page 1 An Interview with Jillian Tamaki By Dave Howard page 4 In Defence of God-Awful Comics By Dalton Sharp page 5 Canada outside of archetypes: An appreciation of David Collier’s ‘Chimo’ By David Hains page 6 Grey Zone: A Conversation With Mark Laliberte By Dalton Sharp page 8 'The Listener' by David Lester Reviewed by BK Munn
page 4 Dakota McFadzean's Dailies ‘Here kitty kitty kitty’ ‘God Comics’ ‘Infinitely-falling baby’ page 5 ‘People Around Here’ By Dave Lapp page 6 ‘ASTRONAUT’ By Samara Leibner page 8 ‘GOOD BUSINESS’ By Simon Roy
Articles
page 9 'MID-LIFE' by Joe Ollmann Reviewed by Salgood Sam page 11 'Book of Hours: A Wordless Novel Told in 99 Wood Engravings' by George A. Walker Reviewed by BK Munn page 12 'Out of Our Minds' Written by Melissa Auf der Maur, Tony Stone and Kevin McLeod Illustrated by Jack Forbes Reviewed by Robin Fisher page 14 'Paying For It' by Chester Brown Reviewed by Tom Spurgeon page 16 On Message: A Conversation With Joan Thornborrow Steacy By Dalton Sharp
Comics page 12 ‘ENTROPY’ By Aaron Costain
page 17 31 THINGS THAT MAKE CONNOR WILLUMSEN THE CAT'S PAJAMAS By Robin Fisher page 20 Get to know the Doug Wright Awards Nominees: 8 questions awnsered by 12 creators page 23 'The Raven' By Lorenzo Mattotti & Lou Reed Reviewed by Salgood Sam page 24 A consideration of Bus Griffiths’ ‘Now You’re Logging’ By Brad Mackay page 28 32 New books & Events listings.
page 25 ‘Another Honest-to-god true life adventure’ By Ty Templeton
page 14 A four page preview of ‘The Listener’ By David Lester
page 27 ‘The Gutter’ By Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas
page 18 ‘Dream Life’ By Salgood Sam
page 28 ‘Chess’ By Fiona Smyth
page 22 ‘Office Stories’ ‘Tony the sexual ghost & Farmer Joseph’ ‘Philosophical Phunnies starring Julius Peeny’ By Nick Maandag
Foreword Sequential is closing in on its 10th year online promoting the Canadian comics business. The Comics publishing world has changed a lot in that time, much of it for the good. For the last three years we’ve presented this limited print edition of the site as a companion guide to TCAF, focusing on New Books and some of the creators you’ll find around the festival. In the back of this edition you’ll find a list of new books being presented at the show, and a few events and parties. There’s a whole lot of book reviews this issue, and some pretty juicy interviews. And of course a sampling of comics from a number of Canadian creators. Have a great comics festival, and don’t be shy about talking to the various creators behind the tables, that’s why they are here! Max aka Salgood Sam Publisher
Creative Commons Attribution-NoncommercialNo Derivative Works 2.5
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Masthead
Publisher Max Douglas aka Salgood Sam salgoodsam.com Assistant Editor AJ Murphy Contributing Editors BK Munn frequential.blogspot.com David Hains novastealth.com Dalton Sharp daltonsharp.com Contributing Writers Dave Howard davehoward.ca Tom Spurgeon comicsreporter.com Robin Fisher cartoongal.com Brad Mackay bradmackay.com Contribiting Artists Dakota McFadzean dakotamcfadzean.com Dave Lapp childrenoftheatom.com Samara Leibner samaraleibner.com Simon Roy robot-blood.blogspot.com Aaron Costain aaroncostain.com David Lester thelistenergraphicnovel.wordpress.com Salgood Sam www.dl.txcomics.com Nick Maandag laffdepot.blogspot.com Ty Templeton tytempletonart.wordpress.com Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas mny.ca Fiona Smyth fionasmyth.com
Special thanks to our sponsors for making it all possible! This years sponsers are: The Dragon www.thedragonweb.com The Beguiling www.beguiling.com Koyama Press koyamapress.com AdHouse Books www.adhousebooks.com Squidface & The Meddler squidfaceandthemeddler.com Conundrum Press www.conundrumpress.com THE LISTENER by David Lester thelistenergraphicnovel. wordpress.com The Doug Wright Awards www.wrightawards.ca & K6C POSTCARDS k6cards.tumblr.com This is the third edition of Sequential Pulp the special print edition of
sequential.spiltink.org
An Interview with Jillian Tamaki By Dave Howard Graduating from the Alberta College of Art and Design in 2003, Canadian ex-pat Jillian Tamaki has since become a hugely successful New York illustrator, as well as a much respected comics creator. Her first graphic novel, 'Skim' (with writer Mariko Tamaki) won the 2009 Doug Wright Award for Best Book the 2008 Ignatz Award for Best Graphic Novel, make the 2008 Best Illustrated Children`s Books List with the New York Times, was nominated for four Eisner Awards, and was noted as the one of the Best Books of the year for 2008 in both Publisher`s Weekly and Quill and Qure. This year she is nominated for the Doug Wright Awards’ Pigskin Peters Award, for her petit livre Indoor Voice, a collection of informal comics and drawings published by Drawn and Quarterly. I was very fortunate to have a short email interview with Jillian last week about her approach to art and her influences.
Hanuka's work and that included 'Bipolar', the comic he makes with his cousin Asaf. Later, when I made the conscious effort to educate myself on making comics (2004), I learned the most from Chester Brown, Michel Ragabliati, Julie Doucet, Will Eisner, and Dan Clowes. I got most of those books out of my local library branch.
Did you have any favourite comics growing up?
When you signed on to doing 'Skim', was there any prep work you did, any comicsI read a lot of Archie comics, plus the comics related research or other artists you looked to that were in the newspapers. My parents really for inspiration or guidance? liked The Far Side, Calvin and Any artists you went to or Hobbes, & Herman, so we had "...as I get older, I whom you read when you some of those anthologies become less impressed found yourself in a jam? in the house too. I copied the with drawing and am "Punk Accountants" Far Side I was never "signed" to doing more deeply moved cartoon for my dad's birthday 'Skim'. It started off as a 24 by ... straightforward (he is also an accountant). page collaboration between When I was a teenager, my myself and my cousin… narratives. To be able sister and I liked to cut up there was no book deal. It to tell a compelling Archie comics and make was initially released by a story is so much more Toronto zine called "Kiss collages with the balloons or difficult than being sticking them on new images. Machine". But to answer It's still a fun thing to do. the question… probably, able to draw badass but I can't remember now. pictures." Growing up, were comics a My ignorance and lack of kind of guilty pleasure, was formal training was probably it something you embraced openly, or not a good thing, actually. I just did the best I could, that important to you? and approached it with the skills as I had… as a I didn't really analyze it. In fact, when we were designer and an illustrator. I just read tons, as I promoting 'Skim' in 2008, people would ask what mentioned. That was my education. comics I read as a kid and I was just like, "Eh, 'Skim' is a master achievement--Seth has I didn't really read comics". I had completely said in the past, much 'Writing' that is forgotten that I read a TON of comics and I credited to the 'writer' actually comes from really enjoyed them. I just didn't view them as how the panels and pages are laid out on important or significant at the time. the page--it is this graphic language that I'm sure there are many, but am there any often conveys as much of the story as the particular cartoonists or artists or designers dialogue--can I ask about your collaboration or illustrators or writers or directors you with Mariko, your balance of who does the admire, whom you can say had some layout the storyboarding? Not to take away from Mariko in any way, so much of the story influence on your work or approach? comes graphically, it feels as if you shouldI became interested in comics at the very end -and more comics artists in general--get a of my degree at the Alberta College of Art and credit as writer too. Design, where I was studying Design and Illustration. I became obsessed with Tomer Mariko and I are a good pair because she's an amazing collaborator… she trusts my instincts http://mutantmagic.com
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and lets me build upon the foundation of her story. She's never dictated to me or insisted upon a change because it didn't fit the image on her head. She will also suggest visual images. To call myself a "writer" is potentially confusing– we learned the hard way that these words are actually quite powerful. Anyway, I'm in favour of the term "creator" or "co-creator". It's the most satisfactory term that encapsulates the comicsmaking process… ours, at least. Can I ask about your use of photo-references in the production of 'Skim'? Did you take pictures and draw from them, especially in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough? Your work is wonderfully flowing, is there any advice you can give about drawing from photoreferences? I mapped out generally what I wanted to do, then traveled to Toronto to shoot specific reference. Most of it is from around the St.Clair-Christie area, where my sister was living at the time and I was staying. That trip was pivotal to my own mindset and I'd never attempt to do a book about a specific place without visiting it. Photo-referencing should support the story and make the details vivid. That said, tooheavy reliance on photo reference is very bad and should be avoided. On your blog you mention working with students - can you tell us what you are teaching and where you are teaching it? How has the experience been for you, does it interfere at all with your creative process? I teach second year drawing for illustrators at the School of Visual Arts in New York. It does not interfere with my creative process, in fact I have to admit that, as frustrating as it can sometimes be, it has made me a more critical, thoughtful, and inspired individual. To see people make discoveries about their own process (I try to stress that what one learns in art school is not a technique, but a process) is deeply rewarding. Plus, these are 19 and 20 year-old kids… they're showing you what's new and cool before it becomes mainstream. Are there any rituals, habits, processes or other things you go through in order to maintain your inspiration? I have encountered this question often lately and I'm always a little confounded by it. Most of my creative friends are never at a loss for inspiration…. they are at a loss for time, resources, or struggle with the "business-y" constraints of the job. But if you gifted them a week of free time, they'd be able to fill it easily. It's like that saying, "Only boring people are bored". You say you are grateful your foundational year was spent in a Fine Arts environment, and has shaped the way you think about images, make images, and your understanding of Illustration: how is it you think about images, and illustration? That's a really huge question. I will only say that I do believe Illustration can be smart and have content, but Illustration is not Fine Art. They are different worlds, with different histories, communities, objectives, and constraints. The exist in the world for different reasons. I was trained as a commercial artist and I've long given up feeling conflicted about that. That's my philosophy and that of my husband, Sam Weber. But we speak often about how that seems to be changing… the nature of Illustration and its place in society. Not even out of art school
10 years and it seems like our outlook is quite curmudgeonly and dinosaur-like.
Rebecca Kraatz
Is there any advice you can offer other new cartoonists? Any experience you can share for even newly established cartoonists, maybe around contracts or keeping your vision? I dunno, just make some comics! Seems like the best time ever to be a comics artist… think of all the ways you can get your work seen. If you want to be a cartoonist and are not making comics, you're just lazy or crippled by fear. Which are two huge problems. As for established cartoonists, who am I to tell them anything? I've only been doing this for 6 years! Your Penguin Classic embroidered book covers are amazing [see facing page]. Can I ask how you came about with the job offer, can I ask where the inspiration came from for the concept? I did some embroidery, because it was simply something I wanted to try, and put it online. I'd worked with Penguin's Art Director, Paul Buckley, as an illustrator before, and he happened to see my embroidery just as he was pitching the "Threads" project. So it was fortuitous. The inspiration was simply my love for those books, the freedom assigned by the project and the stitching effects I had been experimenting with in the medium. Again, similar to comics… I'm untrained in that medium, but I think that ignorance has been beneficial, in a weird way. You're a little more fearless if you don't know you're committing cardinal sins.
Philippe Girard
Do you have any favourite contemporary cartoonists, anyone you've read recently who you liked? I'm drawn to comics for different reasons. Visually, I'm excited by weird comics that look strange and unusual. I like Jungyeon Roh, Sakura Maku, Dash Shaw, Brecht Evens, weird manga and stuff. But as I get older, I become less impressed with drawing and am more deeply moved by more straightforward narratives. To be able to tell a compelling story is so much more difficult than being able to draw badass pictures. So I'm in awe of people like Chester Brown, Lynda Barry, Michel Ragabliati, Seth, Hope Larson, or Tatsumi. I still do love me a fucked up art comic though. Looking at your wonderful petite livre 'Indoor Voice', it seems lovely and freeing to sketch unabashedly - do you keep a sketchbook with you at all times? Do you sketch often? How vital is it to you? I don't sketch every day. But there's rarely a day where I don't make something. Right now I'm trying to teach myself how to quilt. But yes, the sketchbook is completely essential. As I tell my students, you rarely will make breakthroughs –lateral steps– on projects. You have a new project with Mariko Tamaki coming up, is there anything you can tell us about it? Mariko and I are working on a new graphic novel, Awago Beach Babies. It is no way related to 'Skim'. Sequel, prequel, or otherwise. Mariko is in the writing phase right now and I'm just patiently waiting. D.H. Find Jillian online at www.jilliantamaki.com
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In Defence of God-Awful Comics By Dalton Sharp
Last Month A friend was complaining that her co-workers couldn’t get a table at TCAF. “Well, what do you expect?” I replied, “it’s a curated event.” “But it’s the perfect event for them.” “Not really, since the key-note speakers, who set the tone for the event, are the likes of Chris Ware and Daniel Clowes. Your friends do superhero parody...and not the kind that probes the human condition.”
A Few Weeks Later I read a Jeet Heer article on the modern tendency to declare everything curated. He writes, "You...find curated movie reviews, curated albums and curated comic-book collections, among other wonders. In its broad sense, curated connotes carefully crafted, wellselected, value-added, discerning, contemporary and aware". “Shit. Guilty.” I thought. Is TCAF curated? I guess, maybe. Vetted? Ummmm, no. I’d say “space restricted” is more likely the reason it’s hard to get a spot. No problem, there are dozens of open-call comics shows and zine fairs. Certainly no one who’s seen the bulging zine shelf of the Beguiling, the comic shop behind TCAF, could accuse them of leaving any creators behind.
“It was a good read. Lots of depth, lots of great imagery.”
But as for the wider idea of curation in comics... There’s two thing cartoonists don’t expect. They don’t expect to be edited, and they don’t expect to be curated. The former is a bit of a continuing disaster. The latter, I kinda like, because I like it mixed up, I like it rough, poorly-selected, undiscerned. Is this true? Your stock market returns are just as good throwing darts at a list of companies as they are from careful selection based on thorough research. I’m not sure, but I am sure it’s way more fun to dart-method it! And if you do hit a gem, you’re into some Excalibur shit, Divine intervention. That’s always a good story.
— COMIC ATTACK (LOS ANGELES)
A graphic novel by
Last Year
David Lester
I met a publisher at a zine fair last year. “Check out this anthology I edited. It’s wildly uneven. I don’t really choose between who goes in and who doesn’t, so I apologize in advance if some of these strips read like sandpaper.” “But you have to choose.” “You have to choose” I thought, “because you’re running a publishing company and stake your name on the quality.”
