Three Hundred!

comics and cartooning, hype & linkage

tcj300.jpgAfter 33 years of publication, the best magazine about comics, The Comics Journal, now celebrates its 300th issue. Which is also going to be the last in the current format, before the recently announced migration to the web sometime later this month. In short, the printed Journal will be semiannual in the future, with a larger page count, better design (we hope), and less transient content than your average issue of the last three decades, while tcj.com will provide day-to-day news coverage and criticism in the proud tradition of the magazine.

While we’re staying tuned for that, the editors have decided to put #300 online in its entirety. A great treat. Go there now and dig into the impressive line-up of artists’ talks: Art Spiegelman and Kevin Huizenga, Jean-Christophe Menu and Sammy Harkham, Frank Quitely and Dave Gibbons, Dave Mazzucchelli and Dash Shaw, Alison Bechdel and Danica Novgorodoff, Howard Chaykin and Ho Che Anderson, Denny O’Neil and Matt Fraction, Jaime Hernandez and Zak Sally, Ted Rall and Matt Bors, Jim Borgman and Keith Knight, Stan Sakai and Chris Schweizer.

In addition to that, there are in-depth reviews of Chris Ware’s ACME #19 and David Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp (read the Bunker on them here and here) and contributions by all your favourite columnists, plus yours truly, minus Kenneth Smith.

I have written an essay about Moebius’ Hermetic Garage as a constant in his creative life for as long as the Journal has been published and sincerely hope you will enjoy it, if nothing else as partial compensation for posting nothing of real substance here at the Bunker these days of dissertation drudgery.

Congrats to Gary, Kim and everyone else who has contributed to making the Journal one of the greatest critical and historical resources in comics for over thirty years!

UPDATE: They’ve now withdrawn everything from the website; it is now only accessible to subscribers. Bummer.

Line Hoven og Arne Bellstorf til Komiks.dk

comics and cartooning, hype & linkage

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Den danske tegneseriefestival Komiks.dk, der finder sted i Øksnehallen, København, 21-23 maj, 2010, annoncerer nu endnu en håndfuld udelandske gæster, deriblandt to af Tysklands mest interessante yngre tegnere, Line Hoven og Arne Bellstorf. Førstnævnte er nok bedst kendt for graphic novel-debuten Liebe schacht weg, et subtilt og rørende erindringsbillede af hendes familie fra krigen og frem, mens Bellstorf, der i 2006 udgav den bemærkelsesværdigt underspillede, knugende ungdomsfortælling Acht, Neun, Zehn, efterhånden har en række serier på bagen og bl.a. bidrager til kvalitetsavisen Der Tagespiegel. Festivalen gæstes desuden af den svenske mangategner Ã…se Ekström.

Pressemeddelelse her.

Frank Quitely til Komiks.dk

comics and cartooning, hype & linkage

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Danmarks internationale tegneseriebiennale, Komiks.dk, der for fjerde gang løber af stablen i Øksnehallen, København, 21-23 maj, 2010, melder nu endnu en gæst, tegneren Frank Quitely — klart den mest originale tegner i amerikansk mainstream i dag. Han er særligt kendt for sit arbejde med den mest originale forfatter i branchen, Grant Morrison (lad os håbe at festivalen også slår en klo i ham!), på serier som Flex Mentallo, New X-Men, We3, All-Star Superman og Batman and Robin. Undtagelsen fra reglen om at amerikanske superhelteserier er blevet en anakronisme.

Læs pressemeddelelsen her. Quitely bliver i øvrigt at finde på festivalen sammen med folk som Chris Ware, Dan Clowes, Charles Burns, Dave Gibbons og Paul Gravett. Sæt lige et kryds til i kalenderen, ik’?

Clint Eastwood, Bogforum, Literaturhaus og Højbjerg

comics and cartooning, hype & linkage, letters


Thorhauge her! Lige pludselig sker der en masse, og det er jo både fedt og spændende, men kæden er røget af min planlægning og jeg er bagefter med ALTING, suk… Anyway, jeg har en del offentlige arragementer i den kommende tid, samt – ta-daa! – premiere på min splinternye tegneserie, Clint Eastwood! Her følger programmet:

3.-28. november: Kom hjem-udstilling på Højbjerg Bibliotek
I forbindelse med et foredrag jeg holder på Højbjerg Bibliotek den 16. november, har selvsamme bibliotek sat et udvalg af Kom hjem-skitser og -originaler til offentlig beskuelse (tak, i den anledning, til den fortrinlige Dan Knudsen, der kiggede forbi og hjalp med at sætte udstillingen op)

13.-15. november: Bogforum
Ã…rets bog-gedemarked er på godt og ondt en uomgængelig begivenhed. I år deltager jeg i flere arrangementer:
Lørdag, kl. 14: signering af Clint Eastwood på Aben Malers stand
Lørdag, kl. 17.20: samtale med Søren Vinterberg om Kom hjem, Under uret
Søndag, kl. 14.15: undertegnede interviewer Murakami- og manga-oversætter Mette Holm om Manga Messias og Manga Metamorfose i Bibelselskabets stand

15. november, kl. 20: Tegneseriesalon i Literaturhaus
Nemlig – mens der bliver slukket og ryddet op i Bogforum, afholder Dansk Tegneserieråd “Tegneseriesalon” i Literaturhaus på Nørrebro, 10 minutters gang fra Forum. Her vil jeg forsøge at styre landets førende tegneseriekritikere i en forhåbentlig livlig, underholdende og tankevækkende snak om tegneserier og kritik og meget mere (se listen over de prominente deltagere her).

16. november, kl 19.30: Foredrag om Kom hjem og bølgen af graphic novels på Højbjerg Bibliotek kl. 19.30
Masser af billeder, bøger og aha-oplevelser til dem, der endnu har graphic novel-oplevelsen til gode, kom frisk!

The Raphael Drawing at Christie’s

commentary and criticism, pictorial arts

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As those of you interested in such matters surely know by now, Christie’s London sale of Old Masters and 19th Century Art, December 8, will feature the drawing by Raphael excerpted above. Estimated to fetch £12-16, it will easily break the record for most expensive drawing ever, jointly held by pieces from Michelangelo and Leonardo, which both sold £8.1 in 2000 and 2001, respectively.

It is a pretty astonishing estimate, even for one of the greatest masters of Western art, whose work appears under the gavel only extremely rarely. Not being a specialist, I can only wonder what this says about the market these days, but I will say that it’s a beautiful drawing, even if it is not Raphael at his inventive peak. An auxillary cartoon for his 1510-11 fresco of Parnassus in the Vatican Stanze, it probably supplemented the larger, principal cartoon(s) prepared for the fresco (it shows pouncing marks along the contours, demonstrating that it was used for transfer unto the wall). It reflects rather a state of finalised polish of a slightly rote design than the exhilarating phase of invention where his work tends to crackle with brilliance, with the awareness of life beyond the perfection of his best high-finish drawings.

It’s going to be interesting to see how the sale goes, and as usual we can hope it ends up in a collection accessible to the public, even if its price may preclude that. It should in any case be a exciting sale, including as it does also a long out of view (and if you ask me somewhat rebarbative) late Rembrandt and a large John the Evangelist by Domenichino.