Today on the site, Joe McCulloch is here with his usual indispensable guide to the Week in Comics -- highlighting all the most interesting-sounding new books in stores. This week's spotlight picks include books by Carlos Giménez and Jeff Nicholson.
Also, Brian Nicholson writes about Conor Stechschulte's Generous Bosom #2.
Currently at the halfway point, even the relationships between characters still remain deliberately muddled. In some ways, the only certainty is of a single sex act, but only one character's motivation for participating (it had been a while for the man, whose name is Glen), is 100% certain. The first issue primarily concerns itself with the recounting of this encounter, told by one man to another, with certain details left out. Visually, Stechschulte depicts a flashback to things as they actually occurred, a framing device that highlights the embarrassment felt by the protagonist by calling attention to the lies he tells.
The second issue is more opaque.
Meanwhile, elsewhere:
—News. Longtime Marvel artist Paul Ryan has passed away.
—Interviews & Profiles. At Vice, Nick Gazin interviews Peter Bagge, primarily about Hate.
Tell me about Buddy's love of yellow food. This is one of my favorite details of Buddy's personality.
My wife actually used to make fun of my "all-orange lunch" when I first met her: A carrot, an orange, and those orange-colored peanut butter and cheese flavored crackers that I'd buy from SVA's vending machines.
At Rookie, Rachel Davies talks to Aidan Koch.
[Collaboration] is not something I could imagine happening, really. I have done a little bit of adapting other people’s work into a comic. That’s something that I find really exciting and cool because you’re working with someone who doesn’t have the same vision of it, or visuals associated with it. Whereas if you’re working with another visual artist, they’ll always have a certain design aesthetic that would be harder to compromise with—or at least I’d be harder to compromise with.
The Hollywood Reporter talks to Frank Miller.
It's a little early to take [the presidential campaigns] seriously. I think it's going to be a great time to be a cartoonist. You can't come up with a greater buffoon than Donald Trump. The fact that he thinks he can be president of the United States is one the best jokes I've read in a long time. At least I hope.
The Comics Alternative podcast speaks to Evan Dorkin.
—Reviews & Commentary. Chris Mautner writes about the career of Michael DeForge.
Characters sweat a lot in Michael DeForge’s comics. Not the kind of flop sweat that traditional cartoon characters exhibit, with water droplets literally flying off the body in a halo formation, but beads of perspiration that cascade down the character’s face in such a plentiful supply that you sometimes wonder why there isn’t a puddle around the character’s feet.
What makes them sweat so much? Oh, you know, the usual. Your organs and flesh are slowly turning into leather and spikes. You had to join a secret mafia club in order to get your niece’s beloved clarinet. You’re an ant that’s overwhelmed by the meaningless of it all.
—Misc. The New York Times writes about the final volume of The Complete Peanuts, which is being introduced by President Obama.
“We’re an independent publisher: We have no backers, no investors. We have only the books we publish and our wits to fall back on,” Mr. Groth said. “We found ourselves in periodic financial crises. We published the ‘Peanuts’ right in the nick of time. It changed the fortunes of the company by allowing the company to continue to exist.”
Robert Beerbohm is holding an auction via Russ Cochran in order to raise funds for his daughter's medical expenses.
—Video. Nicole Rudick interviewed Daniel Clowes at The Strand last week, and here's the video:
