Congratulations to the newlyweds!

comics and cartooning, journal

gebbie_moore_t.jpgAlan Moore and Melinda Gebbie just got married!

You gotta love ’em!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Neil Gaiman has posted a bunch of photos from which this one is taken. Also, check out Gebbie’s neat invitation to the proceedings here. And while we’re at the topic of Moore, go read this great interview from Arthur Magazine with him about his thoughts on magic. Along with Eddie Campbell’s Egomania interview and Dave Sim’s “Conversation from Hell”, it’s one of the best Moore interviews since the big one in The Comics Journal ages ago.

A Ride on the Pain Coaster

commentary and criticism, music

el-p_sleep_t.jpgAs he himself promised, El-P’s new album, I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, is less personal than its predecessor, the solo debut Fantastic Damage (2002). Where that album to a large extent was introspective, this one presents a more distanced perspective. I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead is a panorama to Fantastic Damage‘s kaleidoscope.

Although the nerve and the noise are the same, El-P has developed as a musician over the five years it has taken. Generally, the sound is less abrasive despite the foundation being the same noisy, megaton b-boy steez as always. We are still dealing with unadulterated dystopian New York hardcore, but El has developed the symphonic approach to production nascent on the last album. The grandly conceived soundscapes of cuts like “Stepfather Factory” and “Innocent Leader” are here given room to breathe. Several of the tracks are allowed to unfold and develop over longer run times and at times become almost narrative.

OCX 07 – My View

comics and cartooning, commentary and criticism

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After a rather delayed return from Oslo, which included an unwilling nightly sojourn through London for alternate transportation to Cambridge (courtesy the combined – and perpetual – ineptitude of British Rail and the London Underground) and an even more unwilling stopover at a hostel, I am now sufficiently rested to take a proper look back at the inaugural Oslo Comics Expo, which I just attended. Overall, it must have been a success: it was well-attended and well-organized, there had been a good deal of media attention, and the atmosphere was very pleasant. All of which is made extra impressive by it being a first-time event. However, in some ways one could argue that the copacetic and unassuming attitude of the organizers was also the weakness of a festival that could have attained a higher profile with a little more ambition brought to the programming.

OCX Impressions

comics and cartooning, journal

Just a quick note, here from Oslo, where OCX is going swimmingly. Centered around Oslo’s comics library, in the middle of the hip cafe & kebab quarter Grünerløkka, it’s a chill little festival with a number of interesting guests, mostly Norwegian – Jason, Lars Fiske & Steffen Kverneland probably being the most interesting, though a good cross section of Norwegian cartooning is certainly present.

Also, the Swiss artists Kati Rickenbach and Andres Gefe are here, representing what is probably the premier European comics anthology, the long running-still going strong Strapazin. Just attended their panel, which provided a good look at their very different work – Rickenbach does energetic and loose, autobiographical slice-of-life cartooning, while Gefe works in a more illustrative style with his most recent book, Der Gesang der Generale (written by Boucquet) being done in gorgeous computer colored monotype. Good stuff, and definitely worth checking out.

Tonight’s the big party with several cartoonist’s bands lighting it up. Should be fun. But first, I gotta do my panel…

More later.

Onwards, to OCX07

comics and cartooning, journal

ocx_logo.gifAll right, I’m headed out to Oslo in the morning. I’ll be attending the inaugural edition of Oslo Comics Expo, which looks like it’s going to be fun. I’ll be on the panel ‘Tegneserieakademiet,’ on our common understanding and contextualization of comics, on Saturday afternoon. Don’t know whether I’ll be able to update the blog, but will try — I have a billion things crawling in the pipeline, itching to get on. So, in any case, enuff to do next week.

But now, Oslo.
 
 
 
 
 

Re: Dansk fankultur

comics and cartooning, debate

lucha.jpgOven på mit seneste indlæg om dansk fankultur, har det rumsteret lidt ovre i kaffeklubben. Jeg har nogle korte kommentarer:

1. Selvom diskussionen derovre har involveret folk, der er professionelle serietegnere, gør det dem ikke mindre fan-agtige når de diskuterer tegneseriedefinitioner, eller så meget andet. Hvilket er fint nok; det var ikke det min kritik gik på. Hvilket fører mig til:

2. Jeg har intet imod definitionslegen, men synes bare den skråsikre indstilling til/afvisning af tegneserieforskning som enten ikke-eksisterende, inkompetent eller ren og skær løgn og latin var et eklatant eksempel på fanrefleks og generel uvidenhed om hvad der foregår udenfor det snævert definerede tegneseriemikrokosmos visse fans bevæger sig i. Det fortjente skarp påtale.

Hvad er en tegneserie? (betaversion)

articles and essays

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Det følgende er ikke en formfuldendt artikel, men en let redigeret tekst hentet ud af en debat i Rackhams nu lukkede forum fra december 2002. Den omhandler det kronisk genkommende og ganske umulige problem at definere hvad en tegneserie er. Der tages forbehold for uklarhed, uvished og umulighed… og groteske mængder tankestreger.

Re: Spiders

debate

phidippus_mystaceus_t.jpgAhem, I was a little fast in my last post about the local Spider-Man 3 poster and didn’t think to actually doublecheck whether any spiders are capable of leaping great distances. Immediately caught in the act of being generally sloppy, I received this email from fellow Danish comics, and Spider-Man enthusiast, Thomas Stærmose:

“There are actually over 5,000 species in the largest family of spiders, jumping spiders, that are capable of… well, take a guess.