Just returned from a short, sweet trip to Barcelona. Found this on a wall, in one of the many recesses of GaudÃ’s Sagrada FamÃlia. Made me think of this passage from Leonardo’s notebooks: “… if you look at any walls soiled with a variety of stains, or stones with variegated patterns, when you have to…
Following yesterday’s post upon Danish People’s Party‘s election campaign, left wing party Enhedslisten has produced this ad (left) as a counter-comment to the former’s Mohammed poster. The face on the ‘drawing’ belongs to Danish People’s Party‘s leader Pia Kjærsgaard, and the text states: “Freedom of speech is Danish, stupidity is not“. …
Following Egmont’s aquisition of Bonnier’s book publishing division (covered by the Metabunker here), big decisions have been made – here’s a fresh statement from Egmont/Bonnier: “In connection with the sale of Bonnier Books’ Danish publishing company Bonnier Forlagene to Egmont, the comics publication unit of the children’s publisher Carlsen will transfer to Semic International, owned…
“Poor wee artie, he had the misfortune of having the first volume of Maus come out at the same time as that godawful Dark Knight and now he’s got to be stuck to it like a siamese twin. I feel for the guy.” – Eddie Campbell “The book is stupid, and David Michaelis is an…
As our Dear Reader may have noticed, Mr. Daniel Clowes has finally made his long-awaited return to comics in The Sunday Magazine of New York Times. With five installments currently on display, it seems somewhat safe to say that Clowes is back as we knew him in 2004, when the last issue of Eightball was…
We have just received notice that the big anthology of Danish comics and related visual art, BLÆK, edited by myself and T. Thorhauge, designed by Frederik Storm and with cover art by Jan Solheim, has sold out from the publisher. From its frenetic creation, including the criticisms of economical mismanagement and political censorship, as well…
One of Denmark’s most talented storytelling graphic designers and BLÆK alumnus, Jan Oksbøl Callesen has just launched his own personal webiste at www.janokscal.com. Also check out his page at studio Gul Stue.
In the wake of Jonathan Ross’ documentary on Steve Ditko, which aired on BBC 4 last night and again today (no, I didn’t see it. A valiant effort at finding a set that provided access availed me nought, alas), a good deal of Ditko-related material has surfaced on the web. Go to the site and…
Coming up at Brandts Klædefabrik in Odense, Denmark, is ‘Comix,’ an exhibition dealing with the intersection of comics and fine arts that is increasingly rewriting the rules for the former and stimulating the latter these years. The exhibition incorporates works by fine artists working with comics and cartoon vocabularies or deriving inspiration from the ethos…
Today, top American commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus will appear on Capitol Hill along with the American ambassador to Iraq, Ryan C. Crocker. They are expected to argue the case that the troop increase there has been sufficiently effective to warrant a continuation next year. The administration has lately increasingly been relying on…
There’s a new online resource for comics fans – www.comic-feed.net, an aggregator assembling select, quality-controlled blogs for your one-click reading pleasure. Go check it out, and keep an eye on it.
Danish cartoonist Allan Haverholm, who last year released his grand graphic novel Sortmund (“Blackmouth”) – Richard Dawkins meets Hellboy! – has just refurbished his internet presence at www.haverholm.com, and is now blogging. Check in with him for his interesting and often contentious thoughts on comics.
As this year’s Tour de France rolled around, the Metabunker’s own T. Thorhauge was as usual parked in front of the TV, but contrary to previous years, he this time around went in the footsteps of his avowed mentor Jørgen Leth (pictured) and provided commentary! For your convenience, here’s the collected linkage: July 10: Fausto…
Jack Kirby (1917-1994) would have been 90 today. Tom Spurgeon has laid out the smorgasboard. To us, his face has long been on Mars. Splash from “The Face on Mars”, Race for the Moon #2, Harvey Publications 1958. By Jack Kirby and Reed Crandall. Cribbed from the Kirby Museum.
Yesterday, Tom Spurgeon commented briefly on the statement in the opening paragraph of my review of David Kunzle’s Töpffer monograph that the latter “deserves a large part of the credit for debunking the myth of the Yellow Kid as the point of origin, and bringing the history of modern comics before Hogan’s Alley to light…