Critiquing Comics #090: Here, After; Coco Soco; Apartment Hunt

Here, After; Coco Soco; Apartment Hunt

Critiquing Comics returns with a look at three comics with connections to past DCP and CCP episodes:

#496 Oglaf: Sword, Sorcery, and Sex

Oglaf

If you like your comedy sexy (or your porn funny), you’re probably a fan of Oglaf, Doug Bayne and Trudy Cooper‘s long-running Web comic. This week, Tim calls up Doug and Trudy in Sydney to talk about the fantasy-parody elements of the strip, the missing main character Ivan, the diversity of sexual orientations in the strip, why they rarely table at conventions, and more.

#495 Lucy Bellwood: crowdfunding a dream with Patreon

Bellwood and PatreonThis week a look at how creators can cultivate their following into a means of paying (some of) the bills.

Comics artist Lucy Bellwood has a pretty succesful Patreon page; it’s paying her Portland rent. Her fans appreciate her work, but often that’s not quite enough; showing your personality, making a personal connection, can get them to buy in on a deeper level. Lucy talks to Tim about what she’s done to cultivate her following of fans/patrons.

Then Tim is joined by Taryn Arnold, Community Happiness Representative at Patreon, to talk about how Patreon works, the background of the site, and what they’re doing to solve some problems that have arisen — including (as referred to on this podcast more than once) kamikaze patrons who pledge, download all the free content, and unpledge without making any payments.

Pledge at least $3.00 a month to Deconstructing Comics on Patreon and hear Lucy talk about some frustrating, and also rather amazing, experiences she had with freelancing, and on why she got stressed out when she guested on someone else’s web comic!

(If you’d like to know more about using Patreon yourself, here’s some info.)

#493 The Dangers of Satire (But don’t back down!)

Charlie HebdoThe panel discussion “You can get killed doing this: sketches from the satire biz” was held at the recent MoCCA Fest in New York. The panel discussed the chilling effects on what satirical works get published, and why it’s important to keep publishing satire anyway. The blurb in the festival’s booklet reads in part: “Can satire survive in a world of trigger warnings and Kalishnikov triggers? Could the National Lampoon be published in a post-Charlie Hebdo world? Is self-censorship the greatest sin of all?” This week we present an excerpt of that discussion.

It was led by Rick Meyerowitz, formerly of National Lampoon, and featured political cartoonist Steve Brodner, former National Lampoon co-editor Sean Kelly, and cartoonist Peter Kuper.

Also: Tim meets up with Mike Seid, Rahsaan Romain, and John Lee at the New York Aspiring Comic Creators Club meetup!

#492 MoCCA Fest 2016, pt 2

MoCCA part two

MoCCA Festival, presented by the Society of Illustrators and the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, was held at Metropolitan West in New York City on April 2 and 3. This week, the tablers Tim talked with on the second day.

Also, excerpts from a panel discussion called “Autobiography: Revealing the Self in Comics.” The panel was moderated by Heidi MacDonald (The Beat) and featured Gabrielle Bell (Truth is Fragmentary), Nicole Georges (Calling Dr. Laura), Jennifer Hayden (The Story of My Tits), and Gina Wynbrandt (Someone Please Have Sex With Me).

Click on “Continue reading this Post” to see photos of everyone in this episode.

Continue reading #492 MoCCA Fest 2016, pt 2

Critiquing Comics #089: Beads

beadsA string of beads, a birthmark, and a string of romances through history that end in various types of tragedies. Irene Strychalski‘s silent comic Beads presents this simple yet profound story in her stunning artwork. Tim and Mulele discuss.

#491 MoCCA Fest 2016, pt 1

MoCCA part one

MoCCA Festival, presented by the Society of Illustrators and the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, was held at Metropolitan West in New York City on April 2 and 3. Tim was there, and talked with a lot of folks who were tabling about their work. Follow along with the photos below as you listen, and click the links to check out their work!

Continue reading #491 MoCCA Fest 2016, pt 1

#490 The Center for Cartoon Studies

Center for Cartoon StudiesThis week Tim, joined by brother Paul, visits the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, VT, to talk with some students and faculty! What’s it like studying comics in a small New England railroad town?

This week we present an hour of discussion on the podcast, and more audio and photos for patrons pledging at least $3.00 a month on Patreon!

Continue reading #490 The Center for Cartoon Studies

#489 Tapastic’s Michael Son & The Rattler’s Jason McNamara

TapasticTapastic is one of the many places online that you could put your comic. Why put it there? This week, Tapastic Editor-in-chief Michael Son joins Tim to explain the advantages of the site, issues they’re working to solve, what kind of audience is reading the site (and how reader demands have changed), and what new features are in the pipeline.

The RattlerJason McNamara is back with us after two years, and now his book with Greg Hinkle, The Rattler, has just been published by Image! He joins us to talk about the disturbing inspiration for the book, how the 2014 Kickstarter project for the book helped it get published, and more.

 

Critiquing Comics #088: Mushroom Madness

mushroommadnessMichael Bangert, who sent us Viking Sky Kings some time back, has returned with a new comic, Mushroom Madness. He’s taken a comics writing class since his last outing; Tim and Mulele can see ways that it’s helped… and progress yet to be made.