1. Listen to Dan’s interview with C.F. from this year’s MoCCA, courtesy of Indie Spinner Rack.
2. Go see Gary Panter and Devin Flynn on Saturday at Amoeba Music in Berkeley. Or see Gary later in the day at Park Life in San Francisco at 8 pm.
3. Prepare for Lauren R. Weinstein’s signing for The Goddess of War at Rocketship in Brooklyn Saturday night by taking a photographic tour of her studio.
The audio of the panel mentioned earlier is now up, for anyone who’s interested. It’s going to be a while before I have time to listen to it myself, fortunately, but I am sure of two things: (1) I sound like an idiot trying to answer Tom Spurgeon’s first question to me, and (2) at the time, I was greatly depressed by some of the things being said, openly, freely, in front of an audience, and on tape, seemingly with little awareness of or concern for the ethical and journalistic implications. (To be clear, it wasn’t the audience or recording devices that bothered me, but the fact that even their presence couldn’t inspire the barest lip service to be paid to the ideal of journalistic independence.) All this doesn’t mean that it was a particularly exciting discussion, so don’t expect fireworks.
(By the way, one of the other panelists, Johanna Draper Carlson, has posted her thoughts as well.)
UPDATE: And now a third panelist, Heidi MacDonald, has also weighed in.
UPDATE II: This guy is making sense! And he’s even more persuasive because of his DEFT use of CAPITAL FUCKING LETTERS!
UPDATE III: Update II was juvenile.
This past Friday, I was on a panel about comics criticism and journalism at the Heroes Con in North Carolina, and ever since, I’ve been thinking a lot about the ethics of this “business”. Early on in the panel, Tom Spurgeon, who was moderating, asked me how my approach to reading comics has changed since I started editing Comics Comics. Exhausted from an early flight and a lack of coffee, I basically bungled my answer, despite multiple attempts, but I haven’t stopped pondering the question.
Most of Heroes Con was a lot of fun, though. I had to split early, so I’ll leave it to Dan and/or Frank to do a full report if they’re so inclined. (Spurgeon himself has put together a pretty amazing write-up of the event in the meantime.) It was great to meet a lot of people I’ve known only on the internet or through their work, like Tom, Jim Rugg, Dustin Harbin, Craig Fischer, and Tom’s brother Whit (who deserves a television show pronto), as well as to catch up with people I basically only see at conventions and that kind of thing.
However, as enjoyable as these kinds of events can be, a part of me is always a little uncomfortable with them. If I’m going to be editing and writing comics criticism, it’s important to be able to separate personal friendships and acquaintances from my writing, and it’s already a lot more difficult to do than it was just two years ago. (Being married to a cartoonist, and not wanting to have her work unfairly linked to my opinions — we disagree on plenty, believe me — doesn’t really make it any easier.) It’s not really that difficult, but it’s an ethical distinction that I have to be vigilant about, and it’s also probably the largest single difference between how I currently approach comics and how I read and talked about them pre-CC, when I’d praise or trash comics with impunity. Now I try to make a point of not reviewing comics by people I know well, at least in print or on the blog, and I think that’s probably for the best, at least for now. The comics world is a small world, though, and that policy won’t work forever.
Wyatt Mason, one of the better literary critics around, just wrote an interesting post on his new blog about friends reviewing friends in the world of “real books”, and he comes to a different conclusion:
[Edmund] Wilson, whom every young critic in kneesocks and each old one in his dotage now holds up as the ur-critic of the century, could not only review Fitzgerald but legions of his friends’ work through the decades … It can be done honestly – that is to say with intellectual honesty; that is to say, in a fair and balanced (that sadly corrupted phrase) manner which can elevate our understanding of aesthetic enterprise.
I agree with this in theory, but I’m not sure I’m quite ready to put it into practice. Maybe the trick is to emulate someone like Gary Groth, to harden the heart and enjoy the fights. (That’s definitely a strategy to which it’s possible to overcommit. [EDIT: I no longer think the linked essay is a good example of Groth overdoing it; there probably is an appropriate example, but months later, I’m not inclined to dig around and find one.]) Of course, even Edmund Wilson wasn’t as pure about keeping his personal relationships from affecting his writing as Mason makes out. (Just see the Wilson/Nabokov letters for one prominent falling out and the resulting critical blind spot.) In any case, if I’m going to keep meeting cartoonists whose work I want to write about, I really need to figure this out.
