Dog City #3

Dog City #3 is an anthology made of ten mini-comics, a print, a poster, a broadsheet and a little magazine, all packaged in a beautiful screen-printed cardboard box designed by Simon Reinhardt, editor of the project along with Juan Fernandez and Luke Healy. The box depicts life in a city inhabited by anthropomorphic dogs, portrayed while smoking and standing in a train station: around them the sun, graffiti, buildings, advertising posters. These same dogs are the characters of How We Ride, the mini-comic by Reinhardt, surely one of the best things in the anthology. Reinhardt creates sensitive and playful comics, mixing a tasteful sense of subtle fun and refined melancholy. He's also good at playing with colors, as he showed in At The Dj Screw Museum, Detectives and Lost Films but here - as in Dead Rappers, published in the previous issue of Dog City - he uses black and white minimalist cartoon drawings and brief but effective captions. How We Ride tells the story of a gang of dogs dressed as humans just hanging around in the city, living the life of a lot of kids in the world, between fast food and parking lots. Nothing particular happens in this comic, but the mood Reinhardt wants to convey is perfectly rendered: there is a sense of waiting that is typical of youth, the idea that "all of us will get out of this town sooner or later" but even the feeling that "we're stuck here for now". The only thing these dogs can do is enjoy the moment and howling at the moon, hoping their future will be just like in their dreams.

Reinhardt writes also an interesting retrospective about Taboo, the cult anthology edited from 1988 to 1992 by Stephen Bissette, well-known for his work on Alan Moore's Swamp Thing. Bissette is now a professor at The Center for Cartoon Studies, where Dog City is born and in fact most of the contributors come from the school founded by James Sturm in White River Junction, Vermont. The magazine also includes a piece by Julia Zuckerberg abot journal comics, an essay on classic adventure comic strips by Nik James and an interview with Reilly Hadden, another student of CCS who put together for this anthology an amazing collection of Who's Zoo, a forgotten 1920's newspaper comic strip created by Hadden's great-grandfather, Tom Dibble Jr. These are brilliant strips and it's fantastic that someone took upon to put them together. It's also funny to compare them with the broadsheet created by Dan Rinylo, made in the tradition of old strips but with a contemporary feeling. 

For the rest, Dog City contains a poster by Laurel Lynn Lake, a print by Steven Krall and mini comics - in different formats and colors - by Amelia Onorato (Fortes Fortuna), Jenn Lisa (Garrettsville), Allison Bannister and Tom O'Brien (Going In Blind), Caitlin Rose Boyle ("mice"), Luke Healy (Starlight), Sophie Goldstein (Strands), Iris Yan (The Tarot Man), d.w. and Juan Fernandez (They Won't Get to You). This is a beautiful looking pack of mini-comics, the most of them already mature in contents and drawings, despite the fact that some of the young cartoonists are still students of comic art.

I liked a lot The Tarot Man by Iris Yan, a simple story of a dull penguin who finds love, inspired by tarot cards. The mini is in a neat black and white but at the end you can feel a pinch of color in the main character's heart. Sophie Goldstein did a good work as usual with a tale in full color about a lonely girl and her dead mother: Strands is an enigmatic but at the same time emotional comedy, where past comes back to juice up present and future has blonde hairs. The story shares some themes with Edna II - a comic by Goldstein published in the third issue of Irene anthology and then reprinted in a single comic book - and this is a clear hint that the former student of CSS and recent winner of an Ignatz Award has developed a very personal and intriguing style. Garrettsville by Jennifer Lisa somewhat resembles Reinhardt's How We Ride but uses the structure of a diary and a childlike drawing style. The comic documents life in a small town and the complications of growing up, entering a new world where the past slowly disappears leaving only its memories between flames.

Some comics from SPX

These are some comics I brought back with me from the Small Press Expo. I hope to talk about some others in the next weeks or months, time permitting.

