alongside 90s minicomics from Ariel Bordeaux.

• Shelfdust’s retrospective of Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber’s Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen continues, as this week T. Trewhella examines the various impossible things to be found in the pages of issue 3 of the series.

• Tom Ewing’s Discourse 2000 continues apace at Freaky Trigger, as the varying levels of quality and levels of familiarity to be found within Flesh, M.A.C.H. 1, and Harlem Heroes were considered.

• From the world of open-access academia, in Transactions on Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, Ziqing Zhou writes on Donna Haraway's 1985 Cyborg Manifesto in the context of various Marvel Comics characters, such as Misty Knight, Jocasta, and Lady Deathstrike, with an exploration of the extent to which they support or challenge Haraway’s vision.

• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, over at The Daily Cartoonist, as this election year drags on amidst the ongoing disintegration of social media platforms, and continued violence in Gaza.

This week’s audio/visual delights.

• Lynda Barry was the guest on last week’s edition of Bullseye with Jesse Thorn, as they spoke about What It Is and Making Comics, childhood memories and not being taught Tagalog, the MacArthur Fellowship, and artistic exercises for the cartooning novice.

• Sally Madden and Katie Skelly unlocked some Thick Lines from the Patreon vault, as they discussed Sam Kieth’s Zero Girl, fashions derived from shower curtains, relationship revelations, and what it means to discover The Maxx.

• From last month’s AnimeNYC, with some vaguely questionable audio quality, comes a panel discussion on the art of manga lettering, featuring Barri Shrager, Evan Hayden, Lys Blakeslee, and Kyla Aiko, hosted by Sara Linsley.

• David Harper welcomed Kelly Sue DeConnick to this week’s edition of Off Panel, as they spoke about FML, the origins and evolution of the project, visual styles and collaboration with David López, and the creator-owned comics-marketing hustle.

• Calvin Reid, Heidi MacDonald, and Kate Fitzsimons reconvened for this week’s edition of Publisher’s Weekly’s More to Come, as they looked back on this year’s AnimeNYC, Flame Con, and Fanatics Fest, and ahead to this year’s Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, which will see Annie Koyama receive the Tom Spurgeon Award.

No more links this week, more again next week, as the build-up to the autumnal season of festivals and conventions begins.

The post Titan of Hope – This Week’s Links appeared first on The Comics Journal.


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