Friday, September 20, 2024

While Chasin’ the Clouds Away – This Week’s Links

September 20, 2024 Philippines , Pinoy 0 Comments

A classic algorithmic shift this week, as an initially vague interest in the sudden internet celebrity and memetic virality of the baby pygmy hippo Moo Deng means that my various social feeds now exclusively feed me information about the pint-sized hippopotamid, which means that this week’s links, below, were slightly more difficult to sift from the silt.

This week’s news.

• Starting another week in the courthouse, as seems de rigueur for 2024, this time in India, as a Kerala court issued a temporary injunction to prevent “the production, distribution, and commercialisation of characters, graphic novels, merchandise, or spin-off films” relating to characters from Minnal Murali, a 2021 Malayalam-language superhero film, in order to protect the copyright of writers Arun Anirudhan and Justin Mathew - a graphic novel featuring characters from the film had been announced at Mumbai Comic Con, in May of this year, by various of the defendants named in the suit.

• Last weekend saw the announcement of the winners of this year’s Ignatz Awards, as part of 2024’s Small Press Expo, with Leo Fox’s My Body Unspooling named as Outstanding Comic, Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki’s Roaming named as Outstanding Graphic Novel, and Léa Murawiec named as Promising New Talent - a full list of this year’s winners can be found here.

• The Beat reports on the finalisation of Penguin Random House’s acquisition of Boom! Studios, first announced back in July, with Michael Kelly having been appointed as the company’s new publisher, alongside various internal promotions - Boom now becomes part of the Random House Worlds imprints as a result of the deal.

This week’s reviews.

TCJ

• Nicholas Burman reviews the derailing tricks of Attilio Micheluzzi’s The Farewell Song of Marcel Labrume, translated by Jamie Richards - “This is not a comic that deconstructs anything. It is firmly rooted in the popular imagination of the era it depicts and the media that came out of the immediate post-war period. As storytelling, and as WWII historical fiction, it is very efficient but not overly original. It is more interesting understood as part of a moment when comics were becoming more overtly adult, and an instance of comics being more cinematic.”

• Hagai Palevsky reviews the empathetic moments of Sig Burwash’s Vera Bushwack - “Vera Bushwack is not a story of rugged individualism, nor an attempt to romanticize nature as an escape from modern life; its central act of withdrawal is, explicitly, a defense mechanism, one that Drew themself feels ambivalent about.”

 

AIPT

• Rory Wilding reviews the genre tropes of Tony Fleecs, Trish Forstner, Tone Rodriguez, et al’s Feral, Volume 1.

• Kevin Clark reviews the fierce fun of Tom Scioli’s Godzilla's Monsterpiece Theater #1.

• Andrew Isidoro reviews the vibrant art of Tom Waltz, Vincenzo Federici, et al’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Nation #1.

• Christopher Franey reviews the hollow beginning of Sabir Pirzada, Sean Damien Hill, et al’s Spirits of Vengeance #1.

• Ronnie Gorham reviews the expressive action of David A. Goodman, Alex Andres, et al's The Masked Macher #1.

• Ryan Sonneville reviews the hurried conclusion of Timothy Zahn, Jody Houser, Pat Olliffe, Andrea Di Vito, et al’s Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances.

• David Brooke reviews the dazzling visuals of Kyla Vanderklugt and Giorgio Spalletta’s Jim Henson’s Labyrinth #1.

• Collier Jennings reviews the stellar action of Daniel Warren Johnson, Riley Rossmo, et al’s The Moon is Following Us #1; and the grounded heroics of Peter Warren, Francesco Mobili, et al’s The Tin Can Society #1.

• Chris Coplan reviews the thoughtful scares of Cody Ziglar, Ryan Lee, et al’s Goobers #1; and the familiar narrative of Zac Thompson, Jok, et al’s The Body Trade #1.

 

The Arts STL

Sarah Boslaugh reviews the dull mismatches of Loo Hui Phang and Hughes Micol’s Erased: An Actor of Color’s Journey Through the Heyday of Hollywood, and the educational realism of Dominique Grange and Tardi’s Elise and the New Partisans.

 

The Beat

• Jared Bird reviews the electric creativity of Daniel Warren Johnson, Riley Rossmo, et al’s The Moon is Following Us #1.

• Clyde Hall reviews the surreal flow of R.L. Stine, Carola Borelli, et al’s The Graveyard Club: Revenge Game #1.

• D. Morris reviews the idealistic fun of Mark Waid, Adrián Gutiérrez, et al’s Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #31.

• Tim Rooney reviews the wasted concept of Sabir Pirzada, Sean Damien Hill, et al’s Spirits of Vengeance #1.

• Steve Baxi reviews the nuanced layout of Manu Larcenet's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road.