Studygroup Magazine #3D - The new issue of the Portland-based magazine features an impressive 3D section, mostly a tribute to Ray Zone, the pioneer of alternative comics in three dimensions, with memories by Mary Fleener, Kim Deitch, Melinda Gebbie and Alan Moore. An article by Jason Little focuses on the links between comics and three-dimensional art, while cartoonists such as Kim Deitch, Dan Zettwoch and Chris Cilla create absolutely amazing 3D pages where the drawings come out of the pages. Malachi Ward realizes a fascinating work, less spectacular but definitely evocative and atmospheric, and the same Little is the author of a page where the background gives the impression of depth while a series of panels come under the eyes of the reader. This is a truly beautifully rendered 3D comic. Even the two-dimensional pages of the magazine have several goodies, including a profile of Ryan Sands (publisher at Youth In Decline and much more) by Rob Clough, a special feature about Prince of Cats by Ronald Wimberly and comics by Pete Toms, Connor Willumsen and Trevor Alixopulos. For the full contents, you can see the Studygroup webshop.

I Don't Hate Your Guts and Slow Graffiti - Noah Van Sciver continues to make public his sketchbooks with two new comic books, the first published by 2D Cloud, the second printed by the author himself. I Don't Hate Your Guts replies the structure of the previous More Mundane showing a new autobiographical diary in the simple structure of one page/one day. Maybe these diaries are one of the best things in the production of the Denver based cartoonist, although at the moment everything he's doing is one of his best things. This time, in addition to the usual dose of cynicism there is also a love story... What do you want more? Slow Graffiti is more similar to Weekend Alone and Weekend for Two, the two sketchbook collections published by Tinto Press, and includes a main story with a female protagonist.

Missy #1, Missy #2 and Middle School Missy - I had read some comics by Daryl Seitchik online but I never had in my hands a printed version. The first two issues of Missy are published by Oily Comics, while the latest Middle School is self-published. Seitchik found with this series - a seemingly autobiographical diary of a child/teenager - full awareness of her means. The main character, called Daryl as the cartoonist (Missy is the name of the diary), is depicted with minimal features and dominates the scene always assuming new positions within the panel but showing steadily suspicious and angry eyes. There is a remarkable sense of depth and movement in these pages, simple at first sight but skillfully built. Everyday situations become funny thanks to cynical and glacial comments. To give you an idea of the contents, in Middle School Missy a teenage Daryl complains about the braces on her teeth, dreams of a nihilistic escape from her room, starts speaking Spanish, has her period for the first time, swears she'll have sex within the end of the year and - in a visionary finale - drowns saying goodbye to all the friends of adolescence. I'm almost certain I would never get tired of reading comics like this.

Mountain Comic and Generous Impression - Conor Stechschulte is the author of The Amateurs, a self-produced comic book reprinted by Fantagraphics this year with some extra pages. The Amateurs is in my opinion one of the best comics of last years and so I follow with great curiosity everything Stechschulte creates. At SPX the cartoonist brought with him one of his little books of drawings, this time reproducing views taken from the top of Rooster's Comb Mountain in Upstate New York. The beautiful cover on green paper is evocative and more detailed, while the interiors on blue paper depict stylized mountains, clouds and shadows. The different elements merge one in another creating a sort of abstract landscape, where man seems losing himself in front of nature. The second work, Generous Impression, is instead a zine of 24 pages showing several sketches created by Stechschulte in the making of Generous Bosom. I'm looking forward to see how these drawing will take form in the new book, due in November from Breakdown Press.

Frontier #3-4-5 - I already talked about the first two issues of Frontier - the monograph anthology published by Ryan Sands' Youth In Decline - and after the third one was lost somewhere for some postal problems I missed the latest releases. The SPX was thus an opportunity to recover the back issues and to be acquainted with the fifth, hot off the press. Frontier #3 hosts the American debut of Sascha Hommer, a German artist who combines cartoons and rationalism in the Bauhaus style, cynical humor and Teutonic detachment. Among the three short stories published here, all of excellent quality, the most outstanding is Transit, appealing in its unreal colors and geometric forms. 
The fourth issue is instead an exclusively figurative book, if we keep out a few words showing off like graffiti between a drawing and another. This time the artist is Ping Zhu, a Los Angeles native now based in New York, with a naive style characterized by a predominance of the white page, where colorful but essential drawings take place. Her work looks at Twentieth Century art and can mostly be considered as a research on use of space and dynamism. Motion is rendered with broad brushstrokes and solid figures in opposition to still and empty objects with thin outlines. Surely the most cryptic of the series so far, this issue manages to be really intriguing.
Frontier #5 comes back to the comforting territories of comics, but the tale told by Sam Alden is unsettling and full of dark omens. This is a spin-off of Hollow, a new work partially seen on the author's Tumblr. Enriched by the use of red and purple, the story explicates some key elements of the main plot but is also independently readable. A deep and obscure cavity persecutes two teenagers and this time, unlike other comics by Alden, it isn't a metaphor.

