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THE BLOG AT THE CROSSROADS
Ken Niimura: Global Mangaka
Posted: March 17, 2015
José María Ken Niimura del Barrio is a citizen of today’s truly international, transnational comics world. Born in Madrid in 1981, he’s lived and worked in Brussels, Paris, Montreal and Madrid under the pen-name Ken Niimura. Three years ago he moved to Tokyo. I first met him when I helped select him to come to London for Comica Festival in 2007 as part of the innovative Asia-Europe Foundation’s cultural exchange project through comics called Lingua Comica. His latest book is the utterly charming and moving collection of thirteen short stories entitled Henshin, published first in Japan, then in Spain and most recently in English, once more from Image Comics (all three editions below). I caught up with Niimura again to find out how his manga and his life are going in Tokyo. Read my interview with him here…
Sotheby’s Comics Art Auction: Nearly Four Million Euros of Originals
Posted: March 8, 2015
Sotheby’s Paris staged their major auction sale of 288 lots of Bande Dessinée, offering a stellar A to Z of classic and contemporary artists, mainly French, with some from the rest of Europe and the USA, from Alex Alice to Yslaire. The sale total has been announced as 3,821,947 euros, nor far off 4 million based on hammer prices plus buyer’s premium. I’ve picked out the most revealing and surprising results from this landmark auction. Read my report here…
Remembering Yoshihiro Tatsumi (June 10, 1935 - March 7, 2015)
Posted: March 8, 2015
The news came through to me in a short email yesterday, March 7th 2015: “Sensei passed away today.” Yoshihiro Tatsumi is the ‘sensei’ or grand master of ‘gekiga’, a term he coined for the darker, more dramatic form of manga in Japan. His innovations were vitally important for Japanese comics and his lifetime’s work stands as some of the most psychologically powerful and humane narratives, not only in manga but in global comics culture. To mark his passing, I am re-presenting an interview with Eric Khoo, director of the Tatsumi animated documentary, and a close friend of Tatsumi’s, who emailed me the sad news. Read this article and interview here…
Pass The Bechdel Test on International Women’s Day!
Posted: March 8, 2015
Today is International Women’s Day and there’s been some mention, for example by Scott McCloud at his British Library conversation with me, and yesterday on Matthew Sweet’s Sound of Cinema on Radio 3, of ‘The Bechdel Test’. Not everyone citing this test will know or acknowledge that it originates from the American lesbian graphic novelist Alison Bechdel, acclaimed for her Dykes to Watch Out For comic strip serial and her autobiographical works Fun Home and Are You My Mother?, highly recommended reads published in the UK by Jonathan Cape.
To pass her ‘test’ in whatever narrative medium, you need to include conversations between two women who are not discussing a man. While boyfriend/partner troubles do figure in some of the stories, the latest issue of The Strumpet celebrates all kinds of female friendships in new comics by diverse and talented ‘Lady Comix’ creators from the UK, US and beyond. It definitely passes The Bechdel Test in style!
Great Britain Guest Country At Munich Comic Festival June 4-7!
Posted: March 7, 2015
Great Britain is the guest country at this year’s Munich Comic Festival, the second largest comic event of its kind in Germany, alternating every other year with the Comic Salon in Erlangen. In 2015 it takes place over the weekend of June 4 to June 7. Among the British guests joining me there will be Mark Buckingham, Rob Davis, Rufus Dayglo, Jock, Dave McKean, Mike Perkins (who illustrated the festival poster, above), Frank Quitely, Declan Shalvey, Posy Simmonds and Mary & Bryan Talbot.
As well as a featured exhibition of original artwork by British creators, there will also be a British theme to from May 7 to June 9 in the exhibition The Beatles in Comics on view in the Valentin-Karlstadt-Musäum. Other exhibitions to be shown deal with Will Eisner at the Jewish Museum, Paco Roca and Jordi Lafebre will present their artwork in person at the Instituto Cervantes, and Tom Bunk, who will be awarded our Peng! Award, will show his artwork in the Amerikahaus. And finally, the quaint Beer and Octoberfest Museum in the oldest private house of Munich will be part of the Festival.
The main location of the Festival from June 4 to 7 is the Alte Kongresshalle (Old Congress Hall) neighbouring the Oktoberfest site. Here, among other things, you’ll find the book fair of all the comic publishers under one roof. Also there will be drawing workshops and prominent comics creators will be available for autographs. There will also be various presentations and lectures as well as exhibits and a cosplay contest. Many prominent German and international artists will be guests at the Festival, including Don Rosa, Paco Roca, Julie Birmant & Clément Oubrerie, Reinhard Kleist, François Walthér, Denis Kitchen and Barbara Yelin. The updated full guest-list is here… Click the poster below to see a larger version…
Munich Comic Festival 2015 Poster
Click image to enlarge…
Interviewing Scott McCloud Tonight on Will Eisner’s Birthday!
