Can you take a joke? That is a good question. Well, what if a few jokes do some good? What if they actually educate you about the Bible?
Anytime is a good time to brush up on The Holy Bible. Today seems like an especially good day. And what better way than through the irreverent, and informative, “God Is Disappointed In You,” the hilarious guide to the holy tome, published by Top Shelf Productions.
Filed under Comics, Comics Reviews, Reviews, Shannon Wheeler, Top Shelf Productions
“How I Made the World,” is an intriguing title, don’t you think? It happens to be the title for a series of comics about Liz, a college student and writer who expresses herself in true epic glory, like any young person should. Now, this is most assuredly a SERIES, not a ONE-SHOT. There may have been a bit of confusion regarding this since the Diamond Previews catalog, the monthly bible for all comics retailers and regular comics buyers, has given the “one-shot” label to this series. Okay, now that we have that cleared up, here is an interview with the creators. It was a pleasure to get to chat for a bit with Liz and Randy.
Filed under Comics, Interviews, mini-comics, Xeric Grant
In conjunction with the release of “A Bintel Brief: Love and Longing in Old New York,” the graphic novel by Liana Finck, a panel on comics will be held at the Museum of Jewish Heritage on April 23. The panel, “Jews, Comics, and the City,” will include three cartoonists, Liana Finck, Miriam Katin, and Eli Valley. The panel will be moderated by Tahneer Oksman of Marymount Manhattan College.
Details follow:
Filed under Comics, Comics News, graphic novels, Jewish History, Jews, New York City
Help SAW continue its mission of supporting artists, putting artists and students together and offering quality, affordable education in comics/sequential art. Of course, your support is always welcome. But, right now, with the new year ahead, it is a great time to jump in with your support. SAW is holding a fundraising campaign via Indiegogo. You can check it out here.
Here are some words from SAW Executive Director Tom Hart:
We have created a grassroots form of education. Knowledgeable, intelligent, capable experts working with students to prepare them for creative challenges ahead, and enlighten and enliven their practice. We’ve had great success, having graduated 5 students from our year-long program, 40 or more from our week-long programs and hundreds from our local classes. When we help our students communicate with passion and vision and clarity, we make the world a better place.
You have helped us do that.
There’s still time to pass the word around. We are asking for support to keep things up and running in 2014. As you know, every dollar matters, but so does every click and every poke, tweet, etc.
In addition, we now have some new artwork, from Dave Lasky, and from Box Brown, and others, as rewards for the current fundraiser.
Help support SAW now by going to the campaign here.
Filed under Comics, Crowdfunding, Indiegogo
Not even a college degree can open up the boundaries of a networking career like a Cisco certification. In this business, knowledge and skills are everything. Professionals must possess the education and the practical experience in order to expand their career and find success. Unfortunately, if the professional does not present specialized knowledge within a networking niche, standing out among the crowd may be a tough task to conquer. Nowadays, employers are looking for people who can properly represent different areas of the company and essentially serve an important purpose. Cisco offers individuals just this: a purpose, and representation that the proper knowledge has been obtained.
Whether new to or experienced in the networking career field, Cisco offers all people eighteen years of age and older a major resume asset. By learning the in-depth information offered by Cisco certification tests and programs, you will no longer be restricted by the boundaries of basic and general networking information. Becoming a professional or expert in a certain career pathway can be the ultimate career boost. It’ll give you importance and add value to not only your resume, but your set of skills and knowledge.
Luckily, obtaining these skills and knowledge is simple and affordable. You can study at your own pace with the resources of your choice; for participants with a lot of time on their hands, training courses can be taken and textbooks can be read, and for participants that are burdened with hectic schedules, something such as ExamTrace.com and their practice exams and study guides are the perfect resource. The knowledge is straight-forward and easy to apply to realistic scenarios. Cisco is more than just about tests – their effort to educate is superb.
Filed under Cisco Certification, ExamTrace.com, Training
There are so many superhero comics out there but readers are always open to a new wrinkle. How about a comic that encompasses a world made up of trillions, a hundred times more populated than Earth? That is a world that we all live in now, inside our own bodies, made up of trillions of cells. Welcome to BIOWARS.
This is definitely something new within the superhero genre. What will first interest readers is how this comic engages with real biology. With a majority of superhero comics heavily tied to either pulp fiction or mythology, BIOWARS, published by Gabriel Creations, confidently goes deep inside a vast alien world with many possibilities. Creator Gabriel Shaoolian envisioned a comic that dove into a whole new terrain. With a story that literally takes place inside and outside, there is great potential here.
The story begins with a sounding of alarms in the first issue, aptly entitled, “Infection.” We see the emerging war take shape. Written by Mark Powers (Marvel Comics, Devil’s Due), we get a nice dose of action, and even humor. Microphage armies and B-Cell forces, given human-like form for the sake of more vivid storytelling, are deployed to subdue the enemy invader. The artwork (Lucius Cross, Joana LaFuente, and Gonçalo Lopes) brings it all to life with impressive results. The next time you get a cold, you can picture a war like this one raging through your bronchial passages.
But there’s far more going on. Whatever this virus or bacteria is, it is unlike anything the immune system A-teams have ever encountered. And things aren’t any less tense in the great unknown world outside. Out there, on the streets of New York’s Chinatown, there’s a young man, Alex Hawking, running for his life. Outside, danger looms even closer as Alex is being chased by a killer. The killer is quite familiar with what’s wrong with Alex from the inside.
