Archive for the ‘politics’ Category

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The Revolution Was Streamed and Tweeted

Monday, February 28th, 2011

As she works on her next book, Stumbling Toward Damascus, Sarah Glidden has continued to stay abreast of current events in the Middle East, which means that like many of us, she was riveted by the news coming out of Egypt. And like a lot of us in the United States, she experienced it primarily through online video feeds, and Twitter. Unlike a lot of us, though, she and studio partner Domitille Collardey have created a comic talking about their reactions, titled “Egypt from 5,000 Miles Away.”

Stumbling Toward Damascus will be an adaptation of a visit Glidden took with several journalists as they traveled through Eastern Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan, and Damascus in Syria, and will show “how they work together to make the news.” She’s been posting some artwork and sketches in her blog.

(via Robot 6)

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Cablegate Chronicles Comix

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

With thousands of diplomatic cables to be released courtesy of WikiLeaks, most people rely on their favorite news sources to sort through it all, usually spotlighting the ones with the most political impact. Which is a shame, because the leaks reveal so much about the daily lives of diplomats and politicians, sometimes revealing thoughts and events that wouldn’t be out of place on a cable reality show.

To explore that potential, Joe Alterio of HiLobrow has been illustrating selected cables in a series of “Cablegate Comix” that reprint cables with illustrations to accompany each line. So when they mention Karim Massimov, the prime minister of Kazakhstan, dancing at a trendy nightclub, you get a drawing of Prime Minister Karim Massimov dancing at a trendy nightclub.

The biggest problem with some of these comics is that they might not go far enough with the illustrations, letting the text do most of the work. Eight comics have been released so far; hopefully in future installments Alterio will feel freer to add his artistic interpretations.

(via Comics Alliance)

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With Great Power Comes Great Unemployment

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

A few weeks back, Marvel announced a partnership with New York City to promote unemployment resources. Their collaboration began with Spider-Man: You’re Hired, a free comic book released on Marvel’s Mobile App and in the November 18th edition of the New York Daily News. As it is now December, your best bet is to read the comic using the app or hit eBay if you’d prefer a hard copy.

It's a shame he can't put Spidey on the resume... The issue begins with Peter Parker and Aunt May on the subway as Pete begins his job search after J. Jonah Jameson gave him the boot. The book is deliberately vague about this to try and make it relevant to current continuity while still being accessible to the everyman. In the Marvel Universe they might have Obama as President, but local politicians won’t necessarily reflect to real life—J. Jonah Jameson is the current mayor of NYC in the comics. Heck, Peter was fired for doctoring a photo of J.J. beating the pants off of a super-villain to make Jameson look good; that’s a bit of trivia normal people don’t care about. Instead of Marvel’s mayor we get Mayor Bloomberg, who happens to show up on the very train the Parkers are riding on (coincidence of coincidences)!

Here is where the issue really starts going into advertisement mode. Bloomberg has a few ideas for Peter’s job search; most of them revolve around Workforce1, New York’s free workforce placement and training centers. They’re available throughout the five boroughs, which helps since the Parkers live in Queens. Two pages after getting off the subway, Peter winds up having to sneak away for a quick change, as The Vulture is running away with a load of stolen money.

Spidey makes short work out of the flying villain and returns to Bloomberg, only to then be called away to assist Iron Man in fighting a giant mechanical dinosaur. Creative, I’ll give them that. By the time this is all over, Mayor Bloomberg has given Aunt May all the information Peter will need. Oh, and Bloomberg either figured out Peter is Spider-Man or is simply playing mind games with him. Either way, Peter spends about three minutes combined with the Mayor and the comic is over. It’s a silly little romp with a giant dinosaur but it does get its message through pretty well. Warren Simons is the writer, which is, as far as I know, his first writing gig. He’s worked as an editor for Marvel in the past, so that does count partially as writing. On the art side is Todd Nauck, one of my favorites. He worked on Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man with Peter David and drew Obama when he appeared in Amazing Spider-Man so good choice there to draw Mike Bloomberg’s comic book alter-ego.

I've seen the parrots before. They're cool.

Would I recommend this to someone looking to get a job in New York City? Sure. It gives some good tips and isn’t difficult to flip through if you have an iPod or iPhone. Plus, the price point of “free” is always good. I’ll just make sure to leave out the fact that Peter Parker is already no longer jobless in the Marvel Universe and that he got the job through partial nepotism, not Workforce1. Oh well.

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Clinton and Palin: Part Deux

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010

Bluewater Productions started their Female Force line in late 2008 with biographies of two women who were very much in the public eye at the time: Sarah Palin and Hillary Rodham Clinton. As you’re probably aware, their stars haven’t faded since then, and now Bluewater has announced a pair of follow up releases to illuminate their recent exploits.