Posted: March 6, 2015
I’m really looking forward to talking with Scott McCloud tonight at the latest Comica Conversation to be held at The British Library. McCloud is over on a UK tour to publicise his much-anticipated graphic novel The Sculptor, published here by SelfMadeHero, as well as covering his earlier graphic novels and his landmark explanation of the medium Understanding Comics. It’s a sold-out event tonight but is being recorded. And as it happens, this very appropriately coincides with the birthday of the late comics legend and sequential art theorist Will Eisner and is a part of Will Eisner Week, a worldwide series of events celebrating Eisner’s legacy. Photo of McCloud courtesy of & © Seth Kushner.
Books To Read: Best Graphic Novels May 2015
Posted: March 2, 2015
Welcome back! Just for you I’ve once again rummaged through publishers’ solicitations for new releases due to be published this coming May or soon after, to arrive at this more manageable shortlist of the most intriguing and promising titles. Plenty to look forward to here, from masters like Philippe Druillet, Wally Wood, Shotaro Ishinomori, Alex Toth and Satoshi Kon (Japanese cover of Dream Fossil above) to some of today’s very brightest sparks. As usual. I’ve given you where available links to more images and info, and this time added a few interior sample pages to give you a flavour.
One inescapable landmark this month is the first monthly instalment of the new 12-part mini-series Providence by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows (wraparound cover below). Horror is a genre that Moore has startlingly revolutionised in comics before, from Swamp Thing to From Hell, among others. His return to the unspeakable terrors of H.P. Lovecraft looks set to warp all expectations all over again.
Maurice Vellekoop’s Guided Tour To His Solo London Show!
Posted: February 26, 2015
From Vellevision to Gloria Badcock, acclaimed Toronto illustrator and comics creator is over here tonight for his first solo exhibition in London, Cockadoodle: The Erogenous Art of Maurice Vellekoop. He will be giving a guided tour of his show in conversation with me this evening, so do come and join us for the launch party from 6.30-8.30 at Space Station 65 near Oval, all are welcome.
The exhibition of his joyful erotica, and other artworks like this concept sketch for a production of Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutti, continues until May 2nd, admission free. You can read more about Vellekoop on my site here… And as Bren O’Callaghan, Curator of the show, sums up so well:
“Vellekoop’s brush tips plant the seeds of a vibrant, luscious wonderland that recreate a pre-fall state, before the crunch of sour apple introduced the bitter taint of shame. His work is essential de-programming, like that for cult escapees, for anyone who wishes to entertain the subversive idea that fantasy and desire might actually be a joyful and life-enhancing salve, not an impulse to be starved or stifled”
My Top Ten Sheep Comics for Chinese New Year!
Posted: February 22, 2015
As a bit of fun to celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Sheep - and the release of the Aardman Animation movie version of Shaun the Sheep - here are my Top Ten Sheep Comics. Among these that didn’t make it to the top are Marvel’s Sheep-Boy (below), the Spider-Man of Earth-9792 whose Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive sheep in What If? #100, appearing only in a mock-up cover created by Andrew Pepoy, or Marvel’s funny animal version of super-spy organisation S.H.I.E.L.D., known as S.H.E.E.P. on Earth-8311. So without further ado, here’s my Top Ten Sheep Comics. counting down in reverse, and let me know what are your favourite sheep in comics!
Enter Your Comic To 2015 Animate Europe Competition!
Posted: February 20, 2015
‘Europe Fast Forward’ is the theme of the 2nd Animate Europe Comics Competition, organised by the Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit and open to creators all over the world.
Anyone can enter by sending in your draft proposal for your comics. The shortlisted finalists get money and editorial feedback to complete their comic with a prize for the very best entries, as well as an awards ceremony and exhibition at the Belgian Comics Centre in Brussels and publication in a quality hardback album. You can get a flavour from the video above with vox pops from finalists, organisers and me!
Once again, I am joining the international panel of judges to pick who goes through. Full details and specs are on the website. The deadline is March 15th so you still have plenty of time to get your entry together. Watch the video clip below - and have a go and best of luck!
And you can download five of the finalists’ entries here to get a flavour of the diversity and quality from the first Animate Europe competition in 2013 and get inspired.
