Features

Valentine’s Day Is Over – This Week’s Links

| February 16, 2024

My broadband is holding on for dear life at the moment, so I’ll dive straight into this week’s links, below, lest prolonged extemporising causes the very connective tissue that allows/condemns me to access the wonder of the internet on a minute-to-minute basis to collapse, and I am finally freed to simply wander the earth, rather than reading the minutiae of the latest investment fund’s decision to run a fire sale on the ‘creative assets’ it acquired less than a year ago, after it turned out that infinite growth and profit were contrary to all known laws of the universe.

This week’s news.

• Checking in on the slow winnowing of nascent AI copyright law, and a judge this week dismissed various aspects of a lawsuit brought by authors against OpenAI, relating to the use of copyrighted materials to train generative Large Language Models, with claims of vicarious copyright infringement, negligence and unjust enrichment, and violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act dismissed, but the group’s claim for unfair competition with regards to ChatGPT’s operation allowed to proceed.

• Elsewhere, a judge dismissed StabilityAI and Midjourney’s attempt to mount a First Amendment defence, in a case brought against the companies by artists claiming that their work had been used without permission to train AI image generators, citing an exemption on the grounds of public interest, allowing a claim by the plaintiffs of direct infringement to proceed.

• In memoriam, remembering those the world of comics has lost, and news was shared this week of the passing of writer and artist Paul Neary, former Editor-in-Chief of Marvel UK, who has died at the age of 74 following a long illness.

This week’s reviews.

TCJ

• Tim Hayes reviews the adjusted palette of Manuele Fior’s Hypericum - “No two consecutive Manuele Fior books have looked much alike until now, although they have always felt like the same mind at work: thinking about craft, and mark-making through that craft. This line of inquiry doesn't necessarily rule out vivid emotion beaming into a reader's quivering cortex at 10,000 volts, but Fior might not have had that aspect of comics as his top priority.”

• Matt Petras reviews the fulfilling fun of Camille Jourdy’s Juliette, translated by Aleshia Jensen - “It’s immediately apparent from its cover and its splash page opening that Jourdy is a gorgeous stylist, beautifully dressing solid, expressive cartooning with watercolor paints. One- or two-page splashes recur throughout as chapter breaks of a sort, which are always stunning, but their smooth and lush imagery are only punctuation for more precise cartooning.”

 

The Africa Report

Damien Glez reviews the rich information of Mathieu Olivier, Benjamin Roger, Thierry Chavant, et al’s Wagner, l’histoire secrète des mercenaires de Poutine.

 

AIPT

• David Brooke reviews the lupine weirdness of Jason Ciaramella and Michael Walsh’s Creepshow: Joe Hill’s Wolverton Station #1.

• Chris Coplan reviews the intriguing pivot of Ed Brisson, Luca Casalanguida, et al’s The Displaced #1.

• Collier Jennings reviews the character focus of Shawn Martinbrough, Sanford Greene, et al’s Red Hood: The Hill #1.

• Ryan Sonneville reviews the solid adventuring of JM DeMatteis, Todd Nauck, et al’s Magneto Was Right.

• Colin Moon reviews the heartfelt fun of Kyle Starks, Jesús Hervás, et al’s Marvel Unleashed.

• David Canham reviews the diminishing returns of Marc Guggenheim, Manuel Garcia, et al’s X-Men: Days of Future Past - Doomsday.

 

The Beat

• Alexa Skiff reviews the cinematic visuals of Mac Smith’s Scurry.

• Steve Baxi reviews the ambitious design of Dave Baker’s Mary Tyler MooreHawk.

• Jordan Jennings reviews the refreshing execution of Joe Casey and Simon Gane’s Dutch #1.

• Joe Grunenwald reviews the solid start of Shawn Martinbrough, Sanford Greene, et al’s Red Hood: The Hill #1.

• D. Morris reviews the emotional weight of J. Holtham, Nelson Daniel, et al’s Night Thrasher #1.

 

Broken Frontier

• Lydia Turner reviews the clever shifting of Mary M. Talbot and Bryan Talbot’s Armed with Madness: The Surreal Leonora Carrington.

• Lindsay Pereira reviews the striking contrasts of Kevin Huizenga’s Curses.

• Andy Oliver has reviews of:

- The evolving practices of Liam Cobb’s What Awaits Them.

- The confident debut of Tinglin Liu’s adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death.

- The ambitious remit of Laura Harvey, Sarah Leaney and Danny Noble’s Class: A Graphic Guide.

- The idiosyncratic experimentation of Gary Colin’s Link (mini kuš! #121).

 

Four Color Apocalypse

Ryan Carey reviews the nuanced reading of David Tea’s The Swordfish is Jesus: A Christian Reading of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea.