Bethesda, 13-14 September 2014: The Small Press Expo

I would have liked to publish a report about the Small Press Expo a bit earlier on this blog, but my trip in USA (and Canada) continued after SPX and once back in Italy I had a lot of things to do after more than two weeks of pleasant absence. However you can read a sort of "official" report I did for the website Broken Frontier to have a bigger idea of the event. At this point a lot of other reports and commentaries are already on line, so I've decided to publish only a gallery of pictures, with the intention to come back on SPX in the next weeks with the reviews of some debuting books. For now I'm saying only that it was fantastic going to SPX for the first time and meeting a lot of cartoonists, publishers and comics fans in person. The average quality of the comics in the Grand Ballroom was very high and the panels were very interesting and sometimes funny. So, here come the pictures... I hope they will describe SPX better than me. 

Revival House Press table...

...where we find publisher Dave Nuss with Malachi Ward (left)

Simon Hanselmann draws on my copy of Megahex

Box Brown, one of SPX special guest, at the table of his Retrofit Comics

Joyana McDiarmid, editor of Maple Key Comics anthology

Ryan Sands and his wife Jane...

...at Youth In Decline table

Sam Alden signing It Never Happened Again...

...and Daryl Seitchik is doing the same with Missy

Noah Van Sciver thinking I'm a nerd. At his side an unaware John Porcellino

The table of Belgian publisher Frémok

Conor Stechschulte behind his book The Amateurs 
and Ryan Cecil Smith behind an apple

Pat Aulisio meditates upon my possible cameo in his new comic 
about bloggers (at his side R. Sikoryak)...

...Pat is making this comic with Josh Bayer, 
who is drawing Rom in this picture

Lale Westwind says "ciao!"

Andrew Carl and Dave Proch show Proch's pages from 
Little Nemo - Dream Another Dream, a tribute to Winsor McCay 
published by Locust Moon of Philadelphia

SPX Executive Director Warren Bernard introduces 
the Ignatz Awards ceremony

Cathy G. Johnson, winner as Promising New Talent. 
In the background, Sasha Steinberg (in drag queen style) 
and James Sturm, who presented the ceremony

Paul Karasik is ready to consign the award for Outstanding Graphic Novel, won by This One Summer by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki

Simon Hanselmann celebrates his wedding with Comics 
kissing Fantagraphics boss Gary Groth

Sophie Goldstein with the Ignatz gained for House of Women 
in the category Outstanding Mini-Comic

Charles Burns talking about his fascination for Tin Tin

Another pic of Charles Burns, who also read 
some pages from his new Sugar Skull

The panel Making Art for the Internet: from left to right Rebecca Mock, 
Emily Carroll, Sam Alden and Blaise Larmee

Shannon Wheeler, the creator of Too Much Coffee Man, 
drew for the SPX a funny press pass...

Press...

...Pull!

A midsummer night's mix of comics

Joseph P. Kelly, Mould Map #3

We're now in the middle of summer and while I'm closing the blog for holidays (I'll be back at the end of September), I decided to round up a few short reviews of comics I read recently in this long and messy post.

I'm beginning with some anthologies and in particular with Mould Map #3. Launched through a Kickstarter campaign and now already sold out, this third issue doesn't display a clear-cut theme but a series of themes (the thin line between present and past, futuristic architecture, technology/nature dualism and its sexual implications, global finance, contemporary consumerism, street riots etc.) creating a vague but extremely striking concept. The editors Hugh Frost and Leon Sadler - along with the artists - have built a place where the reader can live for some hours. I didn't like only the digital artworks, since I found most of them boring and banal. But if it doesn't reach perfection, this is an excellent anthology, with the best works provided by - in my opinion - Viktor Hachmang & GHXYK2, Noel Freibert, C.F., Sam Alden, Olivier Schrauwen, Lala Albert, Joseph P Kelly, Blaise Larmee, Lando, Gabriel Corbera, Sammy Harkham, Jacob Ciocci and Joe Kessler. For a detailed analysis you can check the review by Joe McCulloch for The Comics Journal, which also caused a critical answer by Jonny Negron (I liked his contribution...). 

