#293 Jim Woodring and the Sydney Graphic Festival

FrankThe recent Sydney Graphic Festival, held August 20 & 21, featured a variety of artists from comics and other media in panels and the like. Kumar attended, and discusses what he saw there (and the one huge, disappointing cancellation) before we get to the main event: his interview with creator Jim Woodring. Woodring is best known for the Frank series of dialog-free, surrealistic comics. Kumar investigates what’s inspired Woodring’s work.

Sydney Morning Herald photos of the festival

Comics Journal interview with Woodring

Critiquing Comics 003: “Flying Sparks”

Flying SparksIs Meta-girl’s boyfriend secretly a villain? What’s Meta-girl’s relationship with the mysterious Meta-man? We critique the weekly Web comic Flying Sparks, by Jon Del Arroz, Michael Yakutis, Ren McKenzie, and Jethro Morales!

Review: Need More Love: A Graphic Memoir

by Aline Kominsky Crumb

M Q Publications, 2007.

I was trying to think of a way to describe Aline Kominsky Crumb’s art, and then she went and described it perfectly herself:

I […] draw, erase, and scratch out some tortured looking image that clearly shows how much I am struggling with the medium. I honestly don’t think this makes my work less interesting, just very expressionistic and often very ugly.

In fact Crumb is so aware of her own work as an artist that I could skip reviewing the book and just pull quotes out of it to do the same job.

Continue reading Review: Need More Love: A Graphic Memoir