A compelling tale of complacency, art, power, and murder that changed the course of history. In THE LISTENER, two stories collide: the rise of Hitler and a woman artist searching for meaning in the art of Europe. David Lester is also the guitarist in rock duo Mecca Normal. Arbeiter Ring Publishing • www.arbeiterring.com LitDistCo (Canada) • AK Press (USA) ISBN: 9781894037488 • $19.95
I, on the other hand, am not running a publishing company, stake my name on nothing, and have a taste for everything comics. Everything. The way Anthony Bourdain encourages you to taste as much different food as you can, I would encourage you to taste as many comics as you can.
Last Weekend In a cavernous late night used book store I’m searching through the history shelves, when I think, “it’s been a while, where the Hell’d my friend go?” He’s on the top floor--comics and magazines. This is the place I should never go, because I will buy...something...God-Awful. And so I do. Superman number 256. Superman fights Tiger Woman. This is supposed to be disposable kiddie culture at its worst, except it’s not. The cover is an art lesson in eye movement. Everything is simplified except for a tight circle of space that includes Tiger Woman’s intricately drawn hair and Clark Kent’s suit. The inside story is less successful, but the crazy uninhibited storytelling--a man transformed into a fighter jet, a circus performer who believes she’s a tiger--is certainly the raw roots of the more sophisticated comics that will flourish in the 90’s on. Only the most strange movies or novels could make the dream-like jumps in logic that are routine in comics.
Today I’m busy laying out the next anthology. It’s a mixed bag, uncurated, but it’s all kinda wonderful. Comic anthologies don’t sell. Readers voted with their wallets, they prefer singular stories. So I’m relaxed, this isn’t about sales, it’s about... collision maybe? Compare and contrast, atom splitting. Comic-making makes leaps when it’s jumping around, slamming into things. And you need some kind of freedom field for that to happen. You need un-curation. Continued on p.7
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Canada outside of archetypes
An appreciation of David Collier’s ‘Chimo’ By David Hains Critics love to categorize things and Canadian books often get sloted one of two types. The hinterland or the metropole .
Published by Conundrum Press. 7×10 / 136 pages - $17 ISBN 1-894994-53-1 & 978-1-894994-53-8
It’s a dichotomy seen in some of Canada’s best and most representative works: The hinterland in Alice Munro’s town of Jubilee ('Lives of Girls and Women') and the metropole in Michael Ondaatje’s Toronto ('In the Skin of a Lion'). The tendency to describe Canada and its identity as a tension between a different kind of two solitudes, the rural and urban Canada, is quite appealing. After all, as Canada’s identity evolves and leaves behind its rural, self-reliant image and moves towards the multicultural city growing pains will emerge. This comparison tells a nice story, but it is a simplified and incomplete picture. Of Canadian cartoonists, one who focuses more than most on Canadian nationalism and uniquely Canadian stories is Hamilton’s David Collier. Collier’s comics fuse the urban and rural. For him, these elements are intertwined and not disparate. His latest book, ‘Chimo’, (Conundrum Press) features several Trudeauesque images of him kayaking on Lake Ontario. The foreground is a pastoral scene as Collier rehabilitates his knee that was injured in a Canadian Armed Forces training exercise. By getting in touch with nature, Collier taps into a nostalgic Canadiana. But this gives way to the background, where the industrialized skyline of Hamilton looms large. In this image, Collier captures how so-called rural activities are inflected and incorporated into an urban environment thereby showing how the typical separation of the two is flawed and inadequate. In some of Collier’s previous comics he embraces this blurring more explicitly. In a short comic entitled “And it’s all in the Same City” in ‘Hamilton Sketchbook #2’ Collier approaches water’s edge, kayak paddle in hand. He spots a groundhog near what seems to be an industrial barrel and asks the naturalist’s credo, “What would Ernest Thompson Seton do?” The answer is obvious to Collier that, like Seton, he must draw to catalogue and capture the environment he sees. For Seton (most famous for the original ‘Boy Scout Handbook’), the environment was different. Growing up in Toronto in the late 19th century he would escape the city by visiting the Don Valley Ravine and drawing
what he would see for hours on end. Collier catalogues something different. Rather than isolating nature he shows it in its contemporary context, which includes the industrialism of contemporary Hamilton. Accurate reflection of events is part of Collier’s mission as a cartoonist who focuses on nonfiction. His art is well-suited for this; his Crumbinfluenced line art looks like some of Seton’s simpler work, enabling the expressiveness of faces to communicate the tension of events as they arise. Much of this tension comes from the changing nature of things around him. In ‘Chimo’, these include how the armed forces (a symbol of Canadian nationalism), evolve since his first enlistment and his changing needs and desires upon entering middle-age. These are complicated, nuanced issues that inform someone’s individuality. ‘Chimo’ doesn’t end with a set resolution—we don’t see Collier head off to Afghanistan or deliver nicely packaged wisdom at the end. It’s a book about the journey, how that journey is difficult and that no matter the introspective powers at your disposal, some things won’t be neatly resolved. Collier’s work acts as observation more than problem-solving. In this way, he is like Seton, standing at a distance and assessing the environment that influences the structure of his life. Unlike Seton, Collier actively includes the combined tensions, giving a more complete picture of the world that he lives in. It may not be reassuring and convenient like the archetypes of the hinterland and metropole, but it’s honest. D.H.
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GREY ZONE: A CONVERSATION WITH MARK LALIBERTE
By Dalton Sharp
Mark Laliberte works in Photography, collage, illustration, and computer-based sound composition. He’s exhibited and performed in galleries across Canada and the USA, and in print including carousel magazine which he designs and is one of major forces behind. He’s long played with comics imagery and recently published 'Grey Supreme', a experimental narrative art book, with Koyama Press. Dalton Sharp talked to him about this and other things in Febuary. Where did you come up with the title 'Grey Supreme'? The grey zone between art forms is what I’m interested in. I’m a practicing visual artist and comics is an interest. Increasingly there are people crossing those lines. Those overlaps interest me. That grey zone, so I just like the term. Not White Supremacy or Black Supremacy, but Grey Supremacy. There’s a history of ‘gallery artists’ taking imagery from comics, like Lichtenstein. It seems there’s more artists now entering the form itself and going through the mechanics of making comics instead of just taking individual images. Do you have any theories about why that’s happening? I think that Lichtenstein’s an interesting example in terms of art history, because he approached comics as this novel thing and did some interesting things with it, but always very much positioned himself as a visual artist slumming in this sort of lesser medium. And that proved to be false in a way right? Comics have their own legacy. I think when people look to other mediums now they do it with a different intent. High and low isn’t as crucial. Nowadays it’s from a genuine connection to these minor histories, and I think the results on the surface may look the same. But the intent, and depth of where they can go is a lot different. What’s your attraction to comics? I’ve dabbled with comics since my teens. I was born in Windsor which is very close to Detroit, it was an interesting area for the underground comics scene. One of the main reasons was because [of local printer] Preney Print and Litho. When the black and white boom happened in the late '80s and early '90s everything in North America was being printed in Windsor, shipped out and never really coming back. I remember realizing that all these books that were hard to find were being printed in my hometown. They explained to me that you can’t buy from us because we’re just printing, but I developed an early fascination with print, and with what was going on in comics, and it sort of became a habit to visit them. They would give me offcuts of Cerebus the Aardvark phonebooks and things like that, and as an artist they eventually became my landlord. I lived in the same building that they stored the books in so Icould always sort of sneak down, and peak at what was being printed, and use the material as necessary. At the same time as an artist, I was breaking away from comics and becoming interested in photography and collage and sound. As I took on all those new streams, the idea of sequential language was always an interest for me…and collage, which is sort of what comics to me act as. From panel to panel there’s a kind of mental collage happening. I was talking to somebody involved in film. [She told me] you could never do [what comic panels do] in a movie, it would flicker. I had always thought of comics moving like movies, but they don’t. 6
Film is based on a [fixed] pacing of time, 24 frames a second or whatever it is. Comics can continually change pace between panels. An artist can be pacing a certain way, and then between two panels jump 100 years or whatever, or back and forth in time, so it’s irregular. There has always been a divide between superhero comics and the rest of the medium. Now with comics breaking into the art world… do you think there’s a possiblity of another divide opening? I don’t pay much attention to mainstream comics, but I know that there are more than just superheroes in that market. Similarly in the alternative market there are superheroes…people playing with the mythos from the last 20 years, and doing some really interesting things with it. And then there’s all the rest of the stuff, and I think it can probably divide quite evenly into mainstream and non-mainstream. The divide you’re maybe talking about is…when someone makes a comic there are only so many potential venues for the work. Certainly the printed form has been one, but also now the internet has become one, and perhaps the gallery has become another. It’s kind of like another form to apply the work to, and people are starting to play. I wish there wasn’t as much of a divide. I don’t really read superhero comics anymore, but there’s a rich history there. Talking about 'Swallow', the first story [in 'Grey Supreme'] the idea of the book for me is… Anne [Koyama of Koyama Press] asked me to do a kind of one-shot project, and I had seven or eight things we could’ve done. She liked a lot of the work, and I thought it might be interesting for me as an artist to treat it as a bit of a challenge and create a template for myself to work within. So I started to think of the idea of doing a yearly book, and what I actually ended up doing, what I’m planning on doing is taking projects that don’t seem to have larger homes and can maybe live within eight or twelve or twenty-four pages and work within the context of a series. So every issue there’s going to be a different few works and they may connect to comics directly, or they may connect not at all. On this issue there’s the two projects: one which is a photo print experiment ('Double Rainbow'), and the other which is a series of drowning cartoons ('Swallow'). Will the other projects always be sequential? I think it’s interesting because of where Anne is going with her press. I think the success [Michael] DeForge has had has really passed the press on to the comics audience pretty firmly, and I think Anne is trying to capitalize on that a bit, so more and more she seems to be putting out comics proper. But there are a lot of things she’s released that are kind of like art books and, not that there’s a huge difference, but my book exists somewhere in between. I guess I’m sort of maybe thinking about capitalizing on that same thing, looking to works that I have already completed that are a bit more sequential. For the second issue at least, I might try to push the sequential element. I don’t have a plan past that. Did you consider doing this as a poster project?
Not really. These could easily be prints in a gallery. For both these projects I felt like print was the way to go. Koyama press is edging increasingly towards comics from a bit of a left field position, and it’s sort of right where I wanted to be with that work. I thought that that audience could really look at it, particularly the front project, and see the kind of cartoon language and be interested in the idea of the series--what’s going to happen next? With 'Swallow', there was sort of a battle going on here between, a number of elements. Water and air, and that double space. Did you see it as a conflict…? A conflict between? Between different water, air, dying?
forces…
the drowning hand, either it’s resonating or it’s an innate fear that we carry…what are you doing with the repetition?
I guess repetition to me is an important part of my practice. I bounce around a lot as an artist. When people ask me what I do, I introduce the idea that I consider myself project-based, so I’m not really medium specific, but rather I’m context specific or idea specific. Repetition is a way I play through an idea. Sometimes I’ll do one, and it’s like that’s enough, but sometimes, something seems to have a lot more…leg room or whatever. And the way for me to explore that is to do a second and a third… So for 'Swallow' it’s always water and a hand and that’s really it, but within that I felt there was a lot of room. I came out with a second book…do you know this? (Holding 'Brickbrickbrick', a book of ‘brick poems’, images of many different cartoonists’ styles of rendering brick walls.) marklaliberte.com/projects/brickbrickbrick.html
In a lot of my work on the whole I have an interest in the life/death theme. These drowning cartoons are very fun for me to do, you approach water, you have a hand, two great things to play with--how many times can I work that through? I'm interested in looking at mortality, but rather than doing it in a way that’s connected to religion or to spirituality I’m looking at it from a pop perspective and a surface perspective. Like Bugs Bunny, violence can happen to cartoons, but nothing really every happens to them. I think there’s a sense of that in this work, but at the same time there’s maybe a sense that these cartoons are really drowning.
There was a play I saw about ten years ago called 'Lucky Strike'. The actors played out pulp movie scenes, stuff you would see in a Humphrey Bogart movie. They just repeated these motions over and over and over again, imprinting an image. I was thinking there was sorta the same dynamic going on with Swallow. There’s something about Continued from p.4 - In Defence of God Awful Comics Un-curation is like a great night club, let’s call it the Darwin Room. A place where you can check out other artists and have a crazy freedom to fail. To throw things up on stage, take your lumps, get booed, applauded, to have some fun. The seriousness that has started to pervade comics commits the cardinal sin: it is uninteresting. It’s uninteresting in its earnestness. God keep the God-awful comic zine racks (a few feet from the beautiful art book comics), the college newspaper comic sections, the low-sale free-for-all anthologies. This is not to say that comics should remain small and marginalized. The opposite. Comics, like any art form, need to be voracious with ambition, or become irrelevant. And comics are currently voracious, getting noticed by the wider world. Movies look desperately and gratefully to comics for ideas. Band gig posters routinely outsell the music. Cartoonists see their breath on the mirror of real pop culture. Comics are not quite a corpse yet.
In The Future I suspect there’ll be few record stores? Few book stores? Comics are rising only because so much is sinking around them. Movies and music are tap water: free, ubiquitous and glamour-less. One thing I suspect will be around for a long time: the coffee table book. And comics can coffee table book themselves. It’s happening. They’re not comics, they’re graphic novels, very ornate, very considered and very designed. Books are tree flesh, and they feel great. It’s this uniqueness that may keep comics around. This uniqueness, this seriousness, the “comics as art objects” may sustain comics, but it could make them a whole lot less fun.
I heard of it. Unfortunately I haven’t seen it. I'll introduce it to the context here. It’s a project I worked on in the background for seven years. At some point I realized it had the potential to be a book. I phrased these as visual poems, but it has a huge connection to comics and illustration. A poem for me is like a wall--a small form and the words are perfectly placed within the context of how it exists on the page. It’s a very beautiful thing, and the way it builds I’ve always imagined this rather a bit like the way a brick wall builds. So taking that metaphor I just started playing with other comic artists’ bricks. I could find just a few bricks sometimes. I tried to mimic their hand and turn it into a singular field, and over a period of about seven years I developed about 100 or 150 works. But again, looking at repetition, it’s all Continued on p.10
Last Weekend In the cavernous book shop, “it’s so beautiful” I say running my hand over a shiny beautiful comics collection. This thing is curated, very considered. “And so scratched, and beat up.” This book has sold well I think. These few copies are only here because they’re damaged. In about 40 minutes I’ll wander to the top floor, and my friend will show me Superman number 256. I’ll fall in like with it, and buy it for $1.99. He actually shows me two Superman number 256s. The one in better shape for $4.99, is less interesting without the creases and folds.
