THE SILVER METAL LOVER by Trina Robbins (Wimmen’s Comix)
Trina Robbins (1938-2024) was a firebrand. Trina Robbins will be fondly remembered as the raucous female alternative voice to the acknowledged underground superstar cartoonists of the 1960s (think R. Crumb), a group that just happened to be predominantly male. There doesn’t appear to be any documented proof that the ’60s comix scene was somehow formed by some conspiracy to create a “no girls allowed” cabal. That said, it was a “man’s world” back then and that attitude and power structure did manage to permeate, ya dig? So, it made perfect sense for Robbins to launch into her own female-focused Wimmen’s Comix comic book series, which became a lightning rod in the culture wars. The men got to create experimental comics. And so did the women.
A love of Hip Hop expressed in Piskor’s beloved comics medium.
I recognized many years back, from it being serialized on Boing Boing, that Hip Hop Family Tree was something very significant. And, the more I loosely followed Ed Piskor’s career, I recognized the deep dive passion he had for certain subjects, most importantly, classic comic book figures. In time, Piskor would team up with Marvel Comics, along with Jim Rugg and Tom Scioli, to each create their own takes on Marvel legends with the Grand Design series. Piskor did his take on X-Men; Rugg did his take on The Hulk; Scioli did his take on The Fantastic Four. Quite honestly, the whole Grand Design series came out during one of my draw downs on superheros. It’s only now, in retrospect, that I can turn to these titles with the best sense of appreciation. And so that brings me back to Hip Hop Family Tree. At a time when the comics community is in tumult over the death of Ed Piskor, it’s with a heavy heart that a reader can go back and experience what is, undoubtedly, Piskor’s highest achievement.
Leela Corman is a painter, comics maker, and educator. She teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Sequential Artist Workshop. She is the creator of numerous works of autobiographical and fictional comics, including Victory Parade (Schocken-Pantheon, 2024), You Are Not A Guest (Fieldmouse Press, 2023), Unterzakhn (Schocken-Pantheon, 2012) and We All Wish For Deadly Force(Retrofit/Big Planet, 2016).
It is a distinct honor to get to chat with Leela Corman. I admire her work and respect her uncompromising vision. If you want to focus on one contemporary artist-cartoonist, then Leela Corman is a primary choice. Keep in mind that this is the category of comics that concerns itself with creating works of art, serious works within the comics medium.
The Werewolf at Dusk and Other Stories. David Small. Liveright. New York. 2024. 175pp. $25
One great way to approach David Small’s delightful new “graphic novel” is as a collection of bedtime fairy tales for discerning adults. And, no, I am not inferring that this is a book to keep away from the youngest readers. There is nothing explicit to be found here. What I mean is that this is a delicious book for world-weary folks who want to be entranced by a dance made up of words and pictures. There’s nothing pretentious to be found here either. Just a very smart, whimsical foray, beginning with the titular tale involving a werewolf who has somehow outlived its purpose, just too long in the tooth.
Just a barefoot artist in search of the meaning of life.
Here is a follow-up on a 5-page comic that will appear in the first full-length issue of Pop Culture Super-Sleuth, which will debut at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. I will post more as time allows and when it makes sense. In fact, I really should do more of these work-in-progress posts.
I have been having various conversations on the state of comics. At the end of the day, comics are a lot of things but, essentially, it is a sequential art form. Or you can say it’s primarily that since work that falls within the comics radar could possibly not be sequential! I think part of the problem is a human need to categorize and organize things: attempting to combine every kind of work of comics and illustration, as well as any work that includes or references “comics” under one leaky umbrella. We can’t seem to leave well enough alone. And then there is another human need to create some sort of turf war: this work is more worthy than that work; my work is prestigious and rises to the level of art while your work does not.
Dean Haspiel is one of the best cartoonists working today. Get his latest comic via the Kickstarter campaign going on now thru March 28th! This new comic has Dean deep within one of the most fascinating aspects of comics, the creator within his own work. This new project merges the two genres Dean Haspiel is best known for, superhero and memoir.
