A (slightly) pre-emptively spooOOooky™ edition of this week’s links, below, as All Hallow’s Eve once again does not fall on a Friday, although I note that 2025 will bring us the coveted Hallowe’en Friday, and thus all links (if in effect at that time) will be dedicated to Hecate/Trivia/The Crypt Keeper/John Carpenter [delete according to personal belief system and/or classical preference, thanks].
Frankencastle Punishtein pic.twitter.com/kcG8Nntfuh
— Alexye (@oldbabyyoda) September 30, 2024
This week’s news.
• Starting this week’s selection off with manga publisher apology news, as a recent edition of Kodansha’s Morning featured a chapter of Kenshi Hirokane’s series Outside Director Kosaku Shima which suggests that people protesting against the construction of US military bases in Okinawa Prefecture are hired to do so - The Mainichi reports that Kodansha will publish an apology to the effect that such claims are “hearsay with no confirmation from the parties concerned.”
• A quick round-up of recent comics awards news, as last weekend saw the announcement of the winners of this year’s Harvey Awards, with Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki’s Roaming taking home Book of the Year and Best Children's or Young Adult Book; the New York Public Library released their annual list of Best New Comics; and cartoonist Roz Chast received a National Humanities Medal this week as part of 2023’s cohort of recipients.
• In comics-related funding opportunities news, applications are open for this year’s Lucy Shelton Caswell Research Award, which provides up to $2,500 in funding to a researcher who needs to travel to Columbus, Ohio, to use the collections of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.
• Following their recent fundraiser to try and match a usurious increase in rent, Brooklyn’s Desert Island comics announced that they will be moving location in the new year, travelling 500 feet down the road to their new location at 490 Metropolitan Ave, after signing a ten-year lease for the property.
• ICv2 report that Diamond Comic Distributors is closing its Plattsburgh distribution centre, along with various regional drop points, as “part of an ongoing evaluation of operation” - Diamond has seen a vastly reduced volume of books passing through its doors of late, due to the loss of big-name publishers as clients over the last few years, including Image Comics last summer, and cancelled its annual Retailer Summit at the start of this year.
• Finally this week, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival announced that it has appointed Amie Wright as its new Executive Director, replacing the outgoing ED Miles Baker - Wright is a comics librarian and public historian based in Ontario who has been organising comics programming in Canada and the United States for over a decade.
Congrats to @NewYorker cartoonist extraordinaire Roz Chast who received her National Humanities Medal yesterday! 🎉🎉🎉 pic.twitter.com/vPG60rQzjH
— Jane Mayer (@JaneMayerNYer) October 22, 2024
This week’s reviews.
TCJ
• Tom Shapira reviews the beautiful tragedy of DC’s Swamp Thing by Rick Veitch, Volume 1: Wild Things - “At the end – this is the run that didn’t end. At least, didn’t end well. Famously, Veitch went for time travel with issue #88 meaning to feature a certain famous religious icon. Jenette Kahn got cold feet, nixed the script, and Veitch was off the book in protest. Doug Wheeler and Tom Yeates were recruited as pinch-hitters and book shambled-on, as a swamp thing does, without much glory. They say Moore tried to put a hex on DC once, but the hex of Veitch appears much stronger.”
• Tasha Lowe reviews the astute observations of Joe Steinhardt and Marissa Paternoster’s Merriment - “The story is not rushed. It breathes like an early Jim Jarmusch film. Characters talk, but don’t chatter. The silences are sometimes lush, letting the reader consider their own response. The characters are layered, they are both familiar and a little bit cryptic. If you want a lot of overt action, you are likely to be disappointed. If you want to feel like you’ve looked closely into the hearts of some women you might otherwise not pay attention to on the street, you will be very glad that you spent some time with them.”
AIPT
• Kevin Clark reviews the political machinations of Dennis Culver, Ramon Bachs, et al’s Sectaurs #1.
• David Brooke reviews the strong introduction of Stan Sakai’s Space Usagi: White Star Rising #1.
• Ronnie Gorham reviews the old-school scares of David M. Booher, Drew Zucker, et al’s The Feeding #1.