TCAF Weekend I have to get this anthology into the hands of that publisher. She’s gotta check out this kid. His stuff is so crazy strong. Like unbelievably strong. The book as a whole is as uneven as a wave pool, but man, there’s some great stuff in amongst the... wave pools are fun! There isn’t the high without the low, you need the bounce, you need to be all in. Comics as “Rock ‘n Roll” Metaphors Are God Awful How many bands have you never heard of? Could your favourite band have developed without them? Without opening for them? Without screwing around with them, without knowing of them? Maybe. What a boring show that would be. D.S. Find Dalton online at daltonsharp.com
www.samaraleibner.com 7
The Listener
by David Lester
Arbeiter Ring Publishing 304 pages ISBN: 9781894037488
Reviewed by BK Munn
It’s funny where comics can take you and what sort of far-reaching effects comic art can have. Take cartoonist Walter Trier, for instance. A Czech Jew who emigrated to Germany to work as a cartoonist in 1910, Trier’s career roughly coincided with the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party. Trier worked for satirical magazines like Simplicissimus churning out caustic anti-Nazi political cartoons in a disarmingly charming storybook style, alongside such artists as Thomas Heine and George Grosz. Trier fled Germany in 1933, worked on anti-German propaganda during the 40s in London, and spent the rest of his life in well-deserved semi-obscurity, drawing New Yorker covers and goofy 1950s advertising for Canadian peanut butter producers from his home near Collingwood, Ontario. If you squint a little,you can kind of read Trier’s life as an object lesson in the power of political art. Simply put: because people like Trier stood up to Hitler, the Nazis were eventually defeated, and the liberal mosaic was left to flourish in peaceful post-war Canada where our greatest political decisions became what brand of peanut butter to buy. Which brings me to David Lester’s new graphic novel 'The Listener', a fiction that essentially reverses the trajectory of Trier’s life, charting the imaginary course of a Canadian artist who revisits the nightmare of Nazi Germany and realizes the need for an artistic practice back home that is politically engaged, historically informed, and placespecific. 'The Listener' is a political work of art about the importance of making political art. The novel tells the story of Louise Shearing, a Canadian sculptor living in the UK who has a crisis of faith after one of her works inspires an activist who falls to his death in the act of hanging a political banner off a building. Wracked with guilt, Louise gives up her art and drifts aimlessly through Europe, studying sculpture, engaging in brief affairs, and eventually meeting an elderly German couple who tell her of their experiences during Hitler’s rise to power in the ‘30s and the crucial 1933 election in the tiny German state of Lippe (population 100,000). This little known historical footnote forms the core of the book: Louise listens to the tale of how the Nazis, through backroom dealings, intimidation, violence and murder, co-opted the leadership of the conservative monarchist DNVP party and effectively stole the election, paving the way for Hitler to assume the German chancellor-ship and then to win the federal election a few months later, ushering in the Third Reich, The Holocaust, and World War Two. These events are largely narrated from the point of view of the old couple, Marie and Rudolph, who as DNVP activists and newspaper workers in Lippe experienced first hand the stormtrooper tactics and propaganda of the Nazis and are haunted by their failure to halt or even resist Hitler’s ascendancy and the horrors that follow. Transformed by Marie and Rudolph’s story and their subsequent remorse, Louise is able to return 8
to Vancouver and her work as a radical artist with a renewed sense of purpose. This bare bones synopsis belies the artistic skill and depth of research Lester brings to the book. The tale of Germany’s last free election is told in minute detail but in a format that largely avoids dry textbook exposition in favour of conversation and confession. The story’s pacing is leisurely and Louise’s journey from disillusion and despair to the point where she stops running and picks up her tools again is told in a decompressed, naturalistic way. At the same time, Lester uses an arsenal of graphic approaches to illuminate everything from the subtle changes in Louise’s inner moods to the high drama and terror of streetfighting, suicide, and assassination. This is done with a variety of visual references to the art and styles of the 1930s, including German Expressionism, film noir (everything from a poster for The Third Man to the use of light and shadow), Picasso, and the insertion of Nazi political cartoons and headlines. Moments of vertigo are illustrated using a Carmine Infantino meets Marcel Duchamp approach, while political meetings recall scenes from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Like Louise, David Lester makes art from a left perspective. Louise’s sculptures celebrate The Paris Commune and anarchist guerrilla Nestor Makhno, while Lester, who has provided the shiver-inducing guitar hooks for seminal punk duo Mecca Normal since 1984, has had a long career as a painter, poster artist and graphic designer on projects as diverse as Emma Goldman tributes, DOA record covers and the design of BC Bookworld magazine. This work ranges from traditional agitprop to more multihued reflections on art and social justice issues, and 'The Listener' benefits from this catholic approach. There are black and white political issues in the book but Lester navigates through them with attention to everyday detail and human stories. The book is awash in a sea of half-tones and grays that are more in the service of storytelling, natural light and emotional states than any Ditko-styled moral imperative or mandate. Thus, scenes of Hitler talking to aides while on the toilet in 1933 and of Louise imagining the ghosts in a concentration camp sixty years later use the same tones, but one scene is claustrophobic and framed in black while the other is wide open with lots of white, symbolizing the difference in the two perspectives. In a similar way Lester draws a parallel between
MID-LIFE By Joe Ollmann
Published by Drawn and Quarterly 184 pages ISBN: 9781770460287
Reviewed by Salgood Sam
Joe Ollmann has been amusing us with sharp and cynical humour for a long time now. And I’ll freely admit to being a biased reviewer. I was first introduced to his work in the '90s when my roommate presented me with one of his zines after a Toronto small press fair and told me it was the most brilliant thing he’d read. He was often prone to overstatement, and I didn’t quite have my roommate’s unbinding appetite for biting gen-x humour. But Joe won me over. Over the years, his perspective has shifted and his work has matured. So it’s probably not surprising I can relate to another 40-year old today as well as I did when we were both 20-something. In his latest, 'MID-LIFE' Joe takes a strip out of his own hide again, depicting John–a fictional version of himself–as a overworked, under-slept, compulsive and beset father struggling to keep up with a second family while trying to maintain his relationship with the children of his first. Mostly successfully, but he’d never believe that if you told him. In the midst of this he develops a crush on a punk pixie turned children’s performer and tries despite himself to set up a rendezvous with her via his job at a pop culture magazine. There is a fully realized secondary story flushing out the object of his obsession’s life, making the moment of their meeting all the more deliciously uncomfortable. Joe’s fictional persona John reminded me of a mid life version of John Cusack’s protagonist in 'High Fidelity', Rob Gordon. I should say they really are not the same people. But that struggle against the demands and responsibilities of life, fought through a desire for casual sex is as strong a theme here. This and the running inner monologues, it kind of made me think of 'MID-LIFE' as a “what if we returned to Gordon’s story 15 years later?”. Only, Gordon is surrounded by cat shit, and no longer sees himself as a desirable guy. Indeed he thinks he’s a creep. And he’s too damn tired to make lists. Continued from p.8 - Review of The Listener the death of the protester inspired by Louise’s art at the beginning of the book and the murder of a journalist by Hitler’s thugs in the flashback near the end of the book. Both scenes are broken up, jump-cut style, with panels illustrating the creation of a drawing, with panels alternating between violent moments and the counterpoint of relatively banal movement of a pencil on paper. In the first scene, Louise makes sketches for her next project, oblivious to the fact her art has inspired a tragedy. In the second, Hitler sketches Eva Braun while a political murder is enacted in his name. In this way, the binaries and parallels of the story are made explicit: political art can be used for fascistic as well as socially progressive means but it is dangerous to neglect or ignore it. In contrast to its more subtle approach to political metaphor, 'The Listener' wears its historical research on its sleeve, with quite a bit of actual quotes and great dollops of art history ladled onto its pages and wedged into everything from chapter headings to snatches of lovers’ conversation. As well, Lester’s
Joe’s strength has always been in his dialogue and characters. Despite using a lot of short hand and satire, he seldom gives us two-dimensional subjects. Even his least attractive bit player is often human if not likable. A big part of this is his art. It’s raw and rough, but I’ve always found it really effective within his stories. It embodies the anxieties, self-loathing and frustrations his characters are often dealing with well. Joe always does shambling wrecks like John well. But Sherry Smalls–the children’s performer–manages to be perfectly cute, and then effectively angry punk pixie when called for. I know Joe doubts his ability to depict things like that–pretty girls namely--but he pulls it off. And far from some kind of foil, she has as much depth and credibility--not to mention as many issues and anxieties–as John does. This is the longest story Joe’s undertaken so far. Past books have been collections of short stories, or “really long short stories”. Now that his son is getting older I hope he’ll find the time, and the sleep, to do more like it. I’ll be looking forward to them. If I had a complaint it was that I missed the novelty I felt when I first read Joe’s comics nearly 20 years ago. Having read them for as long as I have there was much of this that was a familiar and a logical evolution. But really that was all the more fitting. A very worthy read, I give it four out of five cat poops, but I don't want to give him a big head or anything. S.S. Originally published online 12.APR.2011 choice of computer generated word balloons and text is often at odds with his meticulously composed pages and panels, and is especially bewildering when considered alongside the hand-drawn representations of historical posters and headlines which appear throughout the book and show that the artist possesses a definite fluency and skill in lettering. Some of the computer-set balloons have a jauntily angular, ransom-note-meets-Rodchenko/ Constructivist look to them, but most just seem awkward and jarring. However, these are slight quibbles. Lester’s drawing is wonderfully expressive and the book is an intense and well-structured look at a forgotten pivotal moment in history that uses the medium of comics to revisit that time and propose an antidote to generalized political malaise and anomie. In this sense the book is a fitting tribute to the work of Lester’s cartooning precursors who fought the good fight in the 1930s, as well as a modern call to arms. BK.M. Originally published online 19.APR.2011 See page 14 for a four page preview.
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Continued from p.7 - Grey Zone: A Conversation With Mark Laliberte about repetition, about the changes between them. The sequence is really important to the book, and I’ve clustered it into seven or eight sections. So this section is brick walls that are incomplete in some way, and in this section there are elements within the context of the bricks, just subtle things, graffiti tags, things like that. They’re really quite modeled, but at the same time speak to the language of the artists that I’m working with. I felt they fit better in the poetry world than in the comic world, but yeah, in terms of repetition I think it’s a prime example of how I make work. You would never get this sensibility coming from mainstream comics, yet it really reveals something about the style or the essence of what comics do. Someone wrote about it on the Comics Journal and he looked at it from the perspective of comics and the discussion…he seemed to really get the project. And then there was discussion between the readers and the writer of the review. It’s all really interesting to me. It’s probably a good example of why people with a gallery sensibility should be welcomed into comics for as long as they want to stay. I did send Dave Sim some of the work just to see his opinion on it. He really…I mean I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything more. It was really kind of like, “oh this is sort of interesting that the art world is slumming.” Ouch. My understanding was that Gerhard was responsible for the backgrounds and Dave Sim did the characters, so I titled it 'Gerhard'. Dave said, “oh no, I do a lot of the backgrounds too.” I left it Gerhard because that’s my prerogative. He definitely felt it was not of the comic world, which I guess it isn’t. It’s his point of view. It’s interesting because it’s sorta like distilling each artist's stylistic DNA. That’s exactly what it’s like. You were saying about the spirituality…what was that again?…about the spirituality without the religion… I’m interested in looking at mortality through the lens of pop culture. There’s an artist named Bill Viola I find quite interesting. He’s a video artist. All his work looks at mortality but very much from a spiritual side of things. I think he was in some way an influence on me, even though it doesn’t necessarily show in my work. The idea that a sustained look at mortality through artwork could work without being…that it could work and that it could grow over time with you as you age. I’ve always been very interested in pop culture, and it made sense for me to use it as a lens. It’s more interesting than history or spirituality for looking at that. Pop culture has a tendency to be very surface, so there was a definite challenge. I’m still working through that as an artist. You’re talking about mortality in a…are you approaching it with just curiosity or dread or is it a positive or a negative or…? It’s this huge question mark. I’ve tried to approach it in different ways, at some point in all of those ways. Maybe having all those things happening simultaneously is where the work sort of resonates the strongest. I made a series of momento mori, which is latin for, “remember thy death”. A lot of the symbolism the painters would use--rotting fruit on at able, a skull, melting candles--those are all historically memento mori. I did a series of 100 10
sandblasted drawings on granite with skulls all found in pop culture. Some of them are from comics, and some of them are from album covers and t-shirts and art history. It’s interesting because pop culture is sort of notoriously not looking at death. Was it well received. I’ve shown it several times and I guess that’s about as well received as artwork tends to be. I think if there was a next step it would be outdoors, like in a park or somewhere permanent. I just did a comic-oriented thing for the TTC for a bus shelter on St. Clair. It’s a collage piece of four long horizontal glass panels. They’re based on a little experimental comic I did about a year and a half ago. It’s just like a comics explosion. Does it read sequentially? We were talking about reading the panels in between…instead there’s depth between, almost like layers. It’s like a comic that’s been shaken around. Any time I’d used letters it’d have to be something like an ‘H’ because it was glass that you could see on both sides. I’ve never even heard of it. It debuted very quietly. They were just installed in December. I don’t know accidentally or on purpose, but [this issue of Grey Supreme] has kind of stumbled on an Old Testament sequence here with the flood and then a rainbow…was that accidental? I guess so. Merging those two works into one book was more about the possibilities of the thirty-two page space. I hadn’t really seen that relationship. It’s an interesting one. They’re both natural phenomenon to do with water. I actually thought it was funny that rainbows are supposed to be this promise from God not to flood again, and in your photo the rainbow ends at this big pit, which is threatening to fill up. That’s right outside my window here. When I moved to this building it was a completely open field for a very long time. The condo thing is happening in Queen West. I noticed. So they were digging and it was taking forever and it was just a pit and this rainbow happened. It was goofy, but it actually looked quite beautiful and it was like, “I’m just going to take some photos on my roof here.” One of the photos just really looked perfect, like that rainbow’s coming out of the pit, and then it was like, “okay well what do I do with this?” At some point I had the idea it would probably look nice to print it, tint them, and print a kind of rainbow sequence with the repetition. That’s where the “Double Rainbow” comes from. And then shortly before the book comes out there’ s this weird internet meme and it’s titled 'Double Rainbow'. So yeah, that bugs me. So you came up with the 'Double Rainbow' title before that meme? Yeah! The project was probably done for about a year and a half and I just had never printed it, and when I went to print it people were like oh, 'Double Rainbow'! Is that a reference to…” and obviously it’s not, but yeah that’s… Ha ha! And that’s another interesting thing about pop culture right? Certain things are bigger than others and you have to sort of… You’ll never get away from that one. Ha ha. Yeah, exactly.