Souls of Black Folk: A Graphic Interpretation. Art & Adaptation by Paul Peart-Smith. Edited by Paul Buhle & Herb Boyd. Rutgers University Press. 2023. 180pp. $22.95
Artist Paul Peart-Smith presents the first graphic novel adaptation of a landmark work, a hybrid of cultural studies and personal essay, W.E.B. Du Bois’s 1903 book, The Souls of Black Folk. The original work is filled with insight into the Black person’s experience after the American Civil War as well as functioning as a prevailing call to action. Peart-Smith masterfully works with Du Bois’s timeless prose: navigating the “vast veil,” observing with a “second-sight,” and absorbing it all with a “double-consciousness.”
Nick Cagnetti is a cartoonist based in Arizona and a graduate of Arizona State University with experience doing storyboards and commercial art but he’s been drawing forever thanks to a life-long love for comic books. He’s been making his own regularly since 2012 with books like Infinite Wonders and The Spirit of The Shadows but he’s best known for his work on Pink Lemonade.
PINK LEMONADE #1 by Nick Cagnetti
Nick Cagnetti is one of the cartoonists that inspires me and I’m happy to feature here. Looking back, I found my glowing review of Pink Lemonade #1 from 2019, when it was published by Drew Ford’s IT’S ALIVE. Nick and I talk about the legacy of Drew Ford, one of the great champions of offbeat comics. Pink Lemonade is now published by Oni Press.
“I try to keep pushing myself, to get even better. I try to make stuff I enjoy personally, that makes me smile.”
— Nick Cagnetti on his craft.
Comics can change the world, or we hope so. I’ve earned my stripes over the years championing comics of all types: comics that aspire to be pure art; comics that pursue social justice; comics that emulate literary fiction; comics by everyday amateurs; and comics by the best artists in the business at a professional level. Which comics are truly worthy of attention or best represent the medium? Well, the best comics are the ones worth reading, with something to say, and have a distinct level of authenticity. Cagnetti’s work rises to that level, much in the spirit of Daniel Clowes, Darwyn Cooke and Mike Allred. The professional cartoonist’s career is all about evolution and progress. It’s great to be able to chat with Cagnetti, a young talent who has already achieved a level of excellence he can be proud of.
I am a fan of all sorts of styles, from very simple to hyper-realistic. What matters most is that the comics, and the cartoonist, have that X-factor, that certain quality that gives the final product a compellingly human touch. Often, among all the genres and subcategories, what I truly love is offbeat and eccentric comics. That’s why I made a point of bringing up during our interview that old cult classic Marvel Comics favorite, Howard the Duck. It is not everyone’s cup of tea but that is the whole point. It was the brainchild of writer Steve Gerber. The tagline says it all, “Trapped in a world he never made!” Cagnetti’s own Pink Lemonade main character could definitely say the same thing.
The Spirit of the Shadows
Pink Lemonade is a must-read and needs to be added to your shelf if you don’t already have it. Pink Lemonade is published by Oni Press and distributed by Simon & Schuster. You can also keep up with Nick Cagnetti and his ongoing projects, like The Spirit of the Shadows. Just go to his website, Radical Realm Comics.
The Spirit of The Shadows new ashcan.
I also want to mention Nick’s new work, with Daniel Ziegler, on The Spirit of the Shadows. He will have ashcan samplers available at the upcoming Arizona Comic Book Arts Festival on March 9th and those comics will also be available on Nick’s site. And one more bit of news: keep an eye out for a comics project Nick did with writer Zack Quaintance. It’s an anthology called, Death of Comics Bookcase, presumably about the demise of Zack’s comics blog, and will be launching a campaign soon on Kickstarter.
Here is the video interview. I encourage you to give us a view, LIKE and COMMENT. Every bit helps in order to keep things moving along smoothly. You’ll miss a lot more cool stuff if you don’t visit! Thanks.
Join us for a chat with award-winning writer/artist/performer/playwright/comics creator Cynthia von Buhler! The main focus is Cynthia’s Minky Woodcock graphic novel series, published by Titan Comics. And we connect the dots on related subjects too. Cynthia von Buhler is such a versatile creative person with one of the most impressive portfolios of work. Our conversation covers the last three graphic novels: the two recent Minky Woodcock books (read my reviews here and here) and a special treat, The Illuminati Ball, which is also an immersive stage experience.
