Frank Santoro is back and inaugurating a new series of columns on Risograph printing. He begins by interviewing the artist many credit with getting the recent trend started, Mickey Z:
Risograph. What is it? Where did it come from? Most of us comics makers never really even heard of risograph until 2009 or so. Recently, I was noting to a friend how much better looking most risograph printed comics look than most "print on demand" or even most offset printed comics—and how prevalent the use of risograph has become. We tried to think about the first risograph printed comic we saw--what it was and when it appeared. It was then that Providence-based comics maker Mickey Zacchilli's name kept popping up. Many of the people I interviewed for this series mentioned Mickey's comics printed with a risograph as an inspiration, and then they all seemed to have gone on their own risograph research and development program. So I decided to go to the source and asked the great Mickey Z to fill us in... what really happened? Read on below.
Meanwhile, elsewhere:
—Reviews & Commentary. At Slate, Isaac Butler reviews Joe Ollmann's Abominable Mr. Seabrook.
Every nonfiction comic must find a way to tackle this tension between the need to tell a true story and render a personal work of art in both image and text. Art Spiegelman’s Maus and David B’s Epileptic do this through using frequent symbolism to make it clear we are not reading literal truth. Journalist Joe Sacco’s Footnotes in Gaza becomes an investigation into whether or not the truth of historical events is even knowable. Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home is organized as a series of chronologically scrambled, thematically linked episodes, as if the page is mimicking both obsessive research (which she draws herself doing) and the searching qualities of memory at the same time.
For The New York Times, Janine di Giovanni reviews three recent comics set in the Middle East, from Sarah Glidden, Riad Sattouf, and Loïc Dauvillier & Glen Chapron.
“If I locked you up, it was so you could taste hate,” Dr. Amin Jaafari’s captor says in the extraordinary graphic novel version of Yasmina Kadra’s “The Attack.” “Anything can happen if you scratch at someone’s self-esteem. Especially if they are feeling powerless.”
This is not just a simplified explanation of the complex motivations of a suicide bomber. These words, in a sense, exemplify the brutal cycle of the Middle East tragedy: Injustice leads to powerlessness, to frustration to rage, and finally to acts of violence that undercut any attempts at peace or reconciliation.
Ken Parille remembers Alvin Buenaventura.
When I’m reading a comic — especially some weak 1970s’ DC or Marvel book — I’ll often imagine Alvin watching over my shoulder, not at all happy with what he’s seeing. In a soft monotone voice he condemns me for wasting time on crap when there’s genuinely engaging, idiosyncratic work out there, waiting.
—Interviews & Profiles. Emil Ferris has drawn a short comics memoir for the Chicago Reader.
Ferris uses those early experiences as a loose backdrop in her stunning debut graphic novel, My Favorite Thing is Monsters. Set in 1960s Uptown, Monsters is told from the perspective of a 10-year-old’s diary as she attempts to solve the murder of her mysterious upstairs neighbor. The book, which is haunting, ambitious, and altogether remarkable, took Ferris more than a decade to complete. The story behind its creation is as astounding as the book itself.
A very brief excerpt of the book can be found at The New Yorker's website, along with a quick introduction by Françoise Mouly and Genevieve Bormes.
On the eve of the publication of a work about the past, Ferris is surprised by its relevance to the present: “When I started on this—years and years ago—we were living in a different time,” she said. “I was wondering, Why am I doing this? I’m talking about the rise of fascism. I’m talking about racial inequality. I’m talking about the lack of representation for children who are lesbian and gay and trans.” She would ask herself, back then, “Is this just a history lesson that I’m making? I thought it’s good to be reminded that these are important topics.”
“Now, though, I’m a little astonished,” she said. “It has all come back.”
The most recent guest on Virtual Memories is Patrick McDonnell.
A new interview with Daniel Clowes:
—News. The artist Kurt Holley, known for comics he published under the name Kurt Wolfgang, was arrested last week for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend in Gainesville, Florida.
—Crowdfunding Requests. The family of artist Jeremy Treece is asking for help after a devastating series of health, employment, and housing issues.
Our hope is that this campaign will help our family move into a new home by February 28th, and help us find a decent used vehicle for getting the children to and from school and running errands, but also for helping Lisa (me) get to and from doctor appointments and making sure that I have the availability to accept interviews and possible job offers.
Why do we need help? Jeremy's freelance income varies month to month and it had been my income that stablilized us- up until the point I lost my job. Our car had been a wreck from the beginning and is now being torn apart for scrap by a local salvage yard. The community we are living in has issued us an unexpected notice that they will "not be renewing" our lease, which is up as of February 28th; if we are not out by that date, legal action will be taken.
Ink Brick, the journal of comics poetry, has launched a Kickstarter.
In 2017, everyone knows that comics are a powerful medium for storytelling and beautiful artwork. But what other expressive possibilities are hidden in the form? What new things can we say with all the elements of the comics page—the panel arrangements, cartooning, word balloons and captions, lettering styles, and on and on? In short, what else can comics do?
We started Ink Brick to answer that question. We started it to create a home for this exciting form that most people still don't know about, to create a community. We've now published six issues featuring over 100 creators from across the world. We're getting more work than we know what to do with, and we need your help to expand our reach and embark on exciting new projects.
The great Sam Henderson has started a Patreon account.
I've been around professionally for about 25 years. I edit a comic called MAGIC WHISTLE. I had a regular comic for NICKELODEON magazine from 1993 to 2009. I've done work for NEW YORK PRESS, OBSERVER, COMICS JOURNAL, DC COMICS, CARTOON NETWORK, MEDIUM, DISNEY, AOL, was nominated for an Emmy for my writing on SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS in 2001, still write for the comic, have had several book collections, a development deal, yet despite all this I'm always broke. Last year I made, uh, let's just say... less than you. Hoping this will be one of the things to change that.