• Adam Wescott reviews the delicious mix of Baehyesu’s Mystic Pop-Up Bar, translated by Kristianna Lee and Carolyn Park; and the interesting idiosyncrasies of JH’s The Horizon.

 

Boing Boing

Thom Dunn reviews the perfect microcosm of Chip Zdarsky's Public Domain.

 

Broken Frontier

• Lydia Turner reviews the artistic licence of Aimée de Jongh’s adaptation of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.

• Andy Oliver reviews the emotional eloquence of Bee Poole’s You’re Just Lazy, the communicative strengths of AJ O’Neill’s The Kid in the Cave, and the intriguing idiosyncrasies of Olly Telling’s Moe’s in Love with a Manga Character.

 

Criticism

Vincent Haddad reviews the outstanding research of Paul S. Hirsch’s Pulp Empire: The Secret History of Comic Book Imperialism.

 

Four Color Apocalypse

Ryan Carey reviews the fluid precision of Chad Bilyeu and Juliette de Wit’s The Re-Up, and the interesting question of Fran Lopez’s Still Making Your Diary Comics?.

 

From Cover to Cover

Scott Cederlund reviews the recontextualised returns of Jonathan Hickman, Marco Checchetto, David Messina, et al's Ultimate Spider-Man: Married With Children.

 

House to Astonish

Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ X-Men: From the Ashes Infinity Comic #14, Uncanny X-Men #2, Wolverine #1, Venom War: Wolverine #1, Savage Wolverine Infinity Comic #7, and (acknowledgment of) Lovable Lockheed Infinity Comic #1-2.

 

Solrad

Hagai Palevsky reviews the silent conceit of Giancarlo Berardi and Ivo Milazzo’s Ken Parker: The Breath and the Dream.

This week’s interviews.

TCJ

William Schwartz interviews Pedro Martin about Mexikid, the varied forms of the title and their history, the magic of memoir, and familial storytelling heritage - “All I remember was that it was hard to throw a solid punch if you were laughing. So being a smart ass was a prerequisite for us younger kids. I can’t say that all my smart-assery is word-for-word what I said back in the day, but the tone is correct.”

 

AIPT

• Chris Hassan speaks with Frank Tieri about Sabretooth: The Dead Don’t Talk, playing in the Marvel toy box, and secret gangland histories.

• David Brooke talks to Bryan Lee O'Malley about the 20th anniversary of Scott Pilgrim and what to expect from future returns to the well; and to Tom King and Daniel Sampere about Wonder Woman and the children of superheroes.

• Chris Coplan interviews Lex Wilson and Tony Gregori about Starweed and collaborative surprises; and Hannah Klein and Lisa Sterle about Dying Inside and using graphic novels to tell weird stories.

 

Anime News Network

Christopher Farris talks to Shin'ichi Sakamoto about #DRCL, shifting storytelling styles, and reviving Bram Stoker’s message for contemporary audiences.

 

The Beat

• Dean Simons speaks with Manu Larcenet about adapting Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, the allure of the source material, and visual inspirations.

• Joe Grunenwald interviews Mark Waid and Chris Samnee about Batman & Robin: Year One, the genesis of the series, and their collaborative process.

• Jared Bird speaks with Bryan Lee O'Malley about the 20th anniversary of Scott Pilgrim, the work that went into the series' re-release, and the characters at the core of the book (besides its eponymous hero).

 

Broken Frontier

Ellie Egleton talks to C.K. Carpenter about nSEEN/unHEARD: Disability and Neurodivergence Comic Anthology, the editing team behind the book, and its crowdfunding campaign.

 

Forbes

Josh Weiss interviews Jim Demonakos and Kevin Konrad Hanna about the Mike Mignola: Drawing Monsters documentary, and the lasting inspiration of Mignola’s career.

 

Publisher’s Weekly

Amanda Ramirez talks to Tony Weaver Jr. about Weirdo, discovering anime as a lifesaving medium, and the importance of representation in creative works. 

 

United by Pop

Tacye speaks with Aimée de Jongh about adapting William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the nerves that come with such a project, and the challenges that come with adapting a classic work.

 

Variety

Cynthia Littleton talks to Charlamagne Tha God and Axel Alonso about ILLuminati, the dying art of satire, and comic book business models.

 

YaleNews

Oscar Sweeting interviews Alison Bechdel about Fun Home, teaching at Yale, the magic of comics, and the Chubb Fellowship lecture.

This week’s features and longreads.

• Here at TCJ, RJ Casey celebrates the first birthday of the Duality of Arrivals and Departures, this edition taking a look at MD Blue’s Cinema Time, Christina Lee’s The Method, and Sophie Margolin’s Diary - “This is one of those times where the scope of talent is so obvious, but I wish my introduction to Margolin would have potentially started with another title in her catalog. The trigger warning on the inside front cover is justified.”