 

House to Astonish

Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #125, X-Men #31, and Wolverine: Madripoor Knights #1.

 

ICv2

Nick Smith reviews the truncated complexities of Cocco Kashiwaya’s Osamu Dazai's The Setting Sun: The Manga Edition.

 

Library Journal

Martha Cornog has a starred capsule review of the gorgeous lyricism of Denise Dorrance’s Polar Vortex: A Family Memoir.

 

Multiversity Comics

• Brian Salvatore reviews the fluid action of Marc Bernardin, Georges Jeanty, et al’s Star Wars: Mace Windu #1.

• Kate Kosturski reviews the impersonal beginning of James Tynion IV, Michael Avon Oeming, et al’s Blue Book: 1947 #1.

• Gregory Ellner reviews the exaggerated style of Peter J. Tomasi, David Lafuente, et al’s Sinister Sons #1.

 

Publisher’s Weekly

Have capsule reviews of:

- The glorious subversion of Emil Ferris’ My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Book Two.

- The anarchic irreverence of Jade LFT Peters’ Influenca.

- The savvy strangeness of Peter Hoey and Maria Hoey’s In Perpetuity.

- The scintillating surreality of Nino Bulling’s Firebugs.

- The infectious nostalgia of Nate Powell’s Fall Through.

- The heartfelt chronicle of Paco Roca’s Return to Eden, translated by Andrea Rosenberg.

 

Solrad

Hagai Palevsky reviews the motivating surroundings of Yokoyama Yūichi’s Baby Boom.

This week’s interviews.

TCJ

Jake Zawlacki interviews Dave McKean about Thalamus: The Art of Dave McKean, the anxious quality of dreaming, how the human brain operates, and the realities of superhero comics - “I think creativity is crucial to furthering that vision of humanity, I think it’s at the very core of our sense of ourselves, and I’m not just talking about people who make their living drawing or writing or doing other creative jobs, I’m not talking about the capitalist system at all, I’m just talking about the raw impulse in us to makes things, express things, share stories and ideas, test ourselves by trying new things.”

 

AIPT

• David Brooke speaks with Jason Ciaramella and Michael Walsh about Creepshow: Joe Hill’s Wolverton Station, childhood history with Creepshow, and horror memorabilia.

• Chris Coplan chats with Phillip Kennedy Johnson about Green Lantern: War Journal, who is the greatest Green Lantern of them all, and hitting the 80s action film vibes.

 

The Beat

Avery Kaplan talks to Ngozi Ukazu and Mad Rupert about BUNT! and the art school plus softball equation, and to Sam Sattin and Steenz about Side Quest: A Visual History of Tabletop Games and personal histories with tabletop roleplaying games.

 

ICv2

• Brigid Alverson chats with Yen Press’ Kurt Hassler about optimism regarding the manga and manhwa markets, Tokyopop’s Marc Visnick about the strength of licensed properties, and Kodansha’s Ben Applegate about sports manga successes.

• Milton Griepp interviews Jenette Khan about Direct Market history at DC and the British Invasion, and VIZ Media’s Kevin Hamric about manga sales and new customers in 2024.

 

Multiversity Comics

Elias Rosner speaks with Chad Sell about Cardboard Kingdom, reader reception of the book, community controversy and librarian support, and digital workflows.

 

Publisher’s Weekly

Michael Seidlinger talks to Z2’s Josh Bernstein and Rantz Hoseley about shifting from the music industry to comics, and publishing books that bridge the two mediums. 

 

SKTCHD

David Harper interviews Silver Sprocket’s Avi Ehrlich about lessons learned from a visit to Angoulême, and the dichotomy of the solitary comics-making experience and communal retail environment.

 

Smash Pages

JK Parkin speaks with James Aquilone and Zac Atkinson about The Omega Eleven, fictional thieves from history, and the crowdfunding campaign for the book.

This week’s features and longreads.

• Here at TCJ, RJ Casey travels with more Arrivals and Departures, this month continuing reading from last year’s Short Run Comix & Arts Festival, comprising Cram Books’ Cram #3: Defiant Thoughts for Post-Modern Monks, Josh Pettinger’s Warm Television, Arantza Peña Popo’s If the Body Keeps the Score Does That Mean I’m Winning??, Jasper Jubenvill’s Milk Maid, Kevin Reilly’s To Mak Patar, and Quality Pictures - “I’m not sure the editors—Pettinger & [Simon] Hanselmann—seem especially motivated to do so, but, with their prowess and connections, Quality Pictures could fill the vacuum left by our dearly departed Kramers. But even if this is their last dance, it was a more than worthwhile endeavor.”

