John Romita Jr. Interviewed

comics and cartooning, interviews, journal

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Danish Comics collector and power-enthusiast Henrik Andreasen has just posted a short interview with one of the premier American mainstream artists of his generation, John Romita Jr., over at Sequential Tart. This interview originally ran in Danish in Rackham #5, and was the result of a collaboration between Andreasen and myself, with yours truly providing Henrik with a set of written questions that he took to San Diego in 2002 and used as the basis for the interview. Good to see it being given a new lease on life!

Art from the recently published World War Hulk #5. Romita in full form, with great Janson inks and spectacular colour work by Christina Strain (plus some schlocky lettering in the sound effects). Pity the script by Greg Pak suffers from such poor plotting.

Hype: Maria Skov!

comics and cartooning, hype & linkage

skov_1_t.jpgSadly, there are way too few female artists on the Danish comics scene, which makes it even more awesome to discover up-and-coming Maria Skov’s work. This girl is going places! A relative newcomer to the medium, she delves into it with a joy and ease that promises great things to come!

This is her new blog which features illustration as well as short comics. Enjoy!

http://mariaskov.blogspot.com/
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Real Wants You to Shut Up!

comics and cartooning, current affairs, journal

el_jueves.jpgWhile we’re at the depressing news, I just wanted to note that the writer-cartoonist team of Guillermo Torres and Manel Fontdevila, who wrote and drew this cartoon of the Spanish Crown Prince and his wife a few months ago, have now been found guilty of “vilifying the Crown” — basically by depicting them in a completely mundane situation in which people of their age tend to find themselves on a regular basis — and fined €3.000 each. Better get in line folks, the Spanish Royal Family wants you to shut up!

 
 
 
 
As usual, Con C de Arte has the goods for people who want further information and linkage. Earlier Metabunker posts here and here.
 

Whither My Country?

current affairs, journal

The Danish people has just reelected as prime minister a guy who was once fired as minister of taxation for cooking the books and lying to Parliament about it, who went to bed with xenophobic right-wing extremists to attain power and has therefore been responsible for the harshest and most inhumane immigration policy in the EU, who has slowly but surely been eroding the traditions of solidarity the country is built on through short-sighted tax policy, and who has wholeheartedly embraced the lies used to justify the humanitarian disaster in Iraq and sent Denmark to war.

Good night, and good luck.

Comics and Critical Language

comics and cartooning, journal

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Over on Blog@newsarama, Chris Mautner has gathered one of his roundtables, inviting critics to talk about the terminology and general language we use when writing about comics. Yours truly participates for the first time, and I therefore thought I’d hype it here. Go, read — and by all means chime in!

Image by Kevin Huizenga, from Ganges (2006).

Ingen Frygt Lancerer Asmaa-Støtteside

current affairs, journal, pictorial arts

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Kunstnertrioen Ingen Frygt reagerer på den hetz, politikeren Asmaa Abdol-Hamid har været udsat for i forbindelse med sit kandidatur til Folketinget, og har i selskab med initiativtagere lanceret en støtteside. De skriver:

“Via nogle venner blev vi involveret i at lave denne støtteside for en engageret ung politiker, som af medier og andre politikere bliver grillet mere end nogen andre vi kan komme i tanker om herhjemme.

Vi har mødt hende og fik et stærkt indtryk af et tolerant og humoristisk menneske med nogen mærkesager der ligger meget langt fra de araberangst-spørgsmål hun konstant skal forholde sig til. Et indtryk der bliver forstærket når man besøger hendes egen hjemmeside.

Prøv at forestil jer et scenarie hvor f.eks. Bondam i stedet for at føre politik, hele tiden må være i defensiven fordi alle journalister kun vil interviewe ham om sikker sex. Om han nu er sikker på at han har det. Og hvordan han vil forholde sig til at andre politikere påstår at han i virkeligheden slet ikke er homoseksuel.

Vi mener faktisk at det er det plan, det kører på.

Siden er apolitisk – initiatiativtagerne består både af politisk aktive folk : for forskellige partier : og ikke aktive typer.”

Check siden ud — den er lagt i vanlig Ingen Frygt-stil, med musik, video, quiz, oa. Og husk at stemme til valget!

“He Gave Us Comics!” — Ditko at 80

comics and cartooning, hype & linkage, journal

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With that great quote from a starry-eyed Neil Gaiman in Jonathan Ross’ recent documentary on the great artist behind Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, The Question and Mr. A, the Metabunker wishes Steve Ditko a fine 80th birthday. It is great to see how much serious attention the artist is getting these days — the latest announcement, from Fantagraphics, that Blake Bell’s long-awaited monograph Strange Stranger will be released next year is but the latest piece of good news.

For more on Ditko at this site, check out Morten Søndergård’s article on the early Spider-Man comics and the debate it sparked, as well as this compilation of linkage. Also, check out this great anecdote, by DC editor Mike Gold, on Ditko’s Hands.