D.S.
Find Mark at www.marklaliberte.com Grey Supreme at koyamapress.com Posted on 16.FEB.2011 originally online.
Book of Hours:
A Wordless Novel Told in 99 Wood Reviewed Engravings by BK Munn
Porcupine’s Quill $19.95 ISBN 978-0-88984-335-6
George A. Walker is well-known as a teacher, designer and book illustrator who also makes woodcut art in the tradition of Frans Masereel and Canada’s Laurence Hyde. Previously, he edited a collection of classic woodcut artists, 'Graphic Witness: Four Wordless Graphic Novels' (Firefly, 2007), and through his teaching at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto has mentored a new generation of artists working in the same medium. His latest work, 'Book of Hours: A Wordless Novel Told in 99 Wood Engravings', engages with that tradition most directly, presenting a woodcut novel of his own and placing it in a continuity of graphic narratives that deal with social and political issues of grave import and artistic significance, in this case the traumatic attack on the World Trade Center buildings on September 11, 2001. Walker states his intention in the book’s preface: “Other artists like Goya and Picasso have used political anxieties as topics for their work, but what sets the 'Book of Hours' apart is its lack of words and its sequential narrative. I was inspired by the work of Frans Masereel, Lynd Ward and Otto Nückel; they, too, struggled with similar injustices and documented their world in a narrative of images. There are no words to describe 9/11’s devastating impact and transformative power in our collective consciousness –but perhaps there are yet images that can communicate the impact.” In 'Book of Hours', Walker presents a series of portraits, tableaus, and public and private moments, depicting the imagined likenesses of workers in the World Trade Center office towers going about their business in the 24-hours before the events of 9/11. The organizing principle he uses is that of the ticking clock, in this case represented by the face of a digital clock rendered in Walker’s meticulously carved method (the images were initially drawn in ink on blocks of maple, then reverse-carved using a variety of tools before being inked onto paper using a press). The repetition of the dark inky clockface, with its rubber-stamp, nth-generation-photocopy look, is our only guide through the book, the only repeating image, each time-stamp bracketing a series of mundane, time-of-day specific events (the last minutes of sleep in the morning, commuting, working in the office, eating lunch in a food court, and so on) as practiced by a group of people representing a cross-section of ages, genders, colours and classes. The plot of 'Book of Hours' is simple. The book opens with a woodcut of the World Trade Center and quickly transitions to views of its occupants. We see these people enact the routines of the day, going through the motions of work and its social interactions and obligations. The narrative, such as it is, pursues this chain of barely-connected moments for 132 pages to the end of the first day (11:11 PM) and resumes again the next day (6:32 AM), following the same pattern. The pattern repeats, but with a sudden, stunning difference: at the 8:46 mark of the second day the image is of the heavily-shadowed
twin towers and an approaching jet, pictured suspended in the sky just before the moment of impact. The following 6 images are slightly more anxious versions of the images from the previous day, as office workers shrug their shoulders, point, and talk to security guards –one image even shows a figure bent over a photocopier, seemingly oblivious to the mounting chaos above. The final two pages represent a more radical shift in tone, befitting the tragic events they depict: the penultimate image is of a dramatically lit figure recoiling in horror, perhaps from the unseen threat of fire or the approach of the second plane, depicted in the book’s final image, time-stamped 9:02 AM, a closer and more detailed version of the previous plane-and-tower tableau with the addition of finely-detailed black billowing smoke. The rest of the story, it is assumed, we know and have experienced ourselves, in one form or another. The fire. The falling man. The collapse. The recovery. Afghanistan. Iraq. Bush. Obama. Lives ended. The world transformed. Walker’s focus is on the moments of ignorant calm and pedestrian clockwork routine that precede these storms and egos, and to this end his series of woodcuts depict, and through the act of depicting achieve, a sort of sublime existential boredom, tinged with inevitability. His subjects are marking time until the apocalypse, metaphorical stand-ins for their fellow countrymen and perhaps for all of us who sometimes live moment to moment, day to day, without thought of the march of history, the greater doom that approaches and the time when our own clocks will stop their forward motion. Overall, the book’s design is quite effective; from its somber black endpapers and Smyth-sewn binding to its majestic pacing and labour-intensive production of images, the whole artifact, with the possible glaring exception of the discordant use of an actual photograph on the cover and frontispiece, gives the impression of a deliberate and thoughtful composition, very much in keeping with the book’s themes of time and reflection. Continued on p.13
11
Out of Our Minds
Written by Melissa Auf der Maur Tony Stone and Kevin McLeod Illustrated by: Jack Forbes Reviewed by Robin Fisher
There is plenty to admire about Melissa Auf der Maur. Freed from the shackles of her 90’s music career, she is currently promoting her new multimedia project ‘Out of Our Minds.’ Based on a bit of lyric that came to her one night, “Out of our minds, and into our hearts, standing by.”, 'OOOM' consists of a full length album, a half hour film and a comic. MAdM’s goal is “...to connect with people and I love music and film and stories and visual arts and paintings and I’m inspired by all these things in one.” (interview@www.faceculture.nl/) In interviews she’s incredibly passionate about 'OOOM' (Out Of Our Minds). I respect that she’s challenging herself in new ways and formats. As well as revamping the rock star paradigm. 'OOOM' is ambitious and I applaud that, but so far, of this living organism of art that she intends to keep adding to over time, the only thing that stands out for me is the music. I was excited when I read about MAdM’s latest creation as it was to include a comic. Since the album’s release last year though, details about the comic have been sparse. My comic guy discovered issues at Forbidden Planet New York and I shelled out the 16 bucks. (After shipping. It comes with an ep, bookmarks and a signature.) While waiting for the book to arrive, I checked out illustrator, Jack Forbes’s website, thehebrewgod. com. The art seemed to be of the same ilk as MAdM’s short film, which I had seen at The Musee de Beaux Arts, JW Waterhouse exhibit. (There were faint echoes of Waterhouse’s work in Melissa’s film.) Anyway, the comic arrives and I’m honestly..... really disappointed. Illustrated in 2009, the 'OOOM' comic is 12 pages long, done in black, cream and red. There is no dialogue or text, except for the 'OOOM' lyrics at the beginning of the book. It has the visual appearance of a high school final assignment and the subtlety of the same. Initially touted as a graphic novel one has to wonder if Melissa was also disappointed by the end result. The nicest thing I can say is that some of the panel shapes/layouts were innovative, especially the page with the Witch going after the second Viking with the heart in the background. As for the plot, it jumps around. There are three specific time periods but I learned that from an interview. Visually there seems to be only two time periods in the comic. There is 1000 AD, 12
with two Vikings and a Witch and there is what I guess is now, though it has a decidedly '50s feel due to fashion and hairstyle. The past deals with a robbery and an injury treated. The present: a car crash and a heart ripped out. It’s all rather obvious and exudes Angsty Young Feminist in College themes. There are other things that bug me about this comic. Things I’d like to address directly to the creator. Dear Melissa Auf der Maur Why was 'OOOM' impossible to find in Montreal, your home town? I’ve seen interviews where you extol the virtues of Montreal, how come you didn’t use a Montreal artist for your comic? Seriously, you can’t go five feet in Montreal without bumping into one, and the majority of them are really good. Being an internationally renowned photographer with a show in Washington DC right now at the National Geographic Museum, why didn’t you do a fumetti comic? You wouldv’e had all the control you desired. You categorize yourself as a feminist, of being a woman in a man’s world (The Music Industry), why didn’t you use a female cartoonist? You’ve also talked about how this is the era of you going solo, being an independent woman on your own, yet you had male co-writers and a male illustrator dominate your comic. I mean you were in a band that continually proved: “Sisters are doing it for themselves.” What happened with that ideal in regards to your comic? Finally, how could you let something so halfassed be associated with your name? No really, you are Melissa Auf der Maur. The MAdM. The Only woman to play Heavy Mtl last year, You also connivinced Glenn Danzig to sing his first duet ever, with you. You are a Hard Core Rock Goddess and your ideas deserve to better represented then by this 'OOOM' comic. I expected better and really, there is no reason for 'OOOM' not to be the amazing project you wanted it to be.
I hate writing bad reviews; unfortunately I agreed to write this one before I saw the work. I don’t see the point in tearing someone down when they’ve worked hard at something. But a friend of mine, who has quite the reputation as a nasty reviewer, once said something to me I’ll never forget. Bad comics offended him. He felt it was his right, as someone who paid money on these items, to force the artist to take a long, unattached look at their work and make it better. Sometimes you get better because you realize the critic had a valid point. Sometimes you get
better out of spite. Either way, You Get Better and your product gets better because of it. If 'OOOM' is an art microcosm, accepting ideas and creations on a continual basis, I think the time to do 'OOOM' issue #2, has arrived.
Continued from p.11 - Book of Hours: A Wordless Novel Told in 99 Wood Engravings
continuity between these cuts, we are left on our own to fathom exactly what it is we are seeing. Select portraits (usually the ones that have more of a photographic rather than impressionistic feel) have a superfluity of background detail and depth, others are all foreground, with barely hashedin lines standing for a cubicle wall or street of buildings. Some sequences achieve a mimetic perfection by archiving the diversity of workaday boredom, while still others seem like they are striving to knock us out of our somnambulistic state through jarring intrusions of extracurricular titillation and office romance. I’m thinking here of a trio of woodcuts that jumps from a realistically rendered, cubicle-dwelling Dilbert-type posed beside his computer to a dramatically-lit, pin-up style woman with arched back and pointed breasts to an expressionistic close-up image of a man kissing a woman, her hand snaked around his neck while the air above them is filled with cloud-like curlicues. The sequence of images is confusing because it is unclear if they are connected in a direct way. Are 'Dilbert' and the pin-up queen kissing in the final image? Is the whole thing a masturbatory daydream? Is it even a sequence at all or just a random juxtaposition? These are some of the minor questions 'Book of Hours' confusingly provokes while leading us through its moments-minded narrative.
Walker achieves this balance through controlled variety. Some pages are made up of simple fluid lines with generous helpings of deep blacks and shadow, while others are complex beaver dams of short, lightly-etched marks. Some images are stand-alone, frozen seconds of time, others are actually part of short two or three page sequences featuring a repeating character or scene. One such sequence, a diptych of a security guard looking bored and then smiling and pointing, appears early in the book as sort of a guidepost to our experience. Another, a triptych, featuring a pair of lovers traveling down a corridor, engaged in passionate lovemaking, and then sleeping in each others’ arms, is the last group of images from the first day, and one of the few emotionally compelling moments in the book. This lack of real engagement with the people depicted in 'Book of Hours' is its greatest strength but also a weakness. Through these sketches we can identify with the universal nature of structured activity and banality that most days are made up of, but it is difficult to empathize deeply with a nameless, almost generic office worker, whether briefly glimpsed in a crowd scene or painstakingly rendered in portrait form. Who are these people? What do their faces look like when laughing or arguing? Where are they coming from, where do they think they are going? What are their hopes, dreams, fantasies, nightmares? Part of this disconnect lies in Walker’s approach, which is to represent each moment as it’s own separate world, with no place-specific signposts or seeming continuity, either in terms of nongeneric objects, distinctive personalities, or strong stylistic markers. Flipping through the book, the impression is of a jumble of unrelated people and scenes, with only the rare establishing exterior “shot” of the towers and the ticking clock to unify it all. There is no overwhelming collective style to the individual pages: some of the portraits and group scenes have a slanted, expressionistic look, calling to mind the agonized, dramatic heroes of Lynd Ward, while others have all of the style and emotional impact of rejected clip-art from an office newsletter. Some of these tighter, more static images look like they have their basis in photographs, posed portraits with the subjects staring out at the artist “camera” or reader, while others seem candid or cropped from larger panoramic views. The looser, sketchier figures often depict actual movement, with radiating lines indicative of action, transition or heightened emotional states, but since there is very little in the way of focused
R.F. This book seems to be only available with the album, we were unable to find ISBN and price info - order it via this site: xmadmx.com
Walker writes in his preface that besides drawing attention to the human cost of political decisions while critiquing our “complacent adherence” to routine and comfort, he is also reminding us that there is a political aspect to representation and a power dynamic implicit in creating and viewing images, asking “Who is seen and who is not in 'Book of Hours'? Who is doing the seeing?” Looking at his woodcuts, we are compelled to wonder, from what point of view do we engage these images, as omnipotent artist and reader or as fellow officemates and subway riders? Where are we in these pictures? There have been other works of sequential art that have dealt with this subject matter, such as Art Spiegelman’s highly personal and political, but ultimately flawed, 'In the Shadow of No Towers'. 'Book of Hours' struggles mightily to present a thoughtful, dignified response to 9/11, using the silent tools of the woodcut to address the unspeakable, eschewing melodrama, sentimentality, hyperbole, and even coherent narrative for a largely unemotional, documentarystyle prelude to the horror of the attack. Maybe at this far remove from the event itself we may be ready to experience it objectively, through something like the filter of Walker’s hand-carved poetics of boredom. BK.M. Find George A. Walker online at www3.sympatico.ca/george.walker Originally published online 11.MAR.2011
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A preview of 'The Listener' by David Lester
Arbeiter Ring Publishing
Reviewed by Tom Spurgeon
Paying For It
by Chester Brown Published by Drawn And Quarterly Hardcover, 292 pages, May 2011, $24.95 9781770460485 (ISBN13), 1770460489 (ISBN10)
I felt myself at a disadvantage throughout the entire process of reading 'Paying For It', Chester Brown's longawaited graphic novel about his becoming a john and how that part of his life developed over a lengthy period of time. I have no interest in prostitutes, less interest than that in the issue of prostitution and sex work, and can muster only the tiniest bit of prurient intrigue for watching how a cartoonist of whom I'm a fan orients himself to the aforementioned. That's going to sound like a protestation, but I genuinely mean that I lack a fundamental interest in that specific subject matter. In his introduction, Robert Crumb describes in some detail a woman of his acquaintance revealing she did escort work and the personal shockwaves within that circle of friends that followed: that's the kind of thing that's unfathomable to me. I assume I know a woman or two in that position, and that I know a lot of men with experiences like Chester Brown's. What I don't know is a lot of people that have detailed their experiences and everything related to them to the extent Brown has here. The most fascinating sequence in 'Paying For It' for me didn't involve a single naked woman or the sensible peculiarities revealed by the veteran comic book maker as he unfurls the operational workings of such enterprises from the consumer's end. What I enjoyed most was a few panels where Brown tries to orient himself to the fact he'll soon move from the home of one-time lover and longtime friend Sook-Yin Lee. Buffeted by very understandable waves of grief, Brown gathers himself, pounces on a brief, inexplicable flash of happiness and pins it to the white board of his consciousness like an amateur entomologist. I've read that section four times now. It feels much more intimate than any time the cartoonist depicts himself in the sexual act, more revealing, even, than when Brown suggests we take a second look at his actions throughout this work for the implications of a surprising, final-act twist. The greatest strength of 'Paying For It' comes in its facilitation of these tiny, off-hand moments, less its ability to bring us the world in which Brown moves than the manner in which he processes what he sees once he gets there. Off-key moments that yield worlds of meaning: that's the unique opportunity afforded by a cartoonist of Chester Brown's caliber. Brown has long been one of comics' most important and vital creators, and was maybe the last great cartoonist of his generation to roar into the consciousness of art comics readers like some sort of highway-jumping prairie fire, witnesses to the unique strengths of his work testifying to the devastating wonders of what was going on two or three hills over. He may be the last giant of the form to emerge where the scramble to encounter the work in question involved print testimony and a long car ride. Brown's talent allows him to depict anything in comics form--any single thing--and have each moment we spend in its company feel as remarkable as other cartoonists' giant space battles and hearthealing moments of emotional catharsis. One of the most exciting moments in comics in the last quarter century was discovering that Brown's comics could be as affecting and powerful depicting the mundane as they were bringing to life sentient penises, parachuting monsters and bristling, impatient messiahs. Any major work by Brown should be seen as a key, celebratory event in any comics-reading year in which one appears, and 'Paying For It' fits that bill without question. 14
Brown is a master of quiet insistence. Much of his work is about orienting the body, frequently depicted as full figures rather than partial or suggested ones, to oppressive outdoor spaces, insidious interior blacks and, no less dramatically, other people in the room. No cartoonist draws odder images that so quickly register as normal, and no one in the narrative arts makes such routinely inexplicable story decisions that one accepts for the authority with which they're introduced. Crumb notes that Brown portrays himself in 'Paying For It' as having almost no visible emotions: the face of his cartoon avatar is cut into an impassive mask. This seems stridently counter-intuitive, in that one would think a graphic novel about a controversial
subject like prostitution might lean on the most humane, emotionally accessible depiction of its lead. Brown always makes his own way, though, and that way rarely provides comfort to the reader. There's a jittery undercurrent to Brown's work that shimmies to the surface at odd and unexpected times, a queasy energy unlike anything else in comics. That noted, it's always enormously fun to read Brown, and 'Paying For It' proves no exception. There's little I can write that will ever do justice to the enormous visceral pleasure that can come with spending time in Brown's version of reality. One could argue that 'Paying For It' is a very good book about prostitution but an amazing work about adult friendships and turning 40. Brown makes a few folks just standing around talking look like a miracle, a scene in a cafĂŠ like a matter of great lifetime import; the cartoonist knows that many of the key instances in life come during conversations held while moving towards moments of much less significance. Whatever the comics equivalent of saying you'd watch a certain actor read a phone book might be, that's Chester Brown. He has become like noted influence Harold Gray in that you can fairly check out of the story at hand, sort of leave the details of the narrative at the side of the road, and settle into an extended appreciation of watching figures slice through a variety of environments in ways that affords them dignity and purpose above and beyond the details of their motivations and desires. There is something deeply comforting about a cartoonist so willing to play by a set of rules, even when they seem arbitrarily selected. In the tidal wave of different experiences presented between the
engages that topic, for instance his certainty that most people will understand exactly what he's talking about, that's as informative as the confessional element itself.
