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Category Archives: Comics
Rabbit Holes: a 24 hour comic
It’s been a while since I updated the old blog here, but I needed a place to share my latest 24 hour comic book. Although 24 hour comics day is officially on October 1 this year, I’ll be heading to the Alternative Press Expo and won’t be able to participate. So I decided to take [...]
The Art of Journalism Comics: Info-comics
To continue where I left off, here’s a little more on another (often neglected) form of journalism comics… Part Two: Instructional/Info-comics At the core, comics are pictographs. Like all pictographs, the most effective comics are instantly understandably. Think of common pictographs in our culture – street signs, instruction manuals and warning iconography; they are innocuous, [...]
The Art of Journalism Comics: Narrative Storytelling
Journalism comics? Graphic journalism? Illustrated reporting? Call it what you will, but it’s a burgeoning little genre within the field of comic art. Recently, I’ve been thinking more and more about the application of comics as a medium for journalism. I’ve been hoping for a chance to turn thought into action, which may actually happen [...]
APE Redux: Dan Clowes and Community Building
Although I barely mentioned it last post, Dan Clowes was also in attendance at last week’s APE. His talk was a “nerdfest,” an hour dedicated to Clowes’ taste in comics and anecdotes about his run-ins with all sorts of comic artists. Basically, it was an opportunity to hear one of the finest comic artists of [...]
Going APE for the Alternative Press Expo
I’ve never been a big fan of comic conventions, but I do like the Alternative Press Expo a lot. For one, it’s technically not a comic convention. The focus is primarily comics-oriented, but you still get a diverse crowd of small press publishers, illustrators, craftspeople and zine makers. Admittedly though, I do attend for the [...]
Tagged APE, Self-publishing, Small Press
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24 Hour Comics Day: The lessons learned
Perhaps with the exception of poetry, comics probably yield the smallest return of any kind of creative effort. Unless you’re Frank Miller, there’s very little money in the business. Critical acclaim, while certainly not unheard of, is usually reserved for the social commentary of non-fiction cartoonists. Hell, most comic artists consider themselves blessed to attract [...]
All of the Above: a 24-hour comic
On Saturday, I took the 24 Hour Comics Day challenge. The goal: create a 24-page comic book in 24 hours. No planning allowed, just spontaneous creativity. The good news is that I completed the challenge with my sanity intact (mostly). The bad news is that the comic won’t be winning me any Eisners anytime soon. [...]
Tagged 24 Hour Comics Day
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Video games, comic books and the First Amendment
Here’s something from the funny books that’s pretty serious: last week, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund filed an amicus curiae brief in the Supreme Court case Schwarzenegger v. EMA. The case stems from a California law that would ban the sale or rental of any violent or explicit video game to minors. The law [...]
Tagged CBLDF, First Amendment, Video Games
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Jason: a comics appreciation
Binging hard on Jason comics right now. The more I read his books, the more convinced I am that he’s one of the best storytellers working in any medium right now. He’s the rare kind of writer capable of producing strange, fantastical stories that are still imbued with pure tenderness and dead-pan humor. I’m particularly [...]
Tagged Jason
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Cartoonists travel to Afghanistan to document war
As a journalism grad and an avowed comics nut, I’ve been following the journey of Ted Rall, Matt Bors and Steven Cloud to Afghanistan with great interest. The three cartoonists are ambitious, to say the least. They’re embarking on a journey to one of the most dangerous places in the world. And since the trio [...]