Sammy Harkham, So Long, Mould Map #3

The Spanish Terry, published by Fulgencio Pimentel, is a great anthology too. It shares with Mould Map Sammy Harkham's So Long - reprinted here in black, white and purple and in a larger format (in Mould Map it was one of the A5 sections of the book) - and the names of Olivier Schrauwen and Simon Hanselmann. In Spanish but with an English sheet included, Terry showcases a mix of new comics and translations. The three cartoonists mentioned above provide the best things in the book: Harkham brings a kinematic and unsettling sequence in a frigid location, Schrauwen confirms his ability to make real the unreal with a detailed account of an alien abduction, Hanselmann in Owl's Room combines cynicism and calembours in one of the best tales of Megg, Mogg and Owl. I liked also the contributions by José Ja Ja Ja, Jim Woodring, Sindre Goksøyr, Gonzalo Rueda and Michael DeForge (with College Girl by Night, published in Thickness #2).

Gonzalo Rueda, The 3 Catalans, Terry

Descant #164 is another amazing book. This issue of the Toronto-based literary journal is fully dedicated to Canadian comics. Under the title of Cartooning Degree Zero it shows the several different approaches to this art, with excellent works by David Collier, Maurice Vellekoop, Ethan Rilly, Michael DeForge, Julie Delporte, Michael Comeau, Jesse Jacobs, Connor Willumsen and many others. The critical apparatus accompanying the stories is sometimes superficial, since it's addressed to people who usually don't read comics, but it also contains two interesting pieces: Dominion Days and Superheroes: The Genius of Seth by Mark Kingwell starts from childhood memories to analyze the art of the author of Palookaville, while Canadian Comics: An Unknown Literature by Rachel Riley focuses on the collection of Canadian comics built by John Bell. 
I already talked about š several times, but I'm glad to come back on the small Latvian magazine to point out the remarkable sixteenth issue. Dedicated to villages and extremely cohesive in the organization of contributions, š! #16 is distinguished by a more descriptive and melancholy tone than usual, striking with strong graphic works by Chris Reijnen, Placid, Evangelos Androutsopoulos, Anna Vaivare and Anthony Meloro: some pages are absolutely fascinating and I'd like to see them in a larger format. In the meantime the Latvian imprint also published a new issue of the anthology, entitled Sweet Romance, and four new mini kuš! by Oskars Pavlovskis, Rūta & Anete Daubure, Anna Vaivare and Roope Eronen.

Anthony Meloro, Orangeville, š! #16

Now I'm taking a look at some zines that I have kindly received from the readers. Thanks to Milena Semeonova, that struck me reading the Lithuanian SW/ON #2, I could read Co-Mixer, a perfect bound magazine written for the most part in Bulgarian but with English translations at the bottom of the page. The fifth issue presents 33 short stories united by the theme/title In Movement and told using very different attitudes, from underground to manga, from realism to fantasy. Co-Mixer is basically a training ground for emerging authors, although there are some cartoonists who have already developed their own style: I think of Alexandra Ruegler, Lucija Mrzljak, Evgenia Nikolova and especially of Peter Aquino with the poetic These Things Move..., in my opinion the best comic in the book.
Half a training ground for the members of its collective and half magazine gathering contributions from all over the world, Lök Zine also comes out with a fifth issue, with illustrations and comics about the theme of identity. The quality level is significantly growing, despite some imperfections yet to be fixed, both in the contents and in the editorial work. However there are good things in this zine, as the comics by Matteo Farinella (who published recently Neurocomic with Nobrow) and Aaron Whitaker and the illustrations by Alessandro Ripane, Margherita Morotti and Felix Bork.

I take advantage of this space to recover the cool zines published by Andrew Owen Johnston under the brand Zine Arcade. The fourth issue, now dating back to 2012, looks like a notebook and collects drawings, sketches, strips and photos of various artists who enjoy interacting within the same page. So the figures of Sophia Moseley climb under the Polaroid of a skyscraper or the strange animals by Lizz Lunney sit impassively while a buxom lady drawn by Bernardo Morales prepares a bloody mary. And then there are the ruminations of Kevin Hooyman's characters, the shelves full of books by Jonathan Kelham, the collages by Zeroten. Absolutely fascinating. The following issue, in a smaller size and dating back to last year, is titled The Secret Spy Handbook and looks like an instruction manual for a spy organization fighting against a threatening enemy. Inside we can find the comics of the usual contributors, including the talented Hooyman and also Amanda Baeza and Elaine Lin, two cartoonist of whom Johnston published two nice monographic collections.