cartoonist and prostitutes in 'Paying For It' that is the book's centerpiece--a choice almost no other comics creator could have made without creating something that somehow lasciviously winked at the reader and become unreadable, even inhumane in the doing so-Brown's ability to give each encounter narrative weight in some memorable way, even if he pushes through his depiction of that encounter very quickly, makes us trust him more as an advocate for both those experiences' mundane qualities and their transformational effect on the cartoonist. Sex may never be all the way a normal experience for people; yet if everything's as strange as it is in a Chester Brown comic, then maybe nothing's all that outside of consideration when it comes to open consideration, processing what it means, accepting what other people value in specific permutation that's offered to them. The problem with having a disinterest in the general subject matter that informs 'Paying For It' isn't that prior knowledge and passion is any sort of prerequisite for enjoying art on a topic--something even less true with Brown's comics--but that in this particular case Chester Brown seems passionately interested and invested in the issues he raises and one may eventually feel left behind. 'Paying For It' is far from over when the cartoonist has his last, enlightening, words-and-picture discussion of his personal experiences with one of his close friends. In a manner familiar to those that have experienced past works of extended inquiry by Brown, 'Paying For It' offers up pages upon pages of appendices and notes, observations both personal and derived from key works encountered during research. These pages make up a significant percentage of the overall work, and I think any appraisal of the book has to engage what they say and how they say it. Working together, the notes and the comics push 'Paying For It' past an extended march through Brown's personal story and into a work of advocacy concerning many of the issues involved. I think this may have been done to the work's overall detriment. Brown is unapologetic to the threshold of argumentative passion--or whatever Brown's dispassionate yet invested equivalent might be--on these matters. It's clear that he's thought about them a great deal. There are revealed any number of fun, pleasurable and insightful elements to the supplementary material, from Crumb's opening salvo to the photo of Brown that caps things off. A significant amount of humor is brought to bear throughout, particularly in some tiny drawings into which Brown places arguments with which he doesn't agree. Brown is such an idiosyncratic cartoonist that his notes and commentaries delight through off-hand descriptions of narrative choices that no other cartoonist on earth would have made; such curt, matter-of-fact declarations duplicate the unsettled energy found in the work. Even an off-hand comment like how he chooses to portray Sook-Yin Lee's hair in one scene can set the reader's mind racing, or a description of whose participation he chose to drop from a discussion. Seth enters into the work as an authorial voice, and his is a welcome, bracing, solicitous presence. There's one set of notes that informs the comics narrative a great deal, about a certain burden Brown felt in his encounters with attractive women until he started seeing prostitutes. It may be the key to understanding the work. As is the case with similar scenes in the comic, it's as much the way that Brown
None of these positive qualities makes it any easier to accept some of the underlying arguments. That wider political and cultural issues are engaged in the first place never feels like a necessity. A lot of what Brown declares in the appendices seems derived from boilerplate political and moral theory the cartoonist may take as self-evident (a libertarian conception of personal property, for instance), while readers may not see things exactly that way or at least may wish to object to a point here or there. These ideas are then filtered through a personal set of circumstances that in their usage here comes perilously close to suggesting Brown's situation as portrayed is a universal one. When 'Paying For It' functions as a comics-format documentary about how Brown's way of moving through the world is improved by his employing prostitutes, it accrues effectiveness in a variety of ways. We like Brown, or at least come to respect the unadorned honesty with which he describes his personal journey, the way his worries and fears are resolved. As much as he seems to have benefited from his current choices, we celebrate that he was able to secure these things in his life. It's hard not to at least be sympathetic to those choices coming Brown's way without penalty or stigma, that current law may needlessly restrict a range of human experiences that includes Brown's. This is a far cry from what comes through in the essays: that Brown's orientations might somehow be the basis for policy and cultural change, that all stigma is correlative, that the removal of cultural discrimination afforded paid sex is the difference between the world we live now and a world that functions a bit more like Chester Brown. When the cartoonist moves away from his own experiences and into broader proclamations about the nature of romantic love and assertions that more frequent monetary remuneration in sexual relationships will somehow ease relationships between men and women, it's hard to engage with what he's saying beyond being certain he means it. To put it more directly, even for someone not invested in the general subject matter, many of the broader arguments fail to convince. That they represent issues that can be argued, even passionately so, doesn't seem all that remarkable an endorsement in the Age Of The Internet. Give me scenes like the one where Brown argues with Seth over the issues, seething and impatient with Seth's answers and his own, desperate and human in wanting to make and win such discussions, over any number of facile dissections of each argument's actual merits. Within the context of a personal narrative, seeing Brown dismiss the possibility of abuses as things he doesn't himself see has a revealing, human quality; pushing past such arguments in a more standard mini-essay on the issue itself seems way more problematic. Chester Brown remains now and forever a magnificent cartoonist, and in 'Paying For It' his comics should make all sorts of readers from all sorts of points of view consider arguments they may never have given the time of day otherwise. Part of me wishes that things have ended there; another part feels churlish in saying so. T.S. Originally published online @ comicsreporter.com 10.APRIL.2011 15
thelistenergraphicnovel.wordpress.com
By Dalton Sharp
On Message: A Conversation With Joan Thornborrow Steacy
Set against Toronto’s fledgling Queen St. West art scene in the 1970s, 'Aurora Borealice' follows Joan Thornborrow Steacy’s journey from shy self doubt to full engagement with a rapidly changing world. The autobio is told through the fictional character of Alice, who meets Ken Steacy (Joan's real life future husband and Canadian Cartoonist Hall of Famer) and his comic-obsessed friends Paul Rivoche and Dean Motter. Branded as stupid in grade school, Alice finally friends Eric McLuhan, a teacher who recognizes her talent. The CN Tower is being built, Marshall McLuhan is lecturing, and everything seems possible. Dalton Sharp spoke with her by phone from her home in Victoria. To start off could you tell me a bit about how this project came about? Umm.. oh boy… Sorry to be so broad! It's been in my mind for quite a while, and when the graphic novel medium came on my radar I realized it was perfect to articulate this story. Then it was, “okay, can I do it?” That's the question. I did a book for my Dad’s 100th birthday in 2006, Dalton: (The life of "Junky Jack" Thornborrow: a Century of Hardship, Laughter, and Recycling) so that gave me the confidence to do my own book as a graphic novel. Was it a true graphic novel or sorta an illustrated story? It was an illustrated biography. I had to think about all the stories he told me when I was a young girl that stayed in my mind; I had this visual for them. Basically the book is each decade… his life coming over from England as a boy, and then emigrating to Hamilton, and all that… I made it into little slices of his life and then illustrated them, these stories.
I thought it was funny in the book where Alice is annoyed by comics, meanwhile the story of her life is actually being told in graphic novel format! It's kinda ironic. Trying to communicate something in words and pictures--I did find it very fulfilling and I’m totally addicted now. Oh great! Yeah, too bad it took me this long, but anyways... I've had many careers along the way, but this I find the most interesting.
"I don’t know if you can imagine being in school and being bored out of your skull and not doing very well and failing and failing and failing because it just wasn’t interesting to you and then…"
And he lived to see it which was remarkable and I had an opening in Waterdown, the town I grew up in. Friends, family and people who were just curious about this book came, and it was just an amazing experience. I think that really solidified my confidence in myself to move on to the next level, which is what I'm doing now with 'Aurora Borealice', so yeah... Cool.
I felt that both projects were exactly what I needed in this time of my life. Writing has always been difficult for me, but I think I was ready to do it. I had a lot of determination to pull it off. Why'd you choose a graphic novel rather than a book or film or...
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I've never been really a fan of mainstream comic books, but when graphic novels came into existence I said, “oh my God this is it! I love it. I love it. I loved the quirky little drawings that people drew, that were very sincere, that were just wonderful, not highly polished and rendered. Then I just started doing my own.
Ken is a very good sounding board. When I do find myself in a box and I can't get out of it, and I'm not sure how to proceed I do ask him for help. Sometimes if he tries to come in too soon, when I'm still kinda working it through that's not good, but he is very helpful in many ways. It's really convenient to have a comics guy right there.
Yeah, my editor, and art director, and I get to sleep with him! Ha ha! Editors with benefits! Ha ha. It is good in a lot of ways, but I need to make sure he isn’t the dominant influence on me, because this is my work, y'know? There's a scene in this book where Ken is upset because his drawing partner (Paul Rivoche) has drawn him as a sort of Neanderthal and I thought it was an interesting scene, because it shows that depicting people can be a double edged sword... were you nervous drawing people that were real... wondering what the reaction would be?
I've always drawn little drawings of different situations. Whenever I'd go on a trip I'd do some little drawings of that trip, little highlights and I just figured, “well, they’re just my little personal drawings.” I wouldn't want to show them to anyone beyond my self and friends.
Yeah I was very nervous. I presented Eric McLuhan with a copy of it last summer when I was in Toronto and I mean, it was like, “oh God you're going to love it or hate it. I hope I didn't make you look dorky!”
Then I realized well that’s my style and I should just go with it. When I started reading graphic novels like 'Paul Moves Out' and 'Blankets', and Raymond Briggs is one of my big influences, I saw that he kind of drew similar to the way I would draw and I thought, “well okay, um, let's try to make a story.” It was very challenging to put dialogue in, but seeing that I was married to Ken Steacy for 35 years, and I've been around comics for that long, that really provided some of the background that I needed to do this.
He went away, and I was holding my breath on this, and I got an email, and it was just amazing high praise! I was flabbergasted, and so pleased, and so relieved. You can imagine.
What was his verdict?
Yeah. Paul Rivoche, some of the pages...he has not seen the whole and I don't know what he's going to think. I tried to get a hold of him last summer and it didn't happen, so I'm just holding my breath on that one too. Continued on p.18
13. He likes to use a pencil because “...a pencil reproduces in more interesting ways, they're really limiting.” 14. I find his stories to be sneaky, in a good way. 15. 'Explanation for Sator Stuff', 'Blackhold' and his weekly comic 'Everett' have to be seen to be believed. So go....now, www.connorwillumsen.com 16. His colour work will blow your mind. 17. He has appeared in 'The Anthology Project' 1 & 2, 'Pood' 1 & 2, 'Vice Magazine' Website, 'Texture Magazine', 'PopGun' and has done covers for 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'
31 THINGS THAT MAKE CONNOR WILLUMSEN THE CAT'S PAJAMAS By Robin Fisher 1. Pay attention to the spelling of his name. No E in Connor and no IAM or O in Willumsen. 2. He is a new breed of cartoonist. Driving himself to create everything he can think of with everything available to him. I like to think of him as a Super Cartoonist. 3. He was taught by his idol David Mazzucchelli at The School of Visual Arts in New York after winning a scholarship. 4. He is humble and strikingly aware of his career and his goals. 5. He is not afraid to show you his mistakes. His blog has his school assignments up for anyone to see. 6. Everything he does comes out so beautifully rendered or deftly organic, it's hard for me to say if he even makes mistakes. 7. He uses oil, pencil crayon, pen, ink, pencil, watercolour, pretty much anything he can get his hands on. 8. He uses the computer quite skilfully. The internet is a portfolio venue, a lab and a place to post his weekly web comic, and the most effective advertisement tool. His computer is also a colouring instrument and a layout dictator, but yet he physically hates sitting in front of it. 9. He's a charming prairie boy with the “aw'shucks” attitude of being born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. 10. He calls graphic novels and trade paperbacks, “Books” 11. He went to the Alberta College of Art & Design where he took a graphic design course and learned about discipline and work ethic, as well as the structure and rules of art and design, rules that he plays with daily. 12. He is currently working on a DC title with Kurt Busiek called “Witchlands.”