The Illuminati Ball, immersive stage experience.
As you’ll find, all three of these titles share a lot in common: a fun and pulpy sensuous vibe; a love of quirky and uncanny history; and a relentless passion to solve a mystery.
The ever-expanding universe of Minky Woodcock.
One key factor about Cynthia’s art is its distinctive point of view. I get the feeling that I’m right there with the characters in their various activities. I can feel the rooms and environments; their bodies and sensuality. And there’s good reason for it. As we discuss during our chat, Cynthia goes to great lengths to be authentic whether it requires creating miniatures; having real life models, draped or nude; even living in the actual spaces once inhabited by her subjects. All of this adds up to a lived-in immersive experience, whether on the stage, in paintings or in graphic novels. We discuss this at length regarding Cynthia’s stay in the same room that Nikola Tesla lived in at The New Yorker Hotel for a decade. There’s a distinctive sense of place that is captured here.
Cynthia von Buhler graphic novels
An auteur cartoonist, someone who both writes and draws a work of graphic narrative, especially one with a fair amount of historical data, is going to need to be passionate about their work if they want to succeed. Cynthia von Buhler most certainly succeeds. As a graphic novelist creating work that weaves facts into her fiction, von Buhler revels in bringing to light all sorts of examples of truth being stranger than fiction. We chat about this in all three books we discuss. One perfect example comes from The Illuminati Ball with its history of the actual Illuminati, formed in 1776 by Adam Weishaupt. The goal of this “secret society” of scholars was simply to help “illuminate” common sense and stamp out superstition. This is a far cry from the urban myth that developed around The Illuminati which is steeped in superstition.
America’s Stonehedge no more.
Once a conversation ensues, it’s easy to lose track and, before you know it, you can be left with a few recipes for cocktails and not much else. I do my best to set the bar high. There were certain things I wanted to make sure to include during our talk. I am always struck by how much one can uncover if you’re willing to dig deep. There’s that 3-book rule: once you read three books on any given subject, you can call yourself an expert. Well, only relatively speaking since few people are willing to dig. I find Cynthia to be a kindred spirit when it comes to storytelling: covering the whimsical and the sensual; as well as the intellectual. You will definitely learn a number of things while reading one of her graphic novels, like the story of the Georgia Guidelines, nicknamed “America’s Stonehedge,” found in The Illuminati Ball. These monumental slabs of granite provided a road map to help society but succumbed to a bombing a few years ago and are now no more. At least it survives in Cynthia’s work.
Damsel in search of a gurney.
Lastly, this is a bit of bonus material. When I stumbled upon the fact that Cynthia had appeared on an episode of Oddities, the reality TV show on Discovery, I knew I’d found something worth a closer look. In this episode, circa 2012, Cynthia is putting together a stage show about her investigating the mysterious death of her grandfather.
Evan and Ryan on the search for grandpa’s gurney.
I found the episode, “A Gurney for Grandpa,” (S3 E16), after my interview so I wasn’t able to bring it up to her. That said, it added to my appreciation of her art. Cynthia grew up with the legend, and the trauma, of this death in the family. Her grandfather was a bootlegger in the 1930s in the Bronx, New York. Ironically, it was after Prohibition that he was shot by someone on a Manhattan street. But this tale takes a evener odder twist. Cynthia’s grandmother was pregnant with her mother at the time, and upon hearing the news of the murder she went into labor. Von Buhler’s grandfather’s body was laid out in one room of their small Bronx apartment while her mother was born in the room next to it. This family mystery would ultimately lead to one of Cynthia’s crowning achievements, Speakeasy Dollhouse, a series of immersive plays based on her investigations of mysterious deaths in site-specific historic locations. This project began as a series of dioramas, a favorite subject of mine, thus the name of the stage performance.
A dollhouse can help solve a mystery.
And so that’s why Cynthia appears on that episode of Oddities since, at the time, she was looking for a gurney prop for her show. It’s a perfect behind-the-scenes look at an artist’s lifelong quest to make sense of her world. Video podcast is just below. Your views, comments and Likes are always welcome.
