I’ll Smash Another Cup – This Week’s Links
The view up here is stunning… I can see all the news…
Features
European Journal 2023, Part 1: Bologna
What’s it like being an awards judge at a major international festival? Bill Kartalopoulos takes you inside the Bologna Children’s Book Fair as far as decency will allow in this inaugural chapter of his European Journal 2023.
Short Run Comix & Arts Festival 2022: A Look Back
Chris Diaz takes TCJ on a massive look back at Seattle’s Short Run Festival, which celebrated its 10th Anniversary (and its first edition following COVID-related postponements). Comics, the people that make them, and the events that happen when those things come together!
“You’ve Got to Constantly Reinvent Yourself”: Dan DiDio Is On a Mission to Save Comics From Itself
One of the most well-known figures in corporate-owned superhero comics returns to the direct market, single issues, and Frank Miller. We catch up with Dan DiDio about what’s different this time.
I Was Borne Upon The Tide – This Week’s Links
Jostled through the plastic tunnel of another week, but look at what’s at the end.
Galactic Quest
Zach heads down South for this installment of Retail Therapy to check in with Kyle Puttkammer, who has been surviving and thriving with two Galactic Quest direct market comic book stores for decades. Optimism? He’s got some!
Searching for Michael Dougan
John Kelly presents a detailed account of the life and career of a beloved figure of 1980s & 1990s Seattle alternative comics: Michael Dougan, who died last month in Japan. With special tributes from eight collogues from the days of the Seattle scene.
“I Love The Community Of Queer Comics”: The No Straight Lines Interview, with Justin Hall and Vivian Kleiman
A documentary on queer comics, inspired by 2012’s award-winning anthology of the same name, No Straight Lines is available on PBS now. Alex Dueben speaks with the film’s director/producer Vivian Kleiman and cartoonist/editor/producer Justin Hall about the book’s journey to film.
Space Is The Place – This Week’s Links
You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building. Around you is a forest. A small stream flows out of the building and down a gully. GET NEWS.
Dialogue Balloons: Consumption and Transformation
Exhaustion. Translation. Breakfast. Smoking. Jason’s ready to talk to cartoonists about these subjects, and more, in this month’s Dialogue Balloons.
Untouchable: Lee Hyun-se‘s Alien Baseball Team
Get acquainted with one of the classics of 1980s Korean pop comics, Lee Hyun-se’s Alien Baseball Team – just in time for its 40th anniversary.
“I’m Very Self-Deprecating, But I Know What I Can Do”: An Interview with Eric Powell
For the first time, we sit down with one of the indefatigable figures of 21st century indie genre (and now non-genre comics): Eric Powell, creator of The Goon and artist of the much-acclaimed true crime comic Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?
Man And Superman – This Week’s Links
If I was in Angoulême, I feel like I’d just know the language. It would simply occur to me.
Fat Jack’s Comicrypt
Zach Rabiroff speaks to the manager of one of the oldest comic book shops in the US about the impact the economic downturn and the pandemic have had on their business.
Art
Bob Levin reckons with the career and comics of Art Spiegelman in response to Breakdowns, newly released in paperback.
“Storytelling Is Controlling The Emotions You Want To Evoke”: An Interview with Deena Mohamed, artist of Shubeik Lubeik
Author and essayist ML Kejera chats with Deena Mohamed, who recently translated her own graphic novel series Shubeik Lubeik, a new take on the tales of djinn, into English for an all-in-one collection from Pantheon.
Midnight in a Perfect World – This Week’s Links
What’s open at midnight around here? The gas station cafeteria… and TROUBLE.
Dancing with Death in Laila Starr
A passionate and very close reading of one of the standout comic book serials of recent years, The Many Deaths of Laila Starr.
A Very British Scandal – The Missing Writer of the Captain Britain Omnibus
Tom Shapira takes us back to an early moment in the career of Alan Moore, the man superhero comics can’t get over… and shows us some of the people who did.
“Nobody Gets Into Comics to Get Rich”: Joe Quesada on Movies, Marvel, and the Future of Comics
Former Marvel head honcho & inveterate Batman illustrator Joe Quesada is neck deep in another dream career: movie director. In addition to talking about his short film FLY, he talks to us about times he wishes he hadn’t talked to the press, and questions why so many in the comics industry always seem obsessed with the comics industry ending.
Let’s Kick Some Ice – This Week’s Links
I can’t begin to tell you how sustainable I am feeling right now.
Taniguchi Jirō and His Gekiga Years
Japanese publishers have launched a massive series of reprints spanning the career of the late Taniguchi Jirō, with many supplemental essays. Today we present a 2022 item from Natsume Fusanosuke, laying out a theory of gekiga’s evolution via Taniguchi’s collaboration with the writer Sekikawa Natsuo.
Big Bang Comics
Ireland’s Big Bang Comics reports to Zach and TCJ about the changes they’ve seen in the old school single-issue comics retail model, and whether a periodical-focused store has an economic future.
“It’s Going To Take However Long It’s Going To Take”: An Interview With John Vasquez Mejias
Alex Dueben sits down with self-publishing veteran John Vasquez Mejias, whose 2020 book The Puerto Rican War one of the standout small-press comics of recent years… and he’s got much more going on.