18. The dialogue and text that appears in his work are visually and audibly, succinct and artful, as well as pleasing to the ear. 19. Young enough to be influenced by Paul Pope, Sammy Harkham and Chris Ware with an eye to the masters like Moebius, Barry Windsor Smith and Alex Toth. He's a savvy dude. 20. 'Hot Brunette' did not happen to him. 21. A crème brulee doughnut got him the job at the 'Vice Magazine' Website. He did 'Energy Box', his take on superheroes, done in pencil crayon. It was delightfully crude and real. 22. Likes to think about how language is used now and in the future. 23. Refuses to create “storyboard” comics. 24. He likes to post a music track with some of his art posts on his blog. He wants you to have “something nice” when you visit the site. I appreciate the aural immersion to his art and besides, Mingus vs. Eisner = classy! 25. He likes to draw the mundane, the surreal and heads. 26. He is adroitly capturing the silent secret moments of childhood in 'Everett'. 27. I constantly marvel at his sense of perspective. It's absolutely refreshing. 28. Sees puppets, costumes and video in his future creations. 29. Some of his comics actually unfold slower than a Jason Lutes comic. 30. “Everyone needs to realize what kind of power comic books have when they're not being watched. You can do anything.” 31. Super Cartoonist.
R.F. Robin Fisher is the host of the The Onomatopoeia Show www.cartoongal.com
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Continued from p.16 - On Message: A Conversation With Joan Thornborrow Steacy
By Salgood Sam
Um, I'm curious about these...so over the years you were drawing wherever you happened to be in a sketch book?
Queen St. and I don’t know if you caught this...Laurie Anderson is a street musician, there's Glenn Gould in there...
Well, they were just watercolour paper or something small.
Oh I didn’t...I caught...uh, the one's I recognize is Nash the Slash...was that that panel?
I did it a little comic strip back around 1980, I guess it would be before I had my son. There was a trip that we took to BC, we were living in Toronto at the time, but we went to visit Ken's parents and Dean Motter and Cathy came on this trip down to California with us, right after Mount St. Helens blew up. In fact it blew up while we were there. Wow. So I just recorded that trip in pictures, not a lot of words but… What size were you doing them? 81/2"X11" I guess. And then there was a trip to New York that I did, not a lot of pictures that I did, but enough to capture...it's better than photographs I found... Just little details and stuff like that. The reason I'm asking is that in the novel there's so many little details about things, y’know, like just little…the way the streetcar looks, or a particular street in Toronto looks... I think that would probably feed in... looking at a series of drawings that you've done over the years would help that out. Yeah, I had to do an enormous amount of research and one thing that really helped with this is I have 1976 Eaton's Catalogue that had everything imaginable! It was the best reference that I ever had and… That's a great idea actually for reference! It’s funny. I hate to name drop, but Douglas Coupland gave this to me, and he didn't know I was working on this graphic novel at all, but I had it for a while, and I thought it was really cool and everything, and then I finally realized, “oh my God I've got this book! I've got the perfect reference--I’m going to use it.” It's better than the internet. Yeah it's almost impossible to remember those fashions. Yes and the furniture, and the stereos, and the rugs, and the tacky things on the walls. The '70s was unbelievable, bell bottoms, the cars and everything… You don't remember it until you actually see it, and then you’re like, “oh yeah, I remember.” Totally. Yes, it was a great resource. The ugly hair too… But yeah, there's an awful lot of work getting all the details. There’s a scene walking down 18
Yes. I didn't catch everybody! I had no idea. There's a cameo of Ken and I in present day. That's awesome! I just thought, “Alfred Hitchcock, he does it all the time!” Yeah, ha ha. Puts himself in his work, so I thought, “okay so there we are, and then there we are young in the background. I noticed some things in that panel, but not everything by a long shot. It's really packed! You can get away with that. You can put in all sorts of details that you may not catch on the first reading, and the same with my Dad's book, I’ve put all sorts of stuff that I intentionally embedded into the works. It’s a lot of fun. Ha ha. Yeah. Even the little details like the Kraft Caramel commercials that I had forgot about. They’re permanently etched into your brain, and you can't get them out. Bonanza! Everybody watched Bonanza. Everybody watched the same shows. You'd get on the school bus and discuss what everybody watch the other night. It’s a very different world from what it was then. They stick with you. And they're our background, the stuff we don't pay attention too much, but it certainly has an effect on us. That's what intrigued me about the McLuhan thing. I don't know if you can imagine being in school and being bored out of your skull and not doing very well and failing and failing and failing because it just wasn't interesting to you and then...going to art college and I had Eric's class… It was just mind expanding, so fascinating. It stayed with me and I still read his books. So Eric was like a mentor to me all along, he still is, a very good friend, I mean it's just remarkable to have a colleague, friend, like that. Somebody to have to talk to about all these interesting things that are out there in our world today, technology and the changes that effect our behavior.
Looking back, writing this graphic novel, looking at the challenges you had…was it painful to write it, or was it satisfying? It was painful, satisfying… I guess like anything, the harder you work at it the greater the pleasure of finishing it. There were times when you just want to jump off a cliff, “is it working? I don't know!” Did you have to take breaks from it or...?
In the book someone is saying eventually TV isn't going to be the dominant...at the time it was the dominant medium...but it wasn't always going to be, at that time it was sort of a revolutionary thing to say… I mean it was so much a part of our... You couldn't imagine anything else. But now with so many technologies coming so fast, I think its an amazing time for people to...I mean in a sense the whole literacy thing, there’s a new kind of literacy we need for lack of a better word. There’s a quote by Marshall McLuhan I was going to put it in the book, but I lost it for a while. Then I found it. He says, “when the globe becomes a single electronic web with all its languages and culture recorded on a single tribal drum, the fixed point of view of print culture becomes irrelevant, however precious.” Hmm, it's true. It's kind of scary at the same time. It's really powerful too. More than we realize our brains are being changed because of [technology], and in some ways good and some bad. It's always been that way. It’s still fascinating for me and I think if anybody wants to tackle McLuhan you just stay with it, work hard at it, and you'll get a lot from it. Yeah. Some of the ideas of his, where he's talking or being quoted in the book, I had to sorta pause and absorb it. Ha ha. Exactly. That's what it was like having Eric as a teacher and listening to McLuhan talk. You're just, "wow that was sorta interesting, I have to sit down for a minute and think about that one!" He always made you think. Eric's class finally tapped into my thinking abilities, which were always there, but never igniting. It was just what I needed at that time. Am I right in saying that self doubt is the enemy in this story. You're sorta doubting yourself…a lot of that is coming from teachers, but the cure is kinda this one teacher too...Eric...it sort shows a way out of that. Finally somebody with some credentials believed in me right? They talked to me like a peer. That was really kind of uplifting for me.
You have to wrestle with it at times, and if it's not working you just have to take a walk and let it filter through and be patient with it. But I did finish it! I'll just ask a final cheese...like it's the cheesiest question...do you believe in fate..and the reason I ask is there are things that come together in the story that seem so perfect…your relationship with the McLuhans, the CN tower, which is a communications beacon that's being built, how things come together…it's like it was kinda written to be a story, if you know what I mean. The story of me meeting McLuhan, and my whole thing with literacy and the tie-in with the whole literary ground being overturned by the technology... When I think about it more I think, “Holy! There's really something here, and that's gotta be explored,” and I think, “yeah, fate, somehow…”. I don't know if you ever read the Goethe quote... How does it go? Goethe is a German philosopher, and it's a quote on commitment, it's one of my favourites, I have it on my drawing table here. “Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.” That really stuck with me, and it’s so true. Yeah, the struggle is just to commit. It’s hard but it's...follow through with it and keep with it even though you may have times when you fall. If it’s strong enough and has integrity...you believe in it yourself - then you will finish it. D.S. Originally published online 01.MAR.2011 19
For seven years now The Doug Wright Awards
has helped recognize the best
in Canadian comics.
The non-profit organization has served as a survey of some of the most interesting and innovative comics being done in the country, often highlighting the work of future stars. In order to help our readers get up to speed on this year’s slate of finalists, Sequential drafted a list of questions for the nominees and emailed them off. Pascal Girard, Ginette Lapalme, Maryanna Hardy, James Stokoe and Pat Shewchuk & Marek Colek could not participate for various reasons. We wish them the best and you should look up their work along wi h the rest. Look to the end of this survey to find out how to find all the creators online. Joining us is David Collier who got his start in comics in Robert Crumb’s 'Weirdo'. His book 'The Frank Ritza Papers' was nominated for a Doug Wright Award for Best Book in 2005. His latest book, 'Chimo' published by Conundrum Press, is an account of Collier’s decision to reenlist in the Canadian army at age 40. Aaron Costain is part of the disreputable comics jam collective ‘Team Society League’. His self-published work, 'Entropy' is a reworking of creation myths, both modern and ancient. The latest instalment, Entropy 6, is debuting at TCAF this year. Michael DeForge is a freelance illustrator and draws the comic series 'Lose'. The third issue is launching at this years TCAF. The second nominated for "Best Book" this year, and the first resulted in Michael wining the 2010 Doug Wright Award for “Best Emerging Talent.” Alex Fellows’ first two comics were with Fantagraphics. 'Blank State' appeared online in 2002. He received a Xeric Grant for 'Canvas', and it was co-published by Fantagraphics. Currently, he is serializing a new graphic novel, Spain & Morocco online. Kathryn Immonen has been making things up for more than twenty years. Best known for the sleeper hit miniseries 'Patsy Walker: Hellcat' she’s worked for both DC and Marvel, In 2011, she embraced Captain America’s first love interest, French Resistance fighter Peggy Carter in 'Captain America and the First Thirteen'. Stuart Immonen has drawn thousands of pages for most of the publishers in the comic industry from Archie to Rip Off Press. Primarily known as a superhero artist he also co-created the science fiction miniseries 'Shockrockets' with Kurt Busiek. He is currently drawing the Marvel summer event series 'Fear Itself' written by Matt Fraction. Together the Immonens presented their creator-owned webcomic 'Never as Bad as You Think' in a 2009 hardcover edition published by BOOM! Studios. And 'Moving Pictures', released by Top Shelf to wide acclaim in May 2010. Keith Jones started drawing spaceships and ant farms at a young age. His print publications include the art book 'Bacter-Area' and the graphic novel 'Catland Empire'. Patrick Kyle is the Co-founder and Co-Editor of 'Wowee Zonk', a comic anthology dedicated to showcasing non-traditional Canadian 20
comics. His comic book series 'Black Mass' has been described as "satisfying like finding an unopened beer in the park." The fifth issue will debut at TCAF in 2011. Nick Maandag is a veteran of photocopied mini-comics. His latest book, 'Streakers' is about three men--menial workers by day, dedicated streakers by night--in search for t heir Holy Grail,‘the perfect streak’. 'Streakers' won a publishing Xeric grant and has been nominated for a Doug Wright award. Seth Scriver’s work has appeared in publications and in gallery shows around the world. Currently he and Shayne Ehman are finishing 'Asphalt Watches', a feature length animated film. He has two books published: 'Weird Woods' by Third Drawer Down in Australia, and 'Stooge Pile' published by Drawn and Quarterly for their Petit Livres series. Jillian Tamaki is the author of two books, 'Gilded Lilies' and 'Indoor Voice', and the coauthor of the acclaimed graphic novel 'SKIM.' She has three past nominations for the Doug Wright Awards, including one for the win, with Best Book in 2009 for 'Skim', along with her cousin and co-author Mariko Tamaki. Chris Kuzma is teacher's assistant at the Ontario College of Art and Design, he’s also one-third of the 'Wowee Zonk' art collective. Past clients include 'The New York Times', Viceland.com, 'Maisonneuve', 'EYE Weekly' and numerous other magazines in Canada and the US. And now, the questions! What does being nominated for a Doug Wright Award mean to you? David Collier: A chance to fill in this survey. Aaron Costain: It's pretty exciting to be nominated! The past winners of this category are some of my very favourite cartoonists: Michael DeForge, Kate Beaton, Jeff Lemire, Bryan Lee O'Malley! What a pedigree! And just to be recognised along with the other incredibly talented nominees is a real honour. Michael DeForge: It means the world to me! It is an incredible honor to be nominated alongside so many other cartoonists whose work I love. Alex Fellows: It means some people agreed that they like my work, which means a lot to me. The jury and the other nominees are pretty impressive too.
