Go to: Splinter, by Anna Clark and Josh Kramer
1/28/2018
1/27/2018
1/26/2018
1/24/2018
More NonSense: Election 2016
Go to: xkcd
Alan Cole loves Randall Munroe's visualisation of the 2016 electoral map.
TCJ has an interview with NBM founder Terry Nantier.
The late Annie Goetzinger profiled by TCJ.
Christopher Priest and his work on Black Panther is profiled by Abraham Riesman.
An unnamed nursing company has accused Stan Lee of repeated sexual harassment; Lee has in turn claimed that he is the victim of a shakedown.
In the latest chapter of DC's deteriorating relationship with Alan Moore, his creation Promethea will be incorporated into the DC Universe. Neither Moore or co-creator J.H. Williams III were consulted:
So, this is without affording me the dignity hearing about it from proper channels. I've not brought this to Alan's attention, doubt he knew, until now. Besides that, I can't in good conscience condone this happening in any form at all.Lea Hernandez has repeatedly apologised for her work on the defunct Marvel Mangaverse, calling it racist. Lea was the artist for the Mangaverse version of the Punisher. She the urged the publisher to stop reprinting the comics:
Speaking of being a casually racist asshole, I did art for the Marvel Mangaverse Punisher, written by Peter David. It’s racist, and I was uncomfortable when I drew it, but it had been written by Peter, a friend, and approved by an editor.
The main characters, Japanese-Caucasian sisters, were named Hashi Brown and Sosumi Brown. (Update: there’s also a female villain named “Skan Kee Ho.” There was exotification of Asians. I depicted Sosumi, the Punisher, in a sexy kimono alá manga art of “bad” women even as I was careful to dress Hashi in a “schoolgirl” uniform that was mid-thigh length shorts and a jacket, alá Utena. Because I was sick of the sexualization of children, but didn’t grasp that exotification needed to be off the table, too...
To anyone who was hurt by the racism in Marvel Mangaverse Punisher, of which I was the artist, I offer my deepest apologies. I can’t change the circumstances that led me to be afraid of pushing back, but I am changing how I conduct myself going forward.
I also apologize for taking 17 years to fully comprehend an apology and being accountable for the work was in order...
Since it’s been reprinted recently, it’s too late to ask Marvel to stop this reprinting Mangaverse Punisher. It’s not to late to ask them to quit reprinting it, though. Marvel, please quit reprinting Mangaverse Punisher. It’s racist.Apparently, none of the major corporate interests are moving to extend copyrights, despite their imminent expiration as soon as next year.
1/21/2018
Iceland
Translation: Ryan Holmberg
Like audiences of other popular media, comic book readers have been conditioned to expect certain storytelling conventions. This makes reading the manga of Yuichi Yokoyama a unique experience. Yokoyama is an oil painter who exhibited no interest in comics during his youth, whether native or foreign. Yet he’s gone on to create several comics that are gorgeous to look at. At first glance, they contain all the basic vocabulary of the medium: picture panels, word captions, speech balloons, speed lines, etc. But the accompanying genre elements are missing, or at least being suppressed: plot, setting, character development, dramatic conflict, have been drained of their comforting familiarity. Instead, they’re usurped by an uncompromising sensual assault that will leave the reader reeling. Other comic creators have brought their own idiosyncratic design sensibilities to their stories. But Yokoyama’s work feels like an alien lifeform imitating human behaviour.
Take the plot of Iceland. Three strange looking men (at least I think they’re men) show up in the frozen North searching for a fourth individual. They enter a seedy bar to enquire about his whereabouts. Once they find him out back, the four leave town. None of the characters exhibit an inner life. No one offers an explanation for their individual actions. Their speech patterns betray no emotion or personality. They all speak in flat tones. In the end, the reader has no more idea as what just happened in the story. The only thing that indicates any emotional content is an undercurrent of aggression with their interactions, as if every person is sizing up everyone they encounter. The taut atmosphere is a concession to the plot’s pulp influences. Only, there’s no cathartic release in the form of physical violence.
But Yokoyama’s visual aesthetic immediately distinguishes him from more traditional mangaka. Leaning on his fine art background, Yokoyama resorts to modernist figurative abstraction combined with Pop Art typography. His characters look and move as if they were part machine, and wear elaborate patterns on their oddly shaped heads and bodies which obscure recognizable facial features, like a Cubist-inspired squad of extraterrestrial superheroes. This artificiality extends to the unnatural geometry of the icy setting. There’s nothing subtle about Yokoyama’s gaudy structures and bold compositions. And the bombastic nature of the action might vaguely remind Japanese fans of classic manga aimed at young adult males, though filtered through a very different set of artistic sensibilities.
