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Do you see a prototype? Updated!

comics and cartooning, documentation, pictorial arts

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We’ve been asked whether we recognise any comics/cartooning prototypes, or sources of inspiration, for the above-posted picture. We are somewhat at a loss. Can you help us? Please let us know what you think might have inspired the painter, or merely what the image makes you think of.

(I shall refrain from giving more information on the image for a few days, in order to let your associations wander more freely. Thanks for your help!)

UPDATE: Here’s what Anne Gregersen from J. F. Willumsens Museum in Denmark writes:

“The painting is called The Prince’s Wedding and was created by the Danish artist J.F. Willumsen (1863-1958). There’s a sixty-year span between different parts of the painting: It was first painted in 1888. After a severe criticism by the establishment and by a leading art critic, Willumsen chose to cover the central figures of the painting with a star-shaped piece of black paper. In 1948 he began a radical modification of the work. He cut out the part of the canvas covered by the star-shaped piece of paper and inserted new canvas there, as well as on the left side of the painting. And he then repainted the central figures in a completely different style, which may have been inspired by contemporary comics like Flash Gordon, Prince Valiant, Superman and Batman. Or movies like The Wizard of Oz or Robin Hood. On May 13th, the J.F. Willumsen Museum is opening an exhibition about this work, and we are very interested in hearing what kind of associations the painting brings to your mind.”

Apaches

comics and cartooning, commentary and criticism


Jean Giraud, one of the major figures in comics history, is still alive and kicking. Neither he nor his alias Moebius seem particularly marked by age. As a matter of fact, it seems his output has never been bigger. Most notable, probably, is his series of self-indulgent improvisations, Inside Moebius, of which five volumes have been published so far, and then there is his virtuosic — and energetic — return to Major Grubert in Chasseur Déprime (selected by Matthias Wivel, Henry Sørensen and myself amongst the comics of the year 2008).

But while Moebius after an extended period of creative insolvency (who would not rather forget the exploitation piece Le Nouveau rêve of 2001?) has only recently caught his second — or third, or fourth? — wind, Jean Giraud has never experienced this kind of crisis.

Sacrebleu! Thorhauge Live on the Web!

comics and cartooning, hype & linkage, journal

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The Bunker’s own Thomas Thorhauge has finally — after all these years — gotten his act together and created a web page for himself. He has decided upon the old school Web 2.0 format of a blog, which he — inexplicably — calls Sacre Bleu! Unfortunately, it’s all in Danish, but go there and check out some of his fine work.

(This all happens just in time for the now imminent release of his second graphic novel, Kom Hjem (‘Come Home’). A magnum opus nine years in the making, one supposes this has been in emulation of his idol, the by now notoriously dilatory David Mazzucchelli, and whaddayaknow, he also has a graphic novel out! Stay tuned for much more on all this…)

Picks of the Week

current affairs, film, tv, video, hype & linkage

“The White House knew he’d been tortured. I didn’t, though I was supposed to be evaluating that intelligence… It seems to me they were using torture to achieve a political objective. I cannot believe that the president and vice president did not know who was being waterboarded, and what was being given up.”

— Former Pentagon Analyst

The picks of the week from around the web.

  • Torture. The declassification of four torture memos from the US Justice Department the week before last is a good occasion to revisit the Red Cross Torture Report, which initially brought most of this information to light. And the recent New York Review of Books article on it is essential reading. Also, read this gripping article from last year detailing and assessing the information the CIA and its allies acquired from torturing a number of the high-profile terrorism suspects. This week, former FBI supervisory special agent Ali Zoufan weighed in succinctly in this op-ed piece for the New York Times, and Frank Rich wrote a scathing and impassioned editorial on Sunday that sums up the situation as well as anything.
  • Politiken: Peter Greenaway on cinema today. On a lighter side, check out this broadside aimed at contemporary cinema from one of its most uncompromising (if also unwatchable) directors. Although somewhat self-contradictory, it’s smart, caustically funny stuff.

    • Thomas Thorhauge’s Batman

    comics and cartooning, commentary and criticism, hype & linkage

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    I’ve already linked to Copenhagen cartoonists’ studio Over Floden’s current Batman tribute, but since I’ve been on the road lately and have nothing else to show for it yet, I’d like to call special attention to Bunker contributor Thomas Thorhauge’s contribution, which references John Wayne at the end of John Ford’s masterpiece The Searchers to create a poignant illustration of the Caped Crusader and his role in the comics firmament.

    Hype: Emmanuel Guibert in the Comics Journal

    comics and cartooning, hype & linkage

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    Emmanuel Guibert, whose comic Alan’s War we just selected as our comic of the year here at the Bunker, is featured in the new issue of the Comics Journal (#297), both with a preview of his book The Photographer, which is about to come out in English, and an interview conducted by yours truly. There’s an excerpt available here.

    The issue cover features, somehow rather appropriately, Mort Walker, plus there’s all the usual goodness. Do check it out! And more importantly: read Guibert’s books — they’re great.

    Picks of the Week

    comics and cartooning, current affairs, hype & linkage

    “Paying fair market values for the assets will not work. Only by overpaying for the assets will the banks be adequately recapitalized. But overpaying for the assets simply shifts the losses to the government. In other words, the Geithner plan works only if and when the taxpayer loses big time.”

    — Joseph E. Stiglitz

    The picks of the week from around the web.

  • New York Times — “Obama’s Ersatz Capitalism”. Short, sharp editorial on the Geithner-mastered bank bailouts by the Nobel laureate economist Joseph E. Stiglitz. Read it.
  • Ruppert/Mulot — Championnat de bras de fer. Another jam comics project from the dynamic duo that brought you the impressive Maison close. This conception of this simpler one, which sees a number of cartoonists from the French-language alternatives scene arm-wrestling each other in comics form, antedates the latter and provided the basic model for it, and finally the first round of the competition is online. Go see all your favourites strongarming each other off the page!

    • Over Floden: Batman at 70!

    comics and cartooning, hype & linkage

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    These days, the most happening cartoonist’s studio in Copenhagen is Over Floden. It counts amongst its members Simon Bukhave, Cav Bøgelund, Johan F. Krarup, Miwer, Søren Mosdal, Mårdøn Smet & T. Thorhauge. All of them do fine comics (and most of them have contributed to the upcoming Aben Maler/Fantagraphics-published antho From Wonderland with Love), but these days they are taking a breather to celebrate seven decades of Batman. The results are rather fun and pretty irreverent. Go check it out — a new cartoon will be uploaded daily until the big day, April 18th.

    So far, cartoons by Bøgelund, Smet and Over Floden guest, the great Peter Kielland, are online. More to come.

    Dave Arneson RIP (Worlds of Difference II)

    journal

    arneson_dave.jpgDave Arneson, creator of Blackmoor and co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons, with Gary Gygax, just passed away. Although virtually unknown beyond old school gamer circles, the invention of the table top roleplaying game was a milestone in the development of interactive gaming, of the digital as well as the low tech kind. When Gygax died last year, I wrote an appreciation of their invention and what it has meant to me. What I wrote applies equally to Arneson, so I will refrain from adding anything here, other than warm thoughts to his friends and family. RIP.

    Photo: AP.