Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Foiled: A Graphically Speaking Review
Words: Jared Gniewek
If you know me (let’s pretend you do) then you know I love fantasy. Not just swords and dragons and all that jazz but thoughtful, strange, and soft hearted pieces come to mind as personal favorites. I find it to be a broad expansive genre and not at all limited by convention. It is so immensely free -- so very capable of pushing boundaries from Magical Realism to Sword and Sorcery, Superheroes to Space Opera it is a huge and multifaceted genre one could easily lose a lifetime in the exploration of.
Jane Yolen has been writing Fantasy books since before I was born. I’ve only read two handfuls of her immense body of work and, to this day, I still shed a tear when I think about the Pit Dragon series. The desperation at the end of Heart’s Blood still ripples through me from across alien worlds. Ten year old Jared cried like a baby. No joke.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Wally Gropius: A Graphically Speaking Review
Words: Christopher Irving
What happens when Richie Rich grows up and ages into an indy comic?
Wally Gropius.
Actually, that’s selling Tim Hensley’s dark humor-laced teen book for adults short. Hensley’s clean art, drawn in a 1960s cartoon style (and complete with bright color pallete) is a bizarre mish-mash of the best in ‘60s teen book cartooning with the absurdity of an episode of The Monkees and the severity of indy comics. It’s common for indy and underground cartoonists to take tried and true kiddie cartoon character conventions and throw them into adult situations, and Wally Gropius is the latest in a long line.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Preview of GNYC's Dean Haspiel book
This trade features a never-before seen Billy Dogma story, artwork, and home pictures. Enjoy 240 pages of Dino's unique "two-fisted aggro-moxie" in this eye-opening experience with an 8-page color section that makes its October premiere at New York Comicon from Desperado/IDW.
Please pre-order the book at your local comix shop: Diamond code JUL10 0363
An 8-page preview of the book can be seen over at ACT-I-VATE.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Bulletproof Coffin #1: A Graphically Speaking Review
Haunting... Creepy... Macabre... and those are just the emotions that come out of the first issue of The Bulletproof Coffin.
At the beginning of the story we meet our main character, Steve Newman. Steve’s occupation is a voids contractor- someone who empties a house when the occupant dies without any claim. In an arrangement with his boss, he goes to the house at night and occasionally keeps any items for himself. One night, Steve stumbles upon more then just trash. He finds a stack of comics and an old spooky TV set that was no bigger then two feet squared, that provides viewing by inserting quarters.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Buy Dean Haspiel! And our book, too...
We've been hard at work on adding the final touches to Graphic NYC Presents Dean Haspiel: The Early Years, a narrative tapestry that weaves GNYC's unique biographical and critical essays with a collection of Dean's autobio stories and early Billy Dogma (created back before the internets took Dean's bruiser over). It comes out from Desperado/IDW Publishing and is the definitive Dino Compendium.
You get 240 pages (including a sexy 8 page color section) for just $19.99! It's in the July Previews, so be sure to tell your local comic shop owner to put them in stock.
Hey, we'll even give you the Diamond code to pass off: JUL100363
Graphic NYC Presents - Dean Haspiel: The Early Years, gives the low-down on the revolutionary indy artist, from his salad days working for Howard Chaykin on American Flagg! to his digital days spearheading the ACT-I-VATE web collective. The creators of nycgraphicnovelists.com, Christopher Irving and Seth Kushner, bring you Dino's early Billy Dogma and semi-autobio comics presented against the framework of Irving's essays and Kushner and Ryan Roman's photography. Along with a color section, this trade also features a never-before seen Billy Dogma story and artwork, all selected by Dean himself. Enjoy 240 pages of Dino's aggro-moxie in this sexy black and white trade with an 8 page color section, the first of a new series by Graphic NYC!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Laika's Nick Abadzis Finds a New Orbit
Words: Christopher Irving . Pictures: Seth Kushner
“I don’t know where I fit in yet,” the soft-spoken Nick confesses. “I’ve been welcomed by a lot of very kind people who have helped me find my feet here.”
Paul Chadwick's website is live
We recently heard from Paul Chadwick, who would like to make an announcement about his site.
"After years of being only a placeholder, www.paulchadwick.net is finally up." Paul Says.
"With the usual writings, galleries, etc., it has the full contents of Eisner-and-Reuben winner Concrete: The Human Dilemma up in a nifty scrollable, horizontal format. A person could easily waste an hour there."
We visited the site and think one could easily spend a couple of hours reading through all of the Paul Chadwick goodness.
We visited the site and think one could easily spend a couple of hours reading through all of the Paul Chadwick goodness.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Graphically Speaking: Josheph Remnant's Blindspot #1
Words: Seth Kushner
Blindspot #1 opens with it's creator Joseph Remnant, clad in a suit and tie, sitting fireside next to a bust of Shakespeare. He uses this Masterpiece Theater riff to introduce the reader to his self-published effort, until the "classy" scene is broken in panel five by the out-of-panel cry of "Hey Fuckboy!" As Remnant's roommate berates him, it's revealed that the narrator is standing on a set in what is actually a dilapadated apartment.
The scene acts as Remnant's way of creating and breaking the illusion of his being a successful cartoonist. He says, "The fact is I AM just another desperate artist, begging for a scrap of attention and credibility!"
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Matt Wagner: 4 Color Portrait
Picture: Seth Kushner
Words: Christopher Irving
When Matt Wagner created the stylishly noir-ish anti-hero Grendel in the early 1980s, he was at the forefront of the black-and-white indy movement. But it's more than Wagner's heavily shadowed world that defines his adeptness at noir, just as much as his writing in Sandman Mystery Theater and several Batman projects. Wagner not only understands the visual trappings, but the narrative ones as well, giving more than just dramatic lighting and high contrast.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Odds and Gems #5: Jeffrey Brown's AEIOU
Words: Gene Kogan . Pictures: Jeffrey Brown
As any hardcore comic book fan will attest, with missionary fervor, we make it our life long agenda to expose and convert as many people to the form as possible. We pass out comics like Jehovah’s Witnesses, to anyone kind enough to accept them. This is, of course, an anxiety ridden proposition, as we’re mortified by the prospect that someone will reject our beloved stories, as if we had a hand in composing them. Because of this, we really focus on the greatest of artists, time tested stories, and lovable characters, to sway the philistine civilians. And we come bearing explanations, charts, awards, New York Times reviews or anything else to validate our recommendations and to keep said target from crossing the street to avoid the obsessive nerd. But I digress. Of all the works and artists I’ve pushed on this exhausted crowd - a list that includes Sandman, Maus, Bone, Usagi, Fables, 100 Bullets, Watchmen, Chris Ware, Chester Brown, Dan Clowes, Eddie Campbell, Robert Crumb – only one artist has hit the mark every time.
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