Nao Yazawa and Mokutan Angelo join Tim in what will hopefully be the first in a series of group discussions with Tokyo-based comics creators! Topics include Tokyo’s annual International Comics Festival, comics in Brazil, things an artist asks the audience to overlook, effects of traditional Japanese drama on manga and anime, and more!
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This week, an interview with Frank Santoro, who writes for the Comics Journal, teaches comics creation (mostly through the Web), and has published several graphic novels, including Storeyville and Pompeii. We discuss using geometry to design a comics page, the artists he draws attention to on his Comics Workbook page, the reason Pompeii is in such a rough drawing style, and more.
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Anthropomorphized cats in a Pulp Fiction-style shootout; a tiny man found sleeping in the grass; two people hiding in an abandoned restaurant during some catastrophic event. These were some of the one-page, where’s-the-rest-of-it scenes in Ian M‘s Square 11, discussed on Critiquing Comics last year.
This week, Ian tells Tim what he was going for in those scenes, about his autobio comics (including Square 12, “Alone in Kyoto”), things that work better in comics than in other media, and more.
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Ever wondered what it would be like to work in a manga studio in Japan? Jamie Lynn Lano got her chance in 2008 when she was hired by Takeshi Konomi to be part of his team for the Prince of Tennis sequel. Recently she’s published a book about her experience, and this week she talks about what brought her to Japan and how she got hired, cultural differences, drawing speed lines and tennis shoes, and much more.
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Stef Marcinkowski’s Sarah Zero is an over-the-top, Web-browser-shaped comic that he developed by trying to mash up advertising, marketing, comics, and film. The comic is heavy on interpersonal relationships and Internet culture.
This week Stef tells Tim about his process, getting the comic right when life keeps getting in the way, struggles with self-promotion, and more.
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You’ve heard Weird Crime Theater, the comic by our own Mulele and Kumar, mentioned a million times on Deconstructing Comics, dating back to the early shows nearly a decade ago (when the comic was known as “Rack ’em Smack ’em”!). But that’s all been discussions of collaboration and business; what’s actually IN the comic?
In this episode, Tim and Dana (together on Skype for the first time!) attempt objectivity and do their best to give their friends’ comic an honest critique!
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NimProd.com has sent us the first issues of two Western books, “Bang Bang Lucita” and “Snake”. Both are fairly heavy on fan service for 21st-century straight guys, anachronisms be damned, with lots of skin showing on the shapely titular (pun intended) heroines. Both ladies are drawn with care, but what’s getting short shrift here? Tim and Mulele saddle up and go take a look-see.
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What happens when the computer that routes calls in a call center takes on a mind of its own? That’s the setup for the first story arc of Back Office, a Web comic by Mark Egan now available as a book. This week Tim asks him about his inspiration, his adopted home of Norway, and more.
Our critique of Back Office from 2013
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Tim and Mulele look at Headshrinker’s Press Presents #1, an anthology book with stories of various genres, stories to amaze and confound. Especially confound.
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How does one (or two) go about selecting the best American comics from any 12-month period? Especially a challenge when many are by independent creators who aren’t used to submitting their work to publications like The Best American Comics. This week Tim talks with series editor Bill Kartalopoulos about the selection process, working with the 2014 guest editor Scott McCloud, the changing American perception of comics, and much more.
“Why Comics Are More Important than Ever” by Bill Kartalopoulos (Huffington Post, 10/28/14)
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