More about the panel later, maybe, if I decide it’s a good idea to explain that photo … (I’ll say this much: I wasn’t cranky because I wasn’t getting enough attention; I was disheartened by what was being said. Read Craig Fischer’s re-cap for some of the flavor.)
Maybe I’ll just let the eventual audio file speak for itself.
UPDATE: More on the panel, and a link to the audio, here.
The Comics Comics and PictureBox advance team has arrived in Charlotte, NC for Heroes Con. Frank and I are lounging in our hotel room, high above the convention center. So far it looks like a fun show and damn fine for back issues. Why, there’s an entire Fangoria section at one table! Anyhow, Tim will be joining us tomorrow and then we have some fun panels:
Friday, 3 pm:
CAGE MATCH: Comics Comics Vs Comics Comics! | Room 208
A live critique session with the editors of Comics Comics. Timothy Hodler, Dan Nadel and Frank Santoro will conduct a no-holds-barred argument about a comic book or graphic novel of their choice. Audience participation is encouraged. Chairs might be thrown.
Topics:
John Byrne’s FX
Kirby’s OMAC
The new issue of Mome
Kick-Ass 1-3
Saturday, 12:30 pm:
THE NEW ART COMICS
From critical favorite hits like MAGGOTS and POWR MASTRS, to prominence in influential anthologies like KRAMER’S ERGOT, “art” or “abstract” or “out” comics are pushing the boundaries of the avant garde in comics. Join Tom Spurgeon of the Comics Reporter as he sits down with Picturebox publisher Dan Nadel, KRAMER’S ERGOT editor Sammy Harkham and publisher Alvin Buenaventura for a frank discussion of this leading edge of art in comics!
Sunday, 1 pm:
CRAFT IN COMICS: Jaime Hernandez, Jim Rugg, and Frank Santoro in Conversation | 213A
Less a conversation on materials and techniques and more a conversation on ideas and beliefs, this panel will focus on tradition and innovation in composition and drawing for comics. From Jaime’s insistence on not using photographs as reference in his comics to Jim’s clarity of composition and Frank’s careful color choices, there are countless tenets of craft that are largely underappreciated by readers. This panel will investigate these ideas and attempt to illuminate and outline them in a lively conversation led by Frank Santoro.
My favorite comic at MoCCA, honestly, was Benjamin Marra’s Night Business. A disciple of Paul Gulacy in spirit, Marra embodies a certain verve that I find refreshing in these mopey times. It may be a little too hardcore, too fanzine-ish for some Comics Comics readers, but for me, it’s a breath of fresh air, and a surprising find at MoCCA.
The story of a stripper who won’t be bought and a killer on the loose, Night Business trucks in noirish genre tropes but renders them with such detail and conviction that the woody dialogue and relentlessly stark lighting go down smoothly and enjoyably. I like the overall feeling of the comic and feel as though Marra is trying to single-handedly restore some “order” to comics. Marra’s layouts do most of the work, providing a structure for his detailed scenes — murder, XXX dancing, fights with a capital ‘F’ — and it sports one of the coolest covers I’ve seen in awhile. It’s totally over the top and worth checking out.
So, since we’re all recovering here at Comics Comics from the insane heat wave of the last few days and the MoCCA festival I thought I’d try to jot down a few things for posterity. It was a good show, I thought, no? PictureBox table was killing it all day. Lauren Weinstein held it down both days debuting the magnificent Goddess of War, which may just be the best comic to come out this year so far. Gary Panter hung out for a bit, signing. CF was there. Michel Gondry arrived when we were all signing and it sort of became surreal. Especially during the fire drill when we were all standing on the corner of Houston and Lafayette and I thought to myself this is like a dream sequence in one of Gondry’s movies, weird. Fun, but weird.
Um, I did my lecture at the MoCCA gallery (thanks Kent!) and it probably couldn’t have gone better. It was a big relief. So for all of you folks who missed it fear not because it was recorded. More on that soon. (Thanks Tucker! Thanks Nina!) And thanks to everyone who came out and supported my wacky rantings, specifically: Tim Hodler, The CCC crew, Alex Holden, Tom K, Dash Shaw, Jon Vermiliyea, Blissy Higgs, R Siroyak, Chris Mautner, Jog, and everyone else who was there whom I can’t remember by name. It was your enthusiasm and interest that made it a good talk or at least fun for me. There were like 7 or 8 people who came up to me afterwards and were extremely positive, which was really rewarding. Thank you, thank you. Honest.