Take 2 of these and call Palin in the morning.Hillary Second Comic

Out first is Female Force Sarah Palin: Take 2, written by Dan Rafter with art by Nathan Carson, focusing on Palin’s life post-potential VP. This will include her job with FOX News, the Tea Party speeches, her reality show Sarah Palin’s Alaska, and of course, her presidential aspirations for 2012. As you can see by the cover, Bluewater is fully embracing the discomfort both Democrats and Republicans have felt at times thanks to Palin’s actions and words.

As an example, the Bluewater comic references the speech in which Palin had jotted notes on her palm. Her critics savaged her. But Palin, much like Ronald Reagan did throughout his political career, used humor to turn a potential mistake into a victory when she showed up at a later speech with the words “Hi, Mom” written on her palm.

As for Hillary Clinton, her comic lies outside the Female Force line. Writer Jerome Maida and artist Laura Guzzo present Political Power: Hillary Clinton #1, focusing on Clinton’s time after the election, including her position as President Obama’s Secretary of State. Of course, they also hint at her running for President in 2012 as well. The Palin comic is scheduled for release in January, while Hillary Clinton gets hers in March. Both issues will be 32 pages and retail at $3.99. Will I be writing a post about Palin and Clinton’s third Bluewater comic books come 2012? Probably.

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Blowing in the Wind

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

Kids can be really passionate about the environment. Kids love cartoons. So what better than to combine the two? It certainly worked with Captain Planet and the Planeteers; now Dan Wright and Dave Ponce are attempting to continue that educational awareness with their comic Rustle the Leaf. They’ve even included monthly lesson plans for teachers to use in their classrooms, and created flyers and posters that people can download.

Well, it seemed like a good idea on the surface. The environment is a major concern, and the characters are cute enough to make complex issues palatable…but does everything have to be so cynical? The comic isn’t about offering tips and tricks for living a more environmentally healthy life so much as it is about condemning the one we currently have. Humans are the enemy, and the characters are not shy about this fact—in fact, the character of Rooty is constantly making jokes about how it awesome it would be if and when all the humans finally die off. It’s seriously weighty and politically-heavy stuff, not appropriate for an audience of kids, especially when they’re the ones the comic purports to be trying to protect.

The comic is careful not to point fingers at the children, but it’s not shy about its targets—vegan food is also heavily slagged on by the characters, in addition to all the tirades about factory farming and genetically-enhanced corn. So, what exactly are we supposed to eat? Environmentalism is great, but you can’t just tell people what they’re doing wrong, you need to tell what they can do right.

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Out of Sync

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

There’s a pretty big divide between what we know as mainstream comics (mostly superhero books) and the small press/indie stuff. Not to say that there aren’t people who read both, or that creators don’t cross over from one to the other, but comparing the crowds at say, New York Comic Con and Alternative Press Expo; they’re very different. And there’s mutual disdain—a mainstream fan might find indie/small press stuff boring or pretentious, and an indie/small press fan might find a superhero book idiotic or uninspired.

The disconnect is a real shame, because sometimes it feels like the people on the indie side of things have dismissed all superhero books outright, without looking at what they have to offer. I’m not talking about plotting or characters—let’s face it, sometimes they are pretty stupid—but the actual construction of the comic, the way they use panel layouts to create pacing, the way they integrate the text and images into a cohesive whole. The nuts-and-bolts that hold the medium together. The superhero genre has been around a long time, and they generally have the “how-to” part down.

The “how-to” part is the biggest problem with Syncopated: An Anthology of Nonfiction Picto-Essays, edited by Brendan Burford with a very diverse field of contributors. The term “picto-essay” is perhaps more correct; it is Burford himself that uses the word “comics” in his introduction and on the back cover. Many of the stories in this volume are reminiscent of photo essays, which are generally slideshows where each photo is accompanied by a caption. I have nothing against photo essays, or even these picto-essays, I just find the actual “comics” component weak. Two of the segments (“Portfolio” and “Subway Buskers”) don’t even have text; they’re simply sketch galleries of Washington Square Park and subway buskers respectively.

It also feels like the definition of “essay” gets muddled at times; a few segments lack a solid narrative structure that would have strengthened what they were trying to achieve. “What We So Quietly Saw” by Greg Cook presents segments from prisoner interrogations at Guantanamo without making the transitions from incident to incident clear. “Like Hell I Will” by Nate Powell presents various scenes from the Tulsa race riot of 1921 in a confusing jumble, not clearly connecting the captions to the panels with dialogue; what exactly are the latter type of scenes showing us?