The intrigue continues as more details are revealed in the second issue, entitled, “Revelations.” With two issues in, a suspenseful story has unfolded that carries the weight of a first-rate superhero tale. We know that Alex is in a lot of danger. And we have some clues as to what he might do next. Good use is made of superhero tropes. There’s Janice Lee, the reporter who gets too close to her story and is now wrapped up with Alex’s fate. There’s Alex’s classic conflict with his father, Marcus. And there are two villains: a mad scientist, Ernst Kelso, working in the outer world; and Raze, the master mold, working in the inner world. All in all, a pretty promising start to a new all-ages comic.
BIOWARS #3, entitled, “The Virus Invasion,” comes out January 14, 2014. Visit our friends at the BIOWARS website here.
Filed under Biology, Biowars, Comics, Comics Reviews, Sci-Fi, Science, science fiction
“The Minimum Security Chronicles: Resistance to Ecocide” is full of whimsy and wisdom as it follows its characters on a journey to save the planet. It’s all up to a group of friends to figure out if they can smash the capitalist system or just give up and go shopping. What makes Stephanie McMillan’s comic strip such a page-turner is her ability to find the right mix of humor and intelligent discourse.
Stephanie McMillan’s sense of urgency and comedy is irresistible. She has placed a whole new generation with the burden of saving the planet but they’re pretty clueless. There’s Kranti and Bananabelle, who just barely know the struggles from the past. Kranti, an African-American, is quick to join a protest rally and yell, “By any means necessary!” And Bananabelle, intuitively, recognizes that won’t go over well with the “mainstream liberals.”
Then there’s Kranti’s brother, Nikko, and his lover, Javier. They are both at the mercy of the current economic tide. Nikko manages to just get by with his design work. Javier, has let things slip in pursuit of his art and relies on Nikko’s meager income. All four of these unlikely heroes will be stretched to their limits as they try to do the right thing.
Guidance and advice comes from Victoria, a theorist guinea pig; and Bunnista, a trigger-happy rabbit. Each of them, in their own way, have some wisdom to share but they are still working on the ultimate answers. Victoria is uncompromising in her ideals. Bunnista is too eager to blow things up.
As the story unfolds, we find ourselves exploring the available options to make this a better world: everything from community gardening to murder is on the table. What is really compelling about this comic strip is just how far it is willing to go. If Kranti and Bananabelle didn’t appreciate what was meant when someone said, “By any means necessary,” they certainly do by the end of this tale.
One of McMillan’s goals with this particular story is to raise awareness of how corporations are raping the environment, specifically with bio-engineering. She is seeking answers. And the one thing she keeps returning to is the unequivocal need to rid ourselves of global capitalism. But, at every turn, she shows us how futile that effort appears to be. The great contradiction is that we have no choice but to fight the system, a fight that may appear to be too big to win. All life on the planet hangs in the balance. The only sure thing is that we must persist, live to fight another day. It’s a cliffhanger to the story of life that we must all live with.
And just how do you end capitalism? Well, that is an ongoing discussion. This current comics collection makes that clear. The subject is too vital and complex to address in just one book. For instance, McMillan has a guide to the people’s struggle, “Capitalism Must Die,” that will soon come out. For now, “The Minimum Security Chronicles: Resistance to Ecocide” provides an educational and entertaining look at what happens when people must confront the system.
Visit Stephanie McMillan at her website here.
“The Minimum Security Chronicles: Resistance to Ecocide” is published by Seven Stories Press. This book is a 160-page trade paperback priced at $12.71 and is set for release on October 8, 2013. Be sure to visit our friends at Seven Stories Press here.
One of the most endearing things you’ll see in the documentary, “Cartoon College,” a 2012 film by Josh Melrod and Tara Wray, is Lynda Barry’s declaration of love for anyone who is a cartoonist. Lynda Barry is an interesting case in point. Her style is “outsider” raw while, at the same time, highly sophisticated. It won’t be mistaken for Rembrandt but it’s not supposed to be. Lynda Barry’s comics are authentic, entertaining, and thought-provoking. But can you teach someone how to become another Lynda Barry?
Free Cooper Union Black Banners
The fight is on to keep Cooper Union tuition free as was the explicit understanding of its founder, Peter Cooper. Following in the time honored tradition of a student “take-over,” students at Cooper Union are fighting to maintain a historically tuition-free education at one of the leading institutions of higher learning in the country.
Student Take Over of Office of President of Cooper Union, May 8, 2013
Founded in 1859, Cooper Union has three schools, Art, Architecture, and Engineering. Notable alumni of the Cooper Union School of Art incude Seymour Chwast, Milton Glaser, Eva Hesse, Alex Katz, and Hans Haacke.
Follow developments on the move to Free Cooper Union at Twitter and at the Village Voice.
Filed under Art, Capitalism, Cooper Union, Education, New York City, news, Occupy movement, Protest
Learn the facts. It’s pretty bad. But we can all make some contribution to promote reading.
Here is a handy graphic, courtesy of Edudemic. Check them out here.
Check out the links at the bottom, like the one for Write At Home and ProLiteracy.
