Clark Burscough | November 8, 2024
If, somehow, inexplicably, you’ve still not had more than your fill of news in this quadrennial newsiest of weeks, then allow me to present a brief remise en bouche of comics-focused happenings to tide you over until the next full blown news-cycle rolls around, like the wheel of pain in Conan the Barbarian.
An early look at the cover of next week’s issue, “Back with a Vengeance,” by Barry Blitt. #NewYorkerCovershttps://t.co/VKbFiz5qQY pic.twitter.com/oMamjyzA4K
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) November 6, 2024
This week’s news.
• Starting off this week of arguably too much news in the world with some awards news, as the winners of 2024’s Palmares Lucca Comics Awards were announced last weekend in Italy, with Antoine Cossé receiving this year’s Yellow Kid Fumetto dell’anno for Metax, and Taiyō Matsumoto named Yellow Kid Autore dell’anno for Tokyo These Days.
• Elsewhere on the continent, publisher Dupuis apologised for Spirou and the Blue Gorgon, removing 30,000 copies of the album from sale, following complaints that the book contains racist depictions of Black people and sexist depictions of women - Blue Gorgon artist Daniel Henrotin (aka Dany) apologised for any hurt caused, but also stated that “...humour and caricature are in the DNA of the Belgian school of bande dessinée.”
• In memoriam, remembering those the world of comics has lost, as news was shared this week of the passing of artist Greg Hildebrandt, illustrator of a number of the Marvel Masterpieces trading card series with brother Tim Hildebrandt, who has died at the age of 85.
• News was also shared of the passing of mangaka Kazuo Umezu (aka Kazuo Umezz), creator of The Drifting Classroom, Orochi, and Cat-Eyed Boy amongst many others, who died at the end of last month aged 88 - TCJ’s Sally Madden writes in remembrance of Umezu here.
Just two more days until the Blurry/Sunday tour kicks off! Dash Shaw and Olivier Schrauwen are headed to @desertislandbk, Partners and Son, @QuimbysBooks, @theSHQ, and @comixexperience--head to https://t.co/5vHus3PKyo for details!@NYRcomics @FlandersLit pic.twitter.com/dnlbPrJ5aI
— Fantagraphics (@fantagraphics) November 5, 2024
This week’s reviews.
TCJ
• Hagai Palevsky reviews the emotional directions of Kit Anderson’s Safer Places - “Anderson's cartooning is handsome and pleasant, its appeal immediate and comfortable. Her brushstrokes are thick but controlled, her detailing broad but pointed. More than anything, there is the sense that she is aware of any stylistic shortcomings, which she attempts — and largely succeeds — to plaster over by using different tools for different stories.”
• Tim Hayes reviews the idiosyncratic template of Brian Blomerth’s Lilly Wave - “As a route into someone else's visionary experience, funny animal comics shouldn't be underestimated. They fetishize the human body and its many sensations while also invoking all kinds of Othering, they skew familiar things into odd forms while forcing new metaphorical business between you and the outside world, and they are inherently pretty damn trippy.”
AIPT
• Chris Coplan reviews the potent silliness of Christopher Cantwell, Victor Santos, et al’s Kid Maroon #1.
• Collier Jennings reviews the metal appreciation of Kelly Sue DeConnick, David Lopez, et al’s FML #1.
• Michael Guerrero reviews the enjoyable conclusion of Joshua Williamson, Sean Izaakse, et al’s Green Arrow Annual 2024.
• Crooker reviews the perfect heroics of Tate Brombal, Takeshi Miyazawa, et al’s Batgirl #1.
• David Brooke reviews the gritty reimagining of Jason Aaron, Rafa Sandoval, et al’s Absolute Superman #1.
• Alex Schlesinger reviews the confused marketing of Iman Vellani, Sabir Pirzada, Scott Godlweski, et al’s Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant Volume 2.
The Arts STL
Sarah Boslaugh reviews the documentary tone of Michele Botton and Dorilys Giacchetto’s Audrey Hepburn, translated by Nanette McGuiness.
The Beat
• Steve Baxi reviews the delicious recipe of Ram V and Filipe Andrade’s Rare Flavours.
• D. Morris reviews the brutal action of Deniz Camp, Juan Frigeri, et al’s The Ultimates #6.
• Jared Bird reviews the strong opening of Kelly Sue DeConnick, David Lopez, et al’s FML #1.
• Clyde Hall reviews the relatable escapism of Aabria Iyengar, Mari Costa, et al’s The Fade #1.
• Zack Quaintance reviews the class focus of Jason Aaron, Rafa Sandoval, et al’s Absolute Superman #1; and the shining debut of Sig Burwash's Vera Bushwack.
Broken Frontier
• Lydia Turner reviews the feline fancies of C A Strike’s Meryl, and the macabre horror of Ashley Robin Franklin's The Skin You're In.
• Lindsay Pereira reviews the simple vibrancy of Michele Botton and Dorilys Giacchetto’s Audrey Hepburn, translated by Nanette McGuiness.