Oh, and for all of you who were there who didn’t get one of my handouts, I will be reprinting them and will make them available. Just send me an email and I’ll get you one eventually.
I’m planning on doing a nice article on the Closed Caption Comics crew who were out in force at this year’s MoCCA. They are a pretty amazing group of artists with strong individual voices. I recommend their blog to get acquainted, CCC, until the article finds its way on to this blog and into the magazine. Most of the CCC artists are printmakers and they embody a particular spirit in comics that I think is extremely important to cultivate. Meaning that if you don’t learn how to make your own books from scratch and familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of how do it all: writing, drawing, printing, distributing, selling, promoting at shows — then you are missing something. And the CCC crew do it all.
The PictureBox site is mysteriously sick right now, so here goes:
PictureBox will be at the MoCCA comics festival this weekend at NYC’s Puck Building (At the corner of Lafayette and Houston).
We will debut the following books and zines:
-Goddess of War by Lauren Weinstein
-Cold Heat Special by Jim Rugg and Frank Santoro
-Core of Caligula by CF
-We Lost the War but Won the Battle by Michel Gondry
-Crazy Town by Paul Gondry
-Bicycle Fluids (not) by Matthew Thurber
-Faded Igloo by Jim Drain
-The Museum of Love and Mystery by Jim Woodring (a Presspop edition)
-Cold Heat Special by Ryan Cecil Smith
Michel Gondry, Paul Gondry, Gary Panter, Frank Santoro, Lauren Weinstein, CF and Matthew Thurber will all be in attendance.
The schedule is:
Saturday:
11-12: Frank Santoro and Lauren Weinstein
12-2: Michel Gondry, Paul Gondry and Lauren Weinstein
2-3: CF, Frank Santoro, Gary Panter
3-4: Gary Panter, CF, and Lauren Weinstein
3:45-4:55: Frank Santoro Lecture @ MoCCA!
4-5: CF, Michel Gondry, Paul Gondry
5-6: CF and Dan Nadel in Conversation @ MoCCA!
5-6: Lauren Weinstein, Michel Gondry, Paul Gondry
Sunday:
11-12: Frank Santoro & Lauren Weinstein
12-2: Michel Gondry, Paul Gondry, Lauren Weinstein
2-3: Frank Santoro, Matthew Thurber, Lauren Weinstein
3-5: Michel Gondry, Paul Gondry, Matthew Thurber
Tonight I’m moderating a panel with Kim Deitch, Evan Dorkin and Lauren Weinstein. Three generations of inspired lunacy. Come on out! Here’s the info:
The AIGA NY Presents:
Bamboozled beauties, hunky heroes and eccentric side-kicks populate the quirky universe of graphic novels and comic books. Dazzling drawings elevate plot points while witty repartee illuminates characters. Dan Nadel from Grammy Award-winning PictureBox, Inc. will explore this marriage of image to word with three artists that wield pen and pencil with equal dexterity. Kim Deitch introduces brilliant beings like Waldo the Cat into the comix cannon; Evan Dorkin chronicles dairy products gone bad in “Milk & Cheese”; Lauren R. Weinstein charts teenage angst in her semi-autobiographical “Girl Stories.” Come join this trio for a talk on crafting prose and drawn protagonists.
Speakers
Dan Nadel is the publisher/editor/art director of PictureBox, Inc., a Grammy Award-winning New York-based packaging and publishing company. Its most recent releases include Gary Panter. He is the author of Art Out of Time: Unknown Comic Visionaries 1900–1969. PictureBox has recently opened a retail space in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood, featuring an international assortment of books, records, prints, editions and sundries.
Kim Deitch has a reserved place at the first table of underground cartoonists. The son of UPA and Terrytoons animator Gene Deitch, Kim was born in 1944 and grew up around the animation business. He began doing comic strips for the East Village Other in 1967, introducing two of his more famous characters, Waldo the Cat and Uncle Ed, the India Rubber Man. In 1969 he succeeded Vaughn Bodé as editor of Gothic Blimp Works, the Other’s underground comics tabloid. During this period he married fellow cartoonist Trina Robbins and had a daughter, Casey. “The Mishkin Saga” was named one of the Top 30 best English-language comics of the 20th Century by The Comics Journal, and the first issue of The Stuff of Dreams received the Eisner Award for Best Single Issue in 2003. Deitch remains a true cartoonists’ cartoonist, adored by his peers as much as anyone in the history of the medium.