Kathryn Immonen: It's an incredible surprise and an honour. It also means that I'm working in an industry that makes room for me, and everyone else, to not only actively pursue work that is wildly divergent but to also be recognized and rewarded for it. Stuart Immonen: During the course of its realization over a number of years, our book felt like a very private thing, so it's been a revelation to know that people have read it, and moreover liked it. It's our fondest wish to continue to pursue personal projects like this, and the award nomination is profoundly encouraging in that regard. Keith Jones: I am excited to be nominated... it’s nice to be recognized for what you do. Chris Kuzma: To be chosen by and nominated alongside such talented comic artists is a tremendous honour. Patrick Kyle: The Doug Wright Awards in September 2006 were one of the first comic book related events I attended upon moving to Toronto. I was oblivious to what was going on in comics at the time so attending the awards was undoubtedly culturally enlightening for me. I feel really honoured to be recognized by the institution that in some ways spurred me to follow the path that I have. Nick Maandag: Sweet, sweet approval and validation. A boost to my self esteem. Jillian Tamaki: It's a pat on the back for some good work. A series of little pats on the back in life is what prevents us from all committing suicide. What was the last comic you read and what did you think of it? David Collier: Ethan Rilly's 'Pope Hats'. I liked it. Aaron Costain: I just finished Shigeru Mizuki's 'Onwards Towards our Noble Deaths', which I thought was pretty good. I found i't a nice counterpoint to the recently released 'Buz Sawyer' collection, which painted the Japanese as one-dimensional bad guys, and a good companion piece to 'Barefoot Gen', which showed what life was like on the home front. The art was good but the story seemed to lack focus; I think that Mizuki spread himself too thin narratively, with too large a cast of characters and no real central protagonist. I am especially looking forward to the release of Mizuki's 'NonNonBa' and (hopefully) his 'Yokai' comics, which are what he's really known for. Michael DeForge: The latest issue of 'Pood', which I bought yesterday. It's sweet--Ines Estrada and Hans Rickheit had my favorite pages this time. Alex Fellows: I just put some old Mad Magazines from the mid '80s in my bathroom reading rack. Man, that is a strong roster of cartoonists. It's strange that the strip I hated the most as a kid, Dave Berg's 'The Lighter Side of...' is the one that made me laugh the most as a grown-man.
comics can succesfully, entertainingly be. I first encountered his work with a Japanese edition of 'Benkei in New York', which I bought for the illustrations alone. I couldn't even discover his name. Years later, I flipped through 'The Walking Man' and immediately knew it was the same artist. He has such a delicate approach, even with lurid subjects. Keith Jones: 'Vengeance Squad' issue #1 (Charlton comics) It wasnt as good as 'Manhunter 2070' (DC showcase #92) I read five minutes prior though...the artwork in both these issues is great though...Pete Morisi drew 'Vengeance Squad' 2-6 but #1 is drawn by someone else....looks nice and pulpy crisp though....Joe Staton made a nice 'Mike Mauser' story in the rear half....'Manhunter 2070' was great...drawn by Mike Sekowsky who I always enjoy...nice prison planet storyline. Chris Kuzma: 'Paul Goes Fishing' by Michel Rabagliati. A wonderful, funny, heartwrenching book. I was completely engrossed. Patrick Kyle: I'm reading an anthology right now called 'A Graphic Cosmogony' published by Nobrow Press. It features work by a handful of atypical comic artists and their take on the creation of the universe. It's a really beautiful and well put together book. Nick Maandag: 'Mid Life' by Joe Ollmann. I really enjoyed it. It was refreshing to read a humorous comic. And I didn't expect it to come from Drawn & Quarterly. Seth Scriver: I was reading the first book of Doctor Tezuka's 'Buddha', there's 7 more jumbo books and everybody's dead by the end of the first one. Jillian Tamaki: Chester Brown's 'PAYING FOR IT', which I got at MoCCA yesterday. I am chewing it over. I'm also waiting for my husband to finish reading it so we can discuss it. What's something most people aren't aware of when it comes to making comics? David Collier: You've got to keep it entertaining to make a living. Aaron Costain: Other cartoonists know this, but I don't know if people realise what backbreaking work it takes to produce a comic. It can take days to draw what takes the audience seconds to read. The process is laborious with the writing, thumbnailing, penciling and inking, not to mention the production side of things. It's a hard sell to convince your partner that all the hours you put in are worth the final result, but I think they are. Michael DeForge: How you end up consuming a high percentage of meals that begin with the word "Insant." Alex Fellows: A lot of work goes into making a comic just plain comprehensible. When you read a comic and you can tell which character is taking, what emotion they're expressing, and what environment they're in, it's already somewhat of a triumph.
Kathryn Immonen: I must be honest. It was 'Tintin, Les Cigares du pharaon'. It was terrific. Again. Of course. Before that, one of the volumes of Stan Drake's 'The Heart of Juliet Jones'. You can't do much better. My non-recreational comics reading is often less inspiring.
Kathryn Immonen: That it's a job.
Stuart Immonen: I'm reading Volume 1 of Jiro Taniguchi's 'A Distant Neighborhood'; it's rich and subtle and quiet in a way that perhaps only
Keith Jones: That it takes forever to finish.
Stuart Immonen: Probably the time requirement; apart from animation inbetweening, I can't think of a work-to-result ratio that is less favourable. Lots of jobs are harder-- achieving enlightenment, for example-but usually come with greater rewards.
Continued on p.22...
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www.dl.txcomics.com
Chris Kuzma: The time and dedication it takes. Patrick Kyle: Every artist has an idiosyncratic approach and I'm not sure if there's a broad statement I could make to really answer the question. I think most people aren't aware of literary and avant-garde comics. Most people immediately envision superheroes when you mention you make comic books. Seth Scriver: They're supposed to be funny. Jillian Tamaki: That many of your favourite cartoonists have day jobs. If you could tell your younger self something you've learned from comics or otherwise, what would it be? David Collier: Put work in to some serious academic anatomy studies. Aaron Costain: Start drawings comics NOW. Also: read and metabolise some of those great old-timey cartoons. Michael DeForge: To worry less about "finding my style." Alex Fellows: Hey young Alex, don't be so uptight. Be looser. People would rather see you express yourself and have fun than stress about doing something "perfect". Kathryn Immonen: That the guy you meet when you're seventeen is going to turn out be a better thing that even you had thought, which is saying something. And don't drop chemistry... or French. Stuart Immonen: My younger self knew who Ozymandias and Genghis Khan were because of comics. He knew about WWII and Mesopotamia and the Opium Wars-- I'm not as smart now as I was then. Keith Jones: Get cracking kid! Its long and slow so better dive in ASAP or else SLAP SLAP SLAP Chris Kuzma: Loosen up. Patrick Kyle: Stop trying to make something and make something. Nick Maandag: You will not make a living from it. But keep doing it anyway. Seth Scriver: I wish my younger self could talk to me and tell me what to do right now. Jillian Tamaki: Have I learned anything from comics? My younger self would be surprised I was making comics. It was never something I was really, really into. Any zines or comiclike things were made in a completely flippant, unthinking way, just for fun. What's a favourite convention memory or story of yours?
22
David Collier: Driving Chester Brown, Julie Doucet, Joe Sacco, Chris Oliveros and my wife Jen down to the San Diego Comics Con from Meltdown Comics in L.A. in an old Saskatchewan farm truck.
The nominees for Best Book
Aaron Costain: Well, this just recently happened at MoCCA: I was watching John Martz's display (we were sharing a table), when his new Star Trek-themed caught the attention of a certain rotund young man. He started freaking out, shouting "Oh my God! Oh my God!", taking deep sips from his slurpee between exclamations (his teeth were stained pink from the drink). He fell to his knees in front of John's table, shouting and moaning, slurping from his cup. His friends were consoling him, telling him that he was okay, when he abruptly got up and left, not even purchasing the print. He never came back for it, either. Michael DeForge: I met Joe Matt at a Toronto comic con when I was, like, 13 or something. He was tabling with Seth and Chester Brown. He was at first afraid to sell me his comics since they weren't age-appropriate, but I bought them anyway. Those Peepshow issues were probably my very first alternative comics purchase. Alex Fellows: I used to go to superhero comic conventions at the Delta Hotel in Montreal on Sunday morning. The streets were completely at that time, but I was really excited about meeting the inker on 'Doom 2099' Kathryn Immonen: I don't know if it's a favourite exactly but last year, I'm in the executive lounge in a hotel in Sydney, not having slept for more than 24 hours. I'm trying to focus on the labels of foreign yogurt because I need to eat something almost as much as I need to sleep but I keep getting distracted by Lou Ferrigno's bicep which is both right next to and bigger than my head. Then Stuart comes around the corner and says, "The Groosalug is here." Things just got odder from there. Stuart Immonen: The time in France when a "fan" tried to jump over the table to punch me in the nose. Actually, the least said about it the better. Keith Jones: Meeting my wife. Chris Kuzma: Every time I meet Jillian Tamaki at a convention, I fawn over her like a goofy fanboy. Now we're nominated alongside her! Patrick Kyle: MOCCA in 2008 was kind of ridiculous and great. Chris Kuzma and I went down to hand out some promo copies of the first Wowee Zonk right after we finished it. The day before the show it was obscenely hot out and we spent something like 12 hours wandering around Manhattan. After that we ended up getting hammered in St. Marks. The day of the event Chris could barely walk and I thought I had sun stroke or something. We stumbled around the show looking and feeling horrible handing out books to really confused people. Nick Maandag: One time I made out with a drunken female. That was fun. Seth Scriver: I thought Jim Woodring
was a bum with some photocopies but little did i know that they weren't photocopies and that he doesn't have a bum, just kidding he has a bum, a big bum. Jillian Tamaki: Running around Comic-Con with Eric Nakamura from Giant Robot taking as many pictures with cosplayers as possible. What comic(s) are you excited to read this year? David Collier: I was excited to read 'Ruts & Gullies' by Philippe Girard, 'Mid-Life' by Joe Ollmann, 'Indoor Voice' by Jillian Tamaki, 'Acme 20' by Chris Ware, 'Market Day' by James Strum and the new editions of Jacques Tardi's work published by Fantagraphics. Aaron Costain: Like most people, I'm very interested to read Chester Brown's 'Paying for It'. I'm extremely excited for the collected 'Big Questions', by Anders Nilsen, even though I've already read all the single issues. I'm also a huge 'Love and Rockets' fan, so 'New Stories #4' is high on my list. And I can't wait for Steve Wolfhard's 'Cat Rackham' book and 'Lose #3' by Michael DeForge, both from Koyama Press. I'm always looking forward to any number of classic comic collections--'Little Orphan Annie', 'Moomin', 'Popeye', etc. but the Carl Barks and Floyd Gottfredson classic Disney books look especially great. Michael DeForge: 'Paying For It'. Alex Fellows: The new Chester Brown 'Paying For It', and maybe some old comics, like something by Harold Gray. Hopefully, Chris Ware will put out another sketchbook. Kathryn Immonen: I'm waiting for Jacques Tardi's 'It Was the War of the Trenches' to arrive in the mail. I'm pretty excited about that. Stuart Immonen: Brian Wood has cryptically mentioned some upcoming projects--I'm all over his work. Skillman and Soriano's 'Liar's Kiss' also looks amazing. Keith Jones: I’m excited as everyone else in the world probably, to read Chester Brown's new hooker lifestyle book.... also the Bushmiller 'Nancy is Happy' book... in the "hunt to find" category I would love a copy of 'Hot wheels #1' with artwork by Alex Toth....digging around for 'Land of the Giants' gold key comcis as well. Chris Kuzma: Zach Worton's 'The Klondike', Chester Brown's 'Paying For It'. I know it's from last year, but I am still trying to get my hands on a copy of 'the Monster anthology'. Also, I'm still waiting for someone to produce a collected Pogo anthology. Patrick Kyle: I'm looking forward to Chester Brown's new book. Nick Maandag: 'Paying For It' by Chester Brown! I've been waiting for years. The anticipation's killing me! Seth Scriver: The rest of 'Buddha' and some dollar books by jonny peterson Jillian Tamaki: Well, I WAS most excited to read 'Paying For It', but I just did that. Lynda Barry's collected works, which D&Q is publishing in the Fall, looks exciting. Also, Sakura Maku's 'Dark Tomato'. What are you hoping to get out of TCAF? David Collier: My portrait painted by Scott Waters. Aaron Costain: Like most cons, the real fun of TCAF is hanging out with your out-of-town cartoonist buddies. Thankfully, TCAF is great about organising social activities, which most other shows tend to ignore. I also love meeting readers and finding out how they perceive my comics. Michael DeForge: I like meeting up with friends of mine who I only ever get to see at conventions like this!
Alex Fellows: Meet some cartoonists, buy some stuff, maybe get inspired. I'd also like to refine my 'raise the brow, nod, and walkaway' technique after lingering at some cartoonist's table for a few moments. Kathryn Immonen: As always, really looking forward to spending time with friends and colleagues that we only ever see at shows and the occasional wedding. And shifting a lot of copies of Moving Pictures through Top Shelf and Centifolia with AdHouse. Stuart Immonen: Among comic festivals and conventions, TCAF has the most convivial atmosphere; we've had such a great time in past years getting to spend time with old friends and enjoying the opportunity to meet new ones. Last year, we spent hours with Will Dinski--oh, put him down for "recognition and attention"--at the Top Shelf booth and had a wonderful experience. We got to finally meet Marc Ellerby and Jamie McKelvie, both fine young Britons. It goes on... actually I really wish it did, but we all need to go home and make stuff. Keith Jones: Party and bullshit. Chris Kuzma: Hanging out with all my comic book friends. Also, a ton of new books. Patrick Kyle: I just want to have fun and hang out. I used to be so curious and thrilled to see new work at shows. Unfortunately now I kind of feel like I've seen everything! I'd love to be blown away by something totally new and unique. Nick Maandag: A good time. Jillian Tamaki: Brecht Evens. Right, that’s all we can fit! Good luck on awards night everyone! Questions were writen by David Hains, the article was editied by David and Max Douglas. The 2011 Doug Wright Awards will be presented Saturday May 7. Hosted by writer, director, comics fan and film star Don McKellar. Featuring a live career-spanning chat conducted by Seth (Clyde Fans, George Sprott), with 2011 Giants of the North Hall of Fame inductee David Boswell (Reid Fleming: World’s Toughest Milkman). Jackman Hall, 317 Dundas Street West, Toronto 7:00 p.m. (door open at 6:30) Here’s a list of links to check out the creators with. David Collier is elusive online, but a good google hunt will yield results. Alex Fellows’ Spain & Morocco online at www.spainandmorocco.com. The Immonens can be found worldwide at www.immonen.ca. Visit Jillian Tamaki at jilliantamaki.com Aaron Costain’s Entopy series can be read at aaroncostain.com Michael DeForge lurks behind www.kingtrash.com Keith Jones keeps www.nobodyland.com Patrick Kyle makes it easy to find him at www.patrickkyle.com Seth Scriver has peanutbreath.com Chris Kuzma is handlily at www.chriskuzma.com And Nick Maandag runs around nakid on www.laffdepot.blogspot.com And the absentees: Pascal Girard - www.paresse.ca Ginette Lapalme - www.ginettelapalme.com Maryanna Hardy - maryannahardy.blogspot.com James Stokoe - orcstain.wordpress.com Pat Shewchuk & Marek Colek - tincanforest.com
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The Raven
Lorenzo Mattotti & Lou Reed, based on the work of Edgar Allen Poe Hardcover, 9" x 9", 188 pages. Price: $22.99 US ISBN-13: 978-1-60699-444-3
Reviewed by Salgood Sam For Lou Reed the project started as a suggestion from a stage manager. He wrote a play around the writings of Edgar Allan Poe before and after shows while on tour. He put on the play with Robert Wilson, and released an album. Seeking to publish an illustrated book, Art Spiegelman suggested he look at the work of Lorenzo Mattotti. The result is a beautiful set of illustrations and somewhat narrative expressive poetry. Mattotti’s work is fairly unique in the comics world, but he only has one of his many feet in that land. He is a renowned painter and fashion designer. An illustrator with an architect's training and eye for structure. His diverse interests and background probably in part lends itself in his comics work to his distinctive ability to break with convention while still rendering stories as coherent as they are unconventional and lovely. But Raven is not a comic. The text is mostly given a separate space from the images, Mattotti’s work plays off and interprets Reed’s re-imagined Poe. There is some narrative here but it does not feel like the point of it to me reading the PDF review copy. You could easily flip back and forth through this book to read it as a sampling of, two -- three? -- accomplished artists works.
