Welcome to the new week.
Today on the site:
The great Richard Gehr returns with a brand new Know Your New Yorker Cartoonist, this time featuring the most excellent Arnie Levin. Here's a choice morsel:
GEHR: Did you have any relationship with your father?
LEVIN: When I went to get a passport, they ask me, “What’s your father’s name?” I said, “Ernest.” And the gal said to me, “No, it’s not.” I said, “Yes, it is!” She said, “No. That’s not what’s here.” So I called my mother and aunt to ask if Dad had any other names. Nothing. We were there all day calling people. I was getting desperate because we were gonna take a trip and I needed a passport. Then the gal asked me, “What borough did you live in?” I said the Bronx, She said no. I said, “This is impossible!” and asked her what she had down for his name. She said, “E.” [Laughter] I said, “E?” “Yes. E. Lawrence Levin.” She suddenly wants to get literary!
And of course, if you follow the site 24/7 you'd know that Frank Santoro posted a column yesterday detailing some of his current obsessions:
currently obsessed with old issues of Optic Nerve. They look really really good and the stories hold up. The graphic design of the individual comics is great. And I really like Adrian’s “stage blocking” when he composes scenes. There is a very real sense of space in his comics. People in the landscape, in chairs, cars – all feel real and drawn and observed. Very hard to do without relying on photo refs. Tomine has a super developed sense of timing. I also like how he uses the “set” of the room or landscape to show physical as well as emotional distance from each other. Like a good cinematographer.
That should really quench your comics thirst, but if you're like me, and you find yourself parched for comics, here's a little more:
-Paul Gravett on comics history books.
-An entire Tumblr devoted to absurd images of Lupin III.
-Al Williamson and Joe Simon do a collaborative dance.
-A fine new Kate Beaton comic.
-More New Yorker cartooning: Bruce Eric Kaplan, who wrote the Seinfeld New Yorker cartoon bit, interviewed on that very subject.
-And not comics, but surely picture stories: The late Chris Marker once made a really excellent CD-ROM, which is now online. (via Jog)