Now I'm leaving Zines World to talk about some comics and mini-comics. Hypermaze by Brian Blomerth is the first chapter of The Alltell Hyperseries, which chronicles the adventures of Pepsi, the sexy protagonist who cares more about her voluptuous desires than about the conspiracy in which she's involved. The cartoon-psychedelic style of Blomerth builds a series of beautiful pages, especially in the museum scene, reminiscent of the famous sequence of the Joker in the first Tim Burton's Batman. A little Jodelle, a little Luther Arkwright, a little Robert Crumb, Hypermaze would deserve an extensive review: I hope to get back on Blomerth in the near future. 
I have already spoken of Noah Van Sciver reviewing both his sketchbooks and his collection Youth Is Wasted. The Lizard Laughed is a self-contained 32-page story printed on yellow paper by Charles Forsman's Oily Comics. Set in New Mexico, it shows the encounter between Nathan and his father Harvey. The two are essentially strangers to each other, as Harvey has abandoned Nathan leaving home when he was still a child. The dialogues are dry and even more bitter than usual. This time Van Sciver puts aside humor to tell a wonderful story of ineptitude, anger, resentment and perhaps forgiveness, even if it's hard to find positive characters and feelings here. The views of New Mexico are pretty well rendered and confirm the unstoppable artistic growth of the Denver-based cartoonist.

Noah Van Sciver, The Lizard Laughed

Hollow in the Hollows by Dakota McFadzean, published by One Percent Press, is another self-contained 32-page story. I have already talked about McFadzean in my reviews of Irene, the anthology he's editing along with dw and Andy Warner, but the Canadian cartoonist has also his own production, which includes the book Other Stories and the Horse You Rode In On, published by Conundrum Press. The same publishing house will print next year The Dailies, a collection of the strips posted on the author's blog everyday. The tradition of the strips is clear in the characters expressiveness, but the book also looks at other Canadian cartoonists as Joe Matt and Seth, the first for the curvy line, the second for the setting in a quiet small town and the use of the two colors. The story, however, has little to do with these references. Mary and Arnold are two troubled and uncool children, ignored or even mocked by classmates. When Mary finds the skull of a deer in the woods, her life becomes full of dark omens... or maybe of magic. Metaphorical, delicate, deep, Hollow in the Hollows is a moving and fascinating coming-of-age tale.

Dakota McFadzean, Hollow in the Hollows

#foodporn is the latest effort by Meghan Turbitt, a New York-based artist who already showed off a rough, wild, Dionysian style with her Lady Turbo mini-comics. The new release is based on extremely effective and funny gags in which initially unattractive chefs, bartenders and waiters look like perfect men or women after preparing food for an insatiable girl. So an awkward and dirty pizza maker becomes a sexy man after showing his ability in handling a pizza, the protagonist watches a guy preparing some sushi and then she undresses lying naked on the counter with the fish all over her body and - in the most filthy of these gags - Turbitt's alter-ego is so delighted while drinking a beer that she heads to the bathroom to taste the wc used by the bartender. Each page is a statement of guts, instinct, sometimes anger and sexual desire, without intellectuals mediations. The comics by Meghan Turbitt are incredibly crazy and funny.