• Piper Whitaker reviews the simple beginnings of Kelly Thompson, Hayden Sherman, et al’s Absolute Wonder Woman #1.
• Michael Guerrero reviews the perfect conclusion of Mariko Tamaki, Javier Rodríguez, et al’s Zatanna: Bring Down the House #5.
• Nathan Simmons reviews the truncated scares of DC’s DC Horror Presents… #1.
• Alex Schlesinger reviews the biting action of Jed MacKay, Pepe Larraz, et al’s Blood Hunt.
• Collier Jennings reviews the opening stakes of Spencer Ackerman, Julius Ohta, et al’s Iron Man #1.
The Beat
• Tim Rooney reviews the corporate combat of Spencer Ackerman, Julius Ohta, et al’s Iron Man #1.
• Zack Quaintance reviews the perfect absurdity of Tom Scioli’s Godzilla’s Monsterpiece Theatre #1.
• Jared Bird reviews the seamless tapestry of Tim Seeley, Stefano Caselli, Steve Kurth, et al’s Hack / Slash: Body Bags #1.
• Jordan Jennings reviews the enjoyable callbacks of Amanda Deibert, Cat Staggs, et al’s The Powerpuff Girls Halloween Special.
• Clyde Hall reviews the layered mystery of Geoff Johns, Jason Fabok, et al’s Rook Exodus #6.
• Tonya Pennington reviews the sparkly monsters of Bryan Golden’s Vampire Magicka.
• Samantha Puc reviews the seasonal charms of Sophie Escabasse's Taxi Ghost.
• Hilary Leung reviews the changing emotions of Yosumi’s Lethal Dose of Love, translated by Amber Tamosaitis.
• Arpad Okay reviews the expressive style of Sumiko Arai’s The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy at All Volume 1, translated by Ajani Oloye.
Boing Boing
Thom Dunn reviews the artful archetypes of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Houses of the Unholy.
Broken Frontier
• Andy Oliver reviews the artistic intent of Kristina Stipetic’s Positive Worlds, Negative Spaces.
• Lindsay Pereira reviews the powerful bleakness of Manu Larcenet’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.
• Lydia Turner has reviews of:
• The wintry treats of L. Adassovsky’s Hibernation Guide for Rabbits and Hares.
• The gothic delights of Mohnfisch’s Aglæca.
• The twisted darkness of Val Wise’s In Fair Verona.
• The hilarious lore of Lis Xu’s The Shit Witch.
• The exhilarating shifts of Metias Gray's Lady Fixie.
• The intriguing questions of Zen K.'s Runaway Mayhem.
From Cover to Cover
Scott Cederlund has reviews of:
• The changing times of Peter Bagge’s Hate Revisited #4.
• The engaging rhythm of Daniel Warren Johnson’s Transformers: Robots in Disguise.
• The slow reveals of Kieron Gillen, Caspar Wijngaard, et al’s The Power Fantasy #3.
• The mythological changes of Kelly Thompson, Hayden Sherman, et al’s Absolute Wonder Woman #1.
ICv2
Nick Smith reviews the approachable reconstruction of David F. Walker and Marcus Kwame Alexander’s Big Jim and the White Boy.
Hyperallergic
Nathan Gelgud reviews the masterful juxtaposition of New York Review Comics and Ernie Bushmiller’s Nancy & Sluggo’s Guide to Life.
International Research in Children’s Literature
Eva Van de Wiele reviews the intriguing aspects of Alison Halsall’s Growing up Graphic: The Comics of Children in Crisis.
House to Astonish
Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ X-Men: From the Ashes Infinity Comic #19, Uncanny X-Men #4, Wolverine #2, and Mystique #1.
Solrad
Hagai Palevsky reviews the core questions of Dash Shaw’s Blurry.
one of my indie comics bucket list dreams realized, visiting and taking a photo in the one of a kind indie comics space of a living legend and maestro of cartooning and comics! thank you CB, DC and NVS! https://t.co/Ed1EVbgaBv
— chris anthony diaz (@cad_pictures) October 15, 2024
This week’s interviews.