Reed’s Poe is interesting. I’m not exactly an expert in poetry but I've read a fair bit, and this was of the better but not ground breaking. An ode to Poe it reads to me as the back story to it’s creation suggests. ”I wrote before after and during our rehearsals. It was inspiring and having the genius template of Poe made this a verbal emotive joy” So I take it as a labour of love and pleasure by an artist who was having fun more than pushing boundaries. Mattotti’s art I think is the more adventurous aspect of the book, but it also reflects the comfortable, dark and playful note of the writing. This is a very beautiful book, and poignant, unsurprisingly given the source material much preoccupied by death and mortality. While it’s not trivial I also don’t think it says anything new about the subject. But it does what it does with considerable skill and facility, and a fair bit of raw honesty I’m not sure if anything else was intended by it, being a fan of Mattotti’s narrative work I was hoping for more of a narrative beast. But I enjoyed this work and look forward to getting my hands on a copy of the printed edition when it’s presented at TCAF. S.S. Order the book from fantagraphics.com
A consideration of Bus Griffiths’ Now You’re Logging By Brad Mackay
When it comes to great overlooked comics, there are few greater (or more woefully overlooked) in my opinion than Now You’re Logging. First published in 1978, the burly classic is noteworthy for a couple of reasons: 1) it’s acknowledged as being one of Canada’s first graphic novels and, 2) it’s one of the few graphic novels to tackle the logging industry, or any industry, in such a thoughtful and affectionate way. Taking its name from early 20th Century logging slang, 'Now You’re Logging' is an honest-togoodness, roll-up-your-sleeves, working man of a comic. Which is not a surprise given its author: Bus Griffiths, a self-taught cartoonist and career outdoorsman from British Columbia who relied on logging and fishing to pay the bills. A hard-wrought gem of a comic, Griffiths’ 'Now You’re Logging' manages to evoke the workingstiff spirit of Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor and Justin Green’s Sign Game while having an unmistakable—and improbable—resemblance to the art of Howard Cruse and Tom of Finland, the infamous homoerotic artist. (I think my pal and fellow comics scribe Bryan Munn summed this up nicely when he called Griffiths “a sort of porno woodsman icon.”)
Yet despite this book’s historical significance and ample charm, Now You’re Logging has flown beneath the radar of most comics publishers. It’s been out of print for more than 20 years, forcing the price of an original hardcover copy into the $250 range and, more importantly, pushing Griffith’s life’s work into the margins of Canadian history. It’s not like the man doesn’t have fans in high places. I first heard about 'Now You’re Logging' around 2001 via Seth and Peter Birkemoe, who spoke of it as if it had talisman-like powers. An improbable comics confection that had the ability to renew one’s faith in the medium. It took me until this past Christmas to finally get my hands on a roughed-up library copy of the book, and I’m happy to say that it met— exceeded—even my vaulted expectations. But first, a little back-story is in order. Gilbert Joseph Griffiths was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in 1913 and moved to B.C. when he was 10, where he became a full-blown nurtured fan of comic strips. As a teenager he aspired to a career as a newspaper cartoonist, but when it didn’t pan out he turned his talents to a job illustrating farm equipment for catalogues. During the Depression he began logging to make money, a skill he apparently picked up as a 12-year-old when he would fell trees around his neighbourhood for pocket change. The Second World War brought Griffiths an unexpected second shot at making comics. Left jobless after a mill where he worked shut down, he spotted an ad from a local comics company who were seeking original comics. His pitch to Maple Leaf Publishing about a crew of loggers in the 1930s caught their eye, and he began producing a series of short (eight-page) stories called “Now You’re Logging” for the company’s Rocket anthology. He produced several of these (and began a cowboy storyline) before being assigned to work the woods by the provincial government. His brief comics career was little more than a fond memory when his logging comics were unearthed in the 1960s by the Provincial
It’s probably no surprise that Griffiths is less effective when it comes to depicting female characters. His story threatens to leap of its tracks when he introduces Debbie, a love interest for Al, who holds as much interest as a muck stick. Luckily, these romantic diversions never last long, and soon you’re thrust back into his brawny action-packed world. Once described as a “husky, clinker-built barrel of muscle and sinew,” you get the feeling that if Griffiths were alive today (he died in 2006) he’d be the kind of guy who’d needle other cartoonists at conventions. “Acme Novelty Library?! Clyde Fans!? What kind of comic book titles are those?! Get the hell outta my face you goddamn whistle punks!”
Museum of B.C., who welcomed them into their archives as important chronicles of the province’s industrial past. The attention from this led an editor at B.C. Lumberman magazine to reprint one of the “Now You’re Logging” comics as an educational pamphlet—and then offered to pay him to create more. These subsequent pamphlets, which Griffiths took a five-year sabbatical from logging and fishing to work on, formed the basis for the collected hardcover edition of Now You’re Logging that was published in 1978. The book tells the semi-autobiographical story of Al Richards (a stand-in for Griffiths) and Red Harris, two men learning the ropes of “trucklogging” during the Depression. Unfolding over the space of a year, the narrative strings together a series of adventures which see the loggers survive peril after peril. This is no exaggeration. Logging was one of B.C.’s most dangerous jobs during the 1930s and the men who did it for a living enjoyed a larger-than-life reputation, and were unchallenged in their toughness. Griffiths definitely enshrines logging and loggers, but he shies away from overtly lionizing anyone here. He clearly understands the poetry of physical labour, and manages to convey it on practically every page of this beautiful, brusque and bizarre comic. As he follows the adventures (and budding bromance) of Al and Red, he packs each page and panel with period-specific details; whether it’s the ceramic coffee mugs (no handles) or the leather gloves, which were specially designed for climbing trees. And no machine goes unexplained. His description of the “steam donkey,” a mobile engine used to haul timber onto trucks, is particularly memorable. This obsession with technical details consumes the narrative at points, but it makes up for it by energizing some of the action set pieces. One sequence where Al and his crew attempt to move a steam donkey across a raging river is set up with enough technical details to make Dan Zettwoch giddy. Then there’s the writing. Griffiths writes like some kind of backwoods Raymond Chandler: lunch boxes are “nose bags”, shovels are “muck sticks”, and snuff is either “snooze”, “Swedish conditioning powder” or “Scandihoovian dynamite”. The characters job titles range from “choker men”, “whistle punks” and “donkey punchers” while the dialogue is peppered with bits of random like “It was colder than a timber tycoon’s heart.” (This lingo is meticulously catalogued in glossaries at the bottom of each page.) 24
His stated goal with his labour of love was to make the definitive graphic novel about 1930s logging. If a more noble cause in comics exists, I’m having trouble thinking of it. One only wishes that a publisher would see fit to give some new life to this odd, wonderful part of comics history. B.M.
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32 Books to look for @ TCAF 2011! 'Paying For It' by Chester Brown. Hardcover, B&W 272pages, $25.95 CDN Published by Drawn & Quarterly. ISBN: 9781770460485 'Lucille' by Ludovic Debeurme. Softcover, 544 pages. $29.95 Winner of the René Goscinny Prize and the Angoulême Essential Award. 'Lychee Light Club' by Usamaru Furuya - Softcover, B&W 320 pages, $21.CDN Published by Vertical Inc. ISBN: 978-1935654063 'The Raven' by Lou Reed & Lorenzo Mattotti. Hardcover, colour, 188pages. $22.99 Published by Fantagraphics Books. ISBN 978-1-60699-444-3 'The Band' by Mawil. Softcover, 6×9, B&W, 80 pages, £8.99 Approx $14.99 CDN Published by Blank Slate Books UK. ISBN: 97887906653156 'Home and Away' by Mawil. Softcover, Full Colour, 100 pages, £11.99 Approx $19.99 Published by Blank Slate Books UK. ISBN: 9781906653224 'THE NEXT DAY: GRAPHIC NOVEL' Written by Paul Peterson & Jason Gilmore. Illustrated by John Porcellino. Softcover, 104 pages, B&W, $16.95 Produced & Published by Pop Sandbox. ISBN 978-0-9864884-1-2 'Fear Itself' by Matthew Brown, Softcover, 202 pages, B&W $15. Published by TRIP publishing ISBN 978-0-9864712-3-0 'Blood Blokes' #1 by Adam Cadwell. 24 pages, B&W, $5.CDN Limited self published printing of 100 copies. 'Wolves' by Becky Cloonan. 24 pages, B&W with a silk screened cover. 1st printing of 1000 copies. Signed and numbered 'Cat Rackham Loses It' by Steve Wolfhard. Softcover, 32 Pages, Colour. $5. Published by Koyama Press. ISBN 978-0-9868739-2-8 'The Accidental Salad' by Joe Decie. Softcover, B&W, 36 pages. £5.99 Approx $9.99 CDN Published by Blank Slate Books UK. ISBN: 9781906653507 'LOSE' #3 by Michael DeForge. Softcover, 32 pages, B&W. $5. Published by Koyama Press. ISBN 97-0-986739-1-1 'Chester 5000', by Jess Fink. Hardcover, 144 Pages, $14.95 (US) ISBN 978-1-60309-066-7 – Diamond MAR11-1269. FOR ADULTS ONLY 'Island Brat' By C. Frakes. Softcover, 48 pages, B&W. $5. Printing funded by Koyama Press. ISBN 0-9816909-5-5. 'Killing Velazquez' by Philippe Girard. Translation by KerryAnn Cochrane. 200 pages B&W. $20 ISBN 1-894994-54-X / 978-1-894994-54-5 'True Story' by Mike Holmes. Paperback, B&W, 232 pages, $24.95 US/CDN Invisible Publishing. ISBN 978-1926743110 'The Cloudy Collection' Featuring Ed Emberley edited by David Huyck www.cloudycollection.com - www.koyamapress.com 'The New Ghost' by Robert Hunter. Softcover, 24 pages. $11 US $12 CDN Published by Nobrow Press ISBN: 978-1-907704-14-7 'Centifolia' 1 & 2 by Stuart Immonen. 96 pages & 32 pages. $19.95 US AdHouse Books V1: ISBN 978-1-935233-13-8. V2: ISBN 978-1-935233-14-5 'Even The Giants' by Jesse Jacobs. Softcover, colour, 80 pages, $9.95 Published by Adhouse Books. ISBN 978-1-9352331-0-7 'Colour Me Busy' by Keith Jones. Softcover. 24 pages, B&W $5. Published by Koyama Press. ISBN: 978-0-9868739-3-5 'Snaps' by Rebecca Kraatz. 144 pages, B&W. $15 US/CDN Published by Conundrum Press. ISBN: 1-894994-55-8 / 978-1-894994-55-2 'Salt Water Taffy: Caldera’s Revenge' by Matt Loux. Softcover, B&W, 96 pages, 5.99$ Published by Oni Press. ISBN-13: 978-1934964620 'Jabberwocky' by Isabelle Melançon. Softcover, 40 pages, B&W. $12.00 Published by TRIP publishing. ISBN 978-0-9864712-5-4 'Raio Que Te Parta!' by Carlos Santos. Softcover, 68 pages, B&W. $15. Published by TRIP publishing. ISBN 978-0-9864712-4-7 'Liar’s Kiss' by Eric Skillman. Hardcover, 120 pages, $14.95 Diamond code: FEB11-1167 - ISBN 978-1-60309-070-4 'Aurora Borealice' by Joan Thornborrow Steacy. 96 pages, B&W, $15. Special TCAF debut edition of 50 copies. Signed and numbered 'Welcome to Oddville' by Jay Stephens. Hardcover, Colour, 88 pages, $14.95 US Published by Adhouse Books. ISBN 978-1-935233-08-4 'Hell Lost: The Silent Sun' by James Turner. 56 pages. B&W, Limited self published printing of 100 copies. $5 CDN. 'ROOT ROT' A forest themed anthology co-edited by Michael DeForge and Annie Koyama. Book design by Diana McNally. Contributors: T. Edward Bak, Derek M. Ballard, Chris ‘Elio’ Eliopoulos, Inés Estrada, Jason Fischer, Bob Flynn, Lizz Hickey, Jesse Jacobs, Hellen Jo, Joseph Lambert, Robin Nishio, Greg Pizzoli, Jon Vermilyea, Angie Wang, Mickey Zacchilli, Dan Zettwoch. Softcover, 72 pages, Colour. $12. Published by Koyama Press. ISBN 978-0-9784810-9-4 'Frankie Pickle and the Mathematical Menace' by Eric Wight. Hardcover, B&W, 96 Pages. $12.99 CND. Published by Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. ISBN-13: 978-1416989721
Parties The Second Annual Official TCAFête! Date: Saturday, May 7 Time: 9pm to Late Location: Pauper's Pub, 2nd Floor, 539 Bloor St. W. $5 Cover/Free for TCAF Exhibitors & Volunteers 19+ TCAFabulous: Queer Mixer. Date: Saturday, May 7 Time: 6:30pm - 9pm Location: Crews/Tango, 508 Church St.
Events The 2011 Doug Wright Awards ceremony. Date: Saturday, May 7 Location: Art Gallery of Ontario’s Jackman Hall, 317 Dundas Street W. An Evening at the IIC with Lorenzo Mattotti. Date: Monday, May 9 Time: 6:30pm Location: Istituto Italiano di Cultura, 496 Huron St. “ZOO” J-Film Screening & Discussion with Usamaru Furuya. Date: Monday, May 9 Time: 7:00pm Location: Toronto Underground Cinema, 186 Spadina
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ART ILLUSTRATION BOOKS COMICS INTERVIEWS TORONTO CANADA SquidfaceandTheMeddler.com
HOUSE IS WHERE THE HEART IS
Celebrating 9 years with 3 Canucks! • Even the Giants by Jesse Jacobs • Welcome to Oddville! by Jay Stephens • Centifolia V1 & V2 by Stuart Immonen plus some good ol’ USA thrown in too... • Remake Special by Lamar Abrams • The Downsized by Matt Howarth • Duncan the Wonder Dog by Adam Hines
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