Evan Dorkin is the creator of MILK AND CHEESE, DORK, and HECTIC PLANET, all published by SLG/Amaze Ink. He’s also put in time at Marvel (Bill and Ted’s Excellent Comic, Agent X, The Thing: Night Falls On Yancy Street), Dark Horse (Hellboy: Weird Tales, The Dark Horse Book Of Hauntings, The Mask) and DC (Superman and Batman: World’s Funnest, Bizarro), among other comics publishers. His work has appeared in such publications as Esquire, Spin, The Onion, Mad, Disney Adventures, Penthouse Hot Talk and Nickelodeon magazine and he recently provided the cover art and interior illustrations for Larry Doyle’s novel, I Love You, Beth Cooper, published by Harper Collins. He’s written for Space Ghost Coast To Coast, Superman, Batman Beyond and The Shin-Chan animated series. He was the creator of the Welcome To Eltingville animated pilot, which aired on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block of programming, and was based on his Eltingville Club strips from Dork. It was a terrific bomb. His second pilot for the Swim, Tyrone’s Inferno, was shelved last year before it could reach bomb status. He is currently working as a writer and designer for the children’s show Yo Gabba Gabba!, contributing to Mad and Nickelodeon magazine, writing material for the Bart Simpson comic from Bongo, and developing a series for Dark Horse comics along with collaborator Jill Thompson.
Lauren R. Weinstein is a cartoonist. Her most recent book, Girl Stories, was published by Henry Holt and was rated one of Booklist’s top 10 great graphic novels for teens. Her work has been featured in Yale University Press’s Anthlogy of Graphic Fiction and Houghton Mifflin’s Best American Comics of 2007. Currently, Lauren teaches drawing and cartooning to children and adults at the 92nd Street Y, Parsons School of Design, and the School of Visual Arts. In 2003, she was the recipient of the Xeric Grant, allowing her to self-publish her first book, Inside Vineyland. In 2004, she received the Ignatz award for “Promising New Talent.” Her comics and illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, Glamour, McSweeney’s, LA Weekly, The Chicago Reader, Kramer’s Ergot, and Seattle’s The Stranger. Currently she is working on the sequel to Girl Stories, tentatively entitled Calamity. Her sci-fi fantasy comic entitled The Goddess of War is coming out in May, 2008 from PictureBox.
TIME AND PLACE
Wednesday 4 June 2008 6:30–8:00PM
Galapagos
70 North 6th Street
between Kent and Wythe
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 11211
718 782-5188
galapagosartspace.com
6:30–7:00PM Registration
7:00–8:00PM Presentation
$20 AIGA member
$10 AIGA student member
$30 general public
I’m going to be giving a lecture at MoCCA on saturday June 7th at 3:45. I hope that anyone who enjoys this blog, or my approach to comics, will come out.
It’s going to be about static and dynamic symmetry in art and how it applies to comics. There’s a couple handouts and I promise it won’t be boring. I’ve been keeping notes, preparing for it for weeks now, so I can promise you that it will be informative and entertaining.
I do a great Swannee.
and also, of course, Dan and Tim and I will be our usual peppy selves at the Puck Building on saturday and sunday for the actual MoCCA festival.
June 7 Saturday 3:45pm MoCCA Gallery, 594 Broadway (Suite 401), just below Houston.
So here I am, empty NYC for Memorial Day, at an internet cafe checking email. How low can you go? $3.75 for half an hour? Man.
So, Dan’s in LA with Gary Panter. Tim is in Limbo somewhere (the beach?). And me, I’m just trying to stifle my urge to yell F**k The Troops to the throngs of white uniformed sailors souring these East Village streets.
Saw Sun Ra’s Arkestra last nite. It was the anniversary of his leaving this world and the birthday of the band’s present leader, Marshall Allen. Sun Ra’s music is still out there, it still cuts, and the musicians are just masters of their art, breathtaking to behold.
In Cold Heat news there are two new Specials are at the printers. See you at MoCCA.