Meghan Turbitt, #foodporn

After a Kickstarter campaign, Pat Aulisio of Yeah Dude Comics started to publish a series of mini-comics sent via mail to subscriptors. The first release was Stoner Alien, a series of gags centred on an alien and a ninja turtle, foolish and always stoned, creating an irresistible duo that can remember the Wilfred TV series or the characters of Simon Hanselmann. However Aulisio has his own comic timing, mixing great gags and pure nonsense: the scene of the old lady explaining to the alien behind the counter how she wants sliced ​​the ham is absolutely irresistible. After Stoner Alien, Aulisio published two minis of 12 pages each: Find Me, Look For Me by Laura Knetzger, still about an alien but this time using sensitivity and grace, and Iron Skull by Skuds McKinley, a powerful graphic work, which begins with two pages dedicated to a woman and ends with Black Flag lyrics. The broad strokes refer - for author's own admission - to Paul Pope, but McKinley's art is original and intriguing. The new booklet in the collection, Future Masterpiece by Victor Kerlow and Josh Burggraf, is coming out in these days.
We remain in the world of American self-published mini-comics with Ian Harker's Sacred Prism. While Yeah Dude's books have sizes, pages and concepts different from one another, Harker prefers the regularity of 16 pages two-color risograph minis. The use of color is one of the strong points of the whole series and finds masterful expression in Internet Comics by Maré Odomo, a personal diary full of ideas, notes, sentences about world wide web and social networks. After a beautiful first issue in blue and pink, Harker published the follow-up this year, this time using yellow and blue. CS by Inés Estrada is also a wonderful and funny essay on the use of color, this time in green and pink, while the latest release is the second installment of Blades & Lazers by Benjamin Marra, an amusing fantasy-futuristic serial starring two mercenaries, one skilled in the use of blades and the other - of course - of lasers. Sacred Prism is a guarantee of quality right now and all we can do is to wait for the new books.

Maré Odomo, Internet Comics #2

I'm concluding this long round-up with the preview of Night Burgers, a new stapled anthology published by Negative Pleasure after Felony Comics and Revulsion Comics. At the moment I could only see a pdf of it, since it's still in print, but I can already say that the new work by editor and cover artist Harris Smith shows great graphic features. And for sure the book will be even more fascinating when printed, since it uses blacklight colors and it's sold together with prismatic glasses "for full psychedelic experience". In the 24 pages of Night Burgers there are comics and illustrations by Victor Kerlow, Anthony Meloro, Josh Freydkis, Josh Burggraf, Jason Murphy, Amy Searles and Ken Johnson. I liked the works by Meloro and Burggraf above all: the first employs his usual pop-retro style to tell the story of a woman who becomes a medium after eating hamburgers, while the second realizes an aesthetically colorful but dark in contents representation of the future.

Josh Burggraf, Truly This Is Our Darkest Hour, Night Burgers 

Zombre #1-2 + Magic Forest #1 + Zombre #3 Preview

The first issue of Ansis Purins' Zombre was a 12-page mini-comic in black and white, almost completely silent and in which the author told the clash between the protagonist, a zombie who lives in a magical forest located on an island, and Slappy, a negative version of the same Zombre. In addition to this Megathunder Showdown between the two, the book served to introduce the characters of the series, including Ranger Elvis and Ranger Jones, the first a vegetarian and messy hippie, the second his tyrannical and obnoxious boss hiding an unexpected secret.

It's in Zombre #2, titled The Magic Forest and winner of a Xeric Foundation Award, that these characters take a clearer form, allowing us to appreciate the art of Purins after a debut that looked more like a divertissement. The second issue - published in 2010 in a larger format and 48 pages - is characterized by a remarkable stylistic change. The small and detailed panels of the first issue, dominated by gray backgrounds and a marked line, give way to airy pages, where the prevalence of the white highlights a clear and well-defined line. Since the first pages of the book the author enjoys drawing his characters, the animals of the forest, the trees and the waterfalls, lining up bucolic and elegant pages with no text. The plot is built on a visitor of the island and her daughter, forced by the father to wear a helmet to protect herself from the "dangers" of nature.

Their encounter with Zombre is a succession of funny visual gags, although the entertainment is mostly due to Ranger Martin Elvis, clumsy and always late, certainly a memorable character. While he was working on Zombre #3, Purins published last year Magic Forest #1, a sort of Zombre #2.5. In these 16 pages, some in color, the author omits the landscapes in favor of one-off gags where Zombre doesn't appear, leaving room for funny situations starring the rangers and also sirens, elves, fairies and spiders. 

The main plot will continue in the long awaited Zombre #3, an 80-page full color episode currently in the works. In the meantime I was sent a preview and I liked how the story develops in line with what we have seen so far, adding new revelations about the characters and their origins, with some twists that spice up the narration. The new issue is in my opinion the best one, representing a new evolution in the cartooning of an artist with an exquisite line and able to create his own fictional universe.

A page from Zombre #3