Even with its weak points, Syncopated does have its bright spots. A few of the stories integrate text and images and follow a cohesive narrative flow, the result being some very excellent comics work. “West Side Improvements” by Alex Holden made for a very strong essay, teaching the reader a bit of New York history while also making a point about urban renewal. “A Coney Island Rumination” by Paul Hoppe and “An Encounter With Richard Peterson” by Brendan Burford also follow similar threads and themes. My favorite story is “The Sound of Jade” by Sarah Glidden, where she accompanies her father on an adoption visit to China. Another strong point was “Dvorak” by Alec Longstreth, who we’ve covered previously here in the blog.

For an early attempt at a comics essay anthology Syncopated isn’t bad, but it is wildly uneven.  Most essay anthologies follow a theme, something that ties all the disparate contributors and narratives together, something that this volume lacks. Future editions of Syncopated would definitely benefit from more direction.

Syncopated: An Anthology of Nonfiction Picto-Essays
edited by Brendan Burford
published by Villard Books (New York, 2009)
ISBN 978-0-345-50529-3

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Posted in culture, history, music, politics, race, technology by | 1 Comment »

The Good, the Bad, and the Long Wait

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

We’re still catching up from New York Comic Con this past weekend, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t call your attention to the “Good News/Bad News” sale going on over at Fantagraphics Books. They’re currently in the process of relocating their warehouse and shipping facilities. As a result, no orders will be shipped between October 7 and October 20. To make things even worse, once those orders ship, they will be going out via the slowest rates available—in the United States, that means Media Mail.

To add a little sweetness to that sour, Fantagraphics will be shipping all domestic orders placed during that period for FREE (50% off shipping for international orders) and you can use the coupon code GOODNEWS at checkout to get a nice 20% off your entire order.

What to pick up? Well, check out their politics section, where you can pick up titles like:

  • Freedom Fries: the Political Art of Steve Brodner by (duh) Steve Brodner
  • King: A Comics Biography volumes 1–3 by Ho Che Anderson
  • Palestine by Joe Sacco
  • Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco
  • War’s End: Profiles from Bosnia 1995–96 by Joe Sacco

And if you check out the some of the other areas, you can find titles like:

  • Kafka by Robert Crumb & David Zane Mairowitz
  • Rocky volumes 1–2 by Martin Kellerman

Of course, you aren’t limited to just nonfiction comics titles. There are plenty of great titles still available from the site, including many fiction comics and nonfiction prose books that are worth checking out. But order soon, the offer expires October 20.

(via Robot 6)

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World Comics Power

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

Comics are a great communications tool for people in impoverished areas because of their highly visual nature and ease of access; even people who don’t know how to read can still enjoy a comic, and they don’t need complex or expensive equipment to make one. With that in mind, the World Comics Network conducts a series of workshops teaching local peoples how to make “grassroots comics,” focusing on topics that matter to them and hopefully encouraging discussion and debate. Starting in India, the program has spread to nearby Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, and even further abroad to Africa (Mozambique, Benin, Tanzania), Latin America (Brazil), and Europe (United Kingdom, Finland).

The program has also began to touch upon comics journalism, using the medium not just to encourage debate, but to disseminate information in the first place. Programs are currently being set up at various universities throughout India.

Most of the comics created by the World Comics Network are intended for local distribution only, photocopies that are passed around, or in some cases, put on exhibition by the roadside for passersby to view. However, a handful of professionally printed compilations are available, including Understanding Gandhi Through Comics and Whose Development (about development projects in India).

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Out and About: New York Comic Con 2010

Monday, September 27th, 2010

The New York Comic Con schedule is up, and while it’s a little light on events dealing specifically with nonfiction comics this year, there are a few points of interest:

Rationalizing Comics and Sequential Art in the Classroom
Friday, October 8
3:15 pm – 4:15 pm

This workshop will feature educators discussing their reasons for bringing comics/sequential art into the classroom, focusing on both reading and generating comics. Practical suggestions, along with evidence illustrating student learning, is discussed. Participants will be encouraged to bring ideas for discussion in small groups.

Extending Conversations about Graphic Novels
Friday, October 8
4:15 pm – 5:15 pm

Educators will discuss how to use graphic novels to extend learning beyond literal comprehension, including engaging in critical literacy activities. Social studies, art, and English/language arts educators will be paired to discuss how to make cross-curricular conversations and move students’ understandings beyond the classroom. Participants will engage in an activity which pushes them to think beyond the confines of the classroom walls.