• Andy Oliver has reviews of:
• The intricate construction of Karl Christian Krumpholz’s In the City.
• The confident communication of Axe Marnie’s Run Ragged.
• The gothic blend of Kate-Mia White’s Help! My Cat is Summoning a Portal to Hell #1.
• The feathery delights of Sarah Maloney’s Queer Ecology: Pigeons.
• The gothic intensity of Erika Price’s Worms, Book the First.
• The candid qualities of The Mollusc Dimension’s The Weird and Wonderful Surviveries of Squid Horse.
From Cover to Cover
Scott Cederlund reviews the dark reflections of Jason Aaron, Rafa Sandoval, et al’s Absolute Superman #1.
House to Astonish
Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ X-Men: From the Ashes Infinity Comic #21, NYX #4, and Wolverine: Revenge #3.
Hyperallergic
Lauren Moya Ford reviews the unconventional storytelling of Bea Lema’s El Cuerpo de Cristo.
Solrad
Hagai Palevsky reviews the perfect despair of Bhanu Pratap’s Cutting Season.
Women Write About Comics
Caitlin Sinclair Chappell reviews the vibrant fun of Daniel Warren Johnson’s The Moon is Following Us #1, and the vibrant dreams of Becky Cloonan and Tula Lotay’s Somna: A Bedtime Story.
— Haus of Decline (@hausofdecline) November 4, 2024
This Week’s Reviews of Robert Zemeckis et al’s Motion Picture Adaptation of Richard McGuire’s Here.
The film has come in for something of a drubbing, following its theatrical release last week, not unlike
Joker: Folie à Deux, but if you want to dip your toes into the critical response, and the associated discussion of the source material, then there are reviews from The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, Variety, and Vulture that basically all do the same job of lambasting the adaptation’s schmaltzy tone and hokey use of CG de-aging tech.
ワンオペ#トランスフォーマー
自分で自分を直す軍医 pic.twitter.com/JuM90CBSav
— べに11/30ジャパコミ参加 (@beni_beni136) November 7, 2024
This week’s interviews.
TCJ
• Ian Thomas interviews Susan Simensky Bietila, Nicole Schulman, Seth Tobocman, and Jordan Worley about World War 3 #54, the history of the series, group editorial processes, and the realities of activism in the digital age - “We basically get to choose our enemy this week, get to decide which enemy we're more comfortable fighting. I tend to believe if the Democrats get in, we will have a political struggle around Palestine, around climate change, around every major issue. If the Republicans get in, I think, though, that that will be a lot more like a physical struggle.”
• From the archives, originally published in 2003’s The Comics Journal #254, John A. Lent interviews Kazuo Umezu about The Drifting Classroom, finding a style through trial and error, and the demands of writing comics - “I don’t think consciously for themes; they just come from inside. Then I started concentrating on gags. I found no gag comics around me. I always tried to find something new, different from others. I tried to do gags as there was none here then.”
AIPT
• Chris Hassan speaks with Ashley Allen about Magik, mutant history, and the concept of Limbo.
• David Brooke talks to Jason Aaron about Absolute Superman, and bringing new takes to long-established canons.
• Chris Coplan chats with Alex Segura about The Legendary Lynx, noir and comics metanarratives, and with Marco Finnegan about Calavera P.I. and undead detectives.
Anime News Network
• Rebecca Silverman interviews Miki Yamamoto about A Smart and Courageous Child, academic interests, and the realities of having a child.
• Jairus Taylor and Rebecca Silverman speak with Kamome Shirahama about Witch Hat Atelier, studying illustration techniques of the Renaissance era, and problem-solving through creativity.
The Beat
• Avery Kaplan interviews Ellen T. Crenshaw about The Baby-Sitters Club: Kristy and the Walking Disaster, getting involved in the graphic novel series, and baseball as the best visual sport.
• Deanna Destito speaks with Cullen Bunn about Triple Threat of Terror, dipping into different horror sub-genres, and favourite flavours of horror.
Broken Frontier
Andy Oliver talks to Dave Cook about Killtopia, bringing the collected edition to print, the series’ evolution, and upcoming projects.
ICv2
Milton Griepp speaks with Nacelle’s Brian Volk-Weiss about the intricacies of toy-property licensing, and shared universes.
Polygon
Rosie Knight interviews Stephanie Williams about translating viral memes into comics form, working for the House of Ideas and Distinguished Competition, and not punching down.
street corner pic.twitter.com/K14FerS8d3
— Kat Tsai (@Chuwenjie) October 7, 2024
This week’s features and longreads.
• Here at TCJ, Tegan O’Neil looks to the Direct Market, too big to fail, and considers the relative qualities of Maria Llovet’s Crave, highlighting the book for discerning readers who may otherwise swerve the churn of weekly distributed new releases - “But, and this is the crucial part, she seems like she’s still sort of figuring it out as she goes. Definitely a cartoonist who learns on the page, and maybe even directs her energies based on personal challenges as much as anything else. Across artistic temperaments a prolific nature finds ways to amuse itself, and warp the inclination of a talent in harmonious direction.”