• For Eruditorum Press, Elizabeth Sandifer presents the fourth annual essay on the September 11th 2011 edition of John Rose’s Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, this year appraising Rose’s wider body of work.

• Over at Shelfdust, Leo Healy looks back on Mark A. Altman and Trevor Goring’s Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Terok Nor #0, and how the relative brevity of a one-shot issue undermines the story’s narrative.

• Tom Ewing’s Discourse 2000 concludes its first season, for Freaky Trigger, as the first year of 2000 AD brings the violent delights (and surprises) of Tharg’s Future Shocks and Harlem Heroes: Inferno.

• Over at Inkstuds, Robin McConnell bids farewell to summer with a look at Dash Shaw’s Blurry, Sugiura Shigeru’s Ninja Sarutobi Sasuke (translated by Ryan Holmberg), Yoshiharu Tsuge’s Oba Electroplating Factory (also translated by Holmberg), Richard Corben’s Den, Audra Stang’s The Audra Show, various of Oliver Arthur’s comics, Caza’s Age of Darkness, Blutch’s Lucky Luke, and Tito Faraci and Pasquale Frisenda’s Blood & Ice.

• For Women Write About Comics, Kate Tanski reports from Rose City Comic Con’s Creator Pro program of events, speaking with Oni Press’ Daniel Crary, following a panel discussion focused on the publisher, about career paths and helping people outside the industry understand its realities.

• From the world of open-access academia, Adam Attwood presents Comics and Graphic Novels - International Perspectives, Education, and Culture, a volume bringing together 8 academics to reflect on the ways in which comics affect, and are affected by, wider culture.

• For the International Journal of Social Science and Education Research Studies, Kwee Nathania Christanty Hidayat and Jumanto Jumanto present a contrastive analysis of English swear words, and their Indonesian equivalents, to be found in Tintin in the Land of Black Gold.

• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, over at The Daily Cartoonist, as focus rapidly shifted from presidential debates to presidential assassination attempts.

This week’s audio/visual delights.

• Ben Katchor hosted the latest meeting of the New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium, as Danny Fingeroth moderated a talk from Stan Mack on Stan Mack's Real Life Funnies: The Collected Conceits, Delusions, and Hijinks of New Yorkers from 1974 to 1995, as Mack discussed the history of the strip.

• NHK World Japan released a fresh (officially translated) episode of Naoki Urasawa’s Manben, as Urasawa spoke with Ikegami Ryoichi and Morino Tatsuya, former assistants of the late mangaka Mizuki Shigeru, as they shared original artwork and insights into Shigeru’s working practices.

• A pair of Thick Lines episodes this week, as Katie Skelly and Sally Madden released an interview with Hellen Jo from the Patreon vaults, originally recorded when Jo’s artwork was appearing on a billboard over Glendale Boulevard; and a new episode with Madden in conversation with Shannon Spence on medical illustrations and anatomy, the work of Frank Bender, and the making of Spence’s P*nk Lab Grl!.

• David Brothers was joined by cartoonist Alissa Sallah, for the No Relation series of occasional creator chats, as they discussed the art of storytelling, speaking about lessons learned in that context from the work of Moto Hagio, Kentaro Miura, and Akimi Yoshida.

• More #content from 2000 AD’s recent travels to San Diego Comic-Con, as this week the Thrill-Cast presented a conversation between Simon Bisley and Kevin Eastman, moderated by Chloe Maveal, as they (eventually) discussed working on Heavy Metal.

• David Harper welcomed Declan Shalvey to this week’s edition of Off Panel, as they spoke about Mystique, Old Dog, and Thundercats, amongst others, juggling such a busy slate of work, and remembrances of artist John Cassaday who passed away earlier this month.

• There were further remembrances of Cassaday on Publisher’s Weekly’s More to Come, as Calvin Reid, Heidi MacDonald, and Kate Fitzsimons spoke in tribute to the late artist, as well as discussing recent happenings at IDW, and put the spotlight on the upcoming events in the autumn comics calendar.

• Closing out the week with some trips in the Word Balloon with John Siuntres, as Mark Pracht and Bryan Breau discussed new play The House of Ideas, Jim Zub spoke about Conan the Barbarian, Andrea Chalupa discussed In the Shadow of Stalin: The Story of Mr. Jones, Mark Millar gave an update on the work of Mark Millar, JH Williams III previewed Dracula: A Storybook Portfolio, and Pornsak Pichetshote and Terry Dodson discussed The Manchurian’s place within The Horizon Experiment.

Those are all the links for this edition - what animal will achieve the coveted main character of the week status next week? There’s only one way to find out!

The post While Chasin’ the Clouds Away – This Week’s Links appeared first on The Comics Journal.


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