Remembering Harvey Pekar
Friday, October 8
4:30 pm – 5:30 pm

After 35 years of innovating in—having virtually invented—the personal comics genre with his American Splendor series, Cleveland’s Harvey Pekar died this past July, in the middle of several projects finished and unfinished. This panel celebrates Pekar’s life and work. It includes Harvey’s editor on The Pekar Project, Jeff Newelt; artist on Harvey’s The Quitter and other works, Dean Haspiel; Peter Kuper, who not only has drawn for Harvey, but as a comics-loving kid in Cleveland, spent much time hanging out and learning from him; and Rick Parker, an artist on The Pekar Project. The panel is moderated by Danny Fingeroth, who memorably interviewed Harvey at The YIVO Institute in 2009, and wrote of Harvey’s importance in The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels. Some surprise last minute guests may appear on the panel, as well.

Comics and Graphic Novels in the Secondary English/Language Arts Classroom
Saturday, October 9
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Educators who utilize texts in the secondary English/language arts curriculum will discuss practical ideas for including particular graphic novels in the classroom. In particular, educators will discuss how to embed graphic novels in the traditional curriculum by connecting graphic novels/comics with canonical texts and helping students create their own texts. Educators will think through criteria they can create to evaluate appropriate gns for curricular adoption.

Political Cartoonists
Saturday, October 9
5:15 pm – 6:15 pm

Join some of the best, current political cartoonists!

Unusual Manga Genres
Saturday, October 9
8:45 pm – 9:45 pm

Thanks to the importing of manga you can read veterinarian manga, salaryman manga, fishing manga, and manga about baking bread! Erin and Noah from the Ninja Consultant podcast present the absolutely most insane manga titles available in English – and a few titles which won’t be translated anytime soon.

The Sons of Liberty, a Graphic Novel: The New World of Historical Fiction
Sunday, October 10
11:00 am – 12:00 pm

The Sons of Liberty, a new graphic-novel quartet for middle grade readers and beyond tells the story of two young slaves in the wake of the Revolutionary War. History is brought to life in full color by the illustration of Marvel Comics veteran Steve Walker and Oren Kramek. Join authors Alexander Lagos and Joseph Lagos and illustrators Steve Walker and Oren Kramek in conversation about the creation of this new series.

Culinary Manga
Sunday, October 10
1:45 pm – 2:45 pm

Competitive bread baking manga Yakitate!! Japan is just the tip of the culinary manga iceberg in Japan! Join Erin and Noah of the Ninja Consultant podcast as they discuss manga about gourmet food critics (Oishinbo), pastry chef manga (Antique Bakery), and several series about wine (Drops of God, La Sommelier).

In addition, you’ll be able to see Ian (and his friends) talk about podcasting and blogging at the…podcasting and blogging panel. Check it:

A Geek’s Guide to Podcasting and Blogging
Friday, October 8
6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Room 1A17

This panel is designed to show how to start and promote your very own podcast. The world of podcasting has grown by leaps and bounds over the last five years and many people do not have a clear guide on how to podcast. This panel will walk you steps of podcasting and give advice on all aspects of having your own show.

You’ll find Ian at the Comic Timing booth (table 524) in Podcast Alley on Friday and Saturday (near the events stage), while I’ll be mostly wandering the floor and panels for those two days. We’ll both be absent on Sunday due to a prior personal engagement.

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In Manhwa We Trust

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

The Korean government has a bit of a problem—its own people don’t trust what it has to say. That might not seem unusual to you, but we’re not talking about the North Korean dictatorship of Kim Jong-il here; this trust problem is in South Korea, the one that’s a democracy and has a somewhat peaceful relationship with the rest of the world. South Korea was  a dictatorship itself a little over twenty years ago, and its people have long memories.

The issue at hand is that the people don’t believe the official government report regarding the sinking of the ROKS Cheonan. Despite an investigation conducted by a team of experts from South Korea, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Sweden, a poll found that over half of the respondents in their twenties didn’t trust the findings, and only 57% of all the respondents, regardless of age, believed the  report (margin of error ±3.7).

What is a beleaguered government to do? Well, as they’re targeting a young audience, they used a medium that young people respond to, creating a comic to be distributed to schools, libraries, and government offices. The 32-page comic is also available to read online.

Whether this effort will work, only time will tell; it may in fact increase skepticism of the government by making it appear insecure about itself. But perhaps there is hope for the South Korean government; a soon-to-be-released study by the Journal of Consumer Research found that people were more likely to divulge embarrassing or unethical behavior to an unprofessional-looking site (using Comic Sans, no less) than they would a cleanly designed “professional” site. If this is true, maybe the people of South Korea will take the word of a comic where they won’t trust an official government report.

(via Bloomberg)

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