TCJ
Gina Gagliano interviews Bianca Xunise about Punk Rock Karaoke, fighting God, the joys of X-Ray Spex, and artistic influences - “The hot topic now has been about AI and I share the same grievance towards it like many of my creative peers. It’s the correct response to feel frustrated that we are seeing these programs essentially take a part of our souls and aggregate it out for consumer culture rather than understanding that art has always been a human practice of processing both the beauty and traumas of life. Ethically and environmentally, AI isn’t great.”
AIPT
• Jay Barrett speaks with Ram V about The New Gods, the never-ending pursuit of doing something fresh, and lists of immortal characters.
• Collier Jennings talks to Darick Robertson about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and changing attitudes towards the heroes in a half-shell.
Autobiographix
Nora Hickey interviews Maggie Umber about Chrysanthemum Under the Waves, comics-making and -reading origins, and shifting into self-publishing.
Broken Frontier
• Ellie Egleton talks to Emilia Strilchuk about Be Yourself! Oh, Not Like That, combining words and pictures, and sharing struggles through graphic memoir.
• Andy Oliver speaks with Colleen Douglas about Silk Cotton and the book’s family focus, and with Rob Luckett and Jack Fallows about the Leeds Comics Collective and Cryptids of Leeds.
Forbes
Rob Salkowitz interviews Scott Dunbier and Steve Lieber about Stop Project 2025, and the volunteer effort behind the comics.
The Guardian
Damien Gayle talks to Jean-Marc Jancovici and Christophe Blain about World Without End, the controversy surrounding the book, and the realities of fossil fuel use.
ICv2
Brigid Alverson presents conversations from this year’s New York Comic Con between Scott Dunbier and Robert Meyers about Act 4 and Bad Egg’s respective publishing strategies, and between Nick Barrucci and Filip Sablik about those of Dynamite Entertainment and Ignition.
The Johns Hopkins News-Letter
Isabella Wang speaks with Jordan Jackson about The E.V.E. of Insurrection, marketing strategies, and the starving artist archetype.
Publisher’s Weekly
Shaenon Garrity interviews Julia Gfrörer about World Within the World, comics making origins, the inexorable draw of horror, and the comics to be found in the collection.
Solrad
Rosa Appignanesi talks to Leo Fox about Boy Island, the book’s origins, satirising cliches, the perils of propaganda, and who gets to be horny.
United by Pop
Tayce speaks with Salomey Doku about Brielle and Bear: Once Upon a Time, magical higher education, and the creative logistics of making a graphic novel.
It’s that time of year again! WBMC is looking for short comics and zines by trans/queer authors to publish in 2025!
This is a paid opportunity and you don’t need a finished project to apply. Apps are open till Dec 15th! Tell your friends!
App & info: https://t.co/CU7juvjVl6 pic.twitter.com/8ZUvgs4gtv
— Wiggle Bird Mailing Club 🐣 (@wbmc666) October 14, 2024
This week’s features and longreads.
• Here at TCJ, Zach Rabiroff writes in remembrance of artist and writer Bernie Mireault, creator of The Jam, who died last month at the age of 64, speaking with friends and peers about their memories of Mireault - “If only the public had noticed. That The Jam always struggled to find a mass audience is evidenced by its bewildering number of publishers over the course of its run: 19 total in a span of just under 40 years. Those were the boom-and-bust years of independent comics, in the wake of the massive breakout that was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the influx of titles meant a struggle for any book trying establish itself firmly in the marketplace.”
• Also for TCJ, John Kelly writes in remembrance of artist Larry Todd, creator of Dr. Atomic, who died last month at the age of 76, sharing memories of Todd from friends and peers - “Beyond comics and science fiction, Todd had a wide range of interests and his art appeared in numerous alternative outlets. In addition to his marijuana-themed Dr. Atomic, Todd illustrated a sex manual, did art for Laughing Gas, a book about Nitrous Oxide and had art appear in a publication called The Pleasures of Cocaine. He also did hundreds of illustrations for a homesteader, counterculture publication called The New Settler Interview.”