• Also for TCJ, Steven Brower writes on the entry of a particular iteration of Mickey Mouse into the public domain, the origins of said mouse, and creators’ thoughts on their work being made available for use by the general public - “Yet Disney struggled financially, and his studio was not the paradigm of sanitary conditions, infested with mice - one of which Disney reportedly treated like a pet. For a 1925 publicity photo of Disney, the animator Hugh Harman had drawn cartoon mice surrounding Walt’s visage. Iwerks used this drawing as the basis for the studio’s next feature character, Mickey Mouse, in 1928. Unfortunately, the photo with this art has been lost to the sands of time.”

• Finally for TCJ, Joe Sacco’s series of visual columns ‘The War On Gaza’ continues, with previous instalments also available to read here.

• For Shelfdust, Kelly Kanayama writes on the travails of being an enjoyer of Punisher comics in 2024 CE, and appraises the new taker-upper of the skull mantle, and the ethical side steps that David Pepose and Dave Wachter’s series is taking, right out of the gate.

• Over at Broken Frontier, Andy Oliver surveys creators who submitted work to the Tales from the Quarantine crowdfunding campaign, the printed results of which, and charitable proceeds from which, are apparently yet to materialise from organiser Frazer Brown.

• Forbes shares Jenette Khan’s introductory essay from The Folio Society’s DC: Batman, writing on the origins of the caped crusader, and the various reinventions of the character over the decades.

• As part of Women Write About Comics’ coverage of the fifty-fifth anniversary of Night of the Living Dead, Doris V. Sutherland writes on FantaCo’s comic adaptation of George A. Romero’s seminal undead movie, and subsequent expansions on the source material.

• From the world of open-access academia, in Escola Anna Nery, Giovani Basso da Silva, Luccas Melo de Souza, and Simone Travi Canabarro present a paper on using comics to communicate and connect with children hospitalised with acute lymphocytic leukaemia.

• In Forum for Linguistic Studies, Christabel Godwin Jerusha Angelene and CL Shilaja write on the work of graphic novelist Sarnath Banerjee, examining the multimodal design of Banerjee’s works, and how they navigate the postcolonial landscape of India.

• Paul O’Brien’s consideration of the adversaries of Daredevil continues, over at House to Astonish, as this week-a prepare to be abducted by the Queega, as you do.

• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, for The Daily Cartoonist, as the Super Bowl provided a brief distraction from build-up to the presidential election, and the apparent forgetfulness of one of the candidates.

This week’s audio/visual delights.

• Sally Madden and Katie Skelly reconvened to consider the Thick Lines of Aline Kominsky-Crumb’s Love That Bunch, discussing the book’s place in the underground comix canon, infamous meetings with the Beatles, who is the best Beatle, and whether Kominsky-Crumb’s work is overlooked by the wider comics-reading public.

• Ben Katchor presented the latest meeting of the New York Comics & Picture-story Symposium, which hosted a talk from cartoonist Lat (aka Mohammad Nor Khalid), moderated by author and scholar Lim Cheng Tju, speaking on a decades-spanning career of comics-making across the globe, and presenting video from Galeri Rumah Lat, the gallery that Lat opened in 2023.

• David Brothers hosted the latest edition of Mangasplaining, as the team discussed Masakazu Ishiguro’s Heavenly Delusion, a science fiction tale from a creator better known for comedic works, and finding the balance between engaging horror elements and pushing things too far for readers.

• Gil Roth welcomed Aaron Lange to this week’s episode of The Virtual Memories Show, as they spoke about Ain’t It Fun: Peter Laughner & Proto-Punk In The Secret City, graphic design in the construction of comic books, and the music and architecture of Cleveland.

• David Harper was joined by Jesse Lonergan and Pornsak Pichetshote over at Off Panel, as they discussed Man’s Best, their collaborative process, character design for animal protagonists, and promoting your books in the contemporary market.

• Heidi MacDonald welcomed Brian ‘Box’ Brown to Publisher’s Weekly’s More to Come, as they talked about Legalisation Nation, creative career pivots in a changing industry, the contemporary marijuana market, and the history of Retrofit Press.

• A triptych of Word Balloon visits, as this week John Siuntres spoke with Paul Cornell about Saucer Country and Dr Who fandom, Amy Chu about Fighting to Belong! and the history the book covers, and Christopher Irving about Cliffhanger: Cinema's First Superheroes and the history of superhero movie serials.

• Closing the week out with some Cartoonist Kayfabe action from Jim Rugg and Ed Piskor, as they took a look back at John Byrne’s Alpha Flight #1, the litigious history of Air Pirates Funnies, and Dan Clowes’ Across the Street exhibition catalogue.

That’s all for this week, back next time with more, if my internet service provider allows it, otherwise I will simply be sat by a pond contemplating a sunbeam.