• Also for TCJ, from the archives, in remembrance of Kazuo Umezu who passed away last month at the age of 88, originally published in The Comics Journal #233, Ng Suat Tong writes on the depictions of childhood horrors to be found in Umezu’s work - “When critics comment on the crudity of Umezu’s art, they don’t simply mean the guttural nature of his violence but also the stark, flat, simplicity of his drawings, a style which is only occasionally leavened by more detailed establishing panels.”
• More from the TCJ archives, originally published in 2022, Joe McCulloch writes on Kazuo Umezu’s Orochi and the viciousness of Umezu’s work - “If there is a common theme that emerges from all of his works released in English, it is the guaranteed failure of every assurance of order in the adult world. Teachers, when placed in danger, try to kill their students. Sickly relatives curse their young caregivers. Governments facilitate ecological destruction and human exploitation, every time. Sexuality is like putting a gun to one's head, it is so laden with disastrous portent.”
• Over at Forbes, readers can get a preview of Patton Oswalt’s introduction for the Folio Society’s new Marvel: Unforgettable Stories collection, and the thinking behind the curation of the ten issues selected for the book.
• For The Beat, Heidi MacDonald charts the path of Richard McGuire’s Here from the page to the screen, now-arrived in the form of a combination tech-experiment and popcorn feature film.
• Shelfdust’s retrospective on Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber’s Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen continues, as Jake Murray examines the elastic comedy to be found in the fifth issue of the series and the inclusion of one Batman.
• From the world of open-access academia, in the Journal of East Asian Libraries, Junghae Lee and Keiko Hill present a report on the Manga Records Enhancement Project that took place at the University of Washington Libraries, and the methodologies used for further categorising existing catalogues.
• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, over at The Daily Cartoonist, as the election drew to its inevitable close and the various players, including billionaires, convicted felons, visual metaphors, and voting booths all had their moments of infamy, before, well, life continues.
— Rosier (@CahetelRosier) October 29, 2024
This week’s audio/visual delights.
• Dipping back into the Thick Lines archives for some more appreciation of the recently departed Kazuo Umezz, as Katie Skelly and Sally Madden (plus Joe McCulloch in later episodes) have discussions of Umezz’s The Drifting Classroom Volume 1, Volume 2, and Volume 3, Orochi Volume 1 and Volume 2, and Cat-Eyed Boy.
• Ben Katchor hosted the latest meeting of the New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium, as Lim Cheng Tju moderated a talk from Slowork Publishing’s Pei-shan Huang on the company’s publishing ethos, the editing process for graphic novels in Asia, and the artists Slowork has published.
• For CBC, Ian Hanomansing speaks with Michael de Adder about the economic realities of working as an editorial cartoonist in an age where many newspapers are cutting back on these staff positions and whether social media platforms are the future for the medium of political cartooning.
• The New Yorker visits cartoonist and illustrator Barry Blitt at home, discussing artistic beginnings, illustrations in progress and those that didn’t make the grade, and the political upheavals that keep a cartoonist busy.
• EveryLibrary celebrated this year’s Manga Day by presenting a panel discussion between Viz Media’s Mike Montesa, Kodansha’s TJ Ferentini, Fantagraphics’ Tucker Stone, and Yen Press’ Mark de Vera, as they spoke about the global impact of manga as an artform, and the legacy of Osamu Tezuka.
• David Harper welcomed Discount Comic Book Service’s Christina Merkler to this week’s episode of Off Panel, as they spoke about the intricacies of trades and distribution, how the comics market is looking in 2024, and the current collecting boom.
• Publisher’s Weekly’s More to Come kicked off the best-of-the-year season early, as Meg Lemke and Calvin Reid discussed the graphic novels to be found on PW’s best books list, and highlighted a few that are not.
• Gil Roth was joined by Eric Drooker for the latest edition of The Virtual Memories Show, as they spoke about Naked City, Flood!, and Blood Song, the making of this New York trilogy of books, shifting from ‘silent’ comics to those featuring dialogue, and analog comics-making.
• Closing out the week with a few trips up in the Word Balloon with John Siuntres, as Kelly Thompson spoke about Absolute Wonder Woman and Birds of Prey, Matt Wagner and Kelley Jones spoke about Dracula, Gene Ha spoke about Mae and Wonder Woman Historia, and Dean Haspiel spoke about Chest Face.
Happy Halloween! pic.twitter.com/va9hp4a3m6
— 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘮 (@cromafterdark) November 1, 2024
No more links, no more news, please, I have started seeing news tickers and pie charts in my sleep, and I much prefer dreaming of histograms.
✍️🐰 pic.twitter.com/CUyYjnqP6W
— 形状😈 (@kei2468) November 2, 2024
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