The action, as such, is most evident when the trio enters the bar. They detect a loud repeating noise (DODODODO) as they approach the building,. Once inside, they’re immediately overwhelmed with an audiovisual spectacle. A large television monitor dominates one side of the room, playing nonstop military footage: guns blazing, tanks rolling, planes dropping bombs, soldiers shooting with their firearms, explosions booming. None of the patrons are bothered by the commotion. On the contrary, they seem to thrive in it.
Yokoyama’s ability to convey the sensation of sound is most impressive. The onomatopoeia are displayed as bold, mechanically reproduced Japanese text, spread across each panel. They practically block the reader from viewing the rest of the panel. And this goes on for several pages as double page spreads. Even in a purely visual medium, the noise is deafening. And in a story where very little happens, this is weirdly the climactic scene of the story. It’s a relief (if only a temporary one) when the trio finally leaves the bar.
That is what makes Iceland puzzling even as it is energizes. The book is so loud it denies introspection for even the reader. How can one think with all the noise going on? All one can do is immerse themselves in Yokoyama’s audiovisual pleasures.
1/20/2018
1/19/2018
1/17/2018
1/15/2018
1/11/2018
1/10/2018
1/09/2018
Webcomic: Year in Review
Go to: How Are You I'm Fine Thanks, by Noelle Stevenson (via Heidi MacDonald)
1/08/2018
12/31/2017
2017 Comic Reviews and Commentary
Reviews:
Tetris: The Games People Play
Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Captain Phasma
5,000 km Per Second
A User’s Guide To Neglectful Parenting
Love and Lies Vol. 1
She and Her Cat
A City Inside
Wonder Woman #31
My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness
Sheena, Queen of the Jungle #0-1
Calexit #1
Solanin
Spy Seal #1
Mister Miracle #1
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #22
Batman/Elmer Fudd Special
Wonder Woman: Steve Trevor Special
Loverboys
Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid Vol. 1
Wonder Woman Annual #1
Flash #22
Libby's Dad
Flash #21 & Batman #22
Action Comics #977 & Batman #21
Black Cloud #1
Guardians of the Louvre
Superman #19 & Action Comics #976
Man-Thing #1
The Old Guard #1
WildC.A.T.s #1
Spawn #1
Justice League/Power Rangers #1
The Mighty Thor #15
The Unstoppable Wasp #1
Commentary:
More NonSense: Best of 2017, Part 2
More NonSense: Best of 2017
Bright Lights (2016)
More NonSense: Eddie Berganza vs C.B. Cebulski
More NonSense: Cartoon Diversity
More NonSense: SPX 2017 Edition
More NonSense: Jack Kirby Centennial
More NonSense: Comic-Con 2017 Edition
More NonSense: Harry Potter 20th Anniversary Edition
More NonSense: The Wonder Woman Film Edition
More Nonsense: Kung fu Kenny Edition
The Circle (2017)
More NonSense: Ghost in the Shell Edition
Arrival (2016)
More Nonsense: Fighting Facism
Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Logan (2017)
R.I.P. Jiro Taniguchi (August 14, 1947 – February 11, 2017)
More NonSense: You’re gonna make it after all
More NonSense: March
R.I.P. Tyrus Wong (October 25, 1910 – December 30, 2016)
More NonSense: Best of 2017, Part 2
Ars Technica rates 10 excellent comics that flew under the radar in 2017.
The Beat thinks these are the Best Comics of 2017.
io9 thinks these are the Best and Worst Moments in the Comics of 2017.
PW releases their 2017 Annual Graphic Novel Critics Poll.
The Nib looks back on 2017.
Ken Partille looks back at Ghost World.
C.B. Cebulski offerred an apology about masquerading as Akira Yoshida that many would characterise as a non-apology. Asher Elbein, Charles Pulliam-Moore, Tom Spurgeon, Brian Hibbs offer analysis.
Mark Hamill responds to the fan backlash empowered by his early comments about The Last Jedi. He's also expressed some disagreement with his last minute appearance in The Force Awakens in previous interviews, before walking back his comments.
It's now one year since Carrie Fisher's passing. Here are a compilation of her best interview quotes.
Apparently, some of the audience were confused by a pivotal scene in the movie were everything goes quiet.
The ecumenism of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Here's another one.
RIP Annie Goetzinger (18 August 1951 – 20 December 2017) celebrated French comics creator.
12/29/2017
12/28/2017
12/27/2017
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