The ZehnKatzen Times: comic trends

Showing posts with label comic trends. Show all posts

12 July 2016

[art] This Was The 2016 Clallam Bay Comicon That Was

3344.

A report from Donna Barr, the founding mother:

http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2016/07/2016-clallam-bay-comicon-con-report.html

The Clallam Bay Comicon, like many microcons similar, and some larger events like Linework NW, Artists' Alley Comic Con (which is coming up next month) and Fanaticon, fills the void left by the media-event megacons. They're all about the creator and the fan meeting and enjoying each others' company, and selling a bit and making a bit of fun and reputation. They're so scalable that literally anyone can create and stage one.

The only reason we've not visited Clallam Bay is because it's just too far for us to economically stretch at the moment. But we do have Jake Richmond and the Pooles at Spritely Bean, and they'll keep us excited until such time as we can finally make our way north.

Until that time, I give you Donna's show.

08 February 2016

[comics] Fanaticon Is Coming in Four Days' Time

3255.

The age of the microcon is upon us, and we love it enough to help out even though nobody asks us to. Because this stuff is worthy, especially in a world where big-name comicons charge arms and legs just to breathe the air in the lobby (or, at, least, it's starting to seem that way).

There's one we got excited about and we're doing a little unauthorized word-spreading of our own, because we love passion, and just about anything Jake Richmond causes to happen makes us happy. It's called Fanaticon, and it's happening from 10 AM to 2 PM this Saturday, at the East Portland Community Center, 740 SE 106th Avenue, between SE Washington St and SE Cherry Blossom Drive.

Admission is Free. That's the ultimate discount.

What you'll see there is a group of teenaged comickers who are showing off work we expect to be much pleased with, and a remarkably wide group of creators tabling their own works (there'll be Barry Deutsch there, along with Jake, which is more than enough reason to show up on its own.

For our part, we noted there was no posting on the Upcoming Events board of the Midland Branch library.

The Wife™ took care to correct this.

With the library's permission, of course, the promotional posting is embedded within the science fiction shelves. Which is appropriate, as it's also very close to the graphic novels, manga, and comics shelves.

The postcard-sized ones on the top the manga shelves were there when we got there.

All the info you need to know about our local, teen-organized and run comicon can be found at the Fanaticon Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/140596066317163/ . We'll be there.

22 April 2012

[comic art] Creating A Dystopian-Future Comic Book Cover

2801 (Via Dark Horse Comics at the Book'o'Face) The Massive is a dystopian near-future comic series coming soon that is supposed to take place in an environment where the the race between global climate change has ended, and global climate change has won. There are previews available here and about.

The cover art, like any great comic cover art, hooks you in.

In this article at iO9, Brian Wood takes us through the creative process that led to that cover.

21 April 2012

[comics] Archie Comics #636, Where Girls Will Be Boys, and …

2800You can probably finish the title yourself.

I'm amused that, amongst all the people or things that are bravely (or accidentally, even) leading us into the future, Archie comics would be one. When I was growing up, of course, Archie was fun, but conventional, safe … and rather boring. While the visual style has always been engaging, as time went on the impression I got was of something that didn't require too much skill. I imagined that Archie characters weren't so much drawn as assembled.

But within the last year, Archie has taken what is, for me, an unexpected place at the front of the changing times. But then, what does popular art do but reflect the times, if it does anything worthwhile at all? So, last year, we had two important supporting gay characters get married, something which stirred up its own controversy. And now, Archie's going all Freaky Friday on us.

According to this article at gay.net (http://www.gay.net/hot-reads/2012/04/19/archie-gang-goes-gender-bender), as the story apparently goes, the male side of the gang and the female side of the gang get into a big argument about who has it easier … so Sabrina, The Teenage Witch (and her kitteh) decide to change everything up so that each other gets to see for sure.

What got me about the whole thing though was the art. There's something subtly different about the cover art (see the link). The standard Archie kit is all there, but it's somehow more accomplished. Of course, Veronica is adorable in that cute mini-dress (that said, I've always been a Betty partisan. I liked Mary Ann over Ginger, for what that's predictably worth), but one of the keys to a winning comic is drawings you like to look at (as Charles Schultz alluded to when he commented on Calvin and Hobbes) and these two cover arts are comic arts I enjoy looking at. The burger-munchery on the part of Jughead was a little gratuitous, and I still wonder how Archie gets those grid-prints in his hair, but the indignant look on Betty's face is one for the books, and the irritation between Archie and Veronica is the most real emotion I've seen in a long time from any Archie comic.

Despite the adventure, some things remain ere the same; on the cover of the swtiched (see the link) identities, "Archina" (argh!) is still the meat in the "Ronnie"-"Billy" sandwich. But that's all they're tipping thier hats to.

Archie #636 is scheduled to hit the newsstands in August, so we'll all have to wait until then.

25 September 2011

[comics] How iSteve Ruined Comics

2704.(via Gizmodo) Well, iSteve didn't ruin comics, per se, but Apple, with it's dead-brilliant design regime, have made technology that was once easily renderable … such as the phone, the TV, and such - so subtly designed that, when they're used, they need almost as much exposition as a supporting character:

Compare with the idea off a man getting outraged at a magazine or newspaper article. You don't need to be told what that is. This? Why is that tiny replica of the 2001 monolith making that monkey so angry?

The subtle, usually elegant design regime inspired by the Apple iLine of, oh, just about everything, has created articles that are beginning to require entire new ways of storytelling, causing a sort of evolution in comics. Just how do you tell a story with props that, depending on the context, need to have their stories told before you know what they and what the characters are doing with the small oblong objects that could be, well, just about anything?

Tom Pappalardo asks the question in the article Cartooning vs Technology: How Steve Jobs Ruined Comics … but he's trying to make a point with that title. He don't really hate iSteve, or the toys he created. But it's a smart, funny article that asks a good question.