• Finally for TCJ this week, Chris Anthony Diaz shares photographs from the Cartoon Art Museum’s recent ‘Pinoy Power!: A Celebration of Filipino Komiks from the Archipelago to the Bay’ exhibit - “I really enjoyed this exhibit, as it covered a range of notable Filipino cartoonists and artists' eras. Thank you to the Cartoon Art Museum of San Francisco for showcasing this treasure trove of Filipino comics for others to discover and enjoy!”
• A couple of reports from the show floor of this year’s New York Comic-Con, from the weekend just gone, with footfall, floor interviews, figures, and photographs from Marc Berman for Forbes and Heidi MacDonald for Publisher’s Weekly.
• The team at Women Write About Comics present a fresh selection of WWACommendations, as recent reading selections include Robyn Smith’s The Small Things, Andy Lindquist’s No Thing, Jon Macy’s Djuna: The Extraordinary Life of Djuna Barnes, Rariatto’s Noss & Zakuro, and Beth Hetland and Kyle O’Connell’s Team Work Makes the Dream Work and Pizza is Surrounded by Crust Like Collaboration is Surrounded by Trust
• For Shelfdust, Chad Nevett continues a retrospective of The Mighty Thor, as consideration of issue 21 is preceded by examination of the way the series, and its crossover issues with Journey Into Mystery, credits Alan Davis, Matt Fraction, Carmine di Giandomenico, Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans and Barry Kitson.
• Polygon’s Susana Polo examines DC’s decision to exhume the Vertigo imprint, and discusses how this return isn’t particularly surprising in the wake of the Black Label imprint’s success.
• Paul O’Brien’s census of the villains of Daredevil continues, for House to Astonish, as this edition bangs the gavel at the boardroom machinations of Kerwin J Broderick.
• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, over at The Daily Cartoonist, as the election looms and we hit peak focus on one Donald Trump.
.@powerpaola is a Special Guest at Short Run! She'll be reading from All My Bicycles at Public Display on 10/31, her art will be featured at the Marathon Art Show at the Fanta Bookstore on 11/1, and she'll be signing at her table at the show on 11/2 ❤️ https://t.co/BTkRGlr3nM pic.twitter.com/SXnSkjrLO4
— Fantagraphics (@fantagraphics) October 23, 2024
This week’s audio/visual delights.
• Katie Skelly welcomed Anya Davidson to the latest episode of Thick Lines, as discussion was had on Joann Sfar’s Pascin, Sfar’s artistic practice, the history behind the artists featured in the book, the book’s structure, and the joys of good biography.
• The doors of House to Astonish opened once more, as Al Kennedy and Paul O’Brien discussed the return of DC’s Vertigo imprint in the age of Black Label and Marvel’s Red Ban, bad publisher logos, and reviews of recent offerings from both sides of the direct market aisle.
• Chip Zdarsky hosted this latest edition of Mangasplaining as the plot twist for this episode is that the book covered (in spoilery fashion) was not manga, and is in fact Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli’s Daredevil: Born Again, and the bucking/redefining of contemporary trends the book represents.
• David Harper welcomed Tim Leong to this week’s episode of Off Panel, as they discussed Marvel Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to the Marvel Comics Universe, the history of Comic Foundry, journalism and design principles, and research and creative processes.
• Closing out the week with reporting from the show floor of last week’s New York Comic Con from Publisher’s Weekly’s More to Come, as Kate Fitzsimons, Meg Lemke, Heidi MacDonald, and Calvin Reid spoke with David Walker, Marcus Kwame Anderson, Chip Zdarsky, Curt Pires, Derek Kirk Kim, Oliver Bly, Tula Lotay, Helen Mullane, Brian Mariotti, Tim Fielder, Charles Soule, Fawnduu, and Jeremy Bastian.
Get ready for MICE by joining us for a fundraiser to benefit the Boston Comic Arts Foundation. Come Saturday, November 9th, to the Fenway Community Center (1282 Boylston St #123, Boston, MA 02215) from 2-4pm for provided light refreshments and comic swapping! (1/3) pic.twitter.com/5zIqpuUgTq
— Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo (@MassMICE) October 22, 2024
No more links this week, as I must instead observe the leaves outside my window slowly turning to a deep russet and become melancholy about the passage of time.
— umeko🌈 (@umeko_part3) October 23, 2024
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